ã€ŠLeveling Up Through Eatingã€‹


 Chapter 1 - Prologue

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    "Hoo."

    The 15th in the official power rankings of the virtual reality game Athens, the ck wizard Ali, has reached the summit of the Berest [1] Mountains.

    ''It took me two months just to find this thousand-year-old ginseng.''

    The thousand-year-old ginseng is a rare medicinal item that increases your magical power by 1.5 times permanently upon consumption and is considered to be worth 200 million won in cash.

    It is well-known that the higher the level of the yer, the harder it is to raise the mana [2] reserve. Hence, the thousand-year-old ginseng is considered to be the best item for this drawback in the game.

    ''I can go and exceed the limits of the game.''

    Ali can''t help but hook up the corners of his mouth. [3]

    He reached his destination shortly but Ali''s face distorted.

    "Huh, it''s not here¡­?!"

    He has no other choice but to be shocked. There are obvious traces that someone has taken the thousand-year-old ginseng.

    ''Who the hell took it¡­?!''

    Did someone receive a duplicate quest?

    No,pleting this quest is impossible if you''re not a high ranker.

    Ali scratched the thought from his mind and approached it objectively.

    ''Perhaps he''s still in the vicinity''

    I''ve spent 2 months just to get it.

    A blue light came out of Ali''s hands.

    [Tracking Magic Activated]

    Once this tracking magic is used you can easily find the item if it is within 1km from its origin.

    Ding!

    [Target is within 300m radius]

    [Commencing tracking]

    An arrow slowly floated in front of him.

    ''Even if I have to PK, I have to get it at all costs!''

    Ali chased the arrow quickly. After following the arrow for 100m, a small cave appeared in front of him.

    Whoosh!

    [Hellfire]

    [A huge fire from hell has been created.]

    As expected from an 8th ss magician, he summoned a huge fireball in front of him in case of an emergency since he doesn''t know anything about the situation ahead.

    He slowly walked inside the cave. As he went further inside, Ali smelt something enticing.

    This smells familiar.

    ''This¡­''

    Since he is a Korean user, he can tell what it smells like, it smells like samgyetang [4].

    As he went further inside, Ali was shocked with what he saw. In front of him was a man, a fire and a big cauldron.

    "Samgyetang should really have actual ginseng in it."

    "H-hey¡­"

    Ali''s voice trembled as the man with a neat, ck hairstyle turned around.

    Ali didn''t want to believe.

    "T-that''s not the thousand-year-old ginseng, right?"

    The thousand-year-old ginseng¡­ Gone.

    Special items lose their effectiveness the moment they get split or cut, and the system even prevents others from sharing.

    If you''re not an idiot and you''re a user of Athens, you should definitely know that.

    "Yeah?"

    ? The man spoke slowly while cramming the food in his mouth as if someone would take it away from him.

    "A th¡­ thousand-year-old ginseng, which bastard will cook a thousand-year-old ginseng and put it in a samgyetang?!"

    "Here."

    The man answered calmly.

    ***

    [1] ???? : This is the name of the mountain. It can either be Verest or Berest. Back

    [2] Mana : or magic, is the energy used to cast spells in games. Back

    [3] Hook up the corners of his mouth : smile a bit, smirk Back

    [4] samgyetang : a soup with chicken stuffed with ginseng, garlic and jujube. Read more here: /recipe/samgyetang Back

    For any errors and issues contact me through discord:-/Q3dStgu

 Chapter 2.1 - Game Start

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    Bulimia nervosa [1].

    This is a rare disease which affects two types of people. If you are afflicted with this disease, no matter how much you eat, you would not be satisfied.

    Whether it be Korean, Chinese, Japanese or Western cuisine a person with bulimia will eat it up. They would not care about the type of food.

    The average calorie intake [2] of someone with bulimia is approximately 15,000 to 20,000 calories.

    Kang Minhyuk is a bulimic patient. He''s 185 cm tall and weighs approximately 170kg.

    And the man in front of Minhyuk is¡­ Lee Jinhwan, a professor of psychiatry at Seoul Hospital. He is a renowned doctor of psychiatry in the country. Minhyuk visits him once every week.

    His knee pains have been getting worse by the day and it has been getting difficult to walk. His throat has started to get strained and he''s having difficulties with breathing. Severe symptoms of hyper-obesity [3] have started to show in Minhyuk.

    "You''ve been eating cherry tomatoes these days, right?"

    "Yes."

    Minhyuk smiled wryly as he opened the bag he brought. The bag contained an air-tight container filled with cherry tomatoes.

    "It seems that you can still get fat while eating cherry tomatoes."

    Cherry tomatoes are widely known as a representative diet food. It''s about 2kcal [4] per piece.

    "You''ll still gain weight even if you eat diet food if you eat lots of it. How much do you eat per day?"

    "About 5 thousand?"

    "......So you''re a vegetarian piggy."

    "Prof, don''t you think that''s too much for a fact bomb [5]?"

    Lee Jinhwan smiled wryly. They can talk like this because they have been consulting for 5 years already.

    "You also know that I exercise. About four hours a day?"

    "A healthy vegetarian piggy."

    "...You also know that I got first ce in my CSAT [6] before, right?"

    "Then you''re a smart, healthy, vegetarian piggy."

    "My father owns this hospital."

    Minhyuk smiled while wondering how this will turn out.

    "Ahhhh¡­"

    Jinhwan scratched his head. That was dangerous. But then heughed.

    "You''re a rich man''s son, you study really well and it seems that there''s nothing wrong with the other aspects of your life. Then¡­ You''re really a very healthy piggy."

    "Fine. I don''t even understand what you''re talking about Doc?"

    The two of themughed. The mood between the two people did not seem like they were talking about Minhyuk''s rare disease.

    Suddenly, it felt dreary. What''s wrong with himself, what treatments should he undergo. Minhyuk''s condition was too difficult to speak of.

    And when he needs to talk about something serious, Jinhwan always felt a need to ease the mood a little bit. He opened his mouth carefully.

    "Mr. Minhyuk."

    "Yes."

    "It would be really dangerous if you go on like this."

    "........"

    Minhyuk knows this too. At least, he understands the reason why he endured this much. Working out for four hours each and every day and even trying to control his appetite as much as possible.

    Even if he doesn''t eat something all the time, it''s still a miracle that an anxious bulimic patient can maintain the weight of 170kg.

    But¡­

    It''s a fact that he has reached his limits.

    "I know."

    "Is it hard?"

    Minhyuk nodded his head.

    "What''s the hardest part?"

    "When you want to eat but you can''t eat what you want."

    So Minhyuk gestured.

    "Prof, think about it."

    He smacked his lips.

    "My rm will ring at one in the morning, then I will turn on the gas and put on a pot of water on the fire. And then I will split the ramyeon and add it in."

    "Oh."

    At Jinhwan''s exmation, Minhyuk made a gesture as if he''s holding chopsticks.

    "I''ll stir the noodles to cook them well. And when it''s done, tak! an egg! I''ll crack one and add it in. At this point¡­"

    He looked so serious, as if what he said was very crucial.

    "I''ll hurry up and set it in front of the TV while watching reruns of Infinite Challenge [7]. And that''s when I''ll eat my ramyeon¡­!"

    Guulp!

    The nurse behind Jinhwan gulped down her saliva.

    "S-sorry. I unconsciously did it while imagining the scenario."

    Minhyukughed heartily.

    "It''s the best right? [8]"

    Jinhwan gave a lowugh. It was a relief for him to see that Minhyuk did not lose thisugh.

    "So eating well is still the hardest part?"

    "As you can see, I''ve been eating 5000 cherry tomatoes everyday, of course it''s hard."

    "But you''re still doing very well."

    It''s clear that Minhyuk is doing well. In fact, there were three bulimic patients before. But one died. He was a fourteen year-old boy, he was 160cm high and 200kg in weight, he couldn''t control his diet because he couldn''t ovee his appetite that''s why he died [9]. He died during the spring.

    "I hope that there wille a moment where I can eat what I want to¡­"

    Jinhwan couldn''t talk back.

    At that time, he might really die.

    Clenching his hands together, Jinhwan started their main topic for the day.

    "Right now, I will suggest to you a new type of therapy."

    "A therapy?"

    A new treatment.

    So far, he has tried countless treatments and therapies and all of it has failed.

    "Yes, the virtual-reality game Athenae."

    "...Didn''t we try that before?"

    Athenae has aimed to be the most popr game among all of the existing virtual-reality games. They have more than 9 million active users right now. It has been gaining massive poprity all over the world.

    However, Minhyuk has already tried virtual-reality games as a treatment for his bulimia.

    "There was Versal [10] before."

    Jinhwan rified.

    Versal. It was a game released before Athenae.

    "There was no sense of taste even though it felt real in the game, and it just resulted in a more severe yo-yo effect [11]."

    That''s right. Versal is a virtual game that has an uncanny resemnce with reality. But no matter how close it resembles reality the food you eat is still tasteless.

    He smiled at him.

    "You can actually taste the food in Athenae."

    "Eh?"

    "I tried it."

    "......"

    At that moment, Minhyuk felt like his heart was thumping like crazy.

    Jinhwan is a responsible doctor.

    Athenae wasunched about 6 months ago.

    Jinhwan, together with other doctors who researched bulimia, thinks that bulimia is a disease highly rted with your mind.

    That''s why they aimed to lose weight by trying to repeatedly eat inside Versal [12]. But being satiated without tasting the food was like poison to the patient.

    However, this time it''s different. Jinhwan opened an ount, tried it, tasted the food and even enjoyed himself.

    "You won''t gain any weight inside that game even if you eat 100 ramyeon at one in the morning."

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] Bulimia nervosa : a disease where you consume excessive amount of food followed by a behavior topensate the binge-eating (either through vomiting or excessive exercise) Read more here. Back

    [2] Average calorie intake : ording to NHS women should have at least an average intake of 2,000 calories while men should have 2,500. Read more here Back.

    [3] Hyper-obesity : Probably is considered as extreme obesity ssification or ss 3 obesity. For more information about obesity read here Back

    [4] kcal : a unit of calorie. This is the amount of energy needed to heat or raise the temperature one kilogram of water by 1¡ãC. 1kcal = 1000cal Back

    [5] ??? : ording to what I have searched, it means fact bomb. It''s a ng or abbreviation for fact bomb in hangul. Back

    [6] CSAT : College Schstic Assessment Test, basically an entrance exam for college. Back

    [7] Infinite Challenge : A Korean reality variety show. It''s a variety show where the casts tries to do almost impossible challenges in aedic way. Back

    [8] ???? : Apparently this is a ng, used by teenagers meaning good, very good, so fortunate. They use ? which means dog before a verb as a recement to very or really. Back

    [9] For rifications. As said before bulimic patients keeps on binge-eating then try to lose weight either through vomiting, extreme exercise or extreme fasting. They do this in a continuous cycle. They can''t stop. Once they eat and eat they will gain weight which will make them obese. Once they get obese they will suffer from severe symptoms ranging from difficulties in moving amd breathing to heart attacks which are extremely life threathening. That''s why the boy died. His BMI exceeded the normal range (around 78.1 where the normal is from 47 to 63) and was considered to be extremely obese. Back

    [10] ???? : The manhwa trantions I''ve seen tranted this as Versailles. However, when I tranted Versailles to hangul it showed ????. So I used Versal which means whole, this is a word short for universal. This may also be correct and I will be using this. If you know the correct trantion, do help me and point it out. Ty. ^^ Back

    [11] Yo-yo Effect : or yo-yo diet refers to the cyclic loss and gain of weight which resembles the motions of a yo-yo. Back

    [12] TL Opinion : I think they were trying to lose weight by controlling the appetite of the patient via eating in-game. It makes sense in a way, since you''ve already eaten a lot and tasted a lot of food in-game then you won''t probably feel the need to eat once you''re out of the game. Back

    For any errors and issues contact me through discord:-/Q3dStgu

 Chapter 2.2 - Game Start

    Chapter 2.2 - Game Start

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    A celebrity professional health trainer, an A ss dietitian [1], and a national athletes and representatives'' rehabilitation trainer. These three people were watching Minhyuk and his big build exercise in the pool. Minhyuk''s father was the head of Ilhwa group that was the reason why he was able to live a very rich and extravagant life. This was also the reason why these people were hired to take care of his daily needs and life.

    Minhyuk moved frantically in the water, it was as if he was trying to smack the water away with how vigorous his strokes were. There was only one reason why this was the only exercise that he could do...

    ''My knees will break if I run.''

    Minhyuk had already exceeded the range of high obesity and if he ever ran then his body would definitely break down. For him who was suffering such a terrible and rare disease, even if he exercised extremely hard, sweated like crazy and burned lots of calories, his body would still remain fat.

    "Ha¡­ Ha¡­ Ha¡­"

    Oh Changwook, Minhyuk''s health trainer talked to him when he saw him breathing hard.

    "Minhyuk-ah [3] shall we take a break?"

    "No. ha¡­ ha¡­ I''ll do¡­ ha¡­ ha¡­ a bit more."

    None of the three peopleughed at Minhyuk''s disheveled and big figure because they have watched him grow and have seen how desperate he was and how hard he tried just to lose some weight.

    Ssh!

    Whenever he tried to move, his belly would shake and his breath would always turn ragged. This was how difficult it was for him to move with how big he was currently.

    While the three people were looking at him, Minhyuk shared what he and Jinhwan talked about in the hospital.

    *shback*

    ''When Minhyuk tried to y the game Versal, you ended up gaining 20kg of weight and suffered from a yo-yo effect.''

    He felt full in the game but he was not able to taste the food which ended up triggering a more terrible yo-yo effect.

    What should I eat? Ah! I really want to taste it.

    The game triggered in him a muchrger desire to eat food in reality instead of suppressing it. This was the reason why Minhyuk ended up gaining 20kg instead of losing weight. This effect had endangered his life more than what he was already in effect.

    ''So even if you could try the food in there, you might experience a different yo-yo effect. You might want to taste what you ate in the game in real life.''

    Minhyuk knew that fact. And right now, the only thing that he needed to do was to choose.

    ''You can choose whatever you want. But I just want to tell you¡­''

    Jinhwan looked extremely bitter.

    ¡®I don¡¯t think we have any other choice, right?''

    Jinhwan used ''we''. This informed Minhyuk that the both of them did their best but they had now run out of confidence on the other treatments and that they did not have any other choices to choose from. In fact, the only thing that they were scared of the most was what would happen if this went wrong and the yo-yo effect turned out to be on a worse scale than before.

    *end of shback*

    "Hoo."

    Oh Changwook and the rest of the trainers helped pull out Minhyuk from the pool once he was done exercising. They immediately covered him with a towel as they helped him dry off.

    Right now, Minhyuk was feeling extremely hungry. Like an athlete exhausted after his training who wanted to eat a big meal. However, he couldn¡¯t afford to do so.

    ''This damned appetite¡­!''

    His stomach felt rtively fine when he was exercising, he did not even feel a shred of hunger even if he exercised so hard. However, the moment he stopped his exercise, his horrendous appetite would rear its ugly head once more. For Minhyuk, it felt like someone was screaming in his head to just eat, eat and eat! It was a terrible disease in a way that it would always tell him to continue to eat even though he ate a lot already.

    And as always, food had already been prepared and ready to eat in the gym. He was given a big bowl of sd that was made with cabbages, onions and his staple diet food, cherry tomatoes. It also went without saying that the sd had no sauce at all. Cherry tomatoes and a select few protein supplements were the only food that Minhyuk was allowed to eat.

    Crunch, crunch¡ª

    Minhyuk kept on putting this tasteless food in his mouth just to satisfy even a bit of his insane hunger but no matter how much he ate he still felt like his stomach was still empty. He keenly felt that stomach was like a bottomless abyss.

    He emptied the first te then grabbed the second.

    He emptied the second te then grabbed the third.

    He emptied the third te then grabbed the fourth.

    This act of continuous eating would keep on repeating all the time and would only stop when he fell asleep or when he exercised. If Minhyuk ever stopped eating then he would experience symptoms that were closely rted to seizures. He would feel extremely anxious and his heart would start to beat rapidly which in turn would make his breathing difficult.

    In the past, Minhyuk had undergone through what he dubbed was one of the worst treatments. They had locked him in a room alone without any food whatsoever. The result was apletely horrible and traumatic experience. Minhyuk was so hungry that he even ate the tissue [4] in the room [5].

    After he ate his fifth bowl of sd, he went and picked up a box of cherry tomatoes.

    "Hyung [6], is Athenae fun?"

    "Athenae?"

    He heard that Oh Changwook was a mid to high ranker in Athenae so he believed that he would know something about the game.

    "Yeah, it''s fun. There''s nothing more fun than Athenae these days."

    "I''ll give it a try then."

    "Athenae."

    Oh Changwook smiled softly at him. He had been with Minhyuk for years and in his observations Minhyuk¡¯s daily life was spent the same way everyday. Work out, eat then sleep. Work out, eat then sleep. It did not even cross his mind to go out and y. So for Changwook and the rest of the people who had been with Minhyuk throughout his treatments, all they ever wished for was for Minhyuk to live a life like any other ordinary human being.

    "What? Are you going to break a new record again?"

    "Hehe, as expected of a cool man like me. Maybe this is the touch of a ranker?"

    "You''re after all a perfectionist, you will definitely be the best then stop ying it altogether. Is there still anything that you don''t have?"

    "A slim and fit body."

    "......"

    Changwookughed his head off.

    "Sometimes your jokes are not that funny."

    "Then shouldn''t you cry?"

    "No, well¡­"

    Changwook ended up mumbling his words.

    "Laughing is really the better choice."

    "Hup!"

    Minhyuk stood up smiling.

    "Right now, do you know where my fath¡­"

    Suddenly, Minhyuk¡¯s surroundings started to spin. He felt extremely dizzy and his heart was thumping hard. He couldn¡¯t even breathe properly.

    Then¡­

    Thud.

    He fell down.

    "M¡­ Minhyuk-ah!!!"

    "C-call the doctor!"

    In just an instant, total chaos had descended in the gym.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] Raw explicitly says diet manager but I used dietitian instead since it is better. Also, fyi, dietitians alters the patient''s nutrition and diet based on their medical condition and physical needs. Back

    [2] There are two more sses exceeding high obesity or ss 3 obesity. Back

    [3] Koreans often add -ah or -yah after the name to indicate their closeness. Or if they are younger than them. Back

    [4] Raw can either mean trash or tissue¡­ But I think tissue paper is more appropriate since they probably won''t have any trash in the room since it''s a treatment room right? Back

    [5] This may sound disgusting, but if you look at the patient''s point of view this would make sense. Since they feel extreme hunger if they don''t eat then they would feel that they would die if they don''t eat. So in a room without food, what is the next best thing for you to fill your stomach? Back

    [6] Hyung : lit. older brother, used by younger males to call a male friend or a male sibling older than themselves Back

    For any errors and issues contact me through discord:- /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 3.1 - Game Start

    Chapter 3.1: Game Start

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    Minhyuk slowly regained his consciousness. He could hear the murmurs of his father and Lee Jinhwan from right behind the slightly open door.

    "Theplications are too severe. High blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis¡­ and there are even more. He has already reached the level where everything is unbearable for him."

    "...Can we do liposuction, like before?"

    "We can''t do that. When we did liposuction before, he just ate and gained what we have taken out before. It will be just a temporary improvement."

    Minhyuk stared nkly at the ceiling as he mumbled to himself.

    "What did I do wrong¡­"

    He couldn¡¯t help but think about where it went wrong.

    I worked harder on my exercises and I kept my appetite in check as much as possible. But I still didn''t get better. My appetite even grew bigger and the amount of food I ate also increased. My body kept growing bigger and bigger. But even if this is the case¡­ I still want to live longer.

    Creeaaak¡ª

    The door slowly creaked open. Minhyuk saw his father enter the room with a tired smile on his face.

    "Awake?"

    "Yep."

    His father sat in front of him trying his best to give him a happy smile but only the wryest of smiles came out.

    "They said that you went overboard with exercising and went into shock briefly."

    Minhyukughed bitterly.

    The man that was sitting in front of him was the CEO of Ilhwa Group. Kang Minhoo was everyone¡¯s goal. He was the man that everyone aspired to be. And Minhyuk who had this man as his father felt both extremely grateful and sorry.

    He should be embarrassed to have a son like me yet he continues to treasure and love me.

    When his father heard the bitterness in Minhyuk¡¯sugh, he couldn¡¯t help but cough lightly.

    Cough¡ª

    ''He must have heard us talk.''

    What should I do to clear this tension¡­? I should definitely speak.

    "Tangsuyuk."

    "Yukgaejang."

    "Jangeo."

    "Eomuk."

    "Muksabal."

    "Bal? Bal¡­"

    Minhyuk tried to quickly think of a word that started with bal but after racking his brains for quite a while, he still couldn¡¯t think of anything at all. At a loss, his fatherughed which dragged aughter out of him.

    Although the food that they had mentioned was something that Minhyuk could not taste and was not beneficial for his body right now, he could still use those words to y shiritori [1] with his father during their free time. After all, the subject that they use for shiritori was always only food.

    In the end, the dark and heavy tension surrounding them was slowly resolved by a simple and easy game.

    "Father."

    "Yeah?"

    "Would you hate me if I yed games?"

    "...Even if the only thing you do is eat and y games, it will be fine with me."

    Kang Minhoo had heard about the new treatment that Lee Jinhwan had proposed to Minhyuk. However, no matter what choice Minhyuk would make, Kang Minhoo would always respect his decision. He would even dly support him if it meant that his son¡¯s life would be saved.

    "Ah, there¡¯s one only one thing... If you''re going to y a game, you have to remember this."

    The expression on Minhyuk¡¯s father¡¯s face had grown solemn. It was as if his next words were a matter of utmost importance that he needed to tell it to him in such a solemn tone.

    "Have fun. I''ll be happy if you have fun and if you find the game interesting."

    The only reason why people y those kinds of games was because they wanted to have fun. However, Minhyuk had no choice but to y that game to survive and live on. He needed to y the game to get him out of his sticky predicament and not to have fun. But the only thing that his father wanted him to do was have fun and be happy. His father only wanted him to be safe, healthy and happy.

    He smiled at his father''s words.

    "I''ll do it... Athenae [2]."

    He has finally decided.

    ***

    An Athenae ess capsule weed Minhyuk once he entered the room. The capsule that was installed in his room was muchrger than regr capsules. It seemed like it was custom-made to cater to his unusuallyrge body.

    "We''ve prepared arger-sized capsule for you."

    Changwook tried to joke with him to at least release a bit of tension from his anxious and nervous body.

    Regr existing equipment for Athenae ess was worth at least 7 million won and this special and custom-made extrarge sized capsule was worth 13 million won [3]. Aside from the capsule, there were also his team of medical personnel on stand-by just in case there was an emergency. They were there to make sure that nothing would go wrong once Minhyuk came out of the game. They were quite afraid of the consequences since he would stop eating for a long time while he was ying so everyone was a bit tense.

    Changwook hooked his arms on Minhyuk¡¯s shoulders and tried tofort him in his own way.

    "The novice zone is off-limits to higher leveled yers, you should clear it as soon as you can so we can meet up in game."

    "Yep. Ah, right. Hyung, what''s your nickname in-game?"

    "...uhm."

    Oh Changwook hesitated. He looked around sneakily before leaning in and whispering in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    "It''s Ge-general¡­"

    "Eh?"

    When Minhyuk heard his nickname he couldn¡¯t stop himself from snickering. He was sick of the mood in the room being so heavy that he only wanted tough to release everyone¡¯s tensed nerves.

    "Hyuuung! Your nickname is General?!"

    "Pfft, General¡­"

    "Omg¡­ Mr. Changwook¡­ That name¡­"

    ? "Hey! You weren''t supposed to say that."

    "Hyung, perhaps¡­"

    "...?"

    "You also have a ck dragon somewhere?"

    "Just get in already!"

    "Yessir!"

    Minhyuk slowly entered the capsule. He smiled slightly as he saw everyone¡¯s worried and nervous faces.

    Well then, shall we start?

    Fwooom¡ª

    The capsule slowly closed as wires stretched out and covered Minhyuk¡¯s body. His eyes slowly closed as the light extinguished. All he could see now was the darkness when suddenly a mechanical voice rang loudly.

    [Wee to Athenae. Do you want to get started?]

    "Yes."

    sh!

    As soon as his words fell, a sh of bright light covered him. He could see a copy of himselfpletely naked in front of him. He could see blobs of fat adorning his body¡­ He couldn¡¯t even see the outline of his face because of all the flesh covering his entire body.

    This is me. This is Minhyuk.

    [This is your first log-in. For your character customization, only the hair, weight and skin tone could be changed.]

    ''...There''s nothing like this in Versal.''

    Even though Versal boasted its extreme simrity to reality it has deemed this featurepletely unnecessary.

    That''s why I couldn''t change my weight there.

    Of all the things that he could change, he only wanted to change one thing and one thing alone.

    "Change my weight to 73kg."

    Along with his words, a bright light covered his body. Once the light disappeared, what appeared in front of him was a tall, slim and handsome version of himself. The Minhyuk that was supposed to be. This was the Minhyuk from 5 years ago, the Minhyuk that was still not afflicted with bulimia.

    Tears welled up in his eyes.

    "Ar¡­ aren''t you handsome¡­"

    His face was sporting a small nose with a big pair of doe eyes and a sharp jawline. It wasn¡¯t a lie to say that he looked like a model. After all, he was originally at a height of 185cm and coupled with his looks he could definitely pass off as a model.

    This was how it should have been.

    Minhyuk, like his father, was a very handsome man.

    He slowly reached out his hands as if to caress the figure in front of him. The figure that he longed would be his.

    I want to touch it.

    However, touching it was impossible. But he still couldn¡¯t stop himself from smiling.

    "This is me¡­"

    His smile widened imperceptibly. He wasparing his fat self to a scratch lottery. Scratching off his fat would result in this figure.

    That''s me after I was scratched.

    ''I can do it!''

    After pondering about things deeply, he heard another notification.

    [Are there any more changes you wish to make?]

    "No."

    This is already enough. I already look close to Kang Dongwonbin [4].

    [Please name your character.]

    "Minhyuk."

    Before ying this game, he had decided that he would use his own name as his nickname.

    [Would you like to start connecting to the game?]

    "Yes."

    A sh of bright light filled Minhyuk¡¯s vision.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] They are ying ???? (word chain game) or shiritori. It''s a word chain game where you use thest syble from the previous word to make another word. Back

    [2] I previously tranted this as Athens but in the original Manhwa it is called Athenae so I will be using Athenae for it starting from now. ^^ Back

    [3] If you''re wondering, this costs about 13,000 dors Back

    [4] Kang Dongwonbin : Abination of Kang Dongwon and Wonbin.Back

    Food Discussion Corner

    Tangsuyuk (???) : sweet and sour pork

    Yukgaejang (???) : spicy beef stew

    Jangeo (??) : eel

    Eomuk (??) : Fishcake

    Muksabal (???) : or mukbap, cold soup made with muk (jelly made from beans or grains) and shredded vegetables.

    For any errors and issues contact me through discord:- /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 3.2 - Game Start

    Chapter 3.2: Game Start

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    Chirp chirp!

    Before Minhyuk could open his eyes, he could already hear the sound of the birds chirping. It sounded oddly realistic as if real birds were really near him.

    As he slowly opened his eyes, a man wearing leather armor and adorning a sword on his waist came into his view.

    "Wee. Your game will start here in Ardo. I am Valen, your basic training instructor."

    Athenae was an exceptionallyrge game and apanying such arge game was a tremendous amount of beginners. Minhyuk was just one among the many beginners that appeared in Athenae''s novice zone.

    ''An NPC?''

    Compared to Versal, this NPC looks very realistic. Hmm. This is quite impressive.

    The NPC gave Minhyuk, who was standing in front of him in a daze, a wooden sword. This wooden sword was one of the basic weapons that the game would provide beginner users.

    "Your basic training quest will begin right now."

    Ding!

    A window popped out in front of Minhyuk along with the chime of the notification.

    [Quest: Hit the Scarecrow 50 times]

    Rank: Tutorial

    Limit: None

    Rewards: +1 Bonus point, 10x Hard Bread, 10x Bottled Water

    Penalty for Failure: None

    Description: You have just started ying Athenae. Learn how to attack by hitting the scarecrow fifty times.

    "You can open the Quest Window just by thinking or saying quest."

    Valen, the NPC standing in front of Minhyuk, exined the basic rules of the game. However, even though he was talking in front of him, the only thing that caught Minhyuk''s attention was not his words.

    And that was¡­

    ''B-bread¡­?''

    Yes, bread. Flour. The enemy of everyone who''s dieting. And yet¡­ it was still considered to be one of the most delicious foods in the world.

    Grooowl!

    His stomach grumbled loudly. It seemed like even though all he did was stand in a daze in front of the NPC his stomach was still protesting in hunger. He assumed that if he did not eat anything right now then he would probably start feeling sick any time soon.

    "Heh¡­ Uhmm, can''t you give me that 10 loaves of hard bread in advance?"

    "No."

    Valen refused him right off the bat. He was as strict as a soldier could be.

    Minhyuk suddenly felt a bit sullen when he heard his hard refusal but he still grabbed the wooden sword that was given to him tightly. It looked like he had made his decision.

    ''I¡­ I want to eat that bread!''

    Try eating 5000 cherry tomatoes everyday and you''ll probably want to eat that bread too.

    Minhyuk quickly approached the area where the scarecrows were located. Before he started his quest, he did some light exercise first to get a feel of his movements and how his body would move.

    ''M¡­ My body feels as light as a feather!''

    To him right now, he felt like he had just let go of the hundreds of kilograms of weight that he had been carrying all those years.

    He quickly tightened his hold on his wooden sword as he struck the scarecrow with great strength.

    sh!

    His strikes were clean and precise with no movements left wasted. Swinging this wooden sword was no different from all of the other exercises that he had tried and done. After all he had tried all of the exercise that he could just so he could lose a bit of weight.

    As he moved his body, he could feel that the feel of his body in the game was entirely different than in reality. In this ce, he could easily move without being breathless. His speed was even fast and light! For Minhyuk who had been weighed down, both literally and figuratively, by his weight, this was already counted as a source of joy.

    "M¡­ my body is as light as a feather!"

    Minhyuk kept on shing and striking at the scarecrow as he shouted happily.

    sh!

    sh!

    His movements had also started to be more swift and controlled as he gained familiarity with his body.

    sh!

    sh!

    As time went by, he started to get more used to his body.

    "T¡­ too fast!"

    "Did he do kendo [1] outside?"

    The other beginners that were in his vicinity were amazed at his speed. Other users had already copsed after doing just 30 strikes. Some were even gasping for air as sweat dripped down from their bodies. However, Minhyuk was still swinging his sword continuously.

    sh!

    sh!

    He was used to a high intensity of exercise. After all, he was required to work out for four hours every single day. He would even work out so hard that he wanted to puke after his exercise had finished. So for him, swinging this sword for 50 times was just a piece of cake.

    sh!

    sh!

    He only stopped his movements after finishing all of the required 50 strikes in the quest.

    [Quest: Hit the Scarecrow 50 times - Completed]

    [+1 Bonus Point acquired]

    [Additional Rewards can be received from Instructor Valen]

    Then, he saw Instructor Valen quietly approaching him.

    "Good job. Your movements were neat and precise, I can''t wait to see what you would be in the future. You have probably been notified about the bonus point too."

    Minhyuk nodded his head.

    "You can see your stats window just by thinking about it or saying it and you can ce your bonus points wherever you want to ce them. If you increase your strength, your physical attack will increase by +3, the weight you can carry as well as your HP will increase¡­ mumble mumble¡­ "

    All in all, what Valen told him was that if he increased his strength then his physical attack would increase by +3 which in turn would increase his HP by +1. On the other hand, if he increased his agility then his physical defense would increase by +3 which would result in an increase in his attack speed and movement speed by +1.cIncreasing his stamina would also increase HP by +10 while increasing his wisdom would increase his MP by +10. And if he increased his intelligence then his magical attack would increase by +3. These were the 5 basic stats.

    However, all of this information was something that he already knew. This just to show that he had researched a lot of basic information before deciding to log in the game.

    "Stats Window."

    As if on cue, ahologram popped out in front of him.

    (Minhyuk)

    Level: 1

    ss: None

    HP: 55  MP: 50

    STR: 5 AGI: 5 STM: 5

    WIS: 5 INT: 5

    Fullness: 70%

    Bonus Point: +1

    ording to Changwook-hyung, it will be more useful if I increase my STR first.

    Minhyuk quickly dragged the bonus point that he had received to his STR. His interest was suddenly dragged back to Valen when he saw him pull out a heavy bag. When the bag opened, h3 saw ten loaces of dry hard bread along with ten bottles of water.

    "Good job. Simrly, you can put these in your inventory by thinking or saying ''Keep''."

    Minhyuk nodded furiously as he smiled brightly at the thought of tasting the bread.

    "I''ve never seen a guy who''s so happy with receiving these rewards."

    Valen let out a small smile when he saw his delighted expression. He looked like he had received the greatest gift in the world with how wide he was smiling.

    Just as he was going to reach out for his rewards, Minhyuk suddenly heard other people talking.

    "Ew, what kind of bread is this?!"

    One of the male users who had received the same reward had his face crumpled in disgust. He spat out the hard bread that he chewed and groaned in disgust. This was a user who had received the same heavy bag before Minhyuk.

    "A roasted rock would taste better than this."

    The user grumbled on and on. As if he wouldn''t be able to remove the taste of the hard bread if he did not criticize it loudly.

    "Tch. They don''t even know how to appreciate these small things."

    Valen clicked his tongue in annoyance.

    If you wanted to eat something nice then go ahead and be strong.

    This was this game''smon sense.

    Isn''t hard bread enough for novices?

    Then¡­

    "Oh."

    He heard someone eximing beside him.

    "Hmm?"

    Valen turned beside him and saw Minhyuk sniffing the bread as if it was a rare delicacy that needed its scent to be savored in such a way.

    ''How long has it been? This is the smell of flour, so fragrant!''

    Is it rice bread? Or beer bread? Or maybe it''s brown rice bread? The bread that''s good for your body? It''s done!

    Minhyuk firmly believed that any flour-based bread was the best bread in the world!

    When he finished savoring the smell of the bread, he slowly tore a piece and ced it in his mouth.

    Crunch!

    It''s true. The bread is hard and cold.

    He felt like he was chewing on the crusty shell of a baguette. However, once the bread rolled around in his mouth, it slowly softened. He chewed on it carefully and savored its taste as best as he could before swallowing the piece. He was so moved by its taste that he ended up gobbling the piece up quickly.

    "D-delicious¡­"

    It''s really delicious.

    The only reason why Minhyuk was only allowed to eat vegetables was because they all wanted him to stay away from instant and salty food. Maintaining his distance from such food would let him stay healthy and not gain much weight. This was also the reason why he had not tasted any bread for nearly two years.

    He found the taste of the bread so delicious that he couldn''t stop himself from gorging and wolfing down everything.

    "Is¡­ Is it really that delicious?"

    "Yes, it''s delicious. It''s truly mouthwatering!"

    Minhyuk nodded his head furiously. He wanted to show him how happy he was with its taste. His tears even welled up with how happy he was.

    Valen unconsciously smiled at him.

    ''The people who enter these days only know how toin about these rewards.''

    Maybe this boy is special.

    "If you continue to strike for another 50 times, you''ll receive 10 additional loaves of hard bread and 10 bottles of water. It''s just that there will be no more additional bonus points. However, you can also choose to exit this zone and start your proper hunting tutorial."

    Minhyuk was so moved when he heard the instructor say ''I will give you more bread'' that he couldn''t help but look at Valen with watery eyes.

    "Are you really just going to give me bread for nothing?"

    "It''s not for nothing, you have to strike the scarecrow for another 50 times."

    Does that mean that I can continue to get ten loaves of hard bread and ten bottles of water just for 50 strikes?

    In a way, the game was giving him an infinite amount of rewards for free. However, no user would definitely try and do this. If you were a yer, then you would definitely not waste your time on striking scarecrows continuously just to get tasteless bread and water. Instead, they would definitely choose to go out and have fun with hunting.

    Minhyuk continued to eat after deciding that he would continue striking the scarecrow. Just when he was savoring his fifth hard bread...

    [Your fullness has reached 100%]

    [Fullness will not increase with intake of more food.]

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] Kendo: A traditional japanese martial art descended from swordsmanship, they use bamboo swords and protective armor Back

    Food Discussion Corner.

    [Bread] You will find that there are a lot of different types of bread. It is entirely dependent on their main ingredient. Rice bread uses rice flour, beer bread adds bear or alcoholic beverages, brown rice bread uses brown rice flour.

    Game Attributes (Definition and Abbreviation)

    HP (Health Point) : amount of health of the yer

    MP (Mana Point) : amount of magic power of the yer

    Attack (ATK) : physical attack, causes damage to opponent

    Defense (DEF) : physical defense, reduces the atk damage suffered by the yer

    Intelligence (INT) : highly rted to logic and reasoning

    Stamina (STM) : how long a yer canst

    Strength (STR) : physical power and carrying capacity, reduces opponent DEF points

    Agility (AGI) : nimbleness and reflexes

    Speed (SPD) : how fast a yer is

    Wisdom (WIS) : rted to self-awareness, perception and insight

    TL¡¯s corner!

    I will refer to their abbr. for the following chapters if they will be included. Also, lmao at flour based bread is the best. Aren''t all bread flour-based???? Kek.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 4.1 - Garlic Bread And Soup

    Chapter 4.1: Garlic Bread and Soup

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    2 Garlic Bread and Soup

    ''Alright¡­!''

    Minhyuk knew that he did a great job this time.

    Jinhwan had personally tried the game and he knew that he could eat and taste 100 ramyeon in the game. ording to his observations, even if the user decided to eat after his fullness reached 100% the character would not be affected at all.

    Through the years of treatment, they had concluded that Minhyuk''s bulimia was a psychological illness. In other words, even if his body was full and satiated, his brain would continue to tell him that he was still hungry.

    However, the concept of the game''s character fullness was a bit different from Minhyuk''s bulimia in a sense that the game did not necessarily force him to eat even though he was already full.

    He quickly wolfed down the remaining bread from his original 10 loaves of bread right in front of Valen before solemnly walking back towards the training grounds. His expression was so solemn that if he wasn''t surrounded by scarecrows others would definitely think that he was going to raid the boss monster.

    ''I have to eat that¡­ Flour¡­ bread!''

    sh!

    The scarecrow was struck.

    ***

    This was Minhyuk''s fourth set of 50 strikes. In total, he had already done 200 strikes in the total amount of time that he was logged in. He had also eaten a total of 32 loaves of bread. He had received an extra two loaves of bread because Valen had decided to give him extra rewards out of his goodwill. He had also heard a notification about this earlier.

    [Valen''s favorability [1] has increased.]

    To be honest, he was quite perplexed with this notification since all he did was swing his sword and eat his bread. However, his favorability with the NPC, Valen, had still increased.

    I''m definitely a bit curious but it doesn''t matter since the bread still tastes delicious!

    Just as hepleted his fourth set of 50 strikes¡­

    [Your STR has increased by +1]

    ''Huh?''

    Minhyuk was taken aback. He quickly opened his stats window to check the notification.

    (Minhyuk)

    Level: 1

    ss: None

    HP: 57  MP: 50

    STR: 7 AGI: 5 STM: 5

    WIS: 5 INT: 5

    Fullness: 100%

    Bonus Point: 0

    His STR stat had really increased by 1.

    All right! Let''s strike while the iron''s still hot.

    Minhyuk decided to test his favorability and ask Instructor Valen about the notification.

    "Instructor."

    "Oh, you finished another set of 50 strikes? You''re really diligent!"

    Valen truly liked Minhyuk. He was hardworking and diligent and most of all, he did notin about the bread.

    "Well. Here you go, I''ll give you three more pieces this time."

    "Thank you very much!"

    Minhyuk bowed at him. He bowed so low that his body was at a 90 degree angle!

    "Instructor, I have a question."

    "Go on, you can ask me anything."

    "Why did my STR stat go up by 1?"

    "Oho."

    With Valen''s reaction, Minhyuk believed that he knew the reason why.

    "You will get special rewards if you keep on hitting the scarecrow but it''s not usually rmended."

    "Eh? Howe?"

    "If you go out of Ardo and kill monsters you''ll level up easily and get 5 bonus points per level. That''s why no one would do that just for 1 bonus point."

    "Aha, as expected of you instructor. You know as much as you are handsome [2]."

    "This friend! You''re such a smooth talker!"

    "Hahaha!"

    [Valen''s favorability has increased.]

    He heard another notification about favorability increase.

    Minhyuk was extremely grateful for Valen''s existence. He was someone who gave him food so he considered him as his life''s savior, his benefactor so doing this much ttery was nothing to him at all.

    And I can even get more bread just for a bit of ttery!

    Eating was his life''s sole happiness and it was also the reason why he had yed this game. He was only ying this game for the sake of enjoyment but strangely enough he was still liked by others and was given additional rewards.

    Munch, munch, munch¡ª

    Minhyuk quickly worked on his loaves of bread before standing up again.

    "Bread! Bread! Crayon bread!"

    He skipped happily as he sang a strange song while heading towards where the scarecrows were located.

    ***

    Lee Minhwa was a new member of the Athenae''s Special User''s Management team. She was watching the monitors seriously when she suddenly eximed loudly.

    "How did he do that¡­ Huh, how can he get so much of that hard thing? Oh, I can''t believe he ate it in one go. You''ll be in big trouble."

    The way she was reacting was almost like she was watching an intense baseball game video.

    Gulp.

    She continued watching the monitor while her throat bobbed and drool slowly flowed down her chin. Then, at that moment¡­...

    "Lee Minhwa."

    "Ah. Yes, Team Leader Park!"

    Lee Minhwa quickly wiped the drool off of her face as she stood up in a panic.

    "What the hell are you watching? You''re making a weird noise."

    "Hiih¡­ T-that¡­"

    Team Leader Park Minggyu followed Lee Minhwa''s eyes and saw the scene on the monitor.

    The monitor was projecting a male user tearing down on hard bread one after the other.

    Team Leader Park frowned at the scene.

    "You know that this is the department where you watch special users, right? We are not the department that watches mukbang [3] users."

    Park Minggyu was the team leader that was well known for his strictness and meticulousness.

    "H-he is a special user."

    "What?"

    "It''s unusual for yers to get the reward for hitting the scarecrow 200 times, right?"

    "That''s right."

    "That unusual user has hit the scarecrow 200 times in a row."

    "Is that so? Hmm¡­ Did that user get something weird from Athenae''s forums?"

    This information was something that was widely circted and known among users. Everyone knew that there would be an increase in their abilities if they continued to hit the scarecrows. However, they had to hit a lot. After all, the more they hit, the greater the rewards that they would get. Users had deemed this way of leveling up as time consuming and inefficient so not much people would dare to do it.

    "But this user is special."

    "Special? Huh, there are many users like that."

    "That''s not it, I get the feeling that he was hitting the scarecrow so he could get something to eat."

    "What are you saying¡­ Who''s crazy enough to hit that scarecrow just to get hard bread?"

    "Th- this person right here."

    Curious, Team Leader Park sat down on Lee Minhwa''s seat and watched the monitor closely. That was when he saw it. He saw the man smiling happily, with sweat raining down on him, as he happily ate his hard bread.

    Guulp¡ª

    Team Leader Park and Minhwa both drooled at the same time.

    "Eh? Why can''t I stop watching this?"

    This is really strange.

    It was like his spirit was being sucked in and he couldn''t stop himself from watching the man eat. He had no other thoughts in his mind except watching him eat.

    "It seems like he''s really hitting the scarecrows because he wants to eat. I''ve never seen a user like this one before."

    "I know. Ah, won''t you be able to get a special reward if you hit the scarecrow for 20 times in two consecutive days?"

    "Yeah. A title. But will he really eat that bread for 20 times right? That''s like at least a thousand sword strikes."

    "I¡­ Is that so?"

    Team Leader Park loosened his tie, leaned backfortably and said to Minhwa.

    "Minhwa-ssi"

    "Yes, Team Leader?"

    "Shall we eat some bread?"

    He was subtly telling her that she should go and buy some for him.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] Favorability : Rtes to the intimacy level or the rtionship of the yer with others; tbh it says intimacy level and idk it doesn''t sound right. Lol. Back

    [2] idk how to phrase it but it means that amount of knowledge he has = his handsomeness. So if he knows a lot then he''s really handsome. He''splimenting him subtly. You go Hyukkie!! Back

    [3] Mukbang : lit. Mukja + bangsong or eating + broadcast. Back

    Report mistakes and chat with us at:/Q3dStgu

 Chapter 4.2 - Garlic Bread And Soup

    Chapter 4.1: Garlic Bread and Soup

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    Woosh!

    The capsule slowly opened as Minhyuk opened his eyes and stepped out of it.

    His medical team had required him to take a 30-minute break for every four hours that he yed the game. This was so his team could monitor his health condition and for him to eat amd appease his hunger in reality.

    After ying, he could feel the pangs of hunger in his stomach. However he could see the rest of the people staring at him and waiting for his reaction. All of them were looking at him attentively.

    "H¡ª how was it?"

    "Were you able to eat something?"

    "Yes¡­"

    Minhyuk nodded sullenly as he eptes the box filles with cherry tomatoes. He looked at the box as if he was looking at bitter medicine, with disgust and contempt.

    "But why do you look so disappointed?"

    "Because I can''t eat it right now."

    Minhyuk answered their questions as he munched on his cherry tomatoes.

    As soon as his voice fell¡­¡­

    Giggle!

    Everyone chuckled at him.

    "It was really delicious¡­"

    "What did you eat?"

    Oh Changwook curiously asked him.

    "It was hard bread."

    Among everyone present, those who had ess and yed Athenae immediately lost their smiles once they heard him.

    Hard bread? Was it really that tasteless dry bread? That bread which all of those poor, broke novices eat to satisfy their fullness stat? It was delicious?

    Even if they believed that it was weird, once they looked at it through Minhyuk''s perspective then they could understand his thoughts to some extent.

    "I can go back in after a 30-minute break, right?"

    Minhyuk looked at Jinhwan and asked him.

    "That''s right."

    This was his first ess and log-out from the game. So far, they have not yet seen any problems or abnormalities in him. However, right now, they could see a bit of change in Minhyuk¡­¡­

    "I want to go back in quickly and eat that hard bread~"

    Minhyuk''s face was finally filled with smiles. However, Jinhwan could only give a bitter smile when he thought of Minhyuk before.

    ''We have never seen him smile like this before.''

    Everyone knew Minhyuk as someone who was cheerful and energetic. He had never lost the smile on his face even after going through such a rare illness. However, most of his smiles andughter were made just so he could get out of an awkward situation or just so he would not worry the people around him.

    But right now, Minhyuk was truly smiling.

    ''For Minhyuk, more than anything, he is truly happy when he is eating.''

    Jinhwan shook his head to clear the depressing thoughts out of his mind.

    "Ah! Minhyuk, you''ve finished the hunting tutorial and entered the novice zone right?"

    "Nope. I''m actually still hitting the scarecrow."

    "Whaaaaat?"

    Oh Changwook''s eyes widened in surprise. The scarecrow hitting quest was a quest that could bepleted in an hour so everyone was quite confused when he told them that he was still hitting the scarecrow. Minhyuk had to narrate what he had done and experienced so far just to clear the confusion away.

    "...Is that so?"

    What a strange way of ying games. He wanted to eat more bread so he kept on hitting the scarecrow?

    For Changwook who''s ranked higher this was something that waspletely iprehensible.

    ying games are supposed to be about leveling up and gaining skills, right?

    "It looks like you''ll take a little while longer before you get to the novice zone, huh?"

    "You''re absolutely correct. General, sir!"

    "Hey¡­¡­! Drop it already!"

    Oh Changwook grimaced at his words.

    Minhyuk held his mobile phone as he continued to eat his cherry tomatoes and sd quickly. He went to Athenae''s official homepage and searched for ''Things to eat in Ardo.'' in preparation for his entry in the novice zone. For regr users, it was truly an unusual thing to search for.

    Minhyuk browsed the search results keenly.

    [Guys, have you tried eating the bark of the pine trees in Ardo? It tastes so frickin good [1]!

    ¡ªMyPooColor: He''s doing it again¡­ Last time his character ate weeds and died hahahahahaha

    ¡ªWonderboy: Attention seeker hahaha. I''ll rmend a recipe to you, mix rice and horse poop. Give it a try. Lmao.

    ¡ªDaddyKong: Mr. Wonder, he might really do it¡­

    There are a lot of strange people in this world and it seems like it''s the same in the game too.

    Minhyuk continued to scroll down as he looked through the post. Suddenly, his hands stopped at one post in particr.

    ''T¡ª this is it¡­!''

    He read the contents on the post in rapt attention. Not long after, his body trembled as his eyes widened in surprise.

    "Hey, what''s wrong with you¡­!"

    "Mi¡­ Minhyukie! Don''t tell me that his body still can''t cope without eating for 4 hours?!"

    The surroundings were suddenly caught in an uproar but Minhyuk shook his head calmly and smiled at them tofort them.

    "I- it''s not what you think¡­"

    "...huh?"

    "If I finish attacking the scarecrow and exit the area then I can find chickens!"

    "Ah, chicken? They''re easy to catch. You can just hit them a few times and they''ll die. They''re really just there for you to practice before hunting monsters for real."

    That was not important. What was important was¡­¡­

    Chicken.

    What kind of existence was a chicken¡­

    "Chicken tastes delicious whether it''s roasted, fried or boiled!"

    "Ah¡­"

    Everyone reacted at the same time.

    We understand.

    However, right now, Minhyuk was being tormented.

    ''But right now¡­''

    I still want to eat bread.

    He still wanted to eat a lot of bread so he was a bit conflicted about what he should do. However, he still made up his mind.

    ''I still want to eat more bread.''

    Gulp, I can eat chickens as soon as I can too. I don''t know how many times I have eaten bread but I still want to eat more.

    He was both stubborn and persistent on all of the things that he had set his mind on. It was the same reason as to why he had topped the CSAT and why he excelled in all of the endeavors that he dipped his feet on.

    ''That''s right, naengmyeon [2] and eggs will be the finale.''

    He will be one of those few people who ate naengmyeon and eggs as the finale.

    Yeah, save the best forst!

    But there was still one thing that was bothering him.

    ''You can''t just catch a chicken and eat it alive right?''

    I don''t have any tools and utensils.

    After pondering on different methods to acquire tools, Minhyuk finally thought of a brilliant idea. Just as he thought of the NPC he included in his idea, he saw the name in the forums. It came up as a rted search entry while he was browsing the inte, ''Ardo''s Instructor, Valen'' was what was posted.

    He quickly clicked on the topic and what greeted him when he clicked were posts from users which were full of grievances and discontent.

    Minhyuk clicked on one and started reading.

    [Ardo''s scarecrow instructor Valen is so scary and unfriendly¡­ So scary [3], having to strike 50 times is already hard enough but I only get bread and bottled water and he even threw it at me and gave me a disgusted look¡­ I mean why do you have to throw it at me, he''s such a jerk! Aren''t the users king? Why is this NPC like this?]

    ¡ªKingtoMan: ¡­? The problem is probably with your personality. Are you like this even in your daily life? NPCs are like humans too. If you treated him nicely, won''t he treat you the same way?

    ¡ªSailorTop: Instructor Valen is famous for being unfriendly. If I were you, you should have looked for the meaning of ''Manner maketh man.''[4] haha. You''re lucky you''ve just started.

    ¡ªiLuvSpinningWheels: It''s true that Instructor Valen is a bit strict¡­ But if everyday you wee beginners who talk and look down on you then you would also be very annoyed¡­

    ''Hmm?''

    Minhyuk couldn''t understand what they were talking about in thements.

    ''Instructor Valen?''

    That man was very kind to him. He nodded repeatedly and thought that he should pay back all of the kindness he had shown him in his stay in the training grounds. After all, Minhyuk was only trying to do what his father had taught him.

    Don''t take advantage of the kindness of others and don''t neglect the weak.

    This situation was the same. Even though he was always at home studying, he had received the best education from his father so he wanted to do the best that he could to show the world that his father had taught him well.

    Minhyuk who finished checking the information about Instructor Valen in Athenae''s homepage switched to another site. It''s that site where you can find all of the information you need¡­ ''Nava''.

    He searched ''hard bread recipes'' in Nava since right now what he wanted to eat was a bread that tasted even better than the bread that he was currently eating.

    In fact, Minhyuk was not all thaty good at cooking. It wasn''t because he was not able to try his hand at it¡­ But it was because he always ended up eating the ingredients while trying to make food! He even gained a lot of weight because he wanted to try his hand at it.

    But inside the game?

    It might be possible.

    "I''m going back inside."

    "Are you going to eat chicken?"

    "No, nope. I''m going to eat bread."

    "Why?"

    "No pain, no gain. I have to eat something delicious after working so hard."

    After leaving those words, Minhyuk swaggered back inside the capsule.

    "I don''t understand. If I were you, I''d go and eat chicken right away."

    "Haha, I can understand Minhyukie''s feelings."

    Jinhwan smiled at him.

    "Doctor understands too?"

    "Isn''t it like that? It''s like someone wants to go to the buffet and eat a lot of things while the other wants to focus on one dish and raise its quality and taste. Aren''t you thetter, Minhyukie?"

    "Ah¡­."

    "It''s been years since hest had bread, he probably wants to eat it like crazy until he gets sick of it."

    Jinhwan stood up and said¡­

    "Do you understand it now, General, sir?"

    "Ah¡­ ah¡­ arghh¡­! Kang Minhyuk, this is your fault!"

    Oh Changwook was likely to kick his nket in his sleep tonight [5].

    ***

    Footnotes

    [Novice Zone] I seem to have said before that Ardo was the novice zone but it seems like the novice zone is a big area so he''s just in the tutorial area. Back

    [Minhyukie] It says Minhyuk-kun in the raws but¡­ Isn''t that for JP?? So I changed it to Minhyukie. Back

    [1] The raws says ??? but I think it''s ??? which is a ng. It''s an abbr for ?? ???? ?? which means it''s really really delicious. Back

    [2] Naengmyeon: cold noodle soup Back

    [3] Raw says ?? this is a shorthand for ?? which means trembling or shaking they use it to say that it''s scary. Back

    [4] It actually literally says that manner makes the man. Manner maketh man is a saying which means that your behavior and manners shows the people around you what type of person you are. If you show no manners towards others then it reflects that you are a bad person or someone who does not respect other people. Back

    [5] Raw says ??? which is abination of nket and kick which refers to a situation where someone lies in bed but suddenly remembers an embarrassing moment so he kicks his nket in shame. Back

    Report mistakes and chat with us at:/Q3dStgu

 Chapter 5.1 - Garlic Bread And Soup

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    After entering the game again, Minhyuk saw a familiar scene.

    He saw users hitting the scarecrows and Instructor Valen with his crossed arms and bored look. His expression only changed when he saw Minhyuking over.

    "Oh, you''re here."

    "Yes, Instructor!"

    Minhyuk answered loudly while he gripped his small wooden sword tightly.

    "I''ll continue to work hard in swinging my sword!"

    "Aren''t you working hard to eat? Hahahaha!"

    Instructor Valenughed heartily, he looked good when he smiled.

    ''This kind of person has a bad personality?''

    Minhyuk tilted his head and steadily approached the scarecrows once more.

    By now, his STR stat has already increased by +2 and he has received the bread reward for the 11th time.

    And as usual, Minhyuk swung his sword as hard as he could to get his bread.

    sh!

    sh!

    While he was concentrating¡­

    "I''m done. Give it to me."

    He heard the voice of a user, and even before he finished speaking¡­

    Thud.

    It was the sound of something getting thrown. It''s probably the reward bag.

    "I know. Get lost, then."

    "Did you just look down on me? Aren''t you just an NPC, huh?"

    There are really a lot of strange people in this world. They even try tosh out on NPCs to resolve their inferiorityplexes.

    There were a lot of them, a lot more than anyone could think of. These people had to let others know that they have been looked down on without admitting that they also did it.

    There''s nothing more shameful and ironic than this attitude.

    "You looked down on me first so I did the same. Do you have any problem with that?"

    "What, you son of a¡­"

    "Shut your trap and get lost."

    His voice could give anyone the chills. It was borderline murderous.

    The user gulped in fright.

    "I¡­ I''ll kill you next time! You better watch out!"

    Valen scoffed loudly.

    Minhyuk thought of something when he heard the sound.

    ''Isn''t this like a cider [1]?''

    Hearing the words of the instructor makes me feel refreshed.

    He swung his sword for another 50 times, got rewarded with bread and ate it with relish. Minhyuk did this continuously until he could see the sun start to set.

    Time in Athenae flows three times faster than in the real world.

    I could even say that I spent a whole day in the game.

    Minhyuk still continued what he was doing until the daypletely ended. Afterpleting this set, Minhyuk''s STR has increased again by +1 but he saw a strange number in his stats.

    (Minhyuk)

    Level: 1

    ss: None

    HP: 59 MP: 10

    STR: 9 AGI: 5 STM: 5

    WIS: 5 INT: 5

    Fullness: 100%/2

    Bonus Point: 0

    "Huh?"

    A /2 has shown up in my fullness stat.

    Minhyuk asked Instructor Valen right away.

    "Instructor, there''s a figure and the number 2 that showed up after my 100% fullness stat, do you know what it means?"

    "Hmmm¡­ I''m sorry but I also don''t know what it is."

    "Ah¡­ I see. I understand, thank you Instructor!"

    Minhyuk thought that the NPCs would know about it but it seems that they don''t. It seemed that the NPCs do not know everything and it was one of the advantages of the game Athenae.

    Minhyuk sat down, started eating his bread and checked for more information on Athenae''s official homepage. The official homepage of Athenae could be essed even when the user was inside the game.

    He searched for the / after his fullness stat. After searching for a while, he was able to find out about it.

    [A /1 appeared right after my fullness stat, does anyone know what this means?

    ¡ªPororoGum: Your character will be deleted in 1 hour, yepyep[2].

    ¡ªthisisrigged: What does it mean?

    ¡ªieatwell: I know about this. It''s when your fullness has reached 100% but you still continue to eat food. Getting this /1 is not easy, you must have been eating really well. Take a picture of your hands as proof, go!]

    "Ah¡­¡­.."

    Minhyuk understood it now. His fullness is at 100% and if he would keep on eating in this state then the numbers would continue to rise.

    Minhyuk did not see it because he would only open his stats window when his stats increase. He guessed that it has been at /2 for a while now.

    Minhyuk kept on searching for more information and came to a conclusion.

    ''I guess it''s not that big of a deal, huh?''

    The highest number he saw was a /5 on a user. Nothing strange happened so Minhyuk thought that it would be fine and he just kept on swinging his sword.

    And once again he has received another set of rewards.

    [You have achieved 1000 strikes on the scarecrow.]

    [You have acquired the title ''This Zone''s Strong Guy''.]

    [You have gained 1 Reputation.]

    "I¡ª Instructor!"

    Minhyuk immediately called out to Valen.

    "What''s the matter?"

    "I¡­ I got the title This Zone''s Strong Guy."

    "Co- congrattions!"

    Valen was overjoyed, it was as if the one who got the title was himself.

    "A person can get a lot of different titles, you can get a special title in a variety of ways. There are multi-titles and sole-titles. You can split them into these two big categories."

    Minhyuk listened attentively to his words.

    "Multi-titles are titles that any user can obtain while sole-titles are special titles that can only be obtained when a user bes the first person to achieve a specific milestone. The rewards for thetter are especially good. The This Zone''s Strong Guy is a title under the multi-title category."

    Instructor Valen told him this information with a satisfied smile.

    "You can also check your titles by thinking or saying it out loud."

    Minhyuk checked the details of the title right away.

    (This Zone''s Strong Guy)

    Multi-title

    Title Effect: +5 to all 5 Basic Stats

    "Oh¡­"

    Minhyuk let out a surprised cry and quickly checked his stats window.

    Level: 1

    ss: None

    HP: 114 MP: 100

    STR: 9+5 AGI: 5+5 STM: 5+5

    WIS: 5+5 INT: 5+5 Rep: 1

    Fullness: 100%/2

    Bonus Point: 0

    Leveling up by 1 gives 5 bonus points. Right now, Minhyuk''s stats look simr to someone who has leveled up by 5.

    I just swung my sword so I could eat!

    "Well, you must have seen that your reputation increased. If you have the reputation stat then your intimacy with the protectors will increase a bit and when you make a deal with them you will be able to buy items from them on a cheaper price or sell your items to them on a more expensive price. And once your reputation reaches a certain level you will obtain a +1 in your magical defense stat."

    "What is the magical defense stat?"

    "It''s literally the defense against magic. You don''t necessarily have it right now. Also, any unmarked stat will be marked once you get it, understand?"

    "Ah, I see. Thank you."

    Minhyuk ate his bread and started hitting the scarecrows again with a happy expression.

    ''My body definitely has changed once my stats rose and I got the title.''

    "Wow¡­"

    "He- he''s freaking strong!"

    The surrounding users shouted in surprise.

    It''s been an hour after all, and they''re all beginner users with the same stats but he''s the only one who could finish it at twice the speed. They''re all stunned at his power.

    And all of this was observed by Instructor Valen with a fatherly smile(?) on his face.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] cider : it''s Sprite in KR, it''s a ng for feeling refreshed after an injustice is solved. Lol. Have to look up ngs about ciders because I was honestly confused for a moment there.

    [2] raw says ?? which means ?? or just an informal way of saying yes, so I used yepyep.

    TL note!

    Regarding the titles¡­ It was written as ???? and ?? ?? so I named it as multi-title and sole-title however idk what it is usually called in other rpg games. Help me¡­ ?? Also¡­ Lol even the author questioned Valen''s smile. XD

    P.S. I saw yourments on Ch 3.2¡­ Yes Thu_rsday was right. There was a special reward. But Juslin was also correct in his question, however as stated by Valen, no one will waste their time to hit the scarecrow for 2 days straight just to get +4 on STR and this was also stated by Team Leader Park who''s going to be crazy for hard bread right??? besides they don''t know how much they need to hit to get the reward lol so they probably gave up. We don''t know if he''s the first or the only one with this title since it''s a multi-title ^^ but I think he was the first one to get it based on Valen''s reaction.

    For any errors and issues contact me through discord:- /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 5.2 - Garlic Bread And Soup

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    The night has arrived and Instructor Valen has once again given a powerful blow and sent away a user who was picking a fight against him.

    ''Hoo¡­ I''m tired.''

    This was his routine each and every day and no deviation would happen at all.

    ''It''s almost time for my shift to end.''

    After 12 hours he could take turns with another staff who would work the night shift.

    And just at that moment the staff who''s supposed to relieve his shift came.

    "Good job Instructor Valen. You can go and take a rest now."

    "It''s going to be tough on you [1]."

    When Valen turned around he was still able to see Minhyuk diligently eating bread.

    ''It would be nice if he''s still here tomorrow too...''

    The past two days were truly enjoyable.

    Minhyuk, a young man who was happy with just one bread, could make anyone smile just by looking at him.

    He turned around to leave with those thoughts as hispanion.

    "Instructor."

    Minhyuk quickly kept his sword and approached him.

    "Huh?"

    "Hehe, are you getting off of work now?"

    "That''s right."

    "By any chance¡­ Have you eaten already?"

    "Not yet. I''ll eat when I get home."

    Of course he didn''t eat yet.

    Minhyuk knew this but still decided to ask.

    "Theeeeeen¡­."

    "...It''s fine, you can say it."

    "I''d like to make you a delicious dinner, Instructor!"

    "Hmm? A delicious dinner?"

    Valen halted when he heard those words. No user has made this offer before and he also has never had anyone ask toe to his house.

    "Yeees!"

    Minhyuk has already secretly nned this in his head.

    ''There''s no way I can get any tools right now so the only way I can make a delicious meal out of hard bread is to borrow the Instructor''s tools! And if we get even closer I could probably borrow those tools even if I go out of here.''

    Of course it won''t be for free.

    He said that he would cook a meal for him.

    "Would you really do that?"

    Instructor Valenughed out loud. He could probably tell what he was secretly nning.

    "You."

    "Yes!"

    "You just want to eat something delicious, right?"

    Sting! [2]

    "N¡­ Not at all! I really want the Instructor to eat something delicious!"

    "Hahaha, you! You''ll probably fill a river with how your mouth is watering. Let''s go."

    The two of them walked away together.

    ***

    Valen''s house was very close, it was a small cabin located opposite of the scarecrow training grounds.

    However small the cabin is, there''s something inside it for sure. An oven, a pot or anything that could make fire.

    "Isn''t this cozy?"

    "It''s cozy. In fact I''ll be okay with it as long as there''s no old bachelor smell [3]."

    Valen smiled wryly when he turned around and saw Minhyuk looking around in the kitchen.

    ''Has anyone ever been here before?''

    Valen always went straight home after a hard day''s work, then he would take a shower, read a book and fall asleep. Then he would wake up, go to work and go home. This was how his days usually went by.

    He was always ''alone''.

    There were only two NPCs stationed at the scarecrow training grounds. One for the day shift and one for the night shift.

    And there were always plenty of users who ttered and tried to get close to them. These users did it for the possibility of getting more rewards. But none of them wanted to go and visit his home.

    ''So what if it''s just so you could eat something delicious.''

    Instructor Valen liked Minhyuk. This was the first time that he could feel warmth after so long.

    "Hmm? These are the only ingredients you have?"

    Minhyuk arranged the ingredients and frowned. He thought there would be plenty of ingredients but Valen''s avable ingredients were a bit shabby.

    "The protectors of Athenae get the same food everyday. You can go to town and buy other foods and necessities but I don''t think it''s necessary in my case."

    It''sfortable eating alone.

    He smiled bitterly.

    When he said protectors of Athenae what he meant were the NPCs.

    Minhyuk''s eyes widened with his words.

    The only ingredients he had were the hard bread that Minhyuk ate, and some ingredients to make soup. It was all he had avable.

    ''Well¡­ No matter how high the quality of the game is, it''s still a game.''

    It would be strange if they gave the NPCs a different meal everyday.

    Minhyuk rolled his sleeves.

    "I''ll definitely make you a really delicious meal!"

    "I''m looking forward to it."

    Minhyuk gave a hehe and smiled.

    "By the way, there''s a lot of bread in here ¡­ Can I eat some while I cook?"

    The loaves of hard bread were piled up like a mountain.

    "Help yourself."

    Valen smiled brightly while Minhyuk spread out all of the ingredients.

    He memorized a lot of recipes about hard bread earlier. Half of the recipe he memorized can''t be cooked. He has to find something he could make with the ingredients he has.

    Then¡­

    ''Ah¡­ That''s it¡­!''

    Hard bread, garlic, butter, honey, condensed milk, and parsley can make that!

    He could make garlic bread.

    "I''ll go and wash up."

    "Yes!"

    "Well, don''t worry too much."

    "Of course."

    Valen entered the washroom with a grin.

    "Yummy."

    Minhyuk had a piece of bread before he started.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] ????? : Something difficult or draining has happened to you. Usually said if it''s draining after work. It''s the same with ???? (?? and ?? both means trouble) in a sense that you say this to acknowledge someone''s hard work at the end of the day.

    [2] ?? : this is basically that sting or prickling of your consciousness when you''re guilty of something. In this case, our Hyukie is guilty of wanting to eat something delicious. Lol

    [3] ??? ?? : lit. widower smell, I read somewhere that it can be used as a substitute for ??? which lit means old bachelor smell. We could probablypare this to old people''s smell but that would be different, I think they were referring to the smell of a room of a single man. Lmao this is hard to exin. I hope you get it. Kek.

    For any errors and issues contact me through discord:- /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 6.1 - Garlic Bread And Soup

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    He started cooking as he continuously munched on the bread.

    He first used the bread knife to cut the bread nicely. Then he ced the garlic, butter, honey and condensed milk in a bowl and mixed it well.

    After he mixed the ingredients he spread the resulting sauce on the bread evenly. Then he sprinkled the parsley gently on top.

    What''s after? I finished all of the preparations needed.

    There''re plenty of people who enjoy the taste of garlic bread.

    Whether it be a child or an adult, once they put it in their mouth, the mixture of the sweet and salty vor of garlic bread is the best.

    He ced the prepared bread on the oven pan. Because the pan wasrge enough there were quite a lot of garlic bread that went into the oven.

    He set the timer, turned it on and watched the slices of garlic bread start to turn golden brown.

    It was always a joy for him to wait for that ding! sound the oven would make when it''s done.

    How does my cooking taste?

    Minhyuk kept on munching his bread.

    Well, let''s start making the soup. Unfortunately, there''s only powder for making cream soup in Instructor Valen''s house.

    ording to Changwook, he ate this nasty food when he was in the army. I''m sorry but...

    Minhyuk still drooled over it even if it was just instant soup. Usually, if you visit tonkatsu [1] restaurants you would be able to get this type of cream soup as a side dish.

    It was a very cheap dish but once he thought about how long he hadn''t had this food he couldn''t stop his mouth from watering.

    Just imagining that slightly salty vor with a soft but thick texture¡­ I can''t help but drool.

    He lit up the stove with the tididik of the gas and filled the pot with water ording to the recipe. Then he slowly poured the powder in and stirred the pot until it boiled.

    If you sprinkle a bit of salt on it then it would taste even better!

    Valen came out just in time when the soup started boiling.

    "Hoo, what''s this delicious smell floating around?"

    However, Instructor Valen who wasing inside the kitchen suddenly halted.

    "Y¡­you. What''s happening?"

    "The soup is boiling!"

    "...That one over there?"

    "Yes!"

    Minhyuk answered confidently.

    Yes, you guessed right.

    Minhyuk was boiling water enough for ten bags of soup! The pot wasrge enough to amodate at least 50 servings of soup.

    "........uhmm."

    Instructor Valen groaned lightly.

    ***

    Instructor Valen stared nkly. Minhyuk sat in front of him with a fork in one hand and a spoon on the other, his face had a bright smile and his eyes were filled with anticipation.

    There were eighty-odd [2] slices of garlic bread piled up like a mountain on the table.

    ''Uhh¡­.''

    Instructor Valen looked at the run-of-the-mill soup that filled his bowl. Opposite him, he saw Minhyukdle out some soup in the small pot in front of him from arger pot below the table.

    ''This is a soft and sweet smell.''

    The aroma of the cream soup wafted towards Minhyuk''s nose and stimted his appetite and made him drool.

    "Please eat to your heart''s content. I''ve made as much as how much I respect you."

    Minhyuk didn''t forget to butter him up [3].

    Valen slowly picked his spoon and savored the cream soup.

    Then, at that moment¡­

    Crunch!

    He heard a light sound.

    When Valen looked up, he saw Minhyuk having a big bite of garlic bread.

    The garlic bread is crunchy on the outside but soft and warm on the inside, maybe it was because it was just freshly made. There''s this sweet and salty taste that lingers in your mouth.

    It doesn''t end there.

    He scooped a big spoon of soup and put it in his mouth.

    Once the thick soup enters the mouth it melts the dry garlic bread and bes more savory. It''s a feast for the tongue!

    The crunching sound of the garlic bread seems oddly cheerful. Anyone could see it from Minhyuk''s expressions.

    This is bliss.

    Then¡­

    "Hooo¡­"

    Instructor Valen supported his forehead with his hand and shortly¡­

    "Hahahahahahahaha!"

    He couldn''t stop himself fromughing.

    "Crunch?" [4]

    Minhyuk who was so engrossed in eating his bread and soup looked at him with a bewildered expression.

    Instructor Valen was chuckling while clutching his belly.

    "Whenever you eat, you look like you''re the happiest person in the world! You look really pleased."

    Minhyuk nodded strongly at his words.

    "Nothing in this world can make me happier except for eating!"

    There were times when what makes people the happiest were not expensive cars, a nice house or even beautiful women. Sometimes they''re the happiest when they''re just eating.

    Just like today''s Valen and Minhyuk.

    "Me too, I''m really enjoying the food today."

    Valen smiled widely, however it soon turned into a bitter smile.

    "My every day routine is the same. I go to work and go home to an empty house. There''s nothing more lonely than going home to an empty house."

    Minhyuk continued to eat his food while he listened with rapt attention. This would have been considered rude but Valen had a favorable impression of him.

    "This was the first time. The first time that someone asked to eat together with me, whatever your intentions may be."

    He stared at him nkly.

    "All this time, I''ve been alone. I thought this house would never hear the sound of someone making food. Somebody¡­"

    Valen grinned.

    "Dining together with me."

    "..."

    Minhyuk stopped eating for a moment.

    A simple meal was different for someone.

    "I will forever keep this food in my memories."

    Those words struck a chord with Minhyuk. There would always be a food that anyone would forever remember.

    Someone from the army would say chocopie or someone who was extremely hungry would say ramyeon. Someone would even say that it was the seaweed soup made by their mother who passed away.

    Everyone would have a different food that deeply remains in their memories.

    Was it really that praiseworthy?

    "So it''s delicious, ah, I''m so d to hear that."

    "Let''s eat! How can we leave such delicious food and let it cool down."

    "You''re absolutely right, Instructor!"

    Minhyuk started eating again with a happy expression on his face and Instructor Valen resumed his own meal while watching him.

    Minhyuk and Valen had a wonderful dinner together.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] Tonkatsu : a deep-fried breaded pork cutlet

    [2] -odd : adding odd after a number means approximately. Lit. Approximately *number*

    [3] butter up: kiss up, tter

    [4] it''s like when your mouth is full but you still try to talk or smth like that

    TL''s corner:

    I feel like the author loves the words then, and then, at the moment. Idk how to even reduce the amount but still be able to connect the paragraphs. ??

    Have you noticed that tididik don''t gas stoves do that sound? Lol is Athenae that advanced in tech tho? And that ding from the oven. Well, well¡­ Lol. I guess we could forgive author-nim as it is fiction.

    For any errors and issues contact me through discord:- /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 6.2 - Garlic Bread And Soup

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    Minhyuk ate all of the soup and garlic bread he made in one sitting. And Valen had no choice but to continue to move his mouth.

    He remained seated while still continuing to eat the hard bread in Valen''s house.

    ''I wonder if the figure after the fullness stat changed again?''

    I don''t know exactly how the rule for that works.

    It''s just that the only thing he knew was that the more he ate after his fullness reached 100% the more the figure would increase.

    Minhyuk, who was extremely curious about the figure, opened his stats window.

    "Stats Window."

    (Minhyuk)

    Level: 1

    ss: None

    HP: 114 MP: 100

    STR: 9+5 AGI: 5+5 STM: 5+5

    WIS: 5+5 INT: 5+5 Rep: 1

    Fullness: 100%/3

    Bonus Point: 0

    ''It became 3?''

    It was only 2 before but it has now increased by 1.

    ''Don''t tell me that there''s really no side effects?''

    No one really knew how Athenae''s system works. Maybe there was something hidden about it.

    Those moments, where you find something hidden, adds lots of fun when ying the game.

    Minhyuk suddenly became restless but that didn''t stop him from eating to his heart''s content.

    Bulimic patients usually intake 20,000 calories [1] a day. If left uncontrolled, they could even eat up to 50,000.

    I probably should already have reached that amount with what I ate today.

    Minhyuk, who was mumbling to himself, watched Valen stand up to go inside his room. And when he came out, he had a well-kept sword in his hands.

    "Boy. [2]"

    His voice was a bit soft. When Minhyuk turned around to face him, Valen smiled a little and he held out the sword towards him.

    ***

    Lee Minhwa, the new employee, was very surprised at the scene she saw in her monitor.

    "Kyaa!" [3]

    [Ardo''s Valen presents the Sword of Rebellion [4] to User Minhyuk as a gift.]

    This alert was specifically designed to inform them about special users when they receive something special and could be heard within a wide area.

    It was just yesterday when Minhyuk was ssified as a level 5 special user and was then immediately put under monitoring. This was because he was the user who got the multi-title This Zone''s Strong Guy.

    "What the¡­ What did you even do to make Valen give you his weapon?"

    When Team Leader Park heard Lee Minhwa''s small scream he had already rushed over.

    "Instructor Valen was famous for being very difficult!"

    "R-right... so why would he do that, then."

    Minhwa was almost close to tears. When she saw Team Leader Park stood up with a look of excitement. She breathed a sigh of relief.

    "The Sword of Rebellion is way too good for novices."

    Even after he said that, Team Leader Park was still sporting a smile.

    "The NPCs act so much like normal humans. That''s what makes this thing fun¡­ when they do something that we can''t predict. This user is strangely so interesting. Continue to keep an eye on him."

    "Ah, wait, there''s still something I want to report."

    Lee Minhwa talked after thinking about things carefully. Team Leader Park who was looking at the other employees stopped.

    "What is it?"

    Was there something else he did that needed to be reported?

    "User Minhyuk has a /3 in his fullness stat."

    ".....It''s not 1?"

    "It was definitely 3."

    "Hasn''t it been only a few days since he logged in in Athenae?"

    "Yes, it has been 3 days."

    ".....Was he eating all day every day?! No, does it even make sense for a normal human being? A normal person won''t even do¡­"

    "He was eating all day."

    Team Leader Park opened and closed his mouth like a fish. [5]

    "Did the number 1 mukbang BJ Binz [6]e out and yed this game?

    Mukbang BJ Binz. He was the talk of the town. He could eat ten bowls of jajangmyeon [7] and ten bowls of jjamppong [8] in one meal.

    Team Leader Park considered this thought¡­

    "That means he ate approximately 40,000~50,000 calories in a day? Are you sure it''s still a man?"

    The figure after the fullness stat reaches 100%... The condition to get that /1 was to eat at least 10,000 calories.

    But this was the case of eating 40,000 to 50,000 calories in a day after having a 100% fullness stat. That''s like eating 120~150 bowls of rice in a day.

    "That user really just eats all day long?"

    "He doesn''t eat when he sleeps."

    "Crazy¡­ He ate 40,000-50,000 calories in a day? But the character will also feel full once the fullness stat reaches 100%, right?"

    Team Leader Park looked very serious. When Lee Minhwa saw his expression, she immediately said¡­

    "Wouldn''t he be able to challenge a God ss if he reaches 7?"

    "That''s right."

    He nodded.

    A God ss.

    It''s one of the job sses that users can have in Athenae.

    Jobs can be ssified as follows: General ss, Hidden ss, Secret ss, Legendary ss and God ss.

    Special users usually get the hidden and secret sses. There were no cases as of yet of someone getting a legendary ss.

    Tsk, it''s guaranteed.

    And there''s the god ss. There''s not that much released in the world as of the moment.

    "The god ss that User Minhyuk is approaching was supposed to be unreachable¡­"

    That''s right.

    Among the god sses, there were ones that clearly have the most demanding and most nonsensical conditions.

    And Minhyuk was getting close to one of those god sses.

    "It''s crazy¡­ You have to eat 40,000 calories for 10 days to get it. Don''t tell me that he can do it?"

    No matter how much he thought about it, it still wouldn''t make any sense.

    Unless he''s really trying to eat in the game!

    "Just in case, raise him to User Level 4 and keep an eye on him. If it turns into 6 you should let me know."

    "Yes, I understand."

    After saying everything, Team Leader Park turned around.

    "Oh my god. It doesn''t even make sense to eat 40,000 calories for ten straight days, right it definitely won''t happen. It''s totally impossible for a person to do that. But he''s been crazy for three days."

    Team Leader Park mumbled to himself.

    Lee Minhwa dragged her eyes towards her monitor and unconsciously muttered.

    "Why do I think that he can do it¡­?"

    She couldn''t stop thinking about this strange thought that sprouted in her mind.

    ***

    "This¡­"

    Minhyuk looked at him curiously. The sword was sharp and well-kept and Instructor Valen was handing it over to him.

    The notifications rang in his ears.

    [You have acquired the Sword of Rebellion.]

    [You can now travel freely between Ardo''s novice hunting training grounds and the scarecrow training grounds.]

    [You have gained 2 reputation points.]

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] I''m not too sure if the numbers are correct but I found an article that says that a bulimic patient can eat up to 3400 calories in an hour and up to 20000 calories in 8 hours so it may be correct. Just remember that the human body needs 1200 calories to be healthy and we can intake max 2000-2500 calories per day.

    [2] Valen usually calls Minhyuk ?? it just doesn''t show in my other tls of their conversations since it doesn''t flow well but just know that this is what older males usually calls their younger male friends. Or so I know¡­ So I used boy since it seems appropriate.

    [3] ? is a sort of yelp or shriek. So I used kyaa.

    [4] the raw says ??? ?, ? is sword and ?? means rebellion. I may refer to this as Vn in the future but I will also note it in the footnotes if I do that.

    [5] It says carp but let''s not be fancy and make it easy to understand

    [6] BJ means broadcast jockey, a unique KR term for bloggers and youtubers.

    [7] Jajangmyeon is a ck bean noodle dish.

    [8] Jjamppong is a spicy seafood noodle dish

    TL corner!!!

    So I actually decided to start tranting this after reading the manhwa. And I also only read this while I trante so I can now see that there are important pieces that were skipped in the manhwa like the title he got which exins why he''s stronger than the rest with a lower level and why he obtained a different ss.

    I''m also a bit confused about the numbers¡­ they said that /1 = 10,000 calories but then Minhyuk has /3 but they said that he ate approx 40-50k calories¡­ How does that work????

    For any errors and issues contact me through discord:- /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 7.1 - The Chicken Who Lays Golden Eggs

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    Valen was beaming.

    "Anyway, this is something that I don''t need anymore."

    Minhyuk first decided to receive it. After all he was someone who does not refuse any gifts given to him.

    "But Instructor¡­ All I did was make a meal for you?"

    "So you don''t like it?"

    When Valen slowly reached out his hands to take away the sword Minhyuk quickly hugged it.

    "That''s not it! He¡­ I''ll use it well!"

    "That''s right, boy are you leaving this area now?"

    "I think so."

    "Then bring enough of those hard bread."

    "I''m truly grateful to you in so many ways."

    Valenughed silently.

    "It was a delicious treat. Thank you, really."

    Valen said that while he thought to himself.

    ''I''ll probably never forget it in my life.''

    "I''ll go to the hunting grounds but I''lle back to y often."

    "Sure. Oh yeah, you should check that out."

    He turned around andid himself down on his sofa.

    The means of confirmation and checking is probably the same with the others.

    "Item check."

    (Sword of Rebellion)

    ss: Rare

    Restriction: None

    Durability: 2,000/2,000

    Attack Power: 211

    Special Abilities:

    > Increase in STR +4, AGI +3.

    >Skill Dauntless Strike

    Description: A well-maintained sword that Valen used in the past.

    After checking the sword out, Minhyuk then mumbled ''Skills Window''.

    (Dauntless Strike)

    Artifact Skill

    Level: None

    Mana Required: 10

    Cooldown: 1 minute

    Effect: Additional 20% damage to your attack.

    Description: A skill attached to the Sword of Rebellion. Perfect for striking when in battle.

    The skill is also not that bad, huh.

    Items are ssified as normal, magic, rare, unique, epic, legendary and god.

    Minhyuk, who was very pleased with the sword, examined it more carefully and saw a pattern of a dragon ascending the heavens [1].

    Then¡­ Minhyuk brought up the thing that he really came for.

    "Uhh¡­ Instructor."

    Valen turned around from the sofa and looked at him.

    "Can you lend me some tableware and cooking utensils?"

    "...Why don''t you go and pull out one of the pirs out there too?"

    And of course, Valen startedughing again.

    ***

    Minhyuk stood in front of the exit of the training grounds as he finally finished hitting the scarecrows.

    "Hooo!"

    He exhaled nervously. Was it because he was scared of hunting?

    No. That wasn''t it.

    ''I can eat chicken now¡­.!''

    Minhyuk''s inventory was full of things he borrowed from Instructor Valen, in fact he was just borrowing them but after all the talking he somehow ended up with owning those things.

    By things, he meant basic cooking utensils like frying pan, pot, portable burner and simple condiments.

    When Minhyuk exited the scarecrow training grounds he could immediately see users who were hunting chickens.

    "Hu¡ª huaaaaaack¡­ That chicken is flying!"

    A chicken suddenly flew up and pecked at a user.

    ''Uhmm¡­''

    It seemed like the user was being pecked to death by the chicken and not the other way around. And the chickens looked like it couldn''t be killed in one strike.

    Huh, the chickens usually die after three strikes.

    ''I was told to find the hunting instructor, Roina.''

    Instructor Valen said that I could easily meet Roina, the hunting instructor, when I go to the hunting training site.

    Soon enough, he saw a woman with jet-ck hair tied up in a ponytail and wearing a leather jacket. She was guarding in front of an entrance with her armspletely crossed.

    The spot where she was standing was the border between the novice zone and the vige.

    Tsk, I could only get chicken in the novice zone.

    Minhyuk quickly moved to approach the woman while eating his bread.

    When he arrived in front of her, he quickly chewed and swallowed his bread before saying¡­

    "Hello, Instructor."

    "I''m the hunting training grounds Instructor, Roina. Bring me five chickens and you will be rewarded."

    Ding!

    [Quest: Hunt Five Chickens]

    Rank: Tutorial

    Limit: None

    Rewards: Bonus points +3 and 3,000 gold

    Penalty for Failure: None

    Description: It''s time to learn how to hunt. Hunt five chickens. However, hunting these chickens won''t give you an increase in experience. It''s because these are tutorial monsters!

    Compared to my time with Instructor Valen, there seems to be not much of a difference.

    At the same time, Instructor Roina''s eyes widened when she saw the sword hanging on Minhyuk''s waist.

    "B¡ª by any chance is that the Sword of Rebellion?"

    "Yes, you''re right."

    "H¡­ How did you get that¡­"

    Her eyes shook wildly, however Minhyuk has already received the quest and has turned away to startpleting it.

    I have to hurry and catch some chickens.

    He didn''t even notice the changes in Roina''s expressions.

    But.

    ''The Sword of Rebellion can only be given to the person acknowledged by Instructor Valen.''

    Instructor Roina knew Valen very well this was because before they became protectors she was Valen''s subordinate. That''s why it came to her as a surprise.

    This user was walking while eating bread.

    Roina unconsciously paid attention to him.

    Minhyuk was finally in front of a chicken.

    "cluck cluck!"

    This chicken looks a bit strange, no¡­ It''s very strange.

    It was staring at Minhyuk. When he looked around, he saw that the other chickens were also doing the same thing.

    Shiiing¡ª

    The Sword of Rebellion was unsheathed. And right immediately¡­

    p p p!

    Minhyuk saw one flying towards him. He was calmer than what he thought. He was, after all, a user who wasn''t really afraid of any chicken or pigeon. Besides he did kendo for a long time.

    He swung the Sword of Rebellion at the flying chicken.

    Come on.

    "bok bok!"

    sh!

    The chicken fell down in one strike.

    "....?!"

    Instructor Roina, who was watching from afar, opened her eyes wide.

    ''In¡­ In one strike¡­?''

    Most of the novices need three strikes to kill one chicken. But this user only used one strike.

    ''Was it because of the Sword of Rebellion? No, it does not look like it was just because of the sword.''

    The weight of his strike before was definitely not due to the Sword of Rebellion.

    ''Did he increase his abilities by hitting the scarecrows? If you hit it for a long time then you''ll definitely be good at swinging your sword.''

    Roina nodded her head however she was still puzzled on why Instructor Valen gave the Sword of Rebellion to him.

    Right then¡­

    She suddenly saw the man sit on the floor. He took out a burner, a pot, a water bottle, a small knife and a cutting board.

    He opened his eyes wide and aimed his knife towards the chicken''s neck.

    Snap!

    Then he started to clean it. He was a bit sloppy but the man continued to work diligently. After he plucked the feathers off of the chicken, he rinsed it, poured water in the pot, and proceeded to ce the chicken inside.

    Once he was done with it, he started to let the water boil the chicken.

    "Wha¡ª what the hell is he doing¡­?"

    Roina couldn''t understand what was happening.

    And Minhyuk, who finally stood up in front of his work, was smiling with satisfaction.

    ''Chicken is delicious!''

    "Hey, look at that user."

    "Omg. Is he really making baeksuk [2] right now?"

    "...So it''s true [3]. The more you y Athenae the more types of people you''ll see, just like in the army."

    The other users kept on whispering while the others were giggling.

    But Minhyuk didn''t even care one bit. He was humming while he put down his water and started hunting the chickens near him.

    sh!

    "...Did, did you see that?! He¡­ He killed it in one strike!"

    "Gasp!"

    "What the¡­ Why is that user so strong?!"

    "Hey, hey did you see his sword? It wasn''t a wooden sword, right?"

    "Omg¡­ How is he still in the novice zone¡­"

    Cries of surprise could be heard from the other users.

    Without any other reactions, Minhyuk pulled out his item and dealt with the second chicken the same way he did with the first one.

    [You acquired 52 gold.]

    [You have acquired Chicken Feather.]

    Athenae''s gold was different from the other virtual reality game''s bronze, silver and gold coins. They only have one standard currency and that is gold and the price would be adjusted to reflect the same currency in reality.

    For example, hard bread was 500 gold per piece and with the quality of hard bread it would be 500 won per piece in real life. But the conversion rate of gold to cash was 20 times. [4]

    Tsk, 100 gold means I would get 5 won in cash.

    The rate would be considered to be extremely low, but given that once a yer leveled up more their hunting grounds would berger and they would get higher gold and item drops. Then the number they could collect would not be low.

    When hunting, the monster''s body would disappear in about 15 minutes but if you put it in your inventory or reach out and touch it then the time will continue to increase by 15 minutes.

    Minhyuk once again started to clean up the chicken he hunted.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] Dragon ascending the heavens¡­ you could probably imagine a dragon flying up through the clouds or smth like that. Google can probably give you a visual of this.

    [2] baeksuk : basically any dish made by boiling meat or fish without any seasonings. Usually made with chicken.

    [3] they used ?? (lit. Real) it''s a ng for is it real? Or for real or really

    [4] 500 won = 0.5 usd, we should also remember that 1 gold = 1 won (since we''re using won here) basically the price of the items would be the same with the outside world. HOWEVER there is an exchange rate so¡­ 1 won can give you 20 gold so your 500 gold bread is like 25 won if you buy it in cash so it''s about 0.025 usd. Lol. I''m assuming that they can exchange gold for money then¡­

    TL''s corner!

    So if you read the manhwa¡­ They chose to use gant strike but I decided to use dauntless strike as it sounds more¡­ Uhhh rpg-esque and it flows better with my tl. But it''s still synonymous so no worries! It still means courageous and brave.

    I might also be using training grounds and training sites interchangeably.

    Lmao¡­ Idk but Roina had her eyes widened at Minhyuk all the time in this chapter. ????

    Ahhh PS. Idk why they exined about the gold and cash conversion then jumped to the exnation of the monster body. So confusing¡­

    For any errors and issues contact me through discord:- /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 7.2 - The Chicken Who Lays Golden Eggs

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    After he hunted five chickens, he was able to get 3 bonus points and 3,000 gold. From his 3 bonus points, he added 2 to his STR and 1 to his AGI stat.

    Minhyuk rubbed his hands together.

    ''Well, shall I start?''

    He grinned widely and slowly opened the lid of the pot.

    ''I''m sad that there''s no frying powder [1] but it doesn''t matter.''

    I wanted to wee the chicken warmly but there''s no way I could get any frying powder right now.

    That''s why he chose to make samgyetang instead.

    Samgyetang.

    There''s nothing better than this for your health.

    Normally, samgyetang contains garlic, jujube, sticky rice and leeks but he has only put in whatever ingredients he had.

    Blub blub blub¡ª [2]

    Steam rose up as the lid was removed.

    Minhyuk could see the garlic Valen gave him dancing around. He poked the chicken with his chopsticks.

    It''s very tender.

    He then sprinkled some salt over it.

    The chicken can be seasoned better this way.

    After he finished doing all of that, Minhyuk became extremely excited. He quickly picked up the chicken and ced it on a tray.

    "Sizzle."

    As if to inform everyone that it was hot, the chicken sizzled as steam rose around it.

    He quickly made the sauce by getting a bit of oil from the chicken feet. He then added an appropriate amount of salt and pepper and mixed it well. With this, his samgyetang was finallypleted.

    He quickly pulled up a steaming chicken leg.

    Riiip¡ª

    The juicy chicken leg was easily separated from the rest. Then he ate the whole chicken leg in one big bite.

    "Ho¡­ ho¡­"

    With the chicken in his mouth, he slowly blew air to relieve the heat. One could even see steaming out of his mouth. He then proceeded to chew the soft and tender meat.

    Munch, munch, munch, munch¡ª

    The chicken leg is truly the most tender part of chicken.

    The texture is very nice. The light and simple vor of the chicken that spreads in your mouth is the best.

    He used his spoon to taste some of the soup.

    "Slurp¡­"

    This oily vor.

    This is the taste of a perfect samgyetang.

    This time, he dipped a piece in salt before having a big bite of it.

    "Delicious¡­"

    It''s really delicious.

    Minhyuk had tears in his eyes. He felt as if he had conquered everything in the world.

    In a blink, Minhyuk has already eaten all of the chicken inside the pot. It was eaten down to the bone that you can''t even find the chicken from before.

    "I want to eat more¡­!"

    He stood up.

    The size of his pot was limited. If he got a slightly bigger pot then his small gas burner would not be able to handle it.

    To satisfy his hunger, he recalled the taste of the samgyetang he just had before while he chewed on a bread.

    He then started to boil another chicken in his small pot.

    ***

    "Interesting¡­"

    This was what Instructor Roina thought as she watched him from afar.

    He is a very unique user and a strong one at that, too.

    Plus, he has already caught five chickens but he''s still continuing to hunt them at a fast pace.

    ''That guy makes me want to see Instructor Valen more.''

    Roina smiled wryly. Whenever she thought of him, she couldn''t help but give a bitter smile.

    ''I want to see him¡­''

    Once again, she smiled bitterly. And at that moment¡­

    "gasp¡­!"

    "Wha- what the hell is that!"

    "Why is that chicken so big!"

    Screams began to spread among the users. Roina sharply turned her head to get a look. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped.

    It was a golden chicken twice the size of a regr chicken.

    "bok, bok!"

    The cry was so loud that it was like a dog was barking.

    ''A golden chicken?''

    Roina knew about the existence of the golden chicken.

    That chicken was the boss monster in the novice hunting zone. However it wasn''t just a simple boss monster, it was a monster set-up for an ''event''.

    The users have already started to recognize it too.

    "Yah f*ckers, kill it! We have to kill it somehow! If you kill it you''ll get a golden egg! I saw it in the notice before!"

    "A golden egg?"

    "Yeah, man! You''ll get 200,000 gold when you break that egg. Itys one egg a day! Let''s catch it quickly!"

    "gasp!"

    "Ack?!"

    "Catch it! Catch that chicken!"

    The users began to shout.

    That''s 200,000 gold per day. It''s like getting 10,000 won per day in reality.

    The users started to run around wildly trying to catch it but the only thing they got was being injured by the ferocious golden chicken.

    They were being ughtered by the knife-like beak of the golden chicken.

    "Argh!"

    "Ack!"

    "bok, bok!"

    It suddenly discovered another man nearby.

    Swoosh¡ª

    The man''s eyes shed.

    ''A golden chicken. It reminds me of Golden Olive [3].''

    Somehow, it looked more appetizing to me.

    Guuulp¡ª

    He cracked his neck.

    Crack!

    Minhyuk kicked the ground and dashed off.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] Frying powder, idk how it is called in your area but it''s basically the frying mix/batter you put in fried chicken to make it crispy. Or tempura. Smth like that.

    [2] so this was originally ???? which is the sound for boiling water.

    [3] I think it''s this, but it''s a fried chicken recipe from BB.Q Chicken. And it looks so cruncy. Man I want to taste it.

    TL''s corner!

    Ngl, it was so hard to trante. I kept on wanting to make one so I could eat it while I do the TL. Man my stomach kept on grumbling while I was tling.

    For any errors and issues contact me through discord:- /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 8.1 - The Chicken Who Lays Golden Eggs

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    Team Leader Park, Lee Minhwa and the other employees were observing the Ardo hunting training grounds sharply.

    "Do you think the users will be able to hunt it this time?"

    In Athenae, the golden chicken would only appear once a month at a random hunting training ground. The golden chicken they''re watching was literally an event, this was the reason why it was extremely strong.

    Even now, the users were rapidly being forced to log-out. However, none of them wereining. That was how much merit the golden chicken has. It was after all a big event for beginners and the only penalty for death was to have no ess to the game for 30 minutes.

    "I don''t think it''s possible this time."

    "Is that so?"

    No one has ever caught the golden chicken before. They had no choice but to just continue watching.

    ''The users form teams but they are distracted by each other, is there even any teamwork here? I can''t believe them.''

    Team Leader Park shook his head.

    In the first ce, the golden chicken was way stronger than any of the users at the hunting training grounds. Besides, it would automatically disappear in 20 minutes after its initial appearance.

    Currently, Lee Minhwa and the other employees were looking at the golden chicken. She wasn''t aware of anything since she was just a neer. So she went to ask Team Leader Park after hearing them talk.

    "Team Leader, this golden chicken is funny."

    "Why?"

    Team Leader Park turned to face Lee Minhwa who was suddenlyughing.

    "You can choose between two rewards right?"

    "Yeah."

    Team Leader Park smiled wryly.

    The golden chicken actually has another reward aside from gold and the user could only choose one from those two rewards.

    "It couldy a golden egg or it couldy an egg that''s more delicious than a regr egg. They could only choose one from those choices. And if you choose the delicious egg you would be able to get a hidden piece¡­ Pffft¡­! I don''t think the hidden piece will ever be obtained."

    "Yeah, after all 200,000 gold is 10,000 won in cash. Which idiot will choose the delicious egg? Even if the cash conversion rate drops over time, you could literally deposit 100 million in a year and get a 3%~4% interest rate."

    "Ah, you''re right."

    Lee Minhwa turned her head to look at the screen after hearing them, when she suddenly said huh?

    "Why?"

    "T- team leader. There''s a user running towards the golden chicken with his sword."

    "Hmm?"

    Team Leader Park narrowed his eyes.

    There was a man running with zing eyes, like his running towards the school cafeteria on lunch break.

    That man looks familiar.

    His sword is familiar too.

    "That¡ª that user¡­!"

    The moment those words came out of Team Leader Park''s mouth¡­

    [Aaaaack!]

    Another user turned to gray and was forced to log-out.

    They saw Minhyuk fly out of the crowd of users.

    And¡­

    sh!

    Then he brandished the Sword of Rebellion.

    ***

    sh!

    "bok, bok!"

    Minhyuk broke through the gaps between the users and he then shed at the golden chicken.

    Blood sttered. This was an effect that was 100% identical to reality.

    But Minhyuk was still calm. His calmness was only because of one goal.

    ''I want to try and eat it.''

    Guuulp¡ª

    He gulped again.

    He then saw the knife-like beak of the golden chicken up close. When he was farther away, he wondered why it always got embedded in the other users bodies but now that he was closer he finally understood why.

    "bok¡­ bok!"

    The golden chicken red at Minhyuk, and Minhyuk did the same to the golden chicken.

    There was a tension in the air. The other users couldn''t even get anywhere near the golden chicken.

    The angry golden chicken shot straight at Minhyuk.

    "bok, bok!"

    Minhyuk stabbed the angry golden chicken''s head but it suddenly twisted its body away.

    "That, I don''t think that''s a chicken. And that human too."

    A user muttered to himself but Minhyuk wasn''t embarrassed.

    The chicken stabbed at him again but he dodged and kicked the beak away.

    m!

    "bokbok!"

    "He- he''s fast¡­!"

    "Omg¡­ He''s taking on the golden chicken alone!"

    The users who havepiled and researched the data about the golden chicken were shocked.

    ording to the official data released by the operators, the golden chicken could only be caught with thebined strength of several users. This was because it was a very difficult target.

    However, no one has ever gotten the rewards. The users were aware that if they teamed up they would not know who would get the rewards after the fight and since all of them were greedy for the price then it just became a solo y. Furthermore, since all of the users were novices the concept of party was still unknown to them.

    But right now, Minhyuk has the highest stats among the users. This was because he had the Sword of Rebellion and he hit the scarecrow the mostpared to everybody else plus he continuously exercised for four hours everyday in reality.

    [Dauntless Strike]

    [Your strikes will now have an additional 20% attack power.]

    Minhyuk used his skill.

    The golden chicken once again flew straight at Minhyuk.

    p, p p!

    "Buooooook!"

    "I¡ª it''s like an eagle, what the hell!"

    Some users started to get scared of it but Minhyuk still did not back down.

    He red at it and stabbed its body with all his strength.

    Stab!

    Of course, what he stabbed was the golden chicken.

    Minhyuk quickly stepped away.

    "bok¡­ bok¡­"

    The golden chicken was weakened. He wielded his sword while he quickly narrowed the distance between them.

    Stab!

    He then shed at the chicken''s neck with all his strength.

    aaaaash!

    Ssh!

    Blood rained down.

    Which was followed by a notification.

    [The event monster Golden Chicken has been sessfully hunted.]

    Minhyuk saw a golden statue the size of a regr chicken appear in front of the dead golden chicken. Next to it was a golden ticket [1] with 82,135 written on it and the golden chicken''s beak.

    Minhyuk reached out his hand to pick it.

    [You have acquired 82,135 gold.]

    [You have acquired a chicken thatys a golden egg.]

    [You have acquired the golden chicken''s beak.]

    There was a lot of gold that dropped because it was an event boss monster.

    Minhyuk quickly reached out to the body of the dead golden chicken.

    "Collect."

    For the body of the monster, it won''t be acquired just by reaching out your hands. You have to say collect yourself or touch it personally.

    However, even if it was inside the inventory it did not mean that the body will remain fresh. It would still go bad depending on the temperature outside.

    Minhyuk sucked the body of the golden chicken in his inventory.

    "Hehehe."

    He gave a satisfied smile.

    ''I''m pretty sure that this guy would taste extremely delicious when it''s cooked.''

    He saw it when they fought.

    Those legs are plump and that breast part is well-bred.

    The others would have definitely turned their eyes on the gold but Minhyuk was clearly focused on what he could eat.

    He suddenly felt hungry so he munched on a hard bread while he checked the chicken thatys golden eggs.

    (Chicken that Lays Golden Eggs)

    ss: Event Artifact

    Special Abilities

    > It cany a golden egg worth 200,000 gold once a day.

    >It cany ten eggs that are more delicious than a regr egg once a day.

    Description: This can be acquired once you defeat the event monster, golden chicken. The user can choose between the two special abilities and receive the reward every day.

    "Oh!"

    Minhyuk wasn''t able to listen to the other users talk about the gold reward.

    He was thinking about how delicious the golden chicken looked.

    He nodded his head in agreement to himself.

    ''Isn''t this a really great reward?!''

    Oh my god! How can there be such an amazing reward?!

    This is a reward that adds innovate in innovation! [2]

    "I would definitely pick the 2nd option!"

    [The Chicken that Lays Golden Eggs. You have chosen the delicious egg reward, is this your final choice?]

    Minhyuk did not even need to think about it a second time. For him, the second reward looks the best!

    "Omf chourse!" [3]

    [The Special Ability of the Chicken who Lays Golden Eggs have been chosen.]

    Ring!

    [You have achieved the Hidden Piece: He Who Knows the Happiness in Eating.]

    [You have acquired a food storage inventory.]

    [You have gained +5 in all your basic stats.]

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] It just says gold with 82,125 written on it¡­ But I think golden ticket would work better ^^

    [2] innovate is ?? so it adds ??? in ??? is what it says.

    [3] he''s totally munching on that hard bread.

    TL''s corner:

    LOL OMG. The author was like¡­ He stabbed it, but ofc its the chicken and I''m like author-nim he was ofc fighting the chicken¡­ Who else would he stab????

    For any errors and issues contact me through discord:- /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 8.2 - The Chicken Who Lays Golden Eggs

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    [User Minhyuk has gained the Hidden Piece ''He Who Knows the Happiness in Eating''.]

    "?"

    "?"

    "?"

    "?"

    The surroundings were suddenly enveloped in silence.

    Team Leader Park stifled his yawn as he blinked his eyes.

    "Yaaaawn. I must be working overtime too much so that''s why I could see something strange."

    He wiped the tears off of his eyes then looked at the notice again.

    [User Minhyuk has gained the Hidden Piece ''He Who Knows the Happiness in Eating''.]

    There was no change in the notice. He scratched his neck in silence. And then¡­

    "Am I the one that''s weird? Does choosing that even make sense?"

    That''s when the other operators came to their senses.

    "Th¡­ That''s impossible! Can that person really read the characters?!"

    However Minhyuk, who appeared on the screen, spoke for himself.

    [Fried egg~ Rolled omelette~ Won''t the egg go crack! and go inside the ramyeon?! I''m guuuuulping~]

    "...It''s for real."

    User Minhyuk looks like he is genuinely happy about his choice.

    When Team Leader Park saw him, he couldn''t help but p his hand on his forehead.

    "That user is still level 1, right?"

    "Yeah."

    "But his ability¡­"

    He even received a +5 in all his 5 basic stats.

    The fact that he could take the golden chicken alone means that he''s a cut above the rest in the novice zone and now he''s like a wall that the others can''t climb on.

    But he just wants to eat!

    "The golden chicken is gone now¡­"

    "That''s right. The hidden piece has been achieved after all."

    There were some things that couldn''t continue once the hidden piece was achieved and one of them is the golden chicken.

    "This is a big deal, do we have to make another novice zone event to rece the golden chicken? Wow¡­ The development team was so smug saying that the golden chicken event will never end."

    "In fact it''s not yet over right¡­?"

    An employee turned towards Team Leader Park.

    "No, do you want to think about what you said again?"

    Team Leader Park crushed his paper cup after he finished drinking his coffee.

    "Is his dad the president?! Huh? Does he have that much money?! Huh?! That''s 10,000 won a day in his name!!!"

    Team Leader Park had a hunch that the meeting would be held untilte tonight.

    ***

    Yeah, our father is a president~

    "Father."

    After he finished ying the game Minhyuk immediately saw his father, Kang Minhoo, waiting for him.

    "How was it? Was it fun?"

    "Yes, it was really really really fun!"

    Father Kang Minhoo smiled at him brightly.

    "I ate samgyetang today, Father."

    "Ooooh¡­!"

    Kang Minhoo was amazed.

    "And that''s not all! I also caught a golden chicken today¡­."

    Minhoo couldn''t help butugh happily as he listened to him excitedly tell him his adventures.

    It was the first time he saw Minhyuk look like this in a long while. He was very happy.

    "Sooner orter¡­"

    Minhyuk smiled brightly.

    "I''ll be able to eat chicken!"

    "....!"

    Father Kang Minhoo was more pleased today than when his son got first ce in CSAT.

    His son even sang a song every day because he wanted to eat chicken. Even if he wanted to feed it to him, as a father he couldn''t do so.

    But Minhyuk did it in the game, was there anything that could make him even happier than this?

    Minhyuk told his story to Kang Minhoo then turned towards his doctor-in-charge, Jinhwan.

    "We haven''t detected any side effects or signs of improvement yet. We''ll still be keeping an eye on Minhyuk and how much he eats everyday. He didn''t eat more than his normal amount as he ate fast so he could get back in the game."

    Kang Minhoo nodded at his words when Jinhwan said to him¡­

    "Your expression is very good today."

    "Of course I''m happy. As a father, I would be happy as long as I see my son being happy."

    Jinhwan smiled at him as he nodded.

    Kang Minhoo left shortly after. He immediately saw his secretary, Park Munsoo, who has served him for a decade.

    "Is it installed?"

    "It''s done."

    The two headed straight towards Minhoo''s office.

    When the door opened an Athenae capsule could be seen.

    ***

    TL''s corner:

    HAHAHAHA, Iughed at Team Leader Park''s words. Yeah, his dad is filthy rich, he don''t need em money he just wants food!!!

    This chapter is a bit shorter since the cut for 8.1 was a bit longer than normal.

    For any errors and issues contact me through discord:- /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 9.1 - Fullness System

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    Minhoo''s room, as a matter of fact, was extremely spacious. The capsule even looked small in it.

    ''My son is ying this game¡­''

    It would be nice to see it, even if it''s at a distance.

    What did he want to do inside? He just wanted to see his son eat to his heart''s content. Just the thought of it could bring a small smile to his face.

    ''Ah, wait.''

    He remembered what he posted on Nava [1] yesterday. He checked thement posted under his post using his smartphone.

    [I wanted to go online in Athenae so¡­ can you please rmend a nickname to me that''s majestic and popr to the youths these days?]

    I am a CEO after all, so I need a nickname that is chairman-like!

    He wanted to go with something like that so he could keep it a secret to Minhyuk for a while.

    He rushed to the bottom of the post and checked thements.

    [Oh, it seems that we have an uncle here. The best nickname out of them all is ck Dragon.]

    ¡ªfgdg234: Ah¡­ Nim [2] I was going to do that, why would you let him know that first?

    ¡ªgg731: Hoho¡­ ck Dragon is the most popr and majestic nickname among the youths these days.

    ¡ªMommyLucy:......Kyaak. If you think about it ck Dragon is a bit cool, it''s like there''s a dragon running crazily on my right arm.

    ¡ªI''mOneandI''mTwo: Look at the power ofments that can make you agree¡­. Kekekeke

    ¡ªVeryTasty: I bow down¡­ Just listening to it makes me shake [3], it''s fXcking highest ss [4]

    "Oh¡­"

    Kang Minhoo nodded his head in thought.

    ck Dragon, huh?

    I think it''s really cool. It''s a name that looks like it mighte from martial arts.

    "Secretary Park."

    "Yes, Chairman."

    Secretary Park, who was standing by the door, hurried to his side.

    "What do you think about me using ck Dragon as my nickname in Athenae."

    "ck Dragon? Hoooo¡­."

    Park Munsoo stroked his chin then nodded his head.

    "They said that it was cool, majestic and popr among the youths these days."

    "That''s right, Chairman."

    "Do you think it''s fine?"

    "Yes, that''s great!"

    "How is it, do you think I sound like a young man?"

    "Yes, you''re right."

    "Hohohoho!"

    This was definitely a conversation between two elites however these two people would never know the truth.

    Kang Minhoo started ying that day with the nickname ''ck Dragon''.

    ***

    (Minhyuk)

    Level: 1

    ss: None

    HP: 173 MP: 150

    STR: 14+9 AGI: 10+8 STM: 10+5

    WIS: 10+5 INT: 10+5 Rep: 3

    Fullness: 100%/5

    Bonus Point: 0

    Minhyuk checked his status window. ording to Instructor Valen, what was added after the + was the total of the title and the item effects.

    Right now, if anybody could see Minhyuk''s stats, they would be shocked at how high it was. He even received a hidden piece and a food storage inventory after hunting the golden chicken.

    One could say that he''s unique.

    The food storage inventory can be opened separately by thinking or saying ''food storage inventory''. And when you store something in it, you could set the temperature at which you want it to be stored.

    Tsk, it was like an artifact that ispletely custom-made and perfect for Minhyuk.

    ''The number in my fullness stat is already 5, huh.''

    I don''t know how it works but it seems to increase by 1 everyday.

    Minhyuk was still eating his chickens diligently in the beginners hunting training grounds.

    ''Should I ask Instructor Roina to help me get some groceries?''

    He could easily leave this ce right now but Minhyuk thinks that it was quite enjoyable to eat in this ce.

    He doesn''t know if there was any way he could solve the problem with groceries.

    ''I definitely have to make the best chicken out of the golden chicken. Huu¡­..''

    With that in mind, he ate up all of the pieces of meat in his samgyetang.

    He continued eating samgyetang since he has no materials to cook anything else.

    After he quickly ate up all of the meat, he took the whole pot and lifted it.

    "Kghhk. This oily vor!"

    He was very amazed with the vor.

    Perhaps it was because it''s already the morning shift, he saw Instructor Roinaing.

    ''She looks like she''s as difficult as Instructor Valen.''

    But she looked much colder than Valen and she was worse than Valen when dealing with users. Some users even named the two Ardo instructors as the ''Instructors who scold you when touched''.

    ''What''s the best method to approach her¡­''

    Was what he was thinking.

    Instructor Roina looked around, she found Minhyuk and quickly approached him.

    ''Hmm?''

    This was the first time Minhyuk saw her walking away from her designated position.

    "Ahem!"

    "Good morning, Instructor!"

    "Right, good morning. Minhyuk. It''s just¡­"

    She was holding something that was wrapped tightly in cloth. He then saw her carefully remove the cloth.

    Minhyuk''s eyes widened when he saw what''s inside.

    That''s definitely gochujang [5] and potato!

    ''T¡­ That¡­!''

    I can make spicy braised chicken with that!

    It''s a delicacy that ispletely different with samgyetang!

    A sweet and spicy rice stealer!

    She hesitated to talk before she could give it to him.

    "B¡­ by any chance¡­"

    "Yes, Instructor!"

    Minhyuk gulped as he looked at the ingredients in front of him.

    "Instructor Valen¡­ Is he doing well?"

    "Huh?"

    "He¡­ We worked together before in the same unit. He was my boss. So I was just curious whether he''s doing well."

    "If you were very curious, why didn''t you personally go to him to ask?"

    "...."

    Roina''s cheeks blushed.

    "Ah¡­"

    This is unexpected. The cold-faced Instructor Roina has this expression on her face?

    Maybe it was because she was embarrassed, she had one foot in her back and her toes were pointing to the ground.

    Minhyuk''s food detector was operating. His detector has caught some signals.

    If I do this well, I can easily get my groceries!

    He deliberately nced at her with some slyness but his tone was still like he was reading a Koreannguage book.

    "Ah, that''s right. No stranger [6] could go back to the scarecrow training grounds except for me, huh? But instructor, you''re not a stranger right?"

    He was feigning ignorance. He was really meticulous with every detail when ites to his food.

    "Wh- what?!"

    Roina was very surprised with his words. Her eyes were staring sharply at Minhyuk.

    "You, you could really go back to the scarecrow training grounds?!"

    "Yes, you''re absolutely correct."

    "But, but how¡­?"

    "The instructor gave me this sword then I got a notification that I could go back and forth from there anytime?"

    "I¡­ is that so?"

    As she said that, her expression looked like she couldn''t cope well with her fast heartbeat.

    Minhyuk still has his hands in front of him, like a well-behaved puppy. She ced the ingredients she brought in Minhyuk''s hands then turned around.

    ''Will I continue to meet this user who made me feel happy¡­?''

    In fact, she had a lot of questions for Minhyuk.

    Was the Sword of Rebellion that Valen gave to Minhyuk the reason why the users were going crazy with theck of chicken in the hunting training grounds these days?

    However, she couldn''t restrain his actions. Minhyuk has probably already killed and eaten 200 chickens by now and yet he looked like he still did not want to leave this area.

    Which means¡­

    ''He¡ª he''ll be staying here for a few more days, right?''

    This was what she thought of.

    Minhyuk, on the other hand, was very pleased that he was given ingredients to cook with.

    ''I''m really curious about Instructor Valen''s news¡­''

    To be honest, she liked Instructor Valen.

    His news.

    I don''t know if there''s a way to convey to him these feelings.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] Raw before says Nava, but now it became N/ av/ er so I will stick with Nava (let''s not get searched with N/ av/ er).

    [2] ? : sir, ma''am. Added to a name or a title to show respect.

    [3] ?? ng for ?? which means so scary or shaking. This was used in a previous chapter.

    [4] ???? : means ?? ?? which means fXcking highest ss. A ng for something that is extremely good or outstanding.

    [5] Gochujang: Red chili paste, used in most Korean dishes

    [6] the KR term is ??? lit. stranger, alien, foreigner. I used stranger since the yers appear out of nowhere in the NPCs eyes so they''re not necessarily foreigners. XD

    TL''s corner:

    Lol, cold on the outside but passionate on the inside Instructor Roina. You go girl. ?? And¡­ Omg, Dad Minhoo was scammed with his ign! Minhyuk would totallyugh at him. ???

    For any errors and issues contact me through discord:- /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 9.2 - Fullness System

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    Minhyuk was impressed with the spicy braised chicken he made.

    Spicy braised chicken was a dish that you can definitely enjoy anytime, anywhere. With it''s sweet and spicy vor, there''s nothing much better than eating spicy braised chicken with rice. When the well-seasoned potato was mashed with rice, it would definitely put a smile on anyone''s face.

    Minhyuk gulped down his spicy braised chickenpletely, until the bowl was spick and span.

    He felt a bit sad for himself. [1]

    Just then, Instructor Roina approached him.

    "Hmm¡­ Are you busy?"

    "No. I''m not busy!"

    She was carrying a cloth bag again.

    What will it be this time?

    When she unwrapped the cloth what appeared was none other than¡­ Rice!

    Minhyuk''s hands shook.

    It''s the crystallization of carbohydrates!

    It was considered to be the mortal enemy of his weight. [2]

    But not right now!

    Minhyuk did not eat a single egg just for this moment.

    I''ve already thought of asking for rice from Roina before!

    "Just in case. I''m giving you this. Can you tell me about Instructor Valen?"

    "Sure!"

    "Really?"

    "Yes! I also remember how many spoons and chopsticks there are in Instructor Valen''s house!"

    Minhyuk realized that things were already going ording to his ns.

    "You''ve been to his house?!"

    "Of course!"

    "How is his state of living?"

    Minhyuk told her everything one by one. He even told her how he received the Sword of Rebellion.

    The news broke Roina''s heart.

    ''That''s right¡­ He has always lived a righteous life¡­''

    She felt pity for him, however, soon after her eyes shed.

    Perhaps this is my chance!

    Roina handed the rice over to Minhyuk.

    [Roina''s favorability has increased.]

    "Thank you for the food. Instructor! Wait, Instructor."

    "Yeah?"

    "Please don''t be wary."

    The moment he said those words, Minhyuk had already realized his n in full.

    "If you have something you want to tell him, I can pass on a letter to him but in return you have to give me ingredients!"

    Give and take.

    Roina''s face brightened when she heard him. Minhyuk, on the other hand, had an expression like he knew this would happen.

    ''Hehe¡­ It doesn''t even take that long to go there.''

    He could go there, deliver Roina''s letters then go and get his groceries.

    Roina would be happy and Minhyuk would be happy too.

    Isn''t this such a good thing?

    "W¡­ Would you really do that?!"

    "Yeah!"

    Ring!

    [Quest: Tell Valen what Roina hopes for.]

    Rank: E

    Limit: To and from the Scarecrow Training Grounds.

    Rewards: Food Ingredients.

    Penalty for Failure: Roina''s favorability will decrease.

    Description: Instructor Roina agreed to your direct offer which led to a quest being triggered.

    At the present, the lowest known rank of a quest was E and the highest known rank was S.

    Quests could also be triggered when an NPC and a user has agreed to a promise or an offer. Quests can only be triggered through well-defined factors.

    It was nothing unusual. And Minhyuk definitely knew about this.

    This quest can only be triggered if the user was close to Instructor Valen and if he could go back and forth from the training grounds.

    He saw her nodding her head then she turned around and went back to her ce.

    It seemed like she was pondering about something while Minhyuk tried to cook what he has saved so far.

    I have always wanted to eat this dish for a long time now.

    The dish he was thinking about was Soy Sauce Egg Rice. [3]

    Soy sauce egg rice.

    This was a dish that you would want to eat when you''re hungry and there''s no food at home or when you crave for it.

    He washed the rice first before cooking it.

    He has already memorized all of the recipes that he could find on the inte. This was because Minhyuk already prepared himself to eat soy sauce egg rice as soon as he possibly could.

    After the rice was done, he took out his frying pan, greased it with oil and he waited until it heated up. Once the pan was heated enough, he adjusted the heat to the weakest fire.

    He then took out his secret weapon.

    The egg produced by the chicken that dropped from golden chicken!

    Minhyuk actually saw ity an egg¡­ It suddenly popped out of the inventory,yed an egg then went back in the inventory by itself.

    Sizzle!

    He could hear the sizzle when he cracked an egg and dropped it on the frying pan.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] He definitely felt sad bc he already finished the dish and he has no more ingredients. I''m betting on it!!!

    [2] For a moment I thought they were talking abt killing intent...lol but it just says that it''s the enemy of our weights¡­ Like if we eat lots of this then boom weight gain.

    [3] Soy sauce egg rice is just steamed rice + fried egg on top then 2tbsp soy sauce and 1 tbsp sesame oil. We tried this before, and it''s delicious. You can also add sesame seeds on top.

    TL''s corner¡­

    I''m guessing the next chapter would be another torture for my stomach¡­ Thank goodness the ingredients are easy to find¡­ I might fix myself a bowl before TLing the next one.

    For any errors and issues contact me through discord:- /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 10.1 - Fullness System

    Chapter 10.1

    Trantor - ChubbyCheeks

    When eating soy sauce egg rice, there are people who preferred to break the yolk over the rice but Minhyuk personally liked half-fried egg over his soy sauce egg rice.

    Just like that, he cooked five eggs in his frying pan and without turning them over, he opened the lid of his pot to check on the rice.

    Shwaaaa¡ª

    Steam came out of the pot.

    He then ced his five freshly cooked half-fried eggs on top of the rice.

    Then he continued to fry more eggs.

    Wouldn''t everyone agree that one of the biggest charm of eggs was that it could be fried without any additional seasonings?

    Minhyuk continued to add the additional five eggs he had just fried in his pot. He personally prefers to have about three fried eggs per bowl of soy sauce egg rice.

    He then poured soy sauce in his spoon.

    One spoon, two spoons, three spoons.

    He poured the appropriate amount ording to the amount of rice he cooked. He then opened the lid of the sesame oil. The savory scent floated around with a swoosh~ and stimted his nose as he poured it in.

    Then¡­

    Guuulp¡ª

    He swallowed back his drool that was flowing out.

    Swish swish swish¡ª

    "Mix with your left hand~ mix with your right hand~."

    Minhyuk mixed the ingredients in his pot diligently as he hummed his song.

    The colors of both seasonings after adding the appropriate amount gave a stark contrast. After mixing it properly he could see a nice golden sheen.

    He scooped arge mouthful with his spoon.

    The whole point of eating a big spoonful of soy sauce egg rice was to taste that salty and savory vor that canpletely subdue your hunger after one bite, right?

    He chewed his food carefully.

    "This is delicious¡­! Wow, this egg is really tasty as expected!"

    Minhyuk was very happy to eat his soy sauce egg rice.

    If I have kimchi, kkakdugi, yeolmu kimchi or seasoned peri leaves [1] as side dishes then it would be like an icing to the cake.

    Minhyuk finished four bowls of soy sauce egg rice in the quickest time possible. Then¡­

    [Your fullness has increased to 100%/6]

    "Hmm?"

    Minhyuk tilted his head in confusion. He never heard a notification for this before.

    He felt a sense of foreboding from the system prompt.

    This ominous feeling.

    ''What is it?''

    He had no choice but to stare at it in puzzlement.

    ***

    User Minhyuk has reached 6 in his fullness stat.

    Team Leader Park, who received the report from Lee Minhwa, moved in a hurry.

    "What? He just ate soy sauce egg rice? With that golden egg?"

    "Yes."

    "Kgh, in the end we still came to this point. It''s a really surprising ''no'', right?"

    Team Leader Park continued to talk.

    "Increase User Minhyuk''s user level by 1. Once he reaches 7 his ''trial'' will begin."

    Trial.

    It was basically a test that a yer needs to pass to receive the God ss.

    There were two types of trial, the announced trial and the unannounced trial.

    In Minhyuk''s case, he would be subjected to an unannounced trial.

    If the yer couldplete it then he would get it and if the yer couldn''tplete it then he wouldn''t be able to get it.

    Lee Minhwa looked strangely (?) pitiable when she checked the details of the trial.

    "This trial¡­ is very hard toplete."

    "It''s hard. Generally a person needs to exercise for an hour to digest 10,000 calories, and if a person ate around 40,000~50,000 calories then he needs to exercise for 4~5 hours."

    "Wow¡­ 4~5 hours. As expected of a God ss, it has the toughest conditions."

    "That''s right. No matter how much they love eating, most of them are toozy in reality. I have to work out so I can eat. That is the point of the trial, to see whether he has the perseverance to challenge the God ss. However, do you think anyone would exercise for 4 hours each day just to eat? I don''t think it would be easy for him."

    "Bu¡­ But¡­ it''s him."

    "You''re wee to have your own opinion."

    "He was the user who continued to strike the scarecrow so he could eat bread, remember?"

    "Yes."

    "That''s why I don''t think he''s azy person."

    "Is that so? Well, we''ll have to wait and see. The first trial is always the hardest so we''ll have to see if he can make it."

    Team Leader Park''s eyes were narrowed sharply.

    "That''s the only problem."

    ***

    The ingredients that Instructor Roina gave Minhyuk were the same as before: rice, potatoes and gochujang. She also handed him a letter and a handkerchief.

    "Please give these to the Instructor."

    "I understand. Also¡­ Instructor Roina¡­"

    "Yeah?"

    "The next time I send over a message I want to request flour and frying powder as the ingredients."

    I can fry chicken with the frying powder.

    And does flour need any more words for description?

    ''I love flour~ huuuu¡­.''

    However, Minhyuk''s expectations were soon shattered. Roina''s eyes were narrowed in a slit.

    "....Do you hate it?"

    "Eh? Wh¡ª why?"

    Minhyuk looked like he lost everything in the world.

    "You really want to eat fried chicken, huh."

    Flinch!

    Minhyuk''s facade was ripped by the words that were straight to the point.

    Oh my god, the protector knows about fried chicken.

    "While I was working here, I often heard people say ''Oh that chicken is running.'' or ''If we catch that chicken and eat it won''t it be a very good profit?''. People usually call it fried chicken."

    She was a woman who knew how to do business.

    "You have to save the most delicious for the end, when our deal is over. Huhuhuhuhu."

    "Kgghk. You''re very meticulous."

    "Go on ande back quick."

    "Yes!"

    Minhyuk kept on thinking about their conversation.

    Right, I have to save the best forst!

    I''ll eat that chicken when I get out of here.

    It''s a real delicacy to make with that golden chicken.

    Minhyuk chewed on a bread as he made his way to where Instructor Valen was.

    He arrived shortly.

    "Give me the reward, you NP¡­"

    "Get lost."

    As expected of Instructor Valen, anyone would shake at his coldness.

    "Instructor."

    "Oh, boy, what are you doing here?"

    "I really missed the Instructor. I couldn''t stand not seeing your face everyday."

    "Hoho, this friend''s mouth is still as smooth as ever."

    "He¡­ To be honest¡­ Instructor Roina asked me to pass this on to you."

    "Roina?"

    Valen''s expression stiffened for a moment but he quickly straightened it out.

    He smiled a little.

    His eyes drifted towards the letter and the handkerchief that Minhyuk gave him.

    He quickly checked the contents of the handwritten letter.

    "That''s very much like her."

    This was what the letter said:

    [Loyalty [2]. This is Roina from the 3rd squad. My greetings to the squad leader.]

    That was the end of the letter.

    "Wait, Instructor you didn''t have lunch yet, right?"

    "That''s right."

    "Let me cook spicy braised chicken for you."

    "Hoo?"

    Minhyuk loved to eat to the point where he wanted to eat everything all by himself.

    However, he knew the difference between the people he''s grateful for and people who took advantage of him.

    On top of that, he was also a bit reluctant to leave right away after doing his job.

    Besides, the reason why I can cook is because he lent me the tableware and cooking utensils.

    "Ah, could you also give me some hard bread, please?"

    "...Boy, why don''t you take my house too? Haha!"

    It was a matter of fact that he had another purpose.

    With that, Minhyuk started making spicy braised chicken.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] kkakdugi is cubed radish kimchi, this is delicious. The radish is cruncy and with the spicy and sour kimchi base hmmmmmhmm. Yeolmu kimchi on the other hand is young summer radish kimchi. I haven''t tried this yet but I''m pretty sure that what they use was the greens instead of the radish itself.

    [2] ?? : Loyalty, faithfulness, fidelity. Used by soldiers to greet their superiors. Every soldier should be loyal to their superiors so they greet using this.

    TL''s corner!!!

    Re: Trial types¡­ Are any of you aware about these types of trials in rpg? I only yed a mobile rpg and there''s nothing like this so¡­. I

    I decided to stick with announced and unannounced.

    Also¡­ Team Leader Park, don''t be so sure all the time. You''ll definitely get crazy once he gets it. ^^

    For mistakes and other rted concerns contact us on discord: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 10.2 - Fullness System

    Chapter 10.2

    Trantor - ChubbyCheeks

    Instructor Roina had her hands on her chest.

    "Sir. [1]"

    She couldn''t help but smile when she learnt that everything was going well with him.

    If other users saw how one of the instructors called ''You''ll get scolded when touched.'' looked like this, they would definitely be surprised.

    She looked at the sky.

    There was a time when she was under the leadership of the Squad Commander Valen. She was arrogant as she was dubbed a genius. And her arrogance almost got her killed.

    It was at that time that Commander Valen saved her and lent her a handkerchief. That was the moment that she started liking him.

    It wasn''t that long after that incident that she was stationed to work here.

    Ever since then, she was only able to look at Valen from afar. This was because her strong personality surprisingly diminishes in front of the man she likes.

    She saw Minhyuking back.

    "What did the Instructor say?"

    "He was grateful. He said that he was d that you were doing well."

    His words touched her heart deeply, she nodded at him.

    "So why did youe back thiste?"

    "It''s just that I was a bit embarrassed to leave after giving him the letter so I decided to make him a meal."

    "Really? Ah, that''s good."

    "Hehe."

    He just kept the part where he received 100 loaves of hard bread a secret.

    [Roina''s favorability has increased.]

    Minhyuk nodded his head with satisfaction. He then turned around and started hunting, cooking and eating chickens again.

    Thanks to the ingredients she gave him Minhyuk could cook jjimdak [2] and he could use the remaining ingredients to cook samgyetang.

    Just then¡­

    [Your fullness has increased to 100%/7]

    [You won''t be able to eat any more food.]

    [Passive Skill ''Digestion'' was created.]

    [You can continue to eat once your fullness drops to 0%. Once fullness reaches 0%, /7 will drop to /6.]

    [Your fullness should drop to 0% within 24 hours.]

    "........!"

    Minhyuk''s eyes widened in disbelief.

    A very unexpected event happened. Once again, he looked like he lost everything in the world.

    ''No, no way!''

    There was no other user who has reached 7 in the whole world. That''s why Minhyuk did not know anything about it.

    In the end, the figure turned out to be a deterrent.

    Just in case, Minhyuk tried to bring something towards his mouth.

    [You can''t eat any food.]

    [Please drop your fullness to 0% so you could eat again.]

    This is impossible.

    He couldn''t even bring food towards his mouth. It was like someone zipped his mouth shut.

    ''I still have hope.''

    When he saw the name of the skill ''Digestion'', he felt like he had seen some sort of hope.

    Minhyuk quickly opened up the skills window of Digestion.

    (Digestion)

    Passive Skill

    Rank: ?

    Level: 1

    Effect: Quickly burn your calories.

    Description: It lets you burn calories faster when you exercise. The term ''exercise'' refers to the average time that the general public uses to work-out, which is 1 hour. If you continue to work out for 1 hour, it can help you burn 10,000 calories.

    ".....hmmm."

    Minhyuk nodded his head in understanding.

    The average person would generally do exercise for an hour everyday.

    ''Exercise done.''

    When he thought about it, the amount of exercise he has done shed in the upper-left corner of the screen.

    At present 0%

    "Detailed description of Exercise Done."

    Minhyuk has already learned a lot from Instructor Valen. To know about the detailed description of something was as easy as that.

    [The Exercise Done should be filled to 100% in an hour once the Exercise window was opened.]

    Minhyuk remembered the details. He sat down in despair as he thought more about it.

    ''I exercise for four hours everyday just to eat tasteless food.''

    But in here¡­

    He swung his arms around.

    It felt light.

    His body was also not out of breath.

    His determination was finally set.

    ''I''m working out so I can eat what I want to eat, right?''

    The realism of this game¡­

    The reality was stopping Minhyuk from eating.

    If a person ate around 40,000~50,000 caloriesa day in reality, then it would be weird if there''s nothing wrong.

    His answer was final.

    "I don''t believe that you can stop me from eating like this, that''s absurd!"

    He could do it.

    That''s right. No pain, no gain.

    He could eat delicious food after a hard time.

    The taste of rice after an exercise is the best!

    "Let''s go."

    Minhyuk grabbed Vn [3].

    And then¡­

    Fwooooom!

    He started his exercise with a strong swing from his sword.

    His light and fast body together with Minhyuk''s overwhelming desire to eat, made his body move faster!

    ***

    Roina looked over at Minhyuk curiously when he suddenly started swinging his sword.

    ''Hmm?''

    She has started to be very interested in Minhyuk.

    To be fair, she didn''t find anything special in him aside from him eating too much food.

    But right now he was showing something special.

    ''He wasn''t even forced to do it¡­''

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] The sir with the knight.

    [2] jjimdak is braised chicken

    [3] Vn is the Sword of Rebellion but it''s too long so let''s refer to it as Vn. ?? means rebellion.

    TL''s corner!!!!

    Lol, NO Roina, he was forced to do it. ????

    Apologies for the dy in updates. My uncle got hospitalized for hypertension and I had to watch over him so I didn''t have the time to finish it. Thank you for ur understanding. Mwah~

    Contact us on discord for any inquiries and error reports: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 11.1 - Fullness System

    Chapter 11.1

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    The reason why she had a misconception was because she wasn''t aware of the system''s current outbreak.

    Besides, Minhyuk was exercising diligently. He kept on swinging his sword.

    He only stopped to take a rest when his arms started to be numb and by then he would lie down and start to do sit-ups.

    When his muscles started to scream in protest, he would then go and look around his surroundings.

    "Look at that user, he''s exercising. Pfft, if he studied instead of exercising inside the game then he could go to a good university."

    "That''s right, if you y games instead of studying won''t your mom scold you?"

    "Sh¡ª shut up!"

    The other users looked at him curiously but Minhyuk did not care.

    I have to exercise so I can eat!

    Roina watched him closely.

    He''s not really resting and he kept on doing it with an indomitable will.

    ''The look in his eyes¡­ they''re different.''

    And Roina saw it clearly¡­ Minhyuk''s eyes looked different. He wasn''t smiling nonchntly like before when he stood in front of her.

    He looks like he''s exercising to live.

    Did anybody hear of something like that? Well, for Minhyuk it was something like that.

    He did it to live.

    It was a very somber reason.

    However, his reason right now was different. He was doing it so he could eat more and more delicious things today and in the future days toe.

    He moved his sword without stopping. He felt an extreme sense of hunger and it was like there was someone talking in his head.

    Eat, eat, eat, eat!

    Even in reality, Minhyuk would always exercise like crazy. He felt like it would disappear, even for a bit, when his body was working to the extremes.

    It was the same with his situation right now.

    He worked out hard, moving with a craze that anybody else did not have.

    When the four hours were up¡­

    [You have burnt all of your calories gained, your fullness has reached 0%]

    [You are able to eat again.]

    Minhyuk was able toplete it as usual.

    "Oh yeah!"

    Then he halted.

    "...Oh yes, I want to eat."

    Minhyuk touched his stomach as he started cooking chicken again.

    ***

    Early morning.

    Lee Minhwa has just got up from her bed. Recently, she has been getting off work at the break of dawn due to endless meetings and ns for the new event to rece the golden chicken event.

    She stretched her tired body as she slowly went to her kitchen. When she opened her refrigerator, all she could see were eggs and the sour kimchi she got from her mother.

    ''There''s nothing to eat.''

    She suddenly paused as she was mming the door of the refrigerator shut.

    ''Wait¡­!''

    She took out the eggs and kimchi then she grabbed her frying pan and lit up the fire.

    Sizzle!

    The sizzling sound came out as she cracked an egg over the frying pan.

    "He¡­"

    Lee Minhwa grinned widely.

    Just recently, User Minhyuk ate some soy sauce egg rice.

    When that happened, the only thing Lee Minhwa could do was stare at it nkly. The light, savory taste of the egg seemed to linger in her mouth.

    "Mix with your left hand~ mix with your right hand~"

    She sang the song that the user sang unconsciously.

    She flinched.

    "Why am I singing this song¡­"

    That user really had a strong talent for this.

    It could always bring a smile to her face whenever she observes him.

    Even though Lee Minhwa would always work overtime, strangely enough she wouldugh and smile whenever she looked at that user.

    ''Does eating make him that happy?''

    It was but a small part of her life but to him it looked as if he was very happy as long as he had this small part of his world.

    Whenever he smiles she couldn''t help but smile too.

    ''Did I make it right?''

    Lee Minhwa wondered as she had a big bite of her soy sauce egg rice topped with sour kimchi.

    That user really liked it.

    I wonder if he really started exercising?

    Will he do it just so he could eat?

    She finished her meal in a sh. She then hurriedly went to the office after she finished all her preparations.

    Team Leader Park went to work very early. He was looking at user Minhyuk on monitor 3.

    "Hello."

    "Yeah."

    Team Leader Park nodded and turned around to face her.

    "Employee Lee Minhwa, your hunch was right."

    "Eh?"

    "That user. He did it."

    "...?"

    "He exercised for 4 hours straight just to burn all the calories. That user is really amazing."

    Team Leader Park raised his arms and shrugged.

    "Ah¡­!"

    A smile bloomed widely on her face. Team Leader Park looked at her suspiciously.

    "Hmm? Why do you look so happy?"

    "Ah, no."

    These days, watching Minhyuk eat was like a drink of healing water to Lee Minhwa.

    Team Leader Park was puzzled.

    5 hourster, they saw Minhyuk start exercising again to burn calories. They also saw the number beside his fullness stat increase from /7 to /8.

    If Minhyuk stopped eating then the number beside the / would have continued to fall. However even if he burned the calories he ate it still continued to increase.

    Tsk, he''s getting closer to the God ss.

    And at that moment.

    A string of words floated up.

    [Ardo''s Roina rmended User Minhyuk to learn the Bardy Swordsmanship [1].]

    "....!"

    Team Leader Park and Lee Minhwa''s eyes were rounded in shock.

    "Da¡­ Day after day. This¡­ Again¡­ What the hell."

    He had a defeated expression on his face while Lee Minhwa pulled up the screen monitoring User Minhyuk.

    Instructor Roina was in front of Minhyuk.

    "Team Leader, aren''t the skills given by NPCs much stronger than the skills of the same rank?"

    "Yeah. It was originally very rare, besides you can evenpare its power with a unique skill."

    Even if the skills were on the same rank, there would be a huge difference between learning from a skillbook and learning from someone personally.

    "He has now received a good skill."

    Team Leader Park and Lee Minhwa unknowingly smiled.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] ??? ?? - I used the lit. trantion which is Bardy Swordsmanship. If you look for it bardy means bold, insolent and forward. I don''t think it sounds nice as a swordsmanship name so I still retained bardy.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 11.2 - Fullness System

    Chapter 11.2

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    Minhyuk sported a weird expression as Roina approached him. Besides, what she said to him was extremely shocking.

    "Would you like to learn swordsmanship from me?"

    "Yes?"

    [Instructor Roina has offered to teach you the Bardy Swordsmanship.]

    [You can now travel freely between Ardo''s Novice Hunting Training Grounds and Isbin Vige.]

    [You have gained 3 reputation points.]

    [epting the offer will create a skill quest.]

    "There''s no special reason. I''m just a bit bored. And since I saw you doing that repeatedly yesterday and today, why not turn that into training practice."

    Although she kept on spinning words like that what Roina said was in fact, not the truth.

    Why did Instructor Valen give him Vn?

    He''s determined¡­ He''s a person with a strong will.

    He''s resolute. [1]

    And he''s not conceited.

    Plus his body knows how to move.

    That was what Roina thought when she observed Minhyuk.

    ''I want to help this person too.''

    It was such a strange thought but for her, user Minhyuk always seems to give off good energy.

    Whenever she saw him she always wanted to cheer him on and give him some sort of help.

    ''Was this why Instructor Valen approved of him?''

    That was what she thought. She was sure of it.

    That''s why Roina was very determined to teach him swordsmanship.

    "Hmmmmmm¡­."

    However, Minhyuk was stroking his chin in thought.

    "All¡­ All the other users were dying to learn from me, you know?!"

    "Uh-huh¡­"

    "It''s true!"

    "Really~?"

    Minhyuk only has one reason to worry about¡­

    The training course that she would implement.

    Will the training course be as hard as the exercise I do?

    For him who only exercises so he could eat he did not consider being strong to be important right now. If the training course wasn''t that intense he would still feel hunger.

    "Is it hard?"

    "Please stop. Do you want to scream in pain?"

    "Then please teach me!"

    ''I''ve never seen a guy who likes working out this much¡­''

    Minhyuk nodded at her hard as the quest window appeared.

    [Quest: Practice the Bardy Swordsmanship.]

    Rank: D

    Limit: None

    Rewards: Bardy Swordsmanship.

    Penalty for Failure: Roina''s favorability will drop

    Description: Roina, who was called as the Sword Genius, personally told you that she would train you. Fill the ''Training Progress'' to 100% in a week and then you can use the Bardy Swordsmanship.

    Minhyuk nodded.

    There was a line on the upper-left hand corner that said ''Training Progress 0%.''

    Quests truly appear in a lot of different ways.

    There were various factors, anomalies and existences in Athenae. It was entirely possible that all NPCs could give quests.

    But one thing was for sure. In a way, a quest was a promise with the NPC.

    In the case of the rewards, if the person who received the questpletes it then they would definitely get the rewards.

    "Well then, let''s start."

    Shiiiing!

    Roina removed her sword from her waist.

    Riiip!

    She stabbed at him with all her might that it sounded like the air was being torn apart.

    Minhyuk was very amazed at the ripping sound.

    "Wow¡­"

    "Follow me, Minhyuk."

    "Yes!"

    Minhyuk stabbed as hard as Roina did. This was the beginning of their training.

    After two hours¡­

    "Please, stop!"

    "....?"

    Minhyuk did what Roina told him to do. He looked at her curiously.

    "Why did you train for two hours straight without even resting?! Let me take a break!"

    "If I don''t do this much I''ll definitely get hungry. Ehhei, Instructor don''t talk about resting, let''s continue. There''s no time to rest!"

    Roina gasped as she watched Minhyuk.

    Is his determination this strong?!

    Meanwhile she was very amazed at him.

    ''What kind ofprehension is this¡­'' [2]

    What kind of fighting spirit does he have?

    Minhyuk did not forget any of the moves she taught him. And his movements kept on getting better and better.

    He was like a sponge absorbing water with the way he understood everything he has been taught.

    And Minhyuk''s eyes still looked as serious as ever.

    ''Oyya, let''s see who will suffer in defeat!''

    ***

    "Hoo? Roina taught you the Bardy Swordsmanship?"

    Instructor Valen was a bit surprised when he heard Minhyuk.

    "That''s right, Instructor."

    Minhyuk has been sending Roina''s letters to Instructor Valen for the past few days.

    He has already filled up to 90% of the Bardy Swordsmanship''s training progress and he would soon be able toplete it.

    "Today, Instructor Roina wanted me to send you this letter together with this rose as usual."

    Valen epted what Minhyuk gave him.

    ''This guy¡­''

    Was what Valen thought as he looked at the roses. He then checked the contents of the letter.

    [Loyalty. This is Roina. Do you remember the time when you saved my life? I really wanted to treat you to a meal after that. So I''ll send you fried chicken through Minhyuk. And I like you Instructor¡­!]

    Instructor Valen shook his head and smiled a bit after reading the letter.

    "Boy, you''re leaving now huh. I can tell from this letter."

    Roina''s confession.

    Valen looked calmer than he thought when he saw the confession.

    "Yes. It''s about time I go."

    "Have you achieved your goals?"

    "No. I haven''t had fried chicken yet!"

    "You''ll probably make it tonight."

    Valenughed at him while Minhyuk did not know what it meant.

    Minhyuk then returned to Roina and trained and at some point¡­

    Ring!

    [You have achieved 100% in the training progress of Bardy Swordsmanship.]

    [You can now use Bardy Swordsmanship.]

    The skill''s rating works the same as the item''s rating. Minhyuk did not hesitate to read the information.

    (Bardy Swordsmanship.)

    Active Skill

    Rank: D

    Level: 1Lv Training Progress: 0%

    Mana Required: Depends on the chapter

    Cooldown: Depends on the chapter

    Effect:

    > Chapter 1 : Vital Strike

    >Chapter 2 : Two Consecutive Quick Assault

    >Chapter 3 : Bardy Swordsmanship

    The swordsmanship had different attacking methods and the cooldown depends on which chapter was being used.

    Minhyuk clicked on them one by one.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] determined, has a strong will and resolute are the same thing. I think the author just wants to emphasize his resoluteness. As they say, important things need to be said thrice. ??

    [2] so the raws says ??? which is absorbing power¡­ Idk how to phrase it well so I did that.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 12.1 - Chicken Filled With Love.

    Chapter 12.1 : Chicken Filled with Love.

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    (Vital Strike)

    Active Skill

    Type of Swordy: Bardy Swordsmanship

    Mana Required: 20

    Cooldown: 1 minute

    Effects: Additional 15% ATK power if the strike is sessful

    (Two Consecutive Quick Assault)

    Active Skill

    Type of Swordy: Bardy Swordsmanship

    Mana Required: 30

    Cooldown: 1 minute

    Effects: One sword swing can result in two strikes.

    (Bardy Swordsmanship)

    Active Skill

    Type of Swordy: Bardy Swordsmanship

    Mana Required: 50

    Cooldown: 15 minutes

    Effects: +7 to all 5 basic stats for 5 minutes once skill is activated.

    Thest skill, Bardy Swordsmanship, was like having a very capable buff while the remaining skills which were the Vital Strike and the Two Consecutive Quick Assault did not sound too bad.

    If someone else were to learn this, they wouldn''t know how long it would take for them to grasp it.

    In fact, the Bardy Swordsmanship that Minhyuk learned could be grasped in about a week. However, Minhyuk only needed 3 days to learn it.

    "It''s not that bad!"

    After saying those words, Minhyuk swung his sword again at Roina.

    ***

    At night.

    During the Bardy Swordsmanship training, Minhyuk suggested to Roina that they should make a round trip to Isbin Vige.

    However, he couldn''t just personally go and buy the ingredients in the vige plus he has to finish the quest to eat the most delicious chicken too.

    Besides, Roina was clearly very nice to him so he thought of repaying her goodness to him.

    Of course.

    ''We''ll eat chicken too. Huhuhu.''

    Minhyuk and Roina went to her house together. Her house was a lot nicerpared to Valen''s house.

    Furthermore, there were plenty of NPCs and users in the vige so it didn''t look that lonely.

    "Well, let''s start."

    Craaaack¡ª

    "Why does your eyes look more serious than when you''re training?"

    Roina saw the determination in his eyes.

    Minhyuk grinned at her.

    He was already buying the groceries with Roina when she asked him.

    ''He''s crazy¡­ Is he going to do business in a chicken restaurant?! Why is he buying so much!''

    But Minhyuk just bought his food in silence.

    When he caught chickens he could get a very tiny amount of gold drops, plus he got 80,000 gold when he caught the golden chicken. Because of that, he had enough money to buy food and ingredients.

    He also has his food storage inventory¡­¡­

    ''It''s so nice when I think about it!''

    And he also has his secret weapon.

    Well, let''s get started now.

    Chicken.

    It''s a food that men and women of all ages like. Young people nowadays have often called this chicken ''chineunim [1]''. You would even be able to seements all over SNS like ''Are you going to eat chicken today?!''.

    That''s how popr chicken was these days.

    One would only need to order it and hot, savory chicken would be delivered straight to their doorsteps.

    Sometimes people would get intoxicated with the smell when they get in an elevator with a delivery uncle who was holding a bag of chicken.

    Minhyuk first went to the bathroom. Roina watched him nkly. This was because he had arge basin in his hands as he went to the bathroom.

    He poured the milk he brought with a glug glug in the basin. Then he started to drop the well-cleaned chicken.

    This is an excellent way to remove the fishy smell in the meat.

    He didn''t have much time but he had a lot to make so he pulled them out after 30 minutes.

    He then cut the chicken into pieces and scored it well, that way the soft and tender meat inside will be fried well.

    He added ? spoon salt, ? spoon pepper and 1 spoon of ginger juice per chicken.

    If ginger juice is not avable, then you can add a bit of cooking wine, rice wine or soju.

    He mixed it with his hands, then he left it for another 30 minutes.

    He then added 1 cup of basic starch and 2 eggs produced by the golden chicken to his well-seasoned chicken.

    Finally, he added a spoonful of curry powder to further remove the fishy smell and add the savory vor of curry.

    He mixed the batter carefully.

    Now, everything was based on only one chicken however Minhyuk almost used half a barrel of salt. He also used the same amount of pepper.

    He then used chopsticks to pick up the chicken and dropped it to the heated oil one by one.

    Sizzleeeee¡ª

    Ah, it''s very aggressive.

    This sound is very strong!

    The sound of chicken going into oil.

    Even if Minhyuk wasn''t sure if he would be able to eat chicken today, the aggressive sound can confirm it for him!

    The chicken danced in the oil.

    Minhyuk gulped as he watched it move.

    Gulp¡ª

    "He¡­."

    He smiled as he saw the chicken being fried into golden brown. Then, he took them out of the oil and tapped them on the kitchen towel.

    Minhyuk repeated the process and finally made fried chicken as he chewed on his hard bread!

    "I''m going out for a bit."

    "Yes, Instructor."

    Then Roina disappeared for about 2 hours. She appeared with her hands full of things.

    "I bought some soft bread for you."

    When she entered the kitchen, she was shocked still.

    "Are¡­ Are you in a cooking ss¡­¡­? What''s this 150 servings for, did you prepare a squadron''s meal?!"

    She saw that the kitchen was full of chicken.

    "Oh, Instructor Valen had the same reaction. As expected of people in love, they think alike."

    Roina''s cheeks turned red as she heard his words.

    "I, is that so?"

    ''Huhuhuhu. I definitely have the gift of gab.''

    Minhyuk carefully covered what he did with his ttering words.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] ??? :bination of ?? (chicken) and ??? (god). Lit. Chicken that we respect and love so much.

    TL''s corner!!!

    When you say score the meat it means you cut slits on the surface of the meat.

    Sometimes I wonder if I''m TLing a vmmorpg, a mukbang or a cooking tutorial¡­.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 12.2 - Chicken Filled With Love

    Chapter 12.2 : Chicken Filled with Love

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    Instructor Valen got one chicken as his share and Minhyuk has already kept it in his food storage inventory in advance so it would still be warmter.

    Minhyuk stepped out happily.

    "Wa, wait¡­!"

    "Yes?"

    "Don''t eat all of the food."

    Freeze!

    Minhyuk actually wished that he could.

    "I understand."

    Minhyuk smiled awkwardly as he hurried over to Instructor Valen. He told him this when he received the chicken¡­

    "Oh, so this is that food called chicken? It smells really nice."

    "Yes. Hehe. Please try it. Come on."

    Minhyuk suddenly stopped walking as he thought of something. He then took something out of his food storage inventory and handed it over to Instructor Valen.

    "This is my regards for you. Instructor."

    "Oh¡­¡­ Boy, that''s great."

    Valen had a pleasant smile on his face as he received what Minhyuk gave him.

    "Are you leaving today?"

    "I was thinking about it. I''ll drop by before I leave tomorrow."

    Minhyuk nodded. For some reason he felt that he shouldn''t stay with Valen today.

    And there was only one reason.

    ''Instructor Valen too¡­¡­''

    As he thought about it¡­ He has already turned around.

    Valen looked down on the chicken silently. He returned to his house after his shift was done.

    And of course, Minhyuk delivered it along with the letter.

    [I''m very d that I could have a meal with the Squad Commander like this.]

    Valen smiled lightly as he stood up and opened his drawer.

    There was a hair tie with red flowers in it.

    He took it out and stared at it nkly for a while before he sat back down again.

    Clink!

    He heard a light sound as he opened what Minhyuk gave him¡­ a canned beer.

    He felt the coolness of it going down his throat as he slowly downed the canned beer.

    Gulp, gulp¡ª

    "Kghhk."

    There was a time when he felt that it was a pity to have Roina as a squad member.

    She was a genius but she never got along well with herrades. She was extremely outstanding and it was something that made her very cocky.

    In the end, she had an ident and Valen saved her. After that incident, he felt that the look in her eyes had changed but he didn''t pay heed.

    After a while, he saw her train alone.

    And at that time he knew.

    Ah, she wasn''t just a genius. She was someone who worked very hard.

    At that time, he felt a little something sprout in his heart. And even if he didn''t express himself while they exchanged letters he felt that it grew bigger.

    He didn''t even know why he bought a red hair tie for her before while he was walking down the street.

    Then¡­

    He began to write a letter as if he had made up his mind.

    ***

    "Hoo! Hoo!"

    Minhyuk shouted excitedly.

    The time is right.

    It was night time and there were grasses surrounding him everywhere.

    Minhyukid down a mat. It felt like he went to meet his friends, that he hasn''t seen for a long time, along the Han River after he got chicken from the delivery man.

    Minhyuk ced the golden chicken that he fried on top of the mat. The golden chicken was very big so he sliced up quite a lot of meat. Then he brought out his secret weapon.

    Beer.

    It was what he gave to Valen. Beer definitely goes best with chicken.

    Fizz!

    "Kgghk, what a sound. Oh, oh, where do you think you''re going?"

    Sluurp¡ª

    Minhyuk quickly drank the rising foam.

    "Kyaaha!"

    As he eximed in joy, he slowly lifted up a chicken leg.

    Guulp¡ª

    His saliva started to fall down like a waterfall¡­

    "Aah~"

    He opened his mouth wide and had a big bite.

    Crunch, crunch, crunch!

    The first charm of chicken was the sound it makes at the first bite.

    Chew, chew.

    The second charm was the crispy texture of the skin that one can feel when it''s being chewed.

    And the third charm was¡­

    The hidden milky white meat that you could meet once the fried outer skin was bitten through.

    "I''m¡­ I''m very happy¡­!"

    Minhyuk smiled brightly.

    Gulp, gulp¡ª

    Isn''t it just good manners to bring out plenty of foaming cold beer while eating chimaek [1]?

    "Kyaha! This is how it should taste! This is the taste!"

    Chicken and beer.

    It''s the best food to eat after a hard day at the office or with friends at the park. You could even enjoy it alone at home while watching the TV.

    Minhyuk started to eat chicken with great relish. Suddenly, he looked up towards the sky.

    The moon is shining brightly tonight.

    "Hmm~ I have delivered chicken that was filled with love."

    Minhyuk has already noticed that Valen has Roina in his heart.

    That was what he thought as he started eating chicken again.

    "Mhhmm, this is very very delicious~"

    ***

    The next day, he was training to increase the proficiency of his skill.

    To increase the proficiency of a skill, a user could either use skill points or use the skill frequently. However another method to increase proficiency was via training.

    In fact, Minhyuk saw that Roina''s Bardy Swordsmanship had a high intensity training that could lower his fullness stat. So he kept on training and as a result increased his skill proficiency.

    Today too, without fail, he haspleted his four hours of exercise.

    [You have burnt all of your calories gained, your fullness has reached 0%]

    [You are able to eat again.]

    [You have lowered your fullness to 0% for a total of four times in the set time.]

    [You have achieved the Secret Quest ''He Who Strives to Eat.'']

    [You have received +5 in all of your 5 basic stats.]

    [Your Digestion Skill has leveled up.]

    "......hmmm?!"

    A secret quest? I think I''ve heard about it.

    Quests in Athenae are ranked from E~S. There was also news about some special quests.

    A hidden quest was literally a special quest.

    A secret quest was a quest where the user did the quest without them knowing about it. They would be rewarded once they havepleted the quest.

    A legendary quest was a quest that came from the legends or from someone who carries a legendary quest.

    "The hard work I did so I could eat was a secret quest?"

    Minhyuk grinned. He just did it so he could eat.

    What he was more interested about was the notification about his ''Digestion'' skill leveling up.

    He checked the skill right away.

    (Digestion)

    Passive Skill

    Rank: ?

    Level: 2

    Mana Required: 0

    Cooldown: 0

    Effects: Calorie consumption will be 2x faster.

    Description: It lets you burn calories faster when you exercise. The term ''exercise'' refers to the average time that the general public uses to work-out, which is 1 hour. If you continue to work out for 1 hour, it can help you burn 20,000 calories.

    "....!"

    Minhyuk''s eyes widened. He felt much more surprised now than when he caught the golden chicken or when he received Vn.

    He could consume his calories 2x faster.

    And it was written in the description¡­

    Before, Minhyuk had to train for 4~5 hours to lower his fullness to 0% but now it could be shortened to 2 hours only.

    That was more than enough.

    Minhyuk did not know but it was the system''s rewards for his efforts.

    You can eat 40,000~50,000 calories in a day but you can burn everything by just exercising for 2 hours, isn''t this very innovative?!

    ''Good, good.''

    Minhyuk turned around satisfied. He was going to get the te that he gave to Instructor Valen yesterday.

    Then he would go to Isbin Vige.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] ?? : chimaek. Lit. Chicken + Maekju (beer) it''s a heavenlybination *chef''s kiss*

    TL''s corner!!!

    I came to trante mukbang but I received a love story. XD thank god for Minhyuk and his love for food that we got back on track.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 13 - Chicken Filled With Love

    Chapter 13: Chicken Filled with Love

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    When Minhyuk went to Instructor Valen to get his te, he received a letter and a red hair tie.

    "Instructor Valen wanted me to deliver this to you."

    Roina saw what Minhyuk brought and slowly reached her hand out to grab it. She looked at the hair tie and hurriedly checked the contents of the letter.

    [I bought this because I thought it would look pretty on you. I think it should be my turn to treat you to a meal. It would be nice if we could meet at the entrance of Isbin Vige at 19:00, three dayster.]

    Roina smiled widely.

    A man has given a woman a hair tie as a gift. This meant a lot more than anybody could think of.

    ''You and me¡­''

    She was wild with joy. She pressed the letter on her bosom and smiled.

    Minhyuk watched her as he nibbled on his leftover fried chicken from yesterday.

    ''Now the two of you can handle the next steps. Huhu.''

    He looked quite pleased with everything.

    Someone appeared to fill the emptiness in the lonely life of Valen, and the other confirmed that the man she likes has her in his heart.

    It was like his sister found him a good brother-inw, anyway, Minhyuk was able to eat fried chicken and that was more than enough!

    "Thanks, Minhyuk."

    "Chomp?"

    Minhyuk looked at her as he ate his chicken.

    "It''s all thanks to you."

    If it wasn''t for you, perhaps we would still keep our feelings to ourselves forever.

    Roina smiled at him softly. She then quietly pulled something out of her military backpack.

    It was a ck leather armor.

    [You have received Sylph''s Leather Armor.]

    [You have gained 4 reputation points.]

    "Thank you very much!"

    Like thest time, Minhyuk received it without any hesitation.

    "Go on and check it."

    Roina grinned at him as she gathered her long ck hair and tied it tightly with her hair tie.

    "He¡­ You look pretty."

    "Ah, really¡­ That mouth of yours!"

    "Check!"

    Minhyuk immediately checked his item before Roina could say anything else.

    (Sylph''s Leather Armor)

    ss: Rare

    Restriction: None

    Durability: 3,000/3,000

    Defensive Power: 314

    Special Abilities:

    > STR +2, AGI +6

    > When worn, Bardy Swordsmanship''s skill level increases by +1

    Description: A leather armor that''s blessed with the power of the Sylph. It was handed down from generation to generation in Instructor Roina''s family.

    The agility that came with the Special Abilities was quite high. And there was even a +1 skill level for Bardy Swordsmanship when it was worn.

    Minhyuk thought that it was because he had reached a certain amount of favorability and interaction with Roina that he received the Bardy Swordsmanship. And since he had built more favorability then he received the Sylph''s Leather Armor.

    He then checked the chapters of the Bardy Swordsmanship that have a +1 level increase.

    (Vital Strike)

    Active Skill

    Type of Swordy: Bardy Swordsmanship

    Mana Required: 20

    Cooldown: 1 minute

    Effects: Additional 17% ATK power if the strike is sessful

    (Two Consecutive Quick Assault)

    Active Skill

    Type of Swordy: Bardy Swordsmanship

    Mana Required: 30

    Cooldown: 1 minute

    Effects: One sword swing can result in two strikes.

    (Bardy Swordsmanship)

    Active Skill

    Type of Swordy: Bardy Swordsmanship

    Mana Required: 50

    Cooldown: 30 minutes

    Effects: +9 to all 5 basic stats for 5 minutes once skill is activated.

    Aside from the Two Consecutive Quick Assault, all the other skills had increased and became better.

    The Vital Strike had an additional +2% while the Bardy Swordsmanship had an increase of +2 to all of the 5 basic stats.

    "I''ll use it well, Instructor."

    Roina smiled widely at Minhyuk''s words.

    "Make sure youe back to y agai¡­"

    Before Roina could even finish her words¡­

    [The God of Athenae has entrusted you with a mission.]

    [Please propose two quests to User Minhyuk.]

    "......!"

    A notification rang in Roina''s ears.

    ***

    All of the members of the Special User Management Team were gathered together.

    They zoomed in and were seriously checking on Minhyuk''s monitor.

    "The second trial will begin now."

    All of the employees nodded at Team Leader Park''s words.

    Minhyukpleted the secret quest yesterday when he achieved a /10 on his fullness.

    ''He will receive the second trial from the nearest NPC to him.''

    The NPC should suggest the quest to him.

    No matter how close the two of you are, she wouldn''t be able to stop it from being dangerous.

    "Is there anyone who doesn''t know about the second trial?"

    "There''s none!"

    Team Leader Park looked at Lee Minhwa as she spoke with a grim expression.

    "The second trial. He would be given two quests. One of the quests given is a legendary quest called Invincible Character [1]. While the other quest will only give you a ''?'' in the contents and rewards section."

    A legendary ss is guaranteed, too.

    Until now, all of the legendary sses that came out are special and none of them are weak. There were several legendary ss holders who were part of the current rankers.

    "Yes, that''s right."

    Lee Minhwa also exined further since Team Leader Park looked like he still wanted further exnations.

    "This trial is a challenge. You can choose the one with a guaranteed job or choose an uncertain ''?''. The ''?'' can also be a meaningless job. It''s well known among users."

    "That''s right."

    Team Leader Park nodded.

    Grin.

    "Furthermore, this is the easiest way to get a legendary ss. So if you''re not an idiot and you''re a user who wants to really get strong then you would pick this¡­!"

    She clenched her fists tightly.

    "Who wouldn''t want to challenge a guaranteed check."

    In fact, this was a really rare urrence. In a lot of cases, the ''?'' was always a failure so everyone would take the stable job.

    Unlike the legendary ss which was a challenge, the God ss was often a gamble. It was said that they would either have an extremely strong God-like ability or an extremely weird God-like ability.

    "This time that user should not betray our expectations. But rather¡­"

    He swallowed his words.

    "It would be better for him to choose the legendary ss, berserker, than to be a godly food fighter."

    "...a food fighter."

    Lee Minhwa thought about those words.

    ''A fraudulent God ss where you raise your stats just by eating. That''s an ability that''s very in line with him¡­''

    She looked at Minhyuk through the monitor.

    ***

    [Please propose two quests.]

    [The first quest. Go to Isbin Vige, find the Berserker Brachni and hunt the monsters that he identifies.]

    [The second quest. Attack the Twilight Graveyard near Isbin Vige.]

    Roina looked at Minhyuk. He was smiling brightly as he ate his chicken.

    ''I heard that this notification will only go off on very special asions.''

    Roina wasn''t an idiot.

    I understand, so it''s that.

    This is a test.

    And it was absolute.

    They have to obey the orders of the God of Athenae.

    "Minhyuk. I''m going to issue you two quests."

    "Quests?"

    "Yeah. The first one, you should go to Isbin Vige and find the Berserker Brachni. He will then give you a hunting quest."

    Minhyuk nodded.

    "And the second quest. You have to attack the dungeon, Twilight Graveyard near Isbin Vige. You can only choose one of the two. If you do one, then you won''t be able to do the other."

    As Roina finished speaking, a quest window floated in front of Minhyuk.

    [Quest: Find Brachni]

    Rank: Legend

    Limit: None

    Rewards: ss change to Legendary ss, Berserker.

    Penalty for Failure: None

    Description: Your greatness starts now. Meet the Berserker, Brachni, in Isbin Vige to start challenging this legendary ss.

    [Quest: Attack Twilight Graveyard.]

    Rank: ?

    Limit: ?

    Rewards: ?

    Penalty for Failure??

    Description: Attack Twilight Graveyard. You won''t know what wille and what you will get.

    "......hmmm."

    Minhyuk was very calm.

    "I~~ see."

    He absent-mindedly nodded his head.

    ''I thought they would give me something delicious again.''

    Minhyuk thought that this was a pointless task.

    "You¡­ Is that the only reaction you have to a legendary quest?"

    "No. I''m d. I''m very happy that you could even see tears in my eyes. Boohoo. Can you see it in my eyes, over here."

    "You''re really a strange one, huh?"

    "I''m really crying, Instructor."

    "Don''t yawn and squeeze it out!"

    "Yes!"

    Roinaughed defeatedly.

    This bright youngd.

    I want to help this young man.

    Roina could predict it.

    ''Minhyuk would definitely go to the Twilight Graveyard since it clearly looks like a job rted to eating, this kid thinks that his greatest happiness is in eating.''

    Would a kid who thinks like that choose to receive the berserker quest?

    No, definitely not.

    And Roina knew what monster exists in the Twilight Graveyard.

    The graveyard was one of the easiest dungeons.

    She had heard from the other users about what appears at the end of the dungeon.

    Should I tell him about it?

    "When you go to Isbin Vige go and meet an old man named Allon [2]."

    "Allon?"

    "Yeah, he gives out delicious yanggaeng [3] if he''s in a good mood."

    "Ya, yanggaeng¡­?!"

    Roina nodded her head as Minhyuk''s eyes grew the size of saucers.

    He looks much more excited than when he received the legendary ss quest!

    ''Wi, will he just give me something to eat?''

    Yanggaeng is delicious too.

    It has that soft and sweet taste that gently melts in your mouth.

    His mouth was already watering.

    "I have to go now, Instructor!"

    "Okay,e back to y again."

    "Yes!"

    Minhyuk quickly left.

    Roina watched his back as he left and bursted outughing.

    "Ahahahahahaha. I will bet my all, he''s definitely going to the Twilight Graveyard!"

    She said something that was very significant as she reached out and stroked her hair tie.

    ***

    Minhyuk who was about to enter Isbin Vige found out that 4 hours have already passed. He then immediately asked to be disconnected.

    "Here''s your cherry tomatoes."

    Everyone quickly approached him. Minhyuk reached out for the tightly sealed cherry tomatoes and slowly started eating.

    Oh Changwook was among those people who approached him.

    "Have you left the Novice Zone?"

    "I left just now. General, sir!"

    "Woow¡­"

    Changwook''s fists trembled.

    Ack, if he wasn''t the son of the chairman I would have definitely given him a good punch!

    "You should thank me, hyung."

    "First and foremost, thank you. But why?"

    "I got a rare armor and a weapon for you. I''m the only one who cares about you, right? You should be shedding tears because you''re thankful, yeah?"

    "You already have a rare armor and weapon?"

    "Eh? What are you saying."

    "I have a rare armor and weapon."

    "How did you get a rare armor and weapon in the novice zone? It couldn''t be a drop, right?"

    "The NPC gave it to me?"

    "......Huh?"

    Oh Changwook''s eyes widened. It was at that moment that a higher ranker could not even catch a glimpse ofmon sense from the story he heard.

    ''I heard that this guy only ate inside so why would an NPC give him that?''

    Getting artifacts from NPCs was never an easy task. It was extremely difficult. They would know if you were intentionally trying to get close to them.

    They were, in fact, very much like humans.

    That was the reason why the items given by the NPCs were not established and well-known in the system.

    "But wouldn''t it be a jab to the rare items that your hyung got by buying? Let''s hear about the attacking and defending power."

    "Uhm, Vn has 211 attack power with STR +4, AGI +3 and a skill called Dauntless Strike¡­"

    "Wa, wait. What did you say? How much was the attacking power?"

    "The attacking power is 211."

    "......That''s impossible!"

    Oh Changwook''s eyes widened once more. Even the other people who were also ying Athenae were very shocked.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] ??? - ?? ??? a fraud character, characters that are overly strong and invincible that they look like they''re a fraud.

    [2] The hangul for the name is ?? and yes, I know that the manhwa did Arlon but I don''t feel that it works well so I used Allon. But do tell me if you think of something better.

    [3] ?? : yanggaeng or yokan is a sweet red bean jelly.

    TL''s corner!!!

    ?? was used to describe the other ss that you would get in the quest choices. It meant Big Eater if you search it in namu and is closely rted to food fighter, a very fitting ss for Minhyuk. Lol.

    This chapter was not divided by parts anymore. Tbh I only divided it by two because I always write a lot in the footnotes. From now on I won''t divide it by two parts (unless there are a A LOOOOOOOT of footnotes and TL rant lol)

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 14 - Chicken Filled With Love

    Chapter 14: Chicken Filled with Love

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    "How can a beginner use a sword with an attack power of 211, are there no restrictions? Wouldn''t the bnce break here [1]?

    Rare-like is not the same as rare.

    The system has restrictions on weapons with stronger attack power, they could only be obtained depending on the level of the user.

    However, Minhyuk''s level was definitely impossible for a weapon with 211 attack power.

    Assuming that a rare weapon existed in the novice zone then its attack power should only be at the range of 130.

    That''s why Minhyuk''s attack power was extremely overwhelming.

    "The item has no restrictions."

    "......"

    Oh Changwook''s mouth straightened into a line.

    "How, how about the armor?"

    "Sylph''s Leather Armor. I saw that it was also rare¡­"

    Minhyuk tried to remember the stats.

    "Defensive power is 314 with STR +2, AGI +6 and a +1 level increase on Bardy Swordsmanship."

    "........Wooooooooow."

    The women that were around him expressed their admiration. The same was true for the others.

    "It also has no restrictions?"

    "That''s right, General!"

    Changwook was left speechless. The usual rare items did not exceed 150~180 defensive power.

    "Sylph''s Leather Armor? Anyway, whatever you do you turn out to be the best, but unfortunately I can''t use the skill. Tsk¡­ You haven''t learnt it yet, right."

    "I''ve mastered it."

    "You have mastered it? The skill is not avable in the shop though?"

    "The hunting training instructor in the novice zone taught it to me?"

    Minhyuk told it to them with an innocent expression as he chewed on his cherry tomatoes.

    Changwook once more was shocked speechless.

    "What the hell are you doing inside the game¡­.?"

    "I eat very well inside, it''s the happiest time of my life!"

    Minhyuk told them this with a very wide smile. Changwook raised both his hands in surrender.

    Minhyuk continued to chew on his cherry tomatoes while sittingfortably on his chair and holding his handphone on one hand.

    "Ah, hyung. I also received a legendary quest."

    "A legendary quest? Are you sure?"

    "Yes, it''s true."

    "How in the world¡­"

    Changwook was surprised once again.

    "What was the ss? Ah, no, do you not know it yet?"

    "It''s berserker."

    "Be, berserker. The ss name was on it?"

    "Yes."

    There were cases where the ss name was identified on the quest. This was usually the case for easy legendary ss quests where the rewards were already avable.

    "Wow¡­ That''s really great. Awesome."

    "Is it good?"

    "No one wouldn''t want a legendary ss. Most of the popr top rankers are holders of legendary sses. There was even a saying: you''re an idiot if you don''t get in the top 100,000 with a legendary ss."

    "I want to eat steak. [2]"

    "Are you listening to me? You look like you don''t even have a shred of interest in what I''m saying. Some people even hoard legendary ss quests, they sell the information then get hundreds of millions of cash."

    "Uh-huh, I see."

    However, Minhyuk was still very calm as he searched on his handphone about legendary ss quests.

    [Nims, I have received the legendary quest for Archmage, I can''t believe a day like this hase to my life¡­!]

    ¡ªAChunkOfLittlePoo: Oh¡­ it will fail anyway. gj [3].

    ¡ªMingguJonStyle: Oh¡­ Fail, 2222 [4] hehehe

    ¡ªCacacass: Fail 33333 [5]

    ¡ªKingPororo: I''m an Archmage?

    ¡ªghdgs432: I have a spear, frauds will be hit in a strike. Hehehehehehehehe

    Minhyuk continued to search for information rted to legendary quests.

    And sure enough, people were very enthusiastic about the legendary quests. Some students even promised to study hard if they received a legendary quest.

    He found thements below.

    ¡ª[Cheolsu''sMommy: This kid. What did he just say now?

    ¡ªCheolsu''sDaddy: Son, don''t use studying as an excuse for ying games.

    ¡ªCheolsu''sNoona: Cheolsu. Don''t talk nonsense, go and make some ramen.

    ¡ªCheolsu''sHyung: You can''t do that~ You can''t lie to me like that~

    ¡ªCheolsu''sAunty: Our Cheolsu, let go of the pretty capsule.

    ¡ªCheolsu''sAncestorfrom200YearsAgo: Ahem, I can''t believe I have a descendant who uses studying as an excuse to y games, damn this bastard!]

    He giggled as he thought that these people have very great unity. They even changed their nicknames to leavements.

    Minhyuk stood up.

    "Minhyukie, are you going to do the legendary quest?"

    He tilted his head at Changwook''s words.

    "Why should I do that?"

    "Why, what do you mean by why? Isn''t it a guaranteed check for an easier game y?"

    "But I won''t be able to eat delicious food while I''m doing that."

    "You''re just trying to eat in the game¡­ ah, you''re going to eat. Wait."

    Changwook looked at him nkly.

    It''s a legendary quest, though?

    It''s a legendary quest!

    "They said that if I go and meet an old man I would be able to get yanggaeng. He¡­ That would be delicious."

    "You''re going to eat yanggaeng instead of doing the legendary quest?!"

    "No, hyung! They would give me yanggaeng! Wow, hyung¡­ I''m totally speechless [6]. You''re really frustrating, you really don''t understand me. How can a legendary quest be more important than yanggaeng?"

    "......"

    At that moment, Changwook doubted himself.

    ''I, is that so? Was I the strange one? Yeah. It was better to eat.''

    Changwook fell for his words. Then he said to him¡­

    "Ah, right. I''ll meet youter when you log in at the Central za in Isbin Vige. Got it?"

    "Okey dokey yo!"

    "Did you change your hair color?"

    "I only changed my weight to a weight that''s 100kg less."

    "Is that so? Got it. Anyway. Let''s go exercise."

    "Yep! General!"

    "Ple, please. Stop calling me general. Even thedy at the restaurant calls me general now¡­"

    "Uhm¡­"

    He groaned.

    Minhyuk still had to continue to exercise even in reality.

    You shouldn''t bezy both in game and in reality.

    He was losing a bit of sleep these days, but he was having a lot of fun so it was alright.

    ***

    General went straight to the Warp Wizard as soon as he logged in the game.

    "Where will you be going?"

    "Isbin Vige."

    "It''s worth 20,000 gold, is that fine?"

    Nods.

    General nodded coolly.

    This was the coolness of someone in the rankdown.

    [You will be warped from Austin to Isbin Vige.]

    [You will be charged 20,000 gold as the fee.]

    His eyes closed instinctively as it shed brightly. When the General opened his eyes, he was already standing in front of the Warp Wizard in Isbin Vige.

    General walked out of the Warp Point and went towards the central za.

    ''He lowered his weight¡­ I'' m curious about what he looks like.''

    Grin.

    General smiled, he had not seen him before when he was still slim. He walked slowly in thought.

    ''If a person loses 100kg in weight, are the changes in their appearance ground breaking? Even losing 10kg can show huge changes.''

    After walking for a bit, General arrived in front of the central square.

    "Looking for Level 5~10 party members to go hunt in the Goblin Fields. Only one spot left!"

    "ROYGBIV! Vio! Violet [7] potion for sale! Buy ten, get one service!"

    "Buff service! One for 1,000 gold!"

    "Looking for an Athenae GF [8]! I''m thirteen years old and I''m called Fire Fist Ace in school! I like the Nami-type!"

    "Hey hey, Jin Taeya, I got a new item!"

    "What did you get?"

    "It''s a unique spear. Wanna see? It''s very dope [9]!"

    It was very crowded.

    General''s forehead wrinkled in annoyance as tons of people swarmed together.

    "Let''s see, where''s that guy? Should I send him a whisper?"

    General turned on his whisper.

    [General: Where are you?]

    [Minhyuk: At the central za.]

    [General: za, which direction¡­]

    As the two of them continued to whisper¡­

    Bang!

    "Ah, I''m sorry."

    He bumped into a man. General nodded his head in a bow. He then looked at the man''s face.

    ''He, he''s really handsome¡­¡­!''

    The man nodded his head in a bow too.

    He was 185cm tall with a sharp nose, doe-like eyes and a smooth jawline.

    Isn''t this what Kang Dongwon [10] looks like?

    ''Wow, it''s real. Is that person a model in real life? Won''t he be a hit if he bes a celebrity?''

    Oh Changwook was originally a health trainer for famous celebrities and entertainers so it was normal for him to think about people''s appearances.

    He thought about that before replying to his whispers.

    Tap, tap.

    "Uh, excuse me."

    General turned to look at the person who tapped him. It was the handsome man from before.

    And then¡­

    "Loyalty. I have seen the General, sir!"

    "Oh, oh my god¡­"

    His left hand is holding a bag of bread.

    And this yful voice that sounds so familiar.

    It was Minhyuk.

    ***

    When Minhyuk re-entered the game he found himself standing in front of two guards at the entrance to Isbin Vige. This was the same ce where he logged out of.

    "Hello! It''s a good day to eat something delicious, right?"

    "Oh, that''s right. Are you a traveler?"

    "Is that a new way of greeting?"

    The two guardsughed as Minhyuk entered Isbin Vige while eating the soft bread Roina gave him.

    The soft bread she has given him was much more delicious than the hard one.

    Eating something delicious every day, every step of the way is a very happy thing.

    Minhyuk was able to see a variety of users once he arrived at the central za.

    "Looking for Level 5~10 party members to go hunt in the Goblin Fields. Only one spot left!"

    "ROYGBIV! Vio! Violet potion for sale! Buy ten, get one service!"

    "Buff service! One for 1,000 gold!"

    "Looking for an Athenae GF! I''m thirteen years old and I''m called Fire Fist Ace in school! I like the Nami-type!"

    "Hey hey, Jin Taeya, I got a new item!"

    There were parties looking for party members to go hunting and some users who seemed to be alchemists selling their potions. There were even people who came to meet their friends in the game.

    "What did you get?"

    "It''s a unique spear. Wanna see? It''s very dope!"

    "Oh, frick [11]. I''m so jealous!"

    Isbin Vige was full of life. Even the NPCs were selling something on the streets.

    "I''ve arrived."

    Minhyuk who drilled through the cracks in the sea of users looked for General, however he wasn''t able to see him.

    Then¡­ A message came up through a transparent hologram window.

    [General: Where are you?]

    To send a whisper, all you needed to do was to think of the person you want to send it to then you could think or blurt out the message you want to send and it would be entered on the hologram interface.

    [Minhyuk: At the central za.]

    When Minhyuk first learnt about whispers he thought that it was quite amazing.

    As he was looking at some of the items for sale¡­

    Bang!

    He bumped shoulders with someone.

    "Ah, I''m sorry."

    The other party''s response was faster than him.

    Minhyuk paused. He trembled as the man kept on staring at him.

    He knew this voice and this face.

    This was General.

    General took his eyes off of him after a while and turned to go his own way.

    Minhyuk watched his back and saw General''s unique walk. General has been working out for a long time that''s why he walks a bit differentlypared to normal people.

    How to say it, it''s like he''s walking with his chest straightened up?

    ''It''s Changwook hyung, so why did he go?''

    As he thought of this, Minhyuk quickly caught up to him and tapped on his shoulders.

    ''Hoo¡­ I''m finally seeing General.''

    The man turned around to face him.

    "Loyalty. I have seen the General, sir!"

    "Oh, oh my god!"

    "Huh?"

    Minhyuk tilted his head at his exmation. General looked pretty surprised.

    "Did¡­ Did you really not change anything?"

    "Change? Athenae makes it impossible to change your face, you know."

    "So¡­ So this is really your face?"

    "Yeah."

    "Waaaaaah, Minhyukie, you rascal!"

    General suddenly hugged him.

    "There are a lot of gay people in town these days¡­"

    "Did you know? There are rumors that the rough looking ones sometimes y the woman''s role."

    "......!"

    They didn''t even notice that the other users were already slowly stepping away from them. But General hugged Minhyuk for a while before running around excitedly.

    Right now, he was very happy to see him.

    "Hey, hyung what''s wrong with you?"

    "Yah, you''re really really handsome! Wahaha, Kang Minhyuk. You''re really handsome!"

    "I know."

    "Amaaazing. You''re like a scratch lottery ticket! Hahahahahahahahahaha!"

    Minhyukughed when he saw that he was sincerely happy for him.

    Who wouldn''t be happy if someone praised their looks.

    It''s been so long.

    Were the others pointing at us?

    Actually, he wasn''t afraid of them pointing fingers at him.

    Nobody wanted to be born that way.

    He never wanted to have bulimia.

    However there was only one thing¡­

    Father.

    And everyone who was like a father to him. It was quite obvious how they would react when they saw him.

    Father said¡­

    ''Son, you are my pride. No matter how you look, you won''t look bad to me. I would never be ashamed of you!''

    But this was not what Minhyuk wanted.

    Minhyuk wanted to make his father proud of him.

    But I can''t.

    It was only natural that he wouldn''t want to go out with how he looks.

    But now, his hyung told him¡­

    You''re really handsome.

    You''re very very handsome.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] raws used ?? quick search would give you ??? ?? which means bnce breaker.

    [2] LOL so Minhyuk was making a joke here. It''s a y on words. ?? (deungsin) means an idiot while ?? (deungsim) means sirloin steak. So he was saying that he wanted steak. Lmao.

    [3] ?? : ?? from ???? which means good job, well done.

    [4] 2222 ording to our friendly springday, it''s a ng for agreement. From ?? which is lit. Different view, objection. I''m not well versed in KR ngs so if you know more about this do tell me.

    [5] 33333 again, ording to our friendly springday, this is like the me three version in KR ngs.

    [6] they used the ng ??? = ? (haek, lit. nuclear, ng for very) + ? (no, lit. NO) + ? (dap, lit. Answer). ?? is lit. no answer, a ng used for when something has left you speechless, adding ? means it''s very no answer so, TOTALLY VERY SPEECHLESS. Kek

    [7] Raws says ???????, this is lit the first sybles of the colors of the rainbow in hangul. Now ?? is violet or iron¡­ But since we''re talking about colors so I used that for the potion. I have no idea as of now how this potion works.

    [8] raws used ?? which is short for ?? ?? which is lit girl friend.

    [9] ? ?? lit. very dope.

    [10] I have said this before but I just realized that author nim used ???? which is kang dong wonbin so uhhh. I''m confusedt.

    [11] raws says ?? i thought it was just a ng for fuck but if you know of this, do tell me! Ty.

    TL''s corner!!!!

    That''s right!!! Eating is the best. Fite me. Lol. Anyway that Cheolsu. ???? so funny.

    Also, the insecurities that apany such a disease that changes your overall appearance must be a lot. I can feel for him as I have been insecure quite a number of times. It''s definitely a boost to their self esteem if peoplepliment them. So guys, never forget topliment people, especially those close to you. You''ll never know how happy you''ll make them.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 15 - Delicious Yanggaeng

    Chapter 15: Delicious Yanggaeng

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    6 Delicious Yanggaeng

    ''All I really have to do is lose some weight.''

    As he thought about it, the two people slowly pushed their way out of the sea of users.

    "I''m definitely not used to you looking like that."

    "Me too, I''m not used to your face too. Hyaa¡­ You really look like a General."

    General was wearing crimson armor with a shiny sword on his waist.

    As far as I know, his ss is known to be Golden Knight.

    It was a hidden ss.

    It was also said that the Golden Knight could activate a buff when fighting with ordinary ss warriors or soldiers.

    This was one of the reasons why General''s name was quite well-known as the guild''s vice master.

    "Do you need anything else? I could give you gold and a full item set?"

    "I am very happy with what I have."

    Minhyuk looked at the items he was wearing. General was a bit convinced.

    "Well, at your rate¡­"

    Your equipment can''t be bought with money. There''s nothing like that with no limits and restrictions on power.

    Minhyuk could still probably use it until his level has increased to a pretty good enough level.

    "Then do you need gold? You should have nothing right now, right? You''re still a beginner so you don''t get much gold yet. I''ll give you 2 million gold for now."

    2 million gold.

    It was a huge sum of money but General just silently stretched his hand out.

    A trade would be initiated with a handshake.

    Minhyuk shook his head as he stared at his hand.

    "Ugh. I won''t ept it."

    "Eh? What?"

    "I wanted to eat something that I worked hard for."

    "You can eat everything you want now with 2 million gold. Isn''t your wish to eat everything you want?"

    Minhyuk smiled wryly.

    "That''s why I''m telling you I can''t do that."

    "Why can''t you do that?"

    "Hyung, even before¡­ I know how important food is. For some it''s just their daily meal but for those hungry children it''s something that they truly desire."

    "..."

    "A steak may not cost much for someone else but a student may need to save their pocket money just to treat their girlfriend to a fancy meal."

    "Yeah."

    Some children in other countries were even dying of hunger. It could bemon to some, but for others it was something that was out of reach.

    Just like Minhyuk in real life.

    "I don''t want to eat that precious food like I''m in a buffet just because I have money. I want to eat delicious food properly. On my own power."

    "...Is that so?"

    General smiled softly.

    How one wants to eat differs for everyone.

    And it was Minhyuk''s freedom.

    "I''ll just tell you one thing."

    General grinned at him.

    "You fXcker, my dongsaeng [1] is really cool."

    He could have benefited off of his parents but Minhyuk can achieve it on his own.

    He didn''t ask for a private tutor when he was studying but he still took first ce. Even in exercising, he could have taken a rest but he kept on doing it.

    He can do it all on his own.

    This is why Minhyuk is a really cool rascal.

    "Ah, hyung."

    "Huh?"

    "I have to get going."

    Minhyuk was as restless as a puppy who wanted to go pee.

    "I, I have to go eat yanggaeng!"

    Minhyuk was back to his usual mischievous self. He then turned around and moved.

    General grinned at his retreating back.

    "Someone''s daily meal might be quite precious for others."

    It was a cool phrase.

    He murmured those words as he waved his hands at the running Minhyuk.

    "You''ll definitely do it. Hyung''s cool too so let''s go and get some attention my dongsaeng, let''s go!"

    General sincerely supported him.

    ***

    Minhyuk was able to find Allon after asking nearby users and NPCs. They said that Allon runs a yanggaeng store. It was very shabby and tiny.

    Other users have told him¡­

    ''You''re looking for Allon the NPC? I don''t rmend that you go. He once caught me and talked for two hours straight. He talks too much.''

    ''Yanggaeng? Why would you go and eat that?''

    ''That person gave me a useless quest. You have to get chestnuts then he will give you chestnut yanggaeng, or something. That was the quest.''

    The other users did not understand Minhyuk who was quite excited about yanggaeng. People were definitely split in their likes and dislikes of yanggaeng.

    However it was a good memory for Minhyuk. It was a memory with his grandmother when she was still alive.

    His grandmother was frugal even if she had a son like Minhyuk''s father. Whenever Minhyuk came to visit her, she would take out his favorite yanggaeng that she saved from her drawer and put it in his mouth.

    He could still remember the sweetness of the red beans and the way it melted in his mouth.

    "He¡­"

    Minhyuk gulped and quickly hastened his pace. Not long after, a small store appeared in his sight.

    It''s name was ''Tasty Yanggaeng''.

    In Athenae, many things were sold the same way they were sold in real life. It was also one of the charms of ying the game.

    There were no people present in front of Tasty Yanggaeng but the front was filled with well-packed yanggaengs.

    "Excuse me~"

    Minhyuk''s heart fluttered with excitement. A middle-aged man came out from the inside of the store.

    "You''re not going to ask for directions, are you?"

    "No."

    "You''re not a customer who''s expecting a hidden quest, right?"

    "That''s not it either!"

    "Then what?"

    "I want to eat yanggaeng!"

    "......!"

    Allon''s eyes widened.

    There were a lot of delicious things to eat all over the world.

    But to be honest, at this moment Tasty Yanggaeng''s store only had flies flying all over [2]!

    He slowly went in front of the stands.

    "Is that so? Huhu, kids these days don''t really like to eat food like these."

    Allon grinned as he took out one yanggaeng.

    "Did you make it yourself?"

    "Of course. I made everything by hand."

    Then he cut the yanggaeng with his knife.

    "Free taste. People don''t even look at my yanggaeng at all. But, I''m very confident about it!"

    He straightened his chest in confidence.

    "You''ll definitely be speechless once you eat my handmade yanggaeng."

    Minhyuk received his free yanggaeng.

    The yanggaeng was as firm and bouncy as dotorimuk [3]. It was also ck and shiny.

    He carefully ced it in his mouth and slowly chewed on it.

    The vor of the sweet red bean spread out as it softly melted in his mouth. Whenever his tongue tasted the sweetness, a smile would bloom on his face.

    It has the same taste as what my grandmother usually gave me before.

    I can feel it.

    Allon''s yanggaeng is definitely delicious!

    "Wow¡­¡­¡­! It''s really delicious!"

    "Haha. Boy, you really eat deliciously!"

    [Allon''s favorability has increased.]

    Allonughed at him as he watched him eat with a smile.

    He then heard a notification.

    [User Minhyuk has tasted your yanggaeng.]

    [E-rank Quest. Please propose that he collect 50 chestnuts.]

    The truth was that the quest would only be triggered once the yanggaeng was tasted. This was because there weren''t a lot of users who wanted to taste the yanggaeng, so tasting it was in itself a requirement to trigger the quest.

    Plus, the quest in and on itself was not that rewarding.

    ''I''ll give you chestnut yanggaeng if you collect it.''

    And when they get notifications like this, the NPCs could propose the quest at a suitable time. If they don''t like the user then they could terminate the quest.

    He then said¡­

    "Well, how many should I give you?"

    "......!"

    Minhyuk gasped. This was probably what Roina said about tasting and giving the yanggaeng.

    ''But Instructor Roina taught me how to get these delicious yanggaengs!''

    Minhyuk smiled happily.

    "How much is it?"

    "One for 1,000 gold."

    He felt that it was a bit expensive. Hard bread was 500 gold a piece.

    Maybe this was the reason why his business is a bit worse.

    But Minhyuk said¡­

    "Please give me 20,000 gold worth of yanggaeng!"

    There was still some money left from when he caught the golden chicken after buying all the ingredients from before.

    "......!"

    Allon was very shocked when he heard him.

    20 pieces.

    That''s quite a lot.

    "Where are you going to give it?"

    "Nope. I''m going to eat them all."

    Allon secretly smiled.

    "The yanggaeng is handmade so it''s not good to store it for a long time. You could probably finish all 20 of them in a week."

    "I''m going to eat them all today. It was very very delicious so I have to eat all I can today!"

    "Is it really that delicious? Hahaha, I am very generous so I would give you five more!"

    "Thank you very much!"

    He''s a person who really loves food.

    Was he really that happy with just this?

    [You have purchased 25 yanggaengs.]

    [20,000 gold has been deducted.]

    Minhyuk quickly ripped the wrapper off so he could start munching on his yanggaeng.

    "Boy, it''s quite difficult to see a young man like you. I can''t believe that you''re eating yanggaeng so happily¡­ mumble mumble mumble."

    It seemed like the chatter motor that the other users were talking about was triggered.

    Minhyuk could have left but he didn''t. He thought that he could somehow buy more after he ate it all up.

    "I used to be an alchemist, that''s why I''m telling you¡­ Back in the days¡­ Mumble, mumble¡­¡­"

    "I see!"

    Minhyuk finished eating his yanggaeng as he listened to his story. He would have found it annoying if he wasn''t eating delicious yanggaeng, but he was so he just let it go.

    Minhyuk tilted his head as he continued to chatter.

    "I used to go to Twilight Graveyard. I tagged along some soldiers who wanted to go there. So I was saying¡­"

    ''Twilight Graveyard?''

    Something popped up in Minhyuk''s memories.

    Isn''t that where the ? quest was supposed to be done?

    "And the boss monster there was a very unusual guy."

    "Unusual?"

    "Yeah. Don''t be surprised."

    He raised one finger as if to raise anticipation.

    "It was a pig."

    "......Yes?"

    Wait.

    For a moment, Minhyuk thought he heard the wrong thing.

    "What did you say?"

    "The boss is a pig."

    "......!"

    Minhyuk''s hands trembled. He almost dropped his yanggaeng.

    Everyone would agree that Minhyuk was very surprised, the way that he almost lost his hold on his yanggaeng was a testament to his surprise, right?

    That was how surprised Minhyuk was.

    "Tenderloin, sirloin, chuck roll, ribs! The pig for samgyeopsal [4]?!"

    "Yeah, that pig. Boy, why are you so surprised?"

    At that moment, Minhyuk couldn''t hear Allon.

    Just imagining it is so awesome.

    The first thing he imagined was samgyeopsal.

    Samgyeopsal ced on a well-heated grill¡­

    Sizzleeee¡ª

    While he listened to the sound of meat grilling he would order doenjangjjigae [5] and a bowl of rice.

    He would then cut the meat up after cooking it well. Then he would ce the samgyeopsal on top of a lettuce with a bit of rice.

    Next he would ce some garlic and ssamjang on it, then he would add either kimchi, seasoned scallions or pickled garlic leaves in the wrap depending on his taste.

    Finally he would ce it in his mouth so he could eat¡­

    Guulp¡ª

    Minhyuk was shocked to see that he unconsciously made the gesture as if he was going to eat a wrap.

    And he was truly regretting that he did not have the wrap in his mouth.

    "Kgghk¡­ That''s really awesome."

    There wasn''t much to throw away from pigs, in addition to that, there were a lot of things that one could cook from it.

    So the pig is at the end of Twilight Graveyard?

    "Pork! Pork! Pork!"

    It was at that moment when Minhyuk decided his next destination.

    He suddenly stopped.

    ''No way¡­ Did the instructor help me so I could eat pork?''

    At that moment, he suddenly felt very grateful towards Instructor Roina.

    Perhaps Allon the chatterbox has always talked about the Twilight Graveyard.

    Minhyuk smiled when he thought about that.

    Allon looked at Minhyuk who was chanting pork, pork and talked to him¡­

    "Boy, are you going to Twilight Graveyard so you could eat pork?"

    "Yep."

    "But they sell a lot of pork at the butcher shops."

    "It tastes different when I eat something I worked hard on!"

    Minhyuk smiled brightly while Allon was confused at his words.

    "Boy, what''s your level?"

    "Level 1."

    "Unfortunately, level 1 users cannot go inside the Twilight Graveyard."

    Ttirori¡ª [6]

    It was a bolt from the blue.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] ?? : dongsaeng; younger brother or sister

    [2] Means that the store was very empty that there were only flies flying around¡­ Like my wallet.

    [3] dotorimuk : ???? acorn jelly, jelly made from acorn starch

    [4] Samgyeopsal is pork belly. The parts before were ?? (ansim) , ?? (deungsim) , ?? (moksim) and ?? (galbi).

    [5] doenjangjjigae : soy bean paste stew

    [6] ??? sound to express shock and disappointment, it was this be/0Aej0vQJNQA

    TL''s corner!!! Bolt out of the blue meant that something unexpected happened. Kek. Once again my stomach was growling. Ughhh I want to eat samgyeopsal. ??

    Report mistakes and hang out with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 16 - Proposal

    Chapter 16: Proposal

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    7 Proposal

    "Whaaaaaaaaat?!"

    Minhyuk has found himself and his life as a foodie in a crisis.

    "Twilight Graveyard only allows level 10 to level 15 users to enter."

    "Is, is that so¡­ ahem¡­"

    He was disappointed for a moment but Minhyuk quickly decided to first eat his fill of yanggaeng as he mumbled sadly.

    Allon went inside to get 1L of milk and poured him a ss.

    "Here, don''t be too disappointed. Drink this. I''m not someone who''s usually this generous."

    As soon as he gave him the ss, Minhyuk''s hands instinctively reached out for the carton of milk.

    "I, I don''t know how to stop¡­!"

    He wanted to get more milk. Allon, who didn''t know whether he shouldugh or cry, handed him the whole milk.

    "Here, it''s fine to drink it all."

    Gulp, gulp¡ª

    Minhyuk took the 1L milk and gulped it down. Drinking milk while eating yanggaeng was like an icing to the cake.

    "I have to go and level up¡­"

    He mumbled to himself.

    Allon thought that right now was the perfect time.

    "Then boy, do you think you could do me a favor?"

    "Yes?"

    "If you go to Mount Rumad, there are ''Chestnut Demons [1]'' there. If you catch those guys, it would give you ''chestnuts''. Can you bring me those?"

    Ring!

    [Quest: Collect 50 chestnuts.]

    Rank: E

    Restrictions: Open only to those who have tasted Allon''s yanggaeng.

    Rewards: 50 chestnut yanggaeng, 20,000 gold

    Penalty for Failure: Allon''s favorability will decrease, you won''t be able to buy any more yanggaeng from him.

    Description: A quest that will only be triggered if you tasted Allon''s yanggaeng. He''s the master of making chestnut yanggaeng, however he does not have any chestnut to make them. Hunt chestnut demons and bring him chestnuts.

    "Chestnut?"

    Chestnuts are usually piled together in a bunch, it was usually grilled but it was an ingredient that could be used in a variety of dishes.

    For example, it could be used to make the very delicious ''Chestnut Braised Spicy Chicken''.

    Minhyuk kept quite a lot of chicken in his food storage inventory. Minhyuk only kept on thinking about eating every day.

    In addition, there was the chestnut yanggaeng as a reward.

    The chestnut kernel that could be chewed inside the soft yanggaeng.

    Just imagining it can make me feel happy.

    "Hunting chestnuts and eating chestnut yanggaeng sounds good, yeah?"

    "Oh, I think so too!"

    "You can only obtain the chestnut quest from me, plus if you give me 100 pieces instead of 50, then your rewards will double in the same way that if you give me 200 then your rewards will quadruple."

    Minhyuk nodded enthusiastically.

    I need to get to level 10 so I could eat pork so before I could do that I should eat my fill of chestnut yanggaeng or I could also steam or grill chestnuts.

    "But you have to be careful, the chestnut demons are stronger than you think. If you don''t pay attention, you might die from their sharp thorns. Boy, I can see that you''re quite stronger than others on your level."

    "I can do it. Hehe. Also¡­"

    "Hmm?"

    Allon saw Minhyuk reaching out his hands with a brilliant smile.

    "Please give me an additional 5,000 gold worth of yanggaeng!"

    "Keok, al, already¡­ are you a hippo?!"

    It took Minhyuk less than 40 minutes to finish off 25 pieces of yanggaeng.

    Minhyuk bought an extra 5,000 gold worth of yanggaeng then turned around and went to the chestnut demon''s hunting ground that Allon told him about.

    Allon thought about something as he watched his back.

    ''Perhaps he may be able to hunt the chestnut demon king and change the quest rewards? Hmm¡­ Eyy, that''s impossible. That friend is just level 1.''

    He then found a user passing by.

    "Oy [2],e and taste my yanggaeng."

    ***

    When Minhyuk started climbing the mountain, he noticed that there weren''t other users present in his surroundings.

    Instead, what he saw was a patrol guard.

    "Boy, are you going to hunt chestnut demons?"

    "Yes. That''s right."

    "I see. Usually, they form parties to hunt for chestnut demons. Boy, I guess you''re level 10, huh?"

    "I''m level 1 though?"

    "......Go back."

    "What?"

    Minhyuk looked at him strangely.

    Patrol guard Hans sighed.

    ''There are always guys whoe here without knowing anything.''

    "Chestnut demons are level 4 but they''re usually stronger than other monsters of the same level, even though they can''t take blows well their attack power is still at level 6. With your level, you''ll be dead in one hit."

    "Ahh¡­ Thank you for your concern!"

    "Yeah."

    Hans smiled innocently at him thinking that he was a very good listener. So he told him more.

    "In addition, hunting chestnut demons gives you lower EXP and item dropspared to other hunting grounds. It''s better for you to go somewhere else."

    "That''s alright."

    However, Minhyuk still went past the guard.

    "B, boy! Do you think what I said was just for fun?!"

    It was Patrol Guard Hans'' job, guiding those who were unaware to the right hunting grounds.

    The hunting ground that matched Minhyuk the best was the Cobalt Rock since it was where level 1~4 users could easily hunt.

    "That''s not it. I didn''t look down on Mr. Patrol Guard!"

    "Users whoe here are at level 3~5 and they usually form parties. And apparently no one was able to properly hunt¡­"

    Before he could even finish what he was saying Minhyuk discovered a chestnut demon nearby.

    The chestnut demon that appeared was literally a thorny chestnut with tiny arms and legs attached to its body. Anyone could see that their hands were round because they did not have any fingers.

    "Kkaebi, kkaebi!" [3]

    The chestnut demon cried loudly as he observed it closely.

    ''Delicious chestnut!''

    Minhyuk couldn''t hear Hans who was talking behind him.

    Fortunately, the chestnut demon was not a seon mob [4] who strikes the users first.

    "There are always users who don''t want to listen."

    Hans clicked his tongue.

    [Bardy Swordsmanship]

    [All 5 basic stats have a +9 increase for 5 minutes.]

    At that moment¡­

    Shiiing!

    Minhyuk pulled out the sword on his waist and shed it towards the chestnut demon.

    The sword shed with a crimson light.

    [Dauntless Strike]

    [Your strike will have an additional 20% attack power.]

    Minhyuk believed that what the guard said about it being dangerous was not nonsense. This was the reason why he also used Bardy Swordsmanship when he attacked.

    aash!

    "Kuuaack!"

    The chestnut demon was soon felled.

    It was only one strike.

    "......gasp?!"

    Hans had his eyes widened like a startled rabbit.

    "H, how?"

    Before he could speak, Minhyuk heard a series of notifications.

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have acquired 3 chestnuts.]

    Since Minhyuk received the chestnut quest, he could receive the chestnuts without touching them separately.

    Minhyuk also reached out to pick up what dropped from the chestnut demon.

    [You have acquired 61 gold.]

    [You have acquired the chestnut demon''s thorn.]

    "Hmm?"

    Minhyuk''s forehead creased.

    The chicken gave about 50 gold. But thismon mob gives only 60 gold?

    He tilted his head in confusion, but he smiled happily when he saw the chestnuts in his inventory. He then proceeded to check his stats window.

    (Minhyuk)

    Level: 2

    ss: None

    HP: 230 MP: 200

    STR: 19+11 AGI: 15+14 STM: 15+5

    WIS: 15+5 INT: 15+5 Rep: 10

    Fullness: 100%/10

    Bonus Point: 5

    Minhyuk added 3 of his bonus points to his STR and the remaining 2 to his AGI.

    He felt it when he was cleaning the chickens. It was easier for him to clean and trim the chickens when his STR is good.

    Minhyuk thought to himself as he observed his stats.

    ''It''s really higherpared to other users.''

    The regr stats were already high but the stats of items with ''+'' were extremely high.

    There was also thebination of Bardy Swordsmanship and the Dauntless Strike, so it waspletely possible to get the monster in a single hit.

    Maybe it''s possible to actually finish it off without the skills.

    "Boy, you''re not level 1, right?"

    "Yes, I''m level 1. Ah, I''m level 2 right now."

    "......"

    Hans looked at him nkly. That was a neat and efficient move without any superfluousness and his movements were very quick.

    ''This guy.''

    He didn''t know how he raised his stats but he had his thoughts.

    "Boy, I''m sorry I disregarded you. You''re much stronger than what I thought."

    Hans cleared his throat.

    As a soldier, he wanted to know the secrets to getting stronger.

    If he was that good at Lv1 then there must be something special, right?

    "So, is it possible for you to tell me your secret?"

    "Hmm¡­¡­"

    Minhyuk hummed in a low voice for quite some time before he started speaking.

    "I eat well and exercise diligently."

    "Is, is that it?"

    The guard looked at him with a nk face.

    Minhyuk quickly turned around and left to hunt for more chestnut demons.

    It might have sounded weird to the guard back then, but what Minhyuk said was the truth.

    ***

    Minhyuk had a thought as he hunted chestnut demons.

    ''There are no users around.''

    This could simply be interpreted quickly¡­

    There are a lot of mob monsters.

    And him?

    ''Chestnut demon, one shot.''

    Even the seon mob was no exception.

    So what was it?

    He was able to monopolize the chestnut demons so he could level up.

    [Bardy Swordsmanship]

    [All 5 basic stats have a +9 increase for 5 minutes.]

    Fwooooom¡ª

    Minhyuk''s body was filled with strength. Without using Dauntless Strike, he was still able to one shot the chestnut demon by using the Bardy Swordsmanship with his sword.

    If Minhyuk''s level continued to increase then it would be possible for him to do it without using the Bardy Swordsmanship.

    Minhyuk quickly continued to hunt the chestnut demons in his surroundings.

    Stab!

    "Kuek!"

    Lunge!

    "Kwaak!"

    sh!

    "Kgghkek!"

    He took a bit of time off of his hunting.

    Minhyuk has be skilled.

    In fact, he was a bit afraid of it because it was considered to be a real monster but his obsession with food lessened his fear which made it easier for him to ovee it.

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    Minhyuk reached level 7 in a sh and as usual he added 15 to his STR and 10 to his AGI.

    (Minhyuk)

    Level: 7

    ss: None

    HP: 248 MP: 200

    STR: 37+11 AGI: 27+14 STM: 15+5

    WIS: 15+5 INT: 15+5 Rep: 10

    Fullness: 100%/10

    Bonus Point: 0

    He has also collected 100 chestnuts. Minhyuk has already heard the notification for thepletion of the quest but he continued to collect more chestnuts.

    His sole reason was so he could build up his chestnut inventory and eat whatever was left in what he collected.

    ording to Allon, it would be impossible for him to gather chestnuts once he submitted the quest.

    At that moment¡­

    "Kyaaaaa!"

    He heard a woman scream.

    Minhyuk quickly headed over with a curious look on his face.

    ***

    She was 12th in domestic rankings.

    She was known as Alicia, the Witch of Agony, in the game.

    Her real-life name was¡­

    Lee Ji-ah.

    Lee Ji-ah sighed as she looked at the cherry tomato sd in front of her.

    ''I don''t know if I''m a gamer or a celebrity.''

    In a way, she could bepared to a female celebrity.

    The current Athenae rankers were very popr all over the world.

    What else could she say, Lee Ji-ah''s appearance that was on par with celebrities was like a p to the actors faces?

    She was experiencing the same poprity as the brightest stars these days with her long ck hair, misty doe-like eyes, sharp nose, slender jawline and her wless white skin.

    Her figure was also perfect.

    But did they think that this figure just came out of nowhere?

    Lee Ji-ah who was chewing on her cherry tomatoes roughly looked over her capsule.

    ''Damn it¡­¡­'' [5]

    It wasn''t that long ago when she got defeated by a non-ranker. At that time, she realized something so she made a decision.

    ''I''m too weak at closebat, too weak.''

    Of course she was a witch, but these days even if she was a witch she still had to fight in closebat.

    She was even a top-ranker in Versal, a game before Athenae. She was a Light Knight in Versal that was why she was confident in her closebat abilities even if she was a witch in Athenae.

    That was why she was practicing in her alt [6] recently.

    Athenae does not have an alt-ount system, but she was given special permission. The reason was because she reached the highest level when she participated in the country''s closed beta testing for Athenae.

    So she practiced on her alt as she deliberately and repeatedly ''deleted'' and ''trained'' her character.

    I have beencking in confidencetely.

    So she wanted to get back her initial passion. Perhaps this was the reason why she was repeatedly doing this¡­ So she could fan the mes of her original intention.

    She connected to the game.

    And as usual, she logged on as a new character that she could train.

    Her character''s name was Armin.

    And her face waspletely changed. Athenae specially allowed her to change her appearance since she was given two IDs.

    Another reason why she was training in her alt was to avoid attention from other people.

    As soon as she logged in, she went through the scarecrow training grounds, hunting training grounds and quickly entered Isbin Vige.

    As she moved she suddenly remembered¡­

    ''Wasn''t the chestnut demon hunting grounds considered to be difficult for beginners?''

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] ??? : it''s chestnut (?) + demon, monster, goblin (??) so I used chestnut demon. Sounded more appropriate. Kek.

    [2] ??? this was hey, but old fashioned so I changed it and used oy. Lol

    [3] ???? this was the sound of the chestnut demon. Ah so cute.

    [4] it was written as ??, ? meaning y first, or in this case attacks first. I realized that it wasn''t zone since it should be written as ? if it was that. So I retained seon.

    [5] ???? (bileomeogul) : can be tranted to english as damn, bloody hell, hell, fucking hell.

    [6] ?? : ? (bu, as in vice, sub, under) + ? (short for ??? which is character) = sub character or an alternate ount or a secondary ount. Lit. just smurf t in games.

    TL''s corner!!!

    Ooooh, halfway through before catching up with the manhwa¡­ I think¡­ I haven''t checked it out yet. Lol.

    I won''t be able to postter in the week so I''m posting both the promised 2 chapters for the week now. Kek. Hope you enjoyed it!!!

    Report mistakes and chat with us at :/Q3dStgu

 Chapter 17 - Proposal

    Chapter 17: Proposal

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    Others would have been reluctant since it has low experience and item drops. That''s why that ce has plenty of mobs roaming around.

    However, if you wouldpare it based on time efficiency then that ce could be considered to be the better choice.

    There were plenty of mobs and if you were supported by enough skills then you would definitely level up fast.

    Besides, what better opponent than those that are higher than yourself, right?

    She has arrived at the chestnut demon''s hunting grounds.

    Swish!

    "Kuek!"

    Chestnut demons were quite strongerpared to their level.

    But it was no match for her who wasbeled as the top one GodCon [1].

    aash!

    She quickly hunted for chestnut demons and shot to level 4 in an instant.

    ''Too easy.''

    As soon as she had that thought¡­

    A huge chestnut came out of an overgrown bush.

    The chestnut had its thorny skin peeled off with its fleshy kernel showing. To be exact, that was what''s on the monster''s head when its body started to rise up.

    She soon saw itpletely¡­

    It was a chestnut demon that was three times bigger than normal but still a bit smaller than an orc.

    "Chestnut demon king?"

    Her forehead creased as she looked down at her weapon.

    ''A wooden sword¡­''

    Can I even use this wooden sword to defeat a Lv15 chestnut demon king?

    Should I run away?

    No, that''s an 11 level gap, it would be good if I could challenge it with just a wooden sword. It''s the easiest way for me to develop.

    With that thought in mind, she rushed straight at the monster.

    m!

    "Kuhack!"

    Her wooden sword struck at its neck.

    The monster swayed for a bit then swung its arms at her fiercely. The two started to battle continuously.

    This was definitely the Light Knight of the past, Armin.

    She quickly narrowed their distance and pressed on it.

    sh!

    m!

    Every time she strikes it with her wooden sword, thorns would rain down on her.

    ''How can its HP be this high!''

    As she thought of that, the chestnut demon king narrowed their distance.

    m!

    Its arms striked past her body.

    Bang, bang, bang!

    Sharp thorns rained down on her and prated her body.

    "Kyaaa!"

    She let out a small scream as the chestnut demon king approached her.

    [Your HP is less than 20%]

    "......Damn it."

    Her HP level fell in just one shot. It would definitely not be too much if it was a party of level 4s.

    At that moment¡­

    A man suddenly appeared out of the thickets. The man''s eyes widened when he caught sight of the huge chestnut hanging on top of the head of the chestnut demon king.

    "It, it''s the great king of chestnuts¡­!"

    ''What''s with this person.''

    "It''s a huge chestnut! Have I ever seen a chestnut this big?! Woow! It''s very fleshy, it must be hard to roast. Wow! Wow! Wow!"

    He kept on nodding as he shouted in joy.

    "Are you going to help me or not!"

    "......If I help you will I be able to get that chestnut?"

    Armin had seen those bright eyes before.

    ''These are the eyes that you see when someone gets at least an Epic item.''

    Those eyes were shining brightly when he saw the chestnut on top of the chestnut demon king.

    "You can have it, what''s your level?"

    She was dragging herself away from the approaching chestnut demon king.

    "It''s 7."

    "Crazy¡­"

    She breathed a sigh in defeat.

    The chestnut would definitely kill her and that crazy person(?) in a set.

    "I can have it? Don''t do anything like steal it, huh."

    "How can a level 7 like you face the chestnut demon king¡­¡­!"

    [Bardy Swordsmanship]

    [All 5 basic stats have a +9 increase for 5 minutes.]

    Rustle, rustle¡ª

    He pulled Vn out.

    Dash!

    Minhyuk quickly narrowed the distance between him and the monster.

    ''Fa, he''s fast¡­!''

    He''s level 7?

    That speed does not make sense.

    It wasn''t just that¡­

    He prated the sides of the chestnut demon king at a high speed.

    ''He looks like a yer who has trained for quite a long time¡­!''

    As she thought of this¡­

    aaaaash!

    [Dauntless Strike]

    [Your strike will have an additional 20% attack power.]

    "Kuuaaaaaaaaack!"

    As the chestnut demon king shrieked, its thorns flew up in the air.

    Fwooom!

    The arms of the chestnut demon king moved to catch the fleeting man.

    At that exact moment, Minhyuk''s eyes shone brightly.

    [Vital Strike]

    [Additional 17% attack power if attack is sessful.]

    Minhyuk saw all three of the vital points of the chestnut demon king.

    The + effect wouldn''t be activated if he does not stab one of these three spots.

    Minhyuk urately thrusted his sword towards one of the vital points, the bottom of the stomach, of the chestnut demon king.

    [Your attack has an additional 17% attack power.]

    Creeaaak!

    "Kuaaack!"

    ''It''s urate¡­ Like a person who has striked a thousand, no, ten thousand times¡­''

    How many years of kendo did he do to get to that point?

    At that moment¡­

    The chestnut demon king slowly, very slowly copsed.

    Thuuud!

    Minhyuk striked the head of the chestnut demon king.

    sh!

    Then¡­

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    "Oooooooooh! I gained a chestnut that''s as big as my head!"

    He held the chestnut, which was from the head of the chestnut demon king, up in the sky as he shouted with joy.

    Minhyuk felt happy. He was in a very good mood.

    This was because he unexpectedly got a big chestnut.

    "Nim, nim, do you know of an acrostic poem for Babamba [2]?"

    She looked at him nkly.

    "Babamba, I''m chestnut vored, Babamba [3]!"

    "......"

    "Do you know about the Jaws Bar [4] one?"

    "......"

    "Jaws Bar, I pulled it out with a swoosh, Babamba! [5]"

    ''He''s definitely a crazy person¡­!''

    She sighed.

    Minhyuk went on his own way as he held his chestnut and hummed happily.

    "You should take the items. A good one came out."

    Armin said it first.

    In fact, their situation was extremely vague and ambiguous that it would definitely create plenty of trouble between users.

    But for her, it was just a mountain of artifacts.

    "The items? It''s already very kind of you to give me the chestnut¡­!"

    ''Someone who heard us might think that it''s an epic item.''

    "I don''t have any use for it anyway."

    "Yes!"

    Minhyuk did not refuse anymore and took the items.

    [You have acquired the Chestnut Demon King''s Polished Thorn.]

    [You have acquired the Chestnut Demon King''s Ne.]

    [You have acquired 26,431 gold.]

    Come to think of it, I think I might have heard that I leveled up twice.

    I''m Lv9 now.

    He could now leave this ce after getting another level.

    Minhyuk first checked the Chestnut Demon King''s ne.

    (Chestnut Demon King''s Ne)

    ss: Rare

    Durability: 1,000/1,000

    Defensive Power: 40

    Special Abilities:

    >STM+4

    >Defense against chestnut demon''s thorns +100

    Description: The probability of this dropping after hunting the Chestnut Demon King is very rare.

    It was a rare-ss item. When hunting for chestnut demons, the defensive power will increase by 100, in addition, there was a +4 in STM which was equivalent to having an increase of 40 in one''s defensive power.

    The reason why the defensive power of the ne was lower than an armor was because it was an essory-type artifact.

    These types of artifacts tend to have a lower defensive power. However, what was worth betting on were the special abilities attached to the item.

    He then checked the chestnut demon king''s polished thorn.

    (Chestnut Demon King''s Polished Thorn)

    Material Grade: D

    Special Abilities: Additional attack power when making weapons.

    Description: The Chestnut Demon King''s polished thorn. Can be used as a quest item or can be sold in stores.

    "Nice, nice."

    Minhyuk disappeared into the thickets with a satisfied look.

    Armin struggled to get up to look at where he disappeared to. She then leaned her back against a nearby tree.

    "Beginner Recovery."

    [Beginner Recovery is activated for users below Lv10.]

    There were plenty of convenient welfare systems for users below Lv10.

    In this case, once the user took a rest their HP could recover by itself.

    After pulling out the thorns from her body and throwing it away, Armin could see light seeping through her wounds as it slowly recovered.

    ''That user, how can he be that strong?''

    She had some doubts.

    Did he get a legendary ss at that level?

    ''No, his skills were a bit ordinary to be that. But his skills and artifact doesn''t make sense for his low level?''

    She then thought of another matter.

    ''No matter how good his artifact is, his movements are still too good to be true.''

    Armin has seen plenty of real-life sports athletes among the rankers. Control was, after all, very important in Athenae as it was a virtual reality game.

    And Minhyuk''s skills were very simr to that of those in the rankings.

    ''Sigh¡­ I don''t know anymore.''

    She leaned her headfortably against the tree. With the sole exception of the chestnut demon king, everyone in here would not attack first.

    As she rxed herself and took a break, for a moment, she unknowingly fell asleep. When she opened her eyes again, she realized that an hour had already passed.

    Before she knew it, her recovery was already finished.

    ''If I were more skilled, I could have taken down the chestnut demon king¡­ I''ve really relied too much on magic¡­''

    She bit her lips as she med and rebuked herself.

    This could be a reason for Armin to grow and develop.

    At that moment¡­

    Zoooom¡ª

    Zoooom¡ª

    She sported a curious look. This was clearly the sound of a weapon cutting through the air.

    She moved to take a look. As she went past the bushes, she saw the user from before swinging his sword.

    ''...Is he training?''

    She looked quite surprised.

    ''Who will train without someone telling them to do it?''

    She felt as if she had been struck dumb. The user was full of sweat as he swung his sword diligently.

    ''He should know that what he''s doing is inefficient¡­''

    Ordinary training, except for attacking the scarecrows, would not yield to any increase in the stats.

    Of course, if one repeatedly trained their swordsmanship then they would be skilled at it however before reaching Lv10 it was a much better use of one''s time to just hunt monsters and use the skill points gained to increase the skill.

    ''So why¡­ d, don''t tell me¡­!''

    She felt like she had finally understood it.

    ''Did he develop himself through repetitive training? He''s fine with it even if his stats don''t go up?!''

    She had no choice but to think this way.

    Training continuously would eventually help a user improve even if the stats did not increase.

    ''Aaaah¡­''

    She bit her lips.

    A high-level [6] person like me has lost my initial intentions.

    In the past, she used to repeatedly use her magic just so she could improve her skills.

    Right now, that user was in the middle of a rigorous training.

    Armin hid herself as she watched him silently.

    After he finished exercising, Minhyuk said to himself as he tried to catch his breath.

    "Hoo¡­¡­ In real life I have to exercise for 5 hours before taking a break."

    ''He¡­ he has to exercise for 5 hours in real life?!''

    She was very shocked.

    Who the hell is that user?

    ''As expected, strength is not something you can have in a snap¡­!''

    Having a higher level doesn''t mean that one is perfect.

    To each their own, even a low leveled person has something that she could learn from.

    She saw Minhyuk starting to prepare something again. He took out a burner, a pot, and one bottled water. In addition, he pulled out a chicken from his inventory.

    ''Huh?''

    She tilted her head in confusion.

    "Huhu¡­ Spicy braised chicken with chestnut!"

    The harmony created when the sweet and potato-like texture of the chestnuts meets with the spicy taste of the spicy braised chicken¡­

    Minhyuk started making spicy braised chicken with chestnut on the spot. As soon as he finished cooking five chickens he began to chomp on it with a happy smile.

    The smell floated towards her nose.

    ''It, it smells delicious¡­''

    Drool!

    She unknowingly wiped her drool away.

    What did I eat in real life today?

    A handful of cherry tomatoes, a sd and a detox drink too.

    ''Wow, he really eats deliciously. Wow, no, no how can you eat that in one bite!''

    She was very surprised.

    And when there were only two chickens left¡­

    ''How can he eat this deliciously?''

    Her body moved unconsciously.

    She really did it unconsciously.

    "He, hey¡­!"

    She came out of the bushes then said¡­

    "Ca, can I have one bite?!"

    "...?"

    ***

    Minhyuk looked very puzzled when he saw the female user who came out of the bushes just a few minutes ago.

    "Ca, can I have one bite?!"

    Minhyuk was conflicted with her words.

    ''Kgghk, there''s only two left, if I put eight bowls of rice in here then it would barely be enough.''

    However, she willingly allowed him and gave him the big chestnut.

    That''s not all.

    She also did not hesitate to give him the items.

    "I understand. Then just a bit¡­"

    "Thank you!"

    She quickly sat in front of Minhyuk then picked up a big chicken leg.

    Then¡­

    "Waoooow, chomp!"

    She ripped off a big piece.

    ''De, delicious¡­!''

    The dish was well-seasoned that the sweetness of the chestnut prates the soup well. The chicken was cooked well and was very tender and not tough at all.

    Chew, chew¡ª

    She ripped another big piece off and started eating without restraint.

    She then told Minhyuk...

    "I know now."

    "What?"

    "How you''re so strongpared to other users. Didn''t you train repeatedly every day? I want to be strong too."

    "......?"

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] ?? : ? (Shin, lit. God) + ??? (control) lit means control that have reached god level.

    [2] ???: (babamba) a chestnut ice cream in KR (thanks thursdays mwah~) ; acrostic poems are poems wherein the first letter of each line spells out a word. Kek.

    [3] This was the acrostic poem: ???, ? ? ??, ???! Romanization will give you babamba, bam mat naneun, babamba! Lol he really did an acrostic poem for babamba. Kek

    [4] ??? it''s another ice cream. Lol. It''s theme is the Jaws movie. Lmao.

    [5] I''m having a hard time making it into an acrostic poem in english so here''s the hangul: ???, ?? ????, ???! ?? is like swoosh. Lmao.

    [6] ?? : ? (go, lit. high) + ?? (lebel, lit. Level) = high level. It''s like an abbr for high level.

    TL''s corner!!!

    I am admitting my fault¡­ I used Arumin instead of Armin¡­ I have changed it now. Kek.

    For mistakes reportse chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 18 - Proposal

    Chapter 18: Proposal

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    Minhyuk tilted his head in confusion.

    ''But I have to digest so I could continue to eat delicious food?''

    However, he felt like he didn''t need to say that.

    "There are a lot of people in reality that do not even exercise at all, that''s why you''re really amazing. So I have a suggestion for you but before that I have to tell you who I am."

    She was very determined.

    To be honest, it wasn''t that big of a deal for her to reveal her identity. She could always erase her character whenever.

    "I''m the Witch of Agony, Alicia."

    As she said those words, she thought to herself¡­

    ''He''s probably going to be surprised, right?''

    I''m 12th in the domestic rankings.

    The Witch of Agony.

    She was quite confident with herself. No, in fact she has the right to be proud of herself. She thought that Minhyuk would definitely have his eyes wide open in surprise.

    However, what she saw was Minhyuk putting a chicken wing in his mouth and him just pulling out the bones.

    "Bone extraction magic! You''re the Witch of Agony? I~ s~e~e~"

    "You''re not surprised¡­?"

    "I''m surprised. Ah, my chest is pounding! I fell off of my seat."

    She looked at him suspiciously as he gave her a very calm response.

    "Ah, no. I''m really the Witch of Agony!"

    "Who said you''re not? Phew, it was so surprising that my chest¡­ Even stopped beating for a moment."

    p!

    Minhyuk grabbed her wrist.

    Come to think of it, this guy is really handsome.

    Without realizing it, Armin''s heart skipped a beat. Then she heard Minhyuk speak in a serious tone.

    "I''m begging you, are you still going to eat two out of the remaining three chicken legs?! Wow, why didn''t I see you as this kind of person?!"

    "......"

    Armin stared at Minhyuk nkly.

    ''Are chicken legs much more important than my identity¡­?''

    Minhyuk looked like he was extremely displeased. His eyes were ring widely and he was huffing and puffing.

    She unknowingly apologized when she saw his state.

    "S, sorry."

    "Huff, it''s good that you know. Watch out for the chicken legs next time."

    After saying his part, Minhyuk grabbed a chicken leg and chomped on it.

    Armin giggled.

    ''What is this¡­''

    A lot of people wanted to shake hands with her. Wherever she went, she was considered as the top star.

    It is really quite difficult to endure. I can''t even go out and enjoy things for myself.

    I usually spend my time at home, reading books and exercising.

    It''s really like hell.

    ''Does this person like to eat so much?''

    This was a thought that suddenly came to her.

    There was only one reason why I became a sorceress.

    If she thought about it more deeply, the reason was because she was happy with it.

    To be honest, she wasn''t feeling that much happiness when she yed as a light knight.

    And now she could feel a different thrill every time she used magic and was named as the Witch of Agony.

    "Actually, I want to ask you to join our guild Artheon."

    However, Minhyuk''s attention was focused solely on the food.

    After Minhyuk finished the spicy braised chicken with chestnut, he lifted the lid off of a different pot and started to loosen the rice he previously prepared.

    "Hot, hot, hot, hot"

    He scooped adle of rice and mixed it thoroughly with the remaining sauce of the spicy braised chicken with chestnut.

    Her words would definitely be shocking to others.

    Artheon.

    Among the existing domestic guilds, it was named as the most powerful [1] guild.

    And their guild leader was¡­

    The Witch of Agony, Alicia.

    She was currently Armin.

    She saw it clearly.

    ''This person can grind and polish by himself, plus he is very strong for his level.''

    His attitude was definitely great.

    As the guild master, Alicia could determine whether a person can stand tall or not.

    With that said, the man in front of her gave her an odd sense of abnormality from the moment she saw him training.

    She was grinning widely when she made her offer.

    ''He''s totally unconcerned.''

    Anyone would have been thrilled.

    In fact, Artheon was a guild that everyone wanted to join but could not do so. There were even rumors flying around town that you could only get in the guild by bribing the members with tens of millions of hard cash.

    Minhyuk saw Armin watching him as he ate.

    Armin gulped in a daze as she watched Minhyuk mix his rice.

    "I''ll allow you to have a spoonful."

    "Th, then just a bit¡­"

    Before she knew it, she found herself mixing together with the man. She took the spoon that the man handed over to her.

    She could see the chestnuts peeking through the well-mixed rice and sauce. She opened her mouth and scooped a big bite.

    The sweet sauce that suited the rice well made her smile.

    "Ha, happiness¡­"

    "Nothing can be more blissful than eating, right?"

    "Yeah. In reality I only eat cherry tomatoes, sd and half an apple every day."

    Minhyuk paused at her words.

    Minhyuk was aware of that hunger more than anyone else.

    "Eeey. Then you can have two more bites. Wow, I, Minhyuk, am such a humanitarian. You definitely lost your appetite!"

    Armin grinned.

    "You really don''t care about me or Artheon but you definitely care more about eating. The average person would be jumping in joy with my offer¡­"

    "Are you certain that you would have fun once you join a guild? Is it because you''ll hear people say woow~ at your high level and good items?"

    "Eh?"

    "I yed this game because I enjoy eating. You have to have fun, I don''t need to join a guild to chase and seek high level yers. I think that''s not necessary for me to have fun."

    Armin heard his words. She blinked her eyes at Minhyuk.

    A thought suddenly crossed her mind.

    ''That''s right¡­ you have to have fun when you''re ying games...''

    Before she even realized it¡­

    It has be her job.

    Games were made so we could have fun and enjoy.

    Do I really have to train with the sword?

    I should do what I want like this man in front of me.

    Isn''t that what having fun means?

    "You got a point."

    She smiled brightly.

    Before they knew it, the two people had finished their meal. Minhyuk and Armin stood up.

    "Then, I''m going to go and find something more delicious¡­"

    Minhyuk turned around as Armin spoke with hesitation.

    "Can I add you as a friend [2]?"

    "Hmm¡­"

    "I''ll buy you something deliciouster."

    "I''ll dial it now!"

    "Not right now, I''ll add you once I get off of my alt character. I''m very thankful for the spicy braised chicken with chestnut that I had today~"

    She smiled gently.

    Then, Minhyuk quickly turned and moved to leave.

    "Just to let you know, I could eat 100 servings in one sitting. The price of my meals are as high as the price of a house."

    "Pfft. Yes, yes. It''s fine."

    He''s a person that can make you smile until the very end.

    100 servings alone?

    That''s definitely impossible, right?

    Minhyuk disappeared from her sight. Armin nodded as she watched where he left.

    ''Yeah. I should do what I want to do.''

    She came to realize this truth at a strange ce.

    ***

    [You have leveled up.]

    He finally reached level 10.

    Minhyuk evenly distributed the 10 points he got from the Chestnut Demon King and the 5 points he recently received.

    He allotted 5 points for his STM, 5 for his AGI and 5 for his STR.

    (Minhyuk)

    Level: 10

    ss: None

    HP: 343 MP: 200

    STR: 42+11 AGI: 32+14 STM: 20+9

    WIS: 15+5 INT: 15+5 Rep: 10

    Fullness: 100%/10

    Bonus Point: 0

    He has collected 200 chestnuts already.

    The chestnut demons were around level 3~4 that''s why the more he hunted the less experience he gained. However, Minhyuk''s hunting speed was still very fast. That was why he reached level 10 so quickly.

    While he was hunting¡­

    [Alicia-nim is asking to add you as a friend.]

    [Yes / No]

    "Yes."

    Minhyuk nodded. He then saw Alicia''s information in the friend''s window.

    [Alicia / Sorceress / Lv412]

    "Oh¡­¡­ For real?"

    He was a bit surprised when she called herself Alicia. She was very famous.

    To be honest, Minhyuk had a lot of things to be suspicious about.

    Athenae has no alternative character system but she called herself Alicia. Aside from that, Minhyuk wasn''t that surprisedpared to normal people.

    His father was the CEO of Ilhwa group, that''s why he was exposed to a lot of celebrities before he suffered from bulimia.

    She even asked him to join Artheon.

    Minhyuk''s mind was set on eating so he had to find a guild that could amodate his whims.

    He has his father as his backer.

    Right now, Minhyuk was enjoying what he''s doing but his real purpose for ying the game was still for his treatment.

    If Minhyuk was really determined to continue eating then he could ask for his father''s support.

    Plenty of items, high leveled supports, and a huge amount of gold.

    He could have it all.

    But Minhyuk wasn''t doing this just for the fun of eating.

    Even if Minhyuk decided to join a guild he would definitely choose either General''s guild or a friend''s guild, he did not want to be a part of Artheon where there''s nobody that he''s acquainted with.

    "A sec,e to think of it¡­ I haven''t added General as a friend yet."

    He forgot about it.

    ''Where is it, add friend request¡­''

    Not long after, Minhyuk discovered the search box in his friends list window.

    He entered General and typed the code number that was taught to him.

    Each nickname has an attached code number that''s why it was possible to have the same nickname for different yers in Athenae.

    Once Minhyuk entered the code, he pressed on the "Friend Request" that popped up.

    [You have be friends with General-nim.]

    He heard the notification and not long after a whisper from General came.

    [General: Man~ You know how to add friends now? Oohjujuju [3].]

    [Minhyuk: I''m such a man, yeayea]

    [General: Did you eat yanggaeng?]

    [Minhyuk: I ate it, it was really delicious¡­]

    [General: So where are you now?]

    [Minhyuk: I''m heading back to the vige now. Ah, more importantly I just met the user Alicia the Agony.]

    [General: Again, again. I told you not to lie to your hyung.]

    [Minhyuk: She was a novice though, she told me that she was Alicia herself then suddenly wanted to add me as a friend. She said that she would buy me a meal.]

    [General: It''s not Alicia, maybe it''s Olicia hehehehehehehe]

    [Minhyuk: But it''s really Alicia? Her level is 412?]

    [General:......For real?]

    [Minhyuk: Yes, for real.]

    [General: Wow¡­ crazy¡­! You''re now friends with Alicia the Agony? The person famous for being extremely cold? No, what did you do, how did you get close with Alicia?]

    [Minhyuk: I was just eating diligently¡­¡­]

    Minhyuk was also very puzzled. He was just eating diligently and was just trying to finish his digestion.

    [Minhyuk: How about Artheon? She asked me to join but I refused.]

    [General:......Why didn''t you go there, you''ll definitely get a lot of support from there!]

    [Minhyuk: Is the guild important. Actually, I hesitated when she asked to add me as a friend, she wasn''t even guilty about my chicken legs.]

    [General: What do you mean by chicken legs again? Anyway, it''s good to know more people in Athenae. You have received a contact. Congrats.]

    Is this really worth celebrating?

    If it was in the perspective of other users then Minhyuk thought that it was quite possible.

    [General: Hyung''s still hunting so I''ll whisper with youter. Have fun.]

    [Minhyuk: Yes, enjoy!]

    Minhyuk closed the whisper and continued to go down the mountain.

    ''When we really meetter maybe I could really eat enough food that''s worth as much as a house?''

    As he thought like that, he walked at a brisk pace to get his chestnut yanggaeng faster.

    ***

    He flew straight towards Tasty Yanggaeng. Minhyuk stood still in front of the store the moment he arrived.

    "Hello!"

    Allon came out quickly.

    "Oh, boy you''re back!"

    Allon weed Minhyuk warmly.

    "I''ve collected the chestnuts."

    "How many did you get? 50?"

    It wasn''t that long since he left the store. That was why Allon thought that he only got 50 pieces.

    "It''s 200 pieces."

    "...200? In such a short time?"

    "Yes, it was quite easy?"

    The people who received Allon''s quest would sometimes tell him...

    You''re giving me such a difficult quest just to get some chestnut yanggaeng?

    However, Minhyuk gave him 200 chestnuts in such a short amount of time.

    "Ah, I also got this."

    Minhyuk rummaged through his inventory.

    He then pulled out the big king of chestnuts. There was no information shown on the great king of chestnuts.

    These were cases where the items werepletely useless or it wasn''t owned by Minhyuk, maybe the reason why there was no information was because he took it away.

    Thud!

    Allon''s eyes widened when he saw the great king of chestnuts.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] ?? if you search for it it means submission to the stronger or worship of the powerful. So I guess it means that Artheon is the most powerful guild domestically.

    [2] ?? : it says that its a ng for adding friends. It''s ?? (lit. Friend) + ?? (lit. Add, addition)

    [3] he first said ??~ so I''m guessing it''s either Yo~ or Man~ then thest part is ???? which is likeforting someone in a cute way. Or like when you''re talking gibberish to a kid. Lol.

    TL''s CORNER!!!

    Eyy, the 2 chapters of the week. Which do you prefer, two chapter dump at the middle of the week or 1 chapter on Tuesday and 1 chapter on Saturday (GMT+8)?

    For mistakes reporte chat with us at:/Q3dStgu

 Chapter 19 - Proposal

    Chapter 19: Proposal

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    "B, boy did you hunt this?"

    "Someone was trying to hunt it but they asked me for help so I caught it!"

    "Oooooooh¡­ I can make you a special chestnut yanggaeng with this chestnut!"

    [Collect 50 Chestnuts Quest is upgraded to a C-rank quest.]

    [Quest: Collect 50 chestnuts.]

    Rank: C

    Restrictions: Open only to those who have tasted Allon''s yanggaeng.

    Rewards: 10 special chestnut yanggaengs and 50 chestnut yanggaengs.

    Description: A quest that can only be linked if you have received Allon''s Chestnut Yanggaeng quest. You will get a special chestnut yanggaeng as a reward which is plenty of times betterpared to normal since you caught the great king of chestnut from the king of chestnut demons.

    "D, did you say special chestnut yanggaeng?!"

    He was very happy when he heard that.

    Special, I have a hunch that it would taste even better than the normal yanggaeng.

    "That''s right, I''ll give you a special chestnut yanggaeng in a while. Ah, I''ll also give you the reward for the 50 chestnuts."

    Minhyuk smiled in satisfaction when he heard his words. He couldn''t help but drool when he heard him.

    ''I need to get some exercise in real life.''

    He did not want to wait in boredom. Minhyuk was filled with anticipation as he logged out.

    The moment he came back after he finished his exercise, Allon held out an exquisitely wrapped box filled with yanggaeng.

    [You have received 10 pieces of special chestnut yanggaeng.]

    He then held out another box filled with regr chestnut yanggaengs.

    [You have received 80,000 gold.]

    [You have received 200 pieces of chestnut yanggaeng.]

    Minhyuk opened the box of special chestnut yanggaengs urgently.

    He saw the special chestnut yanggaengs wrapped in golden stic wrappers.

    Minhyuk excitedly teared off the wrapper and ced the bouncy chestnut yanggaeng in his mouth.

    Then he chewed it¡­

    When the sweet vor of the red beans and the soft chewy chestnuts met it created a fantasticbination of vors.

    Minhyuk unknowingly smiled when he tasted the sweetness of the yanggaeng.

    [You are the first person to have tasted the special chestnut yanggaeng.]

    [You acquired +5 on all 5 of your basic stats.]

    [You have gained +5 reputation points.]

    "Oh?!"

    Minhyuk was very surprised.

    The delicious special chestnut yanggaeng even gave him a stat increase.

    "I told you, I was an alchemist back in the days."

    He did? It must have been a part of his endless chatter.

    In fact, it was very hard to taste Allon''s special chestnut yanggaeng.

    First, you have to sample his yanggaeng.

    Then, you have to receive his quest and hunt for chestnut demons.

    Most of the users were willing to go this far. However, the users who hunted the chestnut demons to eat the chestnut yanggaeng always gave up the quest on the spot and started cursing. The reason was because the experience and item drops were extremely stingy.

    Then there was the king of chestnut demons.

    It wasn''t amon monster.

    And the chestnut on top of the head of the chestnut demon king was not something you could get automatically. The person who was directly involved with the quest should be the one to remove the great king of chestnut from the head of the chestnut demon king. And most of the users have thought that the king of chestnuts was a part of the monster.

    Because of the long and tedious process of getting the special chestnut yanggaeng, Minhyuk ended up as the first person to have ever tasted it.

    Minhyuk went and checked his stats window.

    (Minhyuk)

    Level: 10

    ss: None

    HP: 448 MP: 250

    STR: 47+11 AGI: 37+14 STM: 25+9

    WIS: 20+5 INT: 20+5 Rep: 15

    Fullness: 100%/10

    Bonus Point: 0

    "Kgghk¡­"

    That''s quite high.

    Minhyuk was notpletely unconcerned about his stats. Because no matter how one looked at it, the taste of being strong was quite good.

    Of course it couldn''t surpass food and eating.

    "Is it delicious?"

    "Yees! It gently melts in my mouth."

    "Yeah, you''ve worked hard. Boy, I got the ingredients for chestnut yanggaeng all thanks to you. Ah. Are you going to go there now, boy?"

    Minhyuk paused his chewing when he heard his words.

    His expression grew solemn. It was like he was going to march towards a battlefield.

    "That''s right."

    He clenched his fists.

    I have been waiting for this moment for a long time.

    A long time¡­!

    "Well, boy. Do you really have to look that serious?"

    Allon gulped dryly as he saw his fierceness.

    Minhyuk grinned with a ''he¡­''

    "Pork is delicious no matter how you eat it!"

    "That''s true. But boy, are you really just going there to eat pork?"

    "Of course not. Huhuhuhuhuhu¡­!"

    There are a lot of things needed to eat pork. And I need gold so I could get those things.

    Come to think of it, Minhyuk went to Isbin Vige so he could meet with General then he went to meet Allon and ate yanggaeng.

    ''Didn''t Instructor Roina tell me that I can make a fortune if I sell the chicken feathers that I pulled?''

    Roina taught him a lot of basic things before he left for Isbin Vige. Things like how to make use of the collection shops.

    "I''ll see you next time. Please make me more delicious yanggaeng at that time!"

    "Sure, go on."

    Allon looked at Minhyuk''s back with a smile.

    ***

    The general merchandise store was located near the central za. There were quite a lot of novice users around.

    "I''m selling fifteen goblin ws, here!"

    "Yes. Fifteen pieces for 2,800 gold. Here you go!"

    "Yes, thanks for your hard work."

    "Goodbye."

    Hamel, the merchant''s lover who bought the goblin ws from the other user, sighed.

    ''I want my work to end quickly so I can go home and take a rest.''

    Today was one hell of a Monday. People kept on pouring in one after the other.

    Then, a man stopped in front of her.

    ''Wow¡­¡­ He''s tall¡­¡­''

    She was quite amazed with how tall and big he was.

    "I want to sell some misceneous items[1]."

    "Yes. What would you like to sell?"

    "It''s chicken feathers and chestnut demon thorns."

    "Please ce it here."

    Hamel pushed a machine forward and pointed at it.

    If the user ced the items they wanted to sell on the machine, the machine would show how many of the items were there in total.

    It looked like a big bathroom scale with arge basket ced on top of it.

    ''Perhaps he has about six chicken feathers?''

    Hamel thought of the possibility.

    Chicken feathers were quite cheap so it wasmon for game-savvy users to hunt them and sell them all together.

    "Then, I''ll put the chicken feathers in here?"

    "Yes."

    Hamel saw the user take out all of the chicken feathers from his inventory.

    There was only one set quantity that a user could take out from the inventory in one go.

    Not long after¡­

    "Huh?"

    Hamel was puzzled when she saw the number written on the machine.

    "I, is the machine broken?"

    50 chicken feathers were clearly written in the figures.

    Then, one after another¡­

    The numbers continued to rise on the scale. The guy still continued to pull out items from his inventory.

    "Heok¡­ Lo, Look at those chicken feathers¡­!"

    "One chicken can give you 1~2 feathers at most, right?"

    The number on the scales soon stopped at 130.

    Minhyuk stopped when he couldn''t ce any more chicken feathers from his inventory.

    "It''s already full?"

    "......"

    She grew speechless.

    "Even if you catch plenty of chicken there would be no increase in your strength, why would anyone do this?"

    "Yah, yah, amazing. That user. It''s him, right?"

    Users then began to whisper behind him.

    "Ardo''s Chicken Hunter¡­!"

    ***

    Minhyuk tilted his head in confusion at the surprised NPC, Hamel, and the whispering users behind him.

    ''Ardo''s Chicken Hunter?''

    Not long after, the whispers and murmurs started to grow louder.

    "That user was famous for solo-raiding the golden chicken."

    "Heok¡­ He faced the golden chicken alone?"

    "That was an amazing event. So that person was him? The one who cooks the chicken immediately after catching it? Doesn''t he look totally handsome?"

    "Wow¡­ Look at how unfair life is¡­"

    Minhyuk looked very embarrassed. To be honest, he did not like to be the center of attention.

    Hamel spoke at the right moment¡­

    "You can go inside to use the giant scale. It would be better for you to go there. I''ll show you the way."

    Hamel quickly asked another employee to rece her. She then led Minhyuk inside.

    Of course, he did not forget to take the chicken feathers that he took out.

    Minhyuk once again stood in front of arge scale.

    He then started to ce the chicken feathers on it. Before he knew it, he had already ced 500 chicken feathers on it.

    ''W, what the hell. How much chicken did he hunt¡­!''

    As she thought about it, she looked over and saw Minhyuk with a dejected expression.

    "Ah, I thought I ate about 700 of them. So it was just 500?"

    ''He, he ate them?!''

    She did hear the users outside talking about how he cooked them.

    Then¡­

    "Wait, there''s more."

    What Minhyuk pulled out was none other than the golden chicken''s beak and the polished thorn of the chestnut demon king.

    After everything was ced on the scale, Hamel quickly knocked on the calctor.

    Cold sweat broke out on her forehead.

    The reason was simple¡­

    ''There''s, there''s a lot, plus the user brought special items¡­!''

    She had no choice but to deal with it.

    Isbin Vige was open to everyone but usually only beginners loiter around.

    "T, there are 582 pieces of chicken feathers worth 60,300 gold¡­ the chestnut demon''s thorns¡­ 45 pieces for 15,000 gold¡­ the golden chicken''s beak¡­ 500,000 gold¡­ and the chestnut demon''s polished thorn for 100,000 gold¡­"

    Hamel continued to knock on the calctor with a tap tap tap.

    She wiped the cold sweat off of her brows when she saw the total on her calctor.

    "The total is 675,300 gold."

    "Oh¡­"

    Listening to it, it seems that there were quite a lot.

    The notifications rang all at once.

    [You have sessfully sold more than 600,000 gold on your first deal.]

    [You have acquired the title A Patient Seller.]

    [You have acquired 1 reputation point.]

    "Hmm?"

    Minhyuk checked the title in confusion.

    [A Patient Seller]

    Multi-title.

    Title Effect: +3 on all 5 basic stats.

    "I got¡­ a title. A patient seller?"

    "A, a title? Wow, this is the first time that a title appeared in our store¡­!"

    "Is this something great?"

    "Of, of course it''s amazing. This title only recognizes you if you hunted the items and sold them yourself, it''s also important to note that it should be your first transaction."

    "Ah¡­"

    It seems like it was really the case.

    "Please wait."

    Hamel ced her gold bag down.

    "I''ll buy everything for 700,000 gold!"

    "700,000?"

    "It''s a service!"

    Hamel can foresee it. If she pleased this user today, he would definitely sell her good things.

    This was also possible because Minhyuk has a higher reputationpared to other beginners.

    "Please make use of our store services again!"

    "I''ll visit again!"

    Hamel seeded in getting a very good (?) customer.

    ***

    Yadu was the owner of the grocery store.

    He stared nkly as he watched Minhyuk drag several carts.

    "Boy, are you going to buy all of this? By any chance, is your guild having a get-together today?"

    asionally, there were get-togethers in the game. These gatherings were like family gatherings where poor people could attend.

    "I''m going to eat all of these alone!"

    "......"

    Yadu was left speechless so he whipped his calctor out and tapped on it.

    "20 pieces ssamjang, 20 pieces gochujang, 10 pieces doenjang¡­ 50,000 gold worth of lettuce, 40,000 gold worth of sesame leaf¡­ 30,000 gold worth of asagi chilies¡­ onion¡­ tofu¡­ uhmm¡­ mumble, mumble, mumble¡­ it''s already at 350,000 gold¡­" [2]

    Yadu, who was busy checking out the things in the carts, saw the man dragging two more carts.

    And as expected, the cart was still full of groceries.

    "OMG¡­"

    His heart waspletely shocked. Cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

    "I didn''t buy more than I thought, how much is the total?"

    Minhyuk, who was ready to eat pork, smiled brightly then confidently demanded¡­

    "I bought a lot, so please give me a discount!"

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] ?? : ?? (misceneous) + ??? (item) = misceneous items.

    [2] Okay soooo¡­ Gochujang is red pepper paste, doenjang is soybean paste while ssamjang is a spicy dipping sauce made with gochujang, doenjang and more ingredients. Asagi chilies, actually it was ???? which I think was a hybrid of chilies and as far as I have searched there seems to be no english equivalent. It''s literally cucumber chilies, but you can search for asagi chilies they look the same.

    For mistakes reporte chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 20 - Someone Better Than You

    Chapter 20: Someone Better than You

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    8 Someone Better than You [1]

    [I didn''t buy more than I thought, how much is the total?]

    Lee Minhwa, who was checking the monitor, turned her head. Her eyes locked with Team Leader Park who was sporting a serious look.

    "Team Leader."

    "Yeah."

    Team Leader Park sighed.

    He didn''t know if hismon sense was still working.

    "He doesn''t care about the legendary quest¡­?"

    "It seems like it."

    Roina only mentioned yanggaeng and Allon to user Minhyuk. With that much, she practically escaped the influence of the God of Athenae.

    "My god, he wanted to eat yanggaeng more than doing the legendary quest so he went straight to see Allon¡­"

    It was too ridiculous to the point where he almostughed.

    "Ah, that''s right. User Minhyuk. Isn''t this his first dungeon hunt?"

    "Yes, that''s right."

    "Compared to solo field hunting, aren''t you supposed to have a party for your first dungeon hunt? But in the first ce Twilight Graveyard wasn''t made for party hunting, right?"

    Team Leader Park nodded.

    The first dungeon hunt was required to be done in a party.

    No, right now Minhyuk needs to go and meet the hunting NPC and ask for the hunting NPC''s guidance.

    The general RPG games have stages.

    Swing your sword.

    Pick up items.

    Go to your first hunt.

    Once youplete these steps then you would be able to move on to the next level. You would never be free from this cycle.

    Just like that, Athenae required users to do a party hunt quest. Users were not allowed to enter the dungeon alone before finishing the quest.

    "What, it''s a party hunting tutorial so it''s not that hard. And he would be able to get a job after finishing Twilight Graveyard."

    "Well¡­"

    Maybe he was interested in the items that the Boss Mob drops.

    "Ah, how was the user who received the Puppeteer doing?"

    "Yes, the secret ss Puppeteer. It was a much stronger ss than what we thought, he grew very fast. But the user right now¡­"

    Team Leader Park had an expression of curiosity.

    Lee Minhwa looked back at Team Leader Park with astonishment.

    "...He''s looking for party members to go to Twilight Graveyard?"

    ***

    Minhyuk met with Charlie, the hunting NPC that Roina rmended.

    She told him that he would have a smooth hunting quest if he met with Charlie.

    "Oho, you have already hunted the chestnut demons? Boy, I think you''re a bit strong."

    "Thank you for your praise. Hehe."

    "You''re going to Twilight Graveyard¡­ Boy, you have to form a party in your first dungeon hunt."

    "Eh?"

    "You should know that parties are very important in Athenae, right?"

    "Yes, I heard about it."

    "That''s why it''s impossible for you to do your first dungeon hunt without a party."

    Party hunt.

    A hunt where several people gather together to attack a dungeon that was hard for them to defeat on their own. The experience, items and gold would be clearly divided between the party members.

    ''Th, then¡­''

    I was too preupied with pork. I looked into the Twilight Graveyard but I didn''t look through the rest of the tutorial.

    "Well then, go party hunting. Ah, wait. You don''t have toe back to me to get the rewards for the party hunt. Also, unlike other tutorials you will be able to get experience if you catch monsters."

    Ring!

    [Quest: First Party Hunt]

    Rank: Tutorial

    Restrictions: None

    Rewards: +5 Bonus points, 10,000 gold

    Penalty for Failure: None

    Description: Party hunting is a very important part of Athenae. Learn the system for party hunting.

    Minhyuk thought about it for a moment.

    ''D, don''t tell me¡­''

    He was extremely worried.

    ''There are other users who want to get pork like me¡­?!''

    Of course, this was just Minhyuk''s personal concern. There would definitely be no other user like Minhyuk.

    ''Eyy, I don''t know if we could share them.''

    Minhyuk was genuinely concerned about the things that he did not know about.

    As he thought about those things, Minhyuk said goodbye to Charlie as he moved towards the central za.

    "Your desired job is close at hand, get them here. Quickly!"

    "Who wants to join the Lizard Tail Quest, urgently needed!"

    "I''m Blue Palm''s Powerade vor!"

    "Looking for Athenae GF! I''m thirteen years old and they call me Fire Fist Ace in school, not long ago I defeated Shanks of Eunpyong Elementary School!"

    The central square was still as lively as ever.

    Minhyuk looked around to find people who''s looking for party members to raid the Twilight Graveyard. He squeezed through the gap between users and continued to look around.

    At that moment¡­

    "Twilight Gathering, quickly looking for members. One spot left!"

    "Oh."

    Minhyuk walked that way and saw a cheerful-looking man.

    The user was wearing the beginners leather armor and was holding a spear.

    "Nim, your Twilight Gathering is going to the Twilight Graveyard, right?"

    "Yes, you''re right."

    He nodded at him kindly.

    "Can I join your party?"

    "What''s your ss?"

    Minhyuk''s words screeched to a halt.

    Come to think of it, I heard that everyone can change sses once they reach Lv10.

    Of course, anyone can switch from their regr ss if they satisfy the conditions for a special ss in the future.

    "I don''t have one yet. Ah, but I''m already at level 10."

    "Hmm¡­"

    He groaned lowly at Minhyuk.

    "Is this your first party hunt quest?"

    "Yes."

    "Well, it doesn''t really matter. It would be thest Twilight Gathering, so one more person is fine. I''ll give you a ride on the bus. [2]"

    He then stretched his hands, which were held in a fist, towards him.

    If two users bumped their fists lightly, they will be notified of a party formation.

    Tap¡ª

    [Would you like to join the Twilight Gathering Party?]

    [Yes / No]

    "Yes."

    [You have joined Twilight Gathering Party.]

    "Then, this way please. I''ll first introduce you to the two other party members who joined before you. Ah, I''m Roy. I''m a spear wielder [3] and I''m at level 15."

    "I''m Minhyuk."

    "Oh, your name is cool."

    Athenae only shows the nickname and the level in the party window so it was still necessary for people to report their job sses to each other.

    The two men walked together until they saw a man and a woman sitting on one of the benches in central za.

    "I''ve brought thest party member. Say hello."

    The woman had brown bobbed hair and a shabby beige robe. It was quite obvious at first nce that she had just changed ss to a novice mage.

    The man was about 170cm in height. He had red hair and he was holding a shoddy hatchet and, without suspense, a shoddy leather armor.

    "Hello. I''m Rakku, a mage. I''m level 13."

    "I''m Minhyuk. Lv10. I have no ss yet."

    "Ah, no ss¡­"

    She secretly nced at Roy, the party leader.

    She did a double-take.

    "Ah, ah, sorry."

    "Ah, it happens. It''s fine."

    The woman, Rakku, quickly apologized to Minhyuk.

    She was probably apprehensive because Minhyuk has a low level and has no job ss. She apologized because she thought that Minhyuk would take offense with her words.

    ''It''s just a game but she has manners.''

    Minhyuk thought to himself.

    "Party Leader."

    "Yes?"

    "He has no ss and he''s aplete low level, wouldn''t it be risky for us?"

    "This would be thest Twilight Gathering so it''s fine. Besides I can deal with the attacks so it will be fine. Actually we can break it with just the three of us but I still got another one, just in case."

    "Is that so?"

    The man didn''t even introduce himself properly. He just threw a sentence at Minhyuk and stared at him sharply.

    "I''m Ver."

    "Yes. I''m Minhyuk."

    "...?"

    "Chew, chew?"

    Minhyuk believed that he did not need to consider being kind to someone who was unfriendly to him.

    That was why he just ate his bread without any concern.

    Besides, Ver didn''t like Minhyuk the moment he saw him.

    ''Ah¡­ He''s handsome. Annoying.''

    Ver was an ugly man. So when he stood next to Minhyuk he somehow looked like a hobbit.

    And even if they have only just met, he has already decided that he was in love with Rakku.

    To be exact, he was a man who was quick to fall in love [4] with a woman he has just met.

    Tsk, even though Minhyuk has no interest in him, he still thought there was a feeling of rivalry between them!

    "You''re very tall."

    "Chew, chew, thank you!"

    Minhyuk replied happily to Rakku''s praise.

    ''Ah, as expected I hate him¡­''

    Ver''s forehead wrinkled in disgust.

    It was a case of amon inferiorityplex.

    "Then, let''s depart now."

    "Yes!"

    "Depaaart~"

    Four users walked to the exit of Isbin Vige and headed for the forest.

    "Is your fullness low?"

    "No, I''m eating because it''s delicious."

    "Deli¡­...cious?"

    Rakku tilted her head at Minhyuk''s calm response.

    ''I think he already ate about ten of those.''

    It was normal for a character to feel full after all of that.

    However, Minhyuk was still eating caste bread [5] diligently.

    ''It''s really delicious¡­!''

    Minhyuk has already made lots of gold now, that was why he was rich enough to buy lots of caste bread.

    He also bought milk, the soft caste together with the sweet milk gently melted in his mouth.

    ''I hate caste, but when I watch him eat it¡­ I

    I feel like I want to eat one.''

    Rakku tilted her head in confusion.

    "Rakku-nim, have you seen the movie ''A Man''s Story'' [6]?"

    "Yes, I saw it."

    Her forehead wrinkled because of Ver.

    She knew.

    A man who was flirting with her and a man who did not. Ver was very obvious with his flirting.

    She was not a person who gets sold with looks. But Ver was too much, just too much.

    "Nim, do you like spaghetti?"

    "I hate it."

    "Then what type of rice do you like?"

    "I don''t eat rice because I have allergies."

    "...You''re allergic to rice? Then Nim, did you watch the movie ''Bad'' [7]?"

    "Yes."

    "That''s right, it hasn''t been released ye¡­ Huh?"

    Ver looked at her nkly.

    Rakku who did not want to feel his pestering quickly went to Minhyuk''s side. She watched Minhyuk eat deliciously with stars in her eyes.

    He gulped down the white milk after stuffing half of the caste in his mouth.

    Her throat bobbed.

    Gulp.

    "Can I have some of tha¡­"

    "Impossible."

    ''He shielded me with a no in an instant [8]¡­''

    Rakku pouted in dismay while Minhyuk smiled brightly.

    He was kind but that did not mean that he would give his food.

    He was a peculiar man.

    "Today''s party is lively."

    Roy grinned.

    "We''re near."

    The other users nodded their heads at his words.

    They exchanged a few words here and there as they walked. It was mainly Roy and Rakku who talked while Ver and Minhyuk stayed silent.

    "Ah, you''re doing this for the quest."

    "Yes, if I finish this quest they will give me a novice staff."

    Well, it was one of the usual reasons.

    Not long after, they arrived in front of the Twilight Graveyard.

    The entrance to the dungeon was quite simr to the entrance of a cave. They saw a guide written on top of it.

    [Limited to Lv 10-15 users, up to 4 party members only.]

    Some instances have this written while some did not have anything written.

    "Then, let''s get in positions. Me and Ver-ssi will pull it and strike it while Rakku-nim will shoot at it with magic. And Minhyuk-nim can help us out when we really need it. Don''t overdo it."

    A Lv10 plus his first party quest.

    In fact, sometimes people could make mistakes and ruin a party hunt. That was the reason why Minhyuk became someone who he would use only when needed.

    "Yes, I understand."

    "I have activated the automatic distribution system, we''re splitting it into 4 equally. If you took a good item then you can sell it separately."

    As soon as the automatic distribution was activated all the gold and items will be divided into equal parts.

    For example, if they were able to get 40 gold then each of them will receive 10 gold. In the case of items, it would be given randomly and if you were lucky then you would be able to get a lot.

    However, there was not much difference to the items each and everyone could receive and they wouldn''t know who would receive the good item.

    "I don''t think anyone would eat and run [9]. Let''s go."

    Then they walked inside the Twilight Graveyard dungeon.

    [You have entered the Twilight Graveyard.]

    [There will be a penalty for leaving the instance withoutpleting the raid.]

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] ?? ? ?? ?? ? : lit. tranted to: the flying man over the running man. This is a korean expression saying that someone can be better than you.

    [2] ride on the bus, i think it means taking them to level up. Like when a high leveled yer takes a newb to grind for levels or smth.

    [3] Spear Wielder¡­ I just used that. It was literally spearman (???) but I didn''t want the ss to be spearman since it reminds me of spearman corrtion. Lmao.

    [4] raws say ??? which lit means lovestruck or quick to fall in love.

    [5] Caste bread it''s a sponge cake. It''s a Japanese pastry that has origins from Portugal. It''s fluffy tbh. I just bought caste the other day. Lol

    [6] There really is a movie with this title. There is also a korean series with the same title however you''ll find it as The Slingshot. It both has different stories so idk which one they''re talking about.

    [7] ?? was the title of the movie he was asking about. I think there''s something with this title.

    [8] ??? lit means sweet pumpkin. It''s a ng for when someone refuses a person instantly without considering their request.

    [9] ?? lit eat and run, or dine and dash. They actually say that they would ?? the items or eat the items lol that''s why dine and dash. ?? means eat or take.

    TL''s Corner!!!

    Hello! This is CC, this is our weekly 2 chapter dump. I hope you enjoyed reading it. See you next week!

    For mistake reportse chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 21 - Someone Better Than You

    Chapter 21: Someone Better than You

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    The penalty was simr to death.

    You would not be allowed to enter the game for twelve hours and join the random item drop, your stats would also drop by 1~10 points randomly.

    This was set to prevent users from stopping in the middle of their attack.

    Minhyuk naturally drifted off to the rear of the group.

    They told me to, so why don''t I just eat my delicious caste cake?

    asionally, he would pull out one of Allon''s chestnut yanggaeng and eat it all up.

    "Well, here we are."

    Roy, thencer, took the lead.

    Ver was right next to him while Minhyuk and Rakku stood behind him. They maintained this most basic position as they moved forward.

    A monster appeared in front of them.

    "It''s a mini ant. Mini ants extend their tree-like arms to pull people in and use it to squeeze people in. Its squeezing is much stronger than what you think so be careful."

    Mini ant.

    Standing at 1m 40cm, it was already at the size of a small tree.

    Minhyuk has briefly searched the information about Twilight Graveyard before.

    The first thing that woulde out is a mini ant¡­

    ''Huhuhu, then another delicious thing wille out next.''

    Allon said that the pig wille out once we reach the end of the dungeon.

    Minhyuk, who was wiping his drool, watched their battle.

    There was only one mini ant that came out.

    Creeaaaaaak

    Like the branches of a tree, its arms grew longer.

    Roy quickly stepped forward.

    Strike!

    His spear striked down the extending arms all at once. Roy''s item looked quite expensive when one looked at it closely.

    He striked through the monster as he narrowed the distance between them.

    Then¡­

    Thrust!

    "Kiirererere!"

    The spear stabbed at it to push it back.

    The mini ant was pushed back, Ver who was right behind him struck it down with his axe with all his strength.

    m!

    The mini ant haspletely fallen. 104 gold and its branch-like arms have dropped in front of it.

    [Party: You have acquired 26 gold.]

    [Party: Roy-nim has acquired mini ant''s tree limbs(1).]

    The money was distributed urately and the misceneous item went to Roy.

    "It''s as easy as that. This would be myst Twilight trip so I won''t be able to take you in a bus another time. Minhyuk-nim. Next time you go hunting you can tell them that ''I have seen a lot of attack patterns.'' and they will ept you."

    Roy smiled nicely.

    "Great."

    Chew, chew.

    Minhyuk smiled at Roy.

    "Wuu¡­ You hunted it so fast that I wasn''t even able to use my magic."

    "It''s best to use magic when we are driven in a corner since it uses a lot of MP."

    Royforted her with his words.

    "I felt it earlier, Roy-nim. Your item looks very good."

    "Ahaha. Well, this is rare for beginners. I paid a lot of money for it [1]. Minhyuk-nim''s items look good too?"

    "I don''t know¡­"

    Minhyuk spoke vaguely.

    Everyone thought that it was also just paid with money so they let it go.

    ''That spear¡­''

    Minhyuk unceasingly felt weird ever since he joined the party.

    He looked at Roy''s spear.

    "Well then, shall we start hunting in earnest?"

    "Yes!"

    "Yeah!"

    "Chew, yep!"

    ***

    The hunt was smooth.

    Roy was strongerpared to others in his level and Ver fought quite well. Rakku had the perfect timing to use magic missile to disrupt and distract the enemies.

    After hunting two out of the three present mini ants, Roy talked as he watched the extended arm of the mini ant disappear.

    "Minhyuk-nim, why don''t you try and kill that one?"

    He looked like he was willing to let him experience it.

    It was clearly a good jjeol [2].

    In fact, there were a lot of users who were so scared that they couldn''t hunt any monsters.

    Ver grinned.

    "What can a person who always eats do?"

    Stab¡ª

    "Keep that mouth shut."

    Rakku jabbed him at his sides as she said those words.

    "No, did I say something wrong? He took a ride on our bus and all he ever did was eat. This friend¡­"

    Before he could even finish his words¡­

    Bang!

    Minhyuk kicked his feet off of the ground.

    ''He''s fast.''

    Roy''s eyes narrowed.

    Minhyuk has already swallowed down the caste in his mouth.

    ash!

    Minhyuk hacked at the mini ant with his sword. The branch-like limb was shed through and the cold dead body of the mini ant fell down with a thud.

    "Oh, that''s neat."

    "So fast?"

    p, p.

    "We have already whittled down its strength, that''s why he was able to one-shot it. Tsk."

    He was fast but they only thought that he was only a bit fasterpared to others on his level.

    Besides, Minhyuk did not really do his best yet.

    Did he have to?

    Anyway, it will still die even if I hit it once.

    He also wanted to check something.

    "Do you do kendo in real life?"

    "Yes, I''ve been doing it for quite some time."

    "So that''s why your movements were so neat. That''s good."

    And once again, they moved forward.

    ***

    After logging out of Athenae, Changwook headed towards the room where Minhyuk''s capsule was located.

    The doctor-in-charge, Jinhwan, and several other people were gathered together and were having a blooming conversation.

    "It''s time for our shift, what are you guys talking about?"

    "Ah, General''s here?"

    "Teach, please."

    "Haha, sorry, sorry. We were just talking about Minhyukie."

    "Minhyukie? Why?"

    Im Hyejin, who was in charge of Minhyuk''s diet, said¡­

    "It''s been 5 years since we first saw Minhyuk, and we haven''t seen him be angry yet. But we''re sure that Minhyuk definitely gets angry."

    "Ah, no one here has seen him angry?"

    Everyone nodded at him.

    "Minhyukie smiles naturally everyday~"

    "When I''m with Minhyuk he''s always smiling."

    Changwook grinned at their words.

    "I''ve seen it before."

    "Huh? Really?"

    "For real? Minhyukie got angry?"

    "In the past, I made a blunder."

    He sat down with an awkward expression on his face.

    "At first, I thought that Minhyuk does not get angry at all. He''s very funny and lively, but you know Minhyuk deserves every right toin? I don''t know why he got this disease."

    "Yeah. I think the manager was Park Tae-il before? Whenever his son sees Minhyuk he would always say ''pig'' behind his back but Minhyuk always said ''Oh, how did you know that I was a pig? You''re really a genius! Kuuwiiik!'' then he wouldugh. I can''t tell you how angry I was back then."

    "You know what I thought when I saw that?"

    Everyone focused on what Changwook was saying.

    "Wow, this person is really living well."

    "Huh?"

    "Look at Minhyuk. His father is a CEO, he has a good personality, he''s good at studying, and if you exclude his chubby body then he would be a great athlete. Whenever he does something you know that he will always be the best."

    "That''s right. Minhyukie has always been exceptional."

    "He was someone who has everything. If thest ce in the ss said to the first ce ''Will you be happy in your life if you study like that? Why don''t you enjoy life~'' what would you feel?"

    "......I think I would be in a good mood? Because I would feel superior when people say that. Then I would feel pathetic again."

    "You''re right. He has everything so he doesn''t care if anyone gossips about him, he will just smile. He''s been through everything in this life. Besides he is a very gentle person and he is a gentleman through and through. Except when it''s about eating."

    "Yeah, he''s gentle. Except when it''s about eating."

    Everyone nodded in agreement.

    Then Im Hyejin said¡­

    "Ah, wait. This isn''t where we started. Changwook-ssi you said that you saw Minhyuk get angry. How did he get angry?"

    Changwook looked bitter when he recalled the memory of that time.

    "......It was very scary [3]."

    Everyone''s eyes were wide open.

    "Really?"

    "Yeah, I only saw his face when he was angry. At that time, I think Minhyuk was still allowed to eat crackers once every 2 weeks? That day he didn''t even listen to whatever I was saying and was only watching the crackers, and I quickly took it away. Then I saw Minhyuk''s face¡­ "

    "What did you see?"

    "He looks like apletely different person. When that happened Minhyuk apologized, and I knew that Minhyuk had that disease so I apologized too and then it was solved."

    Everyone nodded as if it was a relief to hear those words.

    "And after that, did you know that Minhyuk got angry at Secretary Park Munsoo? I asked him about it once. So I could be careful next time."

    "So?"

    "That was when he told me things. Minhyuk has a moral bottom line that you cannot cross. Plus he is really scary when he gets angry. He will only spit out facts out of his mouth. It''s savage. I never wanted to cross that line again. In reality a physical attack ispletely impossible, but he will attack you with his logic. But what if it''s inside the game?"

    Everyone gulped in fright.

    "You''ll definitely see a Minhyuk that''s really angry. And there''s something called PK in there."

    ***

    Roy and Ver were killing six mini ants in front.

    As the numbers grew, they started to feel overwhelmed.

    "T, the aggro got deflected!"

    Rakku, who wasunching a magic missile, shouted in embarrassment.

    The mini ant that was about to die quickly approached her.

    At that moment¡­

    Minhyuk quickly blocked the front.

    aaaash!

    He shed through the mini ant in one fell swoop in front of her.

    "Are you alright?"

    "Ah, yes¡­!"

    Soon after, more aggro got deflected.

    This one seemed to have even more STMpared to the one before.

    "Shit, why is the aggro deflecting!"

    Ver''s temper red as he hurriedly chased the monster that got its aggro deflected. This was because if Rakku gets attacked then his score(?) would get deductions.

    However a mini ant stretched its hand towards Ver''s back and tried to grab him.

    At that moment¡­

    Minhyuk stepped up.

    [Dauntless Strike]

    [Your strike will have an additional 20% attack power.]

    ash!

    Minhyuk took out another deflected aggro. He saw a tree branch reaching out behind Ver.

    He quickly narrowed the distance and kicked it off with all his might.

    m!

    "Nice!"

    Roy stabbed strongly at the back of the mini ant as if he was waiting for it.

    Staab!

    ''This shit!''

    Ver''s expression distorted when Minhyuk happened to lend him his aid.

    Minhyuk quickly returned to his position and continued to watch them carefully.

    "I''m hungry."

    He opened up a yanggaeng, put it in his mouth andughed.

    After they finished the hunt, Roy spoke up.

    "Ver-nim, aren''t you too distracted? At that time, it would definitely be a big disaster if you let it pass through our rear."

    "Shit, that first-timer keeps on getting on my nerves."

    "Minhyuk-nim has been doing a very good job. This is already a greatpliment for someone who''s doing his first party quest."

    "Ah, no he''s not? That guy just stepped out in front of me and deflected more aggro."

    Roy swept his hair with an awkward expression on his face.

    Ver bit his lips.

    ''FXcker, I got embarrassed in front of Rakku-nim.''

    He still strongly believes that he has a possibility with Rakku.

    He quickly approached Minhyuk with a stomp of his feet.

    "Aaaaaaaaang."

    Minhyuk was just about to put a caste in his mouth because he got hungry after the battle finished.

    "Ah, you''re continuously pigging out. Nim, I have to say something to you. The aggro got deflected because of Nim."

    As he said that, Ver took the bread away from Minhyuk''s hands.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] ?? is what it says in the raws. It was the real money converted into game or virtual money. I think it''s when you buy diamonds/rubies in games then use it for trade.

    [2] ? (jjeol) A kind of power leveling where a high-level character helps out a low-level character. Like taking you in a bus, or carrying. Idk if there is an english word for this tho.

    [3] it was very scary that it gave him the chills.

    TL''s corner!!!

    AHHHHHH PREPARE FOR MINHYUK''S WRATH. Boy it was totally because you did not hold the aggro well that''s why it got deflected, why u go and me my boy Minhyuk???? Want a p? Hmph. Then you go and take his bread? Hehehe prepare for his wrath.

    P.S. I just realized that I have been tranting the ''kill'' when hunting to ''catch'' lol. I am terribly sorry.

    P.P.S. Thank you very much to Cuties, Sasha and everyone on woopgen that helped shed light on the aggro thing. Lmao. My brain is fried and all of you are lifesavers.

    For mistakes report,e chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 22 - Someone Better Than You

    Chapter 22: Someone Better than You

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    [You havemitted an act of poor etiquette.]

    [User Ver is in a temporary chaotic [1] state.]

    [If the other party initiates an attack, the other party will not receive any penalty.]

    [The item can be collected by the owner after 3 seconds.]

    [Item is not avable for use.]

    Chaotic.

    It was a state that was created when someone hasmitted an act of poor etiquette. If the opposing party decided to attack a person under the chaotic state then they would not be subjected to a chaotic state.

    If a person under the chaotic state has not yet moved to kill then they would be ced under a half-chaotic state. This state would give their opponents a few minutes to attack before their half-chaotic state was released.

    However if that person has already killed another yer then he would be ced under a temporaryplete chaotic state. If other yers attacked them, there would be no penalty incurred until their chaotic state was released.

    "What''s with this bread that makes you keep on eating it¡­"

    As he said that, Ver tried to throw the bread down.

    At that moment, no one was able to stop Minhyuk from punching Ver in his face.

    Punch!

    Ver was blown away, he couldn''t evene to his senses.

    He was very surprised.

    ''W, why did my HP drop this low¡­ It was just one punch!''

    As he looked at Minhyuk in surprise, he heard him say¡­

    "I''m an X? Me?"

    ''W, what''s with that look¡­''

    Ver was very confused.

    Roy and Rakku were very surprised with what just happened. They couldn''t help being surprised, especially because Minhyuk, who always had a nice smile on his face, got angry.

    "W, what are you doing, did you just hit me?!"

    With one jump, Minhyuk has already stepped closer to him.

    Pressured by the deep sense of ipatibility, Ver flinched and gulped in fear.

    He had a gut feeling.

    I don''t know how my HP dropped this low but if he ever decided to take me on then I would definitely force myself to log-out.

    Ver was both extremely surprised and frightened that he couldn''t stop himself from stuttering.

    In fact, it was very simple for him to log out of the game. However, Minhyuk''s expression was so fierce that he became overwhelmed by his momentum.

    Rakku stared at him with pity.

    Minhyuk approached him, however he knew that he was not worth dealing with.

    He then raised his hand.

    "Hiiiiiiiiiik!"

    Ver covered his head. He thought that he would get attacked again.

    Minhyuk took the bread away from his hands and put it in his mouth.

    "......"

    Ver, who was embarrassed for no reason, stared at Minhyuk with an ugly face.

    "Come on, both of you need to calm down. Ver-ssi,e here."

    Roy stepped up to mediate between them while Rakku secretly pulled at Minhyuk''s cor.

    Actually, it wasn''t that difficult for Minhyuk to force him to log-out via PK. However, there was a reason why he did not kill Ver.

    ''If my guess is right, then Roy will definitely separate us from Ver.''

    Ver, who was trying to protect his remaining self-esteem, scowled at Minhyuk as Roy mediated between them.

    "Let go, let go of me. That bastard¡­"

    Minhyuk stared back at him with folded arms.

    When their eyes met, Ver closed his mouth without realizing it.

    Then, Rakku whispered in Minhyuk''s ears.

    "Minhyuk-nim, good job. Wow, great cider. I was so upset because that person kept on flirting with me and separating us."

    Minhyuk pulled out another caste from his inventory.

    "Rakku-nim."

    "Yes?"

    "That person tried to do something that he shouldn''t have done."

    "W, what is it?"

    She perked her ears up and listened carefully.

    "He tried to throw away food."

    "...?"

    Minhyuk ate his caste with a very solemn expression.

    He''s a man who knows no bounds.

    ***

    Roy smiled awkwardly at Ver who was walking from a distance.

    "Oh¡­ Wait. The party''s mood is not that good. Haha. Well, I''m not ming Minhyuk-nim for it."

    Roy saw it happen but before he could move Minhyuk had already taken the necessary actions.

    If I were you, I would have done the same.

    "Sooner orter another mob, the sweet python [2], wille out. It''s much stronger than the mini ant, so we''re going to have to pull them over one by one then strike them down. Ver-nim and I are best for the job."

    What Minhyuk was expecting really happened.

    He is not doing it to reconcile us, but to leave us behind.

    Of course, it was just a possibility.

    However, Roy interfered only when it happened, as if he was waiting for it.

    Minhyuk was sure that he had to be on guard against him.

    "It''s too quiet, it''s better for you guys to stay behind."

    Roy spoke in a quiet voice.

    Minhyuk and Rakku readily nodded their heads. They watched Roy and Ver walk further inside the dungeon until they disappeared from their sights.

    Minhyuk still continued to stand and eat, Rakku was the only one who felt that it was awkward.

    "You really won''t give me anything? Just a bit?"

    "Yes, I won''t give you even if it''s as much as a chick''s tears [3]!"

    "As much as a chick''s tears¡­"

    Minhyuk was totally the type who does not share with just anyone!

    Then Minhyuk talked to her¡­

    "How much of your MP is left right now?"

    Why did he ask this all of a sudden?

    She tilted her head in confusion.

    "I''m half-full right now."

    "Is that so? Then it will be filled up quickly."

    Minhyuk nodded his head as he replied.

    "Why?"

    "Just in case."

    Just in case?

    She had a curious look on her face.

    20 minutester¡­

    "Why, why aren''t theying?"

    She looked awkward.

    It was enough time for two people toe back.

    [Party Chatting Rakku: Roy-nim? Ver-nim? Where are you?]

    [Party Chatting Rakku: Nims? Can you please answer me?]

    [Party Chatting Rakku: Nims¡­?]

    However, the party chatting window remained silent.

    Minhyuk was quietly eating his caste bread.

    At that moment¡­

    Thud, thud, thud, thud¡ª

    They could hear the sound of urgent footsteps from the dark.

    Rakku silently looked over while Minhyuk mumbled something as he ate his bread.

    Then¡­

    "Heok, heok, heok¡­ Damn it. Nims. A great sweet python came out!"

    "G, great sweet python¡­!"

    The one who was running over was their party leader, Roy.

    Great sweet python.

    Aside from the boss mob that exists inside the dungeon, this monster was considered to be a quasi-boss mob.

    asionally, in very rare urrences, the quasi-boss mob could prove to be more challenging and difficult to fightpared to the boss mob.

    The great sweet python was exactly this urrence.Whenever this guy showed up, a dozen or more sweet pythons have always apanied it.

    "What about Ver-nim?!"

    "He was forced to log out. Damn!"

    Roy, who came in a hurry, was breathing roughly.

    "Hmmm."

    Minhyuk nodded seriously while he ate his bread.

    "Heok, heok, heok¡­ We tried to shake those guys off¡­ Heok, heok, heok, I just kept on running¡­"

    Roy was still breathing heavily.

    "T, then are the three of us going to attack it?"

    "Yes, we have to be as careful as possible and start off with the mob surrounding the great sweet python¡­"

    In that instant¡­

    Roy suddenly stabbed his spear towards Minhyuk.

    "Kyaaaaack?!"

    Rakku let out a little scream.

    Then¡­

    aaaaaang!

    With a bread in his hand and the sword that he pulled out of his waist on the other hand, Minhyuk calmly parried the spear.

    [Chaotic user.]

    [No penalty will be incurred when PKed.]

    [There is a high probability of an item dropping.]

    Minhyuk chomped on the remaining bread in his mouth.

    Roy quickly widened their distance, his expression was very shocked.

    Minhyuk stepped forward as he pushed Rakku back with his arms.

    "What the hell, you knew?"

    The kind smile on Roy''s face faded away.

    "W, what''s happening?! Why did you suddenly attack Minhyuk-nim¡­!"

    "Him? Because he''s the PK guy."

    Minhyuk spoke calmly.

    "Yaaaah, so you really knew? I never thought that you could parry my spear."

    Minhyuk mumbled something when he saw Roy.

    It was a chapter of the Bardy Swordsmanship.

    "When did you realize it?"

    "Well¡­"

    ***

    Two hours ago.

    He was on his way to central za after meeting with Charlie, the hunting NPC.

    "Ah, damn [4], I dropped the spear I gotst time!"

    "What? How did you drop it!"

    Their faces were very familiar. Minhyuk recalled a vague memory.

    He saw them before, on the day when he first arrived at the central za and met with General. This was the user who bragged about getting a great item and the other friend who had a stomach ache.

    "I went to a dungeon party hunting and got PKed, ouch. That guy is a big bastard¡­ Ah, that spear is a unique item, ah I''m so pissed off!"

    "PK?! Wow, there are still bastards like that even in a beginner''s vige."

    "Why are youughing? Are you that happy?"

    "Calm down my friend. When a friend is in trouble, shouldn''t a true friendugh at him so he will learn his lessons?"

    "Yaaah, XX bastard!"

    Minhyuk saw them and thought that it was truly possible.

    He clearly remembered how that user was jumping in joy when he got that spear. Minhyuk was wondering if that situation was simr to when he received what he was eating.

    He then continued to walk towards central square to find a Twilight Party.

    ***

    To be honest, Minhyuk was also unsure. It could just be a spear that has a simr form.

    However he was sure that the spear was unique and it was what he saw the other day.

    Umon artifacts were rare.

    Moreover, artifacts starting from the unique grade could only have one item in existence.

    That''s why he was extremely doubtful. He was sure that it was strange so he continued to observe.

    He was then epted as a party member.

    When did he realize?

    Of course it was when he said that he would take him on a bus, there was definitely another reason for that.

    ''He was aiming for my items.''

    PKing would result with random item drops and Minhyuk''s items looked quite expensive.

    Plus, he steadily moved ording to Minhyuk''s expectations.

    Minhyuk tried to think rationally about his moves.

    Will he make a move when the three of us are together?

    No, I don''t know about his level but it will definitely be hard on him to take us all.

    So he will definitely separate one person away from us.

    As a matter of fact, his breakthrough was when Minhyuk and Ver had a dispute. He waited for the right timing and said that he would chase and hunt the mob.

    Suddenly, Minhyuk got a hunch.

    Ah, so this guy was the real one.

    He was prepared to PK Ver but he thought that he didn''t need to do anything. He was going to die anyway, so he thought that it was better to use him to confirm things than kill him himself.

    "Well, it doesn''t matter. All we have left is a time-consuming mage and a level 10 ssless novice."

    "H, how can such a person look so good-natured¡­!"

    Rakku shouted.

    Even if they were low leveled, no one would feel good about getting PKed.

    Then, Rakku saw Minhyuk.

    He was very calm.

    ''Like what that person said, I''m a mage and Minhyuk-nim is the Lv10¡­''

    It seemed like their 2:1 odds would only lead to aplete defeat. Rakku clearly saw that Roy was good at fighting.

    Roy quickly narrowed their distance.

    [Power Strike]

    [Additional 10% attack power on a single blow.]

    He used the special skill attached to the spear to st Minhyuk with all his strength.

    He thought...

    If he wants to stop this then he needs to throw his sword away.

    Then I will stab him in the neck.

    [Dauntless Strike]

    [Your strike will have an additional 20% attack power.]

    A red light shed on Minhyuk''s sword.

    aaaang!

    With a heavy sound, Minhyuk easily parried his strike.

    "Should I show you everything I got?"

    Because of Roy, Minhyuk worked hard to hide his stats.

    Even with the deflected aggros, he only finished off the ones who had blood all over and was on the brink of death.

    Tremble¡ª

    Roy''s face grew solemn when he felt the shock that passed through his arms.

    Minhyuk quickly narrowed their distance.

    "Ha!"

    "Huh?!"

    Both Rakku and Roy eximed in shock.

    Minhyuk has fooled them, his strength and stats were much higherpared to when they were hunting mini ants.

    ng!

    ng!

    Minhyuk''s sword pressed on Roy swiftly.

    ''What the fXck, what kind of stats does this Lv10 have¡­!''

    He could feel his powerful physical attack.

    Then¡­

    [Two Consecutive Quick Assault]

    [Your attacks will be doubled.]

    aaaang!

    Minhyuk''s sword swiftly hit the spear. Then another sword arrived right on top of its afterimage.

    aang!

    nk!

    Roy couldn''t win against his strength, in the end he lost his grip on his spear.

    Minhyuk stabbed Roy at his neck.

    Staaab!

    "Kgghk!"

    He shivered when he saw the sword stuck in his throat.

    Stter!

    Minhyuk pulled it out without hesitation.

    He saw plenty of shimmering artifacts that dropped in front of the dead body.

    ''A ring?''

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] ?? (Kao) short for ??? (Chaotic) : when a yer''s name turns red and you can''t enter the vige. Also termed as dyeing since it turns your name into red. Mostly for when a yer PKs another yer.

    [2] okay so the mob monster is called ?? thanks to Cuties, they showed a picture of a ?? which made me both scared and curious. However, ording to Thursdays it''s a pun for python. It''s either a monstrous snake or a sweet/sugar python. But ording to the manhwa, there should be an apple on it so let''s go with sweet python. Kek. If you have thoughts on this lemme know.

    [3] ??? ???? : as much as the tears of a chick, cry as much as a chick. An idiom meaning a very small quantity.

    [4] the exact word for this is ?? and I really don''t know enough swear words to correctly trante this so I used damn. ording to Thursdays it''s a variant of ??, but I''m pretty sure author always censors f*ck so let''s just go with damn.

    TL''s corner!!

    If you don''t remember, cider is a ng for feeling refreshed after an injustice is solved.

    Heok is the onomatopoeia for gasping or ragged breathing in KR.

    I thought Minhyuk would unleash his wrath but well¡­.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 23 - Its Delicious If Its 0kcal

    Chapter 23: It''s Delicious if it¡¯s 0kcal

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    9 It''s 0kcal if it''s Delicious

    It was a ring with a pair of small white wings on it.

    [You have acquired Hermes'' ring.]

    Minhyuk checked the item''s information.

    [Hermes'' Ring]

    ss: Unique

    Restrictions: Lv10

    Durability: 782/1,000

    Defensive Power: 52

    Special Abilities:

    > AGI +15

    > Skill Haste

    Description: A ring that Hermes identally dropped. It has the haste spell attached to it. It seems to be useful for the warrior type.

    ''Hoo.''

    Minhyuk went on to check the information on the skill haste.

    (Haste)

    Artifact Skill

    Level: None

    Mana Required: 50

    Cooldown: 2 hours

    Effects: 1.3 times increase in attack speed for 10 seconds, increase in movement speed.

    It was a good enough skill. Worthy enough for its unique ss.

    A 1.3 times increase in attack speed for 10 seconds.

    As far as I know, when using haste, the higher the level the higher the time and increase in speed.

    However, this was an artifact skill so it was a given that the level couldn''t increase any further.

    "Minhyuk-nim, what do we do now¡­"

    Rakku''s voice was tinted with anxiety.

    "Let''s go."

    "Yes¡­?"

    "Pork hunting!"

    "Just the two of us?"

    "Yes, don''t worry. I have tried it earlier, the one with the mini ant? They''re all easy. It will be alright, since Roy could get out of there safely alone then the sweet python is probably easy too."

    "Uhmm¡­"

    "Let''s go!"

    Minhyuk said that but he suddenly stopped.

    "Why didn''t he disappear yet?"

    "Maybe he hasn''t logged out yet? He''s probably swearing at us like crazy right now."

    "Is that so?"

    Minhyuk nodded when he heard that.

    Then¡­

    "Eyy!"

    He stepped on him with the tip of his big toe then walked away.

    ***

    Team Leader Park was very shocked.

    "Wow, this user. Except for his food consumption, isn''t he too perfect?"

    He couldn''t help but hold his head as he watched User Minhyuk on the monitor.

    He has the ability to read the flow and calmly make his decisions, plus his precise control when he attacks.

    "Actually, Puppeteer Roy''s strength is around Lv20¡­"

    Lee Minhwa mumbled as Team Leader Parked said¡­

    "Show me User Minhyuk''s stats window."

    "Yes!"

    (Minhyuk)

    Level: 10

    ss: None

    HP: 431 MP: 280

    STR: 47+14 AGI: 37+32 STM: 25+12

    WIS: 20+8 INT: 20+8 Rep: 16

    Fullness: 100%/10

    Bonus Point: 0

    "......"

    "......"

    The two of them remained silent for a moment.

    Team Leader Park scratched his head.

    "...What did he do to achieve stats like that while being a ssless Lv10¡­"

    "He ate well and exercised diligently."

    "......"

    "That was what this user said thest time."

    "I don''t have to ask again because he was really true to his words¡­"

    Team Leader Park wanted to understand him but his words were lost.

    Then he said¡­

    "However, it''s still too early for User Minhyuk to rx."

    "That''s right."

    Lee Minhwa nodded her head.

    "We will now see the full power of the Puppeteer. Before, he had to move like a spear wielder."

    The Puppeteer was special. It was considered to be one of the strongest secret sses.

    It wasn''t like there was no other user who has noticed the Puppeteer''s PKing. However, the Puppeteer was always sessful in his PKing.

    The reason was¡­

    "He can immediately invoke the Ghost Puppetry after he died."

    "Yeah. It''s a very terrible skill."

    She nodded her head.

    "He would stick to a user in a transparent viewing mode. And User Roy, who invoked the Ghost Puppetry and was clinging to the other user, woulde back to life if the user hunts mobs. The more mobs he hunts, the more he will meet the fulfillment bar, the better chances he has ating back to life. He can also make the corpses around him into his puppets."

    "Yes. Isn''t that too amazing?"

    The new recruit, Lee Minhwa, was doing a superb job in memorizing all of the special users.

    She smiled with delight.

    "So here''s the problem. Aren''t there a lot of risks for Roy who still doesn''t have a high mastery of his Ghost Puppetry skill?"

    "The strength of the revived mob is only at 60%. And the corpse can only be revived if there was no damage inflicted on it."

    "Yeah. You''re clever."

    "...Hmm?"

    Lee Minhwa turned her head.

    "Why?"

    "Team Leader, it should be an undamaged body?"

    "That''s right. At his level right now, if the mob gets damaged then his fulfillment bar would not increase."

    "......There is an apple on top of the head of the sweet python."

    "What''s wrong with that?"

    "Team Leader. It''s an apple, you know?"

    Her voice was full of frustration right now.

    "That''s why I''m asking, what''s wrong¡­ keok?!"

    Team Leader Park looked at Lee Minhwa dubiously.

    "A, apples are meant to be eaten."

    "Eyyy. That''s not true. The apple on top of the head of the sweet python is poisonous. If he eats that then his experience will drop."

    "Yes. That might be the case. Your experience will drop. However¡­"

    She looked at the monitor and said¡­

    "It''s much more deliciouspared to regr apples."

    ***

    ''Ptui, ptui, ptui, ptui!''

    Roy glued himself on Minhyuk''s shoulder in his transparent mode. If anyone could see him, they would see that his body could not be seen and only his head was formed.

    He continuously spat on Minhyuk''s head. However, he was in his transparent mode so his spit couldn''t even reach him.

    At that moment, the sweet python appeared.

    ''This damned bastard. The moment I get resurrected I will go and slit your throat!''

    Hermes'' ring.

    It''s a pretty expensive ring that I was going to trade and sell for cashter.

    But this bastard took it.

    ''Huhuhuhu, I can''t wait to see his expression once he sees me revive.''

    So far, he had killed plenty of his enemies with this reversal.

    However, for his death to be reversed he has to cling to the user''s shoulders and wait for the moment where they killed the mob. When the mobs killed have reached the 100% fulfillment bar then he could revive and stab them to death.

    This time is no different!

    "Oh, that''s the sweet python?!"

    Minhyuk suddenly flicked his tongue.

    ''?''

    Roy had a strange expression on his face.

    Minhyuk rushed towards the sweet python.

    This sweet python was around 2m long with a bright and gleaming red apple that was as big as a fist attached on its head.

    ''This rascal is really strong. What did he do to get this strong?''

    Not long after, the sweet python copsed.

    Roy thought that no one could stop him froming back to life and surprising them.

    ''Well then, one mob has already been fulfilled.''

    Usually, for a single sweet python, there would be a 10% increase in the fulfillment bar.

    His reversal was truly very ''soon''...

    However, Minhyuk suddenly reached out his hands.

    "It''s an apple, an apple!"

    "Minhyuk-nim, that''s a poisonous apple!"

    Rakku hurriedly told him.

    In cases like this, the poisonous apple would not be dropped by the mob however the user could decide to take it away or not.

    Usually, users would not care too much about this poisonous apple but Minhyuk still took it off and checked it.

    (Sweet Python''s Poisonous Apple)

    Material Grade: E

    Special Abilities:

    > Experience will drop by 5%

    > Much more delicious than any regr apple.

    "Did you check it?"

    "Yes¡­"

    Minhyuk trembled.

    To be honest, Minhyuk already knew about the sweet python''s poisonous apple. He has checked it in advance.

    Rakkuughed when she saw him trembling.

    "Did you expect that it was a good item? Eyy, it''s really just a misceneous item. The store wouldn''t even buy it. Quickly throw it away and let''s move forward."

    Roy, who was perched on Minhyuk''s shoulder, nodded while he listened to Rakku''s exnation.

    ''That''s right, you shit. Huhu. You should understand that it''s a misceneous item, okay? Now throw it away, move on and don''t touch it again!''

    However, Minhyuk mumbled something right after.

    "Rakku-nim, do you happen to like Blue Velvet?"

    "Eh?"

    Rakku was confused.

    Blue Velvet was one of the most popr girl groups these days.

    Minhyuk was very excited whenever he thought that he could eat an apple that was much more delicious than a regr apple.

    "Ppappa, ppalgan mat~!" (R, red vor~!)

    "......"

    "Gunggeumhae, honey!" (curious, honey!)

    "......?"

    "Kkaemulmyeon jeomjeom nogadeun doksagwa geu mat!" (The taste of poisonous apple that melts when you bite more!) [1]

    He looked at the apple as if he was in love with it.

    The apple was a shocking red. It''s surface was smooth with no bruise in sight.

    Minhyuk opened his mouth wide and took a bite.

    Crunch!

    It was the light, cheerful sound of biting a juicy apple.

    The sweet apple juice filled every corner of his mouth. He could hear the crunch in his every bite.

    Crunch, crunch, crunch.

    His mouth was filled with a refreshing sweetness.

    [You have eaten a poisonous apple.]

    [Your experience will drop by 5%.]

    "Yeah, it''s delicious if it''s zero calories~"

    "......"

    Rakku really did not know what to say, she was left utterly speechless.

    There are a lot of dishes I can cook that use apples.

    I can make jam and spread it on bread or I can just grind it and drink it.

    In addition, it is a fruit that is both very delicious and extremely healthy. It can help you maintain healthy teeth and prevent diseases like constipation and diabetes.

    Minhyuk, who gnawed on the apple until only its pit was left, smiled happily.

    "Kyaa, this vor is the reason why I eat apples."

    Minhyuk then looked at Rakku.

    "Would you like to try one too, Nim? Well, this is just like when we''re hunting together, it''s totally fine!"

    "...No, thank you."

    Her expression screamed ''Who the hell is this guy?''

    And Roy, who was on Minhyuk''s shoulder, was very bewildered.

    ''T, this guy is crazy!''

    However, he soon returned to being calm.

    ''Hoo, hoo, No. It was probably because he was just curious. Which crazy bastard will sacrifice 5% of their experience continuously just to eat apples?''

    There was no guarantee but Minhyuk would probably stop picking the apples on the sweet python''s head.

    If he doesn''t touch it, then I will be able to fill the fulfillment bar.

    "Hooowoo! It''s an apple, apple!"

    However, Roy''s dream was shattered.

    Minhyuk easily dealt with all of the sweet pythons that appeared. He continued to hunt sweet pythons as he moved forward.

    "Waah, so happy¡­"

    Minhyuk smiled happily as he, once again, ate another apple.

    Roy shouted at him.

    ''Shit, this is an apple-crazy bastard! What a crazy bastard, he''s the only one who would eat this experience-draining apple just because it''s delicious. Wow. I have never seen a guy like this in my life before!''

    However, Minhyuk just picked his ears.

    ''Who''s insulting me?''

    Rakku opened her mouth and talked.

    "W, what in the world is wrong with you¡­ That was your hard-earned experience points¡­"

    "Nim."

    Minhyuk spoke to Rakku in a serious tone.

    "Yes?"

    "Have you tried eating 5,000 cherry tomatoes every day?"

    "Are you talking about elephants?"

    "......"

    "?"

    "Don''t tell me to stop if you haven''t tried it yet. If you eat 5,000 of those everyday then you will be like me."

    For no reason at all, Minhyuk felt a tingling at the tip of his nose.

    15 minutester.

    ''Ugh, waaaaaaaaaah! This is impossible!''

    Roy started screaming again.

    The ghost puppetry''s fulfillment bar should bepleted within 30 minutes. Otherwise, he would receive twice the amount of penalty. This was the side effect of ghost puppetry.

    At that moment¡­

    Fwoosh

    Roy''s transparent figure slowly disappeared.

    Minhyuk waspletely oblivious, he just kept on picking his apples.

    He continued to move forward with Rakku and finally made it to the end. They have finally arrived in front of the boss room.

    ''Porky, just wait a bit. Hyung ising.''

    Minhyuk''s expression grew solemn.

    There was a thick iron door in front of him. If he pushed this iron door then he would find it.

    Creaaaak¡ª

    A loud noise apanied the opening of the iron door.

    And finally¡­

    Bang!

    Once the door waspletely opened, Minhyuk tightened his grip on Vn.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] This is the lyrics to Red vor by pfft Blue Velvet¡­ I mean Red Velvet. With the strawberry changed to poisonous apple. Lol. I added the trantion beside it. He just wanted to tell Rakku that he was curious about the taste of the apple. The first two lines were ?? ? ???, ?? which can be tranted as Curious about the red vor, honey

    TL''s corner!!!

    Ptui is the sound of spitting, jsyk. Kek.

    Pffft. Blue Velvet¡­ author-nim wth. PFFFT HE SANG RED FLAVOR. I am rolling on my bedughing. ???

    Hello!!! I dropped 3 chapters this week¡­ Just because. Lol. Have fun reading. See you next week.

    Report mistakes ande chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 24 - The Food Fighter (Food God) Knows How To Eat Samgyeopsal

    Chapter 24: The Food Fighter (Food God) Knows How to Eat Samgyeopsal

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    10 The Food Fighter (Food God) Knows How to Eat Samgyeopsal

    "Kwiiiik!"

    A pig really appeared the moment they opened the door.

    However, this pig was a bit different from ordinary pigs. It was twice the size of a normal one. The pig''s fur was shiny and golden and instead of hanging on its butt, it had two curled tails on its forehead.

    [You have entered the boss room.]

    [Once you finish hunting the boss monster, a warp gate will appear that will lead you outside of the dungeon.]

    "I, it''s a golden pig! It''s a special boss mob that rarely appears in Twilight Graveyard!"

    "It''s a special boss?"

    "Yes. As far as I know, you can get double the items and double the experience points which you can''t get from a normal pig. But it''s a bit stronger¡­!"

    Minhyuk nodded his head as he grasped his sword tightly.

    ''Pork belly¡­ Pork neck¡­ Sirloin¡­!''

    It''s one of the food ingredients that I am really craving for.

    For anyone, samgyeopsal was something that coworkers eat while drinking soju after leaving work. For others, it was a stir-fried dish prepared daily by moms with their sleeves rolled up.

    However, this was not the case for Minhyuk.

    If he was able to eat everything he wanted in real life then he would not be here right now.

    So I will run.

    Grips!

    [Bardy Swordsmanship]

    [All 5 basic stats have a +9 increase for 5 minutes.]

    His body was brimming with strength.

    The golden pig gave a loud and fierce cry as it ran towards Minhyuk.

    Before Minhyuk and the huge golden pig collided¡­

    aaash!

    Minhyuk twisted his body away and with his sword, he shed the side of the golden pig.

    "Kwiiiiiiik!"

    The pig squealed loudly as it quickly turned around and looked at Minhyuk with anger.

    Minhyuk calmly breathed out.

    Tap!

    If that guy rammed into me, I feel like it would be quite a blow.

    At that moment¡­

    The pig furiously ran towards him again. However, this time Minhyuk did not evade but instead red at the approaching golden pig.

    [Vital Strike]

    [Additional 17% attack power if attack is sessful.]

    There were five weakness points marked with red on the pig''s body and he has to urately stab it on its head.

    Minhyuk took a deep breath to calm himself and held his sword tightly.

    Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud!

    The pig''s steps created an earth-shaking sound.

    "Kwiiiiiik!"

    Cold sweat dripped from Minhyuk''s hands.

    Then¡­

    "Hup!"

    Minhyuk stabbed his sword strongly. After calcting the right timing, speed and distance he was able to urately stab the pig''s neck.

    Staaaaaab!

    "Kuuwiiiiiiiik, kuuuwiiiiik!"

    The pig that was stabbed in the neck struggled furiously.

    Minhyuk couldn''t suppress its strength, he felt his body bouncing and swaying as the pig tried to throw him off.

    Ah wait, I can let go of my sword.

    When the pig was about to attack Minhyuk¡­

    [Magic Missile.]

    Bang!

    Rakku released a magic missile at the right time and a white fist struck the pig on its face.

    "Good job!"

    Minhyuk rolled away from the pig. He quickly righted himself and ran towards the pig. He clutched his sword tightly.

    Staaab!

    "Kuuwiiiiiiik¡­¡­!"

    The pig gave a loud cry.

    Minhyuk gritted his teeth and tried to pull the sword out of its body.

    "Kuuwiiiiiiiiiik!"

    It tried to shake Minhyuk off again.

    Swish!

    Fwoooosh!

    Minhyuk was thrown off. The sword that was lodged strongly in the pig''s neck was also pulled out.

    Bright red blood flowed out of the golden pig''s neck.

    "Kgghk."

    Minhyuk, who was trying to stand up, realized that it was finally almost over.

    Thud, thud, thud!

    The pig made amotion as it struggled hard to remain standing.

    "Kuuwiiiiik!"

    The pig squealed loudly as it stumbled on its feet.

    Minhyuk''s sword shined brightly.

    [Dauntless Strike]

    [Your strike will have an additional 20% attack power.]

    aash!

    Minhyuk used his sword to sh deeply at the pig''s bleeding neck. With no choice left, the pig slowly fell down.

    Baaaaang!

    It''s body shook as it struggled hard to survive.

    It''s really very realistic.

    It still hasn''tpletely died yet but it would soon let out itsst breath.

    ''Let''s see¡­''

    Although he got quite distracted by the thought of eating pork, he still remembered about the quest in Twilight Graveyard that he received from Roina.

    As he was thinking about the quest, a series of notifications rang in his ears.

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [... leveled up.]

    [Quest: First Party Hunt Completed.]

    [You have acquired 10,000 gold.]

    [You have gained 5 bonus points.]

    The notifications did not just end there¡­

    [Quest: Attack Twilight Graveyard Completed.]

    [You have changed your job to God ss: Food Fighter (Food God).]

    [You will need 3 times the experience to level up.]

    [The Food Fighter''s skill has been created.]

    "...Food Fighter?"

    Minhyuk tilted his head in confusion.

    God ss.

    Minhyuk was quite familiar with it.

    It was a very special ss in a way that a user would need to undergo several rounds of trials before obtaining it. There were rare cases where it was somewhat easier toplete.

    However, one thing was for certain.

    It was a ss that was much more rarepared to hidden, secret and legendary sses.

    Minhyuk checked his stats window first.

    (Minhyuk)

    Level: 13

    ss: Food Fighter (Food God) 0%

    HP: 431 MP: 280

    STR: 47+14 AGI: 37+32 STM: 25+12

    WIS: 20+8 INT: 20+8 Rep: 16

    Fullness: 50%

    Bonus Point: 15

    His ss was definitely changed to Food Fighter. However, there were still points that he was doubtful about.

    ''What does the 0% after the Food Fighter mean?''

    Why did the / after the fullness statpletely disappear?

    ''Hmm¡­''

    Minhyuk was deep in thought.

    Let''s first close the stats window and check the skills window.

    He opened his skills window, quickly skipped his old skills and went directly to check his newly acquired skills.

    (The Charm of Freshness)

    Passive Skill

    Level: Master

    Mana Required: 0

    Cooldown: 0

    ¡ªIf you pick a fruit and cook it directly within 1 hour after hunting, your food will taste infinitely better and your stats will increase.

    "Increase in stats?"

    Minhyuk tilted his head in confusion.

    I can see what you mean.

    They said that fish that were freshly caught and eaten raw were very delicious.

    This freshness is as important as those other skills.

    However, Minhyuk believed that the ''stats increase'' was something very odd.

    ''Does it mean that if I continue to eat then my stats will increase?''

    As he thought of the stats increase, Minhyuk continued to check his other skills.

    (The True Worth of Food.)

    Passive Skill

    Level: Master

    Effects:

    ¡ªWhenever you eat a new food, your stats will increase depending on various factors and elements.

    ¡ª?????

    ¡ª?????

    ''Question marks?''

    Minhyuk was once again filled with doubt and astonishment.

    Every meal I eat can give my stats an increase? How can this be?

    ''It''s too¡­''

    Fraudulent?

    Was the term that Minhyuk thought of. However, he hasn''t even finished checking out all of his new skills.

    (Ingredient Acquisition)

    Active Skill

    Level: Master

    Mana Required: 100

    Cooldown: 0

    Effects:

    ¡ªYou will be able to get cut meat, fresh vegetables and other food materials all at once.

    (The Greatness of Food)

    Passive Skill

    Level: ?

    Effects:

    ¡ª?????

    ¡ª?????

    ''Uwoooo¡­!''

    Strangely enough, Minhyuk felt that he liked the skill Ingredient Acquisition morepared to the skill The True Worth of Food.

    In fact, when he was just beginning, Minhyuk thought that it was really too much to clean and chop the chicken personally.

    It was even hard to do it in the game for a person who knew how to process meat, then what more for someone who was not aware of how to do it?

    What if it was a pig, or a cow? Then wouldn''t it be much harder?

    That was why Minhyuk stopped by a butcher shop beforeing to challenge Twilight Graveyard. He asked if they could dismantle a pig for him and was told that the butcher shop would do anything for him if he paid 100,000 gold.

    A burden was lifted off of Minhyuk''s back.

    ''That''s right, this is a game!.''

    Minhyuk was extremely happy as he closed the skills window after checking all of his new skills.

    "Minhyuk-nim, look at all the items that came out!"

    She thought Minhyuk was doing something since he kept silent while he stood in front of the golden pig so Rakku decided to call out to him.

    There were lots of items that dropped from the golden pig.

    "Wow, the staff also came out!"

    Maybe it was because it was the golden pig that was why the item drops werepletely different.

    She quickly picked up the items. Since the auto-distribution system was still on, except for the two people who were forced to log-out, the items were still distributed evenly.

    [Party: You have acquired 67,354 gold.]

    [Party: Minhyuk-nim has acquired the Golden Pig''s Leather (1).]

    [Party: Rakku-nim has acquired the Golden Pig''s Bone Staff.]

    [Party: Minhyuk-nim has acquired the Twilight Beads.]

    [Party: Minhyuk-nim has acquired the Golden Pig''s Tusks.]

    "Minhyuk-nim, please grab my hand."

    "Why?"

    "It''s for a trade. I have to give you the 40,000 gold and the Golden Pig''s Bone Staff. It''s rare, you know!"

    Grin.

    Minhyuk smiled.

    Maybe she did this because she felt sorry that I only did most of the hunting.

    However, the truth was Minhyuk was not even interested at all with those items. Right now, his attention was solely focused on one thing.

    Pork.

    "Nim should use the staff, and the money was split evenly between us so it''s fine. I''m not a magician so I have no use for the staff."

    "Ah, then I''m sorry¡­"

    "If you feel sorry then you should go out now."

    "Eh?"

    She was confused.

    "There''s still something that I have to do."

    "...?"

    She looked at him strangely, but when she saw Minhyuk''s expression she nodded in agreement.

    Minhyuk looked like he wouldmit PK if she didn''t leave right away.

    "Ah, I understand. Don''t make that scary expression."

    The warp gate was already opened since the attack was finished. Rakku was walking towards the gate when Minhyuk turned to ask her.

    "Ah, right. Do you happen to know about the 0% right beside the ss? Do you know what it means?"

    "Ah, yes, I know. Usually if you fill it until it''s 100% then you can change to a second job."

    "Oh, I see."

    Minhyuk nodded in understanding.

    Food Fighter. Hmm. It doesn''t seem like it would just end with Food Fighter.

    "Then, have fun!"

    "Yes, you too!"

    The moment Rakku disappeared, Minhyuk stretched his hand out towards the golden pig.

    "Ingredient Acquisition."

    [Tenderloin, sirloin, rib eye roll, pork shoulder, pork neck, front leg, pork pic, pork jowl, cheek, ham leg¡­ pork belly¡­ belly bacon¡­ ribs¡­ boston shoulder¡­ leftovers¡­]

    A hologram popped out in front of Minhyuk. The hologram showed the figures corresponding to each part of the pig. He could even see the excess parts like the bones, guts and blood.

    [Please choose the ingredients you wish to acquire.]

    Minhyuk extended his finger towards the hologram and started to click on the parts one by one.

    [You have acquired Pork Belly.]

    [You have acquired Bacon nk.]

    [You have acquired Tenderloin.]

    A pig could give you plenty of ingredients. Pigs can generally be split into 7rge parts and 22 smaller parts. Each part of the pig could usually be cooked and eaten. No part would be wasted.

    Minhyuk smiled as he watched his inventory being filled. He acquired almost everything with the exception of the fur and the skin.

    ''It was nice meeting you, Porky.''

    Minhyuk gulped in anticipation.

    ***

    Kang Minhoo, Minhyuk''s father, named himself ck Dragon in the game.

    Right now, ck Dragon just came back from his most recent party hunt. He wanted to have a high enough level before he could go and see Minhyuk.

    Athenae is really fun.

    He has been enjoying it quite a lot so he spent a lot of money to buy high-priced set items.

    ''Huhu, everyone must have been surprised.''

    His level right now was at level 30. However, the low-leveled yers that came with him in the party hunt were very surprised about his items.

    How can his items be that good?

    He just smiled at them and said nothing but everyone was still full ofughter.

    ''My humor definitely worked.''

    ck Dragon would throw out funny things every so often. He strongly believes that he should have fun whether he was ying the game or he was working.

    That''s why he always threw humorous words like this¡­

    ''Everyone, do you know what the word is when you try to stab an enemy with your spear?''

    ''W, what is it, ck Dragon-niiiim!''

    They were all trembling inughter before he could even open his mouth.

    ''I''m so embarrassed! [1]''

    ''Eh?''

    ''You say you''re ''embarrassed'' when you''re stabbing your enemy with a spear.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] it says ??? which means blush in shame or embarrassed. ? is spear and ? is blood, ? means harm or damage. Lol. It''s probs a y on words which means when you''re damaged with a spear you spurt blood. I think?

    TL''s corner!!!

    I''m pretty sure they''reughing because of his ign. Kek.

    Also¡­ SURPRISE we have a +1 chapter this week. Kek, don''t worry we will still have a 2 chapter dump on Wednesday (my time).

    ATTENTION!

    CC is looking for someone to QC Leveling Up through Eating. The QC must be fluent in English and love LUE; in exchange, you''ll be given advance chapter privileges. If you''re interested please ping me at the channel dedicated for this novel, or DM me at discord.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 25 - The Food Fighter (Food God) Knows How To Eat Samgyeopsal

    Chapter 25: The Food Fighter (Food God) Knows How to Eat Samgyeopsal

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    QC: MattForgenti

    ''Wahahahaha! It''s really spear. blood. damage! ck Dragon-nim!''

    Everyone came to an agreement and told him¡­

    ''Wow. ck Dragon-nim, I think it will definitely be cool to use this phrase when you''re angry.''

    ''What do you mean?''

    ''My right arm¡­ has gone crazy and unruly¡­''

    ''Wow, fXcking awesome¡­!''

    ''Really awesome!''

    ''Aha, is that so?''

    All the party members fell into the hands of this ck Dragon!

    He finally came over to Isbin Vige.

    ''Hmm, where''s my Minhyukie?''

    He already learned about his son''s whereabouts from General so he''s pretty sure that Minhyuk was here.

    While he was looking for Minhyuk, he suddenly came across a man.

    "Ah, fXcker, son of a bXtch. I''m going to kill you. Minhyuk you motherfXcker!"

    ''Hmm?''

    ck Dragon''s forehead crumpled in irritation.

    That''s my son''s name, right?

    His expression suddenly turned cold.

    I may not know what''s going on, but I believe my son. Whoever is speaking must have done something wrong first, that''s why they''ve had some friction.

    He silently followed the unknown user to check things out.

    ''This bastard, he went out of the vige.''

    He continued to track the unknown user silently. When they have walked quite a distance away from the entrance of the vige, he once again heard him speak.

    "Wow, this is a record-breaker in my PK life. I have never seen a rascal like that before. Who keeps on eating poisonous apples? I''ll PK him again and again. Son of a bXtch."

    ''As expected¡­ He really did something first¡­''

    When ck Dragon heard him talk about someone eating apples he waspletely sure that he was talking about his son so he stopped the man.

    "What the hell? What''s your problem, Nim?"

    "...ck Dragon."

    "Yes? What? Your nickname is¡­ Pfft! Your nickname is ck Dragon?!"

    Royughed without restraint.

    Why is a crazy user blocking me and calling himself ck Dragon?

    ck Dragon nodded silently as he pulled his sword silently.

    "My right arm has gone crazy and unruly!"

    "...pfffft!"

    Before Roy could even burst out in augh again, the overgeared ck Dragon had already attacked him. He killed him in his chaotic state so easily.

    "I''ll show you what an infinite PK is."

    You''re my beloved son''s enemy.

    ck Dragon showed his true colors in front of his enemies and made an example out of him.

    From that day forward, ck Dragon would do everything he can.

    After he finished chasing Roy, he eventually deleted his character and registered a new ID.

    ***

    Tak, tak, tak, tak!

    The sound of the knife was a bit unsophisticated but it rang loudly inside the Twilight Graveyard''s boss room.

    Minhyuk has already started to prepare his ingredients. The first on his list was doenjangjjigae. The doenjangjjigae that was served in BBQ restaurants.

    This is the bestbi for the greasy samgyeopsal.

    Some people would go to BBQ restaurants just so they could eat this stew.

    He finished chopping the zhini and onions. He looked over at his pot and saw the water boiling. The water he used to make doenjangjjigae was the water used to wash his rice.

    He pulled out the dashi he used to make the broth then proceeded to add the soybean, ssamjang and a bit of chili powder. After adding the seasonings, he mixed it thoroughly and slowly let it boil in low heat.

    Usually, the seasonings used for the doenjangjjigae in BBQ restaurants were strongerpared to the seasonings used at home.

    However, that was its natural charm.

    Minhyuk also added cheongyang chili peppers to add that mildly spicy vor that he always wanted.

    After he skimmed off the foam, he added his thinly sliced square tofu, covered the lid of the earthen pot and slowly let it boil until it was finished.

    Minhyuk then ced the freshly prepared samgyeopsal on a well-heated grilling pan.

    Sizzle!

    "Kgghk! This is amazing, so wonderful!"

    Whatid in front of him were hot rice, pickled garlic stems, scallions in sesame oil and chili powder, sliced garlic and ssamjang, lettuce, peri leaves and asagi chilies.

    Minhyuk watched the meat skillfully and¡­

    Time to flip!

    Sizzle!

    Oil trickled out of the samgyeopsal.

    Minhyuk was beaming brightly. He waspletely satisfied with what he was doing.

    He ced ripe kimchi on one side of the grilling pan, then ced mushrooms on the other side. And when he saw that the meat was almost cooked, he skillfully chopped it up. Finally, Minhyuk pulled up the lid off of the well-boiled doenjangjjigae.

    Shwaaa!

    Mist slowly floated up.

    "He¡­"

    He couldn''t help showing a satisfied smile.

    What should I eat first?

    Well, let''s get this guy first.

    He picked up a perfectly grilled and juicy mushroom from one side of the pan.

    "This guy is best to eat when you''re trying to get your energy and stamina back!"

    Minhyuk stretched his hand that was holding his chopsticks and he gently, very gently, dipped the mushroom in the soup.

    This is the main point.

    He then scooped up a spoonful of soup, and without wasting a drop, slowly brought it to his mouth for a sip.

    "Keuhaaa!"

    The taste of the warm mushroom and the vorful soup whetted his appetite.

    He swallowed the mushroom smoothly then picked up a well-cooked samgyeopsal. Then, he dipped it in his pre-mixed sauce made from sesame oil and salt. After dipping the meat, he ced it in his mouth and slowly chewed on it.

    Chew, chew, chew.

    "S, so happy¡­"

    Minhyuk smiled widely.

    The samgyeopsal is cooked thoroughly.

    As he chewed on the meat, Minhyuk could feel the savory and salty taste of the oil sauce spreading in his mouth together with the meaty vor thates out of the grilled pork belly.

    I boiled it for a long time, that''s why it''s so tender.

    Minhyuk prepared a wrap by cing the meat, ssamjang, garlic, scallions, and kimchi on top of a lettuce leaf. He opened his mouth widely and quickly gobbled up his freshly made wrap.

    "Hahaha!"

    He yelled in delight as he quickly scooped up a mouthful of rice that he delivered straight to his mouth.

    Chew, chew, chew¡ª

    Without pause, he took a spoonful of doenjangjjigae and ced it near his mouth.

    "Hoo, hoo."

    He puffed his breath to let it cool then opened his mouth and sipped on the stew.

    "Slurp!"

    The moment the mildly spicy vor of the doenjangjjigae met with in rice, Minhyuk''s eyes widened in delight.

    This is the taste of heaven!

    He made another wrap which he finished in one bite. He tasted thebination of the savory, meaty juices of the samgyeopsal and the sour vor of the well-ripened kimchi.

    He took another bite but this time the wrap was filled with samgyeopsal topped with garlic stems and ssamjang.

    "Isn''t this too delicious?! Hey, Porky! Isn''t your vor too much for a human being?!"

    As he said that, Minhyuk did not stop his actions of making a wrap and eating it in one bite. He ate as much as he wanted.

    In fact, Minhyuk''s earthen pot could feed 50 people and his grill was as big as 4 grillsbined together.

    And thus, Minhyuk''s delightful meal continued.

    ***

    "......"

    "......"

    "......"

    "......"

    In the Special User Management Team, more than five people were watching the monitor in a daze.

    Whenever Minhyuk ced a piece of meat in his mouth, Lee Minhwa would unconsciously open her mouth.

    ''Come on, give me a piece. Put it in my mouth!''

    She wanted so badly to eat a piece of meat but unfortunately no food came her way.

    She unknowingly chewed, as if there was a piece of meat in her mouth. She suddenly woke up from her daydream and turned her head around.

    "Heok?! What the hell?! Why is the development team here? Huh? Someone came from the customer center too?"

    "Ah, we have some business to do, just stop¡­ Shit, why can''t I stop watching this? Wow, I''m a big fan of BJ Binz''s mukbang but I have to switchnes starting today."

    The people from the development team cried out in surprise. Everyone came to their senses when they heard the noise.

    "Hmm, hmm. Who wants to eat samgyeopsal today?"

    "Me! Me!"

    "Me too!"

    Everyone raised their hands.

    Team Leader Park wiped the drool off of his face.

    "User Minhyuk eventually received the Food Fighter ss. The maintenance team will have a hard time."

    Team Leader Park smiled bitterly as he agreed with the words of Lee Seokhoon, the development team''s team leader.

    "I acknowledge him receiving the Food Fighter ss since I haven''t seen anyone who can eat as much as him."

    "Really?"

    He was starting to get confused. At that moment an employee from the customer center team spoke up.

    "The skills for the God ss, Food Fighter, were much more ordinary than what I thought. Except for the one where he gets an increase in stats whenever he eats."

    Lee Seokhoon looked at him and smiled.

    "Really?"

    "I don''t think that it''s ordinary."

    "......Was there something else?"

    "Do you know what the ''?'' in the skill True Worth of Food means? Well, Seonwook-ssi doesn''t know since he''s from the customer center team."

    But the employees of the development team and the special user management team knew.

    "Those question marks are the real charm of the True Worth of Food. Maybe you''ll find out about it soon?"

    After 30 minutes.

    "You said that I will find out about it soon. But he''s still eating?"

    Before they even knew it, the employees working under the development team had all gone back to do their work and the only one left was Sunwook from the customer center team.

    "Cough¡­ No. You''ll find out soon enough."

    After 2 hours.

    "...He''s still eating?"

    "Seonwook-ssi are you not going to leave?"

    "It''s my day off today, I just came here to get something. Ah¡­¡­ I''m just hanging around because I''m very curious¡­"

    "Hmm¡­"

    After 2 more hours.

    "Oooooh, he''s done eating. I''ll finally know¡­ What, is he going to eat pork neck now?"

    "......Shit, I''ll definitely learn about it today!"

    After another hour.

    "H, he''s really finished, right?"

    "I thought I watched Animal Kingdom''s ''The Elephant''s Way of Eating''......"

    "Well, now you''ll see something interesting."

    Team Leader Park''s eyes shone brightly.

    "However, this is just a small part of it."

    ***

    "Buuuuurp!"

    Minhyuk, who scared almost all of the monsters with his burp, patted his stomach in satisfaction.

    "Well, I''m not even half-full yet but I''m going to take a break for now."

    Minhyuk grinned widely as he finished his meal.

    It was truly delicious that I couldn''t contain my happiness.

    He drank his water as he excitedly thought about the other dishes that he could cook using pork.

    [You have activated the True Worth of Food.]

    [You have gained +1 STR and +1 STM.]

    "Oh? My stats really did increase. Omg!"

    Minhyuk was very surprised.

    So it really was a special ability?

    The skill was really the perfect fit for someone like Minhyuk. However, the notifications still hadn''t ended yet.

    [Perfect Combination]

    [There is harmony between the doenjangjjigae and the samgyeopsal.]

    [You have been granted additional stat points.]

    [You have gained an additional +2 STR.]

    "......Huh?"

    Perfect Combination?

    This is a bit unexpected.

    Truly, thebination of food is important.

    Could you imagine eating chicken and powerade together, do you think it would be delicious?

    How about eating ramyeon with chocte? Thisbination was a bit terrible.

    This was why thebination of food was important.

    Sweet chocte cake with Americano.

    Hamburger, french fries and iced c.

    In the morning, General sang about the ultimate jjambap [1] experience he had in the army. It was having thebination of beef seaweed soup, vienna sausage andver as their meal. This was why thebination of food was important.

    ''The first notification clearly rang after I finished eating¡­''

    Minhyuk thought about it carefully.

    Then the second one¡­

    ''Hmm, this may be one of the question marks in the True Worth of Food. So one of the question marks shows the harmony when the elements and ingredients in the food isbined.''

    It seems like True Worth of Food has a lot of strengths yet to be found.

    Minhyuk thought: Wouldn''t it be fun to find and explore the differentbinations of vor?

    And he also found one more thing¡­

    ''Eating a lot doesn''t mean that I can have a tremendous increase in my stats.''

    Well, if that was the case, then Minhyuk would already have his stats rise to 100 in just a day.

    ''Don''t tell me that if thebination of the vors and the taste falls then my stats will also fall?''

    A possibility suddenly urred to him but after having ten minutes of break¡­

    "Well, shall we eat samgyeopsal again?"

    His eating spree has not yet ended.

    ***

    Minhyuk was smiling brightly when he came out after disconnecting from the game.

    "Everyone, I ate samgyeopsal today!"

    "Wooooooo!"

    "Congrats~!"

    "Congrattions, Minhyukie."

    All the people surrounding Minhyuk were in apuse. Including his father, who was standing near the entrance of the room.

    "Father. Huh? Why do you look so tired?"

    "Ah, no. It''s because I had a bit of work to do."

    "Please take it easy. It breaks your son''s heart to see you this tired."

    "Okay."

    Minhoo grinned at him. The reason for his tiredness was because he kept on chasing after Roy.

    However, there was a reason why Minhoo, Minhyuk and even Changwook had to log out of the game.

    All of them stood in front of the weighing scale.

    Today was the day that they had to check for the results. He had to check his weight.

    In fact, today was a very important day for Minhyuk. Today was the day that they would make a big decision.

    Minhyuk stood in front of the huge scale with nothing but his boxers on. He exhaled nervously.

    "Hoooooo¡­"

    He closed his eyes and stepped on the weighing scale.

    Thuuuud¡ª

    He must have been very heavy for a sound like that toe out.

    The number on the scales quickly climbed up.

    Lee Jinhwan and Minhoo looked at the numbers on the weighing scales with trepidation.

    At that moment.

    "Can I open my eyes now?"

    "Yeah."

    "Yes you can, Minhyukie."

    Minhyuk slowly opened his eyes then looked at the numbers shing on the weighing scale.

    173.2kg

    "...It didn''t decrease."

    He had a sad expression on his face. He suddenly became dispirited.

    "Minhyukie, don''t be too disappointed."

    Jinhwan patted his shoulders.

    "If your weight did not change at all, then that means that you are not experiencing the yoyo effect."

    "Ah¡­"

    "Aren''t you eating delicious food as much as you want right now? If we wait a bit longer then I think we would get good results."

    "Really?"

    "Yes, Minhyukie is a healthy piggy."

    "Ah. Prof, you''re too much!"

    Both of themughed happily.

    Minhyuk turned around and walked away with Changwook to exercise. He started toin to him.

    Jinhwan and Minhoo looked at each other.

    "Is it real? He''s showing signs of improvement?"

    "Yes, you''re right."

    Jinhwan nodded at him seriously.

    Both of them walked away to further discuss Minhyuk''s condition. The moment they arrived in Lee Jinhwan''s private clinic, he showed him a diagram.

    The diagram showed how much Minhyuk ate inside the game.

    "Our medical team monitors Minhyuk 24/7. We monitor the amount of food and the calories Minhyuk consumed. We check it thoroughly and basically do not miss anything."

    "That''s right."

    "Please look at this diagram. If you look at the diagram you can see that he has eaten 5,122 cherry tomatoes, vitamins and nutritional supplements."

    Jinhwan pulled out another diagram and showed it to him.

    "This is the diagram before we started the Athenae therapy."

    Jinhwan ced the two diagrams side by side. Kang Minhoo''s eyes widened when he saw the contents of the diagrams.

    "...It, it''s decreasing?!"

    "Yes. As you can see, it''s decreasing."

    Jinhwan smiled lightly.

    "Before we started the treatment, Minhyuk''s intake of cherry tomatoes was increasing by 10~30 pieces every day. For someone who eats 5,000 pieces a day, that''s not much of an increase but if it continued on until the 10th or 100th day then that would be too much to handle."

    "Yeah."

    "In fact, no treatment could ever cure the increase in the amount of food intake. Now let''s look at the diagram after the start of the Athenae therapy."

    His eyes shone brightly.

    "We''re decreasing the amount by 2~4 pieces each day."

    "I, is that so. Then it''s definitely decreasing."

    "It''s decreasing little by little. But Chairman Kang."

    Lee Jinhwan patted Kang Minhoo''s hands. He was only able to do this because the both of them were friends and colleagues for a very long time.

    "This is the first time that he''s showing signs of improvement ever since he had bulimia. Chairman, Minhyuk has given me hope once more."

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] ?? (jjambap) : it was said that jjambap originates from ?? (janban) which means leftover food. It may also be a bastardization of ?? (jjinbap) which means steamed rice. I think it basically means the food served in the army. I saw that the food there was strictly limited so that may be it. It''s also a ng that means experience (time spent on a task) thus rank. Which means that the more jjambap you have, the higher your rank is.

    TL''s corner!!!

    Ahhhh, he''s already showing signs of improvement. So proud of you Minhyukie! So happy.

    P.S. We have a QC that''s working for LUE now. Let''s all wee Matt. Thank you for reaching out. Let''s all have a better LUE chapter! Hehe.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 26 - Food Fighter VS King Of Mukbang

    Chapter 26: Food Fighter VS King of Mukbang

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    QC: MattForgenti

    11 Food Fighter VS King of Mukbang

    "......"

    Minhoo was left speechless. 2~4 pieces every day. It was only decreasing by that much, however, the point was it has not decreased at all before.

    "This might be a small change we are not yet sure but it definitely shows that there will be room for bigger improvements in the near future. I''m quite confident that he will lose weight."

    "Yes, you''re right. As long as my son is happy eating and there are improvements in his treatment."

    His eyes reddened as he wondered.

    "But why didn''t you tell Minhyukie this?"

    "...I''m not sure why. Do you get what I''m saying?"

    He smiled bitterly.

    "If you look through SNS you will be able to seements like this. Ah, I exercised hard to lose weight today so I''m going to order chicken because I''m very proud of myself."

    "......Ah?"

    "In fact, a lot of people on a diet can''t stop themselves from ordering food after an extreme workout. Then what would he do if he knew that he was showing signs of improvement? A sense of relief can be quite poisonous."

    Minhyuk looked so disappointed earlier that even Jinhwan had the urge to open his mouth.

    "If the amount of food he eats continues to decrease then the scales would show it to him. Minhyuk will then know it even without us saying anything."

    Jinhwan smiled lightly.

    ***

    Minhyuk essed Athenae early in the morning.

    He would go to Twilight Graveyard everyday to raid it alone.

    His only reason was to hunt pigs.

    Of course, he kept the golden pig in his food storage inventory but he needed to secure arge amount of pigs to ensure that he could eat more porkter.

    He could only enter Twilight Graveyard until he was Lv15.

    However, the poisonous apple and the 3x experience to level-up penalty for the God ss proved to be helpful in Minhyuk''s case. This was the reason why he did not gain much experience even if he cleared Twilight Graveyard by himself.

    If it was the way it was then Minhyuk would have probably reached Lv15 already.

    "La,,~"

    Minhyuk was sitting in the boss room and in front of him was a well-greased frying pan. He excitedly grabbed an egg and cracked it over the pan.

    Shwaaaa¡ª

    The egg was dancing in the oil.

    Minhyuk sprinkled half a pinch of salt on top of it. After cooking the egg, he ced it on a te and continued to pull out a pot out of his inventory. He then pulled out some sesame oil and poured some in the pot.

    When the oil was slightly hot, he started to stir-fry the pork.

    Sizzle, sizzle¡ª

    "As expected, kimchi stew and fried eggs are best eaten in the morning!"

    Minhyuk remembered it, back when he still had no bulimia. Before he went to school, the housekeeper aunt would always prepare a fried egg and kimchi stew with pork for him.

    The taste, the memory.

    I can''t forget it.

    On those days, he would always eat a few more bowls of rice in the mornings before he went out.

    When the pork was already half cooked, he poured water in the pot.

    Shwaaa¡ª

    He then added the chopped kimchi, a spoonful of gochujang and another spoonful of gochugaru. Cheongyang pepper was also necessary to achieve that spicy vor. After boiling it for quite some time, he added some chopped scallions on top of it and pulled it out of the fire.

    And as expected, a notification popped out.

    [Please select the main ingredients for this meal.]

    "Of course it''s pork!"

    [The pork''s front leg meat was selected as the main ingredient.]

    "Thank you for the food!"

    Minhyuk ced the well-fried egg on top of his rice. The sides of the egg were fried well but once he poked the yolk it slowly flowed down the rice. He then mixed the egg and the rice thoroughly.

    Chew, chew¡ª

    "Uhhhhhmmm, this is delicious."

    He then stretched his spoon towards the boiling spicy kimchi stew.

    "Hooo, it''s nice that it''s spicy!"

    After blowing on it multiple times, he finally ced the spoon, which contained meat and soup, in his mouth.

    Chew, chew¡ª

    The pig''s front leg was low in fat so its texture was a bit dry, but it was chewy. In addition, the stew''s spicy soup could make the meat feel more soft and tender.

    When his mouth felt a bit hot from the spiciness, he would then munch on the fried egg. He could asionally chew the crispy kimchi whenever he scooped up a spoonful of the spicy stew over his rice.

    Minhyuk quickly finished eating his food.

    And at that moment¡­

    The usual notifications rang in his ears.

    [The True Worth of Food.]

    [You have acquired STR.]

    Continuously¡­

    [Perfect Combination.]

    [There is harmony between the kimchi stew and the fried egg.]

    [You have been granted additional stat points.]

    [You have acquired +1 STR, +1 STM.]

    "Oho!"

    The vor recognized by the Perfect Combination is quite good.

    Minhyuk made it more delicious so he could eat well and satisfy his taste buds but it resulted in his stats increasing by itself.

    Minhyuk could also see that each of the ingredients would have different light colors to represent themselves.

    ''Maybe this shows how much stats I could gain?''

    Maybe, a red light indicates an increase in STR and STM.

    When Minhyuk looked over at the vegetables he could see a faint blue glow. Furthermore, when Minhyuk ate vegetables he was able to increase his AGI.

    So far, the only colors that I have seen are only red and blue.

    It may also have something to do with the main ingredients.

    Simply put, the notification to choose the main ingredient also has the function to allow him to choose which stats he wanted to increase based on the food he would be eating.

    Besides, Minhyuk''s STR and STM had significantly increasedpared to his other stats.

    ''Porky is love~''

    Minhyuk could not have any other vegetables as the main ingredient recently since he was busy eating the golden pig''s meat.

    And there was still another rule that exists.

    ''There''s no increase in stats if I ate the food more than three times each day. There''s also no increase if I make a dish that I have already made.''

    The same food.

    There would be no stat increase if the food was something that he has already tried.

    However, this was something that was already very fraudulent.

    Meanwhile, his pure STR stat has reached 80 which was a stat that he could only achieve when he was at Lv16. In addition, his pure AGI stat has reached 45. When his items and title were added then it could go even higher.

    This shows that Minhyuk was already different from the others.

    And it was not simply because of his high stats.

    In Athenae, whenever a user kills a monster that was below their level then the experience that they would receive would also lower. If a user hunts a monster that was within a 1~5 level gap from the user''s level then they would receive the right amount of experience points and if the user hunts a monster that was way stronger than their level then there would be a significant increase in the experience points that they would get.

    In other words, Minhyuk was a fraudulent character who was always ready to bomb his way through his levels.

    This was solely because he continuously leveled up and received bonus points. In addition, he would always be stronger than other yers who were in the same level. No, it was safe to say that as long as Minhyuk continued to eat then the gap between their levels would continuously widen.

    After he finished eating his meal, Minhyuk finally stood up.

    ''Hoo, I''m afraid I have to leave Twilight Graveyard soon.''

    No matter how much poisonous apple he ate, his experience points still continued to increase little by little.

    He then went out to buy ingredients for the food that he would cook inside the dungeon.

    ***

    Isbin Vige.

    A crowd has started to gather in the vige.

    "Hey, hey, hey, Binz-yah! Binz! Hey, you look so awesome in person!"

    "Omg, omg. Binz smiled. So pretty, he''s really amazing."

    Binz. He was the number one mukbang BJ and he''s also 19th in the online domestic ranking in Athenae.

    He came to Isbin Vige.

    "Hello, hello."

    Binz was well-built and very tall, he also has a warm personality and a veryrge fan-base. In addition, he was considered to be the crown prince of the mukbang world. His voice has a low baritone that could make the viewers feelfortable which always left them watching in a daze.

    On top of that, Binz, who stood at the 19th rank in the country''s ranking, was also a ranker among rankers.

    ''There''s a lot of people.''

    Binz smiled as he looked over the gathered crowd.

    Since it was early winter, white mist woulde out of their mouths whenever they spoke.

    Seasons in Athenae would rapidly change. Winter has quickly arrived even though it was only chilly a few days ago.

    "I arrived here in Isbin Vige today to eat the food that everyone thinks about most during winter."

    Binz, who was in the center of the crowd, told them politely.

    "Food that everyone thinks of during winter?"

    "Is it bungeobbang [1]?"

    "What is it? Are you going to eat tangerines while sitting on top of an electric mattress?"

    "Hahahaha, ah, that''s really a delicacy. Ha¡­ I''m already drooling."

    Binzughed at what one of the users said.

    "But if I reallyid down an electric mattress and ate tangerines you will post it on the user homepage saying ''Beggar Binz, Eating Tangerine that he got from Begging.'' or something like that."

    "Hahahaha."

    "Hohohoho."

    Everyoneughed at his words.

    "The food that I''ll eat this time. It should be something that a user will personally make and sell. Do you have any idea what it is?"

    "Ah, could it be¡­"

    Binz saw a woman step out of the crowd.

    "...Street snacks?"

    "Correct!"

    "Woooooow¡­!"

    "During winter when we''re on our way home from school or from work and we feel cold and hungry, this is something that will always whet our appetites. That''s what I came here for."

    Click, click, click, click!

    Camera shes started to go off.

    Naturally, there were plenty of users who were working as reporters in real life. Due to the massive online poprity of Athenae, many reporters have flocked to ess the game just so they could pick up articles.

    "Let''s go now."

    The users all followed Binz as he started to make his way towards his destination.

    Not long after, they saw a small carting out.

    Most of the users who run these cart bars have long changed their job sses to Chef.

    The cart owner bowed his head at them.

    ''I can''t believe Binz came to our store¡­''

    This user had a hidden ss among all the other Chefs. The ss that he received was named Chef of Happiness. For this ss, if someone ate his food deliciously and happily then his experience would increase.

    Binz has learned this information even before he came here.

    "I will introduce you guys to him. He is a user with the hidden ss Chef of Happiness. In his case, the system will calcte the level of happiness of the users who chose to eat his food, if they felt happy then he would gain experience points."

    "That''s right. But to be honest, my job ss is a bit vague."

    "Vague?"

    Before eating, Binz would always start with an interview. It was a type of noise marketing [2]. Binz was actually someone who loved eating.

    As if to rify, the owner of the job ss Chef of Happiness spoke.

    "It doesn''t matter if the users ate my food deliciously or ate until they were full, my experience still wouldn''t go up."

    "Aha, is that so? Are you saying that the user should really be happy with your food before your experience will increase?"

    "That''s right."

    "Oho, that''s quite a unique job. Haha."

    Binz grinned at him.

    He was someone who loved and cared about food. This was an opportunity to show the other users that he was sincere with what he was doing.

    Some would say that Binz was eating for the money but it was him that turned this into his work because he really loved to eat.

    Of course, he already changed a bitpared to before.

    ''It''s because thepany wants me to do this.''

    It was, after all, inevitable. This was his work.

    "Then, is there any user who wants to try it first?"

    "Me!"

    A man shouted as he raised his hand.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] ??? (bungeobbang) Fish shaped bread, you may know it as taiyaki.

    [2] Noise marketing. When you say noise in marketing it means something that distracts the consumers from the main point of the marketing. A promotional clutter if you may.

    TL''s corner!!!

    Well, guess who? Lol. Will there be friction? We''ll never know. Kek.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 27 - Food Fighter VS King Of Mukbang

    Chapter 27: Food Fighter VS King of Mukbang

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    QC: MattForgenti

    "Me too!"

    Some female users started to shout as they quickly moved forward.

    "Woow! It''s delicious!"

    "It''s delicious¡­!"

    The owner''s expression was not good.

    ''Two people only gave me a 1% increase in my experience¡­ jjeob [1]...''

    His forehead wrinkled in dismay. He had no choice but to feel dismayed.

    These users weren''t really hungry. In fact, they did not even feel that the food was delicious. They were only doing this just so they could catch Binz'' s attention.

    Or some of them were doing this just to get a little bit of Binz''s attention.

    ''How much will it increase when Binz-nim tries?''

    The shopkeeper was also very curious about it.

    "I''ll try it now."

    Binz picked up a stick of eomuk [2]. A good-looking man was eating a stick of eomuk quite well.

    Everyone around him was quite mesmerized by the sight and all cried out ''he¡­''

    Then, the owner''s eyes widened in shock.

    [You have leveled up.]

    "Heok¡­!"

    "...What''s wrong?"

    "M, my level increased. It increased by 1 just now. When the others ate my level only rose by 1%... I have 66% in my experience bar but¡­"

    "Eh?"

    Binz looked at him in confusion.

    He leveled up already?

    Binz really felt that it was quite delicious when he ate the eomuk.

    How can it increase already?

    ''Wow¡­ My experience increased a few dozen times higherpared to other users¡­ So this guy is a heavenly mukbang BJ, huh?''

    Everyone thought so.

    "Waaaaaah¡­"

    "Binz-nim, it seems like you are really eating happily¡­"

    "You''re not just making a y, right?"

    "Ah, no. I took a screenshot before Binz-nim ate and another one when I leveled up. I''ll post it on the user''s bulletin boardter."

    "T, then it''s real?"

    "Did you really level up because he felt that your food was delicious?"

    Binz smiled happily at the other user''s surprised expression. In fact, the streetfood he was selling was really delicious. Everyone''s lips curled up in a smile.

    Just when he was about to eat another eomuk he saw a user making his way through the crowd.

    He was wearing a white face mask that covered his nose and mouth. He stood next to Binz and said¡­

    "Wow! Wow! It''s tteoktwisun [3], waaaaah! Wow!"

    "......?"

    "W, what''s wrong with that guy?"

    "Shit, Binz-nim was just about to eat but now he has lost his flow¡­"

    However, the user did not even respond to them at all. He continued to burst out in exmations then turned towards the owner and said¡­

    "Uncle. Do I pay after I eat eomuk?"

    The man who was asking was about 5cm taller than Binz.

    He''s probably about 185cm tall.

    "Ah¡­"

    The owner looked at Binz in embarrassment.

    He prepared a lot of food today, one reason was because Binz was going to eat and the other reason was because the other users would buy from himter. However, right now, he was still doing the mukbang with Binz.

    Binz just smiled and nodded at him.

    Why would I stop a person who wants to eat?

    "Yes, you do."

    "Then I''ll eat then pay! Uncle, first give me 10 servings of tteokbokki, 10 servings of fritters and 10 servings of sundae, ah right. Please add the guts and the liver too!"

    "......?"

    Binz turned his head to look at the man.

    The man in that mysterious mask ordered quite a ridiculous amount.

    However, Binz could see that he was having a hard time suppressing his joy.

    ''That smile¡­''

    It''s a smile that looks really happy.

    ***

    "Ughh¡­ So cold."

    It''s freezing cold!

    Minhyuk felt that the weather had turned a lot colderpared to a few days ago.

    The weather in Athenae changes very quickly, huh?

    Well, there was nothing he could do about it. Time flows four times faster in Athenaepared to the real world.

    It was a refreshing autumn when he first logged in so it was no wonder that it has gone a bit colder now.

    Minhyuk munched on a yanggaeng as he walked towards Isbin Vige.

    ''There''s only a few of this yanggaeng that''s left.''

    Minhyuk felt sad and at the same time it also made him hungrier.

    I feel cold and hungry. There''s only one food thates to mind at times like this.

    It was street snacks.

    ''He¡­ Just thinking about it¡­''

    Guuulp¡ª

    He gulped at the thought of eating street food. At that moment, Minhyuk saw a crowd of people.

    "Well, are you giving me something delicious for free?!"

    Minhyuk, who was only thinking about eating, saw a familiar sign among the crowd.

    ''Happy Snacks.''

    "......!"

    Minhyuk trembled in excitement. It was to the point where anybody could see that his whole body was shaking. It was like he won the first prize in the lottery with how excited he was.

    He felt something strange when he walked towards the crowd.

    There were too many people and standing in front of them was the handsome Binz.

    Minhyuk definitely knew Binz''s face. However, his interest over BJ Binz was solely dedicated to the food that he ate.

    ''Ah¡­ it''s definitely because he wants their attention.''

    Minhyuk did not bother with those things. He hated the attention.

    He yed games because he wanted to eat, not because he wanted to gain fame and attention.

    At that moment, a shop that was selling masks not far from where he was caught Minhyuk''s eyes.

    Sometimes, users liked to wear masks to add a touch of mystery to themselves.

    ''Yeah, I should wear a mask¡­''

    He was sure that he would get a lot of attention if he stood right next to Binz but if he wore a mask then he would be able to avoid that trouble.

    He hurriedly went into the shop and bought a mask. He bought the mask for 20,000 gold. It was quite cheap.

    After wearing the mask, Minhyuk quickly pushed his way through the crowd and finally stood in front of Binz.

    The harmony of the colors is good!

    The well-cooked tteokbokki and eomuk were swimming in the bright red sauce. He could even see boiled eggs in there.

    And that wasn''t all¡­

    There were shining, golden fried snacks over to the side.

    Gimari, deep-fried veggies, fried sweet potatoes, tempura, fried squid, etc. [4]

    He couldn''t help but show a smile.

    Is that everything?

    The chewy and bouncy sundae on the steamer along with the ears, liver, etc. seemed like they were shouting at him to hurry up and eat them.

    Minhyuk burst in excitement.

    "Wow! Wow! It''s tteoktwisun, waaaaah! Wow!"

    "......?"

    "W, what''s wrong with that guy?"

    "Shit, Binz-nim was just about to eat but now he has lost his flow¡­"

    However, Minhyuk couldn''t hear them at all. His eyes were trained on the food. This time he was looking at the steaming seaweed soup with the beautifully cut fishcake swimming in it.

    "Uncle, do I pay after I eat the eomuk?"

    "Ah, Aaah¡­"

    The owner hesitated for a moment. Minhyuk was confused as the owner smiled awkwardly at him.

    "Yes, you do."

    "Then I''ll eat then pay! Uncle, first give me 10 servings of tteokbokki, 10 servings of fritters and 10 servings of sundae, ah right. Please add the sundae and the liver too!"

    "......"

    "?"

    "Is it for take away?"

    "No. I''m going to eat them here!"

    Taking it away is also good but, isn''t it more delicious to eat street food in front of the food stalls.

    The owner then began to prepare the food.

    "Ah, who''s that person!"

    "Hey, hey. His proportions are amazing, right¡­?"

    "Ah¡­ What proportions¡­ Huh? Look at that jawline¡­"

    "T, that person¡­ I''m going to get my hands on that ''super handsome'' man."

    Minhyuk ignored the murmurs of the crowd as he rubbed his hands in anticipation.

    What to eat first?

    [Please select the main ingredients for this meal.]

    ''Of course it''s eomuk!''

    [Eomuk was selected as the main ingredient.]

    Minhyuk believed that the top delicacy in the snack bar was eomuk.

    There was only one reason.

    ''Because you don''t have to wait for it!''

    Minhyuk pulled out a paper cup then he carefully scooped up plenty of eomuk soup.

    The warmth of the eomuk soup passed through the paper cup and thawed away his frozen hands.

    "Hoo, hoo."

    He gently blew on the paper cup before slowly taking a sip of the soup.

    "Ah¡­ I''m alive."

    He felt like his chilled body was suffused in warmth. Minhyuk picked up an eomuk, dipped it in the soy sauce bowl in front of him and ced it in his mouth for a taste.

    Chew, chew¡ª

    "De, delicious¡­!"

    He eximed softly with a happy smile on his face. Then he ate, one, two, three¡­ Ten.

    "......"

    "......"

    "Wow¡­¡­"

    All of a sudden, the owner shouted in surprise.

    "...My, my level increased by 4!"

    "......!"

    "......!"

    "Heok?!"

    The crowd was astonished. But Minhyuk did not hear them at all.

    The owner quicklyid down the heavy tes in front of Minhyuk. He was scared that if he did not ce the tes of food in front of Minhyuk he would be the one that was skewered with the stick. That was how ferocious Minhyuk looked right now.

    Minhyuk saw the glistening, red tteokbokki. He used a toothpick to pick one up and tasted it.

    The sweet and spicy vor of the chewy tteokbokki gave him the shivers.

    "Oooooooh. This is delicious!"

    Then he tried the fritters. He, once again, ate the gimari in one bite.

    Crunch, crunch!

    The moment he bit on the crispy gimari he could taste the harmony of vors between the ss noodles, the seaweed and the fried vegetables.

    Then, he dipped the gimari in the tteokbokki sauce before taking a bite. The spicy vor of the sauce and the crispy texture of the gimari was very impressive.

    The fried sweet potatoes were best served with the tteokbokki while the fried squid and the tempura were best served with the eomuk soup.

    He then focused his attention on the chewy sundae. He dipped the sundae in salt then took a bite. Next, he dipped it in the tteokbokki sauce before taking another bite. Finally he dipped it in the eomuk soup before he took another bite.

    Then...

    An exquisitebination of vor showered his mouth when he went and dipped the sizzling pork liver in the tteokbokki sauce.

    "Wow¡­"

    "Omg¡­ he''s very crazy."

    "It, it looks delicious¡­"

    Everyone was eximing in surprise but Minhyuk paid them 0% attention.

    "M, my level has increased by 15 in total!"

    The owner''s voice was drowned out among the other users¡¯ voices.

    At that moment, Minhyuk was splitting the boiled egg on top of the tteokbokki. He used a spoon to crush the egg white and mixed it with the yolk and the tteokbokki sauce.

    "Uncle! I''d like to have 10 more servings of tteoktwisun!"

    "......Wow, crazy!"

    "Omg¡­ Just now, I was looking at that user and not at Binz."

    "I, is he for real¡­¡­?"

    ***

    Binz unknowingly stopped putting a tteokbokki in his mouth.

    An unknown user was eating happily while wearing a white mask. He even ordered another 10 servings of each food.

    The owner spoke again¡­

    "Keok, my level has increased by 20 in total!"

    Binz turned his head towards the owner. The owner wasn''t even paying any attention to him.

    ''This person''s experience will only increase if someone ate his food deliciously, and happily¡­ but I heard that it only increases if the reactions were genuine.''

    Binz realized that the guy standing next to him was eating the food more deliciously and happilypared to him.

    ''H, he really looks happy¡­''

    At some point, under the expectations of others, the food that he enjoyed happily has started to be his work.

    Of course, he was still very happy to eat right now. However, that feeling was slowly starting to fade away.

    But the smile of this person in front of me is truly genuine.

    And¡­

    Groooooooowl¡­!

    ''Why do I want to eat so much when I''m watching him?''

    This is absolutely ridiculous. I''m Binz, the mukbang world''s crown prince. But it was very strange how I want to gobble up all of these when I watch this man in front of me eat.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] ? (jjeob) : sound used when you feel awkward or have nothing to say. It can also be used as a sound when you''re chewing or when you feel like the food tastes good.

    [2] eomuk, this is fishcake. Hmmm quite delicious with tteokbokki and egg. *drools*

    [3] tteoktwisun (???) a set menu consisting of tteokbokki, fritters, and sundae (or blood sausage). ? is for tteokboki (???) ? is for fritters or fried food (?? XXX) and ? is for sundae (??).

    [4] Gimari is deep-fried seaweed roll. Haven''t tried it but it looks so appetizing. Also all of those fried food were dipped in batter before frying. Yum.

    TL''s corner!!!

    Tbh, I was confused about the mask. But I''m guessing it''s that type where others could see it but it won''t obstruct you. Like a hologram or smth. I mean, he''s wearing a face mask but he could still eat without them knowing what he looks like. Kek. Fiction~

    P.S. If you don¡¯t remember. BJ is a broadcasting jockey or you can just call them vloggers I think AND mukbang is the vlog about eating food. The one where they eat lots of food in front of the cam. I heard that there were controversies in KR regarding ads on mukbang channels. kek.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 28 - Food Fighter VS King Of Mukbang

    Chapter 28: Food Fighter VS King of Mukbang

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    QC: MattForgenti

    ''Do the others also feel what I''m feeling when they watch him?''

    No, he was mistaken.

    The others were already thinking about eating the snacks from the snackbar once Minhyuk left.

    Most of the people who watched mukbang were people who were on a diet. But Minhyuk''s mukbang has the power to destroy a person''s diet!

    "Chew, chew!"

    I can''t lose!

    Binz started to eat again. Whenever he looked at Minhyuk he could feel a strong surge of hunger.

    Minhyuk suddenly shouted¡­

    "Uncle! Another 10 servings of tteoktwisun!"

    "H, here¡­! I want 10 servings too!"

    The eating battle between the two people has started.

    Binz ate to his heart''s content.

    Crunch, crunch!

    Fritters.

    Sundae.

    Tteokbokki¡­!

    Before he could even finish all of it up¡­

    "Uncle, please give me 10 more servings. Ah no add another 5 more over here~!"

    "C, customer-nim¡­ are you alright?"

    "......I haven''t eaten half my fill yet? Uncle, your eomuk over here is already decreasing."

    "Ahhh¡­¡­ Yes¡­¡­"

    The owner then added more food.

    Binz has already eaten a lot. His stomach started to feel full until he felt that he could not eat anymore.

    ''W, what the hell¡­''

    Who the hell is this guy?

    Binz looked at him suspiciously with an annoyed frown on his face.

    In the end, he ced down his skewer and gave up on eating eomuk.

    ck!

    "Hoo¡­¡­"

    He breathed a sigh as he patted his bloated stomach. Then he saw Minhyuk, who was still eating, right next to him.

    ''...So curious.''

    What is this man''s identity?

    "Excuse me. Nim."

    Binz called out to him as he fixed a smile on his face. However, Minhyuk did not answer and only continued to eat.

    "Nim!"

    He called out a little louder, however Minhyuk was still eating non-stop without any indication of answering him.

    ''H, his concentration is solely devoted to food¡­!''

    Nothing could distract him from eating. Only food can distract him!

    But he was so curious that he raised his hand and tapped him on the shoulder.

    "Nim, can you tell me your nickname¡­"

    Then¡­

    p!

    Minhyuk pped his hands away from his shoulder. He then looked at him fiercely.

    "Ah, Nim. Why did you touch me while I was eating? Do you want me to stab you with the skewer until you die?"

    Binz trembled in fright.

    ''Y, you won''t be able to live if you touch him w, while he''s eating¡­!''

    For real.

    There was a fierce aura surrounding Minhyuk. It was an aura that was screaming: Touch me and you die.

    ''I''m still¡­ A bit famous you know¡­''

    But Minhyuk did not even give him 1% of attention. Ah, no. He did not even give him 0.00001% of attention.

    Binz and his bloated stomach looked at Minhyuk who was still eating deliciously.

    ***

    "M, my level has increased by 31 in total!"

    ''This uncle. He''s been talking since earlier. It''s noisy.''

    Minhyuk, who was still eating diligently, still did not have any shred of interest in what the owner was saying.

    "Uncle. Please give me 10 more servings of this, 10 more!"

    He said that whilst thinking of another set of servings of the street snacks, however a bolt out of the blue struck him down.

    "C, customer-nim¡­ I''m sorry but we are out of ingredients."

    "Eh?! What did you say?! I haven''t even had half of it yet!!!!"

    Minhyuk looked very desperate.

    The crispy fritters, the chewy sundae and the hot eomuk!!! I want to eat more!

    "Customer-nim, you ate 70 servings of tteokboki, 250 pieces of eomuk, 70 servings of sundae, and 80 servings of fritters¡­"

    "Ha¡­¡­I could eat 100 more servings."

    "......"

    Binz and the owner were both left speechless. Even the users standing behind them have shut their mouths for a moment.

    "That''s too bad. How much do I have to pay?"

    "Please wait a moment."

    The owner started to tap on his calctor.

    "One serving of tteokboki is worth 2,500 gold, 70 servings is worth 175,000 gold. One serving of sundae is worth 3,000 gold, you ate 210,000 gold worth of servings. Fritters, 240,000 gold¡­¡­ For a total of 750,000 gold."

    "It''s less than what I thought."

    Minhyuk shook his head.

    "H, he said it was less than what he thought?"

    "I can''t even eat that much even when I''m attending ourpany dinner¡­"

    When Minhyuk was about to give 750,000 gold¡­

    "Customer-nim please just give me 650,000 gold."

    "650,000 gold?"

    "Yes, I''m giving you a discount."

    "Oh! Uncle, you''re a really good man!"

    The shopkeeper smiled slightly. He was also running a small snackbar in real life.

    In addition, his job was the Chef of Happiness so he knew better than anyone what factors were needed for him to level up. And he has leveled up 31 times just because of him.

    It was a massive boost to his levels.

    Besides, whenever he looked at this customer who eats very deliciously he would always smile unknowingly.

    Minhyuk sent him the 650,000 gold.

    Since he continued to raid the Twilight Graveyard, he has umted a lot of misceneous items. After selling those misceneous items, he now has 3.2 million gold in his pockets.

    At that moment¡­

    [The True Worth of Food.]

    [You have gained +2 STM.]

    [Perfect Combination.]

    [Life Combination.]

    [Your score will be doubled.]

    [You have gained +6 STR and +3 STM.]

    "......Huh?"

    Minhyuk was a bit surprised with the notifications.

    Life Combination?

    I know what the Perfect Combination means since I have already experienced it. Tteoktwisun, eomuk and soup. There''s nobo that''s better than this.

    So what is Life Combination?

    Furthermore, if bothbinations meet they will reflect a double in my scores.

    Usually, his stats would only go up by 3~4 with Perfect Combination but now, his stats have gone up by 9.

    In other words, when my score doubles then the stat I gain will also increase.

    Minhyuk pondered over this ability deeply.

    ''Life Combination¡­ Hmmm¡­ It''s abination that we usually think about in our daily lives¡­!''

    I think Perfect Combination corresponds to thebination of vors in a meal while Life Combination is the food that we want to eat the most at a specific moment in our daily lives.

    During winter, where people would feel cold and hungry, the food that woulde to mind the most was the snacks in a snackbar.

    It was also the same case when someone felt hungry at 1 in the morning. They would definitely want to eat ramyeon or chicken by the Han River.

    Life Combination definitely pertained to thebination of food and the atmosphere instead of the taste.

    ''There''s a lot of interesting systems, huh?''

    Minhyuk chuckled lightly. He only ate deliciously but his stats still continued to increase. He turned around after he settled his bill.

    Then¡­

    "Ni, nim. Can you please tell me the name of your broadcasting site?!"

    "Nim, please tell me your nickname!"

    Minhyuk was stunned with their reactions.

    Several users were already broadcasting in Paprika as well as in Athenae.

    Theirments were¡­

    [gdgfl4: Real, is that really a person? He ate food that''s worth 750,000 gold alone. Hehehehe]

    [BinzKissKiss: Omg¡­¡­ Omg¡­¡­ watching that person eat makes me feel so happy and excited, today''s a snackbar?!]

    [TwistedGrill has gifted you 100 stars.]

    And all of the broadcasting stations were exploding in excitement.

    "Hello. I''m Han Inhwa, a reporter from TVM station! We want to cover your story!"

    "Excuse me. I''m Lee Sungmin, KBC''s reporter. Please let us interview you!"

    "Nim, please give me your nickname!"

    Minhyuk has now proven that his decision to wear a mask before was his best idea ever.

    At that moment¡­

    [Binz-nim has gifted you 10 reputation points.]

    "......?"

    Minhyuk looked at BJ Binz. He saw him smiling at him.

    Rankers who ced in the top 100 of the domestic rankings have special benefitspared to the ordinary users.

    One of these benefits was gifting reputation points. The ranker could give reputation points to others if they have touched or knew the nickname of the other users. They were only allowed to give 10 reputation points in a year.

    Binz has given Minhyuk all the reputation points he could give.

    ''If I was allowed to, I would have given him 100 reputation points.''

    He smiled bitterly. Today was the day when he realized that he was stillcking. There was still someone who could happily enjoy eating while not being dragged by his work.

    Maybe this was the guy who should really be a mukbang BJ?

    "Ah. Well. Thank you."

    Minhyuk expressed his gratitude as he looked at him curiously. But that was the end of it. He showed no ounce of interest towards Binz.

    "Can I talk to you?"

    Binz smile was rather sly, that was why Minhyuk was suspicious.

    "It''s because we have to eat something secretly."

    "......!"

    Minhyuk''s eyes widened in surprise.

    "Let''s first get out of here. What if someone else took it."

    However, Minhyuk wasn''t a stupid boy who would straight up follow a stranger at the mere mention of food!

    So he thought about things rationally.

    Binz doesn''t look like a bad person and he doesn''t have any reason to hurt me. Besides he looks like he''s not lying.

    Minhyuk nodded his head.

    "That''s right. We should eat it before anyone else sees it¡­!"

    Whisper, whisper.

    Minhyuk talked to Binz in a small voice so no one would be able to listen to them.

    Binz grinned at him.

    Minhyuk looked as if he was a child who stole delicious food from his mom and ate it secretly with his friend.

    "Grab my hand."

    Minhyuk and Binz grabbed each other''s hands.

    "Huh¡­? Huuuuuuuh¡­¡­!"

    "I, Impossible!"

    Then the two of them disappeared in a sh of light.

    ***

    When Minhyuk opened his eyes, he was already inside a room in an inn.

    The inn was usually used as a ce where users log-out. If they designated their room in the inn as a return point they would be able to return to their rooms once they tear their return scrolls.

    "......Your type."

    Minhyuk covered his body with his arms as he warily looked at Binz.

    "Ah, no¡­ I have this ce designated as my return point so it will be easy for me to log-out!"

    "Huhuhu, sure. If it''s just the two of us here then we will be able to eat in peace. Ah, I''m Minhyuk."

    "Yes, I''m Binz."

    Minhyukughed as he took off his mask. Then he looked at Binz in anticipation.

    Grin.

    Binz''s lips curled up in a smile.

    ''This person¡­ is really interesting.''

    He then pulled something out of his chest pockets.

    It was none other than¡­

    Pizza Bread.

    "I made it. Please have some, Nim."

    "A, are you an angel?!"

    "Am I an angel?"

    Minhyuk was so excited.

    Pizza bread.

    It was an imitation of pizza, however it was still quite different from it. There are times when people crave more after pizza bread instead of pizza.

    When talking about pizza bread, everyone would remember their childhood days. Around the time when they were attending elementary to high school.

    Parents usually gave away pizza bread because their son became the ss president. They would prepare it whenever they went out for pics.

    Pizza bread was also the best when your hunger was at its peak. It was the go-to food after PE sses.

    Minhyuk smiled happily at the pizza bread that he received.

    However, he soon had a strange expression on his face.

    "...Huh?"

    He looked at the pizza bread closely.

    There was only one reason why he looked at it strangely.

    ''The color is different¡­?''

    It was definitely different.

    The color surrounding the pizza bread was white. Minhyuk scrutinized it deeply.

    I can smell the scent of catsup, mayonnaise and bread. But, there''s something thick and soft in here.

    "This¡­"

    "Huhu, did you realize it?"

    Binz was grinning.

    "This bread is made out of the Sun''s Wheat. It''s a specialty here in Isbin Vige."

    "The Sun''s Wheat?"

    "Yes. Just like in reality, there are also specialties in every area. There is one specialty per area in Athenae. And this is Isbin Vige''s specialty."

    "Ho."

    That is quite interesting information.

    "Plus, bread made out of the Sun''s Wheat is much more delicious."

    Binzughed mischievously. Hisst sentence was uttered in a whisper.

    ''Much more delicious¡­ I can''t wait¡­!''

    The notifications rang as Minhyuk ced the pizza bread in his mouth.

    [Please select the main ingredients for this meal.]

    [Sun''s Wheat, ham, onion, parsley powder¡­ redacted.]

    ''Sun''s Wheat.''

    Crunch¡ª

    ***

    TL''s Corner!!!

    Amazingly enough, we don''t have anything to footnote in this chapter.

    Lol. Just a background on the broadcast stations. TVM might be TVN and KBC might be KBS. Kek. ALSO, I do not have any idea what social media tform Paprika is imitating. kek.

 Chapter 29 - Food Fighter Becomes A Cook

    Chapter 29: Food Fighter Bes a Cook

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    QC: MattForgenti

    12 Food Fighter Bes a Cook

    The sweet vor of the pizza bread spread out in his mouth.

    He could taste the crunchy onionplementing the greasy mayonnaise well. Thebination of the sweet and sour taste of the catsup and the savory sausage went well with the overall taste.

    Minhyuk was very surprised.

    It was really much more delicious than normal pizza bread.

    ''I, I want to grab it from him¡­''

    Binz wiped the drool off of his mouth. When he watched Minhyuk eat the food he gave him deliciously, his drool started to flow.

    The moment Minhyuk finished eating all of the bread¡­

    [True Worth of Food.]

    [You have gained WIS+1 and INT+1.]

    Minhyuk has now learned that the white light represented WIS and INT.

    And the most crucial thing he has learned here was¡­

    ''The Sun''s Wheat¡­''

    Flour has a great impact on everyone''s daily lives. It was almost on par with rice.

    If anyone would walk around the streets, they would see plenty of ramen shops, pizzerias, bakeries and so on.

    And you''re telling me that there''s a way for me to make it more delicious?

    "I thought you''d like it. Was it delicious?"

    "Yeeeees!"

    Minhyuk answered with his back straight, nodding like a baby chick.

    "Where can I get this Sun''s Wheat? If it''s a specialty, then can I buy it?"

    Binz smiled bitterly at him.

    "I''m sorry to disappoint you but the Sun''s Wheat is no longer avable."

    "Eeeh?!"

    It was a bolt out of the blue.

    I can''t believe that I can''t get it anymore!

    Are you saying that I won''t be able to taste this delicious wheat anymore?!

    At that moment, Minhyuk looked as if he lost everything in the world.

    "I got the Sun''s Wheat I used to make this bread from an NPC. The only reason why we can''t get anymore Sun''s Wheat is because the goblins took over the Bordy ins. Bordy ins is the only ce where Sun''s Wheat can grow."

    "Are you saying that the goblins are blocking me from getting that delicious Sun''s Wheat? How dare they¡­!"

    Minhyuk lookedpletely furious. Binz smiled awkwardly at him. He was quite embarrassed.

    "I didn''t expect that you would be this upset¡­ Anyway, that''s the reason why Isbin Vige will set up a subjugation force. They have 70 soldiers and will ept 30 volunteer users. They will give you the Sun''s Wheat as a reward."

    "I see. But why didn''t you apply, Binz-nim?"

    I believe Binz also likes food very much. So why didn''t he apply?

    "It''s because of my level¡­"

    "Ah¡­¡­"

    It waspletely understandable. If you went to the subjugation force to hunt for low-leveled goblins then Binz wouldn''t be able to participate because of the level limit.

    "They will only ept users between Lv15~20. I heard about it in front of the subjugation force training center."

    As I thought!

    It was as if the Sun''s Wheat was telling him: ''Come and eat me, baby!''

    "Thank you for the information!"

    "Wait. Let''s add each other as friends?"

    "Of course!"

    He was someone who gave him food so he was like a benefactor to Minhyuk!

    [Binz-nim is asking to add you as a friend.]

    [Yes / No]

    "Yes."

    [Binz / Berserker / Lv397]

    Minhyuk bowed politely at him then turned around to leave.

    Binz smiled as he watched his back disappear.

    ***

    Today was the day that the subjugation force was set to depart.

    That day, when Binz told him about the subjugation force, he directly went to the training center and applied as a volunteer.

    Right now, Minhyuk was still in the pool. He was exercising before going in to ess the game.

    "I heard that the Bordy ins Subjugation Force was not that good."

    "Really?"

    Minhyuk tilted his head in curiosity when he heard Changwook speaking.

    "Why?"

    "They would give you 10,000 gold and 5kg of Sun''s Wheat as rewards but who would ept that?"

    "But¡­¡­ Isn''t 5kg of Sun''s Wheat a great deal for everyone?"

    Changwook promptly shut his mouth.

    ording to Minhyuk''s standards, it was definitely good. However, even if it was considered to be a low-leveled subjugation force the usualpensation and reward was at least at 80,000 gold.

    Usually, the subjugation forces would give the novices their gears for the subjugation quest however it wasn''t the case for the Bordy ins.

    "Were you eating meat inside Twilight Graveyard all this time?"

    "Yes."

    "How high are your stats now?"

    Minhyuk had already started to move in the water when Changwook asked him about his stats. He went around for ap and stopped to take a breath.

    "Puhaaa! I don''t remember. I''ll check it and let you know after I''m done with this exercise."

    After finishing his exercise, Minhyuk tried to wobble his way towards Changwook. Plenty of people hurriedly reached out to help stabilize him and help him climb up easily.

    Ssh!

    Changwook quickly helped Minhyuk wipe his huge body as soon as he sat down.

    Minhyuk sat on arge chair that was prepared nearby. It was a caring thought that they especially did for Minhyuk.

    As soon as he caught his breath, Minhyuk quickly clutched his mobile phone. His Athenae ount and information could be easily essed in his mobile phone.

    Minhyuk clicked on his stats window and showed his phone to Changwook.

    (Minhyuk)

    Level: 15

    ss: Food Fighter (Food God) 17%

    HP: 806 MP: 240

    STR: 112+14 AGI: 78+32 STM: 56+12

    WIS: 16+8 INT: 16+8 Rep: 26

    Fullness: 100% 126

    Bonus Point: 0

    "......These are the stats of a Lv15? Looking at this, it''s almost the same as the stats of a Lv50 user?"

    "You will now die if a piggy punches you."

    "You won''t kill me right?"

    "If you weren''t my hyung¡­!"

    Minhyuk shook his fists at him angrily while Changwook smiled awkwardly at him.

    "Sorry."

    However, Changwook suddenly thought about something.

    ''If he continued to level-up at this pace, then¡­''

    Wouldn''t it be too fraudulent? A fraudulent character among fraudulent characters.

    However there was only one drawback.

    ''He doesn''t seem to have any other special ability except eating?''

    Changwook did not bother to raise that topic up. However, skills were definitely considered to be quite important in Athenae.

    Right now, the mages at Minhyuk''s level have already learned a ss 1 magic. And the knights have learned skills rted to their job ss.

    ''Well, it doesn''t matter. Minhyuk went there to eat.''

    He saw Minhyuk standing up.

    "Let''s go again~"

    Minhyuk''s steps were cheerful.

    ***

    Belo was originally a Lv40 warrior user. However, right now he has arrived in front of Isbin Vige to join the subjugation force along with his other guild members.

    The only reason why he and his guild members came here to join even though they were all high-leveled yers was¡­

    ''You will get the key to a hidden dungeon if you get the highest contribution during the subjugation.''

    Belo recentlypleted a quest and the reward he received from the said quest was none other than the hint that leads to the hidden dungeon.

    The hint said that you would be able to get it if you received the 1st ce in the contributions for the subjugation in Bordy ins. In other words, this was a linked quest where the rewards were revealed.

    Hidden dungeons were very special dungeons where even low-leveled yers could enter. The rewards for these dungeons were typically unknown.

    This was the only reason why Belo asked his real friends and his guild members toe and join him in the Bordy ins.

    ''I even ate the wings of a ck pixie just to enter this hidden dungeon.''

    The wings of a ck pixie were considered to be cursed items. Once this item was consumed, the user''s level would immediately drop to Lv20~25. This state wouldst for 2 weeks.

    However, this kind of item was usually used because it was convenient and necessary. There were penalties for using these cursed items.

    Consuming these items would drop your level straight to Lv20 but it was alright. At the very least, their Lv15~20 were much betterpared to the beginners who didn''t know anything at all.

    There were five of them in total and Belo brought some other people to fill the possibleck of numbers.

    "Foreigners,e this way! I''ll determine where you will be assigned."

    The users started to go in front of the soldier who shouted.

    This time, there were only 20 people who participated. The volunteers'' numbers were remarkably small, this was considering that it was a subjugation quest and the application was closed in an hour.

    ''Huhu, this is the reason why the hidden dungeon rewards are ced here.''

    The users slowly formed a line in front of the soldier.

    "Wow, isn''t that the smell of novices?"

    "Uwoooh, beginners smell!"

    Belo and his partyughed as if they weren''t low-leveled yers while the soldier in front started to ask for the volunteers'' specialties.

    "Boy, what''s your specialty?"

    "I can shoot with the bow well."

    "You?"

    "I''m ancer!"

    "You?"

    "I eat well."

    "Is that so. Very good¡­ Huh?"

    Belo looked curiously towards the front. The one who spoke up front was a tall man.

    "You''re good at eating?"

    "Yes. I am not picky and I can eat a lot of things!"

    That man was Minhyuk. As he answered the soldier''s question his eyes started to twinkle.

    "Pfft, right! You''re a foreigner who eats weeell!"

    "Hehe, that''s right!"

    Minhyuk smiled brightly.

    He realized something whenever he met NPCs like Valen, Roina and Allon. He would get benefits if he got close to them.

    Of course they would think that his approach was definitely inappropriate but Minhyuk''s wish was not that big.

    It was just rations, rations and rations!

    "To be honest, I only threw a small joke because the handsome soldier-nim looked tired!"

    And in line with what Minhyuk said, the soldier looked really tired. He had no choice but to feel like that.

    His superior scolded him earlier. He was angry at the abysmal number of volunteers for the subjugation quest. It must have been exhausting to be scolded even if it wasn''t your fault.

    Users usually say this to Soldier Rand.

    ''Can you not just do it like this?''

    They probably hated the rewards. Many of the volunteers who apply came because it was a subjugation force, however they did not like thepensation.

    "Is that so? Boy, it''s been a long time since Iughed and it''s all thanks to you. Huhu, did you know?"

    "What is it?"

    "I''m good at receiving naggings and scoldings! Bwahahaha!"

    He then started to pound on his chest.

    "Haha, that''s very funny!"

    "Hahahahahaha¡­ haha¡­ Uhm¡­"

    Rand''s face quickly turned sullen afterughing quite a bit. Minhyuk approached him and patted him on the back. He was trying to tell him to ''Cheer up!''

    [Rand''s favorability has increased.]

    Belo, who was watching from behind, clicked his tongue.

    ''That guy''s an idiot.''

    What''s the benefit of getting close to a soldier?

    The others were looking at him strangely. They had the same reaction to what Minhyuk did.

    You won''t get a good quest or a higher reward from that soldier!

    At that moment¡­

    "The soldiers and the volunteers should go and eat first before we leave!"

    Unlike the ordinary soldiers, the one who shouted was wearing an impressive, te armor. It was the leader of the subjugation force.

    Minhyuk''s ears perked up and he quickly moved like an excited puppy when he heard the cry.

    "You feed us too?"

    "Of course. We''re asking you to help us hunt so we shouldn''t starve you."

    "Wow! Wow!"

    The investigation about the foreigners that Rand was doing was suspended for a moment.

    The mealtime has started.

    "Our Isbin Vige cooks have the best food."

    "......Oh!"

    Minhyuk let out a small exmation of surprise.

    Soon after, the cooks started to distribute the food.

    "Shit! Quick, we''re going to leave soon!"

    "Ah, what''s this food! I''m eating this as soon as I logged in."

    Some of the users were grumbling.

    "It''s been a long time since I tasted jjambap."

    As in reality, the jjambap in Athenae was also not delicious. This was to follow the truth!

    "Ah, soldier-nim I''ll bring over your share too."

    Minhyuk moved quickly to line up. He opened his eyes wide to look at the breakfast menu.

    Then a soldier shouted...

    "Hamburgers are prepared for the foreigners. Come and get your meals!"

    ***

    TL''s corner!!!

    This is quite surprising, there are no words that I haven''t discussed before. No footnotes. OwO lol. Anyways. Ahhh another meal. Slurp, I want hamburgers too.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 30 - Food Fighter Becomes A Cook

    Chapter 30: Food Fighter Bes a Cook

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    QC: MattForgenti

    However, the foreigners snorted when they heard that. They paid no attention whatsoever to the soldier''s words. It was as if they were somezy reservists.

    "That thing? It would definitely give you diarrhea!"

    "Help yourself, Nims."

    On the other hand, Minhyuk looked very shocked.

    ''I, it''s hamburger!''

    Everyone knew what kind of existence a hamburger was.

    It was one of the most convenient fast food meals. Together with pizza, the two were considered to be the two mountains of the flour-based food industry.

    "A beef patty sandwiched between two sesame buns with a special sauce and lettuce~ cheese, pickle and onion, yiiih."

    He even hummed a strange song happily.

    Hamburger with fries on the side and a refreshing iced c!

    It would be a bit heavy as a breakfast but Minhyuk still weed it with open arms.

    Not long after, he returned to where Rand was and sat in front of him. Then, Minhyuk stared at the big hamburger in amazement.

    ''Kyaa¡­¡­This thick patty and crunchy lettuce, oooh, it even has cheese on it.''

    Minhyuk personally liked a hamburger to have plenty of vegetables.

    "Please have some!"

    "Yeah. Boy, you should eat too. You''ll definitely be surprised."

    Rand nodded at him as he picked up his own hamburger.

    Minhyuk pressed on the bread tightly so as not to let the lettuce fall off. He heard the notification for the true worth of food as soon as he touched the hamburger. Minhyuk quickly finished setting it up. He then focused all of his attention on the hamburger.

    "Chomp!"

    He opened his mouth as wide as he could and bit as much as he could bite in one go.

    He could feel the texture of the soft buns and the crunchy lettuce. The tomatoes added freshness to the overall taste while the patty gave off a rich, meaty vor. The cheese, with its tasty, creamy vor, was responsible for the cohesion of the harmony of vors in the hamburger.

    Chew, chew¡ª

    And once the sweet sauce met with all of the different ingredients in the hamburger, it created a pleasant taste that slowly spread in his mouth.

    And when he felt that he was a bit thirsty, he would then take a sip of the c beside him. The freshness that the ice cold c could bring and the greasy fast food meals were a tried and testedbination.

    Minhyuk gulped down the iced c, the first sip was always the best. His throat was tingling, however his mouth was filled with the sweet and unique vor of the c.

    Minhyukughed happily as the c washed away the greasy taste of the hamburger. He then reached out towards the fries.

    The fries were golden in color.

    The taste of the catsup was always stronger than that of the hamburger. He then dipped the fries in the catsup and ced them in his mouth.

    Crunch, crunch!

    As if to prove that it was just fried perfectly, the hot fries gave off a crisp and crunchy sound. Fries were best eaten fresh from the pan and dipped with catsup. Eating soggy and cold fries was never a good idea.

    "Aaaaaaang, chew!"

    Minhyuk once again chomped on his hamburger. He mumbled something after he finished swallowing the food in his mouth.

    "Aren''t your military cooks really skilled?"

    "Yeah, huhu. Foreigners usually say that our food is just barely passable but I''m really proud of it!"

    Rand banged on his chest proudly.

    "Our Isbin Vige''s military cooks are the best in all of the Eivelis Empire [1]."

    He stealthily looked around and said¡­

    "I''m telling you this, Len-nims cooks the most delicious dishes. None of the other dishes I''ve ever tried could try to surpass his. Whether it''s for a single person or for arge number of people, he will cook it deliciously."

    Minhyuk''s eyes widened in surprise.

    If Joseon has Jang Geum, then does Isbin Vige have the chef named Len?

    "So, is it delicious?"

    "Yeah, it tastes very, very, very great!"

    It''s delicious.

    It was just those three characters [2]. But wasn''t it enough for Minhyuk?

    In addition, he has tasted it himself. The dishes prepared by the military cook Len were truly delicious.

    Just by looking at the fries he could tell that the chef was both meticulous and could prepare well. The fries came out hot and crispy. It was the best way to serve french fries.

    At that moment, his notifications went off.

    [True Worth of Food.]

    [You have gained +1 STR and +1 STM.]

    [The Ability of a Skilled Chef.]

    [You have gained +1 STR.]

    ''Oh¡­!''

    Minhyuk softly eximed.

    ''So it can also give me additional stats if I eat well-made dishes!''

    His forehead suddenly creased in thought.

    ''What the hell, so is my situation really terrible?''

    In a way, Minhyuk was only able to cook because he looked it up on the inte. It waspletely different from the people who really knew how to cook.

    ''As I thought, I really need to learn cooking skills¡­''

    Minhyuk continuously thought about learning the skills to cook.

    Cooking skills were freely avable to all of the users. It was usually ssified under the production skills.

    Some people would even learn this cooking skill to have it as their main job ss. But their numbers were only few and far between.

    ''The reason was because the buff created from the food was usually lower than an ordinary priest'' s buff. ''

    Furthermore, in the case of the ordinary priests, a user only needed to prepare and walk the path of priesthood. It was a lot easierpared to the chefs who needed to make food and let others eat it.

    Minhyuk, who yed this game just so he could eat, was different. He definitely wanted to learn cooking and the skills attached to it.

    It''s not for the buff, it''s to make the food I eat more delicious!

    However, he already knew that there were no NPCs in Isbin Vige that could teach him to cook.

    But there''s someone here. He''s hiding in the subjugation force.

    Who would think of doing this? It was only him. He was the only one crazy enough to learn cooking skills from a military cook in the subjugation force!

    "Rand-nim."

    "Huh?"

    "I''d like to volunteer to go and support the military kitchen, is it possible?"

    "...The kitchen?"

    Rand tilted his head in confusion.

    "Boy, do you not need to level-up?"

    The guardians of Athenae would also grow stronger by leveling up. And they knew that the foreigners were more hung-up on leveling uppared to them.

    But he wants to go to the military kitchen?

    "He¡­¡­ I''d love to do some chores and help make the soldier''s meals more delicious!"

    "Oooh. Boy, you have a good attitude."

    It was very difficult for guardians to manage the users. Of course, they could choose not to give the rewards to those users in some cases, but they just wouldn''t listen and tell them that they were just NPCs.

    But weren''t Minhyuk''s eyes shining brightly as he talked to him?

    "Well, the kitchen is a bit full so it''s best not to send foreigners over there but¡­ eyy, I''ll make room for you."

    Rand has a lot of experience in the subjugation force. He could be considered a veteran but he was also the soldier in charge of personnel management.

    "A foreigner volunteered himself to go to the military kitchen. Ah, I have to tell you one thing. Len-nim is very tough and strict and he also hates foreigners."

    "I, is that so?"

    "Yeah. But boy, I think you can coax him well."

    "I see."

    Minhyuk nodded his head at him and at that moment¡­

    "There''s still plenty of food left, are there any more soldiers or foreigners who still want to eat?"

    "Yeah. With that glib tongue of yours¡­ Huh?"

    Rand was shocked at Minhyuk, who was just chewing on his hamburger, disappeared right in front of him.

    Minhyuk had already flown in front of the food stand. He saw himing back after sweeping most of the remaining hamburgers up in his arms.

    He then started to munch on it happily.

    "Hahahahaha, boy you really weren''t kidding when you told me that your specialty was eating well!"

    Randughed loudly at his antics.

    [Rand''s favorability has increased.]

    ***

    After Minhyuk ate his fill of the hamburgers, he followed Rand closely. Not long after, he saw the military cooks in front of the kitchen carriage.

    The kitchen carriage was one of the mystical magical items. It was quite simr to the kitchen trailer used in the military in real life.

    When they went inside, he found that the space was quite big and he could see a lot of military cooks lined up.

    "Oh. Isn''t that the foreigner who ate a lot of the hamburgers earlier?"

    "Brock. This friend, I will ce him here with you military cooks."

    "Huh? Aren''t we already full?"

    "Eyy. Let this slide just this once. He''ll definitely work hard. Why don''t you give him some misceneous chores?"

    The cook named Brock has a bigger buildpared to ordinary soldiers, his biceps were even as big as a melon.

    "You know our Captain Len''s personality, right?"

    "Anyway, please help me just this once!"

    Rand quickly escaped after saying his piece. Minhyuk stepped up and made a gesture to introduce himself.

    "Hello!"

    He bowed his head courteously.

    Then a man came out of the kitchen carriage. The man was almost as tall as Minhyuk. His hair was short to the point where there were no strands of hair swaying by the wind. He even had a knife scar on his eye.

    "What''s this? A foreigner?"

    This was Len.

    When he saw Minhyuk standing in front of the carriage, Len''s expression stiffened. He then saw Minhyuk nodding his head.

    "Yes, I would like to apply in the military kitchen."

    "We''re full. Find another ce."

    "But I really want to stay here."

    "But I don''t want to, didn''t youe here just so you could get a ride on our coattails?"

    Riding on a coattail.

    He was a bit taken aback with his remarks.

    He came here to see if he could eat more delicious food if he became a cook. Another reason was because he wanted to learn cooking skills.

    However, Minhyuk did not give up.

    "I''ll do all the chores you want me to do. I''ll do a great job on it!"

    Minhyuk bulged his biceps and tapped on it while Len''s forehead creased as he looked at him.

    ''Chores¡­''

    However, even doing misceneous chores need cooking skills. And if someone unfamiliar, like him, is brought in¡­ I will definitely have a hard time training him. And then once the subjugation quest is over, he would definitely leave.

    Len went back to the carriage after he thought about things. When he came back outside, he had a sack on his hands. He then threw the sack in front of Minhyuk.

    "Peel all of the garlic in this sack in 20 minutes. If you''re able to do that, then I''ll take you and teach you how to cook."

    [Quest: Peel the Garlic in 20 minutes.]

    Rank: D

    Limit: None

    Rewards: You will be able to join the Military Kitchen.

    Penalty for Failure: Len''s favorability will decrease.

    Description: Len doesn''t need a useless person, he will take you in if you are able to help and assist the military cooks. However, it''s very difficult to peel all of the garlic in the sack in 20 minutes.

    "Captain, you''re very sly aren''t you? How can he peel all of that in 20 minutes?"

    Brock whistled slyly.

    Apparently, Len did not want to have a new addition to the military cooks.

    In the first ce, it wasn''t easy to peel those garlic at all. It was just garlic, but the difference in speed between a skilled and an unskilled person was entirely different.

    "Ingredient Acquisition."

    ''What did he say?''

    Brock was puzzled when he heard the foreigner murmur something.

    "Well, you should go back and use your sword or spear to hunt those goblins."

    The moment he turned around to leave¡­

    "I''m finished, Brock-nim."

    "......Huh?"

    Brock was dumbfounded.

    It has only been 30 seconds since Len went inside.

    But what''s this? He''s already done? What kind of nonsense is that?

    Even he did not know how long it would take to peel all those garlic himself. He could take 20 minutes at the earliest or 30 minutes at thetest.

    He strode towards Minhyuk with a stiff expression on his face.

    "No matter how much you want to join the military kitchen you can''t lie¡­¡­ hmm?"

    Minhyuk opened the bag in front of him. All of the garlic in the bag was peeled.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] The Empire''s name was written as ???? ??. I named it as Eivelis Empire but if you have any suggestions for the name or the romanization of the empire name please do help me bymenting here ormenting on discord. Other TLs have rmended the ff: Effilipse, Eplyse, Efflyse, Iephyllips, Iephylpse, Efflypse, Ipelips, Ephilips, Evelis. And our dear friend Skye wanted me to use Apple lisp. So pick your poison. XD

    [2] it''s 3 characters because it''s delicious is written as ???. The first character is ? the 2nd is ? and the third is ?.

    TL''s corner!!!

    LOL. That''s a cheat!!! Ingredients Acquisition is a cheat! How I wish I had that in real life. Ugh so hard to peel garlic.

    ALSO!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR DEAR BOSS, NINJA!

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 31 - Food Fighter Becomes A Cook

    Chapter 31: Food Fighter Bes a Cook

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    QC: MattForgenti

    "...Then do this too?"

    Brock pointed at the sack of onions next to him.

    There were at least 20kg of unpeeled onions in one sack. But as soon as Minhyuk touched the sack all of the onion skin just disappeared.

    "I''m done. Does this mean that I could be a cook now?! Wow!"

    Minhyuk was already notified about thepletion of the quest. After some time, Len came out from inside the carriage. He came out with an uproar.

    "Just peel it if you''re going to peel it, quit yapping around!"

    "......Captain Len, this guy. He really finished peeling the garlic. Ah, the onions too."

    Len frowned at his words.

    The cloves of garlic were really peeled. There wasn''t even a speck of blemish on it.

    ''Does he have some kind of special ability?''

    Even people with their job as a cook or a chef would rarely have a skill that can help them with processing ingredients, though?

    "Hoo¡­¡­ I understand."

    Minhyuk smiled cheerfully when he saw Len nodding his head.

    "What should I do first?"

    ***

    Team Leader Park Minggyu looked very tired as he went to work early in the morning.

    He came in while holding a pack of red ginseng [1] in his hand. He was sucking on it to give him enough energy to work through the day. When he looked up, he saw Lee Minhwa, the new employee under his team.

    "Good morning."

    "Ah, Team Leader. You''re here."

    She looked as if she was waiting for him to arrive.

    Team Leader Park, with his clean and crisp suit, sat down on a chair as he looked towards her curiously.

    "Why, what''s happening?"

    "User Minhyuk has been in contact with the secret NPC."

    "The secret NPC?"

    His forehead creased in doubt.

    A secret NPC.

    They were strong people who were hiding their strength or were retired, reclusive masters that looked like normal people. They would always give users quests with amazing rewards.

    "He became a cook for the Bordy Subjugation Force."

    Team Leader Park''s eyes widened in surprise.

    "I remember that the military kitchen''s list of volunteers were already full, right?"

    "User Minhyuk''s favorability with the soldier in charge of personnel management has increased."

    "This guy is really a free spirit¡­¡­ Why does the secret NPC have to be the cooking NPC? That user, does he think that he was born to eat?"

    "Well, eating good food deliciously is definitely a good thing."

    She grinned.

    "Hmm, yeah. But isn''t the quest that''s rted to the secret NPC Len being tracked and pursued by someone else?"

    "Yes, that''s correct. The ''Twilight Chef'' is looking for him. He has already reached Isbin Vige."

    Team Leader Park tapped on his chin as he thought deeply.

    Lee Minhwa smiled slightly.

    "We''ve been paying too much attention to User Minhyuk these past few days. Anyway, there''s probably no possibility of User Minhyuk receiving that quest¡­¡­"

    "No chance of getting it at all¡­"

    Team Leader Park thought about it some more.

    If you think about it normally, then that would be right.

    The NPC, Len, would ask the Twilight Chef to get the essence of the Lv50 Orc Tribe Leader.

    The quests were divided into shared and non-shared quests.

    Shared quests were quests that anybody could receive. It depends on the NPC but in this case, the NPC could still give the quests to others even if someone already received it and already had progress on it.

    However, the non-shared quests were different. If someone was already working on the linked quest, the NPC would not be able to give out the quest to another user or any information about the quest whatsoever.

    The Gods of Athenae will notify the protector Len about it.

    However, Team Leader Park still shook his head in denial.

    "Len will teach User Minhyuk basic cooking and will allow him to acquire cooking skills."

    "Is that so?"

    "However, as soon as the Food Fighter learns how to cook, a different power will open for him again."

    "Yes."

    The Food Fighter''s cooking was different. It was different from the ordinary users. But it would only show if the user with that ss learned how to cook.

    Every game needed users to find things to add different vors to the user''s experience.

    The Food Fighter would have his stats increase happily in the beginning and when he learned how to cook then he would have another nice surpriseing his way.

    "We don''t know if it''s possible for User Minhyuk to receive cooking skills yet."

    "......Yes?"

    "He has to get close to Len for that to happen."

    "Are you saying that it''s impossible?"

    "It''s possible. If you think about it, the odds are not in his favor. So the possibility is quite slim."

    His eyes suddenly shone brightly.

    "There''s an orc tribe living near the Bordy ins. Unless there''s a strange variable, User Minhyuk will definitely not be able to hunt the orc tribe."

    "You''re right."

    "Right, let''s put this aside for now. What''s the copycat doing now? Isn''t he changing his job ss to the legendary ss?"

    "Ah, please wait."

    The two people quickly changed their topic of discussion.

    ***

    The Subjugation Force has left for the Bordy ins. And the military cooks in the kitchen carriage have started to prepare meals for the soldiers.

    The inside of the kitchen carriage was about 9 pyeong [2] in area. Of course, the carriage was not that big. But it was possible because they used a special magic on it.

    Tak, tak, tak, tak, tak, tak¡ª

    Len''s hands moved quickly as he sliced the cabbage thinly with his knife. He looked back and saw the new recruit, Minhyuk, entering the kitchen.

    He had a hard bread stuffed in his mouth as he started to wash the dishes diligently. After he finished washing the dishes, he soaked all of the tableware in hot water to disinfect them.

    "Is it hot?"

    "Nope, I''m fine!"

    "The first thing you have to learn in cooking is hygiene and sanitation. Disinfecting the tableware can kill the bacteria that can cause food poisoning."

    "Yes, I''ll clean them all!"

    Minhyuk was working diligently.

    It was true that he joined the military kitchen so he could eat more food, but it was also because he wanted to make the food he would eat more delicious.

    Maybe, there really was an impure intention just like what Len said but he wasn''t going to force them to give it to him.

    He intended to pay them back as much as he could. That was why he was fulfilling his job to the best of his abilities.

    He disinfected the dishes and made sure that there was no speck of oil left on it.

    So, is he done?

    He quickly ced the potatoes in arge basin and then he poured water in it. He then started to peel the potatoes diligently.

    "Captain, that guy''s working really hard? Maybe he wasn''t just empty words."

    "......Is that so."

    If you think about it¡­

    Who among the other users would want to log in the game just so they could peel garlic and wash and disinfect the dishes? It was better to just go out in real-life, work in a restaurant and get paid for their time. However, Minhyuk was surprisingly working really hard.

    Then they heard amotion from the outside.

    Kkiiii, kkiiii!

    Kkiiii, kkiiii!

    "It looks like the monsters have shown up."

    "Aren''t you going to help them?"

    "The duty of a military cook is to cook food and feed the soldiers. No one will be more pathetic than someone who cannot uphold such a duty."

    "That''s right, each and every one of us should fulfill our own duties! Chew!"

    Minhyuk continued to eat his hard bread again.

    "Why are you still eating that? Haven''t you been eating that since earlier?"

    "I''m hungry."

    "......Hmm."

    Len shook his head at him, however, his interest has already been piqued.

    ***

    It''s the time for the distribution of food.

    Minhyuk quickly moved while carrying the container for the food distribution.

    "Aigoo, I''ll do it. Brock-nim!"

    "Haha, don''t run around like that or you''ll get hurt!"

    "Brock-nim, it''s better for me to get hurt instead of you and your cooking hands."

    "Is that so?"

    The chef''s hands were both their treasure and weapon.

    A chef could not cook with a cut on his hands. There was only one reason why¡­ The blood that woulde out of the injury in a chef''s hand could probably cause food poisoning in the worst case scenario.

    Minhyuk shouted after he moved all of the food containers for distribution.

    "Soldier-nims, please have a meal!"

    "Oh, it''s finally time to eat."

    It would take at least 5 days for the subjugation forces to reach the Bordy ins.

    The monsters they met early in the morning were goblins. But there were just twenty of them. It was said that no one had sustained severe injuries. They only have had minor injuries, like scratches and gashes.

    "What''s the menu for today?"

    "It''s spaghetti with the special touch of our mother-like Captain Len!"

    "Oh, by the way friend. Where did you see that Captain Len looked like a mother? Doesn''t he look more like a bandit?"

    Minhyuk''s eyes narrowed as he whispered to the soldier.

    "Actually, I know that too. It''s a spaghetti that has the special touch of a bandit-like Captain Len! But I heard that our soldier Vto has the best face among all of the soldiers."

    "Kwahahahaha! This friend knows what he''s saying! Look at him, Rand. You really picked a good cook this time!"

    [Vto''s favorability has increased.]

    "This rascal, he''s very good!"

    All of the soldiers loved Minhyuk very much. He has a fresh face and the gift of gab, besides he was always working hard.

    He was inherently different from the other users who only stiffly moved when the goblins made a surprise attack!

    [Rand''s favorability has increased.]

    [Arden''s favorability has increased.]

    My favorability is continuously increasing today!

    The soldier named Vto grabbed his shoulders. Minhyuk''s eyes brightened as he looked at him.

    "Boy, I saw you earlier. It seems like you love eating. Would you like to try this beef jerky?"

    "Oooooooooh! Thank you very much. Vto-nim you''re like King God, Emperor, General, Admiral and Majesty all together!"

    "Huh? What are you saying?"

    "You''re the best of the best!"

    "Hahahahaha, I''ve never seen someone who was so happy just because they received something to eat. Foreigners usually hate it."

    "Oh my gosh, how could they do that! There''s nothing better than eating!"

    Minhyuk received the jerky that he was handing over. Vto saw him make an expression that he couldn''t understand.

    At the same time, Minhyuk thought about things¡­

    Look at this. I became friends with the soldiers and they gave me delicious food!

    "I want to introduce my daughter to you, do you know how pretty my daughter is, huh?! Look at this. This is my daughter''s portrait. It was painted by an artist!"

    Then, the soldier Vto showed the picture of him and his daughter.

    ''W, what''s this¡­! It looks like an orc that''s wearing makeup!''

    For the first time, ever since he started his life as a tterer, Minhyuk faced a huge challenge.

    How can I phrase this so Vto will not feel bad?!

    If he felt bad, then Minhyuk would probably lose his beef jerky.

    ''T, that can''t happen!''

    Cold sweat started to fall from Minhyuk''s forehead.

    "This friend, why aren''t you speaking? Is she not beautiful?"

    Even a newly born hedgehog is prettier than her!

    "S, she''s very pretty."

    "I know, right? But why are you sweating so much? You should speak more specifically about her beauty."

    "I was quite surprised with how free and wild her eyes and nose are¡­¡­ No, I was very, very shocked."

    "Wild and free?"

    "Yes. He¡­¡­ Wild and free, it''s beautiful everywhere you look?"

    "Kwahahahahaha! Friend, I''ll set you up once the subjugation quest is over!"

    ''Ho, how terrible of a thing to say¡­!''

    Minhyuk hurriedly got out of his seat. At that moment, Len arrived in front of him.

    "Boy, let me see."

    "Yes?"

    Minhyuk and Len went straight to the kitchen.

    He was notified about the increase in his favorability between Brock and Len while he was doing misceneous chores.

    Then, Len ced a chopping board in front of Minhyuk.

    "Grab the knife."

    "Yes?"

    "I''m supposed to teach you how to cook."

    Minhyuk was ted to hear his words.

    [You can now learn cooking skills from Len.]

    [You have gained 4 reputation points.]

    [epting his proposal will trigger a skill quest.]

    Minhyuk''s lips twitched for a while before curling up in joy.

    He could finally learn how to cook. In addition, he would also learn cooking skills. What did that mean?

    ''I could eat more delicious things!''

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] ??? it''s red ginseng tea, as far as I know. Apparently, there really is a brand with this name.

    [2] Pyeong: a Korean unit of measurement (???), it''s approximately 3.3058 sq. m or 35.583 sq. ft. Korea used their own unit of measurement that was based on the Chinese and Japanese system measurement. Now it''s considered as the traditional measurement system since they have switched to using the metric system. Korea has criminalized the use of Korean units inmercial contexts since 2007 but it is still used informally especially the pyeong which is usually used in residentialmercial floorspace.

    TL''s corner!!!

    LMAO. His first ever challenge as a tterer. I mean was she really that ugly for her to bepared to an orc. Man¡­ having features that are wild and free are pretty impressive, I guess. ???

    QC¡¯s corner!

    Hey, it¡¯s Matt. CC¡¯s let me have a spot, so I thought I¡¯d say hi. This story¡¯s been a st to edit so far. I have to resist drooling sometimes reading this. I want to go to a Korean BBQ now.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 32 - Food Fighter Becomes A Cook

    Chapter 32: Food Fighter Bes a Cook

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    QC: MattForgenti

    Learning cooking skills would definitely guarantee an increase in the quality of cooking but most importantly, it would improve the taste and vor of the dish.

    One would also be able to gain the Dexterity stat when learning cooking skills.

    Dexterity stat.

    It was a stat that could be very helpful in any area of expertise. However, it was also a stat that was very difficult to increase.

    In addition, once a user invests in the dexterity stat, the vor and taste of the dish would have a significant increase in quality. But the increase in vor and taste would remain insignificant unless the dexterity stat was raised to 20.

    For example, when a user increased their STR they would get an increase of +3 in their physical attack. In the case of the dexterity stat, increasing it to +20 would only result in a +1 in the vor.

    However, what was the reason why Minhyuk was ying this game?

    Wasn''t it because he wanted to enjoy food?

    Because of the reasons stated above, Minhyuk liked to hone his dexterity stat.

    However there was one problem.

    ''The dexterity stat, like the reputation point, can''t be increased with bonus points.

    Furthermore, the dexterity stat could only be increased through repetitive processes or in special circumstances where the user created something spectacr.

    ''I heard that repeatedly practicing the skill that one mastered will let me gain a dexterity point.''

    If I repeatedly practiced cooking skills then I will be able to gain dexterity points.

    It was the same with all the other skills that required the dexterity stat. If the user continuously practiced the skill, then they would be able to increase their dexterity stat.

    "Yes. I will be thankful if you will teach me. I will definitely do my best to learn the skills you will impart!"

    [Quest: Acquisition of Cooking Skills]

    Rank: C

    Limit: Favorability with Len.

    Rewards: Cooking skills

    Penalty for Failure: You won''t be able to learn cooking skills for 3 months.

    Description: The skilled chef Len told you that he will teach you how to cook. The basic skill needed to cook is cutting, chopping and slicing. Fill your Knife Skill bar to 100%!

    "Well, go on and I''ll show me how you hold a knife."

    Len held out a blue kitchen knife towards Minhyuk. He then proceeded to tell him how to hold a knife. He pointed out where Minhyuk should ce his fingers and how to hold it properly.

    "To hold a knife properly, you have to mainly use your thumb and index finger. Your other three fingers are used as support. Grab the top of the de of the knife with your thumb and index finger. Tighten your hold on it so the knife will be stabilized. Normally, others would grab the handle of the knife with all five of their fingers."

    "Aha, I see. So that''s how you do it."

    In fact, that was how Minhyuk held the knife before.

    "You may have noticed that the color of the knife and the chopping board are the same. Do you know the reason?"

    "Did you match the color of the knife and the chopping board? I see¡­ Hmm. Is it because it''s only used to chop vegetables?"

    "Oh. Boy, how did you know?"

    Len looked at Minhyuk with surprise.

    As a matter of fact, Minhyuk has always been watching them closely as they cooked.

    They used the six-degree edge [1] red knife and the red chopping board when they were cutting meat while the blue knife and chopping board were only used when they were chopping vegetables.

    "Unlike what people see from the outside, there are rules and regtions in the kitchen. This is one of the most basic rules. What should you do if you discovered a restaurant that''s using only one chopping board for all of their ingredient processing?"

    "I''ll report them!"

    "That''s right."

    Len smiled at him.

    He already thought about teaching Minhyuk how to cook before. After all, it was his promise and quest reward. However, the more he talked to him, the more greedy he became.

    ''His eyes are sparkling.''

    He looks like a student who thoroughly enjoys studying. He also treats the soldiers well. He is very kind to everyone.

    Minhyuk started to chop an onion with the knife in his hands.

    "Wait."

    Len stopped him.

    "Eh?"

    "You''re pushing the knife. What you''re doing is not chopping but crushing."

    "Ah¡­"

    "You have to pull and slice it. There are a lot of reasons why you have to pull then slice, one of them is because of freshness."

    "Freshness?"

    "Yeah, if you pull and slice at it then the onion will be kept fresh longer. You should push the onion together with the knuckles of your left hand as you slice it so it would not go awry."

    "Oh¡­!"

    It was very useful information. Minhyuk could even feel that his skills have leveled up just by listening to it.

    Len teached him for a bit before going out. Then he came back bringing a sack over. The sack was filled with radishes.

    "These are all bad radishes. We didn''t throw it away because Brock uses it for knife practice. Use these to practice."

    "Yes!"

    "Boy. You''re not going to chop it with that mysterious skill of yours, right?"

    "No, sir. He¡­¡­"

    In fact, he could use that method. However, learning how to use the knife was a part of the experience. It was a way to learn cooking skills.

    "Ah, you can eat the hard bread, soft bread and milk left in the storage. You can also eat the leftover spaghetti from the meal earlier."

    "Oh, oh, oooooooh¡­¡­! Thank you! Captain Len, you''re the best!"

    Look at him.

    Len became more friendly towards Minhyuk since he was always working hard. He thought of some things as he went out of the kitchen.

    ''It will take him one whole day to slice it all up.''

    As soon as he was out of sight, Minhyuk started cutting the radishes.

    Tak¡­¡­ Tak¡­¡­ Tak¡­¡­

    It was clear with the sound that he was not very skilled at it however, Minhyuk felt extremely happy while he was doing it.

    ''I can make more delicious food!''

    It was a fact that whatever Minhyuk did, he did it to the utmost of his abilities.

    A person cannot fully express their happiness as they did somethingpletely new and different.

    An hour flew by in a sh.

    His skill was still as lousy as in the beginning. However, he was already starting to gain confidence.

    He continued to chop the hard radish after a short break.

    "Yoo, new recruit. Are you doing well?"

    "Yes!"

    "Let''s see."

    Brock stood beside him to check on his work. He had a shocked expression on his face once he saw his work.

    ''What the hell, why is he so good at it?''

    He''s better than what I thought.

    Minhyuk''s radishes were still a bit messy and sloppy but he was quite fast.

    Usually, skilled chefs would use the knife with little error but at a fast speed. This was because there were cases where there was a need for plenty of ingredients but there were bound to be gaps or intervals if one was a beginner.

    Four hourster¡­

    Taktaktaktak!

    Minhyuk was still chopping the radishes.

    Suddenly, he frowned.

    "Ayaa¡­¡­"

    If a person continuously grabbed on the top of the de of the knife with his thumb and index finger, then there''s bound to be blisters forming on it.

    Minhyuk looked at the bright red spot on his hand. It was tingling in pain but it was fine.

    After 4 more hours¡­

    Taktaktaktaktaktak!

    The gaps were starting to decrease.

    Brock, who came back to check on him, was astonished.

    "You, you''ve been using the knife all this time?! Ever since earlier?!"

    "Yes, that''s right!"

    Minhyuk answered him lightly. Brock shook his head at him in defeat.

    "Are your hands not hurting?"

    "It''s fine. I feel like I''m getting a bit better!"

    His proficiency with the knife increased to 68% after chopping for almost half a day.

    ''What kind of strong-will does this person have?''

    When he started learning from Len, he only practiced for 1 hour every day. It was because his fingers hurt so much.

    Minhyuk has already finished one sack and was already reaching out for another.

    Tatatatatatatatak!

    The sound of the knife was rhythmic. If you only listened to it, you would think that this was a restaurant''s kitchen.

    Brock was very shocked to see this.

    ''The gap¡­¡­ There''s almost none¡­¡­!''

    Minhyuk was probably unaware but the more his skill increased the more proficient he was in handling the knife.

    This was because Minhyuk did not even rest at all and continued to improve his knife skills!

    Tatatatatatatatata!

    Minhyuk finished chopping the radish.

    ''T, the radish did not move¡­¡­!''

    When he was chopping the radish¡­ It did not move. But the knife moved.

    From the outside, it only seemed like there were lines drawn on the radish but the moment Minhyuk pressed on the radish with the de of his knife¡­ the radish wasid down and all of the chopped pieces could be seen on the chopping board.

    "Heok¡­¡­!"

    Brock had no choice but to let out a gasp in surprise.

    ***

    Len entrusted the dinner menu to Brock as he went to the nearest grass field where the subjugation force was staying at.

    ''Rovel Grass.''

    It was a delicacy that one could only taste in Athenae. It has the same taste as wormwood in real life.

    Fresh and naturally grown rovel grass would taste infinitely betterpared to artificially grown rovel grasses. That was why he needed to work a lot.

    After quite some time, Len decided to go back to the kitchen carriage. On his way back he was able to meet with the leader of the subjugation force, Vald.

    "Oh, Len. You received a new recruit this time, huh? The soldiers were very fond of him or so I''ve heard?"

    "Yeah, I took one in."

    "What made you ept him? You''re not very fond of foreigners."

    "He works very hard. And¡­¡­"

    He shook his head as his words turned into a mumble.

    "It''s just because he was working much harder than what I thought."

    "Is that so? Hmm, that''s quite a relief."

    Somehow, the conversation did not sound like it was a conversation between a squad leader and a chef nor a conversation between a higher ranked knight and a lower ranked knight.

    However, the flow of the conversation seemed very natural.

    The reason was¡­

    It was because Len used to be an imperial chef. He was also the main chef in the pce. However, he was framed with false charges and was demoted in the subjugation force.

    "Ah, what''s the menu for dinner today?"

    "Tonkatsu."

    "Oh, my mouth is already watering just thinking about your tonkatsu."

    "Huhu, look forward to it."

    As he finished their talk, Len turned around and continued on his way towards the kitchen. He gulped as he thought about what he mumbled earlier.

    ''Because he resembled me quite a bit.''

    The foreigner named Minhyuk resembled him. He felt it when he was cooking but he was still not quite sure. He was the same with the him of the past.

    ''Did he finish at least half of it?''

    Len entered the carriage with that thought in mind.

    "How''s the tonkatsuing along?"

    "Yes, it''s almost done. Look at that squad leader. Look at that guy over there."

    "Huh?"

    Ta¡ª tataktaktaktaktaktak!

    It was the rhythmic sound of the knife hitting the chopping board.

    When he heard the sound of the knife, Len thought that it was Brock chopping. However, Brock was frying tonkatsu on the frying pan while the one chopping over there was the user named Minhyuk.

    Len was astonished to see him.

    ''It sounded ne, neat¡­¡­!''

    And the intervals between the chopped onions were regr.

    And he was fast.

    He was shocked.

    "H, how¡­¡­?"

    He then saw Minhyuk turning around.

    ***

    Minhyuk tilted his head in a bow toward the shocked Len.

    At that moment¡­

    [You have achieved 100% proficiency in your Knife Skill.]

    [You have gained 10 DEX.]

    [You have received the effect The Greatness of the Food Fighter.]

    [Beginner, Intermediate, Superior, Expert, Master: You have mastered the skills of a Craftsman.]

    [You have learned the Food God''s Cooking Skills.]

    [You have learned the skill God''s Cooking Acquisition.]

    [You have learned the skill Ingredient Tracking.]

    [You have learned Trance.]

    "......Huh?"

    Minhyuk was very surprised. There was suddenly a list of skills that he had learned popping out in front of him.

    Did I acquire the Food God''s Cooking Skill because I mastered everything from beginner until master?

    ''......The Greatness of a Food Fighter?''

    There was an additional Greatness of a Food Fighter under his Food Fighter skill window. It was the one where there was a lot of ''?'' on it.

    ''Hoooo¡­''

    Minhyuk was in awe with this unexpected turn of events.

    He wanted to check his newly acquired cooking skills and titles.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] ?? : six degrees. Apparently, kitchen knives have edge angles where they are sharpened. There are 2 types of angle for knives and the edge angle is the angle in one side. I''m not sure about the six degree angle author-nim is saying but saw somewhere that it could only go up until 10 degrees. It seemed that the higher the edge angle the blunter the knife (blunt in a way that it would be thick but it could crack a bone).

    TL''s corner!!!

    I tried doing the knife thing¡­ It''s difficult to practice but it''s a bit easier to slice and chop. Kek.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 33 - Buffed Tonkatsu

    Chapter 33: Buffed Tonkatsu

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    QC: MattForgenti

    13 Buffed Tonkatsu

    "You have learned it all. Excellent."

    Len looked at Minhyuk with surprise.

    "Thank you very much. Teacher!"

    "I''m not your teacher."

    "You''re the one who taught me how to cook so you''re my teacher!"

    Len grinned at him. He said it as if he didn''t like Minhyuk calling him that.

    Minhyuk wanted to check the contents of all of his new skills. But he couldn''t just ignore Len and say ''Ah, wait hyung. Let me just check my skills.''

    "Come here."

    "Yes?"

    "I''ll teach you how to fry tonkatsu."

    Len led Minhyuk to where Brock was frying the tonkatsu. When he saw theming over, he took a step back and took a break from frying the pork.

    "Damn, bro. Captain Len never taught anyone how to cook personally before, isn''t he too good to you?"

    "Hehe."

    Minhyuk felt very pleased. He smiled widely at them.

    With these recipes, the more he cooks the better he would be. His proficiency with his cooking skills would also increase.

    ''But there were plenty of notifications that flooded in earlier¡­¡­''

    He heard that he mastered everything and even learned the Food God''s cooking skills.

    "Then, look at this meat first. The blood should be drained out of the meat first, then it should be seasoned lightly with salt and pepper."

    "Yes, yes."

    In a sh, Len started exining to him the how-to''s of frying tonkatsu. As he was listening to Len''s exnation, he suddenly heard a notification in his head.

    [If you season the meat with too much salt, it would be less juicy and the vor of the meat will drop. It is important that you season the meat with just the right amount of seasonings.]

    When Minhyuk heard the notification, it was as if it was something that he had originally known. The information was injected in his head so naturally, that it seemed like he already knew it.

    ''Heok¡­¡­?!''

    Minhyuk thought about it carefully. His eyes widened after realizing something¡­

    ''Was this because of the Food God''s Cooking Acquisition¡­¡­?''

    He did not have the time to confirm it yet but he guessed that it was the reason for the notification.

    "Then, coat the meat with some flour."

    [Flour is usually used but you can also use frying powder. It would be crispier if you used the frying powder.]

    He continuously heard the notifications and information was also continuously added in his head.

    "Then coat it with egg. After coating with egg, coat it with frying powder then ce it on this te. If you add parsley powder and bread crumbs then the vor and texture of the tonkatsu will improve."

    "Yes!"

    "Watch me fry this first."

    Len walked in front of the hot wok with the breaded tonkatsu in his hand.

    He first dropped a small breadcrumbs in the oil.

    Fshhhh¡ª

    "The breadcrumbs will drop down the center of the wok, once it floats up then that means that the temperature is at 170 degrees. That''s the right temperature to fry the tonkatsu. If the temperature is higher, adjust it by adding more oil. Lower temperature will also require you to adjust the fire so your fire control should be delicate."

    The breadcrumbs that he dropped in the center of the wok started to float up. Once he saw that it had floated up, he put the tonkatsu in the oil.

    Fshhhhhh!

    It was a pleasant sound.

    Its color changed quickly. Tonkatsu was a food that could be cooked quite fast.

    "The temperature is very important. If the fire is too strong, then the outside will look like it was cooked but the inside was still not yet cooked."

    Not long after, Len pulled out the tonkatsu from the oil.

    Using a kitchen towel, he drained the oil from the tonkatsu. He cut it in the middle using both tongs and scissors.

    Squish¡ª

    Minhyuk gulped at the sight.

    Actually at the time when Len was cooking, Minhyuk was only barely able to resist his desire to shove Len away and tell him ''Step aside, I will eat it!''

    Minhyuk tilted his head to admire the golden tonkatsu.

    "Waaaaaaaaaaah!"

    He was in awe as he looked at the cut tonkatsu. The inside was cooked perfectly.

    How did he fry it that well?

    It was fried well, with the crispy outside and juicy inside. There were also no burnt spots at all.

    Len smiled at him happily.

    "Go on and check it."

    "Yes!"

    It was also possible to check the details and information of cooked dishes.

    Minhyuk went ahead and checked the tonkatsu.

    (Tonkatsu)

    Ingredient Rank: E

    Rank: Magic

    Restrictions: None

    Storage Date: 2 days

    Preservation Time: 1 hour

    Special Abilities:

    ¡ª 6% increase in attack power.

    ¡ª 7% increase in defensive power.

    Description: A little special tonkatsu made by Chef Len.

    "Oooooooooh¡­! There really is a buff effect!"

    Len told the surprised Minhyuk¡­

    "You might not know this but the amount of buffed dishes that a chef can make depends on what kind of chef you are. I can make about 3 in a day. Since I''m a master, if I manage it well then I can make 20 dishes in a day."

    He was surprised at what he heard. The fact that Len was a ''master'' was also surprising.

    The ss Chef is ranked from beginner, intermediate, advanced, master and craftsman.

    As far as he knew, the highest rank of the local yers that have the ss Chef was master.

    ''Who in the world is Teacher Len?''

    Minhyuk looked at him strangely as Len continued to speak.

    "The storage date also varies depending on the cooking grade. That''s why chefs are always all over the ce."

    "Ah¡­¡­"

    Minhyuk somewhat understood what he was saying.

    Is this the big advantage of being a chef?

    If he went to a 1 person hunt, then one could purchase a buffed dish right away. However there was still a limit. It was because the storage date was a bit short.

    "Intermediate chefs can probably make dishes that can be stored for 4 hours, but of course it will still depend on what type of dish was made. Well then, why don''t you try making one."

    Len poured oil in the wok and deliberately lowered the temperature.

    "Familiarize yourself and adjust the temperature of the oil."

    "Yes, I understand!"

    Minhyuk recalled what Len had told him earlier.

    He started moving his hands. Every move of his hands were meticulous and cautious.

    ''It has to be delicious.''

    Dishes that were well-cooked were more delicious.

    Minhyuk''s hand was moving well. He noticed the influence of the Food God''s Cooking Skills.

    He knew that the meat, with breadcrumbs applied evenly on it, was ready to be fried.

    ''It''s important to familiarize myself with how tonkatsu is made, if I don''t do well then the outside will burn. This is the first ever tonkatsu I will make! I definitely have to make it deliciously!''

    That was why he was very careful. Before he could drop a breadcrumb in the oil¡­

    "Huh?"

    [The oil''s temperature is 154 degrees.]

    He heard an astonishing sound.

    As he increased the fire, he reached his hand out to check the temperature, the notifications continuously rang in his head.

    [The oil''s temperature is 157 degrees.]

    [The oil''s temperature is¡­¡­]

    Once he reached out his hands then he could check the temperature of the oil. He continuously reached his hand out as he adjusted the fire. This way, a more delicious tonkatsu would be born from his hands.

    Len frowned as he watched him work.

    "You''re checking the temperature by feeling it with your hands? It''s better to go and get a thermometer to check it. It''s better to use the method I told you, so drop the breadcrumbs on¡­¡­"

    But before he could even finish his words¡­

    [The oil''s temperature has reached the optimum level.]

    Fsssshhhh!

    As soon as Minhyuk ced the tonkatsu in the oil, it started to get fried steadily. It was as if the oil was at the most suitable temperature.

    ''Hup¡­¡­!''

    ''Ack?!''

    Both Brock and Len turned to look at him with surprise in their eyes. On the other hand, Minhyuk was watching the tonkatsu closely.

    They saw him picking up a strainer and cing it near the oil. He was preparing to take out the tonkatsu once he felt that the timing was right. If one just looked at him, they would think that he was a craftsman who fried tonkatsu for quite a long time.

    Not long after, he took out the tonkatsu from the oil. He proceeded to tap the strainer to shake off the excess oil then cut the tonkatsu with the scissors.

    ''......He cooked it really well.''

    Len was in awe while Brock rubbed his eyes in disbelief.

    "Y, you fry better than I do¡­?"

    "How?"

    "T, that''s superb!"

    "Hehe!"

    Minhyukughed in delight.

    "You can have this tonkatsu to yourself, it''s the first tonkatsu you ever fried after all."

    "Oh. Thank you."

    Minhyuk was very moved with what Len allowed him to do.

    He then ced the tonkatsu on a te. Next, he added the thinly sliced cabbage, buttered corn and mashed potatoes to the side.

    Once hepleted the ting, a notification went off in his head.

    [Please choose one from Buff Ability and True Worth of Food.]

    Minhyuk wanted to choose the buff ability to try and check out what it was. He has never made any dish with buff abilities since he started cooking his meals.

    ''This choice won''t change the vor of the food, right?''

    In the end, Minhyuk chose the buff ability after he shook his head at his useless thoughts.

    ''Buff ability.''

    [You have finished making a tonkatsu.]

    [The food''s rank is normal.]

    For the chef ss, there were also rankings in cooking. It easily follows the rankings of items.

    Normal, magic, rare, unique, epic, legendary and god.

    It was ranked like that.

    "The regr tonkatsu is done."

    Len crossed his arms and smiled.

    "You did well on your first tonkatsu. However, there''s nothing else we could do as the skill level is low. It''s the same idea as when you hunt higher leveled monsters. The higher the level you hunt, the more money you will get."

    Minhyuk immediately checked the information on his tonkatsu.

    (Tonkatsu)

    Ingredient Rank: E

    Rank: Normal

    Restrictions: None

    Storage Date: 4 days

    Preservation Time: 12 hours

    Special Abilities:

    ¡ª 10% increase in attack power.

    ¡ª 8% increase in defensive power.

    Description: A delicious tonkatsu made by an unknown chef. It was his very first tonkatsu.

    "T, there''s a buff¡­¡­?"

    "A normal rank has a buff¡­¡­?"

    "Yes. There really is a buff."

    Len knew that Minhyuk was not a person who would lie.

    "Can you let me check it?"

    Len quickly approached Minhyuk when he saw him agreeing with his question. He then checked the information on the tonkatsu.

    "W, what in the world is this¡­¡­"

    He was left speechless.

    Something like this was possible? No, this is something that''s already againstmon sense.

    He has a beginner''s cooking skill. Furthermore, among all of the Lv1 beginners no one could make a dish with such a ridiculous buff like Minhyuk.

    It''s almost at the level of a craftsman''s skill.

    Of course, there was also luck. Luck always yed a part in cooking too. However, this was already something that was beyond just luck.

    "Ah, can I check my cooking skills for a moment?"

    "Cough. That''s alright."

    Len coughed awkwardly.

    ''This rascal¡­ Who the hell is he?''

    I have never heard someone make a dish with this much buff.

    Minhyuk first checked the notifications that rang earlier. It was the Food God''s Cooking Skills.

    (Food God''s Cooking Skills)

    Passive Skill

    Level: 1 (Currently unable to level up.)

    Effects:

    ¡ª You can apply a buff that is much more outstanding than a craftsman''s buff.

    ¡ª The storage and preservation times will be much longerpared to a craftsman''s work.

    ¡ª The amount of buff will exceed that of a craftsman''s buff.

    ¡ª You can set the amount of buff you want.

    He understood the other parts except for the part where he could set the amount of buff.

    He checked the thorough and detailed exnation of the skill.

    [Setting the Buff. You will be given 100% buff daily, you are allowed to divide this 100% however you like. You can divide it to a smaller fraction to distribute to a lot of people or you can choose to set the number of dishes that will have a buff. It is the same if you choose the True Worth of Food. Your dish will have additional stats. However, cooking a lot of dishes will consume more buffs.]

    ''Aha.''

    It was quite easy to understand.

    If he focused on only one dish then he could add more buffs on the dish. However, there was only a set amount of buff that he could use in a day and if he made a dish for plenty of people then the buff percentage would be filled too.

    Minhyuk checked his buff percentage.

    ''There''s 30% that''s filled.''

    It seems like the buff percentage will be at 0% at the start of the day. If this percentage reaches 100, I will probably not be able to make any other buffed dishes for that day.

    If I cooked a dish with plenty of buffs how much strength would that give me?

    It was still unknown. But what was clear was that it would definitely be above the ordinary chef''s cooking.

    It also said that the storage and preservation times are longer than that of a craftsman''s cooking skill.

    Furthermore, Minhyuk''s buffs were already higher than Len''s buffed dish. And, the 3-20 dishes that Len said earlier meant that even ordinary chefs could make buffed dishes if they try very hard.

    The Food God''s Cooking Skills!

    Others will definitely be shocked if they know about this. And they will definitely be in a trance.

    They would be in a trance since there was ''no'' level. In addition, passive skills were skills that could no longer grow. But this had the possibility to level up.

    What''s more, the improvement of the effects of the normal cooking skill would depend on how delicate you would cook, how much heart and soul you put into it and whether you really did concentrate on it.

    And all of that was turned into this great ability.

    However, Minhyuk looked quite depressed. Len, who was unaware of anything, asked him what was on his mind.

    "What''s wrong?! Boy, did you get a different skill?!"

    "......How to say this, it seems like I got plenty of awfully good things but..."

    "Plenty, but?"

    Brock and Len leaned closer and gulped in anticipation.

    "It doesn''t say that it will taste better. Heeeung!"

    "......"

    "......"

    Minhyuk looked utterly disappointed.

    ***

    TL''s corner!!!

    I knew this would happen. When I only saw buffs, I knew this is what his reaction would be. I mean who worries about the taste when he could choose between adding buffs or stats on the food he cooks in game??? ONLY MINHYUK. kek. Our resident foodie has once again got himself disappointed with his skills.

    QC¡¯s Corner!

    It¡¯s so adorable the disconnect between Minhyuk¡¯s ability, and what he wants. I just love seeing everyone stare at his ridiculousness. Now if you¡¯ll excuse me...I¡¯ve got to find a ce that serves tonkatsu before I short-circuit my keyboard from all the watering my mouth is doing.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 34 - Buffed Tonkatsu

    Chapter 34: Buffed Tonkatsu

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    QC: MattForgenti

    To be honest, the skill that I expected the most was a skill that''s along the lines of ''The vor will Taste Really Good.'' or something like that!

    "Ta, taste¡­?"

    "Yes¡­¡­"

    Len and Brock were speechless for quite a while when they saw how sullen Minhyuk was.

    Len found this absolutely ridiculous in particr.

    ''The guy who used E-ranked materials to make a dish that has a lot of buffs is disappointed because he didn''t make it taste better.''

    How can someone be like this!

    Is his life solely dedicated to eating?!

    Len approached the teary-eyed Minhyuk and tried tofort him.

    "Boy, the tonkatsu was fried well because of your cooking skills. Since it was fried well, then I''m sure that the vor should taste even better."

    Minhyuk''s expression brightened considerably when he heard Len''sforting words.

    ''That''s right, let''s not be discouraged!''

    Minhyuk, who got depressed when he received the Food God''s Cooking Skills, got his energy back. Then, he checked the next skill which was God''s Cooking Acquisition.

    (God''s Cooking Acquisition)

    Passive Skill

    Level: None

    Effects:

    ¡ª You will have great improvements in acquiring and learning cooking skills.

    ¡ª You can acquire and learn better recipes for ingredients.

    In short, God''s Cooking Acquisition was like a godly assist to Minhyuk.

    First, to check the first effect of having great improvements in acquiring and learning cooking skills, Minhyuk made a tonkatsu himself. He was like a skilled person who has fried plenty of tonkatsu as better recipes and techniques popped in his head to guide him while he cooked.

    And finally.

    (Ingredient Tracking)

    Passive Skill

    Level: 1 (Currently unable able to level up)

    Penalty on Use: You will be unable to use True Worth of Food for the day.

    Effects:

    ¡ª You can choose what kind of effect and what kind of dish the ingredient needed to have. Once the skill takes effect, the system will search the ingredient with the needed effect within a 1-km radius. It will also propose recipes ording to the effect + ingredients + type of cooking. It will also identify and suggest alternative ingredients.

    ¡ª It can only be used 3 times

    ¡ª Increase in uses can only be acquired after skill has leveled up.

    ¡ª Current number of uses: 3/3

    This skill was quite easy to understand. He could first set-up a dish, then enter his desired buff ability then search for the corresponding ingredients needed for the dish. If he made a dish from the ingredient then the dish would have the desired buff effect.

    ''This means¡­''

    It was about making a dish that Minhyuk needed. In return, there was a restriction that the ingredient could only be found within a certain radius. There was also a one day penalty.

    I don''t know if it was such a big penalty to be unable to use it in a day.

    Minhyuk still has questions after checking all of his new skills.

    ''Currently unable to level-up?''

    The word currently meant right now. Therefore, it meant that he couldn''t level up right now.

    ''That means¡­¡­''

    If he was able to aplish and meet the conditions in the future then he would be able to level-up.

    He looked at his status window strangely. He could also see that the 20% besides the Food Fighter has now increased to 50%.

    ''Heop?!''

    Perhaps it was affected when I learned cooking skills.

    Then he made an assumption.

    ''When it reaches 100% then I will be able to level-up, and¡­¡­''

    He assumed that he would be able to cook well and eat more deliciously in the future.

    With that, Minhyuk finally finished checking his skills.

    He exhaled deeply.

    "Hooaaaa! I kept it in for too long.''

    ''I became hungry after looking at all those skills!''

    In fact, the tonkatsu was what caught his eyes more than the skill window. Others would definitely look at him in shock if they knew what he was thinking.

    They would definitely ask him this¡­

    A tonkatsu is more important than a godly skill?!

    Then, Minhyuk will answer them.

    ''Of course, that''s obviously the case!''

    However, he had no choice but to check his skills when he saw the sparkling eyes of Len and Brock.

    He then hurriedly sat down in front of the tonkatsu.

    "Can I eat it?"

    "Of course."

    Len did not specifically ask him about his skills. It was not because he believed that he did not have the ability or not, after all he believed that a chef was someone who cooked for others.

    "Hiyaaa¡­¡­"

    Minhyuk rubbed his hands together in excitement.

    Tonkatsu.

    It was just amon food but he couldn''t describe it in a word. It was a very delicious food that there were only a few people who did not like it.

    Minhyuk first went to the thermos to get a warm soup.

    This soup was often found in ces like Gimbap Heaven, it was udon soup.

    Then, Minhyuk dropped the knife in his hands on the table as he poured the special sauce on the tonkatsu.

    The warm tonkatsu sauce was still steaming, you could even see the mushrooms and sliced onions in it.

    "Kgghk!"

    His mouth was watering.

    Then, Minhyuk stabbed the tonkatsu with his fork as he held the knife on his other hand without using it. There was only one reason¡­

    ''This knife will be used to protect my tonkatsu, it''s not for cutting!''

    When you go out with friends to eat tonkatsu, once your tonkatsu was sliced your friends would usually say¡­

    ''Just give me one.''

    Then one would be two, until two would be three.

    "I¡­¡­"

    "No way!"

    He had no hesitations at all! He just downright asserted his stance!

    The moment Brock spoke, Minhyuk lifted the knife ever so slightly.

    "...am sad."

    "He¡­¡­ It''s my first ever tonkatsu so I wanted to eat it. Once I finish this, I''ll fry you a different one."

    However, Minhyuk did not want his intimacy to drop so he fixed his words meticulously.

    Minhyuk took a big bite of the tonkatsu that was covered well with sauce.

    Crunch, crunch¡ª

    The golden brown tonkatsu and the freshly poured sauce boasted a great harmony once they met. In addition, the well-fried tonkatsu was crispy on the outside and soft and juicy on the inside.

    Every time he chewed on the tonkatsu, he would feel the crunchy texture. He could also taste the tonkatsu''s strong meaty vor. Minhyuk smiled at the feast in his mouth.

    And when he felt a little thirsty and dry, he would sip a mouthful of the soup. The udon soup, with a hint of a taste of soy sauce, was always served as an appetizer.

    Next, he mixed the cabbage with the kiwi dressing and skillfully picked it up with his fork.

    The green sd had a faint watery sheen on it, as if it was telling everyone that it was fresh. Once it was ced in his mouth, he could feel the freshness of it with its crunchy texture and the refreshing vor that spread out in his mouth. It was a perfect match for the greasy tonkatsu.

    Then, there was the corn beside the sd. It came from a can but if you scooped up a spoonful in your mouth then you would be able to taste the sweet and savory vor of the corn.

    A te of tonkatsu might look very ordinary but all of the food in it has a respective role that they fulfill loyally.

    Minhyuk smiled blissfully as he ate his tonkatsu.

    He was able to clean up a te of tonkatsu in no time at all.

    "He didn''t even leave a drop of sauce at all¡­¡­ I won''t even need to wash that te with how clean it is right now."

    "He¡­¡­?"

    Len spoke at that moment¡­

    "Boy."

    "Yes, teacher!"

    "You fry the rest of the tonkatsu and distribute it to the soldiers. You''re halfway through right now, right?"

    "Yes, that''s right."

    Brock replied sinctly.

    "Okay, you fry it personally and I''ll watch at the sides."

    ***

    Runie.

    She was a very beautiful woman to look at. She was taking a break between the users and the NPCs of the subjugation force.

    The subjugation force, which was on its way to Bordy ins, was just recently attacked by goblins. That was why they were taking a bit of a break to replenish their energies. This was also the reason why they were going to eat dinner at ater time.

    These days, her attention was caught by a man.

    ''That man, I''m sure he''s a chef.''

    There was a very popr male user in the subjugation force. He was about 185cm tall and had a very handsome face. That man was kind and amiable but he was always chewing on something.

    In fact, all of the other users only thought of one thing about him¡­

    That user is a chef.

    But Runie knew something. One of her friends chose the chef job ss but ended up deleting her character and starting anew.

    ''The more the chefs y, the harder it is to level-up for them¡­''

    She shook her head at the thought.

    ''Why should I worry about others?''

    But whenever she looked at him she felt this strange feeling of calmness and ease.

    ''Does he have a tranquility stat or something?''

    When she looked up after some thinking, she saw the maning out carrying food containers.

    "Everyone, please get your meals! Today''s tonkatsu is specially made by this Minhyukie!"

    "Oooh. You made the tonkatsu?!"

    "Don''t give us charcoal, okay!"

    "It''s not that, Mr. Wu. Don''t get surprised when you eat it!"

    He was in such high spirits, his expression even screamed He!

    The distribution of food started, Runie was standing in line and waiting for her food.

    ''Maybe he doesn''t know about it?''

    It might be the case.

    Some users usually chose their job sses without even knowing any concrete information.

    No, there''s quite a lot of them.

    Before she knew it, it was already her turn.

    "Enjoy your meal!"

    "Ah, yes!"

    Her cheeks blushed fiercely when she saw Minhyuk''s face.

    This man, he''s really very handsome. He also has a nice smile.

    ''That''s right, I should tell him.''

    It''s better to tell him now, he can delete it while he''s still at a novice level so he could start over and raise a new ss.

    Of course, this was because Runie only has a little bit of interest and it was not because she was ''really curious and interested.'' at him at all.

    It was also entirely possible that her ''help'' was just an excuse.

    "E, excuse me."

    "Yes?"

    "......The higher the level of the chef, the harder it is for them to level-up."

    "Ah, yes."

    The man nodded at him and smiled calmly.

    "An, and even if you get close to these NPC soldiers¡­ You really wouldn''t get anything from them at all."

    "That''s not true."

    The manughed, it seemed like he wasn''t that much interested in Runie or what she had to say.

    "It may look like I''m being nosy but¡­¡­"

    "Ah, thank you for your care. But it''s fine. I only want to eat delicious food."

    "...Eh?"

    "I only wanted to eat delicious food. They''re staring at us like they want to kill us¡­¡­."

    "Ah!"

    When she felt those prickly nces, she immediately left and distanced herself from him.

    "Tch¡­¡­ He wasn''t interested in me at all."

    She then looked at the tonkatsu that she received.

    It was a well-fried golden brown tonkatsu. She sat down at a nearby table.

    ''He said that he only wanted to eat something delicious? Does that even make sense? Just say that you don''t like it.''

    She sliced her tonkatsu as she grumbled to herself. Then, she ced it in her mouth.

    ''Huh?''

    She tilted her head curiously and ced another bite in her mouth.

    "De, delicious¡­¡­!"

    She was very surprised. The tonkatsu''s vor was something that she had not even tasted in real life.

    This will be a huge sess if he opens a store!

    ''The meat is quite thick, so how did he cook it so well? It''s so crispy that it seems like it just came out of the frying pan.''

    She would never know that the secret to the tonkatsu remaining crispy was due to Minhyuk''s food storage inventory.

    The surprise did not end there¡­

    [You have eaten a tonkatsu.]

    [Your attack power will increase by 3% and your defensive power will increase by 3% for 5 hours.]

    She was both surprised and confused.

    ''What''s this? Wasn''t he a novice?''

    This was the chef''s buff ability. She overhead this from somewhere before. It seemed like the man was much better than a chef with a beginner''s cooking skill.

    ''Didn''t they say that they could only make one or two of these in a day?''

    She tried to recall her friend''s words but she stopped when she heard everyone around her.

    "Huh¡­¡­?"

    "Heok?!"

    "Hey, hey, this is amazing!"

    She heard the astonished voices of the other users all around her¡­

    ***

    TL''s corner!!!

    Wew. Those are pretty much fraudulent skills. Lol but Minhyuk only wanted a skill that would make his dishes more delicious. Kek. Sasuga Minhyukie! ??

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 35 - A Billion? How Much Was It?

    Chapter 35: A Billion? How much was it?

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    QC: MattForgenti

    14 A Billion? How much was it?

    And it did not end there. Mabal, the leader of the subjugation force, let out a startled voice after trying out the food fried by the new recruit.

    "O, oh my goodness!"

    Even the soldiers started to speak one after another.

    "Huh, what''s this!"

    "It''s absolutely delicious!"

    "I''ve never had a tonkatsu this delicious in my life!! And that''s not all. M, my ability even increased!"

    Soldiers have a higher concept of the increase in abilities and levelingspared to users.

    ''This¡­¡­''

    There are roughly more than thirty people who had the same reaction as her.

    ''Was he really just a beginner chef?''

    She couldn''t even conceal her shock. As she looked at the responses right now, she was wondering if what she heard from her friend about the chef''s job ss was correct.

    ''Priests can''t even cast this many buffs¡­¡­.''

    She thought it was because she was unaware or clueless of the situation so that was why she couldn''t understand what was happening.

    ''Ah, that''s right. Our guild''s Ravel-nim is one of the few advanced level chefs in the country, right?''

    There were only about 100 advanced level chefs in the country.

    Runie had heard that the dishes cooked by the chef Ravel were the best. And his buff ability was also considered to be pretty good. Of course it still couldn''t bepared to the priests.

    [Guild Chatting Runie: Ravel-nim~ Are you there~?]

    [Guild Chatting Ravel: Oh, Runie-nim. Hi [1].]

    [Guild Chatting Runie: Ah, Hi. Can I ask you about something?]

    [Guild Chatting Ravel: Yes, ask away.]

    [Guild Chatting Runie: I''m here at the goblin subjugation force and I''m eating a tonkatsu right now that is made by a User Cher and it has the buff ability.]

    [Guild Chatting Ravel:......? Are you not mistaken? If it''s a user in the goblin subjugation force, then they shouldn''t have the buff ability yet.]

    ? [Guild Chatting Runie: But it''s real¡­¡­]

    [Guild Chatting Ravel: You can only have the cooking buff once you reach the intermediate level. And the average level of an intermediate level chef is at Lv 80~100.]

    [Guild Chatting Runie: But my abilities have really increased because of the buff.]

    [Guild Chatting Ravel: Could you maybe send me a screenshot of your buff window?]

    [Guild Chatting Runie: Yes, please wait a moment.]

    Once a user received buffs, the user would be able to view the buffs they received on the upper right hand corner of their stats window.

    There was now a translucent window on her upper right hand corner with an image of a fork and knife crossed together.

    ''That person did not believe me.''

    She wondered if it was really that unbelievable? Was it that chef or was it her who did not know anything?

    She clicked on her stats window. She made sure that the + on the side was visible. After making sure that all was set, she took a screenshot and sent it to the guild chat.

    [Guild Chatting Runie: (photo)]

    [Guild Chatting Ravel: This, is this not edited?]

    [Guild Chatting Runie: It''s not!]

    Runie was very frustrated.

    ''He said that he liked the person but he''s very suspicious!''

    However, not long after, the guild chat was flooded with messages from the other guild members.

    [Guild Master Allen: Runie-yah, what''s this! Is this really the cooking of a novice chef? Take a picture of the dish and send us a screenshot so we can be sure!]

    Runie was a part of the Varest Guild. It was a mid-range guild with an average user level of 150~200.

    She was able to enter as a beginner in the guild because she was friends in real life with the Guild Master Allen.

    [Iamthebesthand: Omg, that''s impossible! A beginner chef can have such a good buff ability?!]

    [BeansieyahKissKiss: It''s crazy right now¡­¡­ Is it not edited? Wow, even our Beans is surprised.]

    Runie checked the messy guild chat as she took the screenshot of her food. It was a very normal looking tonkatsu.

    At that moment¡­

    [Guild Chatting Ravel: Which vige is the subjugation force from?]

    Ravel suddenly asked her.

    ***

    Ravel.

    His name was Lee Hyunie, he was someone who was working in the kitchen of Shinra Hotel in reality.

    He was resting in the chef''s break room. His hands suddenly trembled which in turn made him drop his phone.

    His conversation in the guild window in Athenae was open and could be seen on the screen of his fallen phone.

    "......My hands are shaking? Why are they trembling like this?"

    "Hey, hey. Look at this."

    "?"

    "It''s a dish that came out of Athenae''s goblin subjugation force. There were at least 30 people who received buffs."

    "What kind of nonsense is that? A buff from a dish and there were 30 people who received it? The users there are only at Lv 15~20."

    The people who were chefs in Athenae crowded together.

    And then¡­

    "Ack?!"

    "Hey, fu¡­ what the hell is that!"

    "Hey, the ingredients are E-rank! It''s ingredients are E-rank! It''s E-rank and there''s a buff! That means that the buff was reduced!"

    They couldn''t help but be surprised. They were people who were once chefs in Athenae but ended up deleting their characters and started all over again.

    The part that they were most surprised about was the part where the ingredients for the dish were E-ranked.

    Even an intermediate chef would find it hard to make a dish that was magic rank by using E-ranked ingredients. It was considered to be a rare case for them too.

    Ingredients were also a very important factor in the dish. Rare or unique rank dishes usually required B~A rank ingredients.

    To make a good steak, they usually needed to get meat from a free cow who grazed good grass in the grasnds. And the garlic and onions should be harvested from thend of the Lunes, however it wasn''t easy since it was quite expensive.

    But right now, there''s a dish with a buff that''sparable to a magic dish. And to top it all of it was made from E-ranked ingredients.

    "If the buff is increased then it will be a total fraud!"

    This is impossible.

    Then, at that moment¡­

    "Why is there such an uproar?"

    They could hear a harsh voice as a man slowly entered the break room.

    The man was tall, with a well-sculpted face and a charismatic appearance. His charisma was showing quite well, especially when he took off his apron.

    This man was Alex''s only disciple Kim Seokhyun, he was considered to be the best chef in the world.

    He won 1st ce for 3 consecutive years in the World Cooking Grand Prix. He was also one of the top 10 chefs in the world and was well known as the genius chef with his absolute pte.

    The reason he was staying in Shinra Hotel as a chef was because he wanted to be the best Korean chef in the country.

    "H, head chef. Are you also ying Athenae?"

    "Athenae? Are you talking about the game, it seems like you''re spending your time with nogari [2]?"

    His eyes suddenly turned gloomy.

    There was only one person who climbed up and became the sole master chef. And that person was Kim Seokhyun. In the game, he was known as Twilight Chef ck.

    "What in the world are you talking about that you''re making such a fuss¡­¡­"

    He saw Lee Hyunie looking at a picture in his phone so he brought the phone towards him to look at it.

    "W, what the hell?! Is this from a master chef?!"

    The dish was tonkatsu and the ingredients were E-ranked. Plus it was normal.

    Lee Hyunie spoke¡­

    "I''m not sure if he''s a master chef but we assumed that his level is between 15~20. And we also know that this buff was distributed to thirty people."

    "What?"

    He looked at him incredulously.

    It was a really crazy story but reality was right in front of him.

    When Kim Seokhyun was just starting in Athenae, he chose the chef job ss and went and defeated countless NPC chefs.

    He surprised many people with his cooking and because of that he was able to build his name continuously. It was also because of this that he was able to make a special dish.

    However, when he became a master chef at Lv70 he found out that the best buff would onlye out with a better ingredientpared to stacking buffs with lower-ranked ingredients.

    And now, there was a dish that gave a ridiculous amount of buff with a low percentage but it was made out of E-ranked ingredients.

    Furthermore, it was surprising that it was an increase in % instead of having just + in stats. If it was an increase in % then it meant that if the person who ate the dish had a higher level then the effect would definitely be much higher.

    ''Don''t tell me he''s the disciple of that canteen''s captain.''

    There was another master chef that existed in the country aside from Kim Seokhyun.

    I don''t know if he''s ying Athenae but it''s probably him.

    "Where is this?"

    "It''s in Isbin Vige."

    "......!"

    Kim Seokhyun''s uneasiness suddenly shot up when he heard his words.

    He was Twilight Chef ck. Right now, he was working on a linked quest which had a rewards inventory listed.

    ''They will give an epic artifact.''

    That was the reward.

    There weren''t much of the epic artifacts that have been released yet. At the most, there were 20 epic artifacts in the country.

    And Kim Seokhyun was hoping that he would climb to the ranks of a craftsman once he received that artifact.

    "Where in Isbin Vige is he located?"

    "In the Goblin Subjugation Forces."

    A sense of foreboding crept behind him and slowly reached his neck. Suddenly, he had another thought¡­

    ''I could probably contact this person¡­¡­''

    No matter how good he was, he was still at novice level. He could determine it when he looked at the storage and preservation times.

    ''Users who hunt alone will purchaserge quantities of food before going to the hunting grounds.''

    What if the ingredients used by that user were all A-ranked?

    ''He might get a ridiculously high buff effect. And most importantly, it''s very easy to target low-leveled users. If they have a lot of gold then they will definitely buy the dish with the longest storage period even if it''s at a high price.''

    Even if they would just get a bit stronger, the low-leveled users would still be able to challenge their limits that they have a hard time breaking. That was why it always sold for a high price. In this way, Athenae has secured a great position.

    That user with his incredible cooking skills would definitely give him enough power which in turn would help him build a huge brand image for himself.

    "How did you know this?"

    "A female user from my guild sent it to me."

    "Is that so? Then can you do me a favor."

    "Yes?"

    "Ask her to pass on what I will say to that chef."

    ***

    Runie could see that her guild chatting window was a mess.

    ''Is, is this really that great?''

    As she thought of that, a whisper from Ravel came in.

    [Ravel: Runie-nim.]

    [Runie: Yes?]

    [Ravel: Could you please help me ry a message to that user?]

    [Runie: Huh¡­¡­ Please wait.]

    Runie turned to look at him. She saw that he was finished with the meal distribution and he was already gobbling up his own tonkatsu.

    [Runie: What do you want to say to him?]

    [Ravel: You know about Chef Kim Seokhyun, right? Can you tell him that he wants to sign a contract with him with 1 billion won as payment.]

    "......Eh?"

    Runie tilted her head in confusion.

    ''What nonsense is he talking about?''

    1 billion won? Just because of one buff? In addition, Kim Seokhyun is a world renowned chef¡­

    [Runie: Ravel-nim actually knows Kim Seokhyun?]

    [Ravel: (photo)]

    Ravel sent him a picture of him in real life. His name tag has the words ''Shinra Hotel'' on it. There was also another person standing next to him in the picture. That person was really Kim Seokhyun.

    ''Huh?!''

    She finally realized it.

    He wasn''t lying.

    And it was really Kim Seokhyun who made that proposal.

    She heard that Ravel was working at a famous hotel but she did not know the exact name of the hotel.

    ''I, it''s real?''

    [Runie: It''s really 1 billion won worth ofpensation?]

    [Ravel: Yes. If he agrees to join Kim Seokhyun-ssi''s guild Louvert [3] then he would give him 1 billion won. And if he could prove that the buff capacity that he has shown this time was true then there will be more revisions to the contract.]

    [Runie: I understand!]

    Runie''s body trembled.

    1 billion.

    It was a veryrge sum of money. No one would be able to save that much money in a short amount of time or even for the rest of their lives.

    And the man who was making the offer was Kim Seokhyun.

    To think that it was offered to a current low-leveled user!

    She couldn''t understand what they were thinking. But she was definitely sure, that man was worth more than what they thought.

    ''Maybe¡­¡­ This is an opportunity?'' was what she thought.

    She hurriedly approached him.

    "Nim, nim!"

    "Chew?"

    Minhyuk looked at her strangely. He was eating the leftover tonkatsu when he heard her urgent tone.

    "Do you know chef Kim Seokhyun?"

    He stealthily looked at her then he continued to focus on his tonkatsu.

    Runie talked excitedly in front of him.

    "He wants to offer you 1 billion won if you join his Louvert guild. Do you know Louvert? It''s a world renowned brand but it''s also a famous guild in Athenae!"

    Chew, chew, chew¡ª

    But the man was not interested in her words.

    Runie thought¡­

    ''Ah¡­¡­ Was it too unrealistic?''

    Then she thought of using whisper.

    If she knew the name of the person then she could send a whisper without using the code as long as they joined and were still in the subjugation force.

    She pulled up her whisper with Ravel that showed his picture with Kim Seokhyun. She captured the screen and sent the whisper over.

    "You can check it from my whisper!"

    "Oh, it''s really delicious!"

    "W, will you check it?"

    "Kyaa, it''s real tonkatsu. You''re too much, why did no one tell me that it was this delicious?! Huh?! I''ll definitely scold hyung! I''ll keep on scolding him!"

    The man kept on scolding someone while stabbing the tonkatsu with his fork. He did not even pay any attention to her or her explosive words.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] The original uses ??? which is ??? or a polite hi. Lol. It''s just a Hi, but they removed the vowels to abbreviate it.

    [2] ??? (nogari) : it''s pock, but it''s a ng/joke about talking with your friends about anything happening around you.

    [3] ???? this was the name of the guild. If you have better ideas aside from Louvert, please feel free to contact me. Kek.

    TL''s corner!!!

    LOL. 1 billion? His father is a CEO, if he notice her¡­ He definitely will disagree. Besides they''re not familiar with each other so he will definitely say no. Kek.

    I''m not sure if it was a typo since the Guild Master''s name is Allen or it was someone else from the guild. But the raw said ?? so I guess we could say that it was a typo and it''s Allen. We will see if they''ll have more appearancester but for now we will say she''s a friend of Allen.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 36 - A Billion? How Much Was It?

    Chapter 36: A Billion? How much was it?

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    QC: MattForgenti

    Her forehead creased in irritation.

    This person! He doesn''t even have a bit of interest in me at all!

    "Excuse me. Did you hear what I said?"

    "Kghhk. I think it''s good to make a sauce with pineapples and cherries¡­¡­ Ah, I should try and make itter~"

    In the end, Runie couldn''t take it anymore so she ced her hands on his shoulder.

    "Ah, Nim! Kim Seokhyun is offering you 1 billion won aspensation right now¡­¡­"

    p!

    The man roughly shoved her hands away from his shoulders.

    "Ah, Nim! You answered me earlier. I know that this is delicious but why are you so annoying!"

    "N, no¡­ 1 billi¡­"

    "What 1 or 10 whatever, I don''t care how much it is. What''s important right now is that I eat this tonkatsu!"

    Minhyuk currently has 90 billion won in his personal assets.

    "Y, you say that it''s not much¡­ And it was even from Kim Seokhyun himself¡­"

    "Touch me one more time and I''ll stab you to death with my fork!"

    The man red at her as he picked up his fork like it was his weapon. There was a real killing intent emanating from him.

    Swoooosh!

    He brandished his fork menacingly.

    "Kyaaak, I''m sorry!"

    She escaped in a flurry.

    Then she sent a whisper to Ravel.

    [Runie: Ravel-nim¡­¡­ ??]

    ***

    "I, I''m here. There''s an answer!"

    Lee Hyunie hurriedly spoke.

    Kim Seokhyun stood in front of him with his face filled with interest and a smile curling around his lips.

    ''1 billion. No one could keep their eyes closed with that amount. But, I could even pull out more than 10 billion of his value. Also¡­¡­''

    I will be able to eliminate mypetition. The title of the best isn''t for nothing.

    He would make him his ally or if it did not work then he would step on him. This was Kim Seokhyun. This was the person who made the special dish with his hands.

    "About the proposal¡­¡­"

    Lee Hyunie''s words abruptly ended while Kim Seokhyun''s lips started curling up.

    "Of course he will ept¡­¡­"

    "He refused."

    "What?"

    "...R, really?!"

    "Heok?!"

    Everyone let out surprised sounds at what they heard.

    "What nonsense are you saying? Tell it straight to me."

    "ording to my female guild member, he didn''t even know who Kim Seokhyun is and he threatened her that he will stab him with a fork to death because she touched him."

    "......?"

    "And¡­¡­"

    Lee Hyunie looked at them seriously.

    "He didn''t care if it was 1 billion or whatever. What was important was eating the tonkatsu right now."

    "......"

    "......"

    "......"

    A moment of silence passed all over them.

    And Kim Seokhyun thought¡­

    ''......Did he bounce it back? Does he want to increase thepensation?''

    It was quite a ridiculous story.

    Who would say that tonkatsu is more important than 1 billion?

    It only meant one thing¡­

    This man knows what he''s worth. That''s why he''s trying to raise thepensation. In other words, he''s telling me that ''You can''t buy me with just that. Raise it up a bit more!''

    ''Interesting.''

    He smiled slightly.

    Right now, in Athenae, he has already arrived at Isbin Vige. And he would be able to catch up with the goblin subjugation force if he went after them immediately.

    That''s where I''m headed anyway.

    ''Yeah. If he refused, then I can just raise it a bit more when we meet. The fact that he started the deal himself means that he''s at least interested.''

    Kim Seokhyun.

    He has now one-shotted [1] a pot of kimchi soup.

    ***

    The subjugation force kept on marching forward. With this pace, they would arrive at Bordy ins sooner orter. Once they arrived, then they would be able to begin a full-scale conquest.

    Minhyuk was washing disheste at night when he suddenly thought of the event that happened a few days ago.

    ''Kim Seokhyun¡­¡­''

    Of course he knew who he was. Minhyuk also knew how the world worked outside.

    He was the best chef in the country. He was Alex''s disciple so how could he not know of him. However, Minhyuk has driven a wedge right here.

    ''Is he trying to get me with money?''

    He was mad.

    He might be preupied with tonkatsu but he kept on hearing about money here and there.

    Food God''s Cooking.

    He wanted it, that was why he was offering money.

    Minhyuk learned this from his father¡­

    ''If you want to get something from someone, never offer them money first.''

    Before he could do that, he had to show his character first. He had to show that he was a business partner that you could trust and believe in.

    That was it.

    This was why Minhyuk felt that it was truly ridiculous.

    ''Does he think he can get everything with money? And to think that I was weing Tonkatsu-nim at that time.''

    He was really angry because they talked about money while he was trying to enjoy his tonkatsu.

    Minhyuk quickly swept the incident to the side. It wasn''t worth any of his concerns.

    "My favorability has really increased by a lot."

    Some of the NPCs who weren''t very friendly towards him before have now increased their favorability with him. His favorability notifications just kept oning up. In addition, his dishes with buff effects have easily conquered them.

    Right now, he could hear the patrolling soldiers fighting with the goblins outside. However, a military chef''s job was to prepare for tomorrow''s meal.

    ''Someone eats my food and feels happy¡­¡­. This doesn''t feel bad.''

    Was what he thought, but¡­

    ''And I could also eat the best. Huhuhuhuhuhu?''

    At that moment¡­

    [You have achieved 40% of contributions in the Bordy ins Subjugation Force.]

    [You have received the title ''Subjugation Force''s Soldier''.]

    [You have gained 3 reputation points.]

    "Oh¡­¡­?"

    Minhyuk was very surprised with the notification. He hurriedly checked the contents of the title¡­

    [Subjugation Force''s Soldier]

    Unique Title

    Title Effects: +3 to all 5 basic stats

    There were twenty people who participated in the subjugation quest and among them, Minhyuk has contributed 40% alone.

    It was a very surprising thing. Minhyuk only ate and cooked after all. However, there was only one reason as to why his contributions have gone up this high.

    ''It was because of the buff.''

    The soldiers kept on telling him that it had be easier to hunt because of him.

    It might just be a few % increase but the strength of all 70 of the soldiers have increased. Minhyuk has inadvertently influenced the entirety of the subjugation force.

    ''I heard that there''s a title that will change once it reaches a certain number.''

    These titles are called evolutionary titles.

    Assuming that the previous 20% would increase to 40% then the title would change to a better title. Of course it would not change unconditionally. Some titles could change while some could not.

    "Ahem!"

    Len coughed loudly so he could catch Minhyuk''s attention as he went inside.

    ***

    Len could always feel a sense of kinship whenever he saw Minhyuk. He also felt happy and proud of him.

    He really took off and had tremendous growth.

    And Len was certainly happy to see that happen.

    Is this how it feels like to have a disciple?

    He did not have any students in the pce. One reason was because he was a very strict chef. The other was that he only wanted to draw and maximize the ''vor'' of his dishes. And Minhyuk was someone who prioritized ''vor'' above all else.

    Minhyuk would soon leave the subjugation force.

    He was walking near the campsitete at night when he saw that the lights in the kitchen carriage were still on.

    It was Minhyuk.

    He was in there. He coughed to get his attention.

    "Ahem!"

    "Ah, you''re here?"

    "Yeah. Sit down and get some rest."

    "Yes!"

    Minhyuk brought some hard bread and milk as he sat down beside him. He also rmended it to Len.

    "Captain should have some too. Hehe."

    "Huh? Why is what you say different from what your eyes say? Why does it look like you''ll tear my hands if I touch it?"

    Screech!

    Minhyuk smiled awkwardly as his movements stopped.

    "T, that''s not true!"

    Len squinted his eyes at him.

    "We have enough food for the soldiers to eat for a month but¡­¡­ ten days worth of food has disappeared in an instant."

    Screech!

    It was the second time that Minhyuk paused awkwardly.

    However Len was smiling softly at him. He was the one who allowed him to eat all of these things, besides Isbin Vige was notcking in food.

    Minhyuk chuckled when he saw that he was only joking around.

    "Come to think of it, I have never seen teacher Len eat anything."

    He has never seen him eat even once.

    "I usually eat my packed lunch, there are times when I need to take medicine so my diet should be healthy."

    "Ah¡­ Is that so? I thought teacher was also a vor-seeker like me!"

    "vor. I also pursue it. But my mouth tastes differently than other people."

    "......."

    Ah, there were people like this too. Was the thought that brushed past Minhyuk''s head.

    Len slowly began to tell him things.

    "I have never tasted anything in my life."

    "Eh?"

    Minhyuk was so shocked to hear Len''s words.

    At that moment, a notification rang in Len''s head.

    [The Gods of Athenae are imposing sanctions on you.]

    [This quest can''t be given to another user. There is a user currently working on this quest.]

    ''Damn it!''

    Len bit his lips in anger.

    There was a quest that he could give and he wanted to give it to Minhyuk. But someone was currently undertaking the said quest.

    He wanted to give Minhyuk that ''item'' if he could. However, the Gods of Athenae had imposed sanctions on him. As soon as the sanctions have taken effect, he wouldn''t be able to say a word about the quest at all.

    "Are you sick?"

    "No."

    "But¡­ How did you be a master if you can''t taste the food¡­¡­?"

    It was really surprising.

    Len smirked at him proudly.

    "Because I''m dexterous."

    "......"

    "I ced everything on my dexterity."

    "Ah¡­!"

    Minhyuk knew about NPCs having the concept of stats. Then in Len''s case, he kept on increasing his DEX.

    ''If his DEX reaches 20 then he will be able to get a +1 in vor. With the influence of DEX he can make his food more delicious. But not being able to taste it and still getting to that level¡­¡­''

    How much should I increase my DEX? No, was that even possible.

    "I''ve done everything to raise my DEX. I even followed cksmiths, painters, carpenters, miners and even fishermen."

    "......!"

    It was an amazing story.

    It wasn''t even for his own but it was so he could cook for others. On the other hand, all he could think of was¡­

    ''I, it''s a pity¡­''

    He was just an NPC. But more than anything, Minhyuk could feel a sense of kinship with him.

    He knew more than anyone how important taste was. He was already sick and tired of eating 5,000 cherry tomatoes everyday.

    He couldn''t eat but he couldn''t stop his stomach. More than once or twice, he would run to the bathroom and try to throw it away.

    This ''dish'' was a vital part of everyone''s daily life. And vor and taste always yed a big part in every dish.

    "I did everything I could to increase my DEX, and after doing all that I could¡­ My cooking has stood tall because of it."

    Minhyuk thought¡­

    If he can taste everything and ce all of his efforts in cooking then he can reach the realms of a craftsman, no, he might even go beyond that.

    "Boy, what does food mean to you?"

    He pondered over the question for a moment.

    "It''s like I''m discovering a new life each and every day."

    "Discovering a new life."

    "I eat three meals a day. In my lifetime, I will probably eat 1.5 million times but there are more than 30 million dishes in the world."

    "That''s right."

    "If I can eat something different and new every day, then it will be a kind of healing in this boring life of ours. Of course, it''s only good if you know that you''re eating something delicious."

    "Yeah."

    Len grinned at his answer as he stared at the sky without saying anything for a moment.

    "Me too¡­ I also want to taste it."

    "......"

    Minhyuk couldn''t say anything. Len stood up to leave.

    "Get some rest."

    "Yes."

    Len thought as he stood up¡­

    I feel sorry that I couldn''t give the quest to this person. This person should be the one who deserves to receive it.

    Then he walked away.

    "Hmmm¡­"

    Minhyuk fell silent as he thought about Len who has lived a life far longer than he had. He chewed on his bread as he thought about him.

    ''How does it feel to have no sense of taste?''

    If I eat sweet potatoes will I feel like I''m chewing eraser in my mouth?

    He wouldn''t know.

    ''Maybe this is¡­''

    He suddenly thought of a possibility.

    Is this a quest?

    It was possible.

    The tasteless chef.

    But why did Len turn around and leave without giving the quest?

    However, Len was the one who taught him how to cook so he wanted to help him.

    He thought of things that might help when an idea suddenly popped in his head.

    ''Ah¡­ Maybe it can help!''

    What came to his mind was none other than his ingredient tracking skill.

    ''It''s the ability to help me cook what I want, it can even let me choose the type of dish that I can cook.''

    To be honest, he kept on thinking that he needed to test the ingredient tracking skill.

    Let''s take this opportunity to test it.

    "Use the Ingredient Tracking Skill once."

    A hologram window popped in front of him. The variety and type of food were listed on it.

    Korean food, Western food, Japanese food, Chinese food, etc.

    "Hmm¡­¡­ Chinese food."

    When Minhyuk thought of getting the Sun''s Wheat he already had Chinese food in his mind.

    [You have selected Chinese food.]

    [What is your desired buff effect?]

    "Save someone who has no sense of taste."

    [Searching for the ingredients in a 1-km radius.]

    Minhyuk was excited for the results.

    It was not just for Len. He just got this feeling that it can also be rted to his DEX. It was clear that something was hidden from him.

    Minhyuk had this great ambition to improve his cooking skills.

    The notifications rang.

    [The search has failed.]

    [The search will continue for 3 days and will depend on the user''s movement and travel range.]

    [You have 2 more times to use your ingredient tracking skill.]

    [The penalty does not allow you to use the True Worth of Food for one day.]

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] ?? one shot, or bottoms up.

    TL''s corner!!!

    Wew. Let''s go and save Len''s taste buds!!!

    I have decided to follow the suggestion of our dear friend from woop gen server about the titles. We will now use unique andmon for the types of title instead of sole and multi.

    QC¡¯s corner!

    After reading this, the thought of no longer having taste is a very scary prospect. All these delicious tastes, gone forever...

    Report mistakes and chat with us at:/Q3dStgu

 Chapter 37 - A Billion? How Much Was It?

    Chapter 37: A Billion? How much was it?

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    QC: MattForgenti

    [The search has failed.]

    [The search will continue for 3 days and will depend on the user''s movement and travel range.]

    Lee Minhwa and Team Leader Park made eye contact after watching the monitor.

    "That''s a relief¡­"

    Lee Minhwa mumbled as Team Leader Park breathed a sigh of relief.

    "User Minhyuk is someone who would do anything if his food will be delicious."

    Now here was their problem.

    Len''s artifact was an item that would give the user a tremendous power. In fact, the Twilight Chef would be able to develop one step further if he received that power. He could probably step further than a craftsman.

    "The Orc Vige is 1km away from them¡­"

    Team Leader Park was very concerned about the Ingredient Tracking Skill.

    And the fact that Len mentioned the ''taste'' story to Minhyuk means that his favorability has reached a crazy level.

    Len was originally an NPC that was set up to hate foreigners.

    "I expect that it should be taken by Twilight Chef ck."

    Was what he thought.

    Lee Minhwa told him¡­

    "That''s not impossible, there wouldn''t be any other variables right?"

    "There''s none. Once they reached Bordy ins, they would be more than 1km away from the Orc Vige. It would be impossible, unless User Minhyuk decided to visit it on purpose."

    "So that''s really the case."

    A thought suddenly crossed Lee Minhwa''s mind¡­

    ''What if someone intentionally drags the Orcs to the camp?''

    But then she realized that it was a very absurd thought.

    ''That''s too bad then.''

    She liked seeing that user on a roll. It felt like wishing for her favorite baseball team to win the championship.

    ''Sigh¡­¡­''

    She let out a sigh of disappointment in her head.

    ***

    Minhyuk felt a bit disappointed when he heard the notification.

    "Ho¡­"

    Was it really impossible? Or was it rted to the quest?

    If it was a reward from Len then he definitely felt that it would be something really delicious. Or maybe because he was specializing in dexterity then he would give him something rted to the DEX stat.

    But this was something that he had expected. There was no such thing as saving your tasteless taste buds.

    ''There''s no helping it.''

    He sighed in disappointment as he began to clean up the remaining dishes.

    ***

    Late at night.

    Belo and the members of the Connection Guild were talking.

    "Belo, what''s happening? That chef is the number 1 in contributions. And his contributions were extremely high too!"

    If this went on, then the reward that they learned and the hidden dungeon would go to the hands of that user.

    That can''t happen.

    The amount of time they have spent on this process was not small. They didn''t even know what was inside the hidden dungeon.

    "How the hell did that little low-leveled user¡­¡­ hoo¡­¡­ There''s no answer to this question. I don''t get it. No matter how much we put our efforts in, it''s definitely impossible to get 40% of the contributions alone."

    The rest were already helping Belo get contributions. As they headed towards Bordy ins, they would battle and deliberately catch the goblins on their way. They would put them together and let Belo kill them. In this way, Belo''s contributions would definitely increase.

    "Sigh¡­¡­. This is annoying. That guy''s a real pain in the ass. He must be a pig in real life."

    Belo cursed loudly.

    Everyone suddenly went mute when they heard him talk.

    In fact, Belo''s parents were quite rich in real life. His guild members and friends helped him only because he was considered to be the ''wallet'' in their friends circle.

    He was the son of a rich family. His parents have more than 3 billion won in properties.

    "However, there''s nothing we can do about this¡­¡­ B, by any chance will we still get the money that you promised¡­¡­"

    A guild member murmured.

    Belo promised to give them 400,000 won per person once they finished the job safely.

    Belo looked at him.

    "Why, is there no other way?"

    "Huh?"

    "That bastard is a chef, you know."

    "Yeah, he''s a chef. What''s wrong with that?"

    "He''s a chef. And he''s a Lv15 low-leveled user at most."

    Whates to mind when you think of a chef?

    They were ruined characters [1], sloppy and a weak ss.

    "......Are you talking about PK?"

    Belo grinned at them.

    "Yeah and didn''t you notice?"

    "What?"

    "The leather armor and sword worn by that user. I think it''s either special or rare. If he drops just one of those then your ount will get more than what I promised. However, if you fail even that then I won''t give you the 400 I promised."

    The others thought when they heard his words¡­

    ''So what have we been doing for the past two days of our lives¡­''

    ''Wow¡­¡­ That''s too much¡­¡­''

    Their brows creased in annoyance.

    "I''ll give 1,000,000 more to the person who kills that guy, don''t be shy and get that smiling mug of his. He even shakes his tail as he sucks up to those NPCs."

    "1,000,000?"

    "OMG?!"

    His words brightened them up.

    "And if the item drops, the one who kills him will get it."

    "Kyaa¡­"

    1,000,000 won was money that a normal person would receive after working for 10 days. No, in all honesty, not everyone could make that much money in that time. It was obviously hard to get.

    "Who''s in?"

    "Me! Me! Me!"

    "Ah, me!"

    "Rx. He''s just a low-leveled user so he would die if I hit him once."

    Belo giggled at the thought.

    However, one person''s face was wrinkled in annoyance.

    "Shit¡­¡­ XXXX¡­¡­"

    "Why?"

    "My mom said that if I don''t disconnect right now then she will kick me out of the house."

    There was a call button in the Athenae capsule. If the person outside pressed the call button then the user would be able to hear the voice of the one making the call.

    "Then you''re out."

    "Shit, ah. For real. I wanted to join."

    The user logged out after wording his frustrations. There were only four people left.

    "Hey. No."

    Then, Belo grinned.

    "It''s just like a beating [2]."

    Belo smiled thickly.

    "But if we PK that person then we will be forced out of the subjugation force¡­¡­"

    "That''s right. The NPC might even kill us."

    If they killed a user that has a high favorability with an NPC then that NPC would kill them. That was why they had to kill him without anyone knowing about it.

    Once they killed him silently then they could just spread rumors about him being dead or him logging out of the game.

    "Don''t worry about that."

    Belo''s grin widened.

    "That bastard will be going somewhere dark on his own."

    "Huh? On his own?"

    Belo nodded his head.

    ***

    "Heave-ho!"

    Minhyuk threw the food waste in the garbage can. He always made a point to move around whenever he had spare time.

    He thought that he would just move the waste before logging out. He started to drag the container to move it in a more secluded area.

    Len always spent his spare time away from the camp. There were two reasons. One was that the smell was really horrendous the second was because wild animals were always gathering around to eat the food waste.

    If the food waste was left in the kitchen carriage without throwing it away, then it would start to smell bad.

    He thought that it would be good for the sisters and the brothers if he threw it away in the nearby forest.

    That was why Minhyuk always dragged the container to the entrance of the forest whenever he had spare time.

    Anyway, the monsters that appear in the vicinity are just goblins.

    Therefore, the smell would not bother them too much. A ridiculous idea even churned in his head that the smell of the food waste could possibly be used as bait(?) for these monsters.

    Suddenly, there were four people who stood in front of him.

    ''These people¡­''

    Minhyuk''s eyes narrowed dangerously.

    It was Belo and his pack.

    Minhyuk never thought well of them. It was quite evident with the way they carried themselves. They often talked down to the other users as if they were beneath themselves. They even told them this¡­

    ''Wow, look at those beginners always getting carried away.''

    He didn''t know why they talked like that when they were beginners themselves but it was also rare for a group of people to join the subjugation force.

    That was also one of the reasons why the other users just ignored them or avoided them so they would not get bullied or hurt.

    They always mock the NPCs too.

    ''Wow, our soldiers are doing well too, amazing~''

    ''Won''t they die once Athenae gets shut down?''

    ''They''re just artificial intelligence anyway.''

    Minhyuk thought that the world of Athenae in the game might be a tool to sort people out.

    There were plenty of people who wore masks in reality. Smiling deliberately and acting a certain way intentionally towards others but would stab and curse at you once your back was turned.

    However, once they were in Athenae?

    ''Their true nature wille out.''

    The people who behaved like this in Athenae would definitely not act like this in reality.

    However, Minhyuk was quite puzzled. They haven''t gone and bullied him before so why did they find him now?

    "What''s wrong?"

    At the same time, his hands went towards the sword on his waist.

    Len always said this to him¡­

    ''We are military chefs, and the most important thing for us is to prepare the best meals. However, there are cases that we are also needed to fight. That''s why it''s important to always have your weapons with you.''

    In fact, military chefs in active duty would always carry a gun while they were cooking. This was also the same during training.

    This information was simr to that.

    "We just wanted to ask you something."

    The user Belo, who was standing in front, told him.

    "What is it?"

    "Ah. It''s just that you''re very close to the NPCs so I was wondering if you have any secrets on how to get close to them."

    As he said those words, Belo and his party started to prepare themselves. They have already stood in their positions.

    First, the mage Bron activated a silence spell.

    The silence spell would restrict the opponent''s speech. The silence spell was usually used to stop the spells of an enemy mage.

    Bron, who was originally Lv40, has already mastered the 2nd ss spells. Of course, his stats had gone down to Lv20 which in turn has decreased the restriction in his silence spell. This was because 2nd ss spells could only be mastered at Lv40 and since his stats had gone down to Lv20 then his spells would also go down. But there were no worries.

    ''There''s no way that a chef would increase his WIS or INT. And in order to invalidate the silence spell, the user needs to have a high enough reputation. But that''s impossible.''

    Reputation carried a lot of power. One of them was that it increases the magical defense. And even though it was insignificant it would still increase it.

    However, the reputation points needed to be at least 20. Minhyuk, who was a beginner, would definitely not have that high of a reputation point.

    That''s why he thought his silence was already enough.

    They have to shut his mouth first so Minhyuk would not be able to scream for the NPC''s help.

    "The method. Do you really need it? You just have to be polite. If you give them that much then they would return it to you."

    "Wow¡­ But why did I hear that it was ''You have to be rude.'' or something?"

    Belo sarcastically answered him while Bron who was preparing his magic shouted the spell.

    "Silence!"

    [Your Silence has failed.]

    [You havemitted an act of poor etiquette.]

    [User Bron is in a temporary chaotic state.]

    [If the other party initiates an attack, the other party will not receive any penalty.]

    "......Huh?"

    Bron was flustered.

    Howe it''s not working?

    Bron threw another spell.

    "Silence!"

    [Your Silence has failed.]

    "W, what the hell?!"

    "Shit, what is it."

    "H, he can''t get silenced?"

    Minhyuk took a step back as he calmly rolled his neck to warm up.

    ''So they want to PK¡­''

    So that''s what these guys wanted to do. But, right now only one of them was under the half-chaotic state.

    ''I don''t have to be chaotic just because of these bastards.''

    I have to make them chaotic first.

    Now, how should I go about doing this? Right now, they only think of me as a weak chef. Well, even the soldiers of the subjugation force thought so too.

    "N, no way. Are you going to PK me?! Huaaack, p, please don''t do that to me!"

    He started acting.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] ?? abbr for ?? ??? which literally means botched/ruined character. It means that the character''s development was slower or theirbat abilities are lower than that of characters nurtured in a regr manner.

    [2] ??? several people beating a single man.

    TL''s corner!!!

    Pffft. Ahhh, our Minhyukie is so smart. "I can''t be chaotic so you have to be chaotic first!" ???? so funny. It seems that there will be face pping in the next chapter. ??

    QC¡¯s corner!

    And the Athenae Academy Awards go to...Minhyuk! It¡¯s always amazing to see his awful acting.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at:/Q3dStgu

 Chapter 38 - The Battlefields Dominator

    Chapter 38: The Battlefield''s Dominator

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    QC: MattForgenti

    15 The Battlefield''s Dominator

    "Ah, bastard. We''re just going to force you to log-out. This hyung will make sure that it won''t hurt when we''re done."

    Belo pulled his sword out and looked at Minhyuk who was in an attacking position from top to bottom.

    Minhyuk was grabbing his sword with both hands. When Belo attacked him, he sloppily stopped his attack. He almost lost his hold on his sword.

    aaaaaang¡ª

    [You havemitted an act of poor etiquette.]

    [User Belo is in a temporary chaotic state.]

    [If the other party initiates an attack, the other party will not receive any penalty.]

    ''One man down.''

    However, Minhyuk deliberately fell down with a scared expression on his face.

    "This, this fXcker¡­ w, why is it so scary in this game!"

    "These hyungs are trying to kill you painlessly."

    One user shot an arrow towards Minhyuk.

    "Hiiiiiiiiik!"

    His face looked very terrified but his eyes followed the exact trajectory of the arrow. He sloppily struck the arrow down.

    [You havemitted an act of poor etiquette.]

    [User Dooms is in a temporary chaotic state.]

    [If the other party initiates an attack, the other party will not receive any penalty.]

    "This bastard, you''re quite lucky."

    "Kyahahaha, look at him trying to run away."

    Then, another warrior user tried to kill Minhyuk with his axe.

    "I''ll split your head in two."

    Fwooooooom!

    Thest one.

    aaaaaang!

    [You havemitted an act of poor etiquette.]

    [User Aras is in a temporary chaotic state.]

    [If the other party initiates an attack, the other party will not receive any penalty.]

    After hearing all of the notifications, Minhyuk changed his grip on his sword. From both hands, he now held it easily in one hand.

    The axe that was being stopped by the sword was slowly being raised and pushed away.

    "Huh¡­¡­?"

    Aras was a warrior user who focused on raising his power. However, he was confused when he felt that his axe was being pushed away by just one hand.

    ''What''s this?''

    Wasn''t he shaking like a scared puppy just a few moments ago?

    Because he was distracted, he did not quickly realize the situation he was in.

    And at that moment¡­

    aaaang!

    Minhyuk pushed away the axe with all his strength. Aras was forced to take three steps back after he got pushed by his strength.

    Minhyuk tightly clenched his fists as he quickly narrowed the distance between him and Aras.

    He then struck out with an uppercut!

    Craaaack!

    Aras'' body flew out in an arc and fell down with a thud.

    Bang!

    "Ah, I told you fXckers to stop. Really."

    "Ugh, aaack¡­¡­"

    Aras, who was hit straight on his jaw, couldn''t move his body. He was not able to stand up anymore. Then he saw something¡­

    ''W, what kind of hit was that. I, it was just one punch but my HP¡­¡­''

    Almost 40% of his HP was cut off from that hit.

    Can a chef''s punch be this strong? No, even a warrior ss will not have this much strength. This doesn''t make any sense.

    "T, this is impossible¡­¡­''

    Belo''s eyes were widened in disbelief.

    "Hey, that big head Maplestory character [1]. Come over here."

    Minhyuk talked to Belo.

    [Bardy Swordsmanship]

    [All 5 basic stats have a +12 increase for 6 minutes.]

    [Haste]

    [Your movement speed and attack speed have increased by 1.3 times for 10 seconds.]

    Minhyuk has steadily increased his skills and eventually leveled up his Bardy Swordsmanship. That was the reason why there was an additional +3 increase in the stats and an additional minute of duration in the skill.

    Bang!

    He kicked the ground with his feet.

    "Whaa!"

    Belo''s eyes widened further when he saw Minhyuk''s speed. He was even faster than a Lv40 user.

    [Warrior''s Fury]

    [There will be a +10 increase in your STR and STM for 1 minute.]

    He quickly invoked his warrior skill.

    The two swords soon collided.

    Craash!

    Fwooooosh!

    At the moment of collision, mes shot out of Belo''s sword.

    [Smander''s ze]

    [The attack will inflict continuous damage to the enemy.]

    However, Minhyuk did not stop pressuring Belo with his strength. Belo''s sword was pushed down.

    Then¡­

    aash!

    Minhyuk''s sword cut through Belo''s waist.

    "Ugh!"

    [Three Consecutive Quick Assault]

    [Your attacks will have three consecutive strikes.]

    One of two afterimages cut through his sides deeply.

    ash!

    [Your HP is less than 20%]

    "N, no¡­"

    Before Belo could even finish his words, thest of the afterimages finally prated halfway through his sides.

    sh!

    At the moment of his death, Belo dropped a ring artifact and gold.

    Tap, tap, tap, tap!

    The remaining wizard user was easily handled. He also dealt with the user who fell down and forced them to log-out. Minhyuk also dealt with the final remaining user quickly and neatly.

    He then picked up the gold and artifacts that dropped.

    [You have acquired 7, 580, 000 gold.]

    [You have acquired the Owl Bear''s Warrior Armor.]

    [You have acquired Smander''s Double Ring.]

    [You have acquired the Werewolf''s Mane.]

    [You have acquired the Land of Gold''s Map.]

    Minhyuk was a bit surprised at the items that dropped from those four users.

    The other guy, Roy, did not even drop any gold before. But today, the guy named Belo dropped a lot of gold.

    The rate of gold drop from killed users would range from 1~80%. If the user''s reputation was high then the probability of items and gold dropping would sharply increase if the enemy user was in a temporary chaotic state or in a semi-permanent chaotic state.

    Among the items that dropped, Minhyuk was particrly interested in the Smander''s Double Ring.

    The ring artifacts in Athenae were divided into several different rankings. There was the normal ring, then there was the double ring that was better than the normal one. Finally, there was the triple ring that was the best among all of the rings.

    I heard that it has quite a high value in won.

    It was worth about 30 million gold.

    Minhyuk checked the artifact''s information.

    (Smander''s Double Ring)

    ss: Unique

    Restrictions: 60 STR

    Durability: 1,625 / 3,000

    Defensive Power: 78

    Special Abilities: ¡ª Skill: Smander''s ze.

    He read that the skill Smander''s ze would spout out a small me whenever the user attacks or defends. It was also written that the me would inflict continuous damage on the enemy user.

    This was the reason why there was a sudden me that soared the moment his sword shed with Belo''s sword earlier.

    In a way, Smander''s ze could be considered as a magical attack.

    In addition, novice users would not have any magical defence yet. The artifact seemed like it would prove to be useful. And it also has some value since it was a double ring.

    Minhyuk decided to wear the ring himself.

    He also estimated that the rare Owl Bear''s Warrior Armor would be about 2 million gold.

    "The Land of Gold?"

    Minhyuk tilted his head in curiosity as he clicked on the map.

    (The Land of Gold''s Map)

    Restrictions: Lv130

    Description: ¡ªCurrently in a sealed state.

    The Land of Gold was in a sealed state since Minhyuk''s level had not reached the required level.

    Minhyuk watched them disappear in a grey light. He hit the ground once and decided to log out.

    "I''m going to sell the things that I don''t need, then I''m going to buy something delicious~"

    Minhyuk hummed happily as he logged out.

    ***

    Ahn Seoktae, unlike the other members of the Connection Guild, was the user who logged out earlier.

    "If that''s the only thing that you will do then get out of the house!"

    "Shit. What''s the problem with you!"

    As a three-time student [2], he once again had a big fight with his mother who barged in his room today.

    He sighed as he picked up his mobile phone.

    "This bastard, you think this is your house? Get out for me!"

    However, Seoktae did not have the courage to do that.

    When he looked at his phone, his expression suddenly turned strange.

    "Huh?"

    The messages in the group chat of the members who joined the goblin subjugation force was going wild.

    More than 20 calls and messages were sent by Belo, or Lee Sungmin.

    [Sungmin: Ah, fXck. I''m so pissed off. My double ring dropped.]

    "T, this¡­?"

    He let out a gasp in surprise.

    Judging from the situation and the messages they sent in the group chat, it seemed that they were all forced to log-out after raiding the chef user.

    In addition, it looked like Sungmin dropped the expensive artifact that he always liked to brag about every day. It was called Smander''s Double Ring.

    The Smander''s Double Ring had low restrictions and it even had a speed skill attached to it. It was also much more expensive than the normal double ring. It cost about 4 million won in cash.

    ''This fXcking bastard. You bragged about it every day. Serves you right.''

    Seoktae giggled. But the moment he saw the contents of the group chat, his brows furrowed.

    They were currently logged out and could not ess the game. That was why they were discussing what they should do about this matter.

    [Sungmin: Ha, fXck. Whatever we do, we should beat that bastard up. We should clear his level down to 0.]

    [KimHyeoseok: (emoticon)]

    Hyeoseok, one of his friends, only sent a green duck emoticon in the group chat. He didn''t know what to say to make them feel better.

    And then¡­

    [Sungmin: Seoktae, you bXtch. Why are you not saying anything when you''re checking the group chat, don''t you know that the one who doesn''t reply with even 1 letter is a scumbag?]

    [Seoktae: Ah, Sry [3]. I was doing something.]

    [Sungmin: I see that you''re still alive. No, I''m going to make a call.]

    Seoktae soon saw the bell ringing on his phone. The caller ID was listed as ''The Greatest BXtch-nim.''

    ''Ah, what the hell is wrong with this bastard.''

    He clicked his tongue. He wouldn''t hang out with him if it wasn''t for his money.

    Then he answered the phone.

    "Hello?"

    [Oh, hey. Do you want to hear about the amazing method that I have thought of?]

    ''Ye, ye. Sure.''

    Seoktae thought of just perfunctorily agreeing with him.

    "A brilliant method?"

    [Uh-huh. You know that there''s an Orc Vige 2km away from the camp, right?]

    There was.

    The Orc Vige was a hunting ground for users at the same level as Seoktae.

    [And you''re a thief user, so go and drive those subjugation bastards down to the ground.]

    "Huh¡­¡­? What are you talking about?"

    [Aiiii. You''re a frustrating rascal. We''ve lost our hidden dungeon anyway. So let''s just raid the subjugation force. And hit that chef bastard to death on the way. Ah, no. Won''t the orcs kill them?]

    ''Wow, look at this tricky shit¡­''

    It''s not that bad of a n.

    Seoktae was a quick-footed thief. And orcs are mob monsters that usually attack first so it would be easy for him to lead them there. A single haste was enough for him to take those orcs to the subjugation force''s campsite.

    ''But what about the other users¡­¡­''

    However, before he could even think about the welfare of the other users further, he heard Sungmin say¡­

    [If you seed, you will get the original promised money including the share of the others and I would add an additional 200,000 for you.]

    "R, really?!"

    [I''m your hyung, you punk. I will naturally not take back what I said. Will you do it?]

    "Ooooooh. I''ll do it!"

    Seoktae nodded his head. It wasn''t a difficult job. Because of his greed, he quickly threw away his guilty conscience about the other users who would potentially die.

    Once the call was over¡­

    "Kuhahahaha, it''s almost about 4 million won!"

    He shouted in joy.

    At that moment¡­

    "Are you still not sleeping?!"

    He heard his mom''s angry voice. Shocked with his mom''s voice, he timidly answered back.

    "I, I will go to sleep noooooow¡­¡­"

    Of course he had to go and sleep.

    ***

    Oh Changwook came out to get a drink after waking up early in the morning.

    There were quite a few people who were living in Minhyuk''s 150-pyeong house.

    As he went towards the refrigerator to get a cup of water, he checked Athenae''s official homepage.

    Smartphone addiction!

    It was already a habit for him to check the best posts in Athenae''s official homepage as soon as he woke up.

    He then saw Minhyuking out of his room.

    "You''re awake?"

    "Why did you get up this early?"

    "Huhuhuhuhu."

    Minhyuk smiled meaningfully at him. He thought of what he would eat this morning after finishing off Belo and his backstabbing friendsst night.

    "You''ll be offended if you know. Huhuhu¡­"

    "I''m getting offended just by looking at your expression."

    Oh Changwook suddenly paused when he saw the best posts that he was checking out.

    ''What''s this?''

    This was what was written in the best post¡­

    [A low-leveled chef''s normal tonkatsu.]

    "Normal tonkatsu?"

    Minhyuk''s expression turned strange when he heard his words.

    Oh Changwookughed when he checked the post.

    "This is fake, this should be made by a craftsman. Sigh. What are they even saying¡­¡­?"

    "Is it a normal tonkatsu?"

    Changwook showed his smartphone when Minhyuk approached him.

    "Hey, look at this. Did you see? This was made by a Lv20 Chef. The attacking and defensive power increased? Sigh. Seriously, these guys are attention-seekers."

    Minhyuk looked at his smartphone.

    3rd best post.

    There were over a thousandments on the post. There was even a screenshot of the buff alert attached on the post after they had eaten Minhyuk''s normal tonkatsu.

    "Was this really that unbelievable?"

    "Look at thements."

    Minhyuk turned his attention towards thements section.

    [sfkkf62: It''s clearly fake. It''s annoying so let''s have a calm and quiet night.]

    [MemilkunsLove: Why, are you saying that you''re the captain of the cooks? Or was it cancer? My father is the president, if I fart then the doctors wille running to me and diagnose me with just the smell.]

    [gsffdfl3: This isn''t real, right?]

    [jvfgncvmll: I''m currently a chef user. I can tell you that that''s impossible. And the number 1 chef user in the country, Kim Seokhyun, said that that is a lot of buff and that it''spletely fake.]

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] I searched and there really was a big headed character in maplestory. Lol. It''s name is Big Headward. Lmao.

    [2] ??? a student who''s preparing to take the exams for the third time after failing the first two times.

    [3] ?? an abbreviation for ???? or sorry.

    TL''s corner!!!

    Kim Seokhyun is so malicious. He''s trying to spread bad rumors about Minhyuk. Saying that he''s bluffing the buffs. Bad.

    ALSO. Idk what happened to the previously named Two Consecutive Quick Assault, it suddenly became three. Perhaps it leveled up?

    QC¡¯s corner!

    Kim Seokhyun is just jealous he can¡¯t do what our Minhyuk can, despite supposedly being the best chef in the country. Lol.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 39 - The Battlefields Dominator

    Chapter 39: The Battlefield''s Dominator

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    QC: MattForgenti

    The others thought that it was fake but Minhyuk just grinned at theirments.

    "I''m the person who made that."

    However, Changwook did not believe him and just answered him in a perfunctory way.

    "Ye, ye. I''m sure it''s you. No one can stop our king of lies, Minhyuk."

    "But it''s true."

    "Ah, sure. Minhyuk-ssi who''s a Lv15 will p even the number 1 ranker in the cheek."

    "Hmph."

    Minhyuk sipped his water while Changwook continued to scroll down.

    "If it''s really you then I will call you hyung, I will also open the door for you and ask you if you have eaten yet."

    While he was scrolling through the post, his expression suddenly became amazed.

    "Hey, that person posted a picture too?"

    He continued to scroll down and looked at the newestments.

    "Wow, he''s even posting the user''s picture as an identification and rification that it''s not fake. What bull¡­"

    When Changwook scrolled down his smartphone, he saw the picture of a man eating on his phone.

    "......"

    "......"

    "Hyung-nim, have you eaten yet?"

    It was such a quick switch in attitude!

    "Not yet, you rascal."

    "......Yes. Ohe on."

    "Oya."

    "B, but hyung-nim."

    "?"

    "Is this really real?"

    Minhyuk nodded his head as Changwook suddenly turned speechless.

    ''A fraudulent buff skill that even caught Kim Seokhyun''s eyes¡­''

    As he was thinking that, Minhyuk coughed loudly as he started to go to his room.

    "Ahem. Hey, male servant."

    Oh Changwook quickly ran and opened the door for him.

    "I have troubled you a lot."

    Minhyuk patted his shoulders and went inside. He then proceeded towards his capsule and essed Athenae.

    ***

    After essing Athenae, Minhyuk went to the kitchen carriage. He was already cooking at the time when all of the people of the subjugation forces were still asleep.

    The weather was quite cold that if you talked and blew on your hands you would see a cloud of white foging out of your mouth.

    It might be a bit heavy for a cold day like this but I still feel that I should try it out.

    ''Should I make this for the soldiers to eat~''

    The soldiers breakfast menu for the day was different from what Minhyuk was going to eat. He made this purely because he wanted to eat it.

    Bubble, bubble, bubble¡ª

    A bright red soup was boiling in the earthen pot. It was a food filled with thick bs of meat and plenty of greens.

    It was bone hangover soup.

    It was a food that could easily be bought for 7,000 ~ 8,000 won. Whenever colleagues and friends gather together and ask ''What should we eat for lunch today?'' the answer would most likely be bone hangover soup.

    You could enjoy meat at a low price and after finishing off the meat you could also savor the taste of the spicy soup with rice. Wouldn''t you agree that this was the best food ever?

    "He¡­¡­"

    Once the soup finished boiling, Minhyuk carried a spoon over. The meat in the backbones were sprinkled with some sesame seeds[1] on it.

    He thendled out some soup and sprinkled it with more sesame seed powder. The sesame seed powder''s vor would spread in the soup and would make the taste of the bone hangover soup more mellow and soft.

    "Theeeen, let''s try this guy now."

    He picked up a set of bones and carried it to his te.

    "Hot, hot, hot."

    Since the backbone was just picked out of the piping hot earthen pot, he easily felt the heat when he grabbed them.

    After dipping the bones in the seasonings, he grabbed the bones and pulled them hard.

    "Waaaaaaa."

    The bones were easily separated. Steam quickly rose from the separated bones and appetizing meat was revealed from inside.

    He picked the meat and ced it in his mouth.

    "Chew, chew."

    Since the bones were stewed well, the meat that he chewed was tender and soft. Sometimes, when you visit a bad restaurant, the meat would definitely be hard and chewy.

    "This, this is a bone hangover soup that a good restaurant has!"

    Minhyuk smiled brightly as he used the spoon to scoop some of the bright red soup. He blew on it happily with a hoo! hoo! sound. Once it cooled down a bit, he sipped on the spoon to taste it.

    "Kgghk!"

    The soup was just the right amount of spicy and could make you feel warm inside.

    It''s now time to get started.

    He had a small bowl filled with soy sauce and a wasabi on the side. He added as much wasabi as he wanted on the soy sauce and stirred it. Once the soy sauce and the wasabi met, it exuded an enticing glow.

    Minhyuk picked another piece of bone with his hands. He dipped it in the wasabi sauce and chewed on it.

    "Chew!"

    The wasabi has a pungent and stinging vor but it had a sweet aftertaste. The tender and spicy meat met with the pungent vor of the wasabi and gave off a pleasant harmony.

    A happy smile hung around Minhyuk''s mouth.

    Minhyuk could taste the savory taste of the meat that he sucked in between the cracks of the backbones.

    He followed the truth that the bone hangover soup would taste better if you rip the bones off and suck the meat up.

    Once he finished sucking on the bone, he threw it towards arge bowl.

    Slurp¡ª slurp¡ª

    After he sucked the leftover sauce from his fingers, he wiped his hands with wet wipes. Then, he scooped a big spoonful of rice and put it in his mouth.

    He roughly ate the soup in that state.

    "Kghhk, ah. A bottle of soju would be nice here."

    After having such a sad thought, he scooped out the greens in the soup. Then he poured the soup and the vegetables on top of his rice and ced a big bite in his mouth.

    Chew, chew¡ª

    The rice that was soaked with the soup was softened and easily chewed over.

    When he finished eating the bones from the bone hangover soup earlier, he left a piece of bone forter.

    He tore the meat off of the bones and dropped it in his soup. He then dropped the white rice in the bowl of bone hangover soup and pressed on it hard. Once he finished pressing on the rice, he scooped a bite and savored the taste.

    The harmony of the spicy soup and the well-cooked rice is perfect.

    Minhyuk also tried the pickled onions, a side dish usually served with the bone hangover soup in restaurants. The pickled onion had a sweet and sour vor. After trying the pickled onion, he also took a bite of kkakdugi and chewed on it earnestly.

    Crunch, crunch¡ª

    The sound of kkakdugi being chewed was oddly cheerful.

    Then, he took a bite of the well-ripened kimchi.

    "Ah, bone hangover soup. You''re very delicious."

    Minhyuk was so impressed with the taste that he ate everything in one sitting. He did not even leave a drop of soup in the bowl.

    Minhyuk grinned when he saw his empty bowl.

    "Clear."

    [You have eaten a bone hangover soup.]

    [Your attack power and defensive power will be increased by 7% for 8 hours.]

    Minhyuk was experimenting with his skills.

    No matter how much he loved eating he would still be interested in the skills that he acquired.

    He wanted to see how much his buffs would increase every time he made food and ate it.

    I''m curious as to how far its limits are.

    Besides he always had a lot of fun whenever he was cooking.

    Suddenly, Minhyuk recalled what happened yesterday.

    ''It''s better to be strong than being weak.''

    So I can eat more delicious foodter!

    There were many people ahead of him that might want to take those away from him.

    Minhyuk started to prepare to make meals while he tapped on his warm stomach.

    ***

    They have been preparing for the breakfast meal for quite some time.

    "It''s noisy outside."

    The subjugation force has finally arrived at the Bordy ins.

    The troops were pushing and fighting against the goblins fiercely the moment they arrived at the Bordy ins.

    "We have to move quickly. We''re going to serve the meals soon."

    "Yes."

    Minhyuk sped up his work.

    At that moment¡­

    [Ingredient Tracking Skill.]

    [The search for the ingredients is sessful.]

    [The essence of the Orc Tribe Leader has the characteristics to revive the sense of taste.]

    [The dish is avable for Lv1 Food God''s Cooking Skills.]

    [Suggested Menu: Tangsuyuk.]

    "......?!"

    Minhyuk was so surprised that his movements stopped for a moment.

    "What''s wrong?"

    "N, nothing."

    It was within 1km.

    If he used the essence of the Orc Tribe Leader then he would be able to make a dish that would revive the sense of taste.

    ***

    The subjugation force was fiercely dealing with the goblins.

    m!

    Soldier Vto pierced a goblin''s head with his spear. He then looked around his surroundings.

    "Huwaa¡­¡­!"

    After roughly exhaling a breath of relief, he saw that the others were already starting to clean up and finish off their battles.

    Mabal was also running on horseback and checking out the overall situation.

    "It''s all done, I''m hungry!"

    "I''m also dying of hunger, can we eat Minhyukie''s food?!"

    "Minhyukie is going to leave soon. I don''t think that I would be able to eat my missus'' cooking."

    They were all already looking forward to what surprise they would get in today''s breakfast.

    As they were thinking about the approaching time¡­

    Rumbleeee!

    The ground began to shake.

    "Hmm?"

    The troops tilted their heads in confusion.

    "What?"

    "It sounds like the trampling of feet¡­¡­"

    The users also looked around in curiosity.

    Mabal, the leader of the subjugation force, hurriedly pulled out his telescope to check the situation from the direction of the sound.

    He then saw the things that were making the sound¡­

    "T, this¡­¡­!"

    His eyes widened in shock.

    There was one user running at high speed at the lead and there were thirty orcs chasing after him.

    And it wasn''t just that¡­

    Among them was the Lv50 Orc Tribe Leader.

    "Gasp¡­!"

    Mabal''s forehead creased in worry.

    There wererge numbers of goblins running their way in escape after being shocked by the heavy sound of footsteps.

    But Mabal was an NPC.

    And there was no room for retreat.

    All they could do was advance forward.

    "Everyone pull out your swords, we must defend the Bordy ins!"

    The soldiers started to pull themselves up.

    "It''s orcs. There are a bunch of orcsing this way!"

    "T, they''re huge!"

    The average level of the soldiers in the subjugation force was 25. In fact, since it was a novice subjugation force its main purpose was to attract the users.

    The orcs were gradually getting closer.

    Mabal had a hunch¡­

    ''At least half of us will die here.''

    And Mabal was an NPC that would still join the hunt even if half of his troops would die.

    The soldiers started toe forward.

    "Chiiiiiik!"

    "Chwiiik, chwiik, humans¡­ Over there¡­!"

    The orcs were getting closer and closer.

    "Oh my lord¡­¡­"

    "Oh, Harmen [2]."

    "Ah, XXX are you not going to log-out?!"

    "Won''t we be like fXcking cowards if we logged out from a novice subjugation force?!"

    The users were moring in shock.

    At that moment¡­

    Vto who was standing at the forefront saw someone arrive beside him.

    "New recruit! Boy, you shouldn''t be here. Go back!"

    "Delicious Tangsuyuk. Pouring instead of dipping."

    Minhyuk only stared at the orcs.

    Tangsuyuk.

    Isn''t it like the TOP of Chinese cuisine?

    It was a true pleasure to have a set of two jjajangmyeon and tangsuyuk for 18,000 won. It was the best food to eat when you just got up and had nothing to do during the weekends.

    Minhyuk really wanted to eat tangsuyuk.

    He was already gulping even if his mouth was dry.

    Finding a way to save Len''s taste was just like a free fried dumpling service on the side!

    "Let''s eat!"

    [Bardy Swordsmanship]

    [All 5 basic stats have a +12 increase for 6 minutes.]

    "What can a weak military chef like you do!"

    The orcs were already near their vicinity.

    The fastest orc, that was on the lead, targeted Minhyuk as he swung its rusty axe.

    "Chwiiiiiiiiiiik!"

    At that moment, everyone''s attention was focused on them. They even forgot that foreigners would be able toe back to life even if they died.

    It was because the situation was very urgent.

    Vto shouted at him.

    "I, I''m supposed to introduce you to my daughter¡­¡­! N, no! You''ll die!"

    As he was shouting, Minhyuk threw a punch forward.

    Punch!

    "Kuuaaack!"

    The orc rolled back from the force.

    "Pak-ssi! Tell your boss toe out!"

    Minhyuk lightly punched his fist together.

    Another orc tried to bypass him and attack Vto.

    Bang!

    Grrrrrrr!

    Minhyuk''s sword easily cut down his opponent. The mes from the sword quickly covered the orc.

    "Chwiiiik, chwiiiiik, h, hot!"

    [Smander''s ze]

    [The attack will inflict continuous damage to the enemy.]

    He analyzed a lot of things in this fight.

    ''If I increase the morale of the soldiers then my favorability will also increase!''

    But how can I do that?

    "Phew, they''re not that much of a big deal! I''m just a novice chef after all, you''re not running away are you? Soldier-nims?"

    "Oooh¡­¡­ A, are they really not that big of a deal?!"

    "Wow, that weak new recruit beat the orcs easily!"

    ''I, isn''t that too sloppy¡­''

    "Let''s gooooooo!"

    "Help the new recruit!"

    "Waaaaaaaaaaah!"

    The soldiers started to shout loudly.

    Mabal, who was sitting on top of the horse, narrowed his eyes at him.

    ''He''s fast¡­¡­ And he even deliberately raised the morale of the soldiers.''

    That guy knows his stuff.

    As he thought of that, the soldiers and the orcs finally shed.

    "Chwiiiiiik!"

    "Chwiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiik!"

    Swoooosh!

    [Vital Strike]

    [Additional 17% attack power if attack is sessful.]

    Stab!

    [Three Consecutive Quick Assault]

    [Your attacks will have three consecutive strikes.]

    He quickly began to stab through his opponents.

    Stab!

    Baaaang!

    Fwoooooom!

    Minhyuk was running around and killing in the whole battlefield. The soldiers were in awe.

    "Wow¡­¡­!"

    "N, new recruit¡­¡­! That''s an awful lot!"

    At that moment, he heard the sound of a notification.

    [You have acquired 1 Charisma.]

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] ???? : dg to HH and Skye, this could be sesame seeds or peri seeds powder. If it was sprinkled right before eating then it could be sesame seeds but if it was the other way around then it''s probably peri seeds powder. Kek. Apparently sesame and peri are under the same order. So they''re still highly rted.

    [2] Idk what they want to say by this but it says that Harmen means soldier, there''s also a painting by a dutch artist Harmen that has a skull, i think it was called vanitas

    TL''s corner!!!

    Man, I want to eat that soup too. Sigh. When can I go to KR and binge eat these things.

    QC¡¯s corner!

    Yup, another entry into the ever-growing list of food I now need to eat. I swear, I¡¯m going to be broke because of this story. No regrets though!

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 40 - The Battlefields Dominator

    Chapter 40: The Battlefield''s Dominator

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    QC: MattForgenti

    The Charisma stat was a stat that was extremely hard to get. However, it was a very useful stat.

    Assuming that there were NPCs under a city''s wing, then they would most likely trust and follow Minhyuk since he has the Charisma stat.

    "Kwaaaaaaaaa!"

    Minhyuk heard a wild and violent roar. The roar sounded near. It was the roar signaling the arrival of the Orc Tribe Leader.

    The Orc Tribe Leader has a ne made out of animal bones around its neck. It was standing at a height that reached 2m 40cm and it had a rusty greatsword in its hands.

    Bang!

    "Chwiiiiiiik!"

    Grrrrrrrrrr!

    [Smander''s ze]

    [The attack will inflict continuous damage to the enemy.]

    Minhyuk, who just finished cutting off another orc, started to prate through the ranks of the orcs.

    ash!

    m!

    Minhyuk was like a skilled veteran as he continuously shed and hacked through the swarm of orcs.

    Before he knew it, he had already arrived near the Orc Tribe Leader.

    Vwoooooooooom!

    aaaaaang!

    The Orc Tribe Leader swung its rusty sword towards Minhyuk. Just based on the sound it produced while it was swung, the Orc Tribe Leader definitely used a great amount of strength on this strike.

    Minhyuk quickly stepped back to avoid its sword.

    [Haste]

    [Your movement speed and attack speed have increased by 1.3 times for 10 seconds.]

    Minhyuk''s body speed has increased to its utmost.

    ''There''s 10 seconds before the skill will go on cooldown.''

    He quickly used the vital strike and the three consecutive quick attacks.

    Before the skill gets on cooldown, I have to cut off its HP as much as possible.

    Swoosh!

    aaaaaaash!

    "Chwiiik!"

    The orc standing near the side of the Orc Tribe Leader was flung away when it swung its sword.

    Minhyuk took the opportunity and stabbed at its side with Vn.

    Bang!

    Minhyuk failed to prate through the Orc Tribe Leader''s thick leather armor.

    ''My stab is too shallow, this will not work.''

    Fwoooom!

    aaash!

    The greatsword was falling down on him from above. He quickly circled around the orc to avoid the attack. Once he avoided the attack, he saw that the sword was stuck on the ground.

    Minhyuk quickly analyzed the situation.

    ''The greatsword is heavy and its movements need to be a bit bigger to swing it properly. This means that if it fails its attack then I will be able to get two chances to attack.''

    And just like it was agreeing with his analysis, the Orc Tribe Leader showed a huge gap before it could wield its greatsword again.

    ''Just like now!''

    Minhyuk used this chance to kick it hard on its shins.

    "Grack!"

    The orc flinched in pain.

    Before it could pull its sword out of the ground¡­

    aash!

    Minhyuk shed twice on its chest. He was finally able to cut through its leather armor. Green blood dripped from its cross-marked wound.

    "Keuaaaaaaack!"

    The orc screamed harshly and swung its sword indiscriminately in Minhyuk''s general direction.

    Fwooom!

    Fwooooosh!

    ''This type depends on the STR and STM. But it will definitely be disadvantageous when it fights with someone equipped with speed and technique.''

    Those who were equipped with speed and technique were only allowed to have minimal damage.

    aaash!

    "Uhm!"

    Minhyuk kicked the sides of the Tribal Leader who was wielding its sword. With how heavy its strength was, he needed to get out of its range. The kick pushed his body aside and allowed him to breathe easily and slip out of its swinging range.

    Minhyuk rolled once and confirmed his skills cooldown.

    [Three Consecutive Quick Assault]

    [Your attacks will have three consecutive strikes.]

    He quickly stood up and stabbed his sword towards the orc''s side with all his might.

    Swooosh!

    The tip of his sword burrowed into the leather armor and stopped. However, the next afterimage continued to squeeze through the gap and stab through its body.

    Stab!

    "Keuhaaaaack!"

    And the final afterimage¡­

    Staaaaaab!

    "Aaaaaaaack!"

    [Vital Strike]

    [Additional 17% attack power if attack is sessful.]

    Minhyuk quickly pulled his sword out of the orc''s sides and stabbed through its neck.

    Stab!

    The sword prated through the Orc Tribe Leader''s neck.

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [..... leveled up.]

    Counting all of the notifications he has heard since earlier, his level has increased by 7.

    Spurt!

    Green blood spurted out from the Orc Tribe Leader''s neck when Minhyuk drew out his sword.

    He spat out a heavy breath and looked around the battlefield. After analyzing the situation of the whole area, he quickly made a decision.

    "New recruit Minhyuk!"

    He shouted loudly.

    All the soldiers listened to his voice amidst their fierce battles.

    "The enemy leader. I have sessfully hunted the Orc Tribe Leader!"

    "Waaaaaaaah!"

    "The enemy leader is dead!"

    "Minhyuk! Minhyuk! Minhyuk!"

    Excited roars rang loudly from the battlefield.

    [You have acquired 1 charisma.]

    [The Subjugation Force has hunted boss monsters that are 30 levels above their current level.]

    [You have obtained the title: The Battlefield''s Ruler.]

    Minhyuk discovered an item and an artifact that dropped from the Orc Tribe Leader.

    It was a small bottle that was about 200mL in volume and the greatsword of the Orc Tribe Leader. There was also more than 100,000 gold that dropped.

    [You have acquired the Orc Tribe Leader''s essence.]

    [You have acquired the Orc Tribe Leader''s greatsword.]

    [You have acquired 172,313 gold.]

    Minhyuk quickly moved after hearing the notifications, he couldn''t afford the time to check on the items that he had just received.

    The soldiers¡¯ morale might have increased and they were fighting vigorously against the orcs, but there were still one or two of them who would fall down helplessly against the enemies.

    "I, is that really a chef¡­¡­?"

    Runie was watching his figure in awe.

    "......Wow!"

    She couldn''t help but let out a gasp of admiration.

    Minhyuk went all over the battlefield. He would hit an orc with a fatal blow or kick it hard that it would be difficult for it to fight back against the soldiers. The soldiers would then swarm towards those orcs and dispose of them quickly.

    At that moment¡­

    Vto finally stabbed thest enemy orc with his spear.

    "As expected of our son-inw, you''re amazing! You definitely deserve my daughter!"

    ''......I wholeheartedly refuse!''

    Minhyuk quickly avoided his fervent gaze.

    "Waaaaaaaaaah!"

    "Minhyuk! Minhyuk! Minhyuk!"

    Mabal calmly looked at his troops. Every soldier of his troops was gathered near Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk quickly checked the items that he received when he found a gap.

    (Orc Tribe Leader''s Essence)

    Material Grade: C

    Special Abilities: ¡ª Has the ability to revive the sense of taste.

    Description: It was said that the essence of the Orc Tribe Leader can maximize or revive a person''s sense of taste. It is a quest item, it can also be sold in stores.

    ''As expected¡­!''

    Minhyuk''s prediction was correct. It was really a type of quest item.

    He then proceeded to check the remaining items one by one.

    (Orc Tribe Leader''s Greatsword)

    ss: Unique

    Restrictions: Lv40, 70 STR

    Durability: 3,261 / 5,000

    Attack Power: 320

    Special Abilities:

    ¡ª STR +7, AGI +5

    ¡ª Skill: Fighting Spirit

    "Well, it''s not that bad."

    It was a unique item. However Vn was still better than it. There was only one reason¡­ Even though it''s attacking power was at 320, it''s swing was very limited and would definitely slow down the user wielding the sword.

    Minhyuk preferred to hone his technique and use his speed in fighting.

    It was now also added to the list of ''Things I will sell to buy delicious things.''

    And finally.

    (The Battlefield''s Ruler)

    Unique Title

    Restrictions: Below Lv150

    Title Effects: ¡ª A +10 increase in all 5 basic stats and a 10% increase in critical hit damage when fighting monsters with a 25 level difference or higher.

    The title is pretty good.

    Compared to the other title he had received, this one has a restriction on it. The restrictions on the title meant that the title effect would disappear once the user exceeded Lv150.

    When he finally finished checking all his loot¡­

    "How about the injuries?!"

    "Yes, there are four soldiers with minor injuries and one soldier that was seriously injured."

    The enemy was certainly the victim in this case.

    Mabal stood in front of Minhyuk.

    "New recruit. Excellent work. Because of you we were able to obtain victory with only minimal damage."

    "No, I only did what I had to do as a soldier."

    Mabal smiled at him.

    "Boy, you have excellent cooking skills and your swordsmanship and leadership skills does not fall behind either. Do you want to be a centurion [1]? I can personally write you a rmendation letter."

    [Mabal, themander of the Subjugation Force, offered a rmendation to you.]

    [Once person A epts the Centurion position, you will receive 100 soldiers under yourmand and the support of the Empire.]

    "Heok¡­¡­!"

    "I, it''s directly a centurion and not a decurion [2]!"

    The users were very shocked.

    A centurion not only would have 100 soldiers under theirmand, they would also receive 5 million gold every month as support. In addition, the promotion for a centurion was easy. Once they be a knight then it was a sure guarantee that they would receive 15 million gold as support.

    It was a very stable job just like a ''military'' in real life.

    But was everyone the same?

    I don''t like being a soldier even if it''s a stable job!

    "I''m sorry but I refuse."

    "Hmm¡­¡­"

    Mabal looked very disappointed.

    When Minhyuk saw his expression, his brain started to roll so he could keep his favorability with him.

    "I still amcking in a lot of ways. Captain."

    "Hmm?"

    "I still have to go further if I want to protect Isbin Vige, no, the Eivelis Empire. I still want to grind and polish my skills. At that time, when I''m finally satisfied with myself then I''lle and find you, Mabal-nim!"

    "Ooooooooh¡­! Boy, you''re really modest!"

    [Mabal''s favorability has increased.]

    Of course that was what he said but Minhyuk would definitely not find Mabal for that.

    At that moment¡­

    "Ugh, aaaaack!"

    Amotion suddenly broke out among the users.

    When he turned around, he saw the user that led the orcs towards where they were.

    "Ah, fXcker. You were the one who carried the orcs. You bastard. You''re the reason why all of us almost got knocked down!"

    Then¡­

    Staaab!

    The user was brutally forced to log-out.

    ''Tch.''

    Minhyuk, who clicked his tongue in annoyance, saw Len from the distance. Len was looking at him with his thumb raised in an approving gesture.

    Minhyuk smiled brightly at him.

    ***

    The Bordy ins subjugation ended safely. After finishing the subjugation, the troops immediately began their return to Isbin Vige.

    There was something called ''The Light of the Sun.'' in the Bordy ins. It was said that the light of the sun was not able to work because of the invasion of the goblins. The subjugation of these goblins was considered to be amon quest. And now that the subjugation was over the Sun''s Wheat could now be grown and harvested in Isbin Vige once again.

    The rewards would be given 4 days after returning to the vige. They would be receiving it in front of the military training center.

    Minhyuk has already spoken to Len earlier.

    ''You''re telling me not to have lunch tomorrow?''

    With an air of excitement around him, Minhyuk looked at him happily.

    ''It would be better to wearfortable clothes, won''t it be better if it''s something that you can scratch your butt in?! Let''s have a rxing day!''

    "Scratch my butt?"

    Len grinned as he stared at the sky.

    He did not see it personally but he heard it from the other soldiers. Minhyuk was the one who killed the Orc Tribe Leader.

    He thought that maybe it was fate. This was definitely a way to avoid the sanctions from the Gods of Athenae.

    Maybe that item finally felt that the person that it needed to go to is finally here.

    ''My disciple will save my sense of taste.''

    What would it feel like to taste the vor of the food?

    Will I feel happy? Will it make meugh? Or will I cry the moment I eat?

    He was looking forward to it.

    ***

    It was a quiet weekend. It was a weekend where you definitely wouldn''t want to go anywhere. It was the best day to just lie down and breathe.

    It was a day where you would sleep around until around 1 o''clock and wake up feeling a bit hungry.

    And there was only one food that woulde to mind at times like this.

    A Chinese dish like jjajangmyeon.

    After eating a 5,000 won worth of jjajangmyeon, one would definitely feel like they wanted to lie down on the sofa and aimlessly watch TV.

    Minhyuk wanted to feel that way. And he also wanted to make Len feel that too.

    He quickly essed Athenae. Once he arrived in the game, he directly went to the kitchen carriage.

    The Chinese dishes that were supposed to be distributed to the returning subjugation forces today were reced withbat rations. That was the reason why Len had a leisurely break today.

    Minhyuk first made jjajangmyeon and jjamppong.

    Aren''t the sweet vor of the jjajangmyeon and the refreshing taste of jjamppong a must for a day like this?

    After finishing both of the dishes, he quickly ced it in his food storage inventory.

    Then, after frying the pork for the tangsuyuk, he gathered his attention and started making its sauce.

    The sweet and sour sauce of tangsuyuk could be made either from catsup or soy sauce. Or if one preferred a sweeter taste, then it wasn''t bad to make a sauce from fruits like pineapple or kiwi.

    Minhyuk chose soy sauce for his sauce.

    Next, he prepared the ingredients needed for the sauce. Onions, carrots, wood mushrooms, water, vinegar, sugar and starch. The starch would act as a thickener for the sauce.

    First, he stir-fried the onions and carrots. After stir frying it for a while, he would then add the water.

    Fwiiiish!

    The smell of onions being cooked in the pan would always stimte the nose. In addition, the carrots would make the dish much more appetizing by adding a ssh of color in it.

    This time, Minhyuk was doing his best in cooking this dish.

    This dish would be the first dish that Len would taste so it was just a matter of course that he made it more delicious.

    After all of the ingredients were stir-fried, he then added the water. The water was of course the essence of the Orc Tribe Leader.

    As he poured the water in, he also added the soy sauce and sugar. If sugar was added at this time, then its vor would be able to prate deeper in the other ingredients.

    Once the seasonings were added correctly, add the starch to a separate bowl of water and stir it well.

    He made sure that there was an appropriate amount of starch in the bowl. The starch mixture was stirred well to make sure that it waspletely dissolved in the water. Once the starch mixture was ready, he slowly poured it into the boiling sauce. He then stirred the sauce with hisdle to help it thicken evenly.

    Once the fire was turned off at the appropriate time, the sauce would bepleted.

    After he finished cooking, Minhyuk swiped the sweat off of his forehead.

    He had never felt this way before. He was sure that he would definitely enjoy the vor of the food, but what about Len''s reaction once he tasted the food?

    Will he feel happy? Will he find it delicious? What would he feel after tasting something for the first time in his life?

    That was what he thought.

    "Done."

    As soon as Minhyuk said that he was done, a notification rang in his head.

    [Please choose the main dish.]

    Just like with the ingredients, when he cooked various dishes he would be asked to choose. It was the same in this case where he was asked to choose the main dish.

    And whenever Minhyuk was ''done'' eating or he pleted'' a dish it would not wait for him and just pop out in front of him.

    "Tangsuyuk. Increase the buff as much as it can."

    Minhyuk''s hands moved ridiculously fast when he was cooking.

    He has already essed Athenae and checked all of the recipes through Athenae''s search function.

    His hands continued to move skillfully. At that moment, he heard the notifications ring in his head.

    [You havepleted a tangsuyuk.]

    [Trance. It''s a dish that has your ''soul'' poured into it.]

    [The dish''s rank is Rare.]

    [You have acquired 1 DEX.]

    [You have acquired 2 reputation points.]

    [You have acquired 200 achievement points.]

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] Centurion (???) : a Commander of a centuria. Centuria is the smallest unit in the Roman legion. A roman legion has 6,000 soldiers, with each legion divided into 10 cohorts and each cohorts divided into 6 centuria. Therefore a centurion would have 100 soldiers under hismand.

    [2] Decurion (???) : a leader of a squadron. Squadron usually consists of two or more troops, or so I read.

    TL''s corner!!!

    Well, well, well. After torturing my stomach with the bone hangover soup before. I was teased with enough action and I will probably get tortured with tangsuyuk in the next chapter. *drools*

    QC¡¯s corner!

    Minhyuk strikes again, this time we get him cooking and fighting! My stomach growls in anticipation of the next chapter.

    ANNOUNCEMENT

    This will be the fifth and final chapter this week. I was supposed to post it tomorrow but I was asked to do some errands and it will be chaotic. So instead of doing it tomorrow and possibly forgetting it, I decided to post it in advance. New chapters will be posted on the 14th! See you next week!

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 41 - During Weekends Too......

    Chapter 41: During Weekends Too¡­¡­

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    16 During Weekends Too¡­¡­

    "Oh¡­!"

    Minhyuk was a bit surprised.

    My tangsuyuk''s rank is rare?

    He checked on it right away.

    (Tangsuyuk)

    Ingredient Rank: C

    Rank: Rare

    Restrictions: None

    Storage Date: 7 days

    Preservation Time: 24 hours

    Special Abilities:

    ¡ª +10 increase in all stats

    ¡ª +10% increase in critical hit probability.

    ¡ª Permanently revive the sense of taste.

    Description: This dish was made by the disciple for his teacher. He poured his heart and soul into it to make it more delicious. The Orc Tribe Leader''s essence has also further improved its taste.

    "Ol¨¦! [1]"

    Minhyuk lifted his hands in delight. The reason why he was very delighted was because he saw ''further improved its taste'' in the description.

    He was so happy that he got up and even danced Shin-chan''s h dance.

    "H, h~ h, h~"

    In addition, Len would be very happy if he was able to eat a tangsuyuk that was more delicious.

    Minhyuk quickly ced the tangsuyuk in his food storage inventory.

    ''There''s also that Trance.''

    Everything that was written in the Trance skill was ''?''.

    And this was the first hint.

    ording to this hint, Trance could increase the ranking of the dish depending on various factors.

    There were also the achievement points.

    Achievement points were needed in every skill you have in your job ss, it could only be received if the item was made by the user personally. He also heard that achievement points could be used to exchange for items or skill books.

    Minhyuk was now waiting for Len in excitement.

    ***

    Dressed in his mostfortable clothes, Len walked towards the kitchen carriage.

    This was the first dish that was made by his disciple.

    ''I can even taste the dish¡­¡­''

    He chuckled lightly. As soon as he entered the kitchen, he saw Minhyuk smiling broadly as he waited for his arrival.

    "Did you rx and take a breather today?!"

    "......But taking a breather is a bit troublesome."

    Len yed along with his tune.

    "Did you wash up?!"

    "I didn''t."

    "What about your butt?!"

    "Hmm¡­¡­"

    He groaned a bit as if what he heard was too much. However, Minhyuk suddenly burst in admiration.

    "Wow! You''re really leisurely."

    "What."

    Len smiled in embarrassment while Minhyuk guided him in front of the table in the kitchen carriage.

    Then he took out the dishes from his food storage inventory.

    He first took out the jjajangmyeon and jjamppong. He took out a great amount of food since he made 20 servings.

    Minhyuk''s eyes narrowed to a slit.

    "Next is the most important main dish."

    Minhyuk pulled out the tangsuyuk out of his inventory.

    The tangsuyuk was well-fried and looked very appetizing. It was so crispy that it could even make a crunching sound just by touching it. The sauce was a bit dark but was glowing brightly.

    He smiled at Len.

    "I specifically prepared this for you, teacher. It''s tangsuyuk made from the essence of the Orc Tribe Leader. It''s actually in the sauce. Huhuhu¡­!"

    "Oh."

    Len was a bit in awe. The smile that was on his face was slowly fading away. He wanted tough but he couldn''t.

    He had never tasted food in his life. Even when he was cooking for others. Tears were about toe out of his eyes.

    And at that moment¡­

    Grab!

    "Boy, what are you doing right now?!"

    "Eh? I''m trying to pour the sauce on the tangsuyuk?"

    "No. Why would you fry it if you''re going to pour the sauce on it? Didn''t you learn that frying food is to make it crispy? I have never taught you this!"

    This was the moment of confrontation between dipping and pouring.

    Minhyuk''s hands pped the table with a bang! when he heard his words.

    "Teacher, you can pour the sauce on the tangsuyuk. This is so the soft and moist breading and the meat will meet and create a fantastic taste."

    "No. Frying food means that you wanted the crispy and crunchy texture. Why would you fry it if you''re going to do that, you should have just stir-fried it!"

    "Teacher doesn''t even know what it tastes like. You haven''t tried pouring it yet, have you?!"

    "Oho. I may not know what it tastes like but I do know something! I should hear the crunch whenever I eat fried food!"

    "Eeck¡­¡­!"

    "Uurck¡­¡­!"

    There was a tension in the air between the two men at odds with each other.

    Then Minhyuk suddenly said¡­

    "Then I will exin it to you logically."

    "Go on."

    "There''s only one reason why you should pour the sauce on tangsuyuk. Teacher. It''s bad to leave food behind, right?"

    "Yeah."

    "If you dip it then you would throw away plenty of sauce. However, if you pour it then the amount of food that you will waste will be less."

    ''My god!''

    Be logical.

    And you would be the one in the right.

    Minhyuk was at least an educated man.

    Not long after, Len suddenly startedughing.

    "Kgghk."

    "Huhu."

    "Hahahahahaha!"

    "Hehe."

    Both of them startedughing together.

    Minhyuk divided the tangsuyuk and made some separately. He poured the sauce in one half then made the other half with a dip.

    Minhyuk hated the gloomy atmosphere but of course he was still a big fanatic of the pouring the sauce.

    "Oho, this way we can both taste the crispy texture of the tangsuyuk and the soft texture of the breadings."

    "That''s right."

    "Then, let''s eat."

    "Please eat this first."

    Minhyuk suggested that Len start eating the tangsuyuk first. Although he was a promoter of dipping it in sauce, he first tried the tangsuyuk soaked in the sauce so his taste would be revived.

    Crunch¡ª

    The sauce was poured not long ago so the breading were still not soggy and the texture was still crispy.

    Crunch, crunch¡ª

    The more you chew, the softer it gets in his mouth.

    Faintly.

    He could feel something very faintly at the tip of his tongue. Slowly, very very slowly, he could feel a sweet taste.

    His mouth was soon filled with the juicy, sweet and sour taste of the tangsuyuk.

    I can taste it.

    All his life, whenever he ate food he always felt like he was chewing dirt. Others were happy to eat his food but he was not.

    "It''s delicious."

    Len picked up the jjajangmyeon ced in front of him.

    "This is how you eat it."

    Minhyuk first picked up the gleaming ck noodles.

    Then¡­

    "Sluuuuuuuuuuuuurp!"

    The moment he ced the jjajangmyeon in his mouth he has never cut off the noodles. Then he stuffed a pickled radish in his mouth.

    Crunch, crunch.

    The fresh pickled radish and the greasy jjajangmyeon boasts a perfect match.

    Then he took a piece of well-fried meat and some onions to try.

    The ck bean paste gave a deeper vor to the meat while the crispy onions added to the texture and tasted deliciously.

    Len followed his example and ate it like how he did.

    "Sluuuuuuuuuuuurp!"

    "You''re doing well!"

    He closed his eyes and savored the vor. A small smile curled in his mouth.

    He then took the jjamppong.

    "This one might be a bit spicy."

    "Sluuuuuuuuurp!"

    Len was given a passing mark on his review.

    He lifted the noodles and inhaled them. He could feel a tingling sensation in his mouth. He quickly picked a pickled radish and chewed on it.

    Next, he picked up the bowl and tasted the soup. The spicy vor of the soup and the full vor of the seafood tasted excellent.

    "How was it? It may feel a bit spicy but it''s also a bit refreshing."

    "This is the charm of jjamppong!"

    Len grinned widely.

    "It''s absolutely delicious!"

    Delicious.

    It was just these three characters. These words that others used very often Len spoke them with desperation.

    "Truly, it''s really delicious!"

    Minhyuk smiled at him.

    Then¡­

    "Sluuuuuuuurp!"

    Minhyuk started to inhale his noodles rapidly. The same was true for Len who was sitting in front of him.

    ***

    Lee Minhwa was urgently making a call somewhere.

    "Is this the Chinese restaurant?! Yes, this is the 7th floor of the Athenae building. Yes, yes. Jjajangmyeon, jjamppong and tangsuyuk."

    "Yes, please add one more kanjjajang."

    Lee Minhwa stealthily looked around. Before she knew it, Seongwook from the customer center had already arrived.

    "Yes, please add one more kanjjajang."

    After ending her call, Lee Minhwa turned around and looked at Seongwook.

    "When did you arrive?"

    "Just now. Wow¡­¡­Those two are eating so deliciously."

    "Yeah."

    Seongwook spoke but Team Leader Park was the one who answered.

    "But it''s not the time for you to get lost like this, right?"

    Team Leader Park came back to his senses when he heard Lee Minhwa''s words.

    His mind flew out while he watched the jjajangmyeon mukbang on the monitor.

    "Yeah. But in the end, he really got it. Hyoo¡­¡­"

    "He got it? What?"

    "The artifact that Twilight Chef ck was supposed to get."

    "You''re talking about Kim Seokhyun, right? Did that user get the item that he was supposed to receive?"

    Team Leader Park nodded while Seongwook grinned.

    "But aren''t you guys too worried about this user? He has cooking skills and he can increase his stats whenever he eats. But no matter how strong that user gets he wouldn''t be strong enough to be a bnce breaker. And I don''t think that he''s going to distribute buffs carelessly. Just look at that other God ss. The Death Knight who made a mess by continuously summoning things."

    Anyway, he doesn''t have the skills to be a main.

    Lee Minhwa shook her head at his words.

    "Really¡­"

    Team Leader Park whispered his words.

    "He thinks that he will only get stats?"

    "Does that mean that he will get something else?"

    "You''ll know once he gets his 2nd job ss."

    "What is it, tell me!"

    Lee Minhwa and Team Leader Park nced at each other.

    "Secret."

    "Secret."

    ***

    Len left the kitchen carriage. He said that he would just go out for a bit and that he would alsoe back soon.

    Minhyuk, who ate everything including thest drop of the tangsuyuk sauce, answered him with a delighted expression on his face.

    "The subjugation isplete!"

    There was no buff effect on Minhyuk. There was only one dish, and only one person could receive the increased buff from the dish.

    Also, the calorie count for this dish was probably the same with the standards that could be found on the inte.

    ''Ha¡­¡­ Now I only need to get my Sun''s Wheat reward.''

    What should I make with it?

    It was such a blissful problem.

    Should I put egg on the bread, fry it and sprinkle some sugar on it? Or should I make kalguksu and eat it with ripe kimchi?

    He was already picturing his happy future.

    At that moment¡­ Len came back from the outside. He was holding something that was covered in cloth.

    He was feeling good.

    The Gods of Athenae?

    I''ll tell them to screw themselves!

    Minhyuk might not have received the quest but he was able to aplish what needed to be done. He brought back Len''s sense of taste.

    What about the rewards?

    It was obvious that Minhyuk should take it.

    ''As expected¡­¡­''

    As Minhyuk thought, it really did lead to a quest. It was just a bit suspicious since he did not receive any notification.

    Soon enough, Len pulled the cloth away from the item that he was holding.

    What appeared was a kitchen knife with an impressive pattern engraved on the end of the handle. The pattern was none other than a phoenix.

    [You have received Ellie''s Kitchen Knife.]

    [You have acquired 10 reputation.]

    [You will now be able to learn skills rted to dexterity.]

    He did not hear any notifications about a quest, however he heard notifications about the rewards.

    He was now able to learn skills rted to dexterity.

    Users could learn production skills like cooking, repairing, fishing, painting and drawing, and even sculpting. However, he learned that there were limits to learning these skills. He heard that they could only learn 1 before Lv200, and 2 before Lv400.

    Len looked at him and told him¡­

    "It''s a present for my disciple."

    He smiled softly.

    "This is too much¡­¡­"

    "Why, are you not going to take it?"

    "Of course not. I''ll use it well!"

    Minhyuk took the kitchen knife from his hands. The moment he touched the knife, he felt the handle wriggle. He looked at it curiously as he checked its information.

    (Ellie''s Kitchen Knife)

    ss: Epic

    Restrictions: Primary Level has no limits, the secondary level requires user to be at Lv120

    Durability: ¡Þ/¡Þ

    Attack Power: 50

    Primary Level''s Special Abilities:

    ¡ª DEX acquisition x4

    ¡ª +50 DEX

    ¡ª Can be equipped with a sword.

    ¡ª Can automatically clean itself.

    ¡ª Can change to any variety of tools.

    Secondary Level''s Special Abilities:

    ¡ª Sealed

    ¡ª Sealed

    ¡ª Sealed

    Description: This was an artifact that the Empress bestowed upon Len, the best chef in Eivelis Empire.

    ''Oh¡­¡­''

    It was a mysterious artifact.

    Minhyuk continued to check the more detailed description.

    ''What does it mean when the Secondary Level was restricted?''

    [The Secondary Level''s restriction refers to the growth and development of the artifact. After the Primary Level''s limit, if the restrictions for the Secondary Level will be lifted then all restrictions will be removed.]

    Simply put, since the Primary Level''s restrictions were gone. Once Minhyuk''s level reaches 120 then all of the parts that have "sealed" written on it would be removed.

    Minhyuk really liked what he read. There was only one reason.

    ''The DEX stat acquisition rate has been raised to x4!''

    Having DEX means that he could also have ''vor''.

    The artifact that Len gave him was an item that Minhyuk really needed.

    "How was it, did you like it?"

    "Yes, yes. I really, really, really like it! But what does it mean when it says that I can equip it with a sword?"

    Minhyuk tilted his head in confusion.

    "Take the knife to your sword."

    Minhyuk brought the knife near his sword.

    [Do you want to equip Ellie''s Kitchen Knife on the Sword of Rebellion?]

    [ Yes / No ]

    ''Yes.''

    Then something amazing happened¡­

    The kitchen knife slowly transformed into liquid. It then stuck itself on Vn and started to assimte itself in it.

    ''Heok¡­¡­!''

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] ?? this word has a lot of different meanings in KR but in this situation it''s like he was cheering for his dish so he said Ol¨¦!

    TL''s corner!!!

    So are you a dip or pour kind of person? I like both. Lol. Totally depends on my mood.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Dip or pour¡­it really does depend, but I think I¡¯m gonna have to side with Len on this case.

    ATTENTION! (10/14/2020)

    WoopRead is currently recruiting Korean trantors! We have a selection of novels that are ready to be picked up:) Please join our discord server (with the link below) and contact our staff member @HH for the application form and payment details. Thank you!

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 42 - During Weekends Too......

    Chapter 42: During Weekends Too¡­¡­

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Once the assimtion was over, Vn let out a light glow. When the light died downpletely, the previous ck appearance of Vn had alreadypletely changed.

    "Ellie''s kitchen knife is an equip artifact. In that state, it can change to a kitchen knife, a ck smith''s hammer or a fishing rod. And with its automatic cleaning, you can always keep it clean."

    The altered Vn had a different appearance. Its grip had now turned red and had the phoenix engraved on it.

    Minhyuk checked the information right away.

    (Ellie''s Sword)

    ss: Epic

    Restrictions: Primary Level has no limits, the secondary level requires user to be at Lv120

    Durability: ¡Þ/¡Þ

    Attack Power: 211 + 50

    Special Abilities: STR+4, AGI+3

    Primary Level''s Special Abilities:

    ¡ª DEX acquisition x4

    ¡ª +50 DEX

    ¡ª Can be equipped with a sword.

    ¡ª Can automatically clean itself.

    ¡ª Can change to any type of cooking tools.

    Secondary Level''s Special Abilities:

    ¡ª Sealed

    ¡ª Sealed

    ¡ª Sealed

    Description: This was an artifact that the Empress bestowed upon Len, the best chef in Eivelis Empire.

    It was equipped just like what he said. By equipping Ellie''s Kitchen Knife with Vn, the sword has acquired an additional attacking power of +50. It was also considered to be a great artifact since you would also get a +40 on DEX just by using it.

    Minhyuk smiled happily at the artifact.

    "Thank you, teacher!"

    "But do you know who the sword''s Ellie is?"

    Of course Minhyuk already checked it.

    Ellie was the Empress of the Eivelis Empire and this item was something she bestowed upon Len.

    "Yes, but I think that there''s more to that teacher. I can''t believe that the Empress would just give you a sword."

    Len grinned at him.

    "She used to be my lover."

    His grin slowly turned bitter.

    "I was a royal chef in the past, you know."

    "Y, you''re a big shot."

    "Ellie loved my cooking. She was having a very hard time just thinking about stepping up and sitting on the throne at her very young age. But every time she ate my food, she said that she would always get her strength back."

    Minhyuk was starting to see where this was headed to.

    "But in the end, a chef like me and someone like her can''t be together. Her vassals framed me and used me of false charges. As a result, I was driven out of the pce. And the day before I left the pce¡­"

    Minhyuk could tell from his expression that he was reminiscing the past.

    "We both made a promise to each other."

    Minhyuk perked his ears up and listened attentively.

    "Her father, His Majesty Ellen, was called as the King of the Swords. Since she was a genius, I promised that I would treat her to a very delicious meal once she inherits that name."

    "Ooooooh¡­! You''re really cool!"

    Perhaps, Len did that so she could do what she wanted to do and not grieve over him leaving her.

    "A long time has passed since then, I heard that she has already surpassed the former Emperor, His Majesty Ellen."

    "So you''re going to the pce now?"

    "No."

    Minhyuk looked at him strangely when he heard his definite answer.

    "Her vassals would definitely not let me enter the pce."

    Minhyuk nodded his head in understanding.

    It was possible. Nowadays, the Empress was said to have reached her peak so her vassals would definitely not want to see her ying along with her lover.

    "That''s why I want to ask you for a favor, boy."

    "A favor?"

    "Yeah. Cook for the Empress on my behalf."

    [Linked Quest: Meet Ellie.]

    Rank: B rank

    Restrictions: You should get Len''s approval.

    Rewards: 15,000 EXP

    Penalty for Failure: None

    Description: You have received Len''s approval. He is requesting you to cook for the Empress on his behalf.

    "I understand."

    "Thanks."

    Len smiled lightly.

    Minhyuk might have epted the quest but it was still not clear if he would proceed on it. After all, he was someone who was ying the game for the food.

    Furthermore, the Empress was not someone who Minhyuk could meet just because he wanted to meet her. And he couldn''t just go to the pce and shout ''I''m Len''s disciple!''. There was a high possibility that he would get kicked out even before he could step foot inside. It wasn''t that easy to make a way to meet the Empress.

    Of course, the reward was tempting but wasn''t it better for him to just eat than getting the reward?

    "Boy, are you going to use the return stone now?"

    "No."

    Once the subjugation itself was over, most of the users would choose to use the return stone to go back to the vige. Minhyuk was now the only user left apanying them on their return home.

    "If I hunt the monsters from around here then I would be able to get an extra Sun''s Wheat right?"

    Minhyuk received an additional notification after the end of the subjugation. It said that the Sun''s Wheat would drop if he hunted monsters like goblins around the area.

    All the other users paid no attention to it and just directly used the return stone to leave the camp.

    "That''s right."

    "I was thinking of killing some of them."

    "Alone?"

    "Yes."

    "But, boy¡­¡­"

    He has already seen Minhyuk''s skills so he should probably not be that concerned.

    Minhyuk bowed his head towards him again.

    "Thank you for everything!"

    Len smiled at him.

    "How about having another mukbang battle?"

    "Huhuhuhu. I won''t go easy on you."

    "You should keep in mind that I also won''t go easy on you."

    Minhyuk soon left the kitchen carriage

    ***

    15 minutester.

    Twilight Chef ck was finally able to catch up and find the returning subjugation force. He was riding his own carriage when he found the troops.

    ''2 billion should be enough, he''s probably waiting for me in tenterhooks.''

    ck chuckled darkly.

    After dealing with that he would then finish Len''s linked quest that he received earlier.

    Twilight Chef ck was also able to receive a hint while he progressed with the linked quest.

    He would be able to receive a treasure granted by the Empress. In addition, once the quest progressed further, he would be able to learn Ellie''s Epic Level Swordsmanship, the swordsmanship of the person hailed as the Sword Emperor.

    As a chef that was mocked for being a weak ss if he acquired an epic-ranked skill then his strength would definitely have an enormous leap.

    ck''s wagon finally stopped.

    "Neighhh!"

    The horse gave a low cry.

    "I heard that there is a talented chef in your military kitchen."

    When he heard his words, Mabal suddenly went rigid and on alert. He was also very fond of Minhyuk since his favorability has reached the extreme.

    "What''s your business with him?"

    "Ah, I have a proposal to him since he is very skilled and excellent."

    Ah, so that was his purpose.

    But it is a shame, he left alone to go back to the Bordy ins earlier.

    "He''s gone."

    "Eh? What do you mean?"

    "The subjugation is already over."

    "N, no. This can''t be true?"

    ck had a weird expression on his face. He had thought that he would be waiting for him.

    Hey, I thought that you have given me a good hint before?

    The hint that he was talking about was him sending out free buffed dishes to the users. He thought that it was a hint given out by that user. Why? Because in that way, the information about himself would spread quickly and others would find him easily.

    Did he really use his brains?

    "What are you so surprised about? Now that the subjugation is over then all of the foreigners should go back."

    "T, this can''t be¡­¡­!"

    ck bit his lips as he thought about things. Once he had thought it through, he started to calm himself down.

    ''Hoo, no. I should go here anyway. For that epic artifact.''

    Then he grinned.

    "Where are the kitchen carriages?"

    "Over there."

    Mabal pointed towards the kitchen carriages, and as if on cue, Len walked out of the carriage. He was smiling broadly as he munched on a bread, just like Minhyuk.

    "Are you Len?"

    "Yeah."

    "I''m Twilight Chef ck."

    "I see."

    "......Well, don''t you have anything to say to me right now?"

    "But there''s none? Chew, chew."

    Len calmly answered him while he continued to munch on his bread.

    "T, the quest told me toe here!"

    "Ah, that. Sorry but my disciple has already taken it."

    "What are you saying, that''s impossible!"

    "Sorry about that, but what can you do if my disciple has already taken it?"

    Len patted him on the shoulder. ck''s body trembled.

    "T, then the epic artifact¡­¡­?"

    "None."

    "Is there anything else?"

    "Anything else¡­¡­ Sorry but I don''t have anything else to give you. You should be a bit hungry, so take this."

    It was bread.

    "You''ve worked hard."

    "......"

    ck''s hands shook as he looked at it.

    It was a 2-month long quest. An epic artifact and in addition, there was a chance that I would be able to learn the Empress'' swordsmanship. And you''re just giving me this bread?!

    Plop!

    The bread fell down to the ground. ck strode towards it and trampled it under his foot.

    Len''s eyes narrowed as he watched him.

    "I guess I gave it as a gift to the correct owner. I don''t think I will ever regret that decision."

    "Are you telling me now that the bastard from before was better than me?!"

    His anger boiled over when he heard Lenpare him to that mysterious chef.

    I can''t believe that anyone is better than me!

    "Is that it? Yeah, my disciple is better than someone who does not know how precious food is. My disciple even cherishes this hard breadpared to you. What a Twilight Chef you are!"

    Len clicked his tongue in annoyance. ck was filled with frustration.

    ''I, Impossible!"

    He was too angry to realize it.

    Len was an excellent chef and another piece of pie might fall for him.

    "It was my fault. I was overwhelmed with anger. Please give me a quest."

    "Get out!"

    ck became dispirited.

    At that moment¡­

    "Len. Is it true that our new recruit left already?"

    "He just left."

    "No! I promised(?) to marry my beautiful daughter to him!"

    "No! I need to get the quest! Give me the quest, not the bread!"

    Both of their eyes met. Vto suddenly had a cheerful expression on his face.

    "Boy, you''re very handsome. Would you like me to introduce you to my beautiful daughter?"

    ''W, what the hell is this again?!''

    Then, Vto showed him the picture that he showed to Minhyuk.

    "Ugh, aaaaaaaaack. Damn it!"

    ck sped his head and covered his eyes as he let out a shriek.

    ***

    Minhyuk had just disconnected from the game. He immediately sat down and gulped down a variety of nutritional supplements while he ate his cherry tomatoes.

    "Huwaa¡­ Why aren''t there any nutritional supplements that tastes like meat?"

    Even in the wild, plump and chubby animals will run around so how can there be no meat-vored nutritional supplements?!

    After those thoughts passed through his mind, Minhyuk started to calm himself down. He decided to start and organize his thoughts and itinerary.

    ''I should first focus on getting more Sun''s Wheat until the subjugation force returns to the vige.''

    Mabal specifically told Minhyuk that he would receive thrice the amount of Sun''s Wheat as his reward. But at the rate of his consumption, even if he had thrice the amount of the regr rewards, he would still be able to finish it quickly.

    And Minhyuk''s job ss still has that % beside it. It was already approaching 90%.

    ''Unlocking each and every one of those things is surprisingly interesting.''

    Aside from eating, such a system was quite pleasant to have too.

    Minhyuk essed Athenae''s official website and browsed through its contents. He also searched for ''Ellie''. He still wasn''t sure if he was going to do it but he wanted to prepare, just in case he had a chance.

    ''Well, what if something deliciouses out? Ha¡­¡­''

    There were quite a lot of articles rted to the search term that he used.

    [Wow. Today I went to the Emperor''s City and I just saw Empress Ellie''s¡­ She''s really pretty¡­ My legs almost turned into jelly¡­

    kdkcml5: Proposal g, g [1]! He who has the courage gets the beauty!

    BeautyLovesApples: Oh, a virtual marriage transcends above interracial marriage.]

    He first saw plenty of praise about her beauty.

    In the next article¡­

    [Nims. I went to see the Empress since I wanted to go and learn the Empress'' swordsmanship. She was like the devil of the sword. I went to her and said: Please ept me as a pupil! But she locked me up in the dungeon ?? waaaaah. I am sentenced to 10 years in prison¡­¡­ Someone save me¡­¡­ ??

    hjbja52: LOL [2] hahaha. Delete character [3] hahaha.

    WatchOut: You should go and broadcast live on Paprika. It''s going to be fun! Hahaha

    nbhyqwm7: Ah, nims. I''m being serious here ?? Can anyone please save me ???]

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] ??! An abbreviated version of ?, ?! Or go, go!

    [2] ?? abbreviated version of ???? ?? orughing in reality. ng word which has the same meaning as LOL.

    [3] ?? ? idk abt the ? part but ?? I think it was an abbreviation for character and sack so literally sacking your character or deleting your character in game. It makes sense since the character of the user who was asking for help was locked in prison and for 10 yrs too.

    TL''s corner!!!

    Well, well. Serves Kim Seokhyun right. He wanted to trample on Minhyuk and hide his talents so that''s what you get. hahahaha. Bleeeeh! ?? However, it makes you wonder if he never connected the dots that it was Minhyuk that got the artifact?

    PR¡¯s corner!

    The Twilight Chef ck truly has a ck heart. I¡¯d feel sorry for him, but he trampled on food. 10 years in the prison for him!

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 43 - Pumpkin Sweet Potato?

    Chapter 43: Pumpkin Sweet Potato?

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    18 Pumpkin Sweet Potato?

    Minhyuk was giggling at what he read. The user was locked up in prison in one article. He continued to browse through the articles that came out of his search.

    [Is it really a fact that the Empress is looking for an heir?

    hkdad31: yeye. Real fact. There''s only one condition and it''s really hard. You have to win the Eivelis Empire''s tournament.]

    "Tournament?"

    Athenae would hostpetitions and tournaments every so often. Competitions and tournaments were usually held as events. And through these events, talented users could gain fame.

    Minhyuk scrutinized the contents of the article seriously.

    [Don''t you think that there would be lots of fun in thising tournament that will be held in the Eivelis Empire?

    GrowYourHair: I''m excited to see all the fun too. The tournament participants will definitely be amazing¡­¡­ But I think the champion is already decided.

    afhjl25: ikr [1]... One of the participants this time is the sister of the top 3 in our domestic rankings, Cain. What''s more surprising is that she''s more talented and more physical than Cain. She even has a legendary ss. They said that everything about her is overwhelming. And her level is still low now.]

    "Hoo¡­¡­"

    3rd in the rankings¡­

    Minhyuk continued to scroll down.

    [I''m posting details and information about how the tournament will be held. First, all of the participants will be ced on a small ind together. Please check the map.]

    Minhyuk clicked on the map. The map showed a tiny ind. However, they weren''t sure what they would be asked to do on the ind yet. They could be asked to hunt for monsters or even asked to fight with other users.

    However, Minhyuk''s eyes were still trained on the center of the map.

    "Huh¡­¡­?!"

    His eyes couldn''t stay away from that ce. There was something located on the center of the ind.

    It was none other than a¡­

    Convenience Store!

    It reminded him of the logos of the 3 convenience stores in the country.

    "Heok?! W, what''s this?!"

    Minhyuk was very surprised that he quickly went and searched Eivelis Empire''s Convenience Stores in the search bar.

    [Does anyone know what the convenience store on the ind in thepetition is?

    SevenDeleven: Hello, dumb customer [2]. We have prepared this for you. It would be expensive so please buy from us a lot.

    faddadd5413: is the person above real LOL hahaha, convenience store. It''s going to be used as a rest area for the users during the game. They say that you can use and eat as much as you want of the food and items you can find in there. I heard that all of the convenience stores in the countrybined and integrated for this so there will be no missing items in there.]

    "Wow¡­!"

    An unprecedented amount of interest rose in him. Earlier, he was just clearly looking through these articles just in case he wanted to take the quest on a whim but then he saw the convenience store.

    Minhyuk recalled the feeling of sneaking out. When everyone should be asleep at two o''clock in the morning and eatingte-night snacks at home could possibly wake everyone up.

    Then he would slowly and quietly tiptoe his way to the door. Then at that critical moment, he would press the open button and close it quietly so as not to make a ''ttiriri'' sound when it closed.

    Then he would quickly run to the convenience store that was closest to his house. He would then buy a cup ramyeon, a triangle gimbap and a hot bar. He would microwave it in there and eat it to his heart''s content.

    It would be nice if the weather was just right. The night would feel neither hot nor cold but just right.

    He would taste the triangle gimbap first. It was considered to be the crown prince of the convenience stores just like bibim was in Jeonju. It was best paired with tuna mayo or tuna mayo ramyeon.

    Then, he would open the cup ramyeon, add some seaweed in it and use his chopsticks to stir it well. Then he would slurp it up. And when he felt like it was too dry after taking a bite out of the triangle gimbap, then he would sip the ramyeon''s soup.

    "Keuhaaaaa!"

    Minhyuk unconsciously burst out in awe.

    What would it taste like if I took a bite of that lightly vored hot bar and chewed on it?

    Chew, chew¡ª

    Minhyuk''s mouth moved with his thoughts.

    Was that all? Of course, they said that it was best to grab a green tea ice cream from Manistop on their way back home.

    ''There''s nothing missing from that convenience store!''

    His unprecedented attention was further amplified.

    At that moment, he finally decided about what he should do.

    ''I have to participate in that tournament¡­!''

    Minhyuk became more enthusiastic with his search. He first read through the consolidated announcements and information.

    "You can participate if you''re at Lv80."

    The reason why Lv80 was the threshold was because at that level, thebel of being a "beginner" was removed to some extent.

    Unexpectedly, this tournament would be more exciting than watching low-leveled users fight in the novice level tournament.

    Because even if low-leveled yers appeared, there would be hidden sses, secret sses and even legendary sses who would participate in the tournament and raise the users¡¯ expectations.

    It was also said that many rankers would be watching from the VIP section in thispetition.

    He saw a familiar name on the list¡­

    ''Alicia?''

    It was the girl who said that she would treat Minhyuk to a meal.

    Minhyuk finished searching and decided to check his status on his mobile phone.

    (Minhyuk)

    Level: 22

    ss: Food Fighter (Food God) 90%

    HP: 851 MP: 360

    STR: 134+17 AGI: 90+35 STM: 65+15

    WIS: 25+11 INT: 25+11 DEX: 13+40

    Cha: 2 Rep: 50

    Fullness: 100%

    Bonus Point: 0

    His DEX stat has increased quite a bit. It was only possible because Minhyuk only cooked all day long.

    He still needed to gain 52 levels so he could participate in the tournament. Minhyuk realized that he did not have enough time so he stood up and went to the capsule to ess Athenae.

    ***

    Minhyuk''s hunting and eating spree continued on for three days.

    During that time, Minhyuk was able to raise his level to 55. His hunting speed was ridiculously fast that his levels would have soared further if he did not have the ? experience penalty for his God ss.

    "These bastards are as tasteless as herbal medicine!"

    "Chwiiik. H, human¡­¡­ Crazy human¡­¡­!"

    The orcs who were fighting against Minhyuk broke down once they heard his unknown words.

    "Hoo."

    Minhyuk looked at his stats window after letting out a breath.

    (Minhyuk)

    Level: 55

    ss: Food Fighter (Food God) 100%

    HP: 1,239 MP: 360

    STR: 220+17 AGI: 117+35 STM: 100+15

    WIS: 25+11 INT: 25+11 DEX: 41+40

    Cha: 2 Rep: 50

    Fullness: 100%

    Bonus Point: 0

    Minhyuk cooked steadily and with his DEX acquisition at x4 his dexterity increased very fast.

    "Oh?"

    As he looked through the drops from the orcs he hunted, Minhyuk saw a skill book.

    Skill books could be obtained like this just by hunting and killing monsters.

    [You have acquired the Orc''s mr teeth.]

    [You have acquired 315 gold.]

    [You have acquired the skill book Warrior''s Roar.]

    Minhyuk checked the contents of the skill book right away.

    (Warrior''s Roar)

    Active Skill

    Rank: Rare

    Restrictions: STR 100, AGI 100.

    Mana Required: 50

    Cooldown: 3 minutes

    Effects: ¡ª Once the roar breaks out, there''s a 60% chance of frightening away all the enemies in the surrounding area. Probability will drop or increase depending on the level difference.

    It wasn''t that bad of a skill.

    Warrior users tend to hoard skill books like these just so they could amass a lot of skills.

    Minhyuk thought that he had hunted enough and wanted to learn this skill.

    "Learn."

    Just by reaching out his hand, he would be able to learn those skills.

    However, he soon heard the notification.

    [Unable to learn.]

    "Huh?"

    Minhyuk looked at it strangely.

    I can''t learn it?

    He did not understand it at all. He met all of the restrictions, so why was he unable to learn the skill?

    ''What the hell, I''m not even familiar with how to acquire skills like this?''

    Why can other users do it, but I can''t?

    Minhyuk searched through the official homepage of Athenae and looked for the answers curiously.

    [Are there any special cases where you can''t learn the skill in a skill book?

    kbmbmvm73: It''s simple. It can be the case where you have exceeded the amount of skill books that you can learn, you haven''t met the restrictions, or it could be this really, really rare case where your ss acquires skills in a different way.]

    "......Huh?"

    Minhyuk''s head tilted in confusion.

    A different way of acquiring skills?

    Come to think of it, in my case, I only learned my skills because Len and Roina taught me. So does this mean that I can still acquire skills by learning from the NPCs?

    He continuously looked through the search results.

    Most of the answers said that there were special cases where the skill books couldn''t be learned because of the special ss characteristics.

    From what he read, there were two cases for this.

    One was that there were too many skills so the user couldn''t acquire the skill because it was a special skill, and the other was that the user should really acquire skills using a different method.

    ''Hmm¡­''

    Learning skills were also something that made Athenae more fun and interesting.

    ''I''m going to have to sell this.''

    It was finally time to go back to the vige. Minhyuk looked through his inventory and pulled out his return stone.

    ***

    Soldier Rand was in front of the military''s training center and giving out the rewards for all the users whopleted the conquest.

    The moment he saw Minhyuk, his face brightened up with a smile.

    "Oh. Captain Mabal has been waiting for you, boy."

    "Where is he?"

    "He''s over there."

    "Yes. Thank you."

    "Ah, Vto has been looking for you quite a lot these days."

    ''Eeeek¡­¡­!''

    Minhyuk hurriedly rushed to where Mabal was. When Mabal saw him, he weed him warmly.

    "Oh, you''re here. Rand will be giving you thrice the amount of the promised Sun''s Wheat. And you will also get this special reward."

    "Yes?"

    Mabal handed over a golden key. Minhyuk epted the key and looked at it curiously.

    [You have obtained the key to the Hidden Dungeon as a reward for your contributions to the subjugation force.]

    [You have acquired 10 reputation points.]

    "You are the top on the subjugation contributions board so I''m giving you an additional reward. You know how to use this key, right?"

    "Of course."

    Minhyuk knew about these golden keys. One can open the hidden dungeon with this key or move the dungeon by saying ''move'' and holding the key tight. This golden key belonged to the difficult to obtain cases.

    For the hidden dungeon, once the dungeon was discovered until the user left the dungeon the experience and drop would have a x2 acquisition rate.

    ''Can this help me get to Lv80 sooner?''

    This thought passed through Minhyuk''s head.

    "I heard that there''s something to eat there. You''re the only one I''m telling this information, you know."

    Mabal was both the subjugation force''s leader as well as a special NPC. That was why he knew some things about the hidden dungeon. He also only told this information to Minhyuk because his favorability with him was at the highest.

    "Oooooh¡­¡­ Is it something delicious?!"

    Minhyuk was very surprised.

    What kind of delicious food is it?

    His excitement and anticipation about the hidden dungeon intensified.

    Minhyuk bowed towards the subjugation force''s captain and went ahead to receive his rewards from Rand.

    "Captain said that I should go and get my rewards from Soldier Rand."

    "Yeah. Here''s four times the amount of the Sun''s Wheat."

    Rand squinted his eyes and stretched his fist towards him for a fist bump.

    ''Huhu¡­ This is a service from Rand-nim.''

    He was supposed to receive thrice the amount of the rewards, but he was very happy to receive four times the reward.

    Minhyuk clenched his fists and tapped them with Rand for a fist bump. He then took the four 5kg sacks of Sun''s Wheat that Rand had packed earlier.

    [You havepleted the Bordy ins Subjugation Quest.]

    [You have received 20kg of Sun''s Wheat.]

    [You have the highest contribution in the quest.]

    [You have gained 8,000 EXP.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [......leveled up.]

    ***

    Footnotes

    [Chapter Title] The chapter title is written as ??? ??? It is a type of sweet potato in Korean. I think it''s the orange-fleshed sweet potato since they look the same.

    [1] ?? (??) I admit, I approve, I know. Equivalent ng is ikr.

    [2] ?? (?? + ??) idk how that worked but it''s a ng for an easy to take advantage of customer

    TL''s corner!!!

    20kg¡­ I don''t think that it willst long lol. I wonder what he''ll make with that.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    I love how these NPCs know Minhyuk so well. ¡°There¡¯s food in this dungeon.¡± Lol.

    ATTENTION! (10/15/2020)

    WoopRead is currently recruiting Korean trantors! We have a selection of novels that are ready to be picked up ?? Please join our discord server (with the link below) and contact our staff member @HH for the application form and payment details. Thank you!

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 44 - Pumpkin Sweet Potato?

    Chapter 44: Pumpkin Sweet Potato?

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    His level increased by 3 in one go. It seemed like it was the truth when they said that the subjugation force would give a substantial amount of EXP.

    Minhyuk smiled with satisfaction.

    At that moment¡­

    "What?! My son-inw is here?!"

    Minhyuk became very nervous when he suddenly heard Vto''s voice. He then looked at the golden key in his hands.

    Well, I''m going to the Hidden Dungeon immediately anyway. I have gathered enough Sun''s Wheat so I have enough delicious food to eat.

    He pressed the key to the hidden dungeon tightly.

    [Would you like to enter the hidden dungeon?]

    "Yes."

    Minhyuk heard the notification. The moment he answered, a bright light enveloped him.

    ***

    Hidden Dungeon.

    Bran, who was guarding inside, was notified that a user had entered the dungeon.

    "Hoo, I''m tired."

    He was wearing shabby clothes with a straw hat on his head and a pair of boots on his feet. He looked very much like a farmer that no one would be able to mistake him for something else.

    He went out of his shabby hut to go and prepare to meet the foreigner.

    He thought¡­

    ''I feel like this guy will leave right away once he understands what this ce is.''

    This hidden dungeon was special. It was so special that a total of five users havee and gone already.

    And each and every one of them said¡­

    ''Eyy, fXcker. Do you think I would dig up sweet potatoes while I''m ying games?!''

    ''Ah, what the hell! What 2x the experience, what 2x the drop rate. There''s not even a single mob here!''

    ''I have never seen a dog-like dungeon like this!''

    Bran who kept on hearing those words thought that this user would be no different. However, Bran who kept on walking had no choice but to stop.

    "N, no way¡­ Is this for real?!"

    He tilted his head in confusion.

    Then he saw the man, who appeared in the middle of therge farnd, look up to the sky and sped his hands together. He heard him start to pray to the God of Athenae.

    "Athenae''s God-nim, you gave me this blessing so I could eat more delicious things, right? Thank you. Namu Amitabul [1]!"

    "Eeeng?"

    Bran was puzzled. He thought that maybe this man had heard what was inside the dungeon before he came here.

    He would dig up the ground and get sweet potatoes in return then he would receive an increase in his EXP.

    It was a very rare and unusual farming dungeon.

    It may sound terribly drypared to other dungeons but this dungeon had a hidden reward. No one was able to clear the dungeon because they just looked at the rewards right in front of them.

    But then, he heard the man in front shout.

    "It''s sweet potato pumpkin, huwaaaa!"

    When he heard his words, Bran thought that he was truly a very strange foreigner.

    He coughed lightly.

    "Ahem! I''m Bran and I am this ce''s guardian."

    "Oooooh. I see. Bran-nim, you have an excellent taste in fashion! Your new boots look great!"

    "Haha, you''re a very delightful foreigner. Ah, and this is not sweet potato pumpkin but pumpkin sweet potato."

    "Yes. I understand. Sweet potato pumpkin."

    "No, it''s pumpkin sweet potato¡­"

    "Eh? Yes. Sweet potato pumpkin!"

    "That''s right. It''s sweet potato pum¡­ Huh?"

    Bran understood in that moment that he was one-upped by the man''s slyness.

    "Ahem! Enough of that. This dungeon is not a difficult dungeon. You just have to dig up the pumpkin sweet potato with the hoe. If you continuously dig up the pumpkin sweet potatoes then you will encounter sweet potatoes that have a ck glow on them. Those guys are very bad news, they suck up the nutrients from the other sweet potatoes. You should bring me 20 of those ck sweet potatoes. You have three days to do it."

    [User Minhyuk has epted the quest Dig Up 20 ck Sweet Potatoes.]

    "I have a question!"

    "What is it?"

    "Can I eat the sweet potatoes that I dig up?"

    "As much as you want."

    Bran smiled at him.

    ''How much can you eat?''

    This was the main point of the quest, digging up the ck sweet potatoes that suck up the nutrients from the others. Once he finished that quest, then it would evolve into a linked quest. And if he cleared all of the quests, he would be able to get a huge reward.

    "Wow! I understand. I''ll work hard on digging up the pumpkin sweet potatoes!"

    "No, this friend. It''s not pumpkin sweet potato but sweet potato pumpkin."

    "......But it''s pumpkin sweet potato?"

    "Ah, that''s right. It''s pumpkin sweet potato. Wait."

    ''I must be dragged into confusion by this foreigner earlier¡­¡­''

    He coughed loudly to clear away his embarrassment.

    "Cough. Digging up sweet potatoes is much harder than you thought. You have to remember that it''spletely different from digging sweet potatoes in your world."

    Bran knew that.

    Most of the users who came to this hidden dungeon were between Lv 20~50. Even if they steadily improved their dexterity as a cksmith, a cook or even a painter, they would still find it difficult in the end.

    "Then, here''s your hoe."

    "It''s a good hoe."

    Not long after, the sword in the man''s hand turned into a hoe. He was a bit stunned at what he saw.

    "Then, work hard. But keep in mind that if you are not able to get at least five today, then you have to leave this ce on your own."

    "Yes!"

    Bran turned around and headed back towards his hut.

    ***

    Once Bran disappeared from his sight, Minhyuk looked around him in pure bliss.

    ''I can''t believe that he''s giving me sweet potatoes just by digging them¡­! My god!''

    How can there be such a happy and ridiculous quest and hidden dungeon in this world?

    Sweet potatoes with its tantalizing sweet taste was best eaten when you''re lying down with a nket on a cold winter day. It would also be best paired with dongchimi [2].

    Once you peeled the skin off of the sweet potato, its piping hot, golden flesh would appear. Once you blew on it to slightly cool it down, the sweet and authentic taste of the sweet potato would spread in your mouth.

    Then you would grab some kimchi and ce it in your mouth, it would add a smile to your face. Adding kimchi to your sweet potato would definitely add a bit of dryness in your mouth which could be solved by drinking a sip from the refreshing dongchimi. You would definitely scream out a ''Kuhaa!'' in happiness.

    And that wasn''t all.

    The different ways of cooking sweet potatoes were endless.

    The dishes that first came to his mind were sweet potato mattang [3] and sweet potato pizza.

    ''Hoo¡­ There should be enough Sun''s Wheat so I should try it after digging up some sweet potatoes!''

    Minhyuk confirmed something before he started digging up sweet potatoes.

    [Farming Skill.]

    He received the skill the moment he epted the quest.

    Once he achieved a 100% proficiency in this skill then he would be able to learn farming. Furthermore, it was stated in the quest that he would receive 500 EXP every time he dug up a sweet potato. That wasn''t all. It was also said that he would also receive beginner''s farming EXP.

    There are plenty of EXP to gain in this hidden dungeonpared to hunting an orc!

    Minhyuk soon started to dig the ground with his hoe.

    Thud!

    ''What? Why isn''t it working?''

    The hoe did not dig in the ground at all. It was as if the ground was frozen solid.

    Minhyuk looked at the ground strangely as he dug with his hoe again.

    Thud!

    And as he expected it also did not go well.

    Minhyuk could now understand what Bran was saying earlier.

    But then he thought¡­

    ''Do you think that this can stop me from eating pumpkin sweet potatoes!?''

    He began to show great tenacity.

    Thud!

    Thud!

    Thud!

    He began to use his hoe with great strength.

    After about 25 minutes¡­

    He finally was able to dig up one sweet potato.

    "Oooooooooooh, sweeeet potatoooo!"

    The sweet potato was extremely solid. A delighted smile naturally curled on his lips when he looked at it.

    It took him another 25 minutes to dig out the second sweet potato. Minhyuk did not rest and just continued to dig up sweet potatoes continuously.

    After two hours.

    He was able to gather six sweet potatoes. Bran originally calcted that he would be able to dig up five but because of Minhyuk''s tenacity he finally showed signs of getting used to the work. It was evident with the additional sweet potato that he dug up.

    As he dug up those sweet potatoes, he was also able to dig up some of those ck sweet potatoes.

    Minhyuk looked at it sullenly.

    "......You can''t even eat this!"

    It was true that Minhyuk got the ck sweet potato for the quest but he was still somewhat disappointed. Why? It was simply because the ck sweet potato couldn''t be eaten.

    Minhyuk went back to dig up sweet potatoes again.

    After quite some time, he heard the sound of a notification¡­

    [You have gained 1 DEX.]

    The notification arrived since it was also a way to increase DEX. He was quite satisfied since he would be able to increase his DEX, increase his EXP and most importantly eat sweet potatoes.

    ''Wow, how in the world can such a dungeon exist?!''

    Personally, he thought that this dungeon was extremely fraudulent. Other users might think that this was just a shocking tale but Minhyuk did not care and just went on and continued to dig up his sweet potatoes.

    ***

    The 3rd in the rankings, Cain.

    There was also his sister, Lucia.

    Cain, with his short hair, was a lively and cheerful man. However, on the contrary, his sister Lucia was hisplete opposite. She had her short silver hair in a bob-cut that strangely worked well with the cold expression on her face.

    The two of them were seen together. Along with countless reporters and users who were watching them.

    Click, click, click, click, click, click!

    The users who were part of the press were continuously filming them.

    "Many unprecedented super rookies are expected to join thispetition, what do you think about this Miss Lucia?!"

    "I think that it will be fun."

    Click, click, click, click, click, click!

    "Miss Lucia has acquired the country''s 30th legendary ss , the Shadow Warrior! ording to Athenae''s official announcements, this ss was considered to be among the best in the legendary sses. Miss Lucia, what''s your secret into getting such great physical abilities and acquiring such a legendary ss? A lot of people are curious about it, please impart us with your words!"

    "Isn''t it only natural that strong users get something special, right?"

    She had a small smile hanging on her lips. When she turned to look at her brother, Cain, she saw that he had a worried expression on his face.

    ''It''s released too early.''

    His sister was drawing a lot of the public''s attention. The problem was with her sister''s skills and physical abilities. No mid-level user could defeat her. However there was a thought that always crossed through Cain''s mind.

    ''Nothing is easy in this world.''

    No person in this world could keep on winning. However, his younger sister, Lucia was already this conceited. It was as if she had already reached the pinnacle.

    He was worried about how she would handle it if she finally suffered a loss. However even if he was worried, he still had to admit that his sister was still superior in all aspects.

    "Miss Lucia, if you learn Ellie''s Swordsmanship won''t you have too much to yourself?!"

    "Hohohoho!"

    "Hahahahaha!"

    A reporter said those words to her with a smile.

    Lucia smirked lightly.

    "Cain-ssi, can you please tell us something about this tournament?"

    "The world is big, and there are plenty of strong people. You will not be able to predict far in this tournament."

    "You''re quite modest."

    However, it was really what was in Cain''s mind.

    ''There are plenty of variables that exist in this world.''

    ***

    "Hoo! Huu! Pumpkin sweet potato!"

    Thud, thud!

    Minhyuk dug up the sweet potatoes for seven hours straight.

    As he continuously dug up sweet potatoes, the amount that he could dig increased. Right now, he could dig four sweet potatoes in just an hour. On top of that, he has already dug up more than 10 ck sweet potatoes.

    Minhyuk wiped a drop of sweat on his forehead.

    He was having a lot of fun.

    [You have gained 1 DEX.]

    "Oh yeah!"

    He might have felt tired digging sweet potatoes for eight straight hours but it did not show on his face at all.

    [You have leveled up.]

    He also found it fun to raise his level up. His speed was also quite good.

    The amount of sweet potatoes that he had dug up was already close to forty.

    Thud, thud!

    Minhyuk, who was still digging up sweet potatoes, saw the pot begin to boil. The sweet potatoes that he dug up earlier were already washed and ced inside of it.

    "Huhuhu."

    He approached the pot and lifted the lid off of it. Steam was steadily rising out of it and he could see the sweet potato, with its golden luster, was well done.

    ''Well then, shall we try it?!''

    ***

    After eight hours, Bran walked out of his hut.

    ''I haven''t heard any notification about him getting out yet.''

    He arrived at the ce where he left Minhyuk off earlier. What he saw there made his eyes go wide.

    "B, boy¡­¡­ what''s all of this?!"

    "Chew, chew, I''m eating sweet potatoes!"

    "No, I can see that¡­ What I wanted to know is why you''re doing that in there¡­¡­?"

    "Eating it this way is delicious!"

    ''What¡­¡­? This crazy guy¡­¡­?''

    Bran tilted his head in confusion.

    There was a nketid down on the ground and Minhyuk was lying t down on his stomach while he ate sweet potatoes!

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] ?????? : a KR buddhist chant like Amitabha. It can also be said as Namo Amitabha which means to take refuge in immeasurable light. Idk much from what I searched but I saw that it was like expressing their will to buddha.

    [2] ??? (dongchimi) radish water kimchi. Kimchi prepared with radish harvested fromte autumn or early winter. These radishes are plump and sweeter than normal ones.

    [3] ?? (mattang) : caramelized sweet potato. Or candied sweet potato

    TL''s corner!!!

    The ambience is needed! It''s the best way to eat sweet potatoes. ??

    ALSO DOUBLE RELEASE! Because... We have a surplus of PRed chapters. Thanks to our hardworking PR Matt. ^^

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 45 - Pumpkin Sweet Potato?

    Chapter 45: Pumpkin Sweet Potato?

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    He wriggled on top of his nket.

    "It''s dangerous outside the nket!"

    "Boy, you''re the one who looks more dangerous!"

    "Chew?!"

    Minhyuk looked at him strangely as he continued to eat his sweet potatoes. He also tried to eat it with a well-ripened kimchi.

    "Hehe, life is like sweet potatoes! Eating the dry sweet potato with the spicy and sweet kimchi is the best!"

    "Oh, there''s something like that?"

    This was the first time that Bran saw kimchi in his life. Because of that, he sat in front of Minhyuk with rapt attention.

    "Can I have a bite of that one too?"

    "Are you sure that it''s just one bite?"

    "Yeah."

    The guardian of this dungeon was Bran. Minhyuk realized that if he did not give him even one sweet potato then his favorability could potentially fall.

    Then, Bran took a sweet potato from Minhyuk. He peeled the skin off and ced kimchi on top of it before taking a big bite.

    "This is how you eat it, right?"

    "That''s correct!"

    "Chomp."

    Bran easily chomped on the kimchi and the sweet potato. His eyes suddenly widened in surprise.

    ''My, my word¡­¡­!''

    He could hear a heavenly harmony in his ears. His mouth was filled with the sweet vor of the sweet potato and the spicy and sweet taste of the kimchi.

    Crunch, crunch¡ª

    The ripe kimchi made a crunching sound that made it more enjoyable to eat.

    "Wow¡­ It''s really delicious."

    "Is it the best?"

    "Yeah. It''s the best. Chew, chew!"

    [Bran''s favorability has increased.]

    After he finished eating the sweet potato and kimchi, Bran could finally see the ck sweet potatoes piled up on one side.

    ''One, two, three, four, five¡­¡­ Heok?! Seventeen?!''

    He already dug up this much ck sweet potatoes?

    It was unbelievable. ck sweet potatoes never came out easily. They only appear once the appropriate amount of sweet potatoes that was harvested.

    If the amount of ck sweet potatoes harvested were proportional to a set amount of the sweet potatoes then it meant that Minhyuk has already eaten at least thirty sweet potatoes.

    ''How did this happen?''

    In truth, it was really difficult for the other users to dig up one or two pieces in an hour.

    Bran was not aware thatpared to others in his level, Minhyuk was one of the users with the highest DEX. This was one of the reasons why even if he did not acquire the skill yet he still could work faster than the others.

    It was only natural that his abilities would increase especially if he continuously dug without taking a rest.

    Minhyuk''s proficiency in his farming skill was almost more than 90%.

    "Huh?"

    Bran found something strange again.

    "Why are there no sweet potatoes?"

    "......Hmm."

    Minhyuk tilted his head as if he didn''t know while Bran looked around.

    There should be around thirty sweet potatoes. Even if he had eaten a few there still should be around thirty of them lying around.

    So where did all of it go?

    Bran looked around some more. When his line of sight intersected with Minhyuk¡­

    "D, don''t tell me you¡­"

    "......"

    "You ate all of it?!"

    "Eyy, how can one person eat all of that?"

    Minhyuk slowly wriggled inside the nket and hid from him. However, there was no way that Bran wasn''t aware of where he was¡­

    "How can you eat all 30 of those sweet potatoes¡­!"

    "You said that I can eat it. A man should not take back whatever he said, right? And the sweet potatoes that Bran-nim raised were all ve~ry delicious that I finished them all without realizing it."

    Minhyuk, who was wriggling inside the nket to hide, smiled at him.

    Then, Bran thought¡­

    ''There''s nothing I can do since he dug it himself¡­''

    That was the rewards of the dungeon after all. However, it was not a weed reward for the other users. It did not matter to them if they could get as much as they have dug in this dungeon. But Bran still looked at him with a sad expression.

    "My farm¡­¡­"

    [Bran''s favorability has decreased.]

    The little favorability that has increased has now dropped again.

    Minhyuk thought that he could do that so he could increase his favorability.

    "Then let''s do it like this. I will make you something delicious with sweet potatoester."

    Bran turned around without answering him.

    ''Don''t tell me that he''s still going to continue to eat? Eyyy, there''s no way a person can eat all of the sweet potatoes in here."

    However, it was just his earnest wish.

    When he arrived back in his hut, Bran looked at the distant mountain with a sigh. His expression was as if he finally understood what ''life¡­¡­'' meant.

    ***

    After eating all of the sweet potatoes he previously harvested, Minhyuk began to diligently dig up sweet potatoes again.

    [You have achieved 100% proficiency in your farming skills.]

    [You have mastered the Beginner''s Farming Skill.]

    [You have gained 10 DEX.]

    Minhyuk checked the notifications about his little sesses.

    (Beginner''s Farming)

    Passive Skill

    Level: 1

    Effects: ¡ª Collecting and digging for materials will be 4% faster.

    ''I can dig as many sweet potatoes as I could then.''

    He would eat all of the sweet potatoes in the field.

    If that wasn''t his goal before, then it would be his goal now.

    Then¡­

    Thwap!

    Thwap!

    Another ck sweet potato came out of the field. It was the final ck sweet potato. Minhyuk ced all of the ck sweet potatoes he harvested and headed towards Bran''s hut.

    "Bran-nim, I finished gathering 20 ck sweet potatoes."

    "......That''s really fast!"

    [Bran''s favorability has increased.]

    Bran might have detested Minhyuk for eating all of his sweet potatoes but it was still an undeniable fact that he surprised him.

    In fact, he was not confident that he would be able to dig up 20 ck sweet potatoes within 24 hours.

    [You havepleted the Quest: Dig Up 20 ck Sweet Potatoes.]

    [You havepleted the Secret Quest: ''He Who Cherishes the Little Things.]

    [You have acquired 1,000 Beginner''s Farming EXP.]

    [Your EXP acquisition rate is increased to x2 for 1 week.]

    [Beginner''s Farming has leveled up.]

    [Beginner''s Farming has leveled up.]

    [Your DEX acquisition rate in the ''Farming Dungeon'' has increased.]

    [For User Minhyuk only, Ellie''s Sword and the rewarded DEX acquisition rate have been added together. You have obtained a total acquisition rate of x6. This can only be applied inside the Farming Dungeon.]

    "Huh¡­¡­?!"

    Minhyuk was very happy. It was a secret quest, after all. Bran smiled a little at him.

    "To be honest, I actually wanted to ask you a favor with farming but you know..."

    He smiled bitterly.

    "Who would want toe here and dig up sweet potatoes, and to top it all off, they could only dig up one to two in an hour. Who else would be so interested in farming sweet potatoes? No one would even feel rewarded by digging up sweet potatoes."

    This secret quest was very, very, difficult. And just like Bran said, who would even earnestly do this quest without beingzy?

    A farmer?

    It was one of the lowest among the nonbat sses. No, in all honesty, it would be extremely difficult to find anyone with the farmer job ss. It even had a lower percentagepared to the chefs.

    Nevertheless, Minhyuk truly did his best. Of course he still wouldn''t forget how he ate all of his sweet potatoes.

    However, he still ate the sweet potatoes that he farmed and raised more deliciously than anyone.

    It was an act of sincerity.

    And he was fully satisfied with him.

    [Bran''s favorability has increased.]

    "Thank you. I will cook a delicious meal made out of sweet potatoes for youter. You''ll probably be surprised!"

    Minhyuk was genuinely happy with what he received.

    There was only one reason¡­

    ''My DEX acquisition rate has increased in this dungeon¡­!''

    Together with the effect of Ellie''s Sword, it has given him a total of x6 increase. If others could gain 1 point in 6 hours, then Minhyuk could gain 6 points in 1 hour!

    Minhyuk also looked at his leveled up Beginner''s Farming skill.

    (Beginner''s Farming.)

    Passive Skill

    Level: 3

    Effects:

    ¡ª Collecting and digging for materials and ingredients will be 10% faster.

    ¡ª Has a 3% chance of obtaining better materials and ingredients.

    ''Ooooooooh¡­!''

    Minhyuk was very moved.

    My god, this is¡­!

    There might be a possibility that he could get a more delicious ingredient!

    "Boy, I would like to ask an additional favor from you. Starting from now, Sweet Potato Men will appear in the fields."

    "Sweet Potato Men?"

    "Yeah. They''re the ones who suck up the nutrients from the ck sweet potatoes to soak themselves up. But because you dug up all those ck sweet potatoes then they might pop out of the ground and attack you. However, you don''t need to worry since their numbers will definitely be little. You only need to bring me ten sweet potato men and one sweet potato warrior. "

    [Quest: Hunt Ten Sweet Potato Men.]

    Rank: D

    Restrictions: Open only to those who havepleted the ''He Who Cherishes the Little Things.''

    Rewards: For every Sweet Potato Man the drops are: 1 million gold, a seed and an increase in DEX acquisition rate.

    Penalty for Failure: Bran''s favorability will drop.

    Description: Only for those who havepleted the quest He Who Cherishes the Little Things. Hunt ten Sweet Potato Men and one Sweet Potato Warrior.

    "Ah, the sweet potato warrior has a special ability of recovering its strength just by eating the sweet potatoes around him so be careful. That guy is over Lv30 so it might be a bit hard on you. Don''t strain yourself."

    "Yes. I understand. I''ll ept the quest."

    Despite Bran''s concern, Minhyuk still readily epted the quest.

    This quest has extremely good rewards and there would be a total of ten sweet potato men that will appear.

    One sweet potato man would give a drop of 1 million gold so a total of ten would give him 10 million gold in drops alone. In addition, Minhyuk saw that there were unknown seeds that would drop too.

    Bran continued to speak.

    "And if you hunt a sweet potato warrior, you''ll definitely find something that you''ll like. Hohoho."

    "D, don''t tell me¡­"

    Bran nodded his head.

    "Oooooooooooh!"

    Minhyuk''s body was suddenly filled with strength.

    He had a hunch. It was definitely obvious that something delicious woulde out.

    "And I''m telling you that there is a rtionship between the seeds that will drop and the sweet potato warriors."

    "Yes!"

    Swoooosh!

    Minhyuk once again moved towards the field to dig up sweet potatoes. He was like a whirlwind with how fast he was working. The speed and tenacity with which he used to dig up the sweet potatoes had increased. He was truly concentrating on this quest.

    [You have gained 1 DEX.]

    He quickly heard a notification not long after he started.

    Thud, thud, thud!

    While Minhyuk diligently dug up the sweet potatoes¡­

    "Gumaguma!"

    A monster suddenly popped out of the ground.

    It looked like a peeled sweet potato and was as tall as an 8-year-old child. It looked adorable with the tiny sickle on its hands.

    "Gumaguma!"

    The sweet potato man quickly narrowed the distance between them. Minhyuk, who was digging out sweet potatoes, swung his fists.

    "Skrrrt!"

    Squiish!

    "Guma, kueeck!"

    The sweet potato man quickly flew towards the barrier.

    It was just one move.

    A green seed dropped along with the gold. Minhyuk picked the drops quickly.

    [You have acquired 1 million gold.]

    [You have acquired a seed.]

    Then he continued his fast pace of digging up sweet potatoes again.

    There''s definitely something delicious that will drop from the sweet potato warrior in the end!

    His appetite gave him infinite concentration.

    Then he heard a notification.

    [You have gained 1 Will.]

    "Huh¡­?"

    The sound broke Minhyuk''s concentration. Minhyuk checked the detailed exnation about Will.

    [You have the will to do things. When you''re much more eager or you''re much more focused than usual your fatigue will disappear. This cannot be raised using bonus points.]

    "Oh¡­!"

    This was a superb stat.

    This kind of stats would usually be obtained when the user was over Lv50 and had met the conditions. However, it wasn''t easy to meet the conditions needed. Of all the users who have yed Athenae, only 3% knew about these special stats.

    After checking the stat, Minhyuk continued to dig sweet potatoes again.

    [You have acquired a sweet potato.]

    [You have acquired a sweet potato.]

    [......sweet potato.]

    Minhyuk''s hand began to get faster and faster. And along with his speed, his DEX continued to rise which gave him confidence.

    He could now dig 4 sweet potatoes in an hour.

    "Guma! Aaack!"

    Minhyuk once again punched the noisy monster who kept on shouting guma.

    Then¡­

    [You have sessfully hunted ten Sweet Potato Men.]

    [A Sweet Potato Warrior has appeared.]

    Baaaaaaang!

    An earth-shattering sound was heard along with the explosion on the ground.

    Minhyuk, who was still digging the sweet potatoes, stopped what he was doing when he heard the notification.

    Finally, the guy that I''ve been waiting for hase out.

    The sweet potato warrior belonged to arger variety of the sweet potato men. Its hand was now holding a spear.

    "Huh?"

    On the other hand, Minhyuk was surprised.

    ''Howe?''

    The sweet potato warrior was a monster. And it wasn''t like Minhyuk did not see the sweet potato men from before. However, there was something special in this sweet potato warrior.

    It was the color of the light surrounding it.

    ''It''s glowing with a ck light?''

    It wasn''t a food ingredient but the monster was surrounded by a glowing light.

    This was the first time that he had seen a ck light.

    ***

    TL''s corner!!!

    Surprisingly enough, we have no foot notes in the chapter. Lol. Well, well. What could the ck light mean? What stat will it increase if he ate it? Or was it something else???

    PR¡¯s corner!

    It¡¯s the ck light of death, because he¡¯s threatening Minhyuk¡¯s food and is going to perish.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 46 - Eating To Acquire Skills

    Chapter 46: Eating to Acquire Skills

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    19 Eating to Acquire Skills

    ''What the hell is this¡­?''

    He had received a hint earlier that if he caught the sweet potato warrior then he would receive something delicious but he couldn''t help but think when he saw the light.

    ''A monster can glow with this light?''

    There might be a reason for this.

    Come to think of it, I have recently filled the % beside my Food Fighter ss to 100%.

    But he hadn''t heard any notifications whatsoever.

    "I did not see any light when I killed the orcs, the goblins and even the sweet potato men¡­?"

    He had only seen this ck light on the sweet potato warrior.

    ***

    Team Leader Park murmured¡­

    "Because that''s a Named Monster."

    Lee Minhwa nodded her head in agreement.

    The two of them were monitoring User Minhyuk''s movements.

    He had already filled up 100% and was ready for a 2nd job ss. Before that, it was not unusual to not see any ck light on monsters especially these rare named monsters.

    "The 1st job ss of the Food Fighter focuses on the usual andmon food."

    Then, what does the 2nd job ss focus on?

    "I wonder if User Minhyuk is willing to eat monsters."

    "But he''s definitely on the luckier side. If he did not go to the hidden dungeon then he might have had to eat amon monster first."

    "Yeah. That''s the hardest part."

    No matter how much User Minhyuk loves to eat, can he even eat the monster directly without any hesitations at all?

    That was the hard part. But, User Minhyuk was very blessed to have met the appropriate monster the first time.

    "Anyway, a monster is a monster. Who would like to eat monsters without any sense of rejection at all?"

    "However he needs to eat that monster to satisfy all of the conditions for the 2nd job ss. If he wasn''t able to eat a monster in 2 weeks then he will not be able to change to his 2nd job ss and will continue to remain in his 1st job ss, right?"

    "Yeah. User Minhyuk will only be able to increase his stats and be a good chef with his God ss if he wasn''t able to do that."

    But will he eat monsters?

    ''He''ll also be able to acquire more special abilities.''

    ***

    Minhyuk thought that he should first hunt the sweet potato warrior. Then he would probably get answers after that.

    "Gumaaa¡­!"

    The sweet potato warrior first went on the offensive.

    [Bardy Swordsmanship]

    [All 5 basic stats have a +12 increase for 6 minutes.]

    He could feel the strength filling up his body.

    Then, the sweet potato warrior thrusted its spear towards him.

    ng!

    Minhyuk easily parried the sweet potato warrior''s strike and scattered the force behind it.

    At that moment¡­

    Crackle, swoosh!

    The Smander''s Double Ring''s effect ignited the body of the sweet potato warrior.

    [Smander''s ze]

    [The attack will inflict continuous damage to the enemy.]

    Then¡­

    Sniff, sniff, sniff¡ª

    Minhyuk''s nose moved.

    This smell, this aroma.

    It was a very familiar smell.

    "T, this¡­!"

    His eyes widened in disbelief.

    "Roasted sweet potato!"

    "Gumaaaaaaa?!"

    The sweet potato warrior struggled to put out the fire on its body while Minhyuk''s appetite suddenly soared.

    He licked his lips in anticipation.

    "Roasted sweet potato¡­¡­ Delicious¡­¡­"

    Roasted sweet potato tastes differentlypared to boiled sweet potato.

    When you purchased a roasted sweet potato on the street, you could see the slightly burnt skin and the steam rising off of it. And once you took a bite off of it, you would always say¡­

    "Hot, hot, hot, hot!"

    But no matter what, you would only continue to roll it in your mouth to cool it down. No one would be willing to waste the sweet taste of the sweet potato that spreads out in your mouth. It was the best.

    "Gumaaaa!"

    He gulped down his saliva when he saw the sweet potato warrior burning.

    ''De, devil¡­?''

    Minhyuk''s throat moved as he gulped once more. His tongue wetted his lips.

    "You look very yummy right now, you know?"

    Screech!

    The sweet potato warrior stepped back as it continued to try to put out the fire.

    "Don''t put out the fire, or you''ll taste bad!"

    "Gu, gumaguma¡­¡­"

    Fear engulfed the sweet potato warrior when it heard Minhyuk''s words.

    ''Wait a minute¡­!''

    A thought suddenly passed through Minhyuk''s head¡­

    ''The ck light might mean that it''s a crucial ingredient that I can eat¡­¡­''

    So what does it mean?

    ''It''s for me to eat. Oh yeah!''

    Minhyuk saw that the sweet potato warrior was finally able to extinguish the fire on its body.

    Then he saw it ce its hands in the ground. Its hands quickly went through. It was as if the ground was as soft as a tofu and a chopstick poked through it. It then pulled out a sweet potato out of the ground.

    The sweet potato warrior quickly ced the sweet potato in its mouth. It hurriedly chewed on it.

    Then, a surprising thing suddenly happened.

    [The Sweet Potato Warrior''s HP has recovered.]

    Its HP recovered when it ate?

    It was a bit novel. However, Minhyuk quickly realized what he had to do.

    He narrowed the distance between him and the monster in just one breath. Then, he proceeded to attack the sweet potato warrior. The sweet potato warrior ended up as a cold dead body that copsed on the ground.

    At that moment¡­

    Something surprising dropped from the sweet potato warrior.

    It was a golden sweet potato surrounded by a golden light.

    [You have acquired a Golden Sweet Potato.]

    "Ooooooh! I got a good item, a golden sweet potato."

    Minhyuk hurriedly picked it up and checked the information.

    (Golden Sweet Potato)

    Ingredient Rank: C

    Special Abilities: ¡ª +20 increase in STM

    Description: A more delicious golden sweet potato that can only be obtained by hunting sweet potato warriors. You won''t know which of the two of you will eat the other.

    "Wooow! It''s a more delicious sweet potato!"

    Minhyuk was very happy to read that.

    Aside from it being much more delicious than other sweet potatoes, it could also boost the STM by 20.

    What''s more, the golden sweet potato was bigger than Minhyuk''s fist!

    Minhyuk hurriedly ced it on his bosom.

    But first, there''s still a roasted sweet potato in front of me!

    But then, he hesitated.

    "Hey, it''s a monster though¡­?"

    It was a monster.

    It was the sweet potato warrior that was just attacking him earlier too!

    "Yeah, it''s 0kcal if it''s delicious!"

    Minhyuk was still very simple.

    He moved urgently as he took out a lot of foil from his inventory. Then he started to wrap the sweet potato warrior inyers ofyers of foil. It was too big that he had to use a few rolls of foil for it to be covered.

    Then, he quickly hurried to Bran''s house.

    "Bran-nim! Bran-nim!"

    His voice sounded like it was very urgent.

    "What''s the matter?"

    "Do you have any firewood?"

    "Firewood?"

    "Yes, can you please lend me some firewood?"

    "It''s in the back?"

    Fwooooosh!

    Minhyuk was as fast as the wind. He even used the magic spell Haste.

    He stopped in front of Bran with his arm full of firewood.

    He looked like a puppy that needed to poop, he was a wreck of nerves but he still wanted to express his gratitude.

    "Thank you for your help!"

    "Boy, you look really happy?"

    "Yeeees! I''m very very happy!"

    And at the same time, he wanted to express how happy he was.

    "Bran-nim, what do you call the sweet potato who joined the army?"

    "......?"

    "A roasted sweet potato!! Huwooo!"

    He watched Minhyuk hurrying off in the distance. His finger went to his head as he twirled it over and over again.

    "Roasted sweet potato, huh. That guy is crazy¡­"

    But soon after¡­

    "A sweet potato in the army¡­ roasted sweet potato? Pfft!"

    Heughed heartily at the joke.

    ***

    Tap, tap, tap¡ª

    Minhyuk looked very excited as he watched over the roasted sweet potato(?) surrounded by the firewood.

    When he poked it with Ellie''s sword, the sword went through easily.

    Minhyuk cut off a portion of the roasted sweet potato. Then, steam rose up with a woooosh¡ª as he peeled off the foil.

    [Please choose one from Buff Ability and True Worth of Food.]

    "True Worth of Food."

    [The Sweet Potato Warrior is selected as the main ingredient.]

    "Hot, hot, hot, hot!"

    Minhyuk transferred the sweet potato from his right hand to his left and vice versa until the sweet potato cooled down a bit. Then he moved to take a big bite off of it.

    "Hooo¡­"

    The sweet potato in his mouth gave off plenty of steam.

    "Heoop."

    He rolled the sweet potato around his mouth as he slowly savored its taste.

    A sweet taste slowly spread in his mouth.

    "D, delicious¡­!"

    Minhyuk was very surprised. Its vor was much sweeterpared to regr sweet potatoes. It was an extremely delicious variant of sweet potato.

    Its taste is truly astounding!

    He chewed the delicious sweet potato well and finally gulped it down.

    "Chew, chew!"

    Minhyuk quickly devoured the roast sweet potato.

    Then, he cut the remaining giant sweet potato into pieces and wrapped them in foil. The wrapped sweet potatoes were then ced in the fire again.

    He only did it because it was truly big and it might not get cooked well if he roasted it in one go.

    There was even a cool dongchimi with a sheet of thin ice on it ced in front of him.

    Before he ate pork, he prepared various kinds of kimchi to serve as his side dishes. In addition, he set the temperature in the food storage inventory to a colder temperature so it would be easy for a thin sheet of ice to form on top of it.

    "Gulp, gulp, gulp."

    When he gulped down the dongchimi, his eyes ttered in the coolness. However, it effectively pressed down the dryness of the sweet potato from earlier.

    The cool and refreshing taste of dongchimi is delicious!

    He might have not noticed but his smiling face was smeared with soot. Others would probably haveughed at him with a ''pfft'' if they saw his appearance while he ate his roasted sweet potatoes.

    When he finally finished eating all of his roasted sweet potatoes¡­

    [True Worth of Food.]

    [You can acquire the Sweet Potato Warrior''s Skill: Absorption Transition.]

    [Would you like to acquire it?]

    Minhyuk looked surprised.

    I could acquire skills in this way?

    "Acquire."

    He first decided to give it a try.

    [Acquisition rate 11%...... 22%...... 36%...... 68%...... 88%...... 100%.]

    [You have sessfully acquired Absorption Transition.]

    [Your entric eyes have opened.]

    [Your job will be changed to entric Food Fighter.]

    [The skill for entric Food Fighter has been created.]

    [The Food Fighter''s Legacy Quest has been created.]

    Minhyuk pondered about it as he heard the notifications.

    Did I really get skills just by eating?

    That was considered to be an extremely surprising story.

    Was it really possible to acquire skills just by eating something?

    Then, Minhyuk thought¡­

    ''Ah, so¡­!''

    This was probably the reason why he couldn''t acquire skills from the skill book.

    And at that moment, he finally understood. Unlike the others, he could acquire and learn his skills by eating.

    Minhyuk continued to ponder deeply about this matter.

    ''The sweet potato warrior probably had a skill because it was a special mob.''

    And these special mobs usually appeared among boss monsters or named monsters.

    He first checked his skill window.

    (Absorption Transition)

    Active Skill

    Level: None

    Mana Required: 200

    Cooldown: 20 minutes

    Effects: ¡ª You can recover 30~40% HP whenever you eat something.

    "......I think that this is something extremely incredible?"

    Even Minhyuk who would only be moved if it was about food opened his mouth in surprise when he read the effects of the skill.

    Will I recover 30~40% HP as soon as I eat?

    As far as he knows, the healing and recovering types of abilities were skills that were considered to be extremely expensive.

    Minhyuk quickly sent a whisper to General.

    [Minhyuk: Hyung, hyung, are you busy?]

    [General: no, no. I''m in the guild get-together. Why?]

    [Minhyuk: I just wanted to ask you something.]

    [General: What is it?]

    [Minhyuk: It''s nothing special, I just received a recovery skill.]

    [General: Oh, a recovery skill? But that''s a good thing? Recovery Skill Books are much more expensive than normal skill books since they don''t drop. What''s the recovery rate? 10%? Or 15%?]

    "......"

    Minhyuk went speechless for a moment. Just by looking at what Changwook said, he could now see how fraudulent his skills were.

    "Well, potions are really expensive¡­¡­"

    Then Minhyuk continued to send his whispers.

    [Minhyuk: It''s 30~40%.]

    [General:......You''re not just trying to make me call you hyung again, right?]

    [Minhyuk: But it''s true, and I have never lied to you before?]

    [General: OMG¡­ 30~40%? What''s the skills rank? And what''s the cooldown?]

    [Minhyuk: There''s no rank and the cooldown is 20 minutes.]

    Their whisper window was silent for a moment.

    Minhyuk could even see an image in his head. General probably had a nk expression on his face.

    A whisper finally came out.

    [General: This is an amazing case¡­]

    ***

    Footnotes

    [Sweet Potato Joke] Army in KR is ? so a sweet potato who joined the army is a ???? (roasted sweet potato. ????

    TL''s corner!!!

    Ahhh, he finally realized how fraudulent his skills were. Lmao. Yes boy, your skills are extremely fraudulent and perfect for you.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    He may have realized he has broken skills, but he¡¯s still mainly concerned whether they¡¯ll get him more food in the end. Which is just adorable. Never change, Minhyuk.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at:/Q3dStgu

 Chapter 47 - Eating To Acquire Skills

    Chapter 47: Eating to Acquire Skills.

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    [Minhyuk: ?]

    [General: You rascal¡­¡­?]

    [Minhyuk: ?]

    [General: Wow, really amazing¡­ Do you have that skill book?]

    [Minhyuk: I ate a monster, then the skill was created.]

    [General: Cool. You''re really a special star. Currently, the best healing skill book avable in the market is unique with a recovery rate of about 25~30%. It''s cooldown is also at 40 minutes. Do you know why healing skill books are expensive?]

    [Minhyuk: I sent hyung a whisper because I don''t know?]

    [General: The price of a potion is extremely expensive. But if you brought a priest to a dungeon then you have to share the experience. With a healing skill book, you won''t need to bring a priest to a dungeon and you will be able to monopolize the EXP you will gain. What more if the rate was increased to 30~40% like your skill? And you can use it once every 20 minutes? A user''s HP can be recovered at 50% every 20 minutes without taking a potion. That means that you can maintain your manpi [1] everytime.]

    [Minhyuk: Oh¡­!]

    Minhyuk was surprised, and he was much more surprised with what he heard from General.

    I can fill my HP by 30~40% every 20 minutes.

    And if one had good control then they could always maintain their HP at full level. In addition, for low-leveled users, they needed to use potions to lengthen their stay in a dungeon.

    [General: And the price for a potion that can maintain your HP once is extremely expensive and unaffordable for low-leveled users. Currently, the best picked skill book is worth around 100, 000,000 won. And it''s just at 20~25% at that too.]

    [Minhyuk: Anyway, thanks.]

    [General: Yeah. Have fun!]

    [Minhyuk: Yes, have fun too!]

    Minhyuk finished his whisper conversation with General.

    100,000,000 won?

    Of course, Minhyuk still did not care about anything aside from food but the reason why he checked was simple.

    ''I needed to learn how much strength I can get just by eating.''

    Listening to what General said, the skill that Minhyuk had acquired today was literally fraudulent.

    Then Minhyuk recalled¡­

    ''Monsters usually have stronger attributespared to users¡­¡­!''

    Not only that.

    Monsters, unlike users, generally only have one special skill with them.

    On the contrary, users fight with a set of different skills, a ton of items and several of them teaming together to hunt monsters.

    But monsters with special attributes?

    They couldpletely pressure the users with just their single special strength. That one single skill was much more stronger and powerfulpared to the user''s skills.

    This meant that Minhyuk had just literally absorbed the absorption ability of the sweet potato warrior.

    ''I got a good thing just by eating. Huhuhuhu.''

    Minhyuk felt happy that he received a good skill but he was more happy to know that he got special skills just by eating what he wanted.

    Minhyuk immediately checked the skills for the entric Food Fighter.

    (entric Meal)

    Passive Skill

    Level: God

    Level: 1

    Effects:

    ¡ª Ignore the penalty incurred by eating food or the toxicity caused by eating monsters.

    ¡ª Can acquire skills by eating monsters. The number of skills that can be stored is ?.

    ¡ª There is a possibility of failing to acquire the skill. In the case of a monster with several skills and attributes, the skill can be chosen or randomly picked. In random cases, a skill dice can be rolled. However, there''s still chances of failing to acquire the skill.

    ¡ª For the current level of the entric Meal, the monsters that can be eaten are still limited. Edible monsters will show a ck light.

    ¡ª Common monsters cannot be eaten. Monsters can only be eaten starting from the rare grade, unique, epic, legendary and god.

    ¡ª If you encounter a monster that you can eat, your eyes will see the ingredients that you can take away from it.

    ¡ª Monsters have a simr taste to modern ingredients and have a much better taste than normal ingredients.

    All of themon monsters were normal. And all the mobs that went beyondmon were called Named Monsters.

    Rare monsters drop rare items, they also had a high drop rate for skill books. This also worked the same way with unique monsters and its items and skill books. All of the other ranked monsters follow the same principle.

    And the higher the level of the monster, the higher its strength, and the more harder it was to defeat.

    When one was given a unique monster to hunt for their job ss change quest, the user would ask for the help of others for their tips and evenpensate them for their schedule.

    ''Oh¡­!''

    Minhyuk was in awe. It was because of what was written at the end of the skill window.

    The monsters have a taste simr to modern ingredients but are still more delicious.

    Of course, nothing would happen if normal users ate it and would only be effective to Minhyuk who has the entric Meal skill.

    And the effect of ignoring the penalty for food and toxicity for monsters could be described as the penalty of the poisonous apple that Minhyuk ate from the sweet python before being null and void. He also had the 3 chances of storing skills, of which 2 were still left for future use.

    I think that the number of skills can be increased if it levels up but this is something that I should be careful about.

    ''If that wasn''t the case?''

    Then I should just fill the remaining 2 slots with the best skills.

    ''If I eat a dragon, will I be able to get Hellfire or Meteor as a skill?''

    Dragons were named monsters that were only ssified as part of the legends.

    Minhyuk nodded his head as if he was in agreement with his thoughts.

    The part which satisfied him the most was the part that implied that he has more to eatpared to anybody else.

    ''Monsters have a taste that is simr to those ingredients in modern times. And it''s even much more delicious than normal ingredients¡­¡­''

    Then, a thought suddenly grabbed his attention.

    "But what would a real dragon taste like?"

    Minhyuk tilted his head in thought as he made a brutal sound that no other human would want to hear.

    "I want to try and eat one!!"

    Minhyuk seemed to have a reason to be stronger now.

    Finally, Minhyuk decided to check on the Food Fighter Legacy Quest.

    [Job Quest: Food Fighter''s Legacy.]

    Rank: Sealed

    Restrictions: Lv150

    Rewards: Sealed

    Penalty for Failure: Sealed

    Description: Sealed

    ''Legacy quest, huh¡­''

    He felt that it was a bit unusual. Then he thought of something.

    ''By any chance, in the past¡­¡­''

    Does the Food God really exist?

    Minhyuk thought that it was possible. Of course, his name was not The Food God''s Descendant but it was still a likely possibility.

    I''ll probably get more clues once I reach Lv150, right?

    There was also a reason why he was expecting that.

    ''He might know where all the good food is!''

    It was still upright(?) Minhyuk who always starts and ends his thoughts with food.

    ***

    Minhyuk went straight to where Bran was toplete his quest.

    He has acquired all of the 1 million gold that he could acquire from the sweet potato men. As of now, he had already earned a total of 10 million gold. It was a great reward considering that a user who hadpleted the subjugation quest could gain 100, 000 gold.

    [Your DEX acquisition rate in the ''Farming Dungeon'' has increased.]

    [For User Minhyuk only, Ellie''s Sword and the rewarded DEX acquisition rate have been added together. You have obtained a total acquisition rate of x6. This can only be applied inside the Farming Dungeon.]

    [Beginner''s Farming has leveled up.]

    [Beginner''s Farming has leveled up.]

    Notifications rang after he hadpleted his quest.

    Minhyuk was once again surprised, especially at the part where his DEX stat had amazingly increased.

    Every day, he usually cooked about 50 times. Even normal chef users would find it impossible to do something like that.

    It was said that chefs often would not cook at home. So how could they even cook much often when in game?

    That would be difficult.

    But Minhyuk found it enjoyable and delicious so he kept on cooking various dishes.

    Repeating an action dozens of times in a day would definitely improve one''s own dexterity.

    What''s more, didn''t he keep on digging out those sweet potatoes too?

    In other words, the increase in his DEX showed an unimaginable speed along with his massive acquisition rate.

    ''It''s for real¡­¡­ I can definitely see that the vor and taste are getting better and better, even if it''s just by a little bit.''

    It was a strange thing.

    The vor got more delicious. But it was a vague feeling.

    However, over time, he could see that the seasonings were getting more perfect. It also seemed that he did not get tired of the food easily even if he ate it over and over again.

    What does it mean if it isn''t delicious?

    It was delicious in a way that it could unconsciously make you finish two bowls of rice in one seating. Of course, in Minhyuk''s case, he could eat along the range of 100 bowls up to 200 bowls of rice.

    Minhyuk made up his mind.

    ''I will definitely dig up all of the sweet potatoes here and eat them!''

    Then, he checked the contents of his farming skill right away.

    (Beginner''s Farming)

    Passive Skill

    Level: 5

    Effects:

    ¡ª Collecting and digging for materials and ingredients will be 16% faster.

    ¡ª 9% chance of acquiring a better sweet potato when digging.

    ''The collection of materials and ingredients increased when the Beginner''s Farming leveled up. The digging speed has increased by 3% and even the chances of picking a much more delicious sweet potato has increased by 3% too.''

    He looked extremely pleased and after a while he began cooking again.

    He was going to cook sweet potato mattang and sweet potato pizza.

    The sweet potato mattang could be done easily. It would taste delicious just by chopping it and frying it at the suitable temperature. Then, it would be finished after sprinkling some starch syrup or honey on it along with some sesame seeds. Or, he could also make some sauce just by boiling some sugar.

    Then he proceeded to make sweet potato pizza.

    There was one memory that came to mind when he thought of sweet potato pizza.

    ''I used to buy and eat plenty of pizza from Pizza No Cool [2].''

    It was way back when he was still in middle school. Minhyuk hid the fact that his father was the chairman Kang Minhoo in school. And there was this 5,000 won pizza store near his school that''s called Pizza No Cool. Along with four of his friends, they would usually collect 1,000 won each and eat the sweet potato pizza from there.

    ''Kyaa. Pizza No Cool''s sweet potato pizza. I can still remember it vividly!''

    The dough was covered with a thinyer of sweet sauce and a thickyer of sweet potatoes.

    We used to pay hundreds of won to buy pickles and 500mL of c poured in stic cups.

    Minhyuk who finished everythingughed in satisfaction.

    ''I''m going to eat the golden sweet potato by myself~''

    Minhyuk would eat the delicious golden sweet potatoter when he was by himself.

    He smiled happily when he looked at his finished products.

    Notifications rang both for choosing between the True Worth of Food and Buff, and for the main ingredient of the dishes. Minhyuk quickly finished his choices.

    "......My hard-earned sweet potato."

    Bran looked like he was about to cry.

    There were about fifteen sweet potato pizzas in front of him along with arge basin filled with sweet potato mattang.

    "Ehei, please help yourself. It will taste bad when it cools."

    Twinge!

    Bran stared at him but Minhyuk just picked up the sweet potato pizza.

    The cheese stretched out smoothly as he felt the warmth of the pizza on his hands. When the cheese was finally cut off, he quickly took a big bite of the pizza.

    "Waaaaaaaang, chew!"

    Almost half of the pizza was gone with just one bite.

    He ate the cheese that stretched out from the pizza after he tugged at it. The moment the cheese was cut off, he slurped it then chewed on it the moment it entered his mouth.

    The cheese and the dough blended perfectly with the sweet vor of the sweet potato and the sweet sauce.

    The soft and chewy cheese gave off a rich but mellow taste. The cheese tasted a bit greasy but the sweet taste of the sweet potato and the sweet sauce added to its vor.

    Minhyuk reached out to a paper cup filled with c after eating a slice of pizza in one bite.

    This is a needed delicacy.

    To prevent the sauce and the oil from getting on the cup you had to pick up the paper cup with the palms of your hands instead of with your fingers. Then you could finally drink a cup of c.

    "Keuhaa!"

    The sweetness popped in his mouth after he gulped it. The fizziness of the c made him feel like his throat was tingling.

    Minhyuk was very amazed at finally tasting and feeling the greasy taste of the pizza.

    "Excellent. This is really delicious!"

    [Bran''s favorability has increased.]

    Bran, who was sitting on the opposite side, also expressed his admiration. He had a sulky expression on his face just a while ago but now he looked very satisfied.

    Minhyuk grinned at him as he poked his fork in the sweet potato mattang. He chewed on the sweet potato mattang.

    He first tasted the thick and sweet vor of the oligosharide followed by the slightly dry but smooth sweet potatoes.

    Minhyuk looked genuinely happy. Bran unknowingly gave off a fatherly smile when he saw his smiling face, however he suddenly hesitated.

    ''He ate all of my sweet potatoes!''

    "Boy, don''t you think it''s about time that you left?"

    He might be witty but Minhyuk was still quick.

    "These sweet potatoes, I have to dig them all up. Plus I still have 2x the EXP to gain."

    "You might get the EXP but you won''t get any items, items are important too!"

    This would be the first time that an NPC ever said please leave! to somebody else.

    "It''s alright. Bran-nim''s sweet potatoes are so delicious that I''m very happy to keep on digging them!"

    Bran thought that he had lost.

    Well, what a man!

    "It''s also fun to increase my DEX!"

    "I, is that so?"

    Even if he said that, Bran still looked quite pleased.

    ''Perhaps¡­''

    Thest reward left in this dungeon.

    Will he be able to get it?

    However, he shook his head.

    ''It''s not possible, he will definitely get the one with the immediate rewards.''

    Even though that was what he thought, Bran still continued eating.

    Once they finished everything, Minhyuk finally patted his stomach in satisfaction.

    "Ah, I should have some boiled sweet potatoes for dessert!"

    "......"

    Bran looked at him silently for a moment before speaking.

    "I can only say this."

    He looked quite solemn.

    "Yes?"

    "Elephants eat an average of 100kg per day. Boy, I think you''re simr to that."

    "......"

    "But¡­ For an elephant, for every 100kg it eats it will release 150kg of excrements. The reason for this was because 40~50% of their excrements are fiber. So, do you excrete about 100kg per day?"

    "......!"

    Bran was appalled while Minhyuk was shocked.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] ?? (manpi) : HP is full

    [2] ???? : I think this is a parody of the Pizza School (????) store in KR.

    TL''s corner!!

    To bepared to an elephant¡­. And not even a pig¡­ i¡­ LOL¡­

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Just...stick to the pigparisons please. I don¡¯t really want topare Minhyuk that way¡­

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 48 - Eating To Acquire Skills

    Chapter 48: Eating to Acquire Skills.

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    "Wait, what''s the seed?"

    Minhyuk wanted to get some answers on the vague item. There were a total of seven seeds that dropped out of the sweet potato men. And all of these seven seeds had a different color each.

    "When you nt the seed, a fruit that corresponds to that seed will grow."

    "Oooooh!"

    Minhyuk was both in shock and in awe.

    Those seeds weren''t sweet potatoes, so it means that I can definitely get other fruits and vegetables!

    "But those aren''t yours, boy."

    "Not mine. But those are the rewards that I received!"

    "Please wait a moment. The one for you is different."

    Bran went inside his hut after saying those words.

    But he still thought to himself¡­

    ''There''s no way that he will choose the seed.''

    Minhyuk had achieved the final conditions and now Bran had to test him.

    Bran opened a small jewel box in his hut. ced inside the box was a ring that looked extremely expensive. The ring was a unique artifact called Mahava''s Double Ring.

    In addition, Mahava''s Double Ring was one of the great artifacts among the existing double rings. These kinds of artifacts could only be counted in one hand.

    ''It''s an artifact that increases the magical defensive power by +40 and has the special ability absorption skill attached to it.''

    The absorption skill that was attached to the Mahava''s Double Ring has a 50% probability of absorption. It would definitely absorb anything as long as the opponents would not exceed a 100 level difference with the user. In addition, the skill that you have absorbed can be used once within 10 minutes after your absorption.

    It was a very valuable ring.

    Bran was going to present this ring to Minhyuk and would ask the seeds in exchange for it.

    This will be a trial for him.

    ''If he chooses Mahava''s Double Ring then he will only get the ring, and he will not get anything rted to the seeds.''

    This was the path to a Hidden Piece. And this was also a weak spot for this trial.

    ''Of course, everyone will think that Mahava''s Double Ring is more important than the seeds.''

    In fact, even Bran himself looked more at Mahava''s Double Ring instead of the seed.

    A notification rang in Bran''s head.

    Let''s throw this seed as a bait, it''s just a seed that will grow a fruit or vegetable that''s much more delicious than a normal one.

    This was just to test the user if they could achieve the Hidden Piece which was the most perfect reward for the Farming Dungeon.

    He then walked back to where Minhyuk was.

    "Well, this is the final reward. Once you hand me the seeds then you will get notified that you havepleted all of the quests in the dungeon, and I''ll give this as a reward to you."

    [You can now acquire Mahava''s Double Ring.]

    "Then what happens if this seed grows into a fruit?!"

    "Eyyy, that''s nothing special. It will just produce a much more delicious fruit. Just give me the seeds, don''t you want to get this reward?"

    "Much more delicious?"

    "Yeah, much more delicious. Quickly give me the seeds, you won''t be able toplete the quest in a while! Don''t you want this ring?!"

    A thought passed through Bran''s mind as he spoke those words.

    This rascal, I quite like this boy.

    However, the final rewards would still not be possible. But then, he saw Minhyuk smile.

    "A delicious fruit. Wow!"

    "......?"

    Bran looked at him curiously.

    "Are you telling me that there will be seven delicious fruits?!"

    Minhyuk did not seem like he was interested in Mahava''s Double Ring.

    "Then I will not give you any seed at all. I will raise them and eat the delicious fruits!"

    "......Are you serious?"

    "Isn''t that obvious? Anyway, the seeds with the delicious fruits are much better. What important items! Are items much more important than eating?!"

    Minhyuk spoke as if it was the truth.

    "When you eat, the food gets absorbed in my body but an item is just an item."

    His words were strangely persuasive but even if he heard that Bran''s nose twitched.

    "Boy. You''re just curious about what fruit the seed will bear, right?!"

    "...?"

    Minhyuk looked at him suspiciously.

    What''s this guy talking about? I just want to eat something delicious!

    Notifications suddenly poured in.

    [Bran''s favorability has increased.]

    [Bran''s favorability has increased.]

    [Bran''s favorability¡­¡­]

    "Boy, you''re really qualified to be a true farmer! My world, you''re even wondering what kind of fruit the seed will bear!"

    "No, more delicious¡­¡­"

    "Boy, you have inherited the blood of a natural farmer!"

    Misunderstandings could lead to delusions.

    In fact, it truly did not make any sense for a person to choose the seeds just so they could eat something much more delicious than the regr ones. In addition, Minhyuk was also someone who had worked hard to dig up sweet potatoes.

    Although he hid it secretly, didn''t you still love and care about farming?!

    "It''s my good fortune to have met you in this lifetime!"

    Minhyuk did not answer him. He just ced the seeds in his bosom and chuckled lightly.

    ''I''ll just sneak it away like this so this will be mine!''

    "Well then, you can take this."

    Minhyuk was shocked stiff.

    ''H, he still hasn''t given up?!''

    "I, I don''t like it. No way! I won''t give this to you! I will never give these seeds to you!"

    Minhyuk denied him in a flurry. Branughed at him as he ced Mahava''s Double Ring on his hands.

    "No, you can have it. This Mahava''s Double Ring and even these seeds too. You are their true owner."

    At that moment, a series of notifications rang in Minhyuk''s head.

    [You have achieved the Hidden Piece: He Who has the Disposition of a True Farmer.]

    [You can now cultivate the seeds.]

    [Beginner''s Farming has leveled up.]

    [Beginner''s Farming has leveled up.]

    [You have acquired Mahava''s Double Ring.]

    A hidden piece!

    Minhyuk looked curiously at his notifications.

    ''But it was only natural to choose the seeds?!''

    How can it be a hidden piece? I can''t help but be confused?

    However, after he thought about it carefully he finally realized that other people might have chosen the ring instead of the seeds. Others would definitely do everything they could just so they could get items and be strong.

    "Can I check the seeds?"

    "Yeah."

    Minhyuk quickly checked the seeds. Earlier, it was onlybeled as ''A Useless Seed'' so he wanted to check if there were any changes.

    (The Seed of Effort and Care.)

    Material Grade: ?

    Special Abilities: ¡ª ?

    Description: The seed of effort and care is a special seed that can only be acquired by a true and qualified farmer. Keep digging! The more you dig, the more you will fill the % of the ''Seed''s Effort''. The fruits of the seed will vary depending on the % that you can achieve. In addition, if you give the seeds love and care the seeds will also react. The seeds can grow in exactly 2 weeks.

    Minhyuk smiled in satisfaction as he continued to check on the other things.

    (Mahava''s Double Ring)

    ss: Unique

    Restrictions: 60 STR

    Durability: 4,000 / 4,000

    Defensive Power: 101

    Special Abilities:

    ¡ª +40 Magic Defensive Power

    ¡ª Skill: Absorption

    He checked the attached skills right away.

    (Absorption)

    Artifact Skill

    Level: None

    Mana Required: 70

    Cooldown: 24 hours

    Effects: The force of the Magical Attack or Physical Attack of an enemy with a 100Lv difference or below can be absorbed once by the wearer for 10 minutes.

    "Well, this isn''t bad."

    As expected of a double ring.

    Minhyuk now had two double rings in his possession.

    He then checked his Beginner''s Farming skill.

    (Beginner''s Farming)

    Passive Skill

    Level: 7

    Effects:

    ¡ª Collecting and digging for materials and ingredients will be 21% faster.

    ¡ª 15% chance of acquiring a better sweet potato when digging.

    The Beginner''s Farming Skill did not change that much but he felt d that it leveled up since his chances of getting a better sweet potato had increased.

    "Come here."

    Bran made his way somewhere as Minhyuk followed his lead.

    They went somewhere near Bran''s hut. There was a door at the end where the firewoods were stacked.

    Minhyuk had seen this door when he borrowed some firewood for his roasted sweet potato. He had wondered back then what it was for but thought that it was quite rude to open it without Bran''s permission.

    When the door opened, it showed up¡­

    Minhyuk was both in shock and in awe!

    "Wow¡­¡­ Wow¡­¡­ Wow¡­¡­ Waaaaaa!"

    Minhyuk let out sounds of admiration!

    Bran looked at him proudly.

    "This time it''s potatoes!"

    "Uwaaaaaah!"

    Minhyuk''s awed voice grew louder.

    He quickly started digging potatoes. He also did not forget to nt his seeds.

    There were countless dishes that could be cooked with potatoes.

    French fries, potato sd or dishes like stir fried potatoes that were best served as side dishes for rice.

    From then on, he solely focused on digging potatoes.

    For 24 hours in real life it was equivalent to about 96 hours in game. He only slept for about 2 hours each day in reality and spent the rest of his time digging potatoes.

    Sleep?

    Sleep couldn''t stop Minhyuk when there was something that he could eat in front of him.

    [Beginner''s Farming has leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have gained 1 DEX.]

    [You have acquired Potatoes.]

    Minhyuk continuously dug potatoes.

    ***

    Two weeks have now passed inside the game. Thepetition was now just right around the corner.

    Minhyuk looked empty when he got out of the game.

    "Minhyukie, don''t you want to get some sleep?"

    "It''s fine. Hehe. I have already piled up a lot of potatoes!"

    Minhyuk made a big gesture to appease Lee Jinhwan''s worries. His face might have looked tired but he felt happy.

    Today was also the day. He had to check his weight right now. Everyone headed together towards the scales.

    Minhyuk took a deep breath as he slowly ced his heavy body on top of the weighing scale.

    The numbers started to change.

    Everyone was looking at the scales nervously.

    It was a bit unfortunate that his father was not able toe today since he had something urgent to attend to.

    Minhyuk had his eyes shut tightly.

    ''Heok¡­¡­!''

    ''Aack?!''

    The people surrounding him started to voice out sounds of exmations, however they tried their best to not make any sound.

    It was better for Minhyuk to see it personally.

    "Can I open my eyes now?!"

    "Y, yeah!"

    Minhyuk quietly opened his eyes as he looked towards the scales.

    The moment he looked at the weighing scale¡­

    172.7 kg.

    Minhyuk''s legs softened and he copsed. There were 500g that were missing.

    p, p, p, p!

    Everyone apuded.

    "Congrattions, Minhyuk-ah!"

    Changwook ced his hands over his shoulder.

    "Minhyuk-ah, congrattions!"

    "Congrattions, Kang Minhyuk!"

    "I know you can do it!"

    Everyone spoke with bright expressions on their faces.

    However, Minhyuk could not hear anything at all. He did not know when he would die.

    There''s no hope for me anymore. I''m going to die without even eating any delicious food.

    But, there''s a change right now.

    It was only 500g. Others might not care about this meager 500g. But for Minhyuk, it was something that he has anxiously longed for. He wanted this more than anybody else.

    Tears suddenly fell from his eyes.

    "Hick, heuuung!"

    Minhyuk started to cry. He wept with both sadness and bitterness.

    Perhaps he could really have the figure that he had in the game. Maybe he could turn that into reality.

    "To be honest, we still have to observe you further Minhyukie. But there''s clearly a change and you''re definitely eating less right now."

    Then, Jinhwan did not say anything after that.

    ''Perhaps we can expect some big changes in the future, when he can finally satisfy his tastes and appetite in the game.''

    But it was still not the time to tell him that.

    "Heuk, heuk, heuk, heuk!"

    Minhyuk cried really pitifully. The people around him were at a loss. It might have felt good, but somehow it also felt sad.

    "Hey, hey. Why are you crying? This hurts your hyung''s heart."

    "Heuuuuuuuuung!"

    "Hyung will buy you candies in Athenea, plop!"

    "......OMG?"

    "Heok¡­¡­"

    "Keok?!"

    Minhyuk, who was crying his heart out, suddenly stopped crying when he heard the word candy.

    He quickly wiped away the tears in his eyes, and as if he was not crying just now, he looked at Changwook.

    "You know that strawberry milk is really delicious, right?"

    "......"

    "......."

    "......"

    He smiled widely, imagining its taste, as he looked forward to it.

    ***

    TL''s corner!!!

    Ngl, I was teary when Minhyuk cried. It must have been very hard thinking that he would die anytime if his condition did not improve. By the looks of it, even if he had a positive mindset, it still was weighing in his mind. Ahhh. Please get better and better Minhyuk!!!

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Go Minhyuk! I nearly let out a whoop of joy when I read this! Every little bit is so much! I can¡¯t wait to continue to follow Minhyuk¡¯s journey.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 49 - A Dangerous Companion

    Chapter 49: A Dangerous Companion

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    19 A Dangerous Companion

    A candy can make anyone stop crying!

    ''What the hell, did he cry on purpose just so I can buy him something to eat?!''

    That was what he thought! Minhyuk had an incredible amount of patience for food, he even reduced his sleep to eat. So it was no wonder that he could even cry for it!

    "Ah, I feel refreshed!"

    Minhyuk went down from the weighing scale.

    He already poured everything out with his tears so now he was filled with joy. A smile now hung around his lips.

    I''m really happy.

    He could even picture his heart beating wildly in his chest.

    ''What if I can really have the image I had inside the game in real life?''

    This was the reason why Minhyuk''s butt fell down the weighing scale.

    "Doo doom chit! Doo doom chit! [1]"

    He looked quite funny.

    "Hahahaha!"

    "Hohohoho!"

    It was definitely a lovely day for everyone, everyone had a smile on their faces.

    Oh Changwookughed for quite some time before approaching him.

    "Ah, how much did your dexterity stat increase now? Are you still going to the dungeon today?"

    "Yes, huhu. Today is the day that I will harvest my fruit."

    The seeds have finally bore some fruits. The fruits woulde to Minhyuk''s hands on the day that he would leave the dungeon.

    "How high is your dexterity stat now?"

    "I think it''s at 298?"

    "......"

    "......"

    "......impossible."

    The surroundings suddenly became noisy. Oh Changwook lookedpletely astonished.

    "You''re saying that your dexterity stat is almost at 300¡­¡­?"

    "Yes!"

    Minhyuk tilted his head.

    The rate at which his dexterity stat increased in the dungeon was at x8. His dexterity stat was definitely bound to increase tremendously since he kept on digging day and night while he cooked during his rest times.

    "I heard that our guild cksmith had a little over 400 for his dexterity stat when he advanced from intermediate level to advanced level¡­¡­?"

    "......Really? Was he not able to increase it? Ah, I think it''s because I have a x8 increase in my acquisition rate."

    However, Changwook thought hard about it.

    It will not rise that fast even if he has a x8 acquisition rate.

    "I think I know."

    "Yes?"

    "I heard that there were a lot of different rules for increasing the dexterity stats. Isn''t the first rule in increasing the dexterity stat to continuously repeat an action?"

    "Yeah."

    That was a fact that everyone knew.

    "I heard that there were other rules aside from this. The more that you concentrate and get absorbed in a task is also a factor. Another factor was if the user continuously worked without taking any breaks. I heard that if all of those conditions ovepped then there would be a higher increase in the dexterity stat. It will also increase even by a little when it continuously oveps. There will be no notifications that will be heard about this, though."

    "Really?"

    It was an unexpected story.

    In other words, Minhyuk''s dexterity acquisition rate had implicitly risen just by him concentrating hard and continuously doing his task without taking much of a break.

    Minhyuk was also happy to hear that.

    "Then, I''m going to eat some fruit to celebrate."

    Minhyuk entered his Athenae capsule with a sway of his butt.

    At that moment, Changwook remembered something¡­

    ''I remember hearing that there are benefits when one reaches 400 in their dexterity stat¡­¡­''

    ***

    Bran was now truly astonished.

    ''This is too ridiculous¡­''

    He trembled all over.

    Minhyuk nted all seven of his seeds and on the branches of each of those huge treesid a single fruit. Each fruit was also shining with light.

    This light was only visible to Bran. It represented the % of Seed''s Effort. It was an indication of how much the user who nted those seeds had filled that % bar.

    In fact, achieving 50% was already a difficult task. And if one did not achieve at least 50% the fruit would only be a much more delicious and a bit special fruit. If 60% was achieved then it would be better, the same way it was better when 70% was achieved.

    But doing that was not as easy as it sounded. Bran himself could only reach 60% with much difficulty.

    The effort gained from digging was really important but one would also need to care about the seeds.

    And right now, he could see colors reflected on those fruits. All of these colors were also apanied by a golden light.

    It meant that it has achieved more than 90%.

    Bran couldn''t believe his eyes.

    Then, Minhyuk logged in.

    "Doo doom chit! Doo doom chit!"

    Minhyuk came in with his butt swaying in a dance.

    "Hello! I''m here!"

    "Y, yeah. Boy, today''s the day that you''ll be leaving?"

    "Yes! Huhuhuhu. But before I go I have to harvest my fruits."

    Minhyuk was filled with anticipation while Bran smiled awkwardly at him.

    "What''s wrong with your face?"

    "N, nothing."

    It was because he received a great shock. That was why he looked like that.

    He couldn''t believe that there were people who would give his best efforts and still give enough care and affection. When he thought of it, he always saw Minhyuk caring about the seeds whenever he wasn''t digging or cooking.

    Then, Minhyuk approached the seven grown trees with excitement.

    The fruits were all in different sizes and were covered in a shell simr to that of a coconut shell. This made it hard for him to identify what the fruit was.

    "You can just reach your hand out and say harvest to receive the fruits."

    Minhyuk followed Bran''s instructions. He reached his hands out towards the trees.

    "Harvest."

    [Would you like to harvest the fruits?]

    [ Yes / No ]

    "Yes."

    Plop¡ª

    The fruit that was just on the tree suddenly fell down on its own. Then it flew straight towards Minhyuk, floated for a while then slowly fell on the floor.

    There was a crack straight in the middle of the coconut-like shell. Then the shell fell off both sides.

    Plop, plop¡ª

    Then, the inside was revealed.

    Minhyuk was shocked by what he saw.

    "Waaaaaaah¡­"

    He first eximed¡­

    Then a delicious watermelon appeared!

    "I, it''s a watermelon¡­¡­!"

    "Yeah. The watermelon looks really delicious."

    "Ah, good, great, watermelon, apuse! [2]"

    "...?"

    "You don''t know this song?"

    "Boy, what are you saying? Go after you finish pping."

    "Hmph!"

    "Ahem!"

    Both of them made a bad joke and coughed in embarrassment.

    Then, Minhyuk checked the watermelon''s information.

    (The Fruit of Your Efforts'' Watermelon.)

    Material Grade: C

    Special Abilities:

    ¡ª Acquire 30 DEX.

    ¡ª Acquire 30 WIS.

    ¡ª Tastes much betterpared to normal watermelons.

    Description: Your efforts and affections for the seed have paid off. You already have the excellent disposition of a true farmer.

    "I, it''s good that it says that it tastes better than a normal watermelon!"

    "Yeah? What abilities did you get¡­¡­"

    "Wow! I wonder how delicious it is if it''s much better than normal watermelons?! The normal watermelon is already delicious!"

    "Look at the abilities!"

    "What abilities¡­"

    Minhyuk shook his head.

    "It''s not that bad~"

    Minhyuk received something pretty good especially with the 30 DEX. However, it still couldn''tpare with the one with a better taste.

    Then, Minhyuk checked the next fruit. It also appeared once the shell split on its own.

    "S, strawberry!"

    (The Fruit of Your Efforts'' Strawberry)

    Material Grade: C

    Special Abilities:

    ¡ª Acquire +10 for all 5 basic stats.

    ¡ª Possible to level up a general attack skill by 1.

    "Waaaaaaaaang!"

    Minhyuk did not even dilly-dally. As soon as the strawberry that''s the size of his head appeared, he immediately picked it up.

    The strawberry waspletely ripe and red and its seeds were ck and gleaming with light.

    He quickly chomped on his coveted strawberry.

    "Chomp!"

    Chew, chew.

    The ck seeds embedded on the flesh of the sweet strawberry was pleasant to the taste.

    The more he chewed on it, the more juice he could get, the more refreshing it was for him.

    It was very surprising to watch Minhyuk eat a strawberry the size of his head without him cutting it into pieces.

    "Chew, chew!"

    Minhyuk kept on eating the strawberry.

    "......Y, you look like a hippo."

    From an elephant to a hippo.

    Minhyuk tidied up the strawberry in the blink of an eye. The strawberry that weighed almost 4kg was finished in one go.

    Then he paused.

    "T, this idiot!"

    "What''s wrong?"

    "Heung I wanted to eat the delicious strawberry fruit juice, strawberry cake, strawberry macaron, strawberry sandwich! This fool!"

    It was so delicious that he regretted eating it on the spot. Then he suddenly became determined.

    ''It''s okay, Minhyuk-ah. You still have a watermelon.''

    He kept the watermelon in its shell so he could still keep a semnce of control.

    Half of the watermelon will be eaten while the rest will be made into a fruit sd!

    A string of notifications popped in his head.

    [You have eaten the Fruit of Your Efforts'' Strawberry.]

    [You have acquired +10 in all 5 basic stats.]

    [Please select a general attack skill.]

    He has no other attack skill except for this one.

    Bardy Swordsmanship.

    [Bardy Swordsmanship has leveled up.]

    [You have mastered Bardy Swordsmanship.]

    [Chapter 1. As a reward for mastery, the attack power of Vital Strike will increase by arge margin.]

    [Chapter 2. As a reward for mastery, the Three Consecutive Quick Assault will have additional damages.]

    [Chapter 3. As a reward for mastery, the stats increase and time for Bardy Swordsmanship will be greatly increased.]

    Mastery rewards. Once a skill has been mastered, the user would receive additional rewards for their skills. Generally, there would be a notification that would say that there was an additional 3% to the attack power.

    Minhyuk quickly checked the skills window.

    The 1st Chapter: Vital Strike had a 28% increase in attack power. The 2nd Chapter: Three Consecutive Quick Assault had three cuts that could be made with an additional 10% of attack power for each cut. For the 3rd Chapter¡­ Before, Bardy Swordsmanship could increase the stats for 10 minutes but it has now risen to as much as 20 minutes.

    Minhyuk continued to harvest the rest of his fruits.

    [The shell cannot be broken at your current level.]

    [The shell cannot be broken at your current level.]

    Sadly, the remaining fruits could not be currently opened. However, Minhyuk still checked on its information.

    (The Fruit of Your Efforts'' Fruit.)

    Restrictions: Lv80

    Material Grade: Sealed

    Special Abilities:

    ¡ª Sealed

    ¡ª Sealed

    There was at least a 10Lv restriction for the rest of the fruits.

    Currently, Minhyuk was already at Lv79. His level has gone up tremendously inside the dungeon.

    Usually, he would need at least 500 EXP for his level to increase. However, the higher his level would be, the higher the EXP he needed to raise it by 1.

    ''I need to be at least at 120.''

    At that level, he would be able to eat all of the fruits.

    "You have really worked hard."

    "Yes. And I am really very thankful for everything."

    "Boy, I believe that you can be an excellent farmer."

    "Yes, I wish that I can have another chance to see you again next time!"

    Minhyuk bowed politely, his body was bent at a 90 degree angle.

    He felt a bit sorry for Bran.

    Why? Because he ate all of his potatoes and sweet potatoes!

    But Minhyuk also had a conscience.

    He approached Bran and whispered in his ears.

    "I left you some potatoes."

    "Ooooooooh, yeah. Thank you. Ah, boy. You said that you will be going to Emperor''s City via carriage, right?"

    "Yes."

    There was a level restriction for teleportation. For a user below Lv100, they could only teleport 40km away from the vige where they started from. From Lv200, they could freely travel anywhere in their empire. And starting from Lv300, users could now freely travel from empire to empire.

    This restriction took into consideration the desire for travel and for Athenae users to explore and see various ces.

    "Goodbye then!"

    Minhyuk smiled happily as he said his goodbyes.

    ''I have a conscience too!''

    Because of this conscience, Minhyuk left some potatoes for Bran.

    Once he disappeared, Bran went to his potato field.

    "Yeah, of course that brat should have a conscience too!"

    Ah, he was polite and had a good personality. It was a bit strange that he finished all of the sweet potatoes but I believe that he still left me a few boxes of potatoes.

    Bran arrived at the potato field with that thought in mind.

    "......This was what you left because of your conscience!!"

    The potato field was all dug up and at the center was a steaming potato with driedver.

    There was only one potato in there.

    Not three, not two but one!

    Bran did not know this but Minhyuk was torn in agony and was very conflicted before he decided to leave this potato behind.

    Why don''t you eat my hands too!

    Minhyuk who left a potato for Bran because of his guilty conscience(?) did a great job ording to his standards.

    Bran saw the note he had left behind after picking up the only potato he had left behind.

    [Potatoes are really the best rest-area food!]

    After reading the note, Bran sighed deeply as he munched on the potato in his hands.

    "......It''s delicious."

    Then heughed loudly.

    "It looks like a wild boar came and went to this farm. No, he''s worse than those guys."

    He whimpered as he thought of Minhyuk.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] ??? it''s a sound, like the beat when one is dancing. But I can''t think of any good English counterpart so I just romanized the word. Lol. If you have a better version, do tell me.

    [2] The original is "?, ??, ??, ??? ??!" I think this was a lyrics from Super Junior T''s Rokkugo which is ????? ?????

    TL''s corner!!

    LOL. An elephant to a hippo to a wild boar. He has beenpared to a lot of animals huh. Lololol.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Ha. The correctparison is that Minhyuk is a monster, taking everything delicious and leaving scraps in his waste. And soon...hehehe¡­

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 50 - A Dangerous Companion

    Chapter 50: A Dangerous Companion

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    A silver bob-cut hair along with a ck mask and a tight-fitting leather armor. Even though she was wearing heavy armor, the curves of her body could not be hidden.

    She was a woman equipped with high ss and luxurious gears that was quite ipatible with Isbin Vige. This person who was receiving quite the amount of attention was Lucia.

    "Are you going to the pce?"

    "Yes. It will be 100,000 gold."

    She nodded at the coachman, handed over the money and climbed up the carriage. The carriage was empty.

    She received a hidden quest here in Isbin Vige and now she was on a carriage headed towards the Emperor''s City.

    ''Ellie''s Swordsmanship¡­''

    She was a user affiliated with the thief ss. However, even for someone like her, Ellie''s Swordsmanship was still something that could make her mouth water.

    It was an epic skill that was still not widely spread in the country. Furthermore, if she got acquainted with Ellie then she would be a big help to her whenever she decided to build a guild and be a guild master just like Yeongji.

    ''That way, I will be able to surpass oppa.''

    There was a reason why she was racing crazily with time like this. Because she wanted to surpass her brother, Cain.

    He and Lucia were separate persons even if they were siblings. And her brother, Cain, was always better than others. Lucia was quite jealous of him so she wanted to win and get recognized. But she was never able to do it.

    But it was different here in Athenae. From physical abilities to skills and even with the job sses, everything she had was overwhelming.

    ''Oppa will definitely acknowledge me.''

    She let out a cold and murderous smile.

    As she crossed her arms and legs, she slowly closed her eyes.

    I''m tired.

    She started to feel sleepy.

    "This is the carriage headed over to the pce, right?"

    "Yeah."

    "Oho, I can definitely go and be free of worries with such an excellent coachman-nim pulling the carriage. Wow! This white horse looks delicious¡­¡­ No, no, looks cool! [1]"

    "Hahahahaha, I''m the one who kept and raised this treasure. But boy, what are you eating?"

    She was slowly starting to get sleepy but then she heard the sound of them talking outside. But Lucia was just so very tired.

    How long was it since I was awake? My eyes are slowly closing.

    In her dreams, she saw her oppa sitting in front of her. Then, her dream Cain said¡­

    ''Lucia, you''re really great. You''ve won 1st ce in the tournament, that''s really cool.''

    ''Thanks.''

    They started to converse in her dreams. Unlike her usual self, she looked quite shy in her dreams. Then she heard her oppa speak again¡­

    ''And this oppa of yours¡­''

    "The potato is delicious!"

    ''Is like a potato.''

    ''......Huh? Oppa? What did you say?''

    Dream Cain said something weird to her, and his strange words continued to haunt her.

    "Uwaaa. It''s a potato. Why does it look so delicious?! Chew, chew."

    Suddenly, dream Cain smiled at her and said¡­

    ''This potato is delicious.''

    Then, potatoes suddenly started to pour down in her dreams. Even small potatoes started to fill in the gaps between the bigger ones.

    ''Kyaaaaaaa, h, help me¡­¡­! Potatoes, I ca-can''t breathe¡­¡­ Keok!''

    There were too many potatoes that she started to suffocate.

    Then, at that moment¡­

    "Woaah, there''s too much potatoes!"

    She waspletely awakened from her dreams. She looked around and was bewildered that it was a dream.

    It was very vivid.

    Then she could smell the scent of potatoes.

    "Huh?"

    She saw a man looking strangely at another man. He was instinctively hiding something in his arms while he kept on chewing something.

    When she looked closely, it was a rest-area potato ced on a disposable container.

    It looked like it was roasted since it had a brown tinge to it. She saw him sprinkle some sugar over it before smearing some more butter on it as if to make it more delicious.

    Then she saw the man suddenly had a sad expression on his face.

    "Heuung, there''s only one left¡­¡­"

    He looked as if the world had deprived him of everything. Lucia thought that he looked absurd.

    ''N, no. He did not look like he was kidding. Was he really that sad over it?''

    Wait, is that a potato?

    Her expression suddenly turned iprehensible.

    The man ced the potato in his mouth as he munched slowly on the potato to savor its vor.

    But when she saw him eating, Lucia unwittingly imagined the taste of potato. She would smear some butter on the roasted potato or sprinkle some sugar or salt on top of it before taking a big bite.

    Once she ced it in her mouth, she would definitely feel the heat and taste the melted sugar. Then, the moment she chewed on it, she would taste the vor of the golden yellow potato. It would definitely bring a smile on her face.

    She was surprised to learn that she was drooling over the thought of eating potatoes unconsciously.

    ''W, what¡­ he''s eating it so deliciously.''

    However, she calmly closed her eyes.

    ''Let''s get some sleep.''

    She then heard another rustling sound. This time, the savory smell of oil floated towards her nose.

    Doesn''t this smell like the smell of oil whenever onees home during Seol or Chuseok? It''s a smell that will continuously whet your appetite!

    "Wahaha. Potatoes are the best!"

    "Excuse me. Please be quiet. This is a public ce."

    "Ah. Yes, yes. Sorry. Sorry."

    Lucia ignored the sounds and continued to calmly close her eyes.

    But then, the sound kept oning.

    Crunch, crunch, crunch¡ª

    ''Isn''t this the sound of a well-cooked potato pancake?''

    The whole point of a vegetable pancake was its well-cooked edges. If the edges were cooked to a fine crisp then the pancakes would definitely turn out chewy.

    Those sounds were the sounds that came in Lucia''s ears.

    Gulp.

    She unconsciously swallowed her saliva.

    "Waaaaang."

    She listened with her eyes closed. When the man opened his mouth to take a big bite, Lucia also opened her mouth.

    "Chomp."

    She then closed her mouth, as if she was the one chewing on it.

    "Delicious¡­"

    Screech!

    Pause!

    She was startled when she unwittingly said out those words.

    The man sitting in front of her was also surprised. Then, she saw the man hide the potato pancake in his bosom. It was as if someone would take it away from him.

    "Ah, I was just saying whatever. I''m not even hungry. I was thinking about what I will eat in real life and not about your potato pancakes."

    "Really? What will you eat?"

    She was a bit embarrassed so she just said something carelessly.

    "B, beef."

    "Beef?!"

    The man''s eyes grew the size of a hwajeon [2]. It has grown really big that she thought that it would pop out anytime. His head went closer to her and said¡­

    "H, how will you eat it?"

    "I''ll just grill it for a bit and dip it in salt."

    "Wow, wow, wow¡­¡­ Is that all you''re going to eat?"

    He gulped down as fast as he could as if he wanted to speak as fast as he could. She felt a sense of urgency in his words.

    "Of course not. I will also dip it in ssamjang then ce it on top of a lettuce before adding garlic and other vegetables on it."

    "Kyaa! Nim, at least you''re an educated man! You''re going to eat it in one bite right?"

    "Huhuhu, of course. Of course."

    Lucia felt that her self esteem and confidence were suddenly soaring up to the sky.

    Eating beef has made me a great person!

    "Kgghk, eating beef with wasabi on top is also delicious!"

    "Ah, you''re right. That''s also delicious."

    "Yeah. Nim, do you know?"

    "What is it?"

    "It''s nice to eat beef seaweed soup for breakfast. Then after you mixed your rice with it, you can also add some well-ripened kimchi or some seasoned peri leaves."

    "Waaaaaaaah. I''m drooling."

    "Were you drooling earlier?"

    The two people talked about food as if they were long time friends who met again on their way somewhere. The flow of their conversation waspletely natural that they didn''t even notice it at all.

    "If you eat beef then it will seem like you possess everything in the world¡­¡­"

    "Well, potato pancakes are delicious too."

    Ruuuuumble!

    At that exact moment, Lucia''s stomach cried for food. When she thought about it, right after shepleted the hidden quest what she did was go straight to the carriage. She nced slightly at the potato pancakes in his hands.

    "You¡­¡­"

    "......"

    "Can I have a bite?"

    "Uuuuuuuuuuuuuh¡­¡­!"

    The man suddenly wrapped his hands around his head and cried with great anguish.

    ***

    Minhyuk was in agony, he once again was tormented by anguish!

    ''My god¡­¡­ Am I such a good man?!''

    He showed great virtue(?) towards Bran when he left him one after digging up over 800 potatoes. It was a very difficult conflict that he had to face himself. However he left one because he felt a bit sorry.

    Then there''s this unknown woman right in front of me!

    In fact, Minhyuk realized that he was the one who made trouble. It was because he ate in the carriage so he disturbed her sleep. Of course, there was the smell too.

    He wouldn''t need to give anything if there wasn''t something in the first ce. However, he still felt sorry for the trouble he had caused!

    He soon made a difficult decision.

    ''Y, yeah¡­¡­ Just one mp of the chopsticks¡­¡­!''

    "P, please have some¡­¡­"

    Minhyuk held out his chopsticks after saying so.

    "Thank you!"

    The woman lowered her mask and revealed her face. She smiled confidently, she was very confident about her great beauty.

    She was on par with how Alicia looked like in real life. The only difference was if Alicia was akin to a cat then she would be a gentle puppy. However, her cold look always managed to hide her gentle appearance.

    She grabbed the chopsticks that Minhyuk was handing out but soon felt that he really did not want to let go.

    "W, will you please let go?

    "Aaaaaah, yes¡­¡­!"

    "N, no. You have to let go so I can eat¡­!"

    "Yes!"

    Minhyuk did his best¡­

    Right hand, let go of the chopsticks now!

    But in the end, Lucia was finally able to pull out the chopsticks with force. Then, she tore up the potato pancake and lifted it up. She dipped the pancake in soy sauce then ced it in her mouth and chewed on it.

    "Waaaah¡­¡­"

    It was warm and crisp. She was in awe at the deep vor of the potato pancakes. And it was very chewy, she felt that it was really pleasant to taste.

    She coughed awkwardly as she reached out for the potato pancake once more.

    At that moment¡­

    Swooosh¡ª

    "Do you want my hands to be blown away?"

    Minhyuk pulled his sword halfway out of its sheath.

    "Wow, you''ve done it. Isn''t this cheap, why don''t you let me eat?! And you want to PK someone just because they will use your chopsticks to get one more bite?!"

    "You were supposed to only eat one bite. Frankly, I won''t even say anything even if I PK you!"

    "Everyone, he''s trying to kill me because I tried to eat one more bite, what do you think about him? ''Heok?! How can there be such a person?! It was just one more bite?!'' Do you hear that? Did you hear what the others were saying?"

    "Stop beating the drums and the janggu [3]. A no is a no!"

    "Che!"

    "Hmph!"

    She turned herself away from him. While Minhyuk ate his potato pancake with a really sad and broken expression on her face.

    Lucia found the situation very funny.

    "Pffft!"

    "......?"

    "Ahahahahahahaha. What potato pancakes. Why are we even like this?!"

    It was really nothing and it wasn''t that much of a big deal but she felt hurt at that moment. But on second thought, she found that it was quite funny.

    This man, he gives off a funny and interesting energy.

    However, the man was still sulky.

    "Nim, don''t be angry."

    "Hmph! You''re like someone''s younger sister. You said that you will only have one bite of ramyeon but you will end up eating it all!"

    "Ramyeon? Ah, right. I have ramyeon¡­¡­"

    The moment he heard that, Minhyuk''s face changed at the speed of light.

    "Great! Now that I look at it, aren''t you a great beauty! Wow, even your hair and eyebrows are thick, huh?! Come to think of it, the mole near your lips is also very very pretty. Wow! Even your nails are pretty!"

    It was a rapid change of disposition.

    "Ramyeon¡­¡­"

    "Wow. Now that I listened to it, even your voice sounds great!"

    "Shall we eat it together?"

    "Yeeeeeeeees!"

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] So delicious is ??? while cool and excellent is ??? so there''s a difference of one letter. I think it''s a pun but maybe he was serious¡­. IdekIdek anymore.

    [2] ?? (hwajeon) : pan fried rice cake. It''s a circle and it''s big. I think there were flowers on it.

    [3] ? ?? ?? ?? ?? ??? okay so it''s literally beating the drums and the janggu (this is a two sided drum or smth like that). Thank you to our Almighty Skye. She said that it meant something along the lines of don''t do everything on your own, or don''t put up a one man show. Which was pertaining to her pretending to be others to give her opinion.

    TL''s corner!!!

    The speed at which the winds changed its direction was quite fast. I think I had a whish.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Minhyuk¡¯s silver tongue isn¡¯t just good for charming NPCs it seems.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 51 - A Dangerous Companion

    Chapter 51: A Dangerous Companion

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    The weather was still very cold. However, Minhyuk, the coachman and even Lucia were all sitting in front of the carriage.

    There was water boiling on the burner, that Minhyuk took out of his inventory, in front of them.

    "Ack?! I think there''s too much water? There''s too much water!"

    Lucia spoke loudly.

    The two of them had already finished introducing themselves to each other.

    Minhyuk looked at her deeply when he heard her.

    "You know that this is the easiest way, right?"

    "Yep, but you should take out some water¡­"

    "Then let''s just put another bag of ramyeon in!"

    Lucia was shocked.

    Then, she touched her chin with a very serious expression.

    "It really was an easier way."

    She scratched her head¡­

    ''Why am I both surprised and convinced by this?''

    She felt that she could rte with Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk, then, opened another bag of noodles.

    Lucia has quite a fair amount of ramen. It was the reward that she received from the hidden quest. She was even dumbfounded when she found out that the rewards were ramyeon. She even received the ramyeon once she woke up and arrived at Isbin Vige.

    And Minhyuk had high expectations for this ramyeon. He checked the ramyeon earlier and he saw that the ramyeon was made from Sun''s Wheat.

    Hidden quests usually would give out absurd rewards like that.

    This might just be an insignificant reward for Lucia but Minhyuk would be extremely happy to receive such a reward.

    ''I should probably make ramyeon out of the Sun''s Wheat then eat it!''

    Minhyuk wanted to taste the real instant ramyeon and not the ''Healthy Ramyeon'' or the ''I added onions for the calories~'' type of ramyeon. But the noodles of this one were made out of Sun''s Wheat, and it was also instant and the name written on the bag was ''Spicy Jin Ramyeon.''

    When she saw him look like that, Lucia unknowingly felt better.

    ''It''s strangely rxing¡­¡­''

    As she thought of that, she heard a notification.

    [Minhyuk''s favorability has increased.]

    It was a fact that Minhyuk has be much more favorable towards her.

    Ssh!

    Minhyuk ced the noodles in the pot and skillfully stirred the pot. He then pulled out the rice and kimchi from his food storage inventory. The rice was a bit cold.

    "We should definitely put cold rice in the hot soup¡­¡­!"

    "We''ll never know if one of us will die while eating!"

    "Hehehe!"

    "Hohohoho!"

    "Didn''t the two of you meet for the first time in the carriage today?"

    "Yeah."

    "That''s correct."

    "But the two of you look very close."

    The coachman smiled at them.

    Before they knew it, the ramyeon was already boiling well over the fire.

    Ramyeon.

    It was the food best eaten when one was hungry. It was good to eat at 1 o''clock in the morning or when one went to the sea to y in the water.

    Like one of the anecdotes of General when he was in the army and they were assigned on guard duty in the guard post, they would bring a thermos filled with ramyeon and tell his otherrades ''Hey, watch over that well!'' then they would eat ramyeon in the middle of their duty and it would still taste delicious.

    Right now, the weather was still a bit chilly and Minhyuk was already really hungry.

    It was an undeniable fact that he already ate his rest area potatoes and his potato pancakes but he was a man who was always hungry.

    He reached out his hand that was holding the chopsticks towards the boiling pot. Then, he picked up a whole bunch of noodles and moved them to his bowl. After cing a portion of it in his bowl, he picked it up again then blew on it with a hoo! hoo! and slowly ced it in his mouth. When the noodles were finally in his mouth¡­

    "Sluuuuuuuuuuurp!"

    He inhaled the noodles.

    "Keuhaaa! It''s really very delicious¡­!"

    Then, he lifted the entire pot and poured some soup over his bowl.

    He slurped the noodles once more, then lifted the bowl up and gulped down some soup.

    "Keohoo!"

    He felt like the chill in his body was melting.

    It tastes better when you''re eating outside.

    After he ate the noodles and drank the soup, he picked up some kimchi and ced it in his mouth.

    Crunch, crunch¡ª

    Isn''t kimchi and ramyeon such a perfect match?

    I can''t lose to him!

    "Sluuuuuuuuuuurp!"

    Lucia took a whole bunch of noodles over using the pot lid and ate it just like that.

    "When I was a kid, I used to eat cup noodles with its lid half-folded."

    "Kgghk! You already know how to eat it since you were a kid!"

    "I''m that kind of woman."

    Lucia grinned. She was suddenly struck with curiosity.

    "You''re Lv79, right? Why are you going to Emperor''s City?"

    "Because of the tournament."

    "The tournament?"

    Lucia was quite surprised that they have the same objective. She proceeded to ask him cautiously.

    "Do you not know me?"

    "Aren''t you Lucia?"

    "......No, not like that."

    There wasn''t any ce in the newspapers that did not have her face these days. That was the reason why she kept on wearing a mask. It was so she could continue to be discreet.

    However, Minhyuk smiled as if that wasn''t the point.

    "It will taste better if you set aside some noodles before adding in the rice."

    ''H, he''s not the least bit interested¡­¡­''

    Lucia was a bit embarrassed.

    People have been paying great attention to me these days, you know!

    "I''m going to participate in the tournament too."

    "Ah, is that so. Uh-huh."

    Minhyuk ced his rice in the soup and took a big bite.

    "Crunch, crunch!"

    Then, he added some kimchi and took another bite.

    "Lu, Lucia-nim¡­¡­!"

    "Why?"

    Lucia was a bit despondent since he did not recognize her.

    "It''s really really delicious, what should I do¡­¡­? I want to run away with this pot!"

    "P, please help yourself!"

    Then heughed.

    She did not know him so he did not need to hide it. He felt morefortable and rxed right now.

    Then she asked¡­

    "Ah, Nim. What''s your job ss?"

    Minhyuk thought about it before answering her.

    ''I''m a bit close to being a chef.''

    "I''m a chef."

    "Ah, that''s why you''re going to the tournament. I''m a thief by the way."

    Tournaments held in the Imperial Pce were divided intobat-type type jobpetitions and production-type jobpetitions.

    ''I thought he was abat-type because of the sword on his waist.''

    Lucia thought that she did not need to fight him in the tournament.

    "Ack, leave some for me too!"

    She quickly stretched out her spoon towards the pot that almost showed its bottom.

    ***

    [Ack, leave some for me too!]

    "Sluuuuuuuuuuurp!"

    Lee Minhwa, who poured hot water over her shrimp tantanmen cup noodles, was concentrating on her monitor.

    As she continued to look at her monitor, she blew on her cup noodles and took a sip of the soup.

    "He¡­¡­ I''m alive."

    As soon as her gaze went back to the monitor she started to re at Lucia and she felt a bit sad for Minhyuk too.

    ''Don''tugh!''

    Then she suddenly paused.

    "Lee Minhwa. What''s wrong with you?"

    She was able to monitor users because she was an employee under the Special Users Management Team. However, she felt ufortable watching the two of them having a pleasant conversation.

    She then mumbled something after she finished inhaling thest of the noodles from her cup noodles.

    "Let''s focus on our work, work!"

    This was an important matter.

    "User Minhyuk will also participate in the tournament¡­ And he''s going with the best candidate for champion, Lucia."

    Whether it was through SNS or the TV, Lucia''s name was widely known.

    It wasn''t that long ago when a video clip of her at Lv70 hunted a Lv120 Zanhak [1] monster circted in ztube. The video in ztube spread widely both domestically and globally. It garnered millions of views and favorable responses.

    Almost everyone has named Lucia to be the champion of this tournament. They were all looking forward to thispetition because of her.

    However, Lee Minhwa has different thoughtspared to them.

    ''I didn''t know that User Minhyuk would participate in the tournament¡­ What''s his reason? Is it because he wants to eat the food in the convenience store?''

    She giggled at the thought.

    "Eheyy, no way. No matter how much he likes to eat, he will not participate purely because of this, right?"

    She shook her head at her silly thoughts. Then she tilted her head in thought when she realized that Team Leader Park had not yet arrived.

    ''The meeting must have dragged longer than what we thought.''

    Team Leader Park was currently attending an important meeting regarding the tournament. In fact, they would talk about things rted to the tournament including various stories that have rtion with it.

    Then¡­

    Click¡ª

    As the door opened, she saw Team Leader Park enter the room. His expression was not that good.

    Then he nced at the monitor.

    "Is it really just a coincidence?"

    "Why, what''s wrong?"

    "You know about the monsters that will appear in this tournament, right?"

    "Ah, yes. I know. A Lv90 Velto, a Lv100 Brackan, and a Lv110 Seductive Siren. And there''s also a Named Monster for this event, right?"

    "Yes. The event''s Named Monster."

    Today was the day when the event-specific Named Monster would open for the administrators. All of the administrators were quite interested in this monster.

    There was only one reason why the monsters were more powerful than users. This was so they would be able to see the talented users.

    The really talented users would definitely be able to hunt high-leveled monsters that have a higher level than them. This might not be possible for individual users but it was still possible if they united together.

    And finally, there was the named monster.

    "This time, the final Named Monster was ced in there so they will not be able to hunt it."

    "Ah, really?"

    "Yeah, but it will definitely draw positive feedback and responses for the users who will challenge it. Furthermore, did you know?"

    Lee Minhwa nodded along as she listened to his words.

    "Did you know that it was set by the God of Athenae?"

    Team Leader Park nodded his head.

    The God of Athenae.

    He was not just a god, he was also the supeputer that oversees the entirety of the world of Athenae and participates in various things. Most of the settings and set-ups in Athenae has the involvement of the God of Athenae.

    "So what''s the matter? You look very anxious."

    "The boss monster that the God of Athenae set this time is one of the two guardians of the Eivelis Empire."

    Lee Minhwa recalled the facts about the guardians of Eivelis Empire.

    One was the Phoenix. But the Phoenix was a Lv350 high-leveled named monster. Just by using its extensive fire magic and its feathers all of the users will be wiped away. It was a monster that was ridiculously powerful.

    Then there was the second guardian monster. After thinking for a moment, Lee Minhwa''s eyes suddenly widened.

    "I, Impossible¡­!"

    "Yeah, that impossible thing you''re thinking about is correct."

    "I, it''s the Minotaurus?!"

    Team Leader Park nodded his head.

    "But isn''t the Minotaurus at Lv140?"

    "That''s what I''m telling you, that''s a monster that has arge gap with users."

    "But that gap could easily kill users. I''m guessing that almost half of them will be wiped out¡­"

    "In the first ce, the Minotaurus is not set up to be a seon mob but it will be in the tournament."

    "Ah¡­"

    "The Lv80 users will need to challenge a monster that was twice as strong as they are. People will love it and go wild about it but I personally think that Lucia will not challenge it."

    Lee Minhwa nodded her head.

    When the two of them observed Lucia, she would calmly fight her opponents only when she was confident in winning. She would never fight a losing battle. This was the reason why they both believed that she would not challenge the Minotaurus.

    "But I''m definitely sure that a different user will challenge it."

    His words gave Lee Minhwa a sense of premonition. She quickly jerked her head back and looked at her monitor.

    "Food Fighter¡­"

    "Yeah. Probably, thispetition¡­"

    Team Leader Park''s eyes suddenly narrowed. He looked at Minhyuk who was patting his stomach with a smile on his face and saying ''How happy!'' after he finished eating all of the rice.

    "That user might grab a hold of it."

    ***

    The carriage continued on its way towards the pce.

    When the carriage stopped for a break, Minhyuk quickly jumped out and got out of there.

    "I''ll be back!"

    "Don''t go too far!"

    The coachman reminded him.

    Lucia closed off her connection for a while since she had work. If the user logged out while they were riding on a paid moving carriage, their character would be set to still remain ''moving'' along with the carriage.

    Minhyuk found a mushroom on a tree not too far away from them.

    (Brad Mushroom)

    Material Grade: E

    Special Abilities: None

    Description: Amonly grown Brad Mushroom. It has a simr taste with shiitake mushrooms.

    Minhyuk chuckled as he reached his hands out to pick the mushrooms.

    It would be extremely difficult to pick these mushrooms if the user did not have a high DEX and if they did not learn the Beginner''s Farming Skill. Just like when he tried digging the sweet potatoes for the first time and his hoe was not able to dig in the ground.

    However, Minhyuk was someone who could easily get those mushrooms.

    [You have acquired a Brad Mushroom.]

    [Due to the effects of Beginner''s Farming, you have acquired a Well-grown Brad Mushroom.]

    Minhyuk was a bit surprised.

    Currently, his Beginner''s Farming skill was at Lv9 and he would soon reach mastery at Lv10. Once he reached the level of mastery, he could immediately achieve the next level.

    (Well-grown Brad Mushroom)

    Material Grade: D

    Special Abilities: ¡ª It''s good for your STM.

    Description: A well-grown Brad Mushroom that grew up out of a hundred mushrooms. Maybe it will take effect as soon as you eat it?

    Nothing important was really written but Minhyuk stillughed happily.

    "It definitely tastes better!"

    That was why he wasughing.

    Then, at that moment¡­

    "Ugh, aaaaaaaaack!"

    He heard the cry of the coachman.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] ??? is the name of the monster, if you''re familiar with this, do contact me. I''m at a loss as to what it is. And ztube is a parody of youtube iykwim.

    TL''s corner!!!

    Okay, I must admit¡­ I have no idea at all about the monsters that author-nim have listed. There''s no description so I can''t find any other English counterpart aside from the siren. But here''s the monsters ??? (Zanhak) , ?? (Velto) , ??? (Brackan) and ?????? (Minotaurus).

    Also, all of the italicized terms or names will remain italicized unless it has been given enough descriptions in the novel. So if you see italicized words it means that it hasn''t been described yet.

    For the Brad Mushroom. I don''t think there really is a Brad Mushroom but if it helps a bit¡­ Brad can also mean a tapered nail with an asymmetric head. Or smth along those lines. But let''s just imagine that it has the same look as a shiitake mushroom. Hopefully.

    If anyone still remembers, seon mob is the mob that attacks the users at first sight.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 52 - A Dangerous Companion

    Chapter 52: A Dangerous Companion

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    The coachman was trembling in terror as he watched them narrow their distance.

    The monsters that appeared were like snakes that have the characteristics of men. Their long tonguesshed out as if they were mocking their prey. Their hands carried weapons. There was a shield in one hand and a rusty chipped sword on the other. The monsters were also clothed in shabby armor. These monsters are the Lv90 Lizard Men.

    "Kikikik!"

    "Kikikik!"

    "O, of all the times that they will appear it has to be today¡­"

    It wasn''t like there were no other cases of Lizard Men appearing when people went out of town. But they appeared so sparsely that the urrence was as rare as a bolt of lightning out of the blue.

    It just has to be today¡­¡­!

    ''That woman named Lucia is not here right now, and that young man¡­''

    Isn''t he a chef?

    "Hihihing!"

    The frightened white horse fled at the sight of danger.

    At that moment¡­

    He saw the young maning out from the bushes. Baran quickly gestured to him with the tip of his chin.

    ''Run away, now!''

    Baran liked this young man very much. Most of the foreigners who rode his carriage were thoughtless.

    Baran might be a part of the game setting, but in this world he lost his wife and child a few years back. Because of that, every time he saw a young man he always felt like it was his son.

    Aside from that, he always liked the fresh and bright smile that this young man always had on his face. The foreigners said that it would be fine even if they died but he wished that no harm could evere to this boy.

    And there weren''t any foreigners who would want to take damage for them.

    However, the young man quickly pulled the sword out of his waist.

    Shiiiing!

    "I told you to run away! I''ll draw their attention, so run!"

    But the man still came in a run.

    Then¡­

    Swoosh!

    Stab!

    "Kikikiik?!"

    The sh of the dark figure arrived in front of the Lizard Men and quickly stabbed one straight in the middle of its chest.

    Flutter!

    Like it was a lie, the Lizard Man that was stabbed on its chest began to turn into ashes.

    At that moment, Lucia was slowlying out of the carriage. She quickly pulled up her mask. The mask covered most of her face, it only showed her big eyes.

    Shiiing¡ª

    Two daggers were pulled out of her waist.

    "It''s dangerous so you should stay still, Minhyuk-nim and coachman-nim."

    "B, but they are Lv90. And there are three of them too¡­"

    Before Baran could even finish his words¡­

    Tap!

    Lucia was already up in the air.

    A Lizard Man quickly thrust its sword towards her the moment she flew up. The sword pierced exactly at her chest.

    Staaab!

    At that moment¡­

    Poof!

    Her body scattered in a smoke. It was just an image and what appeared was a wood in her stead.

    Then her hand extended from the shadows of the Lizard Man and swiped at its legs. She was able to cut off one of the Lizard Man''s legs.

    Spuurt!

    Once more, the Lizard Man turned into ashes.

    Lucia disappeared as she hid in the shadows again.

    Her dagger appeared in another Lizard Man''s shadow. She stabbed at its vital points for a total of four times. She stabbed at its throat, its chest, its sides and its thigh. These vital points were only visible to her.

    [You have dealt a fatal blow.]

    [You have dealt a fatal blow.]

    [......fatal blow.]

    Three out of her four stabs were fatal. She once again killed a Lizard Man. Then, she narrowed her distance with another Lizard Man as she quickly thrusted her dagger towards its neck.

    Stab!

    Spurt!

    She easily pulled her dagger out then she let out a breath.

    "Hoo, are you alright?"

    Flop.

    Baran copsed as his legs became weak. Minhyuk who was a bit further away looked at them nkly. She felt a bit awkward so she raised her hand in a V and ced it right next to her face.

    "Was I cool?"

    "Ooooooh¡ª"

    Minhyuk came running towards her. She quickly backed away in surprise.

    He went straight towards a tree and reached out for the mushrooms there. He looked below the tree and not on her.

    "There''s a mushroom here too! Wow! This one tastes like enoki mushrooms!"

    "Am I not cool?!"

    Lucia was a bit disappointed as she shrugged her shoulders off.

    I wanted to get his praise!

    "Ah~ You''re really cool, I''m shocked and in awe. I will kneel down in admiration~"

    His voice had the least bit of interest in her.

    Lucia grinned.

    ''Really attractive¡­''

    Then she spoke¡­

    "You tried to fight as a chef?"

    "I can fight well."

    Lucia grinned.

    He is close to the coachman so it''s possible that he''s trying to take a huge risk for him.

    It was like a joke.

    ''It''s not good to get close to NPCs like that.''

    It''s better to keep a moderate distance. Why would I try to fight at the expense of him?

    ''Well, is that his charm?''

    In fact, Lucia believed that Minhyuk''s power was equivalent to a Lv50 warrior. After all, there was a limit to being a chef.

    ***

    The carriage was almost at the pce.

    When the coachman came inside the carriage, he saw Minhyuk mixing something.

    It was the bibimbap that he made from the vegetables and mushrooms that he continuously picked on their way.

    His drool slipped down his mouth like slippery oil. Even Lucia was biting the spoon in her mouth as she grabbed her belly. Both of them gulped their saliva down.

    "Then, here''s the one for Lucia-nim and here''s the one for coachman-nim."

    "Please give me some more."

    "No. You''ll gain weight."

    "......I don''t gain weight inside here. And I have to gain some weight because I''m skinny."

    "No, no. I''m really worried about Lucia-nim that''s why I can''t give you anymore."

    Of course it was just Minhyuk''s meticulous lie.

    "Then why do you have such a big egg in your bowl? It''s good to eat bibimbap openly!"

    "It''s because I''m fat. Hooray for being fat!"

    Minhyuk swayed his shoulders as if he was dancing while Lucia shook her head in surrender.

    A bowl of siraegi [1] was ced besides Minhyuk''s bibimbap. There was also a siraegi soup made with doenjang. When eating bibimbap, it was best to eat it with siraegi soup with doenjang.

    He scooped a big spoonful of bibimbap. It wasn''t too salty nor too nd. It looked quite good since the gochujang and the sesame oil were mixed perfectly well.

    Once he ced a spoonful in his mouth and chewed on it, the savory aroma and vor of the sesame oil greeted his senses. The taste of sesame oil could always whet one''s appetite if it was added moderately.

    After tasting the savory sesame oil, the spicy vor of the gochujang spread out in his mouth. Which was followed by the wonderful harmony of taste and vor of the various vegetables, eggs and rice. Whenever he felt that his throat was a bit dry, then he would sip from the bowl of soup to his side.

    Baran spoke after the three of them were almost finished with eating the bibimbap.

    "Boy, you really look like you love eating and you''re also really good at cooking."

    "Thank you very much!"

    "By any chance, do you know about the Kingdom of Barras?"

    "Kingdom of Barras¡­¡­"

    Lucia was the one who answered his question first.

    "What kind of ce is it?"

    "It''s like a kingdom of production job sses. There are ces there like the cksmith''s tower, the chef''s tower, the farmer''s tower and even the sculptor''s tower."

    "Oho."

    "And¡­"

    Lucia grinned at Minhyuk.

    "It''s a ce full of delicious things."

    Minhyuk''s spoon stopped moving, it showed just how surprised he was.

    "It was inevitable since there are a lot of chefs there. I also heard that they always give out a lot of food quests around the kingdom. This was made so plenty of chefs will be able to get various cooking ingredients."

    "Waaaah¡­¡­ it''s like heaven on earth."

    Minhyuk shook his head.

    "There''s this cksmith there, his name is Ron. He was a colleague that I used to work with."

    It was the story about a cksmith. But Minhyuk was not that much interested in a cksmith so he continued to scoop up and eat his bibimbap.

    "I heard that Ron has special cooking ingredients that are very hard to get."

    Lucia was shocked.

    ''Q, quest¡­¡­!''

    And it was definitely not just a simple quest either, it should be a quest with special rewards.

    "Ooooooh!"

    Minhyuk started to show some great interest.

    "Why don''t you first meet Ron and talk to him?"

    [Linked Quest: Meet the cksmith Ron.]

    Rank: D rank

    Restrictions: Mastery of Cooking Skills, Baran''s favorability.

    Rewards: 5,000 EXP

    Penalty for Failure: None.

    Description: When Baran heard news about his former cksmith colleague, Ron, he rmended this quest to you.

    "Yes, I''ll go and meet with him."

    "The Kingdom of Barras is not that far from the Emperor''s City so you will get there fast."

    "Yes!"

    Minhyuk smiled happily after he received the quest.

    ''What kind of ingredients will it be? Chicken? Beef? Pork? Or¡­ don''t tell me¡­ Duck?!''

    He could already picture various ingredients in his head.

    "Why don''t you give me a quest? I even saved you coachman-nim."

    "That friend is a weak chef but he risked his life for me."

    "I''m a fragile woman too."

    "......You should have some conscience."

    Before they even knew it, they had already arrived in front of the Emperor''s City.

    ***

    Minhyuk was once again munching on sweet potatoes.

    Lucia, who was walking beside him, looked at him then paused.

    "Are we¡­ are we going to meet again?"

    "Chew, chew, I guess so."

    "He has no interest in me at all until the very end."

    "Yes?"

    Minhyuk couldn''t hear her well since she talked in a small voice so he asked her again, but Lucia just shook her head and smiled bitterly.

    "It''s nothing. Let''s add each other as friends?"

    "Yes. Let''s do that."

    [Lucia-nim is asking to add you as a friend.]

    [Yes / No]

    "Yes."

    Minhyuk nodded his head as Lucia''s information popped up in his friends window.

    [Lucia]

    No job ss or level could be seen in Lucia''s case. Users could hide their job sses as long as they disabled the viewing function. Minhyuk has also disabled his job ss.

    "See you next time."

    Lucia turned around and walked towards the city while Minhyuk logged out after he watched her back for a bit.

    However, Lucia who was walking towards the city suddenly stopped and looked back at him.

    "Tch¡­¡­!"

    Lucia''s face was suddenly filled with regret.

    ***

    Radem, a member of the Phoenix Knights that were personally appointed by the Emperor, was the NPC that was assigned to manage the preliminary rounds for the tournament.

    Right now, he was sporting a ridiculous look on his face.

    "Lucia. This foreigner, what in the world¡­!"

    He was shocked when he looked at the report.

    There were three gates set-up for the preliminary rounds. The qualification to pass the preliminary rounds was to pass through all three of the gates within 30 minutes.

    The preliminaries this time were extremely intricate andpletely difficult. The reason was so they could unearth truly strong yers in thispetition.

    But right now, Lucia was breaking through all the gates at a ridiculous pace.

    "14 minutes and 31 seconds?"

    They expected the fastest user toplete the preliminaries in about 17 minutes. However, Lucia easily surpassed that then promptly disappeared after she had confirmed her advancement to the finals.

    "Ho¡­¡­ it seems like that''s all I can really say."

    But he still thought¡­

    ''Let''s see if I could rmend her to the Phoenix Knights.''

    This was one of the reasons why a member of the Phoenix Knights was here. They wanted to scout and raise talented foreigners.

    "Hiyaa, how can he¡­ Wow¡­"

    Radem was still watching Lucia''s battle videos through a magic crystal ball when he got surprised by a sudden shout of exmation.

    Right at that moment, Hamel opened the door and rushed in. Hamel was the one in charge of escorting each and every foreigner that will join the tournament. He was also in charge of observing them and giving them scores.

    "A, another special foreigner has appeared!"

    Radem has already told Hamel in advance to report to him if there were any special foreigners that would appear in the tournament. It was necessary so they could raise plenty of talents in the pce.

    "......Is that so? What''s his record?"

    However, he still looked uninterested as he continued to watch Lucia''s videos.

    "29 minutes and 57 seconds."

    Radem frowned when he heard his words.

    "Are you kidding me? 29 minutes and 57 seconds? He really managed to get in, and you''re saying he''s a special foreigner?"

    "Yes, he''s a special user."

    However, Hamel just nodded at him.

    "Did you know that he caught two Akus?"

    "......What?"

    Radem stood up when he heard that.

    "What did you say? Quick, tell it to me straight."

    No matter what he said, it was still unconvincing. Akus were monsters said to be at Lv80, however their power and standards were at level higher than that.

    Hamel quickly activated the magic crystal ball that he had brought.

    [Next, please.]

    The images in the video started to appear.

    A user soon appeared. He had a paper cup in his hand and he kept on sipping from it. As soon as he came inside, he suddenly screamed.

    [Aaaaack!]

    [What''s wrong? Are there any problems?]

    Hamel asked him urgently.

    [I drank all of my sweet potatotte¡­¡­ Hnngh!]

    He dropped to his knees as if his legs had weakened.

    Radem looked at Hamel when he saw what was on the video.

    "It was just like that!"

    "......"

    "Aigoo, this is making me frustrated."

    Radem ced his hands on his forehead.

    "He''s really special that he''s even making my head hurt, Hamel¡­¡­"

    "P, please keep on watching. Do you really mean that?"

    "......Hmm."

    Radem nodded his head first.

    He''s not usually like this, it''s making me curious.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] ??? (siraegi) a KR ingredient made by drying the stems and leaves of a radish or cabbage

    TL''s corner!!!

    I wonder when¡­ When will we be able to catch up to the manhwa¡­.. ??

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Oof, that¡¯s a tough goal, CC, since they cut out all the interesting behind-the-scenes stuff that gives context to how crazy Minhyuk¡¯s actions are. But we are making headway now. I think we¡¯re getting closer!

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 53 - Something That Should Never Be Done

    Chapter 53: Something That Should Never Be Done.

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    20 Something That Should Never Be Done

    An hour ago.

    Minhyuk was smiling faintly. The weather might be cold but his hands were warm thanks to the sweet potatotte that was in his hands.

    As soon as he essed the game, he used all of his remaining sweet potatoes to make sweet potatotte.

    The sweet potatotte was warm and sweet. It tastes strongly of sweet potato. One could buy a cup of this at a cafe for around 4,000~5,000 won.

    "Hehe, I''ll definitely be frugal."

    He wanted to savor it as long as possible since he used all of the remaining sweet potatoes he had to make this. In addition, he also used the golden sweet potato in this sweet potatotte.

    "Hoo, hoo."

    Minhyuk poured some of the sweet potatotte in a disposable paper cup then he proceeded to walk to the ce where the preliminaries would be held.

    First cup finished, refilled.

    Second cup finished, refilled.

    Third cup finished, refilled.

    "Ah, it''s so delicious~"

    He hummed a song as he stood in a long line and waited for his turn. Then he started to drink his sweet potatotte again. A female user that was standing behind him was quite shocked to see it.

    ''My god¡­ He kept on refilling and drinking that hot drink every 30 seconds!''

    Then she heard Minhyuk murmuring.

    "I''m not this satisfied since I have to be frugal with it. But I still have to save it so I can drink it for a longer time."

    "......!"

    The woman turned around and talked to the person standing behind her. That person was someone who came with her.

    "The man in front of me is so weird. He already one-shotted 20 cups of sweettte but then he said that he had a hard time enjoying it since he was trying to save it forter."

    "......!"

    The distance between Minhyuk and the two people had increased. Then, it was already his turn.

    "Next, please."

    Minhyuk went inside when he heard the voice. As he walked towards where the voice was, Minhyuk tried to refill his cup of sweet potatotte.

    [True Worth of Food.]

    [You have acquired +20 STM, +1 WIS, +1 INT.]

    But Minhyuk did not even care about it. It only meant one thing if the notifications were heard. It meant that he had already finished eating.

    "Aaaaack!"

    "What''s wrong? Are there any problems?"

    "I drank all of my sweet potatotte¡­¡­ Hnngh!"

    Minhyuk med himself.

    ''How can I be like this¡­¡­''

    He waited for 20 minutes and moved a total distance of 500m. In that amount of time he drank 40 cups of sweet potatotte.

    My sweet and warm sweet potatotte.

    "I want to drink more¡­¡­"

    Minhyuk stood up. He was in a kneeling position since he flopped down the ground after he realized that he finished all of his sweet potatotte.

    "Hoo¡­"

    "Y, you''re not going to cry, right?"

    "Yes, I''m fine. I''m well in both mind and body. I was going to give you some sweet potatotteter but¡­"

    "Then, shall we start the preliminaries?"

    "Ah, yes."

    Hamel told him a brief description of what was toe. There would be three gates and there was a time limit.

    Hamel opened the first gate and went inside.

    "The first gate is simple. You just have to hunt a Lv80 Akus. It might be a bit tougher to hunt for low-leveled people but if you take your time and be careful enough then you''ll be able to hunt enough."

    Minhyuk kicked the ground in a fuss.

    Because I''m hungry!

    Stab!

    A few seconds after Hamel finished speaking¡­

    An Akus already copsed.

    Thuuuud!

    ''......Heok?!''

    Hamel, who was wondering how such a weird person came in, suddenly became shocked. But he still opened the second gate with a big smile on his face.

    "You can now proceed in the second gate. However, it''s inside a forest. You have to find a clue to get out of this forest."

    "Oooooooh."

    Minhyuk was in awe. There was only one reason.

    Because there were various things that could be collected from a forest!

    "......?"

    Hamel was quite surprised when he saw him pull a hoe out and began digging.

    ''H, how did he know?!''

    He was astonished. The way out of thisbyrinth of a forest was simple. Some of the things that were growing in here were quite different from the ordinary ones. The gate would open once he touched it.

    ''As soon as he entered?! Does he have a navigation skill?!''

    Minhyuk began digging for herbs and wild vegetables with his hoe.

    Tap!

    Tap!

    Tap!

    Then, he dug up a strange looking leaf. The moment his hands touched it¡­

    [You have passed the second gate. You can now go to the third gate.]

    "Then, shall we live now?"

    "Let me dig some more of these!"

    "......"

    Hamel scratched his head. The man only turned around after he dug up everything he wanted.

    And the final gate¡­

    ''A Monk will appear.''

    A Monk is a Lv90 monkey-type monster and was by no means an easy opponent. It was a monster that was 10 levels above him.

    Hamel could soon feel the Monk''s presence moving in between the gaps of the trees.

    Monk''s were extremely fast and one would not be able to see them easily between the gaps of the trees.

    "You don''t have to hunt the monsters thate up in the third gate. If you run up to the gate and survive then you''ll pass."

    Then, a Monk threw a banana at Minhyuk.

    Swoooosh!

    Bananas suddenly flooded his vision at the speed of light. One straight shot would mean instant death.

    Grasp!

    "......?"

    For a moment, Hamel could not even understand what happened.

    Minhyuk was able to catch the flying banana easily. Then, he looked alternately at the banana in his hands and the Monks on the trees.

    "Woow, did you see that?! That monkey gave me a banana as a present!"

    "N, no. That''s not a present, it''s an attack¡­¡­"

    "Monkeys! You''re very good boys!"

    "Ookiikii¡­?"

    Minhyuk clenched the banana and checked the information.

    (Monk''s Banana)

    Material Grade: E

    Special Abilities:

    ¡ª Once eaten, you will be poisoned with the fatal Monk''s poison.

    ¡ª The Monk''s bananas are more delicious than regr bananas.

    ''Monks usually appear in the intimidating Amazon, there''s nothing to eat in there so those who go on an expedition will always eat the bananas that the Monks purposelyid down and die.''

    The man in front of him should know since he checked the information. But he still peeled the banana and ate that white banana flesh as it was.

    [The entric Food Fighter''s skill has been triggered. The poisoning effect has been ignored.]

    The sweet vor of the banana, along with its soft texture, spread in his mouth.

    "D, delicious¡­!"

    ''What the hell, this crazy bastard!''

    And at that moment, another Monk''s banana flew towards him.

    Swooooooosh!

    Tak!

    "Thanks, I will eat it well!"

    "Ookiikii!"

    Swooooooosh!

    Tak!

    "Thanks, for real. Chew, chew. Ah, it''s really delicious!"

    Swooooosh¡ª

    Catch!

    "Oh, it''s starting to get a bit threatening now. But isn''t it better for you to throw more at me?"

    "This banana crazy bas¡­"

    "Yes? What did you say?"

    "N, nothing."

    Hamel tried very hard to control his expression. However, there was one thing that he was sure of.

    ''He can see the trajectory of the bananas. And to be able to catch those bananas, he would need to have at least 100 in STR and AGI.''

    Bananas started to fly all over the ce. The Monks even used their special talent three shot banana throw. However, Minhyuk still was able to catch all of them without breaking any sweat at all.

    "Good, you should throw at least that much! Then, look at how hyung does it. You should be more aggressive, throw it with strength¡­¡­"

    Minhyuk picked up a stone from the ground and threw it towards the trees with all his might.

    Fwoooosh!

    The stone was embedded right in the middle of the tree.

    Hamel turned speechless.

    Minhyuk diligently ate the bananas that were thrown at him. Over time, he has umted a lot which he kept in his food storage inventory.

    "You have to leave now. Time is running out."

    Hamel thought hard of ways to try and make him leave but in the end only told him when the time was almost up.

    "Ah, I want to eat more¡­¡­ Banana¡­¡­"

    Minhyuk looked very disappointed as he walked towards the gate.

    Then, he suddenly saw a Monk running towards him with a banana.

    "Ookiikii!"

    ''......If a long range attack won''t work then the Monks would hold their banana and attack their enemies. They''re as excellent as any warrior.''

    Was what Hamel thought. However, Minhyuk just grabbed the banana that the Monk was wielding as he ced his hand on top of its head.

    "What a good boy, you even gave this hyung a banana as a parting gift. Thanks. I''ll eat it well."

    "Ookiikii¡­"

    The Monk made eye contact with Minhyuk who was looking at it warmly.

    "You''re a really good guy, and you''re also handsome."

    "Kii? Kiikii!"

    The Monk waved its hands. Then it stretched its chest and tapped on it.

    "Ah, you''re a female? You''re really pretty, so cute."

    "Kiii¡­"

    The Monk smiled shyly.

    In Hamel''s perspective, Minhyuk was an extremely handsome man.

    Besides, the female Monks were extremely activepared to male Monks.

    Then¡­

    "Ookiikii!"

    The Monk suddenly ran somewhere then came back with bananas in its arms. The Monk then ced the bananas in his arms.

    "Is this for oppa?"

    "Kiikii¡­¡­."

    The Monk poked its toes on the ground and smiled shyly.

    Minhyuk stroked its head then walked outside.

    The Monk twirled in its ce then gave a shy ookiikii cry.

    Minhyuk came out smiling happily with a bunch of bananas in his arms.

    "But why did it give me a lot of bananas? I can''t believe that it gave me this. I''m a bit sorry that it gave me this much."

    "There''s a meaning when a Monk gives an armful of bananas to someone."

    "What does it mean?"

    "I want to mate with you tonight. If you ept it then it means it''s a yes."

    ***

    Radem scratched his head.

    "Uhm¡­"

    "Hmm."

    Hamel had already experienced it and he also watched the video with Radem.

    "H, he''s strong¡­"

    "Y, yeah? You''re right about him being a special foreigner."

    My god. It took him almost 30 minutes because he had to dig up those wild vegetables and herbs and even eat those bananas.

    His strength was clearly obvious. It was even overwhelming. However, why was that the case?

    "He''s strong but I wouldn''t want to rmend him to the Knights."

    "I understand."

    "He will most likely try and eat the Phoenix."

    "Yes¡­"

    Radem suddenly remembered something.

    "Ah, how long will it take him to clear all of the gates if he did not do all of those unnecessary things?"

    "This is my personal opinion but¡­"

    Hamel spoke very carefully.

    "He seems to be much stronger than Lucia."

    ***

    The Monk recalled what happened earlier.

    He was a really handsome male monkey. Her heart trembled when he stroked her head and smiled at her.

    In addition, Monks were considered to be gentle creatures. However, they became aggressive because humans tried to kill them.

    The Monk went to the riverside and washed herself clean.

    She cleaned every nook and cranny.

    After she applied some grass leaves on her body and dried her fur well, she now was a fragrant Monk.

    Then, she climbed up the tree and watched the ce where the warrior left. Her face suddenly turned red when she thought of the thick night(?) that would happen when he returned.

    "Kiikiikii!"

    She gave out a shy cry.

    At that moment, Hamel came through the third gate with other qualifiers. He tilted his head in puzzlement.

    "......Where did the Monks go?"

    The Monks¡¯ attacks should have beening right as they entered but no Monks could be seen.

    The Monk was just standing there staring at the door.

    Hamel''s sight met with the eyes of the Monk. Then, he saw the Monk pointing towards the door.

    "Ookiikii!"

    ''Don''t interrupt me. Just get out of here. I don''t know when he''lle back!''

    Hamel was at a loss for words. Then his jaw dropped to the ground when he saw the flower on the Monk''s ear. His hands supported his forehead.

    "......I''m really going to freak out."

    He did not know whether the Monk knew what was going through his mind but it just continued to stare at the door and shyly put its hair(?) behind her ear.

    ***

    TL''s corner!!!

    ?????? Hands down. Minhyuk can even charm monsters. Lololol. My god. So funny.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    First Lucia, then this Monk. Minhyuk is such a charmer.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 54 - Something That Should Never Be Done

    Chapter 54: Something That Should Never Be Done

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    The day of the tournament.

    Giant King Wyverns flew up in the sky. Riding on top of the King Wyvern was the Taming Master, Jan.

    Jan would be the MC of the tournament this time. Jan has the job ss Taming Master but was also a member of the popr girl idol group, Blue Velvet, in real life.

    "Hello to all of ourdies and gentlemen watching this tournament. I''m Jan and I will be the MC, nice to meet you."

    "Waaaaaaaaaah!"

    "Waaaaaaaaaah!"

    Thepetition was located on a small ind. The ind was known as Cork Ind. Tens of thousands of stands were set-up around this small ind. All of the users sitting on these stands erupted into cheers.

    "The format of thepetition this time is different from the previous 1:1 tournament format. This tournament will be about ying games around the ind."

    A huge map suddenly floated up. It was big enough for both the TV viewers and the live spectators to see.

    "All of the 200 users who qualified for the tournament will be forcing the others to log-out of the game. Of course, there will be no penalty for this. The tournament will only be held for 12 hours and the winner will only be determined after this time was up. "

    Flutter!

    The giant King Wyvern folded its wings and descended rapidly towards arge building located on the center of Cork Ind.

    "This convenience store will be a ce for all of the participating users to eat and rest. It''s also a safe zone so no PK will be allowed inside it. However, if users continue to stay here then they will not be able to get enough score which will eventually lead to their elimination. Ah, I will start to tell you one by one the users that have logged in!"

    The screen started to reflect the scene in the convenience store where users started to log in one by one.

    "Wow, did you see? It''s so quiet that I can''t even hear your breathing. Every one of them looks tense! Ah, Bet is now essing the game. He''s a user with the hidden ss Valkyrie. He''s also a popr BJ in Paprika TV!"

    "Kyaaaaaaaak!"

    "Waaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

    Shouts and cheers erupted from the stands.

    Bet was someone that was already popr and has a lot of female fans. One reason was because he was a dashing warrior user and the other was because he has a pretty good-looking face.

    It was quite a bit unexpected that he was still at a novice level.

    "I will now go back in the air and start broadcasting live."

    ***

    VVIP seats.

    Countless rankers were sitting in this section. But among all of them, the most outstanding of them were these two people: Cain, the most outstanding user among the warrior ss and Alicia, the most outstanding user among the mage ss.

    Sitting behind them were countless guild masters. These people would win over the strong in advance and take them into their guilds. That was their goal in sitting here.

    However, they knew that Alicia was someone that they could not take in. The reason was because her brother was the one leading one of the nation''s top 4 guilds.

    "What do you think about this game?"

    Alicia chuckled at Cain''s question.

    "You''re asking about what you already know?"

    "Of course not?"

    Cain smiled bitterly.

    "You don''t trust your sister to win the finals?"

    "No, I''m d¡­ But¡­"

    Cain knew that his sister, Lucia, joined this tournament because of him. But on the other hand, his heart hurt for her. He wanted her to live life like other girls too.

    She wanted to reach the peak so she chased him. But all he wanted for her was to wear make-up and go to caf¨¦s with her friends and live a normal life.

    "It''s because she''s young. That''s why she wants to be recognized. Your father is such a great man so it''s all worth it for your sister."

    "......Yeah."

    He had another secret.

    Cain was the son of the chairman of a famouspany. While Lucia''s mother was just an ordinary office worker. That was why she was under a lot of pressure. She wanted their father to recognize her.

    "Look at the faces of the participants. Ah, I''m out of breath."

    "I agree."

    The video was showing the scene in the convenience store. Everyone who was on the lookout were holding their breaths. It was a ce for meals but no one was eating.

    And right at that moment¡­

    They spotted a man rushing over to the convenience store counter.

    "Huh¡­?"

    Alicia tilted her head in thought. She felt that the back of the man was strangely familiar. However, the man was wearing a white mask.

    [Is it true that everything in here is really free?]

    [Yes, all of the food provided by the tournament''s convenience store is free. You don''t need to pay for it. You can just take it.]

    [Oh, oh my god¡­!]

    They saw him smiling broadly.

    Then, a guild leader from the back suddenly spoke¡­

    "That person, isn''t he Isbin Vige''s Pro Mukbanger?"

    Alicia turned towards where the sound came from.

    "Pro Mukbanger?"

    The man looked astonished when Alicia''s attention turned towards him. But he quickly coughed awkwardly then started to exin politely.

    "Yes, it wasn''t that long ago. He won an eatingpetition against Binz which caused an issue."

    "Is that so?"

    A small smile formed around Alicia''s mouth while Cain grinned.

    "I can''t believe that he''s eating in that tense atmosphere."

    Alicia''s shoulders shook inughter.

    "Do you think he''ll back down because of that? The happiest thing on earth for that guy is eating."

    "You know that person?"

    Cain looked at her curiously.

    Alicia nodded her head. She then turned her attention towards the screen.

    "I know. He''s quite pure and he''s also a person who loves eating more than anybody else. He also refused me when I asked him to join our guild. I even have to beg him so I could add him as a friend."

    "Pfft!"

    A man drinking coffee from the back suddenly spat out his drink.

    "Ah, sorry. Sorry."

    The country''s number one beauty, Alicia, begged him to add him as a friend?

    Cain was quite surprised with this information.

    "And I take back what I said earlier."

    "What did you say?"

    "The one where I said that you already know so why did you ask? There''s a huge variable. That person was strong enough to save me. And thanks to that User Minhyuk, I learned something and became stronger."

    "Pfft!"

    This time, someone from the other side spewed their coffee out. Cain''s expression was unreadable as he stood watching that user with a fluttering expression looking at the microwave.

    ***

    Bet smiled lightly as he watched all of the tensed contestants.

    ''I knew this would happen. Sigh, these bastards are all scared.''

    Then, as he looked over at these nervous people surrounding him he thought¡­

    ''The fans will like it better if I try to ease their tension.''

    Building an image was very important.

    To be quite honest, instead of being a yer, he was more like a broadcaster. He was one in real life. He would broadcast his shows on Paprika. Besides, everyone took a liking to him since he had good manners and had a good face. His hidden ss, Valkyrie, also helped him garner more fans.

    However, he was a much wicked man than anyone would have thought. He just could hide his inner thoughts very well.

    "Hello, hello."

    He bowed at the people he encountered and greeted them politely. Even if the others only nced at him, they would still give him a nod in return.

    "Aren''t you being too stiff? Others might think that there will be a war if you''re like that."

    However, the expressions of those people were quite hard.

    Some were even gathered at one side and were looking over at him coldly.

    ''It''s those bastards from Bacallo Guild.''

    Bacallo.

    It was a guild that was made of incumbent special forces officers and nonmissioned officers [1]. Although the members of the Bacallo Guild were quite low, all of them, especially the top 30 in their guild were known to be elites. It was said that they have nurtured 5,000 men of high caliber. The only reason why all of them participated in this together was to raise the value of their names.

    ''Those bastards. If you look at their appearance, then you can say that they''re all ugly.''

    "Hello."

    But his smiling eyes met with the frigid and cold eyes of the Bacallo Guild.

    "Huh, what''s this? Wow, your item is so great. Nim!"

    "Ah, yes."

    He tried to talk to the people around him but even Bet who was a very famous person could not resolve the tension in the air.

    Then¡­

    Ding!

    The sound of the microwave was heard by everyone.

    ***

    Ding!

    "He¡­"

    Minhyuk excitedly opened the microwave. A variety of food came out including vegetables dumplings and a hot bar.

    "Fwoo, fwoo!"

    He quickly ced the food in front of him when he felt the heat on his fingers.

    On the table in front of him, there was already food that was ced earlier and was ready to be eaten. One could see a variety of cup noodles like chapagetti, kamjjampong, sikshin ramyeon, anjeongtanmen, shrimp tantanmen and pamuma.

    Shiiiiiiiiik!

    He tore off the lid of the shrimp tantanmen and stirred the contents with his chopsticks.

    The yellow shrimp tantanmen.

    Minhyuk always ate this with a bunch of egg garnish on top.

    Wasn''t this something that can stir your appetite?

    After munching on the garnish, he picked up some noodles from the shrimp tantanmen cup and slurped on it.

    "Keughh!"

    Then he picked up some stir-fried kimchi and ced it in his mouth. Stir-fried kimchi might not be crunchy like a regr kimchi but it had a deeper and sweeter taste.

    Minhyuk also peeled the wrapping paper from jeonju bibim which was considered to be one of the mountains in the triangr gimbap mountain ranges. He bit off almost half of the gimbap in one go.

    Chomp¡ª

    Minhyuk personally believed that the way to eating a triangr gimbap was to not eat it slowly and in turn, this was the only way that he could maintain the crispiness of the seaweed.

    He could taste the cold rice and a bit of some spicy vor in his mouth.

    "I might choke."

    When he felt like the triangr gimbap was clogging his throat, he gulped down some spicy soup to ease it down.

    Then he picked up the steaming hot bar and took a bite.

    The hot bar sold in convenience stores had a chewy texture and a rich and meaty vor. The more he chewed, the more juicy it was. He felt that it was really appetizing to eat such a food.

    Then, he turned his attention towards the vegetable dumplings.

    He picked just one piece of it to try. The dumpling was chewy. He could also taste the meat, ss noodles and vegetables like scallions and carrots that filled the dumpling wrapper. All of those ingredients blended together and created a pleasant taste.

    Minhyuk looked at the dumplings with a smile as he chewed on one.

    "You''re really¡­¡­"

    He gave a little cry.

    "Really delicious! Chomp!"

    He put a piece of dumpling in the cup noodles then ced another in his mouth.

    "Chew, chew."

    "Wow¡­ It really tastes delicious¡­"

    "L, look at that hot bar, amazing."

    The attention of all of the people in the store were captured by the ding of the microwave.

    Exmations were suddenly heard all around.

    A woman suddenly stood up and walked to where Minhyuk was.

    She ced a grape-vored Elch''s drink in front of him.

    "You''ll choke. Please drink some."

    "Wow. Thank you! I''ll drink it well!"

    Minhyuk bowed his head politely as the woman looked at him with a smile.

    "I feel like some of the tension left me because of you. I almost died with my shaking legs a while ago so thanks."

    "Chew?!"

    Minhyuk tilted his head at her in confusion with a hot bar in his mouth. However he still continued to eat after a short pause.

    Others were already looking at Minhyuk.

    ''Ah, I feel a bit rxed.''

    ''He''s really enjoying it deliciously.''

    Some users even covered their mouths with the back of their hand. They gazed at him with a fatherly(?) smile.

    "This won''t work. I also have to eat one hot bar."

    "Huhu, me too. We have to eat well if we want to stay long in the tournament."

    The others started to move around.

    "Nim, thanks."

    "Because of Nim, I feel a bit relieved."

    Minhyuk did not understand what he was hearing, people strangely suddenly started to thank him.

    Then, Bet approached Minhyuk.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] Nonmissioned officers: Officers that gained their position through promotion through enlisted ranks. Meaning their grade/rank is lower than that of amissioned officer. Is what I have read¡­

    TL''s corner!!!

    Ahhh! I''m sorry for just romanizing the food. Apparently all of them were brands of instant cup noodles (which I haven''t tried at all) however Elch was a parody of Welch. That much I''m sure of. Kek.

    EXTRA, EXTRA CHAPTER for the week! (Wait, does this mean that our week starts on Wednesday? LOL)

    As of 10/28: I have rechecked the raws and Jan was a Taming Master indeed. Thank you to Xplodbr for pointing it out.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Man, I wish convenience stores around me had this good of food in them.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 55 - Something That Should Never Be Done

    Chapter 55: Something That Should Never Be Done

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    [Sluuuuuuuuuuuuuurp.]

    "Wow, he''s really eating so deliciously."

    "I also want to eat some ramyeon¡­"

    "L, look at him eating that hot bar, Amazing¡­!"

    The audience''s eyes were trained at the man eating in the convenience store.

    Jan, the MC, was momentarily mesmerized by the video that she was seeing.

    [Jan-ssi, are you not going to do your ment[1]?]

    The voice on the other end of the earphones woke her up.

    "Slurp!"

    She hurriedly wiped off the drool on her chin. She was on a diet but she almost made a mistake while she was watching.

    "Wow, everyone. Don''t you think that he eats it so deliciously? I also feel a bit hungry!"

    "Kiheeeek!"

    As if they were representing her, the wyverns also gave out a cry.

    We''re also hungry!

    [Jan-ssi. He''s a famous pro mukbanger from Isbin Vige.]

    ''Ah, him?''

    Jan could also remember watching that video a long time ago.

    "That user is a pro mukbanger who recently was involved in an issue!"

    "Wow¡­¡­ Somehow, I feel like I already knew it."

    "He''s really a pro mukbanger."

    "No, what''s the name of that pro mukbanger''s broadcast?"

    "But he really eats deliciously. Is he going to eat all of the food in the convenience store today?"

    This time, the man ced some dumplings in the beef bone ramyeon then pulled out the hot noodles and dumplings andughed with a hehe.

    [This is the convenience store''s dumpling soup!]

    When the audience saw the man smiling brightly, for some weird reason they felt warm.

    Then¡­

    The user named Bet approached the man. The camera in the convenience store was installed behind Bet so the audience could not see their expressions as of the moment. The spectators frowned at this moment, the same went for Jan.

    Then, Bet sat in front of the man.

    [Nim, you''re really eating deliciously. Can I talk to you¡­¡­]

    [No. I have to eat this!]

    [Aii, don''t say that, let''s talk for a bit. Just a word¡­¡­]

    "Wooooooooo!"

    Whenever he got the chance, the man would blow on his cup with a ''woo, woo''.

    [Nim, he''s eating. Please don''t disturb him.]

    [Even a dog should not be provoked when it''s eating then what more of a human, why are you so focused on someone that you don''t even like? If you want some attention then go outside, take off your clothes and dance.]

    Everyone on the stands cheered loudly. The reason was because the people in the convenience store spoke to Bet. Not long after, Bet stepped back because of the people in the convenience store.

    Right at that moment, a bright light, signaling the entrance of another person, shed.

    "Finally. Our strongest contender to be the champion in thispetition, Miss Lucia, has arrived!"

    That cry drew everyone''s attention.

    Lucia entered the convenience store straight after she essed the game. The moment she entered with a ck mask on her face, the whole store became as quiet as a mouse.

    Suddenly, Lucia''s movements stopped as her gaze also stopped in one ce.

    "Ah, Miss Lucia also can''t help but stop in front of a pro mukbanger. Maybe she can''t walk away!"

    "Wahahahaha!"

    "Hahahahahaha!"

    However, unlike what the others said, Lucia trudged forward and sat in an empty seat.

    "There are 30 minutes left before the start of the tournament!"

    ***

    Lucia waspletely confused.

    ''Why did Minhyuk-nim¡­¡­''

    Wasn''t he participating in the productionpetition? So why is he here? Him being here meant that he had passed the preliminaries.

    Lucia sat near him but did not talk to him.

    ''My enemies might go after Minhyuk-nim if I do that.''

    If they found out that he was close to her, then her enemies in this room would definitely go after Minhyuk. That was why Lucia pretended to not know him. There were also a bunch of people watching both Minhyuk and Lucia including those people from Bacallo.

    "Is that true? Those two came to Emperor''s City together in a carriage?"

    n, who was leading the Bacallo group, opened his eyes thinly and looked at Lucia and the masked man.

    "Yes. It''s true. I definitely saw the two of them arrive together via carriage. I even saw that man saying goodbye to Lucia."

    "Hmm, I see."

    Bacallo Guild joined the tournament with the thought of catching Lucia.

    Lucia was a rising power and rumor has it that she would gather all the brains and create a guild after she won thepetition and learned Ellie''s Swordsmanship. That guild would be a very huge hit.

    However, what would happen if Bacallo killed Lucia?

    ''We can get that fame if we kill her.''

    Of course, they would attack her in groups. However, n also had a secret ss.

    ''Should we catch a hostage? But this is a game, what hostage?''

    But he would definitely do something along those lines.

    ''Should we break Lucia''sposure by killing that person, is he her lover? I think so.''

    The man might be covering half of his face but he still looked quite handsome. He heard that Lucia kept looking back at where he disappeared when they parted ways.

    [The tournament will begin in 10 minutes. Participants will be randomly summoned to different parts of Cork Ind within 10 minutes after the door to the convenience store has opened! You can alsoe back to the convenience store to rest.]

    The members of the Bacallo Guild started to prepare when they heard Jan''s ment.

    When there were only 3 minutes left, almost all of the users had already left the convenience store. Except for one.

    "Chomp!"

    That user looked quite indifferent to the tournament and was just eating the convenience store''s hoppang.

    [The tournament has begun!]

    [Waaaaaaaaaah!]

    ***

    Team Leader Park and Lee Minhwa were both in transparent mode in Cork Ind.

    Once thepetition began, the two of them entered the convenience store. Lee Minhwa still had no interest in the tournament and just watched Minhyuk eating noodles.

    "Sluuuuuuuuuuurp!"

    ''Wow¡­¡­ Look at that proportion.''

    In fact, Minhyuk''s proportions were really unrealistic.

    Administrators could all roam around Cork Ind in this transparent mode. Once they marked a coordinate then they could immediately summon them here.

    "Looks like one of our important figures is still eating in the convenience store."

    "Yeah. He really has no interest in the tournament."

    "That''s right."

    The two of them grinned at each other.

    "32-A. Mark the coordinates."

    "Yes, marking it down."

    Then, the two of them disappeared in a sh of light.

    Once the bright light disappeared, they saw Lucia.

    sh!

    Thwack!

    [You have dealt a fatal blow.]

    Lucia quickly logged out some of the users. After she finished off those users, she quickly blended herself in the woods. They saw her enter the forest but they couldn''t see her anymore.

    The two people looked at each other in admiration.

    "As expected of Lucia."

    "Well, it was within expectations. This time mark this as K-31."

    The two of them disappeared again in a sh.

    They now looked at a man who was covered in a ck robe from head to toe.

    "Another key figure. Jackal."

    "Yeah."

    The two of them nodded.

    There were a lot of important figures in thispetition.

    One of them was Jackal who was a holder of a legendary ss.

    ''The ck Wizard''s Descendant.''

    The ck Wizard''s Descendant has great magic attacks, however, the bigger problem was its spiritual magic. They did not know what would happen if he used that magic.

    "He''s not going to use that, is he?"

    "He''s probably not going to use it. His level will drop back to Lv1 if he uses it."

    Will there be anyone who will do such a crazy thing?

    There was a sh of light and the two of them had once again disappeared.

    ***

    "Damn it."

    The members of the Bacallo guild moved towards the convenience store to organize an operational meeting.

    Lucia had already logged out 3 of their members. When they were moving to their promised gathering point they had been attacked.

    Right now, Lucia already had 6 kills.

    It was overwhelming.

    However, once the user was logged out then they would be useless.

    n hesitated to enter the convenience store when he saw Lucia and the masked man inside.

    ***

    Lucia, who was on a rage, quickly overwhelmed the other users and overtook them as she headed towards the convenience store.

    She knew that there would be plenty of people in the vicinity of the convenience store. There was only one reason, it was a safe zone.

    Usually, in fights like these, people would intentionally run away if there wasn''t enough blood.

    Lucia still saw Minhyuk once she entered the store. She looked around before approaching him.

    Grin.

    She smiled lightly when she saw what he was doing.

    "Is it delicious?"

    "Chew, chew!"

    As usual, Minhyuk couldn''t answer properly when he was eating something.

    "What are you doing here when you''re a cook? I was surprised when I saw you."

    However, she kept on looking at the monitor as she talked to him.

    Fortunately, the monitor does not show when we''re in the convenience store.

    "Did you do a good job during the preliminaries? How long did it take you to clear the gates?"

    "29 minutes and 57 seconds? Don''t talk to me!"

    "You barely managed to get in."

    She took a can of soda and gulped it down to refresh herself.

    ''Those Bacallo bastards are much more malicious than I thought.''

    Like those incumbent special forces, their tactical strategies were also unusual. It wouldn''t be easy for her once they narrowed the perimeter down.

    At that moment.

    Lucia felt the iing presence of the others so she hurriedly distanced herself away from Minhyuk.

    Creeaaak¡ª

    The door opened and the members of the Bacallo Guild came inside.

    "Oh, so you''re here. Lucia."

    "......"

    Lucia did not answer them and just continued to finish her drink.

    Then, n approached Minhyuk. He checked the monitor and quickly inspected the pile of cup ramyeon on his table.

    aap¡ª

    The cups of ramyeon fell down on the ground.

    Ssh¡ª

    Ramyeon soup sshed on the floor of the convenience store.

    "......"

    For the first time, Minhyuk''s head moved.

    "Oops, my mistake. But you know, you should be ashamed. Is it fun to eat and get the attention of the others?"

    n was trying to provoke Lucia. However, when he looked over he saw that she did not even give them an ounce of attention.

    No, she''s just pretending that she did not care.

    ''If she stopped me from this provocation then it means that they know each other¡­''

    Minhyuk continued to drink the ramyeon soup from his cup.

    n kicked the cup ramyeon that had fallen on the ground.

    Ssh!

    "Kukuku!"

    "Hahahahaha!"

    n and the rest of the crowdughed.

    "Let''s go out and have some chat."

    As soon as they were about to walk out.

    "Oi, war freaks."

    They heard a cold voice talking to them.

    n turned his head and saw Minhyuk.

    "Clean this up before you go."

    "......You clean it up, you fXcker."

    As he said that, n and his group went outside.

    Lucia looked at Minhyuk with surprise.

    ''T, the light in his eyes¡­''

    Minhyuk stood up with a hot bar in his mouth.

    Crack.

    Crack.

    He loosened up his stiff muscles.

    "W, where are you going?"

    "The tournament. I finished eating so it''s now time to start."

    Even though that was what he said, he still took an armful of chocte bars from the convenience store.

    "I thought you weren''t interested?"

    "I didn''t care much before, but now I am. Lucia-nim, do you know what''s the worst thing in the world?"

    "......?"

    "Bastards who mess around with food."

    The moment he finished speaking¡­

    Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap!

    Minhyuk ran out.

    "Why don''t youe with me¡­¡­!"

    But before she could evene out, Minhyuk had already disappeared. The first time that they went out of the store, they would disappear and be summoned randomly on the ind. Lucia had no choice but to worry.

    ''29 minutes and 57 seconds¡­ He just barely got in¡­''

    It was already very surprising for a chef to pass the preliminaries. However, a chef would still be far below in level to the others in this tournament.

    Her eyes suddenly gleamed coldly.

    "Those damn bastards."

    ***

    n exchanged a cold look with the members of the Bacallo guild.

    "She''s alone. Once she is in a certain range within the tactical field, then we should spread out and lock her in!"

    "Yes!"

    Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap!

    Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap!

    They found Lucia running around in the forest. When she noticed them, she quickly started to attack them.

    The moment she entered their encircling, n signaled to his tactical team.

    n had the secret ss ''Iron Blooded Commander'' and his ss couldmand and create a tactical field with others with the ss ''Brave Warrior''.

    Once the tactical field was deployed, all of the empty spaces in it would be controlled. In addition, the Brave Warrior along with himself would have a 20% increase in their abilities once the tactical field was deployed.

    Shwaaaa¡ª

    "Aaaaargh!"

    "Catch her! Now''s the best time!"

    Another member of the Bacallo guild was forced to log-out.

    The tactical field was slowly starting to form as the members of the Bacallo guild made their way to their respective ces.

    ''Good, now this¡­''

    Pooof!

    Lucia disappeared in a white smoke.

    "This damn¡­!"

    n''s face crumpled in anger.

    ''No, she won''t be able to use that very often.''

    She disappeared from their tactical field.

    The tactical field covered an area of 500m and teleportation to the extent of avoiding that distance would definitely be limited for Lucia''s level.

    And right at that moment¡­

    Step, step, step, step¡ª

    A man walked right inside their tactical field.

    "......You little bastard."

    n smiled sinisterly.

    He thought that they met at quite the right time.

    He was already brimming with anger when Lucia disappeared. He had a hunch that Lucia just didn''t respond to his provocation but they knew each other.

    And the man in front of him was none other than¡­

    Minhyuk.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] ?? (Ment) a section in an event where you introduce yourself and interact with your fans.

    TL''s corner!!!

    Let''s go! There''s going to be a trashinging soon!

    EXTRA, EXTRA, Extra chapter of the week! Hehehe

    PR¡¯s corner!

    The monster¡¯s been awakened. Time to waste the food wasters.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 56 - Something That Should Never Be Done

    Chapter 56: Something That Should Never Be Done

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Shiiiing¡ª

    They saw him pulling out his sword from its sheath.

    "Ha!"

    nughed incredulously. They might be incumbent nonmissioned officers right now but they were once a part of the nation''s special forces.

    Not long ago, they even participated in a real-time mock survival battle against the US Special Naval Forces. Although they lost in the mock battle, they were still veterans who have trained for quite a long time.

    But then, some bastard who they did not even know of, suddenly entered their encircling¡­

    "You have done something that should never be done."

    n thought carefully about what he was talking about.

    ''Did Lucia tell him something?''

    If they were really lovers, then this man would definitely be angry. That was enough reason for him to move like this. However, his bravery would rather make Lucia feel sorry for him.

    The man grabbed his sword tightly as he dashed towards n.

    "I mixed that kamjjamppong with tuna and sausages!"

    "......?"

    The man dashed towards him with a fierce momentum.

    A member of the Bacallo guild drew a dagger and blocked the man.

    n clicked his tongue.

    Alicia clicked her tongue.

    ''I can''t believe they did such a good job of stopping Minhyuk-nim from eating his fill.''

    The scene erged in the monitor was that of a man wearing a white mask and the Bacallo guild''s confrontation.

    On the other hand, the other guild masters were talking in groups.

    "Thepanymander of the Bacallo guild is really strong."

    "Did you fight him?"

    "The people with me in the guild right now used to fight with those guys. At that time, four of my kids were at Lv120."

    "?"

    "They didn''t make it through their tactical field. The four of them were even killed by three Lv70 people. They were even robbed clean. I heard that they were really no joke¡­"

    "Wow¡­¡­ how in the world can a Lv120 be defeated by a Lv70."

    "It''s quite amazing. They would hit you then disappear like a ghost. In the first ce, since they were soldiers, they used thendscape to their advantage too and unless you break down their formation then you won''t be able to get away from their transparent encirclement. It''s like you''re caught in a spiderweb. Lucia wouldn''t even be able to get out once she''s trapped in their tactical field. You''ll only get out once you''re dead¡­ "

    Alicia nodded her head when she heard the exnation.

    ''Interesting.''

    When she met Minhyuk back then, she couldn''t tell how strong he was. But wasn''t he constantly training himself to be strong(?).

    At that moment when the guild masters finished talking, Alicia heard Cain murmur something.

    "......That person is walking differently."

    Alicia turned her head to look closely at the monitor.

    Cain''s father might be a CEO but he was also someone who won gold medals in both kendo and judo.

    "A ck belt [1], no, he''s weird."

    ***

    The person who blocked Minhyuk''s way was named Ben. He was a warrior ss user but he specializes in daggers.

    He was also a 3-dan in kendo, 3-dan in judo and a 4-dan in taekwondo. He did not bring any shame to the name special forces. His skills in the martial arts were also among the best.

    He was thinking of stabbing Minhyuk in the neck and waist in one breath.

    Daaaaash!

    The moment Minhyuk reached in front of him¡­

    Fwoooom!

    Graaaab!

    Minhyuk easily grabbed his wrist with one hand.

    "......!"

    Ben and n''s eyes grew wide at the same time.

    Ben tried to kick Minhyuk''s knees however, Minhyuk''s feet were faster.

    Bang!

    "Kgghk!"

    He stepped on Ben''s foot while Ben aimed for his chin with his elbows.

    Swish!

    Minhyuk easily evaded the attack with a tilt of his head.

    Graaab!

    "Keuk¡­¡­!"

    His grip on his wrists tightened. He might not be able to feel real pain but he could still feel the chill. And with just that much strength, Ben was forced to go down on his knees.

    sh!

    Minhyuk who shed Ben''s throat with Vn walked towards n.

    n was looking at the logged-out Ben in a daze.

    ''W, what the hell¡­¡­ B, Ben''s one of the best in my unit¡­¡­ How could that bastard do that!''

    With his signal¡­

    Daaaaash!

    Daaaaash!

    Three of the guild members who were in the vicinity appeared and surrounded Minhyuk.

    Dash!

    sh!

    Swiiish!

    Fwooom!

    sh!

    It was quick and clean. Minhyuk calmly put them under control within 2 minutes.

    His stats were overwhelming.

    And even if they had the same stats as him, they wouldn''t be able to match him with skills. Furthermore, before he went to where they are he already buffed himself up by eating.

    n already hid himself in the woods while they were fighting. Then he pressed down on a button on his left wrist.

    [You can now give orders to your troops.]

    This was the special ability of the Iron Blooded Commander.

    As soon as the tactical field was activated and he was able to give orders to his troops, a map would be shown then he would be able to assess the status of his troops and tactical field.

    "This is thepanymander. Listen to my orders. From now on, we will activate the tactical field!"

    [The tactical field will begin to unfold and cover a 500-km radius.]

    [With the effects of the tactical field, all of the Brave Warriors will have a 20% increase in all of their abilities.]

    Swooooooosh!

    A transparent blue wall started to form. This was a proof that the tactical field was activated.

    Then, a map suddenly appeared in front of n. There were red dots that appeared on the map. These dots indicate the position of his troops. If the target fights with his troops then the enemy''s position would be marked in blue. This blue would appear then quickly disappear.

    ''Damn it, he''s more powerful than I thought.''

    There were many hidden masters in Athenae. There were even rumors that there was a 100 level difference between the number 1 top ranker and the number 1 closed door ranker.

    However, n still had a grin on his face.

    "But right now, you''re just a rat trapped in my trap¡­!"

    nughed sinisterly.

    No enemy has ever escaped their tactical field.

    ***

    A bluish barrier appeared in the forest.

    A woman approached the barrier. She pressed her hands on it and found out that she could not prate it and could only push on it as if it was a solid wall.

    ''I heard a screaming from here?''

    This woman was the one who gave Minhyuk the drink Elch''s earlier. Her name was Lou. Lou was also a big shot but in this tournament she was only akin to a normal archer.

    She jumped up on top of a tree to scout the users inside the barrier.

    ''It''s the Bacallo guild?''

    They were camouged in various ces inside the barrier. Some users were setting up tricks and traps, some were aiming with their crossbows while some were hiding behind trees.

    Daaaaash!

    She climbed up at a higher incline to see the situation inside better. As she looked down from the incline into the barrier¡­

    ''Wow¡­¡­''

    It was both a spectacr and a not spectacr sight.

    Inside the barrier, the Bacallo guild members maintained their position. For Lou, who was not familiar with it, it looked like their positions were very stable.

    Then, she saw a man walking out of the forest.

    ''Huh¡­? That man¡­''

    It was the person who made her feel rxed and free from tension in the convenience store.

    ''Don''t tell me that he''s the one the Bacallo guild was after?''

    She tilted her head in thought.

    That user was someone who did not look strong but it was nice to see him smile and eat happily.

    At that moment¡­

    Fwoooooosh!

    A crossbow was shot.

    Twaaaang!

    As soon as another man pressed on a button, the installed trap exploded along with a thick cloud of dust.

    Lou watched with bated breath.

    The Bacallo guild members slowly narrowed the distance with the area surrounded by the thick cloud of dust.

    A man looked at his hands.

    ''He stopped.''

    Then¡­

    aaaaash!

    The man tore through the cloud of dust and shed another man''s chest. Then, he kicked on the tree and attacked the man who had just sent a signal out. The man''s sword suddenly shed with a white light.

    [Vital Strike]

    [Additional 28% attack power if attack is sessful.]

    The moment the man who was attacked on his chest shrieked in rm, the man attacked the rest one after another.

    ash!

    aaaaash!

    ''F, fast¡­''

    Lou was very astonished.

    The man cut off two men in a single breath and quickly dealt with and got rid of the remaining two.

    Then, Lou met the man''s eyes.

    Step.

    "Ah, hello."

    He bowed and greeted Lou politely. Lou unconsciously bowed her head in return.

    ***

    "......"

    Jan was left speechless.

    Everything happened so quickly.

    A moment of silence passed in the stands. Then, the man''s voice and actions towards the woman broke the silence.

    [Ah, hello.]

    "W, wooooooooow!"

    "C, cool!"

    "Waaaaaaaaaaaah!"

    "A, an incredible scene just happened, Pro Mukbanger! He wasn''t just someone who eats well!"

    "Wow¡­¡­ He''s unexpectedly attractive¡­¡­"

    "He''s quite polite. He even said hello to the person who gave him a drink earlier, right?"

    The audience broke out in cheers.

    Jan''s wyvern king flew up in the air and flew on top of the tactical field.

    "Kiheeeeeee!"

    The wyvern king hovered around the tactical field which allowed Jan to clearly see the situation within the barrier.

    "Ah, User Minhyukpletes his eighth kill, ninth, tenth! Eleventh kill!"

    He was roaming around the tactical field to hunt the members of the Bacallo guild.

    "Waaaaaaah!"

    The shouts and cheers grew louder and louder.

    ***

    The Sword Emperor, Ellie. She inherited her father, the former emperor''s name and reputation. She was hailed as the greatest emperor in history.

    She was half-lying on her throne with a frigid expression on her face and a sword in her arms. Her figure truly reflects the image of the Sword Emperor.

    As she sat there with her long blonde hair, everyone recognized that she was a great beauty.

    "Looks like thepetition is reaching its climax."

    "Yes, your Majesty. There''s also a foreigner who eats very well in thepetition."

    "A foreigner who eats well?"

    Ellie had a curious look on her face.

    Were the people cheering for him because he eats so well?

    In fact, Ellie really did not care a bit about thepetition. She was just following the orders of the God of Athenae. They instructed her to find her sessor and pass on her sword arts.

    However, in actuality, she did not have any interest in her future sessor. It was just a mission given to her by God after all.

    He was not someone who was special so she was not very interested in this tournament.

    ''Eating well¡­ Well, that''s a good thing.''

    There was also a time when eating was considered to be a joy in her life.

    Is it also a pleasure to have everything a man wishes in the world?

    Having everything did not mean that someone would not be fond of eating. It was a happiness that could only feel three times a day.

    I miss this happiness.

    Her attention was piqued a little.

    "Bring me the magic crystal ball."

    Her vassals moved quickly to heed Ellie''s words. The magic crystal ball was already prepared but they did not turn it on because Ellie said that she did not want to see it.

    The huge magic crystal ball was ced in front of Ellie. In the crystal ball, she saw a foreigner wearing a white mask in the forest being besieged by concealed foreigners.

    Fwooooom!

    The man''s sword was wrapped in a white light. He raised his sword and shed quickly three times in a row.

    sh!

    sh!

    sh!

    [Keughk!]

    [C, crazy¡­ he''s crazy strong!]

    Ellie started watching it with her eyes half closed but it soon started to grow wide in shock. She sprang up in her seat.

    The sword wielded by the man had the symbol of the phoenix on its grip.

    There was only one man and one man alone who had that. It was the sword she bestowed upon the person she loved and cared for the most.

    "Ellie''s Kitchen Knife¡­!"

    The sword was shining brightly in the hands of an unknown foreigner.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] ??? : Someone who achieved the highest dan in martial arts (e.g. Judo), can mean expert, ck-belt holder, etc.

    TL''s corner!!!

    I just realized this¡­ I was so d that the thing the Bacallo guild threw was not the watermelon like in the manhwa. Such a shame if that precious fruit was wasted.

    EXTRA, EXTRA, Extra chapter for this week! Our week will start again tomorrow with a double release! ?? Have fun!

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 57 - Beef Is Always Right

    Chapter 57: Beef is Always Right.

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    21 Beef is Always Right.

    ''The tactical field is breaking!''

    Oren wasmanding 8 members of the Bacallo guild. All of the 8 members were in fact in the 2-minute range. This was in line with the tactical field being set.

    The tactical field would only be maintained if each unit of their troops maintains it at a certain interval. If a soldier dies, then another one from the troop would hurry to fill in the gap. If that soldier died again, the gap would again be filled by another. This was so the tactical field could be maintained. If the tactical field was maintained then it would remain to be an impregnable barrier.

    However, right now, the tactical field was starting to crumble. This could only mean one thing¡­

    ''We''re being killed at a rate that''s fast enough that even the guild members cannot fill in the gaps.''

    Oren saw and observed his movements carefully.

    He''s incredibly fast for someone at Lv80.

    In addition, a single cut from him would lead to a 50% decrease in their HP. This was ording to what a soldier reported to him before he died.

    ''That guy''s HP will definitely bottom out too.''

    There were now only thirteen remaining members of the Bacallo guild. On the contrary, the enemy''s HP was definitely going to be depleted soon.

    We''ve met an unexpected opponent but he''s going to die soon.

    Then, a man appeared in Oren''s sight. He was filled with wounds of varying degrees.

    ''As expected¡­!''

    At this rate, his HP is definitely around 50% or even lower.

    Oren made eye contact with the other guild members around him.

    Let''s surprise him with a group attack.

    Even if they died, they would be able to kill him afternding some strikes on him.

    At that moment, they saw the man take out a chocobar from his bosom. Then, he peeled off the wrapper and started to chomp on it.

    ''He''s even eating right now?!''

    Oren signaled with his eyes. The guild members moved to different ces preparing to ambush the man.

    However, Oren had no choice but to stop his movements. The small wounds littering the man''s body¡­

    The wounds are regenerating like crazy, it''s as if he''s a troll!

    "W, wait¡­ His body¡­!"

    Before he could even finish his words¡­ The man, who seemed like he had recovered his HP, quickly narrowed the distance and started to knock them out one by one.

    Then¡­

    Bang!

    A guild member was smashed into a tree right next to where Oren stood.

    Sliiiide¡ª

    The guild member was forced to log-out in his copsed state.

    "H, how did his HP¡­"

    No matter which way he looked at it, it was a tremendous recovery.

    Are there any skills with a recovery rate like that? No, I haven''t heard of a skill like that at all.

    And right at that moment¡­

    Oren only saw the man quickly narrowing the distance between them¡­ And he was no more. He was logged out in a blink of an eye.

    "Damn it!"

    Oren got out of his capsule.

    Oren, or Lee Seongdong, continuously spat out curses for quite some time.

    ''D, don''t tell me¡­!''

    In the past, he posted a statement about the ability to recover so he quickly searched through the posts in Athenae''s official homepage. After searching for a while, he was finally able to confirm it.

    ''I heard that it hasn''t been released in the country yet¡­''

    He was thinking about the blood of the Twin-headed Troll.

    Its blood should be drunk along with plenty of expensive materials for it to work. He knew that those materials would definitely cost a user a lot of fortune for them to be able to get their hands on it. In addition, there were only five users in the entire world who hold the blood of the said Twin-headed Troll. The blood of the Twin-headed Troll was already priced at around 400 million won.

    "......What in the world did that bastard do?"

    Not knowing about Minhyuk''s ability to recover just by eating, Lee Seongdong was now led astray by his conjectures. He was unaware that he waspletely and utterly mistaken.

    ***

    [The Tactical Field has been broken.]

    [As penalty, all Brave Warriors will have a -30% drop in all of their abilities.]

    "......!"

    n could not believe it even if he looked at it over and over again.

    The tactical field was broken.

    It has never been broken before!

    As if to find proof, he looked at the red dots that were continuously decreasing on the map. In other words, the Brave Warriors under him were being forced to log-out one person at a time.

    And that wasn''t all, the blue dot, that appears whenever there was a close battle that was urring, flickers very quickly from one ce to another.

    ''This is crazy¡­¡­! Does he not get tired at all?!''

    After killing that much alone, are you not getting tired at all? How much HP does he have left?

    Right at that moment¡­

    [Guild Chatting Oren: Company Commander n, that punk ate the blood of the Twin-headed Troll!]

    "......?!"

    n''s eyes widened in disbelief.

    ''The blood of the Twin-headed Troll¡­¡­?''

    As far as he could remember, it was an extremely expensive consumable artifact. Furthermore, consumable artifacts like that were usually ingested by users at Lv250. The reason was simple. It was because users tend to delete and rear new characters before reaching Lv250.

    Are you telling me that he consumed it at Lv80?

    ''I, is he swimming in money?''

    There was also a limit to the amount released in the whole world, this would mean that he was the only person who has consumed the blood of the Twin-headed Troll in the country. It has an estimated value of 500 million won in cold hard cash.

    [Guild Chatting n: Is this real?]

    [Guild Chatting Oren: Yes, that punk. I saw him recover his HP just by eating a chocobar. But I''m pretty sure that he did not recover just by eating chocobar.]

    [Guild Chatting Yamuyamu: I saw it too. To be honest, his recovery rate is much higherpared to the currently released unique recovery skills in the store. Thinking about it, I believe Oren-nim is right.]

    [Guild Chatting Paran: I saw it too. That bastard, he''s aplete monster.]

    n grabbed his hair in despair.

    ''Damn it, Lucia''s lover(?) is not someone ordinary. I can''t believe that I did not take any precaution against him.''

    n bit his lips in frustration while the number of red dots on the map continued to decrease. At some point, he realized that he was the only one left.

    He quickly tried to escape but the man appeared, with a chocobar in his mouth, and relentlessly started to chase him down.

    "Are, are you kidding me?!"

    "Chew, chew?"

    The man''s eyebrows creased in annoyance.

    "I mean, are you going to deal with me while you''re eating?!"

    n''s abilities were down by 30%, however he still grinned.

    "You damn bastard. Who are you?! Are you a mercenary raised by Hanhwa Corporation? Or are you a member of Legend Guild? Oho, that''s right! You''re definitely someone from Legend Guild."

    n beat the drums and yed the janggu all on his own.

    There were rumors that Legend Guild gathered almost all of the unofficial rankers. However, they were still hidden under a thinyer of veil.

    "You''re definitely taking this opportunity to promote the name of Legend Guild. And the blood of the Twin-headed Troll! That''s what you ate right?! That''s how you''re recovering your HP!"

    The man did not say anything and just approached him quickly. n''s dagger collided with the man''s sword. However, n, with his 30% drop in abilities, was no match for him.

    aash!

    "Cough! Damn you, your goal was our Bacallo guild, right?! You deliberately baited us and made us spill our bloods!"

    "Do you want to know the reason?"

    "That''s right, you''re finally revealing your true colors!"

    "You guys yed around and wasted food."

    n thought that he was lying down to the veryst minute.

    Does that even make any sense?!

    "I won''t believe such a lie¡­¡­!"

    Stab!

    n was forced to log-out.

    ***

    After forcing n to log-out, Minhyuk finally checked his kill count.

    He now had 25 kills.

    ''What was he talking about earlier? Blood of the Twin-headed Troll? Legend Guild?''

    His HP recovered because he ate chocobar. This was the effect of his Absorption Transition skill.

    ''I really like this Absorption Transition skill.''

    As soon as he ate, his HP began to recover. The 30%~40% recovery rate was truly an enormous boost to his HP.

    The best thing was that he could eat while he recovered. It was the perfect skill for Minhyuk.

    "Ah, I''m hungry. I should go back to the convenience store~"

    Minhyuk hummed as he moved towards the convenience store.

    ***

    Nine hours have already passed since the tournament has begun.

    Jan looked at the users on the monitor. Each and everyone of them looked tired and exhausted with the prolonged tension and lengthy battles.

    However, Lucia was still on her way to achieving 60 kills by herself.

    ''What''s the rtionship between those two? Do they know each other? That man is really strong.''

    Once the game began, the voices of both the host and the spectators could not be heard by any of the contestants. They could not verify their current scores and could only base it on their kill numbers and their current situation.

    Furthermore, the range of their movements in Cork Ind was starting to get limited since the circle was slowly getting smaller. Eventually, they would be gathered at a distance 300m around the convenience store. Everyone would not be able to enter the convenience store and those inside would be thrown out in the field. This meant that all the users would be gathered together and fight each other near the convenience store.

    [The Brackan has been summoned to Cork Ind.]

    [The user fighting the Brackan cannot be attacked.]

    "This is the charm of thepetition this time. The named monster Brackan is being summoned right now! The Velto that appeared before this was easily beaten by the users. Will the contestants work together to hunt the Brackan?"

    "Waaaaaaaaaah!"

    Loud cheers broke out of the stands. It was a usual urrence for users to team up and fight together to kill named monsters with a much higher level than them.

    That wasn''t all.

    ''If they sessfully killed the monster, then they will be able to get the best items that it can give.''

    Each monster has a different item drop. This was not like the monster Ogre where one couldn''t even get the Ogre Gauntlet after hunting the monster sessfully. In this tournament, the monsters would give a 100% drop rate so they would be able to get the best artifacts that they could receive.

    For that reason, the audience would both be focused and envious while watching their battles.

    ''That user¡­''

    Jan tilted her head on her monitor which had continuously alternating scenes from the ind.

    It was a user who was wearing a ck robe. This user continuously ran all over the ind and focused only on hiding himself.

    Jan saw the administrators gathered around. She was one of the few people who could see them in their transparent mode. She quietly eavesdropped on their conversation.

    "That ck Wizard. Why don''t that guy brainwash the other users?"

    As far as Jan knew, this was Park Minggyu. He was the leader of the Special Users Team. He was talking to a woman beside him.

    "I, is he really trying to use that skill? That''s the only thing I can think of on why he''s saving his MP and mental strength."

    "No, it won''t make sense at all. If he used that skill then he would drop to Lv1 and he won''t be able to level up for 3 months, you know? So why will he use that?"

    The development team leader in front of them was the one who answered.

    "In fact, if you remove that skill, then the ck Wizard was not a threat at all¡­¡­"

    The administrators nodded their heads in sympathy.

    "When will the Minotaurus appear?"

    "It will appear 20 minutes before the game ends."

    "But at that time the users will only be limited to a 300m range, right?"

    "Yes¡­"

    The 300m circr range was small. And once they went outside of that range then their HP would decrease by itself. That was the reason why everyone would be in there.

    "If the ck Wizard really used his skill ''Absolute Domination'' to control the Minotaurus then it would really turn into a massacre¡­¡­"

    ''What¡­¡­?!''

    Jan was caught by surprise when she heard their words.

    He would control the Minotaurus?

    That Lv140 one?

    Will that even make sense for a Lv80 user like that?! Is that even possible?!

    Jan thought about it more deeply.

    ''I heard that the Minotaurus does note out as a seon mob. But if it gets brainwashed and was together with all of the remaining users in a 300m range¡­''

    It was a matter of fact that the Minotaurus was no longer controlled by the administrators. But if it was controlled by a user, then it would be his weapon.

    If it really happens¡­¡­

    ''Then all of the users will die, right?''

    ***

    TL''s corner!!!

    A rare no footnote chapter again!!!

    Just to remind you, a seon mob is a monster that attacks a user when it sees one.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    A g has been triggered¡­

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 58 - Beef Is Always Right

    Chapter 58: Beef is Always Right

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Of course, it was the user''s freedom to find any way to win the tournament. However, the problem was the massacre that the monster would do.

    In the first ce, the Minotaurus was a monster that the Athenae God decided on and ced in the tournament.

    But there was no way that the users would know that.

    Some might say that the organizers of thepetition were crazy and reckless. They would even say that the final highlight of thepetition was ruined by the appearance of the Minotaurus.

    Team Leader Park Minggyu suddenly said¡­

    "If it really happens then¡­¡­"

    The woman nodded her head.

    "There are only two people who can stop it."

    ***

    Jackal, the ck Wizard''s Descendant, was hiding himself in the bushes.

    At a distance not too far away from where he was located, he could see plenty of users flocking together to fight against the named monster, Brackan.

    "Ah, fXck. Nim, shoot the arrows straight to the monster!"

    "Ah, then you do it!"

    "Nims, it''s not the time for us to fight each other. We have to focus on killing the Brackan!"

    Unity.

    They weren''t doing a good job at this but they had no choice but to unite their forces. There was only one reason¡­ Anyone who participated in the killing of the monster would get the right to acquire the artifacts that the monster drops once it died.

    In fact, the reason why they wanted to kill the Brackan was mostly because of the artifact.

    Also, they were just participants in the tournament and not even acquaintances. It was rare for acquaintances to pass together through the preliminaries like the Bacallo guild members.

    ''Not yet. There''s still a stronger monster.''

    The administrators shared the information that there would be named monsters in the tournament even before it started.

    And Jackal, who also participated in this tournament, was very happy because he had the Absolute Domination skill..

    ''I may not be able to level up for 3 months and my current level will drop down to Lv1. However, I will be able to control a monster with a level that''s twice as high as my own level for 1 hour!''

    His skills could allow him to brainwash the other users and let them fight among each other but he needed to save his MP and mental strength so he could use Absolute Domination. The mental strength that a ck Wizard uses for his brainwashing skill was quite simr to a chef''s buff.

    ''The Brackan cannot be the final monster.''

    There should be a monster with a higher level than this. A monster that can show the greatest charm of this tournament. And once I use the Absolute Domination at that time, then I will be able to take the lead in thispetition.

    ''Keuhahahahaha!''

    The mere thought of it sent a thrill down his spine.

    There was only one reason why he wanted to use Absolute Domination despite the huge penalty was¡­

    ''I would let the whole of Athenae learn of the name Kang Hyeonsoo before I enlist in the military!''

    ¡­because he was joining the army starting tomorrow.

    He was going to burn his name in a splendid manner on hisst day!

    Thuuuuud!

    At that moment¡­

    [The users have sessfully hunted the Brackan.]

    The Brackan has fallen.

    [Please proceed to the indicated area in the map.]

    [If you go beyond the area indicated, your HP will continue to decrease by itself.]

    Jackal opened his map. He could see that the range where they could move in the game was getting smaller.

    He ran in the direction of the convenience store then he continued to hide within the indicated area. That was how he bided his time.

    [There is only 1 hour remaining in the tournament.]

    [The number of users currently alive is 42.]

    He then heard another notification¡­

    [The Siren is being summoned.]

    ''Siren? A siren uses its charming skills to lure and seduce the users before killing them but its fighting power is too weak. It''s not the siren.''

    Sirens were special because of their charming skills however, aside from that there was nothing that could be said to be extraordinary.

    Jackal shook his head.

    ''Are there no other special mobs that wille out?!''

    If that was the case, then he would be in big trouble. If the tournament ended without him having a single kill, then he would join the army with nothing but regrets.

    Jackal waited with bated breath.

    ''Please, please, please, please.''

    At 20 minutes before the end of the tournament, the siren has not yet been sessfully hunted yet.

    Right at that moment¡­

    [The Minotaurus is being summoned.]

    [The Minotaurus is not a seon mob.]

    [Only users who want to fight against the Minotaurus are free to take up the challenge.]

    "Oh¡­!"

    Jackal was struck in awe.

    ***

    Go Eun-ah was sitting on the bleachers watching the game. She was a reporter. Her hoobae [1] was sitting right next to her.

    "Sunbae. Lucia will really be number 1 like what we predicted."

    "Yeah. That person who killed the Bacallo guild is still eating in the convenience store. Ah, it''s not fun if it goes too well."

    A variable.

    It would be good if a variable would appear. Because they weren''t here to have fun like the other users. They needed a scoop. And with things like unexpected variables, they would be able to get a more interesting and more catchy article.

    [Eumooooooooooo!]

    At that moment, the roar of a monster that could shake the heavens and the earth was heard in the stands. Jan''s voice also apanied this loud roar to the stands.

    "With only 20 minutes left in thepetition, a Minotaurus is being summoned! And just like what the notifications announced, only those who wanted to challenge the Minotaurus can fight it. It''s a monster that you don''t have to fight if you don''t want to!"

    "Wow, a Minotaurus¡­¡­ What Lv80 tournament will ce a Lv150 monster in it? This is aplete bnce breaker."

    Go Eun-ah shook her head when she heard those words.

    "Yeah. In addition, a Minotaurus is a unique ranked, named monster¡­¡­"

    A Minotaurus also had a special skill. This guy might only be at Lv150 but it was considered to be much more threatening because it could wield a 4th ss magic.

    The Minotaurus on the monitor was just standing there and roaring.

    "Look at this. No one wants to challenge it."

    "It feels like it''s just standing there like a mascot for the Eivelis Empire''s tournament."

    Go Eun-ahughed at what her male hoobae said.

    Then, a man suddenly appeared and pounced on the Minotaurus.

    Then.

    m!

    He was logged out in no time.

    "Puhahahaha!"

    "Ah, what was that."

    Laughter broke out in the stands when they saw the man got logged out in one strike.

    "Now, no one will challenge it anymore after seeing that user die."

    "Right. He was logged out in a blink of an eye. Huh? Is that Lucia? Where did shee from?"

    "Oh, she''s probably going to take a break after killing the siren."

    "Shoot it well. Even if Lucia picks her nose it will still be a good article."

    "Yes."

    The two were talking like that when they suddenly heard the others eximing while looking at the monitor.

    "What''s that person doing? He looks so gloomy?"

    "What the¡­ He''s approaching the Minotaurus?"

    "Suicide?"

    The audience were murmuring what they thought when they suddenly saw a ck mist explode from the man''s body.

    [Puhaaaa!]

    The ck mist reached out towards the Minotaurus and soon seeped through its body.

    [Eumooooooooo!]

    The Minotaurus roared loudly.

    The audience began to stir in agitation.

    Then, the Minotaurus approached a user that was resting nearby¡­

    [W, what! Why are youing towards me? Cow, you bastard. Stop! Don''t go scaring me¡­!]

    Before he could even finish talking, the Minotaurus swung his axe at him.

    sh!

    "......!"

    "......!"

    Silence enveloped the audience.

    [Eumoooo!]

    [Keuhahahahaha! It''s a sess, a sess!!]

    Together with the ck Wizard, the bull burst forward.

    Go Eun-ah tapped the man beside her.

    "Hey, hey, hey. Shoot it, it''s a scoop! A scoop!"

    "Ah, yes!"

    "Write an article right now. A mysterious robed man tamed the Minotaurus! And¡­"

    Go Eun-ah has high expectations for the future.

    "Sweeps thepetition."

    ***

    "Kyaaaaaak!"

    Lucia picked up the dropped items after she finished the female-type monster, Siren.

    ''Seduction Ring?''

    It was an item that was associated with the lower ranks of the double ring system. It was very valuable but she wasn''t happy with it.

    "Iryaaaaaa!"

    "Eeeeeeck!"

    Lucia dodged the sword of the man who suddenly attacked her and quickly logged him out.

    Then¡­

    "Aaaaaack!"

    "Run away!"

    "This fXckers. You said that the Minotaurus wasn''t a seon mob!"

    She could hear the screams of the other users.

    Lucia frowned lightly.

    ''A Minotaurus?''

    She also heard the notification about its summoning but she felt that there was no need to hunt it.

    I can''t kill it.

    That was her judgment. She wasn''t a reckless person to begin with. If she tried to kill something that she had no chances of winning against, then the oue could be easily predicted.

    However, she soon saw the situation they were in.

    "Eumooo!"

    The Minotaurus was running like crazy and ughtering the users.

    It was just one shot. The area was being swept and the users were being forced to log out in a frenzy.

    "W, what the hell¡­"

    She was a bit confused. The Minotaurus was not a seon mob. Which meant that it would not attack anyone if they did not attack it first. The notification was the proof of it.

    But contrary to what they have heard, the Minotaurus was running amok.

    Then¡­ Lucia heard another set of notifications.

    [Please proceed to the indicated area in the map.]

    [If you go beyond the area indicated, your HP will continue to decrease by itself.]

    Lucia''s face turned dark when she heard the notifications.

    ''This crazy¡­!''

    The area where they could move was narrowed down. And the area where they were supposed to go was where the Minotaurus was.

    But if she did not move right now then she would face absurd consequences and get killed by somethingpletely ridiculous.

    Lucia tried as hard as she could to avoid its sight.

    But at that moment¡­

    "Eumoooo?!"

    The Minotaurus head turned around and locked on Lucia.

    "......Damn."

    She bit her lips hard. She was trapped between a rock and a hard ce. Behind her was the edge of the indicated area and in front of her was the Minotaurus.

    ''Is it a forced challenge, or what?''

    She clenched the daggers in both her hands and bit her lips once more.

    "Huwiiiik, run away. Right now!"

    "You crazy shit, I can''t run away, this is the edge of the indicated area!"

    The users started to scream while the Minotaurus took a step forward.

    Thud¡ª

    Lucia noticed that the Minotaurus'' target had changed to her so she started to run away. However, the Minotaurus chased after her relentlessly.

    Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud¡ª

    "Hooo¡­¡­"

    She took a deep breath to calm herself down.

    How much MP do I have left? What skills can I currently use?

    She was calmly analyzing her odds.

    The moment the Minotaurus reached her vicinity¡­

    Shiiiiing!

    She threw her dagger towards the monster.

    [Shadow''s Throwing Technique.]

    [Dozens of the weapon''s shadow can cause 60% damage.]

    The dagger flew away and created dozens of shadows. However, since they were only shadows, they could only inflict 60% of the original dagger''s damage.

    Stab!

    ng¡ª

    ng¡ª

    ng¡ª

    ng¡ª

    Except for the original dagger, the rest of the shadows were deflected away.

    ''Crazy¡­¡­! Its level is too high for my attacks to be effective!''

    aaaam!

    The Minotaurus struck down with its axe.

    Lucia nimbly dodged the attack and counter-attacked with a sh on its leg.

    sh!

    "Eumoooooo!"

    It swung its arms like crazy trying to catch Lucia.

    Poof!

    Then¡­ Lucia threw a smokescreen. She hid in the white smoke as she quickly jumped behind the Minotaurus.

    Her dagger stabbed at the back of the Minotaurus.

    Stab!

    However, her dagger slid from the top until she fell down to the bottom. It wasn''t what she wanted to achieve.

    ''It, it won''t get stabbed¡­!''

    She tried to stab its throat but her dagger wouldn''t even get past through its thick skin.

    The Minotaurus turned around and punched Lucia away.

    Baang!

    "Kyaak!"

    She flew backwards. She even had to roll a few rounds to reduce the impact of her eventual crash. In an instant, her HP was reduced by 50%.

    [You''re in a temporary stunned state.]

    ''N, no¡­!''

    Even a real person wouldn''t be able to get up temporarily if they received a great impact on their body. Athenae was quite realistic with this detail.

    Lucia couldn''t feel her body when she tried to move.

    The Minotaurus came running towards her.

    But right at that moment a man suddenly stood in front of her.

    She was very familiar with this wide back.

    "Mi, Minhyuk-nim¡­¡­?"

    He was standing in front of Lucia with a very solemn look on his face. She could even see him trembling all over.

    "Minhyuk-nim why are you here¡­¡­ No, look here! You have to run away! Nim, just one strike from that monster will log you out!"

    However, Minhyuk did not budge one bit.

    As Lucia looked at his trembling back she thought¡­

    ''D, don''t tell me¡­¡­!''

    Her pupils shook.

    "Are you trying to protect me?!"

    "?"

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] ?? / ?? : Junior at work or school (hoobae), senior at work or school (sunbae)

    TL''s corner!!

    Well, well, well Lucia-nim¡­ That''s quite a homerun. Don''t wander around with your thoughts like that! That''s dangerous. ???

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Poor Lucia-nim. She thinks Minhyuk¡¯s trying to protect her. She should know better what moves his heart, right?

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 59 - Beef Is Always Right

    Chapter 59: Beef is Always Right

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Minhyuk was not answering but Lucia knew it well.

    ''Yeah, I definitely got it right.''

    When she thought back to their journey together, she could remember him jumping in joy when she gave him ramyeon. But she was sure that he was pretending to be indifferent and apathetic towards her as if all his attention was just for the ramyeon. He was acting friendly with her on that pretext.

    The moment he stood there trembling as he blocked her from harm, Lucia thought that her hunch was definitely right.

    "Don''t be so reckless! Don''t sacrifice yourself just so you could protect me!"

    She cried out to him.

    ***

    Minhyuk was blocking the Minotaurus in front of him. His attention was solely focused on the Minotaurus and the abundant ck light shining out of its body.

    The ck light only meant one thing¡­

    It can be eaten!

    And it didn''t end there.

    Unlike when he fought with the Sweet Potato Warrior, he could now see the different ingredients and materials that he could get from it the moment heid his eyes on the Minotaurus. The effect of the skill entric Meal was quite evident.

    He licked his lips in anticipation as he pictured himself eating such a fancy meal.

    ''I''m going to put the fire in. It''s hot.''

    The waiter ahjussi brought the fiery charcoal embers from the back of the restaurant. Then he would ce a square-shaped grilling pan on top of the griller. Minhyuk would then grab his tongs and pick up the beef and its bones, he would also pick up some seasoned ribs and ce it over the grill.

    Siiiiiiizzle!

    Ah, such an irresistible sound. It''s a very fascinating sound!

    Once the meat was cooked well then he would flip it once. Really, just once! Then he would cut the meat into pieces.

    Then he would pick up one seasoned rib and one beef and ce some pickled onion on top of them. Each person could only get one beef and one rib!

    He would then wrap the meat and the pickled onion in a lettuce leaf and ce it in his mouth.

    "Chew, chew."

    The sour taste of the pickled onions and the savory vor of the well-seasoned ribs would spread out in his mouth.

    The well-seasoned ribs that had been marinated for quite a long time by the owner felt like it was melting in his mouth. The more one chewed on the beef, the more savory the vor and the more tender the meat bes.

    Then he would gulp on the iced c that had been poured earlier on a ss.

    "Gulp, gulp."

    There would definitely be a huge reaction in his mouth. The refreshing vor of the iced c would surely wash away the greasy taste of the beef.

    There were a lot of different dishes that could use beef.

    Rib eye steak, bulgogi hotpot, braised beef in soy sauce with quail eggs, beef and radish soup, beef and seaweed soup and spicy beef stew.

    The recipes and dishes were endless. Minhyuk''s body trembled in excitement.

    My whole body is shaking at the thought of eating this delicious guy!

    "Are you trying to protect me?!"

    "?"

    Lucia, who was behind him, mumbled something but he couldn''t hear her properly.

    His attention was solely focused on one guy, and one guy alone¡­

    It was on the Minotaurus.

    "I''m going to eat it. Well-seasoned beef ribs¡­"

    Cleeench¡ª

    He gripped Ellie''s Sword with all his might.

    [The Battlefield''s Ruler.]

    [+10 increase in all 5 of your basic stats and a 10% increase in your critical hit damage.]

    [Bardy Swordsmanship]

    [All 5 basic stats have a +20 increase for 10 minutes.]

    [Haste]

    [Your movement speed and attack speed have increased by 1.3 times for 10 seconds.]

    "Eumoooooo!"

    After activating the skills that he wanted, he dashed off to meet the Minotaurus that was rushing towards him head on.

    "Uwooooooo!"

    Daaaaash!

    "......?"

    Lucia''s eyes widened in shock.

    ''H, he''s fast!''

    She was quite astonished with his speed. It was after all a speed that was hard to follow with one''s own eyes.

    The Minotaurus hacked down at Minhyuk with his axe.

    Vwoooooom!

    The Minotaurus¡¯ axe ripped through the air but Minhyuk sessfully blocked its way.

    aaaaaang!

    "...I, Impossible!"

    Lucia could hear shouts from behind.

    "D, did you see that?!"

    "Wow. Real X¡­¡­ isn''t that the user who was doing a mukbang earlier!"

    "He stopped the Minotaurus with his sword¡­¡­? That Lv140 monster¡­¡­?"

    The users who stopped to watch the fight between Lucia and the Minotaurus earlier were now in shock.

    Then¡­

    aaang!

    Minhyuk forcefully mmed the Minotaurus'' axe away.

    "Eumoo?"

    The Minotaurus, who was now pushed away with his strength, swung its fists in retaliation.

    Fwoooosh!

    Swoooosh!

    Despite the monster''s quick punches, Minhyuk was able to easily dodge its strikes.

    [Vital Strike]

    [Additional 28% attack power if attack is sessful.]

    When he found a gap from its strikes, Minhyuk stabbed its vital point on its thigh.

    Staaaaab!

    The sword lodged precisely on the vital point on its thigh. He tried to pull it out but it wouldn''te out no matter how hard he tugged on it.

    "Eumooooooo!"

    The monster shrieked loudly. Its body shook wildly as it swung its fists in a frenzy.

    Minhyuk, who was tugging at his sword, took a moment from what he was doing. He then created some distance between him and the Minotaurus.

    At that moment¡­

    The Minotaurus'' axe was suddenly bathed in red light. It was going to use its skill. The Minotaurus struck down on the ground with great strength.

    The moment the axe struck, cracks appeared within a 10m radius as the ground started to undte.

    [Earth Quaker!]

    [A violent earthquake is triggered within a 10m radius.]

    However, instead of leaving the radius of the skill, Minhyuk continued to burrow deeper in the range of the Earth Quaker.

    ".......?!"

    Lucia''s eyes widened in trepidation.

    The moment he gets caught in one of the cracks¡­ He will definitely be stuck and the ground will devour him.

    However, the moment Minhyuk entered the range of the Earth Quaker, the ring on his hands glowed a bright red light.

    [Absorption.]

    [You have a 50% chance of sess or failure.]

    [Earth Quaker is sessfully absorbed.]

    [You can use the absorbed skill once within 10 minutes.]

    Fwoooosh!

    The Earth Quaker that the Minotaurus activated suddenly stopped working and the undting ground went back to its normal condition.

    Minhyuk quickly pulled out his sword that was stuck in the Minotaurus'' thigh.

    "Eumooooo!"

    It cried loudly.

    Minhyuk took one, two, three steps back. After creating some distance, he gripped the handle of his sword tightly with both of his hands as he pointed it towards the ground. Then, he stabbed the sword towards the ground with great strength.

    Staaaab!

    [Earth Quaker!]

    [A violent earthquake is triggered within a 10m radius.]

    Ruuumble!

    The ground began to shake wildly. When the Minotaurus saw the ground shaking violently, its face twisted in rage and was suddenly plunged in a frenzy.

    "Ugh, eumoooooooo!"

    It was a very sudden turn of events. With the violent earthquake still ongoing, the Minotaurus lost its bnce and got one of its legs trapped in a crack between the ground.

    Ruuumble!

    The ground gobbled up the Minotaurus'' leg and its body started to get damage from the shaking of the ground.

    Not wanting to miss any opportunities, Minhyuk stepped on the rising ground and shot off towards the trapped Minotaurus.

    It hurriedly lifted its axe to fend off Minhyuk, but Minhyuk was one step faster.

    aash!

    Minhyuk sessfully shed at the monster''s chest. He then quickly moved to the back of the Minotaurus for another attack.

    [Dauntless Strike]

    [Your strike will have an additional 20% attack power.]

    The sword was filled with power.

    "Eumooooooo!"

    The Minotaurus who sensed the danger, cried loudly.

    Then, Minhyuk whispered quietly to the monster¡­

    "You look so yummy."

    "Eu, eumoo?"

    The Minotaurus'' tongue shrank back in fear when it heard Minhyuk''s words.

    "Eu, eumoooooooo!"

    Strangely enough, the Minotaurus'' scream sounded like it was screaming ''S, save me!!''.

    At that moment, Minhyuk shed with his sword and sessfully cut off the head of the Minotaurus.

    aaaash!

    [You have sessfully hunted the Minotaurus.]

    [You have gained 40 reputation points.]

    [You have acquired 1 achievement point.]

    [You have acquired 120 tournament points.]

    Another notification rang in Minhyuk''s head.

    [There are 30 seconds left until the end of the tournament.]

    Minhyuk was in a flurry. He quickly reached out his hands to touch the body of the Minotaurus.

    "Ingredients Acquisition."

    After he finished getting all of the ingredients he also picked up the artifacts that dropped quickly. He decided to first gather everything since he had no time to check on the things that he got.

    Then, a string of notifications rang loudly.

    [The tournament is finally over.]

    [The scores will bebined and announced shortly.]

    [ording to thebined scores: 1st - Minhyuk, 2nd - Lucia, 3rd - Wrath, 4th - ¡­¡­. redacted.]

    [All surviving users in Cork Ind will be warped to Eivelis Empire.]

    Shiiiine!

    Minhyuk was suddenly wrapped in a bright light.

    ***

    [ording to thebined scores: 1st - Minhyuk]

    "Waaaaaaaaaah!"

    "Uwoooooooooo!"

    Cheers erupted out in the stands.

    The audience were also warped to join the awarding ceremony in the ceremonial hall, and the fact that they were sitting did not change at all after the warp.

    Inside the Imperial Pce, hundreds of knights wearing capes on their wide shoulders and the swords on their waist were surrounding the users. Their capes were embroidered with the Phoenix, the guardian of the Eivelis Empire.

    "D, did you see¡­?"

    "Yes¡­¡­ I saw."

    Go Eun-ah looked at her hoobae''s eyes.

    Amazing.

    The video taken for the tournament today would definitely cause amotion. The video might also spread around the world and create a bigger uproar.

    Then¡­ The male reporter shouted¡­

    "S, sunbae! The 1st on the real time search right now is pro mukbanger! And the 2nd is Minotaurus'' ne!"

    "Wow, the viewers might have seen him pick it up back then."

    No information has ever been released about this Minotaurus'' ne at all. No, in fact, there isn''t any information about this ne dropping from a Minotaurus.

    That only meant one thing¡­

    The ne that the man picked up was something extremely valuable.

    "Hiyaaa¡­ Is it something really expensive?"

    "But didn''t you see it?"

    "......What?"

    "That user, he looked very disappointed when he picked up the artifact."

    "Eyyy, impossible."

    "No, it''s real. But why did that user ce the Minotaurus in his inventory?"

    "Ah, maybe he''s trying to dismantle the Minotaurus and sell it?"

    "Is that so¡­"

    The two of them nodded their heads as they thought about something.

    ''That guy was so disappointed even if he got the best artifact drop from the Minotaurus, who the hell is he?''

    Go Eun-ah gathered her attention and focused towards the front.

    1st ce.

    Perhaps the reason why User Minhyuk surpassed Lucia''s score was because he sessfully hunted the Minotaurus. In fact, the Minotaurus was a monster that was totally impossible to hunt at their level so no one wouldin about this result.

    "I''m looking forward to it."

    "Me too. What are you going to ask in the interview? That user must be very happy right now, right? Since he won 1st ce. I think that user wanted to be famous since he was secretly filming a mukbang broadcast and he even fought with the Bacallo guild."

    "Yeah, so what should I ask? Maybe¡­ are you sure that you''re not a user that the Legend Guild has secretly fostered?"

    Everyone was interested in what that person would say.

    What kind of person is he?

    Then, the man wearing a white mask came in Go Eun-ah''s view.

    "Doesn''t he look like he''s in a hurry?"

    "Yeah. He looks like he wants to go to the bathroom¡­¡­"

    He was fidgeting as he talked to Jan about something. Since it was before the awards ceremony, the microphone was still turned off and no one could hear what they were saying.

    "Ah, what are they talking about."

    "I''m dying in curiosity¡­"

    The rest of the audience shared the same sentiment.

    Then, they saw the masked man''s expression suddenly turn solemn.

    "That person''s very kind, what''s wrong with him?"

    "That''s true."

    Soon after, they saw the administrators and the tournament officials flock towards the man. They had a very serious conversation. Then the rest of the people sighed as the man wearing the white mask shed in a blinding light and disappeared. They could see a bright smile painted on the face of the disappearing man.

    "Huh? Huuuuuuuuuh!"

    "Huuuuuh?!"

    "What the hell, where did he go?!"

    "Heok?!"

    It wasn''t only Go Eun-ah, even the rest of the people sitting on the stands were looking at them suspiciously.

    Why did you leave before the ceremony started?

    The surprise still did not end there.

    [The Sword Emperor, Ellie, will be attending the ceremony.]

    "......!"

    Go Eun-ah was very surprised. ording to the reports that they have received, Ellie was not supposed to be participating in the ceremony. But right now, it was announced that she was participating.

    The meaning was quite obvious.

    ''Even the Empress is interested in that user?''

    Then another thought came through her mind.

    ''But where the hell did he go when something important was going to happen?''

    ***

    TL''s corner!!!

    Eyyyy. He went to eat, for sure. That''s why he''s fidgeting. I want to eat beef. *drools*

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Nothing can stop Minhyuk¡¯s quest for food! Wealth, girls, status, all will fall before the might of the beef!

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 60 - Beef Is Always Right

    Chapter 60: Beef is Always Right

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    5 minutes ago.

    Jan, who was warped to join the awards ceremony, summoned her wyvern king. She then looked over the man who won first ce in the tournament. Minhyuk was standing silently among the crowd of users.

    ''I''m looking forward to his interview.''

    Everyone''s attention was solely focused on him. His figure when he sessfully hunted the Minotaurus was so cool that Jan couldn''t help but burst out in admiration. She became interested in him.

    No, if I think about it, it will be weird if I didn''t get interested in him at all.

    His face would definitely be made public in today''s interview and the people would know if he was really a user that was secretly raised by the Legend Guild.

    His poprity would definitely skyrocket and there was a high chance that he would be a part of the top 10 in the domestic rankings in the future.

    The top 10 in the country.

    Even if he wasn''t included in that ranking list, the profits that he would gain would be tremendous.

    His star quality?

    Of course, that was a story that was to be discussed in the future.

    However the rankers in Athenae were after all much more famouspared to real-life celebrities. In addition, that man was tall and looked quite handsome even if only half of his face could be seen. He was also someone who was very polite. But she wasn''t sure about his character¡­

    ''A character that eats well!''

    Mukbang! And since cooking shows are on the rage these days, his fresh character will definitely be loved by the masses.

    ''I want to get his number.''

    She felt like he was someone who gave the feeling of being mature and well-prepared.

    As she was thinking about that¡­ She suddenly saw that user suddenly pace back and forth as if he was a puppy that needed to go potty.

    "Waaaaaaah, I can''t log-out! I have to eat beef so I can''t go out!"

    ''Beef?''

    Jan tilted her head in curiosity.

    Currently, all of the microphones were still off as it was not yet the start of the ceremony.

    When Minhyuk spotted her, he quickly approached her. Her lips curved up in a small smile.

    Then, Minhyuk said¡­

    "MC-nim, please let me out of here."

    "......Yes?"

    His words were too shocking that Jan couldn''t react quickly.

    You want to leave here? What is he saying right now?

    It was iprehensible.

    "You want me to let you out? Where to? We are going to have the awards ceremony right here, Minhyuk-nim."

    "No, I have to eat beef! So please let me out of here quickly."

    "B, beef¡­¡­?"

    She was a bit confused and a bit curious. Earlier, she saw him sessfully hunt the Minotaurus. She also saw him cing the monster''s body in his inventory.

    Don''t tell me that he wants to eat the Minotaurus?

    Janposed herself as she gave Minhyuk a calm smile.

    "I think you''re still a bit out of it since you suddenly won 1st ce. It''s real. Minhyuk-nim really won the 1st ce. And you will be rewarded in this awards ceremony."

    "No, let me out!"

    "H, how about the interview?"

    "Why do I need to do that?"

    Jan was left speechless when she saw him staring at her innocently as if he really did not know what she was talking about.

    "Y, you have to do it. You also have to remove your mask. Minhyuk-nim, once you do the interview you will be the number 1 on the real-time search and you will also be in Athenae''s hot issue. You''ll be famous!"

    "Will I be able to eat something if I be famous?"

    "T, that''s not¡­¡­"

    Jan was embarrassed.

    Most of the people would definitely want to be someone special and famous. They also wanted others to look at them and cheer them on. But right now, he was asking her if he would get fed if he became famous.

    At that moment¡­

    [Jan-ssi. This is a jackpot. Ellie is on her way to the awards ceremony right now!]

    Her eyes widened when she heard the words of the official.

    This might be a game but¡­. Everyone would still be in awe at the existence of an Empress. She was the one who held absolute authority over the tens of millions of people in the empire.

    In addition, the Sword Emperor Ellie was also an Empress who had caught much attention these days. And such an Empress wasing personally just to meet Minhyuk.

    This meant that Minhyuk might gain more benefits if he met with the Empress. If he established a good rtionship with the Empress then he might be given special treatment in the Eivelis Empire. He might even be bestowed a title of nobility.

    Jan, who was filled with excitement, ryed the good news over to Minhyuk.

    "E, Ellie''s on her way here right now. I''m sure it''s because she wants to meet you Minhyuk-nim. It''s impossible to meet her at ordinary times, you won''t even get acquainted with her even if you spent a billion!"

    "Ah, Nim! I asked you to let me go out. Why do you keep on saying something else!"

    In the end, Minhyuk wasn''t able to keep himself calm and burst out in annoyance.

    "N, no¡­¡­ I, it''s the Sword Emperor herself¡­¡­"

    "Whether it''s the Sword Emperor or being famous it''s not as important as beef!"

    "......B, beef is more important?"

    Minhyuk looked at Jan as if she was some sort of weird creature.

    "Wow. Nim, isn''t it obvious? Beef is delicious, right?"

    Nod¡ª

    Jan nodded without realizing it.

    "It''s a happy thing to eat something so delicious, right?"

    Nod¡ª

    "But you''re saying that the Empress or being famous is much more important than this?"

    ''I, I guess that''s what I sound like¡­¡­ N, no¡­¡­!''

    ¡°But it¡¯s the Empress¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Nim, if you keep on being like this then I¡¯ll just grill the beef and eat it here.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Jan¡¯s head turned nk when she heard his threat.

    What will happen if Ellie appearedter during the awarding ceremony but Minhyuk was grilling beef right here, right now?

    ¡°Then that would be delicious.... T, that¡¯s not it! That can¡¯t happen!¡±

    And as if they came to save her from this weird predicament, the administrators and officials started to flock towards them.

    ¡°Hello, Minhyuk-ssi. I¡¯m Park Minggyu, the team leader of the Special Users Management Team.¡±

    Team Leader Park and the rest of his team greeted Minhyuk. However, Minhyuk did not care about them.

    ¡°You have to quickly let me go!¡±

    ¡°......Minhyuk-nim. Everyone¡¯s attention is focused on you right now. Why don¡¯t you tell them what you feel about winning?¡±

    Team Leader Park and Lee Minhwa always monitored him so they seemed to understand what he was feeling right now based on his expressions.

    However, Minhyuk refused their request.

    ¡°Let me go right now. There aren¡¯t any conditions that require me to participate in this awarding ceremony, right?¡±

    ¡°......There seems to be none.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t Athenae made for the users and whatever they wanted to do? I can do whatever I wanted here right?¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    What he said was quite logical and reasonable that everyone just turned speechless. In the end, Team Leader Park sighed as he made eye contact with Lee Minhwa.

    ¡®This user doesn¡¯t see anything right now. He won¡¯t listen to us at all.¡¯

    Team Leader Park recognized this fact. He looked towards Jan and nodded his head in defeat.

    ¡°Y, you¡¯ll really send him out?¡±

    ¡°This user hates it and there¡¯s no way we could stop him. The users of Athenae are free to do whatever they want.¡±

    ¡°I, I did not know that.¡±

    Jan sighed deeply as she looked at Minhyuk in defeat.

    When he finally heard their approval, Minhyuk couldn¡¯t conceal his joy as heughed heartily and gave them a big smile.

    ¡°Recall.¡±

    Jan raised her arm and pointed towards Minhyuk. Soon after, Minhyuk disappeared in a sh of light.

    ¡°Huh? Where did he go?¡±

    ¡°Heok! Where did that user go?!¡±

    Amotion suddenly broke out in the audience stands when they saw the sudden turn of events.

    Jan thought deeply before speaking to the administrators.

    ¡°Ah, that user, don¡¯t tell me¡­!¡±

    The administrators looked at her curiously.

    ¡°I know now. That user wanted to disappear on purpose so he can draw more attention from the crowd. Wow, such a great vision. It doesn¡¯t make sense for that person to say that food is more important than being famous or meeting the Empress, right?¡±

    Team Leader Park shook his head at her.

    ¡°Jan-nim, you don¡¯t know what type of person that user is, right?¡±

    ¡°......N, no way, did he really go out to eat beef? He really abandoned the awarding ceremony for that?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Team Leader Park answered her firmly and without any hesitations.

    Right at that moment, they saw a woman arrive at the entrance of the hall.

    This was the Empress of Eivelis Empire, the Sword Emperor Ellie. The Empress with her blonde hair tied tightly and a sword on her waist was marching towards them elegantly. She was surrounded and escorted by the infamous Phoenix Knights.

    ¡°All foreigners should show their courtesy!¡±

    This was a formal procedure.

    Jan gave a silent salute towards the Empress. It was the same for the rest of the users who were attending the awards ceremony. Everyone gave a silent salute towards the Empress.

    The administrators quickly ced themselves in their transparent mode and left Jan alone in the hall.

    ¡®The Empress is already here¡­¡­ And all of the users are focused on her. But the actual party that the Empress wanted to meet already went away. H, how should I tell her what happened?¡¯

    Jan wanted to cry.

    At that moment, the leader of the Phoenix Knights ran towards Jan.

    She heard before that the leader of the knights was at Lv450 and was as good as the current rankings number 1. And this type of person was just someone that ran errands for Ellie.

    He quickly asked Jan about the champion as soon as he arrived in front of her.

    ¡°Where is the champion of the tournament?¡±

    ¡°He went back for some urgent matters.¡±

    ¡°......Is this the truth?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    The leader of the knights hurriedly went back to Ellie¡¯s side to give his report.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°How dare he leave this ce¡­!¡±

    ¡°Impudent! It is only right that we order an execution for someone that is this disrespectful!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t make a fuss!¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty!¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty!¡±

    Her vassals kept their mouth shut and organized themselves when they heard Ellie¡¯s words.

    Then the leader of the knights approached Jan once more.

    ¡°Do you happen to know what his urgent matters were?¡±

    ¡°T, that¡­¡±

    Jan was speechless. She couldn¡¯t just say ¡°Eating is more important than meeting the Empress so I left!¡± or something like that. But she had no choice but to say it because that was the truth.

    ¡°H, he said that there was something im, important¡­ t, that he needs to e, eat... so he has to leave¡­¡±

    ¡°Do you think that something like that is believable?¡±

    ¡°But it¡¯s the truth. Why can¡¯t you believe me?¡±

    A scary and frigid aura wasing out of the leader of the knights. However, he frowned when he saw Jan¡¯s tearful face. When he saw her expression, he finally realized that it was the truth.

    ¡°I, is that really the truth?¡±

    Nod.

    Jan nodded her head fiercely.

    The leader of the knights hurriedly went back and reported to Ellie. After they finished talking, Ellie started to walk towards where Jan was.

    Step, step, step, step¨D

    The officials that were with the Empress also followed her in a march.

    Although they were just NPCs, it still felt like she was seeing a real-life Empress with her majesty. Jan was once again impressed with how realistic Athenae was.

    The moment the Empress came near, Jan unconsciously bowed her head.

    ¡°What are you saying that he went out to eat? Didn¡¯t you tell him that I wasing?¡±

    ¡°I have informed him.¡±

    ¡°He knew about my arrival but he still left? What in the world was he trying to eat?¡±

    Jan¡¯s lips couldn¡¯t move when she heard her words. She couldn¡¯t carelessly speak to her. She remembered about a user who was imprisoned in the dungeon for 10 years because he shouted at Ellie to make him her disciple. This just showed that Ellie was a cold and decisive Empress. She would kill anyone if it was necessary.

    In the end, Jan had to open her mouth even though it was tough for her.

    ¡°H, he went out to eat beef.¡±

    The vassals surrounding her were the ones who reacted violently. Their faces turned red as if they were going to explode in anger if they did not vent out any words.

    ¡®I would also think that it¡¯s unbelievable if I were in their shoes¡­...¡¯

    What will Ellie say? Will she pull her sword out in anger and tell them to ¡®Find that bastard and kill him for me right now!¡¯ or will she say ¡®Catch that bastard and lock him in the dungeons for 100 years!¡¯?

    Hundreds and thousands of thoughts ran through Jan¡¯s mind.

    Ellie nodded her head seriously as she rubbed her chin in thought.

    ¡°That¡¯s really a good reason.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. It really was a good reason¡­¡­ huh?¡±

    Jan tilted her head in confusion.

    What is the Empress saying right now? Did she really get convinced with that?

    ¡°Delicious beef is truly a good reason, hmm. That¡¯s right. That foreigner and I have somethingmon. But these idiots don''t understand that.¡±

    ¡°Ha, hahaha¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Hahahaha¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°Hehehehehe!¡±

    ¡°Hohohohoho!¡±

    Jan, together with the rest of the vassals, had no choice but to justugh.

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!!

    LOL. Poor Jan, she was left alone to deal with the vassals! Thankfully, Ellie was in a good mood! Lol. This is the foodie alliance, for sure! LOLOL.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Foodie¡¯s alliance unite!

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 61 - Beef Is Always Right

    Chapter 61: Beef is Always Right

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Jan thought that she had smelled the same scent that Minhyuk emitted from the Empress. And on top of that, the nearby vassals acted as if it was something that they had experienced countless times.

    "Let''s go back."

    Ellie turned to leave.

    Since the person he was interested in disappeared, then she had no interest in the tournament anymore.

    Ellie once again walked inside her throne room.

    ''He went to eat something delicious¡­¡­''

    Ellieughed when she remembered those words.

    She didn''t know about anyone else but she understood his thoughts incredibly well.

    I have money.

    I have incredible swordsmanship.

    I have the Eivelis Empire.

    I could have everything in the world.

    But even if she had all that there was still something missing in her life.

    It was ''delicious food'' and it was both Ellie''s only joy and safe haven.

    To others, what he did might have seemed a bit rude but Ellie nodded her head along with his thought. When she was young, she did everything she could to eat something delicious.

    Then she paused.

    ''Is that his genuine thoughts¡­¡­?''

    However, no one would ever be so pure these days.

    Ellie stopped walking and looked back at the ce where he should have been.

    ''Len. Why did you give him Ellie''s kitchen knife?''

    He''s someone that man has acknowledged.

    Ellie had a growing hunch.

    Anyway, I''ll meet him soon.

    ***

    Prasell, the Emperor''s City.

    In this ce, Levitt was running a naengmyeon [1] store. He was also running a naengmyeon store in real life. However, there was only one reason why he opened one¡­

    ''Delicious naengmyeon!''

    It would help people cool off when they eat it during the summer and it would be a delicacy if they eat it during the winter.

    If you put in some vinegar and mustard in the ice cold soup and mixed it thoroughly before taking a sip then you would be able to taste the authentic vor of naengmyeon spread in your mouth.

    And there was also bibimnaengmyeon. It was topped with finely chopped and bright red seasonings along with strips of cucumber, pear, a meat garnish and a half boiled egg.

    If you add a bit of the naengmyeon soup in this dish and mix it with the yolk of the egg and the bright red sauce then it would taste perfectly.

    What if you eat it together with well-seasoned pork or beef ribs?

    They said that one would smile at the taste of the spicy and chewy bibimnaengmyeon and would smile again at the taste of the sweet, warm and tender meat from the well-seasoned ribs.

    However, such a naengmyeon shop was filled with flies with how empty it was.

    "What, where did he go?"

    Levitt, who was sitting on his empty naengmyeon store, tilted his head in confusion as he watched the tournament from his screen.

    The champion of the tournament who has overwhelming skills, outstanding physical abilities and a character that eats well, suddenly disappeared.

    That was why Levitt, who had high expectations while watching the tournament, couldn¡¯t help but wonder about the man¡¯s identity. After all, anyone would be interested in the person that surpassed Lucia in this tournament.

    ¡®Ha. Let¡¯s just continue to watch thepetition. Tch.¡¯

    The moment he thought of that¡­

    ng, ng!

    The door of his store opened and a customer came in.

    Levitt stood up to greet the guest. When he saw the person who came inside, his expression suddenly nked as if he was saying ¡®Huh?¡¯ and not long after, his voice followed suit.

    ¡°Huuuuuuuuuuuuuh?!¡±

    ¡°Hello! Please pack some naengmyeon for me!¡±

    ¡°......By any chance are you the champion of the tournament?¡±

    The customer who came in was none other than Minhyuk.

    His lips were even twitching in excitement.

    ¡°Can you pack 100 bowls of naengmyeon and 100 bowls of bibimnaengmyeon?¡±

    ¡°......Yes?¡±

    Levitt was extremely surprised to hear his order.

    That¡¯s 200 bowls altogether, what is he going to do with that much?

    ¡°A, are you going to hand it over to other people to celebrate your victory in the tournament?¡±

    ¡°Nope. I¡¯ll eat them all!¡±

    Minhyuk smiled brightly as he said those words.

    Then he added¡­

    ¡°I heard that the naengmyeon they sell here are very refreshing and delicious. I also heard that the owner is a handsome man!¡±

    ¡°Haha! Is that so. Of course it can be packed!¡±

    Levitt smiled when he heard his words.

    It might have been a bit surprising to find the champion of the tournament in front him but he was also happy that he was buying naengmyeon from his store. Besides, no one would dislike a person that has high expectations for the taste of his dishes.

    Levitt walked towards his kitchen as he introduced his specialty to his customer.

    ¡°We use Hamhung [2] naengmyeon for our store¡¯s naengmyeon. We also have a machine in the store that helps us with pulling the noodles.¡±

    ¡°Oooooooh, so you don¡¯t buy it!¡±

    ¡°Of course. Buying it and serving it to the customers is a form of disrespect towards the customers. Besides, the noodles will be more chewy if you make it yourself.¡±

    ¡°Ahjussi.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    Levitt tilted his head and looked back at him when he heard him call for him.

    ¡°I¡¯m really, really excited!¡±

    To be this excited.

    His remarks brought a smile on Levitt''s face.

    He¡¯s a young man who can make anyone feel better.

    Being excited meant that his heart was beating fast in anticipation for his food. In addition, for Levitt who runs the store, knowing that someone was very excited to eat his food would feel that he could achieve the peak of deliciousness for his naengmyeon when he was making it.

    On the other hand, he also thought that he shouldn¡¯t fail the excitement and the anticipation of the young man so Levitt tried his best when he was making the naengmyeon.

    ¡°How much cucumber and pear should I put in for you?¡±

    ¡°Just the normal amount for the cucumber and as much as you can for the pear!¡±

    The sweet and crunchy pear was a must for the cold and refreshing naengmyeon.

    ¡°I see, you know how to eat it, huh.¡±

    In fact, Levitt even forgot that he was the champion of the tournament. He just wholeheartedly cooked naengmyeon for this single person.

    ¡°Ah, everytime I finish cooking a bowl you should put it in your inventory.¡±

    ¡°Ah, yes.¡±

    Will he really be able to finish 200 bowls of naengmyeon?

    As Levitt thought of that, he continued to ce the naengmyeon in the containers. And each time he finished packing one, Minhyuk would quickly ce it in his inventory.

    In the end, Levitt cooked 220 bowls of naengmyeon for Minhyuk.

    ¡°There¡¯s 20 more bowls?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a service.¡±

    ¡°Thank you very much, you¡¯ll definitely be prosperous!¡±

    Levitt chuckled at him. After he finished the calctions, he suddenly became curious.

    ¡°Are you really just going to eat these cold noodles?¡±

    ¡°Nope!¡±

    Minhyuk smiled brightly with a look of clear excitement on his face.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to eat it with seasoned beef ribs!¡±

    ¡°Kyaa!¡±

    Levitt eximed in surprise.

    Naengmyeon and beef ribs were the ultimate delicious pair.

    However, Minhyuk¡¯s expression suddenly turned sad.

    ¡°But I don¡¯t think I will be able to eat seasoned beef ribs.¡±

    ¡°W, why?¡±

    His sad expression also made Levitt feel sad.

    ¡°Because I need to season it and marinate it for quite a long time.¡±

    Well-seasoned marinated beef ribs couldn¡¯t be eaten right away just because one seasoned it well. Of course, the regr beef ribs were also delicious but naengmyeon should be partnered with well-seasoned and deeply marinated beef ribs.

    Minhyuk thought that he should eat the well-seasoned marinated beef ribs in a week and he should just relieve his appetite by eating the regr beef ribs.

    Levitt pondered deeply. He wanted to help this sad customer in front of him.

    Then he thought of something¡­

    ¡°If you go to the local Pork Ribs Restaurant, Calo-ssi will be able to marinate it for you right away!¡±

    ¡°Eh?¡±

    Minhyuk tilted his head in confusion.

    ¡°Calo-ssi has the job ss of Marinating Chef. As far as I have heard, he has the skill to marinate and ripen anything right away even if you need a few weeks to do it regrly.¡±

    ¡°Ooooooh. Such a great power exists in this world?!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s expression looked as if he found a ¡®legendary item¡¯ with how excited he looked.

    Levitt smiled and nodded his head at him.

    ¡°Yes, but you should first meet with Calo-ssi.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    Minhyuk bowed politely at him before leaving his store.

    Levitt stood up and smacked his lips.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡­ Marinated beef ribs and naengmyeon really sounds delicious!¡±

    Levitt¡¯s mouth watered at the thought.

    Then, he suddenly stopped¡­

    ¡°So why did he leave thepetition so suddenly?¡±

    He tilted his head in confusion.

    ***

    Minhyuk was running excitedly.

    Thanks to Levitt''s advice, he met with the man named Calo and was able to marinate and mature his meat perfectly in just a matter of minutes. He even wanted to learn his skills but it was an impossible feat.

    Calo was able to have that skill set because he had the hidden ss ''Master of Maturity''. As soon as he got started the game, he started to marinate and mature different dishes each and every day just so he could get the hidden ss.

    Minhyuk was also able to buy some charcoal from him. The charcoal that he gave him was said to be a magical charcoal that would create a fire that would not die down for 12 hours.

    "Hello!"

    Fwoooooooom!

    "Did something just pass by?"

    "I think so."

    The guards that were watching the gate of the Emperor''s City, Prasell, were quite astonished with how fast they saw him running.

    The reason why Minhyuk had such a speed was because he was using both Haste and Bardy Swordsmanship.

    Not long after, Minhyuk was able to reach a quiet area. Quiet in the sense that the ce was void of any humans.

    The moment Minhyuk defeated the Minotaurus and acquired the ingredients, he was able to acquire all of the parts of the beef including his bones. That was the reason why the others thought that Minhyuk ced the whole Minotaurus in his inventory.

    In addition, the food that he would get from the ingredients that he acquired from the Minotaurus was said to be much more deliciouspared to regr ingredients.

    His mouth was twitching with joy.

    He first used a torch to light up and make a fire with the charcoal. Then, he ced a square-shape grilling pan on top of it.

    Next, he pulled out different ingredients like lettuce, peri leaves, garlic and ssamjang. These ingredients were almost the same when he had samgyeopsalst time. There were also some radish wraps, sliced onions and sauce. He also did not forget to pull out his naengmyeon and bibimnaengmyeon.

    Minhyuk began to cook after he ced the cutting board in front of him.

    The beef in front of him was the rump steak, the beef used for yukhoe [3]. The yukhoe beef generally uses the rump steak or the eye of round steak. And of course, Minhyuk would choose the rump steak for his yukhoe. The rump steak was softer and more chewypared to the eye of round steak. Choosing the part of the beef for yukhoe was entirely dependent on everyone''s personal preferences, and Minhyuk preferred the softer and more chewy rump steak.

    Minhyuk sliced the rump steak by pushing his knife forward.

    Shiik¡ª

    Shiik¡ª

    The thinly sliced rump steak looked very appetizing.

    It''s red.

    But just the perfect red.

    The sliced red rump meat looked glossy and seemed to wiggle when it was poked.

    After he finished slicing the meat, he used a paper towel to remove the blood.

    [Remove blood from the rump steak and season it well for a more chewy texture.]

    He heard a notification from Food God''s Cooking Acquisition.

    After he finished draining the blood out of the meat, he then started to make the sauce. First, he added two spoonfuls of minced garlic, then he added two spoonfuls of sesame oil to give the sauce a savory and toasted vor. Then he added a spoonful of sugar, a spoonful of oligosharide, half a spoon of sesame seeds and some pepper to finish off the sauce. For a better vor, you could add some plum extract in the sauce mixture.

    Then, he poured the sauce on the rump steak and kneaded it to mix it so that the seasonings would spread over the meat well.

    He ced the reddish and well-seasoned slices of yukhoe along the sides of a round white te.

    Then he cracked eggs and separated the yolks from the whites. The yolk was ced in the middle of the ted yukhoe. The eggs were freshly produced by the golden eggying chicken.

    Minhyuk slurped on the whites, he personally believed that throwing away the food was bad and it was only proper that he eat it so it wasn''t wasted.

    He then sliced the pears thinly and arranged it next to the beef.

    The yukhoe was finally ted on a white te. On top of the yukhoe were the yolk which was as round as the moon in the sky and the shredded radish and thinly sliced pears that looked like a delicious flower that bloomed perfectly well.

    Guulp¡ª

    Minhyuk''s throat moved.

    But not yet, not yet!

    The meat was not yet ced and cooked on top of the grill!

    He used his tongs and picked up the meat from his bowl. The meat of the well-seasoned beef ribs surrounded the bone perfectly.

    The moment he ced the meat on the grill¡­

    Sizzleeeeeee!

    An entrancing sound came out signaling the start of the grilling.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] ?? (naengmyeon) : cold noodle

    [2] Hamhung naengmyeon: naengmyeon are basically divided between the normal naengmyeon that has clear broth and the bibimnaengmyeon with the red chili paste but there¡¯s also another division. The region where it originated. Basically naengmyeon with the clear broth was said to be from Pyongyang while the bibimnaengmyeon was from Hamhung where it¡¯s cold so they used the spicyness of the bibimnaengmyeon to fight off the cold. There are probably differences in the noodles in these two regions. Pyongyang noodles are a bit on the darker side since they¡¯re made out of buckwheat alone while Hamhung noodles are whiter since they were made by mixing buckwheat and potato or sweet potato starch. Hamhung noodles are also thin but it¡¯s a bit hard to cut since it¡¯s very chewy.

    [3] ?? (yukhoe) : Korean-style raw beef, simr to steak tartare

    TL''s corner!!!

    I have to admit, the footnote abt the noodle was too long. #sorrynotsorry

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 62 - Beef Is Always Right

    Chapter 62: Beef is Always Right

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    While the ribs were getting cooked over the grill, Minhyuk broke apart the yolk. The egg yolk flowed down and soaked the yukhoe along with the shredded radish and thinly sliced pears.

    Then, he mixed the yolk and the yukhoe thoroughly. The bright red yukhoe and the golden yolk that was mixed well resulted in an extremely appetizing color.

    Minhyuk ced some sliced pear over a big piece of yukhoe before putting it in his mouth. The yukhoe would only taste better if a slice of pear was eaten together with it.

    ¡°Aaaaang.¡±

    He chomped on the yukhoe and chewed it well. The first thing he tasted was the sweetness. As he continued to chew on the yukhoe, he could feel the crunchiness of the pear. Another chew and he could taste the savory vor of the beef. The more he chewed, the more he could taste the sweetness and savoriness of the yukhoe and pear. On top of that, the sesame oil that he sprinkled moderately added on to the savory vor of the yukhoe.

    After he finished tasting the yukhoe, he took out one bowl each of the naengmyeon and the bibimnaengmyeon. Then, using a pair of scissors, he cut the noodles twice. The noodles that were formed in a circle were now sliced into four pieces. Then, ording to his personal preferences, he mixed some vinegar and mustard on his bowls.

    Minhyuk used a spoon to scoop out and taste the soup of his naengmyeon.

    ¡°This is perfect!¡±

    After he evaluated the taste, he picked up the bowl and slurped loudly on the soup.

    ¡°Uhmmmm! Good, this is really good!¡±

    The coldness of the broth with a hint of some sourness brought forth a refreshing feeling that spread out in his mouth.

    He picked up some of the noodles and¡­

    Sluuurp.

    Hamhung noodles are really thin and chewy.

    After tasting a bit of the food that he prepared, he faced the grill and turned the ribs that he was grilling over.

    Sizzle©¥

    He cooked it for a bit then turned it over again. After turning it over and cooking it for quite some time, he picked up his scissors and cut the meat into smaller pieces. The cooked beef marinated ribs that were glistening with the seasonings and sauce looked extremely delicious.

    Minhyuk quickly broke the yolk in the bowl of the bibimnaengmyeon and mixed it well with the rest of the sauce. Then, he hurriedly ced it on his mouth.

    ¡°Sluuuuuurp!¡±

    The sweet and spicy vor that permeates in his mouth put a smile on his face.

    His hands stretched out to reach for the meat on the grill. He blew on the meat before taking a bite out of it.

    ¡°Hoo! Hoo!¡±

    Even after he had picked it up with his chopsticks, the beef marinated ribs were still steaming hot and glistening with oil, so he continued to blow on it to cool it off before trying out its taste.

    ¡°Waaa¡­¡­¡±

    As soon as he ced it in his mouth, he could taste the sweetness in the meat and the more he chewed on it, the softer the meat became. The vor of the well-made and matured seasoning even made Minhyuk shudder.

    Then, he picked up a piece of ribs and ced it together with the bibimnaengmyeon. He picked up both the meat and noodles and ate them together in one chomp. The sweet and spicy vor of the bibimnaengmyeon and the sweet and mellow vor of the beef marinated ribs danced together in his mouth.

    Minhyuk continued to eat his beef marinated ribs with a satisfied smile on his face.

    ¡°Sluuuuuuurp! Chew, chew!¡±

    He quickly finished 100 bowls of both naengmyeon and bibimnaengmyeon. In addition to that, he also finished 20 servings of the beef marinated ribs. He even munched on the bones.

    ¡°Buuuuuuuuurp!¡±

    p, p, p, p!

    Minhyuk¡¯s loud burp scared the birds from a nearby tree and made them fly away.

    Minhyuk smiled brightly after he finished eating.

    [True Worth of Food.]

    [You can acquire the Minotaurus¡¯ skill ¡®Earth Quaker¡¯.]

    [Would you like to acquire the skill?]

    Of course, before he started eating he was asked by the True Worth of Food to choose the main ingredient. And without any hint of dy Minhyuk chose the Minotaurus¡¯ meat.

    [Acquisition rate 4%...... 8%...... 18%...... 41%...... 58%...... 75%...... 88%......  94%......  100%]

    [You have sessfully acquired Earth Quaker.]

    ¡°Ahem.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head as hey down on the ground. He believed that the happiest time in the world was when heys down after eating a satisfying meal.

    He then checked the contents of the skill Earth Quaker.

    (Earth Quaker)

    Active Skill

    Level: 4th ss

    Mana Required: 250

    Cooldown: 20 minutes

    Effects: A magical attack with a 500~600 damage can cause a violent earthquake within a 10-m radius.

    Minhyuk shook his head to relieve his drowsiness after he finished checking the contents of the skill. Even though his stomach wasn¡¯t full yet, he was still feeling sleepy since he just finished eating. Without being aware of anything, he started to doze off.

    He started sleeping as hey down peacefully on the grass.

    What a sweet break from everything.

    ***

    Meanwhile, as Minhyuk took his sweet time rxing and having a break, the entirety of the awards hall was in a frenzy.

    The champion disappeared!

    Cain heard the curious voices of the other users as he entered the awards hall. Alicia and Cain were originally meant to be present in the awards ceremony after all.

    Cain went straight to where Lucia was with arge bouquet in his hands.

    Step, step, step©¥

    He saw her with her head drooped down.

    ¡®She must be feeling a great sense of loss.¡¯

    He knew how much effort and practice she put in just so she could catch up with him. On the other hand, Cain felt that it was also fortunate. It shouldn¡¯t be the case but he felt that branches that have be overwhelmingly strong would also tend to break and Cain wanted her to be someone who would be more flexible as she encountered different people in the world.

    He went beside Lucia and handed her the bouquet of flowers that he prepared.

    ¡°......You did a good job. It was amazing, my dongsaeng [1].¡±

    Lucia turned her head when she heard him and gave him a bitter smile.

    ¡®Am I not the best, after all?¡¯

    But when she thought about it more deeply, she felt that it was a bit of a relief that the one who won the 1st ce was that person.

    Then she thought¡­

    ¡®Where did you go without me? Were you ashamed of me?¡¯

    However, she still believed that Minhyuk blocked the Minotaurus in front of her because he wanted to save(?) her.

    But why did he suddenly disappear?

    She suddenly felt Cain wrap his arms around her shoulders.

    ¡°My dongsaeng was really great.¡±

    She giggled when she heard him. Cain felt that she was warmer than usual. She was originally a warm person but right now, he felt that she was a lot more warmer. Cain suddenly had a hunch.

    Is my dongsaeng going to open her heart to me now? Otherwise, I¡¯ll try to make her do so.

    Then, Lucia started speaking to him.

    ¡°Oppa [2].¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    ¡°I think I like someone.¡±

    The moment he heard her words¡­

    Clench©¥

    Cain¡¯s hands clenched tightly. He was smiling at her, but the nerves on his forehead were popping out.

    ¡°W, who is it?¡±

    ¡°That person earlier.¡±

    Clench©¥

    Cain¡¯s hands were once again clenched tightly. However, without showing any signs, he said to her¡­

    ¡°D, did you do something together?¡±

    ¡°We just ate together.¡±

    ¡°What did you eat?¡±

    Lucia tilted her head in confusion when she realized that Cain suddenly became persistent in his questions.

    ¡°Ramyeon.¡±

    ¡°What¡­¡­?¡±

    When he heard her words, thousands of thoughts ran rampant in Cain¡¯s head.

    My dongsaeng, Lucia, is not a child who will do something like that. Therefore, it must be that rascal who said it first.

    ¡®Did he ask her to eat ramyeon in his ce?¡¯

    This sly wolf! You bad bastard! How dare youy a hand on my beloved sister?!

    ¡°R, ramyeon¡­¡­ Hahaha¡­¡­ It must be delicious.¡±

    Cain smiled awkwardly as he continued to listen to what Lucia had to say.

    ¡°That person boiled it for me, it was delicious.¡±

    It¡¯s definitely that bad guy who seduced(?) my sister!

    Lucia continued to talk¡­

    ¡°And he looked really cool when he saved me earlier.¡±

    ¡°Sly wolf, fu¡­¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°I, it¡¯s nothing. Lucia.¡±

    Cain has already painted a big picture for the bastard who seduced his sister. He then turned around and approached Alicia who was behind him. He whispered to her so as not to let Lucia hear their conversation.

    ¡°Alicia.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not going to let that damn bastard off. Should I order the guild to kill him? Or should I lock him up and keep him in jail?! Or maybe I should pull his toenails off if he tries to enter my house¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Alicia wanted to smack him at the back of his head and tell this to him¡­

    ¡®Don¡¯t go overboard!¡¯

    However, she also knew that Minhyuk exercises(?) just so he could get stronger. So he would definitely not be defeated.

    ***

    Changwook was looking at his mobile phone when he saw the real-time search.

    [1. The tournament¡¯s champion has gone underwater.]

    [2. The champion is an NPC.]

    When clicked on the 2nd on the real-time search articles andments flooded his phone. He clicked on one blog post to check on the news.

    [The champion of Athenae¡¯s tournament this time is an NPC. You can see from the fact that he kept on eating at the convenience store, can someone even eat like that? Look, he ate almost all of the food in the convenience store by himself. And he even solo yed the Lv140 Minotaurus? That¡¯s just impossible. I know that he is a person ording to the Athenae¡¯s administrators but I still believe that he¡¯s an NPC.]

    Netizens kept on creating andpiling rumors and it was flooding the real-time search and Changwook who knew the truth was somewhat dumbfounded.

    Just in time, he saw Minhyuking out of the capsule.

    ¡°Oh, NPC. Hello?¡±

    ¡°......Are you bored? What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Minhyuk looked at him strangely while Changwook coughed in embarrassment.

    Suddenly they could hear the others exim in admiration.

    ¡°Wow. Minhyuk are you really that strong?¡±

    ¡°I got goosebumps when I saw you stand in front of Lucia and face off against the Minotaurus.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m this type of guy.¡±

    Minhyuk stroked his chin andughed.

    ¡°Where¡¯d you go during the awards ceremony?¡±

    ¡°I went to eat beef.¡±

    ¡°......Beef? Why did you go eat beef when Empress Ellie said that she would go there?¡±

    ¡°Of course beef is much more importantpared to meeting with Empress Ellie.¡±

    ¡°Right¡­¡­ Beef is much more importantpared to the Empress.¡±

    Everyone nodded their heads.

    In their own opinions, meeting Ellie and building a rtionship with her was important but not with Minhyuk.

    ¡°You know, when you meet with Ellie she might even give you some sort of legendary ss¡­¡­ Ah, that¡¯s right. Didn¡¯t you say that you would rather eat yanggaeng than get the berserker ss? Wait.¡±

    Changwook scratched his head in thought.

    ¡°Right. What did you get when you won?¡±

    ¡°Hyung, I got something?¡±

    ¡°......Why would you ask me when you were the one who got it?¡±

    It was because Minhyuk acquired the ingredients from the Minotaurus and got distracted. He tried to recall the notifications that he heard after he sessfully hunted the Minotaurus.

    First, I got 10,000 points.

    Minhyuk picked up his mobile phone to check.

    ¡°My god. You¡¯re the only person who will eat beef instead of checking his rewards first.¡±

    Changwook¡¯s words came in one ear and out of the other. Minhyuk ignored him and continued to tap on his handphone.

    ¡°Ah, I got that earth quaker.¡±

    ¡°The one the Minotaurus had?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s amazing. I¡¯m at Lv100 but you already learned the earth quaker that only Lv200 mages can have.¡±

    Changwook thought that it was absolutely ridiculous.

    In fact, earth quaker was a skill that could be learned at Lv200 but there were no skill books avable at all. The mages had to go in the magic tower and learn it there. In addition, earth quaker was a skill with a wide range of damage and would be a huge stepping stone for Minhyuk to move from a novice to an intermediate level yer.

    And this was what was crucial¡­

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe that you can just master any kind of skill¡­¡­¡±

    Mastering the skills regardless of type.

    Skills were limited to their job sses. Warrior skills could only be learned by warrior users and mage skills could only be learned by mage users.

    From what Changwook could see, Minhyuk was somewhat closer to a warrior. However, he just mastered a skill that could only be learned by a mage. The merit of something like this waspletely unimaginable.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you get the Minotaurus¡¯ Bone Ne? Check that first.¡±

    Right now, Changwook looked like he was much more excitedpared to Minhyuk.

    As soon as Minhyuk typed it, the real-time search keyword suddenly came up.

    The artifact that has never been dropped by a Minotaurus!

    Minhyuk checked it in his handphone.

    (Minotaurus¡¯ Bone Ne)

    ss: Unique

    Restrictions: None

    Durability: 3,000 / 3,000

    Defensive Power: 20

    Special Abilities:

    ©¥ +100 WIS

    ©¥ An increase of 100% in MP recovery rate.

    ¡°Wow! This is really good. Hey, hey, Minhyuk. Look at this. An additional 100 in wisdom means that you will get 1000 MP and there¡¯s also the 100% increase in MP recovery. This is really awesome!¡±

    ¡°Oh, is that a good thing?¡±

    ¡°If your MP recovery rate is increased by 100% then it means that instead of recovering 30 MP in 1 minute, you will be able to recover 60 MP in 1 minute. Hey, mages will go crazy for this, you know? Hiyaa, there¡¯s even no restrictions on it.¡±

    ¡°Oho.¡±

    Minhyuk already considered the thought of increasing his MP. Since his MP was less than 500, he thought that it was a bitcking whenever he used his skills so he already thought of investing his bonus points on his WIS. That¡¯s why Minhyuk was quite pleased with this item.

    I¡¯ll be able to eat more delicious food if I get stronger.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] Dongsaeng : Younger sibling. I don¡¯t know if I have said it before but just in case.

    [2] Oppa : A term for girls to call their older brother, or any older guy that¡¯s close to them

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    Lol Cain is a siscon. Is what I want to say but I hope that he won¡¯t bother Minhyuk and his quest for food.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    You know he¡¯ll try to at least. I wonder if that Seduction Ring Lucia picked up wille back into y...not that it has much of a chance to work on Minhyuk.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 63 - Ellies Favorability

    Chapter 63: Ellie''s Favorability

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    22 Ellie''s Favorability

    ¡®I¡¯m so jealous¡­¡­ How much luck did you receive when you were born¡­¡­?¡¯

    Changwook thought of this as he continued to ask Minhyuk about what he received from winning the championship.

    ¡°Is that all? There¡¯s nothing else?¡±

    ¡°I also received 10,000 achievement points.¡±

    ¡°T, ten thousand? I have only received 13,000 achievement points so far?!¡±

    ¡°Wow, hyung. You must really be bad at games.¡±

    Changwook clenched his fist at Minhyuk when he heard his joking words. It wasn¡¯t that he was bad at it, it was just Minhyuk that was too fraudulent. After all, achievement points couldn¡¯t be received easily.

    ¡°That amount is already enough to get something really good. Well, everyone thought that all of the participants would just scatter around instead of killing the Minotaurus but¡­ you killed it¡­¡±

    ¡°Ahem.¡±

    Minhyuk shook his head as he searched through Athenae¡¯s official homepage for more information.

    ¡®Using achievement points to buy something delicious.¡¯

    [Go to the Chef¡¯s Tower and use your achievement points to buy ingredients.]

    [You can purchase ingredients with your achievement points in the Chef¡¯s Tower.]

    There were plenty of simr articles but all of them were filled with negativements.

    [Everyone, here¡¯s a cool tip for you to avoid stepping on poop. It¡¯s a stupid idea to buy ingredients from the Chef¡¯s Tower using your achievement points.

    fgjkadf31: Why is this a cool tip? If you¡¯re not an idiot then you should know this, right?

    Beanie¡¯sDad: My house¡¯s Beanie and the maltese, Kancho, next door also knows this.]

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    Minhyuk tilted his head in confusion.

    Why is it stupid to buy ingredients using your achievement points?

    He continuously checked additional information to help him understand things regarding the matter.

    [Here are some of the reasons why you shouldn¡¯t buy ingredients using your achievement points in the Chef¡¯s Tower.

    1) The special abilities thate with the ingredients are incredibly lowpared to the achievement points needed to buy them. Furthermore, chefs do not have any other skills except for their buffing ability. Do we really need to buy a single consumable ingredient just for that?

    2) Buying a chef¡¯s hat, chef¡¯s knife or a chef¡¯s skill with your achievement points to increase your buffing ability is much betterpared to buying ingredients, right?

    These are the two main points. I have seen plenty of novice users buy ingredients without knowing anything to try and increase their cooking skills. They have failed miserably. Don¡¯t do that.]

    ¡°Oho.¡±

    Minhyuk rubbed his chin in thought.

    ¡°What are you going to buy with your achievement points?¡±

    ¡°Something delicious.¡±

    ¡°......With 10,000 points?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Minhyuk recalled that he received a quest from the coachman, Baran, about meeting with the cksmith Ron. He would be somewhere near the towers so he could go and finish the quest on his way there.

    ¡°What delicious thing should I buy with my 10,000 points? Huhu¡­¡­¡±

    With 10,000 points, Changwook could already get quite a lot of rewards. But all of it would be exchanged with something delicious. A thought suddenly came to Changwook¡­

    ¡®What kind of ingredient will you be able to get with 10,000 points?¡¯

    He was quite curious about what Minhyuk will get with all his points.

    Minhyuk then checked his notification windows on his handphone. After he was warped to the awards ceremony, he was so obsessed about finding ways to leave the hall so he wasn¡¯t able to listen properly to the notifications. It was fortunate that the users could check all of the notifications that they have heard in the game on their handphones.

    [You have acquired 5.2 billion gold.]

    [You have won the tournament.]

    [You have gained 50 reputation points.]

    [You have gained 5,000 achievement points.]

    [You can now learn Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship.]

    [You can request a small wish with Ellie.]

    ¡°5.2 billion gold? Does the Minotaurus really give this much gold?¡±

    ¡°No, I think it¡¯s because it was an event monster this time. Just look at the achievement points.¡±

    He had received a total of 15,000 achievement points. In addition, he was also given a chance to learn Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship, which was an epic skill.

    ¡°Wow. Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship. I¡¯m so jealous¡­¡­ I wish I could get an epic skill¡­¡­¡±

    Among all of Changwook¡¯s skill, his strongest was only a unique skill. In fact, not many users could have epic skills even if they wanted to have one.

    Then there was the reward about requesting a small wish from Ellie. Changwook pondered over it deeply before telling Minhyuk his thoughts.

    ¡°I got a good idea!¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    ¡°Ask for an epic artifact or a quest that will lead to an epic artifact. Kyaa! Isn¡¯t your hyung smart?¡±

    Minhyuk, who was listening seriously, suddenly stood up.

    S, so there¡¯s this method too!

    ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re finally listening to your hyung!¡±

    Changwook was besides himself with joy.

    Minhyuk, who was going back into the capsule, turned around and told him.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to ask Ellie for something delicious!¡±

    ¡°.......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Changwook, along with the rest of the people monitoring him, stared nkly as he entered the capsule.

    ***

    Ellie was reading through documents and handling official affairs in her office. She was currently reviewing the examination reports of the foreigners in the Eivelis Empire. As she was reading the reports, her expression slowly turned strange and she became curious.

    ¡°ck Dragon? He¡¯s a great man.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Your Majesty.¡±

    Ruth, a person who has served Ellie since she was a child, bowed politely towards her.

    ¡°He¡¯s not yet at Lv100 but he bought a merchant¡¯s failing store and made about 1,200% of the original sales. I believe he¡¯s a merchant with great capabilities. It would be good to recruit him if we can.¡±

    ¡°I have already tried to recruit him and offered him a job. But¡­¡­¡±

    Ruth had an expression of extreme regret on his face.

    ¡°ck Dragon said that ¡®I will fight only for one person and that person is the only reason why I am here.¡¯ and he also said that the reason that he wanted to reach the top was because he wanted to eliminate the obstacles for this person.¡±

    ¡°Ho.¡±

    Ellie became interested in ck Dragon when she heard Ruth¡¯s report. She rubbed her chin in thought.

    I¡¯m expanding my influence because I want to protect this person. Isn¡¯t that sentiment extremely cool and majestic?

    ¡°However, I was extremely in awe of his talents so I continued to try and recruit him but he told me something with a straight face.¡±

    Ellie¡¯s interest waspletely piqued.

    He¡¯s a man with a strong will. What did he say?

    ¡°My right hand will go crazy and unruly. If you continue to bother me then I won¡¯t stop my right hand from going crazy. Was what he said, Your Majesty.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Ellie turned silent for a moment and Ruth couldn¡¯t help but let out a cough in embarrassment.

    ¡°He¡¯s quite an unusual foreigner.¡±

    ¡°......Yes, you¡¯re right. Your Majesty. Ah, it¡¯s already time for you to eat.¡±

    Ellie shook her head and stood up to leave the office and went towards the dining area.

    She sat down on the dining table and looked at the sumptuous delicacies that were ced on the long table.

    This is the wonderful meal that the chefs of the Imperial Pce have made!

    It was a table of food that ordinary foreigners and citizens would want to taste just once in their lives. However, Ellie, who has eaten the same food for quite a long time, let out a ¡®Hoo¡­¡­¡¯ and looked at the table despondently.

    ¡°I have no appetite.¡±

    Ruth felt sad while he looked at her figure.

    Len.

    Ever since he left the Imperial Pce, she seemed to have lost her appetite.

    Ruth also believed that Len¡¯s dishes were overwhelmingly superior in taste and vorpared to other dishes that even the Imperial chefs did not know what to do with this situation.

    ¡°Bring that over.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    Right now, there was only one dish that could stimte Ellie¡¯s appetite. It was a food that originated from the foreigner¡¯s world.

    Not long after, the chefs brought over the requested dish.

    ced in front of the Empress was a well-made and piping hot carbonara and a can containing a dish called ¡®Spam¡¯.

    ¡°Spam. What a strange thing that it can even bring back someone¡¯s lost appetite.¡±

    Ruth smiled lightly when he heard her words. He saw her pick up her fork to first taste the carbonara that was soon followed by the salty spam.

    The spam was truly delicious especially when it was cooked until it was crispy. Since it tasted salty, she unknowingly ate a lot more carbonara than what she wanted to eat.

    ¡°It¡¯s delicious. It¡¯s really great.¡±

    ¡°I see. It¡¯s great that it¡¯s delicious.¡±

    Ruth loved watching Ellie eat. However, ever since Len left, she looked like she didn¡¯t enjoy the food anymore. He sighed sadly.

    ¡®I haven¡¯t seen her smile ever since that day.¡¯

    Ever since he left, the Empress has only focused on doing her work as an Empress that she has already be an Empress that wouldn¡¯t bleed even if she got stabbed.

    Right at that moment, he saw the leader of the Phoenix Knights, Cass, walk inside.

    ¡°Sir, didn¡¯t I tell you not to disturb Her Majesty while she¡¯s eating?¡±

    ¡°I know. But Her Majesty also told us to bring the foreigner who won the tournament right away. Isn¡¯t that right?¡±

    Ellie¡¯s fork stopped moving when she heard what he said as she nodded her head in agreement.

    ¡°Did hee?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Ellie¡¯s eyes sparkled in excitement.

    ¡°Let him enter.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    Cass turned around and quickly moved to get the foreigner.

    Ellie was quite curious about him. He was someone that Len acknowledged. He even gave him the kitchen knife that she has bestowed upon him. And he was also a person with outstanding skill as what was seen when he won the tournament.

    Not long after the leader of the Phoenix Knights left, they came back with the foreigner in tow. She saw him bow his head at her.

    ¡°You¡¯re the foreigner, Minhyuk.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, Your Majesty.¡±

    ¡°Are you ufortable somewhere?¡±

    ¡°No, no. I¡¯m alright.¡±

    His body was continuously twitching.

    ¡°You might have heard of this already but I will say it again. You will be able to learn swordsmanship from me.¡±

    ¡°Yes, thank you. Your Majesty.¡±

    Ellie looked at him strangely.

    ¡®He doesn¡¯t sound happy or excited?¡¯

    There were plenty of people who covet her swordsmanship. They would do anything for a chance to learn it but he sounded indifferent when he heard about it.

    Then, she heard the foreigner say¡­

    ¡°Your Majesty. I heard that if I win the tournament then I could ask Your Majesty for a small wish?¡±

    ¡°......That¡¯s right.¡±

    Ellie grinned darkly when she heard his words.

    ¡®They¡¯re all the same. Len.¡±

    The foreigner that received Len¡¯s kitchen knife¡­ she thought that he would be a bit special.

    Len was someone who cared and loved her. He was a very pure man that he even did everything for her even if he had no sense of taste. He even did his best to increase his dexterity just so he could make a dish that could make her happy.

    I thought that he would be just like him.

    But he was not.

    He was someone who desires something. There were many things that he could ask the Empress for with just that small wish.

    ¡°What do you want? A ce where you could find a special treasure? Or do you want to take a few things from my treasure trove? Or do you want a title? Or hundreds of billions of gold? Tell me and I¡¯ll give it to you.¡±

    She became interested in him because he went and ate beef, but now her interest has disappeared. He was just a regr, greedy foreigner. The strangers were always like this.

    They¡¯re all the same.

    The foreigner raised his head and looked at her with shining eyes.

    He sounded sullen and indifferent when Ellie told him that she would teach him swordsmanship but now his eyes were shining with excitement. His voice was even filled with excitement.

    ¡°Your Majesty. It¡¯s a difficult request, will it still be okay?¡±

    ¡°Tell me. I¡¯m the Empress of the Eivelis Empire, Ellie. I will grant you your wish to the best of my abilities.¡±

    The man was having a hard time hiding the smile on his face.

    ¡°Please give me the honor to eat spam!¡±

    Ellie was left speechless when she heard his request. Even Ruth, who was staying at the sidelines, couldn¡¯t help but turn speechless.

    She asked him again, just to make sure.

    ¡°Spam¡­¡­? You mean this ham?¡±

    ¡°Yeeees!¡±

    He gulped as he nodded wildly.

    The moment she heard his confirmation¡­

    Grin©¥

    She smiled and chuckled lightly.

    Ruth suddenly turned his head to look at her.

    She¡¯s smiling, Her Majesty is smiling.

    He did not know how long it had been since he saw her smile.

    Then¡­

    ¡°Puhahahahaha!¡±

    She hugged her stomach as sheughed loudly.

    ***

    TL¡¯s Corner!!!

    Changwook¡­ When will you ever learn? Lol. Minhyuk¡¯s priority list is like this:

    1 - Food; 2 - Food; 100 - Food.

    You get me? LOLOL.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    ck Dragon strikes again! I¡¯d almost forgotten about Minhyuk¡¯s dad. Good to know he¡¯s still ying the game.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 64 - Ellies Favorability

    Chapter 64: Ellie¡¯s Favorability

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Minhyuk was taken aback. He had absolutely no idea about why she wasughing.

    Since he entered the pce, his nose was already twitching because of the tantalizing smell that was floating in the air. His sixth sense was tingling¡­

    ¡®T, this¡­¡­ This is spam!¡¯

    What is this thing called spam?

    It was a dish that was delicious by itself, or if you grill it or even if you put it in budaejjigae[1].

    ¡®A slice of spam on top of piping hot rice.¡¯

    Just like the lines in an advertisement he saw before, he wholeheartedly agrees that spam was delicious even if it was just grilled.

    Minhyuk¡¯s body trembled when he thought of eating such a food. However, he was worried that Ellie would disagree when she heard such a weird request from him.

    ¡®Hundreds of billions of gold, a title of nobility, even a weapon from the pce¡¯s treasury¡­ How dare these thingspare themselves with spam?!¡¯

    Minhyuk noticed that the Sword Emperor, Ellie, was someone that was really amazing.

    She definitely suggested those things earlier just so she could keep me away from talking about spam!

    But Minhyuk was someone who never gave up. He asked her politely but with a firm and loud voice.

    ¡®I want to eat spam!¡¯

    However, when he voiced his request, Ellie startedughing. And she wasughing crazily for quite a long time. She was even grabbing her stomach with how crazy she wasughing.

    Minhyuk turned his head and made eye contact with Ruth, the man that was standing next to Ellie. Even that man was covering his mouth andughing softly. Minhyuk was now truly confused.

    At that moment, he heard a continuous ring of notifications.

    [Ellie¡¯s favorability has increased.]

    [Ellie¡¯s favorability has increased.]

    [You have acquired +3 in all of your 5 basic stats.]

    [You have gained 5 reputation points.]

    ¡®What¡¯s this?¡¯

    A look of puzzlement shed across Minhyuk¡¯s face. His favorability with Ellie increased but why did he receive a +3 in all 5 of his basic stats and he even gained an additional 5 reputation points?

    I want to eat spam, I really want to eat spam. Even if you ask me what a Hongsi persimmon taste like I wouldn¡¯t even know! Wow, this doesn¡¯t make any sense.

    He was truly clueless as to what was happening around him.

    ***

    The winner of the tournament, User Minhyuk, is missing!

    The employees of Athenae suddenly went into a state of emergency. They conducted a series of meetings while rumors continuously spread around the world.

    During one of their meeting breaks, Team Leader Park went back to his department for a brief respite. As he went inside their department, he heard Lee Minhwa¡¯s gasp of surprise.

    ¡°Heop!¡±

    ¡°......What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°I think it¡¯s best that you see it yourself.¡±

    Team Leader Park turned his head and looked at the monitor after he was prompted by Lee Minhwa. What he saw was a series of notifications.

    [The favorability of Sword Emperor Ellie towards User Minhyuk has increased.]

    [The favorability of Sword Emperor Ellie towards User Minhyuk has increased.]

    [Depending on the increase in the favorability, User Minhyuk will receive +3 in all 5 of his basic stats and an additional 5 reputation points.]

    ¡°H, he has already increased his favorability with Ellie?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s just like what you see¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°How the hell did he increase them?¡±

    ¡°There was a reward about asking Ellie for a small wish, right?¡±

    Team leader Park nodded his head seriously.

    ¡°He told her that he wanted to eat spam as his wish. When she heard his request, she bursted out inughter.¡±

    ¡°E, Ellie did¡­?¡±

    Ellieughing was as rare as finding a duckling in a flock of chicks. In the first ce, she was a special NPC and she was even an NPC that has gained a lot of attention from the public. A user could receive various quests and rewards through this NPC, Ellie.

    One such quest was building the favorability with her. It was virtually impossible to build a close rtionship with Ellie. The reason was because she was the Empress.

    To build a close rtionship with her, one should be able to capture her attention and heart. How can anyone capture the heart of the Empress?

    To be able to meet her, there were a lot of conditions that a user should meet.

    For merchants, they would be able to meet with her if they have increased the finances of the Eivelis Empire by 20%. For warrior ss users, it would be possible to meet with her if they stood on equal footing with her with the sword. This just goes to show how hard it was to develop and build a close rtionship with Ellie. And if they were able to perform such achievements, then the administrators would be notified at least once.

    But you¡¯re telling me that he increased his intimacy just because of spam?

    Furthermore, even if one increased their intimacy once it did not mean that they would be able to easily increase it again. They have to show their worth for it to rise again.

    ¡°He used his small wish for spam¡­.. He never fails to surprise us each and every day.¡±

    Team Leader Park always saw something fresh and surprising whenever he watched User Minhyuk.

    ¡°That user is probably unaware, right?¡±

    Lee Minhwa mumbled something under her breath.

    ¡°How good it is to build favorability and intimacy with just some remarks.¡±

    Hundreds of billions of gold? A weapon from the pce treasury? Or an amazing quest? No, it was something that was more than all of thosebined. User Minhyuk won the heart of the Sword Emperor Ellie.

    It was a huge power to wield. They did not even know what kind of variable Ellie would be if she treated Minhyuk well.

    ¡°If User Minhyuk continued to build his favorability with Ellie then he would receive rewards, right?¡±

    Team Leader Park nodded his head.

    ¡°Since they have a high degree of freedom, the only problem that we have is that we don¡¯t know what Ellie will do for User Minhyuk.¡±

    The Empress doing something for a user.

    It was a situation that Team Leader Park had never expected.

    ***

    ¡°Do you really just want to eat this spam?¡±

    ¡°Yeeees!¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head vigorously as if he was a chicken pecking on grains.

    Ellie, who watched him carefully, smiled at him and beckoned with her hands.

    ¡°Come here.¡±

    ¡°But, Your¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Shut up.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    Ellie coldly looked at Cass, the leader of the knights, who tried to voice out his concerns.

    The Empress and a foreigner will be sharing a table?!

    It was a scene that could never be seen anywhere.

    Minhyuk quickly hurried over and sat in front of the Empress. He looked around the table with a strange look on his face.

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m extremely grateful to you, Your Majesty.¡±

    ¡°You can speak at ease. I know that foreigners aren¡¯t used to this type of speech.¡±

    ¡°Then, should I call you Noona Ellie instead, Your Majesty?¡±

    ¡°That sounds nice.¡±

    However, the expressions of the servants in the surroundings were a sight to behold.

    ¡®No, noona¡­?¡¯

    ¡®You¡¯re going to call Her Majesty, the Empress, noona?¡¯

    But it was also a refreshing sight to them for Ellie to ept it readily and graciously. She even let it pass when he disappeared to eat beef before.

    This is the Empress who won¡¯t bleed a drop of blood even if you stop her!

    She was the type of woman who would betray the expectations of the people surrounding her once in a while.

    In addition, Minhyuk was someone who has met a lot of famous people in real life. He even called the president of the national assembly ¡®Big Dad¡¯, ¡®Uncle¡¯ and even ¡®Old Man¡¯. It was only possible because his father was Chairman Kang Minhoo.

    ¡°Noona, why are you eating such a poor meal? Your dongsaeng, Minhyuk, feels heartbroken for you.¡±

    ¡°Is it not delicious?¡±

    Ellie was taken aback. Just a few moments ago, he was still quite delighted with the thought of eating spam but now he was saying that he was heartbroken.

    ¡°There¡¯s a different way of eating spam.¡±

    ¡°Hoo? Is that so?¡±

    Ellie¡¯s interest was slowly piqued.

    ¡°Yes. Shall I make it for you?¡±

    ¡°Alright.¡±

    Ellie nodded her head in consent.

    There¡¯s a more delicious way of eating this?

    It was a good news for someone like her, who loves food, to find more delicious ways to eat the food that could whet her appetite.

    ¡°I need supplies.¡±

    ¡°You can talk to mefortably.¡±

    ¡°Can I really speak at ease?¡±

    Ellie smiled at him gently.

    I¡¯m definitely sure that this is like a mother¡¯s smile!

    ¡°I need 100 cans of spam, 30 bowls of salted squid and shrimp, 200 bags of instant rice, 200 sheets ofver and 100 servings of ssamjang.¡±

    ¡°......Don¡¯t tell me that you¡¯re going to eat them all?¡±

    ¡°Ellie noona will eat too, right? I want our beautiful Empress to eat to her heart''s content.¡±

    Minhyuk might have said that but what he thought waspletely different.

    ¡®Huhuhuhu. I¡¯m going to eat so much more spampared to you.¡¯

    Ellie happily nodded her head when she heard Minhyuk say that she was pretty.

    ¡°Prepare it.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    The chefs of the Imperial Pce moved quickly and were able to prepare the ingredients he asked for in no time at all.

    Minhyuk first raised the pull tab on the top of the spam can and tugged at it strongly. The lid came off easily with a crack. He tried to shake it off on the cutting board but it wouldn¡¯t fall off.

    ¡®This is the problem with spam!¡¯

    It always doesn¡¯te out well. ording to the instructions, if you pressed down on the sides of the can then it would be able to slide off easily from the can but it often did not work. In this case, one would usually use a kitchen knife to pull it out of the can.

    However, before he could even do that, Ellie whipped her fingers. Her mana stretched out gently and dragged the spam out of the can.

    ¡°Wow, so cool! Ellie noona!¡±

    ¡°Hohoho!¡±

    Minhyuk was in awe of her magic and praised her like a child.

    Once the spam was out of the can, Minhyuk began to cut it into slices. Then, he heated the frying pan and ced the spam slices on top of it.

    Sizzle©¥

    The spam was slowly being grilled on the frying pan. It should be cut in as thick a slice as possible and grilled until it was golden brown.

    After he grilled it properly, he ced the slices on top of the te and added a spoonful of ssamjang on one side and a dollop of catsup on the other side. Then he took out the instant rice that the chefs of the Imperial Pce had ced in the microwave and opened the lid.

    Shwaaaa©¥

    The rice was piping hot with steaming out of it¡¯s box. Minhyuk quickly ced the te on the table to maintain the heat.

    It¡¯s a steaming hot spam meal!

    ¡°Spam goes better with rice than carbonara or spaghetti.¡±

    Minhyuk smiled lightly and immediately scooped a spoonful of rice. Ellie watched him closely and followed his movements clumsily.

    Then, Minhyuk ced a piece of spam on top of the rice and said¡­

    ¡°Noona, you should follow me.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m following what you¡¯re doing.¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    ¡°?¡±

    Ellie looked at him. He could imagine a question mark floating above her head with the expression that she was showing.

    ¡°Steaming rice~ and a piece of spam.¡±

    ¡°Steaming rice~ and a piece of spam.¡±

    Ellie followed what he did. She even said the words that he said.

    Then, Minhyuk took the plump spam and rice on his spoon and ced it in his mouth in one bite. The grains of rice and the golden spam met in their mouths.

    The spam is salty.

    Spam was obviously a salty food, however he could taste the rich vor of the ham in this food. He could taste the salty and savory vor of the spam with his every chew. At the same time, the oily vor of the spam gave off a pleasant taste in his mouth. He could even feel the rice catch the salty and oily vors of the spam.

    Minhyuk scooped another spoonful of rice and delivered it to his mouth.

    The spam is salty so it can help you eat a lot, it¡¯s a rice thief!

    Ellie also scooped more rice as she ate the spam. She then closed her eyes and savored the taste.

    ¡°......Oh my god.¡±

    She shook her head slowly as if what she had tasted was a heavenly delicacy.

    ¡°I have been ignorant.¡±

    She looked as if she was an Emperor who has seen the wonders of the world again.

    ¡°Why have I not known how delicious this was, maybe it was because I ate it with spaghetti all this time. Such amentable fact. This is such a sad thing!¡±

    Minhyuk who was watching her while she was eating thought¡­

    ¡®This noona¡­¡­ She¡¯s strange¡­¡­¡¯

    However, his spoon never stopped moving.

    ¡°Then, noona. This time you should try it with salted shrimp and squid!¡±

    Minhyuk picked up some salted squid and shrimp with his chopsticks. The red sauce surrounding the salted squid and shrimp was glistening as he ced it on top of his rice.

    He mixed the rice and the salted squid and shrimp together. Thebination of the two would make a perfect rice bowl meal.

    If one haspletely lost their appetite, just mix it with rice and water and their appetite would definitelye back.

    Then, Minhyuk wrapped the spam in a piece of seaweed and dipped it in the ssamjang.

    Whatever Minhyuk did, Ellie did. Not long after, Ellie finished eating. She had a satisfied smile on her. She smiled softly as she looked at Minhyuk.

    ¡°Chew, chew!¡±

    He was quickly inhaling the food in front of him.

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t an expensive meal, but I did not expect it to satisfy me this much. It was even better than what the Imperial chefs have prepared.¡±

    The Imperial Pce chefs are the best of the best!

    That was why the chefs waiting on the sides had no choice but to stop in their tracks when they heard her say that. They couldn¡¯t believe that a canned ham was much more delicious than something that they have made.

    All this time serving her, they couldn¡¯t understand what Ellie wanted. But there was a person who understood her.

    It was Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk stopped eating for a bit and looked at her seriously.

    ¡°It¡¯s not those expensive meals, or those meals that costs hundreds of thousands of wons that could satisfy a person.¡±

    Minhyuk was a person who lost everything as he tried to lose some of his weight. Whenever he thought about food in reality, he never thought about expensive and high-quality food like foie gras, sharks fin, or caviar.

    ¡°Good food is something that can make everyone happy even if it¡¯s not expensive, right?¡±

    Ellie nodded her head at his words.

    That¡¯s right.

    His words touched her heart deeply.

    Good food is really something that can make people happy even if it isn¡¯t expensive.

    Ellie smiled brightly.

    ¡®He¡¯s right.¡¯

    She was wondering how this foreigner could touch even the heart of a man but now she knew why he acknowledged him.

    At that moment, Minhyuk heard the notifications ring in his head.

    [Ellie¡¯s favorability has increased.]

    [You have acquired 1 skill point.]

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] budaejjigae: budae (army, unit, troops) + jjigae (stew), a stew usually made in the army. Contains a variety of ingredients that¡¯s usually found in the rations like sausages, hams etc.

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    About the persimmon thing, there was a saying that life could either be bitter or sweet like persimmon. I read it somewhere. Lol. Also. True! Expensive food may be delicious, but food should be something that can make everyone happy regardless of the price.

    BRB. Time to go and crack that spam open and eat. LOL.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    That¡¯s definitely the truth. Some of the foods that make me happy are definitely not expensive in nature.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 65 - Ellies Favorability

    Chapter 65: Ellie¡¯s Favorability

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    He was once again given another reward after his intimacy increased!

    Minhyuk wondered about the rewards as he continued to eat his spam. The Imperial chefs continuously refilled his te as he munched on his food without any thought of stopping at all.

    After quite some time, one of the chefs decided to speak up.

    ¡°W, we¡¯ve run out of spam!¡±

    ¡°......How much did he exactly eat?¡±

    Ellie was looking at Minhyuk with a strange gaze as she asked the Imperial chef.

    ¡°He ate 356 cans of spam, 120 packs of salted squid and shrimp, 160 sheets ofver, and 600 packs of instant rice.¡±

    Ellie blinked in astonishment while Minhyuk smiled cheerfully at her.

    ¡°Noona, we ate a lot right? See, I told you. If we put a lot of food on the table, then we would be able to eat a lot too, right?!¡±

    Minhyuk disyed his ttery skills with great fanfare that even Ellie had no choice but to agree with him.

    ¡°......Y, yeaaah. R, right.¡±

    Ellie couldn¡¯t even keep up with his thought process.

    A thought suddenly passed through Minhyuk¡¯s head¡­

    ¡®Come to think of it¡­¡­¡¯

    There was a notification when he first met Ellie earlier about thepletion of the quest Meet Ellie. He recalled about being able to receive 15,000 EXP. He also recalled hearing some level-up notifications.

    ¡°Ah, wait. Ellie noona. I know that I came here to see my pretty noona but I also came here because Len-nim asked me to do so.¡±

    ¡°Len¡­¡­¡±

    She had seen Minhyuk using Ellie¡¯s kitchen knife during thepetition. She hadn''t forgotten that fact yet.

    She nodded silently at Minhyuk.

    ¡°Okay. What did he ask you to do?¡±

    ¡°He asked me to cook something delicious for you.¡±

    Obviously, Minhyuk cooked some spam for her. However, it still did not result in thepletion of the quest. Minhyuk realized that Ellie loves food as much as he did and along with that came a hunch¡­

    ¡®I¡¯ll definitely receive a delicious quest!¡¯

    However, Ellie¡¯s forehead crumpled in distress.

    ¡°He didn¡¯te to meet me in person¡­¡­ But.¡±

    Ellie knew that Len left this ce all because of her and she just meekly epted everything that happened. However, it was quite a long time ago so even her feelings for Len would have calmed down by now to some extent.

    ¡°What dish would you like me to cook for you?¡±

    ¡°But Minhyuk, you¡­ Aren¡¯t you a warrior user?¡±

    Ellie clearly saw Minhyuk hunt down a Minotaurus during the tournament. He made such an unprecedented move that even Ellie, herself, thought that he should be rmended as a member of the Phoenix Knights.

    ¡°Uhmm¡­¡±

    Minhyuk thought deeply¡­

    He was someone that was like a cook but he was also like a warrior. But this warrior-like user was also like a farmer, and this farmer-like user could also learn and use magic skills¡­

    ¡°I can do everything.¡±

    ¡°You learnt a lot of different things?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°How surprising.¡±

    Ellie was deeply impressed. A foreigner learnt a lot of different things, it was even safe to say that he had learnt all of the things that he could learn. And what was more surprising was¡­

    ¡®How can a foreigner be so strong when he has learnt a lot of different things?¡¯

    His strength was already beyond that of just learning something. Even if she was looking at him right now, she could tell that he was exuding the same aura that he had back when he was in the tournament.

    ¡°I wonder where your strengthes from.¡±

    ¡°I just eat well and work out well.¡±

    ¡°......Right.¡±

    Ellie smiled brightly.

    I feel at ease when I¡¯m with him. It¡¯s such a bizarre feeling.

    At that moment, Ellie realized that she was catering to his every whims. After realizing this, she decided to just steer the topic back to the main point.

    ¡°I can just tell you to make something that I want to eat?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    ¡°I want to eat tfish and rockfish sashimi.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes widened.

    ? tfish and rockfish? Aren¡¯t those guys the one you hear those people say ¡®You can eat tfish and rockfish at the fish market!¡¯?

    Dip it in soy sauce and wasabi, once you put it in your mouth you would definitely feel the savory and chewy texture, tfish and rockfish! And after you finished eating the sashimi?

    ¡®Auntie, can we please have the spicy fish stew right now! Please add ramyeon too!¡¯

    And once the stew was set-up, you would definitely think about this¡­

    ¡®Boil it some more, the longer you boil it the more delicious it gets.¡¯

    After letting it boil some more, what would happen if you took a sip of the soup? You would feel a refreshing taste with just the right amount of spicy seasoning.

    She wants to eat that tfish and rockfish?

    Minhyuk waspletely excited with the thought of eating those fishes.

    ¡°How does a rockfish cry?¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    ¡°Wooreok, wooreok! [1]¡±

    ¡°Minhyuk-ah, I¡¯m going to burst in fury right now.¡±

    Pause!

    Minhyuk trembled in fear because he felt that she was definitely telling the truth.

    Then, Ellie continued on with a serious look on her face.

    ¡°I once went fishing with thete emperor, His Majesty Ellen. That was the first time that my father cooked for me. He used the fish that we caught to make me a rockfish sashimi and a spicy fish stew.¡±

    Her lips unconsciously curled up as she recalled the memories of the past.

    ¡°His Majesty Ellen always stressed that I should be a strong emperor. It was also the reason why he always forced me to practice my swordsmanship. I have always hated him for that. However, I realized after he had left me that I couldn¡¯t forget the taste of the spicy fish stew and the sashimi that he made for me.¡±

    Ellie smiled lightly.

    ¡°My father wanted me to be a strong emperor because he loved me. That much was still vivid in my eyes.¡±

    She closed her eyes and smiled, as if she could still see the vision of her father watching over her during her training.

    ¡°Help me to relive the taste of my father¡¯s cooking.¡±

    [Linked Quest: Make a Rockfish Sashimi for Ellie.]

    Rank: B rank

    Restrictions: Meet with Ellie

    Rewards: Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship, Ancient cooking ingredients

    Failure for Penalty: Ellie¡¯s favorability will drop.

    Description: Ellie just recalled the memories of her past. She wants to eat a fresh rockfish sashimi that you made. Give her a rockfish sashimi!

    Minhyuk thought that she would ask for the dish that Len cooked for her in the past. But she wanted to eat the food that she couldn¡¯t forget in her memory.

    When he thought about it, he also had that kind of food.

    Whenever Minhyuk came over to visit histe grandmother, she would always grill some rice cake for him and drizzle it with honey. The crunchy grilled rice cake was truly delicious especially when it met with honey. And whenever he ate the grilled rice cake, his grandmother would always bring him some fruits and chestnuts that he could eat together with the rice cake.

    ¡®Grandma, I¡¯m stuffed.¡¯

    ¡®My baby, you should eat some more. You¡¯re eating so well.¡¯

    Whenever he went to his grandmother¡¯s house, he would always eat a lot. It was such a good memory.

    Then he looked at the rewards listed on the quest. It was the ancient cooking ingredients. Minhyuk did not know what it was, but he was sure that it was something ¡®delicious¡¯.

    ¡°I¡¯ll give you a delicious rockfish sashimi!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t forget the spicy rockfish stew.¡±

    ¡°Of course. That¡¯s something that can never be forgotten. Huhuhuhu!¡±

    Ellie grinned at him as she stood up.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go now.¡±

    ¡°Where are we going?¡±

    ¡°You need to learn my swordsmanship.¡±

    ¡°Ah, that¡¯s right. I have to learn swordsmanship, wait. Ah~ I really have to work hard~¡±

    Minhyuk stood up as he answered her half-heartedly.

    Ellie looked at him strangely.

    ¡°A, are you not happy?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m happy, I¡¯m so happy that I¡¯m going to burst into mes!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Ellie was left speechless for a moment.

    ¡®Does he really only care about eating?¡¯

    Foreigners all over the world were moring to learn her swordsmanship. Not long ago, there was someone who made a ruckus because he wanted to learn her swordsmanship and was sent to prison for 10 years. But Minhyuk was not even interested in anything if it wasn¡¯t rted to eating.

    Ellie suddenly thought of a brilliant idea.

    ¡°Every time youplete a portion of the swordsmanship, I will give you the opportunity to get one special ingredient from the pce¡¯s ingredients warehouse.¡±

    ¡°......What are we waiting for, let¡¯s go!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s steps quickened as he followed Ellie to the training camp.

    ¡°As you can see, the wooden puppets are divided into blue and white.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    Minhyuk looked like he was filled with enthusiasm. Ellie thought that her training regimen(?) was sessful.

    ¡°The blue wooden puppets can be destroyed easily depending on your damage. But the white wooden puppet is different. Would you like to try hitting the white wooden puppet?¡±

    Ellie threw a wooden sword towards him. Minhyuk caught the sword in mid-air and tried to sh at the wooden puppet with all his might.

    ¡®Imperial ingredients! Let¡¯s eat them!¡¯

    sh!

    As soon as he shed, a notification rang in his head.

    [You have striked the training wooden puppet.]

    [499/500 hits until the puppet is destroyed.]

    ¡°Oh?¡±

    It was a unique wooden puppet. The puppet was not destroyed with damage but with the number of hits.

    ¡°This wooden puppet can only be found in the Eivelis Empire. Every time that you hit and destroy it you will be able to get the bonus point that you want. You can also raise your stat that couldn¡¯t easily be raised via this bonus point.¡±

    ¡°T, then can I increase my DEX?¡±

    Ellie nodded her head.

    ¡°It¡¯s possible, unless it¡¯s a really special stat then everything is possible. This is my gift for you.¡±

    Ellie grinned at him. If she didn¡¯t teach him swordsmanship then Minhyuk would not be able toy his hands on these wooden puppets.

    Minhyuk pondered about how he would go about doing this.

    ¡®If I use Three Consecutive Quick Assault and Haste then I can probably strike faster.¡¯

    However, Ellie, who probably read his mind, said to him¡­

    ¡°Sadly, you can¡¯t use skills to raise the strike count. You have to strike the wooden puppet with your pure strength. And if you hit it with a lot of repetitive blows then you can raise a variety of stats just like when you first came to Athenae.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    ¡°Now this time, hit the blue wooden puppet. You can use your skills, just hit it with your most powerful strike.¡±

    When he heard her say that, Minhyuk prepared himself to give his most powerful strike.

    [Bardy Swordsmanship.]

    [All 5 basic stats have a +20 increase for 10 minutes.]

    [Vital Strike.]

    [Additional 28% attack power if attack is sessful.]

    He could see a lot of vital points on the body of the blue wooden puppet. Minhyuk striked one vital point with all of his might.

    Stab!

    However, instead of hearing the cracking sound of the wooden puppet being destroyed, the blue wooden puppet did not even move at all.

    Ellie took a step forward.

    ¡°Now I¡¯ll show you. Ellie¡¯s swordsmanship¡¯s first chapter has the same movement with what you did earlier. 1st chapter. Sword of Fury.¡±

    A red light suddenly enveloped the hilt of her sword as her posture and way of holding the sword turned different. She was just standing there as she grabbed the sword and stabbed it but she did it with grace and elegance.

    She stabbed the same blue wooden puppet that Minhyuk stabbed earlier. The moment she stabbed, the silent surroundings were filled with the sound of air ripping into two.

    Shiiiiiiiiiiing!

    Staaaaab!

    She urately stabbed the wooden puppet. The moment she pulled the sword away, the puppet shattered into pieces.

    Bang!

    However, it did not end there.

    The blue wooden puppets behind the puppet that she striked were shattered one by one by the force that came out of her sword.

    Bang!

    Bang!

    Shwaaaa!

    The remnants of the puppets scattered in the air like ash falling from the sky.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] On the joke: rockfish is ?? and the crying sound is ???? LMAO. AN ADDITION, ???? means to ze in mes, to be furious or smth like that. LOL.

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    Man. One strike¡­¡­ That¡¯s scary.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 66 - Budaejjigae Made With An Elixir

    Chapter 66: Budaejjigae Made with an Elixir

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    23Budaejjigae Made with an Elixir

    ¡°Hoo.¡±

    Ellie breathed lightly as she sheathed the wooden sword in her hands.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk let out a gasp of surprise. Even someone like him, who was always preupied with the thought of food, was astonished with the amount of destructive power that she has.

    ¡°I¡¯ll teach you the moves. It consists of four moves in total.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°You should repeatedly strike the wooden puppets with those moves. I will give you one week to master the movements.¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡±

    Ellie proceeded to demonstrate and teach him a set of movements.

    Lunge, brandish the sword indiscriminately, step back quickly and sh from top to bottom. The way that NPCs usually train users was quite monotonous. It was made that way so the users would understand the contents of the training and would be able to follow and learn it easily.

    [You have mastered the basics of Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship.]

    [Please repeat the movements to train Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship.]

    [Your training progress has been created invisibly.]

    [Your training progress will remain invisible for a week.]

    ¡°What does having your training progress be invisible mean?¡±

    ¡°It means that it¡¯s not definite.¡±

    ¡°Not definite?¡±

    ¡°It will depend on the amount of effort and perseverance you will put in the training.¡±

    ¡°Aha.¡±

    Ellie spoke briefly but Minhyuk was still able to understand.

    This means that the power that I could exert using Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship will depend on how much effort I will use to train in one week.

    ¡°Anyway, work hard. I¡¯ll give you an ingredient for every two puppets you destroy. Just one. No more than that.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    Ellie stepped out of the training grounds while Minhyuk sat down on the spot and started searching on the official homepage of Athenae.

    ¡®The food in the Imperial Pce of Eivelis Empie.¡¯

    Once he searched for that, plenty of rted search words and articles popped out.

    [Nims, I¡¯ve got a job as a chef in the Imperial Pce of Eivelis Empire. I even got a hidden ss, yeye. ¡®Master of Peeling.¡¯ I can peel onions really well. I can peel five in under 1 minute.

    gsdfadl3: hahahahahaha, are you really peeling onions in the game?

    shinchanisthirsty: My life¡­¡­ Aborer inside the game¡­¡­

    ckDragontheCookingKing: But it¡¯s alright. You can try a lot of different things in here. The food here is so damn delicious ??

    Janggeumie: What if Ellie asks you, will you say ¡®How can I answer why it tastes like onions when it really tastes like onions?¡¯. Hahahahaha

    AGourmet: Oh, but since you can eat a lot of delicious food then it¡¯s okay, right? What¡¯s the most delicious food?

    ckDragontheCookingKing: It¡¯s ham. Ellie really likes spam so maybe that¡¯s why the ham in here is really delicious. And all the ham in here are made out of C-rank ingredients. Yeye. But of course, I still can¡¯t eat ham that often in here.

    Janggeumie: Lies. Which Empress would eat spam?]

    ¡°Oho. So it¡¯s ham!¡±

    So it¡¯s regr ham right after spam!

    Minhyuk now had a general idea of what dish he would want to make after finishing his training.

    ¡°Bu, budaejjigae¡­...!¡±

    With ham, kimchi, dumplings and ramyeon noodles boiled together, budaejjigae was a dish that people of all ages definitely liked.

    Minhyuk has finally decided on what to eat. Since he had set his goal, he stood up and walked in front of a white wooden puppet to start his training.

    Tempting me with ingredients?

    I¡¯m going to live up to your expectations and work hard to get all the ingredients I need for budaejjigae!

    Minhyuk continuously striked at the wooden puppet without any rest.

    After 1 hour, his back started to ache and his arms were getting numb. He was even dripping in sweat. There was a strong desire to take a rest bubbling up inside him. However, Minhyuk endured it.

    ¡®It will be very delicious if I put have ramyeon noodles in my budaejjigae!¡¯

    Thwack! sh!

    After 2 hours of intense training...

    His back felt like it was going to break and he couldn¡¯t even feel his wrists anymore. But the wooden puppet still remained spotless without any scratch on its surface.

    ¡®Two of you should die if I want to get one ingredient and taste that spicy soup!¡¯

    sh! Stab!

    After three hours¡­

    He was drenched in sweat and his whole body was shaking so hard that he couldn¡¯t even move a finger. But he still persevered.

    Eating something delicious after finishing a hard day¡¯s work is always the best.

    Minhyuk always lived by those words.

    No matter how hard he tried in reality he couldn¡¯t eat any delicious food. But it was possible for him to do so in here.

    That was why he would swing his sword until he broke down those wooden puppets. His will to eat was really strong for him to be able to persevere this much.

    sh!

    Stab!

    About three and a half hourster¡­

    Baang!

    A white wooden puppet broke down into pieces.

    [You have obtained 1 special point.]

    [You can also invest your special points on stats that can¡¯t be raised with bonus points.]

    ¡°Oho!¡±

    Without any hesitation, Minhyuk invested his special point directly to his dexterity points. Then he rested for 5 minutes before continuing his hitting spree. He kept on striking and striking the wooden puppets.

    [You have increased your STR by 1.]

    [You have increased your AGI by 1.]

    [You have increased your Will by 1.]

    ¡°Oh¡­¡­ Will!¡±

    Minhyuk was able to increase his will in the farming dungeon by at least 8 points. The will stat was vastly differentpared to regr stats. That was why having an increase of 1 point waspletely touching.

    He might not know but the will stat was what was keeping him up whenever he felt that he would fall down due to exhaustion. Thanks to this stat, he was still able to swing at the wooden puppets continuously with all of his strength.

    Bang!

    ***

    Three dayster.

    Ellie headed towards the training grounds. She wasn¡¯t able to check up on Minhyuk¡¯s progress because she was busy with the affairs of the Empire.

    ¡°Destroying two a day would be a lot for him.¡±

    Even if he was only able to destroy two in one day, Ellie¡¯s swordsmanship would be able to umte quite a lot of progress with his invisible training progress if he continued on in a week. It would definitely give foreigners like him a significant increase in strength.

    In fact, in her opinion, it was still hard for him to destroy two in one day. After all it was boring and monotonous to hit at a wooden puppet continuously.

    Did he get even 1 special point during this time?

    He had to hit at least 500 times for him to be able to get 1 special point.

    Was there a much more boring task than this?

    It would only get worse from here on out.

    After all, hitting a wooden puppet alone in an empty training ground is hard and monotonous. Right?

    As Ellie walked inside the training grounds, she could finally see Minhyuk and what he was doing¡­

    ¡°Sword of Fury.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s sword was covered in red light. He clenched the hilt of the sword tightly as he stabbed at one of the blue wooden puppets in the training grounds.

    Stab!

    His sword was embedded deeply in the middle of the blue wooden puppet.

    ¡°......H, how can this be.¡±

    Ellie¡¯s eyes grew as wide as saucers.

    ***

    Minhyuk looked strangely at Ellie who was very surprised at what she saw.

    After he mastered all four of the basic movements of Ellie¡¯s swordsmanship he thought that he was ready to try and test out the skill. When he tried to use it during the first day, the notifications only showed him this:

    [Sword of Fury.]

    The usual words that were written under the skill description did note out, even the % of the progress did not show. And when he struck the wooden puppet with the Sword of Fury all he ever did was shake the puppet and not destroy it.

    That was why Minhyuk always tried to use the skill whenever he tried to destroy a wooden puppet. As time went by, the damage that he could inflict on the wooden doll was increasing. In other words, his skill was growing as his training progressed further.

    And today¡­

    He might have failed to destroy the wooden puppet but he was finally able to embed the sword straight in the middle of its body.

    ¡°You¡¯re here?¡±

    Minhyuk greeted her while he wiped the sweat off of his forehead.

    Ellie looked around the surroundings.

    ¡°......¡±

    She was at a loss for words.

    There were a total of sixteen wooden puppets lying down on the ground and broken into pieces.

    ¡°H, how did this happen¡­¡±

    Even Ellie was astonished with his progress.

    The fastest record of breaking a wooden doll was five hours. It would be possible to do this if he struck the wooden puppet 70 times in 1 hour and have 1 hour of break. But was it even possible to do that consistently? It wasn¡¯t easy for a person to continuously strike the wooden puppet in a day.

    But if he were able to break eighteen puppets then it meant that he would be able to destroy six puppets in one day.

    Aside from the minimal break that he allowed himself, Minhyuk has solely devoted his time on swinging at the wooden puppets. And she could see it with her own eyes, how much effort Minhyuk has put in his training.

    ¡°You have destroyed 16 puppets so that means that you will get eight ingredients. Huhuhuhu!¡±

    He was powered by his will to eat delicious food. She could even see that the hilt of the wooden sword in Minhyuk¡¯s hand was dyed red with blood.

    ¡®My god¡­¡­¡¯

    This was how realistic Athenae was.

    Ellie could only imagine¡­ For the hilt of the wooden sword to be dyed red in blood, his palms would have peeled and bleeded due to extreme training. It might have been insignificant but foreigners have natural healing powers. However, for their natural healing powers, such wounds would be easily healed in time. This only meant that Minhyuk has been swinging his sword diligently that even his natural healing power couldn¡¯t catch up with his injuries.

    She was extremely and awfully surprised but her words and expression would not easily show it.

    ¡°How did this happen, how did you make such a mess? Let¡¯s clean this up. Look at this mess!¡±

    He thought that she would cut him some ck and praise him but she just scolded him for the mess. Minhyuk looked at her with a dumb expression on his face.

    ¡°Heuok! I¡¯m gonna clean this up but you have to give me my ingredients!¡±

    Ellie chuckled to herself when she heard his words.

    ¡®Len¡­¡­ I think I know the reason why you chose him.¡¯

    She could now see why he had obtained Ellie¡¯s kitchen knife. In fact, she was already aware that he was a very peculiar foreigner. He liked food and it was always more importantpared to anything else. But she now knew that he works hard and always gives his all no matter the task he was given.

    ¡®He might have learned a lot of different things but there was a reason why he¡¯s so strong.¡¯

    She nodded her head.

    ¡®It¡¯spletely possible.¡¯

    Even though it was just half of the 4 chapters of Ellie¡¯s swordsmanship, she had a hunch that Minhyuk would be able to show and pull out the greatest power out of the swordsmanship.

    She grinned at his figure that was frantically cleaning up the mess in the training grounds.

    Ellie thought that she wanted to keep on getting closer with Minhyuk. Anyone would be surprised if they heard her say this out loud.

    ***

    Lee Seokhoon, the Team Leader of the development team, essed Athenae.

    There was only one reason why he logged-in and essed Athenae. It was so he could prepare for the future update of Athenae.

    To proceed with an update, the administrators would often meet with influential NPCs in Athenae to discuss and naturally direct the courses of action that they should follow in the future. And because they were hailed as the envoys of the influential God of Athenae, all of the NPCs treat them favorably. Some would even go as far as to worship them.

    ¡®We need Ellie¡¯s help to open up the Northern Continent.¡¯

    He needed to meet with Ellie for that to happen. That was the reason why he arrived at the Imperial Pce of the Eivelis Empire.

    The leader of the knights greeted him the moment he arrived at the gates of the Imperial Pce. Lee Seokhoon walked behind the knight as he thought of something¡­

    ¡®I heard that User Minhyuk is also in the pce.¡¯

    I don¡¯t know what he¡¯s doing. Maybe the Special Users Team will know.

    ¡®Ah, I have to speak to Ellie formally.¡¯

    Even if the development team and the God of Athenae were working together, every time Seokhoon went to see her, she would receive him with a cold stare. He always had a hard time whenever he approached her.

    What envoy, if she gets offended she will definitely beat me to a pulp.

    Seokhoon soon saw the door to the throne room open.

    ¡°How have you been?¡±

    Ellie nodded her head at him as Seokhoon handed over the parchment that was filled with the instructions from the God of Athenae.

    The NPCs would carry out the instructions written in these parchments or they would be marked as the enemy of the God of Athenae if they ever tried to disobey.

    Ellie shook her head in thought after she read all of the contents of the parchment. Lee Seokhoon started his exnations to clear up any questions that the Empress might have.

    ¡°The God of Athenae has continuously asked the envoys to pioneer the march towards the Northern Continents. And since there are quite a number of monsters blocking our path, we are requesting the Eivelis Empire to support us with 20,000 troops.¡±

    Right when Ellie nodded her head, the door of the throne room opened as a young man jumped inside.

    ¡°Ellie noona!¡±

    ¡®D, did he just say noona?! Keok?!¡¯

    Lee Seokhoon was freaking out inside.

    Did he just call Empress Ellie, noona?! Did he say noona?!

    He thought that it was much better to call her auntie instead of that.

    ¡®I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going through this crazy guy¡¯s head but I¡¯m sure that he will end up in jail.¡¯

    As Lee Seokhoon thought of this, he turned his head to look at the user.

    The user was running towards Ellie excitedly. He felt that he was strangely¡­ familiar¡­

    It¡¯s User Minhyuk!

    ¡°Keok?!¡±

    This was the second gasp that he has unknowingly let out in a span of a minute.

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    This is a surprising revtion. So the supeputer, the God of Athenae, gives out instructions to the administrators and the administrators have to guide the NPCs as envoys of the God to update the game. Amazing. It¡¯s like Athenae is a world of its own and not just virtual reality. Well. The life-like NPCs were already amazing but to think that this was how updating works. Kek.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    This is certainly an immersive world. I¡¯m loving this so much now.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 67 - Budaejjigae Made With An Elixir

    Chapter 67: Budaejjigae Made with an Elixir

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    ¡°......What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°It, it¡¯s nothing.¡±

    Lee Seokhoon shook his head hurriedly. He was so shocked when he saw User Minhyuk earlier that he let out a strange gasp.

    ¡®What in the world is that user doing¡­¡­¡¯

    He did not know what that user was doing or what he ate but he was pretty sure that he would encounter a very big ident soon.

    However, the situation at hand proved that his thoughts werepletely wrong.

    ¡°You know that today is thest day, right? I just stopped by while I was on my way to the bathroom.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. I¡¯ll be right there shortly, you hippo.¡±

    What he expected to happen did not happen, Ellie was even watching Minhyuk with a gentle smile on her face.

    It¡¯s the smile that my mom often has!

    ¡®W, what¡¯s this?¡¯

    Seokhoon couldn¡¯t understand the situation he was in.

    As far as he could see, Minhyuk was very friendly towards the Empress in front of him. It seemed like he was treating her as if she was just an older sister that was living next door. Meanwhile, Ellie was smiling at him gently as if he was her younger brother¡­ No. As if he were her son.

    ¡®N, no. Ellie, you¡¯re the Empress!¡¯

    But noona! You¡¯re getting called noona?!

    Lee Seokhoon rubbed his aching temples.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to go back and get some more training.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    Minhyuk rushed back to the training grounds while Lee Seokhoon followed him not long after. When Lee Seokhoon got out of the throne room, Minhyuk was already nowhere in sight.

    Lee Seokhoon let out a deep sigh.

    ***

    Minhyuk began to repeatedly strike the wooden puppets with his wooden sword back at the training grounds. Today was thest day of the one-week deadline.

    sh!

    ¡°Today, I am finally!¡±

    sh!

    ¡°Going to eat!¡±

    sh!

    ¡°Budaejjigae!¡±

    Minhyuk excitedly swung his sword at the wooden puppets.

    sh!

    Craaaaack!

    [You have obtained 1 special point.]

    [You can also invest your special points on stats that can¡¯t be raised with bonus points.]

    He broke another wooden puppet with his final strike, and as usual, he invested the special point into his DEX. His DEX had risen sharply due to his training that it almost reached 360. Minhyuk was very satisfied with the results of his training.

    [One week has passed since the start of the training for Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship.]

    [You have achieved more than 100% of the invisible training progress.]

    [You have perfectly mastered Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship.]

    [The strength and power of Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship changes depending on the training progress that you have achieved.]

    [You have learnt Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship.]

    ¡®Hoo.¡¯

    So it¡¯s a special reward?

    It was only possible to receive this special reward since Minhyuk exceeded the set limit for the training progress.

    Minhyuk decided to check the detailed information about Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship right away.

    (Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship)

    Active Skill

    Rank: Unique

    Level: 1Lv

    Proficiency: 0%

    Mana Required: Depends on the chapter that will be used.

    Cooldown: Depends on the chapter that will be used.

    Effects:

    ©¥ 1st Chapter: Sword of Fury

    ©¥ 2nd Chapter: Rampant Sword

    ©¥ 3rd Chapter: Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship

    ©¥ 4th Chapter: Step

    The form and the movements of the skill were not much different from Bardy Swordsmanship so he checked on each chapter to see if there were obvious differences.

    (Sword of Fury)

    Active Skill

    Type of Swordsmanship: Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship

    Mana Required: 180

    Cooldown: 2 minutes

    Effects:

    ©¥ Additional 50% attack power to strong lunges and stabs.

    ©¥ Additional 30% attack power on vital strikes.

    (Rampant Sword)

    Active Skill

    Type of Swordsmanship: Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship

    Mana Required: 300

    Cooldown: 2 minutes

    Effects: ©¥ A flurry of rampant swords will be created with a 30% additional attack power for 5 seconds.

    (Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship)

    Active Skill

    Type of Swordsmanship: Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship

    Mana Required: 400

    Cooldown: 30 minutes

    Effects:

    ©¥ Cast time for skills will be reduced and all stats would have an increase of 15% for 5 minutes.

    ©¥ Rate of Evasion will increase by +30%.

    ©¥ Rate of Fatal Strikes will increase by +30%.

    (Step)

    Passive Skill

    Type of Swordsmanship: Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship

    Mana Required: None

    Cooldown: 3 seconds

    Effects: ©¥ Can quickly narrow or increase your distance with the opponent by 1m.

    Minhyuk thought that it was a very satisfying skill. First of all, he could see that the skills were overwhelmingly superiorpared to Bardy Swordsmanship. Furthermore, Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship could be leveled up. It meant that the skill would get higher and he would be stronger in the future.

    However, even though the skills were good, there was still one problem that caught Minhyuk¡¯s attention.

    ¡®The MP consumption¡­¡­¡¯

    It¡¯s quite high.

    Since it was stronger than Bardy Swordsmanship, it would also consume higher MP. If hepared it with Bardy Swordsmanship then his MP consumption would be around 7~10 times higher if he used Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship.

    But it was fine¡­

    ¡®I have that!¡¯

    When he received it, he just left it in his inventory since he thought that it wasn¡¯t anything delicious. However, he still had it.

    It was ¡®Minotaurus¡¯ Bone Ne¡¯.

    The moment that he put it on, he would instantly receive 1000 MP. That wasn¡¯t all; once the item was equipped his MP recovery rate would increase by x2. It would definitely be a great assist whenever he would use Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship.

    Then the door opened and Ellie came in.

    ¡°I see that you have learnt it all.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I learnt it all! Huhu, so please give me the ingredients now. This is the list.¡±

    Minhyuk handed Ellie the list of ingredients that he had listed in advance. It was as if he was waiting for it for a long time. Ellie handed the list over to a servant that was waiting outside and came back to check on Minhyuk''s training progress.

    ¡°I want to see it once.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    Minhyuk nodded readily as he approached a blue wooden puppet to show off his new skills.

    First, the Sword of Fury. His sword started to sh red.

    [Sword of Fury.]

    [There will be an additional 50% for strong lunges and stabs, if a vital strike is sessful there the additional attack power will be 80%.]

    There were no vital points that were shown unlike when he used ¡®Vital Strike¡¯ from Bardy Swordsmanship. However, Minhyuk still thought that this skill was infinitely better.

    The skill meant that if the user identally hit the vital point of their opponent then there would be an additional 30% attack power added on to the original 50% increase when the skill was used. This level was something that could never be ignored.

    Minhyuk stabbed the wooden puppet resolutely. He tried to remember the area where he first struck the wooden puppet before so it was a bit easier for him to strike right now. He stabbed the wooden puppet with all of his might.

    Fwooooooosh!

    The air felt like it was being ripped into two. The vibrations caused by the strike could even be felt in the entire training grounds.

    Ellie¡¯s eyes were shining unusually bright.

    ¡®As expected¡­¡­! It¡¯s beyond perfection!¡¯

    As soon as she thought of that, she saw Minhyuk¡¯s sword strike another blue wooden puppet.

    Craaaaack!

    The moment the sword and the wooden puppet met, the wooden puppet shattered.

    Bang!

    Tak, tak, tak©¥

    The remnants of the wooden puppet fell all around him. It might not be the same with Ellie where there were no scattered remnants of the puppet but it was still obvious to any bystander that it was a powerful strike.

    And it didn¡¯t even end there.

    Chapter 3, Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship.

    [Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship.]

    [All stats will have a 15% increase for 5 minutes.]

    [Evasion rate has increased by +30%.]

    [Fatal Strikes rate has increased by +30%.]

    The red aura surrounding Minhyuk¡¯s body started to flutter and dance. There was more¡­

    [Rampant Sword.]

    [A flurry of rampant swords with additional 30% attack power will be created for 5 seconds.]

    Minhyuk quickly jumped in the middle of the blue wooden puppets. His sword moved to strike the wooden puppets surrounding him.

    Shwaaaack!

    Shwaaaack!

    Shwaaaack!

    Minhyuk¡¯s sword was moving so fast that it was even leaving afterimages. It was extremely fast to the point that he could even make four strikes in one second!

    Shwaaaack!

    Shwaaaack!

    After his skill¡¯s casting time finished¡­

    Plop, plop, plop©¥

    Tak, tak, tak©¥

    All of the wooden puppets surrounding him were torn and broken with the pieces falling to the ground one by one.

    Minhyul could tell¡­

    Rampant Sword is a skill that¡¯s effective when I¡¯m fighting a lot of enemies and I¡¯m being surrounded. What if I level-up the skill and increase the damage?

    ¡®This strength is no joke, right?¡¯

    After thinking for a bit, he also decided to check and test out the remaining skill.

    [Step.]

    [You can quickly move to a distance of 1m away from your target.]

    Dash!

    Minhyuk just thought of moving backwards and he was already stepping back as if something was pulling him backwards. His movement speed was about three times faster than usual. It looked like it was just an ordinary skill but it was not.

    ¡®What if I use it immediately when I¡¯m in danger?¡¯

    If the skill was used right before a monsterunches its attack, you can immediately pull yourself out of immediate danger. This could also be used to quicklyunch an attack or approach a monster.

    ¡°How is it, do you like it?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I like it!¡±

    Before he learnt Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship, he thought that it was just another skill that he needed to learn. However, once he mastered the skill, he thought that it was an ability and skill that anyone would be satisfied with.

    As he turned around, he could see that Ellie was holding something in her hand. It was a ss bottle that was filled with a transparent liquid. The liquid was sloshing around in the ss bottle and it was even shimmering with a faint light.

    Ellie smiled softly and gave it to Minhyuk.

    ***

    Team Leader Park Mingyu and the new employee Lee Minhwa were eating in the cafeteria when the team leader of the Development Team, Lee Seokhoon, sat in front of them and sighed loudly.

    ¡°Ha¡­¡­ I know now why Team Leader Park is having such a hard time with User Minhyuk.¡±

    ¡°......What are you talking about?¡±

    Team Leader Park and Lee Minhwa were looking at him strangely. They have yet to know what happened since the Special Users Management Team did not look at the users everyday. The only thing that they knew was that he was building favorability with Ellie and training his swordsmanship at an rming rate.

    Team Leader Lee Seokhoon did not leave them hanging and exined to them what happened in the pce. Team Leader Park jumped to his feet and put his hands over his shoulders.

    ¡°Now¡­¡­ Now you understand why I¡¯m having a hard time whenever I talk about that user, right?¡±

    ¡°......I understand. Ah, How are you going to handle him? No, he even calls the Empress noona.¡±

    Team Leader Lee Seokhoon tapped Team Leader Park¡¯s hand. After they finished eating their meals, they stood up and went together to the Special Users Management Team.

    ? ¡°Let¡¯s get a cup of coffee and talk a bit more about that user.¡±

    They went inside the Special Users Management Team with those words.

    When Lee Minhwa turned on her monitor screen, they were just in time to see User Minhyuk, the user that they were just talking about.

    Then, her eyes suddenly opened wide in surprise.

    ¡°Team, Team Leader Park.¡±

    ¡°Why? Did User Minhyuk do something amazing again?¡±

    ¡°Something big must have happened again~¡±

    They were just saying it as a joke but Lee Minhwa nodded her head seriously at their remarks.

    ¡°Yes¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°What?!¡±

    ¡°Heob?!¡±

    Team Leader Lee and Team Leader Park quickly turned their heads to look at the monitor. The notification that popped up left them gaping in surprise¡­

    [The Sword Emperor Ellie gives User Minhyuk the Empire¡¯s Elixir as a present.]

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    The Empire¡¯s Elixir.

    Team Leader Lee and Team Leader Park¡¯s eyes met over the monitor after confirming it over and over again.

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    You really shouldn¡¯t impose your standards on him. LOL. he¡¯ll just break it over and over again. KEK.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    I feel bad for the devs. Imagining a yer just one-upping everything you nned for would be frustrating. Fun to read though.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 68 - Budaejjigae Made With An Elixir

    Chapter 68: Budaejjigae Made with an Elixir

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    ¡°T, the elixir¡­¡­?¡±

    ¡°Hahaha¡­¡­¡±

    The both of them wore looks of dejection on their faces as theyughed dispiritedly.

    The Empire¡¯s Elixir.

    It¡¯s the Empress¡¯ reward that can only be given to one, and only one person alone!

    But this was not how it was supposed to be originally received. The user should first receive the linked quest ¡®Empire¡¯s Elixir¡¯ and calmly go through a step-by-step process before finally receiving the reward. Furthermore, they were expecting the Empire¡¯s Elixir to be revealed at a muchter time.

    Receiving the Empire¡¯s Elixir meant that the Empress had acknowledged the user and would continue to treat them as if they were the closest of friends. In addition, the user that would receive this reward might be able to receive various quests that were rted to the Eivelis Empire.

    ¡°This is how the best medicine in the country should be revealed.¡±

    Medicine.

    This was an item that was created through the efforts of the operators and administrators. It was an extremely effective item that could be ingested by the users. Medicines could be in the form of a liquid like the Empire¡¯s Elixir. In addition, there were plenty of other medicines that could be found all throughout the game like the thousand-year-old ginseng, ten thousand-year-old knotweed, mandragora, and Ogre¡¯s energy herb. What was certain about this kind of item was the significant change that the user would undergo once it was ingested.

    One of the reasons why medicine is considered to be much more valuablepared to other items was the fact that it could strengthen the stats of a character once it was ingested. It could also greatly increase the damage or the magical defense of the user. Unlike items that needed to be equipped for the increase in stats to take effect, ingesting a medicine is a long term solution to stats increase and strengthening.

    And among all of those medicines, Empire¡¯s Elixir was considered to be the most special.

    Team Leader Park suddenly said¡­

    ¡°He¡¯s going to drink the Empire¡¯s Elixir right away, right? He¡¯s not going to do something weird and crazy with it?¡±

    The two of them stared intently on the screen with doubts shing in their eyes.

    ***

    [You can now receive Empire¡¯s Elixir.]

    [You can now receive Empire-rted quests from the quest guide located in the pce.]

    [You have gained 10 reputation points.]

    Ellie was smiling at him gently.

    Empire¡¯s Elixir.

    It was a special medicine that only the Empress could have and she wanted to give it to Minhyuk.

    ¡°I¡¯ll drink it well!¡±

    Minhyuk received it readily. He did not know anything about the elixir but there was something that he was sure of¡­

    ¡®It can be eaten!¡¯

    Ellie smiled gently at him without knowing what was going through his mind.

    ¡°You need to be stronger so you can eat more delicious food.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re absolutely right.¡±

    She wanted to help this foreigner named Minhyuk in the future just like how he helped her.

    Helped me? That¡¯s funny.

    He just made herugh, approached her with friendliness and got her surprised with how much effort he gives in every little thing. However, those simple acts were something that touched her deeply. And for Ellie who had no friends at all, he was like a safe haven. A person she could rx with and enjoy theirpany. He was the sole ¡®healing¡¯ for her, the Empress who was bound by the responsibilities and mission of protecting the people of her Empire.

    ¡°Go and check its information.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    Minhyuk hurriedly read the contents of the information about the item.

    (Empire¡¯s Elixir)

    Material Grade: Medicine

    Special Abilities: +180 increase on the stat that you need once consumed.

    Description: The best medicine that you could receive from Ellie, the Empress of the Eivelis Empire. The Empire¡¯s Elixir can increase the stat that a user needs by +180 once it is consumed, it¡¯s just some special water but it¡¯s much more delicious than any water.

    Such an unusual item.

    The Empire¡¯s Elixir could recognize and raise the stat that a user needs by +180.

    ¡®Medicine?¡¯

    Minhyuk tilted his head in thought. To be honest, this was the first time for him to encounter any information about medicine in the game.

    At that moment, Ruth came in with the ingredients that he requested. When Minhyuk caught sight of the ingredients, a thought suddenly came through in his mind¡­

    ¡®Wait¡­¡­! C, can I use the elixir to make the broth of the budaejjigae?¡¯

    After all, it said that it¡¯s much more delicious than water¡­

    It was written clearly.

    Much more delicious¡­

    The description said that it was just some special water but it was much more delicious than any water.

    It¡¯s water but it tastes better, right?!

    Minhyuk was wondering if it was possible as he quickly took the ss of Empire¡¯s Elixir in his arms.

    ¡°Are you not going to drink it right away?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll drink itter when I get thirsty.¡±

    ¡°I see. When will you depart?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going to take a day off today and leave tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°I see. Then I¡¯ll give you one room for today, hippo. And Minhyuk¡­¡±

    Minhyuk stopped in his tracks when she grabbed his hands and stroked it gently.

    ¡®What¡¯s wrong with this noona?¡¯

    Minhyuk was both surprised and taken aback at her actions.

    I have to go and eat budaejjigae!

    What Ellie did nextpletely surprised Minhyuk. She slowly bowed down and gentlyid a kiss on the back of his hand.

    At that moment¡­

    [Ellie¡¯s Kiss.]

    [A mark of friendship has been engraved.]

    [You can now ask for Ellie¡¯s help anywhere and anytime you need. Can only be used once.]

    ¡°Whenever you need my help, just rub this mark on the back of your hand and I¡¯lle to your aid immediately.¡±

    The mark that was engraved on the back of his hand was the figure of a Phoenix.

    After finishing this matter, Ellie quickly moved away to attend to her busy schedule while Minhyuk took the big box filled with ingredients.

    Minhyuk happily sang lulla~ as he followed behind Ruth that was guiding him towards the room prepared for him.

    ***

    Minhyuk looked at all the ingredients that he was preparing happily.

    He quickly prepared the sliced spam and long ham, the dumplings filled with ground pork and the rich and savory cheese. He also prepared the soft and chewy rice cake and the vorful ripe kimchi and pickled onions. He then made a simple spicy sauce by mixing the appropriate amount of gochujang and red pepper powder together.

    After finishing his preparations, he ced all of his ingredients in a wide pot specially made for stew. He smiled happily as he filled the pot well. Then, he opened a disposable container pack that said ¡®Thick Beef Bone Soup¡¯. If he made budaejjigae with thick beef bone soup as the stock the stew would have a much deeper and tastier vor.

    He poured the beef bone soup on a separate bowl.

    Now for my most anticipated ingredient!

    The Empire¡¯s Elixir that was much more delicious than any water!

    He pulled the stopper off of the ss bottle.

    Pop!

    ¡°Kyaa, what a good sound!¡±

    Minhyuk smiled happily when he heard the lively sound. Then, he poured the MSG(?)-like Empire¡¯s Elixir over the beef bone soup and mixed it well. After he mixed his soup stock well, he added the sauce that he made earlier and poured it in the middle of the pot.

    Finally, he turned the heat on and let the stew boil.

    Once the soup started to boil, Minhyuk picked his spoon up as he took a sip of the soup.

    ¡°Hoo! Hoo!¡±

    He blew on his spoon to cool down the soup a bit before taking a big sip out of the soup.

    ¡°As expected, it¡¯s still a bit in.¡±

    Budaejjigae was a dish that tastes better and well-seasoned the longer you boiled it. It was usually a dish that was made better with the addition of ramyeon noodles. People usually added the noodles once the soup started to boil.

    Minhyuk opened the ramen noodles and ced them in the pot. Then, he pressed the noodles with hisdle to soak it with the soup little by little. Once the noodles were cooked, he stirred it with his chopsticks. Once the stew was cooked, it was best to taste the ramyeon noodles first.

    Steam rose as he lifted some ramyeon noodles out of the pot and ced it on a bowl. Then, he scooped out some of the red soup and ham and ced it together with his noodles.

    Minhyuk mped the noodles with his chopsticks, then¡­

    ¡°Sluuuuuuuuuuurp!¡±

    Since the noodles were properly soaked and cooked in the budaejjigae soup, the noodles became soft and chewy. Eating the savory and chewy noodles made him feel good.

    His second bite of the noodles were apanied by kimchi and ham.

    ¡°Sluuuuuuuuuuurp!¡±

    Thebination of the springy ham and well-cooked kimchi and chewy noodles created a fantasticbination.

    ¡°Ah, it¡¯s perfect!¡±

    After letting out such an exmation, he lowered the heat as he scooped up some rice on his bowl. He took a big bite of the rice followed by a spoonful of soup together with some stretchy cheese. The savory vor of the cheese and the spicy and ham-vored soup made him smile as soon as he took a big bite.

    ¡°Kyaha!¡±

    His attention was then directed towards the thick egg roll that he prepared earlier before he started making his budaejjigae. This egg roll was of course made from the eggs of the golden eggying chicken.

    He picked a thick piece of the egg roll and dipped it in the catsup. Once the egg roll entered his mouth, he could taste the sweet and mild taste of the catsup along with the soft and light texture of the eggs.

    ¡°Excellent, it¡¯s really fantastic!¡±

    That was how Minhyuk¡¯s mukbang continued.

    ***

    Ellie looked extremely busy as she moved from one ce to another.

    ¡°I¡¯ll meet with Marquis Brater to talk about the Northern Territories. Ruth, take good care of that boy Minhyuk on my behalf.¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡±

    Not long after, Ellie moved towards the warp zone and disappeared leaving Ruth heaving a big sigh.

    ¡®I never thought that she would give him the Empire¡¯s Elixir¡­¡­¡¯

    There was only one Empire¡¯s Elixir in the entirety of the Empire, however it was a proof in and of itself of the prosperity of the Eivelis Empire.

    He did not expect Ellie to give it away to Minhyuk so readily that was why it kept on bothering Ruth. However, he still decided to ept her decision.

    ¡®Because it¡¯s what her Majesty decided to do.¡¯

    His steps moved him towards the room where Minhyuk was staying.

    ¡®Since he stayed in the training grounds for a week, he should definitely be sleeping, right? I should go in quietly just in case.¡¯

    He opened the door silently. And the moment he entered¡­

    ¡°......?¡±

    ¡°......chew?¡±

    His eyes widened in surprise. He was quite sure that he was sleeping but he saw him almost done eating budaejjigae and egg rolls.

    Ruth¡¯s eyes widened further when he saw the empty bottle of the Empire¡¯s Elixir rolling next to the almost empty pot of budaejjigae.

    ¡°My goodness! Who would make budaejjigae using the Empire¡¯s Elixir?!¡±

    The shock and surprise Ruth felt almost left him senseless.

    No, how could there be such a crazy guy?!

    ¡°Ellie noona gave it to me so I can eat it anyway I want!¡±

    ¡°No, it just doesn¡¯t make any sense! Don¡¯t you know that you can¡¯t use medicine for cooking?!¡±

    ¡°......Is that so? No, why did youe inside without knocking, and you¡¯re even scolding me? I¡¯m going to tell this to Ellie noona!¡±

    Ruth¡¯s demeanor quickly changed when he heard Minhyuk¡¯s remarks.

    ¡°N, no. What I wanted to ask was¡­ did you enjoy it? Hehe, w, was it delicious? A budaejjigae made from the Empire¡¯s Elixir.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s extremely delicious! Kghhk!¡±

    ¡®This budaejjigae crazy punk!¡¯

    However, Minhyuk looked at him curiously.

    ¡°Do you mind if I ask you about something?¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    Minhyuk furtively looked at his lower half.

    ¡°......Did it hurt a lot?¡±

    ¡°Cough!¡±

    Ruth coughed loudly.

    ¡°The times have changed. They already use chemicals to numb the pain these days. No¡­¡­ Why am I even exining this to you?¡±

    Minhyuk stood up and approached him, his eyes were watery and filled with pity.

    ¡°......Was it difficult?¡±

    His eyes and his voice¡­

    Ruth was suddenly ovee with sadness. He bowed his head as if to hide his wet eyes.

    He looks like he will wipe his tears away with his arms at any moment!

    ¡°Yes¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk patted him on the back as if he was telling him ¡®Cheer up!¡¯ in his own way. Then he whispered quietly.

    ¡°Were you standing or sitting down when it happened?¡±

    ¡°If they¡¯re in a good mood then you can sit down, and when they¡¯re in a bad mood then you remain standing up.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    The mystery(?) that was bothering him since earlier has been solved.

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    I¡­ I¡¯m left speechless with how their conversation ended up¡­ My goodness Minhyuk. Your curiosity will be the death of me! Hahahahah.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Uh...what happened at the end there? Never thought the food-obsessed Minhyuk would think about such things.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 69 - Budaejjigae Made With An Elixir

    Chapter 69: Budaejjigae Made with Elixir

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Minhyuk ate thest egg roll after Ruth left the room.

    ¡°Are we not supposed to use the medicine in cooking?¡±

    He was unaware of the importance of the item that was in his hands that was why Ruth lectured him on its importance and why it should never be used in cooking before he went out.

    ¡®The medicine is some sort of special food that can only be eaten by only a single person. To prevent the sharing and dividing of the essence of the medicine, it will be ineffective if it¡¯s cooked.¡¯

    Of course, even if he knew the importance of the medicine, he would still use it in cooking.

    Right at that moment, a series of notifications popped up in front of him.

    [You have eaten budaejjigae made with the Empire¡¯s Elixir.]

    [The Food Fighter¡¯s Greatness.]

    [The penalty for the medicine has been ignored. However, this does not work for many people.]

    [A Medicine Dish. You have obtained additional stats.]

    [You have gained +180 DEX and +20 Will.]

    ¡°Oh¡­¡­!¡±

    The delicious dishes and the medicine dish gave him an additional +20 in his stats due to the effects of Food Fighter¡¯s Greatness.

    And the notifications did not even end there¡­

    [You have achieved 400 Dexterity Points. All skills and abilities rted to Dexterity will have a 10% improvement.]

    [You have achieved 500 Dexterity Points. All skills and abilities rted to Dexterity will have a 10% improvement.]

    [You have achieved 50 Will Points. You have mastered the passive skill, Will.]

    ¡°Oho!¡±

    All of his skills that were rted to dexterity was improved by 10% due to achieving milestones in the points that he had invested on the stat. His skills improved by a total of 20%.

    There was one reason why Minhyuk was so happy with this development¡­

    My farming skills will definitely improve because of this.

    Minhyuk might not realize this but he was already leagues beyond the other users in terms of special benefits.

    One reason was him being able to acquire all skills rted to DEX. It was the same with Len, who became a master-ss chef through various jobs rted with DEX. Because he learnt from Len, he was able to learn all skills rted to dexterity. And all of those skills would have a 20% boost in improvement.

    He quickly browsed through his intermediate farming skill. Last time, he invested one of the skill points he got through Ellie in here. He did not invest his skill points on the Food God¡¯s Cooking Skills because he couldn¡¯t use general skill points to increase the level of the skill. And once he invested the skill point in beginner¡¯s farming skill, it improved and became intermediate farming skill.

    (Intermediate Farming)

    Passive Skill

    Level: 1

    Effects:

    ©¥ Collecting materials and ingredients and digging will be 60+12% faster.

    ©¥ There will be a 30+6% chance of digging up good materials.

    ©¥ There will be a 2+0.4% chance of digging up special materials.

    ©¥ You can grow various things by nting a seed.

    ¡°Yeah!¡±

    His skill had certainly improved by 20%, he did not know about these benefits before so he was feeling good just by looking at them.

    Minhyuk then looked at his new skill, Will. In fact, this was the first time Minhyuk have heard that a stat could be a skill so he was quite curious about its effects.

    (Will)

    Passive Skill

    Level: 1

    Condition for Leveling Up: Increase the Will stat by 50 points.

    Effects:

    ©¥ Whenever you exert your utmost efforts, passion, determination and indomitable will your fatigue will disappear and your mentality and consciousness will clear up. You will also experience a 10~30% improvement on your abilities rted to Dexterity for 1 hour.

    ©¥ It will increase your Will acquisition rate.

    It was literally the Will stat but it was in the form of a skill. The only difference between the two was that he could only vaguely feel the effects when it was still a stat, but right now the effects are quite clear to him. But with this skill, Minhyuk was sure that he would definitely be able to use Will whenever he tried hard and focused on something.

    Minhyuk closed the skills window with a satisfied smile on his face. After he finished looking through all of his skills he went to the bed and furrowed himself in its confines.

    ¡°As expected! The best thing to do after eating and cleaning up is lying down in bed!¡±

    I ate a delicious budaejjigae and received different things while I was staying in the pce!

    As he continued to lie down on the bed, Minhyuk decided to open Athenae¡¯s official homepage and browse through and search for articles rted to his quest for fish.

    ¡®Food found in the sea.¡¯

    When he searched for that, tons of rted search words and articles popped up on his screen.

    [Nims, I heard the sound of a Kraken yesterday. Here¡¯s a certification.]

    ¡°Oh?¡±

    A Kraken is a Lv300 high-leveled boss monster and it was considered to be a fairly strong monster. It was also safe to say that it looked like a big, giant octopus.

    When that thought crossed Minhyuk¡¯s mind, he couldn¡¯t stop himself from drooling.

    ¡°Slurp!¡±

    After gulping down and wiping off his saliva, he clicked on the article to read more and check on its details.

    It turned out that the thing that the user said in his certification was not a Kraken, however, it was still its distant rtive. The thing that got caught in the user¡¯s fishing rod was a small webfoot octopus.

    ¡°Oh, webfoot octopus sounds delicious. Wow, I can¡¯t help but think of stir-fried webfoot octopus!¡±

    However, contrary to Minhyuk¡¯s expectations, thements under the article were all negative.

    [SeafoodMarketUncle: Is your fishing level only at Lv1? Why learn fishing if it¡¯s only at that level? That¡¯s a waste of your skill slot.

    SerKingKangTaegong: I agree. Fishing is one of the most trash skills in the production ss that you can learn. Why would you even learn that?

    ActionBall: Nims, wouldn¡¯t the quality of the materials and ingredients that you will be able to catch increase if your fishing level increases? They say that it would be good to sell it to the chefs.

    SerKingKangTaegong: I used to really like fishing so I learned fishing here to make it my job. I really liked it to the point that I even called myself ¡®FishingKingKangTaegong¡¯ but it¡¯s really different here. In real life, you can catch a lot of fish, right? But here, we can¡¯t even catch 20% of what we can in real life¡­¡­ And the material grade? You need to catch at least 20 materials before even getting one C rank material. Fishing is a pit, it¡¯s really bad.]

    There were a lot of negativements about fishing however, Minhyuk only saw the things that could be caught in the sea.

    It wasn¡¯t only the webfoot octopus, one could even catch blue crabs using a fishing rod(?). He could catch a variety of seafood once he arrived at the sea. Minhyuk decided that he has to learn how to fish amidst all of the negativements guing the said skill.

    However, a post soon caught his eyes.

    [You need to be at Lv200 to hunt in the lowest level hunting ground, Barmil Sea.]

    ¡°Eok?!¡±

    He was now faced with a great hurdle in his quest for seafood.

    I can only go there if I¡¯m at Lv200? What the hell does that mean?

    When he searched for more information, he finally realized the reason why.

    The sea was filled with strong monsters that were totally differentpared to those onnd and hunting could only be enjoyed by high-leveled yers who were well-versed in the deep sea.

    In other words, Minhyuk was someone who was severely restricted both in his level and strength.

    Minhyuk was a bit disappointed that he could not get directly to the sea but he still shook his head and thought positively.

    ¡®I¡¯m heading to the Kingdom of Barras anyway.¡¯

    When he was on his way to the Emperor¡¯s City, Prasell, he received a quest from the coachman Baran to meet with the ¡®cksmith Ron¡¯. ording to Baran, Ron had specially hard toe by ingredients on his hands.

    He was curious about those cooking ingredients so he decided to go and visit him, besides he also would be going to the Chef¡¯s tower to sell his misceneous items and buy other ingredients.

    Minhyuk also knew that the kingdom has a lot of quests avable for different production sses like quests for cksmiths, quests for chefs and even quests for seamstresses.

    And he was able to confirm one fact when he searched through the official homepage...

    ¡®There¡¯s a lot of cooking quests avable in the Kingdom of Barras!¡¯

    A lot of cooking ingredients seemed to run out so there were a lot of quests that asked users to hunt the monsters in the vicinity of the kingdom to replenish their ingredients. Of course, the ingredients were mostly ordinary and simple ones but for Minhyuk having a delicious meal was much more importantpared to those worries.

    ¡°Great! I¡¯ll have a good rest today and leave tomorrow!¡±

    Also, the Kingdom of Barras had a good rtionship with Eivelis Empire. And its location was also extremely close to the Empire. Due to its close proximity, Ruth had exined before that anyone could take the warp gate in the pce to get to the Kingdom of Barras.

    It was a special warp gate that was not open to ordinary users! But Minhyuk was given special permission to use it.

    Not long after, Minhyuk fell sound asleep on thefortable bed.

    A scene from ¡®One Lucky Day [1]¡¯ appeared in his dreams. It was the scene where Kim Cheom-ji¡¯s wife couldn¡¯t eat ox bone soup.

    Minhyuk quietly murmured in his sleep¡­

    ¡°Dirty old hag¡­¡­ You should just give me the ox bone soup¡­¡­ Nyam¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was definitely doing bad things in his dreams.

    ***

    Brony wasughing wildly.

    ¡°Keuhahahahaha! I really caught one hell of a catch today!¡±

    ¡°Wow, isn¡¯t that amazing? I didn¡¯t expect that for these low-leveled users and NPC merchants.¡±

    Ilten, who was standing next to him, responded to his words.

    They just finished killing off and looting the NPCs and users they came across on the top of the mountain. Even though the scale was small, there was arge difference between novice merchants and their small gang. Since the amount of things that low-leveled merchants could carry were small they did not expect much profits when they attacked. However, there were a lot of good things that dropped from these novices.

    ¡°Come to think of it, that user from earlier had a good name. He was a novice but how can he drop so much good stuff?¡±

    ¡°Keuhuhu. What does it matter? But what was he saying earlier?¡±

    ¡°My right hand is going crazy¡­¡­? Or something like that.¡±

    ¡°Crazy bastard.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I think so too.¡±

    Brony twirled his finger on the side of his head as if to motion his craziness.

    ¡°It¡¯s time to leave this ce and go to Amenta.¡±

    Brony and his colleagues were part of the Horden Guild.

    Horden Guild.

    It was a guild filled with yers with bad etiquettes and manners. It was a normal urrence for them to kill NPCs and loot them. There was also no hesitation for their members to steal a dungeon or the field as long as they got paid for it. Aside from these looting activities, they would also dly ept requests that otherrge-scale guilds wouldn¡¯t normally take.

    Afterughing wildly for quite some time, Brony¡¯s forehead suddenly crumpled in annoyance.

    ¡°Shit, that ¡®Right Hand¡¯ bastard seems strangely familiar to me.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°I think I¡¯ve seen him from somewhere before?¡±

    Brony tried hard to recall where he had seen that strangely familiar face from.

    ¡°Ah, he looks like that damn bastard!¡±

    When Brony eximed and pped his hands together, Ilten looked at him strangely.

    ¡®It was my dark history.¡¯

    Brony did not say much about what he remembered but the memories of that time still resurfaced in his head.

    ¡®Was it around that time during middle school?¡¯

    He was no different from what he was right now back when he was in middle school. He was yourmon typical bad guy who bullies others and pocketed their schoolmates¡¯ money.

    It happened when he was extorting money with his friends.

    ¡®Are you Kang Minhyuk from ss 3? I heard that you suddenly went on a rampage and called us up on the rooftop.¡¯

    He recalled that Minhyuk was the president of the student council. He was handsome and had good grades so he thought that he was just your usual run of the mill eomchinah [2]. So twenty people went up together with Brony to step down and tried to intimidate him. However, at that time, something surprising happened to them.

    ¡®Was it around 15? I think he knocked out 15 people all by himself at that time.¡¯

    He thought that everything was over after that, but starting the next day he would attack him with around 2~3 people every day. Itsted for a whole 3 months. They wouldunch a surprise attack and hide behind the crowds after. But Minhyuk would just call out to them and the oue would always be the same.

    It was at that time that he realized it painfully.

    ¡®If you touch that bastard then he would X you over so I begged my friends to stop¡­¡­¡¯

    Brony turned dizzy when he recalled that painful memory.

    ¡®That damn bastard. He was really a freak.¡¯

    After that incident, the tables had turned and Minhyuk started to extort money from them. Other people did not know what they went through and thought that it was just a funny anecdote.

    In fact, Brony and his friends thought that he was just like them. They thought that he was also trying to fill his stomach by extorting money but after quite some time they found out¡­

    ¡®He said that he used the money he extorted from us to support starving children, I think?¡¯

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] One Lucky Day is a novel written by Hyun Jin-Geon in 1924. It¡¯s a realistic novel and was adapted into a feature film by EBS in 2014 (A Luck Day and Spring).

    [2] Eomchinah: Mom¡¯s friend''s son, a term used when moms oftenpared their sons to other moms sons.

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    I mean¡­ what a twist. LOL. the bullied became the bully. Well. Just what you¡¯d expect from someone who trained a lot. He could take alone 15 bullies.

    Also, please do not extort money from other people. Bullying is bad no matter the excuse you have for doing it.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Right hand bes crazy...well, well, looks like ck Dragon¡¯s still up and at it. Can¡¯t wait to see what happens to Minhyuk¡¯s dad.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 70 - Cha Chapagetti~

    Chapter 70: Cha Chapagetti~

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    24 Cha Chapagetti~

    He was really a strange punk. It was normal for kids their age back then to buy branded padding or hang out with their friends if they had the extra money but he said that he used it to support starving and malnourished children.

    It was absolutely ridiculous.

    And since he thought that he couldn¡¯t continuously lose money like that, he went ahead and told his father about it. His father was an owner of a well-selling business. That day, when his father talked to Minhyuk¡¯s father on the phone, he contemted before talking to him.

    ¡®I¡¯m not going to ask you guys about the money but please don¡¯t do it in the future anymore. And please don¡¯t make any trouble with him.¡¯

    Brony tilted his head in confusion back then.

    His father was a prideful man and he was a man who hated to lose. His father turned pale when he spoke on the phone so Brony asked him.

    ¡®What the hell does that guy¡¯s dad do?¡¯

    ¡®He doesn¡¯t want to tell you that. I¡¯m asking you once again, please don¡¯t get into trouble with him. I won¡¯t be able to handle the repercussions if anything goes wrong.¡¯

    That was what his father told him. At that time, his father looked like he was under great tension and he even scolded him greatly.

    Why did you even get in trouble with such a child?

    Four months after that incident, he transferred schools and heard no news about him ever since then.

    ¡®What the hell does that guy¡¯s dad do? It¡¯s been a long time so I should go and ask Dad.¡¯

    When Brony finished recalling his dark history, a whisper suddenly came to him.

    [Card: This is Horden Guild¡¯s Brony, right?]

    Brony¡¯s eyes narrowed to a slit.

    It¡¯s Brony-nim and just Brony?!

    [Brony: yeye. That¡¯s right. Who the X are you, you bastard?]

    [Card: I¡¯m Ares Guild¡¯s Card.]

    ¡°......?¡±

    Brony flinched when he read the whisper.

    Ares Guild?

    It was one of the top four guilds in the country. Furthermore, he believed that he had heard of the name Card before. He tried to go back on his memories and recall where he had heard of it.

    ¡°Card, who¡¯s Card again?¡±

    ¡°Card? Are you talking about the Card that is 2nd in the cksmith¡¯s ranking?

    ¡°......Heok?!¡±

    The members of the Horden Guild were around Lv 100 and the guildmaster, Brony, was at Lv200. Of course, due to the nature of the production ss, User Card would definitely be at a lower level. But he was also known with a different name¡­

    Godly Hands.

    I heard that he could make rare and unique items with the touch of his hands.

    He was also the third user to produce an epic artifact in the country. And it happened not too long ago. However, he was also famous for not showing his face to the public.

    The fact that he sent a whisper to him meant that he went through the trouble of finding out the code of the users with the same name as him. In other words, he wanted to request amission.

    [Brony: Ah, is that so. I¡¯m sorry for my rudeness. Excuse me, but why is Card-nim looking for me¡­¡­?]

    [Card: I heard that you eptmissions and requests that¡¯s a bit difficult for others to do.]

    [Brony: Yes, that¡¯s correct.]

    Brony¡¯s eyes narrowed into slits.

    The 2nd in the cksmith¡¯s Ranking and a man with a high position in one of the 4 top ranking guilds in the country sent a whisper to him.

    Brony quickly sent him another whisper.

    [Brony: Is themission strictly confidential?]

    [Card: You¡¯re quick on the uptake. I hope that no information about my guild will be released and that no one else will know that I requested this.]

    A dirty job that he needed to hide even with his guild!

    He had a hunch that it had something to do with killing users or NPCs.

    [Brony: I see. How much will you pay me?]

    [Card: 1 billion gold.]

    ¡°......!¡±

    Brony¡¯s eyes widened in shock.

    This must be much more serious than what I thought.

    Another whisper came from Card¡­

    [Card: It¡¯s in the Kingdom of Barras.]

    ***

    Harmel was a woman working at the Points Exchange counter at the Chef¡¯s Tower.

    There¡¯s a lot of users lined up today too.

    And then¡­¡­

    ¡°Ack?! That¡¯s all I can get for 2,000 points?!¡±

    ¡°Yes, we¡¯re sorry dumb customer¡­¡­ No! Dear customer-nim! We can¡¯t do anything about it since it¡¯s a set rule.¡±

    ¡°Cheapskates, you guys are cheapskates!¡±

    They said that the customers were always right but what you could usually exchange with your points were usually only from a small selection. The administrators and operators have revealed before that the selection of choices for the point exchange would increase if the amount of points that a user would exchange was high.

    This was because the points would expire every six months. In other words, it was impossible for users to umte your points for 1 or 2 years before going to the exchange counter. Therefore, if the user exchanged a great amount of points it meant that they either gained special points or they were able to contribute great achievements. If they brought the citizens of the country more benefits it meant that they would also receive plenty of points.

    One user after another exchanged their points in the exchange counter. Another user came in to exchange their points.

    ¡®What¡¯s with this person?¡¯

    Her eyebrows furrowed but she quickly straightened them out.

    She saw him holding something in his hands.

    It was half a watermelon.

    When she looked closely, it was half a watermelon that was filled with hwachae [1]. It was filled with fruit cocktails together with some sparkling cider and white milk.

    The man was tightly holding a fork as he munched on the sliced watermelons and fruits in his hwachae.

    ¡°Hello!¡±

    ¡°Yes~ Please present your point coin.¡±

    ¡°Point coin?¡±

    ¡°Yes. This must be your first time in the tower.¡±

    It was usually first time users who weren¡¯t aware of the point coins.

    ¡°Your point coin will appear if you reach your hand out and say ¡®Point Coin¡¯. We will be able to measure and count your points with that coin.¡±

    ¡°Aah. Yes. Point coin. Oooooh! It¡¯s real!¡±

    The man handed his coin over to Harmel after it appeared. Then, Harmel squeezed the point coin and tried to concentrate hard. She would be able check the amount of points the user had if she concentrated hard and injected her mana in the point coin.

    ¡°Crunch, crunch, crunch!¡±

    However, the sounding in front of Harmel made it hard for her to concentrate. Harmel opened her eyes to see that the man was happily munching on the red watermelon.

    ¡®I, it looks delicious.¡¯

    It was difficult to find watermelon these days since it was already winter.

    Watermelon is a sweet fruit that has a lot of water content. As soon as he chewed on it, the crunchy texture and the sweet juices of the watermelon would pop out in his mouth. In addition, he would also eat other fruits in the fruit cocktail. After savoring the vor of the fruits, the man would lift half the watermelon and drink the sweet mixture of the cider and milk.

    ¡°Gulp, gulp, gulp. Keuhaaa!¡±

    ¡°I, it looks delicious, dear customer-nim!¡±

    ¡°Yes. It¡¯s really, really delicious!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think that I look a bit tired? You see, I¡¯m working hard on a golden Saturday. Don¡¯t you think I deserve a bite of watermelon¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes? But if a beautiful woman like you eats watermelon then it will get stuck in your teeth, right? Then, are you going to eat it with just your tongue? But we want to only see the beauty and elegance of the woman named Harmel. Which includes your cute fleshy(?) tongue. Huhu¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh, oh my¡­¡­¡±

    She ced a strand of her hair behind her ears andughed shyly with a ¡®hoho¡¯.

    Then the man saw the candy ced on the desk and asked her¡­

    ¡°Ooooh. Can I eat some of this?¡±

    ¡°Yes. It¡¯s a service so you can eat as much as you like.¡±

    ¡°......You¡¯re not going to regret it, right? I can really eat as much as I like?¡±

    How many could you eat, one or two?

    She thought of this as she yfully answered him.

    ¡°Even if you eat enough to pull out a pir out of the candy factory, the Chef¡¯s Tower will not say anything~¡±

    ¡°Oooooh. Thanks.¡±

    He opened a candy and ced one in his mouth as he started chewing on it.

    ¡°Crunch, crunch!¡±

    Harmel, who was trying hard to concentrate again, talked to him.

    ¡°......That, I¡¯m sorry. Can you please let me concentrate? It¡¯s a bit difficult to measure the points.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯ll be quiet.¡±

    Then the man tried to remain silent but she could hear the man start peeling candies one after the other. She couldn¡¯t concentrate at all so she opened her eyes to look at what he was doing.

    Rumbleeee!

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaang!¡±

    Almost 20 candies were poured in his mouth as he chewed on it.

    ¡°Do you think candies are like popcorn¡­¡­ I¡¯m going to check your points inside!¡±

    Harmel thought that she wouldn¡¯t be able to concentrate and measure his points if it continued like this so she quickly went inside to measure.

    [The Point Coin is being measured.]

    [100¡­¡­ 235¡­¡­ 385¡­¡­]

    The points were starting to get measured as Harmel thought of something.

    ¡®You can¡¯t get watermelon anywhere right now. Wow, hwachae really looks delicious. Why did he eat it so deliciously?¡¯

    [1,245¡­¡­ 2,146¡­¡­]

    ¡°Oh, he collected more than what I thought?¡±

    It was quite arge amount of points collected for a first-timer in the tower. However, not long after, Harmel¡¯s eyes started to grow wider and wider in shock.

    [5,211¡­¡­ 6,145¡­¡­ 8,131¡­¡­]

    ¡°Eok?!¡±

    She had no choice but to exim in astonishment.

    Then, the figures came outpletely.

    [There are 15,200 points.]

    ¡°Impossible!¡±

    She was shocked.

    It was quite an unprecedented event for a user to exchange 15,200 points on their first time in the tower.

    When she came out after measuring his points, she saw him holding another bag of candy which he asked to get refilled from another employee as he said¡­

    ¡°This candy is so delicious!¡±

    ¡®This person¡­¡­ is strange¡­¡­¡¯

    ***

    Team Leader Park and Lee Minhwa were looking at the monitors with a rather solemn expression on their faces.

    ¡°15,000 points¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Incidentally, the points are somewhat simr.¡±

    The monitor that the two of them were looking at was showing User Minhyuk.

    ¡°The points match the price for the hidden piece, right?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not that easy. In fact, it¡¯s a bit hard to get that thing since it¡¯s quite an impossible task for a user with 15,000 points toe to the Chef¡¯s Tower.¡±

    In fact, it¡¯s also rare for a user to umte 15,000 points even in the Combat Tower.

    ¡°No, but we still don¡¯t know how it will turn out yet.¡±

    Lee Minhwa knew the reason why Team Leader Park denied it just now.

    ¡®It¡¯s really a loss for someone to achieve a hidden piece like that.¡¯

    The Chef¡¯s Tower was hiding a hidden piece. It could only be achieved if someone uses 15,000 points to buy insignificant things in the tower¡¯s point exchange. In fact, there weren¡¯t a lot of people who would gamble with just the exnation written in the items. After all 15,000 points was a huge amount of wealth.

    However, Lee Minhwa was thinking differently.

    ¡®That user likes to eat delicious food the most¡­¡­¡¯

    She looked at him as he poured a bag¡¯s worth of candies in his mouth.

    ***

    Gordon, the deputy master of the Chef¡¯s Tower, was moving quickly somewhere.

    ording to the 1st floor¡¯s Harmel, a user who has 15,000 points has appeared. The person with the highest points exchanged in the tower was Twilight Chef ck. The points that he has umted were 20,000 points. However it was literally umted. The highest point that he had traded was at 6,000 points.

    But this is almost thrice the amount of the highest traded points?

    ¡®Who in the world is it?¡¯

    Gordon kept on walking as he thought of that. He has instructed Harmel to bring the customer to the VIP room. Not long after, he met Harmel who wasing out of the bathroom.

    ¡°That person?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s inside. H, he¡¯s a candy monster. He has already eaten 10kg of it.¡±

    ¡°What are you saying? Harmel-ssi, are you kidding me right now?¡±

    ¡°T, that¡¯s not¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°What person would eat 10kg of candy? Is it the time to y jokes like that?!¡±

    Gordon looked like he was really angry but before he could get really angry he tried to calm himself and asked her about the important matters.

    ¡°I was too excited. Did he tell you what he¡¯s going to exchange his points for?¡±

    ¡°We haven¡¯t talked about that part yet.¡±

    ¡°Not yet? So what were you doing while he stayed in the VIP room? What the hell.¡±

    Harmel felt small and intimidated when he saw the sharp look in Gordon¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°I, I was getting a refill for the candies.¡±

    ¡°That story about the candy again. Harmel-ssi, I didn¡¯t see you as someone like this¡­¡­ Hoo¡­¡­ Let¡¯s talk about thatter.¡±

    Before he could open the door, he heard Harmel say cautiously.

    ¡°But what I told you about the candy is real.¡±

    Grin©¥

    Gordonughed dumbly.

    Who would eat 10kg of candies? Is this woman messing with me?

    ¡°He ate 10kg of candies? A person can really do that? What is he, an elephant? No, not even elephants can do that. Is he that herbivorous dinosaur? A triceratops? If what you said is true then I¡¯ll appoint you as the deputy tower master right now.¡±

    Creaaaaaak©¥

    He opened the door after mouthing off at Harmel. After he opened the door, Gordon stared nkly and gently closed it again. Then he went towards Harmel and whispered to her whilst pointing at the closed door.

    ¡°There¡¯s a triceratop inside¡­¡­!¡±

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] Hwachae : Fruit punch made with honeyed water or in modern times, carbonated drinks.

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    Well¡­ we¡¯ve gone beyond the usually existing animals and have gone back in time. He is now beingpared to a triceratops¡­ I¡¯m¡­ just speechless.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    It¡¯s only a matter of time before he¡¯spared with mythical creatures like a dragon¡­

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 71 - Cha Chapagetti~

    Chapter 71: Cha Chapagetti~

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Minhyuk was eating candies with a bright smile on his face.

    Sweet candy!

    Candies were usually ced on department store or mobile phone dealership store counters as a sort of free service for the customers.

    Minhyuk was eating the candies without an ounce of guilt since the woman named Harmel said that he could even pull out a pir out of the candy factory and the Chef¡¯s Tower would definitely not care.

    ¡°I did not eat as much as I thought I would.¡±

    There were thousands of candy bags and wrappers the size of his thumb surrounding him when the door creaked open.

    Then¡­

    Bang!

    The door was immediately closed. However, the door opened not long after as Harmel and another man entered the room. The man looked like he was hit cleanly on the head.

    ¡°I¡¯m Gordon, the Chef¡¯s Tower¡¯s deputy tower master.¡±

    ¡°Oh, your name sounds good.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    He has the same name as that world-ss chef! Minhyuk was not sure but he thought that he would cook deliciously with a name like that, right?

    Minhyuk licked his lips as he thought of that.

    Pause!

    ¡®What, i, is he gay?¡¯

    Gordon looked at him cautiously.

    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s another bag of candy!¡±

    ¡°C, can you stop eating it now?¡±

    When Harmel said that, Minhyuk yed the user¡¯s ¡°recording¡± button that he had prepared for this asion.

    [Even if you eat enough to pull out a pir out of the candy factory, the Chef¡¯s Tower will not say anything~]

    ¡°This candy crazy bas¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°No, nothing.¡±

    Gordon shook his head denying what he mumbled under his breath while Harmel was caught in surprise.

    ¡®Me, meticulous. How can a person be this meticulous?!¡¯

    She went out to get some more candy while Gordon opened up a hologram interface and let it float up towards him.

    ¡°You can exchange your 15,200 points with equipment, gears and even skill books.¡±

    Minhyuk peeled another candy and ced it in his mouth.

    ¡°I personally rmend that you get the Spirit King¡¯s Chef¡¯s Uniform.¡±

    Gordon was by no means a kind man, after all he was the Chefs Tower¡¯s deputy tower master!

    Tower masters in ces like the Warriors Tower, Mages Tower and Archers Tower actually had the same influence as an Emperor. Of course, even if Gordon was a nonbatant and was only a deputy tower master of the Chefs Tower, he still held a lot of power!

    There was only one reason why Gordon was acting friendly with Minhyuk.

    ¡®Collecting this many points means that he is a special chef.¡¯

    He was obviously a person who should be treated with enough care.

    ¡°The reason why I rmend the Spirit King¡¯s Chef¡¯s Uniform is because it increases the buff by 30% when it is equipped. Not only that. It also has a +50 STR and +50 AGI that can help a chef hunt monsters much more efficiently. It also is an item that increases your affinity with spirits so you won¡¯t be able to buy it somewhere else. It¡¯s actually a unique item but it¡¯s as strong as an epic artifact.¡±

    ¡°Is there an effect that increases the taste?¡±

    ¡°None. But I assure you that this is the best artifact in the whole of Chefs Tower¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not good.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not a good artifact. Eh?¡±

    Gordon felt that something was strange.

    Meanwhile Minhyuk¡¯s thoughts were on a rampage.

    ¡®No, what do you mean there¡¯s no increase in taste?! Does that even make any sense?!¡¯

    The most important thing is missing, how can it be the best?

    Gordon tried to deny his ims.

    ¡°Increasing the buffs means that it will be easier to hunt with a party and there¡¯s also the increase in STR and AGI. Perhaps you¡¯re mistaken.¡±

    ¡°Nope. It¡¯s a bad artifact. I¡¯m sure of it.¡±

    ¡°N, no. Why in the world is it not good?¡±

    Gordon looked at him in shock as Minhyuk exined calmly.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t a chef someone who makes delicious food?¡±

    ¡°Ye, yes?¡±

    He nodded because he was right.

    ¡°It¡¯s better if your dish is delicious whether you feed it to other people or you eat it yourself. That¡¯s why the + in taste is definitely important.¡±

    Nod©¥

    ¡°But the fact that you said that buffs are important, does that mean that a chef does not feed others food but buffs?¡±

    Nod©¥

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think that this product is no good because of that?¡±

    Nod.

    ¡°When you think of it like that then it¡¯s really no good¡­¡­ N, no. That¡¯s not it! Aren¡¯t you going to level up? You have to hunt in parties too!¡±

    ¡°The chef prefers buffs instead of the deliciousness of food. I¡¯m so disappointed!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Gordon sighed.

    ¡°Is there a reason why you¡¯re insisting on this thing? 15,000 points is really a huge amount.¡±

    ¡°Is it a problem to find delicious ingredients?¡±

    Gordon felt like he was hit with a hammer on his head. He was deeply moved.

    ¡®M, my goodness¡­¡­!¡¯

    This is a true chef! 15,000 points¡­ Instead of using it to find skill books and artifacts he¡¯s looking for delicious cooking ingredients.

    ¡®He¡¯s even willing to spend a huge amount of money in the quest to find delicious food and share it with others(?).¡¯

    This is a chef!

    [Gordon¡¯s favorability has increased.]

    [Gordon¡¯s favorability has increased.]

    Minhyuk was taken aback. He was disappointed in him but Gordon¡¯s favorability with him hsa increased. Minhyuk was thoroughly confused. Then, Minhyuk passed through the ingredients and checked the dishes.

    ¡®Blissful mushroom soup. A +50 increase in all 5 basic stats and +50 increase in magical defense. But it does not say ¡®more delicious¡¯ so this is no good.¡¯

    So he went through all of the dishes one by one just to find something delicious.

    Just at that moment, Minhyuk¡¯s fingers stopped at one ce.

    ¡°Heok¡­¡­!¡±

    He was quite startled. Because there was such a great dish!

    ¡°There¡¯s such a precious and valuable thing listed in here!¡±

    Gordon was quite confused about what Minhyuk was saying so he looked at the food that he stopped at.

    ¡®This is a precious thing¡­¡­?¡¯

    Minhyuk¡¯s finger was stopped and pointed at something called Gray Chapagetti. So he quickly checked the information of the dish.

    (Gray Chapagetti)

    Material Grade: C

    Special Abilities:

    ©¥ +3 in all 5 basic stats

    ©¥ A chapagetti glowing in a gray light with a deeper and much tastier vor.

    Description: A gray chapagetti that can be purchased with 15,000 points in the Chef¡¯s Tower. It tastes good but is not rmended for purchase.

    Just in time, Harmel came in carrying two boxes of candies. Minhyuk stood up as he took the boxes away from her.

    ¡°Do you know the song about this dish?¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    Gordon and Harmel looked at him strangely as he straightened his body up. Then he started humming a song.

    ¡°Cha~ Cha~ Chapagetti! Nongsin Chapagetti.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll take this one! Chapagetti!¡±

    [Would you like to choose the Gray Chapagetti?]

    [You will consume 15,000 points.]

    ¡°Yes, yes, yes!¡±

    Minhyuk shouted brightly.

    [You have purchased Gray Chapagetti.]

    [You have consumed 15,000 points.]

    ¡°Keok¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°OMG¡­¡­¡±

    The two other people in the room saw that he really purchased the item.

    Chapagetti was the only thing that he purchased with almost all of his points in the Chefs Tower!

    However, Minhyuk looked extremely satisfied. Then, he asked¡­

    ¡°Can I cook here?¡±

    He was holding the 15,000 point bag containing the chapagetti as he asked them excitedly.

    ¡°Ah, yes¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­¡­¡±

    The two of them nodded their muddled heads as they listened to Minhyuk solemnly dere something with a bag of chapagetti in his hands.

    ¡°Today, I am a Chapagetti Chef!¡±

    Then, Minhyuk prepared his cooking materials as he started to cook chapagetti.

    Shwaaaaa©¥

    He poured water in a pot for boiling and added oil in a frying pan. Once the frying pan was hot enough, he added two eggs in it.

    Sizzle©¥

    In no time at all, the two eggs were starting to get fried really well.

    The reason why he was frying eggs was because he needed to put it on the chapagetti!

    Then, he turned over the egg to half-cook the yolk. He made sure that the yolks were only half-cooked before cing the chapagetti noodles and vegetable kes in the boiling water. He made sure to lift the noodles from time to time out of the boiling water so that the noodles remain chewy and curly. After he deemed that the noodles were cooked well, he threw away the water.

    When he looked at the back of the chapagetti packaging, he saw a ¡®Leave only 8 spoons¡¯ written on it. But Minhyuk left 10 spoons of water instead. Then, without removing it from the pot, he added the ck soup powder and the olive oil inside the pot and stir fried it just like that.

    Shwaaaaa©¥

    As soon as the ck soup powder met with water, it became a ck liquid that slowly covered the noodles in the pot. After stir-frying it for quite some time, the noodles were covered with a thick ck sauce. Then, after he stirred it for a bit more he turned off the heat and added the two eggs that he had fried earlier in the pot. He poked the half-cooked yolk and watched as it slowly poured down on the noodles before mixing it well.

    ¡°Huhuhuhu¡­¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk pulled out some ripe kimchi and pickled radish out of his inventory.

    Gordon and Harmel, who were still wondering why he chose chapagetti out of all the items listed in the exchange counter, were unusually concentrating on him.

    They saw Minhyuk pick up some ck noodles and¡­

    ¡°Sluuuuuuuuuuuurp!¡±

    He could taste the thickness of the sweet and savory vor of the noodles.

    So this is the Gray Chapagetti. The chapagetti that has a much deeper and tastier vorpared to regr chapagetti!

    ¡°Wow, I understand why it costs 15,000 points. This vor really deserves that 15,000 points.¡±

    ¡°.......¡±

    ¡°.......¡±

    Gordon and Harmel looked at Minhyuk nkly while he continued eating.

    Minhyuk ate half an egg in one bite. The protein and rich vor of the egg added to the wonderful taste of the chapagetti. On his next bite of the noodles, he ate it together with the ripe kimchi that he took out earlier.

    ¡°Crunch, crunch.¡±

    The spicy and sour taste of the kimchi washed away the greasy vor of the chapagetti and made his mouth feel a bit refreshed. This time, when he ate noodles, he ate it together with the sweet and sour pickled radish.

    ¡°Crunch, crunch, crunch.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head in satisfaction.

    ¡°Chew, chew, delicious!¡±

    Harmel and Gordon who were watching him opened their mouths unconsciously.

    ¡®Y, yeah. ce some in my mouth too.¡¯

    ¡®Please give me a bite too? Is that what you want me to say, huh?!¡¯

    Minhyuk continued to eat his chapagetti. He hesitated when he caught sight of the glinting eyes of the two people in front of him. They looked like they were hungry hyenas watching their prey.

    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t look too hungry. Eyy, I¡¯m going to be generous with you too.¡±

    ¡°Ooooooooooooh! Thanks! Really, thank you so much!¡±

    Gordon was so thrilled, he thanked him like he was someone who saved the whole world.

    ¡°Please have some of this.¡±

    Minhyuk gave him a candy.

    It was cinnamon candy.

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Harmel and Gordon looked down at their hands holding the candy with dejected looks on their faces. However, Minhyuk looked as if what he did was really generous.

    He soon finished the remaining noodles in his pot. Once all of the ck sauce and noodles were licked clean out of his pot, a series of notifications rang in his head.

    [You have achieved the Hidden Piece: Your Appetite is Proper.]

    [You have acquired +3 in all 5 of your basic stats.]

    [You have gained +300 DEX.]

    [You have achieved 600 Dexterity Points. All skills and abilities rted to Dexterity will have a 10% improvement.]

    [You have achieved 700 Dexterity Points. All skills and abilities rted to Dexterity will have a 10% improvement.]

    [You have achieved 800 Dexterity Points. All skills and abilities rted to Dexterity will have a 10% improvement.]

    ¡®Hidden Piece¡­¡­?¡¯

    Minhyuk was both happy and surprised. After all those notifications were such a pleasant sound for him who just chose to eat something delicious.

    My dexterity stat rose by 300 in one go!

    It was even a much higher increasepared to the time when he ate the Empire¡¯s Elixir.

    Then, Minhyuk heard Gordon mumbling about something.

    ¡°His behaviour is like the Food God that appeared in the legends.¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    Minhyuk reacted when he heard his words because he was that ¡®Food God¡¯ right now. In addition, his words were clear evidence that the Food God existed in the past.

    ¡°Food God?¡±

    ¡°Ah, yes.¡±

    ¡°Can you tell me the story about that?¡±

    Gordon nodded dly when he heard his interest in the legends of the Food God.

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    Okay so the Nongsin thing is amercial for Nongshim Chapagetti. You can search Nongshim Chapagetti CM and you will see themercial. LOL.

    Oh, it seems like we would hear something about the great God. the Food God!

    PR¡¯s corner!

    The Food God...it¡¯s finally time! I¡¯m looking forward to this!

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 72 - The Start Of A Hybrid Character

    Chapter 72: The Start of a Hybrid Character

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    25 The Start of a Hybrid Character

    ¡®The legend of the Food God is something that almost all of the chefs in the Chef¡¯s Tower know about.¡¯

    He nodded his head in agreement, however he still erred on the side of caution and exined some things to him before starting his story.

    ¡°There are plenty of unrealistic stories that you can hear out there, so you can just think about them as legends.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°I heard the stories rted to the Food God from the tower master of the Chef¡¯s Tower, Boroto-nim.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head as if to tell him that he was listening intently.

    ¡°I heard him say that there was a man who was so strong to the point that he could split the sky and shake the earth. I also heard that he loves to eat and that his cooking skills were so superb that no other chef could catch up to him. Everyone who has tasted his cooking all fell in love with him and the taste of his food.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°There were also a lot of people who followed him. However, this legend is just so outrageously absurd.¡±

    ¡°Outrageously absurd?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    His lips curled up into a smile at the ridiculousness of the story.

    ¡°The Food God had the chance to sit on the Emperor¡¯s throne. But the Food God said ¡®Ah I¡¯m hungry, being an Emperor is such a nuisance! Hey, Cairon. You will be the Emperor. I¡¯m going to eat.¡¯¡±

    He shook his head as if to disagree with the story that he was telling.

    ¡°And that Emperor Cairon? He was the Emperor of the Bocelli Empire, he was also known to be the greatest Emperor in the history of the continent. And that¡¯s not all.¡±

    Gordon, who started to get excited with the flow of his stories, mmed his hands on the saliva and continued to tell his story with his saliva sshing everywhere.

    ¡°He met with the ck Dragon, Lord Khan, who was known to be the most atrocious and brutal character in history. Did you know what he said to him when he met with him?¡±

    ¡°What did he say?¡±

    ¡°¡®I¡¯m going to eat barbeque today so use your breath so I can roast these. If you burn my food I will rip your scales, you know it right?¡¯ You see, does this legend make any sense at all?¡±

    ¡°Using breath to roast meat sounds delicious.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. It sounds delicious¡­¡­ No! That¡¯s not the point. The story just doesn¡¯t make sense, that¡¯s the point.¡±

    Minhyuk looked at him as if he couldn¡¯t understand what he was saying.

    ¡°Why does it not make sense? Howe?¡±

    ¡°No, of course it doesn¡¯t. It doesn¡¯t make sense to ask a dragon, the greatest creature to ever exist on earth, to use its breath to grill barbeque!¡±

    ¡°But what if he wanted to eat barbeque so much!¡±

    ¡°Huh¡­¡­?¡±

    Gordon tilted his head as he stared at him. His expression looked like he was asking him about what he was talking about.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t make any sense. He even went to the Dwarf King, Golden Hammer Rant, and told him ¡®Make me a tool that can help me grill vegetable pancakes well!¡¯ and he even brought God¡¯s mineral amantadium! My god! I can¡¯t believe that he asked the Dwarf King to make him a pancake making tool using amantadium. It¡¯s the mineral that was dubbed as God¡¯s mineral!¡±

    ¡°Wow, how nice would it be to have a tool like that? I¡¯m so jealous.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Gordon looked at Minhyuk¡¯s face that was filled with regret with an expression that says ¡®Hey, what¡¯s wrong with you?¡¯.

    ¡°That¡¯s not the end of it. The Mother Tree, the guardian god of the fairies and pixies, grows a flower called Lefender. And that Lefender produces sacred honey but this crazy Food God, stole the Lefender and squeezed its honey just so he could dip his goraetteok in it. I can¡¯t believe that he used that valuable and expensive Lefender¡¯s Honey just to eat goraetteok!¡±

    ¡°He knows how to eat it!¡±

    ¡°Yeah. I know that dipping goraetteok in honey is really delicious!¡±

    Gordon gulped after he finished his words then he looked nkly after he realized what he said. He coughed loudly as if to clear away his embarrassment.

    ¡°You¡¯re not the descendant of the Food God, are you? No, how can you even understand those situations well?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, I¡¯m the Food God.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m the Food God. I don¡¯t know about the descendant thing but my job ss is the Food God.¡±

    Minhyuk felt that he did not need to hide it. It also urred to him that he might find more clues rting to the Food God if they knew about his ss. Of course his intentions and purposes were something different.

    ¡®I don¡¯t know but it¡¯s possible that the Food God has hidden something delicious!¡¯

    Gordon pondered something for a moment.

    ¡®Boroto-nim said that the Food God would one day appear at the Chef¡¯s Tower. He also said that I should tell him where he was if he ever appeared. Back then, I thought that he was crazy.¡¯

    He tried to suggest it to Minhyuk. He was very careful with his words too.

    ¡°If you¡¯re really the Food God, why don¡¯t you go and meet with the Chefs Tower¡¯s tower master, Boroto-nim?¡±

    Then, Minhyuk heard a notification in his head.

    [This quest oveps with the Food God¡¯s Legacy quest.]

    ¡®Ah¡­¡­!¡¯

    Minhyuk remembered that he received the ¡®Food God¡¯s Legacy¡¯ quest during his 2nd job ss and his ss changed to entric Food Fighter. However, because of level restrictions the information about the quest was not avable.

    ¡®Perhaps I¡¯m supposed to meet with the chef named Boroto?¡¯

    He was half-sure of his conjectures.

    ¡°I understand.¡±

    Gordon also thought about something else, but before he could even say it to Minhyuk¡­

    [The God of Athenae is imposing sanctions on you.]

    [Please don¡¯t disclose any more information.]

    That was the moment that Gordon realized that what he said was the truth.

    ¡®H, he¡¯s really the Food God!¡¯

    However, the man in front of him still has not yet fulfilled all of the conditions to be the legitimized Food God. Gordon mped his mouth shut to avoid punishment and further sanctions.

    ¡°That¡¯s all the things that I could say.¡±

    ¡°I see. Thank you for the stories. Hoo¡­¡­¡±

    However, Minhyuk still looked oddly depressed after thanking him.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°I think I was a bit toocent. I should have eaten much more diligently just like him¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°N, no. You¡¯re already eating well enough.¡±

    ¡°Nope. That¡¯s not enough. I should go and set a goal too.¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll definitely go and grill some barbeque using breath and I¡¯ll also dip goraetteok in Lafender¡¯s honey.¡±

    Minhyuk clenched his fists tightly as his eyes glimmered. His actions showed his dedication and seriousness towards this goal that he had just set.

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°Then, I will get going.¡±

    Gordon stared nkly at the spot where Minhyuk disappeared from.

    ¡°That person is not in his right mind either.¡±

    Then he looked at Harmel.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you say anything back then?¡±

    There was still the most important part that Gordon was not able to tell about the legends. However, the junior employee Harmel still did not say anything and just stayed still when he did not bring up the topic.

    ¡°The God of Athenae seemed like he wanted him to find them on his own. The Dragon Lord Khan, the Golden Hammer Dwarf King Rant, the Mother Tree and plenty others.¡±

    Gordon continued to stare at the spot where he disappeared.

    ¡°They loved food and the Food God more than anybody else, and some of their powers are hidden within the relics that he has left behind.¡±

    ***

    cksmith Ron heaved a huge sigh.

    ¡®This is a problem, it¡¯s a big problem.¡¯

    He was just informed that he wouldn¡¯t be able to conduct any more deals and business. Ron was quite famous in the Kingdom of Barras for his extremely bad personality. Along with the foreigners, even the guards did not like his attitude. He was only able to make deals and make business because he was skilled as a cksmith. However, a mishap urred and he wasn¡¯t able to deliver the goods on time.

    To the owner of the basic first aid drug store, McCann. To Farmer Brett and even the others!

    All of them have notified him that they wouldn¡¯t continue to trade and make deals with him since he delivered the goodste!

    The root of all this was the arrival of a young foreigner. She was a little girl.

    ¡®But what can I do, I feel sad when the little one is left all alone.¡¯

    Ron lost his wife and children that was why he felt sorry for the little foreigner whenever he left her alone. So he always allowed her to stay in the smithy.

    In fact there were a lot of dangerous things in the smithy but the girl¡¯s foreigner father asked him for this favor since he wouldn¡¯t always be able to apany his daughter due to the nature of his work. And even though Ron was known for his bad temper and attitude he still decided to help out the father and daughter with the memory of his lost child.

    ¡®It¡¯s quite a big deal for someone to not be able to eat due to the side effects of the treatment that they underwent.¡¯

    The child did not want to eat anything.

    He heard that she was cured in the world of the strangers from a disease called leukemia. However she was now afraid of eating because she vomited the food out each and every day while she was being treated.

    His father said that he brought her here so that she could ovee her fears but the man still continued to sigh bitterly andment on the fact that she was still not getting any better.

    And that simr sigh came out from the cold-hearted and bad tempered Ron.

    What a pitiful child!

    That was what he thought as he went back to the smithy.

    ¡°Kyahahahahaha!¡±

    He could hear peals ofughtering out from the door of the smithy. The sound ofughter was something that he was extremely familiar with.

    It¡¯s that young foreigner, Hyemin!

    Ron walked quickly with a strange sense of curiosity apanying him. He saw an oddly heartwarming sight in front of him.

    An unknown foreigner was running around the smithy with Hyemin sitting on his shoulders as sheughed loudly.

    And Hyemin¡­¡­

    ¡°Go! Piggy!¡±

    ¡°Oiiink, oink! Oink!¡±

    She was sittingfortably on the shoulders of the young man while the man was squealing like a pig. Then, the young man suddenly made eye contact with Ron. He became petrified like ice, as he slowly let Hyemin slide down from him. Then he coughed loudly as if to hide his embarrassment at being caught in an embarrassing situation before speaking out.

    ¡°That¡­ I¡¯m¡­ I apologize for one thing.¡±

    ***

    One hour ago.

    Minhyuk entered cksmith Ron¡¯s smithy but he couldn¡¯t find anyone in there.

    ¡°Excuse me? Is anybody there?¡±

    Minhyuk tilted his head when no one answered him, so he decided to look around until he found a furnace!

    ¡°Oh¡­¡­. This looks like the furnace I saw on TV, furnace for samgyeopsal [1]!¡±

    I often see this on TV the shovel samgyeopsal [2]!

    They would wrap the samgyeopsal well in the foil and would use a shovel to ce it in the furnace then it would cook well in just 5 seconds.

    However Minhyuk thought for a moment¡­

    I can¡¯t just do that in a smithy without its owner!

    So he waited and waited.

    He waited for quite a while but Minhyuk was not able to ovee the temptation. He hurriedly covered a samgyeopsal that he had prepared in advance in foil and ced it on the shovel. Then he carefully opened the lid of the furnace as he shoved the shovel inside. After a few seconds, he pulled the samgyeopsal out.

    Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle©¥

    The samgyeopsal was sizzling in its own oil on the shovel!

    Minhyuk admired his masterpiece as he directly sat down and started to eat his samgyeopsal. He even dipped it in salt and wrapped it in lettuce.

    ¡°Kgghk! This is really the shovel samgyeopsal! Huhaha!¡±

    He thought that he should hurry up and eat it quickly but once he finished the first one, he grilled another set for a second time, three times, and without realizing it he had eaten and grilled the samgyeopsal for ten times.

    Creaaaaaak©¥

    nk!

    He suddenly heard a loud sound.

    Turn!

    Minhyuk¡¯s head quickly turned to look at it. It sounded like it was a stray cat, but when he looked over he saw a child hiding in the corner and peeking at him.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Minhyuk tilted his head as he saw the head of the little girl stick out from the corner as she asked him.

    ¡°Was it really delicious?¡±

    ¡°Of course! Delicious food is the best!¡±

    ¡°Hyeminie gets sick when she eats¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible! I don¡¯t believe that anyone will get sick if they eat something delicious! It¡¯s zero calories if it¡¯s delicious!¡±

    ¡°Poop calories?¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s zero calories.¡±

    The child, Hyemin, shook her head showing Minhyuk that she couldn¡¯t understand what he meant. Then she pulled something out of her bosom.

    ¡°Then you eat this.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes widened when he saw what Hyemin handed to him. It was none other than ABD chocte!

    For Minhyuk, chocte was something that he could not touch even if he had it. He used to like chocte very much. But for someone who suffers from bulimia, it was akin to a poison. He used to cry a lot because he wanted to eat chocte once or twice before.

    Even though it might not be the case for others but to Minhyuk chocte was a special ¡®food¡¯. And seeing it in front of him, of course he wouldn¡¯t be able to move his eyes away from it.

    ¡°Where did you get this precious thing?¡±

    ¡°My dad gave it to me to eat, but I hate eating! I get sick when I eat this!¡±

    ¡°No, you wouldn¡¯t get sick if you eat something delicious though?¡±

    ¡°Nope, Hyeminie gets sick.¡±

    She rubbed her stomach pitifully as Minhyuk approached her hands that were holding the chocte.

    The sweet, sweet chocte.

    ¡°That¡¯s why you should eat it.¡±

    Hyemin personally peeled the chocte before handing it to him.

    At that moment¡­

    ¡°Aaaaaaang!¡±

    Minhyuk almost bit Hyemin¡¯s little fist as he opened his mouth to eat the chocte in her hands. Hyemin hit him on his head with her little fist.

    ¡°This butthole! You can¡¯t eat my hands!¡±

    ¡°Ah, sorry. Ahmm, delicious!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s lips curled up in a smile the moment the sweet vor of the chocte spread in his mouth. He bit half of it and chewed on it while the other half remained in his mouth until it dissolved. The sweetness of the chocte spread deeper and deeper with how he ate it.

    Then, Hyemin gave him a whole bag of chocte.

    ¡°Here, have some more.¡±

    ¡°Thanks! You¡¯re such a good baby!¡±

    Minhyuk started to eat choctes like there was no tomorrow. And without noticing it, he was already holding thest piece of chocte.

    ¡°Chew, chew?¡±

    Minhyuk felt sad knowing that there was nothing left in the bag anymore. However, when he looked up, he saw Hyemin¡¯s face. She was looking at the empty bag of chocte with sadness.

    ¡°My chocte¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Hueok, sorry!¡±

    He felt a bit sorry when he realized that he could not control his appetite and ended up eating all of it.

    Hyemin might not be able to eat chocte, but children would still feel a great sense of loss when someone took something that they own! Hyemin¡¯s expression right now looks like she has lost the world.

    ¡°You¡¯re a piggy. You ate them all¡­¡­¡±

    Prick!

    Minhyuk was shocked to a standstill when he heard her words.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [Title] Hybrid Characters or ?? in KR means that the character is a jack of all trades or has learned a lot of skills and ystyles in one character. Generally used as a negative term which means that you can¡¯t be good at the game since you have a lot of different skills that you can¡¯t master properly.

    [1] Okay, so this could either be one of the two¡­ I searched for it and apparently one is, someone put a griller on top of a shute where burningva (the one you use for smelting) is running and they grill meat on the griller. The griller was on top of the shute. Lol. no direct touching of theva. The other was an open fire griller, where there¡¯s a huge fire burning and you grill the meat in its vicinity. Otherwise I think it¡¯s just like the traditional kitchen furnace where they have cement/rock made into a giant stove. The one where the huge iron cauldron was made, they have simrities with the smithy furnace.

    [2] So there¡¯s this famous restaurant where its called ?????? where the owneres out with the meat on a shovel like griller stove.

    [calorie] Zero calories is ???? while poop calories is ???? it¡¯s a difference of one syble. ? means zero while ? means dung or poop.

    [ABD Chocte] So it¡¯s really ABC chocte and I think it¡¯s made by Lotte.

    [Lafender''s Honey] I double checked and no, it''s not Lavender so I''m guessing it''s really something different and named it as Lafender (although it could totally be Lefender).

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    Minhyuk¡­ why did you eat them all¡­ also¡­ you shouldn¡¯t be shocked when you¡¯re beingpared to a pig. At least it¡¯s not a hippo, an elephant or a triceratops.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Huh...after hearing Minhyuk bepared to dinosaurs and megafauna, a pig feels a little underwhelming. Oh well, there¡¯s always time to scale that up.

    ANNOUNCEMENT

    There will only be 4 chapters posted this week. I had some irl issues that I had to deal with. Thank you for your understanding. There will be 5 chapters again next week.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 73 - The Start Of A Hybrid Character

    Chapter 73: The Start of a Hybrid Character

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    ¡°You¡¯re Poopy piggy!¡±

    ¡°My name is not poopy piggy, it¡¯s Minhyuk. Minhyuk oppa.¡±

    ¡°Poopy!¡±

    ¡°N,no. It¡¯s Minhyuk, you know? Follow me. Min. Hyuk.¡±

    ¡°Mi¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s attention was zeroed in on Hyemin¡¯s mouth.

    I don¡¯t know why this is happening but I¡¯m quite nervous.

    His mouth was already starting to dry up in anxiety as he continued to watch the movements of Hyemin¡¯s mouth.

    At that moment¡­

    ¡°Poopy!¡±

    ¡°Keok?!¡±

    Minhyuk shook his head in defeat. He thought that he could never win against a child. However, even after she won their argument over the name, Hyemin¡¯s face suddenly crumpled again. It was as if she was going to cry at any moment. Minhyuk hurriedly ced her on his shoulders to keep her from crying.

    ¡°Kyahahaha. Poopy Piggy!¡±

    ¡°Oink, oink, oink? Oink!¡±

    He did not feel bad with what he was doing since he really liked children ever since and he could also see that this child, Hyemin, was a yer.

    ¡®But where did her parents go? Did they just leave a young girl here?¡¯

    Even though it was a game, not many parents would let their young child y in here alone.

    ¡°Where are your parents?¡±

    ¡°My poopy daddy is always busy everyday, he also cries whenever he sees me. My poopy daddy is really pitiful. And my poopy mommy went to heaven!¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk shook his head. He dug his grave deeper and ced himself in a difficult situation.

    There¡¯s only one thing right now that I can do to make Hyemin feel excited and happy!

    ¡°Oink, oink, oink! Kuwiiiiiik!¡±

    ¡°Kyahahaha. You really sound like a piggy!¡±

    While they yed around, he could see a dashing and handsome man rushing towards the smithy. He looked like he was well over 180 in height and he even had a cool hairstyle on his head. Minhyuk finally realized that the dashing and handsome man was the cksmith Ron.

    He slowly let Hyemin down as he prepared to make an apology. He thought that he should at least apologize for using his furnace without asking for any permission.

    ¡°That¡­ I¡¯m¡­ I apologize for one thing.¡±

    Just as he was about to bring up the cause for his apology¡­¡­

    [Ron¡¯s favorability has increased.]

    [Ron¡¯s favorability has increased.]

    [Ron¡¯s favorability has increased.]

    Unexpected notifications!

    ¡®Huh?¡¯

    Minhyuk was confused.

    ¡®I, is this a bug?¡¯

    He only tried to console Hyemin because he identally ate all of her chocte.

    So what does this notification mean?

    He was taken out of his momentary stupor when he heard Ron speak.

    ¡°You¡¯re sorry? More than that, who are you?¡±

    Before Minhyuk came here, he had asked others what Ron was like and there was only one answer.

    He¡¯s the most skilled!

    However, he was also well-known for his very bad temper. And that bad-tempered man was smiling softly at him right now. Minhyuk thought that it might be because his favorability increased due to the bug(?).

    ¡°I really wanted to eat samgyeopsal so I used your shovel and made samgyeopsal with your furnace. I¡¯m sorry!¡±

    Minhyuk bowed down in apology while Ronughed at him.

    ¡®He¡¯s different¡­¡­¡¯

    Normally, other people would have pretended that they did not use the furnace and just let it be, however he decided toe clean with it and he even apologized. At first, Ron was a bit doubtful since Hyemin, who never approached other people, approached him and was even able to smile andughfortably with him. However, when he saw the young man, he could see why that was so.

    ¡®They¡¯re the same, he¡¯s also like a little kid.¡¯

    He grinned at him.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. You can use it.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s just a furnace. Besides, using it doesn¡¯t mean that it will disappear.¡±

    After clearing things up, Minhyuk exined why and how he came here including the things that the coachman Baran had told him.

    ¡°Oho. I see. That coachman Baran sent you here. That friend of mine is also strict and bad tempered.¡±

    ¡°But he was very kind to me?¡±

    Minhyuk tilted his head in confusion. He couldn¡¯t see Baran being ill tempered and strict since he always looked at him with a fatherly smile.

    ¡°Let¡¯s head inside and talk.¡±

    Ron led him inside and Hyemin naturally followed them in.

    When the two of them sat down to talk, Hyemin acted cute just so she could sit on Minhyuk¡¯sp! Minhyuk had no choice but to ce her on hisp. Hyemin hugged him tightly and fell asleep not long after. Ron smiled as he looked at the two of them.

    ¡°Right. That special ingredient. I have it.¡±

    ¡°Ooooooh. So that¡¯s really the case. Can I know what kind of ingredient it is?¡±

    Ron began to talk.

    ¡°However, cooking ingredients are materials that will disappear once you eat them so don¡¯t be too expectant. The ingredients that I have is the ¡®Jeon Dish Set¡¯.¡±

    ¡°J, jeon dish set¡­¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s body started to tremble.

    There were only two national holidays in a year, however his house never served any holiday food. The only reason was because his father and the others never thought of cooking for Minhyuk due to his condition. They also wanted to avoid triggering him with the savory smell of the food.

    What kind of existence was jeon? Jeon was a dish that you could eat during the holidays. It was a dish that could instantly let you gain 3kg if you eat all of the dishes in the jeon dishes.

    Either way, jeon was a dish that was extremely delicious!

    And so far, no, Minhyuk has never even tried any jeon dish before. That was why the term ¡®Jeon Dish¡¯ had a bigger impact on him.

    ¡°Sanjeok, donggeurangttang, yukjeon, sesame leaf jeon and potato jeon. You mean the ingredients for all of this?!¡±

    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s such a trifling ingredient right¡­...¡±

    ¡°No!¡±

    Minhyuk shook his head hard.

    ¡°How can you say that it''s trifling when you have such a great thing in your hands. Those are really delicious ingredients!¡±

    He couldn¡¯t hide his excitement.

    I want to eat it. Jeon dishes!

    What if he tore the kimchi pancake and ced it in his mouth? The chewy pancake made with wheat flour and the sour and spicy kimchi would definitely spread in his mouth!

    Then how about the yukjeon? If he dipped it in soys auce and savored it in his mouth as he chewed on it slowly, a smile would definitely bloom on his face.

    And the reason why jeon was such a great dish was because it would still remain delicious even if it became cold. Eating it one by one as one slowly walked around in the cold was also a type of delicacy!

    And the ingredients that he had was a jeon dish set!

    ¡°I think Ron-nim is an amazing person. I can¡¯t believe that you have such a thing!¡±

    ¡°I, is that so? Is it really such a great thing?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    Ron smiled at him.

    What a young man! He surely loves to eat!

    However there was no such thing as a free lunch in this world. That¡¯s what Ron wanted to tell him.

    ¡°Then if you do me a favor I would give you the jeon dish set as a reward!¡±

    ¡°What favor?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve been having some troubles with the ces that I have a deal with, I need you to talk to them and try to help me get those contracts and deals back. Then, I will give you the ingredients for the jeon dish set, I will even teach you cksmithing if you want!¡±

    [You havepleted the Linked Quest: Meet with the cksmith Ron.]

    [You have acquired 5,000 EXP.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [The Linked Quest has been changed to a Hidden Quest.]

    [Hidden Quest: Solve cksmith Ron¡¯s Worries.]

    Rank: A

    Restrictions: Favorability with Ron

    Rewards: Jeon Dish Set, Beginner¡¯s cksmith Skill, EXP

    Penalty for Failure: Sharp decline in Ron¡¯s favorability

    Description: This quest can only be obtained when you have gained a high favorability with Ron. A ¡®fame¡¯ will be created for you. Your fame will increase as you help renew contracts or recruit new contractors. The rewards will also change depending on how high your fame is.

    [Fame has been created.]

    [Your rewards will vary depending on your fame.]

    It was a hidden quest!

    Minhyuk might not realize this, but it was extremely hard to get this quest. First, they have to build favorability with the coachman Baran. However, there weren¡¯t any users who would just go just because he told them ¡®You will get something to eat when you go and meet him!¡¯ they wouldn¡¯t go if they did not know that there was a good item to receive as a reward.

    ¡°I understand. I will help you renew your contracts.¡±

    ¡°Then, here¡¯s the list.¡±

    Ron handed over the list of the people who said that they would break their contract and would never initiate a deal with him again.

    It was the same with what the quest has described.

    ¡°If you bring me additional contractors then I will give you better ingredients!¡±

    ¡°Yes, I understand!¡±

    Minhyuk quickly stood up to leave but he paused when he remembered about Hyemin.

    ¡°Ah, wait. What is Hyemin¡¯s father like?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s a cksmith like me. I heard that he¡¯s part of a guild¡­¡­ what was it¡­¡­ hmm¡­¡­¡±

    Ron tried hard to remember but he looked like he wouldn¡¯t be able to remember it in a short amount of time.

    ¡°Well, I¡¯ll see you soon.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure we will. Have a safe trip.¡±

    Minhyuk quickly moved to fulfill the quest. However, remained sitting there with a frown on his face as he tried to remember.

    ¡°Ah, that¡¯s right. It was Legend Guild.¡±

    ***

    TTBC reporter, Go Eun-ah sighed wistfully.

    ¡°He¡¯s a pro mukbanger but he is extremely mysterious. We couldn¡¯t even find anything about him. Don¡¯t tell me that this guy really does not care about being popr?¡±

    Even though it was a tournament with users at around only Lv80 but User Minhyuk, who swept thepetition, was extremely popr. Everyone was curious about who he was.

    However, if he really wanted to be popr then he would definitely be the one to reach out and contact the reporters or the broadcasting stations first. But there was no such thing.

    Other people might have been swept by the mood and would have believed that he was an ¡®NPC¡¯ but that was something impossible.

    If she could just get some news about him then Go Eun-ah would definitely score a big scoop but his whereabouts remained to be unknown.

    She identally saw the list of interesting people. She let out a ¡®Hmm.¡¯ as she clicked on one of the tables. There weren¡¯t any pro mukbanger on the list but there was someone else.

    ¡®God ss. Hepas¡¯ Descendant.¡¯

    God ss.

    The number of people in the country with such a ss could be counted in one hand. And she heard that there were only fewer than 100 people who knew about this and they were even listed under ¡®will this work or not¡¯.

    Go Eun-ah worked very very hard just to get some information about this God ss.

    ¡°He¡¯s in the Kingdom of Barras right now. And he¡¯s also a member of the Legend Guild.¡±

    Legend Guild was a guild that was hidden under the veil. And almost all of their members were hidden rankers. However, she was sure of one thing. The power that this guild wields was enormous.

    And the man who was Hepas¡¯ Descendant was nicknamed as Hyemin¡¯sDad.

    ¡®Hepas¡¯ Descendant created the most powerful artifact ever made by a production ss, the Dragon Sword.¡¯

    So far, no one was able to produce an even more outstanding artifactpared to the artifact that Hyemin¡¯sDad has made. Recently, Card, the 2nd in the cksmith rankings, has produced an epic artifact and has gained attention. However,pared to Hyemin¡¯sDad he was just a neer.

    The item that Hyemin¡¯sDad made, the Dragon Sword, made history in the trading site. It was the only artifact to have been sold at the highest auction price. It was sold at an astounding price of ¡®1.3 billion¡¯. Hyemin¡¯sDad wielded a very strong power. However, he hid everything about himself when he posted his item up for auction.

    Even his nickname was hidden. But Go Eun-ah knew the fact that he was Hyemin¡¯sDad!

    ¡®Why the hell is he in the Kingdom of Barras?¡¯

    The Kingdom of Barras was teeming with ces where people could learn for their production sses and it was not a ce for someone like Hyemin¡¯sDad.

    ¡®I should first go to the Kingdom of Barras.¡¯

    Maybe I can get an exclusive scoop from his daughter there.

    ***

    Team Leader Park and Lee Minhwa were having a conversation.

    ¡°I think that it¡¯s really because of his daughter?¡±

    ¡°I feel the same way.¡±

    Hepas¡¯ Descendant.

    Hyemin¡¯sDad.

    He was also a person who was the center of interest among the administrators. Since they knew that he was the one who made the best artifact in the game, the administrators and operators were watching him and thinking about what his second artifact would be.

    However, he suddenly shut down his ess and was missing for the next 3 months. When he logged back in, he showed up with his daughter in tow.

    While they continued to watch and monitor him, they were able to listen to his story when he talked with the cksmith Ron. They unknowingly learnt of the reason why he appeared with his daughter in the game.

    ¡°I believe the 3 months that he was gone was during the surgical and therapeutic treatment. Right now, Hyemin¡¯s still at the children¡¯s hospital too.¡±

    ¡°......sigh. That¡¯s just too sad.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. She couldn¡¯t even eat because of the after effects of the leukemia treatment. They¡¯re both having a hard time. But I¡¯m d that the child waspletely cured.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why he was grateful to User Minhyuk, right?¡±

    Team Leader Park shook his head when he heard what Lee Minhwa said.

    This was not because he was an operator, but because he was a person, an adult with responsibilities. For the first time, they have realized why Ron¡¯s favorability with Minhyuk increased.

    It was because Minhyuk yed with the gloomy and depressed child.

    The two of them smiled at the screen.

    ¡°Aside from that, you know about the material that Hyemin¡¯sDad got, right?¡±

    ¡°Ah. You mean the Gryphon¡¯s Spirit?¡±

    The Gryphon¡¯s Spirit. It was one of the important materials that cksmiths use to make weapons and armors. It was an ancient material that was so valuable that it could not even bepared with the current price of the goods in the market right now.

    And right now, it was in the hands of Hyemin¡¯sDad.

    ¡°With that material, I¡¯m sure that Hyemin¡¯sDad will be able to make an artifact that is way better than the Dragon Sword. I¡¯m curious about what he will make next. Of course it will not happen any time soon but I¡¯m still curious.¡±

    It wouldn¡¯t happen for the time being because Hyemin¡¯sDad was quite busy. It seemed like he was meeting with various doctors in real life to find a cure for Hyemin¡¯s mental illness. And whenever he logged in the game, he was always busy taking care of Hyemin.

    ¡°Sigh. Let¡¯s leave this talk behind. Right now, User Minhyuk has received that quest. How much fame do you think he will get?¡±

    ¡°I think he¡¯ll be able to fill up 50%?¡±

    ¡°Right now, that¡¯s what I can see but this user has so many variables¡­¡±

    Team Leader Park just blurted it out unconsciously but Lee Minhwa agreed with him.

    In fact, Ron¡¯s contract renewal quest was something that was supposed to happen one day too. However, this was not the original scenario. The original was set-up when the traders had turned their backs on him.

    It was also a difficult task to increase his favorability with others and renew their contracts with Ron. He would be going all over the ce for the smithy.

    However, toplete the quest, it was necessary for him to renew at least one contract with someone who has lost their faith and trust in the smithy once.

    ¡°If he gets 80% then he will be able to receive the Special Jeon Dish Set¡­¡­¡±

    A Special Jeon Dish Set!

    As a matter of fact, even if Minhyuk was only able to fill 30% of the fame he would still be able to receive a jeon dish set. But the Special Jeon Dish Set was filled with special ingredients and was much more delicious and excellentpared to the normal one.

    ¡°What about when he gets 100%......?¡±

    ¡°......He¡¯ll be able to get a much bigger and much better reward.¡±

    ***

    Food Discussion Corner!

    Jeon (?) - A dish made by seasoning ingredients and coating it with flour and egg wash. It can be an appetizer, a banchan (??; a collective name for small side dishes served alongside rice) or anju (??; dishes served with alcohol).

    Sanjeok (??) - A type of jeok (?; skewered food) cuisine, made by cing seasoned beef and vegetables on a skewer then grilling it.

    Donggeurangttaeng (????) - Patty made with tofu, meat and vegetables. It¡¯s coated with eggs and pan fried.

    Yukjeon (??) - a general term used for jeon made with meat.

    Sesame Leaf Jeon (?? ?) - Seasoned peri leaves coated with eggs and pan fried.

    Pollock Jeon (???) - Pollock (a fish) seasoned and coated with eggs and pan fried

    Potato Jeon (???) - Potato coated with eggs and pan fried.

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    So I¡¯ll be adding this corner when there are a lot of dishes that need to be discussed. Instead of adding it in a footnote I will just make a Food Discussion Corner to describe and exin what food was mentioned in the chapter. This will only be made if the food described in the chapter is more than 3 or if I remember to make a Food Discussion corner. *sweats*

    ? PR¡¯s corner!

    Yes! More food! Glorious food!

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 74 - The Start Of A Hybrid Character

    Chapter 74: The Start of a Hybrid Character

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    The First Aid Store owner, McCann, was sitting on a stool in her store.

    ¡®Which cksmith should I sign a new contract with? Ron was extremely skilled but¡­¡­¡¯

    But because of his bad temper and his dy in the delivery, she had decided to cancel their contract.

    As she was pondering over her next steps, she saw a young man peeking through the door.

    ¡°How may I help you?¡±

    She was also one of the guardians and protectors where users could learn the ¡®Beginner¡¯s Bandaging¡¯ and it wasmon for users to peek and snoop around in her ce because of that.

    However when the users learnt of how much recovery they would get when they learnt the skill, most of them turned their backs on her. The recovery from a wound wrapped with the bandage skill was truly abysmal. Using the skill would take a long time for them to recover so they wouldn¡¯t give her the time of her life.

    The young man who was standing in front of the store was munching on something. When she looked closely, he was munching on a hotteok from a nearby store. The man was holding a hotteok wrapped in a paper wrapper with his one hand and the other hand was holding an extremelyrge ck stic bag.

    ¡°Hello. I came here on Ron-nim¡¯s request.¡±

    ¡°Did you say Ron?¡±

    McCann¡¯s expression sank when she heard his words.

    ¡°You¡¯re not telling me to renew the contract, right?¡±

    ¡°Hehe, Ron-nim wanted me to tell you that he was extremely sorry about what happened before.¡±

    ¡°Hmph, don¡¯t bother. I won¡¯t renew it. There are a lot of cksmiths that are better than him.¡±

    ¡°Phew¡­¡­ Is that so?¡±

    The man munched on his hotteok as he continued to say.

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe that the gentle and beautiful McCann-nim was someone so cold hearted.¡±

    ¡°Huhu, that kind of ttery won¡¯t work on me.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    The man paused and looked at her curiously, then his expression suddenly turned extremely worried.

    However he was still eating his hotteok bit by bit. The sweetness of the honey in the hotteok spread in his mouth whenever he bit on it.

    McCann could even imagine herself biting a hotteok and tasting that sweetness in her mouth.

    ¡®If you bite on a freshly made hotteok, you can easily lick the hot and sweet sugar that¡¯s inside. The sugar may be a bit hot but the chewy and soft hotteok is truly delicious¡­¡­¡¯

    Guulp©¥

    She unknowingly gulped her saliva down.

    ¡®Huh, what¡¯s wrong with me? Why am I salivating over a hotteok that can be bought everywhere?¡¯

    She also had some money.

    I can go buy and eat it too! But why did I react like this?

    ¡°Chew, chew. Hmm, is there really no other way? I¡¯m begging you.¡±

    The man continued to eat hotteok as he spoke. When he finished a piece, he continued to get a few out of the stic bag.

    She was extremely surprised when she saw that.

    ¡®Are you telling me that his stic bag that can carry 20kg of rice is filled with hotteok?!¡¯

    McCann was left breathless as she watched the man continue to eat hotteok in front of her!

    She was already on a diet!

    In the end, she couldn¡¯t resist the temptation. She ran out and went directly to the stall that was selling hotteok.

    ¡°Haden-nim, please give me 3 hotteoks please!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry Miss McCann. A foreigner bought all of my hotteok today.¡±

    ¡°B, but I want to eat some right now¡­¡­!¡±

    McCann was astounded; however she soon realized something.

    ¡®D, don¡¯t tell me¡­ Yeah, it seems like he¡¯s the one who bought them all. He probably has a skill to make others extremely hungry. And knowing that, he bought all of the hotteok so he could make me hungry and encourage me to make peace with Ron!¡¯

    Oh my goodness!

    A foreigner had such an ability.

    What a meticulous man!

    When McCann returned to her store, she heard the man grumble.

    ¡°Phew. There are only five hotteoks left. Chomp!¡±

    Then the man continued to eat the hotteoks. His words tightened her nerves. Then he ate a second piece.

    ¡®N, no! Don¡¯t eat all of the hotteoks!¡¯

    McCann red at him.

    I¡¯m not renewing the contract so look at least a bit bitter!

    He took out another hotteok as he said¡­

    ¡°Chomp, well it can¡¯t be helped. Then, I¡¯ll go on ahead.¡±

    When he was turning around to leave McCann could see him reaching out to the second to thest piece of hotteok in the bag!

    ¡°E, excuse me!¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°Can you sell me one piece of hotteok?¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    ***

    Minhyuk looked at her strangely.

    What do you mean by selling you this hotteok? What are you suddenly talking about?

    ¡°I lost. Your power is really amazing. You¡¯re basically like the male version of a siren with how much you made me drool over that.¡±

    ¡°?¡±

    Minhyuk looked at her nkly.

    Did she want to eat hotteok that badly?

    Minhyuk quickly analyzed the situation that he was in.

    On a cold day while he was eating a delicious hotteok ced in a paper cup, a woman suddenly appeared after his hotteok!

    ¡°No way! This is thest hotteok!¡±

    ¡°Just sell me this one, why are you even saying no to me after you left me salivating over it!¡±

    ¡°I never made you drool over it!¡±

    ¡°You did! You even showed your meticulousness by buying all of the hotteok from the stall!¡±

    ¡°When did I ever do that?!¡±

    Minhyuk was already upset because he ate all of the hotteok. It was just too delicious that he couldn¡¯t stop himself from finishing everything in one sitting. But now, there was even a woman pestering him about buying hisst piece of hotteok.

    Then, he suddenly thought of something.

    ¡°By any chance, are you hungry?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I was originally on a diet but now I¡¯m in big trouble because of you!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll make hotteok for you. But if you enjoyed the hotteok that I made then please renew the contract with Ron-nim.¡±

    ¡°Ahem, I¡¯ll think about it.¡±

    ¡°Then, please wait a moment.¡±

    Minhyuk basically flew out of the store to buy hotteok mix.

    ¡®Right, why did I never think of this way to get close with others?¡¯

    He could use his buffing ability and he could also cook more deliciouslypared to others.

    Since she wanted to badly eat hotteok, McCann allowed him to freely enter the store.

    His preparations were easy since he had bought the ready-made hotteok mix. First, he poured the mix into a bowl and added 180mL of lukewarm water. Then he put on some stic gloves and kneaded the mixture. Then, he set it aside for an hour.

    During the time where he left the mixture aside, Minhyuk decided that he wanted to do something.

    ¡°Can I learn the Beginner''s Bandaging while we wait for the hotteok?¡±

    ¡°The nonbat skills that a foreigner can learn are limited. You better think about it carefully.¡±

    Users could only learn one nonbat skill until Lv200 while they could only learn two until they reached Lv400.

    However, Minhyuk insisted since he had no restrictions and he did not care about it at all.

    ¡°I definitely want to learn!¡±

    McCann shook her head at him.

    ¡°Then, please give me 100,000 gold.¡±

    Beginner¡¯s bandaging might have been shunned by most users but there were still some people who have managed to master the skill. The effects of the skill might be abysmal but it could still be clearly seen that increasing the recovery and resilience was always a good thing. Besides, learning the Beginner¡¯s bandaging was an easy task.

    [Please fill the Bandaging progress bar to 100%.]

    Then, McCann approached a mannequin.

    ¡°This is a magic mannequin. If you cut it with a knife like this¡­¡±

    She cut the mannequin with her knife and just like the flesh of a real person, a wound opened up from where she cut.

    ¡°Then, you can wrap the bandage around the wound like this. If you keep on repeating this then you will be able to master the skill! Well then, try it once.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head in understanding and cut the mannequin with a knife. A wound opened up but of course no blood came out. He proceeded to wrap around the bandage on the open wound.

    He could see it clearly!

    He could see the ces where he needed to wind up and wrap the bandage more.

    Minhyuk looked at the mannequin and the bandage in his hands curiously.

    ¡°Was this how you could master the bandaging skill? I can see the parts where I need to wrap the wound with the bandage?¡±

    ¡°Huh? What were you saying?¡±

    ¡°N, nothing.¡±

    Minhyuk realized that what he was experiencing was leagues beyond what was normal.

    He wrapped the bandage around the wound. His hands were swift and skillful like he was a paramedic trained to do this. It was as if he had faced hundreds of emergency situations!

    ¡®Why, why can I do this so well?¡¯

    Minhyuk did really well considering that he had never done this before. He had skillfully wrapped a bandage over an open wound.

    Of course it was just winding up the bandage around the wound. However, the recovery was entirely dependent on how well and how good the user has bound up the wound.

    But Minhyuk really bandaged it well.

    He pondered deeply on why he could do this well. Hebed carefully through all of the possibilities when he finally realized it.

    ¡®Ah¡­¡­! That¡¯s right, wasn¡¯t my DEX around 900?¡¯

    A few days after he ate the elixir, his DEX had made a rapid increase in points.

    I think it increased by 180 in the imperial pce and it also increased by 300 in the Chefs tower, right? So that¡¯s why I can do it fast!

    Just as DEX affects the taste, it could also affect a variety of things. And the amount of Minhyuk¡¯s DEX could cover almost everything.

    [You have wrapped the bandage well.]

    [A +1% increase in recovery was added.]

    [The recovery time has increased and became faster.]

    The increase in his DEX even led to additional effects in using the bandaging skill. It was like when he saw those ¡®vital points¡¯ when he was going to attack enemies. However, the vital points would only appear due to luck.

    Whenever I strike these vital points, I would always get a higher damage output, right?

    It seemed like doing a better job at bandaging while following those points led to an increase in the effects just like the increase in damage when a vital point was attacked. And for someone like Minhyuk, who had a huge amount of DEX, these events would continue to happen more frequently in the future. Since his DEX was so high, he would always produce better results with his skills.

    ¡®Hoo, the dexterity stat is much more useful than what I thought! Is this why those people always drool over this thing?¡¯

    Minhyuk nodded his head in thought as he checked his training progress and proficiency.

    ¡°It increased by 20%? Wow, it¡¯s really true that it¡¯s easy to learn the Beginner''s Bandaging!¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    McCann looked at him as if she couldn¡¯t believe what he was saying.

    No matter how easy it was to learn to wrap a bandage, their proficiency and training progress would only increase by 2% each time they sessfully wrapped a bandage. The users would need at least 50 times to master and acquire the Beginner''s Bandaging skill.

    That¡¯s how they learn! But did he say that he got 20% in one go?

    ¡°Is that true?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­ Perhaps you got it as a special reward for wrapping the bandage really well on your first try. But¡­¡­ I have never seen anyone have a 20% increase in just one try.¡±

    It was only natural for the skill proficiency to increase when you did well!

    Minhyuk once again wrapped bandages on the mannequin. The skill proficiency rose by 10%.

    12%

    14%

    His Beginner''s Bandaging skill proficiency increased tremendously as he kept on repeating his actions. Each and every single bandage that he wrapped could give anyone a surprise with how well he wrapped them.

    [You have achieved the best bandage wrap.]

    [The wound recovery has an additional 2% increase.]

    [The recovery time has increased and became faster.]

    [You have gained 1 DEX.]

    And at the same time, he achieved a 30% increase in his skill proficiency.

    Then, at that moment¡­

    [You¡¯ve mastered Beginner¡¯s Bandaging.]

    [You have gained 15 DEX.]

    [You have achieved 900 Dexterity Points. All skills and abilities rted to Dexterity will have a 10% improvement.]

    [Due to the influence of the DEX, your Beginner¡¯s Bandaging will have a 60% improvement.]

    [Once you reach 1000 points in your DEX, you will receive a special dexterity privilege.]

    ¡®Huh? A special dexterity privilege?¡¯

    Special dexterity privilege.

    Currently, all of his skills rted to dexterity increased by 10% for every 100 point increase in his DEX. It was already a privilege in and on itself.

    But what does it mean by a different privilege?

    Minhyuk has high expectations for this.

    After listening to all of the notifications, he checked the contents of the Beginner''s Bandaging skill.

    (Beginner¡¯s Bandaging)

    Passive Skill

    Level: 1

    Effects:

    ©¥ Wound recovery +1% +0.6%

    ©¥ +0.6 times eleration on the very slow recovery pace.

    ¡®It¡¯s true that the lv1 Beginner¡¯s Bandaging has insignificant effects, but I¡¯m 1.6 times more powerful than others.¡¯

    The increase in recovery was a very powerful addition to his arsenal of skills. And from what he heard, when the Beginner¡¯s Bandaging increased in level and evolved to intermediate and advanced levels then the wound recovery would increase up to 10%. Once that happened, wouldn¡¯t Minhyuk have an advantage? His wound recovery effect would definitely be at 16% by that time.

    ¡°I¡¯ve learnt it.¡±

    ¡°T, that¡¯s fast. I can¡¯t believe this¡­¡­¡±

    McCann looked like she was really in disbelief.

    It was because it hasn¡¯t been an hour yet!

    In fact, other foreigners need at least half a day to a whole day to be able to master the bandaging skill. Others who were always in a hurry and have quick tempers would even say ¡®Ah, let¡¯s not do it anymore! Let¡¯s just get some potions.¡¯ and leave. This just showed how neglected Beginner¡¯s Bandaging was. It was useful, but it also felt like it wasn¡¯t that much useful at all!

    Minhyuk decided to show off his newly acquired skill by cutting the mannequin again with a knife.

    ¡°Beginner¡¯s Bandaging!¡±

    Swish, fwoosh, rustle!

    Minhyuk¡¯s hands moved neatly following the proper order of bandaging. Since he had mastered the skill it was also only natural that his movements would be faster. As soon as he finished wrapping the bandage, a series of notifications rang one by one.

    [You have achieved the best bandage wrap.]

    [The wound recovery has an additional 2% increase.]

    [The recovery time has increased and became faster.]

    He stepped back and admired his work on the mannequin after hearing the notifications. McCann was truly impressed by how fast and how neat he wrapped the bandages around the mannequin.

    ¡°I want to buy five mannequins!¡±

    His cooking would taste better if his DEX increased!

    He was also thinking of raising his DEX faster by trying to learn plenty of misceneous skills. Even wrapping a bandage would y a role in enhancing the vor and taste of his cooking!

    Once the one hour was up, Minhyuk could see that the hotteok dough rose well.

    Then, he took a sizable amount of dough, ttened it, and ced the jam mix in it. The jam mix was a mixture of cinnamon powder and sugar. He closed the hotteok and turned it into a bowl before dropping it on the well-oiled frying pan. He then pressed on the hotteok with a spat to tten it into a circle.

    The sizzling sound produced when the hotteok and the oil met was a signal that it was being cooked well.

    Sizzle!

    ***

    Food Discussion Corner

    Hotteok (??) : a Korean sweet pancake with a filling. Usually sold as a streetfood.

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    Well, looking forward to the special dexterity privilege. By the way. DEX is Dexterity Stat the stat where the dexterity points go.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Oh boy, I¡¯m guessing Minhyuk¡¯s going to be pretty terrifying once he gets that privilege.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 75 - The Start Of A Hybrid Character

    Chapter 75: The Start of a Hybrid Character

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    ¡°He¡­¡­¡±

    McCann watched dumbly as the hotteok got fried on the pan.

    It¡¯s like the hotteok cart I identally found on a cold winter day!

    ¡®How much would it be for 3 hotteoks?¡¯

    ¡®It¡¯s 2,000 won.¡¯

    ¡®Eeeeeh? Hotteok has be extremely expensive now. Everything is rising except for my sry. Please give me 3 hotteoks.¡¯

    And once the Owner-auntie started showing off her skills in frying hotteok in oil, people would just stare dumbly at her.

    McCann felt like this was what she was feeling right now.

    [This is the best time to flip them.]

    Minhyuk flipped the hotteoks following the instructions given to him by the Food God¡¯s Cooking Acquisition skill.

    ¡°Wow, look at that perfectly golden side of the hotteok! You can really fry well.¡±

    ¡°Hohohoho!¡±

    Minhyuk smiled proudly at her as he set the buffing ability to the highest that he could use.

    It will definitely be worth it!

    Minhyuk ced one well-cooked hotteok and handed it over to her.

    Guuuulp©¥

    McCann gulped loudly as she opened her mouth to take a bite out of the hotteok.

    ¡°It¡¯s hot so please be careful!¡±

    ¡°Ah, yes.¡±

    When she heard his words, she opened her mouth wide and carefully bit on the hotteok with her teeth first, this was so she wouldn¡¯t get scalded by the hot hotteok. Once McCann bit on the hotteok with her teeth, the hot sugar rushed out of the hotteok and scalded her tongue.

    ¡°Hot! Hooo!¡±

    McCann gently rolled the hotteok and the hot sugar in her mouth to lessen the heat. She could taste the sticky flour, the sweetness of the sugar and the hint of cinnamon rolling around and spreading in her mouth. The taste created a harmonious vor that enhanced the taste of the hotteok.

    She closed her eyes as she chewed the hotteok carefully and savored the vor.

    ¡®It, it¡¯s really delicious¡­¡­! How can this hotteok be this delicious?!¡¯

    Of course it would be delicious. Minhyuk¡¯s Food God¡¯s Cooking Acquisition skills always helped him in making the best and most delicious dishes. On top of that, his dexterity could affect the taste of his dishes and would definitely satisfy others who would eat his cooking.

    McCann looked like she would burst out in tears with how delicious the hotteok was.

    ¡®For a moment, I thought I was Cooking King Biryong[1]......¡¯

    This was what Minhyuk thought when he saw how deeply moved McCann was with his cooking. Her expression looked like a golden dragon would ascend to the heavens as she burst out in tears saying ¡®No, this is delicious!¡¯.

    After she finished eating the hotteok¡­

    [You have eaten a hotteok.]

    [Your attack power and defensive power will increase by 5% while your energy will increase by 3% for 8 hours.]

    McCann looked at the hotteok and then at Minhyuk with awe in her eyes. She could feel the strength surging in her body as her tiredness seemed to melt away.

    When she tried to reach for another hotteok¡­

    ¡°Are you going to renew the contract?¡±

    She heard Minhyuk¡¯s serious and somber voice. Then, Ron¡¯s face floated in McCann¡¯s mind.

    That cranky cksmith!

    However, she wanted to continue eating hotteoks right now. Her mind was suddenly caught in a turmoil. After a long time of pondering, she finally spoke with an air of defeat.

    ¡°I¡¯ll renew the contract.¡±

    ¡°Well then, please have another one!¡±

    This is the hotteok¡¯s power that can even renew contracts!

    Minhyuk went outside after winning one contract renewal. His next destination? The farmer¡¯s ce.

    When he arrived at the farmer¡¯s ce, he could see him out in the field. He looked extremely fatigued.

    ¡°Damn, I¡¯m so damn tired. When will I ever finish all of these things?¡±

    Then, Minhyuk interjected¡­

    ¡°I¡¯ll help you get all of these corn!¡±

    ¡°This friend. Farming isn¡¯t as easy in here as it was in your world.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. But if I get all of it will you renew your contract?¡±

    ¡°Hmph! I don¡¯t think you can do it anyway? Well, let¡¯s agree to that first!¡±

    Minhyuk, then, began his corn-gathering spree.

    [You have harvested corn.]

    [You have harvested corn.]

    [You have gained 1 DEX.]

    [You have triggered the skill, Will.]

    [All of your skills rted to dexterity will increase by 24%.]

    The skill, Will, will only be triggered when one is extremely focused and dedicated to doing something. Minhyuk was extremely dedicated to picking corn because Farmer Brett promised to give him 20 ears of corn when he finished harvesting all of them! Of course he would not forget to steam them one by one!

    After 2 hours, Brett came back to check up on him. He could see that most of the corn were already picked.

    ¡°N, no. How can this be? Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯ve mastered the intermediate farming skill? No, it¡¯s not that. I think you¡¯re even faster than that?!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s intermediate farming skill was improved by 1.6 times! That was why his intermediate farming skill was much more powerfulpared to the normal skill.

    ¡°The contract?¡±

    ¡°Hmm, hmm. I¡¯ll do it.¡±

    And it did not end there.

    Minhyuk said he wanted to have five more ears of corn. Brett wanted to refuse him at first but when he received one of the grilled buttered corn that Minhyuk made...

    ¡°I thought that I would die out of exhaustion earlier but now my body is filled with strength! No, how can corn be this delicious?!¡±

    He renewed his contract while he was ovee with emotions. The corn was truly just that delicious. He even went ahead and added 10 more ears of corn to what he gave to Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk smiled happily.

    ¡®The DEX is really useful!¡¯

    In fact, Minhyuk¡¯s DEX was truly iprehensible right now. His DEX acquisition rate was 4 times higherpared to others. On top of that, he gained 500 just by eating so he was looking at almost 1,000 points of DEX!

    ¡°Aiyah!¡±

    He saw a child fall down as he was walking along the streets.

    ¡°Are you okay? Let this hyung treat your wounds. Bandage wrap!¡±

    Rustle!

    [You have wrapped the bandage well.]

    [A +1% increase in recovery was added.]

    [The recovery time has increased and became faster.]

    ¡°Wow, Thanks! Hyung! All the other foreigners were unkind and bad but hyung is different!¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to thank me. Hyung is staying over at Ron¡¯s smithy over there. Just go there ande y with us if you¡¯re bored!¡±

    ¡°Yeees!¡±

    His words naturally meant: ¡®Bring your parents and sign a contract!¡¯.

    Minhyuk continued to go and sweep through the streets of the Kingdom of Barras just to sign new contracts.

    ***

    This was the third day in real life.

    Hyemin was not able to ess the game and did not evene in for three days and the cksmith Ron was now headed towards the market to buy ingredients after focusing intently on making a new weapon in the smithy for three whole days.

    ¡®I wonder if that friend is increasing his fame well? He wasn¡¯t kicked out without even signing a new contract, right¡­¡­¡¯

    Ron might have requested this of him but he still knew that signing or renewing a contract was not an easy task. Walking was also the time for thinking.

    ¡°Huh? Uncle Ron, hello.¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    This was ill-tempered Ron!

    He looked strangely at the boy who greeted him enthusiastically. When he looked at the person standing beside the boy, he saw the hostess of the inn, Mell.

    ¡°Ron-ssi, hello! I just heard from my son that Ron-ssi¡¯s friend treated my son¡¯s wound earlier. Hoho!¡±

    ¡°My friend?¡±

    Ron thought deeply for a moment.

    Ah, they must be talking about Minhyuk!

    ¡°I see.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I am very thankful for that. This might be a bit of a small request, but my chairs and tables were a bit worn out so I was thinking of asking you to make some for me.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? Then pleasee this way.¡±

    He led Mell towards the smithy to draw up a contract for their business deal. It was twenty chairs! And five tables too!

    ¡®Ho. He¡¯s doing better than what I thought?¡¯

    As he thought of this, he made his way again towards the market. Then, he heard the voice of a woman calling out to him.

    ¡°Ron-ssi, hello. We were supposed to break the contract a while ago but I thought about it again and I realized that I went too far. So I want to pay for the goods from before.¡±

    The woman who called out to him was McCann.

    The strict auntie, McCann!

    When he saw her speak to him with a big smile on her face, Ron just nodded his head dumbly.

    ¡°Aaaah, yes. Yes¡­¡­ I¡¯m very sorry. I was the one who did not fulfill the delivery time.¡±

    ¡°Ah, wait. Can you also tell Minhyuk-nim toe over some time to cook something delicious for me?¡±

    ¡°Yes? Something delicious?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I still can¡¯t forget the taste of hotteok that he made for me, you know~¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll say that I understand for now.¡±

    Before he could even go further away¡­

    ¡°Oy, Ron! We¡¯re out of pickaxes and hoes, I¡¯ll leave it to your smithy!¡±

    ¡°Ah, Brett-ssi.¡±

    ¡°Wait, you have that friend named Minhyuk, right? The grilled buttered corn that he made was very delicious and he¡¯s also very hardworking and kind. Tell that friend toe over and visit me sometime!¡±

    ¡°Ah, yes.¡±

    People would greet him and say some words to him as he walked along the road. He felt that the whole marketce has be Minhyuk¡¯s den. And along with it, contract renewals as well as new contracts kept on pouring in.

    ¡°How on earth did he do it? He¡¯s closer and more friendly to my neighborspared to me who has lived 5 years in this ce!¡±

    Ron was in awe of his abilities and in the meantime he also felt pity and disappointment in himself for no reason at all.

    ***

    Minhyuk smiled contentedly.

    His skill proficiency in all of his skills have increased. And not only that. Farming, treating injuries with bandages and cooking delicious food to win the favors of others. And because his favorability with them has increased, his chances to eat more delicious food has increased too!

    He could also feel that his skill level has increased as well so he went ahead and checked his skill window.

    (Intermediate Farming)

    Passive Skill

    Level: 3

    Effects:

    ©¥ Collecting and digging materials will be 66+39% faster.

    ©¥ 36+21% increase in chances of collecting and digging better materials and ingredients.

    ©¥ 3+1.8% increase in chances of collecting and digging special materials and ingredients.

    ©¥ You can grow various things just by nting seeds.

    Even his Beginner¡¯s Bandaging has increased to Lv4. This was because Minhyuk always trained his bandage wrapping skill with his mannequin whenever he had the time. And since he trained with the mannequin, his skill when treating the injuries of other people has increased and has be faster so his skill proficiency and level has improved a lot.

    (Beginner¡¯s Bandaging)

    Passive Skill

    Level: 4

    Effects:

    ©¥ Wound recovery +1.8% +1%

    ©¥ +0.6 times eleration on the slow recovery pace.

    The ¡®very¡¯ from the ¡®very slow recovery pace.¡¯ has already disappeared. In other words, it means that it has be a bit faster.

    Minhyuk also nned to learn cksmithing skills since Ron said that he would also teach him cksmithing skills once he haspleted his hidden quest.

    When he entered the smithy, he checked and saw that Ron was missing again.

    ¡°Where did he go?¡±

    Minhyuk tilted his head from side to side as he decided to sit down and started cooking on the spot.

    ¡®Hehe, Mell-ssi gave me some well-ripened kimchi!¡¯

    Mell was the owner of the inn. She was the mother of the child that he bandaged not too long ago! And as thanks for that, she gave him some well-ripened kimchi. Whenever he ced kimchi in his mouth, he would continue to say ¡®Sour!¡¯ but he still kept on munching on it.

    The dish that Minhyuk was going to cook was kimchi fried rice. Kimchi fried rice was a dish that could be easily cooked by men and women of all ages. Due to its simple preparation and delicious taste, everyone liked it.

    You can just fry it with kimchi, rice and sesame oil and it will still be delicious!

    Minhyuk first cut the kimchi into smaller pieces before preparing the rice. Once he had prepared them all, he drizzled some oil on the frying pan.

    Once the oil was well-heated, he cracked some eggs on it, and fried them.

    Sizzle!

    Fried eggs were best when ced on top of kimchi fried rice!

    It was like the finishing touch of the masterpiece called kimchi fried rice. The fried eggs would definitely mellow out the spicy vor of the kimchi fried rice.

    After frying at least fifteen fried eggs, he stir-fried the kimchi in the greased frying pan and the smell of fried kimchi wafted all over the room.

    Shwaaaaaa!

    Then he crushed the rice and added it to the stir-fried kimchi. He also added a spoonful of gochujang to add a deeper vor and improve the taste and smell of the kimchi fried rice.

    Shwaaaaaa!

    He mixed the fried rice by stirring it well.

    Minhyuk could see the kimchi fried rice exuding a very vibrant and delicious-looking red color. Then he ced it on a te and added a fried egg on top of it.

    Then he was done cooking!

    ¡°Thank you for the meal!¡±

    He tore the egg in half with his spoon and mixed it well with his kimchi fried rice then he filled his mouth with a whole spoonful of the fried rice and egg mixture.

    ¡°Chew!¡±

    On his first bite, he could taste the savory sesame oil and the well-fried kimchi. Then he could taste the spicy and sour undertones of the kimchi followed by the seasoned rice and the light and soft egg. He could also feel the crunchy texture of the kimchi in his mouth.

    Minhyuk once again realized that kimchi fried rice was something indispensable for Koreans.

    ¡°Kuhahaha! It¡¯s really delicious! Chew, chew!¡±

    Minhyuk began to eat his kimchi fried rice in earnest. After eating for quite some time, he could already see the bottom of the pan.

    At that moment¡­

    ¡°This poopy!¡±

    Minhyuk turned his head around when he heard a familiar voice.

    Hyemin was standing by the door gulping her saliva as she stared at the kimchi fried rice

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] ??? ?? (Cooking King Biryong) : Biryong is the main character of the series Chuka Ichiban. I think it was named as Cooking King Biryong in KR.

    TL''s corner!!!

    Last chapter of the week, see you next Wednesday! Huhu. So excited. We''re getting closer and closer to the manhwa.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 76 - The Start Of A Hybrid Character

    Chapter 76: The Start of a Hybrid Character

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Inside Asan Medical Center¡¯s inpatient ward.

    As Hyeminid down on the bed, she could hear a heavy sighing through the closed door.

    ¡°Haaa¡­¡­ Do you mean that we have no choice but to wait until my child does not feel repulsed by the thought of food?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Right now, Hyemin is still young so she thinks eating is ¡®scary¡¯ after what has happened. I think she would be able to ept food gradually as time goes by.¡±

    ¡°When exactly is this ¡®gradually¡¯ going to happen? My little girl is now so skinny¡­¡­ Haa, sorry. I was just extremely vexed.¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s also hard for my poopy dad¡­¡­¡±

    Hyemin heaved a small sigh as she looked at her bony arms after hearing her father¡¯s words.

    Leukemia¡­

    She might have won the battle against this disease but the problem was that Hyemin has been afraid of food ever since.

    The door opened and her father, Lee Taemin, came inside.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry that daddy has been too busy to spend time with you.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s okay. Another poopy gave me a ride on his shoulders and yed with me.¡±

    ¡°Another poopy?¡±

    ¡°Yep, the poopy is also a strange piggy! He could eat dozens of servings of samgyeopsal in a blink of an eye!¡±

    ¡°Hooo. So you made a piggy friend, Hyeminie?¡±

    For a moment, Lee Taemin thought that the friend Hyemin made was a real ¡®pig¡¯ because that scenario was definitely impossible if that person is not a pig.

    ¡°But that poopy piggy, is it a person?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Taemin tilted his head in confusion.

    I can¡¯t believe that there¡¯s someone who could eat as much as Hyemin said!

    He was definitely both surprised and in disbelief. But soon, Hyemin dispelled his doubts.

    ¡°But the poopy pig is nice!¡±

    ¡°So you really made a friend, that¡¯s good to hear.¡±

    Taemin smiled at her.

    His daughter had a timid personality however, her personality was changing ever since she fought and won the battle against her disease. The child even was able to make a friend.

    ¡°That¡¯s why I want to go meet with the poopy pig right now!¡±

    ¡°Right now? No way.¡±

    ¡°Hiiiing, but I want to y with poopy pig!¡±

    Taemin, who was deeply troubled with their situation in the game, shook his head. He was really thankful to the cksmith Ron for looking after Hyemin, and it was also a relief that Hyemin never left the area whenever he was gone.

    ¡°Then you should always be careful when you y.¡±

    ¡°Yep!¡±

    Hyemin went inside the capsule that was specifically ced in her hospital ward.

    His nickname was Hyemin¡¯sDad.

    His ss was Hepas¡¯ Descendant and he was able to be rich just by selling and auctioning his artifacts including the Dragon Sword.

    Perhaps it was also the reason why they could be in such a special ward in the hospital.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to have to give them something in return for this.¡±

    Leaving my child alone in the game¡­ I¡¯m a bad father.

    This did not mean that Taemin was not afraid of leaving her alone. He wanted to travel the world to find something that could help cure her disease and learn more about it. However, whenever he tried to leave her to other people or just bring it up, Hyemin would say that she hated it and would not cooperate.

    But strangely enough, she liked staying with the cksmith Ron and Ron also liked her. So he felt much better leaving her with him.

    And there was also that pig-like(?) friend that his daughter had made. He definitely wanted to do something for them.

    ¡®What can I do for them?¡¯

    ***

    Hyemin, who just logged back in, watched Minhyuk as he finished cooking. She even watched him silently in her hiding ce as he gobbled up the kimchi fried rice.

    ¡®I¡¯m sure¡­¡­ Poopy pig is a pig that¡¯s pretending to be a person!¡¯

    She was hiding to see if he was really a pig! Hyemin thought that he would suddenly turn into a pig and scream ¡®Oink, oink, oink!¡¯ like all the other pigs.

    However, as she continued to watch Minhyuk eat, Hyemin was caught in fascination and was definitely mesmerized by the food.

    ¡®Me too¡­¡­ I also like¡­¡­ Kimchi fried rice¡­..¡¯

    The kimchi fried rice that my dad made with his sloppy skills!

    It was something that she once loved however she still hesitated.

    ¡®No way! Hyemin will get sick if she eats!¡¯

    Even after she denied herself, she still continued to watch nkly as the poopy pig continued to eat his kimchi fried rice.

    He was chewing as if it was the most delicious thing in the world, he was even equipped with a happy face and a bright smile.

    ¡°It¡¯s really, really delicious~¡±

    Hyemin gulped when she heard his words, she was even feeling a bitfortable and at ease while she was watching him.

    ¡®Hyeminie is, is feeling strange¡­¡­ I, I feelfy!¡¯

    This was the first time that she felt something like this. And the more she watched Minhyuk eat the food with his spoon the more nervous she was getting.

    ¡®No! Stop eating! This piggy!¡¯

    She kept on gulping down as she watched him eat the fried rice. In the end, when she saw that there were only a few spoonfuls left, she couldn¡¯t resist the temptation and ran out.

    ¡°This poopy!¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    The poopy piggy looked at her nkly as she stretched out her little hand. She looked like a little princess demanding something from her servants.

    ¡°Give me a spoonful too!¡±

    ¡°N, no way!¡±

    ¡°You ate all of my chocte before!¡±

    ¡°......That¡¯s true. Well. It can¡¯t be helped then.¡±

    The poopy piggy handed her a spoon with great hesitation. Then, Hyemin scooped half a spoonful of kimchi fried rice while Minhyuk ced a piece of the fried egg on top of it.

    ¡°This is how you should eat it.¡±

    ¡°He¡­¡­¡±

    Hyemin carefully brought the spoon towards her mouth.

    I always feel sick whenever I eat.

    Whenever she ate food, she would get sick. Her hair even fell out and her body became weak and was filled with pain every day. That was why she did not eat. However, whenever the poopy piggy ate, he would look like he was really enjoying it so she thought that it was extremely strange. So Hyemin decided to bring out thest of her courage as she chomped bravely on the spoonful of kimchi fried rice.

    The vor of the kimchi fried rice spread in her tiny mouth. She didn¡¯t even stop to savor the vor as she just gulped it down.

    ¡°Huh? This is strange¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s strange?¡±

    ¡°I always get sick after eating but right now I¡¯m feeling fine¡­¡­ I even vomited and lost my hair before but now I feel good!¡±

    ¡°Of course! Delicious food is the best. Now follow me. Delicious food is the best!¡±

    ¡°Delicious food is the best!¡±

    After Hyemin followed what Minhyuk said, she tried another spoonful of kimchi fried rice.

    Then a second one, and a third one¡­

    As they continued to eat, Minhyuk felt a presenceing towards their location. A middle-aged man wearing the beginner¡¯s shabby attire came in the smithy.

    The man suddenly burst into tears as he came inside the smithy. He even fell down as if his strength had left his legs. Then he approached Hyemin and hugged her tightly.

    ¡°You¡¯re finally eating¡­¡­ You finally ate! Hyemin-ah, you finally ate something! Sob, sob!¡±

    He continuously shed tears. Then he turned towards the poopy pig, ah, he meant Minhyuk¡­ and bowed his head.

    ¡°Thank you, thank you. Truly thank you. Sob!¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    ***

    ¡°......?¡±

    Minhyuk looked at him with astonishment. He couldn¡¯t understand the turn of events.

    Ron told him before that Hyemin couldn¡¯t eat anything but she suddenly approached him and ate his kimchi fried rice.

    Why is this sloppily dressed and novice-like unknown user suddenly bowing his head towards me?

    He couldn¡¯t make heads or tails of the situation that he was in.

    ¡®I was just enjoying my delicious kimchi fried rice, though?¡¯

    ¡°This, this is enough!¡±

    Hyemin¡¯s body continued to weaken even after her sessful battle against leukemia. Of course, anyone would need to eat to recuperate their energy but Hyemin never gained any strength in her body since she wouldn¡¯t eat. But he could now rest easy.

    This may be the first spoonful but if she can start eating again from now on then she will start to get better!

    ¡°Ah, I¡¯ve been rude.¡±

    Hyemin¡¯sDad was so happy that he did not realize that he was showing something unsightly to aplete stranger.

    ¡°I heard that my daughter was ying with a pig, ah, no, someone. That¡¯s you, right?¡±

    ¡°Ah, yes. I yed with her and let her ride on my shouldersst time.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m Hyemin¡¯sDad.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what it looks like to me too.¡±

    ¡°No, that¡¯s my nickname.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    ¡°I want to repay you for your kindness.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t do anything¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk tilted his head as he continued to be in confusion.

    What did I do for him to repay me? I just ate and enjoyed my food!

    His expression turned stranger by the second as Hyemin¡¯s father exined to him their situation. The story about leukemia, their treatment and the subsequent events that happened.

    Minhyuk listened to it all. And when he finally understood everything, he couldn¡¯t help but empathize with her.

    ¡®She couldn¡¯t eat any food due to the after effects of her treatment¡­¡­¡¯

    Minhyuk couldn¡¯t eat food in reality due to bulimia and when he thought of Hyemin who couldn¡¯t eat because she was scared of getting sick, he couldn¡¯t help but empathize with her to some extent. And that made him quite sad.

    ¡®I just ate well¡­ I can¡¯t believe that it turned in a good direction. That¡¯s a relief.¡¯

    Hyemin¡¯sDad smiled at him as he watched him deep in thought.

    ¡®I¡¯d like to tell him who I am.¡¯

    There was one rule for all of the members of the Legend Guild.

    Don¡¯t ever reveal who you are.

    However, Hyemin¡¯sDad felt like he could trust this man, Minhyuk, in front of him. Also, it was only natural for him to introduce himself properly before he could repay him.

    ¡°I¡¯m a cksmith. I¡¯m pretty famous too. Have you heard of the Dragon Sword?¡±

    ¡°Ah, I¡¯ve heard of that!¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head enthusiastically.

    Hyemin¡¯sDad thought that he would be much more surprised when he heard that he was the one who made that artifact.

    The Dragon Sword is the greatest artifact that has been auctioned off!

    It also had the most powerful attack power and options that had never been seen before.

    ¡°I thought that the Dragon Sword would be a good artifact to use to cut a cow¡¯s bones since other knives couldn¡¯t cut it well!¡±

    ¡°......Eh?¡±

    Hyemin¡¯sDad was suddenly confused.

    The Dragon Sword, just like its name, was made with the intention to kill a dragon since dragon scales had the ability to bounce back attacks.

    But¡­ What did I just hear?

    ¡°C, cut a cow¡¯s bones¡­...?¡±

    ¡°Yes. My attack power is not enough to cut through a cow¡¯s bones without any help from a machine. If you cut a cow¡¯s bone and cook it, I think it will be fun to eat. When I heard about that, I thought that it¡¯s the best thing that I can use to cut the cow¡¯s bones.¡±

    ¡°Ah, yes¡­¡­ Is, is that so?¡±

    Oh my god! Someone thought of using the Dragon Sword to cut through a cow¡¯s bones!

    Hyemin¡¯sDad thought that it was something iprehensible.

    He then tried to calm himself down before speaking again.

    ¡°I¡¯m the one who made the Dragon Sword. I have the God ss, Hepas¡¯ Descendant.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    ¡°......You look calmer than what I thought you would be.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not it, I¡¯m reaaaaaaaally surprised!¡±

    Minhyuk was really interested. He was extremely interested since this was the first time that he met another user with the God ss like himself.

    Then he heard Hyemin¡¯sDad say¡­

    ¡°I want to make an artifact that you want. You can just say anything that you want.¡±

    Hyemin¡¯sDad smiled softly at him.

    Right now, he had the Spirit of Gryphon in his hands. This was a priceless material for artifact making. And using a variety of other things together with his superb skill, he would definitely make a special artifact just for him.

    ¡®Will he ask for a sword? Or maybe an armor?¡¯

    All of the users were the same. If they had a sword with good options and higher attack power then they would definitely like it. The same goes for armor or any other weapons or protective artifact that the users wanted.

    Especially with the artifacts that he, Hepas¡¯ Descendant, has made. All of his artifacts had a ¡®Hepas¡¯ something¡¯ attached in front of it. That alone would prove his tremendous branding value. Even their lives would not be enough to pay for any of the artifacts that he would produce.

    Well, what will he ask me to make¡­

    ¡°C, can I really ask you to make me anything I want?¡±

    Minhyuk looked extremely excited.

    Hyemin¡¯sDad nodded his head in agreement. He would definitely give his all to produce whatever artifact he would ask him to make. After all, he was their benefactor.

    Hyemin¡¯sDad was a man without much of a greed for anything else. He only wanted his daughter to grow up healthy and brimming with energy.

    He was really thankful for what Minhyuk has done for him so he would do anything that he asked of him.

    ¡°Yes. I¡¯ll do anything for you.¡±

    ¡°I, is that so. Even if it¡¯s something that¡¯s extremely amazing and hard to make?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. Please feel free to tell me what you like.¡±

    Hyemin¡¯sDad focused his attention on his mouth. Minhyuk had an expression that screams ¡®Can I really ask you something like this?¡¯ so he carefully watched him open his mouth to speak.

    ¡°Please make me¡­¡­ a pan.¡±

    ¡°......Yes?¡±

    At that moment, Hyemin¡¯sDad doubted his hearing.

    No. He wanted to deny what he had heard.

    ¡°Please make me a frying pan that can help me make a well-seasoned stir fried pork! Ah, was it too difficult¡­¡­? I mean, it¡¯s something really amazing after all!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Hyemin¡¯sDad was left speechless for a moment. However, Minhyuk thought that he was lost for words because the thing that he asked of him was something really amazing.

    ¡®Well, it¡¯s a frying pan that can help me season stir fried pork and ribs well whenever I cook! I think it¡¯s not that easy to make something like that since it¡¯s something extraordinary! Was it a really difficult request?¡¯

    Then, Hyemin¡¯s father suddenly spoke¡­

    ¡°You don¡¯t even want something like¡­ no, no. Not even a sword, or an armor, or a cane? Hoo. You really just want a frying pan?¡±

    ¡°Yeeees!¡±

    ¡°Are you sure?¡±

    Nod, nod©¥

    ¡°Really?¡±

    Nod, nod©¥

    ¡°You don¡¯t want something that can increase your attack or magic power, not even something that can increase your recovery. But something that can help you make a much more delicious stir fried pork?¡±

    Nod, nod©¥

    Then Minhyuk added¡­

    ¡°Ah, if possible. When I make vegetable pancakes, it will be great if there¡¯s a function where the ends will turn brownish and crispy when I fry or grill them.¡±

    Hyemin¡¯sDad looked at him nkly as he muttered to himself.

    ¡°Should I p him with a frying pan¡­¡­?¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°No, nothing. Hooo¡­¡­ I understand. A frying pan¡­¡­ that could help you boil dow better¡­. the stir fried pork¡­¡­ and¡­¡­ make the ends of the vegetable pancakes crispy and golden brown¡­¡­¡±

    He spoke mechanically, like he was reading a Koreannguage book.

    ¡°Wow. Something this amazing is really possible! Can you really make something this amazing?¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes. Will you really give something like this to me?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I don¡¯t like the idea of making something so weird but I¡¯ll do it for you.¡±

    Hyemin¡¯sDad scratched his cheek in embarrassment.

    ¡°Thank you. Really, thank you so much!¡±

    When he heard his words of affirmation, Minhyuk jumped up in joy as if he saved his whole world. However, Hyemin¡¯sDad was staring nkly into space.

    ¡®I¡¯m¡­¡­ going to make a frying pan¡­¡­ my pride¡­¡­. as Hepas¡¯ Descendant¡­..¡¯

    He stood up weakly to start and make a frying pan.

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    Lol. He¡¯spletely helpless. The proud descendant of Hepas is going to make a frying pan. LOL!

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Aw!!!! This is why I absolutely adore Minhyuk. His sincere love of food is so infectious it can ovee trauma.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 77 - Chocolate Mine

    Chapter 77: Chocte Mine

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    26 Chocte Mine

    Not long after Hyemin¡¯sDad disappeared, to who knows where, Ron suddenly barged in and came inside the smithy. He looked at Minhyuk with astonishment and awe.

    ¡°Boy¡­¡­ What in the world did you do?!¡±

    His expression right now was closer to shock than awe, he had no choice but to show such an expression. Why?

    I¡¯ve lived here for 5 years but the people are closer to Minhyuk than me!

    And it wasn¡¯t just that. Aside from the contracts that were renewed, the number of new contracts that were being signed were not small in number either!

    ¡°I just ate delicious food, walked around, helped others with their work and even cooked for them.¡±

    ¡°......R, really?¡±

    Ron was left speechless with what Minhyuk said.

    As he was reminded by Ron, he went ahead and checked his fame progress bar. His fame was already at 100% before so his face was filled with great expectations.

    ¡°You¡¯ve worked hard.¡±

    It hasn¡¯t even been a week but Ron thought that he already did enough.

    The notification sounded as Ron finished speaking.

    [You havepleted the Hidden Quest: Solve cksmith¡¯s Ron¡¯s Worries.]

    [You have acquired 300,000 EXP.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [......leveled up.]

    He heard eight notifications about leveling up, however, the notifications did not end there.

    [You have achieved 100% fame.]

    [If you wish to learn cksmithing skills from cksmith Ron you can immediately learn the skill.]

    [You can get the Fantastic Special Jeon Dish Set.]

    Then, after hearing the notifications, Ron handed over a box over to Minhyuk. At a nce, the box looked extremely luxurious.

    Once he opened the box, he saw all of the ingredients of the jeon dish set!

    The first set of ingredients he saw was the ingredients for ¡®kkochijeon¡¯. Kkochijeon was made by putting meat, ham, crabstick, pickled radish, leeks, and mushroom. Then it would be coated with flour and egg before frying it in sizzling oil. This was how a tasty skewered kkochijeon was made!

    I know that kkochijeon¡¯s name differs from region to region.

    Then, there were the ingredients for donggeurangttaeng, pumpkin jeon and pollock jeon!

    All of these jeons are delicious! It¡¯s like I can snoop around next to my Mom who¡¯s making these well done and delicious jeons and sneak the cooked ones away!

    As he looked through the box, he could see plenty of ingredients for jeon.

    And it did not end there¡­

    Ron kept on piling up simr boxes in front of Minhyuk and the contents inside were all the same. It was quite a fair amount of boxes.

    Minhyuk smiled slightly as he looked at all the jeon ingredients ced in front of him.

    In fact, Minhyuk has never experienced or celebrated any national holiday. He never had a chance to experience a proper holiday ever since he suffered from bulimia. It was because all of the people around him knew what would happen to Minhyuk if he ever smelled the scent of the savory oil when someone was cooking.

    It was a long time ago when he experienced someone nagging at him during the holidays. It was also a long time ago since he ate holiday food that anyone could eat easily. And because of that, Minhyuk felt that these ingredients for jeon were a bit more special and dear to him.

    ¡°Let me check the ingredients.¡±

    As he said so, Minhyuk picked up a peri leaf among the set of ingredients.

    (Fantastic Peri Leaf)

    Material Grade: B

    Special Abilities:

    ©¥ +10 to WIS

    ©¥ +30 to Magical Defense

    Description: If you think that this is a regr peri leaf, then you¡¯re mistaken. This is a fantastic peri leaf that is one in ten thousand peri leaves. It has a deeper fragrance and vorpared to others.

    ¡°Wow! Wow! Wow!¡±

    Minhyuk burst out in exmations not because of the increase in WIS or magic defense but because he could eat a peri leaf that has a deeper fragrance and vor.

    Minhyuk liked dishes with peri leaves. However, the taste would significantly change depending on what dish it was used. It tasted differently when it was in a stew and it also tasted differently when it was in kimbap.

    The same was true for any other ingredients. When he clicked on the ham, he saw the description as ¡®A ham made with great care by a master craftsman, it is so delicious that no regr ham could everpare.¡¯. The ingredients for the Fantastic Special Jeon Dish Set had a lot of special abilities but it was also more deliciouspared to normal ingredients.

    In addition, there were also ingredients that say ¡®Greatly increases the skill proficiency of cksmithing skills.¡¯ This only meant one thing¡­ if he had the cksmithing skills, then he would be able to easily level up because of this ingredient¡¯s special ability.

    Minhyuk heard from the notifications before that he could learn the cksmithing skills from Ron right away. Originally, they were supposed to be taught like what he did with the Beginner¡¯s Bandaging Skill with McCann but it seemed like he got preferential treatment since he filled the fame progress bar to 100%.

    If I increase my proficiency by eating all of the ingredients here then my cksmithing skills will definitely be high in level!

    ¡°I¡¯d like to learn the art of cksmithing from Ron-nim!¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡±

    [You have mastered the Beginner¡¯s cksmithing Skill.]

    [You have gained 20 DEX.]

    And without wasting any time, Minhyuk quickly checked on the details of his newly acquired skill.

    (Beginner¡¯s cksmithing)

    Passive Skill

    Level: 1

    Effects:

    ©¥ Additional +5%+3% on repairs.

    ©¥ There is a possibility of an additional +4%+2.4% during smelting.

    Repair meant that it restores or increases the durability of any artifact that has low durability while the smelting meant that there was a probability of removing impurities of the ore and getting the pure ore.

    He had heard before that these two effects were the basic foundation of beginner¡¯s cksmithing. He also heard that when the beginner¡¯s cksmithing evolved into intermediate cksmithing then he could start producing artifacts.

    After checking everything, Minhyuk smiled widely as he rubbed his hands together.

    ¡°Shall we start?¡±

    He lookedpletely serious and somber.

    ¡°Can I cook here?¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡±

    When Ron came in earlier, he had heard a lot of notifications about his favorability with Ron increasing. That was also the reason why he happily agreed to his question.

    I should first set things up!

    He poured flour on a t surface then prepared some egg water that he would use to coat the jeons before frying. At this point in time, it was better to season the egg water with salt and pepper. Then, he skewered the ingredients for kkochijeon on a toothpick. In the case of peri leaf jeon, it was better to wrap the ingredients used in donggeurangttaeng inside of the peri leaf before frying it.

    After he finished setting up the ingredients, he greased the frying pan with oil and let it heat up. When he judged that the pan was hot enough, he picked a skewer and coated it with flour and egg water before cing it quickly on the frying pan.

    Sizzleeee!

    The kkochijeon was slowly being fried and cooked deliciously in the savory oil. Once the one side was golden brown, he flipped it over to cook the other side. And just like that, the jeons were cooked until they were golden brown.

    ¡°It smells delicious.¡±

    Ron¡¯s nose twitched as the smell of the oil and freshly cooked jeons wafted in the air. He could even hear the sizzling sound. It was torture to someone who was just watching by the sidelines. He wanted to eat something right away.

    Minhyuk finished cooking donggeurangttaeng, peri leaf jeon, pollock jeon, zhini jeon, leek jeon, tofu jeon, and kkochijeon. The te was overflowing with jeons.

    Then, one hand was slowly reaching out to take a piece of jeon¡­

    Thwack!

    ¡°No!¡±

    With Minhyuk¡¯s serious look, Ron had no choice but to suck on his fingers that had been pped by a spoon. Then, Minhyuk finally prepared the soysauce based dip as he started to prepare to eat.

    And the highlight¡­

    Something that could never be left out¡­

    The thing that you would always think of during the holiday¡­

    The continuous nagging of the adults around you.

    ¡°Can you please nag at me?¡±

    ¡°Huh? What in the world are you saying?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s because I really wanted to eat jeon while feeling the spirit of the holidays!¡±

    ¡°......Boy. Aren¡¯t you really someone strange?¡±

    However, Minhyuk just shrugged his shoulders. It was as if he was telling him that he would not give Ron any jeons if he did not do it. So Ron started to nag at Minhyuk just like what his mother did to him in the past.

    ¡°I heard that the next door¡¯s Lumie is now working at a good smithy. Minhyukie, shouldn¡¯t you go and get a job quickly?¡±

    ¡°Good, good. This really feels like a holiday!¡±

    Hyemin, who was sitting beside him, muttered to herself.

    ¡°Poopy piggy is really strange¡­¡­¡±

    But Ron continued on nagging that he even started to get over excited.

    ¡°Huh?! You should start being independent and get a job and stop eating off of your parents back! Yeah? When are you getting married?! Do you even have a girlfriend? Are you going to keep on ying everyday? How will you get a good job if that¡¯s what you do all day?!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°And Minhyukie, you¡­ how will you even get married if you eat so much? When will you even get married? How will you be able to live in this tough world if you¡¯re like this? When I was younger, chatter, chatter, chatter¡­¡­¡±

    There was no such thing as ¡®When I was younger.¡¯ However, Minhyuk mumbled unknowingly as he continued to listen to him nag¡­

    ¡°I know that I was the one who asked this of him but now I just want to turn over a table or something¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°What? What did you just say to your mom?!¡±

    Ron seemed like he was truly and genuinely overexcited that he couldn¡¯t even distinguish whether he was the cksmith Ron or Minhyuk¡¯s mother(?).

    ¡°Then, shall we eat?¡±

    ¡°Chatter, chatter, chatter.¡±

    Ignoring the still chattering and nagging Ron behind him, Minhyuk picked up a kkochijeon.

    Then, he bit on one side of the kkochijeon. This was the best way to eat kkochijeon since you could taste all of the vor of all of the ingredients in the skewer.

    As soon as he bit down on the kkochijeon, he could taste the savory vor of the oil spreading in his mouth. On top of that, the deep vors of chives, ham, meat, pickled radish, crabstick, mushrooms and eggs blended well in his mouth.

    ¡°Wow¡­.. It¡¯s really delicious.¡±

    Minhyuk had never eaten any jeon in years.

    If you haven¡¯t eaten it at all, then you wouldn¡¯t know the pain of knowing the taste but never being able to eat the food in front of you.

    I really wanted to eat kkochijeon!

    He was smiling brightly as he savored the taste of the jeons.

    Then, he picked up the pollock jeon next.

    He dipped it in soysauce before taking a big bite out of it. His lips naturally curled into a smile as he tasted the salty and meaty vor of the jeon.

    Then the peri leaf jeon.

    The remaining vor of the previous jeon along with the ingredients from the donggeurangttaeng that he ced inside the peri leaf jeon improved the vor of the nd peri leaf and made it more delicious.

    Then the tofu jeon.

    Tofu was a very unique existence. The tofu that was made from soybeans could work well with any kind of cooking method. It was delicious no matter which way you eat it. Whether you ate it as it was, boiled it, grilled it or even fried it, it would still remain delicious. It was even more delicious when it was salted and fried with egg.

    ¡°Heuhaha.¡±

    Heughed loudly as he continued to taste more delicious jeons.

    Then the donggeurangttaeng.

    It was a delicious jeon whether you dip it in soysauce or not. Once he ced it in his mouth, he could taste the rich meaty vor of the meat and vegetables. The more he chewed, the richer the vor that spread in his mouth became.

    ¡°......Boy, are you crying right now?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s because it¡¯s really really delicious.¡±

    Ron who was still continuing his nagging spree suddenly stopped. Right now, he was watching Minhyuk cry as he ate the jeons. He was crying but his face was painted with a bright and happy smile.

    Ron, who was watching him,ughed out loud.

    It seems like the Fantastic Special Jeon Set is really delicious to make himugh and cry like that!

    With a happy smile like that, Minhyuk finished all of the dishes in front of him.

    ¡°Delicious food really is the best!¡±

    Hyemin, who was also moring for the jeons earlier, handed him one skewer of kkochijeon as she spoke in agreement with what Minhyuk said.

    ¡°Delicious food really is the best!¡±

    ¡°......I want to say that too.¡±

    Ron looked at them with a sad face.

    It was because he wasn¡¯t able to eat a single thing!

    Earlier, as Minhyuk was eating, he continuously heard notifications ringing in his head. So he decided to check his notifications window to check what notifications he got.

    [You have eaten the Fantastic Special Jeon Dish¡¯s Kkochijeon.]

    [You have gained 7,000 cksmithing skill proficiency.]

    [Your Beginner¡¯s cksmithing skill has leveled up.]

    [Your Beginner¡¯s cksmithing skill has leveled up.]

    [Your Beginner¡¯s cksmithing skill¡­..]

    [You have eaten the Fantastic Special Jeon Dish¡¯s Donggeurangttaeng.]

    [You have gained 10,000 cksmithing skill proficiency.]

    [Your Beginner¡¯s cksmithing skill has leveled up.]

    [Your Beginner¡¯s cksmithing skill¡­..]

    The leveling up notifications for his cksmithing skill rang for 9 times. In other words, his Beginner¡¯s cksmithing Skill had reached Lv10 in one straight go.

    [You have eaten the Fantastic Special Jeon Dish¡¯s Peri Leaf Jeon.]

    [You have gained 10 WIS.]

    [You have gained 30 Magical Defense.]

    [You have eaten the Fantastic Special Jeon Dish¡¯s Pollock Jeon.]

    [You have gained 30 DEX.]

    [You have achieved 1,000 Dexterity Points.]

    [Your privilege for achieving 1,000 Dexterity Points has been given.]

    Minhyuk continued to check his notifications with great anticipation.

    ***

    Food Discussion Corner

    Kkochijeon (???) - A skewered jeon made with both vegetables and meat and pan fried. I think it¡¯s usually a term for skewered pancaked that¡¯s why it¡¯s name differs from region to region.

    Egg water - I¡¯m basically guessing at this point, I think this is what wemonly use as an egg wash. A mixture of egg and water.

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    I want to eat jeon. I WANT TO!!! Man¡­ Where do I buy peri leaves? I believe we have a version of the pollock jeon and the donggeurangttaeng in my country (and I believe I always eat it lol). TBH I love eggs and any dish with eggs. I can live with just eggs. LOL.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Whew, I can¡¯t wait for my big food holiday to roll out in a couple of days. My appetite grows every time I read this.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 78 - Chocolate Mine

    Chapter 78: Chocte Mine

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    [All skills and abilities rted to Dexterity will have a 40% improvement.]

    It was literally a sharp increase in the numbers. Originally, there was only a 10% improvement every 100 points increased in DEX. However, it suddenly increased to 40% after it reached 1000. In other words, if the power of Minhyuk¡¯s skills and abilities rted to DEX were originally at 10, right now they would be 20.

    But that wasn¡¯t the end to the notifications.

    [A special privilege will be generated for a random skill picked out from your skills and abilities rted to DEX. Your skills and abilities rted to your Food Fighter job ss are excluded from the random picking.]

    [The Beginner¡¯s Bandaging has been randomly selected.]

    [You can now view the sealed special privilege.]

    Minhyuk quickly opened the Beginner¡¯s Bandaging Skill.

    (Beginner¡¯s Bandaging)

    Passive Skill

    Level: 4

    Effects:

    ©¥ Wound recovery +1.8%+1%

    ©¥ +0.6 times eleration on the slow recovery pace.

    Sealed Special Privilege: Material restoration.

    ¡®Huh? Material restoration?¡¯

    Minhyuk looked at it strangely before clicking on it. Fortunately, it opened without a hitch despite its name saying that it was sealed.

    (Material Restoration)

    Special Privilege

    Effects: It can restore all materials and ingredients that have been spoiled, inedible or damaged such as bruised fruit, meat that was left out at room temperature, or even spoiled milk.

    Minhyuk¡¯s hands trembled when he read the effects.

    ¡®Wow¡­¡­! This is really good!¡¯

    The special privilege that he got for the Beginner¡¯s Bandaging skill was really really awesome.

    In our daily lives, we would never buy spoiled meat and milk or bruised fruits. Improperly storing these materials would eventually fade and rot over time.

    However, the special privilege could allow him to return these ingredients to their peak state. But in order for him to do so, he would need to be at the intermediate level in his bandaging skills. In addition, this special privilege was randomly picked among his skills and abilities that were rted to DEX. It even excluded the skills he had in his Food Fighter job ss.

    I didn¡¯t know that there would be another special privilege after the first one.

    After he finished checking everything, Minhyuk was left in deep thought.

    ¡®I can¡¯t believe that he cried while he was eating¡­¡­!¡¯

    Ron had never seen anyone quite like him in all of the years that he¡¯d been alive.

    ¡°Boy, you must really like food.¡±

    ¡°Hehe, that¡¯s right!¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head as if answering in agreement was still not enough to show his love for food.

    ¡°Actually, there¡¯s this legend that has been going around since long ago.¡±

    ¡°A legend?¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s nose twitched, he could definitely smell the scent of another quest.

    Ron shook his head at him.

    ¡°There¡¯s only one mine near the vicinity of the Kingdom of Barras and it was said that there was a chocte tree that will never wither in there.¡±

    ¡°......Cho, chocte tree. Did you say chocte tree?!¡±

    ¡°Chocte?!¡±

    Both Minhyuk and Hyemin reacted at the same time to the word chocte. Ron shook his head helplessly as he exined it to them seriously.

    ¡°Yeah. They said that no matter how much you eat chocte from the chocte tree, there will always be chocte the next day. I don¡¯t know if this will count as proof but if you go and mine in the Brethni Mines, you can dig up iron ores but sometimes you will be able to dig up chocte ores along with the iron ores.¡±

    ¡°Wow!¡±

    ¡°Woooow!¡±

    Minhyuk and Hyemin both let out gasps of admiration.

    Then his mind started to wander and imagine¡­

    ¡®If I eat a lot today, chocte will still grow the next day¡­¡­!¡¯

    Today I can eat just the chocte, tomorrow I can melt the chocte and eat it like it was the devil¡¯s jam, Nute! I can also make chocopie with the chocte and eat it deliciously!

    ¡°Chocte¡­¡­ If you freeze it¡­¡­ then it would be the best.¡±

    Minhyuk and Hyemin both licked their lips and gulped down their saliva. Then Hyemin suddenly said¡­

    ¡°No! Chocte tastes better if it¡¯s melted. It¡¯s more delicious if you suck the chocte on each finger after every bite!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good too!¡±

    ¡°Hehe!¡±

    Ron interjected in their conversation.

    ¡°The most important thing is that the chocte tree still has many abilities that are way beyond what anyone can imagine. I think one of the skills was ¡®Can Cure Someone at Death¡¯s Door all at Once.¡¯ or so I¡¯ve heard?¡±

    ¡°Ooooooh.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a miner named Leton. Boy, why don¡¯t you go and meet with him?¡±

    Ring!

    [Quest: Confirm the details of the Legend of the Chocte Tree with the Miner Leton.]

    Rank: ?

    Restrictions: Favorability with Ron.

    Rewards: 6,000 cksmithing Proficiency Points

    Penalty for Failure: Will not be able to determine the existence of chocte trees.

    Description: There¡¯s a legend about the Chocte Tree handed down from the Brethni Mines. This is the chance to find things out about it. Meet with the Miner Leton!

    ¡°Poopy piggy, since you ate all of my chocte you should also let Hyeminie taste the Chocte Tree, okay?!¡±

    Minhyuk hesitated for a moment but he soon nodded at her with a smile.

    ¡°Sure!¡±

    ¡°Hehe!¡±

    Hyemin recently gave Minhyuk some ABD choctes. Those choctes were the first choctes he had ever eaten after so many years. It was the chocte that he couldn¡¯t eat no matter how much money or things he had in real life.

    Hyemin¡¯sDad called Minhyuk their benefactor but for Minhyuk, perhaps, Hyemin was his benefactor.

    ¡®Chocte tree¡­¡­ Let¡¯s get it!¡¯

    Minhyuk thought like this but he needed to log-out soon.

    It was time for his exercise.

    ***

    Minhyuk followed Changwook to the swimming pool as soon as he got out of the capsule to exercise. As soon as he finished exercising, he sat down on a chair and rested for a while.

    He then started to browse through Athenae¡¯s official homepage as he munched on his cherry tomatoes. He searched about the Brethni Mines as he continued to eat.

    [Is it true that chocte orees out together with the iron ore in Brethni Mines?

    gadad624: Yes, it¡¯s true. Something like that has been found in the Kingdom of Barras.

    AMasterLaborer: It¡¯s because the Kingdom of Barras is a treasure trove and a ce for production sses. The chocte ores were used by chefs in a recipe, most of them were sold by cksmith ss users who dig up iron ores to chefs and choctiers.

    Lucie¡¯sHeart: There are a lot of those kinds of things in the Kingdom of Barras. You can even learn bandage wrapping from a mob in there and whenever you treat a monster with it you will even get iron ore as a drop. Then you can sell the iron ore to a cksmith. There are a lot of quests like this in that ce.]

    Minhyuk now understood.

    The chocte came from the mines. And there would be someone who would ask Is this thing special? at least once. But the Kingdom of Barras, where Minhyuk is currently located, was like the home for all of the production sses.

    If fishermen could even receive bandages just by fishing then cksmiths could also mine for iron ore but receive chocte, an ingredient used for cooking. A painter could also sell sculpting materials that he received frompleting a painting to a sculptor from the next town. In other words, the system also allowed the users to learn about trading and transactions.

    However, just by looking at it, he could tell that chocte was something that they have neglected from the drops or loot they got through hardbor.

    [Frankly speaking, I think the worst thing that cane out of the Brethni Mines is the chocte¡­¡­

    Miner¡¯sSpittingSaliva: Same. In all honesty, I think the miners are the ones who have the hardest time in getting materials¡­¡­ It¡¯s really hard to break those rocks so this ahjussi is telling you to stop choosing this work ???? I beg you, we¡¯re already short on materials¡­¡­ And there¡¯s also a penalty once you choose the miner ss, so I hope that you don¡¯t¡­¡­

    gkad5126: Being a miner is really too hard for any person¡­¡­ thumbs down. I don¡¯t think there¡¯s someone crazy enough to choose the miner¡¯s job ss just so they could eat chocte.]

    Minhyuk was confused.

    ¡°Hyung.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a weird guy here. Why are they saying that it¡¯s crazy to be a miner if they want to eat chocte? I think he¡¯s weird the moment I saw hisments?¡±

    Minhyuk twirled his hand beside his head, it seemed like he really thought that the person was weird.

    ¡°Y, yeah. That person is weird. Ha, hahaha!¡±

    ¡°Why are youughing like that?¡±

    ¡°No, nothing¡­¡­ Are you going to work as a miner so you could eat chocte?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Changwook scratched his cheek.

    In fact, mining was a really tough job that no other job could evenpare. And because of that, the mine itself was neglected and dismissed. Even though it seemed that some cksmiths would go and mine in there, they would also walk away and dismiss the idea soon after.

    There were plenty of other mines outside of the Kingdom of Barras where there were much better minerals and much better treatment for minerspared to the Brethni Mines.

    ¡°You¡¯re really going to mine just because you want to eat chocte?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°Not for the mineral and ores?¡±

    ¡°Of course. What¡¯s the use of minerals when I can¡¯t even eat them?¡±

    ¡°Goo, good luck¡­¡­¡±

    Changwook shook his head in defeat as Minhyuk turned to look at him.

    ¡°Ah, that¡¯s right. Hyung. Do you know Hyemin¡¯sDad?¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that somebody¡¯s father?¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s a nickname.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know?¡±

    ¡°Then, do you know about the Dragon Sword?¡±

    ¡°Hey, of course I know! Does it even make sense for someone who ys Athenae to not know about the Dragon Sword?!¡±

    Changwook¡¯s expression screamed like it was only natural.

    Dragon Sword!

    It was the artifact that was sold with the highest auction price ever! There were even rumors that the man who made the artifact was hailed as the number 1 in the unofficial cksmith rankings. In fact, even yers of Athenae from overseas were interested in the Dragon Sword.

    ¡°The guy who made that said that he would make an artifact for me.¡±

    ¡°R, really? Is that the Hyemin¡¯sDad person you were talking about earlier?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°......What did you ask him to make you? Huh? A sword would be great. A sword with a dragon motif! Waaah, it¡¯s so cool even if I¡¯m just imagining it. Wow! Or is it a shield? Invincible shield! Can defend against anything! Kyaa, I¡¯m really jealous¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°But I asked him to make me a frying pan though?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. A frying pan is really coo¡­¡­¡±

    He rubbed his ears hard, Changwook thought that he might have misheard what Minhyuk said.

    ¡°W, what¡­¡­?¡±

    ¡°I asked him to make me a frying pan. Pfft. He even readily epted my difficult request.¡±

    ¡°B, by any chance¡­ Did he look like he wanted to beat you with a frying pan?¡±

    ¡°Actually, he had tears in his eyes.¡±

    Changwook suddenly felt a sense of camaraderie with Hyemin¡¯sDad.

    ¡®You were dumbfounded, right¡­¡­? Each and every single day I can feel this sense of loss and dumbfoundedness too.¡¯

    Without knowing what¡¯s going through his mind and heart, Minhyuk just continued to talk.

    ¡°Frying pan. I can¡¯t wait for it!¡±

    ***

    Horden Guild¡¯s Bronny. He was known as Lee Sangmin in real life.

    Before he essed the game¡­

    ¡®I think I have 30 minutes until the appointment?¡¯

    It was the appointment with Card, who contacted him not too long ago!

    He asked them to meet at the Kingdom of Barras. Their meeting ce was a shabby inn located in the kingdom.

    In the meantime, he went and approached his father who was reading the newspaper. He wanted to ask about the user, who looked like Kang Minhyuk, who he PKed and robbed off of all the items recently.

    ¡°Dad.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong, did you have another fight?!¡±

    It was a scolding just from the get go! This just showed how much fighting and idents Brony have done despite his age.

    ¡°N, no. It¡¯s not that. I was just curious about something.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re curious? I can¡¯t believe that there¡¯s something that you¡¯re curious about in your life. This lowly one is very thrilled.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°......No, nothing.¡±

    Lee Sangmin suddenly realized what sorrow truly was. Then he carefully asked him¡­

    ¡°Do you remember Kang Minhyuk? The guy who took my money.¡±

    ¡°Of course I remember. Didn¡¯t he rip you off of your money together with your friends? Weren¡¯t there at least 20 people who he hit and begged for forgiveness from him? I, your dad, even want to remove you from the family register at that time but I endured out of pity for you.¡±

    He was dumbfounded. For a moment, Lee Sangmin thought that he was just a child picked up from the streets by his stinking father.

    Why is he hitting me with these facts?

    ¡°But Dad, you told me back then¡­ Don¡¯t ever touch him again if you don¡¯t want our house to fall down in ruins. How can he even make our house fall if I touch him again. No. What did his dad do that he can even make our house fall to ruins if I ever did that again?¡±

    His father ced his newspaper down as he heaved a huge sigh.

    ¡°It has been a long time ago. And you¡¯re old enough to not talk around so foolishly. Right?¡±

    ¡°Ah, yes. Well, I have grown up.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d like to believe so. Even the next door neighbor¡¯s stinking dog has grown up¡­ Anyway.¡±

    He looked around for a moment.

    ¡°What mobile phone do you use?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s from Ilhwa Group.¡±

    ¡°Yourptop?¡±

    ¡°Ilhwa Group.¡±

    ¡°The TV in front of us right now?¡±

    ¡°The TV is from Ilhwa, right?¡±

    Ilhwa Group!

    There was no household that this group could not reach. Even the groceries are from Ilhwa! Household appliances? Ilhwa! There was even a saying that Everything is from Ilhwa Group.

    But, why is my father asking me about all of these things?

    Lee Sangmin was already getting frustrated.

    ¡°Ah. Why do you keep on asking me about this nonsense.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not nonsense. Even this lowly one still could not believe it.¡±

    ¡°Huh? What are you saying?¡±

    At his question, his father grinned at him mockingly.

    ¡°That child¡¯s father is Kang Minhoo, the CEO of Ilhwa Group.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ***

    TL¡¯s Corner!!!

    Well, well¡­ what a rich person. No wonder Minhyuk has a lot of money in the bank. Please hire me as a nanny. Or just someone who will wipe the floor. Thanks. LOL.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Hmm...would Kang Minhoo be the Steve Jobs, or Jeff Bezos of their world?

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 79 - Chocolate Mine

    Chapter 79: Chocte Mine

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Brony, who has now logged back in to Athenae, still has not calmed his wildly beating heart. After all, what he had heard was something extremely astonishing.

    ¡®Hyaa¡­¡­ I didn¡¯t even know. My god. Kang Minhyuk. That unlucky bastard¡¯s father is Chairman Kang Minhoo.¡¯

    Then he thought of something¡­

    ¡®I provoked his child, now?¡¯

    Then his father added some food for thought.

    ¡®You both are alumnus of the same school so you might not know if you¡¯ll ever meet each other, but if it happens, try to avoid creating friction. Although, it is widely believed that the Ilhwa Group is apany that does not use their prestige and power to step down on others. At least, try to avoid any and all sorts of friction, just to be safe.¡¯

    Just like what his father said, there weren¡¯t really any bad rumors or gossip going around about Ilhwa Group. That was one of the reasons why they have gained the trust of the masses.

    ¡®When I shed with Minhyuk and my friends, he did try to solve his problems on his own and he never used the power of theirpany. I have to keep this in mind. This tiger cub has also grown up. This tiger is old enough now.¡¯

    He nodded his head in thought and was finally able to arrive in front of the inn where they agreed to meet with Card. Brony did not bring along any of his guild members to this meeting.

    He opened the door to Room 201, the room that they decided earlier to meet with. Card was the one who arranged the meeting ce. Right inside that room, he could really see Card. The Card that he could only see on TV.

    ¡°Hello. I¡¯m Horden Guild¡¯s Brony.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m Card.¡±

    His answer was cool.

    This is the 2nd in the cksmith¡¯s rankings! The person who created an epic artifact!

    He even heard that the epic artifact sold for 400 million won on the auction site. In addition, he was also one of the executives of Ares Guild.

    ¡°Can I hear about your request right now?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Then, Card started to exin his request calmly.

    ¡°As you know, this request also needs the secrecy and cooperation of the guild members of your Horden Guild. I think it¡¯s better that they move without knowing who their client is.¡±

    ¡°Ah, yes.¡±

    Brony has already asked the guild members to keep mum about this through Ilen.

    ¡°You need to move quietly. All you have to do is take over a mine called Brethni.¡±

    ¡°You mean, the whole mine?¡±

    ¡°Yes. You know about the Brethni Mines, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it was also known as the chocte mine.¡±

    Card shook his head.

    ¡°In 3 days time. You have to take over the Brethni Mines in that amount of time.¡±

    ¡°So we only need to take over¡­¡­¡±

    Card nodded his head at him.

    The mines have miners but there were also administrators and troops from the kingdom who managed the mines. Fortunately, Brethni Mines was a mine for novice cksmiths and miners so the troop¡¯s level was not that high.

    Taking over a field, a dungeon or an area would work like this¡­

    ¡°So you want me to kill off all of the soldiers of the kingdom¡¯s troops and monopolize the ce. And in that time that we¡¯re fighting, you will go into the mine and find the item that you need?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°May I ask what you¡¯re looking for?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Card was quite stubborn about hiding most of the details of the request. But he soon opened his mouth.

    ¡°There are two things that your Horden Guild can do. First, is to take over the mines and cut off all of the connections andmunications with the kingdom. And the next one is getting rid of the sudden influx of stronger monsters that wille out from the Brethni Mines.¡±

    ¡°Stronger monsters?¡±

    Brethni Mines originally have monsters that coulde out from the mines. Most people knew that the monsters were only at around LV70~100. The usual setting was for the kingdom¡¯s troops to take care of the monsters while the miners would go forward and mine for the ores and minerals.

    ¡°Yes, then I¡¯ll start out at that point. I will hide as much as I can and the Horden Guild will take out the monsters that wille out before I go inside.¡±

    ¡°And in the process¡­¡­¡±

    Brony had a hunch¡­

    ¡°All the miners inside will die.¡±

    ***

    Brony left Card alone in the inn after their conversation.

    Once he confirmed that he was well and truly alone, he took out a ck key from his bosom. He received this key unexpectedly.

    ¡®The chocte mines. A rare artifact material exists inside those mines.¡¯

    This was the key that would lead to the secret ce inside the chocte mines! In that secret ce, he would be able to find a material that was a step higher than the material used for the Dragon Sword. The material was ced inside a cave in the mines.

    However, there was only one simple reason why Card would need to use the hands of the Horden Guild.

    ¡®If that damn bastard who¡¯s in the Kingdom of Barras knew of its existence then he will definitely not let me have it!¡¯

    He believed that the bastard would definitely guard and control the mines once he knew of this fact. Then, once he controlled the mines he would definitely have no room to enter and explore it.

    However, his n right now was truly too sloppy. He wanted to immediately capture and kill off the Kingdom of Barras¡¯ troops and take over the mine for himself. But if he did that then he would be chased off by the Kingdom of Barras so he asked for the help of the Horden Guild. After all, that was what their guild was best at.

    To do the dirty work for others and get chased for it!

    ¡®There are only three people who can make an artifact out of the material inside that mines.¡¯

    Card thought about these people.

    One was Casias, he was the number 1 in the cksmith¡¯s ranking. A person who ranked above himself and the other one was the veiled manufacturer of the Dragon Sword.

    The number 1 Casias was located in the Dwarf¡¯s territory right now while the veiled manufacturer of the Dragon Sword has been missing for months. So this was the perfect time for him to act.

    Right this instant!

    ¡®I can make an artifact that will go beyond that of the Dragon Sword with that material and even increase my reputation in one fell swoop. Keuhahahahaha!¡¯

    My ranking in the cksmith¡¯s ranking will rise to number 1 and I would be known as the person to make an artifact that has surpassed the Dragon Sword!

    Card smiled coldly as he thought of the things that he would achieve once he got his hands on that rare material.

    ***

    Ruan, a cksmith in the 5th mining team, was looking down at the ground as he faced the sighing captain of the mining teams, Leton.

    ¡°Sigh. The cksmith friend who came yesterday is noting again today.¡±

    ¡°He must have ran away.¡±

    ¡°Most likely. Each and everyday goes by and the foreigners continue to run away as soon as theye here.¡±

    When he heard his words, Ruan thought to himself¡­

    ¡®If I haven¡¯t received my hidden ss job change quest, I would have run away too¡­¡­¡¯

    Working at the mines was much more intense and the amount of work was enormouspared to manualbor in real life. What was worse was that the inside of the mines was hot and there was dust flying around. You wouldn¡¯t even have any room for breathing and because the dust was too acrid, your eyes and nose would hurt a lot.

    Even if they said that mining and working in the mines would increase his cksmithing proficiency, he would still run away!

    However, he was trying to hold out for a week because of his quest.

    ¡°What will thosezy bastards do in the future?!¡±

    Before, he thought that maybe he could increase his favorability with Leton and maybe possibly receive some rice cakes as a reward but of course, the chances of this idea getting executed was getting smaller and smaller these days.

    ¡®I can¡¯t believe that this whole mining team is on the brink of disbanding¡­¡­ Sigh, how did I even think ofing here, I¡¯m so unlucky!¡¯

    The fifth mining team that was headed by Leton had the lowest yield of minerals and ores. In addition to that, Leton also had conflict with the troops from the Kingdom of Barras. Even if they pretended not to notice it, it was as clear as day that they were receiving fewer supportpared to the other mining teams.

    To cite a few examples¡­ their pickaxes were rusty and their personnel were riddled with wounds however they would still be deployed since they were sincerely out of working hands. And even the materials that they dug out were also poor in quality.

    But even so, I have to hold out! This is my only chance to change from my warrior ss to the hidden ss ¡®Indomitable cksmith¡¯!

    He still did not have any cksmithing skills since he hadn''t finished changing his job ss but this Lv100 warrior was still loved by his colleagues due to his high stamina and power and his high patience for holding out and working as a miner.

    The only thing he needed to do was to dig out a special mineral called Mithril then he could finally high-tail it out of this damned ce!

    ¡°Yooo, Leton. I heard that the personnel will be assigning a foreigner to your 5th mining team!¡±

    ¡°Oh, is that true?¡±

    Leton¡¯s mood brightened when he heard that he would be weing a new recruit in his team.

    A new recruit in the 5th mining team! They haven¡¯t been assigning any new recruit to the 5th mining team these days, what a surprise!

    Ruan quickly moved his feet.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go and get him!¡±

    ¡°Oh, is that so? It¡¯s good that you¡¯re friendly, boy!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡±

    Ruan quickly rushed over to fetch the new recruit.

    He might be friendly but after he received his hidden ss then Leton would definitely fry him like the rice cakes if he did not see him after that!

    As he thought of that, he finally arrived in front of the personnel and saw a stranger eating something. When he looked closely, he saw that he was munching on chocte.

    ¡°This mine¡¯s chocte is really really delicious¡­¡­ Wow. I¡¯m so jealous of the miners. They could eat this everyday¡­¡­!¡±

    Ruan clicked his tongue at him.

    ¡®That chocte will be your wage!¡¯

    Other quests would give out gold as a reward but this mine would give out choctes as their pay. Whether you sell it or eat, it was totally up to you.

    When he looked up after contemting his disdain for the mine¡¯s wage system, Ruan suddenly stopped in his tracks.

    ¡°......Are, are you crying?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s because it¡¯s really really delicious.¡±

    The stranger¡¯s face was filled with tears as he ate the choctes in his hands.

    ¡®What the hell, is this person dumb?¡¯

    Even though this was what Ruan thought, he still led him over to the 5th mining team. Then he started to probe into his details.

    ¡°What¡¯s your level and your job ss?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m at Lv90 and my main ss is a chef. Ah, I can do bandaging, farming and even use swords. Oh, I can do that too!¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    He looked extremely confident so Ruan gazed at him with a bit of caution.

    ¡°Eating 100 boxes of chocopie in one sitting!¡±

    Grin.

    Ruan chuckled at his antics.

    He¡¯s a moron.

    As he listened to him, he thought¡­

    ¡®Who does this fXcker think he is? How can a user learn bandaging, farming, cksmithing and even cooking?¡¯

    His story waspletely unreasonable and was already beyondmon sense. After all, the number of production skills that a user could learn was limited and his level was only at 90.

    Ruan thought that this user was bluffing.

    Even eating 100 boxes of chocopie in one sitting was also nonsense.

    ¡°So when did you learn your cksmithing skills?¡±

    This was the most important question. He asked this to determine his talent and capabilities.

    ¡°Yesterday!¡±

    ¡®I¡¯m just d that his spirit is zing, I finally found my recement.¡¯

    He grinned at him.

    Then, he led him to where the miners were located. Once they arrived in front of the miners, the user Minhyuk suddenly bowed towards them.

    ¡°Hello. I¡¯m Minhyuk. Please take care of me!¡±

    ¡°Oho. Such a nice friend. I see.¡±

    Leton smiled widely at him as Ruan tilted his head in confusion.

    ¡°Huh? Leton-nim. Why are your cover-alls torn? Are your knees bleeding?¡±

    ¡°Ah, this? I just fell down when I was dragging the cart over.¡±

    ¡°No, you¡¯re the captain so why are you pulling the cart? My heart hurts for you!¡±

    Of course, it was just a pretentious remark on his part.

    Just then, the user Minhyuk suddenly stepped forward.

    ¡°Will you let me see the wound?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Leton and Ruan looked at him with confusion stered on their faces.

    ***

    When he heard that he was Leton, Minhyuk sensed that he was the person rted to the ¡®chocte tree¡¯ so he stepped forward to look at him.

    There¡¯s blood flowing from his knees! It¡¯s a chance for me to increase my Bandaging skills and at the same time treat people with injuries!

    Leton looked at him with doubts on his face.

    ¡°B, boy. Are you a healer? No. Why would a healere here?¡±

    ¡°Ah. I learned the bandaging skill.¡±

    ¡°Bandaging skill?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Minhyuk talked to him as he wiped his bleeding knees with some tissue while bringing out some bandages.

    Ruan, on the other hand, pondered deeply as he watched him working.

    ¡®How much recovery would a Lv90 user with a bandaging skill even have? Tch!¡¯

    He was well aware of how much recovery a bandaging skill had. It was like wearing bandages in real life!

    Minhyuk, then, started wrapping the bandage on the wound.

    ¡°Bandaging skill!¡±

    His hands moved gently and smoothly, it was as if he had wrapped hundreds and thousands of bandages already. Ruan¡¯s eyes widened in disbelief when he saw him working on Leton¡¯s wound.

    ¡®Eok? Why can he wrap it so well?¡¯

    [You have achieved the best bandage wrap.]

    [The bleeding will immediately stop.]

    [The wound recovery has an additional 2% increase.]

    [The recovery time has increased and became faster.]

    ¡°Bl, the bleeding¡­¡­ it stopped right away¡­¡­!¡±

    Different to when he was practicing his bandaging skill on the mannequin, Minhyuk knew that it was essential that he stopped the bleeding when he was bandaging an injured person. If his bandage was wrapped well then he would be able to mostly stop the bleeding wound. And once the bleeding has stopped, then the injured would feel a lot better. In addition, since he wrapped the bandage well then he would be able to get the additional wound recovery and increase in recovery time.

    The bandaging skill was not a skill for immediate recovery, it was a skill that would promote recovery on a step-by-step basis.

    Right now, Leton could see that the bleeding on his knees had stopped and the numbing pain was reduced after he was bandaged. He could also feel that his knees could move a lot better now that he was treated so he tried to move his legs around to check his knees.

    ¡°Kghk! Thank you! I was worried that it would be a hassle for my work today.¡±

    [Leton¡¯s favorability has increased.]

    ¡°Hehe. It was nothing much.¡±

    And it didn¡¯t even end there¡­

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes scanned him like a hawk and zeroed in on Leton¡¯s mining equipment.

    ¡°No! Why are you mining with something like this? It looks like it¡¯s about to break!¡±

    ¡°Sigh¡­¡­ What can I do if those damn bastards from the Kingdom of Barras don''t support me?¡±

    The tools and equipment for every ss was extremely important but he was telling him that they were mining with pickaxes like that?! It would already be a relief if that did not break on them while they were working.

    ¡°Please give it to me. I¡¯ll fix it for you.¡±

    ¡°Oho, is that so? When did you learn the art of cksmithing, boy?¡±

    ¡°Yesterday!¡±

    ¡°.......¡±

    Leton now had the expression simr to what Ruan had when he first heard him say that.

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    Ayyy. Just hand it over. He would def fix it. Kek.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 80 - Chocolate Mine

    Chapter 80: Chocte Mine

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    There was only one reason for their shock and disbelief.

    This was because the skill of cksmithing has a higher risk of failurepared to farming or bandaging. Although it was not explicitly specified, saying that you had learned the skill of cksmithing just a day prior was equivalent to saying that you were a novice in the field. It was like when a person who has never cooked before tried to make rice without following the recipe then they would not be able to make a well-cooked rice. This was the same case as a novice cksmith who would try to repair a tool, the same failure might also happen.

    As for the case of failure in cksmithing? It would depend on the probability but if the durability of the weapon or tool drops down a certain level then it would definitely break.

    ¡°Ah, h, huh? Ah. It, it¡¯s alright!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not alright at all. How can you even dig for minerals with pickaxes like that?!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Leton hesitated when he saw his shining eyes. He could even deduce that his eyes were screaming something along the lines of ¡®I want to help you, please let me help you!¡¯. His eyes were zing with the desire to help him fix his pickaxe.

    Then, as if a lightbulb shone on top of his head, he thought of something.

    ¡®Ah, wait. The durability of this tool is already at the brink of breaking. This was something that I was going to throw away, anyway.¡¯

    So he handed the pickaxe over to Minhyuk.

    ¡°Please fix this for me!¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡±

    Ruan clicked his tongue when he saw the scene.

    ¡®It¡¯s definitely going to break.¡¯

    The iron part of the pickaxe will definitely break. Tch. This is like giving the cat a fish with how he gave his pickaxe to a novice cksmith!

    Ruan was aware of this because he had a lot of cksmith friends.

    Minhyuk transformed Ellie¡¯s Kitchen Knife into a cksmith¡¯s hammer then ced the pickaxe on top of an anvil that looked like it was used by novices.

    ¡°Repair!¡±

    After activating his cksmithing skills, it showed the ces where he needed to beat down with the hammer.

    This is the magnificence of the DEX!

    And it did not end there¡­

    With 1,000 points in his DEX, Minhyuk was able to see another change. It did not rang out like a notification. Originally, the marks and points that he could see for the bandaging skill were only white. However, right now he could see spots of red in between the white spots. In other words, he would have to bandage these red spots more carefully if he were bandaging. In the case of cksmithing, then he has to tap on it much more gentlypared to when he was beating down on the other spots.

    ng!

    ng!

    ng!

    Minhyuk diligently moved his hammer and beat along the spots with varying strength depending on the color of the light. The way that he moved looked like he was as skillful as a cksmith that has been working for quite a long time.

    ¡®H, he said that he learned yesterday. Right¡­..?!¡¯

    In fact, Ruan would sometimes try and beat some metal in the anvil. Because the foundation and basic skills were extremely important for a cksmith! However, no matter how much he tried he could never achieve that posture or that kind of skill.

    Then, after working on the pickaxe for quite some time¡­ the pickaxe glistened and shone brightly as if it was brand new.

    [You have achieved the best repair for the pickaxe.]

    [The durability has sharply increased.]

    [It won¡¯t rust easily.]

    [The mining effect has increased.]

    ¡°......?!¡±

    Even Minhyuk looked at the pickaxe with surprise coloring his face while the shocked Ruan muttered under his breath.

    ¡°D, don¡¯t tell me that it triggered the ¡®best¡¯ thing?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°......My goodness. I can¡¯t believe that a novice cksmith will be able to trigger a one-in-a-thousand effect so easily.¡±

    ¡°Eh?¡±

    Minhyuk looked at him with a puzzled expression as Ruan exined it to him.

    ¡°The higher the skills of the cksmith, the higher the probability of the cksmith triggering the ¡®best¡¯ effect. However it isn¡¯t an easy task. Have you felt something different when you triggered the best effect? Triggering the best effect will give out special privileges.¡±

    ¡°Ah.¡±

    That special privilege.

    Just like the special privilege in the bandaging skill, there was also a special privilege in the skill of cksmithing! However, it was good that the special privilege of the cksmithing skill seemed like it was something permanent.

    Leton marveled at the shine of the almost broken pickaxe that he handed over to Minhyuk.

    ¡°If you like, I can repair your pickaxes for you.¡±

    ¡°Ooooh. Would you really do that?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    And in no time at all, Minhyuk¡¯s beginner cksmithing skill¡¯s special abilities has increased to 5. It even included sharpening the de and polishing the armor! Minhyuk quickly used sharpening the de.

    [You have achieved the best sharpening of the pickaxe¡¯s de.]

    [The durability has increased.]

    [The mining effect has increased.]

    As expected, another best!

    Minhyuk smiled andughed with a huhuhu as if he was very pleased with what he had done.

    ¡®If I asked about the chocte tree right now, maybe he will teach me a lot!¡¯

    Then, Leton picked the pickaxe and checked its information.

    (Well-Sharpened Pickaxe)

    Rank: Normal

    Restrictions: None

    Durability: 368 / 800

    Attack Power: 76

    Mining Power: 152 + 42

    Leton first saw the sharp increase in the durability which was originally at 6/800 there was also a +42 on the mining power. In other words, that was the effect that Minhyuk himself has attached to the pickaxe. As he looked at the pickaxe, Leton suddenly thought of something¡­

    ¡®I can¡¯t believe such a talented person came into our mining team!¡¯

    And Ruan, who was watching at the sidelines, noticed everything.

    ¡®How can he achieve best twice in a row¡­¡­?¡¯

    This is totally impossible!

    Some of the cksmiths that he knew were among the top ten in the country. He even heard from them that they could only get ¡®best¡¯ if they were really lucky on that day.

    So what the hell is going on here?

    ***

    Team Leader Park was murmuring something under his breath.

    ¡°It was because User Minhyuk¡¯s level is low while his dexterity stat is extremely high¡­¡­¡±

    Lee Minhwa nodded her head when she heard his words.

    ¡°You know about it too, right?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    She briefed him while she continued to look at the monitor.

    ¡°The dexterity stat. It is a stat that is very difficult to increase. There¡¯s even a limit to how much you can raise it just by doing manualbor. In addition, the higher the user¡¯s level the lower the dexterity stat acquisition rate will be.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s correct.¡±

    Team Leader Park nodded his head as Lee Minhwa continued her briefing.

    ¡°And usually, Lv100 nonbatant users would only have at most 200 for their dexterity stat. And if by any chance, you¡¯re a bit special and your dexterity stat is higher than 200 at Lv100 then you will be able to continuously get privileges. What¡¯s more, he got 1,000 before he even reached Lv100. This is not just a simple double increase in the power of the dexterity stat. Every time he uses a skill rted to dexterity it will always turn out to be the most powerful and the best.¡±

    ¡°And for someone like User Minhyuk, his dexterity stat will only continue to increase from here on out.¡±

    ¡°......Yes.¡±

    When that timees?

    Then the dexterity stat would continue to go in an unpredictable path and would definitely show them a strength that they could never imagine.

    ¡°You can¡¯t wait for his level to increase so that his acquisition rate will go down, huh?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    Then, Team Leader Park looked at another monitor. The monitor was showing the situation of the other God ss, Hepas¡¯ Descendant. It was Hyemin¡¯sDad.

    ***

    Hyemin¡¯sDad wiped the sweat off of his forehead with the towel hanging off of his neck.

    ¡®I can¡¯t believe that Hyeminie¡¯s eating so well in the hospital now¡­¡­¡¯

    He grinned when he remembered what happened. As soon as Hyemin logged out of the game and came back to reality, she ate a lot of the meals the hospital had prepared for her. The moment her resistance to food disappeared, her appetite exploded like crazy. Hyemin¡¯sDad who looked at her with a fatherly smile all the time had no choice but tough at her helplessly.

    Then, as he was finishing the frying pan he muttered to himself.

    ¡°But why should it be a frying pan! Why!¡±

    He continued to murmur as he stared nkly in space.

    ¡°Ting¡­¡­ tingtingting. Taeng¡­¡­ taengtaengtaeng. Tingting taengtaeng fry pan game. Taemin, two. Taemin, Taemin.¡±

    He had a nk look on his face after realizing what he just murmured.

    Now the frying pan was already housing the Spirit of Gryphon. This was a frying pan with the strength and options that could rival that of the trendy Dragon Sword! But this wasn¡¯t the end yet. He was a perfectionist by nature and so was his skill as Hepas¡¯ Descendant. People would definitely be surprised if they heard that this frying pan was still iplete and unfinished. The Spirit of Gryphon was already an excellent material for artifact making and the one who used such a material was Hepas¡¯ Descendant. And strangely enough, the frying pan was made very well and was an existence that could never be imitated.

    But I still feel like I¡¯mcking and that I¡¯m a few percent shorter than a 100%!

    If the artifact was released right now, it would definitely garner considerable fame and influence. However, he still felt that there was a material that he was severelycking for the frying pan.

    After pondering for quite some time, he finally realized what it was.

    ¡®The frying pan will be used by that guy to cook.¡¯

    For Minhyuk, he wanted a frying pan that could possibly(?) help him cook and season a stir fried pork well. As he thought of that, he thought that it would be good to add a mineral with fire affinity and property.

    ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be just fire, the mineral should have a variety of properties¡­... I wish there was a material like that.¡±

    After he finished his musings, he thought of something he heard from before. He heard it a long long time ago. It was about a material with all of the properties.

    ¡°It would be nice if I could get my hands on a material like that¡­¡­¡±

    He murmured softly, whispering his wishes to no one in particr.

    ***

    ¡°Oooooooh! Boy, this is really great! Fix my pickaxe too!¡±

    ¡°Include my worned-out work boots too!¡±

    ¡°Please fix my safety helmet too!¡±

    ¡°Repair!¡±

    ¡°Repair!¡±

    ¡°Repair!¡±

    Minhyuk repaired all of the tools and equipment of the miners in the 5th mining team. And at the same time¡­

    [Aru¡¯s favorability has increased.]

    [Bren¡¯s favorability has increased.]

    [Rasno¡¯s favorability has increased.]

    In a sh, he was already familiar with all of the miners in the mining team. And that wasn¡¯t the end of it all.

    ¡°I hurt my hand while I was getting a pickaxe a few days ago.¡±

    ¡°This¡­¡­! I¡¯ll treat you. Bandage wrapping!¡±

    This is a chance to master all of my skills! And my DEX will definitely increase if I repeatedly use my dexterity rted skills! And it wasn¡¯t for free either!

    ¡°From now on, if you give me the chocte thates out whenever you dig out for iron ore I will help you with your tools and injuries! I also need to have some profit!¡±

    ¡°Ah, is that it? Haha. Is that your repair fees?¡±

    ¡°Well, here¡¯s some chocte!¡±

    ¡°Ah. Me too. Here you go, I have four choctes with me!¡±

    ¡°I have ten! So can you fix my face so that I will look good?¡±

    ¡°Y, you have to be born again¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Cold sweat rained down on his back when he heard one of the miner¡¯s excessive requests!

    ¡®Oh my god, how do I fix an ugly face! It¡¯s not possible with my bandaging skill, maybe it¡¯s still not possible with stic surgery or even internal medicine!¡¯

    However, the effects of his bandaging skill were much more effective than what he believed it to be so Minhyuk used his glib tongue and showed off his experience with a skillful speech.

    ¡°Your fist-sized nose! It represents the true virtues of a man! Your slitted eyes resemble that of a hawk! And your big, boulder-like face! It makes you look like a character from Maple Story! Isn¡¯t it already great as it is? You¡¯re already a handsome man!¡±

    ¡°Keuhahahaha! Thanks. But what is Maple Story?¡±

    ¡°I know about it. It¡¯s a game about fallen leaves.¡±

    ¡°I see. Keuhahahaha. Hey, look. This friend here says that I¡¯m handsome!¡±

    Then, another man whispered in Minhyuk''s ears.

    ¡°Boy. Did you sell your conscience and dignity for chocte?¡±

    Minhyuk was so surprised by what he heard that he snorted and choked up.

    Anyway. Minhyuk was able to raise his skill proficiency and eat choctes at the same time so he was killing two birds with one stone.

    And in the spare time that he got, he asked Leton about the chocte tree.

    ¡°Chocte tree?¡±

    Then, Leton thought about things deeply¡­

    ¡®The chocte tree¡­¡­ It definitely exists. But I can¡¯t just let anyone know.¡¯

    Minhyuk was the first person to have ever reached Leton¡¯s standards. He also thought that he was extremely kind and amiable. However, for that same reason he also needed to know who he was before saying anything to him.

    ¡°Wasn¡¯t it just a legend that has been passed through ages? I don¡¯t know much about it either. Haha.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­¡­ Is that so?¡±

    Minhyuk looked extremely pitiful.

    Is this where the lead ends? Is it really just a legend? No. Definitely no.

    He would never ept that so easily. So he went ahead and immediately used his Ingredient Tracking Skill. He was sure that the effect of the skill was ¡®Cure Someone at the Brink of Death¡¯ or something like that. So based on that, he started his ingredient tracking.

    ¡®Use the ingredient tracking skill once.¡¯

    As he thought of that, the choices of whether he wanted Korean food, Chinese food, Japanese food or Western food came to mind. Of course, the choice of dessert was among them. And chocte was of course a part of the dessert category.

    [You have selected Dessert.]

    [What is your desired buff effect?]

    ¡®Save the dead.¡¯

    [Searching for the ingredients in a 1-km radius.]

    [The search for the ingredient is sessful.]

    [The chocte tree can save the dead, but it is also a legendary material that has various properties.]

    [The dish is avable for Lv1 Food God¡¯s Cooking Skills.]

    [Suggested Menu: Brownies.]

    ¡°......!¡±

    Minhyuk was aware of the effects of the Ingredient Tracking Skill. Thest time he used it to find the essence of the Orc Tribe Leader, the position of the ingredient did not appear clearly when he was about 1 km away from the Orc Tribe Leader but the moment he got closer by 600m to the ingredient he was able to locate the ingredient with a red mark hovering over where it was located on the map.

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes darted around as he looked at his surroundings. He was also able to see the troops of the kingdoming out of the mines.

    ¡°We have taken care of all the monsters inside. All of the miners can now enter.¡±

    ¡°Then, let¡¯s go! Let¡¯s go and test out these newly repaired full-set equipment!¡±

    Minhyuk, who was walking along with them with his shifty eyes, looked different. He was staring straight ahead towards the darkness inside the cave where they were heading to. He wasn¡¯t sure where it was inside but Minhyuk who was going in with Leton was sure of one thing.

    The red mark.

    It was clearly hovering over the cave where the 5th mining team was headed to. It was clear evidence that it was the entrance to where the chocte tree was located. Minhyuk clenched his fists and pumped it silently to encourage himself.

    ¡°Brownie¡­¡±

    ¡°Eh? What did you say?¡±

    Ruan tilted his head at him when he heard him murmur something under his breath. However, his words did not register in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    Even though Minhyuk was a manly man, whenever he went to a cafe to study with his friends he would still ask them ¡®Hey, should we order a brownie?¡¯ everytime. There was even a saying about it.

    The soft, moist and sweet brownie will definitely melt in your mouth.

    And it would even taste better if you took a sip of the bitter Americano after taking a bite of the brownie.

    ¡°It¡¯s really delicious!¡±

    ¡°Heuooook?!¡±

    ¡°Keok?!¡±

    All of the miners walking with him turned around in shock when they suddenly heard him shout.

    ¡°Ah. I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°......That surprised me.¡±

    ¡°My heart almost dropped.¡±

    Then a miner approached Leton and said to him¡­

    ¡°Our new recruit looks like he¡¯s fresh, nice and even repairs our tools. He¡¯s also good looking. But he¡¯s just a bit strange. Huh?¡±

    ¡°......I know.¡±

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    Well. Well. Well. Who¡¯s up for some brownie and some strong ck coffee! I know it¡¯s me.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 81 - Im Going To Tell My Noona About This.

    Chapter 81: I¡¯m Going to Tell My Noona About This.

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    27 I¡¯m Going to Tell My Noona About This.

    Minhyuk and the other miners went inside the mining cave and finally saw the dead monsters. Since the bodies of the dead monsters would just disappear over time the miners slowly went and took their ces to start their mining.

    ¡°Ruan. You and the new recruit are both foreigners so let him know about the other things.¡±

    ¡°Yes. I understand.¡±

    Then, Ruan stood beside Minhyuk and loudly spat on both of his hands.

    ¡°Well then¡­ You should lift your pickaxe like this!¡±

    He pulled the pickaxe high and stabbed it towards the rocks with all his might.

    Baang!

    A pile of stones suddenly sttered as Ruan grinned proudly at him.

    ¡®I haven¡¯t changed my job ss yet but I¡¯m sure that I will get an ¡®Indomitable Mining¡¯ skill once I change to the Indomitable cksmith ss. Hoho!¡¯

    As he thought of this, he diligently started to mine for iron ores. After 5 minutes of digging around, he was finally able to get one piece of iron ore. Sounds of admiration rang out from his surroundings.

    ¡°Oh. Ruan, you bastard, you already got one?¡±

    ¡°Keuha! You¡¯re finally using your strength correctly!¡±

    ¡°Ruan¡¯s our mining team¡¯s ace!¡±

    Ruan shrugged his shoulders as he listened to the praises that they heaped on him.

    ¡°Well, if you¡¯re able to mine one withing 5 minutes then that will be great. They will all react like this too. It will be okay if Minhyuk-nim can mine two in an hour.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head when he heard his words. After all, it was the truth that Ruan was the person who dug up an iron ore the fastest. This just showed that his indomitable mining skill was quite effective even though it wasn¡¯tpleted yet!

    Ruan even thought that no one could surpass him in terms of mining. In addition, the iron ore came out so fast because he was lucky but in truth he could only mine one ore for every 15 minutes.

    Minhyuk transformed Ellie¡¯s Kitchen Knife into a pickaxe. Once he looked at the area where he was supposed to mine, he saw a bright red spot on the wall. Then, he sped his pickaxe with both his hands and hit the spot that was shining brightly with great strength.

    Fwooooom©¥

    Clink!

    The moment his pickaxe embedded itself on the wall, a pile of stones fell down from the wall. The pile of stones were significantlyrger in amountpared to what Ruan did. Then, along with the pile of stones a notification rang in his mind.

    [Please fill the proficiency bar to 100% in order to add the Mining Skill to your cksmithing Skill.]

    Unlike other abilities, the mining skill could be easily added to his cksmithing skill just by filling the proficiency bar to its fullest.

    Then, he hit the wall once more¡­

    Fwooooom©¥

    Clink!

    Rumble, rumble, rumble©¥

    [You have acquired an iron ore.]

    ¡°Oh, an iron ore¡­¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk was so shocked. An iron ore appeared just after he hit the wall twice. Ruan, who was watching beside him, waspletely shocked. Leton also discovered what happened after hearing themotion.

    ¡°Keok?!¡±

    ¡°I, it¡¯s a coincidence, right~!¡±

    ¡°Our rookies are quite lucky today!¡±

    Then, Minhyuk hit the wall again.

    Fwooooom©¥

    Clink!

    Rumble, rumble, rumble©¥

    [You have acquired an iron ore.]

    ¡°Oh. Another one!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    For a moment, the people surrounding him were left speechless. Ruan, who was right beside him, murmured under his breath.

    ¡°You¡­¡­ How in the world¡­¡­¡±

    He could mine faster than anybody else due to the mining skill of the hidden ss Indomitable cksmith. Although his skill was not yet fully mastered, his proficiency bar was almost filled!

    So how can someone who just started to mine be so good!

    ¡°W, what¡¯s your secret?¡±

    ¡°I eat well and work diligently!¡±

    ¡°......uhm.¡±

    Ruan had doubts whether he heard him correctly.

    Minhyuk then stood in front of the direction where the ¡°Ingredient Tracking¡± was pointing to and grabbed his pickaxe.

    ¡®I¡¯m going to eat¡­¡­ brownies!¡¯

    Fwooooom!

    Clink!

    Rumble, rumble, rumble!

    [You have acquired a chocte ore.]

    ¡®I¡¯m going to eat¡­¡­ chocte!¡¯

    Fwooooom!

    Clink!

    Rumble, rumble, rumble!

    ¡®I¡¯m going to eat. Mocha coffee!¡¯

    Clink!

    Rumble, rumble, rumble!

    He continued to mine.

    For delicious chocte!

    There was even a famous movie line about choctes¡­

    ¡®Life is like a box of choctes.¡¯

    The box might be filled with chocte but the vor would be different. The box could be filled with sweet or bitter chocte. And when you pick one out of the box without knowing anything, you wouldn¡¯t know whether the chocte was bitter or sweet. It was just like life. No one would know whether the path that they chose was the sweet path that they always wanted or the bitter path that everyone hated.

    But for Minhyuk, he could never associate with those words. For him topare his life to a box of chocte¡­ then his box of chocte would just be an empty box. But right now, it was different for him. Ever since he had essed Athenae, he was able to fill his chocte box with sweet choctes one step at a time. And the chocte tree would be one of them. And because of that, Minhyuk has been giving it his all.

    Fwooooom!

    Clink!

    Rumble, rumble, rumble!

    Everytime he hit stones with his pickaxe, acrid dust would rise and irritate his eyes and nose. His eyes would water, he would continuously sniff and his sweat was pouring down in heaps and bounds. As time went by, even his arms started to get numb from all of the work that it was going through but he was still happy even though the work that he had to do was quite arduous.

    He was still smiling.

    Fwooooom!

    Clink!

    Rumble, rumble, rumble!

    He did not know how much time has passed ever since he started mining. All he did was to continue to swing his pickaxe and work his way through the mine. He seemed to have heard the voices of Leton and the rest of the miners behind him.

    ¡°It¡¯s been over an hour!¡±

    ¡°Boy, aren¡¯t you pushing yourself too hard?!¡±

    But they soon realized something¡­

    ¡®He can¡¯t hear our voices¡­¡­!¡¯

    ¡®My goodness! Such concentration!¡¯

    Minhyuk did not seem like he felt anything at all but two hours had already passed ever since he started his mining work. Because of the high intensity work, they always had to work for 40 minutes and rest for 20 minutes. However, Minhyuk has been working non-stop for 2 hours.

    Minhyuk was concentrating really hard that he did not hear the voices of concern from the other miners but he did hear the notifications that rang in his head.

    [You have acquired an iron ore.]

    [You have triggered the skill: Will.]

    [All of your skills and abilities rted to dexterity will have a 28% increase.]

    Because of the increase in his skills, his body and movements started to pick up speed.

    Fwooooom!

    Clink!

    Rumble, rumble, rumble!

    And it did not end there.

    [You have gained 1 DEX.]

    He continuously heard the notifications in his head but his mind was entirely focused on chocte. He kept on digging until his hands were riddled with wounds. He even had to use his ¡®Bandaging Skills¡¯ on himself.

    [Mining Skill has been added to your Beginner¡¯s cksmithing Skill.]

    He was able to fill his proficiency bar in just a matter of time. In addition, there was also a huge pile of iron ore sitting quietly beside him. The huge pile of iron ore was tantamount to the total number of ores that the whole 5th mining team has mined so far.

    And five hourster¡­

    Clink!

    Rumble, rumble, rumble!

    Minhyuk finally stopped digging as he wiped the sweat off of his face and body. He waspletely soaked in sweat.

    The moment he stopped mining, the rest of the miners of the 5th mining team also stopped. Minhyuk was able to cheer them up and encourage them to move much diligently and work harder than usual.

    ¡®Our new recruit is working so hard! We can¡¯t sit down and continue to rest like this!¡¯

    ¡®Let¡¯s dig too! We¡¯ll get fired if we go on like this!¡¯

    The 5th mining team had the lowest mineral turnover among all the mining teams so they were already on the verge of getting fired any day from now! However, it was especially thanks to Minhyuk for repairing their mining tools and equipment that they were able to mine better. They felt that they were mining easier and there were plenty of iron ores too!

    Ruan separated the ores that Minhyuk had dug up and counted them down.

    ¡°152 pieces¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Everyone was speechless.

    This is almost equivalent to what the whole 5th mining team can dig up for half a day!

    The number of ores that the mining team had dug up was 194, the amount that Minhyuk had dug up was enough to fill up their whole day¡¯s work and even have some remaining excess!

    ¡°You¡¯re really amazing¡­¡­¡±

    Ruan was totally in awe.

    Can a single person really mine that hard that he will be able to dig up this much ore?

    He finally realized that he could also work diligently and he would also be able to achieve what he had achieved.

    ¡®No wonder. This person is extremely skillful because he always tries his hardest on everything!¡¯

    In a way, Minhyuk was only working hard because he wanted to eat chocte. However, this was not what the others could see. His feat was something that the miners, who depend on this work for their livelihood, would hate to do. What more for the foreigners who just came in to have some fun?

    Minhyuk picked up one of the chocte ores that he dug up. Looking at it, he could not see anything special about it, it even looked like it was just an iron ore. However once you peeled off the foil, a ck chocte would be revealed. The chocte from the chocte ore was a bit biggerpared to an adult male¡¯s fist. But Minhyuk was still able to devour the fist-sized chocte ore with ease. He ate one, two, three, four, five pieces in one go. It was as if he was recharging himself with sugar as he sat down eating choctes.

    Ruan and the rest of the miners gaped at him in shock.

    ¡°One piece of chocte ore¡­¡­ is about 1kg each, right?¡±

    ¡°Yeah¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°But he already ate fourteen pieces¡­¡­ that¡¯s about 14kg. No. Wasn¡¯t he also eating chocte when he was repairing our tools in front of the mining cave earlier? I think he ate about ten pieces earlier so he already ate almost 30kg of chocte today¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°.......!¡±

    ¡°.......!¡±

    Ruan¡¯s murmurs made Leton and the rest of the miners shocked beyond belief. The chocte ore only has a one out of ten probability ofing out when digging for iron ores. They were also much more expensivepared to regr choctes with their prices twice that of the regr ones.

    They felt like they were watching a chocte mukbang that was hosted by an elephant with how much chocte he has eaten. Once Minhyuk finished eating his choctes, he stood up from his seat and started to dig up iron ores again.

    ¡°Boy, would youe with me for a moment?¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    Minhyuk tilted his head when he heard Leton talk to him. He led Minhyuk further inside the mines where the rest couldn¡¯t hear them.

    ¡°Do you remember what I told you earlier? About your question about the chocte tree?¡±

    ¡°Ah. Yes!¡±

    ¡°Actually, I lied to you about not knowing anything. The chocte tree actually exists.¡±

    Minhyuk shook his head at him, after all he already knew that it existed due to his ingredient tracking skill.

    ¡°However, I believed that I shouldn¡¯t tell anyone about the existence of the chocte tree¡­¡­ but now I can see that you¡¯re not just anyone.¡±

    Along with his words, a set of notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s head.

    [You have achieved the Secret Quest: ¡®A True Chocte Lover.¡¯]

    [Every time you dig up a special mineral, you will be able to dig up a much more special chocte orepared to the regr chocte ore.]

    ¡°Oh¡­¡­?!¡±

    Minhyuk was shocked.

    A secret quest?

    He pondered deeply about why he achieved such a secret quest.

    ¡®He said that he couldn¡¯t just tell the legend to just somebody. So it means that the moment I meant Leton-nim, I was already doing the secret quest!¡¯

    Secret Quests were always like this. No one knew when and where it would pop out.

    Minhyuk was really excited about this secret quest reward that he received. After all, he would be able to get a more special chocte whenever he dug up a special mineral.

    Then, he heard Leton sigh heavily.

    ¡°Boy, I wish you could just easily approach the chocte tree but there was something about it in the legends¡­¡±

    He paused for a moment, as if to collect his thoughts before speaking again.

    ¡°Only those who have the key would be able to open the path towards the chocte tree.¡±

    ¡°......So does that mean that I will not be able to go no matter what I do?¡±

    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know about that. But right now, I know for sure that you won¡¯t be able to get there because you still don¡¯t have the key.¡±

    He felt a bit sad when he heard the fact about the key but Minhyuk was not someone to be discouraged.

    What if I¡¯m able to dig it up one day? Nothing is impossible in this world.

    And right at that moment¡­

    Ruuuumble©¥

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    The two of them looked behind them and saw that the pile of stones suddenly copsed. They looked curiously at the space where the pile of stones once were.

    ***

    Brony arrived at the vicinity of the Brethni Mines.

    ¡®I definitely need to check out the mines before I take over it.¡¯

    It was definitely necessary since they needed to kill off all of the NPCs before they could take over the mines. So before they would attack, he needed to look at the overall situation. He even drank an extremely expensive potion that would allow him to turn invisible for half an hour. However, while he was still invisible, he wouldn¡¯t be able to attack or his invisibility would be cancelled.

    ¡®There are a total of 30 soldiers deployed in the troops that supervise the mines. This will be a piece of cake.¡¯

    He covered his mouth with his hands to hide his breath further and went inside another mine with the sign ¡®5th Mine¡¯.

    As soon as he entered the mine, he could see all of the miners working diligently.

    ¡°Hoo. Aren¡¯t those the foil of those iron-like choctes? Quite amazing.¡±

    It was the chocte ore that he had only heard of! However, only the foils could be seen. The chocte was nowhere to be found. It seemed like the miners ate the chocte to replenish their strength. Brony ignored the foils and went further inside the mine.

    ¡®I can hear people talking over here. Are they still working there?¡¯

    If there were people then he had to check carefully. This was so they could prepare and make an exception if there was a royal knight or someone stronger before taking over the mines.

    As he stepped further inside and saw the two people talking, Brony¡¯s body trembled uncontrobly. He even stepped back as he recalled the voice of his father and the warnings that were still lingering in his ears.

    ¡®You bastard. You have grown up already. You¡¯re old enough to be imprisoned too.¡¯

    He had also grown up¡­ the protagonist of his nightmare and his darkest history.

    ¡®Ka, Kang Minhyuk¡­¡­!¡¯

    He sped his mouth with both of his hands to make sure that he wouldn¡¯t let out any unsightly scream and quickly tried to back away. However, in his haste, he stepped on the pile of stones that the miners had piled up and made it copse.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    The two people who were talking seriously suddenly turned towards his direction. And the eyes of Kang Minhyuk, the person he had identified, looked at him.

    Badump, badump, badump, badump, badump!

    His heart beat wildly as if it wanted to escape from his chest.

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    Well, well, well¡­ It seems like the bullying incident had left a deep impression on this bully.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Welp, Minhyuk¡¯s back to beingpared to an elephant¡­

    ANNOUNCEMENTS

    We are d to announce that our trantion progress has already caught up with thetest published chapter of the manhwa (Chapter 47/48) and we will be increasing our release rate for one (1) whole week (yes, you heard it seven straight days) until we have posted the chapters that correspond to Chapters 47 and 48 of the manhwa. Look forward to it!

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 82 - Im Going To Tell My Noona About This

    Chapter 82: I¡¯m Going to Tell My Noona About This.

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    ¡°Sometimes it will fall down on its own if you stack it wrongly.¡±

    ¡°Ah. I see.¡±

    When the two people who were talking earlier turned their heads away from his direction, Brony finally breathed a sigh of relief.

    ¡®Phew¡­¡­¡¯

    Brony¡¯s chest beat wildly as he shuddered in fear. He might have tagged the memories of that time as ¡®Just a dark history, anyway¡­¡¯ but it was still something terrible. Kang Minhyuk was a guy who would never let you go once he bit on you.

    I can¡¯t believe that bastard is in the Brethni Mines!

    Then he paused.

    ¡®But that bastard¡­¡­¡¯

    He narrowed his eyes to look closely at his equipment.

    He¡¯s clearly holding a pickaxe in his hand.

    The Brethni Mines was frequented by cksmiths who were at most at Lv100 which meant that Minhyuk was not yet at Lv100.

    And he also has a production job ss!

    ¡®However, I¡¯m still not entirely sure about him.¡¯

    There were always exceptions to the rule.

    He looked closely at the matured and grown-up Kang Minhyuk. He was about 10cm taller than his height back then and his face was a lot more matured.

    ¡®Life¡¯s not really fair but he looks really handsome.¡¯

    Brony had to, at least, admit to that one fact.

    When he thought back on it, Brony had lost all contact with his ssmates when he moved away and transferred schools. He did not know how and why it happened but it just did.

    He also remembered what his father told him¡­

    Don¡¯t cause any friction with him.

    But that was¡­¡­

    ¡®That¡¯s in reality!¡¯

    Will the son of the Ilhwa Group CEO be out and proud that he got PKed in the game and publicly attack them? Of course he won¡¯t. Besides, what if he really was just a production ss user?

    ¡®When will I ever step on him if not now!¡¯

    This wasn¡¯t because Brony did not listen to what his father said!

    Not long after, Brony left the Brethni Mines. Then, he drank another invisibility potion and checked the surroundings carefully. He also went into the other mines and listened to the miner¡¯s conversations.

    ¡°I also saw that guy. The moment that I saw him, I thought that I should probably work harder. He can do bandaging, cksmithing and even cooking, you know?¡±

    ¡°What an amazing friend!¡±

    After listening to the miner¡¯s stories and conversations he summed up everything and analyzed their topic.

    ¡®Even if that person is a production ss user, how did he have three skills rted to dexterity? How did that happen? Ah, maybe he¡¯s a hidden ss user?¡¯

    A character who could learn more production skillspared to others. In other words, an easy to deal with hybrid character. After all, nonbatant users were considered to be weak. Even if they reached Lv100, their strength would only reach up to 70pared to warrior ss users.

    Brony could see it¡­

    ¡®Keuhahahahahaha! The day where I could step on Kang Minhyuk hase!¡¯

    He grinned widely as he looked forward to the day where he could trample on Kang Minhyuk.

    ***

    Minhyuk continued to dig in the mines for two straight days without any considerable rest. His only reason was because he wanted to eat a more special chocte!

    However, no matter how much he tried, the turn out for the other minerals was just abysmally low. But he always thought possibly as he continued to dig iron ores. With his unwavering will, he finally saw a mineral that was shining with a golden light.

    [You have acquired a gold ore.]

    [You will be able to receive a special chocte if you want to.]

    ¡°Ooooooooh.¡±

    Ruan approached Minhyuk who was smiling widely.

    ¡°Heok¡­¡­?! That, isn¡¯t that a gold ore? Wow, this is much more expensive than iron ore!¡±

    ¡°Ah, really?! I, is that really true!¡±

    ¡°Of course. You can even buy an item with it¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Then I can eat something much more delicious?!¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    Ruan was taken aback with his question.

    What is this guy saying?

    Without him noticing anything, Minhyuk has already made a quick decision.

    ¡°I¡¯ll get the special chocte!¡±

    Then, a small light shed and the surface of the gold ore suddenly turned into a foil. Minhyuk hurriedly peeled off the foil. Then he saw it¡­

    It was none other than the Crunch chocte.

    Crunch Chocte!

    It was chocte with rice krispies inside of it.

    ¡°Heok. That, that¡¯s a gold ore. Why did it be a chocte¡­..¡±

    ¡°I got it from a quest.¡±

    ¡°N¡­¡­ No, why would you even turn a gold ore into a chocte!¡±

    ¡°Delicious chocte is much better than having useless gold!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Ruan had a look of defeat painted on his face while Minhyuk stuffed his face with the Crunch chocte without even looking at the details.

    The moment that he chewed on it he could feel the crisp and crunchy texture of the chocte as the sweetness spread in his mouth.

    ¡°As expected, chocte is really better than gold!¡±

    The moment he finished eating the Crunch¡­

    [You have achieved the Hidden Piece: True Chocte Miner.]

    [You have acquired 30 million gold.]

    [You will be able to acquire gold whenever you eat chocte from the mines.]

    ¡°......?¡±

    Minhyuk looked like he won the jackpot as he turned towards Ruan.

    ¡°What¡¯s the market price for a piece of gold ore?¡±

    ¡°5 million gold.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s just a drop out of a bucket.¡±

    ¡°.......?¡±

    Minhyuk did not exin in detail about that part. All he knew was that he could now get money whenever he would eat chocte!

    What¡¯s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. [1]

    Leton who was watching him grinned at his antics.

    ¡®I know that he just wanted to eat chocte but I still can¡¯t believe that this friend will work so hard¡­¡­¡¯

    He thought that he was really amazing. Why? In the span of two days, he was the person with the least amount of sleep among all of them. Even if the whole mining team left him alone due to his harsh schedule,he still continued to work hard.

    His total in those two days was equivalent to all of the harvest of the five teams. The total, even if you exclude the harvest of the rest of the 5th mining team, was still much morepared to the rest of the four mining teams.

    After a long time of being down in the dumps, Leton was finally in high spirits.

    ¡®This person is from our 5th mining team!¡¯

    Their achievements right now were all thanks to Minhyuk.

    Then he approached Minhyuk.

    ¡°Boy, I have a proposal for you.¡±

    ¡°Proposal?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    Leton nodded his head as heid down his proposal.

    ¡°By any chance, do you have any intention of being a legendary miner?¡±

    [Captain Leton has suggested that you be a Legendary Miner.]

    [If you ept and be a Legendary Miner, then your cksmithing skill will increase and your output in mining will be 10 times more than the others.]

    ¡®......!¡¯

    Minhyuk was not aware of this, he did not expect that Leton was a protector who could give out a Legendary ss! The Leton who was the team leader of the mining team that was on the verge of getting fired!

    The condition for the Legendary Miner toe out was to help the 5th mining team ovee their crisis and help them make an overwhelming mineral turnover that would make them the highest among all of the mining teams. And Minhyuk has done it in many ways than one.

    ¡°As you can see, the Legendary Miner will allow you to have a mining speed that¡¯s 10 times faster than normal miners which will give you a 10 times the output. Also, you will get better and special abilities for your cksmithing skills.¡±

    ¡°Heok?!¡±

    It was Ruan, who reacted to his exnation, and not Minhyuk.

    ¡®10 times the outputpared to normal miners?!¡¯

    That was ten times more than the regr ones, which meant that it was an opportunity for anyone to be a rich man.

    What if you get better skills aside from the faster and better output in mining?

    ¡®Wow¡­¡­ Receiving this legendary ss for a job change is like winning the lotto for someone with a production ss!¡¯

    It would definitely generate a lot of impact and influence. In addition, the cksmithing ability would increase tremendously once the ss was epted.

    However, at this moment, Minhyuk was agonizing over how he would politely refuse the offer.

    ¡°I¡¯m really, really, really grateful for your proposal. Captain Leton-nim. However, I already have a job ss. It¡¯s an extremely great job where I can eat really really well and I think that this job suits me the most.¡±

    ¡°Hooo. This job is much more suited to youpared to mining? Anyway, it seems like your job is rted to eating. Haaa. I get it.¡±

    Leton looked disappointed but he still nodded in understanding.

    Minhyuk knew that he got this proposal because he got very close to Leton in those two days of non-stop mining that he did.

    ¡°Huh? Minhyuk-nim, you really wouldn¡¯t receive it? For real?! Then let me do it! Me! Me! I¡¯ve been doing my best as the maknae so far! Please let me do it!¡±

    Leton looked at him from his head to his toe.

    ¡°Boy¡­¡­ Hmm¡­¡­ It¡¯s not like that¡­¡­ you know. Something like that¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°What? What do I know?¡±

    ¡°Ah, you know, that?¡±

    Then, Leton turned around after leaving that sentence.

    ¡°No, what was that?!¡±

    Leton left without saying the main point. He was so curious that he blurted his words in a mess.

    ***

    It was the third day after he met with and said his requests. Card was on his way to an area that was not that far from the Brethni Mines. He went to the ce where he could stick the key in.

    ¡®I only have 2 hours after I ced the key in. The entrance to that ce will appear after that time frame.¡¯

    The moment that he plugged the key in ce, plenty of stronger monsters would definitely rush out of the mines. The people inside the mine would not be able to hold them back but the Horden Guild would definitely be able to hunt them.

    He was certain that there wouldn¡¯t be any other variable. They have prepared perfectly for this moment.

    After some time, he sent a whisper to Brony.

    [Card: Are you ready?]

    [Brony: Of course. All of my guild members are now ready to be deployed in front of the mines.]

    [Card: Make your move as soon as I send the signal out.]

    [Brony: Yes!]

    After confirming the status of Brony and his guild members, Card decisively plugged the key in. As soon as he plugged the key, a series of notifications rang out in his head.

    [You have used the Legend¡¯s Key.]

    [The Road to the Legend will open in 2 hours.]

    As he heard the notification, he quickly sent a whisper to Brony.

    [Card: Now¡¯s the time!]

    ***

    Leton, who was entering the mines, looked extremely angry.

    ¡°Those damn soldier bastards!¡±

    ¡°In the end, they did not allow it again?¡±

    ¡°With all the output that we have in these 3 days, they did not allow it?!¡±

    They grumbled loudly,ining about the soldier¡¯s stance about this matter.

    They had amassed a lot of iron ores in the past three days. However, their mouths remained shut and they ignored their pleas when they demanded for a better distribution and set of equipment. It was a matter of fact that they should not cut off their supplies right now. Besides, Minhyuk was still working hard to gather minerals and ores inside.

    However, at that moment¡­

    ¡°Keuaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keoheeeeok!¡±

    Screams came from the outside of the mines.

    ¡°W, what was that?!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that sound?¡±

    The miners were shocked when they heard sudden screams from the outside. And it did not end there¡­ All of a sudden, there were monstersing out from the depths of the mines.

    They were Iron Wolves!

    ¡°......Heok?!¡±

    ¡°Eok?!¡±

    The miners trembled in fear as they saw the Iron Wolves appear before them.

    The monsters that were usually present in the mines were only at around Lv80~100. However, the Iron Wolves were all semi-boss ss and were above Lv150.

    And there were a bunch of these monsters that suddenly appeared in front of them!

    ¡°H, how could this be. Everyone, run¡­¡­!¡±

    Before Leton could even finish his words, an Iron Wolf suddenly moved.

    ¡°Grrr!¡±

    The Iron Wolf opened its maw and went for Leton¡¯s head.

    At that moment¡­

    aaaash!

    Ruan quickly hit the head of the Iron Wolf with his pickaxe.

    ¡°Grrr!¡±

    However, his blow seemed to have not dealt any major damage to the Iron Wolf. After all, Ruan was just originally a Lv100 warrior ss before he came to the mines. This was the reason why his strength and physical abilities were vastly differentpared to the miners.

    He was a human being, through and through, so if he saw the miners die in front of him then his heart would also feel empty. Other users said ¡®What does it matter if the NPCs died?¡¯. However he still calcted his chances.

    ¡®Will I be able to buy them time to run away?¡¯

    He won¡¯t suffer and he would just be logged out. And also, all of his artifacts were so shitty that it was just like iron ore even if he dropped them here.

    He looked around.

    ¡®Damn it¡­¡­ Minhyuk-nim is also just a production ss user!¡¯

    He could only trust other users. But the other user that he could trust was only a Lv90 production ss user. It would be difficult for them to buy them enough time even if they joined forces.

    Ruan quickly made a decision.

    ¡°Minhyuk-nim, quickly take the miners away! Lion¡¯s Roar! Keuhahahahahaha!¡±

    [Lion¡¯s Roar.]

    [Irritates all of the monsters within a 5m radius and draws their attention towards the user.]

    ¡°Grrr!¡±

    ¡°Grrrrrrr!¡±

    All of the Iron Wolves turned their heads to where Ruan was.

    With this, Minhyuk and the rest will be able to evacuate safely.

    However, when he turned his head around he saw Minhyuk right behind him. He was not running away. He even saw Leton pulling his arms and trying to persuade him.

    ¡°L, let¡¯s go quickly! What else can you do! We won¡¯t be of any help to him even if we stayed here!¡±

    However, Minhyuk still stood there without moving an inch. Ruan smiled at him.

    ¡®Are you telling me that I shouldn¡¯t be the only one who should be logged out? Do you want toe with me? We knew each other for just a short period of time but you¡¯re already treating me like this!¡¯

    He was happy and thrilled. However, Minhyuk who was standing behind him was thinking in the opposite direction¡­¡­

    ¡®That. Isn¡¯t that the mithril ore?!¡¯

    His eyes were glued to where the mithril ore was. It seemed that it had fallen off of the walls when the Iron Wolves came.

    ¡®I feel like there will be white chocte in there.¡¯

    Minhyuk licked his lips. And at the same time, the Iron Wolvesunched their attacks on Ruan.

    ¡°Ru, Ruaaaaaaan!¡±

    ¡°N, nooooo!¡±

    ¡°You might have looked like a bandit but you still did a good job!¡±

    Minhyuk murmured softly among their screams.

    ¡°Step.¡±

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] A proverb meaning what¡¯s good for a woman is also good for a man. I know that this is not the exact counterpart of the korean saying written which is ?? ?? ?? ??. The korean saying just means that it is good and favorable for both parties. I think they have the same meaning so I used the english proverb.

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    Why do I feel like Ruan would not be able to change to the Indomitable cksmith ss?

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Probably because he¡¯s not really all that indomitable.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 83 - Im Going To Tell My Noona About This

    Chapter 83: I¡¯m Going to Tell My Noona About This.

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    [Step.]

    [Quickly move to a distance of 1m.]

    He was able to cover a distance of 1m in just a blink of an eye and in just two steps, he was already in front of Ruan.

    [Battlefield¡¯s Ruler.]

    [There is a +10 increase in all of your 5 basic stats and a 10% increase in your critical hit rate.]

    He first activated his title, Battlefield¡¯s Ruler. The title effect would help him to deal with opponents that were 20 levels or higher than his level.

    [Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship]

    [All stats will have a 15% increase for 5 minutes.]

    [Evasion rate has increased by 30%.]

    [Fatal Strikes rate has increased by 30%.]

    Wind started to surround his body along with a shining red light as it started to get filled with strength.

    [Rampant Sword.]

    [A flurry of rampant swords with additional 30% attack power will be created for 5 seconds.]

    The pickaxe in his hands immediately turned into Ellie¡¯s Sword. A flurry of afterimages could clearly be seen as he swung his sword with the Rampant Sword skill.

    Fwooooooooooosh!

    [You have dealt a fatal blow.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    Fwooooooooooosh!

    Fwooooooooooosh!

    [You have dealt a fatal blow.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    Several Iron Wolves were blown away with his one strike. They spurted out blood as they flew in an arc.

    ¡°Keureaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuck!¡±

    An Iron Wolf quickly tried tounch an attack towards Minhyuk.

    [Step.]

    [Quickly move to a distance of 1m.]

    He quickly moved back using Step and used the Rampant Sword to attack the wolves.

    Fwooooooooooosh!

    Another wolf was eyeing Ruan in the midst of all of themotion.

    After 5 seconds, the effect of the Rampant Sword slowly died down.

    [Sword of Fury.]

    [There will be an additional 50% for strong lunges and stabs, if a vital strike is sessful then the additional attack power will be 80%.]

    Minhyuk urately stabbed the monster that was stalking and trying to kill off Ruan.

    Stab!

    He was able to easily stab through the solid iron fur of the Iron Wolves as he struck its vital points. His powerful stab easily dealt with the Iron Wolf and made its body explode.

    Baaaaang!

    Ruan¡¯s eyes widened as his sight turned towards Minhyuk and the sttered remains of the Iron Wolf.

    ¡°H, how¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Heok¡­¡­!¡±

    They had no choice but to remain in shock. Minhyuk¡¯s level was only at 90 while the Iron Wolves were at 150. In other words, his sword should not be able to even graze the Iron Wolves hide. However, from what they saw¡­ Minhyuk could easily deal with the Iron Wolves. He did not even break any sweat.

    ¡®It¡¯s because I have been eating delicious food!¡¯

    Minhyuk had been continuously eating delicious food ever since thepetition ended!

    Previously, when he fought with the Minotaurus he had a 70 level gap with it but he was still able to fight it easily. Right now, there wasn¡¯t that much difference between the level gap when he fought the Minotaurus or these monsters. In addition, he also had Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship which was an epic-level skill!

    ¡°W, who are you¡­¡­¡±

    Ruan tried to ask Minhyuk but he was suddenly frightened when he saw him walking towards his direction. His legs started to shake as he backed off trying to create some space between him and Minhyuk. He felt a strange sense of death as Minhyuk ever so slowly approached him that his legs even gave out.

    ¡°Hiiiik!¡±

    Then, Minhyuk walked past him. That was when he realized that there was something behind him. It was none other than the mithril ore.

    [You have acquired a Mithril ore.]

    [You will be able to receive a special chocte if you want to.]

    ¡®Receive it!¡¯

    The moment he thought of receiving it, the surface of the mithril ore turned into a foil. What appeared under the foil was a box.

    ¡®Oh¡­¡­ Oh¡­¡­ Oh¡­¡­!¡¯

    He was a bit surprised with what he saw. This was because what appeared was a ¡®Louis Chocte¡¯! However, he hurriedly stuffed the chocte in his inventory.

    ¡®I¡¯m going to eat themter!¡¯

    He knew how to read the situation around him. Right now, he needed to work before he could indulge himself in chocte.

    First, he has to take the miners out of the mines safely.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    ¡°Yeaah. R, right.¡±

    ¡°Okay¡­¡­¡±

    The miners nodded their heads as they followed Minhyuk out with Ruan. As they were walking towards the entrance of the mines they encountered a group of peopleing in from the outside.

    Suddenly, a gap formed and a person walked out grinning smugly at Minhyuk.

    It was Brony.

    ***

    Stab!

    ¡°Keuack!¡±

    The Horden Guild quickly dealt with the NPCs outside the mines. Brony even killed the leader of the centurion.

    [You are a Chaotic User.]

    [Your Chaotic Disgrace has increased.]

    [You are now being tracked and pursued by the Kingdom of Barras.]

    He saw that the troops had been quickly dealt with.

    ¡°Keep the miners from getting out of the mine, the monsters will kill them anyway!¡±

    The Horden¡¯s Elite wasposed of ten people. All of the mages, healers, dealers[1], and tanks were of excellent caliber.

    Brony grinned as they walked towards the mines where the 5th mining team was located. He was going to deal with them first because Kang Minhyuk was there.

    ¡®I¡¯ll be able to kill that bastard in 5 minutes anyway. No, maybe he¡¯s already dead?¡¯

    Well, his thirst for revenge wouldn¡¯t be fulfilled but he might be able to get some good artifacts after all he looked like he was wearing pretty expensive items when he saw him back when he scouted the situation.

    Brony and hispanions, who were leisurelying inside, saw people rushing out from the depths of the mines. Brony¡¯s eyebrows creased.

    ¡°Th, they¡¯re fine?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ording to what Card said, as soon as he plugged the key in, there would be a sudden influx of monsters with a much higher level than the normal monsters that existed in the mine. It shouldn¡¯t be possible that this mine was an exception.

    Then, it means that someone hunted them.

    ¡®What exactly happened?¡¯

    He saw Minhyuk, who was walking in front of the group of miners, narrow his eyes as he looked at where he was.

    Brony grinned wickedly at him.

    ¡°Long time no see?¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Minhyuk did not answer him and just quickly looked at him, hispanions and their surroundings.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t this situation a bit simr to the past? Of course, your numbers might have increased but they¡¯re all luggage to you. Kggk.¡±

    Minhyuk looked like he was pondering deeply, trying to recall what he was talking about.

    ¡°Ah, do I know you¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, you damned¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°But I don¡¯t remember you.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know me?! I¡¯m Lee Sangmin. Lee Sangmin, you know!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know you¡­¡­?¡±

    Brony felt both stifled and frustrated with his answers.

    The memories of that dark history were deeply embedded in my mind, you know!

    However, the main protagonist of his nightmare lookedpletely oblivious and puzzled at his words.

    ¡°You shit! You took my money in the past!¡±

    ¡°I did?¡±

    But he looked like he still did not know about what he was talking about. His cluelessness prompted Brony to shout at him in frustration.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. I even begged you to stop¡­¡­¡±

    Brony, who wasn¡¯t able to stop himself in time, was shocked at himself. His guild members were still here but he shouted out his dark history just like that.

    The members of the Horden Guild started to whisper among themselves as they looked at him skeptically.

    ¡°He said that he was robbed off of money in the past¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Based on his words, he sounds like he wasn¡¯t that popr?¡±

    ¡°Uhmm¡­¡­ Our Guild Master-nim¡­¡­ Uhmm¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Brony gritted his teeth.

    ¡°Hoo. Anyway. This situation is a lot different from back then, right?¡±

    He grinned darkly.

    This was a game. Just like in reality, you wouldn¡¯t be able to knock down someone who has a much superior and excellent physical abilitiespared to yourself. In addition, Minhyuk was someone who was below Lv100! He and his guild members were much superior to him in terms of level!

    ¡°Get him down on his knees and begging for his life in front of me!¡±

    As he said those words, Ras stepped forward. He was one of the guild members behind him and he was a warrior ss user. He¡¯s at Lv160 but he was wielding a heavy axe.

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    Ras couldn¡¯t understand why he had to dig up old memories when they were already busy killing off people. He had to kill him off quickly so that they would be able to move on smoothly. Ras rushed towards Minhyuk.

    ¡®He won¡¯t be able to avoid this one since he¡¯s below Lv100!¡¯

    He was sure that he wouldn¡¯t be able to keep up with his speed.

    And just like what he expected, Minhyuk was just standing there and not reacting to his attack at all. His axe struck down from the top to the bottom as if he wanted to hack him in two.

    [You are a Chaotic User.]

    [The other party will not receive any penalty for PK.]

    [If you die, there will be a higher probability of dropping items.]

    If his attack was not sessful, then the notifications for chaotic users would ring for both parties.

    ¡°Step.¡±

    Minhyuk mumbled something as his body quickly arrived beside Ras. He was so fast that there was even an afterimage left. Ras was only able to strike down the ground with his axe.

    Bang!

    [Sword of Fury.]

    [There will be an additional 50% for strong lunges and stabs, if a vital strike is sessful then the additional attack power will be 80%.]

    Minhyuk¡¯s sword that shed red stabbed strongly at Ras¡¯ waist.

    ¡®You may be able to evade his attack with a skill but your difference in level won¡¯t let you get past through Ras¡¯ armor with your attack.¡¯

    Brony grinned widely as he saw the scene.

    And at that same moment, Minhyuk¡¯s sword pierced Ras¡¯ sides deeply.

    Shiiiiick!

    His sword prated the full te armor that Ras¡¯ was wearing. Then, he felt a huge forceing from the sword and into his body.

    Baaaaaang!

    ¡°Keuaack!¡±

    Ras¡¯ body flew sideways and mmed into the walls of the mines as the huge force exploded in him. He quickly checked his HP as he got embedded in the wall.

    ¡°My HP got¡­¡­ cut off by 40%......!¡±

    He lookedpletely shocked.

    ¡®What?¡¯

    Brony looked at Minhyuk in surprise.

    The monsters that came out¡­

    ¡®Did he hunt all those monsters alone? How in the world can a Lv90 do that¡­¡­!¡¯

    Brony had a bad feeling.

    ¡°All of you, go and kill him!¡±

    When they heard his words, the guild members behind him quickly moved.

    The mage Ero, a 4th ss mage, used his Lightning spell.

    [Lightning]

    [10% chance to stun the enemies for 2 seconds.]

    Ssszzzt, szzzzt, sszzzt!

    The lightning shed and slithered towards Minhyuk!

    [Absorption.]

    [You have a 50% chance of sess or failure.]

    [Lightning is sessfully absorbed.]

    [You can use the absorbed skill once within 10 minutes.]

    Ssszzzt, szzzzt, sszzzt!

    The lightning that was crackling menacingly was absorbed by the ring in his hands.

    ¡°Heok?!¡±

    ¡°Keok?!¡±

    Everyone let out sounds of exmations!

    Then, Minhyuk stretched his hand forward.

    [Lightning]

    [10% chance to stun the enemies for 2 seconds.]

    Ssszzzt, szzzzt, sszzzt!

    ¡°Keuoob!¡±

    ¡°Eooob!¡±

    The sses who needed to get close to Minhyuk before they could kill him were caught within the radius of the lightning skill and were electrified.

    [You have been stunned for 1 second.]

    One user got stunned, and without missing a beat, Minhyuk quickly approached the stunned user to attack.

    ¡°Step.¡±

    He quickly shed at the stunned user.

    [You have dealt a fatal blow.]

    ¡°Keoheob!¡±

    The user was forced to step back due to the force of the attack. He was quite surprised when he saw his HP fell down significantly.

    Minhyuk, not missing the stunned state, continuouslyunched an attack on the user¡¯s head.

    He was forced to logout!

    ¡°G, guild master-nim¡­¡­ He, he¡¯s strong?¡±

    ¡°What the hell is this¡­¡­¡±

    He looked like he couldn¡¯t understand what was going on. However, he soonughed.

    ¡°We will still be able to kill him.¡±

    He was strong, but their strength was still enough to kill him.

    At that moment, he heard the sound of footstepsing right behind him. His guild members who were finishing off the miners from the other mines have arrived.

    Minhyuk will die here no matter what.

    His strength was a bit unexpected but he would still die.

    At that moment, one of the miners crept down from the sides. Brony finally realized that there was something unusual.

    ¡°Stop that bastard!¡±

    Leton moved fast as the guild members of the Horden Guild tried to stop him. At that moment, Minhyuk jumped in between them. Then, he stabbed the ground with his sword with all his might.

    [Earth Quaker.]

    [A violent earthquake is triggered within a 10m radius.]

    ¡°Eok?!¡±

    ¡°Heok?!¡±

    The guild members who were running after Leton shouted in surprise.

    ¡°Shit. Are you a warrior, a mage or a cksmith?!¡±

    No. There is no character that can be good in swordsmanship, magic and even cksmithing. What kind of situation is this?

    Minhyuk, who pulled his sword out of the ground and stepped out of the radius of the earthquake, said¡­

    ¡°I¡¯m a chef.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Brony was left speechless while his guild members were stopped by the violent earthquake.

    The miner that they were chasing fumbled on the wall and pressed down on something.

    At that moment¡­

    Ruuuuumble!

    A huge transparent barrier came crashing down and blocked their way. It was like a wall that separated the guild members of the Horden Guild and the miners.

    Thud!

    They werepletely blocked.

    Brony, who was quite confident earlier, watched helplessly as Minhyuk hunted and killed off his guild members that were trapped on the other side of the transparent barrier. It looked like he was just cleaning up trash with how fast he disposed of his members.

    ¡®Damn it. I didn¡¯t know that there was a barrier like this!¡¯

    Brony was not aware of it, but that button would trigger the barrier. The barrier would close off entry to the mines after the troops entered to hunt and kill off the monsters. This was so there were no monsters that would escape and cause harm to the miners that were waiting outside.

    Brony struck the barrier.

    [You have dealt 1,701 damage to the barrier.]

    However, it seemed like the damage that he had dealt was not enough to deal significant damage to the barrier. But, once he looked at it closely, it seemed like they would still be able to break down the barrier if they continuously attacked.

    ¡°Right now, more monsters wille out from there. You¡¯ll have to deal with them alone. And once this barrier breaks down, you¡¯re going to die. What are you going to do now?¡±

    Minhyuk looked as if he was pondering deeply about the actions that he would take next. Then, as if he got enlightened, he hit his palms with his fist in a gesture of ¡®Aha!¡¯ and smiled widely.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to tell my noona about this!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Brony and his guild members who heard his words looked strangely at him. Then¡­

    ¡°Puhahahahahahaha! Noona? You¡¯re gonna tell your noona?¡±

    ¡°Ahuhuhuhu. Are you going to tell your noona because you''re scared?¡±

    ¡°Keuhahaha, is your sister the number 1 in rankings?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s an NPC though? Are you disregarding my noona?¡±

    ¡°Keuhahaha. Aigooo, I¡¯m so scared that I will pee myself. I can see your noona!¡±

    ¡°......You¡¯ll regret it.¡±

    ¡°Aigoo. We have been very rude to your extremely scary noona. Sorry. Isn¡¯t it obvious? Your noona must have been a fXcker like you who¡¯s hiding behind his mask and pretending to be nice. So when is your noonaing? Huh? That fXcking noona of yours!¡±

    Minhyuk looked nkly at Brony after he finished his outburst. Then he muttered to himself.

    ¡°You¡¯ll definitely be sentenced to 1,000 years in prison. Poor thing¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Well, once your noonaes I will press her down with just a finger!¡±

    Brony was quite confident with himself. Suddenly, one of his guild members asked him.

    ¡°But what will we do if it¡¯s really some amazing NPC?¡±

    Brony whispered to him¡­

    ¡°Amazing NPC? No, which NPC will let someone like that call them noona? Can¡¯t you see his level? And don¡¯t you know? The client Imissioned said that he was close to Marquis Calenon of the Kingdom of Barras. We also have a backing!¡±

    ¡°A, a Marquis¡­¡­!¡±

    It¡¯s great to have ties to a Marquis!

    The guild members who heard his reassuring words looked like a heavy weight was lifted off of their shoulders.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk rubbed the phoenix symbol on the back of his hand.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] Dealer: I think this meant yers who could deal a shit ton of damage on an enemy. However, I am not really that sure since I am not that well-versed in gaming ngs. However, I saw that it was rted to ADC so I believe that was what it meant.

    Food Discussion Corner

    Crunch Chocte - Chocte filled with rice krispies, it was mentioned in the earlier chapters. Made out of milk chocte and rice krispies. Totally yummy.

    Louis Chocte - Louis Sherry Choctes, famous for their choctes ced in tin cans. Usually filled with truffles.

    TL¡¯s Corner!!!

    You have a Marquis, we have an Empress. Kek. Let¡¯s see who has the bigger backer.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    I want that Crunch Chocte. Now where¡¯s the nearest convenience store...

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 84 - Im Going To Tell My Noona About This

    Chapter 84: I¡¯m Going to Tell My Noona About This.

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Ellie had just received a report about the northern continent when the phoenix symbol on the back of her hand shone brightly.

    ¡°......This.¡±

    Her eyebrows creased in worry.

    There was only one reason why the symbol would shine so brightly. It meant that the person with ¡®Ellie¡¯s Stigma¡¯ was asking for her help. And there was only one person who had this stigma. It was Minhyuk, her beloved dongsaeng and friend.

    Ellie looked at the light shining out of the symbol closely. Through the light, she could see where he was currently located. Ellie¡¯s Stigma was, in a way, a link that was connecting him to her.

    She rose slowly from her seat.

    ¡®Kingdom of Barras. Coordinate point K-51.¡¯

    Ellie shook her head.

    ¡°Ruth, bring me a map of the Kingdom of Barras.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Ruth ced the reports down as he moved quickly. He realized that the sudden orders were an emergency.

    The Kingdom of Barras wanted to form a favorable connection with Empress Ellie of the Eivelis Empire. They literally wanted to be friendly with the Empire. This was how great the strength and power the Eivelis Empire possessed. It was so great that the Kingdom of Barras was like a child in front of the Empire.

    The king of that kingdom, Richard, even has to bow down his head whenever he meets with Ellie!

    Ellie quickly looked through the map of the Kingdom of Barras that Ruth handed over.

    ¡°He¡¯s located in the mines. Something bad must have happened there.¡±

    Minhyuk was a yful, kind and pleasant child. However, Ellie knew that he was also a meticulous, calm and cautious child. For such a child to request her help¡­ And the child that was requesting was also her only friend and dongsaeng. She even promised him herself that she would run ande to him whenever he needed her help. What¡¯s more, there was a special warp gate in the pce that could easily teleport them to the Kingdom of Barras.

    ¡°Ruth.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°It looks like Minhyuk is in danger.¡±

    ¡°......I see.¡±

    Ruth was not too pleased to recall the person who used the Empire¡¯s Elixir for budaejjigae but he still nodded his head at her.

    Meanwhile, Ellie gave her orders.

    ¡°Gather the Phoenix Knights within 10 minutes. We will immediately head to the Kingdom of Barras.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    The knights of the Phoenix Knights all exceed Lv350~400. They were also named as the best knights in the whole continent.

    Those knights together with the greatest Empress Ellie, started to move out.

    ***

    Brony looked at all of his guild members who were gathered together.

    ¡°The other mines were also blocked by a transparent barrier?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°As expected.¡±

    Perhaps there were no miners who were able to reach out and press the button that would trigger the barrier.

    He looked over at the other side of the barrier as Minhyuk led the miners further inside the mines.

    ¡®Who is that bastard¡¯s dumb sister? He even led them further inside. Are they going to feed themselves to the monsters? Tch!¡¯

    He grinned darkly.

    His guild members had started to attack the barrier with all kinds of skills and abilities.

    [You have dealt 2,100 damage to the barrier.]

    [You have dealt 1,813 damage to the barrier.]

    [You have dealt 3,513 damage to the barrier.]

    The transparent barrier that looked like it wouldn¡¯t move started to shake little by little.

    I think it will take us at least half an hour.

    Brony secretly calcted it in his mind.

    ¡°Will they die to the monsters first or will the barrier be broken first?¡±

    He was still thinking that the situation ahead of him would work out well for him and his guild.

    ***

    Minhyuk deliberately led the miners further inside the mines. They would be extremely terrified if they watched the barrier get attacked continuously. Of course, this would also be the case if the monsters kept oning out just like what they said.

    ¡®It seems like people don¡¯t really change.¡¯

    He recalled the memories of his past. Lee Sangmin was someone who liked bullying his friends back when he was young. And Minhyuk, who was close to almost all of his ssmates, heard this from one of his friends who suddenly bursted out in tears.

    ¡®Lee Sangmin stole my money for tuition!¡¯

    At that time, the child even told him that he was in a bad situation however he still took the money away from him. The boy who did such a thing grew up to be more of a bully.

    ¡°W, what should we do now?¡±

    Minhyuk grinned at Ruan when he heard his question.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. No one in this ce is going to die.¡±

    ¡°No, if what those bastards out there said is true then monsters will reallye out from the inside¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Then, me and Ruan-nim will have to do our best.¡±

    Minhyuk, who said those words, sat down and started to pull out his equipment. In this situation, he started to cook.

    ¡°W, what are you¡­¡­ Is now the time to cook?¡±

    ¡°I have to cook because I¡¯m in this situation. My job is a chef, you know.¡±

    He took out a carrot that was as big as his arm from his inventory. He received this carrot from one of the sealed fruits once he reached Lv90.

    The Fruit of Your Efforts¡¯ Carrot!

    Minhyuk realized that the ingredients have arge impact on the buff effect of his Food God¡¯s Cooking Skill. The amount of buffs tend to increase significantly depending on the effects and special abilities attached on the ingredient itself. Of course, the fact still remained that the special abilities and effects of the ingredients would not be obtained permanently.

    He started to slice the carrot thinly. After preparing his ingredients, he started making fried rice.

    Shwaaaaa!

    Onion, carrots and ham. Even with just these three ingredients, the fried rice would still have an excellent vor.

    The miners and Ruan who was watching him cookfortably could not understand his logic.

    Minhyuk added the highest amount of buff that he could add into two bowls of fried rice while he set the buff normally for the rest of the servings. One bowl of fried rice with the highest amount of buff went to him, while the other went to Ruan. And the normally buffed fried rice was distributed to the miners.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡­ Really¡­¡­ You wanted to eat while all of us were shaking in fear.¡±

    Ruan let out a ¡®phew¡¯ as he looked at Minhyuk who was already munching on his fried rice.

    ¡°As expected! Fried rice is still delicious even if I just used these simple ingredients! If I put ripe kimchi on top of it¡­¡­ Kggk!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    The thought ¡®This person is really rxed andfortable.¡¯ ran through Ruan¡¯s mind. He started to eat his portion of the fried rice to fill his fullness stat.

    As he tasted the fried rice, he suddenly stopped.

    ¡®......It¡¯s really delicious.¡¯

    It was so delicious that he couldn¡¯t even open his eyes. It was just a bowl filled with stir-fried rice, onions, carrots and ham but he couldn¡¯t help but admit that it was really excellent. The taste wouldn¡¯t even let you get bored.

    Ruan¡¯s spoon did not stop moving.

    ¡°De, delicious¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s like the tension in my body is gone.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s really delicious!¡±

    The miners started to eat with great vigor. They ate like there was no tomorrow. After all, they were also quite hungry since they did such heavy work earlier.

    Ruan, who finished eating, suddenly heard a set of notifications.

    [You have eaten fried rice.]

    [Your stats will be increased for 10 hours: attack power +14%, defensive power +15%, STM +40.]

    ¡°Heok¡­¡­!¡±

    He waspletely shocked with the notifications that he heard.

    On the other hand, the miners started to feel that their body was getting filled with strength.

    ¡°Oh, ooooooooh¡­...!¡±

    ¡°I just ate fried rice but my fatigue has disappeared!¡±

    ¡°H, how can this be?!¡±

    Everyone started to exim in surprise while Ruan looked at Minhyuk as if he was someone that was out of this world.

    Minhyuk, on the other hand, looked at his almost empty bowl and sighed sadly.

    ¡°I already ate it all¡­¡­ That¡¯s too bad¡­¡­¡±

    The Fruit of your Efforts¡¯ Carrot would give him a permanent +20 boost in his STM. However, it was changed into buff effect. Instead of a permanent boost in his STM, it turned into a buff effect with a x2 increase in STM. It might not be permanent, but in the short term and in their current situation, it was already a huge boost in their strength.

    Thud!

    Thud, thud, thud!

    Just like what their enemies said earlier, the monsters started to appear one by one. This time, it was the Iron Golems. These monsters were stronger than the Iron Wolves that appeared much earlier. These monsters were currently at Lv170 and their figures showed up and formed from the walls of the mines.

    Minhyuk quickly finished his meal and attacked the Iron Golems.

    [Rampant Sword.]

    [A flurry of rampant swords with additional 30% attack power will be created for 5 seconds.]

    Taererererere!

    [You have dealt a fatal blow.]

    Taererererere!

    [You have dealt a fatal blow.]

    Crumble!

    The solid and imposing Iron Golem fell with a thud and a long with its death¡­

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    Minhyuk¡¯s level continued to rise.

    Ruan, who was watching on the sides, started to join the fray and fight with the monsters. Even though his level was much lowerpared to the monsters, the buff from Minhyuk¡¯s dishes had excellent effects.

    The miners ran away together and left their vicinity to avoid being a nuisance to their fight and to avoid getting hurt or injured.

    ¡®He looks like he¡¯s the one at Lv170¡­¡­¡¯

    He wondered how his stats could be so high despite having a low level. At the same time, he also thought that they would be able to hold out until his Mysterious Noona arrived and rescued them.

    But¡­

    ¡®Who the hell is his noona?¡¯

    This was his greatest concern.

    ¡®I think the barrier is about to be broken¡­¡­¡¯

    Although he was hunting and killing off the monsters in front of him, he was still thinking about what would happen to them once the barrier was broken.

    ***

    Card was inside the Brethni Mines. Since he was wearing a mask, even the members of the Horden Guild couldn¡¯t recognize him.

    He continuously followed the other guild members into the different mining areas.

    ¡®It¡¯s not here either.¡¯

    The person who used the ck key was the only person who would be able to see the entrance. However there was no passageway or entrance in the 1st~4th mining area. The only area left that he wasn¡¯t able to check was the 5th mining area.

    He sent a whisper to Brony but he said that he was in a difficult situation due to the users present in the 5th mining area. However, he also said that the transparent barrier was going to break soon.

    Card prepared to go out of the 4th mining area.

    ¡®I¡¯m sure that the entrance is in the 5th mining area.¡¯

    He thought so as he started walking to the 5th mining area. However, the member of the Horden Guild that was walking in front suddenly stopped walking.

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±

    Card tilted his head in confusion as the guild member turned his head towards one direction.

    ¡°I, I also don¡¯t understand the situation right now.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    Card once again tilted his head in confusion as he followed him out of the mines. Once they got out of the mines, he finally saw the situation that they were in.

    There were troops wearing bright and impressive te armors with the symbol of the phoenix walking from afar and at the very front of these people was a woman wearing bright red armor.

    She was walking along as she tied her blonde hair with a string. The woman also had a sword hanging on her waist. This person was so famous that even if a 1-year-old child essed Athenae, the baby would still recognize who she was. There was no one in Athenae who did not know who this woman was.

    The Empress of the Eivelis Empire.

    And the woman hailed as the Sword Emperor.

    This was Ellie.

    There were also people who were moving quickly around her. They were the Imperial Mages and they were preparing to cast magic. Next to the mages were the soldiers. They were waiting for Ellie¡¯s orders as they aimed their bows towards them in unison.

    Step, step, step, step©¥

    Ellie walked in front of the mines as she looked around. Then, Card¡¯s eyes met with hers.

    ¡®Keok¡­¡­!¡¯

    Card might have connections with a Marquis of a kingdom however Ellie was a different matter altogether. If the Marquis was a cat, then Ellie was a tigress that could lead a group of full-grown tigers.

    Her sharp gaze made Card flinch. Then, she opened her mouth and spoke.

    ¡°So you¡¯re a cksmith.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Card knew that his identity was exposed with just one word but he still kept his mouth shut since he did not know what to say.

    ¡°And you¡¯re the culprit behind this mayhem.¡±

    Ellie was talking about the corpses of the soldiers of the Kingdom of Barras scattered all over the mines.

    Card gulped down his saliva. It felt like he was extremely parched as he listened to her words.

    At that moment, Ellie shook her hand.

    ¡°Let me see your mug.¡±

    Crack, crack, crack, crack!

    The mask that he was wearing started to crack. And in no time at all, it crumbled into pieces and revealed his face.

    Crumble©¥

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°Ca, Card¡­¡­?¡±

    ¡°The cksmith Card? The second in the cksmith ranking?!¡±

    The guild members of the Horden Guild quickly realized who he was once his mask was removed. It was then that Card realized the situation that he was in.

    ¡®I think I¡¯m fXcked¡­¡­¡¯

    ***

    Footnotes

    [Tigers] Tigers do not form a pack, I have read that they are mostly solitary creatures. However they also can interact with each other especially during mating period. Female tigers would have a territory of their own while males would go and traverse thends as they find tigers to mate with. I think what the author wanted to say was that Elllie was so fierce that she would be able to lead a group of solitary tigers if she became a tiger. Or smth like that. It was just an analogy.

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    Well, of course you are. That¡¯s the Empress, and she caught you red handed. Kek. Can¡¯t wait to read what Brony¡¯s reaction is to Minhyuk¡¯s noona! Hehehehe.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Tough luck buddy. I hope you like the dungeon for a hundred years. Lol.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 85 - Im Going To Tell My Noona About This

    Chapter 85: I¡¯m Going to Tell My Noona About This.

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Brony¡¯s smile was so wide that his mouth looked like it was ripped open. It was because the transparent barrier was riddled with cracks! He only needed one final blow to bring the barrier down.

    He slowly gathered his strength into his hands that were holding the hammer.

    [Fullswing.]

    [An additional 22% of damage will be added to a single blow.]

    Fwooooooooom!

    Baaaaaang!

    Crack, crack, crack, crack©¥

    The attack banged on the transparent barrier loudly and the cracks grew bigger and longer. And then¡­

    Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang©¥

    The transparent barrier fell down and crumbled into pieces.

    Brony smirked proudly as he looked at the aftermath of the barrier breaking. Before he could make his way through and enter the depths of the mines, he suddenly received a whisper from one of his guild members.

    [Oden: GM-nim¡­¡­ Minhyuk¡­¡­ No, Minhyuk-nim¡¯s noona is here¡­¡­]

    Brony smacked his lips and grinned darkly.

    I see, I can kill Minhyuk and that noona of his together.

    But then, he suddenly thought of something¡­

    ¡®Minhyuk-nim?¡¯

    What¡¯s this? Why is he acting like this all of a sudden? And why is he sending me a whisper when he can talk to me in the guild chat?

    [Brony: You punk, why are you calling him with a -nim when you should just call that bastard by his name?]

    [Oden: Because we¡¯re in big trouble. ??]

    Why is he crying? Trouble?

    Then, another whisper came from Oden.

    [Oden: Minhyuk-nim¡¯s noona is the Sword Emperor Ellie.]

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    Brony was taken aback.

    The Sword Emperor Ellie?

    It was a very familiar name. Brony tried to recall where he heard this name.

    She was a powerful soldier, a rich tycoon and the empress of the Eivelis Empire that was hailed as the strongest and best empire in the whole continent. The Sword Emperor Ellie!

    ¡°This crazy punk¡­¡­¡±

    His brows furrowed in contemtion. The Sword Emperor Ellie was an Empress, and even though she was an NPC it was still as clear as day that she was a person of power. And they¡¯re telling him that Minhyuk was calling such a person noona? There was no precedence about a user forming such a bond with a powerful NPC like the Empress.

    [Brony: Are you ying around with me right now?]

    [Oden: I¡¯m not joking¡­¡­]

    [Brony: If his noona is the Empress then my noona is the Dragon Lord, this damn bas¡­]

    Before he could even finish his words in the whisper, their guild chat window was suddenly flooded with cries of help and tears.

    [Guild Chatting Halem: GM-nim, we¡¯re fXcked. Sword Emperor Ellie is here.]

    [Guild Chatting Forton: GM-nim ?? I think you shoulde out¡­¡­]

    [Guild Chatting Karma: GM-nim, we¡¯re tied tightly with a rope, I can¡¯t move at all.]

    [Guild Chatting Oden: I was so nervous that I forgot about the guild chat and sent you a whisper¡­¡­ GM-nim, I¡¯m really not joking around¡­¡­]

    [Guild Chatting Craton: Save us¡­¡­!]

    ¡°......¡±

    It finally urred to Brony that his guild members would not joke around with him for things like this.

    At that moment¡­

    Swooooooooosh!

    ¡°Keoheeeeok!¡±

    ¡°Heok?!¡±

    A guild member standing right beside Brony suddenly floated up and flew out of the mines. It looked like he was being pulled by some kind of powerful force.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    And just like a signal for trouble, the guild members surrounding him flew out of the mines one by one. It wasn¡¯t that long after when his turn came.

    ¡°Keuwooooo.¡±

    He tried to struggle hard to stop the force from pulling him out of the mines. But in the end, he was not able to ovee the force and he still flew out of the mines along with the rest of his guild members.

    Thud, thud, thud©¥

    After he was pulled out of the mines, he rolled over the floor a few times. When he opened his eyes, he could see that the acrid, dark and dusty surroundings in the mines were already no more. He shook his head fiercely, as if to shake off the dust that settled on his hair.

    ¡®What in the world¡­¡­¡¯

    When he turned his head, he saw Card shaking uncontrobly and tied up tightly on one side. This was the 2nd in the cksmith¡¯s rankings. His face was not even covered at all.

    Brony raised his head up when he felt a shadow looming over him. When he looked up, he met with the sharp and icy re of Sword Emperor Ellie.

    ¡°......Keok!¡±

    He let out a frightened groan. Those eyes were so piercing that he couldn¡¯t stop his voice froming out.

    At that moment¡­

    ¡°Noonaaaaaaaa!¡±

    A cheerful shout came from the depths of the mines. The voice sounded like he just found out that his very close sister from next door came to visit him.

    Minhyuk ran out of the mines together with the miners and approached Ellie. Ellie smiled at him brightly and asked about him.

    ¡°Who bullied our Minhyukie?¡±

    ¡°This one, this one, this one too!¡±

    ¡°Is that so? How dare these bastards bully my dongsaeng¡­¡­!¡±

    The scene looked extremely like a pitiful child reporting to his mother that he was being bullied by bad guys.

    ¡®N, no. You¡¯re the Empress, you know!¡¯

    They couldn¡¯t believe that a user could build a sibling-like rtionship with such a powerful person.

    ¡°This one bullied me the most!¡±

    ¡°Hooo.¡±

    Shiver!

    Brony stiffened up and shivered uncontrobly when he saw Minhyuk pointing towards him. He saw Ellie¡¯s eyebrows creased up in anger. The air surrounding him suddenly turned chilly. The tension was so thick that he could feel the air vibrating around him.

    He understood the stance that he had to take. He knew that he had to bend down and tter them.

    ¡°He, hehe¡­¡­ Th, that¡¯s not true. It was because I was so excited to see Minhyuk after a long time¡­¡­¡±

    Before he could even lie through his teeth and try to weasel his way out of the situation¡­

    [Puhahahahahahaha! Noona? You¡¯re gonna tell your noona?]

    [Ahuhuhuhu. Are you going to tell your noona because you''re scared?]

    [Keuhahaha, is your sister the number 1 in rankings?]

    [She¡¯s an NPC though? Are you disregarding my noona?]

    [Keuhahaha. Aigooo, I¡¯m so scared that I will pee myself. I can see your noona!]

    [......You¡¯ll regret it.]

    [Aigoo. We have been very rude to your extremely scary noona. Sorry. Isn¡¯t it obvious? Your noona must have been a fXcker like you who¡¯s hiding behind his mask and pretending to be nice. So when is your noonaing? Huh? That fXcking noona of yours!]

    Minhyuk yed what he recorded earlier.

    ¡°......¡±

    Brony¡¯s mouth opened wide as he was left speechless with what had just happened. He could even see Minhyuk peeking out from behind Ellie and smiling smugly at him.

    He did not mention his noona¡¯s name and it seemed like he expected their reactions to be like this once they met with her. In other words, it was a part of his borate n.

    This was also the reason why they harshly cursed and spat at his ¡®noona¡¯ with great confidence.

    ¡°Ha!¡±

    Ellie scoffed at him.

    He said that Her Highness, Ellie was a ¡®fXcker¡¯. In addition, Brony and his guild members were caught killing off the soldiers of the Kingdom of Barras and even trying to kill the miners. There were enough justifications to mete out the harshest punishments on them.

    ¡®Kang Minhyuuuuuuuuuuuuk!¡¯

    Brony saw Minhyuk smiling widely at him. He felt like he was being mocked, he even wanted to rush to him and tear him to death. However, when he saw the furious Ellie, he quickly reigned his anger in and hurried over to their guild chat.

    [Guild Master Brony: Everyone, log out now. Quickly!]

    [Guild Chatting Bordney: Ab, about that¡­¡­]

    [Guild Chatting Carran: Even if we log out¡­¡­ Nothing will change. GM-nim¡­¡­]

    He was taken aback. He had no idea about what they were talking about but when he wanted to log out, a notification rang in his head.

    [You will receive a log out penalty if you force log out right now.]

    [Your character will still remain even if you force log out.]

    If a user was forced to log out while hunting inside a dungeon then they will receive a death penalty. Their situation was a bit simr to this. However, their character will remain and still survive. In other words, they had no chance of escaping.

    ¡°Capture these bastards, don¡¯t kill them. I¡¯ll let these guys rot in prison until they die. This will be their punishment.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    The Phoenix Knights bowed their heads after epting their orders.

    Brony, who heard her judgment, was left staring in a daze.

    All of the guild members of the Horden Guild were currently present here. All 86 of them. And all of them would be locked up in prison.

    The Phoenix Knights moved quickly. They took out the ropes tied on their waists and threw it out. Every time they threw the rope out, it would magically extend and snatch out a member of his guild.

    In addition, the Imperial Mages also used their stunning magic to attack those who tried to escape. The people who got hit by the stunning magic were knocked out cold as their body shivered intensely.

    Brony red at Minhyuk sharply.

    He saw Minhyuk pulling two fishing chairs out from his inventory. He sat down on one of the chairs while Ellie sat down on the other. Then, Minhyuk pulled something out of his inventory and started munching on it.

    It was none other than popcorn.

    ¡°Caramel popcorn is really the best when you¡¯re watching something! Hiyaaa, this is really fun!¡±

    As he red at his figure, Brony thought¡­

    How detestable! So annoyingly hateful! How can a person be this hateful!

    Minhyuk looked like someone who was sitting in the cinema and watching an action movie. And as he watched the movie he would grab a handful of popcorn and throw it in his mouth as he said ¡®The popcorn is delicious!¡¯. This was what he looked like to the tied up Brony.

    He even pulled out a c out of his inventory, plugged in a straw and sipped the c loudly.

    ¡°Kyahaa!¡±

    ¡°Yah, this fXcking bastard!¡¯

    Brony felt like he was on the verge of crying out of frustration as he continued to look at Minhyuk.

    Nothing changed. Even if it was him from the past or him right now, he still was not able to defeat Kang Minhyuk.

    He gritted his teeth in frustration and just forced himself to log out of the game.

    Lee Sangmin, who came out of the capsule, trembled in fury. He tried hard to calm himself down before essing the official homepage of Athenae.

    ¡®How the hell did he be close with Ellie?¡¯

    He wanted to type the words ¡®Ellie¡¯ to search about news and articles about her but he didn¡¯t even need to do it at all. The real-time search had ¡®Ellie¡¯ on the number 1 spot. And the second ce was none other than ¡®Horden Guild¡¯.

    He quickly clicked on the real-time search keyword. And in no time at all, several articles and videos popped out on his screen. The publishing time was even just a few seconds ago.

    Sangmin¡¯s eyes widened in shock as he saw the video.

    ¡®......Hey, isn¡¯t this me!¡¯

    The video looked like it was taken from a distance. It showed a man walking along as he gave his guild members orders after killing off the NPCs. He even kicked the body of the dead soldier of the kingdom that was blocking his way. Then, he heard his voice and the voice of his guild member.

    [GM-nim. The NPCs are really just like humans so I¡¯m still a bit ufortable about this.]

    [So what if you¡¯re ufortable. These bastards are artificial intelligence anyway. Should we kill them once or twice again? What¡¯s wrong with you.]

    Kick, kick!

    As he said so, he kicked the body of the dead soldier.

    Then, there was another video. It was the video where Ellie appeared and it was the main topic of the article.

    [The Horden Guild is notorious for its deeds. It seems like Ellie appeared to give them a lesson.]

    Below the topic was an overwhelming number ofments.

    [SweetHoney: Wow, I¡¯m a user who¡¯s been beaten down by Horden Guild. Those bastards, they really have nomon sense[1]. I feel refreshed.

    fkjbk313: Look at what this guy is saying¡­¡­ Even if they¡¯re NPCs and they¡¯re just artificial intelligence they still feel like they¡¯re real human beings when you¡¯re inside the game. Let¡¯s just say that it¡¯s okay that you killed them but not everyone thinks like that. What was the point of kicking that dead body? Are you still a person?

    Ellie¡¯sCool: Kyaa, Ellie-nim looks like she¡¯s a solid and strict teacher! I¡¯m so excited. From now on I¡¯m an Ellie fan!

    BronyIsLeeSangmin: That guy who kicked the dead body. He¡¯s my ssmate from middle school. Even back then, he would bully other kids and beat them to get their money. He¡¯s so confident because he has his dad as his backer. This is his personal information [2]. His phone number is 010 1234 XXXX. His name is Lee Sangmin. He¡¯s 20 years old. And he lives in 123-45 Bongcheon-dong.]

    There were a lot ofments under the post where his personal information was leaked.

    Then¡­

    Ring, ring, ring, ring!

    His phone suddenly rang loudly. Lee Sangmin stiffened in surprise. What surprised him the most was that the number that called him was not registered. When he answered the call...

    [Don¡¯t live like awless bastard [3] you university student.]

    Toot!

    Lee Sangmin¡¯s heart beat wildly in shock. He couldn¡¯t calm down at all.

    As soon as the call was hung up, another call came in from another number.

    [Do you know who I am? I¡¯m Jiang Chen¡­¡­]

    Toot!

    ¡°......¡±

    Lee Sangmin bursted into tears.

    Then, another call came in.

    [I came to pay respects. Please let me get amazing SAT results. Also, please let my parents live long and healthy.]

    ¡°Yaah, you asshole¡­¡­¡±

    Toot!

    This time, the other person was the first one to hang up the call. And another call came through.

    [I¡¯m your ear candy.]

    Toot!

    He hurriedly pulled the battery out of his phone to turn it off. Then, he thought¡­

    ¡®Who the hell took that video of me killing those users and soldiers?¡¯

    He kept on watching that video clip as his brows furrowed further. The video started with Ellie breaking down Card¡¯s mask and the Phoenix Knights and Imperial Mages moving quickly to subdue and capture the guild members of the Horden Guild.

    Then, he heard a voice questioning the person who took the video.

    [Who are you, are you one of them?!]

    The video showed one of the Imperial Mages as he interrogated the person taking the video. Then, the person who was taking the video spoke¡­

    [If I continue to stay here then I will be caught in a sticky situation. This is unfortunate, but I don¡¯t think I will be able to show you the end of their punishment. This is Go Eun-ah, reporting for TTBC.]

    ***

    Footnotes

    [GM-nim] Short for Guild Master-nim. They have been using the first two sybles of Guild Master to call Brony. It¡¯s a type of abbreviation so I decided to use GM instead of typing out the whole Guild Master.

    [1] ??? : mukaenyeom; literally - idea of no concept. Or someone who doesn¡¯t have anymon knowledge. Sometimes could also mean as does messy acts without caring about the people around them.

    [2] ??? came from ???? which literally means leaking out a person¡¯s information on SNS. Please don¡¯t do that. No matter how bad the person is. You might get sued.

    [3] ???? ?? (Horangmalko kateun); Horang is arge horse that barons ride, horangmalko refers to the muzzle of the horse. Since the horang is such arge and strong horse, the guides for these horses often have a hard time trying to let them follow their leads. So if you getpared to them it means that you act freely and don¡¯t obey thews. It¡¯s mainly used to curse people who do not follow the social norms, ethics,ws and manners.

    [Jang Chen] It¡¯s a line from the movie Criminal City or The Ouws. I think Ma Dongsok is the actor in that movie.

    [I came to pay respect.] ???? ????. Although it literally means paying respect or homage to the temple or shrine. It¡¯s a ng that¡¯s used for notable posts on the inte. It means that when the post is tagged as ??. It¡¯s like it¡¯s a mark of those who went on a pilgrimage. I think the most popr posts about these are posts predicting the oues of celebrities and their rtionships. It might not be true but sometimes it bes true so people worship those posts and ask for blessings. There are a lot of examples about this but you can look more about this in koreanforinternaut¡¯s blog. It exins about the inte pilgrimage. Kek.

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    Idk what to say¡­ probably, serves you right? Anyway, I live for Ellie and Minhyuk¡¯s interaction. I wonder if she ever gets to taste the caramel popcorn. I mean the possibility is in the negatives but a girl¡¯s gotta dream.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 86 - The Very First Legendary Artifact Is?

    Chapter 86: The Very First Legendary Artifact Is?

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    28 The Very First Legendary Artifact Is?

    Ruan received a whisper from Go Eun-ah.

    [VeryPrettyEunah: Hyeonsok-ah, thanks to you we now got an exclusive scoop!]

    [Ruan: Did you post it right now? Where?]

    [VeryPrettyEunah: yeye. It¡¯s number 1 on the real time search on the official homepage. But why did Elliee here? Did she really just see it while she was on her way somewhere? Or did she reallye here to catch the Horden Guild? Anyway, I ran back to the town just in case they tried to catch me. Thements under the post about Horden Guild¡¯s GM is going crazy. They¡¯re also talking shit about Card.]

    Ruan shook his head. He was real friends with the reporter VeryPrettyEunah and her timing was really perfect. She just arrived in the Kingdom of Barras to get some scoop and said that she would stop by the Brethni Mines to visit him.

    She always said that she would get a scoop but she never knew where to get one. She believed that a scoop would alwayse up once she was out on the road.

    Once she arrived near the mines, she saw this horrible scene. So she hid in the distance and continuously messaged Ruan to know more about the situation. As she corresponded with him, she finally pieced the events together and learned that the current situation was a sudden NPC ughter. Once she knew of the reason, she immediately started to shoot the scene.

    ¡®I guess she wasn¡¯t able to take a video of Ellie calling User Minhyuk ¡®dongsaeng¡¯?¡¯

    Perhaps it was because she quickly ran away in fear of getting caught by the knights. The members of the Horden Guild were under the control and couldn¡¯t log out peacefully so he guessed that she probably was out of the range of the control.

    Ruan was going to tell her the truth about Ellie and Minhyuk¡¯s sibling rtionship but he stopped.

    Why?

    Because Ellie who was sitting right beside the fresh and happy Minhyuk looked awfully scary.

    ¡®He calls Ellie his noona, he has extremely high stats, and he can fight well¡­¡­¡¯

    And as Minhyuk stood next to her, he looked at the cksmith named Card. Card was currently looking at his guild chatting window which was close to exploding.

    [Guild Master Ares: Card-nim. Would you like to exin the situation right now?]

    [Corona: This crazy shit. You have the guts to tarnish the guild¡¯s name, huh? You even hired the Horden Guild to ughter the NPCs! You must have found something good and you¡¯re trying to monopolize it all to yourself, huh?!]

    [Raman: How should you fix this? Wouldn¡¯t it be a big deal if Ellie bes hostile to our guild?]

    Ares Guild was one of the country¡¯s top 4 guilds. And Card, who did something so horrendous while keeping it a secret from the guild, was someone who was unforgivable. Even though he was an executive in the guild and was an outstanding cksmith he would still not be able to escape eviction. But Card did not think that it was his problem right now. He has other problems to deal with first.

    ¡®I could be like the user from before and get sentenced to prison for 100 years.¡¯

    If that happened, then he has to delete his character ID and has to start from scratch. His character was the 2nd in the cksmith¡¯s ranking. He first had to find a way to trick them and save his character from getting deleted.

    ¡°Why did you do this?¡±

    Ellie asked him. Once he heard the question, Card began to tell the truth of what was inside the 5th mining area. He exined everything from beginning to end.

    ¡°......An artifact material that has all of the properties?¡±

    ¡°Yes. That¡¯s right. And right now, there are only three people who can use this artifact. I can make an artifact out of this material. That¡¯s why, nim.¡±

    He looked at Minhyuk with sad eyes. He was trying to evoke his pity.

    ¡°Please let it slide just this once. I will also make the best artifact for you!¡±

    He gloated inwardly. He was sure that it was an offer that no one could refuse. They had no choice but to ept those terms since artifacts were so expensive. And artifacts that were made with such a material was bound to be extremely valuable. Minhyuk would most definitely ept his offer and tell Ellie to exempt him.

    Ellie looked at Minhyuk.

    ¡°If you want to have the artifact then we could do as he says. But he can¡¯t get away with it and he still has to be locked up for a month.¡±

    She wanted to follow Minhyuk¡¯s choice as much as possible. That was also what Ellie¡¯s Insignia signifies.

    Minhyuk grinned.

    ¡°You have the key.¡±

    ¡°Yes. Sooner orter, the door to that ce will open.¡±

    Minhyuk had heard this from Leton. There was only one person who had the key and that was the only way that they could enter that ce. In other words, Minhyuk would be able to enter that ce thanks to Card!

    To be honest, this was the first time that he has heard about such an artifact material. It seemed like the wood from the chocte tree was an excellent artifact material. But in all honesty, the chocte that the chocte tree produced was what was calling to him the most.

    ¡°Thanks for opening the door.¡±

    Card couldn¡¯t understand what he was talking about.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be right back. You even opened the door for me~ Aigoo. Thanks a bunch!¡±

    Minhyuk grabbed Card¡¯s hand and shook it up and down. Then he threw his hand off and said¡­

    ¡°Noona. We can¡¯t just let this bad guy get away with it.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. As expected of my dongsaeng. For a moment I thought you would disappoint me because of this greedy bastard.¡±

    Ellie grinned at him as Card tried to talk.

    ¡°N, no. Didn¡¯t you hear what I just said? I¡¯m the only one who can make an artifact out of that material. It won¡¯t work unless you find a cksmith that¡¯s greater than me¡­¡­!¡±

    At that moment¡­

    ¡°Minhyuk-nim! Heok, heok, heok!¡±

    A man that was dressed shabbily, like he was a novice user, came running towards where Minhyuk was. He was huffing and puffing as he tried to catch his breath after standing in front of Minhyuk.

    After he finally caught his breath, he looked around his surroundings.

    ¡°I heard from my daughter that you went here. Are you alright?¡±

    ¡°Yes. As you can see, I¡¯m alright.¡±

    Card¡¯s eyebrows creased in annoyance.

    What¡¯s with this novice bastard?

    Did he think that he was much more important than what he wanted to say? Then, he saw a hammer pattern engraved on the back of his hands.

    Card¡¯s eyes widened in shock.

    He had seen the man who made the Dragon Sword once. He was in the Dragon¡¯s Lair at that time and once he got the materials that he needed he quickly hurried off. All he saw of that man was a hammer pattern engraved on the back of his hand. Shortly after he saw him from the Dragon¡¯s Lair, Card saw the Dragon Sword being auctioned off. It was the strongest artifact that was sold at the highest price in the auction trading site. At that time, he felt that he was the best cksmith ever to have lived! But then, he disappeared. And right now, that person with that pattern engraved on his hands was standing in front of Minhyuk worriedly.

    ¡°Eobobobo¡­¡±

    Card couldn¡¯t get the words out of his mouth. Standing in front of him was the Sword Emperor Ellie and the greatest cksmith alive.

    ¡°This damn bastard. How dare you bully my benefactor, Minhyuk-nim!¡±

    He red at Card sharply.

    Card zeroed in on the ¡®benefactor¡¯ that came out of his mouth.

    The great cksmith¡¯s benefactor?

    At that moment, he finally realized. That cksmith would definitely make something for Minhyuk with that artifact material!

    Card finally felt that he would lose everything because of his greed.

    I¡¯m dying a dog¡¯s death¡­¡­ No, it¡¯s not like I gave it to Minhyuk.

    He stood up and approached a soldier.

    ¡°Please get me out of here¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°I know. You bastard!¡±

    Card was extremely happy that he would not see the monstrous(?) Minhyuk when they took him away.

    Leton who was standing nearby murmured to himself.

    ¡°In the end, the chocte tree still found its way to its real owner.¡±

    ***

    Minhyuk smiled as he listened to Leton.

    He was so excited that his heart couldn¡¯t stop from fluttering wildly.

    The chocte tree is in there!

    Minhyuk told Hyemin¡¯sDad about the artifact material inside the dungeon. He told him everything that Card had said.

    ¡°Are you saying that there really is an artifact material with all of the properties?! It would be nice if I could use it to make the frying pan.¡±

    ¡°I see. Ah, did you add the function where it can boil it down perfectly? And the function that can help me make pancakes better?¡±

    ¡°......Yes.¡±

    Minhyuk looked like he was very happy and satisfied with the answer that he got.

    Hyemin¡¯sDad looked back at Ellie and Leton. They nodded their heads at each other as if they could understand their woes.

    Ellie had to go, but before that¡­

    ¡°I should clean them up.¡±

    She then kicked the ground and went inside the 5th Mining Area. She went out quickly as if she just went on a walk.

    ¡°There were about 50 monsters in there, I¡¯ve taken care of all of them.¡±

    ¡°50, 50 monsters¡­¡­ in 1 minute¡­¡­¡±

    Leton and Hyemin¡¯sDad looked at her in awe. They couldn¡¯t even form their words in their shock.

    ¡°Yes. Thank you so much foring, noona!¡±

    After thanking her and smiling at her brightly, Minhyuk went inside the mines.

    His heart was pounding loudly in excitement as he thought of eating brownies and meeting the legendary chocte tree!

    Just as he went deep inside the mines, he heard a loud vibration.

    Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

    [The entrance to the legend has opened.]

    [Only one person is allowed to enter.]

    Minhyuk quickly ran towards the bright light. The light surrounding Minhyuk was so bright that he couldn¡¯t even open his eyes. Then, he heard a series of notifications.

    [You have entered the legendary ¡®Chocte Paradise¡¯.]

    [You are the 32nd user to have entered a legendary ce.]

    [You are allowed 1 hour inside this area.]

    [Number of Legendary Dungeons Found: 1]

    [Your reputation has increased by 50.]

    [Everything in the Chocte Paradise is more deliciouspared to their regr counterparts.]

    Minhyuk slowly opened his eyes when he felt that the ring light was gone. Once he opened his eyes, he couldn¡¯t help but shout in surprise.

    ¡°Waaaaaaaa, wooooow!¡±

    The first thing that he saw were the des of grass made out of Pepero.

    Shwaaaaaa©¥

    A gentle breeze blew in the area and the Pepero grass swayed gently. Minhyuk could see that the des of grass were like ¡®Nude Chocte Pepero¡¯, ¡®Almond Pepero¡¯ and the ¡®Regr Pepero¡¯. He bent down and picked up an almond Pepero.

    [You have acquired Almond Pepero.]

    The moment he picked the grass of Pepero, the swaying Pepero suddenly stiffened and became a regr stick of Pepero.

    Minhyuk then grabbed a handful of the swaying Pepero grass and munched on the almond Pepero.

    ¡°Aaaaaaang!¡±

    As soon as he chewed on the Pepero, he could taste and feel the vor and texture of the almond along with the crunchy, crispy and sweet vor of the chocte and cookies that came with it.

    ¡°Kgghk. As expected, almond-vored Pepero is the best!¡±

    Then, a notification rang.

    [You have leveled up.]

    ¡°Huh¡­¡­?¡±

    I only ate almond Pepero but I leveled up? Is it that amazing?

    He only had one hour in this ce, then he looked at his hands holding the handful of Pepero.

    ¡®Don¡¯t tell me?¡¯

    Legendary Dungeons were said to have a x4 increase in the EXP gained and a x4 increase in the item drop rate. It was a much more special dungeonpared to the hidden dungeon. Due to this, it was also extremely hard to find.

    However, Minhyuk did not understand why he heard such a notification. He was also sure that there were no monsters around him.

    Then¡­ Does it mean that I will be able to gain EXP everytime I eat things here?

    ¡®Wow. I get to eat delicious food and get EXP at the same time?¡¯

    It was like killing two birds in one stone for Minhyuk! When Minhyuk ate all the Pepero in his hands, he was able to increase his level by five just by eating these.

    Then, Minhyuk focused his attention on the things that were growing in between the trees. Those were things that looked like mushrooms. But looking at it closely, those mushrooms were the Chokosongi snack.

    ¡°Waaah!¡±

    Minhyuk quickly picked the mushrooms and stuffed them in his mouth.

    [Your STR has increased by 1.]

    [Your AGI has increased by 1.]

    [Your WIS has increased by 1.]

    He realized that eating the chokosongi would increase his 5 basic stats. When he finished eating all of the Chokosongi that he picked he was able to increase his stats. His STR has increased by 18, AGI by 15, WIS by 17, STM by 20 and his INT by 10.

    When Minhyuk turned around, he saw something that looked like a rock. The rock was a Ferrero Rocher chocte. Minhyuk lifted the Ferrero Rocher chocte rock that was as big as his head and ate it all.

    [You have acquired 1 skill point.]

    He gained 1 skill point every Ferrero Rocher chocte he ate. In total, he was able to eat 5 Ferrero Rocher choctes which meant that he was able to gain 5 skill points.

    ¡°Keuhahahaha! This is heaven! No, that is!¡±

    He looked at a river that was flowing near him. The river was clearly made out of milk chocte. He quickly ran towards the bank of the river, fell face down and gulped the milk chocte in that position.

    ¡°Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp!¡±

    As he continued to gulp the milk chocte from the river, it seemed that the chocte level slowly seemed to lower. If anyone saw it, they would think that a family of elephants came by and drank from the river.

    ¡°Keuhahaha!¡±

    [You have gained 4 special points.]

    [You can also invest your special points on stats that can¡¯t be raised with bonus points.]

    The chocte river gave him none other than special points.

    After he finished drinking, he looked around. He was spying on new things that he hadn''t tried yet. It seemed like there wasn''t anything that he hadn¡¯t tried yet.

    ¡®I¡¯m only allowed to stay here for 1 hour, right? I¡¯ll be in trouble if I¡¯m not able to get the most important thing!¡¯

    Minhyuk focused on what he needed to do. He needed to find the legendary chocte tree that exists in the Chocte Paradise!

    He quickly went around the Chocte Paradise in order to find the chocte tree. Not long after, he was able to find the legendary tree.

    There was a tree that was standing tall in the middle of the dungeon. It looked like it was a tree that had been standing for almost 300 years with how big it was. The chocte tree was standing majestically in the middle of the Chocte Paradise!

    ***

    Footnotes

    [VeryPrettyEunah] About this, this was written as ????. ?? was her name, and ?? is a ng that means extremely/freaking pretty. It¡¯s actually abination of words and abbreviated like that.

    Food Discussion Corner

    Pepero (???) - A cookie stick dipped in chocte. Manufactured by Lotte Confectionery.

    Chokosongi (????) - A chocte snack that resembles a mushroom. The stem is made out of cookies while the button top is made out of chocte. This is a product of Orion and is popr with kids.

    Ferrero Rocher - a chocte and hazelnut confectionery produced by Ferrero, an Italian choctier.

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    Hello, I want choctes. Man. I¡¯m going to buy them when I go visit the supermarket.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Well, the story is called Level Up Through Eating, it makes sense to have a time where that literally happens. It sounds like he went to Willy Wonka¡¯s Chocte Factory. Augustus Gloop has nothing on Minhyuk of course.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 87 - The Very First Legendary Artifact Is?

    Chapter 87: The Very First Legendary Artifact Is?

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes were glittering brightly and his mouth was watering. He was so excited that he ran towards the chocte tree as fast as he could.

    When he reached the tree, he finally realized how big it was. He looked so small as he stood beside the gigantic chocte tree. Looking up, he could see the infinitely sweet choctes that were hanging on every branch of the chocte tree.

    Minhyuk slowly stretched his hand out to touch the chocte tree.

    [You have found the Legendary Chocte Tree.]

    [You have gained 30 reputation points.]

    [The first and second chocte that you will harvest will be even more special.]

    [Once you harvest two choctes, you will be able to acquire the chocte tree.]

    [When you harvest the choctes, you will also be able to acquire the Sacred Branch of the Spirit King.]

    ¡°Oho.¡±

    When Minhyuk read thest notification, he was quite sure that it was the artifact material that Card was talking about. The Sacred Branch of the Spirit King.

    Minhyuk focused his strength on both his legs and jumped. He snapped off two of the choctes that were hanging on a branch of the chocte tree. Suddenly, the color of one of the choctes started to turn white.

    [You have acquired the Legendary White Chocte.]

    [You have acquired the Legendary ck Chocte.]

    [You have acquired the Legendary Chocte Tree. You will be able to harvest plenty of choctes from the chocte tree every day. The chocte that you obtained from the chocte tree is much more delicious than normal choctes.]

    [To harvest chocte from the chocte tree, you only need to think of Harvest Chocte and you will be able to acquire the choctes.]

    After the notifications ended, the giant chocte tree in front of Minhyuk started to shrink until it turned into a chocte tree that could fit in one of his hands. Then, it immediately went into his inventory. Minhyuk did not waste any time, he quickly checked on the information of the things that he acquired

    (The Legend¡¯s White Chocte)

    Material Grade: Medicine

    Special Abilities: ©¥ Heals the diseases and injuries of a person on the brink of death

    Description: This is the white chocte that has an amazing power, it can only be harvested from the Legendary Chocte Tree. The taste is, of course, extremely delicious.

    (The Legend¡¯s ck Chocte)

    Material Grade: Medicine

    Special Abilities:

    ©¥ STM +100

    ©¥ WIS +100

    Description: This is the ck chocte that has an amazing power, it can only be harvested from the Legendary Chocte Tree. The taste is, of course, extremely delicious.

    Minhyuk shook his head happily. Then, he harvested the normal choctes from the chocte tree.

    ¡°Harvest Chocte.¡±

    [You can only harvest 20 pieces of chocte per day.]

    [The amount that can be harvested today: 20/20]

    Minhyuk only harvested one first, he would harvest the rest once he went out of the dungeon. A chocte fruit appeared in front of him. The chocte fruit looked like it was an apple and the color was exactly like that of a chocte. He also checked the normal chocte that he harvested from the chocte tree.

    (Chocte Tree¡¯s Chocte)

    Material Grade: D

    Special Abilities: ©¥ There¡¯s no chocte that is much more delicious than this in all of Athenae. It is so delicious that you will never stop biting on it.

    There weren''t any special abilities from the chocte that could be harvested daily from the chocte tree. After all, it wouldn¡¯t make any sense if it had special abilities. However, it was already amazing that one could harvest chocte from it every day.

    ¡®There¡¯s no chocte in Athenae that is much more delicious than this¡­...!¡¯

    Minhyuk smiled brightly as he ced the chocte in his mouth.

    ¡°Chew!¡±

    A thick and sweet vor slowly spread in his mouth. The chocte was so sweet and thick that he couldn¡¯t stop himself from continuously chewing and putting it in his mouth. Sometimes, when someone ate chocte continuously, they would get tired of the taste and stop from eating. However, just like what the description has said, you will never stop biting on it.

    It feels like I¡¯ve been charging my sugar battery with chocte after quite a long time? Or maybe, this is what Changwook felt like when he wanted to sell his soul to the army just to eat chocopie!

    ¡°Keuha!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s lips were smeared with chocte. After he finished eating one, he couldn¡¯t help but think¡­

    ¡®The legendary choctes probably taste the same as the normal chocte from the chocte tree. I¡¯ll use the ck chocte for the brownies and I¡¯ll keep the white chocte in my inventory for the meantime.¡¯

    Although Minhyuk loved to eat food, he thought that there would probably be a day where he would still need to use the Legend¡¯s White Chocte.

    [You only have 5 seconds left until the entrance closes. The countdown will now begin.]

    [5 seconds, 4 seconds, 3 seconds, 2 seconds, 1 second.]

    After the countdown ended, Minhyuk was immediately warped out of the dungeon and appeared outside. Once he went out of the mines, he saw Lee Sangmin and the rest of the members of the Horde Guild being taken into custody. They disappeared along with the soldiers of the Empire.

    ¡°Ellie left earlier.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Minhyuk could see that Hyemin¡¯sDad was waiting for him. Hyemin told his dad that Minhyuk promised to give him the best tasting chocte in the world. He was really thankful to him.

    ¡°Ah, wait! I received the artifact material!¡±

    Minhyuk has already checked his spoils as he was walking out of the mines so he was able to easily pull out the Sacred Branch from his inventory. The Sacred Branch was a branch that has an unusual color.

    Hyemin¡¯sDad immediately checked the Sacred Branch that he received. Once he finished checking, he was stunned speechless as he looked at Minhyuk.

    ***

    Hyemin¡¯sDad had a look of disbelief on his face.

    ¡®Don¡¯t tell me Card knew about the material grade of this material?¡¯

    Card was the 2nd in the cksmith¡¯s ranking and the thought of him knowing the material grade of this artifact material quickly shed through his mind.

    When he thought about it, Card was someone who was influential and popr so he was wondering why he was ovee with greed to do things like that. However, once he saw the description of this material, he understood the reason why. Of course, if he was the one who knew about it he would never do something so cruel and horrible.

    The grade of the artifact materials were simr to the grade of the cooking ingredients. Their grade rankings start from D until SSS.

    As a matter of fact, there was no SS or SSS grade material that has been released or found in the country. The Dragon Sword that Hyemin¡¯sDad made before was made from the bones of the ancient dragon. The material was only ranked S. The only reason Hyemin¡¯sDad was able to make an extremely amazing artifact that shocked the world was because of his strength.

    At that time, he thought that the effects and options of the material were the best but right now he considered those S grade materials as his lowest criteria when choosing materials for an artifact.

    Just like the Spirit of Gryphon that he acquired not long ago, it was also an S grade material. It has much better effects and optionspared to the material he got for the Dragon Sword so he thought that he could make something much more amazing.

    Then, the Sacred Branch appeared in front of him. This was an SS grade material and was of the lowest rank among the SS grade materials. He heard that some materials like this were released abroad but since the servers were not yet merged he was still not able to find the best artifact material in Athenae. Although this material was the lowest among the SS grade materials, its effects were more than enough to fit that grade.

    (Sacred Branch)

    Material Grade: SS

    Special Abilities:

    ©¥ +10~12% increase in all stats.

    ©¥ +60% increase in Magical Defense.

    ©¥ You can include all 5 attributes and properties in the artifact.

    ©¥ There will be a sharp increase in your spirit affinity.

    Description: A sacred branch that was obtained from the Legendary Chocte Tree from Chocte Paradise. This branch contains the power of im, the King of Spirits.

    ¡®I really can¡¯t believe that it came out.¡¯

    Artifacts were not made with only just a single material. It could only be made through the smelting and joining of various materials. And all those materials had various abilities and effects. In addition, the effects that would be written in the description would depend on the person who made the artifact.

    The figures listed on the material¡¯s description might not necessarilye out in the artifact but the likelihood for such numbers to appear was quite high.

    ¡°I believe I can make you a satisfactory frying pan with this. I can finish it by the end of today.¡±

    He would be able to finish the artifact quickly since he would just be adding the Sacred Branch to the almost finished frying pan.

    ¡°Yes. I understand.¡±

    ¡°Are you going back to Ron¡¯s smithy?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I¡¯m going to make brownies there.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s face was filled with excitement. He was like a child that finally got the toy that he was wanted.

    ***

    Minhyuk said goodbye to Ruan, Leton and the other miners and quickly made his way to Ron¡¯s smithy.

    As soon as he arrived at the smithy, he quickly started his preparations to make brownies.

    Making brownies was not that difficult. He only needed to prepare the chocte, butter, sugar, vani extract, eggs, all-purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt and powdered sugar.

    ¡°Finally, the chocte¡­¡­!¡±

    Hyemin arrived just in time while Ron looked at Minhyuk seriously.

    ¡°You¡¯re going to give me some this time, right¡­¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk also thought that he should give Ron some food this time. Because he felt like he would cry if he did not give him any!

    He first melted the butter in a hot water bath then once the butter was meltedpletely he added the sugar, vani extract, and the well-beaten eggs and mixed them well. After he mixed them well, he sprinkled the mixture of all-purpose flour, cocoa powder and baking powder over the mixture with a sieve. Then he mixed it well. After mixing everything well, he would bake the brownie mixture in an oven that was preheated to 180 degrees for 20 minutes.

    Before Minhyuk came to the smithy, he first went to the bakery nearby and borrowed an oven from Helo-ssi.

    Minhyuk ced the brownie mixture that was ced in a baking pan and set the timer.

    ¡°I can¡¯t wait to taste these guys.¡±

    ¡°Me too!¡±

    Hyemin also smiled excitedly. Minhyuk rubbed her head once and stood in front of the oven to look at the brownies.

    He made a lot of batches of brownies. One of the batches was made with Legend¡¯s ck Chocte. He did not forget that cooking the medicine grade ingredient would give him additional effects.

    After 20 minutes.

    The ding! sound rang loudly in the smithy.

    ¡°Yayy!¡±

    Minhyuk grinned widely as he pulled the brownies out of the oven.

    The brownies that were fresh out of the oven might burn their tongues if they ate it right away so they had to cool it down for a bit. And if you tried to cut the brownies before it cooled down then it would probably break!

    Once the brownies have cooled down, Minhyuk carefully cut them into bite-sized pieces. Then he sprinkled some powdered sugar on top of them. The powdered sugar fell lightly on the brownies, they looked like snow falling down from the skies.

    ¡°Then, let¡¯s eat!¡±

    ¡°Yeah!¡±

    ¡°Right!¡±

    Ron followed Hyemin and nodded his head along.

    Minhyuk picked the one made out of Legend¡¯s ck Chocte. In fact, everything tasted the same so he didn¡¯t cheat Hyemin out of anything. Before he started eating, Minhyuk pulled something out of his inventory and ced it on the table with a thud.

    It was none other than a barrel that was filled with 10L of iced americano.

    ¡°......Is this filled with americano?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Ron was left speechless.

    That¡¯s a huge amount of americano!

    Of course, for Hyemin, he prepared a cold ss of milk.

    Minhyuk poured americano in a cup then put the slightly warm brownie in his mouth.

    ¡°Waaaaaaaang. Chew!¡±

    As soon as he chewed on the brownie, a soft and sweet vor slowly spread in his mouth. The more he chewed, the stickier and chewier the chocte brownie had be. Then, he sipped some iced americano with a straw. The bitter americano amplified the vor and sweetness of the brownie and showed the best taste that it could have.

    ¡°Delicious!¡±

    ¡°Hyeminie also thinks it¡¯s delicious!¡±

    Hyemin was eating very well now. Minhyuk smiled at her. He was extremely happy that the Hyemin who got scared of eating due to the side effects of the treatment was eating again. He also hoped that she would continue to cherish these delicious things like this brownie.

    Once he finished eating all of the brownies made with Legend¡¯s ck Chocte, a series of notifications rang in his head.

    [You have made brownies with Legend¡¯s ck Chocte.]

    [The Food Fighter¡¯s Greatness.]

    [The penalty for the medicine has been ignored. However, this does not work for many people.]

    [A Medicine Dish. You have obtained additional stats.]

    [You have gained +113 STM and +110 WIS.]

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    Well. I want to make brownies now.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Welp. Time to bust out my secret molten brownie recipe.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 88 - The Very First Legendary Artifact Is?

    Chapter 88: The Very First Legendary Artifact Is?

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Minhyuk smiled in satisfaction. An increase of 113 in STM meant that his HP would increase by 1,130 while an increase of 110 in his WIS meant that his MP would increase by 1,100.

    He keenly felt it back when he was fighting the monsters in the mines. Using Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship was consuming a lot more MP than what he initially thought he would consume. He was lucky that he had the Minotaurus¡¯ ne, it prevented his MP from reaching zero so quickly.

    As he finished eating all the brownies¡­

    ¡°Poopy Daaaaaaaaad!¡±

    Hyemin quickly ran towards where Hyemin¡¯sDad was. Hyemin¡¯sDad hugged Hyemin tightly when she arrived in front of him. Then, he wiped the chocte that was smeared on her mouth gently with a tissue. After taking care of his daughter, he approached Minhyuk.

    ¡®My life¡¯s masterpiece has been born¡­¡­¡¯

    Never in his dreams did he ever think that an artifact like this could be his life¡¯s masterpiece. He slowly stood in front of Minhyuk and stretched his hand out to give it to him.

    The artifact was literally a frying pan. It looked like those ordinary frying pans that you could find in every household.

    ¡°Please check it.¡±

    With Hyemin¡¯sDad¡¯s reminders, Minhyuk excitedly checked on the details of the frying pan artifact.

    ***

    Team Leader Park and Lee Minhwa were staring at the monitor nkly.

    ¡°The country¡¯s first ever legendary artifact¡­¡­¡±

    Team Leader Park murmured to himself as Lee Minhwa finished his sentence.

    ¡°Is a frying pan.¡±

    Suddenly, the door of the Special Users Management Team opened with a bang! as the members of the development team rushed inside.

    ¡°Did the first ever legendary artifacte out? I heard that it has the Spirit of the Gryphon and the Sacred Branch?¡±

    It was even produced by the best cksmith, Hepas¡¯ Descendant!

    Team Leader Park and Lee Minhwa both nodded their heads in unison.

    For the operators and administrators, the appearance of the first legendary artifact was something unusual.

    When they looked at the monitor, they saw User Minhyuk checking out the frying pan. Then, Team Leader Lee Seokhoon suddenly said¡­

    ¡°Member Lee Minhwa, show me the artifact¡¯s information.¡±

    ¡°Yes. Right away.¡±

    Lee Minhwa quickly pulled up the information about the frying pan.

    (Hepas¡¯ Legendary Frying Pan)

    ss: Legend

    Restrictions: 300 STR, 300 AGI, 300 DEX

    Durability: ¡Þ / ¡Þ

    Attack Power: 411

    Defensive Power: 864

    Special Abilities:

    ©¥ +15% in all stats.

    ©¥ +100 in Magical Defense.

    ©¥ x2 increase in Magical Defense¡¯s effectiveness.

    ©¥ +50% increase Magical Reflection¡¯s probability

    ©¥ +50% increase in Spirit Affinity.

    ©¥ You can use 2nd ss magic of all of the 5 attributes without casting while cooking with the frying pan.

    ©¥ Skill: Gryphon¡¯s Cry

    ©¥ Skill: Frying Pan Gigantification*

    Description: A legendary artifact produced by Hepas¡¯ Descendant with all his attention and care. He especially ced his all on the cooking aspect of the artifact. You can cast 2nd level magic while cooking in this frying pan.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡­ That¡¯s crazy¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°......I want to steal it from User Minhyuk.¡±

    Everyone looked at the information with admiration in their eyes. The first effect was already crazy enough, what with a 15% increase in all of the stats and not just the 5 basic stats. In other words, even the special stats of the user would have a 15% increase. As an example, if he has 1,000 points in his DEX then a 15% increase would mean that his DEX would exert a power of 1,150.

    Then there was the 50% increase in Spirit Affinity. It was actually extremely difficult to increase favorability and build a friendly rtionship with the unsociable spirits. However, if you have 50% in your affinity, then it would mean that you would have a much easier time befriending the spirits. This just shows that the effect was something that would extremely benefit the user.

    There was also the +50% increase in Magical Reflection¡¯s probability.

    ¡°A good magical defense plus a 50% probability of Magical Reflection¡­...¡±

    It wasn¡¯t just a simple reflection of magical attacks. Magical Reflection basically meant that the reflected magic would be returned to the person who attacked you with the magic. In other words, it was the deflection of the magical attack back to the attacker.

    In addition, the artifact would also allow the user to easily cast 2nd ss magic of the 5 basic attributes. Generally, users would need to reach Lv100 before they could learn to cast 2nd ss magic. However, User Minhyuk would be able to use all of the 2nd ss magic of all the 5 attributes before he even reached Lv100.

    ¡°What¡¯s more, that user is not even a mage¡­¡­¡±

    Then, Team Leader Lee Seokhoon said¡­

    ¡°Can you show us the skill¡¯s information?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Lee Minhwa opened the information about the frying pan¡¯s attached skills.

    (Gryphon¡¯s Cry)

    Artifact Skill

    Level: None

    Mana Required: 500

    Cooldown: 15 minutes

    Effects:

    ©¥ Monsters within a 20-m radius can be dragged in an aggro. There is also the probability of holding the aggro of monsters with a higher level than you.

    ©¥ You have a 70~80% chance of holding an aggro.

    ©¥ Guild members and Party members within a 10-m radius will have a 13~18% increase in their 5 basic stats as a buff effect.

    Description: This was a skill added to Hepas¡¯ Legendary Frying Pan when the Spirit of the Gryphon was added as a material for the artifact.

    ¡°......So damn crazy.¡±

    Team Leader Lee Seokhoon was left speechless when he saw the artifact skill. The only reason was because he saw the aggro and buff effect together in one skill. In the first ce, the buff effect was a special ability that healers and chefs have. However, both the aggro and buff effect were present in one skill.

    The buff effect was even so ridiculous. They couldn¡¯t believe that a buff effect was at 13~18% increase. Having such a high increase in all of the 5 basic stats would mean that a group of Lv100 yers would have an additional 113~118 power. That power was something that no one could ignore especially when they were hunting monsters. It would even be considered a great boost to a guild or group whenever there were guild warfares, sieges and subjugations. And the most important aspect was¡­

    ¡°There¡¯s no limit¡­¡­¡±

    Aggro and buff effects usually have a limit. However, the Gryphon¡¯s Cry did not have any limit whether it be on the aggro effect or on the buff effect.

    ¡°And if you feed them buffed dishes¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°.......¡±

    Team Leader Park was at a loss for words.

    It was entirely possible for all of his allies to receive a 30% increase in their overall power.

    Then, they checked on the second attached skill. The Frying Pan Gigantification.

    (Frying Pan Gigantification)

    Artifact Skill

    Level: None

    Mana Required: Will depend on the size

    Cooldown: 15 minutes

    Effects: ©¥ The frying pan can be used to cook or to defend. You can freely adjust the size of the pan depending on your needs.

    Description: This was a skill added to Hepas¡¯ Legendary Frying Pan when the Spirit of the Gryphon was added as a material for the artifact.

    The Frying Pan Gigantification seemed like it was a skill that was extremely befitting of User Minhyuk.

    ¡°That user will definitely be happy.¡±

    Lee Seokhoon muttered under his breath. Meanwhile, Minhyuk looked extremely sullen as he pouted on the monitor.

    [What¡¯s this¡­ Why are there no effects where I can easily boil down a stir-fried pork or make crispy pancakes¡­ Heung!]

    ¡°Keok¡­¡­!¡±

    Lee Seokhoon gasped in shock.

    ¡°Is he saying that those effects were much more important than the effects of the artifact?¡±

    Then, Team Leader Park said¡­

    ¡°You¡¯ll be surprised yet again¡­¡±

    ***

    Hyemin¡¯sDad was a bit embarrassed when he heard Minhyuk¡¯s words.

    ¡°H, have you also checked the other effects?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve checked but why is there no function where I can boil down my food easily? Heung!¡±

    Minhyuk looked like he was about to cry.

    I was looking forward to it the most!

    Hyemin¡¯sDad thought deeply when he realized his despair.

    ¡®That option was much more important to himpared to the effects of the Legendary artifact¡­¡­¡¯

    He thought about taking it back and doing it again but he quickly scratched that thought out of his mind.

    ¡°There is¡­ It¡¯s just not written explicitly.¡±

    ¡°There is?¡±

    ¡°Yes. It says that you can use 2nd ss magic for cooking, right? Do you have any marinated meat or something like that?¡±

    ¡°Of course I have!¡±

    Minhyuk had already prepared marinated pork in advance. When Hyemin¡¯sDad started making the frying pan, he already prepared the ingredients so he could eat it the moment the frying pan was done.

    ¡°Put it on the frying pan.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Minhyuk ced the gochujang, onions, carrots, sesame seeds and the well-marinated pork on top of the frying pan. As soon as he finished cing the ingredients on the frying pan, notifications instantly popped out.

    [The Frying Pan has recognized the ingredients.]

    [The 2nd ss Fireball is rmended.]

    [Would you like to use it?]

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Fwoosh!

    A tiny sphere of mes was created on top of the frying pan. It was the fireball that wasmonly used by mage ss users. However, the size of the fireball was much smallerpared to the regr fireball.

    ¡°You can adjust the size of the frying pan when you¡¯re cooking.¡±

    ¡°Oho!¡±

    Then, the fireball covered the spicy stir-fried pork.

    Shwaaaa!

    The fire quickly cooked the spicy stir-fried pork at the right temperature. The sauce was boiling while the outside was cooked at a moderate heat to prevent it from getting burnt. In just a matter of time, the spicy stir-fried pork waspleted.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡­ Wow¡­¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk couldn¡¯t stop himself from eximing loudly. Then, he quickly took some stir-fried pork and ced it in his mouth. The spicy stir-fried pork was surprisingly cooked well.

    ¡°I want a bite too!¡±

    He also ced some stir-fried pork in Hyemin¡¯s mouth.

    The spicy and sweet stir-fried pork was extremely popr among men and women of all ages.

    He thought that it would be perfect if he had some rice with him right now. After they almost ate the stir-fried pork, he added a bowl of rice on the frying pan.

    [The Frying Pan has recognized the ingredients.]

    [The 1st ss Fire is rmended.]

    [Would you like to use it?]

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Shwaaa!

    Fire was a magic that would create a small fire. The small fire covered the rice on top of the frying pan and started to fry it. Then, Minhyuk spread the fried rice all over the frying pan. The fire covered the fried rice once again to cook the rice properly.

    ¡°Wow, it really has great functions. Chew, chew.¡±

    Minhyuk munched on the fried rice as he raised his thumb in a gesture of approval.

    That wasn¡¯t the end of it. After he finished eating, he heard another notification.

    [The 1st ss magic Aqua can be used to clean the Frying Pan.]

    ¡°Clean.¡±

    A sphere of water was immediately formed on top of the frying pan. Then, the sphere started to spin in the frying pan at a tremendous speed.

    Fwaaaaa!

    The sphere of water evaporated into the air after it finished cleaning the frying pan. When he looked at the frying pan, it was already shining brightly as if it had never been used.

    ¡°I¡¯m really very, very, very satisfied with it. Thank you very much!¡±

    ¡°Yes. Well.¡±

    Hyemin¡¯sDad shrugged his shoulders at him. After all, he was already satisfied with the cooking options and did not care at all about the special options. However, wasn¡¯t it good as long as he was satisfied?

    ¡°I don¡¯t think Hyemin will be able to log in for a while. She has to go to kindergarten and eat delicious food in reality. I probably wouldn¡¯t be able to ess the game in the meantime too.¡±

    Minhyuk smiled at them when he heard his words and at the same time he felt a bit jealous of Hyemin since she could eat delicious food in real life. However, Minhyuk has high expectations. He firmly believed that the day when he would eat delicious food in real life would alsoe. It wouldn¡¯te quickly but he¡¯s already gradually losing some of his weight.

    ¡°It¡¯s almost time for me to log-out too. I still need to exercise.¡±

    ¡°I see. Ah, wait. Minhyuk-nim, can I add you as a friend?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    Minhyuk could see that Hyemin¡¯sDad was a good man. He even made him a good frying pan. He also wanted to see Hyemin more if he had the chance. After theypleted the friend request, Minhyuk ced the frying pan on his back. Hyemin¡¯sDad couldn¡¯t help but murmur at the sight.

    ¡°He looks like he¡¯s going to a battlefield¡­¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the game. It reminds me of the chicken game.¡±

    ¡°Aha. I see. I can¡¯t believe you thought of chickens. It must be a great game.¡±

    Minhyuk smiled widely, his eyes were sparkling with interest. Not long after, Minhyuk said goodbye and ended the connection first.

    Before Hyemin¡¯sDad logged out, a whisper came to him.

    [Genie: Hyemin¡¯sDad-nim. Did it go well? The gift?]

    The Legend Guild. Rumor has it that it was the best guild in the country and Genie, the woman who messaged him, was its guild master. Everyone was specting on the identity of the Legend Guild¡¯s guild master. They have thought that the guild master was a middle-aged man. However, the guild master was a young woman who had just turned twenty.

    But, she should not be underestimated because of her age. She was a genius gamer who thoroughly analyzed Athenae before attacking and ying it.

    [Hyemin¡¯sDad: Yes. I gave him a good gift and he was extremely satisfied. Hehe. Thank you for your understanding. GM-nim.]

    Originally, the Spirit of Gryphon was something that was supposed to be used for Genie¡¯s item. But it was just a verbal promise. When she heard about Hyemin¡¯s story, Genie dly gave it away. She was a strong and grateful person.

    [Genie: No. He met and yed well with Hyemin, right?]

    When he saw the whisper, Hyemin¡¯sDad suddenly thought of something.

    [Hyemin¡¯sDad: Come to think of it, he¡¯s about the same age as Genie-nim.]

    [Genie: Oh, really?]

    [Hyemin¡¯sDad: Yes. Actually I always thought that he was like someone, it turns out that he¡¯s quite simr to GM-nim.]

    When Hyemin¡¯sDad thought about it, he could tell that the aura and presenceing out from the both of them were quite simr. Now that he clearly thought about it, he was finally certain.

    ¡®Before, I felt that Genie-nim was the best but when I met Minhyuk-nim I felt the same way. I could feel the same auraing out from them.¡¯

    How should I say this? A warm-hearted feeling?

    Hyemin¡¯sDad was quite curious. It was a bit strange for him to feel that way towards someone that was considered to be the top ranker in the country. Rankers were typically known for their cold and frigid attitude. There were even a lot of them who had eyes above their heads and could only see themselves as the best.

    [Genie: I¡¯d like to meet him too. I¡¯m curious.]

    Hyemin¡¯sDad chuckled softly when he saw that. Then, he saw another whisper from Genie.

    [Genie: Ah, wait. You know about the group that attacked the Brethni Mines, right? Horden Guild and Card?]

    [Hyemin¡¯sDad: Yes. It¡¯s quite hot on the inte right now. What vicious people¡­¡­ Why did they do that? Sigh¡­¡­]

    The next whisper that Genie sent to him was somethingpletely surprising.

    [Genie: You see, Horden Guild¡¯s GM went to the same middle school with me.]

    ***

    Footnotes

    * Regarding the skill Frying Pan Gigantification ¡­ I have thought long and hard about how to name this¡­. I even begged for help from our beloved trantors in woopread (aka Thursdays, Skye and Seven with a little Yahiko on the side) and this was the list of what they suggested: Expand/Expansion, Replicate, Erge/Ergement, Colossify/Colossification, Gigantification, Biggerinator (lmao), and Titanator. Now I believe I¡¯m not eloquent enough to choose among these so if you think there¡¯s a better way to name the skill please do head on over our novel channel in the discord server and do suggest me some names. (You can also guess who gave on the name suggestions)

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    Why do I feel like Minhyuk and Genie knew each other¡­ Wew.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    This could get really interesting. Looking forward to this! Also, in other obvious news, Minhyuk has now gotten even more broken with his Frying Pan. Even the devs are jealous!

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 89 - The Very First Legendary Artifact Is?

    Chapter 89: The Very First Legendary Artifact Is?

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Hyemin¡¯sDad was stunned when he saw her whisper.

    ¡®They were schoolmates? Friends?¡¯

    He tried to ask her about it carefully.

    [Hyemin¡¯sDad: Ah¡­¡­ Is that so? Were you friends with him?]

    [Genie: Nope. You know that two of our guild members are my ssmates before, right?]

    Legend Guild was a guild where only the elites were gathered. Their members were only twenty. And the three of them knew each other personally. He heard before that Genie and the other two went to the same middle school and high school. They have been working together ever since Versal, a game that they yed before Athenae opened. In fact, the three of them were considered to be the main pirs of the Legend Guild.

    [Hyemin¡¯sDad: Ah, yes.]

    [Genie: The two of them hate that person too¡­¡­]

    [Hyemin¡¯sDad: Aha. Was the user named Brony not a good person back then?]

    [Genie: Yes. Well¡­¡­ ^^]

    ¡°Poopy Dad~ Hyeminie¡¯s hungry.¡±

    Hyemin¡¯sDad patted Hyemin on the head and finished sending his whisper.

    [Hyemin¡¯sDad: Hyemin said that she¡¯s hungry so I¡¯ll log out for now. GM-nim! I¡¯ll see you next time!]

    [Genie: Ah, yes!]

    ***

    A woman was sitting on the side resting as dozens of bone dragonsy scattered on the ground. Her great beauty was emphasized by her long and wavy hair that was tied tightly behind her back. Her beauty was evenparable to that of Alicia and Lucia. In addition, her figure was extremely alluring and morous that no man would probably be able to take their eyes off of her.

    ¡°It seems like everything went well. That¡¯s a relief.¡±

    Genie smiled softly. She let out a small breath of relief when she saw that Hyemin¡¯sDad had logged out.

    She was currently located in Azaka, or mostmonly known as the Land of the Dead. Users wouldn¡¯t usually enter Azaka since it was a ce that was teeming with strong monsters that were at Lv400. Because of that reason, Genie and the rest of the Legend Guild used this ce as their hunting grounds. This was the only way that they could avoid causing any friction with the other guilds.

    ¡®Right now, we¡¯re still in hiding¡­¡­¡¯

    But we will soon reveal our face to the world.

    It would be hard to hide their faces and identity forever. It was just recently that Ares Guild tried to step on their tails. They were even slowly gaining momentum and started to start a siege against them.

    Perhaps they want to kill us and gain fame from it.

    Then, she fixed her gaze on the huge iron gate in front of her. Monsters that were much more powerful than the bone dragonsy waiting on the other side. She tried to challenge it again and again but she almost got forced to log out with how powerful the monsters were. As a user, she felt both pity and frustration when there was a ce right in front of her that she couldn¡¯t clear.

    At that moment¡­

    Fwooooooosh©¥

    Her hair fluttered wildly as the wind blew strongly.

    ¡°You¡¯re here?¡±

    She spoke without even turning to look back.

    The handsome man who appeared on her right nodded his head. He was Khan, and he has a legendary ss called King of Fists. In fact, he was considered to be as powerful as the number 1 in the rankings just with his fists alone.

    The other man who appeared on her left was someone who was considered to be not handsome. One could even go as far as calling him ugly with his shaggy beard and an appearance that closely resembles a mountain man. This man was the Crazy Priest, Locke. He was a priest, a ss rted to the healer ss. However, his ss was something that was far away from the description of a healer. He was also a holder of a legendary ss.

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t think of anyone other than him.¡±

    Khan and Locke shook their heads.

    ¡°You could say that the buffs should be from an excellent chef.¡±

    Buffs created by an excellent chef.

    The Legend Guild would also raid boss mobs from time to time. Butpared to other guilds, they would only do it in small numbers. They also had a healer in their guild but their skills were far from what a buff could give.

    ¡°Ah. You¡¯re a healer so why did you molbbang[1] your points in STR?¡±

    ¡°Ah. I already told you that I¡¯m not cut out for giving out buffs and heals, won¡¯t you cut it out?¡±

    ¡°You always tell me to ¡®cut it out¡¯ but what kind of healer is a Crazy Priest, huh?¡±

    Crazy Priest. It was a ss that was much more capable in attacking than giving out buffs and heals. Could you even believe that the monsters were being tormented when they got casted with a heal?

    ¡°In all honesty, it will be hard for a regr healer to get to where we are now.¡±

    Genie smiled bitterly. Regr healers would not be able to get to where they were right now.

    Usually, healers would have a much lower levelpared to other users. And in this ce where there was a powerful breath constantly pressing down on the users and even strong and tricky magic lying around, the healers would have a hard time just trying to survive.

    In addition, because of the nature of Legend Guild wherein they mostly focus on individual y it was necessary for them to have an excellent chef. An excellent chef would definitely be able to make dishes with quite a long storage time and good buffs.

    ¡°It would be nice to have the Twilight Chef with us.¡±

    ¡°Ah, that¡¯s right!¡±

    Locke looked like he remembered something.

    ¡°How about the user who recently became famous for his buffed tonkatsu?¡±

    Khan supported his forehead in distress while Genie continued to smile bitterly.

    ¡°That famous user is a fake, Locke.¡±

    Khan clicked his tongue at him.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you see it when our guild members said that it was fake? Which user at Lv15~20 would be able to make a buffed dish that could increase your attack and defense by 4%? It would be good if you used your brains to live.¡±

    ¡°Hey!!!¡±

    Locke refuted Khan with a scream as Khan shuddered with his answer.

    ¡°I¡¯m also thinking!¡±

    ¡°Wow¡­¡­ You¡¯re thinking¡­¡­ You¡¯re really amazing¡­¡­ p¡­¡­ p¡­¡­¡±

    Khan even apanied his words with an apuse. Genie sighed as she stood up.

    ¡°Let¡¯s get going.¡±

    They were going to challenge it once again. That iron gate. It was just that they would easily clear it if they have an excellent chef who could cook good buffed dishes. However, they didn¡¯t have one right now so they could only try and challenge it with their own abilities.

    As she was walking, she suddenly paused and muttered to herself.

    ¡°Will that guy attend the reunion this time?¡±

    Khan and Locke did not say anything. They only smiled bitterly at her sentiments.

    ¡°That damn bastard. How could he do that to us? He suddenly transferred to another school back in middle school and now we couldn¡¯t contact him. He should have at least told us if he was dead or alive!¡±

    Locke yelled out his frustrations as Khan nodded his head in agreement.

    ¡°I¡¯ll p his cheek like a janggu when I meet him!¡±

    His words might have been a bit nasty but they all looked like they were reminiscing precious memories.

    ¡°I¡¯ll try to contact him again after we finish this raid.¡±

    Genie said this as she pulled out her spear.

    Creaaaaaaaaaak©¥

    Bang!

    The iron door opened with a bang and they all entered inside.

    ***

    Minhyuk was sitting on a chair eating his cherry tomatoes after he finished his exercise. He quickly finished his exercise since he went right on it after logging out of the game. Meanwhile, Changwook, who was sitting beside him, was admiring Hepas¡¯ Legendary Frying Pan on his phone.

    ¡°Hiyaa¡­ I want to hit you on the back of your head and take it away from you. Won¡¯t this be able to bounce back almost all of the magic away? Even its defense is over 800. My armor is only at 700.¡±

    There was only one reason why Changwook was in awe of the defensive power of Minhyuk¡¯s artifact. Usually, artifacts with high stats like this would be restricted and could only be used and worn by high-leveled users. Of course, these types of artifacts would have a much higher defense than the artifacts that novice yers would wear.

    However, Minhyuk who was at Lv80 had an artifact that had the same defense as that of the artifacts that Lv400 rankers wield. No. It even had more options and effectspared to what they have.

    But when he saw the restrictions in the artifact he thought¡­

    ¡®D, dexterity stat at 500¡­¡­? That¡¯s a high restriction.¡¯

    Then, Changwook suddenly thought of something.

    ¡°You¡¯ll be Lv100 soon, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Chomp, chomp.

    Minhyuk nodded his head as he continued to eat his tasteless cherry tomatoes while Changwook rubbed his chin in contemtion.

    ¡°Once you reach Lv100, quests rted to your job ss would pop out. Of course, regr sses would get their quests from their respective job ss¡¯ tower.¡±

    ¡°I know this too!¡±

    Minhyuk was studying Athenae continuously. The reason why he studied about Athenae was because he could eat delicious food well if he knew about things. However, he still wondered about how he would receive his quests.

    ¡®I think I have to reach Lv150 before I start the legacy?¡¯

    This was also the reason why Minhyuk thought that he should level up for a bit once he logged back in the game. Of course, before he could do quests for leveling up, he had to check if delicious food was included in the rewards.

    ¡°There¡¯s also the episode quest once you reach Lv100.¡±

    ¡°I know about this too. Hyung.¡±

    ¡°Really? How about this? Arge quest like the episode quest will not be given to you if you don¡¯t have any reputation points.¡±

    ¡°I know that too. And I think I¡¯ll be able to receive it.¡±

    Changwook chuckled and smiled meaningfully when he heard his words. In fact,rge quests like episode quests and Imperial quests were really possible for Lv100 users however most of the time it was all talk. The only reason was because Lv100 users couldn¡¯t participate with the reputation that they have. Reputation and reputation points could be gained whenever users get close and build a friendly rtionship with NPCs, otherwise they could gain reputation by doing something special through quests or other various things. But it was never an easy task.

    ¡°You must have 100 reputation points before you can participate. But Lv100 users generally have at most 50 reputation points, do you still think that you can participate¡­¡­?¡±

    As he said that, Changwook went ahead and checked Minhyuk¡¯s reputation points on his mobile phone.

    ¡°......¡±

    He almost bit his tongue in shock.

    ¡®What kind of reputation is this?! It¡¯s even higher than mine!¡¯

    Compared to Changwook¡¯s 250 reputation points, Minhyuk¡¯s reputation point was at an astounding 452 points.

    Changwook quickly and quietly shut his mouth before he could hear Minhyuk tell him ¡®Wow, hyung. You¡¯re really bad at games.¡¯ like thest time.

    When Changwook turned silent, Minhyuk tilted his head at him as if he was asking if he was alright. Changwook slowly stood up from his seat.

    ¡°Ah, that¡¯s right. I have to go and meet some of my friends outside!¡±

    ¡°Wow. Your dongsaeng is eating cherry tomatoes here all alone, without any friends at all!¡±

    ¡°......Should I stay?¡±

    ¡°Nah, I¡¯m just kidding.¡±

    Minhyuk grinned at him as he stepped out with a dumbfounded expression. When Changwook left, his diet manager Im Hyejin sat beside him.

    ¡®I¡¯m jealous.¡¯

    This was what Minhyuk thought when Changwook left to meet with his friends.

    For him, bulimia was something that he suddenly contracted when he was in middle school. One day, he just ate everything that they had in the refrigerator. He hasn''t gone to his school ever since then.

    He quietly and quickly went to the United States and transferred schools. He tried to find a cure in the States but only got the term ¡®Bulimia nervosa¡¯ and another 40kg to his name. He only stayed there for 2 months. At that time, Minhyuk suffered from severe manic depression and even had an impulse tomit suicide.

    Whenever he contacted his friends, he always felt that he was missing his past colorful and splendid life so he decided to change his phone number and quietly hid himself from his friends and the society. He did not want his friends to see him like this. He was also scared that they might point their fingers at him or worse hate him for what he had be.

    Minhyuk had always smiled at other people and even if they called him a pig he would just say...

    ¡®I¡¯m a pig. Kwiiiiiiiik!¡¯

    However, even if he was the one who said it he never liked being called like that. He felt that if he did not act that way or if he did not smile then he would look like he was desperate.

    ¡®Friends¡­¡­¡¯

    He thought about this word deeply.

    He also had them too. The guys that he went to the PC room whenever school ended were his friends. Back then, he was really bad at those games so his friends would say¡­

    ¡®As expected. The world is fair to us all.¡¯

    ¡®Wow, Minhyuk-ah¡­ You¡¯re really bad at this game¡­¡±

    ¡®Get off[2]!¡¯

    Minhyuk tried everything that was trendy and had fun with his friends.

    The memory suddenly just shed in his mind.

    Facebook.

    When he was in middle school, he had an ount on Facebook. He reinstalled the app that he had deleted before and logged back in.

    Once he logged back in, he saw a +999 on the bell-shaped icon that meant notification. It was news and updates. Updates about his friends, acquaintances or even his friend¡¯s acquaintances. Minhyuk did not look through the pile of news and updates about his friends. He looked at his message window. There was also a +999 on his messages.

    Minhyuk smiled as he checked through his messages. There was only one reason why he smiled. Because a few days ago, a friend of his sent a message to him.

    ¡®Im Jihye.¡¯

    Whenever they yed RPGs or shooting games, she always set her nickname as ¡®Genie¡¯. She was a girl who always insisted that she was as good as the magical fairy genie. She was someone who yed games very well. At that time, she was 160cm tall and weighed 100kg. Just like the Minhyuk of today.

    ¡®I¡¯ll kill you if you eat my ramyeon!¡¯

    It was really scary when she shook her fist at them like that back in the days.

    Just as Minhyuk clicked her message¡­

    Chiiiiing©¥

    His mobile phone rang loudly.

    ***

    [King of Fists] ??; I searched through and I think it means someone with extremely strong physical abilities. The most stated example of a person with this attribute was Raoh from The Fist of the Northstar. Raoh was called as the King of Fists and he is well trained in assasination techniques. In this case, I think the ss is an assassin ss with extremely strong physical abilities.

    [1] ?? (molbbang): All-in, you ced everything you have in one ce. It has a whole lot of meaning but it mainly means shoot/detonate all the explosives in one ce.

    [2] ???? A ng that was initially from ? which meant something along the lines of Happy Gaming but was used negatively. It¡¯s now mainly used to show dissatisfaction. It¡¯s like a sarcastic way of saying have fun. Can mean get off or go away.

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    I called it. Kek. I knew it. I knew it.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 90 - Odd Companion

    Chapter 90: Odd Companion

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    29 Odd Companion

    It was an unknown number. In all honesty, his phone did not usually ring for calls. Minhyuk tilted his head in curiosity as he answered his phone.

    [I love you. Dumb customer-nim, you can now rece your mobile phone for free¡­..]

    Click©¥

    Minhyuk hung the phone up as his mouth twitched in shock. Then, he opened the messages left by Jihye on his message window.

    ¡®H, her mouth is this rough and unbridled¡­¡­?¡¯

    As soon as he clicked on the message, he was greeted with a string of curses.

    [Im Jihye: #%"&!?#%$! You pig, %#@%@%% you shitty pig @$@#$ you wild boar, #$#% you honey pig!]

    Even with all that curses and words of abuse, the word pig still came for Minhyuk one after the other. At that time, he had arge appetite and Jihye was also chubby so it was a name that they naturally used to call each other. The two of them were well-known as the two great pigs of the mountains. Of course, Minhyuk was only called like that as a joke since he was always exercising hard.

    As he read through the messages among the curses: I¡¯m sad. How can you do that, you bastard, I miss you and so on. Minhyukughed at her messages. He continuously checked the messages.

    [Im Jihye: Jisoo was quite old-fashioned when we were young right? That¡¯s why we always tell him ¡®Is Jisoo¡¯s father here?¡¯. Do you remember? But now¡­¡­]

    Jihye sent him a message filled with suspense.

    They say that ugly kids will grow up handsome!

    Minhyuk clicked the next message with great anticipation.

    [Im Jihye: He now looks like the head of the bandits! Hehehehe. He had a rough beard ever since he was a kid and now he likes bananas just like a monkey. When I threw a banana at him he pped and said that he liked it. Hehehe.]

    It had been such a long time since Minhyukughed like this. Recalling his memories with his friends had been such a joy for him.

    [Im Jihye: And Seoktae has grown to be a handsome man. Yeye. But I don¡¯t have any feelings for him. He still has that shocking taste of his as always.]

    Seoktae was his handsome friend.

    I guess he¡¯s still working hard to maintain his appearance.

    At that moment¡­

    [Im Jihye: And I have be a beautiful woman who¡¯s 163cm tall and weighs 49kg. Once you see me, you¡¯ll probably get excited and say ¡®Hekhek, please give me your number!¡¯. Just so you know, I won¡¯t give you my number, you pig.]

    ¡°Oh. For real?¡±

    He couldn¡¯t tell if what she was saying was real or not. Then, as he read through her messages he saw¡­

    [Im Jihye: All three of us are now ying Athenae. If you¡¯re ying Athenae, you must send me a whisper right away. You know my nickname right? My nickname code is 41462.]

    ¡°Oh¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s lips curled in a smile.

    These guys are ying Athenae? They have always yed well.

    The thought of them being quite influential in the game crossed his mind.

    Minhyuk shook his head when the thought of ¡®Should I contact them?¡¯ passed by. He still had the goal of losing weight.

    ¡®Once I get back to my original weight¡­¡­¡¯

    Once he reached his goal, he would go and meet with his friends proudly. He felt sorry and at the same time thankful that they were waiting for him like this.

    When he weighed himself yesterday, he could see that his weight has reduced to 165kg. He was already changing.

    As he went in front of the mirror, he looked at himself and talked to Im Hyejin, his diet manager.

    ¡°Oh. Noona. Don¡¯t you think that I¡¯m not fat and chubby anymore?¡±

    ¡°......Y, yeah. I, I guess so. Hohoho!¡±

    ¡°Hahahahahaha!¡±

    In fact, whether it was 165 or 170 it still looked the same to Hyejin.

    Minhyuk smiled cheerfully as he thought of what he was going to do next in Athenae.

    ¡®The Shrieking Hills.¡¯

    There were some monster quests avable there. When Minhyuk checked it out, he saw that powerful users around his level would go and y there. Only powerful users would go and y there because the monsters that reside in that area were quite strong for their level. He also knew that the ce would give a lot of experience.

    And the reason why the Shrieking Hills was most attractive to Minhyuk was because the Screaming Hills quest was a quest that could be received from the army of the Kingdom of Barras and the rewards included duck meat. Duck meat was considered to be one of the specialties of the Kingdom of Barras. He also knew that the rewards included plenty of gold and EXP.

    Minhyuk quickly entered his capsule and logged back in to Athenae so he could meet with his friends sooner.

    ***

    Rovan saw a few users staying around in the Kingdom¡¯s Army. They all seemed like they were forming a party to go to the Shrieking Hills.

    The monsters in the Shrieking Hills were usually around Lv100~130. However, if the monster¡¯s level is at 100 then it was strong enough to be at Lv110. The same would go for a monster at Lv120, it would be strong enough to face Lv130 users. This ten-level gap in power was something that was much more troublesome than what users normally thought.

    In Rovan¡¯s case, he had received a ¡®Hidden Quest¡¯ in the Shrieking Hills. He needed to enter a path that no one knew in the Shrieking Hills to proceed with the hidden quest.

    ¡®That¡¯s where the Great Mage¡¯s Power of Sin was lying in wait.¡¯

    So far, he still had no clue about what the Power of Sin was but Rovan was quite confident in himself. This was because he was ranked as the number 1 yer in Versal. Everyone knew who Versal¡¯s Rovan was. He was famously known as the crazy hunter. Unfortunately, he yed Athenae at a muchter datepared to others because he went to the army.

    But he was definitely someone that stood above the rest. His speed in leveling up was overwhelmingly fast and he even received the legendary ss ¡®Berserker¡¯. The Berserker was a ss that could be obtained in Isbin Vige by chance.

    Rovan shook his head when he heard the words of Kemil, the representative of the Kingdom¡¯s Army of the Kingdom of Barras.

    ¡°I won¡¯t allow you unless you have one, no, two or three people in your party.¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡±

    Information was power. Since he was gathering information, he could tell at a nce that the army was weeding out people who were alone. As he looked through the users that were still alone, he tried to find people that would fit his criteria. He needed to find someone who would not interfere with his hunt. He was someone who did not want to get disturbed when he was hunting. Or to put it simply, he needed a simple and naive user. The reason why he needed to find a simple user¡­

    ¡®In the first ce, he doesn¡¯t need toe forward. This way I can eat more EXP.¡¯

    This was one of the weaknesses of the buff characters like healers. They needed to rely on parties whenever they were hunting. And whenever you hunt in a party, the EXP distribution would not necessarily be 5:5. Usually, healers would only take around 3~4 in EXP distribution. This was because their direct contribution in the hunting would always be low.

    Right now, he was wishing that he could find a useless figure, someone who was much more useless than a healer. In any way, Rovan would be the one who would do most of the hunting so this was like him taking such a user in a bus. So their case would be like hitting two birds with one stone. Of course, if this was his ideal scenario then Rovan would be taking up more of the EXP and he would also be unbothered by other strangers. There was no way that a user like that would be able to take aggro from him, besides he was quite confident with his skills.

    Rovan looked around with that idea in mind.

    ¡®......Huh?¡¯

    Rovan tilted his head in confusion when he saw a user squatting down in a corner. Looking closely, he could see that the user was making kimchi pancakes.

    ¡®Is he a chef?¡¯

    Just as he thought about that, he heard the manugh weirdly.

    ¡°The ends of the pancakes taste so delicious¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡®Hooo. It tastes the best, right?¡¯

    Rovan also knew about it. The best part of a pancake was its crunchy and crispy sides!

    Rovan who just imagined the taste smacked his lips unconsciously. Meanwhile, a small fireball appeared on top of the man¡¯s frying pan.

    ¡®T, that¡­?¡¯

    He saw it clearly. As far as Rovan knew, that was a fire magic that mages would use. However, right now a chef was using it for his cooking.

    ¡®What the hell, how is that possible?¡¯

    Then, the fireball wrapped around the pancakes.

    ¡°Ooooooooooh. It¡¯s cooking well. It¡¯s cooking well. Good. Good!¡±

    The man flipped the pancakes with great timing.

    Sizzle!

    ¡°Kyaha!¡±

    ¡°Keuha. You flipped it well¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    Rovan subconsciously let out a gasp of admiration and praised him well. As soon as the man saw him, he quickly hid the kimchi pancakes behind his back. He looked like a pirate hiding his loots from his adversaries.

    ¡®I¡¯m not going to take it from you, though?!¡¯

    That was what Rovan wanted to say. Not long after, the man quickly finished cooking and picked a pancake up.

    ¡°Oooooh. It¡¯s golden brown!¡±

    ¡®Wow. It¡¯s really fried to perfection, it¡¯s golden brown!¡¯

    Rovan was in awe. The sides of the kimchi pancake were crispy and toasted to a golden brown. Rovan watched the man quickly tore a piece out of the kimchi pancake and ced it in his mouth.

    Crunch, crunch!

    ¡°Waaaaaaang, so delicious!¡±

    He could hear the crunchy sound as the man chewed on the kimchi pancake. Rovan gulped down his saliva that threatened to overflow.

    ¡®Wow. That pancake¡­¡­ It would definitely be crunchy in every bite, right? How about I make something crispy with flourter?¡¯

    He could already imagine himself going home and making some pancakes for himself.

    Just when the man finished eating a pancake, the representative from the Kingdom¡¯s army suddenly spoke to him.

    ¡°That¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll take you in as my partner so please give me one piece of pancake! Boy, you haven¡¯t been able to find anypanion for an hour now!¡±

    When he heard those words, Rovan suddenly understood.

    ¡®Ah. That user is a chef so no one wanted to take him to their party!¡¯

    It was the truth. No one wanted such a useless member as that man.

    Then the man said¡­

    ¡°But Kemil-nim needs to protect and guard this ce.¡±

    ¡°Ah. You¡¯re right.¡±

    Suddenly, Kemil pped his fists on his open palm in a gesture of ¡®Aha!¡¯! Rovan looked at him as if he was looking at an idiot.

    ¡®Is he a moron?¡¯

    But after hearing what Kemil had to say, Rovan started to get convinced to some extent.

    ¡°Boy, I wanted to give something to you in exchange for some pancakes but that¡¯s too bad. Hmm, hmm.¡±

    In all honesty, Rovan also wanted to taste the pancakes that the man made.

    ¡°Then, shall I give you a piece of pancake?¡±

    ¡°Ooooooooh. Are you really giving me a piece?¡±

    ¡°Yes. You know, I love duck meat. Whisper, whisper¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Ah. I¡¯ll definitely pack some more for you.¡±

    ¡°Oooooooooh. Thank you!¡±

    ¡®What¡¯s this? I don¡¯t know if that user is dumb or clever?¡¯

    Rovan couldn¡¯t quite understand the man as he looked at him. The man gave out some pancakes but in return he got more rewards. However, users would generally ask for more gold or a way to increase their attack power whenever they ask for higher quest rewards.

    But that user wanted to have more duck meat?

    The man made another piece of pancake and handed it over to Kemil. Kemil quickly tore the pancake and ced a piece in his mouth. Then, he quickly looked at Minhyuk and the pancake in his hands with admiration on his face.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡­ Waaaaaa¡­¡­¡±

    He was left speechless in admiration as he looked alternatively at the pancake and Minhyuk.

    ¡°Delicious. It¡¯s really delicious¡­¡­ Wow¡­¡­¡±

    Rovan wanted to hear what it tasted like but Kemil was left speechless. He got irritated at him for no reason at all.

    ¡®Damn. Talk! Why won¡¯t you talk?!¡¯

    Then, as if waking up from some sort of dream, he paused.

    ¡®Why am I getting so worked up like this over a piece of pancake¡­¡­?¡¯

    Then Kemil said¡­

    ¡°It¡¯s really really delicious¡­¡­¡±

    He looked like he would cry with how delicious tha pancake was.

    ¡°I¡¯ll also give you a bit more gold for the rewards.¡±

    ¡°Oooh! Thank you!¡±

    ¡®Keok¡­¡­!¡¯

    Rovan was quite shocked when he heard their conversation.

    ¡®Im, impossible¡­...!¡¯

    Did he n all of this? Did he expect to have an increase in the gold rewards if he asked for an increase in the duck meat rewards?! S, so meticulous! Smart!

    This only meant that the user was very confident with his cooking.

    After finishing his pancakes, the man washed his frying pan with magic and ced it behind his back. Strangely enough, his figure was quite familiar.

    ¡®If he hits a monster with that frying pan I think it would ring loudly with a ng! or something like that.¡¯

    It would be more perfect if he was riding a motorcycle with a helmet on his head.

    Rovan finally decided¡­ He would take that user with him.

    That user was a chef but he could use some special magic so he thought that maybe he was someone who had a hidden ss.

    Something like The Frying Pan Mage?

    But he was sure of one thing. If he took that user with him, he would definitely be able to eat delicious food while he takes that user on a bus with him. He could also tell that user to just sit still and he could just take most of the EXP away.

    Then, his guild chat window suddenly popped up.

    [Guild Master Genie: Rovan-nim, are you leveling well? I can¡¯t wait ^^]

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    Heh. Look at what food can do. Although I¡¯m not a big fan of vegetable pancakes I still firmly believe that it¡¯s quite delicious.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Heh, more of Minhyuk¡¯s calcted (?) charm.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 91 - Odd Companion

    Chapter 91: Odd Companion

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    When Genie yed Versal in the past, the four of them along with two of his friends went along and raided monsters together. She and her friends were extremely skilled and talented yers. She was able to contact him when she yed Athenae because they exchanged phone numbers in real life. She told him that she was the guild master of the Legend Guild and that she would dly ept Rovan.

    Right now, Rovan was in the midst of his leveling frenzy to fulfill her high expectations of him.

    [Rovan: I¡¯m going hunting right now. Please wait a bit more. I will reach Lv300 in a month. Ah, how about the monsters behind the iron gate? Did you seed?]

    [Guild Master Genie: We failed ????. We only have a few remaining blessed return stones left¡­¡­]

    The blessed return stone was an item that would allow a user to ignore the penalty of a forced log out. It would also allow the user to safely return to the nearest vige. It was an extremely valuable item.

    [Guild Master Genie: I won¡¯t disturb you leveling frenzy anymore. If you don¡¯t reach Lv300 in a month then you will be kicked out of the guild ^^!]

    ¡®S, so brutal!¡¯

    The meaning behind that smiling emoticon was telling him to do it or he would regret it. And Rovan knew that he had to meet her expectations. Although Rovan was someone that was ranked as the number 1 in Versal, he knew that it was only through luck that he was able to join the best guild despite being a novice in the game and only having a low level.

    [Rovan: I will turn off the guild chatting for some time. It¡¯s time to start my leveling frenzy,]

    [Guild Master Genie: Yes!]

    Rovan had a habit of ignoring messages from the guild chat or refusing whispers whenever he was hunting. After he turned off all of his whispers and chatting interface, he approached the user from earlier. The user was still chatting and talking happily with Kemil.

    ¡°There¡¯s really plenty of our specialty, the duck meat, in here. However, it was plenty to the point of eating duck bulgogi for breakfast, smoked duck for lunch, and even steamed duck for dinner. My goodness, even our farts sound like the ¡®ducks quack quack¡¯, you know?¡±

    ¡°So jealous¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Kemil turned his head in confusion to look at the young man. He could clearly see the look of envy on the man¡¯s face.

    ¡°Anyway, that¡¯s the reason why your kimchi pancake was all the more delicious for me. Hahaha!¡±

    ¡°Then, can¡¯t you give me some duck meat right now?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not possible. Hahaha. You have to finish your mission sessfully first!¡±

    ¡°Hahahahahaha. Then if I fail, does that mean that I won¡¯t receive any? Hahahaha!¡±

    As the two menughed loudly, Rovan approached them and tried to talk to the man.

    ¡°Excuse me.¡±

    ***

    As Minhyuk was talking to Kemil, he felt a bit sorry for himself.

    Ah, I almost got some duck meat!

    Then, a man approached them and talked to him. He was the user from earlier who looked like he was going to steal some of his kimchi pancakes. Of course, with his prior experience, he was nowpletely on guard against this man.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°By any chance, are you looking for a party member?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Would you like to form a party with me?¡±

    Minhyuk looked at the man carefully. He looked like he was a bit older than himself. He was about 180cm tall and was wearing artifacts that were quite decent. The man looked like he was someone that was skilled and powerful. But what caught Minhyuk¡¯s attention the most was¡­

    ¡®He looks like he would ask for a bite of food from me!¡¯

    He did not know why his impression of this man was like that, but it made him extremely wary. However, if he continued to be like this, then he would never be able to find any party members at all.

    Even now, the reaction of the other users surrounding him had been the same.

    ¡°Hey, hey. Look at that user with the frying pan on his back. He looks funny!¡±

    ¡°Is he doing a cosy?¡±

    ¡°Does he want to hit a monster in the head with that frying pan? Is he a chef?¡±

    ¡°I have never seen a chef carry a frying pan on his back. It looks like the party would immediately disband if you take him with you.¡±

    Just like that, the people in the surroundings had kept their distance from him.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with me?¡±

    The man asked him after he heard the surrounding whispers.

    ¡°Do you really not know why¡­...?¡±

    ¡°Yes. What¡¯s so strange about wearing a frying pan on my back?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not normal.¡±

    When the Minhyuk saw that the man did not understand what he meant, he wanted to make him aware and understand his stance.

    ¡°Just think about it.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    The man in front of him slowly nodded his head.

    ¡°You can use a frying pan to cook, right?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    ¡°You can also use it to attack, right?¡±

    ¡°Y, yeah?¡±

    The man nodded his head while thinking about how much damage a frying pan could even make.

    Anyway, I will be able to hit you first.

    ¡°But with this, I can also defend myself.¡±

    ¡°......I, is that so?¡±

    ¡°Yes. There¡¯s no other artifact like this in the world! It can cook, defend and even attack!¡±

    ¡°......Uhm.¡±

    The man nodded his head first. And with the idea of putting the topic about the frying pan behind them, he quickly introduced himself.

    ¡°My nickname is Rovan. Just like what I said earlier, would you like to form a party with me?¡±

    Minhyuk thought deeply before answering him.

    He was most likely going to ask him for food and eat with him but there seemed to be no one else that was willing to form a party with him aside from this man.

    After much thought, he slowly nodded his head to ept his proposal.

    ¡°I understand.¡±

    [Would you like to join Handsome Rovan¡¯sParty?]

    [ Yes / No ]

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    [You have joined Handsome Rovan¡¯s Party.]

    Minhyuk could clearly see it. This man was someone that was extremely narcissistic and confident in himself.

    What kind of party name was ¡°Handsome Rovan¡±?

    Then, he suddenly thought¡­

    ¡®This person is strange¡­¡­¡¯

    At the same time, Rovan also thought¡­

    ¡®This person is strange¡­¡­¡¯

    What kind of defense can you do with a frying pan? It will already be enough if you can stop flying stones from reaching you.

    Thus, thepanionship(?) of two odd people had started.

    ***

    The employee, Lee Minhwa, tapped on her keyboard leisurely.

    She had joined thepany for quite some time and she had now removed the ¡®novice employee¡¯ and ¡®new recruit¡¯ from her name. Right now, she could already switch monitors or watch through several monitors with just a click on her keyboard.

    ¡®Huhu, I¡¯m such apetent woman!¡¯

    Just as she thought so, she decided to bring up on one of the monitors to check the situation of one of the special users. The special user that she wanted to look at was Rovan.

    Rovan was a ranker in Versal and his leveling speed was vastly differentpared to the other users. In addition to that, he received the legendary ss, Berserker.

    ¡®Come to think of it, that legendary Berserker ss¡­¡­¡¯

    When she thought about it deeply, she finally realized.

    User Minhyuk had the chance to receive that ss, right? But he did not receive the quest.

    There was only one reason.

    ¡°It was because he wouldn¡¯t be able to yanggaeng, right¡­¡­?¡±

    How could one user refuse a legendary ss just for one yanggaeng. However, the power of that ss was extremely strong.

    Rovan was extremely proud of his Berserker ss. Due to his legendary ss, he was able to level up with an extremely fast pace. He was even able to receive a quest that could increase his already overwhelming skills and abilities.

    That hidden quest could only be received andpleted by a user that was recognized for his overwhelming strength.

    ¡®But the Trial of Sin is not as easy as he thought¡­¡¯

    When Lee Minhwa opened a monitor and pulled up Rovan¡¯s screen, she suddenly let out a ¡®Heop!¡¯ in shock.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Team Leader Park, who was enjoying his cup of coffee, stood up quickly and hurried to her monitor.

    ¡°Users Rovan and Minhyuk are together¡­¡­¡±

    This meant that the two of them would definitely be heading towards the hidden quest together.

    As he looked at the monitor, Team Leader Park finished his analysis and spoke to Lee Minhwa beside him.

    ¡°Rovan is a lone hunter. I think that¡¯s why he needed to find a user that did not have as much firepower for his party member.¡±

    ¡°Do they need to create a party before they can enter the Shrieking Hills?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Look at User Minhyuk, he looks weak.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right.¡±

    Lee Minhwa nodded her head in agreement. After all, User Minhyuk really did look weak.

    ¡°However, he¡¯s someone that¡¯s extremely strong.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°So, who do you think will be able toplete this hidden quest?¡±

    Since the two of them werepanions, she naturally thought that User Minhyuk would be able to get this hidden quest. But if User Rovan¡¯s n went as nned, then he would probably work really hard toplete the quest.

    ¡°Honestly? I don¡¯t think User Rovan will be able to clear the hidden quest yet.¡±

    Team Leader Park murmured this to himself. He knew that Rovan¡¯s abilities were still not yet there if he wanted toplete this hidden quest.

    Suddenly, his eyes widened.

    ¡°Come to think of it¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    ¡°I think the Trial of Sin might not affect User Minhyuk¡­¡­?¡±

    ¡°Ah, that¡¯s entirely possible!¡±

    Team Leader Park and Lee Minhwa nodded their heads in unison. Then, they both turned to look at the monitor. The scene that was ying on the monitor was quite harmonious. Users Minhyuk and Rovan were walking together while Rovan was showing off.

    [Nim, by any chance do you know about legendary sses?]

    [I know.]

    [I received one. It¡¯s the Berserker ss. Ah. Really. I wanted to be someone normal in Athenae this time. But do you know that Berserker is such a strong ss?]

    ¡°......He¡¯s bragging about his Berserker ss to the person who did not want that ss because he wanted to eat yanggaeng? He probably won¡¯t be able to lift his face proudly if he knew about that¡­...¡±

    Lee Minhwa also added when she heard Team Leader Park¡¯s words.

    ¡°His face will definitely burn in shame¡­..¡±

    ***

    Minhyuk knew that his hunch was right.

    This user. He really is someone that¡¯s so narcissistic.

    He already told Minhyuk about how he was a ranker in Versal and how he got his legendary ss, Berserker. When he heard about this, Minhyuk suddenly thought....

    ¡®......If I didn¡¯t eat yanggaeng then I can easily get that. Tch.¡¯

    However, he still had no regrets. After all, the yanggaeng was extremely delicious.

    Then, Minhyuk looked over at the information of the quest that he had received earlier.

    [Quest: Hunt 200 monsters in the Shrieking Hills.]

    Rank: C

    Restrictions: Users should be over Lv90, Party Hunting

    Rewards: 20,000 EXP, 300,000 gold

    Current Number of Hunted Monsters: 0 / 200

    Penalty for Failure: You won¡¯t be able to receive any quests from Shrieking Hills.

    Description: The monsters that reside in the Shrieking Hills sometimes appear, wreaking havoc and causing damages and injuries to the residents of Hesvin, a town located in the vicinity of the hills. These monsters are very tricky, some of them can even use magic. Hunt 200 of these monsters!

    ¡®I may have failed to receive duck meat earlier but I still have a chance to get duck meat!¡¯

    In addition, the original gold reward was only at 250,000 gold. However, he got an additional 50,000 gold reward from Kemil, the man who said that he only ate duck meat three times a day.

    I will exchange my pancakes with duck meat! So this mission should be sessful!

    Then, not long after, they arrived in front of the guard who was guarding the bridge that connected the Shrieking Hills from the town.

    ¡°From this point on, you¡¯re already in the Shrieking Hills.¡±

    The guard confirmed with Rovan and Minhyuk.

    ¡°Will you guys be fine with just the two of you? Those guys in there are much stronger than what you thought.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    Rovan nodded his head happily as he looked back at Minhyuk, who also nodded his head in agreement.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    The two of them stepped forward and crossed the bridge. As soon as they crossed the bridge, Rovan who was noisy and all-over-the-ce, quieted down.

    ¡®His aura suddenly changed.¡¯

    Minhyuk looked at him seriously. His expression was saying that he was a bit impressed with how his aura had suddenly changed. It was like he waspletely different from the person who was screaming and saying I just received my legendary ss recently! I¡¯m the best, you should trust me, Nim!. The person who was so narcissistic and confident about himself suddenly quieted down and turned serious.

    ¡°We should always be alert whenever we are in any hunting grounds. We don¡¯t know when or where a variable will pop out.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll start hunting now. Minhyuk-nim, why don¡¯t you try to hunt one? In Minhyuk-nim¡¯s case, if you find hunting difficult then you can just ¡®assist¡¯ me when I look tired.¡±

    His words were implying to Minhyuk that he should step aside if he couldn¡¯t hunt properly, after all, he was just a chef.

    But Minhyuk did not feel bad about his words. He thought that it was alright for others to think that he was a chef, Minhyuk even thought of weing Rovan¡¯s existence and just doing nothing. One reason was because he wanted to take the bus. However, he still hadn''t seen his skills in actualbat yet so he was still a bit excited about what was going to happen.

    ¡®This guy. He¡¯s strong.¡¯

    Minhyuk could tell. He had been exercising and working out a lot ever since he was a child. He knew that the strong had a certain gait and aura that they exude. And he knew that Rovan was someone who could stand above those who were strong.

    [You have entered the Shrieking Hills.]

    [If you aren¡¯t strong enough, please turn back and go outside.]

    Unlike other dungeons, the Shrieking Hills belong to the field category. The advantage of a field dungeon was that the yers could easily go back and forth in the dungeon without having to hunt and kill the boss monster. Of course, there were exceptions to these rules.

    ¡®I should first finish hunting 200 monsters so I could go for my hidden quest.¡¯

    Rovan looked around after deciding his course of action.

    He could see plenty of users hunting monsters.

    Then, at that moment¡­

    ¡°Kiiiiieeeeeeeee!¡±

    Minhyuk and Rovan heard a harsh shriek.

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    Hehehe. Yanggaeng is still the best. I remember its taste. Mhhmmm.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    And once again, Minhyuk finds himself on the devs¡¯ monitor. I love their reactions.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 92 - Odd Companion

    Chapter 92: Odd Companion

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Rovan looked at him and told him calmly.

    ¡°The Shrieking Hills was named as such because a loud shriek can be heard throughout the whole area. You should know that it has been a month ever since the Shrieking Hills opened, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I know that.¡±

    Minhyuk had investigated and studied this ce seriously and thoroughly since he wanted to know what he could eat in here.

    ¡°Athenae did not announce it but there are rumors going around that the shriek came from an epic-ss named monster.¡±

    ¡°Oho. Is that so?¡±

    Minhyuk did not see that when he checked for the information about the Shrieking Hills. That was only natural since this information was something that Rovan obtained from the Legend Guild. The Legend Guild had a member with the legendary ss ¡®Informant¡¯ and that user had all the information he knew, including the ones that he was not aware of. However, the only reason why Rovan was willing to share this information with Minhyuk was because it was just a ¡®rumor¡¯. But even though this information was just considered to be a rumor, Rovan was still confident about it. It was because he was about 95% sure about the contents of the information that he received.

    ¡°The reason why I came here after the Shrieking Hills has opened for a month was because the boss monster is most likely to appear a month after the field has opened.¡±

    His analysis and judgment were quite precise.

    Hunting named monsters, especially epic-ss monsters would most likely drop epic artifacts. In fact, epic monsters were monsters that rarely appear among all the monster ranks.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk was thinking about something that was entirely different.

    ¡®I want to try and eat it¡­¡­!¡¯

    This thought crossed his mind since his entric Meal skill would only allow him to eat named monsters.

    ¡°I, I can see monsters over there. There are a lot of users too.¡±

    There were quite a lot of users gathered somewhere near them and it seemed like there were also quite a lot of monsters over at that area.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be nervous.¡±

    ¡°Yep.¡±

    As they looked around, they could hear whispersing from the surrounding users.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that the user from before? The one with the frying pan?¡±

    ¡°What? Did the two of theme here? Didn¡¯t they know that the monsters in the Shrieking Hills are much stronger than ordinary mob?¡±

    They had no choice but to whisper and talk about them. After all, Rovan was wearing a bright red sword on his waist while Minhyuk looked like an ordinary chef with a frying pan on his back and a sword on his waist. In other words, theirbo looked like a user that could probably fight monsters and a user who waspletely useless. In addition, they were the only party with two people. Most of the parties that woulde in the Shrieking Hills would form a four-person party.

    ¡°Are the other users really that talkative?¡±

    Rovan grinned as he looked at the front.

    A monster that was called the mini troll was standing right in front of them. The mini troll was 150cm tall and was carrying an axe that was much smallerpared to the axe that a troll usually carried. Compared to the regr trolls, the strength of mini trolls were much smaller. But they were considered to be nastier monsterspared to regr monsters. This was because they could use magic.

    ¡°I¡¯ll show you how to do it first.¡±

    Rovan stepped forward to demonstrate how to hunt these monsters to Minhyuk.

    ¡°Gwoooooo!¡±

    The mini troll roared loudly.

    There was only one thing that the mini trolls had inmon with the regr trolls. It was their extreme regenerative powers. This was the reason why the ordinary users felt like they were much stronger monsterspared to ordinary mobs.

    Dash!

    Rovan stomped on the ground as he used a skill to deal with the monster.

    [Rampage.]

    [Your HP has dropped by 20% while your attack power has increased by 30%.]

    Fwoooooooom!

    ¡°Oh¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk watched Rovan swing hisrge sword without breaking a sweat as he fought with the mini troll.

    sh!

    ¡°Keuack!¡±

    The mini troll shrieked as its shoulders got pierced by Rovan¡¯s sword. Then, it tried to hack Rovan¡¯s neck with his left hand that was holding the axe. Rovan swiftly dodged the iing axe and pulled his sword out of its shoulders.

    Spurt!

    ¡°Gwaaaack!¡±

    The mini troll roared as mes started to engulf its body.

    Craaaackle©¥

    [Fire Armor.]

    [Damage will continuously be inflicted depending on your distance.]

    Perhaps that ability was one of the magic that the mini trolls could cast.

    Fwoooooosh!

    Stab!

    However, Rovan easily stepped back and stabbed the mini troll in its throat. After cleanly finishing off the mini troll, Rovan took care of the drops.

    [Party: You have acquired 613 gold.]

    [Party: Rovan-nim has acquired the mini troll¡¯s toenail (1).]

    ¡°Well then, that¡¯s how you hunt them. It¡¯s better to kill them before they can regenerate. You can try hunting it once and if you don¡¯t like it then you can just leave it to me. I¡¯ll start hunting for the both of us after that. Well, that¡¯s why it¡¯s called a bus after all. Hoho.¡±

    Rovan grinned at Minhyuk as if to reassure him.

    ¡°If it¡¯s not a bother, I would like to hunt with you.¡±

    ¡°Ah, yes. That¡¯s fine.¡±

    Did this user get amazed with my superb skills? Even a four-person party is having a hard time dealing with two mini trolls but he wants to try and hunt a mini troll alone?

    In Minhyuk¡¯s case, he felt that he really needed to hunt. He also knew that he could take more EXP when he joined the hunt instead of just standing still and waiting for the EXP from others.

    I need to level up quickly so I can proceed with the Food God¡¯s Legacy quest as well as eat plenty of duck meat, bang!

    Minhyuk kicked the ground as he dashed to where the mini trolls were.

    [Fire Armor.]

    [Damage will continuously be inflicted depending on your distance.]

    ¡®That¡¯s too bad.¡¯

    Rovan had prepared himself to run to his rescue any time. It would have been nice if his party member died the moment they entered the hunting grounds but he was strangely kind, loyal andpassionate. So he was ready to jump in and help the moment he was in danger.

    ¡®At his level, User Minhyuk-nim¡¯s magical defense is definitely low. This will be the reason why he will suffer a lot of damage just by running to where the mini trolls are.¡¯

    On the contrary, Rovan¡¯s ¡®Valo¡¯s Bloodstained Greatsword.¡¯ had an attached +50 on his magical defense. And if he added his personal magical defense and reputation points, he could get as much as 84 in his magical defense. Generally, if you have 100 points in your magical defense then 1st ss magic would not be able to inflict any damage while 2nd ss magic would only inflict reduced damage to you. This was also the reason why the Fire Armor that that mini troll had casted did not inflict arge damage on him earlier.

    Rovan was thinking about when Minhyuk would tap out.

    ¡®That¡¯s fast¡­¡­ Huh¡­¡­? S, so fast? Oh¡­¡­? That¡¯s really fast? OMG¡­¡­? He¡¯s really fast?!¡¯

    His eyes grew the size of the saucers as he saw Minhyuk pull the frying pan off of his back.

    ¡°Hey! That user is hunting!¡±

    ¡°Oh. Are we going to have a spoon killer after we have a frying pan killer? That frying pan will definitely be broken by the mini troll¡¯s axe.¡±

    The users wereughing loudly as they talked about what they think would happen to Minhyuk.

    At that moment¡­

    Minhyuk decided to first test out the mini troll with a single hit. Just as he was going to attack, the mini troll quickly attacked him with fire magic.

    Shwaaa!

    However, Minhyuk did not feel any heat at all. Mahava¡¯s Double Ring gave him a +40 on his magical defense. In addition, he received a permanent increase of +30 when he ate the peri leaf jeon from the special jeon dish set that he received not too long ago. There was also a +100 magical defense attached to his Hepas¡¯ Legendary Frying Pan. And because his reputation was over 400, he also received an additional +20 on his magical defense. In total, he had about 190 in his magical defense. However, since he received a x2 effect on his magical defense the total power that his magical defense could exhibit was at 380.

    Minhyuk lifted his frying pan and mmed it strongly on the mini troll¡¯s head.

    ¡°Oh, look at that¡­...¡±

    The surrounding users couldn¡¯t take their eyes away.

    ? The moment the pan mmed on the mini troll¡¯s head¡­

    ng!

    [You have dealt a fatal blow.]

    Bang!

    With a bang, the mini troll was embedded deep in the ground.

    ¡°Heok?!¡±

    ¡°Keok!¡±

    ¡°......OMG?¡±

    All of the surrounding users werepletely shocked with what they have witnessed. And the person that was most shocked about this turn of events was none other than Rovan.

    ¡®W, what the hell?!¡¯

    When they looked at the mini troll that was trying to crawl out of the ground, they could see that almost half of its head had been smashed in.

    ¡°Keuaaaah!¡±

    The mini troll furiously regenerated its head as its magic slowly rose from its body.

    ¡°......That mini troll looks a lot strongerpared to the others.¡±

    There would always be stronger monsters that would appear among the ordinary monsters. In general, if the ordinary monsters had a power at 11, then they would have a power of 12. And that mini troll that Minhyuk was fighting seemed to be the strongest among all the mini trolls.

    [Triple Magic Missile.]

    [Three small spheres that has the same damage as an attack made by a mini troll.]

    It was clearly a 1st ss sloppy magic but it was nasty enough since a monster was using it. In addition, the monster could easily cast three magic spells like that without chanting anything.

    Fwoom!

    Fwoom!

    Fwoom!

    When Minhyuk saw the magic missile flying at him like baseballs pitched by a super pitcher, he held his frying pan tightly.

    [Frying Pan Gigantification.]

    [You can adjust the size of your frying pan depending on the mana that you will input.]

    As soon as he input his mana, the frying pan suddenly becamerge enough to hide a human!

    Minhyuk easily pped the three flying spheres away with the frying pan on his hand.

    ng!

    ng!

    ng!

    [Magical Reflection.]

    [You have returned the magical attack back to your enemy.]

    [Magical Reflection.]

    [You have returned the magical attack back to your enemy.]

    Fwoom!

    Bang!

    ¡°Graaaack!¡±

    Fwoom!

    Bang!

    The magic missile that bounced off of his frying pan, attacked the mini troll to the point of copse. However, there was still a breath left on its body. Minhyuk, who approached the copsed mini troll, lightly mmed it with his frying pan.

    ng!

    [You have leveled up.]

    [Party: You have acquired 713 gold.]

    [Party: Minhyuk-nim has acquired the mini troll¡¯s toenail (1).]

    ¡°That was easy.¡±

    ¡°M, Minhyuk-nim. Aren¡¯t you a chef?¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Rovan was left speechless. He had never seen such a strong chef.

    ¡®Is he abat chef? No, what in the world is that frying pan?!¡¯

    The average frying pan had a durability of 200/200 with an attack power of around 20 or so. That was why most of them thought that the frying pan would be easily broken by the mini troll¡¯s axe. But that was not the case at all. What was even more surprising was the fact that the frying pan smashed the mini troll¡¯s magic and even caused a huge damage to it when it smashed it. This could only mean that the frying pan had a high attack power and Minhyuk¡¯s stat was extremely high.

    ¡°N, no. Why does your frying pan have such a strong attack power?¡±

    Furthermore, Rovan only sessfully hunted the mini troll after he used his skills while Minhyuk did not even use any skill at all.

    Then, Minhyuk said¡­

    ¡°Can I join the hunt now?¡±

    Rovan could never tell him ¡®It¡¯s dangerous, so please stay back.¡¯ anymore.

    ¡°Aah. Yes¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Ah. But where¡¯s the magic duck?¡±

    In fact, the biggest reason why Minhyuk decided toe to the Shrieking Hills was this! He wanted to eat the magic duck!

    They might be able to get duck meat from Kemil after they sessfully hunted 200 monsters but Minhyuk still wanted to try and taste the magic duck. He heard that they have the same appearance as ordinary ducks and the only difference was that they use magic. This was one of the reasons why magical defense was extremely important whenever someone would go hunting in the Shrieking Hills. In addition, because Minhyuk had the entric Meal, he also wanted to try and eat the ¡®named monster¡¯ that existed here.

    However, now was the time to use his special ability. After all, didn¡¯t Minhyuk eat a lot of chicken in the novice tutorial zone?

    If the magic duck looks like regr ducks, then¡­¡­

    ¡®I can eat smoked ducks! Steamed ducks! And even duck meat bulgogi!¡¯

    Minhyuk grinned widely. He couldn¡¯t stop himself from imagining those ducks.

    ¡°Uh. Uhm¡­¡­ You just have to go further inside from here. But the Shrieking Hills is a unique field and you need to hunt at least 100 monsters in here before you could go further inside.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? Then we should quickly start hunting!¡±

    ¡°Quickly? I would love to do that but the monsters are dispersed too widely¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Then I¡¯ll gather all the monsters here.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°We need to kill quite a lot of them right?¡±

    ¡°Ah, well¡­¡­¡±

    In all honesty, Rovan wouldn¡¯t even need to break a sweat even if there were five mini trolls surrounding him. That was how strong he was. But he still couldn¡¯t understand how Minhyuk, a chef, could gather monsters around them.

    At that moment¡­

    ¡°Bbiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!¡±

    A clear and loud sound simr to a bird¡¯s cry came out of Minhyuk¡¯s mouth and almost shook the heavens and the earth. The sound was clean and pure so it was not ufortable to hear.

    [Gryphon¡¯s Cry.]

    [You have a 70~80% chance of attracting the attention of all the monsters within a 20-m radius.]

    [Party members within a 10-m radius will have a 12~14% increase in all 5 of their basic stats.]

    Rovan suddenly heard a notification ring in his head.

    [You have received a 13% increase in all 5 of your basic stats.]

    He looked at Minhyuk with a confused and bewildered expression.

    ¡®No, who the hell is he?! What kind of chef can use this buffing ability?!¡¯

    He even has an aggro ability that ismon for tankers?!

    Rovan hastily grabbed his sword in preparation.

    ¡®Generally, tankers at his level can only pull the aggro of at least 2 monsters, right?¡¯

    Rovan turned his head to face the iing monsters with that thought running through his head. Then¡­

    ¡°......What the hell!?!¡±

    There were at least ten mini trolls that were running to where they were.

    ¡®What kind of fXcking aggro ability is this?!¡¯

    Minhyuk ran out with his hands holding on to his frying pan tightly to wee the iing mini trolls.

    ¡°Ah. Nim! Why are you running so fast?! You¡¯ll get cornered by those monsters!¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­..?¡±

    A thought suddenly shed through Rovan¡¯s mind as he ran after Minhyuk.

    In all honesty, I just wanted to make him do misceneous chores.

    However, right now he was having a bad premonition. He felt like he somehow would be the one doing those things.

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    Ahh. Duck meat. I suddenly want to eat duck meat. Kek. Rovan, Rovan, Rovan¡­ Why do I also feel like you will be the one doing the chores too?

    PR¡¯s corner!

    I think Rovan identally got on a bus¡­

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 93 - Odd Companion

    Chapter 93: Odd Companion

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    As he ran, Minhyuk quickly analyzed their surroundings and their situation.

    The exact number of mini trolls running towards them was eleven. From what Minhyuk knew from his fight earlier, the mini troll''s magic did not have any effect on him.

    ''Compared to regr trolls, the actual power that a mini troll can exert is much lower.''

    Originally, the trolls were at Lv250 but it seemed like the mini trolls could only exert power equivalent to someone at Lv100. There was only one reason why the other users tagged them as troublesome. It was because they could use magic. However, Minhyuk already found out earlier that it did not work on him.

    [Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship]

    [All stats will have a 15% increase for 5 minutes.]

    [Evasion rate has increased by 30%.]

    [Fatal Strikes rate has increased by 30%.]

    Ellie''s Swordsmanship, just like Hepas'' Legendary Frying Pan, had the ability to increase all of his stats by 15%.

    ''It seems like my Ellie''s Swordsmanship is also improving. It will probably level up soon.''

    That wasn''t all. Since Minhyuk had just increased his level by 1 earlier, he was now at Lv97. He was able to receive a surprising amount of EXP even after he divided the EXP with Rovan when he killed the mini troll earlier.

    Not long after, Minhyuk leaped forward and mmed his frying pan on one of the mini trolls that was roaring loudly.

    ng!

    [You have dealt a fatal blow.]

    He quickly passed by the mini troll with its head smashed in. Then, he swiftly activated Rampant Sword.

    [Rampant Sword.]

    [A flurry of rampant swords with additional 30% attack power will be created for 5 seconds.]

    ng, ng, ng, ng, ng!

    The frying pan in his hand hit the mini trolls'' heads one by one. It was so fast that it even left afterimages. The frying pan''s attack power was at 400 and with thebination of Ellie''s Swordsmanship, its attack power had increased exponentially! In addition, every time he hit a mini troll on the head, he could hear a clear and loud sound!

    "Sounds perfect!"

    Minhyuk was in awe.

    Suddenly, a mini trollunched an ice ball magic towards him. If an ice ball sessfully hit its target, it could easily freeze the surrounding area. Minhyuk quickly stopped in his tracks and pped the ice ball away with his frying pan.

    [Magical Reflection.]

    [You have returned the magical attack back to your enemy.]

    Bang!

    Crack, crack, crack, crack!

    The mini troll that was hit back with the reflected ice ball that it casted was rapidly covered in ice.

    Minhyuk continuously pped the magic attacks that were flying towards him with his frying pan.

    ng!

    ng!

    ng!

    [Magical Reflection.]

    [You have returned the magical attack back to your enemy.]

    Rovan, who was running behind him, quickly joined the fray.

    sh!

    The feeling of his thick greatsword getting stuck in the mini troll did note, instead it felt like it shed through.

    sh!

    Fwoom!

    ng, ng!

    The two men were able to fight eleven mini trolls without being pushed back!

    [Berserker''s Bloody Frenzy.]

    [You have a high chance of returning the damage inflicted on you when your enemy strikes you.]

    As if to prove that Minhyuk was not the only one that was strong in their party, Rovan''s body glowed red.

    sh!

    A mini troll tried to break his armor with its axe but its hands quickly broke down.

    "Graaaaaaa!"

    The Berserker''s Bloody Frenzy had returned the damage!

    [Greatsword''s Linked Swordsmanship.]

    [You will be able to swing your greatsword at four times its normal speed.]

    Rovan gently lifted therge and heavy greatsword with one hand. He quickly struck out the mini trolls that were surrounding him.

    sh!

    aaaash!

    sh!

    aaash!

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk was quickly moving around and pping the HPs of the mini trolls down to zero before they could even regenerate.

    ng!

    "One shot!"

    ng!

    "Two shots!"

    ng!

    "Three shots!"

    ng!

    "Hooo!"

    The two men who quickly dealt with eleven mini trolls looked around the surroundings.

    Rovan looked at Minhyuk with awe as he smiled proudly at him.

    ''Yeah. I admit that you''re strong!''

    He''s a chef but he''s this skilled?

    However, he believed that the real power of the Berserker would shine from now on. It wasn''t like Minhyuk was not attacked while he was fighting with the mini trolls earlier. The same was true for Rovan. But, Rovan had a clear advantage with his Berserker ss in fights like this.

    Red beads suddenly formed and leaked from the bodies of the mini trolls. Then, those red beads floated and seeped through Rovan''s body.

    Swish!

    As soon as the red beads were absorbed in his body, his minor injuries began to recover at a speed visible to the naked eye. Smoke rose from his body as his wounds began to disappear.

    [Your HP has recovered by 2%.]

    [HP absorption has failed.]

    [Your HP has recovered by 1%.]

    [Your HP has recovered by 4%.]

    [HP absorption has failed.]

    [Your HP has recovered by 6%.]

    [Your HP has recovered by 4%.]

    [Your HP has recovered by 5%.]

    His HP had recovered by 22% in one fell swoop!

    A Berserker might look like it was just a frenzied warrior but they were also known as the tireless warrior. This was one of the charms of the Berserker ss. Every 20 minutes, the Berserker would automatically activate its regenerative skill to regenerate his HP.

    He also bought a healing skillbook for 1 billion gold.

    [Your HP has recovered by 14%.]

    A bright light suddenly engulfed his body.

    "Hey, isn''t that the effect of a healing skillbook?"

    "Eyyy. It looks like it can recover 4% of your HP."

    Rovan chuckled when he heard the other users.

    This is worth 1 billion gold. This item can even be traded for 50 million won on the trading site.

    "Wow. Is that the healing skillbook that I''ve heard of?"

    Minhyuk, who had just finished with his item acquisition, approached him.

    "Yes. I have recovered 36% of my HP right now. Hoho. This is one of the strengths of a Berserker. We can continue hunting for quite some time even if we don''t have a healer."

    "Oho. Is that so?"

    Minhyuk grinned at him. Rovan suddenly felt the chills when he looked at his smile.

    ''What''s this? Why is he smiling like that?''

    Then, he heard Minhyuk say¡­

    "Ah. I''m hungry."

    As he said that, he saw him pull out something from his inventory. It was a steamed bun.

    "Huh? Why is the steamed bun still steaming hot?"

    Rovan, who was not aware about Minhyuk''s food storage inventory, looked at him curiously. Normally, food that was stored in the normal inventory would cool down like it was left out in room temperature. This was why he was looking at the steamed bun curiously.

    Minhyuk slowly bit on the steamed bun. Steam slowly rose as he bit on it. Then, as he gently chewed the steamed bun, the smooth and sweet vor of the red bean paste slowly spread in his mouth. After swallowing his first bite, he opened his mouth and blew on the steam that was rising out of the steamed bun before taking another bite.

    "M, me too. Please give me a bite¡­¡­"

    "No way!"

    "......Tch!"

    Rovan looked at him sullenly. As he stared at him, he suddenly saw¡­

    Shiiiiing¡ª

    The small wounds that were covering Minhyuk''s body were slowly disappearing. His body seemed like it was recovering rapidly.

    "......Huh?"

    The wounds were closing and recovering at a remarkable speed. The other users around them might not notice any difference but Rovan was different. Rovan could see how fast Minhyuk''s wound had been recovering.

    "......This is impossible."

    He couldn''t say anything else. Just a moment earlier, he was bragging about this being something that was entirely special to Berserkers. But now¡­

    ''How in the world did that happen? Is that steamed bun something special? Is that steamed bun made by an alchemist?''

    Minhyuk, who recovered all of his HP after finishing his steamed buns, smiled at him.

    "You said that we could continue to hunt for quite a long time, right?"

    "Yes."

    "Well. Do you think I can do the same?"

    "Yes. If you can keep eating that mysterious steamed bun¡­"

    For a moment, Rovan was quite confused. He did not understand why he was asking him these questions.

    Then¡­ It suddenly clicked. He finally realized why he felt that his smile was quite ominous.

    "Ah. No. Wait. Let''s do it after an hour¡­¡­"

    "Bbiiiiiiiiiii!"

    "Ack!"

    Minhyuk knew that his party member was strong and could hunt for quite a long time. He was also the same.

    This is the chance to rush up and achieve Lv150!

    He wanted to take advantage of this opportunity.

    Monsters began to flock to where they were. Their numbers were more than the numbers from earlier. That wasn''t the end of it all. From a little distance away from them, Minhyuk suddenly stretched his frying pan.

    ''This crazy punk¡­¡­ what is he going to do again¡­¡­!''

    At that moment, fire spread out from his frying pan.

    [Fire.]

    [Damage will be continuously inflicted once they touch the fire.]

    ''Ah. What the hell. Are you a mage, a chef or a warrior?! This 3?$#A@%@@%.''

    Rovan was nowpletely confused. He saw Minhyuk quickly injuring the mob nearby as he used his aggro skill to pull the aggro of more than twenty monsters.

    He thought that he was the one who would be using him as an attachment during his leveling frenzy but it turned out that he was the one who became an attachment.

    ''He''ll definitely get tired of this. He''ll stop in two hours.''

    He was dreaming a futile dream.

    ***

    After four hours.

    "Pl, please¡­¡­ Can we stop hunting for a moment? There''s no one in the world who would continuously hunt for four hours and not even take a break!"

    Rovan had a pleading look on his face. He felt like he waspletely exhausted in their four hours of hunting. He was as exhausted as a man who just came back from his honeymoon.

    "Didn''t you tell me earlier that a Berserker is like an energizer, and you will never get tired? You even have the recovering ability. What''s wrong with you?"

    Rovan was someone that was well known and famous in Versal for his determination and persistence in hunting. He could even clear a dungeon with such a remarkable speed. The only reason why he could do that was because he kept on going even when the others were taking a rest. However, no matter how determined or persistent he was, he really couldn''t keep up with this madman.

    He thought¡­

    ''Is this the reason under this man''s strength? He might have done this and that¡­ But he always continued to do it without any rest at all.''

    His level was even lower than Rovan''s level right now. That was why Rovan asked him¡­

    "Why are you going as far as not taking any breaks, do you really want to be that strong?"

    Minhyuk looked at him seriously and frankly told him his reason.

    "I want to eat ducks."

    "......Yes?"

    "It''s because I want to eat ducks."

    "N, no. You''ve already killed a lot of ducks!"

    "Ah, Nim!"

    Minhyuk looked at him and said¡­

    "We''ve only killed 40 magic ducks. It''s just 40, it could easily slip away from our grasps. You don''t know this, but if they''re just a little bit then they would easily break the flow of eating once they''re gone."

    "You''ve killed 40 and you still think that your flow when eating will stop¡­¡­"

    Does that even make sense? was the thought that shed through Rovan''s head. Then he thought hard and deep before nodding his head.

    ''Ah, maybe it really will¡­¡­?''

    Earlier, he saw Minhyuk suddenly pulling out 6L of gatorade and drinking it in one go. Then he heard him say ''Oh, I''ve finally moistened my throat.''.

    "Phew. If that''s the case, then we can take a break while I''m cooking."

    "Wow, finally¡­..!"

    Rovan was deeply moved. He even bowed at a 90 degree angle to show his gratitude.

    "Thank you. Thank you. I''m saved. Thank you."

    I can finally take a rest! My god. I have been hunting for 4 hours straight!

    Of course he was able to level up like crazy. He was able to increase his level by 10 in that 4 hours of pure torture. However, he never wanted to experience such a crazy thing again.

    He wasn''t reallyining about how long they hunted. His problem was the number of monsters. The monsters flock to them in the dozens. He could still feel that bone-chilling dread that he felt when the monsters attacked them from all sides. That feeling was something that he felt for four hours straight. At that time, Rovan clearly saw how strong Minhyuk was.

    And right now, Minhyuk was preparing to cook while thezy(?) Rovan rested.

    "What are you going to make?"

    Rovan asked him with a look of anticipation.

    Minhyuk might be a crazy and strange person in Rovan''s eyes but he still acknowledged one thing.

    The food that he cooks is really delicious!

    When he was out of breath and tired earlier, Minhyuk shouted at him ''This pains my heart!'' then tore the bread from his hot dog buns and gave it to him.

    ''No. If this person is truly generous then he should have given me the hotdog too!''

    But he was extremely hungry at that moment so he quickly gobbled up the bread.

    It was truly delicious!

    He told him that he made it himself. That was why Rovan was sure about his cooking skills. That was why he was looking at him excitedly.

    Minhyuk smiled meaningfully at him and told him what he was going to cook.

    "Duck bulgogi."

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    I wonder how duck bulgogi tastes like.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 94 - Odd Companion

    Chapter 94: Odd Companion

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    "Kghk!"

    Rovan couldn''t help but let out a sound of admiration.

    Whenever one ordered a duck bulgogi, they would always see a glistening, bright red duck bulgogi. Some people would even call this dish, rubbed duck.

    What if you ce that sizzling, spicy and sweet duck bulgogi in your mouth?

    ''It''s done!''

    Rovan''s saliva was already overflowing as he imagined the taste of the duck bulgogi.

    Then, Minhyuk told him¡­

    "Nim, if you''re bored please go and pick some lettuce over there. I saw that there were some lettuce heads over there when we passed by earlier."

    "......Yes."

    Rovan''s shoulders dropped down in sadness. He felt like he had be Minhyuk''s subordinate. He slowly stood up to go and pick some lettuce.

    However, he couldn''t pick them. He had a scuffle with them for about 5 minutes before he ran back to where Minhyuk was.

    "That¡­¡­ I can''t pick the lettuce¡­¡­"

    "Wow. Nim, you can''t even pick some lettuce? You''re a grown man!"

    "......"

    Rovan slowly felt like he was bing smaller and smaller in front of this person.

    ''I''m the number 1 ranker in Versal¡­¡­ I also have the legendary ss, Berserker¡­¡­ But I''m being scolded for not being able to pick lettuce¡­¡­ keuheuk!''

    Minhyuk quickly hurried to where the lettuce was.

    ''No, he could probably not pick it without the digging skill¡­¡­ Eh?!''

    Minhyuk easily picked the lettuce. After picking enough, he quickly returned to their temporary camping site.

    "Wash these and prepare the ce where we will eat!"

    "......Yes."

    Rovan had now turned into a well-behaved(?) kitchen assistant.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk started to cook in earnest. His ingredients were duck meat, onions, carrots, potatoes, cheongyang pepper, peri leaf, minced garlic, gochujang, red pepper powder, plum juice extract, soy sauce and pepper.

    He first decided to cook one duck. He started off with stir frying the duck meat as he sprinkled some pepper over it.

    Then, he immediately added the carrots and potatoes to cook it well. The reason why he needed to cook the carrots and potatoes earlier was because it would take quite a lot of time for these vegetables to cook.

    After he stir-fried the meat, potatoes and carrots for quite some time, he added a spoonful of gochujang, five spoonfuls of red pepper powder, two spoonfuls of plum juice extract, a bit of soy sauce and the minced garlic in the pan.

    Shwaaaaaa¡ª

    Adding the seasonings to the stir-fried meat gave off an enticing and fragrant aroma.

    He continued to stir fry the meat well to make sure that the meat and vegetables were coated with the seasonings well. When the dish was almost done, he added the onions and cheongyang peppers. Onions tend to get cooked easily so it was usually added towards the end to make sure that it wouldn''t be soft and that it would retain some of its crunchy and crispy texture.

    And finally.

    It was the peri leaves.

    Minhyuk might have mentioned this before but he really liked dishes with peri leaves. Adding a few peri leaves to some dishes could result with a vast difference in vor. He strongly believed that peri leaves could magically change the taste and vor of the food.

    He ced the chopped peri leaves on top of the stir fried meat and vegetables.

    Sizzle, bubble, sizzle¡ª

    He stir-fried the dish in the pan once more to fully incorporate the vor of the ingredients that were added towards the end.

    This was the recipe for a standard size and was rmended for one serving.

    Minhyuk took advantage of the frying pan''s gigantification to stir fry and cook all 40 of the ducks that they had killed earlier. In fact, cooking this much was a hard feat since 40 ducks could serve at least 100 servings of duck bulgogi. However, Minhyuk''s frying pan could easily allow him to cook such arge serving without worrying about its state. His frying pan had the option to boil and cook the dishes well regardless of the serving size. Even if someone was stunned with the golden ratio of his servings, the magic would automatically stop by itself once the dish was cooked.

    "Kyaa!"

    "Kgghk!"

    The two people were ovee with awe.

    Rovan was now sitting excitedly in front of their set-up, he was prepared to eat the moment Minhyuk gave him the orders. Their set-up was simr to the set-up when people were going to eat samgyeopsal. They have sliced garlic, ssamjang, pickled spring onions, seasoned leeks, lettuce, peri leaves and even ssamu.

    ¡°Well then. Shall we eat?¡±

    Nod, nod, nod!

    The moment he heard Minhyuk¡¯s words, Rovan immediately nodded his head in excitement.

    Minhyuk first picked a big piece of the still hot duck bulgogi. Then, he blew on it gently to lessen the heat a bit before cing it in his mouth. The big piece of meat was immediately eaten in one big bite! As soon as he chewed the meat in his mouth, he could immediately taste the sweet and spicy vor of the sauce slowly spreading in his mouth which was immediately followed by the soft texture of the meat. The oils of the duck meat woulde out in every bite! Duck oil was an extremely healthy oil and was definitely good for your body!

    ¡°Keuhahaha!¡±

    ¡°Ugh. Ahahaha!¡±

    The twopanionsughed loudly as they tasted the delicious vor of the duck bulgogi.

    ¡°Ah, you should try putting some duck bulgogi on top of some sammu.¡±

    Minhyuk spread the fresh and green sammu on top of his own te and ced a heap of duck bulgogi on top of it. Then, he rolled the sammu, picked it with his chopsticks and ced it in his mouth.

    Crunch, crunch.

    The crunchy texture of the sammu along with the sweet and spicy vor of the duck bulgogi blended to create this feast of a dish in his mouth.

    Minhyuk quickly pulled two cups out of his inventory and ced some ice in it that was stored in his food storage inventory.

    Glug, glug, glug, glug¡ª

    The cheery sound of liquid pouring down in a cup filled with ice resounded. He emptied cans of cider in a quick and efficient manner.

    Fwish!

    Glug, glug, glug, glug, glug¡ª

    ¡°Wow, wow!¡±

    Rovan couldn¡¯t stop himself from overflowing with admiration. Just when he was feeling the greasy taste of the meat and iced cider suddenly appeared in front of him!

    ¡°It¡¯s not refreshing andfortable if you ordered c or cider in a restaurant and they give you something lukewarm! Only iced soda is refreshing!¡±

    ¡°Keuhu. I loved iced drinks so I always ordered iced drinks at restaurants!¡±

    ¡°Cheers!¡±

    ¡°Cheers!¡±

    Clink!

    The two of them clinked their sses filled with iced cider together in a toast.

    Minhyuk quickly gulped down his cider.

    Cider and c were known as the two mountains in the world of iced drinks. In the case of cider, it had a more clean and refreshing taste whenpared to c.

    ¡°Keuhu! This tingling in my throat!¡±

    After he drank cider to the point where he could feel a tingling in his throat, he started to eat duck bulgogi again. This time, he ced the duck bulgogi on top of a peri leaf and added some sliced garlic, seasoned leeks and ssamjang before wrapping it well and cing it in his mouth. Then¡­ Chew!

    ¡°Uhmmm. Delicious!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s really delicious!¡±

    Rovan might have experienced a lot of difficulties during the duration of his party with this man but he truly couldn¡¯t deny that this was the best part of forming a party with him. To be honest, he had never felt anything like this ever since he yed virtual reality games.

    ¡®I thought that food eaten in games like this are just made to fill the fullness stat.¡¯

    This was also the reason why he only carried dried jerky, hard bread and nuts whenever he went on a hunting spree because he thought that the food was just made to fill his stat.

    ¡®This isn¡¯t bad either.¡¯

    It was like he had opened a new door to something fun.

    As he thought like that, Rovan finally felt full and stopped moving his chopsticks. Then, he looked up and saw Minhyuk. Rovan stared nkly at him.

    ¡®Wow¡­¡­¡¯

    The second one.

    ¡®My god¡­¡­¡¯

    The third one.

    ¡®Crazy¡­¡­¡¯

    The fourth one.

    ¡®Is he a wild boar?¡¯

    Just as he watched him with amazement, he saw Minhyuk take a pair of scissors and cut the duck bulgogi. Then, Minhyuk threw the rice in the pan along with the lettuce and peri leaves that he also cut with his scissors. He also showered the food with a heaping amount of sesame foil. Just like that, he started to stir fry the duck bulgogi, rice, lettuce and peri leaves.

    This was another charm of duck bulgogi.

    Fried rice.

    Shwaaaaaaaaaaaa!

    After he spread the fried rice on the bottom of the pan to make it scorched and cooked well, the fire made by magic disappeared on its own. Then, Minhyuk sprinkled a lot of seaweed on top of it. The seaweed seemed like it was some toasty and crispy seaweed that was roasted before. The seaweed danced and fluttered on top of the hot rice.

    At that moment, Rovan still held his spoon up even though he clearly felt that he was full.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you finish eating?¡±

    Minhyuk looked at Rovan sharply. Rovan had no choice but to awkwardly cough when he saw his dagger-like stare.

    ¡°We have separate stomachs for the main menu and the fried rice.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡±

    Minhyuk shook his head at him as he spread his fried rice with a spoon. Then, he scooped a spoonful of the fried rice and blew on it gently before cing it in his mouth. The savory taste of the sesame oil along with the seaweeds, chopped duck meat, vegetables and ricebined to produce a harmonious vor that was extremely delicious.

    Once the two of them finished their meals, a string of notifications rang in their heads.

    [You have eaten duck bulgogi.]

    [Your attack power and defensive power will be increased by 4% for 6 hours.]

    ¡°......Heok. Your cooking buff is much better than what I thought!¡±

    An increase in 4% in both the attack and defensive power was something that could not easily be encountered by anyone.

    Minhyuk smiled when he looked at Rovan who was in awe. He thought that he should at least do this much while they were in a party together.

    ¡°Wow. With this kind of buffing ability, you will be treated well wherever you go, right?¡±

    This was where Rovan was mistaken.

    Minhyuk could give the highest amount of buff but for this dish, he set the buff to the lowest amount that he could give. This was because he knew that the more he shone brightly and the more he showed him his abilities then there was a high chance that the people around him would be greedy and twisted. He did not y this game to be famous, he just wanted to enjoy his food and eat something delicious. He also knew that he would be tired and would not enjoy ying once he became famous.

    After the two of them finished their meals and arranged everything, they prepared themselves to resume their hunt.

    ¡°Once we kill 20 more of these monsters then our quest will bepleted.¡±

    ¡°Yep.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head while Rovan was deep in thought.

    ¡®I underestimated this man before, but not anymore.¡¯

    Rovan thought that he should tell Minhyuk about the details of his hidden quest. After all, he still had to go with him no matter what.

    At that moment¡­

    [The Boss Monster has appeared!]

    [All monsters residing in the Shrieking Hills will have a 10% increase in their abilities.]

    ¡°......¡±

    Minhyuk and Rovan¡¯s eyes met.

    There were times when boss monsters would appear in the dungeon. However, there were also times when the boss monster wouldn¡¯t appear.

    The semi-boss monster appeared quite often in the Shrieking Hills. But this was the first time that the boss monster had ever appeared in this field.

    ¡°Earlier, I told you that there¡¯s a chance that an epic monster will appear. Right?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Actually, I¡¯m very certain that it¡¯s an epic monster. So let¡¯s go and kill that epic monster and grab that epic item!¡±

    ¡°Yep!¡±

    Well, Minhyuk thought that he could eat the epic named monster so he nodded along as he decided to follow through his ns.

    ***

    Ares, the guild master of the Ares Guild, was the number 1 in the rankings. He reached the number 1 in the official rankings with his Fighter ss. And right now, he was looking at the whisper that Card had sent to him.

    [Card: I¡¯m in hell¡­¡­ They said that I¡¯m a pretty little thing and are acting like bandits¡­¡­]

    [Card: Please, I¡¯m begging you. Please save me¡­¡­ ?? Yesterday, a troll-like bastard asked me if I can make an Aoi Sora doll since I¡¯m a cksmith¡­¡­ and if I can¡¯t make one then he¡¯ll think of me as Aoi Sora¡­...?? ]

    He clicked his tongue then opened the guild window. Then he clicked on Card¡¯s name.

    ¡°Forced expulsion.¡±

    [Do you want to expel Card-nim from the Ares Guild?]

    He answered with a nod.

    [You have expelled Card-nim from the Ares Guild.]

    ¡°Stupid bastard. Tch!¡±

    He spat curses at him as he thought about how the image of the guild had dropped because of what Card had done.

    Then, he went and checked his guild chatting window.

    [Guild Chatting Lava: So in the end, Card-nim was kicked out.]

    [Guild Chatting BadgerHat: Tsk, tsk. He deserves to be kicked out.]

    [Guild Chatting Code: But we don¡¯t have any cksmith anymore, what do we do¡­...?]

    The guild chat seemed quite reasonable and quiet with what happened. In fact, there wasn¡¯t anyone in the Ares Guild who had not done such a dishonest act like that before. Even the guild master, Ares, had done something like that. What was important was whether their actions would be made public or not.

    ¡®I should make an official announcement. I have to tell them that Card was working independently and was kicked out due to his rash actions. It¡¯ll definitely blow over soon.¡¯

    Ares who finally thought about what he was going to do turned to look at the information that the Secret Guild had sent him.

    The Secret Guild was an organization that would buy and sell any information. One would be able to get any information from them as long as they were given enough money.

    ¡®The Legend Guild is preparing to acquire a territory¡­¡­ Do they want to appear in front of the public eye now?¡¯

    Legend Guild was a guild that had an unusual amount of unofficial rankers. Ares was even able to get enough information from the Secret Guild. It even included the key executives of the Legend Guild.

    Genie, Khan and Locke.

    ¡®These guys were also active unofficial rankers in Versal.¡¯

    Ares recalled a memory from that time. He was also one of the rankers in Versal. He tried to fight and wage a war against these three people but he always ended up with defeat. Even though they had an advantage in numbers, they would still always end up with defeat.

    ¡®The shame from that time¡­¡­ In addition, if our guild takes care and kills off the Legend Guild then we will definitely gain fame.¡¯

    Guild wars were clearly different from ughtering NPCs. Guild wars were something that was epted by all users as a type of entertainment. No one would me Ares for trying to target Legend Guild.

    He turned the page once more¡­

    The only problem is¡­¡­

    ¡®We¡¯re unable to pinpoint their exact location.¡¯

    The Secret Guild was the best guild to contact for information. However, even if they were the most powerful regarding information, they would still avoid that specific information.

    ¡®This just goes to show how good the rankers are in the Legend Guild, they have enough strategies to deflect and avoid the ambush and siege of the Secret Guild.¡¯

    Ares shook his head in disappointment.

    We need to kill them off before they can find the time to increase their numbers.

    At that moment¡­

    [Guild Chatting Ruby: This person¡­ isn¡¯t this Versal¡¯s crazy hunter? Rovan? (photo)]

    One of his guild members posted a picture in their guild chatting window. The picture was showing a man with a bright red greatsword and a man with a frying pan on his back.

    ¡°What¡¯s this? Who¡¯s this guy wearing a frying pan behind him?¡±

    ***

    Food Discussion Corner

    Rubbed Duck (?? ???) - Duck rubbed with seasonings and grilled directly after. The only difference it has with bulgogi is that bulgogi is marinated for quite some time before being grilled while the ''rubbed'' dishes are directly grilled right after they are seasoned. Usually made with pork, chicken, beef or ducks.

    Ssamu (??) : Thinly sliced radish. It¡¯s sliced as thin as paper and seasoned lightly. It¡¯s best eaten with grilled meat.

    TL''s Corner!!!

    Quick addition. Aoi Sora, if yo don''t know her, she''s a JPN gravure idol. Uhhh. I think. I never delved deep in the search.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 95 - The Seven Deadly Sins

    Chapter 95: The Seven Deadly Sins

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    30 The Seven Deadly Sins

    Ares was taken aback with that user. He was thoroughly and utterly confused.

    A user with a frying pan on his back?

    However, he soon forgot about this matter since he finally found a loophole from the Secret Guild¡¯s information. He quickly flipped through the pages to find the information that he needed.

    [Rovan, who was a ranker in Versal, has created an ount in Athenae and is leveling up at a rapid pace. He has a legendary ss and is presumed to be a part of the Legend Guild.]

    Ares shook his head when he read the information again. It was something that was entirely possible. As he continued to look at Rovan¡¯s information, he thought¡­

    ¡®We can try to lure Rovan away from them and turn him into a spy¡­¡­ If that¡¯s impossible then it¡¯s also worthwhile to just hunt and kill him.¡¯

    That would start a full-pledged guild war with Legend Guild but he did not care about it. No matter how elite the members of their guild were, Ares Guild was arge guild that could not be easily touched by the Legend Guild.

    [Guild Master Ares: Where are you?]

    [Guild Chatting Ruby: I¡¯m at the Shrieking Hills.]

    Perfect.

    Ares¡¯ mouth widened in a ruthless grin.

    I just created an attack team not too long ago and their level is still low.

    Of course, this did not mean that he was looking down or underestimating Rovan.

    Then, he saw Ruby saying something more in the guild chat.

    [Guild Chatting Ruby: Rovan was a very famous yer in Versal so I have been watching his movements ever since he received the quest from Kemil, the Kingdom¡¯s representative. He even took the chef that no one wanted in his party.]

    Ares shook his head in disagreement. It might have been true that he picked up a useless user but he acted the same way in Versal. He always took someone that would not hinder him before continuing to hunt in ces with limitations in the number of people that could enter.

    ¡®We don¡¯t have to bother about that chef user.¡¯

    After all, he looked like he was just some weird user.

    [Guild Master Ares: Is the 9th Attack Team online?]

    [Guild Chatting Hilton: Yes, GM-nim. I¡¯m online.]

    [Guild Master Ares: Go to the Shrieking Hills right now and offer Rovan the best possible treatment we could offer him.]

    [Guild Chatting Hilton: The best possible treatment we could offer¡­¡­?]

    [Guild Master Ares: Gold, Ares¡¯ hunting grounds and artifacts that could support a yer in the game. The best of the best. In addition, offer him 1 billion as a sry per year.]

    [Guild Chatting Hilton: Keok¡­¡­ 1 billion gold?]

    Hilton did not seem to be aware about the value of the user named Rovan.

    [Guild Master Ares: 1 billion in cash.]

    [Guild Chatting Hilton: ¡­¡­]

    These were the times when rankers were treated much betterpared to celebrities. In fact, Ares alone had hundreds of millions as his monthly profit. And right now, Rovan was just a budding user in Athenae.

    [Guild Chatting Hilton: What if he refuses?]

    [Guild Master Ares: ughter him. ^^]

    Ares sent a smiling emoticon but anyone who read it would definitely feel a chilling down their spines.

    Hilton along with 25 other members of the guild made up the 9th Attack Team. They were low-leveled users but they have been receiving unlimited support from Ares Guild. They might be low-leveled right now but once they developed, they would definitely be among the top 1,000 yers in the country in the future.

    [Guild Chatting Hilton: I have seven people on the line right now. Should I go with this number for now?]

    [Guild Master Ares: Yeah. Seven should be enough for now. But just in case, tell the others to log in and proceed to the Shrieking Hills. Rovan is a user who should never be underestimated.]

    [Guild Chatting Hilton: Yes, I understand.]

    After he finished giving out orders in the guild chat, Ares leaned back on his chair in a leisurely manner.

    ***

    ¡°Quaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Run¡­¡­! It¡¯s extremely strong!¡±

    ¡°Crazy¡­¡­!¡±

    The users who entered the Shrieking Hills were all running away like crazy. The moment that they heard the notification about the appearance of the boss monster they quickly moved to find where it was.

    In fact, countless users that were in the vicinity of the boss mob tried to raid it. In the center of all these users was a giant monster. It was none other than a giant magic duck with a golden chin.

    p, p, p!

    The moment the duck pped its wings¡­

    [Fire Rain.]

    [A direct hit will cause damage.]

    Crackle, fwoosh!

    Huge fireballs fell on top of the users who were fleeing wildly.

    Fwoosh!

    Fwoosh!

    ¡°Kwaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keok!¡±

    Fire rain was a 3rd ss magic and 3rd ss magic was something that users who had just entered the 100th level would not be able to handle.

    ¡°This is a mXthXrfXckXng bnce breaker!¡±

    ¡°But it¡¯s an epic monster, you know. And I heard that epic mobs are really hard to kill.¡±

    Another wave of magic attacks followed and attacked the fleeing users.

    ¡°Quaaaaack!¡±

    [Fire Breath.]

    [A direct hit will cause severe damage.]

    Puhaaaaaaaaaa!

    A raging, hot me suddenly came out from the mouth of the golden magic duck. The users that were standing in the line of fire and were directly hit by the Fire Breath were instantly grayed out and forced to log out from the game.

    ¡°What epic items, run away!¡±

    ¡°Wow¡­¡­ It¡¯s really strong¡­¡­¡±

    Ero, who was running away from the magic duck. saw turned his head and saw two men running. However, contrary to the other users that were fleeing away from the monster, these two men were rushing straight ahead towards where the monster was.

    ¡®Earlier¡­ Those guys¡­¡­!¡¯

    The user with a frying pan on his back and the user with the sword on his back.

    ¡°Frying pan Killer!¡±

    ¡°Frying pan Killer!¡±

    They have be famous within the Shrieking Hills due to their crazy mob hunting style. He saw the Frying Pan Killer suddenly stop after he found where the golden duck was.

    ¡°Wooooooow¡­¡­ It¡¯s an extremely big duck¡­¡­ It looks yummy.¡±

    ¡°Mi, Minhyuk-nim. Th, this is not the time for you to drool¡­...¡±

    The user with the sword beside him looked like he was a brave warrior. On the other hand, Minhyuk was drooling over how big and delicious the golden duck was. Then, he took the frying pan off of his back.

    I need to get those delicious ingredients from this giant magic duck!

    He was certain, ever since he ate the sweet potato warrior and the minotaurus, that the monsters that he ate with his entric Meal skill were all ingredients that were much more delicious than their normal and regr counterparts.

    Minhyuk quickly dashed to where the duck was.

    ¡°This crazy ba¡­¡­¡±

    The man with the sword that was standing beside him looked at him helplessly. Rovan supported his forehead as if it was something that couldn¡¯t be helped at all.

    ¡®That guy is using 3rd ss magic freely¡­¡­¡¯

    He should not take that monster as something simr to the magic ducks or the mini trolls. The golden duck had apletely different magical powerpared to the normal magic ducks.

    The golden duck, who saw Minhyuk running towards where it was, once again used its fire breath to attack him.

    ¡°Quaaaaaack!¡±

    [Fire Breath.]

    [A direct hit will cause severe damage.]

    Puhaaaaaaa!

    The golden duck spewed out a raging, spinning, hot me out of its mouth.

    [Battlefield¡¯s Ruler.]

    [There is a +10 increase in all of your 5 basic stats and a 10% increase in your critical hit rate.]

    This title effect had been useful whenever he fought against monsters that were stronger than him.

    At the same time¡­

    [Frying Pan Gigantification.]

    [You can adjust the size of your frying pan depending on the mana that you will input.]

    Minhyuk turned his frying pan big enough to cover his entire body.

    The moment the Fire Breath met with the frying pan¡­

    Fwoooooosh!

    The Fire Breath was easily dispersed and scattered in all directions. It was unable to ovee the huge magical defense of the frying pan. Minhyuk slowly took one step, two steps forward.

    Puhaaaaaaa!

    Minhyuk slowly inched forward with his frying pan blocking the raging mes from the golden duck¡¯s Fire Breath.

    ¡°Am, amazing¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°I also want to have that frying pan.¡±

    The fleeing users suddenly stopped to watch this scene.

    In that pause, Rovan quickly narrowed the distance between him and the golden magical duck.

    ¡°Quaack!¡±

    As soon as the golden duck realized that its fire breath was not working, it quickly switched to a different magic and used fire field.

    [Fire Field.]

    [The ground will be covered in fire, it will cause severe damage.]

    Crackle! Vwooooom!

    The ground suddenly heated up in a specific area. Minhyuk was in the middle of this area.

    ¡°That user is going to be grayed out now.¡±

    Contrary to what that one user predicted, Minhyuk was not really receiving much damage. With his magical defense at 380, he could even ignore 4th ss magic and strut wherever he wanted.

    Rovan, who just arrived in the vicinity where the golden duck and the fire field was, saw that his HP was quickly plummeting at a speed visible to the naked eye. He quickly attacked before stepping back.

    [Rampage.]

    [Your HP has dropped by 20% while your attack power has increased by 30%.]

    He also thought of using all of his MP in this one attack. He wanted to show them this attack that was the culmination of the Berserker ss!

    [Greatsword¡¯s Lethal Strike.]

    [You will be able to swing your greatsword at an extremely high speed for eight times.]

    He swung his sword eight times in a row. He looked like he was swinging a rapier instead of a greatsword with how fast he swung it.

    aaash!

    ng!

    ng!

    sh!

    ng!

    sh!

    ng!

    sh!

    Whenever he attacked, a ck barrier was quickly created and shielded the body of the golden duck. The shield easily blocked Rovan¡¯s greatsword and out of all eight of his attacks only two were able to reach the body of the golden duck. Even though there were only two strikes that sessfully struck its body, those two strikes were strong enough to cut through a solid barrier.

    ¡°Quaaaaaack!¡±

    Baaaang!

    The duck quickly pped its wings and kicked the ground with its foot. Rovan immediately pulled back when he saw the duck move.

    ¡®How can this duck bastard be so fraudulent?! Why are its attack and defense so high?!¡¯

    Rovan could see that his HP had already fallen down to less than 30%. Before he could even register what¡¯s happening, he saw Minhyuk arrive right in front of the golden duck.

    Minhyuk knew that epic monsters that had appeared in the country¡¯s server could be counted in one man¡¯s hands. And most of these types of monsters were clearly difficult to hunt for the current user base in the country. To hunt these monsters, plenty of high-leveled users needed to team up.

    Hwaaaack!

    Once the golden duck saw that Minhyuk had narrowed the distance between them, it quickly fired a fireball towards Minhyuk. Several fireballs flew at him at a furious speed. Just before the fireball reached him¡­

    [Step.]

    [Quickly move to a distance of 1m.]

    Minhyuk, who dodged in the nick of time, saw the ground explode as the fireball hit it.

    ? Baang!

    Some of the debris flew towards him but Minhyuk did not receive much damage from it.

    [Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship]

    [All stats will have a 15% increase for 5 minutes.]

    [Evasion rate has increased by 30%.]

    [Fatal Strikes rate has increased by 30%.]

    Minhyuk thought that he needed to finish this all at once. He ced the frying pan behind his back and drew Ellie¡¯s sword out of his waist.

    This was the first time Rovan had seen him pull the sword out of his waist. And he could see that there was vast difference when he used the frying panpared to when he was using Ellie¡¯s Sword. He could tell that the rampant sword was working much betterpared to when he used the skill with his frying pan.

    [Rampant Sword.]

    [A flurry of rampant swords with additional 30% attack power will be created for 5 seconds.]

    Shwaaa!

    Shwaaaaa!

    Shwaaaaaa!

    The flurry of swords harshly attacked the golden duck.

    Rustle!

    The duck tried to create a shield to block the attacks. However, the moment the rampant swords hit the shield...

    sh!

    Crack©¥

    The shield was destroyed in a single hit and his attacks directly hit all over the body of the golden duck.

    Spurt!

    sh!

    aaaash!

    After the direct attack of his sword, there were afterimages that continued to attack the body of the golden duck. The afterimages attacked the golden duck for 5 seconds at a speed that was much fasterpared to his normal attack.

    ¡°Quaaaack!¡±

    In the end, the golden duck fell down with a shriek. A series of notifications suddenly rang in Minhyuk and Rovan¡¯s heads.

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [......leveled up.]

    Minhyuk heard eight leveling up notifications while he used ingredient acquisition to gather the ingredients and materials that he could use. The meat of the golden magical duck was immediately sucked and pulled in his inventory. This was acquired by his own skill so it was not shared with Rovan.

    As he was acquiring the ingredients and looking at the materials that dropped, Minhyuk found an old-looking ¡®radish¡¯. An idea shed through Minhyuk¡¯s mind and he immediately picked the material up.

    [Party: Rovan-nim has acquired a Thousand-Year-Old Hasuo(1).]

    ***

    Footnotes

    [Hasuo] ??? - A species of nt under the family of Polygonaceae. It is scientifically known as Fallopia multiflora and is moremonly known as tuber fleeceflower or Chinese knotweed. It is a known ingredient for Chinese traditional medicine and there are more than 100pounds that have been extracted including vonoids and quinones.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 96 - The Seven Deadly Sins

    Chapter 96: The Seven Deadly Sins

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    [Party: You have acquired 5.02 million gold.]

    ¡°Thousand-year-old Hasuo¡­¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk was the one who was interested in the item but Rovan was the one who received it. Rovan had heard about the thousand-year-old hasuo.

    ¡®I heard that it¡¯s a great medicinal item with an abysmal drop rate.¡¯

    For items like medicines or medicinal ingredients, monsters would sometimes drop them but it was a very rare urrence.

    Rovan immediately checked the information of the hasuo.

    (Thousand-year-old Hasuo)

    Material Grade: Medicine

    Special Abilities:

    ©¥ +100 in WIS.

    ©¥ +50 increase in Magical Defense.

    Description: This is a Thousand-year-old Hasuo that has the same taste as a radish. Once you eat this Hasuo that has sucked up mana for a thousand years you will immediately feel great effects. This tastes a lot better than ordinary radishes.

    ¡®Hoo, a +100 on WIS? And there¡¯s also a +50 on magical defense?¡¯

    The +50 on magical defense was not a small amount of power. Magical defense was a stat that was extremely valuable. In fact, for the sake of increasing their magical defense, low-leveled yers would spend arge amount of gold to purchase a unique artifact called the Anti-magic Ring. The Anti-magic Ring was a valuable artifact that could increase the magical defense by 50. However, this medicine was something that was more amazing and more valuablepared to that ring.

    ¡®All of the yers are not allowed to wear two armors.¡¯

    Literally. Just like in the case of the armors, users could also only wear one artifact of each kind on their body. Of course, rings and essories were exceptions to this rule but medicine was something that could not be worn but could be ¡®used¡¯ and applied to the user. Whether you eat 10 or 100 of this medicine, you would not be restricted by the rules of the game. This was also one of the reasons why all of the users were overly enthusiastic about these famous medicines. In all honesty, this thousand-year-old hasuo would be ten times more valuable than the anti-magic ring if it was known and released to the public.

    At that moment, Minhyuk quickly approached him.

    ¡°How is it? Did it say that it¡¯s delicious? What does a thousand-year-old hasuo taste like?¡±

    Rovan looked at the excited Minhyuk and the thousand-year-old hasuo alternatively. After thinking for a moment, he handed the hasuo over to Minhyuk.

    ¡°Here.¡±

    ¡°.....Eh?¡±

    ¡°Please have it. Nim.¡±

    Rovan grinned at him as he handed it to Minhyuk. In fact, Minhyuk was already prepared to pay half of the price if he ever convinced Rovan to split it in half. But Rovan gave it to him willingly so Minhyuk misunderstood him.

    ¡°How much do I owe you?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to pay me. Nim can just eat it if you want.¡±

    ¡°OMG? Really?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Rovan understood that he did not do much when they were hunting the golden duck. At first, he thought that he shouldn¡¯t bother and distract Minhyuk but in the end it turned out that he did not even help that much. This could count as an apology for that.

    Minhyuk received the thousand-year-old hasuo. He smiled widely and broadly at Rovan.

    ¡°Wow! Thank you so much! I¡¯ll eat it well!¡±

    ¡°That 100 WIS is really a lot. There¡¯s no artifact in the world that could increase your WIS by 100. And there¡¯s also the magical defense¡­ Nim, what are you doing?¡±

    Rovan stopped talking when he saw Minhyuk suddenly pull out radishes from his inventory and started to slice it up.

    Minhyuk and Rovan¡¯s gazes met as both of them paused. Rovan scratched his head in embarrassment as he watched Minhyuk and looked at what he was doing.

    In that awkward atmosphere, Minhyuk continued to do what he was doing.

    Swoooooooosh!

    Minhyuk peeled the thousand-year-old hasuo and washed it with water.

    ¡°Keuk!¡±

    Rovan grabbed his hair in frustration.

    How can this madman just peel and cut such a precious thousand-year-old hasuo like it¡¯s just a normal radish?

    ¡°N, no. Nim, you shouldn¡¯t do that to a medicine! Aaaaack! We¡¯re in big trouble. Big trouble! That¡¯s hundred of millions of won in cash!¡±

    ¡°I have a special skill so I can cook medicine in a dish and make it work.¡±

    ¡°R, really?¡±

    Rovan, who was making a fuss, suddenly stared at him as he thought that it was amazing.

    ¡°But what are you going to do with it?¡±

    ¡°Crunchy kkakdugi! It sounds delicious, right?¡±

    The moment he heard his words, Rovan stared at him nkly.

    ¡°This kkakdugi crazy bas¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes? What did you say?¡±

    ¡°N, nothing. Ehemm. Hmm.¡±

    Since he already gave it to him, he had no say on what Minhyuk wanted to do with it. But the idea that he was crazy and not in his right mind still remained unchanged.

    Then, he heard Minhyuk say¡­

    ¡°I think this kkakdugi would taste delicious with sundae soup.¡±

    Huh?

    Did he hear that the thousand-year-old hasuo kkakdugi would be delicious to eat with sundae soup?

    Nod, nod.

    Come to think of it, maybe it¡¯s really not a bad thing to eat the thousand-year-old hasuo kkakdugi with sundae soup?

    Rovan had nowpletely adjusted himself and grasped Minhyuk¡¯s attitude and beliefs.

    ***

    Hilton and the other guild members roamed around the Shrieking Hills. They believed that they could easily find the people they were looking for.

    ¡®Do you know where the user with the frying pan on his back is?¡¯

    Once they found him, it was already the same as finding their target.

    The users that he asked would always tell him: ¡®Ah, the frying pan killer? He went that way.¡¯.

    Frying pan killer?

    He did not care whether it was an inside joke among the users in the Shrieking Hills, all he needed to do was to follow their instructions and he would be able to find them.

    Right now, the two of them were sitting around an earthenware pot. When he looked closely, he could see sundae rice soup boiling in it. He could even see the pork intestines, the pork head meat, the sundae and the rice in the pot.

    The two of them were eating the steaming and piping hot sundae rice soup with some crunchy and crispy kkakdugi.Then, he saw that the user with the frying pan on his back eximed with a ¡°Kyaha!¡± as he sipped some soup and bit on the kkakdugi.

    ¡°The kkakdugi made out of the thousand-year-old hasuo is really delicious!¡±

    Hiltonughed at the ridiculousness of what he heard.

    ¡°He made kkakdugi out of the thousand-year-old hasuo? Who¡¯s crazy enough to do something like that?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right. Maybe they¡¯re just joking around?¡±

    Nevertheless, they still watched them eating for a while.

    He scooped a spoonful of rice from the soup and ced it in his mouth. They could easily imagine the warm and rich vor of the broth.

    Why do I feel a little bored and want to join them over there?

    Then, the user with the frying pan picked some kkakdugi and ced it again in his mouth. His timing was extremely perfect. Just like what they all wanted to ce in their mouth too.

    ¡°I think I can hear the sound of the crunchy and crispy kkakdugi all the way over here.¡±

    ¡°Wow, they look like they¡¯re really enjoying that delicious sundae rice soup¡­¡­¡±

    They havepletely forgotten about why they came here and just immersed themselves and watched their mukbang.

    They were now watching the frying pan user tilt the pot up as he slurped the rest of the sundae rice soup. He ate so much rice soup and he even finished the leftover kkakdugi. It even looked like the pots and tes did not need to be washed with how clean they were.

    Then, other guild members appeared right beside Hilton.

    ¡°I think we¡¯re enough to deal with them. You naughty kids!¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s the number 1 ranker in Versal. This is a great opportunity to feel a sense of satisfaction in beating up Rovan, right?¡±

    Only seven people set off first but after they heard the news that they could have the chance to hunt and beat up Rovan, a flurry of guild members flocked to where they were. Right now, there were 25 guild members in the Shrieking Hills.

    ¡°Shit. You look like a gangster. Only five people should go over the rest of you should block their path of retreats.¡±

    ¡°We understand.¡±

    All of them nodded their heads once they heard Hilton¡¯s orders.

    At that moment, a whisper from Ares popped out.

    [Ares: Hilton, is Rovan there?]

    [Hilton: Ah, yes guild master-nim. We just found him.]

    [Ares: What is he doing right now? He was called the ¡®Crazy Hunter¡¯ in Versal because he could hunt non-stop. Is he doing the same right now?]

    Hilton casted a sidelong nce to where the two of them were located as he tried to answer this overly eager question.

    [Hilton: They are eating sundae rice soup.]

    [Ares: ¡­...Huh?]

    [Hilton: They are eating sundae rice soup together with a self-proimed kkakdugi made with the thousand-year-old hasuo. We think that the thousand-year-old hasuo was just a joke and they were just saying it for fun.]

    [Ares: A thousand-year-old hasuo kkakdugi? That¡¯s some strange joke.You should talk to him as much as possible and get him to our side. You know this, right?]

    [Ares: Of course. Ah, the 9th Attack Team and most of the 8th team are here.]

    [Ares: Yes. Just in case, I also told them to log in. Are they all logged in because they wanted to kill Rovan?]

    [Hilton: Yes. Their hands are all itching.]

    [Ares: First of all, focus on persuading him.]

    [Hilton: Please rest assured!]

    [Ares: Let me know if it did not work, alright?]

    Hilton knew the meaning of ¡®Let me know if it did not work, alright?¡¯. Once Rovan refused them, they would immediately PK him right there and then. An infinite PK for Rovan will start from there.

    They slowly moved. It was time to approach the user with the frying pan and Rovan who just finished eating their sundae rice soup and kkakdugi.

    ***

    Minhyuk had already met all the requirements and conditions for the quest that he received from Kemil.

    Then, together with Rovan, he cooked and ate some sundae rice soup and made kkakdugi with the thousand-year-old hasuo.

    [You have eaten a kkakdugi out of the Thousand-year-old Hasuo.]

    [The penalty for the medicine has been ignored. However, this does not work for many people.]

    [A Medicine Dish. You have obtained additional stats.]

    [You have gained +111 WIS and +60 magical defense.]

    Minhyuk gave a smile of satisfaction.

    The kkakdugi made with the thousand-year-old hasuo was truly delicious. Originally, kkakdugi made withmon radishes would not be delicious if it was eaten right away but the kkakdugi made with the thousand-year-old hasuo was different. It was eaten right away but it tasted like it was kkakdugi that was made and stored for quite a long time. It was spicy, sour, savory and definitely ripe.

    Just as they finished eating, Minhyuk saw some users heading towards where they were. He could see that Rovan was wary of them.

    ¡®Ares Guild¡­¡­!¡¯

    He recently saw in the guild chat that Ares Guild was trying to chase and hunt the Legend Guild.

    ¡°Minhyuk-nim. If you ever find yourself in a dangerous situation, quickly run away. I¡¯ll take care of it so don¡¯t worry.¡±

    ¡°Eh?¡±

    Not long after, the seven users stood right in front of them. At the forefront was Hilton. He was carrying quite a pretty set of idoryu.

    ¡°Hello, I¡¯m Hilton.¡±

    He politely bowed his head towards them. Rovan nodded his head in acknowledgment as he looked at the surroundings.

    ¡®There¡¯s more than 20 people¡­¡­ damn it.¡¯

    Rovan narrowed his eyes at them.

    Did all of theme to get me? Or?

    ¡°Should I tell it to you bluntly or do you want to talk over some drinks?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s good to be straight-forward and blunt.¡±

    ¡°Our Ares Guild wants to recruit you, Rovan-nim. You were a legend in Versal. The tireless hunter. Rovan, the Crazy Hunter.¡±

    ¡°Hiyaa. There¡¯s someone who still remembers me from that screwed-up game? As you can see, right now I am¡­¡­¡±

    He shrugged his shoulders lightly as if to indicate that he was just an insignificant user. Before they even came, he had already cancelled and took off all his artifacts and he was only wearing a sloppy sword and armor.

    ¡°I¡¯m just ying games to have fun.¡±

    However, he quickly turned on his guild chat window that he had previously turned off.

    [Guild Chatting Rovan: The Ares Guild hase for me. It¡¯s something like a deration of war.]

    [Guild Master Genie: Hmm¡­¡­]

    Genie was silent for a moment.

    ¡°Aha. Is that so? You look like you were wearing some fancy armor and a bright red sword earlier. It looks like it¡¯s a bit too fancy and valuable for someone who¡¯s just ying for fun. If youe to our guild then we will equip you with the unique Brilliant Armor set and Baroque¡¯s Sword. We will also support you and allow you to hunt in the Undead¡¯s Forest hunting ground. We will also give you hundreds of millions as your sry per month. This was something that the Ares¡¯ GM-nim has told me to ry to you.¡±

    Hilton was smiling darkly at him as he suggested their proposal.

    Meanwhile, Rovan was looking at his reactivated guild chat window.

    [Guild Master Genie: Do whatever you want, Rovan-nim.]

    [Guild Chatting Rovan: Really? For real? You won¡¯t regret it?]

    [Guild Master Genie: The fact that they had approached Rovan-nim meant that they were already dering war against us. And we¡¯re already going to start upying a territory and marking our ce here in Athenae. But, are you sure that you can walk out of there safely? Do you want me to send you some backup? Ah, you¡¯re in the Shrieking Hills¡­¡­]

    They wouldn¡¯t be able to send him enough backup since their level wouldn¡¯t be appropriate and they wouldn¡¯t be able to enter the field.

    Not long after, Genie said¡­

    [Guild Master Genie: What kind of user are you with?]

    ***

    Footnotes

    [idoryu] ???: a type of swordsmanship. Dual wielding sword is a swordsmanship that uses both hands to fight. Both hands would be wielding swords.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 97 - The Seven Deadly Sins

    Chapter 97: The Seven Deadly Sins

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    It wasn''t the time to answer that question.

    "Are you talking to Legend''s GM-nim?"

    "Did you say wizard?"

    "I said Legend."

    Hilton smiled at him as he quickly sent a message in their guild chat.

    [Guild Chatting Hilton: Rovan doesn''t seem like he''s too willing to join us. He didn''t even blink at my generous proposal. Let''s start with Rovan''s death.]

    [Guild Chatting Minmin: Then, how about the user beside him?]

    [Guild Chatting Hilton: Rovan is not easy to deal with. Wait for my signal. Once I send it the mages should start with an intensive attack with the magic that they casted in advance.]

    [Guild Master Ares: I knew this would happen in the end.]

    Hilton looked at his surroundings then he nodded slightly.

    At that moment¡­

    [Ice Arrow!]

    [An ice missile isunched to attack the opponent.]

    [Prison]

    [A fog of ice will freeze and trap your opponents.]

    [ck Touch]

    [An additional 25% damage will ur once a fatal blow is dealt.]

    [Back Attack!]

    [A strong attack! Additional 36% damage to your attack.]

    Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!

    The attacks suddenly came down like lightning bolts out of the blue.

    Rovan, who was just getting ready, quickly re-wore all of his artifacts. However, he still frowned when he saw the iing magic attacks from the users surrounding them.

    ''This¡­¡­ won''t stop¡­¡­''

    He thought that it would be better for them to force himself to log-out. At the very least he wouldn''t be able to see their dirty mugs after that.

    Minhyuk, who was watching silently, flew in front of him.

    [Frying Pan Gigantification.]

    [You can adjust the size of your frying pan depending on the mana that you will input.]

    His frying pan became huge enough to block the iing attacks. The frying pan grew as much as 4m long.

    "Heok?!"

    Hilton was shocked still.

    At the same time, Minhyuk heard notifications.

    [Your frying pan was erged excessively.]

    [Your Mana consumption is doubled.]

    However, everything was fine. After all, he had enough MP because he just ate the thousand-year-old hasuo that Rovan gave him. Minhyuk swung his frying pan at all the magic and skills that were flying straight towards them.

    Fwooooosh!

    Everyone could hear the air splitting as the huge frying pan was swung here and there. Then, the magic and skills hit the frying pan one by one.

    aang!

    ng, ttaeng!

    Baang!

    Ring!

    ng!

    [You havemitted an act of poor etiquette.]

    [User Bedo is in a temporary chaotic state.]

    [If the other party initiates an attack, the other party will not receive any penalty.]

    [Magical Reflection.]

    [You have returned the magical attack back to your enemy.]

    [You havemitted an act of poor etiquette.]

    [User Hororong is in a temporary chaotic state.]

    [If the other party initiates an attack, the other party will not receive any penalty.]

    [Magical Reflection.]

    [You have returned the magical attack back to your enemy.]

    [......act of poor etiquette.]

    There were a total of five spells that were thrown out but Hilton could see that these spells were bounced off and reflected back to the users who threw it.

    "Keuaaaack!"

    "Keuaaack!"

    Hilton looked at the situation as he heard shrieks and screams all around. Before they could even react, Rovan with his red sword had already narrowed the distance between them.

    ¡°......What the hell is that frying pan?!¡±

    Rovan swung his sword as he shouted back at the screaming Hilton.

    ¡°It¡¯s the Frying Pan Killer!¡±

    [Golden Idoryu.]

    [There will be a 20% increase in damage of one single blow.]

    Hilton quickly pulled out his two idoryus and blocked the greatsword that was attacking his side.

    Crash!

    ¡®H, he¡¯s extremely strong¡­¡­!¡¯

    He was shocked beyond belief. Hilton was considered to be the strongest out of all of them here but the moment that Rovan¡¯s greatsword made contact with his swords, he couldn¡¯t even bear the power and flew to the side.

    Roll, roll©¥

    Hilton rolled around twice to stabilize his body. As soon as he tried to stand up, he could see Rovan swinging his sword at him again.

    sh!

    ¡°Keuheup!¡±

    He could see that his HP had been cut down by arge degree when Rovan¡¯s sword struck down on his leg.

    Rovan saw that there were three users that were running to where they were. They were using their skills as they tried to rush towards their location.

    [Beast''s Run]

    [Attacks will beunched indiscriminately.]

    [Power Strike!]

    [There will be a 26% increase in damage for a single blow.]

    [Brilliant Spear]

    [There will be an explosion if the attack is sessful.]

    However, Rovan did not retreat. His eyes glinted sharply as he looked at all the iing attacks.

    [Greatsword''s Linked Swordsmanship.]

    [You will be able to swing your greatsword at four times its normal speed.]

    Vwooooom!

    aaaash!

    He gently lifted his sword and swung it quickly. He quickly narrowed the distance and cut through the chest of another user with his second swing.

    sh!

    He swiftly leaned back to avoid the attack of another person from his side and struck him with his greatsword.

    Bang!

    "Keuk!"

    He dodged another attack that was fired behind him then stabbed at the user behind him with great strength.

    Stab!

    The man was directly hit and flew back.

    All of these happened in just a moment.

    As he caught his breath, he could see another wave of users rushing towards him. Their number was now more than ten. In addition, the mages that were caught in the spells that reflected from Minhyuk''s frying pan had caught their bearings and were already preparing to cast new magic.

    [Sword of Fury.]

    [There will be an additional 50% for strong lunges and stabs, if a vital strike is sessful then the additional attack power will be 80%.]

    Minhyuk ran to where Rovan was and stabbed the user that tried to attack him with all his might. He sessfully stabbed him right in the middle of his chest.

    Crack!

    Ellie¡¯s Sword swiftly prated through the red armor. Then¡­

    Baaaaam!

    The man¡¯s armor exploded loudly as he flew back after receiving such a direct hit.

    ¡°Keoheop! T, that¡¯s impossible¡­¡­! How can my HP drop by 60% with just one hit¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Hilton was shocked when he saw and heard his member¡¯s words.

    ¡®Is he a member of the Legend Guild too?¡¯

    Minhyuk stood beside Rovan while Rovan¡¯s mind spun quickly.

    ¡®We don¡¯t have any chance of winning right now. No matter how strong the two of us are we won¡¯t be able to beat all of these users.¡¯

    We need to find another way!

    At that moment, like a lightbulb lighting up, Rovan shouted ¡®Ah!¡¯. It seemed like he had found a way out of their predicament.

    ¡°The Power of Sin¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°Minhyuk-nim, please follow me from now on.¡±

    ¡°......I understand.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head obediently while Rovan was thinking about the Power of Sin.

    ¡®Once we reach the ce where the Power of Sin lies then everyone would be in an abnormal state. But Minhyuk and I have a high magical defense. Especially Minhyuk, he has an absurd amount of magical defense.¡¯

    He was hoping that his high magical defense would be able to protect Minhyuk once they entered that ce. In his case, he brought the consumable artifact Angel¡¯s wings. The moment he consumed Angel¡¯s wings, his immunity would increase by +100.

    Now, all he needed to do was lure the people that were after them to where the Power of Sin was.

    We need to get there!

    Dash!

    Rovan and Minhyuk started to run. Meanwhile, Minhyuk looked behind at the enemies that were chasing after them.

    [Rampant Sword.]

    [A flurry of rampant swords with additional 30% attack power will be created for 5 seconds.]

    The group that was chasing after Minhyuk and Rovan suddenly saw a flurry of sword attacks with dozens of afterimagesing straight at them!

    ¡®Most of these attacks are definitely far less effective than the real attacks!¡¯

    A user with the name of Ken tried to run through the flurry of swords with that thought in mind. But¡­

    [You have received a fatal blow.]

    sh!

    The sword attacks shed all over his body and forced him to log-out.

    ¡°......Heok!¡±

    sh!

    sh!

    sh!

    For 5 seconds, they stood still and tried to pass through carefully. No matter what they thought, they really couldn¡¯t pass through the flurry of rampant swords quickly and not receive any damage. If they rushed in recklessly, like what Ken did earlier, then they would be forced to log-out!

    When the effect of the rampant sword, they groaned loudly. They couldn¡¯t even stand straight and keep their bnce.

    ¡°Healers. Quick, cast heal!¡±

    As soon as Hilton¡¯s voice fell, Minhyuk and Rovan had already ran away from them.

    [Guild Chatting Hilton: Quickly chase those escaping bastards!]

    [Guild Master Ares: What¡¯s the situation right now?]

    [Guild Chatting Hilton: GM-nim! The chef caught us by surprise. In my opinion, that user with the frying pan is just pretending to be a chef!]

    [Guild Master Ares: What do you mean by pretending?]

    [Guild Chatting Hilton: The chef¡¯s estimated level is at Lv200. I¡¯m sure that the Legend Guild is trying to raise that chef with great care!]

    [Guild Master Ares: ¡­...That¡¯s unexpected. So what¡¯s the situation right now?]

    [Guild Chatting Hilton: They¡¯re on the run and we¡¯re chasing after them.]

    [Guild Master Ares: Five people have already been forced to log-out, are you sure you can do it? I don¡¯t want to experience such shame and disgrace if you let those two go.]

    [Guild Chatting Hilton: They¡¯re just trapped rats.]

    Hilton started running with the remaining guild members that he had with him. They chased after the two escaping guys. He believed that there was only one reason why they were running away.

    Is it because they realized that they had no chance of winning against us?

    ¡®I¡¯ll kill the two of you, then I¡¯ll take that frying pan for myself!¡¯

    He did not know the exact capabilities and functions of that frying pan but he was sure that it was something that shouldn¡¯t be overlooked. He was certain that it was something that was worth a fortune.

    The Ares Guild began to chase after them at a rapid pace.

    ***

    ¡°Haa, haa.¡±

    ¡°Heok, heok, heok.¡±

    Minhyuk and Rovan were running at their fastest speed. Rovan took the lead and guided him along the way while Minhyuk covered their backs.

    Fwoooooom!

    aaang!

    sh!

    The person that struck with his dagger was sent flying back. He got embedded in one of the trees.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk looked behind them and saw that the bandit-like users were running in between the trees.

    ¡°Are we there yet?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re almost there.¡±

    The road that Rovan was leading him to was getting rougher and harder to traverse.

    ¡°Hurry, catch those bastards!¡±

    They ran faster when they heard someone shouting right behind them.

    As they ran further inside, Rovan could see that the ground, the air, the grass, the trees and even the vapor that was rising from the ground were all ck.

    ¡®It¡¯s here¡­¡­ The hidden ce where the Great Mage¡¯s Power of the Seven Deadly Sins was hidden¡­¡­!¡¯

    Once he overcame these seven deadly sins, then it would mean that he had cleared his hidden quest.

    ¡°Let¡¯s stop here. We have to go together. Once we go inside the curse of the Power of Sin will fall on me and Minhyuk-nim. The same will also happen to them.¡±

    As he said that, he took out the Angel¡¯s wings and quickly ate it.

    [Your immunity against abnormal status will be increased by +100 for 30 minutes.]

    ¡°Ack! It tastes disgusting¡­¡­ I¡¯m sorry. I don¡¯t have one for Minhyuk-nim.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to give me one if it tastes bad.¡±

    The two men finally saw Hilton and his group once again.

    ¡®Did their numbers rise again?¡¯

    It seemed that the number of people had increased while they were chasing after them.

    Maybe the Ares Guild had called for more backup.

    Currently, the number of people surrounding them were at thirty. This was quite arge number of people dispatched just to deal with two people.

    ¡°Hoo. Have you gone tired after running away like rats?¡±

    Rovan raised his middle finger at him and grinned at him.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you just leave Legend Guild ande to Ares Guild?¡±

    ¡°You want me to work under Ares? Why would I want to work for that weakling of a bastard?¡±

    Rovan was a prideful person.

    Hilton¡¯s forehead creased in irritation, however, he couldn¡¯t deny what he said. Once Rovan developed well, he would probably be able to surpass Ares. This was how great his potential growth was.

    ¡°So that¡¯s what you think. How about you? We will offer you 1 billion in cash. It may not be much but we intend to pay you that much in a year.¡±

    Once he heard that, Minhyuk answered him calmly.

    ¡°It¡¯s really not that much.¡±

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    No, it really isn¡¯t much for him! His assets are way over the roof. He¡¯s not being sarcastic! Don¡¯t take it the wrong way. Kekekekeke.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Of course, he says that¡¯s not much. I love how nomittal Minhyuk can be.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 98 - The Seven Deadly Sins

    Chapter 98: The Seven Deadly Sins

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    ¡°Is that so?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Minhyuk and Rovan nodded their heads in unison while Hilton thought this¡­

    ¡®......1 billion in cash is not much?!¡¯

    In fact, Rovan had gained a huge amount of cash while he yed in Versal but the chef standing right next to him was much calmer than him when he heard that amount of money.

    ¡®Such enviable punks!¡¯

    Hilton winked and his guild members narrowed the distance between them by one or two steps.

    Then, Rovan made eye contact with Minhyuk¡­

    ¡®Now!¡¯

    Rovan gave a signal then he quickly rushed to the area where the earth was ck while Minhyuk quickly ran after him.

    ¡°Those enviable bastards¡­¡­ No, no. Run after those shitty bastards!¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    The guild members of Ares Guild began to run after them once again.

    Rovan stepped over the ck ground at the same time as Minhyuk. However, the curse was not triggered immediately even after they entered the area. Rovan looked behind him and checked if each and every member of the Ares Guild had stepped inside.

    ¡®They¡¯re here¡­¡­!¡¯

    At that moment¡­

    A cold and dreary voice resounded all over the area. The voice seemed to havee from the ck ground that they were stepping on.

    [Subara basoora asdora.]

    ¡®What the hell. This voice sounds like Voldemort!¡¯

    The members of the Ares Guild looked around after noticing that there was something wrong. Suddenly, a ck wind suddenly gushed up from the ground.

    Puhaaaaaaaa!

    The ck wind gathered and spun as it slowly formed the image of a skull.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaah!¡±

    The ck skull shrieked and passed through one of the users¡¯ bodies. The user shuddered strongly like a leaf blown by a strong wind. The ck skull moved so fast that they couldn¡¯t even follow it with their eyes.

    Puhaaaa!

    Puhaaaaaaaa!

    [You have stepped in the Great Mage Rafielt¡¯s domain.]

    [You have triggered the Seven Deadly Sins.]

    [All immunity against abnormal status has been ignored.]

    [All magical defenses have been ignored.]

    [Seven Deadly Sins: Gluttony]

    ¡°Glut¡­ tony?¡±

    Rovan read the characters of the triggered sin. He knew that the Seven Deadly Sins included pride, greed, lust, envy, wrath, sloth and gluttony.

    ¡®I heard that the most powerful sin is gluttony¡­¡­¡¯

    Rovan was shocked when he saw that all of the immunity and magical defense would be ignored. He knew that everyone would be wiped out in this ce today.

    ¡°Let¡¯s all die together, you crazy punks!¡±

    ¡°Damn it!¡±

    ¡°It, it¡¯s a trap!¡±

    Then. at that moment¡­

    Thud!

    Rovan mmed his head to a tree. He could hear someone continuously shouting in his head.

    ¡®Eat, eat, eat, eat, I want to eat everything!¡¯

    ¡°Keoheob!¡±

    After shouting, he quickly dumped all of the food he had in his inventory. Then, with his shaking hands, he hastily ate everything in sight. He even ate the raw meat directly. The same thing was happening to everyone in the Ares Guild.

    However, even if Rovan was busy trying to gorge on the food in front of him, he could still see that the man standing beside him waspletely fine.

    It was none other than Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk looked at them with confusion and puzzlement as he watched all of them frantically pull everything they had in their inventory.

    ¡°The Seven Deadly Sins, Gluttony? But I still feel the same?¡±

    He scratched his head in confusion as he continued to look at the rest of the people around him.

    ***

    Team Leader Park was filled with admiration as he watched Ares Guild chase after Rovan and Minhyuk on the monitor. His hands were all sweaty in trepidation and shock.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t want to believe it but¡­¡­ Are you telling me that User Minhyuk¡¯s appetite is already as big as the appetite of the Sin of Gluttony?¡±

    Team Leader Park¡¯s eyes were trained on the monitor as what he just said became true.

    The members of the Ares Guild were frantically eating everything they could. They were even eating raw meat and unripe vegetables and fruits. But Minhyuk was just standing there and looking at them curiously.

    ¡°What in the world¡­ How strong is that user¡¯s appetite¡­¡­¡±

    Team Leader Park continued to look at the monitor, then he suddenly gasped in surprise.

    ¡°Do you know what¡¯s more surprising?¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°Look at the rest of the users.¡±

    Lee Minhwa looked at the rest of the users hurriedly trying to fill their stomachs with any food that they could get their hands on. They werepletely out of control. In other words, they had lost their minds as they becamepletely obsessed with eating.

    ¡°I don¡¯t believe that a man with such a huge appetite like himself is living such a carefree life.¡±

    ¡°Wow¡­¡­¡±

    She was in awe when she understood Team Leader Park¡¯s words.

    ¡°Are you saying¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°I believe User Minhyuk has such a strong mental power. I believe he has trained himself to have such strong mental power, right? We don¡¯t know why User Minhyuk has such a huge appetite but what¡¯s clear is that User Minhyuk has been living with such a terrible curse for a very long time.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Lee Minhwa looked at User Minhyuk on the monitor. She was once again in awe and admiration. However, she also felt sad for him.

    ¡®He¡¯s a man who has been living with such a huge burden of an appetite that¡¯s scary enough to make someone go crazy.¡¯

    ***

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk saw that everyone hurriedly ate everything that they had in their inventory only after they heard the notifications. As a matter of fact, he was also cursed with the same curse but he did not feel anything wrong.

    As he looked at the users all around him, he thought that they were somehow simr to him. He remembered that time when he had first contracted bulimia and ate everything that they had in the refrigerator. It didn¡¯t end there. He even ate tissues and other things like that. His condition at that time was just that serious.

    But Minhyuk was able to gradually ovee it.

    The will to live and the strong determination to not eat everything he could. He even frantically exercised just so he could curb and suppress his appetite and survive to live another day.

    Is that the reason why?

    Perhaps it was the reason why Minhyuk was not in such a precarious situation.

    Then, he heard Rovan say to him...

    ¡°Chomp, chomp, chomp, how could Minhyuk-nim be okay in this situation?¡±

    ¡°Maybe because I have been living with this curse for quite a long time.¡±

    Minhyuk had been living with the curse of gluttony.

    Rovan couldn¡¯t quite understand what Minhyuk meant but he still hurriedly told him¡­

    ¡°Minhyuk-nim, tie me with a rope!¡±

    ¡°......Ah. Yes!¡±

    Minhyuk quickly pressed Rovan to a tree and tied him tightly with a rope. At the same time, Hilton and the members of the Ares Guild had already eaten their way through all of the food in their inventory.

    ¡°I¡¯m hungry!¡±

    ¡°I want to eat, I really want to eat. I¡¯m so hungry that I could die!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m huuuuuuungry!¡±

    A user who couldn¡¯t curb his hunger reached his hands towards the ground. Then, he dug some soil and ced it in his mouth.

    ¡°Chew, chew, chew, chew! I¡¯m hungry!¡±

    The other Ares Guild members also began to dig through the ground and eat dirt.

    Minhyuk was left speechless with their actions.

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe that they are eating dirt! What strange people!¡±

    ¡°Chew, chew!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to eat dirt either!¡±

    As Minhyuk said that, he gripped his frying pan tightly as he slowly walked forward. These people had tried to PK him and Rovan, but some of them had not yet be chaotic users. Minhyuk stood in front of one of the users that had be chaotic.

    ¡°Gulp, gulp, chomp, chew, chew!¡±

    Then, he aimed his frying pan and mmed it down over the heads of the users who had eaten dirt.

    Bang!

    One of the users was forced to log out. He even dropped some artifacts and some gold. Minhyuk slowly began his journey of logging out the members of the Ares Guild one by one.

    ***

    Ares tilted his head in confusion when he saw their guild chat window suddenly turn quiet.

    [Guild Master Ares: What¡¯s the situation right now?]

    No one answered him even though he asked in the guild chat. About three minutester¡­

    [Guild Chatting Hilton: ##%$@%$!3!]

    [Guild Chatting Bless: %?@$!$ I¡¯m hungry!]

    [Guild Chatting Carlo: Huh%#% I want to eat! Damn it!]

    [Guild Chatting Lux: What¡¯s wrong with them?]

    Ares realized that something unusual had happened to them. Just earlier, he received a message from Hilton that they had caught up with them and had them surrounded.

    So what the hell is going on here?

    Just as he was going to ask this¡­

    [Guild Chatting: Bless-nim has been forced to log out.]

    [Guild Chatting: Carlo-nim has been forced to log out.]

    [Guild Chatting: Haman-nim has been forced to log out.]

    ¡°......!¡±

    Ares jumped up in shock. It was only around 3~5 seconds since theyst sent their messages but their guild members are quickly dying one by one.

    [Guild Chatting: Hororong-nim has been forced to log out.]

    [Guild Chatting: Galgal-nim has been forced to log out.]

    [Guild Chatting: ...]

    The notifications did not end. There were at least 10 people who had been forced to log out. Not long after, the guild members who had been forced to log out of the game sent messages in their guild chat through their mobile phones in real life.

    [Guild Chatting Hororong: GM-nim. All of the members who came to the Shrieking Hills fell under the curse of Gluttony, one of the Seven Deadly Sins.]

    ¡°Seven Deadly Sins?¡±

    Ares knew about this.

    There were trials that were hidden all over the continent in Athenae and once you get past these trials then you would be able to reap great rewards.

    They¡¯re facing that Seven Deadly Sins? So does that mean that all of the guild members died without oveing the sin?

    [Guild Master Ares: Then, did you die because of extreme hunger?]

    [Guild Chatting Hororong: No. The Frying Pan Man user killed us with his frying pan.]

    [Guild Master Ares: That user, wasn¡¯t he under the curse?]

    [Guild Chatting Hororong: He was also clearly in the area within the scope of the curse. But we¡¯re not sure why he can move rationally¡­¡­]

    Ares¡¯ expression turned solemn.

    His guild members were dying one by one under the hands of an unknown user.

    Why on earth is that user not affected by the curse? Don¡¯t tell me¡­?

    [Guild Master Ares: He definitely has the Curse¡¯s Torch!]

    [Guild Chatting Hororong: Ah¡­¡­! The torch that can protect you from any and all curses?!]

    The Curse¡¯s Torch was an artifact that he once read about from the Athenae¡¯s homepage. It only said that someone had that artifact in their hands but they did not reveal who that person was or how much the artifact was worth. But it was traded at 40 billion gold. And that user was right in front of them!

    Meanwhile, the notifications about his members being forced to log out had suddenly be less frequent.

    ***

    Minhyuk had already killed all of the chaotic users. The artifacts and gold that they had dropped were truly enormous in number.

    As he tried to quickly think of a way to get rid of the users who had not yet be chaotic, he pulled out a steamed bun from his inventory.

    The moment he took out the steamed bun¡­

    Turn!

    Turn!

    Turn!

    Turn!

    They all turned to Minhyuk like zombies discovering a fresh source of food. And in a blink of an eye, they all drooled at the same time.

    ¡°Waaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Give it to meeeee!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaang, I want to eat!¡±

    Those who had lost their reason becamre much easier to handle. All of them came rushing to where he was. Minhyuk quickly moved around them with a steamed bun in his hands. Then, a user suddenly hit Minhyuk.

    [You havemitted an act of poor etiquette.]

    [User Ken is in a temporary chaotic state.]

    [If the other party initiates an attack, the other party will not receive any penalty.]

    Minhyuk smashed the face of the user who tried to grab his arm that was holding the steamed bun. And just like that, whenever the users came to him and made contact, he would go ahead and deal with them. After all of the members of the Ares Guild went under the temporary chaotic state, Minhyuk climbed up a tree to avoid them.

    Then, he tore the steamed bun in half. He was eating the ¡®Vegetable Steamed Bun¡¯. This was considered to be the crown prince of all of the steamed buns.

    ¡°Pl, please¡­¡­ Please give me just a piece of that little green onion in there. Just a bit¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Please give me a piece of meat over here. I will give you all of my gold and artifacts.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll give you my One Piece Nami toy figure! Please just give me one bite!¡±

    They had been moring for just one bite that they already offered everything that they could offer. However, Minhyuk finished off half of the steamed bun in one bite.

    ¡°Keuaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuhuhuhu¡­¡­ It looks delicious¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°A, are you crying?¡±

    Minhyuk felt a bit awkward.

    It was quite a sight to see. Over ten people crying over a piece of steamed bun. Without realizing it, a small piece of meat, about the size of half of a fingernail, fell off of the steamed bun in his hands.

    ¡°Aaaaaaack! That¡¯s mine!¡±

    ¡°Yaah! I¡¯m your boss! Are you saying that one piece of meat is much more important than your boss?!¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that obvious?!¡±

    They fought amongst themselves for that one piece of meat that fell off of Minhyuk¡¯s steamed bun. Then, one of the users sessfully ced the piece of meat in his mouth.

    At that moment¡­

    Stab!

    Another user hacked him to death with his axe.

    ¡°......Wow. I can¡¯t believe you killed your teammate just because he ate that small piece of meat.¡±

    Minhyuk shook his head. He wondered if he would ever turn like that.

    ¡°I can¡¯t be like that.¡±

    He quickly denied the reality in front of him. The moment he saw that the user went back to digging and eating dirt he quickly gripped his frying pan and dealt with them one by one.

    ng!

    ng!

    ng!

    Huge amount of gold and artifacts came pouring down.

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    Well¡­ That¡¯s a scary scenario. And living like that is much scarier. Apuse for Minhyuk for living with that condition and not losing his mind over it. We live for a strong MC!

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Here, here! A big round of apuse for Minhyuk and his incredible spirit!

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 99 - The Seven Deadly Sins

    Chapter 99: The Seven Deadly Sins

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Only one person was left after everyone else was forced to log out. It was Hilton, the person who led the people who chased after them. He was still digging around and eating dirt.

    ¡°Chomp, chew, gulp!¡±

    He had truly lost control of everything.

    ¡®Waaaaaa. I want to move my body but I can¡¯t control it!¡¯

    He was filled with despair as he watched Minhyuk slowly approach him. He was filled with despair as he thought of all the gold and artifacts that would drop from him once he was forced to log out.

    ¡®Please, I wish I hadn¡¯t done this¡­¡­!¡¯

    At that moment¡­

    ¡°I¡¯m hungryyyyyyyyy! Keuheeup! Mi, Minhyuk-nim¡­¡­ Please tie me up and take me in front of him¡­...!¡±

    Rovan quickly said, barely holding on to his reason. Minhyuk approached him, untied him from the tree before tying him again with the rope. Then he helped him walk in front of Hilton.

    Rovan was quite furious with Hilton and the Ares Guild. They tried to PK him and dered war against his guild. For that reason, he wanted to get and save Hilton¡¯s dark history as much as possible. He slowly crawled forward.

    ¡°Keeeughk! I¡¯m hu, hungryyyyy¡­¡­¡±

    Then, he moved near Hilton and whispered in his ear.

    ¡°Legend Guild, number one!¡±

    ¡®Th, this fXcking bastard!¡¯

    He knew that Rovan was clearly mocking himself. Just saying that Legend Guild was number one meant that they were above the Ares Guild. Then, he heard Rovan gasp as if he couldn¡¯t contain his hunger anymore.

    ¡°Haaaa. Haaa, haaa, haaa¡­¡­ I¡¯m hungry. I¡¯m going to eat you.¡±

    ¡®Th, this crazy bastard. Stop blowing in my ears!¡¯

    Hilton¡¯s body trembled once he heard Rovan¡¯s next words.

    ¡°Your ears look like dumplings.¡±

    Chomp!

    ¡°Keuaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Eek! That¡¯s not something you should eat, Rovan-nim!¡±

    ¡°Chew, chew. Dumplings are delicious!¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡­¡±

    As soon as he confirmed that Rovan had gone crazy with hunger, Minhyuk held his frying pan tightly. Then he mmed it on Hilton¡¯s head.

    ng!

    Minhyuk looked around after he rescued the poor(?) Hilton from Rovan¡¯s grasp. The gold and artifacts that dropped from the users that he forced to log out were scattered everywhere.

    ¡°I¡¯m hungryyyyy! My dumplingggg!¡±

    Rovan rolled around on the ground as he shouted about his hunger. Minhyuk was left with no choice but to tie him back on a tree before collecting all of the dropped gold and artifacts.

    [You have acquired 1.372 million gold.]

    [You have acquired Akas¡¯ Gloves.]

    [You have acquired 2.131 million gold.]

    [You have acquired Ifreet¡¯s Tear Armor.]

    [You have acquired 9.451 million gold.]

    [......acquired Baromil¡¯s Sword.]

    Items obtained from PK were not distributed by the automatic party distribution system. The notifications poured in non-stop. Even though they were still low-leveled users, their items were quite expensive and valuable. All of them were equipped with rare artifacts, sometimes he could even see some unique items among the pile. And they even gave him plenty of gold. Eventually, Minhyuk stood in front of Hilton, who died thest.

    [You have acquired 9.261 million gold.]

    [You have acquired Oz¡¯s Helmet.]

    After he finished collecting all of the dropped gold and items, Minhyuk checked the total amount of gold that he collected. He was able to collect 930 million gold from all of the users that he forced to log out. And once he sold off all of the artifacts he got from here then he would be able to get at least 3 billion gold in total.

    ¡®Wow. I can probably sell these and be able to buy delicious food and medicine!¡¯

    Minhyuk chuckled at the thought of buying delicious food.

    Then, he went ahead and checked the artifacts that he thought were useful to him. First, he excluded all of the weapons. None of these weapons wereparable to Ellie¡¯s Sword or his frying pan. As he looked around, the helmet that was dropped by Hilton caught his attention.

    (Oz¡¯s Helmet)

    ss: Unique

    Restrictions: 240 STR, 120 AGI

    Durability: 4,000 / 4,000

    Defensive Power: 311

    Special Abilities:

    ©¥ STR +3, AGI +5

    ©¥ Magical Defense +50

    Description: This was the helmet worn by Oz, a warrior who guarded a king¡¯s tomb in the past.

    It was a pretty good looking helmet but Hilton was not wearing the helmet! Maybe it was because he failed to meet the ¡®restrictions¡¯ set by the helmet.

    The helmet had an additional magical defense. In addition, it also has a high defensive power. Its defensive power wasparable to Sylph¡¯s Leather Armor that he was wearing right now. Normally, armors would have the highest defensive capabilities and things like helmet, boots and gloves could only exhibit about half of the defensive capabilities of an armor. However, this Oz¡¯s Helmet had an extremely high defensive power.

    Minhyuk quickly wore it.

    Oz¡¯s helmet covered most of his face excluding his eyes, nose and mouth. It also had two horns on it. He thought that it would feel ufortable once he wore it but he had good visibility and he had no trouble breathing or eating anything.

    After he finished acquiring the items, Minhyuk once again untied Rovan from the tree and only tied his hands and upper body.

    ¡°Keung, keung, keung, keung. I saw you hide all of the food from here earlier!¡±

    Rovan approached Minhyuk and sniffed him all over. Minhyuk quickly pped the back of his head as a sort of reproach.

    p!

    ¡°No. Why are you burying your nose under someone¡¯s armpits and smelling them?!¡±

    ¡°Keoheok! Something smells delicious¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°My armpits?¡±

    Minhyuk looked at Rovan strangely. He was wondering if he liked dishes that were cooked with vinegar.

    ***

    Minhyuk pulled Rovan, who was screaming about his hunger, as they continued to move forward.

    After walking for quite some time¡­

    [You have ovee one of the trials of the Seven Deadly Sins.]

    [You have gained 30 reputation points.]

    [You have gained 500 million EXP.]

    [You have entered the Hidden Field.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [......leveled up.]

    Minhyuk heard a string of notifications. His level increased by 13.

    ¡®Ellie¡¯s Knife will probably be unsealed now, right?¡¯

    He needed to level up twice before he could unseal the Secondary Level that was sealed in Ellie¡¯s Kitchen Knife.

    It seemed like Rovan also gained some reputation points and leveled up a lot but most importantly he had finally regained his senses.

    ¡°My nose is filled with the scent of vinegar¡­¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Minhyuk was left speechless as he untied Rovan.

    The now freed Rovan looked around curiously.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t I get the notification about the x2 drop rate and EXP acquisition rate when we entered the Hidden Field?¡±

    ¡°Ah. You¡¯re right.¡±

    After oveing the Trial of Sin, they immediately entered the Hidden Field but there were no notifications about the x2 special privilege.

    ¡°What are the conditions for clearing the Hidden Quest?¡±

    ¡°Oveing the curse and hunting all of the monsters in the field.¡±

    Minhyuk shook his head.

    This meant that the monsters they would encounter soon would be stronger and better than the monsters from earlier. Rovan and Minhyuk held their breaths before walking further in the hidden field.

    Tap!

    Thud!

    Both of them could hear the sound of something walking heavily.

    ¡°It¡¯s a toad!¡±

    Rovan looked closely at the monster that jumped high in the sky. The leaping monster was a giant toad. Before it fell to the ground, it spewed a bluish-green liquid out of its mouth.

    ¡°Puhaaaaa!¡±

    Minhyuk and Rovan instinctively dodged away. The liquid directly sshed on the ground and the stone where the both of them were just standing at.

    The stone is melting!

    The two of them looked at each other and quickly rushed tounch an attack at the giant poisonous toad.

    [Step.]

    [Quickly move to a distance of 1m.]

    The toadnded on the ground. Before it could even open its mouth again and spew out poison, Minhyuk narrowed the distance between them and stabbed it with his sword.

    [Sword of Fury.]

    [There will be an additional 50% for strong lunges and stabs, if a vital strike is sessful then the additional attack power will be 80%.]

    Stab!

    Baaaaang!

    The stabbed toad rolled backwards. Without missing a beat, Rovan approached quickly and hacked at it with his sword.

    sh!

    A notification popped out in front of Minhyuk.

    [You have leveled up.]

    ¡°......?!¡±

    Minhyuk had a strange look on his face when he saw the notification. Rovan turned his head at him when he saw Minhyuk stopped moving.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°I just leveled up.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Again? Was your EXP about to level up?¡±

    ¡°No. I had about 78% in my EXP bar before I leveled up¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    Rovan turned to look at his EXP with an expression of disbelief. A moment ago, his EXP was at 66% at Lv125 but right now his EXP is at 95%.

    ¡°W, what the hell¡­¡­!¡±

    We hunted one but my EXP rose to 95% in an instant?

    He went ahead and picked up the items that the poisonous toad had dropped.

    [Party: Rovan-nim has acquired 123,000 gold.]

    For gold drops, it would be automatically divided between Rovan and Minhyuk. In other words, one poisonous toad dropped 246,000 gold. They estimated that the poisonous toad was around Lv120. Generally, monsters at this level would only drop 2,000 gold or so. But the drop right now was almost ten times that of the normal drop. This meant that the EXP and drop rate were extremely enormous!

    ¡°......Do you think we can bomb our way and level up like crazy?¡±

    Rovan trembled in excitement.

    They might not know about the exact increase in their EXP and drop rate but what they were sure of was that it was a much enormous rewardpared to the regr hidden dungeons.

    ¡°Ah. Come to think of it, I think we¡¯re the first ones to have ever ovee the Trial of Sins. There¡¯s no information avable about it at all.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head in agreement.

    ¡°Ah. Earlier, you said that you were going to fight against those bastards¡­¡±

    Rovan¡¯s forehead creased in worry as he looked at his greatsword. The durability of his sword was almost gone. If the durability of his sword fell below 20% then the attack power and special abilities of his greatsword would be reduced as well.

    ¡°I¡¯ll fix it for you.¡±

    ¡°......D, don¡¯t tell me that you also learned cksmithing?¡±

    ¡°Yep.¡±

    ¡°When did you learn it?¡±

    ¡°Less than a week ago.¡±

    Rovan shook his head at him when he heard his words.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. My greatsword is an epic artifact. I can¡¯t leave it to a beginner cksmith.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m an intermediate cksmith.¡±

    Rovan looked straight at Minhyuk. He was not surprised anymore.

    He wordlessly handed his greatsword, Valo¡¯s Bloodstained Greatsword.

    Minhyuk took out the anvil that he bought from Ron before he left the smithy. He invested the five skill points that he got from the Legendary Chocte Paradise to his bandaging and cksmithing skills. He allocated three on his bandaging skill and the remaining two to his cksmithing skill. Currently, his bandaging skill was at intermediate Lv6 while his cksmithing skill passed the threshold and became intermediate Lv2.

    ¡°Repair!¡±

    And just like what Minhyuk expected, he saw the ces where he needed to hammer on. Minhyuk began to tap on the sword with his hammer.

    ng, ng!

    ¡®He said that he had learned it less than a week ago but his posture looks so good?¡¯

    There were plenty of intermediate level cksmiths. In fact, cksmith was the most famous job ss among all of the nonbat job sses. Just for that reason, he thought that he could use Minhyuk¡¯s help as an intermediate level cksmith to raise the durability of his sword for a bit. He thought that it was enough for him to be able to endure through this and get out of here safely before finding a better cksmith to repair his greatsword.

    Not long after, Minhyuk finished repairing his greatsword.

    [You have achieved the best repair for Valo¡¯s Bloodstained Greatsword.]

    [The durability has sharply increased.]

    [It won¡¯t rust easily.]

    [The attack power has increased.]

    [You have gained 1 DEX.]

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    Well. He adjusted well! HAHAHA. He didn¡¯t even get surprised when he learned that Minhyuk was also a cksmith. Kek.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    I don¡¯t know whether to feel happy or sympathetic for Rovan losing his sense of normalcy around Minhyuk.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 100 - Poisonous Toad King

    Chapter 100: Poisonous Toad King

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    31 Poisonous Toad King

    ¡°I¡¯ve finished repairing it.¡±

    ¡°Hiyaa. Did it go well?¡±

    Rovan was not able to hear the notifications about the repair so he was not aware that Minhyuk achieved the ¡®best¡¯ repair for his greatsword and he could only judge it based on its appearance.

    Then, Minhyuk spoke¡­

    ¡°Do you want me to sharpen the edge too?¡±

    ¡°Yep. That would be good.¡±

    ¡°Sharpen!¡±

    [You have achieved the best sharpening for Valo¡¯s Bloodstained Greatsword.]

    [The durability has increased.]

    [The attack power has increased.]

    After he finished the repairs and sharpening, Minhyuk handed the sword back to Rovan with a satisfied smile on his face. Rovan received the sword with a bit of hesitation.

    ¡®The outside appearance looks good¡­¡­¡¯

    The only reason why Ruan recognized the ¡®best¡¯ in the mines was because he had studied hard in preparation for his job ss change from a warrior to a cksmith. On the other hand, Rovan¡¯s character was a strong warrior and he had only just started ying the game so he was not quite knowledgeable on this area yet. In a way, one could say that Ruan had a good set of eyes on him to be able to recognize Minhyuk and his ¡®best¡¯ repairs.

    Rovan tilted his head in shock once he checked the information on the greatsword that Minhyuk repaired and sharpened.

    ¡®Huh¡­¡­?¡¯

    He checked the information again just to make sure that he read it right.

    ¡®Huh¡­¡­?!¡¯

    He was so shocked when he saw that the attack power had increased by +30. There was even a +1 on STR and +1 on AGI added on the special abilities section.

    His weapons were usually repaired and sharpened by advanced level cksmiths so he was not quite sure about what happened right now?

    ¡°B, by any chance¡­ did the repair turn out to be the best?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I did it very well so it¡¯s the best.¡±

    ¡°......I see.¡±

    Rovan waspletely shocked.

    In all honesty, Minhyuk¡¯s cksmithing skill was much better than the advanced cksmiths. Advanced cksmiths wouldn¡¯t be able to achieve the best repair so often. Also, Minhyuk had a high DEX and thanks to his special DEX privilege all of his skills rted to DEX would have a x2 increase in effectiveness.

    A thought had been constantly brewing at the back of Rovan¡¯s mind since earlier.

    ¡®Minhyuk-nim¡­¡­¡¯

    I really want to pull this person in the Legend Guild. He¡¯s an excellent dealer and has good fighting capabilities. He might be on par with rankers right now. His HP and MP are outstandingly high and he¡¯s even a talented chef.

    ¡®GM-nim has been looking for a chef these days, should I rmend one?¡¯

    He believed that Minhyuk would be one of the top rankers once he fully developed. But before he could even finish that thought¡­

    ¡°It¡¯s time to start our leveling spree again.¡±

    Rovan could imagine another wild and crazy hunting would begin soon.

    ¡°Haa.¡±

    He subconsciously let out a sigh of defeat.

    ***

    Puhaaaaa!

    They were able to easily and smoothly continue their hunt in the hidden field. They had been constantly hunting the poisonous toads.

    Minhyuk shed and cut down the final poisonous toad in their vicinity.

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have released the seal on the Secondary Level of Ellie¡¯s Kitchen Knife.]

    Minhyuk smiled widely as he hurriedly checked the information about Ellie¡¯s Sword.

    (Ellie¡¯s Sword)

    ss: Epic

    Restrictions: Primary Level has no limits, the Secondary Level requires the user to be at Lv120.

    Durability: ¡Þ / ¡Þ

    Attack Power: 311 + 50

    Special Abilities:

    ©¥ +4 STR, +3 AGI

    ©¥ Skill: Dauntless Strike

    Primary Level¡¯s Special Abilities:

    ©¥ DEX acquisition x4

    ©¥ +40 DEX

    ©¥ Can be equipped with a sword.

    ©¥ Can automatically clean itself.

    ©¥ Can change to any type of cooking tools.

    Secondary Level¡¯s Special Abilities:

    ©¥ Skill: Retrieval

    ©¥ Skill: He Who Ovees

    ©¥ x2 increase in Buff amount

    Description: This was an artifact that the Empress bestowed upon Len, the best chef in Eivelis Empire.

    ¡®Oh¡­¡­¡¯

    The attack power of the current Ellie¡¯s Sword had increased by 100. There were even two new skills that were added to the artifact.

    Minhyuk quickly clicked on the skills.

    (Retrieval)

    Artifact Skill

    Level: None

    Mana Required: 5

    Cooldown: None

    Effects: Retrieve Ellie¡¯s Sword within 30-m.

    Description: A useful skill that can be used when you threw the sword and missed your target.

    (He Who Ovees)

    Artifact Skill

    Level: None

    Mana Required: 300

    Cooldown: 30 minutes

    Effects: This skill can be used once your HP reaches 0. Your HP will increase by 1 and it will trigger 3 seconds of invincibility. All of your skills and abilities will increase by 30% in that time frame.

    The Retrieval skill might look like it was just an ordinary skill but it was a useful skill especially when you are in the midst of battle.

    For the He Who Ovees skill, it was ast resort skill. Once your HP reached 0, you would be forced to log-out of the game. However, this skill would increase your HP by 1 and your skills and abilities would exert a stronger power while you were invincible for 3 seconds.

    It¡¯s not bad.

    There was also the x2 increase in his buff amount. This would mean that Minhyuk would be able to make more buffed dishes in one day.

    Minhyuk smiled contentedly as he finished looking through the information.

    ¡°Bbiiiiiiiii!¡±

    [Gryphon¡¯s Cry.]

    [You have a 70~80% chance of attracting the attention of all the monsters within a 20-m radius.]

    [Party members within a 10-m radius will have a 12~14% increase in all 5 of their basic stats.]

    Jump, jump, jump!

    Poisonous toads started to swarm towards their location.

    Now that Minhyuk and Rovan had fought together for quite some time, they could now easily hunt more than ten monsters all at once.

    [Rampant Sword.]

    [A flurry of rampant swords with additional 30% attack power will be created for 5 seconds.]

    Puhaaaa!

    Puhaaaa!

    Puhaaaa!

    Minhyuk¡¯s sword rapidly and indiscriminately stabbed through the bodies of the poisonous toads that swarmed in their direction. Then, Rovan jumped in and joined the fray.

    [Greatsword''s Linked Swordsmanship]

    [You will be able to swing your greatsword at four times its normal speed.]

    Stab!

    ¡°...Bueeeck!¡±

    Staab!

    ¡°Buuueeeeck!¡±

    [You have leveled up.]

    Stab!

    [You have leveled up.]

    Minhyuk and Rovan were chuckling brightly at the constant ringing of notifications in their heads. The two literally went on a crazy hunting frenzy and leveling up spree.

    At one point, Minhyuk¡¯s level had already reached Lv148. He was already close to his target level. At the same time, pleasant notifications kept on popping up and ringing in his head.

    [Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship has leveled up.]

    [Chapter 1: Sword of Fury has a +3% increase in attack power.]

    [Chapter 2: Rampant Sword¡¯s duration has increased from 5 seconds to 6 seconds.]

    [Chapter 3: Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship¡¯s duration has increased from 5 minutes to 6 minutes, there is also a +2% increase in the stat increase rate.]

    [Chapter 4: Step allows you to take two steps instead of the initial one step.]

    The first level up of a skill would allow you to see how the skill would develop in the future. The Sword of Fury would have a +3% increase in attack power every level. For Rampant Sword and Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship, they both had an increase in duration. In the case of Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship there was even an additional 2% increase in his stat increase rate. In the case of Step, he would now be able to take two quick steps instead of just one.

    He was quite satisfied with the increase in his skill.

    ¡°It seems like we¡¯re almost done?¡±

    Rovan suddenly told him. In fact, it was already getting harder for them to find monsters now.

    Then, at that moment¡­

    Crackle! Bang!

    A thunderbolt suddenly appeared out of the blue and struck the ground near them. After the smoke and light disappeared, they could see a monster standing where the thunderbolt struck. It was a monster that was much bigger than all of the monsters that had ever appeared in the hidden field. It was even as big as a two-ton truck.

    [The Great Mage Rafielt¡¯s Poisonous Toad King has appeared.]

    The Poisonous Toad King looked extremely menacing.

    Rovan waspletely tense as he looked at it.

    The ground shook whenever the Poisonous Toad King took a step, it looked like an ogre was walking with how heavy the steps were.

    When Rovan looked at the person beside him, he could see Minhyuk trembling all over.

    ¡°Mi, Minhyuk-nim¡­¡­?¡±

    This was the first time he had ever seen him in this state. He had never seen Minhyuk shake like that before.

    ¡®Well, there were a lot of rumors circting around about the Great Mage Rafielt who once terrorized the whole continent. And now the Poisonous Toad King has appeared!¡¯

    However, it was actually the opposite of what Rovan was thinking.

    ¡°Ro, Rovan-nim¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°The poison that¡¯s dripping out of that toad¡¯s mouth¡­ it¡¯s soy sauce!¡±

    ¡°......What are you saying?¡±

    ¡°The poison that¡¯s dripping from the mouth of that monster is a delicious soy sauce!¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    Rovan looked at Minhyuk strangely. His expression looked like he didn¡¯t know what the hell was going on.

    ***

    [The Great Mage Rafielt¡¯s Poisonous Toad King has appeared.]

    The moment he heard the notification, Minhyuk quickly casted his gaze at the monster that was called Poisonous Toad King.

    His entric Meal skill would immediately inform him whether a named monster was edible or not. He could only eat monsters that were shining with a ck light. Monsters that had no light were not edible.

    The moment he looked at the Poisonous Toad King, he was able to see a ck light glowing from the body of the monster. That wasn¡¯t all. He also saw that there were only a pitiful amount of ingredients that he could get from it.

    It was just this¡­

    [Ingredients that could be obtained from the Poisonous Toad King.]

    [Poisonous Soy Sauce.]

    [The poisonous soy sauce can be obtained even if you did not sessfully hunt the Poisonous Toad King. The poison from the mouth of the Poisonous Toad is the poisonous soy sauce.]

    [The first dose of the poisonous soy sauce has a special effect.]

    In fact, even if he ate monsters as food through his entric Meal skill, this was the first time that he saw that he could receive the ingredients even without hunting the monster. And what was more surprising was¡­

    ¡®There¡¯s a special effect when I get it for the first time?¡¯

    Then, Minhyuk thought¡­

    ¡®The poisonous soy sauce would definitely taste better than the normal soy sauce, right? I can add this poisonous soy sauce to the soy sauce egg rice with kimchi and kkakdugi on top, right?¡¯

    He was shocked with what he thought.

    And that wasn¡¯t all. Soy sauce had magical powers. Once you add soy sauce to seaweed soup, beef radish soup and various soup and stew dishes, it would make the vor deeper and tastier.

    Once Minhyuk reaches Lv200, he would be able to go out to sea. There was a dish that he wanted to try if he ever caught a crab in there. It was the spicy marinated crabs. He could definitely make the spicy marinated crabs with the poisonous soy sauce.

    Minhyuk could already imagine the soy sauce that will permeate through every nook and cranny of the well-marinated crab. Then, once he pulled the shell apart, he would be able to see the creamy flesh and golden eggs that were packed together in it.

    Gulp©¥

    He gulped at the thought.

    Then, he would pull one of the legs off of the crab and suck up the meat in it. He would pair it with big spoonfuls of rice. He would also remember to add some rice on the shells of the crabs and mix it well.

    And once he ced it in his mouth¡­

    He would be able to taste the harmonious vor of the savory soy sauce marinated crab and the rice.

    His body trembled in excitement as he imagined the dishes that he would eat with the poisonous soy sauce.

    ¡°Mi, Minhyuk-nim¡­..?¡±

    Rovan looked at him worriedly as the shaking Minhyuk looked at him.

    ¡°The poison that¡¯s dripping out of that toad¡¯s mouth¡­ it¡¯s soy sauce!¡±

    ¡°......What are you saying?¡±

    ¡°The poison that¡¯s dripping from the mouth of that monster is a delicious soy sauce!¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    Rovan looked at him strangely.

    At that moment¡­

    Croaaak©¥

    The giant poisonous toad king¡¯s body swelled up.

    Minhyuk prepared himself for the battle that would ur. He triggered his title The Battlefield¡¯s Ruler. The poisonous toad king was a monster that was at Lv168 and the title would surely help him in the fight that was toe.

    [Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship]

    [All stats will have a 17% increase for 6 minutes.]

    [Evasion rate has increased by 30%.]

    [Fatal Strikes rate has increased by 30%.]

    ¡°I want to eat¡­¡­ that poisonous soy sauce marinated crab¡­¡­!¡±

    His strong determination fueled his desire to battle.

    ¡°Minhyuk-nim, please, talk to me when you¡¯re going to make your move! That guy¡¯s poison would have arge range! And it¡¯s totally different from the poisonous toads that we have fought before!¡±

    Themon poisonous toad¡¯s poison attack melted his armor when he got hit by the attack. What was more scary was the fact that he suffered from a pain that felt like his whole body was melting. If it weren¡¯t for Minhyuk¡¯s bandaging, he would have lost at least 20% of his HP with just that one hit.

    What about the poison of the Poisonous Toad King?!

    When he saw Minhyuk running to where it was, he looked at him as if he was crazy.

    Then, at that moment, the poisonous toad king with its bulging chin suddenly spewed out poison.

    ¡°Puhaaaaaaaa!¡±

    The amount of poison that it spewed out was enormous. The poison was spewed so strongly that it was rotating as it flew towards them at an extreme speed!

    Minhyuk quickly erged his frying pan.

    [Frying Pan Gigantification.]

    [You can adjust the size of your frying pan depending on the mana that you will input.]

    He hurriedly stretched his frying pan forward to catch the iing poison. Once the poison made contact with the frying pan¡­

    Sizzleeee!

    White smoke rose from the frying pan.

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    I¡¯m dreaming of crabs tonight. Yummy, fresh, and meaty crabs. *drools*

    PR¡¯s corner!

    I¡¯m with CC on this one. Those nice, mouth-watering crab legs...

    ANNOUNCEMENT!

    This marks the end of our week-long catching up spree. We have some good news and bad news.

    For the BAD news: Starting Dec 16, we will be reducing our updates to 3 a week until the end of December. This is so we can have some sort of break after this massive week-long release. We will continue our 5 chapters a week release by January 6th.

    For the GOOD news: to celebrate our 100th chapter milestone we will be giving away 2 advanced chapters (Chapters 105 and 106) to ten lucky winners. The raffle will be held at our discord server so don''t forget to go there to join the raffle. Winners will be drawn by Dec 10, UTC 1:00AM.

    Stay safe, keep healthy and see you on the 16th!

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 101 - Poisonous Toad King

    Chapter 101: Poisonous Toad King

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    It was a sign of corrosion. However, Minhyuk¡¯s frying pan was a legendary frying pan and wouldn¡¯t corrode that easily.

    With the poison out of the way, Minhyuk hurriedly turned the frying pan and tried to catch the poison that were going to fall on the ground. Then, he quickly reached out in his food storage inventory.

    ¡°Do you have any secret weapons for cases like this?¡±

    Rovan anxiously looked at the poisonous toad king as Minhyuk searched through his inventory. Minhyuk nodded his head solemnly as he pulled the item out of his inventory.

    ¡°Eo, eomuk¡­¡­?¡±

    Rovan looked at him with a confused expression on his face.

    What Minhyuk pulled out of his inventory was some eomuk. Steaming hot eomuk!

    This was something that he prepared and kept in his food storage inventory just in case he got hungry and had no time to cook something.

    He swiftly ced the eomuk on the frying pan that was filled with soy sauce. He poked a piece and ced it in his mouth.

    The eomuk was lightly covered with the poisonous soy sauce. Once he tasted the poisonous soy sauce, he couldn¡¯t help but open his eyes wide. It was extremely delicious! It wasn¡¯t too salty but the vor was extremely savory and deep.

    [You have taken the poison from the Poisonous Toad King.]

    [Your HP is decreasing rapidly.]

    [You will fall under a state of hallucination.]

    [entric Meal has been triggered. The food penalty has been ignored.]

    ¡°.......Nim. How can you eat something like that?!¡±

    Rovan was bbergasted. He thought that he just pulled out some eomuk since he was hungry due to their continuous battles.

    But he dipped it in poison!

    On the other hand, Minhyuk waspletely fine.

    [You have taken the poison from the Poisonous Toad King.]

    [You have gained 4 skill points.]

    ¡°Chew, chew, chew. Keuheu! Delicious!¡±

    Contrary to what Rovan thought, Minhyuk was in awe of the poison.

    Minhyuk, who was happily eating the eomuk dipped in the poisonous soy sauce, met the eyes of the poisonous toad king.

    Screeech!

    The poisonous toad king took a step back.

    When Rovan saw this scene, he couldn¡¯t help but feel for the poisonous toad king. It seemed like he understood what it was feeling at this moment.

    ¡®You have never seen a person like that before, right? Yeah, me too¡­¡­¡¯

    Shaken with fear, the poisonous toad king hurriedly spewed out poison to try and get rid of the man who gave it such a strange ominous feeling.

    Puhaaaaaaaaaa!

    The pores in its body suddenly opened widely as small poisonous beads shot out from it! The poisonous beads flew to where Minhyuk and Rovan were.

    Puhaaaaaaaaack!

    [Rampant Sword.]

    [A flurry of rampant swords with additional 30% attack power will be created for 6 seconds.]

    The flurry of swords shed with the poisonous beads in the air and stopped it in its tracks. Minhyuk hurriedly opened his mouth to try and catch the poison that was falling on the ground.

    ¡°Slurp! Oooooooh. This is not salty so it¡¯s delicious even if you eat it alone!¡±

    It was quite a sight to see. Minhyuk was trying to drink up the poison that flew towards his face. Then, as he pped the poisonous beads away, he quickly narrowed the distance between him and the poisonous toad king.

    The poisonous toad king¡¯s face was suddenly filled with dread and fear. It was slowly backing away.

    Minhyuk had thought of catching it alive to extract poison from it.

    ***

    Rovan looked at the poisonous toad king with pity.

    When it appeared in front of them, it was filled with pride and dignity.

    I am the Great Mage Rafielt¡¯s Poisonous Toad King! I am the boss monster at the end of the Trial of the Seven Deadly Sins¡¯ Gluttony!

    However, right now the poisonous toad king was reduced to being a soy sauce extraction tool(?).

    Minhyuk, who had captured the poisonous toad king and tied it with a rope, had been catching the poison that it spewed out of its mouth into his frying pan.

    And in front of it, Minhyuk was singing happily.

    ¡°Hey toad, hey toad. I¡¯ll give you a punch, you give me soy sauce. Hey toad, hey toad. I¡¯ll give you a punch, you give me soy sauce.¡±

    ¡°Puhaaaaaaak!¡±

    ¡°Ooooooooh. Thanks!¡±

    Minhyuk quickly repeated the action of stopping the poison that was spewed out and quickly catching the falling poison with his frying pan.

    As time went by, Rovan could see that the body of the poisonous toad king was slowly getting smaller and smaller. Originally, the monster was about the size of a two-ton truck but now it was already half the size of that!

    ¡®Huh¡­¡­?¡¯

    At one point, the body of the poisonous toad king drooped. Then, notifications began to ring in Minhyuk and Rovan¡¯s heads.

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [......leveled up.]

    Minhyuk heard ten leveling up notifications. And it did not even end there.

    [ss Quest: You have unsealed the Food Fighter¡¯s Legacy Quest.]

    He quickly clicked on the quest to check all of the information from the quest.

    [ss Quest: Food Fighter¡¯s Legacy]

    Rank: ?

    Restrictions: Lv150

    Rewards: 100,000 EXP

    Penalty for Failure: -100 on all of your stats

    Description: The story about the life of the Food God as he toured around Athenae had been spread through many myths and legends. As he toured around Athenae, he left plenty of the most delicious and the most magnificent dishes all over the world for his descendants. The Food God has named these dishes: God¡¯s Dishes. There are five God¡¯s Dishes in total. Only the tower master of the Chef¡¯s Tower, Boroto, knows the location of the first dish. Meet with him and confirm the whereabouts of the first God¡¯s Dish.

    ¡®Wow¡­¡­¡¯

    The mere mention of the name made his heart flutter in excitement. It seemed like the Food God had as much appetite as Minhyuk. And that person had personally made and selected five dishes for his descendants!

    Minhyuk shook his head as he recalled something.

    ¡®Ah, the Land of Gold¡¯s map!¡¯

    This map was something that dropped from the users who ambushed him when he was in the goblin subjugation force. At that time, it was also sealed due to his level. His level had long passed the required level and he could easily check it now.

    (The Land of Gold¡¯s Treasure Map)

    Restrictions: Lv130

    Description: Once you tear the map, you will be warped to the Land of Gold. You will be able to see the location of the treasure during your warp.

    Minhyuk nodded his head.

    The Land of Gold!

    Once he logged out and returned to reality, he would go and investigate this matter properly.

    [Party: You have acquired 1,510,230,000 gold.]

    [Party: Minhyuk-nim has acquired Great Mage Rafielt¡¯s Cape.]

    [Party: Rovan-nim has acquired Great Mage Rafielt¡¯s Staff.]

    Minhyuk immediately checked the item that he acquired.

    (Great Mage Rafielt¡¯s Cape)

    Rank: Epic

    Restrictions: Lv250

    Durability: 2,500 / 2,500

    Defensive Power: 60

    Special Abilities:

    ©¥ Skill: Invisibility

    ©¥ +50 on Magical Defense

    ©¥ Ignore all status abnormalities

    It was none other than an epic artifact!

    Minhyuk had not yet reached the level threshold so he would not be able to wear it immediately. Furthermore, the attached skill was something incredible. It was the invisibility skill. What was more surprising was that the user could attack for two seconds under the state of invisibility. And the ignore all status abnormalities meant that he would be able to ignore all of the abnormal states once he wore the artifact.

    Poison, brainwashing, magic, and everything else!

    It was a very good reward. And the same was true for the staff that Rovan had received.

    ¡°It, it¡¯s an epic! Wow. Luckily it¡¯s an informational artifact!¡±

    The informational artifact that Rovan said was an artifact that you could check and verify even if it was sealed. Minhyuk¡¯s Ellie¡¯s Kitchen Knife could be regarded as an informational artifact. In other words, if you did not reach the level then you would not be able to read the information about that part.

    ¡®I¡¯ll use the skill points so I could master the intermediate level bandaging¡­¡­!¡¯

    Minhyuk used all of the skill points that he gained from eating the poisonous soy sauce from the poisonous toad king on his intermediate level bandaging skill.

    [Bandaging Skill has leveled up.]

    [Bandaging Skill has leveled up.]

    [Bandaging Skill¡­...]

    [You have mastered the Intermediate Level Bandaging Skill.]

    [You have gained 30 reputation points.]

    [Intermediate Bandaging Skill has evolved to Advanced Bandaging Skill.]

    [You have unsealed the Bandaging Skill¡¯s Intermediate Level Special Privilege.]

    [You have mastered the skill: Material Restoration.]

    [You have gained 100 DEX by mastering the Intermediate Special Privilege.]

    [Your special privilege for achieving 1,100 Dexterity Points has been given.]

    [A special privilege will be generated for a random skill picked out from your skills and abilities rted to DEX. Your skills and abilities rted to your Food Fighter job ss are excluded from the random picking.]

    [The Intermediate cksmithing Skill has been randomly selected.]

    [You can now view the sealed special privilege.]

    Minhyuk first checked the Material Restoration.

    (Material Restoration)

    Active Skill

    Level: Master

    Mana Required: Depends on the material or ingredient.

    Cooldown: None

    Effects:

    ©¥ Material Restoration

    ©¥ Restoration Recipe

    Minhyuk clicked on the two effects to read the detailed information about the effects.

    [Material Restoration. Food that has been kept in room temperature for quite a long time, including milk and meat, can be restored to its freshest state.]

    [Restoration Recipe. Not all of the food can be restored to its freshest state. The restoration recipe can help you restore very, very, very old ingredients and materials. You can also use the restoration recipe to check whether you can restore the old ingredient or material to its freshest state.]

    Minhyuk smiled happily as he continued to check his intermediate cksmithing skill. The notifications said that a special privilege was created just like the bandaging skill¡¯s special privilege. He checked the information with a look that screams ¡®Hooray!¡¯.

    ¡®Cooking Ingredients Appraisal.¡¯

    Minhyuk heard that there were only a few of the superior cksmiths who had the appraisal skill. This skill could be said to be something simr to that.

    ¡°Detailed description of the cooking ingredients appraisal.¡±

    [Cooking Ingredients Appraisal. It can show and boost the hidden abilities and effects that are hidden in the ingredients.]

    Although he still needed to spend some more time topletely master the intermediate cksmithing skill, he still thought that this ability would be worth it.

    And finally, he also confirmed the advanced level bandaging skill.

    (Advanced Bandaging)

    Passive Skill

    Level: 1

    Effects:

    ©¥ Wound recovery +11%+11%

    ©¥ The wound will recover quickly. 100% eleration.

    With the bandaging skill alone, Minhyuk would be able to recover by 22% and once he used the absorption transition skill then he would recover 60% in one fell swoop. However, the only disadvantage for bandage wrapping was that he would not be able to wrap it quickly and easily especially if he was in the middle of a fight. This was the case if he was only alone. This could also be used to help another person bandage their wounds.

    ¡°Rovan-nim, you got hurt earlier?¡±

    Minhyuk reached out to Rovan.

    Even though Rovan could easily recover with his Berserker skill, he would still need to wait for the cooldown to end before he could recoverpletely.

    He used the bandaging skill on Rovan¡¯s arm.

    ¡°Bandage!¡±

    [You have achieved the best bandage wrap.]

    [The wound recovery has an additional 5% increase.]

    [The recovery time has increased and became faster.]

    Before, when he achieved the best bandage wrap there was only a 2% increase in wound recovery but it had now increased by 3% for a total of a 5% increase. In other words, the person would recover 27% of their HP.

    Rovan blinked nkly as he saw his HP increase by 27% after the bandage was wrapped on his arm.

    ¡°How is it? Does it feel okay?¡±

    Minhyuk grinned at his silly look.

    At that moment¡­

    [You have sessfully hunted the Boss Monster.]

    [You can now leave the field.]

    [Would you like to leave now?]

    The two of them disappeared after they answered ¡®yes¡¯ at the same time.

    Minhyuk confirmed that they came back to the path where the Ares Guild had chased them once he opened his eyes.

    Soon, Rovan removed the bandage that was wrapped on his wounds. It was alreadypletely recovered. He looked confused as he moved his arm to test it out. After confirming that he had well and truly recovered, he looked straight at Minhyuk.

    ¡°Minhyuk-nim. I have a request.¡±

    ¡°A request?¡±

    When he told him about a request, Minhyuk thought that he would want to ask him for Rafielt¡¯s cape. If that was the case, then Minhyuk was prepared to give him a good deal. After all, he gave Minhyuk the thousand-year-old hasuo before. However, when he heard his request, Minhyuk thought that it was quite surprising.

    ¡°Please fight with me. Just one time.¡±

    ***

    Footnotes

    [Hey toad] It¡¯s a KR children¡¯s song about toads. The original lyrics goes: Hey toad, hey toad. I¡¯ll give you an old house, you give me a new house. You can search for it as ???. It¡¯s quite catchy.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 102 - Frying Pan Killer

    Chapter 102: Frying Pan Killer

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    32 Frying Pan Killer

    Ztube, a worldwide video uploading site. Somin was an active uploader in Ztube. Her main content was centered around Athenae, a topic that was famous and well-known in the world. She was in her mid-20s but she had small bones so she did not look like she was old. She was also able to garner high views with her content about Versal before.

    Just as she finished her business in the bathroom, she received a phone call from her friend.

    [Somin-ah. Go to the official homepage of Athenae and check out this interesting video.]

    Interesting video?

    Watching other people¡¯s videos was also something meaningful for her. She would be able to follow the current trend if she knew the content that the other people made. Obviously, the current trend these days was all about Athenae users. And if the owner of the video was someone that had a handsome or beautiful person then it was like an icing on the cake.

    She hurriedly essed the Athenae Homepage at the urging of her friend.

    [Number 1. Frying Pan Killer.]

    She was quite taken aback with the number 1 on the realtime search keyword list.

    ¡°Frying pan killer?¡±

    [You¡¯ll definitely thank me for that.]

    She clicked on the video curiously.

    The video showed a man with a frying pan on his back fighting with a mini troll.

    ¡®Wow¡­¡­ He¡¯s really handsome. How long has it been since my eyes had been cleansed like this?¡¯

    She was freely admiring the handsome frying pan user. At the same time, the mini troll sent out an attack magic towards the user.

    Then¡­

    [ng!]

    The magic attack that was sent out was reflected back towards the mini troll.

    ¡®Magical reflection¡­¡­?!¡¯

    She was startled.

    As far as she knew, magical reflection was an ability inherent to mages. This was exclusive for mages thatck HP and high-leveled mages that were above the 6th ss.

    But the frying pan is capable of that?

    What was more, the mini troll that was hit by the reflected attack couldn¡¯te back to its senses.

    Somin thought that the video had checked all of the three things that a video needed to be a hit.

    A fresh content.

    A unique character.

    And a face that can attract the crowd.

    As she continued to watch the video, Somin was shocked to the point that she even let out gas.

    Fwoooooosh©¥

    ¡°That¡¯s Suicidal Rovan, right?¡±

    [How was it? Aren¡¯t you thankful?]

    ¡°Hey. I¡¯m busy!¡±

    [Kim So¡­¡­]

    Somin ended the call before her friend could scold and nag at her.

    Versal¡¯s Rovan. He was called the Mad Devil or the Crazy Hunter. She had posted plenty of videos about him and had personally seen all of his raid videos. He was an extremely famous user. Anyone who yed Versal would know who Rovan was.

    He even fought the demon, Valental, alone!

    At the time when he hunted Valental he was also given another name.

    Suicidal Rovan.

    He was a genius inbat.

    ¡®He¡¯s a yer that has been recognized by the country¡¯s gaming experts. He¡¯s one of the few genius gamers with high physical,bat prowess and sense of humor!¡¯

    And he appeared in the virtual reality gaming scene once again. She was quite happy about this fact, but the thing that made her happier was the fact that she was somewhere near the Shrieking Hills too.

    She quickly essed and logged in the game.

    Her nickname in Athenae was Joo-ah. She had the hidden ss Unusual Genius. And her special ability was ¡®Ignoring Restrictions¡¯. With her special ability, she could override and ignore all the restrictions and conditions needed before entering a dungeon or a field. However, if she used her special ability then she would not be able to attack or acquire any items inside the dungeon. But it was entirely possible to take videos and photos inside the dungeons and fields.

    This was the best ability for a Ztuber!

    She rushed to find Rovan.

    ¡®Maybe I will even be able to see the suicidal battle again¡­¡­!¡¯

    Of course, it wasn¡¯t a 1:1 battle but a fight against plenty of monsters.

    Then¡­

    ¡®Found him!¡¯

    Joo-ah was extremely delighted when she saw the backs of Rovan and the frying pan user. They were facing each other.

    ¡®What¡¯s this? Why does it look like they¡¯re going to fight¡­¡­?¡¯

    The moment she thought that they would start a fight, Joo-ah knew that it would garner a high number of views.

    Her heart fluttered excitedly as she started to stream a live broadcast.

    ***

    Rovan did not only enjoy hunting, he also quite enjoyed fighting against other users.

    And because he was extremely skilled, he even challenged the demons in Versal. They were creatures that no one in the country had ever raided sessfully. That was when the codename suicidal was thrown at him.

    He really wanted to fight with Minhyuk with everything that he got.

    ¡°You want us to fight?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I really want to fight Minhyuk-nim once with everything that I¡¯ve got. This is my request.¡±

    ¡°......I understand. I won¡¯t hold myself back.¡±

    ¡°Yep.¡±

    Rovan grinned at him.

    It¡¯s good that he epted my request willingly.

    He decided to use one of the abilities of the legendary ss Berserker.

    [You have used the Berserker¡¯s Madness.]

    [Your basic stats will temporarily increase by 50% for 10 minutes.]

    [You can use Blood Maniption.]

    [You can turn blood into weapons and attack any enemy within a 5-m radius.]

    [You can use the restricted 3rd~5th chapter of the Greatsword¡¯s Swordsmanship.]

    [The penalty for Berserker¡¯s Madness has been applied.]

    [Even if you keep on hunting monsters, you won¡¯t be able to increase your EXP for 3 days.]

    [5 points will be permanently removed from your basic stats.]

    Berserker¡¯s Madness was a skill that would temporarily increase all five of his basic stats by 50%. He would also be able to use the Berserker skills and abilities that were still currently sealed. However, the penalty was also enormous. Nevertheless, he still had a reason as to why he used it.

    ¡®If I don¡¯t use this power then I will never have the chance to defeat Minhyuk-nim.¡¯

    Rovan was quite sure of this.

    Minhyuk quickly stepped back. He had a few ideas as to why Rovan requested this from him.

    When strong people meet there would always be a person who would avoid fights and a person who would want topete in every way possible. Rovan clearly belonged to thetter.

    Minhyuk used all of the buffs that he could use.

    Then¡­

    Rovan narrowed the distance between them.

    Swoooooosh!

    ¡®He got faster.¡¯

    He noticed that his speed had be vastly different from the speed that he had used before. In just a blink of an eye, Rovan had already approached him and swung his sword at him.

    Minhyuk twisted his body and dodged the attack while Rovan chased after him and swung his sword at him sideways. He quickly defended himself from the attack.

    Baaaaang!

    When the swords met, instead of hearing the sound of grating swords, they heard the sound of something smashing.

    Minhyuk almost reeled back with the strength of the force of the attack. He quickly took his stance andunched his attack at Rovan.

    [Sword of Fury.]

    [There will be an additional 50% for strong lunges and stabs, if a vital strike is sessful then the additional attack power will be 80%.]

    His stabbing sword was quickly parried by Rovan and the skill was cancelled.

    Bang!

    Minhyuk was a bit surprised. This was the first time that he saw someone cancel a skill in this way.

    At that moment, Rovan had already narrowed the distance between them once again as he used the skill that he had prepared earlier.

    [Greatsword¡¯s Destruction]

    [The power to destroy everything in one strike.]

    [Additional bleeding will be incurred if the hit was sessful. Users within a 3-m radius would be affected.]

    Rovan¡¯s sword glowed a bright red as it shook like it was going to explode.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Minhyuk was swallowed by a heavy force that exploded. This was the result of the destruction skill. The aftermath of the explosion was a scorched and exploded ground along with a dense cloud of dust.

    Rovan inhaled sharply as he prepared for the next attack.

    [Greatsword¡¯s Disaster.]

    [Powerful mes will engulf all of your enemies at once.]

    Crackle, crackle, burn!

    A powerful me surged out from his sword. The me was so strong that it exploded the dense cloud of dust away.

    Baaaam!

    Crackle, crackle, burn!

    A huge pir of me rose over and sweeped the dust away.

    However, Rovan still did not let his guard down.

    Then¡­

    Shwaaaaaaaaaaaa!

    Rovan saw Minhyuk rushing towards him. He swung his sword at him. However, Minhyuk moved so fast that he only left an afterimage behind.

    [Step.]

    [Quickly move a distance of 1m for two steps.]

    Rovan hurriedly turned around to block Minhyuk behind him. Minhyuk once again disappeared from behind him leaving only an afterimage behind. The moment Minhyuk disappeared, Rovan quickly sensed danger.

    [Rampant Sword.]

    [A flurry of rampant swords with additional 30% attack power will be created for 6 seconds.]

    The number of swords that Minhyuk used to attack had increased by the dozens. Rovan could feel a huge amount of pressure with all the swords surrounding him.

    ng, ng, ng, ng!

    He was able to parry the flurry of swords and counter the rampant sword alone. This just showed how great Rovan¡¯s abilities were. However, one of the swords prated through his defense and shed at his sides.

    aash!

    [You have received a fatal blow.]

    Rovan saw his HP plummet in an instant. Arge chunk of his HP was gone with just one sh.

    Spurt!

    Spurt!

    Blood spurted out all over his body. In an instant, his HP had dropped to less than 40%. The falling blood slowly rose and became sharp weapons. Rovan¡¯s eyes glittered sharply.

    [Blood Maniption]

    [Any blood within a 5-m radius can be turned into weapons that can be used to attack the enemies.]

    The drops of blood coagted and quickly turned into the shape of a weapon. It quickly erged and attacked and parried Minhyuk¡¯s rampant sword.

    ng!

    ng!

    ng!

    Then, from the shing weapons in the air, a spear brushed past Minhyuk¡¯s sides.

    Spurt!

    [You have recovered 2% of your HP.]

    [HP absorption has failed.]

    [You have recovered 1% of your HP.]

    [You have recovered 4% of your HP.]

    [HP absorption has failed.]

    Minhyuk¡¯s blood turned into beads that were sucked and absorbed by Rovan. His wounds started to recover at a rapid pace.

    After the duration of the rampant sword ended, Minhyuk took a step back. At the same time, Rovan also took a step back with his sword.

    Minhyuk hurriedly took out some food and ate.

    Fwooooosh!

    His wounds also began to recover at a rapid pace.

    ***

    Joo-ah blinked nkly at the incredible sight that was happening in front of her.

    She wasn¡¯t the only one who couldn¡¯t believe what was happening. Real-timements had started to pour in and appear on her live broadcast.

    [hsfdf44: OMG¡­ That¡¯s Versal¡¯s Rovan over there right, the suicidal. Scary.]

    [VeryAmazing!: Where did thate from? It looks like he¡¯s whistling.]

    [adadl3: I don¡¯t think he¡¯s whistling¡­¡­ Rovan looks like he¡¯s in a rush. It seems like he¡¯s using all of his strength.]

    They did not know the exact details about the skill but they had no choice but to be surprised. They could see that Rovan would lose the moment his Berserker¡¯s Madness¡¯ duration ended.

    The viewers continued to argue with each other.

    [gadadl579: Who do you think will win?]

    [Kyaakak: Rovan. I think he¡¯s just taking care of him. Yeye.]

    [Yuri: 222222]

    [Carman: 3333333]

    [gfdfadq7461: How can Rovan have plenty of fanboys and fangirls when he looks like a dog? Rovan¡¯s out of breath. Just look at him.]

    [Hororong: Where did you see it¡­¡­? Nim, you look like shit¡­¡­]

    [gfdfadq7461: My mom says that I¡¯m the most handsome in the world. Hahahaha.]

    The viewers were arguing intensely when rankers suddenly appeared.

    [Chaos: I¡¯m User Chaos, currently at Lv398.]

    [Carman: Oh. It¡¯s Ghostde Chaos!]

    [Yuri: OMG¡­¡­ Chaos-nim! I¡¯m your White Chaos! We¡¯re with you Chaos!]

    [Chaos: Thank you. Hehe;; To get to the point, a video of the Frying Pan Killer in the Shrieking Hills was posted before. If you think about it then they¡¯re supposed to be in there and that¡¯s a hunting ground that Lv100~120 users usually frequent.]

    [Hororong: yeye. That¡¯s right.]

    [VeryAmazing!: But why are you mentioning this?]

    [Chaos: I don¡¯t think you¡¯re aware of this but let me say that again just to emphasize. Right now, they¡¯re at around Lv100~120.]

    Chaos was surprised about theirbat prowess, however he was not aware that Minhyuk and Rovan crazily leveled up before. The level restrictions in the dungeon or field would not work if they leveled up inside. They would not be restricted even if they logged out as long as they did not leave the dungeon. But once they used the return scroll then the restrictions would be imposed on them.

    [Koro: Are you saying that they¡¯re only between Lv 100 to Lv 120? That¡¯s crazy¡­¡­]

    It was just a lowkeyment from one of the users but thement sections had be flooded after thisment.

    Joo-ah murmured to herself as she looked at the chaoticments.

    ¡°I thought the two of them were both over level 200¡­¡±

    Of course she knew that the Shrieking Hills was a Lv100 hunting ground even before she came here. However, when she saw the battle between the two of them, she thought that they were over level 200 so she ignored those restrictions.

    But in reality? Their levels were far below that¡­

    Joo-ah, who was filming quietly, mumbled to herself as she continued to watch the two of them narrow the distance between them.

    ¡°Damn, so amazing¡­¡­¡±

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    So¡­ This chapter title was something that I added personally. I checked through the raws and saw that there was a missing chapter title since it suddenly jumped to 33 Hungry Monsters from 31 Poisonous Toad King. So I thought that the author forgot about the 32nd Chapter Title. And since the focus is our very own Frying Pan Killer and his iconic Frying Pan and Helmet, I decided to use Frying Pan Killer as the chapter title.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 103 - Frying Pan Killer

    Chapter 103: Frying Pan Killer

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    The 2nd round has started.

    Rovan quickly dashed to where Minhyuk was. Minhyuk had used absorption transition to quickly recover all of his injuries.

    ''I don''t have time.''

    His MP was also running out. Even though Minhyuk looked like he had a freakishly high MP, that wasn''t the case for him at all. Once the cooldown for Minhyuk''s skills had reset to zero then he would definitely have no chance of winning.

    ''The only thing I can rely on right now is Greatsword''s Violent Assault.''

    Rovan narrowed his eyes as he swung his greatsword.

    [Step.]

    [Quickly move a distance of 1m for two steps.]

    ''Again¡­¡­!''

    The moment Rovan swung his sword, Minhyuk had taken a step back. And in another step, he had already narrowed the distance between them.

    That was the most difficult and tricky skill that he had in his arsenal. Quickly moving in two steps. It was even fast enough to leave afterimages that could confuse the enemies. The only problem that he had was that there would be a gap if he tried to step back to dodge and move forward to attack.

    [Two Consecutive Quick Assault]

    [One strike would be two consecutive quick attacks.]

    Minhyuk''s sword stabbed towards Rovan''s abdomen. Rovan tried hard to block off the attack. The greatsword and Minhyuk¡¯s sword shed and both swords flew up in the air.

    However, at that moment, Minhyuk stabbed his sword once again.

    Both of their swords clearly flew up in the air so Rovan was quite confused about how this attack happened.

    Staaaab!

    "Kgghk!"

    Rovan took a step back. Just when Minhyuk was about to pull his sword out, Rovan''s greatsword suddenly shed and glowed a bright red light. The light was the most brilliant light he had ever seen the sword emit. Not long after, the light rushed out of the sword and turned into a red snake.

    It was a snake made out of blood.

    The snake quickly shot out to where Minhyuk was.

    [Greatsword''s Violent Assault]

    [A blood snake will be created. The snake can trigger twelve consecutive explosions once it hits the target.]

    This was in fact Rovan''s most powerful attack skill!

    An attack that causes a series of explosions. Rovan quickly caught his sword and swung at Minhyuk as he narrowed the distance between them.

    At that moment, the blood snake finally made contact with Minhyuk.

    "Kiiieeeeeeee!"

    Bang!

    Minhyuk took a step back, but the snake that made contact quickly triggered a series of explosions.

    Bang!

    Once the second explosion sted, Minhyuk finally felt that something was strange. Then, the third explosion sted and he flew backwards. The explosions did not stop but continuously sted.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    After exploding continuously, the blood snake also exploded like a fragile ss after hitting the ground. And as if to emphasize the damage that it caused to its opponent, the blood that formed the snake sttered everywhere.

    [The Berserker''s Madness'' effect has disappeared.]

    Rovan felt the powerful strength that filled his body just earlier suddenly melt away.

    "Hooo."

    I won.

    Unfortunately, it seemed like Minhyuk was forced to log-out. But it was quite hard to control his strength especially with such a taxing fight.

    ''If I cared about that then I''d never win. Once Minhyuk-nim logged back on then I''ll pay him as much as the penalty he received.''

    Just as he thought of that, he was shocked speechless when he saw a man appear after the dust has settled.

    ''Crazy¡­¡­! What kind of reflexes does he have?! Isn''t this impossible?!''

    Rovan quickly backed off.

    Minhyuk, who was dusty after all the explosion, stood up. He was bandaged all over.

    "He''s really a monster¡­¡­"

    Rovan stumbled as he fell down on his butt.

    Minhyuk saw that the match was finally over. The mysterious power that surrounded Rovan''s body had long disappeared. On the contrary, he was still standing strongly.

    The only reason why he was able to bandage himself after experiencing all of the explosion was because of Ellie''s Kitchen Knife''s attached skill, He Who Ovees.

    As soon as the explosion reached the 8th explosion, Minhyuk was notified that his HP had hit rock bottom. Considering that his HP was enormously high, the power that struck him was considered to be tremendous for it to be able to reduce it to zero.

    But just in the nick of time, a notification rang out.

    [He Who Ovees.]

    [Your HP has increased to 1. You are now invincible for 3 seconds.]

    [All of your abilities have increased by 30% for 3 seconds.]

    Within that 3 seconds time frame, Minhyuk had quickly built up his HP by bandaging all of his wounds. This was the reason why he still had 27% on his HP bar.

    ''I lost¡­¡­''

    Rovan felt that everything he did was futile. He had no choice but to finally admit defeat.

    ***

    Joo-ah kept on murmuring to herself as she watched the number of viewers increase.

    "It''s over¡­¡­"

    The Frying Pan Killer has won.

    She had a hunch.

    Plenty of stations and guilds would send an olive branch to that user once they watched this broadcast!''

    Right now, thements were literally flooding all over her live broadcast screen.

    [Caro: Wow, fck. How did he withstand that?!]

    [Holos: Is that really the bandaging skill that I know¡­¡­? But it doesn''t even make sense that he withstood that just by using the bandaging skill. The bandaging skill can only recover 10% of his HP. In the first ce, I think that his HP is extremely high.]

    [Cardeal: Do you know that helmet that he''s using right now? Do you think that helmet is a legendary artifact?]

    [Chaos: What''s important is how high his HP was, the rest is not important.]

    The moment that the Ranker Chaos spoke in thements, the whole screen turned silent for a moment. Joo-ah also focused on his words.

    [Chaos: In the past, our country was called as the game powerhouse but now we''re named as the game ruins. This was the case even if it was our country thatunched the game Athenae.]

    Joo-ah nodded her head. She felt that it was really sad and pitiful. The people of their country were called as the God of Hardwork but they were regressing in the virtual gaming scene.

    [Chaos: Just in time, Versal''s most famous user the Crazy and Suicidal Hunter, Rovan, came back.]

    Joo-ah felt that her heart was thumping fiercely. She could feel her blood boiling.

    His growth, his ferocity! He will definitely show it to the world!

    Then, Chaos added¡­

    [Chaos: And now another user with a better physical andbat sense that could beat such a good fighter has appeared.]

    "Waaaaaaah¡­¡­!"

    As a person who was dedicated to her country, Joo-ah clenched her fists tightly.

    After their fight, she saw the two people talking. The two looked like they were having a heartwarming conversation.

    ''What are they talking about?''

    As she thought of that, she quickly ran towards them. She wanted to interview them.

    ***

    After the match, Rovan looked at Minhyuk.

    He seemed like his mind was filled with differentplicated thoughts.

    ''Does he feel sorry for me? Or does he feel happy to win?''

    He was sure that he knew that Rovan had a power that exceeded his own level. In all honesty, he was much stronger than Lucia in real life.

    Then¡­ Minhyuk slowly opened his mouth.

    "I''m hungry¡­¡­"

    That¡¯s right. Minhyuk did not think anyplicated thoughts unlike Rovan. The only thought in his head is that he¡¯s hungry.

    He took out some anpan from his inventory as Rovan turned to him.

    ¡°Minhyuk-nim, do you want to join my guild? It would be really nice if youe and join us.¡±

    Rovan thought that Minhyuk would join him. However, contrary to his expectations, Minhyuk shook his head. He even shook it while he had bread on his mouth.

    ¡°Thank you for your offer. But I¡¯m fine.¡±

    ¡°......Is there a guild that¡¯s holding you back?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not it¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk smiled bitterly.

    He still had those friends that he hung out with back in middle school. He was sure that they made a guild in Athenae too. Minhyuk was only ying this game to have fun and eat something delicious. And for him, hanging out with them was also something fun. So he decided that once he met with them, he would definitely join their guild.

    ¡°There¡¯s a ce that I wanted to go to.¡±

    ¡°I envy that guild. A guild that Minhyuk-nim wanted to go to. Ah, by the way¡­ would you like to go and hunt with me some more?¡±

    The guild rmendation was a bust. It was a bit regrettable but Rovan still believed that they could still hunt together and bomb their way through their levels.

    However, Minhyuk looked through the distance.

    ¡°There are still so many things in the world that I want to eat. And I have to be alone to be able to do that. Pizza, chicken, jokbal, bossam, duruchigi, sushi, grilled eel, shabu-shabu¡­¡­ ha¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s expression was filled with nostalgia. He was gazing at the distant mountains as if he was recalling an old lover who died.

    ¡°Uhm¡­¡­¡±

    Rovan thought that he really was someone that was so peculiar.

    ¡°Then, let¡¯s add each other as friends?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good.¡±

    Minhyuk was also quite fond of Rovan so he readily epted his request to add him as a friend.

    [Rovan-nim is asking to add you as a friend.]

    [Yes / No]

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head as his information appeared in his friend window.

    [Rovan / 161]

    As expected, Rovan¡¯s job ss was also set to private and hidden from view.

    ¡°I¡¯m so tired so I¡¯m going to log out now. I did a lot of things today too.¡±

    Rovan looked exhausted.

    The timing after the end of their match was just in time for Minhyuk to log out too. He had to log out once every four hours to exercise and eat in reality. Minhyuk was not that different from the others when ying the game but he had to maintain this timing perfectly.

    ¡°See you next time.¡±

    ¡°Yes. See you next time.¡±

    Rovan was the first one to log out. Then, Minhyuk followed suit. Both of them disappeared in an instant.

    And the woman who was running from afar arrived just when the two of them disappeared. Joo-ah was panting as she looked at the spot where the two of them disappeared from.

    ¡°Kgghk. What a waste¡­¡­!¡±

    She looked so sullen and sad for missing the opportunity to interview them.

    ***

    Yoon Chan, or Rovan, fell down on his bed after logging out of the bed.

    ¡°Huwaaa¡­¡±

    A strong person has appeared, furthermore, he was someone that was unique.

    Yoon Chan grinned as he closed his eyes. Since he was exhausted, sleepiness quickly visited him as soon as he closed his eyes. Without realizing it, he had already slept for quite some time.

    When he woke up, he finally remembered his mobile phone that he had previously thrown haphazardly on the bed.

    ¡°Why is it turned off?¡±

    He tilted his head as he pulled out his charger and plugged it in his phone before opening it. As soon as his phone opened, it began to ring non-stop.

    [Genie: Why can¡¯t I contact you through the guild chat or whisper? Please answer my call ????]

    [Genie: If you don¡¯t answer right now, I¡¯m going to kick you out of the guild. Don¡¯t test me?! Do you really want me to do it?!]

    [Genie: (photo)]

    [Genie: (video)]

    [Genie: Haaa¡­¡­ I can¡¯t believe you got caught in pictures and videos¡­¡­ Are you still online¡­...?]

    ¡°......?¡±

    Yoon Chan felt that something unusual had happened. The GM was usually a calm and serious person. He looked through the text messages that he received with a curious look on his face. Then, he jumped out of bed with a bit of hesitation.

    ¡°OMG¡­¡­?¡±

    [Genie: Are you with the frying pan killer right now? He¡¯s my friend! ?????]

    ***

    This was back when Rovan informed Genie that the Ares Guild was trying to dere a war against them.

    [Genie: What kind of user are you with?]

    Genie thought that it would be helpful if the user that he was with was someone strong for his level.

    ¡®There¡¯s nothing we could do to help you right now¡­¡­¡¯

    It¡¯s unfortunate but this was reality. The Shrieking Hills have a level restrictions and the other guild members were either too high leveled or too low leveled to enter the field. However, if Rovan was forced to log out then she would protect him and put some pressure on Ares Guild.

    But ever since he sent hisst message in the guild chat, he hasn''t answered or sent them any message for an hour or two. It was fortunate that they haven¡¯t heard any forced logout notifications. This meant that he was not dead yet.

    [Khan: Genie. Go to Athenae¡¯s official homepage right now and click on the video about the Frying Pan Killer!]

    ¡®Frying Pan Killer?¡¯

    Genie looked at the words curiously. There must have been something important in the video for Khan to be extremely excited over his whisper. She entered the official homepage and clicked on the ¡®Frying Pan Killer¡¯. It was the first on the real-time search list.

    As she watched the video, she couldn¡¯t help but jump up in surprise.

    ¡°It, it¡¯s Minhyuk!¡±

    The Frying Pan Killer was none other than her best friend. And that wasn¡¯t all. The person that was standing next to him was none other than Rovan.

    ¡°Th, the person hunting together with Rovan-nim¡­¡­¡±

    Genie had tried to contact Rovan ever since then. However, it looked like both his guild chat and whisper had been turned off. She couldn¡¯t reach him at all.

    ¡®He must have turned it off before his fight against the Ares Guild¡­¡­¡¯

    Whenever a message came in in the guild chat or whisper, it would twinkle brightly in the corner of their eyes. This was especially irritating to a person who was in battle. And for Rovan, it was something that was extremely detestable.

    This was not the first or second time that she had lost contact with him. The other guild members did not care much since they knew that he was focusing on the battle. But Rovan has been dead to the world and couldn¡¯t be contacted for quite a long time now.

    Genie who couldn¡¯t sit still went to a cafe and met with her friends. She was sitting with the bandit-like Jisoo and the handsome Seoktae. They did not even touch any of their food.

    ¡°You still can¡¯t contact Rovan-nim right now?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be able to contact him until the attack is over¡­...¡±

    ¡°......We¡¯ve been out of touch for years but now we will learn that he¡¯s the Frying Pan Killer?¡±

    Seoktae smiled as he turned to look at Jisoo.

    ¡°Why do you look like you don¡¯t care?¡±

    ¡°To be honest, I think that bastard is just too much!¡±

    Jisoo frowned.

    ¡°He just went under the radar for so many years, he didn¡¯t even contact us at all. But we have to learn about him in this way? Did we lend him some money for him to hide like that? What are we, loan sharks?¡±

    Seoktae fell silent when he heard his words. He looked over to see what Jihye thought of it.

    ¡®This senseless bastard¡­¡­¡¯

    In a way, what he said was correct. However, Seoktae also knew something.

    Minhyuk was the reason why Jihye lost weight. She was 100kg before, but because of him, she decided to lose weight.

    He was Jihye¡¯s first love.

    ***

    Food Discussion Corner

    Anpan (???) - Danpatbbang or red bean bun. A bread filled with sweet red beans inside.

    Jokbal (??) - A dish made with pig trotters, cooked with soy sauce and other spices. Usually braised with soy sauce, ginger, garlic and wine.

    Bossam (??) - pork dish. Usually the pork shoulder. The pork shoulder is boiled in spices and sliced thinly. Usually served with an array of side dishes including kimchi, lettuce, peri leaves, pickled radishes, ssamjang etc.

    Duruchigi (????) - Spicy stir fried pork.

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    OH MY GOD. OH MY GOD. I did not see thating. Not gonna lie, this was shocking to me!!!!

    PR¡¯s chapter!

    Holy crap! Holy crap!!! That is insane! Ugh, my heart immediate beat about three times faster.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 104 - Frying Pan Killer

    Chapter 104: Frying Pan Killer

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Jihye looked like she was deep in thought. She also thought that Minhyuk was a bit too much. But everything was all one-sided. Then, Jihye said¡­

    ¡°There may be some circumstances that we don¡¯t know. Maybe he wanted to meet with us but he can¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°......I don¡¯t know about that.¡±

    Jisoo shook his head at her. He really did not know about his circumstances. He looked down at his phone to avoid the eyes of his friends. However, as he scrolled through his phone, his eyes widened. He found a video on the inte. The title was¡­ ¡®The Return of Suicidal Rovan.¡¯

    ¡°Huh¡­¡­? What¡¯s this. Why is Rovan-nim here?¡±

    He confirmed that this was Rovan who they lost contact with after he told them that he was fighting against the Ares Guild.

    But why is he in this video?

    ¡°The person who¡¯s wearing the helmet¡­¡­¡±

    The person was wearing an unidentifiable helmet with horns on top of it. The person was none other than Minhyuk. It was proven by the fact that there was a frying pan on his back. Then, Minhyuk and Rovan shed together.

    The three of them watched the video together in a daze.

    Then¡­

    Minhyuk looked at Rovan sharply as he stood up and appeared from the cloud of dust. He had bandages all over his body.

    ¡°......He, he has a good sense for battle¡­¡­¡±

    Seoktae said this.

    He was Khan, the King of Fist. This was his codename but he was also good enough to not shame the name.

    ¡°Rovan-nim used the Berserker¡¯s Madness, right?¡±

    ¡°It looks like it. Rovan-nim told me before that he would be as strong as someone at Lv200 if he uses it. But the penalty was extremely huge for him¡­¡­¡±

    All of them were shocked.

    Then, how strong is Minhyuk?

    ¡°Wow. How did that game noob be so strong?¡±

    When the four of them hung out together, Minhyuk was the worst among them in ying games. ying games with him was enough to get them shaking. But the reality was¡­

    The three of them were so good that Minhyuk thought that he couldn¡¯t do it at all!

    ¡°Aside from that, I thought of a way to contact Minhyuk.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    Seoktae turned to Jihye when he heard her words.

    ¡°We could just find him with that helmet and frying pan, right?¡±

    ¡°Oh! Then if someone found him and told you his location then you will reward them. Like that?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡±

    Meanwhile, Jisoo who was quietly looking at his phone whispered¡­

    ¡°......We can¡¯t find him like that.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    Jisoo showed them the content that he was just reading on his phone.

    [cksmith Guild Happy Meal. Thanks to the enthusiastic support of our fans, 300,000 of our frying pans and helmets have been sold out. ^_^]

    ¡°......?¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    Jihye and Seoktae tilted their heads in confusion as Jisoo sighed deeply. He scrolled through his phone and showed them another article.

    [Why am I seeing people wearing a frying pan and a helmet all over the streets today¡­¡­]

    [IKR¡­¡­ It¡¯s like when you see a lot of people wearing the same brand of padded jacket as me everytime I walk outside because it is so popr¡­¡­. Hehehehe.]

    [Even the Happy Meal Guild is swamped with orders¡­¡­ They¡¯re expecting to sell 500,000 pieces today¡­¡­ Even the other guilds are jumping into the frying pan business.]

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    The two of them were left speechless.

    Then, right at that moment, they received a call from Yoon Chan. Jihye talked to him for quite some time.

    ¡°Yes, yes. We went to school together. Really. I¡¯ll tell the whole story to youter. Please send a whisper to him first. Yes.¡±

    Jihye ended the call. Not long after, a call came in from Yoon Chan again.

    ¡°Wh, what did you say? You sent the whisper?¡±

    But the words that Yoon Chan said were like a bolt out of the blue.

    [I think his whisper is off¡­¡­?]

    ***

    Minhyuk woke up in a daze.

    ¡°I¡¯m hungry.¡±

    He always started his morning with the correct words(?). Then, he went out to the kitchen and saw Changwook who just stood up from his seat.

    ¡°Yo. Frying Pan Killer.¡±

    ¡°Hyung. How did you know that name?¡±

    ¡°You topped the real-time search on the Athenae homepage yesterday. And there¡¯s also a live broadcast video of you winning against a fight with Rovan. You¡¯re really amazing.¡±

    Did I get famous on the official website?

    Minhyuk had just one thought when he realized this.

    ¡°Shit. Then it would be difficult to eat! So annoying.¡±

    When Changwook heard Minhyuk¡¯s words, somehow he felt envious. Anyone who yed a game would want to be a strong person that was able to be a ranker. However, Minhyuk looked like he was extremely annoyed that he was considered to be a strong person.

    ¡°Ah, that¡¯s right. Why was your whisper off yesterday, Minhyukie?¡±

    ¡°Ah. It was because Lucia-nim kept on whispering to me. She said that she wanted to eat ramyeon. She said that she couldn¡¯t forget the taste of the ramyeon that I made before.¡±

    ¡°......Is that the Lucia-nim that I know?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Is, isn¡¯t that a good thing?¡±

    ¡°Hyung. It¡¯s bad! My god. Someone wants to steal ramyeon from me!¡±

    ¡°R, really? But I don¡¯t think that was the case?¡±

    ¡°No. It¡¯s because hyung doesn¡¯t know her well. She¡¯s a glutton, she even wanted to take two potato jeon from me.¡±

    However, Changwook thought differently.

    Did Lucia really send a whisper to Minhyuk just because she wanted to eat ramyeon?

    ¡®Lucia-nim is much more daring than what I thought.¡±

    Everyone liked to eat ramyeon. And asking someone ¡®Do you like to eat ramyeon with me?¡¯ was an expression of interest. For some, it was a symbol for ¡®Sseom¡¯. However, Minhyuk just saw Lucia as the viin who was trying to steal his ramyeon.

    ¡®So he¡¯s a dating noob.¡¯

    Changwook was also a dating noob so he was quite delighted with this turn of events. He would definitely have a stomach ache if Minhyuk and Lucia got along well!

    Then, just as fast as he got delighted, he suddenly felt sullen.

    ¡®But why am I¡­¡­¡¯

    Why is no one interested in me!

    Changwook, who suddenly felt sullen, trudged back to his room with drooping shoulders.

    ¡°Hyung. Why did you suddenly look like you¡¯re tired?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t talk to me¡­ You envious¡­ no, bad punk.¡±

    Minhyuk was taken aback. He turned around and continued to eat his cherry tomatoes and sd to his heart''s content.

    ¡°God¡¯s Cuisine.¡±

    There are five dishes under God¡¯s Cuisine!

    Minhyuk was already looking forward to it.

    He had to go and find Boroto, the former tower master of the Chef¡¯s tower, to find out about where the first dish was. He was told that Boroto was currently staying in the Chef¡¯s Vige, Raven.

    Minhyuk excitedly essed Athenae.

    ***

    Ever since he arrived at Raven, he was quite curious.

    ¡®Since earlier, really¡­¡­¡¯

    There were a lot of people wearing a helmet and frying pan just like him. He even saw them swinging the pan while they said¡­

    ¡°Korea number 1!¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    Meanwhile, the people on his other side were like this¡­

    ¡°We Love Frying Pan club is recruiting guild members for the FPK club. We won¡¯t ept anyone with less than 50 on their frying pan¡¯s attack power!¡±

    Minhyuk thought that there really were a lot of strange people as he continued to walk to where Boroto, the former tower master of the Chef¡¯s tower, was.

    ***

    The former tower master of the Chef¡¯s Tower Boroto!

    He had been heavily drunk and intoxicated since the day began.

    ¡®In the end, no one came to seed Food God-nim¡­¡¯

    No one here believed in him or the amazing legends of the Food God! Everyone just snorted in contempt when they heard the legends of the Food God.

    ¡®No. There¡¯s no one crazy like that in the world, Boroto-nim!¡¯

    ¡®Boroto-nim, why do you believe in such nonsense? Isn¡¯t that just like believing in the traditional fairy tales?¡¯

    That¡¯s right, this was how everyone looked at the legends of the Food God. A traditional fairy tale to promote a child¡¯s innocence!

    His legends really were something like that. The legends of the Food God were filled with so much crazy nonsense that everyone believed it to be something that was only made up.

    But as a child, this was what Boroto had heard from his father¡­

    ¡®He¡¯lle one day.¡¯

    Whenever his father served food, he would always tell him the stories of the Food God. Since he grew up with his stories, Boroto had always dreamed of meeting him. But in the end, no one came to him as a descendant of the Food God.

    He had now be the former tower master of the Chef¡¯s Tower. Nothing but a senile old man.

    Boroto once again drank from his bottle of alcohol.

    Then¡­

    Knock, knock©¥

    ¡°Hello, anybody there? Chomp?¡±

    Someone knocked on his door.

    Boroto tilted his head curiously as he walked to open the door. When he opened the door, he saw a young man standing right in front of him. The man hurriedly wiped the grease off of his mouth. He looked like he just finished eating a piece off of the smoked duck meat that he was holding in his other hand. The smoked duck meat was ridiculouslyrge, it was even asrge as a man¡¯s head.

    ¡°......Boy, who are you?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m here to find the Food God¡¯s Legacy!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    When he heard his words, Boroto was startled. Then he asked him¡­

    ¡°Boy, what would you do if the world was going to end tomorrow?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll go and eat something delicious?¡±

    ¡°What would you ask for if the Dragon Lord wanted to give you a present?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll ask him to give me a small part of his tail. I wonder what a dragon¡¯s tail tastes like?!¡±

    ¡°Boy, what do you think of as soon as you wake up?¡±

    ¡°I just woke up so I¡¯m hungry¡­¡­¡±

    ¡®My goodness¡­¡­! This guy is a total food freak!¡¯

    But Boroto nodded his head because of that.

    However, he still needed the final proof. Boroto quickly rushed inside. Back when his father was alive, he left a dish behind. This dish was sealed by the Food God himself with his own powers.

    This is a dish that only the Food God can eat!

    Since it was sealed by the Food God himself, only the people who were rted to him would be able to eat it.

    Then, he opened a box. As soon as Minhyuk saw the dish in the box he looked at it and Boroto in surprise. He couldn¡¯t stop from looking at them in turn. Boroto carefully handed him a pair of chopsticks.

    ¡°Boy, would you like to try and pick some food from this dish?¡±

    If the person was not the Food God or his descendants, then they would not be able to even reach it with their chopsticks. Even Boroto couldn¡¯t touch it.

    However, Minhyuk shook his head.

    ¡°There¡¯s still something that you need before you eat this dish.¡±

    Minhyuk looked at Boroto with a solemn expression on his face.

    ***

    ¡°There¡¯s still something that you need before you eat this dish.¡±

    Minhyuk had a rare solemn expression on his face!

    He hurriedly pulled some rice out of his food storage inventory.

    The dish that the former Chef tower¡¯s tower master, Boroto, showed him was none other than a quail egg jangjorim!

    The quail egg jangjorim was one of the best rice thieves ever!

    Whenever he opened the refrigerator, he would be so happy if he saw the quail egg jangjorim that his mother left from the night before.

    Minhyuk quickly slipped his chopsticks at the quail egg jangjorim. His chopsticks easily picked a quail egg that was browned by the soy sauce.

    ¡°Heok!¡±

    Boroto looked at Minhyuk with awe and admiration. He handed him the dish as he slowly backed away and bowed down.

    ¡°Food God!¡±

    However, Minhyuk did not look at him at all. He sat down in his ce as he scooped up a spoonful of the steaming hot rice. Then, he ced the quail egg on top of it before cing it all in his mouth.

    ¡°Chomp!¡±

    The moment he chewed, he could taste the salty and light vor of the jangjorim and the rice.

    He waspletely in awe.

    ¡°W, what¡¯s this? It¡¯s extremely delicious?¡±

    Minhyuk was inplete awe and admiration. The taste was different from all of the quail egg jangjorim that he had eaten in the past. The vor was extremely deep and savory. And the egg white and yolk were inplete harmony in every bite.

    ¡°Of course. That is a dish that was made by the Food God himself. The egg is not actually a quail egg.¡±

    It¡¯s not a quail egg? So what is it then?

    The size was definitely the same with quail eggs.

    Then, he heard a shocking fact from Boroto.

    ¡°It¡¯s a phoenix¡¯s egg.¡±

    ***

    Footnotes

    [Sseom] - ? or sseom, was borrowed from the english word something. A ng that refers to people who are dating but not yet together. People under mutual understanding of some sorts.

    Food Discussion Corner

    Jangjorim (???) - boiled or braised beef in soy sauce. Usually contains beef, mushrooms and quail eggs.

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    Ahhh. I wonder if Minhyuk will ask Ellie for some phoenix eggs?

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 105 - Hungry Monsters

    Chapter 105: Hungry Monsters

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    33 Hungry Monsters

    ¡°......Phoenix eggs?¡±

    ¡°Yes. The Phoenix is considered to be a noble monster in Athenae. My father said that the Food God suddenly brought in these Phoenix eggs one day. Then, he suddenly started to cook it on the spot.¡±

    ¡°Hoo.¡±

    ¡°Then he made this jangjorim. He said that his descendants will one daye to eat this.¡±

    Minhyuk looked down at the jangjorim in his hands.

    The taste is definitely superb. It¡¯s so yummy that I can¡¯t even describe its taste.

    ¡®Did the Food God only eat food as delicious as this?¡¯

    He was suddenly filled with a great sense of jealousy.

    But he still said¡­

    ¡°The Phoenix eggs already taste this good, I wonder how much tastier a Phoenix is?¡±

    ¡°Y, you really are the Food God.¡±

    If he were a normal person he would say ¡®No?! I ate the eggs of a legendary monster?!¡¯ once he knew about it but the only thing that he thought of was that it was delicious!

    Nevertheless, Boroto continued to tell his stories.

    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you about the Food God¡¯s legacy. The Food God had countless subordinates that followed him.¡±

    The Food God¡¯s subordinates!

    Minhyuk listened to him carefully as he continued to eat since this was an important story.

    ¡°They were all important friends of the Food God, however, they were also his loyal subordinates. Most of them were considered to be legendary figures that have dominated and reigned supreme in the entirety of the Asgan Continent. Some could order a million troops to move in a singlemand, there were also heroes who have fought and won against the demon army, there were also plenty of kings and emperors who ruled their own races. The Food God had entrusted some of them with the God¡¯s Cuisine, some were even entrusted with clues on how to find cooking ingredients. All of them were entrusted with these just so they could give these and inform the Food God¡¯s descendants.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s attention was trained on his words as he continued to eat his rice.

    ¡°Those dishes were said to allow his descendants to exert incredible powers once it was eaten. In addition, after the death of the Food God, it was also said that his loyal friends and subordinates also sealed their powers on these dishes. This was to express their longing for the Food God in their hearts. This is the first of the five dishes in God''s Cuisine.¡±

    Boroto looked at Minhyuk before continuing to talk.

    ¡°I only know that the power of the first dish of God¡¯s Legacy Cuisine is rted to the Phoenix eggs.¡±

    ¡°This dish?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I don¡¯t know which subordinate sealed their power in the dish though. But if you eat God¡¯s Legacy dishes then you will be able to fill in the abilities that youck from being a Food God.¡±

    ¡°Abilities that Ick¡­¡­¡±

    Something shed through Minhyuk¡¯s head as he thought of those words deeply.

    ¡®Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡­?!¡¯

    The Food God¡¯s Cooking and Ingredient Tracking skill had not been able to move past the ¡®not yet leveled up¡¯ category.

    Was that the hint?

    ¡°Please go to thend of Salov in front of here. You will be able to find the hint for the first dish if you go there.¡±

    [ss Quest: Go to thend of Salov.]

    Rank: ?

    Restrictions: Lv150

    Rewards: 300,000 EXP

    Penalty for Failure: Unable to progress further for the Food Fighter¡¯s Legacy.

    Description: That was all of what Boroto knew. You must go to thend of Salov to find the hint!

    Minhyuk was somewhat confused.

    ¡®What do I need to find? If I go there without knowing anything can I even find the hint?¡¯

    It was quite vague and mysterious but he still nodded his head to ept the quest.

    Then, Boroto raised his doubts.

    ¡°But, Food God.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    Just before Minhyuk ate hisst spoonful, Boroto asked him this question.

    ¡°Where is your apostle?¡±

    ¡°Apostle?¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    Boroto tilted his head in confusion. ording to the legends, the Food God would always take the best chef with him. And this man, the apostle, was also a man with great power. He carefully spoke as he tried to remember the words that his father told him before.

    ¡°It¡¯s the Twilight Chef.¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    Minhyuk was taken aback since this was the first time that he had heard of this.

    ¡°What kind of work does the apostle do?¡±

    ¡°He did a lot of different things with the Food God. He¡¯s good at everything. He could use his farming skills to grow new crops, dig up minerals in the mines and even track ingredients.¡±

    As Minhyuk continued to listen, he thought that these things were strangely familiar.

    ¡°Is that what the legends say?¡±

    When he thought about it, Len did not give him any quest. However, he was still able to master abilities rted to dexterity and even receive an artifact.

    Was it supposed to be originally for that guy?

    ¡°I already have all those abilities. And I prefer not having any apostles.¡±

    ¡°H, howe? The apostle is like your right hand man. He¡¯s the one that should take care of all of your troubles.¡±

    But Minhyuk rified his stance.

    ¡°I¡¯m already short on food to eat and you still want me to take in another mouth to feed?¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    Boroto thought that there was no other person that was suited to be the Food God except for this person in front of him.

    After Minhyuk ate thest spoonful of the jangjorim, he heard some notifications.

    [You have eaten a dish from God¡¯s Cuisine.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [Your resistance to the fire attribute has increased by 30%.]

    [Your resistance and spirit affinity to the fire attribute have sharply increased.]

    ¡°Huh¡­¡­?¡±

    This was something that was unexpected for Minhyuk.

    His EXP has increased just by eating a dish. This was the first time he had ever eaten God¡¯s dish. So he was wondering if his EXP would increase every time he ate God¡¯s dishes.

    In addition, he received an enormous increase of 30% in his fire attribute resistance. This was the same as saying that he would be able to reduce the damage caused by fire attributed monsters by 30%.

    He also received an increase in affinity with fire attributed spirits. This was a great boost considering that Minhyuk already had a high increase in his spirit affinity from the legendary frying pan. This just meant that he would have an already high degree of friendship with any spirit especially with fire attributed spirits.

    After he finished chatting and talking with Boroto, Minhyuk quickly went to thend of Salov.

    ***

    Minhyuk resumed eating the smoked duck that he was eating previously before he went and chatted with Boroto. This smoked duck was none other than the golden magic duck that they had hunted back in the Shrieking Hills.

    Once he finished all of the smoked duck, he heard these notifications.

    [The True Worth of Food.]

    [You can acquire a random skill from the Golden Duck.]

    [Would you like to acquire it?]

    The golden duck was an epic monster that had plenty of magical skills in its arsenal. Minhyuk tried to acquire a random skill.

    [You are attempting to acquire a random skill.]

    [Acquisition rate 11%...... 22%..... 36%...... 68%...... 0%......]

    [You have failed to acquire a skill.]

    Minhyuk was quite disappointed that he failed to acquire a skill from the golden duck. Before realizing it, he had arrived at thend of Salov whilst sporting a face full of regret.

    The monsters that resided in thend of Salov can easily be described as¡­

    Giant spiders!

    As far as Minhyuk knew, the monsters in Salov were Lv200 monsters. If anyonepared his level to those of the monsters they would know that there was an extremely huge gap between them.

    Minhyuk surveyed his surroundings and saw that thend of Salov was teeming with cliffs.

    ¡®This hunting ground is really bad¡­¡­¡¯

    There was only one reason.

    Even Minhyuk did not want to eat spiders!

    Click, click©¥

    Click, click, click, click©¥

    He turned to where the sound wasing from and saw a giant spider crawling down from one of the cliffs that surrounded Salov. The Salov spider was quickly approaching Minhyuk with glinting eyes.

    [Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship]

    [All stats will have a 17% increase for 6 minutes.]

    [Evasion rate has increased by 30%.]

    [Fatal Strikes rate has increased by 30%.]

    The title Battlefield¡¯s Ruler was no longer avable to him. In the first ce, it was a title that could only be used if the user was below Lv150.

    With his skill triggered, Minhyuk narrowed the distance between him and the spider. The Salov spider spewed out a dense amount of thread from its body.

    [Salov¡¯s Spiderweb.]

    [Robust spiderwebs that would not break easily.]

    He dodged dozens of threads of spiderwebs that were aiming towards him with Step.

    [Step.]

    [Quickly move a distance of 1m for two steps.]

    Minhyuk easily evaded the attack as he took a side step and rushed to stab the side of the Salov spider that was as big as a one-ton truck.

    [Sword of Fury.]

    [There will be an additional 53% for strong lunges and stabs, if a vital strike is sessful then the additional attack power will be 83%.]

    Spurt!

    As soon as he pulled out his sword out of the huge body of the Salov spider, green blood spurted out like a fountain. Minhyuk used Step again and dodged the other iing attacks as he went in front of the spider.

    Stab!

    Bang!

    Seeds suddenly fell down after Minhyuk sessfully hunted the huge Salov spider that tried to ambush him.

    ¡®Huh? What are these seeds?¡¯

    Minhyuk tilted his head in thought as he acquired them.

    [You have acquired 1,034 gold.]

    [You have acquired Unknown Seeds.]

    (Unknown Seeds)

    Material Grade: ?

    Special Abilities: ?

    Description: An unidentified seed.

    He was a bit puzzled but he first stashed it in his inventory.

    After pondering deeply, he thought that hunting the Salov spiders was quite a piece of cake for him so he immediately used Gryphon¡¯s Cry.

    Bbiiiiiiiiii!

    [Gryphon¡¯s Cry.]

    [You have a 70~80% chance of attracting the attention of all the monsters within a 20-m radius.]

    Salov spiders started to flock to where he was. They came from all over the ce, some came from the cracks of the cliffs, under some rocks and other ces. The number that he was able to attract was by no means small.

    If he reached Lv200, then he would be able to go to the beach. So he thought that it wasn¡¯t that bad to level up while he tried to find a hit about the second God¡¯s dish.

    [Rampant Sword.]

    [A flurry of rampant swords with additional 30% attack power will be created for 6 seconds.]

    Minhyuk used his rampant sword against the swarm of Salov spiders.

    [You have dealt a fatal blow.]

    Spuuuuurt!

    ¡°Kkiiiiiiiiieeeeee!¡±

    [You have dealt a fatal blow.]

    Spurt!

    ¡°Kkiiii!¡±

    [You have sessfully evaded.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    There were times when the attack of the Salovs would hit Minhyuk. However, whenever he used Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship, he could ignore an attack once or twice depending on the evasion rate.

    Whenever he killed a Salov, a fountain of green blood would always spurt out! And there would always be seeds falling as drops.

    [You have acquired 1,011 gold.]

    [You have acquired Unknown Seeds.]

    [You have acquired 1,514 gold.]

    [You have acquired Unknown Seeds.]

    [You have acquired Salov¡¯s Spiderweb]

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk who could not make any heads or tails about these seeds opened the official homepage of Athenae.

    Unlike other virtual reality games, information was readily avable in Athenae in the form of their official homepage. The homepage could easily be essed once any battle was done or when the user was idle.

    [Salov. Unknown Seeds.]

    [No content found.]

    ¡°......Uhm?¡±

    Minhyuk was quite taken aback. This was the first time that his search had resulted in nothing. The homepage simply showed that there was no content rted to this search word. This meant that the unknown seeds were items that would note out originally. To put it simply, there was a high possibility that this was an item that was rted to his quest.

    He tilted his head in thought.

    I¡¯ll find out more about this once I hunt a few more.

    ***

    Puhaaaaa!

    It had already been six hours! Minhyuk had already been able to acquire 200 unknown seeds from his continuous hunting of the Salovs. And Minhyuk had raised his level by 10 so far. He was originally at Lv150 and he had been hunting monsters that were 50 levels higher than him so it was a given that his level would rise at an overwhelming speed.

    Then¡­

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    An enticing smell tickled Minhyuk¡¯s nose.

    Where is iting from? There¡¯s a sweet and savory smell floating around.

    Minhyuk moved to follow the tasty smell. The smell guided Minhyuk towards a cave somewhere behind one of the cliffs.

    ¡°A delicious smell¡­¡­!¡±

    This smells like that¡­

    Like the smell of chicken when you¡¯re in an elevator!

    It was a smell that could rouse Minhyuk¡¯s appetite even if he couldn¡¯t pinpoint exactly what it was.

    The moment he entered the cave, he felt that there was something wrong. The smell immediately disappeared when he stepped inside the cave. He was also able to discover a light that was leaking at the opposite end of the entrance of the cave.

    ¡°......What?¡±

    The smell suddenly disappeared.

    It was like it just guided him towards this ce.

    Perhaps the ¡®hint¡¯ is in here?

    He slowly moved towards the light one step at a time. Once he reached that ce, a shocking sight unfolded in front of him.

    ¡°Th, this is¡­¡­?¡±

    In front of himyed a vast expanse ofnd. And on thisnd were monsters with nothing but bones on them.

    Piiiiiiiiiiiii!

    At that moment, a loud shriek came from somewhere. Minhyuk turned his head towards the direction where the sound came from. He saw a huge bird.

    It was a giant firebird with a body that was filled with zing mes!

    It was a Phoenix!

    [Named Monster.]

    [You were the first to discover the Legendary Phoenix Lord.]

    [You have gained 30 reputation points.]

    It wasn¡¯t just an ordinary Phoenix, it was the king of Phoenixes!

    The Phoenix gently and unhurriedly sat in front of Minhyuk. Then, it looked at Minhyuk closely.

    This is the legendary monster, the Phoenix Lord.

    Just as it looked at Minhyuk, Minhyuk also looked at it closely.

    Then, Minhyuk slowly opened his mouth¡­

    ¡°Yummy¡­¡­¡±

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    Calling Radem, the person who was facilitating the tournament before, you called it. A warm round of apuse to this great sir. Lol.

    I think that¡¯s why he smelled something like chicken. KEK.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at:/Q3dStgu

 Chapter 106 - Hungry Monsters

    Chapter 106: Hungry Monsters

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    "......"

    The Phoenix looked at Minhyuk in puzzlement. Meanwhile, Minhyuk despaired as he finally realized an unfortunate fact.

    ''Why can''t I see any ck light?!''

    The Phoenix did not shine any color at all. And he wouldn''t be able to eat it if it did not shine a ck color.

    What was worse was that the Phoenix''s condition was almost as bad as the monsters lying around. It was so thin that it looked like only its bones were left. It looked like it was about to copse any time soon.

    "Are you the descendant of Allen, the Food God?"

    The name of the Food God that existed in the past! It seems like he was named Allen.

    Minhyuk nodded his head.

    "I see."

    The Phoenix stared at him quietly. It saw the frying pan on his back and the chocopie on his hand. Even if he was in front of it, he was still nibbling on something.

    "I''m the Phoenix Lord, the protector of this monster''s paradise. Chronicle."

    A monster''s paradise.

    However, looking at the state it was in right now, it did not seem like it was a paradise at all. Perhaps it was a paradise for the hungry.

    "By any chance, is Chronicle-nim the subordinate of the Food God-nim?"

    Chronicle shook her head when she heard Minhyuk''s question.

    "Don''tpare me with him. He is my king. Also, he has now entered his eternal rest."

    "Yes?"

    Minhyuk couldn''t understand what he meant by eternal rest. He was quite sure that the presence standing above Chronicle would have known the whereabouts of God''s dishes.

    But now he had been told that he was dead.

    "However, there''s still a way to wake him up. My king is still waiting for the day that his close friend''s, the Food God''s, descendant came. My king left me with the power to wake him up."

    Chronicle said this as she looked at Minhyuk''s eager eyes.

    "Thisnd was once the paradise for monsters. Monsters originally couldn''t socialize and live with the rest of their race. However, there''s aw here that prevented us from eating and attacking each other. In addition, we could get food from the seeds so we could easily get along with each other and even socialize with the weak outside thisnd. The Food God and his apostle were the ones who managed this ce. The apostle nted the seeds and nurtured them to bear fruits. And through the nutrients from the cliffs, they once again bore seeds. The Food God would then cook us a dish. The dish was named ''Wouldn''t Get Hungry for 50 years'' and gave us the power to not get hungry for 50 years. But not long ago, that power had run out. And just like that, four months have passed. And just before we die of hunger, you came right on time."

    Minhyuk nodded his head.

    A dish that won''t let you get hungry for 50 years! What a great dish.

    However, the Food God and his apostle had long left this world. And he had now appeared as the new Food God.

    A notification rang.

    [ss Quest: You havepleted the quest Go to thend of Salov.]

    [You have acquired 300,000 EXP.]

    Ring!

    Along with thepletion of the previous quest, his quest window refreshed and popped out once more.

    [ss Quest: Feed the Hungry Field Monsters until they are Full.]

    Rank: ?

    Restrictions: Lv150

    Rewards: Monster egg. Meeting with the Food God''s subordinate that knows the location of the God''s dish.

    Penalty for Failure: Unable to progress further for the Food Fighter¡¯s Legacy.

    Description: The monsters are trapped in the field! They were left with nothing but bones from their terrible hunger. Feed the monsters in the ce of the previous Food God!

    Minhyuk waspletely shocked when what he expected really came true.

    There was only one reason for his shock.

    "I''m already so busy eating to the point of dying¡­¡­"

    And as if Chronicle expected this answer, she said¡­

    "The Food God said¡­ ''I''m sure he''ll tell you that he''s so busy eating to the point of dying''."

    "As expected, he''s the only one who understands me."

    Minhyuk was extremely excited to find that someone understood and sympathized with him.

    "But the Food God not only loves to be full and satiated, he also loves the feeling of cooking delicious food for others. And now, you have the chance to feel that joy. Right? And if you feed us, you will also get something that will extremely satisfy you."

    "Satisfy me?"

    Chronicle just replied to him with silence.

    At this time, Minhyuk noticed¡­

    ''It seems like cooking ingredients wille out!''

    Then, Chronicle spoke again.

    "My king told me that he had one big fight with the Food God in his lifetime. And not long after that, he learnt of the sad news about the Food God. He was extremely sad and despondent."

    "The two of them must have been extremely close, huh? So why did the two of them fight?"

    Suddenly, Chronicle''s face was filled with undisputed anger. Her body that was too weak to move was suddenly covered with zing mes!

    Crackle, crackle, fwoosh!

    "The Food God stole my eggs."

    Minhyuk tilted his head in thought.

    Huh?

    "And when my king asked him in a fit of rage he said¡­ ''Oh, I made it into jangjorim and ate it. It was delicious!''. If I ever meet the Food God in hell, I will not let him go!"

    Minhyuk felt cold sweat dripping from his forehead.

    "Ha, hahaha. H, how can he do that? How can he make your eggs into jangjorim¡­¡­ Th, that¡­¡­ Bad person!"

    "Boy, I''m d that you understand us too. Oh my god. Boy, you(?) look much better than that crazy bastard, Food God, that took my eggs and made them into jangjorim."

    "He, hehe."

    Minhyuk had no choice but tough at her words. If he said the wrong words then he would be forced to log out by Chronicle! After all, the Phoenix Lord Chronicle was estimated to be at Lv450.

    That wasn''t even the main point. The Phoenix Lord was a legendary monster. It was a monster that had never been discovered by any other user in the country.

    "As you can see, there are a lot of monsters that are starving to death. I can only give you two weeks. Keep in mind that if you''re not able to fill their fullness stat to 50% then you will fail this quest. And you can only obtain the food supplies and the seeds to feed the monsters from thend of Salov that is connected to this ce."

    Chronicle told him this as he nodded his head along. Then she continued to say¡­

    "You should tell your apostle where we are and save the monsters from this hunger."

    "I don''t have an apostle."

    Minhyuk shook his head as he told her the same thing he told to Boroto.

    Chronicle looked shocked and in disbelief from his words.

    "Y, you don''t have an apostle? What are you saying¡­¡­"

    She had no choice but to be shocked. In the past, the Food God and his apostle were always together when they came to this paradise. The apostle would gather the ingredients while the Food God would cook for them. There wasn''t enough time even if the two of them moved together.

    But he''s saying that he has no apostle? The apostle was a man of great abilities and he was able to easily obtain ingredients, though? Does this mean that the Food God would collect the ingredients himself?

    Even if the apostle was with him right now, it would already be a hard feat to feed all of these monsters. In fact, Chronicle would already be grateful if he was able to fill 50% of their fullness stat.

    The apostle and the Food God are not mature enough. Especially the apostle.

    But then, Minhyuk said¡­

    "I have the abilities and power of the apostle so you don''t have to worry."

    "Th, the apostle''s power? How did you¡­¡­?"

    The apostle was clearly a brilliant and talented man.

    He''s saying that he has the power of the apostle?

    "Boy, don''t tell me¡­¡­?"

    "That''s right. I can do it all¡­¡­"

    "Did you eat your apostle?"

    "I won''t eat a person!"

    Minhyuk shouted at her in a fit of rage but Chronicle still looked at him with disbelief.

    "You''ll be doing the work that''s supposed to be done by two people¡­¡­ No matter how capable you are, this is still¡­¡­"

    Chronicle thought that they would starve to death.

    She soon curled up her huge body to preserve her powers.

    "I''m hungry. Please don''t talk to me at the moment."

    "Yes. I understand."

    Minhyuk nodded his head at her as he moved along. As Chronicle watched his back as he walked forward, her stomach grumbled.

    Grooooowl!

    Legendary monsters were also weak in front of their boundless hunger.

    Chronicle soon fell asleep. This was also a way to forget her hunger.

    ***

    Jihye, Seoktae and Jisoo were sitting together in a cafe.

    Seoktae sighed.

    ¡°We can¡¯t find him like this. Almost every single person in Athenae is wearing a horned helmet and a frying pan on their backs.¡±

    Jihye and Jisoo both nodded their heads in agreement. Meanwhile, Jihye was quite expectant since Yoon Chan said that he would arrive here soon.

    ¡®Rovan-nim was the only person who had been in contact with Minhyuk until recently¡­¡­¡¯

    Perhaps they would be able to know why Minhyuk disappeared and did not contact them for so long through Rovan?

    Just as they were thinking of these things, the door to the cafe opened.

    ck©¥

    Yoon Chan came inside of the cafe.

    ¡°Hello.¡±

    ¡°Wee. Rovan-nim.¡±

    The three of them warmly weed Yoon Chan. They had often seen each other in real life and were quite familiar with each other.

    Yoon Chan ordered a drink before sitting down with them. Jisoo picked his mobile phone up as if he was not interested in whatever conversation that they were going to have. Seoktae looked at him fiercely but soon sighed in defeat. It wasn¡¯t worth it. If it weren¡¯t for Jihye¡¯s sake he also would have cut off anything rted to Minhyuk after what he had done to them.

    ¡°It¡¯s quite shocking to me. Minhyuk-nim is friends with our guild¡¯s executives¡­¡­¡±

    These people were Versal¡¯s legends! And they were gathered here right now and he still did not know what kind of legend they would be going to write in Athenae.

    ¡°What about Minhyuk? Is he doing well?¡±

    Yoon Chan folded his arms and Jisoo who looked like he wasn¡¯t interested silently ced his phone down as he looked at him.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to say this but¡­¡­¡±

    The three people stared at him seriously.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think he¡¯s like a human at all¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    The three of them were taken aback with his words.

    ¡°You see, we were hunting together in a party. Suddenly, he said that he was thirsty so he quickly pulled out 4 gatorade. Then he one shotted the drinks and said ¡®Ah, my throat is finally moistened.¡¯.¡±

    ¡°4 cans?¡±

    ¡°No. It¡¯s the 1.5L bottles.¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    When they finally registered what he said, they all stared nkly at Rovan.

    ¡°No, isn¡¯t that something impossible?¡±

    Yoon chan nodded his head at Seoktae¡¯s words.

    ¡°He even said that he wanted to go to the Shrieking Hills because he wanted to eat ducks¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    ¡°You know the magic duck right? We killed 40 of those ducks and he cooked them into spicy stir-fried bulgogi and even made fried rice. Then he told me this when I wanted to get another spoonful¡­ ¡®You¡¯re supposed to let go of your spoon once you¡¯re full. It¡¯s not good to overeat.¡¯.¡±

    ¡°Keok¡­¡­?¡±

    The three of them were shocked and in disbelief. Minhyuk had been quite gluttonous even when they were young but it was not to this point.

    ¡®What happened to him?¡¯

    Jihye wanted to know the answer to this question.

    ¡°Minhyuk-nim was very polite and has a good personality. So I wanted to invite him to our guild but¡­¡­¡±

    His words made Jihye¡¯s heart thump faster. However, Yoon Chan shook his head in disappointment.

    ¡°He said that it was good for him to be alone right now since there¡¯s still a lot of food in the world that he wanted to eat.¡±

    ¡°His whisper is still off?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Yoon chan nodded his head as the three of them sighed together in unison.

    Jisoo looked like he was interested now. Even though he pretended that he did not care he still wanted to see him again.

    ¡°What in the world happened to that punk¡­¡­¡±

    Seoktae mumbled to himself as the four of them fell into silence.

    Then¡­

    ¡°Huh? Jihye-ah, look at the guild chat.¡±

    ¡°The GC? Why?¡±

    When Jisoo told her to look through their guild chat, she quickly opened her phone and checked her guild chat window.

    [Guild Chatting Abel: GM-nim, I found a way to sessfully break the dungeon that you¡¯re attacking right now ^_^ Is there no one else here?]

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Everyone suddenly became interested.

    The Legend Guild wanted to send their first signal to the world by sessfully clearing and breaking that dungeon and uploading their videos on Ztube. And right now, Abel, their guild member with the legendary ss ¡®Informant¡¯ told them that he found a way for them to clear the dungeon.

    [Guild Master Genie: Is that true?]

    [Guild Chatting Abel: Yep. Please pat me on the back~]

    [Guild Master Genie: (Patting on the back) How do we do it?]

    [Guild Chatting Abel: You need an excellent buffed dish right? And only three people are allowed to go inside?]

    The reason why they needed to have an excellent buffed dish was because the dungeon would only allow a three-people-party to go in at a time. And if one person from the three-people-party were to fall because they did not have enough buffed dishes then the dungeon would be extremely hard to attack.

    [Guild Master Genie: Of course. We have to upload a video of the three of us clearing it so that the people who watch it can cheer even more.]

    The less people to clear the dungeon, the more amazement the people would feel. Doing it this way meant that they would not be able to push ahead and clear it with numbers.

    [Guild Chatting Abel: Do you know about the town of Raven?]

    [Guild Master Genie: Isn¡¯t it called Chef''s town?]

    [Guild Chatting Abel: That¡¯s right. And there¡¯s a hidden quest there. The reward for clearing that hidden quest is a cooking buff that willst for quite a long time. They also said that the buff effect reward is much better than the dish made by the Twilight Chef with A-ranked ingredients.]

    Much better than the buffed dish made by the Twilight Chef with A-ranked ingredients?

    Of course this was just a reward from a hidden quest but it was something that was perfect for them.

    [Guild Master Genie: Who is giving the quest?]

    She looked at the guild chat window with great expectations.

    [Guild Chatting Abel: Boroto, the former tower master of the Chef¡¯s Tower.]

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    I bet one chapter that they would probably meet each other through Boroto or she would get some news from Boroto about Minhyuk. Kek.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at:/Q3dStgu

 Chapter 107 - The Birth Of The School Of Fast Eaters

    Chapter 107: The Birth of the School of Fast Eaters

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    34 The Birth of the School of Fast Eaters

    Minhyuk first looked through the fullness of the monsters in front of him before getting ready to feed them. Currently, their fullness is at 0%.

    In addition to that, he could also see an egg that was suspended in the middle of thend. He assumed that this was the egg that he was supposed to receive as a reward. He quickly checked the information about the monster egg.

    (Monster Egg)

    Rank: ?

    Race: Pet

    Description: Its fullness has not been filled yet so it''s rank has not yet been decided.

    Minhyuk nodded his head in thought.

    ''If I raise their fullness to a high degree then I will be able to get a good monster. Then I''ll crack that monster egg and fry it!''

    He chuckled brightly as he looked around the area.

    There were plenty of different kinds of monsters in this ce. There were orcs, ogres and owl bears. There was also a flying wyvern and a giant Vx anaconda. There were truly a lot of them.

    But what was more important was that there were bosses among them. There was even the Orc Tribe Leader that he had hunted before! There was also the ogres attacking boss, the monster halfling, Head Ogre!

    Minhyuk gazed at this vast and barrennd.

    "Shall we start?"

    He changed the shape of Ellie''s Sword into a pickaxe.

    This was the first time that he would use his intermediate farming after a long time.

    (Intermediate Farming)

    Passive Skill

    Level: 1

    Effects:

    ¡ª Collecting and digging for materials and ingredients will be 60+60% faster.

    ¡ª 30+30% chance of acquiring better ingredients when digging.

    ¡ª 2+2% increase in chances of acquiring special ingredients when digging.

    ¡ª You can grow various things by nting seeds.

    Currently, he had three skills that improved because of his DEX. The bandaging, cksmithing and repairing, and farming skills. Among the three, his farming skill had the lowest level. His proficiency in farming was difficult to increase and he only had a chance to do so if he received quests like this. But it seemed like this was a great opportunity to increase his proficiency.

    And contrary to Chronicle''s disappointment, Minhyuk was one of the best farmers. Even though his intermediate farming was only at Lv1, he could exhibit x2 of its power.

    In fact, the most conclusive evidence was his 1,000 dexterity points. After all, this was still a game. His DEX would have a huge influence in all of the skills that were rted to it whether it was seeding, nting, or cultivating nts and trees. With the influence of DEX, any nt that he had farmed would grow at an astonishing pace unlike in reality.

    However, this was the first time Minhyuk would ever nt something by himself. He didn''t know how much strength and power he needed to exert so he could plow the ground. And the very first thing that he needed to do was to plow the fields.

    "Feeding these monsters will give me ingredients!"

    That thought alone fueled Minhyuk''s enthusiasm. He quickly used his transformed pickaxe from Ellie''s sword. Once he looked at the ground he could see a red mark. He used great strength to hit the ce that was glowing red.

    Bang!

    The ground was easily tilled. He continued to swing his pickaxe a few more times.

    Bang!

    Bang!

    Bang!

    Surprisingly, the ground was tilled and evenly divided.

    "Hoo."

    It was a shocking sight especially for someone like Minhyuk who was doing it for the first time.

    Minhyuk began to plow the field in earnest. He plowed the field for one or two hours without stopping.

    He might not know this but novice farmers would take about 10 minutes just to plow the field and make one ce to nt a seed. But Minhyuk could make five in the same amount of time.

    Tap!

    Tap!

    Tap!

    "Ah, I want to eat snacks!"

    Minhyuk plowed the fields as he imagined thedies and old women with trays on their head as they shouted ''Here''s your snacks!'' to the farmers just like in the movies.

    How good will it be if I can sit by the shade of the tree and drink makgeolli while I eat some snacks!

    "Kghk!"

    He continued to plow the fields as he imagined an amazing sight.

    Bang!

    Bang!

    Bang!

    And as he continued to plow the field, he finally heard a very wee sound.

    [You have gained 1 DEX.]

    [You have gained 1 Will.]

    His lips naturally curled up in a satisfied smile.

    Bang!

    Bang!

    Bang!

    Another set of notifications came up!

    [You have triggered the Skill: Will.]

    [All of your skills and abilities rted to DEX will temporarily be increased by 27%.]

    Minhyuk''s pace began to elerate.

    Bang!

    Bang!

    His sessful digging of the soil had increased. If he used to get one sessful dig for every 4~5 digs then now, he was able to get one sessful dig for every 3~4 digs.

    Chronicle''s only concern was that it would take at least two people to be able to fill the fullness stat of every monster in this ce. The only reason was because two hands would always be better than one.

    However, she did not know that Minhyuk''s DEX was extremely high and that he would disy a huge amount of concentration and enthusiasm whenever something rted to ''food and something to eat'' was on the line.

    Bang!

    Bang!

    No matter how fast his speed was at making a room for a seed, he would still not be able to finish it in one single go.

    Chronicle had told him that he could travel freely to and from thend of Salov. This meant that even if Minhyuk had 200 seeds it would not mean that the quest would finish with that. He could also see that the number of monsters in this ce was quiterge. He estimated that he needed at least 500 seeds to be able to fill all of the space that he had.

    Bang!

    Bang!

    Then, another notification came in.

    [You have acquired the Apostle''s Rewards.]

    [Your Intermediate Farming''s proficiency rate has increased by x2.]

    "Hooo?!"

    That''s right. This ce was a ce for the Food God''s ss quest but it seemed like it was also the ce for the apostle''s ss quest. But the power of the apostle had be his so it was only natural that his rewards would also be his. And unexpectedly he was able to increase his intermediate farming at a speed that was quite fast!

    Bang!

    [Your Intermediate Farming has leveled up.]

    [You have gained 1 DEX.]

    He continued to dig and plow thend without taking any rest.

    ''I wonder what ingredient wille out every time I feed them?''

    The reason why he was so absorbed and into this task was because he wanted to feed the monsters quickly and eat the delicious rewards!

    Time continued to flow.

    5 hours, 6 hours, 7 hours had passed.

    But Minhyuk was not tired at all. He was even able to make room for 500 seeds in one go.

    Then, he went ahead and nted the 200 seeds that he had acquired earlier. He also took some water from the nearby river and sprinkled it evenly on the newly nted seeds.

    The work couldn''t look so refined since he was doing the work for two people. But he watered it carefully even if he wascking enough sleep. He also made sure to chant a spell while he watered the seeds.

    "Grow seed! Sprout!"

    After he finished watering all 200 of the seeds, he went straight to the cliffs. If he dug up in the cliffs then he would be able to get nutritional supplements. Once he arrived at the cliffs, he could see red marks! Minhyuk urately hit these red marks.

    Bang!

    Bang!

    Just like when he was mining for iron ore, he could easily acquire the nutritional supplements in just one or two swings.

    [You have acquired Nutritional Supplements.]

    Minhyuk checked the information about the nutritional supplement.

    (Nutritional Supplement)

    Material Grade: C

    Special Abilities: Can promote growth of seeds.

    Description: A nutrient that can help the seeds grow healthier and faster. One nutrient can help promote the growth of ten seeds. The effect can be stacked.

    "Hoo?"

    The effect could be stacked!

    This meant that the seeds could grow faster and healthier if he applied plenty of nutritional supplements on it.

    However, it seemed that Minhyuk had too much to do that everything seemed too difficult. Minhyuk collected 20 nutritional supplements and used it on the seeds immediately.

    [You have used a Nutritional Supplement.]

    [The seeds will grow faster.]

    Minhyuk did not pause to take a break and immediately went back to the cliffs to dig for more.

    Bang!

    Bang!

    [Your Intermediate cksmithing Skill has leveled up.]

    [You can now smelt minerals.]

    When Minhyuk listened to the notifications, he cleared his throat as he began to sing while he continued to dig for nutritional supplements.

    And it wasn''t just simple singing. Back in the Kingdom of Barras, he also went and learned ''Beginner''s Singing''. He just wasn''t able to use it since there wasn''t any need for it.

    But the Beginner''s Singing had some connections with farming. Whenever a song was sung, seeds would be able to grow faster.

    Minhyuk began to sing as he dug for nutritional supplements on the cliffs.

    "Bingsu-yah~ patbingsu-yah! I love you, I love you!"

    [You have sung the best tune.]

    [The seeds will grow faster if they listen to your singing.]

    [You have gained 1 DEX.]

    In fact, Minhyuk was not really that good at singing. However, the power of 1,100 DEX was far reaching and was even able to take care of his singing! He kept on singing happily.

    [You have gained 1 DEX.]

    [You have acquired a Nutritional Supplement.]

    Since he was singing and digging at the same time then his DEX was bound to increase at an extremely fast rate.

    "I like milk, I like milk, please give me milk. Please give me more!"

    "Dead~ drunk~ huh? I want to eat gondrebap¡­¡­"

    Minhyuk hesitated for a second! But he never stopped and continued to dig on the cliffs.

    And the Orc Tribe Leader that was weakly leaning on the wall as he struggled against his hunger, mumbled while he watched Minhyuk''s figure.

    "Chwiiiiik¡­¡­ H, he''s a strange human¡­¡­ Chwiiiik, all of his songs starts with food and ends with food. Chwiiiiik¡­¡­"

    The Orc Tribe Leader shook its head weakly.

    ***

    Chronicle slowly woke up from her light slumber. As soon as she came to her senses, her worries red up and she fidgeted distress.

    This ce was truly a happy paradise for monsters. Monsters that usually would not get along would get along and coexist happily here. The wyverns would even sometimes y with the orcs on their backs. The strong and ferocious ogres would even lend their hands whenever the orcs were lifting something heavy. This was such a happy paradise in and on itself and it was all thanks to the previous Food God and apostle.

    However, the descendant of the Food God right now was far more immature than the previous Food God when he came here. He even came alone without his apostle beside him.

    ''I just wish he could save half of us but¡­¡­''

    It wasn''t an easy task. He had to do so much work alone. And he only had two weeks to finish them all.

    ''Did I sleep for a day?''

    Originally, Phoenixes were sleepy monsters that was why they could sleep for quite a long time.

    With that thought, Chronicle slowly opened her eyes.

    ''I would be d if he''s already done with plowing¡­¡­''

    Chronicle stretched out her curled body and looked down with her majestic head.

    "This¡­¡­?"

    An expression of disbelief was painted across her face.

    There were 500 seeds nted on the plowednd before her. And that wasn''t all, these were all well-grown seeds that looked like they were bound to bear fruit any time soon. In addition, the Food God was currently near the cliffs and was still digging up nutritional supplements.

    Bang!

    Bang!

    Bang!

    Every time his pickaxe hit the cliffs, a nutritional supplement would drop.

    "M, my goodness¡­¡­!"

    Chronicle had seen the previous apostle before but the current Food God was much more skilled and had better mining capabilities than him.

    The seeds had grown this much in one day? Is it because of his abilities? No, that''s impossible.

    The Food God was drenched with sweat. He looked like he was extremely exhausted but he still did not stop from swinging his pickaxe. He was even singing happily.

    Chronicle watched him with trepidation.

    "D, don''t tell me¡­¡­!"

    Did he feel pity for those little starving monsters? He must have not slept or taken a rest just to save those monsters! I''m so thankful!

    Then, at that moment¡­

    A growing seed had finally borne fruit.

    ***

    [Chronicle''s favorability has increased.]

    [Chronicle''s favorability has increased.]

    [Chronicle''s favorability has increased.]

    "......Huh?"

    Let''s just quickly feed the monsters and get something delicious!

    Minhyuk who was thinking about such thoughts was taken aback when he suddenly heard the influx of notifications.

    "I see, there''s a bug again. Hmm¡­¡­"

    Why did I suddenly receive these notifications when I''m just digging up on the cliffs and thinking of the delicious things that I will eat?

    Then, Minhyuk heard another notification.

    [Your Unknown Seed has borne fruit.]

    [You can now harvest the fruit.]

    "Ho?"

    He turned his head and looked back at the fields. When he turned back, he was shocked.

    "Heok?!"

    Something came out from the seed that grew. It was hanging from a long stem when it suddenly cried loudly.

    "Kkiiiiiiiiiiiik!"

    It was a pig.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [gondrebap] The line with the gondrebap is a pun. Dead drunk is ?????? (gondremandre) while ??? (gondre or KR thistle) is a nt that can be added to rice. Usually served as a temple dish.

    Food Discussion Corner

    Bingsu (??) / Patbingsu (???) - Korean shaved ice dessert filled with sweet toppings.

    Gondrebap (????) - gondre is a naturally growing nt in the mountains of Korea. Usually found near temples. It is added to rice. Gondre needs to be soaked in water since its stems are tough but it has a tea-like aroma when it''s cooked.

    TL''s corner!!!

    A pig grew out from the seed?! OwO

    PR¡¯s corner!

    A pig nt. That checks out...

    Report mistakes and chat with us at:/Q3dStgu

 Chapter 108 - The Birth Of The School Of Fast Eaters

    Chapter 108: The Birth of the School of Fast Eaters

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    [Your Unknown Seed has borne fruit.]

    [You can now harvest the fruit.]

    Another seed had bore some fruits. But this time, instead of a pig it was another animal. It was none other than a cow.

    ¡°Eumooooooooooo!¡±

    [Your Unknown Seed¡­¡­]

    [......harvest¡­¡­]

    The unknown seeds continued to bore fruit one after another.

    ¡°Cluck, cluck!¡±

    ¡°Meeeeeee, meeeee!¡±

    The next thing that came out were chickens and sheeps.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡­ I want to take that seed home with me¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was in awe and admiration.

    How can these seeds be so groundbreaking?!

    He stopped digging on the cliffs as he walked towards the fields.

    ¡°Heave-ho!¡±

    Minhyuk reached his hands out towards the pig that was hanging from the stem of the nt that grew out of the seed. The nt surprisingly reached an outstanding height of 2m.

    [You have harvested a pig.]

    [You have acquired all parts of the pig.]

    ¡°Ho?¡±

    This is quite a convenient system.

    Then, he reached out for the cow that was hanging next to him.

    [You have harvested a special cow.]

    [You have acquired all parts of the cow.]

    ¡°Special cow? Ah¡­¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk remembered that his intermediate farming skill would give him a chance to pick something special whenever he picks or harvests things. However, it did not seem to have much of an effect when he was digging. In other words, this was just something that would have an effect on crops and nts.

    He quickly checked the details about the ribeye steak that he had just harvested.

    (Special Ribeye)

    Material Grade: D

    Special Abilities: It is much more delicious than regr ribeye steak.

    Description: This is the ribeye steak that was harvested from the special cow grown from the Unknown Seed. It is very delicious but no one can eat it except for monsters.

    ¡°......OMG.¡±

    Minhyuk was about to burst in tears from the sorrow that he felt when he read those words. He couldn¡¯t believe that he would not be able to taste the things that he raised and nurtured!

    I bought ox-bone soup but I couldn¡¯t eat it, what¡¯s the difference between this and sorrow?!

    ¡°My life¡­¡­¡±

    But he soon shook his head to dispel this thought. Once he fed the monsters he would definitely get precious ingredients!

    He quickly harvested the things that grew out of the seeds. Then, he hunted around to look for the first monster to feed.

    Not long after, he saw a ruckus.

    ***

    The Orc Tribe Leader was leaning weakly against the wall, he was stunned when a crazy person(?) suddenly came and stopped in front of him.

    Not long after, the human began to grill pork, then he picked a meat up with the chopsticks. What was surprising was the fact that the man reached out with his other hand to stop his hand that was holding the chopsticks.

    ¡°Kghk! There¡¯s nothing I can do. Right hand! It¡¯s part of the process so I can eat God¡¯s dishes. Ugh. Ever since I was born, I never knew that the day woulde when I feed others with my own hands¡­¡­!¡±

    The Orc Tribe Leader watched him as tears welled up from his eyes. It was as if he was filled with a deep sorrow.

    ¡®Chwiiiiik. He, he¡¯s really a crazy guy¡­¡­¡¯

    Minhyuk looked extremely sad and regretful as he reached out and ced the well-grilled pork near the Orc Tribe Leader¡¯s mouth. The Orc Tribe Leader quickly snapped at the dangling meat in front of it. However, the Orc Tribe Leader did not eat it and...

    ¡°......¡±

    The meat was slowly falling on the floor!

    The madman quickly drew his sword out.

    ¡°How dare you throw away meat! Apologize to Piggy-nim!¡±

    The Orc Tribe Leader waspletely taken aback when he saw the man almost chop his head off with the sword in his hands.

    ¡°Chwiiiiik! Crazy hu¡­¡­ No. Handsome human¡­¡­! Chwiiik, us orcs, chwiiiik, we don¡¯t eat cooked meat¡­¡­!¡±

    The madman tilted his head in confusion when he heard its words.

    ***

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Minhyuk, who was confused for a moment, suddenly understood what the Orc Tribe Leader meant.

    ¡®No one would think that it was strange for a mantis to eat a grasshopper in here.¡¯

    Every living being has a different preference for the food that they would eat. Just like himself.

    The ruler of the jungle, the elephant, despite its huge body was still a herbivore.

    ¡®Ah. Maybe I jumped to a conclusion, stupid me!¡¯

    Minhyuk came to a strange realization and pondered deeply over it.

    ¡°So you only eat raw meat?¡±

    ¡°Chwiiiik. Y, yeah. Handsome human... I also want to eat so badly. It was my mistake that the meat fell, chwiiiik I¡¯m sorry!¡±

    ¡°Hmmm¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head as his mind flew as he thought of the meal that he could feed the Orc Tribe Leader with.

    ¡®The rump¡­¡­¡¯

    The rump was a meat part that could be eaten raw, it was just like the part that he ate before when he ate yukhoe.

    He quickly pulled out the whole rump and proceeded to season it as he made a meat sashimi. He prepared the sauce and the rump separately and handed it over to the Orc Tribe Leader.

    ¡°Chwiiik, chwiiik. I¡¯m going to eat. Chwiik, chwiiik.¡±

    Minhyuk had high expectations for this dish.

    ¡®Delicious meat sashimi¡­¡­!¡¯

    Although he did not cut it well for the orc, it would still definitely taste good.

    The Orc Tribe Leader hurriedly bit on the meat with its yellowed teeth then it quickly tore of the meat as he mumbled.

    ¡°Chwiiiiik, delicious. Chwiik¡­¡­!¡±

    Then Minhyuk spoke¡­

    ¡°Try dipping it in this sauce.¡±

    ¡°Chwiiiiik? Th, then¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk had a strange sense of vicarious satisfaction(?) as he watched the orc eat.

    If it were me then I would definitely dip it in the meat sashimi sauce!

    The Orc Tribe Leader carefully dipped the meat in the sauce that Minhyuk made.

    ¡°Chew, chew!¡±

    It first tasted the savory vor of the sesame oil. Then, once it chewed on it more, it could taste the sweet and spicy taste spreading in its mouth followed by the chewy and soft texture of the rump.

    The Orc Tribe Leader looked at Minhyuk and the rump in its hands alternatively. It couldn¡¯t believe that there was a taste as heavenly as this.

    ¡°De, delicious¡­¡­ Human, chwiiiik. I, I¡¯ve never eaten anything this delicious in my whole life¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°I knew you¡¯d like it!¡±

    If the orcs could not eat cooked food then all he had to do was feed them with the raw dishes. The Orc Tribe Leader chomped on the meat with satisfaction stered on its face.

    Then, a notification rang.

    [You have fed the Orc Tribe Leader.]

    [You will be able to obtain better EXP, gold and items whenever you hunt the Orc Tribe Leader. This notification will not be repeated.]

    [The Orc Tribe Leader is really satisfied with the meal. You will receive better rewards.]

    [You have acquired 232,134 gold.]

    [You have acquired the Orc Tribe Leader¡¯s Greatsword.]

    It was a special way of rewarding. He would be able to obtain EXP, gold and items at the time when he hunted Orc Tribe Leaders. In addition, if they were satisfied, the rewards andpensation rate would go up. When he hunted the Orc Tribe Leader before, the reward was about 170, 000 gold so his reward increased by 30% this time around. The same was also true for the EXP acquisition rate.

    However, no matter how high these rewards were, Minhyuk was still clearly disappointed.

    ¡°W, what¡¯s this?! Why aren¡¯t there any ingredientsing out?! Heung!¡±

    ***

    [W, what¡¯s this?! Why aren¡¯t there any ingredientsing out?! Heung!]

    User Minhyuk looked utterly disappointed!

    Team Leader Park and Lee Minhwa of the Special Users Management Team looked at his figure bitterly.

    ¡°There¡¯s such a huge amount of rewards in his journey ahead but he is so disappointed because there was no ingredient that came out¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°That user, doesn¡¯t he know what those rewards meant?¡±

    ¡°No. He knows. That user is extremely smart, you know?¡±

    The rewards he had received would have been shocking for the other users if they ever caught wind of this. The only reason was because the paradise of monsters was inhabited by many monsters of different levels. From the Lv30 orcs to Lv350 wyverns. There were even monsters that would break a normal user¡¯smon sense.

    User Minhyuk was now at Lv160. But usually, only users at around Lv300 would be able to get this much EXP whether they be hunting or doing tasks, right? It was a huge increase to his EXP.

    ¡°And that¡¯s not all. There¡¯s still the item drops.¡±

    What was even monstrous was the item drop. There were a variety of named monsters in that ce. Whenever a user would hunt rare monsters, the rare items would only be dropped randomly and the chances of getting a unique item drop was also possible but the probability was abysmal. The same was true for unique monsters, users would randomly get unique items and they would be able to get epic artifacts at a very low probability rate.

    Team Leader Park continued to watch the monitor as he murmured to himself.

    ¡°There¡¯s even a legendary monster in there.¡±

    ***

    Minhyuk shook his head as he tried to dispel the sadness in his sore heart.

    ¡®No, I have only fed one as of now.¡¯

    The more I feed, the more chances I get on receiving an ingredient.

    He desperately tried tofort himself as he prepared the rump and the meat sashimi sauce. Then, he proceeded to give it out to the orcs.

    ¡°Chwiiik, chwiiik. It¡¯s really delicious. Chwiiiik!¡±

    ¡°Chwiiik. Why is it so delicious? Chwiiik. This is my first time eating something like this!¡±

    ¡°Chwiiik. You¡¯re crying now? Chwiik!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s lips curled into a fatherly smile as he watched the orcs enjoy their delicious meat.

    But then¡­ he was shocked still.

    ¡®N, no. I¡¯m not the one that¡¯s eating so why am I smiling like this?!¡¯

    Was this exactly what the Food God felt before? My heart feels sofortable and happy that I even want to give them another spoonful.

    ¡®Anyway, eating is still the best for me!¡¯

    Minhyuk did not feel depressed anymore but he still thought that eating was the best thing for him.

    [You have fed an Orc.]

    [The Orc is really satisfied with the meal. You will receive better rewards.]

    [You have acquired 805 gold.]

    [You have acquired the Orc¡¯s Axe.]

    [You have fed an Orc.]

    [The Orc is really satisfied¡­..]

    [You have leveled up.]

    The rewards were quickly reaped and harvested!

    In no time at all, the orcs that had already eaten had be plump and chubby. They had originally eaten the Wouldn¡¯t Get Hungry for 50 years but the effect had already worn out so they were almost starved to death. However, they had eaten the food that Minhyuk prepared for them right now so they wouldn¡¯t starve again.

    At that moment, Minhyuk heard a different set of notifications.

    [You have acquired the ingredient Salted Mackerel.]

    Minhyuk did a great job in feeding the orcs. Perhaps, the ingredient reward would only be given depending on the ¡®fullness¡¯ of the monsters.

    He quickly checked the information of the mackerel.

    (Salted Mackerel)

    Material Grade: C

    Special Abilities: Really delicious.

    Description: A mackerel that was personally salted by the Food God. The Food God was very proud of this material when he left it. There would be no other mackerel in the world that would be as delicious as this. However, you can only eat it after you have collected all of the Fantastic Home Cooking Ingredients.

    Salted Mackerel: 1/1

    Doenjangjjigae: 0/1

    Roasted Seaweed: 0/1

    Steamed Eggs: 0/1

    Seasoned Spinach: 0/1

    Seasoned Bean Sprouts: 0/1

    ¡°Wow¡­¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk waspletely surprised.

    Was this the salted mackerel that was salted with the hundred-year-old salt?

    Just thinking about it was making his mouth water.

    A well-done and sizzling salted mackerel that was fresh from the grill. He could tear apart the plump and crispy salted mackerel with his chopsticks. Then he could pick it¡¯s white flesh and dip it in soy sauce with wasabi before taking a bite.

    ¡°Chew, chew!¡±

    Minhyuk chewed as if he really ced a bite in his mouth.

    Once he ced it in his mouth, he would be able to taste and be amazed with the juicy and salty vor of the chubby mackerel. And if he dipped the mackerel in soy sauce with wasabi, he would definitely taste the amazing harmony of the vors. He would definitely be able to finish 100 bowls of rice in a blink of an eye.

    The ingredients of a home cooked meal just like what my mom made for me! That menu will definitely keep the rice going in my stomach!

    ¡®As expected of the Food God, he really knows how to eat¡­¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk was so amazed. He thought that he really should quickly fill their fullness stat as quickly as possible.

    Then, the Orc Tribe Leader approached him.

    ¡°Chwiiiik. Handsome human¡­¡­! It¡¯s really delicious. Chwiik, chwiik¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°Chwiiik, human! I really ate well!¡±

    The orcs greeted Minhyuk energetically.

    In a way, these monsters were no different from humans. If it¡¯s delicious then they would like the person who gave it to them.

    ¡°Chwiiiik. I¡¯d like to give you something in return, but we don¡¯t have anything that we could give. Chwiiik. All we could say is our thanks! Chwiiiiiik!¡±

    Perhaps they did not know that Minhyuk was able to receive rewards by feeding them.

    Then¡­

    A brilliant idea passed through Minhyuk¡¯s head.

    ¡®This¡­¡­ Perhaps I will be able to fill their fullness with this?¡¯

    At this moment¡­ his sly eating antenna was suddenly activated.

    ***

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Oh boy, Minhyuk¡¯s cooking up something. I mean, well, he¡¯s always doing that, but...you know what I mean!

    ANNOUNCEMENT:

    Hey guys! Christmas is just around the corner. And as a gift from us to you we will be releasing 6 chapters this week. 2 chapters each day starting today until the 25th (well, 25th for me). We wish you safe, healthy and warm holidays! -CC

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 109 - The Birth Of The School Of Fast Eaters

    Chapter 109: The Birth of the School of Fast Eaters

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    ¡°Then how about this?¡±

    ¡°Chwiiik, what is it?¡±

    The Orc Tribe Leader looked at him curiously.

    ¡°You should help me farm!¡±

    ¡°Chwiiik, chwiiik? Ah¡­¡­ Suddenly, I feel that my body is aching. Chwiiik¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Chwiiik. I suddenly feel dizzy¡­¡­ Chwiiik. I¡¯m actually anemic.¡±

    ¡®......Waaah.¡¯

    Thesezy orcs!

    All of them suddenly pretended and goofed off. They happily ate their meals but they were toozy to move.

    We¡¯re naturally toozy to move after we¡¯ve eaten!

    However, Minhyuk had expected this to happen to some extent so he said¡­

    ¡°Ha¡­¡­ It can¡¯t be helped then. I was thinking of making something for you again after I have finished feeding all the other monsters. This time I even wanted to let you taste something that¡¯s more delicious than that beef but¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Chwiiik¡­¡­? I, I¡¯m suddenly filled with energy. Human¡­..!¡±

    ¡°Chwiiik? My dizzy head suddenly cleared up. My anemia is gone!¡±

    ¡°Chwiiik, chwiiik!¡±

    Minhyuk chuckled at their antics.

    They have already eaten Minhyuk¡¯s food and were not feeling hungry at all. But just because they were full and wouldn¡¯t need to eat for quite a long time did not mean that they wouldn¡¯t want to eat something delicious.Furthermore, once Minhyuk left this dungeon then the orcs would never be able to eat his dishes anymore.

    We may not be able to eat delicious food again until we die!

    This was also the reason why they wanted to eat theirst delicious food.

    ¡°Chwiiiiiiiiiik. What should we do? Human!¡±

    ¡°Hmmmm¡­ Let me see¡­ You should fetch some water and water the seeds!¡±

    In fact, the orcs were truly not bright! So he thought that these orcs should do the simplest task of watering the nts.

    ¡°Chwiiiik, but human, chwiiik. We, chwiiiik, don¡¯t have any bucket to use.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Minhyuk felt that he had run into some trouble.

    ¡°Chwiik, we haven¡¯t used the buckets since 50 years ago so they¡¯re all rusty and broken.¡±

    ¡°So you guys have one? What about pickaxes and hoes?¡±

    ¡°Chwiiik, we have them.¡±

    ¡°Bring all of them here!¡±

    ¡°Chwiiik? Okay.¡±

    The Orc Tribe Leader and the orcs moved quickly as this thought ran through their heads.

    ¡®Chwiiik. He said that he had to feed all the other monsters before he would feed us. Chwiiiik. I want to eat¡­¡­ Chwiiik. Delicious food!¡¯

    All of them rushed to bring a variety of things including buckets, hoes and pickaxes.

    Minhyuk triggered his repair skill on a bucket in front of him.

    ¡°Repair!¡±

    [You have achieved the best repair for the bucket.]

    [The durability has increased sharply.]

    [It won¡¯t rust easily.]

    [It can now hold more water.]

    ¡°Repair!¡±

    [You have achieved the best repair for the bucket.]

    [The durability has increased sharply.]

    [It won¡¯t rust easily.]

    [It can now hold more water.]

    [You have gained 1 DEX.]

    Two birds, one stone!

    He was able to make the orcs help him and he even increased his cksmithing proficiency and DEX.

    ¡°Get some water now. We need to finish quickly so we can eat faster. Those who will not work won¡¯t get anything to eat!¡±

    ¡°Chwiiiik. Let¡¯s go. Chwiiik, chwiiiik!¡±

    The orcs began to move to gather water and sprinkle it on the nts.

    ¡®Huhuhu. Alright. We can collect the ingredients faster this way.¡¯

    Minhyuk was doing something that no one else had ever thought of.

    Doing a quest alone? No, what was more amazing was getting help from those special monsters!

    With their help, his speed would definitely increase and his workload would be a bit lighter.

    Then, a notification rang.

    [You have gained 1 Charisma.]

    ¡®Ho?¡¯

    Charisma was actually a stat that could only be increased by high-leveled users. The reason was because charisma was rted tomand, leadership and influence. In fact, it was truly quite hard to increase this stat in Minhyuk¡¯s level. With high charisma a user would be able to garner loyalty or have the people serving under him to be more loyal to him. This would alwayse in handy whenever they were fighting against monsters, soldiers or other opponents.

    Just like that, Minhyuk repaired everything in front of him.

    ¡°Repair!¡±

    [You have achieved the best repair for the pickaxe.]

    [The durability has increased sharply.]

    [It won¡¯t rust easily.]

    [......best repair for the pickaxe.]

    After finishing all of the repairs he searched for the next monsters that he would feed.

    It was the ogres!

    As he moved towards where the ogres were, he saw an orc falling as it ran excitedly. Minhyuk quickly reached out towards its knees and wrapped it with bandages.

    ¡°Bandage wrapping!¡±

    [You have achieved the best bandage wrap.]

    [The wound recovery has an additional 5% increase.]

    [The recovery time has increased and became faster.]

    ¡°Ch, chwiiiik. H, human¡­¡­¡±

    The orc was overwhelmed with heartfelt emotions as it patted Minhyuk on his shoulder.

    ¡®Hurry up and finish your work so I can eat my food. This orc bastard!¡¯

    Was what ran through Minhyuk¡¯s head but the words that came out of his mouth was somethingpletely different.

    ¡°Come on, let¡¯s finish our work quickly so we can eat something delicious!¡±

    Pat, pat©¥

    Minhyuk patted the orc on its shoulder as he stood up to continue on his way. He was truly someone that was meticulous and cunning.

    ¡°Chwiiiik. I¡¯ll work hard! Chwiiik!¡±

    The orc ran back with two buckets in its hands!

    [You have gained 1 Charisma.]

    ¡°Heehee.¡±

    Minhyuk approached the ogres with a big grin on his face. He first went to the leader of the ogres, the Twin Headed Ogre! He first asked the Twin Headed Ogre about their preferences and learnt that unlike the orcs, the ogres were omnivorous.

    Anyway, it¡¯s better to feed them properly. Right?

    Minhyuk grilled beef on his pan.

    Sizzle!

    A wonderful sound came from the pan!

    Not long after, a beautifully done ribeye steak and chuck p was done!

    The Twin Headed Ogre looked curiously at the food that he had never seen before.

    ¡°Grrr. I¡¯m hungry. Grrr¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Grrr. Is that delicious?¡±

    The Twin Headed Ogre¡¯s eyes were transfixed on the beef that was lying quietly on the pan!

    ¡°Beef won¡¯t taste good if it¡¯s overcooked. Here, try it!¡±

    Minhyuk dipped the beef in salt and held it out for the Twin Headed Ogre to taste. One of its heads hesitated but still decided to put it in its mouth since it couldn¡¯t resist its growling stomach any longer.

    Then¡­¡­

    It looked at the pan.

    Then, it looked at Minhyuk.

    Once again, it turned its head to look at the pan.

    And at Minhyuk again.

    It kept on looking at Minhyuk and the pan alternately.

    ¡°Grr¡­¡­ It¡¯s really delicious. Grrr!¡±

    The Twin Headed Ogre was in awe.

    ¡°Beef is always right! Do you agree?¡±

    ¡°I agree. Delicious, chew, chew!¡±

    The Twin Headed Ogre quickly took over the pan and chomped on the beef that was on it!

    Then, notifications rang for Minhyuk to hear.

    [You have fed the Twin Headed Ogre.]

    [The Twin Headed Ogre is really satisfied with the meal. You will receive better rewards.]

    [You have acquired 1,823,151 gold.]

    [You have acquired the Twin Headed Ogre¡¯s Gauntlets.]

    [You have acquired the Twin Headed Ogre¡¯s Blood.]

    [You have acquired the Twin Headed Ogre¡¯s Hard Leather.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [......leveled up.]

    His level had increased by 15! And just like he had expected, his rewards were also better.

    Minhyuk quickly checked the Twin Headed Ogre¡¯s gauntlets.

    (Twin Headed Ogre¡¯s Gauntlets)

    ss: Epic

    Restrictions: Hand-to-handbat, 700 STR, 500 STM

    Durability: 10,000 / 10,000

    Attack Power: 266

    Special Abilities:

    ©¥ 20% increase in STR.

    ©¥ Skill: Ogre¡¯s Rage

    Another epic artifact!

    But it was an artifact that Minhyuk could not wear so he decided that he would sell it and buy delicious food with the money that he would get from it.

    ¡®There¡¯s a lot of misceneous items!¡¯

    He had collected plenty of artifacts that the only thought that was going through his mind was to¡­ sell it, sell it, sell it!

    Then, he looked at the Twin Headed Ogre¡¯s blood! This was an artifact material that could only be gathered from the Twin Headed Ogre. The probability of ever getting this item as a drop waspletely abysmal.

    Minhyuk quickly fed the rest of the ogres. He sat them in front of the fire and gave them meat to eat! It was a sight to behold.

    [You have fed an ogre.]

    [The ogre is really satisfied with the meal. You will receive better rewards.]

    [You have acquired 5,141 gold.]

    [You have acquired the Ogre¡¯s Energy Belt.]

    [You have acquired the Ogre¡¯s Blood.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have acquired the ingredient: Doenjangjjigae.]

    As expected!

    When the % of the fullness stat increased, another ingredient was acquired.

    Minhyuk looked at the satisfied smiles on the ogres faces.

    ¡°By any chance, can you help me dig in the cliffs and get some nutritional supplements?¡±

    ¡°Grrr! You want us to do that?¡±

    ¡°We are ogres! Ogres!¡±

    The Twin Headed Ogre snorted unhappily. They were far more arrogant than the orcs earlier. It seemed that they were truly unwilling to do crude work like digging up the cliffs.

    ¡°How can we dig the cliffs with pickaxes on our hands?!¡±

    Then, Minhyuk said¡­

    ¡°I wanted to give you another meat party after I finished feeding all the other monsters¡­¡­ And this time, the meat would be more delicious¡­ but¡­¡±

    ¡°Grrr?!¡±

    ¡°Grrgrr?! A much tastier part of the meat?!¡±

    The Twin Headed Ogre along with the rest of the ogres reacted excitedly.

    ¡°But it hurts our pride to do crude work and dig up the cliffs, grr!¡±

    ¡°Grrr. That¡¯s right!¡±

    But they still protected their pride.

    Minhyuk looked like he did not know what he would do with them.

    ¡°Sigh¡­¡­ The truth is, this is not about feeding you delicious food but saving your monster friends in monster paradise.¡±

    The ogres were extremely conflicted! He said it as if it was an opportunity.

    ¡°We would do anything to help them!¡±

    ¡°Grrr. Of course we would help them, it¡¯s not because we wanted to eat meat!¡±

    ¡°This is not because we wanted to eat meat!¡±

    They quickly made an excuse for themselves.

    [You have gained 1 Charisma.]

    Then, the ogres quickly took the pickaxes and went to the cliffs to start digging.

    Bang!

    Baang!

    After all, this was a game. And a game would definitely be based on a system.

    The ogres that had no mining skills or DEX were much slower than Minhyuk. However, even if it were ordinary, they were still bound to mine something even if they allotted a long time to do it. What more if it were powerful ogres? And what if there were 30 of those ogres? It wouldn¡¯t matter if they did not have the stat or the skill, they would still be able to mine quickly. They would definitely be faster than Minhyuk who was doing it alone!

    Minhyuk continued to seduce the monsters intobor by feeding them like that.

    ¡°Let¡¯s cheer up a little more. We¡¯ll be able to eat delicious food soon!¡±

    ¡°Chwiiiiik. I will eat¡­¡­! Chwiiik. Delicious food!¡±

    ¡°Eat! Eat! Eat!¡±

    Everyone became a ve for food and moved under themand of Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk had more than four things to do alone. He had to water the nts, dig the cliffs, plow the fields, nt the seeds, cook the food and so on. But with all of those things being done by the monsters, the time it took to finish those jobs were bound to be shorter. And he was able to fill the fullness quickly.

    Minhyuk secretly checked the information about the monster egg.

    (Monster Egg)

    Rank: Unique

    Race: Pet

    Description: ording to the fullness, the monster egg is now unique.

    The monster egg had be unique! The mostmon named monsters in the field were rare monsters. And the next ones were unique monsters! But even unique monsters could exert a huge amount of strength.

    What if I cook that unique monster egg in my frying pan?

    ¡®Kyaa!¡¯

    Minhyuk, who even thought of eating a pet, was the true epitome of a foodie!

    Meanwhile, he finally realized that he was running out of the seeds that he initially brought.

    ¡®There¡¯s a way to get a lot of seeds in a short period of time. Huhu.¡¯

    Chronicle only told him that the monsters in the monster paradise were not able to get out of this ce. So that meant that it was possible for them toe inside this ce.

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    I mean, he saw egg and of course he''d always think that it was for consumption. Hahaha!

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Let¡¯s add another animalparison for Minhyuk: Snake. Silver-tongued is putting his sweet talking mildly¡­

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 110 - The Birth Of The School Of Fast Eaters

    Chapter 110: The Birth of the School of Fast Eaters

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR:MattForgenti

    Salov¡¯s Land.

    Remy, who was in a party of four, was hurriedly trying to cast heal on a warrior user named Corco.

    ¡°Holy power, please lend me your strength!¡±

    [Heal.]

    [Restores 25% of the HP of your specified target.]

    The wounds that were littered all over Corco¡¯s body were starting to heal.

    ¡°Ugh! These damned spiderwebs!¡±

    The spiderwebs of the Salovs were extremely tough. It was one of the reasons why they were extremely hard to fight against.

    The archer user quickly used his skill to fend off the monster''s attacks.

    [Triple Shot.]

    [Three arrows will be fired consecutively.]

    Tak!

    Tak!

    Tak!

    The arrow stuck on the body of the Salov! Before they knew it, Corco had already dwindled down and cut down the body of the Salov with his axe.

    m!

    ¡°Kkiiiieeee!¡±

    m!

    The Salov died not long after.

    ¡°Hoo. That was really tough.¡±

    Corco sighed deeply.

    Remy¡¯s party members were all at Lv200. If there were two Salovs that came out to fight with the four of them then the fight would still be ongoing. The only reason why the Salov was quite difficult to fight despite the fact that they were at the same level was because of their tough webs. Once they got caught in those webs then it would be extremely difficult to remove themselves from it. Remy had the ability to remove the web but her MP wouldn¡¯t be able to keep up with the fight.

    However, the EXP and rewards were extremely satisfying that they would still happily hunt those spiders even if they felt that they were walking on a tightrope every time they did so.

    At that moment¡­

    ¡°Bbiiiiiiiiiiii!¡±

    ¡°A bird¡¯s cry?¡±

    The sound was not jarring or ufortable but it was so sudden that they couldn¡¯t help but tilt their heads to follow the sound.

    But they couldn¡¯t help but to hold back their gasps. The cliffs surrounding the area, which was previously just the color of ordinary cliffs, suddenly turned ck.

    ¡°Why did the cliffs suddenly be ck?¡±

    The archer user used his skills to look in the distance.

    [Hawk¡¯s Eye.]

    [Vision will temporarily be twice as good as your normal vision.]

    ¡°Heok¡­¡­?!¡±

    The archer user stepped back as he trembled in fear.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    The archer¡¯s lips were quivering as he contemted on what to say.

    ¡°It¡¯s¡­¡­ no¡­¡­ ¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°The cliffs did not be ck! Those are all Salovs!¡±

    ¡°......heok?!¡±

    ¡°Kyaa!¡±

    Each and everyone of them were taken by surprise.

    The cliffs. The ck thing that filled the cliffs are all Salovs?

    It looked like the number of the monsters were in the hundreds.

    Then, at that moment¡­

    They saw a man running through the cliffs. The man was wearing a frying pan on his back together with a horned helmet on his head.

    ¡°......Cosy?¡±

    This was what they thought of since a lot of people were wearing the same thing.

    ¡°D, don¡¯t tell me that he took all of those aggro?¡±

    ¡°Crazy¡­¡­ That¡¯s impossible.¡±

    ¡°I think that user is the real Frying Pan Killer?¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    Remy looked back at Corco when they heard his words.

    ¡°In the video of the Frying Pan Killer, he made a strange bird cry and drew the aggro of the surrounding monsters. The same is true right now¡­...¡±

    ¡°Wow. I¡¯m going to take a screenshot! But what the hell is that bird cry to draw aggro like this?¡±

    It was truly an amazing aggro ability that was enough to breakmon sense.

    What was more amazing was the fact that the man could easily slice through the spiderwebs with his sword all while being chased by a huge amount of Salovs. He did not even let a single attacky on him.

    ¡°But what¡¯s wrong with those mobs? You¡¯re too naive¡­¡­¡±

    In all honesty, it did not make sense to draw the aggro of such a huge number of mobs. Meanwhile, the Frying Pan Killer went inside a cave.

    ¡°Ah. Maybe¡­¡­!¡±

    Corco looked as if he finally realized what the Frying Pan Killer was trying to do.

    ¡°Maybe there¡¯s a small space in the cave where only one Salov can only get in?¡±

    ¡°A small space?¡±

    ¡°Yes. The user will first enter that small space. Then, a Salov will definitely follow him inside. Once a Salov enters that small space then the user will hunt it. And if it dies, another Salov will fill in the gap.¡±

    ¡°Oho. Then the time to look for mobs will definitely be reduced? Huh? But isn¡¯t it impossible because of the mob¡¯s body?¡±

    ¡°We can use Livis¡¯ Corpse to make sure that the body will disappear right away for 1 hour.¡±

    Livis¡¯ Corpse was a scroll that users use when they hunt especially if they did not want to see any dead bodies littered around the ce.

    ¡°Aha!¡±

    ¡°Huh? But, when you think about it again¡­¡­¡±

    Corco was astonished.

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe that he¡¯s trying to hunt hundreds of them in one go¡­¡­ When you think about it, it doesn¡¯t make sense either¡­¡­ Doesn¡¯t that person get tired? His HP won¡¯t be able to hold out either.¡±

    It was possible to hunt Salovs one by one in such a small space but it was only possible if there were around 5~10 Salovs. However, he¡¯s hunting hundreds of Salovs just like that?

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t even make sense for a single person to hunt hundreds of those monsters one by one¡­¡­¡±

    They all turned to look at the cave. All of them were wondering whether they could still be able to enter the cave with the amount of Salovs that entered. There were still a lot of them stuck near the entrance.

    However, something more amazing happened.

    ¡°Heok¡­¡­?¡±

    The Salovs, who seemed to be unable to enter the cave, suddenly began to move again and flood inside.

    ¡®That means that there¡¯s an empty space so he can keep on hunting!¡¯

    All of the Salovs finally entered the cave.

    They looked at it as they took their rest.

    Then¡­

    The Frying Pan Killer came out of the cave again. Then, he stretched himself and went back inside again.

    ¡°......OMG?!¡±

    ¡°I, impossible. He hunted hundreds of those within 20 minutes?!¡±

    That¡¯s impossible!

    ¡°Shall we go and take a look over there? It¡¯s a good chance to go and get some screenshots too.¡±

    Corco looked at him with admiration and surprise.

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡±

    Just as they were about to move, a shadow was suddenly cast above them. All of them felt extremely uneasy beneath that shadow.

    Then¡­

    Puhaaa!

    Puhaaa!

    Spiderwebs wound their body up. They looked behind them and saw four Salovs.

    The four Salovs took advantage of their blindspot and inattentiveness to sneak up on them and bind them with their spiderwebs!

    They were all forced to log out!

    ¡°Ah, I¡¯m so annoyed! It¡¯s a relief that my level did not drop.¡±

    Remy, or Hyun-ah, came out of the capsule and rubbed her hair in annoyance. Then, she suddenly thought¡­

    ¡°Ah, I still got the screenshot. Right?¡±

    They weren¡¯t able to get a glimpse of the events in the cave but there were still plenty of users who were dying to know and get a look at the Frying Pan Killer! What was more important was that the picture that she took was the picture of the Frying Pan Killer running with hundreds of Salovs after him.

    She hurriedly posted the screenshot she took and shared it to the world.

    ***

    Minhyuk, who was just checking his level, was smiling contentedly. He was already nearing Lv200.

    He just went outside to draw the monsters inside so he could get the seeds that he needed. The moment the Salovs entered the cave, the Twin Headed Ogre, Red Troll and Wyvern all hunted them down. The Twin Headed Ogre was over Lv300 so it could deal with dozens of Salovs without breaking any sweat. And there were still other stronger monsters so the hundreds of Salovs were no match for them at all. In addition, since Minhyuk was the one who drew the aggro of the monsters, he was also able to get 10~20% of EXP since he contributed in the hunt. With just that 10~20% he was able to quickly level up.

    What was more was that the EXP given when he fed the monsters allowed him to bomb his way up in his levels. And right now!

    [You have acquired the Roasted Seaweed.]

    [You have collected all of the ingredients and dishes in the Fantastic Home Cooked Dishes.]

    ¡°Kgghk!¡±

    Minhyuk was so happy. He could now stop feeding the monsters in a frenzy. Now was the time for him to eat!

    He quickly prepared the dishes using the ingredients that he had just acquired. He first boiled the doenjangjjigae in an earthen pot.

    Then he cooked the deliciously seasoned spinach and bean sprouts. He prepared the garlic, sesame oil, salt and sesame seeds. These ingredients were essential to make a delicious seasoned vegetable dish. The sesame oil would tweak the nd taste of the vegetables and add a savory vor while the crushed garlic would apany and catch the soft taste of the vegetables and harmonize with the rest of the vors of the dish. And the salt will add that salty vor while the sesame seeds would emphasize the vor of the sesame.

    After he finished preparing the seasoned vegetables, he saw that the doenjangjjigae was now boiling. Then he took his spoon, scooped out a spoonful, blew on it to lower the temperature and sipped it all in one gulp.

    ¡°Slurp! Kya! This moderately spicy and savory vor is the best!¡±

    Minhyuk liked his doenjangjjigae on the spicier side. And his doenjangjjigae was more savory since he mixed half doenjang and half cheonggukjang in the soup.

    Then, he began to grill the salted mackerel.

    Sizzle!

    He might be in big trouble if he grilled the salted mackerel wrongly. The point of this is to cook the flesh inside well. And once you cooked the outside to a crisp then it would be the best of the best!

    After he finished cooking the salted mackerel, Minhyuk looked at the table that he had set.There were salted mackerel, seasoned spinach, seasoned bean sprouts, dried seaweed with nothing on it and roasted seaweed, and steamed eggs in an earthen pot.

    ¡°Kya!¡±

    He couldn¡¯t help but admire the table. Then, he opened the lid of the doenjangjjigae once more.

    Shwaaaaa!

    Steam rose up from the pot. The steam was already delicious in and on itself. Minhyuk took a spoon and tasted the doenjangjjigae first.

    ¡°Kghhk! Good, it tastes excellent!¡±

    This was the taste that calls for rice. It was the savory and spicy doenjangjjigae! Then he scooped out a lot of doenjangjjigae on his pot. Tofu, zhini, enoki mushroom, and other ingredients came with it. Then, he brought it near the rice and poured some soup over the rice. He then mashed the zhini and tofu together with the rice and ced it in his mouth.

    ¡°Chew, chew. Good. It¡¯s really good!¡±

    He mumbled happily.

    Then, he ced a seaweed on top of his rice and easily folded it in half. He quickly dipped it in soy sauce before cing it in his mouth. The crispy texture of the seaweed and the salty vor of the soy sauce was truly excellent!

    He couldn¡¯t help but chuckle at the taste.

    He stretched his spoon towards the soft steamed eggs next. Minhyuk blew softly at the yellow steamed eggs. Once he ced it in his mouth, he could taste the green onion from the soft and chewy steamed eggs.

    ¡°Wow. Isn¡¯t this too awesome?¡±

    Minhyuk, who was still reeling from the taste of the steamed eggs, tore the meat off of the salted mackerel. Then, he added it to a spoonful of hot rice. The steam was still rising rapidly from the rice. He carefully ced it on top of the piping hot rice and ced it in his mouth in one go!

    ¡°Chomp!¡±

    The savory taste of the salted mackerel made the taste of the rice infinitely better. Then, he dipped it in soy sauce with wasabi and took another bite.

    ¡°Wow! It¡¯s a rice thief! A rice thief, I say!¡±

    That wasn¡¯t the end.

    He added steamed eggs over the rice again, mixed it well and ced the deliciousbo in his mouth. The slightly salt steamed eggs and the piping hot ricebined to create an extremely pleasant taste.

    The Food God¡¯s home cooked set meal was extremely delicious!

    He was filled with overwhelming admiration for the man who left it for him.

    Minhyuk, who had finished eating all of the dishes in front of him, heard the notifications.

    [You have eaten a God¡¯s Dish.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    Minhyuk nodded his head when he heard the notifications. The level up might not have been much but it seemed like the rewards for this dish was focused on the EXP and items gained from feeding the monsters as well as the monster egg. However, Minhyuk still felt that he had received the best reward from the God¡¯s Dish that he had eaten.

    As he finished his food, Minhyuk felt that he might have forgotten something.

    ¡°Now, it¡¯s a bit disappointing.¡±

    He wanted to have something that was more delicious. Then, he looked around and saw the sleeping Chronicle!

    When he asked the other monsters, the other monsters said that Chronicle tended to sleep a lot. When she fell asleep, sometimes it would take a week before she woke up.

    Minhyuk quietly crept up towards the sleeping Chronicle.

    ***

    Chronicle slowly woke up from her sleep.

    When she saw that Minhyuk was plowing the fields vigorously to try and save the monsters, she dly gazed at him and fell asleep without any worries.

    Recently, she had slept more because she was hungry. She slept so deeply that no noise could ever rouse her from her sleep.

    Chronicle, who was on the verge of waking up, heard a sound near her.

    ¡°Right, right. Good job, well done¡­¡­ The wyverns shoulde closer.¡±

    ? ¡®What are they doing?¡¯

    She listened in a daze as they worked somewhere in her vicinity. Then she heard the sound of something ripping.

    ¡°Keuhaha! The hotbar that¡¯s heated with fire is really delicious!¡±

    The voice was whispering but his words and joy were truly contagious.

    ¡°Let¡¯s grill it one more time. Yes, yes. Be careful not to wake¡­¡­¡±

    Then, Chronicle woke uppletely. The now awake Chronicle could see¡­

    Minhyuk was holding a skewer with five hotbars on it while riding on a wyvern and roasting it on her own fire.

    ¡°......?¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Minhyuk made eye contact with Chronicle. He looked at her silently while Chronicle also remained silent.

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    LOL. That¡¯s so funny. I thought he was grilling it with the wyvern¡¯s fire but he rode the wyvern and roasted the hotbar with Chronicle¡¯s fire!!!! KEK.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 111 - The Birth Of The School Of Fast Eaters

    Chapter 111: The Birth of the School of Fast Eaters

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Chronicle¡¯s thoughts were nk, it was as if her head had turned white at that exact moment.

    My god!

    She was a noble existence. The Eivelis Empire even worshipped her, the Phoenix Lord. She was also a king who couldmand more than fifty phoenixes. But her body¡¯s fire was used to grill hotbar?! She was ovee with anger.

    Just a few days ago, she had seen him plowing the fields day and night to grow the seeds quickly. Then she realized¡­

    Ah, wait. I¡¯m grateful towards this human! He worked hard to save the monsters here! And I¡¯m truly grateful for that.

    ¡°I thought you were better than the Food God of the past¡­ but it seems like you¡¯re not.¡±

    The sinner, Minhyuk, took two steps back and bowed his head as if he was admitting his mistakes and waiting for his punishment. At the same time, he quickly tried to stuff the well-grilled hotbar in his mouth.

    ¡°I am!¡±

    Screech!

    Minhyuk stopped the skewer from moving towards his mouth further.

    ¡°I¡¯m very grateful that you have worked hard day and night for these monsters.¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    He tilted his head in confusion.

    What does she mean for the monsters?

    Minhyuk couldn¡¯t keep up with her thoughts.

    ¡°But I can¡¯t believe that you¡¯re wasting your time grilling food and eating it!¡±

    ¡°I¡­¡­ that¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m taking a break because I¡¯m almost done filling the fullness bar¡­¡­¡±

    He was quite dumbfounded with Chronicle and her outburst.

    Her request period was only 2 weeks! In the first ce, 2 weeks of time for all of these work were already not enough. It didn¡¯t even make sense to expect him to do all the work in just 2 weeks.

    But¡­ but this human is lying to me to avoid the situation?!

    ¡°What a disappointment! I thought you were much better than the previous Food God Allen! I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re lying to me just to avoid this situation!¡±

    ¡°But it¡¯s the truth!¡±

    Chronicle snorted.

    ¡°The truth?! If it¡¯s not the truth then I won¡¯t be a phoenix from now on. I will be a chicken! A chicken!¡±

    ¡°But it¡¯s the truth¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re still not repenting even when we¡¯ve talked up to this point. I will check the egg myself.¡±

    The growth of the egg was solely dependent on how much he had fed the monsters in the monster¡¯s paradise. The Phoenix Lord, Chronicle, looked at it angrily. She thought that it would still be better if the fullness was less than 50%.

    ¡®His lies have gone too far.¡¯

    She immediately checked the monster egg that was floating in the middle of the monster¡¯s paradise.

    (Monster Egg)

    Rank: Legend

    Race: Pet

    Description: The fullness bar is almost full and the egg has evolved into a huge pet-bearing egg.

    ¡°......!¡±

    Chronicle blinked her eyes dumbly. Then she kept on looking at Minhyuk and the egg alternately.

    ¡°Cluck, cluck?¡±

    Minhyuk timidly hinted about the ¡®I will be a chicken¡¯ that Chronicle had told him earlier. Chronicle stubbornly double checked the information. She thought that she was just mistaken and needed to look at it again.

    (Monster Egg)

    Rank: Legend

    Race: Pet

    Description: The fullness bar is almost full and the egg has evolved into a huge pet-bearing egg.

    Of course, the content of the information did not change.

    She turned silent for a moment.

    Then, she once again heard Minhyuk¡¯s voice.

    ¡°Cluck, cluck, cluck¡­¡­?¡±

    Chronicle kept her mouth shut and silently looked at her surroundings. She finally realized the situation around her as her eyes wandered around.

    The monsters have gone strange. The Twin Headed Ogre was leading the ogres and digging at the cliff.

    Bang!

    Bang!

    Bang!

    ¡°Grrr. Just a bit more and we can eat delicious food!¡±

    ¡°Grrrgrrr!¡±

    And even the orcs.

    ¡°Chwiiiiiik! Chwiiiiik! Just a bit more and we can eat delicious raw meat! Chwiiiik, chwiiiiik!¡±

    All of the monsters in the monster¡¯s paradise were working hard. They looked very tired but Minhyuk could whip them up in shape every time.

    ¡®Sigh¡­¡­ At this rate, I won¡¯t be able to fill the fullness by 100%, I¡¯m really sorry¡­¡­ You¡¯re all working hard but I still won¡¯t have time to cook¡­¡­¡¯

    The monsters who have heard this worked hard day and night. They even went as far as not sleeping. They were literally working to eat!

    ¡°......I don¡¯t think I look like a chicken.¡±

    Chronicle hummed at Minhyuk while Minhyuk¡¯s eye sparkled brightly.

    ¡°Then, You should pretend that you didn¡¯t know¡­...¡±

    He quickly hinted at the skewers in his hands. Chronicle understood what he was trying to say, she shook her head in defeat.

    Minhyuk peeked around quietly, then he grilled another set of skewered hotbars using Chronicle¡¯s body fire! She looked at the grilling hotbars and sighed unconsciously.

    After he finished grilling the hotbars, Minhyuk ate it deliciously.

    ¡°Chronicle-nim¡¯s fire-grilled hotbar tastes simr to charcoal-grilled hotbar!¡±

    ¡°Ho, hoho.¡±

    Chronicle justughed at his words.

    ***

    [Guild Master Genie: I¡¯ll be right back~]

    [Guild Chatting Khan: Take care. Don¡¯t follow strangers even if they offered you candy.]

    [Guild Master Genie: ? Huh? Did you finally lose your screws?]

    Khan grinned at her message.

    Genie went alone to meet with Boroto, the former Chef Tower¡¯s Tower Master, to take on the quest with the excellent buffed dish as a reward. Originally, the three of them should take it together but Khan and Locke were in the midst of leveling up.

    The gap between rankers was not as wide as what anyone would think of. If the ranker waszy and did not hunt just for one day then the rankings in Athenae would immediately refresh and reverse. They did not have the leeway to rx and rest in their hunting since they needed to maintain or improve their current rankings. In Genie¡¯s case, the gap was too wide with the other rankers so she could easily go to the quest alone.

    ¡°Shall we go hunting now?¡±

    The two of them stood together.

    They have decided to use the Tower of Arrogance as their hunting grounds. The Tower of Arrogance would take quite a while before they could clear it. Once a user entered that ce they wouldn¡¯t be able to use any messaging tool, whether it be the guild chatting, party chatting or whispering. But it was the best hunting ground to silently increase their levels.

    Khan chuckled heartily as they walked.

    ¡°But, what if¡­ Really, just what if?¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    Locke tilted his head in confusion.

    ¡°What if Genie and Minhyuk met, you know?¡±

    Locke grinned at his words.

    ¡°No¡­ I vote for ¡®I don¡¯t recognize you.¡¯¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what you¡¯d expect, right?¡±

    Khan shook his head inughter.

    Genie had been 100kg when she was young, she would even proudly say her weight every day. However, she was now less than 50kg in weight. In fact, they were also surprised at one point. The ¡®General Wild Boar¡¯ that they used to call back in school was now a great beauty.

    ¡°I will add one vote to that too.¡±

    Was what Khan said too.

    ***

    Fullness at 95%!

    He looked around and saw that all of the monsters were eating.

    There¡¯s only one monster left!

    The only monster left was the king of this ce, Chronicle.

    Minhyuk had told her that he would cook for her once he finished eating his delicious hotbar(?). But in her case, she wanted to eat only after all of the monsters had been fed. He felt that there was a system in this ce and that she was like the boss mob. You have to first hunt all of the small mobs in the dungeon before hunting the boss mob!

    And he finally handed the huge amount of dishes that he cooked over to Chronicle.

    It was the delicious rump yukhoe!

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t suit my taste!¡±

    Perfectly grilled ribeye steak!

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to eat that!¡±

    Braised chicken!

    ¡°......Boy, how am I supposed to eat this poor child?¡±

    ¡°Even a water purifier isn¡¯t this tight¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°What did you say?¡±

    ¡°N, nothing¡­¡­¡±

    The boss mob, Chronicle, was an extremely picky eater!

    Even Chronicle said that she also did not know what she wanted to eat right now. Minhyuk almost jumped up and went crazy. He could meet with the subordinate of the Food God once he fed and satisfied Chronicle but she was being very picky.

    Minhyuk pondered deeply.

    ¡®Looking at Chronicle¡­¡­¡¯

    She¡¯s a bird.

    Even if she was a Phoenix Lord, she was still a bird!

    What he meant was simple.

    ¡®Birds usually eat worms, caterpirs andrvae¡­ right?¡¯

    They definitely like those wiggly creatures.

    Minhyuk rubbed his chin in thought.

    The monsters in here could only eat food that has been harvested in thend of Salov.

    He went to Athenae¡¯s official homepage and searched for it.

    [Land of Salovs. Caterpirs.]

    To his surprise, a rted article came up.

    ¡°Oh?¡±

    [A picture of proof of a silkworm in a cave in the Land of Salovs.

    cadad414: Oh. That ck haired axe thing, is that the silkworm? It looks disgusting!

    DoctorInsect: It¡¯s me you fXcker!

    cadad414: OMG¡­¡­ I couldn¡¯t tell which was which because you look like a bug¡­¡­ Sry, sry. But you really look like an insect¡­¡­ Yeah. It¡¯s apliment.

    gfasfdd84: 2222

    OnlyCarlo: 33333333

    kvueu2h4: 44444444

    Koongie¡¯sDad: 55555555

    MamaLucy: The resemnce is uncanny. Hehehehehehe]

    Minhyuk smiled slightly at the unity of thementers.

    The picture was showing the scene of silkworms making white cocoons for themselves. The silkworms were as big as an adult male¡¯s head. The silkworm¡¯s thread was not broken once it started to make its cocoon. It seemed like there were about 1,500m of silk thread that spouted out of the silkworm just to make such a seamless cocoon. The cocoon was made to act like an egg shell to protect the silkworm as it went through the process of growth to be a moth. The silkworm¡¯s thread was the raw material needed to make silk clothes and¡­

    ¡°Silkworm ramyeon¡­¡­¡±

    An idea passed through Minhyuk¡¯s head.

    He thought that if he would feed them at least once then he wanted to feed them the most delicious food that he could feed them. Since he had found a hint, he quickly moved to find the silkworm cocoons in the Land of Salovs.

    ***

    Chronicle has not yet filled her stomach, however she still looked around.

    The previously thin and bony monsters were now plump and chubby and they were even overflowing with strength and vigor!

    Bam!

    ¡°Grrrr. This guy fainted!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s because he¡¯s been digging in the cliffs day and night without a rest¡­¡­ gulp¡­¡­¡±

    They were clearly overflowing with strength that they ended up overworking themselves.

    ¡®If I eat too¡­¡­¡¯

    It was something that was virtually impossible but once she looked at the egg, she could feel a very powerful force emitting from it. It was a power that wasparable to herself! But once he fed her, then that monster egg would grow even more powerful. And once he fed her he would also be able to acquire the armor that the Food God had worn himself before.

    However, it was truly a difficult task. Chronicle was an extremely picky eater. Even Allen, the previous Food God, had a hard time trying to satisfy her tastes!

    But, right now the current Food God is still unskilled and immature. Right?

    Just when she was thinking of him, Minhyuk finally came back after going outside for a bit.

    He was holding a mysterious round, white and dry thing that looked like it was wrapped with thread. It was as big as his fist. And once she looked at it closely, she could see that it was a pupa.

    ¡°Ho?¡±

    Chronicle looked intrigued. It was because they looked like they were caterpirs.

    Then, she saw Minhyuk pull the frying pan out of his back and drop all of the caterpir-like things on it. After cing all of it, he proceeded to boil them down.

    Blub, blub, blub!

    Then, he added some kelp, garlic, onions and leeks before letting it continue to boil. He seasoned it with salt and waited for the water that he was boiling to go down. After he took out his portion out of the huge frying pan, smiled and handed it over to Chronicle.

    The pupae were ck and steaming.

    And Minhyuk¡­¡­

    ¡°Beondegi, beondegi, beonbeon, degidegi. One beondegi, two beondegi, three beondegi!¡±

    Muttered somethingpletely unintelligible.

    ***

    Minhyuk smiled contentedly at Chronicle after he had made the savory and vorful pupae.

    He looked at Chronicle and wondered if she would say that it was not delicious after tasting it.

    Those were literally pupae.

    In the past, back when Minhyuk was in elementary and middle school, whenever he joined a sportspetition he would see the uncles outside with their trucks and selling their wares. And on their trucks it would say¡­

    ¡®Beondegi, 1,000 won!¡¯

    Then, Minhyuk and his friends would go in front of the truck and would smile at the old man and say ¡®Uncle, please give me 1,000 won worth of beondegi!¡¯ after looking at the steaming, hot paper cup filled with pupae.

    The uncle would give them a paper cup filled with beondegi together with a toothpick. However, they wouldn¡¯t use any toothpick and would just pour it in their mouths little by little.

    This is beondegi!

    Minhyuk was able to make a memorable meal by ident!

    And the ingredient that he used to make this beondegi was the silkworm¡¯s pupa!

    Chronicle tapped hesitantly with his beak on the frying pan that was filled with beondegi.

    ¡°Uhmm¡­¡­¡±

    Then, she opened her beak and bit on one. The savory vor immediately spread in her mouth as soon as she bit on it. She felt that the more she chewed on it, the deeper and more savory the vor became.

    Her breath stopped for a moment as she looked at Minhyuk in surprise.

    ¡°De, delicious.¡±

    ¡°Hohohohoho¡­¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk also took a piece of beondegi and ate the one that was almost as big as his head.

    It¡¯s the taste in my memories!

    Chronicle quickly finished all of the beondegi in the frying pan.

    Then¡­

    A series of notifications rang loudly¡­

    [You have fed the Phoenix Lord.]

    [The Phoenix Lord is really satisfied with the meal. You will receive better rewards.]

    ***

    Food Discussion Corner

    Beondegi (???) - literally tranted as pupa, is a KR street food that¡¯s made with the pupa of a silkworm. It is usually boiled or steamed and served with toothpicks. It¡¯s said that it has a bit of a fishy and nutty vor and is usually soft and juicy in the inside while its outside is crunchy af. Although it¡¯s now a popr snack, it became prominent during the Korean War since the pupa has an excellent nutritional value and was extremely helpful in giving the people a stable supply of protein.

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    A day hase where I encountered a dish that I wouldn¡¯t want to taste. However, this dish is usually a favorite of the older generation. I believe it¡¯s something of an acquired taste, something that they have grown used to and loved.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 112 - The Birth Of The School Of Fast Eaters

    Chapter 112: The Birth of the School of Fast Eaters

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    [You have acquired 34,132,132 gold.]

    [You have acquired the Phoenix Lord¡¯s Feathers.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [......leveled up.]

    The notifications for leveling up continued to ring!

    When he achieved 95% of the fullness, he was able to raise his level to 190 but right now, he was able to hear 31 level up notifications just by feeding the Phoenix Lord. It was apletely ridiculous leveling speed. In other words, just by feeding the Phoenix Lord, Minhyuk was able to raise his level to Lv221.

    This meant that he could now finally go to the beach and eat tfish and rockfish. He smiled happily at the thought.

    However, he thought that something was strange. The Phoenix Lord had an extremely ridiculous pickiness but when she ate her fill there were no artifacts that dropped.

    Then, Chronicle talked to him as if to exin this.

    ¡°He will give you the remaining rewards.¡±

    He!

    The subordinate of the Food God!

    Chronicle smiled at Minhyuk.

    He was able to feed all of the monsters in the monster¡¯s paradise until they had their fill! Even though he did an atrocious act like grilling hotbars on her fire, she was still extremely grateful to him.

    The skinny Chronicle had now be plump and energetic and along with that, the mes on her body had intensified.

    Crackle, crackle, fwoosh!

    ¡°Kkiiiiiiieeeeeeee!¡±

    The Phoenix Lord screeched loudly as a zing fire shot out towards the sky like a firework. The mes that fell from the aftermath of such a huge fire fell to the ground and did not extinguish.

    Then, at that moment¡­

    Crackle, crackle!

    A man walked out of the zing mes.

    ***

    [Crackle, crackle!]

    The zing mes shot high!

    The members of the Special Users Management Team all fell silent as a man came out of the zing mes!

    The man had bright red hair and he was wearing an armor. The armor te was made with dragon bones. This man was someone that was considered to be dead now but he was still one of myths.

    [User Minhyuk has met with Balzarc, one of the Seven Myths.]

    [User Minhyuk has gained 100 reputation points.]

    [User Minhyuk has received the title: The One Approached by the Myths.]

    ¡°The subordinates of the Food God were heroes who shook the world¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°And the Taming Lord Balzarc is one of the proof of that.¡±

    Lee Minhwa¡¯s heart was pounding loudly.

    The Seven Myths of the continent!

    They were heroes that once saved the continent that was shrouded in darkness.

    If you look at Balzarc¡¯s character, he was considered to be the idol and king of all of the Tamers in the world of Athenae. He even had temples all around the world with Tamers serving in them.

    The door suddenly opened with a bang as people rushed inside. Lee Seokhoon, the team leader of the Development Team, together with some members of the customer center entered the room. Even the president, Kang Taehoon, came along with them.

    ¡°President.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t mind me and keep monitoring.¡±

    The president, Kang Taehoon! He was the number one contributor in the Athenae of today! He was the one who was involved in creating the worldview of Athenae.

    Augh spilled out of Kang Taehoon¡¯s lips.

    ¡°So that¡¯s the User Minhyuk that has been giving the Special Users Management Team and the Development Team a hard time?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Kang Taehoon narrowed his eyes as he looked at the monitor with amazement.

    ¡°Amazing¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    Team Leader Park tilted his head in confusion.

    ¡°Did he just finish feeding all of the monsters in the monster¡¯s paradise¡­...? How in the world did he do it¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°He tempted the monsters with food.¡±

    ¡°......Hmm?¡±

    ¡°After he cooked for them once, he offered to cook again for the monsters who were enamored with the taste of his cooking. In return, they have to help him farm.¡±

    ¡°.......He has a good head on his shoulders, right?¡±

    President Kang Taehoon grinned.

    This is why Athenae users are interesting. It¡¯s because they kept on ying the game in a totally unexpected way.

    ¡°If he was able to feed the Phoenix Lord then he will be able to receive a legendary artifact but that user already has one. He¡¯s going to receive it a second time? How happy that user must be.¡±

    President Kang Taehoon¡¯s hands were almost sweating in excitement.

    It was the greatest artifact that everyone wanted and admired.

    Legendary!

    However, the members of the Special Users Management Team together with Team Leader Park and Lee Minhwa all fell silent when they heard his words.

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°That. Didn¡¯t you see our report?¡±

    ¡°I saw.¡±

    It was User Minhyuk¡¯s ystyle! The Special User Management Team made a report and sent it over to the president.

    ¡°It¡¯s a legendary artifact though¡­¡­ Is food more important than that?¡±

    President Kang Taehoon said those. However, Team Leader Park and Lee Minhwa were at a loss for words.

    Then, not long after, they saw Balzarc give something to Minhyuk.

    ¡®It¡¯s not a frying pan, but a real legendary artifact!¡¯

    This was what went through Team Leader Park¡¯s head.

    The artifact that Balzarc handed over was an armor. The armor that was worn by the previous Food God!

    The armor looked shabby and a bit worned out since it was shaped like a loose animal bone but that bone was the bone of the ck Dragon.

    ¡°Show me the armor¡¯s information.¡±

    Then, the information was disyed on the monitor for everyone to see.

    (Armor of Immortality)

    ss: Legendary

    Restriction: Food God

    Durability: 30,000 / 30,000

    Defensive Power: 1,148

    Special Abilities:

    ©¥ +12% increase in all stats.

    ©¥ +50 increase in Magical Defense.

    ©¥ Your HP and MP can be recovered instantly to 100% once a day.

    ©¥ Passive Skill: Physical Damage Reflection

    Description: This is the Armor of Immortality. It boasts an extremely enormous defensive power. This was made by the Legendary Dwarf, Golden Hammer, with the bones of the ck Dragon, the breath of Cerberus and many more.

    ¡°Kgghk¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Wow¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°OMG¡­¡­ It¡¯s really awesome¡­¡­!¡±

    All of the people who looked at the information hissed in surprise. Then, Team Leader Park clicked on the Passive Skill: Physical Damage Reflection.

    (Physical Damage Reflection)

    Artifact Skill

    Level: None

    Mana Required: 50

    Cooldown: None

    Effects: Has a 10~30% chance of returning a received physical damage. In addition, the returned physical damage will be x2 of the original received damage. The user will not receive any harm when the skill is triggered.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡­ It literally bounces off of it, right?¡±

    ¡°And the returned damage is even twice of the received damage from the attack?¡±

    It was an incredible skill to be attached in an artifact. But what was more surprising was¡­

    Its defensive power.

    ¡°It¡¯s defensive power is 1,148¡­..¡±

    Currently, Minhyuk¡¯s frying pan had a defensive power of 800. And it was the defensive power when the frying pan was used to block. However, for an armor, it would be able to protect almost all of the parts of the body with the exception of the head. This meant that almost all parts of his body had a 1,148 defense. And the reason for that would be the Armor of Immortality!

    ¡°There¡¯s even a 100% HP and MP recovery once a day¡­¡­¡±

    None of these abilities had appeared in the country yet! It was so great that everyone was left speechless in their awe and admiration.

    On the other hand, Kang Taehoon tilted his head.

    ¡°Why doesn¡¯t User Minhyuk check his item¡¯s information?¡±

    Lee Minhwa hesitated as she looked at Team Leader Park.

    Team Leader Parkughed helplessly.

    ¡°He¡¯s not that interested.¡±

    ***

    Minhyuk was filled with excitement and anticipation.

    God¡¯s Dish!

    He would be able to get one hint about where one out of the five dishes or materials were.

    He was actually a bit calm when he met with Balzarc. The only thing that gave him a bit of a surprise was the 100 reputation points that he received.

    Then, the handsome red-haired Balzarc approached Minhyuk and handed him an armor.

    [You have acquired the Armor of Immortality.]

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe that you were able to satisfy and feed Chronicle. I¡¯m grateful.¡±

    Balzarc grinned at him. He was quite surprised when he looked at him.

    ¡®I didn¡¯t expect that someone will really seed and receive the legacy of the Food God.¡¯

    He was the one that was close to the Food God! The person who had personally seen and interacted with the Food God. The Food God was really a good man except for one thing¡­

    ¡®That bastard was really crazy about food!¡¯

    But, this guy is like that Food God? He looks a bit better than him.

    On the other hand, Minhyuk¡¯s heart was thumping wildly.

    ¡°Does Balzarc-nim know about the God¡¯s Legacy Dishes?!¡±

    ¡°Ah. Of course I know. He left it to me. But boy, aren¡¯t you going to check that armor?¡±

    ¡°I can do thatter! Is that important?! Food is more important.¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    Balzarc was taken aback.

    That¡¯s the Armor of Immortality that has enormous power! What do you mean by you will check itter? And that food is more important?

    Then, Minhyuk with his face full of expectations, said¡­

    ¡°You have God¡¯s Legacy Dish? Come to think of it, Balzarc-nim looks really handsome. No? Wow. Your red hair looks so out of this world! That reminds me, that armor is made out of bones¡­ it looks like it would be delicious to boil¡­¡­ no, no. It looks really tough and sturdy!¡±

    Balzarc was embarrassed.

    What does he mean by boiling?

    His expression looks like ¡®Uhm¡­¡­¡¯ personified.

    ¡®What the hell. This guy is much worse than Allen!¡¯

    Minhyuk looked like he was begging him to hurry up and give him something to eat. You could even tell that he was saying ¡®I don¡¯t care if you¡¯re a Taming Lord or whatever, I¡¯ll fight you if you don¡¯t give it to me.¡¯ just by looking at his eyes.

    Balzarc shook his head.

    ¡°There are procedures to these things.¡±

    ¡°......The procedures will naturally be cleared!¡±

    ¡°If you don¡¯t settle down then I won¡¯t give you anything.¡±

    Minhyuk became as quiet as a mouse when he heard his threat. He looked like he was determined enough to not squeak or speak a word for the rest of his life.

    Balzarc thought that he was such a cute kid.

    ¡°You¡¯re amazing. I don¡¯t know how you did it but¡­¡­¡±

    Swoooosh©¥

    As soon as Balzarc waved his hand, the monster egg that was suspended in the middle of the monster¡¯s paradise quickly went to where they were in a swoosh.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to check it?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Check it.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    Minhyuk listened to him well.

    (Monster Egg)

    Rank: ?

    Race: Pet

    Description: You have filled the fullness bar to 100%. You can confirm the details about the ??? with Balzarc.

    ¡°It was legendary earlier, why did it be ??? so suddenly?¡±

    ¡°Because you can choose right now.¡±

    ¡°Eh?¡±

    You can choose.

    For a moment, Minhyuk did not understand what he meant with those words.

    ¡°Boy, I¡¯ll send you to another monster¡¯s paradise. In there, you will be able to see many rare and powerful monsters. You can watch them carefully and closely for a day, choose one from them and ce them in the egg.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Just like in a Food Court. Choose what you want to eat¡­¡­¡±

    At that moment, Balzarc couldn¡¯t believe what he heard. He was so taken aback that his expression was screaming ¡®What?¡¯.

    Topare such a huge opportunity to that¡­

    Others would have jumped up and down and told him ¡®Aigoo, Thank you so much.¡¯ if they ever heard that they would be able to choose the monster for their pet.

    But what about this punk?

    He was thinking of eating his pet.

    This is the first time I have heard someone in this world want to eat a pet!

    ¡°It¡¯s a pity but you can¡¯t eat pets.¡±

    ¡°......Howe?¡±

    ¡°Pets exist to give you strength and support you.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Minhyuk was a bit disappointed. However, he also knew that he was also still not qualified to eat higher leveled monsters at his current level.

    I wonder what Dragon meat tastes like? What about the king of the seas, the Kraken?

    He was extremely curious about their taste but unfortunately pets could not be eaten.

    ¡°You should first pick a monster ande back. Once your back, I¡¯ll give you the God¡¯s Legacy Dish that my friend has left to me.¡±

    ¡°Is it possible to know what dish it is?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a jokbal set.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Minhyuk gasped in surprise when he heard his words.

    Jokbal?

    What kind of existence was this dish? It was a dish that tasted light and chewy once you ced it in your mouth. And if you ced a thinly sliced jokbal on top of a lettuce, with a bit of some spicy pepper, ssamjang and garlic together with the crispy kimchi and pickled radish it would be very delicious! And if you ate dongchimi after taking a big bite out of that wrap, then you would definitely taste a refreshing vor in your mouth. It would be even more perfect if there was a tray beside you that has a jjajangmyeon and tangsuyuk!

    ¡°Don¡¯t think of it as just your normal jokbal.¡±

    When zarc heard of the story about this dish he was shaking in fright. And telling him this... even after all that time, he was still trembling.

    ¡°Boy, you know about the story of the golden pig. Right?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°The golden pig in the legend was said to have lived an immortal life without killing anyone. The Food God Allen, spent half a year just to find this golden pig. And the moment he found this golden pig, he quickly cooked it to eat for himself. He even used theva from Valkan to cook the jokbal and make it more delicious.¡±

    ¡°Lava?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Artifacts that couldn¡¯t be melted would even be melted in thatva.¡±

    ¡°Wow¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was in awe.

    The Food God-nim tried his best to make the dish taste the same as Mom¡¯s cooking!

    He was very thankful for his hard work and at the same time he was also looking forward to it¡¯s taste.

    ¡°Please hurry and send me there!¡±

    Minhyuk thought that the faster he chose the monster for his monster egg, the faster he would be able to taste the first dish in God¡¯s Legacy Dishes!

    ¡°I understand. Ah. There might be a lot of monsters in there but you can only check their strength and power twice. No matter how strong a monster was in there, if you did not cultivate them properly or they were sick then it will be a different story once they grow up. So choose carefully.¡±

    Minhyuk soon disappeared in a sh of light.

    Once he felt that the ring light was gone, he opened his eyes slowly and carefully. A set of notifications rang as soon as he opened his eyes.

    [You have entered the legendary ¡®Paradise of All Monsters.¡¯]

    [You are the 35th user who has stepped foot in this legendary ce.]

    [You have 24 hours before this area closes.]

    [Number of Legendary Dungeons found: 2]

    [Your reputation has increased by 50.]

    [You were temporarily summoned here by Balzarc. You will not be able to get any rewards when you see legendary and mythical monsters.]

    [EXP rate and item drop rate increase will not be rewarded.]

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    So, I have been getting confused over God''s dishes. I thought that he already ate 2 of them but apparently they are not part of the dishes that he needs to eat to fulfill the Food God¡¯s Legacy. But the dishes that he ate were also called God¡¯s dishes since they were made by the Food God. So to differentiate from the two, I will now call the dishes that he needed for his legacy quest as God¡¯s Legacy Dishes instead of just using God¡¯s Dishes since the other dishes made by the Food God was also called that.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    A legendary armor, and he wants to boil it¡­

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 113 - I Choose You!

    Chapter 113: I Choose You!

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    35 I Choose You!

    This was the second time that he had entered a legendary dungeon.

    Whenever you enter a hidden dungeon, hidden field, a new city, a new frontier or a legendary area then you will naturally be rewarded. But in his case, since he was just temporarily sent by Balzarc to choose his monster, his reward ended at the 50 reputation increase.

    However, the 50 reputation points were already a huge benefit since this was the average reputation points that users at Lv100 have.

    Minhyuk looked around his surroundings.

    ¡°Oh. It seems like there are a lot of delicious looking kids in here.¡±

    Minhyuk was in awe.

    There was a monster that was silently floating in the air above him.

    It was a giant monkfish.

    Minhyuk licked his lips. He was thinking about spicy steamed monkfish! Whenever he went to a restaurant that served this dish, he would always order this.

    ¡®Should I eat the monkfish or the bean sprouts first?¡¯

    If you ordered a spicy steamed monkfish then there would definitely be a heaping amount of bean sprouts in your serving. However, such a dish was extremely expensive. But Minhyuk believed that such a dish was worthy of its price. The monkfish would be so plump and juicy just like chicken meat, and if you added some of the spicy sauce together with the crunchy bean sprouts then the taste would definitely blow your mind away.

    Minhyuk couldn¡¯t tell what kind of monster the giant monkfish was. To eat something delicious, he brushed up his knowledge and studied about different monsters but there was no information about such a monster at all. In other words, this was an undiscovered monster. As for whether he would choose it as his pet¡­ Minhyuk shook his head.

    ¡®I can only check the information twice!¡¯

    Looking around, he was able to see plenty of monsters that he had never seen before. This meant that most of the monsters residing in this ce were undiscovered monsters. And even looking at the mostmon monsters in this ce, he could see that there were epic and legendary monsters among them.

    Minhyuk quickly moved in search of his pet.

    ***

    The crickets were chirping loudly as the rays of the moon shone brightly over them.

    ¡°Heok, heok.¡±

    ¡°Haaa, haaa.¡±

    Someone was breathing heavily as if he just ran from something scary.

    A user named Lute sighed in relief as he looked behind him.

    ¡®I think they finally left me alone. Phew¡­¡­¡¯

    Lute was a pretty high-leveled user. Even though he wasn¡¯t on the top, he could still say that he was part of the list of top rankers with his Lv365 character. He was an archer, the character with a bow behind his back.

    He looked at the man standing next to him.

    ¡°Your highness, I think we¡¯ve lost them for now.¡±

    He hurriedly said this as he bowed his head to avoid meeting his eyes. He was tasked to escort and deliver this man by someone.

    Varen, the Northern Continent¡¯s Valkyrie Kingdom¡¯s king, nodded his head.

    The Valkyrie Kingdom in the Northern Continent!

    The northern continent was still an unexplorednd swarming with monsters. It was and that had not yet been pioneered yet. In addition, the northern continent was located between the Eivelis Empire and Cordis Empire.

    Currently, both empires were giving their all to enter and carve out a ce for them in the northern continent. And in that process, they discovered an amazing kingdom in the northern continent. That kingdom was none other than the Valkyrie Kingdom.

    The Valkyrie Kingdom was a kingdom that was blessed by the god Juis. Their kingdom was protected by the monsters that were swarming all over the northern continent. Because of that, they were able to stand firmly and resolutely even in ces that were teeming with vicious monsters.

    However, not too long ago, the soldiers of the Valkyrie Kingdom encountered the subjugation forces that were sent by the Eivelis Empire while they were patrolling outside. The Sword Emperor Ellie was greatly amazed by the fact that a kingdom existed in the northern continents.

    Varen realized that his kingdom would still face copse even if the god Juis protected and blessed his people so he decided to reach out towards the Eivelis Empire and went out with his troops.

    However, the moment they entered the borders of the Eivelis Empire, they were suddenly ambushed in a raid! In other words, Varen and Lute were the only survivors of this ambush. Only the king and a member of the royal court were left after an attack!

    ¡®Ah. We¡¯re fXcked.¡¯

    Lute frowned. Even if they were left alone for now, they would still be cornered once they continued the siege.

    ¡°I¡¯m parched.¡±

    ¡°Here, have some water. Your highness.¡±

    He gave Varen a water bottle and sighed deeply.

    ¡®Damn. I¡¯m sure that the users from the other empire had received these quests.¡¯

    Perhaps they were users from the enemy empire of the Eivelis Empire, the Cordis Empire.

    There were arge number of users in that ambush. It may be because they did not want the Eivelis Empire and the Valkyrie Kingdom to join hands. In addition, if they were able to capture King Varen alive¡­.

    King Varen was a master in terms of the geography of the northern continent!

    In addition, the exact location of the Valkyrie Kingdom was still unknown therefore they would definitely capture him alive and try to target and get huge rewards from him.

    Right now, Lute was looking at his quest window.

    [Kingdom Quest: Brin Varen, the Valkyrie Kingdom¡¯s king, to the ce where he is supposed to meet with the Imperial Army of the Eivelis Empire!]

    Rank: S

    Restrictions: Favorability with Varen.

    Rewards: Receive the Title of a Baron, a Territory, and 1 chance to go to Varen''s Treasurehouse.

    Penalty for Failure: Intimacy with everyone in the Valkyrie Kingdom will fall. You will also not be able to set foot in the North Continent ever again.

    Description: Run away with King Varen and meet with the Eivelis Empire¡¯s Imperial Army safely! You will be able to build a high degree of favorability with King Varen!

    During the Quest¡¯s Progress: The user will not get a Temporary Chaotic or Chaotic State even if you PKed other users.

    Originally his quest was not like this before. It was just a general quest where he would apany the king and he would be able to receive plenty of EXP and gold. But, the quest suddenly changed and the rewards had be enormous.

    ¡®A nobleman¡¯s title! And even a territory!¡¯

    Just in a blink of an eye!

    The tax that you could collect in just a small town was simply no joke. In addition, with the title of a Baron he would be able to receive plenty of support. In addition, he would be able to use Varen¡¯s treasure house once the moment he increased his favorability with the king! Right now, the northern continent was still not yet pioneered so the vige and thend itself was worth a fortune.

    He bit his lips.

    The quest this time even had a special entry that says ¡®During the Quest¡¯s Progress¡¯. The words written under it said that the user will not be temporary chaotic or chaotic even if they PKed others. This meant that the usual penalty that would be imposed on the user originally would not be imposed whether you kill others or not. This also meant that they were expecting plenty of users to attack them in the course of the quest.

    ¡®I won¡¯t be able to do this by myself¡­¡­!¡¯

    Lute sighed to himself.

    He was originally someone who was bad at making friends in reality. And people like him who only liked to y games and had no friends were usually called game addicts! Lute did not even join any guild and only yed the game solo.

    But he also couldn¡¯t just post this information in the official homepage and say ¡®Is there anyone out there who can help me?!¡¯. If he ever did that, then his rewards would definitely be divided up. No, it might also be possible for people to kill him and take the quest away.

    ¡®But if I share it with one or two people¡­¡­ Are there any strong men out there?¡¯

    Just as Lute was thinking about that...

    ¡°Lute.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Highness?¡±

    ¡°Where did you say the vige we were supposed to go to was?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Raven, the Chef¡¯s vige.¡±

    ¡°Chef¡¯s Vige¡­¡­¡±

    Varen smiled bitterly.

    ¡°I should try and find some foreigners in there.¡±

    ¡°Foreigners? I¡¯d rather ask for help from the vige¡¯s vigntes¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°The vigntes in this neighborhood will be of no help to us, they are too noisy and hard to deal with. On the contrary, the foreigners are stronger and much easier to deal with.¡±

    ¡°......Is that the case.¡±

    They would definitely be easy to handle. Once he say¡­ ¡®This is a Kingdom Quest!¡¯ most of them would jump up and say ¡®Me! Me! Me!¡¯. He would bet that people would line up just to help him.

    To put it simply, Kingdom Quests were so rare that it was like joining in the lottery. It was extremely difficult to obtain quests like these that they had to rely on luck just to get a glimpse of it. What more if a king¡¯s life depended on it.

    ¡°I¡¯ll lend you this sword for a moment.¡±

    ¡°Yes. Your Highness!¡±

    Lute felt that the king was now truly in a hurry. The sword that he lended him was the sword that was used for the knighthood ceremony. It was a sword that only the King could have and wield. Lute knew that this sword could determine the user¡¯s ¡°reputation¡±. With this he would be able to find strong users. This was because high-leveled users usually had a high reputation.

    ¡°I¡¯ll get us a carriage once we arrive at Raven. Although it¡¯s a bit shabby for you, please stay in the inn for a while, Your Highness. Then, I¡¯ll try and pick out the foreigners that could help us at that time.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Varen nodded his head as the two of them hastened their steps to reach Raven faster.

    ***

    Minhyuk looked at the monsters.

    This ce was teeming with monsters just like the first monster¡¯s paradise. All of them were high-ranked monsters. Among these monsters, Minhyuk first picked one.

    The monster was curled up and crying with a growl. And he could tell just by looking at it¡­

    ¡®A Hatchling!¡¯

    The greatest existence in the world, a dragon! However, this was not a fully grown dragon and would not leave its growth stage. Minhyuk thought that it would be easier for him to eat delicious food if he took a dragon as his pet. They were strong so the dragon would definitely help his journey in eating delicious food in the near future.

    (Hatchling)

    Rank: Legendary

    Race: Pet

    Unable to evolve.

    Attack Power: 3,135

    Defensive Power: 3,367

    Special Abilities:

    ©¥ +20% to all stats.

    ©¥ +80% to Fire Attribute Resistance.

    ©¥ Skill: Hatchling¡¯s Breath

    ©¥ You can use 4th ss Fire Attributed Magic.

    Potential: None

    It was ssified as a pet.

    Usually, its attack and defense would usually be shown if it¡¯s a monster but a pet did not show it. In addition, even though they were huge in nature, once they were summoned, pets would be small.

    However, he remembered that potential was extremely important for pets. The higher the potential the more likely that the pet would grow. Its level would increase and so would its capabilities.

    But in the case of a Hatchling, evolution was not possible since it had already achieved its full growth. Even though it was not fully grown, such a pet could not be ignored so easily since its attack and defensive power were overwhelmingly high. In addition, the skill Hatchling Breath that could melt away the opponents and deal a high amount of damage together with the ability to use 4th ss fire magic would exert great power for the user. Furthermore, wasn¡¯t there an owner buff effect?

    Contrary to everyone¡¯s expectations, Minhyuk¡¯s thoughts were still very consistent.

    ¡°I want to try and eat it.¡±

    Screech!

    The Hatchling woke up from its sleep and tilted his head to look at Minhyuk. Then it snorted as it continued to re at him.

    Minhyuk walked away with a thoughtful expression on his face. He only had one chance left. He continuously kept an eye on all of the monsters that he had encountered. This way, he would be able to at least now a bit about them.

    As he kept on walking, Minhyuk saw an animal among them.

    ¡°A pig?¡±

    It was literally a pig. A little baby piggy that was as big as a fist!

    The little white pig sniffed around, picked something out and ate it. Then, it smiled happily as it bent and stretched its knee as if it was dancing to a rhythm.

    ¡°Oink, oink!¡±

    It looked like it was saying ¡®Delicious food is the best! Oink!¡¯.

    Minhyuk looked at it strangely.

    ¡°What¡¯s this? Why am I so happy to see it?¡±

    This is strange. Why am I feeling so happy just by looking at this pig?

    Then, he smiled softly and¡­

    ¡°What the hell¡­¡­ I¡¯m smiling like a dad¡­¡­ heok!¡±

    Am I feeling a sense of kinship with a pig?

    He denied the reality in front of him.

    ¡°I¡¯m not fat anymore, I¡¯m just chubby? Why can I feel a deep sense of camaraderie with it?¡±

    This was Minhyuk who firmly believed that he was already in the chubby category since he went from 170kg to 160kg!

    He turned his head away without any hesitations and quickly walked away.

    Then, heughed happily and took out food from his inventory since he was hungry. It was a hotdog with catsup and mayonnaise on it!

    ¡°Delicious!¡±

    It was abination of crispy bread with sausage hidden in it and sweet cayonnaise!

    Minhyuk opened his mouth wide and bit on it.

    At that moment¡­

    ¡°Oooink?¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    Minhyuk was quite taken aback.

    He thought that he needed to speed things up so he used Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship to increase his speed and look at the monsters along the way. This was because his time was limited. He even used Step to quickly move and cover arge distance.

    But it was extremely quick. From such a long distance, the pig had arrived in front of him. It even looked up at him with itsrge bright eyes.

    ¡°Ooooooooooink¡­¡­?¡±

    It looked at him pitifully and blinked its eyes at him.

    It was like it was telling him¡­¡­

    Please give me just one bite. Oink¡­¡­

    Just like that.

    Minhyuk grinned at it.

    ¡°What a cunning piggy! I won¡¯t give you food just because of that!¡±

    The pig did not know anything but Minhyuk really wouldn¡¯t easily give his food just because it was cute.

    Soon, the pig looked a bit sullen and depressed. It bowed its head and cried sadly.

    ¡°Ooooiiiiink¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s heart shook for a moment. This was because he understood a hungry man¡¯s heart more than anybody else! However, heughed.

    ¡°My god! A baby piggy is trying to hook the world¡¯s greatest pig Kang Minhyuk into giving him food!¡±

    In the end, he still admitted to being a pig.

    ¡°I won¡¯t give you!¡±

    Then he bit on the hotdog until there was only half left.

    At that moment¡­

    The pig that was a bit sullen suddenly stood up. The tears that were making its eyes shine suddenly disappeared.

    Twitch!

    It red at Minhyuk as it cracked its neck sideways as if it was loosening it. And its expression was like¡­

    ¡®So this doesn¡¯t work, huh? Oink.¡¯

    ¡°......¡±

    Minhyuk waspletely dumbfounded.

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    Heh. Their fate is already determined. That will be the pet. I call it. Kek. They have the same attitude too! Kek. So cute this piggy.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    So the pig knows how to run a con? Why do I get the feeling Minhyuk will try and have the pig use this to get more food?

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 114 - I Choose You!

    Chapter 114: I Choose You!

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    ¡®S, so you were just acting earlier?!¡¯

    Minhyuk had never seen such an existence before.

    Will it do anything for food? My god, it¡¯s cheating everyone just to get something to eat?

    This was Minhyuk¡¯s first(?) time to ever see such a clever act yed out just for the sake of food.

    The little pig looked at Minhyuk seriously. Suddenly, the little piggy went near Minhyuk¡¯s legs and tapped it with its little head. It looked like it thought of something and wanted to let Minhyuk know about it.

    ¡°Oink, oink!¡±

    It was like it was signalling Minhyuk to follow it. The little baby piggy was giving off a cool aura. It was a bit absurd but Minhyuk still stood up to follow it. The only reason why he followed it was because the little piggy looked extremely confident.

    The little piggy sniffed for a while before it continued to move forward.

    ¡®Is it following a smell?¡¯

    Do pigs have such an acute sense of smell?

    This small question floated in his head as the little piggy stopped in front of a de of grass and tapped its head on it. It was as if he was telling him that this was it.

    ¡°You want me to check it?¡±

    Minhyuk did not know why he followed the little piggy but he decided to check the unknown grass first before pondering over it deeply.

    (Five-leaf Barbed Grass)

    Material Grade: B

    Special Abilities:

    ©¥ +1 on Magical Defense.

    ©¥ +1 on Magical Attack

    Description: This is a barbed grass that tastes like spinach. It looks a bit like a four leaf clover and tastes good. However, this five leaf barbed grass is a special barbed grass. It¡¯s a one out of a hundred existence.

    ¡°.....Huh?¡±

    Minhyuk was quite surprised.

    He harvested the grass himself but there was no notification about collecting a ¡®special¡¯ item because of his intermediate farming skill. This only meant one thing¡­ This barbed grass was something that was not collected through the intermediate farming skill.

    It truly was a five leaf barbed grass!

    Not long after, the little piggy protested with an oink!. It seemed like it wanted to exchange the five leaf barbed grass with a hotdog.

    ¡®No. Right now, I need to experiment.¡¯

    Minhyuk realized that the little piggy was much more special than what he thought. When the pig realized that he still wouldn¡¯t give it anything, it grumbled and moved quickly towards somewhere. When it sensed that Minhyuk was not following, it looked back at him and jerked its head as if to encourage him to follow.

    Twitch!

    It was as if it was saying that he was not a pushover so he would find him something better. The little piggy guided Minhyuk to another ce. It pointed him towards a fruit that looked extremely appetizing.

    ¡°Oink, oink!¡±

    The little piggy pointed its nose towards the fruit. Minhyuk also checked the information of the fruit.

    (Hatchling¡¯s Apple)

    Medicine

    Special Abilities: +50 WIS

    Description: An extremely delicious apple that has grown after absorbing the mana from a Hatchling¡¯s body.

    ¡°......!¡±

    Minhyuk was surprised.

    Then he heard the pig squeal inughter. He was more surprised when he realized that the pigughed at him.

    ¡®Don¡¯t tell me?!¡¯

    An idea brewed in Minhyuk¡¯s mind as he looked at the pig intently.

    ¡®Does it have the ability to find ingredients and materials like medicine?¡¯

    Obviously, there were plenty of monsters here with varying sses and species. There were even rare ones that no one had everid their eyes on yet. Just for this reason, Minhyuk thought that it was truly possible.

    Minhyuk quickly picked up the Hatchling¡¯s Apple and ate it all at once.

    Crunch, crunch!

    The Hatchling¡¯s Apple tasted extremely delicious. Minhyuk felt that apples were much better for himpared to sds. When he ate an apple, he wouldn¡¯t need to cook or mix but he would still be able to eat something delicious.

    [You have eaten a Hatchling¡¯s Apple.]

    [You have gained +50 WIS.]

    Minhyuk nodded his head happily. While he was enjoying the taste of the apple, something snapped at him.

    ¡°Oink?¡±

    The pig looked at him sadly reminding him that he had forgotten about something. Minhyuk cut a piece off of the hotdog and handed it over the little piggy.

    Give and take!

    Then, the little piggy took a bite and its eyes widened in surprise. Its little tail wiggled and it jumped up and down as it squealed. The little piggy suddenly jived and went into his own rhythm.

    Just like what he saw earlier, the little piggy liked to ride in its own rhythm once it tasted delicious food.

    It looked back at Minhyuk once again.

    Smileeeee©¥

    The little piggy smiled delightedly at him.

    From that moment on, this strange rtionship between Minhyuk and the little piggy had started.

    He continued to observe the pig since he did not know where it came from. It was then that he found out that even though the little piggy was not able to find any medicine like the one from before, it was still able to find precious and special ingredients.

    Just to be careful, Minhyuk used thest chance that he got to check the information of the little piggy.

    (Baby Pig)

    Rank: ???

    Race: Pet

    Level: 1

    Attack Power: 102

    Defensive Power: 163

    Summoning Duration per Day: 1 hour

    Summoning Waiting Time: 23 hours

    Special Abilities: They will find delicious ingredients and sometimes rare, excellent medicine.

    Condition for Growth: The more delicious the food the owner eats, the higher the EXP and the higher the level it could evolve.

    Potential: 184

    Experience Value: 0% / 100%

    ¡°......What¡¯s this, so unusual?¡±

    Unusual, just like that word, this monster was unusual. Furthermore, it¡¯s rank had ¡®???¡¯ written on it. And its special ability was the same as what Minhyuk had expected it to be.

    Find delicious ingredients.

    This was by no means amon special ability. When Minhyuk was observing the little piggy, it even found a medicine. There were even some special ingredients that it found. Of course, half of it was because this ce was filled with special ingredients but in fact it was still a difficult task to find delicious ingredients and special medicine even in a ce like this. In addition, it also had a potential of 184.

    ¡°What¡¯s with the 184 in its potential?¡±

    The potential of a pet had a huge effect on them. It would y an important role and determine how much more it would grow and evolve. Generally, if the pet had a higher potential then it would have a higher growth rate which would mean that the pet would be better as it leveled up.

    ¡®The highest potential that I know of is probably at¡­¡­ around 101?¡¯

    The gap was much bigger than what he had thought.

    What in the world is this pig?

    However, he still liked it very much.

    ¡°Find delicious ingredients¡­¡­¡±

    The merit was extremely huge. What was more surprising was the fact that its level, abilities and EXP would increase if the owner ate something delicious. In other words, whenever it leveled up, then it would gain more abilitiespared to right now.

    That was not all.

    What if we find some medicine?

    Minhyuk¡¯s concerns were not that deep.

    He chose the baby pig.

    Him choosing the baby pig was not only because it could find delicious ingredients. The hatchling was obviously much more powerful right now; perhaps he could even fight toe to toe with the rankers right now if he had it by his side. However, the rankers would eventually level up and grow up.

    What if they reached Lv600 in the future?

    Then the hatchling would not pose any threat to them at all especially since it was not able to evolve any further. In contrast, the potential of the baby pig was tremendous. He did not know what it would evolve into in the future. In addition, it could find him delicious ingredients. Compared to a hatchling, the potential was endless.

    Minhyuk did not know if choosing the hatchling would allow him to speed up the process of him finding delicious ingredients but it would definitely not allow him to find delicious ingredients right away. Inparison, the baby pig had the chance to evolve even if he did not know what it would grow into.

    And you might not know?

    ¡®What if it grew up and one of its special abilities would say ¡®It has grown up well, you can now eat it¡¯? Huhuhuhu.¡¯

    In fact Minhyuk was so simple that he would choose everything that was rted to food. In other words, he might not know the result but it was possible that he would be able to eat the baby pigter.

    [Do you wish to select the Baby Pig?]

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    [The Baby Pig belongs to the Pet race.]

    [Would you like to rename the Baby Pig?]

    A name change.

    Minhyuk thought hard about it.

    ¡°Little Piggy?¡±

    [The Baby Pig hates it.]

    ¡°......¡±

    Minhyuk looked at the baby pig with a puzzled expression. The little guy stood up on its two feet and climbed on top of his shoulder. It wasn¡¯t that heavy since it was just the size of a fist.

    ¡°Hmm. What do we have? You¡¯re color pink so¡­¡­ Pink Piggy?¡±

    That¡¯s right.

    Minhyuk had the worst naming sense out of everyone!

    [The Baby Pig hates it.]

    Of course the baby pig would hate it.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t like these names then I¡¯m sure you will also hate Oinky¡­¡­¡±

    [The Baby Pig hates it.]

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk pondered deeply.

    ¡°Of course you shouldn¡¯t be named fatty¡­¡­ then, Kongie? Ah, Kongie is a dog¡¯s name¡­...¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    [The Baby Pig is pleased.]

    In Minhyuk¡¯s view, the baby pig had a bad sense of naming. But it had already chosen for itself, so what could he do?

    ¡°I, I choose Kongie as its name.¡±

    [You have chosen the name Kongie for the Baby Pig.]

    [Kongie is in a good mood.]

    ¡°Ooiink~¡±

    Kongie was smiling happily. Then, it fell asleep on Minhyuk¡¯s shoulder.

    ¡®I can summon it for 1 hour every day.¡¯

    He believed that this time would increase as soon as it grew more.

    [The Pet Selection has finished. You will now return to where you were originally summoned from.]

    sh!

    A bright light covered his eyes.

    ***

    When Minhyuk opened his eyes, he realized that the Phoenix Lord Chronicle was gone and Balzarc was the only one that was waiting for him.

    Balzarc looked closely at Kongie, the pet that Minhyuk chose.

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°No. Out of all the monsters, why did you choose a pig?¡±

    ¡°Well, the potential was high and¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk exined to him his reasons as to why he chose this pet. Finding delicious ingredients, it was differentpared to others, and finally the most important reason!

    ¡°You know what?¡±

    ¡°......What is it?¡±

    ¡°This pig grows up whenever I eat something delicious.¡±

    Balzarc nodded his head at him.

    ¡°Why do people raise pigs and cows?¡±

    ¡°......To eat them?¡±

    Balzarc nodded his head again.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Then,ter¡­¡­¡±

    Whisper, whisper©¥

    ¡°I might be able to eat it.¡±

    In fact none of the monsters were shining a ck light. Of course, Kongie was not shining with a ck light either but with its high potential, it might be able to changeter.

    ¡°Emergency food.¡±

    ¡°Em, emergency food¡­¡­ uhm¡­¡­!¡±

    Balzarc was looking at him with a look of utter bewilderment.

    ¡°Then, you should now give me what you promised!¡±

    Minhyuk looked extremely excited.

    Balzarc nodded his head as he waved his hand in the air. As soon as he waved his hand, the first Legacy Dish that was left behind by the Food God appeared. The Jokbal Set appeared in the air.

    ¡°Wow¡­...¡±

    Minhyuk was in awe.

    The meat in the pork trotters were sliced thinly andid on top of the bones with plump and juicy meat underneath! There were also the ssamjang, lettuce, garlic, kimchi, pickled radish, dongchimi and finally¡­ the noodles.

    ¡°Hahaha!¡±

    Minhyukughed heartily as he picked up a piece of pork trotter meat. He ced it in his mouth and savored the taste. The meat was chewy and light. He didn¡¯t know if it tasted special because it was cooked inva but it was delicious.

    He swallowed the meat and¡­

    ¡°Wow¡­¡­¡±

    He couldn¡¯t stop himself from letting out a gasp of surprise. He felt like his mind went nk for a moment.

    It was really really delicious.

    Of course, for Minhyuk who did not have any chance to eat jokbal for a long time, it was truly something delicious.

    Whenever he was hungry at night and someone said¡­ ¡®How about somete night snack? Jokbal, call?¡¯ he would be the first one to shout¡­ ¡®Jokbal!¡¯. However, it was a food that wasmon for others but not for someone like Minhyuk.

    He couldn¡¯t believe that the jokbal that he hadn''t had in a while was so delicious. Then, he turned his head¡­

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Minhyuk saw Kongie on the floor eating jokbal too.

    ¡°......?¡±

    ¡°Oink?¡±

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    Wee to the fam Kongie! I knew you would be selected. Hehehehehe. Our cute little piggy with our big piggy.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    You know how animals start to look like their owners after a long time? Well, I¡¯m not sure that¡¯s possible here. They¡¯re already practically identical.

    ANNOUNCEMENT!

    I will be dumping all 3 chapters for this week today. I will be busy towards the end of the year so I won''t be able to do much. However, we will be back to 5 chapters starting next week! So see you in 2021 and have a safe, healthy and happy new year!

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 115 - I Choose You!

    Chapter 115: I Choose You!

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    ¡°How dare you take my jokbal¡­¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk almost flew in a rage but he soon realized that the jokbal in front of Kongie was not his jokbal.

    ¡®What¡¯s this¡­?¡¯

    Apparently, the same jokbal set was ced in front of Kongie.

    ¡®Ah, maybe it¡¯s that!¡¯

    If the owner eats delicious food, then it will grow up.

    In other words, it meant that whatever delicious food he ate would also be reflected and be in front of Kongie.

    ¡°Oink, oink, oink!¡±

    [Kongie is happy.]

    Minhyuk watched Kongie eat deliciously as he focused on his jokbal again.

    He dipped a piece of jokbal in ssamjang and ced it on top of a lettuce together with some garlic, spicy pepper and kimchi before wrapping it together and cing it in his mouth.

    Crunch, crunch©¥

    The crunching sounds were so fantastic. Every time he chew he could feel the crunchy lettuce and kimchi. At the end of each bite, the light taste of jokbal and the savory ssamjang would mix together and form great harmony.

    As Minhyuk chewed on his wrap, he picked the bowl of noodles up and mixed it thoroughly.

    ¡°Sluuuuuuurp!¡±

    The spicy and sour tray noodles could easily wash away the greasy taste of the jokbal.

    ¡°Chew, chew, delicious!¡±

    Minhyuk smiled pleasantly as he savored the after taste of the food.

    When he turned around to look at Kongie¡­ He saw Kongie imitating the pose of someone holding a cup with its small paws. Then, it gulped as if it was drinking something refreshing and made a ¡®Kyaa!¡¯ expression.

    ¡°Ah. That¡¯s right, good!¡±

    Minhyuk hurriedly pulled out a c from his inventory and he poured some over a cup filled with ice.

    Since Kongie could also share what its owner eats, a c appeared in front of it. Then it suddenly stopped.

    ¡®What¡¯s this? How does Kongie know what a c is?¡¯

    What a strange little piggy.

    Then, Minhyuk and Kongie picked their cups up. Kongie suddenly¡­

    Clink!

    ¡°Oink!¡±

    ¡°Cheers!¡±

    Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp©¥

    ¡°Kyaa!¡±

    Balzarc mumbled to himself when he saw what the two of them were doing.

    ¡°Is this a baby pig together with its daddy pig¡­¡­?¡±

    Once Minhyuk finished eating all of the jokbal in God¡¯s Legacy Dish, a series of notifications rang in his head.

    [You have eaten God¡¯s First Legacy Dish, the Jokbal Set.]

    [You have received an invincible body. Your body will now be able to resist all types of poisons and abnormal conditions and status.]

    [You have gained 30 reputation points.]

    [You can now level up Food God¡¯s Cooking Skill.]

    [Food God¡¯s Cooking Skill has leveled up.]

    [You can now level up Ingredient Tracking.]

    [Ingredient Tracking has leveled up.]

    [You have learned the skill: The Joy of Eating Together.]

    [The ss Quest: To Have a Feast with Other People has been created.]

    ¡®As expected¡­¡­!¡¯

    Minhyuk¡¯s predictions had been correct. His skills rted to the Food God ss were usually impossible to level up!

    He quickly checked the information of the skills.

    (Food God¡¯s Cooking Skill)

    Passive Skill

    Level: 2

    Effects:

    ©¥ You can apply a buff that is much more outstanding than a craftsman¡¯s buff.

    ©¥ The storage and preservation times will be much longerpared to a craftsman¡¯s work.

    ©¥ The amount of buff will exceed that of a craftsman¡¯s buff.

    ©¥ You can confirm and check the recipe of the dish that another person wants.

    Minhyuk''s mind went nk, the only thing that he thought of was ¡®Eh?¡¯. He was expecting an effect that would make the food more delicious but he got an effect that would allow him to check the recipe of a dish that another person would want. He clicked on the detailed description as he pondered over it deeply.

    [If you use Food God¡¯s Cooking Skill to recreate and make the dish from the recipe of the dish the other person desires, your chances of achieving a higher grade of dish will be increased to x2.]

    It was literally making a dish from the recipe acquired from a dish that another person wanted to eat.

    ¡®I¡¯m already busy eating as it is though?!¡¯

    Then, he checked the Ingredient Tracking Skill.

    (Ingredient Tracking)

    Passive Skill

    Level: 2

    Penalty on Use: You will be unable to use True Worth of Food for the day.

    Effects:

    ©¥ You can choose what kind of effect and what kind of dish the ingredient needed to have. Once the skill takes effect, the system will search the ingredient with the needed effect within a 10-km radius. It will also propose recipes ording to the effect + ingredients + type of cooking. It will also identify and suggest alternative ingredients.

    ©¥ It can only be used 5 times.

    ©¥ Increase in uses can only be acquired after skill has leveled up.

    ©¥ Current number of uses: 5 / 5

    The changes in the Ingredient Tracking Skill was quite satisfactory. The initial 1-km radius search had be a 10-km radius. In addition, the previous 3 uses had increased to 5 uses and the number of uses had also been reset.

    ¡®If I knew that this would happen, I should have used myst chance!¡¯

    Minhyuk med himself for being a bit dull in regards to this and at the same time he was also in a bit of an awe when he saw the new skill that he had acquired.

    ¡®Food God-nim, why are you so mean!¡¯

    How can you give me such a skill? I don¡¯t like the name of this skill.

    He checked the details of his newly acquired skill with a frown on his face.

    (The Joy of Eating Together)

    Passive Skill

    Level: None

    Effects: Whenever you cook for someone else, the dish with the same taste and vor would appear in front of the Food God.

    ¡°Oh¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk promptly ate the bad words and curses that he thought about the Food God.

    For example, if he made a dish with an excellent buff even though he wanted to eat it, it would be the others that would benefit from it, right? Something like this was unthinkable for Minhyuk. However, even if he cooked for others, he would still be able to taste the same dishes even though he wouldn¡¯t be able to receive the buff.

    ¡®I suddenly feel like the Food God has always been thinking about me and my well-being. Thank you, Food God-nim!¡±

    Minhyuk had actually failed to use his buffing ability since he¡¯d rather eat and drink by himself instead of feeding others. However, this passive skill would make things different. It would allow him to feed others delicious food while he himself could also eat the same. And in return for cooking them something delicious¡­

    ¡®I can ask them to buy me ingredients!¡¯

    Minhyuk smiled happily as he thought of this.

    Then, he finally checked the ss quest, To Have a Feast with Other People.

    [ss Quest: To Have a Feast with Other People.]

    Rank: ?

    Restriction: Eat the first God¡¯s Legacy Dish.

    Rewards: The 2nd God¡¯s Legacy Dish. Restaurant Course Meal, Food God¡¯s Personal Artifact.

    Penalty for Failure: -100 to all five basic stats.

    Description: The Food God Allen knew best about what his descendant would be like. Even though he believed that eating alone was good, he also believed that it was important to eat with others. This is a quest for you. A ¡®satisfaction¡¯ bar will be created during the progress of this quest. Once the satisfaction bar reaches 100% you will be able to receive the second God¡¯s Legacy Dish. In addition, the satisfaction would vary depending on the level, title and abilities of the person who ate the dish.

    Minhyuk nodded his head. In other words, he wanted him to cook for others and dine with them.

    ¡®Hmm¡­¡­¡¯

    Not long after, Balzarc broke the silence and looked at him.

    ¡°The Food God did a lot of things. Some were hateful and some were worthy of gratitude. Even I couldn¡¯t forget the taste of his cooking. He said that this dish would help you in the process of learning the pleasure and joy of eating.¡±

    ¡°Is that so.¡±

    It was truly a dish that could never be forgotten. Today, Minhyuk had tasted the jokbal set that he made. This jokbal set was truly delicious. It was the most delicious thing in the world. In addition, it even gave him an immunity towards all poisons and abnormal conditions. Just by trying to get some food, he was even able to get a lot of benefits.

    ¡®Kongie, the armor, and even a title.¡¯

    He also received countless gold and artifacts just by feeding the monsters.

    Of course, he still hadn''t checked the information of the Armor of Immortality. Just as he was about to do that¡­

    ¡°Oink¡­¡­!¡±

    Kongie floated slowly in the air.

    [Kongie has evolved.]

    [Kongie has evolved.]

    It evolved twice after tasting the food that was made by the Food God, the God¡¯s Legacy Dish. Maybe it had increased the experience that it received just by eating such a special dish.

    A bright light suddenly covered Kongie¡¯s body.

    ¡®Don¡¯t tell me that you¡¯re going to evolve into a cool pet?¡¯

    Minhyuk had a bit of expectation.

    Soon, the light disappeared and Kongie appeared!

    ¡°......Oink?¡±

    Kongie was the same. Nothing changed at all.

    Minhyuk nodded his head as he checked Kongie¡¯s information.

    (Kongie)

    Rank: ???

    Race: Pet

    Level: 3

    Attack Power: 132

    Defensive Power: 3,251

    Summoning Duration per Day: 2 hours.

    Summoning Waiting Time: 22 hours

    Special Abilities:

    ©¥ It will immediately detect if there is a medicine nearby.

    ©¥ Pet Owner¡¯s attack power will be increased by 10%.

    ©¥ Passive Skill: Instinctual Protection

    Condition for Growth: The more delicious the food the owner eats, the higher the EXP and the higher the level it could evolve.

    Potential: 184

    Experience Value: 32% / 100%

    ¡°......?¡±

    Minhyuk was extremely surprised when he saw the changes in Kongie¡¯s stats. Kongie¡¯s attack power only increased slightly but its defensive power rose exponentially.

    ¡®3,251¡­¡­?¡¯

    It was as high as the Hatchling from earlier and it had only increased its level by 2. In addition, whenever Minhyuk summoned Kongie, his attack power would also increase by 10%.

    He clicked at the passive skill Instinctual Protection.

    (Instinctual Protection)

    Passive Skill

    Rank: None

    Level: None

    Effects: Kongie¡¯s instinct would be to always protect its owner. Kongie will alway do its best to stop the attack towards its owner with all its might.

    Description: Sometimes, it might be cocky and proud but Kongie is a good pet. Such a good Kongie always wants to protect its owner. Kongie will always use its Instinctual Protection to protect you in a moment of crisis.

    Minhyuk was in awe.

    Balzarc, who was watching Kongie evolve, spoke to him.

    ¡°You¡¯ll be able to find the rest of the God¡¯s Legacy Dishes once you grow up more.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head. He was now done with his business. To get the second God¡¯s Legacy Dish, he needed to fill the satisfaction level to 100%. That was something that needed time before it waspleted. And once he leveled up and filled the satisfaction level to its fullest, he would be able to receive a hint for another God¡¯s Legacy Dish.

    ¡°I hope that you will be able to work hard and eat a lot of delicious food well.¡±

    Balzarc disappeared after imparting those words.

    Minhyuk decided to feed the monsters in the monster¡¯s paradise before leaving but he did not expect to do it faster than the time he expected. He quickly fed them all in one day and left the ce.

    ***

    Thend of the dead, a hunting ground were only high leveled users at Lv450 hunted. In that ce, the Lv430 Duhans were being killed and swept away.

    ¡°Graaaaa!¡±

    sh!

    sh!

    Whenever the light shed, a wmark would always appear and be left on the body of the Duhans. The things that were dealing the damage on the Duhans were none other than wolves. And right behind those wolves was a young man of African descent.

    This was Kaistra. His real name was Kaistra and his nickname was also Kaistra.

    Once again¡­

    sh!

    With a sh of light, the Duhans in front of him were swept away and killed.

    Kaistra smiled contentedly as he watched the scene. In fact, Kaistra was a user who identally entered a South Korean server. He was also 9th in the world¡¯s unofficial rankings and his job ss was Embodiment of a Lion. It was a God ss.

    There was a reason why he was identally logged in a South Korean server.

    He lived in a poor vige. Almost all of the people in his vige died due to boils and hunger. At that time, he was saved because some Korean medical staff and volunteers came to their vige. They told him that they came from a South Koreanpany.

    The Koreanpany was the Ilhwa Group.

    They spared money for the vige where Kaistra lived and did not wish for anything in return. They were just that generous.

    Then, Kaistra asked a man from their group. It was Park Munsoo, the personal secretary of the chairman of the Ilhwa Group.

    ¡®Uncle, why did you guys help us?¡¯

    Park Munsoo smiled at him.

    ¡®Because we do not want to see people going hungry. It¡¯s such a hard and unfortunate thing to happen to people.¡¯

    Then, he asked Kaistra, who was still young at that time.

    ¡®Do you know what hunger is in Korean?¡¯

    Park Munsoo looked at him inquisitively for a moment, then he kneeled down and told Kaistra.

    ¡®Do you see that guy over there? Our chairman knows this best more than anyone else.¡¯

    ¡®What¡¯s the name of the chairman?¡¯

    ¡®Chairman Kang Minhoo. He¡¯s a very great man.¡¯

    Kaistra smiled lightly.

    Our benefactor.

    When Kaistra heard his words, he decided that he would consider that man to be his benefactor forever.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [Duhan] A mythological creature in Irish folklore. Usually depicted as a headless rider sitting on top of a ck horse. The Duhan is usually a male and it always carries its head on its arm. It was believed to be the embodiment of the Celtic God Crom Dubh.

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    Kongie is the best pet!

    I think¡­ Kaistra will be able to interact with our Chairman Dad, ck Dragon-nim. Or is it just me who¡¯s thinking about this?

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 116 - The Chasers

    Chapter 116: The Chasers

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    36 The Chasers

    Not long after, five mysterious machines were installed in the vige. It was said that this was a machine that could allow people to y Athenae.

    ¡®This is the machine that could let you y Athenae. The game was released just a few days prior and was created by thepany that supported us, you know. Maybe you should learn about the world through this game?¡¯

    Kaistra felt that they would leave the vige sooner orter.

    ¡®We won¡¯t be here forever so when something happens to your vige, send a whisper to the nickname Ilhwa with codename 313513.¡¯

    Then they left.

    Currently, everyone in the vige could eat to their heart¡¯s content. This was all because of the profit that Kaistra had gotten from ying Athenae.

    ¡®If I go to the Northern Continent, then I can make more money.¡¯

    This was what Kaistra thought.

    The Northern Continent had not yet been pioneered. This meant that there would be an update.

    Meanwhile, a light shed and Penrus walked beside Kaistra.

    ¡°Grr!¡±

    It was a wolf that was covered in gray fur. One of the five incarnations of light, a new monster with a ss that surpassed the legendary ss. It was born from an egg of a god ss beast. This was Penrus.

    Penrus was able to hunt dozens of Duhans alone. It was now rubbing its head against himfortably and leisurely.

    Then¡­

    It looked over at one ce and let out a wary growl.

    Penrus had some special abilities. It could detect strong monsters which included the legendary and mythical monsters except for those beings that were far above it.

    Kaistra looked at Penrus inquisitively.

    ¡°Penrus, what¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°Grrrrrrr!¡±

    Kaistra¡¯s expression stiffened when he saw how rigid Penrus had be.

    ¡°Is it another incarnation?¡±

    He turned to look at the direction where Penrus was also looking.

    ***

    ¡°Brrrrrr, pwiiiii. Brrrrrr, pwiiiii.¡±

    Minhyuk wanted to recall the summoning but as he looked at Kongie¡¯s tiny nose as it slept on his shouldersfortably he decided not to. Once the pet¡¯s summoning was recalled, it would return to a summoning room.

    He was going to go and visit Boroto, the former Chef¡¯s Tower¡¯s tower master, again. Just like what he said, he went to thend of Salov and found the hint about the God¡¯s Legacy Dishes. He was even able to eat the first dish there.

    Well, you¡¯ll never know.

    He was wondering whether there was another food quest that Boroto could give him.

    Minhyuk knocked on the door. Soon after, Boroto opened the door.

    ¡°Oh, Food God-nim. Were you able to eat the God¡¯s Legacy Dish?¡±

    Boroto bowed respectfully. As he raised his eyes, he found a pig lyingfortably on Minhyuk¡¯s shoulders.

    ¡°So you got a pet? It looks just like you!¡±

    Before Minhyuk met with Boroto, he took his helmet off. It was just good manners and a sort of courtesy towards him.

    ¡°Is, is that apliment?¡±

    ¡°Of course. Hahaha!¡±

    In the end, it meant that Minhyuk looked like a pig. However, he did not voice out hisints since he wanted to get something from him.

    ¡°Are there any things that you need my help with? The rewards should be something delicious, or some delicious ingredients. I hope something deliciouses out!¡±

    ¡°Hmm. There¡¯s something. But¡­ Let¡¯s go inside for now.¡±

    Boroto led Minhyuk inside.

    ¡°I¡¯ll give you a ss of water, let¡¯s drink and talk calmly.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    Soon, Boroto came out again and brought out a ss of barley tea. It wasn¡¯t water but barley tea.

    ¡®Hiya¡­ it¡¯s barley tea!¡¯

    He remembered drinking a lot of barley tea when he was young. Barley tea was just made with in water but it was a bit savory and he always drank it whenever he ate. But recently, it was made with purified water and the taste was not the same.

    Minhyuk gulped it down.

    It was a bit savory to the taste but there were no pieces that got caught in his throat. Without noticing it, he was able to finish one ss of barley tea in one fell swoop.

    ¡°Please give me another cup.¡±

    ¡°I made a big mistake. How dare I offer just one cup of barley tea to the Food God?¡±

    Boroto brought out a huge kettle and ced it in front of Minhyuk. Minhyuk quickly drank one, two, three sses all at once.

    ¡°Kgggghk! When I was a kid, I used to pretend that it was beer since they almost looked the same.¡±

    ¡°Hoho. However, we don¡¯t have enough ingredients to make them again.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Will I get something delicious in return if I do that?¡±

    Boroto nodded his head.

    But at that moment¡­

    Knock, knock.

    Someone knocked on the door.

    ¡°Is someone inside?¡±

    The voice definitely sounded like a woman.

    Minhyuk and Boroto both tilted their heads in unison.

    But before Boroto could stand up and go to the door.

    ¡°P, please wait¡­ Boroto-nim!¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    Boroto frowned when he saw how serious Minhyuk¡¯s expression was.

    ¡°D, don¡¯t tell me¡­¡­ Why do I feel like my life is on the line? Maybe the person outside is out there to assassinate me.¡±

    ¡°No. It was because I smelt something delicious.¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    Boroto sighed in relief. When he thought about it, who would assassinate someone like him? A former tower master from the Chef¡¯s Tower who was now living in a small humble house.

    Just as he thought about that, Minhyuk stood up.

    ¡°I¡¯ll open it for you.¡±

    ¡°Is that so.¡±

    Boroto agreed with his suggestion as Minhyuk walked forward and opened the door.

    As soon as he opened the door, Minhyuk was taken aback. There was a woman standing in front of him. However, he was quite confused as to why she let out a surprised gasp when he opened the door.

    ¡°Heop¡­...!¡±

    The woman that was standing beyond the door was Genie with surprise coloring her face.

    ***

    ¡®I wonder how great that buffed dish is? Is it really greater than what the Twilight Chef can make?¡¯

    Genie arrived at the Chef¡¯s Vige, Raven. She was now almost at the front door of the cabin where Boroto lived.

    Right now, she was eating a delicious croquette.

    She used to be as round as a stone and as big as a rock before but thanks to her efforts, she had now slimmed down. The process was a bit bloody but all of her efforts were worth it. The only thing that she could do to maintain her figure was to eat in Athenae. She ate quite a lot in Athenae after all she belonged to the mostmon Korean women¡­ The women who loved to eat. This was also the reason why she was still called the Flower Piggy by her friends.

    ¡°Ah. Croquettes are really delicious!¡±

    Genie smiled in delight.

    She could feel the crispy texture of the bread as she took her bite out of the croquette. As she chewed more on this delectable snack, she was able to taste the vors of the meat, the onion and the carrots stuffed inside. It was promptly followed by the spicy and rich vor of the curry that spread in her mouth in every bite.

    Genie easily finished two croquettes and she hesitated to open her third one.

    ¡®Hmm, hmm. It¡¯s not polite to meet someone for the first time with food in my mouth.¡¯

    Before she knew it, she was already standing in front of Boroto¡¯s door. She promptly knocked on the door.

    Knock, knock.

    ¡°Is someone inside?¡±

    She heard voicesing from inside.

    ¡°P, please wait¡­ Boroto-nim!¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°D, don¡¯t tell me¡­¡­ Why do I feel like my life is on the line? Maybe the person outside is out there to assassinate me.¡±

    ¡°No. It was because I smelt something delicious.¡±

    She was taken aback when she heard their conversation.

    ¡°.....Huh? What¡¯s this? Ah, don¡¯t tell me¡­..!¡±

    She had heard about it before. A ss that had the ability to turn the user into a beast! Transformation!

    Maybe that user turns into a ¡®wild dog¡¯?

    It was actually quite surprising that a user would be together with Boroto. Sheughed at the thought.

    ¡®Will they turn into a puppy? A poodle, maybe?¡¯

    As she continued to specte about the identity and abilities of the user inside, she heard them continue to talk.

    ¡°I¡¯ll open it for you.¡±

    ¡°Is that so.¡±

    But she thought that there was something strange.

    The owner of this cabin was the former tower master of the Chef¡¯s Tower. However, he was talking respectfully towards a user.

    Then, the door opened.

    Genie had no choice but to freeze in surprise when she saw the person who opened the door.

    ¡®Mi, Minhyuk-ah!¡¯

    They were trying to look for him so much but he was right in front of her right now.

    She could see that he had changed a lot since thest time they had met. He had grown a lot taller and his face had matured a lot.

    As she looked at him, her heart began to thump wildly as her stomach fluttered in nervousness.

    Sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff©¥

    ¡°Heop¡­..!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes widened.

    ¡®D, did he recognize me?¡¯

    Yeah, you¡¯ll definitely be surprised! Everyone told me that I have changed so much that they won¡¯t be able to recognize me. But, Minhyuk is a delicate and meticulous man, he definitely recognized me.

    Then, he said¡­

    ¡°Wow. Nim, aren¡¯t you really beautiful?¡±

    ¡®Eh?¡¯

    Genie was taken aback.

    ¡®What¡¯s happening?¡¯

    ¡°Wow. I just ate something but I couldn¡¯t stop my drool from flowing when I smelled the scent of oil. I¡¯ve never seen a beauty like you! Your figure is even voluptuous! You must have made a lot of men cry in reality. Haha! What you just ate earlier, judging from the smell and the crumbs left on your mouth it must be croquette. Do you mind if I have a piece?¡±

    ¡®......OMG?¡¯

    Genie finally noticed that he did not recognize her. He only wanted to eat the croquette that she just ate!

    ¡®But how did he know that I ate croquettes? Don¡¯t tell me it was just by the smell?¡¯

    She was both puzzled and shocked by his words.

    ¡®I wonder what this punk¡¯s story is?¡¯

    She was extremely curious. She heard from Rovan before that he ate a lot. He used to eat well when they were still in middle school but ording to Rovan he was eating a lot more than what he used to eat.

    ¡®That¡¯s right. Minhyuk listened to me well whenever I gave him food.¡¯

    Genie handed her remaining croquette to Minhyuk.

    ¡°Thank you. Thank you very much! You¡¯ll be blessed and live a long life!¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head like a chicken pecking on grains. Then, he quickly ate the croquette. He opened his mouth in one big bite.

    ¡°Boy, who was it?¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­¡­!¡±

    Genie woke up in a trance when he heard Boroto¡¯s words that reminded her of her existence and what she needed to do in this ce.

    ¡°Did you have any business here?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I came here because I heard you needed something.¡±

    ¡°Ho. Come inside.¡±

    Boroto willingly let her enter.

    ¡°Hehe. Croquettes are delicious!¡±

    Minhyuk happily licked his fingers as he finished eating his croquette. He sat down as he chuckled to himself while savoring the vor that was lingering in his mouth.

    Genie sat beside him as Boroto gave her a ss of water.

    ¡®Eh¡­ what¡¯s really wrong with you?¡¯

    She tilted her head as she looked at him while Minhyuk opened his mouth and asked her.

    ¡°But Nim¡­ your voice sounds like someone I know.¡±

    ¡°Is, is that so? What kind of person is she? If you listen to my voice, it¡¯s quite pretty~ so I guess she has a nice personality, right?¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s expression turned solemn when he heard her words.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so?¡±

    Genie¡¯s hand that was holding the ss of water suddenly tightened.

    Crack©¥

    It was the sound of the ss cracking!

    ¡°Ho, hoho. Is, is that so?¡±

    Minhyuk looked at her seriously as he continued to talk.

    ¡°She was my friend back in middle school. Whenever shees down, my ssmates would shout and say ¡®Herees the wildboar!¡¯. Yes, that¡¯s what they said. I still remember it clear as day. I took a bite out of her pikachu tonkatsu and she dragged me behind the washroom and beat me. I almost died that day. Sometimes, whenever I sleep on my bad side, I would dream of that horrendous scene. Hoo. It was terrible.¡±

    He truly was drenched in cold sweat when he dreamt of that day.

    ¡°......Sh, she wouldn¡¯t beat you to death, right? It must have been a joke~ hohoho. Thatdy must be such a beauty now since she was like that as a child. When I was young, I heard that ugly kids always be pretty when they grow up.¡±

    Minhyuk thought about her words but eventually shook his head.

    ¡°Impossible.¡±

    Crack!

    The ss in her hand finally broke into pieces. If she hit him on the back of his head right now then she would be the Genie who dragged him behind the toilet and almost beat him to death(?).

    ¡®Hoo. Patience, patience¡­¡­¡¯

    I have to learn about his story!

    ¡°Ar, are you okay?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine~ Ho~ Ho~ Ho~¡±

    ¡°Anyway. Thank you. You¡¯re my benefactor now Nim!¡±

    ¡°Ho~ Ho~ Ho~ Then let me ¡­¡­ Hoho!¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°N, nothing~¡±

    Genie managed to hold herself back.

    Then, Boroto spoke up.

    ¡°Ah, when I think about it¡­ the request that I am going to give the Food God-nim is the same as the request that this woman came here for.¡±

    ¡®Eh, Minhyuk will be taking the same quest as I do?¡¯

    As far as she knew, Minhyuk was stronger than what his level was. He was even able to defeat Rovan.

    ¡°Do you know about the Northern Continent?¡±

    ¡°The Northern Continent?¡±

    Genie had a hunch.

    ¡®It¡¯s already quite rare for an NPC to give you a quest rted to the Northern Continent¡­¡­!¡¯

    Each and every yer were now eager to receive a quest about the Northern Continent. Receiving a quest rted to that meant that they received a quest that was almost on par with a hidden quest.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been to the Northern Continent once in the past.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    Genie was quite surprised.

    You have been to the Northern Continent?

    ¡°Yes. I went once when I was very young. Of course I did not go deep inside. It was such a dangerous ce after all.¡±

    Most of the people who entered that ce would die. And this man was able to explore the ce even for a bit. And that man was the former tower master of the Chef¡¯s Tower.

    ¡°If you go to the ce on the map that I will give you, you will be able to reach the Valkyrie Kingdom.¡±

    ¡°Ki, kingdom¡­¡­?¡±

    Genie was once again caught in surprise.

    A kingdom in the Northern Continent?!

    His words also meant another thing.

    ¡®A kingdom meant that there will be new towns and viges. It means that there will be a lot ofnd that you can get.¡¯

    Of course, there was still a lot ofnd avable in the Eivelis Empire but most of them already had owners. Thend was either owned by nobles or great guilds. In fact, even the Legend Guild had and in the empire. However, the more territory andnd you own, the better.

    She listened more intently to what Boroto said.

    ¡®He even said that he will give us a map¡­¡­!¡¯

    Giving a map meant that Boroto was one of the few NPCs that could give them quests rted to the Northern Continent! And once they reached the kingdom, there would be a lot more quests, rewards and new hunting grounds!

    Genie listened intently until the very end.

    ¡°Go there and meet with the legendary chef.¡±

    ¡°......Legendary chef?¡±

    Minhyuk asked as Boroto nodded his head in agreement.

    ¡°Yes. He¡¯s a person who has reached the zenith of cooking! I was fortunate enough to taste his dish before.¡±

    Boroto recalled those days.

    ¡°When I tasted his food, I felt that my cooking was extremely shabby.¡±

    Minhyuk was caught by surprise.

    Boroto was once the top chef in the prestigious Chef¡¯s Tower! This was definitely because he was a chef with great skill.

    ¡°I also know that the legendary chef knows a hint about the pure extract.¡±

    ¡°Pure extract?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I heard that it was extremely precious water that came from deep underground. They also said that this pure extract would give you a boost once you drank it. Rumor has it that it was a very delicious water.¡±

    Boroto looked like he couldn¡¯t wait to tell them what it was.

    ¡°Because it was carbonated water!¡±

    ***

    Food Discussion Corner

    Pikachu Tonkatsu - Literally a tonkatsu shaped like Pikachu. It¡¯s sold as streetfood in Korea. And it¡¯s also very big.

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    And¡­ They met!!! I thought she would just hear about him but in the end they met in person. Lol. I hope things get sorted out between these guys. And lol at Genie who totally ignored Boroto''s ''Food God'' when she heard that Minhyuk and her would go on a quest together. Kek.

    About the Pure Extract, actually it says that it''s some oil but¡­. Boroto described it as water, and carbonated water at that so I don¡¯t think calling it oil would work so since oil is a liquid extracted from most things, we are going to name it as Pure Extract. Kek.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Poor Genie. She has her work cut out for her with Minhyuk¡¯s superhuman denseness.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 117 - The Chasers

    Chapter 117: The Chasers

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    "Carbonated water?"

    Minhyuk almost stood up in shock.

    "Yes. It''s sweet, carbonated water."

    "Woooooow!"

    In addition, if he went there, he would be able to meet with a legendary chef.

    How delicious his cooking must be!

    "Since the two of you are here together, why don''t the two of you bring me some pure extract together?"

    [Hidden Quest: Meet with the Legendary Chef and get the Pure Extract!]

    Rank: S

    Restriction: Meet with Boroto

    Rewards: Boroto''s Buffed Dish

    Penalty for Failure: Boroto''s Favorability will decrease

    Description: The Northern Continent has not yet been explored. However, Boroto has been to that ce before. He even knew the whereabouts of the Legendary Chef that he met in the Valkyrie Kingdom.

    Genie epted the quest after she heard and read the same quest notifications as Minhyuk.

    [You have acquired a map that will lead you to Valkyrie Kingdom.]

    ''This has led us with an unexpectedpanion, but we''ll just have to wait and see.''

    As she was thinking about this, Genie went out with Minhyuk.

    "The croquette was really delicious. I''ll see youter!"

    "Huuh? Wait? Where are you going?"

    Genie was flustered. Minhyuk, who just said goodbye, was going away without looking back at her!

    "I''m going to get the Pure Extract."

    "Y, you shoulde with me."

    "......Why?"

    Minhyuk looked at her with confusion.

    "B, because we got the quest together."

    "Eyyy. Then there will be another mouth."

    "......?"

    "See youter!"

    Minhyuk turned around again and started to walk away. Genie became nervous.

    Shit, what am I supposed to do? Do I really have to introduce myself?

    Minhyuk was getting farther and farther away. Then, she spoke with instinct.

    "I''ll buy you something delicious!"

    Step, step, step, step!

    "Let''s go! I''ll make the journeyfortable and easy for Nim!"

    In the past, whenever she said this, Minhyuk would always carry her bag for her. This was how the two of them came to apany each other in a quest.

    "Ah. I still have to stop by the vige."

    "The vige?"

    Genie looked at Minhyuk in confusion.

    "Because I really have a lot of misceneous items."

    ***

    Lute was in the central za of Raven Vige. He was shouting loudly among the other people selling and buying wares.

    "I''m buying items! I don''t care how much, I''ll buy whatever you have! I''ll buy it from a higher price from wherever you''re selling them! At 1.5 times higher than the normal price!"

    His reason for buying misceneous items was because the list of items that he would see when he bought them would indicate how strong a user was. Depending on the artifacts or other drop items, one could infer what kind of monsters and hunting ground the user went to. There were quite a lot of high leveled hunting grounds in the vicinity of Raven Vige. So he was bound to find some strong users. His n was to identify those strong users through their items and recruit them as foreigners who would escort him and King Varen. This was why he was buying items.

    Then, a man and a woman approached him.

    ''Another Frying Pan cosyer? I''m so sick of it, so sick!''

    Then, Lute saw the woman standing next to him and unconsciously gave a ''Heh¡­¡­.''ugh. It was because the woman was a great beauty.

    "Nim-ah. I have some misceneous items that I want to sell. Are you really going to buy all of them at a higher price?"

    "Yes. I''ll buy it at a price 1.5 times higher than in other ces~"

    "But there''s quite a lot¡­¡­"

    "It''s alright. I have a lot of money~ haha!"

    Lute smiled greasily as he furtively cast a nce at the woman beside the man. But the woman did not even cast him a sidelong nce. Lute decided to just stick to his task and get it done.

    "But it''s really a lot!"

    "......It''s fine. A merchant would not run out of money when they''re buying things. Haha!"

    Lute looked at the man up and down. He was wearing a frying pan on his back, a horned helmet and a ragged-looking armor! However, his sword looked pretty good.

    ''Hmm. Did he buy it with cash?''

    Lute reached his hands out and shook his hands with the man. Whenever users or NPCs shook hands, they would be able to initiate a trade.

    Once the trading window opened, the man quickly clicked away.

    [The Trading Window is full.]

    There were 16 transactions in total. And as Lute looked through all 16 of these transactions his eyes grew wider and wider.

    ''W, what?! The Twin-headed Ogre''s Gauntlet? The Orc Tribe Leader''s Greatsword? Keok?! More than five Twin-headed Ogre''s blood?!''

    Lute was shocked stiff. He had no choice but to be shocked with how formidable these items were. Then, his eyes suddenly stopped on one item.

    ''The Phoenix Lord''s feather?''

    Phoenix Lord! It was a Legendary monster that had not been found yet! Its level was estimated to be somewhere between Lv450~500 and isparable to the current number 1 in the rankings.

    And you''re telling me that he has its artifact material?!

    ''This person¡­ He''s high leveled!''

    Lute''s excitement came to him in a rush. He quickly priced it to finish the transaction.

    ''There are two Orc Tribe Leader''s Greatsword¡­¡­ One is priced at 50 million gold¡­¡­ the Phoenix Lord''s feather is priced at 80 billion gold and¡­¡­''

    Lute, who just finished calcting, blinked his eyes nkly.

    "Th, the total is 30.7 billion gold."

    "......Yes?"

    The woman standing next to the man reacted to his words.

    "H, how much did you say?"

    "30.7 billion gold. Ah, I said that it''s 1.5 times higher than others so I''ll have to give you more."

    "......?"

    The woman looked at the man beside him like she couldn''t understand what was happening. This was exactly what Lute was feeling. Then, he remembered something.

    "Ahhh. I didn''t put a price on the Twin-headed Ogre''s Gauntlet. Because it''s an epic item¡­¡­"

    "......"

    "So it''s almost at 80 billion gold?"

    "Oh, that''s a lot. But I still have at least 1 to 2 times more than that."

    Lute''s eyes widened further.

    "Wh, what did you say?"

    "I have at least 1 to 2 times more than that."

    Lute thought¡­

    It''s confirmed! This man can help me lead my quest to sess!

    "I''m sorry, but can you please excuse me for a moment?"

    Lute pulled the sword out of his waist. This was the sword that Varen lent to him, the Sun''s Sword. Even if there was a distance of 1m between them, he would be able to check their reputation. The brighter the light that would shine out from the sword, the higher the reputation the user had.

    "......Heok?!"

    Lute was once again shocked stiff.

    When he pointed the sword at the man, the sword shone tremendously. Then, he looked sideways and pointed the sword at the woman standing beside the man.

    It''s weaker than the light from the man but it''s definitely a strong light!

    Genie finally noticed¡­

    ''Isn''t that a sword that a King or an Emperor has? The sword that can determine the reputation of others? D, don''t tell me that Minhyuk has an extremely high reputation right now?''

    It was another shock!

    Then, Lute immediately prostrated on the ground.

    "P, please help me!"

    The two people looked at him curiously as Lute exined their situation like a rattling gun.

    Genie thought¡­

    ''Wow, I must take this! It''s the chance to build a rtionship and increase my favorability with the King of a new continent!''

    As he finished exining, Lute looked at the man''s expression.

    ''W, what''s this? Why is he so indifferent?!''

    Minhyuk yawned widely after listening.

    "Speaking of kings, I want to eat king dumplings¡­¡­"

    "......"

    "......"

    "A, anyway please help us! If you help us then I''ll tell the king to buy your items at 1.5, no, at 2 times the price!"

    "Hmmm¡­¡­"

    Minhyuk rubbed his chin, as his expression turned worried. Genie did not know what he was worried about but she whispered something in Lute''s ear.

    "Eh? If I say that¡­¡­ Then he''ll be extremely motivated? Hmm¡­¡­"

    Lute was a bit worried, something was weird with this party but he still obediently hinted at the man.

    "I''ll buy you something delicious on the way."

    Swooosh!

    "How dare they threaten the king, I''ll protect you with this knife¡­¡­! Let''s go!"

    This was how Minhyuk and Genie joined their party.

    "I really want to eat a giant gummy worm."

    Lute firmly believed that this party was both strange and weird.

    ''But they are strong!''

    ***

    Varen sat helplessly on a bed in one of the rooms in an inn.

    ¡°Lute¡­ I hope he has good intentions.¡±

    They desperately needed the aid and strength of a strong foreigner right now. Of course, Varen was also willing to give out generouspensation for the foreigner that would help them safely arrive at their destination from this ce.

    However, it seemed like it would still be tough. The foreigners who were pursuing them earlier looked like they were quite strong.

    ¡®Damn it!¡¯

    The king himself did not know why his situation had be like this.

    As he was thinking about his situation, Varen suddenly heard a loud growl.

    ¡°I¡¯m hungry.¡±

    Being a king did not mean that he wouldn¡¯t get hungry. He ran nonstop just to survive it was only natural that he would feel hungry.

    ¡®I can¡¯t just go downstairs and eat.¡¯

    Their pursuers would be able to find them once he did that so he had no choice but to grit his teeth and bear with it as he waited for Lute.

    Then¡­

    Varen heard a light knock on the door of his room. Varen¡¯s lips curled in a slight smile.

    Lute finally arrived with the foreigners!

    Once he came in, he would definitely ask him to go downstairs and bring him something to eat. The door soon opened.

    ¡°Your Highness. I have brought the foreigners.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    Varen nodded his head.

    The first person toe inside was a woman. Just when the woman was about to greet him, a creature as small as a fist suddenly barged in.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    He looked at it strangely as he asked in a solemn voice.

    ¡°What kind of a pig is this?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m the pig named Minhyuk¡­¡­ no, I¡¯m a foreigner.¡±

    ¡°I asked about the pig so why did you answer, boy?¡±

    Varen looked at the strange pair of man and woman.

    ¡°I used to be called a pig so I couldn¡¯t stop my¡­¡­¡±

    He was left speechless as he looked at them. It was quite strange to see a foreign man with such a condition that looked like he was still at zero. Even the woman who came in with him looked shabby. The man was even wearing a frying pan on his back. Varen thought that something might go wrong but he did not think that a lot of things had gone wrong.

    Then, he asked the man.

    ¡°Boy, what¡¯s your job ss?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m a chef.¡±

    ¡°......No. Why did you bring a chef here?¡±

    When he heard his words, he couldn¡¯t help but jump up to defend himself.

    ¡°I came here because he told me that he will buy me delicious food. Your Highness¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    For a moment, Varen wanted to sock Lute in the gut, but Lute¡¯s expression was really flustered. It was as if he did not expect it.

    ¡°Ar, are you really a chef?¡±

    ¡°But of course.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Lute was left speechless.

    ¡®Wh, what the hell. I thought he was a big shot character because of the sword on his waist¡­¡­ D, don¡¯t tell me that he¡¯s just skilled as a chef? He got a high reputation just by cooking?¡¯

    As he was thinking about that, he saw Varen beckoning him towards where he was.

    ¡°What in the world is going on, Lute!¡±

    He turned his head and looked at the three of them standing by the door.

    ¡°There are hundreds of soldiers, knights and monsters. Are you telling me that he¡¯s going to break through all of them and lead me to where Empress Ellie was? Is the fate of the Valkyrie Kingdom dependent on them?!¡±

    ¡°Y, yes¡­¡­?¡±

    Varen supported his forehead in disbelief. He felt like he wanted to kill himself on the spot. A strange chef, an unidentified baby pig and an unknown woman with a pretty face.

    ¡®That woman isn¡¯t even in her right mind!¡¯

    It wasn¡¯t even natural for someone to walk with such a strange man. She was definitely crazy!

    ¡®This is how the 300-year-old history of the Valkyrie Kingdom falls apart!¡¯

    Then, he was suddenly struck with a great idea. He turned to Lute and told him¡­

    ¡°Lute, why don¡¯t we get some more help?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s possible. When I was in the za, I saw a crowd of them enter the vige. We really have to leave here soon.¡±

    It was a pity. Varen sighed in defeat. For now, they have to get out of this vige alive. Then they could find other ways to survive.

    As they left the inn with them, Genie fell in deep thought.

    ¡®The chasers¡­¡­ I wonder which guild it was? What about the NPCs that attacked them?¡¯

    She tilted her head in confusion as she approached Varen once they arrived near the carriage that was hidden and prepared in the forest.

    ¡°Your Highness. Looking at the situation right now, wouldn¡¯t it be better for you to have more reinforcements?¡±

    ¡°That would be for the best.¡±

    Varen looked down. He was stricken with grief as he recalled the faces of those people tortured and bleeding as they gave them a chance to survive.

    ¡°Then, I should go ahead and call my colleagues.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    He said it as if it was just normal but she wondered why his shoulders were so tense when he said those words.

    Then, Genie went to her guild chatting window.

    ***

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 118 - Evolved Ellies Swordsmanship

    Chapter 118: Evolved Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    37 Evolved Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship

    A blood-stained man was fighting fiercely against some bandits. The spear in his hand slowly began to rotate until it was spinning at a speed that was so fast you wouldn¡¯t be able to follow it with your eyes.

    [Tornado Spear.]

    [The thrown spear will pull the enemies and brutally attack them.]

    He threw the spear with almost all of his strength. The bandits that were blocking the way were suddenly pulled along the thrown spear, it was as if they were sucked by the spear. Their defenses were easily torn apart and the road was cleared.

    ¡°Keuaack!¡±

    ¡°Ugh, ahhhhh!¡±

    ¡°Y, you damn rat¡­¡­!¡±

    It was the bandits¡¯ boss. In fact, the bandits¡¯ boss was a Lv370 boss monster. The bandits¡¯ boss was quite shocked. The person easily dealt with and killed dozens of Lv200 bandits alone without ever letting themy an attack on him.

    When the man reached his hand out, the spear that was thrown far away flew right back into his hands.

    [Spear Boom.]

    [A strong energy will be concentrated at the end of the spear.]

    The man immediately stabbed the bandits¡¯ boss with a lot of strength.

    Spurt!

    Vwooom!

    Stter!

    The bandits¡¯ boss¡¯s body exploded and the remains fell down in a stter.

    [You have killed the bandit¡¯s leader, Jan Becker.]

    [You have gained 5 reputation points.]

    [You can receive a reward.]

    He shook the blood off of his spear.

    This man was Crow, a bounty hunter. He was not listed in the official rankings but he was listed 2nd in the Spearman¡¯s Rankings. In fact, his strength was simr to the number one in the rankings, the ¡®God of Spear¡¯ Verden.

    Just as he was about to return to turn in his bounty¡­

    Piii! Piii!

    A siren-like rm rang in his head.

    ¡®Huh? Did the Master dere a state of emergency?¡¯

    He was quite taken aback. Usually, rms like this would only be rang by the guild master whenever there was a guild war or a quest involving all of the guild members were given.

    Crowughed and let out an interested ¡®Hoo~¡¯ as he looked at the guild chat.

    [Guild Master Genie:

    URGENT NOTICE!

    Right now, Genie is in Raven Vige escorting a King from the Northern Continent, Varen. He is supposed to meet with Ellie¡¯s soldiers. Varen is currently being chased by unknown pursuers. The rewards that will be given by King Varen are expected to include titles, territories, quests and countless other rewards. Guild Members, please gather right now. Those who will not be able to participate will be excluded from thepensation and rewards list.]

    ¡°Hoo?¡±

    Crow chuckled in interest.

    A quest to escort a King? And they are in Raven Vige.

    Genie also added their coordinates in the message.

    Crow quickly returned to the city and entered a building that their guild used as a hideout. When he opened the door, there were already some of their guild members who were waiting. One of the guild members, a short man with zing red hair and a mysterious straw hat, stood up to wee him.

    ¡°You came, Crow?¡±

    ¡°Oh, Firefist. Did you find a girlfriend?¡±

    Firefist Ace. This was his self-proimed name. However, his real codename was Red me Fighter. He had the legendary ss Fighter but he was also one of the unofficial rankers in the Fighter Rankings. He was known for his mes that erupt fiercely whenever he struck an opponent. But he was always trying to look for a girlfriend everyday.

    ¡°Sigh. I¡¯m already giving up on the Nami-type of girlfriend. Right now, I¡¯m into the Robin-type. My type has changed into an intellectual woman.¡±

    ¡°This hyung told you not to speak to me informally right?¡±

    ¡°Eyy! Even though I look like this, I¡¯m the Firefist Ace of Eunpyong Elementary! I recently won against the gum boys too!¡±

    ¡°Ah, yep yep. You¡¯re amazing~¡±

    When he heard those words, Crow grinned.

    This was another ranker. It was a woman with two swords. This was the Goddess of the Battlefield, Ascar.

    ¡°How about Locke and Khan?¡±

    ¡°Well, I heard that they were going to the tower. They probably did not see the GC.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s leave as soon as everyone has gathered.¡±

    They were all reclusive masters. It was time to show them what they have got.

    Then, the Fire me Fighter, Ace, suddenly spoke¡­

    ¡°Crow, it seems like it would be a lot of fun. Right?¡±

    Crow grinned at him and nodded.

    ¡°Quite literally.¡±

    ***

    Ares received a report from one of his guild members.

    ¡°GM-nim. We are sure that the king stayed for quite some time in Raven Vige.¡±

    ¡°And then?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Cospo followed the scent of his blood and found an inn. I asked the owner of the inn and he told me that the man stayed in their inn for quite a while. But¡­¡­¡±

    His brows furrowed in concern.

    ¡°At first there were only two of them, but when they left there were four people who left together. The two additional people were a user wearing a frying pan on his back and an extremely beautiful woman.¡±

    ¡°They joined with foreigners?¡±

    He immediately understood. In the end, Varen was an NPC that could give quests.

    After all, they also received a quest. And this quest was¡­

    [Imperial Quest: Capture King Varen!]

    Rank: S

    Restriction: Favorability with Marquis Athman.

    Rewards: Territories, Titles and King Varen¡¯s Skill: Evolution

    Penalty for Failure: Favorability with Cordis Empire¡¯s NPCs will drop significantly.

    Description: You have received a shared quest from a person from Cordis Empire. King Varen is a man with great capabilities. He has the ability to further evolve and strengthen the skills that a person has. In addition, if you were able to capture King Varen alive, the Cordis Empire will be able to take over Valkyrie Kingdom and you will be able to receive territories and titles ording to your contributions!

    During the Quest¡¯s Progress: The user will not get a Temporary Chaotic or Chaotic state even if you PKed other users.

    ¡®Keuhuhu!¡¯

    It was such an unexpected Imperial quest.

    This was a quest shared by Callian. He was the guild leader of the Iris Guild, one of the 4 top guilds.

    Ares was clearly a person under the Eivelis Empire and the Eivelis Empire was at odds with the Cordis Empire. The users were even divided between those who started in Eivelis Empire and those who started in Cordis Empire.

    And Iris Guild was a guild in the Cordis Empire. However, both Ares and Callian always kept in touch with each other even though they were yers of opposing empires. One of the reasons why Callian contacted Ares for this quest was because he knew that he wouldn¡¯t be able to reach this ce quickly.

    They quickly mass teleported and brought in a 50-people troop to this ce. They had told him that they were the best of the best. The levels of these elite soldiers had all exceeded Lv300. And most of them who came here were those that were deprived of their titles in the Cordis Empire.

    Among them was the past Imperial Sword, Rumad.

    In the current Athenae worldview, Rumad was considered to be one of the Strongest Men. It was a title that could only be given to the strongest of the strongs between NPCs. Even though Rumad was only the weakest among all of the Strongest Men, he was still the former leader of the widely-known Crimson Savage Mercenaries.

    ¡®It¡¯s kind of reassuring.¡¯

    What would he be afraid of if he had a super powerfulrade with him? Besides, their enemies were only four people.

    ¡®Who the hell did they recruit?¡¯

    He was quite curious about their choice.

    Then, the guild member who was reporting earlier spoke once more.

    ¡°We will continue to chase them with the help of Cospo.¡±

    Cospo was a monster leopard with a good sense of smell and they were chasing them with its help.

    ¡®He must be captured before he meets with Ellie.¡¯

    Once they met with Ellie, then it would be a big problem for them. If that happened, even if they had Rumad in their ranks, they wouldn¡¯t have a chance to make a move.

    There was only one reason why they were trying to risk their lives just to capture their target¡­

    ¡®The King¡¯s power¡­¡­!¡¯

    Ares could tell just from the contents of the quest that King Varen possessed an extraordinary power.

    ¡®It¡¯s definitely a reward that is as amazing as Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship!¡¯

    What was written on the rewards section was the skill Evolution. He might not know what exactly it meant by Evolution however he was sure that he would understand it once he read through the detailed description.

    Ares had received a skill named Valkain¡¯s Swordsmanship. It was a unique skill, however, it never rose from Lv1. He was thinking that Evolution would allow his skill to progress further and turn the unique skill into an epic skill.

    ¡®The king is really like a huge vein of gold!¡¯

    Ares grinned at the thought.

    ***

    ck, ck, ck©¥

    This was the sound of the carriage carrying the King of the Valkyrie Kingdom, Varen!

    The King who had millions of people under him and was sometimes deemed as the ¡®Cold-blooded Ruler¡¯ was now licking his upper lip in hunger and was grabbing his stomach pitifully.

    The foreigner, Minhyuk, in front of him brought something out. It was none other than a boiled egg.

    ¡°As expected, boiled eggs and cider are the best when travelling.¡±

    Tak!

    He cracked the boiled egg on his head as heughed happily. Then, he peeled it off in a blink of an eye.

    ¡°Huh? Won¡¯t you give me one? Will you be so cheap as to eat alone?¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡­ Ronny-nim gave me a croquette.¡±

    Minhyuk dly gave her a boiled egg.

    ¡®It, it¡¯s maekbanseok eggs¡­...!

    As he looked at Genie and Minhyuk eating their boiled eggs happily, Varen couldn¡¯t stop himself from drooling.

    I haven¡¯t eaten for two days!

    However, a King had a sense of pride and dignity that he needed to uphold that was why he couldn¡¯t beg for one.

    He watched Minhyuk dip the egg in the salt and took a big bite out of it.

    ¡®If it¡¯s maekbanseok eggs, it will definitely be chewy. And if you take almost half of it in a bite, you will definitely taste the harmonious vor of the white and the yolk.¡¯

    Varen nodded his head in agreement with his thoughts.

    Then¡­

    Fwish!

    Minhyuk opened a can of cider and gulped it down. As Varen watched Minhyuk¡¯s throat move as he gulped down the refreshing cider, he thought¡­

    ¡®It must be really cool and refreshing. The droplets on the can proves that it¡¯s definitely ice cold. That¡¯s right! You have to gulp it down all at once!¡¯

    ¡°Kyaa!¡±

    ¡°Kgghk¡­¡­!¡±

    Varen, who was imagining himself to be in Minhyuk¡¯s position, eximed at the same time as Minhyuk did. Varen felt a sense of shame and turned his head away to hide his embarrassment.

    ¡®Bastard! A man will definitely offer an egg at least once!¡¯

    His subordinates and vassals always rmended food to him first, then he would taste it first before they could eat. As he was thinking about his vassals and his life before this pursuit, Minhyuk spoke.

    ¡°Your Highness, do you want some maekbanseok eggs and cider too?¡±

    Being starved for two days, he felt that he really needed a cool and refreshing cider right now. But he was a king so he needed to save his honor.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡±

    He wanted to refuse his first proposal and pretend to ept it reluctantly once he tried to give it to him a second time.

    ¡°Is that so? Well then¡­¡±

    ¡®Why won¡¯t you ask a second time?! Why! Why!¡¯

    You should know that all requests, suggestions, rmendations and proposals should be done three times!

    ¡°But Your Highness, you must be hungry so you should at least have one.¡±

    Genie suggested.

    What a relief.

    ¡®I¡¯m definitely going to give this woman a good reward!¡¯

    Just as he was thinking about that, he heard Minhyuk interject.

    ¡°Eyy. I don¡¯t think His Highness likes this kind of food.¡±

    ¡°I, is that so¡­¡­? But¡­¡­?¡±

    Genie pondered deeply before nodding her head in agreement.

    There¡¯s no way that a King of a Kingdom would like these maekbanseok eggs.

    ¡®I¡¯m doomed¡­¡­¡¯

    But he was really dying for some food deep inside!

    Why are you stopping her from giving me some food, why?!

    At that moment¡­

    Grooooooowl!

    Varen¡¯s stomach growled loudly.

    ¡°Ahem. Ahem!¡±

    He coughed loudly to hide his embarrassment. Minhyuk and Genie¡¯s eyes both turned to him.

    ¡°Although I don¡¯t particrly like maekbanseok eggs and cider, but¡­¡±

    The two of them nodded their heads in unison.

    ¡°But I haven¡¯t eaten for quite a long time so I¡¯m a bit hungry now. And because there are people waiting for me, I don¡¯t want to give up and I want to survive through this difficulty.¡±

    Minhyuk and Genie nodded their heads again when they heard his words.

    ¡°So I¡¯ll eat those eggs for my people and regain my energy.¡±

    ¡°So in conclusion, you want to eat eggs. That¡¯s it, right?¡±

    Varen nodded his head.

    ¡°Y, yes.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head and handed him some eggs willingly.

    Varen quickly took an egg and held it carefully.

    ¡®You have to break the eggs on your head¡­¡­!¡¯

    Before he could do so, he stopped himself from cracking it on his head. There were still two people watching him so he had to act with dignity. He lowered the egg on the floor, and cracked it before peeling it and taking a bite.

    ¡°Hoo. Aah.¡±

    A sigh of relief unconsciously came out once he had some food. He had been starving for quite some time so having food was really a relief. And the maekbanseok eggs were truly delicious to taste! He dipped it in salt and took a bite while he cracked another one.

    Tak!

    Fwish!

    He opened a can of cider and gulped it down fiercely.

    ¡°Kkkgggk!¡±

    He couldn¡¯t help but exim. Then he started to chomp on the maekbanseok eggs with vigor. Just as he was trying to eat another one, he saw Genie watching him and he couldn¡¯t help but choke on the food in his mouth.

    ¡°These maekbanseok eggs are not that bad. Ahem, ahem!¡±

    He cleared his throat and began to eat again with much gusto.

    ¡°I grew up eating Rald¡¯s satisfying dishes, you know?¡±

    ¡°Rald?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. He¡¯s our Kingdom¡¯s chef. I heard that he was called a legendary chef outside of Valkyrie Kingdom.¡±

    Minhyuk was suddenly interested.

    The legendary chef knew about the pure extract. In addition, he also wanted to taste the dishes made by a chef that was deemed to be legendary.

    ¡°Rald¡¯s dishes are truly excellent, they¡¯re really delicious. No one in the world can cook as good as him. He also has one dish that he specializes in. And this dish is what he cooks the best.¡±

    A dish that he is most excellent with.

    Minhyuk focused intently and waited for his next words.

    ¡°It¡¯s a dish named sushi.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ***

    Food Discussion Corner

    Maekbanseok Eggs (??? ??) - Elvan stone baked eggs. Eggs baked on top of an elvan stone. So an elvan stone is a stone found deep under the Korean sea. They are used to line the hotsprings and saunas in KR. Elvan Stones are known for their various health benefits and has plenty of minerals. Eggs baked on these stones are brownish in color (like eggs braised in soy sauce) and has a nutty-ish vor. It seems that it¡¯s more expensive than regr hotspring boiled eggs because of the health benefits of the elvan stone. I also read that it takes at least 3 hrs for an egg to be baked on top of an elvan stone.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 119 - Evolved Ellies Swordsmanship

    Chapter 119: Evolved Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Minhyuk almost jumped out of his seat when he heard his words.

    ¡°Su, sushi?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. He¡¯s really good at making sushi. And you might not know of this, boy, but there¡¯s a ce called ¡®Sea of the Dragon King¡¯ in the Northern Continent.¡±

    Sea of the Dragon King!

    Just listening to its name, you could tell that it was an unusual and mysterious ce.

    ¡°There are plenty of creatures living in the Sea of the Dragon King. You might not have heard of it but the Valkyrie Kingdom¡¯s specialty is ¡®seafood¡¯. And Rald is really, really good at making sushi. It¡¯s to the point where you will always have a smile on your face whenever you eat his sushi, you know?¡±

    Minhyuk imagined himself entering a sushi restaurant and sitting on one of the empty chairs. Then, he would tell the owner who was also dressed like a Japanese¡­

    ¡®Boss, an A course here. Please.¡¯

    A course. It was the most basic course that included 10 sushi and a hot mini udon.

    He would definitely first taste theplimentary miso soup. He would pick his spoon and carefully sip the hot soup.

    ¡®Hooo.¡¯

    The taste would definitely bring a soft smile on his face. Next, he would put some wasabi in a small bowl and pour soy sauce ever so slightly until he had reached the appropriate proportion for the wasabi that he had ced in earlier. Just as he finished preparing his sauce, the boss would hand him his ordered sushi.

    The long-cut tfish sushi, the pink salmon sushi, the fresh and plump shrimp sushi, the seasonal fish sushi, the chewy octopus sushi, the eel sushi, the yellow and bright egg sushi and many others!

    Sushi could give you the pleasure of tasting a variety of vors in one single order.

    Once he dipped the tfish sushi on his pre-made soy sauce, a wide grin would definitely be stered on his face. And oftentimes, when he dipped sushi on a sauce made with plenty of wasabi, he would feel his nose getting all warm and tingly. Minhyuk personally loved this strange sensation and wonderful vor.

    What if you taste the udon right after a bite?

    It would be the bestbination of vors.

    Sluuuuurp©¥

    Minhyuk couldn¡¯t help but wipe the drool off his face as heughed with a ¡®He¡­¡¯.

    Varen felt that he was right about him.

    ¡°Boy, I heard that you¡¯re a chef?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right.¡±

    ¡°Your cooking may not be on par with Rald but if you make a dish that can satisfy me then I will give you a chance to taste his dishes. A chef like you who¡¯s still wet behind the ears wouldn¡¯t have any other chances to taste his food so you should take this chance. And if you satisfy me, then I will also evolve your abilities.¡±

    ¡°Evolve?¡±

    It was Genie, and not Minhyuk or anybody else, who responded to his words.

    Varen nodded his head proudly.

    ¡°I have the power to evolve other people¡¯s skills and abilities.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Genie was shocked. She could only think of one skill with this ability.

    The Evolution Skill.

    And this skill was quite different from leveling up.

    ¡®This is such a great opportunity¡­¡­!¡¯

    Genie looked at Minhyuk with envy in her eyes.

    At that same moment, Minhyuk received a notification.

    [Hidden Quest: Satisfy the Hungry King Varen.]

    Rank: S

    Restriction: None

    Rewards: King Varen¡¯s Skill: Evolution, Sushi made by the Legendary Chef.

    Penalty for Failure: Varen¡¯s favorability will sharply decrease.

    Description: Right now, King Varen is extremely hungry. He needs a chef to cook delicious food that can satisfy his picky taste buds. If you satisfy King Varen, you will have the chance to evolve one of your offensive skills.

    The evolution of an offensive skill. In other words, Minhyuk would be able to evolve Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship.

    Currently, Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship under Minhyuk¡¯s hands was already a very powerful skill. If anyonepared Minhyuk with other users of the same level, then this was truly a great skill. However, it still was not quite on par with high-leveled users.

    If hepared his Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship with the unique offensive skill of someone at Lv400 then the skills of a Lv400 would still have a huge advantage against his skill. This would show how overwhelmingly strong a Lv400 user¡¯s unique skill waspared to his. The reason was simple¡­ it was because the user¡¯s skill level was much higherpared to his. The higher the skill level, the stronger the attack and there would be more abilities that would be unlocked in the skill. Even if you have a Lv1 Epic Skill, once you fought with a Lv8 Unique Skill, then the unique skill would still obviously be much stronger.

    But what if Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship gets evolved?

    Even though the overall level and capabilities of the skill would still be lower than those at Lv400, Minhyuk believed that his skill wouldn¡¯t be too far off. Even if he still did not know much since he had never seen a skill evolve before, he believed that he would be able to do more once his skill evolved.

    Genie asked him quietly.

    ¡°There¡¯s a quest, right? What¡¯s the rank?¡±

    ¡°Hidden quest. S-rank.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Genie was once again shocked. She looked at Minhyuk again with envy tainting her eyes.

    ¡®Wow¡­¡­ So jealous.¡±

    However, she still thought about some things to be concerned about.

    ¡®Rovan-nim said that Minhyuk¡¯s dishes were extremely delicious but¡­¡­¡¯

    He even said that Minhyuk¡¯s buffs were quite good but even if that was the case, the person in front of him was a king. This was a person who grew up wearing only good things and eating only the finest dishes. What was more important was¡­ this was a quest to satisfy someone who had only ever eaten the dishes made by the Legendary Chef! This wasn¡¯t ranked S for no reason at all. It was a very difficult challenge.

    Minhyuk nodded his head in agreement.

    ¡®Delicious sushi¡­¡­!¡¯

    The only reason why he decided to go all out for this quest was because he wanted to eat sushi. The reason was not for Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship but just to eat sushi!

    He also had this skill¡­

    ¡®The Joy of Eating Together!¡¯

    It was a skill that would make him cook for others but would also allow him to taste the dishes that he made for others too.

    Minhyuk looked at King Varen and thought¡­

    ¡®Create a recipe.¡¯

    [Creating a recipe that the other party desires.]

    [You can now check the recipe for steak.]

    [The amount of buff that can be used in a day has been decreased due to creating a recipe.]

    Minhyuk nodded his head.

    It seemed like creating a recipe would decrease the amount of buffs and buffed dishes that he could make in a day.

    Minhyuk suddenly frowned.

    ¡®What the hell is this?¡¯

    There were plenty of ridiculous ingredients listed in the recipe. Even though he knew most of the ingredients listed in it, it was still quite ridiculous in his opinion.

    A++ ranked ck cow.

    The ck cow was both a monster and not quite a monster. However, it was a rare cow that existed in Athenae. It was so rare that it could only be found in 1 out of 50,000 cows. The ck cow had a more plump and juicier meatpared to regr cows but it was also much more expensive.

    But what made Minhyuk frown even more than the A++ ranked ingredient was the Moon¡¯s Laurel. This ingredient was literally the leaf from aurel tree that bathed under the moonlight as it grew. And he knew that it was extremely rare.

    ¡®Perhaps it¡¯s because he was a king so the recipe is also extremely tricky!¡¯

    And his biggest problem now was¡­

    ¡®I don¡¯t have any ingredients, though?¡¯

    After all, it wasn¡¯t that strange for such ingredients to be running out with how precious they were. Right?

    Then, another notification rang.

    [You can rece the ingredients with your own ingredients.]

    Minhyuk had someurel leaves and beef tenderloin with him.

    ¡®Ho. Rece.¡¯

    [You can now check the altered recipe.]

    He quickly checked the information.

    (Steak Recipe for Varen.)

    Required Ingredients: Regr Beef Tenderloin, Butter, Red Wine, Laurel Leaves, Matsutake Mushroom¡­...(redacted)

    Expected Dish Grade: Rare ~ Epic

    Expected Effects:

    ©¥ Effects of Varen¡¯s Skill: Evolution will increase.

    ©¥ Increase in all stats.

    The changes after the ingredients were reced and altered were quite evident. Originally, the expected dish grade was at Unique~Legendary, but it had now be Rare~Epic. In addition, the significant increase in Varen¡¯s skill had now only be an increase in the skill. The ¡®significant¡¯ was suddenly gone.

    ¡®Ah. The ingredients help increase the buff, right?¡¯

    Minhyuk nodded his head in understanding.

    Then, he pulled his frying pan from his back. He decided to start cooking inside the running carriage so he quickly heated his frying pan.

    [Now is the best time to spread the butter.]

    He moved his hands ording to the notifications given by the Food God¡¯s Cooking Skill. Minhyuk gently ced and melted the butter on his frying pan. And not long after, the sweet smell of melted butter wafted inside the cramped carriage. As soon as the smell wafted, Genie quickly opened the windows to stop herself from drooling over the smell.

    Then, Minhyuk poured some red wine and ced someurel leaves on top of it.

    ¡°Smells good.¡±

    Varen might look incredibly intimidating but his expression looked like he was having a good time.

    However, Minhyuk did not hear any of his words. He was extremely concentrating on his task!

    ¡®Hoo?¡¯

    Varen looked at him with a bit of surprise coloring his rigid face.

    Once the red wine was boiling in the frying pan, Minhyuk added some catsup, soy sauce and oligosharide. He mixed them continuously and boiled it down until the consistency was thick. Then, once he finished cooking the glossy red sauce, he ced it in a bowl and set it aside.

    He sliced some onions and stir-fried it in medium heat.

    Sizzle!

    Once the onions started to turn a brownish hue, he added two tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and 1 tablespoon of honey and stir-fried it some more. Then, he also ced the stir-fried onions in a bowl and set it aside.

    He took the red, plump and fresh tenderloin out of his inventory and cut it into thick slices.

    [Tie the ends of the tenderloin with a string to prevent the juices from flowing out.]

    Minhyuk knew about this even before the notification rang. He quickly tied the tenderloin with a string then he sprinkled some salt, pepper, and parsley on both sides of the cut steak before rubbing some olive oil all over the meat.

    Then, he sliced the matsutake mushrooms and zhini in strips before adding some parmesan cheese, salt, pepper and olive oil. He mixed them well before stir frying it on his well-heated frying pan before cing it in a bowl and setting it aside.

    Now, for the long-awaited steak.

    He made sure to heat the pan well before adding enough oil. Once the oil was hot enough, he ced the tenderloin steak on top of the pan.

    Sizzle!

    Smoke and steam rose out of the pan together with a loud sizzling sound!

    ¡°Gulp.¡±

    It was the sound of Varen swallowing his saliva down as he heard the sound. However, no one could me him for this since the smell and sounds were truly too enticing.

    After about a minute, Minhyuk flipped the steak. He wanted to keep on flipping it every minute to make sure that the steak wouldn¡¯t stick to the pan and to also make sure that it did not burn.

    Sizzle!

    [Varen prefers Medium.]

    [Turn it over every 20 seconds and cook it for a total of 7 minutes.]

    The Create a Recipe effect notified him as if it did not want its name ¡®Create a Recipe¡¯ to be ignored and overshadowed. After all, this effect informs the user about the preferences of the other party!

    Once he finished cooking, Minhyuk pulled out a white te. Then, he ced the meat on top of it and added some matsutake mushrooms and zhini next to it. Next, he ced the stir-fried onions on top of the meat before pouring the red sauce that he made earlier.

    Once he finished ting, he heard the notification about thepletion of the steak.

    [You havepleted a Filet Mignon.]

    [Varen¡¯s dish is the only dish with the buff effect.]

    [The Create a Recipe Skill Effect can only be tasted by the same person once per month.]

    [Unique Grade.]

    [You have gained 2 DEX.]

    [You have gained 4 reputation points.]

    [You have gained 400 Achievement Points.]

    ¡®Ho?¡¯

    This was the first notification he had heard in a while ever since he made tangsuyuk. In the case of tangsuyuk, it turned out to be rare due to the Orc Tribe Leader¡¯s Essence and the skill Trance.

    But a unique grade dish appeared right now.

    The reason was quite simple. His Food God¡¯s Cooking Skill had achieved Lv2 and he now had a x2 chances in getting a higher grade of dish once he cooked.

    The only reason why Minhyuk did not hear any notifications after cooking, aside from the tangsuyuk he made before, was because all of the graded dishes that he made were buffed dishes. However, Minhyuk did not make those dishes for its buffs. He made them just because he wanted to eat them.

    ¡°Let¡¯s try it.¡±

    ¡°Not yet.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°Ronie-nim, please act as a waiter.¡±

    ¡°Yes? What in the¡­¡­¡±

    Genie couldn¡¯t understand him at all.

    ¡°I really want to try eating it like we are in a restaurant!¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    ¡°Come on~!¡±

    Minhyuk swiftly handed her the te. And Varen, who was sitting right in front of Minhyuk, raised his hand.

    ¡°Waiter.¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes¡­¡­ Cu, customer-nim¡­¡­¡±

    Genie responded with a puzzled look on her face.

    ¡°What are today¡¯s specials?¡±

    ¡°Ah, we have filet mignon. Sir.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d have one. Ah, Medium please.¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­¡­¡±

    When he said ¡®Medium¡¯, Genie wanted to p the back of Minhyuk''s head just to stop this ridiculous skit. Then she paused¡­

    ¡®Is this a buffed dish? Should I check it out?¡¯

    With great anticipation, she checked Minhyuk¡¯s dish.

    (Filet Mignon)

    Ingredient Grade: C

    Grade: Unique

    Restriction: Only Varen could have the buff effects.

    Storage Time: 7 days

    Preservation Time: 10 days

    Special Effects:

    ©¥ +5% increase in all stats.

    ©¥ +2 on Varen¡¯s Skill: Evolution.

    Description: A filet mignon made by the chef Minhyuk for Varen and Varen alone.

    The moment she saw the buff, Genie was so surprised that she almost dropped the steak.

    ¡®Th, this is impossible¡­¡­ H, how can this be¡­¡­!¡¯

    The storage time was a week. And even if you eat it, the effect wouldst for 10 days! The buff effect gave the skill a +2 increase while it also had the effect to increase all stats by 5%.

    ¡®What in the world are you¡­¡­?¡¯

    Genie stared at Minhyuk in wonder.

    ***

    Food Discussion Corner

    Filet Mignon / Tenderloin steak (?? ????): The direct trantion of the raws was tenderloin steak. But if you search it up, the steak made out of the tenderest part of the beef, the ends of the tenderloin is called filet mignon. It¡¯s a high quality part of the beef.

    Medium - Steaks are cooked at different times and there is a chart for it. Blue, Rare, Medium Rare, Medium and Well-Done. Medium has a pinkish middle while the outside is seared perfectly. The center is more grey-brown to pink.

    Matsutake mushrooms - Pine mushrooms. Grows in Eastern Asia and most popr in Japan, Korea and China. Quite expensive since their growth requirements make them a rare find and the need for them is quite high.

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    Quite informative. Especially since I will be cooking steak soon. Hmmm. Thanks Minhyuk and your recipes!

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Genie¡¯s expression at seeing Minhyuk¡¯s buffs is just priceless.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 120 - Evolved Ellies Swordsmanship

    Chapter 120: Evolved Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    But Minhyuk was just sitting there looking at her with great expectations as if he did not know the waves of shock that he brought her.

    ¡°Hmm? Waiter?¡±

    ¡°Ah. Yes.¡±

    Genie hurriedly moved to ce the white te with the steak in front of Varen.

    ¡°I¡¯m the only one who¡¯s supposed to be eating so why are you also sitting, boy?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m also going to eat with you.¡±

    Varen tilted his head in confusion. And just as Genie ced the te down¡­

    [The Joy of Eating Together.]

    [A dish that is simr to the dish presented to the other party has been created.]

    A te of steak simr to what was ced in front of Varen suddenly appeared in front of Minhyuk.

    ¡°Hoo. A special ability, huh?¡±

    ¡°Hehe. Thank you for the food!¡±

    Minhyuk smiled brightly as he pulled out the knife and fork out of his inventory and started digging in. Varen watched him and quickly moved his hands. His left hand held the fork while his right hand held the knife. He used his fork to steady the meat and used his knife to slice the meat into a bite-sized piece.

    ¡®Hoo. The meat is grilled moderately, the juices are perfectly contained inside and there is the unmistakable red inside that arouses the appetite.¡¯

    Varen was in awe but his face still maintained a stoic expression. He thought that the food would becking since theycked ingredients and it was cooked in a hurry but it seemed like it was cooked well.

    Then, he ced a piece in his mouth.

    King Varen was quite a gourmand. Once the meat entered his mouth, he closed his eyes and chewed lightly to savor the vor slowly. The filet mignon was tender and soft and the juices that came out in every bite was able to put a small smile on his face. In addition, the sauce that Minhyuk made using red wine, butter, olive oil, sugar,urel leaves and soy sauce emphasized the vor of the steak and gave off a harmonious vor.

    ¡®It, it¡¯s cooked really well! So delicious¡­¡­!¡¯

    After swallowing the meat down, Varen¡¯s eyes opened with a tinge of surprise as he looked at Minhyuk. He saw him eating his steak quickly as if someone would steal it away from him.

    ¡®He¡¯s almostparable to Rald!¡¯

    Minhyuk¡¯s steak dish tasted so good that he was evenpared to the legendary chef.

    He watched Minhyuk eating hurriedly for a while before he continued to eat at a faster pace.

    Varen also pointed his attention towards the steaming and golden brown matsutake mushroom on the side. He picked one up with his fork and ced it in his mouth. Once he chewed on the mushroom, he felt that the greasiness of the meat that he had just ate was washed away.

    Varen continued to eat.

    One bite, two bites, three bites, four bites.

    And finally¡­

    ¡°Wow¡­¡­ It¡¯s really really delicious¡­¡­!¡±

    The pent-up and hidden admiration for the food suddenly burst out. When Minhyuk heard his words, he just shrugged his shoulders as if it was something natural.

    ¡°Boy, forgive me for disregarding your talents earlier.¡±

    Cooking and delicious food could always make a person feel better and refreshed. It was the same feeling when one identally found a good restaurant, eat delicious food and feel better, right?

    This was the case for Varen. He met a chef named Minhyuk and a woman named Genie at a time when his life was at danger and his anxiety was at its peak. His nerves were rattled and ragged to the point that he even showed them an unsightly face. Although Varen was a king of a kingdom, he was a gentleman through and through.

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe that I could be served with such a delicious dish. I am truly grate¡­¡­¡±

    But before he could finish his words, more amazing things happened¡­

    [You ate a dish from a recipe specially made for you.]

    [You won¡¯t be able to eat another dish from a recipe specially made for you for a month.]

    [You can¡¯t receive any duplicate buffs during the duration of the buff retention period.]

    [Filet Mignon.]

    [You have received an increase of 5% for all of your stats and a +2 on your skill: Evolution for 10 days.]

    ¡°......!¡±

    Varen was astounded.

    NPCs could also hear the notifications. In the first ce, the notifications were something that wasmonce and natural for them. However, the notifications he just heard were truly too astounding that he couldn¡¯t believe himself.

    Did I just hear about a +2 on my Evolution skill?

    An increase of 5% on all my stats?

    He had never heard this kind of buff from a dish in his entire life. Of course, the increase in abilities like the increase in stats weremonly attributed and done by priests.

    But the ability to increase a skill?

    When Minhyuk checked the information about the steak after he finished cooking, he noticed the absurd increase in the preservation time of the buff and the increase of +2 in the skill Evolution. At that time he thought¡­

    ¡®This is a strong buff that can only be received using the recipe creation skill!¡¯

    However, even though it was a strong buff, the bnce was still not broken with this much. After eating the dish, the user or NPC would not be able to eat any dish made with the recipe creation skill. They would also be unable to receive any other buffs during the duration of the buff retention time. With these restrictions, it was only natural that the merits were huge.

    It must have been a huge shock for the other party to discover such a great dish that could increase their abilities by so much.

    Then, a thought shed through Minhyuk¡¯s head¡­

    ¡®If I was able to get my hands on the ingredients that the recipe creation skill listed and cooked them¡­¡­¡¯

    How much buff will he get?

    Then Varen spoke after a while.

    ¡°You¡¯re a really surprising chef¡­¡­¡±

    He was quite overwhelmed with awe and admiration towards Minhyuk.

    ¡°I was really satisfied with the dish.¡±

    [Varen¡¯s favorability has increased.]

    [Varen¡¯s favorability has increased.]

    [Varen¡¯s favorability has increased.]

    Three consecutive notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s head. These notifications just showed how much satisfaction Varen felt with his dish. And Minhyuk, who was able to eat the dish together with him, smiled slightly.

    ¡°Furthermore, your dish has made me stronger albeit temporarily.¡±

    His skill was naturally at MAX. But Minhyuk¡¯s dish was able to add a +2 on his skill that was already at MAX. Varen¡¯s skill, Evolution, was already at the point where it could no longer grow stronger. However, it had a +2 right now and was even stronger and better than his skill at MAX. In other words, the person who would be on the other end of the Evolution skill would also be able to receive greater effects.

    [You havepleted the Hidden Quest: Satisfy the Hungry King Varen.]

    [Varen¡¯s Evolution skill can evolve your skill.]

    [You will be able to eat the sushi made by the Legendary Chef.]

    Varen continued to talk to him.

    ¡°Boy, I have only tasted one of your dishes but I can see your limitless talent and endless possibilities. Do you want to be a royal chef together with Rald?¡±

    [King Varen of the Valkyrie Kingdom has proposed that you be a Royal Chef.]

    [You have gained 20 reputation points.]

    [If you ept the proposal to be a Royal Chef, you will be able to receive 500 million gold every month and endless rewards from King Varen.]

    However, Minhyuk¡¯s answer was one that was to be expected.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. But there are still a lot of delicious things in the world that I haven¡¯t tasted yet for me to be tied up somewhere this early.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    Varen looked a bit disappointed but he cheered himself up and moved on to the main point.

    ¡°I have eaten your dish so I will strengthen one of your abilities as promised.¡±

    ¡°Is it possible here?¡±

    Varen nodded his head while he told Genie¡­

    ¡°If anything happens, please wake us up immediately.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Genie nodded her head in acknowledgment as she looked at Minhyuk with envy.

    Varen sat on the floor of the carriage with his legs crossed. He also instructed Minhyuk to sit in front of him in the same position.

    ¡°We¡¯re going to enter our dreamscape for a while.¡±

    In fact, there was no need for them to use this method but their situation was dire so it was inevitable that they used whatever means was at their disposal.

    Minhyuk slowly closed his eyes.

    The moment he closed his eyes, he felt like he was being sucked to another ce.

    ***

    When Minhyuk opened his eyes again, he saw that he was in the middle of a very huge field.

    Varen was standing right in front of him with his hands behind his back.

    ¡°Boy, try using your attack skill here.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head.

    ¡°Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship.¡±

    ¡°W, what did you say?!¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    Minhyuk looked at him in askance when he saw Varen react with surprise. His body was even trembling hard.

    ¡°Boy, what did you say just now?¡±

    ¡°I said Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship?¡±

    ¡°When you say Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship, do you mean¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Ellie is my noona, we¡¯re very close.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Varen was shocked speechless.

    You¡¯re calling the Empress of a great Empire noona?

    He thought that he was just lying but he saw Minhyuk prove it to him when he used his skill.

    ¡®He underwent sword training? Don¡¯t tell me¡­ Did Ellie teach him?¡±

    He couldn¡¯t hide the surprise that he felt.

    ¡®This man¡­ he¡¯s not just a simple chef.¡¯

    Varen knew. He might have the chef job ss but he was not your average chef.

    In all honesty, Varen expected that his offensive skill was the offensive skill that chefs normally use but it was not.

    ¡°Shall I continue?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Rampant Sword.¡±

    [Rampant Sword.]

    [A flurry of rampant swords with additional 30% attack power will be created for 6 seconds.]

    The flurry of swords were so fast that it left afterimages in the space in front of him.

    ¡®Amazing. It might look like he just swung it indiscriminately but his attacks were urate.¡¯

    His posture and movements were just like the Sword Emperor, Ellie.

    ¡®I did not expect that I would be able to strengthen this ability.¡¯

    Then, another skill was performed in front of him.

    [Step.]

    [Quickly move a distance of 1m for two steps.]

    Dash! Dash!

    Minhyuk was extremely fast. He moved a distance of 1m in one step and immediately came back to his original position in another.

    ¡°Sword of Fury.¡±

    [Sword of Fury.]

    [There will be an additional 53% for strong lunges and stabs, if a vital strike is sessful then the additional attack power will be 83%.]

    The edge of his sword was suddenly filled with energy.

    Vwoooom!

    The moment Minhyuk stabbed the sword, Varen almost lost his tongue in surprise. It sounded like the space in front of him was torn with how powerful the blow was.

    Varen remembered every move that was shown to him.

    [Skill Analysis.]

    [Quickly analyzes a skill.]

    A hologram appeared in front of him as Varen utilized his power. He checked the first movement, Rampant Sword.

    ¡®This Rampant Sword has tremendous speed and uracy. It also has quite a long duration.¡¯

    Swoosh!

    Swoosh!

    Holograms suddenly appeared in front of him. One of the holograms was showing a mini Minhyuk that was using the Rampant Sword.

    ¡®How should I enhance this ability?¡¯

    Varen thought deeply about the adjustments that he would make. He thought for quite a while before finally realizing what he needed to do.

    ¡®This would be good.¡¯

    The greatest advantage of the Rampant Sword was that it could instantly cut down the enemies with the flurry of swords. But it wouldn¡¯t be able to show its full power in a 1:1 match.

    So, how about giving this Rampant Sword the ability to attack only one person? I can make the Rampant Sword hit a single target with a huge number of attacks.

    Varen waved his hands and a wooden puppet appeared in another hologram. The mini Minhyuk wielded his sword and used Rampant Sword to attack the wooden puppet.

    Swoosh!

    Swoosh!

    Swoosh!

    ¡®As expected, the attack is going all over the ce.¡¯

    Varen moved his hands continuously.

    The Rampant Sword that was going all over the ce slowly began to change into a concentrated attack. The flurry of swords that were shing in all directions soon began to hit the wooden puppet in the hologram.

    Just as the attack struck the wooden puppet, a surprising thing happened¡­

    It was just a single attack but the wooden puppet shook and vibrated wildly as a series of damages appeared on top of it.

    m, m, m, m, m, m, m!

    The first skill was thenpleted.

    [Rampant Sword. Connection (Inherit) ispleted.]

    [One attack will hit seven times. The damage has been increased by 40%.]

    After hepleted the first movement, he moved on to the second one.

    Sword of Fury.

    ¡®It¡¯s a single blow that can easily overpower your enemy. As soon as the strike hits you, a huge force will be extended and transferred over to you. If I condense the force that leaks after that strike then the blow will be more powerful.¡¯

    Varen¡¯s hands never stopped moving. He spent quite a long time adjusting and strengthening the movements of Minhyuk¡¯s skill.

    ¡®The effect of the +2 in my skill after eating that dish is truly amazing. The effect has been really great.¡¯

    He gave a silent praise of admiration to his enhanced skill.

    Not long after, Varen finally seeded in evolving and strengthening Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship.

    Then, he approached Minhyuk and stood in front of him as various holograms popped out. The mini Minhyuks in the holograms were sucked one by one in Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    The moment the mini Minhyuks were absorbed, a notification rang.

    [Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship has evolved from Epic to Legendary.]

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Well¡­ Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship was already strong to begin with even at Lv2 but it seems like it will be much stronger. Legendary. I wonder how the administrators will react. Lol.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    At this point, they¡¯d probably just shake their heads.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 121 - Evolved Ellies Swordsmanship

    Chapter 121: Evolved Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    [Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship¡¯s Cooldown has been reduced by 20%.]

    [Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship¡¯s Required Mana has been reduced by 20%.]

    [Chapter 1. Sword of Fury, a strong stab that emphasized the fury of the sword. It has evolved into Shatter (Destroy). Additional 60% attack power to strong lunges and stabs, if your attack is sessful your attack will have 100% more additional power.]

    [Chapter 2. Rampant Sword¡¯s duration has increased from 6 seconds to 7 seconds. There is also an additional 35% attack power to the flurry of swords created by the skill.]

    [Chapter 2. Rampant Sword. It has evolved into Connection (Inherit). One strike would result in 7 strikes. There is also an additional 30% damage to attacks.]

    [Chapter 3. Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship¡¯s duration has increased from 6 minutes to 8 minutes. The all stat increase has increased to 20%.]

    [Chapter 4. Step. It allows you to take two quick 1m steps. You can move with the first step and use the second step for attacking.]

    It was quite an amazing evolution. The first chapter, Sword of Fury had nowpletely evolved and became Shatter (Destroy). And for the second chapter, Rampant Sword, previously only a flurry of swords could be used to attack indiscriminately. It couldn¡¯t be used to attack a single enemy at all. But with it evolving into Connection (Inherit) it could now attack a single enemy with the flurry of swords. For the 3rd chapter, Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship, there was a 3% increase in the additional stat increase. Finally, for the 4th chapter, Step¡­ Step was originally a non-attacking move. This meant that no matter how fast he moved in that 1m distance he wouldn¡¯t be able tounch an attack. All he could do was evade the attacks or narrow the distance between him and his enemies. However, it was different right now. He could now freely attack and evade within those two steps allowed by the skill.

    Then, Varen summoned a monster in the dreamscape.

    ¡°Grrrrrrr!¡±

    It was a giant ogre. Generally, ogres were mob monsters at Lv300. And Varen had only one reason why he summoned an ogre¡­

    ¡®I don¡¯t know how powerful he is.¡¯

    In other words, he did not know what level Minhyuk was. He summoned the ogre to try and ascertain Minhyuk¡¯s level, skills and overall strength. He knew that a Lv10 foreigner would not be able to wield Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship but if Minhyuk was as strong as what he imagined to be, then he would definitely be very strong.

    ¡°This ce is in our dreams and quite a lot of things are possible here. Let me see your skills.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head.

    The ogre furiously ran towards where he was. Its steps were so heavy and aggressive that he could hear a loud bang with every step it took.

    Minhyuk quickly used Step.

    [Step.]

    [Quickly move a distance of 1m for two steps, capable of attacking enemies while moving.]

    He moved sideways on the first step and chopped its leg with the second step.

    Spurt!

    ¡°Graaaaa!¡±

    He stepped forward once more, and shed at its chest the next.

    ¡°Grrrrrrrrrrreuo!¡±

    The angered ogre swung its axe heavily in his direction.

    Fwoooom!

    aang!

    Even though Minhyuk¡¯s level was still at Lv210, he has a monstrous stat that could easily surpass other users at that level. He quickly used a skill to stop the axe that was falling down on him.

    [Rampant Sword. Connection (Inherit)]

    [One strike will result in 7 powerful strikes with an additional 30% damage.]

    Sparks flew from the collision of Minhyuk¡¯s sword and the axe.

    Bang! Bang! Bang!

    A bright red force enveloped his sword as Minhyuk swung it fiercely towards the angered ogre.

    sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!

    The ogre¡¯s body was stabbed with the seven powerful strikes that came from Minhyuk¡¯s single attack.

    Bang!

    The ogre fell down to the ground!

    Fwooosh!

    Then, he felt another movement behind him. When he looked, it was another ogre! Minhyuk quickly evaded its trajectory.

    ¡°There¡¯s still some time left.¡±

    ¡°Why can¡¯t you just tell me about it first?!¡±

    Varen shrugged his shoulders nonchntly as his eyes narrowed in concentration.

    ¡®I can¡¯t believe it¡­¡­¡¯

    No matter how strong the damage from the seven strikes of the Rampant Sword, Connection (Inherit) was, it was still surprising to see the ogre fall down in one shot.

    It only meant one thing¡­

    ¡®He¡¯s not just a simple chef.¡¯

    He¡¯s strong.

    Varen felt that he had seen the light at the end of the tunnel. He finally felt that he coulde back alive.

    [Sword of Fury. Shatter (Destroy)]

    [There will be an additional 60% for strong lunges and stabs, if a vital strike is sessful then the additional attack power will be 100%.]

    Stab!

    He thrusted his sword straight at the ogre. The energy that was condensed at the tip of the sword resulted in a powerful explosion.

    Bang!

    The huge force that exploded after his thrust blew up the ogre in one strike.

    St, st, st©¥

    ¡°Hoo.¡±

    Minhyuk sheathed his sword.

    When he looked at Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship earlier, its rank had be Legendary and its level reverted back to 1.

    ¡®Ellie-noona told me that she will teach me more of Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship once I cook for her but¡­¡­¡¯

    If that happens, then will this be stronger?

    ¡°Let¡¯s go now.¡±

    p!

    The moment Varen pped his hands, they were once again back inside the carriage.

    ¡°How did it go? Did your skill evolve?¡±

    ¡°Yes. It¡¯s not that bad. I have to get to Valkyrie Kingdom fast.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°I have to eat sushi!¡±

    It was very Minhyuk to say that his evolved skill was not that bad but he was extremely excited to eat sushi.

    At that moment¡­

    ¡°Heok!¡±

    They heard a distressed cry from Lute who was sitting outside. Then, the carriage shook heavily before stopping.

    Bang!

    ***

    Lute was thinking deeply as the carriage ran at a fast speed.

    ¡®I wish we could get away from our enemies and meet with Ellie soon.¡¯

    The ce where Ellie and Varen were supposed to meet was not that far away from them right now. If they continued at this pace, they would be able to meet with them safely andplete the quest easily.

    ¡®If we meet enemies¡­¡­¡¯

    The only one who looked reliable was the woman who was sitting in the carriage.

    ¡®His Highness, Varen, was not that good at fighting. His redeeming qualities was his special ability¡­¡­¡¯

    Just as he was thinking about their situation¡­

    Swoooooosh!

    An arrow that was as big as a spear flew towards them and pierced through the two horses all at once.

    Spurt!

    ¡°Heok!¡±

    Both horses could not even let out a scream as they fell down helplessly on the ground. As the horses fell, the carriage shook loudly as it stopped in its tracks.

    Lute hurriedly pulled his bow out as he tried to raise his awareness of his surroundings.

    [Scan.]

    [Your eyes can easily spot enemies near you.]

    They were in the middle of a forest and once he used his skill, he was able to see the enemies lurking behind the trees. The enemies were marked red and were seen at a nce.

    ¡®Damn it. There¡¯s a lot of them.¡¯

    Their numbers were a lot. In particr, there seemed to be a lot of archers that were pulling their bows and aiming at them. It seemed like there was a user among their enemies.

    Red was aiming a great bow at them. A great bow was a bow that was gigantic in size. They loaded an arrow that was as big as a spear on the bow and aimed carefully.

    Red was a user that was in the top 100 of the archer rankings. He was well known for his wildly destructive arrows that had enormous power and could destroy anything on its way. Now that they had found the enemies, he could now see the enormous rewards that he would be able to receive after this.

    He slowly aimed at the door of the carriage.

    [Party Chatting Red: As soon as another persones out of the carriage, I will shoot all of them down except for the king. You guys should keep that archer user in check!]

    He hurriedly closed the PC window and took a deep breath.

    Lute, who was riding on horseback, hurriedly took out an arrow and aimed at Red.

    [Aimed Shot!]

    [An arrow that can hit a vital point.]

    Twang!

    The arrow flew at a straight line.

    However¡­

    White-colored arrows rained down from in between the trees.

    [Induced Shot!]

    [An arrow that can counteract an enemy¡¯s arrow.]

    The arrows that were flying straight at Lute fell down helplessly on the ground.

    At that moment, the door to the carriage opened and a man walked out.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    The man had a frying pan hanging on his back.

    Red hurriedly adjusted his bow and aimed it at the man.

    [Power Arrow!]

    [A powerful arrow that can easily prate the enemy all at once.]

    Vwoooom!

    Red grinned darkly. His Power Arrow was a very powerful skill, even Lv400 users would have a hard time dealing with such a skill. Once they got hit with this skill square on, they would receive a huge amount of damage.

    ¡°Goddamn!¡±

    Lute quickly pulled his bow tight.

    [Triple Induced Shot!]

    [Three arrows that can counteract an enemy¡¯s arrow.]

    He pulled the bow hurriedly and shot the arrows but it was still countered by plenty of arrows from the enemy.

    Red¡¯s arrow flew unimpeded towards the heart of the user with the frying pan. In other words, his arrow flew straight at Minhyuk¡¯s chest.

    ¡°Gotch¡­¡­¡±

    Before Red could finish his words¡­

    Ting!

    The arrow hit the armor and fell down in vain. Then, a strong force bounced back to where he was. The attack ended up being useless.

    [Physical Damage Reflection!]

    [Returns the physical damage with a x2 increase in strength.]

    And at the same time¡­

    ¡°Keuuuack!¡±

    Red shrieked in pain as a strong force prated his chest.

    [Your HP has fallen below 20%.]

    [You were struck by a heavy blow. You will be stunned for 3 seconds.]

    ¡®W, what in the world is that damned armor!¡¯

    He was astounded. As soon as his arrow reached the armor, it fell down uselessly. The attack did not work at all and he even received twice the amount of damage.

    ¡°Ho.¡±

    Minhyuk rubbed the part of his armor where the arrow struck.

    ¡°Is this so good?¡±

    He grinned when he saw the effects of his armor.

    Then¡­ Genie popped out of the carriage. Her hand was holding a bright red whip.

    Shwaa!

    She swung the whip around and it caught the neck of one of the hidden archers.

    Pull!

    Genie pulled hard and the archer that got entangled with the whip was dragged out.

    Crackle!

    [Fire Whip]

    [A strong me that can easily incinerate the enemy.]

    The mes that sprouted out of Genie¡¯s whip immediately devoured the archer.

    Crackle, fwoosh!

    The archer was forced to log-out after being subjected to a very strong me.

    Genie was also a holder of a Legendary ss. She was a Whip Conjuror and every time her whipshed out, another archer would be dragged out from their hiding spot.

    [Party Chatting Red: Damn it, she¡¯s strong. What the hell is this woman?!]

    [Party Chatting Voltno: Crazy¡­¡­! A damned whip can be used like that?!]

    What was more surprising to Lute was the situation around him.

    ¡®Im, impossible¡­...!¡¯

    The enemies that were surrounding them were all at least at Lv300 but the woman easily entangled them. She could even drag them out group by group. And that wasn¡¯t all¡­ There was also the chef user, Minhyuk! The arrow that struck straight at his chest just bounced off and fell down uselessly.

    ¡®These people¡­¡­ Who in the world are they¡­¡­?¡¯

    But even though he was surprised, he still promptly came back to his senses and pulled at his bow.

    Twang!

    As soon as he let go of the arrow loaded on his bow, the arrow flew swiftly and lodged at Red¡¯s neck.

    ¡°Keok, keok!¡±

    Lute, who forced a user to log out, quickly came in front of the doors of the carriage.

    ¡°Minhyuk-nim and Lute-nim should protect His Highness!¡±

    Genie shouted hurriedly as Lute turned to Varen.

    ¡°Your Highness, we should run!¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡±

    Just as they were about to move, Lute felt it clearly.

    ¡®The enemies areing¡­¡­!¡¯

    Their enemies emerged one by one at a speed visible to the naked eye and their numbers were not small.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Just run!¡±

    Genie smiled at him as if it was just a piece of cake. Lute nodded his head at her as he turned around and ran with Varen and Minhyuk.

    Swoosh!

    Lute quickly countered the arrow that was flying towards them.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk eximed in admiration.

    ¡°Haha. Even though I look like this, I used to shoot arrows quickly.¡±

    Luteughed at the thought. He felt that if he didn¡¯t smile in the situation that they were in then he would be ovee with a crippling sense of anxiety and fear.

    The three of them ran as they left Genie alone behind. However, what they heard was not her screams but the shrieks of their enemies as they fell down one by one under her hands.

    ¡°Keuack!¡±

    ¡°Ugh, keuaaack!¡±

    ¡°Ack!¡±

    Then, at that moment¡­

    Vwoooooooooom!

    Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

    The enemies began to blow their trumpets. It was a signal. A signal for the rest of them to flock to this ce.

    Lute was overwhelmed in panic.

    ¡®What should we do? How can we get out of this?¡¯

    Can I do it alone? Can we even escape from here with a chef with outstanding armor and Varen who can¡¯t fight? I don¡¯t know. We just have to run.

    ***

    Athenae¡¯s PR team was moving urgently in the background. They have been working tirelessly as they answered phone call after phone call.

    ¡°The live broadcast will begin soon!¡±

    ¡°Wait for the appropriate timing!¡±

    Among them was the Team Leader of the PR team, Lee Taejin.

    ¡®Before the update, a live video of Varen and his escorts that are trying to fend off the attack of their pursuers will be broadcasted. I¡¯m sure that we will get plenty of responses for this.¡¯

    This was a unique way of promoting their content. However, he was still unsure of the effect.

    The attackers were one of the 4 top guilds in the country, Ares Guild. But the escorts were also quite formidable. One is the guild master of Legend Guild, Genie, and the other was the currently trending Frying Pan Killer.

    ¡®Really interesting.¡¯

    Team Leader Lee Taejin¡¯s hands were sweating just as he watched the monitor. He did not know how this coincidence could happen that two opposing guilds would meet in this quest for the update. However, he was sure of one thing. They would be able to capture the best footage and garner the best response among the popce.

    At that moment, Team Leader Park Minggyu of the Special Users Management Team and Team Leader Lee Seokhoon of the Development Team entered the room together.

    ¡°When will the broadcast begin?¡±

    ¡°We will start at the most exciting time.¡±

    ¡°The most exciting time?¡±

    ¡°Look over there?¡±

    Team Leader Lee Taejin pointed over at two monitors. One of the monitors was disying Varen, Lute and Minhyuk¡¯s situation as they ran away at a rapid pace. The other monitor disyed six people chasing after them. Team Leader Park could see that the person leading them was someone that he was familiar with.

    ¡°Iris¡¯ Kohei?¡±

    ¡°Bingo!¡±

    Kohei was a gamer that Iris Guild spent billions of won just to bring him directly to the country from Japan. He was a pro-gamer in the same league as the number 1 gamer Rovan. But what was more interesting was¡­

    ¡°Just like User Minhyuk, he also has a God ss.¡±

    He had the Cursed Knight ss, a God ss like Minhyuk¡¯s ss.

    ¡°A story about the Frying Pan Killer and the Cursed Knight. It¡¯s a very interesting sauce. I hope the Frying Pan Killer will be able to give a fight.¡±

    Lee Taejin¡¯s tone showed that he believed that User Minhyuk would lose unconditionally.

    Team Leader Park grinned at him.

    ¡°What are you saying? I hope the Cursed Knight will give a bit of a fight.¡±

    Lee Taejin looked at him in confusion.

    Team Leader Park should know that the gap in their level was very wide. The Cursed Knight was at Lv300 but he was pretty much under the spotlight for his video hunting a Lv400 user just recently. And on the other hand? User Minhyuk was just at Lv221.

    However, Team Leader Park''s expression looked like he was saying ¡®Let¡¯s see about that.¡¯.

    ¡°I¡¯ll bet a month¡¯s worth of coffee that User Minhyuk will win.¡±

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Team Leader Park who has grown ustomed to our monstrously strong Minhyuk! Kek. Lee Taejin will buy coffee for sure.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    As game devs, they probably are drinking like a pot a day. That¡¯s a lot of coffee to bet¡­

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 122 - Reunion

    Chapter 122: Reunion

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    38 Reunion

    When he met the person known as the Imperial Sword Rumad, his first impression was that this man was a giant.

    He was at least 2m tall with short hair. He was wearing a ringly red armor with his one hand holding a greatsword leisurely. A child would definitely burst into tears once they nced at his appearance.

    However, this scary looking man was one of the most powerful men in the continent. Even though he was the weakest out of the eight, he could still easily overwhelm and trample the current rankers.

    This Rumad was looking at the distant scenery. Not long after, the loud sounds rang from the direction where he was staring.

    Vwooooooong!

    Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

    It was the sound of trumpets and drums. It meant that the target enemy had been found.

    And before Ares could make a move, the GC popped out with notifications.

    [Guild Chatting: Red-nim has been forced to log-out.]

    [Guild Chatting: Carman-nim has been forced to log-out.]

    [Guild Chatting: Coso-nim has been forced to log-out.]

    The notifications that he never wanted to hear were heard!

    ''......What the hell?''

    He was quite taken aback.

    There were five troops led by five users who were supported and backed by the empire in that search team. The average level of the troops was Lv300 and all of the users were between Lv300~600. And Red was the leader of the search team.

    But all of the users sent there were forced to log-out?

    This meant that all of the troops had been taken down.

    ''What''s this? Don''t tell me¡­¡­''

    A frown formed on his face.

    Don''t tell me that there was something unusual with those users that they picked up from Raven Vige?

    At that moment, the guild members who had been forced to log out flooded the GC.

    [Guild Chatting Red: GM-nim, there''s this guy who''s cosying as the Frying Pan Killer. The guy''s totally extraordinary. My Power Arrow bounced off of his armor!]

    "The Power Arrow?"

    Ares was quite surprised.

    The Power Arrow was a powerful skill that could insta kill a Lv350 user when hit on their vital point.

    But the armor easily bounced off that Power Arrow?

    And the surprise did not end there¡­

    [Guild Chatting Ran: GM-nim, we were beaten by a woman with a whip!]

    [Guild Chatting Brae: GM-nim, we couldn''t even touch her! She''s extremely strong. I don''t think that she''s normal, she''s at the standards of a high ranker!]

    Ares'' expression turned solemn in a blink of an eye.

    Then, one of his guild members approached him.

    "GM-nim, don''t you think this user who bounced off the arrow is the same as the Frying Pan Killer from before?"

    "Frying Pan Killer? It''s just a high-leveled cosyer user."

    Ares'' brows continued to furrow in thought. He had seen countless videos about this Frying Pan Killer just recently. At that time, he believed that the Frying Pan Killer would be a powerhouse once he matured and grew up well. However, he couldn''t have such strength in just a short amount of time.

    ''It just doesn''t make sense for him to be over Lv200 in just that short amount of time¡­¡­''

    But the guild member dispelled his doubts and proved it to him.

    "A screenshot of the Frying Pan Killer was posted a few days ago. It was ranked quite high in the official homepage. And it was in the Salov''s Land which was near Raven Vige."

    "......Goddamn crazy."

    A user whose level was at most Lv200 easily bounced off Red''s arrow. It was truly an impossible feat but at that moment, an absurd notion shed through Ares'' mind.

    "Wait¡­ A whip?!"

    The Frying Pan Killer killed his guild members off together with Rovan. At that time, he assumed that he was a part of the Legend Guild. And then, there was the whip! Once he put them together, he could clearly tell that the woman was Genie.

    The woman that was seen together with the Frying Pan Killer was the Legend Guild''s Guild Master!

    ''Finally¡­¡­!''

    The time hade for him to kill Genie! He had been waiting for this moment for quite a long time. Ares was also a top ranker so he believed that he could take her down easily. At that moment, he would definitely post a video stomping on her and he would definitely trample on the Legend Guild.

    "Rumad-nim, let''s go!"

    "Boy. You look chipper, don''t you?"

    "Yes. There''s a game I wanted to hunt together with King Varen."

    "Is that so? Keuhahahaha. Sounds fun. Interesting!"

    Rumadughed crazily as they began to move towards the direction where the sound rang.

    Then, a whisper came in¡­

    [Kohei: We''ve found King Varen. He''s currently running away with two users. An archer and someone wearing a horned helmet.]

    ***

    Kohei was wearing a ck armor with a bloody sword on his waist as he ran along.

    Since he hated being dragged down by plenty of people only the minimum number of people were assigned to follow him. There were six people following behind him to support him.

    As he ran along with his troop, they finally saw people running ahead of them. There was a tall man wearing bone armor and a frying pan on his back and another man with a bow on his back. Varen was running together with them looking all tired and ragged with his dusty clothes.

    A small smile curled on his lips as he immediately informed Ares the current situation.

    [Kohei: We''ve found King Varen. He''s currently running away with two users. An archer and someone wearing a horned helmet.]

    [Ares: Please be careful. The user with the frying pan on his back is believed to be the user that¡¯s the talk of the town just recently. It¡¯s an unexpected surprise for us.]

    ¡°Ho?¡±

    Kohei grinned.

    The Frying Pan Killer? Isn¡¯t he the one who defeated Rovan, the user that was famous in Versal?

    Kohei¡¯s interest peaked. The fight that he thought was just some boring chase suddenly became interesting. But even if he believed that it had be interesting, the gap between his level and the Frying Pan Killer¡¯s level was still too wide. In addition, he also had a God ss.

    Cursed Knight.

    The Cursed Knight ss was so powerful that it could let him narrow a 100-level gap with his enemies. Even if they blocked his attacks, their arms were bound to rot in an instant with his curse. In other words, just a brush from one of his attacks could easily reduce the power and strength of his opponents. And his debuff abilities were beyond anyone¡¯s imagination.

    ¡®I¡¯ll just y with him.¡¯

    He giggled at the thought. He liked watching other users flounder and get flustered with his debuffs.

    At that moment, a notification rang¡­

    [A Live Broadcast for the Update will be broadcasted.]

    [For users who do not want their face to be exposed, your face will be blurred out and mosaiced as soon as you refuse.]

    [You can also choose to remove the mosaic if you wish to in the future.]

    ¡®Hoo?¡¯

    It unexpectedly became something fun.

    Kohei was someone who wanted to hog all of the attention!

    He quickly epted the notification. He quickly narrowed the distance between him and the fleeing Varen. His bloody sword glowed red as an energy force was fired out from it. A red gas-like energy floated in the air which closely resembled blood. Then, it exploded! The red energy struck the backs of Varen and his escorts.

    [A Blind Man¡¯s Despair.]

    [The sight of those who got in contact with the blood of despair will be limited.]

    His magical attack was so high that it was very difficult for regr mages to reflect or debuff it.

    And just like he expected¡­

    ¡°Huuuuuuh?¡±

    The archer that was running suddenly rolled around on the ground even King Varen fell down and tapped the ground with his hands.

    ¡°Wh, where are you? Lute! I suddenly lost my sight!¡±

    ¡°Your Highness, it¡¯s me! Where are you?¡±

    ¡®Keuhahahaha! Look at that King and those uncivilized Koreans!¡¯

    Kohei giggled at the sight of them blindly looking for each other.

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    Just as he was enjoying watching them floundering, Kohei suddenly tilted his head in confusion. The Frying Pan Man user was trembling as his eyes looked down. There was a soboro bread in his hands that was tainted by the Blind Man¡¯s Despair.

    ¡®What the hell?¡¯

    Kohei¡¯s head remained tilted as he tried to figure out the man.

    ¡°Ugh. Waaaaah. My, my eyes! I can¡¯t see. Hwiiik!¡±

    The man moved in a hurry as he fell down. For Kohei, this sight was quite ridiculous and funny.

    He walked slowly towards them as he talked to the soldiers behind him.

    ¡°Kill the archer user and capture King Varen. I will kill that guy.¡±

    He gripped his sword tightly as he took one step closer towards the man. He lifted his sword as he prepared to strike down.

    ¡®The Frying Pan Killer isn¡¯t such a big deal. That frying pan looks good, I hope it drops.¡¯

    As he thought that, he quickly activated his offensive skill.

    [Powerful Blow.]

    [Immediately inflicts a huge damage to the enemy.]

    Swooooooosh!

    At that moment¡­

    aaang!

    The Frying Pan Killer quickly lifted his sword and parried his strike. His eyes that looked like it lost focus earlier suddenly gained rity as he red fiercely at Kohei.

    ¡°Does this look fun to you?¡±

    Kohei couldn¡¯t understand the situation that he was in.

    ¡®H, he was clearly¡­ a moment ago¡­!¡¯

    He was definitely struck by my debuff earlier. So how can he move and parry my strike? I never saw him drink any potion or eat anything.

    This simply meant one thing¡­

    ¡®He never got caught in the debuff! He was just acting.¡¯

    But what was more surprising to him was¡­

    How can someone that¡¯s below Lv200 escape my debuff?!

    ¡°You damn bastard! Who the hell are you?!¡±

    Kohei fiercely asked him.

    ***

    Hyonam, who just came out of the capsule room, looked utterly disappointed.

    Just in time, his friend Hyunsoo, also came out of the capsule.

    ¡°Hey, let¡¯s skip college today!¡±

    ¡°Shit. I can¡¯t! Last time, my mom almost chased me out of the house in just my underwear. I¡¯ll be in huge trouble if I do it again.¡±

    Hyonam also wanted to have a lot of fun in Athenae but he had no choice.

    In the meantime, they saw a crowd gathering in the capsule room¡¯s rest area.

    Hyonam tilted his head in confusion as he followed the flow of the crowd. The moment he entered the rest area, he saw a man projected on the huge TV screen. The man¡¯s voice boomed loudly as the phrase that he just uttered appeared on the screen.

    [Athenae. Northern Continent Update!]

    ¡°Wow¡­¡­¡±

    The people around him were staring at the screen intently. When he turned his head around, he heard the owner of the capsule room saying¡­

    ¡°I saw the live broadcast on the inte and I casted it on the TV right away.¡±

    The owner looked quite cute as if he was asking for a ¡®Good job¡¯ from the people in the rest area. Hyonam turned his head back on the screen as subtitles appeared while the Northern Continent shed on the screen.

    [An Unknown Part of the World!]

    [Two Conflicting Empires!]

    [A Battle for Survival!]

    [And¡­¡­]

    A man¡¯s face appeared on the screen.

    [The man who needs to survive. Varen, the King of Northern Continent¡¯s Valkyrie Kingdom!]

    [And the chasers that are after him, trying their best to capture him!]

    The attention of the people were focused on the word chasers as the situation on the screen changed and another man¡¯s face appeared. It was Kohei.

    ¡°Huh, that fXcking bastard!¡±

    ¡°That shitty head is a stinking punk!¡±

    ¡°Omg¡­¡­ Just looking at the video on the screen¡­ he¡¯s ugly! Even his pores are ugly!¡±

    ¡°But can he show his face just like that?¡±

    ¡°Look over there. There¡¯s a small text saying ¡®We have asked for the user¡¯s consent, the users can choose to mosaic their faces before the broadcast starts¡¯ was what it said.¡±

    The capsule room was suddenly filled with insults and criticisms. They had no choice but to just do it. Even Kohei himself said that he was an abomination. He even uploaded videos of users who were affected by his debuff abilities and giggled as he said ¡®Chiksyo~¡¯ in Japanese.

    Plenty of Koreanizens frowned at his actions. Even if he was a domestic user right now, he still did such atrocious behavior without any care in the world.

    But there was one thing that they were sure of.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t he kill Maestro not too long ago?¡±

    Maestro was one of the users with a legendary ss! He was at Lv400 when Kohei hunted him sessfully. He even stood in front of him and said ¡®Bakayaro!¡¯ andughed maniacally.

    They had no choice but to admit that he was strong.

    Soon, the video panned and showed another man¡¯s face.

    [And there are those that want to protect! This is a bloody battle between those who want to protect and those who want to take away!]

    The screen changed again, it showed the forest in a third-person perspective. It showed Varen, an archer user, and a user with a frying pan on his back as Kohei chased them down.

    The archer user looked like he was mosaiced while the user with the frying pan had his face covered with a helmet. On the contrary, since Varen was an NPC, his face was shown clearly. They did not need to get any approval or rejection from him after all.

    They saw Kohei shoot a bloody energy towards the three of them.

    Bang!

    The ringly red bloody energy exploded. It resulted with the King, the archer and the frying pan user to be in a state of panic and confusion.

    ¡°Ah¡­¡­! No! No way!¡±

    ¡°That bastard! He¡¯s smiling again! Awooo! I¡¯m so angry!¡±

    Everyone was left speechless at his atrocious actions. Even the users who did not belong to Eivelis Empire frowned at his actions. They believed that both the users would be forced to log out as King Varen was taken away.

    ¡°Ah. I don¡¯t want to watch anymore!¡±

    Even though Athenae was just a game, it was still so vivid that it could give the people the chills.

    Hyonam closed his eyes tightly to avoid such a gruesome scene. He didn¡¯t want to watch Kohei y around with them as they struggled to survive.

    Then, a sound was heard loud and clear in the capsule room.

    [aaang!]

    It was definitely the sound of a sword being parried. When Hyonam opened his eyes he could see his friend Hyunsoo shaking his fist as he eximed.

    ¡°Waaah¡­¡­!¡±

    The man who blocked Kohei¡¯s words said¡­

    [Does this look fun to you?]

    It was exactly what everyone in this room wanted to say!

    Kohei looked at him in surprise as he shouted at him.

    [You damn bastard! Who the hell are you?!]

    The man did not answer but just showed him through his actions.

    [Spark, spark, spark!]

    The man¡¯s sword pushed against Kohei¡¯s and created countless sparks. Great tension suddenly fell around them as the air vibrated wildly that even the dust started to fly around.

    Then, the man said coldly¡­

    [Rampant Sword. Connection (Inherit).]

    ***

    Footnotes

    [Bakayaro] If you have watched anime you might be familiar with these words. It means stupid in Japanese. He¡¯s taunting the domestic yers by saying those words to them. So theizens feel a bit of hatred for him. Back

    [Chiksyo] It means damn it in Japanese. Back

    Food Discussion Corner

    Soboro Bread (????) - Korean streusel bread. A sweet bread with a streusel like upper crust. Back

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Oh boy, it¡¯s on now! Nobody messes with Minhyuk¡¯s food. The ones who have aren¡¯t around anymore¡­

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 123 - Reunion

    Chapter 123: Reunion

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Minhyuk was running together with Lute and Varen when he suddenly saw a cloud of blood going straight towards them.

    Right at the moment when the blood exploded and tainted their bodies¡­

    [A Blind Man''s Despair.]

    [The sight of those who got in contact with the blood of despair will be limited.]

    [You have an invincible body that can ignore and resist all abnormal status and poisons.]

    [You have resisted an abnormal state.]

    God''s first Legacy Dish!

    When he ate the jokbal set, he was able to receive an invincible body that could ignore all poisons and abnormal states.

    Minhyuk saw Lute and Varen fall down as they lost their sight. He also saw another user giggling weirdly not too far away from them.

    His forehead furrowed. But as he looked at the soboro bread that he took out because he felt hungry, his brows furrowed even further.

    ''Heok¡­¡­!''

    Minhyuk was left in shock.

    This was thest piece of his crispy on the outside but soft on the inside soboro bread! But his soboro bread was covered in blood!

    His body trembled. He gazed at the bread for a moment as he thought¡­

    ''My precious soboro¡­¡­ Bread¡­¡­!''

    But the man was justughing and giggling at them. When he heard his atrociousughter, Minhyuk''s anger reached its peak.

    He made up his mind.

    I will take revenge for my soboro bread!

    There was only one method(?) to catch the person who aimed for his soboro bread. He believed that the rest of the troop could easily be handled by himself and Lute after he had dealt with this person.

    So Minhyuk began acting.

    And once the man who seemed to want to y with them as he tried to kill them approached him, he stopped his sword. And once the man asked him in disbelief, he answered with all his might!

    aaaash!

    Ellie''s Sword was filled with a strong energy as it glowed red. The ground even vibrated loudly and strongly with how strong the force was.

    The man, Kohei, had a gut feeling.

    ''It''s dangerous¡­¡­!''

    The moment he thought about it, Ellie''s Sword deflected Kohei''s sword.

    ng!

    Minhyuk quickly narrowed the distance and he attacked Kohei fiercely.

    ''I have to stop him!''

    Kohei quickly used his defensive skills.

    [The Cursed Shield.]

    [Creates a shield made out of cursed beings.]

    Crack, crack, crack!

    Bones sprouted out from the ground! The bone fragments quickly formed the form of a square shield.

    Kohei, who hid behind the shield, breathed out a sigh of relief.

    At that moment¡­

    [Rampant Sword. Connection (Inherit)]

    [One strike will result in 7 powerful strikes with an additional 30% damage.]

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    The first blow shook the shield strongly.

    The second blow created a small crack in the shield.

    The third blow widened the small crack.

    And in the fourth blow, Kohei could hear an ominous sound.

    Crack!

    And by the fifth blow¡­

    Crumble!

    The bone shield was broken into pieces!

    Thud!

    "Keooob!"

    Kohei was struck dumb!

    The sword struck on his abdomen and he received plenty of damages in session.

    "Ugh!"

    Blood spurted out of his mouth.

    Before he could be pushed back any further, Kohei moved his hand that was holding his bloody red sword.

    Shwaaaaa!

    [The Curse God''s Greed for Blood.]

    [Exchange your HP with your opponent''s HP.]

    [Using the Curse God''s Greed for Blood will risk all of your stats reducing back to 1.]

    However, before Kohei could celebrate, the next notification made his brows furrow further.

    [The Curse God''s Greed for Blood has failed.]

    The Curse God''s Greed for Blood could only be used thrice per day. It was both an effective and risky skill.

    Kohei once again tried the skill on the Frying Pan Man User in front of him.

    [The Curse God''s Greed for Blood.]

    [Exchange your HP with your opponent''s HP.]

    [Using the Curse God''s Greed for Blood will risk all of your stats reducing back to 1.]

    [The Curse God''s Greed for Blood has failed.]

    ''What the hell!''

    Now he was sure. All abnormal status and conditions wereid to waste in front of Minhyuk.

    ''How in the world¡­¡­!''

    He was not sure what he would do after, but he was sure of one thing. If he did not recover now, then he would die with a single sh.

    When Minhyuk moved to attack him again, Kohei made a split-second decision and turned his skill towards the soldier beside him.

    [The Curse God''s Greed for Blood.]

    [Exchange your HP with your opponent''s HP.]

    [All of your stats have been reduced to 1.]

    [The exchange was sessful.]

    "Keuuaaaaack!"

    The soldier beside him screamed and rolled on the floor while Kohei''s wounds recovered at a speed visible to the naked eye.

    "FXcking shXt¡­.."

    Kohei''s brows furrowed as he made a decision.

    In the future, I''ll have to find a way to fight without the curses.

    His ''The One Who Corrupts'' skill was a skill that would rot his opponents skin the moment he touched them. And his ''Curse God''s Roar'' skill was a skill that would reduce his opponents attack power and hit rate by 40%. But even though he had these great skills, all of them were useless in front of Minhyuk. In other words, Minhyuk was his worst enemy to match up to.

    ''No, I can still win¡­¡­!''

    In fact, even though all of his skills were taken out, his sheer force would still be at least at Lv280. In truth, his sheer force should be at Lv300 but the Cursed Knight''s skills needed a lot of MP so he invested in his WIS for quite a bit. But his raw power was still at Lv280. It was more than enough for him to overpower a man with just his physical strength and skills.

    ''What''s more, he''s still low-leveled¡­¡­.''

    If he lost to him, then Kohei wouldn''t be able to show his face around anymore.

    "Hoo!"

    Minhyuk took a deep breath. Varen and Lute were looking straight at him. Before they knew it, they were already released from the Blind Man''s Despair.

    "Go ahead."

    Lute was left speechless when he saw him fight.

    ''W, what kind of chef is this¡­¡­.?!''

    As soon as he regained his sight, Lute saw Kohei the Cursed Knight. He was quite a well-known figure but Minhyuk was trampling him right now.

    ''I, I was apanying some ridiculously strong people¡­¡­!''

    Genie who could keep more than ten archers all on her own and Minhyuk who could easily push back Kohei!

    "I understand!"

    Lute could also be considered as a high-leveled user. In addition, not many people could follow his arrows and his uracy was top notch.

    He quickly ran away with Varen as the soldiers moved to pursue them.

    The moment Minhyuk tried to attack the soldiers¡­

    ng!

    Just as Minhyuk tried to attack the soldiers, Kohei moved to intercept him. Before he could even take another step¡­

    Shwaaaa!

    Kohei¡¯s sword quickly shed at him.

    Swoosh!

    Vwooom!

    A gap was created and Kohei¡¯s sword was able to strike down at him from above.

    The moment Minhyuk entered his attacking range, Kohei felt something¡­

    ¡®I caught you¡­¡­!¡¯

    His sword was the epic grade Sword of Destruction! A direct hit on an armor would even create an armor break effect. However, this sword required the user to have a higher attacking power than the defensive power. But it was still enough to break the defenses and put any armor to pieces.

    Once I break his armor, his armor will fall down into pieces and I¡¯ll be able to kill him all at once!

    But¡­

    Scratch, scratch, scratch!

    The armor did not break apart and only a small line was created on top of it.

    ¡®......How high is this armor¡¯s defensive power?!¡¯

    Kohei¡¯s eyes widened in disbelief.

    ¡°Step.¡±

    Minhyuk quickly narrowed the distance between them. Right now, he could take two steps and attack at the same time.

    Kohei was caught in surprise when he saw him move a distance of 1m in a blink of an eye. What was more surprising to him was the sword that stabbed through him in a sh.

    ng!

    The first strike was blocked with his amazing reflexes but the second strike was an entirely different matter.

    Stab!

    ¡°Keuheob!¡±

    Kohei staggered back.

    ¡®Crazy¡­¡­ Why is he so talented?!¡¯

    He fought Rovan quite often so he believed that Minhyuk who defeated him was someone who was easy to trample on if they ever fought. But now that he was fighting him, he realized how great Minhyuk¡¯s talent was.

    But he wouldn¡¯t be called Kohei if he faltered here!

    A powerful force slowly gathered in his sword.

    [Curse God¡¯s Roar!]

    [A powerful Ghost¡¯s Curse will pressure the enemy and explode once the attack is sessful.]

    Huge skeletons popped out behind Kohei that flew up in the air and shot straight towards Minhyuk. Each and every skeleton had weapons like swords, axes, and spears in their hands.

    [Kihehehehehehe!]

    [Kihihihihihihihihihi!]

    ng, ng!

    ng, ng!

    While preventing their attack, a sword flew past Minhyuk¡¯s defences.

    At that moment¡­

    Baaaaaang!

    A powerful explosion erupted that caused Minhyuk to fly back.

    ¡°Kgghk!¡±

    Almost 20% of his HP was cut down in a sh.

    The skeletons approached him once again as Kohei narrowed the distance between them.

    Baaang!

    Another strike flew past his defences and Minhyuk rolled on the floor to negate the effects. Minhyuk hurriedly stood up and used Rampant Sword.

    [Rampant Sword.]

    [One strike will result in 7 powerful strikes with an additional 35% damage.]

    sh!

    aaash!

    aaaaash!

    The flurry of swords passed through the skeletons. The power behind the sword was so huge that the skeletons couldn¡¯t withstand it. In the end, the skeletons broke down into pieces, scattered in the air and disappeared.

    Minhyuk hurriedly took a chocte bar out of his inventory and ate it.

    Fwiiiish!

    [Absorption Transition]

    [A chance to recover 30~40% of your HP.]

    Minhyuk¡¯s body recovered rapidly. After eating the chocte bar, he exhaled loudly.

    ¡®I should finish this fast.¡¯

    His Absorption Transition would not be avable for the time being. In addition, he did not know when the enemies woulde. And they might evene in droves. Minhyuk had realized that the longer their fight dragged on, the more disadvantageous the situation he was in. Kohei also seemed to realize the same.

    Right now, their fight was broadcasted all over the country with plenty of real-timements flooding in.

    [lkvkjk313: Wow, Kohei¡¯s being volleyed! Cider! Kyaa!]

    [glfqada: ??? Isn¡¯t Kohei winning?]

    [BestSight: Hehehehe. I think he is. But I think that person is the Frying Pan Killer.]

    [bqwdl3: fck. The Frying Pan Killer was just in the Shrieking Hills a few days ago. How is he fighting with Kohei now? Can you raise your level by over 80 levels in just a few days?]

    And even though the Ares Guild was quite confident in their victory, the other users watching the live broadcast were debating over whether they would win or not.

    [bdfklfgfgl: But now that I¡¯ve read what other people thought of. I think he really is the Frying Pan Killer. Right?]

    [TingtingTaengTaeng: Yeye. I think he¡¯s the Frying Pan Killer too. There was a screenshot of him being in the Land of Salovs near Raven Vige just earlier. I think it was him since he used that Bbiiiiii cry in there.]

    [PoopyAnt: Hehehehe, Frying Pan Killer? I think he¡¯s just a high-leveled user who¡¯s cosying as the Frying Pan Killer. Does leveling up that fast in a short amount of time even make sense? If he¡¯s really the Frying Pan Killer then I¡¯ll delete my character right now. Hehe. Let¡¯s take a ss right now.]

    [Calcal: Oh. I¡¯m taking a ss of the delete character.]

    [OleCole: I¡¯m also taking a ss!]

    And the two men who did not know anything about the bet¡­

    Kohei prepared for hisst strike. ck energy blew out of Kohei¡¯s body as his veins slowly expanded as it began to fill with ck blood. His sword also slowly became ck. He shed his sword and a ck current flew straight towards Minhyuk.

    This was one of Kohei¡¯s most powerful attacks.

    [Curse God¡¯s Battle]

    [A powerful curse that can destroy everything.]

    Shwaaaaaaa!

    Minhyuk keenly felt that he would not be able to dodge the speeding ck current. He quickly took out the frying pan hanging on his back!

    If I can¡¯t avoid it then I will stop it!

    [Frying Pan Gigantification.]

    [You can adjust the size of your frying pan depending on the mana that you will input.]

    Minhyuk¡¯s frying pan turnedrge enough to cover his body.

    The moment the ck current and Minhyuk¡¯s frying pan collided¡­

    Baaaang!

    A loud sound shook the heavens and earth and a thick amount of dust flew in the air!

    Kohei knew¡­

    ¡®Crazy! I can¡¯t believe that the Curse God¡¯s Battle can¡¯t even break through his frying pan¡­¡­!¡¯

    Usually, if the Curse God¡¯s Battle struck at an artifact, it was just normal for the artifact¡¯s durability to drop to zero all at once. But the man in front of him sessfully defended himself with a frying pan.

    The moment the ck current disappeared¡­

    Shwaaaa!

    Minhyuk¡¯s sword pierced through the thick dust flying around and stabbed at Kohei¡¯s abdomen.

    Kohei looked down at his bloody abdomen and spat out¡­

    ¡°......FXcker?!¡±

    Then, his body crumbled down.

    The battle was finally over.

    Minhyuk quickly turned around to follow behind Varen and Lute.

    Back to the real-timements section!

    [dgsfad: The frying pan of the Frying Pan Killer bes gigantic. Certification, done! Yeye.]

    [gadfb24: PoopyAnt-nim, you have to delete character. (Photo)]

    [zzdwaql235: Here¡¯s a receipt too! (Photo)]

    [Kellog: Congrattions~ Delete Character~ Congrattions~ Congrattions on your character¡¯s deletion~]

    [CurryTheBest: Character deletion. Congrats, congrats. Receipts needed! You are quite bra¡­. No. I¡¯ll p you on the knee! I¡¯ll hit it for you!]

    [PoopyAnt: ¡­...OMG?]

    The user with the nickname PoopyAnt looked like he was left speechless.

    ***

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Sorry pal, you should never, EVER bet against Minhyuk. He will somehow prove you wrong.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 124 - Reunion

    Chapter 124: Reunion

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Varen looked like he was about to keel over with the continuous running that they were doing. Of course, the same was true for Lute who was protecting him.

    ¡°Heook. Heook.¡±

    Varen was already shaking with anxiety.

    He could hear the woman that apanied them and the chef named Minhyuk dying by themselves just to protect him.

    The woman, Genie, was clearly someone strong but she still would not be able to deal with a lot of enemies alone.

    And there was Minhyuk¡­

    ¡®No matter how strong he is¡­¡¯

    The man named Kohei looked like he possessed such a strong power and ability.

    Varen bit his lips hard.

    ¡°Please don¡¯t worry too much. Your Highness.¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    ¡°Us foreigners are immortals. We cane back to life even if we die.¡±

    ¡°......Ah. That¡¯s right!¡±

    Only then did a small smile grazed Varen¡¯s chapped lips.

    I will repay them and do anything I can do for them if I evere back alive!

    At that moment¡­

    ¡°Your Highness!¡±

    Lute quickly flew to his side to cover him and protect him away from harm¡¯s way. Five arrows flew towards them. He quickly whipped the dagger out of his waist as he split and parried the arrows that wereing for them.

    sh!

    Tak!

    Bang!

    However, one of the arrows flew towards Varen¡¯s shoulders. Lute hurriedly pulled Varen behind him.

    Thud!

    ¡°Kgghk!¡±

    ¡°B, boy¡­...!¡±

    Varen felt distressed as soon as he saw him groaning in pain. Lute quickly snapped the arrow off of his shoulders.

    Spurt!

    ¡°Hoo!¡±

    A fight was inevitable now. There were five soldiers on their tail!

    He quickly pulled his bow out. He nocked an arrow and red fiercely at the iing enemies.

    Swoosh!

    Swoosh!

    Swoosh!

    The arrows flew in the air once more.

    ¡®My MP is gone now.¡¯

    There was only one way left for them.

    ¡®I only have my talents left¡­¡­!¡¯

    He pulled his bow hard then he shot his own arrow against the flying arrows.

    Twang!

    Bang!

    His arrow countered the first arrow! Then, he quickly took a step back, nocked an arrow and pulled the strings of his bow!

    Twang!

    Bang!

    An enormous hit rate and a quick reload!

    Bang!

    The remaining arrow struck on one of the trees surrounding them.

    Lute could easily and quickly analyze the trajectory of the arrows. He did not waste any breath on those that he deemed would miss or be easily broken by the wind. He never stopped with his bow while he continued to walk away.

    Two arrows¡­

    Twang!

    Flew at an astonishing speed and prated a soldier hiding in the thickets.

    Stab!

    ¡°Keuaaack!¡±

    And another one¡­

    Twang!

    Stab!

    ¡°Keuuaaaaa!¡±

    Lute easily shot two people in one breath. He calmly scanned his surroundings for more danger while Varen looked at him with surprise.

    ¡®Lute is someone who just came to us not too long ago.¡¯

    Perhaps this was the reason why Varen did not know much about him and his skills.

    But Lute, who had a not-so-special job ss in Athenae, was someone who had a splendid career in reality. He was a former gold-medalist in archery and was once an olympic hopeful. Currently, he felt like he was a dead man after being paralyzed from the waist down due to a traffic ident. He was only ying Athenae to feel alive once more. For him, Athenae was a new world that could allow him to let his arrows fly once more.

    Twang!

    One of the strongest arrows, the fire arrow, flew straight at them. The fire arrow was an arrow that was engulfed in zing mes and could deal a lot of damage to any opponent. However, Lute pulled his bow and shot these arrows. The fire arrows were destroyed right in front of them!

    Crackle!

    The remnants of the fire arrow fell down uselessly.

    What an amazing ability!

    He quickly nocked an arrow on his bow with a solemn and fierce look on his face.

    ¡®My MP is only enough to use one skill. I should kill one with my skill and the other with just my sheer force.¡¯

    If he used his skill to pierce the neck of his enemy then he could kill them in one breath.

    [Vital Shot!]

    [An arrow aimed straight at a vital point.]

    The arrow whistled through and pierced the enemy straight on his neck!

    Spurt!

    The enemy could not even shriek before he died. As soon as one enemy died, he quickly stretched his bow and aimed.

    Twang!

    An arrow flew once more. This arrow also skillfully prated another enemy¡¯s neck.

    Swoosh!

    Suddenly, an arrow came flying straight towards Lute¡¯s head.

    ¡®......Damn it! I can¡¯t avoid this one.¡¯

    His brows furrowed as cold sweat dripped down from his forehead.

    ¡°Your Highness, make sure that you return home alive!¡±

    Lute firmly believed that he would be forced to log out once he finished his words to Varen.

    At that moment¡­

    Crackle, fwoosh!

    A huge me burned the arrow that was flying straight at him.

    ¡°......heok?!¡±

    Lute was caught in surprise.

    It was because the zing me that stopped his arrow was a man. Not long after, the fire that engulfed the man slowly diminished until the fire was put out. The man turned around, raised his straw hat with the tip of his index finger and grinned at him.

    ¡°Ooooooooooh! I was like the real Ace just now!¡±

    ¡°Tsk, tsk, tsk. Is that really our Ace?¡±

    Mysterious and unknown people slowly began to emerge one by one. They were wearing a dazzling array of artifacts. Then, the man who looked like he was a fighter talked to him¡­

    ¡°Wow. Nim, Aren¡¯t you very talented with the bow? And you¡¯ve only used your skills once. How did you do that?¡±

    ¡°I agree. That was really cool.¡±

    All of them were praising him and giving him some sort of admiring nces.

    ¡°Ah, aaaaaah. Yes. Th, thank you.¡±

    But Lute still did not let his guard down.

    Who in the world are they? Are they our enemies or are they our allies?

    This was the question that was running through his head.

    Then, the man who looked like a fighter, Khan, spoke once more.

    ¡°Where¡¯s Genie?¡±

    ¡°Genie?¡±

    Lute was quite confused.

    Genie? Who is Genie?

    No one with that nickname was apanying him but there was a user with a simr nickname around him.

    ¡°Are you talking about Ronny?¡±

    ¡°Yes. The one whoughs a lot and will like you if you threw her something to eat. The crazydy with the whip.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­ The crazydy with the whip¡­¡­ It seems like it really is Ronny-nim but¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Ronny is the Genie that I was talking about.¡±

    Genie would always use the nickname ¡°Ronny¡± whenever she wanted to hide her identity.

    Lute finally understood.

    ¡®Are they Genie-nim¡¯srades?¡¯

    He just heard it in passing a while back but he did hear Genie tell Varen that she would call her guild members!

    ¡°Ah. What about the guy with the frying pan?¡±

    ¡°Ah. Are you talking about Minhyuk-nim?¡±

    ¡°Yes. That damn¡­ No, that friend.¡±

    When Khan smiled at him, Lute answered him as he pointed behind him.

    ¡°He¡¯s fighting with Kohei over there.¡±

    ¡°Aha!¡±

    Then, another man spoke up.

    ¡°A friend of mine just sent a whisper to me. They said that Minhyuk-nim just won against Kohei?¡±

    ¡°......Is that the truth?!¡±

    It was Lute who reacted to his words first instead of Khan.

    ¡°For real?!¡±

    ¡°Ah. Yes.¡±

    Lute smiled and breathed a sigh of relief as the man nodded his head to confirm the news.

    ¡®I, I can¡¯t believe Minhyuk-nim won against Kohei¡­¡­!¡¯

    He clenched his fists tightly.

    At that moment, Khan spoke to him¡­

    ¡°Please wave your hand over here and say hello.¡±

    ¡°Yes? Are there more enemies?¡±

    ¡°No. We¡¯re doing a live broadcast right now.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Right. That¡¯s right. Wait¡­¡­¡±

    Lute wanted to have his face mosaiced but since the situation was very urgent and hectic, hepletely forgot that they were in a live broadcast.

    ¡°I think the real-timements are going crazy right now.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure all 20 million Athenae yers across the country will be amazed with your superb archery skills.¡±

    Lute might be confused with his words but it was the truth. Thements section was really all over the ce.

    [gaddl3: Wow. Did you see him shoot those arrows? That was so sick¡­...!]

    [ChubbyBrothers: Kya! Have you seen him hit that Lv300 soldier ss boss at the neck and killed them instantly?!]

    [HeavenlyArcher: ¡­...How can he even counter and offset those arrows by hitting them with his own arrows¡­¡­ So cool¡­¡­]

    However, Lute just looked around nkly as he asked¡­

    ¡°But, when are the rest of your guild members going to arrive?¡±

    ¡°The rest of our guild members?¡±

    ¡°Ar, are these all of you?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Khan answered him confidently as the others on the back spoke up.

    ¡°Ah. Are there too many of us?¡±

    ¡°I think ten of us are enough. I¡¯ll take a nap so wake me up when you need me.¡±

    Khan grinned.

    ¡°Ah. Don¡¯t worry. We¡¯re good enough.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s your guild name, by the way?¡±

    Lute wondered if they were one of the top guilds since they were quite confident with their strength.

    Then Khan said¡­

    ¡°Legend.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ***

    Team Leader Lee Taejin almost shrieked out in excitement.

    The live broadcast was spreading through the inte and his view counts were rising rapidly. It was because of what the King of Fists, Khan, said a while ago.

    [Legend.]

    It was a word that created huge waves. It was an even greater wavepared to when all of the Ares Guild refused to mosaic their faces. All of the members of the Legend Guild also refused to mosaic their faces!

    [zkkdl3: Legend?! Th, they really came out!]

    [blkad313: What¡¯s this. Will Ares and Legend y against each other? Sounds fun. Hehehehe.]

    [LegendNumberOne: OMG, OMG? Aren¡¯t the two of them at odds with each other? The GM-nim of Ares was so anxious to catch and kill off Legend, right.]

    [Enjoyable: Wow¡­¡­ The 4 Greatest Guild¡¯s Ares vs. the Unofficial Rankers Guild¡­¡­! This is gonna be sick!]

    Then, Team Leader Park said¡­

    ¡°But why are you so quiet?¡±

    ¡°......What?¡±

    ¡°We betted coffee for a month so Team Leader Lee should buy us a cup of coffee for a month starting now.¡±

    ¡°OK. I¡¯ll buy you a cup of coffee for a month. But is that even important right now? Look at everyone¡¯s reactions!¡±

    This was the victory of the Frying Pan Killer that no one even expected! And the Archer¡¯s brilliant talent, ability and skill in archery! At the same time, the guild members of the Legend Guild appeared one after the other!

    He believed that this would bring forth a huge promotional effect for them.

    Right now, there was only one real sh that was left.

    Team Leader Lee Taejin¡¯s eyes swiftly turned towards the monitor.

    The monitor was showing the Ares Guild and their guild members along with the troops from Cordis Empire surrounding Genie.

    ***

    10 minutes ago.

    Genie was collecting the blood of all of the hidden archers and users swiftly. Her speed was so fast that no one could even keep up with her even if they were using the terrain as their cover.

    Swish!

    Her whipshed off, splitting and hitting several soldiers hidden behind a bush in one fell swoop.

    sh!

    sh!

    ¡°Keuaaack!¡±

    ¡°Ugh, aaaaack!¡±

    At that moment, her guild chatting window popped out.

    [Guild Chatting Khan: We¡¯re almost there.]

    [Guild Master Genie: Come quickly. This noona is dying!]

    [Guild Chatting Locke: Noona? Did you say noona? Which one?]

    [Guild Master Genie: Oppa^^ can you pleasee quickly?]

    [Guild Chatting Locke: Y, you must really be in a hurry. We get it. We¡¯ll be right there. But more importantly this is live. Do you want us to reveal who we are?]

    When she saw his reply, she thought deeply. In all honesty, she did not expect them to suddenly have a live broadcast for the update. But she believed that this was an opportunity.

    ¡®It¡¯s an opportunity to show the people what Legend Guild is made of.¡¯

    Of course, it was still a double-edged sword. If they failed, people mightugh at them and say¡­ ¡®Ah, Legend? They weren¡¯t much, huh?¡¯. However, if they seeded then they would be able to garner a huge amount of trust and a great response towards their guild.

    [Guild Master Genie: Reveal. Let¡¯s show them who we are.]

    [Guild Chatting Khan: OK. Huh? I think we found King Varen. And he¡¯s together with an archer user. I think we have to save them first before wee to you. We¡¯ll be right there.]

    Khan ended their guild chat after leaving those words.

    ¡®Our guild members will take good care of Lute-nim and His Highness Varen.¡¯

    It was a relief to see them work.

    Then, she suddenly realized something.

    ¡®Where is Minhyuk?¡¯

    Lute and Varen were there. She did not understand where Minhyuk went.

    Just as she was about to move forward, she saw a huge force blocking her way. Genie quickly triggered her skill and her whip was awashed with a bright white glow.

    [Sword-like Whip.]

    [Your whip can cut down your enemies in one fell swoop.]

    Swish!

    Swoosh!

    ¡°Keuaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaack!¡±

    The people who had been shed by her whip fell down with blood spurting from their bodies. They looked like they were shed by a sword with the injuries that they sustained.

    Right at that moment¡­

    Bang!

    A man suddenly appeared in the air and fell down right in front of Genie. The impact when hended was so powerful that the ground even cracked. Genie was so startled that she couldn¡¯t help but take a step back.

    The man was at least 2m tall with short hair and a shaggy beard. He was wearing a leather armor and a rusty greatsword on his back.

    As soon as the mannded, a notification rang in her head.

    [The Most Powerful Men. Rumad has appeared!]

    [You have met one of the Most Powerful Men as your enemy.]

    [Abnormal State. Extreme Fear has been triggered.]

    [Extreme Fear has reduced all of your stats by 20%.]

    [Extreme Fear has reduced your attack hit rate by 20%.]

    [Whoever hunts and kills one of the Most Powerful Men will gain plenty of rewards.]

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Abnormal status! Ehhh, I hope she can hold out until reinforcement arrives! Also¡­ countdown to their reunion!!!!

    PR¡¯s corner!

    It¡¯s getting real. Now, who do we know who is now immune to status conditions...

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 125 - Reunion

    Chapter 125: Reunion

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    ¡°......M, most powerful men.¡±

    Her body trembled slightly, not because she was under the abnormal state, Extreme Fear, but because there was a powerful man in front of her!

    If she hunted this man sessfully then she would be able to receive and gain tremendous reputation and fame, she would be able to level up quickly and she would also receive plenty of artifacts.

    Athenae once opened an information page about the Most Powerful Men of the continent.

    The Great Mage Rafielt.

    The Imperial Sword Rumad.

    The Iron Blooded Monarch, Overlord and the likes.

    Among those, Rumad was the eight and the weakest. However, even if the Imperial Sword Rumad was the weakest among all of the Most Powerful Men, he was still a huge powerhouse. And encountering the eight of the Most Powerful Men only meant one thing¡­

    ¡®We don¡¯t know yet, but he will definitely drop an epic artifact at the very least and even a legendary artifact at the most.¡¯

    In addition, if they were able to hunt such a powerhouse, then the name of the Legend Guild would skyrocket and be well-known.

    She gripped the handle of her whip tightly.

    "I didn''t know that such an eye candy could be so strong!"

    Shwaaaaaaa!

    Her whip elongated as she used one of her skills.

    [Howling Whip.]

    [A whip covered with zing mes. Can melt anything down.]

    Shwaaaa!

    She brandished her whip strongly. The whip that was swaying strongly turned into a firebird that could easily burn things down.

    Crackle!

    At that moment, Rumad took out his greatsword and held it with both of his hands. Then, a strong force gushed out and engulfed the sword.

    ¡°Haaa!¡±

    He struck the whip that was flying around wildly with his sword.

    sh!

    His power was so great that the phoenix-like incarnation fell down the ground without putting up any fight at all.

    ¡°......!¡±

    Genie staggered back as she looked at him in surprise.

    ¡®Hi, his strength is really overwhelming!¡¯

    What was worse was that Rumad did not use any swordsmanship skill. He could easily break and block her skills with just his sheer force.

    He quickly narrowed the distance between the two of them.

    ¡°Lady, you¡¯re using some pretty rough whip there. It might be good to use it at night!¡±

    ¡°This perverted bas¡­¡­¡±

    Before she could even finish her words, Rumad had already kicked her strongly.

    Bang!

    ¡°Kggghk!¡±

    She flew back in a sh and ended up rolling around on the floor to negate the huge force. Her HP dropped by 15% in an instant!

    ¡®Crazy¡­¡­!¡¯

    Such a crazy damage.

    Before she realized it¡­

    Run, run, run, run!

    Run, run, run, run!

    Run, run, run, run!

    She was already surrounded by a crowd. There was one man among them that she could recognize.

    It was Ares.

    Ares was grinning broadly. His mouth was quirked so wide that it almost looked like it would rip apart.

    Finally! The time hase for me to kill Genie!

    He even brought Ares Guild¡¯s first, second and third best raid leaders to this fight.

    ¡°Kill her!¡±

    Ares was a man who never yed fair and square. Rumad turned around as if he had lost interest once Ares and his guild members had arrived.

    ¡°Tch!¡±

    Genie bit her lips hard as she swung her whip fiercely.

    Shwaa!

    Shwaaa!

    Ares only brought 50 of his guild members since there was a limit to how much people could ept the quest. Except for those who had died earlier, there were still at least 30 people left. In addition, there was a 50-man troop that was apanying them on this quest.

    Genie had no choice but to use her most powerful skill just to get a bit of a leeway for her safety.

    [Scattered Whip.]

    [Dozens of whips will fly and sh at a rapid pace!]

    Shwa, shwa, shwa, shwa, shwa, shwa, shwa, shwa, shwa, shwa!

    The whip was swaying wildly and quickly in the air that it only left afterimages after cutting down one enemy after the other. Even Ares and his raid leaders couldn¡¯t easily approach her.

    ¡®This skill definitely eats a lot of MP¡­¡­¡¯

    After using this skill, Genie had almost zero MP left.

    Shwa, shwa, shwa, shwa!

    Once her skill time ended, Genie heaved a huge sigh.

    The dust finally settled and the terrible scene of the surroundings was seen. Corpses of both the users and the soldiers of the troop were littered everywhere.

    ¡°Hoo.¡±

    Rumad looked at her with mild appreciation.

    Meanwhile, Ares, who only suffered from minor injuries, quickly narrowed the distance between him and Genie.

    [Lightning Kick.]

    [Quickly attack the enemy six times with a fast kick.]

    Ares¡¯ feet glowed blue as he jumped up to deliver a powerful kick.

    The other raid leaders also jumped up to join the fray. Valk, the raid leader who had the ability to transform into a beast, transformed into a lion and shot forward with a kick of his front foot.

    [Beast Roar.]

    [Tear your enemy apart with your strong front paws.]

    And that wasn¡¯t the end of it all, the other two raid leaders alsounched their strong skills.

    [Quick Draw!]

    [Cut your enemy down with all of your strength.]

    [Death Scythe]

    [A powerful scythe will cut down your enemy in one breath.]

    Shwaaa!

    Swooooong!

    Hwaaaaa!

    As she looked at all the iing attacks, Genie felt it keenly¡­

    ¡®It¡¯s the end for me.¡¯

    Then¡­ At that moment, a man suddenly jumped in front of her from a distance.

    [Frying Pan Gigantification.]

    [You can adjust the size of your frying pan depending on the mana that you will input.]

    It was Minhyuk!

    Minhyuk quickly came running when he heard Genie¡¯s voice. He realized that she was nearby so he ran to her to give aid.

    He quickly used the Mahava¡¯s Ring¡¯s absorption skill on Ares¡¯ attack.

    [Absorption.]

    [You have a 50% chance of sess or failure.]

    [Lightning Skill has been sessfully absorbed.]

    [You can use the absorbed skill once within 10 minutes.]

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    Ares, who was gaining momentum from above ground, had no choice but tond.

    Then the katana collided with Minhyuk¡¯s frying pan.

    aang!

    ¡°......?!¡±

    ¡°Crazy¡­¡­! How can a frying pan have such a high defensive power?!¡±

    There was only a slight dent on the ce where the katana collided with the frying pan. However, what was so surprising was the fact that he used 80% of his attack power in that attack. Usually, one would need at least two frying pans to block that attack.

    Then, Minhyuk heard a notification.

    [The Frying Pan¡¯s durability has dropped below 20%.]

    Minhyuk frowned.

    ¡®He¡¯s quite strong¡­¡­¡¯

    Rankers are truly different. He already made my frying pan useless in just one hit.

    Minhyuk quickly hung the frying pan on his back. Just as he kept the frying pan, Valk, the user who transformed into a lion charged at him and hit him with his front paws.

    ¡°Eop!¡±

    Thanks to his reflexes, Minhyuk was able to tilt his head away. However, Valk¡¯s front paws still ended up hitting his Armor of Immortality.

    [Physical Damage Reflection!]

    [Returns the physical damage with a x2 increase in strength.]

    Bang!

    ¡°Keuaaaaaah!¡±

    Valk screamed at the searing pain when his chest got torn. The image of a lion was carved on his flesh as blood gushed out from the wounds.

    Minhyuk did not miss the gap and grasped the opportunity.

    [Lightning Kick.]

    [Quickly attack the enemy six times with a fast kick.]

    He jumped up as his legs glowed blue. Then¡­

    Vwooom!

    The lion was shrieking loudly when hended a spinning kick on him. He attacked Valk!

    Bang!

    Valk couldn¡¯t even open his eyes and wake up after being hit by the Lightning Kick. However, it did not end with just that single kick. Five more kicks followed in session.

    Kick!

    Bang!

    Thud!

    m!

    His bones were fractured every time his body took a clean hit.

    [Your HP has dropped below 10%.]

    Valk couldn¡¯t move a single muscle.

    And for the final kick¡­

    Baaang!

    He was hit cleanly on the face, flew backwards and was forced to log out.

    ¡°Heok¡­¡­!¡±

    Ares let out a startled shout. He couldn¡¯t believe his eyes. The skill that forced Valk to log out was his own skill, Lightning Kick!

    At that moment, a powerful death envoy holding a scythe was finally able tond a blow on Genie. It was the attack made by the scythe-wielding user!

    ¡°Kggghk!¡±

    Her body staggered and she was forced to take a few steps back as she lost more than 40% of her HP.

    Minhyuk quickly went back to her side.

    ¡°Wh, what is this¡­ You¡¯re quite strong.¡±

    Genie was deeply shocked by the scene she had seen earlier. She had no choice but to be shocked. Minhyuk¡¯s strength was far more formidable than what she had imagined.

    ¡°Ronny-nim too.¡±

    However, there was nothing else that Minhyuk could show right now. There were a lot of enemies surrounding them and he was even the lowest in terms of level.

    I was only able to withstand it because of my artifact¡¯s effect!

    ¡°Damn bitch!¡±

    Ares gritted his teeth in anger.

    In the end, he still was not able to kill her.

    Before he could evenunch another attack, Ares felt that his body was slowly floating in the air.

    ¡°Nim. Heyo!¡±

    Ares saw a man following his floating body then he saw the man lift his foot high up. Then...

    [Giant¡¯s Step.]

    [A huge foot will crush your enemies all at once.]

    The man¡¯s foot that was up in the air suddenly grew in size. It was at least 3m if you look at it closely.

    ¡°Heok!¡±

    Ares, who was still floating in the air, instinctively crossed his arms in a defensive position.

    At that moment¡­

    The man¡¯s foot stomped down on Ares!

    Baaaaaaaaaam!

    Ares was flung straight down towards the ground.

    ¡°Ack!¡±

    He vomited a mouthful of blood.

    Suddenly, other people popped out one by one.

    ¡°Keuhahahahaha. Bring them down! Bring them down!¡±

    ¡°Sigh. This crazy punk. He went batshit crazy again¡­¡­¡±

    Locke, the Crazy Priest who was just crazilyughing a bit earlier, rushed towards Luma. Luma was the 2nd raid leader of Ares Guild, the one whounched the Quick Draw on Genie.

    ¡°Keuhahaha! You¡¯ve never seen anyone like me before, right? Let this hyung give you a heal!¡±

    Just when his axe hit the man¡­

    Puhaaaaa!

    [Crazy Priest¡¯s Heal.]

    [Continuous Bleeding has been triggered.]

    ¡°Heok!¡±

    Luma could see the blood continuously flowing down from his arm. This was caused by the injury inflicted on him by the axe and the weird heal that he had received from the Crazy Priest.

    [You¡¯re bleeding.]

    [You will be temporarily dizzy.]

    Luma suddenly felt his head start to go numb and fuzzy. Along with the burst of dizziness, Locke struck him down from head to toe.

    sh! Smash! m!

    ¡°Heal, heal, heal! How is it? Do you think you¡¯re healing? Keuhahahahahaha!¡±

    ¡°Noona, are you alright?¡±

    Crackle, fwoosh!

    Ace, who was covered in zing mes, approached Genie.

    ¡°I bought you a potion!¡±

    It was a top-notch potion that cost about 10 million gold!

    Ace handed the potion over to Genie. Genie quickly gulped down the potion. After he handed the potion to Genie, Ace quickly moved away.

    [Hell¡¯s me Horse]

    [The horse covered in zing mes from hell can easily burn down all of your enemies in one fell swoop.]

    ¡°Hihihing!¡±

    A huge fire horse sprang up from the ground and charged towards the enemies. As soon as it made contact with the enemy users and soldiers, its mes quickly engulfed them and burned them to ashes.

    ¡°Aaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaack!¡±

    With the agonized screams of their enemies as their background, the members of the Legend Guild surrounded Genie and asked her about her situation.

    ¡°Where did our flower piggy get hurt?¡±

    ¡°You damn punk! Who¡¯s your damn flower piggy? I¡¯ll make you into a flower piggy, stab a knife in your body and throw away your pork belly!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaah. Wait. Our pretty GM-nim¡¯s face is ruined!¡±

    The guild members of Legend Guild that popped out from all over the ce started attacking the soldiers and user enemies.

    Ares was left in shock.

    ¡®Damn crazy¡­¡­!¡¯

    He knew that Legend Guild was a ce where unofficial rankers were gathered. He thought that it wouldn¡¯t make any difference since he brought his elite force with him but it wasn¡¯t the case at all. Each one of them were at least in the top 100 of their chosen job ss.

    Twaang!

    An arrow pierced the neck of the soldier that was standing next to Ares.

    ¡®Th, this is a live broadcast¡­ those sons of bitches!¡¯

    At this rate, it will be impossible¡­ I only have one hope!

    He turned his head around and looked at the Imperial Sword Rumad. Rumad was now slowly beginning to move.

    And Minhyuk¡­

    ¡°......What the hell. You.¡±

    He was flustered when he saw the faces of Khan and Locke. They closely resembled the faces of his friends back in middle school. He shook his head to clear out the messy thoughts in his head.

    What about Ronnie who¡¯s standing next to me? Come to think of it, I thought her voice was so familiar.

    He turned around to look at Genie with confusion stered on his face. Then, he saw Genie grinning at him widely.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. I¡¯m one of the two great pigs in the mountains. The wild boar.¡±

    ¡°......Heok!¡±

    Minhyuk was so shocked that he fell down on his bum. Genie looked at him with a frown.

    ¡°What? What¡¯s wrong with you!¡±

    ¡°C, can a person even change so much like this?!¡±

    Genie¡¯s eyes narrowed sharply.

    ¡°Is that apliment or a curse¡­¡­¡±

    At that moment, Locke, who was easily cutting down soldiers one after another, looked back at Minhyuk.

    ¡°Keuhahahaha! Every time we see each other, we also get surprised.¡±

    Minhyuk slowly turned his head and said¡­

    ¡°Jisoo, you¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, you shithead. I¡¯m also really stro¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°You really look ugly just like what Genie said in her message¡­...! Hiiiiiik!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    For a moment there, Locke pondered if he should just split Minhyuk¡¯s head with his axe instead of his enemies.

    Then, there was the King of Fist, Khan.

    ¡°Let¡¯s congratte each other for our reunionter. Let¡¯s take care of these guys first.¡±

    He grinned at Minhyuk while Minhyuk looked at him with wide eyes.

    At that moment¡­

    ¡°Yeah. Have fun meeting again in the afterlife.¡±

    Someone shed a greatsword behind Minhyuk.

    aaaash!

    [You have been struck by a greatsword. Your defenses have been ignored.]

    [Your HP has dropped below 10%.]

    [You have been struck with a powerful blow, you are bleeding and currently struggling.]

    [If you don¡¯t recover your HP quickly, you will be forced to log out due to excessive bleeding.]

    Minhyuk¡¯s body dropped forward.

    ¡°Minhyuk-ah!¡±

    ¡°Heok!¡±

    ¡°Hiss!¡±

    Bang!

    Rumad smashed his greatsword on the ground with all his might.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it a bit sad that you forgot about me?¡±

    The members of the Legend Guild frowned at him as heughed maniacally.

    ***

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 126 - Reunion

    Chapter 126: Reunion

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Locke and Genie made eye contact.

    It was fortunate that Minhyuk was not forced to log out. However, he was bleeding all over and he even vomited blood as if his HP had run out with just a single attack.

    What kind of happy reunion is this?

    ¡°Khan, Ace. Lead three of our guild members to deal with the rest of Ares Guild.¡±

    ¡°OK!¡±

    As soon as he answered, Khan rushed forward to strike at Ares who was still trying to raise himself up.

    ¡°And for the rest of the guild members.¡±

    Genie finally gave an order.

    ¡°Let¡¯s start hunting this Boss Mob.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°Roger, flower piggy!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go! Flower piggy! Like a lightning bolt!¡±

    Some of the guild members were looking at Rumad with yful expressions on their faces but all of them were hiding their nervousness deep inside. The only reason was because they had been subjected to ¡°Extreme Fear¡± as soon as they arrived in this ce.

    What was more surprising was¡­

    ¡®The Frying Pan Killer¡­ In just one hit¡­¡¯

    It was a tremendous power indeed.

    Genie¡¯s eyes met with the spearman, Crow.

    Nod©¥

    Most of the members of Legend Guild had known each other since Versal. There were even plenty of foreigners among them. They purposely came to Korea to find Genie and y games together. These people who had worked together for quite a long time showed off their teamwork.

    Crow stomped on the ground as his spear aimed towards Rumad.

    Vwooooong!

    The spear thrust was so powerful that it sounded like the space was being ripped!

    [Spear Pistol!]

    [A powerful strike that prates the enemy¡¯s vital point!]

    Fwooooooosh!

    A powerful force flew out of the spear like a bullet fired from a gun.

    Rumad easily blocked the force with his greatsword and ran towards him with his huge body.

    ¡®Fast¡­¡­!¡¯

    Contrary to his size, Rumad was extremely fast. Genie quicklyunched an attack in an attempt to slow him down.

    Shwaa!

    Shwaaaaaa!

    ¡°Annoying pest!¡±

    Rumad grinned darkly as he quickly evaded the whip and grabbed it with his bare hands.

    At that moment¡­

    Hoooooong!

    Genie¡¯s body was dragged by the whip. Her body swayed and flew in the air. Rumad quickly dragged the whip down as he aimed his greatsword towards the falling Genie.

    At that moment, the Goddess of the Battlefield, Ascar, moved. Her silver bobbed hair moved with the wind as she gripped both of her swords tightly. She moved so fast that only an afterimage of a cold and lofty woman was left behind.

    ng!

    The distance between her and Rumad were null in just a blink of an eye. She quickly raised her swords to block the greatsword that was aimed at Genie.

    And....

    Dash!

    After blocking the sword, she quickly sidestepped, jumped off the ground and moved behind Rumad.

    ¡°Ghost Sword.¡±

    [A ghostly sword that can¡¯t be followed by the naked eye!]

    Her sword moved at a speed that couldn¡¯t be followed by anyone so easily.

    sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!

    ¡°Hmph!¡±

    Rumad let go of the whip andunched a punch at Genie.

    Punch!

    ¡°Kgghk!¡±

    Genie flew back in an arc. Then, Rumad turned around and easily blocked the iing sword attacks.

    ng, ng, ng, ng, ng, ng, ng, ng, ng!

    ¡®Crazy¡­¡­!¡¯

    Genie was shocked.

    Ascar¡¯s Ghost Sword is so fast that no one in the guild could even stop it! She is also ranked 64th in the world¡¯s swordsman¡¯s rankings.

    Ascar looked quite surprised too. In all honesty, Rumad also couldn¡¯t stop all of her attacks.

    [Your attack has failed.]

    Their abnormal condition had lowered all of their defenses and attacks by 20%. It was a bigger blow to them than what she thought earlier and Rumad''s defenses were much stronger than what they had expected. Even if they had sessfully attacked him, only a little bit of blood would fall out.

    "Heop!"

    Rumad''s sword was once again filled with strength.

    Meanwhile, the other guild members were running behind him while Ascar was distracting him. However, just as Ascar''s sword made contact with Rumad''s greatsword¡­

    Spark!

    Sparks were created in their sh.

    Then, Rumad struck the ground strongly.

    Baaaaang!

    The ground shook and trembled due to the impact of the strike. It was such a tremendous force that even the guild members that were running towards them were unable to keep their bodies upright.

    And Ascar who was nearer and took the brunt of it was left in shock.

    [Ghost Armor]

    [The ghosts in the field will protect you.]

    In just an instant, ghosts armed to the teeth with armor swarmed and clung on Ascar''s body. Ascar saw a powerful blowing straight towards her as the ground twisted and shook earlier. The ground shook and tried to swallow her down.

    Baang!

    Baaaaam!

    Spikes sprouted out from the ground one by one.

    "Kghhk!"

    Despite wearing her ghost armor she still took a huge amount of damage.

    "Ack!"

    In the end, she vomited out a mouthful of blood. Without missing any gap, Rumad closed the distance between them and swung his greatsword at her.

    sh!

    Just as Rumad shed at her with the sword¡­

    [You have been struck by a greatsword. Your defenses have been ignored.]

    [Your HP has dropped below 30%.]

    [Due to the severity of the attack, all of your stats have been reduced by 70%.]

    Her body tethered before she copsed on the ground.

    "Haaaaa¡­ Haaaa¡­ Damn! His greatsword ignores all defenses!"

    "......fXck?!"

    "You''ll be forced to log out in one strike!"

    Ignoring all defenses was a much greater ability than anyone could think of. They did not know whether it was a skill attached to the greatsword or it was a passive skill that Rumad himself had and whenever an attack woulde their way, it would automatically reduce all of their defenses and the damage would follow suit which in turn would reduce their HP. It was like the members of Legend Guild were only wearing a shabby beginner¡¯s armor in front of Rumad with how defenseless they were.

    ¡°Interesting. I can¡¯t believe that there are strong foreigners here.¡±

    Rumad smiled coldly at them. The guild members of Legend Guild suddenly paused in their tracks when they saw his chilling smile. Rumad quickly rushed to where they were.

    Meanwhile, Khan and the other guild members of Legend Guild were dealing with the rest of the forces.

    Swoosh!

    Kick!

    Khan was quickly greeted with a series of sharp kicks. Then he stepped back calmly and smiled.

    ¡°That was a pretty sharp kick.¡±

    ¡°Shut up, you bastard!¡±

    Ares quickly narrowed the distance between them. In fact, Ares truly did have a pretty sharp kick.

    [Sharp Kick]

    [A kick that could cut down your enemies.]

    Swish!

    His legs were covered with a white glow as he kicked towards Khan. Khan covered his face and upper body with his arms and escaped with just a few steps. If Ares¡¯ fighting style was akin to Taekwondo then Khan¡¯s was akin to boxing.

    Khan, who was avoiding his kicks, suddenly found a gap. With great strength, he punched at the opening. And at that moment¡­

    ¡°Caught you.¡±

    Ares grinned widely as he turned his body around. He used his most powerful kick to deal a blow towards Khan who willingly went to the opening that he had dug for him.

    Baaang!

    Khan was hit on the jaw and flew back.

    ¡°Keok!¡±

    Ares, taking this opportunity, leaped forward.

    ¡°This is my answer to your attack earlier!¡±

    His legs were suddenly covered with a sharp light.

    Bang!

    Ares kicked his abdomen with a powerful kick.

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    Khan fell down the ground as he vomited a mouthful of blood.

    ¡°Ack!¡±

    He felt that his stomach was twisting in pain. In just one attack, his HP fell down by 30%.

    ¡°A guild¡¯s GM should be able to do at least this much.¡±

    Khan spitted out the blood in his mouth with a ¡°Tch!¡±

    ¡°Ah, that¡¯s right. Did you see behind you?¡±

    ¡°Behind me?¡±

    Ares¡¯ face suddenly turned ugly.

    ¡°Your guild members and troop soldiers¡­ almost all of them are dead.¡±

    Ares furtively nced behind him, he saw his guild members who were fighting fiercely against the guild members of Legend Guild. Right now, he could see that only a few of them were missing and not all of them were dead.

    ¡°How can you say such a straight faced lie¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s a lie.¡±

    Khan closed the distance between them as his fists were charged with power.

    [Bash of Fury!]

    [Additional 20% damage to ten consecutive blows to your enemies.]

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    ¡°Keuheop! Keheok!¡±

    Khan¡¯s fist bashed at Ares¡¯ chest, his armor was even dented and crushed due to the impact of the blows.

    And the final blow¡­

    Baaaang!

    Ares flew back and was forced to log out before he could even fall down!

    ¡°A man should fight with their fists.¡±

    Khan grinned brightly as he joined his other guild members to clear the remnants of the Ares Guild.

    Meanwhile, the bounty hunter and spearman, Crow, helplessly flew back after he received the direct brunt of Rumad¡¯s attack. Genie braced her body to reduce the force that she received.

    ¡°Kgghk!¡±

    ¡°Kyaaaak!¡±

    There were two people trying to approach Rumad from behind. One of them was the Crazy Priest, Locke. Locke approached Rumad with a crazy smile on his face. Even though his job ss was a healer, he was considered to be the strongest in terms of strength and stamina among all of his guild members so he at least had great confidence in his strength.

    ¡°Oryaaaaa!¡±

    Locke swung his axe towards Rumad with all his might in an attempt to block his way and give at least a few moments of reprieve for his guild members.

    Swooosh!

    Swooooosh!

    ¡°Keuhahahahahah! Do you also want to taste my heals? Heal, heal, heal!¡±

    However, the bleeding effect of his heals could only work if his attacks were sessful.

    sh!

    Rumad smacked his axe away with his greatsword. The axe was embedded on the ground. Locke quickly forgot about his axe and hugged Rumad¡¯s waist tightly.

    ¡°I¡¯ll hold on to him so focus your attacks on him¡­...!¡±

    Let¡¯s just die together!

    This was his intention. To let his guild members focus all of their attacks while he tried to hold Rumad in a deadlock. However¡­

    ¡°Annoying.¡±

    Rumad easily removed Locke¡¯s tight grasp.

    ¡°Heok!¡±

    Then he kicked him hard.

    Bang!

    Roll, roll, roll!

    The situation had suddenly turned seriously dire.

    Legend Guild was a guild that wasposed of members that could rival official rankers. However, there was a reason why they were struggling this much. Ten kindergarten students wouldn¡¯t be able to defeat an adult after all. Their situation was exactly like that. The Legend Guild members were the ten kindergarten students while Rumad was the huge adult. And he was an adult who was well versed in fighting too.

    [Guild Master Genie: As soon as I send the signal,unch an all out attack. We don¡¯t have any other choice. Use all of your skills including the risky ones. We¡¯re going all out!]

    [Guild Chatting Locke: OK!]

    [Guild Chatting Horen: Yes!]

    Genie waited with bated breath.

    Rumad swung his greatsword with great fanfare. Every swing of his sword, her guild members would fly away in a sorry state.

    ¡°Kgghhhk!¡±

    She tried to swing her whip to block the attacks but the force was sorge that it engulfed her.

    [You have been struck by a greatsword. Your defenses have been ignored.]

    [Your HP has dropped below 50%.]

    [Your AGI has been temporarily reduced by 40%.]

    Genie was finally sure that Rumad had an ¡®ignore all defenses¡¯ passive skill.

    ¡°This is much easier than what I thought.¡±

    Rumad walked around leisurely while stroking his beard.

    The moment he walked within the range she had set, Genie¡¯s eyes gleamed brightly.

    [Sword-like Whip.]

    [Your whip can cut down your enemies in one fell swoop.]

    As soon as she started her movements, the rest of her guild members used their greatest trump cards.

    [Great Spear Boom!]

    [Ghost King Decas¡¯ Sword!]

    [Dragon Arrow!]

    [Ca¡¯s¡­¡­]

    Those were the most powerful attacks of the ten guild members!

    Rumad finally sensed danger when he saw all of their iing attacks.

    ¡®I can¡¯t avoid it.¡¯

    His greatsword was suddenly infused with a lot of energy.

    Spark, spark, spark!

    The greatsword was suddenly covered with a red glow. He swung his bloody red greatsword at the iing attacks.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    The powerful strike from the glowing sword collided with the attacks from the surroundings and created a great impact.

    Baaaang!

    Baaaaang!

    However, some attacks still struck Rumad. Once his movements were restricted, Ascar¡¯s most powerful skill, the Ghost King Decas¡¯ flew quickly and wrapped all over Rumad.

    Fwish, fwish, fwish!

    ¡°Keuaaa!¡±

    For the first time, Rumad gave out a shriek of pain.

    And the attacking skill that Crow used had a 3m radius and would only be extinguished once itnded on the target.

    Bang!

    An explosion urred near Rumad while an arrow flew at a fast pace. The arrow turned red and was covered in mes. It made a threatening sound just like a dragon using its dragon breath. This was the best skill in Lute¡¯s arsenal! He sent it out together with the rest of the attacks that the Legend Guild had sent.

    Shwaaaaaaaaaaa!

    ¡°Kgggghk!¡±

    Rumad was forced to take a step back.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    The attacksing from the members of the Legend Guild came pouring down! Once all of the attacks ended, a thickyer of dust covered the whole area.

    ¡°Heok, heok, heok, heok!¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t fight anymore¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Ah. The risk of my skill is really too much¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t even get up even if you beat me to death¡­¡­¡±

    The members of the Legend Guild really gave it their all, they even used risky skills. It was better than dying helplessly. Death for rankers was much differentpared to death for ordinary users. The penalty for being forced to log out would let other rankers overtake them. This would lead to their ce being snatched.

    All of her guild members fell down and rxed. However, Genie did not do so.

    ¡°......Did anyone get the notification for sessfully hunting Rumad?¡±

    ¡°No, No!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have it too.¡±

    ¡°But I don¡¯t have it too?¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Genie¡¯s brows furrowed.

    This is strange, why hasn¡¯t anyone heard the notification.

    This only meant one thing¡­

    They were not able to kill him off.

    ¡°Everyone, get up¡­¡­!¡±

    The moment Genie said so¡­

    Shwaaaa!

    Rumad walked out of the thickyer of dust and grasped Genie¡¯s neck.

    Tighten!

    ¡°Y, you¡­¡­!¡±

    ***

    PR¡¯s corner!

    How on earth did the Ares Guild recruit this guy! Rumad is a beast.

    --They didn''t, kek. Cordis Empire sent him as a reinforcement to catch King Varen. ^^ -CC

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 127 - Reunion

    Chapter 127: Reunion

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Step, step¡ª

    "Kghhk, ugh!"

    Genie struggled in Rumad''s hold.

    When Rumad walked out of the thick nket of dust, he looked absolutely terrible. One of his arms had disappeared and he was covered with blood all over. But overall, he still looked energetic and ready to fight.

    "How dare, how dare you!"

    Rumad''s eyes were bloodshot with blood and tears running down his face. The sight waspletely horrific. It was even more horrific with him holding Genie by the neck.

    She thought that this would be the end of them.

    ''All of the guild members have exhausted their energy¡­¡­ In the end, will this raid be a failure?''

    However, it was a relief that two of her guild members were escorting Valen to where Ellie was.

    ''It''s a relief. We still have kept King Varen safe.''

    Genie turned her eyes downwards. She saw Minhyuk spitting out blood from the damage he received from Rumad.

    ''Minhyukie. You should run away, you got it?''

    She had already expected her neck to be broken soon. But at that moment¡­ the wounds on Minhyuk''s back recovered rapidly. As soon as his wounds were almost healed, he stood back up.

    ''H, how¡­¡­?!''

    It was an injury that was impossible to recover from after all!

    No, how can he stand up so fast?

    Once Minhyuk stood up, he looked like he was brand new. With no wounds and injuries at all.

    Behind Rumad, he was holding his sword that was filled with power and was emitting sparks.

    ***

    When Minhyuk suffered from an attack for the first time, he thought¡­

    ''That''s right, I should just log out like this.''

    Then he could naturally hide and run away from his friends again. But when he thought about it deeply, he realized that it was really selfish of him. They seemed like they were looking for him. And in Genie''s case, she didn''t even forget about him and kept sending him messages for a long time.

    In fact he wanted to run away because was afraid. He was an honor student and they were good friends back in middle school. But he suddenly became fat! Would his friends still ept him like they used to when he had been struggling with a rare disease? He ran away before because he was terrified. He was terrified that they would think that he was not the same Minhyuk as before.

    However, when he met with them again he realized that he had been extremely selfish. At the very least, he could have told them the truth but he was afraid of what reactions his friends would have so he ran away.

    Heid down on the ground and thought about a lot of things.

    Then, Rumad grabbed Genie''s neck. That was when Minhyuk decided to finally stand up.

    ''Yeah. If not now¡­''

    If he did not do it now then it seemed like he wouldn''t be able to show himself in front of his friends anymore. Perhaps he would remain a coward and they would avoid him in the future.

    He used the special ability of the Armor of Immortality.

    ¡®Restore all of my HP and MP.¡¯

    [You have used the special ability of the Armor of Immortality.]

    [Your HP and MP is recovering at a fast pace.]

    His wounds began to heal and recover at a speed that was visible to the naked eye. Then, he slowly raised his body up.

    It seemed like Rumad was trying to wring Genie¡¯s neck right now.

    ¡®I have to protect the other pig of the two great pigs in the mountains!!!¡¯

    Minhyuk¡¯s sword surged with power as he used Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship. The skill that evolved to the Legendary rank!

    Rampant Sword. Connection (Inherit)!

    He put all his strength on this attack as he stabbed Rumad¡¯s back.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Rumad received a powerful attack on his back without any defense at all whatsoever. The pain caused him to release his tight hold on Genie¡¯s neck. Without missing a moment, Locke quickly hugged her as he threw their bodies away from Rumad.

    Roll, roll.

    Rumad¡¯s body staggered as his body began to bleed all over. It seemed like his body was still trying to hold on despite receiving such a tremendous blow.

    Fwish!

    Swiiiish!

    Fwooooosh!

    Spurt!

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    He screamed roughly but it was still surprising that his body still remained standing. He used almost all of his strength to reach out his remaining hand towards his sword.

    Shwaa!

    His greatsword was pulled out just by using sheer force.

    Rumad¡¯s body looked like a fountain of blood with all of the blood spurting from his body. However, he still slowly turned around and swung his sword at Minhyuk with great strength.

    [Rumad¡¯s HP has fallen below 30%.]

    [His skill, Roar, is triggered.]

    [His stats will temporarily increase by 1.4 times.]

    ¡°......Waaa!¡±

    ¡°Goddamn!¡±

    The guild members were struck dumb.

    Crazy! We never expected him to have such an ability!

    Rumad¡¯s sword finally struck down on Minhyuk who was behind him.

    Baaaaang!

    aaang!

    Minhyuk defended himself by raising his sword with both of his hands. However, Rumad¡¯s greatsword attack was so fierce that it turned into arge-scale attack.

    Bang! Bang, bang! Bang!

    A powerful explosion came from the point of collision!

    Minhyuk¡¯s arms twitched and trembled. Rumad¡¯s attack was powered with great strength and Minhyuk¡¯s body was going to be attacked by ck sword lights.

    Shwaaa!

    The ck sword lights were already at a close range!

    Fwish!

    Minhyuk¡¯s chest was cut horizontally and his body was almost cut off in half! Blood spurted out from his chest but Rumad still continued to attack his body.

    Swish!

    sh!

    Fwoosh!

    ¡°Keheob! Keughk!¡±

    Minhyuk groaned loudly as his body tethered and staggered. One of his knees copsed and folded and he was forced to kneel in pain.

    Rumad was quite sure that this bastard would die. Even the guild members that were in the vicinity were quite sure. They might not know about Minhyuk¡¯s exact level but they knew that it wasn¡¯t high. It was already surprising enough that he had endured this long under Rumad¡¯s strikes.

    However, at that moment¡­

    Thud!

    Minhyuk¡¯s folded knee suddenly straightened and he was standing straight up again.

    [He Who Ovees.]

    [Your HP has increased to 1. You are now invincible for 3 seconds.]

    [All of your abilities have increased by 30% for 3 seconds.]

    ¡°Heok!¡±

    ¡°......C, crazy!¡±

    ¡°Is, is he a person?!¡±

    The guild members, who were not aware of the special skill attached to Ellie¡¯s Sword, were shocked.

    ¡°Die, die! Goddamn it, for God¡¯s sake, die!¡±

    As if he had seen a ghost, Rumad used all of his strength to attack Minhyuk.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang!

    He used all of his power on him but he still did not fall down. The same was true for his most powerful skills. None of his attacks left a scratch on Minhyuk¡¯s body. This was the first time that the Imperial Sword Rumad had truly felt ¡®fear¡¯.

    ¡°I, I¡¯m telling you, please die!¡±

    At that moment, Minhyuk finally moved and used Step. And at the same time¡­

    [Sword of Fury. Shatter (Destroy)]

    [There will be an additional 60% for strong lunges and stabs, if a vital strike is sessful then the additional attack power will be 100%.]

    A strong force was formed and concentrated on the tip of his sword.

    ¡°Ugh, aaaaaack!¡±

    Rumad screamed as Minhyuk used Step to stab him on his stomach. He moved so fast that only his afterimage was left.

    Spurt!

    [You have seeded in stabbing a vital point.]

    [100% additional damage!]

    And along with the notification, the force that was concentrated on the tip of his sword exploded.

    Baaaaaaaang!

    Rumad¡¯s body burst from the powerful explosion and at the same time¡­

    Stagger!

    Minhyuk¡¯s body fell down. His remaining HP was exactly 1. He looked up at the sky as he breathed deeply. Then, he spoke slowly.

    ¡°Phew. You game geeks can¡¯t even hunt him.¡±

    Then he grinned.

    Genie, Locke and Khanughed at his absurdity.

    Then, Locke asked him¡­

    ¡°What¡¯s your level¡­¡­?¡±

    ¡°221.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Everyone around him was left speechless.

    Then, a series of notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    [You have hunted the Imperial Sword Rumad.]

    [You have acquired the Title: The Man Who Hunted One of the Most Powerful Men.]

    [You have gained 200 reputation points.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [......leveled up.]

    Minhyuk heard the constant ringing of notifications however, it did not register to him at all. It might have been hard but he was really not interested in leveling up. He just took the chocobar out of his inventory and bit on it little by little.

    [Absorption Transition]

    [A chance to recover 30~40% of your HP.]

    His wounds began to heal rapidly.

    No one had ever seen such an absurd recovering ability. His wounds were definitely something that couldn¡¯t be healed with just a skill but they could see a tremendous healing and recovery speed.

    ¡°Wow. It¡¯s a human troll¡­¡­¡±

    Ace couldn¡¯t help but mumble to himself when he saw such an absurd scene.

    Then, Minhyuk sat up and began bandaging himself.

    ¡°Bandage wrapping!¡±

    [You have achieved the best bandage wrap.]

    [The wound recovery has an additional 5% increase.]

    [The recovery time has increased and became faster.]

    He wrapped himself in a bandage and peeled it off after a while. When the bandage was removed, most of his wounds had already healed.

    The members of the Legend Guild shook their heads in defeat as if they had no more energy left to spare just to feel surprised.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk saw the gold and artifacts that fell near Rumad. He approached it and picked them up.

    [You have gained 50.2 billion gold.]

    [You have acquired the Skill Book: Intangible Sword.]

    [You have acquired Rumad¡¯s Demon Sword.]

    [You have acquired Rumad¡¯s Golden Treasure Box (Event).]

    [Everyone who participated in Rumad¡¯s raid will receive the Golden Treasure Box.]

    ¡°Huh?! A golden treasure box!¡±

    ¡°Ooooooh. Get out!¡±

    ¡°Kyaaa!¡±

    ¡°I think it¡¯s a reward for all of the raid participants?¡±

    Then, Khan said¡­

    ¡°I, I also got it!¡±

    Perhaps the standard for receiving the treasure box was being subjected to Rumad¡¯s Extreme Fear. In other words, it was everyone who was considered to be his enemies.

    Genie approached Minhyuk who was already healed and properly stretched.

    ¡°Hey!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°You damn punk.¡±

    ¡°......Yeah.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head in shame. Even if he had ten mouths with him, he still would have nothing to say. Then, Khan and Locke approached them. Khan sighed as he looked at Locke.

    ¡®This punk¡­¡­¡¯

    Will he say something bad again? After all he was the one who always said to stop looking for Minhyuk every time. He even told us that he wouldn¡¯t care even if he¡¯s trapped deep under water.

    He saw him approach Minhyuk with a grin as his fists clenched tightly.

    ¡®No way. Is he going to beat him up?!¡¯

    Then¡­

    Large droplet of tears fell from Locke¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Heuuuuuung. Minhyuk-ah. It¡¯s been a long time. Hwiiiiik!¡±

    ¡°OMG?¡±

    ¡°Eh?¡±

    Khan and Genie tilted their heads in confusion. The same was true for Minhyuk.

    Locke suddenly hugged Minhyuk tightly! Minhyuk¡¯s armor was soaked in his tears.

    ¡°Keuhuhuhuhuk!¡±

    Then, after sobbing loudly he stretched his hands out.

    ¡°Ah. Give me your hand Minhyuk-ah.¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    Minhyuk gave him his hand. Then, at that moment, Locke blew his nose loudly using his hand.

    ¡°Ah. That feels better.¡±

    ¡°This bitc¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Heuuuuung!¡±

    Locke began crying again and Minhyuk patted him on the back subconsciously. Of course, he did not forget to rub the mucus on his back.

    ¡°Wow. Look at Locke-nim crying¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°He looks ugly when he cries. So ugly¡­¡­ I hate it.¡±

    Locke stopped crying when he heard those words as his expression seemed like it was saying ¡®Hmph, hmph.¡¯.

    Khan and Genie grinned at this unexpected(?) twist. Minhyuk also grinned.

    The air around them had be lighter.

    ¡°Let¡¯s check the artifact¡¯s information first and have a reunionter.¡±

    They weren¡¯t the only ones in this ce, there were also the other guild members.

    Minhyuk nodded his head as he checked the information. He first clicked on the skill book.

    (Intangible Sword)

    Passive Skill

    Rank: Legendary

    Restrictions: 500 STR, 500 AGI, 400 STM

    Mana Required: None

    Cooldown: None

    Effects:

    ©¥ You can learn skills without any restrictions.

    ©¥ The limit in number will be ignored.

    ©¥ You have 7-12% chances of ignoring the enemy¡¯s defenses when you¡¯re attacking.

    After checking the skill book, he also checked the blood-red sword that he had acquired.

    (Rumad¡¯s Demon Sword)

    Rank: Legendary

    Restrictions: Warrior, 400 STR, 400 STM

    Durability: 40,000 / 40,000

    Attacking Power: 716

    Special Abilities:

    ©¥ An increase of +10% in STR and +12% in STM.

    ©¥ It is a greatsword that isrge and bulky but as soon as it is equipped, it will be as light as a regr sword.

    ©¥ Skill: Extreme Fear

    ©¥ Has a 10%~14% chance of having a x2 increase in damage.

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    Finally. I have had a hard time putting into words the action and everything. But I¡¯m d that I¡¯m done with that part. Also¡­ So d that the four of them have reunited. Yayy!

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Atst! The promised reunion. I really liked how Minhyuk had to face his fears and step forward.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 128 - Joining A Guild

    128: Joining a Guild

    ? Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    39 Joining a Guild

    It was another Legendary artifact!

    The skill Extreme Fear was a skill that could automatically be applied to anyone that had seen and had a 10 level gap with Rumad. What was a bit disappointing was that it was an artifact that could only be used by warriors.

    Minhyuk approached Genie and offered her a handshake. Then, the transaction window popped out with the legendary artifact and the skill book that he had obtained.

    ¡°A, a legendary artifact and a legendary skill book!¡±

    There were no legendary artifacts that were officially released yet in the country. But there were still unofficial ones. Nevertheless, none of the members of the Legend Guild had a legendary artifact in their possession. Even the skill book was legendary.

    And this was the biggest merit of the raid.

    ¡®You can learn any skill without restrictions.¡¯

    In fact, between a skill book and an artifact, it was still the skill book that was worth more.

    First and foremost, the skill book had an ignore the number limit effect. Everyone in Athenae knew that swords, armors, boots and even helmets could never be worn in duplicates but with this effect it could be ignored. And there was even a much more powerful effect in this skill book. It was the ¡®ignore all defenses¡¯ that they had experienced when they were facing Rumad earlier.

    ¡®How do I even distribute this?¡¯

    Minhyuk became worried. In fact, all of the members of the Legend Guild had their HPs down because they hunted Rumad with all they got but in the end, they weren¡¯t the one who got the ownership of the drops.

    After a moment, Genie spoke¡­

    ¡°......How about the gold?¡±

    ¡°50.2 billion gold.¡±

    ¡°Minhyuk will have the skill book and me and the rest of the guild will divide the 50.2 billion gold among us. Then, we will sell Rumad¡¯s Demon Sword and we¡¯ll each take half of the profits. How is it?¡±

    ¡°......?!¡±

    Minhyuk couldn¡¯t help but be surprised at her words. It was because she was basically giving out a free meal to him. 50.2 billion gold was still less than the amount of gold that they need to buy potions for the whole guild.

    Even the Legend Guild members were shocked. Even if they just picked things up, each person would be able to earn at least 1~10 billion each month. And right now, Athenae was not just a simple game. The virtual reality game Athenae could well be a business opportunity if someone did well in the game.

    They would even abandon their greed and would let go of a ¡®Legendary¡¯ skill book and take losses by just taking the gold.

    ¡°Why are you doing it like that?¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s not just like that. When I first encountered Rumad, it said that the person who sessfully hunted him would get the rewards and the person who dealt the final blow on him was Minhyuk. If he wasn¡¯t able to kill him then we would have been wiped out.¡±

    If all of the members of the Legend Guild would be wiped out then it would be a much bigger blow to them than what they would have expected. All of them had spent a tremendous amount of time just to get to their ranks and it would take a huge amount of time just to restore their rightful ce.

    ¡°And, we have more to gain from this than what you think.¡±

    In fact, the Legend Guild was more likely to receive a good territory from King Varen. Then, they would be able to collect taxes from their territory and they would be able to receive huge benefits and profits from the NPCs in their territory. They did not lose any money at all. It was just because they felt that Genie gave in so easily.

    ¡°Does anyone have a problem with it?¡±

    ¡°None!¡±

    ¡°How dare we disobey the orders of the flower piggy!¡±

    Genie smiled at them as she said¡­

    ¡°And for Rumad¡¯s Demon Sword. We will get the price for a Legendary artifact and you will also receive the same price.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°Did you forget?¡±

    Genie smiled at him.

    ¡°King Varen promised that he would buy all our artifacts at twice the price if we escorted him to Ellie safely.¡±

    ¡°......Ah!¡±

    Genie was right. Minhyuk would be able to receive the price for the legendary artifact and the same would also be true for the Legend Guild.

    ¡°What are you going to do with it?¡±

    ¡°Well, I¡­¡±

    Minhyuk smiled widely.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to buy something delicious.¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    Genie and the rest of the guild members were taken aback with his choice but it was his own decision so they did not say anything about it.

    At that moment¡­

    ¡°Keuaaaack!¡±

    Locke suddenly screamed loudly.

    ¡°......?¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Minhyuk, Genie and the rest of the members of Legend Guild turned their heads to look at him.

    ¡°This is impossible¡­¡­! What kind of golden treasure box would only give 417 gold?!¡±

    ¡°......Oh. Uhm¡­¡­ Cheer up.¡±

    The golden treasure boxid open in front of him!

    This treasure box was something that could be received from time to time during events. The treasure boxes were literally items with a lucky draw. Normally, old treasure boxes would usually give something between 1~50 million gold, E~D ranked artifact materials or normal~rare artifacts. Regr treasure boxes would also give something between 10~500 million gold, C-A ranked artifact materials or unique artifacts. And there were these golden treasure boxes, they would usually give something between 100~5 billion gold, A~SS ranked artifact materials and unique~epic artifacts. In fact, the higher the level of the treasure box, the higher the chances of the user receiving better artifacts, artifact materials and even gold.

    And Locke, who had no luck at all, managed to win 417 gold after opening his treasure box.

    One by one, the people started opening their treasure boxes. They were able to draw artifacts from their treasure boxes too.

    ¡°Kyaa! An epic artifact!¡±

    ¡°Oooooooh. 47 billion gold!¡±

    ¡°Wow! Wow!¡±

    ¡°......It would be good if everyone were quiet!¡±

    ¡°Kyaa. An epic item!¡±

    ¡°Hey. Ace! Be quiet!¡±

    Locke swung his axe in irritation as each and every member of his guild drew greater items than him. In the end, only Minhyuk was left with an unopened golden treasure box.

    ¡°You?¡±

    ¡°I haven¡¯t opened it yet.¡±

    ¡°Open it and let¡¯s see.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head as he closed his eyes and prayed intently.

    ¡°What are you praying for? Are you asking for a good artifact?¡±

    Ace looked at him in confusion as Minhyuk opened his eyes and clicked on the golden treasure box in his inventory.

    The golden treasure box popped out in front of everybody.

    tter, tter!

    The treasure box suddenly shook furiously as Minhyuk cried in anticipation.

    ¡°Come out! Something delicious, please!¡±

    ¡°......Huh?¡±

    ¡°OMG?¡±

    The members of Legend Guild looked at him in surprise.

    You¡¯re saying that you want something delicious instead of 50 billion gold or an epic artifact?

    Ace twirled his finger beside his head while Khan smacked him on his head.

    p!

    ¡°You punk! That¡¯s your hyung¡¯s friend!¡±

    ¡°Ouch! That hurts!¡±

    [Please open the treasure box.]

    Along with the notification, a hologram popped out of the treasure box. Then, he heard another set of notifications.

    [You have picked the best golden treasure box.]

    [You have acquired the heart of the Basilisk.]

    [You have acquired 50 billion gold.]

    ¡®Oh?¡¯

    Minhyuk was quite surprised. He heard before that the DEX would have a slight effect whenever there were lucky draws. But he did not believe that it was true until now. Minhyuk even won two rewards at the same time.

    ¡°Basilisk¡¯s heart?¡±

    ¡°Heok?!¡±

    ¡°......Keuaaaa! Why am I the only one with 400 gold?! Why?!¡±

    To drive his point further, Minhyuk pulled out a stone-shaped heart which was the heart of the Basilisk and a pouch which said 50 billion gold.

    ¡°W, what was that just now¡­¡­ There were 2 rewards in the treasure box?¡±

    ¡°I have never seen anything like this before¡­¡±

    This was the first time that they had seen something like this. After all, Minhyuk¡¯s DEX was at 1,200 so this was their first time seeing such a thing.

    Then, Minhyuk checked the information on the heart of the Basilisk.

    (Basilisk¡¯s Heart.)

    Material Grade: SS

    Special Abilities:

    ©¥ Defensive power between 500~900.

    ©¥ +300 on Magical Defense.

    ©¥ You can imbue an artifact with a power that can turn your enemies into stone.

    Description: The Basilisk, the ruler of the desert, is a legendary monster. Its heart, which is a noble existence, has the special ability to turn anyone into stone.

    ¡°How is it? Wow. Minhyuk-ah, you¡¯re so lucky. How can you get the heart of the basilisk in just one draw?¡±

    ¡°......Huh? Uh¡­¡­ Y, yeah.¡±

    ¡°Huh? Minhyukie, why aren¡¯t you happy?¡±

    Minhyuk promptly ced the Basilisk¡¯s heart into his inventory as if he was throwing out a piece of junk.

    ¡°I can¡¯t eat something like that right?¡±

    ¡°......Huh?¡±

    Genie was taken aback.

    What is this punk saying?

    Then, at that moment, another set of notifications rang.

    [You havepleted the Kingdom Quest: Bring Varen, the Valkyrie Kingdom¡¯s King, to the ce where he is supposed to meet with the Imperial Army of the Eivelis Empire.]

    [One of the people who had received the quest will be able to receive the title of a Baron.]

    [You can use Varen¡¯s Treasure Trove once.]

    [The Eivelis Empire has won the quest rted to the Northern Continent Update.]

    [The EXP acquisition rate of all the users in Eivelis Empire will increase by 30% for three days.]

    [The skills and abilities of all the users in Eivelis Empire will increase by 10% for three days.]

    ***

    It was on fire.

    The inte was on fire.

    The video was showing the members of Legend Guild who fought against Rumad and Minhyuk who used Step to stab a sword at Rumad¡¯s abdomen which led to his demise. Then, the screen switched and showed the two guild members of Legend Guild who were running away with Varen. Not long after, they arrived in front of Ellie and the Phoenix Knights. The video showed Varen sighing in relief as Ellie weed him.

    Then, all of the users in Eivelis Empire all heard the same notification.

    EXP acquisition rate will increase by 30% and skills and abilities will increase by 10% for 3 days!

    This was literally their chance to bomb their way to higher levels. A 10% increase in skills and abilities would naturally mean that they would be able to hunt monsters that they would originally have a harder time hunting before.

    It was also natural that the fame of Legend Guild would rise and improve among the users.

    The young students were also making a ruckus.

    ¡°Hey, hey. Isn¡¯t the Frying Pan Killer so cool? When Legend¡¯s GM¡¯s neck was being strangled, he suddenly stood up and kyaaa! So cool!¡±

    ¡°......Shut up! I¡¯m a Cordis Empire user.¡±

    ¡°Huh? Oh. Y, yeah¡­¡­ Hey, so do you admit that he¡¯s cool?¡±

    ¡°......Y, yeah.¡±

    Even the office workers couldn¡¯t help but talk about it. They spent their entire lunchbreak talking about Athenae.

    ¡°Did you see the video?¡±

    ¡°The Athenae video? Of course I saw! If you didn¡¯t watch it then you¡¯re not an Athenae user. Wow, Legend Guild is the best.¡±

    ¡°I saw it too. I suddenly felt my heart thumping and burning with a fighting spirit!¡±

    A new employee even clenched his spoon tightly as he dered¡­

    ¡°Korea may be a ruined gamer country! But Legend Guild appeared! And even the new strongest man, the Frying Pan Killer appeared here in our country!¡±

    ¡°Kghhk!¡±

    ¡°Boy, aren¡¯t you eating?¡±

    Department Head Park¡¯s words made the rest of the people turn as quiet as a mouse.

    Then, the new employee whispered.

    ¡°Department Head Park, are you a guild member of Ares Guild?¡±

    ¡°The Ares Guild are receiving plenty of curses right now¡­¡­ A lot of people have left too.¡±

    It wasn¡¯t just them. Even the country¡¯s top rankers were paying attention to them.

    This was an interview from the 2nd in the Swordsman Ranking, Baran.

    [Reporter: How did the Legend Guild and the Frying Pan Killer do in this Northern Continent Update?]

    [Baran: They weren¡¯t too bad. Especially that Frying Pan Killer, he even beat that God ss, Cursed Knight, Kohei. I even felt a bit of joy when he did that.]

    [Reporter: Can you evaluate their fightprehensively?]

    [Baran: I¡¯m afraid the Frying Pan Killer was just lucky. When he said that his level was only 221 I wondered if what he said was true. Of course, I¡¯m not trying to shoot down the Frying Pan Killer. (Smile)]

    [Reporter: Why do you think so?]

    [Baran: The Curse God¡¯s Power that Kohei wields can cast a tremendous curse. But the Frying Pan Killer was able to resist all of the curses using an unknown force. In fact, Kohei¡¯s ability to control his curse among people at the same level as him is quite limited, however, his physical abilities are no joke at all. If it was a different God ss user at Kohei¡¯s level, perhaps the Frying Pan Killer would have lost.]

    [Reporter: It seems that you have the same opinion as the other rankers.]

    [Baran: Yes.]

    [Reporter: How about the battle with Rumad?]

    [Baran: It was surprising. It¡¯s the rise of Legend Guild. Each and every one of them were as strong as the rankers. And they also have strong skills. In fact, I believe that the rankers right now could take on one of the Most Powerful Men in half a year. Of course, I believe that they also had great luck when they fought with Rumad. As for the Frying Pan Killer¡­¡­ He¡¯s an unknown user. He has great strength, abilities and potential.]

    [Reporter: What do you think of his potential and growth?]

    [Baran: I think this is the birth of a new strong gamer who can lead our country to fame.]

    [Report: Well, I am looking forward to that. Finally, what do you think about the Legend Guild¡¯s move this time?]

    [Baran: It was amazing. I believe their power is on par with the 4 great guilds. But I don¡¯t think that they¡¯re the best. As you know, Legend Guild has always remained tight-lipped¡­¡­ And you know, once the world¡¯s server has been stabilized and connected, there would be more powerful and monstrous users that would pop out. We¡¯ll never know but they might beparable to our country¡¯s Legend Guild.]

    ***

    The situation was the same especially for the users who were living with Minhyuk.

    ¡°Wow. Is Minhyuk really that strong?¡±

    ¡°He actually raided one of the Most Powerful Men with Legend Guild!¡±

    At that moment, Minhyuk came out of the capsule with a serious expression on his face. He was sighing deeply with a troubled look on his face.

    ¡°Why, what¡¯s wrong¡­...?¡±

    Changwook was curious.

    Is it because he did not want to be famous?

    Minhyuk finally opened his mouth.

    ¡°You know about Genie, Khan and Locke, right?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Ah! The Legend Guild¡¯s GM, the guy who killed Ares and the crazy axe-wielding guy, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes. They¡­ They¡¯re my middle school friends.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°Keok!¡±

    Everyone was surprised.

    They weren¡¯t able to see the part where the four of them reunited since the video had switched views.

    They¡¯re Minhyuk¡¯s friends?

    But the surprise did not end there.

    ¡°They¡¯reing to see me.¡±

    ¡°Pffffft!¡±

    Changwook spat out the coffee that he was drinking.

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    Will they finally get the thing between them cleared?! I hope so!

    I''m extremely proud of Minhyuk for trying to break out of the shell he has made for himself with all the insecurities and fear through the years of having this disease. It might not be a big deal for us but it was such a big step for him! p, p, p!

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Alright! It¡¯s time for the meeting! I honestly didn¡¯t think it would be this early, but I¡¯m d for the progression.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 129 - Joining A Guild

    Chapter 129: Joining a Guild

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    At that moment, everyone in the room was frozen. They were not surprised that they wereing to visit, they were surprised that Minhyuk, who seemed like he wanted to hide from everything, was finally trying to get back out in the world.

    ¡°Minhyuk-ah¡­¡­!¡±

    Changwook grabbed Minhyuk¡¯s hands with a delighted expression on his face. The others also had the same expression on their faces. To them it felt like ¡®My child is finally changing for the better!¡¯ or something like that.

    ¡°I can¡¯t stay alone in my room forever!¡±

    When he attacked Rumad back then, he had finally decided.

    Let¡¯s be confident from now on.

    Changwook nodded his head.

    ¡°That¡¯s right, you punk!¡±

    ¡°Wait. This is not the time for us to do this!¡±

    His diet manager, Hyejin, almost ran wildly.

    ¡°Minhyuk-ah, let¡¯s decorate the ce and fix you up! You¡¯re going to meet with your friends, is the ce going to be like this?!¡±

    ¡°Aha!¡±

    Everyone began to move busily.

    ***

    A sports car stopped between two white vans in front of a hair salon in Cheongdam-dong.

    ¡°Hey, hey. Isn¡¯t that sports car the one made by Bentel Corporation? The one that has only 200 of its kind?¡±

    ¡°Heok? That single car is worth over 1 billion¡­¡­¡±

    No matter how rich the people who lived in Cheongdam-dong were, they would still admire someone who owned a spectacr car made by the Bentel Corporation.

    A woman came out of the car. She was at least 165cm tall, with sunsses covering half of her face and a voluptuous, sexy body.

    Once she took off her sunsses¡­

    Pure.

    Beauty.

    All of the men in the vicinity couldn¡¯t keep their eyes off of her.

    ¡°W, wait. That person. Isn¡¯t she¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°Legend Guild¡¯s master?!¡±

    The users in the area had recognized her. Right now, the rankers had more poprity than the celebrities. And she was the person that was currently most talked about these days.

    It was Genie or Im Jihye.

    ¡°Kyaaaaa! Unnie, you¡¯re so pretty!¡±

    ¡°Wow. She¡¯s really pretty!¡±

    ¡°She has a lot of money, a pretty face, the master of Legend Guild¡­ she even ys well¡­ she has everything in the world. How envious.¡±

    She promptly entered the hair salon.

    Even though the hair salon was frequented by celebrities, Jihye still drew the attention of most of the people inside as she sat down on one of the chairs.

    ¡°What can I do for you?¡±

    She tapped her lips with the tips of her sunsses and gave a small smile.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to meet someone special today.¡±

    ¡°Ah. A sseom guy?¡±

    ¡°......Yes.¡±

    The woman smiled at her as she moved her hands to arrange her hair.

    Jihye made sure to ask Minhyuk to meet outside of the game before they logged out.

    ¡®We just want to hear your story¡­¡­ Minhyuk-ah, we even forgive you for hiding from us for all these years.¡¯

    Minhyuk, who looked like he thought about it deeply, finally nodded his head.

    ¡®It¡¯s a bit difficult for me to go out right now. So¡­ would it be fine for you guys to go to my house?¡¯

    ¡®Your house?¡¯

    ¡®Yup.¡¯

    ¡®Is that so. Okay.¡¯

    ¡®If you meet me there then you will know my story.¡¯

    So Minhyuk gave them his address.

    As her hair was being fixed, Jisoo and Seoktae came inside.

    Jisoo, who sat down on one of the chairs, said¡­

    ¡°Do it like Kang Dongwonbin.¡±

    ¡°Ka, Kang Dongwonbin¡­¡­? T, that¡­¡­ Customer-nim¡­¡­ you know¡­¡­ you¡¯ll need stic surgery for that.¡±

    The hairdresser was left in an embarrassing situation.

    She even had a nervous expression on her face!

    ¡°How can they turn you into Wonbin when your face looks like a stone on the street¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Sh, shut up!¡±

    The two of them were quarrelling again¡­

    Then, Jisoo said¡­

    ¡°But Minhyuk¡¯s house address¡­¡­ It¡¯s in Gapyeong in Gyeonggi-do? Isn¡¯t that a very remote ce?¡±

    ¡°......I know right? Does he have a lodging business?¡±

    Then, Jisoo said¡­

    ¡°Isn¡¯t Minhyuk¡¯s house condition a bit on the difficult side?¡±

    ¡°......Yeah.¡±

    ¡°Ah. That¡¯s right¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Uhmm¡­¡­¡±

    There was only one reason why they thought that way. The reason was because they saw Minhyuk entering an orphanage before. In addition, there were many ssmates who saw Minhyuk going to ss with the children from the orphanage before. And Minhyuk did not even wear any of themonly made shoes. They even heard that his mother died before. When Jisoo, Seoktae and Jihye heard about what their parents were doingpared to Minhyuk, they were a bit humbled. They believed that his parents were gone because he was always seen in the orphanage. It waspletely unexpected but Minhyuk had told them that he had a father. So they thought that due to Minhyuk¡¯s family¡¯s financial difficulties, he was staying in an orphanage while his father was working hard. When the story about his father and his work came out, Minhyuk looked at them with a solemn look and told them seriously¡­

    ¡°He does this and that. He does a bit of construction work, selling food and he also sells electronics. It seems like he¡¯s also selling milk these days¡­¡­¡±

    The three of them finally realized¡­

    Ah! Minhyuk¡¯s dad is doing everything to make a living!

    They thought that the construction work he was doing was manualbor, and that the selling of food was him selling meat in the corner of the food section. They also thought that his father had a part-time job as a salesperson and a milk delivery boy in the morning.

    Ahhhh! He¡¯s the most sincere house head! His father will do everything just to make ends meet!

    And Minhyuk was someone who grew up with such a father. And because they were friends, they never ignored Minhyuk who was poor(?).

    ¡°Can we just bring an expensive and foreign car like this?¡±

    Seoktae came near Jihye as he asked this.

    Because they haven¡¯t seen each other for a long time so she wanted to present her most beautiful self to him.

    ¡°I, is that so? If we came out so fancy¡­¡±

    ¡°Hey. But Minhyuk made a lot of money this time right? He would be rich if he sold that.¡±

    ¡°He even said that he was going to buy something delicious.¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡­¡±

    Jisoo tilted his head in thought then nodded his head in agreement. Then, Jihye spoke¡­

    ¡°That¡­ I¡¯m sorry unnie.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Can you do it less fancy¡­¡­ What do you call it? Normal look?¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    ¡°Just make it look like I will go for an interview.¡±

    ¡°Yes? B, but you¡¯re going to meet with your sseom guy?¡±

    ¡°L, let¡¯s just do it this way.¡±

    Even if she did not look that beautiful, Jihye thought that it would be better if he feltfortable with them. Would they even drag a foreign sports car and a fancy look just to dig on their friend¡¯s sore spot? There wasn¡¯t any need for that.

    Then, Jisoo also spoke.

    ¡°Shit. Do it like I¡¯m someone who¡¯s unemployed. Please.¡±

    ¡°Y, you already look like¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°OMG? Noona! Why do you think that I look like I¡¯m unemployed¡­¡­!¡±

    Jisoo looked at the mirror with a shocked expression as he nodded his head.

    ¡°I don¡¯t need makeup.¡±

    ¡°He, hehe¡­¡­¡±

    This way, all of them changed their makeup to look like they were a bit poor just for the sake of Minhyuk. The people, who had their makeup done in a normal way, moved out of the salon.

    ¡°Well then, shall we go?¡±

    ¡°Ah. What about the car?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s just call for a taxi.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    At the same time, a text message came in Jihye¡¯s phone.

    [Minhyukie: I¡¯m sorry. Can we change the meeting ce? My father wants to see you all and he also wanted to talk to you so he¡¯s going to pick you guys up.]

    ¡°Guys. The meeting ce has changed.¡±

    ¡°Really? More than that, I¡¯m a bit nervous to meet with Minhyuk¡¯s father.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. A man like Minhyuk¡¯s dad is a cool man.¡±

    He¡¯s the one who raised Minhyuk while doing all the hard work alone! He was a truly great and awesome dad. They had quite a good idea on how he would look, they believed that he would be a not so rich but cool person.

    Soon, they got in a taxi.

    ¡°Ahjussi. Can you please take us to this address?¡±

    The taxi driver took the address.

    [The route navigation has started.]

    The destination appeared on the navigation app.

    ¡®Ilhwa Group Headquarters.¡¯

    ¡°Ilhwa Group Headquarters? Isn¡¯t that thergest building in the country? Why are we going there?¡±

    The three of them were quite confused.

    Then, Jisoo said¡­

    ¡°Usually, when you go to Gangnam, wouldn¡¯t you say ¡®Let¡¯s meet in front of Ilhwa Group.¡¯ right? I guess they chose it because it¡¯s easy to go meet there?¡±

    ¡°Aha.¡±

    Jihye nodded her head along.

    The three of them moved along in the taxi without knowing about who was waiting for them.

    ***

    Minhyuk made a ¡®Hmm¡­¡­¡¯ sound.

    It was clear that his Hyejin noona had fixed him up nicely. She trimmed his hair and even sprayed perfume on his wrists. She even dressed him up in a nice suit. But when he looked in the mirror, all he saw was a fat guy in a suit.

    As he looked in the mirror, his eyes brightened as if he was reminded of something.

    ¡°Ah, that¡¯s right. I¡¯m not fat anymore, right? I¡¯m just chubby so let¡¯s be confident. Let¡¯s go!¡±

    He still believed that fact as he looked in the mirror.

    Then, Changwook whispered to Hyejin¡­

    ¡°What kind of coordination is that? Why are there octagons in his suit¡­¡­ Why didn¡¯t you put on those sunsses over there¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Hyejin, who was filled with guilt, was left speechless.

    Then, Minhyuk grumbled¡­

    ¡°Aaaaah. Wait. Father too! My friends are justing over, why is he making such a fuss?¡±

    He didn¡¯t know how, but his father immediately contacted him when he learned that his friends wereing over. Currently, Minhyuk, Lee Jinhwan, Oh Changwook and the others were living in his house with a total area of 500 pyeong in Gapyeong. They recently moved here since they believed that this was a good ce for a better treatment.

    ¡°Haha. I¡¯m sure your father will like them. After all, Minhyuk is finally meeting with his friends after 5 years!¡±

    Minhyuk nodded at Jinhwan¡¯s words.

    He lived those days of his life alone and trapped in the darkness because he did not know when he would die. He believed that he had no more hope. But now, he was slowly letting himself know the outside world again. He was even willing to meet with his friends again.

    As a father, Kang Minhoo would definitely be delighted.

    ¡°Why did he say that he would give them a ride¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°He wanted to meet with your friends first. It¡¯s your father¡¯s care for you, I¡¯m sure you understand.¡±

    Minhyuk was a bit sulky but he still nodded his head.

    ***

    The chairman of the Ilhwa Group, Kang Minhoo, was now more excited than Minhyuk.

    ¡°Secretary Park, how do I look?¡±

    ¡°Extremely handsome, president!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m really nervous. I¡¯m meeting with my son¡¯s friends. Haha!¡±

    Kang Minhoo was smiling happily. His son was going to meet with his friends so he was feeling a bit happy. This wasmon for any parent of a child. For some parents they would say ¡®Don¡¯t y with them anymore, they will disturb your studies!¡¯ but Kang Minhoo was different. His son was willing to let his friends visit him. Someone who had lived alone for how long. Was there anything more delightful than this? He even took time out of his busy schedule just for this.

    Then, his phone rang.

    ¡°Ahem, ahem.¡±

    He cleared his throat before answering the call.

    [Hello. Father-nim! I¡¯m Minhyuk¡¯s friend, Im Jihye.]

    ¡°Haha. Yes. Hello, Miss Jihye.¡±

    [I¡¯m calling you right now because we¡¯re almost there.]

    ¡°Ah. Is that so? Then, I will be right down.¡±

    [Yeees. We¡¯ll see you in front, Father-nim.]

    Kang Minhoo hung up the phone happily as he boarded his exclusive lift and pressed the first floor. He was going down from the 78th floor, the top floor of this huge building.

    ***

    Jihye, Jisoo, and Seoktae arrived in front of the Ilhwa Group Building. They looked up at this majestic and tall building.

    ¡°Every time Ie near here, I always think that the building is so nice.¡±

    ¡°Is the building the only thing that looks nice? Kang Minhoo, the chairman of Ilhwa Group is also cool!¡±

    ¡°Kgghk! A man of integrity, the chairman who has never had any bad gossip and has never been talked badly!¡±

    They all burst out in admiration.

    Then, Jihye suddenly thought about something.

    ¡°But don¡¯t you think that Minhyuk¡¯s father sounded familiar?¡±

    Jihye tilted her head in thought while Jisoo and Seoktae were struck dumb.

    ¡°Heok!¡±

    ¡°Ch, chairman Kang Minhoo!¡±

    ¡°Wow. He¡¯s really cool. Wow, wow! Did you see that? It''s the 6 billion dor limousine that Benz only sold to the 50 richest people in the world!¡±

    Jihye, Seoktae and Jisoo were all rich people but if they werepared to Kang Minhoo then they would only be able to bepared to his blood, no, his toenails.

    Chairman Kang Minhoo, who got out of the building, was walking in style. He seemed to be talking to someone on his phone.

    Then, at that exact same moment, Jihye¡¯s phone rang.

    Dududududu. Baby Shark~ Dududududu. Mommy Shark~ Dududududu. Daddy Shark~

    ¡°What kind of ringtone is that?¡±

    ¡°None of your business.¡±

    Jihye snorted at him as she answered her phone.

    ¡°Yes. Father-nim. We¡¯ve already arrived. Ah. Yes, yes. A description? I¡¯m wearing some jeans and a cardigan while our other friends are wearing casual suits. Can you see us?¡±

    Jisoo and Seoktae straightened their clothes and buttoned up their shirts to meet with Minhyuk¡¯s father.

    ¡°Where are you?¡±

    Jihye kept on looking around but no matter how hard she looked she couldn¡¯t see him.

    Then, Seoktae suddenly said¡­

    ¡°Hey, hey. Jisoo-yah. Why¡­¡­ Why is Chairman Kang Minhooing this way and waving his hand? Hey. What is this¡­¡­ Why is he smiling widely at us?¡±

    ¡°Heok¡­¡­ W, what¡¯s this? Did we do something wrong? O, or maybe the Chairman of Nanhwa Group is standing behind us?¡±

    They tilted their heads in confusion as they looked around.

    At one point, Chairman Kang Minhoo walked up and stood right in front of them.

    ¡°Yes. Father-nim. Where are¡­¡­¡±

    [I¡¯m right in front of you. Haha.]

    Jihye, Seoktae and Jisoo were all rendered speechless.

    Kang Minhoo shutdown his phone as he smiled softly at them while reaching his hands out for a handshake.

    ¡°Nice to meet you. I¡¯m Minhyuk¡¯s dad.¡±

    The three of them were frozen stiff.

    Jisoo finally realized.

    ¡®Th, the manualbor is Ilhwa Construction. The milk delivery is Ilhwa Distribution. Selling electronics is Ilhwa Electronics. And the selling of food was a restaurant franchise¡­¡­? Keok?!¡¯

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    It seems like there¡¯s a lot of misunderstanding with Minhyuk. Kek. I know that Minhyuk wanted to be lowkey and didn¡¯t want to unt his wealth but¡­ BOY YOU DOWNPLAYED IT TOO MUCH! Even I would think about it differently. LMAO. I¡¯m d that Minhyuk had finally realized what he did wrong to his friends before. I hope that he could exin it to them well.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Somehow, I¡¯m not surprised Minhyuk downyed it like that. He probably didn¡¯t consider it important.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 130 - Joining A Guild

    Chapter 130: Joining a Guild

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR:MattForgenti

    "Ah. Yes. Hello, Father-nim!"

    Jihye gathered herself up and shook the hand that was stretched in front of her.

    Kang Minhoo shook her hands with a bit of force. After letting go of her hands, he shook the hands of the other two in turn.

    "I won''t wash this hand for the rest of my life¡­¡­"

    "You don''t wash them often to begin with."

    Jisoo red at Seoktae when he heard his words. And Kang Minhoo smiled softly at them as he watched them interact with each other.

    "You get along well, huh?"

    "Yes, well."

    Jihye smiled awkwardly. She didn''t know what to do with herself since there was such a big man in front of them.

    "Shall we go?"

    Chairman Kang Minhoo turned around and led them away.

    It was lunchtime right now and there were a lot of people going in and out of the Ilhwa Group building. All of them bowed their heads in greeting when they saw Chairman Kang Minhoo.

    Secretary Park hurriedly opened the rear door of the limousine. This limousine was made by Benz and currently had only 10 of its kind in the world. Kang Minhoo first boarded the car and Jihye, Seoktae and Jisoo followed him inside.

    ''Wow¡­¡­ The inside is¡­¡­''

    They felt that they had boarded the first ss seat on a ne when they entered the car. They were in awe from this rare experience.

    "You''re my Minhyukie''s middle school friends, right?"

    "Yes, that''s right. Father-nim."

    "I heard that you kept on sending my Minhyukie messages. I''m truly grateful that you kept on thinking about him."

    Kang Minhoo looked sincerely grateful. He was truly grateful that they had reached out to Minhyuk first.

    "You can let me know if you need anything."

    The car rapidly moved towards Gapyeong. As the silence pervaded the car, Kang Minhoo suddenly spoke¡­

    "I hope you take care of Minhyukie and show him plenty of love."

    ***

    "Wow¡­¡­"

    "Uwaaaah¡­¡­"

    "OMG¡­¡­?"

    The three people who arrived at Minhyuk''s residence in Gapyeong were all left speechless in awe.

    "Y, you''ll definitely get lost in this ce."

    It was a luxuriouslyrge mansion that you could only see on TV!

    As soon as the limousine entered the gate, they were able to see plenty of guards. The grounds were covered in grass and there was even arge fountain spewing water in the middle of the area.

    The four of them all got off of the car together.

    "I hope to see you again next time."

    Kang Minhoo smiled softly at them as he once again boarded his limousine and disappeared from their sights.

    As soon as he disappeared, the three of them marveled at this pce-like ce.

    Then, a man came out from the inside. Just at a nce at this man''s bulky body, they could tell that he always exercised a lot.

    "Are you Minhyukie''s friends? I''m Oh Changwook."

    "Ah. Yes."

    "Let''s go. This way."

    He turned around and moved somewhere else. As they walked through the ce, they could see anotherrge mansion behind therge one up front.

    Oh Changwook talked to them as he guided them inside the other mansion.

    "This is a building that used to cater guests and there are employees living here. This was supposed to be a ce for Minhyuk to y but he doesn''t use it often."

    "P, y?"

    "Yes. We have arcades, theaters, karaoke rooms and even a disco pang pang[1]."

    Changwook kept on talking as he introduced the ce. Meanwhile, Jisoo mumbled to himself.

    "So this is the diamond spoon that I have heard of¡­¡­"

    "You guys are very popr and rich too, huh? I''m also an Athenae user so I know."

    When the three of them heard him, they all shook their heads. It might be true that they were rich and had a lot of money but it also cost a lot to keep their guild up and running. They needed to invest their money on artifacts, skill books and potions to keep themselves from falling from their rank. So there wasn''t much for them left in real life.

    Not long after, they arrived in front of a room.

    "Please take a deep breath."

    "Hooooooo. Huh? But why do we need to take a deep breath?"

    "......I thought that you needed to calm yourself down."

    Changwook smiled awkwardly at them while they looked at him in confusion.

    "Minhyukie is inside. Well then, I''ll be off."

    Changwook turned around and left while Jihye stood in front of the door.

    ''What the hell was that about?''

    First, they found out that Minhyuk was very rich. And they didn''t know much about his story except that he had gone under the radar for 5 years and that it was inconvenient for him to get out of the house. All of them were full of questions.

    Slowly, Jihye turned the doorknob.

    ***

    When Changwook heard that Minhyuk¡¯s friends were already outside, he immediately stepped outside to guide them, leaving Minhyuk sitting on arge chair in front of a round table waiting.

    Then, he heard some sounds from outside.

    ¡®......I¡¯m nervous.¡¯

    He breathed deeply to calm his erratic heart.

    At that moment¡­

    The doorknob slowly turned. Minhyuk quickly stood up in trepidation.

    Jihye, Jisoo and Seoktae came inside the room. As soon as they entered, they discovered Minhyuk.

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Minhyuk had an embarrassed look on his face.

    ¡°You¡¯re here?¡±

    The three of them remained silent for a moment while Minhyuk fell down in a spiral of thoughts.

    ¡®As expected¡­¡­ I¡¯ve changed too much¡­¡­¡¯

    Was I too hideous to look at? Well, it¡¯s really hard to see someone who¡¯s at 160kg outside. And even the shape of my face ispletely covered with fleshy fat.

    Minhyuk thought that he was really doomed and his face became dejected.

    Then, Jisoo bluntly spoke.

    ¡°We¡¯re here. Do you think we¡¯ll leave just like that?¡±

    He slid naturally and sat down in front of Minhyuk.

    ¡°Hooo. You always wanted to be a fat man who could connect with the wild boars, have you turned your dreams into reality?¡±

    Jihye smiled slightly as she sat down together with Seoktae.

    ¡°Hey. Aren¡¯t I still handsome?¡±

    ¡°Wow. Just like what Jihye said, you¡¯re still a narcissistic jerk.¡±

    ¡°Hmph. What did you say about me?¡±

    He smiled awkwardly as Jihye changed the subject.

    ¡°What happened to you?¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s appearance waspletely different from the past.

    As if on cue, Minhyuk described his bulimia to them. All of them were left shocked and speechless when they heard about him having such a disease.

    ¡°And now, it seems like I¡¯m starting to get better.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a relief.¡±

    ¡°Oh. So you will eventuallye back to what you used to look, no, to what you look like in Athenae, right?¡±

    Jisoo and Seoktae did not see it but Jihye was able to see his face when he took off the helmet before. He was so handsome and cool that he couldn¡¯t help but just be amazed.

    ¡°Ma, maybe¡­¡­?¡±

    Jihye suddenly opened her mobile phone as if she remembered something.

    ¡°Ah, that¡¯s right. What time is it now?¡±

    She turned her gaze and looked at the clock. Right now, it was 4 minutes past 1 in the afternoon.

    ¡°I heard that the Athenae update will open at 1 o¡¯clock today.¡±

    Jihye quickly clicked on the update. Then, she ced her phone on the center of the table.

    [Athenae Update

    1 100 million gold will now be converted to 1 tinum and will be a silver-like coin just like the image below.

    2 You now have a choice to have your nickname float above your head. It is possible to turn it on/off.]

    It seemed to have been modified due to the countlessints from the users.

    Now, 100 million gold had be 1 tinum and it sounded good for them. Currently, they had tens of billions of gold. To be exact, around 57.2 billion gold. However, the 572 tinum instead of pouches of gold sounded much better. And the second update about having the nickname float above their head was also convenient. Of course, Minhyuk and the rest of the people here would always have it turned off.

    Then, the next part of the update¡­

    [There will be a higher drop rate for ingredients and artifact materials in the Northern Continent. There will also be better cooking ingredients, more effective medicines, new fields and dungeons and plenty of quests!

    1 You will have a higher probability of obtaining better and superior artifact materials in the Northern Continent. In other words, materials that can be used to make epic artifacts will be in abundance. There is also a rare chance of acquiring artifact materials for legendary artifacts.

    2 Special cooking ingredients will also be released inrge quantities. A new ss of medicine will also be released.

    3 New field dungeons will be opened! Inside one of these dungeons, there will be a new artifact and a way to transfer to a special ss. In addition, events will randomly ur in certain dungeons in the whole continent including the Northern Continent.

    4 SS ranked quest! The Northern Continent has a hidden SS ranked quest! The rewards are definitely amazing ^^!]

    Jihye nodded her head after checking all the contents of the update.

    ¡°We have to keep up and increase our speed as the level of users increases.¡±

    Jisoo and Seoktae both nodded their heads in agreement.

    ¡°The Epic and Legendary artifact materials are rare but with the increase in drop rates a lot of supply will be released. And since a lot of high-leveled users will go to the Northern Continent, then it¡¯s only natural that there will be epic artifact drops.¡±

    All of them nodded their heads. As rankers, whether official or not, they had to move quickly and adapt to the changes.

    ¡°A new ss of medicine?¡±

    It was Minhyuk who reacted to these words.

    ¡°I know right? What do you think is the new ss of medicine?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll find out when you get it.¡±

    Minhyuk looked excited when he saw that update and there was only one thing that shed through his mind as he grinned¡­

    ¡®I wonder if the new ss of medicine is something delicious?¡¯

    Yeah. As usual, Minhyuk always had his head in the clouds thinking if it was something delicious.

    Then, he suddenly felt the pangs of hunger. Since he was talking with his friends, he held back from eating his sd and cherry tomatoes. However, his stomach was alreadyining and cold sweat was dripping from his forehead.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry but I have to step out for a bit.¡±

    ¡°Huh? Where are you going?¡±

    ¡°The bathroom.¡±

    Minhyuk stood up and went out of the room. Just as he stepped out, he saw Changwook waiting for him with the sealed container filled with his sd and cherry tomatoes. He quickly opened the container and hurriedly ate it in a room beside where his friends were staying.

    ¡°What did your friends think?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    In fact, Minhyuk still did not know. He was not sure why he did not do this in front of them. Perhaps it was because he couldn¡¯t do so in front of them or perhaps it was because he was afraid that they wouldn¡¯t understand and that he would lose face? He did not know so he was still anxious and heartbroken right now.

    ¡®This bloody hunger. Just for today, please¡­¡­.!¡¯

    Minhyuk began to feel more anxious as his hunger continued to stay. He inhaled his food non-stop just to appease it. And without realizing it, 30 minutes had already gone by. His friends were waiting for him but his damned hunger was still keeping him from going there. He kept on eating until another 30 minutes passed by. When he felt that he had slowly calmed down and his hunger was not that much, he stood up and slowly went back towards the room where his friends were at.

    ¡°Minhyuk-ah.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°Your friends look like they¡¯re good people.¡±

    Changwook smiled softly at him.

    It was like he was telling him to not be nervous and just be his usual self. He knew that that was what he meant but it was still hard for him to do so. He was curious and anxious about what his friends thought of him in their hearts.

    Then, he heard the voices of his friends from inside.

    ¡°Why isn¡¯t Minhyuking?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. I wonder what¡¯s wrong?¡±

    It was Jihye and Seoktae¡¯s voices of concern. Then¡­

    Bang!

    He suddenly heard a loud noise. He looked at the door with confusion on his face.

    ¡°Jisoo. What¡¯s wrong with you?¡±

    ¡°Ah. I don¡¯t know. I suddenly feel so annoyed.¡±

    ¡°......What?¡±

    ¡°Ah. That fatty!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s body stiffened.

    In the end, will they not ept me anymore since I have changed?

    Minhyuk trembled in trepidation, he was so nervous that he gulped and gulped even though his mouth had run dry.

    ¡°No. I mean, what does being a piggy have to do with being friends with us? Does he think we¡¯re going to hate him since he became fat? Was that all there was to us?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. For us, I think he was the same Minhyuk as before but when we first came in he was very awkward.¡±

    ¡°But the fatty Minhyuk, don¡¯t you think he looks cute? I want to touch his fat tummy.¡±

    ¡°I want to put my head on his fat tummy and make it my pillow¡­¡­ I wonder if it¡¯s like a water pillow¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Minhyuk finally understood.

    He was the only one who was worried about his appearance. It didn¡¯t matter to his friends whether he was fat or not.

    ¡°Hoo¡­¡­¡±

    He breathed a sigh of relief.

    Yeah. I should be proud and confident now.

    Then, he went inside and proudly spoke.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go y now.¡±

    ¡°y? Where? In Seoul?¡±

    ¡°No. In this building?¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­¡­!¡±

    The three of them recalled that this building itself was filled with things that could entertain guests.

    Minhyuk first guided his friends to the movie theater. Even though it was just a movie theater, it was still unbelievable to them. Jisoo turned his head to look around.

    ¡°There¡¯s pop¡­¡­¡±

    Then¡­

    Step, step, step, step©¥

    A man popped inside¡­ it was Changwook.

    ¡°It¡¯s absolutely forbidden to talk about popcorn here. Remember this. Octopus legs, caramel popcorn and c are prohibited here.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Oh¡­¡­ Yes.¡±

    After finishing his spiel, he quickly whisked himself away and disappeared with only the sound of his steps echoing in the corridor.

    It had been a long time since Minhyuk had watched movies with his friends but instead of munching on popcorn, Minhyuk was munching on his cherry tomatoes.

    Then, they went to karaoke.

    Jihye searched for ¡®Spring Chicken Soup¡¯ with the remote but it did note up. She came out to ask but she saw Changwook standing by the door.

    ¡°There aren¡¯t that many songs in the karaoke machine. I think you need to update this with thetest songs. There¡¯s no Spring Chicken Soup~¡±

    Spring Chicken Soup was a song that was released 5 years ago but it wasn¡¯t even in the list of songs. However, Changwook looked at her with a solemn expression.

    ¡°Songs like Spring Chicken Soup, My teeth are so cold because of naengmyeon, Naengmyeon, Bingsu-yah and Patbingsu-yah[2] are strictly forbidden.¡±

    ¡°......Huh. Ah¡­¡­ I, is that so?¡±

    She nodded her head nkly.

    When they finished singing, she also couldn¡¯t help but admire the building.

    ¡°Wow. There¡¯s even a cafe in this building!¡±

    It was a cafe on the terrace and the four of them stood together in front of it. The employee inside was also Changwook.

    When Minhyuk, who was still munching on his cherry tomatoes, turned his head to look somewhere else, Changwook quickly signaled to the three of them and mouthed something.

    ¡°You can only order tomato juice here! Tomato juice! Without any sugar! It¡¯s healthy!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°What would you like to drink?¡±

    Minhyuk turned to them and asked them what drink they would like to order.

    ¡°To, tomato juice¡­¡­ The one without any sugar¡­¡­ For all of us¡­¡­ Ha, haha! I really like tomatoes¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Me, me too¡­¡­ I, I really love tomatoes!¡±

    ¡°Ha, hahahahaha! Tomatoes are the tastiest in the world!¡±

    ¡°......Your taste buds are weird. I¡¯m even eating it reluctantly.¡±

    In fact, it was only Minhyuk who was unaware of the taboo and the rules in this ce.

    ¡°......¡±

    Jisoo, Jihye and Seoktae all thought the same thing.

    Are we in a strange country where all of the food is controlled?

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] ????? (disco pang pang) : a circr ride that spins round and round. Sounds fun! Back

    [2] ???? (Spring Chicken Soup) : A song by Jeong Hyeong-don; ??? ?? ?? ?? (My teeth are so cold because of naengmyeon) : I don¡¯t know who sang this song or if there really is a song like this. ?? (Naengmyeon) : A duet song by Park Myeongsu and Girls Gen¡¯s Jessica during the Infinite Challenge Olympic Festival; ???, ???? (Bingsu-yah, Patbingsu-yah) I don¡¯t know if these are two different songs, but there is a song by Yoon Jong Shin. Back

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Kek. Well. It¡¯s because the employees did not want to trigger Minhyuk. They¡¯re all so caring about him.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    It is nice to see how the employees love Minhyuk.

    ANNOUNCEMENT:

    As per requested Leveling Up Through Eating will now have premium/advanced chapters starting today. There will be 10 advanced chapters and you can buy them at 10 woopcoins per chapter.

    For those who don''t have enough to buy woopcoins, fret not! A chapter will always be unlocked every time there''s a scheduled update! So you just have to wait for our normal update schedule for the chapters to be unlocked. Our update schedule will still be on Wednesdays-Saturdays (9:00AM GMT+8 or 1:00AM UTC) with 5 chapters in total every week.

    I hope you continue to enjoy Minhyuk and his foodie journey. Thank you for your support in Leveling Up Through Eating.

    I hope everyone''s having a delicious meal! And see you on our next update!

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 131 - Joining A Guild

    Chapter 131: Joining a Guild

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Changwook smiled softly as he watched the scene in front of him.

    ¡®I¡¯ve never seen Minhyuk look this happy before.¡¯

    In fact, Changwook only came to know Minhyuk when he had bulimia and for all the years that they have known each other, the very first time that he had seen himugh so delightedly was when he ate hard bread in Athenae. However, right now, he had a much brighter smilepared to that time.

    ¡°Ah. That¡¯s right. You must be hungry now.¡±

    Changwook approached them quickly.

    ¡°We have a buffet ready for today.¡±

    ¡°Oh! A buffet!¡±

    ¡°Buffet!¡±

    All of them looked like they were injected with chicken blood.

    In this country where everything you eat is controlled, are we finally able to eat food that looks like legit food?!

    Not long after, Changwook led them to the ce where the buffet was held.

    ¡°Well then. Please help yourself. There¡¯s tomato steak, tomato juice, tomato chips, tomato¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Keok¡­¡­¡±

    They were shocked by the newest trend in the world, a tomato buffet.

    However, Minhyuk was enjoying all of it so Jihye peeked at him and said carefully¡­

    ¡°Minhyukie, by any chance, do you want to join our guild?¡±

    Minhyuk froze with a tomato hanging on his lips.

    When Rovan asked him about joining his guild, he told him that he wanted to be with his friends if he would join a guild. Of course, the premise was that they wouldn¡¯t steal his food. But when he was finally facing them, he was now filled with anxiety. He did not know whether he would join their guild or not.

    But he was fine now. He had finally realized what they think of him.

    ¡°Sure.¡±

    Jisoo, Jihye and Seoktae¡¯s expressions all brightened with his answer. But Jihye hesitated to say something¡­

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    The quick-witted Minhyuk realized that she wanted to say something so he prompted her with a question.

    ¡°You see, I checked your cooking skills when you handed me the steak you made for King Varen.¡±

    ¡°And then?¡±

    Minhyuk looked like he knew where this was going.

    ¡°I know that it hasn¡¯t been a long time since we¡¯ve met but I wanted to ask you for a favor.¡±

    ¡°A favor?¡±

    Minhyuk tilted his head at them while Jihye looked like she was truly apologetic.

    ¡°Yeah. Can you cook buffed dishes for our guild members?¡±

    He thought for a moment.

    The second dish of God¡¯s Legacy Dishes!

    A restaurant¡¯s full course meal!

    With the first dish, he was able to level up his God¡¯s Cooking Skill and he was also able to acquire the invincible body. And the jokbal set was truly delicious.

    So what about the second dish? How will a restaurant¡¯s full course meal taste? What abilities will it give me?

    However, he had to cook for others for him to be able to receive it quickly. Of course, with his skill ¡®The Joy of Eating Together.¡¯ he would gain great merit even if he cooked for others.

    The only thing that was worse was¡­

    ¡®King Varen only gave me a 5% increase in satisfaction. I believe it would be hard for ordinary users to give me a 1% increase.¡¯

    ording to his ss quest ¡®To Have a Feast with Other People.¡¯, there were a lot of factors that could influence the increase in the satisfaction level like position, level and abilities. If he thought about it, then the members of the Legend Guild were the best guests that he could have. After all, they were high-leveled unofficial rankers.

    Then, Jihye spoke.

    ¡°Of course I¡¯m not asking you to do it for free.¡±

    Even if they were guild members, who would cook for others for free? No, it was because Jihye wanted to give Minhyuk the best treatment for him to agree to this request.

    ¡°We¡¯ll pay you as much as you want. And, we will also bring you the ingredients for the food. Minhyukie only needs to prepare it and cook the dishes.¡±

    It was an interesting offer.

    They would bring the ingredients for Minhyuk to cook and he would be able to eat with them.

    That¡¯s good. Those are the best terms.

    ¡°I¡¯ll give you however much you want depending on the amount of buff the dishes would have.¡±

    ¡°To be honest, I don¡¯t really need any money.¡±

    ¡°Ah. R, really?¡±

    Jihye nodded her head after she thought about it.

    When she saw Minhyuk, she knew that not only were his artifacts great¡­ they were all more than amazing. When they were attacked in the carriage, his armor bounced off physical attacks and his frying pan, which boasted a high defense, could even bounce off magical attacks. Even his sword was not something that was easy to break.

    ¡°It¡¯s just¡­ If you don¡¯t need money¡­... then what should we do? Should we help you bomb your way through your levels?¡±

    The Legend Guild would drive a bus!

    Anyone would kill for this opportunity. However, Minhyuk still shook his head.

    ¡°No. Whenever I cook, you have to bring me delicious ingredients.¡±

    ¡°De, delicious ingredients?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Delicious ingredients! Something more special than the regr ingredients!¡±

    ¡°For example?¡±

    ¡°From A-ranked cooking ingredients to S-ranked cooking ingredients!¡±

    To be honest with himself, there were still plenty of ingredients that Minhyuk could not get because of his level. There were quite a lot of ingredients hidden in high-leveled hunting grounds and he was sure that the Legend Guild could bring it to him. Or they could probably find a way and buy it themselves.

    ¡°OK!¡±

    Jihye readily epted his conditions.

    And Minhyuk, who was waiting for the right timing, said¡­

    ¡°Then, should we ess Athenae first? This is too tasteless¡­ I want to go and eat something delicious¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°A, agreed¡­¡­¡±

    They all readily agreed.

    ¡°Is there a capsule room here?¡±

    Jihye asked.

    Minhyuk nodded his head.

    ¡°Yes. This building has it.¡±

    Minhyuk guided them to a room that was filled with capsules.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡­ L, look at all these capsules¡­¡­ A, all of them are new!¡±

    ¡°This is awesome¡­¡­ This is ss¡­¡­!¡±

    They all went into the capsules with awe in their eyes.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk went to his room since he could only fit in his extrarge capsule.

    ***

    Varen, who finally met with Ellie, went together to Eivelis Empire¡¯s Imperial Pce and ate dinner with her. He was given the warm wee that he was promised.

    ¡®If the Eivelis Empire can help the Northern Continent with the monster situation then we will give them as much information and support as we can.¡¯

    There was even evidence that users of the Eivelis Empire colluded with the Cordis Empire so countless quests were given to the users of the Eivelis Empire.

    ¡°Foreigners, pay heed! We are recruiting troops to subjugate the monsters of the Northern Continent!¡±

    ¡°Hey, hey. Amazing. We should definitely do that quest!¡±

    ¡°Kyaa. Pioneering the Northern Continents!¡±

    It weren¡¯t just the users of the Eivelis Empire who were jumping on the quests rted to the Northern Continent, even Cordis Empire wanted to get a piece of the cake.

    ¡°Right now, Eivelis Empire will be doing their best to explore the Northern Continent. But we must be the first to conquer and seed in this exploration! We need to be the first to get the monster drops and valuable resources! Are there any foreigners who want to join this conquest?!¡±

    It might have been asked in a different way but the fact that they wanted to explore the Northern Continent remain unchanged.

    He was also able to meet with all of the members of Legend Guild who had protected and escorted him together with Ellie¡¯s 500 soldiers and 50 knights. The surviving soldiers of the Valkyrie Kingdom also came out to wee him.

    ¡°Your Highness! We¡¯re very sorry!¡±

    ¡°Keuhuhuhuhuk!¡±

    His loyal subjects weed him with tears in their eyes.

    And together with Varen, the members of the Legend Guild were the first ones to see Valkyrie Kingdom.

    [You are the first to discover Valkyrie Kingdom.]

    [You have gained 30 reputation points.]

    [The people have been informed that you have saved King Varen.]

    [In the Valkyrie Kingdom, the Legend Guild will be known as the heroes who saved King Varen.]

    [You can purchase items, skill books and potions with a 10% discount.]

    [Your high favorability with the citizens of Valkyrie Kingdom will make it easier for you to receive quests.]

    ¡°Kyaa!¡±

    Ace suddenly gave a short exmation of surprise.

    ¡°There¡¯s definitely a Robin-like woman in this ce, right?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re going to go out with an NPC?¡±

    ¡°Hyung. NPCs are human beings too!¡±

    Crow clicked his tongue at him.

    ¡°When is GM-niming?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯ll arrive soon, right?¡±

    Genie, Khan and Locke were all currently logged out but they could easilye here with the ¡®Valkyrie Kingdom Return Stone¡¯ that Varen had given them. Giving the return stones or any items between guild members was easy. They only needed to ce it in the guild vault and they would be able to receive it right away.

    ¡°But I still wonder what kind of territory King Varen would give us?¡±

    ¡°I know right?¡±

    ¡°Genie-noona is going to be the one who will receive it, right?¡±

    ¡°Of course. The one with the highest reputation in the guild is Genie.¡±

    Genie¡¯s reputation points were overwhelmingly high. It was almost twice the reputation points of all of the members of the guildbined.

    Usually, if the guild received a title or territory, the person with the highest reputation would be the one to receive it and not the GM. That way, it would be easier to manage thend and the soldiers.

    They arrived at Verce, the capital city of Valkyrie Kingdom.

    All of the members tilted their heads in confusion.

    ¡°What¡¯s this? Why are they all so busy?¡±

    Ace was quite taken aback. When their King arrived, they weren¡¯t this busy. The knight assigned to guide them, he was a knight from Valkyrie Kingdom¡¯s Silver Knights, exined the situation to them.

    ¡°It¡¯s because we¡¯re currently preparing for a ritual.¡±

    ¡°A ritual?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Our Valkyrie Kingdom is protected by the God Juis. Because of the blessings of the God Juis, monsters do not invade our Valkyrie Kingdom.¡±

    ¡°Hoo.¡±

    There were many gods in Athenae and the highest among them was Athenae. Athenae was also moremonly known to its users as the supeputer who oversees the worldview of Athenae. There were also five other gods besides him, and one of them is God Juis.

    ¡°Once a year, everyone would gather together with the priests to hold a week-long memorial and ritual service to express our gratitude to the God Juis.¡±

    ¡°Keok¡­¡­ A week¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°We are very grateful to her so a week is only natural.¡±

    The knight looked up at the sky, folded his hands together, and prayed for a bit before talking to them again.

    ¡°And the God Juis is a gourmand who has an extremely demanding taste for food.¡±

    ¡°Gourmand?¡±

    Crow¡¯s interest suddenly peaked.

    ¡°Yes. After each ancestral rite, the God Juis wille down to the earth to taste the dishes made by the legendary chef, Rald, before ascending once again. She has a really picky appetite. There was a time when a salmon, which had been spoiled, was sent up by mistake.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°The God Juis was extremely furious and the Northern Continent did not experience any rain for quite a long time. Even the monsters were extremely ferocious and dared to attack the viges at the outskirts of Valkyrie Kingdom. It was a punishment from God Juis. Ever since then, every citizen had been meticulous in the details of the ritual.¡±

    Crow nodded his head.

    ¡®So to put it simply, she turned the table upside down because the rice was not good. Right?¡¯

    She must be a very difficult and demanding God.

    At that moment¡­

    [Guild Chatting: Guild Master Genie has logged in.]

    Genie had logged in and she had something to say right away.

    [Guild Master Genie: I have some good news. We have two new guild members joining us.]

    Ace and Crow looked at the chat with interest.

    [Guild Master Genie: The first one is Lute-nim.]

    ¡°Oh. Lute-nim¡¯s skills with the bow are amazing.¡±

    Crow was a bit in awe.

    Then¡­

    [Guild Master Genie: And the other one is the Frying Pan Killer who killed Rumad. In fact, his real job is¡­¡­]

    Genie paused for a moment and both Crow and Ace tilted their heads in anticipation.

    [Guild Master Genie: A chef who can make buffed dishes.]

    ¡°Keok?!¡±

    ¡°OMG?! This was more shocking than that time when White Beard died!¡±

    Ace and Crow¡¯s eyes met.

    A chef has such a ridiculous power?!

    The guild chat was suddenly filled with activity.

    [Guild Chatting: Minhyuk-nim has joined Legend Guild.]

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Minhyuk¡¯s finally with the guild! I mean, we all know this was gonna happen but YAS!

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Alright! I didn¡¯t expect it this early, but hooray for Minhyuk¡¯s growth.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 132 - His Worth

    Chapter 132: His Worth

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    40 His Worth

    All of the Cordis Empire users were on alert.

    Right now, Valkyrie Kingdom from the Northern Continent and the Eivelis Empire had formed an alliance. This meant that there was a high possibility that the users from Eivelis Empire would have monopoly over countless artifacts, information and various valuable things. In addition, there was also a possibility that the guilds stationed in the Eivelis Empire could outss and outperform the guilds from Cordis Empire.

    The User Callian was the guild master of Iris Guild, one of the top 4 guilds in the country. He was ranked 22nd in the overall rankings and was considered to be one among the countless strong yers in the country.

    In addition, Iris Guild was so overwhelmingly strong that when users were asked ¡®Who¡¯s the best guild in the country?¡¯ all of them would answer: ¡®Of course it¡¯s Iris Guild!¡¯. There might be four great guilds in the country but among the four, Iris Guild had the most advantageous position.

    Iris Guild¡¯s Callian was now standing in front of a cave with a grave expression on his face. The door that led inside the cave was shut tight and the person who entered the closed off cave was none other than the Necromancer Bach.

    ¡®Bach. You¡¯re the only one I can trust.¡¯

    Necromancer Bach had an outstanding ability.

    It was soul summoning!

    If the soul summoning skill was triggered sessfully then they would be able to summon a soul and ask them some questions. However, this was a special skill that had a rare chance of being sessfully triggered. In addition, there would be arge penalty inflicted on Bach with each question asked.

    Bang, bang, bang!

    The door of the cave slowly opened and Bach, who was wearing ck robes, walked out from the inside.

    ¡°Did the soul summoning seed?¡±

    When he heard Callian¡¯s words, Bach slowly nodded his head.

    What he summoned was the soul of a deceased priest from Valkyrie Kingdom. The body was recovered by Iris Guild in case the raid to take away King Varen failed. Through the body, they could summon the soul and locate the Kingdom of Valkyrie.

    ¡°Can it help us change the situation of the game right now?¡±

    Bach smiled deeply.

    ¡°Yes. There¡¯s actually a simpler way to drive out the Legend Guild from Valkyrie Kingdom.¡±

    ¡°......Oho?!¡±

    Callian was caught in surprise.

    There was a simpler way to drive out Legend Guild. Right now, all of the guilds were trying to find a way to keep the growth of Legend Guild in check since they were set to be the first guild to acquire a territory in Valkyrie Kingdom.

    Bach chuckled deeply before exining.

    ¡°You can poison the ritual food for God Juis.¡±

    ¡°Poison the ritual food for God Juis?¡±

    Callian looked at him iprehensibly as Bach retold him the stories he had heard inside one by one.

    It was said that she found the ritual food once to be distasteful and casted a terrible drought over the kingdom for several days. So what if the food was poisoned?

    ¡°There would be a great disaster¡­¡­¡±

    Callian murmured to himself.

    What if the ritual food to be served to the God Juis is something that she does not like? And beyond that it is something that isden with poison? Then a devastating catastrophe might sweep the whole of the Northern Continent.

    ¡°The priest was a high ranking priest.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°And I received a lot of information from him?¡±

    If the soul summoning was sessful then the summoned soul had no choice but to answer the question of the summoner.

    Then, Bach said¡­

    ¡°The Valkyrie Kingdom will be thrown into disarray for quite some time because of the angry God Juis. And since it will happen during the appearance of the Legend Guild then the public will be furious.¡±

    Callian nodded his head.

    It definitely made sense. But what could they get from something like this? Was he saying that they could only achieve the fall of Legend Guild and nothing else?

    Bach spoke as if he had read his mind.

    ¡°We can find a way to save them from their situation. Originally, the priest was someone amazing. He was someone who could give a hidden quest to users. He said that if we want to calm the angry God Juis, then we have to find the ¡®Corrupted Juis¡¯ Dungeon¡¯. If we find the dungeon, then we will be able to find the ¡®Spirit of the Wrathful Juis¡¯ inside. Once we find the ¡®Spirit of the Wrathful Juis¡¯ we can calm her down if we offer her a sumptuous banquet. He also said that there will be amazing rewards.¡±

    Callian once again nodded at his remarks.

    It was clear to them that it was an extremely high-ranking quest. In this update, the users were told that there were SS-ranked quests that were released so this might be one of them. Of course, this quest was something that they needed to fabricate. Especially cing and retrieving the poison.

    ¡°......What if we broadcast it live?¡±

    Iris Guild was a guild linked with a game broadcasting channel called ¡®Dungeon Attack Live!¡¯. It would definitely be interesting to broadcast a clearing of an SS-ranked quest and acting as a hero. After all, in this quest, the Cordis Empire would be the one who would save Valkyrie Kingdom. Perhaps King Varen would be close enough with Iris Guild instead of the other guilds. It was also possible that he did not know of the involvement of Iris Guild with the attack on him since it was only Ares Guild and Rumad who went there.

    ¡°There are two problems.¡±

    Callian rubbed his chin in thought as he listed the two problems.

    ¡°The first problem¡­ How do we get the poison in the food?¡±

    ¡°Of course I already asked the soul I have summoned about the whereabouts and the exact situation of Valkyrie Kingdom.¡±

    He grinned widely. He knew that Bach was his type of person to deal with.

    Thenes their second problem¡­

    ¡°Who will cook the banquet?¡±

    It was easy to find the location of the Wrathful Spirit of Juis however it would be a big problem if they couldn¡¯t satisfy her with the meal that they brought. But who could make a dish that could satisfy a God?

    The two of them were lost in thought for quite some time. Not long after, Callian¡¯s finger popped up as if he had thought of something.

    Pop!

    ¡°The Twilight Chef, ck!¡±

    ***

    Minhyuk looked disappointed after essing Athenae.

    He came in to eat the sushi made by the Legendary Chef! But when he came in, the legendary chef and King Varen were both busy preparing for the ritual and ceremony. However, since this was something that was necessary for the Valkyrie Kingdom, he believed that it couldn¡¯t be helped. He just had to wait for a bit.

    In the meantime, he could try and find other ways to eat delicious food.

    ¡°I¡¯m Minhyuk, the new member. Please take good care of me.¡±

    Minhyuk bowed his head as the members of Legend Guild weed him with a warm round of apuse.

    It was the sessful recruitment of the Frying Pan Killer who was on fire these days! This was an event that could never be ignored.

    Then, there was Lute who was standing right next to him.

    ¡°I¡¯m Lute. Please take good care of me.¡±

    Then, Genie spoke beside Minhyuk.

    ¡°As I have said before, Minhyuk-nim is also my friend in real life. Due to some things, this is our first time meeting after 5 years. And just like what I have said before, Minhyuk is a really, really, really good chef.¡±

    ¡°For real?¡±

    ¡°I still can¡¯t believe it¡­¡­¡±

    The guild members were still left in shock. The Frying Pan Killer was an excellent damage dealer. His strikes were so powerful that it could crush the enemy in one go. He was evenparable to rankers with his impressive armor, incredible strength and high HP that was far higher than his level.

    In reality, the guild members all thought of one thing¡­

    ¡®Buffed dishes¡­¡­¡¯

    Buffed dishes!

    It wasn¡¯t that bad. But the better the effects, the more expensive it was. In the case of priests, higher buffs meant having a greater depletion of their MP. Compared to the expensive buffed dishes, using MP was far more cost effective. It was the only thing that was restricting other users from purchasing plenty of buffed dishes.

    ¡°Minhyukie can make really awesome buffed dishes. But there¡¯s nothing free in this world, right?¡±

    Genie smiled lightly as she continued to speak.

    ¡°Whenever Minhyuk cooks for us, all of us should provide him with the ingredients.¡±

    ¡°Ah. That¡¯s a matter of fact.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    All of the guild members nodded their heads in agreement.

    Meanwhile, Crow asked¡­

    ¡°How much is it?¡±

    Crow asked this since buffed dishes were literally more expensivepared to their effects. He once bought and ate a dish made by the Twilight Chef ck. It cost 4 tinum just for a bowl of dish. It¡¯s worth at least 20 million won in cash. Of course, the effects were excellent. There was a 13% increase in EXP acquisition rate and a +2% on all stats for an 8 day duration. Crow was in the middle of a leveling spree so he had no choice but to bite the bullet and buy it. When he asked them why a dish was so expensive this was the answer that he got from one of the guild members of Louvert, the guild headed by Twilight Chef ck¡­

    ¡®The dishes are made only with expensive ingredients.¡¯

    It was the only reason why it was expensive. It had to be expensive since they used plenty of expensive ingredients for the dish.

    ¡°Uhm. I think it¡¯s best we make a final deal with Minhyuk here.¡±

    This was Genie¡¯s answer. In fact, Minhyuk said that it was enough for him to get ¡®Delicious Ingredients¡¯. But shouldn¡¯t Minhyuk¡¯spensation differ depending on the value of the buffed dishes that he had made?

    Minhyuk understood what Genie meant. Guilds couldn¡¯t be kept running just on friendship. Everyone should be helpful to each other and pay their services ording to their value. Most of the guilds that depended only on friendship were still at the bottom of thedder.

    ¡°Then, why don¡¯t we do it like this? I¡¯ll cook for you and you¡¯ll get the delicious ingredients for me.¡±

    ¡°D, delicious ingredients?¡±

    All of the guild members tilted their head at him.

    Not millions of gold, nor a few tinum but delicious ingredients?

    ¡°Our Minhyuk here is a glutton for food¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Ha, haha¡­¡­ That¡¯s a bit too much.¡±

    Crow smiled awkwardly at them.

    Genie did not bother exining to them about Minhyuk¡¯s condition. She also did not think that it was necessary to exin about his family.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t mind this then how about 20 million gold for a rare buffed dish, an A-ranked ingredient for a unique buffed dish, an S-ranked ingredient for an epic buffed dish and two S-ranked ingredients for a legendary buffed dish?¡±

    He made a rough calction for the rest of the guild members.

    For a rare buffed dish, 20 million gold. However, a rare buffed dish costs about 1 tinum from Twilight Chef ck. And in the case of the unique ranked dish that Crow bought from them, it was at around 400 million gold or 4 tinum. If they used purely A-ranked ingredients for the dish then the price could range anywhere from 50 million gold to 1 tinum. Chef ck¡¯s dish was priced at 4 tinum. This was because a dish was priced depending on the reputation of the chef, the cost of the cooking and ingredients and the value of the grade of the dish.

    What Minhyuk did was something simr. His rate would differ depending on the cost of the cooking, the price of the ingredient and the grade of the dish. However, there was still a loophole here.

    ¡°I think it¡¯s still too expensive. GM-nim.¡±

    Crow said that.

    ¡°......I think it¡¯s a bit cheaper.¡±

    Genie blurted out the rest of her words while Crow tilted his head in confusion.

    ¡°Cheap?¡±

    The other guild members were buzzing in confusion while Ace was bewildered.

    ¡°Eyy. Noona. The dishes made by the world-renowned Chef ck are around 400~600 million gold but that was Chef ck. But he¡­¡­¡±

    He was a chef that no one had ever heard of. In all honesty, his strength as the Frying Pan Killer was already proven. However, plenty of them had said that he was just lucky. Of course, aside from his strength he had not proven his skills with cooking. People wouldn¡¯t believe anything that they haven¡¯t seen.

    At that moment, Genie realized something.

    ¡®I was sending out a proposal to the guild members without showing them what Minhyuk is capable of¡­¡­¡¯

    She smiled wryly. This response was something that she could understand. The dishes made by ck, the Twilight Chef, were superior to the rare ssed dishes made by other chefs. And there was also his name which added the value to his dishes. In fact, the dishes made by Twilight Chef ck were said to be extremely delicious so the high price waspletely validated.

    But for Minhyuk? Nothing had been proven yet. Whether it was the buff or the taste, there was still nothing. There was also the question of whether his cooking could rece the buff of priests. Buffed dishes were basically not eaten unless they could surpass the buffs casted by priests.

    If they considered all of this, then it was safe to say that Minhyuk¡¯s demands were extremely absurd.

    Minhyuk stayed quiet while the guild members spoke. He assessed their responses before speaking.

    ¡°Twilight Chef ck? His buffs were that good¡­¡­? I don¡¯t know about that.¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    All of the guild members'' attention was focused on him.

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Well. I really also don¡¯t know about that. Kek. After all, he was just an apostle to the Food God so¡­ Kek. It seems like there will be food. I¡¯m already drooling.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Oh boy, shots fired!

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 133 - His Worth

    Chapter 133: His Worth

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    You think that Twilight Chef ck¡¯s buffed dishes are not that good?

    No. ck, the Twilight Chef, was clearly an outstanding chef. He was even considered as one of the top chefs in the world. Even the buff increase, the storage period and the preservation time of his dishes were ridiculously high. In fact, Crow had experienced it in person.

    ¡°Are you serious?¡±

    Ace was the one who asked the question. In all honesty, this was the normal reaction when they heard Minhyuk¡¯s words.

    Minhyuk had checked the information regarding Twilight Chef ck¡¯s dishes on the official homepage of Athenae. Based on what he had seen, using the same rank of ingredients he had a lower amount of buffpared to what Minhyuk cooked before.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Uhm¡­¡­¡±

    The guild members hummed in disagreement while Genie interjected.

    ¡°Crow-nim, why don¡¯t you taste Minhyukie¡¯s dish first?¡±

    ¡°Then, let¡¯s do that.¡±

    In a way, it felt like he was taking one for the team. However, in reality, Crow preferred solitude. He would even buy other people¡¯s buffed dishes if he was not able to buy Twilight Chef ck¡¯s dishes.

    ¡®Good. Let¡¯s see. I wonder what delicious food I¡¯ll be able to eat through Crow-nim?¡¯

    Since Minhyuk could eat with him, he used his Create a Recipe Skill.

    [Creating a recipe that the other party desires.]

    [You can now check the recipe for curry rice.]

    [The amount of buff that can be used has been decreased due to creating a recipe.]

    ¡®Ooooooh. Curry rice!¡¯

    Minhyuk smiled slightly.

    Curry rice. It was the yellow-ish steaming dish with plenty of vegetables and meat. Eating a spoonful of this with rice would allow you to taste various vors that were in harmony with each other!

    Minhyuk quickly checked the recipe.

    (Curry Rice Recipe for Crow)

    Required Ingredients: Red Pig¡¯s Tenderloin, Curry Powder, Avin¡¯s Broli, Onions, Moonlight Potato, Carrots.

    Expected Dish Grade: Unique~Legendary

    Expected Effects:

    ©¥ Dramatic increase in Crow¡¯s EXP Acquisition Rate.

    ©¥ Great increase in Crow¡¯s Spearmanship Mastery.

    After Minhyuk checked it¡­

    ¡®It was the same asst time too¡­¡­¡¯

    He felt that the Create a Recipe Skill was truly amazing. From what he had seen, it seemed like the buffs in the dish that would be created were something that the person truly needed at that exact moment. To prove his thoughts correct, he asked Crow.

    ¡°By any chance, is Crow-nim desperately trying to level-up these days?¡±

    ¡°......That¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°As expected.¡±

    ¡°What was expected?¡±

    Genie was quite confused so Minhyuk exined it in detail.

    ¡°I can see a recipe that the other person wants the most.¡±

    The Create a Recipe Skill was literally like that. It would show Minhyuk what the other party liked or wanted to eat the most. Then, Minhyuk said¡­

    ¡°Crow-nim, do you want to eat some curry?¡±

    ¡°H, how did you know that?¡±

    A few days ago, Crow wanted to eat some curry so badly. However, Crow was a man who lived all by himself so the only curry that he could eat was the 3-minute instant curry pack. But what he wanted to eat was real curry, the one with potatoes, carrots and meat and not just that instant curry.

    ¡°And you like broli in your curry, right?¡±

    ¡°Heok!¡±

    Crow looked at him as if he had seen a ghost.

    Broli in curry was a debatable ingredient. However, it was something that was entirely dependent on the person¡¯s taste. But it was entirely clear to Minhyuk when he saw the recipe created for him.

    ¡°Th, that¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°But Minhyuk-ah, how did you know that Crow-nim desperately needed to level up? In fact, Crow-nim had quite a low levelpared to the others in the guild.¡±

    The bounty hunter, Crow! He was someone who was more interested in bounty hunting than increasing his level. However, he was a great damage dealer and he was necessary for the group. But these days, the effect of his damage was almost negligible since his level was low. This was also the reason why Crow thought of increasing his level in the Northern Continent for a bit.

    ¡°Because there¡¯s a buff that¡¯s rted to increasing the level for Crow-nim in the dish that I will make.¡±

    ¡°Oh. That¡¯s good.¡±

    Crow looked like he was satisfied when he heard that part.

    ¡°By any chance, can you bring me the ingredients that I will say?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Red pig¡¯s tenderloin, curry powder, Avin¡¯s broli, Moonlight potato, onions and carrots.¡±

    ¡°Huh¡­¡­ Uhm, wait¡­¡­¡±

    Crow looked flustered when he heard the ingredients.

    The carrots, onions and curry powder seemed like they were normal ingredients. However, the other ingredients sounded unfamiliar to them. But they knew that he would have only said it if it was an ingredient that could be found in Athenae.

    Crow quickly searched for the ingredients. He first looked for the red pig¡¯s tenderloin.

    The red pig was a pig that only grows in Adred Vige and is an A-rank ingredient. It was said that it was juicierpared to other meat and its texture was soft and chewy.

    Then, there was Avin¡¯s broli, it was said that it could only be obtained from Avin. Avin was a man who had been growing brolis for four generations. And the moonlight potato was a mysterious potato that was nurtured and grown under the light of the moon.

    ¡°Th, these ingredients. Are there more simpler ingredients?¡±

    Crow was a bit embarrassed since he did not expect that the ingredients were a bit more expensive than what he had initially thought. If he failed then he would lose money. And that was something that he couldn¡¯t afford.

    ¡°Well, if you don¡¯t have the ingredients then we can rece them with regr ingredients. But the maximum dish grade will drop and the buff effect will also drop. Ah. I should also let you know that you can only taste my dishes once per month.¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡­¡±

    Crow looked around when he heard that the buff effect would also drop.

    ¡°Do you guys have any of these ingredients?¡±

    ¡°Huh? I think I have Avin¡¯s broli?¡±

    Locke answered him as he rummaged through his inventory. After looking through, he pulled out a broli with a ¡®Tadah!¡¯ and showed it to them.

    ¡°It¡¯s here!¡±

    ¡°Oooooh. Locke. Thanks!¡±

    ¡°Just thanks? Pay up.¡±

    ¡°......I¡¯ll pay you with our guild member¡¯s D.C.¡±

    Crow first grabbed Avin¡¯s broli from Locke. He said that he received the broli from a strange quest and that Avin¡¯s broli had a strange ability wherein it would not be spoiled or damaged even after a long time. Avin¡¯s broli was an A-ranked ingredient and since it was a material then it was not owned by the guild and their guild members.

    ¡°Then, take this one first.¡±

    In fact, Crow wasn¡¯t really expecting much.

    ¡®I¡¯ll just pay the price of the Avin¡¯s broli first¡­..¡¯

    He traded Avin¡¯s broli with Locke for 20 million gold.

    Minhyuk nodded his head and began substituting the rest of the ingredients with regr ones. After he had finished with that, he finally began to cook.

    The rest of the members of Legend Guild were originally going to hunt or look for quests but they stayed back and watched him cook since Minhyuk was so confident with himself and based on his tone it seemed like he truly believed that Chef ck¡¯s cooking was truly nothing.

    If he did not meet their expectations then he had to pay the price.

    ¡®I wonder how much the satisfaction level will increase with this?¡¯

    This was what Minhyuk thought as he started his cooking. However, the satisfaction level was just the satisfaction level, what he was truly looking forward to was eating curry. After all, the dish contained Avin¡¯s broli.

    The first thing he did was season the pork tenderloin with 1 tablespoon of cooking wine, 2 pinches of salt, and some pepper. Then, he cut the potatoes and carrots into small cubes while mincing the onion and cutting the broli into bite-sized pieces.

    After finishing all of his preparations, Minhyuk greased his pan with cooking oil and heated it with fire. He also sliced the seasoned pork tenderloin before cing them inside the frying pan.

    Sizzle!

    Once the pinkish meat had turned white from cooking, he added the vegetables and stir fried them together.

    [This is the best time to add water and curry powder.]

    The Food God¡¯s Cooking Skill assisted him again today. Were you wondering why? Perhaps it was because the cooking felt a bit more special todaypared to other days.

    There was also the delicious curry.

    He knew of a better way of eating curry but he felt that the other members of Legend Guild were still a bit wary and distrustful of his skills so he refrained from telling them. He felt it more especially from Crow, the person who he was cooking this dish for. He really wanted to feed him delicious curry to prove it to him. Of course, it was also because he could taste it with him so he was doing his best for this dish.

    Minhyuk poured water in the pan before adding the curry powder and letting it boil. Once the powder waspletely dissolved in the boiling water, he could feel it began to thicken as he stirred the dish.

    [This is the best time to turn off the heat.]

    The magical ability that was attached to Minhyuk¡¯s frying pan automatically turned off after the notification.

    The curry rice was finally finished.

    The spectacr colors of the vegetables in the bright yellow curry could make anyone¡¯s mouth water.

    At that moment, a series of notifications rang in his head.

    [You havepleted a Curry Rice.]

    [Crow¡¯s dish is the only dish with the buff effect.]

    [The Create a Recipe Skill Effect can only be tasted by the same person once per month.]

    [Trance. It¡¯s a dish that has your ¡®soul¡¯ poured into it.]

    [Due to the effects of Trance, the buff effect has be better.]

    [Unique Grade.]

    [You have gained 2 DEX.]

    [You have gained 4 reputation points.]

    [You have gained 400 Achievement Points.]

    Just like before, the passive skill Trance had also appeared again. Triggering the skill Trance was quite difficult since there were different mindsets and circumstances whenever chefs cook. When he cooked for Chef Len before, Trance was triggered because he felt that he wanted Len to be happy and regain his lost sense of taste with the first dish that he made. Right now, it seemed like it was triggered because he wanted to feed him delicious food and prove to them his superb skills and make them ¡®feel the joy of cooking¡¯.

    Buff effects are better when Trance is triggered!

    After confirming this fact, Minhyuk smiled.

    ¡®With this¡­¡­¡¯

    He will definitely be satisfied.

    ¡°Wow. It looks really delicious!¡±

    ¡°I, I just want to eat the meat right there.¡±

    The guild members of Legend Guild were in awe as they looked at the piping hot curry over the steaming rice.

    Curry rice was usually served inrge quantities but this dish was made only for Crow!

    ¡°Well then, we can¡¯t leave out the kimchi, pickled radish and seaweed.¡±

    ¡°Kghk! Minhyuk-nim, you have the same taste as me!¡±

    Crow¡¯s heart was beating wildly. He couldn¡¯t wait to taste the dish. He also preferred having kimchi on top of his curry. And most of the time, the vor would change if he wrapped the curry rice in seaweed.

    But before he ate it, Crow first checked the dish¡¯s information.

    ¡®Shall we look at the buff effect that he¡¯s boasting about?¡¯

    (Curry Rice)

    Material Grade: A

    Rank: Unique

    Restrictions: Only Crow could have the buff effects.

    Storage Time: 12 days

    Preservation Time: 12 days

    Special Effects:

    ©¥ +2 on your Spearmanship Mastery

    ©¥ +23% on your EXP Acquisition Rate

    Description: A dish made solely for Crow. This dish had the power from Chef Minhyuk¡¯s Trance which enhances the effect of the buffs.

    ¡°......!¡±

    Crow was left speechless as his body started shaking.

    ¡°Huh? Huh¡­¡­¡±

    He was holding a spoon earlier in anticipation but his hold on it loosened unknowingly and the spoon dropped on the ground.

    ng©¥

    This is impossible. I can¡¯t breathe.

    He took a deep breath to calm himself down.

    ¡°W, what¡¯s wrong? Crow hyung!¡±

    ¡°C, Crow?¡±

    The guild members looked at him curiously as Genie smiled slightly.

    ¡®I know that feeling better than anyone else.¡¯

    When she first saw the dish made by Minhyuk, she also couldn¡¯t believe her eyes.

    Not long after, Crow finally opened his mouth.

    ¡°Th, the buff¡­¡­ is really high. A +2 on my spearmanship mastery and my EXP¡­¡­ my EXP¡­¡­¡±

    The words were stuck in his throat. He couldn¡¯t bring himself to speak with how unbelievable it was. He paid 4 tinum coins before to eat a dish that gave him a 13% increase in EXP Acquisition Rate for 8 days. However, the dish in front of him right now had given him twice the amount of the buff he received for half the price. Earlier, hepletely ignored what Minhyuk said believing in what the guild members of the Louvert Guild said as ¡®the price of the ingredients are expensive¡¯. Back then, the dish made by Twilight Chef ck also had A-ranked ingredients. It had at least around 2~3 A-ranked ingredients. He knew this since users could see the rank of the ingredients used in the dish. However, Minhyuk clearly used only one A-ranked ingredient to exhibit such an effect.

    ¡°C, Crow¡­¡­ Tell me! What about the EXP?!¡±

    Ace urged him. He looked down at the curry rice that Minhyuk made as he gulped down his saliva.

    ¡°The increase in the rate is up to 23%...... It also has a 12 days storage time and a 12 days prevention time. And my spearmanship mastery will also increase by +2!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ***

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 134 - His Worth

    Chapter 134: His Worth

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    The guild members'' eyes all widened in surprise.

    23%?!

    A user could only receive such a huge percent of additional EXP acquisition rate during specific events. In fact, in order to increase the buff effect to that degree, a user would need to wear two ¡®Growth Rings¡¯ worth 300 tinum each. These growth rings had the ability to increase the experience by 5% each. In addition, you also need to eat a buffed dish made by the Twilight Chef, ck. But right now, such an effect was disyed for less than 1 tinum.

    And there¡¯s even a +2 on the spearmanship mastery?

    Each ss had an examination that would determine their rankings, if the user ranked high then they would receive a mastery passive skill. This mastery passive skill had a wondrous effect where it could increase the attack power, movement speed and attack speed whenever its level increases.

    Crow¡¯s spearmanship mastery was at level 7. And with the dish that Minhyuk made, it would be temporarily increased to Lv 9 and along with its temporary increase his attack power, movement speed and attack speed would increase by 8% temporarily.

    ¡°C, crazy¡­¡­! Crow, don¡¯t mess with us!¡±

    ¡°Can you even think of White Beard¡¯s death as a joke?¡±

    ¡°H, how can I think of something like that as a joke!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m also not messing around. All of you should take a look at it!¡±

    When he heard Crow¡¯s words, Ace hurriedly went in front of the curry rice. After he checked the dish, he took not only one but two steps back in shock.

    Then¡­

    Thud!

    He fell down on his butt.

    ¡°C, crazy¡­¡­!¡±

    Even the silver-haired Goddess of Battle, Ascar, who never changed her expression looked intrigued. She quietly loosened her crossed arms and approached the dish. Her eyes widened ever so slightly as she looked at the dish and the ingredients used.

    ¡°I, I can¡¯t believe this.¡±

    Her eyes stared straight at Minhyuk.

    The guild members now finally realized that Minhyuk was not being arrogant and conceited when he said those words earlier. In fact, it could clearly be seen that Minhyuk¡¯s dishes were far superior to anyone else¡¯s dishes. If theypared the dishes made by Twilight Chef ck with Minhyuk¡¯s dishes, it seemed that ck¡¯s dishes were truly too shabby.

    ¡°I, I¡¯ll eat this! Minhyuk-nim, I¡¯ll pay you 10 tinum!¡±

    ¡°Huuuuh? I¡¯ll pay 20 tinum!¡±

    ¡°30! 30!¡±

    A 23% increase in EXP acquisition rate would give them the possibility to overtake and beat the previously high-rankers in the rankings. This was also the reason why all of them were so surprised. It would not be strange if the price would increase by a lot.

    ¡°It¡¯s mine!¡±

    Crow¡¯s face crumpled in annoyance. After a moment, he smiled.

    ¡°This is a dish made for me!¡±

    It was clearlybeled on the dish that it was specifically for Crow and the buff effect would only take effect if he was the one who ate it. The guild members finally showed signs of regret.

    ¡°Please take a seat, Crow-nim!¡±

    Minhyuk did not care one bit about what the reaction and responses of the rest of the guild members were. He picked up the spoon that fell on the ground, reced it with a new one and handed it over to Crow before urging him again.

    ¡°Ah. Yes.¡±

    Crow¡¯s face was filled with confusion as he sat down and ced the steaming curry rice on top of his manly fatherly legs. Then, as if on cue, the same curry rice appeared in front of Minhyuk.

    ¡°Hehe! Delicious curry rice!¡±

    It was his special ability.

    The guild members looked in surprise as they saw the curry rice appear in front of Minhyuk. Then, Crow picked up his te and savored the deep and vorful aroma of the curry rice in his hands. The strong smell of the spices was already making his mouth water endlessly and he couldn¡¯t help but drool.

    ¡®Wouldn¡¯t it be great if this also tasted good?¡¯

    This was what he thought as he looked at the plump and glossy rice that was sitting on the side of the te with the thick and savory curry beside it.

    Without waiting any further, he picked his spoon up and carefully mixed the curry and the rice together. Then, he scooped up a heaping amount on his spoon before cing it in his waiting mouth. The unique aroma of the curry slowly spread in his mouth.

    Then he chewed.

    The thick curry sauce together with the plump rice, slightly ripe carrots and onions, broli and potatoes mixed together to create a beautiful harmony of vors. The carrots were also not too soft nor too hard but still a bit crunchy which added a pleasant texture to the dish. The pork tenderloin was also chewy and juicy which rounded up the vors of the dish.

    ¡°......¡±

    Crow looked down at his curry rice for a moment.

    It tastes¡­¡­ special.

    It¡¯s thick and vorful.

    He only had one bite but he felt sorry for himself that he had not yet eaten it to his heart¡¯s content so he mixed the dish thoroughly and ate another bite.

    ¡°Crow, say something!¡±

    ¡°Crow?¡±

    But Crow did not answer them.

    He was fully focused on adding a well-ripened kimchi on top of his mixed curry rice. After adding the kimchi, he carefully ced it in his mouth.

    Crunch, crunch!

    The crunchy kimchi with its sweet and spicy vor had caught the taste that currycked and made it whole. He quickly ate another bite. However, this time it was with pickled radish. Thebination of the sweet and sour pickled radish was also divine. Then, he wrapped the curry rice with the savory roasted seaweed. Since the curry was cooked well, this bite waspletely savory and delicious.

    It¡¯s really delicious.

    Crow ate it all in one go. He couldn¡¯t help but reach his hands out for the pan. He quicklydled out the remaining curry while Minhyuk scooped up some rice from his rice cooker and added it to the curry. The two of them ate and ate again.

    Crow easily ate 3 servings in one sitting. He picked up a ss of cold water.

    Gulp, gulp©¥

    After gulping down the water, he banged it down and let out a breath of ¡®Hwaa!¡¯. Crow¡¯s eyes closed in bliss as a small smile hung at the corner of his lips. He stayed like that for a moment¡­

    Then, the moment he opened his eyes he spoke¡­

    ¡°My god. I have never tasted such a delicious curry rice in my life¡­¡­¡±

    He said this with all his heart. A person could experience plenty of emotions and feelings whenever they ate delicious dishes.

    Ah, it¡¯s delicious.

    Ah, I really want to eat it next time.

    I feel good since I had a hearty meal today.

    And so on. However, there was one thing that he was sure of. And that was it made him happy and satisfied.

    ¡°Thank you Minhyuk-nim. It was truly delicious.¡±

    Minhyuk looked up at him after he finished eating his curry rice.

    All of the guild members looked at him. Especially Locke. He was drooling all over as he looked at Minhyuk and his te longingly.

    ¡°Waah. Me, me too¡­¡­ I want to eat too.¡±

    It has great buffs and it''s delicious too.

    They felt that this was simr to the best restaurant since the food was both affordable, delicious and useful to them.

    ¡°Should I go next? Hoho!¡±

    Locke swiftly and naturally raised this matter. Meanwhile, Ascar looked at him and frowned.

    ¡°No. It¡¯s me, Locke.¡±

    The usually silent and frigid Ascar spoke firmly for the first time.

    Ace also spoke up.

    ¡°No. Hyungs and noonas! It¡¯s the best time for me to eat and grow up, are you not going to give this chance to your lovely maknae?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°A, a straight refusal[1]¡­¡­¡±

    Ace was taken aback.

    No, why are there people like this!

    Genie finally mediated between the rest of them.

    ¡°I¡¯m really, really sorry but I think one among the three of us should eat his dish next.¡±

    The three people that she spoke of were Genie herself, Khan and Locke.

    ¡°Wow, Genie-noona! You¡¯re so cheap!¡±

    Ace lookedpletely sullen while the rest of the guild members looked at her in confusion.

    ¡°We don¡¯t have much time left, the dungeon needs to be cleared.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Ah.¡±

    Genie, Locke and Khan were trying to clear a dungeon. They wanted to take a video of them clearing that dungeon to show the world about the Legend Guild and the time for them to clear that dungeon wasing to an end.

    Dungeons like this would pop out sometimes. If the number of failures increased and they still did not clear the dungeon then it would either disappear from that ce or close permanently. The dungeon that they were challenging was just like that. And right now, the three of them needed to eat some buffed dishes to quickly clear the dungeon.

    The rest of the guild members looked a bit disappointed.

    However, at that time Crow suddenly shrieked.

    ¡°Aaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Heok?! W, what! What¡¯s wrong?!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me there¡¯s a side effect with the buffed dish?¡±

    ¡°Does he want to go to the bathroom?¡±

    ¡°D, damn.¡±

    Crow looked like he wanted to cry.

    ¡°W, why did I only use one A-ranked ingredient¡­¡­ If I used the rest of the ingredients, the effects would definitely have been more amazing!¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Uhm¡­¡­¡±

    The guild members understood Crow¡¯s dilemma.

    Minhyuk made it clear to them earlier. He said that they could rece the ingredients however the rank of the dish and the buff effects would definitely decrease. However, right now the meaning could also be interpreted differently.

    ¡°W, what¡­¡­ If hyung used all of the ingredients that hyung listed earlier, what kind of dish would he make?¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    The guild members all fell silent. Meanwhile, Minhyuk shook his head.

    ¡°Considering the A-ranked ingredient that we have this time, the effects of the buffed dish were already good. We were also lucky to have a unique ranked dish.¡±

    ¡°But a unique dish came out this time, so is it possible for an epic or a legendary dish toe out?¡±

    ¡°I know, right? Of course. The better the rank of the ingredients the more likely you are to eat those ranked dishes. However, you should also keep in mind that you can only eat my dish once a month.¡±

    The guild members all nodded their heads in understanding.

    ¡®Wow, for real¡­¡­ his abilities are really amazing.¡¯

    There was only one reason why the guild members thought like that¡­

    If you bought an artifact from a cksmith even if the quality was good, they would usually use it for a few months before asking for another artifact to be made again. On the contrary, what about these dishes? They would also eat it every month and they also have to pay for it handsomely.

    Artifacts were of course much more expensive than dishes, but they would eventually reach their limit depending on the material used on them. How about Minhyuk¡¯s dishes? There would be no limit to how much they could eat.

    In addition, the people who have seen the buffs of his dishes even just once were definitely bound toe back again like junkies looking for their drugs. What if they got used to the 10% additional strength then the buff suddenly disappeared on them? They would definitely not get used to it.

    It was like Minhyuk¡¯s worth jumped to 10 billion, no, to 1 trillion in just one dish.

    At that moment, Genie suddenly decided.

    ¡°Among the three of us, can you cook for Locke first?¡±

    ¡°Woohoo!¡±

    Lockeughed happily as Genie exined her reason.

    ¡°Locke¡¯s heal effect is very strong. If his ability to put the enemy in a bleeding state bes stronger, then we can take down the enemy easily. I think it will also work well in that dungeon.¡±

    ¡°Really? I understand.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head as he used his Create a Recipe Skill. Once he checked the recipe for the dish that he would eat, he couldn¡¯t help but jump up in surprise.

    ¡°It¡¯s steamed monkfish. Hoo!¡±

    He would cook for Locke but Minhyuk waspletely delighted with the fact that he would cook steamed monkfish.

    ¡®Ah. That¡¯s right. Minhyuk-nim can also eat with us, right?¡¯

    Locke was also in high spirits.

    ¡°Kyaa! Steamed monkfish! I can¡¯t wait. I¡¯m definitely going to collect the best ingredients and eat them!¡±

    Then, Ace burst his bubble.

    ¡°Wow. Hyung, you¡¯ll also eat food that looks like you?¡±

    ¡°......Y, you want to die?!¡±

    ***

    The chefs of the Valkyrie Kingdom were moving busily.

    Then, there was the legendary chef Rald. The reason why he was dubbed as the legendary chef was simple¡­

    There was once a dragon that attacked Valkyrie Kingdom. The dragon, together with his powerful soldiers wreaked havoc and almost devastated the kingdom. That dragon was the ck Dragon, Aspel. He continued to invade the kingdom despite the protection of the God Juis.

    At that time, ck Dragon Aspel polymorphed and hid himself in the pce. He killed the king and all of his knights and tried to kill off the rest of the people in the pce. However, before he could do so, it was said that he had been drunk by the smell of the cooking and that he desired for Rald to cook a delicious dish for him. Even monsters regarded food as something important in their lives. Of course, delicious food was also something that they would covet. Rald feared that ck Dragon Aspen would kill him and the rest of the people so he had no choice but to cook for him.

    However, it was just a legend. It was a fictitious story that came from the mouths of the people around him. They made that story to express how delicious Rald¡¯s cooking was. And since he was the one in charge of cooking the food that would be served to satisfy the God Juis, they had already considered his story to not be too far from that legend.

    ¡°I believe that God Juis will also be satisfied with this dish again.¡±

    The ingredients were the best of the best. The dish could only be made with ingredients above the S-rank. And the dish he made was always at least at the epic rank! To make this one dish, he repeatedly cooked with S-ranked ingredients until he got it perfectly. God Juis was someone picky and she would not eat anything below the epic rank.

    And the dish that would be served to her was¡­.!

    Galbi-jjim!

    And it was not just a simple serving of galbi-jjim. The galbi-jjim would be the main dish and there would be various delicious side dishes that would be served beside it. Even those side dishes were made to be extremely delicious and appetizing.

    Rald smiled pleasantly unaware of the looming disaster.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [1] ??? (Danhobak) : Literally means sweet pumpkin. However, it¡¯s a ng for when someone refuses you tly or a person who would outright say no without thinking about it. Back

    Food Discussion Corner

    ??? (Agwijjim) : Steamed Monkfish or braised monkfish. A dish made with monkfish braised in a spicy red sauce and served with kongnamul or soybean sprouts.

    ??? (Galbi-jjim) : Braised short ribs. Korean steamed dish made with the short ribs of beef together with some vegetables. Usually served with rice, kimchi and plenty of other side dishes.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 135 - His Worth

    Chapter 135: His Worth

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    King Varen and the priests all had their arms up in the sky as they spoke with great solemnity.

    ¡°God Juis, we are grateful for your blessings¡­¡­ let us cherish you and show you our respect¡­¡­ chatter, chatter¡­¡­¡±

    Meanwhile, the priests were also chanting their spells behind him. As per tradition, the ritual food was quickly served and ced on the altar. There was only one thing left¡­ a weeklong process. The God Juis would soon descend and taste the food.

    ¡®The dish this time is much better than thest time so maybe, just maybe, God Juis will bless Valkyrie Kingdom to be richer and more abundant this time.¡¯

    Rald smiled softly.

    Then, the priests and King Varen prostrated in front of the statue of God Juis. The priests bowed down to the ground with their palms facing up towards the sky. A small ball of white light, the size of the thumb, slowly floated up from their palms. Tens of thousands of spheres of light floated up in the sky.

    sh!

    A strong burst of light shed as Rald and the rest of the chefs bowed down to wee her.

    Then¡­

    Step, step, step©¥

    They could hear the clear sound of steps.

    Rald had never seen her face before. However, ording to King Varen she was so beautiful that only the term goddess was enough to describe her countenance.

    ck, ck©¥

    They could hear the ck of the utensils on the table, then¡­ the sound of the spoon stopped.

    Chew, chew©¥

    She let out a small sigh of appreciation after a small breath. Even though Rald could not see her face, he knew that she was smiling in satisfaction. Her spoon was even moving so fast.

    King Varen smiled softly as he watched everything in silence.

    ¡®I heard that this dish was the best¡­ I guess it¡¯s true.¡¯

    He believed that Valkyrie Kingdom would be more abundant and richer next year. In addition, with the help of the blessings of God Juis he would be able to drive away plenty of monsters from the northwestern side of the continent and expand his territory some more. Just as he was thinking about that...

    ¡°Cough!¡±

    He suddenly heard a cough. King Varen¡¯s expression hardened.

    ¡®What?¡¯

    Did she just cough?

    However, he couldn¡¯t raise his head.

    ck!

    It was the sound of the tableware being ced down.

    Then¡­

    Grrrrrrrrrrrr!

    ¡®Heok¡­¡­.!¡¯

    ¡®Keok!¡¯

    ¡®W, what¡¯s happening?!¡¯

    Suddenly, the whole temple began to tremble strongly and even the huge pirs were moving as if they were about to copse. A strong force suddenly swept all over the area.

    ¡®Keok, keokeok¡­¡­!¡¯

    However, they couldn¡¯t dare to make a single sound in front of the God Juis. They could only swallow it and suffer deep inside.

    [How dare you give me something that tastes bad¡­¡­]

    ¡®Something that tastes bad?¡¯

    King Varen¡¯s brows frowned.

    Don¡¯t tell me that they ced something bad in it? No, that¡¯s something impossible. Rald had checked the ingredients strictly. They even tasted it themselves and have used only the freshest of ingredients.

    [Poison¡­¡­]

    ¡®......!¡¯

    At that moment, everyone¡¯s lips were tightly closed.

    Crazy¡­¡­! Poison? Did she say poison?! How dare they poison the food for God Juis?!

    Of course, God Juis was immortal and a poison could never kill her.

    This means only one thing¡­

    ¡®Someone deliberately¡­¡­ wanted to make her angry¡­¡­!¡¯

    King Varen¡¯s eyes widened in shock.

    Grrrrrrrrrr!

    The trembling and shaking of the ground grew in intensity.

    [I can¡¯t believe that you¡¯re repaying my blessings with this.]

    Grin©¥

    Sheughed grimly. Even if they could not see her expression, they believed that she had such a chilling smile on her face right now.

    Then, at that moment¡­

    ¡°Keoheook!¡±

    One of the chefs grabbed their neck so suddenly.

    ¡°Keueeeeck!¡±

    Blood even gushed out from his mouth. However, not one person moved. They could only hear the sound of blood flowing down to the ground.

    Creaaaaak!

    It was the sound of her fingernails scratching the ground. It was so ear-grating and terrible but they still wouldn¡¯t move a single muscle.

    Then, God Juis spoke¡­

    [Aiyaaah. Raise your heads.]

    Varen slowly lifted his head up.

    As soon as he lifted his head up, he saw the beautiful goddess, Juis. Juis was the god of healing and blessing. However, when Varen turned his head to where she was looking¡­ he could see the fallen chef. No, he was not a chef. He was wearing a ck mask and was clearly a thief.

    [I know that this was not your work but... One, everyone who did this will pay for it.]

    ¡°Cough!¡±

    ¡°Kghhk!¡±

    One by one, the body of the chefs started turning ck and they could sense something prating their bodies through their blood. One of them was even the Legendary Chef, Rald. His body had turned ck but he still did not move.

    [And two. The ground will split and the roars of the ferocious monsters will not stop. And the screams of your people will ring loudly in yournd.]

    Varen understood what she meant.

    There will be a huge disaster. A huge catastrophe will fall upon them.

    Then, Juis slowly turned around¡­

    sh!

    Her body faded away in the light.

    ¡°Heok, heok!¡±

    Varen finally let himself breathe freely. Then, his body trembled uncontrobly.

    ¡°I, impossible¡­...!¡±

    He couldn¡¯t believe that this happened. He was ovee with rage as he walked towards where the ck masked man was.

    ¡®Someone disguised themselves¡­¡­!¡¯

    And broke in our ritual. They purposely did this to anger the God Juis¡­ who is it?

    At that moment¡­ Chef Rald¡­

    ¡°Kgghk!¡±

    He vomited a mouthful of blood.

    ***

    Hosmin was a Lv250 user at the Northern Continent¡¯s Subjugation Force. He joined his friends to explore the Northern Continent since there was a huge amount of gold and EXP as a reward and there were even new monsters to see. They were all looking forward to it.

    Before he knew it, the 500-man subjugation force had already stopped their monster subjugation.

    ¡°Halt! Halt!¡±

    He could see plenty of monsters crawling in front of them.

    ¡°Kya. What kind of artifacts do you want to get?¡±

    ¡°Please let it drop something good!¡±

    Just when the expectations of the users had reached its peak¡­

    [The Wrath of God Juis.]

    [All monsters will be ferocious.]

    [The monster¡¯s abilities have increased by 20%.]

    [The first catastrophe of God Juis. The powerful rays of the sun will make all living beings tired.]

    ¡°......Huh?¡±

    ¡°W, what the hell?¡±

    The users were all taken aback.

    The monsters are suddenly going to be more ferocious?

    And it didn¡¯t end there¡­ Their bodies suddenly started to be hot. The surroundings became hot and humid as if they were in a sauna.

    They all silently looked up at the sky.

    The red sun was spitting harsh and powerful res all over. The heat that it was sting off was not just any normal heat.

    ¡°This is crazy¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­¡­ Isn¡¯t it really hot?!¡±

    They tilted their heads in exhaustion, the heat was even making things worse.

    At that moment, the growling monsters rushed up to them.

    The sh between the monsters and the users had started.

    ***

    All of the users in the Northern Continent had begun toin.

    [MoreTopHunts: Ah. It¡¯s so crazy¡­¡­! The monster''s abilities increased by 20%! We almost got wiped out.]

    [kl3g: Even Empress Ellie sent out a messenger to find out what¡¯s going on. Isn¡¯t it crazy?]

    [gasd36: Is this caused by Athenae? I can¡¯t y well because it¡¯s too hot! Don¡¯t go to the North! The monsters are 20% stronger and you can¡¯t get your items and enjoy the scenery!]

    The users who were excited to pioneer the Northern Continent and believed that it would be fun since Athenae would be updating for real this time had suddenly started to change their tunes! And that was the time when the rumors started to spread.

    [gadj254: Isn¡¯t this because of Legend Guild? As soon as they arrived in the kingdom, their god suddenly became angry. Did they do something there?]

    [Caron: I don¡¯t think so. Legend Guild is famous for their well manners. In fact, I believe Legend Guild has nothing to do with it.]

    [gadd31: It¡¯s just¡­ This is a disaster that affects the whole of Athenae? Can you even n this?]

    Fortunately, Legend Guild seemed to be avoiding the arrows targeted at them.

    However, at that moment, another rumor started to spread.

    [IrisAmazing!: Nims, did you hear? I heard that Iris Guild is trying to find a solution for this catastrophe. And I learned about this just recently! They¡¯re recruiting arge number of rankers to get rid of the catastrophe and conquer God Juis. There¡¯s even a trailer in Dungeon Attack Live now!]

    [FAD: Oh. For real? So funny. They¡¯re going to raid a god? Ah! Iris Guild GM-nim is famous for being a gentleman. Is he sacrificing himself for the users?]

    The people began to cheer again.

    If that hot sun and the strange buff for the monsters disappeared then they would be able to enjoy ying in the Northern Continent again! And Iris Guild who was trying to raid it for the rest of the users gained plenty of support and cheers as the users waited for them to get live on Dungeon Attack Livepletely unaware of the origin of the disaster that they were encountering.

    ***

    Varen looked at the priest Eidniing out of the temple.

    Priest Eidni only took a sip of water after praying to the angry God Juis without any rest. He had been praying for a few days now.

    They were now in a dire situation. The zing sun had quickly dried up the crops that they had meticulously grown. In addition, ferocious monsters had begun to attack Valkyrie Kingdom. Of course, it was still to a bearable degree since the damage that they had received was not that significant yet. But if it dragged on any longer then this catastrophe would only get stronger and stronger.

    ¡°Did God answer?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    The priest wiped the sweat off of his face, the heat was bearing down on them ever so constantly. Even King Varen was dressed as lightly as possible due to the heat.

    ¡°Fortunately, it seems like her anger had been relieved to some extent.¡±

    Varen sighed in relief. However, the next words that the priest uttered had put him once again in a dilemma.

    ¡°But God Juis ordered us to prepare something more delicious.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Rald was taken by surprise as the rest of the chefs fell down to their knees. Even though Rald was being treated by the priest he was not getting any better at all. The skin of the chefs struck by the God Juis were all slowly rotting away piece by piece.

    How can they cook if they¡¯re like that?

    But his next words were even more shocking.

    ¡°She said that she wanted to eat a legendary ranked dish.¡±

    ¡°Th, that¡­¡­!¡±

    At that moment Varen thought¡­

    Aah. She must have said that her anger had been reduced somewhat but this order still showed how fickle God Juis is, right? Legendary? She wants to eat a legendary ranked dish?

    Of course, there had been records of legendary dishes appearing. However, the only person who had the ability to make one was in a bad condition. And that was Rald.

    ¡°The only other way is ¡®The Spirit of the Wrathful God Juis¡¯......¡±

    ¡°......Shut it!¡±

    ¡°......Forgive me, Your Highness!¡±

    The priest immediately knocked his head down on the ground. The words that he had uttered were words that shouldn¡¯t be spoken.

    There was a story in Valkyrie Kingdom that peace could only be restored if they soothed and satisfied the wrathful spirit of God Juis and killed it. However, this was something that was sacrilegious.

    How can you darey a hand on the body of the God Juis?!

    And even if they had no choice but to do that, they wouldn¡¯t know where it is since the dungeon location was not fixed at all.

    Then, Varen thought¡­

    ¡®I heard that God Juis¡¯ treasure was there¡­¡­ Bad¡¯s cup.¡¯

    Bad¡¯s cup. God¡¯s treasure! Bad¡¯s cup was an object that possesses great power. It could even give a single person a blessing.

    However, he still shook the thought off of his mind. It wasn¡¯t something that he should covet.

    Is there any other way?

    ¡°Maybe we could ask for help from Eivelis Empire and ask them for an excellent chef¡­¡­¡±

    When he heard the words of the priest, Varen¡¯s eyes widened as if he found a string of hope in front of him.

    ¡°Th, there is¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    The priest tilted his head in confusion as if he was asking him what he meant by that.

    ¡°Th, there¡¯s only one chef who can rival Rald and make a legendary dish!¡±

    ¡°......?!¡±

    The priest was shocked.

    There¡¯s someone like that? A person who can make a ¡®legendary ranked¡¯ dish that you can only hear from the stories? No, wasn¡¯t there no one else except Rald?

    Then, Varen spoke¡­

    ¡°Minhyuk¡­¡­¡±

    He clenched his fist tightly. He was sure of it since Varen had already tried his fascinating dishes. He finally found a way to appease the angry God Juis.

    In other words, he was cing the fate of Valkyrie Kingdom on Minhyuk¡¯s hands.

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    AAAAAAH! I mean¡­ he would definitely deliver. But oh my! It¡¯s still exciting to think of it. What kind of dish could it be? Also¡­ I wish Iris Guild get their just desserts.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Welp, I suppose Minhyuk¡¯s satisfaction bar is going to fill up a lot.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 136 - Legendary Dish

    Chapter 136: Legendary Dish

    Trantor: Chubby Cheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    41 Legendary Dish

    Genie looked a bit disappointed. Even Khan was sporting the same look as her.

    ¡°The dungeon will close tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°I know¡­.. Hoo. We¡¯ve been working hard for quite a long time.¡±

    Unfortunately, the dungeon that they were challenging would close tomorrow. It took them a long time to be able to eat the buffed dish because they wanted toplete the ingredients that Minhyuk had told them to gather.

    He also agreed with Genie and Khan¡¯s view. If they gathered the best ingredients and ate the dish made from these ingredients then they would be able to boost the power and strength of the guild for quite some time.

    However, their biggest problem was gathering all the ingredients together. The only reason was because it would take a lot of time for them tob through the auction house to find the ingredients that they needed, they would even need to hunt for the ingredients themselves most of the time.

    ¡°Well, we¡¯re still lucky that I will be able to eat it today.¡±

    After a lot of struggle, Locke was able to find all of the ingredients except for one. However, it was still debatable whether a single buff increase could help them win the match against the boss monster. Of course, they did not think that way because they doubted Minhyuk¡¯s craftsmanship. However, Minhyuk himself told them that the buffs that came out only came out well that time.

    ¡°I feel a bit hotter than normal.¡±

    ¡°Me too¡­¡­¡±

    It was all because of the intense heat of the sun which led to Valkyrie Kingdom being in a state of crisis!

    Genie gnashed her teeth in anger.

    ¡°Those Iris bastards¡­¡­!¡±

    Legend Guild was aware. ording to the people present, the thief user was forced to log out after he vomited blood and instantly copsed from a hit from God Juis. And around the same time, Iris Guild suddenly dered their intent to attack the dungeon and quell the disaster.

    It was literally a show. A huge show!

    They even announced it not too long ago. The dungeon that they were supposed to clear was an SS-ranked dungeon. In addition, this was the very first SS-ranked quest that had been discovered in the country. It was just a matter of course that people would flock and be enthusiastic about such a quest. Especially since the first SS-ranked quest was going to be broadcasted live in Dungeon Attack Live. It was like they had hit the jackpot. Once they seeded then they would be hailed as heroes.

    ¡°They must want to drive us away from here¡­¡­¡±

    It was a relief that King Varen and the citizens of Valkyrie Kingdom were convinced that it was not because of the Legend Guild. They had saved King Varen and their image as ¡®heroes¡¯ were already embedded deep in their hearts.

    The two of them approached Minhyuk and Locke. However before they could even greet them, they saw Locke trembling excitedly as he ran up to Minhyuk and gave him a big hug.

    ¡°I love you Minhyuk-ah! Love you!¡±

    He even tried to imprint a sloppy kiss on Minhyuk¡¯s face.

    Minhyuk, on the other hand¡­

    ¡°Aaaaaack! Stop, no, stop! Waaaaah!¡±

    Really hated his enthusiasm.

    ***

    Locke went looking around for ingredients non-stop.

    However, he couldn¡¯t find thest ingredient ¡®Dragon King¡¯s Water Parsley¡¯. They were sure that it was something that could be found in the Dragon King¡¯s Sea but no other user had ever gone there at all. In the end, they had concluded that it would take a lot of time for them to get the Dragon King¡¯s Water Parsley.

    Locke quickly handed the ingredients to Minhyuk.

    ¡°Please take good care of me, Minhyuk-ah.¡±

    ¡°Delicious steamed monkfish! Monkfish, monkfish!¡±

    ¡°So you will make it well? Please give me that great buff effect too! Crow had been yapping so hard about his food that my stomach had started grumbling. It¡¯s killing me already!¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Kongie-yah? Isn¡¯t it delicious?¡±

    ¡°Oooooink? Oink!¡±

    The baby pig, Kongie, who was perched on Minhyuk¡¯s shoulder nodded its head fiercely.

    ¡®I think you¡¯ll make it well because you want to eat instead of giving me my buff.¡¯

    Locke pouted cutely to try and convince Minhyuk to give him a higher buff but he just looked uglier than usual.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk just ignored him as he stared at the ingredients for the steamed monkfish happily. The quality of the ingredients that they had brought for him had improved ever since he made that excellent buffed dish. This meant that the taste of the dish would also improve. In other words, Minhyuk could just sit still and cook and he would still be able to eat something delicious.

    Did my satisfaction level go up when I cooked earlier?

    When Crow ate the dish, he had confirmed that his satisfaction level had increased by 2% since he was a high-leveled yer. It was a bit lower than when King Varen ate his dish but it was still considered high.

    Minhyuk began to cook the steamed monkfish.

    ¡®Usually, whenever I ate steamed monkfish, I was always sad.¡¯

    It was the bean sprouts. Of course, bean sprouts were a goodbination for steamed monkfish. However most of the people who loved to eat steamed monkfish would always doubt their eyes. They always wondered whether they bought steamed bean sprouts or steamed monkfish.

    Minhyuk smiled as he talked to Kongie.

    ¡°Kongie-yah. I¡¯m going to cut down on the bean sprouts and add more water parsley in this steamed monkfish.¡±

    ¡°Oink!¡±

    It was like Kongie was saying: ¡®You really know how to eat! Oink!¡¯. Kongie even danced as if it was quite happy with what he said.

    If he followed the recipe creation then everything would work well but if he also added changes and tried to be original then he might also get better results.

    Once he started cooking, he made sure to reduce the bean sprout and add more monkfish on the dish. And he also added more of the tiny sea squirts. He was quite excited for these since sea squirts would always be overflowing with the sauce in every bite.

    In no time at all, Minhyuk was able to finish cooking the steamed monkfish.

    The dish was filled with the red sauce and the bean sprouts but below these, there was plenty of monkfish. He even made sure to add 1.5 times the amount of monkfish than what was usually served in stores.

    Just as he finished cooking the dish, a string of notifications rang out.

    [You havepleted a Steamed Monkfish.]

    [Locke¡¯s dish is the only dish with the buff effect.]

    [The Create a Recipe Skill Effect can only be tasted by the same person once per month.]

    [Trance. It¡¯s a dish that has your ¡®soul¡¯ poured into it.]

    [Due to the effects of Trance, the buff effect has be better.]

    [Epic Grade.]

    [You have gained 4 DEX.]

    [You have gained 10 reputation points.]

    [You have gained 1,000 Achievement Points.]

    ording to the original recipe, the expected rank of the dish was supposed to be somewhere between Unique~Legendary. But there was an ingredient missing so the rank of the dish was only limited to Epic. However, the highest ranked possible had appeared. The dish this time was epic ranked and he was even able to receive greater rewards. Compared to the unique-ranked dish that he had made before, he received an additional 2 for DEX, 6 for reputation points and 600 for the achievement points. It was a huge leap in the rewards!

    ¡°Kgghk¡­¡­ Epic will taste much more delicious, right?¡±

    Minhyuk looked like he was so excited to taste it.

    ¡°Y, you¡¯re done? Shall we check it?¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head as Locke moved to check the dish¡¯s information.

    (Steamed Monkfish)

    Material Grade: S

    Rank: Epic

    Restrictions: Only Locke could have the buff effects.

    Storage Time: 20 days

    Preservation Time: 22 days

    Special Effects:

    ©¥ Crazy Priest¡¯s Heal +3

    ©¥ All of the Crazy Priest¡¯s skill can be used as a regr healer¡¯s skill.

    Description: A dish made solely for Locke. The chef supplemented the usual disappointing side of the steamed monkfish using his own creativity. You will be able to enjoy plenty of monkfish in this dish.

    ¡°......Keok?!¡±

    Locke was extremely shocked.

    He had never been lucky all his life. So what if he was a good ranker? He couldn¡¯t even pick up a unique artifact that people could easily pick! He was so unlucky that he even pulled out the most shocking result in the golden treasure box, a 400 gold reward! Locke was so unlucky that he was even nicknamed as ¡®Misfortunate Guy¡¯ by everyone else.

    This was one of the reasons why he was extremely nervous when he was gathering high ranked ingredients. He even thought¡­ ¡®What if I get a normal-ranked dish because of my unlucky passive skill?¡¯. In all honesty, he believed that it wouldn¡¯t make any sense if he received a high ranked dish for his buffed dish.

    But right now, an epic-ranked dish was sitting perfectly in front of him and none of his guild members had ever tried one. And then there was the special effects.

    I can use the Crazy Priests skills like a normal healer¡¯s skill?

    In fact, his Crazy Priest¡¯s healing skills were derived from the normal healer¡¯s skills. Just like in the case of his Crazy Priest¡¯s Heal, it was originally used to heal his opponents but in his case a bleeding would be triggered if they were healed and shed. It was the same with the priest¡¯s beloved ability¡­ For priests, they could cast a buff for their party while in Locke¡¯s case he could cast a debuff against his enemies. However, once he ate the steamed monkfish then he would be able to use the abilities and skills of a normal priest whilst maintaining his Crazy Priest¡¯s skills. Before, he could only be considered as a dealer instead of a healer. But right now, he could be considered as both a healer and a dealer! This was a huge innovation!

    What was even surprising was the fact that his Crazy Priest¡¯s Heal had shot up from MAX.

    He quickly checked the information about his Crazy Priest¡¯s Heal.

    ¡°Wow. S, so sick¡­...!¡±

    What did it mean when the skill was at MAX? It meant that the user had seen the end of the road for his skill. But this dish could let him go beyond the MAX limit. It even added an additional +3 levels in his Crazy Priest Heal.

    Originally, his Crazy Priest Heal could produce a +35% possibility of triggering bleeding whenever he wounded an enemy. It could even cause the skin to rot. The body of the enemy would suffer continuous bleeding and their wounds would suffer from elerated deterioration. With the +3Lv in the skill, the possibility of triggering the bleeding had now increased to 50%.

    What was even more surprising was¡­

    ¡®When Crazy Priest¡¯s Heal is used, there is also a 20% chance of triggering various abnormal conditions in the opponent. It can either be a stun, blindness or reduction of all skills and abilities!¡¯

    It was truly a ridiculous ability.

    Locke¡¯s body shivered in excitement. In the recent years, he had felt that he hadgged behind the rest of the guild members. He was a healer but he was more effective as a dealer. Even if his ss was a legendary ss, he would still hit a wall in his role as a dealer. But right now, he was given a chance to go beyond that wall.

    He quickly approached Minhyuk.

    ¡°I love you Minhyuk-ah! Love you!¡±

    He even tried to print a sloppy kiss on Minhyuk¡¯s face.

    Minhyuk was flustered with the sudden hug from Locke but when he saw him stretch out his lips towards his cheek, his heart almost stopped.

    Looking at him at this range¡­¡­ Locke looks really ugly!

    And he was even pouting his lips to try and kiss his cheek!

    Unknowingly, Minhyuk had let out a shriek.

    ¡°Aaaaaack! Stop, no, stop! Waaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Oink, oink, oink!¡±

    Kongie pulled his cor to save Minhyuk from Locke¡¯s grasp. At this exact moment, Kongie felt that his owner Minhyuk¡¯s life was being threatened!

    At that moment¡­

    Bang!

    Minhyuk swung his fist! Locke, who was caught off guard, rolled on the floor helplessly.

    ¡°This is good too. Hahahahahaha!¡±

    When he tried to hug Minhyuk again, Minhyuk had quickly pulled his sword out.

    Shining!

    ¡°.....Hurry up and eat!¡±

    ¡°Kghk. I, I should do that¡­¡­¡±

    Locke turned his head to look at the baby pig, Kongie, who jumped back up on Minhyuk¡¯s shoulder.

    Kongie was ring at Locke with its arms crossed!

    When he saw Kongie¡¯s expression, he was shocked and at a loss for a moment.

    ¡®I¡¯ve never seen such an ugly animal like this before¡­¡­ Oink!¡¯

    Locke felt sad when he realized that he could understand Kongie¡¯s expression. He decided to justfort himself with the excellent buffed dish in front of him. And just in time, Genie and Khan arrived in front of them.

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±

    ¡°Locke tried to rot my cheeks!¡±

    ¡°......Huh? He tried to use Crazy Priest¡¯s Heal on you?¡±

    ¡°No. He tried to kiss me!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Both Genie and Khan were at a loss for words as they turned to look at Locke.

    ¡°Why did you harass¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°You were scared, right? It¡¯s okay now.¡±

    ¡°N, no. I was just so happy¡­¡­!¡±

    But Khan and Locke approached Minhyuk and looked at his cheeks.

    ¡°Fortunately, your cheeks did not rot.¡±

    ¡°Hyoo!¡±

    Minhyuk breathed a sigh of relief as Kongie patted his cheeks as if to tell him that it was fine. Then, Kongie turned and red at Locke.

    re!

    ¡®W, why do you only hate me¡­¡­!¡¯

    Locke was so sad that he turned around and even ¡®Hmph!¡¯ed at them.

    ¡°Once I eat this dish, I won¡¯t heal you!¡±

    ¡°I refuse.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no need.¡±

    They both know that Locke¡¯s heals werepletely terrible.

    But then, Locke exined¡­

    ¡°Really? But once I eat this I can heal wounds?¡±

    ¡°What are you saying?¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that just as weird as you saying you¡¯re handsome?¡±

    ¡°Che¡­¡­! Check it out yourselves! You punks!¡±

    Genie and Khan checked the steamed monkfish. Both of their eyes met over the dish. It seemed like Genie had lost her tongue at that moment. She kept on opening her mouth but no words came out. After calming herself down, she finally was able to speak.

    ¡°......Whenever I see Minhyuk¡¯s dishes, I always feel amazed.¡±

    It was truly a heartfelt admiration.

    Then, Minhyuk finally saw his skill ¡®The Joy of Eating Together¡¯ was triggered as a bowl of steamed monkfish appeared in front of him. He hurriedly sat down as he poked his chopsticks in the dish.

    ***

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 137 - Legendary Dish

    Chapter 137: Legendary Dish

    Trantor: Chubby Cheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Even though it was a bit disappointing to have plenty of bean sprouts piled on top of the monkfish, the bean sprouts were still essential to the steamed monkfish dish.

    Minhyuk quietly lifted some bean sprouts off of the bowl. The bean sprouts werepletely covered in red as if they were soaked thoroughly in spices. Then, he slowly ced the spoonful in his mouth and chewed.

    Crunch, crunch©¥

    He could hear the pleasant crunch of the fresh bean sprouts as the spicy vor of the sauce slowly spreaded in his mouth.

    Minhyuk smiled happily as he picked up a piece of monkfish. The monkfish was so plump and white that it looked like he picked up a piece of chicken. It was like he picked up a piece of meat from a spicy stir fried chicken dish instead of a steamed monkfish dish. Then, he ced the piece of fish in his mouth¡­ the taste was light, fragrant and spicy. Chewing on it felt like he was chewing on a softer piece of chicken meat.

    ¡°Kghhhhk! It¡¯s really delicious!¡±

    Locke eximed as if he was trying to convey both his and Minhyuk¡¯s feelings about the dish. Kongie, who was sitting right next to them and was also eating steamed monkfish, also eximed as if he was agreeing with his words.

    ¡°Oink, oink, oink!¡±

    Then, Minhyuk picked up a piece of monkfish as he topped it off with some bean sprouts and water parsley.

    The steamed monkfish with vegetables entered Minhyuk¡¯s mouth!

    Crunch, crunch©¥

    He could feel the fresh and lingering fragrance of the water parsley as he chewed carefully.

    Water parsley was truly a mysterious ingredient. If you added this ingredient to a spicy soup or any seafood dish, it¡¯s taste would definitely change.

    The vor of the steamed monkfish after chewing on the water parsley and the bean sprouts was truly divine.

    ¡°Huwaaa!¡±

    He unknowingly gave off a breath of satisfaction.

    ¡°Kongie-yah, let¡¯s try to eat it evenly this time. Look at how I do it and try to copy it.¡±

    ¡°Oink?¡±

    Kongie tilted his head as if he was confused with what Minhyuk told him. Kongie liked to eat meat but he still added water parsley and bean sprouts on his chopsticks before chomping on it. Once he ced the food in his mouth and tasted it, Kongie¡¯s eyes widened in surprise.

    ¡°Ooooink¡­¡­¡±

    Tears welled up in Kongie¡¯s eyes. It seemed like it was the first time that he has ever tasted such a delicacy.

    ¡°Oink, oink!¡±

    Today¡¯s meal is a sess, oink!

    Khan and Genie just stared at Locke, Minhyuk and Kongie who were all eating the dish deliciously.

    ¡°Sluuuurp!¡±

    Genie wiped the drool off of her mouth as she turned to look at Khan.

    ¡°D, do you want to go and get some steamed monkfishter?¡±

    ¡°C, call¡­...!¡±

    Minhyuk even used the remaining red sauce to make some fried rice before finally putting down his chopsticks. After they have finished eating, Kongie climbed on Minhyuk¡¯s shoulders andid down. He must have felt so satisfied with the meal that they just had that Kongie ended up falling asleep afterying his head down.

    ¡°Wow. He fell asleep in a second as soon as heid down¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°So jealous¡­¡­ It¡¯s best to lie down after eating!¡±

    Minhyuk sent Kongie back to the summoning room to let him sleep peacefully.

    On the other hand, Locke jumped up after finishing his meal. It looked like he was filled to the brim with energy.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go! Quickly!¡±

    ¡°Where?¡±

    ¡°To attack the dungeon!¡±

    Genie and Khan were both brought back to their senses.

    Right now, Locke could act as two people. He could be both a healer and a dealer. Thanks to Minhyuk¡¯s incredible buffing ability, they would be able to take down the dungeon even if Genie and Khan did not eat any buffed dish.

    ¡°We¡¯ll see youter, Minhyuk-ah!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll be back soon!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll pay you backter for the steamed monkfish!¡±

    As soon as they disappeared, Minhyuk pulled out an ice cream out of his inventory.

    ¡°Hehehe¡­¡­!¡±

    Eating ice cream after eating something spicy is the best! Melon vored ice cream, Meluna!

    At that moment¡­

    The priests and the knights approached Minhyuk.

    Chomp, chomp!

    Minhyuk quickly took a bite of his delicious Meluna as he tilted his head at the approaching knights and priests.

    ¡°We¡¯re really sorry but I think you shoulde with us.¡±

    ***

    The chief priest Eidni¡¯s expression was iprehensible.

    Behind him, Minhyuk was walking as he enjoyed his Meluna while the knights were whispering.

    ¡°Th, that¡¯s the 100th piece¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll definitely catch a cold¡­¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk looked at the knight with confusion when he heard his words.

    ¡°Eyyy. I tried it a few days ago. I¡¯ll still be fine even if I eat 300 of this.¡±

    ¡°Keok?!¡±

    ¡°OMG?!¡±

    Eidni had no choice but to support his forehead in defeat.

    In fact, the priest Eidni had a title that was on the same level as a chief of the royal court and he was a man of great faith. But he still couldn¡¯t understand the situation at all.

    ¡®You want this guy to make a meal for God Juis on behalf of Rald?¡¯

    That¡¯s impossible.

    It was also impossible for him to know the reason why King Varen trusted and believed this person so much. He clearly believed that something would definitely go wrong.

    Then, at that moment¡­

    Plop!

    ¡°A, aaaack! M, my Meluna¡­...!¡±

    Minhyuk identally dropped his Meluna. Then, he started to me himself.

    ¡°This stupid idiot, sea cucumber, sea squirt and sea anemone! How can you drop your own food¡­¡­!¡±

    Then, he plopped down on the floor as tears started to gush out from his eyes. He tearfully reached out to his fallen Meluna.

    ¡°W, won¡¯t I be able to eat it if I just dust it off?¡±

    Minhyuk was the only foreigner who would say such weird things! Then, he stood up. When he looked up at the rest of the people with him, they could see his tears and snot running down his face.

    ¡®Sigh¡­¡­¡¯

    Eidni let out a sigh.

    The future of our kingdom will be in his hands?

    Not long after, Eidni brought Minhyuk to the temple¡¯s waiting room where Varen was staying. When they opened the door, they could see Varen pacing back and forth as he waited for them anxiously.

    ¡°Come in.¡±

    Minhyuk quietly entered the room as the door closed behind him. Eidni shook his head when he saw him enter the room.

    ¡°How can we let such a crude and vulgar person cook for the God Juis! And we¡¯re even betting the future of the kingdom on a man who will cry when he runs out of ice cream!¡±

    ¡°......Even if you¡¯re just looking at him superficially you should at least know his cooking skills before judging him like that. And even his highness said it himself that he had seen his skills.¡±

    ¡°Sir Perle.¡±

    Perle was the head of the knights of Valkyrie Kingdom. He was one of the most powerful men and he could easilypete with Rumad. The only reason why Perle did not apany King Varen on his journey to Eivelis Empire was because he was tasked to obtain the ingredients needed for the ritual.

    At Eidni¡¯s call, Perle tilted his head.

    ¡°You seem to be believing in His Highness¡¯ choice right now but I still think that we should all be careful.¡±

    Eidni looked inside for a bit before continuing his words.

    ¡°God Juis was mad because her food had been poisoned but you¡¯re still putting up with someone ridiculous to make her food?¡±

    ¡°......Hmmmm. Yes. That¡¯s what I heard.¡±

    What if God Juis was angered once more?

    At that time, perhaps, Valkyrie Kingdom would have no future at all.

    ¡°But we¡¯ll never know. Perhaps this foreigner is as good as Rald.¡±

    ¡°Ha¡­¡­!¡±

    Eidni clicked his tongue.

    Perle might be a good swordsman but he still did not know. Rald was literally a legendary chef. He was a man who was hailed to be even better than the top craftsman in cooking!

    How dare youpare him to that vulgar guy inside?!

    ¡°I¡¯m telling you, we¡¯ll just be wasting all of our ingredients. Even if he used all the ingredients, it would still be lucky if that guy created a rare dish!¡±

    ¡°What would happen if he served a rare dish?¡±

    Then, Eidni continued to talk confidently.

    ¡°I¡¯ll take off my underwear and dance in front of him if he ever did that!¡±

    ¡°......I suggest that you don¡¯t talk carelessly.¡±

    Perle sighed lightly.

    In fact, he was also a bit doubtful of the king¡¯s choice.

    His Highness also said that he had been starved for days when they were outside of the kingdom.

    But Varen had told them clearly and confidently about the power that Minhyuk¡¯s dish had given him.

    ¡®If he ate it because he was hungry, then he might have thought that it was really the best dish.¡¯

    He was also quite worried.

    At that moment.

    ¡°You two. Come in.¡±

    ¡°Yes? Ah. Yes, Your Highness.¡±

    Varen poked his head out as he invited them inside.

    ***

    Varen smiled softly at Minhyuk.

    ¡°Is it delicious?¡±

    ¡°Yes. It¡¯s really, really delicious!¡±

    He smiled at him kindly as he nodded his head.

    This was not the first time that he thought that he was someone unreliable. But he still saved him from his enemies and even fed him delicious food. In return, he promised to give him the best sushi. However, everything was postponed because of the ritual and God Juis.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    Minhyuk looked at him in confusion.

    ¡°I¡¯m supposed to feed you the best sushi but Rald is not feeling well and is almost at the verge of death.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head in understanding. He knew about it since he had heard the people talk about it.

    ¡°And there¡¯s something else that I want to ask you.¡±

    Varen exined the entirety of the story to him.

    ¡°Legendary dish?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. But I¡¯ll make sure to give you plenty of rewards. And if God Juis¡¯ catastrophe and anger is lifted then Chef Rald will also be able to recover! At that time, I¡¯ll be able to feed you delicious food!¡±

    Minhyuk pondered over his words carefully.

    A legendary dish! The royal court even said that they will support me and provide me all of the ingredients that I need

    This was what mattered the most.

    ¡®They¡¯re saying that they¡¯ll keep on supplying me with the ingredients until I make a legendary dish, right?¡¯

    There should be only one food prepared for the ritual. That meant that Minhyuk needed to repeat the process until he could make a satisfactory dish.

    The meaning of this is¡­¡­.?

    ¡®I can eat anything that¡¯s not legendary, right?¡¯

    It was a fact that his Create a Recipe Skill could only be made for a single person. However, it did not mean that others wouldn¡¯t be able to eat it. It just said that if someone else ate it then they would not be able to feel the buff effects!

    ¡°But before that happens¡­¡­ I think you need to prove your skills in cooking to my subjects?¡±

    ¡°My cooking?¡±

    ¡°I told them that your cooking wasparable to Rald¡¯s¡­. But my subjects won¡¯t trust you with just that. So please cook just one dish for them.¡±

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s not that difficult. But I have a condition.¡±

    ¡°Condition?¡±

    Minhyuk was not a person who would do something for you just because you asked him to do it and the quest window had not yet opened at all so he could definitely add something to the list of the rewards.

    ¡°Please let me have a more special sushi if I seed.¡±

    ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll order my knights to bring in only S-ranked ingredients for your sushi.¡±

    ¡°S-ranked ingredients? Kghk!¡±

    His so-called A-course meal had been upgraded to the more expensive C-course! This was already enough for Minhyuk.

    Then, Varen opened the door and called for the others outside.

    ¡°The two of you. Come in.¡±

    ¡°Yes? Ah. Yes, Your Highness.¡±

    Eidni and Perle came inside the waiting room. Both of them had confused looks on their faces, especially the priest, Eidni.

    ¡°I¡¯ll just make a dish for Priest-nim.¡±

    Minhyuk quickly used his Create a Recipe skill to find out the dish for him.

    ¡°Be honored. This friend is making a dish for you.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Highness.¡±

    Eidni was dumbfounded.

    ¡®I¡¯m afraid that I will lose my appetite if I eat this guy¡¯s cooking.¡¯

    ¡°Is it fine with the ingredients that I have?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    At his words, Eidni thought¡­

    ¡®Without using any special ingredients? Just the regr ingredients?¡¯

    Then, Minhyuk began cooking his dish.

    The recipe that he had checked was none other than toast!

    The priest, Eidni, was a very busy person and because of that the only thing that he could grab to eat was toast. However, over the times, he had grown fond of it.

    Minhyuk covered the pan in butter as he ced bread on it. Then, he beat the eggs, baked the ham and chopped the cabbages.

    ¡®His cooking form looks quite good.¡¯

    But it wasn¡¯t easy for anyone to have a good ranked dish with normal ingredients.

    Not long after, the steaming toast waspleted. The first person to check the dish was King Varen. After checking the dish, he looked at Minhyuk speechlessly.

    ¡®As expected¡­¡­ I wasn¡¯t wrong with my judgement.¡¯

    He was caught in surprise once more.

    Then, Eidni went ahead and checked the toast.

    (Toast)

    Material Grade: D

    Rank: Rare

    Restrictions: Only Eidni can have the buff effects.

    Storage Time: 7 days

    Preservation Time: 6 days

    Special Effects:

    ©¥ 7% increase in your Holy Power

    ©¥ +4% in all of your stats

    Description: A toast made specifically for Eidni. It is made of simple ingredients but the chef who made it is not someone to be taken lightly.

    ¡®Keok?!¡¯

    Eidni was shocked stiff.

    Are you telling me that a rare dish came out in one try even though he only used normal ingredients?!

    It was somethingpletely unbelievable.

    Then¡­ Varen reached out for his toast.

    ¡°Eidni, can I eat this?¡±

    ¡°Ah. O, of course.¡±

    Eidni wanted to eat it so badly but he couldn¡¯t just p His Highness¡¯ hands and not let him take it away, could he?

    Not long after, Minhyuk¡¯s Joy of Eating Together skill was triggered and he was also able to enjoy the food. Of course, the buff did not take effect.

    ¡°Hooo. Boy, your dishes are truly delicious.¡±

    ¡°Hehe. Toast is delicious!¡±

    Thebination of the crunchy cabbage, eggs, cheese and sweet apple sauce was superb. It almost tasted like Crunch Toast.

    When Varen went out to go to the bathroom, Eidni fought hard to not let his tears fall.

    ¡®I, I also want to eat¡­¡­!¡¯

    Then, Perle approached him and whispered to him quietly.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you promise something earlier?¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Eidni was so shocked that he couldn¡¯t help but cough vehemently.

    ¡°N, no. That was just a joke.¡±

    ¡°That wasn¡¯t a joke though.¡±

    Perle was a man who was quite sensitive when it was about ¡®promises¡¯. And he also clearly stated his stance on this matter.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t keep your promise then I¡¯ll tell this to His Highness.¡±

    ¡°T, that¡­¡­!¡±

    He made such a deration against the foreigner that His Highness had specifically chosen. Once he knew it, he would definitely be angry. But Eidnie was still able to make a feint and avoid this ending.

    ¡°I, I don¡¯t think he would like that if I just did it so suddenly. Why don¡¯t I ask him first?¡±

    ¡°Hmm. You¡¯re right.¡±

    Then, Eidni went and approached Minhyuk to exin himself.

    ¡°......I had misgivings about you so I did not believe in your skills. However, right now I believe that you¡¯re truly a great chef. Taking off my underwear and dancing naked¡­¡­. Cough. Instead of dancing, should I just give you a blessing? How¡¯s that?¡±

    Minhyuk was quite shocked when he heard about the promise that they were talking about.

    Eidni was already an old man. With his priest¡¯s white uniform, if he took off his underwear and danced in front of him¡­¡­

    ¡°Keok?! J, just imagining it¡­¡­! Don¡¯t ever do that! I¡¯ll kill you if you do it. I¡¯m begging you not to. If you danced naked like that, your fur¡­¡­ Ugh!¡±

    Minhyuk covered his mouth as he imagined the sight.

    Eidni was quite happy with this oue.

    ¡°Thank you. Really, thank you so much. Hahahahahahahaha! You¡¯re not only good at cooking but you¡¯re also magnanimous. I¡¯ll give you a blessing instead!¡±

    He was really relieved.

    But then, a thought suddenly shed in his head.

    Huh? But why do I feel bad¡­...?

    Then, Minhyuk once again opened his mouth.

    ¡°I¡¯ll kill you if you do it!¡±

    He got out of the tricky situation but he strangely felt bad about himself.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [Meluna] So it¡¯s a parody of Melona. It¡¯s a KR brand for popsicle ice cream. I really like the melon vor of this ice cream but strawberry is also running for the 1st position in my heart. Back.

    [Crunch Toast] A French cereal that tastes like apple and french toast. I have never tasted this but it strangely sounds delicious. Back.

    TL¡¯s corner!

    This is one of the longest chaps I¡¯ve ever done that has no action at all. Kek.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Aw, Kongie is so adorable. Learning how to eat well from Minhyuk.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 138 - Legendary Dish

    Chapter 138: Legendary Dish

    Trantor: Chubby Cheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Genie, Khan and Locke entered the dungeon solemnly. This was the dungeon that they had failed to clear not only once or twice but six times in total! And today was their final chance to attack and clear this dungeon.

    Shortly after they had entered the dungeon the huge form of the cursed dragon appeared in their sights. The cursed dragon! This monster was a Lv450 monster that had a body that was rotten all over. However, having a rotten body did not mean that it was weak because it was literally a monster that imed to be a dragon. A sword couldn¡¯t even prate its thick skin and its powerful Breath could bring about huge damages to users. It would even bring the users under an ¡®abnormal state¡¯.

    Puhaaaaaa!

    The monster breathed out its disgusting and horrendous green Breath!

    Genie, Khan and Locke quickly moved aside to dodge the iing Breath.

    Shwaaaaaaa!

    Genie immediately struck her whip towards the cursed dragon.

    [Your attack has failed.]

    However, it was something that she had expected. Its skin was too thick to be prated with just one whip attack. Then, the King of Fists, Khan gathered a powerful energy on his fists.

    [Battering.]

    [Flurry of punches with additional 40% attack power.]

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    [Your attack has failed.]

    [Your attack has failed.]

    ¡°Kiiiiiyeeeeeeeh!¡±

    His attacks missed! However, not all of his attacks had failed.

    The cursed dragon almost reeled in ce after it allowed three attacks tond on its massive body. But its skin still looked solid without any hint of a scratch or a dent on it.

    ¡°Keuhahaha! Go to hell! Go to hell!¡±

    Locke kept on shing at the cursed dragon with his axe.

    [Your attack has failed.]

    [Your attack has failed.]

    sh!

    Just as his axended a hit on the tough skin of the cursed dragon, Locke quickly used that gap to cast his Crazy Priest¡¯s Heal.

    [Crazy Priest¡¯s Heal.]

    [Continuous bleeding will be triggered. In addition, there is a 20% probability of triggering various abnormal conditions.]

    Spurt!

    ¡°Kiiieee?¡±

    The cursed dragon finally realized that something strange happened to its body. A long time had passed but there was still rotten blood spurting out of the injury that it received from the axe earlier. And it did not even end there, the area where the injury was began to rot faster than normal.

    [The Cursed Dragon has fallen under the abnormal condition ¡®Limited Abilities.¡¯.]

    [Breath is temporarily unavable for use.]

    ¡°......!¡±

    Locke was caught in surprise when he heard the notifications.

    ¡°It, it said that Breath is temporarily unavable since it has fallen under an abnormal condition?¡±

    ¡°Heok¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Khan and Genie¡¯s eyes both widened in shock. They kept looking at him as if they could not believe what he had just said.

    Locke¡¯s Crazy Priest¡¯s Heal can also cause bleeding!

    In fact, his skill did not have much of an effect on the cursed dragon before. However, right now in front of them, the cursed dragon was bleeding profusely. And it did not even end there. The cursed dragon even had its abilities restricted by the skill. The +3 on skill effect was truly something that could never be ignored. The skill that they had previously seen was something that waspletely different now after acquiring that +3.

    Puhaaaack!

    Puhaaaaaaack!

    Not long after, the cursed dragon who had suffered from their attacks finally copsed and fell down. Its organs were a mess, it also couldn¡¯t use its Breath and its body even rotted at a speed that was visible to the naked eye which resulted in the restriction of its movements.

    Thud!

    The cursed dragon fell with a thud.

    Genie trembled in excitement.

    ¡®If this video gets out in the world¡­¡­!¡¯

    Then they would be able to get a huge response from the public!

    They raided the dungeon at a rapid pace. They wanted to finish this as fast as they could with as much re as they could.

    And finally, they arrived in front of the boss monster.

    It was none other than the knight of the dead, Death Knight.

    Death Knight was even equipped with a white sword! He was even wearing golden armor as he was bathed in red light.

    ¡°Keuk!¡±

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    Genie and Khan both let out groans of pain as they blocked Death Knight¡¯s attacks.

    Then¡­

    Stab!

    A de was run straight through Genie¡¯s chest.

    ¡°Keoheok!¡±

    Locke, who was watching the situation from the back, quickly used his heal on her.

    [Heal.]

    [You have a 20%~30% probability of recovering the HP of your target.]

    The blood spurting out of Genie¡¯s gaping wound on the chest slowly trickled down to a stop and her HP slowly filled her body with energy and warmth.

    ¡°I have never seen Locke look this pretty before, really!¡±

    ¡°Pretty¡­¡­? That¡¯s not¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Keuhahaha! The pretty Locke ising through! Die! Die! Keuhahaha!¡±

    Locke literally flew around the ce happily. He did not forget to deal a huge amount of damage to the enemy. Of course, he also did not forget his role as a healer of their party. It was a truly amazing sight.

    Finally¡­

    ¡°Keuaaaack!¡±

    The knight of death, Death Knight, was fiercely struck by Khan¡¯s fists and fell down with a shriek. The Death Knight¡¯s sword shed brightly as huge amounts of gold and artifacts dropped after its death.

    [You have leveled up.]

    After finishing the Death Knight off, the party took off with great achievements and rewards. They were even able to increase their levels by one.

    It was a known fact that the higher their levels were, the harder it was to umte enough EXP to level themselves up. In fact, it was truly difficult for Lv400 users to increase their level even by one in a span of three days. This was also the reason why rankers were only separated by one level. However, even if their difference was only at one level, the difference was truly substantial. It was like the difference between heaven and earth whether in terms of strength, attack power or defensive power.

    ¡°We did it!¡±

    ¡°Yay!¡±

    ¡°Keuhahaha! It¡¯s all thanks to this body!¡±

    Khan and Genie both shook their heads at his remarks.

    ¡°It¡¯s all thanks to Minhyuk.¡±

    Lockeughed crazily but he still admitted the truth.

    My god, it wasn¡¯t because they were overgeared but because he ate an overly good dish! But if this overly good dish was this good then he would definitely be Minhyuk¡¯s firm believer!

    Just then, a message popped out in front of them. It was a totally unexpected set of messages too.

    [You are the first people to have conquered a Time Attack Dungeon.]

    [You have gained 20 reputation points.]

    [You have acquired +3 on all your basic stats.]

    [Time Attack Dungeons will now be opened to all countries of the world.]

    [The Time Attack Dungeons can only be essed for 2 weeks.]

    [The possible number of attacks per day is 5.]

    [Your attack time is limited to 2 hours. If users fail to clear the dungeon then they will not be allowed to enter the dungeon again.]

    [After 2 weeks, the three highest-ranked parties will be given special rewards.]

    Time Attack Dungeon!

    It was an event dungeon. This event dungeon runs on the rule of ¡®shorter attack time on boss mobs then the higher the EXP rewards.¡¯.

    Don¡¯t tell me that the dungeon that we had just cleared was the start of the time attack dungeon?

    What was more surprising was¡­

    ¡®The Time Attack Dungeons will happen all over the world?¡¯

    It literally meant what it said¡­ the Time Attack Dungeons would be open to the whole world. In other words, people from all over the world would bepeting for the Time Attack Dungeon.

    So what will happen if our names appeared on that list?

    ¡®We can show them that our country is not dead yet!¡¯

    And in order for us to do that?

    ¡®Right now, we can cut our target time to 15 minutes. So if we can get out of here and eat Minhyuk¡¯s food, then¡­¡­?¡¯

    Perhaps they could still shorten that time and clear the dungeon in less than 15 minutes.

    ***

    Minhyuk finally received the blessings that Eidni had promised to give him.

    [You have received a blessing from Eidni.]

    [You have gained 100 points in Holy Power.]

    [You have gained +5 in all of your stats.]

    [You have gained 10 reputation points.]

    [You will now have 5% additional damage to undead monsters.]

    The priests¡¯ Holy Power!

    And he even received 100 points directly after obtaining the Holy Power. Along with this blessing, he also received a notification about Varen¡¯s quest.

    [Kingdom Quest: Make a Legendary Dish for God Juis!]

    Rank: SS

    Restrictions: Favorability with Varen

    Rewards: Sushi made entirely with S-ranked ingredients, Bad¡¯s cup

    Penalty for Failure: Your favorability with the citizens of Valkyrie Kingdom would drop and you won¡¯t be able to enter the Northern Continent anymore.

    Description: Due to the wrath of God Juis, Valkyrie Kingdom and the rest of the Northern Continent is now in a crisis. God Juis wanted to taste a dish that is much more delicious than what is usually served for her. Cook for her!

    A SS-ranked quest!

    ¡°Bad¡¯s cup? Is it a wine ss?¡±

    ¡°......Cough. W, wine ss.¡±

    When he mentioned wine ss, Varen couldn¡¯t stop himself from coughing in surprise.

    ¡°Bad¡¯s cup is God¡¯s treasure. Its size is in factrger than the regr size of a goblet but the water that is held in Bad¡¯s cup is said to be holy. It is said that drinking water from the cup will give you a different level of powerparable or even more powerful than whatever the best medicine can give you.¡±

    ¡°Hoo? Is the water in Bad¡¯s cup much more delicious than normal water? Hiyaaa.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes glittered in excitement as he licked his lips in anticipation. He even gulped down his saliva as if he was imagining what it¡¯s taste was like.

    Varen avoided his stare unknowingly as he was left speechless with Minhyuk¡¯s actions.

    ¡°Oh¡­¡­ Uhm¡­¡­ I, I think so?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going to make a legendary dish!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s will was burning brightly not for the kingdom¡¯s sake but for the sake of delicious sushi and water from Bad¡¯s cup!

    ¡®God¡­¡­!¡¯

    Varen looked wordlessly up in the sky.

    ¡°Ah. But before I start cooking can I see God Juis?¡±

    ¡°......It¡¯s possible if you ask.¡±

    ¡°I can only cook for her once I have seen her.¡±

    Varen nodded his head as he called for Eidni. And Eidni who had been called again, prayed and prayed for days to call for God Juis. After a few days, he came out covered in sweat.

    ¡°You can now go inside. However, the only person that she wants toe inside is Minhyuk-nim. Your Highness¡­¡­ she doesn¡¯t wish to see you.¡±

    Varen felt extremely sorry when he heard those words but he still begged Minhyuk.

    ¡°Please, I¡¯m begging you. When you go inside don¡¯t say ¡®I¡¯m hungry.¡¯, ¡®What does the water in the Bad¡¯s cup taste like?¡¯ or ¡®Can I just lick it once so I can taste?¡¯! Please don¡¯t!¡±

    ¡°......Heok?! My god. Then, can I ask God about what¡¯s delicious?¡±

    I knew it! I knew it!

    Varen¡¯s expression hardened.

    ¡°My goodness! Don¡¯t ask God Juis about what¡¯s delicious! I was just about to ask you to drop it off!¡±

    Varen and Eidni both exasperatedly said at the same time.

    ¡°P, please don¡¯t say anything weird¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re begging you, please don¡¯t say anything weird¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Eyy. So disappointing.¡±

    Minhyuk clicked his tongue in disappointment. Even though he felt that it was a disappointment, since they were begging him so loudly then there was nothing that he could do.

    ¡°When you get inside, just keep your head down. Don¡¯t raise your head at all. And please, be as polite as possible. The future of our kingdom depends on it!¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head as he slowly went inside the temple.

    ***

    God Juis finally agreed to answer the prayers of the priest Eidni who had been praying to her for days.

    In fact, she could answer him right away but she did not want to do it.

    ¡®You need to go through a bit of trouble!¡¯

    She only went down to eat delicious food once every year. In fact, she truly enjoyed having the delicious meal that was served to her after that long and boring ritual. But then, she discovered that her food was covered in poison. She had always hated whenever her meal waspromised so she had no choice but to show her wrath.

    Not long after, the person who would cook for her had entered the temple. He tactfully bowed his head as soon as he entered.

    ¡°I have seen God Juis!¡±

    His head almost touched his stomach with how low he was bowing. However, When God Juis looked at his figure, she was so surprised that she even took a step back.

    ¡®W, why is he here?¡¯

    This question floated in her head as her small figure trembled. Then, she took a deep breath and calmed herself down.

    There was a huge shadow hiding behind Minhyuk. This shadow was in the shape of a baby pig.

    She looked like she couldn¡¯t believe her eyes. As soon as she opened her mouth to confirm and ask about the pig¡­

    [The God of Athenae is imposing sanctions on you.]

    She bit her lips hard to control herself.

    The God of Athenae was the absolute authority. He was the ultimate god among all of the gods. She couldn¡¯t go against his orders even if she was a god herself.

    However, when she looked at the man who was almost touching his stomach with his head, she realized that something was strange. He was weak but she was sure that she was quite familiar with the aura he was emitting.

    ¡®A god¡­¡­?¡¯

    The power and aura that he was emitting must be the power of a god.

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    My, my, my. It seems like our dear little Kongie has big secrets. I wonder what it is? My goodness. Also, I knew it deep down but it¡¯s still amazing. Minhyuk really is the Food God. kek. Will he bless Eivelis Empire if he bes a stronger God? Ahhhh. So many mysteries. Can¡¯t wait to read them next.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Wow, Minhyuk¡¯s got cred with even the gods of the world.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 139 - Legendary Dish

    Chapter 139: Legendary Dish

    Trantor: Chubby Cheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    He might still be very weak right now but¡­

    ¡°God Juis, can I raise my head and look at you directly just once?¡±

    Juis hurriedly drew back her shocked expression and maintained a calm exterior.

    ¡°How dare someone like you try and gaze at my visage?¡±

    Sheughed silently as if she had done a great mischief.

    ¡°Because I¡¯ll only know what dish I can make for the person if I saw their face directly.¡±

    ¡°......That¡¯s an unusual ability. What¡¯s your job ss?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Food God.¡±

    ¡°......Food God.¡±

    She nodded her head in understanding.

    ¡®He must be one of the Continental Gods.¡¯

    Continental Gods were gods that live in the continent among the ordinary people. It was no wonder that she had never heard of him or his name before.

    ¡°I¡¯ll allow it.¡±

    The man slowly raised his head to gaze at her face then immediately bowed down again.

    ***

    Minhyuk had quickly used his Create a Recipe skill when he peeked at God Juis and was finally able to see the dish that she wanted the most.

    (Dak-galbi Recipe for Juis)

    Required Ingredients: Daybreak Chicken, Sun-filled Gochujang, Snow Mountain Sweet Potatoes (omitted)

    Expected Dish Grade: Rare ~ Legendary

    Expected Effects:

    ©¥ A sharp increase in God¡¯s Blessings.

    ©¥ A sharp increase in Valkyrie Kingdom¡¯s holy power.

    ¡®D, dak-galbi?!¡¯

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes widened in surprise.

    Dak-galbi! Everyone knew that this was a dish that any person could enjoy with just 10,000~15,000 won per head! On arge round grill there were cabbages, chicken meat, sweet potatoes and rice cakes lined up all around. What was most special about this dish was all the extra ingredients, right? Udon, ramen, and even cheese! There were plenty of noodles and ingredients that you could put in such a dish.

    ¡®If you order cheese¡­¡­¡¯

    You could sprinkle the cheese in the middle of the pan after the dak-galbi was cooked. And the part-timer would even lend you their magic touch as they mixed everything! Everyone would definitely fall silent as they watch the part-timer work his magic and mix the dak-galbi and the cheese together! And after waiting for the long-awaited words of the part-timer¡­

    ¡®You can eat now.¡¯

    He would leave your side and let you enjoy the dak-galbi to your heart¡¯s content.

    Just imagining it could give him enough satisfaction.

    Interesting to watch, interesting to eat and there are even interesting ingredients to choose from!

    Then, at that moment, Juis opened her mouth.

    ¡°You, I¡¯m quite hungry right now. Tell that to Varen!¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°The second catastrophe will now hit the Northern Continent.¡±

    At the same time, Minhyuk also heard the notifications in his head.

    [Four dayster, the second catastrophe will befall the Northern Continent.]

    [The Second Catastrophe. All users in the Northern Continent will have a 10% reduction in all their skills and abilities.]

    This notification was probably heard by all of the users and people that were currently in the Northern Continent.

    Once Minhyuk stepped out of the temple Juis looked down and grinned mischievously. In all honesty, she believed that her demands were impossible to be met.

    ¡®I also haven¡¯t tasted a legendary dish in my life.¡¯

    Also, the existence of the legendary dish was just like a story that had been passed down from one generation to another.

    She couldn¡¯t help mumbling to herself as she looked down at the spot where Minhyuk was earlier.

    ¡®The Food God and the incarnation of Gluttony are together¡­¡­?¡¯

    ***

    Minhyuk came out of the temple and quickly listed the ingredients that he would need to Varen. However, the ingredients that he needed were all very high-ranked and rare that they would have a hard time getting them.

    And the most crucial thing was¡­

    ¡®Among the ingredients that we have, all the ingredients for dak-galbi are missing.¡¯

    In other words, all the extra ingredients that could supplement the recipe were all missing. And even the ingredients that the recipe required were even hard to find. However, he still wondered about the result if they reced all of the missing ingredients with higher-ranked ingredients. If that was the case, then he might still be able to produce the expected Legendary ranked dish.

    Varen quickly gave out his orders.

    ¡°Use all of your forces and procure the ingredients to the best of your abilities!¡±

    Even the Legend Guild¡¯s informant also moved to help. The informant had an introverted personality however, he knew almost all of the information about Athenae. In addition, he had the ability to return to the ces that he had been to even if he just had a normal return scroll. Using this ability, he quickly went to Ellie¡¯s side and informed him of the happenings in Valkyrie Kingdom.

    Ellie quickly mobilized her forces to look for the ingredients. Together with the informant, they began collecting the ingredients at a much faster speedpared to everyone else. They collected as much as they could of the best of the best of ingredients!

    With this speed and scale, even if they did not want to know, the rumors had spread to the ears of the Iris Guild. It even reached the ears of the guild master of Louvert Guild, Twilight Chef ck! He was informed that Legend Guild¡¯s Chef was trying to please God Juis with his cooking.

    ¡°Puhahahaha! This is apleteedy!¡±

    ckughed loudly. He knew more of this matter since Iris Guild had quickly contacted him and promised him to join the raid. And if he joined the raid, he believed that he would be able to garner enough heat and attention to promote the Louvert Guild. In addition, he would also be able to get God¡¯s treasure, Bad¡¯s cup! It was a treasure that could give the user special powers and abilities! It was a priceless item that could only be received from such a quest.

    He knew that they had received a quest to eradicate the Wrathful Spirit of God Juis and appease her with a ritual food. If he was able toplete this quest, then Twilight Chef ck would definitely gain a lot from this transaction.

    Meanwhile, Callian told him¡­

    ¡°But what if that chef satisfies God Juis before we do?¡±

    ck snorted condescendingly.

    ¡°It¡¯s absolutely impossible.¡±

    ¡°Impossible¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Up until now, the highest ranked dish that the user has ever made was epic. It was only an epic dish even though the ingredients that were used in the dish were all S-ranked. We even made it after a continuous trial and error and we have only made 100 of such dishes.¡±

    A buffed dish that was made only by the highest qualified chefs but they were only able to make 100 of them?

    ¡°I, is it that difficult?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Even if you only heard of the rumors, they still said that they will try and make a ¡®legendary¡¯ dish, right?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s impossible. I don¡¯t think that it will be possible until a yearter when the game is opened to the world. In all honesty, I heard that you have to be someone that has surpassed the craftsman¡¯s level to produce a legendary dish so I don¡¯t think it¡¯s possible right now.¡±

    Even ck was still under the master level and was still miles away from that inch that could take him to the craftsman level.

    ¡°We tried a thousand of times using the best of ingredients but we were only able to make only 100 of these dishes. What was worse, did you know who was able to make the epic ranked dish in the end?¡±

    ¡°......who?¡±

    ¡°I did.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    The only chef to have ever made an epic ranked dish was Twilight Chef ck!

    Soon after, Callian¡¯s mouth almost ripped in two with how wide he was grinning.

    Come to think of it, who was ck? He¡¯s one of the top 10 chefs that are known in the world and he also ranks 1st~2nd in Athenae¡¯s Chef¡¯s rankings.

    What was more¡­

    ¡°After receiving the quest and eradicating the Wrathful Spirit of God Juis, all we have to do is ce an epic dish in front of the altar.¡±

    ck shrugged his shoulders in confidence.

    ¡°I can make an epic dish after I put in plenty of efforts and made several trials and errors. So all you have to do is prepare yourselves for the attack and be treated as heroes. Of course, we could always prepare the food in advance and cast a food-maintenance spell on it.¡±

    Then, Callian told him this as if he found his arrogance to be something fun and interesting.

    ¡°Anyway, are you sure that we will be the first one to satisfy God Juis?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    ¡°Then, how about we do this?¡±

    ¡°Please speak your mind.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s slowly circte those rumors.¡±

    ¡°Ho.¡±

    ck finally noticed his cunningness.

    ¡°Who will do it first? Legend Guild or Iris Guild?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Of course, we will be the ones who will win but wouldn¡¯t people mock andugh at Legend Guild for this loss?¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    Twilight Chef ck grinned wickedly. It seemed like he liked this type of game.

    ¡°Ah. When are we going to attack the dungeon?¡±

    ¡°On the day when the second catastrophe will fall.¡±

    If they did it at that time, then the users would all feel more relieved and grateful to them. Then they would cheer for them more. Iris Guild was well prepared. They were confident that the victory would be in their hands after all they had the best rankers from their guild and the best mercenaries participating in the raid. In addition, they had already found the location of the dungeon and were just waiting for the right time to attack the dungeon. They firmly believed that they would definitely receive huge rewards.

    However, there was just one thing that he was curious about.

    ¡®The artifacts and gold will only be dropped if we hunted God Juis¡­...?¡¯

    Strangely enough, nothing would drop in the dungeon if they attacked it and they would only be able to acquire the drops once they destroyed the Wrathful Spirit of God Juis. In other words, if they acquired 10,000 gold in their first round of dungeon attack then they would only be able to get 10,000 gold from God Juis. This was the very first SS-ranked quest in the country so they would be expecting plenty of rewards.

    Then, Callian turned his attention back to ck and asked him¡­

    ¡°How many tries do you need before you produce an epic ranked dish?¡±

    ¡°I probably need to try for at least 50 times.¡±

    ***

    Only twice.

    After trying the dish twice, an epic-ranked dish already came out.

    ¡°......It¡¯s really unbelievably crazy.¡±

    ¡°Does this even make any sense?¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Varen, Eidni and Perle were all left speechless when facing the situation in front of them.

    ¡®It¡¯s really different when you make a dish using S-ranked ingredients¡­¡­¡¯

    It was truly a different experience.

    So far, Minhyuk had looked if he could change some of the ingredients with other S-ranked ingredients and plenty of them had gone inside the first dish. However, he had now cooked using only S-ranked ingredients.

    He had even used plenty of additional ingredients than what the Create a Recipe skill had rmended. Originally, he only needed the daybreak chicken, sun-filled gochujang, snow mountain sweet potato and the rabbit warrior¡¯s carrot. But he was not able to get the rabbit warrior¡¯s carrot so he added the ground tree udon noodles that were said to be cultivated deep underground. This ground tree udon noodles were a great medicine. And many of the other ingredients that he added on the dish were also great medicines!

    Medicines seemed to produce a much more ideal effect than S-ranked ingredients. When he used such ingredients to cook, the material grade that came out was much higher and even the dish rank came out pretty high. Of course, not all dishes would result with a high rank just because he used high ranked ingredients. But Minhyuk¡¯s x2 effect yed a big role in him getting such high ranks for his dishes.

    Also¡­

    ¡®I think DEX has a higher impact this time?¡¯

    It seemed like his DEX and his Food God¡¯s Acquisition Skill had yed a great role in his cooking. Food God¡¯s Acquisition Skill would literally teach him about the perfect timing of the actions that needed to be done in the dish and his DEX yed a major support in supplementing his cooking skills. This had allowed him to have the best results in his dishes. It was safe to say that his x2 effect from his DEX had an effect that was at least around 5~6 times higher than what the x2 effect had described.

    ¡®There won¡¯t be another chance like this.¡¯

    My goodness. The entire empire and kingdom were moving tirelessly to supply him with the best ingredients. This was a chance that he would never be able to get a second time again so he had to give it his all. After all, this was also the first time that Minhyuk would be able to taste a legendary dish.

    In the midst of all his musings¡­

    ¡°Kgghk. It¡¯s a bit of a disappointment. If he was a bit more careful then, a legendary dish might have alreadye out.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡±

    Varen and Eidni sang their own tunes.

    However, on the other side¡­

    ¡°Hehe. Udon is really delicious!¡±

    Minhyuk had used the best of the best of the ingredients. However, since it couldn¡¯t be presented to God Juis then his only choice, not that he wasining, was to eat this failed dish. Of course, the buff effect or the power that could be obtained from this dish and the previous dish could not be obtained at all since the owner of the dish had already been chosen.

    ¡°Ahem, ahem. Can I have a bite, too?¡±

    Varen sat in front of him as Minhyuk thought of something bad.

    ¡®I wish it wille out aste as possible¡­¡­!¡¯

    That way, I¡¯ll be able to eat more delicious food!

    On the contrary, Varen was thinking¡­

    ¡®I hope that it wille out soon so we can wipe out the catastrophe already¡­¡­¡¯

    Then, he grabbed his utensils and tasted Minhyuk¡¯s failed dish.

    ¡®......Maybe it¡¯s alright if ites out a bitter?¡¯

    Varen, who was a certified gourmand, wanted to keep on eating such an amazing dish! After all, it was so delicious that he couldn¡¯t even put it into words.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡­ Wow¡­¡­ Really¡­¡­ Wow¡­¡­¡±

    The taste was so superb that he could only exim ¡®wow¡¯ to express his delight. But Varen shook his head in disappointment.

    ¡®But I really hope that ites out soon!¡¯

    ¡°You have to satisfy God Juis quickly. We don¡¯t have much time!¡±

    When he heard his words, Minhyuk quickly finished his bowl and continued on his cooking. However, his Create a Recipe skill would consume his buffing ability so Minhyuk could only cook four times per day.

    Was there any other way?

    None.

    So King Varen instructed his men to bring this ingredient to him.

    Ramis¡¯ honey!

    ¡°Kgghk! It might not be Lafender¡¯s honey but it¡¯s still a delicious honey!¡±

    Minhyuk quickly made garaetteok and ate it with Ramis¡¯ honey. He couldn¡¯t stop himself from eating such a deliciousbination!

    Ramis¡¯ honey was not the best of the medicines that could be found but once ingested it could randomly increase the person¡¯s EXP and restore their buffing ability.

    ¡°Chomp!¡±

    The steaming rice cake was dipped in Ramis¡¯ honey and ced in his mouth quickly. Once he chomped on it, he could taste the sweetness of the honey and the crunchy texture of the grilled rice cake. After chewing for quite some time, he could feel the chewy inside of the rice cake which further enhanced his experience! It was truly a delightful snack.

    ¡°Kgghk!¡±

    [Your buff has recovered.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [Your buff has recovered.]

    [Your buff has recovered.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    He continued to cook the dishes ording to the recipe from the Create a Recipe skill. Then, once his buffing ability is all gone, he would go and eat Ramis¡¯ honey before cooking again. This cycle continued on and on. Ramis¡¯ honey was around 5 tinum per dose but Minhyuk was being supplied an endless amount of Ramis¡¯ honey. This was a feat that no user could ever hope to replicate.

    He was even able to bomb his way through his levels just by eating Ramis¡¯ honey. Previously, when he sessfully hunted Rumad, he was able to gain 20 levels which raised his level to Lv241. However, just by eating Ramis¡¯ honey, he was able to increase his level to Lv249.

    He continued on for 2 days with just cooking, eating Ramis¡¯ honey and cooking again. However, the results¡­

    ¡°Two epic, twenty unique¡­¡­ uhm¡­¡­¡±

    After he had made two epic ranked dishes, the rank of the dishes that he had made after had deteriorated.

    ¡°W, we¡¯ll be in big trouble tomorrow! The catastrophe will definitely fall on us tomorrow!¡±

    Varen almost pulled his hair out of his head with how nervous and anxious he was. Minhyuk had suddenly started to lose his luck and Varen¡¯s heart started to burn with great anxiety. He didn¡¯t know if Minhyuk knew of his troubles but he still saw him went near the Ramis¡¯ honey and ate it.

    [Your buff has recovered.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have unsealed Great Mage¡¯s Rafielt¡¯s Cloak.]

    This cloakid in his inventory quietly. Without this notification, Minhyuk might havepletely forgotten about this item. This cloak was the cloak with the ¡®invisibility¡¯ function that could be worn at Lv250 and above. And this cloak had now been unsealed.

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    My god. Please. A Legendary Dish. Just one. Pleasee out!

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Oh, ck, don¡¯t you know that pridees before a fall?

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 140 - Legendary Dish

    Chapter 140: Legendary Dish

    Trantor: Chubby Cheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    The Great Mage Rafielt¡¯s Cloak! It had an invisibility effect that could allow the user to attack the enemy undetected for two seconds. However, if the attack was made after the allotted two seconds then, the invisibility effect would be lifted and the mana consumption would be greater than what was expected. The cloak would consume 100MP per second as per normal.

    First, Minhyuk ced Great Mage Rafielt¡¯s cloak to the side. He had to hurry and make haste since there would be another catastrophe tomorrow. And just like what Varen had said¡­

    There¡¯s no time.

    Minhyuk had now really started to cook without taking any rest. However, he was still quite happy every time he failed since he could still eat dak-galbi!

    Varen might look like he hated iron for not bing steel and was disgusted with his happiness but he couldn¡¯t scold him since he could see how hard he was trying for their sake.

    And¡­

    It was finally the day when Iris Guild would attack the dungeon and raid God Juis.

    ***

    Iris Guild was currently under the spotlight. Today was the day where all of the users of Athenae in the country had their eyes on them.

    Their dungeon attack squad had rallied their way in front of the dungeon of the Fallen God Juis and was now waiting for the right time to raid and attack the dungeon. Among these people was Han Taesung, he was the PD of Dungeon Attack Live.

    ¡®Kyaa! There are at least 30 rankers that have gathered here¡­¡­! Amazing!¡¯

    Half of the people present were mercenaries while the remaining half were from Iris Guild. Of course, not all of the people present were rankers but there were also semi-rankers in their midst. Even though these semi-rankers did not have much of an influence in Athenae they could still deal plenty of damage against their opponent this time.

    ¡®The money that Iris Guild spent on this attack is enormous.¡¯

    It was something inevitable after all just the payment for the mercenary rankers were already beyond a normal person¡¯s imagination. In addition, the dungeon that was housing the Fallen God Juis was a huge dungeon that could easily amodate at least 30~40 people in one go. Arge-scale dungeon was more tricky and much harder to attackpared to normal dungeons.

    ¡®Even so, if Iris Guild and Louvert Guild will be sessful in this SS-ranked dungeon raid quest then it will be a huge break for them.¡¯

    Han Taesung nodded his head as if he was agreeing wholeheartedly with his thoughts.

    Not long after, the live broadcast in Dungeon Attack Live began.

    ¡°We are here in front of the dungeon where the corrupted God Juis is located. Right now, Iris Guild has taken the initiative to help the rest of the users and make it easier for the whole Northern Continent. They have given up their hunting and leveling up for days just to speed up their preparations to attack the dungeon. Iris Guild¡¯s Guild Master Callian-nim had spent plenty of money and incurred great losses just to hire rankers and mercenaries to join them in this quest today just to stop the catastrophe at the second catastrophe. They will also support the yers with huge amounts of potions as well as the price for equipment maintenance.¡±

    PD Han Taesung immediately tooted his horn for Iris Guild to let the users know about their ¡®hardships¡¯ for them. And of course, their viewers responded to them well.

    [GoodIris: I love you, Iris! Make sure you solve the catastrophe that will once againe to the Northern Continent!]

    [AnotherTopHunt: It¡¯s seriously hot in here¡­¡­ Aren¡¯t they saying that if another catastrophees then the users should get out of the continent, right? May Iris seed in conquering this dungeon¡­¡­]

    [Cardi: Iris Guild so cool! The first SS-ranked quest, kyaa! Sounds fun!]

    The users watched the broadcast filled with interest. After a while, Han Taesung heard a whisper that he most wanted to hear.

    [Henry: PD-nim, the viewer ratings are now over 20%!]

    It was only the beginning but they have already reached 20%! They might even be able to get up to 40% in the viewer ratings today.

    ¡°We¡¯re starting!¡±

    With Callian¡¯s words, the attack squad entered the dungeon one by one.

    ***

    At the same time, when Iris Guild started their attack on the dungeon¡­

    ¡°......¡±

    Varen, Eidni and Minhyuk were all speechless.

    Unique ranked dishes hade up 20 consecutive times.

    ¡°......This is driving me crazy.¡±

    Right now, Varen was also informed that a guild had now entered the dungeon to appease the wrathful god Juis.

    It had now be more problematic for them. Not long ago, they encountered a problem in Valkyrie Kingdom but the people that they suspected to have sabotaged them were attacking the dungeon? And they even wanted to damage the body of God Juis? It couldn¡¯t be done! But it would also be a problem if they failed since they would face the second catastrophe soon. The best way to get out of this situation was Minhyuk and his cooking.

    [Unique Ranked¡­¡­]

    [Unique Ranked¡­¡­]

    [Unique Ranked¡­¡­]

    Minhyuk continuously failed. His nerves were already frayed in anxiety and he couldn¡¯t even help but sweat.

    When he peeked at the GC window¡­

    [Guild Chatting Crow: It seems that attacking the dungeon was harder than what we thought¡­¡­ There are plenty of rankers in their midst but they still haven¡¯t gone past the entrance¡­¡­]

    [Guild Chatting Locke: They¡¯re just wasting their potions, hehehe. Are they drinking the Grass¡¯ Dew Potion like powerade? Isn¡¯t that potion about 3 tinum per bottle? Wow, and they¡¯re just spraying it like that.]

    [Guild Master Genie: They have betted Iris Guild¡¯s life and death this time, and¡­¡­]

    Genie did not finish her sentence but Minhyuk knew what she wanted to say.

    Iris Guild would definitely get arger return if they seeded in this quest. Promotional effects, hordes of users wanting to join their guild, Bad¡¯s cup and many others, this would be the effect of a guild that could ovee and appease a catastrophe.

    And Minhyuk¡­

    ¡®I have to do it.¡¯

    He had a reason to do so. A very crucial reason¡­

    Sushi. And not only sushi, he also had one dish that he wanted to cook with the help of Bad¡¯s cup.

    ¡®If I can eat sushi dipped in wasabi and hot sauce partnered with a sip of a delicious and savory hot soup¡­¡­ Kgghk! I have to do it, I must¡­¡­!¡¯

    But it wasn¡¯t an easy task.

    Back when Hyemin¡¯sDad made a legendary artifact, he also experienced plenty of setbacks but his luck yed a great role in himpleting such an artifact in a short amount of time. However, it was never an easy task.

    Time continuously flowed and his failures kept on piling up.

    [Guild Chatting Locke: They have reached the center of the dungeon but they are dying one by one¡­¡­]

    [Guild Chatting Khan: Serves you right, you sons of bitches!]

    [Guild Master Genie: hehehehe. Just thinking about the penalty¡­ their guild will definitely suffer a lot.]

    The dungeon attack squad had already reached the middle of the dungeon and they were slowly heading towards the ce where God Juis¡¯ corrupted spirit was located.

    Minhyuk sighed deeply. He knew that he needed to clear his head for a moment before going back to cooking. This was already the fourth day and Minhyuk had not rested or slept at all. His favorability with Varen, Eidni and Perle had even reached the maximum because they could see his efforts for their kingdom. After closing his eyes for a moment, Minhyuk stood back up and began his arduous cooking once more.

    He carefully added the cabbage, mixed chicken meat, sweet potato, carrots, onions and the rest of the ingredients in the round pan. Then, he started stir-frying all of the ingredients.

    Sizzle!

    As the sound of the sizzling ingredients grew louder and louder, Minhyuk thought carefully about the dish named dak-galbi.

    ¡®Isn¡¯t it the world¡¯s cheapest course meal?¡¯

    The first course was the meat. You could eat just the meat, wrap it in lettuce, add some ssamjang, garlic and you could eat a dak-galbi wrap. Then you could eat it together with the additional ingredients¡­ seasoned udon noodles, sweet and vorful sweet potato, and even the chewy sujebi. After eating all of that? Then you could add some rice and stir fry it with the sauce. Thest course would be the fried rice sprinkled with seaweed kes. The seaweed kes that would dance in the heat would add more vor to the rice. Then, you would press the rice before scooping up a bite and chewing it carefully. And once in a while, you would eat the frozen dongchimi that would definitely give you a refreshing break from the greasy vor of the stir-fried dish. Just like that, dak-galbi was an excellent and satisfying dish.

    Minhyuk¡¯s forehead was dotted with sweat. His nervousness coupled with his extreme concentration had already soaked himself in sweat. He quickly wiped off the sweat with the sleeves of his shirt as he continued cooking.

    [Guild Chatting Khan: It¡¯s the boss room. Ah¡­¡­ We¡¯re in trouble.]

    At the same time as Khan¡¯s message came, Minhyuk had also finished the dish in his hand.

    [You havepleted a Dak-galbi.]

    [Juis¡¯ dish is the only dish with the buff effect.]

    [The Create a Recipe Skill Effect can only be tasted by the same person once per month.]

    [Trance. It¡¯s a dish that has your ¡®efforts¡¯, ¡®passion¡¯ and ¡®desire to create a better dish¡¯ poured into it.]

    [Due to the effects of Trance, the buff effect has be better.]

    [Legendary Grade.]

    [You have gained 30 DEX.]

    [You have gained 200 reputation points.]

    [You have gained 5,000 Achievement Points.]

    [You have made the very first Legendary Dish.]

    [You have gained the Title: ¡®The Man Who Created a Legend.¡¯]

    [You have acquired +2 on all your basic stats.]

    [The Man Who Created a Legend can ce his or her name or nickname on the dish.]

    [Please specify a name or a nickname.]

    It had finallye out!

    A legendary dish!

    Minhyuk pondered deeply about his nickname before opening his mouth.

    ¡°M.¡±

    [Do you wish to use ¡®M¡¯ as your nickname?]

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Isn¡¯t it nice if the name you have entered is easy?

    Just as he entered his nickname, he also quickly checked his rewards. The rewards for making a legendary dish was truly enormous. His reputation had increased by 200 points in a single go, it was like when he sessfully hunted Rumad too. On top of that, he was also able to gain another title. Back when he received the title The Man Who Hunted One of the Most Powerful Men he received an effect that increases his stats by 10% whenever he was fighting an opponent that was 100 levels higher than him. And for The Man Who Created a Legend? He quickly checked the title.

    (The Man Who Created a Legend)

    Unique Title

    Restrictions: The Man Who Created a Legend

    Title Effects:

    ©¥ An increase of x2 in the probability of making a legendary dish.

    ©¥ Buff ability volume has increased by x2.

    ©¥ Increase in storage and prevention time.

    It was quite a good title. After he checked the title, Minhyuk quickly checked the legendary dish.

    (Dak-galbi)

    Material Grade: S

    Rank: Legendary

    Restrictions: Only Juis could have the buff effects.

    Storage Time: 65 days

    Preservation Time: 60 days

    Special Effects:

    ©¥ God Juis¡¯ Blessings +6

    ©¥ Holy Power x2.

    Description: This is a legendary dish made by Chef M. It is a dish that has only appeared once in the past. Chef M has made this dish to satisfy and feed God Juis.

    ¡°......Wow.¡±

    Minhyuk had always easily eximed whenever he was confronted with food but the only thing that he could utter right now was a sound of admiration.

    Her skills will be increased by +6? In addition, her holy power which is the crystallization of God¡¯s body has increased by x2!

    God Juis would definitely acquire a great deal of holy power with just this dish alone. Her holy power was already unimaginable, how great would it be with that x2?

    Soon, Minhyuk realized that it wasn¡¯t the time to admire the dish.

    Varen and Eidni had also realized that something strange had happened when Minhyuk finished making the dish. It was because a strong light enveloped the dish after he finished ting it.

    ¡°D, don¡¯t tell me¡­¡­?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go. It already came out!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Before they left for the temple, Varen wanted to check on the dish because he was curious.

    ¡°Can I look at it?¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head in agreement.

    Varen quickly checked the dak-galbi but¡­¡­ he was only left speechless.

    ¡°Your highness?¡±

    Varen only came back to his senses when Minhyuk called out to him. Then he nodded his head at him. As he ran with Minhyuk, a thought shed in his head.

    ¡®I want to eat it too¡­¡­¡¯

    ***

    PD Han Taesung¡¯s mouth was almost ripped in two with how wide he was grinning. He was forced to log out of the dungeon together with the others but he was still extremely happy.

    ¡°Kyaa! Our viewer ratings are over 38%!!!¡±

    There were plenty of viewers watching their broadcast.

    Tension that could bring a chill down one¡¯s spine!

    Rankers¡¯ abilities!

    And monsters that were as powerful as the rankers!

    The rest of the users had finally entered the boss room and they could see that the boss monster, Wrathful God Juis was extremely strong. The corrupted holy power that leaked out of her body constantly could instantly rot the users¡¯ skin and could let them fall under an abnormal state.

    ¡®Hunting Juis had brought us a huge promotional effect, what if they were able to get the rewards?¡¯

    The viewers would definitely cheer.

    Meanwhile¡­

    [Keuaaack!]

    Another user was forced to log out and only four people were left in the boss room. The only people left were ck, Callian and two other Iris Guild guild members.

    Callian went all out just to save ck. Even though the dish was already cooked, they thought that it would have a better effect if he showed him cooking.

    Callian winked at his guild members.

    [Aaaaaaaaargh!]

    [Beast¡¯s de!]

    The guild members squeezed thest of their energies to attack the Wrathful God Juis. No, to be exact, they ran in front of God Juis to take the bullet for Callian and ck.

    ¡°Sacrifice of the few for the many. Kgghk!¡±

    Han Taesung was quite impressed that the guild members threw themselves in front of God Juis.

    [Keuaaaack!]

    [Graaaaaaack!]

    Their bodies were ripped to shreds with just one touch from God Juis.

    At that moment, Callian moved.

    sh!

    [Aaaaaaaaargh!]

    It was Juis¡¯ scream.

    And the voices of the guild members who fell down rang loudly as if they were in synch.

    [Y, you must seed!]

    [The Northern Continent must be explored with safety. Do it for all of the distressed users¡­¡­!]

    It sounded as weird as someone reading their lines roughly from a script but the audience ears would not recognize this irregrity. They could only see Juis falling down in front as Callian held his sword firmly.

    [I¡¯ll surely put the catastrophe out of everyone¡¯s sight!]

    His sword was engulfed with a bright light as he squeezed out his final strength and ran straight towards Juis. He sessfully stabbed Juis¡¯ chest! Juis staggered back as Callian pulled out his sword and tried to sh at her abdomen.

    ¡°He kil¡­¡­!¡±

    As Han Taesung started to dere his sess, something happened¡­

    [Shwaaaaa!]

    God Juis bursted in a sh of bright light and disappeared in front of them.

    ¡°H, huh¡­¡­ W, what the hell? Did he kill her?¡±

    Han Taesung tilted his head in confusion before turning his head to the people behind him.

    ¡°His sword did not reach her yet, though¡­¡­?¡±

    They saw the same scene as what Taesung saw and they were sure that the sword did not stab her yet.

    ¡°W, what the hell?!¡±

    The broadcasting station was suddenly turned upside down with chaos.

    Callian was also looking around suspiciously.

    And even the viewer¡¯s message board was exploding inments. All of them were saying that they were certain that the attack did not push through and they were wondering why Juis suddenly disappeared.

    Right now, the words of the users, the viewers, the broadcasters and the members of Iris Guild were all one and the same.

    [GoodIris: W, what¡­¡­?]

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Suck that! Ha. That¡¯s what you get for sabotaging Legend Guild and harming the whole of the Northern Continent!

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 141 - Ballads Cup, Shabu

    Chapter 141: Bad¡¯s Cup, Shabu-shabu

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    42 Bad¡¯s Cup, Shabu-shabu

    The most embarrassed was the person present himself, Cain who was left in the dungeon that housed the corrupted God Juis! He couldn¡¯t even control his dumbfounded expression when the Wrathful God Juis suddenly disappeared in a sh of light.

    ¡®T, this¡­¡­?¡¯

    The same was true for ck who was right next to him.

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    At that moment, the notifications rang in their heads in session.

    [God Juis¡¯ anger has been appeased.]

    [All of the catastrophe that God Juis had doomed the continent with had disappeared.]

    [God Juis has blessed the Northern Continent.]

    [EXP acquisition rate and item drops from monsters will increase by 25% for one month.]

    ¡°......!¡±

    Cain¡¯s eyes met with ck¡¯s eyes as he turned around. The two of them heard the notifications clearly.

    [The quest has failed.]

    [The quest penalty will now be applied, you are banned entry in the Northern Continent.]

    ¡°......¡±

    The two of them were once again left speechless.

    The quest failed?

    This meant that they were not able to kill the Wrathful Spirit of God Juis. It just literally disappeared in front of them.

    Why? Because the anger of God Juis was appeased?

    When he heard about the information that Valk had gotten from the priest that he had summoned through the soul summoning he knew that the dungeon would only be created once God Juis was angered.

    Cain and ck once again made eye contact. They could both see the dumbfoundedness in each other¡¯s eyes.

    Then, a thought shed through Cain¡¯s head.

    ¡®We spent almost a week just to prepare for this attack¡­¡­ We also need to pay the mercenaries that we hired in this attack, as well as the potions that they took including the maintenance for their equipment.¡¯

    It nearly amounted to 1,000 tinum. Or if they based it off of the regr calctions their expenses were almost at 100 billion gold. And if they converted it to cash? Billions of won.

    Cain suddenly burst out in tears, he couldn¡¯t help but weep at their impending doom. And just in time, one of his tactless guild members also added salt to the wound.

    [Guild Chatting Revo: GM-nim! The viewership rating is over 40% now! It¡¯s totally awesome! Wow! So awesome!]

    The ratings were over 40%... In other words, 40% of the people in the country were all tuned in to the joke that they have be. If he could see them, they would probably be going ¡®Hahahaha¡­¡­ They¡¯re Xcked.¡¯ andughing at them in contempt.

    [Guild Chatting Rod: ¡­...Revo. You¡¯re not watching the live broadcast right? If you don¡¯t want to get kicked out of the guild then you better shut up.]

    [Guild Chatting Carman:......]

    [Guild Chatting Hama:......]

    [Guild Chatting Luck:......]

    [Guild Chatting Revo: What, what¡¯s wrong?]

    The guild chat was filled with condolences and crying. The same scenario was also ying in the Louvert Guild¡¯s guild chat. What was even worse was that ck epted an interview before about Legend Guild¡¯s Chef trying to cook a dish to satisfy God Juis. This was what he said¡­

    [ck: His efforts aremendable. (smile)]

    But now, even without looking at thements he could still imagine the viewers¡¯ments.

    [ckRicevor: hehehehehehehehehehehe look at ck¡¯s expression hehe. It¡¯s like he was saying ¡®Where did it go?¡¯. Now he looks like he has lost everything in the world.]

    [fadd512: I just can¡¯t help but feel angry¡­¡­ The mobs did not drop any gold or artifacts, what the hell is wrong with this dungeon? I heard before that the drops would appear after killing the Wrathful Spirit of God Juis. What did they do all this time?]

    [TeacherTongman: What did they do? shing in the air, most likely.]

    [fad31: Let¡¯s not roast them too much¡­¡­ They also tried to save us¡­¡­ I feel a bit sorry for them. Fi. Ght. Ing.]

    ¡°Ha, hahahahaha¡­...!¡±

    ck suddenlyughed loudly. When Cain saw himughing he couldn¡¯t help but justugh out loud too.

    ¡°Hahahahahahaha!¡±

    The two menughed crazily for a while.

    Bad¡¯s cup, the acknowledgment of ck¡¯s cooking and even the possibility of recruiting senior rankers had all been blown by the wind. Afterughing crazily, a thought shed in ck¡¯s head.

    ¡®God Juis gave her blessings to the Northern Continent¡­¡­¡¯

    As a result, the EXP acquisition rate as well as the drop rate had both increased by 25%.

    Which meant only one thing¡­

    ¡®That chef bastard, who the hell is he?¡¯

    God Juis giving her blessings to the Northern Continent meant that she was satisfiedpletely, this meant that they were able to provide her with a legendary dish.

    ***

    At the moment when Cain and his team were entering the boss room in the dungeon¡­

    Minhyuk was hurriedly moving towards the temple where Eidni was praying as hard as he could. They were quite fortunate that God Juis responded to their calls quite quickly this time.

    Minhyuk entered the temple as he presented the dak-galbi in front of God Juis. Once sheid eyes on her dish, her eyes grew the size of the saucers in shock.

    ¡®H, how did you know?¡¯

    She was truly craving for some dak-galbi right now! And there was even the cheese that looked like Moses¡¯ miracle in the middle of the dish!

    The dish was still steaming hot and once she lifted a piece of chicken and dipped it on the cheese, the cheese seemed to stretch out infinitely. She couldn¡¯t help but lick her lips in anticipation.

    I can only try and eat food once a year after all! Is the vor not good?

    She slowly moved away from the dish, it seemed like she was a bit afraid to taste another failed dish. However, before she could even move away, she felt an unusual power from the dish.

    ¡®D, don¡¯t tell me¡­ for real?¡¯

    She quickly checked the information of the dish. Her expression morphed into that of genuine surprise as she looked at Minhyuk who was still bowing in front of her.

    ¡®Truly impressive¡­¡­¡¯

    The legendary dish that had only appeared in the past!

    In fact, after the second catastrophe, Juis had thought that she should just let the next catastrophes out over time. She knew that it was entirely impossible for a legendary dish toe out and satisfy her so she would just let the catastrophes out to appease her anger.

    However, there was a legendary dish that was sitting in front of her. What was more surprising was that it was a dish that she wanted to eat the most!

    At that moment¡­¡­

    ¡°......?¡±

    She suddenly saw an amazing sight once again¡­ a round pan filled with the same delicious food as hers magically appeared in front of Minhyuk.

    ¡°God Juis!¡±

    ¡°Speak.¡±

    ¡°I have the ability to manifest the same dish that I have cooked for others. May I have the honor of eating with you?¡±

    Juis thought for a moment.

    Is this his God¡¯s innate ability¡­¡­?

    However, his skills were still truly impressive.

    In all honesty, Minhyuk hadn¡¯t slept for four days straight because he wanted to finish this quest. One could even see the traces of tiredness on his face. However, he still wanted to taste the legendary dak-galbi that he had created!

    ¡°You¡¯re allowed.¡±

    After Juis gave him her permission, she quickly picked up her chopsticks while Minhyuk stood up from his position. And Juis who was ready to taste the food couldn¡¯t help but gulp down her saliva.

    ¡®Well then, first¡­¡­¡¯

    She finally stretched out her chopsticks as she mped down on the chicken that was fully coated and covered with the bright red sauce. She slowly ced it in her mouth as she savored the vor and texture.

    ¡®S, soft¡­¡­!¡¯

    It was like the meat melted in her mouth. After feeling the texture, she could taste the spicy vor of the sauce slowly spread in her mouth. The taste and texture were so enticing that she couldn¡¯t help but let out a small smile. And when she tasted the soft and chewy gultteok, she couldn¡¯t stop herself from shouting.

    ¡°I never tasted anything like this before!¡±

    ¡°Hehehehe! It¡¯s delicious if you eat it like this!¡±

    Minhyuk picked a piece of chicken and dipped it on the cheese. As he lifted the chicken up¡­¡­. The cheese stretched out! Minhyuk quickly ced the chicken in his mouth and the stretched cheese was pulled out from the pan.

    ¡°I see, you know how to eat!¡±

    ¡°God Juis-nim, this, this sweet potato is also a delicacy.¡±

    ¡°Chomp. Of course. It feels a bit nice to eat with you.¡±

    Just like what he said, Juis also picked out a piece of sweet potato.

    Chewing on the sweet potato that was also covered in the savory sauce, she could taste the spicy vor of the sauce. However, the aftertaste¡­ The aftertaste was beyond sweet. It was a truly exceptional taste.

    In the middle of their eating, a notification rang in Minhyuk¡¯s head.

    [Kongie is requesting for a summons.]

    My goodness! It seemed like Kongie smelled the food and is now intensely requesting for a summons!

    In fact, Kongie could also gain EXP even if he was in the summons room as long as Minhyuk ate delicious food. In other words, Kongie could also eat deliciously inside.

    But he¡¯s now asking for a summons?

    ¡®Perhaps it¡¯s because it¡¯s more delicious when you eat together.¡¯

    Minhyuk suddenly spoke.

    ¡°God Juis.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°May I summon my pet?¡±

    Juis who was savoring and enjoying the taste of the food suddenly stopped.

    ¡®Incarnation¡­¡­¡¯

    However, based on her observations it seemed like Minhyuk was not aware of his existence.

    As soon as she nodded her head in agreement, Kongie appeared. And Kongie who appeared on Minhyuk¡¯s shoulder suddenly hit him hard with his small fist.

    p!

    ¡°Ooiink!¡±

    How can you eat such delicious food without me! Oink!

    Kongie quickly plopped down on the floor as a dish appeared in front of him. Kongie ate like he wanted to hide the food from everybody else. He picked up the udon noodles first, then¡­

    ¡°Sluuuuurp!¡±

    Kongie almost sucked all of the noodles in one go! There were even traces of sauce left around the rim of his mouth.

    ¡°Oink!¡±

    Kyaa! It¡¯s the best! Oink!

    Juis grinned at him.

    ¡°That¡¯s an interesting pet.¡±

    ¡°Well, yes.¡±

    ¡°It looks just like you.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Minhyuk speechlessly looked at Kongie. Kongie was literally a baby piggy and they were telling him that he looked just like Kongie¡­ In other words? It meant that he looked like a pig, right?

    Minhyuk quickly spoke up as if he was trying to defend himself.

    ¡°Ey, no way.¡±

    ¡°Oink?¡±

    Kongie looked at Minhyuk as he grinned widely.

    Don¡¯t even try to deny it, Master. Oink!

    ¡°......¡±

    Minhyuk was left speechless.

    Then, he just quietly ced a piece of pickled radish on top of the chicken and ced it in his mouth.

    ¡°Keuhahahaha!¡±

    He quickly picked up some chewy sujebi.

    ¡°I, I¡¯m so happy¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°I also feel happy. I can¡¯t believe that I¡¯ll eat such delicious food after 1 year¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was shocked speechless when he heard her words.

    ¡°A, after 1 year¡­¡­?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t eat any food except for when they hold a ritual and ceremonial service for me.¡±

    ¡°......You truly deserve to be angry.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head at her while Juis also nodded in agreement.

    Somehow, he could feel some sort of sorrow and sadness for her. The people of Valkyrie Kingdom had always said that she loved to y tricks and they would even downy it and say that it wasn¡¯t that big of a deal but she was making such a huge mess out of it. But when you think about it, it was a day that she has been looking forward to so much after a year of waiting and anticipation! And that day was even ruined!

    ¡°I understand. I also would have been angry if I was in your position. I¡¯ll definitely tell His Highness, Varen, to prepare harder from now on!¡±

    Minhyuk had truly understood her mood from the bottom of his heart.

    ¡°Hoho. Then, thank you.¡±

    Suddenly, Juis paused in her tracks. She couldn¡¯t believe herself, without realizing it she was already speaking familiarly with the human being in front of her. It felt like she had known him for quite a long time.

    ¡°Ah, God Juis-nim. I¡¯ll prepare fried rice for your first meal in a year.¡±

    ¡°Hoo. That¡¯s good!¡±

    Juis nodded her head happily.

    Minhyuk quickly moved. With a flick of his wrists, he had already gathered the remaining sauce in Juis¡¯ pan. Then, he added some left over pieces of meat and white rice on it. Just like that, he added some prepared and chopped peri leaves, lettuce and kimchi in the pan. He also did not forget to add a sprinkle of sesame oil and some gochujang. Then¡­ He started to stir-fry the delicious rice.

    ¡°Ooink!¡±

    Kongie was also frying his own fried rice behind Minhyuk. What an extremely amazing pig(?).

    Minhyuk¡¯s stir-frying was quite a mboyant and brilliant affair. After quickly stir-frying the vegetables and rice, he pressed the rice down on the pan to toast it some more. Then, he cranked up the heat to the highest me possible.

    Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle!

    It was the light and cheery sound of the bottom of the fried rice being cooked perfectly.

    [This is the best time to turn off the heat.]

    Minhyuk quickly turned off the fire and ted the dish.

    Then, he quickly made his own fried rice. He also did not forget to scratch the bottom of the pan with his spoon.

    ¡°He¡­¡­¡±

    The bottom was toasted to a perfect brown. When he saw the bottom, he couldn¡¯t stop himself from scraping a spoonful and cing it in his mouth.

    ¡°It¡¯s really, really delicious!¡±

    ¡°Oiiink!¡±

    ¡°I like it too!¡±

    A pleasant meal was shared between the three of them.

    After finishing their meals, Juis felt that her stomach was exceptionally full. But she faintly realized that it wasn¡¯t the end yet. She saw Kongie making a gesture.

    ¡°Oink, oink, oink!¡±

    He looked like he was pouring something on a ss!

    Minhyuk quickly understood what he meant so he pulled out some cider out of his inventory. The cider appeared in front of Kongie. Then, he quickly picked up a spoon with his tiny hands and opened the bottle with a pop!

    ¡°Oh.¡±

    p, p!

    Minhyuk pped his hands. He was quite impressed with Kongie and his antics. Kongieughed proudly as he poured the cider into three sses.

    ¡°Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp.¡±

    Juis finally tasted a refreshing and clear cider! Her expression at this moment was screaming ¡®Ah, I¡¯m finally feeling alive!¡¯. Kongie who gulped his cider with an ¡®Oink!¡¯ and Minhyuk who gulped down the cider greedily both let out gasps of enjoyment.

    ¡°Kyaa!¡±

    She was in awe.

    God Juis nodded her head in happiness.

    ¡®I was really satisfied¡­¡­¡¯

    She might have been disappointed with what happened with Rald¡¯s dish, but the dish that the chef in front of her had given her was truly the best of the best.

    Once again, she nodded her head in happiness.

    Then, notifications rang in her head after she finished her meal.

    [You ate a dish from a recipe specially made for you.]

    [You won¡¯t be able to eat another dish from a recipe specially made for you for a month.]

    [You can¡¯t receive any duplicate buffs during the duration of the buff retention period.]

    [Dak-galbi.]

    [For 60 days, God Juis¡¯ blessings would have a +6 increase while her holy power will have a x2 increase.]

    Her eyes grew the size of saucers when she heard the notifications.

    Isn¡¯t this buff too amazing?

    Then, Minhyuk decided to check his satisfaction level. Juis was literally a god so Varen, Crow and Locke were definitely iparable to her.

    How much did the bar go up?

    Minhyuk quickly clicked on the satisfaction bar.

    ***

    Food Discussion Corner

    Dak-galbi (???) - spicy stir fried chicken usually cooked or served in arge cast iron pan. Many ingredients are added into this dish. Noodles, cheese, udon etc. An all around dish!

    Gultteok (??) - steamed rice cakes that are shaped into bite-sized balls.

    Sujebi (???) - hand pulled dough. Usually added in soup or dough used in the Korean-style pasta soup.

    Sari (??) - Sari was used to describe udon, noodles, cheese and the other ingredients added in da-galbi. They are literally extra ingredients or ingredients that aren¡¯t necessarily in the recipe but you can add on the dish.

    TL¡¯s corner!

    I¡¯m not gonna lie, I had a hard time getting this chapter done. I don¡¯t know why, I just couldn¡¯t bring myself to finish it so I¡¯m quite d that I¡¯m done with it. But the food still sounds oddly tempting¡­ Ah, time to look for a dak-galbi recipe.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Of course Juis feels like she knows Minhyuk, that¡¯s his charm on full st. It¡¯s already ensnared Alicia and Lucia.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 142 - Ballads Cup, Shabu

    Chapter 142: Bad¡¯s Cup, Shabu-shabu

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    "......!"

    After checking the satisfaction level he couldn''t help but be surprised. After all, it increased by 33%!

    And it did not end there.

    [Kongie is evolving.]

    [Kongie is evolving.]

    Kongie who also ate a legendary dish had his EXP increase. In result, he had leveled up twice in a row! Just like what Minhyuk had expected, Kongie''s body floated up in the air like his previous evolution. Then, his body shined brightly.

    ''Will there be any changes with him this time?''

    And once the bright light disappeared¡­

    "Oink!"

    "......Still the same."

    Nothing changed in Kongie at all.

    Minhyuk rubbed his chin in thought.

    ''Yeah. Maybe Kongie will only have some changes once he grows up.''

    But perhaps, it might be better if he still remained as a baby piggy. With that thought in mind, Minhyuk checked Kongie''s stat window.

    (Kongie)

    Rank: ???

    Race: Pet

    Level: 5

    Attack Power: 514

    Defensive Power: 3,541

    Summoning Duration per Day: 4 hours.

    Summoning Waiting Time: 20 hours

    Special Abilities:

    ©¥ It will immediately detect if there is a medicine nearby.

    ©¥ Pet Owner¡¯s attack power will be increased by 13%.

    ©¥ Pet Owner''s defensive power will be increased by 8%.

    ©¥ Passive Skill: Instinctual Protection

    ©¥ Can now wear two artifacts.

    Condition for Growth: The more delicious the food the owner eats, the higher the EXP and the higher the level it could evolve.

    Potential: 184

    Experience Value: 32% / 100%

    When he looked at Kongie''s changes, he could see that his attack power had increased by 300 and his defensive power had increased by 200. In addition to that, the summoning time had increased by 2 hours and there was even an increase of 8% in the Pet Owner¡¯s defensive power. The most surprising change in Kongie was¡­¡­

    ''Can wear two artifacts?''

    Minhyuk had heard before that there were cases where the pet could wear artifacts. He nodded his head in agreement as he turned to look at Juis.

    Juis waved her hand in the air.

    The moment her hand moved, a notification rang in Minhyuk''s head.

    It was the surprising notification about the catastrophe being lifted in the Northern Continent and the EXP acquisition rate and item drop rate increasing by 25% over the course of 1 month! A catastrophe might have passed over them briefly but the users would eventually cheer for this end result. The 25% increase had literally be an event for all of the users in the Northern Continent.

    Then, the notification about thepletion of Minhyuk¡¯s quest had finally arrived.

    [Kingdom Quest: Make a Legendary Dish for God Juis, Completed.]

    [You can now eat sushi made out of S-ranked ingredients.]

    [You will receive the Bad¡¯s Cup from God Juis.]

    sh!

    A bright light suddenly shed in front of God Juis. The light was so intense that he couldn¡¯t help but cover his eyes from the blinding re. Once the light faded away, arge golden goblet filled with water appeared in front of him. The cup was exactly as big as a pot.

    ¡°Huhuhu!¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    Juis was confused when she saw Minhyuk grinning at the cup as he tilted his head side by side.

    ¡®Why is he tilting his head as he looked at the cup?¡¯

    Huh?

    Juis couldn¡¯t help herself as she tilted her head sideways too. Not long after, Juis handed Bad¡¯s cup over to Minhyuk.

    [You have acquired one of God¡¯s Treasures: Bad¡¯s Cup.]

    ¡®Yay! The size is just exactly what I want. With this, I can definitely¡­¡­!¡¯

    Huhuhu! I will definitely make that dish that goes well with sushi!

    ¡°Thank you very much, God Juis-nim! You¡¯ll definitely be blessed with good fortune!¡±

    Minhyuk bowed his head to express his gratitude. Juis smiled at Minhyuk.

    ¡°I¡¯m not yet done giving you gifts.¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    Minhyuk was quite taken aback since he had already received all of the rewards for his quest.

    ***

    [God Juis¡¯ satisfaction has reached the maximum level.]

    This was the notification that Park Minggyu, the Team Leader of the Special Users Management Team, had seen.

    This meant that God Juis was extremely pleased right now.

    Plenty of people had gathered in front of the monitor that Team Leader Park was looking at. There was only one reason! All of them were curious about who cleared the quest. Was it User Minhyuk¡¯s side or was it Iris Guild¡¯s side?

    In all honesty, Team Leader Park and Lee Minhwa were silently rooting for Minhyuk in their hearts.

    ¡®We¡¯ve been through hell and back these past few days because of what Iris Guild did!¡¯

    In the first ce, wasn¡¯t this farce the plot and drama that Iris Guild created themselves? The disaster was something that happened because of the drama that Iris Guild created. It was only a matter of fact that the employees from the Special Users Management Team and the other departments weren¡¯t able to leave their posts because of the catastrophe. However, Minhyuk easily solved it unlike Iris Guild who was not able to break the quest. This was the first time that Minhyuk looked handsome in the eyes of Team Leader Park.

    ¡°This is a problem.¡±

    President Kang Taehoon suddenly spoke.

    ¡°God Juis is a god that has extreme liberties.¡±

    Typically, gods had more freedom in terms of what they could and could not dopared to ordinary NPCs. Whether in terms of what they could give, what they could increase or what they could curse, the gods had looser restrictions on whatever they did.

    And because of that, whatever happened next would be a problem for them. Right now, God Juis, the freest of them all, was very satisfied.

    Does she really want to give Minhyuk additionalpensations?

    Bad¡¯s cup, which he had already received, was a medicine of incredible power that no medicine could everpare.

    It¡¯s estimated price?

    It would amount to billions of won.

    Right now, Athenae was not just a simple game. It had now be a part of everyone¡¯s daily routine. For the sake of rare and powerful artifacts the world¡¯s richest would spend millions to billions of won just to acquire them.

    The estimated price of such an item was only in the billions but considering the rarity of the item and thepetition between bidders then it would probably create more than twice as much if it was put up in an auction.

    At that moment, God Juis finally opened her mouth.

    [I¡¯m not yet done with giving you gifts.]

    Worry and concern could be heard from the voice of God Juis, as if she was worried that Minhyuk wouldn¡¯t like what she would give. Not long after, an item appeared on Juis¡¯ hand.

    As soon as President Kang Taehoon saw the item in her hand, his eyes widened ever so slightly.

    ¡°Pandora¡¯s Helmet!!!¡±

    ¡°Heok!¡±

    Surprised voices came from the members of the production team while Team Leader Park and Lee Minhwa looked at them in confusion. The both of them were unaware about the artifacts since their department was not in charge of these.

    There were hundreds of millions of artifacts avable in Athenae. In fact, even the production team who was in charge of these artifacts still needed to look for information because they did not know a thing about the artifact at all.

    ¡°Is it really that great?¡±

    ¡°It, it¡¯s truly amazing! It¡¯s an artifact that can never be bought with money and it¡¯s also a legendary item.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Team Leader Park and Lee Minhwa were quite shocked when they heard his words. Team Leader Park couldn¡¯t help but sigh.

    ¡°No. He has three legendary artifacts alone¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°In a way, he has four.¡±

    He had Hepas¡¯ Legendary Frying Pan, the Armor of Immortality, Pandora¡¯s Helmet, and Rumad¡¯s Demon Greatsword that he would sell. In fact, once Minhyuk had sold Rumad¡¯s artifact then, he would have received the same amount for a legendary artifact.

    ¡°And look at that expression¡­¡­¡±

    Kang Taehoon murmured to himself as he continued to look at the monitor. Minhyuk finally opened his mouth after receiving the item.

    [Thank you. I¡¯ll use it well. I¡¯m really happy!]

    ¡°Keok!¡±

    ¡°Keoheok!¡±

    The reason why everyone was surprised was because Minhyuk¡¯s expression was screaming something along the lines of ¡®Well, I guess I got another item.¡¯! Then, he quickly turned around to leave.

    ***

    ¡°Thank you. I¡¯ll use it well. I¡¯m really happy!¡±

    ¡°Wa, wait¡­¡­!¡±

    Juis was a bit embarrassed.

    Wait? What did I mean by wait?

    She was obviously grateful to Minhyuk since he satisfied her with an exceptional food. It was the food that she could only eat once a year! And since the food was truly delicious she had decided to give him the helmet just so she could repay this favor.

    However, Minhyuk looked at it with a sullen expression on his face.

    ¡®Eyy. I thought she was going to give me something to eat!¡¯

    If she ever knew what was going on inside Minhyuk¡¯s head she would totally think that he was sick in the head. However, he truly appreciated the gift that Juis had given him but he now had a ce that he had to hurry to so he wanted to leave quickly.

    He quickly wanted to go where Rald, whose skin was rotting, was! He knew that he could definitely be cured now so he wanted to hurry and cure him just so he could eat that delicious sushi!

    He tried to quickly leave but Juis stopped him from leaving. He hurriedly turned his head to look at her with a curious expression on his face.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°N, nothing¡­¡­ Th, that¡­ are you not going to check that?¡±

    ¡°Eyy. I can do itter when I have the time.¡±

    ¡°Wh, when you have the time?¡±

    For a moment, Juis wanted to take back the item from him. But what could she do? She had already given it away.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you happy? Since I, a god, have given you another gift because I¡¯m grateful to you?¡±

    Juis highlighted her existence as a god. It was as if she was asking him to praise the gift that she had given him. Minhyuk looked down at the item in his hands and replied to her with a voice thatcked the luster of excitement.

    ¡°I have received a reaaaaaa~lly great gift. Ah, I¡¯m really happy!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°But I¡¯m busy. Aren¡¯t you really busy too?¡±

    ¡°Huh? Y, yeah? But wouldn¡¯t it still be better for you to check it out?¡±

    Right now, Juis was already tantly telling him to check it out. Minhyuk had no choice but to cater to her wishes, all while saying ¡®Ah, that¡¯s right, gods are all really busy.¡¯.

    (Pandora¡¯s Helmet)

    Rank: Legendary

    Restrictions: 200 INT, 200 Mental, 400 Holy Power

    Durability: 10,000 / 10,000

    Defensive Power: 741

    Special Effects:

    ©¥ x2 Holy Power

    ©¥ 20% reduction in all of your skills¡¯ cooldown.

    ©¥ 20% reduction in all of your skills¡¯ required mana usage.

    ©¥ Skill: God¡¯s Targeted Praise.

    Description: This was the helmet that Juis had used in the past. This helmet contains a tremendous amount of holy power as well as an infinite variety of hidden abilities.

    He also did not forget to click and check on the attached skill.

    (God¡¯s Targeted Praise)

    Artifact Skill

    Level: None.

    Mana Required: 500

    Cooldown: 1 week

    Penalty for Use: -2 on all basic stats

    Effects: After using Praise, the skill user can bestow their holy power upon a single person for 30 minutes. It can only be given to a person without a shred of holy power.

    Description: 2 points from each of the 5 basic stats will be considered as a sacrifice to the gods this will allow your targeted party member to have the same holy power stat as the holy power stat that you possess.

    It wasn¡¯t a bad skill. In other words, after consuming 2 points from all 5 of his basic stats, his targeted party member would have the same holy power stat as himself for 30 minutes. This was the reason why Juis wanted him to check the artifact so badly earlier.

    Then, after hurrying out of the temple¡­

    Knock, knock, knock.

    The sound of knocking rang loudly in the area.

    ¡°Is someone in there?¡±

    ¡°......Who¡¯s there?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m the foreigner named Minhyuk.¡±

    ¡®Ah¡­¡­!¡¯

    That person! The amazing chef who created a legendary dish!

    ¡°Pleasee in.¡±

    As soon as he came inside, Minhyuk looked at Rald with undisguised anticipation. His eyes were even sparkling so brightly as his face was filled with happiness.

    ¡°Hello? Are you feeling better?¡±

    ¡°Ah, yes.¡±

    When Rald tried to sit up, Minhyuk hurriedly went to his bedside to help him.

    ¡°I heard that His Highness had promised to serve you the best sushi.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. But your body might only be starting to feel better so it¡¯s fine! It¡¯s really fine. Even if I¡¯m starving right now, it¡¯s fine! I was supposed to eat that sushi a long time ago, but it¡¯s alright! Are you really alright?¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Rald knew that his words and expression were contradicting. His expression was saying something along the lines of¡­ ¡®Please do it now, if you don¡¯t do it now then I¡¯ll make you do it.¡¯.

    ¡°......N, no. It¡¯s fine. Let¡¯s go to the restaurant immediately since it has been dyed for quite some time.¡±

    ¡°Ah! If you insist. Hahaha. There¡¯s nothing I can do about it. After all, it¡¯s quite rude to say no.¡±

    Minhyuk quickly agreed as if the word refusal was not in his dictionary at all. Then, he leaned in and sneakily whispered to Rald.

    ¡°Ah. Wait. There¡¯s something I really want to eat with sushi and coincidentally I also received a pot from God Juis. Do you happen to have the ingredients on hand¡­¡­?¡±

    He received a pot from God Juis? Do gods have pots too?

    ¡°Is that so? May I know what kind of food you¡¯re going to eat?¡±

    The moment Rald asked about the food that he wanted to eat, the face of the foreigner named Minhyuk brightened. A wide smile also lingered on his face as if he was already happy with just the thought of such a food.

    ¡°It¡¯s shabu-shabu!¡±

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Pot¡­ Pot¡­¡­ I wonder how Rald will react when he sees Bad¡¯s cup used as a shabu-shabu pot¡­.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 143 - Ballads Cup, Shabu

    Chapter 143: Bad¡¯s Cup, Shabu-shabu

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    ¡°Shabu-shabu¡­¡­¡±

    Rald smiled a bit when he heard his words.

    Shabu-shabu and sushi were surprisingly a goodbination. The soup of shabu-shabu usually had a dull color but as it was boiled over time its color tended to go darker and more vorful. And Minhyuk who had visited a sushi buffet restaurant back in the day had always seen shabu-shabu being served.

    ¡®Eating sushi and shabu-shabu? Kgghk!¡¯

    He didn¡¯t let out any exmation, but the excitement was clear on his face.

    ¡°There are enough ingredients. But I don¡¯t think that there will be enough S-ranked ingredients. The ingredients for sushi are easy to get since we are near the Sea of the Dragon King, but the ingredients for shabu-shabu are mostly vegetables so we will have a hard time getting S-ranked ingredients for it.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fine. Are you going to get the ingredients?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    ¡°Wow!¡±

    Minhyuk was truly impressed. Rald smiled widely at him.

    ¡®Ah. He¡¯s such a likeable fellow.¡¯

    This was what Rald thought when he interacted with Minhyuk more. In fact, he even felt that he would do anything for him. However, even though Rald was a legendary chef, there wasn¡¯t much that he could do for him. The only thing that he could do was cook delicious food. He couldn¡¯t believe that he was already happy even though Rald said that there were not enough S-ranked ingredients and there were only sub-par ingredients in his kitchen.

    ¡°This way.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Minhyuk walked with him once they arrived at the restaurant, his body couldn¡¯t help but tremble.

    ¡°Heok¡­¡­!¡±

    There was nothing else that he could do, all he could do was be surprised with the sight in front of him.

    The restaurant was located in the pce!

    Once he entered the restaurant, he felt like he went to Japan for a vacation. With its dark and subdued atmosphere and with chairs all lined up on the counter, he felt like he truly entered an authentic sushi restaurant.

    ¡°His Highness, Varen, also likes to eat sushi. Please sit down and wait for a moment.¡±

    Rald went out for a bit. When he came back he was already holding an armful of ingredients on his bosom.

    ¡°I also want to have such a dining area at home.¡±

    Rald smiled at him as he began to prepare the ingredients for the shabu-shabu.

    However, at that moment¡­

    ¡°Please wait!¡±

    ¡°Eh?¡±

    ¡°Could you please excuse me for a bit?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll go out for a bit then when Ie in please say irasshaimase! Please do it just like this.¡±

    ¡°Huh. Uhmm¡­¡­? Wh, why?¡±

    Rald was quite flustered.

    ¡°I think I would be able to eat it more deliciously that way.¡±

    In Rald¡¯s eyes, Minhyuk was akin to a good-hearted person.

    ¡°Is that so? It will be more delicious that way¡­...?¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°Yes! Please do it like this! Please! Just once!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    He certainly looked like he was a good-hearted person.

    Then, Minhyuk quickly rushed outside beforeing back in. And he showed him what he was saying.

    ¡°Oh, so there was a sushi restaurant like this in here? Oh. What a nice atmosphere.¡±

    ¡°I, irasshaimase!¡±

    He looked like he was a good man but he was certainly a strange man.

    Minhyuk even spoke to him as if they had never seen each other before.

    ¡°Hello owner-nim!¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­¡­ hello¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°This is my first timeing here. You have such a nice atmosphere going on in here.¡±

    ¡°Is, is that so? I paid great attention to the arrangement of the furniture here. Hahahahaha¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll take, uhm¡­¡­ your D-course. Oh. Do you also serve shabu-shabu here? I¡¯ll have that one too, please!¡±

    ¡°Yes, I understand.¡±

    Rald chopped the ingredients for shabu-shabu. Then his expression suddenly turned nk.

    ¡®W, what did I just do¡­¡­?¡¯

    He ced the chopped ingredients in front of Minhyuk. There were a variety of vegetables ced on the table which included bean sprouts, cabbage leaves, chilis, button mushrooms, enoki mushrooms and even oyster mushrooms. There were also fresh blue crabs, shrimps and thinly sliced beef off to the side.

    Minhyuk quickly took out his portable stove and turned it on with a click. Then, he ced his shabu-shabu pot(?) on top of the open me.

    ¡®Oh, did he put the pot on the me already? The pot that God Juis gave him?¡¯

    Rald, who was busily preparing the sushi, slightly tilted his head up to look at the said pot. When he saw the item in question, Rald¡¯s body screeched to a halt.

    ¡°Hihi! I already boiled the water for the broth earlier~¡±

    The young man in front of him started to season the broth and prepare his shabu-shabu base with the water that he had boiled earlier in the pot(?) that he took out.

    Rald¡¯s body trembled in fear when he saw such a scene.

    ¡°Th, that¡­.. Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡­ That isn¡¯t Bad¡¯s cup, right?¡±

    ¡°But it is?¡±

    ¡°Keoheok!¡±

    Rald¡¯s legs softened in an instant. He almost copsed on the spot when he heard the confirmation from Minhyuk.

    ¡°The water in Bad¡¯s cup has strong and mysterious powers. So I¡¯m going to make shabu-shabu with it, kyaa!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not ¡®Kyaa!¡¯ but ¡®Keok!¡¯ instead!¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°B, Bad¡¯s cup is God¡¯s treasure that has been written in the legends. Such a sacred item¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Are we not allowed to boil broth in a sacred item? Please hear me out. Look at this water, doesn¡¯t it look much better than normal water? I¡¯m sure it tastes much better than it too.¡±

    Rald nodded his head. The water in Bad¡¯s cup was definitely differentpared to ordinary water.

    ¡°So I put vegetables here, boil it well and make the broth. Then, I can dip the meat and cook in it. Right?¡±

    ¡°Kgghk! Delicio¡­.. No, no! That¡¯s not it!¡±

    ¡°I live to eat so it¡¯s alright if it¡¯s delicious.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head happily as he thought about his perfect theory. He was definitely a good person. But he was also strange, and now it seemed like he was also a bit crazy.

    Rald sighed in defeat as he turned around to continue his preparations for the sushi.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk used his scissors to cut up the vegetables and make them smaller before adding them in his shabu-shabu pot. His shabu-shabu was boiling well!

    He picked up his spoon and scooped up a spoonful of broth to taste.

    ¡°Hoo! Hoo!¡±

    After cooling it down for a bit, he slowly took a sip from the spoon.

    ¡°It needs to be boiled some more.¡±

    Then, what was he supposed to do as he waited for the soup to cook? Simple. He picked up a thinly sliced meat from the side and dipped it in the broth. The red meat of the beef was instantly cooked. He had already prepared the shabu-shabu sauces that included mustard, peanut and chili to the side. Minhyuk personally preferred to dip his shabu-shabu in the chili sauce but he wanted to taste the vor of the meat without any additional vor so he did not dip it before cing it in his mouth.

    ¡°Wow. It¡¯s soft and it¡¯s melting! It¡¯s melting in my mouth!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Rald, who was still busy making sushi, nced at him.

    He saw Minhyuk picking up some vegetables. He took some of each of the vegetables prepared as well as some thinly sliced beef and ced it on his te. Then, using his chopsticks, he picked up all of the vegetables and meat in one go. The vegetables looked like they had absorbed enough broth since they looked plump and juicy.

    ¡®Once you bite it in your mouth, I¡¯m sure the broth will spread in your mouth.¡¯

    And the chili sauce will definitely give a boost to that nd vor.

    As if answering his thoughts, Minhyuk pulled the chili sauce near him, dipped the food in his chopsticks and ced it all in his mouth.

    ¡°Kyahaa! Yummy!¡±

    ¡°Keuha! Delicious¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Rald unknowingly eximed as if he had tasted the dish himself. He quickly turned around and prepared the sushi once more. He was so embarrassed that he pretended that nothing had happened earlier.

    Then, Minhyuk asked him as he continued to eat his shabu-shabu.

    ¡°Please be honest. You want to taste the shabu-shabu made with Bad¡¯s cup, right?¡±

    Rald was caught in a dilemma.

    Did I want a bite? Or a sip of the soup? No, how can I even think of eating shabu-shabu made with Bad¡¯s cup! I¡¯m not that kind of person!

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°......You understand my feelings!¡±

    ¡°That¡­ Well¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes. I¡¯ll eat it well!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Rald felt sad. He could at least pretend to eat it reluctantly if he suggested it to him but he couldn¡¯t just ask for it himself. He quietlypleted the assorted sushi with tears in his eyes. After finishing the assorted sushi, he ced it in front of Minhyuk who was enjoying his shabu-shabu.

    ¡°Wow. These colors! It looks so fresh!¡±

    The fish that was added in the sushi all looked fresh and plump. Some sushi would be so disappointing that they did not even have a 1:1 ratio of sushi to rice. On the other hand, Rald¡¯s sushi looked like there were plenty of fish and seafood and was at a perfect ratio with rice. There were 10 pieces of sushiid in front of him and they all looked appetizing and drool-worthy.

    He first picked up a tfish sushi. The white flesh of the tfish sushi looked like a long fish tail that was spread on top of the rice. Even though the part that was used in the tfish sushi was its fin, its texture would be extremely chewy and the taste was definitely fresh. Minhyuk ced some wasabi in his soy sauce, dipped the sushi in it and ced it in his mouth. As soon as he chewed on the sushi, he could feel the stinging vor of the wasabi spreading in his mouth which was immediately followed by the light and chewy vor of the tfish as well as the sweetness of the rice.

    A smile quietly spread out on his face.

    ¡°Wow. I have never had such a delicious tfish sushi in my life!¡±

    Just as he was admiring the taste of the sushi¡­

    [You ate a tfish Sushi made by the Legendary Chef.]

    [You have gained 20 DEX.]

    Minhyuk¡¯s smile grew wider.

    It tastes good and it even boosts my skills!

    This time, he picked the salmon sushi. Salmon had a soft, milky and rich vor that could only be tasted once it was chewed. The richness of the vor of the fish could be a bit greasy but the stinging taste of the wasabi could easily clear it away. Once he ced the salmon sushi in his mouth, it was as if the salmon had melted with how soft and chewy it was!

    [You ate a Salmon Sushi made by the Legendary Chef.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    Next was tuna sushi. The meat of the tuna that was ced on top of the tuna sushi was its belly. The tuna belly was arguably the best part of the fish. As if to honor this sushi, Minhyuk ced a separate dollop of wasabi on top of the tuna sushi. Then, he dipped it in his wasabi sauce before cing it in his mouth.

    ¡°Kghhh~ My nose is tingling!¡±

    The spicy vor of the wasabi quickly climbed up to his nose. The tingling was so intense and a bit painful that he had tears in his eyes but the vor and the aroma that followed was truly a pleasantbination in his mouth. This was the reason why some people would directly ce wasabi in their sushi, they were captivated by this strange vor and the tingling in their noses.

    [......made by the Legendary Chef.]

    [You have gained 40 reputation points.]

    Next was the egg sushi. Egg sushi was the simplest sushi. However, the taste and the texture of the egg would determine the ability of the sushi chef who made it. Once he ced the egg sushi in his mouth, he could feel its soft and fluffy texture. The sweetness of the rice as well as the light vor of the egg slowly spread in his mouth as he continued to chew. The taste was so scrumptious that he couldn¡¯t stop himself from smiling and grinning foolishly.

    [......made by the Legendary Chef.]

    [You have gained 30 Magical Defense.]

    Then, he ate the eel sushi, sashimi sushi and wagyu sushi that was grilled with a torch one by one in that order! Whenever he ate sushi, his EXP would increase and even his reputation and DEX would also increase.

    To sum it all, he gained a total of 4 levels, 80 reputation points, 80 DEX and 100 in magical defense. There was also an increase of 80 in his physical attack. All in all, he was satisfied with the delicious food that he ate.

    Then came the question¡­

    ¡®Come to think of it, I never heard any notification about my DEX anymore?¡¯

    He had always heard a notification whenever his DEX increased by 100. However, his DEX was now at 1,401 and he did not even hear a notification for his 1,400 DEX.

    ¡®Maybe I¡¯ll get a notification once it reaches 1,500?¡¯

    He tilted his head in thought.

    ¡®This idiot! What are you thinking about when there¡¯s still food in front of you!¡¯

    His mukbang was not yet over! And, Bad¡¯s cup¡¯s power would onlye into full view once he had finished eating his shabu-shabu.

    ¡®I¡¯ll add some rice noodles on myst bowl of shabu-shabu and make some rice porridge with the remaining broth!¡¯

    He quickly ced some rice noodles in his pot of shabu-shabu.

    ***

    Genie, Locke and Khan were all left speechless.

    ¡°Crazy¡­¡­ This is the level of the global users¡­...?¡±

    ¡°Wow. Isn¡¯t this insane?¡±

    ¡°How can we break this?¡±

    They were challenging the time-attack dungeon. However, they could only attack the dungeon for a total of 5 times everyday. What was worse was that the whole world was participating in this time attack dungeon event! This was also the reason why all of the users were struggling to break the record for the time attack dungeon.

    Genie, Khan and Locke all thought that they would be in the top five this time since they still had the buff that Locke had received from the dish that Minhyuk had made for him. But¡­

    [South Korea, Legend Team: 1 hr 19 mins 56 secs. Rank: 21st.]

    ¡°......¡±

    They couldn¡¯t do anything about it. This was the proof that there were people that were more powerful than them out there in the world.

    Genie¡¯s eyes scanned the list. Her eyes locked on the team that was ranked 1st.

    [America, ck Swan Team: 59 mins 38 secs. Rank: 1st.]

    There was a 20 minute gap between their clearance time. It was just 20 minutes but it was such a huge gap especially when it came to attacking the same dungeon repeatedly. It was like running a 100 meter race. The difference between a good and bad yer was only around 3~4 seconds but it was still a huge gap.

    But right now, there was a 20 minute difference in their dungeon attack time. The second ce took about 1 hour and 7 minutes to clear the dungeon. Looking at it, the gap between them was still huge.

    Khan opened his mouth as he looked at Genie¡¯s frustrated expression.

    ¡°Genie, think about it. Wasn¡¯t there a guild member named Julian in the ck Swan Guild? The one that was hailed as God Baveka¡¯s child?¡±

    ¡°......Ah!¡±

    Genie looked extremely surprised.

    Julian, God Baveka¡¯s child, was said to have a tremendous amount of holy power. And every time the holy power reached an increase of 100, there would always be a huge additional damage against the undead. And with Julian¡¯s case, his party members would definitely bet on his holy powers. They would even try and find ways to maximize his holy power just for this.

    ¡°I heard that God Baveka¡¯s Child, Julian, has 1,300 points in his holy power.¡±

    1,300 points in holy power alone. This was a huge figure. Holy power, just like DEX, was a stat that couldn¡¯t be raised so easily. It also couldn¡¯t be raised with your regr bonus points. However, there were things that one could do to raise their holy power such as abstaining from cursing, eating meat, and even celibacy and other terrible things that really couldn¡¯t be done by a normal person.

    But you¡¯re saying that he has 1,300 points in holy power? What a terrible disgrace.

    ¡°Shit. Do we also need to recruit someone with high holy powers?¡±

    ¡°No. No matter how high the holy power of that person was, it would bepletely useless topare with Julian. There¡¯s only one thing that we could do now.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    Locke and Khan turned to look at Genie at the same time.

    ¡°Khan and I should eat Minhyuk¡¯s buffed dishes.¡±

    ¡°As expected¡­¡­ It¡¯s the only thing that we could trust.¡±

    If the both of them could eat Minhyuk¡¯s buffed dish then it would be possible for them to shorten their attack time significantly. It wouldn¡¯t even be impossible for them to rise to the top 5.

    ¡®But this is just a temporary increase in strength¡­¡­¡¯

    In other words, it wasn¡¯t their own power.

    Genie had finally realized how high the walls were. They needed to climb those high walls just to get on the same level as the rest of the world.

    ***

    Minhyuk finally finished eating his shabu-shabu porridge. He simply added some rice and egg in the remaining shabu-shabu broth before stirring it continuously and letting it boil.

    Once he finished eating the rest of his porridge, the notifications rang continuously in his ears.

    [You have eaten the Shabu-shabu made from the water in Bad¡¯s cup.]

    [The Food Fighter¡¯s Greatness.]

    [The penalty for the medicine has been ignored. However, this does not work for many people.]

    [A Medicine Dish. You have obtained additional stats.]

    [You have gained 400 Holy Power.]

    [Bad¡¯s cup¡¯s blessings will permanently increase your Holy Power acquisition rate by x2.]

    ***

    TL''s corner!

    When I was tranting this, our dinner was sashimi so I could rte with the wasabi part.kgghk!

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 144 - Kongies Innocent Transformation

    Chapter 144: Kongie¡¯s Innocent Transformation

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    43 Kongie¡¯s Innocent Transformation

    [Additional 20% damage will be inflicted on undead monsters.]

    ¡®Hoo? Holy power, huh¡­¡­¡¯

    The Holy Power Stat. It was a stat that could add buff effects and deal additional damage towards undeads. For ordinary priests, it would be quite difficult to raise this stat to such a high degree because the method to increase such a stat was particr.

    ¡®Wasn¡¯t it something like not eating meat?¡¯

    My god! Isn¡¯t that such a crazy way of obtaining stats?!

    Since the method of obtaining the stat was so particr that it included banning themselves from doing a lot of things it was quite rare for users to achieve a high degree in terms of holy power. However, the benefits that you would receive were quite huge.

    After he finished eating, Minhyuk finally remembered the pure extract quest that he had received from Boroto.

    ¡°Rald-nim.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Do you happen to know anything about pure extracts?¡±

    Rald looked at him with surprise when he heard his question.

    ¡°You¡¯re not from the Northern Continent but you know about the existence of the pure extract!¡±

    ¡°A person named Boroto had requested that I bring him some pure extract.¡±

    ¡°Oho. So it was Boroto, huh? I remember him.¡±

    Rald nodded his head.

    ¡°Pure extract is located either deep underground or under the sea, a ce that is quite hard for humans to get into. It is a mysterious water that falls one drop at a time and will only umte after a huge amount of time.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head in understanding.

    ¡°But¡­ I also have no way of getting any pure extract either.¡±

    ¡°......Eh?!¡±

    Minhyuk was caught by surprise.

    Howe Rald doesn¡¯t know about it either?!

    ¡°Even if it was deep underground, the location where the pure extract can be found changes every time. Before, it used to be frequently located in Valkyrie Kingdom. But I don¡¯t think that that is the case right now. It has been years since we¡¯vest seen it.¡±

    ¡°H, how can this be¡­¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk had no choice but to feel discouraged. It was the pure extract that¡¯s like carbonated water!

    I wonder if it was really hard to find?

    Rald tried to find ways to assuage Minhyuk¡¯s disappointment. It seemed like he couldn¡¯t bear to see Minhyuk with such a sad look.

    ¡°But if it¡¯s him, he might know where it is.¡±

    ¡°If it¡¯s him¡­¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk was quite taken aback.

    A hint. This might be a hint!

    ¡°It¡¯s the Dragon King.¡±

    ¡°Hoo?¡±

    The Dragon King. Simply put, he was the king of the seas.

    The Sea of the Dragon King was located somewhere near Valkyrie Kingdom. In addition, it was said that there were still plenty of mysterious and unidentified things that have not yet been discovered by the local users.

    And even if he did not want to, Minhyuk still had to go to sea since he needed to proceed with Ellie¡¯s quest. And even if he excluded that reason, he still would want to go to sea. After all, there were plenty of delicious things that you could get from the sea.

    ¡®Blue crab, shrimp, m, tfish, rockfish, oysters!¡¯

    He couldn¡¯t even count them in one hand!

    ¡°But it¡¯s not easy to meet with the Dragon King, after all he is the king of the seas. He must be living deep beneath the sea. But just in case you need this information, he also has three children.¡±

    ¡°Three¡­¡­?¡±

    ¡°The three of them are all strong individuals. One of them is evenparable to Sir Perle in strength.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head. He knew that Perle wasparable to Rumad in strength so if hepared their strengths then they were truly powerful. He decided to avoid any friction against such powerful men.

    [Hidden Quest: Meet the Dragon King!]

    Rank: S

    Restrictions: Have met with Rald.

    Rewards: Boroto¡¯s Buffed Dish.

    Penalty for Failure: Decrease in Boroto¡¯s favorability.

    Description: You have met with the legendary chef that was quite hard to meet, Rald! ording to him, the only person who might know of the location of the pure extract was the Dragon King. So go meet the Dragon King-nim!

    Minhyuk nodded his head happily.

    The sea! I¡¯m looking forward to it!

    He said his goodbyes to Rald and left the restaurant to prepare for his journey to the sea. He first went and bought a fishing rod and some bait as well as the ¡®Dorito¡¯ bubblegum. Dorito bubblegum was Valkyrie Kingdom¡¯s specialty and it could help anyone breathe underwater.

    ¡°Oh, this bubble gum tastes really good!¡±

    Since Minhyuk was deemed by every citizen of Valkyrie Kingdom as a hero who had saved their kingdom, he was able to buy his items at a 10% discount. It was a special perk that was given to someone who had saved their king and their kingdom from the catastrophe.

    As he chewed on the bubblegum, a notification rang in his ears.

    [You can breathe underwater for 1 hour.]

    ¡°Phtew!¡±

    Once the sweetness of the bubblegum faded, he quickly spat it out on a tissue. Then, as casually as he could, he ced five more in his mouth.

    [You can breathe underwater for 1 hour.]

    ¡°Phtew!¡±

    He spat the bubblegum out and popped in a few more in his mouth. The merchant who was selling the Dorito bubblegum couldn¡¯t help but smile wryly at his absurd actions.

    ¡°On, one piece is worth 50,000 gold¡­ why waste so much money on such an expensive item?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not good to taste once the sweetness has faded away!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll buy 300!¡±

    Minhyuk quickly decided to buy the Dorito bubblegum in bulk.

    [Kongie is asking for a summons.]

    He was quite confused when he saw the sudden notification. When Kongie was summoned, he dropped down on the ground with a thud. Then, he quickly dashed off somewhere.

    ¡°Huh? Where are you? Kongie-yah!¡±

    Minhyuk was taken aback with his actions as he hurriedly chased after Kongie. After chasing for quite some time, he saw an unexpected face. They were unexpected, but he was still quite d to see them.

    ¡°Woow. The poopy pig is taking a real piggy with him!¡±

    It was Hyemin and Hyemin¡¯sDad.

    Minhyuk approached them with a surprise on his face but Kongie still looked a bit weird. When he looked closely, he could see Hyemin holding a Chupachups lollipop in her hand.

    Kongie quickly sat down in front of her like a puppy and then¡­

    ¡°Oiiiiink¡­...¡±

    As if he was trying to say that he wanted to eat it, Kongie looked at the Chupachups with twinkling eyes.

    ¡°Huh? This is Hyeminie¡¯s, baby poopy.¡±

    Hyemin quickly jerked her hand away as she hid the candy behind her. Kongie¡¯s eyes started to shine with tears. Then, he bowed his head sadly.

    ¡°Oiiiiink¡­¡­¡±

    He let out a depressed sound. It seemed like he would shed his tears anytime soon. Hyemin and Hyemin¡¯sDad looked at Kongie with pity for a moment.

    ¡®Oh my god. How can there be such a nice(?) and pitiful pet like this?!¡¯

    ¡®It¡¯s a waste of my candy but¡­¡­ should I give it one? I feel so sorry for him¡­¡­!¡¯

    As if she couldn¡¯t bear to see Kongie sad anymore, Hyemin handed him a candy from her pockets. After receiving the candy, Kongie, who was still sullen and sad a few moments ago, suddenly smiled brightly. He tapped his tiny head on Hyemin¡¯s legs as if asking if he could really eat it.

    ¡°You can eat it, baby poopy!¡±

    Kongie nodded fiercely with a happy smile on his face as he opened his mouth and ate the candy.

    ¡®This swindler¡­¡­¡¯

    Minhyuk, who knew about Kongie¡¯s con-man personality, looked at him curiously.

    ¡®Huh? Wait. He got it just like that¡­¡­?¡¯

    He found out about Kongie¡¯s amazing ability and was once again surprised at him.

    ¡°Oh. Huh¡­¡­.?¡±

    ¡°Keok?!¡±

    Hyemin¡¯sDad couldn¡¯t help but let out a shocked gasp. Just a few moments ago, Minhyuk sat down like Kongie in front of Hyemin and looked at her with twinkling eyes and a dumb foolish voice.

    ¡°Oooooiiiiink¡­¡­?!¡±

    He copied Kongie down to the T. When Hyemin did not give him any candy, he also looked down sadly.

    ¡°Ooooiiiink¡­¡­¡±

    He also let out a tearful sound.

    This is the most important! A voice filled with tears!

    Hyemin¡¯sDad and Hyemin were both left speechless. They were shocked at how Minhyuk copied Kongie and asked for some candy.

    ¡®He¡¯s still as weird as ever¡­¡­¡¯

    ¡®P, poopy piggy is really strange¡­¡­¡¯

    Hyemin and Hyemin¡¯sDad eyes met as they looked at each other with wry smiles.

    ***

    ¡°Hehe. This is really delicious, Kong-ah!¡±

    ¡°Oink!¡±

    [Kongie is happy.]

    Minhyuk and Kongie were both eating candies happily.

    Hyemin¡¯sDad had told him that it was quite a long time since he hadst essed Athenae. It was only this time that Minhyuk found out that Hyemin¡¯sDad was also a guild member of Legend Guild.

    ¡°Hyeminie, how are you these days?¡±

    Minhyuk, who was eating his strawberry milk chupachups, turned to Hyemin. Hyemin was happily ying with Kongie as she answered Minhyuk.

    ¡°I have gotten a lot better. I also gained 10kg. And I¡¯ll also be going back to school.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a relief.¡±

    Minhyuk smiled brightly.

    Hyemin, who had unintentionally helped him, was finally getting better and better. It was truly great news.

    Then, he suddenly remembered something.

    ¡°Ah, that¡¯s right! Kongie can now wear two artifacts, so is it alright if I make a production request?¡±

    He wasn¡¯t sure, but there might be a possibility of Kongie¡¯s ability to find medicine getting enhanced by wearing those two artifacts.

    ¡°Ah. Of course, it¡¯s possible.¡±

    Hyemin¡¯sDad smiled at him.

    ¡°I¡¯ll take gold as payment.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s movement suddenly paused. The smile that Hyemin¡¯sDad was giving him was quite different from his smile earlier. It was like he was saying ¡®Student, I¡¯ll give you a discount so buy from me.¡¯ or something like that. Well. It was also a fact that Minhyuk had received his frying pan as a gift from him, right?

    ¡°I also need some artifact materials. Do you have any on hand?¡±

    Minhyuk thought carefully if he had some artifact materials on hand.

    ¡®I have the Basilisk¡¯s Heart, don¡¯t I?¡¯

    The Basilisk¡¯s Heart was an SS-ranked artifact material! It was a material that did notg behind from the Sacred Branch that he gotst time. He also had the Phoenix¡¯s feathers and some Twin-headed Ogre¡¯s blood. When he thought about it, it seemed like his inventory was filled with amazing materials.

    And Hyemin¡¯sDad who saw all of these materials, was quite shocked.

    ¡°W, what is your level now?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m a little over 250 right now.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    He shook his head in disbelief. There were plenty of materials here that could not be obtained by someone who was at Lv250.

    ¡®But I wonder if it¡¯s really fine to make pet artifacts with these good materials? Hmm. Well, it¡¯s also good to make pet artifacts with these.¡¯

    Hyemin¡¯sDad couldn¡¯t help but gulp when he felt the power of Minhyuk¡¯s artifacts. The armor, cloak, sword, helmet and the frying pan that he made for him¡­¡­ Everything that he had equipped were artifacts that were out of the ordinary.

    ¡®Pets are existences that can help a character gain 100% more of their strength. They can even add around 100~120 in strength and power towards their owners.¡¯

    Characters had obvious limitations. Once they had worn all of the possible wearable artifacts they could no longer wear a duplicate. Once their skill level had reached the maximum then they wouldn¡¯t be able to level it up anymore. The high-leveled users often encounter these problems. Once they had reached the maximum, the items that could grow and level up could help them. However, it was strenuous and time consuming to get materials for such items. When in fact, the growth items were almost close to impossible to achieve.

    That was when the concept of a ¡®pet¡¯ came into view. A pet would be the fastest way for a character to achieve great growth. That was because pets could increase their buffs and abilities whenever they grow. What more for an artifact-wearing pet?

    ¡®Making a pet wear an artifact is almost the same as adding a character equipment slot.¡¯

    Once Kongie wore an artifact, then his capabilities would increase which in turn would also boost his owner¡¯s powers.

    ¡°I hope that the ability to find delicious food gets enhanced.¡±

    Whisper, whisper©¥

    ¡°Ah. Yes¡­¡­¡±

    Hyemin¡¯sDad smiled awkwardly.

    ¡°Ah. Can you please take care of this too?¡±

    What Minhyuk handed to him was none other than Pandora¡¯s Helmet. The Pandora¡¯s Helmet that was handed over was giving off a subtle glow.

    ¡°It¡¯s too eye-catching.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Then, shall we add some cloaking ability to this artifact?¡±

    ¡°Wow. Can you do that for me?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s 41 tinum. Ah, since we¡¯re guild members¡­ I¡¯ll give you a guild member D.C. you only need to pay 40 tinum.¡±

    Minhyuk finally realized that Hyemin¡¯sDad was aplete businessman! He gave out a quotation of 41 tinum, smiled at him and said that he would give him a discount when it was originally priced at 40 tinum!

    ¡°Ah. I know.¡±

    However, Minhyuk had a lot of gold under his disposal so it did not matter that much. Furthermore, the problem in the kingdom had worked out well so he could sell his items at twice the price soon.

    Just in time, he could see themander of the kingdom knights, Sir Perle, running towards him.

    ¡°How long will the production take?¡±

    ¡°Artifacts for pets are much easier to makepared to user artifacts so it can be done by today. But you have to leave your pet with me.¡±

    ¡°My pet?¡±

    Minhyuk tilted his head in confusion. He was wondering how he could leave his pet with him when the summoning time was only for a few hours.

    ¡°Yes. If you ce your pet in a pet storage then it can be summoned for a whole day. In the meantime, I will use a potion named ¡®Pet Conversation¡¯ to try and talk with your pet so I can produce the artifact that your pet wants the most.¡±

    ¡°Oho.¡±

    That was quite a good idea. Minhyuk temporarily left Kongie in a pet storage and quickly left since Perle kept on nudging him to leave.

    ¡°Hyemin-ah. Let¡¯s go buy some potion.¡±

    ¡°Yeah Dad! Baby poopy, protect this ce while I¡¯m away. Okay?!¡±

    Kongie waved pitifully over the fence. His tail was wagging sadly as he looked at Hyemin who was moving away from him.

    ¡°Oiiiink¡­¡­¡±

    Don¡¯t leave me behind. Oink~

    Hyemin kept on looking back at him until Kongie disappeared from her sight. Once Kongie couldn¡¯t see Hyemin anymore, he plopped down on the ground. The pitiful look was wiped away quickly. Kongie¡¯s expression hardened. It was as if he had been staying at a deste ce for quite a long time.

    ¡°Oiiiink.¡±

    It¡¯s really hard to y with a child. Oink.

    He sighed loudly as if to release that tired breath that he had been holding in. He sat downfortably and wriggled his shoulders as he looked around his surroundings. His eyes caught sight of a pet cat that was sitting near him.

    Pause!

    The pet cat was surprised when he saw Kongie looking at him! Then, Kongie grinned wickedly as he opened his hands and gestured at the cat.

    Massage my shoulders. Oink!

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Kek. I knew Kongie was this badass. Hehe. The boss of all the pets.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Of course Kongie¡¯s badass. Even Athenae itself has to try to keep a lid on his awesomeness.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 145 - Kongies Innocent Transformation

    Chapter 145: Kongie¡¯s Innocent Transformation

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Deep beneath the Dragon King¡¯s Seaid a magnificent and extravagant castle. However, the huge and majestic castle was only filled with a chilling and imposing air. Dozens of sea life forms were dying one by one for no reason at all under the hands of an angry Dragon King.

    The Dragon King was sitting on his throne whilst surrounded by the blood of the dead dolphins. Prostrated in front of him was a thin body that was shaking wildly in fear. This was one of the Dragon King¡¯s children, Kiari.

    Kiari was a woman of the wild. To put it simply, she was a rabbit that had a simr appearance to Judy from the animation Zootopia. However, her strength should not be underestimated just because she looked harmless. Kiari was one of the geniuses who had studied and mastered the defensive formations and tactics that were ced in the Dragon King¡¯s Pce. In addition, Kiari was loyal to the Dragon King alone. Ever since she was young, she had pledged to live and learn only for the sake of the Dragon King. She was also proficient with swords and could easily ughter her enemies with just a quick sh of her sword. She was even awarded with the ¡®Sea¡¯s Guardian Sword¡¯ that contained amazing strength and power. The sword even had the ability to let its user freely control the water.

    Such an amazing Kiari was now trembling and shaking in fear.

    ¡®H, how can this be¡­¡­!¡¯

    Why did the Dragon King-nim kill these innocent dolphins?!

    The reason was unknown.

    She understood the true nature of the Dragon King since she had stayed with him the longest. He was a merciful and kind man. The Dragon King¡¯s Pce would even host festivals every year and all the creatures of the sea would dance to songs and praise the benevolence of the Dragon King. They would even wholeheartedly offer sacrifices to the Dragon King. The Dragon Pce was truly a beautiful sight back then.

    But one day, the Dragon King suddenly changed.

    ¡®It started back then¡­¡­¡¯

    Kiari bit her lips tightly. She knew that it all started back then when he battled against the Great Mage Rafielt.

    The Great Mage was also one of the Most Powerful Men and was ranked 7th among them. Great Mage Rafielt was a sinister person who hid curses all over the continent. There were already rumors circting the continent about his death. However, he suddenly appeared in the Dragon King¡¯s Pce one day. No, it was more fitting to say that he was not the Great Mage anymore. He came to the pce as the King of the Dead. Rafielt had turned himself into a Lich.

    The Lich, Rafielt, suddenly started attacking the Dragon King¡¯s Pce. But the Dragon King¡¯s Pce was not something that anyone could easily topple over. The Most Powerful Men were all based on the standards of the continent and he was one of these men. However, the creatures of the sea were not counted in these standards. The Dragon King as well as all of his children fought hard against the Great Mage Rafielt. It was a fierce battle that shook the seas.

    In this fierce battle, the person who overcame and stood victorious against his opponent was the Dragon King. The Dragon King fought with great strength and abilities and eventually defeated Great Mage Rafielt. However, as a consequence, he also suffered grave injuries.

    That was the moment where it all began.

    The Dragon King¡¯s body seemed like it was getting weaker while his ferociousness and brutality seemed like it was getting stronger and stronger by the day. But he was still the Dragon King so he was still persevering.

    Kiari wanted to speak but she stopped herself and just bit her lips tightly. She was raised by the Dragon King and in a way she was indoctrinated to protect and only protect the Dragon King. In addition, the children of the Dragon King were beings that were given by God Roves for the Dragon King. Roves emphasized to the three of them that the Dragon King was their father and he was the eternal ruler of the seas. Even though Kiari was opposed to what he was currently doing, she couldn¡¯t even bring herself to tell him to stop ore to his senses. Also, the body of the Dragon King right now was so frail that he would probably break down with just a simple attack.

    Suddenly, a creature came inside in a hurry.

    He was the Dragon King¡¯s trusted aide, Jiang Bei. Jiang Bei was literally a walking octopus.

    ¡°Dragon King-nim! I finally found a way to heal the Dragon King-nim¡¯s body!¡±

    ¡°Is what you¡¯re saying true?¡±

    A small smile silently curled at the corners of the mouth of the frail Dragon King but deep inside he was smiling widely.

    ¡°So you finally found ¡®him¡¯ huh? Lec?¡±

    This question was directed towards no other person except Jiang Bei.

    Jiang Bei, no, Lec, looked into his eyes and answered.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    His eyes glinted sharply as they talked and a figure was quietly reflected in his eyes.

    It was the Great Mage Rafielt!

    Kiari and the rest of the creatures who went into battle with the Dragon King might have been flustered and caught in a panic if they knew that the Great Mage Rafielt did not die in that battle. No, he only pretended to die as he went and hid inside the body of the Dragon King.

    In the first ce, there was only one reason why he decided to attack the Dragon King¡¯s Pce.

    ¡®The treasure of Roves, the god of the sea¡­¡­!¡¯

    He was sure that it was hidden somewhere in the Dragon King¡¯s Pce. He targeted such an item because he knew that Roves¡¯ treasure would definitely carry a tremendous amount of holy power. This was a threat to his existence so he had to eliminate it. In other words, the Great Mage Rafielt wanted to take away the treasure and use his powers to convert the holy power to ck magic which could assist him greatly.

    Rafielt, who had taken over the Dragon King¡¯s body, had now killed plenty of creatures in the Dragon King¡¯s Pce. And using the blood of these creatures, he turned the Dragon King¡¯s loyal aide into his loyal aide and ordered him to continue to find hints using ck magic.

    And right now, Lec had finally found the hint!

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    The Dragon King, no, Rafielt who was pretending to be the Dragon King asked excitedly.

    ¡°It¡¯s the rabbit¡¯s liver.¡±

    ¡°Rabbit¡¯s liver?¡±

    At his words, the Dragon King¡¯s eyes turned towards another person. It was none other than Kiari who was standing near him.

    When Kiari saw the look in the Dragon King¡¯s eyes, she couldn¡¯t help but tremble wildly. Two among the Dragon King¡¯s children were rabbits and the remaining one was a turtle. All three of them carry tremendous strength in their bodies. For the rabbits, the source of their strength was hidden in their livers. In the case of the turtle ¡®Radin¡¯, he had a cintamani stone hidden beneath his tough shell. Kiari and the other child, Jevis, both have this so-called liver but they have different uses and effects.

    The only problem was that they still did not know how to extract these to get their powers. The only known method was through their death.

    Kiari bowed towards the Dragon King.

    ¡°I, it would be my honor to sacrifice myself for the health of the Dragon King¡­¡­!¡±

    And there¡¯s nothing that I can do anymore. I just wish I can return to the past!

    At that moment, the aide spoke up¡­

    ¡°One. It¡¯s unfortunate but the rabbit¡¯s liver is not Kiari¡¯s liver.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡±

    The eyes of the Dragon King that was casted over to her were removed as he gave his order for her.

    ¡°Get out, Kiari.¡±

    ¡°......Yes.¡±

    Hop, hop, hop, hop!

    Kiari bowed her head down as she hopped her way out of the throne room. Once she was out of the room, Rafielt listened intently on what Lec had to say.

    ¡°Roves¡¯ treasure is sealed and hidden in Jevis¡¯ rabbit¡¯s liver. However, she has been missing for a few days now.¡±

    That is a treasure with a great amount of holy power!

    Rafielt¡¯s mouth was almost torn in two when he realized that it was just in his hand¡¯s reach.

    Radin slowly walked inside the throne room. He was literally walking on two legs! He had two swords strapped on his back while one of his eyes was covered with a ck eye patch. He was also one of Rafielt¡¯s underlings.

    ¡°There¡¯s not much time left. The body of this Dragon King will soon crumble. We have to do the soul exchange.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    Radin lowered himself in a bow and nodded his head in agreement.

    At that moment, Jiang Bei opened his mouth¡­

    ¡°But, Great Mage¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the problem.¡±

    Jiang Bei¡¯s voice suddenly turned unusual. It seemed like there was an obstacle in front of them.

    ¡°I heard that the ce where Jevis wasst seen was a ce where only foreigners can enter.¡±

    ¡°Only foreigners?¡±

    The Dragon King¡¯s expression turned serious. However, he sooned turned towards Radin and gave him his orders.

    ¡°Radin.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Great Mage!¡±

    ¡°Find a way to get those foreigners to obtain that rabbit¡¯s liver and bring it to me!¡±

    ¡°B, but¡­¡­ Will the foreigners hand it over to you once they get it?¡±

    The Dragon King smiled sinisterly when he heard Radin¡¯s worried voice.

    ¡°Kill them. If that¡¯s not possible then use all the gold and silver as an incentive.¡±

    But what if these two things did not work? It can¡¯t be. Then I¡¯ll just throw a reward that¡¯s much bigger than the rabbit¡¯s liver.

    ¡°They won¡¯t know about its power unless they eat it.¡±

    Grin©¥

    The Great Mage Rafieltughed loudly as he thought about the other¡¯s hopelessness and fear.

    ***

    Hyemin¡¯sDad who brought Hyemin along visited the pet storage to check on Kongie. When they saw the scene, he couldn¡¯t help but tilt his head in thought.

    They saw Kongie ying cutely(?) with the other pets around him.

    ¡°Oink, oink!¡±

    The cat immediately rolled around as if it received some orders. However, that was not the reason why Hyemin¡¯sDad was tilting his head in thought. He could see that all of the pets within the fence were all shivering and trembling. They looked like all of them were scared of something.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with them? Are all the pets in here sick?¡±

    When he asked the clerk of the pet storage facility, she couldn¡¯t help but be taken aback. She approached the fence where Kongie and the shivering pets were.

    ¡°Oh my! What¡¯s wrong? It wasn¡¯t like this earlier? Huh, where did all the children¡¯s food go?¡±

    She was taken aback. She remembered filling up the bowls of all the children in here but the bowls were all empty!

    ¡°Ah. Are you going to feed a potion to the pet?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Here¡¯s the temporary consent form.¡±

    Hyemin¡¯sDad gave the clerk the temporary consent form that he had received from Minhyuk earlier. With this temporary consent form, another user would be given permission to contact other people¡¯s pet as well as feed them potion.

    When Hyemin¡¯sDad handed the potion over, Kongie quickly approached the fence and reached for it. Then¡­

    Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp©¥

    ¡°Oink!¡±

    He let out a sound of admiration.

    [You have fed a Pet Conversation.]

    [You can now have a heart-to-heart talk with Kongie.]

    ¡®Well then, shall we?¡¯

    From now on, Hyemin¡¯sDad would ask Kongie about the kind of artifacts that he liked whether it be a sword, an armor, a shield, a pair of boots or even essories.

    ¡®I¡¯m hungry. Oink!¡¯

    Just as the potion took effect, Hyemin¡¯sDad was now finally able to hear Kongie¡¯s thoughts.

    ¡®Can you hear me?¡¯

    ¡®Oink! What was that sound?¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯m the one in front of you.¡¯

    ¡®Ah, the handsome ahjussi! Oink!¡¯

    Hyemin¡¯sDad who felt good with hispliments, gave Kongie some delicious food which he ate deliciously.

    ¡®Delicious. Oink, oink, oink!¡¯

    Kongie wagged his tail in delight.

    ¡®Are there any artifacts that you like? You can tell me anything that you want.¡¯

    ¡®Oink? There is! Oink!¡¯

    Kongie nodded his head furiously while Hyemin¡¯sDad looked at him with anticipation.

    Right now, he had good quality materials on his hands. Thest thing that he made was the Legendary Frying Pan but that was something that was only for Minhyuk so he was quite excited at the thought of making some cool artifacts now.

    ¡®Oink! When making vegetable pancakes, I want that spat that can flip everything in one go. Oink!¡¯

    At that moment, Hyemin¡¯sDad¡¯s expectations were brought down to the ground. He was dumbfounded with what he had heard.

    ¡®W, what¡¯s this? It feels like deja vu?¡¯

    He tilted his head in shock as Kongie looked at him with sparkling eyes.

    ¡®Oink! I also wish to have a helmet, oink!¡¯

    ¡®Oh. Helmet!¡¯

    Hyemin¡¯sDad nodded his head.

    Finally, a decent request¡­¡­!

    ¡®It would be good if it can also substitute as a silver pot, oink. So that I can take it off and make ramyeon right on the spot whenever I get hungry, oink¡­¡­!¡¯

    Hyemin¡¯sDad couldn¡¯t help butugh dumbfoundedly.

    ¡°Ha, hahahaha¡­¡­¡±

    Not long after, he sent a whisper to Kongie¡¯s owner, Minhyuk.

    [Hyemin¡¯sDad: Minhyuk-nim. Kongie wants a spat that can flip a lot of vegetable pancakes in one go and a helmet that can also be used as a silver pot to cook ramen¡­¡­]

    The Basilisk¡¯s heart was a material that was equivalent to the sacred branch. Even the blood of the Twin-headed ogre and the Phoenix¡¯s feathers were materials that were worth a fortune¡­

    Don¡¯t tell me that I have to do something like that again?

    [Minhyuk: As expected of my Kong-ah! Well, you know what. Just make those items!]

    Hyemin¡¯sDad was left speechless for a moment. He had hoped that it wouldn¡¯t happen again but it seemed like it hade to that point once more. Then, he looked at Kongie as he murmured to himself.

    ¡°No. What kind of absurd chemistry and understanding does this owner and pet have¡­.?¡±

    ***

    [Hyemin¡¯sDad: Minhyuk-nim, I¡¯ve finished making the items.]

    Minhyuk, who had finally finished receiving hispensation and rewards from Varen, logged out for a moment beforeing back in after 4 hours. When he came back inside the game, more than half a day had already passed. And just in time, he had received a whisper from Hyemin¡¯sDad about thepletion of Kongie¡¯s items.

    In terms of thepensation, Varen had really bought all of his items at twice the price. However, much of the money that he had received had gone to Kongie¡¯s items. But the value of the legendary artifact was still quite enormous. It¡¯s price had reached as much as 400 tinum but since the buying price was twice that of the original price so he was able to receive 800 tinum for it. Once hebined the price of the rest of his items with the price that he received for the legendary artifact, the amount of money that Minhyuk had on his hands were already at 2,321 tinum. Varen also gave Minhyuk a chance to open his treasure trove. Being the quick witted and fast footed man that he was, he quickly chose a pair of boots from the inside. The item that he got was an epic item too.

    (Chef¡¯s Nimble Boots)

    Rank: Epic

    Restrictions: 500 DEX, Cooking skill at master or higher

    Durability: 10,000 / 10,000

    Defensive Power: 415

    Special Effects:

    ©¥ +13% on attack speed.

    ©¥ +20% on cooking speed.

    ©¥ Your cooking will taste 3% better than what you currently cook.

    ©¥ Amount of buff will increase by 20%

    Description: This is the Chef¡¯s Nimble Boots. It¡¯s an excellent artifact that can easily make the wearerfortable once they wear it. It is also an artifact that can¡¯t be bought with any money.

    A king was truly a king. He had a lot of treasures in that treasure trove of his. However, the only reason why Minhyuk chose the boots was¡­

    ¡®It will taste 3% better!¡¯

    It was purely for that reason and that reason alone.

    Minhyuk soon heeded Hyemin¡¯sDad¡¯s whisper and went to the pet storage facility. Once Minhyuk entered the facility, he couldn¡¯t help but stop in his tracks.

    Kongie was standing in front of him. However, Kongie was wearing a silver pot on his head upside down and he was holding the lid with his left hand as if it was a shield while his right hand was holding a frying pan spat.

    [Kongie is feeling confident.]

    ¡°Oink!¡±

    Kongie stuck out his protruding belly proudly as if he was worried that Minhyuk couldn¡¯t see his new artifact!

    ¡°......¡±

    ***

    Footnotes

    [Cintamani Stone] - (???) A magical stone in Hinduism and Buddhism that is said to grant wishes. It is on par with the philosopher¡¯s stone of the Western culture. Back

    [Rabbit¡¯s Liver] - ording to our friend Thursdays (thank you very much for your help) the rabbit¡¯s liver was from a folktale (sugungga) about the Dragon King being ill and eating the liver of a rabbit to get well. It involves the Dragon King, a rabbit and a turtle so it seemed like this was what the author wanted to imply. Also, thank you to Skye and Seven for their inputs! Back

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Is it just me or can you also imagine our baby Kongie with his pose. Wait. I can¡¯t breathe. HAHAHAHHAHA.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 146 - Kongies Innocent Transformation

    Chapter 146: Kongie¡¯s Innocent Transformation

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Hyemin¡¯sDadughed awkwardly when he saw Minhyuk standing in a daze in front of Kongie.

    ¡°Ha, hahahaha. H, he looks good? Right?¡±

    ¡°Ah. Oh¡­¡­ Mhhm¡­¡­.¡±

    Minhyuk had no idea on how he would respond with such a question so he chose to just hum at the end of his speech. Whether he agreed or not on the sentiment would remain unknown to everyone.

    However, unlike Minhyuk and Hyemin¡¯sDad, Hyemin was smiling broadly at Kongie.

    ¡°Kyaaaaak~! Baby poopy looks so cuuuuuuuuute!¡±

    ¡°Oink!¡±

    [Kongie is feeling more confident.]

    Then, Kongie approached the mirror that Hyemin brought out to look at himself.

    ¡°E, everything that Kongie wanted came out. Huh?¡±

    ¡°But, but Kongie can only wear two artifacts¡­¡­ so what¡¯s going on with that pot lid?¡±

    ¡°Ah. The effects won¡¯t be exhibited due to the restrictions. But, I added a special effect that can let him wear it even with the restrictions. Once the artifact restriction gets lifted he will be able to wear more artifactster on.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head in understanding. Then, Hyemin¡¯sDad handed Pandora''s Helmet over to him. The subtle glow of light that was continuously emitting from Pandora¡¯s Helmet had now disappeared. Right now, it looked like it was a tough and strong helmet. But it still looked vastly different from Oz¡¯s Helmet that he had previously worn.

    ¡°Please check Kongie¡¯s artifact too.¡±

    ¡°Yep.¡±

    (Hepas¡¯ Flipper de)

    Rank: Epic

    Restrictions: Kongie¡¯s Attribute Artifact

    Durability: 3,000 / 3,000

    Attack Power: 316

    Special Effects:

    ©¥ Additional 25% in STR

    ©¥ 4% buff increase in Owner¡¯s STR

    ©¥ Skill: Flipping de

    Description: A Flipper de that was made by Hepas. Instead of the normal pping from a flipper, if an enemy is attacked with the Flipper de then they will get shed just like when they are shed by a knife.

    (Flipping de)

    Artifact Skill

    Level: None

    Mana Required: 300

    Cooldown: 1 hour

    Effects:

    ©¥ Agility will be increased by x2 for 30 seconds.

    ©¥ shing Force will be increased by 1.3x for 30 seconds.

    After checking the spat, Minhyuk quickly moved on and checked the silver pot that Kongie was wearing on his head.

    (Hepas¡¯ Silver Pot)

    Rank: Epic

    Restrictions: Kongie¡¯s Attribute Artifact

    Durability: 4,000 / 4,000

    Defensive Power: 270

    Special Effects:

    ©¥ 5% increase in STR.

    ©¥ 10% increase in Owner¡¯s defensive power.

    ©¥ Skill: Paralyze

    Description: A Silver Pot made by Hepas. Your pet can wear it on his head but once he gets hungry, you can wash it well and your pet can cook ramyeon in it.

    (Paralyze)

    Artifact Skill

    Level: None

    Mana Required: None

    Cooldown: None

    Effects: If an attack goes through and your pet blocks it, there is a 5%~9% chance of the enemy being paralyzed for two seconds.

    (Hepas¡¯ Pot Lid)

    Rank: Epic

    Restrictions: Additional Equipment Slot, Kongie¡¯s Attribute Artifact

    Durability: 3,000 / 3,000

    Defensive Power: 316

    Special Effects:

    ©¥ 4% additional STR

    ©¥ 3% increase in Owner¡¯s defensive power.

    ©¥ Skill: Absolute Defense

    (Absolute Defense)

    Artifact Skill

    Level: None

    Mana Required: 500

    Cooldown: 24 hours

    Effects: Both Kongie and his Owner will have an absolute defense for 2 seconds. No attack wille through at that point in time.

    (Pandora¡¯s Helmet)

    Rank: Legendary

    Restrictions: 200 INT, 200 Mental, 400 Holy Power

    Durability: 10,000 / 10,000

    Defensive Power: 741

    Special Effects:

    ©¥ x2 Holy Power

    ©¥ 20% reduction in all of your skills¡¯ cooldown.

    ©¥ 20% reduction in all of your skills¡¯ required mana usage.

    ©¥ Skill: God¡¯s Targeted Praise

    ©¥ Skill: Artifact¡¯s Form Transformation, only for wearable artifacts

    Description: This was the helmet that Juis had used in the past. This helmet contains a tremendous amount of holy power as well as an infinite variety of hidden abilities.

    (Artifact¡¯s Form Transformation)

    Artifact Skill

    Level: None

    Mana Required: 500

    Cooldown: None

    Effects: You can change its shape and transform it to the form of any of the artifacts that you have seen. However, its transformation ability is limited. Once the artifact is touched by its owner then it will return back to its original form.

    ¡®Oh?¡¯

    Minhyuk was quite impressed with the Artifact¡¯s Form Transformation skill. Then, he turned his sights towards his frying pan that was quietly hanging on his back.

    ¡®What Frying Pan Killer, that is the Frying Pan Killer?!¡¯

    He did not want to be famous. But recently, he had been the talk of the town and it had been quite difficult to move quietly for his own purpose.

    ¡®Artifact¡¯s Form Transformation.¡¯

    As soon as he finished thinking about the skill, the notifications came up.

    [Hepas¡¯ Legendary Frying Pan can now change it¡¯s form.]

    [Rapier, Longsword, Greatsword, Katana¡­¡­ Omitted¡­¡­]

    Minhyuk quickly chose the rapier. As soon as his choice was made, the Hepas¡¯ Frying Pan that was hanging on his back changed its form into a rapier. Then, when Minhyuk touched the frying pan with his hands, it quickly turned back into a frying pan.

    ¡°In the case of an armor, once the enemy hits it with an attack then it will return back to its original shape.¡±

    Hyemin¡¯sDad exined about the skill when he noticed Minhyuk using Artifact¡¯s Form Transformation. Minhyuk nodded his head as he turned his frying pan back into the shape of a rapier. Then, he also turned his Armor of Immortality into the shabby leather armor that novices use.

    As expected, Hyemin¡¯sDad, who is the descendant of Hepas, is truly worth his price.

    And for Kongie¡¯s artifacts, even though they all look ridiculous they were still all good enough that even the other users would be wide-eyed when they saw them. The most important thing was that Kongie was satisfied with it.

    No matter how strange it looks, it doesn¡¯t matter as long as Kongie is happy with it. Right?

    ¡°We¡¯re going to use it well. Kongie, say goodbye!¡±

    ¡°Oiiink!¡±

    Kongie bowed at a 90 degree angle. Hyemin¡¯sDad, who was Hepas¡¯ descendant, chuckled at the sight.

    ¡°Ah, when will we receive thend and title?¡±

    ¡°I just came back after asking. They said that they will give it after one week once all of the guild members have gathered.¡±

    ¡°Aha.¡±

    Usually, a title or a territory would only be rewarded to a guild once all of the guild members had gathered. Currently, all of the guild members of Legend Guild were busily moving around as they pioneered the Northern Continent. And it was all thanks to Minhyuk that they had received God Juis¡¯ buffs so their advancement was even elerated.

    ¡°Are you leaving? Where do you n on going next?¡±

    Hyemin¡¯sDad could see that Minhyuk had prepared something so he was curious about where he wanted to go.

    ¡°Yes. I¡¯m going to sea.¡±

    ***

    Genie, Khan and Locke all returned to Valkyrie Kingdom after they had finished their 5 chances per day of attacking the dungeon. They heard from Hyemin¡¯sDad, whom they had met in the kingdom, that Minhyuk went out to sea.

    ¡°We don¡¯t have much time¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°How about sending a whisper?¡±

    They badly needed Minhyuk¡¯s help to sessfully lessen their time in the time attack dungeon. However, Minhyuk had already left for the sea.

    ¡°I think he¡¯ll be back in a week, though?¡±

    ¡°Ah. Is that so?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I heard that the guild members all have to gather after a week to receive the title and territory.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­¡­¡±

    Genie nodded her head.

    However, by that time, the time attack dungeon would almost be ending.

    ¡®But Minhyuk just went to the sea. I can¡¯t just tell him toe back just like that.¡¯

    Genie wanted to give Minhyuk as much freedom and convenience as possible.

    ¡°There¡¯s no helping it.¡±

    Genie smiled bitterly. It seemed like their ambitions and hopes of reaching and taking the top spot in the time attack dungeon had to be pushed back for next time. Khan and Locke seemed like they understood the meaning of her words.

    ¡°Oh right. Why don¡¯t you check your reputation first?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Wait.¡±

    Genie nodded her head.

    King Varen would give them their reward but they would only be given the title and territory if they had a high reputation. Every kingdom and empire would need a different level of reputation and the title would mostly depend on the amount of reputation that they had.

    As they were walking through the kingdom, they were able to meet with themander of the knights, Sir Perle.

    ¡°Oh. You¡¯ll be receiving a title from His Highness, Varen?¡±

    ¡°Yes. His Highness, Varen, said so himself.¡±

    Even though they would be given the title, they believed that they would at most receive the title of a Baron or at least the title of a Bar. Why? Because the Northern Continent was a newly pioneered continent. For that reason, some people were still reluctant to give them a higher title no matter how widely known and popr Legend Guild was in Valkyrie Kingdom. It was still a bit difficult for the citizens to ept them as one of their own. However, King Varen seemed to be extremely grateful to them so they let one slide.

    ¡°Check it faster!¡±

    There was a simple way for users to check on which title they could get and how much reputation they needed to have. They could just go to the main bulletin of the city and check it. The main bulletin served as a guide to the city¡¯s specialties, NPCs, open quests and information of the likes.

    When Genie checked the main bulletin, her eyes couldn¡¯t help but widen in shock.

    ¡°......I, is that right?¡±

    Genie gnawed at her lips in worry. Khan and Locke also couldn¡¯t help but frown when they saw her being anxious.

    ¡°Why?¡±

    When they looked at the bulletin, they couldn¡¯t help but let out augh in disbelief.

    ¡°This is crazy. You need at least 800 reputation points just to be a viscount¡­¡­?¡±

    ¡°OMG¡­¡­!¡±

    The three of them all frowned at the same time.

    Genie¡¯s reputation was only at 500 right now. Right?

    ¡°This is the Northern Continent you know. So we need that much to get a title and territory here.¡±

    ¡°Do any of our guild members have that many reputation points?¡±

    ¡°Aside from Genie, I don¡¯t think there¡¯s anyone else.¡±

    They knew that Genie had the highest reputation among them. However, they saw Genie shaking her head.

    ¡°There is. He has a reputation that¡¯s a little bit, no, much higher than mine.¡±

    ***

    In the Dragon King¡¯s Sea, there was an old man that was loading a fishing and a fishing rod on a boat.

    ¡°Ayo! Old man Ben! Are you going out to sea again today?¡±

    ¡°Of course! I¡¯ll definitely catch it today!¡±

    Old man Ben grinned at him with all of his teeth out. He was an ordinary fisherman, however, he had been struggling on catching this one fish for several years now. It was the ¡®Golden Salmon¡¯.

    The Golden Salmon! It was a fish that appears extremely rarely in the Dragon King¡¯s Sea.

    Ben had dered that he would only stop fishing once he had caught this fish. He had been chasing after the Golden Salmon for quite a long time now. It was considered to be one of the legendary games that could be caught by fishermen but it was a necessary game for him. Back in the days, one of his sons had died on sea. And the reason why his son died was because he was killed by the bait that was used to catch the Golden Salmon!

    Just as he was about to set sail with his boat...

    ¡°Hello!¡±

    A young man greeted him energetically. He could see that there was a fishing rod hanging on the young man¡¯s back. He assumed that the young man was extremely hungry since he was nibbling on a grilled buttered corn.

    ¡®Hooo. A foreigner?¡¯

    A foreigner!

    The sea had be a lot more peaceful and calm due to God¡¯s blessings and just recently, there were many foreigners who hade to Valkyrie Kingdom so it was not that strange to see a foreigner around the area.

    ¡°Yes. Why are you going out to sea?¡±

    Ben turned to answer his greeting as well as ask him a question.

    ¡°The fishes that we¡¯re catching here are allme and uninteresting so I¡¯m going out there to catch the best fish!¡±

    ¡°Ooooooh?!!! The best? What kind of fish is it?!¡±

    ¡°Forget about those faded tfish and rockfish, there are diamonds out there that aren¡¯t usually caught!¡±

    ¡°Woooooow¡­¡­!¡±

    The young man¡¯s eyes widened in shock as if he couldn¡¯t believe about what he had just heard. Then, he leaned over and asked him excitedly¡­

    ¡°By any chance, can I go with you?¡±

    ¡°Uhm¡­¡­ You, boy?¡±

    Ben looked at him up and down. His appearance looked too shabby for someone to go fishing. He was wearing a rapier on his back as well as a helmet on his head.

    As if realizing that it was rude to greet someone without showing his face, the man quickly took off his helmet. What greeted Ben was a handsome smiling face.

    ¡°Hehe. I also want to go with you!¡±

    The young man took off his helmet as a sign of courtesy and respect for me!

    ¡°Boy, what is your job ss?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m a chef. Ah, I¡¯ll make you delicious food with whatever we caught on the way!¡±

    ¡°A, a chef.¡±

    Ben rubbed his chin in thought. It was true that there would be plenty of fish that would be caught on their way and it would be amazing if he could eat them more deliciously than usual!

    ¡°Okay, get on!¡±

    ¡°Thank you very much!¡±

    The young man quickly boarded the boat as it quietly started to depart from the port.

    ***

    Lee Minhwa¡¯s eyes were trembling wildly like a leaf shaking in a storm.

    ¡°T, Team Leader!!!¡±

    Team Leader Park hurried over when he heard her voice that sounded much more urgent and hurried than normal.

    ¡°What¡¯s the problem?¡±

    Team Leader Park frowned as he followed her finger that was pointing shakily at the monitor.

    ¡°Ben? He¡¯s going together with Ben now?¡±

    The reason why both Lee Minhwa and Team Leader Park were so shocked was because of the owner of the boat that Minhyuk was riding on.

    ¡°Of all the boats that he could have boarded, how did he board the boat of one of the Most Powerful Men?¡±

    ***

    Footnotes

    [Attribute Artifact] - Artifacts that have a specific attribute (e.g. fire, water, earth, wind). In this case, it is attributed to Kongie. Which meant that it is only for Kongie. Back

    [Rapier] - a light, thin and sharp pointed sword. It is used mainly for trusting. Imagine the sword used for fencing. Something like that. Mainly used for stabbing as you need a lot of power to be able to sh with it. Back

    [Baron] - a title of honour or a rank of nobility. It is the lowest title just below that of a viscount. The female counterpart is baroness. Barons are men who pledged their loyalty and service to his superior in return for and and territory that he could pass on to his heirs. They are usually addressed as Lord or Lady. Back

    [Bar] - bar is not considered as part of the peerage or the rank of nobility. However, this title can also be inherited. It is said to be belonging to the lesser nobility. It is below that of a baron but higher than a knight. It¡¯s female counterpart is a baress. They are usually addressed as Sir or Dame. Barcy was awarded as a way for the royal family to umte funds. Basically, they are those merchants or rich individuals who wanted to have a title. Back

    As a side, this is the ranking of sses in medieval Europe

    Commoner < Knight < Bar < Baron < Viscount < Count < Marquis < Duke < Archduke < Royal Highness

    TL¡¯s note!

    Minhyuk, who had just be handsome in the eyes of the employees of Athenae, has now once more regained his honor and became the number 1 troublemaker again. LOL.

    PR¡¯s note!

    Poor devs. They just can¡¯t catch a break with Minhyuk, can they?

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 147 - The Old Man And The Sea

    Chapter 147: The Old Man and the Sea

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    44 The Old Man and the Sea

    ¡°To be precise, he was one of the Most Powerful Men in the past.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    Ben, the person that Minhyuk hitched a boat ride with right now, was one of the most important and valuable NPCs in the newly opened Northern Continent update. He had disappeared from the eyes of the public for quite a long time. He had disappeared right after his son¡¯s death and was promptly forgotten about the people. Over quite a long time, new people had filled in his ce as one of the Most Powerful Men.

    Originally, he was the person who was standing tall on Rumad¡¯s position. Ben was considered to be the eight among the Most Powerful Men. Currently, he was not considered to be a part of the Most Powerful Men so Minhyuk did not hear any notifications about him. In other words, he was like an NPC that was hiding his identity.

    ¡°Ghost Spear Ben¡­¡­¡±

    Team Leader Park mumbled to himself about the codename that was given to Ben. Meanwhile, Lee Minhwa was also mumbling to herself.

    ¡°The monster that Ghost Spear Ben wants to catch and kill is a legendary monster, right?¡±

    Team Leader Park nodded his head when he heard her.

    There hasn¡¯t been a case in the country of anyone sessfully raiding a legendary monster. However, there was an increase of sessful raidings of epic monster hunts just recently. The only reason was because there was a considerable number of epic monsters that were released once the Northern Continent update was implemented. But as of the moment, there was still no case in the country of anyone sessfully raiding a legendary monster. Of course, there were plenty of legendary monsters scattered in the Northern Continent.

    And if you sessfully hunt one¡­¡­

    ¡°The thing that will drop¡­¡­ I believe User Minhyuk would like it very much, right?¡±

    ***

    Ben smiled widely at the wide expanse of blue sea in front of him.

    ¡°Son, aren¡¯t you cold out here?¡±

    The reason why the renowned Ghost Spear became a fisherman was because no fisherman in the Northern Continent had the capabilities to catch the Golden Salmon. In Valkyrie Kingdom, the most skilled fisherman was only at a master fisherman level. However, such a level was not enough for anyone to catch the Golden Salmon. So Ben decided to start his fishing career, there and then. For years, his boat continued to set sail every single day without fail.

    The punk who killed his son was staying in a cave. What was worse was the cave¡­¡­.

    ¡®Only foreigners can get inside that cave.¡¯

    This was the reason why he was trying to catch a Golden Salmon. He wanted to lure the guy out of the cave so he could avenge his son. At the thought of foreigners, he turned his head to look at the foreigner who boarded his boat.

    This young man had introduced himself as a chef. Then, he saw Minhyuk pulling out his fishing rod, loading some bait and throwing the line. He even chanted a weird chant that was like a spell.

    ¡°God, please take my wishes. Please answer my prayers. Dragon King-nim, please give me a tfish and a rockfish!¡±

    Ben couldn¡¯t help butugh at him when he heard his words.

    ¡°This little friend, fishing is not that easy. Do you think you can easily get fish just by praying to the Dragon King? Fishing requires a lot of waiting, waiting, waiting and more waiting.¡±

    In addition, fishing in Athenae was truly difficult so it was hard to find talented fishermen among the people. But for the past several years, aside from eating, all of Ben¡¯s time was dedicated to fishing! He might have been named as the Ghost Spear but he was also a master fisherman.

    But, at that moment¡­¡­

    ¡°I caught one!¡±

    ¡°......Eh?¡±

    Ben was taken aback.

    ¡®Th, this friend is quite lucky!¡¯

    When he first tried his hands with fishing and brought his boat out, he spent 24 hours waiting for a fish to bite.

    But something took his bait as soon as he threw the line?

    Then, the young man loaded another bait and threw his line once more.

    After 5 seconds¡­¡­

    ¡°I caught another one!¡±

    p, p, p, p!

    Once Minhyuk reeled the line and lifted the fishing rod up, an energetic and vigorous fish was seen hanging by the end of the line.

    ¡°Keoheok!?¡±

    Then, Ben thought of something.

    ¡®D, don¡¯t tell me¡­¡­. Is it really because of the prayer?!¡¯

    He also threw the line with great strength before sitting in front of the rod and murmuring to himself.

    ¡°God, please take my wishes. Please answer my prayers. Dragon King-nim, please let me catch a Golden Salmon!¡±

    ***

    The moment Minhyuk lifted his fishing rod and made the posture of throwing he could immediately see a red spot!

    ¡®As expected of the dexterity stat!¡¯

    It was the special privilege of the dexterity stat! He could see where he needed to throw the line and how much strength was needed thanks to his DEX. However, even though there was a red circle that could aid him in fishing, it was still divided into narrower or wider circles.

    Minhyuk loaded his fishing rod with bait and casted the line towards one of the circles with as much strength as he could. As soon as the line was casted, a fish immediately bit on the bait.

    [You have casted the line at a fairly good spot.]

    [You have acquired a rockfish.]

    [You have gained 1 DEX.]

    p, p, p, p!

    ¡°I caught one!¡±

    A fresh rockfish! This guy is even pping wildly!

    Then, Minhyuk suddenly thought of something.

    ¡®Huh? Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡­. That red circle¡­¡­?¡¯

    It was a huge circle. There were plenty of huge circles all over the seapared to the smaller ones. For about 30 huge circles, there was at least one small circle. To test his theory, Minhyuk quickly casted his line to a huge circle and not long after, a fish was caught.

    [You have casted the line at a fairly good spot.]

    [You have acquired a tfish.]

    ¡°Kyaa!¡±

    A fresh and energetic tfish! Minhyuk kept on casting his line and everytime he pulled it out there would be fish hanging on the end of the line.

    Then, he turned his head around.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°God, please take my wishes. Please answer my prayers. Dragon King-nim, please let me catch a Golden Salmon!¡±

    The old man, who introduced himself as Ben, was praying hard. He was doing the same prayer that Minhyuk did for fun earlier.

    There¡¯s no way that we could get more fish because of the Dragon King, right?

    But Ben showed great sincerity.

    At that moment¡­

    ¡°Dragon Kinggggggg!¡±

    He even shouted at the top of his lungs with his hands stretched out towards the sky. He looked like a devout fanatic with how sincere he was acting.

    ¡®Are the elderly really this superstitious?¡¯

    After he finished his prayers, Ben¡¯s eyes widened when he saw his fishing line going taut.

    A fish bit the bait!

    He turned to look at Minhyuk with a surprised expression on his face.

    ¡°Ooooooh¡­¡­! I prayed like you did and it worked!¡±

    Minhyuk was quite confused with what Ben said. Without waiting any further, Ben lifted his fishing rod with all his might. And what appeared was¡­...

    ¡°These are shoes!¡±

    Shoes.

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand why these people throw their trash in this beautiful sea!¡±

    Ben looked a bit angry. It was unknown whether he was angry at the people who threw the shoes in the sea or he was angry at himself for catching the shoes.

    In the next moment, Minhyuk was able to catch another fish. Minhyuk moved quickly while Ben looked at him grumpily.

    ¡®No, this friend¡­¡­ It turned out that he is a talented fisherman?!¡¯

    ¡°Hoo, it¡¯s a big catch¡­¡­! Heok?!¡±

    Minhyuk looked at it with surprise and tion. He was already quite happy with catching all those tfish and rockfish but this one took the cake!

    [You have casted the line at a fairly good spot.]

    [You have acquired a flower crab.]

    Because it was a flower crab that looked fresh and yummy!

    ¡®This is heaven¡­¡­!¡¯

    He did not need to do anything special, just with his fishing rod and some bait he would be able to get anything that he wanted!

    ¡°You look so delicious¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk smiled happily as he looked at the crab that was hanging on his fishing rod.

    Then, he heard Ben trying his luck as he casted another line.

    ¡°Boy, how did you pray to the Dragon King? Why are you catching things so well?¡±

    ¡°That was just a joke!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Minhyuk finally realized that Ben had mistaken his prayers as the reason why he was able to catch fish so well.

    ¡°Boy, how long have you been fishing?¡±

    ¡°I did it for the first time today.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Ben was left speechless. He had been doing this for several years so did that mean that he was worse than someone who just did it for the first time today?

    At that moment, another fish bit on the line that Minhyuk had casted.

    ¡°Wow, it¡¯s a big catch! It¡¯s a big catch!¡±

    ¡°......Actually, fishing is something that anyone can do but if you want to be hailed as a skilled fisherman then you have to catch special kinds of fish.¡±

    ¡°Hoo. Special fish? Is that like the Golden Salmon that you mentioned earlier?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. We¡¯re now at the spot where that guy is usually seen.¡±

    ¡°Oho!¡±

    Minhyuk was so excited. They were at the spot where the special fish that Ben was talking about was known toe out!

    After testing out the red circles for some time, Minhyuk finally concluded his little experiment.

    ¡®As expected, it really is a prediction!¡¯

    Right now, Minhyuk could see five small red circles. This was a number that was far higher than what he had usually seen earlier.

    ¡®The ones in the smaller circle must be more special!¡¯

    Minhyuk was quite sure of this. After all, he had tested his theory for quite some time and it really did coincide with what he thought.

    Ben suddenly spoke up as if he wanted to repair his broken pride as a fisherman.

    ¡°You¡¯re just being lucky today so don¡¯t think that you¡¯re good at fishing with just that. It¡¯s much harder to catch a special fish. But I¡¯ll try and hook one up so you can see how it¡¯s done. After all, I¡¯m someone who has fished here for 5 years.¡±

    Minhyuk casted another line as he listened to Ben talk. This time, he had set his sights on the smaller circle.

    [You have casted the line at the best spot.]

    [You have acquired a Fantastic Flower Crab.]

    It was the notification for the best! This notification only popped out when he casted his line on a small circle. It seemed like what he had thought earlier was truly the case. The smaller circles were really housing those special fish that Ben was talking about earlier.

    ¡°Yeah! It¡¯s a Fantastic Flower Crab!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Ben had been fishing in this sea for years but it took him three years to catch one Fantastic Flower Crab. Looking at Minhyuk, his nose had tingled and he felt sour. He felt like crying with how good Minhyuk was at fishing.

    ¡®No, I can catch that too!¡¯

    But there were no fish that took his bait even after 1 hour, 2 hours, 3 hours, 4 hours of waiting.

    ¡°Hooo! It¡¯s a big catch!¡±

    ¡°Assarabia Colombia! Huh? I want to drink Colombian coffee¡­¡­ Hoo!¡±

    ¡°Another big catch!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    He couldn¡¯t catch any fish at all so he was left speechless with how bountiful Minhyuk¡¯s harvest was.

    When Minhyuk turned around, he saw that Ben hadn¡¯t caught a single fish at all.

    ¡®Y, you said that you have been fishing for 5 years but you¡¯re really bad at it, huh¡­¡­¡¯

    Ben¡¯s back looked extremely deste. It seemed like he felt sad and depressed with how unlucky he was today.

    When he thought about it, Ben was a nice person who gave him a free ride on his boat. He ought to do something so he wouldn¡¯t feel so sad. After all, he even brought him to the spot where the special fish could be caught, right?

    ¡°Don¡¯t be too discouraged. Well,e on! I¡¯ll make you something delicious!¡±

    ¡°Ahem, ahem. Something delicious?¡±

    Ben slowly turned his head to look at him. In fact, he was the worst cook that one could ever encounter. Because of that, all he could eat when he was at sea was sashimi.

    ¡°Yes. Let¡¯s see.¡±

    Minhyuk used his Create a Recipe skill in hopes of helping this old man with his poor(?) fishing skills.

    And the recipe that came out was¡­¡­

    (Flower Crab Ramyeon Recipe for Ben)

    Required Ingredients: Fantastic Flower Crab, Barade¡¯s Green Onions, Bean Sprouts, Cheongyang Peppers, Shin Ramyeon

    Expected Dish Grade: Rare ~ Epic

    Expected Effects:

    ©¥ A dramatic increase in Ben¡¯s fishing skills.

    ©¥ +1 in Ben¡¯s Spear Skill: Ghost Spear

    ¡®Huh¡­¡­?¡¯

    Minhyuk looked at the recipe and felt somewhat strange. Once he saw the end of the effects in the recipe, he couldn¡¯t help but feel that it was strange.

    ¡®Ghost Spear? What¡¯s that?¡¯

    Is Ben proficient in that Ghost Spear Skill?

    Minhyuk couldn¡¯t help but tilt his head in confusion since all he could see was an ordinary old man in front of him.

    ¡®Maybe he used to be a spearman in the past?¡¯

    However, he did not get himself entangled with it. After all, his father used to tell him that he wanted to livefortably as he fished his days away when he grew older.

    Perhaps, Ben was a retired soldier who became a fisherman after retiring?

    Minhyuk did not ask any questions and just thought about it to himself. There was something more important in front of him. As he read the recipe again, he couldn¡¯t help but be filled with excitement.

    ¡®Wow. My goodness. Flower crab ramyeon!¡¯

    Where was he right now? He was sitting on a boat as he floated in the middle of a blue, glittering sea!

    Shwaaaa!

    Whenever the wind blew, the waves of the sea would hit the side of their boat and rock them slightly. Their bodies would sway and tremble as they tried to bnce themselves. Just sitting in a boat would cause their bodies to be overwhelmed with fatigue which in turn would trigger an extreme hunger in them.

    At times like these, what better food to eat than flower crab ramyeon?

    ¡°Kgghk!¡±

    Minhyuk felt that it was extremely thrilling even though he had only imagined it.

    ¡°I¡¯ll cook you some flower crab ramyeon!¡±

    ¡°Oh? I see, it¡¯s flower crab ramyeon.¡±

    Ben smacked his lips. He looked like he was also happy at the thought of such a delicacy.

    The ingredients needed for the recipe that Ben wanted the most was easy to procure. He already caught the Fantastic Flower Crab and since he was a Korean who loved Shin Ramyeon, he always had it in his inventory. Minhyuk quickly pulled out the ingredients needed and started to cook.

    First, he trimmed off the legs of the crabs. Then, he boiled the water for the soup. He first prepared the soup so he could cook the crabs first before the rest of the ingredients. After preparing the water, he ced the crab inside the pot. Once the crab was cooked to some extent, he added the bean sprouts, cheongyang pepper and the ramen together. After boiling the ingredients together, he finally added the green onions on top of the soup gently.

    The beauty of flower crab ramyeon wouldn¡¯t beplete if there¡¯s no egg in it. You liked this crab ramyeon because it¡¯s both spicy and refreshing, right?

    ck!

    In just an instant, the cooking of the flower crab ramyeon was finished. He waited for a while after closing the lid before opening it again.

    Shwaaaaaa!

    The steam rose and a flower crab that hadpletely reddened greeted them.

    Guuulp©¥

    It was the sound of Ben gulping down his saliva as he looked at the appetizing food in front of him. And just as expected, another copy of the flower crab ramyeon appeared in front of Minhyuk.

    ¡°Oh?¡±

    Ben casted a quick nce at Minhyuk when he saw a kimchi in front of him.

    ¡°Kimchi is the bestbo for ramyeon!¡±

    ¡°Kgghk! You know something huh!¡±

    Minhyuk lifted the noodles up and ced some noodles on his bowl.

    Shwaaa!

    The steam rose along with the noodles. Then, he lifted the pot and poured some soup in his bowl.

    After doing all of that, Minhyuk picked the whole bowl and blew on it rapidly with continuous ¡®Hoo! Hoo!¡¯s before gulping it down.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [?????, ????] - Assarabia Colombia. Apparently there was a book titled as Assarabia Colombia about a family that went to Colombia in pursuit of coffee. It appears that there¡¯s also a song with the same name as well as a song that PSY wanted to name as such. It was also referenced in BTS!Run when Jin answered Assarabia after being asked about the capital of Colombia. Also, Minhyuk said Assarabia Colombia as a pun for Assa! which is yeah! Yes! Yayy! Back

    Note on Flower Crab: Also known as blue crab!

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 148 - The Old Man And The Sea

    Chapter 148: The Old Man and the Sea

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    The vor of the soup changed greatly with the addition of the flower crab, cheongyang peppers and bean sprouts. All in all, it could be described in one word¡­

    Refreshing!

    Just that word alone was enough to describe the vor and taste of the soup.

    ¡°Then, next.¡±

    Minhyuk picked up the noodles from his bowl and¡­

    ¡°Sluuuuuuurp!¡±

    He inhaled all of the noodles that he took from the bowl in one go.

    ¡°Hooooo. It¡¯s really delicious!¡±

    Steam came out of his mouth with every word. The taste was truly delectable that he couldn¡¯t help but get another bite of noodles. This time, the bite of noodles was also packed with plenty of bean sprouts.

    ¡°Sluuuuurp!¡±

    He slurped it all at once and the taste of the crunchy bean sprouts and the chewy noodles permeated in his mouth. Then, he took a sip of the soup with a bite of kimchi.

    ¡°Kgghk!¡±

    Minhyuk couldn¡¯t help but let out a sound of happiness. When he looked at the person sitting in front of him, he could see Ben inhaling the soup from the pot.

    ¡°Keoheo! This soup tastes amazing! It will be better if we have that thing here.¡±

    Ben proceeded to make a gesture as if he was holding a small cup and flicking his wrist as if he was drinking the content of the cup in one shot.

    ¡°It would be a dream if there is soju in here. It¡¯s a shame that I can¡¯t drink in such a dangerous sea.¡±

    As he said this, Minhyuk also picked up the flower crab. Then, he cut the crab in half with his scissors.

    ¡°Ooooh. Look at all this fat.¡±

    ¡°The creatures that you can catch here in the Dragon King¡¯s Sea are all fresh, juicy and plump.¡±

    Minhyuk picked half of the crab and tried to suck off the white flesh from the red shell. As soon as he sucked the shell, the white crab meat immediately went in his mouth. The flower crab meat was chewy and sweet but it still had that savory vor that was amplified by the soup. And the skin that was eaten together with the meat tasted a bit different but it was not that bad.

    ¡°Sluuuurp!¡±

    Minhyuk copied Ben and also held the pot as he slurped the soup down. It might be a spicy flower crab ramyeon but the taste was also simr to a spicy hangover ramyeon. It was truly both refreshing and delicious. Minhyuk¡¯s nose was already running without him even realizing it. After finishing his meal, he blew his nose loudly and the sound even strangely sounded like ¡®Shwiiiiiiii!¡¯. Once Ben finished eating, he heard a string of notifications in his head.

    [You ate a dish from a recipe specially made for you.]

    [You won¡¯t be able to eat another dish from a recipe specially made for you for a month.]

    [You can¡¯t receive any duplicate buffs during the duration of the buff retention period.]

    [Flower Crab Ramyeon.]

    [You have received an increase of 10% on your fishing skill and a +2 on your skill: Ghost Spear for 10 days.]

    ¡°......!¡±

    Ben looked at Minhyuk in surprise.

    ¡®I did not expect such a young and shabby chef like him could be such a great chef¡­¡­!¡¯

    Ben was both in awe and admiration of his skills. Meanwhile, Minhyuk decided to check the progress of the satisfaction bar from his ¡®To Have a Feast with Other People¡¯ quest.

    Earlier, when he fed God Juis, his satisfaction level went up by 33% and with the rest of the people that he fed, he was at 50% now. When he looked at the satisfaction level, Minhyuk tilted his head in confusion.

    [Satisfaction: 56%]

    ¡°......?¡±

    He was quite confused with the numbers disyed in front of him.

    ¡®What¡¯s this?¡¯

    The ranker Crow only gave him a 2% increase while King Varen gave him a slightly higher increase in the bar at a 5% increase. Meanwhile, God Juis directly catapulted his satisfaction level to 50% with an increase of 33% once she ate.

    But now¡­

    ¡®6%?¡¯

    This meant that Old Man Ben was someone that was more influential and stronger than both Crow and King Varen.

    ¡°Shwiiiiiiii!¡±

    The surprised Ben blew his nose loudly before he spoke of his admiration for Minhyuk¡¯s cooking.

    ¡°Hoho. I have never eaten so well like this before. And boy, the strength of your cooking is also great!¡±

    [Ben¡¯s favorability has increased.]

    [Ben¡¯s favorability has increased.]

    ¡°And your fishing skills are also out of this world.¡±

    Ben had thought about this when he saw him catch a fish whenever he casted his line.

    ¡®I wonder if this guy can catch the Golden Salmon?¡¯

    Ben couldn¡¯t stop his excitement and anticipation as he started to tell his story.

    ¡°Boy, there¡¯s a favor that I want to ask of you. Will you listen to my story?¡±

    Minhyuk could smell the scent of a quest.

    ¡®There¡¯s a chance that something delicious wille out, right?¡¯

    Then, Ben began his tale.

    ¡°A few years ago, I was still wandering all over the world. At that time, I had a son. My one and only son.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head when he heard him begin his story.

    ¡°Once a year, I would go and meet with my son. Whenever that timees around, my son would run to this sea, you know? It¡¯s because my favorite food can be found here.¡±

    Ben looked mncholic as he recalled the past.

    ¡°But one day, my son never came back from here. That bastard ate my son!¡±

    ¡°That bastard?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. That bastard. He¡¯s a very scary bastard that only lives in the Dragon King¡¯s Sea. He devours anything and everything in this sea and has now gone into a cave. As far as I know, he hasn¡¯t been out for quite a long time now. The only way to lure him out is to use his favorite food, Golden Salmon.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head in understanding as a thought shed through his mind.

    ¡®Golden Salmon¡­¡­ Every time I hear its name, I can¡¯t help but think that it is delicious¡­...¡¯

    His mouth couldn¡¯t help but water at the thought of the pinkish flesh of salmon sashimi!

    ¡°By any chance, are you going to use that Golden Salmon to feed the bastard?¡±

    ¡°No. It¡¯s too precious. It will only be used to lure the bastard out.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head once more while Ben continued to talk.

    ¡°I need to lure the bastard out so is it possible that you catch some Golden Salmon for me?¡±

    [Linked Quest: Catch a Golden Salmon.]

    Rank: SS

    Restrictions: Favorability with Ben.

    Rewards: ???

    Penalty for Failure: Drop in favorability with Ben. You will be kicked out of Ben¡¯s Boat due to the drop of favorability.

    Description: Ben saw a great possibility of acquiring the Golden Salmon through your hands. Catch a Golden Salmon!

    ¡®SS¡­¡­?¡¯

    Minhyuk was quite taken aback with the quest. And it was even a linked quest to boot which meant that aside from catching the Golden Salmon, there would be a few more quests to do in the near future.

    ¡®What the hell, is Golden Salmon really that hard to catch for it to be SS-ranked? Or maybe it¡¯s the process of catching it?¡¯

    He received an SS-ranked quest when he was asked to make a legendary dish to satisfy God Juis. However, right now, there was a quest that was of the same rank right in front of him and the rewards were even marked mysteriously with ¡°???¡±. In the case of ¡°???¡± in the rewards section of the quest, it could either turn out to be the best or the worst reward. But before he epted this quest, there was still one thing that he needed to make sure of.

    ¡°I have a question!¡±

    ¡°Ask away.¡±

    ¡°Who are you exactly?¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    When Ben heard his question, he couldn¡¯t stop himself from showing surprise on his face.

    Did he recognize me? How on earth did he know?

    Then, Minhyuk spoke once more¡­

    ¡°There¡¯s no harpoon in your boat but instead there¡¯s a spear.¡±

    If there was a spear in the boat instead of a harpoon, it was only natural for others to think that the person forgot about their harpoon and hastily brought a spear. But?

    ¡°This sea is not an easy ce for an old man to venture alone in. Besides, the calluses in Old Man Ben¡¯s hands should be from using the spear, right?¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    This was something unexpected for Ben.

    I thought he was just a good chef? But he has keen eyes that can help him assess the situation at hand.

    Ben did not hide anymore as he exined his identity to Minhyuk. After all, it wasn¡¯t easy to ask for a favor without any exnation whatsoever. And Minhyuk who had heard about his story and identity was extremely shocked.

    ¡®He was one of the Most Powerful Men¡­¡­¡¯

    Of course it was in the past tense. However, Minhyuk had fought with one of the Most Powerful Men and knew about their strength. In fact, he couldn¡¯t deny it when other people deemed him lucky when they sessfully hunted one of the Most Powerful Men. But Minhyuk was thinking about something entirely different¡­

    ¡®He was one of the Most Powerful Men¡­¡­? Then, his rewards will definitely not be the worst, right?¡¯

    Of course, Minhyuk was not that interested in the rewards but he was more interested in the Golden Salmon that he was asked to catch and the monster that it was supposed to lure. He was so curious that he asked about it before epting the quest.

    ¡°What kind of monster is the bastard that you¡¯re talking about?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a m golem.¡±

    ¡°......?!¡±

    Minhyuk almost fell down with a thud when he heard his words. His sly food antenna was even twitching rapidly!

    I¡¯m sure that guy tastes delicious!

    ¡°C, m golem?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. All kinds of shellfish in the world are stuck together to create his body.¡±

    ¡°B, by any chance¡­ are there abalones?¡±

    ¡°Of course! Didn¡¯t I tell you? All kinds of shellfish in the world are stuck in his body, mussels, pen shells, scallops, oysters¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°M, my goodness¡­¡­¡±

    Mihyuk trembled in excitement.

    ¡°Mussel soup! Oyster pancakes! And the ms used in grilled ms?!¡±

    ¡°B, boy. Your eyes suddenly changed¡­¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk couldn¡¯t help but shiver as he remembered that time when he drove to the beach with his friends. The sellers stationed by the shore would yell ¡®Buy from me, I¡¯ll make it cheaper for you!¡¯ and trick the people who were passing by.

    A feast, both for the eyes and the stomach, wasid out in the open! There were ms that wereid out on the grill, refreshing mussel soup and other necessary ingredients!

    ¡®Corn cheese¡­¡­!¡¯

    The small ears of corn would beid out in the griller with plenty of cheese sprinkled on top of it. And once the cheese melted, it would cover the whole corn!

    And when the ms get cooked, they will open slowly as if saying ¡®Come here and eat me~ Baby.¡¯, right? There are ms like that here, right?

    ¡°I, I will help Ben-nim avenge your son!¡±

    The light in Minhyuk¡¯s eyes had changed! His eyes were now filled with seriousness and solemnity.

    Ben was deeply moved when he saw how serious Minhyuk was about helping him.

    ¡®M, My goodness¡­¡­.! I can¡¯t believe that my will to fight and live has been ignited for the first time in years¡­¡­!¡¯

    [Ben¡¯s favorability has increased.]

    Minhyuk looked really serious so Ben also felt that burning desire to fight and avenge his son. Then, he replied to him.

    ¡°However, the problem is there¡¯s only one of this creature in this vast sea. This was a story that has been circting around in the Dragon King¡¯s Sea. The story about needing the Golden Salmon to lure out the hiding m golem. It was a story that has been passed on for many generations too.¡±

    The Dragon King¡¯s Sea was vast and wide. This was the only reason why Ben was having a hard time catching a Golden Salmon. It was because it was hard to find a single existence in such a vast area.

    Minhyuk pondered deeply about this problem until he remembered something.

    ¡°Do you know about the special abilities or effects that the Golden Salmon has?¡±

    ¡°Hmmm. I only know that once you have eaten the Golden Salmon it will immediately strengthen your skills and abilities.¡±

    Ho.

    Minhyuk faintly guessed about it being a special bonus point. The special bonus point that could increase the stats like DEX, holy power and others of the same nature! He was not sure if the Golden Salmon could raise those stats but he guessed that it was a bit simr to that.

    Then, he heard Ben say¡­

    ¡°I¡¯ve actually seen the guy but I failed to catch it! It was right in front of me too!¡±

    When he recalled about that incident, Ben still couldn¡¯t help but sigh in disappointment. Minhyuk looked at him sighing in disappointment and he wanted to assure him immediately. There was a reason why Minhyuk asked Ben about the ¡®Special Abilities¡¯ of the Golden Salmon. It was because he had an easier way of finding it.

    ¡°I think we can find the point where it¡¯s located right away.¡±

    ¡°W, what?!¡±

    Ben¡¯s eyes widened imperceptibly.

    How?! I have only seen it once in all my five years of sailing in this seas.

    At that moment, Minhyuk used his ¡®Ingredient Tracking¡¯ skill. Then, he chose Japanese Food from the selection of food in the hologram that popped up.

    [What is your desired buff effect?]

    ¡®Boosts the ability that I want.¡¯

    [Searching for the ingredients in a 10-km radius.]

    [Ingredient Tracking has seeded.]

    [Golden Salmon is a legendary ingredient that can add a special point.]

    [The dish is avable for Lv2 Food God¡¯s Cooking Skills.]

    [Suggested Menu: Salmon Sashimi.]

    ¡®Kyaa!¡¯

    Minhyuk couldn¡¯t help but feel surprised. That was right. Salmon would be delicious if you eat it as sushi but it would taste best if you sliced it intorge enough pieces and ate it as it is. It was delicious whether you dipped it in soy sauce with wasabi, dip it in gochujang or wrap it in seaweed with radish sprouts and sliced onions. He was also surprised that the ingredient was sessfully tracked in one go.

    ¡®It¡¯s definitely good that the radius of the Ingredient Tracking skill has increased to 10-km.¡¯

    As Minhyuk looked at the hologram, he could clearly see the red mark.

    ¡°This way!¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    For a moment, Ben couldn¡¯t understand what Minhyuk meant.

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡±

    ¡°I already found where it¡¯s located. Let¡¯s go this way!¡±

    Ben¡¯s eyes widened. In fact, he was quite suspicious but he had nothing to lose already so he pulled the anchor up.

    Shwaaaaaaa!

    The boat quickly caught the wind as it headed towards the area where the red point was marked at a high speed. Minhyuk could see that they were quickly approaching the area where the red point was located and at one point, they had approached it very closely.

    ¡®There¡¯s really no Golden Salmon in here, right?¡¯

    This was the thought that shed through Ben¡¯s mind.

    Is it really here?

    At that moment¡­

    Fwiiiiish!

    He saw a salmon swimming in the water with its golden scales shimmering brightly under the rays of the sun. The light that the salmon¡¯s body was emitting was in and on itself a sight to behold.

    [You have found the legendary Golden Salmon.]

    [You have acquired 30 reputation points.]

    Ben looked at Minhyuk incredulously.

    ¡®H, how in the world¡­¡­!¡¯

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Ah, the ingredient tracking skill is alive! Man. I wonder when I¡¯ll see Minhyuk¡¯s stats again. I¡¯m kinda missing it.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    By the time we see Minhyuk¡¯s stats, he will love have be overpowered.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 149 - The Old Man And The Sea

    Chapter 149: The Old Man and the Sea

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Isn''t this the Golden Salmon that I wasn''t able to find for the past 5 years?

    Ssh!

    At that moment, the Golden Salmon went back to a deeper part of the waters. At the sound of the ssh, Ben quickly came back to his senses. He had no time to be in a daze! He quickly rummaged in his boat to find his. Once he found his, he spread it a bit before throwing it out of the waters.

    Shwaaaaaa!

    A big unfolded into the sea.

    "Heave-ho!"

    After quite some time, Ben decided to pull the up to check if he caught it. However, Minhyuk shook his head at the side. He was thinking something along the lines of ''He didn''t catch it.'' as Ben pulled harder on the. And just like what Minhyuk had expected, the was empty.

    ''Crazy¡­¡­!''

    A scarlet red circle was clearly visible to Minhyuk''s eyes. There were circles that were visible to Minhyuk like this before but there were two reasons why he was quite surprised.

    One. The red circle was as small as a needle. For him, he felt like it was somewhat impossible to throw a bait and cast his line over something as small as that.

    Second. It was the speed of the red circle. It was moving at such a crazy speed that he couldn''t even follow it with his eyes. It was extremely fast.

    In fact, there were plenty of other red circles in the area. However, most of them were moving slowly or were big enough for a bait to be thrown into. On the other hand, the Golden Salmon had a smaller radius and was too fast for him to throw his bait and cast his line.

    Minhyuk quickly moved his hands as he casted his line over the fast moving circle.

    Shwaaaaa!

    As if the circle was mocking him, it swam straight out of his line.

    Then, how should we go about it?

    "Old man! Spear! The spear!"

    Ben was one of the Most Powerful Men and could wield the Ghost Spear. If they couldn''t catch it, then the next best thing would be to poke right through it. However, not long after, Ben said something that ced Minhyuk in a desperate situation.

    "A dead salmon¡­¡­ Can''t lure out a great predator like the m golem."

    "......"

    Minhyuk''s brows creased in frustration.

    No, now that I think about it, if Ben threw his spear and directly hit the Golden Salmon¡­ Even if it was bigger than normal fish it will still be blown to pieces.

    There was only one thing that Minhyuk could do right now.

    Cast my line!

    Krrrrrrrrrr!

    The punk got away.

    Cast it again!

    Krrrrrrr~rrrrrrr!

    So he kept on casting his line, reeling it in and casting it again. He had no other choice but to do this again and again since the bastard was moving around like crazy. It didn''t even leave the vicinity of the boat as if it was mocking and teasing them.

    An hour had already passed and Minhyuk still kept on casting and reeling his line.

    [You have gained 1 DEX.]

    Nevertheless, he still had not caught the Golden Salmon. And after quite some time, it leisurely disappeared as if it had be tired of ying with them.

    "......"

    "Goddamn!"

    Ben looked at the water desperately. He had been looking for it for 5 years straight but he still lost it right now.

    Then, Minhyuk spoke up.

    "We''re not done yet."

    "......"

    "We can find it again."

    Based on the direction of the red dot, Minhyuk pointed to a ce as he urged Ben to move.

    "Let''s go, once more!"

    The boat set sail once more and arrived at the area where the Golden Salmon was again.

    They casted their lines.

    The bastard escaped.

    Casted.

    Escaped.

    Minhyuk believed that there was nothing in the world that he could not eat if he put all of his efforts on it.

    He who does not work, neither shall he eat! No pain, no gain. The food will taste more delicious after working hard!

    In addition, his will was burning ever so brightly since the Golden Salmon that he had caught a glimpse of earlier looked truly delectable.

    After using it as a bait, then I can eat it!

    So he kept on casting and casting his line in hopes of catching the elusive fellow.

    In a blink of an eye, two hours had already gone by.

    [You have gained 1 DEX.]

    [Your Skill: Will has been triggered.]

    [All skills and abilities rted to DEX will increase by 27% temporarily.]

    As he heard the notifications, it seemed like the tiny dot that represented the Golden Salmon grew a tiny bit bigger.

    Minhyuk''s will had grown stronger. He kept on casting his line for 1 hour, 2 hours, 4 hours, 7 hours. Until the sun set and even until a new morning dawned on them. However, Minhyuk kept on chasing and casting his line over and over again.

    [Beginner''s Fishing has leveled up.]

    Ben had taught Minhyuk his fishing skills. In fact, just based on Minhyuk¡¯s dexterity level, he could already be considered as an amazing fisherman. However, there would be additional benefits that he could get once he raised his skill from beginner to intermediate to master level so he decided to learn it for now. Right now, his beginner¡¯s fishing skill had already reached Lv8. This was because Minhyuk kept on casting his line without any rest.

    Ben looked at him with admiration in his eyes.

    ¡®F, for my child¡¯s revenge¡­¡­!¡¯

    For his child¡¯s revenge, this young man that he had only met just recently was trying his hardest. He kept on casting his fishing line with a solemn expression on his face without even a single wink of sleep. Sweat was even dripping down from his forehead as he tapped his sore back before casting the line once again.

    However, the thought running through Minhyuk¡¯s mind waspletely different.

    ¡®I want to catch this fellow quickly so I can eat something delicious!¡¯

    Trapped in his own illusions, Ben thought¡­¡­

    ¡®I¡¯m willing to do anything for him¡­¡­!¡¯

    But in reality, he had nothing left to his name. After his son had died, he had given up all the power and riches that he had and turned his back on everything. Perhaps he had done so because he strongly believed that his son had died like that because of him so he gave up everything and focused his all on fishing here. He left behind all of his gold, treasure, power¡­¡­ everything that he had.

    Because of that, I have nothing. If only I have something¡­

    He looked down at his callused hands.

    ***

    Genie, Khan, Locke and the rest of the guild members of Legend Guild were all looking for quests all over the Northern Continent.

    ¡°Is there anything I can do for you?¡±

    ¡°Keuhahaha. My heals can treat you. Would you like me to give you a treatment?¡±

    ¡°Are there any girls who look like Robin here? I¡¯m Ace who beat the red-footed Jeff from Dongha Elementary!¡±

    All of them were looking for quests that had some things inmon. One, it should be a shareable quest. And two, it should be a quest that could give them liege.

    Liege. It was literally about faithfulness. This was also one of the things that were necessary for the guild. Especially because the NPCs were the people who were local to this ce. It was very important for the guild to be able to capture the hearts and loyalty of the influential vassals from different households. In particr, they needed someone who would fully support the person who would receive the title from their guild.

    ¡°Why isn¡¯t Minhyuk answering our whispers? It¡¯s not even turned off, right?¡±

    When Genie sent a whisper to him, this was what she sent.

    [Genie: Minhyukie, do you want to be a nobleman?]

    Of course, Genie could also fill in her work and increase her reputation. However, it would take longer for them to expand their territory and establish such a position as their own. Rather, it would be more efficient for the GM, Genie, to step back and yield to Minhyuk. But Minhyuk hadn¡¯t replied to any of their whispers at all.

    Not long after, Genie saw Khan running forward to where she was.

    ¡°I found a good vassal!¡±

    Genie grinned widely.

    ¡°Oh?¡±

    ¡°He used to be one of the Heavenly Spear Masters in the continent?¡±

    ¡°Wow. It¡¯s really true, right?¡±

    They had all checked the rewards in the shareable quest and had clearly seen the Heavenly Spear Master as part of the list. They had estimated his level and they believed that he was at about Lv400. A level on par with the current top rankers!

    ¡°We really need to have such a vassal!¡±

    Genie grinned happily. Now, the only thing that they needed to do was share the quest once Minhyuk came.

    Then, Khan said¡­

    ¡°But for some reason¡­¡­ Why do I feel like Minhyuk will ask the vassal to do plenty of chores when we¡¯re away?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°Like picking lettuce or maybe cooking ramyeon?¡±

    Genie grinned at his words.

    ¡°Eyyy. There¡¯s no way~¡±

    ***

    Ben made coffee for Minhyuk who was still struggling to fish.

    Minhyuk slowly savored the scent of coffee before sipping. Once he tasted the coffee, his forehead suddenly crumpled.

    ¡°Why is the coffee so nd?¡±

    ¡°......I, is it?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s really too nd. Eyyyy. Ah! You got the amount of water wrong!¡±

    ¡®I, I¡¯m the Ghost Spear Ben but I¡¯m being criticized for making nd coffee¡­¡­!¡¯

    Ben looked nkly at Minhyuk. He wanted to make coffee for Minhyuk who was tirelessly working hard for him! The only problem was¡­¡­ He drank one cup, and then two, three, four cups!

    ¡°As expected of Maxim Coffee~¡±

    Once Minhyuk drank 150 cups¡­¡­

    [You have be addicted to caffeine.]

    [Your heart will beat fast and you won¡¯t be able to fall asleep.]

    [You have an invincible body that can ignore and resist all abnormal states.]

    [You have resisted an abnormal state.]

    ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s zero calories if it¡¯s delicious~¡±

    Minhyuk drank 200 cups of coffee in one sitting.

    ¡°Right! You¡¯re good at measuring the water now!¡±

    ¡°Hohoho! And you¡¯re good at drinking coffee! Hohoho!¡±

    ¡°Just keep on doing it like that! You¡¯re doing it right!¡±

    ¡°Hohoho. Right. I¡¯ll work hard on making coffee!¡±

    Then, Ben suddenly tilted his head in confusion.

    ¡®Huh? What¡¯s this, why am I so happy with suchpliments?¡¯

    He did not know the reason but he strangely felt happy.

    It had been two days since they had started this chase and capture strategy. Minhyuk knew that catching it was impossible with what they had right now. Another method. They need to find another way.

    Ben kept on refilling the coffee in his cup as Minhyuk thought hard while he one shotted the coffee in his cup! And at that moment¡­ Minhyuk finally thought of something!

    ¡®......Why didn¡¯t I think of this earlier?¡¯

    I relied too much on fishing!

    He looked down at the salmon that was still energetic and moving fast in the water.

    ¡®Create a Recipe¡­¡­!¡¯

    There was no guarantee that the Create a Recipe skill would work on beings that were not human-like. And this skill would show him what the person would like to eat the most. And what about fishing? Fishing required plenty of waiting and patience as you waited for the fish to take your bait. In other words, he wanted to make use of these skills to lure the Golden Salmon into taking the bait voluntarily.

    That¡¯s why, perhaps it was already easier than what I had thought?

    Minhyuk quickly put his thoughts into action as he looked at the Golden Salmon that was happily swimming in their vicinity. The Golden Salmon had alreadye up to the point where the bastard could mock and tease them leisurely. However, no matter how hard Ben tried, the punk was still too fast for him to catch.

    ¡®Create a Recipe!¡¯

    (Shellfish Bait Recipe for Golden Salmon)

    Required Ingredients: Fantastic Flower Crab, Faded Shrimp, Giant Lobster¡­...(omitted)

    Expected Dish Grade: Rare ~ Epic

    Expected Effects: ©¥ An increase in the special points.

    ¡°......It worked!¡±

    Minhyuk had called for all the luck in this world. He was not sure but he still tried it just in case it worked and it worked!

    ¡°We need some Fantastic Flower Crabs, Faded Shrimps and Giant Lobsters!¡±

    ¡°......Is that so? Then, let¡¯s quickly catch them!¡±

    Ben started fishing as soon as Minhyuk said those words. He did not have one bit of suspicion towards Minhyuk anymore since he had been observing him and his diligence since day one.

    [You have acquired a Squid.]

    [You have acquired a Giant Lobster.]

    [You have acquired an Angler Fish.]

    [You have acquired a Fantastic Flower Crab.]

    They were able to fish for all of the ingredients in just six hours. Once he had collected all of the ingredients, he began to ground all of the shellfish. In addition, his Food God¡¯s Acquisition Skill also helped him in making the shellfish bait.

    After hepleted the bait, he hung a fist-sized bait at the end of his fishing line. He turned to look at Ben. He could clearly see the nervousness and tension in Ben¡¯s eyes. Then, he slowly lowered the fishing line.

    Plop!

    The bait went in the water with a loud sound. And once again, he could see that red dot moving quickly towards where they were.

    He kept on chanting ¡®Please catch the Golden Salmon!¡¯ in his head. This was how the both of them waited. They waited and waited for 1 hour, 2 hours, 5 hours.

    ¡°Eyy. I guess it¡¯s too smart to take the bait¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°......Hoo. I guess there¡¯s still a fish that is smart in front of the bait that they want the most.¡±

    The two of them sighed. They were on the verge of giving up as they talked mindlessly. Minhyuk did not even notice the red dot that was quickly approaching the bait.

    Then, at that moment¡­

    Twang©¥

    The fishing line suddenly went taught!

    ¡°......!¡±

    Minhyuk, with his wide open eyes, quickly pulled the fishing rod as he reeled the line in with all his strength. Ben, who was sitting right next to him, looked at the water nervously. Not long after, the huge body of the Golden Salmon was pulled out of the water.

    Puhaaaaaa!

    And along with it, a series of notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s head.

    [You have seeded in catching one of the Legendary Fish, the Golden Salmon.]

    [You have acquired the Title: Fishing King, Kang Taegong.]

    ***

    [Fishing King, Kang Taegong] - ??? ???, Kang Taegong is a schr who wrote yukdosamryak. He was also a contributor of the Zhou Dynasty under the ruling of King Mu. His real name is Kang Sang. He was a person who had spent the first half of his life fishing. He had been fishing for more than 60 years until his death at the age of 139. He fished as a hobby to revive his vitality. Being called Kang Taegong meant two things, someone who had enough patience to wait and fish or someone irresponsible, passive andzy who just fishes and does not care about any other chores. I believe this is the first one.Fishing Kang Taegong who has enough patience to wait and catch fishes! Back

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 150 - The Old Man And The Sea

    Chapter 150: The Old Man and the Sea

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Along with those notifications, the quest window had also changed.

    [Linked Quest: Hunt the m Golem.]

    Rank: SS

    Restrictions: Favorability with Ben.

    Rewards: ???

    Penalty for Failure: Sharp decrease in Favorability with Ben.

    Description: You have finally caught the Golden Salmon! Now, the only thing that you need to do is to use the Golden Salmon to lure the m Golem out!

    Minhyuk trembled in excitement.

    ¡®Kgghk! This is just like what father said, the taste of your hands!¡¯

    Without realizing it, he was already feeling immense happiness. The feeling of finally being able to catch the fish after waiting for hours on end was truly delightful.

    Ben felt like his heart was bursting with tension the moment the fish bit the bait and once the fish broke out of the water, he couldn¡¯t help but let out both a sigh of relief and happiness. He quickly tied a rope around the body of the salmon.

    ¡°This rope is magical. You can never untie it once you are tied in it.¡±

    The scales of this fish was slippery so to prevent it from jumping away from their grasp, Ben had specifically prepared a magical rope.

    Minhyuk nodded his head as he checked the title that he received.

    (Fishing King, Kang Taegong)

    Unique Title

    Title Effects:

    ©¥ 1.5x increase in your chances of catching a special fish.

    ©¥ +10 increase in all 5 of your basic stats.

    Minhyuk smiled happily when he saw that there was an increase in his chances of catching special fish.

    p, p, p, p!

    The Golden Salmon was pping wildly as it desperately tried to get out of the boat. Ben, who already finished tying it to a rope, tied the end of the rope to his hand before throwing the Golden Salmon back in the water.

    Ben was one of the Most Powerful Men so his strength could easily subdue the Golden Salmon. This was also the reason why they were not worried that the Golden Salmon would run away because theyck the strength.

    ¡°Now, all we have to do is lure that bastard out!¡±

    Ben¡¯s expression was solemn.

    It has been 5 years. I have waited every single day for this moment in those 5 years.

    The boat slowly moved.

    Ben chewed on a Dorito bubblegum. Minhyuk copied him and chewed on a Dorito bubblegum too. Then, he spat out the gum after chewing it.

    ¡°......Why did you spit it out?¡±

    ¡°The sweetness is gone. Oh, right! We have to go under the sea!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    It was the Dorito Bubblegum that could help anyone breathe under water freely but Minhyuk ate five in one go!

    ¡°I have to chew a lot so I won¡¯t have to spit it out.¡±

    ¡°......Uhm.¡±

    Ben nodded his head in a daze.

    ¡°Follow me closely.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    Ben jumped off of the boat with the spear strapped on his back. Minhyuk quickly followed him into the water.

    [Due to the effect of Dorito Bubblegum, you will be able to breathe underwater for a duration of one hour.]

    Minhyuk felt that it was truly something amazing. He was under the sea but he could still breathe freely. Minhyuk could swim well so he could easily follow Ben under the sea.

    Just like that, they arrived at the bottom of the sea. He could see plenty of mysterious creatures growing near the rocks as well as hidden crabs and school of fishes that were swimming past them.

    Swish! Swish! Swish!

    And naturally, Minhyuk did not forget to snatch them up and put them in his inventory as he followed behind Ben. He happily swam as he grabbed seafood along the way and without realizing it, they had already arrived in front of a cave. Once theynded on the ground, he felt like he was walking on straightnd instead of walking on the ground under the water. This was also one of the effects of the Dorito Bubblegum.

    The scene at the depths of the cave was unclear since it was covered in darkness. Minhyuk squinted his eyes as he peered inside.

    ¡®There are grilled ms here¡­¡­!¡¯

    Ben tugged the Golden Salmon and guided it in front of the cave. The light that was glowing from the body of the Golden Salmon slowly stretched out inside the cave. The inside of the cave was illuminated, that was how bright the light of the Golden Salmon was.

    Ben held the shaft of his spear tightly.

    ¡®Son¡­¡­!¡¯

    When he turned his head, he caught sight of Minhyuk peering inside the cave.

    ¡®Come to think of it¡­¡­¡¯

    When he thought about it carefully, his son would be about the same age as Minhyuk if he had been alive.

    ¡®It¡¯s been quite a while since Istughed.¡¯

    But when he cooked ramyeon for him, he felt that it was truly delicious. And when he saw him eating ramyeon deliciously he couldn¡¯t help butugh.

    ¡®It¡¯s been years since Ist ate with other people.¡¯

    He was truly grateful to this kind, young man named Minhyuk.

    Then, he saw Minhyuk spitting out the gum again.

    ¡°Keoheok! M, my breath¡­...!¡±

    He quickly spat out the gum in his mouth as he popped in another 10 Dorito Bubblegums in his mouth.

    ¡°Phew¡­¡­ Dorito gum is really delicious!¡±

    He was a strange man, but he was definitely grateful to him.

    Time flew by as they waited in front of the cave.

    1 hour, 2 hours, 5 hours, 12 hours. They have been waiting for quite a long time now.

    ¡°......What the hell?¡±

    Old Man Ben couldn¡¯t understand it. In all the years that he had spent in the Dragon King¡¯s Sea, he had seen a variety of creatures including a bipedal fish, mermaids and even guardians. And through them, he had learnt that the way to lure out the m golem was to lure it with the Golden Salmon. ording to them, the m golem had a big appetite but it would lose reason once it sees the light of the Golden Salmon. However, 12 hours had already gone by.

    ¡®W, why the hell is it noting out!¡¯

    Ben was flustered and it was the same for Minhyuk.

    ¡®I, I want to eat grilled ms!¡¯

    Grilled ms.

    This was what friends at Minhyuk¡¯s age would usually do¡­ Generally, one of these friends would have a car or two and his friends would ask him to go to the sea. And the child with the car would be the taxi driver as theyughed and talked among themselves. And once everyone fell asleep¡­¡­

    ¡®This fXckers!¡¯

    The friend with the car would touch his nose in helplessness at his friends who had fallen asleep and left him alone. But once they arrived at the beach, they would all hang out and eat grilled ms.

    Meanwhile, it was something like a personal routine for others.

    ¡®Hey, let¡¯s get ms today! Call?!¡¯

    That should already be satisfying but not for Minhyuk. He wanted to try them while sitting on the shore and enjoying the sea breeze. Those grilled ms. But that bastard is noting out so Minhyuk turned to Ben and asked him carefully.

    ¡°Do you know how strong this predator is?¡±

    Ben thought for a moment before answering his question.

    ¡°I think it¡¯s as powerful as a knight of a regr empire?¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    Minhyuk tilted his head in thought.

    It seemed like it wasn¡¯t as tough as he thought it to be. In fact, if it was as strong as an imperial knight then its level would be around Lv300~360.

    ¡®I think I can do it?¡¯

    ¡°The reason why that bastard is famous in the Dragon King¡¯s Sea is mainly due to its scarcity. Also, that bastard would only eat things that were not usually eaten and would mainly prey on the trash in the Dragon King¡¯s Sea.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head as he listened intently on what Ben was saying.

    ¡°This is also the reason why the Dragon King of the Dragon King¡¯s Sea said that there was no need to hunt such a guy.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    It was just special because of the scarcity. It seemed like having the legendary added to its name did not necessarily mean that it would be strong. It could also be tagged as legendary based on its rarity. In fact, Minhyuk had seen plenty of monsters whose strength did not match with their rank in the dungeon filled with hungry monsters. It would be easier to think of it like this¡­ Rare or unique mobs would also sometimes exist in dungeons for Lv100 users. One could say that this case was simr to such a scenario.

    ¡°Then, why don¡¯t I go inside and lure the guy out? I¡¯ll take the Golden Salmon with me.¡±

    Ben¡¯s eyes trembled in anxiety when he heard his words.

    ¡°H, how can you go so far inside? There might be danger.¡±

    Minhyuk shook his head when he heard Ben¡¯s worry. He couldn¡¯t keep on waiting like this for a day or two. In addition, it didn¡¯t matter if the fish was tied but they still weren¡¯t sure if it would die sooner orter.

    What if the Golden Salmon dies?

    ¡®Then the taste of the salmon sashimi would drop¡­¡­!¡¯

    Salmon sashimi will only taste good if it was fresh, right?

    Without knowing Minhyuk¡¯s ¡®courage for food¡¯, Ben felt deeply moved.

    ¡°Old Man Ben needs to finish his fishing career. So let¡¯s hunt it down quickly. I¡¯ll be quick and lure it out as soon as possible. Also, I have an invisibility cloak that can hide my body and aura.¡±

    When you think about it, Ben was already an overkill for the m golem since the m golem was not as strong as what Minhyuk had expected.

    Ben could easily kill the m golem if he wanted to, but if it didn¡¯te out then will we just jump around here crazily?

    Then, as if to satisfy his worries, Ben thought of a trick.

    ¡°Just in case something happens, how about we tie this rope on your body? If you tug on it three times in a row then I¡¯ll pull you out quickly. No matter how good you are at fishing and cooking, you¡¯re still a chef, right? You have to be careful. Just be careful.¡±

    Ben had thought that Minhyuk was a chef who had just learned cooking. He had no choice but to think so. After all, if Minhyuk had focused all of his attention on raising his production-rted skills like his fishing and cooking skills then he would have a hard time increasing his power.

    Minhyuk smiled when he heard Ben¡¯s words of concern.

    ¡°But I¡¯m really strong, you know?¡±

    ¡°Hoho. Of course.¡±

    Ben dismissed his remarks as a joke that would relieve his tension. Then, he watched Minhyuk drag the Golden Salmon inside as if he was taking a dog on a walk.

    As soon as he entered the cave, he quickly triggered his abilities that would buff his strength. First, he used Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship to increase all his stats and increase the chances of his additional damage, evasion rate and critical hits. He also used the invisibility effect of Great Mage Rafielt¡¯s Cloak.

    [Invisibility.]

    [Invisibility will fade away after 2 hours. The invisibility will also remain for 2 seconds after an attack.]

    ¡°Oh¡­¡­!¡±

    Ben was shocked when he saw Minhyuk¡¯s body disappear in an instant. Even the rope that was tied on his body disappeared instead, it looked like the golden rope that was tied to the Golden Salmon was connected to the one on his hand.

    Minhyuk walked slowly in the depths of the cave.

    ¡®I heard that it¡¯s the size of a two-ton truck, right?¡¯

    He was told that it was a very huge fellow and that all of the shellfish known to the world are stuck together to form its body. He was sure that the fellow wouldn¡¯t be that hard to find.

    He walked inside the cave with such thoughts. Without realizing it, he had finally arrived at a wide open area. It was about the size of a school auditorium. However, what was surprising to him was the floor. The center of the floor had a wide gaping hole on it.

    ¡®Is this a separate entrance?¡¯

    It was probably a unique setting for this specific dungeon. Minhyuk stood aside and looked on as the fish came swimming past through. What was even more surprising was that there was even trash that came in through the hole.

    ¡®Wow¡­¡­ Do I just have to sit here and fish wille regardless?¡¯

    As he thought about his own fantasies¡­

    Crumble!

    ¡°......?¡±

    Minhyuk saw some rocks falling from above. He slowly lifted his head to look at the cave¡¯s ceiling¡­

    ¡°......!¡±

    Minhyuk was so surprised that he almost let out a loud gasp. He could see the bastard right above him, stered on the ceiling.

    [Named Monster.]

    [You are the first to discover the Legendary Monster: Angry m Golem.]

    [You have gained 20 reputation points.]

    [When hunting the Angry m Golem, you will have a x2 EXP acquisition rate and x2 item drop rate.]

    ¡°......?¡±

    Minhyuk had two things that he was confused about.

    First. The name of the m golem was not just m golem but angry m golem. And the second¡­¡­ Its appearance waspletely different from what he had heard from Ben.

    The bastard looked like it was just a bitrger than an adult male with a height of 2m. It was stered on the cave¡¯s ceiling like it was Spiderman with its head slowly moving as its pair of beady, creepy eyes looked at the surroundings.

    Creaaaaak©¥

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes met with the monster¡¯s eyes however, he just couldn¡¯t see Minhyuk. But at this moment, Minhyuk could finally see that there was a ck light shining out of its body. And he could also see the parts and ingredients that could be collected.

    ¡®This means that I can eat it¡­¡­!¡¯

    The fellow was much smaller than what he had expected but he could see that he could harvest a huge amount of shellfish from it.

    At that moment, he saw the fellow open its mouth wide and¡­¡­

    Vwooooooooooom!

    Its head suddenly became as big as a truck. Its mouth had be so big that Minhyuk couldn¡¯t help but gulp in fright. The bastard was trying to suck in the Golden Salmon. However, the size of its mouth and the area where it wanted to swallow included Minhyuk.

    What if the Golden Salmon gets eaten?

    ¡®My Golden Salmon¡­¡­!¡¯

    Minhyuk tightened his grip on the sword in his hand.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [Taste of your hands] - ??, when a person is deemed to be a good cook, they will be praised for the taste of their hands. This could also mean that the person had made the food taste like theirs and not like anyone else. Something uniquely yours but tastes good.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 151 - Grilled Clam

    Chapter 151: Grilled m

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    45 Grilled m

    Kiari, one of the children of the Dragon King, went inside her room despondently. As she closed the door, she couldn¡¯t help but let out a sigh.

    ¡®Jevis, where are you¡­¡­¡¯

    It had been days since Jevis, the third child, had been missing.

    ¡®Did she really run away?¡¯

    No, that can¡¯t be. Although Jevis is the youngest among the three of us, no one trusted and followed the Dragon King more than her.

    Jevis was so loyal to the Dragon King that if she was asked for her rabbit¡¯s liver then she would have dly given it to him at that very moment. That was how much loyalty and love she had for the Dragon King.

    However, Kiari¡¯s eyebrows crumpled in annoyance.

    ¡°That¡­¡­?¡±

    Her head turned to look at the area where her bed was located. There was a piece of paper tucked neatly underneath her bed. When she came forward and pulled it out, she saw that it was a letter.

    [If there is anything in this world that can heal the Dragon King then I will find it no matter what. That¡¯s why I¡¯m going to hunt the predator. I¡¯ll be right back. Kiari.]

    There was also the mark of a rabbit¡¯s paw as if to prove that it was really from her. Perhaps, when Jevis had written the letter and ced it on her desk, the wind had entered through the gaps from the door and disced the letter until it rested underneath her bed.

    ¡®Jevis¡­¡­!¡¯

    Jevis was the weakest among the three of them but it was still a fact that she was one of the Dragon King¡¯s children. It was entirely possible for her to sessfully hunt the legendary m Golem that they had deemed to be a predator.

    Originally, the Dragon King had forbidden the hunting of the m Golem because it eats up the trash scattered around in the Dragon King¡¯s Sea. However, Jevis had ignored the Dragon King¡¯s past remarks and had gone ahead to hunt it. This meant that she was prepared to receive punishment just to find a way to cure the Dragon King. This was how deep her love was for the Dragon King.

    Jevis might have been the weakest among the three of them but she had special powers. Out of the three of them and the entirety of the Dragon King¡¯s Sea, there was no one else who could talk to the God Roves except for her. This was the case ever since they were young. Even the Dragon King couldn¡¯tmunicate with the God Roves!

    This was the reason why her holy power was high and why she excelled in various production jobs. She could easily make a huge batch of potions in one go with fine quality. So Kiari could tell that she wanted to make a potion to feed the Dragon King using the materials from the predator.

    Among them, she was the one with the most amazing buffing ability as well as aggro skills. Her aggro skills were so super that she could even attract stronger and amazing creatures. She was not sure but she believed that it wasn¡¯t entirely impossible for her to draw the attention of the predator.

    But, there was one problem.

    ¡®Why isn¡¯t Jevis back yet¡­¡­?¡¯

    Did something go wrong? No, she can easily take down the predator. Did something unusual happen?

    ¡®D, don¡¯t tell me¡­¡­ Did the predator be angry?!¡¯

    As far as she knew, the predator had only been angry for a total of two times. Once the predator was angered, its body would changepletely and it would be much stronger. The predator¡¯s anger would only rise if there were plenty of trash under the sea, and once its anger reaches its peak the predator would then be the Angry Predator.

    ¡®An angry predator¡­¡­ the m golem¡­¡­¡¯

    Jevis may not be able to win against such an opponent.

    ***

    Minhyuk tightened his grip on his sword as he watched the bastard close its mouth.

    ¡®It¡¯s quite close so it would be good if I can catch it all at once.¡¯

    The only way to attack the bastard was through its mouth so if he was able to strike it sessfully then he would definitely be able to kill it all at once.

    [Rampant Sword. Connection (Inherit)]

    [One strike will result in 7 powerful strikes with an additional 40% damage.]

    Chichichichiiiiiik!

    A weird sound came out from an empty space not far from where the m Golem was located. The m Golem which had just opened its mouth wide looked over with curiosity.

    Without missing any moment, Minhyuk quickly ran towards its open mouth as he shed at it with his sword.

    ng!

    ¡®......?!¡¯

    The moment the attack connected, Minhyuk heard the jarring sound of metal shing with another metal.

    ¡®What the hell? Why does this sound like I¡¯m hitting another metal?¡¯

    He uratelynded his attacks on its mouth for five straight times.

    Ting, ting, ting, ting, ting!

    However, he still couldn¡¯t scratch it with his sword. At that moment, it¡¯s wide open mouth suddenly started to return back to its original state. Then¡­¡­

    Fwiiiiiiish!

    Heunched one final attack and shed it diagonally.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    [Intangible Sword.]

    [Your sword strike has ignored all of the enemy¡¯s defenses.]

    His strike was able tond on its body as m shells fell down.

    ¡®What crazy defense¡­¡­!¡¯

    Minhyuk finally realized why only one attack came through from all of his other strikes.

    ¡®I wonder how high its defense is?¡¯

    The beady eyes of the m Golem suddenly turned towards Minhyuk. Minhyuk was now fully visible towards the m Golem. After all, his invisibility would be lifted after 2 seconds once he attacked an enemy!

    Minhyuk quickly turned around to run, however he faintly realized how disadvantageous his situation was.

    ¡°S¡­¡­ tep!¡±

    Vwooooooooooong!

    As soon as his feet left the ground, a fist went straight through the afterimage that he had left behind.

    Vwoooong!

    Minhyuk had barely escaped the attack. However, its body quickly turned around and swung its fist at him again.

    Vwooooong!

    Minhyuk felt the strength of the wind from the fist as he used Step to evade the attack once more. The wind ruffled his hair in a mess.

    Dash!

    He sessfully evaded the attack! As he evaded, he also tried to strike on the bastard¡¯s body.

    ng!

    And just like what he had expected, he wasn¡¯t able to leave so much as a scratch on its body.

    ¡®What kind of nonsense is this¡­¡­.!¡¯

    At that moment¡­

    Bang!

    His feet quickly dug on the ground as he maneuvered his body to once again face the bastard.

    Swoosh!

    He quickly narrowed the distance between them.

    [Sword of Fury. Shatter (Destroy)]

    [There will be an additional 60% for strong lunges and stabs, if a vital strike is sessful then the additional attack power will be 100%.]

    Swoosh!

    His sword that was filled with a strong force stabbed strongly at its body. Sword of Fury, Shatter (Destroy), was literally a stabbing attack. Once the attack was sessful, the condensed power in the sword would then explode inside the body of the enemy.

    ¡®As long as Intangible Sword is attached to it¡­¡­!¡¯

    I might be able to subdue this guy!

    However¡­¡­

    Dash!

    ck energy suddenly covered the fist of the Angry m Golem as it ran forward towards Minhyuk.

    Fwoosh!

    The bastard swung its fist as it tried to counter the tip of the sword with its punch. The powerful force from its punch collided with the tip of Minhyuk¡¯s sword. The force even stretched towards Minhyuk¡¯s body!

    Bang!

    ¡°Keheuk!¡±

    The force that was condensed at the tip of Minhyuk¡¯s sword exploded together with the force from the m Golem¡¯s fist. Minhyuk¡¯s body flew and rolled away from the aftermath of the collision.

    The m Golem quickly straightened its form and ran after Minhyuk¡¯s body. Minhyuk¡¯s eyes widened in shock. However, thanks to his amazing reflexes, he was still able to attempt another attack towards the m Golem in his disadvantageous position.

    [Rampant Sword.]

    [A flurry of rampant swords with additional 35% attack power will be created for 7 seconds.]

    sh!

    aaaaash!

    It was the fast and indiscriminate attack from Rampant Sword! Minhyuk believed that this was the best attack to stop the bastard¡¯s iing attack. The attack would also allow him a bit of a breather to regain his footings. Dozens of images of swords were swinging indiscriminately towards the m Golem.

    [Intangible Sword.]

    [Your sword strike has ignored all of the enemy¡¯s defenses.]

    aaash!

    Bang, bang, bang!

    [Intangible Sword.]

    [Your sword strike has ignored all of the enemy¡¯s defenses.]

    A scar finally appeared on the body of the m Golem, however, the attack was not enough to deter the movements of the bastard. The m Golem was still fiercely pursuing Minhyuk¡¯s body that was flying away.

    Minhyuk quickly shed his sword at its chest.

    [Intangible Sword.]

    [Your sword strike has ignored all of the enemy¡¯s defenses.]

    The reason why Intangible Sword was considered to be a ridiculous skill was because it could ignore all of the defenses of the enemy. It was like attacking apletely defenseless person who only had a shirt as their armor. This meant that, depending on the amount of the enemy¡¯s HP, he would be able to kill them all at once.

    However, the bastard in front of him still looked as energetic as ever.

    ¡®How high is its damned HP¡­¡­!¡¯

    Before he knew it, his body had already rolled on the ground. Minhyuk quickly adjusted his bearings as he stood up. The m Golem quickly narrowed the distance between them. He realized that he wouldn¡¯t be able to evade this attack so he hurriedly took out his frying pan.

    [Frying Pan Gigantification.]

    [You can adjust the size of your frying pan depending on the mana that you will input.]

    Minhyuk quickly erged his frying pan as he covered his body with it. Then¡­¡­

    Baaang!

    The bastard¡¯s fist mmed straight at the frying pan.

    ¡°Keheop!¡±

    The force of the fist was so strong that Minhyuk¡¯s body flew out and plunged straight on the walls of the cave.

    ¡®My HP dropped by 10%......?¡¯

    Even though most of the impact was received by the frying pan, he still received a huge amount of damage. In a daze, it was toote when Minhyuk realized that there was a fist that wasing straight at him.

    Bang!

    A notification rang out as soon as the punchnded on his body.

    [You HP has dropped below 50%.]

    [Due to the powerful blow, one of your eyes has been temporarily blinded.]

    One of Minhyuk¡¯s eyes closed and his field of vision narrowed. As if realizing that Minhyuk was incapacitated, it geared for another attack.

    Baang!

    Its foot stretched out and kicked Minhyuk on his abdomen.

    ¡°Kghk!¡±

    Minhyuk, who was still stuck on the wall, went deeper in the wall as he vomited blood. His consciousness blurred and became hazy but he still held on his sword tightly.

    ¡®I¡¯m going¡­¡­ to eat¡­¡­ grilled ms¡­¡­!¡¯

    The taste of the shellfish meat on an open-mouthed white m and the clear soup in the te-like shell. And once you picked the ms and dipped it in gochujang¡­ Minhyuk wanted to taste this vor once again.

    At all costs.

    [Your HP has dropped below 3%.]

    [Your body is deteriorating due to excessive bleeding.]

    Blood was dripping from Minhyuk¡¯s head and his body was not in the best condition. But, his body shined brightly and his injuries recovered at a speed visible to the naked eye. It was the effect of Armor of Immortality.

    [Three Consecutive Quick Assault.]

    [Three attacks will be consecutively struck towards the enemy.]

    The m Golem, who was watching the on-the-verge-of-death Minhyuk, was suddenly caught off guard. Minhyuk¡¯s sword quickly stabbed at its abdomen.

    Ting!

    However, it¡¯s extremely sturdy shell was able to stop the attack. So he stabbed at it again.

    Tiiiiing!

    As expected, his attack was blocked again.

    And finally.

    Stab!

    The sword finally pierced through its stomach.

    [Intangible Sword.]

    [Your sword strike has ignored all of the enemy¡¯s defenses.]

    [You have dealt a fatal blow.]

    ¡°Keuaaack!¡±

    The m Golem shrieked loudly as its hands swung once more to punch at Minhyuk.

    Swoosh!

    [Step.]

    [Quickly move a distance of 1m for two steps, capable of attacking enemies while moving.]

    His first step was used to move to the left to avoid the iing punch.

    Puhaaaaa!

    [Intangible Sword.]

    [Your sword strike has ignored all of the enemy¡¯s defenses.]

    The shells from its thick armor-like body fluttered down to the ground in troves.

    ¡°Gruooooo!¡±

    The bastard screamed angrily as Minhyuk quickly dashed away to increase the distance between them. Then, he stabbed the ground strongly with the tip of his sword.

    [Earth Quaker.]

    [A violent earthquake is triggered within a 10m radius.]

    ¡°Keuhaa!¡±

    The Angry m Golem stretched its hands out to try and catch Minhyuk. However, the ground fluctuated strongly as it trapped the m Golem in its clutches. Minhyuk used this moment to increase the distance between them further.

    ¡®What skill do I have that has the fastest cooldown?¡¯

    It was Rampant Sword: Connection (Inherit). However, there were still 20 seconds left before he could use it again.

    Rumble©¥

    The m Golem was using its immense strength to break out of the ground that trapped it. Meanwhile, Minhyuk had increased the distance between them to 100m. Before he knew it, the Angry m Golem had already broken free of its restraints and was ring at Minhyuk sharply. Then¡­..

    [m Golem¡¯s Roar.]

    [All abilities will increase by 30%.]

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Keup!¡±

    Minhyuk heard the ear-shattering roar of the m Golem.

    ¡®Did it say 30% stronger than before?¡¯

    Just when he was thinking like that¡­

    Bang!

    The bastard stomped on the ground and dashed to where he was.

    ¡°......!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes widened the size of the saucers. Its speed had increased greatly and each of its steps broke the ground beneath its feet. Minhyuk quickly dashed away.

    ¡°Step!¡±

    He was only barely able to avoid the galloping golem! The running bastard stopped in its tracks as Minhyuk stomped on the ground and jumped on its back.

    [Rampant Sword. Connection (Inherit)]

    [One strike will result in 7 powerful strikes with an additional 40% damage.]

    [Rampant Sword.]

    Taeng, taeng, taeng!

    Just like what he had known earlier, the m golem¡¯s defenses were truly too astronomical. Suddenly, it turned around which caught Minhyuk by surprise.

    ¡°......?!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes widened when he saw its eyes cken.

    ng! sh! ng! sh!

    Two of his attacks mmed straight at its chest. However, due to its monstrous HP, it still did not copse.

    Then, the ckness that covered its eyes slowly spread out as it created a sphere. The huge, ck and powerful sphere suddenly descended on Minhyuk.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Grrrrrrrrr!

    At the same time, the entire cave shook strongly as piles of stones fell down from the ceiling.

    ***

    ¡°N, no!¡±

    The moment Ben saw the cave shaking strongly, an immense sense of frustration engulfed his being.

    It had been quite some time since Minhyuk had entered the cave. He knew that he had already found the m Golem since he could keenly hear the sounds of fighting which was followed by the sounds that he was currently hearing.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Grrrrrrrrr!

    It wasn¡¯t just the cave, even the Dragon King¡¯s Sea was shaking strongly due to the vibrations from inside.

    Ben dropped to his knees as he peered in the darkness of the cave with frustration and despair.

    ¡°......Th, this can¡¯t be happening.¡±

    I already lost my son, am I losing this young man who closely resembled him too?

    His eyes lost its shine as he looked at the cave in a daze.

    ***

    The m Golem¡¯s eyes bulged in surprise. It believed that everything was over.

    It was sure that the intruder who had entered its cave recklessly should have died with that attack. However, there was something standing in between itself and the intruder.

    The being was smaller than its fist and was floating in the air.

    It was none other than Kongie, the baby pig with a flipper spat and a pot on its head.

    ¡°Oiiiiiink¡­¡­!¡±

    [Kongie is angry.]

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    [Kongie is angry.] [He will make you into grilled m.] KEK. I wonder if that¡¯s the case.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Finally, time for Kongie to shine! I¡¯m looking forward to it.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 152 - Grilled Clam

    Chapter 152: Grilled m

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Minhyuk was caught by surprise when Kongie suddenly popped out of the summoning room all by himself. In addition, there were a series of notifications that apanied his appearance.

    [Kongie has been summoned.]

    [Pet summoning buff. Your attack power has increased by 13% and your defensive power has increased by 8%.]

    [Pet artifact buff. Your STR has increased by 4% and your defensive power has increased by 10%.]

    Minhyuk as Kongie¡¯s owner had received buffs!

    Kongie had a defensive power that was as high as 4,000. Considering that the Armor of Immortality had a defensive power at 1,100, Kongie¡¯s defensive power was enormous inparison.

    Several spheres made of the condensed ck light flew straight at Minhyuk.

    [Flipping de]

    [2x increase in AGI and 1.3x increase in shing Force for 30 seconds.]

    A dim ck glow appeared from Kongie¡¯s body. The light scattered like smoke as it followed every move Kongie made.

    Bang!

    Kongie blocked a ck sphere with his flipper.

    Bang, bang, bang!

    Not long after, Kongie began to block each sphere that flew straight at Minhyuk at quite an unpredictable speed. However, there were still some things that Kongie couldn¡¯t stop.

    Baaaaang!

    The ck sphere bypassed Kongie¡¯s and grazed Minhyuk¡¯s side.

    ¡°Keoheop!¡±

    As soon as it touched Minhyuk¡¯s body, he let out a loud groan as a powerful force exploded on him. However, Minhyuk could see that Kongie was trying his best to block most of the hits that would deal the most damage.

    After Kongie blocked the rest of the spheres, his body was covered with wounds but he was still floating majestically as he red at the m Golem fiercely.

    ¡°Oiiiink¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°G, grrr¡­¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk looked at them strangely.

    ¡®What¡¯s this?¡¯

    Kongie had a high defense. How to say this, in a way, his defense was high enough to even exceed that of the m Golem in front of them. But they were only able to endure its attack because of his high defense. However, it seemed like the m Golem was slowing down.

    ¡®Is it afraid? Of Kongie¡­¡­?¡¯

    That¡¯s preposterous!

    However, it seemed like the m Golem had gotten over its faltering movements as itunched its attacks again.

    ¡°Oink!¡±

    Kongie made a gesture and Minhyuk realized what he meant right away.

    Kongie will stop its attacks so Minhyuk should attack!

    Swoooooosh!

    Kongie flew straight at the golem.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    The m Golem shrieked loudly as it aimed its punch towards Minhyuk.

    Bang!

    However, Kongie intercepted the attack and the punch hit his small body directly. But Kongie still held on. Taking advantage of the gap in the m Golem¡¯s attacks, Minhyuk quickly narrowed the distance with Step as heunched his attack.

    ¡®Sword of Fury, Shatter (Destroy)¡¯s cooldown ising to an end soon¡­¡­!¡¯

    Bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Baaaaaang!

    ¡°Oink!¡±

    Kongie was pushed back after receiving such a powerful attack. Both him and the m Golem looked like they were both tired. Minhyuk quickly narrowed the distance and attacked.

    sh!

    [Intangible Sword.]

    [Your sword strike has ignored all of the enemy¡¯s defenses.]

    [You have dealt a fatal blow.]

    Puhaaaaa!

    At that exact moment, one of its sturdy and hard arms was cut off.

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡±

    The angry bastard indiscriminately swung its fist against them.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Kongie, who was blocking every strike, groaned loudly.

    ¡°Oiiiink©¥¡±

    [Kongie¡¯s HP has gone below 20%.]

    The only thing that was fortunate was that a pet could still be summoned after 24 hours if it died.

    Baaaang!

    Kongie was suddenly hit by a powerful blow. He couldn¡¯t stop itpletely and he was sent rolling on the floor.

    Roll, roll, roll©¥

    ¡°Oiiiiink¡­¡­!¡±

    Kongie struggled to stand up but failed to do so. Then, as if to drive its point more, the m Golem kicked Kongie once more.

    ¡°Oiiiink¡­¡­!¡±

    Kongie flew backwards as his small body got embedded on the wall. At that moment, there was a faint glow that was emitting from the ground where the m Golem was standing at.

    [Paralyze.]

    [The enemy¡¯s body will be paralyzed for 2 seconds.]

    The special effect that was attached to Hepas¡¯ Silver Pot had been triggered. Paralyze. It was a skill that couldpletely paralyze the body of the opponent for 2 seconds. At that moment, Minhyuk finally found the gap that he was looking for. He took advantage of the situation and took the chance to solve the crisis that they were in. He quickly used Step to get close to the m Golem and¡­

    [Sword of Fury. Shatter (Destroy)]

    The tip of the sword was once more filled with strength as it stabbed straight at one of its vital points. Then¡­¡­

    Crumble!

    [Intangible Sword.]

    [Your sword strike has ignored all of the enemy¡¯s defenses.]

    The sword stabbed straight through its chest.

    ¡°Gruoooo?!¡±

    The bastard screeched as Minhyuk let out a small smile.

    ¡°Grilled ms, let¡¯s go¡­¡­!¡±

    Baaaaaaaaang!

    The powerful force that was condensed by Shatter (Destroy) exploded in its chest.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    The m Golem stumbled back with its gaping chest as the shells in its body moved slowly.

    ¡®D, don¡¯t tell me it¡¯s regeneration?¡¯

    If he had regeneration then Minhyuk believed that it was a fight that he could never win. It was a relief when he saw that it was not regenerating. But then, its body suddenly started to swell.

    ¡®Is this what its body originally looked like¡­¡­?¡¯

    Minhyuk could see that this enormous body looked exactly like what Ben had described to him earlier. Not long after, the bastard¡¯s mouth opened wide as it grew as big as what he had seen before when he first came in. Minhyuk and Kongie immediately felt tense and nervous.

    Then, at that moment¡­

    ¡°Kueeeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    Fish, trash and all sorts of things suddenly started pouring out of its mouth in droves.

    ¡°Eeeek!¡±

    Minhyuk quickly jumped up as he held on to a stctite on the cave¡¯s ceiling. The m Golem did not stop from vomiting out the things from its mouth. And Minhyuk who was holding on to the stctite could see from the gaps that some of those trash were valuable artifacts.

    ¡®Did it also eat artifacts?¡¯

    Anyway, he was told that it could eat anything and everything under the sea so he thought that it might be possible. Before he knew it, the m Golem had copsed after vomiting out everything from its stomach.

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [......leveled up.]

    Minhyuk constantly heard the sound of his notifications ringing. He had leveled up for 23 times in one go!

    He had a x2 increase for both his EXP acquisition rate as well as item drop rate when he hunted the m Golem. Was it because he came inside the cave? No. It was because the Angry m Golem would literally give twice the amount of the rewardspared to the original m Golem.

    Minhyuk quickly jumped down as he used his Ingredients Acquisition Skill to acquire his prized shellfish and ms.

    [You have acquired an Abalone.]

    [You have acquired a Scallops.]

    [You have acquired a Mussel.]

    [You have acquired a Man m.]

    [You have acquired a m.]

    [...... a Pen Shell.]

    ¡°Kyaaa!¡±

    Minhyuk looked at the shellfish in satisfaction as he moved to collect the artifacts that the m Golem had dropped.

    [You have acquired 35, 523, 151 gold.]

    [You have acquired Roves¡¯ Ring.]

    [You have acquired the m Golem¡¯s Hard Shell.]

    [......acquired Varda¡¯s Sword.]

    [......acquired Chemil¡¯s Armor.]

    [......acquired Shark¡¯s de.]

    As Minhyuk checked that information of the items, he couldn¡¯t help but think Huh? on one of the things.

    Oyster is delicious whether you eat it raw, as a jeon or with kimchi!

    It was an oyster!

    Of course, Minhyuk was still able to acquire oysters from the m Golem. However,pared to the others, the one in front of him looked unusual. Oysters usually had rough and rugged shells and a dull color. However, this oyster waspletely white in color. He quickly bent down to pick it up.

    [You have acquired a Purification Oyster.]

    Minhyuk did not hesitate to check the information of the oyster in his hands.

    (Purification Oyster)

    Material Grade: Medicine

    Special Effects:

    ©¥ +100 on Holy Power

    ©¥ +100 on Magical Defense

    Description: The Predator that was living in this cave had held on to this Purification Oyster for quite a long time. The Purification Oyster had grown slowly for decades under the care and nourishment of the m Golem¡¯s power. The taste is naturally superb!

    ¡°Kya!¡±

    Minhyuk was in awe at his unexpected luck.This was the only Purification Oyster in the world!

    How should I eat this guy? Should I make some oyster jeon with it? Or should I make soup with it? Oyster rice soup? Or maybe, oyster in kimchi? It will definitely be delicious in everything!

    However, he only had one! So he thought that it would be delicious if he ate it raw with some garlic, spicy peppers, and chojang.

    Minhyuk quickly ced the oyster in his frying pan. Raw oysters were more delicious if it was cooled and almost frozen.

    [The Frying Pan has recognized the ingredients.]

    [The 1st ss Ice is rmended.]

    [Would you like to use it?]

    The frying pan could determine the most appropriate temperature for the dish. The oyster that was ced in it was still closed. Then¡­¡­

    Crack, crack, crack©¥

    Frost started to form and cover the surface of the frying pan. After achieving the most suitable temperature, the frost immediately withdrew and disappeared.

    Minhyuk quickly pried open the mouth of the shell. As soon as he opened the shell, he could see the white flesh of the oyster.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡­¡±

    Gulp©¥

    His saliva dripped down from his wide open mouth. Then¡­

    ¡°Oink!¡±

    Kongie held his stomach sullenly. He looked at Minhyuk pitifully.

    Kongie worked hard today.

    ¡®He might be my emergency food but he was cool and awesome today¡­¡­!¡¯

    So Minhyuk pulled out an oyster that he had received from the m Golem and pried it open for him.

    ¡°Oink!¡±

    Kongie gulped in anticipation as he looked at Minhyuk preparing the food for him.

    Minhyuk then ced some garlic, peppers and chojang on top of the oysters. However, it seemed like Kongie had a firm grasp on what he wanted as he gestured for Minhyuk to add the wasabi with soy sauce instead of the chojang. Kongie nodded fiercely when Minhyuk pulled out the soy sauce and wasabi.

    After preparing everything, Minhyuk brought the oyster to his mouth. As soon as the white flesh entered his mouth¡­

    ¡°Wow¡­¡­¡±

    He could smell the faint smell of the sea. It was truly amazing.

    Minhyuk looked down at the shell on his hand.

    ¡°It does not taste fishy at all¡­¡­!¡±

    There wasn¡¯t any fishiness at all. And once he chewed it, he could taste the vors of the oyster, garlic, chojang and peppersbining to produce the magnificent harmony of seafood vor that he had longed for. Kongie¡¯s body trembled as he closed his eyes to savor the delicious vor.

    ¡°Oiiiiiiink¡­¡­!¡±

    [Kongie is happy.]

    Minhyuk shuddered in happiness as a set of notifications rang in his head.

    [You have eaten the Purification Oyster with garlic, spicy peppers and chojang.]

    [The Food Fighter¡¯s Greatness.]

    [The penalty for the medicine has been ignored. However, this does not work for many people.]

    [A Medicine Dish. You have obtained additional stats.]

    [+111 on Holy Power and +108 on Magical Defense.]

    [You will inflict an additional 5% damage on the undead monsters.]

    Minhyuk¡¯s holy power had now reached an astounding 600 points. And in the case of Pandora¡¯s Helmet, it would also give him a x2 increase in his holy power. However, Minhyuk felt that it was just a nuisance to him.

    All he could think off was that it was a pity that he could only eat one Purification Oyster.

    ¡®I¡¯m going to make oyster jeonter~¡¯

    Fortunately, he still had plenty of oysters even though it wasn¡¯t as delicious as the Purification Oyster. When Minhyuk was thinking of the ce where he wanted to eat grilled ms, he realized that the cave was much wider than what he had initially thought. As he walked further inside, he could finally hear the sound of the waves crashing.

    Shwaaaaa!

    Minhyuk slowly walked forward. When he saw the scene in front of him, he couldn¡¯t help but have his eyes widened.

    ¡°Wow. There¡¯s a sea inside another sea¡­¡­¡±

    Just like what he had said, it was literally a sea. However, even though the cave was ced under the sea, there was no water inside at all. And once he had walked and climbed further inside, he saw the waves of the sea below him crashing by the shore. It was both a mysterious and amazing sight to behold.

    What if I eat grilled ms while watching these waves?

    ¡°Kgghk! Kong-ah, let¡¯s hurry¡­¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk turned his head to look at Kongie and urge him to move. But when he turned to look at him, he couldn¡¯t help but get surprised.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Kongie quickly rushed up to the sea in front of them. Minhyuk could see somend below.

    ¡°Huh¡­¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk quickly hurried after Kongie.

    ¡°Kong-ah?¡±

    He was sniffing on the ground as he moved at a high speed.

    ¡®What¡¯s this? Huh, don¡¯t tell me¡­¡­?!¡¯

    Didn¡¯t Kongie have that incredible ability where he can immediately find the best medicine?

    Not long after, Kongie stopped to look at a very small gap.

    ¡°Oink!¡±

    Minhyuk hurriedly approached him. Once he arrived in front of the small gap that Kongie was looking at, he could see something that he did not know of. At first nce, the item was quite small in size. Also, it looked like a well cooked liver that you can find in sundae.

    He reached out and took it with his hands.

    Then, a series of notifications rang in his head.

    [Rabbit¡¯s Liver.]

    [It¡¯s hidden and unique abilities have been sealed.]

    [Please use the Ingredient Appraisal Skill to check the sealed abilities.]

    ***

    Food Discussion Corner

    Chojang (??) - gochujang mixed with vinegar.

    TL¡¯s corner!

    I thought that Jevis would be asking for Minhyuk for help but if her rabbit¡¯s liver was here, does this mean that she¡¯s dead?

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Welp, here¡¯s where Rafeilt¡¯s ns all start to fall apart.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 153 - Grilled Clam

    Chapter 153: Grilled m

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    ¡°Huh¡­¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk tilted his head in astonishment. As soon as he picked up the rabbit¡¯s liver, a weak red light shed along with the notifications. However, the light also extinguished as soon as it appeared. To be sure, Minhyuk first checked the item in his hands.

    (Rabbit¡¯s Liver)

    Material Grade: A

    Special Effects:

    ©¥ +5 increase in Abnormal State Resistance.

    ©¥ WIS +5

    Description: It is the rabbit¡¯s liver that was hidden by a rabbit. It has the same vor as the liver in sundae but is much more delicious.

    ¡°OMG?¡±

    Minhyuk was in shock.

    It tastes like the liver in sundae? Those thinly sliced liver?! The liver that tastes a bit dry but still has deep vor but is best dipped in salt or tteokbeoki sauce?! But¡­¡­ it tastes much more delicious?!

    ¡®Wait. If we¡¯re talking about the Ingredient Appraisal Skill, then wouldn¡¯t it taste better once I used that on it?¡¯

    Minhyuk gulped.

    Using the Ingredient Appraisal Skill would have a huge penalty on him. He would need to consume 1,000 MP just to activate the skills and his basic stats would have a decrease of 3 points. However, such a penalty was nothing in front of a delicious rabbit¡¯s liver.

    ¡°Ingredient Appraisal.¡±

    [Ingredient Appraisal.]

    [All stats will decrease by 3 ording to the penalty.]

    A white light glowed brightly from Minhyuk¡¯s hands. Then, the light slowly engulfed the small rabbit¡¯s liver. The liver looked like it soaked in the light as it slowly grew bigger in size.

    ¡®Kyaa! The liver is getting bigger! If it gets bigger then I can eat more!¡¯

    As he admired the liver, the notification rang.

    [You have appraised the ingredients.]

    [You can now check the sealed unique and hidden abilities of the Rabbit¡¯s Liver.]

    Minhyuk immediately clicked on the rabbit¡¯s liver and checked the information.

    (Roves¡¯ Treasure of the Seas)

    Material Grade: God¡¯s Given Medicine

    Special Effects:

    ©¥ +200 in Abnormal State Resistance

    ©¥ WIS +100

    ©¥ Holy Power +400

    ©¥ Increase in defense and attack power towards undead monsters depending on the amount of Holy Power.

    Description: Roves, the God of the Sea, hid his excellent treasure inside the rabbit¡¯s liver. This holy treasure is said to be much more delicious than the previous rabbit¡¯s liver.

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes widened. The most surprising change was in the part of the material grade.

    ¡®God¡¯s given¡­¡­ Medicine¡­¡­ is there a medicine with this ss?¡¯

    Minhyuk rubbed his chin in thought. After some thinking, he jumped up as he recalled about the update that he had read together with Geni, Khan and Locke in real life. It had said that there would be new sses of medicine that had not yet been found and obtained in the Northern Continent.

    It was clear that it was referring to Roves¡¯ Treasure of the Seas and if he looked closely, the abilities and effects of this material was truly not that simple. In particr, what catches the eye was thest special effect where the defense and attack power against undead monsters would increase depending on the amount of Holy Power.

    Currently, Minhyuk has an additional 30% attack power against undead monsters. However, it should also not be forgotten that his Holy Power was twice as effective due to the effects of Pandora¡¯s Helmet. In other words, disregarding the 30% attack power that would be written in the notifications, his real attack power against undead monsters had an additional 60%.

    But with regards to this special effect, aside from the attack power, he would also have an increase in his defense against undead monsters which would further protect him against their attacks. In other words, Minhyuk would have as much as 60% increase in his defense if he was attacked by undead monsters.

    And more importantly¡­¡­

    ¡®It¡¯s much more delicious. Hahaha!¡¯

    Minhyuk smiled in satisfaction. Then he realized something.

    ¡®But if you look at this rabbit¡¯s liver¡­¡­¡¯

    A while ago, he had seen a rabbit so he remembered a folk tale about the rabbit and the rabbit¡¯s liver. It was a story about a rabbit that was tricked into the Dragon King¡¯s Pce but it sessfully ran away by tricking its captors that it needed to go out tond and hide its liver for safekeeping.

    Will Athenae really use a real rabbit¡¯s liver in this setting?

    For 0.1 seconds, Minhyuk hesitated whether he would eat it or not. Then, he shook his head.

    ¡®How do I know if that rabbit is a bad guy or not?¡¯

    Minhyuk pondered on this question deeply.

    ¡°Well, let¡¯s go Kong-ah! Let¡¯s eat grilled ms!¡±

    ¡°Oiiink!¡±

    The two of them ran excitedly.

    ***

    Minhyuk looked around happily as his setting waspleted.

    He could hear the refreshing sound of the waves crashing by the shore as the cool wind licked his face. There was also a griller ced on top of a coal briquette stove. And on top of the griller was a silver foil filled with a special red sauce that was made by Minhyuk. The special red sauce was starting to show signs of boiling. And the ones lined up next to the foil were grilled ms and its best partner, grilled prawns! Coarse-grain salt was amply sprinkled on top of the prawn.

    ¡°Hiyaa¡­¡­ Look at how the color changes.¡±

    The almost transparent flesh of the prawn was slowly turning red as it started to get cooked. On the other side, a grayish-white m slowly opened its mouth. The shellfish lined next to it were cut in half as it slowly got grilled. Therge pen shell, scallops and abalones lookedpletely appetizing.

    Minhyukyered a pair of stic gloves on top of the cotton work gloves that he had worn earlier.

    ¡°Kong-ah. Hyung will peel it for you.¡±

    ¡°Oink!¡±

    Minhyuk smiled deeply as Kongie looked at him in anticipation.

    ¡®Huhu. The person who bakes the meat eats the most.¡¯

    He volunteered to peel it for Kongie not because he wanted to help Kongie but because he wanted to eat more!

    Minhyuk quickly lifted one of the ms and pried it open with force.

    Crack©¥

    ¡°Wow¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Oink¡­¡­!¡±

    Steam rose from the m as soon as he opened the shell. Once the steam cleared, they could see the plump meat of the m as well as the white soup inside. Minhyuk excitedly pried open all of the cooked ms, then he used his chopsticks to pick up a m meat off of its shell. This was the start of their mukbang.

    He couldn¡¯t help but let out a sigh of amazement when he chewed on the white and plump m meat. The refreshing soup from the m meat slowly spread out in his mouth. The superb and chewy texture of the m meat could also be felt with every bite.

    Next, his attention was focused on the boiling special red sauce! This sauce was filled with plenty of seasonings and ingredients like cheese, butter, gochujang and other vegetables.

    His eyes sparkled brightly as he dipped the m meat inside. Once he lifted the m meat up, he could see a string of cheese being pulled together with it. When he ced it in his mouth, he could immediately taste the cheese and gochujang. The greasy vor was the bestbination andplement to the nd and refreshing vor of the m meat.

    This time, he set his sight on the pen shell. These shellfish were cut in half with a scissor due to its huge size. He lifted the meat off of the finely cut shell of the pen shell as he dipped it in gochujang before cing it in his mouth. It was mouth wateringly chewy and together with the sweet, sour and slightly spicy taste of the gochujang added vor to the meat which spread slowly in his mouth.

    ¡°Hiyaa¡­¡­¡±

    Then, he pointed his chopsticks towards the king of the shellfish, abalones. After he skillfully chopped the meat of the abalone, he swiftly picked up a piece of meat and dipped it in gochujang. Abalones were much more chewypared to other shellfish meat.

    Next, the scallops. Minhyuk had added ample amounts of butter and cheese on the scallops earlier when he started grilling. At a nce, he could see that the pristine white meat of the scallops was gently covered by the melted cheese. His saliva dripped down as he smelled the savory scent of the cheese and scallops. Then, as if in a trance, he lifted the shell of the scallops as he slurped on the meat and cheese. The scallops and the stretchy and chewy cheese tasted wonderfully delicious together which gave Minhyuk plenty of joy.

    What should we do when things are getting a bit greasy?

    Of course the answer was to drink m soup! The m soup was filled with different types of shellfish that included ms, pen shells and mussels. Minhyuk quickly scooped a spoonful of the white soup.

    ¡°Kgghk! It¡¯s so refreshing and cool! Kong-ah, try this one. The greasiness will all be washed away!¡±

    ¡°Oink!¡±

    Kongie also bursted in admiration as he took a sip of the soup.

    Minhyuk swiftly threw some shellfish meat in the red sauce that was boiling in the middle of the griller. The red sauce permeated the meat well and added a deep savory vor to the refreshing taste of the shellfish meat.

    In between bites of the shellfish meat, Minhyuk did not forget to eat corn cheese. The white corn was covered with cheese! When Minhyuk scooped some corn, the cheese stretched out! Once he took a bite, the corn popped out deliciously and the sweetness hidden in each kernel spread slowly in his mouth.

    After eating a variety of shellfish meat, the prawns were finally cooked to a perfect red. Minhyuk, who peeled off a prawn by pulling off the head and the legs first, was truly a man who knew how to eat. Then, he swiftly dipped the prawn in gochujang before taking it to his mouth. As soon as his mouth closed on it, he could feel the plump and juicy texture of the prawn meat. He could taste the savory vor of the lightly-seasoned shrimp with every bite!

    Minhyuk and Kongie ate their grilled shellfish deliciously!

    After filling their bellies with shellfish, Minhyuk did not forget to make ¡®dessert¡¯. It was tteokboki and rabbit¡¯s liver, no, Roves¡¯ Treasure!

    ¡°Kong-ah. Look at this. There¡¯s plenty for you since you worked hard today. So eat a lot Kong-ah.¡±

    ¡°Oiiiink¡­¡­¡±

    Kongie shed tears when Minhyuk ced a te full of liver in front of him.

    [Kongie is feeling touched.]

    ¡®Huhuhu¡­¡­! My n worked perfectly.¡¯

    But this was obviously Minhyuk¡¯s scam! He pretended to cook Roves¡¯ Treasure and served amon pig¡¯s liver instead for Kongie.

    ¡®Huhuhu¡­¡­! It said that Roves¡¯ Treasure was much more delicious after all!¡¯

    Minhyuk quickly dipped Roves¡¯ Treasure in salt. Once he took it to his mouth, he couldn¡¯t help but feel impressed with the salty vor as well as the dry but soft texture of the liver.

    ¡°Wow. It doesn¡¯t taste fishy at all, right?¡±

    ¡°Oink!¡±

    And Kongie, who waspletely deceived by Minhyuk, was happily eating the liver on his te.

    This time, Minhyuk dipped the liver in the tteokboki sauce before cing it in his mouth.

    ¡°Kggghk! As expected, liver tastes best when paired with tteokboki sauce!¡±

    Hepletely emptied his te in a blink of an eye, and with hisst bite of the food a set of notifications rang in his head.

    [The Food Fighter¡¯s Greatness.]

    [You have eaten Roves¡¯ Treasure of the Seas in a variety of ways.]

    [The penalty for the medicine has been ignored. However, this does not work for many people.]

    [A Medicine Dish. You have obtained additional stats.]

    [Your Holy Power has increased by +434 while your WIS has increased by +121]

    [You have 20% additional attack power against undead monsters.]

    [Your defense against undead monsters will be as high as your attack power.]

    [Your defense against undead monsters attacks has increased by 50%.]

    As soon as he finished all the food with Kongie, he moved to go out.

    However, as soon as he came out of the cave, he had no choice but to tilt his head in confusion. That was because Ben was burying his head on the ground as he wept loudly.

    ¡°Because of me, that young chef had died. Keuhuhuhuhu!¡±

    Minhyuk suddenly felt heartbroken at the sight of Ben. He couldn¡¯t believe that someone that he had just met would care so much about him.

    ¡°I already told you not to go in there. Keuhuhuhu! What were you so confident about, you sloppy cook!¡±

    ¡®I, I¡¯m not sloppy. Right¡­¡­?¡¯

    ¡°You¡¯re so sloppy! You¡¯re a chef! What the hell! What do you mean! By! Trust me! Keuhuhuhu!¡±

    Minhyuk was left speechless with his outburst. And he who had beenbeled as sloppy called out to him.

    ¡°That, Old Man Ben¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°......Hiiiiiiiiiik?!¡±

    When Ben heard Minhyuk¡¯s voice, he couldn¡¯t help but stumble in surprise.

    ¡°B, boy. How¡­¡­?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve taken care of the m Golem on your behalf, Old Man.¡±

    Ben¡¯s eyes widened when his words finally registered in his dazed mind.

    ¡®C, m golem¡­¡­?¡¯

    He did not know about the details, but if he did he would be shocked that Minhyuk fought against a monster that was twice as strong as the original m Golem.

    ¡°B, by any chance¡­¡­ in the cave¡­¡­ was there a pocket watch¡­¡­ or something like that?¡±

    Minhyuk was surprised by his question but when he thought about it, there was something like ¡®Rusted Pocket Watch¡¯ from the items that he had acquired inside the cave. When Minhyuk pulled it out of his inventory and handed it over to Ben he could see Ben trembling wildly.

    ¡°This¡­¡­ was a gift that I gave to my son when he was young.¡±

    Then, he held it to his chest as he closed his eyes. It was as if he was trying to feel the soul of his dead son through this small trinket. Ben slowly opened his mouth.

    ¡°The moment I lost my son, I realized that power wasn¡¯t the most important thing. But¡­¡­ what would I do if I lost it? I have lost my most precious treasure and now I have nothing.¡±

    A small smile started to form on his dry lips as he slowly opened his eyes.

    ¡°Boy, I want to do something, anything for you. But right now I don¡¯t have anything.¡±

    Minhyuk had heard the notification about thepletion of his linked quest. As he recalled, the reward was listed as ???.

    What is it?

    ? The next words that Ben uttered had given Minhyuk aplete and utter shock.

    ¡°I, Ghost Spear Ben, promise the God of Athenae that I will be your hands and feet and will follow you from now until forever.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes widened as his body trembled.

    ¡®Th, this can¡¯t be happening¡­¡­!¡¯

    He was entirely shocked with this reward. First and foremost, he did not like this reward very much. There was only one reason.

    ¡®I have another mouth to feed¡­¡­?¡¯

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Yep. That¡¯s right. Subordinate, get! Another mouth to feed, get!

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 154 - Grilled Clam

    Chapter 154: Grilled m

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    [Ghost Spear Ben has offered to be a subordinate to User Minhyuk.]

    Lee Minhwa and Team Leader Park were both looking at the monitor with a serious expression.

    ¡°Wasn¡¯t the reward only supposed to be Ghost Spear Ben apanying him for two weeks?¡±

    ¡°......Yeah.¡±

    Even if the rewards were marked as ¡®???¡¯ it was still somewhat fixed. However, having the ¡®???¡¯ on the rewards also meant that there might be unpredictable changes that could change the rewards.

    In addition, it was supposed to be Ben who would hunt the m Golem while using the Golden Salmon as bait. However, the one who hunted the m Golem sessfully was Minhyuk which in turn increased the favorability between him and Ben to the highest.

    ¡°The two-week reward was already huge¡­¡­¡±

    Two weeks apanied by Ghost Spear Ben?

    Of course it was a huge reward! After all, he was one of the Most Powerful Men in the past. Of course, there would be strong unofficial and official rankers in the world that could rival the person that was ranked eight in the Most Powerful Men. However, they were only a few among the hundreds of millions of Athenae. To be exact, these people only make up 0.001% of the yers of Athenae. In other words, being apanied by someone like Ghost Spear Ben, they could immediately go to a high level hunting ground and ride on his bus. Then, they would be able to get plenty of artifacts and even increase their level. This was literally a reward that could never be bought with money.

    However, Ghost Spear Ben wanted to be User Minhyuk¡¯s subordinate.

    At that moment, User Minhyuk, who was currently reflected in the monitor, was trembling.

    ¡°Is it because he¡¯s so happy?¡±

    ¡°Well, this reward is too extraordinary after all.¡±

    Then, they watched Minhyuk through the monitor as he slowly moved and lowered himself. He promptly held Ben¡¯s hands and looked at him seriously.

    [I understand how you feel, Old Man. But it¡¯s fine. You¡¯ve been through a lot so you should just let go of everything and live your life happily.]

    ¡°Eh?!¡±

    ¡°Keok?!¡±

    Lee Minhwa and Team Leader Park both made eye contact.

    However, Ben became overly excited when he heard his words.

    [No. I will live forever for you and I will do anything for you!]

    [No. Old Man. I hope you forget your hardships and live a very very happy life!]

    [N, No¡­¡­ Boy, I want to be with you forever? I¡¯ll even give you my life!]

    [Oh my god, Old Man! Go and live a happy life!]

    [This is my happiness!]

    [Please go!]

    [I won¡¯t go!]

    [Go!]

    [I won¡¯t!]

    Lee Minhwa looked at the monitor in awe.

    ¡°User Minhyuk¡­¡­ I think he really is a warm-hearted person.¡±

    ¡°I, is that so¡­¡­¡±

    Team Leader Park scratched his head.

    My goodness! This is the first time I have seen a user show such a warm-hearted approach towards an NPC!

    User Minhyuk looked like he truly and sincerely(?) wanted Ben to live the rest of his life happily.

    But, why would you even reject one of the Most Powerful Men so strongly?!

    ¡°......He¡¯s a really cool guy.¡±

    ***

    Minhyuk was going crazy.

    No, maybe it¡¯s this grandpa who¡¯s crazy?

    Old Man Ben jumped up andtched onto Minhyuk¡¯s arm. His expression screamed that he wouldn¡¯t let go at all so he had to take him along.

    ¡°I¡¯ll do whatever you want me to do, I¡¯ll be your sword or even your shield!¡±

    Minhyuk faltered when he heard his words. Then, he pondered deeply. He realized that Old Man Ben would definitely not let him go. It was a bit embarrassing but it was aplete failure on his part. Then Minhyuk remembered something.

    ¡®Come to think of it, there was that thing called vassals. Right?¡¯

    If a title or a territory was granted a vassal could be the person who would perform his or her duties in the guild.

    ¡®I¡¯ll just have Old Man Ben run the territory¡­¡­!¡¯

    But what should I make him do in the meantime?

    In hindsight, Ben became skilled at coffee making once Minhyuk turned on his nagging(?) mode.

    Right. Let¡¯s make him make coffee for me while he¡¯s with me.

    In addition, Minhyuk thought that he would be able to have some tea time whenever he was desperate for it and came back to the territory.

    Then what?

    ¡®Oh. I¡¯ll ask Old Man Ben to be a barista!¡¯

    Minhyuk thought that it was an extremely good n.

    ¡°You¡¯ll do anything?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    Ben nodded his head energetically. He could see Minhyuk¡¯s eyes shining brightly as if he had thought of a good idea.

    ¡°Then, let¡¯s have you make some coffee. How can I let Old Man Ben do something rough(?) like going on a monster hunt? Let¡¯s live afortable life~ A veryfortable one~ So please make coffee~!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Ben¡¯s mind turned nk when he heard his words.

    ¡®B, but I¡¯m Ghost Spear Ben¡­¡­?¡¯

    His throat was blocked and he couldn¡¯t speak. He remembered the nightmare from before. The nightmare of making 200 cups of coffee in one sitting! Nothing was more embarrassing than doing that.

    ¡°You don¡¯t like it?¡±

    ¡°N, no. Of course not¡­¡­!¡±

    But Ben was nodding his head.

    ¡®How happy I would be if I could feed this young man who¡¯s like a son to me!¡¯

    It was quite hard to make coffee but Ben still felt pleased when he saw that Minhyuk enjoyed the coffee that he had made.

    This was the moment when Ben unknowingly signed the barista ve contract with Minhyuk.

    [Ben swears his eternal loyalty to you.]

    [Ghost Spear Ben will only apany you for 2 weeks.]

    [In order to fully use and see all of Ghost Spear Ben¡¯s attributes you will need a title that is above his own.]

    [A skill has been created for Ghost Spear Ben. Skill: ¡®Minhyuk¡¯s Follower¡¯]

    Then, the notifications rang!

    Minhyuk thought that it was a bit toote. It was not that there were no users who were nobles but it was quite rare for an NPC to be a vassal of a user. However, most of these NPCs who were vassals to users were only at Lv100 or below.

    ¡®That¡¯s right. They said that you will need a peerage if you want a high-leveled NPC as your vassal.¡¯

    At least a viscount. A viscount which was a step above a baron had more influence than what was initially thought. In fact, users who received the title of a viscount were considered to be one of the best in the world.

    Then he remembered something.

    ¡®......Didn¡¯t Genie send a whisper to me about being a noble?¡¯

    At that time, Minhyuk was having fun catching fish so he couldn¡¯t check the message. Minhyuk opened the whisper window and clicked on Genie¡¯s whisper. When he saw the content, she just asked if Minhyuk had any intention of being a nobleman. She even exined the reason why she was asking him. He had no intentions of being one but he was very thankful to Genie and her friendship.

    [Genie:......You don¡¯t have to and I¡¯m not forcing you if you don¡¯t want it. Because I support your goals of eating for life!]

    She had believed that having a title and a territory could be a stumbling block to Minhyuk¡¯s happy eating life. However, if they thought about it carefully then it would be beneficial to Minhyuk.

    ¡®Sometimes, people in the territory would also offer grains to the nobles. Right?¡¯

    After thinking about it some more, Minhyuk nodded his head as he sent a whisper to Genie.

    [Minhyuk: I understand. I¡¯ll get the title. I think the old man who makes coffee for me can make a good vassal.]

    [Genie: Genie-nim is logged out.]

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head in understanding.

    ¡®Well, she¡¯ll see itter when she logs in.¡¯

    Then, he went ahead and checked the status window as he wondered about the effects of the ¡®Minhyuk¡¯s Follower¡¯ skill that Ben had received.

    (Ben)

    Rank: One of the Most Powerful Men of the Past

    Type: Temporary Subordinate

    Level: 509

    Attack Power: 4, 959

    Defensive Power: 2, 683

    Special Abilities:

    ©¥ Passive Skill: Minhyuk¡¯s Follower

    ©¥ Active Skill: Ghost Spearmanship

    ©¥ Active Skill: Ghost Defense Arts

    Potential: 137

    Experience Value: 13% / 100%

    (Minhyuk¡¯s Follower)

    Passive Skill

    Level: None

    Effects:

    ©¥ 10% increase in all abilities if you are within a 10m radius of your Master, Minhyuk.

    ©¥ You will feel temporarily better if you received apliment from Minhyuk.

    ©¥ You will have an unwavering spirit to serve and follow your only Master, Minhyuk.

    ©¥ I love Minhyuk, Minhyuk is so good.

    Minhyuk stared at the Minhyuk¡¯s Follower skill skeptically. He knew that if the favorability between a pet or a subordinate was raised to the max, then a skill like this would be created. But it was not possible for all NPCs or pets. They have to be a special person for them to have created a skill.

    ¡®And he has such a high level too¡­¡­¡¯

    Minhyuk nodded his head happily.

    He has a high level. And even if he does not have a potential like Kongie, his potential is still high.

    ¡®I¡¯m sure that he¡¯ll quickly learn the art of making coffee. Kgghk!¡¯

    He knew this because people with high potential had a faster and stronger learning abilitypared to others with lower potential. Minhyuk was quite happy that he almost jumped with joy.

    Then, a thought shed through his mind.

    ¡°Ah. Do you know anything about the rabbit¡¯s liver?¡±

    ¡°Rabbit¡¯s liver?¡±

    ¡°Yes. It¡¯s very, very delicious, you know. So I wanted to find more to eat. I found it somewhere inside the cave, in another entrance inside.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry but this is the first time I have heard of it.¡±

    As they were talking about the rabbit¡¯s liver, they did not notice that an unidentified creature was slowly and stealthily approaching where they were.

    It was none other than a bipedal turtle.

    ***

    One hour ago.

    The bipedal turtle, Radin, or to be exact, Rodel who took over Radin¡¯s body was tasked by the Great Mage Rafielt to recruit foreigners from abovend. The only problem was that no foreigner had reached the Dragon King¡¯s Sea yet. Therefore, they had no way to enter the cave where the rabbit Jevis had hidden herself in.

    ¡®Perhaps the rabbit Jevis has already been eaten by the predator?¡¯

    Great Mage Rafielt and Rodel did not know everything, after all, they had just entered and forcefully taken over the bodies through soul exchange. Entering the body through such a method did not allow them to read through the memories of the body¡¯s owner. So they did not know much about the Dragon King¡¯s Pce. The knowledge that they knew were things that they also only have heard from others.

    ¡®Kiari seems to have started to doubt our identities¡­¡­¡¯

    Rodel frowned and shook his head as he recalled about the first child of the Dragon King, Kiari. All he had to think about now was the rabbit¡¯s liver and how to retrieve it.

    ¡®If Jevis was swallowed by the sea¡¯s predator¡­¡­¡¯

    Then the liver could be extracted from the predator¡¯s body. If that was the case then there was a way since the Great Mage Rafielt could perform unimaginable feats through dark magic. It was a piece of cake for him to remove the liver from the stomach of the predator.

    ck magic could exert a lot of power when the opponent was alive or just died. However, it had to be done by a foreigner. But right now, there were no foreigners so he had to get back to Rafielt to report and think of other methods to retrieve the rabbit¡¯s liver.

    Ssh!

    Radin quickly jumped back into the sea as he swam at a frightening speed. Just as he was swimming back to the Dragon King¡¯s Pce¡­

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    He felt powerful shockwaves that rocked the entirety of the sea.

    ¡®This¡­¡­?¡¯

    Radin¡¯s eyes widened in shock. The origin of the shockwave was from the cave where only foreigners could enter. The distance from where he was to the cave was quite long but he was the fastest when he was in the sea so he quickly arrived at his destination.

    Shwaaaa!

    As soon as he arrived at the destination, he could see an old man bawling his eyes out in front of the cave.

    ¡®He¡¯s not a foreigner.¡¯

    Radin¡¯s eyes narrowed in scrutiny. Nevertheless, he still stayed in the vicinity to observe since he was quite curious about the old man and why he was crying in front of the cave.

    ¡°A weak chef like you, keuhuhuhu, went overconfident! You¡¯ve overdone it, keuhuhuhuh, now you¡¯ll die just like this¡­...!¡±

    ¡®A chef¡­¡­?¡¯

    Radin tilted his head in confusion. He watched the man cry loudly. Not long after, he could see a man walking out from inside the cave.

    The young man was none other than a foreigner. The foreigner that he was badly looking for. He stealthily approached them as he listened in on what the two of them were talking about. He could see the surprise in the old man¡¯s face as they talked.

    ¡®Hoo? That stranger hunted the predator, the m golem¡­¡­? Then what about Jevis¡­¡­?¡¯

    As he pondered about their words, the two of them started to shout loudly at each other.

    ¡°Go!¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t go!¡±

    The man who looked quite shabby and humble with his rough helmet and rodshod armor was refusing the old man intently. The old man even begged him that he will support(?) him.

    ¡®Well¡­¡­ looking at it, he¡¯s just an old man without any strength at all.¡¯

    Of course no one would like to bring you along. That old man doesn¡¯t even look like he¡¯s good at anything, right?

    However, the man who came out from the inside was someone that he was interested in. He couldn¡¯t say that the m golem was extremely strong but he was sure that it could exert a lot of power.

    Radinughed derisively.

    ¡®It¡¯s fine.¡¯

    Radin was originally in the ranks of the strong even before he had entered his body. However, this turtle had already unleashed the power of the Dragon King¡¯s second child. The Dragon King¡¯s second child was well-versed in stealth and assasination. In fact, he was wondering if any of the foreigners could win against him. That was why he believed that an old man like that could be easily killed on a whim.

    Then, he heard the foreigner say¡­

    ¡°Ah. Do you know anything about the rabbit¡¯s liver?¡±

    When he heard that, Radin¡¯s eyes couldn¡¯t help but widen.

    ¡°Yes. It¡¯s very, very delicious, you know. So I wanted to find more to eat. I found it somewhere inside the cave, in another entrance inside.¡±

    Radin¡¯s eyes widened further as he continued to listen.

    ¡®Je, Jevis¡­¡­!¡¯

    He finally knew. Jevis had the power to remove her rabbit¡¯s liver from her own body unlike Kiari who did not have the power to do so! In fact, there was no decisive fact that said that ¡®a rabbit had to die¡¯ just for them to retrieve the rabbit¡¯s liver. The exact method of extraction was not known even within the pce walls.

    In addition, he believed that Jevis had known about the power that her rabbit¡¯s liver had. After all, she was the only one who couldmunicate with God Roves. She must have hidden it from them.

    If he could, he would interpret it as¡­¡­

    ¡®I don¡¯t know why she wanted to hunt the predator but she must have taken out her rabbit¡¯s liver as a precaution in case she did not survive the battle¡­¡­¡¯

    And what can we infer from this man¡¯s words?

    ¡®He ate the rabbit¡¯s liver¡­¡­!¡¯

    It was clear to him that the Treasure of the Seas was inside that cave and that this man had eaten it. However, he still had a chance right now. The Great Mage Rafielt could perform ck magic that could retrieve whatever a monster ate.

    Plenty of sea creatures may die but we have a chance to get that rabbit¡¯s liver from this human!

    However, there were conditions that should be met. To remove the rabbit¡¯s liver, he had to at least arrive in the Dragon King¡¯s Pce alive. He should be alive when meeting with the Great Mage Rafielt. In other words, Minhyuk had be the rabbit. And ording to folk tales, the poor rabbit was tricked into the Dragon King¡¯s Pce by a turtle, right?

    As he thought of it like that, Radin made up his mind to approach them.

    However, Radin was unaware that the folk tale that fell into his hand had an unfortunate ending. He did not know that the rabbit sessfully escaped the pce while leaving a big pile of shit as its present to them.

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    As I have told before, there¡¯s a folk tale about this. But it seems like Minhyuk has be a rabbit. A big, fat, juicy rabbit. Kekekeke.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Chalk up another entry into the Minhyuk-animalparison list. Though I wasn¡¯t expecting rabbit.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 155 - The Great Mage Rafielt

    Chapter 155: The Great Mage Rafielt

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    46 The Great Mage Rafielt

    Ben stood in front of Minhyuk to guard him against the sudden appearance of another life form. However, when he saw the creature that approached them, he looked at it skeptically.

    ¡°The second child of the Dragon King, the warrior turtle.¡±

    ¡°Yes. You¡¯re right. Hello? Land dwellers.¡±

    Radin tried to smile as gently as he could.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk was quite surprised when the second child of the Dragon King appeared after he asked Ben details about the rabbit¡¯s liver that he wanted to eat more of. The Legendary Chef had warned him that the children of the Dragon King were all strong. Of course, it was a given that even the Legendary Chef did not know about the exact strength and power that they had.

    However, this was the most important thing.

    ¡®The Dragon King knows the location of the pure extract!¡¯

    However, when he saw the expression of the turtle in front of him, he couldn¡¯t help but think of something different.

    Why does this turtle warrior look so happy?

    Then he spoke¡­

    ¡°It¡¯s a great pleasure for us to havend dwellers visit our Dragon King¡¯s Sea. I¡¯m Radin, the turtle warrior and the second child of the Dragon King just like what he had said earlier.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Is that so. That eye patch looks so cool. You¡¯re like that pirate turtle from a game called Crazy Arcade!¡±

    ¡°......T, there¡¯s something like that?¡±

    ¡°There is. It¡¯s a game with water balloons!¡±

    ¡°I see. Haha.¡±

    Minhyuk started to y the role of an earnest glib tongue.

    I¡¯ll first increase my favorability with him so I can meet with the Dragon King!

    ¡°Hiyaa. Your short stubby legs, wrinkled skin and back shell that looks delicious with rice¡­¡­ No, no, cool shell. You look really amazing!¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    When Radin saw how interested he was that he was even currying favors with him, he thought that things would definitely be easier.

    ¡°Ah. By any chance, do you have any knowledge about the pure extract?¡±

    ¡®So he was looking for it.¡¯

    He had also heard about the pure extract. However, the problem was that they did not know of the location.

    ¡®I heard that it is ck water that tastes like carbonated water and only umtes one drop at a time.¡¯

    That was the only thing that he knew about and he was unaware of the location.

    The Dragon King? The Great Mage Rafielt did not know of this information, nor does he have any interest in it. Right?

    However, he still smiled at him.

    ¡°I know. If you want, I can show you the way.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Hiyaa¡­¡­ Hmm¡­¡­?¡±

    Then Minhyuk suddenly thought of something.

    ¡®I was told to be careful about people who buy and give me meat for no reason at all¡­¡­!¡¯

    In fact, Minhyuk wanted to pave the way so that he could do exactly that. However, what did Minhyuk do for the turtle Radin to guide him to where the pure extract was? He suddenly felt cautious about the turtle¡¯s intentions.

    Seeing that Minhyuk had hesitated, Radin got flustered.

    ¡®I have to take this bastard alive¡­¡­!¡¯

    So he hurriedly tried to entice him.

    ¡°If you go with me to the Dragon King¡¯s Pce, you will be able to taste delicacies that are only avable here. In addition, I will also give you plenty of treasures!¡±

    ¡°De, delicacies that can only be tasted in the Dragon King¡¯s Pce?!¡±

    ¡°Yes. Haha, they¡¯re truly amazing!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go now!¡±

    Radin felt that it was quite easy to trick him. He only needed to mention food and his problem was already solved.

    Minhyuk was about to strike him but his movements halted as his eyes shed with a cunning glint.

    Come to think of it, isn¡¯t Ghost Spear Ben with me?

    He paused for a moment as he talked to Radin.

    ¡°Ah. That¡¯s right. Before we go to the Dragon King¡¯s Pce, can I go up onnd for a moment so I can eat this salmon?¡±

    Minhyuk promptly pointed at the Golden Salmon that was still tied to the rope that he was holding.

    ¡®If that happens then we¡¯ll be dyed¡­... ¡®

    Radin pointed his finger on the Golden Salmon as a transparent bubble appeared and trapped it inside.

    [The Golden Salmon has entered the Magic Aquarium.]

    [The Golden Salmon will not die and can be kept in the aquarium for two days. The aquarium can also be ced inside the inventory.]

    ¡°Kggghk!¡±

    Minhyuk let out a gasp of surprise as he followed Radin to where the Dragon King¡¯s Pce was. On their way, Minhyuk kept on pestering Radin about information and methods on obtaining food in the seas. He learned that there were quite a few ces in the Dragon King¡¯s Sea where there was no water and you could walk freely.

    Once they entered the ce, Minhyuk quickly made tangtangi by chopping an octopus and turning it into a yukhoe. As soon as he chewed on a bite, he could taste the savory vor of the sesame oil as well as the sweet and soft vor of the yukhoe. The texture of the wriggling octopus even added a blissful harmony to the cacophony of vors.

    Ben, who was watching at the side, spoke up.

    ¡°Aigoo. You¡¯re eating so well. Aigoo. You eat so well~ Hohoho!¡±

    He was smiling at Minhyuk like a grandfather who was smiling at his grandchildren and telling them ¡°That¡¯s right! Go on, have some more!¡±.

    ¡°Here¡¯s a shot of soju! If you spill it then it¡¯s over.¡±

    ¡°Aigoo, my bab¡­¡­ Does our Minhyukie know about this too?¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re all grown up, you¡¯re a big boy now! Hohohohoho!¡±

    Radin shook his head as he watched the two of them y this charade.

    ¡®He¡¯s speaking like that to a grown up, he¡¯s definitely a senile old man. And this guy too, he¡¯s definitely a strange man that¡¯s crazy for food. Tch¡­¡­ This work is easier than what I had expected.¡¯

    Radin grinned.

    Isn¡¯t it a good thing that I have caught these morons?

    After they finished eating tangtangi, they all stood up and made their way to the Dragon King¡¯s Pce again. As soon as they arrived inside the pce, Radin immediately dropped them at a restaurant located inside the pce.

    Bipedals andnd dwellers could walk inside the pce. In addition, there was no water inside so they could breathe freely.

    Minhyuk sat down inside the restaurant with great expectation. You could see the excitement on Minhyuk¡¯s face with just a nce.

    ¡°Hehe! I¡¯m so excited! We¡¯re going to eat food from the Dragon King¡¯s Pce!¡±

    Radin grinned widely.

    ¡°I have already told the chefs. They will serve you a feast soon. After that, I¡¯ll take you to look around the pce then we¡¯ll go and find the pure extract.¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded fiercely. Ben, who was sitting in front of Minhyuk, also nodded his head.

    ¡°I¡¯ve never seen the Dragon King¡¯s Pce before. Although the situation of the pce is favorable tond dwellers, I didn¡¯t expect you to show us around.¡±

    This was also one of the reasons why Ben came inside with Minhyuk. In fact, Ben was still vignt and on guard against Radin.

    On his way out, Radin walked to the chef, a bipedal shark, and told him¡­

    ¡°Add Baida¡¯s Poison on the dishes.¡±

    The shark was also one of the undead under themand of the Great Mage Rafielt. When the shark came inside, he could hear a voice excitedly speaking from the inside.

    ¡°Heok¡­¡­ I, I¡¯m sorry. But will you be angry if I ask you for some of your fin?¡±

    ¡°......Really a moron!¡±

    The gentle smile on Radin, the turtle, had disappeared. He immediately went to gather his troops. Of course, it would be easy since they would be poisoned with Baida¡¯s Poison but he still needed to prepare, just in case. Baida¡¯s Poison was an extremely deadly poison. As soon as it was consumed, the person¡¯s vision would instantly blur and their body would be paralyzed. However, after 1 hour, the effects would cleanly disappear and he would be able to bring him alive in front of Great Mage Rafielt.

    When he came back, he could hear the sound of munching and chewing. After quite some time, the sound gradually started to slow down and recede. The sound of the two people that were talking andughing also slowly disappeared.

    Before realizing it, the elite knights of the Dragon King¡¯s Pce had already gathered in front of Radin. The elite knights of the Dragon King¡¯s Pce were all originally at around Lv350 but all of the knights gathered here were undead. Each and every one of them underwent soul exchange. In fact, this was also the case for almost everyone in the pce. Currently, the pce was upied by Great Mage Rafielt¡¯s minions.

    ¡®My strength keeps on getting weaker¡­¡­¡¯

    Radin looked down at his clenched hands. This body was not worth caring for. However, just like Radin, Rafielt who was in the body of the Dragon King was also starting to get weaker. This meant that the soul exchange had finally reached its limits.

    However, isn¡¯t it all over now that we have him?

    He smiled deeply.

    ¡°Shall we give those foolishnd dwellers a taste of hell?¡±

    As soon as Radin opened the door, a sword was immediately pointed at his neck. Radin¡¯s eyes widened in surprise.

    The person who was coldly holding the sword to his neck was Minhyuk, behind him was the old man, who he had thought was senile, with a spear on his back.

    ***

    Minhyuk was notified as soon as he ate the food that was served to him.

    [You have eaten Baida¡¯s Poison.]

    [You will experience dizziness and restriction of body movements due to paralysis for 1 hour.]

    [You have an invincible body that can ignore and resist all abnormal states.]

    [You have resisted an abnormal state.]

    As soon as he read the notification, he immediately grabbed Ben¡¯s hand to stop him from eating the food. Ben, who quickly understood what was happening, swiftly knocked out the chef.

    Minhyuk waited by the door for Radin toe inside. Once he came inside, he was taken by surprise. However, he regained his calm as heughed crazily.

    ¡°Keuhuhuhu. Haha! This is driving me crazy. It¡¯s really interesting!¡±

    ¡°The sumptuous feast and the pure extract were all lies, right?¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t the sumptuous feast all over the ce, right now? And the pure extract? How would I know about that?¡±

    Radin was confident because he believed in his strength and the strength of the troops behind him. After all, they were superior in numbers. There were even assassins lying in wait from the backdoor.

    As soon as Minhyuk heard his words, his body couldn''t help but tremble in rage.

    ''My pure extract¡­¡­ My sumptuous feast¡­¡­!''

    I even dragged myself here as bait? But in the end everything was a lie?

    "Just now, you admitted that you lied to me about food?"

    There were three things that Minhyuk hated the most in the world. And those were wasting food, ying around, and lying.

    "What''s your reason?"

    "That rabbit''s liver that''s in your belly now. Our Dragon King needs it so I will take it out of your belly and present it to him."

    "......Ah. Why do I feel so annoyed right now?"

    Minhyuk was smiling widely. However, Radin who saw his smile felt like winter hade with how cold it was. He looked impressed with how Minhyuk looked at him.

    ''It seems like he knows how to look fierce.''

    Minhyuk was already seething with anger.

    He wants to split my stomach and take what I have already eaten?

    Minhyuk had decided not to show any mercy towards this unscrupulous bastard.

    And as soon as he moved his sword¡­

    Dash!

    The flower crab knights that were standing behind Radin immediately made their move. At that moment, Ben, who was leisurely standing behind Minhyuk moved his spear. This was the first time after quite a long time that he had used his spear to attack others.

    The Ghost Spearmanship had three chapters. And right now, he was using the first chapter. He pulled the spear back then made a stabbing gesture.

    Radin wanted to deal with this crazy old man. However, at that moment, the strength of this crazy old man was shown clear as day to everyone.

    [Dance of the Ghosts]

    [The Ghost Spear will dance freely as it tramples upon its enemies.]

    Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop!

    The shells of the flower crab knights behind Radin were cracked as the spear directly shattered their hearts.

    p, p, p, p, p, p!

    Plop¡ª

    Plop¡ª

    Plop¡ª

    In just a blink of an eye, ten of the knights behind him had fallen down. At the moment of their death, the ck souls that were used in the soul exchange floated above the knights¡¯ heads as they screamed loudly.

    "Keuaaaack!"

    "Aaaaaaaaaack!"

    The ck souls soon were engulfed in mes and turned into ashes that scattered in the wind.

    When Ben saw this scene, he couldn''t help but crease his brows in contemtion.

    ''This ability¡­¡­?''

    He knew this ability just by looking at it.

    "Heok¡­¡­?!"

    Radin''s eyes widened in surprise.

    He first wanted to deal with the pest that was pointing a sword at his neck. He quickly gripped the hilt of the katana that was hanging on his back.

    ng!

    At that moment, Minhyuk heard a series of notifications in his head.

    [You have encountered an undead.]

    [Your special privilege will be implemented ording to your Holy Power.]

    [Pandora''s Helmet''s special effect has increased your Holy Power by x2. Your attack and defense against an undead has increased by 100%.]

    ***

    Food Discussion Corner

    Tangtangi (???) - Tangtangi or Nakji Tangtangi is a raw minced octopus dish. Basically it¡¯s like octopus sashimi. The one where you eat raw, squirming octopus legs.

    Yukhoe (??) - Usually beef, but it literally means raw meat and can be used to call any dish that uses raw meat. So tangtangi is octopus yukhoe. It¡¯s like the KR version for the name sashimi.

    TL¡¯s corner!

    A weakened undead that''s on par with the most powerful men vs Minhyuk who has 100% attack and defense against undead¡­ Kek. Game over. Lol.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    I wonder if Minhyuk will go to that time attack dungeon now that he has absurd amounts of holy power.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 156 - The Great Mage Rafielt

    Chapter 156: The Great Mage Rafielt

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    And that wasn¡¯t the end of all the notifications. It was immediately followed by a sudden appearance of a new quest! A quest window had suddenly just popped out in front of him.

    [Unexpected Job Quest: Dragon King¡¯s Pce in Crisis.]

    Rank: SS

    Restrictions: Food God

    Rewards: Dragon King¡¯s Snow Crab.

    Penalty for Failure: All Stats -30

    Description: The Food God had saved the Dragon King¡¯s Pce in the past and at that time, he had established a good rtionship with the Dragon King. The Dragon King even prepared and carefully selected Snow Crabs to give as gifts for the Food God once they met again. However, he never came back. But you, his descendant, havee! Solve the crisis and save the Dragon King¡¯s Pce! Then you will be able to eat the Snow Crabs that the Dragon King had carefully prepared.

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes widened when he read the quest.

    ¡®S, snow crabs?!¡¯

    Snow crabs. A snow crab was an extremely amazing delicacy that ordinary people could only taste on special asions. If one held both sides of the snow crab and pulled it, they would be able to see that plump, white and soft snow crab meat that was hidden inside. What about when you took a bite out of it? You would definitely taste a whole new world of vor.

    There was a reason why Minhyuk was particrly interested in snow crabs.

    ¡®My father really likes it¡­¡­¡¯

    Minhyuk¡¯s father, Kang Minhoo, loved this food. This was why Minhyuk was extremely interested in its taste.

    ¡°How dare you stand in front of me in a daze¡­¡­!¡±

    Radin frowned when he saw Minhyuk standing in a daze. He quicklyunched a ferocious attack to deal with this bastard who had neglected his existence.

    Swooosh!

    Minhyuk hurriedly dodged the attack with Step.

    ¡®He¡¯s an undead¡­¡­¡¯

    Minhyuk finally came back to his senses. However, he had no choice but to wonder.

    Undead?

    He looked around and surveyed his surroundings.

    Are you telling me that all of the creatures in here are undead?

    Minhyuk turned his sight towards Radin. He looked at him cautiously as he watched him prepare for another attack.

    Dash!

    Ben kicked the ground with his feet from behind Minhyuk.

    ng!

    Ben¡¯s spear immediately bypassed Minhyuk and countered Radin¡¯s katana. His spear struck and pushed the katana upwards. Then, he began to attack Radin at a rapid pace.

    ng, ng, ng, ng!

    Radin¡¯s eyes widened in shock. The spear that was attacking him was moving at a tremendous speed that he couldn¡¯t even dare to do anything aside from defending from its attacks.

    Meanwhile, since Minhyuk had realized that all of the enemies surrounding them were undead, he quickly applied Pandora¡¯s Helmet¡¯s skills on Ben.

    [God¡¯s Targeted Praise]

    [The holy power of the specified target will increase to the holy power of the helmet¡¯s bearer. You can¡¯t use the holy power that the target previously had.]

    Once the skill was triggered, a bright light came out of Pandora¡¯s Helmet which flew straight at Ben and entered his body. Without missing a gap, Minhyuk also summoned Kongie out.

    [Kongie has been summoned.]

    [Pet summoning buff. Your attack power has increased by 13% and your defensive power has increased by 8%.]

    [Pet artifact buff. Your STR has increased by 4% and your defensive power has increased by 10%.]

    Minhyuk felt a powerful force filling his body.

    Then, the tip of Ben¡¯s spear passed by Radin¡¯s side.

    Shiiiiiing!

    ¡°Keoheok¡­¡­!¡±

    Radin waspletely shocked. The tip of the spear only passed by his side but he could feel a pain on his side. It felt like he had been attacked by a powerful skill with how painful his sides were.

    And the attacks did not end there. Once Ben saw that there were creatures that wanted to attack Minhyuk sneakily, he immediately used the second chapter of his Ghost Spearmanship.

    [Ghost¡¯s String of Spears]

    [Dozens of spears will attack and instantly strike the enemy¡¯s vital points.]

    Images of spears immediately sprung up on empty air. The spears turned towards the enemies and immediately flocked to where they were. In just a blink of an eye, the spears had already pierced through the enemies¡¯ vital points.

    Plop!

    Plop!

    Plop!

    Plop!

    Plop!

    Plop!

    The enemies that were struck by the spears on their vital points fell down the floor one by one. Radin quickly took advantage of the gap in attacks as he moved. He had the body of one of the Dragon King¡¯s children and he was originally a capable person so he was quite confident with his skills.

    A ck light engulfed his sword. It was the telltale sign of an assasination skill that could immediately double both his movement and attacking speed and would allow him to instantly approach and pierce through his enemy¡¯s neck.

    Radin, who immediately closed the distance between him and Ben, thrusted his katana on Ben¡¯s abdomen with all his might.

    ¡®You¡¯re done for¡­¡­!¡¯

    He believed that this farce would end once he had cleanly dealt with Ben. However, something surprisingly wrong happened.

    Stab!

    ¡°......What the hell?¡±

    Radin was pretty sure that his katana had stabbed through Ben¡¯s abdomen. However, when he looked closely, he could see that his katana couldn¡¯t prate and push through. In other words, his sessful stab was only the tip of his sword digging a little through his abdomen.

    Whenever an enemy moved to attack Ben¡¯s body, he could easily utilize his Ghost Defensive Arts which would create something called ¡®Ghost¡¯s Armor¡¯ and protect his body. This Ghost¡¯s Armor would immediately increase his defensive power by x2. In addition, he had also received the God¡¯s Targeted Praise from Minhyuk which increased his defense against the undead.

    Then¡­¡­

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Minhyuk rushed into the fight.

    He immediately used Rampant Sword, Connection (Inherit) against Radin who was left defenseless. Blood gushed out from the injury on Radin¡¯s chest that he had allowed due to his carelessness.

    Spurt!

    ¡°Keoheok?!¡±

    He couldn¡¯t help but let out a groan in pain after all the blow that he had received was unbelievably strong. However, the attack did not end with just a single blow, six more excruciatingly painful blows brought forth unimaginable damage on him.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Blood continued to gush out from his wounds as well as the new holes that were created on Radin¡¯s body. Not long after, his battered and beaten body slowly fell down with a thud.

    Thud!

    A screeching ck entity suddenly appeared out of Radin¡¯s body.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!¡±

    The ck entity slowly disappeared along with its shrieks. Not a single trace of its existence could be seen from the aftermath.

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    Minhyuk saw his EXP rising sharply as he fought against them. It seemed like they were being regarded as monsters which led to the rise in his EXP.

    After dealing with the enemies around them, Ben and Minhyuk finally had the time to examine the bodies of their enemies in detail.

    ¡®They look fine?¡¯

    The turtle looked fine. Rather, it looked like he had fallen in a deep and sweet sleep.

    Minhyuk looked at them in wonder. When he looked up, he saw that Ben was looking at the bodies with a look of surprise and understanding.

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡­¡±

    He was one of the Most Powerful Men in the past. When he was still a part of the Most Powerful Men, he knew that Rafielt was also a part of that list. Of course, even if he knew the others who were part of the Most Powerful Men, that did not mean that he knew of their exact powers and strength. However, Rafielt was pretty famous for his abilities so he knew quite a bit about it.

    At this moment, his doubts were finally cleared up and he was now certain.

    ¡°Soul exchange.¡±

    ¡°Soul exchange?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. It¡¯s a high-leveled ck magic that allows the undead to get inside another person¡¯s body. Once you attack a body that was possessed by an undead, the body will not die but the soul of the undead that entered it will.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk understood it to some extent.

    In other words, what Ben and Minhyuk had hunted and killed earlier was not the real Radin but instead the undead named Rodel who had entered his body.

    ¡°But the only person who can perform this soul exchange is the Great Mage Rafielt¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°The Great Mage Rafielt¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk had once encountered and faced against one of his curses, one of the Seven Deadly Sins so he was quite familiar with the name.

    ¡°Yes. Perhaps there was something unusual that has happened in the Dragon King¡¯s Pce. Maybe the Dragon King is possessed by the Great Mage Rafielt.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s teeth gritted in anger. This meant that the person who wanted to split his stomach and take the rabbit¡¯s liver from inside would be him.

    ¡®Maybe he knew about the rabbit¡¯s liver¡¯s hidden power?¡¯

    That¡¯s possible.

    Then, at that moment¡­

    Baaaaaaaaaang!

    A powerful shock wave rocked the entirety of the pce. Minhyuk and Ben quickly turned their heads towards the back. Then¡­¡­

    ¡°Keuaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaaa!¡±

    Screams began to resonate within the pce.

    ***

    Two hours ago.

    Jevis finally opened her eyes after she had fainted. As soon as her eyes opened, she recalled herst piece of memory before she lost consciousness.

    She remembered hiding the rabbit¡¯s liver near the secret entrance to the cave before attracting the attention of the m Golem with her aggro skills. This entrance was only known to a select few people inside the pce.

    She had hidden the rabbit¡¯s liver just in case she was killed or eaten by the predator even though she believed that it wouldn¡¯t be the case. However, she still hid just to be on the safe side.

    After hiding the rabbit¡¯s liver, she had immediately used her aggro skills. However, there was a problem. She had used her aggro skills on the day when the predator became angry. The Angry m Golem had dragged her inside the cave. That was when she realized that there was a way to enter the cave even if they weren¡¯t foreigners.

    It was only when the owner of the cave allowed them entry inside. When she thought about it deeply, the predator ate a variety of things as well as creatures of the sea. So they would be able to enter the cave once the predator had deemed and recognized them as food.

    She tried to fight against it with all her might. However, she realized that she was no match for it so she quickly ran away outside. She fled as far as she could and hid herself among the rocks. However, due to the adrenaline and stress wearing off, she couldn¡¯t stop herself from losing consciousness. When she opened her eyes again, she knew that a lot of time had passed. However, she was still unaware about how long she had lost consciousness.

    Just to make sure, she once again approached the area in the vicinity of the cave. She slowly tried to enter again. However, she found it surprising that no force had pushed her away when she tried to enter the cave. When she ventured deep inside, she could see traces of a fight between the m golem and someone else. And when she went to the wall where she had hidden the rabbit¡¯s liver, she found it to be gone. It seemed like whoever entered the cave had sessfully defeated the m Golem and took away her rabbit¡¯s liver.

    She was aware that she wouldn¡¯t be able to go after him in the condition that she was in right now. So she quickly went outside to treat her wounds and recover. However, her abilities were limited since she was focused on a special buff and not on healing.

    With a body riddled with wounds, Jevis dragged herself back into the pce.

    ¡°Jevis!¡±

    The oldest child, Kiari, immediately hugged her to her bosom once she saw her. Once she was in the arms of a familiar person, Jevis couldn¡¯t help but cry.

    ¡°Heuk¡­¡­ heukheukheukheuk¡­¡­ In the end, I couldn¡¯t hunt the m Golem, Unnie¡­¡­! The Dragon King-nim¡­¡­ I wanted to save the Dragon King-nim but¡­¡­! Our Dragon King-nim would have already returned to his old self but¡­¡­!¡±

    All Kiari could do for the crying Jevis was hug her tightly and give herfort and warmth.

    ¡°It¡¯s alright Jevis. It¡¯s alright¡­¡­¡±

    In a way, what Jevis did was something stupid. She had wanted to create a potion that could cure the Dragon King using the ingredients that she had hunted from the m Golem.

    ¡®No. It¡¯s not stupid. Perhaps what she did was better than what I have done.¡¯

    Kiari smiled bitterly.

    She stepped out and did something just to solve our situation.

    Jevis finally calmed down after letting out all of her grievances in that cry. Kiari led her to sit on a chair as she served him a cup of tea.

    Then, Jevis, who had finally moistened her throat with the tea, spoke¡­

    ¡°I¡­¡­ I actually have another thing to say to you¡­¡­¡±

    Kiari¡¯s ears couldn¡¯t stop from twitching as she pricked her ears to listen.

    ¡°......I¡¯ve lost my liver.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    When Kiari heard her confession, she couldn¡¯t help but be surprised.

    She lost her liver?

    Kiari also had a rabbit¡¯s liver but all she knew was that she needed to die before it could be removed from her body. She was unaware that it could be lost.

    Does Jevis know of another way to do that?

    ¡°I can live freely with or without my liver¡­¡­¡±

    After finally letting out her worries, Jevis narrated the events that happened in the cave.

    ¡°When you went back inside the liver was already gone¡­¡­? This means that someone had sessfully hunted the Angry m Golem, right?¡±

    Jevis slowly nodded her head as she continued to speak.

    ¡°God Roves actually gave my liver special powers. In truth, it was actually God Roves¡¯ Treasure. But God Roves clearly told me this¡­¡­ ¡®Give this liver to him as a giftter.¡¯.¡±

    Kiari tilted her head in confusion.

    ¡°In the past, the pce was left in danger. Maybe you should give it to the one who saved the pce before.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­¡­¡±

    Kiari nodded her head.

    He was an exceptional man.

    In the past, the Dragon King¡¯s Pce was facing a crisis. At that time, plenty of powerfulnd dwellers sought to take away the gold, silver and all the treasures in the Dragon King¡¯s Pce. The pce was filled with screams of pain as the people of the pce began to get pushed back. At that moment, a mysterious man appeared in front of them. That man said¡­¡­

    ¡®I heard that the seafood here is much more delicious than others? But¡­¡­ what¡¯s wrong with this ce?¡¯

    He talked with the Dragon King and the Dragon King weed him warmly as he served him the most precious meal in the entirety of the Dragon King¡¯s Sea.

    The next day, he came back as a legend.

    ¡®Dragon King-nim, the lobster I had yesterday was amazing! I don¡¯t know about anyone else but I won¡¯t be able to forget about the delicious kindness that you have given me!¡¯

    He went out of the pce along with his subordinates and fought against hundreds of thousands of monsters. The most powerful human, the emperor, dispatched knights while the Dragon Lord sent his dragons to aid him. After a fierce battle, the Dragon King¡¯s Pce experienced peace once more.

    That happened when Kiari was still very young. Jevis was born years after that incident.

    ¡°God Roves had told me to give it to him once he gets back¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­¡­¡±

    Kiari finally realized something.

    God Roves couldn¡¯t involve himself directly with the affairs of the pce. So perhaps, he had sent the Jevis as a gift for the pce and along with her, the gift for that legendary man.

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Our Food God Allen has roamed around the world saving people for food. Kek. I also want to eat lobster.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    I like how at the beginning, Minhyuk received an ¡°Unexpected Job Quest,¡± like even Athenae itself doesn¡¯t know what to think about his shenanigans.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 157 - The Great Mage Rafielt

    Chapter 157: The Great Mage Rafielt

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    When Kiari had heard that she had lost her liver, she couldn¡¯t help but feel somewhat relieved.

    ¡®......Perhaps this is for the best.¡¯

    Kiari could remember vividly the eyes of the Dragon King when he was told that he needed a rabbit¡¯s liver. He looked like he had changedpletely, the light in his eyes when he had looked at Kiari showed how greedy and he was for the rabbit¡¯s liver. It seemed like he wouldn¡¯t hesitate to kill her to get it on his hands.

    She knew that even if it was Jevis, the oue would still remain the same. However, Jevis did not have her rabbit¡¯s liver with her right now. If she had kept it, she would definitely die. Kiari believed that it would be better for them to find a way to cure the Dragon King-nim.

    ¡°I need to have an audience with the Dragon King.¡±

    ¡°In that state?¡±

    Jevis nodded her head. She had been away too long and the Dragon King might be furious with her disappearance.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go together.¡±

    Kiari held her hands as she smiled softly at her.

    ¡®No matter how much the Dragon King has changed, I believe¡­¡­¡¯

    She wholeheartedly believed that the Dragon King would pardon Jevis and her disappearance once he knew that Jevis risked her life and fought bravely against the m Golem to find a cure for him.

    Kiari and Jevis both walked towards the ce where the Dragon King was currently resting. Once they had arrived in front of the room, Kiari and Jevis took a deep breath as they looked at therge doors.

    Just when Kiari was about to knock on the door.

    Creaaaaaaak!

    The door, apanied by a loud and eerie sound, slowly opened by itself to reveal the figure of the Dragon King.

    When Jevis saw the Dragon King¡¯s face, she looked like she wanted to cry. However, she still bravely fought on and held it in.

    ¡®H, his face¡­¡­¡¯

    The Dragon King was skinnierpared to when she hadst seen him. There was even a ck light that was covering his face.

    There was only one reason why the body that Great Mage Rafielt had taken over degraded faster than everybody else. It was because the Dragon King was still greatly resisting inside his body. He was so powerful that even the Great Mage Rafielt needed to use a lot of strength just to keep him at bay.

    ¡°I have seen the Dragon King.¡±

    Kiari and Jevis bowed their heads in greeting. Kiari wanted to first speak about the rabbit¡¯s liver disappearing but¡­¡­

    ¡°Dragon King¡­¡­¡±

    At that moment, the Dragon King¡¯s hand moved as a jet of water formed and aimed towards Jevis.

    ¡®N, No¡­¡­!¡¯

    Kiari¡¯s hands quickly moved as a water barrier formed in front of Jevis, immediately blocking and protecting Jevis¡¯ body. However, the jet of water that the Dragon King had shot out was filled with a tremendous power.

    Bang!

    The barrier that Kiari created was no match for such a powerful attack. In just a blink of an eye, the barrier cracked and the jet of water mmed on Jevis¡¯ back.

    ¡°Keoheok¡­...!¡±

    Jevis shrieked in pain.

    ¡°Je, Jevis¡­¡­!¡±

    Kiari quickly approached her.

    ¡°Get out of the way, Kiari.¡±

    ¡°D, Dragon King-nim¡­¡­ W, what¡¯s¡­¡­ what¡¯s the matter with you?!¡±

    ¡°......Didn¡¯t you hear before? Only Jevis¡¯ rabbit¡¯s liver can save me. It might also be the answer to me going back to what I used to be.¡±

    The Great Mage Rafielt was unaware of what had happened. Right now, he was still left in the dark. He was entirely unaware of the fact that Jevis had already lost her rabbit¡¯s liver. When he saw Jevising inside the room, the only thought that passed through his mind was to remove the rabbit¡¯s liver from her body.

    Kiari¡¯s body trembled.

    ¡°Je, Jevis doesn¡¯t have a rabbit¡¯s liver anymore. That¡¯s why, please¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°The rabbit¡¯s liver is gone?¡±

    The Dragon King slowly raised his 2m 50cm tall body as he rubbed his chin in confusion. Kiari took that time to hastily exin the events that had transpired.

    ¡°For the Dragon King, Jevis¡­¡­! Jevis fought hard against the predator!¡±

    Kiari shouted lowly. Her voice sounded like it was a plea. A plea for the Dragon King to please spare Jevis as well as a plea for the Dragon King to return back to normal.

    However, the Dragon King only smiled coldly at the two of them.

    ¡°Jevis, Kiari. Stop spouting lies.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean that we¡¯re lying? Sheid her life and braved the dangers for Dragon King-nim¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Kiari. It¡¯s alright. I¡¯m fine.¡±

    Jevis, who was still bleeding through her back, felt the danger.

    ¡°I¡¯m really fine¡­¡­¡±

    At this moment, she was still smiling softly even though she was treated cruelly by the Dragon King. Kiari looked at her with clenched fists. She felt frustrated with how helpless they were in this situation.

    At that moment¡­

    Shwaaaa©¥

    Shwaaaa©¥

    Shwaaaa©¥

    Small vortexes of water appeared beside the Dragon King. The vortexes of water slowlybined until it formed into arge spear. Therge water spear was spinning strongly and ferociously.

    ¡°Get out of the way. Kiari.¡±

    Along with his words, therge water spear rushed towards Jevis.

    Shwaaaaaaak!

    Kiari indecisively looked at the Dragon King and Jevis. She couldn¡¯t decide on what to do. Should she heed the words of the Dragon King or would she ignore it and save her youngest sibling?

    I hate it. Even if it was the Dragon King who told me so, I still hate it. It can¡¯t be a choice between him and Jevis.

    ¡°I hate it¡­¡­!¡±

    Puwaaa!

    A jet of water suddenly bursted out in front of Kiari. As soon as Kiari grabbed that jet of water, it immediately solidified into a sword. It was the sword of the Guardian of the Sea. It was an item that was legendary, no, perhaps it was something that was even greater than that. This sword was the strongest sword in the entirety of the Dragon King¡¯s Sea.

    Shwaaa!

    A sturdier andrger barrier stood in front of them when Kiari swung her sword strongly.

    Not long after, the spear collided with the barrier. The area shook strongly as sparks appeared from the collision.

    Bang!

    ¡°Kiari! How dare you defy my orders!¡±

    ¡°You cannot harm¡­¡­ Jevis!¡±

    Kiari grabbed her sword as she looked at the Dragon King fiercely. However, she did not make a move to attack. The sword of the Guardian of the Sea was a sword that was made to protect the Dragon King. It could never be used to attack him. And¡­¡­ no matter how dire the situation was, Kiari couldn¡¯t bear toy her hands and attack the Dragon King.

    ¡®How can I darey my hands on the Dragon King¡­¡­¡¯

    The furious Dragon King slowly trudged down one step at a time.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you remember?! Jevis is the one who cared and followed your orders the most¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°Do you not realize that I have to quickly recover my health to regain peace inside the Dragon King¡¯s Pce, Kiari? Peace will onlye at the sacrifice of one.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible! Dragon King-nim, you have cha¡­¡­ Keop!¡±

    The Dragon King, who was now standing before Kiari, grabbed her by the neck.

    ¡®These girls are so easy to deal with.¡¯

    Great Mage Rafielt chuckled to himself. Although they had defended his attacks, they couldn¡¯t bear tounch an attack against the body that he currently had.

    ¡°Keok, Dragon King-nim! Please wake up! The peace in the Dragon King¡¯s Pce does not require Jevis¡¯ death¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°No. What I¡¯m trying to take is yours and Jevis¡¯ lives.¡±

    Rafielt had thought that it was high time that he killed Kiari. It was just good timing that the two of them delivered themselves to him. As soon as he decided, his hands started to tighten.

    Then¡­

    Twitch!

    An extreme dizziness suddenly hit his body.

    ¡®Keuk¡­¡­ I¡¯ve been in this body for too long¡­¡­!¡¯

    Kiari saw something when the Dragon King staggered back.

    ¡®Just now¡­¡­ what was that?!¡¯

    She was the person nearest to the Dragon King so she saw it clearly. There was clearly an unidentifiable smoke that rose from the body of the Dragon King that was immediately swallowed back inside.

    Rafielt believed that he did not have much time left.

    Shwaaaaak!

    A ck sword immediately shot out from his hands as it aimed straight towards Kiari.

    Puhaa!

    ¡°Keop!¡±

    Kiari screamed in pain as the sword stabbed straight through her abdomen. As she was bowled over in pain, another sword flew, but this time it aimed right at her chest. Kiari quickly swung her sword.

    Shwaa!

    Her sword aimed straight at Rafielt¡¯s neck.

    ng!

    A ck shield immediately popped out to block her attack and defended the side of Rafielt¡¯s neck. However, even if he was attacked straight at his neck and was not in a good position, he was still able tounch a quick counter attack. Eventually, Rafielt waved her off and threw her far away.

    Roll!

    ¡°Kyaaak!¡±

    She quickly righted herself. Once she stood back up, she red fiercely at Rafielt.

    ¡°I think I¡¯ve been caught.¡±

    ¡°......Rafielt!¡±

    The ck shield that popped out to defend the vulnerable neck of the Dragon King was something that she had seen before. It was the shield that made the Dragon King struggle during his battle against Rafielt.

    Rafielt, who realized that his identity had been exposed, let go of the mana that he desperately hid before.

    Shwaaaaa!

    The ck mana burst out and swirled above them as Great Mage Rafielt slowly stretched his hand out and pointed at them.

    ¡°Die.¡±

    Shwaaaaaaaak©¥

    A sphere of ck me that wasrge enough to engulf Kiari¡¯s whole body was formed from the ck mana that erupted from Rafielt¡¯s body. And its target? It was none other than Kiari. The powerful mes immediately headed straight towards Kiari.

    Shwaaaaaa!

    Kiari hastily stabbed the sword of the Guardian of the Sea on the ground.

    Brr, brr, brr, brr!

    The ground shook strongly as a powerful wave that was as high as 4 meters sprung up.

    Baaaaaang!

    A powerful shockwave resulted from the collision of the powerful me and the high waves. For a moment, the two opposing powers seemed like they were in a deadlock. However, Kiari was sporting a severe injury on her abdomen.

    ¡°Keughhh!¡±

    A gap suddenly appeared from the waves. The ck me immediately took advantage of the gap as it whizzed past through and engulfed Kiari¡¯s body.

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaak!¡±

    Kiari shrieked in pain as she copsed on the floor.

    Taking advantage of this moment, Great Mage Rafielt unleashed the power inside his body. ck smoke-like forces erupted from his body as it scattered and entered the bodies of the creatures all throughout the pce. The remaining souls that he had housed in his body immediately reced the souls of the creatures through soul exchange. As a result, the pce was drowned in screams. The spirits had engulfed everyone in the pce.

    ¡®I have to hurry.¡¯

    Great Mage Rafielt quickly approached Jevis to retrieve the rabbit¡¯s liver. Jevis looked at him incredulously. It seemed like she couldn¡¯t believe what was happening in front of her.

    ¡®H, he¡¯s not the Dragon King-nim¡­¡­.¡¯

    Jevis felt her blood boil in anger. She fought against the predator for him, she did everything for him but it turned out that she was deceived.

    Right at that moment¡­

    Creaaaaaaak©¥

    Baaaang!

    Therge door opened with a bang. An unknown man walked through the door with a baby pig on his shoulder. As soon as he saw the situation inside, he quickly threw his sword at Rafielt. Rafielt who felt the danger, quickly twisted his body to the side to evade. The sword flew past Rafielt and embedded itself on the wall.

    Rafielt red fiercely at the man who sent out a crude attack towards him.

    ¡°You bastard¡­¡­¡±

    Just as he was about to say something, he saw the man stretch his hand forward. However, nothing happened. No. It was just not happening in front of him.

    Puhaaaa!

    The sword that was clearly embedded on the wall suddenly whizzed past through him. Great Mage Rafielt trembled for a brief moment from the powerful shock that came with the tearing pain on his back.

    ¡°Keoheok¡­¡­!¡±

    It was just a light graze but he felt a tremendous amount of power from that unintentional blow.

    Fwiiiiiiiish!

    He could feel the area burning as smoke rose from the injury inflicted by the sword. At that moment, Great Mage Rafielt knew¡­

    ¡®T, this is the power of a strong holy power!¡¯

    Just as he thought of that, he saw the sword that swiftly passed through himy snugly on the hands of the man.

    The young man who barged inside the room was none other than Minhyuk. And the skill that he used earlier was a skill that was attached to Ellie¡¯s Sword.

    Retrieval.

    ***

    Real name, Somin, Nickname, Joo-ah. She was currently working as a Ztuber. Right now, she was anxiously waiting for someone in Barett Kingdom.

    She was the Ztuber who recently posted a video of Rovan and the Frying Pan Killer. In fact, there was no user in the world who did not want to be famous. And at that time, Joo-ah also couldn¡¯t hide her excitement. The battle between the two of them was so exciting that even the viewers couldn¡¯t help but react ecstatically.

    She had gained a huge amount of profit once the broadcast ended. She had wanted to give a percentage of her profits to the Frying Pan Killer but she couldn¡¯t find him no matter what. So without any more choices, she posted in the bulletin.

    I¡¯ll give you money, contact me.

    But she felt that it was definitely wrong. She didn¡¯t even ask for their consent before starting the broadcast and now she wanted them to ept the money after she had finished the broadcast.

    ¡®I should have asked for their consent first before I recorded it¡­¡­¡¯

    She bit her lips tightly as she reflected on herself.

    After quite some time, aint was filed against her in vition of the portrait rights.

    ¡®What do you want?¡¯

    The Frying Pan Killer¡¯swyer snorted at her when she stated that she would give all of the profits and that she would pay thepensation for viting his rights.

    Joo-ah wanted to plead her situation. She somehow managed to ask for them to meet with her. Right now, she was going to meet with one of the close aides of the Frying Pan Killer.

    She saw a maning inside of the restaurant where she was waiting anxiously.

    ¡°Hello.¡±

    Joo-ah bowed her head at him.

    The man, General, bowed his head in greeting as he sat down in front of her.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry! I¡¯m really sorry!¡±

    Joo-ah kept on bowing her head as she admitted her mistakes. At that moment, General interrupted her with his words.

    ¡°You should apologize to him, not me. Do you know how much trouble he was experiencing because of you, Joo-ah-ssi?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­¡­¡±

    She couldn¡¯t even raise her head in shame. In the whole world, she was probably the only person who had encountered a person who did not want to be famous.

    Then she said¡­

    ¡°I¡¯m really sorry. I feel so remorseful and I have been deeply reflecting on myself. I have uploaded the video of the Frying Pan Killer in my admiration for him¡­¡­ And¡­¡­ I also want to apologize again for calling myself a fan.¡±

    ¡°As expected, that punk really can see through you.¡±

    General grinned. He and Minhyuk had talked about the person who had shared the story. He also said to say this if the person who shared the story said something simr¡­¡­

    ¡°My friend told me to say this to you if you said something simr.¡±

    ¡°Yes. What¡­¡­?¡±

    General cleared his throat as he tried to mimic Minhyuk¡¯s voice and expression to the best of his ability.

    ¡°Who said that if you¡¯re a fan that you can easily do something like this?¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Joo-ah¡¯s face flushed red in shame. She couldn¡¯t help but keep her head down.

    ***

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 158 - The Great Mage Rafielt

    Chapter 158: The Great Mage Rafielt

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    General looked at Joo-ah with her head buried down to her chest. He knew that she took it for granted. She used a video featuring other people and their faces and made money with that. It was clearly a breach of privacy and a crime.

    General knew for a fact that Minhyuk was a kind person. But a kind man and a pushover were too different things. Minhyuk might be a kind person but he was someone who would take care of everything up to the finest details. And he absolutely did not take any loss.

    ¡°I, I¡¯ll do my best¡­¡­ t, to give¡­¡­ the highest amount ofpensation¡­¡­¡±

    General finally decided to get to the main point. They both knew that Joo-ah was a pretty famous Ztuber so she probably had plenty of valuable information.

    ¡°Do you have any information about delicious food?¡±

    ¡°......Yes?¡±

    Joo-ah was taken aback for a moment. She couldn¡¯t understand why he suddenly asked her about that. Usually, this was the part where they would start negotiations until they had reached an agreement. And the usual question would be ¡®How much can you give me?¡¯ but General¡¯s words were a bit different.

    ¡°I want you to give us information about something delicious. Ah, also it should be something special.¡±

    ¡°......S, something delicious?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Something delicious. I think something that can only be eaten in Athenae will be the best?¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Joo-ah pondered deeply. Shebed through all of the information that she had read but there was only one thing that ticked off that request. It was a very valuable piece of information.

    ¡°It¡¯s not something delicious but it¡¯s something along those lines¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    General tilted his head.

    ¡°It, it¡¯s information about a millstone.¡±

    ¡°A millstone?¡±

    When General heard the word ¡®millstone¡¯ the first thing that he thought about was¡­¡­

    ¡®Do you know what they call the handle of a millstone?¡¯

    But he soon shook the thought out of his head.

    ¡°A millstone¡­¡­ that¡¯s not something delicious¡­¡­ hmm¡­¡­¡±

    However, what Joo-ah said next made sense too.

    ¡°It¡¯s not something delicious but if you grind some soy beans then you can make tofu and eat it. And it¡¯s not your usual run-of-the-mill millstone.

    ¡°It¡¯s not just a simple millstone?¡±

    General¡¯s was suddenly interested in her information. She looked at Joo-ah as she nodded her head.

    ¡°Yes. In fact, there is no exact and official information released yet but ording to what I have gathered, if you put something inside and turned it¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°If you turned it¡­¡­?¡±

    ¡°You will produce double the amount of what you initially ced inside.¡±

    ¡°......Go on.¡±

    General couldn¡¯t help but be interested in her information.

    ¡°But, this millstone has tremendous abilities. They say that it even has endless powers. It was said that if you make tofu with soy beans using this millstone, you will be able to produce a piping hot tofu that tastes better than any other tofu in the world.¡±

    Gulp.

    General gulped down his saliva as he listened to her. He couldn¡¯t help but imagine the hot and freshly made tofu that was always sold on the sidewalks. Those piping hot and steaming tofu. He imagined buying arge tofu as the seller cut it up into bite sized pieces then, they would add some stir fried tuna and kimchi on top of it. And once he ced it in his mouth?

    ¡®Just thinking about it is already amazing¡­¡­¡¯

    ¡°That¡­¡­ uh, your d, drool¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Sluuuurp. Ah. Yes.¡±

    ¡®This is it!¡¯ This was the thought that shed in General¡¯s mind. He knew that this was something that Minhyuk would definitely like. Also. It was clearly not an ordinary millstone based on what she had told him. This information was enough for them to reach an agreement with Joo-ah.

    ¡°We need to find out more information about it as well as its exact location. So, can you tell me your nickname so I can add you?¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    General couldn¡¯t help but wipe his drool at the thought of such an item.

    ***

    Minhyuk and Ben could see the ck souls flying all over the pce as soon as they went out of the restaurant. However, Ben immediately used his Ghost Spear and quickly dealt with the enemies that surrounded them. The enemies all fell one by one under the hands of Ghost Spear Ben.

    [You have leveled up.]

    Since Ben became Minhyuk¡¯s subordinate, Minhyuk was still able to get some EXP from him which led to his level increasing.

    Not long after, they were able to push through the throngs of enemies and made their way in front of a huge door. The enemies kept on flocking to where they were so they had no choice but to make their stand here.

    ¡°Open the door! We¡¯ll stop these bastards here!¡±

    If they opened the door and limited the area where their enemies coulde through then they would be able to stop their fierce assault. This situation was much betterpared to blocking their attacks from all sides. But a set of notifications popped out when Minhyuk touched the door.

    [Most Powerful Men. Great Mage Rafielt has appeared!]

    [You have met one of the Most Powerful Men as your enemy.]

    [Whoever hunts and kills one of the Most Powerful Men will gain plenty of rewards.]

    ¡°......!¡±

    Minhyuk looked inside as he finished listening to the notifications.

    There, he saw the giant figure of the Dragon King. He looked no different than a catfish that could walk. However, he was wearing a luxurious yongpo with the image of a dragon on it. He saw him approach a rabbit that was severely injured.

    ¡°......He¡¯s the one who wanted to open up my belly and take away the rabbit¡¯s liver that I ate?!¡¯

    Minhyuk would already get angry if someone snatched the food that was in his hands, what more if it was someone who wanted to steal and separate the rabbit¡¯s liver that he had already eaten. So Minhyuk threw his sword with all his might.

    When his sword went past through Rafielt and got stuck in a wall, Rafieltughed at him as if he was looking at some ridiculous being.

    ¡°You bastard¡­¡­?¡±

    Before Rafielt could finish his words, Minhyuk raised his hand.

    ¡®While his guard against me is still down¡­¡­¡¯

    The sword that was stuck neatly in the wall vibrated strongly as it got sucked away by Minhyuk¡¯s outreached hand.

    Spuuuurt!

    ¡°Keheoheok!¡±

    Rafielt, with his back left unguarded, screamed in pain when the sword grazed his back. He could see ck smoke rising from the injury inflicted on his back.

    Minhyuk clenched his sword tightly.

    ¡®I¡¯ll definitely get that delicious snow crab and enjoy some snow crab pancakes as well as snow crab ramyeon at the end of this fight¡­¡­!¡¯

    He remembered eating plenty of snow crabs with his father back when he was a child. And every time they ate it, Minhyuk would always say¡­¡­

    ¡®Father, it tastes like crab meat sticks!¡¯

    ¡®Haha. It¡¯s an extremely delicious and hot crab meat stick!¡¯

    In fact, the taste of snow crabs were really too simr with crab meat sticks and Minhyuk wanted to taste the vor of the snow crab again.

    Minhyuk looked behind him and saw Ben standing by the door as he blocked the enemies from entering. He was fighting against them alone.

    Minhyuk clenched Ellie¡¯s sword tightly.

    Dash!

    Then he started running.

    ¡°Bastard!¡±

    Great Mage Rafielt red at him fiercely as he waved his hand in the air. Following his movements, a huge wand sprang up in front of him. He grabbed the wand and waved in Minhyuk¡¯s direction.

    Suddenly, ck mana flew out and surrounded Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    [Great Mage Rafielt¡¯s Seven Deadly Sins. Sloth.]

    [You have bezy. You do not want to do anything.]

    [You have an invincible body that can ignore and resist all abnormal states.]

    [You have resisted an abnormal state.]

    It was the Seven Deadly Sins! The curse of Great Mage Rafielt! Minhyuk had fought against one of his curses, the sin of gluttony, before. Back then, he fought against it without any protection whatsoever against abnormal states. But this time, he was able to resist it thanks to his invincible body.

    ¡°......!¡±

    Great Mage Rafielt took a step back when he saw that Minhyuk was still unaffected and was still running straight at him.

    ¡®H, how¡­¡­?¡¯

    He was dumbfounded. He was well aware that his curse had a powerful force that could never be resisted. And once you had fallen under the sin of sloth, you would not want to do anything at all. Even if someone shed you right at the neck, you would still do nothing. But the young man in front of him was different. He was clearly running straight toward himself with no signs of stopping at all.

    [Fire Field.]

    [A huge area of me will engulf your enemy in an instant.]

    Puhaaaaaaaaaa!

    zing ck mes suddenly rose from all over the floor. Before the mes could reach him, Minhyuk had already pulled the frying pan off of his back. As soon as he held the frying pan, his magical defense had increased by x2.

    Crackle!

    Minyuk felt the heat that the mes were emitting.

    ¡®It¡¯s not that hot¡­¡­¡¯

    It was not his frying pan that contributed to his increase in magical defense. The increase in his holy power not only had increased both his physical defense and physical attack power but it also boosted both his magical defense and magical attack power. If anyone looked closely, they would be able to see that Minhyuk¡¯s magical defense was leagues beyond that of the ordinary tankers.

    Minhyuk quicklyunched a fierce magic attack towards Great Mage Rafielt¡¯s Fire Field. Dozens of spears of water flew off straight at the fire. Sparks were created when both magical attacks met with each other. However, Minhyuk was still able to blow away the ck mes that almost surrounded the area.

    Rafielt who was outside the area of the me field suddenly heard a strange sound.

    ng!

    ¡®......ng?¡¯

    Rafielt¡¯s forehead creased in suspicion.

    At that moment¡­

    ng!

    With another strange sound ringing clearly on his ears, he saw a spear of water aiming straight towards him from inside the me field.

    Shwaaaaaa!

    Bang!

    He hurriedly blocked it with a ck shield. Not long after, more than half of the magic attack that Minhyuk hadunched arrived in front of him.

    ng, ng, ng, ng, ng!

    ng, ng!

    Puhaaa!

    At the same time, Minhyuk burst through the mes and went straight at his neck. Great Mage Rafielt quickly set dozens of ck shields around him.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to eat snow crabs¡­...! I¡¯m going to eat! Spicy braised snow crabs!¡±

    Minhyuk, who screamed something weird, wielded his sword high as he used Rampant Sword, Connection (Inherit) with all his might.

    [Rampant Sword. Connection (Inherit)]

    [One strike will result in 7 powerful strikes with an additional 40% damage.]

    Minhyuk also erged his frying pan to be as big as his body and used to p Great Mage Rafielt.

    aaang!

    At that moment, the ck shields and the frying pan mmed against each other.

    Crash!

    Great Mage Rafielt breathed a sigh of relief when the shields blocked Minhyuk¡¯s attacks sessfully.

    ¡®You won¡¯t be able to break my shields!¡¯

    He decided to end this useless fight once and for all by sending out a strong and ferocious attack towards this daring man that ran and delivered himself in front of him. But just as he was going to move his arms¡­

    ng!

    Another attack came through. However, this time after receiving ovepping attacks, the shield suddenly cracked.

    ng, ng!

    Crack!

    The shield soon shattered into pieces. Then¡­¡­

    ng, ng, ng, ng!

    Four straight attacks mmed on Great Mage Rafielt¡¯s head.

    ¡°Keheoheok!¡±

    The attacks seemed like it took a toll on him and he stayed in a daze for a moment. Before he knew it, Minhyuk was already standing in front of him. He saw Minhyuk quickly ce the frying pan on his back as he gripped his sword tightly.

    [Sword of Fury. Shatter (Destroy)]

    [There will be an additional 60% for strong lunges and stabs, if a vital strike is sessful then the additional attack power will be 100%.]

    Great Mage Rafielt saw that the sword in the hands of the man in front of him was suddenly filled with a great force. He keenly felt that he would take a heavy damage if this sword stabbed straight at him.

    Vwoooooooom©¥

    A huge amount of mana was swiftly gathered in Great Mage Rafielt¡¯s hands. After gathering the mana, he quickly thrusted his hand at Minhyuk.

    Baaaaang!

    The tip of his sword and the explosive mana collided.

    Swoooooooosh!

    The Sword of Fury ripped the mana into pieces and Shatter (Destroy) pierced straight through Rafielt¡¯s abdomen.

    [You have seeded in stabbing a vital point.]

    [100% additional damage!]

    Baaaaaaang!

    Rafielt felt a powerful force exploding and ravaging inside his body.

    ¡°Kiheeeek!¡±

    A painful and indiscernible scream tore through the mouth of Greath Mage Rafielt. His ck soul even popped out of the body of the Dragon King for a moment beforeing back inside.

    ¡°How dare you, how dare¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡®Is his HP really that high?¡¯

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes widened when he realized that he only scratched the surface of Rafielt¡¯s HP. Then, he saw Great Mage Rafielt waving his arm.

    When Great Mage Rafielt waved his arm, all of the ck souls that were scattered all over the pce that entered the countless creatures dwelling inside were suddenly pulled away from those bodies. Their numbers were at the hundreds at the very least. And with another wave of his hand, these ck souls shrieked as they were sucked back inside the body of Great Mage Rafielt.

    ¡°Kyaaaaaak!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaack!¡±

    [Rafielt¡¯s HP has fallen below 50%.]

    [His Skill: Soul Devour has been triggered.]

    [His magical attack and magical defense has temporarily increased by 1.8x]

    [His Skill: Soul Recovery has been triggered.]

    [All of his wounds are recovering at a rapid pace.]

    ¡°......!¡±

    Minhyuk also remembered that when Rumad, the person he fought before, also triggered some skills when his HP dropped below a certain level. He could easily fight toe to toe against Great Mage Rafielt because of his tremendously high Holy Power. However, if this situation would happen every time then the flow of the story would definitely change.

    Crackle, swoosh, fwoosh!

    The space between them was suddenly torn apart as a me that was bigger and hotter than any regr me appeared inside of it.

    [Hellfire.]

    [A huge fire summoned from hell has now been created.]

    The users in the entire world who could cast such a high level magic like this could only be counted by the fingers on one¡¯s hand. Such was the greatness and might of the magic, Hellfire.

    When Minhyuk saw this magic being formed in front of his eyes, he could clearly tell that¡­¡­

    ¡®If I get hit by that¡­¡­ then I¡¯d die¡­¡­!¡¯

    The items in the surroundings were slowly starting to melt. This just showed how terrifying the heat and might of this zing ball of me. It wasn¡¯t even touching anything but it could still melt the things in its surrounding. It was so hot to the point that Minhyuk could feel the heat after widening the gap between him and Rafielt.

    ¡°......!¡±

    Ben also looked flustered when he saw the Hellfire being created.

    ¡°Die, you son of a bitch!¡±

    Shwaaaaaa!

    The huge ball of Hellfire quickly flew towards Minhyuk at an astonishing speed. When Ghost Spear Ben saw this, he quickly kicked the ground as he braced himself to throw his spear.

    [Ghost¡¯s Counter Spear.]

    [The rotating spear will offset the enemy¡¯s attack in an instant.]

    Ben threw his spear with all his might. When he let go of the spear, a huge swirling vortex was formed as it flew straight towards the iing attack.

    Once the spear and the hellfire met in the air¡­...

    Vrrrrrrrrrrrr!

    The counter spear tried to offset the Hellfire. However, when it was just about to dig straight into it and break the attack, the spear suddenly fell down on the floor.

    ¡°This¡­¡­!¡±

    Old Man Ben¡¯s eyebrows furrowed in distress. At this rate, neither he nor Minhyuk would be able to escape. Both of them would be swallowed by that huge hellfire.

    However, right at that moment¡­...

    Shwaaaaaa!

    A huge wall of water sprung up from the ground as it created a barrier between them and the hellfire. As soon as the barrier formed, the huge wall of water was formed into a tidal wave and rushed straight towards the hellfire.

    Minhyuk and Ben¡¯s heads both turned towards the source of the water. There, they saw Kiari with her pierced abdomen with her head cushioned on Jevis¡¯ knees. They could also see Jevis tremblingly raised her hands as a huge force suddenly spread out from her palms.

    [The Chosen Child¡¯s Blessings.]

    [All of your stats will increase by 30%, your magical defense will increase by 50% for 10 minutes.]

    Then, Kiari shouted at them.

    ¡°Anything. I¡¯ll give you anything you want¡­¡­! That¡¯s why, please¡­¡­ please¡­¡­ save¡­¡­ our Dragon King-nim and¡­¡­ our Dragon King¡¯s Pce¡­...!¡±

    Minhyuk had no idea about their situation at all but he could still somewhat guess about what had happened. So he nodded his head in agreement.

    He quickly erged his frying pan to cover both him and Ben and protect them from the iing attack.

    Then, the huge Hellfire first collided with the tidal wave that Kiari had created.

    Fwiiiiiiiiiiiiiish!

    ***

    Footnotes

    [Do you know what the handle of a millstone is called?] ?? ???? ??? ???? ???? - ??. It is literally the handle of the millstone that they use. However, it could also mean annoying. So the question is a pun for annoying. Back.

    [Yongpo] ?? - the robe mostly worn by royalties. The red colored robe that is usually worn by kings in KDrama are called gonryongpo. This is the usual clothes worn by the king, the crown prince and the first born of the crown prince.Back

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Not gonna lie, when I saw that the dragon king looked like a catfish wearing the dragon robe¡­¡­ I was shocked. I thought he was more human-like or like a merman or something. Thanks for breaking my fantasies author-nim.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 159 - The Great Mage Rafielt

    Chapter 159: The Great Mage Rafielt

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    The huge Hellfire swallowed the water from the huge tidal wave. The room was instantly filled with steam. However, the onught of the Hellfire still continued until it eventually evaporated all of the water from the created waves. In the end, it still collided with the water barrier that Kiari created in front of Minhyuk and Ben.

    Bang!

    The water barrier shattered and fell so easily. It was a futile attempt at trying to stop such an enormous magic. After shattering the water barrier, the Hellfire continued on and collided with the frying pan.

    Bang!

    ¡°Keuheuuuuugh!¡±

    Minhyuk let out a groan of pain. He was expecting for the magical reflection to activate but it did not get triggered.

    Shwiiiiiiiiing!

    Minhyuk¡¯s body was slowly getting pushed back by the hellfire.

    ¡®It, it¡¯s hot¡­¡­!¡¯

    The high intensity of the zing mes that could easily melt the items in its surroundings made his whole body feel hot.

    [Your HP is decreasing rapidly.]

    [Your HP has fallen below 90%.]

    [Your HP has fallen below 80%.]

    [Your HP has fallen below 70%.]

    Minhyuk could even feel that the handle of the frying pan was starting to get scalding hot. His hands that were holding on to it were starting to get cramps. He believed that it was almost time that he lost his grip on the pan since his hands were starting to feel weak.

    ¡°Oiiink¡­¡­!¡±

    Kongie suddenly started to push the frying pan from Minhyuk¡¯s left side while Ben pushed it from his right side.

    Tap, tap, tap!

    Their cover which was slowly getting pushed back by the Hellfire had begun to push forward.

    Shwaaaa!

    However, the huge zing mes of Hellfire still did not show any signs of stopping. The three of them braced themselves as they advanced through the mes slowly but steadily.

    Shwaaaa!

    And at some point in time, the mes had suddenly calmed down.

    ¡®We¡¯ve held on¡­¡­!¡¯

    However, before he could even take a breath of relief, he heard a rustling from behind them. Ben hurriedly went behind Minhyuk as he blocked the iing attack. Then¡­¡­

    Bang!

    Great Mage Rafielt waved his wand once more as arge fist made out of ck mana smashed at Ben.

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    Ben flew back from the shock of the powerful blow.

    Whenever Rafielt waved his wand, a light would sh and fists made out of ck mana would be formed. These fists would then immediately fly and attack Minhyuk.

    ng!

    ng!

    ¡®Too fast¡­¡­!¡¯

    Great Mage Rafielt was not only known for his great strength in magic, he was also someone that was strong in closebat and physical attacks.

    Shwaaaa!

    Not long after, he waved his wand once more. This time, instead of fists, dozens of fireballs were created which attacked Minhyuk fiercely.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Kongie quickly stepped forward and blocked the attacks for Minhyuk.

    ng, ng!

    Minhyuk also used his frying pan to smash the flying fireballs back to where it came from.

    [Magical Reflection.]

    [You have returned the magical attack back to your enemy.]

    Puhaa!

    [Dispel.]

    [Invalidate and dispel a magic attack.]

    Great Mage Rafielt casted a magic spell that easily extinguished the magic that was reflected back on him.

    ¡°You¡¯ve got some annoying artifacts with you.¡±

    Minhyuk declined to answer his statement.

    Vwoooooong!

    He just continued to swing his frying pan fiercely.

    ¡°Keugh!¡±

    Rafielt couldn¡¯t help but take a step back to widen their distance. At the same time, Minhyuk also took two steps back and furthered the gap between them.

    However, there was only one thought that was running in Minhyuk¡¯s head right now.

    ¡®I have to finish this quickly¡­¡­!¡¯

    His foot dug on the ground as he kicked the ground for momentum. On the other hand, Rafielt waved his wand once more as he used his spell, Windcutter, and summoned dozens of des of wind that were aimed directly at Minhyuk.

    Shwaa!

    Shwaa!

    Shwaa!

    The summoned wind des quickly flew towards Minhyuk. Great Mage Rafielt had thought of using Blink to counter Minhyuk¡¯s annoyingly fast movement whenever he used Step so he could kill him along the way. However, Minhyuk had gone beyond what he had expected him to do.

    sh!

    sh!

    sh!

    [Your HP has fallen below 50%.]

    [Your HP has fallen below 40%.]

    [Your HP has fallen below 30%.]

    Blood spurted out from all over Minhyuk¡¯s body as the wind des tore through his very being. However, his steps did not falter at all. He still continued to dash to where Rafielt was.

    ¡®W, what¡­¡­.!¡¯

    Rafielt, who felt flustered at his shocking actions, raised his finger and pointed it tremblingly at Minhyuk. Then, a burst of ck mana shot out of his finger that prated each and every single part of Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    Minhyuk, who had be a torn and ragged man with all of the injuries he had sustained, as he staggered in front of Rafielt and grabbed his shoulders tightly.

    ¡°Keuhahahahaha!¡±

    Seeing how Minhyuk was bleeding all over, vomiting blood from his mouth and staggering forward, Rafielt bursted out inughter. Heughed crazily at Minhyuk¡¯s plight as if it was just a matter of time that he died.

    At that moment¡­¡­

    Shwaaaaaa!

    Minhyuk¡¯s body was suddenly engulfed in a bright shing light.

    [He Who Ovees.]

    [Your HP has increased to 1. You are now invincible for 3 seconds.]

    [All of your abilities have increased by 30% for 3 seconds.]

    Shwiiiiiing©¥

    Minhyuk, who still had blood inside his mouth,ughed loudly.

    ¡°......!¡±

    When Rafielt saw Minhyuk¡¯s situation take a turn for the better, he quickly tried to run away. However, Minhyuk did not let him do so much as take a step away. He quickly moved his hands away from his shoulders as he grabbed his cor. Then, he quickly threw the frying pan on his hands behind him as he grabbed his sword tightly.

    ¡°Rampant Sword, Connection (Inherit).¡±

    As he grabbed Rafielt¡¯s cor, the cooldown for Connection (Inherit) had finally ended.

    Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab!

    The sword in his right hand quickly stabbed Rafielt¡¯s abdomen for a total of six times. However, with Rafielt¡¯s high physical and magical defense, he was able to resist the attacks. But the final stab was the most crucial of them all.

    [Intangible Sword.]

    [Your sword strike has ignored all of the enemy¡¯s defenses.]

    Spurt!

    ¡°Keooook¡­¡­!¡±

    Rafielt looked down at the sword that was stabbed straight through his abdomen with clear disbelief.

    Minhyuk quickly withdrew the sword from Rafielt¡¯s body. However, this time, he used Sword of Fury, Shatter (Destroy).

    ¡°Hiyaa!¡±

    Minhyuk stabbed Rafielt¡¯s body with all the strength that he could muster.

    [You have seeded in stabbing a vital point.]

    [100% additional damage!]

    Rafielt¡¯s eyes further widened in disbelief as he saw his blood spurting out of his chest.

    ¡°N, no wa¡­¡­!¡±

    Bang!

    Not long after, his heart exploded along with the force from Minhyuk¡¯s sword.

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡±

    Flop.

    The next moment, the Dragon King¡¯s body fell down on the floor as the ck soul that represented Great Mage Rafielt finally left his body and flew in the air. They could hear the shrieks of pain from Great Mage Rafielt¡¯s soul as he slowly burned into ashes.

    After Rafielt¡¯s soul had turned into ashes and disappeared into the air, plenty of artifacts and skill books fell down as notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s head.

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    His level had increased by 22 in one fell swoop.

    ¡°Haaa¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk slumped on the ground as he quickly took out loaves of bread and pizza from his inventory. As soon as his Absorption Transition skill had activated, his wounds had begun to recover at a rapid pace.

    Not long after, the door mmed open as someone jumped from the inside. It was the human-like warrior turtle, Radin.

    ¡°Kiari! Jevis!¡±

    He was shocked when he saw the state of both Kiari and Jevis. However, his eyes widened further when he saw the Dragon King slumped down on the ground.

    ¡°E, even the Dragon King¡­¡­!¡±

    Radin hurriedly went to the Dragon King as Minhyuk approached Kiari and Jevis.

    ¡°W, what are you¡­¡­!¡±

    In all honesty, Kiari and Jevis did not know anything about Minhyuk. They were quite nervous about his next actions.

    Minhyuk ignored their apprehension as he immediately used his bandaging skill on Jevis since she looked like the one who needed to be treated the most.

    ¡°Bandage wrapping!¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no way that a serious injury like this can be cured like that!¡±

    Kiari looked at him strangely. However, his hands did not stop until he had bandaged Jevis and her back injurypletely. After a moment, Minhyuk released the bandage. What was surprising to Kiari was that the wound had already stopped bleeding and was already almost fully healed.

    In Kiari and Jevis¡¯ case, both of them were beings with high Holy Power. However, their focus was not on healing so they did not have any ounce of skill that could heal their injuries. Right now, their doors had opened to a whole new world with their first taste of the miraculous bandaging skill.

    ¡°Bandage wrapping!¡±

    Minhyuk also turned towards Kiari as he treated her injuries with his bandaging skills.

    ¡°T, thank you¡­¡­!¡±

    Kiari bowed her head sincerely at him as she hastily went to the Dragon King¡¯s side.

    ¡°D, Dragon King-nim!¡±

    ¡°Please wake up, Dragon King-nim!¡±

    The two rabbits and one turtle surrounded the copsed Dragon King as they shed tears of heartache.

    Minhyuk felt embarrassed when he saw the scene in front of him.

    ¡®Heok¡­¡­?! Isn¡¯t the Dragon King the only one who can give me that special snow crabs¡­¡­?!¡¯

    When he remembered this fact, Minhyuk suddenly turned restless.

    Isn¡¯t it rude if I just told the Dragon King ¡®I want to eat snow crabs, Dragon King-nim!¡¯?

    Just as Minhyuk was thinking of a way to politely request for the snow crabs, the Dragon King finally slowly opened his eyes.

    ¡°......Kiari, Jevis, Radin. I¡¯m so sorry! Sobs!¡±

    The Dragon King looked paler than ever as he sobbed and talked with his children.

    Before Minhyuk knew it, Ben had already regained his senses as he stood beside him.

    ¡°There were rumors floating about the Dragon King being seriously injured after his fight with Great Mage Rafielt. However, it seemed like instead of sustaining any injuries, Great Mage Rafielt had possessed the body of the Dragon King. It looks like his body does not have any energy to hold on to life anymore.¡±

    After he finished his speech, they saw the Dragon King slowly turn his head towards them.

    ¡°For saving the Dragon King¡¯s Pce¡­¡­ as well as these children¡­¡­ I give you my thanks.¡±

    However, it seemed like the Dragon King¡¯s energy was already spent. He wasn¡¯t even able to finish his sentence when his head drooped down.

    ¡°Dragon King-niiiiiiim!¡±

    ¡°Huhuhuhuhu!¡±

    Kiari, Jevis and Radin¡¯s cries echoed loudly inside the room.

    Minhyuk hurriedly approached the Dragon King as he took something out of his arms. It was none other than the ¡®Legendary White Chocte¡¯ that he had saved before back when he was at the Chocte Paradise.

    The white chocte had the power to revive someone who was at the brink of death or someone who had just died as long as not too much time had passed. He did not know it but perhaps, right now, this white chocte was the most valuable item in the world.

    However, Minhyuk did not care at all. If he fed this to the Dragon King, then he would be the benefactor of both the Dragon King and the entirety of the Dragon King¡¯s Pce. Of course those were not his main concern, there was only one reason why he would use it for the Dragon King.

    ¡®This is so I can eat snow crabs¡­¡­!¡¯

    Minhyuk had always valued the taste of the food instead of the abilities that it would give him. The sweet chocte fruits that he could harvest from the chocte tree all tasted simrly to the legendary chocte that he had eaten before so it did not matter if he fed this one to the Dragon King.

    ¡°What are you doing¡­¡­?¡±

    ¡°Huhuhuhu, heuk¡­...?¡±

    The three of them looked at him curiously as he took the white chocte, that was as big as his fist, and brought it towards the Dragon King¡¯s mouth who was at least 2m and 50cm in height.

    ¡®But, how do you save someone who just died?¡¯

    Right now, it seemed a bit difficult to feed the Dragon King who just died.

    But how can I save him from his death?

    ¡°What are you doing?! How dare you do something like that in front of the Dragon King¡­¡­!¡±

    Just when Kiari was going to yell at him for doing something sacrilegious to the Dragon King, a surprising thing happened in front of them.

    The white chocte floated in the air above the Dragon King.

    [The Legendary White Chocte has shown its power.]

    The white chocte that was silently floating in the air slowly began to melt. Then, the melted chocte flew slowly and entered the slightly opened mouth of the Dragon King. The white chocte continuously melted and entered the mouth of the Dragon King.

    Kiari and Jevis looked at the scene in undisguised shock.

    ¡°I, I can¡¯t believe that I¡¯m feeling a tremendous amount of power from chocte¡­¡­!¡±

    The white chocte gradually shrunk in size until all of the melted chocte entered the Dragon King¡¯s mouth.

    [You havepleted your Unexpected Job Quest: Dragon King¡¯s Pce in Crisis.]

    [You can now receive the snow crabs from the Dragon King.]

    ¡°......¡±

    Minhyuk sighed in relief once he read the notifications.

    Right now, he could finally see the Dragon King slowly, very slowly open his eyes. He could also see that his pale and bluishplexion had begun to rapidly recover. His catfish beard that had turned into white due to hisck of energy had also turned back into ck. The energetic and strong Dragon King of the past had now finallye back!

    ¡°Dragon King-nim!¡±

    Jevis was the first one to dive straight into the arms of the Dragon King. Kiari smiled broadly while shedding tears of joy as she watched the scene in front of her.

    ¡°Waaaaaaaah!¡±

    Radin clenched his fists tightly as he shouted happily.

    Before they knew it, the creatures in the pce that had fallen unconscious started to wake up one by one.

    And Minhyuk?

    ¡®Snow crabs. I want to eat snow crabs¡­¡­! B, but I don¡¯t think this is the right time to ask for it¡­¡­¡¯

    Minhyuk wished that this warm and joyful mood(?) end soon. As he hoped for that to happen, he started to pick up the artifacts that dropped from Great Mage Rafielt.

    [You have acquired 251, 311, 561 gold.]

    [You have acquired Great Mage Rafielt¡¯s Wand.]

    ***

    The Dragon King, who was now fully conscious and awake, had finally heard about what had happened to him recently. He had also heard about the mysterious foreigner that had saved him from death.

    The Dragon King sat on his throne in a daze, seemingly lost in his thoughts.

    ¡°Hehe. Dragon King-nim, please have some tea!¡±

    ¡°Oh. Thank you, Kiari.¡±

    Kiari smiled brightly as she happily passed the cup of tea to the Dragon King. She was so happy that even her round and fluffy tail twitched wildly.

    Then, she heard the Dragon King talk¡­

    ¡°Kiari-yah.¡±

    ¡°Yes. Dragon King-nim?¡±

    ¡°Bring me my ancient treasure chest.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Kiari¡¯s eyes widened in surprise when she heard his orders.

    The ancient treasure chest.

    There were three outstanding artifacts in the Dragon King¡¯s Pce. All of these artifacts could exhibit a truly remarkable power that even exceeded the other legendary artifacts. And these three artifacts were currently owned by Kiari, Jevis and Radin. And an ancient treasure chest was currently housing these three artifacts.

    The ancient treasure chest was an item that was given by God Roves. However, for hundreds of years, the final box had remained unopened. This was because whenever a child of the Dragon King dies, their weapon would be inherited by the next child.

    ¡°......Is it really fine to give that treasure to a foreigner?¡±

    ¡°Kiari-yah. He, to our Dragon King¡¯s Pce, me and even you, is a benefactor. Wasn¡¯t he also the one who saved Jevis?¡±

    Kiari nodded her head. He was a person that they were grateful to. A man that they were grateful to. She nodded her head again as she hopped away.

    Not long after, Minhyuk came inside. After some time, Kiari came back with the ancient treasure chest that she handed over to him.

    ¡°Please open it.¡±

    Minhyuk slowly opened the treasure chest under the excited eyes of the Dragon King.

    As soon as the treasure chest opened¡­¡­

    Shwaaaa©¥

    An item slowly appeared apanied by a mysterious sound. The first thing that he saw was the grip and the grip was attached to the thick de of a sword. In just one nce, he was sure that it was a great sword.

    Minhyuk slowly reached his hand out and grasped the handle of the greatsword. The moment his hand touched the handle, notifications rang in his head.

    [You have acquired the Ancient Water Dragon Barraca¡¯s Great Sword.]

    [The Ancient Water Dragon Barraca¡¯s Great Sword now belongs to you.]

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Ah. Battle is finally done. That was a long fight. Took how many chapters. He did kill Rafielt faster than Rumad. Maybe because it¡¯s not Rafielt¡¯s body and that the Dragon King¡¯s body is already spent so he did it easilypared to when they fought against Rumad.

    Will he be delighted or would he sound sarcastic? I believe he will sound sarcastic. Kek. Anyway, he has to ask for snow crabs too. I wonder if he¡¯s going to tell them that he¡¯s the Food God. Anyway, I¡¯m so excited for crabs. I hope there are lobsters too. Sluuuurp. :L

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Heh, I wonder how Genie¡¯s going to react when Minhyuk rolls up with all of Rafielt¡¯s stuff to sell for food? Also, I¡¯m going to call it that Minhyuk¡¯s just going to keep encountering all of the World¡¯s Strongest Men.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 160 - Minhyuks Activities

    Chapter 160: Minhyuk¡¯s Activities

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    47 Minhyuk¡¯s Activities

    The Dragon King¡¯s eyes widened in surprise.

    ¡®Th, that grip is definitely¡­¡­¡¯

    The item that woulde out of the ancient treasure chest was random. However, with just one nce, the Dragon King could already tell what item it was. If his memory served him right, then the grip of the item that he had seen was something that belonged to the Ancient Water Dragon.

    The Dragon King¡¯s Pce considered the Ancient Water Dragon as God Roves¡¯ agent. To put it simply, it was simr to the Phoenix that was revered highly by the Eivelis Empire. Among all of the Ancient Water Dragons, the most outstanding of them all was Barraca. And the power that the Dragon King felt from the grip was clearly from Barraca.

    ¡°Have you checked it?¡±

    ¡°Not yet.¡±

    The Dragon King waved his hand as if to urge him so Minhyuk hurriedly checked the item¡¯s information.

    (The Ancient Water God Barraca¡¯s Greatsword)

    Rank: Legendary

    Restrictions: Minhyuk¡¯s Attribute Artifact

    Durability: ¡Þ / ¡Þ

    Attack Power: 732

    Special Abilities:

    ©¥ A 10% increase in STR and AGI.

    ©¥ An increase of 5 levels to your Passive Skill: Greatsword Advanced Mastery.

    ©¥ A sessful attack has a 15% chance of triggering the state: difficulty in breathing.

    ©¥ Reduces attack failure probability by 50%.

    ©¥ Skill: Artifact Subspace

    Description: This is a sword made out of the bones of the Ancient Water God Barraca and God¡¯s mineral, Adamantium. It is also called the Supreme Sword in the world of Gods.

    ¡®......T, the attack power is a bit ridiculous. Right?¡¯

    Minhyuk was not usually surprised by anything that was not delicious but this item had definitely surprised him with the 732 attack power attached to the item. It was even higherpared to Rumad¡¯s Demonic Sword and it even had a special ability that could increase the Greatsword Advance Mastery by 5 levels.

    Minhyuk reached his hand out as he grabbed the sword with all his might.

    [The Greatsword Advanced Mastery Lv5 has been applied.]

    [The giant greatsword will feel lighter than a normal sword in your hands.]

    [Your attack power has increased by 12%.]

    The Advanced Mastery was a passive skill that couldn¡¯t be raised easily by anyone. If one would consider the average users, the user would only be able to achieve Lv 3~6 in their mastery if they insisted on using a single type of weapon from Lv1 to Lv400. The only way for them to increase their mastery beyond that was to use the weapon more than anyone else. However, his Advanced Mastery had increased to Lv5 all at once.

    Minhyuk lifted the sword up and swung it to the best of his abilities.

    Vwooooooong!

    ¡®It¡¯s light¡­¡­!¡¯

    It was surprisingly light in Minhyuk¡¯s hands. He felt that it was even lighterpared to Ellie¡¯s Sword. If he used this sword and sessfullynded an attack, he would also have a 15% chance of inflicting a difficulty in breathing debuff on his enemies.

    It seems like it¡¯s useful.

    The reason was simple. If he was in a fight and the enemy suddenly suffered from suffocation then he would have huge advantages. Experiencing difficulty in breathing so suddenly would be quite difficult. Even if one ran for 100m with both his nose pinched and his mouth shut, the probability would still be low, what more if he was in a fight. If his enemy suffered from difficulty in breathing even for just a moment in the midst of a battle would break his concentration which would then allow a better chance for him to stage an attack or to catch his breath.

    And there was also the Artifact Subspace. In other words, it meant that he could ce the greatsword within the subspace when he has no use of it and just summon it if he needed it.

    Minhyuk took Ellie¡¯s Sword as he looked at it tenderly.

    ¡®Instructor Valen, please don¡¯t feel upset.¡¯

    Vn was the sword that he had received from Instructor Valen of the Scarecrow Training Grounds and he had promised to use it well so he wanted to say to him to not feel sad that he wouldn¡¯t be using it in the near future.

    He unequipped Ellie¡¯s Kitchen Knife from Vn.

    Shwaaaak!

    In just a blink of an eye, Vn and Ellie¡¯s Kitchen Knife were separatedpletely. Once the two separated, Minhyuk took Ellie¡¯s Kitchen Knife and ced it on Barraca¡¯s Greatsword.

    [Would you like to equip Ellie¡¯s Kitchen Knife?]

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Ellie¡¯s Kitchen Knifepletely covered Barraca¡¯s Greatsword as it started the equipment process. Not long after, the image of a Phoenix was imprinted on the previously nk and rugged Greatsword.

    ¡°Amazing.¡±

    The Dragon King looked at the scene in front of him with great interest. This was the first time that he had seen something like that.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk gingerly held Vn as he ced it inside his inventory very carefully.

    ¡®I¡¯ll keep this with me.¡¯

    He decided to keep Vn inside his inventory and not sell it. After all, it was apanion that had apanied him from a lower level up until this day.

    After he finished everything, he swiftly went to the point.

    ¡°Snow crabs, I want to eat snow cra¡­¡­ No, you said that I would be able to get snow crabs as a reward!¡±

    ¡°......Hmm?¡±

    The Dragon King frowned when he heard Minhyuk¡¯s words. It was as if he couldn¡¯t understand what he meant.

    ¡®I have snow crabs.¡¯

    However, the snow crabs were sealed with magic and would only be unsealed and gifted to the man hailed as Food God once he returned.

    ¡°The rewards said that the Dragon King would definitely give me snow crabs. Dragon King-nim!¡±

    Minhyuk smiled brightly as he demanded for his rightful reward once again. When the Dragon King heard the insistence in his tone, he asked him a question just to make sure.

    ¡°Boy, your job ss¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Food God.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Jevis, Kiari and the Dragon King¡¯s eyes all widened in shock.

    That¡¯s the legendary hero who saved the Dragon King¡¯s Pce in the past!

    ¡®So his descendant hase here.¡¯

    Is this what they call fate?

    After a long time, the new Food God had saved the world that the previous Food God had once saved. It seemed like it truly was fate.

    The Dragon King nodded his head as his hand twirled in the air. Once his hands stopped moving, the space was slowly torn and two firm and fat snow crabs appeared in the air.

    [You have acquired the Dragon King¡¯s Snow Crab (2).]

    ¡°I handpicked two of the best snow crabs out of millions so it is only natural that it tastes more deliciouspared to the others. Unfortunately, you will not be able to get any special abilities from them.¡±

    ¡°Yep! Thank you very much!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s mouth kept on twitching with how happy he was. He also took this moment to ask what he always wanted to ask.

    ¡°Ah. By any chance, do you know where the pure extract is?¡±

    When the Dragon King heard his words, he couldn¡¯t help butugh out loud.

    ¡°Boy. Why don¡¯t you ask me to root out a pir off of my Dragon King¡¯s Pce and give it to you?¡±

    Of course, the Dragon King was only joking around.

    Minhyuk on the other hand¡­¡­

    ¡®Huh? Where did I hear that before?¡¯

    Suddenly, he recalled Instructor Roina and Instructor Valen who were madly in love with each other.

    ***

    Kiari guided Minhyuk to where the pure extract was located.

    The pure extract was located near the pce. They were able to arrive at where it was just by passing through a narrow passageway on the ground. Once they arrived, Minhyuk could see a small puddle in the middle of a dark cave. He could also see the ck water slowly dropping on the small puddle. And the ck water that was collected in the puddle was clearly bubbling due to carbonation.

    ¡®D, don¡¯t tell me¡­¡­!¡¯

    He quickly approached the puddle as he pulled out adle and poured the pure extract on some ss cups.

    ¡®......C, cold!¡¯

    His hands felt numb from the coldness. The cup felt as cold as a drink that was just taken out of the freezer. Then, he slowly ced the cup on his mouth as he took a swig.

    Glug, glug, glug!

    ¡®......T, this taste!¡¯

    Minhyuk knew that the pure extract was carbonated water. But now, he knew that it was c.

    ¡°Kyaha! As expected, c is definitely coca!¡±

    Minhyuk drank the c in one gulp and alternated the ss cups as he filled them with pure extract. It was so cold to the point that he felt like his throat was burning but he still drank it in one shot because it was refreshing.

    Then, he heard the notifications.

    [You drank the Pure Extract.]

    [You have acquired 25 STR and 30 AGI.]

    Pure extract was also considered as a medicine so he was able to get some special points from drinking it.

    Minhyuk took one final ss and drank it happily.

    Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp©¥

    And once again, he couldn¡¯t help but let out a ¡®Kyaaah!¡¯ with how refreshing the taste was.

    Then, Kiari spoke up beside him.

    ¡°Thanks.¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    Minhyuk, who just finished letting out a burst of exmation, looked beside him. He saw the rabbit Kiari bowing her head. Her body was even almost folded in half with how low she bowed at him. He could even see her fluffy and round tail wriggling in embarrassment.

    In fact, Kiari had only always focused her attention to learning how to defend the castle and how to attack with her swordsmanship. This was why she was quite unaware about this creature that everyone calls a man. However, even if he was human, she still couldn¡¯t help but feel a huge attraction towards him. To put it simply, Kiari had a crush on Minhyuk.

    ¡°Our Dragon King¡¯s Pce will never forget you.¡±

    ¡°......Right.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head.

    ¡°Where will you be going now?¡±

    ¡°The Imperial Pce of Eivelis Empire.¡±

    Ellie had given Minhyuk a bunch of return scrolls to the Imperial Pce of Eivelis Empire so he could easilye back to that ce wherever he was.

    Kiari nodded her head.

    Minhyuk was supposed to give Boroto the pure extract that he collected so he hurried over. In a blink of an eye, Minhyuk and Ben disappeared in a sh of light.

    Kiari looked at the spot where he disappeared. They could see that the young man that stood in front of her was the same person who ate the rabbit¡¯s liver. However, Jevis just nodded her head.

    ¡®God¡¯s treasure had finally found its true owner?¡¯

    She also heard the Dragon King say¡­¡­

    ¡®It seems like the new legend of the continent had stopped by our pce.¡¯

    Kiari smiled lightly as she recalled their words.

    ***

    Minhyuk was able to meet with Ellie as soon as he arrived in the Eivelis Empire. After she finished cooking for Ellie, he was scheduled to return to Valkyrie Kingdom. It seemed like he was so busy that he had to jump from one ce to another.

    ¡°You¡¯re back.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m back, noona!¡±

    When Minhyuk looked at her, it seemed like he could feel that she was truly energetic since Ellie¡¯splexion was rosy.

    Without waiting any further, Minhyuk began to fillet the meat of the tfish and the rockfish as he made sashimi right there and then. Slice after slice of sashimi was slowly ced on a white te. Not long after, the white te soon became familiar in Ellie¡¯s eyes.

    It was the Phoenix.

    Minhyuk had ced the sashimi on the te in the form of a Phoenix. Of course, he did not forget to leave some ingredients for the spicy fish stew.

    ¡°Let me set it up.¡±

    Minhyuk swiftly ced the lettuce and the peri leaves on the table. He also did not forget toy down the chojang with soy sauce and chojang with vinegar, wasabi sauce, rice, garlic and octopus.

    ¡°Well then. Shall we eat?¡±

    ¡°Can I eat with you?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    Ellie nodded her head in agreement. The food that Minhyuk made was quite a lot so it was no problem sharing the food with each other.

    First, Minhyuk lifted three generous amounts of sashimi on his te.

    ¡°Hiyaa!¡±

    The slices all look plump and fresh with how transparent they were. It looked so delicious that no one could resist taking a bite out of it.

    And as expected, Ellie also went for the sashimi first. She picked a slice and ced it in her mouth.

    Chew, chew, chew, chew©¥

    She could feel the chewiness of the sashimi in every bite that she took. And the more she chewed on it, the more she could taste the savory and in vor of the fish. This time, she mped three pieces and dipped it in chojang all at once. The sweet and sour vor of the sauce met with the nd vor of the sashimi and blended to create a delicious harmony of vors. Then, she dipped it in the wasabi sauce. The vor of the wasabi and soy sauce seemed to add a deeper vor to the sashimi which made it all the more delicious.

    ¡°Let¡¯s see.¡±

    Minhyuk picked up some peri leaves. Then, he firmly ced a sashimi on top of it together with some ssamjang and garlic. He also did not forget to add some spicy peppers in his wrap. After wrapping them in the leaves, he ced it in his mouth directly.

    ¡°Heuhahaha, sashimi is so delicious!¡±

    A smile curled on Minhyuk¡¯s mouth. The fragrant scent of the peri leaves together with the delicious vor of the garlic, pepper, ssamjang and sashimi hadbined and slowly spread in his mouth. It was quite spicy and he could feel his mouth turning numb with it but it was still very delicious!

    Then, he picked up some octopus that he had ced on the table as a service. He quickly ced the squirming octopus sashimi in his mouth. He could feel it move and wriggle every time he chewed and by the time that he swallowed it down his throat, he could feel that it had all gone soft and chewy.

    The two of them happily ate sashimi together.

    ¡°Hoo¡­¡­¡±

    Ellie closed her eyes to savor the vor of the food that she just ate. It was so delicious that she couldn¡¯t help but let out a small smile. The taste of the food made her recall the memories of the past. She felt like she was still that young girl with her father.

    When she opened her eyes again¡­¡­

    ¡°Oh?¡±

    Before she knew it, Minhyuk was already peeling a bag of ramyeon noodles over the pot of boiling spicy fish stew.

    ¡°Ramyeon is always good, right?¡±

    ¡°Of couuuurse~¡±

    Minhyuk grinned wildly as he added the ramyeon noodles in the pot. He also did not forget to add his handmade sujebi in the pot. The spicy fish stew boiled loudly as it cooked the ingredients in it. Ellie first took a spoon to have a taste of the soup.

    ¡°Not yet. It still needs to boil more.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    The spicy fish stew would taste better the longer it was boiled. In particr, the starch from the ramyeon noodles as well as the sujebi would make the soup thicker and tastier. But the noodles were just added so it still needed to boil more.

    Then, Ellie took another sip before nodding her head.

    ¡°It¡¯s done.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡±

    Ellie was the first one to scoop out some ramyeon noodles on her bowl.

    Then, Minhyuk scooped out a huge amount of noodles beforedling some hot soup. Minhyuk¡¯s bowl was overflowing with water parsley, crown daisy, ramyeon noodles and tfish. He quickly blew on his noodles before slurping it up.

    ¡°Oho. Ramyeon noodles are the way, the truth and the life.¡±

    Then, he took a sip of the spicy soup. Only a sound of admiration could be heard from his mouth.

    The soup tastes just right!

    If he boiled it more then it would taste too salty so he swiftly turned off the stove. Then, he continued on slurping his noodles as he picked the flesh of the fish away from its bones.

    When eating spicy soup, rice couldn¡¯t be left out so he filled up the amount that wascking in the bowl. Ellie had already finished two bowls of rice when Minhyuk nced at her. But she was in a good mood and was smiling so brightly so Minhyuk did not remind her.

    Once she finished eating, Minhyuk finally heard the notification for his questpletion.

    [You havepleted the Linked Quest: Make Rockfish Sashimi for Ellie.]

    [You will now be able to master Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship.]

    [You will now be able to get ancient cooking ingredients.]

    After the notifications rang, Ruth, who was standing by the side, began to move. He swiftly handed Minhyuk a skill book and a small box.

    Minhyuk realized something as he was trying to open the locked box and check the ingredients inside.

    ¡®I don¡¯t have a key?¡¯

    ¡°I know what you¡¯re thinking. I¡¯ll look at your swordsmanship before you see something that you will want to eat.¡±

    The key dangled from Ellie¡¯s hands as she smirked slyly at Minhyuk. Ellie had now be proficient in training(?) Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk pouted as he reached out for the skill book. In fact, Minhyuk¡¯s skills had already evolved and leveled up with King Varen. And right now, his skills will be strengthened further again. The only thing that was different fromst time was that Ellie was not personally teaching him. This time, he would learn the skill through a skill book.

    Minhyuk checked the skillbook before acquiring the skills. He couldn¡¯t help but sigh in relief after he checked the skillbook.

    ¡®There are no restrictions.¡¯

    Minhyuk was not able to learn skills through skillbooks due to the restriction in sses. However, this skill could ignore the restrictions just like the Intangible Sword.

    ¡°Acquire.¡±

    Following his words, the skillbook floated in the air as it shed with a deep red light. The red light was sucked by Minhyuk¡¯s body which caused the surrounding to be blown by the wind.

    Shwaaaaa©¥

    [A chapter of Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship has been added.]

    [You have mastered the Blooming Sword. Deep (Burst).]

    [A sword will indiscriminately rise from the ground and attack your enemies within 8m from your position. It will cause a prative explosion that will have an additional 70% damage.]

    [You have mastered the Splitting Sword. Rain (Soar).]

    [A powerful red sword will fly at an enemy. Your sword will have an additional 110% attack power.]

    ***

    Footnotes

    [Coca-c] Okay. Hold up people. Lol. This came shocking to me as I did not go around looking for the meaning of coca c. Lol. But coca is derived from coca leaf (what they use to make cocaine) while c is derived from k nuts or c nuts which is a source of caffeine. It seemed like originally, coca-c uses these two ingredients as the main ingredient for their soft drinks. Hence why it¡¯s named as Coca-C. However, I believe that it was because it was mainly produced to be a patent medicine instead of a soft drink that we have used today. I believe the ingredients of coke are now different but it¡¯s still a trade secret. But I¡¯m sure there¡¯s no cocaine in there anymore.Back

    PR¡¯s corner!

    What, is that now five Legendary Artifacts for Minhyuk? His sword, his armor, his helmet, his frying pan, and Juis¡¯ cup.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 161 - Minhyuks Activities

    Chapter 161: Minhyuk¡¯s Activities

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    [You can only trigger the skills with the starting words: Connection (Inherit), Shatter (Destroy), Deep (Burst), Rain (Soar).]

    There were two attacking skills that were added to his Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship. Blooming Sword, Deep (Burst) was literally a wide area of attack skill while Splitting Sword, Rain (Soar) was an attack that would send a very powerful sword.

    ¡®There¡¯s even a 110% additional attack power¡­¡­¡¯

    The Splitting Sword, Rain (Soar) had tremendous attack power attached to it. In addition, there was an additional merit of not needing to approach the enemy tounch the attack. After he finished learning and absorbing the skill, Ellie handed the key to Minhyuk. Minhyuk excitedly received it as he finally opened the box.

    Once the box opened, a sour yet mouth-watering smell wafted out and stung the tip of his nose. The item ced inside was an old wooden kettle. As soon as Minhyuk grabbed the handle of the kettle¡­¡­

    [You have acquired Ancient Yoit.]

    [You can get 5L of Ancient Yoit from the wooden kettle.]

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes widened in surprise when he heard the notification.

    Yoit was a fermented yogurt that smelled and tasted sour. One could make a variety of vors with yoit just by adding different fruits like strawberries or pineapple. You could even add honey for a different vor.

    ¡°In the past, there was an amazing master craftsman in the Eivelis Empire who made this amazing yogurt. The yogurt that he made was so delicious that the Emperor of that time even dered his care for the craftsman. The craftsman gave his all and made his final and best yogurt for his descendants before dying. This yogurt would not go bad and stay delicious for quite a long time. In addition, even if this kettle looked and weighed like this, it could still hold a huge amount of yogurt inside.¡±

    ¡°Wow¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was in awe. The thought of the endless food that he could make with this ancient yogurt made him feel both satisfied and happy.

    He quickly pulled out a ss and poured some yoit in it. He could see the white yoit sloshing about in his ss. Its color was reminiscent of its maturity and taste. Then, he took a spoon and quickly took a bite of the yogurt.

    ¡®Wow¡­¡­¡¯

    The taste was surprisingly more sweet than sour considering the fact that it was left aging for quite a long time already.

    However, to his shock, he did not hear any notifications after eating some of it. Minhyuk quickly checked the information of the ancient yoit. He saw that the yogurt did not have any special abilities attached to it. But, even though it did not give him additional powers, Minhyuk was still satisfied with it because it was truly delicious.

    ¡°Are you going now?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I think I have to go to Valkyrie Kingdom now?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    Ellie nodded her head as she watched Minhyuk disappear in a sh of light.

    ***

    Plenty of users had already arrived in the capital of Valkyrie Kingdom. There were users who sessfully arrived in the capital because they were part of a subjugation force or a mercenary group while some came through quests. Some even tried to find ways to enter Valkyrie Kingdom through the information that they had gathered from the official website of Athenae. And because of that, the streets of the capital of Valkyrie Kingdom were nowpletely crowded.

    Most of these users were quite intrigued and curious because the Kingdom Knights and soldiers were all moving busily.

    ¡°Did you hear? Today is the day when the Legend Guild will be awarded with a title and territory. I also heard that the knights and soldiers are all busy because they are preparing to wee the Frying Pan Killer.¡±

    ¡°Heok¡­¡­?! They¡¯re waiting to greet a user?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s not just a simple user. He¡¯s the Frying Pan Killer, the hero of the Northern Continent, you know?¡±

    ¡°Amazing. Even the king is preparing to greet a foreigner.¡±

    For quite a lot of users, the Frying Pan Killer was already a celebrity.

    Meanwhile, the guild members of Legend Guild were all gathered in front of the castle. And among them, Genie, Khan and Locke were talking among themselves.

    ¡°......The old man who is good at making coffee will be our vassal?¡±

    ¡°Yeah¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think we should persuade him a bit?¡±

    ¡°I, Is that so?¡±

    Minhyuk was not answering their whispers again so they thought that he was probably eating something delicious again. They knew that Minhyuk would often turn off his whispers whenever he was going to eat something so it was a bit easy to conclude about what he was doing when his whispers were turned off.

    ¡°Anyway, Zank said that he would being to our temporary base after the peerage ceremony is over. I think we can try and convince him by then.¡±

    Zank was one of the Thousand Heavenly Spear Masters. He was the NPC that they had built a high favorability with.

    At that moment, the users were suddenly in a buzz.

    ¡°K, King Varen is running?¡±

    ¡°Heok?!¡±

    The Legend guild members turned to look at the scene. They were quite shocked to see King Varen¡¯s face suddenly glowing brightly. He looked like he was someone who had finally seen his long lost first love. He even threw off his subordinates as he ran towards someone.

    When they looked at the direction where he was headed, they saw a young man standing there with a lid of yoit in his hand. And it was even a strawberry vored yoit from what they could see.

    After the man had licked everything on the lid, he suddenly took out a bucket of yoit as he ced a dollop on the lid in his hand. Then, he began to lick it again.

    ¡°As expected. Yoit is much more delicious if you lick it from the lid.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    The users all around him were left speechless. Then, one of them spoke up¡­¡­

    ¡°But where is the Frying Pan Killer?¡±

    ¡°I know right? I think that guy is just a cosy user.¡±

    ¡°But that yoit really looks delicious¡­¡­¡±

    The people looked around everywhere to try and find the whereabouts of the Frying Pan Killer. Then, they heard King Varen say¡­¡­

    ¡°Did you just arrive? Our Valkyrie Kingdom¡¯s Hero!!!!¡±

    Varen had recognized him in one nce. He knew that there was only one user who would eat yoit in that way! Because no matter how many cosy users no one would be able to copy Minhyuk and his strange mannerisms!

    Not long after, the Legend Guild members, the knights and the king entered the pce.

    ¡°......I can¡¯t believe that the person that was licking yogurt on the yoit lid was the Frying Pan Killer.¡±

    ¡°At times like these, there¡¯s this saying.¡±

    ¡°What saying?¡±

    ¡°Even the rich would lick yoit off of the lid.¡±

    ***

    [You have been granted the title of a Viscount.]

    [You are allowed to employ three vassals. You can find them through vassal quests or within the territory granted to you.]

    [You have gained 300 reputation points.]

    [You are the first user to be granted a peerage in the Northern Continent.]

    [Your EXP acquisition rate and item drop rate will increase by x2 for 2 weeks.]

    [The Valha Territory has been registered as Legend Guild¡¯s base.]

    [You can now collect taxes from Valha Territory.]

    [Expanding the size of your territory will benefit Valha Territory and its citizens.]

    Minhyuk who had finally been granted with everything was still licking yogurt off of the lid as he walked with the members of Legend Guild.

    Then, he suddenly spoke¡­¡­

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t get the ingredients for Genie and Khan. Sorry.¡±

    Genie and Khan shook their heads when they heard his words.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine~¡±

    ¡°What do you mean by that?¡±

    ¡°Minhyukie should only do it if you¡¯refortable with it. If you want to just eat delicious food then do it. We¡¯ll take care of the management of thend so don¡¯t worry about it.¡±

    They always tried to amodate Minhyuk to the best of their abilities.

    In fact, today was thest day of the Time Attack Dungeon. However, the ck Swan Guild was still firmly rooted in 1st ce. And no matter how much Genie, Khan and Locke tried they still couldn¡¯t get past the 1 hour threshold. The oue might have been a bit different if they had eaten Minhyuk¡¯s buffed dishes but they decided to just ask him for a favor next time. Nevertheless, they had already tried two of their five attacks today so they were already thinking of finishing the Time Attack Dungeon after they had settled the matters of the vassals. They would quickly go back there and try to narrow the gap between the countries as much as they could.

    Once they came out of the pce, an old man who was leisurely waiting outside approached them.

    ¡°Hoho. Is our Minhyukie still eating yoit?¡±

    ¡°Yep! Did you buy the thing that I asked you to buy with the money I gave you?¡±

    ¡°Of course. I wouldn¡¯te here if I didn¡¯t buy it already.¡±

    Ben had bought a book called ¡®Barista Made Easy, For the Elderly¡± upon Minhyuk¡¯s orders. It seems that Minhyuk had really decided to turn Ben into his personal Barista.

    The guild members who saw Old Man Ben were all left in wonder.

    ¡°Genie noona. Are you telling me that the old man over there will be the first vassal of our territory¡­¡­?¡±

    Ace was the one who asked the question that was floating on everyone¡¯s head.

    ¡°Maybe it¡¯s because Minhyukie still is not aware of the things to take care of so I¡¯ll talk to himter.¡±

    In fact, the reason why Genie wanted to persuade Minhyuk was not only for them but for Minhyuk too. The first vassal was truly too important for Minhyuk who dreamt of living the foodie life. If they recruited a strong and reliable vassal, then it would be a lot easier for him.

    Meanwhile, Old Man Ben¡­¡­

    ¡°Aigoo, you¡¯re eating so well. Aigoo, you really eat well! Hohoho!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    He was looking at Minhyuk like he was looking at his own grandson. He was overflowing with fatherly love that it looked like hearts would flow out from his eyes at any moment.

    Ace, who was looking at them intently, noticed the spear that was hanging on Old Man Ben¡¯s back.

    ¡°Maybe he¡¯s a Spear Master too.¡±

    ¡°Maybe.¡±

    Before they realized it, they had already arrived at the guild¡¯s temporary base. As soon as they entered the base, Minhyuk said¡­¡­

    ¡°Senior Ben. Would you please make a cup of coffee for my guild members and show me your newly improved skill!¡±

    ¡°Then I¡¯ll show you! Hohoho!¡±

    Ace¡¯s eyes never left Old Man Ben as he watched him carefully.

    Currently, Legend Guild had a total of 18 members. All of them sat around on a table as they talked happily.

    However, Old Man Ben suddenly mmed down a huge thermos that was usually used in restaurants on top of a table. Then, he quickly poured down boiling water inside the thermos.

    ¡®Are you going to give us instant coffee in a paper cup? But I like iced choco more?¡¯

    Therge thermos looked like it could amodate at least 20L of water. However, something seemed wrong. He could see that Old Man Ben was tearing all of the packets of instant coffee and pouring it in the water.

    ¡°C, Crow¡­¡­ Th, that grandpa¡­¡­ H, he¡¯s weird.....!¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Ace pped Crow¡¯s arms so he had no choice but to look at the Old Man.

    ¡°Keok¡­¡­?!¡±

    The guild members who also turned to look all turned speechless. They saw him add more than a hundred packets of instant coffee before he stirred it with adle. Then, he picked up a paper cup, poured some coffee on it before handing it to Minhyuk.

    And Minhyuk who took a sip of the coffee looked extremely impressed.

    ¡°Kgghk. You¡¯re really good at making coffee now!¡±

    Khan mumbled to himself as he watched this weird scene.

    ¡°Th, that old man¡­¡­ He¡¯spletely Minhyukiefied¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Huh. Yeah¡­¡­¡±

    My goodness! I can¡¯t believe that he added hundreds of instant coffee in one thermos!

    ¡°Can I please have a cup of coffee too¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Boy. Why don¡¯t you take it yourself? Do you have no hands or feet? I can¡¯t believe that you¡¯re asking an old man like me to deliver it to you!¡±

    Even though Old Man Ben waspletely Minhyukiefied(?) he was still cold and strict towards other people. Then, he turned towards Minhyuk.

    ¡°Do you want another cup?¡±

    ¡°I think I need about 50 more cups! Let¡¯s do tea time during the mornings!¡±

    ¡°As expected.¡±

    The guild members could onlyugh helplessly as they watched the harmonious atmosphere between the two of them.

    While everyone was enjoying their cups of coffee, Genie had finally decided to bring up the matter about the vassals.

    ¡°Minhyuk-ah, how did you get to know him?¡±

    ¡°He was a fisherman at sea and one way or another it ended up with him saying that he had to stay with me forever.¡±

    Gennie nodded her head when she heard his words.

    ¡®Minhyuk, who has a soft spot for the elderly, must have supported(?) him. But he¡¯s still just an NPC.¡¯

    Genie sighed as she looked at Locke and Khan and gestured outside with her chin. The three of them all walked outside to talk.

    ¡°Let¡¯s just have that old man as our vassal.¡±

    ¡°Is there really no other way?¡±

    Khan smiled wryly. He could see that Minhyuk quite liked the Old Man¡¯s coffee.

    It¡¯s a bit unfortunate that an old man like him will be our first vassal but it¡¯s just the inevitable, right?

    Considering the fact that only Minhyuk could recruit the three vassals, he was a bit hesitant to fill one spot with an old man. However, he had no choice since Minhyuk looked like he had taken a liking on the old man so he just had to fill the rest with strong men.

    At that moment, one of the Thousand Heavenly Spear Masters, Zank, arrived.

    ¡°Did the Viscount-nim arrive?¡±

    ¡°Ah. Yes. He already arrived.¡±

    ¡°Will the Viscount-nim really grant me the favor that I talked to you about before?¡±

    ¡°I haven¡¯t had the time to bring it up yet¡­¡­¡±

    Right now, he would be recruited as the second vassal but they haven¡¯t had the time to talk to Minhyuk about him yet. However, if they sent Zank away then they would probably risk losing favorability with him.

    Genie pondered for a bit and decided to let him greet Minhyuk.

    ¡°Yes. The Viscount-nim is inside. I think it¡¯s better if you greet him first.¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡±

    Zank nodded his head as he turned to walk inside.

    He was a man in his thirties and he was someone whose level was a bit higher than Genie¡¯s. But his back looked extremely wide and reliable in their eyes.

    But just as they entered the base, Zank suddenly took a step back.

    ¡°Aaah¡­¡­¡±

    His body trembled as he looked at Old Man Ben who was currently handing a coffee to Minhyuk. Once he realized that he was not dreaming, he quickly took a few steps back and bowed at a 90 degree angle.

    ¡°Zank of the Thousand Heavenly Spear Masters gives his greetings to the Legend of the Continent, Ghost Spear Ben!¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    All the guild members looked at this scene in confusion.

    Then, they heard Old Man Ben say¡­¡­

    ¡°You¡¯ve grown up a lot, Zank. I heard before that you¡¯re now a part of the Heavenly Spear Masters. Is that the reason why your head is so high up the clouds now?¡±

    His words made the eyes of all the guild members present widen in shock.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [Yoit] - Apany that mainly deals with distributing greek yogurts and yogurt products. Back

    Notes

    Valha Territory - ??? ?? it was written as Baha Territory but I don¡¯t think that it looks good so I turned it into Valha. It also checks out since Valha and Valkyrie are both rted to Norse Mythology.

    TL¡¯s corner!

    I lost the content since I went from offline to online while I was typing. I was so frustrated that I wanted to cry. Huhu. Anyway. I still hope you enjoy this chapter that I had to type twice.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 162 - Minhyuks Activities

    Chapter 162: Minhyuk¡¯s Activities

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Zank did not dy at all.

    Thuud!

    He knelt down and bowed in a hurry.

    ¡°Zank of the Heavenly Spear Masters says his greetings again! I give my greetings to the Legend of the Continent, the Father of all the Spear Masters, Ghost Spear Ben!¡±

    ¡°You finally learnt some manners.¡±

    Then, Minhyuk said¡­¡­

    ¡°Senior. That¡¯s quite rude to others. Please let him get up.¡±

    Benughed as he scratched his head in embarrassment.

    ¡°I¡¯m just being silly. Boy, stand up.¡±

    ¡°Yes? N, no it¡¯s fine¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°Stand. Up.¡±

    Fwoosh!

    Zank immediately stood up as if he had seen a ghost. Once he was standing, Old Man Ben turned towards Minhyuk andughed as he said to him¡­..

    ¡°I already made him stand up. It¡¯s fine now, right?¡±

    He looked like he was telling Minhyuk ¡®I did a good job, right? Sopliment me!¡¯.

    ¡°Aigoo. You did~ well~!¡±

    ¡°Hohoho. Thanks.¡±

    Crow was muttering something to himself while he watched Old Man Ben talk happily with Minhyuk.

    ¡°Ben¡­¡­ Ben¡­¡­ Where did I hear that name¡­¡­ Ghost Spear Ben¡­¡­¡±

    Crow continued to mull over the familiar sounding name as well as Zank¡¯s violent reaction. After thinking about it for quite some time, he suddenly jumped up in shock.

    ¡°The Ouroboros Hunter Ben¡­¡­!¡±

    Crow¡¯s eyes grew the size of the saucers.

    Ouroboros! It was a snake with a size that wasparable to the size of a dragon. It was a legendary monster and was estimated to be at around Lv500.

    Crow¡¯s job ss was a Spear Master and he had heard about Ben from an NPC who had changed his job ss to a legendary job ss.

    ¡®You¡¯re really a great Spear Master.¡¯

    ¡®Crow. Do you believe me when I say that there¡¯s a better Spear Master on top of me?¡¯

    ¡®......?!¡¯

    ¡®In the past, Ghost Spear Ben had sessfully hunted an Ouroboros that had swallowed a whole vige down.¡¯

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong Crow? Who¡¯s that old man?¡±

    Genie couldn¡¯t understand why Zank and Crow both had strong reactions towards Old Man Ben. Crow quickly gathered his thoughts before speaking up.

    ¡°That person is just like a legend. The Continent¡¯s Thousand Heavenly Spear Masters or even the Hundred Heavenly Spear Masters are all like a child in front of that old man, Genie.¡±

    Crow shook his head in disbelief.

    ¡°Perhaps we have gotten ourselves a ridiculously strong vassal right now.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Genie¡¯s face was colored with surprise as she turned her head to look at Minhyuk and the old man.

    ¡°Did you kill the Ouroboros?¡±

    ¡°Killed it.¡±

    ¡°Where did it go?¡±

    ¡°I broke it up and sold it.¡±

    ¡°But it would have been delicious if we made it into some snake wine¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°I did not think of that! Do you want me to catch one now?¡±

    He might be a bit weird but he¡¯s the best vassal that we could ask for.

    ***

    America¡¯s ck Swan Guild, the third in the guild rankings in America, was gaining a lot of attention globally after they surpassed the 45-minute threshold in the Time Attack Dungeon.

    In particr, this Time Attack Dungeon was happening in Athenae and the only restrictions for them to be admitted was that they needed to be ¡®only three people¡¯ and ¡®can only enter 5 times per day¡¯. In addition, there were various things that were added up to finalize the rank like final clear time as well as damage inflicted.

    ck Swan had currently achieved an S-rank for the first time.

    ¡°Can we ask you a question Mr. Michael?¡±

    Michael was being surrounded by reporters all over. He was God Baveka¡¯s Child, Julian, in the game. Although his name was quite simr to a woman¡¯s he was definitely a straight, white male.

    ¡°In all honesty, I heard that there were quite a lot of ways to raise Holy Power. But the limits and restrictions are clear and definite. That¡¯s why we want to know how Mr. Michael has achieved an astounding 1,500 Holy Power?¡±

    Michael gave a wry smile when he heard their question.

    ¡°I justpleted a variety of services and activities for God Baveka.¡±

    ¡°Activities¡­¡­ I heard that these activities and services were horrible in nature, is that true?¡±

    Each and every reporter present knew for a fact that the services performed for God could truly raise their Holy Powers. However, these acts and services were all inhumane and impossible to do.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Every day I had to bow a thousand times towards God Baveka. Then, I had to keep silent inside the game for over a month. I was also only allowed to eat hard bread and wine given to me in Baveka¡¯s Sanctuary. I was not allowed to hunt any monsters. I also was not allowed to sleep for 5 days and was only tasked to pray to God Baveka.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s¡­¡­ Is that really what you did?¡±

    Michael just smiled silently.

    Click, click, click, click, click, click, click!

    The camera shed endlessly while the reporters were all left speechless with what they had heard. But based on Michael¡¯s personality they could deduce that he might not have been silent for only a month. Perhaps he had already started to stop talking from the moment he became God Baveka¡¯s Child.

    Also, the hard bread that he had mentioned was literally the bread that was served during service in Baveka¡¯s Sanctuary. However this bread was very dry and stale and was really just not fit for consumption.

    And he even had to pray for 5 days straight without any sleep¡­ Would anyone do that patiently? And it was even done inside the game. Was there anyone in their right mind who would do something like that inside the game? It was definitely something that a normal person would do.

    ¡°You¡¯re really amazing. I¡¯m truly speechless.¡±

    p, p, p!

    The reporters all pped at his dedication.

    Then, one of the reporters said¡­...

    ¡°But¡­¡­ If there was a user who had increased their Holy Power through an easier method then, would you feel pain for your efforts?¡±

    Michaelughed bitterly when he heard those words.

    ¡°Currently, it is known that medicines and God¡¯s blessing can increase Holy Power. But receiving God¡¯s blessing is also difficult and God¡¯s blessing is not for everyone. In addition if we don¡¯t have the medicine then we won¡¯t be able to eat them and gain Holy Power.¡±

    The interview finished after Michael had said that. Then, he quickly went home and essed Athenae. Once he logged on as Julian, he wouldn¡¯t be able to say any more words.

    The Guild Master, Smith, approached him.

    Julian wouldn¡¯t also send a whisper so the only way tomunicate with him was through a whiteboard. So he quickly wrote on his whiteboard.

    [Goddamn reporters! They asked me what I would feel if a user found a way to increase their Holy Power in an easier way and not how we got it. That was the question that was most irritating.]

    ¡°Yes. I understand your feelings. That¡¯s why you better calm down.¡±

    Julian was not a pure, innocent and clean person like what was spread through people¡¯s stories. It was just that he had found a special way to showcase himself and his fame surprisingly flew high.

    Smith saw him as his closest aide and confidant.

    Apanion with 1,500 Holy Power? Isn¡¯t that too crazy.

    In fact, his silence would onlyst for another two weeks but he still had to bow to God Baveka¡¯s a thousand times per day. And Smith who stood to the side as he watched him do this also felt horrible. He had to admit that he was really a tenacious person.

    Suddenly, Smith thought about what the reporter had said earlier.

    ¡®Will there be really someone who will get a high Holy Power like Jin through an easy method?¡¯

    Then heughed helplessly.

    ¡®That¡¯s impossible.¡¯

    ***

    Genie, Khan and Locke were all talking about the Time Attack Dungeon.

    ¡°But our biggest problem is the boss monster, the Duhan King. It¡¯s defensive power is really high.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Ah. We only have three chances left¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk suddenly spoke up after listening to their stories.

    ¡°Do you want me toe with you?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°In the Time Attack Dungeon?¡±

    The three of them paused when they heard him volunteer. This was because Minhyuk might be strongerpared to his original level but he was still weak if he waspared to them. It did not matter if they were friends but they couldn¡¯t make a rash decision when the whole guild was at stake.

    ¡°I gained a lot of Holy Power this time so I thought that it might be of help.¡±

    The three of themughed bitterly when they heard him say that he had received a lot of Holy Power. God Baveka¡¯s Child, Julian, had a Holy Power that was over 1,300. No, ording to the interview recently, he had 1,500 Holy Power.

    But just in case, Genie still asked him.

    ¡°How much?¡±

    ¡°1,000. Ah. But in reality the effect is around 2,000?¡±

    ¡°Huh¡­¡­?¡±

    ¡°Eh¡­¡­?¡±

    Genie asked him while sporting a confused expression on her face.

    ¡°H, how did you get it that high?¡±

    ¡°I just ate diligently¡­...¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Khan, Genie and Locke all thought back to the hardships that God Baveka¡¯s Child Julian had gone through and all of them thought of one thing.

    ¡®Julian, I feel sorry for you¡­¡­¡¯

    ¡®As expected, life is really unfair¡­¡­¡¯

    ¡®It¡¯s like he ate raw spinach without boiling it¡­¡­¡¯

    ***

    Genie, Khan, Locke and Minhyuk all stood in front of the entrance of the dungeon in the Time Attack Dungeon.

    ¡®2,000 Holy Power.¡¯

    As Genie thought about it again, she couldn¡¯t help thinking about how ridiculous it was so she justughed it off. Meanwhile, Minhyuk had asked them for a favor in exchange for helping them in their attack.

    ¡®I want you to get the best and finest cooking ingredients that youe across.¡¯

    The reason why Minhyuk chose to ask for the best ingredients was simple.

    ¡®I¡¯ll call my friends in Athenae and eat together.¡¯

    Of course, his father was also included in the list. He had never eaten together with his father and his friends who had lived with him for 5 years. So he wanted to make the best dish with the best ingredients for his father¡¯s uing birthday.

    That was the only condition that Minhyuk wanted for him to join this Time Attack Dungeon. Perhaps it was more like a favor than a condition. He asked them for help because he knew that gathering all of the ingredients by himself would definitely prove to be too difficult and time consuming.

    There were only three people allowed to enter the Time Attack Dungeon so a person had to be left behind. And it was Genie.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be waiting for you in front of the entrance.¡±

    ¡°Yep.¡±

    ¡°Just keep your eyes wide open.¡±

    The reason why Genie decided to be left behind was because she could not deal a higher damagepared to Khan and Locke could serve as both a healer and a dealer while Minhyuk was the person with the highest Holy Power among them so the only choice left was her.

    Originally, the skill God¡¯s Targeted Praise was attached to Pandora¡¯s Helmet but he recently used it on Ben so it could no longer be used.

    ¡®Will this work?¡¯

    Minhyuk went inside but Genie was still left worrying. They know that Minhyuk currently had a x2 increase on his attack and defense but his level was still too low. And what was more worrying was that he only had a x2 in his attack and defense but his speed was still the same.

    Genie knew that they already had no chance of narrowing the ranks between the other countries in this Time Attack Dungeon but she still checked the current ranking.

    [United States ck Swan Team: 43 minutes 38 seconds. Rank: 1st.]

    [South Korea Legend Team: 1 hour 5 minutes 21 seconds. Rank: 14th.]

    The Legend Team had narrowed the time as much as they could but they had reached their limit.

    What they knew was that the top three teams would be rewarded after the Time Attack Dungeon had finished today. The 1st to 3rd ce only. There was no clear list of the rewards yet but she was sure that it would be tremendous.

    Minhyuk, Khan and Locke moved inside the dungeon.

    As soon as they entered, a notification rang.

    [You have entered the Time Attack Dungeon.]

    [The Time Limit for your attack is 2 hours. You will not be allowed entry if you fail to clear the dungeon.]

    Minhyuk had heard a lot about this before he entered the dungeon. He knew that the Time Attack Dungeon was a repetitive dungeon so all they had to do was target their enemies better and narrow down the time as much as they could.

    And they only had three times left to attack. The first out of the three tries left was set for Minhyuk to adapt and gain a better understanding of the dungeon.

    Locke rushed directly towards the cursed dragon.

    [Crazy Priest¡¯s Heal.]

    [Continuous bleeding will be triggered. There¡¯s also a 20% probability of cing the enemy under an abnormal state.]

    Locke had to try for a quite some time before seeding in his attack since the cursed dragon had a tremendous defense. Khan and Locke struggled fiercely before they sessfully killed the dragon.

    ¡°Did you see? They¡¯re really strong.¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head. He was originally on his way to a Lv300 hunting ground but he only felt his situation when he arrived at a Lv450 hunting ground.

    The next one to appear was the Ghoul King. The 3m tall Ghoul King immediatelyunched a poison attack towards them.

    ¡°At this point, you have to drink the detoxification potion!¡±

    [You have inhaled the poison of the Ghoul King.]

    [You have an invincible body that can ignore and resist all abnormal states.]

    [You have resisted an abnormal state.]

    ¡°Oh. Really? Please give me a bottle!¡±

    ¡°Here.¡±

    Khan hurriedly threw the detoxification potion to Minhyuk. He hadplete resistance against abnormal states but he was thirsty so he still asked for a potion. But when he gulped it down¡­...

    ¡°......Tastes bad!¡±

    He firmly decided to never drink a detoxification potion ever again.

    They kept on moving forward after dealing with the Ghoul King. At this time, Khan said¡­¡­

    ¡°This is the third point. This is the second most agonizing ce after the Duhan King since there are a lot of monsters that flock in this area. The toughest thing in here is getting past through them in the shortest amount of time.¡±

    Khan continued his exnation.

    ¡°We¡¯re having a hard time since Locke and I don¡¯t have any area of attack skills. If we had an area of attack skill then it would be easy to clear this point.¡±

    ¡°I have an area of attack skill. Should I try it once?¡±

    ¡°Oh. You have an area of attack skill?¡±

    Locke and Khan turned towards each other. They knew that Minhyuk could exert a tremendous amount of power when he was dealing with a single person so they both had great expectations towards his skill.

    Khan hurriedly drove back the cursed dragons and wrathful specters that prevented them from moving further inside.

    ¡°Try it.¡±

    In fact they were just excited but they did not expect too much. Even if Minhyuk had a x2 increase on his attack power, this ce was still difficult for someone of his level.

    Minhyuk stepped forward after hearing their consent. Then, the next moment, the space was torn apart as a sword imprinted with a Phoenix appeared.

    [You have summoned the Ancient Water Dragon Barraca¡¯s Greatsword.]

    Minhyuk quickly grabbed the grip of the sword.

    Shwaaaaaaaaa!

    A red current surrounded Minhyuk¡¯s body. It fluttered around him like ashes floating from an ember.

    ¡°Keuhahahaha. Doesn¡¯t Minhyuk look cool?!¡±

    Lockeughed loudly as he blocked the mobs that tried to get closer to Minhyuk. Then, he saw Minhyuk m the greatsword down on the ground.

    Stab!

    ¡°Deep (Burst).¡±

    [Blooming Sword. Deep (Burst).]

    [A sword will indiscriminately rise from the ground and attack your enemies within 8m from your position. It will cause a prative explosion that will have an additional 70% damage.]

    There were hundreds of swords that rose from the ground.

    Stab!

    Stab!

    Stab!

    Stab!

    Stab!

    The swords immediately stabbed straight through the bodies of the monsters. And once it stabbed at them¡­¡­

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    The monsters exploded in one go!

    Plop, plop, plop!

    Plop, plop, plop, plop, plop, plop©¥

    Plop, plop, plop!

    More than 40 monsters that blocked their way in front exploded in an instant.

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Locke was frozen in shock as he stared at the ce where the monsters exploded. Then, he turned towards Minhyuk and asked¡­¡­

    ¡°What¡¯s your level?¡±

    ¡°291.¡±

    Locke was at Lv437.

    ¡°Y, yeah¡­¡­¡±

    Khan and Locke suddenly bowed their heads as they both looked down at the ground. Not long after, Locke raised his head as he stared at a faraway ce in a daze as he murmured something.

    ¡°I suddenly miss my mom¡­¡­¡±

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    I was almost finishing this when I checked 161 and saw that my file did not save online and now the changes I have made in 161 disappeared. AHHHHH I¡¯m so frustrated. That¡¯s 10 pages worth of words. I¡¯m so sad.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 163 - Minhyuks Activities

    Chapter 163: Minhyuk¡¯s Activities

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Minhyuk was taken aback when he saw the reaction of his two friends. Khan immediately came back to his senses as he directed what they would do next.

    ¡°We¡¯ve easily broken through one difficult area. Let¡¯s hurry along!¡±

    They hurriedly moved while Minhyuk analyzed their dungeon n.

    ¡®Looking at the power of Deep (Burst) it seems like I can take on more monsters. So if I started to use Gryphon¡¯s Cry from 500-m away from this point then the monsters will definitelye running and the area will be crowded with them. If I did it that way then I think we can break through this area faster, right?¡¯

    Minhyuk had asked his friends for ingredients so he believed that he had to help them achieve the maximum effect to the best of his abilities.

    Meanwhile, the area suddenly felt hot as steam and mes suddenly sprung up.

    ¡°This is also one of the hardest areas. The Lava River.¡±

    Shwaaaa!

    They could see a river ofva in front of them that was releasing an endless amount of hot steam.

    ¡°ck Swan was not able to break through the 30 minute mark because of this area.¡±

    ¡°Then, what are we going to do?¡±

    ¡°The only thing that we can do is drink a cooling potion or use ice magic.¡±

    Then, Khan and Locke started throwing the cooling potion in front of them one by one.

    ng©¥

    Fwiiiiiiish!

    ng©¥

    Fwiiiiiiish!

    They constantly threw cooling potions in the piping hotva in front of them! As a result, steam also rose constantly.

    ¡°If we throw the cooling potions non-stop then it will be able to freeze an area where we can step on. This way we can move on¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that too inefficient?¡±

    Locke and Khan nodded their heads in agreement when they heard Minhyuk¡¯s question.

    ¡®Minhyukie, he¡­¡­ He¡¯s definitely not just someone who only knows how to eat¡­¡­¡¯

    Although he was obsessed with food, Minhyuk still knew how to analyze his surroundings and find the best way for him to solve his problems.

    ¡°But we don¡¯t have any magic. Of course the cooling potion is also expensive at 1 tinum each but we have no other choice.¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk rubbed his chin in thought. He pondered for a moment before reaching out behind him. His eyes were sparkling as if he had finally conceived a brilliant idea. His hand slowly gripped the handle of his frying pan¡­

    ¡°......Why¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°Look closely. See what this hyung¡¯s going to do.¡±

    Minhyuk approached theva as he erged his frying pan.

    [Frying Pan Gigantification.]

    [You can adjust the size of your frying pan depending on the mana that you will input.]

    He made the frying pan sorge that it looked like it was a ship. Then¡­¡­ He ced it on top of theva.

    Fwiiiiish!

    Steam was quickly released as soon as the bottom of the frying pan met with the gurglingva. However, the durability of the frying pan was endless and it would reset again in 24 hours. In addition, Minhyuk¡¯s frying pan was sturdier and harder than regr frying pans.

    Then, he threw a cooling potion inside the frying pan.

    Crack, crack!

    Frost quickly formed on top of the frying pan. After seeing that his n was working well, Minhyuk climbed on top of the frying pan.

    ¡°Oppa got a car, so I¡¯m picking you up~ Kids, get in!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Khan and Locke speechlessly climbed on top of the frying pan.

    Then, Minhyuk handed a rope to Kongie, who he had summoned earlier. Kongie flew up until he reached a height that was high enough that the heat of theva would not affect him. He quickly went to the other side of the river and tied the rope to a sturdy rock. Khan, Locke and Minhyuk were finally able to arrive safely on the other side by pulling on the rope that Kongie had tied.

    ¡°We¡¯ve already¡­¡­ shortened our time by 13 minutes¡­¡­¡±

    Khan mumbled to himself as if he couldn¡¯t believe the fact that they had easily shortened the time by that much. Time Attack Dungeon challengers could check their progress real-time just by looking at the top left corner of their vision.

    Currently, they had already entered the dungeon for only 34 minutes. And it was even during the time where Minhyuk was still trying to adapt and understand the dungeon.

    Not long after, they had reached the final boss¡¯ room. The room where the Duhan King was located.

    Bang!

    As usual, the huge Duhan King that was three timesrger than the regr Duhan had dropped from the sky in front of them.

    Bang!

    [Apologize with your death, foolish humans!]

    Powerful sword lights flew from all directions as the Duhan King swung his sword strongly.

    Minhyuk quickly dodged the iing swords.

    ¡®I heard that the Duhan King has a higher and more ridiculous level of defensepared to its attack so that¡¯s why they were having a hard time with him. And there¡¯s also that sword.¡¯

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes narrowed as he looked at the greatsword that the Duhan King was wielding. Generally, it would be hard for anyone to swing such a huge greatsword easily if they did not have the Greatsword Mastery Passive Skill that Minhyuk had.

    ¡®Right. I should try that.¡¯

    He still had a skill that he hasn¡¯t tried yet as of now. And that was Splitting Sword, Rain (Soar).

    Dash!

    Minhyuk followed closely behind Khan.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. You should stay behind me! Haa!¡±

    Khan¡¯s fists were glowing white as he punched the Duhan King¡¯s body.

    Punch, punch, punch, punch, punch, punch!

    But because of the high defensive power of the Duhan King, his attacks looked like it did not have that much of an effect. Locke also tried to attack him with his axe. However, just like what they had expected, there was not that much damage on the Duhan King.

    At that moment, the scarlet ash floated around Minhyuk¡¯s body again. Then, they slowly gathered and went inside Minhyuk¡¯s sword.

    Right now, he had a x2 increase of attack power against undead monsters. In addition, he also had a monstrously high statpared to users of the same level. His current level was at 290 but in reality his strength wasparable to Khan¡¯s strength. Since he would be using Rain (Soar), there would be an additional 110% attack power on his strike. And he also had Barraca¡¯s Greatsword that had at least 700 attack power in addition to Kongie¡¯s Pet Summon buff.

    Minhyuk stayed behind Khan as he unleashed Rain (Soar).

    Shwaaaaaaaaaaaak!

    Wind gathered around his sword as he shed towards the Duhan King.

    A scarlet sword light that resembled a half-moon flew at a fast pace towards the Duhan King. Minhyuk had already pinpointed the area where his sword would strike the Duhan King.

    ¡°......Wow. Isn¡¯t that so cool?¡±

    ¡°OMG¡­¡­¡±

    The bright red sword stopped Khan and Locke in their tracks. And at that exact same moment, the Duhan King¡¯s wrist that was holding a greatsword was cut off cleanly by the red sword. Khan and Locke were both dumbfounded, no matter how much they tried they couldn¡¯t even deal a lot of damage on it but the sword cleanly cut off its wrist.

    sh!

    And it did not end there. After cleanly cutting off the wrist, the sword light moved as it rampaged all over the body of the Duhan King.

    ng!

    The next moment, the greatsword with the intact hand and wrist of the Duhan King fell down as ck blood spurted out of its chest.

    [Keuaaaaaack! I won¡¯t let you go!]

    The Duhan King screeched in pain as a ck energy exploded out from its body.

    [The Duhan King¡¯s Wrath.]

    [Duhan¡¯s have been summoned.]

    Keedidididik©¥

    Keedidididik©¥

    The summoned Duhans slowly climbed up from the ground.

    Khan and Locke were left speechless at this turn of events. Was it because of Minhyuk¡¯s skills or was it the power and strength of his sword that he was able to cut off something that they could not easily cut off? It was something that they could not understand at all.

    Then, Minhyuk looked at their dazed expressions. He shook his head helplessly and tookmand of the attack. He quickly shouted at them¡­

    ¡°Move, now!¡±

    The three of them rushed straight towards the Duhan King.

    ***

    Plenty of users werementing about the Time Attack Dungeon on Athenae¡¯s Official Homepage.

    [bxk31: Honestly, there are a lot of people who are saying that our country is a mess these days. But isn¡¯t this too much of a difference?]

    [Coyote: Agree, agree. The difference is too big. Once the servers in the world are integrated will we go down?]

    [DamnLegend!: Legend Guild is nothing.]

    [Ord: ¡­¡­? Upstairs, what do you mean by Legend Guild is nothing? Currently, therge domestic guilds are joining hands together as they send their top rankers to make a 3-party team and challenge the dungeons but they are still in the 30th rank. But Legend Guild which is currently at 14th ce is already doing well enough. After all, they¡¯re doing it on their own.]

    [LidManse!: So what? It¡¯s still 14th ce.]

    [Ord: ¡­...I concede.]

    Right now, the key figures of Athenae as well as all of the team leaders were gathered together in a single meeting room.

    President Kang Taehoon sighed as he looked at thements made by the users in the official homepage. Everyone remained silent because they knew the meaning of that sigh.

    ¡°I don¡¯t feel like working today.¡±

    He said wryly as he looked at everyone in the meeting room.

    Athenae was a virtual reality game that was created in South Korea. However, the users of South Korea were struggling. And the best of the best was only at 14th ce.

    His words expressed his bitter feelings about this oue.

    ¡°It¡¯s not too long before the Athenae Olympics too¡­¡­¡±

    Athenae Olympics was an event which the whole world would participate in. The people of thepany behind Athenae had created it with all their hearts and soul. It was literally like an Olympics. After all, Athenae was no longer just a game. If their rankers won gold medals then, they would definitely cheer and shed hot tears of joy. However, the oue of this dungeon had made them question whether Korea would still be able to win at least one gold medal.

    Then, at that moment¡­¡­

    ¡°Huh¡­¡­ Huuuuh¡­¡­? W, what¡¯s this?¡±

    It was the voice of the Customer Center¡¯s Team Leader. He was currently checking the current rankings of the Time Attack Dungeon when he noticed something.

    ¡°Team Leader Lee.¡±

    Team Leader Park Minggyu spoke coldly towards him. The serious and solemn atmosphere had been broken by Lee because he was looking at his mobile phone. However, Team Leader Lee took no heed of the frost in his voice as he shakily stood up from his seat.

    ¡°Th, this. Pre, President-nim!¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    Kang Taehoon looked at him suspiciously. He was not acting like his usual self and was shaking wildly.

    ¡°P, please check the rankings now!¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    Kang Taehoon tilted his head in confusion. His words during the meeting were already very ufortable for everyone in this room. It was not that much of a big deal anyway so he just smiled bitterly as he took his phone out to check the current ranking of the Time Attack Dungeon.

    ¡°......!¡±

    President Kang Taehoon pulled his mobile phone closely towards his face once more. He couldn¡¯t believe what he had just seen. He was too shocked that he couldn¡¯t help but jump to his feet. At the exact same moment, gasps of shock rang loudly in the meeting room.

    Team Leader Park Minggyu also checked his mobile phone with a bit of trepidation.

    [America¡¯s ck Swan Team: 43 minutes 38 seconds. Rank: 1st.]

    [South Korea¡¯s Legend Team: 47 minutes 24 seconds. Rank: 2nd.]

    ¡°C, crazy¡­¡­!¡±

    Even he couldn¡¯t believe the rankings on his mobile phone. Just a few moments had passed ever since they saw the Legend Team staying firmly on the 14th ce because they couldn¡¯t go past the one hour threshold. However, right now, Legend Team climbed so suddenly to 2nd ce and was still chasing for the top spot.

    ¡°Th, thements are going crazy!¡±

    And along with those words, they could hear a loudmotion from the outside.

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Legend, let¡¯s gooooo!¡±

    ¡°Pull yourself together! Super powers!¡±

    They heard voices of the regr employees outside loud and clear.

    Kang Taehoon¡¯s face twitched as he struggled to maintain his aloofness. But deep inside, he could feel something hot bursting from his chest. If it weren¡¯t for his position, he would also want to scream as loud as them. He closed his eyes for a moment to calm his heart but he still couldn¡¯t stop his mouth from twitching in joy.

    It¡¯s not over yet. South Korea can still be the game powerhouse.

    ¡°Turn on the screen.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    The people in the meeting room moved quickly to set up the monitor. As soon as they turned it on, they could see that they were only starting their second attack.

    ¡°......They changed it.¡±

    Kang Taehoon caught what Team Leader Park murmured to himself.

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°The member. They took Genie out and put User Minhyuk in.¡±

    ¡°The Food God?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Just with the addition of one Food God, their strength changed that much?¡±

    ¡°Let me open his status window for you.¡±

    All of the team leaders present couldn¡¯t help but turn speechless when they saw the status window on the screen.

    ¡°H, his strength and his level looks ridiculously monstrous.¡±

    ¡°OMG. What kind of Holy Power and Dexterity is that¡­¡­¡±

    Everyone was once again left speechless.

    Then, Department Head Kim Dae-il suddenly spoke.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t this aplete bnce breaker? Isn¡¯t this enough for other users toin? Even if his ss is a God ss isn¡¯t this still too much?¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    The others nodded their heads when they heard his words except for Team Leader Park. Team Leader Park was the only one who shook his head.

    ¡°The Food God is not a bnce breaker.¡±

    Team Leader Park contradicted him confidently as he stood up from his seat. The scene in the monitor showed Minhyuk using Gryphon¡¯s Cry as he dragged the aggro of the mob monsters and killed them all at once.

    ¡°That¡¯s not a bnce breaker?¡±

    However, Team Leader Park¡¯s expression still remained the same.

    ¡°Food God is a nonbatant job ss.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. That¡¯s why it¡¯s so weird. He¡¯s a nonbatant, but he¡¯s that strong?¡±

    ¡°Yes. That¡¯s right. He is ridiculously strong. But before we go to that part let me ask you. Does he currently have an ¡®Attack Skill¡¯ rted to the Food God ss?¡±

    ¡°......Huh, there¡¯s none?¡±

    The people all around him looked around for the answer but it was President Kang Taehoon who answered.

    ¡°There¡¯s none.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°However, please look at this. Generally, stats for people around Lv300 are usually only at 400. But User Minhyuk broke through that by eating a lot of medicine, training a lot and clearing quests. That¡¯s why he is much stronger than what we had expected. Are you telling me that this is a bnce breaker? Anyone who eats medicines like he was eating a normal meal would be as strong as that.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Department Head Kim Dae-il was left speechless.

    The strength of this user was gained through his own perseverance and power and not through his job ss¡¯ special privilege.

    And Team Leader Park also added¡­¡­

    ¡°If you look closely at him, you can also see that all of his artifacts are incredible. He has Barraca¡¯s Greatsword, Armor of Immortality and the Legendary Frying Pan. And his attack skill is also Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship. Do you still think that this is a special privilege of the Food God job ss?¡±

    ¡°......No.¡±

    Team Leader Park nodded his head.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Bnce breaker? This is not a nned bnce breaker. This is all thanks to the user¡¯s perseverance. We don¡¯t call this a bnce breaker. Isn¡¯t that what you used to say?¡±

    Team Leader Park took a deep breath as he looked around and said.

    ¡°That user is really cool.¡±

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    I can feel that Team Leader Park has switched to his doting father mode. Yayy! Go Team Leader Park, defend our Minhyukie!

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 164 - Goracs Aging Jar

    Chapter 164: Gorac''s Aging Jar

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    47 Gorac''s Aging Jar

    Department Head Kim Dae-il looked at the monitor with his hands beaded with sweat. Everyone was on the edge of their seats. And after the second attack¡­¡­

    [South Korea¡¯s Legend Team: 37 minutes 24 seconds. Rank: 1st.]

    [America¡¯s ck Swan Team: 43 minutes 38 seconds. Rank: 2nd.]

    President Kang Taehoon couldn¡¯t help but jump up from his seat. He smiled at the result of the second attack. The pervading silence in the meeting room finally disappeared like a breeze after his smile. The other people in the meeting room were also delighted with this oue.

    ¡°First! Our South Korea is number 1!!!¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Who said that our country is a ruined game powerhouse?! Look at this!¡±

    They might be the developer of the game but they also valued and treasured their country deeply.

    ¡°Every team should eat beef for dinner today, right? Huh? On me.¡±

    ¡°Waaaaah!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good!¡±

    Team Leader Park let out a small smile.

    ¡®You¡¯ve been making us watch a mukbang everyday and making us hungry and you¡¯ll only feed us with beef just this one time?¡¯

    Grin©¥

    Then, Kim Dae-il suddenly spoke up.

    ¡°Once they broke through the 40 minute threshold they will be given an SS rank rating. Does that mean that breaking through the 35 minute threshold will give them an SSS rank rating? Then what will their rewards be?¡±

    Team Leader Park answered his questions.

    ¡°In the first ce, the rewards for the 1st~3rd ce of the Time Attack Dungeon were still not announced. The reason for that was because it¡¯s entirely dependent on the rank that they will get. We have artifacts that we can check and confirm up until the SS rank.¡±

    ¡°Then does that mean that we will not be able to check the SSS rank artifact until they received it?¡±

    ¡°Yes. We don¡¯t know what artifact wille out.¡±

    Then, Kang Taehoon also interjected.

    ¡°But there¡¯s one thing I¡¯m sure of.¡±

    ¡°One thing that you¡¯re sure of?¡±

    Kang Taehoon nodded his head as he continued.

    ¡°Artifacts that are tailored to that user¡¯s job ss and game pattern will definitely drop.¡±

    ***

    Khan, Locke and Genie couldn¡¯te back to their senses.

    Genie was currently checking thements on Athenae¡¯s Official Homepage. The number 1 article on the website was currently ¡®Legend SSS rank, let¡¯s goooooooo!¡¯ and was sitting firmly on top of the other articles. The number of views quickly exceeded 300,000 and there were even plenty ofments that were cheering under the article.

    [Raj: I¡¯ll listen to my mom and dad from now on so please get an SSS rank!]

    [Kaora: I¡¯m watching it. Do it, Legend.]

    [Baro: This is a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. I wish for my parents to live long and healthy, please give me a girlfriend and please let Legend get an SSS rank and give the world a big fat fXck you.]

    [Caruman: Dae~ Han Min Gook! p, p. p. p, p! Daehanmingook! p, p! p, p!]

    [Ace: Wow. As expected of Legend. But there¡¯s a cool, short and cute guy in Legend. He¡¯s very sexy too. Ah, wait. He¡¯s also looking for a girlfriend. He won against Red-footed Jeff just recently too! A girlfriend who looks just like Robin! ******]

    ¡°......That Ace. I really should give a round of apuse to Ace.¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re going to talk shit then you should have done it right. What the hell Ace, you¡¯re really Ace.¡±

    They all smiled at his silly antics as Khan, Locke and Minhyuk entered the dungeon once again. This was their final attempt and this attempt would determine whether they would achieve an SSS rank or not.

    During the first point, they ran fast as they attacked the cursed dragon. After quickly killing the cursed dragon, they had already used Gryphon¡¯s Cry 50 meters away from the second point.

    They were able to draw the aggro of 20 monsters immediately. Khan and Locke already received buffs from the skill so the only thing left to do was to draw the aggro of the monsters that were blocking the second spot. Minhyuk swiftly ran around in a circle to draw the aggro of dozens of monsters and concentrate them in the middle of the area where they were. Khan and Locke would solve some of the monsters that were running too closely to Minhyuk as they followed behind him. Once the monsters were all gathered neatly in one ce, Minhyuk quickly used Blooming Sword, Deep (Burst).

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    ¡°Nice!¡±

    On their second try, even if they were able to steer the mobs in one ce, he still missed four of them so they had to waste some time to hunt them. But this time, he was lucky enough to solve all of them at once.

    After quickly dealing with the mobs, they did not stop to rest and quickly ran fast. This time, they would deal with theva river. As soon as the frying pan became huge, Locke already handed Kongie the rope that he had prepared earlier. Then, Kongie flew to the other side immediately. They threw the frying pan on theva river, threw some cooling potion in it, jumped inside and pulled themselves to move to the other side.

    Currently, 28 minutes had passed since they entered the dungeon. They ran faster towards the final boss¡¯ room.

    As they grew closer to the boss room, Minhyuk started to prepare his Splitting Sword, Rain (Soar). And as soon as they arrived, the Duhan King fell from above.

    Shwaaaaaak!

    A bright red light shone from Minhyuk¡¯s greatsword. Minhyuk swung his sword fiercely as the red half-moon sword light shed through the air.

    [Foolish¡­¡­ Huh? Keuaaaaaack!]

    Its wrists were immediately cut off as soon as it appeared. The Duhan King couldn¡¯t help but shriek in pain. It quickly started its summoning of the other Duhans while Khan, Locke and Minhyuk poured their skills out and attacked the Duhan King.

    ¡°Cursed Angel¡¯s Axe!¡±

    sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!

    ¡°Raging Fist!¡±

    Punch, punch, punch, punch, punch, punch, punch!

    ¡°Rampant Sword!¡±

    Puhaaaa©¥

    Puhaaaa©¥

    Puhaaaa!

    Without even seeing the light of day, the Duhans already disappeared as they were killed in an instant.

    [......]

    The Duhan King looked like it was left speechless.

    Stab!

    Minhyuk triggered Sword of Fury, Shatter (Destroy) as he stabbed straight through the Duhan King¡¯s body.

    Bang!

    The Duhan King had disappeared 50 seconds after it had appeared in front of them.

    Then, the three of them all collectively looked at the clearing time on the top left corner.

    34 minutes 28 seconds.

    ¡°Kghhk!¡±

    ¡°Kyaha!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m hungry.¡±

    Khan and Locke were being thrilled all by themselves while Minhyuk took out a Choco Heim from his inventory.

    Crunch©¥

    He could feel the crunchy texture of the wafer whenever he chewed the snack and there was also the cold chocte that slowly melted in his mouth. Minhyuk smiled pleasantly as he savored this taste.

    ¡°Minhyukie is really not interested in anything else except for eating.¡±

    ¡°I know right.¡±

    Khan and Locke both waited for the notification about the Time Attack Dungeon ending since they knew that it was about time for it to end. In the meantime, Minhyuk took his time as he ate 20 pieces of Choco Heim continuously.

    ¡°Just one¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°No, no!¡±

    ¡°......yeah.¡±

    Locke sighed sadly even though he knew that he would receive a straight refusal if he asked for a piece.

    After 2 minutes of waiting, the notification finally rang.

    [The Time Attack Dungeon has ended.]

    [1st ce. South Korea¡¯s Legend Team. SSS rank.]

    [2nd ce. America¡¯s ck Swan Team. S rank.]

    [3rd ce. China¡¯s Thousand Li Team. A rank.]

    [Congrattions. Legend Team has achieved SSS rank.]

    [You have acquired 300,000 EXP as a reward.]

    [You have acquired 200 reputation points.]

    [A personalized treasure chest will be awarded to the highest contributor, User Minhyuk.]

    ¡°Th, th, th, three hundred thousand EXP?!!!¡±

    ¡°Waaaa!¡±

    At the same time, Minhyuk heard the series of notifications in his head.

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    There were only four level up notifications. But prior to that, while they were attacking the Time Attack Dungeon, Minhyuk was able to gain additional EXP which increased his level to 294 from the original 291. In other words, his level right now was at 298.

    ¡°¡±My level increased by 1!¡±

    ¡°Me too!¡±

    Compared to Minhyuk, it seemed like Khan and Locke needed a lot more EXP to raise their levels.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk looked at one of the notifications from before.

    A personalized treasure chest?

    Minhyuk slowly approached the treasure chest that appeared in front of him. The treasure chest looked like it was extremely old and battered.

    ¡°Open the treasure chest.¡±

    ck, ck©¥

    ck, ck©¥

    The treasure chest moved on its own as it shook wildly. The shaking suddenly stopped as the lid of the treasure chest slowly opened. What came out of it was none other than a huge jar.

    ¡°......huh?¡±

    Minhyuk was taken aback when he saw a huge jar appear out of the treasure chest. Khan and Locke who were excitedly anticipating the contents of the treasure chest were also quite taken aback.

    [You have acquired the Gorac''s Aging Jar.]

    ¡°An aging jar?¡±

    Minhyuk was suddenly interested when he saw the name of the jar. He quickly checked the information of the item.

    (Gorac''s Aging Jar)

    Set Artifact

    Rank: ???

    Restrictions: None

    Durability: ¡Þ / ¡Þ

    Special Abilities: As soon as you ce any food inside, it will be aged and matured immediately to the best time for it to be eaten.

    Description: It is a jar that has been buried underneath the ground for a thousand of years and has been quietly waiting for its owner.

    ¡°......!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes widened in surprise when he saw the special ability of the item that he had received.

    ***

    A user was smiling brightly inside the Tomb of the Giant King. It was a male user that was wearing some ragged and worn out clothes. He had sessfully cleared the tomb of an ancient king and acquired the treasure that was hidden beneath it.

    ¡°I finally got one!¡±

    His name was Rak. He was a user with the job ss ¡®Legendary Explorer¡¯ with a special ability of finding great ruins.

    Currently, he was able to dig out a meat cutting knife called Yukdo under the tomb. The Yukdo¡¯s de was already experiencing the times but nevertheless he still looked at it in awe and admiration.

    ¡®I can¡¯t believe I finally received a Gorac''s artifact¡­¡­!¡¯

    The Gorac''s artifacts were a set of artifacts. However, if one only possessed a single artifact from this set, then it wouldn¡¯t be able to exert its true power but they would still be able to use the unique abilities that were attached to the artifact.

    The Gorac''s Yukdo, one of the artifacts in the Gorac''s artifact set, had its special ability written as this¡­¡­

    [Even rotten meat will turn into the best quality meat once it passes through the de of the Gorac''s Yukdo.]

    Although it looked like it was just an artifact for a chef, the truth was not as simple as that.

    Gorac was the devil. This devil had hidden the artifacts that he had created all over the world of Athenae. These items were all disguised with humble appearances and they would only exert their true power once there were two items gathered together.

    It took Rak roughly 5 months just to find this one artifact. If he was able to find another one of Gorac¡¯s hidden artifacts then he would be able to wield a tremendous power.

    A power that could go beyond that of the strength of a legendary artifact. Of course, there was still the God Artifact that existed beyond legendary but God Artifacts were artifacts that were exclusively for God ss users. However, disaster artifacts like these, even though they were not recognized as an official ranking, definitely had the strength somewhere between the legendary and the God rank.

    Then, at that moment, a pigeon flew inside the deste dungeon.

    The pigeon is delivering a letter? But there¡¯s that thing you call whisper, why do you deliver a letter like this?

    This letter was the only means for an Athenae user tomunicate with users from all over the world. Since the servers were still not yet integrated, the only way that they could contact other people from a different country was through a letter.

    Rak took the note from the pigeon¡¯s feet. He grinned when he saw the contents of the letter.

    [South Korea¡¯s Legend Team has ranked first ce in the Time Attack Dungeon. ¡®ck Stone¡¯ members in Korea wanted to let us know about this fact. And Rak, what happened to Gorac¡¯s artifact?]

    ck Stone. It was an organization that had its root spread in every corner of the world. And the owner of this group was none other than Cauhel. ck Stone was not a guild. However, in many parts of the world it did its operations and moved like a guild. They were as secretive as Legend Guild in the past but their members were mostly made up of Dark Gamers. Dark Gamers were users who made money through games.

    And Cauhel¡­¡­ Rak had no doubts about his abilities. Recently, his level reached 542. He was the best in the world. But no one knew about his identity or what he did in reality. The only thing that they were sure of was that he was the world¡¯s number 1 in the unofficial rankings and no other user could keep up with him. They were sure that he was a huge tycoon.

    Rak sent a letter to Cauhel before sending a whisper to another member of ck Stone.

    [Rak: Kaistra, I finally found the first disaster artifact.

    ***

    Minhyuk¡¯s body trembled as he looked at the item in front of him. He looked like someone who finally got his hands on a new car that had saved every penny that he could get his hands on for. He desperately wanted to use it and see it¡¯s ster performance.

    Ah. Didn¡¯t I have that thing?

    ¡°Soy sauce marinated crabs¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk had used the poison of the Giant Toad King to marinade and ferment the snow crabs that he had received from the Dragon King when he stopped by the sea. The waiting time was pure and endless torture.

    But it won¡¯t be the case anymore.

    ¡®Huhu¡­¡­ I can eat it right now!¡¯

    ¡°Minhyuk-ah?¡±

    ¡°Hey. Why aren¡¯t you answering us?¡±

    His friends kept on calling his name but he couldn¡¯t hear anything at all.

    What great concentration!

    He immediately pulled out a huge barrel from his inventory. This was the barrel that he had ced his soy sauce marinated crabs in. Then, he swiftly ced the barrel inside Gorac¡¯s ¡®Aging Jar¡¯.

    ¡®That man named Gorac definitely must have been a chef¡­¡­ I can¡¯t believe that someone made something this innovative!¡¯

    In fact, no one would turn to look at such an insignificant artifact. After all, wasn¡¯t it just aging and fermenting things right away? However, Minhyuk was someonepletely different from the rest of the users. He was not someone who craved for the best and strongest artifacts!

    Suddenly, a whisper notification popped up.

    [General: Minhyuk-ah. This hyung of yours got you some piece of good information.]

    However, Minhyuk did not bother to reply as he picked up the lid of the jar to close Gorac¡¯s jar. As if sensing that Minhyuk would not answer him immediately, General sent another whisper.

    [General: Millstone.]

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    I bet this millstone is also Gorac¡¯s artifact. Hmmmm.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Yeah, probably. Can¡¯t wait to see what happens when they get together.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 165 - Goracs Aging Jar

    Chapter 165: Gorac''s Aging Jar

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Minhyuk couldn¡¯t help but pause for a moment.

    A millstone?

    There was only one thing that woulde to mind when one spoke of a millstone and that was none other than tofu.

    Whenever Minhyuk woke up early in the morning and thought of what food would be served for breakfast he would always recall the braised tofu that would be silently ced on top of the table. The savory and vorful braised tofu with soy sauce, sesame seeds, water and oligosharides that looked extremely appetizing and mouth watering.

    Even if he only had a bowl of beef radish soup and braised tofu for breakfast he would be able to finish plenty of white rice in one go. He would definitely scoop up some of the steaming hot rice while cing the braised tofu that he had cut in half with his chopsticks on top of it before opening his mouth wide.

    Then, what would happen once he ced it in his mouth?

    He would not be able to taste too much of the saltiness from something that was braised with soy sauce. The reason for this was simple, it was because the in and soft texture of the tofu would only moderately absorb the vor of the soy sauce. Every time he would chew, the mixture of the soft white rice and the savory and slightly salty tofu would create a harmony that was pleasant to the taste.

    When one thought hard about it, a simple millstone would be able to produce a variety of tofu dishes like soft tofu stew, tofu kimchi, soybean stew, tofu stew and plenty of other tofu snacks. What he was most certain about was that tofu was both good for the body and for the pte.

    However, Minhyuk thought that he should first focus on this Gorac¡¯s Aging Jar before anything else.

    [General: Huh? I told you something like this but you still did not reply. Is this more shocking than me getting a girlfriend¡­¡­?]

    Perhaps after General had sent the two sybles ¡®Millstone¡¯ he had expected Minhyuk to answer him as quickly as possible and did not expect the ¡®I did not expect you to not send me a reply at all?¡¯ scenario.

    Of course, Minhyuk would have definitely replied in an instant if it was the usual but there was something delicious in front of him now. So how could he even focus on something else?

    ck©¥

    As soon as he ced the lid on top of the jar, a notification rang clear and loud in his head.

    [Gorac¡¯s Aging Jar¡¯s Special Ability has been triggered.]

    [The Soy Sauce Marinated Crab is well ripened and ready to eat.]

    ¡°Wow¡­¡­ Wow¡­¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk was showing a delighted expression simr to ordinary users when they had obtained an extremely strong and wonderful artifact. Locke and Khan looked in interest when they saw Minhyuk¡¯s delighted expression.

    ¡®Don¡¯t tell me that he will be able to get an artifact from that jar every day?¡¯

    ¡®Heok¡­¡­?! That must be a really good item?¡¯

    Minhyuk quickly took off the lid and reached inside, then he paused.

    ¡°Hmm, hmm. Guys, sorry but I have to go first since something urgent came up.¡±

    ¡°Huh? There¡¯s nothing we can do if it¡¯s an emergency. But what¡¯s the jar¡­¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk immediately turned into particles of light and disappeared.

    Then¡­¡­

    ¡°Aaaaaaack! What is that jar?!¡±

    ¡°What is it? Is there an artifact that came out of the jar? Heok¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°Ah, what the hell is that jar?! I want you to let me knooooooo!¡±

    There were only two ways to make someone go crazy out of curiosity. And one of them is not finishing what you were saying¡­¡­

    ***

    ¡°Wow. Look at that color.¡±

    Minhyuk gulped down his saliva loudly as he looked at the huge table filled with food. He first saw the white and soft rice that was still steaming. Beside it, he could see the shell, legs and the huge ws on anotherrge te. The legs and ws that were originally connected to the body of the crab were already torn off and removed which showed him the scarlet eggs as well as the pale but a bit ck-ish flesh that was dyed with the soy sauce overflowing from the shell.

    He first grabbed the back shell as he pulled it on his te.

    ¡°You¡¯re filled with eggs aren¡¯t you?¡±

    The dark colored spices that were sprinkled on the shell as well as the plump flesh and scarlet eggs that were all submerged in the sauce were fully disyed. He quickly picked his chopsticks as he swiftly dug out the guts that were hidden within the shell.

    Chak, chak, chak©¥

    The sound of the chopsticks meeting with the shell was also pleasant to hear and was in and on itself an art.

    The guts and the flesh of the crab was gathered in the middle of the shell forming great contrast with the scarlet eggs and ckish flesh and guts. They were all mixed and gathered in the middle appropriately as if showing their great splendor to anyone looking at them.

    Gulp©¥

    His drool slowly started to flow as he hurriedly moved his hands. He first took them out of the shell and dropped it on top of his piping hot rice. Then, he scooped a spoonful towards his mouth. He could see the slightly cold crab meat and gutsying gently on top of the steaming rice as he slowly ced it in his mouth. The riceplemented the salty and savory taste of the crab and the feeling of the meat and guts slipping in his mouth made him feel infinitely satisfied.

    After he had gulped down his first spoonful of rice, he quickly scooped another spoonful. Then, he picked up the shell like a te, dumped the rice on it and mixed it with his spoon. The color was extremely appetizing once the guts, the meat and the soy sauce were all mixed together properly.

    Then, he took a spoonful of the food and ced it in his mouth again. His eyes couldn¡¯t help but close in bliss as a smile curled at the edges of his lips. After savoring the taste, he let out a slight breath before slowly opening his eyes.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡­ It¡¯s really delicious.¡±

    He quickly grabbed one of the legs with his hands as he pressed down tightly on the joints to rip it apart. Like water in a broken dam, the guts and the flesh of the crab instantly flowed out of the cracked crab.

    Minhyuk quickly took the leg in his mouth and sucked. The guts and the flesh of the crab immediately flowed its scrumptious taste spread quickly into his mouth. As he chewed the crab happily, he felt that the expression ¡®Melts in your mouth¡¯ was enough to describe the texture and vor of the crab.

    He did not forget to bite the crab shell tightly before sucking on it to push the remaining flesh inside into his mouth. Then, he squeezed the meat out of its body on top of the rice.

    ¡°I can¡¯t just throw these away.¡±

    After he squeezed the body, he pushed the meat and sucked on it again to make sure that no meat was left on the shell. Then, he mixed the guts and meat with the rice before chomping on it again.

    ¡°Hahaha, so happy~¡±

    It¡¯s really delicious.

    He truly felt that thebination of the poison of the Poisonous Toad King, the special snow crab that he had obtained from the Dragon King as well as the perfect aging and maturation by Gorac¡¯s Aging Jar was perfect and delicious. Only the word best would suit this vor.

    However, it was not yet the end of his mukbang.

    There was still the nice and thickly cut meat of the golden salmon. He silently stretched his chopsticks towards the pinkish and glowing meat of the golden salmon. He only picked one up to try the taste first. As soon as he ced the salmon in his mouth, he gently chewed on it. Once he swallowed the meat, he couldn¡¯t help but giggle at the oily taste that lingered in his mouth.

    Then, for his next piece, he dipped the salmon in the soy sauce and wasabi mixture. The soy sauce and wasabi perfectly harmonized andplemented the in vor of the salmon. Sometimes he would add some radish sprouts with the salmon, or some onions and even some white sauce on top of it before cing it in his mouth.

    When he wanted to eat something special, he would gently pick a roasted seaweed, before cing some salmon on it along with some radish sprouts and wasabi before wrapping them all together. Once his wrap was done, he would dip it in soy sauce and before cing everything in his mouth.

    And just like that, Minhyuk¡¯s extremely satisfying meal hade to an end.

    [You have eaten Salmon Sashimi using the Golden Salmon.]

    [The Food Fighter¡¯s Greatness.]

    [The penalty for the medicine has been ignored. However, this does not work for many people.]

    [A Medicine Dish. You have obtained additional stats.]

    [You have acquired +58 DEX.]

    ¡®Come to think of it¡­¡­¡¯

    Minhyuk had felt that the speed at which he acquired DEX had decreased significantlypared to before. Even if he had repeated an action plenty of times, he was still not able to get some DEX.

    ¡®To eat more delicious things, I need to find a way to improve my DEX¡­...¡¯

    He smiled happily after thinking about his next course of actions. Then, he remembered something.

    The millstone that General mentioned earlier!

    That was what came to his mind next. He quickly looked at his whispers as he sent a message to General.

    [Minhyuk: Do you know what millstone handles are called?]

    [General: General-nim is currently logged out.]

    ¡°Completely nonsense~¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head when he heard about the notification. It was about time for him to log out since he needed to log out every four hours.

    Then, he swiftly logged out of the game.

    ***

    Bachran Guild¡¯s Balen. He was currently watching a man on the hunting grounds while six of his guild members beside him were holding their breath in tension.

    Bachran Guild was a guild that was quite simr to Horden Guild. All of its guild members were chaotic users and they would make profits by doing most of the dirty work in the game which included monopolization of hunting grounds as well as PKing users. The only difference between them and Horden Guild was that Bachran Guild had Baal, the 19th in the domestic rankings, under their guild master.

    And despite the fact that they were a guild that was purely consisting of chaotic members, they were still ced 8th in the domestic guild rankings. The only reason why Bachran Guild had climbed to such a high position was because it had gathered users that had been kicked out fromrge guilds through bad etiquette and discourtesy. The Bachran Guild¡¯s Guild Master Crone, was much more influential than what they had initially thought.

    And the person that they were watching right now was ck Dragon. ck Dragon was an influential merchant. He had recently gained fame since he had reached the top all alone without joining any guild at all. Everyone knew that he was doing this with only one purpose in mind.

    ¡®To find the most delicious and outstanding ingredients in Athenae.¡¯

    He was the one who had sent this information personally.

    Besides, the only reason Bachran Guild was watching his movements was because of the valuable and expensive artifacts that he would most likely drop.

    ¡°Look at his sword. It¡¯s Decallid¡¯s Sword, I think it¡¯s an epic artifact.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t forget about his armor. I think he¡¯s all covered with epic artifacts.¡±

    He waspletely covered with epic artifacts that had been only recently released in the Northern Continent. His ck armor and ck sword definitely looked like valuable artifacts.

    ¡°But that ahjussi¡­¡­ Don¡¯t you think he¡¯s a bit like a 2nd grader?¡±

    ¡°I know¡­¡­ That nickname¡¯s a bit¡­¡­¡±

    The Bachran Guild had rules set in ce. And one of those rules was not messing with people who were involved withrge guilds. This was set so the guild would avoid any possible friction with theserge guilds. And because of these, the four great guilds as well as otherrge guilds did not fight against Bachran guild.

    If they started a way against Bachran Guild, even though they were arge guild, they would still suffer greatly. After all, it was only natural for guilds to suffer difficulties if they went to war against other guilds.

    Considering those things, this ck Dragon was aplete ¡®pushover¡¯ who was literally giving out free artifacts once he got PKed. Of course, one of the reasons why he was being targeted was because he was a person who threatened the business that was operated by countless nobles. The Bachran Guild was quite confident since they were joining hands with these nobles to deal with one single man.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Balen and the rest of the guild members with him quickly started to move. Their average level ranged from 320~330 and they were considered to be one of the lowest in the guild.

    Just when they stood in front of him, they saw the man named ck Dragon tremble wildly. They could see that his face was covered with a ck mask. However, his doe-like eyes that were visible under the mask were shedding tears.

    ¡®Heok¡­¡­?! This ahjussi, are you already crying because you knew that we¡¯re going to PK you?!¡¯

    ¡®......OMG?!¡¯

    ***

    Ilhwa Group¡¯s Chairman and President, Kang Minhoo. He was also known as ck Dragon in the game.

    Just as he was going to take a breath of fresh air after sessfully finishing his hunt, he heard the voice of Secretary Park Munsoo. Park Munsoo had pressed the call button in the capsule.

    [The Young Master-nim said that he would treat us and the President to a very delicious meal which included snow crabs in Athenae on your birthday.]

    For ck Dragon, this was apletely unusual urrence.

    A meal with my son¡­ It has been five years since west had a meal together.

    Although it was just a meal in the game, it was still a new and moving feeling for him. The tip of his nose had tingled as his eyes suddenly reddened. He felt that it was truly delightful that his son, who was suffering from bulimia, was preparing a meal for his birthday.

    Then, at that moment, six users suddenly appeared in front of him. The users looked like they were flustered at the sight of him.

    ¡°Y, you¡¯re crying¡­¡­?¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ck Dragon smirked at them. He could see their weapons on hand as well as the mage who was preparing to cast a spell. He already knew what they were here for.

    ¡°I¡¯m in a good mood today so you punks should go back before I run wild.¡±

    He turned to walk away just as he finished his words but then, Balen said¡­¡­

    ¡°Shit¡­¡­ This ahjussi is really a crazy 2nd grader.¡±

    ¡°Wow. He¡¯s not crying anymore. He¡¯s going to run wild. Why? Is your left hand sealed?¡±

    Theyughed loudly as they nodded their heads towards ck Dragon. Then, theyunched their attacks.

    The assassin that was preparing his skill earlier had the highest level amongst them at Lv340. He also had a special ability that could help him assassinate and eliminate his enemies in one shot.

    [Surprise Attack.]

    He quickly moved behind ck Dragon as he aimed for his neck. Meanwhile, the mage who had been preparing to cast his spell hadunched plenty of fire spears towards him.

    [Fire Spear.]

    Crackle, crackle!

    Craaaaackle!

    At that moment, ck Dragon raised his left hand and said¡­¡­

    ¡°In the end, you punks still let my left arm run wild.¡±

    ck Dragon already knew that his name was quite funny to the younger generation.

    But isn¡¯t it still different depending on who¡¯s using it?

    He had decided to stay true to his name and be confident with it. His expression grew solemn as anger filled his head. He let himself loose as he ran wild on them.

    ¡°Pfft!¡±

    ¡°Keuhahaha¡­¡­ Ah for real. What a funny guy!¡±

    Balen and his party burst intoughter when they heard his words. However, not long after, an unusual thing happened in front of them.

    Shwaaaaa!

    A ck dragon¡¯s head emerged from his left hand. Then, ck Dragon stopped the surprise attack aimed at his neck just by raising his right hand.

    ng!

    ¡°......!¡±

    Then, the ck dragon that was resting on his left hand stretched its head out as it swallowed the fire spears that were heading straight at him. The ck dragon roared loudly.

    ¡°Kiieeeeeeeeeek!¡±

    When the ck dragon roared, the person nearest to him suddenly felt burning hot as a ck me slowly devoured him.

    Crackle!

    The assassin who just attacked him waspletely devoured by the mes.

    ¡°Keuaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Th, this¡­¡­! Shit¡­..!¡±

    Balen looked at his figure as a thought shed through his mind.

    ¡°Fo, for real¡­¡­¡±

    He¡¯s really ck Dragon (ck me Dragon).

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Minhyukie¡¯s Dad being badass ever since he got PKed by Horden Guild. Yayy!

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 166 - The Tempter

    Chapter 166: The Tempter

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    48 The Tempter

    ¡°......!¡±

    General or Oh Changwook, who had just logged out from Athenae was left in surprise when he heard the anchors¡¯ conversation on the TV.

    [Wasn¡¯t Legend Guild¡¯s final reversal such a thrilling and exciting event?]

    [Haha, it was definitely thrilling! But some experts say that the Legend Guild did not show their full strength on purpose.]

    [On purpose?]

    [Yes. They said that Legend Guild was already confident in getting first ce. I think they knew that they would be able to get SSS rank once they get past through the 40 minute mark. However, they did not show their strength in the beginning and only turned the tables at thest minute as if to hang the hearts of our people and release our country¡¯s grievances against the world.]

    When he searched the real-time topics¡­¡­

    [1st ce: Legend Guild¡¯s reversal, attacking the Time Attack.]

    [2nd ce: ck Swan Guild¡¯s Jin is reviewing how he has performed so far.]

    [3rd ce: Legend Guild¡¯s Guild Master Genie is President Kang Taehoon¡¯s Daughter? Rumors.]

    When he looked through the articles on the inte.

    [Korea¡¯s a ruined game powerhouse? No, Korea¡¯s a game powerhouse! - Blue Daily.]

    [ck Swan Guild¡¯s Julian had fainted after bowing for 1,000 times daily. Netizens, still 2nd ce. Sorry. - Happy Daily.]

    [The Uing Athenae Olympics. Public¡¯s expectations are already soaring. - Sports News.]

    ¡°......Guild Master Genie, the president¡¯s daughter? What the hell?¡±

    He grinned.

    The whole country is in a festive mood right now. Athenae was just a simple game but the world did not think that it was just a simple game now. Just like when they won a gold medal in the Olympics, everyone saw this as a globalpetition.

    Changwook thought about something.

    ¡°Wait,e to think of it¡­¡­¡±

    The timing ovepped with Minhyuk¡¯s visit to the Dragon King¡¯s Sea but as soon as he came back, the results were suddenly reversed.

    ¡°Eyyy. No way, right~¡±

    Minhyuk was only one person and it was also too ridiculous to say that just adding this single person would reverse the rankings in one go.

    But then, he hesitated.

    ¡°No. If I think about it, it doesn¡¯t make sense? Why would Legend Guild hide their power just to burst in the end?¡±

    The anchor just kept on telling his own version of the story because he did not know Legend Guild. But he knew that they weren¡¯t people who would risk their lives just to enjoy a dangerous gamble. However, Changwook had heard plenty of stories from Minhyuk, the person closest to the Legend Guild, so he had guessed something to some extent.

    ¡®Then, for real¡­¡­?¡¯

    Just in time, Minhyuk came out from his room to tell Secretary Park Munsoo that he wanted to take responsibility for his father¡¯s birthday and set up a party for him. After he finished talking with Park Munsoo, Changwook approached him and asked¡­¡­

    ¡°Did you participate in Legend Guild¡¯s attack on the Time Attack Dungeon?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Minhyuk tilted his head in confusion when he was suddenly asked by Changwook about the Time Attack Dungeon.

    ¡°Amazing! Isn¡¯t this the same as me having someone who had won the Olympics Gold Medal in front of me?¡±

    ¡°Hyung. What¡¯s the thing about the millstone that you said before?¡±

    ¡°Ah. Remember about that person who uploaded the video of Rovan-nim and your fight? We¡¯ve recentlye to an agreement.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Yes.¡±

    ¡°Her nickname is ¡®Joo-ah¡¯. I got information for our agreement. First, I¡¯m sure that it¡¯s a millstone and that it¡¯s not a regr millstone too.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head. He had already guessed it to some extent when Changwook sent him a whisper. He knew that Changwook would not settle for just this information if it was just a normal millstone.

    ¡°First and foremost, when you grind beans in the millstone you¡¯ll be able to get more yield. I think it¡¯s about twice as much?¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s body trembled in excitement when he heard his words.

    ¡°......OMG? Isn¡¯t that better than winning the first price in lotto?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know about that. But I heard that aside from having twice the yield, eating the food from the first grind can also give you special abilities. In addition, the food made from this millstone will never go bad. Forever. And the taste, it¡¯s said that it¡¯s the most delicious in the world.¡±

    ¡°Wow¡­¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk clenched his fists tightly. He was already excited about this millstone.

    ¡°Where will the millstone show up?¡±

    ¡°Ructo¡¯s Tomb.¡±

    ¡°Ructo?¡±

    He tilted his head in confusion.

    ¡°It¡¯s a dungeon that¡¯s mostly used by users between Lv 300~380. It¡¯s a dungeon that users at that level will most certainly want to try their hands on.¡±

    ¡°You wanted to challenge it yourself?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s because no team has ever seeded in attacking Ructo¡¯s Tomb. The 1st floor of Ructo¡¯s Tomb is quite simr to ordinary dungeons where you can hunt ordinary mobs. But after you hunt the 1st floor¡¯s boss mob then you¡¯ll have to face six trials. These six trials have never been sessfully cleared by anyone. And ording to Joo-ah¡¯s information, the millstone will appear in the sixth trial. By the way, users were only able to break through the fifth trial. It was an extremely difficult and challenging trial that users these days don¡¯t even want to try and challenge it anymore. That¡¯s why I wanted to challenge it once.¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk rubbed his chin in thought.

    In other words, getting it was simple.

    ¡°Then, are you sure that the millstone is in Ructo¡¯s Tomb? Or are you still uncertain about it?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s pretty much confirmed to this point. ording to Joo-ah, there was a user with the hidden ss Devil Worshipper who had received a quest to break the 6th trial in Ructo¡¯s Tomb and that the reward was the millstone. And she said that she had heard about the millstone from an NPC.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head while Changwook continued to speak.

    ¡°Ah. Do you want me to drop theint against Joo-ah?¡±

    Minhyuk shook his head.

    ¡°We¡¯re not yet sure about the information, and¡­¡­¡±

    His expression turned cold.

    ¡°If we¡¯re plucking one out, then it¡¯s better to pluck them all out. If possible, it would be nice if we could negotiate and have her be our informer that will give us information about food for a long time¡­¡­¡±

    Changwook nodded his head in understanding.

    ¡®He really takes good care of his own interests¡­¡­¡¯

    Minhyuk might not have been greedy for money but he would never lose money either. He would try his best to not lose out on whatever situation he was in.

    He saw a devilish smile sh around Minhyuk¡¯s mouth for a moment. When he saw such a smile, a thought passed through Changwook¡¯s mind.

    ¡®.......Dear me. I feel like he would make me do this for the rest of my life. I¡¯m going to be his food shuttle till the end of days. Such a cruel punk!¡¯

    Then, Minhyuk asked him.

    ¡°Ah, that¡¯s right. Hyung, my DEX is not increasing that well these days. Archer users also need DEX. Do you think hunting with a bow can help me increase it?¡±

    Among all of thebat job sses, only the archer job ss had a dexterity stat. So it was safe to assume that using the bow would definitely help increase the dexterity stat.

    Changwook nodded his head as if to confirm this fact.

    ¡°The archer job ss can increase their DEX like nonbatant ss do.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head as he turned to his phone to check on information about Ructo¡¯s Tomb. A smile hung around his lips as he continued to read.

    ¡®Ooooooh¡­¡­!¡¯

    Of course, it was a matter of fact that he would not only search about the route and information about Ructo¡¯s Tomb. His searches would most definitely include ¡®This is delicious¡¯, ¡®Very tasty¡¯, and ¡®Oh! You should definitely try this!¡¯.

    Then, he saw a rted quest.

    ¡®Hiya¡­¡­ The Moon¡¯s Wheat that isparable to the Sun¡¯s Wheat¡­¡­?¡¯

    He had read about an NPC who would give a quest for hunting monsters. The only difference is that the Moon¡¯s Wheat would drop when the monsters were hunted during the quest period. It was also said that ¡®Moon¡¯s Wheat¡¯ was strangely delicious if it was made into noodles. This was also the reason why the nearby vige was well known for its noodles.

    ¡®Noodles¡­¡­¡¯

    Just thinking about it was making him feel happy. Noodles are delicious whether it was the 3,000 won cheap ones or the expensive ones priced at 5,000 won. And there were the more delicious types like banquet noodles and bibimguksu. Especially the bibimguksu, they taste extremely amazing when eaten with well-steamed dumplings.

    ¡®Get the millstone and eat some noodles? Good, that¡¯s good!¡¯

    It wasn¡¯t that difficult since he did not need to go back to the NPC who would issue the quest. He would get the Moon¡¯s Wheat as drops whenever he hunted the monsters and the quest wouldplete it by itself when he had hunted enough. And when he had collected everything he needed to collect, the buff effect reward would immediately be activated as a reward.

    After he finished exercising with Changwook, Minhyuk immediately went back to Athenae to eat noodles.

    ***

    A user with the nickname Rocard was a high level user at Lv390. He currently had his eyes closed as he gulped his saliva down while sitting in front of Javin.

    ¡®Th, the day has finallye¡­¡­¡¯

    He could feel his heart beating wildly.

    His friends had called him Immortal Wizard. That Wizard who could call a meteor with just a wave of his hand! The reason why his friends had called him that was because he had never held a woman¡¯s hands in his thirty five years of living in this world.

    But that wasn¡¯t the case now.

    He had recently entered a cave with a woman who happened to apany him in Athenae. The woman was breathtakingly beautiful, innocent and cute. It was the style that every man in the world would definitely crave.

    Rocard couldn¡¯t help but close his eyes when he saw her slowly approaching his face.

    ¡®Kgghk. I wonder what a woman¡¯s lips feel like¡­¡­.!¡¯

    As soon as he imagined that soft touch¡­¡­

    Stab!

    He felt a searing pain on his neck.

    ¡°Keughh¡­¡­!¡±

    A dagger stabbed straight through his neck. Rocard opened his eyes in shock. He saw Javin smiling at him innocently as she giggled.

    ¡°Oh my, oppa. Sorry.¡±

    She grinned widely as she pulled out the dagger from his neck.

    Rocard¡¯s body slowly fell down on the ground.

    ¡°Keoheok, heok¡­¡­!¡±

    Javin slowly stood up from her position. She was a woman who would lure unsuspecting men in caves and PK them.

    She smiled at him as she watched him slowly turn gray while being forced to log out and drop his artifacts.

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s not too bad.¡±

    She shrugged her shoulders as she walked out of the cave.

    Rocard¡¯s body, which had not disappeared yet, was left behind. A tear fell down from Rocard¡¯s eyes.

    ***

    As Javin walked out of the cave, she thought¡­¡­

    ¡®I can only do it a few more times then I have to leave.¡¯

    Since she was doing her livelihood via PK, she was quite sensitive to rumors. And there were rumors spreading around recently about her.

    This hunting ground was usually frequented by users at around Lv300~350 but it was a bit more difficultpared to other hunting grounds at the same level. The mob that mostly appeared in the area were Owl Bears.

    Javin easily dealt with an Owl Bear near her.

    ¡®Shit. Because of the Moon¡¯s Wheat quest that I received earlier every time I kill a mob this thing drops¡­¡­¡¯

    She had received the quest but she did not necessarily want to finish the quest since she did not like the rewards that much.

    ¡®And there are no more pushovers anymore.¡¯

    Then, at that moment, she saw a user who was hunting for quite some time now. He was wearing a shabby looking outfit with a rapier hanging on his back while he was trying to use an arrow.

    Her eyes widened when she saw him release an arrow.

    Stab!

    He swiftly struck the Owl Bear¡¯s vital point in one single shot.

    ¡®He clearly did not use any shooting skills¡­¡­ But when he shot his arrow, it struck straight at a vital point. That¡¯s literally a fatal blow.¡¯

    She was quite sure about something.

    ¡®T, that¡¯s definitely an epic item¡­¡­! The item probably has an effect like ¡®A sharp increase in the probability of fatal blows¡¯ attached to it!¡¯

    She had quite a good understanding of epic items so she was definitely sure about it.

    Then, she saw the man sullenly pick up the Moon¡¯s Wheat that dropped.

    ¡°This is the final Moon¡¯s Wheat¡­¡­ Sigh¡­¡­¡±

    He was almost on the verge of tears because it was the final Moon¡¯s Wheat that he would ever acquire. But it was only just the Moon¡¯s Wheat.

    ¡°He¡¯s definitely a pushover, right?¡±

    ***

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 167 - The Tempter

    Chapter 167: The Tempter

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Minhyuk was happily smiling after he had received the Moon¡¯s Wheat quest right after logging back in to Athenae.

    ¡®Delicious noodles!¡¯

    There was now a ¡®0 kg / 5 kg¡¯ shing on his upper left corner beside the name Moon¡¯s Wheat. Right now, he was holding a bow to raise his DEX and y nogada.

    (Abyss¡¯ Bow)

    Rank: Epic

    Restrictions: 400 DEX, 300 AGI

    Durability: 5,000 / 5,000

    Attack Power: 126

    Primary Special Abilities:

    ©¥ For every 100 DEX, the hit rate, fatal blow rate and fatal blow power will increase by 10%.

    ©¥ Increase of 13% in AGI.

    ©¥ Active Skill: Master Archer¡¯s Archery.

    Description: A bow used by a Master Archer in the past who¡¯s now deep asleep at the bottom of the abyss.

    This was one of the artifacts that he had gotten from hunting the m golem before and was the perfect artifact for Minhyuk to use right now.

    It¡¯s attack power was clearly significantly lower than most of the artifacts in his possession. This was because the attack power of both the bow and arrow would bebined. Before Minhyuk came here, he made sure to buy plenty of arrows with an attached 10% increase in critical hit rate from Valkyrie Kingdom. He also briefly unequipped Ellie¡¯s Kitchen Knife from Barraca¡¯s Greatsword and equipped it on the bow. He only had one reason to do so.

    ¡®I can¡¯t give up the x4 increase in my DEX acquisition rate.¡¯

    After finishing all of his preparations, Minhyuk was finally on his way to Ructo¡¯s Tomb. Before he could arrive at Ructo¡¯s Tomb, he had to face and hunt the monsters like the Owl Bear which appeared at the half a day journey towards the tomb. In the meantime, he thought that it was a good time to eat noodles while he went and collected the Moon¡¯s Wheat on his way.

    As he was walking, he finally saw a monster from a distance. It was an Owl Bear. Owl Bears were called like that because they had the huge body of a bear and the head of an owl. They were approximately 2m tall and although it was a monster at Lv300, it¡¯s strength wasparable to any mob at Lv330. However, its defense was still quite low.

    ¡°Grrrrrrreuoooo!¡±

    Minhyuk reached for his back as he grabbed an arrow and nocked it on the bow. The moment he pulled the strings of the bow, Minhyuk could clearly see arge red dot appear on the center of the Owl Bear¡¯s body. Even a child could understand the meaning of this red dot.

    Minhyuk pulled the strings taut before releasing his hold.

    Shweeeeeeek!

    The arrow flew at an iprehensible speed as it pierced straight through the Owl Bear¡¯s neck.

    [You have dealt a fatal blow.]

    ¡°Keuooooo!¡±

    The Owl Bear shrieked as it fell down with a thud.

    ¡°......OMG?¡±

    Minhyuk was quite surprised. He already knew that it was due to the effect of the Abyss¡¯ Bow and due to his DEX being high, his hit rate, fatal blow rate as well as fatal blow power were all increased by 150%.

    Generally, archer¡¯s artifacts had a tendency to increase those probabilities through DEX. Among them epic archer artifacts, the Abyss¡¯ Bow was on the superior side. Usually, artifacts at this rank would only have an increase of around 3%~5% but the Abyss¡¯ Bow had an increase of 10%. Right now, the destructive power of Minhyuk¡¯s bow was alreadyparable to any archer user at his level. No, it was even a lot more than that.

    And Minhyuk could clearly see¡­

    The Moon¡¯s Wheat that dropped!

    [You have acquired 2,031 gold.]

    [You have acquired 210g of Moon¡¯s Wheat.]

    ? ¡°Kgghk!¡±

    Minhyuk looked at it in satisfaction and awe. And just like that, he was filled with motivation to hunt Owl Bears. Once he had gathered around 3kg of Moon¡¯s Wheat, he whipped out the noodle maker that he had purchased at Valkyrie Kingdom and prepared some noodles.

    ¡°Hiyaa¡­¡­¡±

    He quickly prepared a dough which he passed through the noodle maker. Thin and long strips of noodles slowly came out of the noodle maker. Then, he boiled the noodles before putting them in his pre-made broth. He added some garnishes on top of the noodles which included eggs, shredded zhini, julienned carrots, chopped kimchi, and some seaweed kes sprinkled on top of it all.

    The steaming bowl of banquet noodles was done just like that. There were even tes filled with the red and appetizing kimchi and kkakdugi beside it.

    ¡°Banquet noodles can only beplete with kimchi and kkakdugi.¡±

    Minhyuk picked the bowl with his left hand while he took his chopsticks and stirred the contents. Then, he lifted up a bunch of noodles. The amount of noodles that he lifted could already be considered to be quite a lot but he believed that banquet noodles were best enjoyed if he ced everything that he could in his mouth.

    ¡°Sluuuuuuurp!¡±

    He easily inhaled the noodles in one go. The noodles that were soaked in the savory and tasty broth made him smile happily. Once his cheeks were filled to the brim with noodles, he finally decided to cut it off before putting some kimchi in his mouth.

    Crunch, crunch©¥

    Because of Gorac¡¯s Aging Jar, his kimchi could mature and ripen easilypared to before when he still needed to wait a few days before he could eat it. Chewing on the crunchy, sweet and sour kimchi added a bit more vor to the savory noodles. Then, he put his lips near the lip of the bowl, blew gently on the soup as he gulped it down.

    ¡°Sluuuuurp. Hoo. Good.¡±

    He couldn¡¯t help but let out a gasp in awe at thebination of vors. This time, instead of eating kimchi with his noodles, he mped on some kkakdugi and chomped on it.

    Crunch, crunch©¥

    The chewy texture of the noodles and the crunchy texture of the kkakdugi met and created a perfect harmony of texture in his mouth.

    ¡°Sluuuuurp!¡±

    Minhyuk easily finished the banquet noodles made from Moon¡¯s Wheat. He had made dozens of bowls with the 3kg that he had gathered but he still finished them quickly and easily.

    ¡°It¡¯s really delicious.¡±

    There was a big smile hanging on his mouth but he still said¡­¡­

    ¡°I, I¡¯m hungry¡­¡­!¡±

    The noodles made him feel like his stomach was quickly emptied. But it was also a matter of fact that he was always hungry.

    Minhyuk continued to hunt as he headed towards Ructo¡¯s Tomb.

    [You have gained 1 DEX.]

    [You have gained 1 DEX.]

    He was finally able to hear the notification about his DEX increasing which had been stagnant recently.

    ¡®Oh¡­¡­? It¡¯s increasing much faster than using my production skills? It feels the same when I just started learning production skills.¡¯

    He was quite confused at the speed but he still happilyughed when he thought of having more delicious food with his increase in DEX.

    ***

    ¡°T, Team Leader-nim. User Minhyuk has started to increase his DEX quickly again.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    When he heard Lee Minhwa¡¯s words, Team Leader Park moved away from the screen where he was watching other users. He quickly moved and approached Lee Minhwa to see what she was talking about.

    ¡°......He¡¯s increasing his DEX by using a bow.¡±

    Acquiring DEX points by using a bow was a very good method. Especially for people who were in the same situation as User Minhyuk who had their DEX stay stagnant at their current level. He smartly used the bow to get away from the stagnation of his stats. Using a bow or the archer job ss was the onlybative job ss that required a dexterity stat. Their attack power and hit rate tended to vary depending on the amount of dexterity that they had. And there was actually something hidden behind the increase in the dexterity stat while using a bow.

    ¡®When you use a bow, the acquisition rate of the dexterity stat tends to increase faster until that person reaches a certain number of dexterity.¡¯

    The reason was simple. It was because the bow was the weapon that was considered to be the biggest inspiration of the ¡®dexterity¡¯ stat. In fact, anyone could wield a sword and it also was the same for the axe but it certainly was not the same for the bow. The bow itself was a very tricky weapon and because of the hit rate, the difficulty in handling such a weapon had further increased. In addition, anyone who had just started to use the bow would know that it was a weapon that had the biggest difference in the hit rate. The hit rate was entirely dependent on the person who handled the bow and shot the arrow.

    To make up for such inconsistencies, the DEX would increase more quickly until it reached a certain level. And in the case of the DEX acquisition rate through the use of a bow, the speed at which the user would gain the stat would not decrease even though their level was high.

    But User Minhyuk is having a faster time since he has a x4 increase in his acquisition rate due to Ellie¡¯s Kitchen Knife, right?

    ¡°Team Leader¡­¡­¡±

    Lee Minhwa looked at Team Leader Park seriously.

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t he get that opportunity once his dexterity reached 2,000?¡±

    Team Leader Park nodded solemnly.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Dual ss.¡±

    ***

    Once again, after he had made and eaten 2kg worth of banquet noodles, Minhyuk was shocked when he suddenly thought of something.

    ¡®This idiot¡­¡­ moron¡­¡­¡¯

    There was only one reason for his outburst. It was because he forgot to make bibimguksu since the banquet noodles were extremely delicious. And the quest would bepleted once he had collected 5kg of Moon¡¯s Wheat. Minhyuk knew that the 300g of Moon¡¯s Wheat that he needed to harvest was not enough to make bibimguksu that could satisfy him.

    Minhyuk shot another Owl Bear. Once it fell down, he harvested the Moon¡¯s Wheat that dropped.

    [You have acquired 300g of Moon¡¯s Wheat.]

    [You havepleted the Quest: Hunting those who have stolen Farmer Carn¡¯s Moon¡¯s Wheat.]

    [You have gained 30,000 EXP.]

    [Your EXP acquisition rate will increase by 5% for 1 week.]

    ¡°This is the final Moon¡¯s Wheat¡­¡­ Sigh¡­¡­¡±

    300g. For ordinary people, it was more than enough to make some bibimguksu. But for someone like Minhyuk who wasn¡¯t satisfied even with 3kg worth of noodles? It was totally not enough. Minhyuk sullenly thought of using regr flour to make some to fill the gap in his stomach.

    At that moment, he suddenly felt a vibration from the ground.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    As soon as he turned around, he saw¡­¡­

    ¡°Kyaaaaak!¡±

    A female user being chased by Owl Bears and Harpies. There were even a total of five of these monsters all together.

    ¡°I¡¯m really sorry but if you help me hunt these monsters then I¡¯ll give you everything that drops!¡±

    Minhyuk could see the things that dropped when she killed some monsters while passing by.

    ¡®......!¡¯

    It was Moon¡¯s Wheat.

    And Minhyuk faintly realized something.

    ¡®This woman had been given the Moon¡¯s Wheat quest too!¡¯

    His eyes glinted cunningly when he recalled the words ¡®I¡¯ll give you everything¡¯ from earlier. In other words, the Moon¡¯s Wheat would be apensation and reward of some sort for him.

    And Javin? She smiled darkly inside.

    ¡®Will you be able to resist helping me?¡¯

    She was such a beautiful woman. In fact, she had long straight hair, a great figure and an innocent appearance that men couldn¡¯t resist. So far, most of the men who had gone to help her even went as far as to scream ¡®You vicious monsters! Take my sword of light and justice!¡¯ whenever she screamed pitifully for help. Some would even pretend to be a man of great honor and tell her ¡®But Nim also did a good job so you should take the items and the gold.¡¯ It was such a good feeling that she even thought of risking her work to be an Athenean girlfriend or possibly a real life girlfriend to some.

    And, Minhyuk started to pull his bow. She could see that his eyes were zing.

    ¡®As expected, you¡¯re just like the rest of the guys.¡¯

    Fwooosh! Fwooosh!

    [You have dealt a fatal blow.]

    Minhyuk¡¯s arrow easily shot through the spot where he wanted to shoot. Furthermore, Harpy was an airborne monster that was quite difficult for regr users to deal with. However, nothing was more amazing than him striking a vital point and the monster dropping down in one shot.

    ¡®Wow. That¡¯s really good.¡¯

    She had no doubts about Minhyuk being an archer. She also believed that he was an archer that was beyond Lv360. His artifact¡¯s damage and hit rate were proof of it.

    After all of the mobs were cleared, she couldn¡¯t help but grin.

    ¡°Just like I told you earlier, you can keep all the drops.¡±

    She smiled as gentle as she could all while trying to show off her beautiful white teeth. She even emphasized the tight leather armor that she wore that was highlighting her breasts.

    She thought¡­¡­

    ¡®He¡¯ll say No, it¡¯s not fair, right?¡¯

    Then, Minhyuk said.

    ¡°Right. Well then.¡±

    ***

    Footnotes

    [Nogada] ??? - It is a broad term, mainly used to describe a person who works on a construction site. Can also be used to refer to doing a simple repetitive task. In this case, it is used to refer to repetitive tasks.Back.

    [Master Archer] - In the text, it says ?? which is an abbr of some sort for a word that refers to someone who is skilled in the bow. So I used Master Archer. It¡¯s basically a title you attach to any archer that is skilled with his trade.Back

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 168 - The Tempter

    Chapter 168: The Tempter

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    ¡®Eh?¡¯

    Javin looked at the man in confusion as he excitedly picked up the artifacts, gold and Moon¡¯s Wheat. There wasn¡¯t even a single gold left at all. She felt flustered and embarrassed but she quickly wiped the expression off of her face as she spoke¡­¡­

    ¡°May I ask you for a favor?¡±

    ¡°A favor?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I overslept so the party that I was supposed to go to Ructo¡¯s Tomb left me behind. If you¡¯re on your way to Ructo¡¯s Tomb, would you mind letting me tag along?¡±

    The mobs that loiter around in this path were all more difficult to handle than other mobs at the same level. In addition, there were a lot of tricks around this area so those who passed through this path were usually users who would go to Ructo¡¯s Tomb. Javin knew this fact so she shamelessly asked him like that.

    However, Minhyuk did not respond positively to her. He knew that it was better for him to walk this path alone.

    Javin hurriedly persuaded him.

    ¡°The mobs in this path are a lot harder to deal with than what you think. You¡¯ll be in trouble if you get cornered. Besides, I¡¯m a pretty good tanker myself. I¡¯ll pull the mobs aggro and block them for you. Ah! I¡¯ll give you all the gold and artifacts that drop. We don¡¯t have to party if you want~¡±

    Minhyuk was not interested in herpany at all. However, the artifacts that would drop, to be exact, the Moon¡¯s Wheat that would drop attracted his attention more. Once the Moon¡¯s Wheat dropped through her, he would be able to make delicious bibimguksu! However, a thought shed through his mind.

    ¡®She will give up all the drops no matter how much it is? That¡¯s a bit weird¡­¡­¡¯

    He understood the part about the artifacts.

    But if we don¡¯t party then she wouldn¡¯t get any experience, right?

    Minhyuk nodded in agreement even though he was quite suspicious of her motives. In fact, whether he was suspicious or not, he knew himself well and he was confident with his skills and abilities. He was sure that he could handle it even if he was betrayed by such a person.

    ¡°I understand. And I have an aggro ability so I¡¯ll lead the way. And I¡¯m in the middle of a leveling spree so is that fine with you?¡±

    Minhyuk wanted to shoot with the bow as much as he could while he was on his way to the tomb. So he had to make sure about these things.

    Javin grinned when she heard his words.

    ¡°Yes~ It¡¯s fine.¡±

    ***

    ¡®It, it¡¯s not fine at all¡­...! Someone please stop this crazy bastard!¡¯

    Javin was going crazy. There were currently around 20 Owl Bears and Harpies flocking in front of her. This was because Minhyuk had used the Gryphon¡¯s Cry and attracted almost all of the monsters in their near vicinity.

    ¡°Kyaak!¡±

    She had already used all of her tanker¡¯s skills but it was still quite hard for her to stop the mobs froming in.

    And Minhyuk¡­¡­

    Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh©¥

    He was easily hunting the mobs by pulling his bow hard from behind her and hitting them straight through their vital points.

    [You have acquired 1 DEX.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    ¡°I leveled up again! Yeah!¡±

    ¡®.....Shit, you fXcker!¡¯

    Javin was the only one suffering while Minhyuk gathered all of the EXP. She was only able to maintain and hold back the mobs to a certain extent thanks to Minhyuk¡¯s hit rate which let him kill the mobs in just one hit.

    Gulp, gulp©¥

    At the end, Javin trembled as she drank a recovery potion in celebration for her survival. The tanker ss generally had passive skills that would reduce their cooldown periods and lessen the need for recovery potions. She was even one of the tankers who had the shortest cooldown periods among the rest of the tankers in her level.

    She quietly looked back once her throat was finally moistened by the recovery potion.

    ¡°Oh, aren¡¯t there a lot of artifacts and gold? Kgghk, Moon¡¯s Wheat!¡±

    She could see that Minhyuk was actually picking up all of the gold, artifacts and Moon¡¯s Wheat that dropped. Once he finished picking up all the drops¡­¡­

    ¡°That¡­¡­ C, can we take a b, bit of a break¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Bbiiiiiiiiiiiiii!¡±

    ¡°Hey, you shi¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Shi¡­¡­?¡±

    ¡°Oreudamin-ssi?¡±

    She looked like she was already on the verge of tears once she saw the monsters running towards them.

    ¡°Oh. That looks delicious. Haha, but I¡¯m thankful to you. I¡¯m hunting way too easily because you gave me a very big cover. This makes me feel a bit sorry but¡­¡­¡±

    She brightened when she heard his words. Then, she turned to look at the iing monsters.

    ¡°Ah. Then, the item distribution¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°But you¡¯re still supposed to keep your promises.¡±

    Minhyuk wanted to keep all the promises he made or others made to him. Besides, it was Javin who told him that herself, right?

    And Javin was also getting some EXP from here. What was even worse was that she knew that without Minhyuk, she wouldn¡¯t be able to go through this path alone. There weren¡¯t many other users around so if she went without Minhyuk then she was sure that she wouldn¡¯t be able to arrive in Ructo¡¯s Tomb at all.

    And Minhyuk also wanted to confirm something.

    ¡°......¡±

    Javin was left speechless as a thought shed through her mind.

    ¡®D, did he know that I wanted to PK him?¡¯

    She quickly shook her head to clear that thought out of her mind. She knew that something like that did not make any sense at all. First of all, whenever she PKed, she would never do it in a single ce for a long time.

    Was he an acquaintance of a person that I killed before? No, then it should have been him who approached me first instead of me approaching him first. And he knows that I¡¯m going to PK him but he still lets me apany him? That just doesn¡¯t make sense at all. Why?

    There were always risks of ambush but there was only one person who would allow such a risk to apany him.

    ¡®Then, it means that he¡¯s an extremely strong person.¡¯

    However, she knew that archers were much more vulnerable than the closebatant job ss. After all, they would already risk themselves once they let an enemy near them. So in conclusion¡­...

    ¡®Isn¡¯t he just a crazy bastard?¡¯

    No, I still have a chance.

    After they finished another hunt, she looked back at him again. She untied some of the strings on her clothes to let her chest stand out a bit more.

    ¡°Hoo. Hunting¡­¡­ Makes you feel hot¡­¡­¡±

    After she said that, she turned around to see Minhyuk smiling happily while he made bibimguksu with some steamed dumplings on top of it. Javin quietly sat beside him as she tried to naturally lean her head on his shoulders. Before she could even do so, Minhyuk had already left and escaped from her grasp.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°Just for a bit. I¡¯m too tired so let me lean on you for a bit.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s expression slowly crumpled. It was as if he was looking at her in both distaste and hate. Then, Minhyuk pulled out a silver pot out of his inventory as he turned it upside down and tapped it.

    ¡°Then put your head on here and rest until I finish eating all of these.¡±

    ¡°......Yes.¡±

    Javin¡¯s expression looked like she did not expect the things to go this way. She quietly leaned her head against the silver pot as she curled her body up.

    ¡®Right now, why am I¡­¡­ lying on a silver pot like this¡­¡­¡¯

    Everyone wouldugh at her if they saw her appearance right now. And Minhyuk¡­¡­ he started his mukbang regardless of what she felt.

    There were chopped lettuce, sliced cucumbers as well as chopped kimchi on top of the bibimguksu. The noodles were showing its red and glossy sheen. It was so appetizing that he couldn¡¯t help but drool just by looking at it.

    He quickly took his chopsticks to stir the contents of his bowl. Then, he lifted the bowl and pushed the noodles into his mouth.

    ¡°Sluuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurp!¡±

    As soon as he bit on the noodles, he could taste the sweet and sour vor of the bibimguksu that seeped in the noodles. He could also feel the texture and vor of the vegetables that were mixed well into the noodles.

    He felt that the first bite that he mped with his chopsticks was sweet. After two or three bites, he was starting to feel a tingling in his mouth. Once his mouth started to tingle from the sourness of the dish, he picked up a round and plump dumpling. The savory juices of the minced meat and vegetables inside the dumpling spread slowly in his mouth after just one bite. The vor of the meaty dumplings soothed his tingling mouth.

    ¡°Sluuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurp!¡±

    Minhyuk finished the bowl of the bibimguksu in one gulp. He felt that apanying her and getting the Moon¡¯s Wheat that dropped from the monsters were the best thing that could happen.

    Since she never acquired the drops it meant that she would not meet the requirements and conditions for thepletion of the quest that collected Moon¡¯s Wheat. And if she struck a mob just once it meant that a Moon¡¯s Wheat would drop because of the quest. If Minhyuk apanied her in the meantime and picked up the drops then he would be able to acquire Moon¡¯s Wheat indefinitely.

    Meanwhile, Javin, who was listening to his mukbang, couldn¡¯t help but gulp down her saliva.

    ¡°Uhmm. You know¡­¡­?¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°Can I have some too?¡±

    ¡°I already ate it all¡­¡­ I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    Javin felt devastated when she saw the empty bowl. At this time, she had already realized it.

    ¡®H, he¡¯s clearly a natural¡­¡­¡¯

    ¡°Hey, don¡¯t you think that I¡¯m pretty? The people around me always say that¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Through your own mouth¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk looked at her incredulously. Then, as if he was reciting a Korean textbook, he said¡­¡­

    ¡°Ah. You¡¯re so, so, so beautiful. I even thought that a fairy hade down from the heavens. Aigoo! My heart almost dropped when I saw your beauty.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    She knew that he was just amodating her by saying this. Javin red at him as she gritted her teeth in annoyance.

    ¡®This damn bastard! I¡¯ll PK you if you so much as let your guard down for a bit.¡¯

    However, she was the one who wanted to PK him and get his bow but one way or another it was her who got hurt in the process. She realized that she needed to find another way.

    Suddenly, a brilliant idea passed through her mind.

    ¡®......there should be some of our guild members in the tomb, right?¡¯

    She did not have the confidence to kill this man if she went after him alone. However, it would be a different matter if it was with her guild members in the tomb.

    Just as she was thinking of contacting her guild, their guild chatting suddenly became active.

    [Balen: Ha¡­¡­ I never thought that a user named ck Dragon would be so strong.]

    [Guild Master Crone: I think it¡¯s because of the monster that he has. I¡¯m sure it¡¯s something out of the ordinary. From now on, pursue and track that ck Dragon.]

    ¡®I can go on the guild chat now.¡¯

    All the guild members were concentrating on chasing after a man named ck Dragon so she knew that she couldn¡¯t just shamelessly ask about her personal things. She decided to send a whisper to someone.

    [Javin: Buckle-nim, there¡¯s a user who has a bow that I think is Epic. Can you help me kill him in the Tomb?]

    [Buckle: Oh. An Epic artifact? If I¡¯m wee, sure. But, aren¡¯t you going to do it yourself Javin-nim¡­¡­?]

    Javin quickly exined the ins and outs of her situation. When Buckle saw her exnation, he couldn¡¯t help but feel surprised.

    [Buckle: When you tried to lean on his shoulders, he pulled out a pot and told you to lie on it? OMG¡­¡­]

    Then, Buckle continued to say¡­...

    [Buckle: Then, we should give that punk a taste of hell. It won¡¯t be that difficult if he¡¯s an archer. What¡¯s his level?]

    [Javin: He looks to be around Lv370.]

    [Buckle: Yep. I understand. Come quickly.]

    [Javin: Yep ^^!!]

    She originally did not want to go to the tomb but her business was a bit annoying this time. However, Buckle and the other guild members were all users at Lv370 too.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t the dungeon we¡¯re going to have a requirement of being in a five-member party?¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°One person left our party because of something urgent. Would you like to party with us?¡±

    Minhyuk looked like he thought about it deeply before nodding happily to her. Anyway, he would still need to find party members once he arrived there.

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    After getting his confirmation, Javin and Minhyuk began to move again.

    ***

    Bachran Guild¡¯s Guild Master Crone.

    ¡®ck Dragon¡­¡­ The monster that he has was clearly a legendary, no, perhaps it¡¯s above it?¡¯

    Just as he was talking about that a whisper came in.

    [Rak: Crone-nim, I found a hint about the second disaster artifact.]

    The words caught Crone¡¯s attention. Aside from being the GM of Bachran Guild, he was also a part of ck Stone. He might be a guild master but in front of the members of ck Stone, he was nothing.

    Actually, he had a lot of doubts with the information that was given to him right now.

    ¡®Why did he let me know about this?¡¯

    Crone knew about the disaster artifacts but he was wondering why Rak sent him a whisper like that.

    [Rak: The hint was in Ructo¡¯s Tomb that is being managed by Bachran Guild.]

    ¡°......!¡±

    Crone¡¯s eyes widened in surprise as he waited for Rak¡¯s exnation.

    [Rak: The millstone that wille out when you clear the trial. That¡¯s the second artifact.]

    ¡°The millstone¡­¡­?¡±

    Crone clenched his fists tightly. A lot of people knew about the information about the millstone. It was a millstone that would give the person twice the yield with just a turn. It was the only humble and shabby millstone in the world that had special abilities to produce the most delicious food from it.

    That millstone is a disaster artifact?

    Crone¡¯s mouth widened in a grin. This meant that he had an opportunity to make a great contribution just by obtaining this disaster artifact.

    Without wasting any time, he quickly sent a whisper to Buckle who was currently in the Tomb.

    [Crone: Buckle.]

    [Buckle: Buckle-nim¡¯s whisper is currently turned off.]

    Crone¡¯s forehead crumpled in shock.

    Maybe I should enter the Tomb myself?

    ***

    Buckle¡¯s eyes quickly locked on to the person who came in with Javin. He was the user with the bow and was called Minhyuk.

    ¡®That bow is epic rank¡­¡­¡¯

    Buckle usually apanied other tes and PKed them. However he was not able to do it much recently. His only reason was because he did not have much time since he was concentrating on Ructo¡¯s Tomb.

    But this epic ranked bow had changed his ns. It was worth hundreds of millions in cash so he definitely needed to do this.

    ¡°Hello.¡±

    ¡°Yes. Hello.¡±

    After finishing their greetings, Buckle sent him a party invitation. As soon as Minhyuk epted the request¡­

    ¡®Huh¡­¡­?¡¯

    Buckle double checked the information after he had epted the party request. He couldn¡¯t help but be confused when he saw the information.

    ¡®What¡¯s this?¡¯

    Javin had clearly told him that his level was approximately at Lv370. But that wasn¡¯t the case at all.

    [Minhyuk / Lv305]

    ***

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 169 - The Tempter

    Chapter 169: The Tempter

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    ¡°M, Minhyuk-nim, your level¡­¡­?¡±

    Javin had no choice but to react in surprise. This was because she truly believed that Minhyuk¡¯s level was in thete 370s.

    ¡°Just like what you can see, it¡¯s 305. Are there any problems?¡±

    Minhyuk was quite taken aback with her reaction. As far as he knew, Ructo¡¯s Tomb allowed the entrance and participation of users from Lv300. Perhaps he thought that they reacted this fiercely because his level was much lower than they thought and that he might interfere with their dungeon attack.

    However, Buckle shook his head.

    ¡°No. It¡¯s not a problem. It¡¯s just much lower than what I expected.¡±

    Javin nodded her head.

    ¡°I thought you were at least at Lv370 because of your hit rate and damage.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? Hmm.¡±

    ¡°Yes. But your job ss is set to private?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Ah. By any chance, is it something like a legendary ss.¡±

    Minhyuk smiled slightly and refrained from answering their questions. Buckle just nodded his head as if he understood already.

    ¡®If he has a legendary job ss as well as that epic bow then his hit rate and damage can easily be exined.¡¯

    He was quite convinced with his conjectures since most users who had a legendary ss would always be reluctant to reveal the name of their job sses. Buckle nodded once more as he led them inside the dungeon. The first trial was well known to most users. Once they cleared all of the ordinary mob monsters and sessfully hunted the boss monster only then would they be able to proceed to the next trial.

    Buckle steadily stepped inside the dungeon in front of them with his party members.

    ¡®I think we should go down the controlled path.¡¯

    He had attacked Ructo¡¯s Tomb with his party, or to put it simply, his guild members dozens of times. However, he was still yet to cross the boundaries of the fifth trial. While they tried dozens of times, he was able to gleam and learn plenty of other information about the tomb.

    He knew that there were about three paths towards the boss room. These three paths would lead to a dead end, the boss room and a controlled path. If you were wondering what the controlled path was¡­

    ¡®It means that the current weapon that you have equipped will not be avable to you once you enter the path.¡¯

    In other words, the archer user would not be able to use their bow. Or if it was a warrior user with an axe equipped, they should immediately switch to a weapon that was not an axe as soon as they entered the path. This was a difficult obstacle for users who were new to the tomb since most users did not carry a lot of weapons in their inventory. On the contrary, their group? They always made sure to carry two weapons with them.

    These three paths always changed randomly but they always changed in a regr pattern. And today, the ¡®middle path¡¯ would be the controlled path. Even if Minhyuk was a strong archer, they would still want to lure him to the controlled path to have the most minimal damage to them.

    Not long after, Buckle sent a whisper to the rest of the party members and Javin.

    [Buckle: We¡¯re going to lure him to the controlled path. Equip your auxiliary weapons.]

    If they did this, then they would only be restricted in using their auxiliary weapons once they entered the path. And once they swapped it with their main weapon then they would be able to move freely.

    ¡®Hmm¡­¡­¡¯

    Minhyuk frowned at the scene in front of him but he quickly masked his expression.

    Buckle thought that since Minhyuk was using a bow as his weapon then his auxiliary weapon was probably just a dagger or something simr. So if he thought about it like that, then?

    It would be a walk in the park.

    ¡°Keuwooooooo!¡±

    The first monster had appeared. And it was a troll. Everyone was aware that trolls were Lv350 monsters with strong regenerative abilities. The 2m troll ran straight to where they were with arge rusty axe ready and poised for an attack.

    Minhyuk quickly pulled the strings of his bow. The Abyss¡¯ Bow had a skill Master Archer¡¯s Archery attached to it. There were three chapters in the skill in total.

    The first chapter.

    [Tornado Arrow.]

    [The powerful spinning arrow will explode as soon as it strikes an enemy.]

    Shwaaaaaaa!

    Minhyuk¡¯s arrow was aimed straight at the troll¡¯s head.

    Stab!

    The moment the arrow got stuck in the head of the troll¡­¡­

    Spin, spin, spin!

    The arrow drilled and dug deeper inside before bursting.

    Baaang!

    ¡®H, he one shotted the troll¡­¡­!¡¯

    ¡®Crazy!¡¯

    Buckle, Javin and the rest of the group all widened their eyes in surprise.

    ¡°Th, that¡¯s amazing.¡±

    Buckle keenly felt that his ss was truly a legendary archer ss. The scene just made everything clear for them. Otherwise, his hit rate and damage wouldn¡¯t make sense at all.

    ¡°Wow. I think things would be pretty easy this time since we¡¯re with Minhyuk-nim, right?¡±

    ¡°Thanks.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head in thanks while taking out a choco pie from his inventory as he started to nibble on it.

    ¡°You always have to recharge with sugar!¡±

    ¡°Haha. Well then, let¡¯s go.¡±

    The party began to move again.

    ***

    The Legendary Explorer Rak and the Envoy of Incarnation Kaistra were both riding on top of Penrus. Penrus was bravely dashing and running like a bullet.

    Shwaaaaaak!

    ¡°Shit¡­¡­ This is too fast¡­¡­!¡±

    Rak couldn¡¯t help but be shocked. When he met with Kaistra, he had talked about the disaster artifacts. He also told him that the guild leader that he had contacted to ask for cooperation told him that his guild members in the tomb were unable to be contacted through whispers.

    After they had run for quite some time, Rak asked Kaistra.

    ¡°Kaistra. Did you find him?¡±

    ¡°Not yet.¡±

    ¡°I hope you find him soon.¡±

    Kaistra smiled slightly when he heard his encouraging words.

    Rak was actually ranked much lower than him. He knew that Kaistra was among the top rankers with his 9th rank in the unofficial world rankings. However, aside from his rank, Rak really cared and thought about Kaistra like he was his own brother. And Kaistra also followed him well. Within the dark gamer alliance, ck Stone, the two of them were considered to be the best of friends.

    And Kaistra, he had heard about a rumor once. He did not know where the rumors came from but someone had said that they had seen Chairman Kang Minhoo¡¯s face in Athenae. However, it was still yet to be verified. But if he ever met him once then he would like to tell him this¡­¡­

    I¡¯m really grateful to you. Thank you very much. It was all thanks to you that our vigers are not hungry anymore.

    They continued to run like that when Kaistra suddenly asked something out of the blue.

    ¡°But Rak, what if someone else gets the millstone first?¡±

    Kaistra was a bit concerned about the guild members of that guild leader not answering their whispers. But Rak just smiled at him.

    ¡°I already found all the information about the millstone. And there isn¡¯t much to worry about even if someone found it first.¡±

    ¡°Howe?¡±

    ¡°Because they wouldn¡¯t know that it¡¯s Gorac¡¯s Artifact.¡±

    Kaistra was filled with doubts.

    They wouldn¡¯t know?

    ¡°Gorac was a yful demon. Of course there were times when the artifacts were named as ¡®Gorac¡¯s XXX¡¯ but that wasn¡¯t the case for most of his artifacts. In the case of the millstone, there are still special conditions that need to be met before it can be unsealed.¡±

    ¡°Conditions?¡±

    Kaistra tilted his head in confusion.

    ¡°They need to turn the millstone for 48 hours within 3 days. That¡¯s the biggest problem. They also need to have a different Gorac¡¯s Artifact in their hands. Because the power of Gorac¡¯s Artifacts will only be disyed if there are more than one artifact in one¡¯s hands otherwise it will not reveal anything at all.¡±

    Kaistra nodded his head in understanding. Most users would want to go after powerful artifacts and excellent skillbooks. There were only a select few who would want to turn the millstone for 48 hours within 3 days. He felt somewhat relieved after understanding this fact.

    ***

    ¡®Wow. We should definitely go with a good archer next time. The mob hunting is incredibly fast.¡¯

    This was what Buckle had thought. Their group was fast approaching the three-pronged path. Their journey was quite easy and rxed since Minhyuk¡¯s arrows had crazy uracy and insane damage that could easily cut down the trolls.

    Once they arrived at the three-pronged path, Buckle pretended to agonize over the choice.

    ¡°Hmm. Minhyuk-nim. Have you heard about these three paths before?¡±

    ¡°Yes. One path for the boss, one path that¡¯s dead, and one path that¡¯s controlled. Right?¡±

    ¡°Yes. That¡¯s right. Where should we go?¡±

    Buckle pretended to think for a moment then he pointed straight at the middle.

    ¡°A man should go straight, right?¡±

    All of the party members nodded their heads in agreement. Buckle made sure to take the lead to clear out some doubts. Usually, those who took the lead would be exposed to the biggest risk. Meanwhile, Minhyuk was stationed at the rear. Archers were usually positioned at the rear of the formation. They went inside like that.

    Then, Buckle heard the notification.

    [The Controlled Path.]

    [The Artifact type that you¡¯re currently equipped with will be restricted for 1 hour.]

    The weapons that they were currently wearing were all unequipped and the same went for Minhyuk. The bow and the arrows that were hanging behind his back were sucked back into his inventory.

    Buckle smiled bitterly.

    ¡°This. It seems like we¡¯re in trouble.¡±

    He turned to look back at Minhyuk while he kept on sending his instructions via whisper.

    [Buckle: Baron-nim, narrow the distance and stab him in the neck. Do it all at once. Make it neat.]

    Baron was a Lv379 assassin ss user. He specialized in a quick and strong strike that could easily decapitate an enemy. Besides he was literally the person with the strongest and highest level in their group.

    Perhaps, once Baron moves, then he can easily ovee Minhyuk.

    Buckle smiled bitterly and awkwardly as he secretly begged inside.

    ¡®Please, let it drop. The bow!¡¯

    At that moment, Baron moved.

    [Stealth Attack.]

    [Your movement speed will increase by 2.5x for a moment to attack your enemy¡¯s vital points.]

    Dash!

    Baron, who¡¯s speed was so quick, aimed straight at Minhyuk¡¯s neck. Minhyuk felt the whispers of the wind at that exact same moment.

    ¡°Step.¡±

    Minhyuk quickly took a step back which resulted in Baron piercing only empty air with his dagger. Minhyuk frowned as he looked at both Baron and Buckle.

    ¡°What are you doing right now?¡±

    He looked at the people around him sharply.

    ¡°.....You avoided it?¡±

    Buckle looked at him in surprise. Minhyuk stepped aside so quickly that they thought that he was damaged by the attack when it only struck his afterimage. They did not expect him to have such skills. However, Buckle grinned wickedly. Aside from Minhyuk, the other four people were his people. Almost all of them were at Lv370 except for Javin who had the lowest level among them. However, it was still okay. They were quite confident in dealing with them since Minhyuk could not use his bow, which was an archer¡¯s sole weapon. And even if he was able to use it, he would still not be able to deal with four people so easily.

    ¡°Oops. Oppa, sorry.¡±

    Javin covered her mouth as she giggled mockingly. Minhyuk looked coldly at her as he grinned.

    ¡°You¡¯re sorry, but I¡¯m also sorry for you.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    Javin tilted her head in confusion.

    Javin was the person who had approached him first. She was the one who offered to apany him and Minhyuk only readily epted her because of her Moon¡¯s Wheat drops. And she was also the one who readily gave away the gold, artifacts and Moon¡¯s Wheat drops. If it were him, he would have taken about 20% off of the drops. However, he knew that something was strange.

    No matter how difficult the road was, was it necessary for her to give up that much?

    Minhyuk had decided to not distribute any artifacts at all to test the waters. In fact, at that point in time, anyone would have definitely exploded in anger but Javin did not show her anger at him. She still willingly gave up the drops as if she felt sad about making him apany her. And the point that he had doubted and also the point that made him certain about everything was when Javin and Buckle swapped their artifacts.

    ¡°Crazy bastard. You¡¯ve been doing a lot of weird things since earlier. There¡¯s definitely something wrong with your head¡­¡­¡±

    Just when she said that¡­¡­

    Crack, crack, crack~

    The space in front of Minhyuk was slowly cracking apart as a gigantic greatsword appeared. Minhyuk stretched his hand out as he grabbed the hilt of the sword. Behind him, he had always made sure to use Pandora¡¯s Helmet¡¯s ¡®Artifact¡¯s Form Transformation¡¯ and turn his frying pan into a rapier so he would always be able to guard against magical attacks.

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......W, what is this. A greatsword? Y, you¡¯re an archer, how can you use a greatsword!¡±

    There were restrictions for equipping items. Among them, the greatsword was an artifact that could only be used and equipped by warrior ss users. Besides, the greatsword in front of them was sorge that most of the warrior ss users wouldn¡¯t be able to wield it since there were usually restrictions attached to the artifact like ¡®STR and STM¡¯. But Minhyuk just held the greatsword in his hands like it was nothing at all.

    At that moment, one of the users hadunched a magical attack towards Minhyuk.

    Shwaaaaaaak!

    A fire arrow, with its destructive and prative power, flew straight at his back. It was aplete and utter surprise attack. And just as the attack struck Minhyuk¡¯s rapier¡­¡­

    ng!

    The fire arrow created a loud shing sound as soon as it made contact. At the same time, Minhyuk heard two notifications in his head.

    [Magical Reflection.]

    [You have returned the magical attack back to your enemy.]

    [Pandora¡¯s Helmet.]

    [The Artifact Form Transformation has been undone due to the impact that it received.]

    The Artifact Form Transformation skill would only be undone if the owner touched it or if there were external shocks or impacts that were applied on it. A frying pan suddenly appeared as the form of the rapier scattered and dispersed in the air.

    Then¡­¡­

    Spurt!

    Crackle, crackle, crackle!

    ¡°Keuaaaack!¡±

    Leo, the mage user thatunched the reflected fire arrow, shrieked in pain. Once Buckle saw the magic being reflected, he couldn¡¯t help but take a step back in shock.

    ¡°T, this ability¡­¡­?¡±

    When he saw the magical attack beingunched, it was already reflected back and all he could hear was the scream of his guild member.

    Minhyuk finally took a moment to look at the situation before him. Then, his mouth twisted in a grim smile.

    ¡°Oops. You got caught?¡±

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Times like these you realize that he¡¯s really strong. Hehehehehe. Damn. Also... I can already see Minhyuk turning that millstone nonstop until he gets as much tofu and soy products that he could get.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 170 - Ructos Tomb

    Chapter 170: Ructo¡¯s Tomb

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    49 Ructo¡¯s Tomb

    They clearly saw it.

    The moment the magic struck the frying pan behind Minhyuk, it bounced off. Buckle and the rest of his group knew one person who had this ability. It was none other than the Frying Pan Killer. They couldn¡¯t help but feel flustered, this was somethingpletely unexpected.

    However, Buckle smiled deeply.

    ¡°That looks like a lot of artifacts, right?¡±

    Yes, even if he was the Frying Pan Killer, there were still four people against him. Leo might have suffered a lot of damage from the magic reflection but he had recovered thanks to a potion. Thest video that they had seen of the Frying Pan Killer was when he fought against the Cursed Knight Kohei. They would admit that the Frying Pan Killer had won against him with his strength but they were confident that he would only be simr or a bit stronger than that time. What more if their number, which was four, was involved?

    It¡¯s more than enough.

    [Buckle: Javin, go in front of him! Body m him!]

    [Javin: Yes!]

    Javin was also quite excited.

    Maybe he¡¯ll drop that frying pan?

    She quickly stepped forward.

    [Silver Golem¡¯s Blessings]

    [Your defense will have a x2 increase.]

    She stepped forward confidently as she held her sword with a coy smile on her face. The artifact that she was currently using was a unique artifact. Her artifact was solely focused on defense. It had no other special abilities except for having an increase of 500 in defense. In addition, once theybined their forces even if it was a Lv400 user, they would still have a hard time breaking through their defenses.

    Tak!

    Minhyuk looked at their confident smiles nkly as he giggled at them.

    ¡°You¡¯reughing?¡±

    Buckle thought that he had lost his mind.

    At that moment, Minhyuk used Step and took two steps back. Then, he stabbed his greatsword on the ground.

    ¡°Deep (Burst).¡±

    Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam©¥

    Sword des suddenly rose from the ground. The fastest of them, Baron, threw himself away instinctively to avoid the danger. The same also went for Buckle. However, Javin and Leo were not so lucky. The lower half of their bodies were prated by the swords.

    ¡°FXcker¡­¡­?¡±

    Javin mumbled to herself. However, at that exact same moment¡­¡­

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    The sword des exploded strongly and powerfully.

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaaaak!¡±

    ¡°Keuheoook!¡±

    Buckle was pushed back from the aftermath of the explosions.

    ¡®Sh, shit¡­¡­!¡¯

    There was definitely a 60 level difference between them.

    But how the hell did this happen?

    Then, Buckle saw something more shocking. His HP had been cut off by 20%. He was fortunate that he was able to escape the heart of the explosion but if he had been caught then he was sure that he would have been forced to log out.

    Leo had already been forced to log out as he turned gray. Even their tanker, Javin, looked like she was out of sorts and almost down even though she had used her defensive skills.

    ¡°Kgghk!¡±

    She suddenly fell down while vomiting a mouthful of blood. Baron¡¯s eyes narrowed dangerously when he saw this scene as soon as he escaped from the explosion. Buckle hurriedly whispered instructions to Baron.

    [Buckle: He unexpectedly has an area of attack skill. But the punk¡¯s using a greatsword. That sword is huge, long and heavy so his swing speed would be slower than regr swords. He also won¡¯t be able to use both of his hands. We can kill him with your speed and my cooperation.]

    [Baron: Yes!]

    Baron¡¯s eyes glinted sharply. Assassins were usually quick when they were attacking. He would use that to his advantage and drive the punk into a corner.

    Vwoooooong!

    Baron turned as he disappeared like a smoke. Then, in a blink of an eye, he appeared behind Minhyuk. As soon as he moved, Buckle ran straight towards Minhyuk. He swung his axe high up. He was also in the warrior ss but he was more focused on his speed.

    Sheeeeeeeeeek!

    Baron¡¯s ck dagger swung at Minhyuk¡¯s neck. Minhyuk turned around and¡­¡­

    ng!

    Buckle smiled wickedly.

    ¡®Your back is defenseless. Moron!¡¯

    But at that moment¡­

    aaang!

    A creature suddenly squeezed out of a small opening in space and pped his axe away.

    ¡°A, a pig?¡±

    It was literally a pig. A baby pig blocked his axe with a spat and effectively defended Minhyuk¡¯s back. Then, he bursted outughing.

    ¡°This crazy pig bastard¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°Oink!¡±

    Buckle swung his axe in session. However, what happened next truly did not make any sense at all.

    ng, ng, ng, ng, ng!

    The little pig that was only as big as his fist had moved at a tremendous pig, protecting Minhyuk¡¯s back from his attacks. Then, it pushed back strongly.

    Grin©¥

    He could see a smile curling up at the corners of its mouth. It was obviously a mocking smile.

    ¡°What, this¡­¡­¡±

    Buckle couldn¡¯t help but feel astonished and confused after being ridiculed by a pig. However, Kongie¡¯s eyes widened in shock when he turned to look behind Buckle.

    ¡°Oink¡­¡­!¡±

    His pupils shook in trepidation as if he was frightened deeply.

    ¡®I, is there something behind me¡­¡­?¡¯

    A pig had already popped out of nowhere so it was entirely possible for something else to pop out from behind him. Buckle slowly turned his head around.

    But there was nothing behind him.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    At that moment, Minhyuk blocked Baron¡¯s attack, turned and shed Buckle¡¯s body sideways.

    sh!

    Nice catch!

    It was the fantastic chemistry between Minhyuk and Kongie. In other words, Buckle waspletely tricked and hooked by the pig, Kongie.

    ¡°Keoheok!¡±

    Buckle was pushed back by the force of the strike. And when he turned to look at his HP, almost 40% of it was cut off in just an instant.

    ¡®I, impossible!¡¯

    Then, he heard a notification.

    [Due to receiving a strong shock, you will be subjected to a severe nausea and dizziness for 4 seconds.]

    His vision started to blur and shake. However, despite his blurred vision he was still able to see the sword that Minhyuk wielded against Baron. It was truly a shocking sight to behold.

    ¡®Am I seeing things right now?¡¯

    Buckle had only felt fear and terror once when he was ying Athenae. That was during the time when his Guild Master, Crone, became angry. This was the second time that he felt fear.

    ¡®H, how can he swing his greatsword like that?¡¯

    Minhyuk was blocking all of the dagger attacks that Baron wereunching at him at a tremendous speed. No, it was more like he had an overwhelming advantage in speed. And there was also his control.

    As soon as Baron¡¯s attack wasunched, he would use his instant-movement speed to cut down and defend against Baron¡¯s attack. He was so fast that all he would leave was an afterimage.

    sh!

    ¡°Keoheok!¡±

    Baron staggered backwards. He shrieked in pain while hugging his sides. It was only at this time when Buckle realized that he did not have the time to worry about others. That was because the third fear of his life was currently approaching him.

    ¡°Oink.¡±

    Kongie, the mysterious pig, smiled wickedly at him as he smacked the spat on his left hand. Then, he started smacking Buckle¡¯s head with his spat. He took advantage of the fact that Buckle couldn¡¯t move because of his dizziness.

    ¡°Oink! Oink! Oink! Oink! Oink! Oiiiiiiink!¡±

    p, p, p, p, p, p!

    ¡°Keok, heok! Ack! Kkeok, ugh, aack!¡±

    [Your head has been hit continuously, you will experience dizziness.]

    [Your dizziness willst longer.]

    Buckle felt that everything around him was spinning. And in that dizzy state, he could hear the ¡®Oink!¡¯ sound that the pig made with every p. It was like he was saying ¡®You¡¯re the one who bullied my master, oink!¡¯ to him.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk who was dealing with Baron heard a notification.

    [Kongie is enjoying himself.]

    ¡®......?¡¯

    Minhyuk was confused.

    What are you doing behind me that you¡¯re enjoying it?

    However, he couldn¡¯t ponder about it any longer since Baron¡¯s attacks wereing.

    [Secret of Assasination. Life (ughter)]

    [Your attack and movement speed will increase 3x for 2 seconds. There will be 80% more damage if the attack is sessful.]

    Shwaaaaaaak!

    Baron narrowed the distance between them at a speed of light. Minhyuk¡¯s eyebrows furrowed when he saw him. Baron was sure this time.

    ¡®If I seed in this attack¡­¡­!¡¯

    It was enough to turn the tides around. Just as he was rushing in at a rapid pace¡­

    sh!

    Minhyuk suddenly disappeared.

    ¡°Heok?!¡±

    Baron suddenly stopped in his tracks. He turned to look around. He looked above, behind and below him but he wasn¡¯t nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, a sword suddenly appeared and thrusted in front of him.

    Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab!

    [Rampant Sword. Connection (Inherit)]

    [One strike will result in 7 powerful strikes with an additional 40% damage.]

    ¡°Keheoooook¡­...!¡±

    Baron¡¯s body was stabbed continuously by a greatsword.

    Right now, the power of Rampant Sword, Connection (Inherit) had be extremely strong. The only reason was the greatsword that Minhyuk had equipped. Rampant Sword, Connection (Inherit) was already a scary force with just the seven strikes with additional 40% damage. But what if these seven strikes were used with a greatsword with a higher attack power? Of course, the effectiveness would be increased.

    Baron was taken aback when he saw his HP being cut down by 20% with every attack that struck his body. He was eventually forced to log out.

    After he finished dealing with Baron, Minhyuk turned around to see Buckle being forced to log out. Kongie that was standing next to the grayed out Buckle was tilting his head at him as he looked at him innocently.

    [Kongie is looking at you curiously.]

    It was like he was telling him ¡®I don¡¯t know anything at all~¡¯. Minhyuk also tilted his head in confusion but soon shook his head. There was only one person left.

    Javin.

    She was already out ofmission. She couldn¡¯t even move her body and she was slowly dying due to continuous bleeding.

    ¡®N, no¡­¡­!¡¯

    She was currently in a full chaotic state. It was the same for the rest of her guild members who were forced to log out. Having a full chaotic state meant that they had filled the bar. Assuming that the chaotic state had a bar with a limit of 1 million, then they had already filled it to the brim.

    The number of people that they had killed were innumerable. If they died while they were in the full chaotic state then they would receive double the penaltypared to ordinary users. If she died, then she wouldn¡¯t only drop one or two artifacts. She shivered just looking at the oue of Buckle and the rest. They had dropped plenty of gold and artifacts. They would even have to face their levels going down.

    She slowly crawled up as she vomited another mouthful of blood on the floor.

    ¡°S, sorry¡­¡­ I didn¡¯t mean to but please forgive me just this once. I won¡¯t do it again.¡±

    She even shed some tears. However, she thought about piercing him in the abdomen with the dagger hidden on her chest. She would pretend to be pitiful as she hugged her body in pain and she would surprise him with an attack once he got close to her.

    She knew he was a good man. Even though he took all of the artifacts and gold that dropped from their hunt before but she knew that he still had a sense of innocence. He looked happy when he ate that bibimguksu. And he also had that simple smile, that simple smile that he unconsciously let out from time to time. She knew that she might have one final chance if she did this well.

    Just when she was crawling like that, she turned her nose down as she slowly took out the dagger that was hidden in her bosom. As soon as she got out, she saw Minhyuk holding a huge frying pan. She could see him twisting his body as if he was trying to swing a huge baseball bat.

    ¡°You want me to forgive you? You tried to kill me thrice.¡±

    ¡°Ho, hoho. F, forgive¡­¡­¡±

    ng!

    Javin flew back after being hit by the frying pan. Minhyuk approached her to finish her off since she looked like she was still not dead yet.

    ¡°B, but before you kill me, I have a question¡­¡­¡±

    She wanted to know something before she died.

    ¡°Are you an eunuch?!¡±

    Minhyuk tilted his head at her.

    ¡®What the hell is she saying?¡¯

    ¡°I, I¡¯m pretty right. Huh? Aren¡¯t I extremely pretty?¡±

    Minhyuk frowned when he heard her words.

    ¡®She¡¯s pretty?¡¯

    He tilted his head as he pondered deeply. Then, he said.

    ¡°This is a serious answer.¡±

    Then, Minhyuk spoke what was on his mind.

    ¡°To be honest, Monk is much prettier than you.¡±

    ¡°......Mo, Monk?¡±

    The image of a monk suddenly popped up in her head. Those little monkey monsters who picked their teeth wickedly. They were picking their teeth as they grinned andughed at her!

    ¡®A monk gave me a banana once before.¡¯

    At that time, the monk looked so cute and sweet to him. And it looked a lot prettier and cuter in Minhyuk¡¯s eyes since it gave him a banana. Maybe about 10,000 times cuter?

    His expression looked sincere. It was as if he was really telling her the truth.

    ¡°Hey, you fXcker?$!$a?#%?!$!$!¡±

    Stab!

    Minhyuk immediately logged her out. He looked at her grayed out body in suspicion.

    ¡°Why did she keep on asking me if she was pretty? She has been doing it since earlier too. Is she a princess or something¡­¡­¡±

    In his mind, she was someone that was less pretty than a monk. Minhyuk picked up their dropped artifacts and gold in confusion. He couldn¡¯t help but blink his eyes in a daze when he saw the drops.

    ¡®Ho?¡¯

    Among the items that Buckle dropped, there was a parchment. Minhyuk reached out with his hand and¡­¡­

    [You have acquired a Parchment of Rewards Choice.]

    [The Parchment of Rewards Choice can only be used in the sixth trial of Ructo¡¯s Tomb.]

    ¡°......Huh?¡±

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    We all know how this one¡¯s going to be used. *wink wink*

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 171 - Ructos Tomb

    Chapter 171: Ructo¡¯s Tomb

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    ¡°Shit¡­¡­!¡±

    Buckle, or Hyunwook in reality, couldn¡¯t help but spat out some profanities after being forced to log out of the game. He had dropped his weapon, armor and gold. And that wasn¡¯t all. He even dropped the Parchment of Reward¡¯s Choice.

    The Parchment of Reward¡¯s Choice was a very, very, very special item. It was an item that could only be obtained after going through the 5th trial for 40 times. The Parchment of Reward¡¯s Choice could be applied to the boss monster once the 6th trial began. It was an item that could maximize one reward while giving up another. In addition, there would be a four-item list that would be presented to the user.

    1 Gold

    2 Artifact

    3 Food Ingredient

    4 Experience Points

    In addition, even if the 6th trial failed, the parchment would not disappear even if it was used at the beginning. It was a special privilege for the users who challenged the trials for 40 continuous times.

    So far, Buckle had always chosen the ¡®Artifact¡¯ choice everytime he challenged 6th trial. It was in hopes of getting a ¡®Legendary Artifact¡¯ if he ever seeded in the trial. But in the end, he had lost it all. What was worse was that this was something that they had done with his party members without even informing Guild Master Crone.

    He had lost everything and even leveled down. And it seemed like it was not only Buckle who was experiencing such a setback.

    [Taemin: Shit. I dropped my Rumadol¡¯s Wand.]

    [Haesok: I dropped my Caroman¡¯s Dagger¡­¡­]

    [Hyunwoo: I lost a lot of items too¡­¡­ I¡¯m doomed¡­¡­ I did it without my wife knowing it¡­¡­]

    [Jimin: Everyone. Please answer me seriously. Am I uglier than a Monk?]

    [Taemin: ???]

    [Haesok: ???]

    [Hyunwoo: ???]

    Hyunwook frowned.

    ¡®Is there something wrong with Javin-nim, too?¡¯

    As soon as he stopped thinking about their plight, a thought suddenly shed through his mind.

    ¡°Why the hell was he using a bow?¡±

    It did not make sense to him at all. The arrows that he shot, the hit rate as well as the damage. No matter what he thought, it still did not make sense if he said that he wasn¡¯t an archer.

    Then, the phone rang. It was his Guild Master, Crone.

    [Buckle-nim, you¡¯ve been forced to log out?]

    Once they had reached the 5th trial it was possible for them to run out of the dungeon whenever they wanted. In addition, there was also a passage that would lead outside in the 6th trial. This was one of the reasons why they were able to keep on challenging the dungeon. But only the Bachran Guild knew of this information.

    ¡°GM-nim, we had a conflict with the Frying Pan Killer.¡±

    [The Frying Pan Killer?]

    Hyunwook exined the full detail of what happened to his GM.

    [Hooo¡­¡­ So he¡¯ll try to attack it by himself?]

    ¡°That¡¯s right. But I don¡¯t think he¡¯ll ever be able to break it. It took us two months to break the 5th trial. And the 6th trial is really hard to break.¡±

    Crone, or Kim Joobin, nodded his head at his words.

    [You said that there will be an undead vampireing out of the 6th trial?]

    ***

    [That¡¯s right. And the vampire is so tricky because once it sucks blood then all of the wounds and injuries that you have inflicted on it will be recovered. I thought that we would be able to hunt him down in a little while but¡­¡­]

    Joobin nodded his head. Buckle had told him that they would be able to break the 6th trial after some more time. After all, no matter how difficult it was, they have already attacked it 60 times. They already knew the know-hows of the final trial so they would have definitely broken it anytime soon.

    He faintly understood something.

    ¡®It seems like there¡¯s a reason why there is an undead vampire at the final trial.¡¯

    There were no monsters rted to the undead at all from the 1st to the 5th trial. But strangely enough, there was an undead vampire in the 6th trial.

    When he thought back on Gorac¡¯s Legends, it seems like it had been quite a long time and his minions would definitely not have survived against time. Thinking along those lines, he believed that the undead vampire was Gorac¡¯s servant. And he estimated that his level was around Lv420.

    ¡®If I arm Buckle and his party members with the best artifacts and support them with the most expensive potions then they¡¯ll probably be able to break it.¡¯

    They would have to drink potions that cost a few tinum like water however, it would still prove to be more profitable to them if they would pass the 6th trial since they were already nearing its end. Cauhel of ck Stone had promised to give billions of won to anyone who found a disaster artifact.

    ¡®How much money does he even have¡­¡­¡¯

    The servers all around the world were still not integrated yet.

    Yet he¡¯s willing to give billions of cash to anyone who found disaster artifacts in this situation?

    He was a truly amazing man.

    And right now, the Frying Pan Killer was starting to challenge the dungeon. However¡­¡­

    ¡®There¡¯s no problem at all.¡¯

    From what he heard, he was able to kill four of his guild members alone. However, each and every trial was difficult and he was quite confident that he wouldn¡¯t be able to hunt the vampire in the 6th trial.

    And just in time, a whisper came from Rak.

    [Rak: We¡¯ve already arrived in the tomb. It says that someone just finished the 1st trial and is currently going through the 2nd one.]

    Other users were not allowed to enter when someone else was challenging the trials. This was because the dungeon itself was almost like an event. The amount of minutes and seconds that one stayed and challenged the dungeon would be disyed to boost the motivation of the next challenger.

    However, the dungeon was too difficult to break that most of the users had given up. Eventually, the dungeon ended up being upied by Bachran Guild.

    Crone looked at the table in front of him. Thereid a chart that Buckle had sent to him two days prior. The chart had the time table for each trial as well as what each trial consisted of.

    He started exining the details to Rak.

    ***

    ¡°Kaistra.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Kaistra was looking at the text that was floating in front of the tomb.

    [Currently challenging the 2nd trial. 3 minutes 31 seconds.]

    The numbers kept on increasing while Rak exined to him what he had heard from Crone.

    ¡°......The Frying Pan Killer?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡­¡±

    Kaistra frowned slightly.

    Meanwhile, Rak took out a pen and a paper as he wrote something while Kaistra watched him in rapt attention.

    The first trial had already been cleared. And the second trial¡­ he wrote down something continuously.

    [2nd trial. Poison is spewed out of the wall. Bachran Guild: 13 minutes 26 seconds.]

    [3rd trial. Mythril Ogre has a 3x higher defense than a regr Ogre. Bachran Guild: 17 minutes 38 seconds.]

    [4th trial¡­¡­ Omitted]

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±

    ¡°Bachran Guild was almost at the end of the 6th trial. The total number of times that they had attacked the trials were almost at 70. In other words, there will be no one else who can break these trials aside from these people. So it means that we don¡¯t need to worry about the Frying Pan Killer at all.¡±

    Kaistra agreed with his words. Those people had already challenged the dungeon for almost 70 times so it meant that they must be veterans when it came to dealing with the dungeon.

    In the case of the Frying Pan Killer, this was his first time challenging the dungeon. And he was even challenging it alone. He would not be able to break the trials at all. No, that was what he had thought so. But not a minuteter, Kaistra was already frowning.

    ¡°Ra, Rak¡­¡­¡±

    His voice was trembling.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Rak turned his head to look at where he was staring at.

    ¡°What the hell?!¡±

    Rak¡¯s eyebrows crumpled in shock when he saw the words floating in front of the tomb.

    ¡°I, is it a bug?¡±

    He thought that the words were so ridiculous that there must have been an error in the system.

    [2nd trial, Completed. 4 minutes 1 second.]

    Rak turned to look at the chart that he received from Bachran Guild. He looked at the fastest time of the guild to break the 2nd trial.

    [2nd Trial. Poison is spewed out of the wall. Bachran Guild: 13 minutes 26 seconds.]

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    The eyes of the two of them, who had just realized the situation they were in, met in the air.

    ¡°C, crazy¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°What the hell. Th, this¡­¡­ This doesn¡¯t even make sense!¡±

    The Frying Pan Killer had killed and hunted four users all by himself so they were fully aware that he was strong. But this thing that was shing in front of them did not make any sense at all.

    Then¡­¡­

    [3rd Trial will begin. 1 seconds, 2 seconds, 3 seconds.]

    The 3rd trial had begun. The two of them stared nkly at the words that were floating in front of them. They couldn¡¯t help but hold their breath in trepidation.

    ***

    Minhyuk was waiting for the 3rd trial.

    During the 2nd trial, various poisons were fired from the walls. He had seen in the homepage that there was a device that would turn off the poison from firing off of the walls but it also said that even if one found it, they would still be poisoned no matter what.

    However, Minhyuk on the other hand, just walked lightly.

    Shwaaaaaaa©¥

    While the green poison was spraying out of the wall, Minhyuk was mumbling to himself. All he could feel was a cool mist spraying on his face.

    ¡®No drinking. Just leave it to my skin.¡¯

    It¡¯s taste was something that he did not enjoy at all.

    Finally, the third trial began.

    [Your HP and MP have both recovered.]

    [The third trial is beginning.]

    [The time limit is 25 minutes.]

    [We hope that you will be able to hunt the Mythril Ogre within the allotted time frame.]

    ¡®Didn¡¯t they say that there¡¯s a super defensive ogre that wille out here?¡¯

    Along with the notifications, a huge ogre appeared with its body showing off a sheen that was akin to iron.

    ¡°Graaaaaaaa!¡±

    The ogre ran as it roared loudly.

    ¡°Rain (Soar).¡±

    Red light poured out of his sword as he began to run.

    Shwaaaaaaaak!

    A half-crescent de from Rain (Soar) flew out. However, the ogre just ran forward. It looked like it was confident that it would not be able to cut through its thick skin.

    At that moment, a very wee notification rang in his head.

    [Intangible Sword.]

    [Your sword strike has ignored all of the enemy¡¯s defenses.]

    Shwaaaaaaaaaak!

    Rain (Soar) shed through the ogre¡¯s body as it created a crescent mark on the wall behind it.

    ¡°Greuoooo?¡±

    The body of the ogre that was running straight at him was split in half.

    Thud!

    [You have set a new record for Ructo¡¯s Tomb''s Third Trial.]

    [There is a huge gap between the previous record breakers.]

    [You have gained 40,000 EXP.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [Your score will be based off of the new record and the gap between the 2nd ce. You will be able to receive special rewards.]

    [You have acquired 30 special points.]

    [You can invest your special points on stats that couldn¡¯t be raised with normal bonus points.]

    ¡®Oh¡­¡­¡¯

    Minhyuk was rewarded with a x2 increase in his EXP acquisition rate from the 2nd trial. But he had set a new record. Furthermore, since there was a huge gap from the previous record holders, he was also able to get special rewards.

    ¡®The other users must be really bad at ying games¡­¡­¡¯

    He titled his head in thought. The others were doing it together in a 5-man party but he was doing it all alone so he believed that they must have really been bad at ying games.

    Minhyuk ced all of his special points on his DEX. Then, he passed through the third gate and entered the 4th gate.

    [Your HP and MP have both recovered.]

    [The fourth trial is beginning.]

    [The time limit is 10 minutes.]

    [Various traps will be attacking you strongly.]

    [Please head on to the exit in front of you.]

    Just as Minhyuk stepped foot inside¡­¡­

    Click©¥

    His foot stepped on a trip wire that wasying on the floor quietly. At that moment, a huge axe swung in the air in front of him.

    ¡°Step.¡±

    Minhyuk stepped twice as he moved as quickly as he could. When he stopped for a moment, a cannon with a dragon¡¯s head blew out a burst of powerful me towards his face.

    Baaaaaang!

    ¡°Kghhk!¡±

    Minhyuk couldn¡¯t stop his body from flying backwards. He could see that just one shot had cut down his HP by 30%.

    Not long after, he could feel a huge tremor from the ground. He quickly jumped up as dozens of spears sprang up from the ground.

    Stab!

    Even though he jumped up, his ankle was still pierced by one of the spears.

    [You have received a huge shock from your right foot.]

    [You will be restricted from using your right foot until you heal it.]

    Minhyuk frowned. He knew that the higher the stage he went to, the more difficult the trial would be. However, the millstone. He needed to get that millstone. He limped and moved forward at the thought of eating those fresh, bouncy and steaming hot tofu.

    The moment that he was about to eat the bread in his arms.

    Baaang!

    Another trap was triggered as huge mes sprang up engulfing his whole body. In the meantime, the first thing that he did was to protect his bread as he hid it as quickly as he could in his inventory.

    Then he heard the notifications.

    [Your HP has fallen below 50%.]

    [Your HP has fallen below 30%.]

    [Your HP has fallen below 10%.]

    The explosion of mes had caused his body a considerate amount of damage. Minhyuk frowned at his HP that was closely approaching zero.

    At that moment¡­¡­

    The skill attached to Ellie¡¯s Kitchen Knife, which he had equipped back to his greatsword earlier, was triggered. In other words, He Who Ovees had been triggered.

    [He Who Ovees.]

    [Your HP has increased to 1. You are now invincible for 3 seconds.]

    [All of your abilities have increased by 30% for 3 seconds.]

    Minhyuk realized that his destination was not too far away from him.

    ¡®If I¡¯m invincible for 3 seconds¡­¡­¡¯

    The remaining distance between him and the exit was 40m. If he did it well, then he would be able to pass through this ce easily.

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    What will he ever use. Step can only allow him 1m of movement I think¡­ hmmmmmm.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    For those who y video games, 180 frames of invincibility is pretty insane.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 172 - Ructos Tomb

    Chapter 172: Ructo¡¯s Tomb

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Minhyuk ran as fast as he could towards his destination.

    Bang, bang, bang!

    Shwaaaaaaak!

    ng, ng, ng, ng, ng!

    In every step that he took, countless traps would be triggered and released. A huge burst of me bursted out from the wall and engulfed his whole body but he did not feel hot. There was even a huge iron bead that mmed in his body but just like what he expected, he did not feel any impact at all. After all, he was invincible for 3 whole seconds. Perhaps the skill He Who Ovees was his only ability that could exert the best power and strength in this trial.

    ng, ng, ng, ng, ng!

    The spears that flew straight at him all fell down uselessly on the ground. After running as fast as he could, Minhyuk was finally able to reach his destination. At the same time, his HP immediately fell to 1 and he could feel the power surrounding his body disappear.

    ¡°Phew~¡±

    Minhyuk took out the bread that he was supposed to eat earlier out and ate it again as the sounds of the notifications rang in his head.

    [You have set a new record for Ructo¡¯s Tomb¡¯s Fourth Trial.]

    [There is a huge gap between the previous record breakers.]

    [You have gained 50,000 EXP.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [Your score will be based off of the new record and the gap between the 2nd ce. You will be able to receive special rewards.]

    [You have acquired 40 special points.]

    [You have set three consecutive new records.]

    [You have acquired additional rewards for your 3 consecutive new records.]

    [You have acquired 20 special points.]

    ¡°Yeah!¡±

    Minhyuk smiled in satisfaction as he looked at the special points that he had acquired. He currently had 1,621 dexterity points and adding the special points that he had just received would bring it to a total of 1,681.

    As if on cue, the notifications rang once more.

    [Your HP and MP have both recovered.]

    [The fifth trial is beginning.]

    [The time limit is 30 minutes.]

    [Fire Magic and Poison Magic of the 4th~5th ss as well as several monsters with high defense will appear.]

    Minhyuk nodded his head.

    Magic at the 4th~5th ss¡­ First of all, I can ignore the poison. There¡¯s also the fire magic.

    He had eaten the Phoenix¡¯s eggs that were made into jangjorim before. After eating that dish, his resistance against fire had increased significantly but it still wasn¡¯t enough.

    He silently reached behind him.

    When we¡¯re talking about magic, then it¡¯s the frying pan.

    ***

    Joobin was currently being briefed on what was happening on the phone while he was eating.

    The person that was currently briefing him was a user with the nickname of Kaerun.

    [What shall we do?]

    ¡°You¡¯re asking me what we should do? Wipe them out.¡±

    The report he had received earlier was about a poor vige. However, just recently, there was a mine that was discovered in the vicinity of the said poor vige. They still did not know what woulde out of the mine but they had to monopolize it. Therefore, Joobin¡¯s decision was simple and final.

    ¡®Kill all the NPCs.¡¯

    The poor vige of Easden was extremely remote and out of touch from society. Even if it was far and out of reach, stories might still leak if they did not take care of loose ends so before they took over and monopolized the mine, they had to wipe out the NPCs.

    ¡®They¡¯re just NPCs anyway.¡¯

    He let out a wicked smile as Kaerun spoke on the receiver.

    [Will it be fine? If the other guilds find out¡­¡­]

    ¡°By that time, we could just say that Easden Vige was cursed by the Great Mage Rafielt.¡±

    Joobin chuckled darkly. He could just tell the world that they hunted those people because they were all undead under the curse of Great Mage Rafielt. Were there any problems with such a method? Of course, it was an extremely shameless and dirty method. However, the only question is whether the people would believe such a lie or not? Simply saying that wouldn¡¯t do, but the massacre that they would carry out would also be hidden in such deceit.

    Joobin always took care of his best interests whether it was shameless and dirty. As long as his interests were protected then that was all that it mattered.

    ¡®The only reason why Kaistra and Rak personally went to the tomb is because they don¡¯t trust me.¡¯

    He had given information to Rak so that he would be able to receive a distribution of the rewards. However, Joobin¡¯s image to others was not very good. It was obvious how the Legendary Explorer Rak and the Envoy of Incarnation Kaistra were moving with such clear solemnity and grave steps. Right now, 20 of his guild members were heading towards the tomb. Just in case that something that he did not expect would happen.

    Even though they were all ck Stone members, it was clear that there was a stark difference between Crone and Rak and Kaistra. Both Rak and Kaistra were careful and cautious about not touching any dirty money at all.

    ¡®Goddamn African bastard, so what if they almost died from hunger. Why do they have to nitpick about those kinds of things?¡¯

    Joobin believed that it was because Kaistra had never really touched or felt the taste of money yet so he was being too rigid and nitpicky.

    After finishing his meal, Joobin went back and essed Athenae.

    ¡®The Frying Pan Killer must be dead by now.¡¯

    Once Buckle and his party members¡¯ penalty was lifted, he would immediately invest in them and make them work. It was unfortunate but he still had to give some credit to Kaistra and Rak. After all, he couldn¡¯t make two big shots as his enemies.

    The moment Crone essed the game, he couldn¡¯t help but tilt his head in confusion.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    The whispers from Rak came in waves.

    [Rak: The Frying Pan Killerpleted the 2nd trial.]

    [Rak: The Frying Pan Killerpleted the 3rd trial. Was the table that your Bachran Guild sent really the best of the best? The Frying Pan Killer broke through the 2nd trial in just 4 minutes and 1 second and he broke through the 3rd trial in just 1 minute and 32 seconds.]

    ¡°What the hell is he talking about?¡±

    Crone frowned at what he saw.

    4 minutes 1 second? No, more than that, he defeated Mythril Ogre in 1 minute and 32 seconds.

    The Mythril Ogre had a defense that was three times higher than a regr ogre.

    And you¡¯re telling me that he killed that Mythril Ogre within 2 minutes?

    Ogres were monsters with a tough and hard skin which made hunting them quite difficult, but this ogre had a defense that was three times higher than those regr ogres. Buckle and his party could only finish attacking the trial after countless failures. Even their asional sess were wrought with plenty of minor injuries yet they could onlyplete it after more than 10 minutes.

    But he broke it in 1 minute and 32 seconds? Impossible.

    The whispers continued toe in.

    [Rak: The 4th trial. Hepleted it in 4 minutes and 56 seconds.]

    The 4th trial was filled with enormous traps. Anyone who was challenging the trial needed to find the device that would turn off the traps. And that was extremely difficult to do with all the traps that could be triggered and released from all directions.

    But 4 minutes and 56 seconds?

    Crone¡¯s eyes narrowed dangerously.

    ¡®These bastards¡­¡­¡¯

    Rak and Kaistra, are they lying to me? Are they trying to pretend that the Frying Pan Killer took the millstone?

    The changes that could possibly happen once all of the trials werepleted and broken were still unknown to them. This was also the reason why he lied about the attack patterns so that he could still gather users at Lv380 just to get the millstone.

    At that moment, a whisper came in.

    [Haurin: GM-nim, were all gathered in front of the Tomb.]

    [Crone: Haurin! Check the words in front of the Tomb right now! How many trials have been passed?!]

    The Frying Pan Killer might have died already was what he thought. Then, another whisper from Haurin came through.

    [Haurin: It¡¯s been 3 minutes and 36 seconds since the 5th trial has started.]

    Crone¡¯s eyes widened in shock.

    ¡®Th, then did he really break the 5 trials all by himself?¡¯

    ***

    Haurin¡¯s forehead creased.

    ¡®What¡¯s going on here?¡¯

    Buckle and his party members were all focused on Ructo¡¯s Tomb and they all heard from them about how difficult this dungeon was. But right now, someone was challenging the 5th trial already.

    After she had sent his reply, Crone had be quiet even in the guild chat. After some time, he finally sent his orders.

    [Crone: Haurin. Listen to me carefully.]

    [Haurin: Yes, GM-nim.]

    [Crone: If the Frying Pan Killerpletes all the trials andes out, attack him with everything you¡¯ve got.]

    [Haurin: The Frying Pan Killer? But isn¡¯t the Frying Pan Killer part of Legend Guild?]

    [Crone: Don¡¯t make me say it twice. Just make sure to kill him then pick up whatever he dropped and report to me about what you have acquired.]

    [Haurin: I understand.]

    Haurin started sending whispers with the orders that she had received to the guild members with her. Then, their eyes began sending out signals towards each other.

    Rak turned to look at Kaistra.

    ¡°Kaistra.¡±

    ¡°.......Yeah.¡±

    ¡°Things seem to be going like what we have thought of.¡±

    Kaistra¡¯s expression hardened as he turned to look at his surroundings. When the members of the Bachran Guild made eye contact with him, they all looked away. However, they still held on their weapons tightly.

    ¡®They have no reason to attack us¡­¡­¡¯

    It seems like they are after the Frying Pan Killer.

    Kaistra turned his head to look at the words in front of the Tomb but his pupils shook wildly.

    ¡®The 6th trial is beginning¡­¡­¡¯

    ***

    Minhyuk had also set a new record for the 5th trial. As a special reward for the huge gap between the previous record holder and him, he received an attack skill point. Attack skill points were skill points that could only be added on attack skills. He had also received 50 special points for breaking 4 consecutive records.

    ¡®So does it mean that the more records I break consecutively, the higher the rewards I get?¡¯

    Just like what he had previously done, Minhyuk added his special points to his DEX. His dexterity points had already exceeded more than 1,700.

    ¡®It¡¯s already at 1,700 but there¡¯s still no notification about a special reward¡­¡­¡¯

    But it was fine. What mattered the most was that the taste of his food would increase and improve as his DEX increased.

    Then, Minhyuk invested his 1 attack skill point on Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship.

    [Chapter 1. Sword of Fury. Shatter (Destroy). Additional 4% attack power to strong lunges and stabs.]

    [Chapter 2. Rampant Sword¡¯s duration has increased from 7 seconds to 8 seconds.]

    [Chapter 2. Rampant Sword. Connection (Inherit). The 7 consecutive strikes has now changed to 8 consecutive strikes.]

    [Chapter 3. Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship¡¯s duration has increased from 8 minutes to 9 minutes. The all stat increase has a +2% increase making the 20% increase into 22%.]

    [Chapter 4. Wind-like Step. It has evolved into Deity (Swift).]

    [You can now take three quick 1m steps. Each step can now allow you to attack. You can now use one step to move a distance of 3m in one go.]

    [Chapter 5. Blooming Sword. Deep (Burst). The radius of attack has now increased from 8m to 9m.]

    [Chapter 6. Splitting Sword. Rain (Soar). A 5% increase to the additional attack power will be added.]

    ¡°Oh¡­¡­¡±

    For skills with chapters to it, each chapter had a different level to increase. After this level up, it seemed like Step had finally reached its max level.

    When he looked at the description, it looked like Wind-like Step, Deity (Swift) was much more useful than the previous Step. The only reason why he thought like this was because Step generally had a gap whenever he narrowed or widened the distance even if he could do two steps. Before, he needed to take one 1m step, then stop, before taking another 1m step to narrow or widen his distance. However in the case of Deity (Swift), he would be able to travel the distance of 3m in one go.

    Then, Minhyuk went on to the 6th trial.

    [Your HP and MP have recovered.]

    [The sixth trial is beginning.]

    [Please hunt the Undead Monster, Vampire Rune.]

    ¡°Oh¡­¡­?¡±

    Undead.

    Minhyuk¡¯s mouth widened into a grin. Then, he quickly tore the parchment that he had received earlier.

    ¡®I wonder what kind of delicious food will it give me!¡¯

    It was the Parchment of Rewards¡¯ Choice. The item that Buckle had dropped before.

    A hologram popped out in front of him.

    [1 Gold]

    [2 Artifact]

    [3 Food Ingredient]

    [4 Experience Points]

    And of course, Minhyuk decisively selected number 3.

    [You have selected number 3 from the Parchment of Rewards¡¯ Choice.]

    After he had heard all of the notifications and just as he was about to finish his pizza bread in two bites¡­¡­

    Shwaaaaaaak!

    He felt a powerful forceing straight at him. As if on instinct, Minhyuk twisted his body away as a sharp de made of blood passed through the ce where he was before.

    Suddenly, a man with long silver hair and pale white skin walked in front of Minhyuk. It was a sudden attack that came through just as he was checking the contents of the notification window.

    Minhyuk stared at him while he tried to eat thest bite of his pizza bread. When he saw the aftermath of the attack, he couldn¡¯t help but tremble.

    ¡®Oh, oh my god¡­¡­!¡¯

    The part where the sausage was located in his pizza bread waspletely cut off. He had tried to eat his final pizza bread while leaving the two remaining sausages as his finale. The most important part of the pizza bread was the sausage but that sausage was now lying on the ground.

    Minhyuk¡¯s body trembled in rage. He grabbed his sword tightly as he red at Vampire Rune.

    At that moment, a notification rang.

    [If you sessfully hunt Vampire Rune, you will be able to acquire the blood of a Noble Vampire.]

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Will there be a stand off or will Minhyuk just log off to exercise??? Hmmm.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 173 - Disaster Artifact

    Chapter 173: Disaster Artifact

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    50 Disaster Artifact

    Blood of a Noble Vampire?

    Minhyuk was not aware of it but Rune was thest pure-blooded vampire left in the world. The only reason why Vampire Rune survived even after thousands of years was simple. It was because Gorac had turned him into an undead. Gorac was a mischievous demon. He had ced plenty of his undead minions, including Rune, to guard the trials and challenges that he had set up all over the world.

    Minhyuk watched Vampire Rune walking towards him while licking his lips. And as if to answer his provocation, Minhyuk also licked his lips.

    Halt!

    Vampire Rune halted in his steps.

    The reason why Minhyuk licked his lips was because he recalled about ¡®Seonji Haejangguk¡¯. He was sure that the blood of a noble vampire would be cleaner than any blood ever. And since it said that there was a ¡®Food Ingredient¡¯ in the rewards, he was sure that even ordinary users could eat it.

    p, p, p!

    p, p, p, p, p!

    Dozens of bats that were surrounding Vampire Rune pped their wings strongly as they flew towards Minhyuk. He hurriedly pulled out the bow from his back.

    [Master Archer¡¯s Random Fire.]

    [One arrow will be dozens of arrows in one shot.]

    As soon as he let go of the string, the single arrow that flew away broke down and turned into dozens of arrows.

    Plop, plop, plop, plop, plop, plop, plop, plop, plop, plop, plop!

    The bats that were directly hit with the arrows fell down on the floor.

    Flutter, flutter, flutter©¥

    Most of the bats that were still struggling to fly suddenly sagged as if they had been dried up. Minhyuk tightened his hold on the hilt of Barraca¡¯s sword when he saw this scene.

    Then, Vampire Rune stretched his arms forward while the blood from the surroundings was sucked into his outstretched arm before it slowly congealed into a rapier. As if on cue, Vampire Rune quickly dashed towards him.

    ***

    Lee Minhwa spoke up as she continued to stare at her monitor.

    ¡°Team Leader-nim, the 6th trial is starting.¡±

    Team Leader Park hurriedly moved behind Lee Minhwa to watch the monitor with her.

    ¡°He achieved four new records¡­¡­¡±

    Generally, there were rewards for the users whenever they broke a record. There was no problem up to this extent. However, the 6th trial was more difficult and strenuous than any other trials but its rewards andpensations were tremendous. The rewards for the 6th trial generally varied depending on the clearing time but clearing it alone would give him a new record reward. But the shorter the time it took for him to clear the trial, the better the reward he would get.

    ¡°If he sessfully hunts Vampire Rune within 15 minutes then he will get 5x the EXP. If it¡¯s within 10 minutes then he will also be able to acquire one of the artifacts that Vampire Rune cherishes¡­¡­¡±

    Lee Minhwa did not speak of the end of her sentence. However, Team Leader Park was the one who ended it for her.

    ¡°And if you hunt him within 5 minutes then you will be able to summon Gorac.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    The Mischievous Demon, Gorac. He was set to be one of the three greatest demons in the Athenae World View. He was one of the absolute and important rulers of the Demon World.

    The Demon World. There were also the Spirit World, the Celestial World and of course, the Human Continent. In each and every world, there existed the strongest monsters and beings. It had not been updated yet but they believe that there would be a time when the users would be able to visit those ces some day.

    And talking about the Demon World, Gorac was considered to be the king of that ce. And this Mischievous Demon Gorac was also called the entric Gorac. With his entric and ill-tempered behavior, he had created a multitude of various jobs and professions all by himself.

    And there was a different method of acquiring Gorac¡¯s Job ss. It was to be the first person to face and summon Gorac that had been sealed for thousands of years. In the first ce, it was programmed like this. It was so they could make sure that the first person who met Gorac was someone that he had recognized the powers himself. And at their first encounter with Gorac they would be able to receive ¡®Gorac¡¯s Book¡¯. Once the user acquired Gorac¡¯s Book, the book would choose one of Gorac¡¯s Job ss and give them the quest rted to it. However, Gorac¡¯s Book would only give you the job ss if it¡¯s a new job. In other words, the user should either have no job ss at all or they would give up their current job ss in order to acquire the job ss.

    ¡°User Minhyuk would definitely not give up on the Food God ss.¡±

    Anyone could tell that Food God was the best job ss for Minhyuk.

    ¡°But if User Minhyuk had Gorac¡¯s Book with him, he would definitely shine someday.¡±

    Team Leader Park nodded his head in agreement.

    ¡°His dexterity is slowly inching towards 2,000.¡±

    Lee Minhwa looked at the monitor as she grinned.

    ¡°But, do you think he will be able to wipe him out within 5 minutes? Rune is definitely strong. In fact, Rune¡¯s quite tricky since he has that ability to recover.¡±

    Vampires had a craving for blood. And among these creatures, the pure-blooded Vampire rune had the ability to recover. If he was ever in a scenario where his HP had dropped to 1, just a single drop of blood would be able to restore all of his HP. The bigger problem was that his ability had no cooldown at all. What was even worse was that the effect would be stronger if he was given the chance to suck blood directly. What was even more surprising was that he could copy the abilities of the being that he had sucked the blood of.

    This was the reason why Buckle and his party had tried more than 60 times but still couldn¡¯t break the 6th trial. To kill such a guy, they would have to not allow any attack toe through and they would have to put all their strength and finish him in one go. In other words, if Buckle and his party were able to cut him down and clear the trial within 5 minutes then someone would have gotten Gorac¡¯s Job ss already.

    In response to Lee Minhwa¡¯s words, Team Leader Park said¡­...

    ¡°Do you think that User Minhyuk¡¯s blood is just normal blood?¡±

    ¡°Just normal blood¡­¡­? What does that mean¡­¡­¡±

    She thought deeply about the meaning of his words. Her eyes widened in shock when she finally realized what he meant.

    ¡°......Ah!¡±

    ***

    ng, ng, ng, ng, ng, ng!

    ¡®He¡¯s fast.¡¯

    Vampire Rune had an unbelievably fast swordsmanship.

    Vwooooooooong!

    When Minhyuk swung his sword he would swiftly avoid it all while thrusting his rapier strongly.

    ng!

    Minhyuk was able to block his sword, however, he saw Vampire Rune stretch his left hand as a swirling blood spear congealed and stabbed him strongly.

    Shwaaaaaaaak!

    For a moment, he could see the blood spinning strongly from Rune¡¯s left hand as it shot straight through him.

    ¡°Deity (Swift).¡±

    Minhyuk was able to avoid the damage by stepping 1m away from him.

    Baaaaang!

    The wall that was just behind him suddenly copsed with a bang. This time, Minhyuk took another 1m step as he narrowed the distance between him and Rune.

    aaaang!

    He quickly attacked Rune as he moved but it was easily blocked. However, at that exact same moment, Minhyuk was able to take advantage of a gap as he prated through Rune¡¯s defenses.

    ¡°Connection (Inherit).¡±

    Shwaaaaaaaaaak!

    A single sessful attack could seriously injure Vampire Rune. And Vampire Rune was well within the range of his attack. Minhyuk tried to swing his sword towards Rune¡¯s sides but something unexpected happened.

    sh!

    Vampire Rune suddenly turned into a bat the size of a fist! After leaving the range of Minhyuk¡¯s attack, the bat Rune returned back to his original form.

    sh!

    Connection (Inherit) shed wildly in the air while a rapier stabbed straight at Minhyuk¡¯s sides.

    Stab!

    ¡°Kghk!¡±

    ¡°Human blood always tasted sweet.¡±

    Vampire Rune¡¯s androgynous voice rang clearly in the dungeon.

    Meanwhile, the blood that fell from Minhyuk¡¯s injuries slowly floated in the air. The blood that dripped endlessly turned into a huge droplet in Rune¡¯s palms. Then without wasting any time, Rune savored the blood.

    ¡°Hmm. Delicious. Truly delic¡­¡­¡±

    At that moment¡­¡­

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaak?!¡±

    Vampire Rune staggered back as he shrieked loudly.

    ¡°M, my throat¡­¡­!¡±

    White smoke came out from the mouth of Vampire Rune as he grabbed his neck. Minhyuk realized that he wasn¡¯t acting.

    ¡®......He¡¯s melting?¡¯

    After drinking Minhyuk¡¯s blood, Vampire Rune¡¯s throat was suddenly disintegrating. He looked at him strangely for a moment before realizing the reason for it.

    ¡®The holy power¡­¡­¡¯

    Minhyuk had 1,000 points in his holy power stat. It seemed like drinking Minhyuk¡¯s blood was akin to drinking holy water for Vampire Rune.

    ¡°B, bastard¡­¡­!¡±

    Vampire Rune could recover and copy the abilities of his enemies once he drank their blood. This was his biggest strength. However, even after he drank Minhyuk¡¯s blood he was still not able to get anything at all. Whether it was HP or skill, there was none. Instead, he had given Minhyuk a gap that he could take advantage of.

    Minhyuk quickly approached Rune as he tried to attack him.

    ng, ng, ng, ng!

    Even if he was suffering with his burning throat, Vampire Rune was still struggling to defend himself against Minhyuk¡¯s attacks. When Minhyuk found another gap and tried to attack him¡­¡­

    sh!

    He quickly turned into a bat as he tried to escape from him.

    sh!

    However, Minhyuk did not hesitate at all. He shed his hand with his sword. Blood trickled down from his wounds which he sprayed directly on the bat.

    Shwaaaaa!

    Fwiiiiiiiish!

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Vampire Rune was forced to return back to his original form as he writhed in pain. White smoke continuously rose up from the parts of his body that were slowly melting and disintegrating.

    Minhyuk was sure that he would not be able to miss this time as he stabbed his sword straight to the ground.

    [Blooming Sword. Deep (Burst)]

    [Sword des will indiscriminately rise from the ground and attack your enemies within 9m from your position. It will cause a prative explosion that will have an additional 70% damage.]

    Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab!

    The sword des that rose from the ground prated through the body of Vampire Rune. The scene where Rune rose in the air after being stabbed by the des of the sword while he struggled uselessly oddly looked pathetic.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    A huge explosion sted from the area of attack and Vampire Rune¡¯s body bursted into pieces. And along with the explosion, the sound of notifications rang clearly in Minhyuk¡¯s head.

    [You have set a new record for the sixth trial of Ructo¡¯s Tomb.]

    [You have gained 200,000 EXP.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have acquired the rewards for the sole new record holder of the trial.]

    [You have acquired 100 special points.]

    [You have gained 100 reputation points.]

    He was able to gain as much as 100 special points in one go. And just like what he did before, Minhyuk invested all of his special points into his DEX.

    ¡°It¡¯s at 1,800 now¡­¡­ Huh.¡±

    Minhyuk smiled in satisfaction. He waited in anticipation for the blood of the noble vampire as well as the millstone.

    Brrrrrrr!

    One of the walls suddenly vibrated as it slowly went down. As the wall slowly went down, Minhyuk was able to see the contents inside little by little.

    ¡®A statue?¡¯

    There was a mysterious statue standing inside. The statue had bat-like wings behind him and two horns on its head. He could see the statue¡¯s arms raised up to its chest with its palms facing up. And on top of its palms, there was a millstone floating quietly.

    ¡®Finally¡­¡­!¡¯

    Minhyuk ran excitedly towards it.

    At that moment, ck smoke suddenly rose from the ring that was in the wreckage of Vampire Rune¡¯s explosion.

    The ck smoke slowly and gradually took shape.

    ***

    Demon Gorac was a cold-blooded but mischievous demon. However, this demon couldn¡¯t help but be surprised.

    ¡®Vampire Rune died within five minutes¡­...? And against only one guy?¡¯

    There was a restriction to those who entered his Ructo¡¯s Tomb that was why it was unimaginable that Rune died in the span of 5 minutes.

    He was the one that sprouted out of the ring and gradually took form. He was 2m tall with two horns on his head and a weird yet scandalous face.

    He was able to see the figure of a human who had just stopped walking towards the millstone.

    ¡®......He has my jar.¡¯

    Gorac found it interesting. The human in front of him had one of his jars, the aging jar to be exact. And now, he would be able to get a second one, Gorac¡¯s Millstone of Abundance.

    ¡®That¡¯s the bestbination.¡¯

    Combination was also important for Gorac¡¯s artifacts. The strength of the artifacts would differ depending on thebination. Of course it was also dependent on the power of this human being to unseal the millstone first.

    When the human saw him, he trembled and became restless.

    ¡®Is he afraid?¡¯

    He¡¯s a demon, he would have understood it just from his figure. And he probably had already figured out his identity by now.

    But the human in front of him¡­¡­

    ¡°A, are you Gorac-nim? I give you my respects! I truly admire you for making such great artifacts!¡±

    And the young man smiled at him brightly as if he had met his long-time idol.

    ***

    Food Discussion Corner

    Seonji Haejangguk (?? ???) - Hangover soup with congealed pork/cow¡¯s blood. The yang variety has tripes or cow stomach in it.

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Ah, Minhyuk¡­ lol¡­ look at you fawning over a demon just because of a single aging jar.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 174 - Disaster Artifact

    Chapter 174: Disaster Artifact

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    [You have met with Demon Gorac, one of the Seven Myths.]

    [You have acquired 100 reputation points.]

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes widened when he heard the notifications.

    Gorac was the one who created the Aging Jar. Once you ced a food in the jar, it would immediately ripen and mature. After he had received this artifact he had no doubts about Gorac being a good chef. And he thought that he was probably someone who also liked delicious food.

    If that¡¯s not it then I don¡¯t know why he can make such an amazing artifact, right?

    Minhyuk showed great respect and admiration towards the gigantic Gorac in front of him. And Gorac who had been observing him for quite a while grinned andughed.

    ¡°You¡¯re an interesting human.¡±

    Minhyuk smiled rightly at him.

    ¡°You have my aging jar.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. I have been using it well!¡±

    Then, Minhyuk looked side by side before whispering to him.

    ¡°Not too long ago, I ripened and matured some doenjang. Don¡¯t you think that I can make some really good doenjangjjigae with the tofu made from this millstone?¡±

    Gorac was quite entric. This was also the reason why he became interested in Minhyuk as soon as he saw him. He had always liked unusual people. Of course, Gorac¡¯s Aging Jar truly had such an ability but he thought that it wouldn¡¯t be much of a use to others. However, it seemed like the young man in front of him had truly only used it for that ability.

    ¡®I can¡¯t believe that thisd had killed Rune in just 5 minutes.¡¯

    He¡¯s an interesting character.

    Grin©¥

    And he needed to settle what had been set. He had set things up with his subordinates before he was sealed. His Demon Worshippers would be able to summon him through the rings that they had if the set conditions had been fulfilled. And if he was able toe out of the ring by himself then it meant that there would definitely be someone with the ¡®Demon¡¯s Name¡¯ that would seed him. This was also the reason why Gorac was so surprised when he came out.

    Brrrrrrr©¥

    Demon Gorac straightened his ck index finger. His nails looked like they were extremely strong and sharp. A weak ck light slowly formed in front of his finger as a book was summoned. The book with the figure of a Demon printed on it floated towards Minhyuk beforending slowly in front of Minhyuk.

    At that moment, notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    [You have acquired Gorac¡¯s Book.]

    [Gorac¡¯s Book can allow you to transfer to one of the special job sses created by Demon Gorac. This book will give you a job ording to your preferences.]

    [The job sses that Demon Gorac had created are all ranked ¡®Legendary¡¯.]

    [You currently have the God ss, Food God. You are not allowed to give up your God ss.]

    Minhyuk tilted his head in confusion when he heard the notifications. He was quite taken aback to hear a sudden notification about transferring to a new job ss.

    Then, Gorac looked at him. A while ago, the light that shed from Gorac¡¯s Book was suddenly bounced off. It seemed like it was bounced off after trying to possess the human. In other words, the human in front of him had a job ss that couldn¡¯t be reced by Gorac¡¯s Book.

    As expected, he¡¯s an interesting human.

    ¡°That Gorac¡¯s Book is extremely priceless, you should keep it well.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I understand. But, you really have cool horns.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Gorac looked at him with a ¡®Hmm.¡¯ at the unexpected ttery that came his way.

    ¡°Wow! You even have veins showing on your arms! You¡¯re truly such a manly man!¡±

    There was only one reason why Minhyuk wasying on his ttery and using his glib tongue to the best of his abilities¡­¡­

    It was because he smelled something delicious from him.

    ¡°What¡¯s more, you¡¯re even 2m tall¡­¡­ Wow~¡±

    Gorac watched him attentively.

    He suddenly heaped praises on him. Afterying on the ttering praises, he coughed loudly before asking him cautiously.

    ¡°Gorac-nim, I believe you know about delicious food ingredients, right? Cough, cough!¡±

    His mouth was almost torn with how wide he was grinning.

    ¡®A man who wanted something from me¡­¡­¡¯

    Such a man was a rare sight to see. Normally, humans would not be able to speak since they were ovee with fear of him. Just as he was thinking about this, a funny idea suddenly shed through Gorac¡¯s mind.

    ¡®There were those ingredients.¡¯

    He let out a deep smile. It was his hobby. Ever since before, he had always loved to y pranks against others. Then he said¡­¡­

    ¡°Delicious food ingredients. I know of them. I know of a famous area in the Demon World where you can get special ingredients.¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaa. Really?¡±

    Gorac nodded his head.

    ¡°But that ingredient can only be found in the temple. Those ingredients are as special as the Aging Jar and the Millstone of Abundance.¡±

    ¡°Oh¡­¡­¡±

    A smile curled on Minhyuk¡¯s mouth when he heard of his words.

    A ce where so many mysterious and special ingredients are hidden?

    ¡°Boy, I will let you know about that special ce.¡±

    When Gorac stretched his fingers out, an ancient looking map appeared in front of them.

    [The Map to the Hidden Temple can be obtained once you ept the quest.]

    At that exact same moment, a quest window popped up in front of Minhyuk.

    [Quest: A Hidden Temple.]

    Rank: Sealed.

    Restrictions: Lv340

    Rewards: Sealed

    Penalty for Failure: Sealed

    Description: Sealed

    Everything was sealed. However, Minhyuk still epted it without hesitation.

    ¡®I ept.¡¯

    [You have acquired the Map of the Hidden Temple.]

    (Map of the Hidden Temple)

    Restrictions: Lv340

    Description: Currently Sealed.

    Minhyuk still couldn¡¯t check anything since his level did not reach the required level yet.

    ¡°It¡¯s time for me to go back now.¡±

    When Gorac turned to leave, Minhyuk bowed down to him.

    ¡°Please get back home safely! Thank you very much!¡±

    Gorac¡¯s mouth was twitching as he grinned wildly. If someone saw the entric face of Demon Gorac with a grin on it, then they would be sure that a baby would burst into tears with how scary it was.

    ¡®Huhuhuhuhu! That¡¯s right, there are very special ingredients there! But in there¡­¡­. Puhahahahahaha! There¡¯s someone that¡¯s on par with me that would be waiting for you in there.¡¯

    Goracughed yfully. Then he paused.

    ¡®If he can get through it then he will be able to obtain unimaginable powers but if he fails then he will undergo immense, terrible pain.¡¯

    Shwaaaaaaaak!

    Gorac was sucked back inside the ring while Minhyuk looked at his back that was disappearing like he was looking at an idol.

    ¡°He¡¯s such a nice guy!¡±

    Minhyuk smiled brightly. Just as he turned around, the bright smile in his face disappeared as it was reced with a fishy smile.

    ***

    ¡®As expected. I was right.¡¯

    The notification about Gorac¡¯s appearance somewhat surprised Minhyuk. He was named as a Demon in the notifications.

    Demon.

    They were existences that one should be wary of. Even though there wasn¡¯t much information released about them yet, he was sure that Gorac was a big shot with tremendous power in the Demon World.

    For the first time since ying Athenae, Minhyuk had felt ¡®dread¡¯. Gorac seemed like he was interested in him but Minhyuk¡¯s heart trembled in fear. However he thought that Gorac was the one who made the aging jar so it was highly likely that he was also the one who made the millstone.

    Is it possible that he knew the location of another ingredient or material? He should be the one who¡¯s most likely to know, right?

    He pretended to be innocent as he smiled brightly at him. Of course, Minhyuk would always have a bright smile whenever he was eating food or thinking about food. However, over the course of his stay in the world of Athenae, he realized that his silly and innocent smile was very helpful to him. In other words, Minhyuk received a quest from Gorac by using his ¡®I¡¯m a fool who knows nothing!¡¯ appearance. This meant that Minhyuk had one-upped Gorac without him knowing it at all.

    ¡®There should definitely be delicious ingredients there. The only problem is that I don¡¯t know what¡¯s in there.¡¯

    Minhyuk nodded along as he thought of this fact. Then, he walked back to the millstone as he reached his hands out to acquire it.

    [You have acquired the Millstone of Abundance.]

    He quickly checked the information of the millstone.

    (Millstone of Abundance)

    Rank: Unique

    Restrictions: 400 DEX

    Durability: 5,000 / 5,000

    Special Abilities:

    ©¥ If you put something inside and grind it, you can get a yield that is twice the initial amount you ced inside.

    ©¥ The first grind will have a very, very special power and it will be extremely delicious.

    Description: It¡¯s a very special millstone where you can get twice the amount of the ingredient that you ced inside once you grind it.

    ¡°Hmm.¡±

    Minhyuk looked at the ce where Gorac disappeared. He would definitely have guessed that it was an item that he made if Gorac did not appear in front of him. He was sure that Gorac made this millstone. And he also confirmed the fact that Gorac was not a really good chef but he was a demon instead. These points made him suspicious.

    ¡®Is something hidden?¡¯

    He was curious about such things, however he still shook his head to clear his thoughts.

    ¡®Right now¡­¡­¡¯

    It was the time to focus on one thing and one thing alone. It was to eat delicious tofu that was made from the millstone.

    Minhyuk quickly took out the beans that he had ced in his inventory in advance. To make tofu, he needed to soak the beans for at least eight hours that was why he had prepared it in advance. Right now, it was the time for him to make delicious food with the tofu that he would make with the millstone.

    ¡®Huhuhuhu!¡¯

    He put some beans over the millstone before holding the handle. His actions meant that he would be turning the millstone by holding on to the handle.

    Before he started making his tofu, Minhyuk made a grave decision. He would make tofu and eat about 300 pieces of it, he would then leave some pieces for the meal that they would eat together since his father loved to eat tofu too.

    Then he paused¡­¡­

    ¡°Eyyyy. Isn¡¯t that amount of tofu too little? I should at least eat 500 pieces~ Let¡¯s eat some more tofu. Ahahahaha!¡±

    At that moment, his nogada had finally started.

    ***

    Haurin and the guild members of Bachran Guild were in a buzz.

    ¡°Th, the 6th trial has been cleared¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Crazy shit!¡±

    Astonished voices rang in front of the tomb.

    Currently, Rak was all alone since Kaistra went back to the vige to do some business. He was inplete disbelief at the situation in front of him.

    ¡®H, how did he do it alone¡­¡­¡¯

    Five people all together attacked it dozens and dozens of times but they couldn¡¯t break it at all. What was even more shocking was that he took less than 5 minutes to clear the trial.

    There were already more than 50 guild members of the Bachran Guild gathered in front of the tomb. They surrounded the tomb like they were in a siege. As soon as the Frying Pan Killer went out, they would immediately attack him.

    The Frying Pan Killer would definitely only have one Gorac¡¯s Artifact with him so they were nning to pay him the price of a legendary artifact in order to acquire it from him.

    He had already finished talking with Kaistra and he knew that there was a story between them. Rak had once heard a story about Kaistra before.

    He heard that there was a local broadcastingwork that visited Kaistra¡¯s vige in the past. They were documentary filmmakers so the vige elders danced and sang for them. But the question was did they really want to do that? The answer was no. They were told that they would earn money, food and other necessities if they did that. So in order for them to earn money, they forced themselves tough, dance, sing and hunt. However, they just left without giving them anything that they had promised before.

    Kaistra said that he could never forget the feeling of despair, sadness and tears from that moment. He had told him that even though they longed for money they did not wish to be ves to it. And the same was true for Rak.

    Rak thought¡­¡­

    ¡®I believe it¡¯s worth that much.¡¯

    He wouldn¡¯t be able to unseal it so he was quite sure about its value.

    However, he felt weird waiting like that. After finishing the 6th trial, the Frying Pan Killer did not move on to the 7th trial. It had been over 5 hours since he cleared the 6th trial and there was no movement at all.

    ¡°Yaaaaawn. What the hell. Why isn¡¯t heing out?¡±

    ¡°What the hell is he doing inside?¡±

    Ten hours had passed since then. By the time the sun set and the night hade, the Bachran Guild Members had been taking turns in the vicinity of the tomb. And just like that, 1 day had already passed.

    Kaistra still hasn¡¯te back, what¡¯s going on?

    Rak finally realized something. He thought that perhaps, the Frying Pan Killer was turning the millstone inside. He finally understood that everything would be a waste. He knew that the Frying Pan Killer definitely knew about the disaster artifacts.

    Three days had passed.

    ¡°Yaaaaawn.¡±

    The members of Bachran Guild were all tired as they set up their tents and rxed.

    At that moment, Rak¡¯s eyes widened in shock. He quietly took a coin out of his chest. It was a coin with Demon Gorac¡¯s image on it.

    ¡®It¡¯s the coin used for finding disaster artifacts¡­¡­¡¯

    It was shing a ck light that only Rak could see. The coin in his hands was a mysterious artifact that could sense when two disaster artifacts were gathered together. This meant that the Frying Pan Killer had another disaster artifact with him.

    Tremble, tremble, tremble©¥

    Rak¡¯s body started trembling.

    Currently, Cauhel had two disaster artifacts of which one was the disaster artifact that he had obtained. And when he became recognized for his abilities and became one of Cauhel¡¯s confidants, he also had Gorac¡¯s Coin with him. When he met him and gave him the artifact, the coin was shing a purple light.

    The light from the coin would show the rank of thebination of the disaster artifacts. If the coin shed red, then it was a low-rankingbination. If the coin shed orange, then it was considered as an ordinarybination. And if the coin shed purple, then it was a top-rankingbination. Cauhel¡¯s disaster was a ¡®Typhoon¡¯.

    And right now, the coin was shing a ck light.

    ¡®Th, the strongestbination¡­¡­¡¯

    Shwaaaaa!

    The ck light became more intense.

    Badump, badump©¥

    Rak¡¯s heart shook wildly as he looked at the entrance of the tomb.

    Right now, the most powerful disaster is waking up and showing its light to the world.

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Let¡¯s hope that they don¡¯t sh against each other. Cauhel and Minhyuk¡­

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 175 - Disaster Artifact

    Chapter 175: Disaster Artifact

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Back in reality. Kaistra was sitting beside Riche, a close dongsaeng of his in the vige. The two of them were sitting on top of a hill overlooking a thicket of trees.

    Kaistra gently covered Riche¡¯s body with a nket. Riche had been following Kaistra ever since they were kids. They had been together almost every step of the way and Riche even thought of him as his own brother. Kaistra also cared for and treated Riche as if he was his own brother.

    And Riche was very sick right now. His body was extremely feverish and it felt like he was boiling. Kaistra had already hired doctors toe here at a costly price but their ce was apletely remote ce in Africa. He did not know how long they would take to get here.

    Kaistra bit his lips in worry and desperation.

    ¡®No! Please don¡¯te¡­¡­.!¡¯

    He was in despair. It seemed like dark clouds were gathering from quite some distance from them.

    No, you can¡¯t do this!

    If that happened, then it would be hard for a helicopter to fly ande to where they were.

    African children generally had a weaker immune system than normal children. In addition, their medical facilities still had to make contact with the outside world before they would be able to get any help. What was worse was that the illness that he had contracted was different from the normal illness that people from other countries would generally contract.

    The symptoms that Riche currently had might possibly be only the cold or the flu. However, if that was not the case then the young Riche might endanger his life and die.

    ¡°......Kaistra.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Kaistra turned to look at Riche with a gentle smile on his face. He had originally refuseding here with Riche. But Riche cried and begged for him to take him to the hill where they always went.

    ¡°Do you remember?¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Kaistra listened quietly to his words.

    ¡°Back then, when I was mostly only skin and bones, they came.¡±

    Kaistra nodded his head in understanding. Back then, both Kaistra and Riche were all skin and bones and on the brink of death but the Ilhwa Group together with some medical staff miraculously arrived in their vige. They saved them from death as a person named Park Munsoo gave them Athenae ess Capsules as a means to contact them and for them to experience a new world. And thanks to Kaistra bing a ranker and gaining unexpected profits, their vige had finally stabilized.

    ¡°The food I ate at that time¡­ I still can¡¯t forget it.¡±

    One of the people that they had brought with them was a chef. For quite some time, the only thing that they had fed the children that were almost skin and bones were a gruel of some sorts.

    ¡°It was delicious. But do you know what¡¯s strange?¡±

    There were only five capsules installed in their vige. Each and every capsules were designed to be powered with sr-powered generators so they would remain operational regardless of the circumstances they had. With the help of these capsules, Riche was also able to try the taste of food from all over the world.

    ¡°No matter what I taste, I can¡¯t seem to find the vor of that time¡­¡­¡±

    The white and steaming chicken porridge that was made by boiling various ingredients was certainly delicious. However, what was strange was that he really couldn¡¯t find nor taste the vor of the food back then.

    A smile hung around Kaistra¡¯s mouth.

    ¡°Me too.¡±

    How can I ever forget? The taste, the texture and the feeling back then¡­¡­ I can never forget it for the rest of my life.

    The taste of that food was the signal for their salvation. Perhaps they couldn¡¯t find the same taste because they did not feel the same way as back then.

    ¡°Kaistra. I have a favor to ask of you before I die.¡±

    ¡°......Riche, don¡¯t say that!¡±

    Kaistra shouted at Riche but he soon calmed down his anxious heart.

    ¡°That vor¡­¡­ Please let me taste it again.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Kaistra couldn¡¯t help but tighten his lips when he heard his words. He knew that the answer was in that capsule but Kaistra¡¯s eyes still couldn¡¯t help but be misty and cloudy with tears.

    ¡®Frying Pan Killer¡­¡­¡¯

    He had heard rumors that his cooking skills were superior to that of Twilight Chef ck¡¯s skills.

    Then, Kaistra firmly told him¡­

    ¡°You won¡¯t die, and I will also let you have a taste of that vor again. Let¡¯s go back now.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    Kaistra carried Riche on his back as the two of them slowly made their way back to the vige before the dark clouds reached them.

    ***

    ¡°Hoo, ah.¡±

    Minhyuk spat out a trembling breath as he stared at the tofu feast in front of him. He excitedly opened the lid of the earthen pot that was cooking on the gas burner in front of him.

    Shwaaaaaa©¥

    The first thing he made after making tofu was soft tofu jjigae. The steam was consistently rising out of the pot. Just like that, he quickly cracked an egg from the golden chicken inside, the egg slowly fell inside the hot broth of the stew. Then, without wasting any moment, he quickly turned on the gas burner again, waited for a while before turning it off again. The egg was quickly cooked while the soft tofu, ms, squid and pork quietlyid around it as they all floated in the red soup made from gochujang. And that wasn¡¯t the end of it. Lying next to it was a well-sliced tofu that was still piping hot. The tofu was freshly made and still steaming. It was just like the tofu that was usually sold in the market. ced next to it was the stir-fried kimchi that had a darker color than the regr kimchi. There were also plenty of various tofu dishes ced side by side on the table in front of him.

    Minhyuk first stretched his spoon towards the slowly but nevertheless still cooling down soft tofu jjigae. After stirring the soup for quite a while, he scooped up a spoonful of the slightly hot soup.

    ¡°Hoo! Hoo!¡±

    After blowing on it slightly, he quickly brought it to his mouth as he¡­¡­

    Slurp!

    ¡°Ha, hot!¡±

    However, even though it was still quite hot, he could still feel the unique texture of the soft tofu jjigae in his mouth.

    ¡°Let¡¯s see.¡±

    Then, he quickly scooped up some soft tofu. The soft tofu had already slightly taken in the redness as it absorbed the soup. It was jiggling on the spoon and looked quite chewy.

    ¡°Sluuuurp!¡±

    As soon as he ced it in his mouth, he could feel the softness of the tofu that was akin to steamed eggs. And the spicy soup together with the sweetness of the soft tofu tasted wonderful in his mouth.

    He quickly took another spoonful of soft tofu jjigae. But this time, he scooped some of the pork, squid, ms and soft tofu and packed it on top of his bowl. And of course, the soup. After packing it on his bowl, he did not forget to mix it thoroughly before taking another bite. The first thing that greeted him was the chewiness of the squid and the pork as well as the savory and refreshing vor of the ms. The soft tofu, rice as well as the slightly hot soup also danced happily in his mouth.

    ¡°Kgghk, I think this soft tofu jjigae will also taste good even if it''s cold.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded happily as he stretched his chopsticks to the steaming hot tofu beside it. He sliced the hot tofu in half and tried it without anything first. It was clearly just in tofu with nothing at all but nevertheless when he ced the hot tofu in his mouth it still tasted splendidly good.

    A pleased smile gently hung on his lips as he picked up some tofu and stir-fried kimchi at the same time. Then, he ced it in his mouth. The soft and savory vor of the tofu as well as the spicy and crunchy vor of the kimchi met together.

    Crunch, crunch©¥

    The stir-fried kimchi had added a dash of vor to the otherwise nd taste of the tofu. He smiled widely as he picked up another tofu and ced it in his mouth.

    Chew, chew.

    Thebination of the tofu and the kimchi that had been seasoned well had a slightly salty taste to it. This was also the reason why it was called a rice thief. It wasn¡¯t just ¡®salty¡¯ it was ¡®salty so Minhyuk had no choice but to eat a spoonful of rice to bnce the vor. And Minhyuk who ate another spoonful of rice smiled in satisfaction.

    ¡°Tofu-yah, why are you so healthy and delicious?¡±

    The beans that were used to make the tofu sprouted from a field called Sogogi. They were even beans that could work well andpliment any kind of stewed dishes so it was guaranteed to be something delicious.

    After he had finished about 100 pieces of tofu, he heard notifications ringing on his ears.

    [You have eaten the Soft Tofu made with the Millstone of Abundance.]

    [You have acquired 400,000 EXP.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    Minhyuk¡¯s level rose by 5 in a single heartbeat. Including this 5-level level up as well as the level ups that he had experienced so far, his level was currently at Lv318.

    After eating all of the tofu in front of him, Minhyuk once again sat in front of the millstone. It had only been a day so he once again began his beans grinding.

    ***

    Minhyuk was spinning the millstone again today. Just a bit earlier, he had made some seonji haejangkuk from the blood of a noble vampire that dropped from Vampire Rune. And these were the notifications that he had heard about it.

    [You have eaten the Seonji Haejangkuk made from the Blood of a Noble Vampire.]

    [The Food Fighter¡¯s Greatness.]

    [The penalty for the medicine has been ignored. However, this does not work for many people.]

    [A Medicine Dish. You have obtained additional stats.]

    [You have acquired the Passive Skill: Bleeding.]

    The blood of a noble vampire was an extremely amazing medicine. However, unlike other medicines that only increases the stats, this medicine gives or increases the skill.

    He had thought that he wouldn¡¯t be able to learn, acquire or improve any skills since there were no skillbooks for the Food God so it was a relief for him that he had learnt a skill.

    Minhyuk quickly checked the skill that was named as Strengthened Bleeding. Originally, it was just a 2% chance of triggering bleeding whenever there was a sessful attack but thanks to the Food Fighter¡¯s Greatness, it had increased to 3%. With bleeding, a 10% damage would continue to be inflicted on the opponent until they were able to stop the bleeding.

    After Minhyuk had checked his new skill, he sat in front of the millstone again.

    ¡°Well then, let¡¯s spin it again!¡±

    He started spinning the millstone with all his might. After 1 or 2 hours of continuous spinning¡­¡­

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    A ck light suddenly burst out of the millstone. And along with the light, the aging jar suddenly popped out of Minhyuk¡¯s inventory and floated in the air. The millstone that was glowing with a ck light slowly floated in the air too. Minhyuk did not know why the two artifacts suddenly floated in the air before him so he just watched and waited. Then, not long after, the ck light was suddenly sucked into the aging jar.

    Then, came the notifications.

    [The Millstone of Abundance has now evolved and turned into ¡®Gorac¡¯s Lightning Millstone¡¯.]

    [Gorac¡¯s Lightning Millstone and Gorac¡¯s Aging Jar are set artifacts.]

    [Depending on the properties and nature of the two items, the force and strength will be attached to one of the artifacts.]

    [Gorac¡¯s Lightning Millstone has evolved from a Unique Artifact to a Disaster Artifact.]

    ¡°Disaster¡­¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk tilted his head in confusion.

    Disaster Artifact?

    He had never heard of it before so Minhyuk checked the item right away.

    (Gorac¡¯s Lightning Millstone)

    Rank: Disaster

    Restrictions: Gorac¡¯s Set Artifact

    Durability: ¡Þ / ¡Þ

    Special Abilities:

    ©¥ Having it in your possession will increase your basic stats by 8%.

    ©¥ Passive Skill: Lightning (Thunderbolt)

    ©¥ Active Skill: Lightning Hell (Hell¡¯s Thunderbolt)

    Description: This is one of the set artifacts hidden by Gorac. Only when two of the set artifacts met will they be able to show their true strength. If two of the best artifacts meet, then they will be able to achieve the strongest disaster.

    (Lightning)

    Artifact Skill

    Level: None

    Mana Required: None

    Cooldown: None

    Effects: If you have Gorac¡¯s Lightning Millstone in your possession, once an enemy attacks you sessfully there¡¯s a 5% chance of triggering lightning strikes with 2~4 times strength as your attack damage.

    (Lightning Hell)

    Artifact Skill

    Level: None

    Mana Required: 2,000

    Penalty: -1 to all 5 basic stats.

    Cooldown: 480 hours

    Effects: Powerful lightning strikes with an additional 120% attack damage will indiscriminately strike a radius of 20m for 1 minute. This will be triggered by holding on to the handle of the millstone and turning it.

    A different set of notifications also rang right after.

    [Because of the unsealing of the artifact, you have inadvertentlypleted the 7th trial.]

    [You havepleted the attack on Ructo¡¯s Tomb.]

    [You have acquired 500,000 EXP.]

    [You have gained 300 reputation points.]

    [You have acquired the Title: The Man who has Attained.]

    ***

    Brrrrrrrrrr!

    The entrance to Ructo¡¯s Tomb suddenly began to shake. As a result, the members of the Bachran Guild who had been lying downzily for three days began to move quickly.

    They clearly saw the phrase in front of the tomb say ¡®The 7th trial has beenpleted.¡¯ before the doorpletely disappeared in front of them. This meant that others could now enter and challenge the dungeon freely. In other words, the dungeon had been cleared.

    However, no one came out.

    ¡®What the hell? D, don¡¯t tell me¡­¡­!¡¯

    Rak¡¯s eyes widened. It was possible for the person who had cleared the dungeon to go to another entrance. It was clear as day and Bachran Guild seemed to have noticed it too.

    At that moment, Rak suddenly noticed that Kaistra had finally essed the game again. But then, he suddenly summoned Penrus.

    ¡°Th, that¡¯s Penrus, I have only heard of him¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Th, the incarnation of light!¡±

    Then, Kaistra climbed on Penrus.

    ¡®What in the world is he doing?¡¯

    As soon as he essed Athenae, Kaistra felt that Penrus was crying in the summon room. This meant that there was another incarnation nearby. And just like a hunch, he believed that it was the Frying Pan Killer. The Frying Pan Killer had another incarnation.

    Shwaaaaa!

    ¡°F, fast!¡±

    ¡°Heok?!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Kaistra disappeared from the ce where he was just now, only a ray of light could be seen as he disappeared from their sight.

    Dash! Run!

    Penrus ran fast while Kaistra was deep in thought.

    ¡®What should I give him in return?¡¯

    He was going to ask him for Riche so he needed to give something in return.

    Is it money? Artifacts? The Frying Pan Killer is a strong person¡­ so I wonder what it is that he wants?

    Dash!

    Penrus was already running as fast as he could. When he arrived he found the Frying Pan Killer ready to tear the return scroll. Kaistra shouted at him in a panic.

    ¡°Th, there¡¯s a hungry child!¡±

    Kaistra¡¯s head turned nk. He knew that he had to do something to somehow get a hold of him. Because of that, all of the things that he had thought of and prepared in his mind all went to trash as he spoke gibberish.

    ¡°The child is an African like me and he¡¯s very hungry. The child said that he wanted to eat a single food very much.¡±

    At that moment, reason slowly came back to Kaistra as his nked out mind returned back to normal.

    Most of the users in Athenae had one thing inmon. They want good artifacts and good rewards. But he did not even say anything about it and just told him about his request. If anyone went to a vige, one could easily see users begging.

    What¡¯s the difference between them and me?

    He spoke a lot of gibberish.

    ¡°What do you want in exchange? If there¡¯s anything that you want I¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°What do I want?¡±

    The young man in front of him answered him.

    ¡°For the world to have no more hungry people.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    When Kaistra heard those words, his head slowly lifted up. Only then was he able to see the man¡¯s face. Unlike his sharp and straight nose, he had big doe-like eyes and he was also tall. The moment he saw him, his image ovepped with someone else. Even that thing that he said earlier, he had heard of it somewhere. It was what Kang Minhoo, the chairman of Ilhwa Group, once said in an interview with a volunteer agency.

    [Chairman Kang Minhoo not only supports Africa but you also give support to the orphanages in our country and you even give plenty of support and help to nursing homes. What is your reason?]

    [Because I hope that there will be no more hungry people in the world.]

    Kaistra¡¯s lips quivered as he asked him.

    ¡°Can you please tell me who you are?

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Let¡¯s hope Kaistra and Minhoo see each other soon!

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 176 - The Envoy Of Incarnation Becomes The Envoy Of Dishwashing

    Chapter 176: The Envoy of Incarnation Bes the Envoy of Dishwashing

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    51 The Envoy of Incarnation Bes the Envoy of Dishwashing

    Hunger was something that you feel when you could not eat even if you wanted to. It was a truly terrible thing to experience. Every day would feel like hell.

    Minhyuk who had chosen to be locked up in a room as a treatment for his hunger before could not even ovee his hunger and ended up eating tissues to alleviate it. And experiencing that hunger was like hell. However, his case was still a bit different from them. He had a lot of things that he could have but he still could not eat them because of his rare illness. After suffering from such hunger, the thought of other people experiencing the same thing came to mind.

    Those boys and girls!

    The children whose stomachs were empty because they had no money, no rice, nor hundreds of won for a bag of ramyeon.

    Are there those kinds of people these days?

    He thought hard and long about it and realized that there must be a lot of them. They must have just been out of sight and invisible to the public. That was why Minhyuk believed that they, as well as those people, should not experience such hell-like hunger. He knew the pain better more than anyone else.

    Then, the African boy in front of him asked him a question.

    ¡°Can you please tell me who you are?¡±

    Minhyuk could not understand his intentions by asking such a question.

    ¡°......A person who likes to eat delicious things?¡±

    He grinned as wide as he could, showing all of his teeth.

    Suddenly, the sounds of footsteps rang from a distance.

    ¡°Where is he?!¡±

    ¡°Frying Pan Killer?!¡±

    ¡°The goddamn bastard, where did he run off to?!¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Minhyuk tilted his head when he heard the rough and crass voices of the people that were trying to find him. They even knew that he was the Frying Pan Killer.

    ¡®Buckle and Javin¡­¡­¡¯

    There was a high probability that it was their colleagues. However, the sound of the voices were quite more than what he had thought. He estimated that there were at least 30 people who had appeared in the area.

    Kaistra looked around him before speaking to him hurriedly.

    ¡°Get up. We need to get out of here quickly.¡±

    Minhyuk did not answer him for a moment.

    Get out of here? I can get out of here as soon as I rip this off though?

    Then, Kaistra spoke again.

    ¡°You wish that there are no hungry people left in the world. It¡¯s an extremely blissful thing to say.¡±

    Then he smiled. Kaistra knew hunger more than anyone else. He had seen people die because of hunger. Because of hunger, Kaistra was forced to eat the bark of a tree. His stomach had be upset that time. Nevertheless, he still ate the bark of the tree the next day.

    Kaistra opened his mouth once again.

    ¡°Can you please cook something delicious for my brother? Of course I¡¯ll give you a reasonable amount ofpensation.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded when he heard his words. His work was not free. He would move if there was a reasonablepensation. In fact, it was fine for Minhyuk to not receive anything in return but he had a reason to receivepensation. The reason was simple. Kaistra had requested and begged for Minhyuk¡¯s help. If Kaistra had requested and begged for his help and he did not receive anypensation then it would just be a simple wish from Minhyuk. Also, he had felt that Kaistra had a lot of strength and power.

    He sat on top of Penrus and climbed behind Kaistra.

    Minhyuk slowly took off his helmet. The reason why he took off his helmet was because when he made some soy milk from the ck beans with his millstone, some of the milk sshed on it.

    At that moment, Kaistra spoke to Penrus.

    ¡°Penrus, run in the speed of light.¡±

    sh!

    A sh of light passed through the empty space.

    ¡°......Kaistra?¡±

    Rak, who had been looking for him, looked in confusion as he saw him disappear in a sh of light. Even the Bachran Guild members saw Penrus disappearing in a sh of light. However, no matter what they did, they couldn¡¯t find the Frying Pan Killer.

    It seemed like the light that emitted from Penrus was so bright that it hid the figure of the two men sitting on top of him.

    ¡°Goddamnit! Where in the world did the Frying Pan Killer go?!¡±

    ***

    Dash! Dash!

    Minhyuk had no choice but to be surprised when he saw how fast Penrus was running. He could determine that Penrus was running 1km at a time.

    Then, at that moment¡­¡­

    [Kongie is requesting a summons.]

    ¡®Huh?¡¯

    He was taken aback by Kongie¡¯s sudden summon request but he still summoned Kongie out. Suddenly, a baby pig appeared out of thin air andnded directly on Minhyuk¡¯s shoulders. Then, he squeezed Minhyuk¡¯s shoulders tightly so he wouldn¡¯t fall off.

    Kaistra turned his head and saw Kongie with a silver pot on his head.

    ¡°Is that your incarnation?¡±

    ¡°......Incarnation?¡±

    Minhyuk was taken aback as he turned to look at Kongie for confirmation. However, Kongie was just looking down on Penrus.

    [Kongie is feeling curious.]

    The pet and his owner could read each other¡¯s thoughts and feelings to some extent. And right now, Kongie was extremely curious about the pet that they were riding on right now, Penrus.

    Meanwhile, Kaistra¡¯s forehead frowned in confusion when he heard his question.

    ¡®......What¡¯s this?¡¯

    He couldn¡¯t understand the situation at all. From the looks of it, Minhyuk, as well as the mysterious baby pig, looked like they did not know about Penrus.

    ¡®One of the 5 incarnations has been newly born¡­¡­¡¯

    There were 5 incarnations that existed in the past. Before they died, the incarnations hadid a total of five eggs. What was more important was that there was a hierarchy among these five incarnations.

    Kaistra had seen information about the incarnations from carvings on stone tablets. Four of the incarnations were written and depicted showing great courtesy and respect towards the middle where the fifth reincarnation that was marked with a ¡®???¡¯ was drawn. The fifth incarnation looked like he was reigning supreme over the rest of the incarnations. He looked like he was their king. Also, Kaistra knew about what the other incarnations looked like. However, the Kongie that was behind him did not look like it was any one of the four incarnations that he was aware of.

    ¡®Should we check it out?¡¯

    He had no malicious intentions. He also realized that Minhyuk did not know him nor what kind of person he was. Kaistra was the Envoy of Incarnation. His main purpose was to collect the incarnations for that reason he was given a special ability. It was the ability to check the abilities of another pet even though it was not his own.

    [The Envoy of Incarnation¡¯s Scan.]

    [Checking for Incarnations.]

    [It is an existence that can not be approached.]

    [The scan has failed.]

    ¡°......!¡±

    At that moment, Kaistra finally realized. He was the incarnation who stood at the highest position among the 5 incarnations.

    ¡°Oiink.¡±

    ¡°Kongie, are you hungry?¡±

    The baby pig rubbed his belly pitifully as if he was saying ¡®Please give me food, oink!¡¯.

    ¡®That baby pig¡­¡­ I didn¡¯t expect him to be the king¡­¡­¡¯

    But why does he look like that? Is he originally supposed to look like that? No, it couldn¡¯t be.

    Kaistra believed that he should tell them about what he had seen from the scan. He had peeked on Kongie without permission and if he kept this to himself then he would just be like a small petty thief.

    ¡°Your pet is not just some ordinary pet.¡±

    ¡°Of course. It¡¯s a pig. And it eats too much¡­¡­! Ah, wait. He¡¯s also my emergency food!¡±

    Minhyuk mumbled softly as his body trembled.

    ¡°......¡±

    Kaistra was left speechless.

    ¡®H, he¡¯s an incarnation¡­¡­ and furthermore he¡¯s also the king b, but you¡¯re saying that his an emergency food ration¡­¡­?¡¯

    He tried to keep his expression dull and calm as he spoke once again.

    ¡°Your baby pig. He¡¯s one of the five incarnations.¡±

    Then, Kaistra began to tell the story about the five incarnations.

    The five incarnations, they had the form of god-like monsters or animals and they existed all over the world. Just as there were gods, there were also incarnations.

    ¡°Each incarnation has great power within them and the same is true for Penrus. Actually, I might only havee this far because of Penrus.¡±

    Kaistra was a boy from Africa. Therefore, he was good at handling beasts. At first, he had taken the ss of Monster Tamer and increased his intimacy and favorability with monsters to the extreme. As a result, he was able to transfer to the God ss ¡®Envoy of Incarnations¡¯.

    ¡°That¡¯s all I can tell you.¡±

    He turned his head to look at Minhyuk.

    ¡°If there are truly gods in this world then there will always be a god who can rule among those gods. And that would be your incarnation.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Minhyuk tilted his head as he looked at Kongie who just finished drinking his ck bean soy milk. After he finished gulping down his milk, Kongie even took the bottle out of his mouth with a pop as he looked at it in admiration.

    ¡°Oink!¡±

    After he finished eating, he wanted to eat some more so Kongie tapped happily on his ss bottle.

    ¡°Oiiiink!¡±

    I want to eat more, oink!

    ¡°This guy¡­¡­?¡±

    Kaistra nodded his head.

    ¡°To put it simply, he is the king. However, it seems like this king still hides plenty of secrets.¡±

    Kaistra let out a bitter smile.

    This king¡¯s secrets.

    Those were secrets that Minhyuk needed to solve. However, it was also possible for Kaistra to aid him a bit.

    ¡®Penrus¡¯ Breath.¡¯

    Penrus¡¯ Breath had the power to evolve other pets and summoners¡¯ strength. However, it was an extremely valuable ability and if Penrus used it then he would not be able to exert most of his powers for several days. In addition, the owner would also have a penalty of a permanent decrease of 10 to all 5 of his basic stats.

    But Kaistra thought¡­¡­

    ¡®Perhaps when I get to know more about this person¡­¡­¡¯

    Then by that time, he would decide whether to use it for him or not.

    ***

    When he got Kaistra¡¯s call, Riche hurriedly essed the game. He said that they were in Hesdam, a very small vige.

    And Minhyuk was able to meet Riche at this small vige of Hesdam. He had heard plenty of stories about Riche along the way. Riche was a 13-year-old boy but he was very short for his age.

    Minhyuk did not hesitate to use the Create a Recipe skill on Riche.

    (Chicken Porridge Recipe for Riche)

    Required Ingredients: Moonlight Chicken, Borta¡¯s Carrot, Cronie¡¯s Onion¡­¡­ (omitted)

    Expected Dish Grade: Unique ~ Legendary

    Expected Effects:

    ©¥ Brings out the taste from your memories.

    ©¥ A 15% increase in vitality.

    Athenae could gauge the person¡¯s brain waves and their current mental state, it could read what you wanted to eat the most as well as your needs. This was why the food that Riche wanted to eat the most, the chicken porridge, was presented to him in the recipe. What was most surprising was that there was an effect that would bring out the taste from one¡¯s memories. The thought of ¡®How can this be possible?¡¯ shed through his mind briefly.

    Then, he reced all the materials with the materials that he had on hand.

    (Chicken Porridge Recipe for Riche)

    Required Ingredients: Peston¡¯s Chicken, Heto¡¯s Carrot, Silver Onion¡­¡­ (omitted)

    Expected Dish Grade: Rare ~ Epic

    Expected Effects:

    ©¥ Brings out the taste from your memories.

    ©¥ An 8% increase in vitality.

    What a relief. The part that says ¡®Brings out the taste from your memories.¡¯ did not change.

    Minhyuk began preparing the chicken porridge.

    First, he boiled the chicken. He also did not forget to take out the scum from the water when the chicken had started boiling. Then, after he boiled the chicken, he took it out from the water and tore it to shreds.

    Then, for the chicken broth, he boiled the well-soaked glutinous rice, minced onions and chopped carrots and green onions.

    Boil, boil©¥

    Minhyuk stirred the porridge using a wooden spat to make sure that it did not stick to the bottom of the pot.

    ¡°Woooooow. It looks delicious!¡±

    Riche smiled widely showing his little white teeth. Minhyuk smiled at him gently as he rubbed his head softly. Then, he continued cooking the chicken porridge with great care. He was able to finish it in no time at all. Unfortunately, it was only a rare dish.

    Minhyuk briefly ced the chicken porridge in his food storage inventory.

    ¡®I want to make it better¡­¡­¡¯

    He did not know why. He did not know why he was feeling a bit greedy. The child had said that his life was in danger so he wanted to give this hungry child a good present. So he boiled another chicken porridge and if he wasn¡¯t satisfied with it then he ced it in his food storage inventory.

    It didn¡¯t matter to him about the amount that he had made and wasted since he would eat them all anyway after these things had ended. So Minhyuk just did his very best. If anyone thought about it, they would realize that this was not like the usual Minhyuk who just ate whatever he thought was delicious.

    However, it was different right now.

    ¡®I want him to eat my food and feel happy.¡¯

    Minhyuk had felt it recently. However, he thought that he hadn¡¯t put forth his best and all his energy to any of his dishes unlike now. Even when he cooked for God Juis.

    Perhaps it¡¯s because I feel like Riche is simr to me?

    He believed that it was because he wanted to make him happy. Then, he suddenly felt his tears welling up in his eyes.

    I truly hope that there will be no more hungry people in this world.

    But it wasn¡¯t just how it worked. He hated the fact that all he could do right now was cook. So he did his best in cooking this dish.

    After he had finished cooking the porridge, he ced it carefully in a bowl. At that moment, the notifications rang out.

    [You havepleted a Chicken Porridge.]

    [Riche¡¯s dish is the only dish with the buff effect.]

    [The Create a Recipe Skill Effect can only be tasted by the same person once per month.]

    [Trance. It¡¯s a dish that has your ¡®desperation¡¯, ¡®sadness¡¯, ¡®efforts¡¯ and ¡®delight¡¯ poured into it.]

    [Due to the effects of Trance, the buff effect has be better.]

    [Epic Grade.]

    [You have gained 4 DEX.]

    [You have gained 10 reputation points.]

    [You have gained 1,000 Achievement Points.]

    It was finallypleted. And there were even as many as four items in his trance. However, the notifications did not end there.

    [You have aplished the Secret Quest: ¡®Your Enlightenment¡¯.]

    [The satisfaction of the human beings who will fulfill your job ss quest has increased as a reward.]

    [The satisfaction level has reached 100%.]

    [You have acquired the second God¡¯s Legacy Dish, Restaurant Full Course.]

    ***

    Notes:

    Regarding Kaistra, I believe I had interchanged the meaning of ?? and had used Lion instead of Envoy. At that time, I was still not sure about his ss and title so I thought that it was a lion incarnation or something along those lines. I thought that it didn¡¯t make sense at that time since he had a wolf for the incarnation of light so why a lion¡­ and now¡­ it suddenly made sense. He was the Envoy of the Incarnation since he had an incarnation of light as his pet. I would try and go back to change it sometime in the future but I would leave this note just to exin and make things clear for you.

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Hmmm. I wonder what the second legacy dish is? Is it like the appetizer-dessert full course???? Sounds delicious.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 177 - The Envoy Of Incarnation Becomes The Envoy Of Dishwashing

    Chapter 177: The Envoy of Incarnation Bes the Envoy of Dishwashing

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    ¡°......!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes widened in surprise. His current satisfaction level was just at around 50%. But right now, the quest had already beenpleted. At the same time, a full course restaurant meal suddenly materialized in front of Minhyuk. He couldn¡¯t hide his excitement when he saw the mealid out in front of him. However, a series of texts appeared in front of Minhyuk.

    [I can roughly guess that my descendant will be busy eating by himself. But I also believe that there wille a day when you will cook for others sincerely and with all of your heart.]

    That was the end of the statement. In other words, it was highly likely that this was the Food God¡¯s exact intention when he left the second job ss quest ¡®To Have a Feast with Other People.¡¯.

    No one knew the answer but perhaps this task was more difficult than any other task for Minhyuk whose job ss was Food God. It was possible that if he wasn¡¯t able to get the second God¡¯s Legacy Dish and finish the second ss quest then he also wouldn¡¯t be able to get the third or the fourth dish nor would he be able to move forward.

    Minhyuk smiled happily.

    An untimely kindness and good deed had given me plenty of rewards.

    Then, Minhyuk ced the steaming chicken porridge as well as a te of well-ripened kimchi in front of Riche.

    ***

    ¡®Wow, so beautiful.¡¯

    The color of the chopped carrot as well as the chopped scallions gave a unique and beautiful contrast on top of the steaming white chicken porridge. Riche looked at it in excitement. When he looked at Minhyuk, he could see that he was smiling softly at him.

    Not long after, the same chicken porridge appeared in front of Minhyuk.

    ¡°Chicken porridge is best eaten with well-ripened kimchi.¡±

    Minhyuk took his spoon and used it to stir the chicken porridge in front of him. As he stirred the porridge, the steam slowly came out with a shwaaaaa©¥. Then, he took a spoonful and blew on it gently. The clean and refreshing vor of the chicken broth and the well-cooked grains of rice met and created a perfectbination of texture and vor.

    Riche quickly followed him, as he scooped up a spoonful of the chicken porridge and blew on it. He stared closely at Minhyuk to copy what he was doing. When Minhyuk scooped up a spoonful of porridge and ced a piece of kimchi on top of it, Riche copied him down to the T and ced a piece of kimchi on his spoonful of porridge before he chomped on it.

    The spicy and sour taste of the kimchi contrasted and added a ir to the clean and in vor of the chicken porridge. It also washed away the feeling of greasiness. However, Riche, who was still unaware about the side dish called kimchi, did not know that it was very spicy.

    ¡°Ha¡­¡­ Spicy.¡±

    Riche stuck out his tongue while he tried to fan it and cool it down with his hands. Then, he quickly gulped down plenty of water to wash away the spiciness. But even though he found it quite spicy, strangely enough, he still found his hands continuously getting kimchi while eating his chicken porridge.

    Riche kept on eating his chicken porridge with kimchi. When he raised his head and looked at the person in front of him, he saw that he had already finished his chicken porridge and was already getting his hands on his restaurant full course meal.

    ***

    A restaurant full course meal.

    After quickly gobbling up his chicken porridge, Minhyuk quickly picked the before meal bread. As soon as he touched it, he could feel the warmth and the crispiness of the outside of the bread. He quickly tore a piece and dipped it in the sauce that was apanying the bread.

    A warm smilenguidly hung at the corners of his lips.

    As soon as he finished the before meal bread, the warm broli soup that followed immediately whetted his appetite. By the time he finished the broli soup with its soft and rich vor, he could already see the main dish in front of him.

    The main dishes were steak, carbonara and pf. He first sliced the beef. He could see that the outside of the steak was well-done but as soon as his knife sliced the beef a reddish glow from its juices greeted him. He quickly stabbed a piece with his fork and ced it in his mouth. It was medium rare. Minhyuk¡¯s most favorite and preferred cooking of steak. It was perfectly done. As soon as he chewed on the meat, he could feel the soft texture of the meat. The savory taste of the meat together with the taste of the onions and mushrooms that were grilled together slowly spread in his mouth.

    He grinned from ear to ear as he turned towards the carbonara. He was not entirely sure but he knew that the people of his country loved two types of spaghetti the most. And that was tomato spaghetti and carbonara. And Minhyuk? He personally liked carbonara.

    He held the spoon with his right hand while his left hand picked up some of the pasta with his fork. Then, he brought the fork with the pasta towards the spoon as he gently turned it. He looked at the slightly steaming and gently wrapped pasta on the fork before cing it on his mouth.

    Chew, chew©¥

    He could taste the rich vor of the milk as well as the bacon and mushroom spreading in his mouth.

    It¡¯s truly rich and savory.

    That expression perfectly fit the carbonara that he had just tasted. Then, he quickly turned towards the pork pf.

    When he scooped a spoonful of the pf, he could see that it was packed with plenty of minced vegetables and meat. As soon as he chomped on it, the varying vors of the different ingredients showed great harmony that resulted in a pleasant and enjoyable taste.

    ¡®Really delicious¡­¡­ The craftsmanship is no different from the jokbal set that I had before¡­¡­¡¯

    It¡¯s really the best.

    He couldn¡¯t help but let out gasp after gasp of admiration. He looked at the second God¡¯s Legacy Dish, the restaurant full course in admiration the same way he looked at the previously eaten jokbal set.

    Before he knew it, he had already finished everything. At the same time, Riche also finished the chicken porridge all by himself.

    ¡°I¡¯m full¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk tilted his head at him.

    ¡°A hundred bowls of porridge is the basic amount. You¡¯re already full?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I¡¯m very, very full!¡±

    Minhyuk couldn¡¯t understand him at all. Nevertheless, he still gave the boy in front of him a gentle smile. Then, the notifications rang out.

    [You have eaten God¡¯s Second Legacy Dish, the Restaurant Full Course.]

    [The amount of your Buffs has increased by 100%.]

    [You have acquired the skill: Allurer¡¯s Cooking.]

    [You have gained 50 reputation points.]

    ¡®Allurer¡¯s Cooking?¡¯

    Minhyuk was taken aback as he quickly checked the contents of the skill.

    (Allurer¡¯s Cooking)

    Active Skill

    Level: 1

    Penalty for Use: -2 to all stats.

    Effects:

    ©¥ You can create a recipe that the other person wanted to eat. There is a possibility of taming the person once they ate your food. The probability of taming will increase and decrease depending on various sets of conditions.

    ©¥ It is impossible to tame a creature that has a 100 level or higher gap from you.

    ©¥ Current number of possible uses: 3/3

    It was an interesting skill. It was literally telling him that he could tame and get a subordinate just by feeding them his cooking. But in a way, he still had to be careful.

    ¡®The mouths that I needed to feed might increase¡­¡­!¡¯

    He should definitely avoid the increase of mouths to feed.

    Then, Kaistra went up and approached them.

    ¡°How was it?¡±

    ¡°It was really delicious, Kaistra! Surprisingly, I remembered the time when we were fed that kind of food¡­¡­! No, it was more delicious than that time before.¡±

    Kaistra grinned widely at Riche¡¯s enthusiasm. And Minhyuk also smiled at the scene in front of him.

    ¡®He finally looks like a kid.¡¯

    Just one look at Kaistra and he knew that he was just a boy. When Minhyuk looked at Kaistra again, he could see that Kaistra did not know how to express his gratitude. Then, Minhyuk said¡­¡­.

    ¡°There are more children in your vige, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes, there are.¡±

    Minhyuk smiled at him as he continued to speak.

    ¡°They should ess the game. I¡¯ll treat you all to a dish but the ingredients should be provided by Kaistra. But it¡¯s up to you. And don¡¯t forget to pay for that dish.¡±

    Kaistra smiled at him.

    ¡®He¡¯s trying to show me that he did not suffer any loss. I can feel that he¡¯s being considerate to me¡­¡­¡¯

    Minhyuk was thorough like that. If Minhyuk had said¡­ ¡®I won¡¯t ept your payment.¡¯ then Kaistra would have been at a loss for what to do. Kaistra was a powerful person and he had more than enough to offer the same value as the dish that he had made. That was why Minhyuk just tried to relieve him from his feeling of gratitude by asking him to pay for the dish.

    ***

    As soon as the morning came, Kaistra immediately went straight to Riche¡¯s house. He saw that Riche had gotten up early and was now drinking some water.

    ¡°Kaistra! It seems like I just caught a cold! My body is filled with energy now!¡±

    Riche grinned widely, showing his white teeth at him. Kaistra hurriedly approached him and hugged him tight.

    ¡°That¡¯s a relief, Riche¡­¡­ That¡¯s a relief¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Yeah, Kaistra.¡±

    Riche gently patted Kaistra¡¯s back as tears flowed down on their faces. After quite a long time, the two of them went out of the house together.

    ¡°No, let¡¯s eat first!¡±

    ¡°Me too! Me too!¡±

    They heard the sound of the children¡¯sughter ringing loudly in their vige.

    ¡°I ate the chef¡¯s dish yesterday. It was really delicious!¡±

    ¡°It was really delicious but he¡¯s somewhat strange.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°My goodness! The chicken was this big but he said that we should at least eat 100 bowls of chicken porridge. Does it even make sense for him to eat that much?¡±

    ¡°Woooooow.¡±

    That was right. Yesterday, Minhyuk had taught about the greatness of ¡®Chineunim¡¯ to the African children.

    A smile was constantly hanging on Kaistra¡¯s lips as he watched the children having fun. Kaistra brooded over what had happened yesterday.

    ¡®Kang Minhoo-nim and Minhyuk-nim.¡¯

    There were so many things that were ovepping with those two people. First of all, there was the ¡®Min¡¯ character in their names.

    A thought suddenly shed in Kaistra¡¯s head.

    Back then, he had asked Park Munsoo whether there were also hungry people in Korea, and he answered like this¡­¡­

    ¡®There¡¯s a man who¡¯s very, very close to the Chairman. That¡¯s why he knows about hunger more than anyone else.¡¯

    And Minhyuk acted like he was a person who was always hungry.

    After thinking for quite some time, Kaistra stood up and essed Athenae with a determined look on his face.

    ***

    As soon as Kaistra essed Athenae, he could see the stuffed Minhyuk surrounded by the equally stuffed children. He approached them just like that.

    ¡°I want to repay you now.¡±

    Kaistra smiled widely as he looked at Minhyuk and the baby pig named Kongie that was perched on his shoulders.

    He summoned Penrus. As soon as Penrus came out, the two of them made eye contact. Penrus was a huge and majestic wolf with white fur. He was quite intimidating but he still stared at Kaistra as he asked him through their link.

    [Kaistra. Are you really willing to give all my Breath to that incarnation?]

    Kaistra nodded his head at him. Penrus¡¯ Breath had a limited number avable. His breath had an amazing power that could boost the power of other pets and his breath would eventually be consumed. However, Kaistra still nodded his head at him as heughed sunnily.

    [Penrus. That person is my benefactor.]

    Penrus slowly nodded his head.

    [I will always trust you and follow your decisions. Kaistra.]

    Penrus smiled slightly at him and Kaistra also answered him with a smile. Kaistra slowly walked to where Minhyuk was.

    At that moment, Minhyuk asked him¡­¡­

    ¡°How is Riche¡¯s condition now?¡±

    ¡°It must have just been a cold. He¡¯s now filled with energy.¡±

    Minhyuk smiled broadly when he heard his words.

    ¡°That¡¯s a relief.¡±

    He looked so happy as if it were his own concern too. Kaistra shook his head as he smiled at him. Then, he asked¡­¡­

    ¡°By any chance, is your father¡¯s name ¡®Kang¡¯, ¡®Min¡¯ and ¡®Hoo¡¯? Am I right?¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes widened in surprise when he heard his question. However, he quickly schooled his expression to nkness. Kaistra smiled slightly at him. Then, he slowly got down on one knee.

    He was given a new life by a single person. And that person was Ilhwa Group¡¯s Chairman, Kang Minhoo. He might not be aware about his existence but he cared and respected him. And now, from his son, he had received a second blessing.

    Kaistra, who was on one of his knees, ced his hands together and prayed.

    ¡°Uhmbad, ahbad, sa baht.¡±

    It was their tribe¡¯s ritual.

    There was a saying in Kaistra¡¯s tribe.

    ¡®You must not forget if you have been given kindness. And you must remember the person who had given you such kindness as your friend, forever.¡¯

    This was the ritual of connection. Kaistra mumbled the words in order before slowly opening his eyes. As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw Minhyuk staring at him.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know you, but I am indebted to your father. I would also like to repay you for that.¡±

    Minhyuk looked at him in confusion as sweat began to rain down from his forehead.

    ¡®W, why does this sound familiar?¡¯

    Then, Kaistra spoke out some shocking words.

    ¡°I want to follow you, Minhyuk.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Kaistra was 9th in the unofficial world rankings. He was at Lv482 with a God ss Envoy of Incarnation. Yet, he was willing to bow down and follow Minhyuk.

    If the Ilhwa Group did note back then then I wouldn¡¯t be here in the first ce.

    Perhaps it was Minhyuk and his father who had given him a new life. Kaistra did not regret the words that he had spoken. If it was him or his father then he believed that he would be willing to follow them forever.

    Minhyuk hesitated for a moment before asking him with trembling lips.

    ¡°Are you good at washing dishes?¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    ***

    Notes:I don''t know if you guys still remember chineunim being Chicken God or smth like that. But it just mean that chicken is the best or smth along those lines.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 178 - The Envoy Of Incarnation Becomes The Envoy Of Dishwashing

    Chapter 178: The Envoy of Incarnation Bes the Envoy of Dishwashing

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Kaistra knew how to wash dishes. Washing dishes meant wearing rubber gloves while squatting by the corner of the vige. Washing dishes meant foaming the sponge with soap and scrubbing the bowls with them!

    [Ka, Kaistra¡­¡­]

    Penrus looked at him in a fluster. Meanwhile, Kaistra just grinned widely, showing all of his teeth at him.

    ¡°I, I¡¯m alright, Penrus. F, for real?¡±

    At that moment, Penrus could see Kaistra¡¯s eyes suddenly bing misty. Even though Penrus saw Kaistra as a young boy, he was still a charismatic boy. In addition, he was someone that was recognized as the 9th in the unofficial world rankings. And that Kaistra was now crouched down and washing dishes!

    [¡®Wh, what in the world is¡­¡­¡¯]

    Penrus was shocked as he looked at Minhyuk.

    I can¡¯t believe that you¡¯re making the one and only Kaistra wash the dishes!

    Then, Kaistra told him¡­¡­

    ¡°Penrus, please bring me the dishes that are piled up over there.¡±

    [......]

    Penrus was one of the 5 incarnations, the incarnation of light. But right now, he was assisting Kaistra in washing the dishes.

    Meanwhile¡­¡­

    ¡°Oiiiiiink¡­¡­! Oink, oink!¡±

    A wide-eyed pet was sitting next to Kaistra while pointing at a te. It was none other than Kongie. Kongie had both of his hooves over his waist while he pointed out the grease that was still left unwashed on one of the tes.

    Do it right, oink!

    Kongie was originally the one in charge of washing the dishes. That was why he was standing beside Kaistra and severely reprimanding him as his sunbae and senior.

    ¡°......¡±

    Kaistra was left speechless with the situation that he was in right now.

    ¡®I¡¯m the Envoy of Incarnation¡­¡­ but I¡¯m being scolded by a pig¡­¡­¡¯

    Kongie even patted Kaistra on the shoulders after he had scolded him. It seemed like he was using the carrot and stick strategy on him.

    ¡°Oink!¡±

    If you work hard, I¡¯ll make you into the main dishwasher. Oink!

    He looked pretty cute to him. Then, Kaistra saw Kongie¡¯s tiny paws. Kaistra was a big fan of domestic animals like cats and dogs and strangely enough, those guys have a savory, nutty and mysterious smell on their paws. In fact, Kaistra had a cat so he was familiar with such a smell. He unconsciously sniffed Kongie¡¯s paws. His eyes widened in shock when he realized what it smelled like.

    ¡®Th, this smell¡­¡­!¡¯

    Kaistra was shocked beyond belief after he had smelled Kongie¡¯s paws.

    ***

    Minhyuk held back the tears as he watched Kaistra wash the dishes.

    ¡®Th, there¡¯s another mouth to feed¡­¡­¡¯

    He truly did not know why the world was always doing this to him. He quickly shook his head to shake off all of his negative thoughts.

    ¡®Kaistra is clearly a high-level ranker.¡¯

    He still did not know the extent of his strength as a ranker but he could tell that he had a strong presence. That was why he could ask him to do errands and find ingredients for him. Of course, Minhyuk did not intend to use Kaistra as his hands and feet. But Kaistra looked like he wanted to do that so he first ordered him to wash the dishes.

    Ellie¡¯s Kitchen Knife that was in Minhyuk¡¯s possession was a versatile artifact that he could transform and modify into any shape. In addition, both the frying pan and the kitchen knife were equipped with the automatic cleaning function. However, the same was not true for the bowls and tes that they had used and were piled over. In a day, Minhyuk could use more than 400 tes. Originally, Kongie was in charge of washing the dishes but someone came and volunteered to do it themselves.

    While he was deep in thought, he could see Kaistra running towards him.

    ¡°Mi, Minhyuk-nim¡­¡­!¡±

    With a shocked expression on his face, Kaistra ran towards Minhyuk while hugging Kongie in his arms.

    ¡°Oink!¡±

    [Kongie is feeling grumpy.]

    Kongie was scowling at Kaistra but Kaistra ignored him and just ran straight towards Minhyuk with him in his arms. Then, he said¡­¡­

    ¡°Th, the smell of his paws. It, it¡¯s an innovation!¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    Minhyuk looked at him as if there was something wrong. Not long after, he also smelled Kongie¡¯s paws and his eyes couldn¡¯t help but widen in shock.

    ¡°Ko, Kongie, you¡­¡­¡±

    He was left in shock.

    ¡°They smell like jokbal¡­¡­¡±

    That was right. Minhyuk thought that from now on, if he ever craved for jokbal, he could just smell Kongie¡¯s feet as he ate rice.

    [Kongie is feeling proud and confident.]

    Kongie just shrugged his shoulders as he looked at Penrus.

    You don¡¯t have something like this, don¡¯t you? Oink.

    [......]

    Penrus was not envious of him at all. Nevertheless, he still walked beside Kaistra.

    ¡°Ah, I still have something that I wanted to give you.¡±

    Minhyuk tilted his head in confusion.

    ¡°From now on, I will be opening Kongie¡¯s powers.¡±

    ¡°......Oh.¡±

    Minhyuk turned to look at Kongie with a bit of expectation and anticipation. When Minhyuk ate the second God¡¯s Legacy Dish, Kongie ate together with him. The both of them were able to level up after eating the delicious restaurant full course meal.

    (Kongie)

    Rank: ???

    Race: Pet

    Level: 6

    Attack Power: 713

    Defensive Power: 3,541

    Summoning Duration per Day: 5 hours.

    Summoning Waiting Time: 19 hours

    Special Abilities:

    ©¥ He will immediately detect if there is a medicine nearby.

    ©¥ Pet Owner¡¯s attack power will be increased by 14%.

    ©¥ Pet Owner¡¯s defensive power will be increased by 9%.

    ©¥ Passive Skill: Instinctual Protection

    ©¥ He can now wear three artifacts.

    Condition for Growth: The more delicious the food the owner eats, the higher the EXP and the higher the level it could evolve.

    Potential: 184

    Experience Value: 32% / 100%

    His attack power had increased slightly and the number of artifacts that he could equip had increased from two to three. So he was in anticipation about the changes that Kongie would have.

    Penrus slowly approached Kongie. However, Kongie quickly flew towards Minhyuk. He was silently asking for a hug as if he was scared by his sudden approach. Minhyuk cradled Kongie in his arms as a white light started to flow out from Penrus¡¯ mouth. The white light slowly began to get sucked in Kongie¡¯s body.

    ¡°Oiiiink¡­¡­!¡±

    [Penrus¡¯ Breath.]

    [The breath of Penrus, a divine incarnation, has the power to open or level up a pet¡¯s hidden strength.]

    Shwaaaaaaaaa©¥

    Penrus¡¯ breath continued to get sucked into Kongie¡¯s body while Kongie just blinked in confusion.

    ¡°Penrus¡¯ breath does not feel harsh to the body but feels warm and cozy.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head while Penrus closed his mouth and stopped releasing his breath. And Kongie¡¯s eyes that had closed for a while suddenly opened wide. At that exact same moment¡­¡­

    sh!

    A bright light bursted out of Kongie¡¯s body as he floated in the air.

    ***

    Athenae was released and was operating in dozens of countries all over the world. Each country had different empires, maps and fields.

    And right now, France Athenae Server had Hell¡¯s Battlefield. It was originally called ¡®Baham¡¯s Battlefield¡¯ however most users refer to it as Hell¡¯s Battlefield. The reason was simple. It was because it was and that had never been pioneered.

    The ck Rose Guild, the 4th ranked guild in France¡¯s guild rankings, once led around 400 members to try and clear the Hell¡¯s Battlefield. However, the result was an unexpected catastrophic failure. What was even more surprising was that they were all wiped out in just 3 hours.

    And right now, there was only one man standing on Hell¡¯s Battlefield. He had short, blonde hair with a fan in one hand and soft-fabric clothes on his body. Not long after, a red sh of light abruptly came out of his body.

    sh!

    [King¡¯s Call.]

    [A 70% ~ 90% chance of drawing the aggro and increasing your stats by 30% for 30 minutes.]

    Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud!

    The monsters that saw the shing red light suddenly lost all their sense of reason as they began to run. There looked to be at least hundreds of monstersing towards his direction. At that moment, the man tapped his left hand with his fan.

    Rustle, rustle!

    A ck cape suddenly formed behind him as a glittering ck full te armor was slowly created around his body.

    Chak!

    The man suddenly opened the fan in his hand. Then¡­¡­

    Shwaaaaa!

    ck clouds formed in the air above him as the wind picked up. In the end, strong winds blew all over the ce.

    ¡°Kkiheeheheeeeeek!¡±

    ¡°Kahaaaaack!¡±

    The wind began to tear the bodies of the running monsters. Itsted for about 5 minutes beforeing to a stop. In other words, the typhoon-like strong wind tore apart the monsters beyond recognition.

    Then, the fan suddenly flew out of the man¡¯s hands all by itself before prating the bodies of the monsters that were still intact and alive.

    Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab!

    After hunting and killing off the remaining monsters, the fan shook the blood off of its body as it returned to the man¡¯s hands. Then, the man folded the fan once more.

    The fan in the man¡¯s hands was one of the disaster artifacts, Gorac¡¯s Wind Fan. It had the ability to continuously blow cool air with just a single fan on your face. However, this was a disaster artifact. And the owner of the said artifact was Cauhel.

    Suddenly, a pigeonnded on his shoulders. Cauhel took out the note and checked the contents of the message. It was a note that came from South Korea.

    [This is Crone. The disaster artifact was taken by a user called Frying Pan Killer. I tried to use my guild members to chase after him but he had already disappeared from sight.]

    ¡°......¡±

    Cauhel just stared at the note without a word before ending his connection to the game. As soon as he got out of the game, he began collecting information. The information was quite easy to find.

    Frying Pan Killer.

    Legend Guild.

    The territory they received.

    As well as a myriad of information rted to him. He quickly sent his instructions to Crone and plenty of other people.

    At that moment, someone knocked on his door.

    Knock, knock?

    An old butler wearing sses and a suit entered his room.

    ¡°Young Master, it¡¯s time for dinner.¡±

    He was called Young Master.

    He stood up as he nodded at him. He was about to step out when his eyes caught sight of hisputer. Then, heughed in ridicule before stepping outside.

    In the middle of his room was arge red shield engraved with a pattern. It seemed to suggest that he was a noble.

    ***

    sh©¥

    The powerful light in Kongie¡¯s body was gradually fading. A creature silently walked out of the light. Minhyuk¡¯s eyes widened in shock at the sight before him.

    He walked confidently with a cold expression on his face, slowly approaching Minhyuk. Then, he turned towards Kaistra and smirked at him. He looked at Kaistra, Penrus and Minhyuk with an arrogant and pompous attitude before raising his hands to Minhyuk. It looked like he was asking him to kiss his hands in greeting.

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    [......]

    Minhyuk, Kaistra and Penrus were all left speechless.

    Then, Minhyuk spoke¡­¡­

    ¡°You clearly did not remember anything. You¡¯re just pretending.¡±

    ording to Kaistra, there was a high possibility that Kongie was unaware of his identity or that his memories were sealed. Most incarnations were born from eggs but Kongie was not an egg when Minhyuk first met him.

    ¡°Oiink!¡±

    [Kongie is surprised.]

    Kongie ced his little paw on his head as he got lost in thought. He couldn¡¯t understand why he was caught just like that.

    ¡°......¡±

    Kongie still remained the same old Kongie.

    ¡®Howe he looks the same time and time again?¡¯

    At this point, Kaistra¡¯s myth-like story was slowly losing its credibility. However, he had only heard two level up notifications. When Kongie ate the first God¡¯s Legacy dish, he was able to level up twice. And when he ate the second God¡¯s Legacy dish, he only leveled up once.

    In other words, Kongie needed a lot of EXP to level up. And having two level ups in one go meant that Penrus¡¯ breath was more powerful than what he had initially thought of.

    Minhyuk quickly checked Kongie¡¯s status window.

    (Kongie)

    Rank: The Sealed Incarnation of Gluttony

    Race: Pet

    Level: 8

    Attack Power: 2,941

    Defensive Power: 3,541

    Summoning Duration per Day: 8 hours.

    Summoning Waiting Time: 16 hours

    Special Abilities:

    ©¥ He will immediately detect if there is a medicine nearby.

    ©¥ Pet Owner¡¯s attack power will be increased by 20%.

    ©¥ Pet Owner¡¯s defensive power will be increased by 20%.

    ©¥ Passive Skill: Instinctual Protection

    ©¥ He can now wear three artifacts.

    Condition for Growth: The blood of your enemies.

    Potential: 184

    Experience Value: 0% / 100%

    ¡°......?¡±

    Minhyuk could see that the rank that was previously written as ¡°???¡± had turned into the Sealed Incarnation of Gluttony. In addition, There were significant changes in the attack power which had increased by more than 2,000. The attack power and defensive power buffs had also increased significantly. As he looked through the contents, he saw that the condition for Kongie¡¯s growth had also increased.

    ¡®The blood of your enemies?¡¯

    Minhyuk turned to look at Kongie in both shock and surprise.

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    I thought Cauhel would be someone that¡¯s mature and can weigh the pros and the cons. Sigh. Minhyuk will have to fight against someone who underestimates him again, huh? Well, it seems like they will be the sacrifice for Kongie¡¯s growth with how it¡¯s going. Kek.

    Sigh. I got two updates from Kongie¡¯s stat window but not once from Minhyuk since what, ch 55? I want to see Minhyuk¡¯s stats!!!!

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 179 - A Pleasant Meal

    Chapter 179: A Pleasant Meal

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    52 A Pleasant Meal

    ¡®What¡¯s this¡­¡­?¡¯

    The condition for growth was extremely contrasting to Kongie¡¯s cute and lovable appearance. Minhyuk quickly clicked on the detailed exnation of blood of your enemies to confirm.

    [In order to unseal Gluttony¡¯s Incarnation, you have to prove your strength and be recognized by him. The blood of your enemies meant hunting and sessfully killing users, NPCs, or humanoid type monsters. The % increase will increase differently depending on the strength of your enemies. If your enemy¡¯s strength is higher then the % will also increase. Once you have reached 100% then the Incarnation of Gluttony will awaken.]

    In fact, Minhyuk had already recognized the fact that Kongie would awaken once the bar reaches 100% and that he wasn¡¯t awakened up until this point. However, even without awakening, the current Kongie had already be a very powerful pet. A pet with almost 3,000 in their attack power was notmon. In addition, even Kongie¡¯s buff skills were extremely outstanding with both attack and power having an increase of 20%.

    Right at that moment, a whisper came in.

    [Genie: Minhyuk-ah, we¡¯ve collected everything^^!]

    It was a whisper from Genie. The whisper came just in time for his Dad¡¯s birthday tomorrow. He was thinking of just treating them to a meal with whatever ingredients that he currently had if they were not able to collect all the ingredients within this time period but it seemed like he did not need to do that.

    A small smile hung around Minhyuk¡¯s mouth.

    ¡°Kaistra.¡±

    When his name was called, Kaistra turned to look at him albeit with a bit of curiosity.

    ¡°Would you like toe with me and see my Dad?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    Kaistra nodded fiercely when he heard his words.

    ***

    Park Munsoo had been in Ilhwa Group and beside Chairman Kang Minhoo for almost 35 years.

    When he was younger, a man had reached out his hands to him, a ten-year-old orphan that was just begging around the streets. And that man was Kang Minhoo. Back then, Chairman Kang Minhoo was still not a big name like he was right now. However, as time went by, Kang Minhoo gradually grew and grew. And Park Munsoo saw it with his own eyes beside him.

    And right now, Park Munsoo was smiling softly at him.

    ¡°Chairman, are you really that happy?¡±

    Kang Minhoo couldn¡¯t stop himself from smiling today. Even when he was working, he would put down his pen andugh softly with a ¡®Hahaha¡¯. Even when he was taking a break and drinking tea, he would smile while looking over the horizon with eyes that seemed to be filled with mist.

    His figure was also a source of happiness for Park Munsoo.

    ¡°Of course it¡¯s because I¡¯m happy. Don¡¯t you look happy too?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s because I¡¯m looking forward to the Young Master¡¯s meal.¡±

    Park Munsoo smiled at him. He was also smiling because seeing Chairman Kang smiling happily could also bring him joy. He had promised to live his life for Kang Minhoo ever since that fateful day so he would feel happy for the person who had given him a new lease in life.

    Then, the two of them went ahead and essed the game.

    ¡°Wait. You have an Athenae ID, right?¡±

    ¡°Ah, yes.¡±

    Park Munsoo had created an ID in the game because he wanted to support Kang Minhoo even in the game. However, they weren¡¯t able to y the game together at all.

    ¡°What¡¯s your ID?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s King God.¡±

    Kang Minhoo smiled softly at him when he heard his words.

    ¡°You really have a great naming sense.¡±

    ¡°Really? Hahaha!¡±

    In fact, Park Munsoo and Kang Minhoo already knew that IDs like ck Dragon were like some sort of joke to other people. However, Park Munsoo still chose the ID King God. His only reason was to share the same shame with the chairman.

    Meanwhile, Kang Minhoo was currently receiving a call. The call was from an information collector that he had hired in Athenae. Not long after, Kang Minhoo couldn¡¯t help but be surprised with what he had heard over the phone.

    ¡°Yeah. Keep going.¡±

    Kang Minhoo was not looking for something simple. He was looking for excellent cooking ingredients.

    Ingredients that can make my son happy!

    [This information came from Came¡¯s Ind. If you pass through the ¡®Ice Cliffs¡¯ in Came Ind, you will be able to see hundreds of icebergs that sprouted from the ground. And there¡¯s only one iceberg there that is glowing with white light.]

    ¡°So what is that iceberg?¡±

    Kang Minhoo¡¯s voice was filled with excitement.

    [If you dig up that iceberg, you will be able to receive a surprising ¡®ice fragment¡¯. However, this fragment tastes much better than the normal ¡®Neolbing¡¯ that you can find in the market.]

    ¡°......!¡±

    Kang Minhoo¡¯s eyes sparkled when he heard the information.

    ¡°I, is that true?¡±

    Minhoo clearly remembered the words that his son had told him whenever it was summer.

    ¡®I want to eat spoonful after spoonful of Neolbing bingsoo until my head goes nk with brain freeze¡­¡­¡¯

    And every single time he heard it, Minhoo felt like his heart was breaking. He hated himself for being a father who couldn¡¯t even put food in his child¡¯s mouth. And it was even amon thing for others, asking their child ¡®It¡¯s so hot outside, shall we go to Neolbing?¡¯ then sitting down in the cafe while eating bingsoo. However, they couldn¡¯t even do it once.

    Kang Minhoo trembled. He would make sure to get it without fail. Then, he would feed his son all the strawberry bingsoo, melon bingsoo, choco bingsoo, and all of the bingsoo that he wanted to eat.

    [However, an ice witch resides in the ce so you have to be careful.]

    ¡°Thanks.¡±

    He hung up the phone. He decided to put the promise behind for the moment and do what he could do right now.

    ¡°Let¡¯s connect.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Both Kang Minhoo and Park Munsoo essed Athenae through their office capsules. Then, ck Dragon went to the beginner''s vige where King God was currently located.

    When they met in the game, King God couldn¡¯t help but be surprised with the chairman¡¯s presence. He was riding a 6m long creature that was covered with ck, impregnable scales.

    ¡°She¡¯s one of the legendary dragons that you could hear in the world of Athenae here and there. Her name is Britney.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    As expected of the Chairman, he really is great.

    This was what went through King God¡¯s head as he climbed on top of the dragon. Then, the ck dragon, Britney, pped her wings strongly and soared in the air.

    ¡°May I know how you got her?¡±

    ¡°It was a strange event. One day, I found out that other peopleugh and giggle when they heard the name ¡®ck Dragon¡¯. But strangely enough, I didn¡¯t feel ashamed at all.¡±

    King God nodded his head when he heard his words.

    ¡°That¡¯s why when someone asks me, I feel confident telling them this name. I also brought judgment to the people who made fun of my name.¡±

    Park Munsoo knew that Kang Minhoo was a man who did what he wanted to do. He was also a man who could make others smile with just his merits alone.

    ¡°So I just yed like that when I suddenly heard a hidden piece notification.¡±

    ¡°A hidden piece?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. That hidden piece¡­¡­¡±

    He recalled a vague piece of memory as he continued his words.

    ¡°A person who possesses the quality to have a true second-grade disease. Or something like that.¡±

    King God nodded at him in awe.

    ¡®As expected of the chairman, he does his best in whatever he does. But what does second grade disease (jungibyeong) mean? Ah¡­¡­! I¡¯m sure it¡¯s short for ¡®Important Foreigner (jungyohan ibangin)¡¯ so what does thest syble ¡®byeong¡¯ mean? Hmm¡­¡­ Anyway, I¡¯m sure that he¡¯s one of the best people with second grade disease in the world!¡¯

    And just like expected, Park Munsoo thought that he was someone that was respected all over the world.

    Before they knew it, Britney was already arriving at their rendezvous point.

    ***

    Minhyuk and Kaistra together with General, the diet manager Hyejin, with her ID AmazingHyejin, and the others were all sitting in the restaurant that he had rented out. They were all currently waiting for the chairman and his secretary toe.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk was looking at the cake in front of him with a pleased smile.

    Dad likes the sweet potato cake.

    Next to the cake was the gigantic Dragon King¡¯s snow crab. The snow crabs were well-boiled with its legs, ws, torso and shell skillfully separated from each other. Generally, the Dragon King¡¯s snow crabs were all two timesrger than regr snow crabs so they were really huge. And ced next to them was the japchae and braised pork ribs that his Dad liked. Of course, all of the ingredients that he had used were special ingredients.

    Just in time, ck Dragon and King God came inside the restaurant. The two of them looked like they were just novices who had just entered the game. They hid their levels because ck Dragon wanted to surprise his son. He wanted to hide it until he found the ice fragment and showed it to him.

    As soon as he came inside, Kaistra immediately bowed down.

    ¡°Ch, chairman-nim. Hello!¡±

    ¡°Boy, you must be Kaistra?¡±

    Kaistra was at a loss for words. This was his idol, the idol that he had wanted to meet for quite a long time.

    ck Dragon had already heard his story from Minhyuk beforehand so he was aware of his identity. King God smiled happily as he looked at Kaistra.

    ¡®He¡¯s the African boy from back then¡­¡­¡¯

    He was the boy who had inquired about Chairman Kang Minhoo for him. The boy who wanted to repay his kindness. ck Dragon was this kind of person, he had the ability to attract people to his side. But it seemed like it was also passed on to his son, Kang Minhyuk.

    Meanwhile, Kaistra felt something strange in his restlessness. This was because he could feel a powerful presence wriggling in Chairman Kang Minhoo¡¯s left hand. Kaistra and ck Dragon¡¯s eyes met. It seemed like ck Dragon had realized that he noticed it so he shook his head while smiling slightly at him. Britney, who was resting in his left arm, had signalled that she had felt the power of Kaistra¡¯s Penrus.

    ¡®The chairman is really ying the game just like what the rumors said, but it seems like he¡¯s hiding the reason why.¡¯

    Kaistra was shocked beyond belief after realizing this fact.

    ¡®His son, Minhyuk-nim, is an Envoy of Incarnation¡­¡­ And, the chairman is also powerful¡­¡­ plus they¡¯re really rich¡­¡­¡¯

    Kaistra nodded his head slightly as if to say that he was keeping his secret. At the same time, Minhyuk hurriedly approached ck Dragon and guided him to his seat.

    ¡°Dad, you have to sit in this seat today!¡±

    ¡°Hahaha. Punk.¡±

    Minhoo happily sat in the middle of the table where a cake and a hearty meal was located.

    ¡°You have to blow the candles!¡±

    Minhyuk pped his hands and started singing, which prompted the rest to start singing too.

    ¡°Happy birthday to you~ happy birthday to you~ Beloved Dad, happy birthday to you~¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Hoho. I feel a bit embarrassed.¡±

    ¡°Dad should make a wish and blow the candles!¡±

    Kang Minhoo closed his eyes and made a wish before blowing on the candles with a simple ¡®Hoo!¡¯.

    ¡®I hope that my son¡¯s illness will be cured someday¡­¡­ so we can sit down and eat a meal like this in real life.¡¯

    This was his dream.

    After he blew the candles, the meal finally started.

    ck Dragon first picked one of the legs of the snow crab before stretching it out.

    ¡°It¡¯s really big.¡±

    He was in awe of the food in front of him. The snow crab legs in his hands were at least two to three timesrger than the legs of a regr snow crab. It was because he loved snow crabs so much that he was forced to lose weight after eating so much.

    When Minhyuk saw his Dad starting to eat, he also began to eat happily. He brought a strange-looking crab fork and used it on the snow crab leg.

    ¡°Wow. It¡¯s really plump¡­¡­!¡±

    It was surprisingly plump and overflowing with meat. It looked like a crab meat stick with how plump it was. Minhyuk, quickly brought the plump meat into his mouth. The warm and rich vor of the snow crabs brought a smile to his face. Some would say that the meat tasted exactly like crab meat stick but the vor of this crab was much more luxurious and rich than that.

    After swallowing down the meat, he quickly tore off another leg but this time, he dipped it in the crab sauce. The savory taste of the snow crab sauce and the slightly nd yet sweet vor of the meat met and created a harmony that could unconsciously bring a smile to one¡¯s face.

    This time, he picked up the ws. Minhyuk had prepared crab tongs beforehand so that they could take the meat off of the ws easily. He quietly held the w with one hand while pulling the meat out with the tongs on the other. As soon as he pulled the tongs out, a plump and jiggling flesh popped out and greeted him. When he took it to his mouth, he could feel the chewier texture and lighter vor of the meat from the ws.

    Minhyuk smiled pleasantly at the food. The next thing that he picked up was the body of the crab.

    Crunch, crunch©¥

    The crab fork easily separated the shell and the meat. Then, he ced the separated meat on a te that was already starting to be filled with meat before taking a spoon and eating a spoonful of it.

    ¡°Kghhk¡­¡­¡±

    The vor of the meat bursted out in his mouth as soon as he chewed on it. He couldn¡¯t help but let out a burst of admiration at the vor. Then, he picked some japchae and ate it just like that.

    ¡°Sluuuuuurp.¡±

    The salty and savory japchae was filled with rich vorsing from the various ingredients that he had added in it.

    Crunch, crunch©¥

    The taste of the spinach, mushrooms, onions and porkbined to create a vor that was to his satisfaction. The more he chewed the more vorful the taste in his mouth became.

    Then, he turned his attention towards the braised pork ribs. He believed that the braised pork ribs would taste better if it could easily be pried apart. And as soon as he took the short ribs into his mouth, the meat and the bone separated easily.

    ¡®Wow, it¡¯s melting.¡¯

    The meat and the bones separating from each other clearly demonstrated how well-cooked the dish was. And once he chewed on it, the sweet juices of the meat spread in his mouth.

    And just as they ate the food that was set up and served on the table.

    ¡°I¡¯m full.¡±

    His Dad spoke to him. But Minhyuk just shook his head at him.

    ¡°Eyy. Dad, you can¡¯t be full yet!¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    ck Dragon tilted his head at him as Minhyuk smiled at him proudly.

    ¡°There¡¯s still snow crab fried rice and snow crab ramyeon!¡±

    ***

    Footnotes

    [??] Neolbing - I believe this is a parody for ?? a store that sells bingsoo.

    [???] jungibyeong - second grade disease. Means an immature person who is narcissistic, overestimates himself and usually do violence. I think it¡¯s also their version of chuunibyou. So basically, he has the qualities of being a chunnibyou.

    Notes

    Britney: So, I know that we use HE for most creatures and figures that are not specified with a gender but I can¡¯t. Lol. Britney¡­ sounds like a queen so¡­ that¡¯s a she for me. I would have used They/them but I¡¯m still new to that and I don¡¯t know when to use it so I¡¯m still confined to he/she.

    Park Munsoo¡¯s monologue about the second grade disease. So ??? has three sybles, KRs usually use the first sybles of the words to make abbreviations so he misunderstood the word as an abbreviation. The important foreigner is literally ''??? ???¡¯ which has the sybles ? and ? as their first sybles. Lol it¡¯s so funny. I think he also misunderstood it since it¡¯s a ng that younger people use and not people their age. You won¡¯t hear any middle aged people saying chuuni after all.

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Strangely enough, I cried when I was tranting the part where our dear Father-nim made his wish. I actually typed this to stop crying. Lol. I am strangely emotional these days. T_T

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 180 - Fathers Feelings

    Chapter 180: Father¡¯s Feelings

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    53 Father¡¯s Feelings

    ¡°Oh. You¡¯re right. Wait.¡±

    After eating snow crabs, the dishes that one must definitely eat after were none other than fried rice with snow crab¡¯s guts and seafood ramyeon with snow crab meat.

    Minhyuk quickly scraped off the guts from the shell and made snow crab fried rice while he boiled the ramyeon with the rest of the meat and shells. After he finished cooking, he quickly ced it on the table.

    ¡°Hoo.¡±

    ck Dragon couldn¡¯t help but let out a gasp of admiration. The fried rice ced in front of him was packed tightly in the shell of the snow crab. ck Dragon quickly scooped up a spoonful of the steaming fried rice.

    ¡®It¡¯s really good.¡¯

    The fried rice was overflowing with the guts and meat of the snow crab and there were even seaweed kes and sesame seeds sprinkled on top of it which highlighted the savory smell of the dish that was stir fried in sesame oil.

    ck Dragon ced the spoonful of rice in his mouth.

    ¡®It¡¯s really delicious.¡¯

    The taste was no doubt, superb. Even though he had tasted a lot of snow crab fried rice, he knew that he had never tasted such vor in his entire life. After eating two spoonfuls of fried rice just like that, the spicy soup suddenly appeared in his sight.

    The snow crab seafood ramyeon was presented to ck Dragon. The ramyeon was filled with plump squid, open-mouthed mussels, bean sprouts and cheongyang peppers. It looked both spicy and refreshing with just one nce. He quickly took a spoonful and chomped on it.

    ¡°Heoo.¡±

    He couldn¡¯t help but let out a sound of admiration from the refreshing vor that bursted out in his mouth. He quickly picked up some noodles and ced it on his te before scooping some spoonful of soup. Then, he dipped the te and ate the noodles using his chopstick while sipping the soup together. The chewy texture of the noodles and the refreshing vor of the soup brought smiles to the people who tasted such a delicacy.

    ¡°Really delicious¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Wow. How can it taste like this?¡±

    Not only Minhyuk, the rest of the people that ate together with him were all impressed. This was the result of Minhyuk¡¯s God¡¯s Cooking Skills as well as his high dexterity stat. The people he had invited for a meal would definitely not have tasted anything like this anywhere in the world. In fact, even the ambience and the mood of the ce was really good.

    Finally, everyone sliced the sweet potato cake and shared it with each other.

    Minhyuk quickly took his fork and sliced off a mouthful before putting it into his mouth. The sweetness of sweet potato and the softness of the bread put a happy and bright smile on his face. Whenever he felt that his throat was dry and he got thirsty, he would drink milk to moisten his dry throat.

    ¡°So General, tell us about the army.¡±

    ¡°Ack! Prof, please don¡¯t call me General.¡±

    After they finished eating, they talked andughed together. And Minhyuk was sitting in between them while heughed together with them. ck Dragon looked at them with both satisfaction and happiness. When he looked out of the window, he felt that the moon looked exceptionally brighter today.

    ck Dragon had received the greatest birthday present of his life today.

    ***

    After he finished preparing everything, ck Dragon went out to leave.

    I had a satisfying dinner today with my son.

    Now, it was time for the father to repay his son¡¯s great meal. He had prepared everything he needed before going to Came¡¯s Ind.

    Came¡¯s Ind was an extremely cold area. It was a ce that was always filled with snow and ice monsters even in the middle of summer. So far, most of the users had been reluctant to hunt in Came¡¯s Ind since there were only normal monsters, normal drops and normal EXP acquisition rate. But even if they set aside those facts, Came¡¯s Ind was truly too cold for them to do anything happily. The user¡¯s sweat that was created from fighting the monsters would immediately be frozen. Many of the user¡¯s who ventured in that ce even died from frostbite.

    But ck Dragon had to go.

    That ce has the ¡®Neolbing¡¯ dad my son wanted to eat so badly.

    ck Dragon, who was sitting on top of Britney the ck dragon, stroked her head gently.

    ¡°Kiiiiiyeeeeeee!¡±

    Shwaaaaaaaaaa!

    Britney flew so fast that she was able to reach Came¡¯s Ind in a blink of an eye. And ck Dragon could see that even though the area of the ind was small, the air from this ce and that ce were clearly different. He took out a telescope and looked at the ind in front of him.

    Ice Kingdom. I think it suits it well.

    In addition to the cold, there was a fierce wind and a blizzard of snow falling from the sky. So flying in the sky was going to be a huge obstacle for him.

    Britneynded on the ground with ck Dragon on her back. Then, they started to walk together.

    ¡°It¡¯s truly too interesting.¡±

    ck Dragon, with his ck armor, looked a meter ahead of him. The weather from where he was standing and just a meter ahead of him waspletely different that it looked like there was a transparent barrier to separate the two ces.

    The ce where ck Dragon was currently standing was a ce where there were trees, grass and warm sunlight was currently flourishing. On the contrary, the ce 1m ahead of him was a ce that looked like all life had been lost and frozen while a raging blizzard covered the whole ce.

    ck Dragon slowly went inside that area. As soon as he stepped on that ce, the notifications rang in his ears.

    [You have entered Came¡¯s Ind.]

    [You have been restricted from using Fire Potion.]

    [Your character will be affected by the cold if you logged out from a non-safe zone.]

    One of the reasons why people were reluctant to challenge Came¡¯s Ind was due to the ban of fire potion. Using fire potion could help heat up the body and fight off the cold. Or people could bring mages with them but this ce would make it difficult for the weak mages to hold out.

    Shwaaaaaa©¥

    ck Dragon felt the cold biting into him. He hurriedly took out the clothes that he had prepared earlier once he felt the cold permeate through his armor and straight through his bones. As soon as he wore the clothes, he felt his body heat up like he was wearing hot packs all over his body.

    ¡®Fire Spirit cksmith¡¯s Coat.¡¯

    It was an epic ranked artifact that could instantly heat up the body. To put it simply, it had a simr effect to a hot pack.

    Crackle!

    Then, a ck fire suddenly burned on Britney¡¯s body.

    ¡°Britney, save your mana.¡±

    ¡°Kiiiyeee.¡±

    Britney gave off a dark aura as sheined at him in discontent after feeling the heat.

    The two of them slowly trudged forward as they set off to conquer Came¡¯s Ind. As they slowly trudged forward, ck Dragon saw a huge tornado of snow slowly approaching them as it devoured the things around them.

    ¡°Britney, the blood is boiling in my chest. I¡¯m not afraid of such a storm since I¡¯m with you. Is it the same with you?¡±

    Britney would sometimes nod at her master, ck Dragon¡¯s words even though they were cringeworthy.

    ¡°Kki, kkiyeeeee!¡±

    ¡°Well then, let¡¯s go!¡±

    There was no way for them to avoid the tornado so ck Dragon and Britney both soared into the sky and fought against such a huge tornado. Wounds of varying degrees littered their bodies one by one but ck Dragon and Britney just continued forward.

    And just like that, a day had already gone by.

    Ice monsters like yetis and ice wolves continued to appear in front of him. And ck Dragon, whose lips were slowly turning blue from being frozen, did not look discouraged even though he was among the swarms of these monsters.

    Riiip! Rip!

    Britney also tore the monsters who tried to kill her master.

    Night came once more.

    [Your hands and feet are suffering from frostbite.]

    [Your STM is declining.]

    [Your HP is continuously decreasing.]

    Tremble, tremble, tremble©¥

    ck Dragon was currently crouching inside the pit that he had dug earlier as his body trembled in the cold. Every breath that he let out had turned white due to the cold. His lips and nose had already turned white due to the frost. He might be able to get out of the cold if he logged out but he still wouldn¡¯t be able to conquer the ce. His character would still be affected by the cold and would be forced to log out in the end.

    He quickly checked the map with his trembling hands.

    ¡®We¡¯ll soon reach the Ice Cliffs.¡¯

    It was the Ice Cliffs that no one had ever conquered yet! However, ck Dragon wanted to make that happen.

    A safety zone would appear soon. Meanwhile, Britney stretched out her neck as she looked at him with worry while she protected the pit.

    ¡°I, I¡¯m fine, Britney. I can still go there! It, it¡¯s there¡­¡­! Th, the thing that my son wanted to eat the most¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°Kkiiyeeeee!¡±

    Britney let out a cry. ck Dragon¡¯s thoughts and feelings for his son, Minhyuk, flowed through her mind.

    Crackle!

    She then covered the pit as she covered herself with a mild me. ck Dragon felt like his frozen body had somewhat warmed up.

    ¡®How many potions do I have left?¡¯

    A person couldn¡¯t carry an unlimited amount of potions in their inventory. Of course, Athenae¡¯s inventory itself had an unlimited capacity but it worked differently for the potions. In the case of potions, the amount that one could carry would vary depending on their level. This was the reason why he had to look into the amount of potions that he had left in his possession.

    After taking a short break, ck Dragon began moving again. Finally, after walking for quite a distance, he arrived at the Ice Cliffs.

    [There are plenty of restrictions in the Ice Cliffs with the sole exception of your stats.]

    [Britney¡¯s summoning will be recalled. You can only use climbing and hiking equipment if you want to climb up.]

    This was one of the reasons why the Ice Cliffs were quite difficult to challenge.

    Britney was once again summoned back on ck Dragon¡¯s left hand. Then, ck Dragon quickly wore the goggles that he had prepared beforehand as he pressed down on the thick fur hat on his head. After he finished his final preparations, he took out an ice axe and began his long trek up the cliffs.

    Stab!

    ck Dragon slowly and steadily climbed up the Ice Cliffs with his sharp ice axe. As he climbed up, he couldn¡¯t help but lose his footings once.

    ¡°Keuheok!¡±

    He was tottering over the edge but he clenched his teeth as he looked at the top of the cliffs. Like his son, Minhyuk, he had also been doing various sports. They did not know if it was in their genes but he was also talented in this aspect. And just like his son, he was strong-willed and stubborn that he had received the Will stat as well.

    ng! ng!

    ck Dragon felt like his hands and feet were starting to get frozen solid as he climbed higher and higher the Ice Cliffs. There were times when he thought of giving up but he couldn¡¯t do so.

    ¡®I haven¡¯t done anything for that punk yet!¡¯

    He was definitely a good dad. But he thought that he was still toocking since he couldn¡¯t do such an easy thing like feeding his son with delicious food. However, there was a food that his son wanted to eat so much nearby so he couldn¡¯t give up that easily.

    tter, tter!

    A piece of stone fell down from above the cliff and brushed past ck Dragon¡¯s cheeks.

    Chiiik©¥

    His cheeks were shed by the stone and the red blood that flowed out of the wound immediately became ice. But he did not stop his movements at all.

    ¡®Wait for me! Neolbing!¡¯

    ng! ng!

    He kept on climbing up. He did not have the luxury to rest in his situation but just the thought of Minhyuk who would happily eat the food that he would give him gave him warmth. He felt that his body was filled with warmth amidst the bitingly cold wind. And just like that, he was able to continue climbing. At that moment¡­...

    [Your Skill: Will has been triggered.]

    [You will have a 10% increase in all of your stats.]

    He had a considerable amount of points in his Will stat. To be quite frank, it looked like it was much higher than Minhyuk¡¯s Will stat. As soon as the skill was triggered, his speed began to pick up.

    ng! ng! ng!

    As he continued to climb, he could finally glimpse the summit. ck Dragon finally stood on top of it. And along with that, the notifications rang in his head continuously.

    [You are the first user to conquer the Ice Cliffs.]

    [You have gained +3 points to all of your 5 basic stats.]

    [You have obtained the Title: The One Who Conquered.]

    He smiled in satisfaction.

    As he looked below the cliffs, he could see hundreds of huge icebergs standing erect from the ground. And in the midst of these icebergs, a single white iceberg stood among the transparent icebergs. It stood out from the rest with its color that was akin to milk.

    ¡®I, I¡¯m sure¡­¡­ th, that¡¯s the iceberg that I¡¯m looking for!¡¯

    ck Dragon was filled with joy. The path that he needed to take to get there was downhill so it should be an easy journey. Intoxicated with the excitement and happiness of finding the thing that he was looking for, he immediately ran towards it without a care in the world.

    Dash, dash, dash!

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Groooooooooar!¡±

    And with his presence, the roars of the monsters rang loudly.

    [The Ice Witch has appeared.]

    [The cold has grown more powerful.]

    ¡°You have stepped foot in thisnd, absurd!¡±

    The Ice Witch was literally a woman made out of ice that wore a transparent dress on her body. As soon as she wielded the staff on her hands¡­¡­

    Crack, crack, crack!

    Water droplets started to rise from the ground where ck Dragon was. These water droplets started to form into sharp icicles as it quickly turned into ice. The icicles quickly aimed at him at a fast pace.

    Puhaaaaaa!

    At that moment, Britney, who was forced to sleep on his left arm before his climb, suddenly popped out.

    Plop, plop, plop!

    ¡°Kkiyeeeeee!¡±

    Britney¡¯s hard scales stopped the descent of the sharp icicles which stopped the attack aimed at ck Dragon. He climbed up on Britney¡¯s right arm as he patted her consolingly.

    The Ice Witch floated in the air as ck Dragon clenched his sword tightly. He looked at the iceberg that was not too far away from him.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go crazy, Britney!¡±

    ¡°Kkiyeeeeeeeeeeeee!¡±

    Crackle!

    Britney let go of all the mana that she had saved up during their entire journey.

    Puhaaaaa!

    Britney¡¯s entire body was covered with towering ck mes. The mes were so hot that the surrounding ice, icebergs and snow started to melt.

    [Britney¡¯s Roar]

    [The mighty power of Britney has fallen upon you.]

    [You will have a 14% increase in all of your stats.]

    [The attack power of Decalid¡¯s Sword has increased by 20%.]

    [Decalid¡¯s Sword has been granted the fire attribute.]

    Crackle!

    A ck me bursted out from ck Dragon¡¯s sword. His job ss was a merchant but he had been learning the sword from a merchant that was called ¡®Master Fencer¡¯.

    Dash, dash, dash!

    He gripped his sword tightly as he dashed forward. At that moment, he felt the ground vibrate loudly.

    Brrrrrrrr!

    Not long after, a creature popped out of the ground that was frozen solid.

    ¡°Kkiyyeeeeee!¡±

    A different dragon. An Ice Dragon, to be specific, appeared out of the ground. And along with that a notification and a transparent window popped out in front of ck Dragon.

    [Legendary Quest: Hunt the Ice Witch.]

    Rank: S

    Restrictions: Below Lv400, The one who conquered the Ice Cliff.

    Rewards: Legendary Ice Dragon.

    Description: This opportunity is only given to those who have climbed the Ice Cliffs. If you will be able to sessfully hunt the Ice Witch Javis then you will be able to acquire the Legendary Ice Dragon.

    A smile formed in ck Dragon¡¯s face.

    A punk that I can seal on my other hand appeared.

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Hmm. Hmm. It seems like the saying Like Father, Like Son is true.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 181 - Fathers Feelings

    Chapter 181: Father¡¯s Feelings

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    The Ice Witch was estimated to be at Lv370. In the first ce, yers exceeding Lv400 could not enter the ind so it was only natural that the boss monster did not exceed this level cap.

    [Britney¡¯s me st.]

    [A powerful st of me will extinguish the enemies in one breath.]

    Hwaaaaaaaak!

    The mes that bursted out of Britney¡¯s mouth burned the yetis and the other ice monsters. But at that exact same moment, a blue light formed at the mouth of the Ice Dragon.

    [The Ice Dragon¡¯s Wrath.]

    [A cold force that could freeze everything will be released.]

    Shwaaaaaaaak!

    Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack!

    Then¡­¡­

    Bang!

    Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack!

    Britney blocked the Ice Dragon¡¯s Wrath with her entire body and her body was quickly covered with ice and frost.

    ¡°B, Britney. This bastard¡­¡­!¡±

    ck Dragon made eye contact with Britney. The two of them were talking with their eyes as she told him to achieve and finish what he wanted to do as fast as he could.

    [Britney¡¯s HP has fallen below 80%.]

    [Britney¡¯s HP has fallen below 70%.]

    Nod.

    ck Dragon made a mad dash towards his enemies.

    [Ice Spear.]

    Shwaaaaaa!

    Dozens of sharp ice spears flew towards ck Dragon. At that moment, Britney, who was still getting frozen behind him, unleashed a towering ck me.

    Puhaaaaaa!

    Britney¡¯s powerful mes had pushed back some of the freezing power that was covering her body while decreasing the speed and power of the iing ice spears. ck Dragon took advantage of the moment and swiftly arrived in front of the Ice Witch Javis while brandishing his sword.

    [The Merchant¡¯s Sword Dance.]

    [A swift and explosive sword dance that can easily deal damages to your enemies.]

    sh, sh, sh, sh!

    ck Dragon¡¯s sword dance unleashed swords that indiscriminately attacked Ice Witch Javis.

    ng, ng, ng©¥

    ¡°Kiiiyeeeeee!¡±

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaaak!¡±

    Behind them, Britney and the Ice Dragon were locked in a fierce fight.

    [Prison]

    [A powerful st of air that freezes everything.]

    [Witch¡¯s Mind Control]

    [Slowly makes you fall intoziness and indolence.]

    ck Dragon felt that the strength in his body was drained away for a moment while he was attacking. He felt like he did not want to do anything. Meanwhile, the skill Prison was starting to freeze his body all over.

    Crack, crack, crack, crack©¥

    [Your entire body is beginning to get frozen.]

    [Your HP is dropping at a rapid rate.]

    And ck Dragon, who had fallen in a state of indolence, did not want to move at all even though his body was starting to freeze all over. He just wanted to lie down and take a good long rest. Just as his eyes were about to close, he remembered the face of his son, Minhyuk. His son who had served him those delicious snow crabs a few days ago.

    Bang, bang, bang©¥

    The ice that was slowly forming on his body began to break and ck Dragon once again stood up and rose to his feet. He gritted his teeth as he dashed straight towards the Ice Witch.

    ¡°Hyaaaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    He squeezed the remaining strength in his body as he shed Javis from her head down to her toes.

    aaaaaaash!

    ***

    Valha was a very small town with a poption of 6,000 people. Genie and the rest of the Legend Guild members gathered in this small town.

    The stronghold that the users had acquired could be promoted through the ¡®Territory Experience¡¯. This EXP could be increased through a variety of methods. An example of the methods would be winning the war against other guilds, developing special products or increasing the number of times users entered this ce.

    Even though Valha was only a small town with a poption of 6,000 it was still the first ever granted territory in the newly pioneered Northern Continent and was meaningful in and of itself. In fact, even ¡®small towns¡¯ were extremely difficult to get so this was already a lot. Usually, when users are bestowed with a territory they would only be given a ¡®vige¡¯. Promoting a vige twice would give you a small town.

    In addition, the monthly taxes that they could collect from the 6,000 people as well as the monster drops and special products from the soldiers who originally lived in Valha could give them profits. So if they did well in managing their territory, they could expect a profit of 50 tinum or more every month from a small town. However, this was only the case before the territory was promoted. If they were able to promote their territory, they estimated that they would be able to gain double that amount of money. This was why managing a territory was worth every penny.

    And right now, Legend Guild was trying to entice and attract the users to go to Valha. Genie had been sitting inside the Valha¡¯s Territory office while lost in her thoughts.

    ¡°It would be good if we had at least one summoner with good abilities and skills¡­¡­¡±

    Sadly, even though Legend Guild consisted of only the elites, there were no summoners among their ranks. Summoners possessed the ability to control the mobs down to the T but people with these job sses were conspicuous and did not go well with their guild operations. This was the reason why the guild did not have any skilled summoner among their ranks.

    But if they were able to have at least one skilled summoner, then they would be able to reduce the damages to the other guild members during guild wars.

    She looked through the guild chat while thinking about this problem.

    [Guild Chatting Minhyuk: I have arrived at Valha. I¡¯ll just go to my house and log out. I¡¯lle backter.]

    Genie stood up from her seat and saw Locke and Khan at the nearby hunting grounds when she looked around.

    ¡°Where¡¯s Minhyuk?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s at home right now.¡±

    Minhyuk was a viscount both in name and reality. Therefore, a mansion was also set up for the viscount in Valha.

    The three of them all moved towards his mansion. His mansion wasrge enough to cover at least 200 pyeong ofnd. Not long after they had arrived, a short boy opened the door for them. They could tell by his looks that he was an African boy.

    ¡°Hello.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Yes¡­¡­¡±

    The three saw the African boy show a look of embarrassment.

    ¡°The house is a bit small but I hope that the Viscount-nim¡¯s guild members will be able to have some rest once they arrived here.¡±

    ¡°Sm, small?¡±

    ¡°Minhyukie¡¯s ss¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Who are you?¡±

    ¡°Ah. I¡¯m¡­¡­¡±

    The boy, Kaistra, fell quiet for a moment.

    How should I exin it?

    ¡°Minhyuk-nim took me in. I¡¯m following him around to do the dishes.¡±

    ¡°Uhm¡­¡­¡±

    The dishes?

    The three of them looked at him in confusion. They were walking while having their conversation, however once they came inside the mansion, they couldn¡¯t help but be shocked.

    ¡°......!¡±

    It was because there was a huge stic basin in the middle of the ce that was overflowing with dishes!

    ¡°The faucet is broken right now and this is the only ce where wateres out¡­¡­¡±

    The African boy shook his head as he smiled bitterly. Then, he squatted down as he began to clean the hundreds of dishes piled in the huge basin.

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    The three people who came together looked at the African boy with eyes filled with pity. Then, they saw the African boy tap his back as if he was having some back ache.

    ¡°Hwaa¡­¡­¡±

    ¡®O, oh my¡­...¡¯

    ¡®Don¡¯t tell me, that punk Minhyuk?! Isn¡¯t he being too harsh on his dishwasher?¡¯

    ¡®The child looks so powerless too¡­¡­¡¯

    The three of them were shocked speechless.

    Why are you taking advantage of a child like this!

    But Kaistra had a totally different idea from the rest of them.

    ¡®Minhyuk-nim told me that he would help me once he logged back on. But I don¡¯t dare to let water on Minhyuk-nim¡¯s hands. Hoho.¡¯

    He liked Minhyuk very much. And when he ate with ck Dragon he also went out and talked with him for a while. ck Dragon had told him to take good care of Minhyuk so he would fulfill his tasks to the best of his abilities.

    Kaistra rested for a while. He quickly rummaged in his bosom before taking bread out and eating.

    Sniff©¥

    Then, he wiped his eyes.

    ¡®Did I get bubbles in my eyes? Why does it sting too much?¡¯

    However to Genie, Khan and Locke, his frail figure looked like a boy that was filled with sorrow because it was quite hard for him to wash the dishes!

    Not long after, Genie, who was filled with pity, carefully asked him.

    ¡°B, by any chance¡­¡­ How much does Minhyuk take care of you?¡±

    ¡°Are you talking about money?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Genie, Khan and Locke believed that Minhyuk would definitely pay him for his services based on his personality.

    ¡°He doesn¡¯t give me any money.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    The eyes of the three widened in shock.

    ¡°Ah. He sometimes gives me something delicious. Minhyuk-nim made this bread for me, it¡¯s really delicious. Haha. Ah. Why am I tearing up so much?¡±

    Kaistra¡¯s eyes reddened and shed tears again because of the sting from the bubbles.

    Dripping hot tears from an African boy!

    Genie, Locke and Khan felt a hot pain in their chest as they watched such a pitiful boy.

    ¡®Such a powerless and frail child¡­¡­!¡¯

    ¡®You¡¯re just giving such bright and good kid food!¡¯

    At that moment, Minhyuk essed the game.

    ¡°Minhyuk-ah, you really showed us something.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Minhyuk, who had just gone down the stairs, couldn¡¯t help but tilt his head in confusion.

    ¡°Waaa! But it really is so delicious.¡±

    And the pitiful, innocent and weak(?) boy, Kaistra, smiled brightly while wiping his tears as he ate the bread that Minhyuk made for him.

    ***

    ck Dragon sessfully stabbed his sword in the Ice Witch Javis¡¯ heart. He couldn¡¯t help but feel a sense of delight with his sess.

    [You havepleted the Legendary Quest: Hunt the Ice Witch.]

    [You have acquired the reward: Legendary Ice Dragon.]

    [The Legendary Ice Dragon has now entered your summoning room.]

    ck Dragon smiled in satisfaction while he sealed Britney on his left arm for a while. He felt very tired after fighting for quite a long time. After resting for a while, he picked up his pickaxe as he began digging the white iceberg wholeheartedly.

    2 hours, 4 hours, 6 hours! He dug without taking a break. And finally, he got through the end of the iceberg!

    [You have acquired a Special Ice Fragment.]

    He smiled happily as he took out a return scroll. The return scroll that he had obtained by hunting the Ice Witch Javis, would move him to the ce where he stood before entering Came¡¯s Ind.

    Shwaaaaaak!

    [You have been warped to the ce before Came¡¯s Ind.]

    As soon as ck Dragon¡¯s eyes opened, his eyes were filled with excitement.

    ¡®I have toe back quickly¡­...!¡¯

    But before he could do so, his movements stopped.

    ¡°Yo. ck Dragon ahjussi!¡±

    ¡°Wow¡­¡­ For real? Came¡¯s Ind? You really are crazy¡­¡­¡±

    There were more than ten people waiting for him. It was the Bachran Guild. The people in front of him included Balen and the party that he had seenst time.

    ¡®I¡¯m in trouble.¡¯

    Britney had just suffered from a serious injury while the Ice Dragon still needed to recover for a period of time.

    He quickly tore the parchment that was on his hands.

    [You have used the Commodity Protection Parchment.]

    [When attacked by a Chaotic User, only one artifact can never be dropped.]

    ck Dragon did not hesitate in his decisions.

    ¡®Special Ice Fragment.¡¯

    [The Special Ice Fragment will not be dropped even if you are forced to logout.]

    He could bear to lose any artifact, money or everything that he had on his body except for this.

    ck Dragon drew his sword out.

    Swooosh©¥

    Then, he ran. However, the results were still disastrous. The number of the members of Bachran Guild that were after the tired and exhausted ck Dragon were too much for him to handle.

    However, they couldn¡¯t help but frown when there were no artifacts after killing ck Dragon.

    ¡®Damn. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s possible to steal that if there¡¯s no summoner¡­¡­¡¯

    Just in case, they had brought the ¡®Plundering Tamer¡¯. The Plundering Tamer was a secret ss. It was a rare ss that could steal and loot other people¡¯s tamed monsters. And he was a tamer that was associated with the Bachran Guild.

    However, ording to him, the tamed monster that ck Dragon had was a species that could not be looted at all.

    ¡®Well. We should just continue to kill him, right? Hehehe.¡¯

    If we did that, then wouldn¡¯t that ck Dragon drop a good artifact?

    Balen smiled wickedly,pletely unaware of the impending storm that wasing their way.

    ***

    ¡°You brat!¡±

    ¡°How can you do such a thing to a child?!¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s a pitiful and weak(?) child! You¡¯re worse than my face!¡±

    Locke grabbed Minhyuk by the cor.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Minhyuk tilted his head in confusion as he looked at Khan, Locke and Genie all huffing and puffing in rage.

    ¡°How could you do that to a powerless and weak child¡­¡­¡±

    ¡®Powerless¡­¡­ who?¡¯

    Kaistra? He said that he was 9th in the unofficial world rankings though.

    There was a high chance that even if the three of them worked together, they would still not be able to fight against him. Minhyuk exined to them what happened.

    ¡°Ah¡­¡­ th, then, it was not like that. So that boy wanted to follow you because you and your father helped him before?¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head.

    ¡°There¡¯s another mouth to feed. Why do people always want to follow me! I have already told Kaistra not to follow me again and again, but he still followed me! And sometimes¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk burst into tears. Once in a while, Kaistra would smile and look at him innocently while saying ¡®Please give me something delicious.¡¯.

    This is why Kaistra is in charge of the dishes!

    He even often made bread for him. Every time he logged out to go to bed, his body would shake and his pillow would be wet with tears because he always gave it to him before he went to bed! Also, Minhyuk had continuously told Kaistra that he could just y the gamefortably but he said that he wanted to stay beside Minhyuk. He even thought of giving him a mission soon just to keep him away from him for a while.

    ¡°I see¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Uhm¡­¡­¡±

    The three of them nodded their heads.

    ¡°Do you understand what I¡¯m feeling?¡±

    Minhyuk cried sadly.

    I already have two more mouths to feed! One is Ben and the other is Kaistra!

    Then, he suddenly thought about what his father and Kaistra had talked about after the meal a few days ago. If he asked Kaistra, he was sure that he wouldn¡¯t answer him so he had no choice but to ask his father. He was lucky that today was his father¡¯s day off. Minhyuk thought that he should go and log out to ask about what they had talked about.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be out for a while.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    Minhyuk immediately logged out. As soon as he logged out, Khan, Genie and Locke looked at each other before speaking.

    ¡°Sigh¡­¡­ It seems that the poor boy doesn¡¯t have anything, he doesn¡¯t even have much strength so he¡¯s trying to do the dishes somehow.¡±

    ¡°Yeah¡­¡­ So let¡¯s be nice to that boy.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    Minhyuk had left something important. He forgot to tell them that Kaistra was stronger than anyone in Legend Guild.

    ***

    Minhyuk headed straight to his father¡¯s office after logging out of the game.

    ¡®Did he eat already?¡¯

    He felt extremely happy because he felt like the rtionship between him and his father had be a lot closer after they had eaten a meal together not too long ago.

    Just as he was about to knock on the door.

    ¡°Bachran Guild?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. I think they¡¯re after Britney who¡¯s sealed in my left arm. They found me just so they could PK me. Eventually, I had no choice but to die.¡±

    ¡®......?!¡¯

    Minhyuk¡¯s hands that were about to knock on the door halted.

    ¡®My dad was PKed¡­¡­?¡¯

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    I¡¯m beginning to realize why the three of them had mistaken Minhyuk as someone poor before. LOL. Minhyuk does not exin well and the three of them have vivid imaginations. Sigh. Wonder how they¡¯ll react once they see Kaistra in action? hahaha.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 182 - Surprise Attack

    Chapter 182: Surprise Attack

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    54 Surprise Attack

    Minhyuk listened as closely and as quietly as he could to his father¡¯s story.

    ¡°Are you alright, Chairman-nim?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine. I just don¡¯t know what to do about it. Hohoho!¡±

    He could hear his father¡¯sughter through the door but he could still sense the bitterness hidden underneath it.

    ¡°It¡¯s a relief that I had acquired the ice fragment from Came¡¯s Ind. And I was also able to keep it safe.¡±

    ¡®Came¡¯s Ind?¡¯

    Minhyuk chewed over the words Came¡¯s Ind.

    Came¡¯s Ind was an ind that was surrounded by hellish coldness that other users dare not even challenge it. Most of the users who had tried to challenge the ind had been frozen to their deaths. What was worse was that there were difficult trials that awaited the users in their path. There was even one user who said this about the ind¡­¡­

    ¡®It¡¯s already crazy even if it¡¯s just a little bit colder than the real world but you can even die of frostbite there. Do you know how terrible it is?¡¯

    The thought of freezing to death even if it was just in the game was too scary.

    But my dad went to Came¡¯s Ind?

    ¡®He¡¯s probably at a much higher level than what I initially thought?¡¯

    Kang Minhoo and Park Munsoo¡¯s conversation continued on.

    ¡°But it¡¯s still a relief. I started the game when that brat started ying the game too but now I can finally feed him this delicious ¡®Neolbing¡¯.¡±

    ¡°Chairman-nim¡­¡­¡±

    Park Munsoo¡¯s voice trailed off but Minhyuk¡¯s eyes sank and turned cold. He could tell that when he started this treatment his father also started ying the game and he worked hard to be strong all by himself. And he worked hard only for one goal¡­¡­ and that was to feed him delicious and good food.

    Minhyuk¡¯s fists clenched tightly.

    Bachran Guild.

    Javin and Buckle, the people who had entered Ructo¡¯s tomb with him before, were also from Bachran Guild. In addition, while they were riding on Penrus before, Kaistra had told him that the Bachran Guild were preparing an ambush and were targeting his millstone.

    Minhyuk quickly searched for Bachran Guild¡¯s information. The guild was a notorious rude-mannered guild. However,rge guilds did not touch them unless they had conflicts with them.

    Are they afraid of shit? Is it because they¡¯re dirty so they try to avoid them?

    He turned around and walked back to his room as he essed the game via the capsule. Meanwhile, Park Munsoo just sighed ruefully as he watched Kang Minhoough happily thinking about the good side of things.

    ¡°Well, it seems like our young friends could really be like that huh? Hoho! Ah, I need to get some rest. I feel so tired because I yed games without sleeping. Wait, please don¡¯t forget to clean my desk.¡±

    Kang Minhoo opened the door and went out of the office. Park Munsoo bowed silently but as soon as Minhoo stepped out of the office, the expression on his face had suddenly turned rigid. He slowly took off his horn-rimmed sses and hung them on his top left pocket.

    ¡®How dare¡­¡­! How dare¡­¡­! How dare youy your hands on Chairman-nim! I will never let those bastards go!¡¯

    This was the first time that Park Munsoo had felt this much anger in his life. Of course, what happened was only inside virtual reality. However, he still couldn¡¯t stand the thought of people stabbing the Chairman¡¯s body as theyughed horrendously at him.

    It took him quite some time to stifle his boiling anger as he stepped forward to clear Minhoo¡¯s desk. He found a fountain pen inserted in one of the Chairman¡¯s notebooks so he pulled the pen out to tidy the rest up.

    ¡®Hmm?¡¯

    Park Munsoo opened the notebook to remove the pen, but when he saw the contents of the notebook his pupils widened and shook wildly.

    ¡°......!¡±

    [Hoo¡­¡­ I still feel bitter that I got PKed. It would really be great if there are people who helped me at times like these. Ah¡­¡­ I think I heard that Kim Taesik of Ilhwa Constructions also ys Athenae. Come to think of it even, Lee Taejin, the Chairman of Noddugi also ys this game.]

    Park Munsoo looked at the ce where Kang Minhoo had just sat.

    In fact, there were only a few of the department heads in Ilhwa Group that were aware that Chairman Kang Minhoo was currently ying Athenae. In addition, Athenae was a game that a lot of famous people had yed in recent years. There were even plenty of political and business leaders that were rankers so it wasn¡¯t that strange to see older people in the game. But Park Munsoo saw this as a ¡®sign¡¯.

    ¡®How dare you mess with the Chairman, I will let you pay for that¡­¡­!¡¯

    Then he began to send messages that were filled with his wrath and anger.

    At the same time, Kim Taesik, the head of Ilhwa Construction and who was currently holding a meeting, was shocked when he saw the message that came from Secretary Park Munsoo through their emergency contactwork.

    [The Chairman said that he was PKed by Bachran Guild.]

    ¡°......!¡±

    Jump!

    The conference room was suddenly filled with silence when he abruptly stood up.

    ¡°Continue.¡±

    Kim Taesik slowly sat back down.

    Back when he was still a child and had just started working, he had nothing at all. However, no matter how hardworking he was, he was eventually pushed to the limits and his wits end because of his educational background. At that time, Chairman Kang Minhoo became his benefactor. He did not even care about his personal and educational background as he epted him wholeheartedly.

    Right now, he was a Lv424 mage in Athenae so he believed that he definitely had enough power to help. He quickly turned on the chatroom. There were a total of four people in this chatroom. These four people included him, the president of Noddugi and the heads of Ilhwa Distribution and Ilhwa Electronics. The four of them were all ying and enjoying Athenae together. And all of them were high leveled yers with a minimum level of Lv400. In addition, they were all yers who always wore ck masks whenever they were inside the game. They were all armed to the teeth with expensive artifacts and were dubbed as the ¡®4 Hyenas¡¯ as they wandered around the hunting grounds in their lonesome group.

    And right now, their chatroom was on fire. After all, each and everyone of them were indebted to Chairman Kang Minhoo! Then, President Kim Taesik sent in their chat¡­¡­

    [Kim Taesik: Hyenas, get ready to hunt.]

    ***

    Crone had recently received a letter from Cauhel.

    [You must get the disaster artifact from the Frying Pan Killer no matter what. You can also reach an agreement with the Legend Guild¡¯s Master. If that¡¯s impossible then hunt and kill Legend Guild together with the Frying Pan Killer. You can also borrow the support of the Asgan Continent¡¯s Nobility that¡¯s connected to ck Stone including the support of the ck Stone Member ¡®Pharaoh¡¯s Envoy¡¯.]

    Asgan Continent was one of the continents in Korea¡¯s servers. It was an extremely extraordinary offer since there were plenty of ck Stone members in Korea. And among the domestic members, there were unique stone members in the country. One of them was the Pharaoh¡¯s Envoy. The Pharaoh¡¯s Envoy had an amazing ability that could make him summon ancient warriors.

    ¡®No matter what, even with Legend Guild¡­¡­¡¯

    It¡¯s going to be a hard fight.

    That was what Crone thought about.

    ¡®Would Genie agree?¡¯

    The answer was NO. He did not even need to ask to hear such an answer. It was clear that the Frying Pan Killer already knew about the existence of the disaster artifacts. It was already toote for them to pay for the disaster artifacts from Legend Guild, a group that consisted of only rankers and would only seek the best of the best.

    Crone raised his chin in thought as he thought of a trick. He could first disguise himself as a member of Legend Guild to kill one of his members. He pondered deeply over such a trick as his mouth twisted in a nasty grin.

    ¡®Right, we can use him.¡¯

    Crow, the bounty hunter. He thought that he could use Crow¡¯s identity and make it like they were attacked first.

    Crone quickly stood up as he moved to make his ns work. He had already ced a bandit ss user in Valha Town just in case he needed it. It wasn¡¯t that difficult to learn of their location since Legend Guild itself had posted their coordinates in the officialmunity board. After all, it was best for them if users flocked to the small town of Valha since they would be able to promote it faster if there were plenty of users who came in town.

    And the man he had sent was currently looking at Valha¡¯s current strength.

    ***

    The user named Carn was currently looking around and examining the strength of Valha.

    ¡®It has a long way to go before bing developed.¡¯

    Users could also construct buildings using their own resources or their guild funds. But Valha, which was just granted to them, was still a deste ce.

    ¡®The number of guards are too few¡­¡­¡¯

    ording to the information that Carn had gathered, the territory¡¯s previous Lord, Hesdon, was an ipetent man. In addition, the ipetent Hesdon was said to have recklessly sent his men to the subjugation force. However, it was truly unfortunate that they had lost them. It was for that reason that he was stripped of his title and power by King Varen. And just at the right moment, Legend Guild came.

    ¡®There¡¯s clearly something in this territory.¡¯

    Legend Guild were the heroes of Valkyrie Kingdom. Such people wouldn¡¯t have been given such a deste territory by the kingdom. It was clear that there was a high probability of having various quests and resources.

    ¡®Hmm¡­¡­¡¯

    Carn decided to look around and check the management.

    First, the Lord¡¯s vassal.

    They have to check the vassal properly. Perhaps the vassal was much more influential and powerful than what they had thought. In addition, most of the first vassals were likely to be ced in the position of the vice lord. The reason was simple, it was because the vassals were in Athenae 24 hours a day.

    In the meantime, Carn saw an old maning out of the ce that was said to be the Lord¡¯s home.

    ¡°Vice Lord-nim. Hello.¡±

    Nod.

    The old man nodded at what he thought was a regr citizen¡¯s words. He looked like he had quite some force in his body. Then, he turned and walked towards somewhere.

    Carn frowned when he saw the old man.

    ¡®A strong person?¡¯

    Then, he saw the old man head towards a farm that was close to the Lord¡¯s home.

    ¡®Hing?¡¯

    He watched as the man continued to move strangely. The old man picked up the tails of the cats that were being raised in the farm as he scrutinized their butts closely. Then, he began to take down notes in his memo.

    ¡°Good, good. It¡¯s packed well~ The Lord will definitely like some Luwak Coffee once he sees this.¡±

    It was the Chatty Old Man Ben.

    ¡®What the hell is that old man doing?¡¯

    He¡¯s weird.

    Then, he heard the words of the citizens.

    ¡°Phew. The Vice Lord-nim is like that again.¡±

    ¡°Yeah¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°My goodness. I wonder what will happen to our Valha.¡±

    ¡°The Vice Lord-nim, he had lost his child before. You know? So what¡¯s wrong if he loves coffee like that? Our new Lord-nim must be supporting the old man¡¯s hobbies. I heard that he thought of our Lord-nim as his child and that¡¯s why he drinks coffee like that everyday.¡±

    ¡°I know. But why is the old man the Vice Lord-nim?¡±

    ¡°The people know that he¡¯s a crazy old man but the Lord-nim put him in that position so that he would not be ignored. He ced him in that position with thoughts of him.¡±

    ¡°Sigh. But to have such an old man as the Vice Lord. I think we have to make a proposal.¡±

    ¡°Shhh! You¡¯ll be heard.¡±

    Rumors really had a strange way of circting. Carn couldn¡¯t help but giggle when he heard their words.

    ¡®The first vassal, the Vice Lord, is an old grandpa who checks the butts of cats. What crazy shit!¡¯

    Perhaps it was because the Legend Guild still had not found a proper retainer so they had appointed a temporary Vice Lord. With things going on like this, he thought that there would be no problem in terms of the vassals.

    Meanwhile, he saw a man running while huffing and puffing.

    ¡®I think he¡¯s a vassal too.¡¯

    He has a big build and thick forearms!

    It was none other than Zank, one of the Thousand Heavenly Spear Masters. Not long after, Zank walked beside Old Man Ben like an attendant.

    ¡°Damn, you punk! Can we give the Lord coffee like this? What¡¯s wrong with you? You¡¯re strong but you¡¯re not good at anything?!¡±

    ¡°I, I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡®What¡¯s this? A waiter?¡¯

    Carn had no choice but tough.

    A waiter who gets scolded by a crazy old man?

    He thought that it was no longer necessary for him to watch these people closely so he turned away before infiltrating the Lord¡¯s house.

    As soon as he entered, there was¡­¡­

    An African boy who was washing the dishes. After washing the dishes, he crouched in the corner and munched on some bread. The African boy, Kaistra, smiled andughed with a hehe.

    (A Craftsman¡¯s Dishwashing)

    Active Skill

    Rank: Unique

    Level: 1

    Proficiency: 36%

    Mana Required: 20

    Cooldown: None

    Effects:

    ©¥ A x2 increase in the dishwashing speed.

    ©¥ You can wash dishes quickly even when there¡¯s no water.

    Description: A dishwashing skill that appeared for someone like you who will die from washing dirty dishes! If you try harder, you might be able to learn God¡¯s Dishwashing.

    ¡®Minhyuk-nim willpliment me if he knew that I learned that I got better at washing dishes, right?¡¯

    He smiled widely as he ate his bread and Carn who was hiding suddenly blushed in shame.

    ¡®There really is a boy who will get happy with just a loaf of bread¡­¡­¡¯

    He held back his tears and swallowed his sobs as he took something out of his arms and ced it on the floor. Then he affirmed their decision.

    ¡®The least we can do is attack this Lord¡¯s estate.¡¯

    Then, he disappeared.

    When Kaistra stood up to wash the dishes again, he tilted his head in confusion.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    It was because he found 1 gold on the floor.

    ¡°Oh, I picked up 1 gold.¡±

    Then, he smiled brightly.

    ***

    [Carn: Legend Guild has only started moving a few days prior. And most of the things they needed, including the troops, are stillcking. Even the Vice Lord, their first vassal, is a senile old man. I don¡¯t think there¡¯s anything in particr that we need to worry about.]

    ¡®A senile old man as their vassal?¡¯

    Crone grinned wickedly. He had already thought that this was the case since Valha Territory was only granted to them not too long ago.

    Their biggest problem was the dismal amount of members of Legend Guild. Ever since they had developed, they were only in the minority with a number of less than 20 people.

    It doesn¡¯t matter how strong they are, sometimes plenty of people are still better.

    Crone turned and looked around.

    Pharaoh¡¯s Envoy.

    It was one of the few God sses in the country. He had the power to summon the warriors of the ancient Pharaohs. These warriors vary from Lv 350~450. In a way, he was more of a summoner than an envoy.

    ¡°When¡¯s the work going to be done?¡±

    ¡°We first have to pretend that Legend Guild attacked us first, then we¡¯ll do it right away.¡±

    The Pharaoh¡¯s Envoy was wearing an ancient Pharaoh¡¯s mask which looked quite weird and out of this world.

    ¡°I heard that the Pharaoh can summon the Evil Spirits from the Demon world.¡±

    Pharaoh nodded his head. He opened his mouth and told him since he and Crone, who was standing in front of him, would be working for a long time.

    ¡°We can summon Baphomet.¡±

    ¡°Oho. If it¡¯s Baphomet¡­¡­¡±

    Crone¡¯s eyes glistened and sparkled in mischief.

    ¡°He¡¯s the ¡®Sheep¡¯ who can walk on two feet, right?¡±

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Ah. The keyword is sheep and summoner huh. Hehehehehe. Lamb roast sounds nice~ and do you think there will be another mouth to feed? Sounds nice~

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 183 - Surprise Attack

    Chapter 183: Surprise Attack

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Baphomet was a devil from Christianity, his information could be easily obtained whether it was in reality or in Athenae. He wasmonly known to be a bipedal ck sheep. Of course, in Crone¡¯s case, he was still unaware about the strength of Baphomet that was summoned by Pharaoh.

    ¡°How much?¡±

    ¡°Are you asking about how strong he is?¡±

    Pharaoh continued his words.

    ¡°You¡¯ve heard about the 5 incarnations right? Excluding those five, he is the strongest among the current monsters that can be summoned.¡±

    Crone grinned wickedly when he heard his words.

    ¡®Legend will definitely be trampled by us!¡¯

    But suddenly, he couldn¡¯t help but frown when he thought about something.

    ¡®I can¡¯t reach Kaistra.¡¯

    Since that time, he wasn¡¯t able to contact Kaistra at all. What was worse was that Rak also disappeared along with him. However, it didn¡¯t ur to him that the two of them would betray ck Stone at all. It was because betraying ck Stone meant betraying Cauhel and he knew that Kaistra and Rak would know how scary his wrath was.

    ***

    Fire Fist Ace and Bounty Hunter Crow were moving together to hunt for a bounty.

    ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m asking you, why did you follow me in my bounty hunt?¡±

    Ace had suddenly joined Crow¡¯s bounty hunt saying that he thought that he would need a lot of money.

    ¡°I need to raise money for my wedding.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Crow looked at him in confusion when he heard his words.

    ¡°If I marry my ideal personter, should I start with an apartment that¡¯s at least 60 pyeong? I also have to prepare step by step from now on so I can raise my kids well. I don¡¯t even want to bother my children once I grow old.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Crow was left speechless. Ace was only 13 years old, it was too young for him to think of these messy things. Crow shook his head helplessly.

    ¡®Kids these days.¡¯

    The two of them went to Pelion Territory in Batro Kingdom. It was a ce where those who had a bounty always went for refuge. They were hunting for a user named Coron. Bounties were not only for NPCs, users could also be charged with a bounty. And Coron was such a user. In Coron¡¯s case, he attacked the top management, killed all the NPCs and plundered everything that he could. He was a fairly high leveled yer at Lv400 with a bounty that was as much as 10 tinum. This just showed how cruel and wicked his ways were.

    The two of them were finally able to arrive at the secret ce where Coron was hiding. It was a little vige far away from the bustling town center. Most of the famous Chaotic users would usually hide like this since there would be plenty of reward posters all over the territory. Just in time, they saw Coroning out of his hiding ce.

    Ace and Crow¡¯s eyes made contact.

    ¡°Coron!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Coron¡¯s eyes widened in shock.

    ¡°Goddamn!¡±

    Crow, the Bounty Hunter, was also known as the devil among the Chaotic users so it was only normal for Coron to flee. And just as Coron was about to run away¡­¡­

    Crackle, crackle, crackle!

    zing mes shot up from Ace¡¯s body and when he reached forward, a chain made of firetched onto Coron¡¯s ankle.

    Crackle!

    ¡°Keuaaaack! Wh, why are you guys doing this to me?! I didn¡¯t do something wrong!¡±

    At that moment, Ace heard a weird and iprehensible notification.

    ¡®What the hell?¡¯

    [You havemitted an act of poor etiquette.]

    [User Ace is in a temporary chaotic state.]

    [If the other party initiates an attack, the other party will not receive any penalty.]

    ¡°You don¡¯t know what you did wrong?¡±

    Crow walked grimly towards Coron. He was someone who did evil things by killing only NPCs. He did not even dare try to kill users. For users like them, NPCs were just artificial intelligence. However, their lives were limited unlike theirs. And as a result, there were a lot of people who cared about these NPCs. And Coron¡¯s actions were extremely detestable and condemnable.

    At that moment, Coron¡¯s body suddenly went limp. And along with that, Ace was suddenly notified.

    [You have forced the other party to log out.]

    [You have be a Chaotic User.]

    [Various penalties will be applied to you.]

    [Killing one of the members of Bachran Guild can cause friction with Bachran Guild.]

    ¡°......!¡±

    Crow was also flustered when Coron suddenly died in front of them. Then, he looked back at Ace.

    ¡°Ace, that skill just now¡­¡­ Does it have a lot of damage?¡±

    ¡°No. It¡¯s just a continuous 2% damage effect.¡±

    Crow suddenly had a bad feeling.

    ¡®It feels like he deliberately shaved off his blood.¡¯

    Then, Ace said¡­¡­

    ¡°Crow.¡±

    ¡°Yeah?¡±

    ¡°That bastard, is he a person from Bachran Guild.¡±

    ¡°......What are you saying. Coron is not part of any guild. And you know that I only move against people without guilds.¡±

    ¡°But when this bastard died it said that he was a Bachran Guild member and that I¡¯m chaotic now.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Crow¡¯s eyes widened. Bachran Guild was the 8th in the domestic guild rankings. It was a guild that was famous for being a rude mannered guild.

    Ace became Chaotic?

    This meant that Coron had solved his Chaotic state. There were only two ways to solve the chaotic state. He could go to the priest to repent. However, this method would use an incredible amount of gold. The second method was hunting and quests. Every time he hunted a monster, his chaotic level would drop little by little. Or he could immediately drop the chaotic level by doing a preceding quest.

    ¡®Right now, I think they tried to make Ace chaotic. Why?¡¯

    The cost of repentance would depend on the chaotic level and it was extremely expensive.

    Why will Coron do such a thing? And Bachran Guild?

    ¡°Ace.¡±

    ¡°Yeah?¡±

    ¡°Something had gone wrong.¡±

    ***

    The Thousand Heavenly Spear Master Zank had arrived at the capital of Valkyrie Kingdom after working hard to learn how to serve these days. Then, he saw ten people talking amidst each other.

    ¡°Wow. Who is that person?¡±

    ¡°You can tell that he¡¯s a high leveled NPC, right?¡±

    ¡°So cool¡­¡­¡±

    The users were all bursting in admiration. The people they were talking about were the Heavenly Spear Masters. In the case of the Heavenly Spear Masters, they were the 1,000 or 100 most prestigious NPCs in the way of the spear. The people who were a part of the Thousand and the Hundred Heavenly Spear Masters all had varying degrees of strength.

    The Hundred Heavenly Spear Masters could match at least 3,000 of the Thousand Heavenly Spear Masters. Usually, the Hundred Heavenly Spear Masters were at Lv450~460 while the Thousand Heavenly Spear Masters were at Lv410~440.

    There were two people from the Hundred Heavenly Spear Masters and eight people from the Thousand Heavenly Spear Masters. Each and every one of them either learned spearmanship under Ben or grew up hearing Ben¡¯s tales. And they were also sitting in various positions including a knight, a noble escort, a bar and even a baron.

    ¡°Why are you only here now, Zank!¡±

    ¡°How is the Legend doing now?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m taking care of him well. If we hurry and go there via carriage then we can arrive there in half a day.¡±

    Zank¡¯s words brought fear and excitement on the faces of the Heavenly Spear Masters.

    ¡°Back in the days, when I was still just starting out, I had heard that the Legend had hunted the Ouroboros. When I heard that, I felt my heart and blood boil in excitement.¡±

    ¡°Hahaha. So did I!¡±

    They were on their way to greet the Legend ¡®Ben¡¯.

    Meanwhile, a man suddenly asked.

    ¡°But you see, Zank. What kind of work are you doing while helping the Legend these days?¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Zank¡¯s mouth could not open for quite some time. It seemed like he couldn¡¯t exin what his situation was.

    ***

    [Minhyuk: Genie-yah.]

    [Genie: Yo. Isn¡¯t this the Elephant General?!]

    Genie was wondering why Minhyuk suddenly sent her a whisper instead of sending a message in the guild chat. When she thought about it, she had not seen Minhyuk recently after he had logged out for a while to go and see his father.

    [Minhyuk: I think I will have to move my hands against Bachran Guild.]

    [Genie: Huh? Bachran Guild? What are you talking about?]

    Genie¡¯s expression turned solemn.

    Bachran Guild? It is the worst rude mannered guild in the country but Minhyuk will move his hands against this kind of guild?

    Not long after, Minhyuk exined his reasons. When she heard his motive, Genie couldn¡¯t help but open her mouth in shock.

    ¡®Minhyukie really deserves to be angry.¡¯

    Even though this was just a game, his father was still PKed. And everyone knew that he and his father were very close. Furthermore, he was clearly targeted and had almost suffered when he was in Ructo¡¯s Tomb.

    But as a guild master, it was a matter that she needed to take great care of. If they fought against each other now, would Bachran Guild win against them? Or is that reason already enough to start a fight? She also needed to take into ount various concerns including the agreement of the other guild members and if they were willing to join such a fight.

    [Minhyuk: And I¡¯ll leave the guild for a while.]

    [Genie: ¡­...Huh?]

    Genie¡¯s eyes widened. After pondering for a bit, she realized his reasons.

    ¡®Ah¡­... ¡®

    If Minhyuk went against Bachran Guild now, then it would not be his personal affairs anymore. Legend Guild and Bachran Guild would move against each other. However, if Minhyuk removed his connection with Legend Guild then it would be an entirely different matter altogether. In addition, Minhyuk already had his own title. He was the owner of the Valha Territory. Furthermore, he was also Ben¡¯s master, the person that held the title of Vice Lord. Therefore, it wouldn¡¯t be too much if he left the guild for a while and came back after finishing what he needed to do.

    However, she wondered if that really was the right thing to do. When she thought about it, the first to go against them was Bachran Guild. And Genie believed that she still had to ask the other guild members about this. And she also had a strong desire to help Minhyuk.

    At that moment¡­¡­

    [Guild Chatting Crow: GM-nim, I think we got caught in a trap.]

    [Guild Chatting Ace: Ah, what¡¯s wrong with these Bachran Guild bastards?!]

    ¡®Bachran Guild?¡¯

    Bachran Guild again?

    Genie frowned and talked to the two of them separately.

    ¡®They induced a PK? This is a very old fashioned method that is usually done in Versal.¡¯

    Several PK guilds that existed in the past used this method against guilds that were weaker than them. They induced PK and created a justification that would take away their momentum in the war. But eventually, they got caught.

    ¡®You¡¯re going to get cursed at anyway. Why, you wanted to take a look first? Are you an idiot or what?¡¯

    No, more than that. Can Bachran Guild afford to fight us?

    Legend Guild was a minority guild. If the war began with blunt and loud words then Legend Guild would start a silent war. There was only one way for them to win this war, they had to massacre the Bachran Guild silently. Unless Bachran Guild gathered more than 100 people, they would not be able to fight against the Legend Guild¡¯s 20 people. Therefore, in the long run, it was still Legend Guild who would win this war.

    ¡®It would go different if they have a strong backing. But if there¡¯s such a group that is willing to support the Bachran Guild, then they will be a joke to all of us.¡¯

    Genie, who had thought such things, had her thoughts tied in aplicated knot.

    At that moment¡­¡­

    [Crone: Hello. I¡¯m Bachran Guild¡¯s Guild Master, Crone. This time we are asking your guild members Crow and Ace for an apology for ¡®PK¡¯ing one of our guild members, Coron for no reason at all.]

    ¡°What the hell, this mXXXXfXXX?¡±

    Genie was so flustered that she couldn¡¯t help butugh derisively.

    Are you trying to do something that wouldn¡¯t work at all? So you¡¯re really just at this level, huh?

    Genie just ignored the message. And after about 20 minutes.

    [Crone: Ah, as expected, you really wouldn¡¯t apologize? ^^ Then it will be a guild war.]

    Genieughed. She was dumbfounded with his absurd words. Then, Crone sent her another whisper.

    [Crone: We¡¯re almost there anyway. Let¡¯s get started.]

    ¡°......?¡±

    Genie tilted her head in confusion.

    Then¡­¡­

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    A huge explosion shook the whole town.

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Crone had raised all the gs that he could raise. Let¡¯s watch Minhyuk go and ughter their guild. KEK. Damn. So hateful.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 184 - Surprise Attack

    Chapter 184: Surprise Attack

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    The Informant, Abel, had recently heard Guild Master Genie singing ¡®Summoner, summoner~¡¯ so he had called and met Kerry the number 1 in the summoner¡¯s rankings. Unfortunately, Kerry said that she was currently a part of her friend¡¯s guild so she couldn¡¯t transfer to Legend Guild. But the woman, Kerry, told him¡­¡­

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you ask the Envoy of Incarnation to join Legend Guild?¡±

    ¡°Envoy of Incarnation?¡±

    ¡°Ah. Yes. You don¡¯t know? Well¡­¡­ There¡¯s only a few among the summoners who knew about him.¡±

    Abel tilted his head in confusion as he listened to Kerry exin about the Envoy of Incarnation. His identity was hidden behind a veil but small bits of information were gathered one by one which eventually led to his information being formed.

    When Abel heard his story, he couldn¡¯t help but be impressed.

    ¡®There¡¯s such a user in our country?¡¯

    He could tell that the user was a bigwig just by listening to his story and the more he listened to Kerry, the more he realized how tremendous his powers were. Then, Kerry said¡­¡­

    ¡°I heard that he was an African boy.¡±

    ¡°Yes? An African boy?¡±

    Abel frowned.

    An African boy? There¡¯s an African boy in the country?

    Then, Abel remembered Genie saying ¡®I have found a dongsaeng. His name is Kaistra and he¡¯s African. He¡¯s extremely cute!¡¯.

    ¡°By, by any chance¡­¡­ his name¡­¡­¡±

    Having a faint premonition, Abel asked her in a trembling voice.

    ¡°I think it¡¯s Kaistra?¡±

    ***

    Dash!

    Genie hurried outside.

    ¡°These crazy fXckers!¡±

    Her eyes widened in shock. There were dozens of magical attacks running rampant and attacking the entire estate.

    ¡°Evacuate the people first!¡±

    Genie quickly shouted an order to the soldiers as she began to run.

    [Guild Master Genie: Bachran Guildunched a surprise attack. Head back to Valha right now!]

    They even went to look for a time when most of our guild members are out, huh? They¡¯re this bold, huh?

    She was clear that they would incur tremendous criticism from this. When she thought about it, she believed that they would probably gain much more than the damage that they would receive.

    Then, at that moment Genie saw something incredible.

    ¡®W, what the hell is that? Anubis?¡¯

    It was a jackal. However, this creature had the face of a dog while having the muscr upper body and walking on two legs. Hundreds of these creatures were attacking the entrance of the estate.

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Ugh, aaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Sa, save me!¡±

    In addition, the troops that were guarding the site easily fell down in one sword strike. They couldn¡¯t even resist once from their attacks. This meant that they were at least around Lv300~370.

    ¡°Goddamnit!¡±

    Genie quickly sent an order to the captain of the Knights that were protecting the territory.

    ¡°I¡¯ll block the entrance first. Quickly evacuate our citizens to safety!¡±

    If their citizens died then the level of satisfaction would drop and the level of theirnd would also decrease. And once they lose the trust of their citizens then this territory would definitely be over. Genie hurriedly ran at a violent speed.

    ¡°Locke!¡±

    ¡°What the hell is going on?!¡±

    ¡°Fight first!¡±

    Locke quickly ran together with Genie.

    Crackle!

    [zing Whip!]

    [Powerful and zing mes can extinguish your enemies in one go.]

    Her whip stretched out andshed at the Anubis.

    Puhaaaa!

    The entire body of the Anubis was engulfed in zing mes as her whip easily struck its body. But there was a problem.

    ¡®It didn¡¯t die¡­¡­?¡¯

    She estimated that these creatures had enormous HP and magical defense so that they wouldn¡¯t die.

    ¡°Keuhahaaha! Come on!¡±

    Locke blocked the monsters pushing through the entrance as he struck at them indiscriminately with his axe.

    Chiiiiiik!

    Locke¡¯s Crazy Priest¡¯s Heal had kicked in andnded on their bodies making their bodies rot quickly.

    ¡°Keuooooooo!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!¡±

    But the Anubis was much stronger than what he thought. And the problem got bigger once the guild members of Bachran Guild showed up one after the other.

    ¡°Die!¡±

    ¡°Start with the Guild Master!¡±

    ¡°......Shit!¡±

    Their guild members were not yet here. She bit her lips in trepidation.

    ¡®Today¡­¡­¡¯

    Several of her guild members gathered earlier to y football.

    Anyway that football is a bastard!

    Anubis and the Bachran Guild Members continued to flock towards the entrance. Locke and Genie began to get tired and exhausted. Even though the troops rushed out from the inside of the territory, they still fell down helplessly in front of such strong adversaries.

    At that moment¡­¡­

    A user wearing a Pharaoh¡¯s mask appeared. Then, he lifted his staff encrusted with jewels in the air.

    [Pharaoh¡¯s Curse.]

    [All stats temporarily reduced by 15%]

    [Attack hit rate has been reduced by 10%]

    [Critical hit rate has been reduced by 20%]

    [Pharaoh¡¯s Shackles]

    [Reduces attack speed and movement speed by 10%]

    ¡°......!¡±

    It was a wide area debuff effect. Even Genie who had more resistance against these was affected, what more of the troops behind her? Eventually, Genie, Locke and the rest of the troops were pushed back.

    Then¡­¡­

    ¡°Noona.¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    Genie looked around in puzzlement. She saw Kaistra wearing his rubber gloves in the vicinity.

    ¡°Kaistra! Go behind this noona! It¡¯s dangerous!¡±

    ¡°Please let me join the guild. Didn¡¯t you say that you will let me join?¡±

    Genie had already asked her guild members and decided to ept Kaistra as their guild member. Of course, they believed that Kaistra was a weak African boy but their guild members were happy to ept him when they heard his sad and pitiful(?) story.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°I want to stay with Minhyuk-nim. And this ce belongs to Minhyuk-nim, no, the Lord-nim.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Genie couldn¡¯t understand what he was trying to say.

    What¡¯s wrong with him? Can¡¯t you see the urgent situation in front of us?

    For now, Genie believed that she should just let him in the guild and take him to a safer ce.

    [Would you like to ept Kaistra as a member of Legend Guild?]

    Genie nodded her head in answer. Not long after, a notification about Kaistra joining the guild popped up, then Kaistra suddenly said¡­¡­

    ¡°Noona, it¡¯s dangerous. Please stay back.¡±

    ¡°Kaistra. You¡­¡­!¡±

    Kaistra walked forward blocking Genie and Locke. He could see a huge number of Anubis¡¯ing through the entrance. He quickly took off his rubber gloves and tucked it safely in his inventory.

    ¡°I really think that this suits me too.¡±

    Along with his words, a scimitar appeared in his hands.

    Rustle, rustle, rustle, rustle©¥

    The ck leather armor that he had hidden popped out of his wrist as it began to curl and wrap around Kaistra¡¯s body. Then, a helmet that was shaped like a wolf also appeared on his head.

    ¡°You, you¡­¡­!¡±

    Genie¡¯s eyes widened in surprise. With just one nce, she could tell that something waspletely different from him. She could also faintly feel the strength and energy flowing from his body. This was something that she had not seen from him before.

    At that moment, Genie received a whisper.

    [Abel: GM-nim. That dongsaeng of yours, Kaistra. He¡¯s an African boy, right?]

    [Genie: Abel-nim, that¡¯s not important right now! Come here quickly! The territory is in danger right now!!!]

    Whenever Abel collected information, he always turned off his guild chat. He said that it was so he could concentrate. So it was possible that he was still unaware of the mess that was happening in the territory right now.

    [Abel: Kaistra. He¡¯s the African boy that became your dongsaeng. Genie-nim had told me about it before, right!]

    She could feel a faint sense of urgency from Abel¡¯s whisper so Genie answered him with curiosity.

    [Genie: Yes, that¡¯s right. But why¡­¡­?]

    Then, Genie looked back at Kaistra. She saw the space being torn apart as a white wolf appeared out of the crack. Then, Kaistra climbed on the back of the wolf.

    [Abel: Envoy of Incarnation. Kaistra. He owns the only one of the five incarnations currently known in the country. He¡¯s 9th in the unofficial world rankings. And in our country¡­¡­]

    Bang!

    Genie¡¯s head turned to look at themotion so she was unable to check the contents of the whisper.

    She saw Kaistra sitting on top of the white wolf. Then, the two of them turned into a sh of light as they weaved through the throngs of Anubis destroying them one by one and graying the users flocking at the entrance.

    The incarnation of light jumped in the middle of the battlefield. As soon as hended in the middle, Penrus howled loudly.

    ¡°Awoooooooooo©¥¡±

    [Penrus¡¯ Blessing]

    [All abnormal status will be released.]

    [All guild members¡¯ stats will increase by +8%.]

    [All abnormal status of Legend Guild in Valha Small Town will be lifted.]

    Along with the notification, a sphere of light that came from Penrus¡¯ mouth slowly floated in the air. Then, it split into dozens and dozens of smaller spheres before bing a beam of light that struck the nearby Anubis¡¯.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Dozens of Anubis had disappeared in one shot. Genie turned her head and saw that the abnormal condition of the troops behind her had been lifted and released.

    That¡¯s dozens of people!

    Her expression stiffened and turned solemn as she checked her whisper once more.

    [Abel: He¡¯s the unofficial number 1 in our country¡¯s rankings!]

    ***

    Carn along with the other assassin ss members were hurrying towards their destination. He was tasked to kill the Vice Lord by Crone.

    Isn¡¯t the Vice Lord that crazy old grandpa that I saw yesterday? Then it will be easy.

    He quickly found the old man and moved together with the five assassins.

    Currently, there were 200 members of Bachran Guild present and since they had Pharaoh with the God ss, he was sure that all of the guild members in this small town would die in less than an hour. And since there was a penalty and they wouldn¡¯t be able to log in, they would definitely suffer a lot of damage and would allow them to collect the artifacts that they had dropped.

    Carn grinned wickedly at the thought. Then, he soon found the old man in a huge restaurant. He had also found him here yesterday. He rushed straight to the door. Carn believed that it was such a waste to use his assissanation and concealment skills just to kill an old man like that so he just pushed through.

    This was a mistake. Naturally, assassins should be careful and meticulous. He should have checked the exact number of people inside the ce but since he was thinking about the stupid old man that he had seen yesterday he just rushed straight through the door. This was his mistake.

    As soon as he entered, Carn couldn¡¯t help but tilt his head in confusion.

    He could see ten people sitting in front of arge table with the crazy old man leisurely sipping his tea at the end of the table. The ten of them had their heads on the ground and were the epitome of ¡®buried heads¡¯.

    Old Man Ben was really quite angry right now. It was because the ten of them learnt that Minhyuk, the ¡®Lord¡¯, had told Old Man Ben to make coffee and they couldn¡¯t stop themselves from cursing him out in rage. Ben couldn¡¯t let that go and just when he wanted to put their resentment and grievances out all at once some young people suddenly broke into the restaurant.

    ¡°What the hell? Gramps? Shouldn¡¯t we get along.¡±

    But, Carn couldn¡¯t figure out the situation that he was in right now as he giggled loudly. However, the guild members that were next to him were a different story.

    ¡®I¡¯m sure he said that he was a senile old man¡­¡­¡¯

    ¡®What the hell is this?¡¯

    ¡°Gramps¡­¡­¡±

    A small smile grazed Ben¡¯s lips as he picked up a pair of chopsticks on the table. Then, he inserted some mana in the chopsticks.

    ¡°Since you called me gramps, then I think I should start with you.¡±

    Fwoosh!

    Ben threw the chopsticks with a lot of strength. The chopsticks flew through the air and stabbed through Carn¡¯s neck and even tore the cheek of the assassin that was standing behind him.

    ¡°Keop!¡±

    [You have been hit on your vital point.]

    [You are experiencing heavy bleeding and difficulty in breathing.]

    [If you don¡¯t stop the bleeding within 5 seconds, you will die.]

    ¡°Keok!¡±

    Carn blindly grabbed his neck. He tried to stop the bleeding but he stumbled and hit his head on the ground. His posture was literally a ¡®kowtow¡¯.

    Then, Ben slowly stood up from his seat as he grabbed his spear. And one of the guild members who came with Carn couldn¡¯t help but let out a hup in fright.

    ¡°H, hic! Hic!¡±

    ¡®Y, you said he was a senile old man!¡¯

    He lookedpletely different from the information that they had heard. His aura waspletely menacing so they couldn¡¯t stop themselves from shrinking in fear.

    Then, they heard Old Man Ben mutter.

    ¡°Gramps? Tsk. Kids these days really couldn¡¯t do anything.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    The guild members were left speechless when they heard his words. Then, a tactless guild member suddenly spoke up.

    ¡°He, he was the one who said it. We didn¡¯t say it so can¡¯t you just let us go¡­¡­?¡±

    That guild member¡¯s voice was filled with despair and tears. Then, Old Man Ben smiled softly at him as he said¡­¡­

    ¡°Yeah. Impossible.¡±

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Ahhhhhh. Let¡¯s go. Where are you Minhyuk???????

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 185 - Surprise Attack

    Chapter 185: Surprise Attack

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    ¡°Get up.¡±

    ¡°Get up!¡±

    The Spear Masters who had their heads on the ground slowly stood up.

    Meanwhile, one of the assassins, Lepper, had his eyes grow the size of a saucer when he saw the man standing in front of him. He was the leader of the Spear Masters of Bosdyn Kingdom. And his level was way higher than his at Lv460!

    ¡®Wh, what the hell?¡¯

    He felt so flustered with what he saw.

    ¡°Let¡¯s see how far your skills have improved, you damn weaklings!¡±

    ¡®We, weaklings?¡¯

    The leader of Bosdyin Kingdom¡¯s spear masters? Is he bluffing? No, I don¡¯t think so.

    At that moment, the leader of Bosdyn Kingdom¡¯s Spear Masters, Bren, bowed his head politely.

    ¡°I¡¯ll show my skills in front of Legendary Ghost Spear Ben, please guide me!¡±

    The old man put his hands behind his back as he nodded at him.

    Then¡­¡­

    Shwaaaaaaaaak!

    A barrage of spears shot out from him and struck all over the ce at a speed that couldn¡¯t be followed by the naked eye.

    ¡°Keop!¡±

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    ¡°Keokeok!¡±

    It was just 3 seconds. Within 3 seconds all five of the assassins were forced to log out.

    Then, Ben with one hand on his back and one hand holding his spear went out leisurely. His sight was suddenly filled with the surrounding enemies.

    ¡°Did youy a hand on my Lord¡¯s territory?¡±

    Ben gritted his teeth in anger. Then, he addressed the spear masters behind him.

    ¡°Bren. Command the knights. Freud, go and evacuate the people. Brody, you¡­¡­ and Zank, Coro and Bendry. Come with me and hunt the enemies.¡±

    In the past, Ghost Spear Ben had led 50,000 troops that consisted entirely of Spear Masters. They went on a monster expedition and came back as legends. He was aplete veteran when ites tomanding and charisma.

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    The Spear Masters just came to greet and meet with Ben but they unexpectedly got on a hunt.

    And Zank who was with them¡­¡­

    ¡®Keuhaha! I don¡¯t have to practice serving today! It¡¯s good timing for me!¡¯

    He was filled with great enthusiasm and excitement.

    ***

    Crone also had a small territory at the edges of Eivelis Empire. It was a very small territory but he believed that it would be very different from now on. He was sure that with the huge amount of money that he had received from Cauhel would only bring him higher and higher from now on.

    As soon as he heard that the guild members were already almost at Valha Territory, he had warned Genie about the ¡®guild war¡¯. And within a few seconds, the 2nd legion from here would arrive in that ce via mass teleportation scroll. A mass teleportation scroll cost about 30 tinum each.

    But all the money that I spent here will be refunded once I charge Cauhel, so where else should I spend this money on?

    At that moment¡­¡­

    [Pharaoh: Crone. The Envoy of Incarnation is here right now.]

    ¡®Hmm?¡¯

    Crone tilted his head in thought when he saw his words.

    ¡®......!¡¯

    ¡®Perhaps the Envoy of Incarnation Kaistra had received instructions from Cauhel©¥¡¯ this was what he thought.

    ¡®Then, this is going to be easy.¡¯

    Croneughed heartily. Kaistra who could summon Penrus was still not a fully grown man yet. However, Kaistra was still the number 1 in the unofficial domestic rankings. If such a person was added into the mix then the oue of Legend Guild was clear.

    At that exact same moment¡­¡­

    [Pharaoh: Kaistra is on Legend Guild¡¯s side.]

    Crone jumped up as his eyes widened in shock.

    ¡®Wh, what¡­¡­?¡¯

    Kaistra? Howe? Why did he take Legend Guild¡¯s side?

    It waspletely iprehensible to him. Kaistra was definitely one of the best members of ck Stone in the country and was considered to be the figurehead of the organization in Korea. In addition, Kaistra was the person that had the most conversation with Cauhel in the country.

    Is Kaistra unaware of the horror of Cauhel and his ways?

    Cauhel was a man who would do anything he wanted. One could even surmise that just by having one huge guild and one God ss yer ying under his fingertips.

    However, not long after, Croneughed.

    Legend Guild was still less than 20 people.

    Didn¡¯t they say that the Vice Lord of Valha was also a senile old man?

    This meant that the troops would not be able to move systematically. In addition, the guild members were still yet to start a full-fledged war since the 2nd legion was still undeployed. The second legion was the support. They would be supporting Pharaoh from the back with magics and arrows. Their numbers were close to 300 and even if Kaistra was on their side, they would still clearly win.

    ¡®This is my chance.¡¯

    Yes. This is for the best.

    If he beat Kaistra then from now on, he would be able to receive Cauhel¡¯s trust and confidence!

    Then, at that moment¡­¡­

    [Guild Chatting: Carn-nim has been forced to log out.]

    [Guild Chatting: Lepper-nim has been forced to log out.]

    [Guild Chatting: Kyokyo-nim has been forced to log out.]

    [Guild Chatting: Barad-nim has been forced to log out.]

    ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡±

    The people that were forced to log out were the people that he had sent to assassinate the Vice Lord. Carn, who previously confirmed the capabilities of the Vice Lord, as well as the other assassins were all around Lv400. But everyone had died together within 3 seconds.

    At the same time, Carn, who was currently back in real life, had sent a whisper.

    [Carn: GM-nim. We¡¯re in trouble!]

    [Crone: What¡¯s happening?]

    [Carn: That old man¡­¡­ The crazy Vice Lord¡­¡­ He¡¯s extremely strong. He treats the leader of a kingdom¡¯s Spear Masters as a child. And, I was forced to log out just by a single pair of chopsticks.]

    ¡°......?¡±

    Crone frowned when he read his whisper.

    ¡®Chopsticks?¡¯

    What kind of bullshit is this guy saying? You were forced to log out with just chopsticks?

    [Carn: That old man¡¯s name is Ben. The others called him as ¡®Legend Ben¡¯. ]

    Crone went and asked one of his attack captains. He knew that Beoro was a spearman at Lv416.

    ¡°Beoro. Do you know someone called ¡®Legend Ben¡¯?¡±

    ¡°Ben? I know him. He is the idol and the father of all the spearmen. And his spearmanship is the basis for all of the spear arts in Athenae.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Crone was left speechless. He did not know why things were going this way.

    ¡°Is he strong?¡±

    ¡°Very strong.¡±

    ¡°......Compared to you, how strong is he?¡±

    ¡°Even if there were 10 of me, it will still be hard to beat him.¡±

    Crone¡¯s eyes widened in shock.

    Ten Beoro¡¯s, one of my attack captains, still can¡¯t win against him?

    He sighed ruefully. However, he still shook his head.

    ¡®But what can they do in front of our numbers?¡¯

    Just looking around this ce, there were around 40 people. If he led them well, then their victory would definitely be secured. Especially with Pharaoh. It would not be impossible especially if he summoned Baphomet.

    Then¡­¡­

    Keuhaaaaaack!

    They could hear an indescribable sound from somewhere. Crone turned his head towards the origin of the sound. He could see a man standing from a building.

    The man had a greatsword on his hand while his head was covered with a rugged and shabby-looking helmet. And on his shoulder, there was a mysterious baby pig wearing a silver pot on its head while holding a spat and pot lid on its hands.

    ¡®Who the hell is that punk?¡¯

    He thought about those things but when he turned around to look at where the sound came from¡­¡­

    ¡°Heok!!¡±

    ¡°W, what¡¯s that?!¡±

    ¡°Ma, mages! Dispel! Dispel!¡±

    The Bachran Guild Members could see a huge shadow hanging over them. The sound that they heard earlier was none other than a huge tidal wave. There was a 7m tall tidal wave that was rushing towards them.

    [Dispel.]

    [Nullifies magic attacks.]

    The captain of Bachran Guild¡¯s mages, Ken, stepped forward and raised his hand. The wand that was in his hand shone brightly. However, the rest of the people were shocked when they heard Ken gasp in shock.

    [The magic cannot be nullified.]

    ¡°What¡­...?¡±

    Ken¡¯s brows frowned.

    Not long after, the huge tidal wave engulfed all of them.

    Puhaaaaaaaak!

    ***

    [Minhyuk: Genie-yah?]

    Minhyuk felt it was strange when he lost contact with her after sending her a whisper. And along with his whisper, the guild chatting window suddenly went wild.

    Bachran Guild made the first move?

    They took advantage and made use of Ace and Crow. As he walked along, he was able to reach a small vige.

    ¡®Dad.¡¯

    Just thinking about those three letters made his heart ache. When one thought about it, children around Minhyuk¡¯s age were the kids who started seeing the backs of their fathers slowly getting smaller since they were all getting taller and stronger. Whenever they saw their fathers like that, they felt that their hearts were breaking.

    But for Minhyuk, his father¡¯s back was always wide and big. He always felt safe and secure knowing that he had someone who believed in him and had his back. But perhaps, that wasn¡¯t always the case.

    ¡®It¡¯s because my Dad doesn¡¯t want to show me his weaknesses.¡¯

    Minhyuk¡¯s dad was the only person that he could trust. His mother had already died and the only pir that could support him was his father. In front of him, his father had always been tough and strong. But back then, when he heard his father telling that story from in front of the door, he could see him looking pitiful and sad.

    His dad was silently running in front of him and he had always hid behind his father¡¯s back. He believed that his father¡¯s back would always be wide and big. So he thought¡­¡­

    Let¡¯s be the one who can protect my dad in this ce.

    Minhyuk went inside. The territory in and on itself felt like it was no different from a barrennd. There were also only a few of the vigers too. And this ce right now was Bachran Guild¡¯s current hideout. He easily found this ce since their information was readily avable.

    Don¡¯t you think that what they did was too much?

    Then, the whispers from Genie came again.

    [Genie: Bachran Guild suddenly started an attack. More importantly, Kaistra¡­¡­ Why is he so strong?]

    [Minhyuk: He has always been strong.]

    [Genie: You should have told me that from the beginning!]

    [Minhyuk: You grabbed my cor at that time¡­¡­!]

    [Genie: ¡­¡­]

    [Minhyuk: More importantly, Genie.]

    [Genie: Huh?]

    [Minhyuk: Can I kill them to my heart¡¯s content now?]

    [Genie: Where are you?]

    [Minhyuk: I was going to finish my business here quickly before going to Valha. I have just arrived.]

    Minhyukughed. He would make the Bachran Guild bow down and apologize before killing them. He would let the whole territory know about the truth today. Once Genie answered him, he would immediately attack.

    He quietly moved through the territory. Not long after, he could see over 30 users gathered in front of arge house. Minhyuk climbed on top of a building and looked down on them. He could see one user in front of them.

    ¡®He¡¯s the master.¡¯

    His expression was changing every moment as if he had heard something from his whispers.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk took out a ring and wore it on his fingers. It was the ¡®Roves¡¯ Ring¡¯ that he had received when he sessfully hunted the m Golem.

    (Roves¡¯ Ring)

    Rank: Epic

    Restrictions: 500 Holy Power

    Durability: 4,000 / 4,000

    Defensive Power: 108

    Special Abilities:

    ©¥ Skill: Roves¡¯ Wave

    ©¥ Skill: Roves¡¯ Repentance

    Roves¡¯ Wave was an ability that could allow him to create and use a massive 7m-high tidal wave every two weeks. Surprisingly, the tidal wave could not be affected by any dispel or magical reflection. And Repentance? It was a tremendous skill that could eliminate his Chaotic state, even if he became full chaotic, once every five months of game time.

    [Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship]

    [All stats will have a 22% increase for 9 minutes.]

    [Evasion rate has increased by 30%.]

    [Fatal Strikes rate has increased by 30%.]

    Then, Minhyuk summoned Kongie and ced him on his shoulders. After receiving Kongie¡¯s buffs, he looked at them coldly.

    ¡°Oink?¡±

    [Kongie is curious.]

    Minhyuk looked at Kongie on his shoulders. Kongie could feel some of Minhyuk¡¯s anger since they could share a fraction of their feelings with each other.

    ¡°Let¡¯s fight properly today, Kong-ah.¡±

    ¡°Oink!¡±

    Then, Minhyuk rubbed Roves¡¯ Ring on his finger.

    [Roves¡¯ Wave]

    [A 7m-high tidal wave will engulf and devour all of your enemies. This cannot be nullified.]

    Suhwaaaaaaaaak!

    The tidal wave rose from the ground and began to grow in size. The tidal wave moved quickly towards where the guild members of Bachran Guild were.

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Uh-huh. Let¡¯s go and devour the blood of your enemies and feed Kongie!!!

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 186 - Surprise Attack

    Chapter 186: Surprise Attack

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    ¡°W, what¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°Heok!¡±

    ¡°Ma, mages! Dispel! Dispel!¡±

    All of them were running around in a flurry. One of the mages stepped forward and raised his wand but not long after, he couldn¡¯t help but look flustered and panicked.

    ¡°......heok?!¡±

    And in a blink of an eye a huge tidal wave engulfed the guild members that were gathered together.

    Puhaaaaaaaak!

    ¡°Keheok!¡±

    ¡°Ack?!¡±

    [Your HP is continuously decreasing due to the shortness of breath.]

    [You will not be able to get back to your senses.]

    In fact, Roves¡¯ Ring¡¯s Wave could not cause tremendous damage. But it could easily confuse the enemies and ce them in disorder while dragging their bodies down with water. And Minhyuk¡¯s reason for using Roves¡¯ Ring was simple.

    ¡®When water and lightning meet then¡­¡­¡¯

    He knew that it was the best way to use and exert the most power. He hurriedly pulled out the Lightning Millstone from his inventory.

    ¡°You, you bastard! Who the hell are you?!¡±

    Crone shouted loudly at him while his guild members started to prepare for battle. The guild members that were swept away by the huge tidal wave all started to stand up and prepare for the iing battle while coughing and spitting out the water that had inadvertently entered their mouths.

    Minhyuk did not even give him an answer. The only thing that he did was hold the handle of the millstone. Then, he began to turn it.

    Dudududuk©¥

    ¡°......?¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    The Bachran Guild members looked at him in askance. They couldn¡¯t believe that an absurd guy would spin a millstone in front of them.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that just a crazy bastard?¡±

    ¡°Kill him!¡±

    ¡°Mages! Fire your magics!¡±

    Then¡­¡­

    ¡°Huh¡­¡­?¡±

    Crone stared at the sky above. He could see that the previously clear and bright sky had suddenly turned dark with plenty of dark clouds gathering above them. His eyes couldn¡¯t help but widen in shock.

    ¡®D, don¡¯t tell me¡­¡­!¡¯

    Disaster artifact?

    And at that moment¡­¡­

    [Lightning Hell (Hell¡¯s Thunderbolt)]

    [Powerful lightning strikes with an additional 120% damage will fall down within a 20-m radius for 1 minute.]

    Bang!

    A huge thunderbolt struck down one of the guild members.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    When the guild member shrieked loudly, Crone¡¯s eyes couldn¡¯t help but widen further. They were currently in a guild war so they were in Guild Battle Mode. When users were ying under the Guild Battle Mode the guild members¡¯ HP and MP bars would be floating above their heads. However, more than 20% of the HP of the guild member that was struck earlier had disappeared in a sh.

    ¡°Heok¡­¡­! A, all the dam¡­¡­!¡±

    But before they could finish that sentence¡­¡­

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Lightning fell down from the clouds and indiscriminately struck and devoured the guild members.

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Ugh, aaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Shit¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°The damage!¡±

    ¡°Eooooook! I, I can¡¯t move!¡±

    Once they were struck, the users would not be able to move their body either.

    [You have been electrocuted by a strong lightning.]

    [You have fallen into a temporary stunned state.]

    In reality, if ordinary people were struck by lightning they would experience a strong shock that could paralyze them and their bodies would start having seizures. XR

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    The lightning continuously descended while exerting its most powerful force. And in between themotion, Crone could see the notifications¡­¡­

    [Guild Chatting: Bea-nim has been forced to log out.]

    [Guild Chatting: Beige-nim has been forced to log out.]

    [Guild Chatting: Rumi-nim has been forced to log out.]

    [Guild Chatting: KetoTalk-nim has been forced to log out.]

    [Guild Chatting: Lion Man-nim has been forced to log out.]

    [Guild Chatting: Trickling-nim has been forced to log out.]

    In an instant, more than ten of his guild members had died.

    ¡®S, strong.¡¯

    ? Crone¡¯s eyes grew the size of saucers.

    The strength of the disaster artifact was extremely strong. What was worse was that there was even an increase in the effects of the skill since there was water surrounding them. The damages were bound to be tremendously huge.

    In the meantime, the thunderbolts and lightnings continued to devour his guild members. Artifacts and gold began to drop from the ces where they fell.

    ¡®Shit¡­¡­!¡¯

    The biggest reason why Crone always avoided friction with the otherrge guilds was because of their Chaotic State. Since all of his guild members were under the Chaotic State plenty of artifacts and gold would drop when they were killed. What was worse was that their level and EXP would also go down.

    And right now, his guild members¡¯ artifacts and gold were all scattered around while the man that was standing on top of the building was just looking down at them with a cold expression on his face.

    Then, he jumped down and started running after the remaining guild members.

    ¡°P, prepare forbat!!!¡±

    Crone shouted as loud as his throat could let him shout. It was clear that Minhyuk¡¯s first goal was Crone.

    The tankers immediately formedyers in front of him. Although their HP were significantly cut down, they had recovered to a certain extent after quickly drinking some potions.

    ¡°Punk!¡±

    ¡°This bastard!¡±

    ¡°Like the Wind.¡±

    Vwoooooong!

    ¡°Eok?!¡±

    Tanker Brow was shocked beyond belief. He was the tanker that was blocking the front but he was shocked to find that his enemy was already in front of him in just an instant.

    Puhaaaak!

    His greatsword scattered and flew past them but that was not the end.

    [Lightning (Thunderbolt)]

    [You have a 5% chance of triggering 2~4 consecutive lightning strikes.]

    [2 strikes.]

    Bang!

    A lightning bolt suddenly struck down from the sky and struck Brow¡¯s body.

    ¡®What the hell, 20% of my HP has been shaved off!¡¯

    And once again¡­...

    Bang!

    ¡°Keheok!¡±

    Brow couldn¡¯te back to his senses. His entire body was trembling wildly and paralyzed. At that moment, Minhyuk shed his greatsword as he went past him.

    sh!

    ¡°Stop him!¡±

    ¡°FXck! Don¡¯t let him get to GM-nim!¡±

    The guild members who knew Minhyuk¡¯s target quickly surrounded and blocked Crone¡¯s front. But when Minhyuk saw what they did, a small smile hung around his lips.

    ¡®You¡¯re smiling¡­¡­?¡¯

    Crone realized that something was wrong with him so he hurriedly looked at his surroundings. His guild members were surrounding him inyers.

    ¡®N, no way?¡¯

    Are you telling me that he has another wide-area attack skill?

    The moment that thought crossed his mind he saw Minhyuk jump lightly.

    Vwooooooong!

    Then, he stabbed his greatsword on the ground strongly.

    [Blooming Sword]

    [A sword will indiscriminately rise from the ground and attack your enemies within 9m from your position. It will cause a prative explosion that will have an additional 70% damage.]

    Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab©¥

    Hundreds of flowers made out of sword des bloomed. The edges of the des twinkled brightly as if they were showing them how sharp they were.

    Once the sword des bloomed fully, the guild members¡¯ bodies that were blocking the front were all prated and stabbed through. Luckily, Crone was out of the range of the skill so he was unscathed.

    ¡®Goddamnit¡­¡­!¡¯

    The next moment, as if to signal that it wasn¡¯t the end yet, the sword des exploded one by one.

    Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!

    A huge explosion bursted out from within that radius. The explosion was too strong that it sent the guild members flying and tumbling out.

    ¡°Kgggghk!¡±

    ¡°Uuuuugh¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Keoooook!¡±

    However, they were still fortunate enough to have some survivors from such a st. The only problem was that they were all seriously injured.

    At that moment.

    ¡°Like the Wind.¡±

    A strong wind blew and Minhyuk was already in front of him. Crone hurriedly took out an artifact.

    It was a mberge. It was a sword that had its de shaped like a wave. The mberge was a sword that was not associated with shes and cut. It was a cruel sword that was used for ripping and tearing apart the enemies.

    Even though he was like that, Crone was also one of the most influential rankers in the country and the man in front of him was just the Frying Pan Killer.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know why you¡¯re so strong but¡­¡­¡±

    Crone hurriedly blocked Minhyuk¡¯s sword with his mberge in an instant.

    ng!

    mberge was also a huge and heavy sword which was on par with the heaviness of Minhyuk¡¯s greatsword. Crone was only able to easily and freely wield his mberge because he had a high sword mastery skill. And he knew that Minhyuk was alone. Even though his guild members suffered greatly from him it was only because of his ¡®Disaster Artifact¡¯ and his wide-area of attack skill that explodes his swords. He believed that with those things out of the question, he would easily be able to deal with him in a 1:1 PVP match.

    ¡°Attack his back!¡±

    Crone hurriedly gave out his orders. But at that exact same moment, a creature flew out and defended Minhyuk¡¯s back.

    ¡°Oink!¡±

    [Kongie is feeling confident.]

    Thanks to Kaistra, Kongie had evolved and he now had a high attack power so he was feeling confident in dealing with their enemies.

    ¡°Kong-ah, let¡¯s go.¡±

    ¡°Oink!¡±

    As soon as Minhyuk took his first step, Kongie flew straight at their enemies at a fierce speed with his mighty flipper.

    ng!

    Minhyuk¡¯s sword once again collided with Crone¡¯s mberge.

    At that moment¡­¡­

    Shweeeeeek!

    p, p, p, p, p, p©¥

    A sharp wind broke out of the mberge and tore through Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    Spurt©¥

    Blood spurted and flowed out from all over his body. The wind that tore through his body was the ¡®Flowing Wind¡¯, a skill that was attached to Crone¡¯s mberge. It had a 7~14% chance of triggering if the enemy attempted an attack and was blocked sessfully. Also, it could deal quite an amount of damage.

    ng, ng, ng!

    Minhyuk and Crone shed swords again and the Flowing Wind was triggered again.

    p, p, p, p, p, p©¥

    The wind tore through his body once more as Crone¡¯s mouth was filled withughter.

    ¡°As expected, you have nothing but an area of attack skill.¡±

    Crone thought that he would be able to catch up with just his speed. And the huge mberge was doing a fine job in assisting him.

    ng, ng, ng!

    However, a surprising ident suddenly urred. The man in front of him was easily defending his attacks that wereunched at a sharp and frightening pace.

    But not long after, Crone found a gap between his defense.

    sh!

    His mberge was shrouded with a bright light as he stabbed Minhyuk¡¯s abdomen with his utmost efforts.

    Stab!

    ¡°Do¡­¡­!¡±

    [Physical Damage Reflection!]

    [Returns the physical damage with a x2 increase in strength.]

    ¡°Keheok?!¡±

    Crone looked surprised as he felt a sharp pain tearing through his abdomen. Then¡­¡­

    ¡°Connection.¡±

    Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab©¥

    ¡°Keuaaaack!¡±

    A scream tore out from Crone¡¯s mouth. However, he did not fall down even though he was thrown away.

    ¡°The others will be arriving soon. They¡¯re the best of our guild.¡±

    He grinned wickedly. But Minhyuk just nodded his head at him.

    ¡°Today, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, the day after that, the next and the next.¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll keep on killing all of you.¡±

    Puhaaak!

    Crone¡¯s body slowly fell apart. Then, Minhyuk looked back.

    Puhaaa!

    Blood spurted out from the body of a user who had blocked Kongie¡¯s flipper. But not long after, Minhyuk saw something.

    ¡°Quick!¡±

    ¡°Where is that daring punk?!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s forehead crumpled when he heard the voices of the people running from the back.

    At that moment¡­¡­

    Shwaaaaaaak!

    A powerful whirlwind of energy began to shoot towards Minhyuk.

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡®It, it¡¯s a strong force!¡¯

    Perhaps it was truly just like what Crone said. The elites of his guild had truly not arrived yet. It seemed like the fact that Crone was not the strongest in the guild even though he was the guild master was also true.

    He could see a single man walking in front of a crowd.

    ¡°......¡±

    He looked like he was wielding an extraordinary amount of power. And there were at least 40 guild members that were walking along with him.

    Should I retreat?

    The biggest reason why Minhyuk was able to kill Crone and his group alone earlier was because of Roves¡¯ Ring and the Lightning Millstone. Therefore, it seemed like he would be facing a bigger threat if he continued to fight here. Minhyuk even thought of using ¡®Mahava¡¯s Double Ring¡¯ to prevent an attack through the absorption skill. But at that moment¡­¡­

    ¡°Fire pir.¡±

    Puhaaaaaaa!

    A huge column of fire rose from the ground and blocked the iing attack that was fired at Minhyuk. Then, four people wearing ck masks appeared from four different buildings.

    The first attack captain of Bachran Guild who rushed over, the Lv434 Magic Swordsman Kielt, couldn¡¯t help being flustered after his attack was blocked.

    ¡®They blocked my skill in a single strike¡­¡­?¡¯

    He frowned at the thought but his eyes widened when he saw the four people standing on the buildings.

    ¡°Th, the Four Hyenas?¡±

    Howe they¡¯re here?

    The Four Hyenas were well-known for going crazy at the hunting grounds. They would go wherever there was a hunting ground. He was sure of that.

    ¡°My me of Justice can see through your heart!¡±

    ¡°My zing heart is stronger and brighter than the sun in the sky! I¡¯ll show you the truth!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    It was clear to them that they were old men. And Minhyuk¡­¡­ he was quite familiar with the voice of the person who had just summoned the pir of mes. He couldn¡¯t help but speak unconsciously.

    ¡°Uncle Taesik?¡±

    ¡°......hing?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s Uncle Changsik too, huh.¡±

    ¡°Uhm?¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    The Hyenas turned to look at Minhyuk in surprise. Then, Minhyukughed loudly.

    These men were the presidents of Ilhwa Construction, Noddugi, Ilhwa Electronics and Ilhwa Distribution. They were the legends of the country¡¯s businessmunity.

    ***

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 187 - Infinitely Refilling Lamb Meat

    Chapter 187: Infinitely Refilling Lamb Meat

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    55 Infinitely Refilling Lamb Meat

    The one he had called Uncle Taesik, or the Great Mage of Fire, Ruth noticed that the voice sounded extremely familiar.

    ¡°Are you Minhyukie?¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head. He did not have to hide his identity from any of them. It was known within Ilhwa Group that Minhyuk was currently studying abroad. However, there were only a select few among them who knew that he had an illness. And the four people in front of him were trustworthy enough to know his identity.

    ¡®As expected of my dad¡­¡­¡¯

    He had lived his life wonderfully so it was only natural that his friends woulde to his rescue. Perhaps they hade here because they learnt of the fact that he got PKed. He was sure that they must have thrown away their work toe and mete out their judgment.

    ¡°Hoo. So you were the famous Frying Pan Killer. What a surprise!¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t uncles being the Four Hyenas much more surprising than that?¡±

    The Four Hyenas were known to beparable to the country¡¯s top 20 ranked yers. Their levels might not be as high as those people who were on the top 20 but their entire bodies were covered with artifacts that the difference was almost negligible. Originally, they were people who only enjoyed going on hunts. They had never officially appeared and shown themselves to the public and they had no friction against any guilds.

    But right now, they willingly interfered with my dad¡¯s business.

    ¡°The Four Hyenas. Right now, are you trying to be in a guild war against Bachran Guild?¡±

    Kielt, who was just watching the situation, warned them. No matter how strong the Four Hyenas were, they were still no match against their numbers.

    And Noddugi¡¯s Bez, cracked his knuckles as he looked at him and said¡­¡­

    ¡°War? We¡¯re going to ughter you though?¡±

    Kielt frowned when he heard his provocation.

    ¡°Your reason?¡±

    ¡°You touched someone you shouldn¡¯t have touched.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Kielt tried his hardest to think of who they were talking about but no one came to mind.

    ¡°Then there¡¯s only war.¡±

    Kielt swung his sword immediately.

    Shwaaaaa!

    His sword extended like a whip and aimed at the Four Hyenas.

    ¡°Woah, woah.¡±

    He was a magic swordsman so it was only natural that he had plenty of magic spells that would apany his good swordsmanship.

    ¡°First¡­¡­¡±

    Then, Bez jumped off of the building. Hended swiftly on the ground in front of them.

    ¡°Let¡¯s deal with these guys before we talk.¡±

    ***

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Kaistra immediately fell back to avoid the magics and arrows that were raining down on him.

    sh!

    The neck of the Anubis that was running straight at him with a huge axe splitted off of its body with just a sh of his scimitar.

    ¡°Waaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Kill them! Kill Legend and they¡¯ll definitely drop good items!¡±

    The enemies finally began to enter their territory. Genie, Kaistra and Locke all kept getting pushed back.

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t those kidsing?¡±

    Locke frowned.

    ¡°Today¡¯s the day that they were going to y football, you know.¡±

    ¡°Football can¡¯t be better than this, right?¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Kaistra quietly checked Penrus¡¯ condition. Even if Kaistra and Penrus were strong it was still not easy for them to handle the throngs of Anubis and the crowd of users that wereing in. But their biggest problem was Pharaoh. His mana would continue to rise if he kept on summoning the Anubis.

    ¡®Damned ability.¡¯

    In other words, his summoning could be maintained to a certain extent once the mana supply was supported.

    sh!

    The moment he shed through another Anubis¡¯ neck¡­¡­

    Shwaaaa!

    Vwooooong!

    Kaistra frowned as he saw two giant lions falling down from the air.

    Dash!

    Penrus moved at a ferocious speed to block their attacks.

    ng!

    Kaistra moved through the window of the gap that he saw. But all that his strike had produced was a spark.

    ¡®Their defenses are high!¡¯

    ¡°Graaaaaaaa!¡±

    One of the lions stamped down as it tried to trample on Penrus.

    Tap!

    With just a quick tap, Penrus had evaded the attack.

    ¡°Kyaa!¡±

    ¡°Genie!¡±

    At that moment, Genie, who was behind them, had mistakenly allowed an Anubis tond an attack on her. The troops that were on the forefront rained down arrows and magic on Locke and Genie.

    Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh!

    Shwaaaa!

    The sky turned dark as arrows poured down from above together with a variety of magical attacks.

    ¡®What about Penrus¡¯ MP?¡¯

    Penrus¡¯ MP was not infinite. He could offset the magical attacks that wereing their way but he would not be able to use ¡®eleration¡¯ to speed up his movements.

    At that moment¡­¡­

    Shweeeeeeek!

    A spinning spear flew in. The spear that was rotating rapidly sucked in the arrows and the magical attacks that were flying in the air.

    Crack, crack, crack!

    The iing attacks were all wiped out mid-air. Then, the spear flew back from where it came from. When they turned around to follow the spear, they could see Old Man Ben as well as the Spear Masters. It seemed like they had finally arrived. And the frightened troops finally began to move.

    Dash!

    The Spear Masters quickly ran as fast as they could.

    Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab!

    The spears of the Spear Masters shed and in a blink of an eye they had already stabbed straight through the Anubis that were rushing inside!

    ¡°......That¡¯s crazy.¡±

    Genie was caught in surprise. Then, Ben walked with one of his hands behind his back through the gaps of the enemies. He even easily stabbed through the neck of one of the users who rushed at him.

    ¡°Damn. Bastards. With just these skills?¡±

    Then he stabbed his spear straight through a user and an Anubis in front of him.

    [Dance of the Ghosts]

    [The Ghost Spear dances freely as it tramples upon its enemies.]

    Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab!

    ¡°Keheook?!¡±

    ¡°Heok!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    The users copsed as the Anubis¡¯ disappeared and grayed out.

    ¡°Team 1. Forward!¡±

    One of the Spear Masters shouted as the troops that were initially scattered began to move in unison.

    Vwoooong!

    ¡°I¡¯ll take on one of those punks too.¡±

    Ben came in front of one of the giant lions. He looked so tiny in front of it that it seemed like he would easily be pushed back but he wasn¡¯t pushed back at all.

    But at that moment, the jeweled staff in the hands of Pharaoh suddenly shone brightly.

    [Pharaoh¡¯s Blessings]

    [Anubis¡¯ abilities will increase by 30%.]

    The iing Anubis¡¯ immediately became ferocious. At the same time.

    Bang! Bang, bang, bang!

    Six more giant lions appeared.

    ¡°Damn!¡±

    The lions ran at a speed that was almost close to being violent. And every time one of the lions collided and mmed against a building, the building would copse. It would be over if they broke inside the territory.

    Just then, Ace and Crow arrived.

    ¡°Hihihihing!¡±

    The Hell Horse that Fire Fist Ace had summoned ran fiercely as it pushed away one of the lions.

    ¡°Keuaaack!¡±

    The giant lion roared at the hell horse.

    Crackle!

    And Ace, who suddenly disappeared in mes, appeared on top of the hell horse.

    ¡°Noona, we¡¯re here!¡±

    ¡°You should havee sooner!¡±

    ¡°The other guys will also be essing soon!¡±

    Crow shouted loudly. And along with his shout, several of the guild members essed the game including Ascar, the goddess of the battlefield.

    Ascar, with a cold and frosty expression, just quietly took on a lion all by herself. But the lions had extremely high defenses so Ascar couldn¡¯t prate through the skin.

    ¡°Yo! Guys! We won the football game today!¡±

    ¡°Kyaa! You should have seen the ceremony when I scored!¡±

    ¡°Do you want me to beat you as a ceremony?¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    The guild members were starting to arrive one after another.

    And Pharaoh who saw such a scene narrowed his eyes sharply.

    ***

    The Pharaoh¡¯s Envoy was just waiting for the guild members of Legend Guild to finally gather. He only had as short as half an hour to summon Baphomet. However, if he summoned Baphomet, then he would not be pushed back by Penrus who had not yet achieved his full maturity. In addition, Baphomet could easily turn the tides of the war since he had a plethora of wide-area magic including a variety of magical abilities. But Baphomet was not Pharaoh¡¯s summon, he was just borrowing Baphomet temporarily. He would even have a permanent -5 decrease in all his stats as a penalty for summoning him.

    ¡°You bastards! How dare you!¡±

    ¡°Keuhahaha! Why are you guys sote?! I¡¯ll hit youter!¡±

    The members of Legend Guild who had essed the game had systematically divided themselves to attack the Bachran Guild members, the Anubis¡¯ and the lions.

    ¡®The lions might not be too aggressive but their defenses are too high for them to kill.¡¯

    A strange smile hung loosely around Pharaoh¡¯s mouth. And just as he thought, Legend was truly a legend. They were only that number but they could easily put pressure against the members of Bachran Guild.

    ¡°Keuaaack!¡±

    ¡°A, aaaack!¡±

    ¡°These bastards are stronger than what we thought!¡±

    Wherever each of them passed through, members of Bachran Guild would copse. Such a tight and nerve wracking game went on for quite some time.

    Then, Penrus stepped on the air in an instant.

    ¡®Since I¡¯m free, why don¡¯t I kill you first?¡¯

    Kaistra was an extremely clever boy. Since the other guild members were taking over the lions that he was dealing with before he could now take a breather. However, he keenly sensed danger.

    ¡®He hasn¡¯t shown us everything yet.¡¯

    And just as Penrus was trying to narrow the distance between them while hunting down the enemies that were on his way, Pharaoh¡¯s staff suddenly shed a blinding ck light. The ck light pierced straight through the sky and covered it in darkness. Then, a presence slowly emerged from the darkness.

    The creature was ck all over and had the face of a sheep, the upper body of a muscr man and the lower body that was simr to a horse. It also had a staff on its hand like a real Pharaoh.

    The members of Legend Guild who were dealing with the members of Bachran guild as well as the lions stopped in their tracks as they turned to look at the presence.

    ¡°W, what the hell is that?¡±

    ¡°De, demonic monster?!¡±

    [The Demon World¡¯s 7th Demonic Monster, Baphomet has appeared!]

    [Pharaoh is not Baphomet¡¯s Attributed Summoner.]

    [If you¡¯re able to sessfully hunt Baphomet, you will be the first to receive the Demon World¡¯s Rewards.]

    Then Baphomet howled loudly as ck energy burst out of its staff. The ck energy encircled the members of Legend Guild as well as the forces affiliated with them.

    ¡°Eumeeeeeeeee!¡±

    [The Demonic Monster¡¯s Curse.]

    [Your Physical Attack has been reduced by 40%.]

    [Your Physical Defense has been reduced by 40%.]

    [Your Magical Attack has been reduced by 40%.]

    [Your Magical Defense has been reduced by 40%.]

    [Your skills¡¯ cooldown duration has increased by 20%.]

    ¡°S, shit¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°Wh, what?!¡±

    It was an extreme debuff.

    Then, dozens of magical attacks began to emerge around Baphomet.

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Baphomet was a demonic monster but it was also an existence that had greatmand on magic.

    The biggest problem would be Baphomet¡¯s debuff that decreased both their physical and magical defenses by 40%. They knew that it would be over once they allowed just one of those magical attacks to graze them.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Dozens of magical attacks poured down and attacked the scattered members of Legend Guild and their troops.

    ***

    Count Calvat was one of the Lords that owned a territory and he was managing the Iphas Territory in the south. He was currently riding a carriage together with his aide, Jake.

    ¡°An invitation to dinner together with a warrant, what¡¯s going on?¡±

    A warrant. The Lords of each territory were allowed to send applications for a warrant to the Imperial Pce. Of course they also had the authority to send warrants within their own territory. However, the fact that the warrant came from the Imperial Pce meant that this literally could affect the entire empire.

    Count Calvat was the nobility who had a secret rtionship with ck Stone.

    Athenae was a game. So one would wonder why an NPC had a secret rtionship with a group that was created by foreigners, right? It was a feat that was unimaginable to others but what if ck Stone gave them enough money to buy dozens of mansions in every transaction? And what if they offered them huge amounts of bribes each time they contacted? Since NPCs had a high degree of freedom, there were bound to be greedy nobles that did not want to suffer.

    And as they maintained such a high degree of confidentiality and trust, Pharaoh had told him to put a warrant. It was a warrant for the Frying Pan Killer. The reason for the warrant? Since he made it, then that was it.

    ¡®There¡¯s no way to confirm it since the pce is always busy, after all.¡¯

    Will the pce even find out about it?

    But instead of castigating him, they even sent a servant to inquire about the condition and how Count Calvat was. After all, they knew that the Emperor was just like a puppet to them. This was the reason why Count Calvat just carelessly replied to them.

    ¡°From now on, wouldn¡¯t they recognize me as the leader of Eivelis Empire?¡±

    ¡°......Hm.¡±

    However, unlike his carefree attitude, Jake felt a foreboding sense of crisis. Then, just like that, the carriage arrived in front of the pce.

    Ruth, the Empress¡¯ personal aide, guided their way forward.

    ¡°It seems like Her Highness, the Empress, truly prepared a dinner for me. I feel so ttered. I¡¯m looking forward to it.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s good if you¡¯re looking forward to it.¡±

    When he heard Ruth¡¯s word, Count Calvat thought that his ¡®title¡¯ would be promoted. Then, the door to the dining hall opened.

    Creaaaaaak©¤

    Count Calvat¡¯s eyes widened in surprise when he saw the inside of the hall. Ellie, who was slicing her steak with her fork and knife, had a frosty expression on her face. There were three nobles beside her that were trembling wildly as they followed the ¡®buried head¡¯ posture.

    At that moment, the corner of Ellie¡¯s mouth curled up coldly as she threw a bunch of papers in front of him.

    ¡°Let¡¯s start with burying your head.¡±

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    It seems like Ben and Ellie will work well together. They like punishing misbehaving kids by using the buried head position. Kek.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 188 - Infinitely Refilling Lamb Meat

    Chapter 188: Infinitely Refilling Lamb Meat

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    ¡°Y, Your Highness¡­¡­ Wh, why are you doing this all of a sudden¡­¡­¡±

    Count Calvat suddenly felt fear. The figure that he thought was just a simple puppet to them before had disappeared without a trace. Ellie was a decisive Empress so it was obvious that she had a reason for acting in such a behavior.

    ¡°First bury your head or I will blow it off.¡±

    When he saw Ellie¡¯s cold smile, he quickly rushed to bury his head on the ground.

    ¡°You have to get in line over there too.¡±

    In his current state, Count Calvat crawled towards the line of nobles that also had their heads on the ground. His figure lookedpletely ridiculous to anyone that was watching. Strangely enough, there was a sense of uniformity and homogeneity among him and the nobles that were shaking in a line.

    ¡°I see that you have sent out a warrant for the Frying Pan Killer. I have made a thorough investigation about the things that you have said.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°Is a fabricated lie supposed to be written in something like this?¡±

    ¡°Fa, fabricated¡­¡­ W, what do you mean¡­¡­¡±

    Count Calvat thought that he should first avoid her sight but at that moment, Ellie¡¯s hands shook.

    Twist!

    ¡°Ghhgk!¡±

    His right leg suddenly twisted up.

    ¡°Bury your head like that. If you ever fall down from that position then your neck will fly.¡±

    ¡°......Keuheoop!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t make me ask you twice. The warrant that you have written is false, right? I have clear evidence with me.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°Would you believe me if I told you that the Frying Pan Killer is my dearly beloved dongsaeng?¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    The four nobles who had their heads firmly nted on the ground were shocked.

    You¡¯re saying that the Empress is the noona and he is the dongsaeng? Shit! Does that even make sense?

    Ellie slowly rose from her seat before looking down at them with a chilling gaze.

    ¡°This is the first time that you have been caught. But if I make up my mind and you still decide to brush it off then I can make you rot in prison forever.¡±

    It was the truth. There were not just one or two people who were imprisoned and died because of their punishments.

    ¡°Who is it? The one who ordered this.¡±

    Eventually, perhaps it was due to their fear and greed, the nobles opened their mouths to talk. Ellie¡¯s expression turned solemn as she listened to their stories.

    ¡®So it was a foreigner¡­¡­¡¯

    He¡¯s trying to put the world under his control.

    However, there was one fact that they had overlooked. It was the fact that the Empress was backing their prey.

    ¡°What you have to do from now on¡­ Do I have to say it myself?¡±

    ¡°N, no!¡±

    They all answered in unison as Ellie smirked at them. And at that moment, Ruth, who had gone out earlier, came inside with Count Harven.

    ¡°Yeah. You should bury your head here too.¡±

    Elle grinned at him.

    ***

    All the guild members of Bachran Guild, including Kielt, were forced to log out. Meanwhile, the Four Hyenas as well as Minhyuk were still energetic and strong.

    ¡®Wow, my uncles are so strong¡­¡­¡¯

    They were probably at least as strong or stronger than each of the Legend Guild members.

    In the case of drops, Minhyuk had decided to get the drops alone from those who had tried to kill him before while the drops from Kielt¡¯s group were shared with his uncles. There was a huge amount of artifacts and gold.

    While he was picking the artifacts and golds, Minhyuk had acquired a parchment from the area where Crone disappeared.

    [You have acquired the Artifact Changing Parchment.]

    Minhyuk might not know this but the Artifact Changing Parchment was something that Crone had tried his hardest to get and it even cost about 50 tinum per parchment. When he checked the information of the item, Minhyuk¡¯s expression looked faintly impressed.

    The Artifact Changing Parchment could change the artifact to other artifacts that were simr to it. For example, Minhyuk was equipped with his greatsword but with this parchment his greatsword could change and transform into a regr sword, a long sword, a mberge or a rapier. And even though the weapon had undergone a transformation, its special abilities and attack power would still be carried over.

    ¡®This greatsword doesn¡¯t look good on me.¡¯

    In all honesty, Minhyuk was using this greatsword because it belonged to him and it was a great artifact but he believed that a regr sword was much morefortable to use than a greatsword. So Minhyuk decided to apply the Artifact Changing Parchment on Barraca¡¯s Greatsword.

    [Would you like to use the Artifact Changing Parchment on the Ancient Water Dragon Barraca¡¯s Greatsword?]

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    [Please select the type of sword that you wish to change into.]

    Minhyuk chose the form of a regr sword and as soon as he selected the sword, the huge Barraca¡¯s Greatsword had transformed into a regr-sized sword. Its rugged andrge hilt had be much smaller and could fit better in his hands. Its entire body had also been reduced and had be more sleek and slender.

    [The Ancient Water Dragon Barraca¡¯s Greatsword has turned into The Ancient Water Dragon Barraca¡¯s Sword.]

    [The special abilities change depending on the Artifact Changing Parchment. This artifact has maintained most of its existing abilities.]

    (The Ancient Water Dragon Barraca¡¯s Sword)

    Rank: Legendary

    Restrictions: Minhyuk¡¯s Attribute Artifact

    Durability: ¡Þ / ¡Þ

    Attack Power: 700

    Special Abilities:

    ©¤ A 10% increase in STR and AGI.

    ©¤ An increase of 5 levels to your Passive Skill: Sword Advanced Mastery

    ©¤ A sessful attack has a 15% chance of triggering the state: difficulty in breathing.

    ©¤ Reduces attack failure probability by 50%

    ©¤ Skill: Artifact Subspace

    Description: This is a sword made out of the bones of the Ancient Water Dragon Barraca and God¡¯s Mineral, Adamantium. It is also called the Supreme Sword in the world of Gods.

    Minhyuk nodded in satisfaction. Its attack power was only reduced by 32. However, a high attack power was considered to be normal for greatswords since it was quite difficult to wield than normal swords. And the only other change was the passive skill. Previously it was written as Greatsword Advanced Mastery but it had now be Sword Advanced Mastery. It also seemed like the attack speed would increase the same way that it did with the Greatsword Advanced Mastery. However, he believed that it would be at least 1.5x faster than when he was using the greatsword.

    ¡°We will continue killing the Bachran Guild members in the future. Minhyuk-ah.¡±

    ¡°Me too.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded at his uncles. It was only natural that they do that since they had touched someone that they shouldn¡¯t have touched.

    Then, Minhyuk checked on the guild chat. It was blinking non-stop earlier but he couldn¡¯t check it since he was in the middle of a fight.

    [Guild Chatting Locke: Ah. This sheep head is too strong!]

    [Guild Chatting Khan: Because of the debuff a single magic spell can cut off 40% of your HP?]

    ¡°......Sheep?¡±

    Minhyuk tilted his head in confusion.

    What do they mean by ¡®sheep¡¯?

    Not long after, he was able to see the word ¡®Baphomet¡¯ in the guild chat.

    Baphomet! The two legged creature with a sheep¡¯s head!

    And what came to his mind when he heard of the word ¡®sheep¡¯......

    ¡®L,mb skewers!¡¯

    Themb skewers that could easily be found rotating in some strange looking machine all over town.

    And also, it can sometimes taste like beef ifmb is well-roasted. Especially in thosemb restaurants, right? Lamb skewers are also traditionally eaten with Tsingtao. That beer is called Tsingtao, right?

    He was in awe just by imagining such a delicacy.

    ¡°Uncles! I think I should get going.¡±

    Minhyuk actually wanted to take them with him since they could probably help increase their guild¡¯s power. However, mass teleportation was only possible if there was a mage that had stored the location.

    ¡°Yeah. We know.¡±

    Minhyuk quickly added them as friends before disappearing in a sh of light.

    ***

    The Legendary Explorer, Rak, was looking around after he had arrived at the Valha Territory that Kaistra had told him about earlier.

    ¡®Wh, what the hell is this¡­¡­¡¯

    Rak¡¯s eyes were trained on Pharaoh, then Kaistra and finally on the Legend Guild members.

    Kaistra had been out of touch with him these past few days and he was only able to learn recently that he had offered to take a man as his master.

    And right now, he could see that the Legend Guild¡¯s members had begun to take on the defensive after Baphomet, that was summoned by Pharaoh, had given them a debuff.

    Shiiiiiing!

    Bang!

    ¡°Keuheop!¡±

    Ascar, the goddess of the battlefield, couldn¡¯t help but let out a groan of pain after she got hit with a ball of fire.

    ¡°Ugh¡­¡­!¡±

    Rak bit his lips in trepidation when he saw Ascar throwing up blood beside him.

    [Rak: Kaistra, wasn¡¯t he the one who sent Pharaoh? Why on earth are you fighting against him? Are you unaware of his terror?]

    Rak was also aware of Cauhel¡¯s great terror. Rumor had it that his wealth and assets were over 1 quadrillion won.

    Isn¡¯t that too absurd?

    No, right now, Rak had somewhat caught on a tail and learned that he was a part of a somewhat noble family beforeing here.

    A huge billionaire with a noble family!

    He even heard that it was the world¡¯s most prestigious family that was earning huge profits through the financial sector. And that man was the center of it all. That was Cauhel.

    [Kaistra: Rak, I¡¯m sorry. But I have decided to serve ¡®him¡¯.]

    Kaistra was fighting against Baphomet. He had tried to approach Pharaoh but Baphoomet was blocking his way.

    At that moment¡­¡­

    sh!

    Baphomet¡¯s magic easily sent Kaistra flying.

    ¡°Grrrr!¡±

    Penrus flew in a sh of light as he caught Kaistra.

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    Kaistra looked extremely exhausted. He almost single-handedly stopped the enemies from entering the territory in the beginning. But no matter how strong the Incarnation of Light was, they couldn¡¯t handle this number easily. And there was still Baphomet, the Demon World¡¯s Demonic Monster. Justbining his magic skills and debuff could easily pass it off as a creature that was over Lv520.

    ¡°......What the hell am I supposed to do!¡±

    Baphomet howled loudly.

    ¡°Meeeeeeeeeeh!¡±

    [Great Earthquake]

    [An intense earthquake that engulfs the enemies within a 20-m radius!]

    Rumble!

    The ground twisted and shook wildly as it tried to devour the members of Legend Guild. At least five of the guild members would die if they were engulfed in such an attack.

    That was the moment that Rak finished thinking.

    [The Prince¡¯s Tomb]

    [A powerful stone tomb will rise to stop the attacks.]

    Rumble!

    A huge tomb squeezed through the ground and appeared in front of them. The tomb that suddenly appeared shed against the vast power that was released by the Great Earthquake.

    Bang!

    ¡°Avoid the area of damage! This won¡¯tst long!¡±

    ¡°Thank you!¡±

    ¡°Thanks, raggedy old man!¡±

    The Legend Guild members took advantage of the gap as they quickly escaped from the area. Then, the Prince¡¯s Tomb descended.

    Rak was still one of the people with a Legendary ss so he was still strong even though he was infinitely weaker than Kaistra. Also, he was still not under Baphomet¡¯s curse so he could defend against his attacks.

    Brrrrrrrrr!

    Rak immediately began to gather mana. At that exact same moment, the bodies of the nearby Anubis as well as the members of Bachran Guild floated in the air. It was the power to control gravity and it was a power that Rak possessed. Then, his arms moved like he was mming something on the ground.

    Bang!

    The creatures as well as users that were floating in the air crashed loudly on the ground.

    [Kaistra: Thanks, Rak.]

    [Rak: You bad punk! I need to p youter!]

    Kaistra was a trustworthy boy so Rak also decided to trust his decision and go with him.

    ***

    Kevin was a boy who lived in the small town of Valha. He was a boy who had lost his father due to the Lord¡¯s reckless dispatching of a subjugation force two years ago. His father was once a knight of Valha Town. And the boy, Kevin, still remembered that day. His father had smiled at him back then as he told him that he woulde back. But he never returned in the two years that he waited for him.

    Right now, Kevin saw plenty of demon-like creatures emerge in the town. There were creatures with an upper body like a dog and a lower body of a human that were attacking the town together with other people.

    He was still just seven years old. And such a young boy was witnessing how the soldiers of the vige were dying one after another while the guild members of Legend Guild were falling one by one. To him, it seemed like they were constantly on the defensive even though the man who had summoned the tomb had mmed some of their enemies on the ground.

    Then, at that moment¡­¡­

    Bang!

    A huge lion made up of stones suddenly appeared in front of him. Kevin trembled in fear. He faintly recalled the words of his father as he ran away from danger.

    ¡®A man should not turn his back in front of his enemies especially when he¡¯s protecting his loved ones.¡¯

    Kevin took out the small dagger that he always carried with him. It was his father¡¯s memento.

    ¡°Grrrrr!¡±

    The stone lion bared its teeth at him as it slowly stalked him. Even though he was trembling in fear, Kevin still remembered his father¡¯s behavior and movements. His father held the sword with both of his hands as he struck his enemies with all his might from the top to the bottom.

    At that moment, the lion jumped.

    ¡°Yaaaah!¡±

    Kevin was still afraid but he closed his eyes tightly as he tried to sh his dagger from top to bottom. Just like what his father did.

    Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab!

    Grrrrrrrrr!

    He heard the sound of the giant stone lion copsing.

    ¡°I, I did it!¡±

    Kevin grinned widely as a man appeared beside him in a sh. Then, that man asked him with a light smile on his face.

    ¡°That was really cool. Do you want to be a knight?¡±

    ¡°Yeah! A very, very, very, cool and strong knight! My dad was a strong knight so I want to be a strong knight like my dad!¡±

    ¡°Yeah? I¡¯m sure you can do it.¡±

    The young man patted him lightly on his head. The man smiled lightly at him as a baby pig climbed over his shoulders.

    ¡°You should step back for now. It¡¯s dangerous.¡±

    ¡°I know. Wait. Hyung, what¡¯s your name?¡±

    The man that was rushing forward turned back at Kevin when he heard his question.

    ¡°Minhyuk.¡±

    Then, he saw a foreigner wielding a greatsword appear in front of the running man. The foreigner with a greatsword was not able to prate through the rock hard skin of the stone lion. But at that moment, he saw the man ce two of his fingers in front of his mouth.

    ¡°Bbiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!¡±

    When the man, Minhyuk, ran forward the gigantic lions and the Anubis flocked around him.

    ¡°Rampant Sword.¡±

    sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!

    The stone lion that no one could hunt easily due to its high defense had copsed in an instant. Then, he saw the man stab his sword on the ground.

    ¡°Blooming Sword.¡±

    Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab!

    Beautiful flowers made out of sharp sword des bloomed and stabbed the enemies which was followed by a huge explosion.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    And Kevin who was watching this scene with his eyes¡­¡­

    ¡°Wooow!¡±

    Was filled with admiration and awe.

    This boy named Kevin wouldter be a ¡®Sword Master¡¯ and he would always remember the hero who had saved their territory on that fateful day.

    ***

    Notes:

    Quadrillion - 1?? ? which says over 1000 trillion. So I looked for the next number to trillion and 1, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000 is a quadrillion hence why it¡¯s quadrillion.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 189 - Infinitely Refilling Lamb Meat

    Chapter 189: Infinitely Refilling Lamb Meat

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Before the Crazy Hunter or Suicidal Rovan had realized it, he was already at Lv360. A level that was much higher than Minhyuk¡¯s level. And he even used Berserker¡¯s Madness as soon as he entered Valha Territory.

    It¡¯s a skill that removes 5 points from all of my basic stats and does not allow me to gain EXP for 3 days straight!

    But in exchange for such a huge penalty, he was able to raise all of his abilities by 50%. And with this much strength, Rovan believed that he was in a position where he considered himself to be strong enough to not fall behind the rest of his guild.

    But this damned stone lion¡¯s defense is too high.

    Plop, plop, plop!

    It was too difficult to prate through its defenses. Even though his greatsword had struck it strongly, only a pile of stones were removed from its body. And it seemed like his strike did not cause too much of a damage because its defense was too high.

    At that moment, he heard a familiar sound.

    ¡°Bbiiiiiiiiiiii!¡±

    [Gryphon¡¯s Cry.]

    [Guild Member Minhyuk¡¯s buffing ability had resulted in a 15% increase in all five basic stats.]

    ¡°It¡¯s been a long time, right?¡±

    Rovan could clearly remember this cry. It was the sound that he had frequently heard in the past when they were hunting in the Shrieking Hills. And it was that time when the man called Crazy Hunter Rovan had grown fed up with hunting! And that was also the time when he had suffered in defeat. But right now, Rovan was quite confident.

    I even used Berserker¡¯s Madness right now, you know?

    Although he was not able to kill the stone lion, it was not because he was weak but because it had such a high defense. Even now, the great Kaistra couldn¡¯t even break through the defenses of the stone lions. It seemed like their defense was at least at 4,500. The stone lions were acting as tankers while Baphomet was shooting magic from the back. This was the reason why they could easily jump around them.

    Then, he remembered what Locke had told him a while ago.

    ¡®I already told you that I went to the Time Attack Dungeon with Minhyuk not too long ago, right?¡¯

    ¡®But you know, when I yed the game with Minhyuk I suddenly missed my mom.¡¯

    ¡®Eh?¡¯

    Rovan was taken aback with his words but Locke did not say anything else after that. It was as if he was sure that he would know about it sooner orter.

    ¡®Why did you turn on the aggro? You can¡¯t handle everything.¡¯

    Rovan thought that he should hurry and support Minhyuk when he saw him drawing the aggro.

    And when he turned around, he saw Minhyuk. It was a reunion that was long overdue. He could see that he had changed a lot. He was currently wearing a rugged helmet, an old cloak, and bone armor with a baby pig on his shoulder.

    Not long after, around six to eight stone lions flocked to where he was. There were even at least 20 Anubis that came running towards him.

    ¡®Eeek! I should go help him!¡¯

    Before Rovan could move to help him, Minhyuk suddenly moved his sword. He saw sword lights scattering from his sword as it pierced a creature one by one. It was the Rampant Sword, one of the mostmon wide-area sword skills. It was a skill that would unfurl a flurry of swords that would swing and sh indiscriminately.

    sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!

    Rovan¡¯s eyes couldn¡¯t help but widen in shock when he saw such a scene.

    ¡°Heok¡­¡­!¡±

    The thick hide of the stone lion that none of the Legend Guild could prate through was beginning to crack and tear apart. Then¡­¡­

    Bang! Bang! Baaaang!

    They began to fall one by one as blood began to spurt out from the bodies of the stone lions that they had initially believed to have their insides still made out of stones.

    But that was not the end yet. Flowers made out of sword des bloomed on the ground as it engulfed the stone lions with a huge explosion.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    The members of Legend Guild who were struggling to hunt the stone lions earlier all turned to look at Minhyuk. And Rovan, who was already under the effects of Berserker¡¯s Madness and was still struggling while fighting against one, looked far away. He could now understand what Locke felt that day.

    ¡°......Dad, I miss you.¡±

    He liked his dad better than his mom after all.

    ***

    Minhyuk breathed deeply as he held his sword tightly.

    There was only one reason why Minhyuk could hunt the stone lions easilypared to the other guild members. It was all thanks to his ¡®Intangible Sword¡¯. In the first ce, the HP and attack power of the stone lions were not that high. They were only there to act as tankers because their defenses were too high that no one could break through their defenses easily.

    But after he used the Blooming Sword with hundreds of sword des exploding as well as the Rampant Sword that could indiscriminately attack the enemies for nine straight seconds he was sure that they would not be able to escape the Intangible Sword. And in the end, they fell down and exploded.

    At that moment, Minhyuk¡¯s sight was suddenly drawn to one spot. When Baphomet entered his sight, the same notifications that Legend Guild had heard also rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    [The Demon World¡¯s 7th Demonic Monster, Baphomet has appeared!]

    [Pharaoh is not Baphomet¡¯s Attributed Summoner.]

    [If you¡¯re able to sessfully hunt Baphomet, you will be the first to receive the Demon World¡¯s rewards.]

    ¡®First to receive the Demon World¡¯s rewards?¡¯

    He believed that it would be something delicious if he would be the first to receive it. At that moment, Baphomet looked at Minhyuk warily. He was the person who easily hunted down the stone lions. Baphomet raised its staff as ck mana erupted from it and wrapped around Minhyuk.

    ¡°Eumeeeeeeeeeh!¡±

    [The Demonic Monster¡¯s Curse.]

    [Your Physical Attack has been reduced by 40%.]

    [Your Physical Defense has been reduced by 40%.]

    [Your Magical Attack has been reduced by 40%.]

    [Your Magical Defense has been reduced by 40%.]

    [Your skills¡¯ cooldown duration has increased by 20%.]

    [You have an invincible body that can ignore and resist all abnormal states.]

    [You have resisted an abnormal state.]

    And along with those notifications, another unexpected notification rang in his ears.

    [A Demonic Monster.]

    [Special Privileges are applied depending on the Holy Power Stat.]

    [The x2 increase of Holy Power due to Pandora¡¯s Helmet¡¯s special effect has been applied. Your attacking and defensive power against Demonic Monsters has increased by 100%.]

    ¡°......?¡±

    Minhyuk was somewhat surprised.

    It¡¯s not only applied to the undead but even to Demonic Monsters?

    When he thought about it deeply, he realized that the contents and information about Demonic Monsters, Demon World and Demon Race were still not yet opened and shared in Athenae.

    But in the first ce, aren¡¯t the opposite of beings with holy power the beings living in the Demon World?

    But what was more important was that Baphomet, who was standing in front of him, was shining a ck light.

    [Ingredients that can be obtained from Baphomet.]

    [Shoulder bone, frenched rack, sirloin, tenderloin¡­¡­ omitted.]

    Just like what he expected, it was something that he could eat.

    Minhyuk saw Locke taking advantage of Baphomet¡¯s carelessness. He saw him approaching andunching an attack on Baphomet¡¯s shoulders.

    Shing, shing, shing!

    But a ck shield sprung up and blocked his attack!

    Shing!

    Crash!

    sh!

    ¡°Meeeeeeh!¡±

    Baphomet raised his staff which resulted in Locke bouncing off of him.

    Roll, roll, roll, roll.

    ¡°Keuheek!¡±

    Locke rolled down with a sound that strangely resembled the cry of a drying frog. And at that moment, Minhyuk could see that Baphomet¡¯s shoulder was regenerating and recovering at a speed that was visible to the naked eye.

    ¡°......?!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s foodie antenna was suddenly triggered.

    ¡°I, I wouldn¡¯t have to worry about gettingmb meat for the rest of my life¡­¡­!¡±

    He decided to capture it and getmb meat from it.

    Then, won¡¯t he recover naturally? It means that I can getmb meat again! This is what they literally call creative economy! But how can I capture it?

    At that moment, he remembered his ¡®Allurer¡¯s Cooking Skill¡¯. But Minhyuk couldn¡¯t help but feel frustrated.

    ¡®Kgggghk! If it¡¯s more than 100 levels higher than mine then it¡¯s not possible!¡¯

    Oh my god!

    This was the moment that Minhyuk felt sorry that he could not getmb meat that was as amazing as an infinitely refible beef. Minhyuk shook the sad thought out of his head.

    I can¡¯t help it so I should just be satisfied with themb chops,mb steaks andmb skewers that I can get with these deliciousmb meat for now!

    Dash!

    Minhyuk moved like the wind.

    The Legend Guild members were currently on the defensive! So they were quite relieved when all the stone lions died.

    ¡°Minhyuk-ah, it¡¯s dangerous!¡±

    ¡°That punk is strong!¡±

    The guild members were concerned about his safety. They did not know about Minhyuk¡¯s invincibility so they believed that Minhyuk was under the power of the debuff after being invaded by the ck mana. They were also unaware that holy power could work against Demonic Monsters. If they did not consider those things then Minhyuk was actually no different from the regr guild members right now.

    But Minhyuk was still running forward!

    Baphomet mmed his staff on the ground and aimed towards Minhyuk.

    Crackle!

    A ball of fire, a sh of lightning, and a de of wind that could tear everything apart were shot straight towards Minhyuk.

    [Frying Pan Gigantification.]

    [You can adjust the size of your frying pan depending on the mana that you will input.]

    His frying pan grewrge as Minhyuk used it to block his path forward.

    Bang! ng, ng!

    [Magical Reflection.]

    [You have returned the magical attack back to your enemy.]

    One of the spells bounced off. Baphomet swung its staff as it created a ck shield in front of itself.

    Bang!

    The magic spell was easily blown away by the ck shield. Minhyuk gestured at him with his right hand as he ced his frying pan behind him again.

    ¡°......He got guts.¡±

    ¡°Is he Bruce Lee?¡±

    The guild members looked at him in embarrassment. After Minhyuk finished doing his e on¡¯ gesture, he continued to run forward.

    Dash!

    ¡°Meeeeeeeeeeeh!¡±

    Baphomet became furious when he saw Minhyuk¡¯s provocation. Dozens of various magic emerged around him before flying straight towards Minhyuk.

    Shwaaaaak!

    Shwwaaaaaaaak!

    Shwaaaaaaaaaak!

    ¡°Cr, crazy¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°Why did you even provoke it!!!¡±

    The guild members were all shocked. They knew that even if Baphomet¡¯s low-leveled magic attack struck on him then he would be forced to log out in one fell swoop.

    At that exact instant, Minhyuk saw the magic attacks arrive in front of his very nose. There were various magical attacks ranging from wide-area skills to normal magic.

    ¡°Like the Wind.¡±

    In one step, he quickly narrowed the distance of three meters.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    A huge amount of magical attacks poured down from the sky andpletely missed him. But Baphomet was not a fool. It had prepared a secondyer of magic in advance in case he had escaped from the flurry of magical attacks that he had sent first.

    ¡°Kong-ah!¡±

    ¡°Oink!¡±

    [Absolute Defense.]

    [No attack will be allowed to touch Kongie and his master for two seconds.]

    The special skill that was attached in Hepas¡¯ Pot Lid had been activated.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    A huge amount of magical attacks had hit the ce where Minhyuk stood.

    ¡°Heok!¡±

    ¡°Keuheok, that¡¯s why I told you, you shouldn¡¯t have done that¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Mi, Minhyuk-nim¡­¡­¡±

    The guild members bit their lips in frustration as they looked at the cloud of dust that rose from the attacks.

    At that moment¡­¡­

    Puhaaaaaaa!

    Minhyuk came out of the dust. And Kongie, who was grabbing Minhyuk¡¯s cloak tightly, also came out with him. There two of them came out without a scratch on their bodies.

    Dash!

    Minhyuk flew up! And Kongie who was holding tightly on his cloak also flew behind Baphomet.

    ¡°Sword of Fury.¡±

    ¡°Oiink!¡±

    Kongie also used his flipper de.

    p, p, p, p, p!

    sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!

    ¡°Ah, look at the chemistry of the daddy pig and the baby pig!¡±

    Locke couldn¡¯t help but shout when he saw the two of them attack and hit Baphomet at the same time.

    ¡°Meeeeeeeeeh!¡±

    ***

    [I, I wouldn¡¯t have to worry about gettingmb meat for the rest of my life¡­¡­!]

    Lee Minhwa and Team Leader Park were both watching the monitor together. Just a moment ago, they heard Minhyuk say such words. Lee Minhwa stared nkly at the monitor before speaking up.

    ¡°Te, Team Leader-nim¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°User Minhyuk just said that he wouldn¡¯t worry about gettingmb meat for the rest of his life¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°His greatest ambition right now is to tame it using the Allurer¡¯s Cooking Skill and collectmb meat for free(?) for the rest of his life. But you know that it¡¯s not possible if their levels have a gap of more than 100, right? Look, look. User Minhyuk might have recalled this fact too. Doesn¡¯t he look so disappointed? In fact, even if he took a Demonic Monster with him, wouldn¡¯t it be funny if he treated it as a mb meat extractor¡¯? Right now he has the Ghost Barista Ben and the God of Dishwashing Kaistra. He¡¯s alreadypletely absurd.¡±

    Team Leader Park let out a flurry of remarks. After pondering over his words, Lee Minhwa said¡­¡­

    ¡°Th, that¡­¡­ It¡¯s funny but I think it would be a reality.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°The reward for being the first to hunt a Demonic Monster¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Yeah. But what does it have to do with¡­¡­ Heok?!¡±

    Team Leader Park¡¯s eyes trembled wildly at the thought.

    The reward for being the first to hunt a Demonic Monster!

    With regards to hunting Demonic Monsters, the first reward was extremely valuable. And one of the rewards was¡­¡­

    ¡®Weaker Baphomet Summoning Stone¡­¡­!¡±

    What if he used that summoning stone?

    ¡°If User Minhyuk seeds in this hunt¡­¡­ will he say ¡®Let me get somemb meat from you¡¯ to Baphomet who¡¯s next to him every day¡­¡­? No, I don¡¯t think he will do such a cruel thing¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°He¡¯ll do it. If it¡¯s User Minhyuk then he¡¯ll do it.¡±

    ¡°......Yeah.¡±

    Then, their sights drifted back to the monitor again. It was the moment when Kongie and Minhyuk were hitting Baphomet together. Looking at the scene in the monitor, Lee Minhwa couldn¡¯t help but get goosebumps. She thought¡­¡­

    ¡®Ba, Baphomet¡­¡­ I feel a bit sorry for you¡­¡­¡¯

    At this rate, Baphomet will really be an infinitely refillingmb meat machine.

    ***

    Stab!

    Baphomet saw the de stabbing straight at its abdomen. At that same moment, Minhyuk heard a notification.

    [You have seeded in stabbing a vital point.]

    [100% additional damage!]

    Then, a powerful force condensed at the tip of his sword which triggered a powerful explosion.

    Bang!

    But it was not the end.

    [Lightning (Thunderbolt)]

    [Three Lightning Strikes.]

    Crack, crack, crack!

    A spark formed and spread before striking over Baphomet¡¯s head.

    Bang, bang, bang!

    A powerful lightning strike engulfed its entire body.

    ***

    Notes:

    Creative Economy - increasing an idea¡¯s value based on people¡¯s use of their creative imagination.

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Uh-huh. Lamb meat forever!

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 190 - Infinitely Refilling Lamb Meat

    Chapter 190: Infinitely Refilling Lamb Meat

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Lightning is a passive skill. It was one of the powers of the disaster artifact, Lightning Millstone. The lightning effect would have a 5% chance of triggering once a sessful attack hadnded on the enemy. The damage that the lightning could inflict could be as strong as the first attack thatnded on the enemy¡¯s body.

    Minhyuk¡¯s first sessful attack was the stab on Baphomet¡¯s abdomen. It had a 100% damage that was added on top of the initial damage. What was worse was that there were even three lightning strikes that struck on top of its head in a row.

    Spurt!

    ¡°Meeeeeeeeh!¡±

    Baphomet¡¯s body couldn¡¯t help but tremble horribly after being struck by such an attack. Even the sword that stabbed through its abdomen had a condensed force that exploded which resulted in its stomach being mutted beyond recognition. And behind, Kongie was using his flipper de to tear and sh at its back.

    ¡®What a ridiculous regenerating speed.¡¯

    However, despite being in such a precarious situation, Baphomet¡¯s mutted body was already slowly regenerating! Along with its incredibly fast regeneration, they could see its bejeweled staff glittering and shining faintly. Minhyuk felt a different energying from the staff this time. Then, he decisively struck down his sword and hit the jewel.

    ng!

    Crack, crack, crack!

    The jewel fell from the staff and cracked before falling into pieces. At that exact same moment, the other guild members and the rest of the troops were notified.

    [You have been released from Baphomet¡¯s curse.]

    ¡°Yeah!¡±

    ¡°Come here you bastards!¡±

    The Legend Guild members, who were blocking and being pushed back by the users and the Anubis monsters, cheered loudly. And before Baphomet fully regenerated, Minhyuk said¡­¡­

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll definitely enjoy a delicious meal from you. Ah,e to think of it¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk licked his lips.

    ¡°Your breast part looks extremely mouthwatering, right?¡±

    ¡°Meeeeeeeeh?!¡±

    And Baphomet, whose face was fully regenerated and restored, had a terrified look on its face.

    Dash©¤

    [Splitting Sword.]

    [A powerful red sword will fly at an enemy. Your sword will have an additional 115% attack power.]

    Minhyuk shed his sword from top to bottom. At that moment, a reddish swordlight struck out to split Baphomet in half.

    Crack, crack, crack, crack©¤

    ¡°Me, meeeeeeeeh¡­¡­?¡±

    Baphomet let out a small confused cry. The sword light had passed through its body in a blink of an eye and it seemed like it was clueless about what happened to itself. Then, its body split in half as each of its half fell on both sides.

    Minhyuk heard the notifications after it fell down.

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    The notifications began with five consecutive level up notifications. But it did not end there.

    [You are the first to sessfully hunt a Demonic Monster from the Demon World.]

    [You have gained an additional 100% on your gained EXP.]

    [You have gained 700,000 EXP.]

    [You have gained 300 reputation points.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have acquired an Antarinium, a mineral from the Demon World.]

    [You have acquired a Blutinium, a mineral from the Demon World.]

    [You have acquired a Blutinium, a mineral from the Demon World.]

    [You have acquired the Weaker Baphomet¡¯s Summoning Stone.]

    For the first rewards the first ever hunter would be able to acquire the items and rewards in his inventory even if he did not go to acquire each item personally. So the Demon World minerals as well as the Weaker Baphomet¡¯s Summoning Stone had entered Minhyuk¡¯s inventory.

    The thing that piqued Minhyuk¡¯s interest the most was the Weaker Baphomet¡¯s Summoning Stone.

    (Weaker Baphomet¡¯s Summoning Stone)

    Special Abilities: You are allowed to summon a weaker Baphomet that¡¯s at least 80 levels below the original Demonic Monster Baphomet from the Demon World for three hours. The summoning stone will disappear once the three hours has been used up.

    Description: This is a Weaker Baphomet summoning stone that can only be obtained by the first user to ever hunt a Demonic Monster from the Demon World. If you summon Baphomet among your enemies and the enemies think that Baphomet is dangerous then wouldn¡¯t it have the best effect if you summoned it at that time?

    A smirk curled up at the corners of Minhyuk¡¯s mouth.

    ¡®He will be 80 levels lower than the one from earlier?¡¯

    Minhyuk had thought that Baphomet¡¯s strength wasparable to Great Mage Rafielt who was one of the Strongest Men. But Minhyuk realized just now that he was much stronger than Rafielt that he had fought back then. Earlier, he had estimated his level to be at around 500. However, it seemed like the reason why it was particrly hard to defeat was because of the ¡®curse¡¯. Strong mobs were not only those that had high levels. Just like in the case of Baphomet. Baphomet¡¯s abilities had added to his enormous strength.

    But if Baphomet¡¯s level was less than 80 of his level from earlier then Minhyuk believed that if he did things step by step then he would be able to do what he wanted to do.

    ¡®Infinitely refillingmb meat!¡¯

    Minhyuk was in bliss.

    However, there was just one problem. The summoning stone that he had received would disappear after a total of three hours of use. He was wondering if Baphomet would still disappear if he seeded in taming Baphomet with the Allurer¡¯s Cooking Skill. Of course it was a matter that still needed to be confirmedter.

    Minhyuk looked around his surroundings. It seemed like Pharaoh could no longer use his magical skills and summoning abilities after he had summoned Baphomet earlier. And most of the Anubis¡¯ were easily dealt with by the Spear Masters.

    ¡°Fall back! FXcker!¡±

    ¡°......shit!¡±

    The members of Bachran Guild were trying to regain their strength as they tried to fall back. However, they could see that Legend Guild was easily massacring them even though they were only few in numbers. Every time they passed by, their colleagues¡¯ artifacts and gold would scatter on the ground. With Pharaoh out ofmission, Bachran Guild waspletely not a match against Legend Guild. In addition, the Second Legion that was supposed toe for support had all died because of a surprise attack.

    ¡°But there¡¯s no order for a retreat yet?!¡±

    ¡°Is that the problem right now?! Are you just going to die and voluntarily deliver your gold and artifacts to Legend Guild?!¡±

    They started running away to avoid being forced to log out while still in a Chaotic State. And just like one of the users said, if they did not run away, perhaps they would just voluntarily deliver their gold and artifacts to them.

    Legend Guild could see the glittering gold and artifacts that were sprawled all over the ce.

    In that gap, Pharaoh tore his return scroll. But at that moment¡­¡­

    [The Return Restriction Skill is currently invoked.]

    Pharaoh¡¯s eyes widened in fear. When he turned his head he could see a man wearing a mask while pointing a dagger at his neck.

    It was The Informant, Abel. Although he mainly focused on information, Abel was still a top-ranking yer that could rival the 1st~3rd in the assassin¡¯s rankings in the country.

    ¡°Are you trying to run away like a rat?¡±

    Pharaoh could see the Legend Guild members crowding around him. He could even see Lockeing up as he spat on both of his hands before grasping the hilt of his axe tightly.

    He was also a top-ranker. But if a top-ranker lost just a bit of % from his EXP then he would be doomed. Just a bit of difference from the levels and EXP could immediately change his position in the rankings.

    sh!

    sh!

    ¡°Kyahahaha! Die! Die! Die!¡±

    Locke struck down on every inch of Pharaoh¡¯s body without any mercy.

    ¡°Uuuuuuuhm¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    The guild members just whistled nonchntly as they avoided Pharaoh¡¯s pleading gaze.

    ¡°Keuaaaack! You ugly bastard! Just kill me!¡±

    ¡°But I hate it? Eyy. Let me give you a heal!¡±

    Pharaoh¡¯s body was suddenly covered with heals. Once his body was healed and recovered, Locke started a terrible abuse on his body again. After beating him for at least 10 minutes, Pharaoh¡¯s body was spent and on itsst stretch. He died wretchedly under the hands of the furious Locke.

    ¡°Oh. I got an item.¡±

    [You have acquired Batarai¡¯s Staff.]

    Locke grinned at the fact that it was a Legendary artifact.

    Meanwhile, Genie looked around.

    ¡°Haa. When will we be able to sort this out again?¡±

    Plenty of the buildings were destroyed and quite a few of the citizens were also killed. They were fortunate enough to not incur any financial loss thanks to the drops from Bachran Guild. No. It seemed like they even made some profit.

    ¡°Oh. Nim, it was your gravity magic earlier, right? It was so cool!¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°But, who are you?¡±

    Rak and some of the guild members were talking to each other. Her gaze went past them trying to look for someone but Genie could not find a trace of his shadow.

    ¡°......Huh?¡±

    Genie looked around curiously but she truly could not find him.

    ¡°Guys.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    Locke and Khan turned to look at her as she asked them¡­¡­

    ¡°......Where did Minhyuk go?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Where is he?¡±

    ¡°Hmmm.¡±

    It was not only Minhyuk that disappeared, even Baphomet¡¯s body had disappeared.

    Where the hell did this punk go?

    ***

    Minhyuk smiled happily.

    As soon as everything in Valha Territory was settled, he quickly dashed and left the ce. He was afraid that someone would want to take a bite out of his food if he stayed there. He was confident that Genie would distribute the items fairly. And, if he stayed there, wouldn¡¯t they use the excuse of item distributions just to eat the things that he had acquired? So he quickly dashed away.

    Fwish©¤

    It was the sound of a can of beer being opened. People said that beer was best drunk ice cold. The ¡®Tsingtao¡¯ beer was cold enough to numb his hands. This beer would mark the start of his meal.

    Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp©¤

    ¡°Kyaa!¡±

    Nothing tastes sweeter and more refreshing than having the first sip from a can of ice cold beer after doing hard work.

    Then, Minhyuk looked in front of him.

    Shiiiiiiiiiik©¤

    ¡°Wow¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk stared at it in admiration.

    In front of him was amb skewer machine that one couldmonly see in amb restaurant. Inside the machine were plenty of burning charcoal that amped up the heat. There were plenty ofmb meat ced on long skewers that were rotating along the saw-toothed and star shaped holders.

    Aren¡¯t the drops of oil that came from the skewers make it look mouth watering and appetizing to eat?

    Shiiiiiiiiii©¤

    Faint smoke bloomed from the embers of the charcoal.

    ¡°Hiyaaa!¡±

    Watching it is so fun!

    And beside him were spices that he had prepared earlier. There were a variety of spices lined up beside him. Usually, people who visited themb skewers restaurant and saw the red spices for the first time would say¡­¡­

    ¡®Aremb skewers dipped in ramyeon sauce?¡¯

    In fact, those bright and eye-catching red powder that they had mistaken for ramyeon sauce due to its uncanny simrity in appearance was none other than ¡®Lamb Skewer Seasoning¡¯ powder. And the spice that looked like rice beside it was none other than ¡®Cumin¡¯. This cumin was a spice that was made from the seeds of one of the nts that were a part of the parsley family.

    Lamb skewers were naturally eaten with plenty of spices so he had prepared a lot of spices beside him.

    ¡°Hiyaaa. It¡¯s finally done.¡±

    Minhyuk picked amb skewer. As soon as the skewer left the grilling machine, he could see the oil sizzling on the surface of themb skewer. This meant that it was cooked perfectly until it was golden brown. There were also cloves of garlic ced in between themb meat in each skewer. The cloves of garlic looked like they were as well grilled as themb meat that was squeezing them together. Putting garlic in between themb meat in a skewer was Minhyuk¡¯s way of enjoying this delicacy more deliciously.

    Without waiting any further, Minhyuk dipped hismb skewer in salt. He believed that it was best to dip themb skewers in salt when he was just beginning his meal. This way, he could taste the most authentic and original vor of themb skewer.

    Then, he bit on themb meat and pulled it out of the skewer with his teeth. At least three or four pieces ofmb meatnded inside his mouth. When he chewed on the pieces of meat, he could taste the juicy, savory and salty vor of themb skewer.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡­¡±

    He was in awe.

    ¡°There¡¯s not even a single fishy taste¡­¡­¡±

    Others might think thatmb skewers would have a gamey and fishy taste to it but if they tasted themb skewer from a really good restaurant then they would fall in love with the meat that could melt in one¡¯s mouth like an A++-rated beef. The meat that he was eating was just like that.

    He quickly finished chewing themb meat in his mouth. After finishing those pieces, he wanted to try the ramyeon sauce-likemb skewers so he quickly dipped it in the bright red spicy spices. As soon as the meat fell in his mouth, the spicy vor quickly spread in his mouth. Small beads of sweat had formed on his forehead due to the spiciness. However, it was the delicious kind of spiciness and not the painful kind of spiciness. He smiled happily at the vor from the spices. Then, he quickly tried the other spices.

    What should I eat after eating themb skewers?

    Of course, the answer wasmb chops. Themb skewers were in fact just like the pre-dinner bread that was served in a restaurant! The mukbang would only truly begin with themb chops.

    Themb chops in his hands were marvelous. There was thick meat that was clinging strongly to the bones. It was definitely superb meat. Then, he quickly ced the meat on the grill.

    Shiiiiiiiiiik©¤

    Smoke quickly bloomed and floated up in the sky. Right next to themb chops that were grilling perfectly were sweet pumpkin slices, cherry tomatoes, green onions, egg nts, garlic cloves, and mushrooms that were all sliced down to the size of a thumb.

    Once themb chops were grilled perfectly well, he sliced them one by one. The inside of themb chops were glimmering with a red glossy sheen. And in front of Minhyuk was a bowl filled with cheongyang peppers together with soy sauce.

    He picked up a piece ofmb chops. It was glowing and shining brightly like a well-grilled sirloin. Then, he dipped it in the seasoning before cing it in his mouth. As soon as it dropped in his mouth, the juices bursted out from the meat beforebining deliciously with the sweet and spicy taste of the cheongyang peppers and sauce.

    ¡°Why doesn¡¯t it taste greasy at all?¡±

    With this, wouldn¡¯t it be enough if I have at least 100?

    After eating the juicy meat of themb chops, he turned towards the bones and sucked on the tissues that were hidden within. He held the longmb chops before ripping out a piece of the bone. Then he sucked on it happily making sure to taste every single piece of it.

    ¡°Chew, chew. As expected, it¡¯s delicious if you gnaw on the meat attached to the bone.¡±

    And after he ate the mushrooms, cherry tomatoes and sweet pumpkin slices that he grilled together with themb chops, he felt infinitely healthier and happier.

    After doing his very ownmb meat mukbang, Minhyuk realized that the meat was almost gone.

    ¡°I want to eat moremb!¡±

    Baphomet¡¯smb meat! It was extremely delicious.

    Just as he was thinking about it, Minhyuk heard a series of notifications.

    [You can acquire Baphomet¡¯s Skills.]

    [Would you like to acquire it?]

    Baphomet was a Demonic Monster that was well-versed in magic spells and curses. And with Minhyuk¡¯s entric Food Fighter¡¯s skills he would be able to randomly acquire one skill from the plethora of skills that a monster had but if he was a bit luckier he might be able to get an additional skill that could be acquired and he would be able to continue getting another skill. In other words, he could choose one stably or try his luck by drawing randomly from a wide range of skills.

    ¡°Attempt it.¡±

    [You are attempting to acquire a random skill.]

    At that moment, two dice were thrown and rolled in front of Minhyuk. Listed on each side of the dice that were thrown were Baphomet¡¯s various skills. There was even a ridiculous skill that said ¡®Acquire 5th ss magic¡¯ listed on one of the sides.

    [Acquisition rate 11%...... 22%...... 36%...... 68%......]

    Then the dice stopped in front of him showing the skills that he was trying to acquire. At the same time, the notifications rang.

    [85%, 99%, 100%]

    [You have sessfully acquired the skill.]

    ***

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 191 - Infinitely Refilling Lamb Meat

    Chapter 191: Infinitely Refilling Lamb Meat

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Athenae: Korean War

    It was apetition that would select the best user from the country. Each country from all over the world would find their very best through such apetition. One would await a huge prize and the title of Korea¡¯s MVP if they imed victory in thispetition. And the users who would receive the title Korea¡¯s MVP would be eligible to participate in the worldpetition as a ¡®national representative¡¯.

    And in a conference room of the makers of Athenae, Joy Co. Ltd., a meeting was currently underway regarding this Athenae: Korean War. It seemed like what they were discussing was going to be never ending.

    The Athenae: Korean War would first and foremost involve both the production andbat sses. And the currently ongoing meeting was discussing the ¡®Production ss¡¯petition. The first on their list of discussions was the ¡®g War¡¯.

    The team leader of the development team, Lee Seokhoon, began to exin the contents disyed on the screen.

    ¡°The g War¡¯s rules are simple. The system will basically have the users team up in groups of three and the team that will take away the most gs will win. In addition, once the g War had started, the users will only be given the most basic and normal ranked artifact that was fit for their ss. They will not be able to use their currently equipped artifacts.¡±

    The reason why the users were not allowed to use their current artifacts during the g War was simple.

    ¡°If they were production ss users then they can be self-sufficient. Think about it. Our country¡¯s top production rankers will be self-sufficient and produce their own artifacts to fight. Our country¡¯s users will grow crazy over them.¡±

    President Kang Taehoon nodded his head at his words as he asked¡­¡­

    ¡°What¡¯s the percentage of our country winning a medal if the g War was done in Athenae: World War and not Athenae: Korean War?¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    At his words, the entire conference room was filled with silence. They all knew that the probability of them winning in such arge scalepetition was not that high.

    Hepas¡¯ Descendant, Hyemin¡¯sDad, was in their country but there was no guarantee that he would participate in thepetition. And there were only a few of the production ss users in the country that could rival Hyemin¡¯sDad¡¯s power. And what was more, the event required them to be in groups of threes. They might not be as good as Hyemin¡¯sDad but they should at least be able to support him if they participated. It was hard to find such a user with that strength and power among the users in their country.

    But among them, only Team Leader Park Minggyu thought of one user and one user alone.

    ¡®......User Minhyuk.¡¯

    But there were some problems. How sure were they that User Minhyuk would participate in the Athenae: Korean War? In addition, how likely was it that he would receive the title of Korea¡¯s MVP and be one of the national representatives?

    User Minhyuk was a user that was still covered in veil. He did not want to show himself nor did he want to gain fame. More than anything else, he was a user who did not care about artifacts and was a person who would pursue something delicious or something that was more delicious. And with that, he was sure that his answer would be NO.

    At that moment, one of the staff from the development team came inside. The staff looked like he was in a hurry as he tried to approach Lee Seokhoon to whisper something. But before he could do so, President Kang Taehoon suddenly interjected.

    ¡°Just say it out loud.¡±

    ¡°Athenae and our team of developers have added an additional event.¡±

    ¡°Hoo. Is that right?¡±

    There were still events that were being made. The supeputer Athenae would collect the opinions of the development team before it would create a corresponding sport or event. And finally, one of the events had beenpleted.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think that we will likely garner the most enthusiastic response if the production ss users are ced in a ¡®Monster Hunting¡¯petition, right?¡±

    President Kang Taehoon nodded in agreement.

    Production sses¡¯ monster hunt!

    Since they would hunt the monsters with their various special abilities, the world would definitely pay attention to Athenae.

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°That part is alreadyplete.¡±

    ¡°So, what¡¯s the name of the event?¡±

    When the staff heard the words ¡®name of the event¡¯ he hesitated for a moment before opening his mouth¡­¡­

    ¡°It¡¯s called ¡®Eat Quickly Event¡¯.¡±

    The moment his words came out, Team Leader Park¡¯s eyes widened as his fists clenched tightly.

    ¡®Ea, eat quickly?¡¯

    I think that User Minhyuk will immediately jump at the opportunity and say ¡®I¡¯ll win first ce!¡¯ just by hearing the name, right?

    ¡°The name¡¯s a bit¡­¡­ right?¡±

    ¡°But I think the content of the event itself is very solid and fun.¡±

    President Kang Taehoon nodded at his words as if to stop the development team staff from exining any further.

    ¡°The Eat Quickly contest. Every time they run out of food, they have to hunt monsters.¡±

    ¡°Hoo?¡±

    In the first ce, the nature of monster hunting was not that blurred or hidden and when they run out of food they would go and hunt the monsters.

    ¡°And since it¡¯s Athenae: Korean War, won¡¯t it be good if we can showcase our country¡¯s domestic food as drops, right?¡±

    ¡°Right.¡±

    ¡°And with the consensus between the supeputer, Athenae, and our development team we have already decided which food will be dropped.¡±

    It was as if the staff of the development team was telling them that it was something to look forward to.

    ¡°It¡¯s ¡®market food¡¯.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s interesting?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s good.¡±

    Everyone let out a small sigh. But President Kang Taehoon knew why the food was good.

    ¡°Our country has its own unique vor. When I was young, I used to go to the market with my parents. But these days, the huge supermarkets have already overtaken the markets.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. And you can really taste a lot of market food in this event. In addition, it will be an opportunity for our country to introduce to foreign media about our market food and culture. With this, we can naturally attract tourists.¡±

    President Kang Taehoon nodded while Manager Kim Daesik spoke up.

    ¡°What¡¯s the market food?¡±

    Team Leader Park Minggyu¡¯s ears perked up as he gulped his saliva. His mouth couldn¡¯t help but water at the thought of such food. Right now, he was imagining himself as User Minhyuk.

    ¡°Sugar-coated kkwabaegi, chapssal donuts filled with red beans, bindae-tteok, japchae and nude gimbapbination which is the current hot issue in Gwangjang Market, market chicken, market jokbal and noodles.¡±

    Team Leader Park¡¯s mouth was overflowing with his drool. Even President Kang Taehoon gulped as if his mouth was watering too.

    ¡°It¡¯s abination of food that will make your mouth water, right? Haha!¡±

    A thought shed through Team Leader Park¡¯s mind.

    ¡®User Minhyuk will probably be drooling once he hears this.¡¯

    Then, he shook his head as he smiled.

    ***

    [You can acquire the Active Skill: Storage.]

    [You can acquire the Active Skill: Dark Fire Storm.]

    [You have a total of three skills that can be saved using the entric Food Fighter¡¯s Skill.]

    [You can either delete one from ¡®Earthquaker¡¯ or ¡®Absorption¡¯ or only select one of the skills that you have sessfully acquired.]

    He had sessfully acquired two skills but Minhyuk had only two options. He could either delete his existing skills or give up one from his newly acquired ones. Before making his choice, he first checked the information of the skills.

    (Storage)

    Active Skill

    Level: None

    Mana Required: Depends on the skill

    Cooldown: 72 hours

    Effects: You can store one of your active skills in your weapon. The skills stored in a weapon can be used immediately regardless of its cooldown.

    The first skill was the skill ¡®Storage¡¯.

    ¡®Isn¡¯t this very useful?¡¯

    It¡¯s concept was literally storing one of Minhyuk¡¯s active skills in his weapon. For example, if he used ¡®Rampant Sword¡¯ then he would consume his MP and the cooldown time would start. But if he activated the ¡®Rampant Sword¡¯ that he had stored in his weapon then he would be able to use the skill again without waiting for the cooldown to finish. In a way, it was simr to the way mages store their magic in their staffs, parchments and wands. The higher their level, the more magic the mage could store in their artifact which could sometimes make it seem like they were not restrained by cooldowns. But no matter how outstanding the skill ¡®Store¡¯ was, it¡¯s cooldown was still too long. Which meant that he could only store one skill within three days.

    Next, he checked Dark Fire Storm.

    (Dark Fire Storm)

    Active Skill

    Level: 6th ss

    Mana Required: 400

    Cooldown: 1 hour

    Effects: A storm of dark fire will engulf and devour your enemies within a radius of 6m dealing a damage of 600~1,000 per second.

    It was a wide-area of attack skill that might not beparable to Blooming Sword or Lightning Hell but what was most important was that it was a 6th ss skill. The amount of users who could reach 6th ss were few and far in between. In addition, it was much more superior to his currently saved skill ¡®Earthquaker¡¯.

    After looking through the skills, Minhyuk finally decided.

    ¡°Delete Earthquaker.¡±

    [Are you sure you want to delete Earthquaker?]

    Minhyuk nodded his head as an answer.

    [You have deleted the skill Earthquaker.]

    [You have acquired the Active Skill: Storage.]

    [You have acquired the Active Skill: Dark Fire Storm.]

    Then, without hesitation, Minhyuk used the skill ¡®Storage¡¯.

    [Please choose the skill you want to store.]

    [You have stored the Blooming Sword.]

    Minhyuk nodded his head in satisfaction.

    ¡®Well then, let¡¯s do it again¡­¡­¡¯

    It was time to hunt Bachran Guild again.

    ***

    Crone was already on the verge of tears.

    [Guild Chatting: Hayac-nim has left Bachran Guild.]

    [Guild Chatting: Carcass-nim has left Bachran Guild.]

    [Guild Chatting: Hekhek-nim has left Bachran Guild.]

    [Guild Chatting: Downpour-nim has left Bachran Guild.]

    [Guild Chatting: Robin¡¯s butt-nim has left Bachran Guild.]

    [Guild Chatting: Damn-nim has left Bachran Guild.]

    His guild members were constantly withdrawing from the guild.

    The Four Hyenas, the Frying Pan Killer, and even Legend Guild had ughtered them. The massacre onlysted for four days but the damage that the guild had incurred was extremely severe.

    A few days ago, Pharaoh moved to meet with the nobles to find a different way to break through but he went straight to prison.

    ¡®It doesn¡¯t make sense!¡¯

    The nobles suddenly turned their backs against them and Pharaoh was imprisoned. And it was not only that, there was a great warrant ced against Bachran Guild in the empire.

    One of the noblemen told him¡­¡­ ¡®Why would you even dare to touch that¡­¡­¡¯ was what he said.

    Who the hell is behind the Frying Pan Killer?

    There was even a post in the official bulletin board.

    [We will pay 10 million gold for information about the guild members of Bachran Guild.]

    This was the reason why no matter what they did, users still tried to ¡®find Bachran¡¯. And in the end, the guild members could not endure the hunt anymore. They started leaving Bachran Guild one after the other.

    Right now, someizens were stillmenting.

    [gadad31: But wasn¡¯t the one who started this first the Legend Guild? Legend¡¯s Ace killed a user for no reason at all, right? Or, is that not the case? Anyway, Bachran Guild is a rude mannered guild so no one¡¯s going to tell them off if they killed them~]

    [cbcvb: I feel like that too. But Bachran Guild is not entirely filled with trash¡­¡­ To be honest, is this a witch hunt or not?]

    [baddadd313: Yeah~ No~ It was manipted by Bachran Guild. Ladies and Gentlemen, it was obviously rigged so Bachran can make a name for themselves.]

    Very few believed in the validity of their reason for attacking. However, Crone was already on the verge of losing everything. Crone was someone who quit his job, ran a guild with all the money that he got and made a fortune! If everything kept on going like this then he would definitely be ruined. So in a desperate attempt, he posted on the official bulletin board so they could reach an agreement.

    ¡®Frying Pan Killer, please contact me.¡¯

    And he got a call from the real Frying Pan Killer.

    With his trembling heart, Crone met with him at a luxurious restaurant that sold the most expensive food in Eivelis Empire.

    He was wearing a helmet while looking at Crone with a frosty expression. Meanwhile, Crone looked bitter. He felt like he was as bitter as those sinners in prison. Even right now, his guild members were either being captured by the Imperial Army or by the other bounty hunter users.

    Then, Frying Pan Killer said¡­¡­

    ¡°Are you paying for the meal?¡±

    ¡°Ah. Of course! Eat as much as you like!¡±

    Right now, Frying Pan Killer is party ¡®A¡¯ while he was party ¡®B¡¯.

    How much do I even need to pay for his food?

    And when Frying Pan Killer heard his words, he drove the wedge to make sure.

    ¡°You¡¯re really paying for the meal? You shouldn¡¯tinter then.¡±

    Then Crone burst outughing.

    ¡°It¡¯s alright even if you eat here for 7 days and 6 nights!¡±

    ¡°......Is that so. Well then.¡±

    The corner of Minhyuk¡¯s lips lifted up in a smirk.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [Party A and Party B] ''?'' or party A and ''?'' or party B. This is used when there is a contract between two people. A would have superiority over B in this contract. Think about Boss and Employee contract. Something like that.

    Food Discussion Corner

    Kkwabaegi ( ??? ) - Twisted doughnuts

    Chapssal donuts ( ???? ) - glutinous rice donut, I think it¡¯s simr to mochi donuts.

    Bindae-tteok ( ??? ) - vegetable pancake made out of ground mungbean, vegetables and some meat.

    Nude gimbap ( ?? ?? ) - also called as the inside out gimbap. The rice is outside while the seaweed is inside.

    Market chicken ( ?? ?? ) - sijang-tongdak, deep fried chicken usually sold in the market.

    PR¡¯s Corner!

    He¡¯s paying for Minhyuk¡¯s meal? Oh his poor wallet. Might as well file for bankruptcy.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 192 - Gremorys Trial

    Chapter 192: Gremory¡¯s Trial

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    56 Gremory¡¯s Trial

    Crone confidently stuck the menu towards him. Most of the items on the menu were extremely expensive. This ce was literally ¡®The most expensive restaurant in Eivelis Empire and the continent¡¯. In reality people could buy one can of sturgeon caviar for 25 million won while a rare melon named Yubari would cost around 13.4 million won. A restaurant in New York also sold hotdogs for 2.5 million won each. So Crone was a bit confident about the depth of his wallet.

    But Crone was unaware of the real meaning of Minhyuk¡¯sughter. Then, he said¡­¡­

    ¡°Pl, please stop! Please!¡±

    Crone¡¯s words were already at the verge of begging. At the rate that things were going on, he believed that he would truly be a beggar.

    Didn¡¯t I whisper to the Frying Pan Killer that I want to make an agreement with him?

    In the time that he was in a daze, the Frying Pan Killer had already ordered all the items on the menu.

    ¡°I¡¯ll do whatever you tell me to. So please let it slide just this once. If you want, then I¡¯ll make it up to you.¡±

    The Frying Pan Killer looked at him coldly. He couldn¡¯t see his exact facial features because of the helmet but he was sure that his expression was extremely frosty. He could feel it leaking out from the helmet after all.

    Minhyuk nodded his head.

    ¡°Then, please post an official statement about Ace and Crow first.¡±

    Crone¡¯s lips shut tight when he heard his words. He was babbling earlier but his words¡­ he meant for him to acknowledge the fact that they manipted the war. He wanted him to let Bachran Guild acknowledge that they were ¡®trash¡¯.

    ¡°You don¡¯t like it?¡±

    But Crone didn¡¯t have any other choice. It was better to admit that they were trash and save his remaining guild members.

    ¡°It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t want to do it!¡±

    Crone nodded furiously as he quickly typed an official apology and posted it on the official bulletin board. After he posted it, he breathed a sigh of relief.

    ¡®W, with this¡­¡­ I will still have my guild.¡¯

    And Crone¡¯s official post was like this.

    [Hello. This is Bachran Guild¡¯s Master Crone. This is a formal apology for manipting the recent PK of Legend¡¯s Ace. I would like to apologize to Legend Guild. I have nothing else to say even if I have two mouths. I¡¯m sorry.

    fadghg313: The crazy dogs finally got their medicine by being beaten with a club. They really came after Legend Guild but now they have to straighten things out and admit it. Hehehehehehe.

    vadedl3: Who was the one who said Bachran Guild was the one who manipted things? You did well.

    hgsfsflll: Really nasty¡­¡­ Disgusting¡­¡­

    God, god: As expected of Legend! I love you! Legend, I don¡¯t like those Bachran dogs!]

    Thements were constantly criticizing the Bachran Guild. Meanwhile Crone was smiling ingratiatingly while scratching the back of his head.

    ¡°Then, will you withdraw the warrant?¡±

    Crone thought that once he paid for some materialpensation then everything would be over. But the Frying Pan Killer¡¯s mouth opened while he ate his food.

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡±

    ¡°......Eh?¡±

    ¡°I just told you to post it. When did I say that I will let you go already?¡±

    And it was at that moment that Crone realized.

    ¡®I, I¡¯ve been tricked¡­¡­¡¯

    He tried to quickly delete the post. But the next words of the Frying Pan Killer felt like he was hit strongly in the gut.

    ¡°Ah, I already took a snapshot. Thanks.¡±

    And the Frying Pan Killer still kept on ordering food while Crone just nodded his head nkly thinking ¡®I don¡¯t know if you¡¯ll ever let me go¡¯. Just like that, the dishes kept on piling up.

    ¡®Hi, hiiiiik! I, is this bastard still a person?!!¡¯

    Six hours passed just like that.

    ¡°That¡­¡­ When will the meal¡­¡­ be over?¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t you see that I¡¯m just eating my appetizer?¡±

    ¡°You¡­¡­ You have eaten exactly 86 bowls of that¡­¡­ but you¡¯re still eating the appetizer?¡±

    [You¡¯re really paying for the meal? You shouldn¡¯tinter then.]

    [It¡¯s alright even if you eat here for 7 days and 6 nights!]

    Minhyuk turned on his favorite recorder. He paused the movements of his spoon as he chuckled with a ¡®ha!¡¯.

    ¡°Why, do you regret saying that I could eat as much as I want? This is, well, a meal that I¡¯m eating reluctantly so I have to chew well. Chomp!¡±

    Was what Minhyuk said as he continued to scoop up a spoonful of expensive caviar. He looked like he was eating extremely well.

    ¡®FXcker! What does this bastard mean by eating this meal reluctantly?!¡¯

    ¡°N, no. Haha, eat as much as you want! Haha. R, really¡­ as much as you want¡­..¡±

    ¡°Yes! I¡¯m going to do that even if you did not say it anyway.¡±

    The Frying Pan Killer nodded his head. But it had already been two days but what was even worse was that this store was open for 24 hours!

    ¡°Zzzzzz, phew, zzzzz, phew.¡±

    ¡°Waiter!¡±

    ¡°Ah. Are you done eating¡­¡­ huh?¡±

    ¡°I want this to this again. And from now on, please don¡¯t take my orders anymore. Just bring them to me until they run out!¡±

    ¡°Ah. Yes!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    And just like that, another day had passed.

    ¡°Ah. Let¡¯s log out for now.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re finally done eat¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll log out ande back to eat again.¡±

    And after that, the long-awaited seventh day had finally arrived.

    ¡®H, how can a human eat just like that for seven days straight?! Bastard!¡¯

    Crone had no choice but to be shocked. But the words that the Frying Pan Killer told him after standing from his seat had left him were more shocking.

    ¡°We¡¯ll continue. If you show a genuine sign of repentanceter then we will stop.¡±

    Then, the Frying Pan Killer went out of the restaurant. Before he could leave, the manager caught up to Crone.

    ¡°Your total for the food is 61 tinum. Customer-nim.¡±

    ¡°H, how much¡­¡­?¡±

    Just like what was mentioned before, this restaurant was the most expensive restaurant in the continent. Crone was left speechless when he checked the bill. The bill that was given to him looked like it was as long as five meters! And the total was truly 61 tinum which was over 300 million won in cash.

    ¡°......¡±

    Tears trickled down from his eyes. Then, he said in a tearful voice.

    ¡°C, can I pay in installments here¡­¡­?¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t.¡±

    It was a straight refusal from the manager.

    I think I have to sell my house deed.

    ***

    In no time at all, the eight in the guild rankings, Bachran Guild, had stepped down and disappeared from the top 100 rankings.

    In all honesty, Minhyuk had picked the right ¡®ppong¡¯ from Bachran Guild. Not only did he get to eat a free meal from Crone, he also got the spoils from killing the members of Bachran Guild continuously!

    At first, the thought in Crone¡¯s head was ¡®There¡¯s no way that they will continue, right?¡¯. But Minhyuk, the Four Hyenas, and even Legend Guild truly continued.

    Eventually, when 40% of the guild had left. And Crone finally imposed a ban. As a result, the Bachran Guild members could not connect and the guild ranking dropped out of the top 500 in an instant. What was worse was that even the small and medium sized guilds that had previously been hit and ransacked by Bachran Guild were looking for an opportunity to hit back at them. They had been waiting for them all day long. In the end, they had seen their life in Athenae as ¡®done for¡¯.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk was buying clothes in reality. Before he knew it, he had lost some weight and was at 150kg already! So he needed to buy new clothes for himself! He couldn¡¯t believe it but it just naturally happened!

    But the inte shopping malls needed to go through an e-mail verification process. For the first time in a long time, Minhyuk was redirected to Nava to verify his e-mail. After verifying his e-mail, he couldn¡¯t help but tilt his head in confusion.

    ¡®Huh?¡¯

    [Joy Co. Ltd. Hello. User Minhyuk.]

    Minhyuk saw that he had received an e-mail from Athenae.

    ¡®The date that the e-mail was sent¡­¡­ was when I changed to bing a Food God?¡¯

    Their Athenae ount was linked to their Nava Mail. But Minhyuk very rarely used his e-mail so he was not able to check its contents. He quickly opened the mail and checked what¡¯s written on it.

    ¡®OMG¡­¡­?¡¯

    Minhyuk frowned. The contents of the Athenae e-mail included a story about the ¡®God ss¡¯. In the case of the Food God, from Lv350 onwards, his ¡®Stat Up¡¯ from eating would be restricted. Of course it did not mean that eating good medicine and good food would not increase his stats. It just literally meant that the Food God¡¯s True Worth of Food would now be impossible. ording to the exnation it was because of ¡®Bnce Control¡¯.

    He nodded his head in understanding.

    ¡®This is also my fault for not checking my mail for a long time¡­..¡¯

    Joy Co. Ltd. had sent this e-mail at the same time he had received the Food God ss and even if Minhyuk did not read the mail, they still kept on sending. They even sent one just recently. He noticed one thing. Joy Co. Ltd. had predicted that if he reached Lv 350 as a Food God then he would be at least 100 levels stronger than his current level. But Minhyuk¡¯s stats were much higher than what they had expected.

    ¡®Well, it doesn¡¯t matter. Right?¡¯

    He was already on track and if Minhyuk kept on eating and increasing his stats then his stats would just go up endlessly. And Minhyuk¡¯s goal was to ¡®eat something delicious¡¯ so he readily epted such limitations.

    ¡®But I will reach Lv350 soon though?¡¯

    Minhyuk stood up while thinking like that. But before he could leave his room, he saw a text message shing on his phone.

    [Beloved Dad: Son, ess your Athenae. I have something to give you.]

    [Minhyuk: Okay. Dad.]

    A soft smile hung around Minhyuk¡¯s lips.

    Delicious Neolbing!

    Just like that, Minhyuk connected to Athenae.

    ***

    Minhyuk met with his dad, ck Dragon, in Athenae. He had exchanged a few words with him and he knew that Minhyuk and the Legend Guild had ughtered Bachran Guild. But it was unfortunate that Minhyuk pretended to be unaware since it ovepped with the day when Bachran Guild attacked Legend Guild. Meanwhile, his dad admitted that he had also been ying the game for a long time before guiding him somewhere else.

    The ce that he had guided Minhyuk to was a gigantic carriage.

    ¡°Huh? Isn¡¯t that a kitchen carriage?¡±

    ¡°Nope. It¡¯s a freezer carriage.¡±

    ¡°Freezer carriage?¡±

    Minhyuk tilted his head in confusion. Although a bit simr to a trailer, the frozen carriage could bepared to a food truck in real life. The only difference was that it had a magic that could control the temperature inside to stay low.

    ¡°Open the door. It¡¯s my return gift for the snow crab that you made for me.¡±

    ck Dragon smiled softly at him as he watched Minhyuk opening the door. As soon as the door opened, a freezing chill came out with a swoosh. When Minhyuk saw the inside of the carriage, he couldn¡¯t help but be frozen in shock.

    ¡°......Heok! This, this design!¡±

    Minhyuk trembled as the words naturally flowed out from his mouth.

    ¡°Baskin~ Robbins~ Thirty~ One!¡±

    ¡°Hoho!¡±

    ck Dragon smiled happily at him.

    The inside of the carriage was designed exactly like Baskin Robbins, an ice cream store that was popr in the market. When Minhyuk went inside, he could see 31 different vors of ice creams. And there were even the delicious ¡®Cheese Neolbing¡¯, ¡®Melon Neolbing¡¯ and ¡®Strawberry Neolbing¡¯ lined up next to the vors of ice cream.

    The weather in Athenae was just starting to get hot so this was the perfect food for such weather.

    ¡°Kgghk. Almond bonbon, shooting star, mom¡¯s only daughter¡­¡­!¡±

    Ah! How much I craved for these during summer!

    It was a feast of 31 different vors of ice cream!

    In addition to what Minhyuk had blurted out there were also other vors like cherries jubilee, cookies and cream, berry berry strawberry, shooting star, New York cheesecake, love me strawberry.

    Minhyuk was both thrilled and moved by his father¡¯s kindness. He even went so far as to prepare a Baskin Robbins carriage like this for him.

    ¡°Yayy!¡±

    ck Dragon smiled softly when he saw Minhyuk liked his present. This was his favorite expression from his son.

    Minhyuk quickly picked out a purple stic spoon as he tasted mom¡¯s only daughter. The chewy and sweet vor of the chocte ice cream slowly spread in his mouth.

    ¡°......Delicious.¡±

    A smile spread out of his mouth from the sweetness. Next, he tried shooting star.

    Pop, pop, pop, pop©¤

    The sound of the small grains popping in his mouth were heard!

    Then, he tried the New York cheesecake. He chomped on the small cheesecake that was added inside the ice cream. The rich taste of the cheesecake together with the milky ice cream spread out in his mouth.

    Next, the berry berry strawberry tasted sweet while the love me strawberry tasted like fresh strawberries.

    After tasting each and every vor, he stopped in front of the Neolbing. Minhyuk¡¯s hands first reached out for the melon bingsu.

    The melon bingsu was ced inside the melon that was turned into a bowl with plenty of crescent shaped melons on top. He used a small knife to slice the melon into pieces before taking one into his mouth.

    The cool and refreshing juice from the melon spread in his mouth and brought a smile to his face. After eating all the melon on top, he could see the white ice cream, the shaved ice and the strawberries that were ced inside. Then, he poured some condensed milk in the bowl of bingsu. The condensed milk trickled in circle after circle as Minhyuk poured it in his bowl.

    ¡®Bingsu tastes good if there¡¯s a lot of condensed milk.¡¯

    After that, he quickly ate some ice cream before scooping a spoonful of shaved ice. His spoon was filled with shaved ice and strawberry that were topped with plenty of condensed milk. Then, he ced it in his mouth.

    His head turned nk due to brain freeze.

    ¡®Kggghk¡­¡­! This is a delightfully cold taste!¡¯

    I feel a bit of a headache since it¡¯s too cold! But it¡¯s addicting!

    After he finished eating the melon bingsu, Minhyuk stuffed himself full of the bingsu that he wanted to eat so much.

    And at the exact same moment that he finished eating everything, the notifications went off.

    [You have eaten the Neolbing made out of the Special Ice Fragment.]

    [The Food Fighter¡¯s Greatness.]

    [The penalty for the medicine has been ignored. However, this does not work for many people.]

    [A Medicine Dish. You have obtained additional stats.]

    [You have gained 800,000 EXP.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have gained 106 special points.]

    [You can also invest your special points on stats that can¡¯t be raised with bonus points.]

    ¡®Oh.¡¯

    Minhyuk smiled silently.

    If he invested all of his special points in DEX then it would now reach 1,950 points. This meant that he would soon reach 2,000 DEX points.

    But the notifications did not end there.

    [The Map to the Hidden Temple has been unsealed.]

    ***

    Notes:

    Sturgeon caviar exists and are quite expensive since they breedter in their lives. Also, about the melon, the raws said ???? (Yubarashi) but one quick google and it seemed like there¡¯s a Yubari King melon, a rare melon that¡¯s grown in Yubari, Hokkaido. So I used Yubari instead.

    Ppong (?) - something short for hiroppong, which is a drug so having a ppong meant that you got something that boosted your power or you¡¯re better than usual.

    Baskin Robbins Thirty One - Baskin Robbins is an ice cream franchise. There is also a game named after the said franchise. The game would have a group counting freely (up to three numbers per person) in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction and the person who says 31 would be the loser. Since Baskin Robbins have 31 vors of ice cream.

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Yusss. He¡¯s like 20kg lighter than his initial weight! Yayyyyy. Only 80 kg left before you reach your target of 70kg. Let¡¯s go Minhyuk!

    PR¡¯s corner!

    44 pounds!?! Good going Minhyuk!

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 193 - Gremorys Trial

    Chapter 193: Gremory¡¯s Trial

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    In front of a dark and dreary temple, a statue in the form of a female demon stood tall. The space beside the statue was suddenly torn apart revealing a woman. Her body was glistening even though it was jet ck in color. To others, she was seductively charming and beautiful. This was none other than the demon Gremory.

    Gremory, one of the three great demons, stood beside the statue as she murmured about something that caught her interests.

    ¡®Someone unsealed my map. Will you being to my temple soon?¡¯

    She chuckled lightly before starting to mutter something. After the spell-like incantation, a middle-aged man was suddenly summoned in front of her.

    ¡°Why did you call me?¡±

    The man who spoke impudently in front of the Demon Gremory was none other than a human being! This scene might have been too shocking for others but Gremory just smiled as she crossed her arms.

    ¡°It seems like being cold and frosty still lingers over time, right?¡±

    ¡°Just tell me the reason why you called me.¡±

    The middle-aged man asked irritably.

    ¡°Well, I just wanted to see the face of the man they call ¡®Sword God¡¯ who saved the world a long time ago. You know?¡±

    She had called the man Sword God. However, the man just furrowed his brows at her words.

    Gremory and the Sword God. These were two existences that were strongly connected in the Athenean System.

    Their story was something that dated back to 10 years ago. During that time, an unidentified entrance was found in a small vige. And from the depths of the entrance, plenty of the demon race jumped out to wreak havoc as they began to kill the people in the vicinity. But then, one of the existences appeared. It was none other than the Sword God who came leading his Ghost Squad. Their techniques and movements were elusive which helped them seed in killing the demon race. Eventually, they also seeded in closing the ¡®entrance¡¯. This was how the middle-aged man in front of her became the Sword God.

    Gremory, on the other hand, was created due to the conflict of two different demons in the system. In addition, even if she was a demon herself, she did not wish for the demon race to invade the human world. She was an emotional and sentimental demon. She only wished to look and y at thend where the humans were living. And during that time, it was Gremory who lent her great skills and strength to the Sword God and his Ghost Squad. And because of that, the Sword God was now in front of her.

    Sword God was also one of the Seven Myths but no one knew anything else about the Sword God and his squad. Whether it was their faces of their names. They just showed up like ghosts and disappeared like ghosts.

    ¡°Are you still hiding yourself?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯sfortable this way.¡±

    ¡°What are you doing now?¡±

    ¡°I teach the foreigners who first step into this world in a small vige. I think it was what the Athenae God wanted me to do.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Gremory was left speechless.

    ¡°Just, just¡­¡­ like a teacher?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. I got married too. My wife recently just gave birth to a baby.¡±

    It was their small reunion after a long time but Gremory squinted at him.

    ¡°Where did you put that sword that you always carry around all the time? That shabby looking sword that did not suit you.¡±

    He smirked at her.

    ¡°I gave it to a person who gave me good memories.¡±

    ¡°Hmmm.¡±

    Gremory nodded her head. She knew that in the end, the Sword God was also a human. But he was a human who used the most amazing sword that had ever existed. Meanwhile, the Sword God asked her first.

    ¡°Is someone going to arrive soon?¡±

    She nodded her head as she told the man.

    ¡°If they ovee those things then they will be able to gain some of my strength.¡±

    Then, the man grinned as he spoke.

    ¡°I can¡¯t wait to see who it is.¡±

    ***

    Minhyuk had heard the notifications. The Map to the Hidden Temple was the item that Gorac had given him when he asked him for something delicious before and he promised him that there would be delicious ingredients in that ce.

    He quickly checked the contents.

    [Linked Quest: Hidden Temple]

    Rank: SSS

    Restrictions: Lv340

    Rewards: 300,000 EXP

    Penalty for Failure: -30 to all stats

    Time Limit: 48 hours

    Description: This is the map to the Hidden Temple. Once you find the hidden temple, you will know about the rewards that you can receive. You have to go there within 48 hours. Otherwise, you will have to face the penalty. In addition, if you have a noble title you can take one of your vassals with you and share the quest with one user.

    The rewards were still ¡®undetermined¡¯ but he was sure of one thing.

    ¡®I think there will definitely be ingredients¡­¡­¡¯

    He did not know what ingredients were there but the penalty for failure was too huge. Furthermore, there was a time limit and the quest had a very surprising rank.

    ¡®SSS.¡¯

    When one looked at the country or at the entire world, there were quite a few instances when SSS-ranked quests have appeared. However, it was difficult to find. Its difficulty wasparable to finding and transferring to a God ss.

    ¡®I¡¯ll have to do it because of the restrictions.¡¯

    Of course, even if there was no time limit, Minhyuk would have still gone to do the quest. He knew that something tasty was hidden there so he had to go.

    Looking at the description, he tilted his head in thought.

    ¡®I can take a vassal or a user with me?¡¯

    However, the description was also implying subtly that he did not need to bring anyone with him. It was good if Minhyuk did not need to find someone toe with him. He felt that it would be good to do it alone. But Minhyuk had read something about these kinds of quests before. It was said that the trials would be stronger and more difficult if there was a need for a vassal or a user toe along with them added in the description. And of course, it meant that the rewards would also be better.

    ¡®Hehe. If Kaistra and Old Man Ben are done with getting the ingredients then I¡¯ll ask them.¡¯

    Minhyuk chuckled loudly. He looked quite simr to a wicked lord with a wicked n with how he was smiling

    ***

    ¡°Of course!¡±

    Kaistra smiled when he heard Minhyuk¡¯s proposal.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go there with you right away!¡±

    Anywhere is fine as long as I¡¯m by Minhyuk-nim¡¯s side!

    His expression was something simr to that. And it was the same for Old Man Ben.

    ¡°Hoho. Are we going out on a pic? With my son¡­ No, we¡¯re going out with the lord?¡±

    ¡°......We¡¯re not going out on a pic.¡±

    ¡°Well, if we¡¯re going out together like this then it¡¯s an outing. Right?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. I¡¯m so excited! Going out on an outing with Minhyuk-nim! Ah, I¡¯ll wash the dishes as best as I can!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll also work hard to make coffee! I got Luwak beans this time, it will taste super amazing!¡±

    ¡®......These people aren¡¯t normal either.¡¯

    Minhyuk felt that he was the only normal(?) person here.

    The hidden temple was an extraordinary quest but there was no sign of nervousness from the participants at all. But if one thought about it, it was because they have ¡®confidence¡¯ in themselves. Kaistra was the unofficial number one in the country¡¯s ranking and Ben was a legendary spearmaster. So it was only natural that they did not feel any tension at all.

    Minhyuk first shared the quest with Kaistra. As soon as he shared it to Kaistra, the same notification rang in their heads.

    [Please select the quest¡¯s main host.]

    Both Minhyuk and Kaistra tilted their heads in astonishment when they heard the notification.

    ¡°Of course, the main host should be Minhyuk-nim.¡±

    Minhyuk was the one who received the quest and Kaistra was only the spoon that was added on top of a dish. Not long after, Minhyuk chose himself as the main host. But before they started their quest, Kaistra said¡­

    ¡°Wait. Genie-noona wanted to meet with Minhyuk-nim. She told me that you should take all the minerals?¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡±

    Minerals.

    Not too long ago, Minhyuk was able to receive two types of minerals after he sessfully hunted Baphomet. And one of those minerals was antarinium. This antarinium was a mineral that had a subtle red glow on its body. It was a mineral from the Demon World but since no one had entered the Demon World yet, Minhyuk was the first person to ever acquire the minerals from that ce. But it seemed like Genie was trying to yield more benefits to him since he was the one who sessfully hunted Baphomet. And the antarinium that was in his hands was identified as ¡®mysterious mineral that we don¡¯t know the uses of¡¯. On the contrary, the blutinium was a mineral that was well-known for its weapon-enhancing effects.

    Weapon-enhancing mineral.

    The weapon-enhancing mineral was something that was not yet released in Athenae. However, the operators said that they would release the update slowly. Just as its name implied, it was a mineral that could reinforce a weapon just like a normal reinforcing stone. However, the only difference was that blutinium could randomly strengthen a weapon from 1~3 levels. Of course the artifacts would still disintegrate if the strengthening failed but in the case of blutinium there were no such side effects. This meant that the artifact would not disintegrate even if the strengthening had failed.

    And Minhyuk had two of this blutinium. He had decided that he would strengthen and reinforce his team first before they left to do his quest. ording to the description, only those with a DEX above 500 could use and work with blutinium.

    [An anvil is needed to use blutinium.]

    Minhyuk raised the Ancient Water Dragon Barraca¡¯s Sword on top of the anvil. Then he grabbed the hammer and struck at it with all his might.

    ng! ng! ng! ng!

    Of course, Minhyuk¡¯s vision was filled with red marks so he made sure to hammer exactly on those parts. Then, the notifications rang loudly.

    [You have achieved the best strengthening.]

    [You have seeded in strengthening +1.]

    [You have seeded in strengthening +2.]

    [You have seeded in strengthening +3.]

    ¡°Oh!¡±

    Minhyuk realized that the effects of DEX were also quite great in this aspect.

    Then, he used an additional blutinium.

    [You have achieved the best strengthening.]

    [You have seeded in strengthening +4.]

    However, even if he achieved the ¡®best¡¯ again, there was no miracle like having another straight +3 strengthening in one go. After finishing his strengthening, Minhyuk quickly checked the Ancient Water Dragon Bara¡¯s Sword.

    (Ancient Water Dragon Bara¡¯s Sword +4)

    Ranking: Legendary

    Restrictions: Minhyuk¡¯s Attributed Artifact

    Durability: ¡Þ / ¡Þ

    Attack Power: 850

    Special Abilities:

    ©¤ An 18% increase in STR and a 17% increase in AGI.

    ©¤ An increase of 7 levels to your Passive Skill: Sword Advanced Mastery.

    ©¤ A sessful attack has an 18% chance of triggering the state: difficulty in breathing.

    ©¤ Reduces attack failure probability by 70%.

    ©¤ Skill: Artifact Subspace

    Description: This is a sword made out of the bones of the Ancient Water Dragon Barraca and God¡¯s mineral, Adamantium. IT is also called the Supreme Sword in the world of Gods.

    The attack power increased by as much as 150 and the Sword Advanced Mastery had a +2 increase. The attack speed that was originally 1.5x would definitely increase to 1.7x as a result. In addition, there was an additional 8% to STR and 7% to AGI. The effects of the reinforcement stone were much stronger than what he had thought.

    When he finished all of the preparations, Minhyuk spoke up while he was riding behind Kaistra with Ben on Penrus¡¯ back.

    ¡°Kaistra.¡±

    ¡°Yep?¡±

    ¡°What are you going to do if you get some delicious ingredients from the Demon World?¡±

    ¡°Of course I¡¯ll give it to Minhyuk-nim!¡±

    ¡°Hahaha. But you don¡¯t have to, though? If you really wanted to give it to me then I will have no other choice. No matter how much I have a ¡®serious look¡¯ on my face, it doesn¡¯t mean that I will give you a very hard time, you know? But I would feel bad if I don¡¯t ept it if you give it to me with sincerity so I will have no other choice but to receive it wholeheartedly.¡±

    ¡°Yep. Please make me some bread instead.¡±

    Kaistra liked bread very much. He liked it regardless of its kind. It was because Minhyuk always made bread for him so he liked it. And now, even Old Man Ben called Kaistra this¡­¡­

    ¡°You¡¯re truly a bread addict.¡±

    It was like he was saying that he was a ¡®junkie¡¯. Except he was addicted to bread.

    Recently, the bread that Minhyuk made for Kaistra had be truly delicious. It was so delicious to the point that if he did not eat at least one for a day then he would get withdrawal symptoms. This was the reason why he called Kaistra a ¡®bread addict¡¯.

    Since they were riding on Penrus¡¯ back, they were able to arrive at the ce that was indicated in the map in no time at all.

    ¡°I think this is the right ce.¡±

    Minhyuk looked around but all he could see were trees. It seemed like they were in the middle of a forest.

    But is it a ce that users can¡¯t find easily? That shouldn¡¯t be the case.

    ¡°Hmm.¡±

    Minhyuk did not know this but the Hidden Temple was a dungeon that would only appear as soon as the quest began. Also, admission to the dungeon would be impossible if the users did not receive the quest.

    As he thought about how they would proceed, Minhyuk saw a subtle glow from the map of the Hidden Temple. Minhyuk tried to move his body and the glow intensified and sparkled in some parts of the map.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go this way!¡±

    Minhyuk and his party members moved forward. After moving for quite some time, the sparkling glow disappeared and was reced by a white light. In front of them, was a thicket of vines that covered the way forward and hindered their vision. Penrus¡¯ opened his mouth and a faint light emitted out of it.

    sh!

    Crackle!

    The vines immediately grayed out then the ¡®entrance¡¯ appeared in front of them. They looked through the entrance and slowly moved inside.

    At that moment¡­¡­

    Creaaaaak©¤

    Bang!

    They heard the sound of the entrance closing with a bang from behind them. And along with the ominous bang, the notifications began to ring out loud.

    [You are the first person to discover Gremory¡¯s Temple.]

    [You have gained 10 reputation points.]

    [You can now begin challenging Gremory¡¯s Trial.]

    [The ¡®Second Trial Type¡¯ will be carried out since you have brought a vassal and a user with you.]

    Then, at that moment, he felt a presence appear near them.

    ¡°Wee to Gremory¡¯s Trial.¡±

    Huh?

    Minhyuk turned his head around. It was because he felt that the voice that he had heard was somewhat familiar. When his eyes widened imperceptibly after it stopped at one ce. When the man who spoke saw Minhyuk, he also couldn¡¯t help but widen his eyes in surprise. Then¡­ Minhyuk spoke.

    ¡°Why did Instructor-nim appear here¡­¡­?¡±

    And at that moment¡­ he heard the notifications.

    [You have met the Sword God Valen, one of the Seven Myths.]

    [You have gained 100 reputation points.]

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Hello. A teacher in a small vige, married, with a child. Who gave his sword to someone???? YOU WERE A MYTH???? BRUH I KNEW YOU WOULDN¡¯T BE NAMED JUST FOR NOTHING. We meet again, old friend.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 194 - Gremorys Trial

    Chapter 194: Gremory¡¯s Trial

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Instructor Valen was the first person that the foreigners who entered the game would see. In other words, he was a person that would always be imprinted on the user¡¯s mind. The reason why he stayed in the minds of the users even though he was an NPC was because of the cool aura that always emanated from him. Even though he was only wearing a simple leather armor with a sword on his waist and his arms foldednguidly, his cold and elegant aura would still quietly flow out.

    And this Instructor Valen came to such a starting vige because the Athenean God had told him to do so. He also willingly followed such directives since he was also determined to live a normal life. But he was also the ¡®Sword God¡¯ who had once saved the world in the past.

    Sword God Valen had a rare look of embarrassment on his face.

    ¡°.....Then, why are you here too?¡±

    ¡°Ah! Hello Instructor! Hehe, how have you been?¡±

    There was a subtle smile on the face of Instructor, no, Sword God Valen. Without noticing it, the embarrassment and shock in Minhyuk¡¯s voice was already gone and he was bowing politely to him just like he did in the past.

    ¡®I didn¡¯t expect that Minhyuk is the one who will challenge this trial¡­¡­¡¯

    And he also knew that for Minhyuk to acquire the map to this ce meant that he had already be quite strong. But still, the trial itself was extremely difficult.

    ¡°How are you and Instructor Roina?¡±

    ¡°We got married and already have a baby.¡±

    ¡°Congrattions!¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Thanks. From now on, let¡¯s get down to business.¡±

    ¡°Yes! I understand!¡±

    Valen was clear that the pleasant surprise that he experienced right now was still different from the trial that he needed to carry out. And Minhyuk quickly understood his intentions.

    ¡°I will first check your qualifications as the main host. The confirmation will be done in one step.¡±

    Then, Valen began to exin.

    ¡°In addition, the power that you received from Athenae will be temporarily sealed. You must only fight with your pure strength.¡±

    Minhyuk tilted his head in thought when he heard his words. After the words were spoken, the additional notifications rang in his ears.

    [All of your stats have been temporarily changed to the most basic stats.]

    [Please check the temporary status window.]

    [All skills and artifacts are restricted.]

    Without waiting any further, Minhyuk checked his temporarily modified status window.

    (Minhyuk)

    Level: 340

    ss: entric Food God

    HP: 55 MP: 50

    STR: 5 AGI: 5 STM: 5

    WIS: 5 INT: 5

    Fullness: 100%

    Minhyuk could see that his stats had changed and was simr to the stats that he had when he first entered Athenae.

    ¡°You will be dealing with Orcs. Originally, the Orc Warriors should be stronger than you are now but right at this very moment, their abilities will be on par with yours.¡±

    Abilities that were on par with himself. This meant that his abilities would y the decisive role and would determine whether he would win or lose.

    Meanwhile, Valen thought¡­¡­

    ¡®It won¡¯t be easy.¡¯

    He had heard that plenty of the foreigners did not exercise or practice any sport in their world. On the other hand, the Orc Warriors were very fond of hunting and were extremely ferocious when it came to killing. If these orcs werepared to ordinary people, then the Orc Warriors wereparable to a hundred ofmanders that were systematically trained. In addition, the foreigners probably would have learned martial arts that could ¡®defend¡¯ themselves while the Orc Warriors had evolved and lived to kill.

    ¡®You¡¯re an extraordinary foreigner. But will you be able to make it?¡¯

    Valen felt quite sorry. He knew that the Orc Warriors were truly formidable foes that couldn¡¯t easily be killed. And once he was defeated, Minhyuk would receive a quest failure penalty and he would be bounced out of this ce.

    Valen¡¯s hands shook. At that same moment, the space in front of them was torn and two Orc Warriors appeared. It wasn¡¯t just one, but two. Of course, their level of abilities were simr to Minhyuk but they were still Orc Warriors that were experienced in killing and were even given the title of a warrior. And Minhyuk had to hunt them using only his pure ¡®skills¡¯.

    ***

    Diet manager Hyejin had a sullen expression on her face.

    ¡°Ah, I have to ask for a kimchi refrigerator¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°Just look at this!¡±

    ¡°Haha. Ms. Hyejin. Just look at this.¡±

    Oh Changwook and Doctor Lee Jinhwan were both sitting on the sofa and hogging the TV watching UFC.

    ¡°That¡¯s right! Let¡¯s go Amba!¡±

    ¡°Hoho. But isn¡¯t that friend really good?¡±

    Hyejin red at them as she muttered ¡®Men.¡¯ with a huff when she suddenly remembered a question that she wanted to ask.

    ¡°Ah, that¡¯s right. I heard that Minhyuk was good at kendo and mixed martial arts before, was that true?¡±

    And just at the right time, the show on the TV ended.

    ¡°Shit¡­¡­ He lost.¡±

    ¡°Hoho. That¡¯s too bad.¡±

    Only after saying those words did they react to Hyejin¡¯s question.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know about that. I only met Minhyuk since he had bulimia.¡±

    It was not Changwook but Lee Jinhwan who answered her question.

    ¡°He¡¯s good at it. Not just kendo and mixed martial arts, even archery and boxing. There¡¯s no sport that he couldn¡¯t do.¡±

    Before he continued his words, Lee Jinhwan fell in deep thought for a moment.

    ¡°Do you know the kendo gold medalist, Lee Dawoul?¡±

    ¡°Kgghk! Prof, who in the world does not know about Lee Dawoul, the gold medalist?¡±

    The gold medalist Lee Dawoul was the country¡¯s joy and pride. He had won the gold medal in the Olympics two years ago with his overwhelming skills in kendo.

    But Lee Jinhwan just smiled at them.

    ¡°Lee Dawoulie and Minhyukie are the same age, right?¡±

    ¡°Ah. Really?¡±

    ¡°When they were 15 years old, the two of them had an unofficial kendopetition.¡±

    ¡°Wow, for real?¡±

    Hyejin and Changwook¡¯s eyes both widened. Their eyes were sparkling with interest.

    The gold medalist and Minhyukie had a match?

    ¡°Yes. And he lost.¡±

    ¡°......As expected.¡±

    ¡°Kgghk. So there¡¯s an opponent that Minhyuk couldn¡¯t beat.¡±

    Jinhwan tilted his head at them as he opened his mouth again.

    ¡°No. Not Minhyukie but Lee Dawoulie.¡±

    ¡°......Yes?¡±

    ¡°OMG. For real?¡±

    ¡°Lee Dawoulie felt that Minhyukie was his one and only rival but Minhyukie did not feel that way at all.¡±

    ¡°Wow¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°OMG¡­¡­ Amazing.¡±

    They had felt Minhyuk¡¯s greatness once more. Then, Hyejin said¡­¡­

    ¡°But he¡¯ll probably lose to Lee Dawoul now, right?¡±

    But this time, it was both Oh Changwook and Lee Jinhwan who answered her question.

    ¡°Who knows.¡±

    ¡°Who knows.¡±

    ¡°.....Eh? Why? It has been quite a long time already.¡±

    This time, it was Oh Changwook who answered her with a bitter smile instead of Lee Jinhwan.

    ¡°Minhyukie has also been training repeatedly every day.¡±

    ¡°But that¡¯s just to lose weight, right?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. But Minhyuk tries to lose weight by doing kendo, boxing and swimming. And Minhyuk keeps on doing them over and over again. His only reason is ¡®Because I feel less hungry if I raise myself to the limit.¡¯.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Since Minhyukie¡¯s body is a bit fat right now, his jabs, one-twobis, uppercuts and kendo swings might have looked dull and boring.¡±

    In fact, Hyejin, who was a woman who knew nothing of the sport, could only see dull and boring movements whenever she watched the 170kg Minhyuk move his body. But that wasn¡¯t the case at all.

    ¡°Have you been punched by Minhyukie?¡±

    And Changwook was sometimes his sparring partner so he knew how his body moved and how much strength he packed in each punch and strike.

    ¡°......It was colossal.¡±

    Then, Changwook continued to speak.

    ¡°For years, Minhyuk has been training as much as any athlete has been training just so he could lose some weight. So I¡­¡­¡±

    Changwook stopped talking while Hyejin looked at him nervously.

    ¡°I think, if Minhyukie still has his body and power that he has back in the day he can do as much as Lee Dawoul if he went to the Olympics with his skills right now.¡±

    ***

    Once Minhyuk stepped forward, he was able to hear the notifications about the linked quest.

    [You havepleted the Linked Quest: Hidden Temple.]

    [You have acquired 100,000 EXP.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [Linked Quest: Gremory¡¯s Trial.]

    Then, another quest window popped out in front of him.

    [Linked Quest: Into the Hidden Temple.]

    Rank: SSS

    Restrictions: Lv340

    Rewards: Depends on the degree of clearing the trials.

    Penalty for Failure: You will not be able to acquire an EXP for 1 week, all stats -10.

    Description: You have now reached the Hidden Temple. Ovee Gremory¡¯s Trial! Every time you ovee a trial, you will be given a chance to get out of the dungeon.

    Minhyuk nodded his head as he continued to step forward. Then, the notifications rang once more.

    [Gremory¡¯s First Trial will now begin.]

    [We wish for you victory against the two Orc Warriors up ahead.]

    [If you sessfully ovee the trial, you will be able to acquire the ingredient ¡®Demon World¡¯s ck Pork Samgyeopsal¡¯.]

    [If you sessfully ovee the trial, you will be able to acquire 200,000 EXP.]

    [However, please take note that if the trial fails then all of the rewards that have been listed will disappear.]

    [You are required to either ovee the trial or reach the end of the hidden temple to receive the rewards that you have earned.]

    ¡®......!¡¯

    Minhyuk¡¯s body trembled in shock when he saw the reward that was listed in front of him.

    ¡®Demon World¡¯s ck Pork Samgyeopsal?!¡¯

    Doesn¡¯t it sound like the ck Pork that can be found in Jeju Ind?

    The only thing that he felt disappointing was that he couldn¡¯t get the rewards right away.

    If he sessfully ovees the trial then he could go outside of the dungeon as it is and the rewards that he had umted from the point where he went out would only be given at that time. However, if he died while trying to challenge the trial then all of the rewards would disappear. Therefore, if he felt confident about himself then he could continuously challenge the trials but it was also wise to step out if he already overcame a trial so he wouldn¡¯t lose anything.

    Minhyuk quietly pulled out Barraca¡¯s Sword from his waist. And the two Orc Warriors in front of him also pulled out the same Barraca¡¯s Sword. They were equally matched with the same weapons too.

    At that moment¡­¡­

    ¡°Well, well. Let¡¯s first have a cup of coffee before you start.¡±

    ¡°Oh, thanks Old Man Ben!¡±

    When Ben handed the cup of coffee over to Minhyuk, he also called over Kaistra who was wearing his rubber gloves and clinked his cup with them.

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    For a moment, Valen and the two Orc Warriors were left stunned and speechless. Then, one of the Orc Warriors¡¯ said¡­¡­

    ¡°Chiiiiiik. He doesn¡¯t feel nervous at all. Chiiiiik. There¡¯s no mouse horns at all.¡±

    ¡°Chiiiiik. Left us alone! That human!¡±

    Minhyuk one-shotted 20 cups of iced americano as Kaistra showed him his quick dishwashing skills. It was the amazing power of the Craftsman¡¯s Dishwashing skill that could let him wash dishes even without water!

    When Valen saw the old man hand over the coffee to Minhyuk, he couldn¡¯t help but ask him.

    ¡°Are you his vassal?¡±

    ¡°Yes. That¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡®......¡¯

    Valen was left speechless. After the trial that Minhyuk had to face alone, there was still a trial waiting for the three of them. However, Valen was unaware of the origins of the person in front of him. It was also only natural that he did not know of Ben. After all, even though he was deemed as the ¡®Legend¡¯ there were only a few people who knew of his face. It was also natural that Ben did not know of Valen after all, ¡®Sword God Valen¡¯ was a hidden character.

    ¡°He¡¯s quite good and he¡¯s a legend too! Valen-nim should have a cup of coffee too!¡±

    Minhyuk had offered Valen a drink since it had been a long time since theyst saw each other. It was a hard feat for someone to be offered food by Minhyuk. This meant that he felt really happy seeing him after a long time. In addition, Minhyuk had used the utensils and gas burner that he had given him before so he was extremely grateful to him.

    And Valen who tasted the coffee¡­¡­

    ¡®Is this coffee a ¡®legend¡¯......?¡¯

    Oh my god! I have never tasted such a delicious coffee in the world!

    ¡®Minhyuk, the food lover, really deserves to have this type of vassal.¡¯

    But if he looked at it from a different perspective, he thought that it would be difficult to ovee Gremory¡¯s Trial with just an old vassal and a short and skinny boy.

    But what¡¯s important is the current situation!

    ¡°Then, now that you have moistened(?) your throat¡­ let¡¯s get started!¡±

    And the two Orc Warriors stepped forward. The first attack wasunched from the Orc Warrior¡¯s side.

    ¡°Chiiiiik! Cheeky human! Die!¡±

    Dash!

    Vwoooooong!

    The sword was stabbed at a speed that was not visible to the naked eye.

    ng!

    As soon as Minhyuk blocked the iing sword horizontally, the other Orc Warrior shed at him at the side. Minhyuk dug his foot on the ground as he twisted his whole body to avoid the sword. Then, with the chest of the Orc Warrior who tried to stab him earlier as the target, he moved his arm as if he was going to stab the opponent.

    Swoosh!

    The Orc Warrior tried to defend his chest but at that exact same moment, a small smile could be seen hanging on Minhyuk¡¯s lips.

    Those who had fought for survival for a long time or those who had undergone systematic training were different from ordinary people. They might not see how the sword moved but they could see the movement of their opponent¡¯s arms. And through the movement of their arms and body, they could predict their opponent¡¯s next movements.

    And just a moment ago, the Orc Warrior had seen Minhyuk¡¯s arm move to stab its chest. However, in that exact same state, Minhyuk¡¯s arm movements changed trajectory. In other words, the Orc Warrior fell for Minhyuk¡¯s trap.

    Puhaaaaa!

    Minhyuk easily cut down the Orc Warrior.

    ¡°Chiiiiiik!¡±

    The orc shrieked loudly while staggering back as blood spurted out from its chest. At that moment, a sword swung again towards Minhyuk.

    Dash! Dash!

    He moved fast and leapt high while maintaining his current state. He stepped on the chest of the staggering Orc Warrior and shed at the iing sword of the other orc that tried to attack him.

    sh!

    ¡°Chiiik! Hu, human. Fast¡­¡­!¡±

    The Orc Warrior was struck down and fell on the ground. Mihyuk took advantage of the gap as he approached the orc hurriedly. But the moment the punk tried to raise its sword again¡­¡­

    Kick!

    Minhyuk kicked the hand of the Orc Warrior that was holding the sword.

    tter!

    The sword fell down with a loud noise. Then¡­¡­

    Stab!

    Minhyuk stabbed the neck of the Orc Warrior with his sword.

    ¡°Chwiiiik¡­¡­¡±

    The Orc Warrior grabbed his neck as if he couldn¡¯t believe that his neck was stabbed. It fell down just like that.

    When Valen saw this scene, his eyes couldn¡¯t help but widen in surprise.

    ¡®Just three times¡­¡­¡¯

    That was the number of attacks that he used to deal with the Orc Warriors had initiated. During those three attacks, he was able to take advantage of the gap and make them sessful. And those three attacks were only done within four seconds.

    Valen couldn¡¯t help but tremble.

    ¡®......I knew that he was much better than other foreigners but I did not expect this at all.¡¯

    He was shivering in excitement when a thought passed through his mind.

    ¡®Perhaps¡­¡­¡¯

    Sword God. Perhaps he can learn my swordsmanship.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [??? ??] No mouse horns - means that something is non-existent or that something is so small that is insignificant and or worthless. Back

    TL¡¯s note!

    I wouldn¡¯t put it past him to do so, I mean he has the money and resources to learn those sports¡­ I would also learn them well if I have the money. Ah, my dreams of learning mixed martial arts. T-T

    BRUH I GOT A STATUS BUT IT¡¯S AN ADJUSTED STATUS. I¡¯m so sad.

    PR¡¯s note!

    WHYYYYYYY!?!?!? Is it too much to ask that we see just how strong Minhyuk is?

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 195 - Gremorys Trial

    Chapter 195: Gremory¡¯s Trial

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    The ck Mage Ali was the number 1 and most brilliant ranker in the country. He was currently exploring a dungeon. He was only exploring the dungeon because he had received a quest called ¡®The Liberation of the Hero¡¯s Curse¡¯.

    The quest that he had received was ranked SSS. He knew that the quests that were ranked SSS were definitely much more different than regr quests. First of all, the rewards were generous however it was not that easy to break. In fact, the number of people who had received SSS ranked quests were quite few but most of them were unknown. However, the problem was that no one seeded in breaking and achieving sess.

    But if this SSS-ranked quest was cleared with a very high score, it would trigger a single system. The system was none other than the ¡®Hall of Kings¡¯ system. Once the Hall of Kings was activated and released, the users all over the world would be notified.

    How much glory can I even get from this? No, it¡¯s not just that.

    ¡®Users who have cleared an SSS-ranked quest with a high enough score to trigger the Hall of Kings will be given immense rewards.¡¯

    An enormous reward. The typical example was the ¡®Half-God¡¯, it was a name that users made up. Currently, God ss users were trying their hardest to create ¡®God¡¯ ranked artifacts. However, there was not a single person who had sessfullypleted one yet. On the contrary, those who have sessfully mastered the Half-God artifacts or Half-God skills could only be counted on one hand. To be exact, on three fingers.

    The Half-God artifacts were originally ¡®Legendary¡¯ ranked artifacts. But these artifacts were a step ahead of the legendary ranked artifacts. This was the reason why the users had called them ¡®Half-God Artifacts¡¯ or ¡®Half-God Skillbooks¡¯.

    ¡®And that thing right now¡­¡­!¡¯

    It was a huge opportunity for the ck Mage Ali.

    However, this SSS-ranked dungeon that he was trying to clear was extremely difficult to break so the ck Mage Ali was struggling. It was extremely tricky for him since the mobs had extremely high magical defense. However, after struggling and experiencing many twists and turns, he had finally arrived at the final boss room.

    It was at that exact same moment that the notification rang in his ears.

    [The Cursed Hero has appeared.]

    A single man walked out from the shadows. His body was extremely daunting and muscr especially with the thick club in his hand.

    ¡®It seems like the theme is Heracles.¡¯

    The dungeon was called ¡®The Tomb of the Cursed Hero¡¯ so it was only natural that a hero would appear in the final boss room. Then, without waiting any further, the ck Mage Ali began his fierce battle against the cursed hero.

    As a high-leveled mage, ck Mage Ali had stored one 7th ss magic, two 6th ss magic and five 5th ss magic in his wand and if other people knew about this, they would definitely be shocked. With those magic stored in his wand, ck Mage Ali confidently strode and explored this ce. In addition, the higher the level of the mage, the lesser time they would need to cast a spell. They could even instantaneously cast 3rd ss magic and below with little to no preparation.

    ¡°Fireball.¡±

    Because of his high INT and WIS, the size of Ali¡¯s fireball was three timesrger than normal fireball. This huge fireball flew straight towards the cursed hero.

    m!

    However, what was surprising was the fact that the fireball disappeared easily after being hit by the hero¡¯s club.

    ¡®Shit¡­¡­!¡¯

    Ali¡¯s face distorted.

    Bang, bang, bang!

    The hero ran towards him.

    ¡°Fire Storm!¡±

    ¡°Fire Wall!¡±

    Crackle!

    A huge barrier made of mes blocked the way towards Ali while a huge fire tornado swirled around Ali as it grewrger andrger.

    Shwaaaak!

    The raging mes devoured and engulfed the area. However, as if it was nothing, a huge hand stretched out right in front of the me barrier that was protecting Ali.

    ¡°Blink.¡±

    Tap!

    Ali increased the distance between them in an instant. Then, cold sweat rained down from his forehead.

    ¡®As expected, this is not easy either. But I have to go. The Hall of Kings¡­¡­!¡¯

    So far, there had only been nine names listed in the Hall of Kings. Among those nine, three of them remained unidentified with only one of them named as ¡®Kenra¡¯. The remaining six were named once. But what is most certain was that each and every single one of them were now representatives of their own countries. Meanwhile, there wasn¡¯t a single user in the Hall of Kings that came from Korea yet.

    Ali¡¯s eyes turned frosty while his heart burned with raging mes. As a person who lives in this country and as someone who always looked up at higher ces, the Hall of Kings was a ce where he had always wanted to climb and reach.

    Puhaaaak!

    Puhwaaaaa!

    Puhaaaaaaaa!

    Dozens of magic formed around him.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Half an hourter, Ali staggered down as he finally won his long and arduous battle.

    ¡®Please, please¡­¡­¡¯

    He desperately begged for a good oue.

    Please let me climb in the Hall of Kings!

    At that moment, the notifications rang.

    [You havepleted the Hidden Quest: Liberation of the Hero¡¯s Curse.]

    [Your rewards will be given based on your score.]

    [You have gained 2, 000, 000 EXP.]

    [You have acquired the Robe of the Cursed Hero.]

    [You have acquired the Skillbook: Diss]

    [You have acquired the Mineral: Cartinium.]

    [The Episode Quest: Hero¡¯s Will has been created.]

    ¡°.....Goddamnit!¡±

    Ali¡¯s face was filled with disappointment. He had failed to climb the Hall of Kings. But even though he was disappointed, he knew the reason why he failed.

    ¡®I¡¯m short of mana.¡¯

    Short of Mana, in other words, his MP was not enough. If other users knew of his MP, they would say that it was enormous. However, he still felt that it was stillcking. The MP was usually filled through natural recovery or through the use of potions. However, the cooldown after using a mana potion was much longer than when using a STM potion. In addition, natural recovery was also slow since it was a step by step process.

    But what if my MP was already high to begin with before I entered the dungeon? Then I would have cleared it more clearly with a stronger and more powerful magic.

    He felt great regret at failing to climb the Hall of Kings. But he only regretted it for a while before sighing. Then heughed gleefully. The artifact and the skillbook were still satisfactory to him.

    Diss was a skill that would summon a giant spear from the sky that would attack the enemy. It could easily prate through the tanker¡¯s defences and deal a lot of damage all in one attack. What was even better was the robe. It was a legendary ranked artifact! And that was not all, there was even an episode quest and a mineral among his rewards.

    ¡®What¡¯s this?¡¯

    All of the information in the Episode Quest was listed as ¡®???¡¯ and even the Demon World¡¯s mineral was described as ¡®Unknown mineral with unknown use¡¯. While expressing his doubt and confusion, another thought was formed in Ali¡¯s head.

    ¡®I should first increase my mana.¡¯

    What about that thing?

    ¡®The thousand-year-old ginseng. They said that if one ate it then they will be able to get a 1.5x increase in their mana, right?¡¯

    ***

    [You havepleted the first trial.]

    [Would you like to challenge more trials?]

    Minhyuk nodded his head to answer the notifications.

    ¡°Challenge more.¡±

    [You have umted 200,000 EXP.]

    [The Demon World¡¯s ck Pig Samgyeopsal will be saved.]

    [Gremory¡¯s Second Trial will now begin.]

    [For the Second Trial, you can proceed together with the user and the vassal that you came with. Toplete the trial you need to clear the dungeon in front of you.]

    [Sword God Valen together with two of his squad members that he had picked will enter a different dungeon.]

    [The trial will fail if you have more than a 20-minute gap from the time that Sword God Valen and his squad members clear their own dungeon.]

    [If you sessfully ovee the trial, you will be able to acquire the Demon World¡¯s Cooking Ingredient ¡®Demon King¡¯s Largehead Hairtail¡¯.]

    [However, please take note that if the trial fails then all of the rewards that have been listed and umted will disappear.]

    [You are required to either ovee the trial or reach the end of the hidden temple to receive the rewards that you have earned.]

    Minhyuk was in awe. As soon as he read the notifications he could tell that the ingredients that he could get from these trials were ingredients that were famous in ¡®Jeju Ind¡¯.

    Especially the Largehead Hairtail! If he ced the plump and steaming flesh on top of a spoonful of hot rice and ced it in his mouth then he would be able to taste the savoriness and sweetness of the fresh fish! It would definitely bring a smile to anyone¡¯s face!

    Valen, who was thinking about passing on his sword skill to him, was left stunned when he saw Minhyuk gulping down his saliva.

    ¡®......It must be difficult.¡¯

    Up until now, he thought that they would be able to ovee the trial because of Minhyuk¡¯s performance earlier. But when he saw the vassal and the user that would participate with him he thought that they would fail.

    ¡°Hiyaaa. This bread is really delicious!¡±

    ¡°Bread addict. Are you eating another bread?¡±

    When he saw Kaistra who was eating the bread happily together with Old Man Ben, he couldn¡¯t help but shake his head. Of course, he thought that they were also a member of Minhyuk¡¯s ¡®optimized party¡¯ but they still seemed unready for battle.

    Then, the two people who would apany Valen to attack the dungeon appeared. They were two of the squad members that he personally led before. They were less capable in fightingpared to Valen. After all, Valen boasted enough power that was worthy of the name ¡®Sword God¡¯. This was also the reason why his squad members were not able to show much of their prowess. But even if it was only Valen who had entered the dungeon, his dungeon clearing time would still be extremely fast.

    ¡®The trial is mainly concerned about choosing ¡®him¡¯. That¡¯s why I can¡¯t let Minhyuk do that.¡¯

    Valen would do his best to clear the dungeon as quickly as he could but he still worried for Minhyuk.

    Then, the two teams walked towards their respective dungeon entrance.

    ¡°My Lord, let¡¯s have one more one shot before going inside.¡±

    ¡°Bread¡¯s delicious!¡±

    Then, Valen thought.

    ¡®They don¡¯t have any signs of nervousness at all. Sigh.¡¯

    Valen sighed as he entered the dungeon. Then, he began to move forward. Lv350 monsters began to flock in front of them.

    In the case of the map, it was something that could only be unsealed at Lv340. This was the reason why the mobs that existed inside were between Lv340~Lv500.

    ¡°Flutter. Wind (Dance).¡±

    Shweeeeeeeeeeek!

    A slight wind started to blow around Valen¡¯s body. Then, it began to grow in size as it started to flutter and blow fiercely. Then, it flew straight towards the iing monsters.

    Chik, chik, chik, chik, chik, chik!

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    The strong wind blew away everything that was in front of them. Even the mobs that were blocking the way were torn to pieces.

    Plop, plop, plop, plop, plop!

    Monsters died in every ce that they passed through. Then, they reached the final boss room.

    Shwaaa!

    Inside the boss room, Valen was able to hunt and kill the boss monster in just under three minutes.

    ¡®I took about 20 minutes.¡¯

    In other words, Minhyuk together with the other user and his vassal would need to clear their dungeon within 40 minutes to pass the trial.

    Then, Valen and his squad members slowly walked out of the dungeon. As soon as they got out of the dungeon, he couldn¡¯t help but tilt his head in surprise.

    ¡°......What¡¯s happening?¡±

    Right outside the dungeon, the three people were sitting around. They looked like they did not even leave their ces earlier.

    ¡°Wow. Minhyuk-nim. Chocte cake and Americano are so delicious!¡±

    ¡°Kaistra, you finally know the taste!¡±

    ¡°Hohoho. Our Bread Addict finally knows the taste of coffee!¡±

    Valen¡¯s brows furrowed in thought.

    ¡®Don¡¯t tell me?¡¯

    He knew that he would lose so they did not go inside in the first ce? Was Minhyuk this weak? He wouldn¡¯t even try even if he knew that he would lose? He knew that I was the Sword God so is that the reason why he copsed before it even started? I¡¯m so disappointed. Is it fine for the three of you to just sit there and y tea time just because you couldn¡¯t challenge it?

    Valen could see that Gremory was also there. But he was ovee with anger that he couldn¡¯t stop himself from speaking out. He was so angry that he even failed to realize that Gremory¡¯s pupils were shaking.

    ¡°Minhyuk.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Instructor!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m so disappointed in you, boy!¡±

    ¡°......Yes?¡±

    ¡°How can a man like you not even try?! Weren¡¯t you the one who was smiling brightly while striking on scarecrows just to get ten loaves of bread? My goodness! You know that you¡¯re going to lose so you did not even try?! I have seen you wrongly, boy!¡±

    ¡°What are you saying¡­¡­?¡±

    ¡°You did not even go inside the dungeon and tried, did you just sit here and chat with them. Huh?!!!!¡±

    Minhyuk couldn¡¯t help but tilt his head in confusion when he heard his words.

    ¡°But we went inside and got outside, Instructor!¡±

    Valen looked at him incredulously.

    What kind of nonsense are you saying? You went in and got out?

    This meant that they cleared it faster than him. Valen thought that he was lying through his teeth and his anger rose to the top of his head.

    ¡°If your words are true then you will be the instructor from now on, I will be the trainee!!!!!¡±

    At that moment, Gremory slowly turned her head. She couldn¡¯t stop the tremble in her voice as she spoke.

    ¡°Val, Valen¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    The fuming Valen turned his head to look at her. And it wasn¡¯t long before she said¡­

    ¡°......They really cleared the dungeon ahead of you guys.¡±

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    It seems like the prologue is nowing. Samgyetang, here we go! Also¡­ Why does Minhyuk always get misunderstood like this? Huehuehue.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 196 - Hall Of Kings

    Chapter 196: Hall of Kings

    Trantors: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    57 Hall of Kings

    As soon as Valen and his team entered the other dungeon, Kaistra quickly pushed the bread in his mouth. Old Man Ben also moved to step inside after he had confirmed that Minhyuk had finished drinking his coffee. Both Kaistra and Old Man Ben entered the dungeon together. As soon as they entered, the same thought shed through their minds.

    ¡®Our Minhyuk-nim who loves food needs to clear this dungeon to be stronger.¡¯

    ¡®Maybe we can do it faster than them too.¡¯

    Kaistra and Old Man Ben saw through them at a nce. They knew that the two squad members who entered the dungeon with Valen were not that strong so his situation was simr to him going in alone. On the contrary, the three of them were all strong.

    Minhyuk, Ben, Kaistra. These three people made up their party.

    ¡°The Largehead Hairtail sounds delicious!¡±

    As for the next reward, Minhyuk had excitedly mentioned that it was a ¡®Largehead Hairtail¡¯. But in Kaistra and Old Man Ben¡¯s case, they both received a different rewards list. For Old Man Ben, it was ¡®Demon World¡¯s Pork Ramyeon Ingredient¡¯. And for Kaistra, it was ¡®Demon World¡¯s Mandarin Chocte¡¯.

    It¡¯s for Minhyuk! For him!

    As soon as the three of them entered the dungeon, they had decided to do their very best. Along with their firm determination, the sound of the notification rang in their ears.

    [All of your skills that are currently unavable due to the cooldown will now be avable. You can now use all of your skills.]

    This meant that they could use their skills that were currently on cooldown. For example, the Lightning Millstone. It had a cooldown of 480 hours and could only be used after 20 days in the game. But inside this ce, the cooldown of the Lightning Millstone had been lifted. Of course, this still did not mean that he could use his skills continuously. But he would still be able to use it once. And he believed that it was more than enough.

    ¡°Kaistra, can you kite the mobs?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Penrus has an ability among his special skills called ¡®Temptation of Rich Blood¡¯. With this ability, every monster will follow me wherever I go.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head.

    Then, the space in front of them tore apart as Penrus leaped down from the void. Kaistra gently climbed on top of Penrus.

    [Temptation of Rich Blood.]

    [The monsters are agitated by the smell of blooding from Penrus.]

    ¡°I¡¯ll go ahead and kite the mobs.¡±

    Dash!

    Penrus dashed forward while Minhyuk and Ben hurriedly followed along.

    ¡°Keuhaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kkiiieeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Groooooowl!¡±

    The mob in front turned towards Penrus and followed the scent of blood that wasing from Penrus¡¯ body. The monsters¡¯ aggro was firmly grabbed by Kaistra. These monsters unknowingly followed Penrus in a circle as they began to gather in the middle of the open area.

    Then, Minhyuk triggered Roves¡¯ Ring.

    [Roves¡¯ Wave]

    [A 7m high tidal wave will engulf and devour all of your enemies. This cannot be nullified.]

    Since the dungeon had a high-ceiling, Minhyuk was quite confident that there would be no problem even if a seven meter high tidal wave appeared inside.

    Shwaaaaak!

    ¡°Kiiiiiieeeeek!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Grrrrraaaaack!¡±

    The monsters shrieked and floundered as they were swept away by the huge tidal wave. As soon as the tidal wave disappeared, Minhyuk turned the Lightning Millstone.

    Turn, turn, turn!

    [Lightning Hell (Hell¡¯s Thunderbolt)]

    [Powerful lightning strikes with an additional 120% damage will fall down within a 20-m radius for 1 minute.]

    Lightning began to rain down from the clouds that formed on the air above them.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    The monsters were unable toe back to their senses after being flooded and soaked by the huge wave. However, before they could even take a breather, they were already dying one by one.

    To be honest, the dungeon in and on itself was not that high-leveled. It would probably be difficult for the normal Lv340 users. But for the Lv340 Minhyuk, who had almost the same strength as someone at Lv450, it was a piece of cake.

    In the end, the monsters that were kited and were struck by lightning all died. Without taking a break, Penrus began to draw the mobs aggro once more. This time, once all of the mobs were gathered together, Old Man Ben activated his ¡®Ghosts¡¯ Dance¡¯.

    Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab!

    After easily dealing with more than 200 monsters all at once, they had reached the entrance to the boss¡¯ room.

    ¡°Splitting Sword.¡±

    ¡°Penrus¡¯ Breath.¡±

    ¡°Ghosts¡¯ Blow.¡±

    All three of them used their most powerful attack that they could invoke. And in just four seconds, the turtle-shaped boss monster had disappeared in smoke. After the three of them finished attacking the dungeon, they leisurely went out.

    ¡°Huh? I don¡¯t think Instructor Valen is here yet. Let¡¯s have some tea time first!¡±

    Were they supposed to just sit around while waiting? So the three of them sat down and had some rxing tea time. Then, the demon Gremory appeared. The three people were first wary and cautious of her but they soon realized that she was the master of this trial. She couldn¡¯t help but stare at them quietly as they had their tea time.

    Then, Valen came out. As soon as he saw their leisurely posture, Valen began to rage and shout at them. Gremory couldn¡¯t help but speak to him shakily.

    ¡°......They really cleared the dungeon faster than you guys.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Valen¡¯s eyes widened in shock. It was a ridiculously unbelievable story. The trial itself was a ce where only Lv340 users could begin to challenge. Normally, the users at that level were only extremely lucky to receive a peerage. And even if they received a noble title, the level of their vassal would only be at most around Lv200~Lv300.

    But you¡¯re telling me that they cleared it quickly?

    ¡®Crazy¡­¡­¡¯

    This meant that the vassal as well as the foreigner boy were quite unusual.

    Then, the notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s head.

    [You havepleted the second trial.]

    [Would you like to challenge more trials?]

    One of the reasons why this trial was so frustrating was because of the system that proposes the challenge of another trial when they did not know what it was that they needed to challenge. But even this time, Minhyuk still nodded his head.

    ¡°Challenge more.¡±

    [You have umted 400,000 EXP.]

    [The ¡®Demon King¡¯s Largehead Hairtail¡¯ will be saved.]

    [Gremory¡¯s Final Trial will now begin.]

    [For the Final Trial, all the stats of the vassal, the user and yourself would be temporarily changed to the most basic stats.]

    [Please check your temporary status window.]

    [All of your skills will be restricted and your artifact¡¯s special abilities will be unavable.]

    [The skills of Sword God Valen and his two squad members will be matched to the challenger.]

    [A 1:1 PVP showdown will now take ce.]

    [If you sessfully ovee the trial, you will be able to acquire the Demon World¡¯s Cooking Ingredient ¡®One of the Demon King¡¯s ck Pigs¡¯.]

    [If you sessfully ovee the trial, you will be able to gain 1,000,000 EXP.]

    [However, please take note that if the trial fails then all of the rewards that have been listed and umted will disappear.]

    [You are required to either ovee the trial or reach the end of the hidden temple to receive the rewards that you have earned.]

    ¡®.......Demon King¡¯s ck Pig?¡¯

    Minhyuk had a hunch that this was something that was extremely delicious.

    Besides, this trial was simr to the first trial. The ability and skill of the opponents would change and would be equal to theirs. And in that state they would fight 1:1 against each other. And for them to win, they had to win the first two fights. In other words, Minhyuk would not be able to win just because he was good at it himself. Even if Minhyuk won his fight, it would still be a loss if Ben or Kaistra were defeated.

    ¡°Your opponent is me.¡±

    And it was none other than Valen who was matched with Minhyuk. He was already notified earlier that he was the ¡®Sword God¡¯ so he knew that he would not be an easy opponent. Minhyuk nodded his head in agreement as Old Man Ben and Kaistra stood beside him. Their opponents did the same.

    After standing in front of each other, Kaistra and Minhyuk were notified together.

    [The trial will now begin.]

    sh!

    At that moment, Valen¡¯s sword swung straight at Minhyuk.

    ¡®I¡¯m sorry Minhyuk-ah, but this is going to be hard.¡¯

    Valen was the man who was hailed as the Sword God. Of course, it was a ridiculous sight for him when he saw Minhyuk hunt the two Orc Warriors easily during the first trial. But he was in a different ss from them.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk, who saw the flood of iing swords, thought¡­...

    ¡®He¡¯s fast. Then¡­¡­ I¡¯ll have to do my best.¡¯

    In fact, Minhyuk still hadn¡¯t shown his everything. He had dealt with the Orc Warriors in just three attacks. He was quite lucky that he had killed them with just those three attacks. However, it was still a fact that Valen had only seen just a tiny part of his fighting skills and prowess.

    aaaaaang!

    Minhyuk blocked the sword with great strength. But at that exact same moment, Valen¡¯s sword stopped trying to strike at Minhyuk head on.

    ¡°Keuaack!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Valen nced to the side. There, he saw his squad member lying down in front of Old Man Ben. Then, he heard Old Man Ben say¡­¡­

    ¡°This damn punk! With this kind of skill, were you just trying to carry your sword?!¡±

    ¡®What?! It¡¯s only been three seconds?!¡¯

    The rules of the game would allow Minhyuk, his vassal, and the African boy to win if theynded an attack on their opponents. And the same was true for Valen and his squad members. However, it seemed like his squad members were not even allowed the gap to attack and instead he was the one that was left lying down on the ground.

    The reason why Valen¡¯s squad member was weaker than him was because theycked military discipline. They did not take care of their bodies and were only drinking and enjoying themselves. In addition, they also received less power from Gremory. But if youpared them with others, they would be as good and as strong as the knights of a kingdom.

    Valen was still not over his shock at his squad member¡¯s easy defeat when he was stunned once more. This time, his sightnded to his left.

    ng, ng, ng, ng, ng, ng!

    Kaistra was easily pushing back his squad member as he shed at him with his scimitar.

    ¡®His moves are sharp, it¡¯s not superfluous and his every move is efficient!¡¯

    Valen¡¯s eyes widened in shock. He might not know of this but the African boy Kaistra had been hunting to survive ever since he was a little boy. He was such an outstanding hunter that the people in his vige even expected him to be ¡®Africa¡¯s Greatest Warrior¡¯. In addition, he even had a pet leopard in his vige. The sight of him hunting on top of a leopard with a wooden spear on his hand was so shocking even to the adults of his vige.

    Even though he¡¯s young, he¡¯s still outstanding. What will happen in this situation where my squad members and him are equal in abilities? This means that he will not be pushed back with just strength alone.

    ¡®It looks like they¡¯re going to lose in a row¡­... ¡®

    Just as he was thinking about this¡­¡­

    Shwaaaaaaaa!

    A sharp and glinting sword ripped the air and flew straight towards Valen¡¯s vital point.

    ng!

    Just as the attack was deflected, Minhyuk coldly said to him¡­..

    ¡°Instructor, are you really taking your eyes off of me in this situation?¡±

    ¡°......?!¡±

    Valen felt a chill run down his spine. He had always seen Minhyuk as someone that was yful and with a bright and sunny smile on his face. But the eyes of such a bright and positive man were now different. When he thought about it, Valen remembered that more than anyone else, Minhyuk was the most serious when he was striking against the scarecrow. Because of that, Valen had grown fond of the foreigner named Minhyuk.

    ¡°I¡¯ll do it properly.¡±

    Shwaaa!

    Valen stretched out his hand that was holding his sword. Then, he started to rush towards Minhyuk.

    ng, ng, ng, ng!

    Minhyuk tried to find a gap while he was blocking his quick consecutive attacks. But he couldn¡¯t see any gap at all.

    ¡®Then, let¡¯s just make one.¡¯

    Minhyuk moved his foot back.

    Tap!

    And Valen followed his steps closely. Seeing that Valen was still tightly following him, he attacked him on his waist on purpose.

    Shwaaaaa!

    ng!

    Valen skillfully twisted his sword to block the attack. But it did not end there. Minhyuk continuously attacked his sides.

    ng, ng, ng, ng!

    ¡®Break the bnce.¡¯

    If he tried to attack continuously then there would be a short gap when the bnce was broken. That was the opportunity that he needed. So he continued with his fierce attack.

    Stab!

    Valen pierced Minhyuk¡¯s shoulders with his sword. However, he only continued to attack his sides. Anyway, he would win this fight if he seeded in attacking just once.

    Shwaaaaa!

    ¡°Crazy¡­¡­!¡±

    Valen was left in shock when a sword stabbed through his shoulders. He moved urgently to dodge to his side.

    Stumble.

    At that moment, the precarious bnce that they had maintained had broken. Valen staggered back and Minhyuk did not miss his chance. He twisted his wrist.

    Shwaaaaa!

    His sword followed his wrist¡¯s movement as it fiercely moved towards Valen.

    ¡°......!¡±

    Valen hurriedly moved his sword to defend but he was a step toote.

    Stab!

    Plop, plop, plop©¤

    ***

    Lee Seokhoon, the Development Team¡¯s Team Leader, was exhausted from drinking too muchst night. He quickly pulled out a cup from the coffee machine as he tilted his head and savored the scent of the coffee.

    That was when he saw some of the customer center staff running hurriedly.

    ¡°Huh? What¡¯s going on?¡±

    The ce where they were running to was the ¡®Special Users Management Team¡¯. And not long after, someone that was running in the same direction caught sight of Lee Seokhoon.

    ¡°Quick!¡±

    ¡°If you miss this moment then you¡¯ll regret it forever!¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    Team Leader Lee Seokhoon tilted his head in confusion. He felt that something strange was happening. Then, he roughly set aside his coffee cup before running towards the same direction.

    When he saw Kang Taehoon urgently walking from beside him, he just gave him a silent greeting. President Kang Taehoon waved his hands at him roughly in response to his greeting as he opened the door and entered the room.

    As soon as he entered the room, he could see countless teams¡¯ team members gathered inside the Special Users Management Team. Just in time, Team Leader Park, who was sitting in front of a monitor, nced at them and said.

    ¡°......President.¡±

    ¡°Y, yeah. What happened!¡±

    Team Leader Park focused on the monitor again as he grinned widely.

    ¡°Our country¡¯s first king has appeared.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°.......!¡±

    ***

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 197 - Eccentric Gourmand

    Chapter 197: entric Gourmand

    Trantors: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    58 entric Gourmand

    ¡®K, King¡­¡­?!¡¯

    Team Leader Lee Seokhoon¡¯s eyes widened in shock. There was only one simple meaning when one said that a ¡®king¡¯ was born in Athenae. It just meant that someone climbed the ¡®Hall of Kings¡¯.

    ¡°Who in the world was it¡­¡­?!¡±

    Lee Seokhoon came here without understanding the situation so he had to ask about this bluntly. All Team Leader Park did was to point at his monitor in answer. Team Leader Lee Seokhoon turned to look at the monitor. As soon as his eyes grazed the monitor, he could tell. It was none other than User Minhyuk.

    Without waiting for his reaction, Team Leader Park Minggyu spoke out.

    ¡°And it¡¯s a good thing too.¡±

    ¡°Which one are you talking about?¡±

    President Kang Taehoon asked him in confusion as Team Leader Park exined himself.

    ¡°By bing a King, User Minhyuk would gain a lot of EXP. This meant that he wil level up and he will not be able to easily raise his stats just by eating.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s really quite a wee thought.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. If it went on like this, the users would definitely go crazy andin.¡±

    They felt happy that he entered the Hall of Kings. However, the people in this room felt happier when they realized that his growth would finally slow down. All they wanted was for his crazy growth to slow down and beparable to the regr users.

    Meanwhile, the new employee of the Special Users Management Team, Lee Minhwa, looked around. It was because she could see that the boss was here too. When Team Leader Park noticed her actions, he tilted his head at her in confusion.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Minhwa-ssi?¡±

    ¡°The Food God will be receiving a new job ss, right?¡±

    Team Leader Park nodded his head when he heard her question. When he thought about it, there was also another thing that User Minhyuk could receive aside from the EXP and it was none other than the ¡®special points¡¯. Once User Minhyuk received the points, then he would be the first ever dual ss user in the world.

    ¡°But what if the ss that he chooses was something simr to the Food God ss where he can raise his ¡®stats¡¯ easily?¡±

    The people around her bursted outughing. It seemed like they did not believe that such a possibility would happen.

    ¡°Eyy. No way.¡±

    ¡°Our new employee, aren¡¯t you too worried over nothing?¡±

    In fact, even the Development Team and the Special Users Management Team were unaware of what job ss he would receive. The job ss that would be selected through Gorac¡¯s book was randomly selected so they would not know what it was in advance. Even President Kang Taehoon did not know about what ss would be selected.

    In the case of Gorac¡¯s entric Job ss, it was something that was nned and created by the supeputer Athenae. And Athenae made sure to ce the highest reading ranking restriction on it. This meant that the only way for them to know about the job ss that would be received was only after it was released.

    ¡®Why, why do I feel so nervous?¡¯

    Despite her sunbaes¡¯ joking words, Lee Minhwa still felt a strange sense of anxiety in her mind. It strangely felt like it was simr to a woman¡¯s ¡®intuition¡¯.

    ***

    Tak, tak, tak©¤

    Valen was flexible, he had quickly twisted his body away and avoided the strikes that were aiming for his vital points. However, he was still left with an injury on his sides. As Valen looked at the blood that was flowing from the wound, he raised his head and looked at Minhyuk incredulously. But their swords never stopped shing. Minhyuk evennded two more skillful attacks at Valen.

    ¡®Phew.¡¯

    Minhyuk breathed a sigh of relief when his attack sessfullynded. Valen sheathed his sword back its sheath and ced it on his waist. Minhyuk did the same thing.

    When Valen looked around, he saw Kaistranding three sessful attacks on one of his squad members.

    ¡®It¡¯s aplete defeat.¡¯

    Valen couldn¡¯t help but smile wryly.

    It was at that moment that Minhyuk began to get notified.

    [You havepleted all three of Gremory¡¯s Trials.]

    [You have gained 600,000 EXP.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have acquired the Demon World¡¯s ck Pig Samgyeopsal.]

    [You have acquired the Demon King¡¯s Largehead Hairtail.]

    [You have acquired the Demon King¡¯s ck Pig.]

    [You can now learn Sword God Valen¡¯s Swordsmanship.]

    [If you have already mastered a swordsmanship, you will be able to incorporate it in your skills.]

    ¡®Ho?¡¯

    Minhyuk was very interested. He was not able to see Valen¡¯s swordsmanship in person before. However, he still found the swordsmanship called ¡®Sword God¡¯ to be something unusual. In addition, he was also able to ¡®incorporate¡¯ it to his previous skill. The incorporation meant that the existing skill would get reinforced and would be stronger without losing its main essence.

    When Minhyuk looked at the notifications, he realized that they were not yet over.

    [You havepleted the SSS-ranked quest with a high score.]

    [Your name has climbed the Hall of Kings.]

    [You can choose to remain anonymous or post your ID or a different name.]

    [You will receive additional rewards for climbing the Hall of Kings.]

    [You have acquired 3,000,000 EXP.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have reached Lv350.]

    [Even if the True Worth of Food has been used, your stats will not increase.]

    ¡®Hall of Kings?¡¯

    When Minhyuk saw the three words ¡®Hall of Kings¡¯ his face couldn¡¯t stop from twisting. He did not care about being famous, most of his attention was restricted to eating and finding food. The thought of releasing his name to the world was something very unpleasant to him. So Minhyuk simply set the name that would climb to the Hall of Kings as¡­¡­

    ¡®Anonymous.¡¯

    Wouldn¡¯t it be the best if I hid my name and just posted Anonymous?

    [The tenth King of the world has been born.]

    [South Korea¡¯s King ¡®Anonymous¡¯ name is spread all over the world.]

    At the same time, the users all over the world were struck with surprise.

    In Japan¡­¡­

    [A message was sent all over the world five minutes ago to announce the birth of the new King in South Korea, the country deemed as a game pharmacy.]

    In America¡­¡­

    [South Korea is now the eighth country to have a King climb and upy the Hall of Kings. This means that a new strong man has been born from a country in thend of the East, South Korea. This man is expected to be one of the people who will lead Athenae in the future.]

    In China¡­¡­

    [A new king has sat on his throne and made his name known. No one knew who he was. What¡¯s more, he¡¯s the only user who had set his nickname as ¡®Anonymous¡¯ in the Hall of Kings.]

    And in Korea.

    [Dae~han Minguk! p, p. p, p. p!]

    [Dae~han Minguk! p, p. p, p. p!]

    [Finally, the first king from our country that rose to the throne has been born! Ah, my heart can¡¯t stop trembling!]

    [This is the birth of a gamer who will write a new history for our country!]

    [Anonymous User! Who might you be? It¡¯s safe to assume that the Guilds in the Korean Server of Athenae are already on the move starting from now! So they can cast their and get ¡®Anonymous¡¯!]

    [But why did they name themselves as ¡®Anonymous¡¯?!]

    [The fact that his name has climbed at the Hall of Kings means that he will be the target of a lot of people. Perhaps his level is not that high yet. It does not necessarily mean that only rankers can challenge the SSS-ranked trials after all.]

    [Then, that means that they will show up soon. If they¡¯re that good then it means that they will be soon listed on the ranker¡¯s list.]

    [That¡¯s about right. Haha, but I¡¯m still curious. I wonder where and what they are doing right now?]

    [Maybe their heart is still trembling in excitement? I¡¯m sure they¡¯re really happy since they were the first person in our country to be king.]

    And Minhyuk¡­¡­

    ¡®Ah~ I¡¯ve finished all the annoying things!¡¯

    He smiled in delight. He clearly knew that something bothersome would happen if he posted his nickname just as it was. For Minhyuk, climbing on the Hall of Kings was not some kind of a big deal since he only yed this game so he could eat.

    Then, he picked his ears nonchntly.

    ¡°Why are my ears so itchy?¡±

    Minhyuk, who was picking his ears openly, chuckled as his heart thumped wildly in excitement. For others, they might think that his heart was thumping like this because he climbed the ¡®Hall of Kings¡¯ but that wasn¡¯t the reason at all. His heart was filled with anticipation and excitement because of the ¡®Demon World Ingredients¡¯ that he had received.

    He smiled happily as he started cooking.

    ***

    Minhyuk stared at the long te in front of him. The te was about a meter long andying snugly on top of it was thergehead hairtail that he had received earlier. He felt a bit happy when he thought of it as ¡®thergehead hairtail that you can eat in Jeju Ind¡¯.

    Thergehead hairtail was a fish that wasmonly eaten in Jeju Ind. It was an expensive delicacy and would cost around 70,000 won to 100,000 won for around 2~3 people. If the amount of people that would eat increased then the price would also increase.

    But right now, thisrgehead hairtail was something that was only for Minhyuk. Thisrgehead hairtail was even called ¡®Demon King¡¯s Largehead Hairtail¡¯.

    (Demon King¡¯s Largehead Hairtail)

    Material Rank: God¡¯s given Medicine

    Special Abilities:

    ©¤ Special Points +300

    ©¤ STM +200

    Description: This is a specialrgehead hairtail that was personally caught by the Demon King in the Demon World¡¯s Sea in the past. However, it was a pity that the Demon King was not able to eat it due to an allergic reaction to fishes so Gremory took it.

    What a pitiful man! My god! You can¡¯t eat something this delicious!

    In addition to thergehead hairtail, there was a reddish but well-fried meat next to it. The dish was none other than the spicy stir-fried pork. The spicy stir-fried pork was made out of the Demon King¡¯s ck Pig. It was a bit unfortunate since the Demon King¡¯s ck Pig did not have any ¡®Special Abilities¡¯. However, it was still fine since it was something that tasted delicious.

    This time, Minhyuk was not eating alone. Ben and Kaistra had made huge contributions in this trial so he would share his food with them. Both Kaistra and Ben even received the ingredients ¡®Meat Noodle Ingredients¡¯, ¡®Demon World¡¯s Mandarin Chocte¡¯ and ¡®Demon World¡¯s Regr Pig¡¯ as rewards forpleting the trials. Minhyuk had used the Demon World¡¯s Regr Pig and gave them a meat party.

    Meanwhile, he said to both Gremory and Valen...

    ¡®It¡¯s a shame but it can¡¯t be helped. I¡¯m already going to be satisfied if no one touched my table!¡¯

    Thergehead hairtail as well as the spicy stir-fried pork was something that was only reserved for him. In addition, he wanted to hurry and eat his food so he could join the meat party.

    So Minhyuk stretched out his chopsticks towards thergehead hairtail. His chopsticks quickly pierced through the golden-brown hairtail. Then, with a skillful twist of his chopsticks, he lifted a piece of the white flesh off of the fish. He could still see the steam rising out of the plump and chubby flesh. Since the fish was argehead hairtail, it was only given that the flesh was something extraordinary.

    Minhyuk quickly tried a huge mouthful of the white flesh. His mouth was filled with the in, savory and slightly salty taste of thergehead hairtail. In every chew, he could feel the unique texture of the fish. It was a texture that one wouldn¡¯t be able to taste in regr hairtails. It felt simr to the kkultteok. Then he swallowed the meat down his throat as he continued to move his chopsticks. He hurriedly mped on the thick piece of meat one by one. This time, he ced the steaming meat on top of the piping hot rice. As soon as he ced thebination in his mouth, he could taste the vor of the rice and the hairtail mixing and creating a harmonious vor.

    After he finished eating thergehead hairtail, his chopsticks deftly moved towards the spicy stir-fried pork. He quickly mped on the pork and ced it in his mouth. The spicy and sweet vor of the porkplemented its excellent texture. The crunchy texture of the added vegetables were an excellent ir to such a delicacy.

    ¡°Wow. It¡¯s really delicious!¡±

    Minhyuk ate the spicy stir-fried pork deliciously. If one looked through his te, they could probably only see a hint of the meat with how fast he moved and ate with his chopsticks.

    What shall I do at times like this?

    He quickly pulled out his gas stove and lighted the fire. Then, he ced his frying pan and put some oil on it before cracking some eggs on top of it.

    Sizzle!

    It was the sound of the pan sizzling when the egg made contact with the oil. Once the sides of the four eggs were cooked well, he quickly flipped them over to cook the yolk before removing it from the pan and cing it on top of his rice. As soon as he ced the egg on top of his rice, he scooped some spicy stir-fried pork together with its sauce and sprinkled it on top of his rice.

    Now it¡¯s a stir-fried pork donburi.

    He quickly pressed his spoon to separate a piece of the egg white. Then, he scooped it together with some spicy stir-fried pork and rice. Then, he lifted his spoon and ced the huge mouthful of food in his mouth. The rice, spicy stir-fried pork and eggs were only three normal dishes but when mixed together they would create a pleasant taste that one could enjoy. It was a simple dish that could bring a smile to anyone¡¯s face. After tasting the simple dish, he added some seaweed kes and ate it together with his spicy stir-fried pork. And just like what he had expected, he could taste a great improvement in its deliciousness.

    After eating all of thergehead hairtail and the spicy stir-fried pork, the notifications rang continuously.

    [You have eaten a grilledrgehead hairtail made from the Demon King¡¯s Largehead Hairtail.]

    [The Food Fighter¡¯s Greatness.]

    [You have acquired 330 special points.]

    [You can also invest your special points on stats that can¡¯t be raised with bonus points.]

    [Your STM has increased by +220.]

    The True Worth of Food might not work anymore but the same was not true for the Food Fighter¡¯s Greatness. And just like expected, Minhyuk invested all of his 330 special points in his DEX.

    ¡®With this, I have already surpassed 2,000. Right?¡¯

    Maybe there¡¯s nothing special even if I reached more than 2,000?

    Just when such doubts were surfacing in his head, a book suddenly jumped out of his inventory by itself and floated in front of him. It was a pitch-ck book.

    [Gorac¡¯s Book has escaped from your inventory.]

    Then, the first chapter of Gorac¡¯s Book unfolded by itself. Then, the next chapter, the third chapter and the fourth chapter. The pages of the book turned by itself at a tremendous speed. It looked like a strong wind blew over and overturned the book.

    Flutter, flutter, flutter!

    Minhyuk just stared at the bizarre situation in front of him. Not long after, the sound of the notifications rang once more.

    [You have reached 2,000 Dexterity Points. Once you have reached this point, you will be given special Dexterity privileges.]

    [You can now have a dual ss.]

    [Gorac¡¯s Book had moved on its own and chose an ¡®entric¡¯ ss that is suitable for you.]

    Minhyuk could see that the previously fluttering pages were now stopped at a page. And the words that were written on the page were none other than a new job ss. When Minhyuk checked the information of the job ss, his eyes couldn¡¯t help but widen in surprise.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [Pharmacy] I don¡¯t know if this word has a different connotation but I guess it¡¯s the ng about the overwatch game which meant having a Pharah yer shooting someone who was being healed or boosted by a Mercy yer. Combining the sounds of the name would give a sound simr to pharmacy. I¡¯m guessing that the author wanted to say that SoKor which was the country where Athenae originated from (a boost from a mercy yer) has shit yers that drag it¡¯s name down (a shot from the Pharah yer).

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 198 - Eccentric Gourmand

    Chapter 198: entric Gourmand

    Trantors: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    There was nothing else on the page of the book except for a picture. Then, the picture began to move like a video.

    The demon race moved when they heard the alleged existence of minerals. As soon as they found the minerals, they ground them. Fine powder that shined a bright yellow light fell down from the minerals that were being sharpened and ground.

    And along with the moving pictures, words appeared in Minhyuk¡¯s mind.

    [The MSG that was created from the grinding of the minerals was vastly superior to any seasoning that Gorac had ever tasted in his life.]

    ¡°......!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes widened in awe.

    Vastly superior to any seasoning in the world?

    The pictures then suddenly disappeared with a swoosh. Then, words and sentences continued to appear on the pages of the book.

    [Gorac. He was an entric fellow. Therefore, he has created many special and powerful job sses. Mysterious man, Gorac¡¯s Book is now granting you this job.]

    Flutter!

    With a flutter, the phrases written on the book scattered in the air and disappeared. Then, two words appeared in his head.

    [entric Gourmand]

    [This is not about those monkey head dishes or foie gras. This is a person who enjoys those regr and mundane foods more deliciously than everybody else. Someone that uses amazing and special ingredients in your own way. In addition, Gorac has prepared a reward for the entric Gourmand.]

    sh!

    A ck light shed from Gorac¡¯s book and entered Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    [You have changed your job ss to the Legendary ss ¡®entric Gourmand¡¯.]

    [You will need two times the amount of EXP to level up.]

    [ss Quest: Make a Special Tool.]

    Rank: ss

    Restriction: entric Gourmand

    Rewards: Gorac¡¯s Special Skill

    Failure for Penalty: None

    Description: A special tool can be something like this, for example you can use the Gardin Trees. The Gardin Trees are an excellent material that are used to make bows. You can use this SS-ranked material to make a charcoal. This is how an entric Gourmand makes a tool. The quest will only bepleted if it meets Gorac¡¯s criteria and requirements.

    [ss Quest: A Surprising Dish with the Help of a Special Existence!]

    Rank: ss

    Restriction: entric Gourmand

    Rewards: Resistance to Magi

    Failure for Penalty: None

    Description: There are countless monsters, gods, demons, angels that exist in the world. There are even legendary and mythical monsters or people. In other words, there are various beings in the world. Create a delicious dish with the help of a legendary, a mythical or more beings. For example, the Water Dragon Barraca has a cintamani pearl that creates a ¡®holy water¡¯. With the help of this cintamani pearl, make a ramyeon. That¡¯s how an entric Gourmand makes a dish. The quest will only bepleted if it meets Gorac¡¯s criteria and requirements.

    [ss Quest: Special Seasoning.]

    Rank: ss

    Restrictions: entric Gourmand

    Rewards: Gorac¡¯s Artifact

    Failure for Penalty: None

    Description: There are countless minerals in the world. In addition there are God¡¯s or Dragon¡¯s minerals. You can use these minerals to create seasonings. The quest will only bepleted if it meets Gorac¡¯s criteria and requirements.

    [The Passive Skill: entric Chef has been created.]

    [The Passive Skill: entric Gourmand¡¯s Insight has been created.]

    [The Passive Skill: The True Worth of an entric Gourmand has been created.]

    [The Passive Skill: The entric¡¯s Greatness has been created.]

    (entric Chef)

    Passive Skill

    Level: None

    Effects: Once the entric Chef creates a uniquely surprising dish, they can earn stats or reputation points depending on the entricity Score.

    (entric Gourmand¡¯s Insight)

    Passive Skill

    Level: None

    Effects:

    ©¤ When something special is ced in front of you, it will guide you on ¡®what way¡¯ it can be used.

    ©¤ When someone special is in front of you, it will guide you on ¡®what way¡¯ you can make a dish more special for them.

    (The True Worth of an entric Gourmand)

    Passive Skill

    Level: None

    Effects: With various ingredients, the entric Gourmand can make a dish with special powers when following that way. The power from the special dish will be permanently gained by the person who ate it. However, only one dish can be eaten with the same effects. After eating a new dish, you can only delete the existing effects.

    (The entric¡¯s Greatness)

    Passive Skill

    Level: None

    Effects: ???

    Minhyuk checked every notification and skill. Once he finished everything, he had no choice but to tilt his head in confusion. The only thought that passed through his mind was a vague ¡®Huh?¡¯.

    The reason for his confusion was none other than the contents of the ¡®entric Chef¡¯. It was because he would be able to gain additional stats and reputation points depending on the entric Score.

    Just when his True Value of Food had lost its effect, something like this had popped up in front of him. This meant that he would still be able to continue increasing his stats by eating and cooking.

    ***

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Everyone that was gathered in the Special Users Management Team were at a loss for words. Meanwhile, Lee Minhwa had a subtle look on her face.

    ¡®My gut feeling is giving me the goosebumps.¡¯

    Then, everyone¡¯s eyes turned towards Lee Minhwa.

    ¡°Y, you can now spread your mat, huh?¡±

    ¡°Ho, hoho.¡±

    Lee Minhwa could onlyugh awkwardly at them.

    In fact, it was something that she couldn¡¯t justugh off. In order for them to bnce the Food God, the effect of the True Worth of Food¡¯s had disappeared at Lv350. Even now, User Minhyuk was so powerful that he even surpassed the expectations and predictions that the Development Team had originally thought would happen.

    But in that state, even though it was a bit different from before, he would still be able to increase his stats. But was that all? No, he could even raise his reputation points.

    ¡°What¡¯s the ranking? That¡¯s more important!¡±

    President Kang Taehoon urged them.

    There were cases when users were ranked especially if they were within the same job ss. And one of those rankings was the ¡®entric ss¡¯. The entric ss was the ss that was made by Gorac. And among this ss, the ranking could be determined. The lower the number in the ranking the more amazing the power of the ss would be. It was graded from rank 1~3. In addition, it was not possible for them to check the entric ss until it was given to a user. But once someone changed into the entric ss then they would be able to check the information to some extent.

    ¡°It¡¯s rank 1.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°Sigh......¡±

    Someone sighed ruefully among the silence.

    After changing into the God ss, he had now received a rank 1 legendary ss. Those were the job sses that User Minhyuk currently possessed.

    ***

    Gremory was in awe while she was eating samgyeopsal. Especially if she ced the meat, some ssamjang, garlic, green onions on top of the peri leaves and lettuce. She could taste the deliciousness of the food.

    While she was eating happily like that, she suddenly saw a ck book unfold in front of the human who had just finished going through her trials. The book was none other than ¡®Gorac¡¯s Book¡¯. When she saw the book, she couldn¡¯t help but be surprised. Gorac was one of the three Great Demons Just like herself, so it was a surprise to see something of his appearing in front of her. Then, she saw the man¡¯s body suddenly being wrapped in ck light.

    ¡®Did he get new powers?¡¯

    She thought that she had to get down to the point after all this was truly the main objective for those who had passed the trials. They still needed to do one thing, but it will be an extremely difficult thing to do.

    ¡°You will now be able to inherit the power of the Sword God. And my trial itself was made to do one thing.¡±

    When Gremory suddenly started to talk to him, Minhyuk was forced to look at her in confusion. Once she saw that she got Minhyuk¡¯s attention, she started speaking calmly.

    ¡°In the past, there was an entrance to the Demon World that opened in a small vige. When the entrance opened, the demon race came out of it and started killing people indiscriminately. And the person who prevented the demon¡¯s invasion is the person sitting in front of you, Valen. I gave away some of my strength to Valen and his squad members.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head in understanding.

    ¡°And one of the demons who opened the entrance was ¡®Verus¡¯. Verus is a cruel and vicious demon. And right now, I believe that Verus¡¯ movements are quite unusual. But now, Valen can no longer fight against them like he did before. It¡¯s because the God of Athenae had now given him a new mission. But there¡¯s one thing that¡¯s certain, Verus will definitely let the demon race out in this world again. However, there is no telling when. And you, the person who will learn Valen¡¯s swordsmanship, I want you to stop him instead for one. But before that, I need something.¡±

    ¡°What do you need?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. I need something. It¡¯s a Demon World¡¯s Mineral. I have hidden ¡®my powers¡¯ in ordinary and unfamiliar minerals from the Demon World.¡±

    Minhyuk could tell that it was simr to when God Roves had hidden his power in the rabbit¡¯s liver.

    ¡°And when you acquire this mineral, it will say ¡®Mysterious Mineral that we don¡¯t know the uses of.¡¯ or something along those lines. You have to get one of those minerals and it¡¯s going to be a very, very difficult trial.¡±

    ¡°Is it really that difficult?¡±

    ¡°Weak humans like you can¡¯t make it.¡±

    When he heard her words, Minhyuk looked like he hesitated for a moment. Gremory nced at him with a slight smile. But then, he said¡­

    ¡°If I find it quickly then will you praise me?¡±

    He asked her with a bright smile on his face.

    ¡°......Aren¡¯t you too conceited?¡±

    ¡°Nope. There¡¯s no way I¡¯m conceited. It¡¯s just that I think I will feel happy to be praised by someone as beautiful as Gremory-nim!¡±

    Gremory chuckled at him in embarrassment. It was true that he had finished her trial surprisingly well but the process of getting the mineral was definitely more difficult than the trials. So getting it quickly was nigh impossible since the process itself was difficult.

    ¡°If you bring it quickly then I¡¯ll give you a blessing.¡±

    ¡°Wow. For real?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    Gremory was also a person who liked to bet so she agreed quickly.

    ¡°That is if you can bring it to me in three days. From now on, I¡¯ll exin to you how to get¡­¡­¡±

    Just as she was trying to continue her words, she saw the young man in front of her take something out from his arms. Then, he proudly stuck it out in front of him.

    It was none other than the ¡®antarinium¡¯, one of the minerals that she had hidden.

    ¡°Tadah!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ***

    When Minhyuk heard her talk about minerals, he couldn¡¯t help but be stunned. That was because he now had an antarinium, a ¡®Mysterious Mineral that we don¡¯t know the uses of.¡¯ in his hands.

    Before revealing this fact, Minhyuk pondered about some things.

    Right now, he had just recently acquired the skills of the ¡®entric Gourmand¡¯ as well as the quests rted to it. One of the quests was even called ¡®A Surprising Dish with the Help of a Special Existence!¡¯. And Gremory, one of the three Great Demons, was definitely a special existence.

    But just to be sure, Minhyuk used the ¡®entric Gourmand¡¯s Insight¡¯ on Gremory. At the same time, a notification was heard.

    [Gremory¡¯s Blessing]

    [Gremory¡¯s blessing would give you some of her magi. Her magi is so powerful that it is near impossible topare it with the other people in the demon race. If you use the powerful magi and make ¡®ganjjajang¡¯ you will be able to taste a ganjjajang that is the most delicious in the world.]

    ¡°......!¡±

    Minhyuk was once again caught in surprise.

    ¡®So is the magi ck? That¡¯s why it¡¯s ganjjajang?¡¯

    I don¡¯t know the conditions but is it really possible to make ganjjajang with magi?

    It was really worthy of the name entric Gourmand¡¯s Dish. But his mouth was still filled with saliva. So Minhyuk gently led Gremory around without any feelings of guilt or remorse. And just like expected, she fell for Minhyuk¡¯s tricks. The NPCs¡¯ degrees of freedom were quitex and free, just like ordinary people, and when they do things like literally ¡®ask¡¯ or ¡®bet¡¯ with the users, a quest would be triggered.

    Just like that, the ¡®Quest: Gremory¡¯s Blessings¡¯ was triggered. And with a blink of an eye, he heard the sound of the questpletion.

    [You havepleted the Quest: Gremory¡¯s Blessings.]

    [You can now receive Gremory¡¯s Blessings.]

    ¡°H, how¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk hid hisughter with a serious expression.

    ¡®Hehe. You got caught in my!¡¯

    It was time for him to check his power that he received as soon as he got the job ss.

    Gremory was shocked. The antarinium was the most remarkable mineral that she had ever hidden. Of course that wasn¡¯t the only one.

    ¡®If he assembled everything¡­¡­¡¯

    At that moment, her powers would open up atst.

    ¡°Right. A, a promise is a promise. I don¡¯t know where you got this mineral but¡­¡­¡±

    It was a bit ridiculous for her since she was unaware of the fact that Minhyuk was able to hunt the ¡®Demonic Monster Baphomet¡¯. But she still had to hold her end of the deal.

    Just as she was about to give her blessings, Minhyuk suddenly spoke up.

    ¡°Please wait!¡±

    Then, he suddenly began to cook. He began to stir-fry the ganjjajang sauce in his frying pan. And Gremory, Kaistra, Ben and Valen who were watching him were all wondering about what he was doing. When he was almost done cooking, Minhyuk said¡­¡­

    ¡°Well then, please give your blessings right here! p, p!¡±

    ¡°......Right, right there?¡±

    ¡°Yep! It¡¯s because Gremory-nim¡¯s magi will make my ganjjajang taste better!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Gremory was left speechless. Then, magi began to flow out from her hands. The magi slowly seeped through the ganjjajang sauce that was stir-fried in the frying pan.

    ¡®I¡¯m¡­¡­ one of the three great demons¡­¡­ but my magi¡­¡­. My magi is being used for ganjjajang right now¡­¡­¡¯

    But a promise was a promise so she had to endure it. For a moment, Gremory suddenly had the urge to hit the head of the human in front of her with arge Chinese fan. But she endured.

    When she was pouring her magi on the ganjjajang sauce, the notifications went off.

    [You havepleted the ss Quest: A Surprising Dish with the Help of a Special Existence!]

    [You have acquired a resistance to magi.]

    ***

    Footnotes

    [??? ?? ???] - Spread your mat, a saying that means you¡¯re good at making predictions or good at guessing about what will happen. I think it¡¯s because fortune tellers spread mats so it¡¯s used like that. Back

    ? Food Discussion Corner

    [???] ganjjajang - a type of jjajangmyeon where you don¡¯t pour water or broth on it. The ingredients are mainly grilled and roasted and there¡¯s little to no water used for the sauce.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 199 - Eccentric Gourmand

    Chapter 199: entric Gourmand

    Trantors: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Minhyuk tilted his head when he heard the announcement. So he checked the detailed information about the magi resistance thoroughly.

    [Magi Resistance. Depending on the magi used, the damage from the physical and magical attacks will be reduced by 20%.]

    ¡®It¡¯s not that bad?¡¯

    The contents about the demon race were not yet released but based on what Gremory had said, he expected the information and content to be released slowly. So he believed that this would also be helpful to him.

    The damage from the physical and magical attacks that used magi would be reduced to 20% but had a 100% physical defense that was dependent on his holy power when he fought against the demonic monster before, right?

    But before he could ponder about these things deeply, the notifications began to ring again.

    [entric Chef.]

    [You have made ganjjajang using Demon Gremory¡¯s magi.]

    [Calcting the entric Score.]

    [You have gained a total of 39 points for your entric Score.]

    [You have acquired bonus stats based on your entric Score.]

    [You have acquired +1 on all five of your basic stats.]

    [The normal ranked ¡®entric Ganjjajang¡¯ has been born.]

    ¡®......It¡¯s still at normal rank even though I used Demon Gremory¡¯s magic?¡¯

    Minhyuk was quite confused. He thought about it over and over again.

    ¡®Ah, perhaps¡­¡­¡¯

    entric Chef is not only influenced by the ingredients but also by a variety of things.

    First he would try to make the entric Chef¡¯s tools and seasonings. If he used them together then he might increase the entric Score.

    Then, Minhyuk checked the information about the ¡®entric Ganjjajang¡¯.

    (entric Ganjjajang)

    Rank: Normal

    Restrictions: entric Gourmand

    Storage Time: 12 days

    Special Abilities:

    ©¤ Gremory¡¯s Blessings

    ©¤ +3 on all 5 basic stats

    Description: This is an entric Ganjjajang made by an entric. It¡¯s a ganjjajang that tastes better than regr ganjjajangs. Once this was consumed, the effects of Gremory¡¯s Blessings will be triggered and even if you ¡®saved¡¯ another dish the effects of Gremory¡¯s Blessings will not disappear and will be permanently applied.

    ¡®Ah¡­¡­ Yeah! That¡¯s right!¡¯

    Minhyuk nodded his head.

    Gremory¡¯s blessings were added in the dish and Minhyuk could absorb the ability that was added on the dish. But what would happen if Gremory¡¯s blessings had disappeared when he ate another dish? It would obviously be a loss for Minhyuk. However, just like what was described, Gremory¡¯s blessings would not disappear.

    After he had finished checking everything, Minhyuk started to prepare to eat the ganjjajang. He also made sure to fry two eggs as toppings for the dish.

    Strangely enough, why does it feel like I¡¯m only having some fried eggs on top of a bowl of ganjjajang?

    What was more, sometimes, if they did not ce anything on top of the ganjjajang or if they only added a small quail egg on top of it then the person that would eat it would be disappointed. It seemed like having little to no toppings would make them disappointed.

    After Minhyuk fried the eggs, he gently ced them on top of the entric Ganjjajang. Then, he started mixing everything together. The stir-fried vegetables like onions that were added in the ganjjajang looked more appetizing than the regr ganjjajang. He could also see that the sauce was thicker and richer than the sauce used in jjajangmyeon. And after he mixed it thoroughly, he could see a faint sheen on the jjajangmyeon.

    Minhyuk quickly mped a huge mouthful with his chopsticks. Then, he slurped the noodles just like that. After filling his mouth with ganjjajang to the point that it was almost full, he still grabbed some pickled radish and chewed it carefully. His cheeks looked like they were about to burst with how full his mouth was.

    Crunch, crunch©¤

    When eating ganjjajang, pickled radish must never be left out. There was even a te filled with well-ripened kimchi in front of him. Minhyuk personally liked thebination of ganjjajang and kimchi so he made sure to prepare them well.

    ¡°Sluuuuuuuurp!¡±

    Minhyuk began to inhale the noodles again. But this time, he popped some kimchi inside his mouth.

    Crunch, crunch©¤

    The sweet and sour vor of the kimchi easily captured and bnced out the slightly greasy vor of the ganjjajang.

    Minhyuk grinned as he finished eating all of the noodles. Then, he took out ¡®instant rice¡¯ from his food storage inventory. Once he had finished all of the noodles, he stir-fried the remaining sauce with meat and onions. He believed that there was only one way to eat such a meal without leaving any regrets. And that was to mix it thoroughly with rice.

    He swiftly dropped the instant rice in the ganjjajang and mixed it thoroughly. Then, he chomped on a spoonful of rice that was mixed with the ganjjajang sauce.

    ¡°Delicious¡­¡­!¡±

    It wasn¡¯t as good as the ganjjajangmyeon earlier but nevertheless, it was still delicious. After he finished eating everything up, the notifications went off.

    [You have eaten the entric Ganjjajang.]

    [You have received Gremory¡¯s Blessings.]

    [You have gained +300 Magi.]

    [You have acquired +3 on all five basic stats.]

    The magi that he had gained was literally a ¡®stat¡¯. To understand what it was, he clicked on the detailed exnation.

    [In the case of the Magi stat, every 100 points umted in the stat will give you a 0.3% increase in resistance to the beings from the Demon World. In addition, if your magi stat is high enough, you can exert a ¡®pressure¡¯ against your enemies.]

    The exnation was simple so he thought that there still might have been some information that wasn¡¯t released about magi.

    As he was checking the information, Gremory approached him.

    [The Episode Quest: Hero¡¯s Will has been created.]

    Minhyuk quickly looked at the information of the quest. However, all of the information was still ¡®sealed¡¯.

    ¡°When the timees, the information wille out on its own.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Gremory-nim is a demon though, so why do you want to help us?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just that¡­ I don¡¯t like fighting.¡±

    But to be exact, she was also aiming for the ¡®Demon God¡¯ position. Gorac was a demon who had died long ago and even though his powers still lingered all over the world he was no threat to Gremory and her aspirations. But unlike him, Demon Verus was still as strong as Gremory. But in a sense, Gremory did not have the forces to go against the Demon Verus. But if she used the ¡®excuse¡¯ of protecting the humans to fight against Demon Verus then she might have the chance. In other words, Gremory might be considered to be the most ¡®intelligent¡¯ demon among their race.

    Meanwhile, Gremory hesitated before speaking.

    ¡°Say¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°I would also like to eat the ganjjajang that you ate just now but is that not possible?¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Minhyuk thought that if he did this well then he might significantly increase his favorability with Gremory. He was not aware but he was already building a friendship with Gremory, the demon that had the highest chance to be the ¡®Next Demon God¡¯.

    ***

    [Gremory¡¯s favorability has increased.]

    [Gremory¡¯s favorability has increased.]

    It was extremely hard to find delicious food in the Demon World. Usually, the demon race would hunt the lowest-ranked demonic monster to solve their meals so it was not that ptable and enticing. This was one of the reasons why Gremory loved the human world. After all, the human world had plenty of ¡®delicious¡¯ food.

    But among those delicious foods, the ganjjajang that Minhyuk made was extremely special. Especially with the more than 2,000 points in DEX as well as the God¡¯s Cooking skill, an extremely delicious food like the ganjjajang was made for her.

    Minhyuk smiled happily when he saw the increase in Gremory¡¯s favorability.

    And Gremory¡­¡­

    ¡®I want to eat it again¡­..!¡¯

    When she saw Minhyuk stir-fry her magi into the ganjjajang sauce she thought that he was a ¡®human that¡¯s crazy for ganjjajang¡¯. But when she tried the dish, she understood why he ate it like that.

    ¡°Can¡¯t you cook for me again?¡±

    Minhyuk stopped copying the movements that Valen was teaching him as he turned to look at her.

    Being the son of the one and only Chairman Kang Minhoo, he personally learnt the art of making deals with his father.

    ¡°That¡­ I¡¯m a bit busy right now¡­¡±

    First, make them nervous!

    And just like that, Gremory was left restless after tasting the delicious ganjjajang.

    And then¡­ what if they wanted more? Then, deflect and reject them once.

    Didn¡¯t Minhyuk decline her request once just now?

    ¡°Please.¡±

    My goodness!

    The demon Gremory was already on the verge of asking for Minhyuk¡¯s favor. In other words, she was already getting symptoms of ¡®withdrawal¡¯ from Minhyuk¡¯s cooking. This was the first time that Gremory had felt a strong sense of craving for something.

    She turned to look at Minhyuk with sparkling eyes.

    ¡°Then¡­¡­ No. I don¡¯t think that¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°What is?!¡±

    ¡°How about I exchange a dish for important information about the Demon World?¡±

    Important information about the yet to be revealed Demon World! It was like first-ss confidential information! And, in addition to important information, Minhyuk wanted to get information about how to get ¡®delicious ingredients¡¯ from there.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t want to, then it¡¯s fine not to do it. Right?¡±

    Just when Minhyuk was about to turn around, Gremory said...

    ¡°Y, yeah! Let¡¯s do that!¡±

    Then, Minhyuk turned back to her. The end of his lips curled up wickedly.

    Valen, who was watching from the side, couldn¡¯t help but gulp dryly when he saw his smile.

    ¡®I¡¯m the same too¡­¡­ but I can¡¯t believe that he got the demon Gremory twirled around the palm of his hand.¡¯

    As expected, Minhyuk is an amazing foreigner.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine for now. And¡­ the next dish will be tangsuyuk. Ah. Before that, I have to learn swordsmanship from Valen-nim first!¡±

    ¡°......N, no¡­¡­¡±

    But before she could even say another word, Minhyuk and Valen had disappeared in a sh of light. The two of them had already gone to thend where Gremory¡¯s trial was set. He went ahead to learn or incorporate the swordsmanship skill from Valen.

    This was all under Minhyuk¡¯s thorough and careful considerations. After all, a person would feel more grateful if their heart ached and longed for something for a period of time.

    ¡°Tan, tangsuyuk. What in the world is that dish?!¡±

    Meanwhile, Old Man Ben, who was sitting cross-legged on one side, tilted his cup as he said¡­¡­

    ¡°You pour the sweet and sour sauce on top of the crispy fried pork and eat it.¡±

    Then, Kaistra quipped.

    ¡°Tangsuyuk tastes more delicious than ganjjajang.¡±

    ¡°Well. Of course, tangsuyuk is naturally a lot better than jjajangmyeon.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    It was confirmed that Old Man Ben and Kaistra were Minhyuk¡¯s staunch supporters. Meanwhile, Gremory was left imagining the dish. She couldn¡¯t stop her saliva from flowing from her mouth.

    ¡®I, it would be good if they came back quickly¡­¡­!¡¯

    It was because she was left in great anticipation.

    ***

    Valen and Minhyuk appeared together in a vast and wide area ofnd.

    ¡°You can keep up with just my power alone but I¡¯m sure that you can do more if you add it to your existing power.¡±

    ¡°Then, I¡¯ll choose to incorporate it. Instructor.¡±

    Minhyuk did not want to throw away Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship Skills. Mainly because Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship skill was a powerful skill but it was also because it was a sign of the ¡®friendship¡¯ between Ellie and Minhyuk.

    ¡°Yeah. I understand.¡±

    sh!

    A skillbook appeared in front of Minhyuk. The skillbook contained most of Valen¡¯s powers. Originally, Valen¡¯s power that would be given to the user was dependent on how much they had aplished in Gremory¡¯s trial so Minhyuk who achieved the best performance was given most of Valen¡¯s powers.

    [You have acquired the Skillbook: Sword God¡¯s Swordsmanship.]

    He quickly looked at the information of the skillbook. It was a skillbook that was ranked as legendary. However, even if it was ranked as legendary, he could clearly tell that the power that it possessed was far greater than any skill in the legendary rank.

    On top of that, he also had another formidable skill in the form of Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship. After all, Ellies¡¯ Swordsmanship had evolved and beplete after he had fed her the tfish and rockfish sashimi. It now had a ridiculously overwhelming power.

    So what will happen if the two got fused and incorporated together?

    [The Sword God¡¯s Swordsmanship is added to Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship.]

    [Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship has be even more powerful.]

    [Chapter 1. Sword of Fury has changed.]

    [There will be an additional 100% attack power to strong lunges and stabs and if the sessful stab was a critical strike, the additional attack power will increase to 140%. A force will also explode and tear apart the enemies with a strong wind within a 2m radius, additional 60% attack power will be added to the strike.]

    The Sword of Fury. This skill made use of stabs and lunges. If a critical strike was sessful then aside from the increase in additional attack power, it would also create a strong wind that could tear apart the enemies with a 2m radius. In other words, if Minhyuk used this to attack his target, then the risk of being sneakily attacked from the sides and from behind would be significantly reduced.

    [ Chapter 2. Rampant Sword¡¯s duration has increased from 8 seconds to 14 seconds.]

    For Rampant Sword, there was an additional 6 seconds to the duration of the skill. The duration had greatly increased after all, these six seconds were more than enough time to deal with enemies.

    [Chapter 3. Scattering Sword has now changed from having 8 consecutive strikes to having a single strike with a x8 increase in force per strike.]

    Meanwhile, the Scattering Sword had nowpletely changed. The ability to attack the enemy with the same damage for eight strikes had now changed to having the ability to strike a single blow with eight times the damage and force.

    [Chapter 4. Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship duration has increased to 15 minutes and all stats will be increased by 25%.]

    It had a 3% increase in all stats.

    [Chapter 5. Blooming Sword will indiscriminately rise from the ground and attack your enemies within 11m from your position. It will also cause a prative explosion that will have an additional 100% damage.]

    The radius of attack had increased by 2m and an additional 30% damage was added to the skill.

    [Chapter 6. Splitting Sword will have two powerful red swords fly at an enemy. The swords will have an additional 110% attack power.]

    Another sword had been added to the Splitting Sword which originally only had a single sword.

    [The Blooming Sword and Splitting Sword have fused together to create a new skill.]

    [Chapter 7. Fluttering Sword has been created.]

    [Hundreds of fluttering leaves with an additional 110% attack power will be formed around the user¡¯s body. The leaves can move depending on the user¡¯s will to attack the enemies. Each leaf has a power that is equivalent to the power of the Splitting Sword. There will be a total of 110% damage per attack.]

    [The fusion of Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship has beenpleted. It will now be given a new rank.]

    Its new rank will be measured?

    When Minhyuk saw thest notification, he couldn¡¯t help but wonder about it. If it¡¯s rank would be newly measured then it meant that it would be ranked either as a legendary rank or something higher.

    ¡®But I don¡¯t think I have ever seen a skillbook that¡¯s above legendary rank though¡­¡­?¡¯

    At that moment, the notifications went off.

    [Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship¡¯s rank has evolved from Legendary Rank to Half-God Rank.]

    [You have created the world¡¯s first Half-God skill.]

    [Your name has climbed the Hall of Kings.]

    ¡°......Huh?¡±

    Minhyuk was left in confusion when he heard the notifications. He already knew about the Hall of Kings. From what he knew, those who havepleted SSS-ranked quests in flying colors had risen and climbed on it. But now, he had received the notification about climbing the Hall of Kings after the ¡®Half-God ranked¡¯ skill was born.

    ¡®What¡¯s going on here?¡¯

    In less than a day, he became the first user to have his name climb the Hall of Kings twice in a row.

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Uhm. Yeah. What¡¯s happening?

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 200 - The Eat Quickly Contest

    Chapter 200: The Eat Quickly Contest

    Trantors: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    59 The Eat Quickly Contest

    [You can choose to remain anonymous or post your ID or a different name.]

    ¡°Anonymous.¡±

    [You will receive additional rewards for climbing the Hall of Kings.]

    [You have acquired 10, 000, 000 EXP.]

    [You have gained a ticket to Athenae: Korean War.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    Considering that Minhyuk needed five times the normal amount of EXP to level up, leveling up five times in a row was a considerable amount of reward. And as usual, he chose to remain anonymous. But when he saw the ticket to Athenae: Korean War, he couldn¡¯t help but feel confused.

    ¡®Huh?¡¯

    And he did not know of this but the notification for climbing the Hall of Kings would ring for the first person to get a ¡®Half-God¡¯ skill, first person to create a ¡®Half-God Artifact¡¯ or plenty of other ¡®firsts¡¯ for such a rank. So what was the reason why no one had experienced such a notification? Simple, it was because no one had ever received or created one yet.

    In fact, the users described the artifacts and skills that came out from the Hall of Kings as ¡®Half-God¡¯. Athenae had already nned these ¡®Half-God skills¡¯ and ¡®Half-God artifacts¡¯. However, only when users had reached a much higher level than the rest could they reach the ¡®Half-God¡¯ realm. In other words, Minhyuk was the first ever user to have learned a ¡®Half-God Skill¡¯.

    In addition, the ticket to Athenae: Korean War meant that he could skip the qualifying round and he would advance straight to the finals. Of course, they would still undergo the strict examination of the organizers. Butpared to the others, they would still have higher chances of being the ¡®National Representative¡¯ after they had received the approval of the organizers. However, Minhyuk still had no thoughts nor intentions to participate right now.

    Minhyuk checked the information of the Fluttering Sword in detail. The damage was exceptional but it needed five seconds before it gotunched. In addition, the cooldown was too long. It could only be used once every two days. And the amount of mana that it required was as high as 3,000.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you try it once?¡±

    Valen pped his hands and¡­¡­

    Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud©¤

    Hundreds of monsters appeared ahead of them. Without wasting any time, They ran straight towards them. The monsters that appeared were around Lv 350~400.

    ¡®How will he hunt them?¡¯

    Valen was unaware that the skill that Minhyuk previously wielded was Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship. So it was also natural that he was unaware of the strength of the skill that his swordsmanship had incorporated into.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk heard a notification.

    [The Skill Cooldown will not be applied once you leave the site for Gremory¡¯s Trials.]

    Minhyuk nodded his head in understanding.

    This meant that the cooldown of the skills that he used inside would be restored to normal once he went outside. Among the various skills that got incorporated and created, he was most curious about the Fluttering Sword. So he had thought of trying it out.

    The hundreds of monsters ran fiercely as if to show how threatening their presence were.

    ¡°Kiieeeeee!¡±

    ¡°Kyaaaaahaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Fluttering Sword.¡±

    A light breeze suddenly started to blow around Minhyuk. Then, the wind that was created from the breeze began to blow and follow the sword.

    Shwaaaaaa©¤

    Then, hundreds of silver leaves appeared in the surrounding wind. The leaves were fluttering gently as if they had just fallen from the branches of the tree.

    The Fluttering Sword had about five seconds of cast time.

    Valen looked in interest.

    After the gruelling five seconds, Minhyuk moved his sword. At that exact same moment, the falling leaves that were almost going to touch the ground suddenly rose in the air and began to fly towards the monsters at an unbelievable speed.

    Shweeeeeeeek!

    Fwish©¤ Fwish, fwish, fwish, fwish, fwish, fwish!

    He could hear the wind tearing the space in front of him as the hundreds of leaves flew and fluttered among the crowd of monsters. Then, silence followed soon after.

    Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud!

    The monster¡¯s began to copse one by one. There wasn¡¯t a single monster left standing. Then, the falling and fluttering leaves swirled and turned into a whirlwind before disappearing in the air.

    ¡®As expected, a Half-God skill is really strong.¡¯

    Minhyuk nodded in satisfaction. When he realized that the person beside me was unusually quiet, he turned back and looked at him curiously.

    ¡°......¡±

    Valen was looking at Minhyuk with astonishment and shock.

    ***

    Valen couldn¡¯t feel anything.

    ¡®Wh, what the hell is this?¡¯

    He gave him the skills that he had honed and Minhyuk had incorporated it to his skill. At first nce, he thought that it was just a unique or epic ranked skill. After all, it was in front of Sword God Valen¡¯s skill that held an infinite amount of power. But that wasn¡¯t the case. When his strength and the strength of Minhyuk¡¯s skillbined, the results werepletely ridiculous.

    It was a bit hard for him to put it into words.

    If the number of monsters that died were only 1/3 of their total, then Valen would have definitely pped his hands. This was already in consideration of Valen believing that Minhyuk was an outstanding foreigner that was at Lv340. In fact, he really couldn¡¯t tell his entire strength since the only time that they had crossed swords was when their power and strength were equal. This was the reason why he was unaware of the fact that Minhyuk could exert a strength that was equivalent to someone at Lv450 so he was shocked when he saw what happened in front of him.

    ¡°How was it?¡±

    ¡°It, it¡¯s not that bad.¡±

    Somehow, Valen had created a monster.

    ¡°Let¡¯s also look at the other skills. I¡¯ll also teach you how to control your strength and force.¡±

    ***

    As soon as Valen and Minhyuk came back to where Gremory was, he cooked for her. And every time he cooked for her, he got information in return.

    ¡°Chew, chew. If you go to Area 88 in the Demon World you will see a demonic race called Andanis. If you go to that demonic race, you will be able to get the quest ¡®Poor Soul¡¯.¡±

    ¡°Chew, chew. Wow. This jjamppong is really good, you know? If you go to Area 77 in the Demon World, you will be able to find a Demon World¡¯s Earthworm. But it¡¯s a legendary monster¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk made sure to sweep all of the information that he could get from the soon-to-be-opened Demon World. He was certain that the information from the soon-to-be-opened Demon World was something that could help him in the near future.

    After getting all of the information that he could get, Minhyuk went out of Gremory¡¯s Temple with Kaistra and Ben. Not long after they stepped out¡­

    ¡°......Did you really just tell them everything?¡±

    ¡°Well, anyway. I¡¯m one of the three great demons.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Valen looked at her incredulously before turning into a light and going back to the life of an instructor.

    ***

    Time flowed like a stream. A week had already gone by and the Athenae: Korean War was already starting.

    In the VIP stands, Alicia, Cain and Lucia were all sitting together while hundreds of thousands of spectators were sitting at the general stands and looking forward to the start of thepetition. Just like the usual, Alicia and Cain were sitting close to each other while Lucia just sat there in the room with them.

    ¡°There¡¯s a total of 12 MVPs that will be selected.¡±

    ¡°And those 12 users will get a ticket to Athenae: World War.¡±

    MVP was a prestigious title that was given to the winners of the various events of thepetition. It was something simr to a gold medal. But in the case of the Athenae: Korean War, there are no bronze and silver medals. Only the winners of each event will be given the gold medal, the title of MVP. In addition, users were allowed to participate in different events and it was said that the ¡®Best MVP¡¯ of the Athenae: Korean War would be given a huge amount of rewards. However, this information was not released yet.

    ¡°I¡¯m looking forward to it.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s today¡¯s game?¡±

    Cain answered Alicia¡¯s question.

    ¡°Eat Quickly Contest.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Is that so. Wait.¡±

    Alicia shook her head.

    ¡°It¡¯s for the production sses, right?¡±

    Cain nodded his head.

    The Eat Quickly Contest was apetition where they could see how the production sses fought.

    Then, Lucia spoke.

    ¡°Based on how the world sees us, our country¡¯sbat sses are already weak and the same goes for the production sses. I wonder if our country¡¯s production ss MVP users will be able to defend themselves once they enter the World War.¡±

    Alicia turned her head to look at her.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. It¡¯s a bit difficult.¡±

    Cain nodded his head as he looked at the list of the participants of the Eat Quickly Contest.

    List of yers

    Group 1: Hepas¡¯ Descendant Hyemin¡¯sDad, Labor God Hai.

    Group 2: Painting¡¯s Monarch Vhad, Bomb Mage Fabian.

    Group 3: Twilight Sculptor Lucan, Bard Master Kennedy.

    Group 4: Trap Installer Valcharan, Prince of Bandage Hartz

    Group 5:.........omitted

    Group 6:.........omitted

    Group 7:.........omitted

    Nominated yer: Legendary Fisherman Kerry

    ¡°What¡¯s a nominated yer?¡±

    Lucia asked as Cain answered her question.

    ¡°There are 20 people who entered and a total of 10 teams that participated in the Eat Quickly Contest. But just in case something happened, they added one more person. After all, if any of the other yers were not able to y then there will be a setback in thepetition.¡±

    ¡°But isn¡¯t that something that is more unlikely to happen?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Well, the Legendary Fisherman Kerry is kinda¡­¡­¡±

    Cain couldn¡¯t help but just smile bitterly.

    ¡°He¡¯s neither one nor the other. What¡¯s more unfortunate was that he wasn¡¯t able to join thepetition because he failed to pass the qualifying round by a narrow gap.¡±

    While they were talking about that, Cain remembered the notification that rang loudly not too long ago.

    ¡°Is ¡®Anonymous¡¯ the one who caused the notifications about the Hall of Kings to ring twice not going to participate in Athenae: Korean War?¡±

    ¡°......It seems to be the case.¡±

    They had expected that a new wind would blow in their favor. When the notification for the Hall of King¡¯s rang twice, the whole country was on fire. They also knew that the person who secretly climbed the Hall of Kings was given a ticket to the Athenae: Korean War bypassing the ¡®Qualifications War¡¯.

    But all of the participants are people that Cain and Alicia knew. Among them, there was no one that was able to climb the Hall of Kings.

    Then, at that moment¡­¡­

    [Athenae: Korean War! The search for the best dancer ¡®Pet¡¯ begins now!]

    [Search for the best dancer ¡®Pet¡¯?]

    [Yes. The official mascot of Athenae: Korean War has not been decided yet so Joy Co. Ltd. decided to choose the mascot as an event! Just like in America where they selected Iron Pooh as the American Mascot during the Athenae: American War. Even in Japan, their mascot was chosen to be ¡®King of Shibas¡¯. Our country¡¯s mascot will be decided through the search for the best dancer ¡®Pet¡¯.]

    [Oh, that sounds like it¡¯s going to be fun.]

    [The ¡®mascot¡¯ will be determined depending on the judge¡¯s votes as well as the audience¡¯s votes. And for the ¡®Pets¡¯ that will participate, only the pets of the participants in the Athenae: Korean War will be able to join. Ah. Of course, getting first ce in this does not mean that you will get the title of the MVP.]

    [So, the 3,000-year-old Eel that¡¯s a great medicine will be given to the mascot?]

    [Of course. 3,000-year-old Eel. Ah, just thinking about it is making me feel energetic. I think my wife will love me more if I eat it!]

    Then, music began to y in therge coliseum.

    It was Psyn¡¯s Kangchon Style.

    Oppan, Kangchon Style, Kangchon Style~?

    The users and yers in the audience felt rxed andfortable because it was a song that was once a huge hit in the world. The song, together with the horse-like dancing was quite popr back in the day. And as if they were willing to be a mascot, more than a hundred pets came out to dance in the coliseum.

    ¡°Puhahaha. What¡¯s this? There¡¯s nothing war-like in this.¡±

    ¡°It looks fun.¡±

    Cain grinned as Aliciaughed loudly. It looked like some pets had felt that their pride was lost so they did not budge even if the users shouted loudly at them.

    Oppan Kangchon Style~?

    [The bear over there looks like it extremely despises dancing.]

    [Ah, I don¡¯t think I¡¯d like to see that too. A Kangchon Style with that huge body and sharp ws¡­¡­]

    [Wait. This is a cute event. Huh? Who¡¯s that entering right now?]

    [Oooh? S, sunsseeeeees?]

    [Wow, his sunsses really look great on him! It¡¯s like I¡¯m really seeing Psyn¡¯s Kangchon Style!]

    A surprised voice could suddenly be heard from thementators. The exmation caught the attention of Alicia, Cain and Lucia.

    Not long after, the screen showed the being that they were talking about. The scene on the screen was showing a baby pig with ck sunsses on his face running towards the stage. The mysterious baby pig wore sunsses that were as big as his head as he pompously and proudly headed to the center of the stage.

    Not long after, the highlight of the song began ying again.

    Beautiful, cutie~ (areumdawo, cutieseureowo)

    That¡¯s you, hey! Yes you, hey. (baro keugon neoji, hey! Keugon neoji hey.)

    From now on, let¡¯s do it until the eeeeeeeeeeeeend~ (ijebuto halddaekkaji haebolkkaa~)

    Oppan Kangchon Style!

    Along with the booming sounds of the speakers, the lights in the coliseum shed!

    Oppan Kangchon Style!

    At the same time, the mysterious baby piggy also started to dance Psyn¡¯s trademark horse dance! The baby piggy looked like he was in a trance as he danced dazzlingly. It was like he was in a world of his own.

    Then, loud and passionate cheers began to pour out from the audience.

    ***

    Notes

    [Psyn¡¯s Kangchon Style] - A parody of Psy¡¯s Gangnam Style. Just like Gangnam, Kangchon is a ce in Korea. And it was literally written as Psyn so¡­ I know it¡¯s the same for Oppa which author-nim has written as oppan. Kek. bear with it, it¡¯s a parody. Just like the blue velvet before. The lyrics are not simr to the original. Lol.

    These are the lyrics of the highlight with the differences in italics.

    ????, ?????~

    ?? ?? ?? hey, ?? ?? ?? hey.

    ???? ? ??? ??????????~

    ?? ?? ???!

    TL¡¯s corner!

    This is me crying out ofughter after imagining a palm-sized white baby pig with huge sunsses dancing to oppa gangnam style¡­ Don¡¯t lie. You tried to sing it! right?!

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 201 - The Eat Quickly Contest

    Chapter 201: The Eat Quickly Contest

    Trantors: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°So cute!¡±

    ¡°Look at that pping belly!¡±

    ¡°Ah, that arrogant expression. So cute!!!¡±

    The people were moring as they looked at his small body the size of the fist together with his short legs and arms. His arrogant look and the huge sunsses on his face looked perfect as he danced the Kangchon Style!

    ¡°Cu, cute¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Wow.¡±

    Alicia and Lucia were both falling into a trance. Their cheeks burned brightly as they looked at the cute creature at the center of the stage.

    ¡®I want to poke those plump and chubby cheeks with my fingers.¡¯

    ¡®I wonder if he will feel soft if I hug it?¡¯

    Lucia and Alicia were both cold and charismatic women but it seemed like something like this was also proof that they were girls.

    Looking at their lovestruck expressions, Cain said¡­¡­

    ¡°But who¡¯s the owner of that baby piggy? Only yer¡¯s pets are allowed to vie for the position of the mascot, right?¡±

    [Ah. Here¡¯s the information. The baby pig that is currently dancing is a pet named ¡®Kongie¡¯. He is User Minhyuk¡¯s pet. User Minhyuk was just registered as a nominated candidate for the Eat Quickly Contest today.]

    [That¡¯s strange. All of the information except the one submitted in Athenae are currently private. Is this even possible especially when we¡¯re in a contest to select our country¡¯s MVP?]

    ¡°D, did they say Minhyuk¡­¡­?!¡±

    ¡°Minhyuk?!¡±

    Both Alicia¡¯s and Lucia¡¯s eyes widened in shock.

    ***

    A day before theunch of Athenae: Korean War, President Kang Taehoon couldn¡¯t help but wonder.

    ¡®I wonder if User Minhyuk is not participating?¡¯

    Just recently, User Minhyuk climbed the Hall of Kings. He was also given a ¡®Athenae: Korean War ticket¡¯ which was like a free pass in thepetition. Everything was reviewed by Joy Co. Ltd. and the conditions were met by User Minhyuk.

    But¡­¡­ Why isn¡¯t heing?

    At that moment, someone knocked on the door.

    Knock, knock.

    ¡°You may enter.¡±

    The person who came inside the room was none other than Team Leader Park Minggyu. He looked like he was in an urgent situation with how flustered he looked.

    ¡°User Minhyuk has contacted me.¡±

    ¡°......It¡¯s finally here!¡±

    A small smile hung around Kang Taehoon¡¯s lips. But before he could rejoice, Team Leader Park said¡­¡­

    ¡°But there¡¯s a problem.¡±

    ¡°A problem?¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°What is it¡­...?¡±

    ¡°He said that it was possible to reveal his face in the virtual world but not in reality.¡±

    ¡°What are you¡­¡­¡±

    Kang Taehoon¡¯s face crumpled.

    You don¡¯t want to reveal your face in a world-sspetition?

    This meant even their real information would be private. The condition in and on itself was something that did not even make sense. In addition, it was not allowed within the rules of thepetition.

    ¡°He will note to the waiting room that we have prepared for the yers in real life.¡±

    The waiting room that Joy Co. Ltd. had prepared was literally a ce where the domestic yers could gather and learn each other¡¯s faces. In addition, a press conference for thepetition would be held in the same venue under the sponsorship of Joy Co. Ltd.. It was also a ce where he could promote friendship by learning the ce of the Athenae users in reality.

    But you¡¯re telling me that he did not want that either?

    ¡°......That¡¯s absurd! What kind of nonsense is that?!¡±

    Kang Taehoon¡¯s face flushed in anger. The Athenae: Korean War was not a joke.

    So what if your numbers are not up to par, and why do you even need to hide your identity?

    ¡°Then if it¡¯s like that, he doesn¡¯t need to participate!¡±

    No matter how high the chances of User Minhyuk being an MVP was, it was something that he could not allow.

    ¡°I already told him on the phone that he would not be allowed to participate with regards to this. But I got a call from hiswyer.¡±

    Kang Taehoon snorted.

    You¡¯re messing with me and you even have the guts to have yourwyer call me? Was he a rich user?

    Kang Taehoon was already on the verge of being disappointed by User Minhyuk. After all, he believed that he was someone who had regarded the Athenae Olympics as a joke. However, his eyes couldn¡¯t help but widen when he heard the next words.

    ¡°Thewyer was none other than the head of the legal team under the Ilhwa Group¡¯s Chairman.¡±

    ¡°S, so what you¡¯re saying is¡­ you¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes, what you¡¯re thinking is correct.¡±

    Team Leader Park nodded his head.

    ¡°User Minhyuk is Chairman Kang Minhoo¡¯s only son. Of course, they are requesting that this information is to be kept private.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Kang Taehoon¡¯s eyes widened in shock.

    That¡¯s the number onepany in our country?! No, it wasn¡¯t just our country. It¡¯s a world-ss enterprise. Of course, Joy Co. Ltd. can¡¯t easily be pushed down by Ilhwa Group. But the father of the user that we always knew is Chairman Kang Minhoo?

    ¡°In addition, their legal team picked on exactly one part.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°The non-disclosure of the information in reality can be established due to a variety of reasons. Instead, they would allow us to open the Athenae game information.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Kang Taehoon¡¯s expression turned solemn. The Athenae: Korean War was still currently apetition in the virtual world so the rules were stillx inparison to the actual Olympics. However, it was still not a good reason for letting them hide their private information.

    But they cited the ¡®variety of reasons¡¯. Did they meet one of them?

    Those reasons were mostly nonsense and were just like a formality in reality.

    ¡°Their reason was ¡®rare disease¡¯.¡±

    ¡°Rare disease?¡±

    President Kang Taehoon locked his fingers together as he looked at Team Leader Park seriously.

    It was true that the ¡®rare disease¡¯ met one of the conditions. However, they still had to go through an extremely difficult process. Athenae¡¯spetition might be held by Joy Co. Ltd. but it would still need the approval of the Organizing Committee. That was the reason why they needed to know exactly what the ¡®rare disease¡¯ was.

    ¡°That¡¯s why they¡¯re going to meet with us.¡±

    Kang Taehoon nodded his head.

    ***

    Today was the day of thepetition.

    Yesterday, Team Leader Park went and visited Minhyuk in his residence to confirm their ims. When he saw the doctor¡¯s report that was handed to him, he couldn¡¯t help but be left speechless.

    ¡®Non-purging bulimia? There¡¯s a disease like this?¡¯

    They were even given an exnation by Doctor Lee Jinhwan. They even mentioned that one in three people had died due to this disease a few years ago. Hearing the exnation, he had believed that it was more serious than what he had initially thought. And with that, the conditions for the non-disclosure of the information in the real world was somehow met.

    Minhyuk had agreed and said that he would reveal his face, name and age in Athenae. But any of the other information that they needed to know? It was to be kept private.

    In addition, there were plenty of reasons why they can persuade the organizingmittee with the ¡®rare disease¡¯. Athenae was a game that was made for fun. However, there would definitely be an issue if they tried to forcefully clear up and show someone with a rare disease in reality.

    How many users can handle the mental stress that wille with the issue?

    ¡®What¡¯s worse, he has a body like this¡­¡­¡¯

    It was something that was impossible. Even if he said that he would let them show his information he would have let him stay under the private setting.

    After giving a definite answer to President Kang Taehoon, Team Leader Park was given an order. And that was to stay right next to User Minhyuk until the end of thepetition. The other yers would follow the instructions of Joy Co. Ltd. in the waiting room but User Minhyuk would not be able to do so. That was why he was tasked to stay by his side.

    And President Kang Taehoon told him¡­¡­

    ¡®Then, what¡¯s left for me is to get approval from themittee.¡¯

    Of course, Joy Co. Ltd. could push ahead with their decision without any hesitation but there was a high probability that the public would not be ¡®convinced¡¯. After all, a user suddenly appeared and participated with everything behind closed doors. They were sure that the public would protest. That was why, the story would be different if the ¡®organizingmittee¡¯ that was considered as the ¡®representative¡¯ of the public approved of this.

    And Minhyuk¡­ he was just eating cherry tomatoes.

    ¡°The president will try and let you participate in the Eat Quickly Contest today. But we have registered you as a nominated candidate for now. You have the ticket from the Hall of Kings so it won¡¯t be a problem even if you registered today.¡±

    ¡°Yes. Thank you.¡±

    ¡°I think that you have given a lot of thought before you expressed your intention to participate in the Korean War. May I ask your reason?¡±

    Minhyuk smiled silently. He had agonized over this fact over and over again after the announcement of the Eat Quickly Contest.

    Delicious market food.

    He could imagine the taste of the sweet red bean filling inside the chewy chapssal donut. And, what about the kkwabaegi that was covered with sugar? He could already imagine the sweet taste and the chewy texture of the bread. And that wasn¡¯t all. The market also offered the huge whole market chicken that was always steaming hot as well as the bindae-tteok, kimchi buchimgae and all kinds of delicious jeons. Of course those were a part of his reason but it wasn¡¯t just that.

    ¡°When I was young, I often went to the market with myte mother. That¡¯s why I like market food.¡±

    Minhyuk smiled wryly.

    He definitely wanted to eat market food but he also had a lot of worries. He was sure that if he participated then his identity would be known to the world. At first, he had already decided to forfeit his participation. However, when his father learnt of it, he found a way to let him participate and confirmed it with his legal team.

    That wasn¡¯t all. Every night, Minhyuk dreamed of going to the market and eating the food there. He also thought of his mother who always went with him.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t suit you.¡±

    The chaebol¡¯s second generation and market food?

    Team Leader Park let out a small smile. Then, Minhyuk said to him¡­

    "Just imagine it. Team Leader.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s voice was serene and calm.

    ¡°You haven¡¯t eaten a proper meal and you¡¯re on your way home after a tiring and exhausting day. Team Leader, what kind of restaurant do you want to go to? A fancy restaurant that sells caviar? Or a ce that cooks delicacies and foie gras?¡±

    ¡°It would be nice to go to the ce where people drink soju and have some sundae rice soup. Then, add a bowl of rice and a shot of soju. I think that would be the best.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it something like that?¡±

    Team Leader Park nodded his head.

    So it turned out to be something like that.

    It was the same as when people crave ramyeon at one in the morning instead of steak. Being rich did not mean that they would have different tastes and cravings as other people.

    Team Leader Park looked at him as he spoke¡­

    ¡°In a way, food is amazing. It has the power to make everyone happy regardless if they are rich or poor.¡±

    Minhyuk smiled silently when he heard his words. Not long after, Team Leader Park looked at his watch.

    ¡°Let¡¯s enter now. I¡¯ll be next to you. Although it¡¯s not the same as the yers¡¯ waiting room in real life, I¡¯ll still take you to the yers¡¯ waiting room in the game.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    The two of them stood up and essed Athenae together.

    ***

    Minhyuk and Team Leader Park were walking towards the yers¡¯ waiting room after essing the game.

    At that moment¡­

    [Athenae Olympics! The search for the best dancer ¡®Pet¡¯ begins now!]

    After hearing loud cheers from the crowd, Team Leader Park and Minhyuk both stopped walking. Then, one part caught Minhyuk¡¯s attention.

    ¡®3- 3,000-year-old eel?!¡¯

    Grilled eel. He could imagine slicing the grilled eel that was on top of charcoal fire as he ced the golden brown and steaming piece of meat on top of some lettuce. Strangely enough, the restaurants that sold grilled eel offered plenty of instant rice but never a bowl of rice. So he would put some rice on top of the lettuce and grilled eel. Then, add some sliced garlic and ginger as well as some ssamjjang.

    What will happen if I ce that in my mouth? Will the light yet powerful vor of the eel bring a smile to my face?

    Then, at that moment¡­¡­

    [Kongie is requesting for a summons.]

    Kongie appeared after requesting a summons from the summoning room. Then, once he settled on Minhyuk¡¯s shoulders, Kongie looked at him with a ¡®solemn¡¯ expression.

    ¡°Oink!¡±

    The solemn-faced Kongie seemed to tell him ¡®Trust me!¡¯ as he pointed at the sunsses that were hanging on Team Leader Park¡¯s pocket.

    ¡°Oink, oink!¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Team Leader Park handed his sunsses over in a daze. Then, Kongie proudly stepped forward and began to dance.

    It was Kongie¡¯s borate and shy horse dance!

    This guy had danced the horse dance quite a few times. Athenae had a ¡®Listen to Music¡¯ function. Whenever Minhyuk would listen to music, Kongie would always twitch his hips and ride the rhythm. There was also a time when Minhyuk showed him Psyn¡¯s horse dance.

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°So cute!¡±

    ¡°Look at his tummy, it¡¯s like mochi, mochi!¡±

    The audience were enjoying themselves. However, thementators were expressing their doubts.

    [Ah. Here¡¯s the information. The baby pig that is currently dancing is a pet named ¡®Kongie¡¯. He is User Minhyuk¡¯s pet. User Minhyuk was just registered as a nominated candidate for the Eat Quickly Contest today.]

    [That¡¯s strange. All of the information except the one submitted in Athenae are currently private. Is this even possible especially when we¡¯re in a contest to select our country¡¯s MVP?]

    Not long after, thementators said¡­¡­

    [We have confirmed that he is still a ¡®Nominated Candidate¡¯. We have been informed that they are still reviewing whether he will be allowed to participate in thepetition. The reason why all of their information is currently private is because they have applied for a ¡®Participation with Information Protection¡¯. Once he gets approval, he can officially participate in thepetition.]

    [Can they participate in the mascot event even if they¡¯re still a nominated candidate?]

    [Yes, they can. As long as they be a yer then they can join the mascot event. In addition, the fact that a ¡®Nominated Candidate¡¯ is a yer still remains true. It¡¯s just that they¡¯re not sure whether they will participate or not.]

    After finishing his dance, the baby pig, Kongie, ran towards Minhyuk.

    Kongie was running innocently with his sunsses!

    Thementators had different reactions towards him.

    [Ah, look at those waddling legs!]

    [Kgghk! He¡¯s really cute!]

    [He¡¯s really a cute pet that I want to own!]

    [Ah, I think he would be warm if I hug him to sleep. And he even has that chubby and plump butt!!! I feel like touching that will make me feel better!!]

    Then, Kongie came to Minhyuk¡¯s arms. Once the audience saw Kongie¡¯s owner, they couldn¡¯t help but create a fuss.

    ¡°Wh, what?¡±

    ¡°So handsome¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Wow.¡±

    ¡°Look at his height¡­¡­ I think he¡¯s about 185cm? His legs are really long too¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°Look at that proportion. Kyak! Oppa! Look here!¡±

    ¡°......I think he¡¯s about 20 years old. When did he be your oppa?¡±

    ¡°All handsome men are oppas! Kyaaaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    It was because of his handsome face and dreamy proportions.

    ***

    Disimer

    Once again, I would like to reiterate this. Minhyuk''s rare disease can be tranted literally to binge-eating deficiency disorder. The description closely resembled that of non-purging bulimia so we used bulimia as his disease in the trantion.

    TL¡¯s corner!

    All handsome men are oppas. Amen. I live by this motto now.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 202 - The Eat Quickly Contest

    Chapter 202: The Eat Quickly Contest

    Trantors: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    [Oh! Kongie¡¯s owner, yer Minhyuk is quite handsome!]

    [My goodness. Was there really such a handsome man in our country? He looks better than most actors!]

    [He¡¯s tall enough to be called a model, and he even has good proportions. The games haven¡¯t started yet but I don¡¯t think that there¡¯s any other yer that can catch up to him with regards to visuals!]

    [If there was a ¡®Handsome and Cool Contest¡¯ then the MVP will definitely be off the table already!]

    [Yes. And there¡¯s the baby piggy too.]

    The buzz continued as the camera focused and shined brightly on Minhyuk and Kongie. Kongie was even proudly sticking his belly out as he stood up on Minhyuk¡¯s shoulders.

    [Kongie is feeling confident.]

    ¡°But will I even be able to participate?¡±

    It was quite a concern since all the 20 slots for yers were full.

    ¡°We have registered you for now. And you can easily participate since User Minhyuk has been on the ¡®Hall of Kings¡¯ twice. However, it seems like you will have to participate alone. But if that happens¡­¡­¡±

    Team Leader Park mumbled the rest of his words.

    ¡°They will realize that you¡¯re the user who climbed the Hall of Kings.¡±

    The people would notice that he was the sole person who climbed the ¡®Hall of Kings¡¯ and it was something that Minhyuk did not want.

    ¡°......I want to eat something delicious but it doesn¡¯t seem to go well. Market Food. Just imagining it is making my mouth water. I can¡¯t wait.¡±

    Then, a voice suddenly spoke from the side.

    ¡°Market food? Such a crude market will definitely be stinky and disgusting, right? You¡¯re telling me that there¡¯s food in that ce? Blegh! You¡¯re even making it look like a X great thing! Just thinking about it makes me want to vomit!¡±

    ¡°......?!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s expression slowly turned grave. He was talking about the market that held a considerable amount of good memories for him. And it was even an obvious mockery. It was clear to him that he had made these remarks on purpose after he heard him talk. When he turned around he could see a man that was pretending to vomit loudly as if he wanted him to hear it.

    Then, Team Leader Park said¡­...

    ¡°He¡¯s the strongest favorite and most likely champion in the Eat Quickly Contest. He¡¯s also quite famous for his trashy personality.¡±

    Even though Minhyuk was unaware, it was clear that Vhad was mocking the ¡®Nominated¡¯ yer. However, Minhyuk asked him with a gentle smile.

    ¡°Have you tried shit?¡±

    ¡°Shit¡­¡­¡±

    Vhadughed as if he found it interesting. But Minhyuk¡¯s eyes remained cold and frosty as he looked at him.

    ¡°I¡¯ll feed you some big shit today.¡±

    ¡°Look who¡¯s talking.¡±

    Then Vhad moved away with a sneer.

    ¡°Vhad is definitely trash but he¡¯s still a solid yer. But can I ask you a question? What¡¯s the point in arguing like this¡­¡­?¡±

    Team Leader Park tilted his head in confusion as he mumbled the rest of his words.

    As soon as Vhad stepped away from them, Fabian stepped forward and asked beside him.

    ¡°Vhad-nim, what¡¯s the point of provoking that yer?¡±

    ¡°......Just because?¡±

    Vhad might have said so but that truly wasn¡¯t his reasoning.

    ¡®That goddamn bastard. He¡¯s trying to get all the attention in this Eat Quickly contest.¡¯

    Didn¡¯t he first attract their attention with that Kongie pet of his? Then he attracted their attention with his face?

    It did not sit well with him especially because he thought that he was just a nominated yer. After all, nominated yers meant that their status of participation was still ambiguous.

    They were also just production sses. And among these production sses, Vhad was the one called ¡®Painting''s Monarch¡¯. He would deal with the monsters by painting them like the undead. He couldn¡¯t even imagine that he would be eating some big shit today.

    ***

    A huge balloon emerged from the coliseum. The balloon was none other than the figure of Kongie who became the Athenae Olympics¡¯ mascot.

    A huge Kongie balloon that was wearing sunsses and was doing his horse dance moves!

    And it wasn¡¯t just that. The cksmith guilds would begin to make dolls of the mascot Kongie and produce it at a rapid pace.

    [Right now, there¡¯s only five minutes left before the Eat Quickly Contest starts.]

    [Please exin the rules of the Eat Quickly Contest.]

    [There will be 250 candles in front of each participating national team. These candles are candles that have mes that will never go out with just normal wind. Once you blow out these candles then the monsters will appear. A group of Lv200 monsters will first appear. The more candles you put out the more monsters will appear. Stronger monsters will also appear.]

    [Ah. So if they blow out a lot of candles and kill them all at once then your score will go up fast.]

    [That¡¯s right. But the more candles you put off, the stronger the monsters will get. How many can they even deal with in a short period of time. In addition, the amount of candles that you put out is also important and there¡¯s a time limit of 2 hours and 30 minutes. And since this event is the Eat Quickly Contest every time they sessfully hunt a monster, a market food will drop as a ¡®parchment¡¯. The market food ys the role of the potion with a variety of hidden power ups so we hope that they can eat it while they hunt.]

    [As of this moment, the yers are now entering.]

    [Each and every yer looks a bit nervous.]

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    [Loud cheers erupted from the stands when the strongest favorite, Vhad, appeared!]

    [Vhad is the Painting''s Monarch, a production ss under the ¡®Necromancer¡¯ line. He can summon the monsters that he hunted just by painting them.]

    [Yes. That¡¯s right. In his case, his summoning will definitely be slow at the beginning since he has to draw the monsters that he hunted and died a few moments prior but in the long run we can expect that he will show us a tremendous performance.]

    [Huh? Wait a minute. The number of teams and team members looks strange. It¡¯s not ten, it¡¯s eleven!]

    [Oh. It seems like it has been confirmed. User Minhyuk has been approved to participate in thepetition and he will be participating as early as possible. He applied for ¡®information protection¡¯ but it is said that the reason for the information protection in and of itself was a ¡®secret¡¯. But since the organizingmittee approved his participation, this meant that there is a good reason why his information is hidden in private.]

    [Ah. Then Legendary Fisherman Kerry, who was originally listed as a nominated yer, will go up and join thepetition ordingly. Right?]

    [It seems like some of the contents of thepetition have changed. Joy Co. Ltd. had decided to not have any nominated candidates so it¡¯s only natural that the two of them will participate.]

    ¡°Nominated? If you¡¯re a nominated yer then it means that you¡¯re the weakest yer? Then, aren¡¯t you a user that¡¯s just waiting because you¡¯re not qualified as a yer?¡±

    ¡°ording to the pro-gamers terms, aren¡¯t they the second string yers behind the first string yers?¡±

    The users began to create a buzz.

    [The Athenae: Korean War is apetition held to select the members of the national team. For that reason, Joy Co. Ltd. said that it will be better if there were more qualified users that can exert their power and show their strengths. In addition, the organizingmittee has given a go signal so there will be no problems.]

    [But with the sudden addition of teams by Joy Co. Ltd. doesn¡¯t it mean that they willck preparation for the Athenae Korean War?]

    [That¡¯s what I think too. Huh? Please wait a moment. I just checked User Minhyuk¡¯s level¡­¡­]

    Thementator was in confusion. Since this was the country¡¯s greatestpetition, all of the production sses that participated were at a high level. Most of them were over Lv400 too.

    [He, he¡¯s Lv355¡­¡­]

    [Ah. For real¡­ and that¡¯s the only exnation. ¡®I¡¯m worried¡¯. I¡¯m literally worried. A nominated yer that¡¯s at Lv355 and a nominated yer who wasn¡¯t sure that they¡¯ll even y today had met and teamed up!]

    The audienceughed when they heard thementator¡¯s antics.

    ¡°Hahahaha. This is definitely dumb and dumber, right?¡±

    ¡°What is this, isn¡¯t this just like a march of fools?¡±

    ¡°The faulty and defective people are teaming up and doing apetition together? There¡¯s nothing to see there at all.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with Joy Co. Ltd.? Why did they put these two people together? I can¡¯t understand them.¡±

    ¡°Well, shouldn¡¯t one team be in charge of the ¡®humor¡¯ in thispetition?¡±

    ***

    Fifteen minutes before the games started, Kang Taehoon finally came out with the permission letter that was stamped by the organizingmittee.

    The organizingmittee wasposed of the guild leaders of the best guilds in Athenae or the heads of the overseas branches. The heads of the overseas branches also took part in the organizingmittee since they held an interest in Athenae: Korean War.

    But even these people had to wonder about a yer¡¯s sudden registration. The yer even requested that they allow him to set his information in private. But ording to their personal investigations and interviews, they had said that his permission should be stamped with a seal of approval since there were sufficient reasons to approve his request. Just like that.

    The organizers eventually stamped the seal of approval even though they were puzzled. It was because Kang Taehoon, the president of Joy Co. Ltd., showed enough courtesy to a ¡®nominated yer¡¯ in Athenae, a game that they led and created. President Kang Taehoon even said that having an additional new team would be better for thepetition.

    ¡°I can understand President Kang Taehoon¡¯s position. It¡¯s true that we need to check the power and strength of more users and select the best of the best for our national team so we can exert great power once we go to Athenae: World War.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Isn¡¯t that why we agreed on having this ¡®11 team¡¯ idea? Hahaha!¡±

    ¡°Yeah! Kghk!¡±

    ¡°Keuhuhuhu!¡±

    Theyughed happily. Cain and Alicia were both upset at their attitudes. They were also a part of the team that approved the creation of the new team. The reason that they wereughing happily was not because they were going to find new talents for Joy Co. Ltd. but because they knew that it was something ridiculous that they couldugh at.

    ¡°You think it¡¯s funny?¡±

    Alicia looked at them with a cold smile.

    ¡°Nope. I¡¯m just imagining how interesting the performance of the users who werebeled as nominated yers were going to be.¡±

    Alicia grinned at them menacingly.

    ¡°I can imagine.¡±

    The image of Minhyuk¡¯s smile shed in her head out of the blue. She was expecting great things from him, after all he always showed strength that exceeded Alicia¡¯s expectations time and again.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [??] (bigyeot) - shit, fucking shit. A ng used to express an annoying and angry feeling. Big damage or big trouble.

    [???] - An expression that shows great sarcasm. I can¡¯t really exin it well but you add it to your sentence when you want to show sarcasm.

    TL¡¯s corner!

    I would like to see the expressions of these punks who underestimated Minhyuk. See how dumbfounded they will be by that time. he.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 203 - The Eat Quickly Contest

    Chapter 203: The Eat Quickly Contest

    Trantors: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Kerry¡¯s heart thumped wildly. He was only a hair¡¯s breadth away from winning in the preliminary round.

    That blunder. If it weren¡¯t for that mistake then I could have proudly participated in Athenae: Korean War.

    However, that mistake had turned him into a nominated candidate. But right now, he was given the opportunity to participate. He was quite happy but on the other hand he was also quite worried. Mainly because Minhyuk, the user who would participate with him, was unfamiliar. But nevertheless, Kerry could still feel the burning heat that was flowing through his veins. He had a shot to get the title of the best user in the country, the MVP that everyone dreamt of! It was an opportunity that he had grasped!

    Meanwhile, Hyemin¡¯sDad personally knew Kerry.

    ¡°Come to think of it, you don¡¯t know Minhyuk. Right?¡±

    ¡°.....You know him?¡±

    ¡°I know him. I know him very well. Ah, I remember that you said that you don¡¯t believe in the world miracle, right Kerry?¡±

    ¡°......There¡¯s no such thing.¡±

    ¡°Even though you have entered thepetition just like a miracle?¡±

    ¡°This is just luck! Luck!¡±

    ¡°Haha. Well, whatever. But I think you¡¯ll soon see the first miracle in your life soon.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    Hyemin¡¯sDad just grinned at him as he refused to say anything further. Just in time, Minhyuk arrived in the yer¡¯s waiting room.

    To be honest, Kerry did not trust Minhyuk at all.

    ¡®.....I¡¯ll do well. Trust me, Kerry!¡¯

    At that time Minhyuk bowed politely at him while Kerry just roughly greeted him with a bow.

    Not long after, the voice of thementator came.

    [yers, please enter.]

    Kerry and Minhyuk started to move to enter. Along with their steps, they could hear the ridicule and mocking cheers from the audience. The ridicule that came pouring down on them made Kerry¡¯s expression harden. However, Minhyuk who was standing next to him just said¡­¡­

    ¡°Hiyaa. Market food. Just imagining it is making me excited. The same is true for Nim, right?!¡±

    Can I really do this together with this strange person?

    A question arose from the depths of his heart.

    ***

    [The game will begin in 30 seconds!]

    As soon as the voice of thementator fell, the coliseum suddenly transformed and turned into a vastnd.

    Dozens of users who participated in thepetition appeared on the vast fields. The Eat Quickly contest had a transparent barrier set between the users so they could not attack each other. Each team was assigned to an area that was 100-m wide. Then, 250 sticks of candles slowly rose behind the users.

    Kerry gulped in nervousness. He could feel the tension in his body.

    ¡°Hiyaa. Just imagining it is making me happy. Cooking on a t grill that was greased with oil while the marketdy sends out a perfectly grilled bindae-tteok to the front. What if you dip it in soy sauce? Wow, it sounds really delicious.¡±

    Gulp?

    He could hear the sound of someone gulping down their saliva. Kerry looked at him fiercely.

    Please! Show a little nervousness!

    Kerry looked to be about the same age as Minhyuk. He only had one reason as to why he did not believe in miracles. That was because his father died in illness. He often went out with his father to go fishing. Those were his fondest memories with him. However, his father suffered from ¡®pancreatic cancer¡¯, a cancer that was well known for its terrible survival rate. But regardless of his illness, his father had always told him ¡®I¡¯ll get well soon so I can go fishing with you again!¡¯ with his loud voice andughter. Kerry believed that such a day woulde since his father was quite vigorous and healthy even though he was sick. But his fiery and energetic father eventually turned cold and lifeless. Kerry wanted to win the MVP award so he could dedicate it to his father.

    He had such a solemn and grave dream but the man in front of him looked so different from him. He looked soid back and carefree.

    Then, Minhyuk turned to him with a bitter smile.

    ¡°Actually, my mother has already passed away. When I was young, I often went to the market hand in hand with my mother and it¡¯s something that I still can¡¯t get over with. I still remember my mom feeding me with some vegetable pancakes gently. Ah, I was so happy.¡±

    Minhyuk smiled softly at the memories. He did not know why he said such a thing. Perhaps it was just because he remembered those things and wanted to tell it to someone.

    ¡°......¡±

    Kerry turned to look at him for a moment. He could see a soft and sad smile that was simr to what he usually had on his face.

    ¡°Now, I feel like I am back in that ¡®market¡¯.¡±

    ¡°......What the hell are you saying. So annoying.¡±

    However, Kerry still looked at him strangely and unhappily

    Crackle!.

    Then, red mes lit up from the hundreds of candles.

    [The Eat Quickly Contest begins now!]

    Kerry then blew one candle. The number of candles that would get extinguished could be controlled by the yer¡¯s will. However, the light of the candle could only be extinguished by blowing on them personally.

    As soon as the candle extinguished, three Lv200 monsters appeared in front of them. The monsters were none other than Reki. Rekis were bipedal monsters that could wield a spear.

    ¡°For now, let¡¯s do it together.¡±

    Kerry turned around and told Minhyuk as he started to run. Then, he could hear the voices of thementators echoing.

    [Oh! All the participants blew around 3~5 candles!]

    [Wow. The 3rd team¡¯s Twilight Sculptor Lucan has started ughtering the monsters with his sculpting knife. He blew out five candles as soon as thepetition started and is trying to hunt the monsters all at once!]

    [There are already more than three teams that have extinguished three candles within a minute of the game. But it seems like there are still teams that have not yet started their hunt?]

    [It seems like Team 11 still has not started yet.]

    [That¡¯s weird. There¡¯s even the strongest favorite group right next to Team 11. It must be a bit ominous to bepared.]

    Then, something extraordinary happened. Minhyuk raised his sword¡­¡­

    Swoooooooosh!

    Kerry and thementators were all left wide-eyed when they saw the scene that followed. They saw him swing his sword horizontally over the candles which resulted in about 70 candles being extinguished all at once.

    ¡°......!¡±

    [Ah!!! Team 11!!! What in the world are you doing now!!!]

    [Don¡¯t tell me you can deal with the monsters thate out after extinguishing 70 candles?!]

    [Ah, that¡¯s too much! Too much!]

    [I can hear the ridicule of the people. What¡¯s the point of doing such a thing?]

    [They¡¯re done for. Done for! One person¡¯s arrogance has led Team 11 into the abyss!]

    [We can¡¯t me them for being nominated candidates. But now, it seems like they should have been better off not ying in the first ce!]

    ¡°You! Are you crazy!¡±

    Kerry rushed towards Minhyuk as if he wanted to push him back. But as soon as he approached him, he could feel something brushing by his cheeks.

    ¡®Wind?¡¯

    ***

    At the small pub located in Ilsan, Yoo Jimin, or moremonly known as user Javin, was sitting and watching Athenae: Korean War with her friends. She was the user who died while trying to stab Minhyuk in the back at Ructo¡¯s Tomb.

    She couldn¡¯t help but widen her eyes when she saw the baby pig appear on the screen.

    ¡®That, that baby pig!¡¯

    She was sure that the pig was definitely the Frying Pan Killer¡¯s pet. But to make sure, she still went and checked the Athenae official homepage.

    When she typed in ¡®Baby Piggy¡¯ hundreds of rted search words appeared on her screen. ¡®Adorable Baby Piggy ??.¡¯, ¡®How to have a baby piggy.¡¯, ¡®Will Santa give me a baby piggy if I asked him for it?¡¯, and ¡®When will Kongie¡¯s doll be released?¡¯ were one of the few rted search words that popped on her screen.

    As she looked over dozens of articles, one article had caught her attention.

    [Isn¡¯t that baby piggy the baby piggy that the Frying Pan Killer always carries around with him?]

    There were some users who knew that the Frying Pan Killer carried a baby pig with him. More importantly, almost all of them were Bachran Guild¡¯s guild members. Then, the testimonies rted to the Frying Pan Killer suddenly began to pour out.

    ¡®What¡¯s this. It seems like I don¡¯t need to post anything.¡¯

    Anyway, it was easy to say that the Frying Pan Killer had participated in thepetition. After all, his identity would be revealed soon.

    At that moment, she heard her friends swear loudly when the recement of yers were announced.

    ¡°Wow. What¡¯s this about Team 11? Is this some kind of Three Stooges?¡±

    Jimin listened to their mor and stepped up.

    ¡°They did it because they deserved it. In fact, the main purpose of thepetition is to select yers that will participate in Athenae: World War.¡±

    ¡°......What are you saying? What¡¯s wrong with you?¡±

    ¡°Which team do you think will be the MVP?¡±

    Her friends confidently answered Jimin¡¯s question.

    ¡°Of course it¡¯s the team with Vhad.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. He¡¯s a real bastard that looks like he¡¯s unlucky enough to go back to art school. But I saw a video of him in Ztube a long time ago and he was so awesome.¡±

    Jimin then opened her wallet, pulled out a 50,000 won bill then ced it on the table as she tapped her finger on it.

    ¡°I think it¡¯s Team 11.¡±

    She smiled at them.

    ¡°Wow. For real? Aren¡¯t they too weak? I¡¯ll do 50,000 won too. I¡¯m Team Vhad!¡±

    ¡°Me too! I¡¯m for Vhad!¡±

    Her friends thought that this was an opportunity so they willingly bet 50,000 won. They foolishly believed that they would get some free money. However, Javin just grinned at them widely.

    ¡®No, that person will surely get the victory.¡¯

    When she tried to stab him in the back, she never expected that to happen.

    Meanwhile, the screen showed him blowing out 70 candles all at once. People started to heap plenty of ridicule on him.

    ***

    A cool breeze began to blow around him. Behind them, the cries of the monsters came roaring loudly.

    Shwaaaaaaaaa©¤

    The breeze that blew around them slowly gathered towards Minhyuk¡¯s sword. Not long after, the wind began to pick up as it started to blow harder.

    Shwaaaaaaaaa©¤

    The grass and the leaves of the trees began to shake and sway with the strong wind.

    At the sudden appearance of a strong wind, the yers all turned to look at Minhyuk. Then, hundreds of silver leaves fluttered and fell. The falling leaves strangely resembled snow falling from the sky.

    ¡°P, pretty.¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaa! The leaves look like falling snow.¡±

    These were the remarks of one user among the audience that were watching the screen with rapt attention.

    Then, hundreds of monsters ran straight towards Kerry¡¯s back. Even a huge harpy was spotted swinging its arms to attack. A de of wind was created and aimed at his back.

    ¡°Yo, you¡­¡­¡±

    Kerry¡¯s eyes widened in shock.

    When Minhyuk saw the iing de of wind, he recalled what he had learned about controlling the wind under Valen¡¯s tutge. Valen would always say this to him¡­¡­

    ¡®That¡¯s not how you control the wind.¡¯

    He also took a step forward as he raised his sword. Then, Minhyuk slowly opened his mouth.

    ¡°That¡¯s not how you control the wind.¡±

    Shwaaaaaak!

    When Minhyuk moved his sword, the strong wind that was concentrated on his sword incorporated the hundreds of falling leaves. Then, the leaves flew at a speed that was almost faster than the speed of light as they headed towards the monsters that were rushing behind Kerry.

    Fwish, fwish, fwish, fwish, fwish, fwish©¤

    Kerry heard the sounds from behind him. He couldn¡¯t help but slowly turn around. As soon as he turned around, he could see all of the monsters slowly falling down on the ground.

    Then, the score began to appear on the electronic disy. The scores on the disy reflected the amount of candles that were extinguished and the amount of monsters that died.

    [2nd ce, Team 3, 6.]

    [1st ce, Team 11, 71.]

    [......!]

    [......!]

    [......!]

    [......!]

    The audience and thementators as well as the people who said that the Food God¡¯s level was too low and that the nominated candidates formed a team and were like the Three Stooges were all silent. All of the people who mocked them fell silent.

    And Kerry¡­¡­ He had seen a miracle, right there and then.

    ***

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Ah, the sweet sound of the audience¡¯s stunned silence. That¡¯ll teach them to underestimate our boy Minhyuk!

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 204 - The Eat Quickly Contest

    Chapter 204: The Eat Quickly Contest

    Trantors: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    [......!]

    [......!]

    [......!]

    [......!]

    Thementator, Lee Seunghoon, was quiet since he did not know what to say. Even the audience that kept on booing and mocking them earlier were now silent. However, he could feel his heart trembling. Not long after, he couldn¡¯t help but jump up from his seat as he shouted¡­¡­

    [Ah!! Team 11!!!!!!! yer Minhyuk blew out 71 candles and destroyed hundreds of monsters all at once!]

    [Did you see it?! That skill? It¡¯s apletely ridiculous wide-area of attack skill!]

    ¡°Uwoooooooooooo!¡±

    Thementators began to broadcast the events that happened in a blink of an eye.

    [Ah, something ridiculously crazy has happened! yer Minhyuk who everyone thought was too arrogant was not really arrogant!]

    [Did you see that?! Hundreds of falling leaves flew at a very unexpected speed and instantly destroyed the enemies!]

    [Overwhelming! It¡¯s too overwhelming! Can you see the faces of the other yers right now? Their expressions are screaming ¡®What did I just see?¡¯!!]

    [Is it really possible to have this fighting ability with a production sspetition?! Is that yer really a production ss?]

    [What the hell is that skill? Are you telling me that there is such a powerful and explosive skill in our country?]

    Then, one of the staff members of the Korean War hurriedly approached them.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    ¡°The inte is going crazy right now.¡±

    ¡°Inte? Of course it¡¯s going crazy. That yer is showing us such a great performance right now!¡±

    ¡°......That¡¯s not it.¡±

    ¡°Then what?¡±

    ¡°That user is the Frying Pan Killer.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Lee Seunghoon was caught in surprise as he nodded his head. He could hear the buzz from the audience.

    ¡°The Frying Pan Killer?¡±

    ¡°For real?¡±

    It was the same moment when they received messages from the people in reality.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡­ That person¡­¡­ But, wasn¡¯t the Frying Pan Killer abat ss?¡±

    ¡°What are you saying? He saved Valkyrie Kingdom with his food, you know?¡±

    ¡°Frying Pan Killer¡­¡­ Who said that he was extremely ugly because he wears a helmet every day¡­¡­ He¡¯s extremely handsome¡­¡­¡±

    Then, the crowd started shouting loudly in the audience stands.

    ¡°Ting! Ting, ting, ting! Taeng! Taeng, taeng, taeng! Ting, ting! Taeng, taeng! Frying Pan Killer!¡±

    ¡°Ting! Ting, ting, ting! Taeng! Taeng, taeng, taeng! Ting, ting! Taeng, taeng! Frying Pan Killer!¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    On this day, the fancafe ¡°Peusamo¡± for the Frying Pan Killer was formed.

    ***

    The fifth in the world rankings, the American yer, Pagan was watching the TV with interest. Athenae: Korean War was currently being broadcasted live all over the world. And right next to him was one of his guild members.

    ¡°That¡¯s quite amazing.¡±

    Pagan shrugged when he heard his guild member¡¯s words.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°That person is in a production ss. How did he¡­¡­ It¡¯s a wide-area of attack skill that I have never seen before.¡±

    When he heard his words, Pagan just ced his hands on his shoulders as he sighed.

    ¡°Yes. That¡¯s amazing. And apparently, that yer is a God ss. But think about it, that yer will not be able to use that strange power anymore.¡±

    ¡°Will not be able to use his power?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Production ss users have restrictions. I don¡¯t know how he did that but the cooldown must be extremely long. So he might not be able to use that ability again. And that¡¯s not all.¡±

    Pagan looked at the screen as he continued calmly.

    ¡°What else could he have aside from that ability?¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Vhad can summon the monsters once he drew them after the monsters died. He won¡¯t get tired in the long run. But that user definitely has no skills left.¡±

    That¡¯s right. Pagan believed that he was lucky enough to get that skill and he thought that he was also lucky to get a skill that was a cut above the rest. But if he thought about it, it would be as clear as day to him. The skills that a production ss could use were clearly limited.

    ¡°Then, ording to Pagan-nim, they will be left behind.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. And they¡¯re going to run with gritted teeth from now on so they will not be left behind.¡±

    Pagan turned around. It seemed like he wanted to leave since there would be nothing else left for him to see. But just as he was about to step forward, he heard the trembling voice of his guild member.

    ¡°......They¡¯ll run with gritted teeth so they don¡¯t get left behind? B, but that¡¯s not the case?¡±

    ¡°Eh?¡±

    Pagan turned his head. Then he saw it.

    ¡°......Crazy!¡±

    Run with gritted teeth?

    He was even smiling brightly as he picked something up.

    It was none other than the ¡®Food Parchment¡¯.

    ***

    [From now on, Team 11 will have to grit their teeths to keep the scores from narrowing down.]

    [Their beginning was quite surprising. But they only had one skill so the others will definitely close the gap quickly.]

    [Huh? But what is User Minhyuk doing?]

    ¡°Yahoo!¡±

    He left Kerry behind as he moved surprisingly fast.

    There were ¡®Food Parchments¡¯ that were left behind from the hundreds of monsters that died. The event was called ¡®Eat Quickly¡¯ that¡¯s why there were food parchments that dropped when monsters got killed. And if the yer tore the parchment, the food would appear in front of them.

    [D, don¡¯t tell me¡­¡­ The reason why he took the lead in the beginning¡­¡­]

    [He¡¯s not trying to eat something delicious during the time the other users are trying to close the gap, right?]

    [I, I think that¡¯s right. Look at that yer, isn¡¯t he sporting a bright and happy smile now?]

    [Yes¡­¡­ It really is. It¡¯s a bright and happy smile just like a child¡¯s smile.]

    Minhyuk saw dozens of parchments lying in front of him and without any hesitation, he ripped one of them into pieces. It was the parchment for ¡®Chapssal Donuts¡¯. Ignoring the ruckus around him, Minhyuk sat down as he admired the chapssal donut that appeared in front of him.

    The chapssal donuts glistened brightly with sugar coating every inch of its surface. Minhyuk happily licked the sugar on his fingers as he smiled happily before taking it into his mouth.

    ¡°Are, are you not going to do thepetition?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the Eat Quickly Contest, you know!¡±

    ¡°N, no¡­¡­ That name¡­¡­ Eat quickly¡­¡­¡±

    Kerry wanted to refute him boldly.

    In fact he knew that the food in these parchments would fill the depleted HP and MPs or just like what thementators said, some of them could grant them special powers.

    But who will actually eat it? Isn¡¯t it obvious that the other users will try to narrow down the gap when we¡¯re eating?

    ¡°By the time we finish, the other yers would have caught up! Look, those guys are smacking the monsters right now!¡±

    ¡°Eyy. I¡¯m trying to live by eating here. You too Nim, sit down and take a bite of this sugar-coated donut.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know! I¡¯m going to keep on extinguishing the candles and hunting!¡±

    And Minhyuk finally was able to put the chapssal donut that he had met for the first time in a long while in his mouth. As soon as it entered his mouth, he could taste the sweet sugar on the outside and the chewy texture of the chapssal donut. When he pulled the chewy donut with his teeth, the hot red bean filling instantly filled his mouth and made it sweet.

    This time, he ripped the parchment for ¡®Sokcho¡¯s Sweet and Crispy Chicken¡¯.

    The famous dish in Sokcho market! Sokcho Sweet and Crispy Chicken!

    The Sokcho Sweet and Crispy Chicken was sprinkled with peanuts and looked especially warm and inviting. He quickly pierced a piece of meat with a fork and put it in his mouth.

    Crunch, crunch.

    The texture that he felt when he chewed the chicken was quite good and crunchy. After going past the crispy, sweet and spicy skin, he could taste the tender and lean meat inside. He ate the delicious chicken while he ripped another parchment.

    It was ¡®c¡¯. The c that everyone was fond of.

    Fwiiiiiish©¤

    The cheerful and happy sound of a carbonated drink being opened was heard loudly. He also did not forget to take out the ice that he had kept frozen in his food storage inventory. Then, he ced the ice in a ss and¡­¡­

    Glug, glug, glug, glug©¤

    Shwaaaaa©¤

    More bubbles were produced from him pouring the contents of the c in a ss. Then, he lifted up his ss to moisten his throat.

    Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp©¤

    ¡°Kggghk©¤!¡±

    He felt the sting from the cold c that passed through his throat. It was definitely an exhrating feeling.

    Then, the sound that thementator unknowingly produced spread in the coliseum.

    [Gulp©¤]

    It was the unmistakable sound of gulping down one¡¯s saliva.

    ***

    Countless people sitting on the stands in the coliseum were focused on the big screen.

    [Gulp©¤]

    Just like thementator, the countless users in the country were also gulping down their saliva. As they gulped down their saliva, one question floated in their minds.

    ¡°What¡¯s this? Why do I want to eat when I¡¯m watching him?¡±

    ¡°I feel strangely at ease.¡±

    ¡°Look at that yer¡¯s face. He looks so happy. It¡¯s like he has everything in the world.¡±

    ¡°Hey! Do I really look like I¡¯m giving out a fatherly smile?¡±

    The users all around the coliseum were gazing at the screen with delighted smiles on their faces. All of them were looking forward to it.

    What kind of food will he eat next?

    Then, they saw Minhyuk rip up another parchment.

    ¡°Ra, ramyeon and gimbapbi¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°Th, this is the truth! This is the way and the truth¡­¡­!¡±

    This was like a heavenlybination, a perfectbination in Gimbap Heaven. Gimbap and ramyeon weremon in the market so it was no surprise that it appeared here.

    Meanwhile, the foreignmentators were hurriedly exining the live broadcasts to the world.

    [Korea¡¯s User Minhyuk has shown us something surprising for the first time.]

    [It was the power of the yer that everyone hadughed and mocked at. That power was a very powerful wide-area of attack skill that I have never seen in this world.]

    [Who in the world is that user?]

    [Oh. But that user really eats deliciously! My mouth is already watering even though I don¡¯t know what the food he is eating is.]

    [It looks like the ne tickets to Korea will be sold out. The viewers who are watching this live broadcast will definitely go to Korea to eat those.]

    And the Koreanmentators.

    [I, I really can¡¯t help but gulp down my saliva. yer Minhyuk is showing us what the Eat Quickly contest really is like.]

    [Aaaah! He held it! yer Minhyuk has picked up his chopsticks!]

    [He lifted a huge amount of noodles! He looked like he will eat all of them in one go!]

    [There are a lot of people in the world who are interested in the way he eats.]

    [Now, we are looking at him eat gimbap and ramyeon. How can he eat in front of people all over the world?!]

    ***

    Arge cup ramyeon. This was what people ate when they were left hungry all day long and all that was left in the refrigerator at home were some kimchi and eggs. At that time of hunger, the food that the people wanted to eat the most was none other than ramyeon. And there was even the gimbap that was greased with sesame oil and sprinkled with sesame seeds. It was a truly deliciousbination.

    To be honest, the gimbap that was produced in the Eat Quickly Contest had the most perfect and ideal ratio and proportion.

    ¡®The pickled radish is small and the ham is big!¡¯

    Before, when he went to Gimbap Heaven, he could see that the pickled radish was big while the ham was so small. And if he ate their gimbap he would sometimes wonder if he was really eating gimbap or he was just eating pickled radish.

    However, the gimbap in front of him had a very big ham and plenty of eggs in it.

    ¡®I heard that the grandmas and aunties who were working in the market for decades cooked the dishes for thispetition?¡¯

    Since this was the biggestpetition in the country, Athenae did not ck off. They did not prepare anything that was not beyond perfect. They only prepared food that was made by the artisans who had only made one specific food for a very long time.

    With that thought in mind, a big smile appeared on his face. And Minhyuk, who was always hungry, looked hungrier than ever.

    Just like that, he quickly blew on the piping hot noodles as he pushed the noodles in his mouth without dy.

    ¡°Sluuuuuuuuuuuurp!¡±

    ***

    Footnotes

    [???] Name of the fancafe. Literally, Peusamo. I¡¯m assuming that this is an abbreviation for Frying Pan Killer and another word that starts with the syble ? which I can¡¯t figure out yet.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 205 - The Eat Quickly Contest

    Chapter 205: The Eat Quickly Contest

    Trantors: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    He stuffed the chewy and spicy noodles in his mouth before picking up more noodles with his chopsticks.

    ¡°Sluuuuuuuuurp!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s chopsticks naturally headed towards the well-ripened kimchi that he had pulled out from his inventory earlier.

    Crunch, crunch©¤

    Since the kimchi had a bit of sourness in it, it added a ir on the spicy noodles.

    Then, he ced some gimbap in his mouth. As soon as the gimbapnded in his mouth, he could taste the pickled radish, the eggs, the ham, the spinach, the cucumber and the burdock packed inside of the roll. Even the scent of the sesame oil that was brushed on top of the gimbap stimted his appetite and put a smile on his face.

    When he felt that his throat was getting a bit dry, he quickly lifted the bowl of ramyeon and slurped the spicy soup loudly.

    ¡°Hoo! So good!¡±

    He let out a sound of admiration as he picked up the well-cooked egg in the ramyeon. He couldn¡¯t help but smile when he tasted the yolk of the egg that absorbed the spicy and sweet soup of the ramyeon.

    ¡°It¡¯s really delicious!¡±

    Meanwhile, in front of him, Kerry continued to hunt. He felt like he really couldn¡¯t understand Minhyuk at all.

    ***

    Kerry really couldn¡¯t understand.

    ¡®How can that user be so easy-going?¡¯

    This was thepetition where his life was dependent on. In addition, didn¡¯t he have the reason to win the MVP title and dedicate it to histe father?

    Kerry might not know this but if his goal and pursuit was to win thispetition then Minhyuk¡¯s goal was to achieve happiness with the food thispetition had to offer.

    For Minhyuk, eating was more important since it could make him happy more than anything else in the world. He could even remember the scent of the market as he held his mother¡¯s hands. He was happy that he could relive that memory once again.

    [The number of summons that the Painting''s Monarch Vhad had summoned has exceeded thirty!]

    Vhad¡¯s and Fabian¡¯s positions were simple.

    Fabian, as a Bomb Mage, could make bombs from anything. He could make bombs from the trees, soil, rocks or even monsters. In the beginning, he quickly made bombs from the trees, the soil and the rocks to hunt the monsters. Then, he made bombs from the remains of the monsters. Monsters had various properties. Wind, fire, earth, lightning and many others. And the power of his bombs were dependent on the properties.

    And once Fabian had hunted the monsters, Vhad would draw the dead monsters and summon them back to life. Vhad¡¯s skill ¡®Painting Control¡¯ could only be used and triggered if he drew dead monsters. But there was definitely a restriction on the numbers that he could draw and summon.

    So he truly couldn¡¯t draw an impossible number of monsters. But with the increase in the amount of candles that were extinguished, stronger monsters materialized and appeared in front of them. And once they had killed stronger monsters, then their hunting speed was bound to elerate.

    Before they knew it, Vhad was already extinguishing their 50th candle.

    [Vhad already extinguished their 50th candle. He¡¯sing up to 2nd ce at a really fast pace!]

    [He really looks like a strong favorite to win thispetiton!]

    [Even the summons that Vhad had summoned are great! They have at least 80% of their original power!]

    [Until when will yer Minhyuk eat?]

    Kerry turned to look back at Vhad who was fast approaching their position. It was unfortunate, but there was a thin and transparent barrier that separated him from Vhad who was right next to them.

    Vhad turned to look at Kerry as he smiled darkly and mockingly at him. It was an obvious smile of mockery. But Kerry did not care at all.

    ¡®Now¡­¡­ Slowly¡­¡­¡¯

    Kerry was also among the select few who could be chosen as a representative yer for the country. He currently extinguished seven candles all by himself. He quietly approached another candle as he blew on it. Ten candles were extinguished in one go. Right now, monsters at Lv380~420 had appeared. Kerry quickly moved his fishing rod as soon as he saw the monster appear.

    [Casting Hook]

    [Dozens of fishing hooks are cast as they snatch the targets.]

    Dozens of thin fishing lines sprang up in the air.

    ¡°Keuheeeeeek!¡±

    ¡°Kiheeeeeeek!¡±

    And dozens of fishing hooks also prated the bodies of the rushing monsters.

    Tak, tak, tak, tak, tak, tak, tak©¤

    The monsters that were hooked all rose up in the air as if they were fish hooked with bait.

    [Ah! yer Kerry! He used the skills that he has been hiding.]

    [Don¡¯t forget that yer Kerry is one of the representative yers of the production sses.]

    [The monsters hooked with the fishing lines look like fish that were hooked with bait.]

    Then, Kerry gestured as if he was winding the fishing line. Every time he closed in on the fishing line, the hooked monsters went higher and higher in the air.

    [What a spectacr sight!]

    [The iling monsters were all 30m above the ground!]

    Kerry then formed the image of a scissor with his index finger and middle finger before making a gesture as if he was cutting the fishing lines with his fingers. As soon as he made the gesture, the monsters that were iling high above ground began to crash towards the ground one by one.

    Bang!

    Bang!

    Bang!

    Bang!

    Bang!

    The monsters that fell from the sky died instantly. They bursted out like tomatoes that fell from a high ce.

    [Wow! yer Kerry is doing a good job defending their position.]

    [This is such an unexpected oue. Team 11 is already running towards their 100th candle.]

    But it did not end there.

    ¡®The strength that I have concealed before¡­¡­¡¯

    [Fisherman¡¯s Lure.]

    [You can control the monsters that you have hooked in the head.]

    As if not wanting to stop, Kerry extinguished five candles as he began his dance with his fishing rod. The long and thin fishing lines passed through and hooked the heads of the monsters. Then, they began to act like puppets.

    [Wh, what an astounding sight!]

    [This is the first time that Fisherman Kerry has revealed this ability!]

    [An unexpected dark horse. The tension is high. The gap between Team 4 and Team 11 is not narrowing at all!]

    Meanwhile, Vhad just looked at him with interest.

    ¡®That ability looks like it can¡¯t control a lot of monsters.¡¯

    Vhad nodded his head as if his thoughts were correct.

    In order for someone to perform a summons, the user needed to have a stat called ¡®Leadership¡¯. And there were limits to the stat Leadership. Vhad thought that he would definitely experience a huge setback once his Leadership stat reached its limit.

    However, right now, Vhad had 50 monsters to y with. Fabian nodded his head when he received the signal. Fabian quickly extinguished 30 candles in one go. As soon as the candles went out, more powerful monsters appeared. And 20 summoned monsters immediately jumped in the monsters¡¯ midst. The monsters began to fight and tangle with each other as Vhad started painting.

    The picture Vhad was painting was none other than the monsters fighting against each other. When he erased some of the images that he painted, the 20 summoned monsters immediately disappeared among the monsters. Then, he activated his skill.

    [The Erased Summoner¡¯s Rampage.]

    [The summoner¡¯s summons will exert their final strength before they disappear.]

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    The summons then appeared and surrounded the monsters. And at that exact same moment, a 30 appeared in their scores.

    ¡°......!¡±

    Kerry looked at the scene in askance. In just an instant, the gap between them narrowed and they came in nipping closely at their heels. As soon as this happened, Kerry desperately thought that he needed Minhyuk¡¯s help now. He turned around to look at Minhyuk.

    ¡°Please hurry up and stop eating now¡­¡­!¡±

    But when he turned around, the scene that he saw left him speechless.

    ¡°Wh, what is that thing on your shoulders?!¡±

    Thementators had a simr reaction with him.

    [J, just now, what¡¯s that thing that appeared on yer Minhyuk¡¯s shoulders?]

    [It seems like it has a ck skin and a sheep¡¯s head. Its lower body looks like it¡¯s from a horse too. But it¡¯s as small as Kongie.]

    [Huh? I think I heard about that thing at least once before.]

    One of thementators suddenly blurted out.

    [Doesn¡¯t it look like the miniature version of Baphomet?]

    ***

    Team Leader Park Minggyu was sitting together with the officials. There were yers who participated in other games sitting together and talking in front of them.

    ¡°Even if it¡¯s called Eat Quickly Contest, no matter how you look at it, it¡¯s just a monster hunt. Right?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. But yer Minhyuk is stupid enough to just eat.¡±

    ¡°Tch. Thepetition is not a joke.¡±

    Team Leader Park, who was listening quietly to their words, smirked.

    ¡®You¡¯re the stupid ones!¡¯

    The Eat Quickly Contest. The operators have announced it clearly that they would be able to recover their HP, MP and other stats if they ate the food. They would even be able to gain special powers from time to time.

    However, he thought that the other officials also had a point. The gap they had made with the other yers would narrow if he kept on eating like that.

    However, if that happened then Joy Co. Ltd. thought that the essence of the Eat Quickly Contest would lose its ¡®significance¡¯. And even the supeputer Athenae thought that way. So Athenae hid a ¡®special¡¯ power that could only be revealed if they ate. That special power was truly a sight to behold. It was an amazing and extraordinary power.

    And he was also confident that User Minhyuk could turn everything around even if they caught up with him.

    What if he finds something special while he¡¯s eating? If that happens then it would be an extraordinary surprise to everyone.

    At that time, User Minhyuk picked up another food parchment. The words written on the parchment were ¡®Market Jokbal¡¯.

    ¡®That parchment¡­¡­¡¯

    It was a food that would give the yer the power that they could use if they had a summoning stone in their hands.

    Summoning stones. Sometimes the boss monsters in Athenae would drop summoning stones. However, summoning stones were really, really rare. Meanwhile, User Minhyuk had received a summoning stone as a reward for being the ¡®First Person to Hunt a Demonic Monster¡¯. And just like what was mentioned earlier, the summoning stone was an extremely rare drop. In fact, the ¡®Weaker Baphomet Summoning Stone¡¯ in Minhyuk¡¯s hands could already summon one of the strongest existences. And he only had it with him because he received it as a reward for being the first person to hunt a Demonic Monster.

    The truth however, was that he thought that the yers would not gain much power from eating the food rted to summoning. After all, it was rare for a user to get summoning stones for monsters above Lv300. But the summoning stone in Minhyuk¡¯s hand, although it indicated that it was a ¡®weaker¡¯ summoning stone, was still an existence that was well over Lv400.

    ¡®Unexpectedly, a great summoner has appeared.¡¯

    And along with his thoughts, a miniature Baphomet appeared. He could hear thementators speaking in a fluster as he watched Minhyuk on the screen mumble something while eating. Then, with an expression of ¡®Ah~ Let¡¯s finish this and eat!¡¯ he watched him stand up as he blew out 30 candles.

    At that moment, hundreds of monsters appeared in front of him again. But before he could move, dozens of magics materialized around the miniature Baphomet. Then, those magics flew and devoured the iing monsters.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    The huge amount of strong magic quickly devoured and killed the monsters in an instant!

    The area was surrounded by dust. But when the aftermath of the magic attacks subsided, he could see Vhad¡¯s expression. The look on his face was so distorted it was as if he had eaten some big shit.

    ***

    [You have acquired the Market Jokbal.]

    [You have acquired the one-time use of a summoning stone hidden in one of the food parchments in the Eat Quickly Contest.]

    Minhyuk heard these notifications while ripping the parchment for the Market Jokbal.

    In thispetition, the use of ordinary potions or consumable artifacts were prohibited. However, he had heard his HP and MP recovering while eating earlier.

    ¡®If we¡¯re talking about summoning stones¡­¡­¡¯

    He only thought of one thing. However, he still had not turned the Weaker Baphomet into his subordinate with the use of the ¡®Allurer¡¯s Cooking¡¯ skill. He thought that if he finished thepetition now then he would be able to taste the power of the ¡®Infinitely Refilling Lamb Meat¡¯.

    He knew that Baphomet¡¯s summoning stone was only avable for three hours. And right now, there was only half an hour left before thepetition ended. Minhyuk quickly decided to summon Baphomet. Although its capabilities and skills were much lower than before, it was still a strong existence.

    Then, he could see the space being torn apart as soon as he summoned Baphomet.

    [Baphomet appears in a pet-form.]

    [You can call it with the original Baphomet¡¯s form if you want.]

    [There is no difference between the pet-form Baphomet and the original Baphomet.]

    What appeared was a Baphomet that was as big as Kongie. Maybe that was the reason why the Baphomet that looked extremely scary when he saw itst time looked unbearably cute. It¡¯s hands and feet were as small as Kongie¡¯s and it even had a tiny staff on its hands.

    ¡°Meeeeeeeeee©¤¡±

    Baphomet crawled up on Minhyuk¡¯s shoulders. Then, ity t on his shoulders.

    ¡®.....A cat-dog?¡¯

    Cats that were as energetic and troublesome as puppies were called cat-dogs. But this just showed how friendly it was to the other person.

    However, the miniature Baphomet was now acting like a cat-dog to him.

    ¡®Uhm¡­¡­ Well, I¡¯ll work hard to raise you for my infinitely refillingmb meats!¡¯

    Minhyuk gently petted Baphomet¡¯s belly while thinking about such gloomy thoughts.

    ¡°Meeeeeeeeee~¡±

    This punk is smiling like he¡¯s in a good mood. Shouldn¡¯t there be something that you should do first?

    Minhyuk suddenly nced at Vhad. When Vhad saw him looking at himself, he suddenly felt vignt. Then, Minhyuk grinned wickedly at him.

    ¡°What did I tell you earlier?¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll feed you some big shit today.¡±

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Minhyuk¡¯s subordinate or Kongie¡¯s subordinate? I think Kongie will gain a new follower¡­

    PR¡¯s corner! Definitely can see Kongie pulling rank on the mini-Baphomet.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 206 - Eat Quickly Contest

    Chapter 206: The Eat Quickly Contest

    Trantors: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Even though Baphomet looked like this, he was still a Demonic Monster from the Demon World. He had already checked Baphomet¡¯s status window and confirmed the strength and force that he could exert. Even though he wasbeled as a ¡®weaker¡¯ version of Baphomet, he could still cast fifth ss magical attacks without any difficulty. In other words, he was strong.

    Hundreds of monsters appeared once more as Minhyuk extinguished more candles again. Then, he ordered Baphomet to give them a debuff.

    [Demonic Monster¡¯s Hymn.]

    [Monsters who hear the Demonic Monster¡¯s cry will lose 60% of their defensive power.]

    [Demonic Monster Baphomet will have a 50% increase in magical attack power.]

    ¡°Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeh!¡±

    Baphomet¡¯s cute cry rang loudly in the coliseum. Then, he floated in the air as dozens of magic circles formed around him.

    Among this guy¡¯s skills, there was a ¡®Large Capacity Storage¡¯ as well as a regr ¡®Storage¡¯. The regr Storage skill was the skill that Minhyuk was able to absorb and convert into his own skill. On the other hand the Large Capacity Storage skill could store an enormous amount of magic in the body of the skill user as if it were stored in a wand or a staff. This skill could allow the skill user to shoot plenty of magic at their enemies non-stop.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Baphomet¡¯s magic engulfed the iing monsters. Even without the 60% drop in their defensive power, there seemed to be no monster that could withstand Baphomet¡¯s maelstrom of magical attacks.

    Then, Minhyuk nced back at Vhad. He could see that his expression was distorted beyond words.

    ¡°F, for real¡­ You, nim¡­¡­¡±

    When he saw Kerry¡¯s surprised face, Minhyuk thought that it was time for him to take a step forward. When he took a step forward, he also did not forget to put out 20 more candles. Then he jumped into the fray of monsters using ¡®Like the Wind¡¯. As soon as hended in the midst of the monsters, a huge ck tornado made of fire started to form around him.

    [Dark Fire Storm.]

    [The storm made out of ck fire will devour and engulf your enemies within a 6-meter radius. The storm will deal magical attacks with 600~1,000 damage on the enemies.]

    Hwaaaaaaaaaaak!

    After he summoned the fire tornado, Minhyuk quickly withdrew again. The massive Dark Fire Storm that was created among the monsters engulfed them and ughtered them in one fell swoop. However, there were still monsters that did not die from the attack.

    When Minhyuk saw this, he stepped forward with Baphomet. Baphomet held his staff while Minhyuk held his frying pan. His legendary frying pan could help him cast second ss magic without casting.

    In addition, magical attacks were affected by the ¡®INT¡¯. Currently, Minhyuk¡¯s INT after eating a lot of medicine and special ingredients had increased to be above that of a Lv250 mage. In addition, his ¡®WIS¡¯ stat which is closely rted to ¡®MP¡¯ had exceeded those at Lv350. So what if a person with this kind of stat went wild with his magical attacks that did not need any casting?

    ¡°Fireball! Ice bolt! Lightning! Wind cutter!¡±

    Bang! Bang, bang, bang! sh! Shweeeeeeek!

    And there was even Baphomet beside him who was offering him support from the side. Baphomet also began to pour out a great deal of magical attacks towards the enemies.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    After tidying up thest monster, Minhyuk rushed back. And as usual, he picked up all of the food parchment that was dropped. This time, he ripped the ¡®Jeonju Southern Market¡¯s Sundae Rice Soup¡¯.

    ***

    Lee Dawoul, the Olympic gold medalist in kendo, was known as the Myth Creator in the London Olympics at the young age of 20.

    And a few days ago, this same Lee Dawoul had officially shown and revealed himself in Athenae. He was the Crown Prince of Swords at Lv499. He was ying unofficially so he held a press conference prior to the start of Athenae: Korean War.

    His presence attracted the attention of countless people. After all, an Olympic gold medalist would participate in Athenae: Korean War. He was even at Lv499 with a name stated as the Crown Prince of Swords. To be specific, his level was known to be higher than the unofficial number 1 in domestic rankings Kaistra.

    So what did he mean by unofficial?

    They were the ones who kept their information a secret. As a result, even though he was ranked either first or second in the unofficial rankings he could not express his heartfelt feelings.

    ¡°The ¡®War of the World Tree¡¯ will start soon.¡±

    The War of the World Tree. It was an event in the Athenae: Korean War and thepetition for thebat sses. The War of the World Tree was apetition that plenty of people showed great interest in. It was apetition that would take ce in the enormous ¡®World Tree¡¯. Everyone would start at the bottom of the gigantic tree and would follow the story of reviving the rotten ¡®World Tree¡¯ back to life. Since the country¡¯s topbatants would participate, they expected the highest ratings for this part of thepetition.

    Then, at that moment, a man came inside. This man was also a national kendo yer.

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°You did not watch the Korean War?¡±

    ¡°The Eat Quickly Contest?¡±

    When he heard his words, Lee Dawoul couldn¡¯t help butugh. Watching something like that was unnecessary for someone like him who sat on top of the rest of thebat sses in the country.

    ¡°Why are you watching such a thing?¡±

    Lee Dawoul had a bit of a cheeky and arrogant character. The sess that he had experienced at a young age had made him arrogant. In addition, having a personality that hated losing was enough for the people around him to get tired of him.

    ¡°It¡¯s really interesting now. A yer named Minhyuk participated and Vhad is not even using hisplete power.¡±

    ¡°......Minhyuk?¡±

    Lee Dawoul frowned slightly as an ominous feeling crept up behind him. He hurriedly stood up to stand in front of the TV with his friend.

    [I can¡¯t even say anything. The magic thates out of the frying pan quickly devours the monsters around him.]

    [Their score even went up by 150 in an instant. It¡¯spletely overwhelming. It¡¯s andslide!]

    [Ah, yer Minhyuk looks like he¡¯s working hard. I feel like his expression is telling us that ¡®I¡¯ve worked hard so I better eat something deliciouster!¡¯. Who in the world is that yer!]

    ¡°......!¡±

    Lee Dawoul¡¯s body trembled in shock.

    ¡°Dawoul-ah?¡±

    He heard the voice of his friend next to him as he looked at the screen showing the face of a man that was smiling brightly as he held his chopsticks in great anticipation.

    ¡°You, you¡­¡­¡±

    It was the first time that Lee Dawoul suffered a defeat. Although he suddenly disappeared from the world, there was once a lot of talk about him bing a promising yer who could lead the Korean Olympics. And that yer was none other than Kang Minhyuk.

    Lee Dawould grinned darkly. He was sure that the lion that was once a predator had now lost all of his teeth. After all, unlike him, he had already be an Olympic gold medalist.

    ¡®He¡¯s a poor kid. If he¡¯s not doing kendo then what has he been doing these days?¡¯

    He clearly remembered. Once their match ended, he reached out his hands towards him who suffered in defeat. At that time, Lee Dawoul thought that it was an outright mockery of him. So he gritted his teeth as he tried to catch up to him. But he suddenly disappeared.

    But now, he had appeared again.

    ***

    [Thepetition is over.]

    [Team 11, who everyone expected to be the weakest and the lowest team, has broken everyone¡¯s expectations and proudly won the MVP!]

    [Ah, can you see now? yer Kerry looks so excited.]

    [I think I will be the same if I was in the same situation. yer Kerry was being ignored by everybody because he was a nominated candidate but although he was not as good as yer Minhyuk he never fell behind the other production sses.]

    [I think it¡¯s better to say that he was better than most of them in the first ce instead of saying that he was notgging behind.]

    [It seems like he did not show his full power in the preliminary rounds.]

    [Ah. yer Kerry is bowing to ourrge crowd with tears in his eyes!]

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    Kerry was going wild while holding on to the ¡®MVP¡¯ trophy in his hands. Then, he bowed to the camera and said with hot tears streaming down his face.

    ¡°I, I want to give this honor to my father who is in heaven now!¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°So cool!¡±

    Click, click, click, click, click!

    [Ah, I can feel my eyes burning with tears. During the interview in the preliminary rounds, yer Kerry said that he had lost his father to ¡®pancreatic cancer¡¯ two years ago.]

    [yer Kerry went fishing alone every day in the world of Athenae to remember his father and his favorite hobby. And it was the reason why he became the ¡®Legendary Fisherman¡¯.]

    [My heart feels really warm.]

    [Huh? Where is yer Kerry looking at?]

    [He¡¯s looking at yer Minhyuk.]

    Kerry turned to look at Minhyuk who presented such a miraculous moment to him before quickly approaching him and saying¡­¡­

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry for ignoring you before.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. I would do the same. Well.¡±

    Kerryughed happily when he saw him smile. Then he gave him a big hug.

    [Is, is this a bromance?!]

    [Hmm, hmm. I can now expect a lot of stories about these two people, Minhyuk and Kerry, from many BL readers.]

    After Kerry hugged him, he absorbed the trophy.

    [You have absorbed the MVP Trophy.]

    [You have earned the qualifications for Athenae: World War.]

    [You have acquired 100 tinum.]

    [You have acquired the Title: Production MVP.]

    [You have earned 10,000 achievement points.]

    [You have gained 500 reputation points.]

    Kerry smiled pleasantly.

    ¡®These 100 tinum can be cashed out and converted to 250 million. I¡¯m going to set up a fishing shop with this!¡¯

    Then, he looked back at Minhyuk. He thought that he would immediately check his trophy but he just hurriedly ced it in his arms. Then, he began to talk to thepetition¡¯s organizing staff.

    [What are they talking about?]

    [I¡¯ve never seen yer Minhyuk look so serious before.]

    [Ah. I just heard what yer Minhyuk said just now. But¡­¡­ uhm¡­¡­]

    [What¡¯s wrong?]

    The audience were filled with curiosity as they waited for thementator¡¯s words. Then, thementator said¡­¡­

    [He, he wants to blow out more candles. H, he kept on asking if can still eat.]

    [He¡¯s really like a yer.]

    Then, the othermentators said¡­¡­

    [Joy Co. Ltd. said that they will help him eat ¡®market food¡¯ without blowing the candles.]

    [Uhm¡­¡­? Can you see it now? When User Minhyuk received the MVP trophy, he looked a bit dissatisfied. His expression was even sour. But now, he¡¯s smiling happily like a child.]

    [Eyyy. No way.]

    [No. It¡¯s really true. He looks so happy that he looks like he would fly away at any moment in tion.]

    [Then, let¡¯s rey the video when he received the trophy.]

    The screen showed Minhyuk winning the MVP trophy. He muttered something sulkily as he threw the trophy in his inventory as if he was throwing something useless in a corner. Thementators tried to read what his lips were saying at that time¡­

    [It seems like he was mouthing¡­ ¡®Ey! You should give me something delicious. Why give me something like this?¡¯ or something like that. Or, or not?]

    [Eyyy. I don¡¯t believe that he¡¯s someone like that. Hahahaha.]

    [R, right? Hahahaha.]

    Minhyuk was the only one who knew the truth.

    ***

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 207 - Making Charcoal With The World Tree

    Chapter 207: Making Charcoal with the World Tree

    Trantors: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    60 Making Charcoal with the World Tree

    ¡°Ey! You should give me something delicious. Why give me something like this?¡±

    Minhyuk began toin but he soon brightened and rejoiced again. The reason was because the organizers told him that they would help him continue to eat market food. And that wasn¡¯t all.

    ¡°The market vendors who helped us run the Eat Quickly Contest will make it personally too. After all, yer Minhyuk looks so happy whenever he eats. They said that they like you since you remind them of their grandson.

    ¡°Wow. Really?¡±

    ¡°Yes. But there are conditions.¡±

    ¡°Conditions?¡±

    ¡°Yes. yer Minhyuk looks like he¡¯s doing a ¡®live broadcast¡¯ whenever you¡¯re eating. So we want you to do a live broadcast for the viewers around the world while we are currently waiting for the next event. I hope you don¡¯t take this the bad way since we have intended to promote our country¡¯s market food.¡±

    It was not a bad condition since Minhyuk¡¯s face was already known and revealed through thepetition so he nodded his head to agree.

    ¡°Then I¡¯ll call you once the setting isplete.¡±

    ¡°Yep!¡±

    While waiting for their call, Minhyuk went to the yers¡¯ waiting room to check and absorb the MVP trophy. What he acquired was simr to what Kerry had acquired. He gained 10,000 achievement points, 100 tinum as well as the Production MVP title.

    (Production MVP)

    Common Title

    Title Effects:

    ©¤ DEX +100

    ©¤ All stats +1%

    Description: A title that can only be received by the users who won as the MVP in Athenae: Korean War. They have proven their worth and are now eligible for Athenae: World War.

    He thought the title effect in itself was not that bad. In the case of the +1% in all stats, it was literally the concept of %. This meant that the higher Minhyuk¡¯s stats were, the greater the effect would be.

    ¡°Well then. It¡¯s time to go.¡±

    Not long after, a staff member came inside to fetch him and guide him towards the area for the broadcast. When the staff member opened the door to the area that they had prepared, Minhyuk¡¯s eyes widened in surprise.

    ¡°......Heop!¡±

    There was only one reason why he was so surprised. It was because the sight of a familiar ¡®market¡¯ greeted him.

    Athenae was literally a game so they could easily set up and build a world if they wanted to. They even created this ce in a hurry just so they could promote Korea¡¯s ¡®market¡¯ to the world.

    Even the smell that wafted from the stalls were the same. He could even see someone selling steaming and piping hot tofu on one side. It looked like it was just grilled and baked too. On the other side, he could also see a man who seemed to be selling fish.

    Before the Korean War staff member could even guide him, Minhyuk already knew where to go.

    ¡®It¡¯s here¡­¡­!¡¯

    Minhyuk was totally amazed. He went straight to a ¡®buchimgae¡¯ stall.

    ¡°Hello!¡±

    ¡°Wee. Take a seat.¡±

    An old but energetic grandma greeted him as he told Minhyuk to sit down. As soon as he sat down on the chair, the grandma started grilling the buchimgaes to a golden brown.

    Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle, sizzle, sizzle©¤

    The sound of the buchimgae meeting the grilling pan was exciting. In addition, watching the cooking process was quite fun. It was like hitting two birds with one stone for Minhyuk. The first buchimgae to be ced in front of him was a kimchi buchimgae.

    ¡°Hiyaa. Grandma. The ends are well-cooked!¡±

    ¡°Of course! I¡¯ve been selling buchimgae in the market for 20 years now!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll eat it well!¡±

    ¡°Go on.¡±

    The grandma looked at him happily. It was a truly warm smile, just like when she looked over her own grandchildren. Meanwhile, she kept on sending some bindae-tteok, buckwheat crackers, and potato jeon in front of him.

    Minhyuk quickly took his chopsticks to tear his freshly-fried kimchi buchimgae. Without any hesitation, he took the steaming piece in his mouth.

    ¡°Fwoo, fwoo.¡±

    It was freshly scooped out of the grilling pan so he couldn¡¯t help but roll it around his mouth and let out some wind with a ¡®Fwoo!¡¯ to cool it down a bit before chewing. As soon as he bit down, he could taste the perfectly browned batter and crunchy kimchi together.

    And just as he was smiling happily at the taste of the buchimgae, another jeon was ced in front of him. It was none other than chives jeon. So he quickly tore apart the chives jeon and dipped it in soy sauce before putting it in his mouth. When the jeon entered his mouth, he closed his eyes to chew and savor the vor of the healthy and vorful chives.

    He smiled blissfully. The oil that greased his lips while eating the jeons had made his smile much softer and gentler.

    And the people around the world had a variety of responses.

    [I¡¯ve been watching it for quite some time unconsciously. The food that he is eating is called buchimgae. It is a pancake made with flour, water and eggs. It¡¯s a dish where you can add a variety of ingredients.]

    [I can see him rolling the kimchi buchimgae in his mouth. Ah, my mouth is already watering without me knowing anything.]

    [I¡¯ve also tried kimchi buchimgae before. At that time, I was eating it while drinking some white alcohol. I still can¡¯t forget it. It was called¡­¡­]

    ¡°Kggghk! If I have a ss of makgeolli here then it will be the best!¡±

    [Ah, that¡¯s right. It¡¯s makgeolli. Makgeolli is a traditional alcohol that is unique to Korea. Aside from that, I strangely feel warm and happy while watching yer Minhyuk eat.]

    [How can a person eat so much without feeling a bit tired?]

    [I don¡¯t feel bad since it¡¯s a handsome man that¡¯s eating well.]

    [Right now, the number 1 in the searches is ¡®buchimgae¡¯.]

    [I think I should go to a Korean Restaurant to eat some buchimgae and makgeolli too.]

    ¡°I¡¯m going now, grandma!¡±

    [That yer is even polite.]

    [I believe there will be a lot of female fans in the future that will look for his videos if they feel hungry.]

    This time, Minhyuk was looking for a mandu stall. He saw steam rising with a shwaaaaaaaaa©¤ when the owner of the mandu stall raised the lid of the big pot. Looking inside, there were steamed meat mandu and kimchi mandu lined up side by side. And it seemed like the cauldron next to the pot had steamed buns inside. The owner pretended to put some mandu in a styrofoam box before handing it over to Minhyuk.

    Then, Minhyuk quickly tore the mandu before dipping it in the soy sauce.

    ¡°Hoooooo©¤¡±

    He blew some air to cool it down a bit before cing it in his mouth. The moment he bit on the meat mandu, the hot and delicious juice trapped in the steamed dumpling wrapper flowed out and spread in his mouth. The more he chewed, the more he could taste the rich vor of the meat and vegetables that were packed in the mandu.

    Then, he tried the kimchi mandu. When he chewed the kimchi mandu in his mouth, he could feel the crunchy texture of the kimchi and taste the sweet and spicy vor that was spreading from inside.

    Next, he tried the steamed buns. He quickly tore the steamed buns into two with his hands.

    Steam, steam©¤

    Steam rose as the red beans that were jam packed inside revealed themselves. The hot steamed bun scalded his tongue as soon as he bit on it.

    ¡°Ugh. Hot. But it¡¯s so sweet!¡±

    A gentle smile appeared on his face as the sweet taste quietly spread in his mouth.

    Just like that, Minhyuk¡¯s visit to the market continued.

    And this video that he was filming and broadcasting wouldter be selected as one of the ¡®Best Videos in Athenae¡¯ and would be one of the five top videos in the world, bringing plenty of people to the country. And the people from all over the world who travelled to Korea even once, would say this¡­¡­

    ¡°If you haven¡¯t tried buchimgae and makgeolli then you can¡¯t say that you have truly visited Korea.¡±

    ***

    Minhyuk came out with an armful of food wrapped gently by the grandmas after he finished the market mukbang. And Team Leader Park Minggyu, who was waiting for him, logged out together with him.

    Team Leader Park Minggyu exited out of the capsule room that the Ilhwa group had prepared for him before heading straight to Minhyuk¡¯s room.

    He could see that Minhyuk, who becamerge again, was smiling happily.

    ¡®Being the production ss¡¯ MVP is such a waste on you. User Minhyuk.¡¯

    The words tickled the end of his tongue. But since it was User Minhyuk, then he knew that he was unaware that if he was able to win thebat MVP then he would be able to y in Athenae: World War which would take ce in the world. So he tried to say it to him in a roundabout way.

    ¡°You still have a chance topete in otherpetitions. Especially since you have the participation ticket from the Hall of Kings. It can help you participate in thepetition. Of course, it will still depend on the game. In the case of this production ss¡¯ Eat Quickly Contest¡¯, you did not use your ¡®Hall of Kings¡¯ privilege since it was an additional team that was given an approval of by the organizingmittee so you can still skip the preliminary round one more time.¡±

    Participating in otherpetitions was possible since there would still be an overwhelming disadvantage if they participatedter. This was the case for most of thepetitions. Since most of the events needed the yers to score points those who participatedter would definitely be left behind.

    However, Minhyuk was disappointed with his words.

    ¡°Hmm. Is that so? But this time, I got information that there¡¯s an incredibly delicious golden cow in Pdi Vige!¡±

    It was valuable information that he had received from the Informant Abel in exchange for a ¡®buffed dish¡¯.

    Team Leader Park Minggyu grinned at Minhyuk. He knew that Minhyuk only yed this game solely for the ¡®delicious food¡¯. This time, he only moved because he heard of the content called ¡®market food¡¯.

    Team Leader Park Minggyu stood up.

    ¡°I enjoyed our time together. And I¡¯ll definitely keep your secret to the grave. Well. If I mess with the Ilhwa Group then my head will be sted off anyways.¡±

    Team Leader Park Minggyu smiled softly as he jokingly pretended to slice off his throat. After all, he really was not going to tell anyone about this so he was not quite worried. Even with Lee Minhwa.

    ¡°Hiya! I¡¯ll send you off.¡±

    ¡°What if you feel ufortable, I¡¯m fine.¡±

    ¡°No. I¡¯m not just being polite.¡±

    What a perfect person. He was already in the position to be arrogant. But he did not choose to be one.

    Minhyuk even escorted him out personally even though he was sweating in buckets.

    ¡°Please go home safely! Ah, by any chance¡­¡­¡±

    Then, Minhyuk looked around stealthily as he whispered in his ears.

    ¡°If you have any good information about delicious food, please tell me¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°No way.¡±

    ¡°......A straight refusal.¡±

    Team Leader Park grinned when he saw Minhyuk¡¯s sullen look.

    Minhyuk waved his hand as he watched Team Leader Park get into the car. Once he got into the car, Team Leader Park headed straight to thepany. There was a trace of bitterness that hung around his mouth. However, all he could do was sigh.

    ¡°This is how we lose our country¡¯s strongest man.¡±

    However, he knew that it was the inevitable so all he could do was smile bitterly. After all, he was a firm supporter of Minhyuk¡¯s ¡®Let¡¯s Eat Life¡¯.

    ¡®I hope you can eat a lot of delicious food from here on out, User Minhyuk.¡¯

    ***

    The big shots and influential people in the country all earned their MVP titles as well as the honor of participating in Athenae: World War.

    Tonight was the night before the finalpetition. A reporter came inside the yers¡¯ waiting room in real life. It was none other than Reporter Go Eun-ah. She was given the honor to interview the participants in the World Treepetition. Since the yers had requested that they did not want to be rushed nor crowded together, she had to do the interviews quickly.

    ¡®Wow. Locke-ssi really has a big head just like in the video.¡¯

    Go Eun-ah could see Jisoo and Seoktae sitting beside each other. However, due to the rules of thepetition, more than two members of the same guild could not participate in the same event.

    She calmly went around and started her interview.

    Meanwhile, Locke, who was scratching his arms in his seat, immediately heard a voice.

    ¡°Five years ago? The guy who suddenly appeared like aet, defeated me in kendo in the Middle School National Sports Festival, then became the champion?¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Locke slowly turned his head around. Coincidentally, the person right next to him was none other than ¡®Lee Dawoul¡¯.

    ¡°There were actually three people who cheered him on. I don¡¯t know where the fat girl is now but I remember you two.¡±

    Jisoo did not answer him.

    ¡°I did a lot of research back then. Weren¡¯t you an outcast back in middle school?¡±

    Jisoo turned his head back.

    That was right. He was an outcast.

    The corners of Lee Dawoul¡¯s mouth quirked up.

    Jisoo might have been ugly but he was in his prime these days. He even has a fanclub called ¡®ULPraise¡¯. It was short for ¡®Ugly Locke¡¯s Praise¡¯. On the contrary, he also has a lot of anti-fans.

    But there was one thing that he was sure of. Jisoo was facing the most important moment of his life.

    ¡°What happens when your past gets revealed?¡±

    ¡°......What?¡±

    Jisoo¡¯s brows furrowed while Dawoul just shrugged his shoulders without turning his head to look at him.

    ¡°It¡¯s just. I remembered that time. And Minhyuk, I even saw him in apetition not too long ago.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Jisoo¡¯s face distorted.

    ¡°Tell him not to bump into me in Athenae or I¡¯ll do an infinite PK on him.¡±

    It was both a threat and mockery. And it was his warning to Minhyuk. Besides Lee Dawoul knew how scared Jisoo was when it came to revealing his past. After all, he was talking about such a man.

    And just like he thought, Jisoo was really afraid. He was just a powerless student who was bullied during his first year in middle school. And right now, he was afraid that something like that would be revealed.

    Meanwhile, Go Eun-ah had already started interviewing Dawoul.

    ¡°A lot of attention is turned towards Lee Dawoul since you won the gold medal in the London Olympics. Please say something about this.¡±

    Lee Dawoul smiled pretentiously.

    ¡°I¡¯m ttered since Athenae is a game. Haha. Of course, it¡¯s a huge game that is reflected in reality. But I still think that you overestimate me. Some say that I¡¯m not that great. Haha.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re as modest as what I have heard.¡±

    Go Eun-ah smiled while Jisoo remained silent.

    Outcast.

    Loner.

    Past.

    When something like this came out and got revealed he was sure that people would giggle and mock him on various inte sites.

    Then, it was Jisoo¡¯s turn.

    ¡°Jisoo-nim is one of the hottest users these days. In addition, you¡¯re a healer and a huge damage dealer so a lot of attention has been drawn to you¡­¡­¡±

    Then, Jisoo raised his hand.

    ¡°Please wait.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    Go Eun-ah tilted her head in confusion while Jisoo frowned and blocked his nose.

    ¡°I can¡¯t do the interview because the smell of perfume wafting beside me smells so bad. I feel like throwing up.¡±

    ¡°......?!¡±

    Go Eun-ah¡¯s eyes widened as Jisoo jumped up from his seat. Then, he made a deep but impactful fall.

    ¡°Ueeeeeeeaaaack!¡±

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    You go Jisoo! Mock that arrogant guy. Let¡¯s go! I¡¯ll go and do an infinite PK with you. Smh.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 208 - Making Charcoal With The World Tree

    Chapter 208: Making Charcoal with the World Tree

    Trantors: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Jisoo, during his early ages, was much shorter than the rest of his peers. What was worse was that he had an ugly face and arge head so he lived quietly being called an ¡®Improper Fraction¡¯. He did not do well in both studies and sports. He even had e. He was introverted and had no friends. However, he was good at ¡®games¡¯. During weekends, Jisoo would y games alone at home when most of his peers went out to the PC room or karaoke with their friends.

    He believed that he would only have this ¡®game¡¯. But one day, Jisoo was robbed of money by Lee Sungmin and his gang of friends. At that time, the student council president who he felt was too far away to be his friend heard about his situation and went to help him immediately.

    That day, he came to the ssroom in a daze.

    Then, that friend continued to raid Lee Sungmin and his gang of friends the next day, the day after that and the next day after that. One day, he appeared in front of him with money in his hands and said to him¡­¡­

    ¡®They¡¯re not going to ask you for money anymore.¡¯

    ¡®Ye, yeah. Thanks.¡¯

    Jisoo smiled softly. He felt extremely grateful to him. However, it was not a lie when Jisoo thought that it would be the end of their interactions. It was because he knew that their worlds were too far apart. But then, he said¡­¡­

    ¡®What are you going to do after school today?¡¯

    ¡®Huh? Me? Me, well¡­¡­ I will y some games.¡¯

    ¡®Oh! PC room, call?!¡¯

    ¡®Ca, call!¡¯

    He was the first friend that he had ever made. And it was also only natural that he met Seoktae and the Wild Boar General, Jihye who were always with him.

    ¡®Ah, Minhyuk is bad at games!¡¯

    ¡®Wow. Minhyuk-ah, the game copsed!¡¯

    ¡®I always lose when I y games with you! So buy me some ramyeon! Keuhahaha!¡¯

    ¡®Keuhahahaha! You¡¯re 10 years away from beating me!¡¯

    Heughed happily when he realized that he finally found a friend.

    And for Lee Dawoul who mocked and swore at ¡®him¡¯ he only thought for a moment about the things he would lose. But when he did the math, he wondered what it would feel like to lose something like that. However, he knew that there was more to him than that.

    ¡°Uweeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    Lee Dawoul jumped up on his feet when he saw him fake vomit.

    ¡°Th, this crazy shit¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°A shameful inferiorityplex from something that happened more than five years ago? Phew, you pathetic bastard.¡±

    Jisoo pretended to slice his neck off as he spoke coldly.

    ¡°Watch the back of your head in the game.¡±

    He left after he finished saying those words. Go Eun-ah looked at them in puzzlement after she had stopped recording the interview. The other yers also started to move around.

    ¡°Wow. Locke reallycks tact.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with him? Why did he do that all of a sudden?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think that¡¯s a bit too much even if he has no manners?¡±

    ¡°Ahahaha. I¡¯m alright. Everyone.¡±

    Lee Dawoul smiled pretentiously which lifted the stone that was dropped in their atmosphere. Then, they smiled at Lee Dawoul as they left.

    ¡®......Look at these bastards?¡¯

    Lee Dawoul grinned.

    Anyway, you¡¯re the ones who will get trampled in the game.

    ***

    Today was the day of the War of the World Tree.

    Both Team Leader Park Minggyu and employee Lee Minhwa were busy. After all, it was the final day of Athenae: Korean War. And it was also because today was the day of the ¡®War of the World Tree¡¯. It was the event with thergest number of yers.

    In the case of the War of the World Tree, the champion would not only receive the title of ¡®MVP¡¯ but they would also receive a special reward. However, the super mischievous and yful supeputer Athenae had yet to reveal what the reward was. She said that it was going to be revealed just before the games started. Not only were countless users interested in this, even the employees of Joy Co. Ltd. were also interested to know.

    Not long after, thementators shouted.

    [Thest day of Athenae: Korean War has arrived!]

    [Waaaaaaaaaaah!]

    Then, loud roars and shouts broke out from the stands.

    ***

    [There will be a total of 30 users who will participate in the War of the World Tree. Each and every one of them were the topbat sses for our country.]

    [That¡¯s right. There are plenty of users here who were in the top 10 in our country¡¯s rankings. There are even the unofficial yers who we have never seen in the rankings before. I think it will be fun to see the strength of these new faces.]

    [Can you please exin the rules of the game before it starts?]

    [Yes. The War of the World Tree will start on thisrge area ofnd. Thisnd was once called ¡®Icea¡¯. It was an extremely rich and bountifulnd that when you sow seeds, the seeds would definitely and abundantly bear fruits. But right now¡­ The World Tree that has supported thend of Icea is being eaten away by ¡®termites¡¯.]

    [Termites?]

    [Yes. Ancient termites are beginning to nibble away at the roots of the World Tree. And with its roots being damaged, the World Tree is starting to gradually lose its powers.]

    [Ah. So what the yers simply have to do is narrow their numbers down?]

    [That¡¯s right. The yers have to hunt those termites. If you sessfully hunt the termites, you will be able to receive the ¡®World Tree¡¯s Spirit¡¯. The yers should inject this to the World Tree and the yer with the most number of spirits injected on the World Tree will be crowned the MVP of this event.]

    [Then, you can¡¯t raise your score just by hunting the termites? yers will definitely prevent other yers who have hunted the most number of termites in injecting this ¡®spirit¡¯.]

    [That¡¯s right. Being able to hunt these things alone did not mean that you will win. You should also remember that the termites are not an easy opponent.]

    A window filled with the information about the termites popped out on the big screen.

    [Wow¡­¡­ The level of the termites are around Lv440~470!]

    [That¡¯s right. In addition, the termites have a variety of properties that are suitable for their type of attribute. Ice, fire, water, poison etc. Everyone has to keep in mind that the termites with attributes are not easy opponents.]

    [ording to the descriptions, there¡¯s also an item called ¡®World Tree¡¯s Blessings¡¯, correct?]

    [Yes. The World Tree will save the yers that are struggling to survive once. The World Tree would unleash its power once. At that time, the strength and power of all the yers and the termites will be the same.]

    [The strength and power of all the yers and termites will be the same?!]

    [Yes. Athenae may be a virtual reality game but it is also important to consider the abilities of the yers in real life. Through the ¡®blessings¡¯ that Joy Co. Ltd. and the God of Athenae created, the yers will solely depend on their control and abilities since their stats and skills will be equal and the same. In a way, this may be an opportunity for those yers who have been pushed behind by the high stats, high luck and overgeared yers, to show off and explode in strength. In addition, the termites will have their abilities lowered down and simr to the yers, but I think it will be a bit lower than their stats.]

    [In other words, once the ¡®Blessings¡¯e down, then the situation will be favorable to Lee Dawoul or yer Carr?]

    [That¡¯s right. As we speak, it seems like the yers are starting to enter one by one.]

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    [The cheers when yer Carr entered are no joke!]

    [There¡¯s no other way. When yer Carr, a gold medalist in the London Olympics, told us that he was ying Athenae he already grasped a lot of attention.]

    [Right now, the Crazy Priest Locke is entering!]

    ¡°Booooooo!¡±

    ¡°Get lost!¡±

    ¡°Locke! You piece of shit! Apologize to yer Carr!¡±

    [It seems like the audience are booing.]

    [Last night, there was an article that said that yer Locke swore at yer Carr and pretended to throw up.]

    [What was worse was that there were a lot of yers who witnessed the scene and pointed out ¡®yer Locke¡¯s Rudeness¡¯. And is now bing an issue.]

    [But yer Locke does not seem like he¡¯s discouraged at all.]

    [He looks rather excited.]

    ***

    When he heard the booing from the audience, Locke raised his arms and roared.

    ¡°Euwoooooooooo!¡±

    This was the Crazy Priest Locke. This was his true appearance. Khan was even walking beside him.

    ¡°Hey,e on!¡±

    ¡°Ah, why~¡±

    ¡°Do you really want to be in this situation right now?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the situation right now?¡±

    Khan closed his mouth for a moment when he heard his words.

    That the whole country will hate you? And that Carr will certainly put us in check?

    Carr was a strong contender for the title. It was a fact that they could not forget. However, Khan had nothing to say. In fact, he even thought that Locke did a good job.

    ¡°Boo! That Khan person is cheap too! That¡¯s obvious!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right! They¡¯re ying with each other. Legend Guild might not be able to survive!¡±

    Then, Khan raised his hands and roared too.

    ¡°Euwoooooooo!¡±

    Shit, I don¡¯t know anymore. If I were Locke I would have definitely spat on him beforeing out!

    And a minute before the games started.

    [As you can see, the ground is filled with ant caves. In those caves, the termites are nibbling away at the roots. And one ant cave is equivalent to a dungeon.]

    [Yes. And there are even a lot of termites above ground.]

    [Ah! Just in time! The information for the additional rewards for the War of the World Tree will be announced soon!]

    [The additional reward for the War of the World Tree is a ¡®World Tree¡¯!!!]

    [The World Tree!!! That¡¯s an SSS-ranked item! No, it¡¯s not an SSS-ranked item but it¡¯s much more effective than that when used as an artifact material!!! That¡¯s the additional reward for the War of the World Tree!]

    [The random warp of yers is now beginning!]

    The yers began to enter one by one. There were yers who appeared above ground, and there were also yers who appeared under ground.

    One of those yers was Carlo. He was frowning. Carlo was a Lv442 ¡®Knight of the Sun¡¯ but he was now visibly upset.

    ¡®I appeared with Locke.¡¯

    It was because he appeared in the same ant cave as Locke. However, Carlo decided to not bother with him anymore. After all, no one had gained any ¡®spirit¡¯ yet. It was better for them to acquire and increase the number of ¡®spirits¡¯ in their hands than fighting their enemies from the very beginning. So Carlo ignored Locke.

    ¡®Crazy Priest.¡¯

    It was originally a healer ss. Carlo had heard about him a lot but he still looked down on him. Of course, his participation in the ¡®War of the World Tree¡¯ the bestpetition forbat sses had proven his strength but in reality, he thought that he did not have to take precautions against him.

    Carlo finally encountered a termite. The white termites that were walking on two feet with wings on their backs strangely looked like they were humans too. And they were even holding spears. As soon as they flew towards him¡­

    sh©¤!

    ng!

    ¡°Kgghk!¡±

    Carlo couldn¡¯t help but frown.

    ¡®Sh, shit¡­¡­!¡¯

    They were told that their level was around Lv440~470 but the attack that he had just received earlier was a bit too much for that.

    While Carlo was busy frowning¡­

    Bang, bang, bang!

    Sparks suddenly started to pop around him that dwindled his HP down.

    ¡®Shit¡­¡­!¡¯

    He should have paid attention to opponents that have different attributes.

    Meanwhile, thementators were quickly exining the situation.

    [Ah, the yers that are already facing the termites look confused.]

    [The termites are more powerful than what you think! Our country¡¯s best rankers are perplexed!]

    [Just now... Our strongest contender, Carr, has already hunted one. That¡¯s amazing. He revealed his job ss to be the ¡®Crown Prince of Swords¡¯! We can see that with just a raise of his hands, dozens of swords appear from the sky and pierce the termites!]

    [One kill! Double kill! Triple Kill! He already obtained three ¡®spirits¡¯! It¡¯s overwhelming!]

    Then, onementator said¡­

    [Huh¡­¡­? But, why are yer Locke¡¯s hands turning red?]

    [The momentum from yer Locke is quite extraordinary.]

    Carlo turned his head. He could see that his hands were dyed red and there was a lot of pressureing out of his body.

    ¡®Come to think of it¡­¡­¡¯

    Why did Legend Guild let Locke in the field? Legend Guild has Abel, an assassin, and Ascar, the Goddess of the Battlefield. So why did Lockee out to participate?

    ¡®Why on earth¡­¡­?¡¯

    Of course both Abel and Ascar, the Goddess of the Battlefield, participated in different events. However, the most brilliant event in thispetition was the ¡®War of the World Tree¡¯.

    So why? Legend Guild couldn¡¯t be that dull, right?

    And at that moment, Locke struck the ground with his fists that were dyed red.

    Baaaaaaaaaaaaang!

    ***

    After eating beef to his heart¡¯s content in Pdi Vige, Minhyuk was back in reality taking a rest. He was currently talking to Jihye on the phone.

    ¡°I know. I understand.¡±

    After hanging up the phone, he couldn¡¯t help but smile bitterly. He saw an article a while ago about ¡®Locke¡¯s Rudeness¡¯ on his phone. He could see the criticism that theizens had heaped on him. They even made a lot of noise on the TV.

    [The reward that will be given to the MVP of the War of the World Tree is literally the ¡®World Tree¡¯. The World Tree is an SSS-ranked artifact material¡­¡­]

    Minhyuk gulped as heughed.

    ¡°I think it would be delicious if I grilled my 3,000 year-old eel on charcoal made from the World Tree, right?¡±

    Then, he stood up.

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    I feel so annoyed because it was Lee Dawoul who instigated Locke but Locke is the one being criticized. smh.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 209 - Making Charcoal With The World Tree

    Chapter 209: Making Charcoal with the World Tree

    Trantors: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Baaaaaaaaaaaang!

    The loud roar shook the ant cave as well as the surrounding grounds. Then, Locke grabbed something from the ground with his hands. It was none other than a.

    [Zefrit¡¯s Net.]

    [A red will prate through the ground and drag in anything and everything within a 5-meter radius.]

    Within a 5-meter radius around Locke, whether it was the wall or the termites hidden within it, they were all trapped in the red that spread around one by one. Then, Locke, who was grabbing the red, pulled it off of the ground.

    At that moment¡­¡­

    Peeeeeeng©¤

    The red shrank in an instant and dragged dozens of swarming termites. Then, Locke pulled out another axe. Just looking at the two axes in his hands, one could tell that it was too heavy to swing with just one hand. He drew all his strength as he struck both of his axes down. At that exact same moment, the that dragged and surrounded the termites disappeared. The termites had been freed but it was already toote.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    The red energy that extended from the two axes racked up a huge amount of dust as it devoured and engulfed the termites. As soon as the dust settled down, the only thing left in sight were the shattered and broken pieces of the termites.

    ¡°......Hi, hup!¡±

    Carlo, who wanted to ignore him, was surprised by the sight.

    [E, eleven! yer Locke hunts eleven termites with his overwhelming move!]

    [Ah, at that moment¡­¡­ yer Locke¡¯s two axes were covered in red.]

    [This is apletely different look from the Locke that we knew from the public!]

    [This is the beauty of thispetition! Each and every yer has hidden their growth and strength ahead of thepetition!]

    Not too long ago, Locke was able to do a second ss transfer. The name was the same as the Crazy Priest. But the power of the ss was no less than a God ss. This was also the reason why he represented ¡®Legend Guild¡¯ in thispetition.

    Locke had now acquired a lot of ¡®spirits¡¯ quickly. He started running while looking at the map that was floating on his upper left corner. The map was showing the location of the ant cave where he was currently at as well as the location of the World Tree.

    ¡°Kiiiiieeeeeeeee!¡±

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    sh!

    Baaaaaaang!

    Locke ran at a speed that was almost on par as the speed of light after quickly dealing with two termites in one go. With the speed he was running at, he quickly arrived at the World Tree.

    [You can now inject the World Tree.]

    And with all his might, he injected the World Tree with a huge injection.

    Stab!

    Glug, glug, glug, glug!

    A transparent liquid began to flow down the World Tree. And along with the flow of the liquid, Locke saw¡­¡­.

    [1st ce. Locke. 11 Spirit Injections.]

    [2nd ce. Carr. 5 Spirits (Not injected).]

    [3rd ce. Khan. 2 Spirits (Not injected).]

    An overwhelming difference.

    Locke smiled broadly at what he saw.

    ¡®Me too¡­¡­¡¯

    I also want to be Athenae¡¯s MVP.

    ***

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Locke! Locke! Locke!¡±

    ¡°Crazy! Crazy!¡±

    The Legend guild members sitting in the stands burst into cheers.

    ¡°Big rock face Locke! You¡¯re cool!!!¡±

    Ace was jumping and pping but some of the users were looking grim and serious. One of them was Genie. She was the one who pierced the door.

    ¡°It¡¯s definitely good to take the lead. But¡­¡­¡±

    He was more likely to be everyone¡¯s target. Especially because this War of the World Tree does not allow the yers to use potions. If he suffered from a fatal injury even just once, then he would be in big trouble. In addition, Locke¡¯s abilities eat away a huge amount of mana.

    What was worse is that thispetition¡­¡­

    ¡®The blessings of the World Tree can be triggered any time¡­¡­¡¯

    As soon as the blessings of the World Tree was triggered, all the users would depend on their control and ability to fight. But their biggest issue was¡­¡­

    ¡®Carr won¡¯t stand still.¡¯

    Genie had also heard about what went down yesterday. She turned to look at the screen.

    ¡®What, that person?¡¯

    There were some unofficial rankers in thepetition. There were even some users whose faces werepletely unknown to the public. Those users were even moving fast towards where Khan was.

    ¡°What¡¯s happening¡­¡­?¡±

    Khan was also gathering spirits quickly but it wasn¡¯t enough for people to be wary of him.

    So why are they moving towards Khan?

    And when she saw the expressions of the two unofficial rankers¡­¡­ she seemed to realize that they were not that interested in thepetition.

    ¡°......Don¡¯t tell me.¡±

    Genie¡¯s eyes widened in shock.

    ¡°ckstone?¡±

    ***

    A man was watching the Korean games. The man had a grave smile on his face.

    He was quite surprised to know that Kaistra had turned his back away from ckstone. And even the Pharaoh¡¯s Incarnation couldn¡¯t deal with the Frying Pan Killer. No, it was more like he had received some bacsh from trying to deal with him. After all, it was the Sword Emperor Ellie who was protecting him.

    ¡®You are under the Empress¡¯ protection¡­¡­¡¯

    It was quite an interesting tale but that was all. He had no intentions of letting his opponents walk freely in Athenae anymore.

    [Ah! yer Carlin and yer Aegis started attacking yer Khan!]

    The two people who attacked Khan were members of ckstone. And so was Carr.

    As he watched the games, he signed an approval letter. He signed the name ¡®Rausch¡¯ on the paper. And the title written above it was¡­¡­

    Rothschilde.

    It was a world-ss aristocratic family. This family had umtedrge assets in the financial sector. And the person sitting in the highest position in this family was none other than¡­¡­

    Cauhel Rausch.

    His family was estimated to be among the top five families in the world with the most wealth. Of course it was the family property but it was still a fact that Rausch was among the world¡¯s greatest billionaires.

    He stood up as he went to ess Athenae.

    ¡®Thepetition will be resolved without me watching over it.¡¯

    The blessings of the World Tree was not a problem for them. He was sure that Carr would win thispetition. After all, Carr was an Olympic gold medalist. He was even superior to Kaistra in Athenae. It was only natural that he would stand out even if the blessings of the World Tree was triggered.

    This was how Cauhel made his decisions. He used all the financial power and information that he could get his hands on.

    Notifications went off as he took a step forward.

    [You have be the first user to step into the Demon World.]

    [You have gained 300 reputation points.]

    ***

    Locke could see that Carr¡¯s performance in thepetition was in hot pursuit of his.

    ¡®Maybe¡­¡­¡¯

    He was an extraordinary punk. What worried Locke the most was the ¡®Blessings of the World Tree¡¯ that could be triggered anytime. He knew that Carr would definitely go after him once that happened.

    So Locke just ran after the spirits again. But he had no choice but to stop.

    ¡°Huh¡­¡­?¡±

    There were four users blocking his path. In a way, the situation that Locke was in was already a given. After all, the others would definitely try to keep Locke, who was going up to the top quickly, in check.

    But four people? There¡¯s obviously a different reason for this.

    [yer Khan, yer Carlin and yer Aegis has collided. This is surprising! yer Khan is too overwhelming! He¡¯s overwhelmingly strong! He doesn¡¯t even fall behind against two users who are the same level as him!]

    [yer Locke is also being surrounded by four other yers. Three out of the four users are widely known! They are Users Becker, Jahdi, and Kelman. The remaining one is an unofficial ranker!]

    [yers Khan and Locke are truly going up fast, but don¡¯t you think those who are keeping them in check are going at it faster than we thought?]

    Becker, as if they knew that they would be questioned, opened his mouth.

    ¡°We won¡¯t get to win anyway. After all, Carr is in thispetition. But we¡¯re here since we thought that you were too rude yesterday. We believe that you shouldn¡¯t win because of this.¡±

    It was aplete load of bullshit. Who would use such nonsense as if they could judge him on behalf of the people.

    ¡®Such a ridiculous excuse.¡¯

    It was so absurd that he couldn¡¯t stop himself fromughing.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you just say that thispetition in and on itself is for ¡®him¡¯ in the first ce?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡±

    ¡°Really disgusting.¡±

    Locke grinned darkly.

    How many MPs do I have left? What about my skills¡¯ cooldown?

    Locked chattered away in his heart.

    ¡®Me too¡­¡­ I also want to be the best too¡­¡­¡¯

    He was always in the background. From young until now, there was always someone outstanding standing in front of him. The only thing that he was good at was ying ¡®games¡¯. But right now, there were many people who were preventing him from winning such a game.

    Not long after, a message was spread to all of the users.

    [In 5 minutes, the Blessings of the World Tree will descend.]

    The Blessings of the World Tree. However, it was more of a curse than a blessing.

    Those who came inte might be able to keep up with them with their control and ability but they might be pushed back by those with high stats, high skills and high leveled items. They could only survive by avoiding them.

    Locke shed against the other users.

    ***

    [Ah, yer Locke will eventually copse! He¡¯s going to copse!]

    [But yer Locke did a good job. He did not fall behind those users even though he was all alone. I think he even scared them.]

    [Huh? But why aren¡¯t they forcing Locke to log out?]

    Not long after, one of the four users said¡­¡­

    ¡°You were really rude yesterday. As a Korean, I also feel ashamed of you. In thispetition where you can¡¯t even use a potion, I want you to watch someone else win with you all hurt like this. Or maybe, you¡¯ll get eaten by the termites and be forced to log out first.¡±

    The audience reactions were divided into two.

    ¡°Justice prevails!¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you pretend to vomit in front of yer Carr yesterday?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m looking forward to Locke¡¯s reversal!¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t this aplete mockery, though?¡±

    ¡°What the hell are you saying?!¡±

    ¡°Eyy. No matter how you look at it, that¡¯s not the case!!¡±

    The stands were divided. Half of them were cheering while half of them were criticizing. Then, the four users stepped out of the cave. But Locke only smirked.

    ¡®I¡¯m not like an MVP at all¡­¡­¡¯

    In the past, when he ate Minhyuk¡¯s buffed dishes, he could also use regr heals in addition to using heals that could cut his opponents HP. But now, the buff¡¯s effects were all gone and his heals were of no use anymore.

    Then, at that moment¡­

    Thementators were in a mor.

    ¡°What? Someone joined in the middle?¡±

    ¡°Who? No. All 30 of the qualifiers participated in the first ce. But how is he able to participate?¡±

    Thementators asked a lot of questions after they had heard that a user will participate in the middle of thepetition.

    Will there be a user who can participate even though all 30 people who participated in the qualifying rounds are already there?

    However, thementators¡¯ eyes widened in shock when they heard the official¡¯s words.

    ¡°Th, the user from the Hall of Kings¡­¡­?!¡±

    ¡°The user who climbed it twice?!¡±

    ¡°Is that user finally willing to show himself?!¡±

    Then, thementators started shouting in their microphones.

    [Breaking news! The user who recently climbed the Hall of Kings has expressed his intentions to participate in thepetition. As you all know, users who climbed the Hall of Kings has the opportunity and privilege to join and participate in any event!]

    ¡°Ha, Hall of Kings¡­¡­?¡±

    ¡°The Hall of Kings?! The guy who climbed it twice in one day?!¡±

    ¡°Who is it?!¡±

    Everyone was curious. Even thementator who was going to identify his name had his eyes wide open in shock.

    ¡°Th, the name of the person who climbed and stamped his name on the Hall of Kings twice in one day¡­¡­? This person is a production ss!!¡±

    As soon as the voice was transmitted through the microphone, a light shed and spread among all the users ying the game on the World Tree. The light enveloped all of the yers.

    [The yers abilities and skills are temporarily made equal.]

    [The abilities and skills of the termites have been loweredpared to some yers.]

    Then, thementator shouted¡­¡­

    [He, he is the user who participated in the Eat Quickly Contest just recently! The Food God. Us, User Minhyuk!]

    The audience began to shout in surprise.

    ¡°D, did they say Minhyuk?! That User Minhyuk from before?¡±

    ¡°Impossible¡­¡­ How can a production ss climb the Hall of Kings twice in a row?¡±

    And the news began to spread rapidly through thementators all over the world.

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    I want to see Lee Dawoul getting trashed by Minhyuk! Pleaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaase.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 210 - Making Charcoal With The World Tree

    Chapter 210: Making Charcoal with the World Tree

    Trantors: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    [It has been revealed that the user who climbed the Hall of Kings twice not too long ago was in fact, the Food God, User Minhyuk.]

    [Have you ever heard of a production ss climbing the Hall of Kings?]

    [No, not at all. Except for the mysterious user named ¡®Ca¡¯, all of the information of the people who ascended the Hall of Kings are publicly avable. And all of them arebat sses.]

    [But a question arises. Can a Lv355 production ss yer really participate in this undergoingpetition?]

    [It was highly likely that he climbed the Hall of Kings through an ¡®SSS¡¯-ranked quest at his level.]

    [Unfortunately, I think the yer who climbed the Hall of Kings, Minhyuk, will be trampled by the yers in thispetition.]

    [All of the yers will definitely attack yer Minhyuk. After all, it will be an honor for them to defeat a yer who¡¯s sitting on the throne.]

    [It is unfortunate, but I think yer Minhyuk will onlyst 10 minutes inside.]

    But not long after, thementator who just said those words had to swallow them back down.

    [One kill! Double kill! Triple kill! Quadra kill! Th, the scene in front of me is too ridiculous!!!]

    The excited voice of thementator as well as the cheers from the crowd began to shake the world. All of them were shouting in shock.

    Meanwhile, Locke was leaning against a wall. He heard something walking inside.

    ¡®An ant?¡¯

    He grinned. He was a loser in the first ce so how could he even think that he was winning?

    Ah,e to think of it, I used to think of this in the past.

    It was at the time when Lee Sungmin robbed him of his money and beat him up. He believed that he had no use in this world. He was a man that was born to the world but was not needed. He felt so frustrated back then. But at that time, that punk told him¡­¡­

    ¡®What are you saying? Aren¡¯t you our country¡¯s best pro-gamer?¡¯

    And the steps of the creature that he thought was an ant stopped in front of him.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with our country¡¯s best gamer?¡±

    Locke¡¯s eyes slowly opened.

    There he was, reaching his hands out to him.

    ***

    When Minhyuk participated in the War of the World Tree, many of thementators questioned him and his abilities. Even the audience was also agitated.

    However, he was still warped in thepetition. And Minhyuk who was being warped recalled something.

    ¡®It was definitely an ant cave over there.¡¯

    He started running along the ces that he had seen on the screen. His reason for doing this was something simple.

    ¡®Jisoo. You¡­¡­¡¯

    He had heard what happened to Jisoo from Jihye. He did not know the exact things that happened but he was sure of one thing. Jisoo was criticized by a lot of people because he tried to protect Minhyuk. And ckstone was definitely in thispetition. Of course, they might also be putting pressure on Locke and Khan because of their overwhelming performance.

    Just as he was running like that, a bright light bursted out of the World Tree as it covered almost everything in sight. The light even covered and surrounded Minhyuk.

    [The Blessings of the World Tree.]

    [The yers abilities and skills are temporarily made equal.]

    [The abilities and skills of the termites have been loweredpared to some yers.]

    [The Blessings of the World Tree willst for 20 minutes.]

    Even after he heard the notifications, Minhyuk still ran. When he saw four peopleing out of one of the ant caves, he gripped his sword tightly.

    ¡°......¡±

    They were Becker, Jahdi, Kelman and Gullen. They smirked deviously when they caught sight of Minhyuk.

    ¡®A pumpkin got entangled in the vine.¡¯

    The fact that Minhyuk, who was in front of them, was the Frying Pan Killer was something that was already publicly known. And it was because they knew this that¡¯s why Cauhel wanted to step on Legend Guild.

    [Ah! yer Minhyuk! He¡¯s facing four yers!]

    [He¡¯s in trouble. He¡¯s in trouble! All of the yers have the same stats right now. In other words, this is a fight about control! One person has to fight against four people¡­¡­ the odds are slim!]

    [There are even rumors that User Becker has been ying judo for years. That¡¯s not all. I¡¯ve seen in an interview before that Jahdi and Kelman have been steadily working out to build up their stamina!]

    [Ah, yer Minhyuk. This is what they meant when they said that crisises at the time when you¡¯re trying to make a breakthrough!]

    ording to Becker¡¯s information, the Frying Pan Killer is extremely strong.

    Lv 355?

    He was something that they couldn¡¯t ignore. However, it was a different story if it was in the ¡®game¡¯. Right now, it was no different from reality.

    Along with those thoughts, Becker kicked the ground as he rushed towards Minhyuk.

    [Herees yer Becker!]

    [He¡¯s being followed by the other three yers!]

    [If he gets caught by yer Becker just once, then yer Minhyuk will definitely be thrown down to the ground!]

    Becker reached for the hem of his clothes.

    ¡®He¡¯s no different from a normal person anyway so this will be done in just three seconds.¡¯

    Thinking this way, Becker narrowed the distance between him and Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk stabbed his sword.

    Vwooooooong!

    ng!

    Becker knocked the sword away with his knuckles as he quickly moved his arms. Then, he tried to grab him by his cor.

    ¡®Caught yo¡­¡­!¡¯

    But something unexpected happened.

    Dash!

    Minhyuk took two steps back. Then, he put some strength on both of his legs as he spinned once.

    ¡°Wh, what¡­¡­!¡±

    At that moment, Minhyuk¡¯s foot connected with his chin. His jaw was kicked by him with an overwhelming amount of strength.

    ¡°Keheok!¡±

    Becker flew backward from the impact. Minhyuk did not miss the gap as he ran towards him with his sword.

    Puhaaaak!

    sh!

    Stab!

    Taking advantage of Becker¡¯s momentary loss of consciousness, Minhyuk quickly dealt with the remaining three people. Becker, who was knocked out of his senses from the blow on his jaw, was shocked to see the sight that unfolded in front of him.

    ¡°You¡­¡­! You¡­¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk quickly approached him and shed his chest.

    Spurt!

    Becker was slowly breaking down. However, Minhyuk clenched his fist as he punched him with all his might.

    Punch!

    Becker became a cold corpse as hended after flying away from the impact of the punch.

    [One kill! Double kill! Triple kill! Quadra kill! Th, the scene in front of me is too ridiculous!!!]

    Thementators couldn¡¯t believe the scene ying out in front of them. Onementator even jumped out of his seat as he tapped the table strongly with his hands.

    [How could this be? Is it really possible for one person to deal with four people this fast? It¡¯s like a movie scene is ying in front of me!]

    Minhyuk took a step forward as he entered the ant cave. He could see Locke leaning against the wall with his eyes closed.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with our country¡¯s best gamer?¡±

    He walked in front of him as he reached his hands out to him. Locke opened his eyes and grinned at his outstretched hands.

    [Ah, yer Minhyuk reached his hands out to yer Locke!]

    [Did yer Minhyuk break in to participate in the game to save yer Locke?]

    [Since he participated through the Hall of Kings, he can ignore the restriction that only two guild members can participate in the game.]

    [Ah, there are tears in yer Locke¡¯s eyes!]

    Locke grabbed Minhyuk¡¯s hands. He could feel the tears forming on his eyes. He felt like he only always received Minhyuk¡¯s help.

    Then, Minhyuk and Locke both turned off their microphones. yers could opt out and choose to not broadcast their conversations live.

    ¡°Why are you here?¡±

    Although he said that, Locke already knew. He knew that he came here to save himself! The tears welled up in his eyes.

    It was a truly touching moment.

    Aaaaaaah! A scene from the movies!

    Then, Minhyuk said to him¡­¡­

    ¡°I¡¯m going to win and make charcoal from the World Tree.¡±

    ¡°......Huh?¡±

    ¡°Think about it. I¡¯ll make charcoal out of the World Tree. Then, I can grill my 3,000 year-old eel with that charcoal. What do you think? Sounds delicious, right? But I¡¯m going to be the only one to eat it. Hehe!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Locke burst into tears. The touching moment did not evenst for one second.

    ¡°Th, that sounds really delicious¡­¡­ Is that really your only reason?¡±

    ¡°Are there any other reasons? I told you to think about it though? It¡¯s abination of the 3,000 year-old eel and charcoal made out of the World Tree. Hiyaa. It¡¯s delicious! But why are you lying down there with a look like that says ¡®Life¡­¡­¡¯?¡±

    ¡°......Should I kill him?¡±

    ¡°Huh? What?¡±

    ¡°N, nothing.¡±

    The tears that welled up in his eyes silently flowed and trickled down his face. But he did not feel sad at all right now.

    Meanwhile, thementators¡­

    [Aaaaaah! yer Locke and yer Minhyuk turned off their microphones to talk!]

    [yer Locke was so moved that he even burst into tears!]

    [Maybe this is how their talk was going. ¡®D, did youe here to save me?¡¯ Then, yer Minhyuk told him. ¡®Since you¡¯re my colleague, of course I shoulde and save you!¡¯ Kgghk! What a very touching moment!]

    [Ah, My heart feels so warm. yer Locke is trying so hard not to cry. He purposely made a distorted face!!]

    [He must be embarrassed!! But this is really a sight to behold!!]

    Ignorant of the truth, they just bbered on in their fantasies.

    ***

    Carr was already leading in the first ce after increasing the gap between him and Locke.

    [1st ce. Carr. 44 Spirit Injections.]

    [2nd ce. Locke. 37 Spirit Injections.]

    [3rd ce. Zeriph. 11 Spirit Injections.]

    The numbers were overwhelming. In addition, Carr was showing off his brilliant sword skills while facing off more than ten termites after the blessings of the World Tree descended.

    [As expected. A London Gold Medalist is really skilled!]

    There were currently three screens that had been attracting the most attention. The screens showing Carr, Khan and his enemies, and Minhyuk and Locke. Among the three, there was a lot of attention on Carr¡¯s screen. It was because the screen that showed the skills of a kendo gold medalist while he ughtered the termites with his pure skills was an amazing sight.

    Not long after, Carr saw a user enter his cave after he had hunted termites for quite a long time. It was Jeffie. Jeffie was also a member of ckstone. However, even though they were keeping others in check, they did not necessarily pay attention to the game.

    Then, Jeffie told him¡­¡­

    ¡°Carr-nim. yer Minhyuk participated in this game. He¡¯s the user who climbed the Hall of Kings.¡±

    ¡°......What?¡±

    Carr, who was hunting termites and was listening nonchntly, couldn¡¯t help but stop in his tracks.

    Minhyuk?

    Carr had just one biggest lump in his life. And that bump was none other than Minhyuk. He was the first person to ever defeat Carr who had never tasted a defeat in his entire life. What was worse was that he even reached his hand out to him after the match ended. Carr clearly hand that he reached out for a handshake as a ¡®mockery¡¯ for him. It was an illusion that he had created in his hands to make sense about what happened.

    ¡®I¡¯ll be able to trample him.¡¯

    He believed this to be the case. After all, he had been living in the Athlete¡¯s Vige ever since middle school until present. He was now different from the past. He firmly believed that he was now a toothless tiger.

    If you were that good, then you should have definitely gone and joined the Olympics before, right?

    Just as he was thinking about that¡­¡­

    ¡°The problem is that yer Minhyuk is overwhelmingly strong.¡±

    ¡°Strong?¡±

    ¡°Yes. He forced Becker¡¯s team to log out in 20 seconds. With a sword.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Carr¡¯s eyes widened. He knew that this meant that Minhyuk¡¯s skills did not turn rusty at all.

    But at that moment¡­¡­

    Dash!

    Someone rushed inside the ant cave.

    ¡°Catch him!¡±

    ¡°Run!¡±

    Carr turned his head around. He could see Khan being chased around by the other yers. Then, Carr felt something behind him.

    ¡°Minhyukie, why are you over there? Oops!¡±

    Carr¡¯s head turned around when he heard Khan¡¯s voice. He saw Minhyuk supporting Locke. Carr and Minhyuk¡¯s eyes met in the air.

    Bang!

    Carr gritted his teeth as he kicked the remaining termite. Then, he began to run towards Minhyuk.

    ¡°Kang Minhyuuuuuuuuuuk!¡±

    ***

    Note:

    I think I used Kenra for the mysterious yer in the Hall of Kings but I suddenly thought that it was Cahuel. Since it has the same letters with the first two sybles of Cahuels name in the raws. So we will be using Ca for the mysterious user starting now.

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Yes. Let¡¯s go!

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 211 - Making Charcoal With The World Tree

    Chapter 211: Making Charcoal with the World Tree

    Trantors: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Sweat was pooling in Chairman Kang Minhoo¡¯s hands as he stared at the TV screen.

    [yer Carr started to run towards yer Minhyuk while shouting loudly!]

    [Do they know each other?]

    His son, Kang Minhyuk, also had a dream. He wanted to be a world-ss gold medalist in kendo. That was his child¡¯s dream. After he won that unofficialpetition, he got a chance to spread his wings. But not long after that, a disease called ¡®Bulimia nervosa¡¯ struck him.

    However, Kang Minhoo knew that his son fought against this disease more fiercely and strongly than anybody else. He kept on working out and exercising even though he said that he wanted to stop and felt in trouble. He knew it was to solve the ¡®regret¡¯ from that time. Although he was not able to be a ¡®gold medalist¡¯, perhaps Minhyuk could solve that regret right now.

    However, thementators were saying the contrary.

    [No matter how fast yer Minhyuk dealt with those four yers with his amazing abilities, his opponent is still Carr, a gold medalist.]

    [It¡¯s a losing battle.]

    Then, the swords of the two young men collided.

    ***

    ng!

    Minhyuk quickly swung his sword and defended against Carr¡¯s attack. He dug in and prated in an instant as he stabbed him in the stomach.

    ng!

    Carr gently defended as he aimed for his head.

    Once.

    ng!

    Twice.

    ng!

    Thrice.

    ng!

    But Carr could not create any gap. No, he was even able to attempt counterattacks at him.

    Shwoooook!

    He twisted his body to avoid the sword aiming at his side as he shed strongly from top to bottom.

    ng!

    He wondered if he could get some more force if he attacked him from behind. Meanwhile, Minhyuk dissipated the force by rolling around once.

    Dash!

    Carr began to run backwards while Minhyuk ran after him.

    ng, ng, ng, ng!

    Sparks kept on pouring out whenever their swords met. Carr ran until he got near a wall. Then, he stomped on the wall as he used this force to stab Minhyuk strongly. Minhyuk skillfully twisted his body to avoid the attack while he aimed for his opponent¡¯s neck.

    Vwooooosh!

    Carr avoided the attack as his entire center spinned with just a twist of his toes.

    ¡°W, wow¡­¡­¡±

    Jeffie burst out in admiration. He thought that Minhyuk would not be able to hold out against Carr. But contrary to his expectations, Minhyuk was not losing ground against Carr¡¯s mboyant sword skills.

    [Wh, what¡¯s going on¡­¡­?]

    [yer Minhyuk is not losing an inch of ground with this fight against the gold medalist Carr¡­...!]

    [Something entirely unbelievable is happening right in front of us!!!]

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    The cheers and screams in the audience stands were getting hotter and hotter.

    Meanwhile, Carr couldn¡¯t help but be surprised as he continued to sh swords with Minhyuk.

    ¡®His skills are not rusty at all¡­¡­!¡¯

    It did not rust at all. It even looks like he had been undergoing special training for a long time too.

    sh!

    At that moment, Minhyuk¡¯s sword was stabbing straight towards his neck. Carr quickly struck out to defend. He couldn¡¯t stop the chills running down his spine. If he hadn¡¯t reacted quickly then his neck would have definitely been pierced by that strike.

    Locke and Khan were also battling against the other yers.

    ¡°Khan. Throw it to me!¡±

    ¡°Okey dokey!¡±

    Khan, who was moving swiftly, pped the face of one of the yers that blocked their way.

    ¡°Keup!¡±

    He grabbed the yer that was holding onto his bruised nose and threw it at Locke, who was lying on the floor.

    ¡°Hello?¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    The yer who flew down the floor was none other than Aegis. The mage user Aegis was startled when he felt that he was being dragged.

    Locke¡¯s legs had not recovered yet! However, he had been learning wrestling for five years already. It was a skill that he had learned since he got beaten by Lee Sungmin and his group.

    Grab©¤

    Locke squeezed the neck of their opponent tightly. It wasn¡¯t that long when Aegis passed out.

    [Due to difficulties in breathing, you will be temporarily knocked out.]

    ¡°One man down! Another one! Throw another one!¡±

    ¡°Wait!¡±

    Even though Locke¡¯s legs were still recovering and were quite ufortable, he was still doing quite well. And the same was true for Khan too. Meanwhile, Carr was getting restless.

    ¡®These crazy bastards. What the hell!¡¯

    Khan and Locke were both able to move fast in gathering spirits. Everything would result in failure if he wasn¡¯t able to beat Minhyuk down quickly.

    Then, at that moment¡­

    [There are 10 seconds left for the Blessings of the World Tree.]

    [9 seconds, 8 seconds, 7 seconds, 6 seconds, 5 seconds¡­¡­]

    The Blessings of the World Tree wasing to an end.

    Carr¡¯s mouth couldn¡¯t help but grin wickedly. He knew that Minhyuk¡¯s level was only 355. And even though he made a tremendous show in the Eat Quickly Contest, it was still apetition for production sses. There was a difference between heaven and earth with the production sses and thebat sses. It was not something that he could ovee easily. He believed that as soon as the Blessings of the World Tree ended, Khan, Locke and Minhyuk would all die straight away.

    Then, the notifications rang.

    [1 second.]

    [The Blessings of the World Tree has ended.]

    A smile formed around Carr¡¯s mouth. He quickly took a step back as dozens of swords appeared around him.

    [Chaotic Sword Maniption.]

    [Several dozens of swords will be fired from the Crown Prince¡¯s body.]

    Dozens of swords flew from Carr¡¯s body. Carr, who was at Lv490, could unleash a formidable force with his swords that had an additional 100% attack power.

    Shweeeeeek!

    A sword quickly flew straight towards Minhyuk.

    ¡°Like the Wind.¡±

    Minhyuk used his skill as he instantaneously moved a distance of three meters. The distance between them widened but it seemed like the Chaotic Sword Maniption was like a homing missile as it followed him around. After using ¡®Like the Wind¡¯ once more, Minhyuk invoked his Rampant Sword.

    [Rampant Sword.]

    [A flurry of rampant swords with additional 40% attack power will be created for 14 seconds.]

    Carr¡¯s eyes widened when he saw Rampant Sword, with a longer duration, being unleashed. The sword images that he had created were shot down by the sword images that were created from Minhyuk¡¯s skill.

    ng, ng, ng, ng, ng, ng!

    ¡®How can this be possible¡­¡­?¡¯

    Carr had no choice but to look in horror. After all, defeating and cancelling an opponent¡¯s attack would only be possible if they were in the same level. But Minhyuk was only at Lv355. And his ss was even a Food God, a production ss.

    ¡®Come to think of it¡­¡­¡¯

    Minhyuk had shown two skills in the Eat Quickly Contest. The first skill was the ¡®Fluttering Sword¡¯. Carr had also watched the Fluttering Sword in the rey and he had seen hundreds of leaves shing like swords as they devoured and ravaged his enemies. Such a sword skill was exclusively avable to fairly high-leveled sword ss users or to users with special job sses. So he was quite surprised that he could pull out hundreds of such things like that. But he had only seen one sword skill and magical abilities.

    ¡®No. But the level gap is¡­¡­¡¯

    It was something that could never be narrowed down.

    While he was lost in thought, Khan regained his strength and began to run and increase his momentum.

    [Crazy Priest¡¯s Reinforcement.]

    [A powerful curse will be applied in both your hands. This curse can cause your enemies to rot in one strike.]

    Locke was definitely a dealer as well as a healer. However, he tended to lean more on the ¡®debuff line¡¯ instead of the ¡®heal line¡¯.

    [Giant¡¯s Strike.]

    [A huge fist will hit your enemies recklessly.]

    He stretched his fist quickly as a huge fist formed and hit the yers.

    Bang! Bang, bang!

    The yers who were fast enough to block their bodies with their arms felt a sense of numbness as a feeling of bugs crawling around their arms slowly appeared.

    [Your hands are beginning to rot at a fast pace.]

    [Your HP is constantly being reduced.]

    [Your hands will be incapacitated if you leave them unattended.]

    Locke and Khan had been friends for quite a long time so when they fought together, they had some sort of tacit understanding that left the other four yers at a loss.

    ¡®I have to get this over with quickly.¡¯

    [Eight Legendary Greatswords.]

    [Eight strong sword attacks will hit one yer. One attack will have an additional 140% damage.]

    A huge greatsword appeared and dropped down from the air. The other swords appeared and stuck to the ground with Minhyuk at the center.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Minhyuk could see that the swords that got stuck in the ground showed off an unusual energy.

    ***

    ¡°......I can¡¯t believe that he got caught in such a skill.¡±

    The remarks of Jackal, the second in the official domestic rankings, rang loudly in the VIP stands. Jackal was donned with the name ck Star since all of his artifacts, even his suit, was dyed in ck. And his words as a Lv472 user proved to be quite catching.

    ¡°Ah¡­¡­ Jackal-nim has fought with Carr before, right?¡±

    Jackal smiled bitterly as he nodded at one of the tankers¡¯ words.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. At first, I thought that it was just a walk in the park but that skill killed me. That ability can trap and lock people up like bugs caught in a spider web. And its power is so formidable that a yer will not be able to prate through it. I can tell¡­¡­ because I was not able to prate through it¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    The users readily agreed with him. After all, Jackal was strong enough to be ranked second in the official domestic rankings. But not long after, a woman suddenly said¡­¡­

    ¡°But I think he¡¯s going to break through it?¡±

    ¡°......Yes?¡±

    Their heads turned around. They saw the Legend Guild¡¯s guild master, Genie, sitting with her legs crossed.

    ¡°Everyone, I believe you have seen only one part of the Frying Pan Killer. Right?¡±

    She looked quite confident as she uttered those words.

    ***

    Minhyuk felt a sense of danger down to his very bones so he hurriedly tried to avoid it. However, a notification sounded in his ears.

    [You can¡¯t escape while the skill is still in effect.]

    ¡®What kind of fraudulent ability is this¡­¡­¡¯

    The eight swords began to glow brightly. When Minhyuk realized that he could not avoid it, he decided to break it down.

    He used his Fluttering Sword.

    Swoooooooosh©¤

    Hundreds of falling leaves fell on the eight 3m-long greatswords. Suddenly, a bright sh erupted from one of the greatswords.

    Ping©¤

    The sh that appeared instantly shed Minhyuk¡¯s arms. His HP got cut down by at least five percent. Then, one after another, the swords shed and attacked Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    Ping, ping, ping, ping©¤

    ¡°Kghhk!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s body started to bleed after being torn by the shes of light. His fluttering sword took a long time before being unleashed. And the skill that Carr had used also seemed to have a long duration before it got unleashed. However, he was the first one to invoke his skills so the shes had already started to pour down from the eight greatswords. The shes easily prated through Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    Ping, ping, ping, ping©¤

    [Your HP has dropped below 60%.]

    [Your HP has dropped below 40%.]

    [You have received a fatal blow.]

    [Your head will start to feel dizzy due to continuous bleeding.]

    [Your HP has dropped below 20%.]

    [Your body movements have been restricted.]

    Carr smiled wickedly. He felt that it was not strange if Minhyuk¡¯s body copsed now since his body was bleeding everywhere already. However, contrary to his expectations, Minhyuk¡¯s body did not copse. The wind from his Fluttering Sword even began to blow intensely.

    Vwooooooom©¤

    At that moment, a sh pierced through Minhyuk¡¯s neck.

    ¡®I won¡­¡­!¡¯

    Carr felt gleeful. He did not forget to stare straight at Minhyuk. This was something that he did not wish to miss.

    [You have used the Armor of Immortality¡¯s special ability.]

    [All of your HP and MP is refilling at a high speed.]

    sh!

    Minhyuk¡¯s wounds began to regenerate at a speed visible to the naked eye. In just a sh, his HP had already been restored to 100%.

    ¡®What kind of ridiculous thing is this¡­¡­!¡¯

    Carr looked on in horror. He couldn¡¯t stop the chills that run down his spine when he saw this scene y in front of him.

    ***

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 212 - Delicious Grilled Eel

    Chapter 212: Delicious Grilled Eel

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    61 Delicious Grilled Eel

    Another sh went straight towards Minhyuk¡¯s body. However, the buffering time for the Fluttering Sword had finally ended. Five falling leaves flew towards the rapidly approaching ray of light.

    sh©¤

    The two powerful forces met in the air and disappeared.

    Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping©¤

    Then, lights shed and bursted out at a high speed from the eight greatswords. However, Minhyuk¡¯s falling leaves flew rapidly and extinguished the shing lights in the air.

    ¡®He still used his most powerful skill.¡¯

    With this, he wouldn¡¯t have any more powerful skills left. The only thing that he had left would be the Dark Fire Storm that he had used back then. Dawoul believed that it was ridiculous for someone like Minhyuk to confront him with just that one skill.

    At that moment, the falling leaves started to attack the eight greatswords directly after extinguishing the shes of light.

    ng, ng, ng, ng!

    Crack!

    The eight greatswords started to crack and break one by one.

    tter!

    Then, one sword broke and faded away in a burst of light. It was at that moment when Minhyuk heard a notification in his head.

    [You can now get out of the skill.]

    ¡°Like the Wind.¡±

    Then, he stabbed the ground with his sword as if he was already nning on doing this from the very beginning.

    ¡°Blooming Sword.¡±

    Shake!

    Carr felt the ground beneath him shake and tremble. He suddenly felt great danger. Without any hesitation, he swung his sword that was glowing with a golden light.

    [Sword of Extinction.]

    [You can nullify the enemy¡¯s skill. However, you will be left defenseless for 0.3 seconds.]

    The effect of the Blooming Sword suddenly disappeared.

    ¡®I can only use Sword of Extinction thrice.¡¯

    It was quite surprising that he still had other skills aside from Fluttering Sword. But he thought that he wouldn¡¯t have any more skills. No, he strongly believed that he had no more skills left in his arsenal. But at that moment¡­¡­

    ¡°Splitting Sword.¡±

    Swoooooosh©¤

    Vwoooooooooong©¤

    Minhyuk swung his sword twice in the air as two crescent sword lights shing a dangerous red were fired straight towards him.

    [Sword of Extinction.]

    [You can nullify the enemy¡¯s skill. However, you will be left defenseless for 0.6 seconds.]

    Using the Sword of Extinction would result in instant penalties, just like having 0.3 and 0.6 seconds of defenselessness. It was only a short period of time, but in a fight with rankers that have monstrous speed, such a short amount of vulnerability could lead to serious consequences.

    ¡°Crazy bastard! Are you a damn swordsman, a Food God or a mage?!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Minhyuk did not answer him and just used his skill against him.

    ¡°Like the Wind. Scattering Sword.¡±

    Vwooooooong!

    The distance between him and Carr was narrowed in an instant.

    The Scattering Sword was his skill that had evolved into ¡®Half-God¡¯. The skill once had consecutive hits but after being evolved it had now turned into a skill with x8 force condensed into a single strike. If we assumed that Minhyuk had 500 attacking power then this single strike from the Scattering Sword would have a 4,000 attack power.

    Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaa©¤

    The sword emitted a powerful force that tore the air as it swung down towards Carr. Carr couldn¡¯t help but reflexively use one of his skills.

    [The Crown Prince¡¯s Quick Sword.]

    [A quick sword that can cut down your enemies.]

    Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping©¤

    His sword moved quickly as it shed at Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    ¡®What kind of monstrous HP is this¡­¡­!¡¯

    Carr was in shock. It seemed like Minhyuk¡¯s HP was alreadyparable to his own. He knew this since he was able to take on his strikes without even staggering and copsing.

    At that moment, he suddenly felt a tearing pain on his back.

    sh!

    [Physical Damage Reflection!]

    [Returns the physical damage with a x2 increase in strength.]

    [You have received a fatal wound.]

    [Your HP is dropping at a rapid rate.]

    Carr suddenly felt that he was stuck in a crisis. He had tried to not use the Sword of Extinction anymore but he really believed that he would not have any more skill after this.

    [Sword of Extinction.]

    [You can nullify the enemy¡¯s skill. However, you will be left defenseless for 1 second.]

    He had no defense for 1 second.

    Minhyuk quickly took advantage of the gap as he shed down on Carr.

    Puhaa!

    [You have received an additional fatal wound.]

    [Your body will now be unable to move temporarily.]

    Carr was flustered. However, he had a skill prepared for situations just like this.

    [Emperor¡¯s Grace.]

    [The Emperor¡¯s knights will appear to protect you and only defend you in the event of an enemy attack.]

    Dozens of translucent knights appeared in front of him. However, all they could do were defend.

    Minhyuk observed them with a ¡®Hmm.¡¯ before approaching quickly.

    ¡°Sword of Fury.¡±

    Shweeeeeeeek!

    A red air strongly formed around his sword. When Minhyuk tried to force his way in, the translucent knights threw themselves forward and defended against him.

    Baaaaaaang!

    In Sword of Fury¡¯s case, all of his enemies within a 2-meter radius would be struck. So as soon as his sword struck forward, more than half of the dozens of knights disappeared. But there were still half of them left.

    ¡®Crazy shit¡­¡­ When will this stun be lifted? But I¡¯m sure that he will have no more skills left.¡¯

    This was what Carr thought. But at that moment¡­¡­

    Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

    Wind began to blow around Minhyuk¡¯s body once more.

    Carr was familiar with this skill. It was the powerful skill that broke through his Eight Legendary Greatswords. It was the very first time that his greatswords were broken too. However, he strongly believed that the cooldown of such a great skill was quite unimaginable. So he couldn¡¯t believe his eyes when he saw the skill being used so quickly again.

    ¡°W, what the hell! This is impossible¡­¡­!¡±

    Carr stared in horror as he started to panic. However, no matter what he said, the scene ying in front of him was the truth.

    ¡°Fluttering Sword.¡±

    Minhyuk spoke slowly and deeply.

    This was the Fluttering Sword that he had kept in advance using his ¡®storage¡¯ skill. Then, hundreds of falling leaves began to fall around him. Minhyuk swung his sword as strongly as he could.

    Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping©¤

    Hundreds of falling leaves began to fly rapidly towards Carr and his translucent knights. For the first time since ying ¡®Athenae¡¯, Carr felt a sense of crisis and dread.

    Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping!

    The knights that were protecting him disappeared as soon as the leaves made contact with them. They scattered with the wind after being hit directly by such an attack. Then, a leaf suddenly prated Carr¡¯s chest.

    Fwoosh!

    ¡°Keop!¡±

    Carr staggered back. He realized that the attack was alreadyparable to his own since his armor was prated.

    ng!

    He could finally move! He quickly tried to avoid the iing attacks but it was too much for him to defend against the hundreds of falling leaves. What was worse was that Minhyuk also narrowed the distance between them to join the falling leaves that he had unleashed.

    ¡°Like the Wind.¡±

    Minhyuk suddenly appeared in front of Carr who was desperately trying to deflect the hundreds of falling leaves. And without any hesitation, Minhyuk stabbed Carr straight at his chest.

    Stab!

    ¡°......!¡±

    Carr did not want to admit the situation in front of him.

    He was not able to beat Minhyuk with a sword in a match and he was also unable to beat him even after using his power in the game ¡®Athenae¡¯. Right now and even in the past, he was still not able to win against him.

    Puhaaa!

    Minhyuk pulled the sword out of his chest without a second thought as he took a few steps back. Carr fell down and was immediately forced to log out.

    Then, Minhyuk shot the remaining leaves towards the yers that were attacking Khan and Locke.

    Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping©¤

    The bodies of their enemies copsed at a rapid pace.

    ***

    The stands were all covered in silence. After all, the reality that something unbelievable had happened in front of them was something that was hard to swallow. The silence was only broken when one user stood up in the stands.

    ¡°W, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Really cool!¡±

    ¡°Waaaaah. Oh my goodness!¡±

    [Ah¡­¡­ Ah¡­¡­ Pl, yer Minhyuk forced yer Carr to log out!]

    [The strongest contender for the MVP, yer Carr, has been forced to log out and disappear!]

    [That¡¯s not all! The yers that were pressuring yers Khan and Locke are disappearing one by one!]

    [Huh? But Pdin Neville is not logged out?]

    [They¡¯re talking.]

    [Pdin Neville is healing Locke¡¯s legs.]

    [Looking at the situation, I think they made apromise. I believe that they told him ¡®You¡¯re going to~ die~¡¯ if he did not heal Locke¡¯s legs.]

    [After the treatment, Neville escaped and disappeared like the wind.]

    [One thing is clear now.]

    [Yes. You¡¯re right.]

    [Khan, Locke and Minhyuk. One among these three people will be crowned as the MVP!]

    [There are 20 minutes left in the War of the World Tree!]

    ***

    [The MVP for the War of the World Tree will go to yer Locke.]

    [yer Minhyuk quickly climbed to second ce but I think it¡¯s still a bit too much for him to climb to the top within a short 20 minutes.]

    [However, it¡¯s still surprising that he was able to beat the other yers and climb to the second ce in just 20 minutes.]

    ¡°Uwooooooo!¡±

    Locke screamed after he won the MVP. Apuse rang loudly in the stands with plenty of swears aimed at him still mixed in. However, this was the first time he won something. He had always been inst ce. Whether it was in appearance, grades or everything else. But for the first time in his life, he was named MVP and won the honor of participating in Athenae: World War.

    Then, Locke strode towards the yers¡¯ Waiting Room. A man that had been waiting for him opened the door.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go inside.¡±

    It was none other than Minhyuk.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Locke went inside arrogantly as Minhyuk rubbed his shoulders.

    ¡°Feeling refreshed?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Refreshed.¡±

    ¡°Would you like a ss of water?¡±

    ¡°Yeah! Grab me a ss of water!¡±

    Minhyuk rushed to get him a ss of water. After taking a gulp, Locke couldn¡¯t help but let out a gasp of admiration.

    ¡°Kiyaaa. The vor of the water that our Minhyuk brought is shooo gwoood!¡±

    ¡°Haha. I¡¯m d that it¡¯s to Locke-nim¡¯s liking.¡±

    There was only one reason why Minhyuk was ttering him! It was because of one thing. Locke looked at him as he grinned. He decided to stop doing this long winded ttery as he absorbed the MVP trophy. Then, he gave Minhyuk the World Tree that he had received.

    ¡°Take it. I already know that you want to make charcoal out of the World Tree.¡±

    ¡°Ahyuu¡­¡­ What are you saying¡­¡­ Haha. How can I be so shameless!¡±

    Locke stared at him. In the first ce, he wouldn¡¯t be able to win the first ce if Minhyuk had note to save him. It was enough that he was named as the MVP. After all, this name had already given him the honor of participating in the Athenae: World War.

    ¡°So you don¡¯t like it?¡±

    ¡°No. I like it.¡±

    Then, Minhyuk snatched it quickly. He was originally someone who would not refuse a gift.

    ¡°Hiyaaa. It would be great to make charcoal out of this, right?¡±

    Minhyuk smiled happily. The World Tree, shaped like the organ, was kept in a transparent round ss. As he looked at the World Tree happily, Minhyuk spoke up.

    ¡°But don¡¯t we still have some work to do?¡±

    ¡°What¡­¡­ Ah!¡±

    Locke and Khan nodded their heads as they sported wide grins on their faces. It was time for them to give Carr a big punch in the face.

    ***

    The five reporters, including Go Eun-ah, were left in confusion.

    ¡°Why is the interview going to be conducted in the waiting room?¡±

    ¡°I know. Our numbers are even too little.¡±

    This was because the trio that was the hottest topic in the War of the World Tree had requested to have a quiet interview in the yers¡¯ Waiting Room. And only the five reporters that were part of thepanies that were in partnership with Joy Co. Ltd. were allowed inside.

    Not long after, the reporters came inside. However, when they were about to turn the camera on, Locke suddenly spoke up.

    ¡°Ah. We¡¯re a bit nervous. Hoo! Hoo! Please wait.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m so nervous. I think my chest is bouncing wildly?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s got camera phobia so whenever a camera is in front of him he will drool and make weird noises.¡±

    Then, the three people talked.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry but can you go over there to help him rx for a moment before having the interview?¡±

    They pointed towards the changing room inside the yers¡¯ Waiting Room. In fact, this was the game¡¯s waiting room so the changing room was a bit meaningless. It was said that the coliseum as well as the waiting room were all tailored after the athlete¡¯s waiting room and coliseum of the Olympics.

    ¡°Please take away all the cameras! Whenever I look at the camera¡­¡­ Ugh!¡±

    They all went into the changing room.

    ¡°At this rate, will we even be able to do an interview¡­¡­?¡±

    ¡°Those people are weird.¡±

    The reporters whispered in the small changing room.

    Then, at that moment¡­¡­

    Bang!

    They heard the door mming open. The reporters suddenly started to concentrate with confusion painted on their faces. Then, they heard a familiar voice.

    ¡°Hey! You fucking bastards!¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Go Eun-ah¡¯s eyes widened in shock.

    The familiar voice was none other than Carr¡¯s voice.

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Bruh. Smart move.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    It was at that point...that Lee Dawoul was screwed.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 213 - Delicious Grilled Eel

    Chapter 213: Delicious Grilled Eel

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Minhyuk and his friends had the same thoughts in their heads. ¡®How can he be so predictable?¡¯ was what ran through their heads.

    They had understood himpletely. After losing to Minhyuk back in middle school, Carr or Lee Dawoul, immediately went to the yers¡¯ waiting room and made a mess before going away. And right now, Carr was also making a scene just like he did back then.

    ¡°You¡¯re toying with me, right?! You, Kang Minhyuk! How dare you mock me just like you did before?! How dare you!¡±

    ¡°What are you talking about? I would like you to leave. Isn¡¯t it only polite to not do something like this in the yers¡¯ waiting room?¡±

    ¡°Polite?! Polite?! You fuckers!¡±

    Kick!

    He kicked the chair that was right next to him.

    Minhyuk had already predicted that this would happen. He knew that he had a hot-tempered personality that did not care about anything else once he got angry.

    ¡°Because of you¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Why is it because of us? You lost because you¡¯re weak.¡±

    Khan spoke as Carr snorted at him while heughed mockingly.

    ¡°One win and it goes to all three of your heads.¡±

    Then, the three of them crossed their legs and nodded at the same time.

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    Carr¡¯s face flushed red while Locke opened his mouth to talk.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but at least we¡¯re not as cheap as you as to threaten other people. After all, you were the one who threatened me first. Didn¡¯t you tell me that you will tell the whole world that I used to be a loner? So I got angry and did that whole ¡®Uweeeeeck!¡¯ fiasco. It made me into a ¡®rude and unlikeable¡¯ person that the whole nation hates. So what are you talking about here when you lost to us once? Are you here to me us for winning thepetition?¡±

    To be honest, Carr had nothing to retort even if he had ten mouths. But he was too excited and agitated that all he wanted to do was curse at them.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Anyway, a loner and an outcast like you will not be able to live until the end. The same goes for you, Minhyuk. Khan, you? Your life will not be smooth sailing either because I¡¯m not going to stand still in Athenae.¡±

    ¡°¡®That¡¯s right¡¯ you said? So you admit it? You admit to threatening me first?¡±

    ¡°Revealing that shitty life of yours? Sure. I¡¯m going to get someone to do it all on the inte¡­¡­¡±

    At that moment, Carr suddenly felt a mysterious sh somewhere.

    Click, click!

    There were several cameras sticking out of the changing room. And the cameras all began to shoot at Carr continuously.

    ¡°......¡±

    Carr was left in a fluster. His eyes widened in shock as his body trembled violently.

    He had made himself to be the gentlemanly and polite gold medalist in front of the media. And he was even chosen by plenty of women as the ¡®Number 1 Polite Male to go on a Blind Date with¡¯. But right now, there were plenty of reporters in front of him.

    Minhyuk, Locke and Khan all simultaneously crossed their hands on their chests.

    ¡°We wanted to tell you.¡±

    ¡°Just in case, we wanted to give it to you if you came.¡±

    ¡°We prepared a present for you?¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Then, they stretched out their hands as if they were giving out gifts to him. Starting from the left, Minhyuk pulled out his hand from his chest as he raised his middle finger at him.

    ¡°Eat shit~¡±

    Locke, who was in the middle, also popped his middle finger out.

    ¡°Eat a second shit~¡±

    And finally, Khan, who was on the right-most side, pulled out both of his hands and raised two middle fingers at him.

    ¡°Eat a third shit~¡±

    Then, the three of them all puffed their cheeks out as they blew their tongues at him. They looked at him with unkind looks as they all said this at the same time¡­¡­

    ¡°Nim, you¡¯re a fucker! Ptew!¡±

    ¡°Nim, you¡¯re a fucker! Ptew!¡±

    ¡°Nim, you¡¯re a fucker! Ptew!¡±

    They showed a very fantastic chemistry.

    ***

    Both Alicia and Lucia were waiting in front of the yers¡¯ waiting room to congratte Minhyuk. They wanted to congratte him since they had met before. Anyone could also see that Lucia¡¯s cheeks were flushed red.

    ¡®Minhyuk¡­¡­¡¯

    Lucia failed to meet him during the previouspetition! She even sent whispers of ¡®Do you want to eat ramyeon?¡¯ to Minhyuk. But Minhyuk, who was embarrassed(?), always avoided her.

    But today!

    She was sure that she would be able to talk to him if she sent him her congrattions.

    Meanwhile, Alicia felt her heart shake for the first time when she watched him fight against Carr. This was the first time that she had experienced something like this in her life. He had be more likeable in her eyes after she watched him easily defeat Carr, who was believed to be ranked as number 1 in the unofficial rankings.

    ¡°Lucia. Men usually like innocent looking women with long hair. The kind that looks good in jeans.¡±

    ¡°Hoho. Unnie~ What are you talking about. Men like women with a chic bob. And what men really like the most are women with a sensual body, right? Hohoho!¡±

    Lucia puffed up her chest as she smiled widely. A strange war of nerves broke out between the two women. It was a scene where two of the most beautiful women in the country were arguing about such things just because of one person.

    And some of the yers could see them.

    ¡®Ar, aren¡¯t those two Lucia and Alicia?¡¯

    ¡®Th, those two are very famous because they never talked to men¡­¡­!¡¯

    ¡®I, I¡¯m a bit envious of yer Minhyuk!¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯m very, very jealous!¡¯

    The yers reacted like that since the two of them were so beautiful. Meanwhile, Cain, who was watching the two of them, was resting his hand on the hilt of his sword.

    ¡®This wolf-like bastaaard! I¡¯ll pull every single one of your toenails as soon as you get out!¡¯

    Cain still believed that Minhyuk seduced the innocent(?) Lucia.

    At that moment, the door suddenly opened.

    Alicia smiled softly as she shyly tucked her hair behind her ears. She was the epitome of purity itself.

    ¡°Wow. T, too beautiful¡­..¡±

    One of the yers eximed in shock while Lucia waited to the side while trying to find a pose that could highlight her full chest and ample figure.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that too sexy?¡±

    ¡°Wow. She¡¯s really pretty. Isn¡¯t that too sexy?¡±

    And just like expected, Cain gripped his sword tightly. When the two girls saw Minhyuke out, they thought¡­¡­

    ¡®Lucia~ guys like innocent and pure girls, you know?¡¯

    ¡®Hoho, unnie~ guys like sexy and provocative women.¡¯

    The two of them saw him running hurriedly.

    ¡®Did he miss me since it¡¯s been a long time since west met? Is that why you¡¯re running like this?!¡¯

    ¡®Y, you¡¯re running to see me!! Are you going to give me, Lucia, a big hug?! I missed you too!!¡¯

    That was what the two of them thought.

    And the one who was running! He looked like he was in a hurry but he stopped when he was about to pass by them.

    ¡°Ack! Lucia-nim, hello! Alicia-nim, hi! Well then, everyone, hello! Hello! I have to go eat eel! Bye everyone!¡±

    Minhyuk greeted them politely. Once he finished greeting them, he quickly dashed off and disappeared from the hallway. He looked like there was a fire after him.

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Both Alicia and Lucia were left speechless.

    ¡°J, just now, what did yer Minhyuk say?¡±

    ¡°He, he¡¯s going to eat eel, I think¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°No¡­¡­ Does it even make sense for him to go and eat eel over these two pretty women?¡±

    Alicia and Lucia bothughed.

    ¡°Hohoho! We can¡¯t help it if it¡¯s eel! Hohohoho!¡±

    ¡°R, right? Lucia? Hohohohohoho!¡±

    That¡¯s right. The top beauties of the country, Lucia and Alicia, were worth less than an ¡®eel¡¯ in front of Minhyuk.

    ***

    After thepetition, the number one real-time search word in Nava was ¡®War of the World Tree¡¯. However, the number one real-time search word changed within a few hours.

    [1. Carr, rampaging in the waiting room.]

    At the same time, a lot of articles popped up on the website. In addition, theizens were all strongly criticizing.

    [Nims. Is it true that Carr threatened Locke?]

    [Yes. It¡¯s true. Although there are a lot of spectivementsing in right now, it was something that was officially announced by Locke-nim himself. And Carr was also sitting beside him during an interview a few days ago. There must have been some bad blood between Carr and Minhyuk-nim before. He used the excuse of exposing Locke-nim¡¯s past to threaten and mock them.]

    [So, Locke-nim swore and pretended to vomit because he was angry about what he told him about his friend?]

    [Right. But Carr threatened him because he knew that Locke-nim would be ridiculed if his past was known. But Locke-nim did not care about that. All he wanted to do was to protect his friend. Wow. When I saw this, I thought that this was really what a cool guy is.]

    [Agree. Even though Locke-nim is ugly, he¡¯s still really cool. Wasn¡¯t he the best during the games too? Even when his legs were ufortable, he was still able to beat the other yers around.]

    [That¡¯s true. He¡¯s be the best dealer in our country with this game. Even Minhyuk-nim was crowned as our country¡¯s real best yer when he easily killed Carr.]

    [Ah, but thinking about that Carr bastard¡­ I really hate what he has done so far. Pretending to be a good person with good manners. Ptew!]

    [Did you close your Carr insta ount right now?]

    [Carr would be buried and ostracized anyway, right? I heard that all the advertisements and schedules that he had previously will now be blown away. He even has to pay the penalty because he went to the winner and threw a crazy tantrum.]

    [Life will really get back to you when you do evil things.]

    [Come to think of it, isn¡¯t User Minhyuk too quiet? Many people are curious about User Minhyuk¡¯s future ns. Am I right?]

    [Of course. It will definitely be a big hit if User Minhyuk took a video and uploaded it. He¡¯s not filming anymercials or anything, right? I wonder where he is and what he is doing now?]

    ***

    Shwaaaaaaa©¤

    Minhyuk brought the World Tree to the kiln as he amped up the temperature to 1,300 degrees. He left it there for quite a long time. He wiped the sweat that dripped down from his forehead due to the high heat with the towel that was hanging on his neck.

    The World Tree that he pulled out from the kiln was glowing red, just like a fiery jewel. Then, he started the process of cooling down the fiery red World Tree with sand and ash.

    Charcoal is usually divided between white charcoal and ck charcoal. And right now, the charcoal that Minhyuk was making was the charcoal that was best suited for grilling meat. It was none other than white charcoal. White charcoal is called like this due to the white matter that usually got stuck on the surface of the charcoal while it was getting cooled down by the sand and ash.

    Minhyuk worked tirelessly for a long time. He was very determined to eat ¡®grilled eel¡¯ so he was happy even though the process was too long. And this long process was finally nearing its end.

    After finishing a long and tedious process, his charcoal was finallypleted. As soon as the charcoal waspleted, he received notifications for the quest reward as well as ¡®Gorac¡¯s Special Skill¡¯. However, Minhyuk ignored it in the meantime.

    It was only polite that he gave his all towards the grilled eel first. There were four 3,000 year-old eel with him. And among those four, two would be grilled with salt while the other two would be grilled with a marinade.

    ¡°Oink!¡±

    Kongie, who was sitting on the other side of Minnyuk, looked at the eels excitedly.

    These were the eels that Kongie received after winning first ce!

    Minhyuk quickly prepared his setting. The ¡®Fire from the World Tree Charcoal¡¯ was burning in front of them. A grill with holes in between was ced neatly on top of the fire. There were also seasoned peri leaves, sliced ginger, a steaming bowl of eel soup, kimchi, as well as dips made of soy sauce, red pepper sauce as well as ssamjang and sliced garlic. He also did not forget to bring out some freshly washed peri leaves and lettuce. All of these side dishes were ced neatly beside the grill.

    ¡°Your energy is boiling already, Kong-ah?¡±

    ¡°Oink!!¡±

    Kongie nodded his head furiously as he watched Minhyuk lift the eel that he had prepared earlier with his tongs.

    As soon as the eel made contact with the grill¡­¡­

    Sizzle©¤

    Smoke rose from the grilling pan apanied with the sizzling sound of meat being grilled.

    ¡°The 3,000 year-old eel grilled in charcoal made out of the World Tree!¡±

    No matter how I think about it, isn¡¯t this abination that¡¯s bound to be really delicious?

    Minhyuk watched the eel as it slowly got cooked before flipping it over once.

    Sizzle©¤

    Smoke rose once more. Minhyuk saw the juice dripping slowly from the grilled eel in front of him. The smoke rose as soon as the juices dripped and made contact with the charcoal. He could see the oil glistening brightly on the surface of the eel.

    Aaaaaaah! This is an art!

    It was a fierce art that would make those standing in front of it feel the harshness of the waiting time.

    Minhyuk made sure to protect the juiciness of the eel by flipping it over and over before cutting it evenly.

    ¡°Oink!¡±

    Kongie quickly raised his hands as he looked at the well-grilled eel. It was as if he was telling him ¡®Let¡¯s eat first! Oink!¡¯. Of course, the same food setting and grilled eel was created in front of Kongie.

    At Kongie¡¯s polite words and actions, Minhyuk slowly picked up a piece of grilled eel. He could see that the surface was still glistening and sizzling with oil.

    ¡°Hoo! Hoo!¡±

    After carefully blowing on it, Minhyuk just ced it in his mouth in all its natural glory.

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    I wonder what it tastes like. :L

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Of course Minhyuk just skips by Alicia and Lucia. They weren¡¯t holding any food.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 214 - Delicious Grilled Eel

    Chapter 214: Delicious Grilled Eel

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    ¡°Hoo©¤¡±

    He chewed the steaming grilled eel that he ced in his mouth. The grilled eel that was perfectly grilled. Each and every bite of the golden grilled eel was crispy and bursting with savory juices. It was as if the crispy juiciness was telling him how well the eel was grilled.

    Minhyuk nodded and smiled happily after he tasted the original vor of the eel. Then, he slowly picked up another piece of meat while wondering about how he would eat it.

    This time, he picked up a piece of peri leaf before cing half a spoonful of steaming rice on top of it. Then, he ced the grilled eel that he had dipped in soy sauce on top of it. He also did not forget to add a slice of ginger. After adding everything that he wanted to eat, he rolled the leaf and ced it in his mouth.

    ¡°Chew, chew.¡±

    He could easily savor the scent of the food in his mouth. The unique fragrance of the peri leaf made his senses feelfortable and rxed. And every time he chewed the wrap, the taste of the peri leaf, the grilled eel and the sliced ginger would meet and dance in his mouth.

    ¡°Haha. Isn¡¯t it delicious?¡±

    It was so delicious that a smile unconsciously curled in his mouth. It was a smile that came out and went away so easily.

    Eel was an ingredient that was good for replenishing energy and was considered to be one of the best ingredients that were good for one¡¯s health. So as soon as he tasted the deliciousness, he could also feel the heat that was climbing in his body. It was the power of the 3,000 year-old eel that could warm up the body even during the harshest days in winter.

    When he looked in front of him, he could see Kongie eating happily as he scooped up a spoonful of rice with his tiny little hands before cing it in his mouth. After he chewed the rice in his mouth well, Kongie stretched out his spoon towards the eel soup. He tasted a spoonful of the eel soup. Kongie savored the vor of the various ingredients that were added in the soup. He could taste the vor of the soybean paste, the siraegi as well as the peri leaves.

    Then, Minhyuk said¡­¡­

    ¡°Kong-ah, one of the biggest charms of the eel soup or even the bone hangover soup is the siraegi.¡±

    Minhyuk also took a sip of the eel soup while lifting some siraegi up. The siraegi that was boiled in the soup absorbed a lot of the savory soup. He quickly ced the siraegi on top of his rice before chomping on it. As soon as he chewed, the soup that the siraegi absorbed flowed out and spread in his mouth. He happily tasted the soft texture of the radish and rice.

    Then, he quickly picked up another piece of grilled meat before dipping it in his previously prepared sauce and cing it in his mouth. The spicy and sweet vor of the sauce together with the delicious taste of protein from the eel tasted fantastic in his mouth.

    This time, he spread a piece of peri leaf that was seasoned with soy sauce on his te. Then, he ced arge piece of eel meat on top of it before rolling it up and cing it in his mouth. The seasoned peri leaf had a savory and tangy vor to it that added some salty and sour vor to the meat.

    How delicious is a in grilled eel wrapped with this seasoned peri leaf?

    As he munched on this deliciousbination, Minhyuk took two cans out of his inventory.

    Fwiish©¤

    He opened one can, poured it in a ss with ice and ced it in front of Kongie.

    Fwiish©¤

    Then, he also opened one for himself. It was none other than a cold can of beer. He could feel the coldness through the can of frosted beer.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Beer should taste like this!¡±

    Beer tasted the best when you drink it after toiling in front of the warm and fiery charcoal. Without any hesitation, he gulped the beer happily.

    Doesn¡¯t the first sip of beer taste better if you drink it all in one go?

    Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp©¤

    ¡°Kyaaa!¡±

    He couldn¡¯t stop himself from letting out a gasp in awe.

    ¡°It¡¯s amazing! Really great!¡±

    He smiled happily at the taste of the cold beer.

    This time, he picked a piece of lettuce and peri leaf and ced them on top of each other. Then, he dipped the piece of eel in ssamjang and ced it on top of the leaves. He also did not forget to add garlic, ginger and a chili pepper on top of it. Eating thisbination had let him enjoy the tingling sensation of the spicy and strong ingredients.

    He wiped the sweat off of his forehead after eating a big wrap like that. Then, he grilled the ones that he had marinated earlier.

    Sizzle©¤

    He silently lifted the tail while he grilled the marinated eel. It was popr knowledge that the tail of the eel was filled with nutrients.

    ¡°It¡¯s good for energy, right?¡±

    The problem was that there was nothing written about it. However, the texture of the tail was very stic and chewy. As soon as the marinated eel was grilled, he quickly cut off that piece and chewed on it. The marinated eel was just like the marinated pork and beef ribs. It could be seasoned and marinated with gochujang or soy sauce. But Minhyuk preferred the gochujang marinade better. So his marinated eel looked glossy with its red seasoning. He quickly brought the freshly cooked and glistening red marinated eel on a te as he ced it in front of him. Then, he ced a ginger on top of it before cing it in his mouth.

    ¡°Hmm. Delicious!¡±

    Thebination of the sweet and spicy vor of the gochujang and the tangy vor of the ginger was in harmony.

    This time, he chomped on the grilled marinated eel with some rice. The grilled marinated eel tasted delicious even if he did not add anything on it. He would even pick tworge pieces of marinated eel and ce them in his mouth all at once. The texture and vor of the eel gave his mouth a strange feeling of pleasure and happiness.

    And he was finally down to hisst piece.

    He added his remaining rice into the pot of eel soup. He did not even forget to tilt the earthen pot and scrape it down to thest drop. After finishing everything, Minhyuk smiled in satisfaction.

    ¡°Waaaa! Delicious!¡±

    ¡°Oink!¡±

    Kongie was also smiling in satisfaction.

    After he finished eating, Minhyuk heard the notifications once more. When all the notifications finished ringing, Minhyuk decided to open the ¡®notification window¡¯ to check everything one by one from the very beginning.

    ***

    The Demon Gremory was looking at a man through her crystal ball.

    [Mineral Pordinium? What¡¯s this? What¡¯s the Hero¡¯s Will quest?]

    ¡®Are you almost there?¡¯

    The Episode Quest: People who received the Will of the Heroes and that quest had something inmon. What they had inmon was receiving special minerals as rewards.

    The man that was shown in the crystal ball was someone that Gremory did not know but he was Shining Ron, the 31st in the official rankings in Korea. And she could see that the ¡®Hero¡¯s Will¡¯ quest was something that was not far away from him. In addition, the minerals that they would receive had a variety of special powers. These special powers would be the force and strength of the ¡®heroes¡¯.

    Gremory remembered the foreigner who had presented her with ganjajang, tangsuyuk, and plenty other foods not too long ago. The foreigner Minhyuk who had the antarinium.

    ¡®The most powerful mineral.¡¯

    He was able to finish all of Gremory¡¯s trials without a hitch. For that reason, he was able to strike a deal with her once he obtained the ¡®antanirium¡¯.

    But didn¡¯t he just ce it in front of me as soon as he said that?

    Then, a thought suddenly popped up in her head.

    ¡®He¡¯s not going to do something weird with that mineral, right?¡¯

    Not long after, she dismissed such a thought as a dull and boring idea.

    No matter how much he likes to eat, what can he even do with minerals?

    However, Gremory¡¯s expression suddenly distorted.

    ¡®He wouldn¡¯t put it in his mouth and think that it¡¯s some sort of candy, right?¡¯

    Grin©¤

    When the thought crossed her mind, she couldn¡¯t help but smile. She thought that she had lost her mind for a moment there.

    ***

    [entric Chef]

    [You have made grilled eel with charcoal made out of the World Tree and a 3,000 year-old eel.]

    [The Food God¡¯s greatness dwells in this entric Cooking.]

    [Adding up your entric Score.]

    [Your entric Score is 68.]

    [You will be able to acquire bonus stats based on your entric Score.]

    [You have acquired +3 on all five of your basic stats.]

    [The Unique ranked ¡®entric Grilled Eel¡¯ has been born.]

    ¡®The Food God¡¯s greatness dwells in this entric Cooking?¡¯

    After thinking about it for a while, Minhyuk could somehow understand what it meant. Under the original Athenean system, medicine should not be cooked. However, because of Minhyuk¡¯s ¡®Food God¡¯s Greatness¡¯ he was able to ignore the penalties.

    Right now, he cooked one of the greatest medicines. And in addition to his entric Cooking, the Food God¡¯s Greatness was also ingrained in the food that he ate. It did not disappear. And the notifications that he had heard were all notifications about the 3,000 year-old eel-based dish.

    [You have eaten the ¡®entric Grilled Eel¡¯.]

    [You have acquired 121 STR and 113 STM.]

    [You have acquired 200 Leadership points.]

    [You can store 21% STR, 20% STM and 20% DEX.]

    [You can store 40% Elf Affinity.]

    [You can store the Skill: World Tree¡¯s Grace.]

    The things that he had acquired and the things that he could store were definitely different from each other. In the case of acquisition, it literally meant that the things and stats that he had acquired would result in a permanent rise in his stats.

    On the contrary, the ¡®store¡¯ meant that he could delete his previously stored ¡®entric Ganjajang¡¯ effects and save a new power. It literally had the same principle and concept as unequipping old artifacts and equipping newer and better artifacts.

    In the case of ¡®You can store¡¯, this notification was something that he did not hear when he first ate the ganjajang. The only reason for this was because he had no skill, stat or effect stored back then.

    Of course, Minhyuk saved the abilities that he could store from the grilled eel. As soon as he made his choice, he could hear the storage notifications.

    Then, he went to check the notifications window once more. He was checking thest notification. It was a notification for a questpletion.

    [You havepleted the ss Quest: Make a Special Tool.]

    [You have acquired Gorac¡¯s Special Skill: ¡®Gorac¡¯s Ingredient Creation¡¯.]

    ¡°Oh¡­¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk looked at it happily. He had a good hunch when he saw the name so he quickly checked the information.

    (Gorac¡¯s Ingredient Creation)

    Active Skill

    Level: 1

    Mana Required: 1,500

    Cooldown: None

    Effects:

    ©¤ This is the ability needed to make various condiments from minerals. You can easily grind minerals into condiments in one go.

    ©¤ Creating ingredients is based on your level. There may be other ingredients and materials that you still can¡¯t make yet based on your current level.

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    Minhyuk almost jumped in glee. It was a very great skill. He had tried time and again to make antarinium into a ¡®condiment¡¯ but he had failed every single time. He did not know if this skill could really grind the anatrinium into a condiment.

    [Do you want to use Gorac¡¯s Ingredient Creation?]

    [Antarinium is a mineral that can be made into a great seasoning. It can also be used as gochugaru.]

    [The grinding of Antarinium has started.]

    The figure of antarinium appeared in front of Minhyuk. Then, it was sucked into a grinder with a lot of demonic patterns engraved on it.

    Crush, crush, crush!

    A loud noise rang in the surroundings as red powder began to fall. Underneath the grinder, arge bowl was filled with gochugaru. Minhyuk smiled happily when he saw the antarinium being ground into gochugaru. As soon as the antarinium finished grinding, notifications rang loudly in his ears again.

    [You havepleted the ss Quest: Special Seasoning.]

    [You have acquired one of Gorac¡¯s Artifacts.]

    When he heard the notifications, Minhyuk immediately closed his eyes and prayed.

    ¡®Please. Please let it be something that can help me make something delicious! I¡¯m begging you!¡¯

    And surprisingly, his desperation and prayers bore fruit. What appeared in front of Minhyuk was none other than a ¡®Gigantic Mixer and Bowl¡¯.

    ***

    Beas Vige was a vige located just below the Berest Mountains. It was a vige that did not have a huge poption and even NPCs that moved in and out of the vige were only few and far in between.

    About two months ago, both Beas Vige and the Berest Mountains opened to the public. There were plenty of users who cheered happily when they saw this information in Athenae¡¯s official homepage. It was because Beas Vige and the Berest Mountains were the ¡®meeting venues¡¯ where users all over the world could meet for the ¡®first time¡¯. This was the ce that Joy Co. Ltd. prepared to test what would happen if people from all over the world met.

    However, not long after, plenty of the users were left in disappointment. The only reason was because of the ¡®warp stone¡¯. Before one could enter Beas Vige, they would need to have a ¡®warp stone¡¯. This warp stone was something that could not be bought with money and could only be received through a quest. And the quest was mostly avable to high-leveled yers. Because of this hurdle, it was rare for users to actually step foot in Beas Vige.

    Even now, there were only 30 global users in Beas Vige.

    Step, step©¤

    Right now, there was a man walking out of Beas Vige. He seemed to be heading for the Berest Mountains. The man was grinning as he walked with his robe and staff.

    ¡®I¡¯m finally here! Berest Mountains!¡¯

    He was grinning widely that his mouth looked like it would tear open. He had long since collected information on the thousand-year-old ginseng. He even proceeded with the quest ¡®Hero¡¯s Liberation¡¯ while he was collecting information.

    It¡¯s the thousand-year-old ginseng that increases the mana reserves by 1.5x!

    He never dreamt that he would be able to step foot in this ce.

    That was right. He was none other than Ali the ¡®ck Mage¡¯. And right now, he had started walking towards the Berest Mountains.

    ***

    Food Discussion Corner

    Siraegi (???) - Dried radish stems and leaves.

    Gochugaru (????) - red chili powder

    Notes:

    Food God¡¯s Greatness - This was previously written as Food Fighter¡¯s Greatness but since we¡¯ve been using Food God more often for his ss, I used Food God instead of Food Fighter. Both Food God and Food Fighter are the name for his job ss. Food Fighter is written in hanja though.

    ck Mage - I previously used ck Wizard for Ali¡¯s ss but I think I have used Mage for all the other sses so I believe I should use this for uniformity.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 215 - Samgyetang With Thousand

    Chapter 215: Samgyetang with Thousand-year-old Ginseng

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    62 Samgyetang with Thousand-year-old Ginseng

    [You have acquired the ¡®Automatic Mixer and Bowl¡¯.]

    [The ¡®Automatic Mixer and Bowl¡¯ has turned into ¡®Gorac¡¯s Cancelling Mixer and Bowl¡¯.]

    [Gorac¡¯s Lightning Millstone, Gorac¡¯s Aging Jar, and Gorac¡¯s Cancelling Mixer and Bowl are part of a set artifact.]

    [You are the first to collect three of the set artifacts together.]

    [You have gained 500 reputation points.]

    [Gorac¡¯s Cancelling Mixer and Bowl has evolved from Unique rank to Disaster rank.]

    ¡°Oh?¡±

    Minhyuk had realized earlier on that Gorac¡¯s artifacts would only show its true power when two of the artifacts meet together. However, he was not aware of a case of having a third artifact. He quickly checked the information of the artifact.

    (Gorac¡¯s Cancelling Mixer and Bowl)

    Rank: Disaster

    Restriction: Gorac¡¯s Set Artifact

    Durability: ¡Þ / ¡Þ

    Special Effects:

    ©¤ Having this in your possession alone will increase your magical defense by 50%.

    ©¤ Passive Skill: Automatic Stirring Mixer

    ©¤ Active Skill: Cancel

    Description: A set artifact hidden by Gorac. They will only show their strength if two artifacts meet together but it will be different if three of the artifacts meet together.

    (Cancel)

    Artifact Skill

    Level: None

    Mana Required: 2,500

    Penalty: -1 on all 5 basic stats.

    Cooldown: 480 hours

    Effects: Cancels and nullifies all skills and magic within a 5-meter radius from the user.

    ¡°Oh¡­¡­!¡±

    It was an incredible skill. Minhyuk continued to look at the skill in admiration. No, he was not staring at the skill ¡®Cancel¡¯ but at the skill ¡®Automatic Stirring Mixer¡¯.

    ¡°Kgghk! This is such an amazing ability~ Kyaa!¡±

    Then, he turned to look at the Cancel skill again with a subtle expression.

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s useful~¡±

    And that was it. Cancel was a very formidable skill that could bring horror to other users. The Millstone of Lightning had two powerful skills: Lightning and Lightning Hell. However, the strength of the skill Cancel wasparable to those two. After all, it was a skill that cancels and nullifies all skills and magic within a 5-meter radius of the user. In other words, even if he was surrounded by enemies, he would still be able to exert tremendous power if he nullified and cancelled all of the lethal skills and attacks that those users would direct at him. However, even if he knew that, Minhyuk still thought that the skill ¡®Automatic Stirring Mixer¡¯ was the best.

    ¡°Kongie agrees with me too. Right?¡±

    ¡°Oink!¡±

    [Kongie agrees with you.]

    Kongie even nodded furiously with his shining eyes.

    Of course! The function of Automatic Stirring is definitely the best! Oink!

    Then, Minhyuk took something out of his arms. It was none other than the World Tree.

    ¡®Hmm¡­¡­¡¯

    The World Tree had no other special ability. It was the part of the World Tree that was shaped like an organ inside a transparent ss.

    While thinking about what he should do to the rest of the World Tree, Minhyuk recalled something.

    ¡°Ah¡­¡­!¡±

    At this very moment, there was one thing that came to Minhyuk¡¯s mind. It was none other than samgyetang.

    Samgyetang was considered to be one of the top healthy foods during the summer. It was a dish that could restore and replenish one¡¯s energy. It also contained a variety of ingredients that could also help in maintaining energy like jujube, ginseng and wood. The wood coulde from a variety of trees like castor tree,cquer tree or sometimes even oriental raisin tree.

    How about making samgyetang with the remaining branches of the World Tree?

    He also recalled something else.

    It just so happened that summer was already approaching in reality. He wanted to take this opportunity to try and do that here in Athenae. He wanted to try and make samgyetang properly with the World Tree.

    While browsing and selecting the ingredients, Minhyuk saw one ingredient.

    ¡®Thousand-year-old ginseng!¡¯

    The thousand-year-old ginseng was one of the best medicines that was made public in Athenae. The reason why this ginseng was considered to be one of the best was simple. It was because it could increase the mana reserves, or the MP, by 1.5x. For example, if the user had an existing 10,000 MP, then they would immediately have a 15,000 MP after taking the ginseng. That was how miraculous the effects of the medicine was.

    However, there was no information about the exact location and rted quests on the official homepage. He was clear that it was something that was difficult to get but he still wanted to get it. So Minhyuk sent a whisper to his guild¡¯s informant, Abel.

    [Minhyuk: Abel-nim~!]

    [Abel: Oh, Minhyul-nim! Hi.]

    [Minhyuk: Yes, hi! I¡¯m not going to beat around the bush. Do you have any information on the thousand-year-old ginseng!]

    [Abel: Thousand-year-old ginseng. Of course I have.]

    [Minhyuk: Oh, Abel-nim is so cool! Just sending a whisper to Abel-nim is making me feel like I¡¯m a cool guy! Uhh. Manly, charming, a man among men¡­¡­!]

    [Abel: Thank you. So, let¡¯s talk about the terms for exchange? ^^]

    As expected, life was filled with twists and turns. There was no such thing as a free lunch in this world. Abel did not fall for Minhyuk¡¯s ttery.

    [Minhyuk:......??]

    [Abel: Let¡¯s meet and talk?]

    [Minhyuk:?? Yes.]

    ***

    Director Kim Daesik brought a box containing his belongings to the Special Users Management Team.

    ¡°Let¡¯s rx. The Special Users Management Team is very rxing andforting!¡±

    He ced his box on Team Leader Park¡¯s usual spot.

    After thepetition, Team Leader Park immediately went on a seven days six nights vacation. In fact, he thought that it was a very long vacation but Team Leader Park Minggyu had told President Kang Taehoon in a tearful voice¡­¡­

    ¡®I haven¡¯t had a day off in seven months!¡¯

    ¡®Juste back.¡¯

    So that was the reason why Team Leader Park went on a trip.

    Meanwhile, Director Kim Daesik who sat back down after taking a cup of coffee turned towards Lee Minhwa, who had turned into a panda with how deep her dark circles were, and said¡­¡­

    ¡°Let¡¯s take it easy. Take it easy. Huh? All we need to do is to tap the keyboard a few times while looking at the monitor and make a report on the special users. We¡¯re not responsible for everything in ourpany. Right?¡±

    ¡°Hohohoho. I, is that so¡­¡­¡±

    However, Lee Minhwa thought¡­¡­

    Director Kim is originally from the ¡®Event Preparation¡¯ team. But the biggest event was thepetition that was done not too long ago. The Athenae: Korean War. Maybe that¡¯s why he¡¯s free during this period of time. And since we needed someone who can do any department¡¯s job, he¡¯s temporarily ced here.

    But Director Kim Daesik weed the opportunity. He believed that the Special Users Management Team, a team that was not involved with developing anything nor creating NPCs, was a very rxing andforting environment.

    On the contrary, Team Leader Park left for his vacation while shedding tears.

    ¡®I¡¯m finally going on a vacation! Hahahahaha!¡¯

    ¡®Team Leader. Are we going to contact you if we have any problems with the Special Users¡­¡­¡¯

    ¡®Nope. I¡¯m not going to pick up! Hahahaha!¡¯

    ¡®Yes¡­¡­?¡¯

    Team Leader Park looked happy while Director Kim Daesik took over the throne in the meantime. Director Kim Daesik was even looking at the tables and numbers on his table.

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±

    ¡°Ah. It¡¯s a table based on the ratings of the special users. We use it to manage the users.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    While he was looking over his workspace, Director Kim Daesik stopped at one part of the table. He saw a name encircled with a red pen. And there were even special symbols written above it.

    [¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï Dreaded Users ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï]

    And the name written below it¡­¡­

    [Food God Minhyuk. Pay attention.]

    ¡°W, what¡¯s this?¡±

    ¡°The user that needs monitoring the most.¡±

    ¡°No, well, how special is this user for you to spend that much time monitoring him?¡±

    Director Kim Daesik clicked his tongue because he felt that they were too sensitive when they were doing their jobs.

    But Lee Minhwa just thought¡­¡­

    ¡®......I can clearly remember the Team Leader¡¯s face when he wanted to rip his head off!¡¯

    Lee Minhwa grinned widely.

    Not long after, Director Kim turned to look at User Minhyuk in his monitor.

    ¡°Hmm? He¡¯s going to see Veron. Veron is an NPC that gives beans that can let him go to Beas Vige. Let¡¯s see.¡±

    Tap, tap, tap, tap!

    Director Kim couldn¡¯t help but frown when he poked around and tapped on his keyboard.

    ¡°The quests in Beas Vige will not be allowed to someone at User Minhyuk¡¯s level. He¡¯s wasting his time. Tsk, tsk!¡±

    Director Kim clicked his tongue before leaning back on his chair.

    ¡®The Special Users Management Team is heaven!¡¯

    He did not know the ¡®disaster¡¯ that wasing at him.

    ***

    Minhyuk was walking to meet the NPC called ¡®Veron¡¯.

    Based on the information that he got from Abel the Informant, he knew that he would only be able to obtain the thousand-year-old ginseng if he went to a ce called Berest.

    Berest was a ce that Minhyuk knew best. He knew that it was the ¡®meeting ce¡¯ for users all over the world. However, it was very difficult to enter Berest and its nearby viges so it was actually rare for users to go there.

    Minhyuk arrived in front of a small cave where the man named Veron was currently located. Veron was what they call a ¡®farmer¡¯. He was someone who was living in a remote cave while growing and tending to a garden in front of it.

    ¡®He said that I can use the mysterious seeds that I will get from Veron to get to that vige. Right?¡¯

    ? Then, Minhyuk stood in front of the cave. He was very polite since Minhyuk was very determined to eat the ¡®Samgyetang with Thousand-year-old Ginseng¡¯ this time. However, he was lost in thought trying to think about ways to politely knock on the cave. While lost in thought, he heard a peeping from the side.

    ¡°Boy, who are you?¡±

    ***

    Veron heard the reason why Minhyuk came to his cave. He learned that he was a foreigner who wanted to go to Beas Vige. But Veron knew that this foreigner did not have the power to fulfill his ¡®request¡¯. In other words, his level did not meet his requirements.

    Minhyuk¡¯s level was at Lv355. He was not qualified to go to the vige since the town was filled with Lv400 users.

    ¡°Go back. I don¡¯t think you¡¯re strong enough to do me a favor.¡±

    ¡°Sigh¡­¡­ As expected, that¡¯s it. Right? But¡­ I heard that all I need to do is plow the field¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°Then, I¡¯ll just help you!¡±

    ¡°......You just want to try and help?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not just that. I heard that Veron-nim is an excellent farmer and that you have special fruits and vegetables. I wish I could get a little bit of them in exchange¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s too much for me to do on my own so I¡¯ll be happy if you did help me. Ah. Then, how about I give you as much ingredients as the fields you plowed? How¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°Yep! That¡¯s good!¡±

    ¡°Wait. It¡¯s not as easy as you think. Plowing a field is harder than what you think.¡±

    Veron said that since he knew how hard it was for the foreigners to plow his fields.

    Then, the two of them started to plow the fields. He was left in shock when he saw Minhyuk plow the fields. He could easily till and plow thend with just a strike of his pickaxe! He could see that Minhyuk was far superior to himself and he was even hardworking!

    Bang! Bang! Bang!

    ¡°Take some rest.¡±

    ¡°No! Considering the fruits and vegetables that Veron-nim grew, this amount ofbor is nothing!¡±

    ¡°Hahahaha. This friend. Your words are really pleasant to hear.¡±

    Then, Minhyuk heard a notification.

    [Veron¡¯s favorability has increased.]

    [Veron¡¯s favorability has increased.]

    [Veron¡¯s favorability has increased.]

    His favorability was increasing rapidly.

    Veron learned about one thing while he spent two days with him. Minhyuk was someone who liked to eat everything but he would not give you anything. And Veron, who was in the wilderness, had a hard time eating delicacies.

    And Minhyuk, he was already starting to grill samgyeopsal right now.

    Sizzle©¤

    ¡°Ah. As expected! Eating samgyeopsal after farming is the best!¡±

    Minhyuk was working diligently as he grilled the samgyeopsal, kimchi, garlic and onions on top of the griller.

    Veron watched him make a wrap before cing it in his mouth directly. He couldn¡¯t help but say something to him.

    ¡°Cough, cough! Can I also have some samgyeopsal with you?¡±

    ¡°No. I don¡¯t think that¡¯s possible.¡±

    ¡°H, howe¡­¡­¡±

    Veron could not understand it at all. He thought that he would let him eat together with him since he was craving it so much!

    ¡°Because Veron-nim told me that I can¡¯t go to Beas Vige since I¡¯m still immature. I¡¯m d that the two of us have grown close during this time but I love food so much that I don¡¯t think me and Veron-nim are close enough for me to share samgyeopsal with you. It¡¯s the same thing when you told me that I¡¯m still not strong enough yet.¡±

    ¡°Keuheuk¡­¡­¡±

    Veron could tell that he just twisted the dagger that he had stabbed him with and turned it around to stab him in the gut! It was like he was telling him that ¡®You did not request me to do this but I still did it!¡¯.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk was happily wrapping some samgyeopsal, garlic, ssamjang, seasoned green onions, and grilled kimchi on a lettuce.

    ¡®L, looks delicious¡­¡­ I think he can taste the pork belly every time he chews. And there¡¯s also the onions, garlic and kimchi that were grilled in the oil of the meat¡­...! I, I want to eat. I really, really want to eat!¡¯

    Veron sat near Minhyuk as he started to eat his ¡®vegetarian meal¡¯ with the spinach and bean sprouts that he had grown himself.

    But wasn¡¯t there such a thing? The smell of samgyeopsal or pork belly that came from a meat restaurant when youe out of work! Or the smell of pizza or chicken in an elevator! It was a smell that could stimte your appetite and evoke great hunger!

    Minhyuk kept on eating well. Veron couldn¡¯t take it anymore, so he approached him.

    ¡°I can¡¯t request you a favor yet but I can show you a shortcut to Beas Vige. What do you say? How about exchanging this information with samgyeopsal?¡±

    And Minhyuk who was munching on a samgyeopsal wrap smiled brightly.

    That¡¯s right. From the very beginning everything that he did was something that he had nned out!

    ***

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 216 - Samgyetang With Thousand

    Chapter 216: Samgyetang with Thousand-year-old Ginseng

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Abel had informed him from the very beginning that Veron¡¯s quest was only avable to users at Lv400 and above. But did that mean that he should give up? No. He believed that there was no tree that he could not conquer if he tried to climb it ten times. And Minhyuk knew as soon as he came to this ce¡­¡­.

    ¡®Ah, Veron-nim seems to eat poorly!¡¯

    There were no wild animals in the area so his meals would definitely be poor.

    Let¡¯s first get close to him. I¡¯ll help him with farming and increase my favorability!

    In fact, it was quite good if everything worked out well. If this method did not work then he had to find another way. But it seeded.

    Minhyuk¡¯s grin was so wide that he almost tore his mouth into two.

    ¡®Hehehehehe!¡¯

    Minhyuk¡¯s meticulous nning and his willingness to do anything to eat had fired a sessful bullet.

    ***

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Director Kim Daesik, who was leisurely leaning on his chair with his hands sped behind his back, suddenly straightened up from his seat.

    ¡°What the hell?¡±

    [Veron will guide User Minhyuk to a shortcut.]

    ¡°......!¡±

    Director Kim Daesik jumped to his feet when he saw the message pop up.

    ¡°Lee, Lee Minhwa-ssi!¡±

    He hurriedly ran towards Lee Minhwa after gathering himself up from the shock.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    Lee Minhwa tapped on her keyboard to find out the situation. After figuring out the reason for his outburst, Lee Minhwa gave him an answer.

    ¡°It seems like User Minhyuk¡¯s own passive skill ¡®Attractive Mukbang¡¯ has been activated.¡±

    ¡°Attractive Mukbang? What¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s something between us. User Minhyuk has an innate ability to make others hungry while he¡¯s eating and that ability also applies to the NPCs with high artificial intelligence. And User Minhyuk knows that fact and is now using it to his advantage.¡±

    ¡°B, but can he really do something like this?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing we can do. The NPCs have a high degree of freedom and that degree of freedom is quite hard to prevent. After all, that¡¯s how it is in the setting. The problem is¡­¡­¡±

    Lee Minhwa¡¯s eyes narrowed sharply.

    ¡°Beas Vige is a ce that is widely-known to be open to users that are at Lv400 or above only.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°All entry quests will start from Lv400 onwards.¡±

    Director Kim shook his head as Lee Minhwa continued to talk.

    ¡°But now that a Lv300 user has entered the other users will find it weird. After all, there are only Lv400 users in that area. Then, they¡¯llin. They will ask if it¡¯s a bug but it¡¯s not a bug.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Director Kim Daesik looked at the monitor nkly.

    There is a user who can beat the setting by using his own ¡®Passive Skill, Attractive Mukbang¡¯?

    ¡®Well, this is just a preposterous situation¡­¡­¡¯

    And he did not realize that it hadn¡¯t even started yet.

    ***

    Minhyuk was able to reach Beas Vige easier and at a morefortable pacepared to other users since he went through the shortcut that Veron had told him about.

    [You have set foot in Beas Vige.]

    [You have gained 100 reputation points.]

    [You can only stay in Beas Vige for 1 week.]

    A reward was given when a user had set foot in the vige since users would need to work hard for them to set foot in Beas Vige.

    Arriving in Beas Vige was as simple as that and they would even receive considerable privileges. Most of the users gave up halfway through after receiving the Beas Vige quest and experiencing the great difficulty of the quest.

    Minhyuk looked at Beas Vige, he could see that the vige was very small with only a few NPCs and users here and there. Right behind the vige was Berest Mountains. The mountains were covered in pure white snow.

    Minhyuk followed the route that Abel had informed him. Abel had told him to find ¡®Luke¡¯ the herbalist in Beas Vige. Luke¡¯s location was easy to find. He was an old man that was garbed in an outfit that was befitting a herbalist. Then he said¡­¡­

    ¡°Information on the thousand-year-old ginseng? There¡¯s no such thing as free lunch in this world, you know? If you can, bring me 30 ws of the Vicious Yeti. It¡¯s quite hard to dig out herbs in the Berest Mountains because it¡¯s teeming with those monsters.¡±

    It was amon quest.

    Just as he was about to open the door to do the quest, Luke asked him.

    ¡°Ah. Boy, what is your job ss?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m a chef.¡±

    ¡°A chef¡­¡­¡±

    Luke smiled wryly when he heard his words.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it better for you to give up the thousand-year-old ginseng and just go back?¡±

    However, Minhyuk just smiled brightly as he answered him.

    ¡°The thousand-year-old ginseng is necessary.¡±

    Luke was a bit concerned about a ¡®chef¡¯ bringing him the things that he had requested about. However, he just disappeared for an hour beforeing back again. Luke couldn¡¯t help but be shocked since Minhyuk was the fastest person to ever finish the quest of bringing him 30 ws Vicious Yeti ws.

    ¡®Ah. Come to think of it. There was a robed man who said that he was a mage earlier.¡¯

    I think they look a bit simr?

    Then, Old Man Luke said¡­¡­

    ¡°You¡¯re a lot stronger than I thought.¡±

    ¡°Hehe. Thank you.¡±

    ¡°The thousand-year-old ginseng is actually hidden at the highest peak of the Berest Mountains. I only know that it is located near the peak so please keep that in mind.¡±

    Luke emphasized his words. He spoke with great impact.

    ¡°It is also a fact that the legendary medicine thousand-year-old ginseng is something that I, a herbalist, have not found in more than 30 years.¡±

    Luke was a herbalist who knew the Berest Mountains more than anyone else! It was also true that he had been searching for it for more than 30 years but he still was not able to find it! He needed to find the medicine.

    However, Luke only sighed as he continued to talk.

    ¡°For that reason, I have already thought that the thousand-year-old ginseng is just a fictional story. It was 30 years! In those 30 years, I haven¡¯t even seen the leaves of the thousand-year-old ginseng at all!¡±

    He spoke passionately and with great fanfare. It was as if he was spitting out all of the injustices he had experienced in those 30 years.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk was quietly using his Ingredient Tracking Skill.

    ¡°Boy, are you listening to me?! The thousand-year-old ginseng is just a fictional item. I don¡¯t want to see someone else waste their time on something like this too! You¡¯ll never find it! I¡¯m sure~ You¡¯ll never find it ever! The herbalist Baren, who had been with me for 20 years, had already closed his eyes in eternal peace!¡±

    But at that moment, Minhyuk heard a notification.

    [The search for the ingredient is sessful.]

    [The Thousand-year-old Ginseng is a great medicine that can permanently increase the amount of mana.]

    [The dish is avable from Lv1 Food God¡¯s Cooking Skills.]

    [Suggested Menu: Samgyetang.]

    Then, an arrow popped out in front of Minhyuk. It was the arrow that indicated the direction and location of the thousand-year-old ginseng.

    As he stared at the arrow, he felt a bit sad for Luke who was shouting loudly about the injustices and unfair situation that he had experienced for 30 years of his life. He was so passionate and energetic that it looked like the veins on his neck would pop anytime soon.

    Minhyuk tried to open the door with an awkwardugh while Luke suddenly said¡­¡­

    ¡°I know another ingredient, not the thousand-year-old ginseng, but somethingparable to that! It would be quicker for you to find it!¡±

    ¡°.......Yes?¡±

    Minhyuk stopped his steps as he turned to look at Luke.

    ¡°Boy, have you heard about the Myriad-years Potato?¡±

    ¡°Myriad-years potato?¡±

    It was information about delicious food. Minhyuk had no choice but to perk his ears and listen seriously.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Myriad-years potato. The story of the birth of the myriad-years potato is quite shocking and formidable. It¡¯s evenparable to the legend of our Beas Vige.¡±

    Minhyuk listened to him while his hands held the doorknob.

    ¡°The myriad-years potato was said to be grown and cultivated by the ruler of the Berest Mountains ¡®The Ancient Monarch¡¯.¡±

    ¡°The Ancient Monarch?¡±

    The Ancient Monarch. Minhyuk was quite interested in these three words.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Ancient Monarch. It was a legend from ancient times. The Ancient Monarch was once a very gentle and intelligent ruler. But one day, the ruler¡¯s consciousness was brainwashed by the Demon Verus¡¯ terrible spirit. He went mad and became a tyrant. It was said that the five knights who served the Ancient Monarch fought bravely to stop him from bing a tyrant. They were the ¡®Five Ancient Guardians¡¯. The Five Ancient Guardians managed to keep the monarch at bay but they could not bear to kill their King, Argan. So they used their lives to lock him in an ancient sculpture before dividing it into five pieces. Those five pieces flew all over the world and he fell in deep slumber together with those five pieces. It was said that each piece was sealed with the food that the monarch has loved during his lifetime.¡±

    ¡°Sealing them together with food. Why¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk thought that it was somewhat iprehensible.

    ¡°They were loyal and faithful. It must have been painful for them to have sealed and executed their monarch with their own hands. To honor him, they ced the food ingredients together as they put their monarch to slumber in the sculpture. And over time, the food ingredient gained strength from the sculpture pieces and grewparable in strength to the thousand-year-old ginseng. The ingredients also did not go stale or rot. And in every cycle, the pieces of the sculpture would wake up with 1/5th of the power of the Ancient Monarch. Those pieces would be very, very strong and ferocious but it¡¯s not impossible to hunt. That¡¯s why the foreigners gather together to hunt every cycle.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­¡­ I see!¡±

    Minhyuk could understand his words to some extent. He had heard of the global users gathering together to do a raid against the ¡®Ancient Monarch¡¯. However, he had never heard of anyone obtaining the food ingredients by hunting him. Perhaps the drop rate was too abysmal.

    ¡°I won¡¯t stop you from challenging it. But I still don¡¯t rmend it.¡±

    At that moment, Minhyuk heard the notifications.

    [Cooperation Quest: Hunt the Ancient Monarch.]

    Rank: SS

    Restrictions: Luke¡¯s Favorability.

    Rewards: The Monarch¡¯s Treasure Chest.

    Penalty for Failure: You will not be allowed to enter Beas Vige anymore.

    Description: This is the Ancient Monarch Raid Quest where users from all over the world can participate in. The cycle is just around the corner.

    Minhyuk epted the quest for now. Just in case something happened. Then, he started moving towards the direction where the arrow was pointing too.

    Meanwhile, Luke looked at his departing back as he mumbled to himself.

    ¡°You¡¯ll never find it¡­¡­¡±

    Tears welled up in Luke¡¯s eyes. The tears seemed to indicate the 30 years of his wasted time.

    ***

    Minhyuk followed the arrow.

    However, not long after, he couldn¡¯t help but tilt his head in confusion.

    ¡®Huh¡­¡­?¡¯

    The reason why he was confused was because the arrow suddenly started pointing somewhere else once he arrived at the top of Berest Mountains.

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±

    However, Minhyuk continued to climb the Berest Mountains.

    The Berest Mountains were usually teeming with ice-type monsters. However, it was true that it was hard to find users in this ce. No, it was safe to say that there wasn¡¯t a single user in sight. The reason was simple, it was because the drops on Berest Mountains were too stingy. In a way, Berest Mountains and the viges surrounding them were merely just ¡®meeting venues¡¯. They were practically abandoned. Even Beas Vige had a restriction and only allowed entry for one week so there were really not that many people in this area.

    Minhyuk who was climbing up continuously suddenly stopped again.

    ¡®The arrow changed again¡­¡­?¡¯

    That was when Minhyuk realized something.

    ¡®The location of the thousand-year-old ginseng is constantly changing¡­¡­!¡¯

    It was then that he understood why people had yet to find this legendary medicine. But something like this was useless to Minhyuk! This was because his Ingredient Tracking could guide him even if it changed its location.

    Before he knew it, he had already reached the ce where the arrow was pointing at. He looked down at the knee-deep snow below him. Then, he began to diligently dig the snow. After a bit of digging, Minhyuk could see the lush green leaves that were hanging strongly despite the cold weather. He gently reached out and dug out the thousand-year-old ginseng.

    [You have acquired the Thousand-year-old Ginseng.]

    ¡°So this is the thousand-year-old ginseng!¡±

    The thousand-year-old ginseng was a wild ginseng that grew for a thousand years.

    In reality, a hundred-year-old ginseng is already precious. I wonder if this thousand-year-old one is truly more precious than that?

    As soon as Minhyuk saw the ginseng, he felt like he had already gained a lot of strength.

    ¡®Well then, shall we make samgyetang now? Heuheu!¡±

    However, Minhyuk realized that it was too windy and cold out in the open. He knew that his body would warm up if he cooked and drank his samgyetang soup in this freezing weather but the weather would also interfere with his cooking.

    Then, as if a light bulb shone brightly on top of his head, Minhyuk recalled a small cave that he saw beforeing here. He quickly turned around and moved towards the cave.

    ***

    Footnotes

    [Myriad] - A unit of ten thousand when used in ssical history. The literal trantion of the ingredient ??? ?? is ten thousand year old potato. So to decrease words, I used myriad.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 217 - Samgyetang With Thousand

    Chapter 217: Samgyetang with Thousand-year-old Ginseng

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    As soon as he entered the cave, Minhyuk transformed his Bara¡¯s Sword into a cauldron. It was the cauldron that one could only see in movies and dramas. Strangely enough, the food that was cooked in the cauldron looked even more delicious and appetizing.

    The cauldron, which was starting to boil, was filled with jujube, thousand-year-old ginseng, branches of the World Tree, garlic, salt and trimmed and cleaned chicken.

    The contents of the cauldron had been left to boil for quite some time so hot steam rushed up when he opened the lid of the cauldron.

    ¡°Hot! Hot!¡±

    As soon as the steam cleared up, Minhyuk could see that the samgyetang that was filled with ingredients was already cooked well. He could even see the natural oil from the chicken floating on top of the soup. Then, he scooped up the well-boiled samgyetang on a te before preparing some salt and pepper for the sauce.

    He first picked up a big piece of chicken leg off of the te. It was so hot that he felt like his fingertips reddened due to the heat. He hastily licked his finger to alleviate the pain from the heat before taking a big bite out of the chicken leg.

    ¡°Hoo©¤¡±

    A big piece of meat was torn from the chicken leg while he sat inside the cold and frosty cave. He could even see the air puff out of his mouth in every bite. He gently rolled the meat in his mouth as he chewed it slowly. Each bite of the savory and chewy meat spread out the vor of protein in his mouth. Then, he dipped the chicken leg in the salt and pepper sauce.

    Chew, chew.

    The addition of the salty vor to the otherwise nd and greasy chicken was like the icing on the cake. Then, using adle, he scooped up the white and greasy soup into a bowl. He gently held the bowl with both of his hands as he ced his lips on the lid of the bowl. He then blew on the hot soup before taking a long sip.

    ¡°Sluuuuuuurp!¡±

    With just one sip of the soup, the cold flew away.

    How happy!

    After he finished eating the chicken legs, he looked at the chicken breast before tearing it apart. Although the chicken breast was quite dry, it still had its own charm. Then, Minhyuk used his bare hands to rip the well-ripened kimchi into long pieces. The best and matching vor for this was the long pieces of kimchi! He ced some chicken meat and kimchi together in his mouth. He couldn¡¯t help but admire the spicy and sour vor of the kimchi that easily washed away the greasiness of the samgyetang.

    He silently wiped his greasy hands with some wet wipes once before starting to eat again. By the time he finished eating the meat, his soup bowl was already refilled with soup. Then, he added some rice and seasoned it with some salt. The rice soup made with the soup of the samgyetang and some rice mixed together had a charm of its own.

    Minhyuk ced a piece of kimchi on top of his spoon filled with rice and soup. The vors of the greasy soup, the plump grains of rice as well as the kimchi danced harmoniously in his mouth. After tasting it like that, he added some cooked garlic on top of his rice. To be honest, Minhyuk preferred garlic grilled together with meat but he also liked the taste of this well-boiled garlic that could melt in his mouth. It has such a unique vor and texture that he couldn¡¯t get out of his mind.

    After he ate the garlic, there were still some leftovers. It was the very core of this samgyetang. The thousand-year-old ginseng. Minhyuk quickly picked up the thousand-year-old ginseng. He gingerly ced it in his mouth before chewing on it. It was a bitter ingredient but the vor had toned down after it was boiled together with the samgyetang. After chewing at least half of the ginseng, Minhyuk said¡­¡­

    ¡°Samgyetang should really have actual ginseng in it!¡±

    Then, he heard another voice right next to him.

    ¡°H, hey¡­¡­¡±

    The man was wearing a ck robe with a staff on his hand and hat on top of his long hair that was tied behind him.

    Minhyuk could also see a huge me magic casted behind the man. It was Hellfire. Minhyuk frowned when he saw the man and his magic. His main reason was because he did not like being disturbed when he was having his meal. What was worse was the Hellfire that was casted behind the man. It was a clear indication that the man was ready to PK.

    But the man standing near Minhyuk was shocked beyond words. The man was even trembling as he asked him¡­¡­

    ¡°Th, that¡¯s not the thousand-year-old ginseng, right?¡±

    Minhyuk hurriedly pushed the rest of the thousand-year-old ginseng into his mouth. Then, the man looked at him as if he was crazy as he continued to speak.

    ¡°A th, thousand-year-old ginseng! Which bastard will cook a thousand-year-old ginseng and put it in samgyetang?!¡±

    Minhyuk, who would usually answer politely, answered this uninvited guest with a calm but blunt attitude.

    ¡°Here.¡±

    ***

    Every country in the world had its own ¡®Rude Mannered Users¡¯.

    And on the Chinese side of the Athenae Server, there was a very notorious ¡®Haochen¡¯ guild. The Haochen guild was not a globally-known guild but it was considered to be one of the ¡®untouchable guilds¡¯ in China. There were a lot of ridiculous reasons especially about their guild members but it was mainly because there was arge number of rankers in their guild.

    Even though the Haochen guild was not one of the top guilds in China, even a 1-year-old baby would know its name. They would also remember to never enter the Haochen Guild¡¯s territory. As soon as they entered their territory, they would continue to ughter the user until they received a ridiculous amount of supply.

    And in one of Haochen Guild¡¯s hideouts, there were four influential users gathered together. The man sitting on the guild master¡¯s seat was Bedu. He was ranked 61st in the world official rankings. He was grinning widely as he spoke to his guild members.

    ¡°All of our preparations are finished. The Monarch will wake up today.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. That¡¯s right.¡±

    Bedu lowered his head as he stood up from his seat. They were preparing to make a big swoop in Beas Vige. The vige that was located precisely in the Berest Mountains. They knew that strong users from all over the world would start to flock in Beas Vige for the uing Monarch Raid. And the Haochen Guild had prepared a gift for them in advance.

    Then, one of the hidden ss users, the ¡®Devil Worshipper¡¯ slowly approached him. He was a user with the nickname Kelmann. He opened a small box with two ck sculptures inside. One of the sculptures was a hand while the other was a body. It was none other than the sculptures that sealed the ¡®Ancient Monarch¡¯. It was quite surprising that there were two Ancient Monarch Sculptures in the Chinese server in Athenae. But the Haochen Guild had devoted themselves to collecting the pieces of this sculpture.

    ¡°With the first sculpture, the Monarch woke up in Beas Vige. He exerted a power that¡¯sparable to a Lv480 boss monster. The fusion of two sculpture pieces of the Monarch had pushed its power to Lv520. If three pieces came together, then its power would grow more.¡±

    This was a fact that most users did not know. However, Kelmann, the Devil Worshipper, was different. He was worshipping the Demon Verus so he was able to gather a lot of information from him.

    Their only problem was that it was too difficult to go to Beas Vige. However, it was different now since their purpose was determined and clear. Haochen Guild has been preparing to embark on something before getting the quest to go to Beas Vige. It was simple.

    ¡°What would happen if the Monarch awakened in the Berest Mountains where the world¡¯s strongest men, who are not able to hunt it, have gathered?¡±

    The result was already clear to them. They were sure that all of the users would be wiped out. And their items would also drop.

    The world users will definitely drop noble and honorable artifacts, right?

    Just the thought was enough to send a thrill down his spine. He was sure that there would be artifacts that he had never seen before. There would also be items that were not avable on the servers in other countries.

    Amazing! It¡¯s literally amazing!

    This was the only time that it would be released in Beas Vige and Haochen Guild had been preparing for it for two months already. And it was time for them to pull in the.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go. Let¡¯s wake the Monarch.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    They quickly moved out.

    ***

    ¡°Here.¡±

    When he heard his words, the ck Mage Ali¡¯s face distorted to the point of tears. The Hellfire that was casted behind him slowly disappeared. Then, he leaned against the wall in despair.

    ¡®I have been looking for it so much but¡­¡­!¡¯

    It took him an enormous amount of money and time just to get information on the thousand-year-old ginseng. This situation was something inevitable. Especially for Ali, a ck Mage, who did not have an excellent ¡®Informant¡¯ like Minhyuk. He even took a special quest that told him that the thousand-year-old ginseng changes its position every time. What was worse was that he even found out which position it would go to this time.

    I came here finally thinking that I would be able to get it. But now?! I can¡¯t believe that he cooked and ate the thousand-year-old ginseng in samgyetang!

    What was worse for him was that the man just nonchntly ate and scraped away thest bit of soup.

    ¡®It, it looked delicious¡­¡­¡¯

    It was such a sudden thought.

    Samgyetang with the thousand-year-old ginseng? That¡¯s the real soup among all soups!

    Not long after, the man wore his helmet.

    ¡°What¡¯s your business here?¡±

    After he finished his meal, he seemed to be quite wary of Ali. But Ali just smiled bitterly at him.

    ¡®This idiotic punk¡­¡­¡¯

    Ali knew why he reacted coldly. It was only a natural response. No one would be happy if someone popped up beside them with an attack magic spell behind them. That momentary greed had almost dominated Ali.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. About the attack spell a while ago.¡±

    Minhyuk was quite surprised.

    ¡®Hmm? I¡¯m sure that he¡¯s clearly high-leveled.¡¯

    There were only a few users who could use Hellfire. No, their existence was even questionable. But he was also repenting for his earlier mistakes.

    ¡°That¡­¡­ This may sound like an excuse but I¡¯ve been searching for the thousand-year-old ginseng for two months. And because I saw the thousand-year-old ginseng being eaten by others in a sa, samgye¡­¡­ Cough!¡±

    Ali caught himself just as he was about to say samgyetang. He coughed loudly as if to spit out the word that got stuck in his throat.

    No, but this doesn¡¯t even make sense!

    He shook his head as if to clear his thoughts.

    ¡°I must have been excited about making and eating samgyetang. Ah. I¡¯m such an idiot for thinking that you would PK me back then.¡±

    Ali smiled wryly. The ck Mage Ali was a user who liked to y alone. And as a Mage user, his ambition and dreams was to be the strongest magepared to all the mages, not only in Korea but also in the world. There were no mages named and crowned in the ¡®Hall of Kings¡¯ yet so Ali wanted to be the first one to do so.

    Other than that, Ali was a good person. He was not a bad person at all. He was a man who would protect what he could protect. But his only problem was that he was alone when he yed the game. That was the reason why he did not know Minhyuk who was standing in front of him.

    Ali was mad in his pursuit of the thousand-year-old ginseng so he did not have a slightest bit of knowledge about the happenings in the Athenae: Korean War.

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡­¡±

    However, he still opened his mouth when he realized that Minhyuk¡¯s suspicions were not cleared yet.

    ¡°To be honest, I have been searching for the thousand-year-old ginseng for two months. I thought that I could be the first ever mage to climb the Hall of Kings if I raised my mana by 1.5x. But I looked for it for two months and still ended up missing it. Sigh¡­¡­¡±

    As Minhyuk watched him continue to prove his innocence, he realized something.

    ¡®He¡¯s not a bad person.¡¯

    He spent two months just to find it. And he also wants to climb the Hall of Kings? It¡¯s understandable that he wanted to be the first mage to ever climb the Hall of Kings.

    Then, Ali asked¡­¡­

    ¡°Are you a chef?¡±

    ¡°Ah. Yes.¡±

    ¡°I see. It won¡¯t be easy for you to go down then.¡±

    Ali just took the information in stride. There were various sses that woulde to Beas Vige and there were various people who could receive quests. It might be hard for people toe up here due to the monsters but it was not impossible especially if they could avoid it well.

    ¡°I¡¯ll help you go down as a token of my apology. Oh, and¡­¡­¡±

    Ali rummaged through his items. He had received a good artifact a little while ago.

    He seems to be an unusual chef. To put it simple, a chef who likes to eat!

    He believed that he would be able to apologize well with this artifact. He almost PKed him so he wouldn¡¯t feelfortable enough if he just let it go like that.

    Then, he pulled out a small box.

    ¡°Have you heard of Magical Snack Boxes?¡±

    Minhyuk tilted his head when he heard his words.

    Magical Snack Box?

    Ali smiled at him as he handed over the box.

    ¡°One type of snack from all over the world will appear once every day. Let¡¯s see, today¡¯s snack is¡­¡­¡±

    Not long after, he took out a snack from the box. The snack was none other than a ¡®Tako Snack¡¯. When he saw the snack being pulled out, Minhyuk thought¡­¡­

    ¡®......Th, this is a revolutionary item!¡¯

    It was an extremely amazing item that Ali was handing over to him obediently.

    Minhyuk couldn¡¯t help but smile sweetly and happily.

    ***

    Notes:

    [Haochen] - Haochen means All Mighty ig. From some name.org site.

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Are they going to party? Oh my, oh my. I wonder if Ali will be recruited to Legend. Or will Ali be the third subordinate¡­ Hmmmmmm. Two possibilities. I also wonder if Kim Daesik will grab his hair and cry loudly once Team Leader Parkes back. Hehehehe.

    PR¡¯s Corner!

    I think Kim Daesik will have pulled out his hair long before Team Leader Park returns¡­

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 218 - Samgyetang With Thousand

    Chapter 218: Samgyetang with Thousand-year-old Ginseng

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    ¡°Th, thank you very much. You will definitely be blessed. You¡¯ll live a long life! You¡¯ll do amazing in the CAT¡­¡­ No, you¡¯ll definitely be happy!!!¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    Ali tilted his head in confusion. To be honest, the snack random box was a ¡®rare¡¯ artifact but it was something that waspletely useless. Snacks that you could find in reality were also sold in Athenae and it was also cheap enough that one could buy it from 500 to 1,000 gold. It was the reason why this item was considered to be something that was worse than normal even if it was a rare item.

    However, Minhyuk was looking at it right now as if he had received a ¡®legendary¡¯ artifact. Then, he took out the snack out of the snack box.

    [You have acquired the Tako Snack.]

    It was a snack with a pink octopus printed on the package!

    He quickly tore the package as he took the tako snacks from inside. Then, he ced them in his mouth.

    Crunch, crunch©¤

    The first reason why most people like the Tako Snack was because it was crunchy. The second reason was because it was salty. And the third reason was because it was shaped like an octopus.

    As he continued to eat the Tako Snack, the seasonings that coated each piece of snack seemed to stain and stick to his thumb and index finger. He quickly squished his fingers together before licking it. He couldn¡¯t help but feel happy at the saltiness of the seasonings.

    ¡°Kghhk!¡±

    ¡°......Y, you like it that much?¡±

    ¡°Yes. It¡¯s very, very, very delicious!¡±

    Ali grinned at him. It was at that moment when the hostility between them turned into favor. Then, Minhyuk spoke¡­¡­

    ¡°You said that you wanted to challenge the Hall of Kings, right? I wanted to repay you since I received such a good thing but¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s father had taught him that he should give as much as he received.

    ¡°Do you know of any quests that might let you climb the Hall of Kings?¡±

    It wasmon knowledge since the operators had announced that taking on SSS-ranked quest and some other quests would let one climb the Hall of Kings.

    Ali answered him.

    ¡°Yes. The operators have announced that we will be able to hear the notification for the Hall of Kings if users are able to hunt the Ancient Monarch at a high speed or score points beyond what they expected. But many rankers have tried and failed. That¡¯s how difficult it is.¡±

    Minhyuk did not know of this but it really was just like what Ali had said. This was also the reason why the rankers from all over the world would gather in this ce from time to time. They were all hoping to be able to climb the Hall of Kings.

    Minhyuk shook his head in thought.

    ¡°Should I lend you a hand?¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    Ali couldn¡¯t understand what he was saying.

    Are you saying that you¡¯re going to help me climb the Hall of Kings? No, how can you even do that?

    ¡°My cooking buff is a bit amazing, you know?¡±

    ¡®Hing?¡¯

    Ali smiled awkwardly but deep inside he was also wondering.

    How good is your cooking buff if you call it amazing?

    However, no matter how he looked at it, the expression on Minhyuk¡¯s face was simr to a mother who wanted to let him eat breakfast. It was at that moment that Ali realized¡­¡­

    Ah, this person does not want to live with a debt to others.

    Ali thought to himself that this person¡¯s cooking buff was something that would definitely not live up to his words but it was still good if he just enjoyed it.

    He was someone who did not have any friends but he believed that if he got one then he would definitely take care of them better. Minhyuk also believed that it would be good if they became friends.

    Then, Minhyuk used his Create a Recipe skill.

    ***

    Kim Daesik and Lee Minhwa were both holding in their breaths. They had just been contacted by the Athenae Chinese Branch. They had told them that the movements of Haochen Guild were unusual and abnormal. And Director Kim, who looked at the monitor, could tell what they wanted to do.

    ¡°Shit¡­¡­! Once the Monarch wipes off all of the rankers then he will go there and pick up the dropped items!¡±

    It was quite a meticulous and detailed n. They even had a ¡®Secret ss¡¯, the ¡®Absolute Commander¡¯ with them. And among the unique abilities of the Absolute Commander, there was this ability. It was the ability to ¡®revive¡¯ some of his party members who have died. With this revival skill, the party members who have died within 20 minutes would be revived with 5% of their HP remaining. Once all the rankers were wiped out, they would then be revived within 20 minutes. Then, they would take all the items away before disappearing.

    But the bigger problem was not that.

    ¡°Beas Vige could disappear¡­¡­¡±

    The hunting mission that was given to the rankers every cycle in the meeting ce, Beas Vige, was done to prevent the awakened Ancient Monarch from descending down the vige. So far, the Ancient Monarch Raid has never failed. Even though he was strong he was still an event monster in the end. The raid boss monster that the united users from all over the world would hunt and kill! But once the users were all wiped out the Ancient Monarch would definitely descend to the vige. He would kill all the NPCs and would devastate the entire vige.

    In all honesty, the system never nned this out.

    Why will anyone use the sculptures to strengthen the sealed Monarch? They will not even be able to kill him.

    But they did not expect that the Haochen Guild would pull up this kind of stunt.

    ¡°We¡¯re in trouble¡­¡­ If the Beas Vige disappears then all of the contents rted to it will also disappear. In addition, there are a lot of NPCs in Beas Vige that can help users transfer to Hidden sses, Secret sses and other strong sses¡­¡­.¡±

    Those were Lee Minhwa¡¯s words.

    Ring, ring, ring, ring©¤

    Ring, ring, ring, ring, ring©¤

    The phone kept on ringing. It was at that moment when Kim Daesik realized¡­¡­.

    ¡®Th, the Special Users Management Team is the first to notice when something like this happens. I thought that the Special Users Management Team was too easy andfortable.¡¯

    In a way, he realized that they were the team with the most responsibility as well as the team that received most of the taunts and bad mouthing.

    Director Kim Daesik quickly ordered the people around him.

    ¡°Lee Minhwa-ssi.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°Is there anyone who came to Beas Vige who can possibly hunt the Ancient Monarch? Pick about three of the most powerful users.¡±

    ck, ck, ck, ck, ck, ck!

    Lee Minhwa¡¯s fingers flew at the keyboard. She tapped on the keyboard for quite some time with a hopeful smile on her face.

    ¡°Th, there is!¡±

    ¡°Who are they?¡±

    ¡°The ck Mage Ali. The number 1 mage in our country, Ali. He¡¯s there.¡±

    ¡°......I, is that so? The ck Mage Ali!!!¡±

    Director Kim Daesik tapped his fingers impatiently.

    Our country¡¯s top mage.

    He was considered to be the number one in both the official and unofficial mage rankings in the country.

    Then, Lee Minhwa spoke again.

    ¡°And there¡¯s another one!¡±

    The smile of ¡®hope¡¯ bloomed on Kim Daesik¡¯s face.

    ¡°Who?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s none other than the Food God, User Minhyuk.¡±

    ¡°......Good. I think we have hope!¡±

    ¡°And I also want to tell you one more thing.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°The two of them are together right now.¡±

    ¡°......I, is that so?¡±

    The two of them are both users from our country. Do they know each other? No, that doesn¡¯t matter.

    ¡°What are those two people doing now? Are they preparing for the raid!!!!¡±

    Director Kim Daesik did not know much about User Minhyuk. He only knew that he was there for food and he would only have enough drive for food.

    Then, Lee Minhwa said¡­¡­

    ¡°They are both eating M¡­¡­ Man m noodle soup in a cave!¡±

    ¡°.......¡±

    The thought that ran through Director Kim Daesik¡¯s head was¡­¡­.

    The two most powerful users of our country! The two people who might be able to solve this difficulty that we¡¯re going to face! You¡¯re telling me that the two people that I had pinned my hopes on are eating Man m noodle soup before this huge disaster?!

    ¡°They¡¯re eating it with some well-ripened kimchi! It really looks delicious! Wow. Look at those Man ms!!¡±

    ¡°........¡±

    Those were the following words that came out of Lee Minhwa¡¯s mouth as she wiped the saliva off of her chin. Kim Daesik couldn¡¯t help but support his forehead in distress.

    ¡®I want to go home¡­¡­.¡¯

    ***

    [Creating a recipe that the other party desires.]

    [You can now check the recipe for Man m noodle soup.]

    [The amount of buff that can be used has been decreased due to creating a recipe.]

    Minhyuk had thought of making him a buffed dish in exchange for the magical snack box that he had received. When he saw the recipe, he couldn¡¯t help but say ¡®Oh©¤¡¯.

    ¡®Wow! This is great!¡¯

    In this cold weather, when his hands and feet were freezing all over and his stomach was rumbling in hunger. He would zip up his padded jacket up to his chin while he was on his way home. As he walked home, he would see a store that had its window all white and fogged up that you couldn¡¯t even see the view from the inside. This store was none other than a ¡®noodle restaurant¡¯.

    When you go to such a ce and order some noodle soup, won¡¯t you be able to get some steaming and hot noodle soup? And when you take a sip of the hot soup, you will feel that the coldness in your body is melting away and you will release a deep sigh unconsciously? It¡¯s that Man m noodle soup? I see, Ali is a man with great taste.

    ¡°Do you want some Man m noodle soup right now?¡±

    ¡°H, how did you know that? It¡¯s because I know that it¡¯s best to have some well-ripened kimchi together with that in this weather.¡±

    ¡°Of course. I know that. I know that very well! Haha!¡±

    ¡°Are you going to make some noodle soup?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Please wait. Let me look at the ingredients.¡±

    Minhyuk first checked the ingredients and he found out that he had enough ingredients for the noodle soup. And thanks to Minhyuk¡¯s skill ¡®The Joy of Eating Together¡¯ he would not suffer any loss at all.

    ¡®But will this be enough to satisfy him?¡¯

    After he checked the dish ranking and the amount of buff that he would receive based on the ingredients, Minhyuk smiled softly. Of course he would only know once the ranking came out but he could predict about the general ranking with just one look at the recipe.

    Minhyuk started his preparation to make some Man m noodle soup. He quickly kneaded some flour before slicing them thinly. He also shredded plenty of vegetables before boiling the ingredients together in a cauldron. Just like that, he finished making the Man m noodle soup. Hedled out some of the soup in a white stic bowl before handing it over to Ali.

    Ali couldn¡¯t help but gulp at the sight of therge bowl filled with Man m noodle soup as well as the well-ripened kimchi right next to it. He gingerly scooped out some noodles out of the bowl. At that moment, the exact same food and setting appeared in front of Minyuk.

    ¡®Isn¡¯t that amazing?¡¯

    Ali did not expect much on the buff but he was quite looking forward to the taste and vor of the dish in front of him. Perhaps it was because he did not care much about the buff and he only wanted to try the noodle soup in front of him that he couldn¡¯t help but hurriedly scoop out some noodles from therge bowl before putting it in a smaller bowl.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡­¡±

    The chewy and glossy noodles together with the Man ms and the shredded zhini, carrots and onions all looked so appetizing that he couldn¡¯t help but drool. After gulping down his drool, Ali lifted the small bowl as he attached his lips to the lid of the bowl. Then, he quickly took a sip of the soup.

    ¡°Hoo. So refreshing.¡±

    ¡°Hoo. So refreshing.¡±

    The same words came out of the mouth of both men. Ali smiled when his eyes made contact with Minhyuk. Then he focused on his noodle soup again. This time, he picked up some of the chewy noodles with his chopsticks. Then he put it in his mouth as he slurped it all up.

    ¡°Hoo.¡±

    He let out a puff of breath. He could feel the firm and chewy noodles dancing in his mouth in every chew before sliding down his throat.

    ¡°I feel like I¡¯m alive.¡±

    He felt like the weight that came down to him today all vanished into thin air.

    This time, his next bite of noodles was apanied by the crunchy and red kimchi.

    Crunch, crunch!

    He couldn¡¯t help butugh happily when he tasted the sweet and spicy vor of the kimchi in his every bite.

    ¡°Haha. This is really delicious¡­¡­.¡±

    After he bursted out in admiration, he took out thedle from the big white bowl. Then he started to eat directly from the huge white bowl. A smile lit up on his face as he ate the savory and delicious ms.

    And finally, he lifted the entire bowl to his mouth as he drank the remaining soup. He finished eating everything down to the veryst dropped. Without realizing it, he was sniffing due to the heat of the soup and the coldness of the surroundings.

    ¡°Paaaaaaaeng!¡±

    He finally came back to his senses after he blew his nose.

    ¡®Wow¡­¡­ What kind of noodle soup was that¡­¡­¡¯

    ? Ali thought that it was the most delicious noodle soup that he has ever tasted in his life. He looked at Minhyuk, the man who made such a noodle soup, in admiration. But his surprise and awe did not end there because the notifications for the buffs finally rang in his ears.

    [You ate a dish from a recipe specially made for you.]

    [You won¡¯t be able to eat another dish from a recipe specially made for you for a month.]

    [You can¡¯t receive any duplicate buffs during the duration of the buff retention period.]

    [Man m Noodle Soup.]

    [You have received an increase of 25% on your WIS and an increase of 20% on your INT for 20 days.]

    [Your skills¡¯ cooldown will be reduced by 20% for 20 days.]

    ¡®W, what did you say?! An increase of 25% in WIS and an increase of 20% in INT? W, what the hell?! Is this some kind of an event buff?!¡¯

    Ali¡¯s eyes were blown wide in shock and surprise.

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Yeah. You¡¯ll def need that buff soon.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 219 - Samgyetang With Thousand

    Chapter 219: Samgyetang with Thousand-year-old Ginseng

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Minhyuk smiled when he saw Ali¡¯s astonishment and shock.

    ¡°Is this enough for you to climb the Hall of Kings?¡±

    Ali nodded furiously when he heard his question.

    ¡°O, of course!¡±

    Rankers would be able to shine more if they have % increases in their stats. The 25% temporary increase in his WIS stat was notparable to the 1.5x increase in his mana from the thousand-year-old ginseng but his other special abilities would be able to supplement the increase. And there was even a 20% reduction in the cooldown time. Ali was already vastly different to ordinary users in terms of casting speed and with this reduction his casting speed would undoubtedly be faster. The 20% increase in his INT also meant that his magical attack power would also have a temporary increase.

    ¡°You¡¯re really an amazing chef! I think you¡¯re leagues better than ck, the Twilight Chef!¡±

    Ali had also tried the Twilight Chef¡¯s expensive dishes but there was nothing that he could eat that would boost his strength in the rumored traditional party house.

    But with the temporary increase in his strength, he thought that it would be possible.

    It was also at this moment that Ali believed that he and Minhyuk had some sort of ¡®friendship¡¯ and they could be somewhat called friends. Ali who did not have many friends! He would always have a sign that would show great trust between him and his friends. It was a sign that he would stay with them for a lifetime!

    ¡°Minhyuk-nim.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°Can you please give me your left arm?¡±

    Minhyuk extended his left arm to him.

    ¡°Can we be friends?¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡±

    Minhyuk considered Ali as his benefactor since he gave him that magical snack box. No, he was much more than that!

    Then, Ali drew an ¡®X¡¯ on Minhyuk¡¯s left arm and with a serious expression, he lifted his arm high up in the sky.

    ¡°This is a sign of our friendship!¡±

    Minhyuk stared nkly at him for a moment. Meanwhile, Ali, who was deeply moved, had lifted his hand high up in the sky as he spoke in a deep voice.

    ¡°Do you know the feeling when another person dies? When your chest is bound under a spell? No, when you¡¯re under a curse? No, when you pass a river of poison?!¡±

    Minhyuk faintly realized something.

    ¡®I know these lines from somewhere¡­¡­¡¯

    ¡°That¡¯s not it! The time when your friends have forgotten about you! But I don¡¯t believe that Minhyuk-nim will forget about me! This is a sign of our friendship! Friendshiiiiiiiiiiip!¡±

    Ali shouted loudly to emphasize that one word.

    Minhyuk stared at him quietly.

    ¡®This person is an¡­¡­ otaku? Right?¡¯

    Then, Ali whispered to him as if to urge him to respond to his words.

    ¡°If you join me then I¡¯ll treat you to a meal.¡±

    ¡°Oooooooooooh!¡±

    Minhyuk suddenly gained a lot of strength as he jumped up and lifted his left arm high up the sky. Then he turned around.

    ¡°No matter what happens, this X is the symbol of our friendship! Friendshiiiiiiiiiiip!¡±

    ¡°Kong-ah,e on! You do it too! Quickly!¡±

    Kongie, who was sitting and enjoying his noodle soup, lifted his body at Minhyuk¡¯s words. Then he copied Ali¡¯s magic as he drew an X on his left arm before raising his hand high up in the sky.

    ¡°Ooooooooiiiiink!¡±

    But deep inside, this was what Kongie felt¡­¡­

    ¡®This punk master. It¡¯s really hard to live as a pet. Oink!¡¯

    Ali was beyond thrilled.

    Aaah! What a beautiful scene! This is a very inspiring scene!

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk thought that he should introduce him to Legend Guild¡¯s ¡®Ace¡¯.

    Then, at that moment a rush of notifications rang loudly in both their heads.

    [Three sculptures of the Ancient Monarch have fused together.]

    [The Ancient Monarch has now be stronger.]

    [Due to the increase in strength of the Ancient Monarch, his soldiers have been awakened.]

    [The Ancient Monarch¡¯s Soldiers have woken up.]

    ¡°......?!¡±

    Ali¡¯s eyes widened.

    The Ancient Monarch has be much stronger?

    It was also true that the users who have gathered in Beas Vige to hunt the Ancient Monarch were also very powerful. Because just one failure in the raid would result in a total wipe out. But what would happen if the Ancient Monarch has been strengthened?

    ¡®What¡¯s this? Something must have gone wrong.¡¯

    Then, another notification rang.

    [The Guardians¡¯ Tower will now be created.]

    [The power of the three Guardians dwells in the tower.]

    [The tower of the three Guardians will give out scores that are much higher than the regr tower of the Guardians.]

    Every time the Ancient Monarch woke up, the Guardian¡¯s Tower would also appear. However, the tower now was different from the tower back then. The ¡®Guardian¡¯s Tower¡¯ was vastly different from the ¡®Guardians¡¯ Tower¡¯. In other words, the Guardian¡¯s Tower was the guardian of the sculpture and the role of this tower was to give points to the users. And the ¡®Monarch¡¯s Treasure Chest¡¯ that they would receive would change depending on the score that they would get. The scores that could be obtained from the Guardian¡¯s Tower would depend on a variety of actions.

    1 Scores for a sessful attack on the Ancient Monarch.

    2 Scores for a sessful fatal attack on the Ancient Monarch.

    3 Scores for sessfully hunting the soldiers of the Ancient Monarch.

    4 Scores for dealing the final blow on the Ancient Monarch.

    The reason why the scores for 1~4 were not explicitly stated was because the hunt for the Ancient Monarch has several different parties participating in it. The smaller the number of party members, the higher the score that they would get and the higher their score, the higher their rewards. However, if their party only had a small number of members, then it was only natural that they could not raid the Ancient Monarch. All they could do was be left behind by the others.

    And just like what was exined above, the Guardians¡¯ Tower would give a higher scorepared to the regr Guardian Tower. In other words, the rewards would definitely be more generous.

    ¡®What was it again? The best reward for sessfully hunting the Ancient Monarch?¡¯

    Ali bit his lips tightly as he recalled the information.

    ¡®A, a legendary artifact¡¯s production recipe!¡¯

    There were a lot of different probabilities when someone was producing an artifact. Having high-grade materials did not mean that one would be able to produce a high-ranking artifact. Aside from the artifact materials, it would also depend on the cksmith¡¯s abilities.

    But there was one thing that could ignore all of these. It was none other than the ¡®Artifact Production Recipe¡¯. In other words, if the user followed and collected all of the materials listed in the production recipe then they would definitely receive the rank of the artifact indicated in the recipe.

    ¡®Wait. The reward should be better than a legendary artifact¡­¡­¡¯

    Ali had a hunch.

    ¡®It¡¯s like they¡¯re saying that there¡¯s a possibility that we could have the production recipe for the best artifact!¡¯

    He was thrilled.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk, who was standing next to Ali, had also heard of the same notifications but he was looking at something else.

    [Surprise ss Quest: The Ancient Monarch¡¯s Yearning.]

    Rank: SSS

    Restrictions: Food God

    Rewards: Ingredients for Ancient Monarch¡¯s Soy Sauce Braised Chicken.

    Penalty for Failure: -20 to all Stats.

    Description: The Ancient Monarch was one of the Food God¡¯s subordinates during his lifetime. When his mind was being encroached by the devil, he had asked the Food God for a favor. I don¡¯t want to lose my precious subjects. I don¡¯t want to kill them with my own hands. But now, the Food God of the past is dead. Make his wishe true and save Beas Vige. If you seed, then you will be able to receive one of the ¡®Food God¡¯s Divination¡¯ through the Soy Sauce Braised Chicken.

    ¡®Soy sauce braised chicken¡­¡­? Food God¡¯s Divination?!¡¯

    Of course, Minhyuk was trembling in excitement due to the soy sauce braised chicken.

    [The Guardians¡¯ Tower will now warp all the users in Beas Vige and Berest Mountains to the mountain range¡¯s entrance.]

    The two men were suddenly surrounded by light.

    ***

    The users from all over the world who were waiting for the Ancient Monarch¡¯s raid were all flustered.

    ¡°The Ancient Monarch grew stronger?¡±

    ¡°Wasn¡¯t he already very strong from the very beginning?¡±

    All of the users present in the area would be warped at the entrance of the Berest Mountains once the Ancient Monarch appeared. Right now, there were at least 50 people gathered together. But none of these men could match up against the Ancient Monarch.

    The users were all in a buzz after a man got warped again.

    ¡°He¡¯s Japan¡¯s ¡®Musashi¡¯, Kentaro. Right?¡±

    ¡°Wow. Kentaro¡­¡­!¡±

    Kentaro was ced second in Japan¡¯s official rankings. He had two katanas hanging on his back as he crossed his arms.

    There were many strong users here but it was quite rare for them to see one of the top five users of a country.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t Kentaro raid the Ancient Monarch before?¡±

    Kentaro was famous for getting the Legendary Artifact Production Recipe. And right now, Kentaro had conducted the quest to enter Beas Vige again. It was because he couldn¡¯t forget the thrill of that time. When Kentaro dealt thest blow on the Ancient Monarch, the global users were in awe and amazement.

    Then, Kentaro moved calmly as he began to speak.

    ¡°In order to raid the more powerful Ancient Monarch, users should all team up.¡±

    However, 50 people could not team up together.

    Kentaro continued to talk.

    ¡°The most efficient number for each team is five. If the positions of each of the five people are good then the scores will be distributed perfectly. In addition, the limit for each party should be six people.¡±

    There weren¡¯t many of these teams who made it to the top. But on the way up to the Berest Mountains, a translucent passage would be created depending on the number of teams. And the users needed to go up this passage as quickly as they could. In a way, this system was meant for people to fight in a team and cultivate teamwork but one could also say that the members of the team would bepeting against each other.

    And just like Kentaro had said, this was a method that most of the users knew.

    [You are required to enter the Berest Mountains within 10 minutes.]

    [For users who do not want to join the raid, you will return to the ce youst visited before entering Beas Vige once you log out.]

    ¡°We¡¯d like to invite you to our party!¡±

    ¡°Our party already has a Lv420 archer, Lv421 warrior and Lv417 legendary ss users!!!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re in a hurry. Our strongestbi is abi of priests, warriors, archers, mages and bandits!¡±

    The users moved quickly while Kentaro was constantly bombarded by love calls.

    ¡°Kentaro-nim. Please party with me¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Beat it.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    There were many users who wanted to team up with Kentaro. After all, if their team has a higher team score then their rewards were also bound to be bigger. But Kentaro kicked out the users who were ipetent and were trying to ride the bus.

    ¡®From the people gathered today, I can see a few people who stand out from their user IDs¡­¡­¡¯

    The number of people from all over the world who came to Berest Mountains to challenge this had continued to decline. Compared to the freshness of the first time, they would often be rewarded with treasure chests. However, they were toozy and stingy. After all, it was too inefficient for them especially if you stacked up the time it took toplete the entrance quest.

    Kentaro had an artifact. It was a ¡®Measuring Pocket Watch¡¯. It was an artifact in the shape of a pocket watch but instead of showing time, it would show the other person¡¯s level. This artifact was a ¡®legendary artifact¡¯. And in a fight against a user or a monster, this artifact was quite handy.

    There was a man who suddenly caught Kentaro¡¯s eyes. He was a man wearing a ck robe and was presumably a mage. Next to him was a man wearing a shabby armor, a rapier on his back and an old and rusty helmet. Kentaro quietly aimed his Measuring Pocket Watch at the man wearing the ck robe.

    [You have activated the Measuring Pocket Watch. You can only use it five times a day.]

    [The Measuring Pocket Watch is exploring the level of the targeted user.]

    ck©¤

    The cover of the Measuring Pocket Watch opened on its own.

    ¡®......Ho?¡¯

    Kentaro¡¯s eyes were filled with intrigue and curiosity.

    That guy in the ck robe.

    ¡®He¡¯s at least at Lv470?¡¯

    The Measuring Pocket Watch would not show an urate number. But it shows the approximate range.

    Then, Kentaro approached him.

    ¡°I need a mage user. Would you like to join me?¡±

    Ali, the mage user wearing a ck robe, nodded his head in greeting when Kentaro asked him.

    ¡®Kentaro¡­¡­ I don¡¯t like the rumors surrounding this guy but¡­¡­¡¯

    If he worked with him then he would most likely be able to climb the Hall of Kings. So Ali, the ck Mage, nodded his head.

    ¡°Alright. Ah, he¡¯s my friend. Can hee with us?¡±

    ¡°Is that so? Wait a minute. The time now is¡­¡­¡±

    Kentaro nced at the man next to him as he used his Measuring Pocket Watch.

    ck©¤

    Kentaro¡¯s brows furrowed when he saw what was written in the pocket watch.

    ¡®350?¡¯

    This is a user who could not enter Beas Vige. Is this a bug?

    That was the thought that crossed his mind.

    ¡®He¡¯s just a burden.¡¯

    Then Kentaro told him firmly.

    ¡°Excuse me, but what is your level?¡±

    Minhyuk answered his question right away.

    ¡°It¡¯s Lv355.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Ali turned to him in shock.

    ¡®You¡¯re only at Lv355. How can you be in Beas Vige¡­¡­¡¯

    Then, Kentaro smiled wryly.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry but I don¡¯t think it¡¯s possible for you toe with me. As you know, the level of the party members is also very important in this party hunt. It¡¯s a team score after all. Ah, of course, the smaller the number of people in the team, the higher the score¡­¡­ but they will not be able to make it to the summit.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Ali realized that he was trying to tell him to leave Minhyuk behind. And since Minhyuk has still not logged out yet then he was required to join a party. He could not return anymore.

    But Ali wanted to climb the Hall of Kings, and for him to do so he needed to team up with the man named Kentaro. If he teamed up with him then he would get a high score. And those with the highest score on the team were most likely rewarded and crowned in the Hall of Kings.

    There was a lot of buzz from the surroundings.

    ¡°Lv355?¡±

    ¡°Crazy¡­¡­ Who would even want that user as their party member?¡±

    ¡°If I receive that user then I will get a decrease in my team¡¯s score and a decrease on the Ancient Monarch¡¯s rewards. Right?¡±

    ¡°I think that user should go up there alone.¡±

    ¡°Kghk! Lv355?¡±

    Ali looked around for a moment before speaking coldly.

    ¡°Everyone, shut up!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    The surroundings turned quiet. Then, Ali spoke¡­¡­

    ¡°I¡¯m going up with this guy alone. Since we are ¡®friends¡¯.¡±

    Ali raised his left arm that was marked with an X. Next to him was Minhyuk. He did not pay attention to whether the other users were cursing him or not as he munched on some cream bread while saying ¡®Kyaa! Cream bread is so delicious!¡¯. He also lifted his left arm.

    ¡°I¡¯m refusing you. I¡¯m going to apany this person. We¡¯re friends.¡±

    Minhyuk shouted brightly while he ate his cream bread.

    ¡°Frieeeeeeeends!¡±

    Kongie also hurriedly lifted his left arm while standing on Minhyuk¡¯s shoulder.

    ¡°Ooooooiiiiink!¡±

    It was at this moment when the person named ¡®Ali¡¯ had made the best choice of his life.

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    For friends!!!!!!

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 220 - How To Make Half

    Chapter 220: How to Make Half-God Artifacts

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    63 How to Make Half-God Artifacts

    Kim Daesik jumped up from his seat. He took a deep breath to calm himself down.

    ¡°Th, those fools!¡±

    They were currently in a situation where they did not know whether Beas Vige would disappear or not. And in that situation, trouble came up between the three strongest yers present.

    Director Kim Daesik couldn¡¯t help but copse on his seat as he stared nkly at the monitor.

    ¡°It might have been possible if those three people were together but¡­¡­¡±

    Judging from the situation, only the two people, Ali and Minhyuk, would go up together. Of course, the situation that arose from Kentaro was not iprehensible but the reason why Director Kim Daesik was mad was because of something else.

    They could hear their voices through the speaker.

    [This is why Koreans can¡¯t do it.]

    [They won¡¯t be able to see the face of the Ancient Monarch.]

    [Apanying a Lv355 user? They¡¯re both going to die. A mage with low HP needs to have a dedicated and outstanding tanker in front of him but what can a Lv355 user offer?]

    ¡°What do you think our Korean users are!!¡±

    It was this part that made the anger in Director Kim Daesik boil! The mockery from the world! He fiercely gulped down cold water but whether it was to relieve his anger or moisten his throat, no one knew.

    Then, Lee Minhwa spoke.

    ¡°Director.¡±

    The furious Director Kim Daesik turned his head towards her.

    ¡°I think that this situation is good.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Lee Minhwa, who had just removed the tag of being the new employee, was now at the center of the team. Since she always served beside Team Leader Park Minggyu as an assistant, she could easily predict more than what Director Kim could.

    ¡°Users Ali and Minhyuk are both unimaginably strong. But since it was quite difficult to clear the raid with only a few team members then the other users would have to match and recruit five people in their teams. But that also means that there are many people who will share the scores. But I think that those two people will be able to do their parts well. In addition, User Ali is¡­¡­¡±

    She smiled.

    ¡°He¡¯s not just the number one in the official and unofficial mage rankings in our country. The level of his strength is just a little below Alex, the rank one in the world¡¯s official mage rankings. However, he had also learned a higher ss of magic.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    It wouldn¡¯t make sense that the staff in other teams would know about everything in the world. But the Special Users Management Team had richer datapared to other teams.

    ¡°Th, then there¡¯s hope? With just the two of them?¡±

    Lee Minhwa nodded her head. A thought suddenly shed through Director Kim Daesik¡¯s head.

    ¡°But if the two of them sessfully hunted the Ancient Monarch with a high score, what will be the reward?¡±

    ¡°Based on the current ¡®rewards based on score¡¯, there¡¯s an ¡®unreachable score¡¯.¡±

    Director Kim nodded his head as he continued to listen to Lee Minhwa.

    ¡°When someone reaches that unreachable score the Ancient Treasure Chest will give a reward on the method of creating Half-God artifacts.¡±

    ***

    Kentaroughed at the three fools in front of him that had their arms raised to the sky.

    ¡°I see. I understand.¡±

    He thought that perhaps the robed guy was also infected by the idiotic thoughts of the Korean next to him. But Kentaro still believed that people should have a clear and distinctive line between their public and private lives.

    Ali had now missed an opportunity to receive great rewards. A variable had risen but instead of that variable, he should have chosen the rewards. And now, the worstbination for a mage was formed in front of him.

    Kentaro turned around and moved to find members for his party again. Of course, there were no other people who were willing to receive the ck Mage Ali and Minhyuk.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. I¡¯d rather be with Minhyuk-nim than be with those people.¡±

    Ali said this in case Minhyuk felt sorry for him. Minhyuk just nodded silently at him. Then, the notifications rang.

    [Please enter the Berest Mountains.]

    [The passageway to Berest Mountains will appear ording to the number of teams.]

    [You cannot leave and escape the passageway given to you and hunt on other passageways.]

    [The number of monsters, ranking of monsters, as well as the tricks that will appear will be the same for each and every team.]

    [Additional scores will be rewarded to the team that arrives the earliest at the summit where the Ancient Monarch resides.]

    Just like in the notification, even if the party had a smaller number, the strength and number of the ancient soldiers and warriors would not be lowered. This was the reason why the most optimal number of members in a team was five.

    More than ten teams entered their respective passageways. The passageways were covered with transparent barriers so they could see each other but they were not able to pass through this barrier. Other parties had at least 4~6 people entering their passageways but Minhyuk and Ali were the only people who entered their passageway.

    ***

    Kentaro began to climb upwards through the passageway that he entered with the best members that he had recruited.

    ¡®The strengthened Ancient Monarch¡­¡­¡¯

    They were unclear about how strong he would be so it would be a huge problem. So he needed the bestbination for his party.

    ¡°Jun, you said that you¡¯re a tanker, grab the aggro in front of me and me and the archer user, Barmas-nim will hit them hard. You might already know this but I can deal high damage so you don¡¯t have to worry about that. In addition, if the mobs get crowded, our mage user, Burrow-nim, should use a wide-area of magic from time to time to fend them off.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Everyone seemed to have a strong faith in Kentaro¡¯s strength. Especially because Kentaro already had experience climbing the Berest Mountains to hunt the Ancient Monarch.

    Not long after, the ancient soldiers appeared in front of them. The ancient soldiers were wearing leather armor with ragged and torn capes fluttering behind them. They were also holding a long spear in their hands.

    ¡®It¡¯s no different than before.¡¯

    They would experience and encounter a variety of things the further they climbed the mountains. As he recalled the process that they went through to climb the mountains, he remembered that there were only three teams that were able to climb the mountains. In fact, he knew that the fastest team to climb would most likely be the one to hunt the Ancient Monarch. In addition, the higher their score, the higher their rewards. This would allow the fastest team to monopolize the Ancient Monarch.

    Shweeeeeeeeek©¤

    Then, the battle against the five ancient soldiers began. Jun stood at the forefront as he strengthened his body and prevented their spearheads from touching the rest of his team members.

    Bang! Bang, bang!

    ¡°Keuhack! These bastards are a pain! And if you use defensive skills, their spears get stuck!¡±

    The user priest immediately casted heal and tiny lights wrapped around tanker Jun¡¯s body. Then, the katanas hanging on Kentaro¡¯s back were now tightly held in his hands.

    Musashi.

    It was his legendary ss.

    ¡°First strike. Quick.¡±

    [First Strike. Quick.]

    [A single blow will attack the enemy quickly.]

    Light stretched out from his katana as he struck out once.

    Shwaa!

    An ancient soldier was pierced through by the katana but he just stood there without moving.

    [You have acquired 5 team points.]

    [Each person will gain 2 individual points.]

    If the overall score of the team was high then the rewards for all of the team members would also significantly increase. And among the team, those with higher individual scores would also get much better rewardspared to the rest of the team.

    Dash¡ª

    Kentaro quickly dashed forward and dealt with the ancient soldiers with his mboyant sword skills.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go up as fast as we can to hunt the Ancient Monarch.¡±

    That¡¯s right. Kentaro was all arrogant and conceited because he did not know how strong the Ancient Monarch was now. All that he could think of was to go up as fast as he could and monopolize the Ancient Monarch.

    He looked around at his surroundings. He could see different teams climbing up through the different passageways. The situation was still normal since the ancient soldiers were only 40% stronger than the usual. But the problem was that ancient warriors would also appear which meant that the difficulty would increase as they climbed up.

    At that moment, Kentar¡¯s eyes passed by the figure of two men. They were the ck Mage Ali and the Lv355 user earlier.

    ¡°What are they doing?¡±

    The unidentified man was running fast while the ck Mage Ali was chasing after him. There were more than 30 ancient soldiers that wereing after them. He could see that there were even ancient warriors among the mobs.

    But at that exact moment, something amazing happened. The mage user wielded his staff as a ck ring rose over the heads of the ancient soldiers.

    ¡®Undead boom?¡¯

    Undead boom was a magic that could only be performed by a high-leveled mage. This magic was clearly divided between sess and failure. If the mage seeded then he would be able to catch all of the undead mobs at once. The probability of sess would increase depending on the mage¡¯s level. But in all honesty, it was quite hard for a high-leveled mage to catch the undead mobs with the undead boom.

    However, Kentaro was shocked. It wasn¡¯t just one, apleted ck ring was formed over the heads of forty ancient soldiers.

    ¡°Wh, what the hell?¡±

    Kentaro had never seen such a huge and massive undead boom in his life.

    Then, he saw Ali lift the staff high up in the sky. A powerful, brilliant and bright light bursted out of his staff. Then¡­¡­

    Bang! Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Out of the 40 ancient soldiers, more than 30 of them exploded.

    ¡®Crazy shit¡­¡­! High-leveled mages said that the sess rate for the undead boom was just at 40%......!¡¯

    But he was able to hunt with such a huge undead boom?

    ¡®I think he¡¯s a very unexpected high-level user, right? But that¡¯s fine. That guy is a burden to him.¡¯

    Kentaro grinned at the man named Minhyuk. Then, he said¡­¡­

    ¡°Let¡¯s go! Quickly!¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    Kentaro and his group quickly climbed up the mountain.

    ***

    After using the undead boom, Ali heard a notification.

    [You have acquired 158 team points.]

    [Each person will gain 75 individual points.]

    The Great Undead Boom was a skill that would simultaneously cast the undead boom on all undead monsters within a 20-m radius. In addition, the probability of sess and failure was dependent on the WIS, INT and the mage¡¯s ss.

    ¡®I didn¡¯t know that Minhyuk-nim has such great aggro¡­¡­¡¯

    Ali shook his head as his brows furrowed in thought.

    ¡®But why does it look like he¡¯s so familiar with that aggro skill?¡¯

    Strange.

    He heard something about it once but it was just a vague piece of memory so he thought little of it.

    Among the fallen ancient soldiers, ten ancient soldiers and one ancient warrior remained. In the event of failure, the undead boom would not give even 1% of damage but would instead eat away at the mana of the user. In other words, the risk was high. But Ali was already at a point that was higher than the rest of the mages so he believed that his skills were more than enough. He was confident in himself.

    Still, he quickly moved in front of Minhyuk using Blink.

    ¡°Minhyuk-nim, stay behind me! I still have a lot of MP!¡±

    It was all thanks to Minhyuk¡¯s buff ability that he had gained an additional 25% of MP. His MP¡¯s natural recovery was also increased due to the increase in his WIS and INT.

    ¡°Firewall!¡±

    A great wall of fire rose from the ground! The fire blocked the ancient soldiers and created a gap. In that short gap, Ali quickly casted and shot his magic.

    ¡°Fireball! Fireball! Fireball! Fireball!¡±

    A huge fireball that was extremely different from the regr mage¡¯s fireball shot out from Ali¡¯s staff.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang!

    ¡®What the hell?! Why is this punk not dying?!¡¯

    Ali¡¯s face suddenly distorted. An ancient warrior garbed in a thick golden armor approached Ali¡¯s giant fireball without even a wince.

    ¡®Don¡¯t tell me that they have 100% magical defense?!¡¯

    Sometimes monsters that have high magical defense would breakthrough and achieve such a skill. Mages were most powerless against these types of adversaries. These kinds of monsters would reduce magical damage by as much as 80%.

    ¡®Were in trouble. If all the ancient warriors are like this¡­¡­¡¯

    Then his magic would be useless.

    Then, at that moment, he heard a voice from behind him.

    ¡°Please wait. Like the Wind.¡±

    Dash!

    He heard the sound of the wind passing by his side as he saw the gigantic 2m 50cm ancient warrior that was holding a greatsword. Then, Minhyuk¡¯s sword moved.

    Shwaa¡ª

    It was just a single blow.

    And with just that one blow.

    Plop!

    The head of the ancient warrior fell down. Ali¡¯s head turned to look at the fallen head as well as Minhyuk alternately. He turned for at least five times in just three seconds.

    ¡®Wh, what the hell?¡¯

    What¡¯s going on?

    And in his head, information about a person suddenly popped out. He just couldn¡¯t remember the name. Weren¡¯t there times like that? For everyone?

    His head nked out like a white sheet of paper as he unconsciously asked.

    ¡°Y, you. Just who are you?¡±

    At his question, Minhyuk just raised his left arm with the ¡®X¡¯ and said¡­¡­

    ¡°Frieeeeeeeeeeeeend!¡±

    Then, he grinned.

    ***

    Notes

    Regarding Half-God, someone suggested that I use demigod. But demigod means that it¡¯s a being born from a god and a mortal and I think that it¡¯s not appropriate for the context. Although it sounds a bit awkward, I still decided to just retain Half-God since the artifacts and skills were basically just halfway to the God rank. Somewhere in between legendary and God rank.

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Frieeeeeeeeeend!

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 221 - How To Make Half

    Chapter 221: How to Make Half-God Artifacts

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Ali still could not figure out Minhyuk¡¯s identity. But he could tell with just that single smile.

    ¡®This person¡­¡­ He¡¯s special¡­¡­¡¯

    It was like he was looking at the top student at school. And just a while ago, Kentaro and the rest of the users from all over the globe were like envious and jealous students that were staring at the top student while saying¡­¡­

    ¡®Is it fun to just study like that~?¡¯

    ¡®Eyy, life is not all about studying.¡¯

    ¡®Have some fun!¡¯

    And they looked at him with pity.

    By the way, how does it feel to be a top student in school?

    The more he thought about that, the better he felt. Even if they told him those things, he did not bother with them too much. After all, he was also such a strong person too.

    ¡®Minhyuk-nim probably feels like that¡­¡­¡¯

    Ali only saw Minhyuk hunting the ancient warriors but he had a strange feeling in his gut. Then, Minhyuk spoke to him.

    ¡°Let¡¯s quickly climb up too. I¡¯ll take the lead! I¡¯m much stronger than I look!¡±

    ¡°Ah, yes!¡±

    Ali liked Minhyuk very much. In fact, he also thought that it would be beneficial to abandon Minhyuk and join the others. That was the only way that he would be able to climb the Hall of Kings. But he did not do so.

    The two of them began their trek up the mountain. Ali, while hunting the other mobs, could see that the ancient warriors¡¯ appearances were increasing in frequency. Even the numbers of the ancient soldiers were also increasing.

    ¡°There are too many ancient warriors.¡±

    The difficulty had increased just like before. There were as many as three ancient warriors now. Ali once again used the Great Undead Boom to deal with the mobs surrounding him. The only problem was the ancient warriors. He was not able to kill them since their high magic defense had reduced the sess rate of the undead boom to an abysmal degree.

    At that moment, Minhyuk¡¯s sword suddenly glowed red. Then, he fired the power that he had gathered strongly.

    [Splitting Sword. Rain (Soar)]

    [A powerful red sword will fly at an enemy. Your sword will have an additional 110% attack power.]

    Shweeeeek!

    As soon as Minhyuk shed his sword down, a crescent sword light cut through an ancient warrior. Then he swept his sword horizontally.

    Shweeeeek!

    A quick and fast sword light immediately cut an ancient warrior in two. After hunting two ancient warriors in quick session, Minhyuk moved quickly to attack the rest of the ancient warriors.

    [Intangible Sword.]

    [Your sword strike has ignored all of the enemy¡¯s defenses.]

    Stab!

    ¡°Keuhaaaack!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s sword stabbed through the ancient warrior¡¯s thick full te armor so easily that it was like he was just poking tofu with a chopstick. He pulled out his sword as he swung it once more.

    [Lightning]

    [Two consecutive strikes!]

    Bang! Bang!

    Two lightning strikes that fell down from the sky quickly devoured the ancient warriors.

    ¡®......Strong. He¡¯s very strong. What happened earlier wasn¡¯t just a coincidence.¡¯

    Ali¡¯s pupils shook wildly as he looked at Minhyuk¡¯s figure. Sweat pooled and covered his hands. Then, he grinned widely.

    ¡®So my friend is very strong!¡¯

    Ali looked around.

    They were the only two people in this area. It seemed like they were the fastest. Then, he saw a group chasing behind them. It was none other than Kentaro and his team members.

    ***

    ¡®How can this be¡­¡­!¡¯

    Chasing behind the two of them, Kentaro could clearly see their teamwork. Ali would use his wide-area magic while Minhyuk would hunt the ancient warriors with high magical defense.

    Kentaro knew that it was difficult to deal with the ancient warrior with his strength alone since it had a high physical and magical defense. But the mysterious and useless user that he saw earlier could easily hunt and kill those ancient warriors at a pace that was faster than his.

    ¡°That user from earlier¡­¡­ He¡¯s much stronger than what I thought.¡±

    ¡°......I know. But we¡¯ll definitely get there ahead of them. The summit of Berest Mountains is divided into three sections. The first section is where soldiers flock like this. The second section is a trick section. It¡¯s the section that is infested with poison. The third section is the section where the Ancient Monarch is located. I know that we¡¯ll be able to pass through the second section faster than they are.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Really?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I climbed the Berest Mountains before, you know? So I¡¯m fully prepared for the poison in the second section. It¡¯s going to be harder than before but I think it¡¯s still possible.¡±

    ¡°As expected of Kentaro-nim.¡±

    ¡°I trust Kentaro-nim!¡±

    Kentaro smiled deep inside. He believed that even if they were ahead of them right now, they would still arriveter than them in the end. No, even before that.

    ¡®That mage¡¯s MP will run out soon, right?¡¯

    Kentaro felt excited from the words of his party members.

    Shortly after, he could hear the sounds from above them.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Fwiiiiiiiiiiiish¡ª

    ¡°There are a lot of tricks and poisons. Perhaps the two of them are not able to move forward because of a powerful poison and curse.¡±

    Kentaro¡¯s smile was smug.

    Barmas, the archer user, opened his ¡®God¡¯s Eye¡¯.

    [God¡¯s Eye.]

    [You can see 1km ahead of you.]

    Barmas was an archer who could use God¡¯s Eye to locate and shoot his enemies from a distance.

    ¡°Heok!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the problem?¡±

    The white of Barmas¡¯ eyes turned ck as he saw the scene in front of him. However, he bursted in surprise when he saw the scene in front of him. Despite the questions from in front of him he remained quiet. No, it was because he was counting.

    ¡°8 seconds, 9 seconds, 10 seconds, 11 seconds, 12 seconds¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    ¡°Barmas-nim?¡±

    ¡°41 seconds¡­¡­¡±

    His ckened eyes slowly returned to their original color.

    ¡°Why were you counting the seconds just now?¡±

    Hearing Kentaro¡¯s words, Barmas¡¯ expression turnedplex as he looked up the mountains.

    ¡°......It¡¯s the time it took for them to move out of the second section to a ce that is devoid of tricks and poisons.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Then, the notifications rang.

    [The Guardians¡¯ Tower shines strongly.]

    [The team that arrived first at the site where the Ancient Monarch is resting will get a special score.]

    [Each team¡¯s score will now be disyed.]

    ¡°......!¡±

    Kentaro just realized that what Barmas said a while ago was the truth.

    As soon as the first team reached the Ancient Monarch, all of the teams¡¯ scores would be posted. The scoreboard would not show the yers¡¯ nickname. They could only set the name of the team that entered the passageway. They could even ce ¡®anonymous¡¯ on it. If they set it as anonymous then the scoreboard would show the number of the passageway that they entered.

    ¡®We¡¯re in passageway 5 right now.¡¯

    [Passageway 5. 941 points.]

    But Kentaro was left speechless when he saw the score of the number one in the scoreboard.

    ¡°Cr, crazy¡­¡­!¡±

    [Korea Number One. 6,413 points.]

    Kentaro realized that those two men, those Koreans, had started to go wild. Their score waspletely ridiculous.

    ¡®What in the world will their rewards be if their score is like that!¡¯

    When he saw the team¡¯s name again, Kentaro couldn¡¯t help but clench his fists tightly.

    ¡®Korea Number One¡­¡­ Korea¡­¡­ Number One¡­¡­!¡¯

    It was clear to him that the words were aimed at them.

    Then, Barmas spoke¡­¡­

    ¡°And that Lv355 user is holding a frying pan.¡±

    Kentaro¡¯s eyes widened in shock.

    ¡®I, I missed the best user in Korea¡­¡­?¡¯

    ***

    Ali and Minhyuk were still hunting the ancient soldiers and warriors five minutes ago when Ali suddenly felt an extraordinary energy.

    [Scan]

    [Detects nearby hazards and dangers.]

    Scan was a magical skill that told the user about the tricks and dangers around them. It was a kind of detection skill but the only problem was that it couldn¡¯t exactly pinpoint the location of the danger. But it was possible to detect all types of dangers.

    ¡°There are plenty of tricks, poisons and curses everywhere. B, but this is not supposed to be this bad¡­¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk stepped forward.

    ¡°Can you do a shield?¡±

    ¡°I can do it. But why¡­¡­?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll stop the tricks, curses and poisons from the front. Ali-nim can use the shield to protect yourself and the rear.¡±

    ¡°Wh, what are you¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Ali-nim.¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    Minhyuk called out to him in a soft and gentle voice.

    ¡°I¡¯m also a citizen of our country.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Ali was speechless.

    When Ali decided to partner with him, the people from all over the world giggled and mocked them. Sometimes, he felt both bad and furious when others mocked his countrypared to when they mocked him.

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we show them what kind of country our country is?¡±

    Ali wanted to tell him that it was too reckless. But before he could do so, Minhyuk pulled out the rapier on his back. The rapier suddenly turned into a frying pan. Minhyuk quickly ran out with his frying pan.

    Baaaaaaang¡ª!

    A huge fire suddenly erupted right next to Minhyuk.

    ng!

    Minhyuk hit the iing magical attack with his frying pan.

    [Magical Reflection.]

    [You have returned the magical attack back to your enemy.]

    [You have fended off a trick.]

    [You have acquired 25 team points.]

    [Each person will gain 10 individual points.]

    Their score continued to increase with every action they took.

    The magic was easily blown away. Then, a series of curses and poisons began to pour towards Minhyuk.

    [Ancient Wind Poison]

    [The poison will clog your airways and block your breathing.]

    [You have an invincible body that can ignore and resist all abnormal states.]

    [You have resisted an abnormal state.]

    [The Curse of the Ancient Witch Parama]

    [Auditory and visual hallucinations derived from your fear will descend upon you.]

    [You have an invincible body that can ignore and resist all abnormal states.]

    No poison or curse could harm Minhyuk due to his invincible body. When Ali saw this, he couldn¡¯t help but be astonished.

    ¡®Ah¡­¡­ So this is why¡­¡­!¡¯

    He was also a high-leveled ranker so he knew what he needed to do.

    A pike from a powerful trick suddenly flew straight towards Minhyuk¡¯s back. Ali¡¯s magic was casted when he reached out his hands.

    [Dark Shield]

    [A ck shield that defends against an enemy attack.]

    Crack, crack, crack¡ª

    Bang!

    ng!

    Minhyuk used his frying pan to defend against the magic that flew towards them.

    Bang! Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    ¡°Dark Shield! Dark Shield! Dark Shield!¡±

    ng, ng, ng, ng!

    It was a fantasticbination. All of the attacks that slipped past Minhyuk¡¯s defenses would be covered by Ali¡¯s dark shield. Minhyuk would run in front as he fended off countless tricks, poisons and curses while Ali stretched his hands to protect him with magic from behind.

    If other users saw them, they would definitely be in shock. The speed of reaction and casting magic was too ridiculous. Anyone would say that it did not make sense since they could quickly read the speed of attack and counter it with his magic. In addition, although they could time such attacks, there were only a few gamers who had the reflexes that could respond to such a speed.

    But Ali was able to do it. And even Minhyuk was the same. A fantasticbination was created between Minhyuk, the strongest closebat user in the country, and Ali, the strongest mage user in the country. They were the bestbi and friends.

    In just 40 seconds, they were able to fend off and dispel all the tricks, curses and poisons that were thrown at them. And the pair heard the notification about their scores.

    The notifications continued to ring.

    [The Guardians¡¯ Tower shines strongly.]

    [The team that arrived first at the site where the Ancient Monarch is resting will get a special score.]

    [Each team¡¯s score will now be disyed.]

    Ali and Minhyuk both shook their heads. They could now see the summit in front of them. The Ancient Monarch was just in front of them.

    Then, Ali said¡­¡­

    ¡°Should we name our team?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I think we should name it.¡±

    ¡°Hmm. I¡¯m still very angry that they ignored us earlier.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded with a wry smile when he heard Ali¡¯s words. Then, he said¡­¡­

    ¡°Then, let¡¯s just name the team as Korea Number One.¡±

    ¡°Ah. That¡¯s nice.¡±

    Ali grinned widely.

    ¡°Our Korea is the best!¡±

    This was how the team Korea Number One was created.

    Then, the two people stepped forward together. They finally arrived at the top of the mountains.

    As soon as they stepped forward, they saw three sculptures lying on an altar. Originally, there should only be the head sculpture in here. But there were two additional sculptures ced beside it. The arms and the legs.

    The three sculptures suddenly floated in the air as the Ancient Monarch began to take shape. His eyes were ring sharply from under his helmet as his torn red cape that was hanging on his shining golden armor fluttered in the wind.

    ¡°Me¡­¡­ Please kill me¡­¡­ I¡¯ve been suffering from the demon¡­¡­ save me¡­¡­¡±

    Before his body took shape, he pleaded at them urgently. However, his eyes began to turn ck.

    ¡°Dieeeeeeeeeee!¡±

    A great force shot out from his sword and like a firework, it bloomed in the sky. The beams of light created by the firework-like energy fell down.

    [The Monarch¡¯s Power]

    [The power of the Monarch stretches over all of Berest Mountains.]

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Explosions resounded from all over the ce as the notifications rang in their heads.

    [The Guardians¡¯ Tower¡¯s light has weakened.]

    [The team in Passageway 1 has been wiped out.]

    [The team in Passageway 8 has been wiped out.]

    [The team in Passageway 6 has been wiped out.]

    A ridiculously strong being had descended upon them.

    ***

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 222 - How To Make Half

    Chapter 222: How to Make Half-God Artifacts

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    The notifications did not stop there.

    [Mass Teleport]

    [The Monarch summons all of his opponents.]

    Light shed everywhere as the users began to appear one by one.

    ¡°Cough!¡±

    ¡°Treatment! Priests! Hurry up! Use heal!¡±

    ¡°Shit, fXck!! He¡¯s too strong!!¡±

    ¡°What priest! All the priests and mages are dead now!!¡±

    ¡°Everyone else from my team is annihted, except me?!¡±

    ¡°Is this a bug? How can you break this?!¡±

    The users were all flustered and confused. Kentaro, whose armor had turned into rags, stood firm as he maintained his defensive posture by crossing his katanas together.

    ¡®This¡­¡­. We¡¯re supposed to break this¡­¡­?¡¯

    Kentaro raised his eyebrow.

    Something¡¯s wrong, something is terribly wrong.

    ¡®Isn¡¯t he impossible to hunt as of the moment?¡¯

    The users in Athenae continued to level up. As their level grew, their strength would also grow stronger. As a result of this, Athenae continued to provide new updates so the users would not get bored and tired as they set new goals for themselves. But the Ancient Monarch in front of them was something that has gone beyond that category. He could estimate that the tankers present now would only be able to hunt him six monthster.

    Athenae put something like this here?

    ¡®Do you want us all to die?¡¯

    Looking around, he could see that most of the users were out ofmission with just the blow from earlier. Most of them had lost their armor¡¯s durability and even the wounded users had to try and survive on their own after the priests were forced to log out. The current number of the warped surviving users were 20. But Kentaro could see that there were still two people who were standing strong. They were none other than Minhyuk and Ali.

    The first strike of the Monarch¡¯s power was meant to strike the other users and not the two people in front of him. But then, the Ancient Monarch swung his sword again.

    ¡°Apologize with your deaths! Foolish men who are against me!¡±

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    As soon as the sword struck out, the ground blew up and shot at the unprepared users.

    Grrrrrrrr!

    ¡°Keuheuk!¡±

    ¡°Keuhack!¡±

    The users let out shrieks. But that did not mean that those users were just going to be pushed back so easily. They quickly came back to their senses.

    ¡°Kentaro! Give an order!¡±

    ¡°You have experience hunting him once, right? We¡¯ll trust your orders!¡±

    Their teams might be different but each and every one of them had realized that this was not the time to gobble up scores and check their scores out. All they needed to worry about was whether they could survive and not be forced to log out.

    ¡°Archers, pull back and continue to deal damage. Tankers, step forward and dealers follow right behind them. Use all of your skills and don¡¯t save anything! The moment we try to save just one skill, we will all be annihted!¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    The users quickly moved to follow his instructions.

    [Wind Arrow¡ª!]

    [Piercing Arrow!]

    [Homing Shot!]

    [One Shot!]

    Twang, twang, twang, twang, twang, twang!

    The arrows that were filled with strength were shot straight towards the Ancient Monarch. But at that moment, a mysterious golden de appeared out of thin air before ripping the arrows in half. Then, the Ancient Monarch began to run.

    ¡°Tankers!¡±

    Kentaro shouted hurriedly.

    ¡°Keuwoooooo!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    The tankers¡¯ bodies started to harden.

    [Golem¡¯s Heart.]

    [Your entire body will be as firm as an Iron Golem.]

    [Active Endurance.]

    [HP increases by 180%.]

    [Gold Knight.]

    [The glittering golden armor increases your defense.]

    Bang!

    The user named Max shed with the dashing Ancient Monarch with hisrge square shield. Just a moment ago, Max was feeling happy after using his ability ¡®Golem¡¯s Heart¡¯ to make his body as hard as stone.

    ¡®If I block this in front of the users from all over the world¡­¡­ I will be a hero!¡¯

    As a tanker, Max was more confident than anyone else about his defense. His defenses were extremely high and his artifacts were also splendid.

    Bang!

    But the moment the Ancient Monarch¡¯s sword collided with hisrge square shield¡­¡­

    ¡°Keuk!¡±

    Max grinned. Just like he expected, his square shield was impregnable. He had personallymissioned a dwarf to make this Manir¡¯s Absolute Shield!

    But something unexpected happened. Something was rising out of the Ancient Monarch Sword straight towards Max¡¯s square shield.

    ¡°Hiiik?!¡±

    Max was caught in surprise. When he looked closely, he could see the root of a tree. And thinking about it, he realized that the Ancient Monarch could freely use the surrounding soil, nts and trees.

    Then, the tree roots began to tighten on the square shield.

    Cra, crack!

    ¡°......Cr, crazy!¡±

    Since his artifact had an infinite durability, no matter what happened to it, it would reset and return back to normal after 24 hours. However, this was the first time that he had seen this happen. And one after the other, the Ancient Monarch wielded his sword.

    Bang!

    Sand gushed out with every brandish of his sword. As soon as the sand touched their skin, it began to heat up.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!¡±

    Max shrieked. And the two users who tried to block the Ancient Monarch from behind him were also caught in surprise. This was because the roots of the trees that rose like tentacles broke through their high defenses and prated through their bodies.

    And that was not the end of it.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang!

    A powerful explosion broke out which shattered their bodies to pieces.

    ¡°Sh, shit! This fXcker!¡±

    ¡°H, how can we kill something like that!¡±

    ¡°This is crazy! I don¡¯t even want to be logged out!!¡±

    The users shrieked in panic. Since they were high-leveled yers, they would receive higher penaltiespared to other users. Even the thought of their artifacts dropping in their death had made them dizzy.

    Shweeeeeek¡ª

    A powerful force shot up through the sky. When Kentaro saw such a powerful force, he couldn¡¯t help but be in despair.

    ¡®We can¡¯t stop that, this¡­¡­¡¯

    He felt like he wanted to log out and the same was true for the other users too. The force split in the air and flew in all directions as it aimed for the users.

    At that moment.

    [Compress.]

    [Drags all users in one ce.]

    The ck Mage Ali swayed his staff. All of the users were dragged by the power that Ali shot out. All of them were firmly gathered behind him. Then, a powerful force shot out from Ali¡¯s staff as it formed a protective barrier around them.

    ¡°Barrier.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    The users were shocked. Barrier was a top-notch skill, it was an evolution of shield. This skill would form a shield that was ten times stronger than the normal shield. However, as a penalty, the mage and the people that he was protecting would not be able to use any ability or even prepare forbat while still under the protection of the barrier.

    The barrier quietly surrounded the surviving users.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    The power of the Ancient Monarch struck fiercely against the barrier. However, surprisingly enough, there were no cracks that appeared on the barrier.

    The users were well aware that Alex, the world¡¯s number one mage, was still not able to learn the eight ss magic, Barrier. This was the reason why the users were all in shock.

    Then, Ali spoke.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t let you live because I liked you. It¡¯s just because we need to have a lot of people to help us.¡±

    Kentaro gulped dryly at Ali¡¯s words. At that moment, they saw Ali look somewhere else. There was a man who was standing outside the barrier.

    ¡°Like the Wind.¡±

    If they were inside the Barrier, then they would be protected under a shield but once they were outside the Barrier, they would lose all of this protection. However, the penalty that stopped them from using any ability to attack would also disappear.

    The man appeared in front of the Ancient Monarch in an instant. Then, he used a skill.

    ¡°Rampant Sword.¡±

    The Rampant Sword that wouldst for 14 seconds! The skill that Minhyuk used began to create dozens of sword lights. These sword lights immediately attacked the Ancient Monarch.

    Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª

    Twang, twang, twang, twang!

    [Fatal Strike!]

    [Intangible Sword.]

    [Your sword strike has ignored all of the enemy¡¯s defenses.]

    Spurt!

    Blood spurted out as the sword light prated through the Ancient Monarch¡¯s thick and sturdy full te armor.

    ¡°Keuaaaack! Such an absurd rookie bastard!¡±

    Vwooooong!

    The Ancient Monarch wielded his sword. However, Minhyuk just defended lightly, he was not backing down. It even seemed like he was continuously pushing against the Ancient Monarch.

    ¡°......¡±

    Kentaro was left speechless.

    ¡°Crazy¡­¡­!¡±

    The same was true for Ali. Ali already knew that Minhyuk was strong but not to this extent.

    It was hard for anyone to gauge someone¡¯s level when they were fighting against rtively weak opponents. However, they would be able to see the true power of that person once they fought against an extremely strong adversary.

    Baaaang!

    At that moment, the roots of the tree that were wrapped around the Ancient Monarch¡¯s body stretched forward as it shot out towards Minhyuk. The Rampant Sword chopped off the iing roots but there were still gaps that allowed it to gain ess to Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    That was the moment when Kongie appeared.

    ¡°Oink!¡±

    With his flipping de, Kongie chipped away at the iing roots at a high speed. Then, he grabbed Minhyuk¡¯s arm as he urged him to spin him around before kicking at Minhyuk¡¯s arm.

    ¡°Oiiiiiiiink!¡±

    Kongie¡¯s small body flew straight towards the Ancient Monarch. He continued to attack while skillfully avoiding the roots that tried to catch him.

    ng!

    Thanks to Kongie¡¯s buffs, Minhyuk¡¯s speed increased again. It was at that moment when the Barrier disappeared.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±

    ¡°Run!¡±

    The global users began to run after Minhyuk¡¯s lead. Kentaro sped his hands as he ced his two index fingers together.

    Poing!

    Kentaro suddenly became three as he continued towards the Ancient Monarch. All of the users prepared their attacks as Minhyuk silently fought in front of them.

    ¡°I¡¯m¡­¡­ the Monarch¡­¡­! The Monarch¡­¡­ who can shake the world with just a swing of my arms! I am stronger and greater than anything¡­¡­ I won¡¯t lose to such puny little punks like you!¡±

    Minhyuk did not answer the words of the Ancient Monarch. Then, the Ancient Monarch roared loudly.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keup!¡±

    ¡°Ack!¡±

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    ¡°Keok!¡±

    All the users screamed. It was because of the notification that popped in front of them.

    [Monarch¡¯s Roar.]

    [Your magic and skills will be unavable for 5 minutes.]

    ¡°......!¡±

    This is a failure.

    The strength of the high-leveled users might be influenced by their stats and items but the biggest influence and contributor to their strength were their magic and skills. Their skills and magic would grow together with their levels. For example, a ss 1 Mage would only be able to summon a fireball the size of a fist but Ali could summon a giant fireball that was called Hellfire.

    But you¡¯re telling me that all of our skills and magic are out of control?

    Kentaro¡¯s clones that were running with him also scattered and disappeared.

    ¡®That person will die now¡­¡­¡¯

    Kentaro sighed deeply. The hunt for the Ancient Monarch was a disaster and there was only one man who was facing the fiercely monstrous Ancient Monarch.

    The Ancient Monarch fiercely struck the ground with his fists. Then, at that moment¡­¡­

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    A loud and powerful explosion engulfed the users.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kaahaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keup!!!¡±

    Kentaro saved Ali by flinging him away.

    ¡°I¡¯ve repaid the life that you saved once.¡±

    Ali stared at Kentaro before looking around. Except for one Chinese user, Ali, Kentaro, and Minhyuk, all the other users were forced to log out. He saw the remaining Chinese user smile subtly at them. This was none other than Haochen Guild¡¯s Master, Bedu.

    ¡®Everything is going ording to n¡­¡­!¡¯

    Once the three other people died together with him, then they would not know what they have done. They would all disappear leaving only their artifacts behind.

    Right now, Bedu was grinning widely.

    There are artifacts all over the ce!

    There were also users who were wiped out along the way so he was sure that there were artifacts there too. All they needed to do was toe back the same path they took in climbing up and pick up those sweet, sweet artifacts. It was literally the epitome of awesomeness in his books.

    Then, at that time¡­¡­

    ¡°I will punish you, you arrogant bastards!¡±

    The Ancient Monarch demonstrated another wide-area magic spell. The grounds twisted as the roots of the trees elongated and shot out towards them.

    At that time, Minhyuk shouted.

    ¡°You don¡¯t had that many abilities! Is this the end?!!¡±

    ¡°Absurd punk!¡±

    The Ancient Monarch gathered all of his strength.

    Brrrrrrrr¡ª

    It felt like the entire world was vibrating that even thezy birds from the nearby trees flew away in a squawk. A powerful force prated and flooded the users including Minhyuk.

    ¡°What a provocation!¡±

    Then, using ¡®Like the Wind¡¯, Minhyuk appeared in front of Ali. He could see Kentaro and Bedu standing next to him. They saw Minhyuk pull out an artifact from his inventory.

    ¡°......?¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    Ali, Kentaro and Bedu all looked at him incredulously.

    What he took out was none other than the Bowl and Mixer Machine. The Bowl was usually used to store ingredients while the Mixer Machine was used to whip eggs or dough. But Minhyuk just suddenly started turning the Mixer Machine with an empty Bowl.

    ¡®What the hell? What¡¯s this idiot doing?¡¯

    ¡®Mi, Minhyuk-nim¡­¡­ yo, you¡¯re acting strange¡­¡­¡¯

    ¡®What the hell is with this person?¡¯

    The Ancient Monarch felt that he was too preposterous.

    ¡°You moronic human!¡±

    Just as the power that the Ancient Monarch released was about to strike into them, a white light appeared in the Bowl of the Mixer Machine. The more he turned the Mixer Machine, the brighter the light inside the Bowl. Then, the light burst out.

    And¡­¡­

    Shashashashashashak¡ª

    Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr¡ª

    The twisting roots disappeared back into the ground and the ragingnd sank down again. Even the surrounding trees that started to rage returned back to their original form. All of the abnormalities that were caused by the Ancient Monarch returned back to their original form.

    [Cancel.]

    [All of the magic and skills will be nullified and void within a 5-meter radius from the user.]

    Then, Minhyuk quickly stored the Mixer Machine back in his inventory before shouting.

    ¡°It¡¯s fake! Complete bullshit!!!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    The three people around him were all shocked.

    Then, the Ancient Monarch said¡­¡­

    ¡°Ridiculous¡­¡­¡±

    The Ancient Monarch looked as puzzled as the rest of them.

    ***

    TL''s corner!

    Thank you for your patience, we''ve had our much needed break! We''ll be back to our regr schedule next week!

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 223 - How To Make Half

    Chapter 223: How to Make Half-God Artifacts

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Everyone in the area stared in horror.

    ¡®All of the abilities were nullified¡­¡­?¡¯

    ¡®What kind of fraudulent ability is this?¡¯

    ¡®That¡¯s that but I can¡¯t believe that someone can cast their skills just by turning and spinning a Bowl and Mixer Machine¡­¡­?¡¯

    Just a few minutes ago, the Monarch¡¯s Roar had made their skills and magic unavable for 5 minutes but now in front of them, Minhyuk did something more ludicrous. But it did not end there, the Roves¡¯ ring that was in Minhyuk¡¯s finger shined brightly which created a huge tidal wave.

    Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª

    The tidal wave stretched out and engulfed the Ancient Monarch. This time, the man brought out another item and it was none other than a millstone. He grabbed the handle of the millstone and¡­

    Turn, turn, turn, turn¡ª

    ¡°Th, this time it¡¯s a millstone¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Ha, hahaha¡­¡­¡±

    Ali and Kentaro had no choice but tough at the ludicrousness of the situation in front of them. However, their curiosity still got the better of them, they were wondering what sort of skill and power this millstone would show them.

    Rumble¡ª

    With the rumbling sound that came up from above, the three dumbfounded users all looked up in the sky.

    ¡®Dark clouds?¡¯

    The phrase ¡®bolt out of a blue¡¯ was perfect for the dark cloud that suddenly appeared in the otherwise clear sky. Just in time, the Ancient Monarch struggled and eventually squeezed out of the huge tidal wave that engulfed him earlier.

    Bang!!

    A lightning bolt suddenly struck down on the Ancient Monarch¡¯s body.

    ¡°Keuaaack!¡±

    But it did not end there.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Dozens of lightning bolts rained down on the Ancient Monarch. They hit him without fail and ced great pressure on his body. But what was more surprising was the fact that the wounds on the Ancient Monarch¡¯s body were rapidly recovering even after being hit with those insane lightning bolts.

    ¡°Such ridiculous regeneration ability¡­¡­¡±

    After using the Lightning Hell from the millstone, Minhyuk quickly used his Fluttering Sword.

    Shwaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª

    Falling leaves suddenly appeared in the air as dust swirled around Minhyuk¡¯s body. And just as the duration of the Lightning Hell ended¡­¡­

    ¡°Bastaaaard!¡±

    The Ancient Monarch raised his sword and shed it down strongly. A fierce and long sword light shot out from his sword. The sword was so huge and long that everyone present believed that they hadn¡¯t seen anything like that at all.

    Shweeeeeeeeeek!

    It was at that moment when the buffering time of the Fluttering Sword ended.

    Pew, pew, pew, pew, pew, pew¡ª

    Hundreds of sword lights collided with the flying sword. The fluttering leaves scattered and disappeared with the strike from the powerful sword. But with the continuous attacks from the fallen leaves, the power of the gigantic sword slowly began to wear off before disappearing right under the user¡¯s nose.

    ¡°Heok, heok. I think I lost ten years of my life there.¡±

    Kentaro spoke with great spite. In all honesty, the rest of them were all useless. Not to mention Ali was a mage user, even Kentaro, who was stronger in his basic stats and powers, would still die once he attacked the Ancient Monarch. It was only now that Kentaro had realized how weak he was.

    ¡®I can¡¯t do anything.¡¯

    He couldn¡¯t help but shudder when he realized the strength of the man that was currently standing in front of him.

    ¡®I also want to be as strong as him¡­¡­¡¯

    Then, he watched as the man dash towards the Ancient Monarch.

    Minhyuk¡¯s sword shed red as he stabbed the Ancient Monarch strongly. But the roots and branches that rose from the ground began to surround the Ancient Monarch forming an armor around his body at the same time.

    Crash!

    The moment Minhyuk¡¯s sword made contact with his body¡­

    An ability that was quite literally simr to Cancel was suddenly unleashed. His skill became useless the moment his sword collided with the tree armor. Without missing a moment, additional roots and branches that were created by the Ancient Monarch started to bind Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    ¡°Keup!¡±

    sh!

    The Ancient Monarch brought his sword down on Minhyuk¡¯s body. Minhyuk¡¯s HP began to fall at a rapid pace.

    The Monarch was suddenly blocked when he was about to strike down on Minhyuk again.

    ¡°Oink!¡±

    Kongie gantly blocked in front of Minhyuk as he faced against the Ancient Monarch¡¯s sword.

    ng! ng, ng, ng!

    ¡°Laughable!¡±

    ¡°Oink!¡±

    However, Kongie was not able to hold on and was pushed back in no time at all. Just as the Ancient Monarch was going to strike down again¡­¡­

    Dash¡ª

    Kentaro moved. The sword of the Ancient Monarch that was headed for Minhyuk was intercepted. It pierced Kentaro¡¯s abdomen.

    ¡°Keup!¡±

    Kentaro threw himself in front of Minhyuk even though he knew that he would be forced to log out.

    ¡°I have repaid the life that I owed you.¡±

    Kentaro watched as his HP drained rapidly. The Ancient Monarch kicked him in irritation.

    ¡°Keok!¡±

    Then, the notifications rang loudly in everyone¡¯s ears.

    ¡°Fire!¡±

    Crackle!

    Ali casted powerful mes to burn the branches and roots that tied down Minhyuk¡¯s body. There was no significant damage on Minhyuk from the fire since his magical defense was ridiculously high.

    Tear, tear¡ª

    Minhyuk tore the branches that were weakened from the fire before stepping back. Then, he sent whispers to Ali.

    Minhyuk did not reply to him. He just jumped on the Ancient Monarch. He knew that this bastard had very strong regenerative abilities so they needed to hit him with one strong hit. Strong enough that he wouldn¡¯t be able to regenerate at all. First and foremost, he was confident with his Scattering Sword, he was also sure that he wouldn¡¯t be hurt that much.

    Using ¡®Like the Wind¡¯, Minhyuk quickly approached the Ancient Monarch. He allowed another attack tond on him to find a gap that he could take advantage of.

    Stab!

    ¡°Keup!¡±

    Then, Minhyuk hugged the Ancient Monarch with all his might.

    ¡°This bastard¡­¡­!¡±

    The Ancient Monarch was stunned and flustered when he was suddenly held in a vice-like grip. However, his power was tremendous so he easily broke his arm free from the hug as he smashed down on Minhyuk.

    But even when Minhyuk fell to the ground, he did not let him go so easily. He even grabbed his legs to stop him even just for a moment. After preparing his attack, Ali finally murmured something under his breath.

    ¡°Diss.¡±

    It was the skill from the skillbook that he had acquired after clearing the Liberation of the Hero¡¯s Curse. Diss.

    Shweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee¡ª

    Arge spear made of light rapidly descended from the sky. It was even faster than the speed of light. Therge spear instantly pierced the Ancient Monarch.

    Stab!

    ¡°Keok!¡±

    The Ancient Monarch vomited out a mouthful of blood. It seemed like the spear made of light had dealt great damage on its body. The Ancient Monarch even staggered back from the impact of the spear. However, he slowly grabbed the spear of light.

    ¡°Crazy shit¡­¡­!¡±

    Ali stared in horror. Diss was an attack magic that could concentrate a tremendous amount of magic power. It could even increase the user¡¯s magical attack power by 1,200%. But the Ancient Monarch was still alive and moving. He even grabbed the spear as he tried to pull it out of his body.

    But at that moment, Minhyuk, whose HP fell to the bottom, delivered the final blow.

    ¡°Scattering Sword.¡±

    It was a tremendously strong single sword strike that had eight times his attack power!

    The overwhelming power of his sword struck down on the Ancient Monarch.

    Stab!

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡±

    The Ancient Monarch let out a loud shriek as a mysterious skeletal figure came out of his mouth and fluttered in the air. He was finally liberated from the control of the demon. But the skeletal figure that floated in the air targeted another user. The user that the skeletal figure targeted was none other than Bedu.

    Bedu was flustered.

    But not long after, the skeletal figure scattered and disappeared in the air. However, Bedu¡¯s face was already distorted beyond belief.

    ¡®This fXcker! Why is this NPC screwing me up!!¡¯

    Ali and Kentaro¡¯s eyes narrowed to a slit.

    ¡®Everything was instigated by this person¡­¡­¡¯

    ¡®This instigator must have collected the sculptures and awakened that guy.¡¯

    For some, the reason did not matter but the two of them had this hunch. So Kentaro and Ali did not hesitate to attack Bedu. He died easily under the hands of the two but since Bedu has long been in a Chaotic State, he dropped his artifacts after his death. In other words, he had reaped what he had sown.

    Then, the notifications began to pour in.

    Kentaro knew that it was hisplete defeat. The gap between their scores was ten times as much as theirs. Even the individual scores were in the same state.

    Minhyuk heard the notifications.

    Meanwhile, the ck Mage Ali¡¯s face was stiff. It was because he also heard the notification for the Hall of Kings.

    Cleared with an unreachable score!

    This was the first time that two different people climbed the Hall of Kings at the same time.

    Minhyuk still chose to remain anonymous. Then, the notifications continued to ring.

    ¡°......!¡±

    Kentaro had also heard the notifications. The notifications for the Hall of Kings would always ring all over the world! And the Anonymous King!

    ¡®As expected, this is the guy who participated in thepetition not too long ago!¡¯

    Kentaro had also watched the video of Athenae: Korean World War. And right now, the user that shone brightly during thatpetition was standing in front of him.

    Then, another set of notifications rang.

    ¡°......!¡±

    Kentaro was once again caught in surprise. This was because this was the first time that users climbed the Hall of Kings at the same time.

    And with this, South Korea now had two kings. In addition, ¡®Anonymous¡¯, with his record breaking three consecutive climbs in the Hall of Kings, was the only user with the same score as ¡®Ca¡¯.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk got additional notifications.

    ¡°Yayy!! Soy sauce braised chicken!!¡±

    When Ali and Kentaro saw him being so over the moon with joy after they heard the Hall of King¡¯s notifications as well as the Monarch¡¯s Treasure Chest notifications, they thought ¡®Ah~ He must have gotten something nice~¡¯.

    Ali scuttled forward to check the Ancient Treasure Chest. When he saw the contents inside, he couldn¡¯t help but be thrilled.

    ¡°Cr, crazy¡­¡­!¡±

    It was a two-thousand-year-old ginseng that could increase his mana reserves by 1.7x permanently!

    Then, Ali turned to speak to Minhyuk excitedly while watching him happily twittering around from getting the ingredients for the soy sauce braised chicken.

    ¡°A two-thousand-year-old ginseng came out of my treasure chest. Minhyuk-nim.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Congrattions. Wait. Does that mean that I can also get something to eat?! Something delicious!¡±

    ¡°......May, maybe?¡±

    Ali nodded his head in embarrassment while Minhyuk hurriedly clicked on his own treasure chest.

    Brrrrrrr, brrrrr, brrrrrr¡ª

    The Monarch¡¯s Treasure Chest began to vibrate wildly.

    ¡®Something delicious, pleasee out! Something delicious!¡¯

    Minhyuk longed and wished for it sincerely. But after confirming what he had acquired, his expression suddenly turned sullen.

    ¡°......I guess I don¡¯t have luck with draws.¡±

    When Minhyuk suddenly turned strangely sulky, Ali asked after him.

    ¡°What did you get? Can you share it with me?¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head while pouting. Ali was able to confirm that Minhyuk had obtained a method to produce Half-God artifacts.

    Ali was shocked after repeatedly confirming the item that Minhyuk had obtained. He couldn¡¯t understand his reaction at all.

    ¡°Th, this is what you pull out when you¡¯re unlucky with draws?!¡±

    Minhyuk continued to pout as he answered him.

    ¡°Have you heard about a wise saying? ¡®Life is divided into two parts, before knowing chicken and after knowing chicken.¡¯ Kghk! Just like that saying, I had hoped to wash the fatigue of today away if I pulled out a chicken but¡­¡­ I can¡¯t believe that I pulled out a parchment that I couldn¡¯t even eat¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    It seemed like the Half-God Artifact Production Method was worse than a chicken.

    TL¡¯s corner!

    I was wondering what would happen to Bedu but thank goodness they dealt with him. Phew.

    ANNOUNCEMENT!

    Today marks the first year anniversary of me TLing LUTE. Hooray! There will be a 10 chapter mass release today to celebrate. I wanted to extend the celebration by just releasing double chapters per day but I caught a cold and my head''s aching badly.

    On that note, we will be reducing next week''s chapters to 3 since I can''t TL much with this headache.

    Thank you for always supporting LUTE and WoopRead. Hope you continue to support us. Don''t forget to support our author-nim too!

    For more announcements, make sure to join us on our discord!

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 224 - How To Make Half

    Chapter 224: How to Make Half-God Artifacts

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Kentaro suddenly approached Minhyuk.

    ¡°I won¡¯t lose next time.¡±

    Minhyuk did not answer him. After all, he was also a person who had saved his life once. Kentaro¡¯s lips curled up. He felt a strong desire to be stronger! He was very determined to improve himself and be stronger so he asked Minhyuk.

    ¡°I have a question.¡±

    He felt that his pride was a bit tainted and hurt but he had no choice but to turn to him and ask.

    ¡°How can I be as strong as you?¡±

    And for that question, Minhyuk just answered it simply.

    Then, Ali, Kentaro and Minhyuk acquired all of the dropped artifacts.

    Before logging out, Ali spoke to Minhyuk.

    ¡°Minhyuk-nim, I¡¯ll always run to you when you need me.¡±

    ¡°Thank you. Ali-nim!¡±

    It was absolutely unimaginable to get help anytime from the world¡¯s most powerful mage, Ali!

    After they had left, the Haochen Guild members were all resurrected by the Absolute Commander¡¯s ability. They could see that not only were the other artifacts missing, even their own artifacts had disappeared. Since Beas Vige had opened, the only thing that they had done was the entrance quest for the entire two months of their preparation. What was worse was that even their artifacts were gone. Of course, it was a given that they were wearing their artifacts that were worse than the usual but it was still a fact that they had suffered a great loss.

    ¡°No waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!¡±

    When they finally revived and came back to their senses, they grabbed their heads and wailed loudly. The birds in the surrounding area were startled and flew off the trees.

    Meanwhile, after Kentaro ended the game, he directly went to the kitchen. After all, he was told about the way to be strong!

    ¡®That¡¯s right. This way, I can be stronger too!¡¯

    He ate three bowls of rice first before slouching down and rubbing his stomach. After digesting the food to some extent, he immediately went out to his yard.

    ¡°Haa! Haa! Haa!¡±

    And he started to wield his katanas with all his might. Sweat dripped down continuously from his forehead but Kentaro did not feel tired at all. Contrary to that, he was even feeling a sense of thrill and excitement.

    At night, once the clock ticked to 9 o¡¯clock, he had already tucked himself under the covers just like a child who came to a new country.

    ¡®Eat well, exercise hard, and sleep well!¡¯

    Minhyuk¡¯s words were a bit hushed by the end but Kentaro was thrilled beyond words when he heard him.

    Aaaaah! This is life¡¯s insight and realization! Eat well, exercise hard and sleep well! What else is there for me to say except good?

    Kentaro was excited with his words. He thought that he could finally see why he was so strong.

    ¡®When a person eats well, exercises hard and sleeps on time, it means that they grind themselves regrly. Even though he just told me those words simply, I believe that those words can speak to one¡¯s soul!¡¯

    That was when Kentaro decided that he could do it too. He could eat well, exercise hard and sleep well! Kentaro quietly pulled the nket up to his chin as he fell in his dreand, dreaming sweetly of the future where he was finally stronger. A smile curled up on his lips after realizing that he could finally be stronger.

    He didn¡¯t know but Minhyuk only said that he should eat well, exercise hard and sleep well because he really became stronger by doing that.

    Athenae Temple was thergest and greatest ce where believers and devotees gathered in the virtual reality game Athenae. In addition, the Athenae Religion was the most powerful ¡®religion¡¯ among all of the gods present in the world view. Most of the priests and Pdins in the world rankings were members of the Athenae Religion. But that was just it, they were just literally rankers. In fact, being a member of the Athenae Religion was very difficult. In addition to having a strict discipline, only those with 500 points on their holy power stats were allowed to join the congregation. But because of the Athenae Religion, the gaming lives of the users were blooming splendidly.

    A woman stared at a distance as she stood by the window in the Athenae Temple. She was quite astounded by the foreigners who visited Athenae Temple every day.

    ¡°It, it¡¯s the Saintess Rowena!¡±

    ¡°Wow¡­¡­ So, so beautiful! I have never seen someone as beautiful as her in the world!¡±

    In the virtual reality game Athenae, there existed an NPC that was described to be the most beautiful woman. That NPC was none other than the figure in front of the window, the Saintess Rowena. Rowena was the Saintess that the God of Athenae had personally sent down and she was more beautiful than anybody else.

    The reason why Saintess Rowena was standing in front of the window was simple.

    ¡°A foreigner is going to challenge and move the Saint¡¯s sword.¡±

    The Saint¡¯s sword! It was a legend that came down along with the Athenae Religion. It was said that whoever moved the Saint¡¯s sword, that was deeply embedded in the ground, was most likely the one who would be a hero.

    However, 2,000 years had passed since the Athenae Religion was founded but the Saint¡¯s sword was still stuck in that same ce. Nobody was able to move it at all.

    ¡®It requires a high level of holy power. In addition, that person needed to be pure without greed for treasure or sexual desire.¡¯

    It had been 2,000 years. And in those 2,000 long years, no one was chosen. But even though he was not a part of the Athenae Religion, Bavecka¡¯s Child, Julian, said that he was going to challenge the Saint¡¯s sword. He was a foreigner. But even though he was a foreigner, he was said to have the highest Holy Power among the foreigners and was a well-known and distinguished priest.

    ¡°Wow. Bavecka¡¯s Julian!¡±

    ¡°The man who threw away all of his greed even inside the game!¡±

    The users were all in a buzz. People were allowed to try and move the Saint¡¯s sword regardless if they were a member of the Athenae Religion or not.

    The foreigners began to gather while Rowena looked with great anticipation from above. She saw Julian grab the golden hilt of the Saint¡¯s sword. He held it with both hands before pulling it up.

    ¡°Keuuuuup!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    But it did not move at all. Perhaps feeling the embarrassment from being watched by a lot of people, Julian exerted a lot of strength.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaa!¡±

    Then¡­¡­

    Pooooot~

    No matter how strong he was, Julian still rushed out of the area with his face as red as an apple after identally farting.

    Rowena turned around and bit her lips tightly.

    ¡®There are a lot of movements on the demon¡¯s side these days. Something is about to happen. Definitely something.¡¯

    Steam was rising from the pot of soy sauce braised chicken. This was the Monarch¡¯s soy sauce braised chicken that he had received after sessfully hunting the Ancient Monarch.

    Minhyuk smiled happily when he saw the bowl of rice and soy sauce braised chicken in front of him. Then, he quickly stretched out his chopsticks and picked up a chicken leg first. He happily took a bite out of the steaming chicken leg. The salty vor of the soy sauce as well as the tender and soft texture of the chicken meat put a smile on his face.

    After eating all of the meat on the chicken leg, he ate a spoonful of rice. Then, he stretched out his chopsticks to pick a piece of the well-diced potato. The light, salty and soft taste of the potato spread in his mouth.

    This time, he sprinkled a spoonful of sauce on top of his rice before adding the potatoes and mashing it in the rice. Then, he chomped on a mouthful of the rice and potato. Next, he lifted the t noodles that were usually used in soy sauce braised chicken before cing it in his mouth and slurping it down.

    ¡°Ah. Delicious.¡±

    The t noodles had absorbed the vor of the soy sauce more than the chicken so the taste could already be said to be truly delicious. And he could also taste the strong vor of the seasonings in other parts of the dish! There was a saying that when you eat chicken, you should eat it without knowing whether it was a fried chicken or a seasoned chicken.

    Just like that, Minhyuk cleanly ate everything on his te. Then, the notifications began to ring.

    ¡°......Huh?¡±

    Minhyuk was somewhat surprised. He already knew that he would know about the Food God¡¯s Divination once he ate the Ancient Monarch¡¯s soy sauce braised chicken but when he confirmed the dish before, it did not state clearly what the divination was.

    Minhyuk quickly checked the Food-rted Quests.

    ¡°Oh¡­¡­!¡±

    A small smile curled in Minhyuk¡¯s mouth. This was because he smelled that something delicious woulde out from the Food-rted Quests that he could only obtain after eating different kinds of food.

    ¡°This is definitely the smell! Hmm~ Smell~!¡±

    Minhyuk smiled with satisfaction before feeling a bit of distress. After hunting the Ancient Monarch, he was able to obtain the ¡®Monarch¡¯s seeds¡¯. After he added Ali as friends, he had asked him about it and he realized that he was the only one who received such a reward. He was guessing that it was because he had a higher individual score than the rest of them so he received this.

    Minhyuk turned to the seeds and checked the information again.

    The question marks remained the same even after he checked it again. Even the description was a bit cryptic.

    ¡®Ah¡­¡­ I think it would be better if I grew these seeds.¡¯

    That was right. Minhyuk was only interested in delicious things. And for that reason, Minhyuk sent another whisper to Abel.

    Minhyuk thought that it was a pity. He thanked Abel but his thoughts still continued to churn in his head.

    ¡®Do I really need to give up?!¡¯

    The Monarch¡¯s Seeds was definitely something extraordinary.

    ¡®I¡¯m sure something delicious will grow out of this!¡¯

    Rowena looked at the leader of the Pdins, Corr, as she watched the Athenae¡¯s crystal ball. The Athenae¡¯s crystal ball could measure the amount of magi in the surroundings. However, her face right now was distorted.

    ¡®The crystal ball is indicating that the amount of magi is more than the usual¡­¡­¡¯

    It was clear that Demon Verus and his devil worshippers were all moving. Then, Corr spoke to her.

    ¡°A foreigner has been asking me to meet you for about 15 days now.¡±

    ¡°......Is that so?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°But why are you reporting this to me?¡±

    Rowena smiled coldly. The number of foreigners that wanted to meet her up close and personal were overflowing. Some people even waited for a month, not just 15 days. However, she was the Saintess and the only candidate for the papacy. Was she supposed to care about one foreigner just like that? She was also doubtful about the fact that the leader of the Pdins, Corr, had reported something trivial to her.

    ¡°He¡¯s apletely unique foreigner. He¡¯s already adored and loved by all of the priests of the Athenae Religion.¡±

    ¡°......What do you mean?¡±

    Rowena tilted her head in confusion.

    Adored and loved by all of the priests of the Athenae Religion? That can¡¯t be true. Those people all had their nose up in the sky. They believed that Athenae Religion is the superior ¡®religion¡¯. They¡¯re even more snobbish than most of the nobles in the continent.

    ¡°I also adore him, that¡¯s why I¡¯m reporting this to you. And he¡¯s going to challenge the Saint¡¯s sword today.¡±

    Rowena frowned at his words. She was a bit curious about this person that was loved and adored by all of the priests.

    She opened the door and went out. But the sight in front of her had left her speechless. The priests and foreigners were all gathered around the area. And at the center of all these people was a man. The man grasped the hilt of the sword with his hands. No. To be more exact, he held the hilt of the sword and lightly lifted it. The sword was actually easily pulled out.

    ¡°Huh? It came out?¡±

    The moment the sword was pulled out, the Saint¡¯s sword shined brightly. Its light covered the entirety of the Athenae Temple.

    She trembled wildly.

    ¡®He, he, he¡¯s the man in the legends¡­¡­!¡¯

    She was so excited that she shouted unknowingly.

    ¡°Why did you pull it out!!!¡±

    The man was caught in surprise.

    ¡°Ah! That¡¯s right! It moved at my touch. Wait! Sorry!¡±

    Then, he put the sword back in.

    ¡°N, no. Why did you put it back inside!!¡±

    ¡°Ah. All right!¡±

    Then, the man pulled it out again.

    ¡°Keok!¡±

    An indescribable sound came out of Rowena¡¯s mouth.

    ¡®What kind of Saint¡¯s sword is this? Why can he easily pull it out?! He even looked like he was just pulling up some radish from the ground?!!¡¯

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Sounds like King Arthur. Lol.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 225 - The Birth Of Minhyuk Religion

    Chapter 225: The Birth of Minhyuk Religion

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    64 The Birth of Minhyuk Religion

    Five days have already passed in reality, it was equivalent to 15 days in Athenae.

    Director Kim Daesik was thrilled beyond words when he saw Team Leader Park entering the door with sunsses on his face while saying ¡®Aloha~¡¯.

    ¡°Team Leader Park!¡±

    He strode forward and hugged Team Leader Park tightly.

    ¡°I missed you so much!¡±

    Team Leader Park tilted his head in confusion when Director Kim Daesik hugged him like he had finally met his long-lost rtive. He turned to look at Lee Minhwa. He did not voice it out and just mouthed at her.

    ¡®What¡¯s with him?¡¯

    ¡®A lot of things happened.¡¯

    Lee Minhwa smiled wryly as Director Kim Daesik talked to him while he hugged him tightly.

    ¡°I finally realized how much work the Special Users Management Team is doing and how sincere you all are!! You¡¯ve worked hard!! You guys are the pride and joy of Joy Co. Ltd!!!¡±

    As soon as his words ended, he whisked himself away then disappeared from the room. When he met President Kang Taehoon, all he could say was¡­

    ¡°The Special Users Management Team is a key part of our Joy Co. Ltd. Considering the heavy workload and mental damage(?), I think they should be given frequent bonuses and vacations.¡±

    ¡°I see. Ah. How was it? I¡¯m thinking of using you as a substitute when the people from the Special Users Management Team finally get some extra vacation time.¡±

    ¡°I think it¡¯s better to take out the vacation and just add more bonuses!¡±

    That was the kind of talk that came and went between them.

    Meanwhile, Team Leader Park had a ck face when he listened to the briefing.

    ¡°What is User Minhyuk¡¯s current status?¡±

    ¡°He received the Monarch¡¯s seeds and is now currently heading to Athenae Temple housing the Athenae Religion.¡±

    His expression was distorted when he heard her words. He looked like he had heard something that he did not want to hear as soon as he came back.

    ¡°Monarch¡¯s seeds? Athenae Religion¡­¡­?¡±

    He was left speechless. Lee Minhwa, with a bitter look on her face, exined to him the process of how he had acquired the Monarch¡¯s seeds.

    ¡°The bastards from Haochen Guild did such a thing? It¡¯s a good thing that Beas Vige did not disappear but I can¡¯t believe that the Monarch¡¯s seeds that¡¯s supposed toe out three monthster are now in the hands of User Minhyuk¡­¡±

    Lee Minhwa nodded her head.

    ¡°That¡¯s a huge amount of power.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. And going with User Minhyuk¡¯s nature, he will do anything to awaken the Monarch¡¯s seeds because he believes that something delicious wille out of it.¡±

    ¡°Yes. That¡¯s why he¡¯s heading towards Athenae Religion¡¯s temple now.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fortunate that he will not be able to meet Rowena even if he went to the temple.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Rowena was someone who was more difficult to build and increase the favorability with than the Sword Emperor Ellie. Of course, the quest for the Monarch¡¯s seed would only proceed if he met with the pope of Rowena. But it was still too early for him. The Athenae Religion was the best and greatest religion existing in that world view and it was filled with proud and arrogant people. And he believed that Minhyuk would not be able to meet Rowena in such a ce.

    ¡°And no matter how high User Minyuk¡¯s Holy Power is, he will still not be able to draw the Saint¡¯s sword yet.¡±

    Team Leader Park was a bit relieved.

    The Saint¡¯s sword would only be pulled out if he had at least 4,000 Holy Power. And Minhyuk¡¯s Holy Power as well as the various artifacts that he had that could increase the Holy Power by X times still fell short of that threshold.

    He felt relieved at such a thought.

    But soon, he would not be able to feel any relief at all.

    Minhyuk saw arge temple when he arrived at the Athenae Religion¡¯s church. The temple was as splendid and magnificent as the temple in Greece.

    He knew that Athenae Temples existed in each and every server of the world. And among these NPC priests, there were special existences that could warp into Athenae Temples from all over the world. He had heard that those people were the pope and Rowena. They said that Rowena and the pope could move to their rooms in the Athenae Temple in each country¡¯s server. In other words, they were the only NPCs that existed as a single person all throughout the servers in the world. It was also the same for the Saint¡¯s sword. It existed on every server, but there was only one item in the entire world. The moment someone drew it out, it would be removed from the rest of the servers.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk had finally entered the temple at a price of 10 million gold.

    Although he was allowed entry in the Athenae Temple, he could only view and not touch everything in his sight. This was how the system had set everything inside. In addition, when someone made a fuss inside, they would immediately receive a curse that would turn them into a ¡®Chaotic¡¯ user. The admission fee was also extremely expensive so the only ones who could enter would either be the extremely rich or those that wanted to challenge the Saint¡¯s sword.

    Minhyuk first looked at the admission guide, Priest Keh. The admission guide was the priest who would stay together with the user until they left the temple. Keh was a priest that had neat blonde hair and had an overall aesthetic and nice appearance.

    Then, he asked him carefully.

    ¡°Keh-nim.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°By any chance, can I have an audience with Rowena-ni¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    It seemed like a lot of people had asked this question that he answered him in just a second, no, before he was even done talking.

    ¡°Is there a way¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s none.¡±

    ¡°Just once¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Do you want to leave immediately?¡±

    He felt bad for blocking him from the very beginning. But even though Keh knew that Minhyuk was very polite and kind, he still could not allow the things that really couldn¡¯t be done.

    Minhyuk bowed in silence as he looked around.

    ¡®There¡¯s got to be a way.¡¯

    There was always this thing called ¡®flexibility¡¯ wherever people lived and interacted. Of course, Minhyuk has also searched the official homepage for answers. And the people¡¯s reactions were simple.

    Thements below the article were mildly eptable. The joking tone of the post was clear but when he looked through it, he realized that the quest that would connect to Rowena was still not confirmed. But he knew that there would always be a way.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk continued to walk through the crowd. He could see a huge greatsword stuck in the ground. The hilt of the sword was made out of gold and the image of a bull was imprinted on the body of the sword to depict the Athenae Religion.

    ¡®That bull looks delicious¡­¡­¡¯

    The thought passed through his head. Then, as he continued to watch the scene, he saw users challenging the sword. All of the users failed miserably.

    Then¡­¡­

    ¡°It¡¯s the 8th in the Pdin rankings in our country, Randos!¡±

    ¡°Randos!! He¡¯s the one with the tremendous Holy Power at 400, right?¡±

    The users began to whisper together in admiration.

    Then, Randos, a man in a shing silver armor, walked forward. His body was filled with great muscles. He silently approached the sword and grabbed its hilt before pulling strongly.

    ¡°Heeeeeeeup!¡±

    He first let out such a sound but as time went by, his face became redder and the sound that he let out became weirder.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    But the Saint¡¯s sword did not budge at all.

    ¡°Will that sword be pulled out at all?¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it practically impossible at this point?¡±

    ¡°ording to the Athenae homepage, if you pull out the Saint¡¯s sword then you will be able to receive a great quest from the Athenae Religion. Right?¡±

    ¡°I heard the rewards are great.¡±

    ¡°But I don¡¯t think the contents have been posted. I wonder how much Holy Power is needed to pull it out?¡±

    The voices of the users around him rang loudly. Minhyuk decided to try it once. Just as finished his decision, he turned to speak to Keh.

    ¡°Will I be able to meet Rowena-nim if I pull out the Saint¡¯s sword?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll be able to meet with her.¡±

    Keh smiled subtly as he shook his head. So Minhyuk challenged it but just like Randos, he also failed miserably.

    Minhyuk¡¯s Holy Power stat was at 1,000 but it was actually more than 2,000 in strength. This was thanks to the effect of Pandora¡¯s Helmet. But it was still useless.

    He couldn¡¯t help but sigh. But instead of wallowing in self pity, Minhyuk decided to look around with Keh first. And during that process¡­¡­

    ¡°It¡¯s lunch time.¡±

    Keh smiled at him.

    ¡°Brother, you do know that it¡¯s not possible to eat meat in here. Right?¡±

    ¡°Ah. Yes. I know.¡±

    ¡°If we go to the restaurant, you will be able to eat a vegetarian meal. Foreigners and priests all go there to eat. Let¡¯s go there.¡±

    It was a strict and rigid discipline!

    No one would even dare to eat meat in Athenae Temple. But when Minhyuk followed him to the restaurant and saw the menu, he couldn¡¯t help but be left in shock.

    ¡®What is this!!¡¯

    Minhyuk was too surprised. A bowl of raw garlic sd cost 10,000 gold while lettuce sd was about 20,000 gold. Even the unseasoned spinach was about 20,000 gold.

    Minhyuk had no choice but to be shocked. He eventually sat in front of Keh unable to buy anything at all.

    ¡®I¡¯m hungry¡­¡­!¡¯

    He felt sad as he muttered to himself.

    ¡°There are many animals running around in nature, how can I eat grass like this? Brother.¡±

    Then, he saw the food that Keh ate. It was a bowl of sd with no sauce at all. Minhyuk felt like he was watching himself eat those cherry tomatoes.

    Minhyuk turned to look around. He could see that most of the users had the same expression as him while the admission guides just atefortably as if the food that they ate were naturally delicious. But Minhyuk knew.

    ¡®I know that they want to eat something delicious!!!¡¯

    He knew that this ce would not ept any artificial seasoning as their seasoning. The only thing that they could eat were pure ingredients that were harvested from the ground. In other words, MSG was not allowed.

    As he watched them like that, Minhyuk suddenly came up with a brilliant idea.

    ¡®Pe, perhaps¡­¡­!¡¯

    First, he needed to get close to the people in here for him to be able to meet the king of this ce. Rowena was the king and the priests were her subjects. And Minhyuk thought that his idea was brilliantly clever.

    Not long after, he spoke.

    ¡°Priest-nim.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°Is that delicious?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    Keh continued to speak with great conviction.

    ¡°It¡¯s like I¡¯m chewing paper.¡¯

    ¡°Ahhhhh. My goodness!¡±

    Minhyuk felt pity towards him. He could sympathize with him more strongly than anybody else.

    ¡°But it couldn¡¯t be helped.¡±

    You sound just like a monk, Keh!

    Then, Minhyuk went closer as he whispered in his ears.

    ¡°How would you like it if I treat you to a more delicious meal using those vegetables?¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    Keh¡¯s response was unenthusiastic. Then, he asked Minhyuk.

    ¡°What are you going to make?¡±

    Everyone was interested in new food so Minhyuk was confident that he would hook his attention. When he heard his words, Minhyuk grinned widely at him.

    ¡°Tofu steak.¡±

    The priests of the Athenae Religion all lived nearby in a ¡®priest shelter¡¯. Keh, who just arrived there, was left in a daze while fellow priest Raven asked him a question.

    ¡°Keh. Why have you been in a daze since a while ago?¡±

    ¡°......N, nothing.¡±

    ¡°Really? That¡¯s weird.¡±

    His colleagues were left in confusion as Keh stood there mesmerized. He looked like he was possessed by something while he washed up in a daze.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with Keh today?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I heard that a foreigner made him tofu steak in the restaurant a while ago. He has been like that ever since he ate it.¡±

    Keh was still in a daze even if he was already lying in his bed.

    He couldn¡¯t help but imagine those well-done tofu steaks. He remembered cutting the steak into pieces himself. With the fork in his left hand pressing on to the tofu steak, his right hand sliced a piece of tofu steak that he brought towards his mouth. The texture of the tofu steak in his mouth was spectacr.

    Keh¡¯s mouth moved by itself. He looked like he was chewing on it in his sleep.

    ¡°That soft and warm piece¡­¡­ Chew, chew, chew¡­¡­ That light yet savory vor¡­¡­¡±

    Keh has never eaten meat ever since he was born. Even though he had never eaten meat, he believed that real meat would taste and feel the same way with the ¡®meat¡¯ that he ate today. He was covered in cold sweat and his arms were shaking during the entirety of the night. That was right. He was experiencing symptoms of tofu steak withdrawal!! In the end, Keh couldn¡¯t sleep at all so he stood up.

    ¡®I want to eat it again¡­¡­ Tofu steak¡­¡­¡¯

    Then, he opened his eyes.

    ¡®Mi, Minhyuk-niiiiiiiiiim!¡¯

    That was the beginning.

    That was the moment when the Athenae Religion¡¯s priests turned around and followed Minhyuk¡¯s Religion.

    TL¡¯s note!

    Uhm. LOL. I can¡¯t. Oh my god. Scammed with just one tofu steak. I think I can vaguely guess how Minhyuk increased his holy power¡­¡­

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 226 - The Birth Of Minhyuk Religion

    Chapter 226: The Birth of Minhyuk Religion

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Keh stood up with dark circles under his eyes as he prayed eagerly.

    I hope Brother Minhyuk did not go back yet!

    He had prayed tens of thousands of times but he had never been so desperate before. And once he met Minhyuk¡­

    ¡°Athellujah!¡±

    ¡°......Yes?¡±

    Athellujah was a word that those who serve Athenae used to praise him. In reality, one could say that it was the same as the word hallelujah.

    ¡°Brother Minhyuk.¡±

    Keh squeezed Minhyuk¡¯s hands as his eyes sparkled brightly.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°That¡­¡­ the one you made for me yesterday¡­¡­ do you have that tofu steak?¡±

    ¡°Ah. Yes.¡±

    ¡°I want to eat it one more time, what should I do? Ah! I¡¯ll pay you as much as you want!¡±

    Keh¡¯s eyes sparkled brightly. He was so eager that he looked like he was a drug addict. Then, Minhyuk said to him¡­¡­

    ¡°Aaaaah~ Wait~ But I¡¯m a bit busy¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk drawled out his words as he smiled deep inside.

    Everything is going ording to n!

    He bounced in happiness and along with his bounces, Keh fidgeted in his spot.

    ¡°Y, you¡¯re busy?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I have to listen to the harp yed by the priests, lie down and eat potato chips¡­¡­ hmmm¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°......C, can you not do that?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°How about 1 million gold?¡±

    ¡°I have a lot of money though?¡±

    Keh turned restless when he heard Minhyuk¡¯s words.

    Aaaaaah! My goodness! I can¡¯t even eat even if he¡¯s right in front of me!!! How can this be?

    Keh agonized over the things that he could offer. Then, he opened his trembling lips before speaking.

    ¡°Ble, blessings¡­¡­ Do you want to be blessed?¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°The priest¡¯s blessings!¡±

    Back then in Valkyrie Kingdom, Minhyuk made a bet with Priest Eidni and ended up receiving a priest¡¯s blessing. At that time, he was able to get as much as 100+ increase in his holy power. In order to receive a priest¡¯s blessing, users mustplete an ¡®A¡¯ ranked quest. But Minhyuk was being offered such a reward just for a single dish.

    ¡°I¡¯m a bit busy but¡­ Call!¡±

    At the restaurant, Minhyuk was cooking. However, this time, he was not cooking the tofu steak that he had cooked yesterday.

    Meat was a truly delicious ingredient but vegetables could also taste as good as meat. Furthermore, Minhyuk¡¯s superb and extreme cooking skills as well as his high DEX could guarantee the deliciousness of the food.

    ¡°What¡¯s this smell?¡±

    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s the smell of cheonggukjang¡­¡­¡±

    The users were in a buzz while Keh admired the dish in front of him.

    ¡°Today¡¯s dishes are cheonggukjang and bean sprouts bibimbap.¡±

    ¡°There should be no artificial seasoning. Brother.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. It doesn¡¯t contain any artificial seasoning.¡±

    Everything was made by Minhyuk himself and he did not use any artificial seasonings at all. Keh thought that the smell was quite nasty. Then, a bowl of piping bean sprout bibimbap as well as cheonggukjang was ced in front of him.

    ¡®Why does this dish smell so bad?¡¯

    I¡¯d rather you eat tofu steak!

    In front of Minhyuk, the cheonggukjang and bean sprout bibimbap were also ced down.

    ¡°Follow me.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Minhyuk moved his spoon and chopsticks towards the earthen pot that was filled with cheonggukjang. Minhyuk personally liked having plenty of tofu in his cheonggukjang so he ced quite a lot inside the dish. It was even tofu that was made by grinding soybeans in the Lightning Millstone.

    His spoon ttered loudly as he cut the tofu and cheonggukjang out of the pot. The pristine white tofu together with some beans from the cheonggukjang and the savory soup all entered his spoon. Then, he ced it on top of the piping white rice before mixing the tofu and cheonggukjang together. Keh imitated his movements awkwardly. Then, Minhyuk took a spoonful and ced it in his mouth. The same was true for Keh.

    And Keh, who was skeptical about the taste of this nasty smelling dish, ate a spoonful. As soon as the spoonful entered his mouth, he could hear a heavenly harmony ying in his head.

    A~thellujah, A~thellujah, A~thellujah~

    ¡°D, delicious. How can something with this terrible smell taste like this¡­¡­ the, the rice. I want to keep eating rice.¡±

    This time, they scooped a spoonful of soup before taking a sip. The vor was in yet delicious. It was exceptionally tasty.

    Then, Minhyuk sprinkled some sesame oil on top of his bean sprout bibimbap. Then, he began to mix it thoroughly. He was already mixing it but he was still unconsciously drooling. And the same was true for Keh. It seemed like the savory scent of the sesame oil and the gochujang was making their mouths water. Minhyuk also did not forget to add three spoonfuls of cheonggukjang on his bean sprout bibimbap.

    ¡°It tastes better this way.¡±

    ¡°Oh. I see.¡±

    Keh copied what Minhyuk did to his bowl. Then, he ced a spoonful of the bibimbap in his mouth.

    The texture of the bean sprout bibimbap that he ced in his mouth was superb! The various fresh greens and vegetables together with the spicy gochujangbined to create a fantastic taste. There was also a savory aftertaste after every bite which rounded up the vors of the dish.

    ¡®The cheonggukjang soup that we added earlier perfectlyplements the dish!¡¯

    Keh ate his bibimbap while eating some tofu and cheonggukjang soup from time to time. And just like that, he had once again finished another delicious dish.

    ¡°It¡¯s really delicious. Brother.¡±

    ¡°Haha. It¡¯s just something simple.¡±

    Then, the two of them stood up and moved to the ce where Minhyuk would receive his blessings. Right in front of them was the faceless statue of God Athenae. Keh gently ced his hand on Minhyuk¡¯s head as he gave him his blessings.

    Although the blessing was not as good as Priest Eidni¡¯s, Minhyuk was still able to receive 50 holy power points. In the first ce, a blessing like this could only be given by high-ranking priests and most of the priests in the Athenae Religion were at least as powerful as Keh.

    While Minhyuk and Keh continued to chat after the blessings, Minhyuk spoke.

    ¡°By the way, Priest-nim.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Brother?¡±

    Minhyuk had been constantly informed earlier that his favorability with Keh had increased. And because of that, his mouth had been filled with smiles.

    ¡°Traditional priests share and give good things when they encounter one? Right?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. If there¡¯s anything good, then we¡¯ll share it.¡±

    ¡°I see. Huhuhuhu. Priest-nim, this delicious food, are you going to eat it alone?¡±

    That was right. Minhyuk was someone that was meticulous. If he had one customer, then he would definitely have two more, three more, four more or five more customers. He intended to recruit this Athenae priest under his cause but Keh did not want to do that at all. If he did that, then he believed that it would be harder to eat Minhyuk¡¯s delicious food. However, Minhyuk¡¯s next words shook his resolve.

    ¡°I want to share it with them. That¡¯s why I want Priest-nim to tell the other priests. If you do that, I will give you tofu steak.¡±

    If you hesitate then throw a carrot after the whip! This is the sales method that my dad had told me about before.

    ¡°Yeeeeeees!¡±

    Keh nodded his head vigorously.

    The next day.

    Priests with dark circles and sunken eyes appeared one by one while Minhyuk stayed in the restaurant as he cooked for them.

    And the priests would gather every night until dawn to pray to God Athenae. The contents of their prayers were¡­¡­

    ¡°Athellujah! Please let Minhyuk-nim cook something delicious tomorrow!¡±

    ¡°Athellujah! Please let Minhyuk-nim stay here a little longer!¡±

    ¡°Minhyuk-llujah! Please let me continue to eat his delicious dishes!¡±

    ¡°Uwoooooooooh! Minhyuk-llujaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    They even raised their hands high up in the sky as they shouted loudly! Athellujah had even started to change to Minhyuk-llujah!

    Team Leader Park and Lee Minhwa were both lost for words.

    ¡°Cr, crazy¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°N, no. How can they do that?¡±

    The two people were bound to be shocked.

    The Athenae priests looked like they were fanatics.

    When Team Leader Park saw this scene, all he could do was support his forehead.

    ¡°How high is User Minhyuk¡¯s holy power now?¡±

    ¡°......It¡¯s at 3,011.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going nuts.¡±

    Some people would ban themselves from eating meat or talking, they would even pray all night just to raise their holy power by one but User Minhyuk raised his holy power to 3,011 just like that.

    And there¡¯s even the x2 effect from Pandora¡¯s Helmet, right?

    This meant that his holy power could now exert a little over 6,000 in strength. The only good thing was that the effect would not be added even if his attack power against the undead was based on his holy power. That was because he already has a 100% additional attack power against them.

    ¡°Team Leader, if he pulled out the sword¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    Both Team Leader Park and Lee Minhwa nodded solemnly.

    ¡°The quest will proceed.¡±

    Lee Minhwa shook her head while Team Leader Park rubbed his face. The both of them were both worried. The biggest problem in front of them was the quest. This was because that quest was the backbone of the episode quest that would be released in the future.

    Minhyuk was blessed by the priests and the Holy Knights of Athenae Religion. The holy power that he had received from the two groups were at least 300. After everything, he could see that he was ready.

    If I pull out the Saint¡¯s sword then I can meet with Saintess Rowena.

    ¡°Brother, I believe that you can do it.¡±

    There were several priests surrounding Minhyuk. He looked calmly at them as he asked them a question.

    ¡°Everyone¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes, Brother!¡±

    ¡°Yes, Brother!¡±

    ¡°Yes, Brother!¡±

    ¡°Do you believe in me?¡±

    ¡°We believe in you!¡±

    The priests nodded fiercely. Then, Minhyuk started to move towards the Saint¡¯s sword. As soon as he moved, the users began to whisper and create a buzz.

    ¡°The guy with that tattered helmet is trying to pull out the Saint¡¯s sword?¡±

    ¡°I heard that there are more than a thousand challenges each day, what¡¯s the big deal with that?¡±

    The users acted the same as usual. In fact, they were all new faces. After all, it was rare for users to stay in the temple for a long time like what Minhyuk did. Who would even stay for a week in the temple just to see the museum? This was the reason why they did not know about what happened with Minhyuk.

    ¡°Heok¡­¡­! Did you see the priests giving him water?¡±

    ¡°Crazy¡­¡­! The priests of Athenae are all at Lv450. They also ignore every one who tries to talk to them every day. But you¡¯re telling me that they¡¯re offering water to that guy?¡±

    ¡°Who the hell is that user?¡±

    The users began to make a fuss as Priest Keh handed Minhyuk a cold ss of water.

    ¡°Haha. Our leader¡­¡­ No, Brother. Please drink a ss of cold water.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Thank you. Keh-nim.¡±

    Minhyuk smiled brightly as he slowly stood in front of the Saint¡¯s sword. Then, he slowly grasped the hilt.

    ¡°But it¡¯s still not moving~¡±

    ¡°Yeah. No way~ If it moves then I¡¯ll give you my hands.¡±

    ¡°It did not even move when the child of Bavecka, Julian, challenged it before so it doesn¡¯t make sense. I bet that guy can¡¯t do it.¡±

    ¡°What if he pulled it out?¡±

    ¡°If he can do it then I¡¯ll shave my head and be a priest here.¡±

    ¡°Oh~ You~ Didn¡¯t you just get out of the army not too long ago? What if you lose your hair again?¡±

    ¡°Only speak about things that make sense.¡±

    All the users were saying that it was impossible and ridiculous. But then, one user spoke.

    ¡°But why are we talking about the sword moving, and not the sword being pulled out?¡±

    ¡°The Saint¡¯s sword is a symbolic treasure of the Athenae Religion. If you pull it out then it will be yours so how can the operators give it to us easily? It¡¯s basically ridiculous if someone is able to move it. Athenae has made it impossible to pull that one out. The Saint¡¯s sword is literally a sword that can¡¯t be pulled out.¡±

    It was a fact that Athenae has dered that it would be possible to move the sword. However, they believed that it was not yet possible for the users to pull it out. Minhyuk was aware of this fact too.

    As soon as his hands held the hilt of the sword, the notifications rang in his head.

    Minhyuk also exerted some strength to try and move the sword. But all he did was exert a bit of strength and the sword got pulled out.Findd new ??tories on nov/e(l)bin(.

    ¡°Eh?¡±

    Then, a bright light shed from the Saint¡¯s sword as it began to envelop the entirety of the Athenae Temple. The sword radiated a light that shone brighter than any other light in existence. Then, a world message rang loudly in the entire continent.

    At that moment, an unidentified voice suddenly shouted at him.

    ¡°Why did you pull it out!!!¡±

    Minhyuk turned his head and saw a woman dressed in a white, pristine priest robe by the railings of a tall building. Minhyuk was left in a fluster. He was told that he could move the Saint¡¯s sword but he was not told that he could pull it out.

    ¡°Ah! That¡¯s right! It moved at my touch. Wait! Sorry!¡±

    Then, he rammed the sword back in.

    ¡°Cr, crazy¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°OMG?¡±

    ¡°N, no. Why did you put it back inside!!¡±

    ¡°Ah. All right!¡±

    Minhyuk thought that she was weird but nevertheless he still pulled it out again.

    ¡°Keok!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    All of the users in the area were left speechless.

    Meanwhile, Keh who was standing behind him was thinking about something else.

    ¡®As expected of the leader of our Minhyuk Religion. Minhyuk-llujah!¡¯

    Notes

    Cheonggukjang (???) - food made by fermenting soybeans.

    TL¡¯s corner!

    LOL. Minhyuk-llujah! Hahaha. Will there be a Food God/Minhyuk temple soon?

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Yes. Just yes. This is just so ridiculous. I start to see why Minhyuk¡¯s dad is so sessful.

 Chapter 227 - The Birth Of Minhyuk Religion

    Chapter 227: The Birth of Minhyuk Religion

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    The Papal Knight Voloch hurriedly rushed towards the prayer room where Pope Carunu was currently at. He knelt down on one knee as he waited for the pope toe out of the room. After waiting for quite a long time, Voloch saw the popee out of the room.

    Pope Carunu was wearing a pristine and white priest robe with a crown made out of the branches of the holt tree on top of his head. He was known to be the greatest and the strongest pope in history.

    ¡°Voloch, what¡¯s going on?¡±

    ¡°Your Holiness, Carunu-nim. The Saint¡¯s sword has been pulled out today.¡±

    ¡°......The Saint¡¯s sword?¡±

    Pope Carunu¡¯s eyes widened in surprise as Voloch bowed his head to answer his question.

    ¡°Yes. It¡¯s also pulled out by a foreigner.¡±

    ¡°Hoo¡­¡­ How can that be¡­¡­¡±

    Pope Carunu rubbed his beard in surprise as he nodded his head.

    ¡°He¡¯s probablying to see me soon.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    Voloch nodded his head in confirmation to the pope¡¯s words. Everyone knew that the person who moved the Saint¡¯s sword muste and see him so they expected Saintess Rowena to send the foreigner to Pope Carunu.

    ¡°I see. This is God¡¯s will too.¡±

    Voloch shook his head as he stood up from his position to go outside. After Voloch left, Pope Carunu went back inside the prayer room.

    Only Pope Carunu was allowed entry inside the prayer room. He stood inside as he stared at therge faceless statue of God Athenae as he spoke.

    ¡°This is God¡¯s will¡­.. But what are you thinking, Athenae?¡±

    Pope Carunu red sharply at the statue. It was an unbelievable attitude for a pope who was serving God. Not long after, he sat on a chair in front of the statue and got lost in thought.

    ¡®Everything is going wrong.¡¯

    The man that was sitting in front of Athenae was not Pope Carunu but the Demon Verus. He had entered the body of the pope just in the nick of time.

    ¡®Originally, the Demon Worshipper Carn should be the one who moved the sword¡­¡­¡¯

    The Demon Worshipper Carn was the fifth most powerful among all of the demon worshippers. He was also the fourth among the Most Powerful Men of the past. He was tasked to move the sword under Verus¡¯ orders. Today was the day when Carn was expected to move the sword so Carn should naturally be in this ce. He was also tasked to bring Rowena the ¡®wine and tteok¡¯ that would bring the entire Athenae Religion down to hell.

    On special asions, the people who served under the Athenae Religion would also drink and eat the wine and tteok that was made by the papacy. And those items were items that Verus had corrupted. As soon as they ate that tteok, Saintess Rowena would be a demonic human and all of the priests of Athenae Religion would lose their holy power just like being devoured by a gue.

    But then he thought of Carn¡­¡­

    ¡®Let¡¯s see¡­¡­¡¯

    The foreigner? He¡¯s obviously going toe and see me himself. Anyway, I can just give him a ¡®mission¡¯ to deliver the wine and tteok to Rowena. This was originally Carn¡¯s job but I¡¯ll give it to him instead.

    ¡®And if I reward him generously¡­¡­¡¯

    Everything will work out perfectly.

    Pope Carune, to be exact, Demon Verus stared at the tteok in front of him.

    It was none other than a tteok set consisting of ¡®honey tteok, injeolmi, sirutteok, baekseolgi, and chapssaltteok¡¯.

    When the Saint¡¯s sword was pulled out, the Pdin Commander Corr was exining things to Rowena inside.

    ¡°That¡¯s what happened¡­¡­ But is that even possible?¡±

    Rowena still could not believe it. They were priests who had served God Athenae their entire lives but these priests were now trusting, liking and following Minhyuk. They even gave their blessings to him. Corr nodded his head solemnly when he heard her words.

    ¡°Saintess-nim. We are prohibited from eating meat all our lives. It was not different from the vegetables that we usually ate but the taste was truly too delicious. I also tried that tofu steak and the vor¡­¡­¡±

    Corr unknowingly gulped his saliva. Just imagining the dish could make his mouth water. In fact, Minhyuk¡¯s existence was something that was truly special to these people who had led a vegetarian lifestyle from the moment that they entered the church. The taste and vor of the dish was surprising and strangely enough it really tasted like ¡®meat¡¯.

    ¡°Co, Corr¡­¡­ even you¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°......It was really delicious.¡±

    ¡°Hoo¡­¡­ I understand. Let¡¯s listen to what he has to say for now.¡±

    ¡°Yes. I understand!¡±

    Corr stepped forward to lead the way.

    However, Rowena still did not like this foreigner that he talked about. She had no choice. After all, she believed that his method was expedient. It¡¯s not like any outstanding chef would go and attract the priests so they could move, no, pull out the Saint¡¯s sword. This was the reason why Rowena still denied the fact that he was the ¡®legendary¡¯ figure. But it was only polite for her to meet with the man who pulled out the Saint¡¯s sword.

    Not long after, the foreigner came inside.

    ¡°Hello!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    The foreigner who came in was lively and polite. Rowena just smiled at him as she continued to stare.

    ¡®Men¡­¡­¡¯

    All of the men around her fell in love with her external appearance. They used to make a fuss just so they could hear her voice or brush her hands just once. However, what did they want to do? Rowena was the child of Athenae. He was the only man that she would love. She was the type of woman who would love no other man and would maintain her premarital purity for him and him alone.

    ¡°They said that you wanted to meet with me?¡±

    ¡°Yes. That¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°Your reason?¡±

    ¡°I received something that¡¯s called ¡®Monarch¡¯s Seeds¡¯. The seeds are sealed but it could only be awakened by either Rowena-nim or the Pope.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡±

    Rowena shook her head before continuing to speak.

    ¡°You do know that there¡¯s a price to pay for me to awaken that, right?¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡±

    ¡°Then, let me taste your dishes too.¡±

    It was not that Rowena wanted to eat it but she was just curious. Then she thought¡­¡­

    ¡®I won¡¯t fall for something like a simple dish. But I need to identify and check the identity of the dish that has captivated the priests.¡¯

    Rowena¡¯s eyes narrowed sharply.

    Minhyuk watched as Rowena ate the bean sprout bibimbap in front of him. The Rowena, who had a pretty chic and arrogant look earlier, was now hurriedly eating the bibimbap that one could even hear the loud ttering of the spoon in the stainless steel bowl.

    After he stared at her, he decided to check the Saint¡¯s sword which he was not able to check earlier after themander of the Pdins dragged him away.

    ¡°......¡±

    Minhyuk was left speechless. The only reason was because of the skill Saint¡¯s Protection and the 60% probability of disregarding the defenses of anyone with a magi.

    When talking about those with magi they were referring to the demonic race, demonic human or demons in general. Although the contents of the Demon World was not yet officially received, he believed that this was an amazing strength to have.

    He was especially surprised with the ¡®Saint¡¯s Protection¡¯ which had a buff ability that could increase his physical attack and defense by 30% for 15 minutes. Right now, Minhyuk has over 4,000 in his holy power stat. Having a 30% increase based on the holy power meant that he would have a 1,333 point increase for 15 minutes in his physical attack, physical defense, magical attack and magical defense.

    And if he equipped the Saint¡¯s sword¡­¡­

    ¡®I think I can kill the Demon Race in just one stroke, right?¡¯

    Minhyuk waspletely satisfied. It was not something delicious but increasing his strength meant that he could find more delicious things to eat.

    Then, at that moment¡­¡­

    ¡°Y, you¡­¡­¡±

    Rowena had finished each and every single grain of rice in her bowl. When her eyes made contact with Minhyuk, she couldn¡¯t help but redden. She was at a loss for words for quite some time. After deliberating for a long time, she finally decided to just spit it out.

    ¡°It, it¡¯s fluttering in excitement.¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    Saintess Rowena felt like her mind was being corrupted by the devil. She kept shouting in her head as she ate the dish.

    ¡®No, Rowena! You¡¯re the Saintess, you should maintain your dignity!!¡¯

    But her hands and mouth did not stop moving. She couldn¡¯t get enough of the spicy and savory vor of the dish in front of her. No matter how hard she tried to reprimand herself, her spoon kept on moving without any pause at all.

    After she finished eating, she realized that she ate everything down to the veryst grain. Her bowl looked like the person who ate it did not even want to leave anything to waste.

    Then, her eyes met with his. She was both flustered and embarrassed as her mind went nk for a moment. It did not ur to her at first but as she stared at his eyes, her heart continued to tremble.

    Aaaaaaaah! I was charmed by a sexy man who cooks!

    Then, an idea floated in her head.

    ¡®If I marry this man, will I be able to eat the dishes that he will make for the rest of my life?¡¯

    But Rowena was a Saintess. She couldn¡¯t do something like that at all.

    Should I show him my admiration and that I enjoyed his meal? Or should I pretend that that wasn¡¯t the case at all? It¡¯s too delicious for me to pretend that I did not enjoy it at all. What should I say?

    Then, she spat out the words that she kept in her chest. She shouted that it was fluttering!

    ¡°......?¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Rowena¡¯s face flushed even more. She quickly hid her face behind her palms as she was left at a loss.

    Then, Minhyuk smiled at her.

    ¡°My heart also flutters when there¡¯s delicious food in front of me. My heart will thump wildly whenever I smell such a delicious scent and I will always want to look for them. This is what cooking is all about.¡±

    Minhyuk smiled widely as he spoke to her.

    ¡®I, is he trying to curb my embarrassment like this?¡¯

    No, Minhyuk was just talking about the essence of cooking. His heart would flutter whenever he saw chicken and he loved pizza more than anybody else. Without knowing that fact, Rowena mistakenly thought that he was being considerate of her.

    Then, she reached out her hands towards him.

    ¡°Please give me the Monarch¡¯s Seeds.¡±

    Minhyuk gave her the Monarch¡¯s Seeds as she held it gently in her palms.

    ¡°God Athenae who governs over the entirety of this world, please awaken the new power that is concealed within these seeds. Athellujah.¡±

    A bright light suddenly burst out from the seeds. When she saw this happen, Rowena couldn¡¯t help but be surprised. She felt that the power that was in the seeds was something that was surprisingly familiar.

    ¡°These seeds must have been sealed by the power of the former Pope of Athenae Religion. But even though I touched and unsealed it, it seems like there is still some unavable information in it.¡±

    Then, she handed the seeds back to Minhyuk as he quickly checked the information.

    Rowena continued to talk to him.

    ¡°I¡¯m not certain but I think the former Pope and the previous owner of these seeds have predicted the future and decided to seal them. Just like in the description, you¡¯ll only know what it is if you nt it.¡±

    Minhyuk smiled wryly before speaking.

    ¡°Do you think something delicious wille out?¡±

    ¡°......I don¡¯t know about that but one thing¡¯s for sure, something with a vast amount of holy power wille out of those seeds.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    Rowena opened her mouth to speak again.

    ¡°Now that you have drawn the Saint¡¯s Sword, there¡¯s one thing that you have to do.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°You have to go to the Papal Office and meet with the Pope.¡±

    Food Discussion Corner

    Tteok - rice cake

    Honey tteok - rice cake covered with honey

    Injeolmi - rice cake dusted with roasted soybean powder

    Sirutteok - made by steaming glutinous rice flour in a siru, arge earthenware pot. It is regarded as the oldest form of tteok. It also has multipleyers of red beans inside.

    Baekseolgi - rice cake made with rice flour dough. Usually colored white to symbolize purity and holiness and is eaten on special asions.

    Chapssaltteok - rice cake made with glutinous rice. It can be coated with powdered sesame or beans. You can also steam or boil it before coating it. Some would also fill it with various fillings. A dish simr to mochi.

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Something¡¯s telling me that no one will be able to stop Minhyuk from tasting that tteok set.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /Q3dStgu

 Chapter 228 - The Birth Of Minhyuk Religion

    Chapter 228: The Birth of Minhyuk Religion

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Minhyuk headed towards the Papal Office at Rowena¡¯s request. He meekly and obediently epted Rowena¡¯s request because of only one thing.

    ¡®Wine and tteok?¡¯

    Every time a special asion happened, the Papal Office would personally make and cut special tteoks and wine made by the Pope himself. Of course, Rowena meant for him to give his greetings to the Pope but Minhyuk was solely interested in the tteoks. So when he asked her if he could eat the tteoks with her, she readily agreed.

    Tteok was a kind of snack that had a chewy and soft texture. They had a wide range of variety and among them, what Minhyuk liked the most were the injeolmi and honey tteok. He could imagine the sweetness and chewiness of the injeolmi that was covered with yellow bean powder as he ced it in his mouth.

    With those pictures in his mind, Minhyuk finally arrived at the Papal Office. It was at that ce where he met Pope Carunu.

    ¡°Boy, are you the one who moved the Saint¡¯s sword?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, Holy Father.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s surprising. A heroic hero like you will definitely lead our Athenae Religion to salvation.¡±

    The pope smiled softly at him.

    Not long after, the Papal Knight Voloch stood in front of Minhyuk. He handed Minhyuk a cloth that was filled with the carefully selected set of tteok. He also handed a huge ss jar that was filled with wine.

    ¡°Since this is blessed with God¡¯s strength, the tteoks inside will not cool down. Please deliver these tteoks to the entire Athenae Believers.¡±

    ¡®Oh¡­¡­¡¯

    Minhyuk shook his head. He was the one who pulled out the Saint¡¯s sword so he had to do it. And despite being a simple quest, the rewards seemed to be exceptional.

    Then, a thought suddenly shed in his head.

    ¡°Are there any extremely delicious foods that represent the Athenae Religion? Perhaps something that only the pope can eat?¡±

    ¡°Something I eat¡­ Haha!¡±

    The popeughed his head off. Minhyuk was trying to get other quests that the pope would give if he would reward him with that kind of food. Thoughts were brewing in his head when the pope continued to speak.

    ¡°Ah, boy. I guess you haven¡¯t heard that yet. Well, that¡¯s understandable. I heard that you met with Rowena after pulling the Saint¡¯s Sword out. Then you came straight here.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Athenae¡¯s Rowena will serve a special food to the person who moved the Saint¡¯s sword.¡±

    ¡°Special food?¡±

    This story was something new to him. And the reason why Pope Carunu, or to be precise, Demon Verus told him something like this was simple. He hoped that he could hurriedly present a great disaster to the Athenae Religion.

    ¡°Yes. The special food is the tteok dumpling soup.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s body trembled and shuddered in shock.

    ¡°Wh, what?¡±

    ¡°Tteok dumpling soup. The priests of Athenae would farm and make the tteok dumpling soup with carefully selected ingredients that can only be found every 100 year. Of course, it doesn¡¯t have any meat in it but it has Gorad¡¯s Meat Tree which tastes simr to meat. It tastes really good. It¡¯s a special dish served every 100 years and is something that is specially made for the nobles.¡±

    ¡°Wow¡­¡­!¡±

    A tteok dumpling soup that was made with carefully selected ingredients and can only be served once every 100 years!

    When he thought about that, Minhyuk felt a bit angry.

    ¡®How can Rowena-nim ask me to do this while forgetting something very important?¡¯

    ¡°I have to quickly deliver these tteoks and wine!¡±

    ¡°Yes. That would be great.¡±

    Carunu smiled generously at him as Minhyuk left the Papal Office. As soon as Minhyuk stepped out, Carunu¡¯s mouth was almost torn with how wide he was grinning. He suddenly caught onto one thing.

    ¡®A man who likes to eat¡­¡­¡¯

    His brows furrowed when that thought came to mind. He wasn¡¯t sure but if that was the case then he would definitely eat the tteok and wine. But he shook his head to get rid of that thought. There was still the Pope¡¯s Relic and it was a valuable and priceless thing that no one could buy with money! ording to the rumors in the grapevine, each one of the relics were legendary artifacts.

    But just in case¡­¡­

    ¡®I must lend my strength to the Devil Worshipper Carn.¡¯

    Minhyuk was vibrating in excitement as he rode the carriage on his way back to the Athenae Temple. He had the warm tteok set in his arms!

    ¡°Hiyaa. I wonder how delicious they are. This probably has a lot of delicious things like injeolmi, sirutteok, and honey tteok in here, right?¡±

    Minhyukughed loudly.

    ¡®I will be very happy if I ate this much tteoks all on my own¡­¡­¡¯

    Then, a thought shed in his head.

    ¡®Shall we see what it looks like?¡¯

    It¡¯s not a sin to look at the tteoks, right?

    The symbol of the Pope of Athenae greeted him after he gently untied the cloth. He peered at the contents inside as he caressed the symbol on the lid. He could clearly see honey tteoks that were coated liberally with honey, injeolmis that were sprinkled generously with yellow bean powder, rainbow tteok and even baekseolgi.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk gulped loudly.

    Then, at that moment, he heard a sudden notification.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Minhyuk was shocked when he saw the notifications.

    The hidden and unique abilities are sealed?

    He had no choice but to wonder in surprise.

    ¡®What¡¯s this? Why is the power sealed¡­¡­¡¯

    Minhyuk tilted his head in confusion. He recalled the time when he found the rabbit¡¯s liver. This situation was somewhat simr to that time. But he thought that it was also quite strange to hide some power in this kind of food.

    Why?

    When he remembered the past, he also recalled that the unsealed rabbit¡¯s liver had clearly be more delicious and special after he released the seal. So without any hesitation, Minhyuk used his Ingredients Appraisal Skill.

    ¡°......!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes widened in shock.

    The Demon Verus?

    It was a name that he had heard from Gremory. But when he thought of the name¡­¡­

    No way!

    ¡®The Pope is Demon Verus¡­¡­?¡¯

    He had no choice but to think that way. And Minhyuk knew.

    ¡®Then this¡­¡­¡¯

    He knew that this tteok set was something that would be his and his alone.

    ¡®Rowena-nim! This is a bad tteok that¡¯s trying to hurt you so I¡¯ll eat it all for you!!¡¯

    He had decided.

    Rowena-nim and the Athenae Temple together with the fanatics(?), including Keh, that believed and followed me¡­¡­ They will be killed if they eat this, right? Then, I¡¯m going to eat everything to get rid of it!

    ¡°It¡¯s not because I want to eat the tteoks!!!¡±

    Then, he reached his hand out towards the tteoks.

    ¡°I¡¯m going crazy!!¡±

    Team Leader Park was already facing tremendous difficulties as soon as he came back from his vacation. Not to mention the Story Creation Team that was right behind him.

    ¡°N, noooooooooo!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t eat thaaaaat!¡±

    ¡°D, don¡¯t eat that honey tteok, you son of a bitch!!¡±

    They had struggled for two months just to create this episode. Originally, the episode should have moved in the direction where the Demon Worshiper Carn would move the Saint¡¯s Sword and receive the tteoks from Demon Verus to drag the Athenae Temple down to hell. In addition, the Saintess Rowena would also be a demonic human. A massive war would then break out and she would attack the human world together with the demon race and the demonic beasts. This was how the story should turn out. But right now, the story was slowly falling apart.

    ¡°......But he looks like he¡¯s really enjoying it. Wow. That honey tteok looks delicious. If I bite that then honey will flow out, right?¡±

    ¡°Hey, you punk! Right now, the honey tteok is not one of our problems!¡±

    Team Leader Jung Yeongcheol, the head of the Creation Team, turned his head to look at the new Creation Team member. However, he also muttered under his breath as he looked back at the monitor.

    ¡°He, he¡¯s eating so deliciously!! Eyy! So annoying!¡±

    ¡°......What should we do now?¡±

    It was quite hard for them to touch the story once it had been created.

    ¡°The key will be the next moves that Demon Verus will make.¡±

    Of course, that did not mean that a massive war would not break out. There was only a high probability that Saintess Rowena would be on the side of the humans instead of the side of the demons.

    ¡®No. To be exact, that¡¯s not the correct word.¡¯

    There¡¯s a high chance that she will be a person who will serve under User Minhyuk.

    Honey tteok had a variety of colors. It coulde in all shades of pink, green, white or plenty of other colors. Minhyuk quickly picked up a honey tteok with his hand. His fingers were greased with oil as he ced the honey tteok in his mouth. He could taste the chewy texture of the honey tteok as well as the sweet sugary filling in every bite. It was a vor that could make him smile happily.

    The next thing that he picked up was injeolmi. The still warm injeolmi stained his fingers with some yellow-y powder before he ced it in his mouth. The injeolmi, which was as warm as freshly baked white bread, was so delicious that he couldn¡¯t help but sigh in awe.

    Next, he took a baekseolgi. Every chew of the baekseolgi would spread a bit of sweetness in his mouth. It might look like it was in and tasteless on the surface but a single piece of baekseolgi was enough to make one feel full.

    This time, he picked some bean tteok. The green tteok that was filled with sweet beans filled his mouth with a sweet and rich vor in every bite.

    ¡°Hwahahahaha! I¡¯ll get rid of all these bad tteoks!¡±

    There was one thing that he needed to have while eating these tteoks. If others wanted to drink tea with their tteoks, Minhyuk tended to drink something uniquely different. It was none other than sikhye. Sikhye with ice that bobbed up and down the ss!

    After taking a bottle out of his inventory, he quickly shook it with his hand to make the rice grains in the sikhye dance. After doing all that, he added a straw inside the bottle. Just like a sikhye that you could buy in the sauna. Just like that, he gulped down the sikhye eagerly. Minhyuk smiled softly at the sweet and bitter aftertaste of the sikhye.

    ¡°Kgghk!¡±

    He bursted in admiration after drinking sikhye until his mind turned nk.

    Then, he continued to enjoy the rest of the tteoks together with his sikhye. Finally, he ate thest piece of songpyeon.

    He had been hearing notifications non-stop ever since he started eating the tteoks but all of the conditions were blocked by his invincible body. Heughed happily as he realized something.

    ¡®Le, let¡¯s see¡­¡­¡¯

    Minhyuk was not able to overlook something after eating every piece of tteok.

    Will they believe me if I came back to Athenae Temple and confidently told them that I ate all the tteoks that were filled with demonic power?

    The answer was a straight NO. That was why he believed that it would have been better if he told the priests the reason in advance.

    ¡®I¡¯m, I¡¯m in trouble¡­¡­¡¯

    I don¡¯t have any tteok with me right now, how will they even believe me? Will they even believe me if I said that the Pope is currently Demon Verus?

    Right now, Minhyuk believed that there was a high possibility that he would be chased by the entire religion. He was something like a benefactor that was not a benefactor right now.

    At that moment, he heard the voice of the coachman. He had asked the coachman to stop the carriage for a moment as he ate the tteoks.

    ¡°I think you¡¯ll have to get off for a moment.¡±

    Minhyuk opened the doors of the carriage at the coachman¡¯s words.

    He saw themander of the Pdins, Corr, and Rowena covered with sweat as they ran towards him.

    Food Discussion Corner

    Sikhye - rice punch.

    Songpyeon - rice cake that represents Chuseok. Made with the fresh grains harvested during Chuseok.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 229 - The New Vassal

    Chapter 229: The New Vassal

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    65 The New Vassal

    Corr looked more serious than ever. He looked somewhat surprised when he saw the empty tteok box but he looked at him as he spoke solemnly.

    ¡°Let me escort you.¡±

    Corr said this with an extremely serious expression! It seemed like Minhyuk had be a principal sinner. s. He was treated like a bad person even though he did something good. Minhyuk hung his head down.

    ¡®Heuk¡­¡­ But the tteoks were really delicious.¡¯

    He believed that he would be given severe punishments. What was worse was that even Corr, who was standing in front of him, was a very strong person. Minhyuk thought that it was punishments that were waiting for him in the Athenae Temple.

    At that moment, Corr sent a pigeon over.

    p, p, p.

    Raphael, the number one in Korea¡¯s Pdin Rankings, was on his way to Athenae Temple.

    ¡®Today is the day that Rowena will pray in the Athenae Temple.¡¯

    This was the day when Rowena would make her public appearance. Plenty of users would flock at the temple just to see her face. And the number one Pdin, Raphael, was smitten with her. It was strange for users to have a crush on NPCs but he couldn¡¯t help it since she was such a beautiful woman.

    Just like he had expected, there were plenty of people flocking in the Athenae Temple.

    ¡°It¡¯s the number one in the Pdin rankings, Raphael!¡±

    ¡°Wow!¡±

    But even though Raphael was sitting in such a high position, he was still nervous whenever he entered the temple. He was also a member of the Athenae Religion but he surmised that Rowena only saw him as an ant on the sidewalk.

    But that¡¯s her charm!

    Raphael had a dream. He dreamt that he would be able to brush his fingers against her palms one day.

    Just like that, more than thousands of users gathered in the temple. Then, hundreds of Pdins and Athenean priests began to move. That was when Rowena appeared in front of him.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s really beautiful!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not only in Athenae! I believe she¡¯s the most beautiful woman in the world!¡±

    ¡°Joy Co. Ltd. said that there would be no woman that is more beautiful than Rowena!¡±

    The users were all in awe and admiration as they watched her move forward.

    Raphael turned back to where she came from. He saw a carriage parked in the direction where she came from. He could see a pdin and a sulky man, presumably a foreigner,ing out of the carriage.

    ¡°What¡¯s this? Is he a principal sinner in Athenae Religion?¡±

    ¡°Corr will not move unless he¡¯s escorting Rowena or guarding against a great sinner in the Athenae Religion, right?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. He¡¯s probably a great sinner.¡±

    This was the thought that passed through the heads of countless users. But then, an extraordinary thing happened in front of them. All of the priests and pdins knelt down on one knee in unison. Their actions were uniformly done without the slightest bit of error at all.

    ¡°We greet Athenae Religion¡¯s benefactor! Brother Minhyuk!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    They couldn¡¯t believe that the believers of the Athenae Religion who served the God of Athenae and were well known to be proud and strict would kneel down like this.

    Then, they saw Rowena walking towards the mysterious user as she also knelt down on one knee. Then, she slowly bent down to give a chaste kiss on the back of his hand that she had grasped earlier before opening her soft and plump lips to talk.

    ¡°I, the Saintess Rowena, swear to respect and cherish the Athenae Religion¡¯s benefactor, Minhyuk, forever.¡±

    Then, she smiled softly as she slowly raised her head to look at him. The users felt extreme shock and jealousy when they saw her reddened cheeks.

    ¡°N, no way¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°M, my Rowena!!¡±

    ¡°That look is definitely¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°Who the hell is that punk!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll kill you for sure!¡±

    He was a thief who robbed all the people, regardless of their age, of their dream woman!

    ¡°......?¡±

    And Minhyuk, the principal and great sinner, tilted his head in confusion.

    ¡®What¡¯s going on here?¡¯

    Three hours ago, the Papal Knight Voloch couldn¡¯t help but be confused when he saw Minhyuk leave the Papal Office in anger.

    ¡°Your expression doesn¡¯t look good.¡±

    ¡°Yes. I feel very, very bad.¡±

    ¡°Why is that so?¡±

    ¡°My goodness! Saintess Rowena-nim should have given me the tteok dumpling soup but she did not even mention it to me! Ah! How could she do that?¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Voloch was left speechless.

    Saintess Rowena¡¯s beauty was enough to make plenty of people feel full just by looking at her. But Minhyuk was angry that such a beautiful woman did not give him the tteok dumpling soup.

    ¡®I, I think he¡¯s really angry?¡¯

    He could tell by hisbored breathing that he was trying to hold in his anger. He watched as the huffing Minhyuk called the carriage over.

    ¡°Do you really not want us to see you off?¡±

    ¡°To be honest, I want to be alone with this tteoks more than having yourpany.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    He¡¯s so strange. But this strange man is also the man who pulled out the Saint''s Sword.

    ? Voloch watched the carriage disappear in the distance as he proceeded with his work as usual. Two hourster, Voloch, who was in the middle of his work, suddenly stopped.

    ¡®Tteok dumpling soup¡­¡­?¡¯

    That was the only reason why he suddenly stopped. His brows furrowed in thought.

    ¡®But I don¡¯t think it¡¯s just tteok dumpling soup?¡¯

    To be exact, the Papal Office would make tteok dumpling soup with ¡®joraengi tteok¡¯. However, the word joraengi was missing from the words that he had heard earlier.

    His brows furrowed further as he thought about the things that happened recently. In fact, something strange also happened a few days ago.

    Pope Carunu had described God Athenae as ¡®God¡¯s Will¡¯ but Voloch had never heard the pope use such an expression before. He would originally say ¡®It¡¯s His will¡¯ and not ¡®God¡¯s will¡¯.

    ¡®Something¡¯s strange.¡¯

    He also realized that the pope never went out of the prayer room these days. That was the moment when he realized that something was wrong. So he moved quickly towards the prayer room as he did something that he normally would never do. He peeped through a small gap in the door.

    That was when he saw ck magi escaping from Carunu¡¯s body. The magi created a demonic figure that talked sinisterly in the prayer room.

    tter!

    ¡°You bastard!!!¡±

    Voloch pulled out his sword. Voloch was named as the Pope¡¯s Guardian, he was a powerhouse that had power that was beyond the power of a Lv610 character. But when he opened the door and entered the room, he saw the pope copsing in a heap.

    There was also the ck magi that was formed in the shape of a skeleton with horns. This was none other than Verus.

    ¡°A disaster will descend upon you¡­¡­ and¡­¡­ you will be unable to stop it¡­¡­ you already¡­¡­ chased the disaster away. Keuhahaha!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Voloch¡¯s eyes widened in horror as the ck magi scattered through the air and disappeared.

    Disaster? Chased away?

    ¡°The, the tteok, tteok¡­¡­!!¡±

    Carunu yed a part in making the tteok that would be gifted to the Athenae believers and Carunu did not even know the ¡®Co¡¯ in cooking so it was quite strange for him to even try to touch the food in the kitchen.

    ¡°We, we have to stop Minhyuk-nim!!!¡±

    But it was already two hours since he left the Papal Office so he would have already reached the Athenae Temple by now. And they would have already eaten the food by now.

    Voloch¡¯s legs softened as he sank down to the ground.

    ¡®G, Goddamnit¡­...!¡¯

    At that time, Minhyuk was actually happily eating the delicious tteoks.

    Rowena smiled softly as she looked at Minhyuk¡¯s puzzled expression. They had received a letter sent by Knight Commander Voloch through a pigeon.

    Rowena was surprised. She knew that he was a decent man.

    He ate the tteoks because he wanted to?

    She believed that such a thought was too much to use of someone like him.

    Then?

    She thought that he would have definitely caught wind of the disaster much faster than the rest of them. And he ate all of the tteoks before the aftermath hit and wreaked havoc in them. He also did not deliberately use warp to directlye back to Athenae Temple from the Papal Office.

    Rowena opened her mouth.

    ¡°We heard from Sir Voloch, the Pope¡¯s Guardian. You purposely took the tteoks and used a carriage instead of warping here.¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    Minhyuk was also confused.

    ¡®But I told Voloch-nim that I wanted to savor the warmth of the tteoks that¡¯s why I rode the carriage?¡¯

    Rowena continued to talk.

    ¡°You knew the moment you received it! You knew that it would bring forth a disaster so you rode in a carriage and drove further away from the Athenae Temple. You did this to save us, the Athenae Religion!¡±

    Rowena¡¯s eyes brightened.

    ¡®Th, that¡¯s not it¡­¡­ I just want to feel the warmth of the tteoks.¡¯

    ¡°In addition! You tried to find ways to get rid of the disaster but you couldn¡¯t find a way to get rid of the tteoks. That¡¯s why you¡­¡­¡±

    In the end, tears fell down from Rowena¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°You sacrificed yourself. You ate all of the tteoks and got rid of its existence. We know that foreigners are living the life of the immortals since you¡¯re blessed by God Athenae but it wouldn¡¯t erase the pain that you will experience in the process of dying! Oh, how painful it was!¡±

    Rowena squeezed her hands together to stop them from shaking and trembling.

    Looking at the scene, Minhyuk thought that he shouldn¡¯t mention the fact that he ate the tteoks just because he wanted to eat them.

    ¡°I seeded in eradicating the tteoks. It was really a hard and painful process. But I really had no choice but to eat them all! It was inevitable!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Rowena, the priests and the pdins were all captivated and enchanted by his achievements.

    And the thought that shed through Minhyuk¡¯s head was¡­¡­

    Nice! I killed two birds with one stone! I ate all the tteoks and the Athenae Temple fell in love with me!

    Meanwhile, tears fell down nonstop from Rowena¡¯s happy and thrilled eyes.

    Demon worshippers existed all over the world and they all believed in different existences. The demons had a system that divided the Demon Monarchs into three.

    The first Demon Monarch was Verus.

    The second Demon Monarch was Gorac.

    The third Demon Monarch was Gremory.

    And Carn was one of Verus¡¯ worshippers. To be precise, he was once the fourth among the Strongest Men in the world. Then, he was called on by Verus and he became one of his worshippers.

    Verus originally gave Carn his magi so that he could temporarily convert his magi into holy power. Using that power, he would move the Saint''s Sword, meet with Verus and deliver the tteoks that were filled with curses and disasters to the Athenae Temple. But all of a sudden, everything went awry and had gone wrong just because of a foreigner.

    Just when he was trying to figure out a way to deal with him, he heard the voice of Demon Verus.

    Along with his words, a parchment and a bottle filled with ck liquid appeared in front of Carn. Then, he checked it right away.

    The space distortion parchment could create a boundary and block everyone from entering the space within a 10-m radius from the user. The duration of the parchment was one hour.

    After Carn checked the information about the bottle filled with ck liquid, he couldn¡¯t help but feel surprised.

    ¡®If I drink this liquid¡­¡­¡¯

    All of his stats would be affected by magi and would be temporarily increased by more than 30%. In other words, the previous fourth Strongest Man would be even stronger with just this bottle of liquid.

    In the end, they had failed to make the Athenae Religion fall into hell with the tteoks.

    Right now, Carn turned his head. He could see the priests, pdins and even Rowena acting polite towards the foreigner who was just a chef.

    Rowena finally started her journey as she climbed the carriage together with the foreigner. The fancy carriage moved onwards as it was pulled by pure white horses.

    He could see that even themander of the pdins, who firmly supported Rowena, was within the 10-m range. To be honest, if themander of the pdins, Corr, was removed then he would be able to easily kill Rowena. After all, except for the name Saintess and her buffing ability, Rowena was extremely weak.

    ¡®Now¡¯s the time.¡¯

    Poof!

    He quickly opened the cap of the bottle.

    And¡­¡­

    Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp¡ª

    He started to drink the contents of the bottle.

    Food Discussion Corner

    Joraengi tteok - rice cakes shaped like a cocoon or a ball.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 230 - The New Vassal

    Chapter 230: The New Vassal

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Pdin Corr was less powerful than Pope¡¯s Guardian Voloch. However, he was also someone who had an immense amount of holy power and strength. It was unclear whether any of the users in the Korean Server of Athenae would be able to beat him in a fight.

    And Corr¡¯s chest strangely felt empty.

    ¡®The light in her eyes, that expression, that tone of voice¡­¡­¡¯

    Corr¡¯s expression was bitter as he escorted Rowena¡¯s carriage. He could see Rowena¡¯s look on the chef¡¯s face that was riding with her in the carriage was clearly that of love.

    When he reported that he had sacrificed himself to eat the tteoks and save the Athenae Religion, Rowena shed tears that were filled with emotions. Of course, Corr also thought of the same thing. He was a great and cool guy. But when he saw Rowena act like that, he felt his chest turned empty. That was right! Corr also adored her! He knew that it was not something that a pdin should do but the woman named Rowena was so beautiful that no woman wasparable to her. He couldn¡¯t help but fall in love with her.

    At that moment¡­¡­

    ¡°.....What¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that over there?¡±

    ¡°Heok?!¡±

    ¡°Hey, hey, hey! Wh, what the hell is that?¡±

    The surroundings started to get noisy. Pdin Corr turned his head to look at themotion. He could clearly see the hundreds of gigantic strands of magi pouring down from the sky with his own two eyes.

    ¡°Sh, shit!¡±

    ¡°FXck!¡±

    ¡°Pdins! Priests!!¡±

    Rowena wanted everyone to step back leaving only Corr behind. This meant that she wanted to speak with Minhyuk alone. Corr had rushed to call them back but it was all toote.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Powerful magi began to fall in all directions. Then, demonic humans began to pop out from all over the ce.

    ¡°Follow Verus-nim!¡±

    ¡°Verus-nim is the only monarch in this world!!¡±

    Demonic humans appeared everywhere. Demonic humans were literally just demon worshippers. The only problem was that these worshippers that appeared were people who weren¡¯t prepared and equipped with nothing at all.

    Bang! Bang, bang!

    ¡°Keuaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaargh!¡±

    ¡°What the hell. FXcker!!¡±

    The users were also all left in disarray. And with their screams, many of them were forced to log out but most of them tore up their return parchments and left the premises.

    It was at that moment when Corr¡¯s sword flew up in the sky.

    ¡°Calm down! Keep the bastards out of the carriage!¡±

    Corr shouted loudly. But now, more than anything else, he could see that the Athenae priests as well as the pdins were only halfway there.

    ¡®Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡­¡¯

    Corr finally realized that Verus deliberately showed himself in front of Sir Voloch. If that was the case, then it made sense for him to calcte this situation. Right now, more than half of the pdins and priests were headed towards the Papal Office to remove the magi that the demon Verus had casted over at the ce.

    sh¡ª

    After Corr shed down on one of the demonic humans, he could see a presence following behind.

    Bang!

    It was the fourth Strongest Man and was now a demon worshipper, Carn.

    The users heard the series of notifications.

    ¡°Strengthened Strongest Man?¡±

    ¡°The fourth Strongest Man? So far, the only ones to have appeared were the fifth Strongest Man, right?!¡±

    ¡°Shit, if he¡¯s strengthened then how strong is he now?!¡±

    ¡°Wh, what? C, cold sweat is¡­¡­ I can¡¯t breathe well¡­¡­!¡±

    And the users began toin about their difficulties in breathing that was caused by Demon¡¯s Breath. The users kept on throwing expletives. The Strongest Men would grow stronger as the number that was attached to them went down. This meant that the eighth Strongest Man, Rumad, who died not too long ago, was the weakest among them.

    Stab!

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaack!¡±

    With Carn¡¯s appearance, the demonic humans gained more strength.

    Swoooooooosh!

    A bright sword light stretched out from Corr¡¯s sword. With Corr¡¯s high holy power the power of his Judge¡¯s Sword attack would double in holy power. This ability was a fatal blow to his enemies who wielded magi.

    However, Carn just ran forward at a rapid pace. And the sword light that Corr shot out was brutally extinguished with a ck lightning bolt that fell down from the air.

    Bang, bang!

    ¡°......!¡±

    Corr was shocked. Only when the magi was more powerful than the holy power would it be able to offset the attack. He could also see that there was an unknown barrier that had started to surround an area within a 10m radius.

    ¡°W, we can¡¯t use any skills rted to holy power?¡±

    ¡°D, did you hear that? They can¡¯t use any holy power rted skills there!¡±

    ¡°Shit¡­¡­!¡±

    Bang, bang, bang, bang!

    ¡°Corr-nim!¡±

    ¡°Rowena-nim!¡±

    The barrier prevented the priests and barriers from entering the area.

    Meanwhile, the users¡­¡­

    ¡°Wh, what the hell is happening right now¡­¡­ Don¡¯t tell me that our Rowena¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Are they trying to kill Rowena?¡±

    ¡°No way! You mXthXrfXcking bastards! I¡¯m not going to run away!¡±

    ¡°What? Why are you going to make a stand?! You¡¯re going to lose a level!¡±

    ¡°Ptew! A man is going to fight for the woman that he loves!¡±

    ¡°Protect Rowena!¡±

    ¡°Uwooooooo! Don¡¯t touch our Rowena!¡±

    Most of the remaining users did not run away and chose to make a stand on this battlefield to protect Rowena. However, the problem was somewhere else. They couldn¡¯t get into the barrier where Rowena was. In addition, they easily sorted out the demonic humans since their numbers were too little.

    ¡°I can¡¯t go inside!¡±

    ¡°Damnnit!¡±

    ¡°What the hell!¡±

    The users, priests and pdins were all in a fluster outside of the barrier. The people outside of the barrier had no choice but to just watch and look at the situation inside. They even witnessed Pdin Corr being knocked down by Carn.

    ¡°Keheup!¡±

    Carn slowly approached Corr but just as he was about to strike his sword down to cut his neck off¡­¡­

    ¡°Stop.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    The edges of Carn¡¯s mouth were almost ripped in two with his wicked grin. This was because the Saintess herself went out of the carriage and even took one or two steps forward.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t I your goal?¡±

    Carn nodded his head.

    ¡°No!!¡±

    ¡°Do we have no choice at all¡­..!¡±

    ¡°Shit¡­¡­!¡±

    Meanwhile, the attack in the Athenae Temple was being broadcasted over the inte by various users.

    It wasn¡¯t just through that. Rowena¡¯s death was already expected by the people around the world through the rapid pace of broadcasting on the inte.

    In Japan, there was a group of fanatics who were all in love with Rowena.

    Watanabe, the president of the RLF fan cafe, was watching the real-time live broadcasts in Korea. He had a fat face filled with pimples.

    ¡°G, great Rowena!!!¡±

    He screamed loudly as his hands sweated buckets while he hugged a Rowena pillow.

    ¡°You¡¯re even stopping other¡¯s deaths by sacrificing yourself, Great Rowena¡­¡­! You can¡¯t die!¡±

    Watanabe bursted into tears. Then, two teardrops fell on the Rowena pillow that he was holding so tightly as he watched Carn slowly approach Rowena in the video. Rowena suddenly knelt down as she began to pray to God Athenae. He watched as Carn¡¯s hand that was holding the sword slowly went up in the air.

    ¡°P, please¡­¡­ Someone, anyone, please save our Great Rowena!!!¡±

    Watanabe cried loudly but based on thements that he had seen, it seemed like ess inside the boundary was an impossible feat. There were only two people inside the carriage, one was Rowena and the other one was a user chef who was said to be visiting Athenae Temple for sightseeing. Even Corr, who surpassed the number 1 in the Pdin rankings, fell under the hands of Carn then it would be nigh impossible for the chef to intervene. It seemed like Rowena also knew of that fact.

    Just as Carn¡¯s sword was about to strike down.

    He heard an unidentified voice. When Watanabe turned to look at the direction of the sound he could see a man d in shabby armor through the screen. The user was wearing a helmet with a small hand axe hanging behind his back. In addition, the artifacts that he had on his body were all too worn out. But he literally felt the same as Watanabe.

    ¡®That user wants to protect Rowena too!¡¯

    He looked at the man with reddened eyes as thement started toe up.

    Everyone denied his sess and the same was true for Watanabe. However, something extraordinary happened the very next moment. Everything the man wore began to fade away and scatter in the air. What appeared in front of everyone was a frying pan on his back as well as a rugged-looking yet familiar helmet.

    ¡°......!¡±

    Watanabe¡¯s eyes widened in shock. He knew that not too long ago, there was an unidentified user who swept everything away in Athenae: Korean War. That man¡¯s name was ¡®Minhyuk¡¯. And some people called him the Frying Pan Killer.

    And he had appeared in front of them.

    Murmur, murmur.

    ¡°That¡¯s the Frying Pan Killer, right?¡±

    ¡°F, Frying Pan Killer?!¡±

    The users staying outside of the barrier started to make a fuss.

    The Frying Pan Killer hadpletely disappeared from their sights after Athenae: Korean War. However, just a few days ago, he was able to meet the expectations of the users with the announcement of his third climb in the Hall of Kings.

    And right now, he had appeared in front of them.

    Rowena was able to talk to him inside the carriage.

    ¡®Stay inside the carriage. I don¡¯t want to see you uselessly die and disappear in front of me.¡¯

    That was clearly what she had told him earlier but he still came out and said this¡­¡­

    ¡®Get your hands off of her because she¡¯s important to me.¡¯

    When she heard his words, Rowena¡¯s heart thumped loudly. She had never felt something like this in her entire life.

    Rowena was not aware of his identity as the Frying Pan Killer. Perhaps for her, the Frying Pan Killer was just your run of the mill ranker who was well known in the whole Athenae world.

    However, his words thrilled her heart.

    ¡®I, in order to protect me¡­¡­¡¯

    You¡¯re trying to die by yourself. And, maybe he¡­¡­!

    ¡®Maybe, no clearly, he also likes me too¡­¡­¡¯

    Isn¡¯t that the reason why he called me his ¡®important person¡¯?

    ¡°D, don¡¯t try to sacrifice yourself because of me. I, I¡¯m fully aware of your feelings. That¡¯s why you should run away! Please!¡±

    ¡°......You know how I feel? You know how I feel¡­¡­ Then, how can you go out of the carriage without me! You¡¯re a person who¡¯s not supposed to die. Rowena! I¡¯ll protect you.¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaah¡­¡­¡±

    He was a man who just wanted to protect her. And Rowena felt the beating of her heart running amok inside her chest.

    ¡°Thanks.¡±

    ¡°Thanks.¡±

    There was only one reason why Minhyuk was angry.

    ¡®You dare touch Rowena?!¡¯

    If Rowena died, then Minhyuk would feel sad for a few days. He would be sad just because of one reason and one reason alone. It was because she hadn¡¯t cooked a tteok dumpling soup for him yet.

    How delicious must it be! A tteok dumpling soup made with ingredients that can only be found every hundred years! And that recipe is with Rowena!

    Just because of that, she had be an important person that Minhyuk needed to protect.

    ¡®For tteok dumpling soup!!!!¡¯

    He made a promise to himself. He would protect the person who would make his tteok dumpling soup. And he would definitely sprinkle some crispy seaweed powder on top of it so he could thoroughly enjoy his warm tteok dumpling soup!

    At that moment, Rowena, who had drunk her kimchi soup straight from the pot, was shedding tears.

    Minhyuk took a sword out of his inventory. The sword was none other than the Saint¡¯s sword.

    Then, a bright light bursted out of the Saint¡¯s sword. The light illuminated everything as if it would reveal all of the secrets of the world.

    [Drinking Kimchi Soup] - To drink kimchi soup is an idiom that is equivalent to the English ¡®counting one¡¯s chickens before they hatch¡¯ in this case, Rowena had already believed that Minhyuk had liked her without confirming this so she counted her chickens before they hatched.

    Notes:

    [Strongest Men] - I¡¯m sorry! I really can¡¯t remember if I used Strongest Men or Most Powerful Men when describing the group of the strongest people in the continent. Huehue. Guide meeeeeee~ Either way, they mean the same so I might continue to use them interchangeably.

    RLF Fan Cafe - I think it''s Rowena Love Forever hehehehe. It was an abbreviation in and on itself so I had to mix and match to find the best description for the fan cafe.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 231 - The New Vassal

    Chapter 231: The New Vassal

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Rowena was the woman that every man in the world liked. She was also an existence that was very popr among the women. This was all thanks to her chic and cool personality. She was hailed as everyone¡¯s girl crush and there were only a few people who did not like her. When her death was predicted to be just around the corner, everyone fell in despair.

    However, the Frying Pan Killer suddenly appeared! And the sword that he held suddenly burst out a bright light.

    The media and the people all over the world were agitated. However, just in time, the world¡¯s rankers began to speak one by one.

    That was just how people are. Once they were ovee with jealousy and envy, they would try to deny everything in front of them as they watched. Especially the rankers, did they even think that he would be someone awesome? No, so they spat those words out as if to look at his jokes. They looked forward to his mistakes and downfall.

    But at that time, one man asked¡­¡­

    Everyone was in the middle of denial.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk was conflicted for a split second. His Pandora¡¯s Helmet had the God¡¯s Targeted Praise which could increase the holy power of the targeted object by as much as x2. His choice was between Rowena and Corr.

    However, it was safe to say that Rowena had nobat capabilities at all. But she was a woman who had a tremendous buff and healing abilities. On the other hand, Pdin Corr was a powerful man. Even though he was knocked down by Carn, he was someone that couldn¡¯t be ignored anywhere.

    It was just a split second of conflict but his decision was also made as quickly.

    ¡°God¡¯s Targeted Praise!¡±

    sh!

    However, something surprising happened. A bright light surrounded Corr¡¯s body, breaking everyone¡¯s expectations. Corr could feel a great amount of holy power seeping into his body. He knew that his holy power was bing more powerful than usual. But no matter how strong his holy power was, he still fell down on the ground gasping.

    ¡°......How were you able to use holy power in this area?¡±

    Carn questioned him as his brows furrowed in thought. He could clearly feel it. He could feel a tremendous amount of holy power in him. And there was also the Saint¡¯s sword in his hands.

    ¡®So, he was the man who pulled out the Saint¡¯s Sword?¡¯

    However, Carn, a person originally named as one of the Strongest Men, was strengthened and reinforced by Verus.

    Carnughed loudly. He knew that he wouldn¡¯t be able to stop his attacks anyway. Because of the increase in his magi, his sword¡¯s attack and defense had also increased significantly. Even the Pdin Corr would not be able to survive after a few of his hits.

    In addition, he had also received other things from Verus. It was none other than ¡®Verus¡¯ Frightening Musical Instrument¡¯. Just like Gorac, one of the three great demons, had created a variety of disaster artifacts, Verus had also created his own artifacts.

    Without any hesitation, he took out the first artifact. It was a violin. The power of the violin prevented Corr from ever making contact with Carn¡¯s body. Not long after, Carn yed the violin. Along with the terrible melody that could scratch and make everyone¡¯s ears bleed, a pile of sword lights poured down from the violin. It was at that moment when the notifications rang.

    ¡°Like the Wind.¡±

    Like the Wind could allow him to move 3m all at once but it could also allow him to travel a distance of 1m thrice. Minhyuk quickly used his Rampant Sword which allowed him quick sword strikes with plenty of sword lights striking his opponent.

    ng, ng, ng, ng, ng, ng!

    ¡°Hooooo¡­...¡±

    Carn grinned darkly. It seemed like this man was much more powerful than what Carn had initially thought. Pdin Corr was devastated by his blows because he could not use any of his holy power rted skills. But this man was different.

    ¡®Then, what about this?¡¯

    He switched out the Violin of Slowness with a kayagum. Carn sat in front of the kayagum as he began to pluck at its strings and y.

    Ting¡ª

    At that moment¡­¡­

    Boom!

    An explosion happened right in front of Minhyuk. Carn had no intention to stop so he continued to y as explosions happened one after another.

    Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!

    Every time he plucked the strings of the kayagum, a fierce explosion would ur followed by a ck magi rising above the site of the explosion.

    ¡°It¡¯s done.¡±

    ¡°......What the hell. Is it over already?¡±

    ¡°So the Frying Pan Killer was not that big of a deal¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Rowena¡­¡­!¡±

    The users all fell in despair. However, Minhyuk suddenly popped out of the ck magi.

    Dash!

    Then, he started running.

    ¡°Wh, what the hell!¡±

    Carn¡¯s beady eyes widened in shock.

    His attack power was currently exerting a ridiculous amount of strength but there was not even a single scratch on Minhyuk¡¯s body. No, to be exact, there was a baby piggy who appeared on his shoulder. It was because the Absolute Defense, a skill attached to Hepas¡¯ Silver Pot Lid, was triggered.

    Dash¡ª

    Carn yed the kayagum to attack Minhyuk who was running towards him.

    Boom, boom, boom!

    However, Minhyuk used Like the Wind to evade all of the explosions.

    ¡®Then, let¡¯s aim for a big shot.¡¯

    ck magi began to condense in the kayagum. As soon as a huge amount of magi was collected in the kayagum¡­¡­

    Boooooooooom!

    A series of explosions happened within a 5m radius, shooting down Minhyuk¡¯s running form.

    ¡®This time, for sure¡­¡­¡¯

    It should definitely be over. After all, he had used a considerable amount of his MP just for that single attack. However, a voice came through the smoke.

    ¡°Blooming Sword.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Carn keenly felt a strong sense of danger as the ground shook wildly. He rapidly minimized the kayagum until it became small enough to be held in one of his hands. It was none other than casts.

    Tak, tak!

    As soon as the casts cked together, ck magi wrapped around his body. cking the casts together would double Carn¡¯s defenses temporarily. Because of this he believed that his attacks and the swords sticking out of the ground would not deal much damage to him. He believed that those puny swords would not be able to pierce his skin at all. But at that moment¡­¡­

    Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª

    The sword des that rose from the ground stabbed and prated all over his body.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!¡±

    Carn couldn¡¯t believe it.

    How?

    He did not know but Minhyuk¡¯s Saint¡¯s Sword had the Intangible Sword as well as the 60% chances of disregarding the defenses of anyone with magi. This was also thanks to his x2 increase in attack power which was dependent on his holy power when fighting against the undeads and demonic race.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    A powerful explosion suddenly urred. The swords that prated through his body sted one by one. However, it did not end there, Minhyuk still used his Splitting Sword. And two red, fiery sword lights flew out in a cross.

    sh¡ª

    sh¡ª

    Suddenly, the sound of something being cut down was heard.

    ¡°Heng! You¡¯re messing with me, huh?!¡±

    Minhyuk wiped his nose with his thumb just like Bruce Lee before he started a fight.

    ¡°......Is, is it a one shot?¡±

    ¡°Is, is it over?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s a Strong Man, right?¡±

    The users outside of the barrier were all astounded. They saw him fire the Splitting Sword but they did not expect that Carn, who knocked down the Pdin Corr, would easily copse with that attack.

    And the talkative rankers all over the world who were boasting about their predictions earlier all fell silent.

    The regr users began to p back at the arrogant users before. The rankers were all left speechless.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk approached Corr hurriedly. The barrier had not gone away yet and Minhyuk had to face the current situation hurriedly. It was clear that the situation was not over yet so before things went bad, he had to save Corr, who was on the brink of death, first.

    He desperately wanted to eat tteok dumpling soup but Rowena and Corr were also people important to him. In particr, wasn¡¯t Corr a serious ¡®fanatic¡¯ who served himself?

    ¡°M, Minhyuk-nim¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll treat you.¡±

    ¡°M, Minhyuk-nim will¡­¡­?¡±

    What Minhyuk took out to treat Corr was none other than his bandages.

    ¡°Y, you¡¯re going to treat a serious injury with just those bandages?¡±

    The rankers who ate big shit earlier were starting to squeeze back in again.

    At that moment¡­¡­

    ¡°Bandage wrap!¡±

    ¡°Bandage wrap!¡±

    Minhyuk began to wrap bandages all over his body. The red blood that was seeping out of Corr¡¯s wounds had stopped immediately. Most of Corr¡¯s injuries were caused by plenty of shes and cuts but those cuts had begun to heal at a speed that was visible to the naked eye!

    And Corr, who was personally involved and directly experienced Minhyuk¡¯s bandaging skills, felt more absurd.

    ¡®What kind of ability is this? It¡¯sparable to the Athenae Priests¡¯ recovery skill¡­¡­¡¯

    Are you telling me that he¡¯ll just heal me with bandages?

    ¡°Can you move?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Corr stood up. He could still feel some pain but he believed that he could already fight. And right at that very moment¡­¡­

    Carn¡¯s body appeared as the thick cloud of dust waned. And it wasn¡¯t just the normal him. His skin was darkened and there were two curved horns on his head. He had literally be a demonic human.

    ¡°FXck.¡±

    ¡°Corr-nim, what do you mean by fXck? As a Pdin you should have said ¡®Oh, I¡¯m in big trouble!¡¯.¡±

    Corr uttered words that he would usually not say with his position after being subjected to terrible pressure.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. We¡¯re in big trouble!¡±

    Corr, who spoke like he was reciting a Korean textbook, looked solemn. The increase of 1.6x in both attack and defense was an enormous strength. And with this increase in strength, this meant that he would be stronger. He had now be someone who was more undefeatable.

    ¡°......But, there¡¯s a way.¡±

    ¡°A way? What is it?¡±

    ¡°Ah. But I don¡¯t like this way. And Corr-nim can¡¯t possibly do that.¡±

    ¡°......Yes?¡±

    Corr tilted his head in confusion as he watched Minhyuk shake his head hard. He looked like he really did not like the method that he thought of. But Corr still urged him to tell him the answer.

    ¡°What is your way? It¡¯s better than just uselessly dying here.¡±

    ¡°But I¡¯d rather be forced to log out¡­¡­¡±

    But if he thought of it that way, then Rowena might die so he shouldn¡¯t do that to make sure that he could eat his tteok dumpling soup. Minhyuk finally relented.

    ¡°Do you know about the ¡®Saint¡¯s Protection¡¯ in the Saint¡¯s Sword? If I designate my party member or guild member then their physical attack and defense as well as magical attack and defense will increase by 20% of their holy power stat but¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Corr knew what that meant. NPCs couldn¡¯t be their party members or guild members so there was only one way for that to be possible.

    ¡°I should be a vassal for it to work, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I told you it¡¯s not possible, right? Ahaha. Actually, I think it¡¯s better that we don¡¯t do it either. Never! Never! I¡¯d rather we not do it at all!¡±

    Corr turned to look back at Rowena. He could see Rowena nodding her head at him. The Pdin Corr waspletely obedient to Rowena¡¯s orders. He finally spoke after her nodding her head.

    ¡°Then, I will be your vassal.¡±

    From today on, Corr could easily spit out ?s every day.

    Minhyuk¡¯s expression suddenly distorted in pain.

    Kayagum (???) - a traditional KR plucked zither with 12 strings. Can have 18, 21 or 25 strings. Best known traditional KR instrument.

    TL¡¯s corner!

    I thought it was Rowena¡­. But it was Corr???? Or maybe Rowena too?

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 232 - The New Vassal

    Chapter 232: The New Vassal

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    ¡®N, no. Who said that I¡¯m going to ept you!!¡¯

    Minhyuk was astonished. But Corr did not look like he regretted being Minhyuk¡¯s vassal.

    Just like he said, it was not something easy. First, the priests and pdins of the Athenae Religion were people who served God Athenae. For this reason, they couldn¡¯t easily bend down and serve others. But there was one condition. It would be possible for them to willingly serve another if the person¡¯s holy power was twice as high as their holy power. Joy Co. Ltd. thought that it was not an easy feat. After all, their requirement was having a holy power that was twice as high as the holy power of Athenae¡¯s priests and pdins? But Minhyuk had once saved Corr and even Rowena. This was the reason why Minhyuk was qualified as a master.

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes were filled with tears as he quickly looked through the skills that he could use. His eyes widened when he saw Athenae¡¯s Prayer.

    Yeah, it¡¯s like this anyway.

    Minhyuk spoke.

    ¡°Corr-nim. There¡¯s something that I need you to do for me in the future.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    The Commander of the Pdins, Corr! He was waiting for his orders with his right fist raised over his heart.

    ¡°From now on, you will be a farmer.¡±

    ¡°.......?¡±

    Corr tilted his head in confusion.

    This was because of the second effect of the skill Athenae¡¯s Prayer! It was because it said that the surrounding animals and nts would grow richer and faster. Even though the NPC was powerful, Minhyuk did not need this useless strength. But if he was a farmer, then that would be a different story.

    Then, the Saint¡¯s Sword burst out a bright light.

    As soon as the Saint¡¯s Sword burst into a brilliant light, Carn moved.

    The kayagum appeared on top of Carn¡¯s head as two ownerless hands held the strings of the kayagum. Then, the Slow Violin appeared in his hands.

    Shweeeeeeeek¡ª

    As soon as he yed the violin, a much darker ck magi appeared from the ckened violin. The thicker and darker strands of magi began to pour in the dozens.

    At that exact same moment, a square shield with the cross that symbolized the Athenae Religion appeared in front of Pdin Corr. The shield grewrger until it could berge enough to protect in front of them. He was able to use this skill because it did not fall under the category of holy power rted skills.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Dozens of ck sword lights collided with therge shield.

    ¡®......Crazy! His attacks are too strong!¡±

    Although Corr was treated and had the Saint¡¯s Protection, the attacks were still too strong.

    ¡°Keup!¡±

    The impact of the magi hitting his Athenae¡¯s Shield kept on pushing Corr back.

    The Saint¡¯s Protection wasrgely influenced by the ¡®Holy Power Stat¡¯ of the person. Corr¡¯s holy power was about 900 so all his forces had increased by 180. The increase in his forces was an increase of about 100 levels. However, their enemy has also be more powerful.

    Corr suddenly heard Minhyuk¡¯s voice from behind.

    ¡°Corr-nim!¡±

    ¡°Keup! Yes!¡±

    ¡°Provoke the enemy.¡±

    ¡°Provoke?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°This moron!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Minhyuk was suddenly at a loss when he heard his words.

    ¡°N, no. Give me some more foulnguage. You were so good earlier¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Th, that was just something I did unconsciously.¡±

    ¡°Then unconsciously provoke him!¡±

    Pdin Corr had never cursed or used foulnguage in his entire life. Ah. He did it a bit by mistake earlier. However, the upright and righteous Pdin Corr had banned himself from swearing and cursing as much as he could while he served God Athenae. But right now, he had to swear to get a chance to live.

    ¡°Shit, you dumbass! How dare you! You look just like a mere demonic servant and you dare set us up! Look at you! You look just like the spinach that I ate yesterday!!! You fucking arrogant bastard! Should I shove my sword in your ass?!¡±

    Pdin Corr let out a torrent of curses and swear words. At that moment, he felt like his false bravado was going down with plenty of arrows shooting down at his chest. It felt like his twenty years of constipation was slowly going down the drain.

    That was right. Pdin Corr had just realized what his true calling was.

    ¡°Haaaak ptew! Is that all you can do?!!! Can you even break through my Athenae Shield with just that?! You fucking moron!¡±

    ¡°Y, you don¡¯t have to anymo¡­¡­.¡±

    ¡°Be quiet, Minhyuk, you punk!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°Ah. I feel so excited and thrilled.¡±

    A subtle smile hung around Pdin Corr¡¯s lips.

    There was only one reason why Minhyuk asked Corr to provoke their enemy. It was because during his fight with the Ancient Monarch before, the Monarch fired and triggered his most powerful skills after he got provoked. And he felt that Carn was simr to the Ancient Monarch.

    ck tendrils of magi started to rampage in the kayagum and the violin.

    Shwaaaaaaaaaaa!

    Hundreds of ck sword lights began to pour out of the instruments. Even the ground began to shake as if it was going to explode.

    At that exact same moment, Minhyuk pulled out his Bowl and Mixer Machine. He ced the bowl in the mixer machine as he began to turn the mixer.

    More than half of the hundreds of ck sword lights disappeared. The tremor in the ground also disappeared instantly. However, that was only the case for the 5m area surrounding Minhyuk. Outside of the area, there was still pandemonium as sword lights and tremors continued to run rampant.

    Minhyuk stepped forward as he increased the size of his frying pan.

    The huge frying pan blocked the remaining hundreds of sword lights as well as the explosions from the ground.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    ¡°He, he¡¯s done for¡­...¡±

    ¡°He couldn¡¯t possibly block that.¡±

    The users sighed in regret. Just a moment ago, they saw the cacophony of attacks. All they could do was sigh ruefully at the bitter end of the user who stood to protect Rowena.

    However, on the contrary, Minhyuk walked out intact. Then, he said¡­¡­

    ¡°......It did not hurt a bit? Maybe just like a mosquito bite?¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Carn staggered back.

    Minhyuk checked the status of his body. Due to the continuous explosions, his HP had continued to decline.

    About 0.5% each strike?

    The attacks only meted out those puny damages. He recalled about the Saint¡¯s Protection which increased all his forces by 30% of his holy power. Right now, Minhyuk¡¯s holy power had already exceeded 4,000. On top of that, Pandora¡¯s helmet had a special effect of increasing his holy power by x2. This meant that he had at least 8,000 points on his holy power.

    The 30% of an 8,000 holy power stat could give him a tremendous amount of force. In other words, he had an increase of more than 2,500 in all his physical attack and defense as well as magical attack and defense. Having a 2,500 increase in all of those was a tremendous boost to his strength.

    For example, a Lv100 user could have 1,000 points on their physical attack and defense. This meant that users at this level would not be able to beat users with 2,000 points on their physical attack and defense. This would still be the case even if five people of the same level attacked the same opponent. When their physical attack fell short of their enemy¡¯s physical defense then their enemies would automatically get the ability to ¡®escape and avoid¡¯ their attacks. This was the reason why a Lv100 user would not be able to deal a lot of damage on users with higher stats than them unless they struck a fatal blow.

    Minhyuk¡¯s situation was just like that. Comparing that to the situation before, Carn would be a user at Lv150 while Minhyuk, with his Saint¡¯s Protection, was a user at Lv200.

    ¡°.....W, what the hell?¡±

    ¡°This is so ridiculous?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think that this is too much of a scam?¡±

    The users were all in a buzz. However, Minhyuk just kept on advancing towards the flustered Carn.

    Carn quickly pulled at the strings of his violin.

    Shweeeeeek¡ª

    ng!

    But when his attacks collided with Minhyuk¡¯s Armor of Immortality, all of the sword lights got neutralized.

    Plop, plop, plop, plop¡ª

    Carn yed the kayagum and the violin continuously.

    Shweeeeeek¡ª

    ng, ng, ng, ng, ng, ng!

    ¡°Hmm. So that¡¯s how it is.¡±

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Explosions urred around him one after the other but Minhyuk saw that the damage was more than tolerable for him. It was like when someone got bitten by a mosquito and they said ¡®Ah! It hurts!¡¯ but it really did not hurt. That was simr to what he was experiencing.

    Carn stepped back.

    ¡°Hiiiik!¡±

    Carn was clearly 1.6x stronger than his usual self but the bastard in front of him was someone that was beyondmon sense.

    One of the reasons why Carn¡¯s attacks did not work was because he had be a ¡®Demonic Human¡¯ with the magi given to him. And the power of the demonic humans came from magi. Magi and holy power were both powers on each end of the spectrum. They werepletely different and contrasting powers.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk just recovered his lost HP by bandaging himself once or twice.

    ¡°Y, you bastard! Don¡¯te here!¡±

    If Carn did not turn into a demonic human and was purely a Strong Man, then he might have been able to kill Minhyuk. However, this was not the case.

    Carn¡¯s violin suddenly erupted and created a storm of magi. The sword lights that poured out of the air folded together until it became daggers. The daggers immediately flew straight towards Minhyuk.

    Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª

    But most of the attacks did notnd on Minhyuk¡¯s body. However, even if he did seed¡­¡­

    ¡°Bandage wrap!¡±

    Minhyuk would immediately wrap a bandage on his injury.

    ¡°......¡±

    Carn looked at him dumbfounded until Minhyuk arrived in front of him.

    ¡°Do you think you can kill me?!!¡±

    Carn quickly cked the casts together.

    ck, ck, ck, ck¡ª

    Unlike before when he just cked them twice, this time, he cked them together four times. And along with the sound, his defenses tripled.

    In all honesty, Carn believed that he and Minhyuk were both in the same state so he believed that he would not be able to kill him.

    But the moment Minhyuk¡¯s sword moved¡­¡­

    Stab!

    Blood gushed out from Carn¡¯s body. The blood spurting out of his body looked strangely like a fountain.

    With the Saint¡¯s sword in his hands, he had a special ability that would let him have a 60% chance of ignoring the defenses of anyone who carried magi.

    ¡°H, how can you be this strong?! How the hell?!¡±

    He was the fourth Strongest Man and with Verus¡¯ power, he was able to be a demonic human with greater power.

    But, how?

    ¡°I ate well, exercised hard and slept well. Ah, and¡­... ¡°

    Minhyuk grinned widely at him.

    ¡°I¡¯m also a bit overgeared.¡±

    Then, Minhyuk stepped back.

    Carn¡¯s body was regenerating at an rming rate. The speed of his regeneration was even thrice that of a troll! At this rate, he would not be sessfully hunted if his body was not cut into pieces.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!¡±

    Carn screamed while Minhyuk prepared his Fluttering Sword.

    Hundreds of silver leaves began falling down from the sky. With 8,000 holy power and an additional 2,500 in his magical attack force from the Saint¡¯s Protection the strength of his attack was truly tremendous.

    Then, this overwhelming attack was unleashed.

    Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª

    The falling and fluttering leaves began to ravage and devour Carn¡¯s body. His body was torn apart without a single ce left intact.

    Notifications began to pour down constantly as soon as Carn¡¯s body disappeared into thin air.

    And along with the sound of notifications, a bright light burst out in front of Minhyuk. A translucent spirit in the image of a man could be seen inside this bright light.

    It was none other than the Food God.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    ? It¡¯s funny to see Minhyuk being so underleveled, but yet so overpowered. Speaking of his levels, when can we see his updated stats?!?

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 233 - Delicious Expedition

    Chapter 233: Delicious Expedition

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    66 Delicious Expedition

    Oh Changwook sat on the sofa with a gloomy look on his face.

    The TV was turned on right in front of him and was tuned in to the game channel, ATV. It was the channel that attracted the most viewers among the existing game channels in the country. The reason why it was the most popr channelpared to other game channels was because ATV broadcasted new job sses and various quests everyday as well as the special methods to target and acquire them.

    At that moment, Lee Jinhwan, with a cup of coffee in his hand, approached Changwook. Changwook looked like he had lost everything in his world as he watched the TV.

    ¡°What seems to be the problem? Changwookie.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Jinhwan tilted his head at him while Changwook covered his face with his hands.

    ¡°Got dumped?¡±

    ¡°I confessed to Hyejin but she thought that it was just a lie! Why? The atmosphere was clearly nice too¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡­?¡±

    Lee Jinhwan tilted his head in confusion.

    It seemed like the Immortal Great Wizard Changwook had attempted to make a solo escape. But with the way things are, it looked like things did not turn out the way he thought it would.

    ¡°Did I make a mistake? I sent her a ka-talk message, replied a few times and even read and chewed every word.¡±

    ¡°By any chance, can I see your ka-talk messages?¡±

    Changwook handed him his mobile phone.

    ¡°......¡±

    Jinhwan couldn¡¯t help but look at Changwook nkly after he saw the messages.

    ¡°No, isn¡¯t the spelling wrong¡­¡­? And I can¡¯t believe that you just told her that you love her with no rhyme or reason at all. Boy, you really don¡¯t have a love bone in your body!¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    Jinhwan looked at him incredulously.

    ¡°It¡¯s not ripe, it¡¯s sociable.¡±

    ¡°......It¡¯s not the same?¡±

    Jinhwan clicked his tongue at him. He thought that this was perhaps the reason why Changwook had defended his title of being an Immortal Great Wizard for quite a long time.

    Then, at that moment¡­¡­

    The sound from the TV caught their attention. The voice that rang loudly in their ears was the voice that shouted ¡®America¡¯s Box Office Number 1!!!¡¯ in movie trailers every day. Although no one knew how there could always be a movie that topped the box office every day.

    Then, along with his voice, the scene on the screen changed. The screen showed the Elves¡¯ Land that had not yet been opened to the public.

    The Demon Worshippers shouted loudly as portals cracked open. And from those cracks, demonic monsters as well as other demonic races came out. And in the middle of it, there stood an Elf. An elf with their pointy and sharp ears. The elf looked like he was knocking an arrow on his bow even though there was no arrow at all. But as soon as he let go of the bow¡­¡­

    Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh!

    Hundreds of arrows shot the demonic humans, demonic monsters and other demonic races.

    Then, the scene on the screen changed again. It showed Ellie, the Empress of the Eivelis Empire and Asvon, the Emperor of Cordis Empire, sitting face to face.

    The two people shook their hands together in agreement. Then, they kept on talking.

    Along with their words, the story about the great and massive war was shown which was followed by the next words.

    ¡°Oh¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°Weren¡¯t you just sulky earlier?¡±

    Jinhwan clicked his tongue when he saw Changwook¡¯s face regaining vitality in an instant after sulking for quite a long time in front of the television.

    Changwook immediately went to check the official home page of Athenae to check about the elves. He saw that the elves would receive their points and they could exchange for things that they wanted with them. In particr, the items that the elves sold were things that were rare and had never been released before.

    Then, Changwook turned and asked aloud.

    ¡°Perhaps there¡¯s something good to eat with the elves?¡±Visjt n??velbin(.)c??m for new updates

    He pondered deeply about this possibility.

    ¡°A gorgonz pizza made with the elves¡¯ honey, elves¡¯ dark beer, elves¡¯ bibimbap¡­¡­ hmm¡­¡­¡±

    An idea shed through Changwook¡¯s head.

    ¡°This is 100% perfect for Minhyukie!!¡±

    Minhyuk could see that the presence in front of him was the previous Food God, Allen. This was his first time ever meeting him.

    Currently, Minhyuk¡¯s level had shot through Lv380 in an instant.

    ¡°Hoo. You¡¯re not as fat as I thought. Rather, you look very tiny and small.¡±

    ¡°The Food God is the same too.¡±

    Minhyuk smiled at him. He couldn¡¯t help but be pleased with his appearance since he was also a man who loved to eat as much as himself.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have a lot of time. I can only stay here for a while.¡±

    It made sense since the Food God was already dead.

    ¡°Have you checked my request?¡±

    ¡°Not yet.¡±

    ¡°Look at it.¡±

    Minhyuk immediately checked the contents of the quest.

    It was a special quest that would not mete out any penalty even if he failed. It was also a ss quest that did not have anything to do with the five God¡¯s Legacy Dishes.

    The other gods thought that the Food God¡¯s descendants would bezy and weak?

    It wasughable. However, to some extent, Food God Allen couldn¡¯t help but agree. The transfer to the Food God ss was all about eating. First, they had to fill their fullness stat until 10/10 then they had to choose the pig instead of the legendary ss, Berserker. It was truly about food and food alone! This was the reason why it was quite hard for his descendants to have a strong presence.

    But Allen was able to gauge his strength. Then, he reached his hand out slowly.

    ¡°Boy, I wonder how far you¡¯ve gone in your journey. Will you take this stone?¡±

    Minhyuk reached his hands out and grabbed the stone in Allen¡¯s hand. It was an energy stone. The energy stone could gauge the power of the person holding the stone but it would not be able to gauge the strength of someone with a strength of around Lv470 or higher.

    When Minhyuk held the stone¡­¡­

    Crack ,crack, crack, crack¡ª

    Allen¡¯s eyes widened in shock when he heard the sound of crackinging out of his hands.

    ¡®Wh, what the hell¡­¡­ this sound¡­¡­¡¯

    Food God Allen was flustered. Just like what was mentioned earlier, the energy stone would not be able to gauge the power of someone around Lv470 or higher.

    Even though it was an average of all of his skills, stats and the artifacts that he¡¯s wearing¡­¡­ he has a force above Lv500?

    Then, it broke.

    Flop!

    The energy stone broke in Minhyuk¡¯s hands.

    ¡°Boy¡­¡­ What have you been doing so far¡­¡­¡±

    Food God Allen looked at him in shock. He knew that the breaking of the energy stone meant that his general strength was at least at Lv500 or higher.

    Minhyuk tilted his head in confusion when he saw Allen¡¯s shocked face.

    ¡°I¡¯ve just been working hard and enjoying my meals. Just like you, Food God-nim!!¡±

    He answered Allen¡¯s question cheerfully. When Allen saw his bright smile, he couldn¡¯t help butugh loudly.

    ¡°You truly are my descendant!¡±

    ¡°Eyy. That¡¯s still a long way off. Don¡¯t you think that I still need to be able to eat roasted fish with Dragon¡¯s Breath to be called a proper descendant of yours?¡±

    ¡°Ah. Right. You haven¡¯t tried it yet, right? Boy? If you eat it after fully roasting it with Dragon¡¯s Breath, the smell of smoke will spread in your mouth¡­¡­¡±

    Gulp.

    The two people gulped their saliva at the same time. It seemed like they truly were working at the same wavelength.

    ¡°Ah. Wait, wait. I don¡¯t have enough time. Will you be epting my bet?¡±

    ¡°Of course. The rewards¡­¡­¡±

    Allen shook his head when he saw Minhyuk¡¯s excitement.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Aren¡¯t the rewards great?!!!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m very, very, very happy! I will definitely make all of that happen!¡±

    The rewards written in the quest were the epitome of midnight snacks. The Bizarre Tteokbokki Set and the Spicy Chicken Feet Set.

    Although very asional, there would be days like that when you crave spicy food. Those days usually happened when someone was extremely stressed out. And during those stressed out days, one would definitely order the Bizarre Tteokbokki set as well as the Spicy Chicken Feet Set.

    He could imagine himself lifting the lid of the tteokbokki set and seeing the melted cheese that was glowing in white light. Underneath the cheese was the red tteokbokki as well as the vienna sausages and dumplings. There were also soft and plump boiled eggs inside.

    Eating the spicy tteokbokki and chicken feet would definitely make him sweat and say ¡®Slurp¡ª Ho!¡¯ with the delicious hotness of the food. The spiciness and heat would make him hurry and reach out for a drink of cold and refreshing Julpis. Minhyuk personally preferred the peach vor among the variety that Julpis offered. He was sure that the refreshing and cool Julpis would definitely wash away the tingling in his mouth. Continuously eating the spicy and bizarre tteokbokki would definitely cause him pleasurable pain but just like the demon¡¯s temptation, he would definitely keep on reaching out for more! And after eating the tteokbokki, he would then set his sights on the spicy chicken feet.

    After those thoughts crossed his mind, he believed that he definitely had to do this.

    ¡°Food God-nim, is the Food God¡¯s kitchen knife the artifact that you used in the past?¡±

    ¡°Yes. It has a very, very special and amazing power.¡±

    However, Minhyuk was not interested in anything else aside from food. Looking at him, Allen smiled pleasantly.

    ¡°As expected of my descendant! Yes! You should know this!¡±

    ¡°Eyy. What will I do with an artifact that I won¡¯t be able to eat?¡±

    ¡°Right. It¡¯s something you can¡¯t eat. I also wanted all of the rewards for you to be food but God Athenae stopped me!!!¡±

    ¡°Hahahahaha! That would definitely be a happy thing!¡±

    The two of them really hit it off.

    Meanwhile, Corr and Rowena muttered to themselves as they watched the scene in front of them.

    ¡°I¡¯m going nuts.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s like I¡¯m watching a gluttonous dad and his son¡­¡­¡±

    Then, Minhyuk suddenly thought of something.

    ¡°Ah! Do you have any special cooking utensils?¡±

    ¡°Special cooking utensils?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I got a Half-God Artifact Production Method.¡±

    Minhyuk spoke quietly but Allen¡¯s eyes couldn¡¯t help but widen in shock.

    ¡®N, no. What in the world were you doing?!!¡¯

    Half-God Artifact Production Method?

    Allen knew the power that it held. He also knew one piece of information. The special treasures of those beings. When one collected all the treasures they would be able to produce any type of artifact that they wanted.

    Allen gulped as he nodded his head.

    ¡°There is. A very amazing artifact. But, you¡¯re still a long way off.¡±

    ¡°Where is it?¡±

    ¡°Demon World.¡±

 Chapter 234 - Delicious Expedition

    Chapter 234: Delicious Expedition

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Lee Minhwa and Team Leader Park¡¯s eyes both widened in shock. They were in shock because of the information that the Food God was saying on the screen of the monitor right now.

    Then, the two of them shook hands. Along with that, a quest window also appeared in Minhyuk¡¯s head. However, for the Athenae operators, it was the worst handshake to have ever happened in the entire world.

    ¡°Show us the quest window.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Team Leader.¡±

    The reason why all of them were astounded was because most of the NPCs who would give the quest rted to the Four Heavenly Kings Treasures would always say ¡®Rumor has it that they give the form of artifact that you want but we don¡¯t know if it will be good.¡¯ or something along those lines. With those vague words, users would most likely wonder about the probability of getting a good artifact and would choose whether they would challenge or give up the quest. The Four Heavenly Kings were the second most powerful beings right after the three Great Demons. It wasn¡¯t easy to meet with any of them and they still had to do quests for them or hunt them.

    But right now¡­¡­

    ¡°Right now, Cauhel is struggling just to meet with the Four Heavenly Kings. Right?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Team Leader.¡±

    Cauhel had arrived at the Demon World earlier and he was moving around trying to find their treasures. Just like Beas Vige, the Demon World was a meeting ce for users all over the world. And right now, even though he was ater, Minhyuk might try to challenge the quest. To the operators, Minhyuk was more of a problem than Cauhel.

    ¡°Unlike the rumors, the power of the artifact that wille out is not insignificant. But artifacts with simr power to a disaster rank will definitelye out.¡±

    And the name that Joy Co. Ltd. had given these artifacts were¡­¡­

    ¡°Authority Artifact¡­...¡±

    Lee Minhwa murmured to herself.

    That was the artifact that would be created from whatever the user wanted. And that artifact could also exert power simr to that of a disaster artifact.

    But he will collect the four treasures and use a Half-God Artifact Production Method?

    Then, it would definitely be stronger than a disaster artifact.

    ¡°I hope that User Minhyuk does not go to the Demon World.¡±

    ¡°Yes. Otherwise, it will be the first Authority Artifact to evere out¡­..¡±

    After a brief pause, Team Leader Park sighed as he rubbed his chin.

    ¡°I just hope that it¡¯s not an oven¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk checked the artifacts that he had received while waiting at the restaurant. Rowena was currently making him some tteok dumpling soup so he had some free time. Sitting right next to him was his new vassal, Corr.

    He thought that Kayagum¡¯s Explosion was the skill that was used earlier. It was a skill that allowed explosions whenever the kayagum was yed. And Slow Violin was the skill that fired sword lights with every pluck of the string.

    However, among the three skills attached to the artifacts, Minhyuk¡¯s personal favorite was the Recital Conductor.

    ¡°This one will be Corr-nim¡¯s from now one.¡±

    ¡°Oh. But this is such a precious thing¡­¡­ Thank you.¡±

    Corr looked excited. He checked the information on the item and saw that it was a very good item.

    ¡°From now on, I will give Corr-nim a huge mission. Use this instrument to grow the Monarch¡¯s Seeds.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s expression was filled with determination.

    Corr knew about the existence of the Monarch¡¯s Seeds. Those were the seeds made by the Ancient Monarch and the Former Pope! There might be enormous power hidden in these seeds. And he was responsible for awakening such power.

    ¡°I¡¯ll definitely make it happen!¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Corr did not know that Minhyuk just wanted to eat something delicious, all he knew was that he looked serious while he gave him this order.

    ¡®Hmm¡­¡­ Food God-nim told me that I should just do what I normally do and someone wille to see me so that I can proceed with the Food God¡¯s Bet quest. I wonder when they¡¯lle?¡¯

    Minhyuk tilted his head in thought.

    For now, it¡¯s fine if I wait.

    At that moment, Rowena finallypleted the tteok dumpling soup.

    ¡°Our Athenae Temple¡¯s garden has more holy power than anywhere else. The kimchi made from the cabbage that¡¯s grown there is different from regr kimchi.¡±

    ¡°Oh. I see.¡±

    Minhyuk looked at the piping hot tteok dumpling soup. He could see the seaweed kes, egg garnish, and carrots that were sliced and ced on top of the soup. Even the dumplings that they used were authentic dumplings.

    ¡®Looking at the shape of the dumplings, these are clearly Hoobigo gyoza dumplings.¡¯

    Just like he had expected, the dumplings were Hoobigo gyoza dumplings. The sizes of the dumplings were all simr and the fillings were generously packed inside a sturdy and strong dumpling dough.

    Minhyuk tried a sip of the soup first.

    ¡®Wow¡­¡­¡¯

    In just one sip, Minhyuk could tell that this was the taste of beef bone soup.

    ¡°We have a tree called the Beef Bone Tree. I made the dumpling soup using the broth from the tree.¡±

    Rowena grinned widely as Minhyuk gave her a thumbs up.

    This time, Minhyuk scooped up some joraengi tteok and ced it in his mouth.

    Chew, chew.

    The texture of the chewy joraengi tteok as well as the deep vor of the beef bone broth together with the taste of the seaweed powder danced in his mouth. He smiled happily at the vors that danced inside his mouth in every chew.

    ¡®This vor is making me feel alive!¡¯

    As expected, delicious food is best after doing hard work!

    Then, he picked up some dumplings from the soup. As soon as he raised his spoon, he could see a round and plump dumpling on top of it. There was a faint luster in the dumpling skin that made it look like it was shining. He quickly blew on it to cool the dumpling down before eating the whole dumpling in one go. As soon as he chewed, the soup trapped inside the dumpling spread through his mouth. A variety of vors danced wildly in his mouth. Gorad¡¯s Meat Tree truly tasted like meat.

    Then, he picked up some kimchi while he continued to eat the tteok dumpling soup.

    Crunch, crunch¡ª

    The sour and crunchy kimchi washed away the greasiness of the soup. He continued to eat like that. Then, he picked up the bowl and drank the beef bone broth directly from the bowl.

    ¡°Puhaa! It¡¯s really delicious!¡±

    Minhyuk made sure to eat all of the joraengi tteok and dumplings. By the time he was done, there was not even a drop of soup left in his bowl. Then, he turned towards Rowena.

    ¡°I have something important to say to Rowena-nim.¡±

    ¡°......Yes?¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s expression was grave and solemn while his eyes glistened like he was longing for something.

    ¡®I, is he going to confess¡­¡­?¡¯

    Rowena¡¯s heart suddenly sank without her noticing it.

    The Emperor of Cordis Empire, Asvon the Bright, looked at the two people sitting in front of him.

    The two people sitting in front of him were both God sses. One was Eclei, the God of War. Eclei was an outstanding monarch and he did not belong in any guild. But nevertheless, he was still someone who was responsible for three small cities. He truly deserved the name God of War. Even his level was at Lv470. The man sitting next to him was wearing a mask. He was the guild master of the assassins¡¯ guild ¡®Secret Vessel¡¯. Just like his guild, his God ss was the God of Death. The two of them, aside from the guild, had many troops and vassals under theirmand. Of course, their skills were superb even without anyone saying anything.

    ¡°You received the Gods¡¯ Bet?¡±

    ¡°Yes. We received them.¡±

    The two of them answered.

    That was right, those were the two other gods who participated in the bet. Of course, God sses were still not gods yet. After all, there were very few, especially among the foreigners, who could ascend and be gods. And those who could not exceed certain limits would stop growing and would eventually be losers who could not even reach the God ss.

    ¡°We still do not know who will be better, us or the opponent. But you¡¯ll have to join the subjugation force and stand out by rescuing ¡®Prince Argon¡¯.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    The two of them were very confident. After all, the two of them were among the most prominent authorities in the Empire.

    Asvon grinned wickedly as he continued to speak.

    ¡°Use any means necessary.¡±

    There was an armistice with the Eivelis Empire to make good with the hundred year promise with the elves. However, this was not disclosed to the public. They would be in constantpetition.

    And if they were able to rescue Prince Argon then they would be able to gain a high level of favorability between the elves and the Cordis Empire.

    And isn¡¯t there only one opponent?

    The two people went outside. Not long after Eclei spoke.

    ¡°Use any means necessary¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°It means that if we don¡¯t mind then we will attack them.¡±

    But it would be very vague and ambiguous if they attacked openly. However, there were a lot of expedient means that they could resort to.

    ¡°We can bring the enemies towards them on purpose.¡±

    ¡°Or we can inform the enemy of their position.¡±

    ¡°We can also install tricks and pretend to be the enemies.¡±

    They grinned wickedly as they thought of plenty of immoral means to defeat the opponent.

    Rowena¡¯s heart was trembling. This was because Minhyuk, with his grave and serious expression, led her in a bedroom that was closed off to everybody else. With Minhyuk¡¯s ever so serious look, Rowena¡¯s heart thumped violently. She was even chanting in her head to calm herself down.

    ¡®You¡¯re the Saintess.¡¯

    But the Saintess was still a person. Her heart was still beating and she could still fall in love with someone else. However, she was the Saintess and she should have the finesse to handle situations like this.

    The thought of Minhyuk fighting hard to save her from death suddenly shed in her head. He was really cool and gant.

    With plenty of thoughts flying through her mind, she finally decided.

    ¡°This is my first time.¡±

    ¡°......Me too.¡±

    Minhyuk looked very serious.

    Then, Rowena ced her hands on her chest as she breathed deeply. She could see Minhyuk looking at her gently despite his solemn expression. She could also see the bed behind him. She had decided that she would feel it. She would definitely feel his breath. After all, he must definitely be in love with her.

    ¡°You¡¯re going to be gentle, right?¡±

    As she said that, Rowena closed her eyes and pucked her lips out. Then, she heard his voice.

    ¡°But why did you close your eyes?¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    Rowena opened her eyes gently and saw Minhyuk smiling gently. She also saw him holding two things that she did not know the use of.

    ¡°Hehe. Rowena-nim! Please have one! I felt sorry that I was sulking because you did not make me tteok dumpling soup before so I wanted to give you this. Hehe, this is the first time that I gave candy to someone else. I got some couple ring candy from an artifact called Magic Snack Box.¡±

    ¡°R, ring candy?¡±

    Rowena felt the absurdity of the situation. She could see that Minhyuk felt that giving and tasting the ring candy was much more important than sleeping with her.

    ¡°Tadah!!!¡±

    She wanted to give him a beating. However, she couldn¡¯t do that since everything was caused by her own disillusion. Rowena¡¯s face turned as red as a beetroot. She couldn¡¯t bear the shame as she covered her face with her palms! She even ran away in embarrassment.

    ¡°Huh? What¡¯s wrong with her?¡±

    Minhyuk was confused. He quietly took back the ring candy that Rowena did not take as he ced it on his fingers and ate it happily.

    ¡°Kgghk. Ring candies! This is the taste in my memories!¡±

    Just as he stepped outside, Minhyuk met with the person that was waiting for him. It was none other than Ellie''s aide, Ruth, and the Phoenix Knights. All of them were waiting for him.

    TL¡¯s corner!

    I wonder when Cordis Empire will learn? They¡¯re going to use underhanded tricks again. Sigh.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Poor, poor, Rowena. Thousands upon thousands of admirers, yet she has to fall for a person who would rather eat dumplings.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 235 - Delicious Expedition

    Chapter 235: Delicious Expedition

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Legend Guild was busily moving around in preparation for the massive war outbreak!

    Along with that announcement, there were many quests that were given to the users. There were plenty of quests ranging from low-leveled quests until high-leveled quests.

    The following was what was written in the official homepage of Athenae:

    It was literally the area near the Elven Forest. Joy Co. Ltd. had divided the areas so users of varying levels could experience and enjoy the event. Of course, users who dealt with the mobsing out of areas B, C, D and E would not be able to be the first one to reach the Elven Forest.

    ¡®What¡¯s in the Elven Forest?¡¯

    Genie¡¯s curiosity was suddenly piqued as she prepared.

    The Elven Forest was a new continent that had not yet been opened. This was the reason why many people were keenly paying attention to the first user who would be able to reach the Elven Forest. Legend Guild was preparing to take on a mission to carve out and explore the A region. All of the domestic guilds would definitely gather in the A region.

    Vice Lord Ben would be left to defend the estate and the territory since there would be a lot of troops in there. Other guilds might try to use this opportunity to attack them.

    Genie saw a man from a distance. He was a pdin. And ording to Minhyuk, he was his second vassal. Minhyuk had expressed his regret that he would not be able to apany them since he was summoned by the Empress Ellie. However, Pdin Corr, his vassal that he had left behind in the territory, was currently plowing a field.

    Bang, bang, bang.

    ¡°Why is this not getting split up! #$$%@%%@$?"

    ¡°......Is he really a pdin? I think he¡¯s more of a gangknight.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s a gangknight?¡±

    Khan, who was busily moving next to her, asked.

    ¡°Gangster Knight.¡±

    ¡°......Hmm.¡±

    Genie¡¯s brows furrowed. She might not know but thanks to Mihyuk¡¯s help(?) Pdin Corr was able to be enlightened with his true calling. Right?

    Pdin Corr plowed the field, nted the seeds, and evenly watered the soil. After doing all of that, he sat on the field and sped his hands together in prayer. Then, he raised his body and bowed down as he cried¡­¡­.

    ¡°Grow up, seeds!¡±

    The next thing he did was to pull out an instrument. The instrument was originally in the form of a cast. But the shape suddenly turned into a recorder.

    Ppi, ppippi, ppi, ppippi~

    Hearing a familiar tune, Locke couldn¡¯t help but mutter under his breath.

    ¡°Edelweiss~ Edelweiss~ Isn¡¯t that the song that we learned back in elementary school¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Is the recorder the only instrument that he can y at that age?¡±

    ¡°Kgghk! This fantastic sound!!! I¡¯m sure no one in the world can y a recorder as good as me! Ha! I¡¯m truly a man among men¡­¡­ there¡¯s nothing I can¡¯t do¡­¡­¡±

    Corr was filled with emotion as he smiled after finishing his performance.

    Locke and Genie¡¯s eyes met. Then, Locke said¡­¡­

    ¡°......Isn¡¯t he a crazy guy?¡±

    ¡°Yeah¡­¡­ Looks like it.¡±

    Genie sighed deeply. Somehow, she felt a bit out of her mind.

    ¡°Sigh.¡±

    Minhyuk came to meet with Empress Ellie when she summoned him.

    ¡°How have you been, noona?¡±

    ¡°Not that well.¡±

    ¡°Huh? Why?¡±

    ¡°I want to eat your food.¡±

    ¡°This, this! Then, I have to make you something delicious!¡±

    Ellie smiled happily at Minhyuk.

    She was a bit surprised when she learnt that Minhyuk was the descendant of one of the three Gods that made a bet. The story about the three Gods making a bet in the past was not only passed down on Cordis Empire but also in Eivelis Empire. The Emperors of each Empire had to assign the tasks so that the God sses would be able to fulfill their bets. There was a proper mission assigned to the bet.

    ¡°The King of the Elves had a sole child. The name of the child is Prince Argon.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°A few days ago, the demonic humans and other demonic races attacked the Elven Forest and kidnapped Prince Argon. Your mission is to lead 50 men from my troop and rescue him. The ce where Prince Argon is currently held captive is said to be the Immortal¡¯s Land.¡±

    Even the existing high-leveled users were a bit reluctant to go to the Immortal¡¯s Land. One of the reasons was the insane amount of high-leveled mobs. But that wasn¡¯t the only reason.

    ¡°There might be quite a few of the demonic humans and demonic monsters in there.¡±

    Aside from the high-leveled mobs, there would also be demonic humans and demonic monsters lurking in the area. But there was something more terrible.

    ¡°The Immortal¡¯s Land not only has those monsters, there are also natural disasters that ur every minute. There are also plenty of penalties that will apply on the people who entered thend since Great Mage Rafielt had ced a curse on thend in the past.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head. In fact, this was something that he already knew.

    ¡°You can lead the 50 men from the Phoenix Knights Order and head there. If you¡¯re the first person to save Prince Argon then your God will be the most likely God to win the bet.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head in understanding when he heard Ellie¡¯s words.

    ¡°I¡¯ll do it.¡±

    He looked very determined.

    Then, the notifications rang.

    Seeing Minhyuk¡¯s serious and determined face, Ellie said¡­¡­

    ¡°Looking at you¡­ You¡¯ll be getting something delicious from this, right?¡±

    ¡°Oh. How did you know?!¡±

    ¡°I know just by looking at you.¡±

    Ellie watched him as he proceeded with the 50 of the Phoenix Knights Order. Then, she said¡­¡­

    ¡°The other Gods have already arrived.¡±

    The God of War, Eclei, and the God of Death, Bach, watched as the Cordis Army gathered before them. Each group had about 50 people.

    ¡°I wonder who it is.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Here hees.¡±

    The two of them had already greeted their troops.

    The God of War, Eclei, had said¡­¡­

    ¡®We are not going there to die. We¡¯re going there anding back alive! Well then, let¡¯s go be heroes and save the world from the demonic races!¡¯

    Bach, on the other hand, also contributed with wonderful lines.

    ¡®We¡¯ll just hit them harder and stronger than anybody else, trust me. If you believe in me then you will definitely be given the most valuable glory in your lives.¡¯

    They were filled with confidence.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk was looking around with his troop of 50 men. The Phoenix Knights Order looked at him waiting for the speech that he would tell them. But the man in front of them said¡­¡­

    ¡°Rice is the best medicine!!! Everyone already had their meals, right?¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    The two people were speechless.

    Not long after, one of the members of the order spoke up.

    ¡°We haven¡¯t yet.¡±

    ¡°Noooo! How could someonemit such a felony? Did the pce forget to feed you?¡±

    ¡°They gave us food.¡±

    ¡°But why haven¡¯t you eaten your free meals? Ha! This rice was grown by our people with their blood and sweat. You must eat rice. Well then, our slogan from now on will be ¡®Rice is the best medicine¡¯. There are a lot of people in the world that are starving because there¡¯s nothing that they could eat! We will not leave until everyone is done eating!¡±

    ¡°......Pfffffft!¡±

    ¡°Cough!¡±

    The two people burst out inughter.

    We¡¯ve won.

    They thought that they could easily rule him out for now.

    What a stupid thing to do!!!

    He even fed the knights to their heart¡¯s content. As the Phoenix Knights came out of the restaurant, they said¡­¡­

    ¡°Did you see? Themander ate 50 servings¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°My goodness. Even a beluga whale can¡¯t eat that much.¡±

    ¡°Can we go back alive?¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°Keuhahahahahaha!¡±

    ¡°Hahahahaha. I¡¯m dying ofughter.¡±

    What kind of God is that?

    The two had no choice but tough.

    Even the knights are on edge?

    Theyughed their heads off happy with their instant win.

    Then, Minhyuk came out.

    ¡°Hello! Have you eaten yet?¡±

    ¡°Ah. Pfft! We already did. Ah. Yes.¡±

    They were very curious about his ss but the two of them did not even bother to ask. God sses usually would not reveal their job sses.

    Not long after, Eclei asked Minhyuk.

    ¡°Have you eaten already?¡±

    ¡°Yep! Although it¡¯s a bit pitiful, it''s still very good!¡±

    ¡°Having 50 servings is still pitiful?¡±

    ¡°I always like to drink at least 20 cups of coffee to moisten my dry throat.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Nim. You¡¯re really very funny.¡±

    ¡°Haha. I¡¯m a bit funny, right?¡±

    Eclei and Bach felt relieved. They were already at the top of the list of people who could lead the troops well. They believed that they did not need to worry about someone who acted like this.

    Then, he said...

    ¡°We can apany each other until Immortal¡¯s Land Zone 2. Why don¡¯t you support us from the rear, Minhyuk-nim?¡±

    ¡°The back?¡±

    ¡°Yes. We¡¯ll be hunting up front and Minhyuk-nim will just literally support us from the back. You can shoot a bow, or something.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Yes. I understand! But you¡¯re not going to say anything about us eating for nothing, right?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    ¡°Not at all.¡±

    ¡°So if the item drops, can we eat it too?¡±

    ¡°Of course. If you have the acquisition rights then you should also be able to eat it too.¡±

    Gold and artifacts or other drops that dropped from the hunted mobs had acquisition rights. Any member of a party could acquire drops from the monsters that they hunted regardless of their contributions. However, this was not the case for different parties. The person with the highest contribution would have the acquisition rights for the item. Only after a certain period of time had passed would the acquisition rights disappear. By that time, everybody else could pick up the dropped item.

    Eclei and Bachughed to themselves. They knew that being a support in the rear was literally staying behind the scenes. This meant that he would have fewer results in terms of the numbers he hunted which would result in fewer chances of winning war points. In other words, he would be left behind. It would be hard for him to feel guilty about eating for nothing because he would strongly feel that he was being left behind.

    And Eclei was just grinning widely.

    ¡®This means that one of mypetitors has been eliminated. Now, only Bach is left.¡¯

    Just like Minhyuk who would receive the Food God¡¯s Kitchen Knife as a reward if he won the bet, Eclei and Bach would also be given artifacts if they won the bet. In Eclei¡¯s case, he would receive the Monarch¡¯s Sword. The Monarch¡¯s Sword was an artifact with the strength that exceeded the strength of a legendary artifact. And there was one point that Eclei trusted.

    ¡®Demon World¡¯s mineral, Viridite.¡¯

    He recently received this mineral after finishing the episode quest ¡®Hero¡¯s Will¡¯. And Eclei happened to know about the use of this item. These were minerals where Gremory had hidden her powers. It was said that the powers from these minerals would only emerge when thend was overflowing with magi. And this was the right time.

    ¡®The viridite in my hand was said to be the mineral with the weakest power. I wonder what kind of power is hidden in this.¡¯

    However, the mineral would only show its power indirectly. Perhaps he would be able to see some changes soon. Eclei recalled the information about the minerals that he had obtained before.

    ¡®The mineral with the strongest power. Antarinium. Who the hell has that mineral?¡¯

    Just as he was questioning himself¡­¡­

    ¡°Everyone, we¡¯re going to be in the back! Wow! You know how important the rear is right?!!!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Eclei and Bachughed. Then, Eclei spat out a word.

    ¡°Moron.¡±

    Without realizing it, he had spoken in an unusually loud voice.

    ¡°Moron.¡±

    Minhyuk heard the words from behind him. However, his mouth was grinning widely.

    His father had taught him that he should not judge a person by their appearance. And Minhyuk had realized this lesson in his life.

    You will never know what kind of person a man is until you meet him in person.

    Minhyuk tested them step by step.

    When he shouted ¡®Rice is the best medicine!¡¯, his opponentsughed at him. Of course he pretended to not see them but they also ced Minhyuk and his troops in the rear. This was to make sure that he suffered losses. The morale of his knights were temporarily low but this was so he could assess their strength and power from behind.

    In other words, everything was ording to Minhyuk¡¯s ns.

    ¡®They judged a person by their appearance. And that moron¡­¡­¡¯

    Minhyuk smiled mockingly.

    They still did not know what kind of performance they would make from the rear.

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Shoot some arrow or something¡­ When Minhyuk can one shot a high-leveled monster with his arrows. Sure. There¡¯s also Roves¡¯ Ring and the Lightning Millstone. Kek. Bro. Why you judge him by his appearance.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    And herees the schemer side of Minhyuk. One thing I love about LUE is that you don¡¯t just see Minhyuk as a powerful fighter, you get to see him use his brains.

    ANNOUNCEMENT!

    We only have 3 chapters this week. I caught a coldst week and am currently recovering (well I am doing well now). We drew on our reserves and only have 3 for this week. We''ll be back to 5 chapters next week!

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 236 - Delicious Expedition

    Chapter 236: Delicious Expedition

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    The expedition set to rescue Prince Argonposed of 150 men and threemanders all set off. The three reinforcements eachposed of 50 people under each of themanders were all named. Eclei¡¯spany was named ¡®Iron Blood¡¯, God of Death Bach¡¯s was called ¡®Reapers¡¯ while Minhyuk¡¯spany was named ¡®Rice Supplement¡¯.

    Meanwhile, Bendiaz, the second highest inmand after Minhyuk in the Rice Supplement troop, felt that everything was nonsensical.

    ¡®Damn it! This person is ourmander?!¡¯

    Are you telling us that war is a joke? All of the knights here had families waiting for them back home. But you¡¯re telling us that we¡¯ll be called ¡®Rice Supplement¡¯? What kind of fucking name is that?

    ¡°Bendiaz-nim, if you think that he¡¯s not good atmanding then why don¡¯t you just take it away?¡±

    ¡°Arthur. Her Majesty has her trust and faith in this man.¡±

    Another knight from the back suddenly asked.

    ¡°But are we just going to die like this?¡±

    ¡°......Only time will tell.¡±

    The knight beside Bendiaz who fell silent suddenly eximed.

    ¡°Eh?¡±

    Bendiaz turned his head to look at the knight in question.

    ¡°You can¡¯t takemand right away but if he made one mistake¡­¡­¡±

    The knights could understand each other with just that one sentence.

    We¡¯d rather get led by Bendiaz-nim than die.

    Then, Benjamin looked at Minhyuk who was standing in front.

    ¡®......How can a man like this be ourmander?!¡¯

    And before they knew it, they had reached the Immortals¡¯ Land Zone 1.

    Self-sufficiency! This was one of the reasons why Immortals¡¯ Land was so difficult. Eclei and Bach also brought the least amount of food because of this. In other words, they only brought beef jerky, nuts and the like. Food that was light and could make you feel full as much as possible!

    ¡°Ah! It¡¯s really a terriblend!¡±

    This was what Minhyuk said from the rear.

    Eclei and Bach continued on to the front until their first battle began. Monsters started to appear one by one. There were at least 60 monsters in front of them and were monsters at Lv400. However, everyone was well aware that their strengths were far beyond that of their levels. In fact, the existing monsters in the Immortals¡¯ Land were mostly ¡®Immortal Ogre¡¯ and ¡®Immortal Trolls¡¯. However, their appearance had changed.

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±

    ¡°Is this the effect of the Demon World?¡±

    The skin of the monsters in front of them was unusually dark!

    Not long after, the sh between the monsters and the knights began.

    sh!

    Stab!

    Stab!

    Grooooooowl!

    Baaaaaang!

    ¡°Calmly attack the enemy! Knights! Take your square shield and block the front!¡±

    ¡°Knights! Listen to me, use your spears and pierce the ogres from the gaps of the square shields!¡±

    The God of War Eclei and the God of Death Bach were the ones that were definitely inmand. They had begun to clear up the mobs. That was when they knew that the monsters were already strong but they had grown stronger under the influence of magi.

    Just when one of the knights was about to announce the sessfulpletion of the first hunt of the subjugation by striking a blow at an ogre that was on the verge of copse¡­

    Swooooosh!

    Thud!

    ¡°Keuheeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Yay! It hit!¡±

    Eclei turned around to look at the ¡®Rice Supplement¡¯ from behind. He could see Minhyuk in front of the troops holding a bow that was covered in blue energy. It was at that moment when a notification rang in Eclei¡¯s head.

    At the same time, notifications also rang in Minhyuk¡¯s head.

    Even in ancient times, the most important thing was the final strike. They had told him earlier to back them up from the rear. And that was their big mistake.

    ¡°Hahaha. That¡¯s a great bow. You¡¯re an archer, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    Eclei smiled awkwardly.

    It¡¯s just one hit, so what?

    And at that moment¡­...

    Another arrow pierced through an ogre¡¯s neck. The ogre was definitely going to keel over and die with just another hit but the arrow was the one that took it¡¯s life.

    ¡°Yayy! Bullseye!¡±

    And on the other side¡­...

    ¡°......¡±

    Eclei¡¯s expression was suddenly distorted.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk turned around and shouted.

    ¡°Everyone, shoot your bows! Only shoot those who are almost dying!¡±

    ¡°Yes!!!¡±

    Then, Minhyuk took something out of his arms. It was none other than a ¡®bell¡¯. A bell that looked nice with silvery light shing under the sunlight. Minhyuk rang the bell without any hesitation.

    ng¡ª

    aaaang¡ª

    At that exact moment, a sacred light stretched and covered the armor, bows and arrows, and swords of the knights under Minhyuk.

    ¡°......Heok!!!¡±

    The knights shouted in rm. They were shocked that Minhyuk could bring Pope Ramas¡¯ Bell out.

    He had received this bell from Pope Carunu. Just when he was about to leave the church with Ruth and the knights, Pope Carunu had arrived at the Athenae Temple. He had given him ¡®Ramas¡¯ Bell¡¯ as a gift in thanks for saving the Athenae believers. This bell was a legendary artifact that had limitless power.

    The active skill God¡¯s Miracle has the power to let the undead or the demonic beings suffer even with just the slightest ring of the bell. The skill had a very long cooldown and could only allow him to use the skill once every two weeks. However, the range was wider than what he had expected so he thought that the cooldown was justified.

    Then, Minhyuk said¡­¡­

    ¡°Focus only on those that are almost dying!¡±

    At the end of his words, Minhyuk pulled the strings of his bow once more and shot an arrow.

    Thud!

    The ogre that was shot with a critical hit copsed in just one hit. Along with his shot, the Rice Supplementpany started moving. They quickly knocked their arrows on their bows and started shooting. They did just like what Minhyuk said.

    Thud!

    Chiiiiiiiik!

    ¡°Keuaaack!¡±

    Thud!

    Chiiiiiiiik!

    ¡°Grrrrrrrrrrrrack!¡±

    The ogres began to copse one after the other.

    The knights of the Iron Blood and Reapers that were fighting in front with the mobs felt like they were in hell.

    ¡®I have been working very hard, you know¡­¡­!¡¯

    ¡®They¡¯re taking everything!!!¡¯

    Then, Minhyuk spoke again.

    ¡°Caleman, Neville, Cody, Lark!¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°Forward!¡±

    Minhyuk and some knights began to run forward.

    Eclei¡¯s face crumpled in annoyance when he tried to acquire the items after the monsters had died.

    ¡°......!¡±

    His face was now thoroughly distorted. And it was at that moment when Minhyuk appeared in front of him!

    ¡°Jackpot! It¡¯s an item! Hurry up and pick up the spoils, everyone!¡±

    ¡°Oooooooh!¡±

    And to everybody else¡¯s chagrin, they quickly fell back after they had picked up the items that dropped.

    Thud, thud.

    ¡°Yes! Bullseye!¡±

    And they started to y LH again. Eclei¡¯s Iron Blood and Bach¡¯s Reapers were all left dumbfounded.

    ¡®What kind of dogshit situation is this¡­¡­¡¯

    ¡®Shit¡­¡­! Those bastards!!!¡¯

    The arrows fired by the knights from behind were very powerful. As soon as their arrows pierced the enemies, the sound Chiiiiiiiik¡ª would ring loudly as if the bodies of the mobs were being burned with fire. It was clearly caused by the bell that they had seen earlier.

    And once Minhyuk saw that most of the monsters had died, he would run with some of the knights, acquire the items and fall back again. In other words, it was the method of killing two birds with one stone with no effort at all!

    ¡°Yay! I leveled up! Hehehe!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    And being annoying was just a bonus.

    ¡®I, I want to beat you into a pulp¡­¡­!¡¯

    But they couldn¡¯t bring themselves to do that since they were the ones who told him to fall back in the rear and that they could acquire and eat the items that they had the acquisition rights for. What was worse was that the Rice Supplement was not causing any disruptions in their battles. In a way, they were even eliminating the risks for them so they couldn¡¯t say that they were ¡®rudely¡¯ acting up against them.

    ¡®It¡¯s one hell of a situation.¡¯

    And at that moment, Eclei saw that the wounds of his members were all recovering slowly. Even though their wounds were recovering very slowly, they were still recovering naturally.

    Duringrge scale battles, themanders could choose to have the HP and MP bars of the NPCs under them float over their heads so they could see their situation.

    ¡°.....!¡±

    It was obviously something that Eclei could only see. He could tell the reason straight away.

    ¡®Th, the power of the mineral viridite¡­¡­!¡¯

    The power of the minerals were not explicitly stated and you had to check it for yourself and it seemed like the mineral that was in his hands had the power of ¡®natural recovery¡¯.

    ¡®This natural recovery skill¡­¡­! It does not even consume any HP!!!!!!!¡¯

    Just as he was being surprised, there was also another person who was caught in surprise. It was none other than Bendiaz. Bendiaz watched as the knights shot their arrows from their bows.

    ¡®Our knights can shoot arrows to some extent but can they really shoot this well?¡¯

    Knights would learn a variety of things from a young age. But right now, their skills looked like they had gone from ordinary to excellent. He was left in doubt. He did not know about it but it was because of the antarinium that was shining slightly from Minhyuk¡¯s arms.

    While Bendiaz was busy being surprised by something else, Minhyuk was hurriedly giving his orders.

    ¡°Luca, Cade, Perdy. You guys take care of the aggro!!¡±

    ¡°Yes!!!¡±

    ¡°Wh, who said something about being a stupidmander¡­¡­ Isn¡¯t he a geniusmander¡­¡­¡±

    It seemed like he had used a trick of a veteranmander. The Iron Blood and Reapers suffered considerable damage as they fought in front. Meanwhile, they did not have any of the slightest injuries as they stayed behind and assisted from the rear.

    The knights were all in a buzz.

    ¡°......Isn¡¯t Commander-nim something?¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t he better than what we expected?¡±

    ¡°Wow¡­¡­ Amazing¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t get hurt and we even get the spoils, isn¡¯t thispletely amazing?¡±

    And notifications started to go off on Minhyuk¡¯s side.

    Minhyuk heard Bendiaz muttering under his breath. He was running around earlier shouting ¡®Yahoo! Assarabia Colombia!¡¯ and plenty of other things like that. But he paused beside Bendiaz for a moment and said¡­¡­

    ¡°We¡¯re going for the fastest method with minimal damage and maximum profit.¡±

    ¡°.....!¡±

    That was when Bendiaz realized that this person had nned everything.

    Strangely enough, even though a person was good, people would only whisper about the bad or hateful things that he had done instead of his good deeds.

    ¡®Ah. He¡¯s changed now.¡¯

    ¡®He used to be nice but he doesn¡¯t look like he¡¯s doing anything good these days, right?¡¯

    What was even strange was that a person with a bad personality would speak about someone else¡¯s good deeds.

    ¡®Hey, he¡¯s gotten a lot bettertely~¡¯

    ¡®He¡¯s gotten really nicetely. So cool. Just like a real handsome guy!¡¯

    Humans were truly strange animals.

    From the very beginning, he had let them think differently. And when it came to their expectations, he met them differently from what they had expected.

    ¡®This person took advantage of it!!!¡¯

    And Minhyuk received another set of notifications.

    They continued their strategy again and again. In this way, the threepanies moved on from the Immortals¡¯ Land Zone 1. Along the way, Eclei found out that Minhyuk¡¯s contributions were significantly higher than theirs. He could easily see since the contributions to God¡¯s Bet could be checked anytime.

    He thought that this couldn¡¯t go on like this anymore so Eclei approached Minhyuk.

    ¡°Your support from the rear is truly remarkable.¡±

    ¡°Hehe. I¡¯m pretty good, right?! Thanks.¡±

    This man¡¯s words are so annoying that I want to bite off his head.

    Ecleiughed awkwardly as he continued to talk.

    ¡°From now on, don¡¯t do LH and use your soldiers to attack the monsters head on. We¡¯ll be able to take care of things more quickly this way.¡±

    In other words, he was trying to tell him to stop doing LH and they would be the one who would do it. Bach and Eclei red at him fiercely as if they were trying to pressure him. They were also under pressure since they were only able to eat up the items moderately.

    The threepanies had to go together. If they kicked out Minhyuk then they would have to move forward with only 50 people. If they did that, then they would definitely suffer and get annihted. Once they were annihted, Empress Ellie would definitely know that they were annihted because they recklessly pushed him away.

    In a way, this was some form of ckmail. They thought that since this man would dly ept their terms since he looked like he was foolishly nice. But the man in front of them, Minhyuk, just grinned at them as he said¡­..

    ¡°But I don¡¯t want to?¡±

    Notes

    LH (Last Hit) - originally written as ?? which is abbr for ??? + ?? which is literally final hit. It¡¯s a term they usually use in LoL. Anyone who deals thest hit will get plenty of money, artifacts and drops. I don''t y LoL so someone has to confirm if this info is really true. Huehue

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 237 - Battlefields Great Ruler

    Chapter 237: Battlefield¡¯s Great Ruler

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    67 Battlefield¡¯s Great Ruler

    ¡°......Wh, what?!!!¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t want to?!¡±

    Eclei and Bach¡¯s expressions crumpled when Minhyuk spoke those words with a smile.

    ¡°Oh my~ You were the one who said that in the beginning. Support us from the rear, was what you said. We did a good job with the rear support and we even killed off a lot of mobs in contribution. So what seems to be the problem?¡±

    ¡°Eeeek¡­...!¡±

    They both wanted to get mad but there was nothing to say. After all, they were the ones who told him to do that. In the end, Eclei burst out in anger.

    ¡°From now on, we won¡¯t apany you!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s see if you can do well in this Immortals¡¯ Land with just your 50 knights!!!¡±

    They finally had a good look on their faces. They were sure that Minhyuk and his troops would surely die once theirpany of 100 men left them behind.

    Most areas in the Immortals¡¯ Land could only be cleared throughrge-scalebats and 50 people was a bit too short for them to face those kinds of battles. What was worse was that the monsters in this ce were all strengthened by magi.

    But Eclei was also a bit worried. The Immortals¡¯ Land was literally a hugend of war and the fact that they would leave behind the 50 people who were providing them with excellent rear support would mean that their battles would be less efficient.

    ¡°That would be a good arrangement.¡±

    Eclei turned to look at Bach who suddenly spoke.

    ¡°We haven¡¯t used all of our powers yet, haven¡¯t we?¡±

    They weremanders. However, they still had a lot of wide-area buffs that they haven¡¯t used yet since they were worried about the long cooldown period and the amount of MP that would be used.

    Then, Bach continued to speak.

    ¡°In fact, I also have this.¡±

    He brought something out.

    ¡°......?!¡±

    Eclei¡¯s eyes narrowed sharply.

    ¡°You¡­¡­¡±

    Eclei looked at him disapprovingly. Bach justughed wryly. The item that he had brought out was none other than the map of the Immortals¡¯ Land.

    ¡°You have such a thing?! Why didn¡¯t you tell me earlier?!¡±

    ¡°......You¡¯re asking the obvious.¡±

    Bach¡¯s eyes sank heavily.

    ¡°We might both be from the same empire but in the end, both of us are still rivals. I¡¯m sure Eclei-nim also has something to hide.¡±

    Eclei was left speechless. He could not counter his words since he was right. In the end, this was apetition. And thest person standing would be the one who won the bet.

    ¡°Now that we have lost 50 from our troops. I think we should use this map. This map can show us where and what is in front of us and we¡¯re going to prepare in advance. We also have the advantage of being able to use our topography.

    ¡°......That¡¯s pretty good.¡±

    ¡°Yes. We will use this map to get to Zone 3 where Prince Argon is being held captive. And with the help of this map, we will be able to get there much faster than them.¡±

    ¡°Hehe. Then, we will determine who will win between the two of us in Zone 3.¡±

    After all, even though they had not explicitly stated this, they both knew that they were keeping each other in check. In their own way, they expected that the two of them would y fair and square.

    Then, Bach spoke.

    ¡°Ah. There¡¯s one more thing that this map does well.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°Whenever we get to each zone, it can show us the number of users and troops present in that zone.¡±

    Then, Bach unfurled the map with his hands.

    Shwaaaaa¡ª

    ck strings of light came out of the map. The light showed them the numbers on Minhyuk¡¯s side.

    ¡°That¡¯s very nice. Then, that means that we can look at this map to see how far they¡¯re left behind and when they¡¯ll be wiped out!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. I think that man is an archer so I¡¯m not sure how long he can hold on and how good his performance will be.¡±

    Eclei and Bach were both confident in conquering the Immortals¡¯ Land. They continued on for two days and two nights but ended up facing a huge problem.

    Tremble, tremble, tremble¡ª

    In addition to that, they also had no choice but to tremble and shiver once night descended on them. All they could do was to dig arge hole and cover it with fallen leaves to keep them warm.

    ¡°Hunting is much easier than what I had expected but our main problem is the weather in the Immortals¡¯ Land.¡±

    Eclei regretted that he had only brought five knights who could cook or do carpentry.

    One of the knights was grilling an iron pig. The iron pig was a pig with a body that was as solid as a stone. They had no choice but to do this.

    Terrible hunger! Cold wind! And the weather that would change by the minute! Those were the biggest problems in the Immortals¡¯ Land.

    ¡®I had heard that these were more problematic than dealing with monsters¡­¡­¡¯

    What was worse was that they even heard a notification that they couldn¡¯t use the backpack that they brought along when they first came in. They must be self-sufficient in everything to survive a day in the Immortals¡¯ Land.

    Eclei, who was ovee with hunger, hurriedly ate the meat that was brought to him by a knight.

    ¡°Keok!¡±

    However, he spat it out right away.

    His mouth was filled with filth.

    ¡°H, how can you bring me something like this to eat!¡±

    Punch!

    In a fit of anger, Eclei punched the knight that brought his food to him. The knight fell down the floor from his punch.

    ¡°F, forgive me. The iron pig has a naturally stinky smell¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Hoo¡­¡­ I¡¯m going to die of this hunger.¡±

    Eclei rubbed his face after the knight flew away with just one punch. He was unable to eat or sleep even though they continued their march to hunt monsters. However, the same was also true for the knights who couldn¡¯t eat the iron pig no matter how hard they tried to grill it.

    ¡°We¡¯re in trouble.¡±

    Then, Bach came in.

    ¡°The knights are alreadyining from their terrible hunger.¡±

    ¡°I know. Even all of their skills and abilities have beenpromised.¡±

    It was hard to soothe their hunger with just nuts and jerkies alone. What was worse was that the knights had already eaten all of those up because of their hunger. And most of them were already shivering from both their hunger and the cold. The problem was that the ingredients that they could get here were too extreme that they wouldn¡¯t be able to eliminate the risks involved if they did not have a chef with them.

    Eclei and Bach had no choice but to continue on together. The two of them had to continue their march. They thought hard about ways to increase the knights morale. Even though most of their knights were hungry, Eclei¡¯smanding ability, a part that was included in the Gods¡¯ Bet, had already risen to 41%. Bach¡¯s had also increased to 40%.

    But herees their problem.

    The two of them were notified at the same time.

    ¡°This¡­¡­! This could also drop?¡±

    ¡°Goddamn¡­¡­!¡±

    The two of them couldn¡¯t help but sigh. They would be able to eat to some extent once they got outside of Zone 1 but it would still take them another day to do so.

    Bach suddenly thought of something.

    ¡°I wonder what that punk is doing now?¡±

    It had just been two days since they separatedpletely. During the day, they kept their eyes on Rice Supplement with the help of the map. But they did not go far from where they were. The two of them giggled thinking that he was trying not to die. But at the same time, they were unable to confirm his overall contribution ranking since they were pushing hard to continue forward.

    ¡°Shall we take a look?¡±

    Eclei opened up the window.

    Since this was a quest with apetitive structure, it was possible for them to see each other¡¯s contributions including the % they had achieved for each item.

    Eclei couldn¡¯t help but jump up to his feet when he checked the window.

    ¡°Wh, what the hell!!!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°Ba, Bach-nim. Go and check out Rice Supplement¡¯s score!!!¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    Bach tilted his head in confusion as he opened Gods¡¯ Bet¡¯s ranking window.

    ¡°......I, impossible.¡±

    Bach couldn¡¯t speak any more. He did not know what to say.

    What is this supposed to mean? Hismanding ability is at 96%?

    There were a variety of factors that they needed to take into ount to increase the % of themanding ability. Themanding ability in and on itself, the troops¡¯ satisfaction and growth, themander¡¯s treatment towards his troops and so forth.

    The two of them were able to raise theirmanding ability through their great ability tomand as well as their troops¡¯ growth. But they were only able to increase it to less than 50%. They were thinking that perhaps they needed to go through the entire Immortals¡¯ Land for them to achieve anything higher.

    But you¡¯re telling me that he¡¯s already at 96%?

    ¡°W, what did he do in just 3 days?!!!¡±

    But that was not the end.

    ¡°......E, Eclei-nim!!!¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    Eclei turned around. He was looking at him as if he was wondering if something happened again. Then, Bach said to him¡­¡­

    ¡°......Rice Supplement¡¯s enemy kill % is increasing at a rapid pace!¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    Since this was arge-scale hunt, Eclei had calcted that they needed to kill at least 50 monsters to increase their enemy kill count by 1%. But his % was rising continuously. It was previously at 23%, then it became 24%, then 25%, 26%, 27%, 28%...... The speed was incredibly fast.

    ¡®Wh, what the hell is happening¡­¡­!¡¯

    Two days ago¡­¡­

    ¡°N, no¡­...!¡±

    ¡°What are we going to do¡­¡­?!¡±

    The Rice Supplement troop felt frustrated when they saw Iron Blood and Reapers moving away from them. They were wondering how they would get past the Immortals¡¯ Land with just 50 people.

    ¡°That was too reckless. You should have taken a step back and apanied them!¡±

    Minhyuk shook his head when he heard Knight Bendiaz¡¯s words.

    ¡°If we continued to stay with them then we would be restricted from doing a lot of things. In our case, they would keep on watching and threatening us¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°They would have probably attacked us too.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Bendiaz¡¯s eyes widened in shock.

    ¡®He thought much deeper than I did.¡¯

    That was right. They were threatened for the first time and there was now that restricted them from doing it a second time. When he thought about it deeply, this was also a way to determine whether Eivelis Empire was superior to Cordis Empire.

    ¡°Then, are we going to move on and start the monster subjugation right now?¡±

    ¡°No. We¡¯ll first get enough food ingredients here.¡±

    ¡°Food ingredients?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Minhyuk grinned widely. He knew one piece of information about the Immortals¡¯ Land. Even though Immortals¡¯ Land was wrapped up under a veil, there were still some pieces of information about it circting around. And he knew that there were plenty of well-known medicines and special ingredients in this ce. The only problem was that they were all hidden from in sight.

    ¡°How can we get food ingredients?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll know soon. Sir Bendiaz, please don¡¯t argue with me from now on. And here, take the spoils.¡±

    Minhyuk ced the artifacts that he had gotten from the encounter earlier in front of him.

    His father was the president and the CEO of apany. One of the many things that he had learned from him was this¡­¡­

    If you want tomand the people under you, then you should learn how to share with everyone. He who monopolizes everything cannot be everyone¡¯s beloved leader.

    ¡°Are you just going to give it to us like this?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not just. You¡¯re all great men that follow my orders!!!¡±

    Minhyuk grinned at them.

    Foreigners were all greedy! This was the reason why the knights were very excited and happy when he gave them his spoils.

    ¡®Aaaaaaaaaaah¡­¡­! I didn¡¯t expect that he would distribute this to us¡­¡­!¡¯

    ¡®My goodness! This is too precious!¡¯

    Then, Minhyuk summoned his one and only method of finding those ¡°very hard to find ingredients¡± that he mentioned to Bendiaz earlier.

    ¡°Oink!¡±

    Kongie appeared in front of them.

    However, Minhyuk was left speechless when he saw Kongie¡¯s appearance. He knew that Kongie could also watch what he was doing from the summoning room. And this punk appeared in front of him while wearing a red cap and sunsses with a baton in his hands.

    ¡°......Uhm.¡±

    Once in a while, Minhyuk would give Kongie some pocket money so he could buy some delicious food for himself. Kongie would go out by himself and go shopping in the vige alone.

    I guess he bought it back then.

    He looked like he was saying ¡®Professor Von. I¡¯m not a bad person!¡¯ while being dressed like the gueri instructor.

    Kongie, whose hands were behind him, pped the baton on his palms as he slowly looked at the knights. He was so engrossed in his act that he even stood upright with a serious expression on his face.

    ¡°Oink, oink, oink! Oink, oink!!! Oink, oink~ oink!¡±

    ¡°Wh, what is he saying?¡±

    One of the knights turned to Minhyuk for answers.

    ¡°Von Kongie is not such a bad pig so I will feed you well! Was what he said.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡­¡±

    Not long after, one of the knights couldn¡¯t help but say¡­¡­

    ¡°Cu, cute¡­¡­¡±

    Notes

    Professor Von¡­ uhh, I think he¡¯s the instructor in Real Man. The variety show. I¡¯m not too sure since I haven¡¯t watched that show. But he wears a red cap with sunsses on. You can search ? ?? to look at the pictures.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 238 - Battlefields Great Ruler

    Chapter 238: Battlefield¡¯s Great Ruler

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    ¡°Oiink!¡±

    Kongie extremely hated the word cute. He mmed the baton on the palm of his hands once more! Then, he ordered them.

    ¡°Oink, oink, oink!¡±

    And Minhyuk tranted his words for the rest of them.

    ¡°Roll forward!¡±

    ¡°Aha?¡±

    The knight who called Kongie cute earlier lied down in front of him.

    ¡°Oink, oink!¡±

    ¡°Roll to the left!¡±

    ¡°Hahahaha!¡±

    ¡°Oink, oink!¡±

    ¡°Roll to the right!¡±

    ¡°Hahahaha.¡±

    Perhaps it was because Kongie¡¯s behavior was just too cute that was why the knight kept onughing even though he was lying on the ground and rolling. To some extent, the tension that was hanging strongly over the heads of the Rice Supplement troop was alleviated.

    ¡°Well then, we should stop here. Kong-ah, shall we find something delicious?¡±

    ¡°Oink?!¡±

    Kongie¡¯s eyes widened when he heard the word delicious. Then, his shiny pink nose began to twitch. Kongie moved quickly before pointing under the ground.

    ¡°Let¡¯s dig the ground.¡±

    Then, they started to dig the ground.

    ¡°......!¡±

    The knights were all astonished when they saw fooding out every time they dug thend.

    ording to Minhyuk¡¯s guess, there¡¯s a high possibility that the food ingredients were concentrated in this area. The only way that they could be self sufficient was to either hunt the monsters or pick the fruits by themselves but the probability of finding small hidden berries that were usually in small quantities were pitifully small. If they left it like that, they would end up starving themselves.

    Minhyuk continued to lead the troops in search of food. Not long after, they found a cave.

    ¡°Oink, oink!¡±

    The moment they entered the cave, notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s head.

    ¡°......!¡±

    It was a discovery that Minhyuk never expected.

    When they went deeper in the cave, Minhyuk saw a magnificent scene in front of them. Animals with meat that could be used for food were all over the ce. Chicken, duck, pig, sheep and so on. Their numbers were toorge to count.

    Minhyuk couldn¡¯t help but mumble to himself.

    ¡°......I want to live here forever.¡±

    Night was almost upon them.

    Bendiaz approached Minhyuk and spoke to him.

    ¡°We should dig a hole to get a good night¡¯s sleep.¡±

    ¡°Hmm. That¡¯s also an idea.¡±

    But not long after, Minhyuk thought of a better idea.

    ¡°Let¡¯s get some Gilderin tree branches and some Gorman vinyl leaves.¡±

    ¡°Yes? I understand.¡±

    Bendiaz was quite curious about his thoughts but he still followed his orders. After all, every time he led them, he would show them amazing things.

    Giderin¡¯s tree branches were quite the unusual creatures. They were usually hanging around or lying down on the ground in a loose and rxed way but once someone pped them with their palm they would be as tight as the string of a taut fishing rod. Meanwhile, Gorman¡¯s vinyl leaves looked like stic but they were much tougher than regr stic.

    Minhyuk began to sew and weave the Gorman¡¯s vinyl leaves that they have collected. He could see a red mark in front of his eyes in every leaf which helped increase his speed further.

    ¡®He, he¡¯s extremely fast¡­¡­¡¯

    ¡°Wow¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Are there other knights who know how to sew? We¡¯re going to make a big tent before digging a hole so we can huddle up and sleep warmly.¡±

    The knights who knew how to sew immediately began to sew ording to his instructions. However, not long after, something surprising happened.

    ¡®What¡¯s this¡­¡­?¡¯

    ¡®Did I sew this well before?¡¯

    They were quite shocked. They thought that they would only be able to sew sloppily at best since they only had mediocre skills but that was not the case at all. They even sew at a fairly rapid pace.

    ¡°It¡¯s because of the antarinium.¡±

    Team Leader Park mumbled as he looked at the monitor. Lee Minhwa¡¯s head snapped up when she heard his words.

    Antarinium.

    It was a mineral with endless and immense power. And one of its advantages was this¡­

    The guild members, party members or troops of those who owned the antarinium would experience a 20% increase in their special stats that couldn¡¯t be raised with bonus points. This was also the reason why the knights under Minhyuk were able to shoot their arrows exceptionally well earlier. Even their five basic stats would increase by 15%. And that had an enormous effect on their strengths. And their stats would increase without any mana used or cooldown restriction.

    Team Leader Park saw through the monitor that Minhyuk finally finished sewing arge tent from the leaves that he was sewing and weaving earlier. The tent looked extremely solid and sturdy.

    ¡°This is the power of 2,000 DEX¡­¡­¡±

    The power of the dexterity stat was so vast and versatile that he was even able to create a huge tent in the wild. And since they were the ones who made that tent, they would be able to store that in their inventory and use it the next day.

    Team Leader Park couldn¡¯t help but sigh.

    ¡°......He¡¯s going to cook now.¡±

    Lee Minhwa nodded her head solemnly.

    ¡°Thanks to the effects of antarinium, their five basic stats had increased by 15% and even their special stats had increased by 20%. And now, they will even have a food buff effect¡­¡­¡±

    Lee Minhwa looked at the monitor nkly after saying those words.

    ¡°It¡¯s like one versus 100. That¡¯s not too bad of an estimate¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    Team Leader Park also nodded his head in agreement. Then, Lee Minhwa suddenly thought of something before turning her head to look at Team Leader Park.

    ¡°What if the individual contributions exceeded the normal numbers and approached the ridiculously impossible numbers?¡±

    Team Leader Park grinned at her question.

    ¡°That¡¯s just ridiculous¡­¡­ In order for the individual contribution to rise to that level he must have a monopoly on the score against Bach and Eclei. But having a monopoly over the scores meant that even their knights would go under Minhyuk¡¯smands. That doesn¡¯t even make sense, you know?¡±

    ¡°Ah. Well¡­¡­¡±

    Lee Minhwa smiled confidently.

    But just like she had expected, she shouldn¡¯t have felt relieved.

    Minhyuk saw hismanding ability soar to 40%. But he did not want it to end there so he used his ¡®Create a Recipe¡¯ skill for each of the members of his Rice Supplementpany.

    His Create a Recipe skill would eat away at his buffing ability whenever he used it so he wouldn¡¯t be able to feed them all at once. But thanks to his artifacts, titles and skills, his buffing ability had permanently risen. So if he divided them ordingly all throughout the three meals in a day, he would be able to feed each and every one of them with the Create a Recipe skill. There was also a probability of achieving a x2 effect using the Create a Recipe skill.

    Deciding the division, Minhyuk first decided to use his Create a Recipe skill to cook for Bendiaz and the other key figures in thepany. He also erged his legendary frying pan as he cooked stir-fried pork while cooking dozens of servings of rice.

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we be the one to be doing this?¡±

    ¡°Who does it or who doesn¡¯t do it, is it that important? I just want everyone to end this war infort with a full stomach.¡±

    Thepany members were all thrilled with Minhyuk¡¯s lip service which led to an increase in favorability. And as a result, the % of hismanding ability also increased.

    ¡°But will it be delicious?¡±

    ¡°Who knows¡­¡­¡±

    The entirepany was left in wonder as Minhyuk distributed some spicy stir-fried pork, lettuce, peri leaves and rice to each of them.

    Among the knights, Knight William was known for his picky and fastidious taste in food. He often quarreled with his wife back home because of that. Even the rice served in the Imperial Pce did not suit his taste. And because of that, he did not have much expectations on the food that was served to him.

    Knight William quietly scooped a spoonful of rice before cing it in his mouth.

    ¡°The rice is not that bad.¡±

    It was made just right. It was not too tough nor too sticky.

    Then, he took a lettuce and ced half a spoonful of rice together with some spicy stir-fried pork. He also did not forget to pick some garlic before dipping it in some ssamjang and cing it on top of his rice. Then, he wrapped everything up neatly and ced it in his mouth.

    Chew. chew.

    Knight William¡¯s eyes opened wide as he chewed on his wrap. For a moment, he seemed to have heard a heavenly harmony in his head. Just like what happened with Priest Keh in the past.

    ¡°H, how can this be¡­¡­¡±

    Surprised at the vor, William kept on eating his spicy stir-fried pork. The spicy and sweet vor of the dish quietly spread in his mouth as the juices of the meat overflowed in his every bite. The meat was so tender that it seemed like it was melting away whenever he chewed on it.

    ¡°D, delicious¡­¡­ It¡¯s very delicious¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°Wow. It¡¯s really delicious!¡±

    ¡°My goodness! I can¡¯t believe that I¡¯m out here in the wild eating something like this!¡±

    ¡°Wow!!!¡±

    What was the most awaited time when someone was working? Wherever you are in the world, the answer would definitely be lunch time. People would even work desperately hard just to eat something delicious. Wouldn¡¯t you feel like you would be able to do all of your work today if you had a good meal? That was what everyone was feeling right now.

    Meanwhile, Bendiaz ate the dish that Minhyuk made for him using his Create a Recipe skill. After tasting the dish, he couldn¡¯t help but eat everything in a hurry. When he finished everything, he was caught in shock by the notifications that rang in his ears.

    ¡°......!¡±

    Bendiaz couldn¡¯t believe what he had heard.

    The soldiers that were sitting all over the ce were all shocked and astounded.

    ¡°Heok¡­¡­! All stats¡­¡­ increased by 7%......!¡±

    ¡°What the hell is this?¡±

    ¡°N, no way!¡±

    All of them were shocked! They couldn¡¯t believe that such delicious food had given them such a high buff. And it was not even just for one or two people. All 50 soldiers had received at least a 5% increase in all of their stats.

    ¡°R, really amazing.¡±

    Minhyuk smiled when he heard their words.

    ¡°Do you believe me now?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    The eyes of all the knights present shone brightly.

    At the same time, hismanding ability increased by another 20%.

    ¡°At this rate, you will all be able to eat my Create a Recipe dishes by tomorrow. So we¡¯ll stay around this area.¡±

    ¡°If we do that, won¡¯t we bete?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡±

    Minhyuk had also received information about the Immortals¡¯ Land. His information came from the Informant Abel. And Minhyuk made a n based on the information that he had received.

    He knew that Eclei and Bach would definitely move on as fast as they could. However, they would all be tired because of the weather and because of hunger. On the contrary, they would all be fully prepared. Their stats would increase dramatically, their stomachs would be full and they would be able to beat the cold. By that time, they could easily catch up to them in a heartbeat.

    And the next day, every member of Minhyuk¡¯spany was able to eat his Create a Recipe dishes and receive their personally tailored buffs. Only then did Minhyuk decide to speed up. So they ran just like that.

    ¡®ording to Abel-nim¡­¡­¡¯

    There would be a number of mobs around here that they should prate through.

    ¡°I¡¯ll pull a wide-area aggro so don¡¯t worry too much.¡±

    ¡°Yes? Wi, wide-area ag, agg¡­¡­!¡±

    My goodness! No matter how strong we have be, a wide-area aggro?! In the Immortals¡¯ Land?!

    Bbiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii¨D

    But before they could even protest, the Gryphon¡¯s Cry had already whistled out of Minhyuk¡¯s mouth and hundreds of ogres began to flock around them.

    ¡°L, Lord¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Commander-nim¡­¡­ I don¡¯t think this is right.¡±

    ¡°No matter how strong we have be, this is too¡­¡­¡±

    They thought that Minhyuk was just a talented chef that was good at shooting the bow. But he hadn¡¯t shown them anything else. Everyone was extremely shocked and thought that they were going to die.

    At that moment¡­¡­

    Turn, turn, turn, turn, turn¨D

    Minhyuk took out his millstone before sitting down and turning it around.

    ¡®O, our Commander-nim is a little weird!!!¡¯

    ¡®Ah, for real! Sometimes I feel like he¡¯s really a madman!!¡¯

    ¡®OMG¡­¡­?¡¯

    There were hundreds of ogresing in but he just ground his millstone in front of them. Turning it nonchntly.

    Then¡­¡­

    Rumble, rumble, rumble!

    Dark clouds suddenly appeared above the ogre¡¯s heads as hundreds of lightning strikes fell down on them.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    ¡°Keuaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaargh!¡±

    ¡°Gruwooooo!¡±

    The ogres were struck down by lightning and they couldn¡¯t even get their senses and act together. At that moment, silver leaves started to fall down as a breeze blew gently. While waiting for the skill¡¯s buffer time, Minhyuk shouted.

    ¡°Shoot them with your bows!!¡±

    The knights quickly pulled their bows . At the same time, the Fluttering Sword¡¯s skill buffer time also ended.

    ¡°Fire!¡±

    Minhyuk also swung his sword as hard as he could. Fifty arrows and hundreds of falling leaves shot straight towards the ogres.

    Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¨D

    Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud¨D

    The still falling Lightning Hell, the sword-like falling leaves and the rain of arrows. With all of these attacks falling down on the mobs, they truly could not get their act together. Then, the knights pulled their bows once more.

    Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¨D

    After the Lightning Hell¡¯s duration ended, what appeared in front of them were all the dead corpses of the monsters.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it easy?¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    All of the knights were left speechless for a moment while Minhyuk smiled happily at the rapidly rising % of his enemy kills. He also saw that hismanding ability had already reached 96%.

    After doing all of that, Minhyuk continued to run with his troops. Not long after, they were able to see Eclei and Bach¡¯s troops that went ahead of them.

    ¡°H, hungry¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°I think I¡¯m going crazy¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°An, anyone. Does anyone have any beef jerky or nuts left?¡±

    Minhyuk tried to pass by them but he saw Eclei and Bach staring bitterly at him.

    ¡°Hello!!!?¡±

    ¡°......Shut up.¡±

    He did not know why they got irritated at him. Minhyuk tilted his head in confusion. He turned around and saw the soldiersining in hunger. A bittersweet smile hung around the corners of his mouth.

    ¡°Bendiaz-nim.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°Those knights, should we lead them to the OE Religion¡­..¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s OE Religion?¡±

    ¡°N, nothing. It was a slip of the tongue! Ehehehe!¡±

    Minhyuk smiled awkwardly as he spoke under his breath with a vicious smile on his face.

    ¡°I think I found a way to bring them to mypany.¡±

    Notes:

    We have ?? (overeating?) instead of ?? (overgeared). That was OE. Over Eating. Lol.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 239 - Battlefields Great Ruler

    Chapter 239: Battlefield¡¯s Great Ruler

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Ace had just arrived in Roscul vige in Elvenheim.

    Elvenheim was the name of the area in close proximity to the Elven Forest where therge-scale war started. Because they couldn¡¯t directly warp to the Elven Forest, they first needed to warp to Roscul vige and pass through a group of monsters to get to the Area Rank that they wished to go to.

    Ace recently attended an elementary school trip these past few days so he had to join Legend Guild at ater time. And Ace, who was currently alone, was facing a lot of difficulties. The mobs that he had encountered on his way to Area A were not as naive as he thought they would be. And, perhaps because of reasons simr to Ace¡¯s situation, there were a lot of users looking for party members in the vige.

    ¡°Hurry! Join our party and let¡¯s go to Area A together!!!¡±

    ¡°We can apany you to Area A with great manners! Ladies are extremely wee!¡±

    Ace looked around and found people who were saying things that he liked.

    ¡°We¡¯re looking for a warrior who will aid us in helping save those poor elves and cross the path of life and death with us!!!¡±

    ¡°Give your heart to the elves!¡±

    The users surrounding them took a peek at them and stepped back.

    ¡°We, weird¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°What the hell? A chuuni?¡±

    ¡°Have they heard themselves?¡±

    But the seven people did not mind what the others were saying about them. All of them were wearing masks. Among them, there was only one person wearing a ck mask.

    ¡°Those who join us will be our blood brothers!!!¡±

    And Ace¡­

    ¡°......C, cool!!!¡±

    His eyes shone brightly as he stared at them.

    Oh my god! Isn¡¯t that an amazing line? A warrior that will save the elves and walk the path of life and death!!

    Ace hurriedly approached them.

    ¡°Great warriors! I¡¯m Firefist Ace. Do you mind if I apany you in your long journey to save the world?¡±

    ¡°Oho? Fire Fist? That¡¯s a great name.¡±

    ¡°Kid. You got a cool name.¡±

    ¡°Kid?¡±

    Fire Fist Ace looked at them seriously.

    ¡°I¡¯m Fire Fist Ace. Please call me Ace.¡±

    ¡°Oho. I see. You¡¯re such a cool kid. Ace.¡±

    ¡°Heuheuheuheu! You warriors are very cool too!¡±

    And that was how they started apanying each other. Ace moved towards the wagon with them. He could see the man in a ck mask sitting in front of the wagon with his arms folded on his chest.

    ¡°He¡¯s quite a taciturn man.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. He¡¯s a quiet person but once he opens his mouth, you will see that he¡¯s a wonderful man.¡±

    Ace stared at the man sitting in front of the wagon with glittering eyes as he boarded the wagon.

    ¡®H, his coolness is exploding¡­¡­!¡¯

    The taciturn man¡¯s armor glistened under the sunlight and his ck sword was quite a rare sight to see. And he was even wearing a mask!

    At that moment, the surroundings suddenly became noisy. The users who were going in front were now fleeing to the back.

    ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡±

    The man with the ck mask asked.

    ¡°A titan appeared up front!¡±

    ¡°A titan?¡±

    Ace brows furrowed.

    A titan was a legendary boss mob with a level that was over Lv450. It was said that there was only a slim possibility of encountering this monster enroute to Elvenheim¡¯s Area A. It was a very tricky monster since it could wield magic with every swing of its huge club. What was worse was that it was always apanied by several one-eyed giants, the cyclops.

    Most of therge guilds started early and were far ahead of them. Those who were left behind were eitherters or small guilds. And because the people that remained in this ce did not have any cohesion at all, it would be very hard for them to hunt this kind of monster.

    All of the users ran back from the wagons. Even Ace wanted to flee but the man standing in front of him spoke.

    ¡°Coachman, speed up.¡±

    ¡°......?!¡±

    Ace was caught in surprise. The titan was a monster that was quite hard to hunt. Even he thought that way. But the man sitting in front of him just spoke deeply with his arms still crossed on his chest.

    The wagon dashed forward.

    ck, ck, ck, ck!

    Clip, clop, clip, clop!

    Rundley¡¯s wagon was dashing forward, a sight that waspletely contrary to the fleeing wagons.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡­ Others are running away but we¡¯re moving forward.¡±

    ¡°Ace, don¡¯t you think that it¡¯s better if we try and confront it once?¡±

    Ace nodded his head at the man who spoke. They were really nice old men.

    Then, the titan and the cyclops appeared. All in all, there were six cyclops in front of them. These were monsters that were equipped with strong armors and a power that was strong enough to tear apart an ogre.

    At that moment, the titan swung its club.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    It was a sudden and unexpected attack!

    ¡°Heok! I¡¯ll stop you!¡±

    But just as Ace was trying to summon Hell¡¯s Fire, the man who was sitting silently in front turned his head to look at him. Ace¡¯s eyes met with the man¡¯s quiet gaze. Then, the man spoke to him.

    ¡°Everything¡¯s fine, boy.¡±

    Then, he looked straight ahead again.

    Ace suddenly realized that there was a huge attack magicing straight towards them. It was the wind that was generated from the swing of the club. The magic that was shot from the club destroyed the trees and rocks in the surrounding area. But an unidentified presence suddenly wriggled on the man¡¯s right arm.

    ¡°Roar. Destiny.¡±

    Grrrr!

    A giant ice dragon suddenly appeared from the man¡¯s right arm! The ice dragon created a huge ice wall in front of them to block the iing attack.

    This time, the man stretched his left arm.

    ¡°Go wild. Britney.¡±

    ¡°Kiiiiiieeeeeeck!¡±

    Crackle!

    A giant fire dragon appeared this time. And the fire dragon unleashed a huge me Breath.

    Puhaaaaaa!

    ¡°Keuaaack!¡±

    The titan shrieked in pain.

    Not long after, the man leapt gracefully up in the sky.

    Tap!

    Then, hended on the back of the giant dragon that was named Britney.

    The titan and cyclops were easily killed and hunted which waspletely contrary to what Ace had expected. After dealing with them, only then was Ace able to ask for their names.

    ¡°E, everyone! I want to know your names. It¡¯s such an honor to be with wonderful people like you!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m Quill. A mage.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m King God.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m Emperor.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m Magister.¡±

    ¡°Ah. I¡¯m¡­¡­¡±

    A man with bulging muscles hesitated for a moment before reluctantly spitting out his name.

    ¡°Ge, General¡­...¡±

    And finally, there was only one man left. The man spoke deeply.

    ¡°ck Dragon. That¡¯s my name.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Ace thought that it was really a great name.

    Knight Rouverge was a member of the Iron Bloodpany. Although he was only a temporary member of thepany, right now, he was still extremely hungry.

    ¡®I can even sell my soul just to eat one sandwich.¡¯

    And they were in a more desperate situation. It would still take them another day to get out of Zone 1. Another day where they dreamt of eating just a bit more.

    Grooooowl¡ª

    ¡°I, I¡¯m hungry!¡±

    ¡°......I¡¯m going to die of hunger¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Does anyone have any jerky or nuts to spare?¡±

    Then, at that moment¡­¡­

    Sniff, sniff¡ª

    Rouverge¡¯s nose twitched. There was a delicious smell wafting from somewhere.

    ¡°Who is it? This is definitely the smell of someone grilling meat?!¡±

    ¡°Where¡¯s this smelling from?!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll give you 300,000 gold, please share some with me!¡±

    What was the use of their money if they couldn¡¯t eat the food! Money did not matter at all.

    The knights were all in a buzz.

    The smell that was wafting over was like the smell of the meat grilling in a meat restaurant that they always passed by whenever they were very hungry. Their mouths were watering at the thought.

    Then, one of the knights suddenly cried out.

    ¡°Over there!¡±

    ¡°O, over there¡­¡­?¡±

    Then, they saw the scene of the Rice Supplementpany huddled together in front of a huge tent while having a meat party. They did not know how they made them but they could see them grilling some pork galbi on a grill. One of the knights even made a big wrap with the pork galbi.

    ¡°Th, that¡¯s right. Yeah¡­¡­ Put the pork galbi on top of it, add some pickled onions, some garlic and dip it in some mustard sauce.¡±

    The knight that was making a big wrap did what the knight said. Then, he ced everything in his mouth.

    Chew, chew.

    Rouverge¡¯s mouth moved by itself. He could imagine the taste of the pork galbi that the knight ate. If it was him, he would chew the pork galbi gently as soon as he ced it in his mouth. He was sure that the sweet, savory and juicy vor of the meat would definitely bring a huge smile on his face. But Rouverge¡¯s mouth was only filled with his own saliva.

    Grooooooowl!

    It was the sound of their trembling stomachs.

    ¡°I, I want to eat¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Wow¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°H, how are they able to eat pork galbi here?¡±

    They were not aware, but it was only possible because Minhyuk had his aging jar which could immediately ripen the marinated pork galbi.

    They were looking at them in a daze. They were mesmerized by the sight in front of them. What was worse was that they looked like they were having so much fun.

    ¡°Do you see that tent? It looks warm¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°How are we going to sleep in such a cold ce today after seeing that¡­¡­?¡±

    In the end, Rouverge couldn¡¯t take it anymore. He stood up and dered¡­¡­

    ¡°I¡¯m going to go there to get a bite!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you have any pride?¡±

    ¡°None! I think I¡¯m going to die right now, can my pride let me stay alive?!¡±

    It was obvious that they served under different Empires. But he couldn¡¯t stand it anymore.

    Rouverge approached them.

    ¡°Th, that¡­¡­ Can I have some meat and eat with you?¡±

    He spoke timidly to themander of thepany.

    ¡°Ah. You¡¯re hungry, right? By all means.¡±

    ¡°......Ca, can I? Really?¡±

    Rouverge was in shock.

    I was not expecting this to be this easy?

    Then, themander that was sitting in front of him continued to speak.

    ¡°There is still some food left while there are still hungry people. Even though our Empires are at odds, feeding the hungry is a different matter.¡±

    Minhyuk smiled kindly at him.

    Rouverge couldn¡¯t help but feel excited. Theirmanders were humans who would not bleed even if they were stabbed. They continued to quickly push ahead without a care for them until they copsed. But the man in front of him was gracious and kind.

    What was more¡­¡­

    ¡°Yo! What¡¯s your name?¡±

    ¡°Wee,e sit here!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s good to eat together! Wee!¡±

    The members of the Rice Supplement troop also reached their hands out to tempt him.

    ¡°Th, thank you!¡±

    Rouverge quickly sat down and wolfed down on the meat.

    Meanwhile, the Rice Supplementpany and the Religion Head Minhyuk¡­¡­

    Each and everyone of them had fishy smiles on their faces.

    There was a spike in the enemy NPC¡¯s favorability!

    Then, Minhyuk made eye contact with the Rice Supplementpany.

    ¡®They finally took the bait.¡¯

    ¡®They took the bait.¡¯

    Yes. That was right. They were baiting the enemy knights like those big time scammers. And around this time¡­... The members of the Iron Blood and Reaperspany were graduallying towards them.

    ¡°C, can we also eat together with you?¡±

    ¡°Can we eat with you? I only ate nuts and jerkies for three days straight¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Ahhhhh. That¡­¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk and the members of the Rice Supplementpany allmented at their woes.

    ¡°This, this! Ah! Come on here and eat!¡±

    ¡°Sit, sit!!!¡±

    ¡°Oho. Don¡¯t rush while eating. You must have been very hungry, huh?¡±

    ¡°Sob, sob, sob! This is delicious! They gave us the impression that Eivelis Empire was bad but it seems like it¡¯s a ce that¡¯s filled with affection!¡±

    ¡°Ah. Eat slowly. Hohoho! I know how you feel. You were really hungry, huh? Here, have some water.¡±

    ¡°Gulp, gulp!¡±

    One of the members of the Rice Supplementpany patted the back of one of the hungry knights with a fishy smile on his face.

    Minhyuk and the members of the Rice Supplementpany were all fishing as a group to increase their numbers. And again and again, the members of the Iron Blood and Reapers came over.

    Well, ording to Minhyuk¡¯s calctions, around this time¡­¡­

    ¡°What are you doing?!!¡±

    ¡°You punks!!!¡±

    The twomanders woulde out.

    The two of them wanted to build their prestige, so they roared at them loudly.

    ¡°You¡¯re not going to go back right now?!!!¡±

    ¡°At this rate, do you even have the pride to be in the Cordis Imperial Army?!!!¡±

    Minhyuk also chose to speak at that time.

    ¡°Aaah. Wait~ What¡¯s so bad about feeding hungry people?¡±

    The members of Reapers and Iron Blood all looked at him as if they were looking at their savior. They were very thrilled with Minhyuk¡¯s actions.

    Aaaaah! He¡¯s arguing with ourmanders! And he even gave us food to eat!

    His favorability among the hungry knights increased dramatically.

    Meanwhile, the twomanders¡­¡­

    ¡°We¡¯re done!¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t need that favor from you!!!¡±

    They turned around to protect their pride.

    Now, what do you think would happen if they did something like this?

    Their soldiers have already tasted Minhyuk¡¯s magical pork galbi. In the first ce, it was something that they could not eat but they ended up eating it. This meant that their hunger would just increase if they suddenly stopped.

    ¡®All we have to do is wait for them toe to us first.¡¯

    Eclei and Bach felt that everything had gone absurd.

    Their knights left without their permission to go and eat meat. But what was worse was¡­¡­

    They even ate from that goddamn bastard too!

    At that time, Troop Commander, Knight Nelson spoke.

    ¡°Even though we separated, I don¡¯t know why you refused to let us go there when they were willing to share with us!¡±

    ¡°Wipe the pork galbi sauce on your mouth.¡±

    ¡°Everyone isining of hunger. At this rate, there will be people who will not be able to stand it and die. It¡¯s because of your pride that you¡¯re stopping us¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Shut up!¡±

    Nelson was suddenly enlightened when he heard Eclei¡¯s words. But he soon came to this conclusion¡­¡­

    ¡®My goodness, why are you refusing what they gave us?¡¯

    ¡®You¡¯repletely different from themander over there.¡¯

    ¡®I envy the men under the Rice Supplementpany.¡¯

    Then, Eclei and Bach heard a totally unexpected notification.

    ¡°......?!¡±

    Minhyuk clearly did not swear at them nor pick a fight with them. But at this very moment, Minhyuk and the rest of his team made Eclei and Bach eat some big shit all by themselves.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 240 - Battlefields Great Ruler

    Chapter 240: Battlefield¡¯s Great Ruler

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    The Charisma Stat was a stat that would increase the troop¡¯s favorability especially if the number of the stat was high. It would also allow the user to have a stronger bond with the soldiers under theirmand. In addition, having an incredibly high charisma stat would have an effect of boosting the morale of the troops even if the user just stayed still.

    However, the charisma stat only yed an auxiliary role. Even if someone had more than 1,000 points in their charisma stat, they would still be able to experience a drop in favorability if they did something tremendously terrible to their troops.

    And the Knight Commanders of the Iron Blood, Nelson, and Reapers, Audrey, were both talking.

    ¡°Pride is important, but I don¡¯t think that it makes sense to prioritize something like that when we need to take care of our troops.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. What¡¯s more, themander of the Rice Supplementpany is a kind and virtuous man. He even told us toe whenever we feel hungry, right?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m jealous. I¡¯m very jealous of the members of the Rice Supplementpany!¡±

    ¡°Did you see? At night, they went inside the tent, drilled a hole inside and even warmed up the air inside with fire magic. They definitely slept sweetly.¡±

    Meanwhile, they were all shivering in the cold.

    Nelson and Audrey gazed at the Rice Supplementpany from a distance. They could see them grinning and smiling swiftly over their cups of coffee from who knows where. There was a warm, pleasant and happy atmosphere surrounding them that waspletely contrary to their current situation.

    ¡°......How about we join them?¡±

    ¡°His Highness, Asvon, will definitely be angry¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°But in the end, those two are foreigners. Isn¡¯t it possible to deprive those foreigners of theirmand any time we deem necessary? And wouldn¡¯t he be generous if we told him that our troops of 100 men were on the verge of annihtion?¡±

    ¡°......I see.¡±

    Generally, themand of the foreigners was finite and limited. The knights and soldiers could turn around and not follow their orders once they felt that the foreigners were misdirecting them and giving them bad orders.

    In fact, both Asvon and Ellie were very cautious when they handed themand over to the foreigners. They even said that they could easily take over themand once they felt that the foreigners were immature and couldn¡¯t give any correct orders.

    The most important thing right now is to rescue Prince Argon, right?

    Not long after, Nelson and Audrey both looked at each other before looking behind them.

    They finally made a decision.

    Bach felt that his head would explode from all of theplicated thoughts that were running in it.

    The favorability kept on decreasing!

    Such a decrease might result in his knights leaving thepany. Eclei even logged out after saying that he would take a nap to clear the stress away.

    However, before they could even do something about the favorability, the knights started to move strangely. The knights of the Iron Blood and Reapers all began to move towards Rice Supplement.

    ¡°Where are you going!¡±

    ¡°......We¡¯ll rely on themander of the Rice Supplementpany to lead us.¡±

    ¡°Wh, what?!¡±

    Bach was caught in surprise. It was understandable that they wanted to leave thepany. However, the knights moving towards Rice Supplement and sticking to their group was quite iprehensible to him.

    ¡°Shit¡­¡­! Do you think Emperor Asvon will stay still if he learns of this?!¡±

    ¡°I think Emperor Asvon will be able to understand us and our situations even for a bit.¡±

    Emperor Asvon was a verypetitive man. That was why he wanted to win the God¡¯s Bet more so since it was apetition between the two Empires. But more than that, Emperor Asvon had bigger aspirations than that.

    ¡®If you darey a hand on my brats then I¡¯ll kill you.¡¯

    He also treasured his people and his men more dearly than what anyone could think of. And he would trust them more than these two foreigners.

    Bach just stared dumbfounded as the 100-men troop moved away. Minhyuk was even opening his arms widely in front of them.

    ¡°Ah. You came. Let¡¯s have a meal!!!¡±

    He was smiling brightly as if he had secured some regr customers.

    ¡°......!¡±

    Bach¡¯s clenched fists trembled.

    Thepetition between the Gods would earnestly begin in Zone 2 but they werepletely robbed of their opportunity even before it started.

    ¡°Euhahahaha! This is really delicious!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. It¡¯s really good!¡±

    ¡°Hahahahaha!¡±

    They were allughing and giggling.

    On the other hand, Bach¡¯s side waspletely empty. However, it couldn¡¯t work like this. Bach marched up to them.

    ¡°You bastard! You did it on purpose, didn¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°Yes? What?¡±

    Minhyuk looked at him with a very carefree expression on his face.

    ¡°You purposely stole our troops!!¡±

    ¡°What are you saying? I¡¯m just giving food to the hungry.¡±

    ¡°Bach-nim, we went here on our own free will. What are you trying to do to a person who just wanted to give something to us?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right!!! What¡¯s wrong with the good-naturedmander of the Rice Supplementpany?¡±

    ¡°Booooooo!¡±

    Flinch!

    The knights had started to use him! Bach¡¯s head turned nk at their usations.

    Why did ite to this?

    Then he spat out in anger.

    ¡°Strength is also important for amander. You want this weakling as yourmander?! Ridiculous!!¡±

    The only thing that Minhyuk showed them was him shooting a bow. In fact, Bach did not know anything about him at all. On the other hand, the members of the Rice Supplementpany had seen him ravaging hundreds of mobs all by himself.

    ¡®What¡¯s that crazy punk saying?¡¯

    ¡®Weakling? Who? You?¡¯

    To some extent, the current Iron Blood and Reapers members seemed to agree with his words.

    ¡°Themander should also be strong!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m strong!!!¡±

    ¡°You keep on barking like a dog. You¡¯re already lucky enough if you can survive three of my attacks. Are you even confident that you will survive if we do a PVP here, huh?¡±

    Minhyuk hesitated for a moment as he put on an expression of fear on his face. Meanwhile, the members of the Rice Supplement all looked at Minhyuk in wonder.

    ¡®What¡¯s wrong with him?¡¯

    ¡®But he will easily win against that kind of person?¡¯

    ¡®Hmm?¡¯

    Bach was a God ss user but he was more inclined to being amander. Of course, his individual skills and abilities were all excellent since he was an assassin ss user butpared to other God sses, his strength was not that great. But it was also a fact that he was ranked third in the domestic assassins¡¯ rankings.

    ¡°Th, then, I have a condition!¡±

    Minhyuk looked like he was very afraid. His expression was screaming that he just plucked up the courage to speak these words out.

    ¡°If I win, you will tell Emperor Asvon that I took over themand of your troops because you died on the way.¡±

    ¡°......Good. But if I win then I will take over your troops.¡±

    Bach¡¯s mouth curled up in a smirk.

    The only thing that he knew was his archery. But even then, he did not even show him his skills yet. And from what he had heard, he was an excellent chef. In other words, he was originally a chef ss user.

    I guess the bow is just a bonus.

    Bach guessed that Minhyuk was one of the two. He thought that he was either admitting the fact that hecked themanding ability so that there would be no confrontation or that he had some expectations of winning this showdown even if the chances were slim.

    But of course, Bach believed that he would win and that he would get the Rice Supplementpany as an additional troop. If his troops get another boost, then their hunting speed would definitely double and his enemy kills,manding ability and contributions would definitely increase. This was his chance to beat Eclei.

    Then, Minhyuk was finally fully prepared(?). He had donned his armor and equipped a sword. After changing all his artifacts, he held his sword out.

    ¡°Before we begin, let¡¯s make a foreigner¡¯s pledge.¡±

    The foreigner¡¯s pledge was a pledge between users that would take effect once both users signed each other¡¯s name on a pledge parchment.

    The words written in the pledge parchment should never be broken. If one broke the pledge, then they would experience huge disadvantages.

    Bach¡¯s lips curled up in an overconfident grin.

    ¡®How long will you evenst. Hehe.¡¯

    Bach was very confident that Minhyuk would not be able to hold out in front of him. Then, he started his attacks.

    Poof!

    Five clones appeared around Bach after he ced his hands together. Each and every one of them was holding a dagger in their hands.

    Dash!

    The clones dashed towards Minhyuk as Bach prepared to deal a huge blow to him.

    Dash!

    Bach immediately appeared near Minhyuk. Minhyuk looked surprised to see him suddenly appear near him as he hurriedly defended with his sword.

    ng!

    At the same time, the clones approached and put pressure on Minhyuk.

    ng, ng, ng, ng, ng!

    ¡°Keuheup!¡±

    Minhyuk staggered back.

    ¡°Hoo. I didn¡¯t expect that you could stop that one.¡±

    Bach swished his dagger around his hands. He looked rxed as he threw a mockingplement at him.

    Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª

    ng, ng, ng, ng!

    Stab!

    ¡°Keuaaaack!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a dagger that¡¯s coated with poison. It will eat away at your HP as your head starts to get dizzy.¡±

    Minhyuk shook his head as the clones continued to put pressure on him.

    Poof!

    Minhyuk dealt with a clone as it disappeared into a fog of dark clouds.

    Poof, poof!

    Then, two more clones were cut down. Then, he rushed out to attack Bach.

    ng, ng, ng!

    Bach easily blocked the attack with his dagger as he looked at him in a rxed manner.

    ¡°Wow. You¡¯re really going to take this weakling as yourmander?!¡±

    Grin¡ª

    At that same moment, Bach shed down on Minhyuk¡¯s arms.

    There was a buzz among the members of the Reapers and the Iron Blood troops while the members of the Rice Supplementpany were all watching in curiosity.

    ¡®What¡¯s this?¡¯

    ¡®Why is he using only 1/3 of the power that he used earlier? Why isn¡¯t he using that powerful skill?¡¯

    Just as they looked on in wonder and curiosity, they heard Minhyuk shout.

    ¡°Keuheup! I can¡¯t let someone like youmand them! I¡¯ll definitely be with them every step of the way and I¡¯ll save the prince with no one dying!!!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Minhyuk had cuts all over his body as he shouted desperately. The members of the Iron Blood and Reaperspany all looked at him with their hearts breaking.

    ¡®Aaaaah! Just to be with us¡­¡­!¡¯

    ¡®He¡¯s a truemander¡­.. He¡¯ll fight desperately just to be with us!¡¯

    ¡®Aaaaaaaaah! Commander Minhyuk-nim!¡¯

    One knight even shed tears for his passion and dedication.

    That was when the Rice Supplementpany realized.

    ¡®He¡¯s doing that on purpose, right?¡¯

    ¡®He¡¯s definitely a swindler among swindlers!¡¯

    ¡®It seems like I can see with my very own eyes how the knights of Iron Blood and Reapers will be loyal to Minhyuk-nim for life.¡¯

    That was right. He was a swindler. But Bach, who was unaware of this fact, was smiling broadly.

    ¡°Keuhahahahaahahahah! You weakling! How can youmand if your strength is just like this?!¡±

    But contrary to what he expected, the knights of the Iron Blood and Reaperspany shouted at him madly.

    ¡°Be sure to win!¡±

    ¡°Sob, sob, sob! I was so thrilled with the courage and love that you have for us!¡±

    ¡°We will also risk our lives for you!¡±

    ¡®Huh?¡¯

    Bach tilted his head in confusion.

    At the same time, Minhyuk slowly copsed. Bach tried to give him a final blow but Minhyuk suddenly grabbed his wrist.

    ¡°I will conquer the Immortals¡¯ Land with them!!!¡±

    At that moment, a bright light suddenly burst out of Minhyuk¡¯s body. The knights suddenly stood up in shock and trepidation.

    Meanwhile, Bach thought that he could easily pull out his wrists from his hold but before he could do so, the grip on his wrists tightened. He realized that the grip on his wrist had a tremendous strength on it.

    ¡®Wh, what the hell? What¡¯s with this strength?¡¯

    Something¡¯s strange. Something¡­

    And then¡­¡­

    Stab!

    Minhyuk¡¯s sword pierced his sides.

    ¡°Keop!¡±

    ¡°Let go!¡±

    Stab, stab, stab, stab!

    Although he tried to stab him with his dagger, they did not reach Minhyuk at all. Then, Minhyuk attacked him again. He mmed his head against Bach¡¯s head.

    Bang!

    ¡°Keuheup!¡±

    Then, Minhyuk stabbed his sword on his chest.

    Stab!

    Then, a phrase in a dark window surprisingly appeared in front of Bach.

    After he was forced to log out, Minhyuk raised his arms and shouted.

    ¡°I have ovee this obstacle! Now you can stay with us without any worries!!!¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Minhyuk! Minhyuk! Minhyuk!¡±

    Then, notifications rang one by one in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    And along with the notifications, a piece of item also dropped from Bach.

    ¡°A map?¡±

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Idk if Kang Minhoo raised a good businessman or a good con-man...

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 241 - Prince Argon And The Royal Shop

    Chapter 241: Prince Argon and the Royal Shop

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    68 Prince Argon and the Royal Shop

    This notification rang loudly as countlessrge guilds entered the A-ranked area in Elvenheim.

    [Take back thend that has been taken away by the demonic race.]

    [If you seed in recapturing thend and defending it for two days, then you will be the master of thend that you have protected and your contributions will increase sharply.]

    The words in the notifications were easy to interpret. In other words, this was a structure that promoted apetition between therge guilds.

    Guilds began to enter Elvenheim¡¯s A-ranked area.

    Meanwhile, Cain, the guild master of Iris Guild, and Ares, the guild master of Ares Guild, formed an alliance. Through their alliance, they were able to gain about three small viges and towns. They were fighting a defensive battle in order to gain a stronghold between Elvenheim and the Elven Forest. Cain and Ares¡¯ mouths were both almost torn with how wide they were grinning.

    ¡°As expected.¡±

    Ares shook his head when he heard Cain¡¯s words.

    Cain and Ares were both forced to fail by Legend Guild. In the case of Cain, he suffered from failure when he faced off against Legend Guild during the disaster from God Juis. In Ares¡¯ case, he suffered failure when he tried to capture King Varen and faced off against Legend Guild.

    But right now, they were both ahead of all the guilds. And they have been so for quite a long time now. Other guilds were only able to have just one territory. In addition, they would also be able to hit the goal faster to get that opportunity. The opportunity was none other than the ¡®Elf Shop¡¯.

    Elf Shops was a shop that did not only exist in Elvenheim. It existed in all of the viges, towns, big cities, and territories in the entire continent. Due to the war¡¯s outbreak, countless Elf Shops were created. The Elf Shops would only be avable to the user once they have umted enough points from their contributions.

    In addition, the users were all restricted from using the consumables that they had brought with them as soon as they entered Elvenheim. The only consumables that they could use were the ones they had purchased in Elvenheim. Elves potions, elves parchments, elves food and even rare artifacts.

    Right now, Ares and Cain were both able to discover a special purchase from a High Elf woman that stayed in their three recaptured towns.

    [The Elf Shop¡¯s Upgrade.]

    [100,000 war points.]

    The woman was called Ruby.

    Cain and Ares had guessed that Joy Co. Ltd. had set up high contribution points or a restriction for having more territory or perhaps having excessive luck to get something special. Their guilds were extremely lucky but it was also because they had good defenses. And because of this, they found a way to get ahead of the other guilds faster. They believed that if the ranking of the shop increased then they would be able to get something better for the war.

    ¡°Ruby. I¡¯m buying the Elf Shop¡¯s Upgrade.¡±

    ¡°You need 100,000 war points to exchange for the Elf Shop¡¯s Upgrade.¡±

    ¡°Here¡¯s the 100,000 points.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve worked hard to save us, elves. Thank you.¡±

    Having that many war points meant that they had hunted many demonic races.

    Then, the notifications rang.

    [You have purchased the Elf Shop¡¯s Upgrade.]

    [Your Elf Shop will be upgraded to Rank C. Cain and Iris Guild will have a 10% discount in the Elf¡¯s Shop.]

    [You can purchase more special items in Rank C.]

    Cain grinned widely before rushing to check the Elf¡¯s Shop.

    ¡°......!¡±

    The smile on Cain¡¯s face did not disappear. The reason was simple, it was because there were now a lot of better things in the shop than before.

    They were now selling a whole lot of the ¡®Elves¡¯ Arrow of Life¡¯. Right now, he could purchase 1,000 pieces for one transaction only. Surprisingly enough, the arrow had an additional 15% increase in attack power and a 20% increase in critical hit rate when facing demonic races. And that was not all of it. Although the items were limited in quantities, there were countless things that were now avable in the Elf¡¯s Shop. There was even the Elf¡¯s Water of Life which could temporarily increase the attack power against the demonic races by 15%.

    Currently, Iris and Ares Guild had a little more than a hundred members. So what would happen if each and every one of them would have a 15% increase in attack power? They could go far ahead of the other guilds.

    Then, Cain heard another notification.

    [The Elf¡¯s Shop Upgrade price has increased.]

    [300,000 war points.]

    ¡®Expensive¡­¡­¡¯

    It wasn¡¯t easy for them to gain contribution points. He was only able to gather 100,000 war points after almost exhausting his individual war points. Thanks to his individual and guild war points, they were now significantly ahead of the others.

    But then, Cain suddenly felt curious.

    ¡°What is the highest ranking?¡±

    ***

    Meanwhile, Legend Guild was also able to gain a town. And along with that, Genie was also able to meet with the Shop NPC, Remin.

    Genie tilted her head as she looked around the shop.

    [Do you want to upgrade the Elf¡¯s Shop?]

    [50,000 war points.]

    ¡®Oh?¡¯

    Then, she immediately checked the information.

    [Elf¡¯s Shop¡¯s rankings. The Elf¡¯s Shop would start at rank E. However, it is possible to upgrade your shop to a better and great store if you continue to make contributions. The rankings are divided into D, C, B, A and Royal. Three days after the Rank C store opens, the upgrades that can be purchased will be released in all of the NPC shops in every vige and town. If you have a special NPC shop in your town or vige, you may be able to increase your ranking by that time.]

    ¡°So this is how one can use their points.¡±

    The privilege that was granted to her store was to gain ess to information in advance. This meant that she would be able to see further information and check them ahead of others.

    [Rank C upgrade requires 100,000 points, Rank B: 300,000 points, Rank A: 600,000 points, Royal: 1 million points. In the case of a Royal Shop, there are only two Royal hidden NPCs that can open the Royal Rank. In addition, once the Royal Ranked Shop opens, your 1 million war points will be returned to you.]

    ¡°Kek!¡±

    Genie was shocked.

    Royal rank needs 1 million war points? What¡¯s worse is that only the Royal family can open it?

    It was said that the elves only had the Elf King and only one prince among their royalties. So the difficulty was already very high with just this requirement alone.

    And Genie could easily deduce the meaning of the returning of the 1 million war points.

    ¡®It¡¯s literally impossible for an individual to gain 1 million war points to ess the Royal Shop. This is clearly a privilege and is something meant to sober us up¡­¡­¡¯

    Legend Guild was not performing very well since their numbers were significantly smaller than the rest of the guilds. And right now, they were even down by one person.

    Then, Genie sent a message in the GC to Ace.

    [Guild Master Genie: Our Ace, where are you^^?]

    [Guild Chatting: I¡¯m almost there. I¡¯m taking some really strong people with me so wait for me a little bit more~]

    [Guild Master Genie: Okie dokie.]

    She heard that he would bring strong and reliable people but she really did not expect much. However, she still believed that there would be a slight boost in their strength if they came.

    ***

    (Map of the Immortals¡¯ Land)

    Restrictions: None

    Description:

    ¡ªIt serves to show and indicate what is in each section of the Immortals¡¯ Land. However, it cannot show the rewards list.

    ¡ªThe status of other users, their military troops and personnel as well as their scores while they are still in Immortals¡¯ Land can also be viewed.

    ¡ªThe Map of the Immortals¡¯ Land gives the owner the opportunity to check the rewards list once. This chance has already been used by the previous owner.

    [All Talk Commander]

    Unique Title

    Title Effect: It has the power to make the soldiers or the users believe in your words even if you lie.

    The map looked quite useful to him.

    When he unfolded the map, he saw the things that were located in Zone 1 written clearly on it. And his new title¡­¡­ It was literally a special title that Minhyuk had received after speaking those meticulously thought out lies.

    Then, Minhyuk saw the troops crying andughing in front of him.

    ¡°Keuheuheuheuk. Thanks to ourmander, we can be here with you safely and without any worries. I¡¯m so happy to be here with you.¡±

    ¡°Huhuhuhuhu!¡±

    The Reapers and Iron Blood were all in tears. And just like what they had agreed upon, they all became a part of the Rice Supplementpany.

    ¡°Keuheuheuheuk! Ah! Great Minhyuk-nim!¡±

    ¡°Minhyuk, mansae!¡±

    ¡°Minhyuk, mansae!¡±

    That was right. They had all be a group of swindlers! Minhyuk pretended to be moved to tears as he started his charade.

    ¡°I can¡¯t control my tears. They keep on falling down so I¡¯ll go over there to calm myself down. Keuheuheuheuk!¡±

    Minhyuk shed his tears just like that but once he got out of their sight, a grin bloomed in his handsome face.

    ¡®I¡¯ll be in big trouble if someone asks for a bite, right?¡¯

    Minhyuk¡¯s smile was so wide that his mouth almost got torn. Then, he pulled out the chicken feet set that he had received after achieving 100% in themanding ability.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡­¡±

    He admired the chicken feet set for a while after he pulled it out of his inventory.

    The Spicy Chicken Feet Set that¡¯s glistening red looks so beautiful. And there¡¯s even some steamed eggs?

    The steamed eggs were different from themon steamed eggs that were cooked in an earthen pot. When he held and shook the stic container that contained the steamed egg, the steamed egg bounced and wiggled. It looked extremely soft and stic.

    Then, he looked at the ingredients right next to it. They were the ingredients that were used in making rice balls together with some peach Julpis. Minhyuk quickly wore stic gloves as he sprinkled the rice with sesame seeds. He used pickled radish as fillings before rolling it in seaweed.

    ¡°I¡¯m none other than a master craftsman in making rice balls!¡±

    Just like what he said, Minhyuk¡¯s skill in rice ball rolling was already at its peak. It could already be considered art at this point. Sometimes, there were people who couldn¡¯t even make half a ball of rice. These were people who truly couldn¡¯t roll rice balls. However, Minhyuk could make it very pretty and round.

    After making some rice balls, Minhyuk quickly picked up one reddish, shiny and glistening spicy chicken feet with his chopsticks before putting it in his mouth. He was chewing it easily but he could still feel the sting in every bite. The vor of the chicken feet was a bit spicy but it was still tolerable. The vor that first spread in his mouth was tinged with the delightful aftertaste of smoke and charcoal fire. And after eating about three of them, he couldn¡¯t help but let out some breath out of his mouth.

    ¡°Swiiip¡ª Aaah.¡±

    His tongue was tingling due to the spicyness. This time, he took a spoon and dug in the soft and jiggling steamed egg. With just a touch of the spoon, the steamed egg easily came out of the container. As soon as he ced it in his mouth, he could taste the soft and warm steamed egg. The taste of the steamed egg brought happiness and relief in his mouth.

    Then, he turned his attention towards the rice balls. With his hands wrapped in the stic gloves, he brought the rice ball to his mouth. The salty seaweed, sesame seeds and pickled radish blended and mixed to create a savory yet sour vor in his mouth.

    After tasting everything, he quickly went back to his chicken feet. His forehead was already beaded in sweat after eating plenty of the chicken feet. However, the enticing and spicy vor of the chicken feet had a magical temptation that wouldn¡¯t let him stop from eating them until they were gone.

    And at this time, there was one thing that he needed.

    Glug, glug, glug¡ª

    He quickly took out a ss filled with ice before pouring the Julpis in it. Then, he grabbed the ss and gulped down its icy yet refreshing contents. His tingling tongue suddenly sizzled and calmed down.

    After he finished everything, the notifications rang loudly in his ears.

    [You have eaten the Food God¡¯s Spicy Chicken Feet Set.]

    [You gained 100,000 contribution points.]

    ¡°Oh?¡±

    He suddenly earned a significant amount of contribution points in one go.

    After eating the spicy chicken feet set, Minhyuk once again opened the map of the Immortals¡¯ Land and checked its contents. There was a variety of information listed in the map. Minhyuk couldn¡¯t help but tilt his head in thought as he stared at Zone 2.

    ¡®A red skull?¡¯

    In reality, such a figure represented ¡®danger¡¯ and ¡®destruction¡¯. Minhyuk clicked on it.

    [You can¡¯t have additional ess. The rewards list has been checked already.]

    [The previous owner had already checked all of the information.]

    ¡°......Hmm.¡±

    Minhyuk tilted his head in thought. The previous owner was Bach so he thought that he had already finished checking everything. With that, he couldn¡¯t see that information so the rest was left unconfirmed.

    Minhyuk left and led his troops quickly.

    It was time to finish taking over Zone 1 so they could move on to Zone 2.

    ***

    ¡°......¡±

    Eclei was left speechless aftering back from his nap. It was because there was no one in sight. He felt a bit strange standing alone in a ce where the cold wind was blowing strongly. What was worse was that Bach was nowhere in sight. So he logged out.

    After Eclei, or Lee Sungjae, logged out, he immediately contacted Bach,monly known as Lee Hyunwoo in reality. But before he could even do so, he already saw several text messages on his phone.

    ¡®What¡¯s this?¡¯

    When he finally realized the situation, Lee Sungjae couldn¡¯t help but feel flustered.

    He just read that Bach was logged out by Minhyuk and their troops all joined the Rice Supplementpany. But to make matters even worse, Hyunwoo made a foreigner¡¯s pledge. Right now, Hyunwoo had no choice but to tell Emperor Asvon that he had died from a monster attack and Minhyuk had to take over themand of their troops.

    Not long after, Hyunwoo received a call. Sungjae¡¯s voice was filled with doubt and anger since everything sounded so ridiculous to him.

    ¡°No. How can you do something like that!!!¡±

    [I let my guard down. I never thought that he would have that skill. He had a skill that would momentarily make him invincible¡­¡­ If it wasn¡¯t for that, then I¡¯d definitely win.]

    Hyunwoo still thought that he had lost only by a narrow margin.

    [He¡¯s a rookie when ites to fighting.]

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you die from such a rookie?¡±

    A moment of silence passed by between them. However, Hyunwoo said to him not long after¡­¡­

    [That¡¯s what happened¡­¡­ Now, I¡¯m out ofmission so I¡¯ll have to trust you Sungjae. I still have a way to win.]

    ¡°A way?¡±

    [Yes. Do you remember that red skull in the Map of the Immortals¡¯ Land?]

    ¡°Yes. I remember.¡±

    When he asked Hyunwoo about it, he seemed reluctant and only said that it was a dangerous area.

    [It¡¯s a very dangerous area. And I have checked the information in therepletely. It¡¯s thend of the ¡®Fallen Spirit King¡¯. Hunting the Fallen Spirit King can grant you two rewards options.]

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±

    [First. It¡¯s none other than bing a demonic human. By bing a demonic human, you will get more powerful troops from the corrupted soldiers of the Fallen Spirit King. The second option gives you 400,000 contribution points and the Elf¡¯s Heart. The Elf¡¯s Heart is said to contain an enormous power and can be used as a guild property. And one more thing.]

    Sungjae quietly listened to Hyunwoo.

    [When you be a demonic human, the second reward will be transferred if someone hunts you.]

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    gs were raised.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 242 - Prince Argon And The Royal Shop

    Chapter 242: Prince Argon and the Royal Shop

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Minhyuk led his troop of 150 men as he started to take over the Immortals¡¯ Land¡¯s Zone 1.

    [User Minhyuk¡¯s contributions have reached 300,000.]

    ¡°N, no!!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t increase your contributions!¡±

    The Story Creation Team once again came to the Special Users Management Team to tear their heads off.

    ¡°This bad punk!¡±

    ¡°Why do you call him a bad punk when he¡¯s so good at ying the game?¡±

    Team Leader Park had told them bluntly. But their reactions were inevitable. Ever since Minhyuk ate up all the ¡®tteoks¡¯ their team was struggling to build an update towards a new direction. They only barely managed to sort things out but if things went on like this then they would be in very big trouble.

    Having more points meant that they would have more supplies avable to them. To be honest, just getting to Rank A would give them a huge benefit. However, it was quite hard to rack up the points that would allow them to go up to Rank A.

    For them to be able to do so, they should literally use their individual war points to purchase the upgrade. And they would need hundreds of thousands of points to be able to do that. Usually, if a user exceeded 100,000 points they would be able to purchase an epic item at the Elf¡¯s Shop. This meant that they would give up such an item for them to be able to upgrade the shop. However, it was not as easy as it sounds. Except for those who were not greedy for strength and power or for those who would think about the guild and allow them to go towards a good direction, none of the other users would willingly give up such an item.

    This was the reason why they believed that users who could promote the shop to Rank A would only appear towards the end of the war episode. But right now, Minhyuk¡¯s contribution points were already inching closer to the Rank A upgrade.

    Furthermore, there was a bigger problem.

    ¡°What will happen if the Elf¡¯s Heart falls into the hands of that user?¡±

    His high contribution points were a problem but so was the Elf¡¯s Heart.

    In the past, the Ancient Elf, Lumias, was anxious about a war breaking out among the tribes. In the first ce, elves hated fighting. However, just because they did not like fighting did not mean that they would just let their tribes go and be devoured by the war. So each of the three Elf Chiefs gathered their enormous and outstanding strength to create a powerful weapon that they could use in war. And that was none other than the ¡®Elf¡¯s Heart¡¯.

    The Elf¡¯s Heart could only be used if they were in thend of the elves. Whether it be a vige, a town, or a big city. It could be used anywhere in theirnds.

    ¡°......What¡¯s worse is that User Minhyuk has the mineral antarinium. It¡¯s really a problem.¡±

    The mineral antarinium had not yet revealed its full strength. Not long after, Team Leader Park spoke in ackluster voice.

    ¡°There was a red skull mark in the Immortals¡¯ Land area that User Minhyuk had seen. And the information about that area was already confirmed by another user. User Minhyuk can safely use his troops so he does not need to go to that dangerous area where he is not aware of the rewards at all. We can rest assured about that fact.¡±

    ¡°I guess so. His high contribution points is a bit inevitable but I guess I¡¯m still d about that fact.¡±

    ***

    Minhyuk¡¯s work and actions in the Immortals¡¯ Land Zone 1 were as follows:

    First, he would use his Create a Recipe skill for the 100 Iron Blood and Reapers soldiers who came under hismand. Well, to be exact, for the additional 100 soldiers under the Rice Supplementpany. He fed them consistently during the three meals a day as he helped them boost their powers.

    And that was not the end of it all.

    ¡°Sharpen the de!!¡±

    [You have achieved the best sharpening for the Tong Sword.]

    [The durability has increased sharply.]

    [The attack power has increased.]

    ¡°Wipe the armor!¡±

    [You have achieved the shiniest appearance for the te Armor.]

    [The durability has increased sharply.]

    [The defensive power has increased.]

    The weapons and armors of all 150 men under him had increased dramatically! It was not just one or two but 150 people who had a tremendous boost to their strength.

    What followed next was them sweeping the entire Zone 1 of the Immortals¡¯ Land with ease. And since his knights moved so well on their own, Minhyuk did not even need to move around with his sword. All he did was tomand them and shoot his bow from the rear.

    [Caron has leveled up.]

    [You have gained 1 charisma.]

    [Ravis has leveled up.]

    [You have gained 1 charisma.]

    And the notifications did not stop there.

    [You have broken through Area A-60 of the Immortals¡¯ Land.]

    [You have gained 10,000 contribution points.]

    [You have broken through Area A-63 of the Immortals¡¯ Land.]

    [You have gained 10,000 contribution points.]

    [You have broken through Area K-81 of the Immortals¡¯ Land.]

    [You have broken through six areas in three hours.]

    [Commander User Minhyuk and his troops are running wild and breaking through areas with sheer force.]

    [You have proven yourself to be an outstandingmander.]

    [You have gained an additional 100 points to your charisma stat.]

    Minhyuk checked his charisma stat. It seemed like it had already exceeded 200 points. This was only possible thanks to his goodmanding ability that allowed him to level up his troops with only minimal damage.

    They continued to move like that until they reached Zone 2 of the Immortals¡¯ Land.

    [You have reached Immortals¡¯ Land Zone 2.]

    [You have gained 50 reputation points.]

    [You have gained 50,000 contribution points.]

    Right now, if they were able to pass through Zone 2, then they could meet Prince Argon. So Minhyuk started to fight with his troops.

    ¡°Attack!¡±

    The monsters have be more powerful but Minhyuk¡¯s troops, which had all be stronger than him, could not be pushed back at all. And at one point, the notifications began to ring.

    [The God of War, Eclei, has given up on the Gods¡¯ Bet.]

    [You have acquired the Food God¡¯s Bizzare Tteokbokki Set.]

    [You have acquired the final reward, the Food God¡¯s Kitchen Knife.]

    ¡®Huh? Gave up?¡¯

    Minhyuk had no choice but to tilt his head in confusion.

    Eclei gave up the Gods¡¯ Bet?

    He did not know the exact reasons but perhaps it was because he lost all of his troops so he found it not worth his time.

    When Minhyuk tried to check the final reward, the Food God¡¯s Kitchen Knife, the notifications went off.

    [You have acquired the world¡¯s first Half-God artifact, the Food God¡¯s Kitchen Knife.]

    [Your name has climbed the Hall of Kings.]

    ***

    Eclei immediately ran towards Zone 2 all by himself.

    Were you wondering how he got there all by himself and without any troops? No. Eclei had troops but he just did not use them.

    [You have summoned the battlefield¡¯s descendants.]

    A troop that consisted of thirty stone-like soldiers appeared.

    He was saving it forter because of the cooldown. Just like what Bach had told him before, Eclei ran with his troops towards the tomb of the Fallen Spirit King. As soon as he arrived there, he fought against the Fallen Spirit King.

    The Fallen Spirit King, Ifrit, was a Spirit King that fell due to the persistent attacks of magi on his body.

    Crackle!

    Ifrit¡¯s crackling fire spear flew towards him while Eclei¡¯s sword moved.

    [War God¡¯s Blessings.]

    [The sword of the mighty God of War will prate the enemy.]

    aaash¡ª

    A powerful sh erupted from Eclei¡¯s sword as it shed against the burning fire spear.

    ¡®As expected, this guy is not easy to deal with.¡¯

    The reason why a red skull marked this area in the map was because it was a very dangerous area. It also represented a risk for users to be demonic humans. However, in a way, it could also be a great merit.

    Eclei was the first user to be a demonic human. Of course, there would be a fierce battle against other users but there would also be countless quests and rewards that he could gain by bing a demonic human.

    Anyway, Eclei was not a part of any guild and was only an individual! And bing a demonic human would make him into a more powerful person.

    [The God of War¡¯s War Horse.]

    Neigh!

    A ck horse suddenly appeared near Eclei while he was fighting a fierce battle. Eclei climbed up the horse as he began to move forward and push back the fallen Ifrit. And eventually, he was able to sessfully hunt Ifrit.

    [You have attacked the Tomb of the Fallen Spirit King.]

    [The enormous magi that encroached and devoured upon the Fallen Spirit King has started encroaching upon your body.]

    [You can¡¯t reject the magi.]

    [You have be a demonic human.]

    [You have acquired 300 reputation points.]

    [In the event of your death, your level will drop by 20.]

    [In the event of your death, the artifact drop rate will increase dramatically.]

    [The strength of the Fallen¡¯s Fire encroaches upon your body.]

    [You have acquired 500 magi stats.]

    [All of your stats have increased by 20%.]

    [We are announcing the birth of the first Demonic Human User in the entire Korean Server.]

    [The first person to hunt the Demonic Human will be rewarded with 400,000 contribution points and the Elf¡¯s Heart.]

    Crackle!

    A burning ck me prated through his body as Eclei¡¯s body began to turn ck.

    At the same time, the country began to buzz in excitement.

    [Nims, Amazing! The first demonic human appears from among our country men!!!]

    [Wow. Demonic Humans are a new race, right?]

    [That¡¯s right. But what¡¯s surprising is the fact that transforming into a new race is apletely different concept from changing job sses. Once you change into a new race then your job ss will be strengthened.]

    [Wow. So jealous. Does that mean that if I be a demonic human then I can get more artifacts and rewards from the demons and the demon world?]

    [Of course. Wow. Really jealous¡­¡­!]

    And 15 minutester, the people in the official homepage as well as themunity sites were still chatting about the demonic human.

    [Then, if you be a demonic human you¡¯ll be able to gain demonic monsters and a territory? Amazing¡­..]

    [And it was said that being a demonic human means that you will get stronger too. And unless the person was not at a very high level, then it will be impossible to challenge him. He¡¯s almost like a very powerful being.]

    And that was the time when another message hit the entire country.

    [The Fire Demonic Human has been killed.]

    [Rewards will now be given to the user who sessfully hunted the Fire Demonic Human.]

    [......?]

    [......?]

    [......?]

    [......?]

    All the articles andment sections were stered with question marks for a moment. Then, thements started to flood in again.

    [What kind of punk dies as soon as he bes a demonic human?]

    [Who¡¯s the demonic human? Come out.]

    [I feel sorry for the demonic human¡­¡­ He died as soon as he changed races? Hahahahahaha. I feel really sorry for you. Hahahaha.]

    [Wooow! Mom, Dad, look I¡¯m a demonic human! I¡¯m really strong! Bring it on! Then poof! Then uwaaa! You did it like that, right?! Hehehehe. Pathetic! Hahahaha!]

    And this article could be seen at the top of the real-time search keywords list.

    ¡®Sympathy for the Demonic Human.¡¯

    It was an article that came out as it described their pity and sympathy for the demonic human.

    ***

    Fifteen minutes ago.

    Eclei was recalling what Bach had told him before.

    ording to Bach, the enemy was weak and filled with holes. Of course, his enemy got 150 knights to apany him but he had 200 corrupted spirits to match against them. And he had also be 20% stronger than before.

    Eclei was filled with confidence at the thought of crushing the bastard who became so happy after winning against Bach by such a narrow margin.

    Not long after, Eclei could see him and his men advancing towards Zone 2.

    ¡®As expected, he still pulls his bow from the rear.¡¯

    Eclei clicked his tongue before issuing an order. His 200 corrupted spirits with levels at 450 and attacks that could deal with tremendous damages rushed forward. At that exact same moment, a knight, who was cleaning up the mobs in the front, was pierced with a trident on his chest by a Warrior of the Fallen Fire.

    Crackle!

    ¡°Keok!!¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    ¡°Keuhahahahaah! You bastards! You should have obeyed us!!!¡±

    The knight who was pierced through his chest copsed.

    The spiritsunched a fierce attack and the knights copsed one by one.

    Step, step¡ª

    Eclei slowly walked away.

    At the same time, Minhyuk tilted his head in wonder before speaking.

    ¡°Who¡­¡­?¡±

    ¡°......It, It¡¯s Eclei!¡±

    ***

    Minhyuk asked the question even though he knew that Eclei found his appearance to be very annoying. It seemed like those two-legged spirits were much stronger than what he thought.

    Then, Eclei said¡­¡­

    ¡°......It¡¯s Eclei!¡±

    ¡°Oh my, my! I know that you¡¯re already ugly but I still did not recognize you!¡±

    Minhyuk bared his teeth as heughed loudly.

    He knew that he needed to minimize the damage on his troops so he decided to make an inevitable choice. The Iron Blood and Reapers might feel a bit tearful but they have already be his loyal subordinates so he believed that it would be fine.

    Minhyuk first used the Saint¡¯s Protection. A bright light burst out and covered Minhyuk¡¯s body. And along with the light, all of his stats and attack power increased by 30% of his holy power.

    Turn, turn, turn¡ª

    Then, he quickly took out his millstone and turned it.

    ¡°This fucking bastard! Have you gone crazy before your death¡­¡­¡±

    At that moment¡­¡­

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Hundreds of lightning bolts rained down on Eclei and his 200 corrupted spirits.

    ¡°Keuaaaack!¡±

    Eclei was shocked. He had received enormous damage and about 10% of the spirits under him had died.

    ¡°Huh? It¡¯s not over yet?¡±

    The soldiers from the Iron Blood and the Reaperspany who stood behind Minhyuk all watched the scene with open mouths.

    ¡°Blooming Sword.¡±

    As soon as he stabbed his sword to the ground¡­..

    Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª

    Hundreds of sword des popped out of the ground as they stabbed the spirits.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Then, a round of explosions devoured and engulfed Minhyuk¡¯s enemies.

    ¡°Keuaaaack!¡±

    [Your HP has dropped below 80%.]

    [Your HP has dropped below 60%.]

    However, Eclei still remained steadfast so Minhyuk decided to use his new skill. It was a skill that he had received after he received the Food God¡¯s Kitchen Knife and ate the Food God¡¯s Bizzare Tteokbokki Set.

    There was a special skill attached to the Food God¡¯s Kitchen Knife¡­¡­

    (Rain of Kitchen Knives)

    Artifact Skill

    Level: None

    Mana Required: 3,000

    Penalty: None

    Cooldown: 480 hours

    Effects: Hundreds of strong and powerful kitchen knives with an additional 200% damage will fall down from the sky and crush your enemies.

    ¡°Rain of Kitchen Knives.¡±

    Minhyuk threw the Food God¡¯s Kitchen Knife high up in the sky. When it reached a high altitude, a powerful light bursted out of its body.

    sh¡ª

    Eclei couldn¡¯t help but look up at the sky.

    Stab!

    Then, a kitchen knife dropped from the sky and extinguished a spirit that was standing beside him.

    He could see hundreds of knives with glinting des floating up in the air.

    ¡°Yo, you bastard! You¡¯ve been hiding your identity from us¡­¡­!¡±

    Before he could finish his words, the kitchen knives began to rain down.

    Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab!

    The hundreds of kitchen knives that fell from the air killed Minhyuk¡¯s enemies.

    ¡°Keop!¡±

    Eclei saw his HP drop by 30% when a kitchen knife pierced his body.

    ¡®I, impossible¡­¡­!¡¯

    He¡¯s definitely a ranker too but what kind of goddamn damage is this?

    It did not even cross his mind that him being a demonic human was the cause of this all. It was because he transferred and changed into this race that brought about his downfall.

    Then, the notifications rang.

    [All of your troops have been wiped out.]

    [Your HP has dropped below 10%.]

    And that was when Eclei realized what it meant when he was told that the rewards would go to the person or being that killed him.

    What he did could be exined simply. We canpare it to cooking and eating. He worked hard to cook before scooping up the food with his spoon and bringing it to his mouth while saying ¡®Hurry up, have a bite!¡¯. It was a perfect analogy of his situation.

    ¡°Shit, you fucker!!¡±

    However, the final kitchen knife fell down and stabbed him on his head.

    Stab!

    And then, a ck screen encroached upon his vision.

    Fwiiiiish!

    Eclei couldn¡¯t help but stagger and bow down when his capsule opened. He stared in space with a nk and dazed look for quite a long time.

    He was quite delighted and pleased by the fact that he became the first demonic human user. However, his happiness was stripped off of him within just 15 minutes of receiving it. What was worse was the fact that he dropped his most cherished artifact that would not be avable until the end of the Demon World Invasion Episode.

    Plop, plop, plop¡ª

    Droplets of hot and burning tears fell down from his left eye as he stared nkly into space.

    ¡°Sob! Fucker¡­¡­¡±

    Later, Eclei was selected by the users as the third most pitiful user in the Athenae game.

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    I knew that he would dive straight on to that g but I did not expect that he woulde out so pitiful. Somehow, I feel bad for Eclei¡­¡­

    PR¡¯s corner!

    ¡­I honestly expected that to be longer. A lot just happened at once. As far as that absurd knife rain skill, I have to wonder, did the Food God just use that to farm food ingredients? If Minhyuk uses it that way, would he really gain enough food to satisfy him for the 20 day cool down.¡±

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 243 - Prince Argon And The Royal Shop

    Chapter 243: Prince Argon and the Royal Shop

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    After Eclei and his spirits were wiped out, the notifications rang continuously in Minhyuk¡¯s head.

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have earned 400,000 contribution points and the Elf¡¯s Heart for being the first person to sessfully hunt the Fire Demonic Human.]

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    The soldiers of the Iron Blood and Reapers all tilted their heads at him in confusion.

    ¡°Ahahaha!¡±

    ¡°Y, you¡­¡­ lied.¡±

    One of the knights suddenly spoke as Minhyukughed awkwardly. But not long after, they burst out inughter.

    ¡°Wow! Our Commander-nim is so strong!¡±

    ¡°We admire you!¡±

    Fortunately, their favorability with Minhyuk had reached the peak and they would not be fazed nor be disappointed with his lies.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk smiled as he admired his new skill.

    ¡®Wow, the Rain of Kitchen Knives is so strong¡­¡­¡¯

    Minhyuk was surprised. Just like he had expected, having an additional 200% damage was a tremendous ability to have.

    The powerful force that Lightning Hell, a skill attached to a disaster artifact, had exerted 120% of additional damage. And the Fluttering Sword also had a simr effect. But the Rain of Kitchen Knives literally had a 200% addition to his force. It was literally a formidable addition to his strength.

    Minhyuk once again checked the Food God¡¯s Kitchen Knife.

    (Food God¡¯s Kitchen Knife)

    Rank: Half-God

    Restrictions: Minhyuk¡¯s attributed artifact

    Durability: ¡Þ / ¡Þ

    Attack Power: 817

    Special Abilities:

    ¡ª All of the special abilities can be used just by owning this artifact.

    ¡ª All of your stats will increase by 8%.

    ¡ª Buff capacity x2.

    ¡ª Active Skill: Food God¡¯s Blessings.

    ¡ª Active Skill: Rain of Kitchen Knives.

    Description: Made with the amazing minerals that the Food God has found, the Food God¡¯s Kitchen Knife contains a surprising amount of power. It is an artifact with tremendous strength that can show off its strength even without equipping it.

    Even though he had seen it already, he was still quite amazed with the information. The first special ability listed would allow him to use the artifact¡¯s entire special abilities just by owning the item. In other words, Minhyuk could use all of the special abilities of the item even if he was using Bara¡¯s Sword or the Saint¡¯s Sword. This could be said to be a tremendously huge ability to have. And the Food God¡¯s Blessings was also a skill of great value.

    (Food God¡¯s Blessings)

    Artifact Skill

    Level: None

    Mana Required: 1,000 per hour of use

    Cooldown: None

    Effects: Two Food God¡¯s Kitchen Knives with the 817 attack power will appear to protect the owner or attack the enemy at any time.

    Just like what the effects had said, there would literally be two ck de kitchen knives that would appear and surround Minhyuk¡¯s body once it was activated.

    After checking the Food God¡¯s Kitchen Knife again, Minhyuk went ahead and checked his contributions too.

    [Total Contributions. 841, 311]

    The 400,000 contribution points that he had received this time had yed a big role in the increase of his contribution points. Eclei literally worked hard to feed Minhyuk. And Minhyuk had enjoyed his meals thoroughly.

    Then, he checked the Elf¡¯s Heart. The Elf¡¯s Heart was like a hard stone when he took it out.

    (Elf¡¯s Heart)

    Special Abilities:

    ¡ª ???

    ¡ª ???

    Description: This can be used in viges, towns, small cities,rge cities or any territory that has been taken over by demonic humans, demonic races or demonic monsters. This can be used for defensive wars.

    ¡®Hm?¡¯

    Minhyuk tilted his head in thought. ording to the GC, Legend Guild has sessfully recaptured one territory and has entered a defensive war. But it seemed like the results were proving to be pretty bad. Legend Guild, which was a guild filled with the elite minority, was less likely to y a crucial role in therge-scale battle in Elvenheim. And Minhyuk could see how disastrous the Legend Guild¡¯s state was through the guild status.

    (Legend Guild Elvenheim Participation Status)

    [1st ce. Iris. 391, 313 guild contribution points. Completely recaptured 2 viges and 1 small town. Recapturing 1 small town.]

    2nd ce. Artheon. 341, 417 guild contribution points. Completely recaptured 1 vige and 1 small town. Recapturing 1 small town.]

    ¡­¡­

    ¡­¡­

    [27th ce. Legend. 94,130 guild contribution points. Completely recaptured 1 small town.]

    It was truly disastrous. But perhaps it was only a matter of course.

    In arge-scalebat warfare, guilds withrger numbers of users would have a higher advantage and Legend Guild with the measly number of 20 people would not have any advantages. Their strength would not be enough to fight against hundreds in terms of warfare. They might be doing well now but it seemed like they would not be able to do so in the future.

    While looking through the status, Minhyuk found something surprising.

    [20th ce. ck Mage. 130, 104 individual contribution points. Completely recaptured 1 small town.]

    ¡®ck Mage? I¡¯m sure that¡¯s Ali-nim though?¡¯

    It was surprising. Even the ck Mage Ali was racking up his individual contribution points.

    ¡®I need to hurry and sort things out so I can help them.¡¯

    First of all, Genie had readily agreed to Minhyuk¡¯s expedition so he could eat something delicious. And the participation in the war was based on one¡¯s free will so it was still safe for him to bete.

    Minhyuk quickly picked up the artifacts that Eclei dropped. Among them, there was a mineral that was emitting a subtle blue glow that looked as odd as the antarinium that he received before.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    [You have acquired the Demon World¡¯s Mineral Viridite.]

    Minhyuk tilted his head in thought. When he checked the information, everything was also set to private just like when he received the antarinium.

    He continued to run with his troops and before he knew it, they had already entered Zone 3. As soon as they stepped foot in Zone 3, the notifications rang.

    [You are the first to step foot in the Immortals¡¯ Land¡¯s Zone 3.]

    [You have gained 200,000 contribution points.]

    [You have gained 200 reputation points.]

    At the same time, they heard a voice from somewhere.

    ¡°Aaaaaaah! The expedition to save Prince Argon!!¡±

    Then, the woman who screamed stood in front of Minhyuk. It was none other than a High Elf.

    Notifications rang at the same moment when she stood in front of Minhyuk.

    [You will meet with the NPC Cania as a special reward for reaching Immortals¡¯ Land¡¯s Zone 3.]

    ***

    Cania continued to wait for the man who would fulfill the hundred year promise between the elves and humans!

    Through that human, they would rescue Prince Argon from the hands of the demonic races who started their invasion and kidnapped the prince from the gaps in their defenses.

    Cania was a woman who was the finest among the High Elves. She had a special ability. She had realized that the demonic races were trying to kill Prince Argon when she did not get what they wanted. They did not have the time.

    And just in time, the humans arrived.

    ¡°Aaaaaaah! The expedition to save Prince Argon!!¡±

    She was delighted to see the faces of the people that she was waiting for. Without waiting for them to greet her, she quickly spoke to them.

    ¡°We have to hurry. They¡¯ll be holding the execution ceremony soon. But before that, we need to use the elves¡¯ sacred item.¡±

    Cania was a special NPC. She was the NPC for those who first set foot in Immortals¡¯ Lands¡¯ Zone 3 so that they could purchase items that could help them in their expedition. She thought that it would be surprising if they would be able to purchase a Rank A upgrade in the store but she already knew that it was impossible to purchase such an upgrade. But even if the prince¡¯s life was in danger, it was an iron rule that they needed to follow.

    The contribution points, or the points themselves, indicated just how much the humans defeated their enemies and fought for the elves.

    Not long after, the humanmander muttered under his breath.

    ¡°Rank A upgrade¡­¡­?¡±

    ¡°Yes. That¡¯s right. But Rank A is ridiculously expensive.¡±

    It was special but she knew that reaching Rank A was unattainable.

    ¡°Hoo? Right now, do they sell the Elf¡¯s Delicious Honey?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Elf¡¯s Honey is avable for Rank D shops and increases the defense against magi by 1%.¡±

    ¡°Then we¡¯ll have to upgrade to Rank A. I will be able to find more delicious food by then.¡±

    ¡°......Yes?¡±

    Cania tilted her head in confusion.

    You want to upgrade to Rank A?

    But Rank A required 600,000 points. However, does that mean that he could just buy the Rank A upgrade quickly? No. He needed to purchase Rank C for 100,000 points, Rank B for 300,000 points and Rank A for 600,000 points. He needed a total of 1 million points just to get that point.

    But she knew that this human could not have that many contribution points.

    However, the very next moment, Cania¡¯s eyes widened in shock.

    [Foreigner Minhyuk had used 100,000 points and upgraded the shop to Rank C.]

    [He can now purchase all items at a 10% discount from you.]

    [Foreigner Minhyuk had used 300,000 points and upgraded the shop to Rank B.]

    [He can now purchase all items at a 20% discount from you.]

    [Foreigner Minhyuk had used 600,000 points and upgraded the shop to Rank A.]

    [He can now purchase all items at a 50% discount from you.]

    [Foreigner Minhyuk is the first user to reach Rank A.]

    [Please pay him with an Elf¡¯s Treasure Chest.]

    ¡°......Im, impossible.¡±

    She was astonished.

    ***

    ¡°......Im, impossible.¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    Minhyuk tilted his head in confusion when he heard her words. However, he quickly threw that thought out of his mind as he hurriedly looked through the Rank A shop.

    ¡°Oh¡­¡­?¡±

    There were plenty of rare, amazing and powerful things in the Rank A shop. There were even 3,000 Elf¡¯s Golden Arrows avable. Those arrows had an additional 30% on the attack power when there are existences from the Demon World. And the price was also not that high. Of course, the only reason why he thought that it was not expensive was because the operators had already calcted the price very cheaply and the items were discounted at 50% as a reward for the first person to upgrade to Rank A.

    ¡°Do you always sell such good things?¡±

    ¡°N, no¡­¡­¡±

    Cania looked at him in confusion as Minhyuk tilted his head to look at her.

    ¡°It¡¯s because it¡¯s Rank A.¡±

    There were a lot of rare and precious artifacts in the shop. But what was more surprising was the fact that there were many legendary artifacts in the Rank A shop.

    As Minhyuk looked through the shop, he realized¡­¡­

    ¡®This is some kind of reward, right? Once you reach Rank A?¡¯

    In addition, Cania also handed a chest to him.

    [You have acquired the High Elf¡¯s Treasure Chest (S) as a reward for being the first to ess a Rank A shop.]

    The notifications starteding in as soon as Minhyuk read that.

    [You have reacquired 500,000 of your contribution points.]

    [You have acquired a Rank A Limited Edition Item.]

    [Elf¡¯s All Skill Cooldown Reset Parchment 2/2]

    [High Elves¡¯ Troops Summoning Parchment 1/1]

    [Elf¡¯s HP, MP Full Recovery Potion 3/3]

    ¡°......?!!!¡±

    Minhyuk was left in a trance when he saw the shocking rewards. Then, Cania spoke to him.

    ¡°We don¡¯t have much time. Themanding officer, Baran, is about to start the execution.¡±

    ¡°Execution?¡±

    Minhyuk tilted his head as the notifications rang once more.

    [There are 6 hours left until Prince Argon¡¯s execution.]

    [The sooner you rescue him, the higher the contributions that you will get.]

    Then, a timer appeared in front of Minhyuk.

    [5H 59M 59S. 5H 59M 58S. 5H 59M 57S¡­¡­]

    ¡°This ce is still under my power. I can prevent the existences from the Demon World from detecting the invasion of us, their enemies, into Zone 3. But as soon as you leave this ce, you will encounter low ranking demonic races and demonic monsters.¡±

    When he looked around him more carefully, he saw that there was a subtle blue glow emitting from a magic circle surrounding them from a distance of about five meters where he and Cania stood. And the 150 soldiers under him had not yet entered Zone 3 so they were still out of range.

    Cania continued to speak.

    ¡°You need to hurry up and buy the supplies that you will need.¡±

    Minhyuk looked around the shop as he asked her.

    ¡°By any chance, is there a higher rank than Rank A shops?¡±

    There were definitely plenty of delicious things in the shop but Minhyuk could faintly guess that even though the ¡®Elf King¡¯s Gorgonz Pizza¡¯ was avable in the shop there would still be more delicious things if there was a higher ranked shop.

    ¡°Yes. There is. But Prince Argon is one of the two who can open the Royal Shop.¡±

    ¡°Are there many delicious things there?¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    For a moment, Cania had to think about the meaning of his words.

    You¡¯re not looking for excellent artifacts but for something more delicious?

    But because they did not have the time, all she could do was answer him as quickly as she could.

    ¡°Yes. There¡¯s many, many, many things! The Ancient Elves had left a lot of delicious things there!¡±

    She shouted those words first since they had no time. Minhyuk nodded his head.

    ¡®That Royal Shop. Let¡¯s open it!¡¯

    ¡°Men, forward!!!¡±

    Minhyuk shouted.

    ***

    The intermediate demonic race, Baran, with his dark skin and ck horns, was tasked to take Argon¡¯s ¡®Royal Shop¡¯ right here.

    They needed to take these steps since there was a powerful force that sealed them and drove them out from there. However, no matter what they did, the punk did not want to turn over the Royal Shop to them. He was still stubbornly holding on to the Royal Shop even though he was threatened with death. So he decided to execute the bastard.

    The intermediate demonic race Baran was one of the most powerful among the demonic races that were able to squeeze through the gates to the Demon World.

    He was just a mob but his mere presence could rival that of a Lv480 mob. And that was just for the demonic races in Elvenheim. The lowest among the demonic monsters and demonic races that passed through the gate and terrorized Elvenheim were above levels 400~440.

    Baranughed his head off.

    Prince Argon had both his hands nailed on arge cross and he even had an blindfold on.

    ¡°Are you still stubborn about not opening the Royal Shop?¡±

    Argon did not answer him. He knew what his words meant but his thoughts were only on one thing.

    ¡®If I die¡­¡­¡¯

    A half-filled Royal Shop will be forced to open and the items and powers in there will be corrupted with their magi which will be their most powerful weapons.

    The Royal Shop was a shop where the three ancient elf chiefs hid the force and strength that they had created with the Elf¡¯s Heart. And they were now at risk of losing those powers.

    Then, Baran suddenly saw his map burst in a ck light. Baran was the owner of the map of Zone 3 of the Immortals¡¯ Land and he could clearly see the events happening in the zone through this map.

    ¡°The humans have invaded.¡±

    A smile settled around his face.

    Not long after, a low-ranked demonic race named Caron rushed to where they were.

    ¡°The humans are here!¡±

    ¡°I know. The 3rd Army¡¯s search team and the 3rd Army¡¯s attack team are close to them.¡±

    He was able to monitor the movements of the troops through the map.

    This demonic tribe wasposed of 100 individuals. And although they were part of a low-ranked demonic race, they were still given special training and they were different from the ones dispatched in Elvenheim.

    ¡®Those weak humans are about to die. Keuhahahaha!¡¯

    He looked back at Argon as he thought about that fact.

    ¡°In the end, you still chose to die. They will not be impressed by your glorious death and your reputation will be ruined. Prince Argon.¡±

    Just as he was ring fiercely at Argon, Caron, who just went out for two minutes, rushed back again.

    ¡°C,manding officer-nim!!!¡±

    ¡°......What happened? Did you forget something?¡±

    He came back within two minutes and he also looked like he still had something to report.

    ¡°......That¡¯s not it. The 3rd Army¡¯s search team and the 3rd Army¡¯s attack team have been wiped out!¡±

    ¡°......?!¡±

    Baran thought that he was talking nonsense for a moment. He twisted his lips in annoyance.

    ¡°Bastard, I¡¯ll tear you to death.¡±

    He decided to check for himself. However, he couldn¡¯t help but widen his eyes in shock. The map showed that all 200 of his men had died.

    ¡®I, in just 2 minutes?!!!¡¯

    ***

    PR¡¯s corner!

    ¡­Did they really gloss over Minhyuk¡¯s fourth Hall of Kings entry in thest chapter? He now has the most entries of everyone, including Cauhel.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 244 - Prince Argon And The Royal Shop

    Chapter 244: Prince Argon and the Royal Shop

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Baran¡¯s face crumpled in annoyance.

    In just two minutes, my troops consisting of low-ranking but elite demonic races were annihted?

    It was clear to him that something went wrong.

    Baran began to keep an eye on the map. After the 3rd Army search and attack teams were wiped out, demonic races and demonic monsters also started to disappear from the map at great speed.

    ¡°Cra, crazy¡­¡­!¡±

    What kind of human came to this ce?! No, it seems likemon sense can¡¯t exin what¡¯s happening right now.

    The thoughts that floated in his head were due to the fact that the demonic races and the demonic monsters onlysted for less than five minutes against the human and his troops.

    ***

    Ten minutes ago, Cania and Minhyuk began to lead his troops.

    Boron and Kirun, the 3rd Army¡¯s search team and attack team leaders, also began to move rapidly.

    ¡°Kirun, the time hase for humans to realize how weak they are.¡±

    ¡°Humans are known to be the weakest among all the races. How dare they think of taking Prince Argon away?¡±

    The demonic races were said to be born for battle. And from the perspective of the demonic races, humans and their actions were just too ridiculous.

    They had a rough estimate of the troops that invaded Zone 3. And ording to their knowledge there were about 150 soldiers. Their numbers were around 200 so they thought that they could easily overpower them so they urged their troops as they rapidly advanced.

    Not long after, the demonic races finally faced off against the human forces after advancing at high speeds.

    ¡°Show the humans how fearsome we are!!!¡±

    ¡°Kill!!!¡±

    The 200 low-ranked demonic races that were specially trained and ced in the 3rd army confidently ran towards the humans.

    ***

    ¡®Are those demonic races?¡¯

    Cania, who marched together with Minhyuk, could see the demonic races in front of them.

    ¡°De, demons¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°Demons¡­¡­!!!¡±

    ¡°Hiiiik!!!¡±

    The demonic races had long established themselves as something that humans feared.

    Cania¡¯s pupils shook. She guessed that Minhyuk would take a detour and bypass the iing demonic races but Minhyuk told them that he thought that it was not necessary.

    ¡®Why are you so reckless!!!¡¯

    Cania thought that themander was excellent but he was excessively stubborn.

    That was when the notifications rang for Minhyuk.

    [Mission! Win against the 3rd Army¡¯s Search Team and Attack Team within 30 minutes!]

    1 If you win quickly + contributions

    2 If the damage your troops receive is minimal + contribution

    3 If it exceeded 30 minutes - contribution

    4 If the damage to your troops increases - contribution

    Mission?

    It was probably a special reward from Joy Co. Ltd. for therge-scale war that was happening. Through these missions, the user would try to hunt faster and they would be more reliable. And the better his performance was, the higher his contribution would be.

    Just like what Cania said, Minhyuk believed that the reason for her not wanting to go against them was simple. But¡­...

    ¡®If I do that¡­¡­¡¯

    The amount of contributions that he would earn would be less. Each mob that they hunted would increase his contributions. There were still 6 hours for them to rescue Prince Argon and Minhyuk believed that he could do that within that time frame.

    ¡°Kill the humans!!¡±

    ¡°Kikikikik!¡±

    ¡°How dare youe here! Where do you think you are?!¡±

    And as the demonic races started to run towards them they could see that the weapons that they wielded were not that much different from theirs. The only difference was the color of their skin and the horns on their heads. And their horns were even small in size.

    ¡®Huh. Shall we try it once?¡¯

    Minhyuk raised his hand. Along with his hand, the 150 men of his troops pulled their bow in unison despite their fear. At the same time, Minhyuk also tore the parchment in his other hand.

    [You have torn the Elf¡¯s Blessings Parchment.]

    [The physical attack and defense as well as the magical attack and defense of you party members, guild members and soldiers will increase by 20% against beings from the Demon World. Can ovep with any buff.]

    The soldiers¡¯ bodies were all wrapped in a soft and warm light.

    Then, he lowered his hand.

    Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh!

    Their arrows flew towards the demonic races who looked like they wereughing their heads off as they enjoyed the thought of ughtering them! Kirun and Boron, themanders of the 3rd Army teams, even burst out inughter.

    ¡°You think you can pierce through the skin of our race with just your puny wooden arrows?!¡±

    ¡°Ridiculous! Your arrows will be split before it can get stuck on my body!¡±

    Just like that, Parmal, a member of the demonic race that was running forward, tried to calcte the time so they could split up and avoid the arrows.

    But at that moment¡­..

    ¡®F, fast¡­¡­¡¯

    Stab!!!

    Spuuurt!!!

    ¡°Keuaaaack!!!¡±

    Parmal couldn¡¯t help but stare in horror at the arrow that struck on his chest. He could feel that he had received a huge amount of damage from just this one blow.

    ¡®I, impossible!¡¯

    Parmal fell down. Not long after, the troops began to fall down after they got struck by the arrows one after the other.

    ¡°Wh, what the hell?!!!!¡±

    ¡°How can something ridiculous like this happen¡­¡­!¡±

    The people that the demonic races had to deal with were knights exceeding levels 400~460 ording to Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s settings. And the lower-ranked demonic races¡¯ levels were simr to them in average.

    However, the attacks that they had released on them were extremely overwhelming.

    Minhyuk had fed them his buffed dishes and all of their attacks and defenses were increased by 20% thanks to the parchment that was purchased in the Rank A shop. And that was not all. Even though Minhyuk was still unaware of this fact, the antarinium had increased all five of their basic stats by 15%. It was also thanks to that mineral that their special stats, the stats that couldn¡¯t be easily increased with special points, were also increased by 20%. In addition, his newly acquired viridite also had the effect of increasing the five basic stats by 5%. Just by that, they had already be 1.4x stronger than their normal selves.

    But considering the 1.4x increase in their strength, with their numbers at 150, it could already be said that he literally twisted what Joy Co. Ltd. had designed for their overall strength.

    ¡°Keuack!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaack!¡±

    Then, something amazing happened. Just a moment ago, the demonic races who wereughing their heads off as they mocked and ran towards the humans to ughter them started to back off.

    At that moment, they saw the human at the forefront turning a millstone.

    Turn, turn, turn¡ª

    With every turn of his millstone, dark clouds came on top of the demonic races. Then, lighting began to fall.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    ¡°Keuhaaack!¡±

    ¡°Ugh. Aaaack!¡±

    ¡°Load! Fire!¡±

    Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh!

    ¡°Keuaack!¡±

    The demonic races who were hit by the lightning earlier started to fall down one by one. Even Kirun was struck by the lightning.

    ¡°Keuaaaack!¡±

    ? Kirun let out a shriek from the extreme pain that ravaged through his body.

    ¡®H, how can those weak humans¡­¡­! I have to quickly inform Commander Baran¡­¡­!¡¯

    Then¡­¡­

    Fwoosh!

    An arrow that was fired from a distance urately pierced Kirun¡¯s neck. He couldn¡¯t stop himself from slowly falling down.

    Boron, who was standing right next to him, had his eyes widened in shock. He could see that it was the arrow that was shot by the humanmander from afar.

    At that moment¡­¡­

    Bang!

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡±

    Boron shrieked. At the same time¡­¡­

    Fwoosh!

    The enemymander tugged at the strings of his bow.

    ¡°N, no¡­¡­.¡±

    Just now, the human troops that they have mocked and ignored have now be the object of fear of all the demonic races present.

    The humans continued to nock their bows with their arrows. They pulled their bows tight as they let out rains of arrows towards them. And Boron couldn¡¯t escape this situation. His head was pierced urately by one of the arrows.

    Spurt!

    Darkness encroached on his vision.

    ***

    The reason why Minhyuk was able to use his Lightning Millstone even though its cooldown has not ended yet was simple. It was all thanks to the Limited Edition items that he had received from upgrading the shop to Rank A.

    ¡®The Elf¡¯s All Skills Cooldown Reset Parchment.¡¯

    The effects of the item were very surprising. It resett all of Minhyuk¡¯s skills¡¯ cooldowns. The Scattering Sword, the Rampant Sword, the Splitting Sword, the Fluttering Sword, the Lightning Hell, the Darkfire Storm, the Gryphon¡¯s Cry, the Rain of Kitchen Knives, the Saint¡¯s Protection¡­¡­ all of his skills were resetted. It was literally close to being a ¡®fraudulent¡¯ item.

    Just a moment ago, he pierced the neck of one of the demonic races with his arrow.

    [You have hunted the 3rd Army¡¯s Attack Leader, Kirun.]

    [You have acquired a Centurion Totem.]

    ¡®Huh? Centurion Totem?¡¯

    Minhyuk tilted his head in confusion.

    He did not even go to acquire the item but it automatically entered his inventory. Although he had not confirmed its uses yet, he was sure that the day when he would use it would definitelye.

    Then, Minhyuk once again pulled his bow as he aimed for the demonic race beside the leader. He had assumed that he was also a leader.

    [You have hunted the 3rd Army¡¯s Search Leader, Boron.]

    [You have acquired a Centurion Totem.]

    He had received another one.

    By the time the lightning hell had ended, all of the demonic races that were rushing forward were wiped out.

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t that big of a deal, right?¡±

    ¡°What the hell? You haven¡¯t got a single one?¡±

    ¡°Why did those bastards act up earlier!!!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    And Cania, who watched everything unfold in front of her, was left speechless.

    ¡®Who in the world are these humans¡­¡­?¡¯

    She had no choice but to think like that since the demonic races they faced were clearly strong even though they were just low-ranked demons. And just like what was mentioned before, they were originally stronger than humans or elves. They were born to fight. But they were easily wiped out within two minutes.

    And Minhyuk was the one responsible for making a supposedly fierce battle into a child¡¯s y. Since he already skimmed through the Rank A shop that no one else has seen, all the arrows that his troops had used were purchased from the shop. He even purchased plenty of other items that made them almost invincible.

    Then, the notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s head.

    [Mission! You havepleted and won the fight against the 3rd Army¡¯s Search Team and Attack Team.]

    [You took 2 minutes and 48 seconds to finish the mission.]

    [Your mission aplishment rating has reached a ridiculous height.]

    [You have earned 50,000 contribution points. The highest amount of contribution that you can get from this mission.]

    With that notification, Minhyuk realized that he had consumed a lot of contribution points. This meant that his contribution points were not enough to upgrade his shop to a Royal Shop.

    But what if I clear the missions quickly?

    Missions were more likely to appear in every area.

    The corner of his lips suddenly pulled up.

    He would break through those missions faster than anybody else.

    ***

    ¡°User Minhyuk has broken through the 2nd army¡¯s 400 demonic races and demonic monsters in just five minutes. He has renewed our second mission and achieved a new high!¡±

    ¡°User Minhyuk has broken through the 2nd army¡¯s 500 demonic races and Demon World Golems in four minutes! He had ughtered them alone with his Fluttering Sword and Rain of Kitchen Knives! He has achieved 400,000 contribution points!¡±

    ¡°User Minhyuk has achieved the best result for the third mission. After he had used all of his skills, he once again used the skill reset parchment! His contribution has reached 600,000!¡±

    Lee Minhwa continued to report to the other members in the room. Inside the Special Users Management Team¡¯s office, there was not only President Kang Taehoon present, but also various team leaders including the production team leader and the event nning team leader.

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    All of them were left speechless.

    After a moment of silence, President Kang Taehoon opened his mouth.

    ¡°Crazy. He¡¯s too strong. He¡¯s really doing everything on his own.¡±

    But what was funnier was¡­¡­

    ¡°You can¡¯t even call this a bug. Ugh¡­¡­¡±

    Kang Taehoon supported his forehead with his hand.

    My god. This wouldn¡¯t even have happened if Minhyuk did not take the soldiers from the Iron Blood and Reaperspany.

    Just by gaining an additional 100 men, he was able to acquire a tremendous amount of contribution points. And with that contribution points, he looked through the Rank A shop and armed his men with ridiculously strong items. And he already racked up 600,000 points again.

    ¡°This¡­¡­ He¡¯s not going to open the Royal Shop, right¡­¡­¡±

    Kang Taehoon sighed deeply as Team Leader Park spoke.

    ¡°Commander Baran is going to establish a barrier.¡±

    ¡°Right. If they set up a barrier, then those 150 men will not be able to get to them.¡±

    Commander Baran used Verus¡¯ powers to set up a barrier. It was somewhat like another mission. Then, words shed up on the screen.

    [The final mission for User Minhyuk has been given.]

    [Mission! Go in the barrier alone and rescue Prince Argon!]

    If he had not shown such an enormous disy of strength then hisst mission would have allowed the entry of his entire troops without having the need to break out Prince Argon alone.

    And for Baran, who had set up a barrier, he believed that it was an ¡®impossible¡¯ task to fulfill.

    ***

    Argon was pinned on the cross.

    ¡®If I hadn¡¯t let my guard down, then¡­¡­¡¯

    Argon was the only child of the Elf King. He was a powerful man. In fact, his father, the Elf King could not exert much strength whenpared to Argon. That was the reason why the demonic races immediately attacked the sleeping Argon as soon as they invaded the Elven Forest.

    And the things that were tied around his body now were things that were crafted from one of the finest minerals in the Demon World, the ¡®Bacanium¡¯. One can never remove them if they did not have the key.

    ¡®No? I heard that it¡¯s possible if a human has as much holy power as the Pope or the Saintess.¡¯

    Grin¡ª

    A smile leaked out from his lips.

    It was because the demons around him were busily trying to save themselves.

    And Baran¡­¡­

    ¡°Construct the barrier now!!¡±

    ¡°The barrier? That would drain more than 30% of our demonic races¡¯ magi.¡±

    ¡°This would be for the better. If we set up the barrier, then we can buy 30 minutes of time. We can proceed with the execution and get out of here with that amount of time.¡±

    The barrier that they would set would limit the number of enemies that woulde inside. This was one of Verus¡¯ excellent barriers! Although his powers could deprive the demonic races of their magi, it was an inevitable choice at this point.

    But at that moment, Baran heard bells ringing so suddenly.

    Riiing¡ª

    Riiiiiing¡ª

    It was the rm reminding them of an enemy invasion. He quickly hurried out.

    ¡°The enemy?!¡±

    ¡°Th, that¡­¡­¡±

    Not long after, his subordinates mumbled the end of his sentence weakly. Baran¡¯s forehead crumpled in annoyance.

    ¡°There was some kind of pig.¡±

    ¡°......Huh? Pig?¡±

    Baran looked at him as if he was wondering if he was still right on the head. After moving along, Baran could finally see. There was a little pig that stood in front of a group of 100 demons.

    The baby piggy, Kongie, had received a serious mission from Minhyuk. If he aplished his mission, he would receive a delicious ¡®Choco Bar¡¯. That was why he decided to do his best.

    His only mission was to provoke the enemies.

    How should I provoke you?

    Ah¡­¡­!!!

    I have a good idea.

    ¡°What the hell is that pig?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a baby piggy.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a baby piggy but¡­¡­ it looks a bit cheeky.¡±

    ¡°......Did you ring the bell for the enemy invasion just for a trifling matter?¡±

    At that moment, Kongie looked at them arrogantly. Then, Kongie turned around as he pushed his curly tail towards the demons.

    Then¡ª

    Pooooooot¡ª

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    He farted.

    At that moment¡­¡­

    An incredibly loud fart burst out of his tiny body.

    ¡°Oink!!¡±

    Then, he wiggled his butt as he swung his body around. He turned around to look at the demons with his hand fanning his nose.

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Veins popped out of the foreheads of all the demons present.

    Kongie¡¯s provocation is an active max level, excellent aggro skill! It was at that moment when his ¡®Great Fart¡¯ was triggered!

    Fiiiiip!

    Another fart came from Kongie¡¯s butt when he suddenly applied the wrong strength on his sphincter.

    ¡°I¡¯m, I¡¯ming!!!¡±

    ¡°Catch it!!¡±

    Then, Kongie began to run away.

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    LMAO. Great Fart. HAHAHAHAH. On another note, I will be using demons and demonic races interchangeably. Thanks!

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 245 - Prince Argon And The Royal Shop

    Chapter 245: Prince Argon and the Royal Shop

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Genie stared at the small vige in front of her with a sharp re. There was now an increase in the number of viges between Elvenheim and the Elven Forest. Perhaps, Iris Guild might be able to take over the great city Allentian in the future. But the main point was what was in front of her.

    ¡®I did not know that there was a Demonic Executive here¡­¡­!¡¯

    The demonic races also had sses and ranks among them. And they were usually from the upper echelons. And the higher demonic race that was hiding in the vige was one of the five important races that came to invade the Elven Forest.

    Themander-in-chief of this invasion was named Rufel and he was a superior demon that held the Count title. There were also deputymanders that hold titles that were actively invading the Elven Forest. There were also countless of superior demons that did not have any title in their ranks. And those demons with titles could exert a tremendous amount of force.

    It was extremely surprising that a deputymander was hiding in this small vige in the front lines, a ce that was a little far off from the big city, Allentian.

    ¡®I¡¯m sure that this vige is quite different from other viges.¡¯

    She was sure that there was a special reward hidden in this town.

    Legend Guild was currently still behind most of theters. And this ce might be the stepping stone that they needed to climb up in a single breath. In addition, Legend Guild¡¯s force could shine brightly since this was just a small battle.

    ¡°Start operations.¡±

    The members of Legend quickly moved following Genie¡¯s orders.

    Stab!

    Abel, an assassin ss user, quickly moved and dealt with the scouting demons all over the ce. The Goddess of the Battlefield, Ascar, also moved along with him to hunt the other scouts. But no matter how much they tried to do things discreetly, and no matter how many scouts they dealt with, they were eventually found out.

    ¡°There¡¯s an attack!!¡±

    ¡°The enemies are here! Protect the deputymander!¡±

    After hearing the shouts, Genie and the rest of Legend Guild saw the demons pop out all over the ce. They also saw the deputymander, Regel, a demon with a title himself, lift a staff encrusted with ck jewels.

    [The Eyes of the Demon King.]

    [A pupil that can find the enemies.]

    ¡°......!¡±

    Not long after, a giant eye rose on top of the small vige. The pupil of the gruesome and gigantic eye suddenly turned towards Genie.

    ¡°......!¡±

    Then, Regel burst out inughter.

    ¡°Caught you. Keuhahahahaha!¡±

    The members of the Legend Guild heard a string of notifications.

    [You have entered the Demon King¡¯s realm.]

    [Based on the Demon King¡¯s realm, your physical and magical attacks will be reduced by 30%.]

    [Your AGI has decreased by 20%.]

    The other demons that hid started to appear one by one.

    ¡®No way?¡¯

    Genie realized that there was a high probability that there would be a small number of elites that would be selected from the human camp tounch a surprise attack against the high-ranking demons. That was a good way to kill a good number of demons without making too much noise giving them an easy win. On the contrary, the demonic race had thought about things cleverly. Since there was going to be a small number of elites, then they set up a trap and drove them to despair.

    Not long after, a streak of ck magi shot out from the Demon King¡¯s Eye. The ck magi prated the bodies of all the Legend Guild members present on the scene. At the same time, like a beacon of light, all the demons saw their positions.

    ¡°There they are!!!¡±

    ¡°Goddamnit!!¡±

    They could assume that the demonic races¡¯ deputymander, Regel, was someone who had great control on ck magic.

    ¡°Death¡¯s Dancing!!!¡±

    Ascar¡¯s sword dance was aimed at the iing horde of demons.

    Stab, stab, stab!

    sh, sh, sh!

    ¡°Keuhahaha! This wench has such a petty trick!¡±

    ¡°Keuk! It¡¯s much stronger than what I thought?¡±

    ¡°Are they really the elites from the human race?¡±

    The demons appeared all over the ce. Their numbers alone appeared to be over 70.

    What¡¯s worse is that the most powerful demonic race present in Elvenheim is currently here. Right?

    [Fire Whip!]

    [Your fire whip will kill the enemies surrounding you.]

    Crackle!

    A fire burned in Genie¡¯s whip as she whipped and shed at the iing demons.

    Shwaaa!

    Crackle!

    ¡°Keup!¡±

    The demons¡¯ bodies caught fire and they hurriedly tried to extinguish and remove it. However, it did not seem like they received much damage since their attacking power was reduced by 30%.

    Spurt!

    ¡°Kyaak!¡±

    Ascar staggered back after her arm got shed by one of the sergeants of the demonic race.

    [Giant¡¯s Fist.]

    Khan¡¯s fist became as big as a truck as he struck the demon.

    ¡°Kekeke! Your fists feel like cotton!!¡±

    A 30% reduction in their attacking power meant that they could only exert 2/3s of their usual strength.

    The demon felt that the fist that struck him was just ridiculously weak.

    ¡°This shit!¡±

    ¡°.......If I wasn¡¯t caught in the Devil King¡¯s Realm.¡±

    Usually in these kinds of traps, those who exert more strength would be the more powerful ones. In fact, wide-area debuffs like this were quite hard to find so everything was just dependent on the strength of the individuals.

    And aside from Regel, there was another strong demon who appeared. It was none other than Kona. Kona was not a deputymander but she was one of the demon¡¯s attack leaders. Kona was a female-like demon who wielded a powerful mace.

    Baaang¡ª

    Locke flew back after being hit directly by the mace.

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    He fell to the ground and stumbled.

    [You have received a huge impact from an iron mace.]

    [You have fallen into a temporary stunned state.]

    He shook his head as hard as he could as he tried to stand up by himself but it did not work.

    ¡®If it wasn¡¯t for that damn 30%!¡¯

    In other words, their strengths were only at the level of someone at Lv320.

    ¡®If we had our Kaistra with us then we could ignore this with his wide-area aggro but¡­...¡¯

    Kaistra was currently in town and was not allowed to participate in the war.

    Just then¡­¡­

    [Guild Chatting Ace: Your Captain-nim is here!!!]

    Kiyeeeeeeeeee!!

    A chilling cry of a dragon resounded in the area. Then, Genie saw a ck air current flutter into existence in front of her. The ck air current slowly turned into a figure of a man wearing a ck armor with a ck sword on his waist. There was even an ice dragon sticking out of the man¡¯s arm.

    Crack!

    The ice dragon immediately let out an ice breath that covered a huge area.

    ¡°Keu, keuaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Ugh, aaaaaack!¡±

    The entire Legend Guild was caught in surprise.

    ¡®What the hell? That¡¯s very strong, right?¡¯

    Then, the man looked up at the sky.

    ¡°Britney.¡±

    Kiyeeeeeeeee!

    At his call, Britney bellowed loudly.

    [Britney¡¯s Roar.]

    [Release all abnormal status.]

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Legend Guild was once again astonished. Then, magic suddenly started to go wild in front of the gigantic ck dragon flying in the air.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    And along with those loud bangs, several users, which included Ace, jumped down.

    ¡°Tonight, the star is me!!!¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    ¡°That crazy little punk¡­¡­¡±

    Crow muttered under his breath as the man that was d in all ck wielded his sword and ran at a rapid pace.

    Ching, ching, chaeng, chaeng, chaeng, ching¡ª

    Then, the demonic races, just like fountains, gushed out blood from their bodies.

    ¡®S, strong¡­¡­¡¯

    ¡®Wow¡­¡­ Isn¡¯t he crazy strong?¡¯

    He was on par or perhaps stronger than the members of Legend Guild. The same was also true for the mysterious masked men that jumped off of the ck dragon a while ago.

    Then, Ace spoke.

    ¡°Let¡¯s shout our team¡¯s slogan!!!¡±

    ¡°We!!!¡±

    ¡°Are one!!!¡±

    ¡°With the deprived elves!!!¡±

    ¡°Give us your heart!!!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    And among them was one blushing guy. It was none other than General.

    ¡®Sob¡­¡­ Why am I doing something like this here?¡¯

    The fact that he was ying Athenae came to the Chairman¡¯s ears so he apanied him.

    Anyway, because of their sudden intrusion, they were able to clear out the demons. And along with an item called ¡®Deputy Commander¡¯s Totem¡¯, Genie heard these notifications.

    [You have seeded in recapturing Philip Vige.]

    [Philip Vige is a vige with a special and extraordinary strength hidden within it.]

    [The time to defend Philip Vige has been greatly reduced.]

    [If you defend Philip Vige within 36 hours, you willpletely recapture the vige.]

    [If you invest 250,000 contribution points in Philip Vige, it will turn into a bunker type vige.]

    [You have acquired 200,000 contribution points.]

    Then, the man d in all ck approached her.

    ¡°How have you been Ms. Jihye? Ah. Jisoo-yah and Seoktae-yah are here too.¡±

    ¡°Fa, Father-nim?¡±

    Right now, Genie was caught in surprise when he heard a very familiar voiceing from the hero that saved them.

    ¡®Who in the world are these father and son?¡¯

    Then, the two decided to form an alliance. The notifications then rang following their decisions.

    [The guild ¡®ck Dragon and the Boys¡¯ has formed an alliance with Legend Guild.]

    ¡°......F, Father-nim.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°No, nothing¡­¡­¡±

    The rest of Legend Guild were all shocked.

    ¡®Bl, ck Dragon and the Boys¡­¡­¡¯

    ¡®A parody of Neotaiji and the Boys¡­¡­?¡¯

    ¡®Their guild name is weird¡­¡­¡¯

    Then, the users that were wearing their masks started to take them off one by one.

    ¡°The president of Noddugi¡­¡­?¡±

    ¡°Heok¡­¡­ The president of Ilhwa Construction¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Keok¡­¡­ That¡¯s the president of Ilhwa Distribution¡­¡­!¡±

    Andstly, ck Dragon took his mask off.

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    They were not idols but old men.

    ***

    Argon heard a mor outside.

    ¡°Catch that!!¡±

    ¡°Catch that pig!!¡±

    ¡°Huh, Huuuuuuh? What¡¯s that posture that it did just now?!¡±

    ¡°He looks like he¡¯s going to poop?!!!¡±

    ¡°I, I, I, I¡¯ming to get you!!!¡±

    ¡°Catch thaaaaaat!!!¡±

    There was a lot of noise outside. Then¡­¡­

    ¡°Hello?¡±

    ¡°......?!¡±

    Argon was shocked when he suddenly heard a voice out of thin air. Then, the blindfold was peeled off of his eyes. Argon couldn¡¯t help but squint when the harsh re of the light entered his sight. He finally caught sight of the world again after not being able to see them for quite a long time. But there was nothing around him. Not long after, a man¡¯s face popped out of thin air.

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°Shhh! I¡¯m here to save you.¡±

    Then, the man looked around as he hurriedly reached out for the nails that bound his arms to the cross.

    ¡°You can¡¯t take it out¡­¡­ It¡¯s a mineral with tremendous power. You can¡¯t take it out. You need to bring the key that Baran has.¡±

    Just in time, the worst handshake happened.

    ¡°As expected, you¡¯ve also infiltrated.¡±

    Then, the man wearing the cape took it off of his body. Argon quickly spoke to him.

    ¡°Baran is currently a middle ss demon but he was once a superior demon. He was stripped of his title because of a mistake that he made in the past. However, he was still recognized for his skills. He¡¯s a very strong foe.¡±

    ¡°......Is that so?¡±

    Baran¡¯s lips quirked up in a weird smile.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. I can tear a man to death with just one hand.¡±

    ¡°Hoo.¡±

    The man, Minhyuk, looked mildly interested. Then, a thick magi came out of Baran¡¯s body.

    ¡°I¡¯ll teach you about the fearsome demons. You, weak humans, are no match for someone like me.¡±

    Baran was a very talkative man. And he was a staunch believer of his strength. He was once a nobility with the title of a viscount and was once proimed by other demons as the ¡®God of Spection¡¯. He was also good in 1:1 fights. Which was what Joy Co. Ltd. was aiming for.

    Themander, who came in this ce alone, had to deal with the demon that was dubbed as the God of Spection.

    He continued to speak arrogantly.

    ¡°I¡¯ll give you the chance to go first, weak human.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head at him.

    ¡°Then, thank you!!!¡±

    Argon¡¯s eyes widened in shock.

    You shouldn¡¯t attack first. His armor is special. As soon as your sword stabs him, his magi will snatch it and throw it away.

    ¡°N, no¡­¡­!¡±

    But even before Argon could stop him, Minhyuk had already closed the distance between them.

    Baran¡¯s mouth was twisted into a devilish smirk.

    ¡®First, I will defend myself with Baroque¡¯s Armor¡­¡­¡¯

    In the event of an attack, Baroque¡¯s Armor could ignore the attack aimed at him. What was worse was that as soon as the sword struck the armor, the armor would immediately recognize it and grab it away from the enemy. In other words, the armor has the ability to keep the enemy from using their weapons.

    Then¡­¡­

    Stab!

    Just like what Baran expected, Minhyuk¡¯s sword was embedded in his abdomen.

    Then, a notification rang in Minhyuk¡¯s head.

    [Intangible Sword.]

    [Your sword strike has ignored all of the enemy¡¯s defenses.]

    [Lightning (Thunderbolt)]

    [3 strikes!]

    Bang, bang, bang!!!

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack?!¡±

    Baran was stunned by the huge damage that was suddenly inflicted on him. However, before he could even straighten himself out, another notification rang in Minhyuk¡¯s head.

    [Lightning (Thunderbolt)]

    [3 strikes!]

    [Intangible Sword.]

    [Your sword strike has ignored all of the enemy¡¯s defenses.]

    Bang, bang, bang!

    Once again, three thunderbolts urately struck Baran¡¯s body.

    The Lightning (Thunderbolt), a skill that could only be triggered with a low probability, was triggered twice in a row for a total of six strikes. The Intangible Sword was even triggered twice in a row.

    Then, Baran copsed.

    ¡°But isn¡¯t he too weak?¡±

    Minhyuk spoke and tilted his head when he saw that the things were different from what he was told about.

    ¡°......¡±

    Argon was left speechless.

    ***

    Notes

    [Tonight the star is me!!!] - ?? ? ???? ?? ? This is a line in Wanna One¡¯s Pick Me. The line where they go, oneul bam juinkongeun naya na! Lol. sorry it¡¯s now stuck in my head. Damn.

    [Neotaiji and the Boys] - This is actually a parody of Seo Taiji and the Boys. A band formed by Seo Taiji, Yang Hyunsuk (yes the YG guy), and Lee Juno. They were active back in 1992-1996.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 246 - Territorial Defense (Top)

    Chapter 246: Territorial Defense (Top)

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    69 Territorial Defense (Top)

    ¡°Wow. He¡¯s really weak. How can he die in just one stab? Maybe he lost all his abilities when he got demoted to a middle ss demon.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Argon¡¯s mouth closed and opened just like a carp blowing bubbles in the water. Then, Minhyuk approached him.

    ¡°No. Can you look for the keys¡­¡­ please?¡±

    Argon unconsciously spoke to him politely.

    ¡°Ah. That¡¯s right. You said that I should remove those with a key, right?¡±

    Minhyuk, who had just tried to pull out the nails, turned around to approach Baran again. Suddenly a loud Thud! rang loudly in the room.

    ¡°Huh? But I thought that I did not pull it out?¡±

    ¡°......Huh?¡±

    Just to make sure, Minhyuk touched the other nail that was embedded on Argon¡¯s other hand. The nail came out just like a chopstick that was stuck in between rice.

    ¡°Huh? This came out too? Eyyy. Wait. Did they nail it loosely? The demons are too sloppy. Tch!¡±

    Argon¡¯s mouth was once again shut in silence!

    Then, the notifications began to ring in Minhyuk¡¯s head.

    Then, he began to hear footsteps near them.

    ¡°Catch it!!!¡±

    ¡°Catch that!!!!¡±

    ¡°Prince Argon is escaping!!!¡±

    Then, Prince Argon turned towards him and asked him.

    ¡°Do you happen to have a bow or something like that?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Let me borrow it.¡±

    Minhyuk handed his Abyss Bow to him. Argon pulled the string taut and aimed it towards the wall. Then¡­¡­

    Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª

    Hundreds of invisible arrows passed through the wall and prated the demons that were running beyond the wall. It looked just like a machine gun firing its bullet.

    However, a few demons were still able to escape and enter through the door.

    Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh!

    Argon¡¯s arrows prated their foreheads with great uracy.

    ¡°......Wow.¡±

    Argon felt that he had exerted more force than what he had estimated that he would use. His forehead crumpled as he groaned in pain.

    ¡°Keuheuk. It¡¯s been a long time since I was tied up.¡±

    He looked down at his palms. He was quite courageous when he shot those arrows even though he knew that his palms were wounded.

    ¡°Please drink this.¡±

    Argon¡¯s eyes widened in shock when he saw Minhyuk handing him the ¡®Elf¡¯s Full HP, MP Recovery Potion¡¯.

    ¡°This potion¡­¡­ Did you upgrade to a Rank A shop?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°......A, amazing.¡±

    Argon knew more than anyone how difficult it was to upgrade and ess a Rank A shop. He quickly gulped down the potion. He quickly felt the effects of the potion as the wounds that littered his entire body started to recover.

    ¡°Please upgrade my shop to the Royal Shop.¡±

    ¡°......Yes?¡±

    Argon tilted his head in confusion. The upgrade to a Rank A shop was already surprising but he was telling him to upgrade it to a Royal Shop? To upgrade to a Royal Shop, he needed to have an additional 1 million contribution points. However, before he could even give him a piece of advice, Argon heard the notifications.

    ¡°......!¡±

    Argon¡¯s eyes widened imperceptibly as he looked at Minhyuk with surprise. The Royal Shop was a shop that was created by the three great elves. It contained the most outstanding items that the elves had created. It was a ce that was filled with things that Argon was not even aware of.

    Not long after, Argon readily nodded his head in agreement. In the first ce, the chance to open the Royal Shop was one of the rewards for rescuing Prince Argon so he had nothing to disagree with.

    At that moment, the notifications poured in on Minhyuk¡¯s side.

    And just like what Cania did, Argon also handed him a treasure chest.

    Minhyuk started to read the notifications but they still continued to ring.

    Minhyuk felt surprised and amazed at every notification that rang in his head.

    60% casting time reduction? Character skill cooldown reset and HP and MP restoration?

    Of course, it went to say that they were all items that could be used in a war. But looking at these items alone, he was sure that once he went to Elvenheim then they would have a tremendous effect.

    But the thing that piqued Minhyuk¡¯s interest the most was this¡­¡­

    ¡®Food God¡¯s Shop?¡¯

    Minhyuk quickly opened the detailed description.

    I can ess items that are fit for my job ss?

    Minhyuk quickly checked the information thoroughly.

    ¡°......?!!!¡±

    Minhyuk tilted his head in thought. He soon realized that the items listed in the Food God¡¯s Shop were tailored by the system to match his job ss in the first ce. Of course, the most suitable item for a Food God was none other than ¡®Food¡¯. And there were even excellent and amazing rewards hidden in the food listed in the shop.

    Starting from 4, 5 and 6, the items listed were ingredients. When he checked them, he found out that they were all SS-ranked ingredients. Minhyuk looked at the shop in satisfaction.

    And together with Argon, they continued forward to join his forces. ording to Argon, he would continue to stay with Minhyuk in the meantime. Of course, this was only natural since the Royal Shop was only avable through Argon.

    Not long after, Minhyuk joined with his forces. Then, he heard another set of surprising notifications.

    It was a slightly different concept from vassals. It was because they were not an NPC under Minhyuk but literally a military force under hismand. So Minhyuk selected one from each of thepanies. Of course, who he selected were the leaders who led them. When he checked, he saw that their levels averaged at 440~470. Minhyuk smiled happily.

    Then, he purchased the first dish listed in the shop, the ¡®Fantastic Chinese Cuisine Set¡¯.

    In Valha Territory, the farmer Bardan was heading towards his field holding his pickaxe just like the usual. He was only in his mid-30s but due to the curse of baldness that was passed on in his family, his hair had mostly fallen out. He also heard that they had presbyopia in the family.

    How can I grow my hair while I farm again today?

    While thinking about that on his way to the field, Bardan heard Corr, the rumored new vassal, shrieking loudly with his recorder.

    ¡°Grow up seeds! Seeds!¡±

    ¡°Tch, tch!¡±

    Bardan clicked his tongue.

    I heard that he was a pretty sessful pdin for a princess(?) but why has he been like that for a few days now? Is what he¡¯s doing normal for seeds to grow?

    As a professional farmer, he couldn¡¯t understand the logic in what he was doing. Then, at that moment¡­¡­

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    He felt a warmth rubbing slightly against his bald forehead. Before he could confirm it, the warmth had already disappeared. Not long after, he looked up at the sky.

    ¡°Is it because it¡¯s sunny today?¡±

    He moved on without much thought. After he finished plowing his fields, he came straight home. Then, the next morning¡­¡­

    He looked in the morning and was stunned.

    ¡°......!!?!?!¡±

    Just like a desert, his head did not have a single grass on it. It was so shiny that no hair could be found at all! But a few strands had already started to sprout from his shiny head. The hair was so short that it looked like the prickly hairs of a newly grown beard!

    He recalled the warmth that he had felt yesterday.

    ¡®D, don¡¯t tell me?!!!¡¯

    Today, he went to the ce where Pdin Corr was staying.

    ¡°Grow up seeds! Seeds!!¡±

    And just like he expected, he felt the warmth on his head again. And the next morning¡­¡­

    ¡°......Heok!¡±

    Bardan couldn¡¯t help but be shocked. It was because his hair grew longerpared to yesterday.

    When Legend Guild left for Elvenheim, the Vice Lord Ben was left in Valha Territory mulling over ways to increase the finance of the territory.

    Meanwhile, he heard stories about people singing strange songs in town. The song they sang went on like this¡­¡­

    ¡°Talmor Fati~ didididi~¡±

    ¡°Grow, grow hair! Grow, grow hair!¡±

    ¡°Talmor Fati! Ddiddiddi!¡±

    The Vice Lord Ben ended up sending some of the soldiers to investigate. It was then that he discovered that the people who sang the song were mostly men in their 40s and 50s.

    ¡°What the hell is Talmor Fati?¡±

    Vice Lord Ben was wondering about it when another report came in.

    ¡°The people who sing this song go to the field where Pdin Corr is. They go there every single day.¡±

    ¡°Really? Let¡¯s go and look.¡±

    Old Man Ben quickly moved. He couldn¡¯t help but be stunned when he saw the scene in the field.

    ¡°Sir Talmor!!¡±

    ¡°Sir Talmor!!¡±

    The field was jam packed with hundreds of people. And the man that was standing in the middle of it all looked around him seriously.

    ¡°Do you believe?¡±

    ¡°We believe!!¡±

    ¡°Do you desire it?¡±

    ¡°We desire!!¡±

    ¡°We want ck hair!!!¡±

    ¡°We want it!!¡±

    ¡°Then, let¡¯s drop it down!!!¡±

    Then, Pdin Corr took out the Frightening Instrument and turned it into his favorite instrument, the recorder. As soon as it transformed into a recorder, he blew into it.

    The rhythm and beat of the notes that he yed were exactly that of the Talmor Fati, the song sung by all those men in town.

    Ddiddiddiddiddi~

    ¡°Talmor Fati!¡±

    ¡°Talmor Fati!!!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaah! My head is getting warm!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s growing! It¡¯s growing! Soooob!¡±

    They looked like they were praying as they sped their hands together. Then, they suddenly burst out in tears! Not long after, they raised their arms high up in the sky as they shouted¡­¡­

    ¡°Grow, grow! Hair, hair!!¡±

    ¡°Grow, grow! Hair, hair!!¡±

    ¡°Grow, grow! Hair, hair!!¡±

    Then, a shocking thing happened at that moment. Ben clearly saw that the hair of some of the people present started to grow at a visible speed!

    Due to his age, Old Man Ben was also experiencing hair loss these days. He felt some warmth on his head. And he also thought of a way to increase the finances of Valha Territory.

    And right away¡­¡­

    ¡°Talmor Fati!!¡±

    Pdin Corr will definitely make Valha Territory rich!

    Following Minhyuk Religion, another religion was starting to emerge. This was the story of the birth of the Talmor Religion.

    Notes

    [??? ??] - It¡¯s a parody song for Amor Fati (another KR song) you can search it as ??? ?? (Talmor Fati). The song is about loving and epting their fate for having hair loss. ??(Talmo) means hair loss and adding the r makes it sound like the amor in amor fati. Basically it¡¯s a parody song about epting their baldness. It¡¯s a funny song if you happen to listen to it.

    TL¡¯s corner!

    LMAO. Talmor Religion. Wait. I¡¯mughing my head off. I was shocked at this transition. I thought that we would jump straight back to Elvenheim and fight but it seems like we still need to show Valha. XD. LOL.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Those dishes in the Food God¡¯s shop are so broken¡­

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 247 - Territorial Defense (Top)

    Chapter 247: Territorial Defense (Top)

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Pdin Corr had a meaningful smile on his face. A farmer named Bardan had approached him before saying that his hair suddenly grew. And the foreigners who visited Valha Territory after seeing this strange phenomena all said the same thing.

    ¡°Huh? It¡¯s Talmor Fati!!!¡±

    ¡°Ddiddiddi~ Ddiddiddi~ Talmor Fati~¡±

    And Pdin Corr had a great idea. He would ask them to call him ¡®Talmor¡¯ and he would ask him to receive a monthly grain tribute from them that he could dedicate to Lord Minhyuk. And he also knew that all of these were brought about by the effects of his Frightening Instrument and his skill Athenae¡¯s Prayer.

    ¡°Ahem, ahem.¡±

    Then, the Vice Lord, Old Man Ben approached him.

    ¡°Oh, will the Vice Lord join us too?¡±

    ¡°Sure. What should I shout?¡±

    ¡°Talmor Fati!!¡±

    ¡°Then¡­ Talmor Fati! Ddiddiddiddiddi!¡±

    ¡°Hahahahaha!¡±

    Pdin Corr smiled cheerfully. At that moment¡­ Corr saw that the ground where he nted the seeds was shaking. He quickly left behind the people that gathered to check on it. He saw that something had already begun to grow there. And Corr, who watched it all happen, was left in shock.

    ¡®What the hell? A weapon?¡¯

    Something clearly grew out of the ground. There were hilts of a sword or perhaps it was the end of a spear. There was even a top of a shield and a tip of a helmet. But in the midst of them all, a seed grew faster than the others. When Corr looked at it closely, he couldn¡¯t help but be shocked.

    The existence that came out of the seed which grew higher than any other seed had a pair of eyes, a nose and a mouth. In other words, it was a face.

    ¡°A, a face?¡±

    It was clearly a face made out of stone but even though its eyes were still closed, it was still most definitely a human head.

    Corr did not have a bad head on his shoulders so he could easily tell some things. He had heard about Elvenheim and the demonic races¡¯ invasion. And there was also this seed that was said to be dropped by an Ancient Monarch that was cursed by Verus. He knew that this seed possessed great power.

    ¡®Th, the troops will definitely¡­¡­!¡¯

    Corr¡¯s eyes were dyed with surprise.

    Lev was one of Iris Guild¡¯s attack leaders. He was also one of the top three talented users under the warrior sses in the country. And Lev was now currently moving together with the elites that were formed from the Ares Guild¡¯s and Iris Guild¡¯s 1st attack teams.

    Lev shook his head.

    The Iris and Ares Guild had maintained their alliance after they sessfully captured thergest city and they had risen to the top of the invasion war. And even though it was not explicitly spoken, the attack teams were allpeting against each other. They werepeting over getting the honor of being the first team to prate through the Elven Forest.

    Currently, the Elf King had arrived at Elvenheim and had taken his position as themander-in-chief. This happened yesterday. The Elf King arrived with an extremely exhausted and fatigued state. He had told them that all the entrances and exits to the Elven Forest were blocked. So the first thing that they needed to do was to get through the Elven Forest.

    And Iris Guild was trying to squeeze through the cracks and gaps to recapture and take over the Elven Forest, the heart of the event. As they continued to march forward, the troops entered a small cave.

    ¡°Don¡¯t let your guard down!¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    It was said that the Elven Forest was home to more powerful demonspared to those present in Elvenheim. A thick smile was stered on Lev¡¯s face as he entered the small cave.

    ¡®Fi, finally¡­¡­!¡¯

    A faint and feeble light was shining at the end of the cave.

    Once we reach that light then we will be able to reach the Elven Forest!

    Lev was leading thirty elite and well-built men. As soon as Lev entered the cave the notifications went off.

    Lev did not hesitate as he immediately checked the Elf¡¯s Artifact Treasure Box.

    Lev immediately essed the information about the artifact. The item that he had received was a legendary artifact. He couldn¡¯t help but feel delighted.

    Cain together with Ares Guild¡¯s Guild Master had decided not to partake in the rewards that were directly obtained by the users. And because of that this Elf¡¯s Sword literally belonged to Lev!

    Then, at that moment¡­

    ¡°It seems like some rat got in here.¡±

    He heard a low pitched voice somewhere near him. The source of the voice was a demon with a horn that stood taller than any other demon that he had ever seen.

    At the same time, the notifications rang out.

    ¡°Keoheok!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaack!¡±

    At that moment, the users felt that their breaths were running out as if something was holding their necks up.

    Commander-in-chief Rufel!

    He had never shown himself so far. As far as they had heard, Commander-in-Chief Rufel was also the highest-ranked noble in Elvenheim. And of course, Rufel was currently the most powerful demon present above ground.

    ¡°Get to your positions!¡±

    Lev hurriedly gave his orders. Then, he lifted his newly acquired Ancient Elf¡¯s Faded Sword. But the extremely huge 2-m tall Rufel just moved and spoke to them nonchntly.

    ¡°You would do for my experiments.¡±

    ¡°Kihaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kieeeeeeeck!¡±

    With the end of his words, strange, unidentified cries emanated from deep within the darkness behind Rufel. Not long after, the being soon emerged. To exin them simply, those creatures were just like giant dogs. However, they only resembled dogs since their shape and form were horribly melted that they looked like they were spilling out of their bodies.

    ¡°Hellhound¡­...?¡±

    The hellhound was one of Hell¡¯s demonic beasts and they were considered to be rare presences in the Rank A areas. However, the creatures in front of them felt a bit different from the hellhounds that they knew.

    Then¡­¡­

    Dash¡ª

    The hellhounds started running towards them.

    ¡°Grooooowl!¡±

    ¡°Grrrrrrr!¡±

    The fiercely rushing hellhounds were faster than the normal hellhounds that they had seen before.

    Lev quickly lifted the sword up high.

    Pipippipi¡ª

    His sword moved in a flurry, creating afterimages. In every sweep of his sword, holes would appear all over the bodies of the hellhounds that tried to rush at them in all directions.

    Baaaaang!

    One of the hellhounds exploded.

    ¡°It¡¯s not that big of a deal, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°What the hell. This much is nothing.¡±

    ¡°I got scared for no reason!!¡±

    Everyone shouted after being scared off by Commander Rufel. However, something extraordinary happened not long after they shouted their words of confidence.

    aaash¡ª

    Green gas rose and scattered from the body of the exploded hellhound. It was akin to a bomb exploding that they did not have any time to avoid it.

    ¡°......Heok?!¡±

    ¡°Wh, what the hell?!¡±

    And it was not just Lev. Killing off just one had given debuffs to seven of his attackers. And the debuff was even extremely powerful. Their capabilities had decreased by 15% and their chances at having failed attacks had increased by 30%.

    Then, another one rushed in while Rufel just looked at them from the rear with his hands behind his back as if he was watching something interesting.

    ¡°Fire arrow! Fire arrow! Fire arrow!¡±

    The mage, Batarin, released all the fire arrows that he had saved before.

    Bang!

    But the first magical attack had be useless. It bounced off of the body of the hellhound. However, the second attack exploded which was followed immediately by the third.

    Baaaaaaang¡ª

    And just like before, the gas erupted and scattered once more.

    Splurt!

    ¡°Keuaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Ugh. Aaaaaargh!¡±

    The users shrieked.

    ¡°......!¡±

    It was only then that Lev realized something.

    ¡®Th, this¡­¡­¡¯

    They were the suicide squad. And whatever the future would bring was dependent on Lev. Almost 90% of the viges in the Rank A region had been recaptured by the users. If the passage was opened in this state, then the users would be able to enter through it. However, Rufelid a trap that could wipe them out easily. So their situation right now was just like a ¡®suicide squad¡¯.

    ¡°Grrrrrrr.¡±

    ¡°Groooooowl.¡±

    Suddenly, hundreds of giant hellhounds appeared behind Rufel. No, perhaps there were still more toe.

    Not long after, dozens of hellhounds stormed in.

    Bang!

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    There were many people that got swept in the explosion and exploded together with the gas. In just an instant, his troops of 30 elites had been wiped out.

    Then, Rufel moved his sword.

    sh¡ª

    Plop.

    And the remaining person, Lev, was easily decapitated under his hands. Then, Rufel moved forward. What he saw outside the cave was none other than Allentian.

    ¡°After doing some maintenance, I¡¯ll sweep right over there.¡±

    A notification rang for all the users present in Elvenheim¡¯s Rank A area.

    And along with those notifications, an unidentified video popped out in front of the users. It was the video showing Commander Rufel as he muttered to himself while looking at Allentian. Then, information about Rufel came to their minds.

    That was when the users realized that Rufel¡¯s first point of attack was none other than ¡®Allentian¡¯. It was thergest city that was ever recaptured by users. It was even recaptured by two of thergest guilds in the country, Ares and Iris Guilds. This was also the ce where the strongest defenses were being created by forming alliances with each other.

    Cain and Ares were both delighted.

    It was the Commander-in-Chief and they would even be given enormous contribution points and rewards if they sessfully hunted them.

    What the two of them did was simple. Currently, they acquired four cities so they gathered and concentrated all of their troops in Allentian leaving only 20% to protect their other cities. Their ideas were that simple.

    ¡°If wepletely stop the attack here, then we¡¯ll be able to hog all of the contribution points and rewards.¡±

    ¡°Huhuhuhu. That would be great.¡±

    There were currently more than 300 guilds present in Elvenheim. This number included small, medium andrge guilds. Among all of the guilds, all of the contents were under the ¡®monopoly¡¯ of Ares and Iris Guild with support from their ¡®allied¡¯ guilds.

    The total number that gathered for him alone was 800. What was more was that the individual users from Iris Guild had earned 30,000 contribution points each as a reward for being the first to reach the Elven Forest. And Iris Guild also purchased something special from the Elf¡¯s Shop. It was none other than the ¡®Blood Sticking Alliance¡¯. This alliance would allow the other guilds allied to them to purchase goods from their Elf¡¯s Shop. So they were all heavily armed with elven artifacts.

    They were literally confident of their power.

    ¡°Their movements are extraordinary. It seems like the invasion is about to begin.¡±

    ¡°I heard that Rufel killed them himself. He even caused debuffs and explosions.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a simple method. It seemed like even if they attacked weakly, they would still explode. Let¡¯s bring forward those who can attack from afar and let the mages prepare for a wide-area-of-attack magic. We¡¯ll first start with the suicide squad when theye in.¡±

    They nned the operation. Suicide squad? If they did not let them near them at all, then that was all. There were plenty of bandits and assassins that set up countless traps in the city with the help of Robi, a user with the Hidden ss, Master of Traps.

    They must first be within the reach of the traps. And if they get caught in the trap, then, the trap would in and of itself exert a stronger force than any other attack. That was how they set it up.

    Even Twilight Chef ck began to distribute his most cherished buffed dishes to the best of the elites. It was a tremendous amount of preparation for the uing battle.

    And along with those preparations, thework started broadcasting about them.

    Boom¡ª Boom¡ª Boom¡ª

    The magnificent sound of drums began to ring loudly. Then¡­¡­

    A huge cloud of ck mass covered the sky as it scattered down on the ground. The falling ck mass slowly turned into hundreds of creatures. It was none other than the hellhounds.

    ¡°Kiheeeeeek!¡±

    ¡°Kyaaaaahaaaack?!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaaaack!¡±

    Hundreds of hellhounds suddenly appeared! And there were even three beings in front!

    And at that very moment¡­¡­

    Vwooooooooooo¡ª

    The hellhounds started to run as soon as the horn red loudly.

    Cain and Ares, who were standing in front of their troops, saw hundreds of fierce animals rushing towards them.

    Meanwhile, the members of Legend Guild were also watching the broadcast as they climbed the highest point of their newly acquired Philip Vige.

    Not long after, Ascar mumbled¡­¡­

    ¡°If Allentian is breached¡­¡­¡±

    She turned her head to look at Genie. Genie¡¯s face stiffened as she raised her head.

    ¡°Our Legend Guild will be smashed¡­¡­¡±

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 248 - Territorial Defense (Top)

    Chapter 248: Territorial Defense (Top)

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Before the invasion of the Demon World¡¯s Commander-in-Chief Rufel, Minhyuk had used 400,000 contribution points to purchase the ¡®Chinese Cuisine Set¡¯ from the ¡®Food God Shop¡¯ after he rescued Prince Argon. At the same time, Prince Argon, who was a vegetarian, was eating the sd that Minhyuk gave him after his stomachined of hunger.

    Minhyuk believed that it was quite a relief.

    ¡®Huhu. If Prince Argon-nim ate meat then I would have been in great trouble!¡¯

    Along with those thoughts, the Fantastic Chinese Cuisine Set appeared in front of him.

    ¡®My goodness¡­¡­!¡¯

    Ganjjajang, jjampong, over there were some tangsuyuk ced side by side with the mandarin roll and a chili japchae. When the set of food appeared in front of him, a smile immediately formed on Minhyuk¡¯s face.

    He had purchased this set first and foremost so he wanted to taste it quickly. He grabbed the wooden chopsticks that came with the set and ripped it apart. Then, he poured the ganjjajang sauce in a bowl filled with noodles.

    ¡°Hiyaaa¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk drooled over the gleaming ck sauce that he poured all over the bowl. The onions looked crunchy and the juice seemed to be overflowing with juices.

    And, doesn¡¯t this ganjjajang look darker than the regr jjajangmyeon?

    He mixed everything well, making sure to poke the fried egg on top and mix it together with the rest of the dish.

    ¡®It seems like the development team really knows how to eat, huh?¡¯

    Sometimes, there were days when the ganjjajang would only have one quail egg in it but the ganjjajang that was included in the Chinese Cuisine Set that was purchased through the Food God Shop had two fried eggs on it.

    After mixing everything well, he turned his attention towards the tangsuyuk. He divided the dish in half and poured sauce on top of the other half while leaving the rest untouched. The other half was for him to enjoy the crunchy and crispy texture of the meat while the other half was for him to enjoy the soft texture of the skin that was coated with sauce.

    Well then, all the preparations are done.

    He first picked up the ganjjajang. He made sure to get a chopstick full of noodles and egg before slurping it together in his mouth.

    Crunch, crunch¡ª

    The pleasant sound of crunching from the crispy onions resounded in his mouth. In addition, he found out that the ganjjajang that was purchased in the Food God Shop had a really strong vor.

    ¡°Wow. Delicious!¡±

    His shoulders twitched in happiness.

    After eating the ganjjajang noodles for quite some time, he turned towards the tangsuyuk and picked one that had not yet been soaked in sauce. Just like that, he dipped the piece in the sauce and ced it in his mouth.

    Crunch, crunch¡ª

    The crunchy ¡®dipped¡¯ tangsuyuk always gave off a pleasant sound as he chewed on the excellent texture of the meat. This time, he picked up a piece of tangsuyuk from the ones that were soaked in the sauce.

    ¡®Ah. This is really an art!¡¯

    The fried skin of the ¡®poured¡¯ tangsuyuk that had been poured with the sauce was soaking with the vorful sauce. After eating the tangsuyuk like that, he reached out for the jjampong next.

    When you¡¯re eating jjampong, you will crave for jjajangmyeon. And when you¡¯re eating jjajangmyeon, you will crave for jjampong.

    He stirred the jjampong well with his chopsticks, making sure that the mussels that were smaller than two of his fingers and the squid and onions were all mixed together. After stirring everything together, he lifted not just the noodles, but the entire bowl before blowing on it gently. Then, he sipped the warm soup and savored its vor.

    ¡°Refreshing.¡±

    He couldn¡¯t rte to the adults¡¯ words back when he was younger when they said that it was refreshing to drink spicy soup but now, the words flowed out of his mouth easily.

    Only after tasting the spicy soup did he use his chopsticks to mp, inhale and slurp the noodles. He also dipped some raw onions on the chunjang before cing it in his mouth.

    Crunch, crunch¡ª

    After eating the jjampong, he turned towards the manadarin rolls. The mandarin rolls were warm as if they were just taken out of the fire.

    Then, he stretched his chopsticks towards the chili japchae. The chili japchae was a dish that was stir-fried in chili oil and had a spicier and deeper vor than normal japchaes. Various ingredients like red pepper, green pepper, onion, and pork neck were stir-fried together resulting in the colorful and appetizing dish in front of him.

    He ced the chili japchae on top of the mandarin roll before cing everything in his mouth.

    Munch, munch¡ª

    The first taste that entered and spread in his mouth was the vor of the spicy chili japchae which was then followed by the soft and warm vor of the mandarin roll. The taste was something that put a smile on his face so he closed his eyes to savor them deeply.

    Grin¡ª

    A chuckle unknowingly escaped from his lips.

    ¡®Wow, the food in the Food God Shop isparable to the real God¡¯s Legacy Dish¡­¡­¡¯

    The taste was clearly different when he tasted them with his own tongue. He did not know how the same food could taste so different.

    After he finished everything, Minhyuk heard the notifications.

    Ring!

    Minhyuk had a feeling that this would be one of the best skills that he would ever gain from Athenae. After acquiring the skill, he quickly checked the information about Shall We Have a Meal skill.

    ¡®Wow¡­¡­¡¯

    This was Minhyuk¡¯spletely favorite skill. It was a skill that would allow him to eat even though he was in the middle of a fight. Even the barrier that ck Mage Ali had used was a bit worse off. It was a barrier that could prevent absolutely anything. In addition, it seemed like it was also possible to use it to n or assess their situation in case of an emergency.

    Minhyuk still had a bit of contribution left so he wanted to buy the Chicken & Pizza Set right after the first set that he ate. But at that moment¡­¡­

    ¡°......?!¡±

    Minhyuk was surprised. It was because ck Dragon was none other than his father. So Minhyuk quickly sent a whisper to his dad.

    Minhyuk pondered for a moment while he talked with his dad. He had currently sorted out all of the things in here. And he also thought that it would be better if he brought the rescued Prince Argon to Elf King Gorn. With those in mind, he quickly made a decision.

    ¡®I¡¯m going to go and take care of my dad first¡­¡­¡¯

    Food was also important. But Minhyuk was already nning on going to Elvenheim anyway. His reason was simple. It was because he needed to gain additional contribution points so he could purchase the rest of the dishes in the Food God Shop.

    But before he started, Minhyuk pulled a stunt.

    ¡°Sob, sob, sob. My dad is in a very critical situation. And there are plenty of demons in there. Can you guys help me?¡±

    Among them were the Commander of the Knight¡¯ Orders. They had already be members of Minhyuk¡¯s Territory so it was no problem to bring them along. However, the rest of the knights were still members of the Empires so they needed toe with him out of their own free will.

    And fortunately¡­¡­

    ¡°This!!! Our Commander-nim¡¯s father is in a critical situation!!!¡±

    ¡°We should go now!!!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll just tell our Majesties that the rescue operations took a lot longer and are still underway!¡±

    They were all with the same mind.

    Minhyuk knew that Legend Guild was in a very precarious situation. And these people who had be more powerful right now would be a great addition to their power. But there was one problem.

    ¡°How can we get to Elvenheim¡­¡­?¡±

    He was wondering how he would lead all of his troops to Elvenheim¡¯s Rank A Area. Although there was a Mass Teleport Parchment, it would only work if he had been to that ce. In addition, the only ce that they could warp to was Roscul Vige and they had to go directly to the Rank A Area.

    At that moment, Argon¡¯s eyes looked at him with interest.

    ¡°You¡¯re going to Elvenheim¡¯s A Area?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°I know a quick shortcut. From D Area we can go directly to A Area.¡±

    For D Area, it was a ce where anyone coulde and go quickly at any time. And the same was true for his troops.

    Then, Argon said¡­¡­

    ¡°We¡¯re going to need a ride.¡±

    Argon snapped his fingers then 150 ck horses along with two white horses appeared from his subspace.

    ¡°The famous horses, Arthdal and Perth. Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Argon was in a hurry because he knew that his father, Gorn, was there too. Minhyuk nodded his head as he rode the horse. They started galloping fast. While they galloped towards their destination, Minhyuk sent a whisper to someone that he could trust. The person he sent a whisper to, readily epted his request.

    Ruan was chuckling loudly.

    ¡®This is annihtion.¡¯

    Ruan was the man who dug minerals with the Food God Minhyuk in the mine where the chocte tree was located. He eventually seeded in changing his warrior ss to the Indomitable cksmith ss.

    The Indomitable cksmith was an amazing job ss. It was a legendary ss with the power and skill of a warrior as well as an excellent cksmith. Just like Hepas¡¯ Descendant, he was also unable to produce a very formidable artifact but he still gained a lot of strength as both a cksmith and a warrior.

    His strength grew quickly and he was now currently upying a very small town in the outskirts of Elvenheim¡¯s A Area. He was now the guild master of ¡®Raging Volcano¡¯. It was a medium-sized guild that was on the smaller side; however, it was still one of the rapidly growing guilds these days.

    However, the troops that had been concentrated on the front line were slowly starting to flow to the rear. And right now his HP was rapidly falling after he defeated a Hellhound.

    The recovery potion that he had brought before was also on the floor of the garden. And what was worse was¡­¡­

    Ruanughed ruefully. After the demons and the demonic beasts invaded, he had led his elites to take on the ¡®aggro¡¯. This vige¡¯s special ability was the ¡®cer¡¯ hidden under the ground. And he could hide things in that ce that was hidden deeper than the basement.

    He had chosen to hide his guild members in there while he went out to sacrifice himself and the elites. When the worst oue came, he couldn¡¯t help but suddenly remember that day.

    ¡®I wonder how Minhyuk-nim is doing these days?¡¯

    When he and the miners thought that they would be wiped out, the chef thatughed and mined with them killed the enemies with his ghostly movements. He was truly a kind, polite and wonderful man. Before they parted, Ruan had asked him¡­¡­

    ¡®How can I be as strong as you?¡¯

    ¡®Eat well, exercise hard and sleep well!¡¯

    After saying something absurd, he turned around and stopped walking as he smiled at him.

    ¡®Ruan-nim, I¡¯ll see you at the top.¡¯

    The memory of that time brought a smile to his face.

    ¡®Yearning¡­¡­¡¯

    That was right. He was longing for that. For the real power that this world¡¯s strongest did not show. Influenced by Minhyuk¡¯s words, he had been reborn and had be a great guild master.

    ¡®It¡¯s been a while since I¡¯ve seen him. I should send him a whisperter.¡¯

    And right at that moment, other demons appeared. What was worse was that these demons did not include the demons that they were struggling to kill earlier.

    ¡°I guess this bastard is the boss.¡±

    ¡°Kekeke. I want to kill him more painfully.¡±

    ¡®Don¡¯t touch me. I¡¯ll die if you just leave me alone.¡¯

    The demons approached him with a weapon called mberge. mberge was a brutal weapon that could tear apart the flesh. He did not feel any real pain but it was not refreshing or nice to feel his throat being cut off.

    But then¡­¡­

    Fwoosh, fwoosh!

    Ruan, who had closed his eyes in defeat, suddenly heard a strange sounding near.

    ¡®What?¡¯

    Clip, clop, clip, clop.

    His enemies were taken down. Then, one guy said¡­¡­

    ¡°Ruan-nim, hello! You¡¯ve be a great guild master now, haven¡¯t you? Wow!¡±

    ¡°......M, Minhyuk-nim?¡±

    Minhyuk had arrived at the outskirts of Elvenheim¡¯s A Area. He was as polite, cheerful and handsome as ever.

    ¡°Mi, Min¡­¡­¡±

    But before he could even finish saying his words¡­¡­

    He had cked out. And when he opened his eyes again, he saw that his guild members were all surrounding him.

    ¡°GM-nim, are you alright?¡±

    ¡°Mi, Minhyuk-nim!¡±

    He leapt up and looked around him. But there was no one else in sight. However, his eyes widened not long after.

    ¡°Wh, what¡¯s this? How am I alive?¡±

    About 80 demons and demonic monsters attacked them. Their numbers were beyond what their guild could handle.

    ¡°A man suddenly appeared and wiped them out. He said that he was close to Ruan-nim. He even had his own troops. GM-nim, do you know him?¡±

    ¡°It took him about 3 minutes, I think?¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t he very strong?¡±

    Ruan saw the bandage that was wrapped around his arm. He used to wear these bandages before. He grinned as he caressed the bandage.

    ¡°This is why I admire you.¡±

    The Frying Pan Killer. He was still as polite, cheerful and wonderful as ever.

    Notes

    [Chunjang, ??] - Sauce used in jjajangmyeon.

    [Elf King¡¯s name] - Okay, so ngl, I was shooketh. Anyway, at first it was written as Coronesia so I thought, yeah, cool name. Then, in this chapter the esia was gone?! Apparently it¡¯s just Gorn. So we will continue to use Gorn as the Elf King¡¯s name.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 249 - Territorial Defense (Top)

    Chapter 249: Territorial Defense (Top)

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    ¡®The First Coalition has copsed¡­¡­¡¯

    In the end, Cain and Ares of the First Coalition failed to stop the invasion of the demons and the demonic beasts. And Genie, or Im Jihye, started watching the video again. It seemed like the battlefield was filled with endless frost. She could see Cain raising his hands high up in the sky as he shouted while hundreds of hellhounds flocked to them.

    ¡°Everyone, fire!!!¡±

    At the frontline, the troops of mages and archers all prepared for the attack.

    Along with those words, Paliar floated in the air.

    Bright light shone from his wand as he waved it around.

    ¡°Fire Storm! Fire Wall!¡±

    A huge wall made out of fire started to cover their front as huge tornadoes made out of mes began to rampage towards the hellhounds. With his magic, countless other magic poured from all over the ce. Even the archers¡¯ arrows tore through the air as they attacked the hellhounds.

    Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh!

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Stab!

    ¡°Kiheeeeeck!¡±

    Puhwaaaaaak!

    ¡°Kyaaaahack!¡±

    Wide-area-of-effect magic and plenty of arrowheads flew all over the ce. But it was only then that Ares felt that something was amiss.

    ¡°......Cain-nim.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°Howe those guys did not explode?¡±

    ording to Lev¡¯s words, they were forced to log out when they encountered Alchemist Rufel¡¯s hellhounds that caused abnormal states and explosions.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know either. Maybe it was just their trick or gimmick when they hunted my guild members?¡±

    Cain tilted his head in thought after he said those words.

    Why bother doing something so troublesome?

    But at that moment¡­¡­

    Kiiiiiieeeeeeeeeck!

    ¡°......!!!¡±

    Ares and Cain¡¯s faces were both distorted.

    Don¡¯t tell me?

    Their eyes turned to look up at the sky. There they saw hundreds of wyverns flying above them. Their figures looked so ck as they flocked together just like a figure of hundreds of migratory birds in the sky. Just like that, the wyverns quickly descended one by one.

    ¡°Kahaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kiyeeeeeee!¡±

    And riding on top of those wyverns were none other than the hellhounds.

    Cain hurriedly gave his orders.

    ¡°Mages, archers!!!¡±

    Following his words, the mages and the archers quickly took position. And one arrow from an archer urately pierced through one of the hellhounds. Then¡­¡­

    Puhaaaaaa!

    Green smoke scattered and fell down on them. And starting with that hellhound¡­¡­

    Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh!

    Dozens of arrows and magical attacks also urately hit the falling hellhounds. It was a momentary mistake. Cain shouldn¡¯t have given that order to the mages and the archers.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    The hellhounds that fell on the ground exploded.

    Fwiiiish!

    Fwiiiiiiiish!

    And the gas that escaped from their bodies began to cover the entirety of the city.

    ¡°Goddamnit!¡±

    ¡°This crazy shit!¡±

    The demons loved to fight. And for that reason, they believed that the demons would only engage in ruthless ughter as they treated these things like a game.

    Meanwhile, thementators kept on shouting.

    At that moment, they could see Rufel¡¯s mouth almost tearing into two with how wide his grin was. Then, he raised his hand as he pointed his index finger forward. He finally started the real plot of his devious game. And with his movement, the three yers began to move.

    The yer of Anguish was a woman of great strength. With just a flick of her fingers, the arrows that were embedded in the bodies of the hellhounds were pulled out as they disappeared without a trace. With just a wave of her hands, dozens of crazy and maddening spells floated around her.

    sh¡ª

    All of the magical attacks that were swirling and creating chaos in the area disappeared in a sh of ck light. It was arge-scale Dispel! This showed that she was a high-ranking mage.

    After all the magic disappeared, the yer of Death moved. As soon as he moved his staff that was hidden underneath his ragged robe¡­¡­

    Chiiiiiiiiiiing¡ª

    The bodies of the hellhounds started to melt starting from their skin to their eyes, then their organs until their entire bodies melted away. After everything melted away, bone hellhounds started to rise from the remains of their bodies.

    ¡°Grrrrrrrrr!¡±

    ¡°Keong! Keong! Keong!¡±

    Hellhounds made out of their own bones rose from the ground and began to run amok.

    ¡°Tankers! Stop them!!¡±

    The tankers who were able to drink the Elves¡¯ Stamina Potion had their stamina boosted. As soon as they heard the order, they quickly formed a huge shield with their square shields. However, everything was already all a mess.

    Baaang!

    Baaaaaaaam!

    ¡°Hiiiiik!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaa!¡±

    The tankers couldn¡¯t help but lose their mind when an explosion happened above them and they were forced to inhale the poisonous gas.

    Spurt!

    Pop, pop!

    ¡°Grrrrrrrrr!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Ugh, aaaaaargh!¡±

    ¡°Hiiiik! Sa, save me!¡±

    It was just a virtual reality game but the demons, demonic beasts and the hellhounds all looked disgustingly ugly. Goosebumps raised from all over their bodies as fear started to encroach upon the users.

    sh!

    ¡°Stay in line!!!¡±

    At that moment, the Golden Shield and the number 1 in the tanker rankings, Valdar, shouted loudly as he mmed his golden shield on the ground. The users quickly gathered around him as they formed a defense team.

    Bang!

    Valdar shouted once more after a hellhound smashed into his golden shield.

    ¡°Attack!¡±

    It was a shy shield art using his shing shield! The users spears and swords stretched in the gaps between their shields!

    Sure enough, the number 1 in the tanker rankings was clearly a cut above the rest. At that moment¡­¡­

    Crackle, crackle, crackle¡ª

    A huge bolt of lightning struck down on Valdar¡¯s shield urately.

    Bang!

    Valdar tried to stop himself from being pushed back but¡­¡­

    Bang!

    ¡°Keoheok!¡±

    A hellhound that snuck behind him suddenly exploded and caused him a huge amount of damage. Valdar was caught up in a chaotic mess but everything around him seemed to y in slow motion.

    He saw Cain and Ares stuck in a fierce battle against the three yers. But no matter what they did, their foes were still too strong.

    Ares and Cain were even brought to unconsciousness by the sudden bolt of lightning from the yer of Anguish. And along with that strike, the yer of Death brought the dead back to life as he pressed on them with great fanfare.

    Then, a man suddenly appeared in front of Valdar. It was none other than Conir, the yer of Failure. Strangely enough, he was wearing full body armor with his body wrapped in bandages and his hand was holding a sword.

    ¡°Stop him!!¡±

    ¡°Protect Valdar-nim!!!¡±

    The users all flocked towards him with their shields raised up high. However, at that moment, the sword in the demon¡¯s hand moved.

    Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª

    It was just a single sh but dozens of ck sword lights flew out from it and pierced through their shields. The users¡¯ bodies were all stabbed through by the sword lights. Their shields couldn¡¯t even stop it one bit.

    ¡°......¡±

    It was at that moment when Valdar realized it.

    ¡®Allentian is finished¡­¡­!¡¯

    Flop¡ª

    His head fell off of his body. And Conir¡¯s intermittent voice passed through Valdar¡¯s ears.

    ¡°Hung¡­¡­ ry¡­¡­ Has¡­¡­¡±

    Then, a ck screen appeared in front of Valdar.

    Im Jihye couldn¡¯t help but sigh after watching the video. The Iris and Ares Guild both faced a crushing defeat against the demons. Meanwhile, the demons and demonic beast legion were already preparing to push through.

    The people that were walking on the street stopped as they looked at the electronic disy. Through the screen, they could see what was left of the once glorious Allentian. It has now turned into a barren wastnd.

    They knew that the three yers and the hellhounds that brought about a huge and terrible debuff had the greatest contribution in Allentian¡¯s fall.

    ¡°The yers are too strong, right?¡±

    ¡°Shit¡­¡­ How do you even kill them?¡±

    ¡°ording to the information from the operators, there would be a huge reward for sessfully hunting the three yers, right?¡±

    ¡°......But is it even possible? Right now, their next target is¡­¡­¡±

    The demons stopped for a while after they conquered Allentian. And the next target that was waiting for them was¡­¡­.

    ¡°It¡¯s Legend.¡±

    ¡°Will Legend Guild be able to stop them?¡±

    ¡°They can¡¯t stop them. How can they even stop them? They¡¯re less than 20 people.¡±

    ¡°What guild did they ally with this time?¡±

    ¡°No. They can stop them. All of the guilds located in A Area are in danger. And since Ares and Iris are not the only ones, they could still make another allied force. They should form a new coalition that is built around them. And since the Legend Guild isposed of the elite minority then they should be the one to kill the yers while the other guilds hunt the hellhounds and the swarm of demonic beasts.¡±

    However, not long after, someone more sensible appeared.

    ¡°......Do you think the other guilds will do such a thing just for Legend Guild to outshine them?¡±

    Thergest guilds in the country were known as the Four Great Guilds. And right below them, those guilds that were ranked 5~10 were known as the ¡®Sun Guilds¡¯.

    Currently, the guild masters of the guilds ranked 5th, 7th, 8th and 9th were gathered together.

    ¡°Miss Alicia said that she wouldn¡¯te.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s pretending to be nice all by herself.¡±

    The story that they told was simple. While Legend Guild bought them time, they would attract other users and build a new defense that would be the third line of defense.

    They believed that the first battle encounter failed because they did not expect aerial warfare. In addition, they also believed that Legend Guild would ughter a lot of those demons before they died.

    ¡°It¡¯s unfortunate but Legend Guild will fall here.¡±

    ¡°......Well, it can¡¯t be helped.¡±

    That was what they were saying but the reality was different. The reason why they did not form an alliance with Legend Guild in Philip Vige was simple. Legend Guild was a guild that was packed with the best rankers. If they lose this war then they would all receive penalties. Then, once the breaking point was reached the guild rankings would naturally follow and fall.

    Why would they want something like that? Simple. That was just how people were. If there was someone higher than them they would want to kick them on the stomach and step on them just because they were jealous.

    Meanwhile, one man suddenly said¡­¡­

    ¡°I don¡¯t think Kaistra and User Minhyuk are currently with Legend Guild. I wonder how long they willst.¡±

    It was one of the guild masters who spoke. Just like he said, they believed that the people who exert the strongest strength were just Minhyuk and Kaistra. And since they weren¡¯t present then they would eventually fall. Of course, Legend Guild was still made out of the best rankers but they knew that they did not stand a chance with just themselves.

    Genie sighed deeply after logging in the game.

    Just like she had expected, the Sun Guilds did not have any intention of helping them. She also got a call from Artheon that they wanted to help, however they said that they were sorry since they needed to put a lot of effort into their current defense.

    Just then, Ascar approached her with a glow on her face.

    ¡°Ge, Genie¡­¡­!¡±

    Ascar usually maintained a calm andposed expression on her face but right now, she couldn¡¯t hide the surprise that she was experiencing.

    ¡°S, someone came to help us!¡±

    ¡°How many people?¡±

    Genie tilted her head as Ascar hurriedly spoke to answer her question.

    ¡°No, not people. Just one¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Just one? Ascar is so surprised just because of one person?

    Ascar led her to the person so she could check it out for herself. Then, she could see the members of Legend and ck Dragon and the Boys gathered around.

    ¡°What I¡¯m going to draw for you is our token.¡±

    ¡°Oh, what a cool token!¡±

    ¡°What does this token mean?¡±

    And the man standing in the middle of them said¡­¡­

    ¡°It means friendship.¡±

    The country¡¯s, no, the best mage in Athenae, ck Mage Ali had appeared.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 250 - Territorial Defense (Top)

    Chapter 250: Territorial Defense (Top)

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    ck Mage Ali did not hide the fact that he was the user that climbed the Hall of Kings with Minhyuk. He was as proud as anybody else with what he achieved and the people were also proud of him.

    Alex was known as the number 1 mage in the overall rankings but with his higher ss magic some people had started calling him Great Sage Ali. Although most people still refer to him as ck Mage.

    However, Ali the ck Mage was the only one who knew that the opportunity that he grabbed to climb the Hall of Kings was given to him by Minhyuk. He had promised Minhyuk before that if he ever needed his help that he would drop everything else and run to him. And just recently, Minhyuk sent him a whisper asking him to help Legend Guild. His meaning was simple. It was because he would take a lot of time before he could arrive to aid them so he asked him for his help.

    ¡®I¡¯ll protect them. So you don¡¯t have to worry, Minhyuk-nim.¡¯

    Ali was drawing an ¡®X¡¯ on everyone¡¯s wrists. And to his surprise, the members of ck Dragon and the Boys were all enchanted by it.

    ¡°What a brilliant token.¡±

    ¡°Friendship. What a wonderful thing to say. Boy, are you interested in joining ck Dragon and the Boys?¡±

    ¡°Hoo? ck Dragon and the Boys? That¡¯s a nice name just like Whitebeard and Ace.¡±

    Then, at that moment¡­¡­

    ¡°Whitebeard and Ace¡­¡­ ? You¡­¡­ Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡­.¡±

    Ace¡¯s body was trembling and even his breathing had started to bebored as his eyes reddened imperceptibly.

    ¡°Have you seen the Summit War?¡±

    Then, Ali turned to him as he spoke solemnly.

    ¡°Of course. My goodness. Is there anyone who hasn¡¯t seen that? I really sobbed when Ace¡¯s chest was stabbed. Oh,e to think of it, you¡­¡­¡±

    Ace looked at him in anticipation as he listened to Ali¡¯s words.

    ¡°Look like Ace.¡±

    Ace¡¯s lips twitched in joy.

    ¡°My nickname is Ace too! Ali-nim is the only one who recognized me. Who¡¯s your favorite character?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Zorro.¡±

    ¡°Kghhk!!! You are really knowledgeable.¡±

    ¡°Of course, One Diss manhwa is the best.¡±

    Their eyes made eye contact and each of them could tell what the other was thinking even though they did not say a word. The two felt a great sense of bonding after finding out that they both liked the same manhwa.

    And ck Dragon who was looking at them just kept his arms crossed with his infinitely serious expression while mumbling to himself.

    ¡°Zorro¡­¡­? I can¡¯t believe he knew Zorro at such a young age¡­¡­ Swordsman Zorro Ali¡­¡­? N, no¡­¡­ ck Mage, you¡­¡­¡±

    It was ck Dragon who was looking at them with a sour look on his face.

    Genie perked up as she looked at this very weed reinforcement. It was ck Mage Ali! She did not expect that the world¡¯s best mage woulde to support her.

    Then¡­¡­

    Ring!

    But the notifications did not stop there.

    Ring!

    Ring!

    It was clearly a huge reward. If their EXP increased by 20% then the members of Legend Guild or otherrge guilds would be able to cross the threshold that they weren¡¯t able to climb. This would definitely have a huge effect onrge guilds. Hundreds of them would have a 20% increase in EXP for one straight month.

    Then, Genie looked at her individual contribution as she pondered.

    ¡®I wonder who¡¯s number 1 in the individual contributions¡­¡­¡¯

    For individual contributions, Genie had heard that even though they had converted them to war points and used them to purchase items, the contribution points that they had earned would still be shown. In other words, all of their contribution points whether it was untouched or used would bebined to determine the first in the rankings.

    Then, at that moment.

    Vwoooooooooong¡ª Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

    The sound of the trumpets and drums started to shake the entire world. And along with them, whispers from broadcastingpanies started toe in.

    In the first ce, just like any other guilds, Legend Guild also had an agreement with broadcasters.

    The main purpose of broadcasting the guild was simple. It had the effect of promoting the guild as well as showcasing and certifying the guild¡¯s troops and armed forces. Through that, they could recruit a variety of people and spread their influence.

    But this was something that Genie had expected.

    ¡®Right now, perhaps¡­¡­¡¯

    The station would be talking about how to get higher ratings. And this was how the scenario was chosen.

    ¡®Legend shall not fall.¡¯

    Everyone, everywhere felt the same way. They knew that Legend would fall today. But not long after, a strange smile hung around Genie¡¯s lips.

    ¡®You think we¡¯re going to fall that easily?¡¯

    Didn¡¯t they say this as soon as we received Philip Vige? That we can change the vige into a bunker if we used 250,000 contribution points?

    Genie had already checked the information.

    ¡®We won¡¯t fall as easily as you thought.¡¯

    And with those thoughts, she saw the bone wyverns flying from afar.

    ATV PD Kim Daeguk looked at the iing Demonic Legion through the screen with his crossed arms and serious expression.

    ¡°It¡¯s a good thing that Cain Alliance had taken about 1/3 of their forces¡­¡­ but it seems like they can¡¯t stop them with just their elite minority¡­¡­ Too reckless¡­¡­¡±

    PD Kim Daeguk had said these words coldly. He liked a big hit and high ratings and he believed that Legend Guild might be the guild that would give him those numbers. Of course, even if they did not get those numbers, their ratings would still be fine.

    The Demonic Legion was being blocked by the 20 elite members of their guild. Although their numbers were huge, he had been cheered up by the thought of those rankers¡¯ strength. However, he still had many concerns.

    ¡®If you¡¯re not able tost at least ten minutes¡­¡­¡¯

    Their ratings would be high but it would be a loss for ATV since they wouldn¡¯t be able to maintain it. So instead of asking their help to broadcast, ATV had provided huge funds to Legend Guild. The contract was signed when they entered Elvenheim so they never thought that something like this would happen. In fact, it was even an exclusive broadcast.

    Then, he heard the voice of the rtions people.

    ¡°The current audience ratings are at 4.3%.¡±

    ¡°......It¡¯s lower than what we thought?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s because the response is not as good as we thought.¡±

    PD Kim Daeguk hurriedly checked theizens¡¯ response.

    ¡°NTV is the biggest.¡±

    People wanted to see the battle of the strong. They wanted to see excellent physicals, amazingly ridiculous skills as well as monstrous stats. But what if they copsed in vain? Of course, even the viewers would feel empty and at a loss.

    And right now, their rival TVpany, NTV, was showing Cane, the most popr target on Ztube. He heard that NTV had invited the Sun Guild Alliance. In other words, once Legend Guild copsed, then they would immediately send out the Third Coalition¡¯s defense. By then, they would get high ratings. ATV might have something far lower than what they had expected.

    At that moment, hundreds of bone wyverns started to appear in the air. There were even thousands of fierce hellhounds on the ground along with the asional Silver Wolf that was asrge as a 1-ton truck.

    Philip Vige was still standing strongly albeit stubbornly. Then, he saw Guild Master Genie climbing on top of one of the small sentry towers.

    And the Taming Master, Jan, who was casted by ATV started hermentary.

    And then, something extraordinary happened.

    Crack, crack, crack!

    Craaaaack!

    The running hellhounds suddenly started digging the ground as they entered it like moles.

    Pa, pa, pa, pa!

    Pa, pa, pa, pa!

    ¡°......¡±

    Genie¡¯s eyes were widened. And just like what thementators said, she looked like she was confused. However, that was not the reason why she was perplexed. She felt flustered because it went just like how she predicted it to go.

    Then, a small smile graced her lips as thementator started to shout again.

    Then, at that moment, the mage raised his hand. And as soon as his fingers flicked together¡­¡­

    Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr¡ª

    The ground began to shake as tree roots and branches twisted out from the ground and trapped hundreds of hellhounds. Then, the mysterious mage unfolded the palm of his hands before clenching his fist tightly!

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    The hundreds of hellhounds that dug deep in the ground and were popped out by the roots and branches suddenly exploded.

    Fwiiiiiiish¡ª

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Then, the green gas scattered as explosions started one after the other.

    Thementators were left astounded. Then, one of thementators began to speak in a flurry.

    Notes

    [One Diss] - The author¡¯s poor effort of evading copyright issues by changing the name of the manga despite describing the characters vividly. LOLOL. Anyway, you know the manga that this is parodying. If you don¡¯t, then shame.

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Minhyuk, I miss you! Come back!

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 251 - Territorial Defense (Bottom)

    Chapter 251: Territorial Defense (Bottom)

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    70 Territorial Defense (Bottom)

    ¡®Wh, what the hell¡­¡­?¡¯

    MC Jan was left speechless. She couldn¡¯t help but be amazed at the excellent disy of magic. It was such a huge wide-area magic. No. That magic was not exactly a wide-area magic.

    Then, PD Kim Daeguk finally recognized him.

    ¡°ck Mage Ali¡­¡­! Why is he with Legend Guild? Hurry up and put the caption on the bottom and pass it on to the MCs!¡±

    Not long after, the MCs shouted in shock.

    Along with their words, Ali tried to throw his magic at the flocking Bone Wyverns and the iing hellhounds.

    ¡°Fire Storm.¡±

    Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

    Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

    Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

    Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

    Four giant tornadoes made out of fire went out and devoured the hellhounds.

    Then, Genie¡¯s lips curled up in a smile. Her voice rang loudly in the air.

    ¡°Our Legend won¡¯t get pushed back that easily.¡±

    ¡°Our audience ratings are rising at a rapid pace!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re reaching 10% in ratings!¡±

    ¡°Our ratings are soaring with the appearance of ck Mage Ali!!!¡±

    ¡°Keuheu! As expected of Legend! We know that it¡¯s not going to be easy on them but perhaps Genie was aware that they were going to dig the ground?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. I wonder how she knew that?¡±

    ¡°It seems like she really has a different view on things.¡±

    They were not aware of it but Genie made use of Abel¡¯s skills. One of Abel¡¯s special abilities was called ¡®Monster Analysis¡¯. It was a simple skill. All it did was identify the characteristics of a monster. And Abel, who was using his stealth skills as well as the Monster Ability, noticed that something was strange when he looked at the hellhounds.

    The hellhounds that were recreated by the Alchemist Rufel all had their front paws made simr to that of a mole. So once he used his Monster Analysis, he knew that they would try to ¡®Dig the Ground¡¯.

    ¡°Let¡¯s keep this up! Just like this¡­¡­! Hang on a bit longer!¡±

    However, even though ck Mage Ali had appeared, the number of their enemies was still too much. Regardless, PD Kim Daeguk believed that their ratings would definitely achieve a high result.

    What they weren¡¯t aware of was that today would mark the day when ATV received their highest rating in their broadcasting history.

    ¡°Hoo?¡±

    However, Rufel still had a rxed smile on his face.

    ¡®Humans have a lot of strong men in their midst, but¡­¡­¡¯

    He knew that they would eventually be pushed back by their numbers. Rufel did not look too worried about their current situation.

    And with that, the demons that were being pushed back by the firestorms, snuffed out the huge tornado of mes as they started to run forward.

    Bang!!!

    Crack¡ª

    ck Mage Ali hurriedly formed a solid shield in front of him when he saw a lightning strikeing at him. Being a high-leveled mage, his shield was much stronger and more massive than that of the ordinary mages.

    When ck Mage Ali turned around to look for the source of the lightning, he saw a woman waving her hands. And along with the wave of her hands, the huge firestorms dissipated and dispersed in the air.

    ¡®Dispel¡­¡­?¡¯

    ck Mage Ali had realized that the opponent that he was facing was none other than Kenny, the yer of Anguish. ording to the information provided openly, the yers were some kind of ¡®Chimera¡¯. A ¡®Killer Weapon¡¯ that was made just to kill. There was no urate estimate of their level as of now. However, one thing was for sure, since she could dispel his magic then she clearly had a huge amount of magic in her body.

    When Ali tried to use the wide-area of attack skills that he had saved to deal with the mobs flocking below him¡­¡­

    Bang¡ª

    A sh of lightning stretched out from her fingers as it targeted Ali. Ali hurriedly waved his wand to create a shield to counter and nullify the lightning.

    ¡°Let¡¯s see. How about this?¡±

    Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh!

    Then, dozens of magic strands shot out of Ali¡¯s wand, just like bullets from a gun. Most of them were only at 1st~2nd ss magic but their strength and power was beyond what one could imagine.

    Bang, bang, bang! Bang!

    The yer of Anguish also hurriedly created a ck shield to protect herself from his attacks. After sessfully defending against his attacks, a wicked grin shed on her face.

    Then, Ali folded his arms in front of him.

    ¡°Fuck off.¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    Then¡­¡­

    Baaaaang!

    A huge white ball hit her on the back of her head. Then, Ali raised his middle finger at her.

    ¡°It¡¯s the SuperUltraGreat Magic Missile.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    The yer of Anguish¡¯s face distorted when he saw Ali¡¯s provocation and taunt.

    Meanwhile, below¡­¡­

    The members of Legend Guild were all preparing for the battle with tense and bated breaths.

    ¡°Crazy¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re really very ugly.¡±

    ¡°Haaaa. Can we evene back alive?¡±

    Each and every single one of them hadplicated expressions on their faces. Ali was putting up a good fight but he only inflicted damage on 1/20 of the forces that came for them. What was worse was the fact that Ali would definitely have halved his mana since he was using his wide-area of attack spells continuously.

    ¡°We have to watch out for the Silver Wolves and those demons.¡±

    The demons that were deployed this time were much strongerpared to the previous ones that attacked Allentian. This was what they had confirmed after Abel used his Monster Analysis.

    ¡°Their defense and offense are far more overwhelmingpared to the previous one.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Don¡¯t be too discouraged. Abel hyung~¡±

    Abel smiled wryly at Ace¡¯s words.

    But what if it¡¯s the truth?

    Before they knew it, the guild members were all using their wide-area of attack skills to the enemies that approached them. Ace even used his best skill.

    ¡°ming Red Hell¡¯s Carriage!!!¡±

    Four horses with mes licking on their bodies jumped out of space. Behind them was a huge carriage that was asrge as a five-ton truck. The carriage approached the enemies at a rapid pace.

    Meanwhile, Ascar had drawn a circle with her two katanas.

    ¡°Ghost Sword¡¯s ughter.¡±

    The space within the circle was torn apart as hundreds of swords popped out of it and flew towards their enemies.

    On the other hand, Khan had pulled his arm back as the mana from the surroundings concentrated at the end of his fist. The mana even started to heat up.

    ¡°Exploding Heat Fist.¡±

    Hwaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª

    Abel also threw his dagger one after another.

    ¡°Life¡¯s death!!!¡±

    When the dagger was thrown, hundreds of afterimages were formed.

    Their attacks all pushed forward towards their enemies, the demons. Before they knew it, the Hell Carriage was already in the middle of the enemy camp. The carriage stopped gobsmack in the middle of their enemies before exploding and creating an 8-meter crater.

    Baaaaaaaaaang!

    Ascar and Abel¡¯s hundreds of swords and daggers afterimages stabbed through their iing enemies, effectively knocking them down. Even the Exploding Heat Fist blew and opened the way in the middle of the iing troops.

    The Guild Members continued to throw their wide-area of attack skills. They were able to hunt more than 600 mobs in one fell swoop. However, there were still a lot of the enemies that were fine and energetic. It was none other than the Silver Wolves.

    They were only barely able to scratch some of the Silver Wolves but no matter what they did, they were still running at them furiously.

    ¡°Are there anyone with a wide-area of attack skill left?¡±

    ¡°No, no, nope!¡±

    ¡°No can do!¡±

    ¡°Then, what¡¯s left?¡±

    ¡°Only hand-to-hand battle.¡±

    Locke and Khan raised their heads as they breathed roughly. All they could do was look forward. They could see that their guild members seemed nervous. Then, Locke said to them¡­¡­

    ¡°Did you guys see the recently released ¡®Nivengers: Bam, It exploded. Whoa¡¯?¡±

    ¡°Hey, of course I watched it!¡±

    ¡°It was fun. Chanos! You son of a bitch!¡±

    Theyughed just to shake the tension off of their bodies. Even Khan, who usually did not resort to doing weird things like Locke, also agreed just to shake off his nerves.

    ¡°Then, let¡¯s do that.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    He had his hands crossed on his chest as he shouted¡­¡­

    ¡°Legend forever!!!¡±

    It was the Prince of Nakanda¡¯s famous line.

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    The faces of the members of Legend Guild looked like they were saying what was wrong with him.

    ¡°Legend Forever!!!¡±

    ¡°Legend Forever!!!¡±

    Not long after, both sides met and conflict happened.

    sh!

    Stab!

    Baaaaaaang!

    Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam!

    ¡°Keuhahahaha! Die! Die! Do you know who I am?!!!¡±

    ¡°Punk!!! I am very confident!!!¡±

    aaash!

    Feeling the tension from hunting the terrible and frightening demonic beasts, demons, and mole-like hellhounds, the guild members all spewed out funny lines all on their own. Somehow, doing something like this had easily released their tense nerves and increased their efficiency.

    ¡°Punk!!! What did you do with yourmander yesterday?!!! Did you eat together?! Huh?!! Because I did!¡±

    sh!

    That was Locke¡¯s voice, shouting loudly while he hunted the iing demons.

    Then¡­¡­

    Ascar, who had always been quiet, shouted just like the real goddess of the battlefield with her fluttering silver hair and katanas raised highly¡­¡­..

    ¡°S, stop moving¡­¡­! Did you even take your weapons?!¡±

    ¡°.......¡±

    ¡°.......¡±

    ¡°.......Th, that¡¯s great.¡±

    With her guild members¡¯ reactions, her face reddened in shame. Just like a tomato.

    Meanwhile, thementators were shouting¡­¡­

    ¡°Kyaaak!¡±

    A giant Silver Wolf jumped up and bared its teeth at Ascar. Despite attacking it with all her might, she was barely able to leave a scratch on its body.

    ¡°Grrrrrrrrrr!¡±

    Just as she was going to be devoured¡­¡­

    ¡°Heup!!!¡±

    A strong and shing white light enveloped Khan¡¯s fists. And as soon as he stretched out his fist¡­¡­

    Shweeeeeeeee¡ª

    A thin and long force stretched out from his fists, tearing the back of the Silver Wolf¡¯s head. It had the sharpness of the sword!

    Chiiiiiiiik¡ª

    ¡®How high is this guy¡¯s defense?¡¯

    Not long after, Abel shouted at them.

    ¡°ording to the Monster Analysis, Silver Wolves have a special magic that reduces the skill damage by 50% while increasing their defensive power by 2x!!! It won¡¯t be easy to kill!¡±

    ¡°Goddamn!¡±

    However, thanks to that short window of time, Ascar was able to escape the clutches of the Silver Wolf.

    Right now, there were 30 Silver Wolves approaching them. The Silver Wolves easily broke down their encampment as they began to approach them furiously.

    Khan looked around coldly.

    Because of their skill cooldown, the number of in attacks had started to increase. However, even that began to fall down due to theirck of stamina.

    And¡­¡­

    Step, step¡ª

    The yer of Failure, who was wrapped in bandages from his head down to his toe, was walking towards them. The man who had a long sword strapped behind his back looked like he was out of it which was very strange considering the situation that they were in.

    Abel quickly moved to observe the yer of Failure to confirm his information. But when he saw the information, he couldn¡¯t stop himself from letting out a loud gasp.

    ¡®611¡­¡­?¡¯

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Although I miss Minhyuk, I¡¯m d that these chapters are showcasing a bit of the strength of Legend Guild. I mean, they¡¯re the elite minority and they could stand their ground against thousands of demons with just their strength.

 Chapter 252 - Territorial Defense (Bottom)

    Chapter 252: Territorial Defense (Bottom)

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    It had only been two years since Athenae opened and started. There were still plenty of people who had hidden their strength. This was especially the case for NPCs and mobs. However, even with those things taken into consideration, the yer of Failure Conir¡¯s level was so high that one could only say that it was crazy.

    It was at that moment that Abel saw one of his guild members rushing forward to deal with the yer of Failure.

    ¡°N, no¡­¡­!¡±

    But even before he could finish his words, he was already using his beast transformation to leap high into the air and attack the yer of Failure with his lion ws.

    Then¡­¡­

    sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª

    The sword of the ¡®yer of Failure¡¯ moved in a straight line. The movements were so fast that only an afterimage could be seen.

    ¡°......!¡±

    With the appearance of the ¡®yer of Failure¡¯, Legend Guild began to stumble and falter.

    ¡°This fucker!¡±

    Locke rushed towards the yer of Failure with his two huge axes. Two strong and powerful forces flew straight towards the yer of Failure.

    Bang¡ª

    And at that exact same moment, the yer of Failure gently waved his sword. His gentle and soft wave had easily cancelled the huge force that wasing straight at him.

    Then¡­¡­

    Bang¡ª

    His sword stretched forward as the tip of his sword stabbed at Locke¡¯s shoulder.

    ¡°Keup!¡±

    Locke flew back strongly.

    Dash, dash, dash!

    Abel hurried forward. He quickly threw a smokescreen before the yer of Failure could move to slit Locke¡¯s throat.

    Poof!

    Bang¡ª

    Then, he quickly fell back with Locke.

    ¡°That bastard is strong¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s extremely strong¡­¡­ I don¡¯t know if he¡¯s even made to be killed¡­¡­¡±

    Abel looked around. He could see that his guild members who were doing well earlier were starting to get pushed back. Some were even copsing.

    ¡°Heok¡ª heok¡ª¡±

    Khan¡¯s rough and ragged breathing seemed to ring loudly in Abel¡¯s ears.

    Thementators were shouting loudly.

    On the other hand, many of the viewers were disappointed. However, regardless of their disappointment, they still pped their hands.

    However, at that moment, Genie fired a re.

    ¡°Run!¡±

    Thementators expressed their confusion and doubt while the members of Legend Guild who were fighting fiercely in front of Philip Vige fell back and went back inside the vige in unison. They made sure to tidy up the demons and mobs as they went inside. And the moment they all entered¡­¡­

    Genie shouted loudly.

    ¡°Using 250,000 war points. Convert the vige into a bunker!

    At that moment, something extraordinary happened.

    When a demon tried to enter the vige, the ground shook loudly. Then¡­¡­

    In a row.

    Chaeng!

    Iron bars rose from the ground one by one, splitting the body of the demon who almost stepped inside the vige.

    Shwa, shwa, shwa, shwa, shwak¡ª!

    Iron bars continuously rose from the ground as they began to circle around Philip Vige.

    It was like¡­¡­

    The sturdy iron bars had spikes covering them. It was literally a bunker in the shape of the turtle ship. And it was so sturdy that the mobs couldn¡¯t easily break them.

    Just then, the centermost part of the top suddenly opened. Then, something stuck out of the opening.

    ¡°Kiyeeeeeee!¡±

    A ck dragon soared into the sky. They could see that there were a few people standing on top of the dragon. And another dragon was flying underneath it!!!

    And on top of the ck dragon, there was a taciturn man with his arms crossed in front of his chest. Genie smiled happily as she looked at them.

    ¡°This is our 2nd sortie.¡±

    Along with her words, the man riding on the ck dragon opened his mouth. The viewers,mentators and even the demons all held their breaths as they focused on his mouth.

    ¡°Roar! ck Dragon and the Boys!!!¡±

    And Genie almost burst to tears.

    ¡°F, Father-nim¡­¡­ Pl, please¡­¡­¡±

    Due to thementators¡¯ mistrantion, ¡®ck Goat and the Boys¡¯ appeared as the top article in the real-time search terms.

    Meanwhile, Genie could see the appearance, defense and special powers of the bunker fortress in advance thanks to the hologram projection. This was their privilege for securing Philip Vige. She also divided themselves into two teams. The first team was the members of Legend Guild with their slightlyrge number while the second team was the ck Dragon and the Boys.

    ck Dragon and the Boys were onlyposed of seven people. However, each and every single one of them were much stronger than the members of Legend Guild. Especially the two dragons, they also had the same strength as those of the members of Legend.

    This was a military operation.

    This was arge-scale war. If their opponents had an advantage in number, then they needed to have a certain amount of rest to continue on. They needed to have the time to drink potions, restore their cooldown time and restore their stamina. That was what they were going to do in the bunker. Then, once the 2nd team jumped out and got tired, the 1st team would go out. They would go in turns as far as they could go. In addition, the bunker had a harder, sturdier and more powerful strength than what she had thought.

    ¡°Kiyyyyyyeeeeee!¡±

    A huge amount of force condensed and concentrated in the mouths of both Britney and Destiny as they flew in the sky.

    At that moment, a huge burst of me poured out from Britney¡¯s mouth.

    Puhaaaaaaa!

    And as if proving that she would not lose, Destiny also let out a huge ice breath.

    Most of the troops that surrounded Philip Vige, which had now turned into a bunker, were destroyed by Britney¡¯s mes while the creatures that were directly hit by the ice dragon Destiny¡¯s breath were frozen into popsicles.

    At that moment, General, who was standing on Destiny¡¯s back, threw a shield.

    Spin, spin, spin, spin¡ª

    As if it had consciousness, the square shield that was thrown and spinning fiercely descended and flew around the frozen creatures breaking them one by one.

    Crack¡ª crack¡ª crack¡ª!!!

    Grab!

    General single-handedly grabbed the shield that came back to him automatically. Although he was not as strong as the four Hyenas, ck Dragon and the members of Legend Guild, he was still listed as a semi-ranker.

    And from the hands of the Mage Kille, a whip made out of white light, formed.

    Crackle!

    His whip stretched out as it wrapped around the ankle of the ¡®yer of Anguish¡¯ that was entangled with ck Mage Ali.

    ¡°Th, this coward¡­¡­!¡±

    The yer of Anguish, who was enjoying her 1:1 battle, shrieked loudly. Ali, who approached her quickly with Fly, shouted back in answer.

    ¡°What¡¯s so cowardly about being able to live instead of dying?!!!¡±

    Then, a storm of magical attacks fell on her body.

    ¡°Double Fireball! Wind Cutter! Lightning Sword!!!¡±

    Chaechaechaechaechaeng¡ª

    Dozens of shields quickly formed in front of her.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª

    Defending against the incessant bombardment of magical attacks, she sometimes even flicked her fingers and used dispel.

    Baaaaaang¡ª

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    Not long after, the whip made of light that wrapped around her ankle and tied her down to the ground slipped and disappeared. And Kille, who was also standing on Destiny¡¯s back, delivered magical attacks one after another at a fearsome speed.

    ¡°Laughable fools!¡±

    She casted magic one after another to defend against Kille¡¯s attacks. She even countered and used magic against Kille who was high up in the air.

    aaash¡ª

    A giant fireball flew towards him at a speed that wasparable to a bullet being shot from a gun. Kille hurriedly created a shield to defend against the attack.

    Crack¡ª

    However, ck Mage Ali was not aware that it was not a magic that Kille could handle.

    Craaaaaack¡ª

    Bang!

    As soon as the shield broke, General stepped forward and struck with his shield. Sessfully defending against the attack that almost mmed at Kille.

    ¡°You¡¯re just the same¡­¡­¡±

    The yer of Anguishughed as she watched them rushing to defend themselves. Then, she suddenly realized something. She realized that Ali, who was constantly bombarding her with magic, had turned quiet. When she turned her head in a rush, she could see an influx of white dots rapidly forming at the speed of light in the sky from the torn space.

    Before she could move, something appeared in front of her.

    Stab!!!

    A huge spear made out of light stabbed through her chest.

    It was his most powerful magic, his magic with the highest damage. It was none other than Diss.

    ¡°Urk!¡±

    She was appalled by the huge amount of damage that she had incurred.

    Without missing a moment, Kille and ck Mage Ali bombarded her with magical attacks.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!!!

    ¡°Kyaaaaaak!¡±

    ¡°She has the ability to recover so we have to destroy her until she doesn¡¯t have any shape or form.¡±

    ¡°I know! Fire Field!¡±

    Crackle!

    All three of the chimeras had tough resilience and because of that, the two of them poured down their magic like crazy. They did not stop until the notification rang!

    Then, the notification rang loudly in Ali¡¯s ears.

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    ck Mage Ali was very happy.

    Since he basically hunted with Kille, it meant that they would share their contribution and EXP. In addition, the Wand of Anguish would be divided equally with the Legend Guild.

    Then, ck Mage Ali once again joined the battlefield.

    Meanwhile, ck Dragon had ordered his two dragons to use their breath thrice until they were no longer able to use it.

    ¡°Descend!¡±

    ¡°Descend!¡±

    The six men, who descended at a high speed, rapidly dealt with the mobs that were sticking close to Philip Vige. ck Dragon also flew at a high speed with Britney and Destiny as he attacked the Silver Wolves.

    Bang!

    ¡°Graaack!¡±

    Destiny¡¯s fangs were embedded deeply on the thick and hard skin of the Silver Wolves. The ck dragon on top of it red fiercely at the wolves as ck Dragon bombed his way through leveling up.

    With his ridiculously overgeared self together with his unexpected(?) gaming skills, he had done a tremendous amount of leveling up with the help of the two dragons, Britney and Destiny.

    The ck swordshed at the Silver Wolves at a very rapid pace, leaving only after images behind.

    Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª

    ¡°Kiryaaaack!¡±

    Vwoooooooom¡ª

    A Silver Wolf copsed. This was the first sessful hunting of a Silver Wolf.

    ck Dragon threw his sword as he scrutinized the demonic beasts with his sharp re.

    Pipipipipipipipi¡ª

    ck Dragon¡¯s sword flew in a straight line stabbing through a line of enemies in an instant. His sword moved towards the path where his arms pointed at.

    Not long after, ck Dragon¡¯s sword prated through the center of the enemies.

    Hundreds of ck thorns bursted out of the sword as they stabbed through the enemies.

    Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª

    Then, they floated in the air for a bit beforeing back to the sword. When ck Dragon moved his hand, his sword came back to his hand immediately.

    And then, another surprising thing happened.

    Hundreds of thorns sprung up in the Philip Vige that had turned into a round bunker that looked just like a turtle ship.

    Genie murmured to herself.

    ¡°Launch the cannon.¡±

    Creak, creak, creak!

    Creak, creak, creak, creak!

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Hundreds of thorns flew and rained down on the enemies at a high speed. A long chain of thorns stabbed through the enemies.

    Stab¡ª

    Stab¡ª

    Stab¡ª

    The sharp and pointy thorns stabbed at their iing enemies before quickly exploding.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    The st that swept off the nearby enemies showed an enormous amount of power.

    Creaaaak!

    The thorns recovered and returned back to the bunker all by themselves.

    The Elf King Gorn was irvoyant and he could see everything within a thousand li. For that reason, he was very amazed when he saw that the defense in Philip Vige was doing unexpectedly well.

    However, darkness still encroached upon his face.

    ¡®Rufel hasn¡¯t sent all the chimeras yet¡­¡­¡¯

    Once theye out, then they will just eventually copse.

    Right at that moment¡­¡­

    Clip, clop, clip, clop¡ª

    Gorn¡¯s ears twitched when he heard a mysterious sound. Most of the elves had good hearing and sight. And among all of them, Gorn was a cut above the rest.

    ¡®The ttering of hooves¡­¡­?¡¯

    His head turned to the direction where the sound wasing from.

    Notes

    Turtle Ship - a warship made back in Joseon Dynasty. They were used by the Royal Korean Navy until the 19th century. You can look for their pictures with just Turtle Ship.

    Sortie - an attack made by troopsing out from a position of defense.

    Semi-ranker - I think I¡¯ve written this before as middle-ranker. It seems like it¡¯s more of a semi ranker instead of a middle ranker.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at:/woopread

 Chapter 253 - Territorial Defense (Bottom)

    Chapter 253: Territorial Defense (Bottom)

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Rufel was surprised.

    ¡®With only fewer than thirty people¡­¡­¡¯

    They had already hunted 1/6 of his troops. The decisive factor was Philip Vige turning into a bunker. Despite the demons¡¯ continuous attacks and arrows, they still could not leave behind any scratch on the bunker.

    However, Rufel soon let out a derisiveugh. He gave his orders to the yer of Death.

    Detonate.

    They still had a lot of their numbers left. And that bunker would definitely fall under their hands eventually.

    ¡°Heok, heok, heok, heok.¡±

    ¡°Keuheuk. It¡¯s getting dangerous.¡±

    ¡°Three of our guild members died now.¡±

    Once again, the members of Legend Guild who went out to hunt the mobs took their turn toe inside the bunker. They quickly took their potions and rested. Meanwhile, the 2nd team, ck Dragon and the Boys, also came back in. It looked like it was a push and pull battle but they had two additional guild members forced to log out. As their number decreased, the Legend Guild felt more and more pressure piling up on their shoulders.

    The Legend Guild also saw the current status of the bunker¡¯s defense.

    They were still a long way from copsing. At this rate, they could stillst another hour or two. But at that moment, Ascar looked out and mumbled¡­¡­

    ¡°Wh, what¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    Genie hurriedly stood up and looked outside following Ascar¡¯s gaze. When she saw the scene outside, she couldn¡¯t help but be shocked and appalled.

    She saw far bigger creatures than the exploding hellhounds that they saw earlier. In addition, the skin was not the hideous melted ck from earlier but a shining silver. What was worse was that they looked like they were about two or three times faster than the regr hellhounds.

    Dash, dash, dash, dash¡ª

    Hundreds of such creatures were running straight towards them.

    ¡°Kiyeeeeeeeeee!¡±

    Britney fired out a breath. However, only very few of them were killed.

    ¡°Stop them!¡±

    ck Dragon felt his gut tighten. He keenly felt something as he shouted loudly. The guild membersunched a barrage of attacks. However, no matter how strong their attacks were, they weren¡¯t able to damage them at all. They were only barely able to scratch them just like with the Silver Wolves earlier.

    They were only able to hunt around one or two with their one-shot lethal moves.

    ¡°Shit¡­¡­!¡±

    Not long after, they leapt high up in the sky before sticking to the walls just like a ma.

    Stick, stick, stick, stick, stick, stick¡ª

    As soon as they got stuck on the walls¡­¡­ They saw the yer of Death flick his finger from afar.

    Flick¡ª

    Then, at that moment¡­¡­

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    The bunker received constant damage. And¡­¡­

    Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª

    An ominous sound began to ring loudly in their ears.

    ¡°It¡¯s a real suicide squad¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°They even exploded on their own¡­¡­¡±

    In an instant, the bunker¡¯s durability had almost reached its limit. However, the hellhounds, from just now, were still running towards them.

    ¡®If the bunker copses¡­¡­ We won¡¯t be able tost 10 minutes¡­¡­¡¯

    Every single one of them was exhausted. In addition, their wide-area skills were still under cooldown and couldn¡¯t be used for about an hour. Because of that, they would be wiped out immediately.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Then, another explosion began to shake up the bunker.

    Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª

    Cracks started to break out from their shields. Genie hurriedly fired the cannons. She wanted to hunt as many as she could before the bunker copsed.

    ¡°Launch cannon.¡±

    Creak, creak, creak, creak!

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    The surrounding demonic beasts exploded. Once the thorns were recovered, she fired another shot of cannon.

    ¡°Launch cannon.¡±

    Then, at that moment¡­¡­

    Crack, crack, crack, crack!

    Spider web-like cracks started to appear on the walls one by one. Not long after, the notifications went off.

    ¡°Everyone, take cover!!!¡±

    The debris almost swept over the guild members. They moved quickly after hearing Genie¡¯smand.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Goddamn!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re fucked!¡±

    Now, they would definitely die.

    Grrrrrrrrrrrrr.

    When the bunker copsed and a hazy smoke rose from the piles of debris, MC Jan felt despair.

    ¡®N, no¡­¡­¡¯

    The minority, Legend Guild, had shown everyone that they were really the best in their country. But the bunker copsed and they would eventually be wiped out too.

    Just then, a man flew on the ck dragon. The yer of Death also summoned a bone dragon to face off against the man. The bone dragon was not just a normal bone dragon.

    ¡®Bone Dragon Lord?¡¯

    Jan was a taming master so she could tell. She could tell that it was the most powerful dragon that was ever killed in history. Not long after, the ice dragon and the fire dragon fought fiercely to defend and protect their master. But they were easily knocked down by the overwhelming strength of the Bone Dragon Lord. And the ck Goat fell down on the ground.

    However, even after he was knocked down, he just red at the yer of Death and the Bone Dragon Lord with a stubborn and indomitable expression on his face.

    Then, at that moment¡­¡­

    Voices from the ATV¡¯s side were suddenly sent over to her ears.

    Jan turned towards the screen that was shown to her not long after. There, on the screen of a monitor, were 150 ck horses running under the lead of two white horses. An elf was sitting on top of one of the white horses while a baby piggy wearing a red hat was on the other. Sitting on top of each of the ck horses were 150 men. And it seemed like each and every single one of them were knights.

    Not long after, a more surprising turn of events happened. A ck mist began to sh behind the 150 troops. The ck mist suddenly formed and produced soldiers wearing solid ck armors, spears, swords and bows. The 150 troops of men soon turned into more than 600 soldiers.

    Then, she heard another voice.

    Jan turned to look at the screen that the 3rd camera was showing. She saw that something was shining brightly in the air. There was someone mysterious and unidentified falling down on the swarm of bone wyvern in the air. To be exact, he was falling towards the Bone Dragon Lord that was going to attack ck Goat. The man was carrying a very huge weapon.

    Jan narrowed her eyes to confirm the weapon. When she saw the weapon, her eyes couldn¡¯t help but widen.

    ¡®F, frying pan?¡¯

    It was an extremely huge frying pan. The man, who was descending at a rapid pace, mmed against the Bone Dragon Lord who almostnded an attack on ck Goat. With his strength amplified by the gravity from his descent, a huge impactnded on the Bone Dragon Lord.

    Baaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª

    The Bone Dragon Lord stuck to the ground. And in front of the man, two ck kitchen knives surrounded him. The ck kitchen knives stabbed through the enemies that flocked around him.

    What was more was that the baby piggy and the soldiers devoured the demonic beasts along their way. Just like a tsunami, the demonic beasts were washed away and cleaned up. The troops disyed their enormous strength as they started to fight back against the enemies.

    Jan, thementator, could tell who that person was. There was only one person who owned that frying pan. It was none other than the Food God, Minhyuk.

    At the same moment, PD Kim Daeguk, with his eyes wide open, asked the broadcasting station.

    ¡°F, Frying Pan Killer?!!! What¡¯s the rating % now?¡±

    ¡°35%. N, no. 37%. No¡­¡­! It¡¯s more than 40%!!!¡±

    ¡°The ratings are growing extremely fast.¡±

    ¡°The number of viewers is increasing with word of mouth.¡±

    ¡°This is the appearance of two users of our country who climbed the Hall of Kings!!!¡±

    PD Kim Daeguk, with his shocked expression, was also able to see the Frying Pan Killer.

    ¡®What the hell are those soldiers?¡¯

    The knights had the symbol of both the Cordis and Eivelis Empire.

    But who are those unidentified men that came from the ck mist?

    Just as that question floated in his mind, another extraordinary thing happened.

    They thought that most of the Legend Guild were covered under the rubble and forced to log out but there was a maning out from the gaps. It was the Legendary Explorer, Rak. Rak who had the power to control gravity! His face was flushed as he supported the debris and remnants of the falling stones around him. He was doing everything with all his might.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    Baaaaaaaaang!

    Rak was able to clear out the rubble and pushed them out towards the mobs! Huge piles of stones and debris swept away towards the mobs in an instant.

    ¡°C, crazy¡­¡­¡±

    Another gasp of exmation came out from PD Kim Daeguk¡¯s mouth. Their ratings still remained high.

    ¡°We¡¯re over 45% in viewership ratings!!!¡±

    Well then, Frying Pan Killer. What are you going to do next?

    Not long after, they saw him talking to ck Goat about something. Then, a voice was heard from a distance.

    All the cameras were concentrated towards the source of the voice. There, they could see ck Mage Ali floating in the sky with his Fly as he smiled cheerfully at Minhyuk. The camera also zoomed in on his wrist. They saw a token ¡®X¡¯ drawn on his wrist.

    ¡®What the hell? Minhyuk and ck Mage Ali know each other? This is a scoop! The two users in the Hall of Kings are close to each other?!¡¯

    At that moment, Minhyuk also raised his arm. Along with him, ck Goat and the Boys also raised their arms. And even the members of Legend Guild raised their arms hesitantly.

    There was an ¡®X¡¯ clearly drawn on each and every single one of their wrists.

    PD Kim Daeguk gave up andughed at them.

    ¡°I think it¡¯s some kind of bullshit, but it looks cool¡­¡­?¡±

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 254 - Territorial Defense (Bottom)

    Chapter 254: Territorial Defense (Bottom)

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    When Minhyuk saved Ruan and his guild members, he only took five minutes. It was because Minhyuk couldn¡¯t ignore Ruan after seeing him have a dejected look while dying. He could not pass by like nothing happened when he saw that.

    Before he knew it, the troops that had hidden behind the bushes and the wooded areas with Prince Argon had begun to run at a high speed. After a long time, Minhyuk was finally able to see Philip Vige. It had be a bunker in the middle of the war. He could also see the swarm of enemies that surrounded his friends.

    Among the chaos, he was also able to find the face of his father. He could see his father fighting a fierce battle against a huge dragon made out of bones. He could also see that they were starting to fall and be pushed back.

    ¡®Those bastards!¡¯

    His dad was a special person to Minhyuk. He remembered the fact that his father was PKed and forced to log out in the past. That was why he came running without any hesitation. And that was also the reason why he felt a huge amount of anger towards the Bone Dragon Lord.

    His troops kept on running on horseback. But at that moment, he saw that the Bone Dragon Lord tried to devour his dad.

    Minhyuk quickly took out his ¡®Instantaneous Movement Parchment¡¯. The instantaneous movement parchment was an item that he had purchased in the Royal Shop. It was an artifact that was vastly different from the return scroll. In the case of a return scroll, one needed to designate a vige or an inn where they could return to. If you named it as ¡®Return to Ber Vige¡¯ then it would send you back to that vige. On the other hand, the instantaneous movement parchment was a special parchment that could allow the user to teleport to the ce that he had seen with his very own eyes. It could also allow them to move to a ce where they had previously been even if it was not a vige or an inn.

    Just as he was about to tear the parchment, notifications rang in his head.

    ¡®Ancient Soldiers¡­¡­?¡¯

    That was when he learned about the identity of the ¡®Monarch¡¯s Seeds¡¯. The Ancient Monarch, the Food God¡¯s subordinate, had suffered greatly after being controlled by Verus. As a weapon that could be used against them, he hid his troops in the Monarch¡¯s Seeds.

    ¡°Summon.¡±

    However, Minhyuk did not have the time to wait for them to be summoned. So he quickly spoke as he tore the parchment.

    ¡°Kong-ah, I¡¯m leaving the rear to you.¡±

    ¡°Oiink!¡±

    sh¡ª

    As soon as he tore the parchment, a bright light shed and he disappeared. Since the parchment was only meant for one person, Kongie, who was sitting snugly on his shoulder, fell down on the horse.

    ¡°Ooiiiink!¡±

    Although they were suddenly left in a fluster, Kongie just grabbed the reign of the horse as he drove fast. And Argon just muttered to himself¡­¡­

    ¡°A pig¡­.. Is driving around a horse¡­..¡±

    It was quite a spectacle. It was something that Argon had never seen in his 3,000 years of elf life.

    ck Dragon saw the hellhounds clinging on to the walls of the bunker. He also saw them exploding themselves. With such an oue, the members of the ck Dragon and the Boys failed to switch. They were now starting to be pushed back.

    He quickly gave the orders to Britney and Destiny.

    ¡°Wipe out the enemy!¡±

    ¡°Kiyeeeeeeeee!¡±

    ¡°Kiyeeeeeeeee!¡±

    The two of them roamed the skies as they tried to stop the influx of the enemies. But at that very moment, the yer of Death appeared in front of him.

    Crack!

    As soon as the yer of Death shook his wand, huge bones broke through from the ground as it started to form into a gigantic creature. The creature that was slowly beginning to form was none other than the great and gigantic Bone Dragon.

    And along with that, the notifications began to ring.

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaa!¡±

    ck Dragon heard a loud roar apanying the notifications.

    ¡°.......!¡±

    Britney and Destiny were dragons from the four legendary dragons. However, the problem was that they had not yet reached and achieved their full growth. At best, they were still at the young dragon stage. But the Bone Dragon Lord that was in front of them looked like it was already close to full growth.

    In fact, the information and content about dragons had not yet been fully released in Athenae. These were dragons! The strongest creature in this world!

    The Bone Dragon Lord was simr yet different to a dragon. If we¡¯re talking about bone dragons, then Genie, Khan and Locke had also hunted them in the Time Attack Dungeon. But they were the weakest among the Bone Dragons that had ever been born. On the other hand, the creature in front of him had already almost achieved full growth and it was also one of the highest-ranking members of the bone dragons.

    The yer of Death, who had summoned the Bone Dragon Lord, had a deep and dark smile on his face. Even though his strength in dark magic had risen considerably in terms of summoning the dead, he could only summon the Bone Dragon Lord for about half an hour. But that was more than enough. He was also aware that Destiny and Britney were nothing more than fledglings. They were no more than young dragons at this stage.

    ¡®I¡¯ll kill them and turn them into an undead¡­¡­¡¯

    His mouth almost got torn with how wide his nasty grin was.

    Britney and Destiny were flying furiously.

    Crack¡ª

    Bang!

    The two of them bit all over the Bone Dragon Lord¡¯s body but the only thing that they got were aching teeth.

    Unlike ordinary mobs, the bones of the Bone Dragon Lord were sturdy, solid and hard. The bones were hard enough to match against that of a real living and breathing dragon.

    ¡°Graaaaaaa!¡±

    At that moment, bone des sprouted all over the body of the Bone Dragon Lord. The des stabbed and prated through the bodies of Britney and Destiny.

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaa!¡±

    Britney and Destiny fell to the ground. They writhed and struggled hard. They could feel the terrible pain of their skin melting.

    The Bone Dragon Lord approached so it could finish them off but ck Dragon blocked him.

    ¡®Britney¡­¡­ Destiny¡­¡­¡¯

    Britney and Destiny were both very precious to ck Dragon. Even though they were just creatures born in this virtual world, they were still his friends and family in this world. Even if he died, he would juste back to life but he knew that these children would not.

    ck Dragon red fiercely at the yer of Death and the Bone Dragon Lord. Even if his neck got sliced through by a sword, he did not want them to touch these children.

    Britney and Destiny who felt his feelings through their ¡®connection¡¯ trembled as they struggled to stand up.

    ¡°Kyahaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kihyeeeeee!¡±

    They were grasping at theirst straw to protect ck Dragon. Even if they staggered and fell down with their shaky legs, they still struggled to stand up.

    ¡°These punks¡­¡­¡±

    Just like the saying, sometimes animals were purer, more innocent and better than humans. They were creatures that purely loved and cared for ck Dragon.

    ¡°You won¡¯t be able to touch these children. Even if you put a de to my neck!¡±

    ¡°Hoo?¡±

    The Bone Dragon Lord took one step forward as it opened its huge maw.

    ¡°Graaaaaaa!¡±

    Whether it was Britney or Destiny, it did not matter. They heard the voice of the man who cared, loved and wanted to protect them.

    ¡°You¡¯ve touched someone that you shouldn¡¯t have touched.¡±

    Suddenly, a cold and sharp voice rang loudly.

    The yer of Death and the Bone Dragon Lord looked up. When they looked up, they saw a gigantic frying pan quickly descending down on them.

    ¡®Frying pan?¡¯

    At that moment, the yer of Death couldn¡¯t help but smile.

    That¡¯s just a giant frying pan, can that even scratch the head of the Bone Dragon Lord?

    In addition, the bones of the Bone Dragon Lord had a ¡®Break Armor¡¯. In the event of an attack, the impact would be returned to the weaker mineral, weapon or armor. In worst case scenarios, the opponent would even have their weapons shattered.

    That huge frying pan is going to break.

    Then¡­..

    Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª

    A loud noise erupted from the point of impact as a cloud of dust rose in the air. The face of the yer of Death who was smiling earlier was now filled with shock and wonder.

    ¡®That frying pan¡­¡­ is sturdier¡­¡­. than the bones of the Bone Dragon Lord?¡¯

    He could even see clearly that the head of the Bone Dragon Lord was mmed.

    Rhond slowly turned his head around. He could see a man with a now smaller frying pan ring fiercely at him.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to show you what happens to people who mess with this person.¡±

    Minhyuk had already sharpened his teeth to devour him.

    ¡®Alive¡­¡­?¡¯

    It was somewhat akin to being alive. This human felt alive. And he was even able to ram the Bone Dragon Lord¡¯s head in the ground. Of course, the Bone Dragon Lord was still not dead yet.

    Then, he heard the sound of fierce fighting from behind him.

    It¡¯s changing.

    ¡®It¡¯s like the winds are changing¡­¡­¡¯

    Just like the wind that was previously blowing eastward could flow westward, it seemed like the forces of the humans were now forcing them back.

    And ck Dragon who was staring at him from behind¡­..

    ¡®I thought that you¡¯re still young.¡¯

    This was his son that was suffering from bulimia. When Minhyuk got sick, ck Dragon had made up his mind to be this child¡¯s pir.

    Let¡¯s not frustrate and worry this child.

    Perhaps he believed that his child was still young and still needed his protection but before he knew it, his son had already be a splendid ¡®adult¡¯.

    ¡°You bastard, who the hell are you? Why are you talking nonsense?¡±

    Meanwhile, the yer of Death woke up from his thoughts as he held back augh as he asked him that question. Suddenly, the Bone Dragon Lord was caught up in a surprise attack.

    Baaaaaaaaang¡ª

    The Bone Dragon Lord jumped up as it rushed towards Minhyuk furiously.

    ¡°Kiyeeeeeeeee!¡±

    Minhyuk even presented himself to him.

    ¡°Scattering Sword.¡±

    He used the Scattering Sword that condensed the damage of eight basic sword attacks into one! A powerful and overflowing force mmed at the Bone Dragon Lord¡¯s body.

    Baaaaaaang!

    Crack!

    At that moment, they heard a crack from the bones of the Bone Dragon Lord.

    ¡®.....?!!!¡¯

    It¡¯s not just his frying pan. This bastard¡¯s sword is built with a harder mineral that can ignore the Break Armor!

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk noticed that one shouldn¡¯t think about cutting this punk¡¯s bones. He could just break it down. So he picked up his frying pan once more. His huge frying pan.

    Then, he used his Rampant Sword with his frying pan. Dozens of afterimages of his frying pan mmed constantly at the Bone Dragon Lord¡¯s body.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Crack, crack, crack¡ª Crack, crack, crack¡ª

    The Bone Dragon Lord also had a tremendous regeneration ability. As soon as its bones cracked, it would immediately stick back together. But right now, the Bone Dragon Lord¡¯s bones were beginning to crack to the point that it was beyond repair.

    Baaaaaaaaang!

    As soon as Rampant Sword ended, Minhyuk used ¡®Like the Wind¡¯ to narrow their distance by three meters. And he followed his attack with Sword of Fury.

    Shweeeeeeeeeek¡ª

    The Sword of Fury had a tremendous force. And even though what he was using was a frying pan and not a sword, the power that was condensed in it was still tremendously huge.

    The Sword of Fury could now kill enemies within a two meter radius with the strong wind force that woulde out of the attack. It even had an additional 100% damage on the enemies.

    Baaaaaaaaang!

    Then, hisst attack mmed on the Bone Dragon Lord.

    Shweeeeeeeeeek¡ª

    At that exact same moment, a fierce and bitter wind blew strongly as it tore the surrounding area around the Bone Dragon Lord.

    ¡°......?!¡±

    The yer of Death was shocked to see that the Bone Dragon Lord flew back and rolled on the ground.

    And Minhyuk finally answered the question ¡®Who are you?¡¯ that he had asked earlier.

    ¡°His son.¡±

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 255 - Territorial Defense (Bottom)

    Chapter 255: Territorial Defense (Bottom)

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Right at that moment¡­

    Bang, bang, bang!

    Magic rained down on Rhond.

    ¡°Keuaaaack!¡±

    Rhond was blown away from the huge impact.

    When Minhyuk turned around, he saw ck Mage Ali.

    ¡°Frieeeeeeend!!¡±

    Ali raised his left arm that had an X drawn on it as he smiled cheerfully at him. Seeing his raised arm, Minhyuk also raised his arm that had an X on it high up in the sky.

    ¡°Frieeeeeeend!!¡±

    Meanwhile, ck Dragon looked at them with an impressed expression on his face.

    Isn¡¯t that so cool!!!

    ¡°Frieeeeend!!!¡±

    ¡°Frieeeeeeeeend!!!¡±

    ck Dragon and the Boys who watched the two of them also raised their left arms as they shouted along. And the members of Legend Guild hesitated for a moment when they saw what they did.

    ¡®Shit¡­¡­ I¡¯m, I¡¯m so embarrassed.¡¯

    ¡®Ca, calling out frieeeend¡­¡­¡¯

    ¡®Uhmm¡­¡­¡¯

    But when Ascar raised her arm, the rest of them raised their arms one by one.

    ¡°Frieeeeeeeeeend!!!¡±

    The tides of war were changing.

    When Minhyuk turned to look back at the battlefield, he saw Prince Argon firing an arrow that split into hundreds of arrows that easily swept the enemies. In addition, the ancient soldiers together with the 150 knights were all actively fighting against the enemies. But they were still gued with a huge horde of enemies.

    Minhyuk did not save any skills when dealing with Rhond, the Bone Dragon Lord, and the hundreds of enemies that were rushing towards him from behind them.

    ¡°Fluttering Sword.¡±

    The Fluttering Sword first created hundreds of silver falling leaves. And when Minhyuk moved his sword, the hundreds of de-like leaves rushed towards the Bone Dragon Lord and Rhond before sweeping the enemies that were further behind them.

    Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª

    And it did not just stop there. Thanks to the 60% reduction in skill buffer, Minhyuk was able to use his wide-area of attack skills quite quickly.

    Blooming Sword.

    Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª!

    In no time at all, the hundreds of demons and demonic beasts that flocked towards them died.

    Meanwhile, thementators were shouting in excitement.

    Then, the notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s head.

    That was when Minhyuk realized something.

    ¡®The yers are not affected by my holy power.¡¯

    In other words, there wouldn¡¯t be any additional % in his attack or defense that he could gain against the demonic humans and the undead. The reason for this was simple. It was because they were creatures that were created by Rufel and they did not possess any magi.

    Then¡­¡­

    ¡°It¡¯s been a long time.¡±

    Ali reached out his hand and Minhyuk sped it tightly.

    ¡°Thanks. Thank you for protecting my guild and my dad.¡±

    ¡°I just did what I could do.¡±

    Ali grinned at him.

    Then, Minhyuk handed him a sheet of ¡®Elf¡¯s Character HP, MP, Skill Cooldown Reset Parchment¡¯. Fortunately, this item could be transferred. It was because Ali was the one who needed this item the most.

    ¡°Wow. There¡¯s such a great item like this¡­¡­?¡±

    At that time, Minhyuk saw hundreds of shing silver hellhounds. Ali quickly exined to him what they were like. After listening to his exnation, Minhyuk pondered for a moment before speaking.

    ¡°Let¡¯s get them first. Please prepare a barrier.¡±

    ¡°A barrier? Not a wide-area of attack magic?¡±

    Ali looked at him curiously.

    ¡°I¡¯ll exin it in time¡­¡­¡±

    Right now, the hellhounds were running furiously towards them. Meanwhile, the members of Legend Guild and ck Dragon and the Boys had yet toplete their maintenance.

    Bbbiiiiiiiiiiii¡ª

    Minhyuk ran out while using the Gryphon¡¯s Cry. Hundreds of silver hellhounds changed their direction as they ran towards Minhyuk.

    Gallop¡ª gallop!

    Just in time, Kongie, who was riding on top of the white horse, arrived near him. Minhyuk hurriedly rode on the horse as he started to kite and lead the hundreds of silver hellhounds.

    The viewers were leavingments quickly.

    PD Kim Daeguk also looked at the viewers¡¯ments seriously.

    He knew that his appearance was spectacrly good but the question was about what he would do with the hundreds of hellhounds. Minhyuk continued to circle around the area as he kited the hundreds of silver hellhounds.

    ¡°Can he kill them¡­¡­?¡±

    ¡°......How can he kill them? Legend Guild was only able to deal with them after using their one-shot skill. Everything will be over if User Minhyuk is caught just once. Imagine being caught in such a mob after doing somethingpletely reckless.¡±

    Everyone thought of the same thing. But just when they were mocking Minhyuk for quite some time, one of the ck kitchen knives that were circling around Minhyuk¡¯s body appeared in front of him.

    ¡°Skill casting?¡±

    The PD tilted his head in confusion. When he thought about it, he had never seen a ck kitchen knife before.

    Then, at that moment¡­¡­

    Minhyuk started to shout something.

    At the same time, ck Mage Ali quickly descended before grabbing him and climbing high up in the sky again.

    ¡®What the hell are you thinking?¡¯

    Ali, who was preparing to cast a barrier, tilted his head in thought. That was when Minhyuk shouted at him to grab him before flying up in the sky.

    Ali quickly descended before grabbing a hold of him and flying back up again.

    ¡°Please go towards the center of those guys.¡±

    ¡°What? Over there?¡±

    Ali nced down and saw hundreds of silver hellhounds scattered around as they stared at Minhyuk and Minhyuk alone.

    However, Ali did what he was told. Once they came to the center, Minhyuk spoke to him again.

    ¡°Please drop me.¡±

    ¡°Wh, what?¡±

    ¡°Quick. Ali-nim, I believe you!¡±

    ¡°......I don¡¯t really know anymore!¡±

    Ali, who grabbed Minhyuk tightly, let go of his hold.

    At the same time, Minhyuk fell down in the center of the hellhounds at a high speed.

    Then, a kitchen knife appeared near the descending Minhyuk. It was a skill that had never been seen by any of thementators and viewers. Meanwhile, the hundreds of hellhounds bared their teeth towards the falling Minhyuk.

    ¡°Grrrrrrrr!¡±

    ¡°Roaaaar!¡±

    ¡°Kyaaaaack!¡±

    And with his fall, a light shed in the sky as a ck knife urately struck the head of one of the hellhounds.

    ¡°Kiheeeeeeek!¡±

    Hundreds of kitchen knives started to rain down as soon as one of the hellhounds copsed.

    Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª

    The creatures seemed to have awareness as they started to explode all by themselves. Since they had awareness, they believed that it would be smart if they could die together with their enemy. Anyway, they were already dying so it was a smart move for them to drag down their enemy.

    The hellhounds began to crowd together as they trampled on each other to get to the middle of their ranks. The hellhounds continued to swarm towards him amidst the raining kitchen knives. They were so tightlypressed that they even damaged their own race when they exploded.

    Once the dust had settled, Ali and Minhyuk could be seen inside a protective circle.

    The hellhounds that kept on exploding finally felt that there was something strange. They finally knew that their explosions were meaningless.

    Then, at that moment, Minhyuk spoke to Ali.

    ¡°Ali-nim, dissolve the barrier.¡±

    ¡°Yes? Ah, I understand.¡±

    Ali had always believed in Minhyuk so he did what he told him to do. As soon as the barrier disappeared, his kitchen knife went up in the sky once more.

    Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª

    It was none other than his skill Rain of Kitchen Knives that he had kept using his ¡®save¡¯ skill.

    Then, the hundreds of kitchen knives in the air stabbed and exploded the remaining hellhounds. At the same time, Ali grabbed Minhyuk as they flew high up in the sky.

    ¡°Nice timing! As expected of Ali-nim! You have no hesitations at all.¡±

    ¡°Ha, hahaha¡­¡­¡±

    Aliughed awkwardly at his words.

    With that, all of the silver hellhounds had been wiped out by the Rain of Kitchen Knives.

    Thementators were lost for words for a moment. And it wasn¡¯t just them. Even the members of Legend Guild and ck Dragon and the Boys were left speechless.

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    They were barely able to hunt one but Minhyuk swept them away so easily before quickly moving to Philip Vige.

    ¡°Hello, everyone?¡±

    ¡°Huh, oh. R, right.¡±

    ¡°Y, you¡¯re here?¡±

    ¡°Hahahaha. H, hello?¡±

    Minhyuk greeted them politely, just like he usually did before looking around Philip Vige. Thankfully, the vige was still well and alive since only the outer walls had disappeared.

    Then, Minhyuk took out the Elf¡¯s Heart, which had the appearance of a rough stone, from his inventory. When he ced it down on the floor, the notifications continued to ring.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    The Elf¡¯s heart immediately prated through the ground as soon as Minhyuk agreed to the notification. This was a military weapon that was created by the three Elf Chiefs.

    At that moment, the members of Legend Guild and ck Dragon and the Boys heard a sound.

    Ba¡­¡­ dump¡ª

    It was the sound of a beating heart.

    Then, the sound began to grow louder.

    Badump, badump, badump, badump, badump, badump¡ª

    The sound was loud enough to fill the entire battlefield.

    Then¡­¡­

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Thementators were shocked when they heard loud banging sounds ringing so suddenly.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at:/woopread

 Chapter 256 - Territorial Defense (Bottom)

    Chapter 256: Territorial Defense (Bottom)

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    That was right. There were hundreds of gigantic roots that sprung up from the ground. The tip of the roots were all pointy and sharp just like the tip of a wooden spear. These tree roots suddenly appeared and loomed over Philip Vige.

    Then, the notification rang for the people inside Philip Vige.

    At the exact same moment, the ears of the members of Legend Guild and ck Dragon and the Boys started to elongate and be pointy.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°A 15% increase in all five of our basic stats? Plus a 15% increase in AGI? Isn¡¯t this too fraudulent?¡±

    For these rankers that stood above all the other rankers, percentage increases were bound to have a tremendous effect on their strength and power.

    Meanwhile, the viewers who were watching the tree roots growing all over Philip Vige spoke in wonder.

    On the other hand, PD Kim Daeguk of ATV broadcasting station was told that their ratings were already close to 60%.

    ¡°C, crazy¡­... ! What the hell are those tree roots? Hahahahahaha!¡±

    He was smiling happily. But at that exact same moment, they heard the voice of Genie, the guild master of Legend Guild. Genie and ATV were connected since they were currently on air and doing a broadcast.

    PD Kim Daeguk was caught in shock.

    What in the world does she mean by that?

    Right now, the viewers wanted to see the power of those tentacle-like tree roots. But they were requesting interruptions in the broadcast?

    ¡°W, what do you mean?¡±

    Genie calmly exined to PD Kim Daeguk after he had asked her to rify her words.

    ¡°......¡±

    PD Kim Daeguk was left speechless. Yes. That was right. Minhyuk¡¯s name was not written on that list. Even Genie and the rest of her guild members did not know that Minhyuk woulde here so she did not write his name on the list.

    PD Kim Daeguk was now in a bind. Currently, the people that the viewers wanted to see the most were ck Mage Ali and the Frying Pan Killer.

    But you want me to take them out from the broadcast?

    If he did that, then the biggest highlight of the scenes would be taken out and the rest of the scenes would naturally be dull videos. It was important for them to maintain what the viewers wanted if they wanted to maintain their high ratings.

    PD Kim Daeguk couldn¡¯t let the chance slip away so he asked her¡­¡­

    ¡°What do you want?¡±

    He asked because he was not a fool. Genie fell silent for a while before answering.

    ¡°......!!¡±

    His eyes widened in shock.

    25 billion.

    ¡°Should we really ask for 25 billion, Father-nim?¡±

    ¡°They will have no choice but to give it to you.¡±

    It was none other than ck Dragon who spoke for the request in profits. He spoke those words as soon as he came inside.

    He was an outstanding businessman. After all, he was the chairman of Ilhwa Group both in name and in reality. And this was not just because he was being good to themselves, doing this would be for the better. Currently, ATV had only signed with Legend Guild and not ck Dragon and the Boys. Topensate them, ck Dragon tried to reap and induce profits in this way.

    In fact, the profits that he would reap from ck Dragon and the Boys would be given to ¡®Share a Love Lunchbox¡¯. This was so he could help the needy and hungry children, elderly and boys and girls all over the country! To some, he would appear to be a ¡®greedy¡¯ man. But he had no greed for money. He only believed that one should not live their life at a loss.

    ck Dragon and the Boys and Legend Guild would only appear to look like people who were blinded by money on the ATV¡¯s side. But it would never be on their side. It was only natural that they increased the profits that they would receive in due course. This was none other than the ¡®Chairman¡¯s Management Secret¡¯.

    Of course, several billion would be deducted from the 25 billion to be shared among everyone including Minhyuk, ck Mage Ali and the Legend Guild. But the only question was if Genie would be willing to do this then would the broadcasting station lose so much money?

    Then, at that moment¡­¡­

    His words sounded like he was telling her to ¡®I beg you, don¡¯t cut off the show!¡¯. Genie turned back to look at ck Dragon in surprise.

    ck Dragon. He is a Legendary ss in Athenae and he is also the chairman of Ilhwa Group.

    Prince Argon hurried back inside the vige with the knights. And with his return, the Royal Shop had opened!

    ¡°Wow. Th, this is crazy¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°What the hell? A 40% HP and MP recovery potion? It¡¯s only 3,000 points!!!¡±

    ¡°Who the hell is this elf?¡±

    ¡°What the hell did Minhyuk do?¡±

    The members of Legend Guild were all bound to be shocked by the content of the shop.

    And there were even the tentacles that surrounded Philip Vige! The tree roots urately flew straight as they stabbed through the bodies of the Silver Wolves.

    Stab!

    After stabbing the Silver Wolves, the tree roots wriggled and flung them far away.

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t the tentacles extremely strong?¡±

    They had a hard time leaving some scars on those Silver Wolves but just one stab from the roots had killed them.

    The members of the Legend Guild quickly began to buy goods from the shop. They each chose items that suited them and their fighting style. And together with Legend Guild, the ck Dragon and the Boys were also sent out to the battlefield.

    Minhyuk also pulled out the Saint¡¯s Sword.

    ¡°Saint¡¯s Protection!¡±

    ¡°Uwooooooooo!¡±

    ¡°Kyaaaa!¡±

    In just an instant, the tide of war had turned. In addition to the items that they had purchased from the Royal Shop, their stats had also risen sharply with their Holy Power stat. The members of Legend Guild literally flew around the battlefield. The demons and demonic beasts couldn¡¯t dance around anymore as they fell down one by one.

    And at that moment¡­¡­

    Vwoooooooooooooom¡ª

    The number that Legend Guild had sessfully hunted was about half of the numbers of the marching enemy troops. But if they kept on fighting? Then, Legend Guild would have definitely been pushed back in the end.

    Then, at that moment¡­¡­

    ¡°Keu, keuaaaaaack!¡±

    Crow, a bounty hunter and the best dealer in Legend Guild, shrieked loudly.

    His body was suddenly pierced through. And the being that stood in front of him was none other than¡­¡­ the yer of Failure, Conir.

    ¡°Be careful. The yer of Failure is much stronger than any of the mobs that I have ever seen. What¡¯s worse is that Minhyuk-nim¡¯s Holy Power will not have much of an effect on him since he is a chimera.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head.

    The knights of Cordis Empire jumped in. However, something extraordinary happened next.

    Pipipipipipipipi¡ª

    With Conir¡¯s fast movements, more than five of the knights fell down.

    ¡°Get away!¡±

    Minhyuk shouted to them. It would be better if the knights of the Cordis Empire returned as safe as they could.

    The members of Legend Guild and ck Dragon and the Boys surrounded him. However, they were extremely nervous that their mouths had run dry.

    Then, Conir muttered¡­¡­

    ¡°Hungry¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Minhyuk tilted his head in confusion. When he looked at him closely, he felt like he was looking at himself. His expression, his eyes and his words, he looked exactly like him from before. He knew that he was feeling an intense amount of hunger right now.

    ¡®......What the hell.¡¯

    Even though Commander Rufel had ordered for a retreat, he still had a deep smile hanging on his face.

    Conir, the yer of Failure, was his most powerful chimera. Among all of the chimera that he had, he was the strongest. He was someone that could never be killed. However, Conir only had half an hour to remain invincible. In that 30 minute time frame, Conir would ughter as many as he could before returning back to him.

    He was a weapon that was exclusively designed for ughter. But it wasn¡¯t the demons nor Rufel who created Conir. It was the humans. And the power that created him was none other than ¡®hunger¡¯.

    The Sun Guilds, the strongest guilds after the four great guilds¡­ they had the wild ambition of sweeping the enemy with the troops that they had built from behind once Legend Guild fell down. For that ambition, they did not lend a helping hand towards Legend Guild.

    But they were bound to get flustered.

    ¡°Re, retreat¡­¡­?¡±

    ¡°W, we¡¯re in trouble¡­¡­!¡±

    The Sun Guilds had even hired talented mercenaries. But the enemy was already retreating?

    ¡°Let¡¯s hurry up and go now! Let¡¯s hunt the rest of the troops.¡±

    ¡°Right.¡±

    They urgently moved. And Elf King Gorn, who saw this scene, could only say¡­¡­

    ¡°Really pathetic.¡±

    His expression looked solemn and sincere.

    Don¡¯t I have this expression on my face? So my words should definitelye from the heart!

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    The heads of the Sun Guilds had nothing to say. Some guild leaders couldn¡¯t even raise their heads in shame. Some were even heartbroken.

    With just one word, Gorn had given all of them a punch to the gut!

    Gorn continued to watch the situation with his thousand-li eyes. He could see the man who saved his son. That man had also created such a miracle in this desperate situation.

    ¡®I¡¯m willing to do whatever that man asks of me.¡¯

    The members of Legend Guild and ck Dragon and the Boys stared at Conir, who was walking along, vigntly. Conir, someone who was covered with bandages all over and only had his eyes visible, could give goosebumps to anyone who saw him.

    Everyone held their breath as they focused on Conir¡¯s each and every movement. Each and every one of them prepared their best one-shot skill as they watched his slow movements.

    Genie¡¯s whip was covered in fire. This was her most powerful skill that could give her a 170% additional attack power.

    On the other side, Locke¡¯s double-handed axe was also filled with curses. It was the power that would cause the opponent¡¯s skin to rot as soon as it touches their body. This was none other than Jeffrit¡¯s Curse.

    Abel also prepared his ¡®Mortal¡¯s Death¡¯. It was a power that could allow him to stab his dagger straight into his chest in a blink of an eye before exploding.

    Minhyuk was also preparing his Splitting Sword.

    ¡°Right now!¡±

    Genie sent the signal.

    Dash¡ª

    The first one to move was Abel. He rushed straight at Conir who was standing in the middle. Since he was an assassin ss, he was bound to be the fastest whenunching an attack.

    Shwaaaaaaaa!

    Just as when he was about to stab the dagger straight into Conir¡¯s chest¡­¡­ Conir¡¯s sword moved. Abel¡¯s dagger was easily blocked by his sword.

    ¡°......!¡±

    Abel was shocked. He had confirmed Conir¡¯s strength through his ¡®Monster Analysis¡¯ but this force was too much. It was almost nonsensical.

    It seemed like this was the power of his AGI that was at x3. He could instantaneously move to defend himself.

    Shiiiiiiiing¡ª

    Conir¡¯s sword moved smoothly and gently. Then¡­¡­

    Pipipipipipi¡ª

    Several cuts were drawn on Abel¡¯s body. And¡­¡­

    Spurt!

    Spurt!

    Blood spurted out all over his body.

    ¡°Keoheok!¡±

    ¡°Goddamn! Jeffrit¡¯s Madness!¡±

    Locke mmed his double-handed axe straight down on the ground with all his might. At the same time, two powerful red lines stretched out from his axe before flying straight towards Conir. The moment these lines hit something, their body parts would immediately rot and would be unusable for the next 20 seconds.

    But Conir moved away swiftly. His movements were as light as a feather.

    Dash¡ª

    He had escaped from the attack with just a light leap. At that moment, Khan suddenly appeared behind him. He grinned as he struck out without missing a beat.

    ¡°Caught you. Giant¡¯s Fury!¡±

    This skill allowed him to hit his opponent from above. With both his arms crossed together, his attack could have as much as 200% additional attack power.

    Right at that moment¡­¡­

    Conir¡¯s bandage loosened. The bandage wrapped around Genie¡¯s neck.

    ¡°Keop!¡±

    Conir¡¯s body was drawn from the bandage that he had wrapped around Genie¡¯s neck. With this movement, Khan¡¯s fist mmed into nothing but air.

    Hundreds of afterimages of the soldiers¡¯ swords, ck Mage Ali¡¯s Fire Field, Minhyuk¡¯s Splitting Sword, Ascar¡¯s Hundred Weapons. All those attacks rained on Conir¡¯s body. However, Conir held his sword as he danced around like a ghost.

    ¡°You crazy son of a bitch! Go to hell!¡±

    Locke couldn¡¯t help but scream out curses.

    Conir¡¯s movements were truly horrifying. He looked like a ghost as he moved his joints around. It was literally creepy.

    Then, something more extraordinary happened.

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    The guild members looked on in horror. This was a skill that could nullify and cancel a huge number of attacks in an instant. They already knew that he was strong, but they did not know that he was this strong.

    They gulped as they watched Conir trudging along.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    The Elven King is willing to do anything for Minhyuk¡­ welp, pretty sure I know what our boy will ask for.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 257 - Hungry Children

    Chapter 257: Hungry Children

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    71 Hungry Children

    Conir grabbed his sword before swinging it as hard as he could. As soon as the sword was swung, dozens of ck sword lights rained down on the guild members.

    ¡°Ghost¡¯s Protection!¡±

    ¡°Jeffrit¡¯s Giant Shield!¡±

    ¡°Whip Shield!¡±

    The members of Legend Guild hurriedly activated their defensive skills. Dozens of ghosts appeared and blocked the way to Ascar with their shields while Locke mmed a huge red shield on the ground. Genie¡¯s whip created a hexagram in the air as it formed a shield in front of her. Each of the guild members gave their all to defend themselves.

    But something shocking happened. The sword lights that were heading straight towards the guild members suddenly changed directions. The person that it targeted was none other than Ali.

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Each and every one of them were shocked.

    A sword that changes its trajectory? This is the first time that I¡¯ve seen something like this.

    In addition, they thought that Conir was just a ¡®thoughtless chimera¡¯ but it seemed like that wasn¡¯t the case at all. He even went so far as to remove Ali, the most dangerous person to him. This was because Ali¡¯s one shot attacks were much more powerful than Minhyuk¡¯s since Minhyuk¡¯s Holy Power could not exert its full effects. The sword lights instantly appeared in front of Ali¡¯s barrier.

    Shwa, shwa, shwa, shwa, shwa, shwak!

    The ck sword lights began to strike at his barrier. Ali couldn¡¯t help but look on in horror at the scene in front of him. And Conir even kicked the ground and moved.

    Dash¡ª

    Shwa, shwa, shwa, shwa, shwa, shwak!

    Blood spurted out from the bodies of the guild members that were in Conir¡¯s vicinity.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Ack!¡±

    The guild members received severe damage from his sword¡¯s light swings. Minhyuk quickly narrowed the distance between them as he used Sword of Fury. His sword was surrounded by a bright red light as he aimed straight at Conir¡¯s vital point.

    Shwiiiiiiiiiik¡ª

    At the same time, Conir mmed his sword down on Minhyuk¡¯s sword.

    Bang¡ª!

    ¡°......!¡±

    It was a skill offset. Then, Conir¡¯s sword quickly stretched towards Minhyuk. As soon as Minhyuk twisted his body to avoid the strike, the sword stretched in and on itself before digging on his sides.

    Stab¡ª

    ¡°Keuheuk! Too strong!¡±

    Minhyuk was not the strongest as of yet. But he clearly had the potential to be one. He even won against the Olympic gold medalist Carr. However, he was helpless in front of the yer of Failure, Conir.

    Shwa, shwa, shwa, shwa, shwa, shwak!

    Minhyuk was easily pushed back by his fast attacks.

    Then, the yer of Frustration suddenly lowered himself as he twisted his toes before spinning and brandishing his sword. As soon as he moved, dozens of des spinned wildly. The spinning des created a slight storm in the area.

    Spin, spin, spin, spin¡ª

    ¡°Rampant Sword!¡±

    Minhyuk quickly used his Rampant Sword to counter and fight against the storm of des that was in front of him. Dozens of afterimages fought against the storm of des but Conir did not even miss the gap as heunched another attack. The tip of his sword was aimed straight towards Minhyuk¡¯s chest.

    ¡°Mi, Minhyuk-ah!¡±

    The guild members shouted in shock. Then, two ck kitchen knives suddenly popped out from behind Minhyuk.

    Hwaaaaaaang¡ª

    The two ck kitchen knives formed a cross and protected Minhyuk¡¯s vital point.

    ng!

    Without missing that split second of reprieve, Minhyuk used ¡®Like the Wind¡¯ to increase the distance between them. Then, he hurriedly took out a chocte bar from his inventory. He took it out so he could use his ¡®Absorption Transition¡¯ to restore his physical strength and HP. He had the potion that he received front he elves that could instantly fill his HP and MP back to 100% but since he had used it earlier, a cooldown was imposed.

    Then, at that moment¡­¡­

    ¡°Grrr?¡±

    The yer of Failure reacted strangely.

    ¡°......?¡±

    Just when Minhyuk was about to ce the chocte bar on his mouth, he saw his eyes opening wide. And when he slipped the chocte bar down instead of putting it into his mouth, his eyes went back to normal.

    Shall we try to put it in my mouth again?

    ¡°Grrr?!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Then, take it off again.

    ¡°Huwoo¡­¡­¡±

    Then, Minhyuk opened his mouth again as he bit on the corners with his front teeth.

    ¡°Grrr¡­¡­?!¡±

    Tears started to well up in his eyes.

    ¡°Huwoo¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Minhyuk was left speechless.

    ¡®I guess he¡¯s really hungry¡­¡­¡¯

    It would have looked like a funny situation to others but Minhyuk could understand him and his situation more than anybody else. Because those who tend to suffer from extreme hunger would react just like that. Besides, he could tell from the look in his eyes.

    I don¡¯t want to have just one bite. I¡¯m willing to give you everything so please give me something good to eat.

    Minhyuk did not know about Conir¡¯s situation. However, as someone who had all the money in the world but still couldn¡¯t eat, he could sympathize with him. He felt sad at the thought of someone who felt that hunger.

    Then, Abel shouted loudly.

    ¡°I, I thought of a way!!!¡±

    ¡°A way?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Let¡¯s lure him away with food!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    However, Minhyuk did not like that at all. First off, he did not like that thought of ying around with food. And second, he did not want to take advantage of that hunger.

    ¡®But even if I don¡¯t like it¡­¡­¡¯

    I can¡¯t let everyone die here. My dad is even here.

    ¡°......I¡­...am¡­...hung¡­...ry¡­...pl,pl¡­...ease¡­¡­¡±

    The yer of Failure muttered slowly with his broken words. Minhyuk first ced the chocte bar in his mouth.

    ¡°Keuwooo¡­¡­¡±

    Tears welled up in Conir¡¯s eyes again. However, Minhyuk ate it all up to heal and recover.

    Fwiiiiiish¡ª

    And along with that, the wounds in his body started to heal up and disappear.

    It was true that Minhyuk did not need to be the one to throw the food. Others could do it.

    Everyone stood firm on their ces as they prepared for another attack. Then, Conir¡¯s sword began to draw a circle in the air. The circle that he created turned out to be a moon that was stained with blood. It was quite a strange sight. However, what everyone was certain about was the fact that they had to get ready and kill him before this attack was unleashed.

    Then, Genie gave the signal.

    Locke quickly took out some food from his inventory. It was none other than the sweet red bean bread.

    ¡®Ugh¡­ Throwing that delicious red bean bread¡­¡¯

    Minhyuk felt frustrated. However, he was still preparing his Scattering Sword for the attack.

    ¡°Guwoo?¡±

    Conir quickly threw himself on the ground where the bread was going to fall on. Together with his jump, the bloodied moon that was hanging quietly in the air slowly disappeared.

    Then, they let out a rain of attacks.

    ¡°Diss!¡±

    Spears of light.

    ¡°Giant¡¯s Howl!¡±

    Consecutive punches with additional 180% attack power.

    ¡°Hell¡¯s Red mes!¡±

    Exploding horses straight from hell.

    A variety of skills flew straight towards Conir. However, not long after, notifications suddenly rang out to everyone who sent an attack towards Conir.

    Right at that moment... Conir, who died at that same spot, suddenly appeared again in front of them.

    ¡°Heok!¡±

    ¡°K, Kill!!!¡±

    ¡°What the hell!!!¡±

    It was clearly Conir who appeared in front of them. However, it was just a spiritual body. Then, Conir opened his mouth.

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°.....¡±

    ¡°Wh, what¡¯s happening?¡±

    Everyone present in the area felt flustered. When he heard his words, Minhyuk quickly looked at the quest window.

    ¡®Th, the chimeras were created from extreme and terrible hunger? What the hell?¡¯

    Hunger?

    He did not know what they were hungry for. But there was one thing that crossed his mind. The humans had used hunger to create these chimeras.

    ¡®What a stupid thing to do...¡­¡¯

    His brows furrowed.

    Asvon, the current Emperor of Cordis Empire, was known as the most powerful Emperor in the history of Cordis Empire. He was as powerful as Ellie. In addition, if Ellie was known to be a sword genius, then Asvon was known for his strong fists and sharp kicks. In fact, he was a talented person who could go toe to toe against Ellie.

    Emperor Asvon had everything that he could have. But there was one problem.

    ¡°......Goddamn.¡±

    He peeled off the wig that was covering his head and showed his shining bald head. It seemed like the middle of the top of his head was a dessertpared to the prairie at the sides of his head.

    His biggest problem was none other than his ¡®baldness¡¯. His father, his grandfather, his great-grandfather and his ancestors were all bald. But all of them had worn wigs to hide this fact. The same was true for Emperor Asvon.

    The absolute and unconditional problem that none of his ancestors had not solved for hundreds of years was none other than ¡®baldness¡¯!

    There was no useful method at all. He already applied the blood of a troll on his head and even rubbed a phoenix¡¯s feather gently on it but not a single hair had grown at all.

    At that moment, his aide, Harman, came inside. Harman was the one and only person who knew about this secret. It was quite fortunate that Harman¡¯s lips were sealed tightly. He would have slit his throat if he had heard him saying ¡®His Majesty, the Emperor¡¯s head is smooth, shiny and bald~¡¯.

    ¡°Y, your Majesty¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°You did not even knock¡­¡­ What a shame. Do you want to lose your head?¡±

    Even if Harman is my aide, don¡¯t I still need to protect this part of me?

    Asvon was furious. However, what he brought was urgent news so Harman hurriedly opened his mouth.

    ¡°Y, your Majesty! I¡¯ve found a way to cure your incurable disease!!!¡±

    Of course, the incurable disease that he was talking about was his baldness.

    ¡°What?!!!!¡±

    This was the curse that had been passed on for hundreds of years!

    You¡¯re telling me that you have the solution for this goddamn curse?

    Harman continued to speak.

    ¡°It¡¯s the Talmor Religion.¡±

    ¡°Talmor?¡±

    For some reason, he felt that the name was quite unpleasant. However, Emperor Asvon heard about the miraculous story about a small town located in the Northern Continent.

    Hearing that it was a small town, he did not look worried at all. He was already gracious enough to let the town lord and his town serve him. After all, they were still not the people from Cordis Empire.

    ¡°Quickly, send an invitation to the Lord of Valha and to that man named Talmor and bring them to me in person!!!¡±

    ¡°Yes!!!¡±

    Harman moved quickly.

    Emperor Asvon¡¯s mouth twitched in joy at the thought of finally having the cure for his baldness.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 258 - Hungry Children

    Chapter 258: Hungry Children

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Conir was sessfully hunted. However, the members of Legend Guild were all baffled by the sudden quest that was created.

    When Minhyuk was already shaking in anger, the guild members came back to their senses as they checked the quest.

    ¡®The humans created the chimera? Not Rufel¡­¡­?¡¯

    ¡®Hunger¡­¡­?¡¯

    The decision that they had made was simple. ording to the quest window, the only thing that they needed to do right now was to listen to Conir¡¯s story. So they listened as Conir began to speak in his slow and muffled speech.

    With the name that was mentioned, his story began.

    There were three most influential people in ckstone¡¯s Korean server branch.

    The Envoy of Incarnation, Kaistra.

    Pharaoh.

    And the tower¡¯s unofficial sessor, Barchel. He was considered as an unofficial sessor to the tower since he was aiming to be the deputy chief in the Knight¡¯s Tower.

    The towers were spread all over the tower. There were even various types including the Chef¡¯s Tower, Sculptor¡¯s Tower, Bard¡¯s Tower, Knight¡¯s Tower and Mage¡¯s Tower. However, there were only a few of the users who were affiliated with the towers. It was because the towers were a source of ¡®strength¡¯ as well as a ¡®proof¡¯ of one¡¯s abilities.

    A tower would usually have dozens of people affiliated with them. And each and every single one of these people would have a strength that transcended that of the general poption.

    One could take the Athenae Temple as an example, after all it had a lot of simrities with the towers. In the Athenae Temple, only those who had achieved the highest rank would be allowed to enter and serve their faith. The same was true for the towers.

    In fact, some would even say that the people who belonged to the Knight¡¯s Tower far exceeded the Knights of the Empire in terms of rank and strength. Some would even say that those from the Knight¡¯s Tower could surpass the Great Sword Ellie.

    And the two most outstanding towers among all of the towers were none other than the Mage¡¯s Tower and the Knight¡¯s Tower. The Knight¡¯s Tower was located at Cordis Empire while the Mage¡¯s Tower was located in Eivelis Empire.

    And right now, Barchel had received an order from Cauhel. He wanted him to bring the members of the ckstone one by one to the Demon World. The first person to ever set foot in the Demon World was none other than Cauhel. And just like Beas Vige, the Demon World was also a meeting ce where users from all over the world could gather together.

    However, the order that was given to Barchel was to make contact with Count Peru and do what he was told to do. He had told him that he hoped that he would know what he would do by himself once they met. While following his orders, Barchel was able to learn about the ¡®Essence of vor¡¯.

    But right now, he was standing in front of Count Peru who had his chin high up in the sky.

    Count Peru was a respected and envied noble in the Cordis Empire. However, Barchel knew the sinister plot that he was hiding as well as the cruel nature that he had kept under wraps. Right now, he was talking about the Essence of vor.

    ¡°The Essence of vor is a power that emerged from the ¡®Seven Deadly Sins, Gluttony¡¯ that Great Mage Rafielt had left in this world.¡±

    ¡°......Seven Deadly Sins, Gluttony?¡±

    The Great Mage Rafielt?

    Barchel had spent a vast amount of silver, gold and treasures to get close to the Count. This was the reason why he could talk to him with a leisurely tone.

    ¡°Yes. He hid the Seven Deadly Sins all over the world. And its powers were expressed through the artifacts Great Mage Rafielt had also left behind. For example, one of the Seven Deadly Sins ¡®Wrath¡¯ that he created could be expressed through the ¡®Treasure Box of Wrath¡¯. Those who entered the sphere of influence of this artifact would be influenced by Wrath and would not be able to hide their anger and fury. Just like that, Great Mage Rafielt had created seven artifacts that corresponded with the sins that he created. Six among the seven of them had already been destroyed from this world. But there was only one. There was one artifact that had been left behind.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s none other than the Cup of Essence.¡±

    ¡°Cup of Essence¡­¡­?¡±

    ¡°Yes. The Cup of Essence will not contain any liquid when it¡¯s first obtained. However, there¡¯s a simple method to fill this Cup of Essence.¡±

    ¡°How?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s with pure ¡®hope and desire¡¯. We¡­¡­ no.¡±

    Count Peru corrected his words as he handed him a teacup.

    ¡°You know that I¡¯m making chimeras in secret.¡±

    Barchel shook his head.

    ¡°It¡¯s none other than the Cup of Essence that¡¯s creating the chimeras inside the ¡®Dungeon of Sin¡¯. What the Cup of Essence needed the most was a man¡¯s pure desire and longing. If there are a lot of people who purely longed and craved for water near the Cup of Essence, then the cup will be filled with water.¡±

    ¡°Ho?¡±

    ¡°When do you think would be the time when they purely long for something?¡±

    ¡°......Who knows.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s when the children are feeling extreme hunger.¡±

    ¡°Hunger¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Children will crave purely for something when they are hungry. I want to eat something delicious. I want to eat food. I won¡¯t wish for anything if I just have one. The hungrier the children get, the more essence we get. And the essence that we get has more ¡®power¡¯ than any other force. And when their hunger reaches its peak, they will receive power from Rafielt¡¯s ¡®Dungeon of Sin¡¯ and they will be the horribly powerful ¡®Chimera¡¯.¡±

    ¡°......What the hell is in that dungeon?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s an extremely ferocious dragon. It¡¯s a huge dragon that¡¯s over 20 meters long. The dragon will devour the children and the children will be transformed in the dragon¡¯s belly into chimeras by the ¡®desire and longing¡¯ that they had built up so far. And when the dragon finishes up preying on that longing, it will vomit the children out. The children who came out of the dragon¡¯s belly will then be a fully functional weapon called a chimera.¡±

    ¡°Interesting. But¡­...¡±

    The Cup of Essence was an interesting artifact. But Barchel was more curious about the Essence of vor. The Essence of vor was literally the essence that came from the cup.

    ¡°What powers does the Essence of vor have?¡±

    ¡°It is said that it can let a person rise above their limitations. So, do you want the Essence of vor? Can you do what I ask you to do, then?¡±

    Ring!

    The quest window suddenly popped up in his mind and Barchel immediately confirmed the contents. After he checked the Essence of vor in the rewards, he was shocked by what was written next.

    ¡®Y, you can give me an evolution to a legendary ss?!¡¯

    He was shocked beyond belief. Currently his ss was the secret ss, Tower¡¯s Sessor. He became the unofficial sessor thanks to this ss¡¯ special characteristics. He was even able to reach this point thanks to the infinite support of the tower. Butpared to the legendary sses and God sses, his limits were still clear as day. He was not able to grow anymore. There were a variety of sword stages that a user could climb on and surpass. And he wanted to cross those thresholds If he drank the Essence of vor, then his Tower¡¯s Sessor could evolve into a legendary ss. This meant that his skills and stats would change and he would have a chance to grow stronger once more.

    ¡®What a great item!¡¯

    This was the information that he had gotten from Cauhuel. The strongest power in the country that was affiliated with ckstone, which was Kaistra and Pharaoh, had either turned away from them or copsed on themselves. It was clear to him what Cauhel wanted to do to him. He wanted to turn him into the best in the country.

    Barchel was now blinded by greed. He clearly knew that what Count Peru was doing was something that couldn¡¯t be done. After all, he was experimenting with children and it was an extremely atrocious deed. He also knew that Count Peru was selling those chimera as weapons as he held hands with the demons.

    But Barchel still epted the quest.

    ¡®You want me to hunt the dragon?¡¯

    Hunt the dragon. That was what was in the quest.

    You want me to hunt the dragon that¡¯s creating the chimeras?

    ording to Count Peru, the dragon would no longer produce chimeras after it preyed on 30 people. That was the reason why he had to kill him. However, he was told that he needed to feed the dragon a person with high holy power before doing so. It was not a woman, but a man. He was told that it should be a man with pure and high holy power. If he did that after the dragon swallowed the 30th child, then the child would be the most powerful chimera. Once the dragon was killed, it wouldy huge eggs. The existence that woulde out of the egg will be a dragon that can produce and make chimeras again.

    ¡°We¡¯ve already captured a male priest as a sacrifice. For Sir Barchel, all you needed to do is wait for the man and the child to be eaten before entering the dungeon. That¡¯s when you will hunt the dragon. Anyway, my goal is to produce chimeras so it doesn¡¯t matter whatever you do.¡±

    ¡°Good.¡±

    Barchel smiled as he asked.

    ¡°Ah. Then, how many times has this happened already? Killing the dragon?¡±

    ¡°Yes. There¡¯s a guy who did this before you. He was also a chimera but not too long ago, I sent him temporarily to someone who needed him. He was the most powerful chimera that I have ever created. He was also a natural sword genius before he became a chimera.¡±

    ¡°Hoo. A sword genius¡­¡­ May I know his name?¡±

    Count Peru smiled confidently at him.

    ¡°It¡¯s Conir.¡±

    Rats and cockroaches were swarming around the five starving children.

    Count Peru had raised these five children to make them into chimeras. The oldest among the children was named Haze. She was a 19-year-old girl.

    Hard bread and water was distributed to them everyday. However, the bread was coated with an alchemic potion that could ¡®promote hunger¡¯. The alchemic potion would always make them hungry but nevertheless, the only thing that they could do was to keep eating. They couldn¡¯t control themselves with their hunger and craving.

    ¡°Hungry¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°If I could just have a piece of meat¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°S, something delicious¡­.. I want to try something delicious before I die.¡±

    The children that were brought here were either kidnapped or bought from the ve market. They were chosen to be chimeras so they needed to have the ¡®talent¡¯. That way, a great and powerful chimera would be born.

    Then, at that moment¡­¡­

    Creaaaaak¡ª

    The huge door opened and one of the soldiers kicked a man inside.

    Bang!

    ¡°What a loud man!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaack! S, save me! Help me!¡±

    This was the first time that an adult male was sent inside. The man stuck to the door as he continued to scream. He was dressed in a priest robe that was engraved with the symbol of the Athenae Religion. The priest¡¯s robe was covered with dirt and kick marks.

    ¡°A, Athellujah! God, please save me from this mess and mete out the divine punishments towards these sinners¡­..¡±

    He trembled as he continued to pray.

    God? There¡¯s no God.

    That was what Haze believed. If there was a God, then they wouldn¡¯t have beb rats trapped in bars. She was someone who grew up fast despite her age.

    Tomorrow was the day when everyone here would lose their emotions and turn into a chimera. In other words, tomorrow would be their death.

    Then, at that moment¡­¡­

    Creaaaaak¡ª

    The huge door opened again.

    ¡°These children are the ¡®materials¡¯ for the chimera.¡±

    An unpleasant man suddenly came in.

    In just a nce, Haze knew that the man was a foreigner.

    The foreigners that lived with immortality!

    And that foreigner had called them ¡®materials¡¯. The man looked around before stopping his gaze at the man that just came in.

    ¡°So this is the ¡®sacrifice¡¯?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    The man, who looked to be a knight, nodded his head as the foreigner asked him a question.

    ¡°It¡¯s been quite some time since Count Peru¡¯s experiment had started. It seems like the number of knights and guards are no less than the knights in the Knight¡¯s Tower.¡±

    ¡°Hahahaha. If we get caught, then won¡¯t we be dead?¡±

    When they turned around, the doors closed again.

    ¡°Sooooob¡­¡­ Sa, save me¡­¡­ I don¡¯t want to die. God Athenae, please save me.¡±

    When she saw the priest was still terrified, Haze slowly stood up and approached him.

    ¡°It¡¯s alright. It¡¯s alright. It¡¯s not that scary.¡±

    Haze smiled wryly. If there really was a ¡®hero¡¯ in this world, then they should have been rescued long ago. If there was a ¡®God¡¯ in this world, then they would have never been here. Haze only told him that because there was nothing they could do but get over that fact. It was because she did not believe in any of them.

    ¡°Th, thank you¡­¡­¡±

    The trembling priest slowly raised his head.

    ¡°Wh, what is your name, child?¡±

    She turned to look at him as she answered.

    ¡°Haze.¡±

    ¡°It, it¡¯s a pretty name. May God Athenae be with you.¡±

    After the priest tapped his head and his chest with his fingers, he sped Haze hands as he started praying.

    Haze then looked down at him.

    ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±

    The man raised his head before replying.

    ¡°Minhyuk.¡±

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 259 - Hungry Children

    Chapter 259: Hungry Children

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    ¡°Those despicable bastards!¡±

    When Minhyuk heard the story from Conir, who turned into a spirit body, he looked genuinely angry. Genie, Khan and Locke understood the reason why he was angry. They knew that Minhyuk was the one who knew what hunger was more than anybody else.

    In a way, Athenae was just a game and the NPCs were just virtual people created inside it. However, Minhyuk thought differently from the others. For him, this world that was called Athenae had given him a ¡®second life¡¯.

    He had met a lot of people in this world. Instructor Valen, Instructor Roina and Ellie who had cared for him like he was her own brother. There had been countless people that passed by his life and Minhyuk had treated them genuinely. He treated them like they were real people and not NPCs. After all, even though they were just NPCs, they still had their own thoughts and feelings. He thought that even though this world was just a game for them, for the people who lived in this world, this was their reality.

    ¡°They make the children go hungry and they feed them to the dragon to make chimeras¡­¡­¡±

    Genie pondered over the words that they had heard earlier. The process of creating chimeras was extremely horrifying. Meanwhile, the huffing Minhyuk checked the information about the Essence of vor as he tried to calm his anger.

    The reward Essence of vor was quite amazing. This meant that there would be an increase in the job ss ranking once all of the essence was ingested. Of course, the part that caught Minhyuk¡¯s attention the most was the part that said ¡®A single drop of this on any food will tremendously improve its taste¡¯. It seemed like it was caused by the power of essence from the umted hunger.

    However, they had a lot of problems to face. Conir had told them to go to ¡®Cordis Empire¡¯. Cordis Empire was currently in a ceasefire with Eivelis Empire. However, in the end, they were still at war with each other. In addition, Peru, the person who produced chimeras, was a count in that empire. It was very difficult for Minhyuk, someone who held a title in the Valkyrie Kingdom, to punish a count in an empire that wasrger and more powerful than the kingdom he belonged to. He also heard from Conir that he had amassed a huge number of troops from the money that he had earned from selling chimeras.

    That was his main concern. He knew that this was something that couldn¡¯t be solved easily and quietly. First of all, he was wondering how he should approach them to save the children.

    Then¡­¡­

    He was contacted by his vassal Ben who was left behind to take care of the territory. Even if they were not in front of each other, the vassals and their lord could exchange messages and calls with each other.

    ¡°......?¡±

    Minhyuk tilted his head in confusion as he continued to listen to Ben¡¯s words.

    Minhyuk shook his head.

    Cordis Empire did not have any reason to harm Minhyuk. In addition, they should be aware that foreigners were immortal beings that coulde back to life even if they killed him.

    So why?

    He was also wondering why Corr had to apany him. Then, Ben continued to speak.

    ¡°Talmor?¡±

    And Minhyuk listened to the entire story from Ben.

    ¡®Hoo¡­¡­ What a scary person¡­¡­¡¯

    Based on the story, it seemed like Corr had inherited his mantle as he created a new religion all by himself. And perhaps, just like the members of the Talmor Religion, Asvon also needed the powers of Talmor. In fact, if that wasn¡¯t the case, then he did not know what else they needed from them. However, with this, he had a clear way of getting there.

    After all, Emperor Asvon is the one who personally invited me, right?

    Now, his entry to Cordis Empire was removed from his problems.

    Just then, another set of notifications began to ring in his head.

    The guild members were surprised when they heard the notifications. They were shocked because the total contribution points was higher than what they had initially expected. And it was in a situation where their contribution points were reduced by 30% since they allied with other guilds. They had imposed this restriction to prevent reckless formation of alliances. But regardless of that, their total contribution points were still too high.

    Then, the individual contribution points started to show up one by one.

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Everyone was shocked. And they weren¡¯t the only ones that were shocked. The total contribution points were also posted on Athenae¡¯s official website. And thementators opened their mouth in shock.

    Then, the notification for the rewards for the individual contribution rankings resounded in everyone¡¯s ears.

    Minhyuk had now reached Lv398. He was now close to reaching Lv400.

    His eyes suddenly turned red before returning back to its original state. It happened at the exact same moment when the notification for the Eye of the Abyss rang in his ears.

    ¡®Oh¡­¡­?¡¯

    It was a useful ability. This Eye of the Abyss could help him discover powerful and useful people like Hidden NPCs. Of course, Minhyuk was unhappy if that hidden NPC was brought in as his vassal. But his lips curled up.

    However, it¡¯s not bad if they became a member of my territory.

    He had one question though. He was wondering why he did not get a notification about receiving Gorn¡¯s treasure box.

    At that moment, Commander-in-Chief Gorn appeared. Behind Gorn were countless numbers of elves.

    Thementators were shouting excitedly.

    At this very moment, the viewers were holding their breath as they admired Minhyuk. They could see that the king of another race was standing in front of him with a grateful expression on his face.

    Not long after, the high elves rushed towards them carrying along a huge treasure chest. Then, they ced it in front of Minhyuk.

    ¡°This is my gift for you. We haven¡¯t recaptured the Elven Forest yet but we can¡¯t deny the fact that you have done the most to help us.¡±

    Then, the notifications rang loudly in Minhyuk¡¯s head.

    It seemed like the notification was only for Minhyuk. 1,000 tinum was an enormous sum. It cost as much as 5 billion when exchanged with cash.

    Meanwhile, thementators started to predict his rewards.

    The viewers,mentators and people from all over the world had their attention focused on the treasure box. However, Minhyuk just threw the treasure box in his inventory.

    But it seemed like he remained unaware of the howls of thementators and the viewers in front of the TV about ¡®Check it ouuuuuut!!!¡¯ as Minhyuk continued to smile and talk to Gorn.

    ¡°Your Majesty!¡±

    Gorn smiled gently as he nodded his head at his loud and confident voice.

    ¡°Say it.¡±

    ¡°I would be very happy if you just give me something delicious instead of something like this.¡±

    ¡°Hahahahaha, what?¡±

    Gornughed loudly as he personally handed over the S~SSS ranked ingredients that the elves had gathered for Minhyuk. Then, Gorn moved on and talked with Genie separately.

    ¡®I want to eat something from the Food God¡¯s store but there¡¯s just too many eyes here.¡¯

    He thought that it would be better if he ate it on his way when he went to fulfill Conir¡¯s quest. And since Prince Argon was here, even if Minhyuk was not present, his guild members would be able to continue to use the Royal Shop as the quest to enter the Elven Forest appeared again.

    Minhyuk had sent Genie a whisper that he would be going to the Cordis Empire. None of the guild members were dissatisfied when Minhyuk took on the quest that only one person could do. In addition, his father and the four hyenas said that their journey to the Elven Forest would be dyed since they were busy with work.

    And since Minhyuk¡¯s dad would not be able to ess Athenae for a while due to his busy schedule, Minhyuk had decided to deal with the troublesome things as he went to Valha and picked up Corr.

    ck, rattle, nk.

    Pdin Corr, Minhyuk, Kongie and Conir¡¯s spirit body were all riding in a carriage that was bound to the Cordis Empire. They were travelling at an extremely fast pace.

    Kongie was holding the cool Papinoco chocte vored chuchubar with his tiny hands as he leaned against Minhyuk. Minhyuk had bought the refreshing popsicle bar earlier.

    Minhyuk had finally bought the bossam set in the Food God¡¯s Shop with the contribution points that he had earned. He nned to buy each item off of the shop one by one.

    As soon as he bought the item, the Fantastic Bossam Set appeared in front of him. The first thing that caught his eye was the plump and round bossam meat that was gobsmack in the center. Looking to his right he could see pickled garlic, seasoned chives, ssamjang, garlic, salted shrimp and radish, kimjang kimchi, as well as lettuce and peri leaves to make a wrap. And to the left, there were bowls of tray noodles and soft tofu stew. In restaurants, they would usually serve dried radish miso soup, kimchi stew or soft tofu stew when someone ordered a bossam set. It seemed like the same was true for this set that he purchased.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡­¡±

    The first thing that Minhyuk did was to mix the noodles. After mixing the tray noodles thoroughly, he could see the red color that coated each and every piece of noodles. It looked so refreshing and appetizing that his mouth couldn¡¯t help but water.

    After he mixed the noodles, he quickly ced a piece of kimchi on top of a bossam meat. As soon as he ced them in his mouth, he could feel the crunchy and soft texture of the kimchi and the bossam meatbining together.

    Then, he grabbed a piece of lettuce as he ced a piece of bossam meat on top of it. Then, he used his chopstick to grab a garlic. He also made sure to dip the garlic in ssamjang before picking some seasoned chives and dried radish to go with his wrap. Then, he wrapped everything tightly in the lettuce before putting it in his mouth. The various vors that burst out in his mouth brought a happy smile on his face.

    Grabbing a spoon, Minhyuk stretched his hand out towards the soft tofu stew that looked appetizingly spicy. When he brought the spoon to his mouth and took a sip, he couldn¡¯t help but nod his head at the refreshing spiciness of the soup.

    This time, he ced some bossam meat on top of the tray noodles before lifting them together and cing them in his mouth. The spicy and sweet vor of the tray noodlesplemented the somewhat greasy vor of the bossam meat perfectly.

    Then, he lifted a piece of fresh cabbage leaves. The droplets of water lining the washed leaves glistened and sparkled under the re of the light. He tore the cabbage leaves into smaller pieces before dipping them in ssamjang.

    Crunch, crunch.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t this cabbage really sweet?¡±

    Don¡¯t cabbages taste sweeter the more you chew on them? That was what he was feeling right now.

    Then, he ced some bossam meat and garlic on top of the cabbage. He dipped the wrap in ssamjang before cing it in his mouth.

    After eating happily like that, he took out a ss filled with ice as he poured cold cider on it. Then, he grabbed the ss and gulped it with a smile.

    ¡°Kgghk¨D¡±

    The cold and refreshing passed through his mouth andpletely took away the greasiness that the meat left.

    Just as he was about to ce the bossam meat and pickled garlic in lettuce and put it in his mouth, Conir spoke to him. It seemed like Conir had turned redder and redder with every minute he spent watching him eat.

    Then¡­¡­

    Kongie dropped the chuchubar that he was eating in shock. On the other side, Corr, who had his eyes closed with his arms crossed on his chest, turned to look at Conir with astonishment on his face.

    Conir waspletely unaware of the situation. All he could do was tilt his head in confusion.

    Food Discussion Corner

    [Papinoco chuchubar] - It¡¯s a parody of Lotte¡¯s Papico chuchubar. So chuchubar is actually a popsicle but instead of being on a stick, the popsicle is inside a stic. It¡¯s called chuchu because we suck it to get the contents out.

    [Bossam] - I don¡¯t know if I already discussed this before but this is boiled pork. KRs usually boil the pork shoulder with a lot of spices before slicing it and using it as filling for their lettuce wrap.

    [Kimjang Kimchi] - From what I researched, Kimjang is a season to prepare kimchi so that they can tide through the winter. It is usually done duringte autumn. This is a custom that is now listed in UNESCO¡¯s intangible cultural heritage.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 260 - Hungry Children

    Chapter 260: Hungry Children

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Kongie and Corr knew this fact even though they were not explicitly told. If someone had asked Minhyuk for one bite, it was like he was being told ¡®Can I punch your guts?¡¯!

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    When everyone suddenly turned silent, Corr turned towards the coachman.

    ¡°Coachman, pull over for a bit.¡±

    Corr sighed deeply as he shook his head before leaving the carriage. Kongie also stood up as he looked at Conir¡¯s spiritual body with pity. Then, he slowly walked out of the carriage with the chuchubar in his hands.

    ¡°Ooink.¡±

    Cheer up. Oink.

    Then, he went away.

    When everyone else went out of the carriage, Conir suddenly felt terrified. It was because Minhyuk¡¯s expression was changing every second!

    ¡°Hahahahaha! You want a bite? A bite?¡±

    ¡°But can a spiritual body eat?¡±

    Minhyuk suddenly became curious as he gave a piece of cabbage leaf towards Conir. Conir reached out to try and grab the food but he couldn¡¯t touch it. And Minhyuk finally realized that spiritual bodies couldn¡¯t eat. Conir also had a very sad and despondent look on his face when he realized this.

    ¡°I¡¯m so sorry about this.¡±

    Kongie and Corr went out without realizing that Minhyuk treated Conir differently. It was because Minhyuk knew how much Conir had suffered from his hunger. He knew this more than anybody else. Sometimes asking for one bite was a desperate plea.

    Minhyuk had also experienced being too eager to eat his 5,000 pieces of cherry tomatoes just so he could appease his bulimia. He thought that it would be fine for him to die tomorrow if he would be allowed to eat all of the delicious food that he wanted to eat. He also wanted to go to a buffet just like a normal person and bring a te filled with food as he continuously stacked his bowls. For others, those were justmon routines. However, it was not the same for Minhyuk. For him, those were only a part of his dreams. And just like him, it was also not a routine for Conir.

    Then, Minhyuk suddenly asked him a question.

    ¡°Conir, what kind of person were you?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Minhyuk tilted his head in thought.

    You don¡¯t remember? That¡¯s strange.

    He clearly told him about the girl named Haze and the other kids left behind as well as the atrocities that Count Peru hadmitted. However, Conir could not remember who he was.

    Minhyuk looked at Conir with a bit of regret. He shook his head as he continued to eat again.

    The notifications in Minhyuk¡¯s ears kept on ringing after he started eating the dishes that he bought using his contribution points.

    In the Frying Pan¡¯s case, the attack power increased by 200 and the defensive power increased by 150. In addition, the +100 on the magic defense had now be +200 and the 2nd ss magic had be 3rd ss magic. The most important addition was the appearance of low-leveled spirits that could help with his cooking. In the Food God¡¯s Kitchen Knife¡¯s case, the initial two kitchen knives had be three.

    At that moment, their carriage had finally entered the Cordis Empire. The area that they had entered was ¡®Vanchester¡¯. It was a territory under Count Peru.

    ¡°Can you show us proof of your identity?¡±

    The guards looked at them suspiciously. Minhyuk showed them the invitation that Emperor Asvon had sent them.

    ¡°Sa, salute!!!¡±

    ¡°Please excuse us, you may enter.¡±

    This just showed how much power the invitation of the Emperor possessed. Minhyuk had quickly passed through the guards. They had entered Vanchester smoothly.

    Vanchester was a holy ground. It was a territory famous for its riches. However, Minhyuk knew that all these dazzling disys, colorful marbles and stylish buildings were mostly due to the production of ¡®chimeras¡¯. The only thing he felt as he looked through these extravagances was disgust.

    Now, this was their problem¡­¡­

    ¡®How can we infiltrate the Lord¡¯s castle?¡¯

    ording to Conir, the defenses in the castle were no less than that of the Imperial Pce. After getting his riches from conducting chimera experiments through the use of children, it was only natural for Count Peru to be more vignt with his territory¡¯s defense.

    At that moment, something that Conir had mentioned before had shed in his mind.

    The dragon in the Dungeon of Sin must be killed after 30 cycles and hatched from the new egg. This had be a vicious cycle. In addition, they needed to find a sacrifice secretly for this cycle to continue.

    That¡¯s really strange though. He doesn¡¯t remember anything about himself but he remembers the process clearly.

    ¡®Is it because he¡¯s a chimera?¡¯

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk was able to meet an unexpected character.

    ¡°Minhyuk-llujah! Pope¡­¡­ No, Minhyuk-nim, what are you doing here?¡±

    It was none other than the most fervent supporter of Minhyuk Religion, Priest Keh.

    Priest Keh received amission through the Athenae Temple to travel around Cordis Empire and pray for the people.

    Based on Conir¡¯s words, Count Peru¡¯s racket was none other than ¡®Keh¡¯. It seemed like he was their target sacrifice this time. And right now, a very convenient method to infiltrate the lord¡¯s castle had appeared in front of them.

    Minhyuk pulled out one of the items that he had bought at the Royal Shop. He just bought it on a whim but he did not know that it would be used just like that. It was none other than the ¡®Doppelganger Potion.¡¯

    The person who drank this potion could change into somebody else¡¯s face and figure. Once Minhyuk drank the doppelganger potion, then he would be able to turn into Keh¡¯s visage. Then, he also made sure to ask Keh for some change of clothes.

    ¡°I¡¯m very honored! Minhyuk-nim will wear my clothes!¡±

    He looked like an excited girl fan with the way he reacted. He was also furious when he heard about their atrocious deeds from Minhyuk.

    ¡°Those despicable bastards!¡±

    Then, Minhyuk quickly turned into Keh¡¯s figure before moving around wearing his priest robes. Keh told him that all he had to do was say some good words, pray once and walk around.

    ¡°Good day, Priest-nim?¡±

    ¡°Athellujah. Please let me pray for you, sisters.¡±

    Minhyuk stood in front of the women of the market as he sped his hands together and prayed. The woman became excited. She hurriedly closed her eyes as she sped her hands together.

    ¡°God Athenae who is in heaven, please give us our daily bread once, twice, thrice four times. I hope that you can enrich the meat so that delicious side dishes are served every day. Ramen¡­¡­ Ah, no. Amen.¡±

    ¡®Eh?¡¯

    The woman tilted her head in confusion while Minhyuk, who looked like Keh, just grinned widely at her.

    ¡°Athellujah. I hope you have something delicious every day.¡±

    The woman couldn¡¯t help but twirl her fingers on the side of her head as she watched the priest walking away.

    Minhyuk wandered around the market all day.

    As he walked around, he faintly felt someone trailing his movements. The stalker ambushed him silently.

    m!

    A powerful hand chop hit the back of his neck. However, it did not cause much damage to Minhyuk¡¯s HP and defense. Regardless, he still pretended to sag and turn unconscious.

    Then, they started to put something mysterious on Minhyuk¡¯s body. It seemed like it was an item that could determine his holy powers.

    ¡°He¡¯s filled with holy power.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s clearly a priest.¡±

    They quickly moved the ¡®unconscious¡¯ Minhyuk towards their destination. And with that, he easily infiltrated Count Peru¡¯s domain. They continued to go down after entering Count Peru¡¯s castle.

    ¡°Save me!!!¡±

    ¡°P, please give me something to eat!!!¡±

    Then, he heard the cries of the children that were trapped in the prison. When he opened his eyes, he could see more than 10 iron doors along the hallway. Each iron door had several children locked in them. In other words, they had captured dozens of children in this horrible ce. Minhyuk¡¯s fist clenched tightly. Of course they were still NPCs but nevertheless, this act in and of itself was extremely disgusting and infuriating.

    Then, the people who brought Minhyuk along woke him up as he felt something being ced on their wrist.

    Perhaps they were concerned about the priest¡¯s holy power. After all, once an ordinary priest got his holy powers sealed then he was no different from an ordinary man.

    Minhyuk begged and screamed for help. Then, he was stuffed in one of the iron doors. When he was left there, he began to shout and beg for help again.

    Conir opened his mouth. Minhyuk had heard about this child. This child was special. The child was stronger than anybody else in this ce. It was said that a chimera could only be transformed inside after the ¡®hunger¡¯ had umted for years. Perhaps this was the reason why Haze was special. She had always been told that she needed to be a pir for the other children.

    Minhyuk asked her in a trembling voice as she tried to console him.

    ¡°Wh, what is your name, child?¡±

    ¡°Haze.¡±

    ¡°It, it¡¯s a pretty name. May God Athenae be with you.¡±

    Minhyuk held her hands tightly as he prayed for her sincerely.

    May these children not experience hunger anymore. May the hunger of the people disappear from this world. And may there be no one who makes someone else go hungry.

    Haze looked down at him as she asked a question.

    ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±

    Minhyuk answered that question in his heart.

    ¡®I¡¯m here to save you, Haze.¡¯

    As he opened his mouth to answer her with his voice.

    ¡°Minhyuk.¡±

    ¡°Minhyuk¡­¡­ Minhyuk¡­¡­ I¡¯ll remember that.¡±

    She smiled as she continued to ponder over the name over and over again. Minhyuk could see what she meant by remembering.

    We¡¯re about to die but I don¡¯t want to forget everyone here.

    Haze truly looked like a special girl so Minhyuk used his ¡®Eye of the Abyss¡¯ on her.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 261 - Ramyeon Making Sword Art

    Chapter 261: Ramyeon Making Sword Art

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    73 Ramyeon Making Sword Art

    ¡®......?!¡¯

    Minhyuk was somewhat surprised. Her potential wasparable to Old Man Ben¡¯s potential. Even her ¡®rank¡¯ said that her name could be a legend. What was more, she was a child that could be a legend if she became a tactician, a strategist or a merchant!

    Then, he checked her skills.

    (borate Language Skills)

    Passive Skill

    Level: None

    Effects:

    ¨D There¡¯s a saying that one word can repay a thousand nyang debt. She can speak well enough to make such a thing possible.

    ¨D Once she starts talking, the people will start to unconsciously empathize with her.

    ¨D She might be able to sell water from the Nakdong River for millions of gold.

    (Legendary Aptitude)

    Passive Skill

    Level: None

    Effects:

    ¨D Born with the talent to be a legend. If she bes a tactician, she will be able to show great skills on the battlefield.

    ¨D Whatever she learns, she will learn and grow much faster than anybody else.

    ¨D She hasn¡¯t opened up all of her powers yet.

    Even her passive skills looked quite special.

    For the NPCs that one could usually find in the market, most of them did not have any passive skills. That was the case when he checked. In addition, her powers still hadn¡¯t been opened in full yet.

    Minhyuk shook his head as he heard the voices of the children all around him.

    ¡°Hungry¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going to die¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°If I just have something delicious to eat, I would not wish for anything else even if I die.¡±

    There was nothing in this prison. It was like they were preventing them from picking something up tomit suicide because of their hunger.

    Meanwhile, Conir¡¯s spiritual body crouched in front of Haze as he tried to stroke her head. But there was no way that he could stroke her head since he did not have a physical body. His hand could only brush through air.

    [Ha¡­¡­ z¡­¡­ e¡­¡­]

    ¡°Am I going to die tomorrow?¡±

    Minhyuk quietly asked Haze. He looked like he had finally calmed down and had reared his fear and sadness to some extent. She spoke to him as if she did not know what to say to him.

    ¡°What do priests usually do?¡±

    She tried to ask him about trivial things. It looked like she was trying to keep his nervousness down. Minhyuk answered her question. Then, the stories about food started toe out.

    ¡°Out of all the food, I¡¯m good at making curry.¡±

    ¡°Curry?¡±

    Minhyuk saw the interest in her eyes.

    ¡°Yeah. Curry. I have loved curry since I was a kid so I have been studying how to make it ever since then. Hehe. No one can be as good as I am when ites to making that.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s expression looked like he was bragging.

    Curry was curry. Right now, anyone could easily find a curry shop in their neighborhoods. Curry shops were usually run by foreigners. People would usually dip a bread called ¡®naan¡¯ in curry. The dish called curry would usuallye with a choice of chicken,mb or beef in the bowl filled with curry sauce. One would find it extremely delicious if they dipped garlic naan in curry. Tandoori chicken would also taste good partnered with curry. It would also taste good if you have a sip of an Indian traditional drink called ¡®Lassi¡¯.

    To put it simply,ssi was a type of yogurt but traditionalssi had a strong salty vor. But recently,ssis that were sold in cafes had a sweet vor that tastes simr to in yogurt.

    Not long after, Haze spoke.

    ¡°I¡¯ll make it deliciously for youter.¡±

    At that moment, a notification rang in Minhyuk¡¯s head.

    Ring¨D

    [Surprise Quest: Save Haze.]

    Rank: S

    Restrictions: Favorability with Haze

    Rewards: Indian Curry Set

    Penalty for Failure: Haze¡¯s death

    Description: Haze is good at making curry. Save her and you¡¯ll be able to eat a curry set that consists of Naan & Curry & Tandoori Chicken & Lassi.

    There was a reason why she must live.

    ***

    The next day, Barchel had started to prepare and make arrangements for his meeting with the dragon in the Dungeon of Sin.

    After he had gone and checked on the dragon, Barchel had realized that the dragon was much more terrifying and more powerful than what he had originally thought. The dragon was none other than one of the four legendary dragons, the poison dragon, Amba. He was a dragon that was well-known for his formidable poison.

    Right next to Barchel were three men that came from the Knight¡¯s Tower. They were the people who served Barchel, the sessor of the Tower¡¯s chief, and were selected due to their greed and ambition. If they did this mission perfectly, then they would also be able to receive money from Count Peru.

    They began to move.

    As soon as they entered the ce, they could see the priest and the children tied tightly with a rope. The exact number of children was five. This was exactly the room that held Haze and the other children.

    Usually, when they were making chimeras, they would not throw in dozens per day. They would instead make a few of them, usually in this amount, on alternating days.

    ¡®These are the materials that will bring me great fame and fortune.¡¯

    Barchel believed that he would be the very first and only person in the empire to evolve into a legendary ss if that happened.

    He was staring at the children with greed as he led them deeper underground.

    Right below the castle was the entrance to the ¡®Dungeon of Sin¡¯. It was quite surprising that it was located in this ce. However, what Barchel and his three knights needed to do was simple. They would hunt the regr mobs in the Dungeon of Sin and once they arrived in the boss room, they would push in the priest and the children inside before closing the door. After a while, they would go inside and raid Amba.

    The three knights that came with him were at the bottom of the Knight¡¯s Tower but even if that was the case, they were still far stronger than the Empire¡¯s Knight Commander.

    ¡®There seems to be no problem at all.¡¯

    He did not see any disruption in their work.

    ¡°Pl, please! Help us! Please!!!¡±

    The priest that they dragged along copsed as soon as they stood in front of the entrance to the Dungeon of Sin. He looked like his legs had softened from fright as he grabbed his legs and begged.

    ¡°Is a priest of the Athenae Religion afraid of death? Shouldn¡¯t you be happy? You will now meet with your God, Athenae.¡±

    ¡°Please save us. I¡¯ll do anything if you let me live!¡±

    Barchel smirked at them. He could see that Haze and the children were all clenching their teeth as they tried to hold back their tears. Their legs were even trembling like the trunks of cottonwood trees that were being blown by the wind. One of the boys even dropped to the floor as he peed his pants.

    ¡°Tsk, tsk. Poor NPCs. In your next life, please be born as a real person and not as an artificial intelligence.¡±

    Barchel clicked his tongue and kicked the priest as he said those words.

    ¡°Keok!¡±

    The knights threw the priest inside as they continued to drag the children in the dungeon.

    ***

    President Kang Taehoon was sitting in the conference room with a grim look on his face. He was talking with the other executives of Joy Co. Ltd.

    ¡°The problem looks serious. The users have been constantly asking.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. The Food God, User Minhyuk¡¯s holy power seems high enough to be able to cripple all of the systems that we have built.¡±

    The topic of their conversation was none other than the Food God, User Minhyuk, and his holy power.

    Due to the effects of the x2 buff, his holy power had exceeded 4,000. And he even had the Saint¡¯s Sword which was an artifact that was not meant to be pulled in the first ce.

    It was quiteughable. A single user had increased his holy power, a stat that couldn¡¯t easily be increased by bonus points, to 4,000. It was a result that none of them had expected. Currently, the person who was second in terms of holy power was Bavecka¡¯s Child. However, his holy power was only less than 1,000. So one could imagine how strong Minhyuk was.

    In particr, what made Minhyuk stronger was the additional strength that he had received based on his holy power stat. He had as much as 100 additional attack power and a 10% additional defensive power based on his holy power.

    Even the Saint¡¯s Protection that was attached to the Saint¡¯s Sword was also a problem. This skill could increase the attack and defense power of the user by 30% of their holy power. And this could even increase his vassals, allies, party members and guild members power too.

    As a result, Minhyuk shone brightly in the battle. However, the bnce had copsed too much. But Joy Co. Ltd. was not such an irresponsiblepany that they would immediately patch the broken bnce.

    ¡°What that user has achieved is something amazing. I believe that we should do a reasonable patch for that. ording to the current patch, the benefits of the holy power had now changed from what it was before. The pdins¡¯ % in healing has increased and their HP¡¯s self recovery rate has also increased. I believe there¡¯s no problem at all.¡±

    If their healing % had increased as well as their HP self recovery rate, then the users would definitely apud the patch and praise it as a good patch. However, for those figures on the same stage at Minhyuk, it was something different.

    ¡°The Saint¡¯s Sword should be retrieved and he should bepensated for his 4,000 holy power.¡±

    Kang Taehoon tapped the table with his finger. He seemed to be ying a rhythm as he continued to tap.

    He did not know what Minhyuk would ask for. The 4,000 holy power and the Saint¡¯s Sword were not that light of a reward. And the only person who could decide about that in Joy Co. Ltd. was him and only him alone.

    ¡°I will meet with User Minhyuk personally and negotiate.¡±

    ***

    Barchel and his knights had easily ughtered the monsters in the Dungeon of Sins. The monsters lurking inside of the dungeon were mostly undead but they were not that strong so they were easy to handle.

    Before they knew it, they had already reached the entrance to the boss room. Barchel quickly pulled his sword out.

    [Continuous Draw]

    [One draw sends four continuous attacks.]

    Shwa, shwa, shwa, shwa!

    The monsters that were blocking their way were quickly dealt with by Barchel¡¯s quick draw. Then, Barchel and the knights quickly shoved the priest and the children inside the bossroom.

    Creaaaaaak¨D

    Then, they quickly pushed the entrance to the bossroom close as they jammed a rock outside.

    Haze calmly looked around. There was a head of the dragon made out of stone stuck in the wall hanging over the huge altar in front of them.

    Creaaaaaak¨D

    And with that, the boss room began to shake.

    ¡°Keuhuhuhuhuhu¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t cry, Rona. It¡¯s alright, Connie.¡±

    Haze hugged them tightly. It was said that once they became chimeras, they would not be able to remember anything since their minds would be controlled and turned hazy. She was also told that they would be murder weapons and would only be used for killing.

    As she encouraged the other children, Haze¡¯s legs began to tremble.

    That was when she began to remember someone. His name was Conir. He was a chimera but strangely enough there was a very small part of him that was not controlled. There was a part of him that retained some of his personality and memories. He would sometimes sneak delicious things in Haze¡¯s room. However, she no longer saw Conir. Conir¡¯s eyes were always filled with sadness.

    Then¡­¡­

    Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack¨D

    The head of the dragon started to crack as the stones began to fall down with a bang. What appeared in front of them was a dragon that seemed to have removed its molten skin.

    ¡°Kiyeeeeeeeee!¡±

    Starting from its head, the dragon began to wiggle and squeeze out of the opening on the wall. Haze¡¯s legs began to tremble.

    ¡°Noona, I¡¯m scared¡­...¡±

    ¡°I want to live¡­¡­ I don¡¯t want to die yet!¡±

    ¡°Mom, mom, mom! Waaaaaah!¡±

    Haze wept silently as she listened to the children¡¯s cries. Then, she took something out of her bosom as she threw it in front of the children. They were ¡®de fragments¡¯ that she had stashed and kept away from sight.

    ¡°The choice is yours.¡±

    She did not force them. She simply clenched a piece tightly in her hands despite her fear. Her hands felt hot. Blood fell and dripped down from her hands. However, she still slowly brought it towards her neck.

    I¡¯d rather die than be a chimera.

    One by one, the children picked up the de fragments. Even though they were still young, these childrens had their own free will. They should be given a choice and allowed the freedom to choose their decisions freely. During their stay with Haze, these childrens had all matured.

    ¡°Kyaaaaaack!¡±

    And finally, Amba got out of the wall as he opened his mouth to devour them. During herst moments, just as she was about to stab herself on the neck, Haze turned around and looked at the children. Tears were running down her cheeks but she still smiled broadly at them.

    ¡°Let¡¯s meet in heaven.¡±

    Just as she was about to move her hands¡­¡­

    Swoooooosh¨D

    She felt a breeze blowing past her. Haze¡¯s eyes turned and looked to her side. The priest that was burying his head in fear was nowhere to be seen. Instead, there was another man who was wearing the priestly robes.

    ¡°......?¡±

    Just as she was about to turn her head, a baby piggy appeared in front of her. The baby piggy took away the de fragment that was in her hand.

    ¡°Oink! Oink!¡±

    You can¡¯t do this! Oink!

    Haze slowly turned around. She saw three ck kitchen knives popping out of the man¡¯s body that was d in a priestly robe.

    ¡°Protect the children.¡±

    The ck knives that seemed to have consciousness stopped in front of Haze and the children. And before she knew it, something huge had appeared in the man¡¯s hands.

    ¡®F, frying pan¡­¡­?¡¯

    For a moment, she wondered if that was really a frying pan. But at that moment, Amba¡¯s mouth reached the man.

    ¡°N, no¡­¡­!¡±

    Haze unconsciously cried out.

    Then¡­¡­

    aaaaang¨D

    Amba was directly hit by the huge frying pan. Amba flew back and mmed on the wall.

    Baaaaaaang¨D

    Crack, crack, crack¨D

    A dense cloud of dust rose from the ground as Haze¡¯s hair fluttered from the wind created by the impact.

    The man grabbed the priestly robes and tugged. With a rrrriiiiiip the robe got torn off of his body. What appeared was a sturdy and tough-looking armor that was made out of bones.

    ¡®D,dragon¡­¡­ how¡­¡­¡¯

    Haze also knew how strong a dragon was.

    The man slowly turned his head.

    ¡°Wh, who are you¡­¡­?¡±

    The man smiled softly at her question as he approached her. He wiped the tears off of her cheeks with his warm and big hands.

    ¡°A good adult¡­¡­ or something like that?¡±

    ***

    Notes

    [One word can repay a thousand nyang debt] - nyang is an old KR currency. This means that one can get out of trouble if you are eloquent and sincere with your words.

    Food Discussion Corner

    Naan - leavened, oven-baked tbread found in cuisines from Western Asia, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, etc.

    Tandoori Chicken - a chicken dish made by roasting chicken marinated in yogurt and spices in a tandoor (a cylindrical y oven)

    Lassi - a blend of yogurt, water, spices or fruit.

    TL¡¯s corner!

    RIP Keh¡¯s memento.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 262 - Ramyeon Making Sword Art

    Chapter 262: Ramyeon Making Sword Art

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Baaaaaaang¨D

    When they heard the sound of explosion from inside the boss room of the Dungeon of Sin, Barchel and his knights shrugged their shoulders as theyughed merrily.

    ¡°Oho~ I guess that poison dragon bastard is very excited today.¡±

    ¡°Fufufufu. If Sir Barchel sessfully hunts the poison dragon then you will be more powerful. You have the chance to be the deputy tower master now.¡±

    The corner of Barchel¡¯s mouth curled up in joy. If he became the deputy tower master then he would be more powerful in terms of the sword in the countrypared to Carr.

    Then, one of the ambitious knights spoke.

    ¡°Just like the stories and legends of the past, a hero will appear toe and hunt the poison dragon.¡±

    ¡°Keuhuhuhu. So, are we the viins?¡±

    Barchel found their words funny.

    Well, what if I¡¯m a viin? Anyway, this is just a game.

    Even if a hero appeared, they would not be able to kill the poison dragon.

    ¡°Not too long ago, the Bone Dragon Lord appeared. It¡¯s not one of the four legendary dragons but it¡¯s true that they were the first dragon to show up.¡±

    He could remember that day clearly. He heard that ATV had reached their highest rating of 60% that day. In fact, more than half of the tv viewers watched their broadcast so it was only natural that they achieved such ratings. It was safe to say that more than half of the entire country had watched the broadcast including those who watched Ztube on the inte. And the Bone Dragon Lord there¡­

    ¡°That bastard was killed by a foreigner.¡±

    ¡°A, a foreigner?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Barchel shook his head as he saw the knights look at him in surprise.

    The fact that a foreigner killed a dragon was extremely surprising. Of course, the dragon was already dead and was infinitely weakerpared to a regr adult dragon but nevertheless it was still surprising. Regardless of that, even if foreigners grew surprisingly quickly their strength was still insufficientpared to the guardians that dominated the Athenae worldview. So they were wondering how, how was he able to kill the dragon?

    ¡°ording to the information that I gathered, the bone dragon lord is infinitely weaker than the four legendary dragons. I also heard that there were dragons of fire and ice present back then, but they still needed a long time to grow. So what if they grew up? Even if there were three bone dragon lords, they still wouldn¡¯t be able to handle one legendary dragon. On the contrary¡­¡±

    Barchel looked at the cave that wasn¡¯t that far from them.

    ¡°The poison dragon is the third among the four legendary dragons. And it also achieves full growth as soon as it breaks out of its egg.¡±

    ¡°What an amazing bastard.¡±

    ¡°So even if a hero appeared, he won¡¯t be able to kill that unless he¡¯s a lot stronger than all of usbined. Also, Poison Dragon Amba is a being that spits out extremely terrible poison. There are only a select few people who can handle that poison.¡±

    Barchel shrugged his shoulders.

    It was the unmistakable truth. He had already reached Lv490. But even if that was the case, hunting the poison dragon inside would only be possible if he did it with the three knights together. In addition, they also procured the ¡®Poison King¡¯s Potion¡¯ from the Knight¡¯s Tower just for this asion. The Poison King¡¯s potion would be able to increase their poison resistance by 60%.

    ¡®Ah, but what if¡­¡¯

    What if it¡¯s the Frying Pan Killer? Perhaps it¡¯s possible?

    However, he just smirked at such an impossible thought.

    ***

    Minhyuk could hear the children¡¯s cries as he buried his head on the floor while pretending to be afraid.

    ¡°Noona, I¡¯m scared¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°I want to live¡­¡­ I don¡¯t want to die yet!¡±

    ¡°Mom, mom, mom! Waaaaaah!¡±

    The reason why Minhyuk wanted to hunt Poison Dragon Amba was because he wanted to eliminate the root of everything. If the Dungeon of Sin and Poison Dragon Amba remained, the creation of chimeras and the atrocious deeds that Count Peru did would most likely continue.

    Another reason was because the Dungeon of Sin was located at the end of the basement. It was a convenient space that was small enough to prevent a lot of enemies flocking towards him.

    When Minhyuk heard Haze¡¯s voice, he realized that they were trying to kill themselves. It seemed like these kids grew up too fast during the time that they stayed in this hell.

    The reason why Minhyuk hid his identity from the children was also simple. There was a saying that birds listen during the day and rats listen during the night. Count Peru might have installed some device that could listen in on the situation of the children or perhaps he might have hidden his own person among the children. Was it not natural for him to be suspicious? After all, he was a human who had been creating chimeras for a long time so he should not be someone stupid.

    When Haze and the other children decided to kill themselves, Poison Dragon Amba flew towards her at a breakneck speed as he tried to devour herpletely. That was when he knew that this was the right time. If any of these children were Count Peru¡¯s men, then they would already be out of this ce.

    Minhyuk quickly erged his frying pan as he ran while triggering ¡®Food God¡¯s Blessings¡¯. Three ck knives popped out from his back while he summoned Kongie. Minhyuk quickly mmed Poison Dragon Amba with his frying pan. The dragon flew backwards after receiving a fierce smash from his frying pan.

    Baaaaaaang¨D

    The long priestly robes covering his body was pretty annoying so he quickly tore it off of his body.

    ¡°Wh, who are you¡­¡­?¡±

    Haze¡¯s expression was clearly bewildered. It was because the man that was crying and begging that he wanted to live suddenly stood up and smashed the Poison Dragon Amba.

    Minhyuk pondered over how he should answer that question. These children were dyed with despair due to the evil deeds that were done by adults. These children suffered from hunger due to the adult¡¯s greed for the ¡®essence¡¯ that would be squeezed out from them. He did not know what to say to these kids. So he approached her as he gently wiped the tears off of her cheeks.

    ¡°A good adult¡­¡­ or something like that?¡±

    He wanted to let them know that the world was not filled with bad adults.

    At that moment¡­..

    Baaaaaaang¨D

    Poison Dragon Amba jumped out of the wall where he was rammed in earlier.

    ¡°Kiyeeeeeee!¡±

    When Minhyuk first saw him, notifications rang loudly in his ears.

    [You have met with one of the Four Legendary Dragons.]

    [Poison Dragon Amba is a dragon that has achieved full growth.]

    [You have gained 50 reputation points.]

    [Whoever hunts Poison Dragon Amba will gain plenty of rewards.]

    A dragon that had achieved full growth!

    Minhyuk¡¯s father, ck Dragon, was someone who was better at handling dragons than anybody else. Britney and Destiny, the dragons that ck Dragon had tamed, were dragons that were still at their infancy. Compared to them, Poison Dragon Amba, who was standing in front of him, had already achieved full growth. This meant that he was not an easy opponent.

    Then, he flew towards Minhyuk.

    ¡°Kihaaaaaaa!¡±

    Amba roared loudly.

    Kongie quickly led the children towards a fairly hidden corner. Then, Kongie took something out.

    [You have torn the Space Protection Parchment.]

    [All attacks within a 1-m radius will be nullified.]

    This was an item that was also sold in the Royal Shop and it was very rare that there was only one copy sold in the shop. It was only avable since the war episode was still notpletely over yet.

    The children huddled into the small magic camp created around Kongie. At the same time, poison bursted out from Poison Dragon Amba¡¯s body as he flew fiercely towards Minhyuk.

    [Poison Dragon¡¯s Wrath.]

    [You will receive 2.4% damage per second once you inhale the poison from the Poison Dragon¡¯s body.]

    ¡°......!¡±

    The degree of damage was too horrendous. 2.4% of damage every second would cause a huge drop in one¡¯s HP.

    As soon as Minhyuk breathed in, the revolting poison was also inhaled through his nose.

    [You have an invincible body that can ignore and resist all abnormal states.]

    [You have resisted an abnormal state.]

    However, it was useless for someone like Minhyuk. In other words, Minhyuk might have just been the worst opponent for Poison Dragon Amba.

    [Human¡­¡­ What in the¡­¡­!]

    Minhyuk was shocked. The sound that came out of the dragon¡¯s mouth was not a roar but a clear voice. But Minhyuk couldn¡¯t understand what he was saying because did not know the ¡®Dragon Language¡¯.

    At the same time, dozens of giant poison spears sprang up around Poison Dragon Amba.

    Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!

    Dozens of poison spears flew towards Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk quickly used Like the Wind to approach Poison Dragon Amba and narrow the distance between them. As soon as he was near him, he used his Rampant Sword.

    Pipipipipipipipipi¨D

    The sword lights mmed on Poison Dragon Amba¡¯s body but none of them could get a scratch on his sturdy and solid scales.

    ¡®Are you telling me that it still wouldn¡¯t work even after using Rampant Sword with extremely high additional attack power?¡¯

    What was worse was that he couldn¡¯t use the special privilege from his holy power since this bastard was not ssified as a demonic beast, demon or undead.

    Then, Minhyuk quickly struck out his reddened sword. It was none other than his Splitting Sword. Two crescent-moon sword lights flew straight towards Poison Dragon Amba. Minhyuk ran together with the sword light.

    At the same time, he found something unusual somewhere near Amba¡¯s mouth.

    ¡®A dragon orb?¡¯

    The orb looked like a huge pearl with its gleaming white color. However, it quickly disappeared from his sight.

    [Dragon Orb]

    [With the help of the power of the Dragon Orb, Amba can exert a greater strength and force.]

    At the exact same moment¡­¡­

    Kuhaaaaaaaak¨D

    Terrible poison suddenly started bursting out from Poison Dragon Amba¡¯s body. With the poisonous explosion, the two crescent sword lights also disappeared from the air.

    ¡°......!¡±

    Minhyuk was shocked. But just before he could stop running, a green light suddenly shed in front of him as it prated his chest.

    Thwaaaack¨D

    [Poison Dragon¡¯s Poison Spear.]

    [The Poison Spear has been influenced by the Dragon Orb and is now 2x more powerful than before. The chances of triggering a fatal hit has also increased by 80%.]

    [Fatal blow!]

    [The Poison Spear has inflicted x3 damage.]

    ¡°Keuheop!¡±

    Minhyuk tried to stop the spear from prating through his chest but to no avail¡­ He flew together with the spear before being smashed directly on the wall.

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    Crash¨D

    [Your HP has fallen below 10%.]

    Strong.

    The single word floated in his mind. He realized how powerful a dragon was once it achieved its full growth. Just hitting a vital point could cause x3 damage on him.

    ¡°Ah, ahjussi!¡±

    Haze shouted at Minhyuk when he crashed down on the floor. She was trying to run out of the safe space without realizing it.

    ¡°Oink!¡±

    But Kongie blocked her way. His expression was quite somber as he firmly said no to her. Kongie believed in Minhyuk more than anybody else so he would do what he was tasked to do to support him.

    Haze was helpless as she looked at Minhyuk worriedly. He was the only adult who had offered to protect her and the children who were abused and hurt by other adults. She was very grateful to him and that was why she was more worried about his safety than anybody else.

    Then¡­¡­

    sh¨D

    An intense light shed from Minhyuk¡¯s body. The deep wound caused by the spear that looked like it was impossible to recover from hadpletely recovered. It was the effect of the Armor of Immortality¡¯s special ability.

    ¡°Haze.¡±

    Minhyuk slowly stood up as he called her name. Haze looked at him with tears in her eyes as she listened carefully to his words.

    ¡°I¡¯m not an ahjussi, I¡¯m an oppa.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    It seemed like he felt bad because he was called ahjussi.

    ***

    ck Dragon had reduced his log-in time as much as possible in Athenae recently because he was busy working as the president and chairman of the Ilhwa Group. However, he made sure to log-in at least one hour every day.

    His reason was simple. It was because he needed to feed Britney and Destiny a delicious meal. ck Dragon treated these kids as his own child and would give them special treatment. Perhaps that was the reason why a skill like this appeared in his skill window.

    It was a passive skill called ¡®Communication¡¯. The Communication Skill allowed him to understand and feel what they were trying to convey even if he did not know theirnguage or he could not hear their voice.

    And today, ck Dragon also heard their voices through the Communication Skill.

    [I want to be stronger¡­¡­]

    [I want to protect you, ck Dragon.]

    [I don¡¯t want to watch helplessly like what happened back then.]

    ck Dragon felt moved. Remembering their helplessness during the fight with the Bone Dragon Lord, Britney and Destiny spoke of those words every day as if there was a clot in their hearts that they could not remove.

    ck Dragon couldn¡¯t help but find ways to help them. He had asked Abel, an informant, about ways to make them grow faster.

    ¡°Britney, Destiny. I¡¯ll be back again tomorrow.¡±

    ck Dragon tried to cancel the Communication Skill with a bit of regret.

    ¡°Kkiiiii¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Kkiiiyeeeee¡­¡­¡±

    The two majestic and lovely dragons approached him. They bowed their heads and rubbed them on him as much as they could.

    ¡°S, so cute¡­..!¡±

    This is why I can¡¯t quit Athenae!

    ck Dragon petted their heads gently. It was time to say goodbye. But at that moment¡­¡­

    [Abel: I found an artifact that can help Britney and Destiny grow faster.]

    ¡°......!¡±

    ck Dragon¡¯s eyes widened.

    There¡¯s finally a solution that can quell these children¡¯s sad cries every day! And it¡¯s an artifact that can help me see these kids grow even more!

    [ck Dragon: W, what is it?]

    Not long after, Abel¡¯s whisper came back.

    [Abel: It¡¯s the Dragon Orb.]

    ***

    Notes

    [birds listen during the day and rats listen during the night] ??? ?? ?? ??? ?? ??? ???. - A saying that¡¯s simr to walls has ears. Basically someone could listen in on their conversations.

    [Dragon Orb] ??? - It¡¯s literally an orb that dragons hold on their mouths or palms. This is a term that you can usually find in fantasy stories. You can imagine the pearl that¡¯s usually held in the ws of a dragon in sculptures.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 263 - Ramyeon Making Sword Art

    Chapter 263: Ramyeon Making Sword Art

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Poison Dragon Amba was a special dragon. Up until now, he had repeatedly died before being reborn again from an egg. The Poison Dragon Amba was a dragon that did not die. Once his egg was formed, he would be reborn with all of his memories intact. Immortal. Perhaps that was the term that was apt for his situation.

    Poison Dragon Amba was shocked to see the man standing up again after he had received his attack that was strengthened by the Dragon Orb.

    When the man finally stood up, a faint breeze began to blow from the sword of the man who was slowly standing up. Hundreds of falling silver leaves also began to flutter from all over the ce.

    ¡°Fluttering Sword.¡±

    The wind that blew from his sword swept the falling leaves as they rained down on Amba.

    Pipipi¨D

    When one of the leaves grazed Amba¡¯s body, green blood slowly dripped down from the injury.

    ¡°Kiyaaaaaaack!¡±

    At the same time, the Dragon Orb appeared and disappeared from Poison Dragon Amba¡¯s mouth once again.

    [Dragon Orb.]

    [Momentarily increases your defense by x2.]

    ng, ng, ng, ng, ng, ng¨D

    The ck scales covering Poison Dragon Amba¡¯s body had be sturdier and firmer than before. Amba quickly flew out as he ignored the rapid influx of the falling leaves.

    Pipipipipipipipipipipipi¨D

    He believed that those falling leaves would not be able to prate and tear through his hardened skin. And just like he expected¡­¡­

    Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack!

    The falling leaves that grazed his scales were easily blown away. Amba¡¯s defense had already exceeded 5,000. With the help of the x2 increase in his defense, he had as much as 10,000 in his defensive power. He now had a formidable defense. Of course, it was only because it was increased through the use of the Dragon Orb and it was a given that there were limitations to this ability.

    At the very least, he believed that he could tear the neck of the man who stood up again before it wore off. But¡­¡­

    Piii¨D

    Even though Amba flew fiercely with his strengthened defense, the leaves kept on fluttering towards him. They even dug deep on his skin after prating through his scales before disappearing. He couldn¡¯t help but let out a scream.

    ng, ng, ng, ng, ng, ng!

    The leaves still continued to stab on his body.

    But what did he say a while ago?

    Then¡­¡­

    Pipipi¨D

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    Several falling leaves stuck to his body as warm blood started to flow down from his body.

    ¡®This punk¡­¡­ I will not lose to this punk¡­¡­¡¯

    A terrible death always awaited Poison Dragon Amba but this person right in front of him was just like a ghost of his past. What was worse was the fact that his poison did not work on him at all. The ghost of his past was none other than ¡®Conir¡¯. Although Minhyuk was unaware, Conir was special even among all of the chimeras. His ¡®Ten Thousand Poison Resistance¡¯ had allowed him topletely ignore poisons. In addition, the ability that allowed Minhyuk to tear through Amba¡¯s defenses was none other than the ¡®Intangible Sword¡¯. So a terrible death would still await him.

    ¡®You can¡¯t take away my Dragon Orb¡­¡­!¡¯

    The Dragon Orb¡­¡­

    The only dragon that could live forever was Poison Dragon Amba. The other dragons wouldpletely lose their memories as they leave behind their eggs before being reborn as children. This was the other dragons¡¯ fate after their death.

    Although they might not have remembered it, during the time when the Four Legendary Dragons were all gathered together, they would lose part of their energy forever and would not be able to regain them again. Their energies were then received by an artifact called ¡®Dragon Orb¡¯. The Dragon Orb was a special artifact that contained all of the energy and power of the four dragons.

    The reason why Amba was the one tasked to protect the Dragon Orb was because he was the only one among them who would be reborn as a fully grown adult with his memories intact. He was the best choice for protecting such a special artifact.

    The Dragon Orb was something that couldn¡¯t be kept by the guardians. It was an item that could only be kept by foreigners. And the person in front of him was clearly a foreigner. Amba did not know the reason for this but this was a system that was set up by the game Athenae.

    Despite the pain tearing through his body, Amba still flew fiercely as he swung his tail with great strength. And once again, the Dragon Orb appeared and disappeared from his mouth. At the same time, a light shed at the end of his tail.

    The Dragon Orb was the crystallization of the powers of all four of the legendary dragons. Although it only contained the dragon¡¯s partial strength. However, the strength that was avable for Amba, the third dragon in ranking, was the power of the fourth dragon.

    This was the power of the fourth dragon, ¡®Cracana of Destruction¡¯. It could temporarily increase his tail¡¯s attack power by x3.

    Baaaaaaaaang¨D!

    The man flew back after being directly hit by his strengthened tail. Amba did not miss any moment as he opened his huge maw and devoured the man.

    Crack¨D crack¨D

    ¡®Brothers, I will definitely protect this Dragon Orb!¡¯

    Amba felt lonely. He missed his older brothers. But he still continued to protect the Dragon Orb alone.

    ¡°Keuheop!¡±

    Just as he was about to bite down again, the man¡¯s sword suddenly emitted a red light.

    ***

    [Your HP has fallen below 80%.]

    [Fatal blow!]

    [Your HP has fallen below 50%.]

    ¡°Keuheop!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s body was being constantly bitten. Amba¡¯s speed was incredibly fast and it was quite hard to get out of his mouth since he had such a mighty force. He kept on targeting Minhyuk¡¯s neck, who was only able to hold out by hitting or blocking his chin with his left arm. However, he could not hold on any longer.

    Finally, the waiting time for Sword of Fury was finished. He made sure to stab the ferocious and chaotic force in the mouth of the bastard. He wanted to rip his head off through his mouth.

    Splurt!

    [You have seeded in stabbing a vital point.]

    [100% additional damage!]

    He stuck the sword directly in his mouth. After all, there was no other vital point that he could stab except for the mouth.

    ¡°Kiyeeeeeeeeeek!¡±

    The dragon started to thrash around due to the pain. However, the effect of the Sword of Fury was still not done. The strong wind that could tear apart anything within a two meter radius rampaged inside the dragon¡¯s mouth.

    Shwaaaaaaaaa¨D

    The dragon¡¯s mouth was torn apart by the horrendous storm that rampaged inside.

    ¡°Kyaaaaaack!¡±

    Poison Dragon Amba roared in despair. He was struggling with so much pain that he fell down on the ground. However, he still persevered to fly back up again. He was desperately struggling.

    Minhyuk could see the tears falling from the eyes of the dragon. He was a dragon that was desperately trying to squeeze out everyst bit of strength that was in his body.

    [You have seen the Dragon¡¯s Tears.]

    [Your resistance to poison will increase by 50% for 1 week as an effect for viewing the tears of a dragon.]

    It was meaningless for Minhyuk who had a body that was immune to ten thousand poisons.

    But the dragon still desperately struggled.

    ¡°Have to¡­¡­ protect¡­¡­ for my brothers¡­¡­ dragon orb¡­¡­¡±

    Once upon a time, when the Dragons of Beginnings were still gathered, the four dragons happily spent their time together. However, that moment would never happen again. He was not even aware if the other dragons were awakened already.

    But Minhyuk interpreted things differently.

    ¡®Did this guy not want something like this either?¡¯

    Conir had told him that the Poison Dragon Amba would die and revive. He had also attacked him using different patterns. From his words, Minhyuk could deduce that his memories remained intact after his rebirth.

    Who would ever want to do something like this, anyway?

    And Minhyuk, who had seen other dragons from his father, ck Dragon, knew that they were creatures that were gentle and loyal. However, regardless of his thoughts, the dragon in front of him sumbed to his death. In the end, he couldn¡¯t stand the fatal blow that he had received in his mouth.

    [You have gained 8,317,842 EXP.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have sessfully hunted Poison Dragon Amba.]

    [You have acquired the Dragon Orb.]

    [You have acquired the egg of Amba, one of the four legendary dragons.]

    [You have acquired Poison Dragon Amba¡¯s Cursed Dagger.]

    ¡®Egg? Dragon Orb?¡¯

    Minhyuk couldn¡¯t help but be confused. Especially because of the egg. He knew that one of the reasons why Amba could be reborn through his egg was because they would sacrifice a man with a high and pure holy power. Or so he¡¯d been told.

    But why is the egg still here?

    He was not aware of this but Amba¡¯s egg could still be acquired even if he did not devour a man with holy power. However, the power to produce chimeras had now disappeared.

    At that moment, he remembered one person.

    ¡®Will my dad like it if I gave this to him?¡¯

    The guy inside the egg had always kept his memories intact. If that was the case, then, would he be willing to serve Minhyuk?

    No, I¡¯d rather give him to my dad.

    After all, his father, ck Dragon, was already well known as the ¡®Legendary Dragon Taming Master¡¯. He felt that it would be better if his father was the one to take on this egg.

    Then, he went ahead and checked the Dragon Orb.

    (Dragon Orb)

    Rank: Epic (Able to Evolve)

    Restrictions: A person with a dragon.

    Durability: 00 / 00

    Special Abilities:

    ¨D If you have a dragon, this could take them to the next level.

    ¨D A 1.5x increase inmanding ability.

    ¨D Some of the powers of the four legendary dragons could be borrowed through the use of the Dragon Orb.

    Special Abilities after Evolution:

    ¨D Sealed.

    ¨D Sealed.

    ¨D Sealed.

    Description: This is the sacred dragon orb created by the four legendary dragons. The orb will continue to evolve with each increase of dragon owned by the user in possession of the orb.

    He was surprised when he saw that it was an artifact that could evolve but he was once again surprised after he saw that it could also evolve a dragon.

    ¡®Wow. I think my dad will really like this, right?¡¯

    Especially because his dad was already the owner of two dragons so the moment he received the Dragon Orb, the orb would immediately be a lot more stronger.

    Finally, he checked Poison Dragon Amba¡¯s Cursed Dagger. Minhyuk¡¯s eyes widened in surprise when he saw the information about the dagger.

    (Poison Dragon Amba¡¯s Cursed Dagger)

    Rank: Legendary

    Restriction: The one who hunted Poison Dragon Ambca

    Number of Uses: 10 / 10

    Attack Power: 1 ,619

    Special Abilities:

    ¨D Upon sessful attack, there¡¯s a 50% chance of inflicting x2 damage.

    ¨D Active Skill: Poison Dragon Amba¡¯s Curse

    Description: This is a purple dagger that contains the wrath and fury of Poison Dragon Amba after being kept in the Dungeon of Sin for a long time.

    (Amba¡¯s Curse)

    Active Skill

    Level: None

    Mana Required: 500

    Cooldown: None

    Effects:

    ¨D If the opponent dies after being stabbed by the dagger, he will be cursed by Amba and his soul will wander around the stream for 30 days.

    ¨D The soul wandering around the stream will suffer from terrible hunger that is on par with the Seven Deadly Sin: Gluttony for the entire 30 days.

    ¨D Can be used on NPCs.

    Minhyuk was grinning widely. It seemed like the best scenario was already beingpleted in his head.

    ***

    After a few hours, Barchel and the three knights that apanied him leisurely went back to the Dungeon of Sin after having a satisfying meal.

    ¡°Deputy Tower Master Barchel.¡±

    ¡°Fufufufu. Don¡¯t say that. I¡¯m still not the deputy tower master.¡±

    ¡°Won¡¯t it happen soon?¡±

    ¡°De. Pu. Ty. To. Wer. Mas. Ter. Barchel.¡±

    Barchel was grinning widely. He would definitely receive a lot of benefits if he became the deputy tower master.

    Everything was going smoothly. After he had received the Essence of vor, then his ss would be upgraded. He swaggered happily as he pushed the rock that they used to block the entrance to the dungeon.

    Then, he saw the egg on the altar with the Cup of Essence. He couldn¡¯t help but whistle happily.

    ¡°Whistle~ The poor kids had been eaten~ Where did the chimeras go?¡±

    He giggled happily as he thought about drinking the water that filled the Cup of Essence. Perhaps he had stumbled upon the tform of ¡®awakening¡¯ that he had heard from the rumors. There had been rumors circting recently that a lot of users had reached their limits. But Athenae had prepared a new ss that created infinitely new contents every day. This was a ss that could help their existing ss be stronger. Perhaps it was him who was going to be the first of this kind.

    Just as he was about to reach the Cup of Essence he could see a sword pointing at his neck.

    ¡°Woah, woah. Is there an uninvited guest?¡±

    Barchel¡¯s brows furrowed in annoyance. The knights were flustered when they saw a sword hanging in the air. It was none other than the invisible Minhyuk.

    ¡°A¡­¡­ user?¡±

    Barchel was surprised but he still remained calm. After all, they were plenty in numbers. And the knights behind him would definitely not lose ground if they fought against him so he trusted their strength. Even if their levels were lower he was sure that their strength would still be above their opponent.

    On the contrary, this mysterious man had just finished a fight against Amba. He was sure that he would have lost a lot of stamina with his fight against Amba. His skills cooldown would also still be up.

    And Barchel, who was second or perhaps on par with Carr, was confident that he could avoid this man¡¯s attacks easily.

    ¡°The children were crying of hunger¡­¡­ Weren¡¯t you ashamed that you did something like this because of your greed?¡±

    ¡°Woah, woah. Let¡¯s be honest, shall we?¡±

    Barchel shrugged his shoulders.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t youe here to get something too? Those NPCs are just artificial intelligence so what¡¯s the big deal?¡±

    He was pretending that he was trying to persuade him but he quickly pulled out his sword as he tried to widen the distance between them.

    ¡°What does it matter to us, users, whether an artificial intelligence dies or not? Huh?¡±

    The man fell silent for a moment before asking him.

    ¡°Have you ever been hungry?¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Please let me eat something, anything. Have you ever begged for something in your life?¡±

    Barchel¡¯s brows furrowed deeply.

    What the hell is this guy talking about? Is there anyone who goes hungry in Korea these days?

    Barchel grew up in a wealthy family so he was clueless about the harshness of reality.

    ¡°......Hunger. Well, that¡¯s not that big of a deal, right?¡±

    Barchel answered him lightly.

    The man who had his sword around his neck, Minhyuk, could see that he took this situation lightly. He was rid of any guilt from his despicable actions.

    ¡°Then, from now on, I will show you something that will make your face distorted in despair.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡±

    Barchel grasped the hilt of his sword tightly.

    Make my face distorted? In a situation where our chances of winning are very high? Unless he¡¯s someone on par with Carr.

    If that was not the case, then his face would not be distorted. No, he thought that he should roughly agree with him.

    ¡°I¡¯m the Frying Pan Killer.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    At that moment, Barchel¡¯sx and carefree expression suddenly hardened. The hairs all over his body stood on end and his mouth dried up in tension.

    Then, Minhyuk spoke coldly.

    ¡°For being such an adult¡­¡­ Shame on you.¡±

    ***

    PR¡¯s corner!

    That dagger, able to make someone¡¯s soul wanted for a month while feeling an effect that caused an entire group of yers to devolve into eating dirt, rocks, and each other in a matter of seconds. If that gets used on another yer¡­

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 264 - Ramyeon Making Sword Art

    Chapter 264: Ramyeon Making Sword Art

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Barchel couldn¡¯t understand what was happening right now.

    How can the Frying Pan Killer be here?

    In addition, he also believed that he had some of his allies around him. It did not cross his mind at all that he was able to hunt Poison Dragon Amba at all. He was more inclined to believe that his allies were hiding from somewhere waiting for the right time to step in.

    But if the person in front of him was really the Frying Pan Killer, then things would still make sense even if he was alone. That was when he remembered that he was ckstone¡¯s enemy. Cauhel wanted the death of the Frying Pan Killer. Even if he was alone, he had a high chance of winning. After all, he was a powerhouse who defeated the gold medalist Carr in Athenae: Korean War.

    However, the knights from the tower that were apanying him were people who had wielded their swords since they were young. They were talented and hard working. Each and every single one of them were on par with Carr. In addition, they had achieved the highest level of the Faramil Swordsmanship, the strongest swordsmanship of the Cordis Empire.

    There was a legend about the Faramil Swordsmanship. It was a legend that was said to have happened when the Knight¡¯s Tower was just built. This swordsmanship was praised as the strongest swordsmanship in the continent and was created by Arakkan, the man who built the Knight¡¯s Tower. And Arakkan had also said¡­¡­

    ¡®This swordsmanship originated from a boy. And that child had told me that he wanted this sword to protect and not to kill someone.¡¯

    And he also said¡­¡­

    ¡®Also, I was defeated by this little boy.¡¯

    His words came as a surprise back then. Arakkan, the person who built the Knight¡¯s Tower, was the strongest swordsman of that time. No, he was only second to the Sword God since he was defeated by a child. He had also imitated the child¡¯s swordsmanship to create the Faramil Swordsmanship. And from then on, Faramil Swordsmanship was known to be the strongest swordsmanship of the continent. It was a difficult swordsmanship that only a few from the Knight¡¯s Tower could learn. However, once this swordsmanship was learned, their strength would surely increase by leaps and bounds. And these knights that apanied him had learned such swordsmanship. And of course, there still existed a wall between the users and NPCs so even if the knights were of lower rank in the Knight¡¯s Tower they were still a lot more powerful than users.

    ¡®I can win against him¡­¡­ And once I kill him, I can report it to Cauhel!¡¯

    With this, I will be able to climbfortably to the deputy tower master position. And in time, I would be able to sit on the Knight¡¯s Tower¡¯s Tower Master¡¯s throne.

    ¡°You shithead, don¡¯t keep on bbering!¡±

    At the same time, Barchel gripped the hilt of his sword and tried to strike at him. But before he could evennd a strike, Minhyuk¡¯s sword had already shed his sides.

    sh¨D

    [Intangible Sword.]

    [Your sword strike has ignored all of the enemy¡¯s defenses.]

    ¡°Keup!¡±

    A groan spilled from Barchel¡¯s mouth. His opponent¡¯s reflexes were extremely fast. He never thought that he would be able to strike him with his sword at that moment.

    ¡®20% of my HP has been cut down with just a single attack, crazy shit¡­¡­!¡¯

    His hairs stood on end.

    But at that moment, the three knights did not miss the gap as they moved quickly.

    Dash¨D

    ¡®Quite fast, huh?¡¯

    Minhyuk was a bit surprised. They narrowed the distance like ghosts suddenly appearing in front of him and their swords flowed smoothly like water running down a stream.

    ¡®I can¡¯t see the trajectory of their swords?¡¯

    He couldn¡¯t see it. Usually, when fighting with swords, one could predict the attack through their muscle and arm movements. The attacks were not determined through the swing of the sword. But he could not read their movements at all. He couldn¡¯t even get through to Barchel since they easily narrowed the distance with their efficient moves.

    ng!

    The three knights¡¯ eyes made eye contact. It seemed like they immediately made a unanimous decision as they triggered their swordsmanship at the same time.

    [Faramil Swordsmanship Chapter 1]

    [Wailing Child]

    [An unpredictable fast swordsmanship.]

    Papapapapapapapapapa¨D

    The swords of the three knights moved unpredictably fast.

    ¡®......that¡¯s a lot faster, right?¡¯

    Minhyuk frowned. He could see that the speed of the swords of the three knights were much faster than his Rampant Sword. And the sharpness of their shing swords were also extraordinary.

    Minhyuk quickly took a step back with his ¡®Like the Wind¡¯.

    At the same time, the three knights stabbed their swords strongly.

    [Faramil Swordsmanship Chapter 2]

    [Roaring Child]

    [A powerful force is condensed at the tip of the stabbing sword, it will give a longer range than what it looks to the naked eye.]

    Stab!

    Minhyuk clearly tried to steer away from the range of the swords but his abdomen was still pierced even though the range was far shorter than their distance. Then, another attack flew towards his chest.

    ¡®This is dangerous¡­¡­¡¯

    As soon as that thought crossed his head, he heard a loud sound even if the sword did not reach his chest.

    ng!

    [Physical Damage Reflection!]

    [Returns the physical damage with a x2 increase in strength.]

    ¡°Keuaaaack!¡±

    One of the knights staggered as he clutched his chest after the Armor of Immortality¡¯s effect was triggered. Minhyuk took out his frying pan and erged it to block another attack.

    ng¨D

    Their swordsmanship was quite unpredictable. Without realizing it, Barchel had taken a potion out.

    ¡®It will be hard to use Fluttering Sword or Rain of Kitchen Knives.¡¯

    It was because his casting time was reduced. In fact, even before he had met them, he had already reduced his casting time by 60% by tearing up one of the parchments that he had. But it was quite difficult to use because their movements were quick.

    Then, at that moment¡­¡­

    [Lis¡­¡­ ten¡­¡­]

    Minhyuk had heard Conir¡¯s voice from his spiritual body. Conir continued to speak to him.

    [Sound¡­¡­ listen¡­¡­]

    ¡®The sound?¡¯

    Minhyuk was confused for a moment.

    That was when one of the knights named Radvel approached him quickly. Radvel was using the 3rd chapter of their swordsmanship, the Reckless Child. Reckless Child was a sword that had the power to explode anything indiscriminately within a certain radius. Several strands of ck lights spilled out from Radvel¡¯s sword.

    ¡®Why am I familiar with this swordsmanship¡­¡­?¡¯

    He was definitely familiar with this technique. Minhyuk knew that he had seen this swordsmanship at least once. Then, Conir spoke.

    [Listen¡­¡­ to the¡­¡­ sound¡­¡­ing from the tip¡­¡­. of the sword¡­¡­]

    He was not afraid of the strands that were stretching out from the sword. What he was worrying about was the damage that woulde to him even if the sword had not touched him yet. So Minhyuk decided to listen to Conir. He quietly focused on the sound. Then, he heard it.

    Shwwiiiiiiiiik¨D

    He could hear a sounding towards him ahead of the sword that was targeting him. Minhyuk shed his swords towards where the sound wasing from.

    Bang!

    The strands of ck light that were stretching from the sword scattered in the air and disappeared.

    ¡°Heok¡­¡­!¡±

    Barchel and Radvel both let out a gasp of surprise.

    At the same time, Conir continued to speak to Minhyuk.

    [Lend¡­¡­ me¡­¡­ your¡­¡­ body¡­¡­]

    ¡®......?¡¯

    Minhyuk frowned for a moment. However, he understood what Conir was feeling. These people were clearly those who took advantage of the children¡¯s hunger just so they could seek and umte plenty of riches. He must have wanted to take revenge on them. Besides, he had faith in his strength. Even if the entire Legend Guild had cooperated, they were still unable to hunt him. They were only able to do so because they relied on food.

    [Conir is attempting to ¡®possess¡¯ your body. Are you willing?]

    ¡®Yes.¡¯

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes began to turn ck as Conir was sucked inside his body.

    ***

    Count Peru¡¯s expression was quite serious.

    ¡®Why isn¡¯t Coniring back?¡¯

    Conir was on an entirely different levelpared to other chimeras that were made from ordinary children. He found him lying beside the Cup of Essence when he discovered the Dungeon of Sin. He was a mummy, to be exact. But he was just like a normal person with extreme hunger and desire. He had also found Rafielt-nim¡¯s writings there.

    ¡®The Devil Swordmaster has fallen asleep.¡¯

    When Count Peru looked at the man that was called Swordmaster, he realized something. This was the boy that Arakkan, the first captain of the Knight¡¯s Tower and the creator of Faramil¡¯s Swordsmanship, was talking about. This boy was none other than Conir. And Conir would not be able toe back and shine on the world anymore.

    However, when he realized that he was dead, he thought about the Cup of Essence and the Essence of vor. The Essence of vor that filled the Cup of Essence.

    ¡®Rafielt was a very mischievous man.¡¯

    He was given two choices. The first choice was for him to drink it and his second choice was to give it up. But for someone like Count Peru, whose greed and ambition had reached the heavens, it wouldn¡¯t make sense for him to choose the second choice.

    ***

    ¡®Wh, what the hell¡­¡­!¡¯

    Barchel¡¯s thoughts were in disarray. He was using Faramil¡¯s Swordsmanship¡¯s 6th chapter, the ¡®Skilled Child¡¯.

    Skilled Child was a skill that would show the opponent¡¯s weak points and gaps through a red dot. For ordinary users, there would be at least seven dots appearing on their bodies. His knights had around four dots on their bodies. And with Minhyuk he was able to see around 2~3. But that was earlier. Right now, Minhyuk, with his ckened eyes, did not show any single weakness and gap even though he was just stretching his sword out.

    Then, Minhyuk approached them. He did not use any skill at all. He was just approaching them, in and simple.

    Radvel hurried forward to block his front with chapter 5, the Dancing Child. Dancing Child was a skill that let them move around like a skilled dancer. It was a skill that allowed them to avoid any and all attacks from the enemy in one single breath.

    But just as Radvel was about to do his dance-like evasion¡­¡­

    sh¨D

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Blood spurted out of Radvel¡¯s chest with just a light swing of Minhyuk¡¯s sword. Arancar, who was standing beside Barchel, quickly dashed forward with his sword using the 1st chapter.

    Minhyuk was immediately besieged with quick sword strikes from all directions.

    ang¨D

    But, he easily blocked it. And using the recoil from the block, he quickly twisted his sword and pierced the neck of the knight in front of him.

    [You have hunted the Knight¡¯s Tower¡¯s Knight Radvel.]

    [This is an NPC that has an umted Chaotic Number, your status will not be chaotic.]

    [You have gained 3,154,673 EXP.]

    If one killed an NPC that had umted quite a lot of chaotic numbers, the user would not be chaotic. NPCs that were in this state were usually those who had killed innocents or the miscreants of society.

    Then, Minhyuk dashed forward.

    ¡°C, crazy¡­¡­!¡±

    Barchel couldn¡¯t believe the scene in front of him. Arancar quickly used the 3rd chapter, Reckless Child. Dozens of ck strands of light stretched out of his sword. At the same time, Knight Roband used the most powerful chapter out of the six chapters of Faramil¡¯s Swordsmanship, the Surging Child.

    Several sword lights that looked like they could tear everything on their path to pieces rushed at Minhyuk. But Minhyuk easily blocked the sword of the knight who used Reckless Child.

    ng!

    And just like before, the Reckless Child was offset by his strike as it scattered through the air.

    ¡°This¡­¡­!¡±

    Barchel ran towards Minhyuk when he saw him trying to pierce through the neck of the remaining knights.

    [Faramil¡¯s Swordsmanship Chapter 8]

    [Storming Child.]

    [A powerful tempest of swords will rush straight towards the enemy.]

    A storm of des immediately formed when Barchel brandished his sword. Minhyuk just looked at it indifferently before striking his sword out. Two sword lights quickly flew from his sword. It was none other than the Splitting Sword. And the moment the sword lights met with the storm of des¡­¡­

    Shweeeeeeeeee¨D

    The storm of des scattered and disappeared in the air, just like a cogwheel being stopped from rotating by a metal chopstick.

    ¡°......¡±

    The overwhelming difference in their strength and skill made Barchel tremble.

    ¡®Th, this is impossible!¡¯

    He knew everything about Faramil¡¯s Swordsmanship. From its power, to its movements and patterns and how to prevent them.

    ¡°Wh, what the hell¡­¡­¡±

    Just as he was flustered and confused¡­¡­

    Stab!

    Another one of the knights fell down.

    Puhaaa!

    And the final knight also fell under Minhyuk¡¯s sword.

    [You have hunted the Knight¡¯s Tower¡¯s Knight Arancar.]

    [This is an NPC that has an umted Chaotic Number, your status will not be chaotic.]

    [You have gained 3,511,473 EXP.]

    The notification rang one after another in Minhyuk¡¯s head.

    [You have hunted the Knight¡¯s Tower¡¯s Knight Roband.]

    [This is an NPC that has an umted Chaotic Number, your status will not be chaotic.]

    [You have gained 3,154,673 EXP.]

    Barchel was left dumbfounded when he saw the overwhelming gap between them.

    Right now, the approaching Minhyuk looked like a demon to him.

    ¡®C, Cauhel-nim couldn¡¯t handle him if he¡¯s this strong¡­¡­!¡¯

    Of course, it was because he was unaware that the person he was fighting right now was not Minhyuk.

    ¡°Th, this is ridiculous¡­¡­!¡±

    Stab!

    His chest was stabbed by the sword.

    [Your HP has fallen below 60%.]

    ¡°Keop!¡±

    He was stabbed by Minhyuk¡¯s sword continuously.

    Stab, stab, stab, stab!

    Barchel was then met with a ck screen after experiencing those continuous stabs. The sword that he was holding earlier also dropped on the spot where he had died and disappeared from.

    [The Possession has been released.]

    Then, Conir¡¯s spiritual body separated from Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    ¡°......¡±

    Minhyuk was left speechless when he saw Conir¡¯s strength. No, he had the exact same reaction as Barchel earlier. He also couldn¡¯t understand how he knew the swordsmanship that they used well.

    Then, Minhyuk put the thought aside for a moment, as he walked towards the Cup of Essence. He purposely left it behind just so he could easily catch Barchel¡¯s eyes.

    Then, the notifications came in.

    [You have acquired the Cup of Essence.]

    [There are two different methods on how you can use the Essence of vor.]

    [You can immediately ingest the Essence of vor and your ss will immediately be upgraded.]

    [When those who have been deprived of their ¡®desire and longing¡¯ eat the Essence of vor, they will be able to escape the pain of their desire and longing.]

    ¡°......?¡±

    Minhyuk tilted his head in thought.

    There were two choices offered to him for the Essence of vor. From what he had read, his ss would only get upgraded if he drank everything in the cup without leaving a drop behind. So if he chose to let the children, who had their desires deprived of, drink it, that effect would not be triggered anymore.

    Minhyuk stared at the Cup of Essence for a moment. Then, he saw Haze and the other children feeling relieved that they were alive and well. There was also Conir who was watching them silently.

    Not long after, Minhyuk smiled at them.

    ***

    Conir knew the power of the Cup of Essence. After all, Count Peru had retrieved it dozens of times already.

    He was very grateful to Minhyuk for saving the children and preventing Count Peru from making any more chimeras. So even if he drank everything from the Cup of Essence, he believed that it would still be fine. Because it was a reward for helping him.

    But not long after, he saw Minhyuk taking out a frying pan as he started to make fried rice. When hepleted the fried rice, he made sure to sprinkle a drop or two of the Essence of vor on it before cing it in front of the children.

    ¡°Wow! It¡¯s really, really delicious!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s very, very, very delicious!¡±

    And the same dish was also created in front of Minhyuk.

    ¡°It¡¯s very delicious?!!¡±

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s very, very delicious!¡±

    It was very ironic. They were all eating happily even though Poison Dragon Amba¡¯s body and corpses littered the ce. However, Conir couldn¡¯t help but smile when he looked at this scene.

    ***

    The notifications rang while Minhyuk was savoring his fried rice.

    [You have chosen the second method for the Essence of vor.]

    [You have achieved the Hidden Piece: One Who Makes Good Choices.]

    [As a reward, your ss will be upgraded and enhanced.]

    [Food God (Food Fighter) is a ss that can no longer evolve.]

    Surprisingly enough, even though he chose the second method, he was still able to obtain the rewards from the first method when a hidden piece was triggered. However, the reward was something useless for Minhyuk.

    Then, the Cup of Essence started to crack. The light that came out of the cracked silver cup started to envelope Conir¡¯s spiritual body.

    [Selecting the second method will destroy the Cup of Essence.]

    [The Cup of Essence is exerting itsst power before getting destroyed.]

    When the shining light disappeared, what appeared in front of him was a clean and neat boy. Not some bandaged person or a spiritual body but a neat and lively boy.

    ¡°I¡¯m Conir.¡±

    Minhyuk was speechless as a feeling of dread spread in his guts. He could feel himself getting doomed.

    ¡°I will serve you.¡±

    [Sword Saint Conir vows his eternal allegiance and loyalty to you.]

    Minhyuk¡¯s face was distorted in pain.

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Another mouth to feed? Get! Lol. It¡¯s funny how he does not want to get followers but they still arrive at his doorsteps. Kek. I also don¡¯t understand why this arc is titled Ramyeon Making Sword Art¡­ Maybe he¡¯ll let Conir make ramyeon noodles with his sword art?

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 265 - Emperor Asvon

    Chapter 265: Emperor Asvon

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    73 Emperor Asvon

    ¡®No, you just have to give me a reward!¡¯

    But why are you giving me another mouth to feed?

    Minhyuk felt disappointed at the moment.

    Conir was a boy with big doe-like eyes and fair skin. He looked very simple and naive. It seemed like he was around 15 years old.

    But he¡¯s a Sword Saint?

    Minhyuk checked his information right away.

    (Conir)

    Rank: Sword Saint

    Type: Vassal

    Level: 601

    Attack Power: 5,916

    Defensive Power: 3,173

    Special Abilities:

    ¨D Active Skill: Faramil Swordsmanship

    ¨D Active Skill: Sword Saint¡¯s Invincibility

    ¨D Passive Skill: Tenacity

    ¨D Passive Skill: Divine Blessings and Curses

    Potential: 159

    Experience Value: 87% / 100%

    ¡®......Wow.¡¯

    Even if Minhyuk was dismayed, his mouth still widened in shock.

    His attack power, defensive power and potential was overwhelmingly high whenpared to Ghost Spear Ben. Furthermore, since he had high potential, it meant that he could grow further.

    Minhyuk checked Faramil Swordsmanship. When he checked the skill, he realized that there was something wrong. The swordsmanship resembled the swordsmanship that Barchel and his knights used earlier. However, the only difference was that Conir¡¯s version was much more powerful and destructive. And when he saw the description¡­¡­

    ¡®A sword art created by a young and innocent boy to protect others.¡¯

    That was when Minhyuk realized that Conir was the one who created the Faramil Swordsmanship. Surprising things kept on appearing one after the other. He was wondering how a 15-year-old boy could make such a strong swordsmanship.

    Minhyuk also looked through the other skills.

    (Sword Saint¡¯s Invincibility)

    Active Skill

    Rank: Legendary

    Level: Lv8

    Proficiency: 76%

    Mana Required: 1,000

    Cooldown: 6 hours

    Effects:

    ¨D When an enemy attacks you, 80~90% of the damage will be reflected back to them. This willst for 15 minutes.

    ¨D In the event of an enemy attacking, there is a 5% chance of achieving a 10~13% recovery rate.

    Description: This is a skill that can only be gained by those who became Sword Saints.

    (Tenacity)

    Passive Skill

    Rank: Legendary

    Level: None

    Mana Required: None

    Cooldown: None

    Effects:

    ¨D You will show tremendous concentration on one thing.

    ¨D You will try harder than anybody else to achieve the best result.

    ¨D To achieve the highest level of your abilities, skills and various quests will be created.

    ¨D There is a possibility of receiving and awakening a special ability when you reach the highest level.

    (Divine Blessings and Curses)

    Passive Skill

    Rank: Legendary

    Level: None

    Effects:

    ¨D Physical skills and abilities will have a higher and faster acquisition ratepared to anybody else.

    ¨D Mental skills and capacity will have a slower ratepared to anybody else.

    ¨D Conir. God was fair. He gave him a gift and made him into a genius that can easily master whatever he did with his body and flesh but did not give him ¡®wisdom¡¯.

    The Sword Saint¡¯s Invincibility was a very fraudulent skill. And the same was true for Conir himself. He was truly a fraudulent NPC. The reason for this was very simple. For example, when an ordinary user or a monster attacked Conir, he would not receive much damage but the one who attacked him would receive almost the same damage from attacking him. In addition, he had a 5% chance of achieving a 10~13% recovery rate. Once an enemy attacked Conir, he would be able to recover from the minor damage that he suffered if his 5% chance of achieving that recovery rate was triggered.

    ¡®This ispletely¡­¡­¡¯

    Even if you threw Conir in the middle of hundreds of mobs, he might be able to attract the aggro by himself and even if he just stood still he might not receive any damage. Of course, Minhyuk was not someone who would do something like that.

    His Tenacity would also allow him to achieve the highest level in anything he did with his body. In fact, it was a very unusual skill that would create skills and quests rted to the ability that he was learning.

    And the Divine Blessings and Curses had told him that God was fair. Minhyuk had confirmed the meaning of this skill.

    ¡°Conir, I want you to live your life well. Go and find the meaning of your life.¡±

    Conir tilted his head in confusion when Minhyuk said that with a soft smile on his face.

    ¡°I¡¯m Conir. I serve you!!!¡±

    ¡°......N, no. Conir. I want you to live your life happily, you know?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m Conir¡­¡­ I serve Minhyuk!¡±

    ¡°Conir, are we really going to do this?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m Conir. I like Minhyuk!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    When Minhyuk did not respond to his words, Conir pumped his fist in the air and shouted.

    ¡°I¡¯m Conir! I protect Minhyuk!¡±

    This was the moment when Minhyuk realized what Divine Blessings and Curses skill truly meant. Conir was clearly less intelligent whenpared to other ordinary 15 year olds.

    Conir looked up at Minhyuk again.

    ¡°I¡¯m Conir. Meeting Minhyuk, I¡¯m happy!¡±

    Conir¡¯s big doe-like eyes were sparkling brightly. Minhyuk couldn¡¯t help but smile when he saw him looking like this.

    Minhyuk could also tell after sharing a few words with Conir that he had remembered everything that he did before including meeting Haze. However, he couldn¡¯t remember creating the Faramil Swordsmanship in the past. And for some reason or another, he wanted to serve him.

    If they were forced to be together, then Minhyuk had to think long and hard about what he could do.

    ¡°Conir.¡±

    Conir listened intently as his wide eyes sparkled at him.

    ¡°Can you make ramyeon?¡±

    ***

    Count Peru bursted outughing.

    ¡°Keuhahahaha! I¡¯m so d to hear that the chimeras that you bought are working very well.¡±

    The people sitting in front of him were the finest nobles in the Cordis Empire. The reason why Count Peruughed loudly just a while ago was because of Marquess Annes.

    ¡°After we discovered Cades Mine, the residents of Odis Vige caused a lot of trouble saying that God would be angry if we touched the mine. I sent my soldiers with armors that have my symbol engraved on them to give them ample rewards and kick them out but somehow it did not work out.¡±

    Marquess Annes was a very influential man in the Cordis Empire.

    And Marquess Annes was currently shaking his whiskey ss as he took a sip to moisten his throat.

    ¡°That¡¯s why it felt a bit refreshing when that chimera cleaned up those filthy mongrels.¡±

    ¡°Because it was done by chimeras, you can report to the pce that they had been attacked and wiped out by monsters.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. They are very useful creatures, those chimeras.¡±

    All of the people sitting here right now were the people who had attended the opening of the chimera market which he had opened when Count Peru had started producing chimeras every day. These nobles were also the nobles who were helping with the production, distribution, sales and ie of the chimeras. All of them were naturally sitting in jaw-dropping positions.

    Emperor Asvon was an emperor who cared for his nation. He was a man who listened to the voice of the people more than the voice of the nobles so he had to use this expedient method to gain wealth.

    ¡°I¡¯m looking forward to the chimeras that are going to be on sale tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°Are there any chimeras that can make one feel good at night?¡±

    ¡°Hahahahaha!¡±

    Count Peru guffawed before speaking in a low voice.

    ¡°There¡¯s a little girl named Haze, and that child is very¡­¡­¡±

    But he was not able to finish his words.

    ¡°Aaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keoheok!¡±

    Shrieks suddenly rang loudly from somewhere. Count Peru frowned when he heard the sound.

    ¡®What the hell?¡¯

    He thought that it was about time that Sir Barchel came up so he was wondering why shrieks suddenly rang out from somewhere.

    At the same time, the nobles¡¯ faces also wrinkled in displeasure.

    ¡°Let¡¯s first hurry and get out of here.¡±

    ¡°Let me open the warp gate.¡±

    Count Peru hurriedly ordered the mage behind him.

    Since they were all nobles, it was only natural that they were apanied by escort knights and mages.

    ¡°How long will it take?¡±

    ¡°About four minutes.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s plenty of time.¡±

    If the troops that were marching here were tremendous then they would not be able to reach this ce within four minutes. And although they did not know the real cause of the screams, the first thing that they needed to do was to hide their faces. It would not be toote to find the reason for the screamster.

    Then, at that moment¡­¡­

    Creaaaaaak¨D

    The door opened and an unidentified man, a short boy and a little pig came inside. As soon as he came in, his sword fired two crescent swordlights towards the mage that was casting from the back.

    ¡°Bastard, who are you!¡±

    ¡°Impertinent fool!¡±

    Count Peru scoffed at the swordlight that he shot out. The one he attacked was one of the Cordis Empire¡¯s Thousand Grand Mages. Being a part of the Thousand Grand Mages meant that they were the best mages in the empire. His sword would not be able to reach the mage¡¯s Prime defense.

    But at that moment¡­¡­

    sh¨D

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!¡±

    The Prime Shield that the defense mage had put up was easily broken.

    ¡®W, what the hell¡­¡­!¡¯

    Even though there is a huge difference between a Hundred Grand Mage and a Thousand Grand Mage, how can he break that solid shield in just one strike?

    ¡°You bastard, who the fuck are you?!¡±

    ¡°Who knows?¡±

    The man, Minhyuk, looked around them coldly as the knights and soldiers pushed in from behind. Before they knew it, dozens of knights had surrounded them with their swords pointed at their throats.

    Count Peru could see the Phoenix pattern on one of the swords.

    ¡®Phoenix? A person from the Eivelis Empire?¡¯

    He tilted his head as he spoke briskly.

    ¡°A person from Eivelis Empire does something like this to a person of Cordis Empire. Bastard, you won¡¯t be able to escape death with this!¡±

    ¡°......But you bastards will be the one who won¡¯t escape death, you know? You buy and sell chimeras to ughter vigers while you kill other nobles who pose a threat to you.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll die here anyway so it won¡¯t be exposed to the public.¡±

    Count Peru smiled deeply as he spoke again.

    ¡°I am a man who has Emperor Asvon¡¯s trust. I¡¯m not someone who a bastard like you can touch!¡±

    ¡°You speak too much.¡±

    Minhyuk dashed forward as afterimages appeared from his sword. It was none other than Rampant Sword.

    ng, ng, ng, ng, ng, ng¨D

    The knights hurriedly blocked the swords as they tried to protect the nobles. Then, Count Peru recognized Conir.

    ¡°N, no way. Co, Conir?¡±

    His appearance was clearly different. Conir used to have bandages wrapped all over his body, just like a mummy. But his gait and posture was unique so he could easily tell who he was.

    ¡°B, be careful of that punk!¡±

    Count Peru shouted hurriedly when he realized that something was wrong but it was all toote. The knights had crumpled and fallen after Conir passed by them.

    Then, one of the knights wondered.

    ¡®But he¡¯s just a nice boy?¡¯

    Conir was smiling at them. His smile was so pure and naive that it could bring a smile to other people. Then, with a bright smile, he shouted.

    ¡°Conir!! Today, Conir learned how to make ramyeon!!!¡±

    Conir looked like he was extremely excited. He was unable to control the trembling in his body.

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    The knights all fell silent at the same time. Then, Conir asked them.

    ¡°When you cook ramyeon, do you put noodles first? Or soup first?¡±

    He looked like an innocent boy that was wondering about such a trivial matter.

    One of the knights jumped up when he heard his words.

    ¡°You rude, crazy and insolent brat! I¡¯m going to fix your manners for you¡­¡­!¡±

    Stab¨D

    It was only a single blow. But the smiling boy had already pierced the neck of the knight who spoke harshly. Then, the knight fell down on the floor.

    Then, Conir asked again.

    ¡°Noodles? Soup?¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    The knights took a step back. The knight who had just died earlier was Marquess Annes¡¯ knight. He was a knight that Emperor Asvon had bestowed upon him.

    So, how?

    ¡°Noodles, soup?!¡±

    ¡°Noodles, noodles!!!¡±

    One of the knights answered hurriedly. Then, Conir moved with a wide smile on his face.

    ¡°Wrong! Minhyuk-nim taught me to start with the water!¡±

    Conir was extremely pleased because Minhyuk had put him ¡®In Charge of Ramyeon¡¯! He also taught him how to make ramyeon as well as how to eat it!

    ¡°Keoheok!¡±

    ¡°Heok¡­¡­¡±

    What kind of ridiculous answer is that?

    The knights once again took a faltering step back. And Conir once again asked them a question.

    ¡°You like ansungtangtangmyun, you like sshin ramyeon?¡±

    The knights faltered before one of the knights hesitantly spoke up.

    ¡°It, it¡¯s ramyeon so of course we go with sshin ramyeon!¡±

    Then, Conir stabbed him with his sword.

    Stab¨D

    ¡°Keoheok!¡±

    The knight was also knocked down in a single blow. Then, the knights asked him.

    ¡°W, what¡¯s the answer?¡±

    ¡°Are you telling us that ansungtangtangmyun is the answer?!!!¡±

    Conir smiled at him before answering.

    ¡°Wrong. All ramyeons are delicious!¡±

    ¡°Keok!!!¡±

    ¡°Wh, what kind of answer is that!!!¡±

    ¡°Shit! How dare you, you bastard!!!¡±

    But Conir with the sword in his hands was thew. He held their lives in his hands. Conir smiled again as he asked them.

    ¡°What do you put in ramyeon, cheese or tteok?¡±

    The knights had never experienced something as frightening as this in all their lives. It was more frightening because he was just an innocent-looking young boy with a pure smile on his face but he could kill them with just a single blow.

    Then, one of the knights shouted.

    ¡°C, cheese!¡±

    Conir grinned at him.

    ¡°Wrong! Minhyuk-nim told me that I can put both if I¡¯m not sure!¡±

    Stab¨D

    ***

    Count Peru fell into a panic. However, he quickly gathered his wits back. He took advantage of the dying knights as he hurriedly activated the magic crystal ball.

    Then, he stood in front of a small button.

    ¡°Pushing this button will destroy the underground with all of the chimeras. And all of this will be reported to the Imperial Pce through this magic crystal ball. Even if you talked for a hundred days, will the Emperor listen to you, a person from Eivelis Empire or me, a person who is envied by many?¡±

    If all of the evidence were destroyed, then Minhyuk would just be a man who ughtered all of the nobles. Count Peru was confident of this.

    ¡°I have a very close rtionship with Emperor Asvon! We even enjoyed tea and refreshments a few days ago! You bastard, you look like a foreigner! I won¡¯t let you step in this world ever again!¡±

    ¡°Ah. That¡¯s a bit flustering.¡±

    Not long after, the magic crystal ball began to operate.

    Then, at that moment¡­¡­

    The voice of a man was heard through it.

    ¡°That¡¯s right, I have a very special rtionship with him.¡±

    A man came inside with dozens of knights behind him as well as an unidentified pdin who was standing beside him.

    Emperor Asvon had appeared!

    ***

    Food Discussion Corner

    [Ansungtangtangmyun] - it¡¯s a parody of ansungtangmyun, an instant noodles from nongshim.

    [Sshin Ramyeon] - a parody of shin ramyeon, an instant noodles from nongshim.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 266 - Emperor Asvon

    Chapter 266: Emperor Asvon

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    ¡°Y, Your Majesty!!!¡±

    At that moment, everyone in the room prostrated themselves on the ground. Count Peru¡¯s hope was also ignited.

    He definitely said ¡®I have a special rtionship with him¡¯, right?

    In other words, he did not know the whole story. Or perhaps he couldn¡¯t find out about it. There were thousands of thousands of reports from all over the empire that piled up on Emperor Asvon¡¯s desk every day. In addition, he might not be here just because of a foreigner. He did not know the reason why the emperor came here but he started to speak eloquently.

    ¡°Your Majesty, the Emperor, this man is framing me. He also tried to kill me by bringing up a ridiculous excuse that I was making chimeras.¡±

    ¡°......Is that so?¡±

    Emperor Asvon turned to look at Minhyuk. When he saw that scene, Count Peru shouted excitedly that the veins on his necks bulged out.

    ¡°Making chimeras in our family¡¯s Asratue¡¯s fief! What kind of nonsense is that?¡±

    Then, the nobles that were prostrated on the ground also chimed in to fan the mes.

    ¡°Your Majesty! We¡¯re sure that he¡¯s an assassin sent by the Eivelis Empire!¡±

    ¡°That woman, Ellie, must have sent an assassin to shake up the Cordis Empire!¡±

    ¡°Please bring us justice and punish that sinner severely!¡±

    Emperor Asvon shook his head.

    ¡°Good.¡±

    The nobles all had greasy smiles on their faces. Then, he said...

    ¡°Stand up, everyone.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    They all stood up as quickly as they could. Some of them had a hard time trying to hide their smiles. The corners of their mouth were twitching from the joy of reversing their situation. They looked gloatingly at the man with the sword in front of them.

    Emperor Asvon and his knights were all very strong. In fact, Chaos, the captain of the knights, was a former knight from the Knight¡¯s Tower and was someone who was approaching Lv650. The reason why his level was higher than Conir was because his level was lowered after he became a chimera.

    When they stood up, Emperor Asvon grinned widely.

    ¡°I can finally beat you upfortably!¡±

    ¡°Hahahahaha. That¡¯s right!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s correct. Your Majesty! Punch him in the guts¡­¡­! Yes?¡±

    They tilted their heads in confusion. They were so drunk in relief, believing that they had already survived and lived through this disaster. But at that moment¡­¡­

    Emperor Asvon narrowed the distance between them and¡­¡­ he punched one of the nobles gobsmack in their guts.

    Crack¨D

    The man flew back together with the sound of his cracking ribs. Then, he grabbed the wrist of the noble right next to him as he twisted it quickly.

    Twist¨D

    ¡°Keuhaaack!¡±

    Then, he struck his neck with his outstretched hands.

    ¡°Keok!¡±

    Asvon looked at the crumpled nobles.

    ¡°This is your punishment for the sin of touching my people.¡±

    Bang!

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°This is for the sin of using the children.¡±

    m!

    ¡°Ugh, uaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°And this is for the sin of using the chimeras to kill innocent people.¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°And the sin of taking advantage of my ignorance to deny this matter.¡±

    Punch!

    ¡°Keoheop!¡±

    Each and every single noble present copsed with a shriek.

    Emperor Asvon hade to this ce with Pdin Corr. Pdin Corr had informed him about Count Peru and his use of the chimeras. However, just like they had expected, Asvon did not believe their words. However, once they came inside, a clever child approached them. She was a girl named Haze and she apanied Emperor Asvon to the basement so he could see the imprisoned children. When he found out the truth, he felt extremely furious. And that anger was now being taken out of these nobles who took advantage of his people and the children.

    Then, Minhyuk took out a dagger.

    ¡°Your Majesty, I have received this dagger from Poison Dragon Amba. If you finish them off with this dagger, their souls will wander through the stream suffering from extreme hunger for 30 days.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a very good dagger! It¡¯s only right that they experience how terrible the deeds that they have done are!¡±

    Along with his consent, Minhyuk approached the nobles rolling around the floor in pain. Then, he stabbed one of them by the neck.

    [You have hunted Count Gener.]

    [This is an NPC that has an umted Chaotic Number, your status will not be chaotic.]

    [You have gained 6,154,673 EXP.]

    [You have acquired 44 tinum.]

    [The effects of Poison Dragon Amba¡¯s Dagger have been triggered.]

    At the same time, a shrieking soul sprang out of the fat and ambitious body of Count Gener.

    [Keuaaaaaaaack!]

    Count Gener shrieked loudly as his soul escaped his body. Extreme hunger assaulted him as soon as he left his physical body. He felt like someone was shouting in his head.

    Eat! Eat everything!

    [H, hungry¡­¡­]

    Count Gener¡¯s soul reached out towards the fruit that he was eating earlier. It seemed like he wanted to alleviate the extreme hunger that he was feeling right now. However, his hand only passed through the fruit.

    [I¡¯m hungry! I said I¡¯m hungry! I want to eat!!!]

    Extreme hunger pangs assaulted his entire being! However, he couldn¡¯t eat anything in front of him.

    Minhyuk continued to stab the nobles that had fallen down on the ground with his dagger.

    [You have hunted Count Argad.]

    [This is an NPC that has an umted Chaotic Number, your status will not be chaotic.]

    [You have gained 7,154,673 EXP.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have acquired 86 tinum.]

    [The effects of Poison Dragon Amba¡¯s Dagger have been triggered.]

    When he hunted the nobles, the EXP that he received was higherpared to the knights from the Knight¡¯s Tower. After all, it was very rare for a user to hunt nobles, especially nobles with high Chaos Numbers.

    He continued doing that until most of them were dead and only Count Peru was left.

    ¡°S, save me. Your Majesty!!!¡±

    But Emperor Asvon had no mercy for someone like him.

    sh¨D

    One of Count Peru¡¯s hands fell down to the ground. The pain of his hand being cut off was too much that all he could do was writhe in pain and struggle helplessly. Then, his other wrist was also cut off as well as both of his ankles.

    Count Peru, the person responsible for all of this, had his hands and feet cut off. He was now facing a vicious death as a result of his atrocious deeds. Finally, Minhyuk approached him. Count Peru spoke spitefully as he watched him approach him slowly.

    ¡°Fufufufufufu. Don¡¯t think it¡¯s over just because you killed me!!! Asvon!!! They will finish you off¡­¡­¡±

    Stab¨D

    Minhyuk finally stabbed the dagger on Count Peru¡¯s neck.

    [You have hunted Count Peru.]

    [This is an NPC that has an umted Chaotic Number, your status will not be chaotic.]

    [You have gained 9,154,673 EXP.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have acquired 186 tinum.]

    [The effects of Poison Dragon Amba¡¯s Dagger have been triggered.]

    There was an overwhelming amount of EXP from Count Peru who had done a terrible amount of atrocious deeds. His reputation and a variety of things also added to that huge amount of EXP. By hunting the nobles present in this room, he was also able to acquire 714 tinum.

    Minhyuk watched them roam around in the air moring for food and moaning out their hunger.

    [I¡¯m hungry!!!]

    [I¡¯m so hungry I could die!!!]

    [Please! Please give me something to eat!!!]

    However, it seemed like this scene was invisible to Asvon and the others. After all, Minhyuk was the only one who used Poison Dragon Amba¡¯s Cursed Dragon so he was the only one who could see them.

    ¡°Now that I finished this one thing, I would like to ask you a favor.¡±

    Emperor Asvon¡¯s voice was somber. However, Minhyuk had to do something before doing what Emperor Asvon asked him to do.

    ¡°May I please have a meal before we go?!¡±

    Minhyuk spoke cheerfully.

    Emperor Asvon looked at him curiously after seeing his expression. It was vastly different from the expression that he had earlier. It seemed like ¡®eating¡¯ was more important than his ¡®request¡¯ right now.

    ***

    Haze was filled with fear. They were currently in the castle where Count Peru used to live. All of them were sitting in a restaurant inside the castle. Emperor Asvon and the Imperial Knights, the Sun¡¯s Knight Order, were waiting for one man.

    Perhaps Emperor Asvon was angry but he just continued to watch him carefully.

    ¡®He¡¯s the only person who can solve this curse¡­¡­!¡¯

    Sadly, Emperor Asvon¡¯s curse of baldness was so powerful that Corr could not treat it! This was the reason why Emperor Asvon personally came to pick up Minhyuk.

    ording to Corr, his cooking had the power to fulfill whatever the other party wanted and desired.

    ¡°Hehe. It looks delicious! Curry!¡±

    And even amidst this breathtaking sight, Minhyuk was just smiling cheerfully. Haze couldn¡¯t make heads or tails about the situation right now. Earlier, he looked colder than anybody else but right now he was warmer and brighter than any of them in this ce. Even if the emperor was sitting in front of him, he still stubbornly insisted that he would eat.

    As a result, Haze was now making the curry that she was most confident in making. The meat that she used in the curry was chicken. And just like Minhyuk asked, she also prepared a traditional Indian blueberryssi, tandoori chicken, sd and garlic naan.

    Before the curry came out, Haze made sure to give Minhyuk and Indian soup. Compared to other soups, the Indian soup was a bit more watery. And Minhyuk, who took a sip of the soup, smiled happily.

    Isn¡¯t the meal you eat after doing hard work very delicious?

    And finally, the curry that he had been waiting for came out. The curry was served in a traditional Indian iron bowl with lit candles underneath it that prevented it from getting cool. He couldn¡¯t find any other vegetables inside the curry like the curry that he had eaten domestically. But once he ced his spoon and chopsticks inside, he could see the chicken that was used in the dish.

    Before he started his meal, Minhyuk first took a sip of the blueberryssi. Lassi was a traditional indian drink. It was a type of fermented yogurt that was good to drink when cold and when one wanted to refresh themselves. As soon as he took a sip, he could taste the sweetssi as well as the bits of blueberries that added texture to the yogurt.

    After taking a sip, Minhyuk grabbed therge garlic naan. He tore a piece off of the steaming garlic naan before dipping it in the curry. Thick curry clung on the naan as he ced it in his mouth. The sweet taste of curry spread in his mouth. This type of curry had both sweet and spicy choices. Since Minhyuk preferred the sweet vor, the curry that was served to him was also the sweet curry.

    ¡°Delicious¡­¡­ Haze. You¡¯re really a curry master!¡±

    ¡°Hehe.¡±

    Haze smiled bashfully.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk scooped out arge serving of curry. The spoonful was filled with a lot of chicken and curry that he spread on top of the torn garlic naan. He also made sure to carefully ce the meat on top of the garlic naan. Just like that, he ced the entire piece into his mouth. The unique scent and the sweet vor of the curry and garlic naan swirled and spread in his mouth.

    This time, he moved his fork towards another food. It was none other than the tandoori chicken. Tandoori chicken was a chicken that was baked in an oven called ¡®tandoori¡¯ hence the name. It was a unique Indian dish that was cooked with a variety of spices and yogurt. There were even some ckened parts on the reddened chicken when he looked at it.

    Minhyuk quickly sliced a piece of the tandoori chicken with his knife and fork before cing it in his mouth. As soon as he chewed the chicken, he could taste the unique taste of tandoori chicken. He could taste the spiciness and sweetness of the chicken as well as the uniquely dry texture of the meat. When he dipped it in the red sauce that apanied the chicken, the spiciness was amplified. This was the tandoori chicken that one might get tired of if they ate it often but would asionally float in everyone¡¯s head.

    After eating the tandoori chicken, he focused his attention back to the curry. This time, he poured the curry over the rice ced on the te. He made sure to mix everything thoroughly before eating it. Curry could be eaten with naan, a type of bread, or rice. It was entirely dependent on the tastes of the one who ate it. Of course curry tasted different in every country but these two were still the best choices for curry¡¯s apaniment.

    While Minhyuk was eating deliciously, Haze hesitantly spoke to him.

    ¡°Oppa.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    When Minhyuk turned his head at her, Haze spoke.

    ¡°I have nowhere to go¡­¡­ Can I go with you?¡±

    The notifications rang again at that exact same moment.

    [Haze, the one who has a name that can be a legend, vows her eternal allegiance and loyalty to you.]

    Minhyuk¡¯s body began to tremble.

    ¡®The, these punks! Why are you doing this to me?!¡¯

    Minhyuk¡¯s face was distorted. He looked like he was about to cry.

    ***

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 267 - Curse Of Baldness

    Chapter 267: Curse of Baldness

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    75 Curse of Baldness

    Minhyuk knew that most of the children, excluding Haze, were either orphaned or had some difficulties that made it hard for them to return so he decided to ept them all as part of his territory. He also handed all the money that he had earned during this quest to Corr.

    ¡°Give this money to Vice Lord Ben so that we can afford to house these children.¡±

    Asvon watched this scene with great interest.

    ¡®This foreigner is taking care of the children first instead of his self-interest¡­¡­ interesting.¡¯

    Among all of the foreigners, many of them were filled with greed. Considering that fact, he could see that Minhyuk was a decent person.

    Minhyuk had already heard the story along the way to the Imperial Pce.

    ¡°The curse on Emperor Asvon¡¯s head is so powerful that his hair won¡¯t grow despite me ying my Talmor Hymn.¡±

    My God!

    All those who suffered from baldness grew their hair as soon as Corr yed a song but Emperor Asvon¡¯s head did not grow a single one at all. And the reason why he brought Emperor Asvon to Minhyuk was simple. It was because of Minhyuk¡¯s Create a Recipe Skill! He thought that feeding him through Minhyuk¡¯s skill would probably have some effect on his almost incurable baldness.

    Then, Minhyuk used the Create a Recipe Skill on Emperor Asvon.

    [Creating a recipe that the other party desires.]

    [You can now check the recipe for seaweed soup & braised tofu.]

    [The amount of buff that can be used has been decreased due to creating a recipe.]

    Seaweed that was used for making broth as well as beans used for making tofu were ingredients known for their effectiveness in preventing hair loss and baldness. When Minhyuk checked the recipe he could see that it was not as difficult as he thought it would be. It seemed like Emperor Asvon¡¯s baldness could be cured even if he just made a rare-ranked dish. But¡­¡­

    ¡°I¡¯m very sorry, Your Majesty. But I think it would be difficult to treat Your Majesty¡¯s incurable baldness.¡±

    ¡°Wh, what do you mean?¡±

    Minhyuk spoke with a somber expression.

    ¡°My buffed dish is not infinite. Your Majesty, the Emperor, should know that there is such a thing called Buff Volume.¡±

    ¡°So you know. Depending on the amount of buff, chefs can make different dishes per day.¡±

    ¡°Th, then is there another way?¡±

    Emperor Asvon looked at him hurriedly. He looked very urgent. Perhaps because this was the only way that his life could be liberated from the curse of baldness that had been handed down to him by his ancestors.

    Then, Minhyuk spoke¡­..

    ¡°It¡¯s not like there¡¯s no method at all.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what method it is, but whatever it is I will do everything I can just to make it possible.¡±

    Then, Minhyuk began to exin it to him. He was exining things very logically.

    ¡°The only way that I can exceed my current buff volume is to eat the local specialties. In addition, I have to go there personally so I could receive a temporary increase in the buff volume. But I only arrived in the Empire a few days ago so I¡¯m not aware of them and I haven¡¯t tasted them at all. So if I eat the Empire¡¯s specialties, the effects will definitely be maximized. And it has to be the best of your specialties! It would also be good if it¡¯s delicious. Uhm. What is the most famous food here in the Cordis Empire?¡±

    That was right. Right now, Minhyuk was trying to cheat Emperor Asvon! However, instead of having a greasy look on his face, his face was radiating sincerity. And Emperor Asvon believed that someone like Minhyuk who willingly gave money for the children would not lie. But his belief was wrong. Minhyuk was a person who could lie to an Emperor just so he could eat. This was also some kind of skill of dealing with others that he had learned from his father

    When someone needs something from you and you¡¯re the only one that can do it, then raise the value of your service!

    Not long after, Emperor Asvon answered Minhyuk¡¯s question about their Empire¡¯s specialty.

    ¡°It¡¯s buckwheat.¡±

    Minhyuk trembled.

    When ites to buckwheat then it''s makguksu, naengmomil, onmomil, memiljeongbyeon and a whole lot of buckwheat dishes!

    ¡®Huhuhuhuhu!¡¯

    Minhyuk smiled deeply.

    ***

    Poison Dragon Amba was waiting to be awakened from inside the egg. He was currently predicting the future that awaited him.

    He had served as a factory for chimeras by greedy humans who had fed him with children. Although it wasn¡¯t something that he wanted to do, he thought that the same would be true after he was hunted by his newly acquired owner. He thought that those greedy humans would once again use him as a tool to kill monsters or people.

    Dragons were more sentimentalpared to other races so when Poison Dragon Amba thought of his bleak future, he couldn¡¯t help but feel sad. He thought that every day would be more frustrating than the other especially since the Dragon Orb was taken away from him.

    Then, at that moment¡­¡­

    Crack, crack, crack, crack¨D

    It¡¯s finally time for me toe out. Well, it doesn¡¯t matter who my owner is. Anyway, they¡¯ll still be the same human.

    Was what Amba believed.

    ¡®My brothers, I hope you meet people who truly care and love you.¡¯

    Unlike him, the rest of his siblings did not retain any of their previous memories so he cheered for them even though they were far away from each other.

    Right now, he was recalling the days long gone when they used to fly over the fields together. The time when they still danced,ughed and cried together.

    And finally¡­¡­

    sh¨D

    The egg shell that surrounded him waspletely broken and a bright light weed Amba. His eyes blinked from the re of the light as his tears of grief flowed down from his eyes.

    At that time, a man spoke above him.

    ¡°Child, why are you crying?¡±

    The voice that spoke to him was filled with evesting warmth and friendliness.

    Then, Poison Dragon Amba could finally see the man in front of him. The man was wearing all ck, from his head down to his toe, including his armor. Even his mask was also ck.

    Then, the man brushed and patted his head gently with his warm hands.

    ¡°Don¡¯t cry. I don¡¯t want you to cry anymore.¡±

    Then, a sound rang loudly in Poison Dragon Amba¡¯s head.

    [You will now serve ck Dragon as your master for eternity ording to the rules set by God Athenae.]

    Dragons were born with the ability to read and feel other people¡¯s feelings. And right now, what he was feeling was¡­¡­

    I¡¯ll protect you.

    I¡¯ll take care of you.

    I won¡¯t let you be lonely.

    The man looked at him with a soft smile. Then, he spoke to him solemnly.

    ¡°Let¡¯s introduce you to your friends.¡±

    ¡°Gruwooo?¡±

    Amba tilted his gigantic head when he heard the word friends. Then, at that moment¡­¡­

    Two dragons, both nesting on ck Dragon¡¯s left and right arm, appeared in front of him.

    ¡°Kiyeeeeeee!¡±

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    Amba was shocked when he saw them appear.

    The first among the dragons was the Dragon of Extinction and Fire.

    The second among them was the Dragon of Wisdom and Ice.

    And right now, the two of them were in front of him.

    The two of them came out of ck Dragon¡¯s arms as they slowly approached Amba. They tapped his body with their snouts as they scented him before crying loudly.

    ¡°Hahahaha. Destiny and Britney must be very fond of you!¡±

    Poison Dragon Amba was extremely thrilled and excited.

    This is where I¡¯m supposed to be. This is where I belong. And the master who can lead me is standing right in front of me.

    Then, the notifications rang loudly in ck Dragon¡¯s ears.

    [You have be one with three dragons.]

    [You have met the criteria for challenging the Royal ss.]

    [You must meet the qualifications to transfer to the Royal ss: ¡®Dragon Lord¡¯.]

    [The Transfer Quest: Find the remaining dragon, the Dragon of Destruction has been created.]

    Ring!

    [Transfer Quest: Find the remaining dragon, the Dragon of Destruction.]

    Rank: Royal

    Restrictions: Those who meet the criteria to challenge the Royal ss.

    Rewards: Transfer to Dragon Lord ss.

    Penalty for Failure: You will not be able to transfer to the Dragon Lord ss.

    Description: You have received the chance to challenge the Royal ss. Get thest of the Four Legendary Dragons that exist in this world. You can hear the information about the final dragon from the ¡®Dragon Knight Arcad¡¯ in the Demon World.

    Royal ss?

    It was a strange term for ck Dragon. But he thought that he had heard something about it from the rumors circting in the game.

    The higher the level of the users became, the more difficult and challenging the dungeons and quests would be. So in preparation for this, he had heard that there was a ss that was prepared for high-leveled users that could give them some sort of privilege for this.

    ck Dragon looked at the detailed exnation of the ss.

    [Transferring to Royal ss means that you will transfer to a new job ss but this is only possible if you have reached the highest level in your current job ss. In general, the job sses in Athenae are divided into levels: Level 1 God sses, Level 2 Legendary sses, Level 3 Hidden sses and Level 4 General sses. However, Royal sses can be anywhere in levels 1~3.]

    ¡°Ah¡­¡­¡±

    He could easily understand the gist of it.

    The Royal ss was a job ss that one could transfer to if they had a Level 4 General ss. Perhaps this was a way for the users with general and ordinary sses to reach the extreme and exert a power that could rival that of those in the God ss.

    ording to the exnation from above, Royal sses could appear anywhere in levels 1~3. This meant that if you transferred to a Royal ss, you had a chance to beparable to God sses that were in Level 1. It was also possible for one to stay only in Level 3. Basically, they could go anywhere from hidden to God depending on the Royal ss that they would challenge.

    At that moment, the notifications went off again.

    [The Dragon Orb is evolving.]

    [The Dragon Orb has evolved from Epic to Legendary.]

    [The Dragon Orb is exerting a tremendous amount of power.]

    [Britney will grow further.]

    [Destiny will grow further.]

    Scales suddenly began to cover Britney and Destiny¡¯s bodies. Their figures looked the same with Iron Man when he changed into his suit in the movies. Then, the length of their bodies started to increase as the horns on their foreheads grewrger and harder.

    [Britney has evolved from Lv457 to Lv524.]

    [Destiny has evolved from Lv415 to Lv542.]

    [All of Britney¡¯s skills have increased by +4.]

    [All of Destiny¡¯s skills have increased by +4.]

    [An additional new skill has been added to Britney¡¯s repertoire of skills. Please confirm.]

    [An additional new skill has been added to Destiny¡¯s repertoire of skills. Please confirm.]

    [Destiny and Britney¡¯s summoning time has increased by 1 hour.]

    It was a huge change.

    Poison Dragon Amba was already at Lv532. Butpared to them, it seemed like Poison Dragon Amba was infinitely weaker than them despite having a body that had reached full growth from birth. In fact, it was quite surprising and astonishing to know that Britney and Destiny could still grow further.

    After watching the changes in his dragons, ck Dragon once again pondered on the contents of his quest.

    ¡®It seems like I have to go to the Demon World to find the Dragon of Destruction¡­¡­¡¯

    ***

    Minhyuk began to eat the specialties in each region of the Cordis Empire. After eating like tht for a few days, he stared at thest food that was ced in front of him. Although he had eaten a lot of local specialties so far, these final dishes were also the Empire¡¯s representative.They were none other than naengmomil, makguksu and tonkatsu!

    Minhyuk personally liked eating buckwheat noodles with tonkatsu. The naengmomil had a thin sheet of ice on top of it after being cooled before serving. There was also a dollop of wasabi ced on the bowl. He could add wasabi depending on the amount that he preferred. There were also some chopped and ground radish and chives ced together in the bowl.

    The first thing that he did was to gently add some wasabi in the bowl of naengmomil before adding some radish and mixing them gently. Then, he scooped them all at once.

    ¡®Wow, it¡¯s cold.¡¯

    The coldness of the dish immediately drew out a sigh of admiration in his mouth. Just like that, he picked up some noodles and slurped them in his mouth. The noodles in naengmomil were quite gritty and rough to the taste but this was the charm and beauty of this dish. Then, he immediately picked up a slice of tonkatsu, dipped it in sauce and ced it in his mouth. The crunchy texture of the tonkatsu and the sweet sauce that coated it created a pleasant harmony of vors in his mouth.

    Then, he turned his attention to the makguksu. The red color that spread in the noodles as he mixed them together made his mouth water. He quickly picked up the entire bowl of makguksu. The buckwheat noodles, cabbages and cucumbers poured in his mouth. The magnificent vor of the noodles and vegetables were further enriched with the addition of the seaweed powder that was sprinkled on top of the dish.

    After happily eating all of the dishes that he could eat, Minhyuk finally began cooking for Emperor Asvon.

    ¡°We have finished the preparations for quite some time.¡±

    Minhyuk had a serious look on his face! Seeing his expression, the expression on Emperor Asvon¡¯s face also turned grim as he slowly took off the wig that adorned his head.

    When Minhyuk saw his head, he unwittingly asked him.

    ¡°Is that Hi-Mo¡­...?¡±

    ¡°Hi-Mo? What¡¯s that¡­¡­?¡±

    ¡°No, nothing.¡±

    He asked the question because he was reminded of a middle-aged ahjussi sweeping his hair with his hands and saying ¡®This wig is Hi-Mo!¡¯.

    When he looked at Emperor Asvon¡¯s head, he could see a glint from the barren top of his head. It looked like the sun was about to rise with how brightly his head was shining.

    Then, Minhyuk said¡­¡­

    ¡°The power of the curse is trying to hit me with that re! Hooo!¡±

    He breathed heavily.

    In fact, Emperor Asvon really did not know how other¡¯s hair grew so he could only believe in Minhyuk¡¯s words.

    ¡°I, Is the curse really that strong that it can cover my entire head?¡±

    ¡°The baldness demon is hovering on top of your head, Your Majesty.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s staring at me! Talmor!¡±

    ¡°Yes, my Lord.¡±

    Corr and Minhyuk were working together as pseudo-swindlers!

    ¡°Drive him out immediately. I will quickly prepare a dish that can work against his curse!¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    Then, Corr began to y his recorder.

    Ppippippippippippi~

    Corr also made sure to shout loud enough that the veins around his neck popped out.

    ¡°Grow up!!! Hair!!! Grow up!!! Hair!!!¡±

    And Emperor Asvon was looking at them and following along with reverence in his gaze.

    If someone else saw this scene, they would definitely find it funny. Emperor Asvon, with his shining bald head and ever so serious expression was sitting in the middle of the two.

    Then, Corr spoke¡­¡­

    ¡°Your Majesty!¡±

    ¡°Speak.¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty, you also have to shout with me.¡±

    ¡°Co, cough. Is that so?¡±

    That weird spell? But what¡¯s the point of feeling this momentary shame if I can treat my curse?

    ¡°G¡­¡­ r¡­¡­ ow¡­¡­ up¡­¡­ hai¡­¡­ r¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Louder!!¡±

    ¡°Grow¡­¡­ up¡­. Hair! Hair!!!¡±

    ¡°Loudeeeeeeer!!!¡±

    ¡°Grow up!!! Hair!!!¡±

    Ppippippippippippi~

    ¡°Uwooooooo! Grow up haiiiiiiiir!!!¡±

    In the end, Emperor Asvon got absorbed into the rhythm as he shouted loudly with his hands high up in the sky.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk continued to act as he sweated cold bullets. Then, his eyes met with Emperor Asvon.

    At that moment¡­¡­

    ¡°Urgh!!¡±

    Minhyuk suddenly covered his mouth, turned around and ran far away as he vomited out a mouthful of blood. Emperor Asvon looked at him in horror.

    ¡°Wh, what happened to you?¡±

    ¡°The curse is too strong¡­.. Ugh!¡±

    Emperor Asvon was caught in shock when he saw Minhyuk coughing up a mouthful of blood. But Minhyuk spoke to him.

    ¡°But¡­.. I can do it¡­¡­ So that¡­¡­ so that¡­.. Your Majesty¡¯s¡­¡­ Your Majesty¡¯s hair can grow¡­¡­ even if I die¡­... I¡¯ll do it!!! Ugh!¡±

    Then, Minhyuk vomited another mouthful of blood.

    In fact, he just purposely bit on his cheeks hard. Hard enough to draw blood. But Emperor Asvon was appalled when he saw him vomiting out mouthful after mouthful of blood.

    ¡®Y, you can fail.¡¯

    He was a loyal and good man who willingly allowed himself to vomit blood just for his sake. And he could feel his sincerity since he was not a person under his Empire.

    And at that moment, the notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s head.

    [Asvon¡¯s favorability has increased.]

    [Asvon¡¯s favorability has increased.]

    [Asvon¡¯s¡­...omitted.]

    [You have received Emperor Asvon¡¯s trust.]

    [You have sessfully raised Emperor Asvon¡¯s favorability to the highest level.]

    [The quest rewards have gotten better.]

    The quest was named ¡®Emperor Asvon¡¯s Curse¡¯ and the rewards had as much as 100 tinum. However, he just heard additional notifications rted to the quest.

    ? [If you sessfully clear the quest: Emperor Asvon¡¯s Curse, you will be given 500 tinum and a chance to choose three artifacts from the Emperor¡¯s Treasure Room.]

    [You have gained the Title: The One Who Exploited Even the Emperor.]

    Minhyuk grinned widely.

    ***

    Food Discussion Corner

    [???] Makguksu - Buckwheat noodles, buckwheat noodle dish that¡¯s served in chilled spicy broth.

    [???] Naengmomil - I¡¯m guessing this is the same with naengmyeon, so a cold buckwheat noodle dish.

    [???] Onmomil - ording to the recipe I have seen, this is also a noodle dish with cold broth, but I think they use whole buckwheat for the noodles. I¡¯m assuming that the other noodles had other flour added to them.

    [????] Memiljeonbyeong spicy kimchi buckwheat pancake.

    Notes:

    [Four Legendary Dragons, Britney and Destiny] - I had used SHE for Britney and Destiny¡­ because¡­ you know¡­ I thought that it was appropriate for their names. Now, I know that you can freely name your child that name regardless of their gender, I just thought it was appropriate to use she. In any case, Amba refers to them as brothers but I will push through with she until I get an exact description and Britney and Destiny refer to themselves as he.

    [Hi-Mo] - a brand that creates wigs. They specialize in using real and natural hair and have been around since 1987. It¡¯s a Korean brand and I think they have expanded worldwide now.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 268 - Curse Of Baldness

    Chapter 268: Curse of Baldness

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Minhyuk looked at Emperor Asvon, he could see that he was genuinely moved by his actions. Just like that, Minhyuk eventually moved on and seeded in his cooking.

    [You havepleted the Seaweed Soup & Braised Tofu.]

    [It is a Rare ranked dish.]

    [You have acquired 1 DEX.]

    [You have gained 2 reputation points.]

    [You have acquired 200 achievement points.]

    Minhyuk realized that he did not receive a higher rating from what he had expected. However, it was more than enough for the quest that he had received. Just like what was written before, even a rare dish had the effect of promoting the growth and regeneration of Emperor Asvon¡¯s hair several times over.

    Then, he ced the seaweed soup and braised tofu in front of Emperor Asvon.

    ¡°Heok, heok¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk gasped loudly as he roughly took a deep breath while he wiped the cold sweat off of his forehead. Emperor Asvon began to eat the seaweed soup and braised tofu as soon as the dishes were ced in front of him.

    ***

    Emperor Asvon¡¯s eyes widened in shock when he sipped a spoonful of seaweed soup.

    ¡®It¡¯s thick¡­¡­¡¯

    It was a vor that he had never tasted in his life. Then, Emperor Asvon scooped a spoonful of rice and ced it in his mouth before slicing some of the braised tofu and cing it in his mouth too. The spicy and savory vor of the braised tofu spread in his mouth as it tickled and enchanted his taste buds.

    ¡®My goodness¡­¡­ this vor is superior to the dishes of the chefs in the Imperial Pce.¡¯

    It was so delicious to the point that he wanted to rmend Minhyuk to enter his pce.

    Then, he ced some white rice in his seaweed soup before scooping them up again. He also ced some well-ripened kimchi on top of the spoonful of seaweed soup and rice before eating it. The warm soup and the crunchy kimchi blended to create a pleasant vor in his mouth.

    Emperor Asvon closed his eyes to savor the vor of the dishes a s he continued to eat them hurriedly. He even added a ton of rice in his seaweed soup before lifting the entire bowl of soup and tipping it in his mouth. He looked like he was drinking water with his posture.

    He couldn¡¯t help but smile happily at the pleasant taste of the dishes. Then, he felt a hot currenting out of his head. He suddenly shouted loudly when he felt such a sensation.

    ¡°Grow up! Hair! Hair! Grow up! Hair!!!¡±

    Then, something amazing happened. Emperor Asvon¡¯s barren head suddenly began to sprout hair as it regenerated and grew at a rapid pace. When he realized what was happening, he couldn¡¯t help but shout louder.

    ¡°T, Talmor!!!¡±

    Right at this moment, more than anybody else, he realized the vast greatness of Talmor.

    ***

    ¡°I* am grateful and in awe.¡±

    Emperor Asvon looked very touched when rich and thick hair suddenly grew in his barren head in just a single day. And along with his words, the notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s head.

    [You havepleted the Quest: Emperor Asvon¡¯s Curse.]

    [You can now choose three artifacts from Emperor Asvon¡¯s Treasure Room.]

    ¡°I thank you from the bottom of my heart. You have fulfilled my lifelong aspirations and dreams.¡±

    ¡°I just did what I had to do. I¡¯m also happy for Your Majesty.¡±

    Minhyuk did not stop his acting as he thought of ways to continue to win the favor and trust of Emperor Asvon.

    ¡°Your work for this emperor should be taken to the grave, no?¡±

    Minhyuk looked at him in confusion.

    ¡°Was there something else that I did? I was called because I am an excellent chef so I can serve you a delicious meal!¡±

    ¡°Hahahahaha!¡±

    Emperor Asvon smiled pleasantly when he saw how witty he was.

    ? ¡°Boy, I want you to live here without any hesitation. And I would also like to continue to eat your cooking, would that be alright?¡±

    ¡°There are conditions.¡±

    ¡°Conditions?¡±

    Emperor Asvon¡¯s brows furrowed. He saw Minhyuk as a foreigner who had no greed in his body.

    But you¡¯re saying that there are conditions?

    Just as he was about to feel disappointed, Minhyuk spoke up.

    ¡°Can I call you hyung?¡±

    ¡°Hahahahahaha! Hyung? Hahahahaha!¡±

    Emperor Asvon burst outughing when he heard his request.

    He¡¯s not being greedy, he¡¯s just asking to call me hyung?

    He could see that he just wanted to get closer to him. So Emperor Asvon looked at him and spoke.

    ¡°Alright, you can do it.¡±

    ¡°Hyuuung~¡±

    His voice was filled with endearment and it sounded a lot like the embodiment of ¡°Hyuuuung~?¡±.

    ***

    Minhyuk was filled with expectations after being given the chance to select three items from Emperor Asvon¡¯s treasure room. The notifications suddenly rang just as he was about to walk around.

    [You can now choose three artifacts from Emperor Asvon¡¯s Treasure Room.]

    [You cannot check the information of the three artifacts beforehand.]

    The artifacts¡¯ information is not avable?

    However, it was obvious to him that the things ced inside the treasure room were outstanding artifacts. But it seemed like this was a way to stop him from taking three of the best artifacts away from this room. No, perhaps being able to choose artifacts from the Emperor¡¯s treasure room was a ridiculous privilege in and of itself.

    Then, at that moment¡­¡­

    [GM: Hello, Minhyuk-nim. This is Joy Co. Ltd¡¯s president, Kang Taehoon.]

    ¡°......?¡±

    Minhyuk tilted his head in confusion.

    You¡¯re not a regr operator but the president, Kang Taehoon, himself?

    [Minhyuk: Yes. What¡¯s going on?]

    [GM: I contacted Minhyuk-nim because I wanted to have a conversation with you. Is that possible?]

    [Minhyuk: I see.]

    [GM: Let me take you to the operator¡¯s room for a moment.]

    [Minhyuk: Yes.]

    A bright light wrapped Minhyuk¡¯s body and once he opened his eyes he was met with the figure of the real president, President Kang Taehoon.

    ¡°Nice to meet you.¡±

    ¡°Yes. Hello.¡±

    President Kang Taehoon smiled at Minhyuk when he saw him greeting him politely. Then, Minhyuk proceeded to ask him.

    ¡°May I ask what business you have with me?¡±

    Kang Taehoon began to tell him the reason why he went ahead and contacted him. It wasn¡¯t that long until he heard the entirety of the story. His words were about the patches that they would implement based on his high holy power. Minhyuk was convinced with his words.

    ¡®This gamepany is different from otherpanies.¡¯

    When other gamepanies implemented patches, they would usually make it worse for the users. However they increased the percentage of the heals and holy power efficiency and they even went to negotiate with some of the best users with high holy power that would be affected and lose money during the patch.

    And they even told him that they needed to take the Saint¡¯s Sword away from him.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure you have heard of this but the Saint¡¯s Sword was something that was not supposed to be pulled out.¡±

    ¡°But I pulled it out easily?¡±

    ¡°.......¡±

    President Kang Taehoon¡¯s words were blocked. There were even words that tickled the end of his throat.

    It¡¯s because you seduced all of the priests with food and increased your holy power to 4,000!

    That was what he wanted to say. But he justughed awkwardly.

    ¡°Ha, hahahaha! I, Is that so? I wonder why it got pulled out so easily? Why was that the case?¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Anyway, I intend to retrieve the Saint¡¯s Sword. And I¡¯m going to pay you with an artifact that¡¯sparable to it. I¡¯m also going to patch up the x2 effect on the holy power of Pandora¡¯s Helmet and pay the right price.¡±

    President Kang Taehoon looked at Minhyuk as he pondered about his words deeply. Then, Minhyuk began to present his own conditions.

    ***

    President Kang Taehoon entered the Special Users Management Team with a carefree expression on his face.

    ¡°I¡¯m done talking with User Minhyuk.¡±

    ¡°Really? What did he ask for?¡±

    ¡°He had no greed for other things except for food so what he asked for was obviously not that great. Aspensation for retrieving the Saint¡¯s Sword, he asked that he be allowed to verify the information of the artifacts in the Emperor¡¯s Treasure Room. A ce where it¡¯s impossible to check the artifacts¡¯ information.¡±

    ¡°If it¡¯s that much, then it should be fine.¡±

    The Emperor¡¯s Treasure Room was a ce that was filled with legendary artifacts. Whatever he picked it would most likely be a legendary artifact at the most. But if he was given the chance to check the information, then he would be able to get the best among them.

    ¡°And aspensation for the holy power, he asked for an additional 20% recovery rate in his Absorption Transition Skill as well as two of the Four Heavenly Kings¡¯ treasures.¡±

    ¡°The treasures of the Four Heavenly Kings¡­¡­¡±

    Team Leader Park Minggyu shook his head. He knew that he was now trying to collect the treasures of the Four Heavenly Kings. Once he collected them, he would use them for his half-god production method. However, in Team Leader Park¡¯s opinion, he would at least take four months toplete this quest.

    ¡®He¡¯ll use Gorn¡¯s SSS treasure chest to get one extra treasure so all he needs to get is three more.¡¯

    Minhyuk still did not check Gorn¡¯s SSS treasure chest so he was still unaware of it but the effect attached to the treasure chest was to give him the artifact that he wanted. So it would definitely be a way for him to obtain the artifact that he knew the information of but was difficult to obtain. In this way, User Minhyuk would have already obtained the treasures of three of the Four Heavenly Kings. Regardless of that, he would still need four months to collect the other treasure.

    But President Kang Taehoon continued to speak.

    ¡°Finally, he asked for the information in the Demon World¡¯s Tower as well as a promise to maintain the additional 50% on attack and defensive power based on the holy power against the demons for one week.¡±

    ¡°Demon World¡¯s Tower¡­¡­¡±

    Team Leader Park shook his head. This request was also not too much.

    ¡°User Minhyuk¡¯s request is because of the treasure of the Four Heavenly Kings, right?¡±

    ¡°Who knows? I don¡¯t think that¡¯s the case. He said that he¡¯s going to the Demon World¡¯s Tower because of the food from all over the world that he can receive every time he clears a level, or so I recall?¡±

    The Demon World¡¯s Tower was a ce where users from all over the world could gather. And the users who could achieve a new record inside the tower would receive one of the most famous dishes in the world. For example, assuming the country was Korea, then they would receive bulgogi. If it was Japan, then they would get a Japanese dish like sushi.

    ¡®That¡¯s a good enough choice.¡¯

    Then, Team Leader Park realized something strange.

    ¡°Heok¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°President¡­¡­ Don¡¯t you think there¡¯s something strange?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    When President Kang Taehoon tilted his head in confusion, Team Leader Park rified it to him.

    ¡°How did User Minhyuk know that food wille out as a reward for clearing the level with a new record in the Demon World¡¯s Tower?¡±

    ¡°Well, of course¡­¡­¡±

    When Team Leader Park saw President Kang Taehoon mumbling the end of his words, he couldn¡¯t help but frown.

    Currently, there was only one user who had achieved an unrivaled record in the Demon World¡¯s Tower. And that was none other than Cauhel.

    Did Cauhel publicly share the information about the world¡¯s food reward when hitting a new record? No, definitely not. So how did he know? This information can only be known once the tower has opened to the public.

    Then, at that moment, Lee Minhwa spoke.

    ¡°Te, Team Leader! We have a problem!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    President Kang Taehoon turned around to look at Lee Minhwa.

    ¡°What¡¯s the problem?¡±

    ¡°U, User Minhyuk is now in contact with Aruvel, the Demon World¡¯s Sage.¡±

    ¡°Wha, what¡­¡­!¡±

    There was only one reason why they were all shocked. It was because the Demon World¡¯s Sage Aruvel was the person who knew the most about the attacking information in the Demon World¡¯s Tower. In addition, Demon World¡¯s Sage Aruvel was the Demon World¡¯s hidden NPC. And one could only meet with such a man after meeting countless criteria and difficulties.

    But you¡¯re telling me that you met him in less than an hour after you entered the Demon World?

    ¡°I, It seems like User Minhyuk already knew how to meet with Aruvel.¡±

    ¡°How the hell did he know? The only way to know how to meet him is when you get to the Demon World.¡±

    All of them had the same question in their heads. Meanwhile, Team Leader Park thought of something.

    ¡®Although everything that he had asked of us were reasonable, maybe he had offered the best conditions that he could get from us. After all, he¡¯s a man who can¡¯t lose¡­¡­¡¯

    Not long after, Lee Minhwa felt relieved.

    ¡°Well, Aruvel is still a Lv635 Marquess-ss demon. He will never be able to win against him.¡±

    Before he could hear the attack information in the Demon World¡¯s Tower, he needed to win a fight against Aruvel himself. And even though User Minhyuk had a 1.5x increase in his physical and magical attack and defense, it was still something that was impossible for him to achieve.

    Then, President Kang Taehoon murmured under his breath.

    ¡°That¡¯s right¡­¡­ Even with Conir, it¡¯s still impossible.¡±

    That¡¯s a good thing.

    ***

    Minhyukughed happily as he stepped into the Demon World.

    He had chosen three artifacts from Emperor Asvon¡¯s treasure room and most of them were for his vassals. The only reason why he did that was because there were no groundbreaking cooking utensils that Minhyuk wanted among the artifacts. And even if all of them were legendary artifacts, they could still notpare to the sword and armor that he was using right now. For that reason, Minhyuk focused on Kongie¡¯s and Conir¡¯s artifacts.

    Minhyuk also received information about the way towards the Demon World¡¯s Tower from President Kang Taehoon.

    Gremory had also given information about the Demon World¡¯s food every time she ate Minhyuk¡¯s food. He heard from her that once he achieved a new record in the Demon World¡¯s Tower, he would be able to get food from all over the world. However, she did not provide him with information about how to get to the Demon World¡¯s Tower.

    However, he also got information from her about the Demon World¡¯s Sage, Aruvel. He needed Aruvel to be able to achieve a new record in the tower. Gremory had told him that his level was over 650. But there was a way to ovee his strength.

    So Minhyuk moved towards the Demon World.

    [You have entered the Demon World.]

    [You have gained 30 reputation points.]

    Following Gremory¡¯s information, he moved towards Aruvel¡¯s home. The corners of his mouth couldn¡¯t help but quirk his lips at the contents of his inventory.

    The first thing that he had heard from Gremory about Aruvel was that he had tasted the human¡¯s food in the past. She said that he had admired the taste and vor of the food. He was also known for being quite a gourmand.

    And the second one was¡­¡­

    ¡®He talks a lot when he drinks.¡¯

    That was exactly the key point of the information.

    ***

    Notes

    [I*] - Emperor Asvon used ? (Jim). Jim is the I that olden KR emperors used to refer to themselves. The same way CN emperor¡¯s refer to themselves as zhen when they¡¯re talking to their subordinates and people. I read that it was exclusive for the emperor but it was also used by others in the monarchy. If anyone of you know of the rted literature about this, feel free to share.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 269 - Curse Of Baldness

    Chapter 269: Curse of Baldness

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Once Minhyuk¡¯s n was all set, he immediately started to walk towards where Aruvel was. The Demon World was generally dark since the sun did not rise in their world. There were also various traps and illusions set up in every corner to fool the unsuspecting users. When Minhyuk arrived at the ce where Aruvel was supposed to be, he was suddenly subjected to an ant hell. Although Minhyuk, Kongie and Conir were all sucked in an ant hell, they did not fall into panic.

    Then, at that moment¡­¡­

    ¡°How dare you step foot in here, you fools!¡±

    They heard a gloomy and dark voice ringing loudly in the area. Then, the notifications began to ring.

    [You have met with the Demon World¡¯s Sage, Aruvel.]

    [You have a 200 level difference with this monster.]

    [Extreme fear has been triggered.]

    Warnings would ring once one encountered a being that was at least 200 levels higher than your current self. This was always the case in the Demon World. It was because the Demon World remained to be a ce that was still yet to be explored. It was an unexplored area where the demons were 1.3x stronger than when they were in the human world. In other words, if the Lv400 demons that Minhyuk easily hunted in the human world exerted their power in this ce, they would be able to exert the power of a Lv500 being.

    And right now, Sage Aruvel was holding a bright red spear in his hands.

    ¡°Die!!!¡±

    At that moment, hundreds of spearlights from Aruvel¡¯s spear flooded Minhyuk¡¯s vision.

    ¡®I¡¯ll never win against that.¡¯

    Minhyuk was not a fool. He did not need to sh against him just so he could know if they could win or not against him. He could already tell his strength by just the force that he showed with that one attack. Seeing the attack, Minhyuk quickly shouted.

    ¡°Let¡¯s Have a Meal!!!¡±

    [An invincible barrier has now been created with a radius of 5m. You cannot release an attack towards your enemies.]

    [There is a high chance of receiving a higher ranked dish when cooking buffed dishes for your party members, guild members and vassals. The party will receive the buff effect ordingly.]

    A transparent, round barrier with a radius of five meters was created in a sh. The spearlights that were flying mmed straight into the barrier.

    Baaaaaaaaang¨D

    The spearlights that struck the barrier were deflected and flew away. The invincible barrier was truly unbreakable but the impact still remained.

    Bang, bang, bang¨D!

    Aruvel mmed the barrier with all his might.

    ¡°You¡¯re cowards for putting up such things!¡±

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk was thinking inside of the barrier.

    ¡®The effects of Let¡¯s Have a Meal will depend on how I use it.¡¯

    Skills and abilities would have different effects and efficiency depending on how they were used.

    Then, Minhyuk spoke¡­¡­

    ¡°Hehe. Aruvel-nim, hello! I couldn¡¯t greet you properly because you suddenly attacked me but I¡¯m Minhyuk. As a matter of fact, I heard that Aruvel-nim was quite a gourmand so I came here to treat you to a meal.¡±

    ¡°Stop ying tricks on me!¡±

    But Aruvel did not listen to his words as he continued to strike the barrier fiercely.

    ¡°I really don¡¯t want to fight Aruvel-nim. How am I even supposed to fight against you?¡±

    ¡°I told you to stop ying tricks on me¡­¡­!¡±

    Aruvel¡¯s expression was clearly filled with anger. Minhyuk couldn¡¯t help but sigh as he took out his grill. He looked like he did not have any other choice. Then, he started grilling pork galbi on the grill.

    Sizzle¨D

    The dark sauce that coated and marinated the ribs made a loud and sizzling sound as soon as the ribs made contact with the grilling pan.

    Then, the tempting smell wafted over and entered Aruvel¡¯s nose.

    ***

    ¡®Who the hell is this guy?¡¯

    He suddenly appeared in front of him and said that he wanted to treat him to a meal since he was a gourmand. And when he couldn¡¯tmunicate with him properly, he just sat down and began to grill an unknown meat in front of him.

    ¡®But the meat that the humans cooked back then was really delicious.¡¯

    Aruvel was shocked when he tasted human food back when he went to their world. The only dishes that they ate in the Demon World were raw meat from the demonic monsters and nts that tasted like rotten eggs. On the contrary, the human world had pigs, cows, chickens and vegetables that tasted fresh and sweet.

    Suddenly, a mouthwatering smell tickled the tips of his nose.

    ¡®N, no. What kind of smell is this that can make my heart tremble this much¡­¡­!¡¯

    Aruvel¡¯s eyes shook in shock. The smell was sweet with a faint scent of charcoal. The smell could easily stimte his appetite. Without realizing it, his mouth was already watering as he watched the man in front of him gnaw on the glossy red meat. He couldn¡¯t help but slurp his saliva back inside his mouth.

    ¡®It looks really delicious¡­¡­¡¯

    Aruvel had only one desire in his life and that was to once again taste the food from the human world.

    But that guy is a human.

    He did not know what he was up to and he kept on shouting in his head that he shouldn¡¯t approach him but his feet were already bringing him near the man.

    He could see the man cing some pickled onion on top of the seasoned meat. And when he was about to put it in his mouth¡­¡­

    ¡°I, I want to try that.¡±

    Aruvel came back to his senses when he suddenly spoke up.

    My goodness! I almost fell for this cunning guy¡¯s ulterior motive!

    Then, the man said¡­¡­

    ¡°We can¡¯t attack each other in this barrier. If that¡¯s the case, then I can¡¯t do anything bad to you, right? Come on in, quickly.¡±

    His words were stronger than the whispers of the three great demons.

    ¡°Are you sure that we can¡¯t attack each other there?¡±

    ¡°Yes, please look carefully.¡±

    The man lifted his sword and tried to use his skill but the red light that quickly shed on his sword disappeared just as quickly.

    ¡®It¡¯s true.¡¯

    The thoughts in Sage Aruvel¡¯s head quickly turned.

    ¡®There¡¯s no way that they will harm me there since they can¡¯t attack me.¡¯

    And Sage Aruvel realized one important piece of information.

    ¡®That¡¯s right. When was thest time that I tasted human food? Once that barrier gets terminated and I have finished eating, I can just kill them by then.¡¯

    Heughed gleefully as he finally moved into the barrier. Once he stepped inside, Aruvel also tried to point his spear at him just to double check. At that exact same moment, an unidentified force controlled his attack.

    ¡®It¡¯s really true.¡¯

    That meant that he could eat freely. And once he was done eating he could kill this human being in front of him.

    ***

    Aruvel hurriedly chomped on the pork galbi. Then, Minhyuk carefully ced the bibimnaengmyeon in front of him.

    ¡°This dish is called pork galbi, while this one is called naengmyeon. It¡¯s best to eat them together.¡±

    ¡°Ahem, ahem. Right, I¡¯ll give them a taste.¡±

    Aruvel ced a piece of pork ribs on top of the glistening red noodles. Then, he slurped the noodles and ribs together. The spicy and sweet vor of the noodles together with the soft and sweet taste of the meat spread in his mouth. Aruvel¡¯s eyes widened in shock when he tasted such delicacy.

    ¡°It, It¡¯s really delicious.¡±

    He was struck with admiration.

    Minhyuk couldn¡¯t help but look at him with a bit of disgust when he saw Aruvel hurriedly devouring the dishes in front of him. However, this was the only usible method since he knew better than anyone else that Aruvel longed for something delicious.

    Then, Minhyuk took something out of his inventory.

    Crack, crack, crack, crack¨D

    The sound of cracking came when he turned and opened the lid. It was none other than soju. And it was even blueberry fruit soju.

    ¡°Well then, it¡¯s delicious if we drink this together!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a drink but it¡¯s a superbbi with the food that we¡¯re eating right now.¡±

    Minhyuk smiled softly. He knew that Aruvel would try to avoid his urge to drink so he would not get drunk. However, fruit soju was sweet enough for it to be called a drink and Aruvel, who most likely did not have enough experience with human drinks, would most likely believe this.

    Minhyuk poured the alcohol generously in the shot ss. Then, he drank the soju in one shot.

    [You have an invincible body that can ignore and resist all abnormal states.]

    Then, he got a notification.

    When Aruvel saw that nothing happened to Minhyuk, he eagerly filled his shot ss with alcohol. Then, he drank it and said¡­¡­

    ¡°Hoo? This is quite a curious drink. At first, it has a sweet and fruity vor but there¡¯s also a bitter and pungent aftertaste.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the charm of this drink.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    Aruvel found the drink to be delicious as he gulped the contents of the ss in one shot. Then he said¡­¡­

    ¡°One more ss.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    One ss became two, then two became three, four and so on.

    Then¡­¡­

    Crack, crack, crack, crack¨D

    Without realizing it, Minhyuk had already opened a few more bottles.

    ¡°Kggghk. This tastes so good! The meat is good and the drink is also good.¡±

    ¡°Hahahahaha. Right?¡±

    It was all going ording to his ns.

    ***

    While Minhyuk was eagerly offering drink after drink to Aruvel, Conir and Kongie sneakily came out of the barrier.

    Conir was excitedly staring at the ramyeon that was starting to boil.

    ¡°Conir!!! This time will be a sess!!!¡±

    ¡°Oink!¡±

    Kongie nodded his head seriously with his arms folded on his chest. He had decided to teach Conir how to cook ramyeon so he was supervising his work right now.

    Not long after, Conir was able to cook ramyeon. The ramyeon was piping hot with steam blowing above it. However, a notification rang loudly in Conir¡¯s head.

    [You have failed the Quest: Cooking Lv1 Best Ramyeon.]

    ¡°.......¡±

    Conir felt sad.

    This notification was thanks to his ¡®tenacity¡¯ skill. With this ¡®tenacity¡¯ skill, Conir would tenaciously focus on one task as various quests pop out. He would be able to obtain skills as rewards if he seeded in the quests. This was the privilege that only NPC Conir could have.

    Kongie approached Conir when he saw him looking at the ramyeon sadly with his doe-like eyes.

    ¡°Oooink.¡±

    It¡¯s alright, Conir.

    ¡°Oiink, oiink.¡±

    You¡¯ll be able to reach my level someday too.

    ¡°Oooooooink.¡±

    Don¡¯t be discouraged by your failures.

    ¡°Oink, oink.¡±

    I will teach you today.

    ¡°Teach?¡±

    ¡°Oink, oink.¡±

    Conir finally responded to the word ¡®teach¡¯. Kongie nodded his head at him. Then, he proceeded to speak to him with a grave and somber expression on his face.

    ¡°Oink, oink.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll find out soon?¡±

    Conir waited as he stared at his ramyeon. His eyes couldn¡¯t help but widen in shock when something happened ten minutester.

    Kongie smiled quietly as he looked at the distant mountains with his hands behind his back.

    Conir trembled as he looked at the ramyeon with admiration and awe.

    ¡°Woa¡­¡­ Woooooooow¡­¡­. The, there¡¯s a lot of ramyeon!¡±

    Kongie nodded slowly as he tapped him on his shoulders.

    ¡°Oiiink.¡±

    This is exactly what I meant when I told you that I will teach you.

    It was a lesson where the amount of ramyeon increases even if you did not do anything. Kongie patted his shoulders once again as he turned his back on him. Then, he slowly moved away from him with his hands behind his back. He looked like an absolute master in these wide rivers andkes with his posture. His expression even showed sadness as if he was feeling the nostalgia of his oldest disciple leaving the nest.

    And Conir who was staring at his deste back¡­¡­

    ¡°Co, Conir¡­¡­ W, wants to be like K, Kongie¡­¡­ Conir! Will be like you!¡±

    Strangely enough, Conir suddenly wanted to be like Kongie.

    ***

    Minhyuk¡¯s n was finally getting ripe.

    ¡°Pour me another ss.¡±

    Glug, glug, glug¨D

    Gulp, gulp, gulp!

    ¡°Kggghk! Thwis dhrink ish really delishcious! In the old days!¡±

    It has begun.

    This was the sound of an adult man getting drunk.

    In the old days!

    Then, he started again.

    ¡°So in the old days!!!¡±

    They would continue to say this again and again and again.

    ¡°I used to be very¡­¡­! Huh?!¡±

    Their stories would always begin with ¡®In the old days¡¯ and they would continue to speak about their sess. Then, they stop.

    ¡°Haa¡­¡­¡±

    His misty eyes stared despondently at the distant mountains as he began to shed tears.

    ¡°What¡¯s so wrong about living my demon life¡­¡­¡±

    When this moment came, Minhyuk nodded his head as he patted his back gently.

    Pat, pat¨D

    ¡°It¡¯s okay. Everything is just like that. Human life¡­¡­ n, no, de, demon life is just like that. Right?¡±

    ¡°Thanks. It feels good to beforted.¡±

    ? ¡°Come on, have another drink.¡±

    ¡°Right. Boy, you¡¯re a very good person. This, this¡­¡­¡±

    He suddenly began to search all over his own body. Then, he took something out and stuck it out to Minhyuk¡¯s face.

    ¡°Come on, take this. Pocket money, this is pocket money!¡±

    When they arrived at the final stage, Aruvel gave him some pocket money!

    A notification rang in Minhyuk¡¯s head as he received his pocket money.

    [You have acquired 210 tinum.]

    ¡°......¡±

    Minhyuk stared nkly as he received a 210 tinum pocket money. If it was exchanged for cash, it would be exchanged for billions of cold hard cash.

    But Aruvel stared at him blearily as he continued to speak.

    ¡°But boy, this is really delicious. This is the best dish that I¡¯ve had in the world.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Minhyuk smiled softly at his praise.

    Aruvel suddenly turned silent as he pondered deeply about something before asking Minhyuk.

    ¡°Boy, will I be able to keep eating something delicious if I¡¯m with you?¡±

    ¡°I guess?¡±

    ¡°Hic?¡±

    Aruvel pulled something out from his sleeves again. Then, he wrote down some letters before giving them to Minhyuk.

    ¡°Then I¡¯ll go with you.¡±

    At the same time, the notifications rang for Minhyuk.

    [Aruvel has created a pledge of allegiance.]

    [He won¡¯t be able to attack you for 1 week.]

    [The pledge of allegiance has taken effect.]

    [The effects of the pledge of allegiance will reduce the NPC¡¯s abilities significantly if the pledge was made by an NPC that has a higher level than you.]

    ¡°......¡±

    An unexpected variable suddenly appeared in his ns.

    ***

    Notes

    [Galbi, Ribs] - This means the same thing. I will use them interchangeably.

    [Rivers and Lakes] - ?? (Kangho), there are three meanings to this: 1) Refers to Jiangxi (Kangseo) and Hunan (Honam), the most central region in China¡¯s geography. This is the Jianghu that we always see in CN novels. 2) Kang refers to a river, the Yangtze River, and Ho refers to ake, the Dongjeong Lake. 3) Literally rivers andkes, since humans can¡¯t survive without rivers andkes it takes on the alternate meaning of the world in which us human¡¯s live. Remember that the first civilization was made near rivers andkes. I am not too sure about the authenticity of these so if anyone can confirm, please feel free to do so. Anyway, I used Rivers and Lakes because Jianghu does not sound correct since this is a KR novel. But with regards to the three meanings, we can say that it is talking about the area where humans live and thrive.

    Food Discussion Corner

    Bibim Naengmyeon - Korean spicy cold noodles. The spicy red noodles. They¡¯re strangely refreshing despite being spicy.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 270 - Curse Of Baldness

    Chapter 270: Curse of Baldness

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    [Aruvel has written a 1-week pledge of allegiance to User Minhyuk.]

    Silence prevailed in the Special Users Management Team¡¯s office. President Kang Taehoon, Team Leader Park Minggyu and Employee Lee Minhwa did not know what to say.

    The first one to break the silence was President Kang Taehoon.

    ¡°Ha, hahahahaha, hahahahahaha!¡±

    Then¡­¡­

    ¡°Hahahahahahahaha!¡±

    ¡°Ho, hohohohohoho!¡±

    They all startedughing incredulously.

    What kind of nonsense is this? A user seduced an NPC?

    ¡°The Let¡¯s Have a Meal skill was not supposed to be used that way¡­¡­¡±

    However, he made use of the skill and made it into his own, turning it into a divine move. User Minhyuk had used the ¡®Let¡¯s Have a Meal¡¯ skill, a skill that made him invincible inside, to talk to the other person. This allowed him to have a peaceful conversation with Aruvel. In short, apletely divine move.

    ¡°At this rate¡­¡­¡±

    Even though they were able to patch his monstrous holy power, User Minhyuk might just be able to create greater effects from this point on. After thinking for quite some time, President Kang Taehoon finally opened his mouth.

    ¡°Come to think of it¡­¡­¡±

    Team Leader Park Minggyu and Employee Lee Minhwa turned to look at him.

    ¡°User Minhyuk will still go and climb the top of the Demon World¡¯s Tower one of these days.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    Team Leader Park nodded his head. They all agreed to this statement.

    ¡°After all, the tower has the way to unseal Gluttony¡¯s Incarnation.¡±

    ***

    TTBC¡¯s reporter, Go Eun-ah, had received an important task from the broadcasting station. Her task was to scout for one user that would be able to make it to Athenae¡¯s ¡®Hall of Fame¡¯ this year.

    Hall of Fame.

    Those who could enter the Athenae¡¯s Hall of Fame meant that their videos had received the highest number of hits, views or rmendations. In short it was the best yed video of the year. The Hall of Fame was something that was hosted on the official Athenae website once every year. The users who ranked from 1st~10th would also be able to receive rewards. In addition, the users who ranked 1st~10th were those who had generated huge profits from their videos.

    Meanwhile, Go Eun-ah was already grumbling.

    ¡®Eyy! You bald eagle bastard!¡¯

    It was because the director had pecked her so hard. It was almost the end of the year and there was still no video that had appeared in South Korea that was worthy enough to be in the ¡®Hall of Fame¡¯ this year. On the other hand, the US already had two, China had three, Japan had one and France also had two. And what was worse was that the director was a fervent and ardent patriot.

    ¡®Does it even make sense that our South Korea doesn¡¯t have any Hall of Fame video this year? Regardless of the means and conditions, you have to recruit people that can challenge the Hall of Fame this year from the users. No, it¡¯s not someone who can challenge, find users that can be in the Hall of Fame this year!¡¯

    Go Eun-ah had already mussed up her hair in frustration.

    You¡¯re telling me to find a use who can be in the Hall of Fame this year at this time? I¡¯m just a reporter not a shaman, do you think I can do that so easily? And there¡¯s more than 20 million Athenae users in Korea. How can I know if they can be in the Hall of Fame this year?

    She was starting to pick out the people who would be able to have the highest views when filming a video.

    [Food God Minhyuk]

    [Crazy Priest Locke]

    [Sword¡¯s Crown Prince Carr]

    [Dragon Taming Master ck Goat]

    [Hunting God Vercar]

    ¡°Ah, that¡¯s right. It wasn¡¯t ck Goat, was it ck Dragon?¡±

    Using her ballpoint pen, she crossed out ck Goat and scribbled ¡®ck Dragon¡¯ beside it. Plenty of people had recognized him as ck Goat instead of ck Dragon due to thementators¡¯ misinterpretation back then.

    Her problem was that, aside from Carr and the Hunting God Vercar, she did not have their code number so she couldn¡¯t send her a whisper. Legend Guild¡¯s Genie¡¯s code number was avable because the broadcasting station had it. In other words, she could only contact them through Genie, their guild master.

    After thinking things through, Go Eun-ah quickly wrote a proposal and sent it over to Genie. She had delivered it to Genie but she did not send her a reply. She rewrote her proposal and sent it again but after trying a few times, it was like it just sank in the deep sea.

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡­¡±

    Is it really impossible?

    She wrote another proposal thinking that this would be her final proposal. Her final proposal was for ¡®Food God Minhyuk¡¯. She had already sent him dozens of proposals but he hadn¡¯t responded to any one of them. She felt exhausted knowing that nothing woulde out of it, but she still started writing with thest of her strength and confidence. Then, she finally finished it.

    [Hello! I¡¯m TTBC¡¯s Reporter Go Eun-ah. I don¡¯t have any other reason¡­¡­ omitted¡­¡­ it would be nice if we can talk over a meal. My treat. Please contact me.]

    And 30 secondster, the phone beside her rang. The call was from an unknown number.

    ¡°Yes, this is TTBC¡¯s Reporter, Go Eun-ah.¡±

    [Hello. This is Minhyuk. I¡¯m contacting you after seeing the proposal that you just sent to me.]

    ¡°......!¡±

    Go Eun-ah¡¯s eyes widened in shock as she tried to control her thumping heart. To be honest, Go Eun-ah was Food God Minhyuk¡¯s fan. She even became one of the managers of Food God Minhyuk¡¯s fan cafe. The fan cafe was named ¡®Eat until we Die!¡¯ and their numbers had exceeded 500,000. They were trying to diet together every day but they failed every time. Even the founder failed to do so. In other words, this was how their fan cafe worked:

    I exercised very hard. Ah~ I¡¯m so proud of myself for working hard today. I¡¯m going to order some chicken!

    Yes, a lot of the people from their fan cafe did this on the daily. The fan cafe was exactly like Minhyuk.

    Then, a thought suddenly shed through her mind.

    ¡®What¡¯s so special about the final proposal?¡¯

    No, I¡¯m sure there¡¯s nothing special. The conditions that I have listed so far have been the same from the previous ones. So why did he react this time?

    [The proposal says that you will give 50% of the revenue generated from the video. Right?]

    ¡°Yes. That¡¯s right!¡±

    Then, Minhyuk said¡­¡­

    [If I¡¯m going to shoot a video that will challenge the Hall of Fame then I will demand 90% in return.]

    ¡°......!¡±

    Go Eun-ah¡¯s eyes widened in shock.

    No, but shouldn¡¯t broadcasting station employees make a living?

    To be honest, getting into the Hall of Fame meant that they would generate a huge revenue from advertisements. But Minhyuk continued to speak.

    [If you don¡¯t like it then I won¡¯t agree.]

    ¡°N, no! Please wait!¡±

    But if she thought about it deeply, this user was able to push ATV, a rising broadcasting station, to the forefront. So even if TTBC excluded the video transmission and advertising fee, it would still gain enough profit and value if this user was able to join the Hall of Fame. Also, it would be their job to announce and spread the name of TTBC so they would not incur any loss. However¡­..

    ¡®He really does not lose out¡­¡­¡¯

    Minhyuk was trying to create as much profit as possible from them.

    Minhyuk continued to speak.

    [I also want you to send me the edited video first after the recording. I will review it and you have to ept it if I don¡¯t want you to upload a part out of the video. If you agree to this, then I will seriously consider this contract. And there are additional conditions too.]

    Go Eun-ah gulped dryly as cold sweat beaded her forehead.

    Minhyuk just continued to speak.

    [Once I climbed the Hall of Fame, I want you to take the responsibility to give me information about ingredients, specialties, and excellent dishes that I am satisfied with.]

    Go Eun-ah was currently obsessed with dieting. However, whenever she watched Minhyuk¡¯s video, she always failed to control her appetite.

    ¡®Aaaaaaaah! As expected of our Minhyuk-nim! What a straightforward guy! Eating is greater than artifacts! Eating is greater than skillbooks!¡¯

    Of course, it did not mean that just because he was asking for something that he could eat did not mean that they weren¡¯t losing any money. Just like a bunch of elixirs and medicines, they were usually worth more than artifacts since there were permanent stat benefits that they could get from the food.

    ¡°I will go and talk with my director for a moment!¡±

    When she went to her director, Director Park Daehoon hugged her tightly.

    ¡°I was wondering why you were orderingte-night snacks every night but it was because you wanted to cast User Minhyuk. I¡¯ll give you my word!¡±

    She had been given approval so she immediately let Minhyuk know about this happy fact. After informing him about the status of his conditions and the contract, Go Eun-ah asked where he was since his every move right now was very important.

    ¡°Where are you right now?¡±

    [I¡¯m going to the Demon World¡¯s Tower.]

    ¡°......!¡±

    It was a scoop! There weren¡¯t that many Korean users that had entered the Demon World as of now. But he was even going to the Demon World¡¯s Tower?

    ¡®I don¡¯t know but maybe we will really get to the Hall of Fame?¡¯

    Then, Minhyuk asked her¡­¡­

    [But you know, about what you said in the proposal earlier?]

    ¡®The proposal¡­¡­?¡¯

    Go Eun-ah tilted her head in confusion as Minhyuk continued to speak.

    [That we will have a meal if we had a talk? When will you treat me to a meal?]

    Among the countless conditions that she had listed in the proposal, the condition that made Minhyuk contact her was finally revealed.

    ***

    The Demon World¡¯s Tower had 50 levels in total. In addition, each level of the Demon World¡¯s Tower was like a microcosm of the Demon World. Not only was the Demon World¡¯s Tower filled with monsters that users had yet to hunt, there were also trials, mobs, tricks, traps and even viges, towns, cities and other territories that they had yet to explore.

    And right now, there were three men standing in front of the Demon World¡¯s Tower. They were members of ckstone. They had received instructions from Cauhel long before he reached the 28th level.

    Their orders were simple.

    ¡®Observe and kill the users who will attempt to climb the Demon World¡¯s Tower.¡¯

    Observing and killing meant that they should kill those users who could set a new record while leaving the rookies and youngsters alone. The only reason why this order was possible was because the three users standing in front of the tower right now were high-leveled users that specialize in killing. They were also top rankers from France, Russia and China.

    The three of them were getting rid of the users who were most likely going to be harmful to Cauhel. In addition, they were also able to get artifacts after they trampled and destroyed these users. Most of the users who came to the Demon World¡¯s Tower were at least at the upper or middle of the rankings. So they were very happy and eager to do this job.

    France¡¯s Rochan started to move after hearing a report.

    Before anyone could arrive at the Demon World¡¯s Tower they had to pass through a ce called ¡®Demon World Shelter¡¯. It was a ce where they could form parties or receive quests rted to the Demon World¡¯s Tower.

    And right now, the report had stated that a new user had appeared in that ce so he was currently on his way to check the user out.

    Of course, if things didn¡¯t work out the way he wanted to, then he would just kill the user and get the artifacts that he would drop.

    France¡¯s Rochan was a Lv48 debuff hunter. He was well-known for ughtering his enemies after he debuffed and downgraded their abilities.

    Russia¡¯s Ruben was one of the few users who used a gun. However, he could easily prate through the users¡¯ backs. And finally, China¡¯s Jingxiao was someone who had an assassin ss. He was also someone who flitted between the first and second rankings in China.

    The three of them moved towards the Demon World Shelter. When they entered the area, they saw a boy.

    ¡°I¡¯ll seed this time!¡±

    The innocent looking boy squatted down on the ground.

    ¡°I¡¯ll definitely make it this time, for sure!¡±

    ¡°.......¡±

    The three people knew at the same time that this guy was underdeveloped in terms of mental capacity. And he was even presumed to be an NPC. They did not know how he arrived here but he was just annoying. He was a mentally incapable child and what was worse was that he was in front of the Demon World Shelter. They just wanted to clean him up.

    Rochan kicked the gas burner and the pot that was blocking the way to the Demon World shelter.

    ng!

    ¡°Go y over there, filthy brat.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be so mean, you have to embrace the disabled and shower them with love. Keke.¡±

    ¡°Kekekekeke. You¡¯re going to cry now, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    But Rochan would kill him once he did.

    Then, at that moment, the boy stood up with the chopsticks in his hand.

    ¡°I¡¯m so angry! I¡¯m very upset!¡±

    ¡°Puhahahaha! So what if you¡¯re mad?¡±

    ¡°Are you going to stab these ahjussis with those chopsticks?¡±

    Theyughed loudly. But the boy just asked them.

    ¡°When cooking ramyeon, do you put the noodles first? Or the soup?¡±

    ***

    Report mistakes and chat with us at:/woopread

 Chapter 271 - Curse Of Baldness

    Chapter 271: Curse of Baldness

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Ruben replied jokingly.

    ¡°Of course it¡¯s water.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    The boy¡¯s body trembled.

    ¡°Y, you¡¯re correct¡­¡­ Heok¡­¡­ A, amazing!!! Genius!!! Wow!!!¡±

    The boy raised his thumb at him in approval. He looked like he was in genuine admiration for him.

    ¡°Fufufufufu. He¡¯s really a moron.¡±

    ¡°Then, is it ansungtangtangmyeon or sshin ramyeon?¡±

    ¡°Ramyeon is not good for you, punk.¡±

    The boy¡¯s lips were upturned as he threw the chopsticks that were on his hands.

    ¡°You¡¯re wrong!!! All ramyeon are delicious!!!¡±

    Ruben thought that the kid was just joking around but at that moment¡­¡­

    Spurt¨D

    The chopsticks stabbed through his throat before he could even finish his thoughts.

    [Your vital point has received an attack.]

    [You have been hit with a fatal blow.]

    ¡°Keop!!¡±

    Ruben grabbed the chopsticks stuck in his neck. However, no matter how hard he pulled, they still remained stuck. The notifications rang at the same time.

    [You have been attacked by a Unicorn¡¯s Weapon.]

    [You will not be able to easily pull out the weapon.]

    ¡®Th, this is a Unicorn¡¯s Weapon?¡¯

    A unicorn is a legendary monster¡­ But you¡¯re telling me that this wooden chopstick is a Unicorn¡¯s Weapon?

    Then, Conir shook his hand.

    Swoooooooosh¨D

    Blood spurted out of Ruben¡¯s neck as the chopsticks got pulled out. His HP was reduced by as much as 40% in just that one attack.

    ¡°Keuheok. Th, this is impossible¡­¡­!¡±

    Ruben couldn¡¯t help but be shocked by the ridiculous situation that he was put in.

    ¡°This goddamned crazy punk!!!¡±

    Debuff hunter Rochan immediately pulled out his hammer as he mmed it strongly on the ground.

    Baaaaaang¨D

    [Debuff Hammer]

    [All the abilities of the single specified target will be reduced by 30% after being mmed with the shockwaves from the hammer.]

    The ground was riddled with cracks as a ck energy flooded straight towards the boy.

    At that moment, the shape of the bloody wooden chopsticks suddenly changed once it returned to the boy¡¯s hands. The chopsticks turned into none other than anding.

    ¡°......?¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    The three users were all at a loss for words. The boy then dashed forward, staring at the debuff hammer that was aiming at him while singing a song happily.

    ¡°Hururup chap, chap! Hururup chap, chap! Yummy ramyeon! Curly, curly, yummy ramyeon!¡±

    This was a song sung by a ck man named Nichol in Grown Up Dinosaur Dulni.

    Then, Rochan spoke¡­¡­

    ¡°This crazy punk¡­¡­!¡±

    Then¡­¡­

    [Failure¡¯s Sword Dance]

    [All of the users who have seen the yer¡¯s dance will have their attacks nullified as they fall into frustration and breakdown.]

    The ck mist-like energy that was flowing out of the cracked ground slowly disappeared.

    ¡°......OMG?¡±

    ¡°......Crazy!¡±

    They had no choice but to be speechless. But things did not end there. When the boy wielded hisnding, powerful strength flowed from the tight holes of the and formed ck sword lights that flooded straight towards them.

    ¡°Sh, shit¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°Th, that¡¯s not even a sword, that¡¯s anding?!!¡±

    All of them were astonished.

    Rochan quickly moved. In his ¡°Debuff Warrior¡¯s Hammer¡±, there was a top-notch skill that could invalidate and nullify the attacks that would hit him all at once. But just as he was about to raise his hammer to block the sword lights¡­¡­

    Shweeeeeeeeek!

    The trajectory of the sword lights suddenly changed and stabbed his entire body.

    Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¨D

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaack!¡±

    Rochan shrieked loudly. Debuff hunters were job sses that had higher HPspared to the average job sses but at that moment, his HP had dropped by 50%.

    Then, Conir¡¯snding had changed its form once again. This time, it became a tong. His artifact kept on changing its form because it was the ¡®Unicorn¡¯s Mysterious Weapon¡¯ that Minhyuk had gifted him not too long ago. The Unicorn¡¯s Mysterious Weapon was one of the three artifacts that Minhyuk had received from Emperor Asvon¡¯s Treasure Room.

    (Unicorn¡¯s Mysterious Weapon)

    Rank: Legendary

    Restrictions: Only for vassals

    Attack Power: 851

    Special Abilities:

    ¨D A 16% increase in all five basic stats.

    ¨D Can change to the weapon that the wearer wants.

    ¨D The wearer¡¯s skills and abilities will be expressed and transformed to suit the weapon that the wearer changed the artifact into.

    ¨D If the vassal¡¯s HP drops below 10%, the vassal will be automatically summoned back to the vassal room.

    ¨D Active Skill: Unicorn¡¯s Wrath.

    Description: A legendary weapon acquired from Emperor Asvon¡¯s Treasure Room. The Unicorn is Cordis Empire¡¯s guardian deity. It transforms into the weapon that the bearer wants. In addition, the skills of the user will be transformed to suit the changed form of the weapon.

    There were quite a few skills that would be unavable or avable depending on the artifacts that were worn by the user. For example, it wasmon for someone with a sword skill to use a sword. Of course there were still special cases where there weren¡¯t any restrictions like that in particr too.

    But just a few moments ago, the boy, Conir¡¯snding had expressed the power of a swordsmanship skill, the Reckless Child. It even released dozens of sword lights when he swung it.

    ¡°Do you put cheese or tteok in ramyeon?¡±

    The three of them hurriedly turned towards their chatting window as they watched the boy slowly approaching them.

    [Party Chatting Ruben: I¡¯ll use Burning Spider.]

    [Party Chatting Rochan: Then, I¡¯ll use Reckless Hunter.]

    [Party Chatting Jingxiao: Okay, I¡¯ll use Poison King¡¯s Continuous Kills.]

    The three of them shook their heads in unison. They did not know who the punk was or what the hell he was but they were sure that they had to use their strongest single attack skill to tie him up.

    ¡°Huh? Do you put cheese or tteok?¡±

    ¡°Of course it¡¯s cheese for ramyeon!!!¡±

    Ruben screamed as he pulled out his revolver. White light formed at the tip of his revolver before bursting out of the barrel. A white sphere bursted out from the muzzle of the revolver. The white sphere exploded in the air and formed a. Once this was casted, all of the skills that were being used would be controlled.

    ck¨D

    Ruben also took out another revolver and fired it at him to make sure that he did not avoid the.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¨D

    Sparks flew off of his gun as dozens of bullets got fired off. However, the boy just ran as he shouted.

    ¡°Wrong. You can put both in!!!¡±

    ¡°Crazy. You fucking bastard! This is your end!!!¡±

    The boy was rushing forward to escape the influence of the spider web-like. In the end, the boy was pierced with the bullets and turned into a hive. But that was what he believed. The boy¡¯s body was filled with unimaginable force.

    Then, the boy triggered his skill.

    [Sword Saint¡¯s Invincibility]

    [Returns 80~90% of the damage inflicted by the enemies. Lasts up to 15 minutes. There¡¯s also a 5% chance of achieving a 10~13% recovery rate once the enemy attacks.]

    The Burning Spider that he had sent towards the rushing boy had bepletely useless. And just when he expected that the boy would die from the dozens of bullets that he had fired¡­¡­

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¨D

    ¡°Keheok!¡±

    Gunner Ruben¡¯s body flew backwards. It was as if he was the one who received dozens of bullets instead of the boy. He could also see his HP falling at a rapid pace. When he looked at the rushing boy, he could see that his body was recovering rapidly from the bullets that he had fired at him.

    ¡®Th, this is crazy¡­¡­!¡¯

    And by the end of it¡­¡­

    [Party Chatting: Ruben has been forced to log-out.]

    But rather than despairing at the fact that their party member, Ruben, had been forced to log out, the rest were busy thinking about ways to survive this ordeal.

    ¡®What the hell is that skill?¡¯

    As soon as Ruben hit the body of his enemy, there was little to no damage. On the contrary, it was Ruben who was forced to log out after attacking him. Of course, Ruben had already been stabbed at the neck by the chopsticks earlier so his HP was a lot lower than normal but what was more appalling was the fact that the boy¡¯s wounds were rapidly recovering.

    ¡°This, wh, what the hell did you do, you bastard!!!¡±

    Jingxiao immediately used the Poison King¡¯s Continuous Kills towards the boy who was running fiercely towards them with his tongs.

    The Poison King¡¯s Continuous Kills were hundreds of devices that would fly towards the vital points of the body. These devices would guarantee a critical blow whenever it hits. It was basically a wide-area of attack skill but it could also be considered as his best single attack skill.

    Pipipipipipipipi¨D

    Hundreds of devices flew straight towards the rushing boy.

    ¡®These devices may not have that much aggressiveness but the moment they get to your vital points, they would unleash a devastating fatal blow together with a poisonous effect¡­¡­! This time, surely, you will not be able to stand it!¡¯

    That was what Jingxiao had concluded.

    ng, ng, ng, ng, ng!

    But the devices just bounced off of the boy¡¯s body.

    Stab¨D

    And when one of the devices stuck on the boy¡¯s body¡­¡­

    [Fatal blow!]

    [The paralysis poison is taking effect.]

    [Your enemy¡¯s movements will slow down.]

    ¡°Ouch! An ant bit me. Ants are bad!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Jingxiao felt that everything was absurd right at that moment.

    ¡®An ant?¡¯

    The Poison King¡¯s Continuous Kills was his best skill. These hundreds of devices had a poison effect that would be triggered randomly. The effects were different everytime. Sometimes a flesh-melting poison would be triggered. There were also times, like this, when a paralysis poison would be triggered.

    He thought that the paralysis poison was the perfect poison to be triggered for the monster in front of them. They would be able to cut off his neck through the gap created by the paralysis. And just like he expected, the boy stopped running.

    ¡®As expected¡­¡­!¡¯

    Jingxiao and Rochan made eye contact. Then, they both rushed forward. They could see that the boy was shivering and trembling.

    Then, the boy shouted.

    ¡°Co, Conir!!! My stomach aches! I have to go to the bathroom! Hyungie told Conir to go to the bathroom if my stomach hurts¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°Keok?!¡±

    ¡°Heok?!¡±

    He wasn¡¯t paralyzed?

    They weren¡¯t aware that the boy was a chimera and that his body had the same effect as a thousand-poison resistance effect.

    The rest of their attacksnded on the boy.

    Pipipipipipipipi¨D

    ng, ng, ng!

    Some of their attacks were deflected while some stopped the boy in his tracks. Then¡­¡­

    Spurt!

    [The attack has been reflected.]

    [You have been poisoned.]

    [Your skin will feel like it¡¯s burning.]

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Jingxiao screamed. The same part where the device was embedded on the boy¡¯s body felt like it was burning.

    The boy was confidently wielding his tongs at that moment.

    ¡°Tongs gigantification!¡±

    Baaaaang!

    Jingxia flew back after he got hit by the tongs.

    ¡®Such herculean strength¡­¡­!¡¯

    My god, I got smacked by a tong and flew back?

    But even though the boy shouted loudly, the tongs did not get gigantic. Then, the boy became sullen.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you get big, just like the one with hyungie?¡±

    The boy was suddenly ovee with sadness.

    Jingxiao couldn¡¯t help but speak while he was flying backwards.

    ¡°Who the hell is that punk?! I think he¡¯s an NPC but who would bring someone like that?!¡±

    ¡°That would be me. You fuckers.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    A voice suddenly rang loudly from the direction where he was flying towards.

    ¡°Frying Pan Gigantification.¡±

    ¡®F, frying pan gigantification¡­¡­?¡¯

    Jingxiao could feel a powerful impact hitting his back just as he was about to turn his head and check the voice out.

    Baaaaaaaang¨D

    Just like a baseball being hit by a batter, Jingxiao flew to the other side.

    ¡°Keoheok!¡±

    Jingxiao let out a shriek. He saw his HP dropping towards the bottom as he rolled on the floor. When Rochan turned his head, he saw a man wearing a rugged helmet with a giant frying pan on his hands.

    ¡°Did you guys tease and bully my dongsaeng?¡±

    It was none other than Minhyuk.

    ***

    Notes

    [Ramyeon song] - You can search for this as Dooly - Noodles song, it¡¯s a song that¡¯s sung by Michol in Dooly the little dinosaur. The exact lyrics were: ??? ?? ??? ??! ? ?? ??!!! ???? ???? ? ?? ??!

    Report mistakes and chat wit us at: /woopread

 Chapter 272 - Curse Of Baldness

    Chapter 272: Curse of Baldness

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    The two of them could tell that he was really the Frying Pan Killer.

    ¡°Hyuuuuung~.¡±

    Conir dashed to Minhyuk¡¯s side as he jumped up and down happily.

    Aruvel won¡¯t be my vassal just because he apanied me, right?

    He felt tired just at the thought of it so he disconnected first and talked with the broadcastingpany and logged back in. He came to the Demon World Shelter in preparation for his climb to the Demon World¡¯s Tower. When he came to the Demon World Shelter, he talked to Aruvel before logging out again to rest before his climb.

    Conir had told him that he would study making ramyeon while he was gone. He felt assured since the Unicorn¡¯s Mysterious Weapon had a special effect that would allow him to enter the vassal¡¯s room when his vassal¡¯s HP dropped below 10%. Entering the vassal¡¯s room was only possible thanks to an effect that was attached to special artifacts.

    So he logged out with confidence, but what was happening right now?

    Minhyuk knew that Conir was a child who would not harm anyone. Conir might be loud and would talk to himself sometimes but Minhyuk knew better than anyone that he was not the type to cause harm to others.

    As soon as he arrived here, Minhyuk had already noticed the overturned pot and gas burner. This fact had proven that they were the first ones to touch and bully Conir.

    ¡°F, Frying Pan Killer¡­¡­ Y, you bastard¡­¡­ C, Cauhel-nim won¡¯t let you go!¡±

    ¡®Cauhel?¡¯

    When he heard his words, Minhyuk had realized that Cauhel was the one who manipted Carr and put pressure on him and the other members of Legend Guild during Athenae: Korean War. But since Minhyuk appeared, they had the illusion that this was a ¡®trap¡¯ that he had set.

    Jingxiao looked around as he prepared the Poison King¡¯s Dagger. Then, he quickly dashed towards the Frying Pan Killer.

    Vwoooooong¨D

    The Poison King¡¯s dagger quickly split into a dozen images as it moved freely as if they had a mind of their own. It would immediately lower the HP of the target once it struck the body.

    Then¡­¡­

    Oiink¨D

    Kongie was summoned. The summoned Kongie was wearing Hepas¡¯ pot like a helmet with the flipper and the lid on both of his hands. Perhaps he had already prepared himself for the battle inside the summoning room.

    ¡°There¡¯s really no sane bastard in this area¡­¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk spoke at that moment¡­¡­

    ¡°Kong-ah, absolute defense.¡±

    ¡°Oiink!¡±

    [Absolute Defense.]

    [No attack will be allowed to touch Kongie and his master for two seconds.]

    With absolute defense, Minhyuk was able to deflect the dozens of daggers that aimed at him. Taking advantage of that gap, Minhyuk used Like the Wind and arrived in front of Jingxiao.

    Stab¨D

    ¡°Keoheok!¡±

    Jingxiao¡¯s neck got stabbed. He slowly copsed as the screen in front of him turned ck.

    Rochan did not stop to look at hisrade as he lifted his hammer as high as he could.

    Shwaaaaaaaaaak¨D

    [Cursed Hammer]

    [As soon as the hammer ms on the ground, your body will explode causing a x5 damage to your surroundings.]

    It was literally a self-destructing skill. But Conir suddenly moved.

    ¡°Are you trying to bully my hyung?!¡±

    The tongs that Conir was holding turned into a sword as he used the 3rd chapter of his swordsmanship, the Wailing Child. Dozens of powerful ck sword lights were fired one after the other. The intensity of the sword light was so strong that it was iparable to the sword light from earlier.

    Pipipipipipipipi¨D

    After being hit by the dozens of sword lights, Rochan eventually had to stare at the ck screen without being able to m the hammer to the ground. But before he could lose consciousness in the game, he was able to hear Minhyuk¡¯s voice.

    ¡°Tell this to Cauhel.¡±

    The voice was low and filled with a bone-setting coldness.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go up there so he should wait for me.¡±

    Then, Rochan quickly leapt out of his capsule. Rochan, or Pierre, a French with shining blonde hair, hurriedly went out to contact someone.

    ***

    On the 28th floor of the Demon World¡¯s Tower, countless demon corpses were piled up in a mountain. Cauhel walked over these piles of corpses with an eerie expressionless face.

    Then, a whisper came.

    [Rochan: Cauhel-nim, Frying Pan Killer has appeared in the Demon World Shelter.]

    ¡°......¡±

    Even Cauhel, who was known for his expressionless face, couldn¡¯t help but be startled by the message. A crack appeared in his otherwise stern face.

    This was the person who had ruined his ns time and time again.

    He was also told that three of his guild members had been killed in the skirmish. Then, Cauhel gave them his instructions.

    [Cauhel: Inform ckstone¡¯s two monarchs right now.]

    The two monarchs were ckstone members with special characteristics. The Monarch was a legendary ss that could summon more than 20 people per day at any time they wanted. In addition, with the presence of the monarch, the guild members would receive a 5% buff in all five of the basic stats as well as a 10% increase in EXP acquisition. In addition, the two monarchs were both leading giant guilds in ckstone. Were their guilds equivalent to Korea¡¯s four great guilds? No, their guilds were far more than that.

    [Cauhel: Also, tell the two monarchs to gather our elites in the Demon World Shelter. Make sure to chase him down and kill him.]

    That bastard won¡¯t be able toe up here. You think I¡¯m afraid of you because you will break my new record? No. It¡¯s because you¡¯re just annoying.

    Grin¨D

    Cauhel grinned wickedly as he continued to move forward.

    ***

    Minhyuk once again entered the Demon World Shelter. The inside of the Demon World Shelter looked like it was a very huge dining hall. He could see some users and demons here and there. The demons in the Demon World Shelter were all quite friendly and amiable.

    Right now, Sage Aruvel was sitting in front of Minhyuk.

    ¡°Hahahahaha! This is really delicious!¡±

    Aruvel was currently eating the ramen that Conir had cooked. Arubel, with his gigantic horns, was currently slurping the noodles while Minhyuk watched him with a heartbroken expression.

    ¡®This glutton¡­¡­!¡¯

    Aruvel was a true fanatic of food. He really loved to eat. And that was where the problem lied. Minhyuk¡¯s heart couldn¡¯t help but feel his heart break when he saw him eat once before.

    As if to try and leave the pain aside, he went ahead and checked Aruvel¡¯s information.

    (Aruvel)

    Rank: Legend

    Type: Pledge of Allegiance (Penalty Applied)

    Level: 625 (547)

    Attack Power: 6,461 (5,261)

    Defensive Power: 4,374 (3,973)

    Special Abilities:

    ¨D Passive Skill: Sage¡¯s Knowledge

    ¨D Active Skill: Sage¡¯s Potion Manufacturing

    ¨D Active Skill: Demonic Dragon¡¯s Spear Arts.

    Potential: 151

    Experience Value: 13% / 100%

    Aruvel was an NPC that was on a higher levelpared to the current Minhyuk. This resulted in a penalty after he made a pledge of allegiance to him. The items that were enclosed by the ¡®( )¡¯ were the power that he could exert right now. However, even if his level was currently downgraded and his strength was lowered, the numbers were still formidable.

    After having his fill, Aruvel handed Minhyuk a table that he had filled in. The table listed the rewards that he would be able to receive on every floor of the tower.

    [1st Floor, new record rewards: You will gain additional EXP acquisition rate once the first floor is cleared at a record breaking time. Food Rewards: Italian Pizza and Carbonara Spaghetti.]

    [2nd Floor, new record rewards: Mysterious Scrolls. Food Rewards: Bulgogi Hotpot.]

    [6th Floor, new record rewards: 200 reputation points. Food Rewards: Sushi and Udon.]

    [8th Floor, new record rewards: Demonic Races¡¯ Count Nadhl¡¯s Purple Earrings. Food Rewards: Vietnamese Rice Noodle Soup.]

    [13th Floor¡­¡­ Omitted.]

    [17th Floor¡­¡­ Omitted.]

    [23rd Floor¡­¡­ Omitted.]

    Minhyuk smiled happily as he checked each reward listed per floor. He also discovered something special from what was written on the table that was handed to him.

    ¡°There are artifact rewards every 10th floor?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re praiseworthy enough if you¡¯re able to reach the 10th floor. You can think of it as a special reward if you achieved a new record on every 10th floor.¡±

    Minhyuk shook his head as he asked another question.

    ¡°Why isn¡¯t there any information about each floor?¡±

    ¡°I may be called as the Demon World¡¯s Sage but I was not necessarily involved in the creation of the Demon World¡¯s Tower.¡±

    ¡°Then, can we get the tower¡¯s information from others?¡±

    ¡°No. I know.¡±

    Aruvel looked confident. Right now, Minhyuk and Aruvel¡¯s rtionship was close enough to call them ¡®Trading Partners¡¯. Aruvel would only give Minhyuk information if he gave him something delicious. He wouldn¡¯t open his mouth if he did not give him anything. Because of this, Minhyuk had badly wanted to slit his throat but he stopped himself. He believed that suffering from such a small loss would eventually give him a huge differenceter.

    Just look at the enormous food rewards hidden all throughout the tower when you achieve new records!

    The listed rewards could make his water as he imagined those delicious things filling his stomach and teasing his taste buds. The 1st floor rewards were pizza and carbonara, something that you should definitely eat once you go to Italy. The 2nd floor had a bulgogi hotpot, a dish that was famous in his own country. The 6th floor had sushi and udon, a dish that was well known in Japan. The rewards listed were the country¡¯s representative food but they were also globally popr food.

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±

    ¡°All we need to do is get the information from the tower¡¯s creator.¡±

    ¡°The tower¡¯s creator?¡±

    ¡°Right. The tower creator. In fact there¡¯s a tower creator in this ce too.¡±

    ¡°Hoo?¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head. He knew that he had received Aruvel, a high-leveled hidden NPC, for a really cheap price. If anyone knew about this, they would be shocked that he was able to recruit Aruvel, the Demon World¡¯s Sage, with just a bit of food and some ramyeon. What was worse was that he would get the tower¡¯s information from the tower creator himself through Aruvel.

    ¡°He¡¯s the demon drinking booze over there.¡±

    ording to the information that he had heard from Aruvel, demons were divided into two categories. They were the ¡®Fighter Race¡¯ who loved to fight and participate in wars and the ¡®Peaceful Race¡¯ who loved peace and prosperity and loathed the idea of fighting. Aruvel had also exined that the demons that invaded the human world were demons from the fighter race. The peaceful race, like them, only wanted to live their daily lives at peace. Just like the demon that was gulping booze over there.

    ¡°He knows all of the tower¡¯s design.¡±

    ¡°Oho.¡±

    His words meant that they would be able to receive the remaining information about the tower from this demon.

    ¡°But how do we get the information from him?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s simple. The tower creators are very prideful beings. In fact, there was no one who had crossed the tower¡¯s 40th floor for decades now. So, if you look down on the tower that he has created, then he will initiate a bet with you. Because he likes to bet.¡±

    Minhyuk sighed.

    ¡°I¡¯m not good at that stuff.¡±

    He had never done something like that because he had always been kind and polite to others.

    ¡°You mean being cocky?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°But aren¡¯t you going to do it? So you can eat what you want?¡±

    ¡°Sigh. That¡¯s true.¡±

    Minhyuk really sucked at these kinds of things.

    Conir was busy making ramyeon, Aruvel was busy eating several bowls of ramyeon and Kongie was also busy eating ramyeon with rice. All of them were concentrating on their own matters. Minhyuk was forced to stand up alone and sit in front of the man that Aruvel pointed at earlier.

    ¡°Ha~ That¡¯s really the Demon World¡¯s Tower?¡±

    He turned to look at the window that showed the Demon World¡¯s Tower that was standing tall from a distance.

    ¡°There are not that many floors. It seems like I¡¯ll be able to finish climbing it in a day.¡±

    The demon smirked at him as he continued to drink his booze.

    ¡°That¡¯s what they all think. But the Demon World¡¯s Tower is not as easy as you think.¡±

    ¡°Really? Eyy. I don¡¯t think so. But it doesn¡¯t look that good from the outside? Ah. I¡¯ll just try and do it! I think I¡¯ll be able to get to the top!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m so dumbfounded by your ridiculousness.¡±

    ¡°Eyy. I think I can make something better with my feet. No, maybe I can break through that ce easily with just my feet?¡±

    Roven, the demon that was one of the creators of the tower, suddenly felt agitated.

    ¡°Your feet will easily break it? Humans are really conceited!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not conceit, it¡¯s real though? I can break through the first floor within 10 minutes. Do you think I¡¯m lying? Ohohoho. I¡¯m not lying!¡±

    ¡°Th, this¡­¡­ Crazy human¡­¡­?¡±

    ¡°hhh! I¡¯ll break it with two of my fingers!¡±

    ¡°You won¡¯t!¡±

    ¡°Ole~!¡±

    Minhyuk grinned at him mischievously as if he was an ahjussi who was going to do something bad.

    ¡°I will~¡±

    ¡°You won¡¯t!¡±

    ¡°I will do it~¡±

    ¡°You won¡¯t!¡±

    ¡°I will! Hahahahaha! I¡¯m the strongest!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Meanwhile, Aruvel, Conir and Kongie who were all watching him while eating their ramyeon.

    ¡®H, he¡¯s doing good though? I even want to make a bet with him. He looks so hateful right now!¡¯

    ¡®As expected of my master. Oink!¡¯

    ¡®W, wooooow¡­¡­ Hy, hyung is so cool¡­¡­!¡¯

    Not long after, the demon Roven spoke to Minhyuk.

    ¡°Then, boy, make a bet with me!¡±

    Minhyuk couldn¡¯t help but tilt his head when he heard his words.

    ¡®I think I¡¯m really bad at doing something like this but why did he fall for it so easily?¡¯

    Minhyuk did not think that he did well. However, his performance was unexpectedly good!

    Then, a quest window floated in front of him.

    [Quest: A Bet with Roven, one of the Demon World¡¯s Tower¡¯s Creator.]

    Rank: A

    Restrictions: The person that Roven offered the bet to.

    Rewards: Partial information about the Demon World¡¯s Tower.

    Penalty for Failure: Banned from entering the Demon World¡¯s Tower.

    Description: Roven, one of the Demon World¡¯s Tower¡¯s creators, takes great pride in the Demon World Tower that he and his colleagues had created. If you win a bet against him, you will be able to get some information about the Demon World¡¯s Tower¡¯s attack patterns.

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    TBH¡­ I know that Minhyuk¡¯s firepower and aggro when ites to taunting is really high¡­ It¡¯s more surprising that he thought that he was bad at it. Lol.

    Report mistakes and chat wit us at: /woopread

 Chapter 273 - Good Guy, Bad Guy, Weird Guy

    Chapter 273: Good Guy, Bad Guy, Weird Guy

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    76 Good Guy, Bad Guy, Weird Guy

    Roven waspletely dumbfounded. A puny human had just told him that he would conquer the Demon World¡¯s Tower in just a single day. Of course, he was aware that these kinds of people were just conceited and too full of themselves. But his unique way of teasing(?) had made him fume with anger.

    In addition, the Demon World¡¯s Tower was a magnificent and massive architectureparable to the Great Wall of China and was created by countless demons. Baal, the Demon King from hundreds of years ago, together with the Four Heavenly Kings, one of the main pirs of the Demon World, had created this stunning tower together.

    This was the Demon World¡¯s Tower that no one had been able to go beyond the first 30 floors.

    ¡®This impudent punk! I¡¯ll definitely smash your nose t!¡¯

    Then, Roven spoke.

    ¡°60%. If you pass the first floor with just 60% of the new record then I¡¯ll acknowledge you.¡±

    ¡°Eeeeeh~? 60%? Doing 130% is easy~¡±

    ¡°This human bastard!¡±

    Roven couldn¡¯t help but lose his temper.

    However, there was only one reason why Minhyuk continued to tease him softly. ording to the quest rewards, he would be able to receive some of the information about the Demon World¡¯s Tower. But he believed that he could coax more information out of it if he continued to provoke him.

    ¡°Then, let¡¯s do this bastard. If you¡¯re not able to break the previous record then you will give me a lot of artifacts?¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡­ So what if I set a new record?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you everything I know about the tower!¡±

    There were a lot of things that Roven had to consider but giving all of the tower¡¯s information could be done. It was because he knew that the tower could not be targeted and broken easily even if he had all of the information given to him. Just like when a Lv10 user couldn¡¯t break or target all of the higher leveled quests just because he knew the methods and rewards.

    Minhyuk had also heard the notification about the changes in the quest. After hearing the happy results, Minhyuk and his group began to move towards the Demon World¡¯s Tower.

    Meanwhile, Conir spoke.

    ¡°Conir. I want to cook ramyeon here¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    Contrary to Minhyuk¡¯s guess, Conir did not like fighting that much. However, he did not hate him for such a fact.

    ¡°But we can also climb and cook there?¡±

    But Conir spoke proudly to him.

    ¡°When we go inside, I can¡¯t ¡®anguish¡¯ because it¡¯s too noisy. Conir. Has to anguish!¡±

    Conir¡¯s anguish?

    His words did not fit but it seemed like Conir liked to study cooking ramyeon in a quiet environment just like a team of researchers.

    Minhyuk just shook his head at his thoughts. Conir was not a child that needed to live under his wings. The three men who attacked him earlier were clearly not there to tease him but to make trouble but he dealt with them easily. And if necessary, Conir could be sent to the summoner¡¯s room. If he summoned him again, he would appear in front of Minhyuk so he was not that worried about his safety.

    ¡°Then, y safe. Alright?¡±

    ¡°Thanks, hyung!¡±

    Conir smiled happily as he squatted down on the floor. Then, Minhyuk and the rest of his party entered the tower.

    ***

    Mage Monarch Aincarr was a mage user who ranked 2nd in the world. His one and only goal and standard was Alex, the 1st in the mage rankings. Aincarr and Alex were only separated by a level or two but their differences were quite distinct and clear.

    Alex had excellent magical control which brought him to the 1st spot in the world¡¯s mage rankings. What was worse was that he had a special magic that could allow him to predict the skill buffer and casting time of his enemies. Because of that, most mages were flustered since Alex could easily prepare for the magic that they would use to attack him.

    However, that did not mean that Mage Monarch Aincarr was someone inferior to Alex. He was the leader of the guild Golden Staff, a guild that had 250 people all of which were elites. There were around 150 mages that mostly consisted of rankers from France while the remaining 100 were all archers. In addition, Mage Monarch Aincarr was also a member of ckstone.

    He hade in front of the Demon World Shelter at the call of Cauhel. After standing in front of the shelter, Aincarr waved his shining golden wand. As if to follow the will of his wand, the space was torn and a circle opening opened in front of him.

    [Monarch¡¯s Summons]

    [Calls for the guild¡¯s designated targets.]

    Each day, he could summon around 20~30 people. The monarch ss especially had the job ss ¡®Monarch¡¯ in addition to having another job ss. In addition, possessing the monarch ss would not impose any restrictions or penalties on the user¡¯s other job ss.

    Mages and archers wearing golden robes began to walk out of the opening in front of him.

    ¡®The Frying Pan Killer¡­¡¯

    Aincarr turned his head to look at the Demon World Shelter. One of the archer sses quickly moved towards that direction as he reported to him right away.

    ¡°He¡¯s gone.¡±

    ¡°As expected.¡±

    There were about 40 minutes that had passed from the time that Cauhel had given his orders.

    ¡®We¡¯ll be able to catch up with him in no time at all.¡¯

    He immediately led his guild members towards the Demon World¡¯s Tower¡¯s entrance. Monarch Arch still had not arrived yet. Since Golden Staff Guild mainly consisted of long-distance attackers, they would be able to work efficiently if Monarch Arch and his proximal guild worked with them before they started.

    As they walked towards the tower, Aincarr couldn¡¯t help but frown at the sight that he saw.

    ¡°......What¡¯s that?¡±

    An extremely strange sight had unfolded in front of his eyes. There, in front of a tower was a boy and a man. The boy was sitting while eating something while the man was standing in front of a dragon. Then, the man spoke to the dragon.

    ¡°Sit.¡±

    Fwoosh!

    ¡°Stand.¡±

    Swoosh!

    ¡°Aigoo, my child. You did well!¡±

    Then, he touched the head of the dragon before throwing a snack at it.

    Are you telling me that this is really a huge ck dragon? This one that is enjoying its snack while lying down with its belly high up in the sky?

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°I, Is that really a dragon?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s training a dragon like a dog¡­¡­¡±

    The boy was smiling happily as he watched the man look at the giant ck dragon. Then, the man turned to the boy and asked.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t our Poison Dragon-ie really cute?¡±

    ¡°Keok. I, it¡¯s name is Poison Dragon¡­...?¡±

    ¡°N, no. What kind of dragon is that¡­¡­¡±

    The dragon in front of them was clearly the Poison Dragon but the ¡®ie¡¯ added at the end of its name made them feel like they were looking at their neighbor¡¯s and friend¡¯s dog, Poppie.

    ***

    Twenty minutes ago, Minhyuk had climbed the tower and left Conir by the entrance. He was currently in anguish.

    What was the basic method of cooking the most delicious ramyeon?!

    ¡°Keuaaaack¡­¡­ Conir¡­¡­ So hard¡­¡­¡±

    In the end, Conir slumped down andid on the ground. At that time, a man wearing a ck mask arrived in front of the Demon World¡¯s Tower. The man crouched down and looked at Conir¡¯s glistening eyes.

    ¡°Kid, you¡¯ll catch a cold if you sleep here.¡±

    ¡°Conir didn¡¯t fall asleep! I¡¯m training to be a ramyeon master!¡±

    ¡°Hoo? So it¡¯s ramyeon.¡±

    The man with the ck mask showed a clear interest in him. Conir could somehow faintly feel a strange sense of familiarity from the man in front of him. He knew that he saw him somewhere but he couldn¡¯t remember where.

    Then, the man spoke.

    ¡°It¡¯s good for you to have a goal. What is the current level of ramyeon that you¡¯re trying to reach?¡±

    Conir answered his question.

    ¡°I want to cook the best basic ramyeon!¡±

    Conir answered him with determination. Perhaps it was because he thought that the man in front of him was a reclusive master. The man scratched his head for a while before speaking.

    ¡°If it¡¯s about the way to make the best basic ramyeon then it seems like I know about it.¡±

    ¡°Wh, what is it?!!!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s to cook ramyeon ording to the instructions in the packet.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Conir felt like he had been hit on the head with something blunt. Then, the man continued to speak.

    ¡°The instructions written behind the packet will give you the most delicious ratio of ingredients. It has undergone hundreds of thousands of studies by many researchers so if you cook the ramyeon following those instructions then you will be able to get the best taste.¡±

    Conir immediately tried it. Just like the instructions had said, he added 550mL of water. Then, he only added the soup packet and the noodles after the water started to boil. Then, just like Minhyuk had told him, he started to lift the noodles with his chopsticks when they began to loosen up in the pot.

    ¡°Hoo. You know how to do that, huh? What a good kid.¡±

    ¡°Conir! I was praised!¡±

    The man in front of him looked like he was quite nice and favorable to children. He waspletely unlike the men who came and disturbed him earlier.

    As soon as the ramyeon finished cooking, the notifications started ringing in Conir¡¯s head.

    [You have sessfullypleted the Lv1 Quest: Cook the Best Ramyeon.]

    [You have learned the Passive Skill: Chewy Noodles.]

    [The Lv2 Quest: Ramyeon and Ramyeon¡¯s Combination has been created.]

    Compared to other vassals and NPCs, Conir received quests through his ¡®tenacity¡¯ skill. And he finally aplished his first quest. Conir couldn¡¯t help but be shocked when he checked the passive skill ¡®Chewy Noodles¡¯.

    ¡®......I can make the ramyeon more chewy when I stir it. Wow!¡¯

    Conir waspletely shocked. He couldn¡¯t help but admire Kongie, someone who was leagues ahead of him.

    ¡°Woooow!!! Ahjussi¡¯s so cool!!!¡±

    ¡°Hahahahaha! You made it, right? That¡¯s really great! Hahahaha!¡±

    The man smiled widely. He looked like he was extremely pleased with Conir¡¯s achievements. Then, Conir asked him brightly.

    ¡°Ahjussi, what¡¯s your name?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m ck Dragon.¡±

    That was right, he was Minhyuk¡¯s father, ck Dragon. ck Dragon came to the Demon World and met with the Dragon Knight after receiving a linked quest. He came here after hearing that the Dragon of Destruction was asleep in the Demon World¡¯s Tower.

    ¡°Your name¡¯s so cool!!!¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°Hmmm. But Conir has a second homework!¡±

    ¡°Hoo. So your name is Conir.¡±

    ¡°Yeah! The second homework is ramyeon and ramyeon¡¯sbination. Hnggh¡­ What¡¯sbination? Conir! So hard!¡±

    ck Dragon listened to his mumbles. He also pondered about it before speaking.

    ¡°Combination¡­¡­ Kid, do you know jjapaguri?¡±

    ¡°Jjapaguri?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t know!¡±

    ¡°Well then, you should follow me as I speak.¡±

    ck Dragon, Minhyuk¡¯s dad, always dreamt of the day that his son would bepletely cured. He kept learning how to cook while eagerly waiting for that day toe. He wanted to cook and set a table that was filled with food that his brat liked. That was when he learned about thebination of ramyeon, jjapaguri.

    ck Dragon smiled as he thought Conir the step by step process. He could see that he was trying very hard even though he was clumsily following him.

    Conir was also able to follow the caring, considerate and kind ck Dragon. With his kind help, he was able to make thebination ramyeon by using the soup and noodles of Neoguri Ramyeon and Jjapaghetti Ramyeon. He even ced a fried egg on top of it.

    Then, the notifications rang in Conir¡¯s head.

    [You have sessfullypleted the Lv2 Quest: Ramyeon and Ramyeon Combination.]

    [You have learned the Passive Skill: Master of Combination.]

    [The Lv3 Quest: The Way to Eat Bibimmyeon Deliciously has been created.]

    Conir was in admiration. It was thanks to this man in front of him that he had sessfullypleted two of his quests! And the Master of Combination was also an amazing passive skill. It was a skill that would let him see the best possiblebination just by looking at the ramyeon.

    ¡°Conir likes ck Dragon ahjussi! Respect!¡±

    ¡°Hahahahaha. Should we eat first.¡±

    He looked at the jjapaguri that he and ck Dragon had created. It was a jjapaguri ramyeon with a fried egg on top of it. He quickly poked and cut the fried egg with his chopsticks before mping some pieces together with the noodles. The glossy noodles and the spicy scent of the Neoguri ramyeon soup tickled his nose and made his mouth water.

    ***

    Food Discussion Corner

    [????] Jjapaguri - abination of two KR instant noodles ¡°Jjapaghetti (????)¡± and ¡°Neoguri (???)¡±.

    [Poison Dragon-ie] - the romanization for the hangul of Poison Dragon is Dokryong so it should be Dokryong-ie but I already rode a paper tiger so I have to continue with Poison Dragon hehehehe.

    Report mistakes and chat wit us at: /woopread

 Chapter 274 - Good Guy, Bad Guy, Weird Guy

    Chapter 274: Good Guy, Bad Guy, Weird Guy

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    ¡°Sluuuuuurp!¡±

    In just one big bite, the sweet blend of the scent of olives and the sweet taste of the jjapaghetti spread in the mouth. However, the addition of the spicy vor from the jjapaguri made it strangely addictive.

    This time they took a piece from the egg and slurped the noodles. The slightly greasy vor of the jjapaghetti and the soft texture and the vor of protein from the eggsbined perfectly.

    ¡°Hmm. It¡¯s very delicious since I made it with Conir.¡±

    ¡°Conir! Really delicious!¡±

    After eating everything, ck Dragon was able to learn about Conir¡¯s identity as they talked. He was his son, Minhyuk¡¯s vassal! He also realized that the reason why he looked quite familiar was because he was the yer of Failure that gave them enough suffering in the battle against the Demon Corps. Butpared to that time he did not feel any pressure from him. He waspletely like a child.

    And ck Dragon summoned Poison Dragon to y with Conir. His original name was ¡®Poison Dragon Amba¡¯ but he was much more charming and had a lot of aegyopared to Destiny and Britney.

    ¡°Sit!¡±

    Then, Poison Dragon sat down quickly.

    ¡°W, wow¡­¡­ C, cool!¡±

    ¡°Stand!¡±

    Conir watched in admiration as Poison Dragon moved with ck Dragon¡¯s words. Before they knew it, Poison Dragon had lied down with his belly out in the open. ck Dragon smiled pleasantly.

    Then¡­¡­

    ¡°Dragon Tamer? Get out of the way.¡±

    When ck Dragon turned his head, he could see dozens of people wearing golden robes.

    ¡°Ah, so I was in the way. Sorry about that.¡±

    ck Dragon hurriedly moved out of the way with Conir. The people stood at the ce that ck Dragon and Conir had vacated.

    ¡°It¡¯s clearly a dragon¡­¡­ but, it seems like the dragon did not find a proper owner.¡±

    That was the voice of the man who had just said that they should get out of the way. However, he just replied to them with an easy smile. After all, ck Dragon and Conir were the ones who were blocking the passageway before.

    ¡°Hahahaha. But this guy is quite happy to be with me. Isn¡¯t that enough?¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡±

    The man did not say anything anymore. Then, Conir spoke up.

    ¡°Wow! Gold robe! Wow! So cool!¡±

    ¡°......What¡¯s wrong with this punk? Maybe he¡¯s a dimwit?¡±

    The man who was leading the group spoke as he tried to cut off the conversation with the two of them. Then, ck Dragon, who stood still, suddenly spoke up.

    ¡°That sounds a little harsh.¡±

    ck Dragon¡¯s brows furrowed when he heard his words.

    ¡°Do you say that when you see children like him in our society?¡±

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you call a dimwit a dimwit? They mean the same thing, right?¡±

    ck Dragon¡¯s face wrinkled in annoyance.

    ¡°I want you to apologize¡­¡­ These people that are part of our society are not what you say they are. They are just people who are ufortable and sick. In the end, as we grow older, there will be a part or two of our bodies that will be sick and ufortable. Isn¡¯t it our job, as people who have learned ¡®morals and kindness¡¯ supposed to understand them and help them with their inconveniences?¡±

    ¡°Pfft. You must think that you¡¯re someone just because you have a dragon with you?¡±

    The people surrounding that man also chuckled at him. ck Dragon¡¯s face began to harden as they continued tough at his words.

    ¡°I want to call him a dimwit, so what? You should just shut up and mind your own business.¡±

    ck Dragon¡¯s patience had run thin when he heard those words. His hand squeezed his left arm.

    Let¡¯s do that.

    Craaaaaaaaack¨D

    [Dragon Armor]

    Gigantic white scales began to stretch out from ck Dragon¡¯s arm. Not long after, the white scales covered his entire body. With the white scales covering his body, he looked like he was wearing brand new white scaled armor. The helmet was even in the image of a dragon¡¯s head.

    When Destiny and Britney evolved, they had acquired additional skills. And one of them was this ¡®Dragon Armor¡¯.

    Dash¨D

    Then, ck Dragon kicked the ground as he dashed forward. In just a blink of an eye, the man who just spat out those hateful words was now under the mercy of his hands. His hand grabbed the man¡¯s neck as ice began to cover the man¡¯s entire body. And when the man¡¯s body was entirely frozen¡­¡­

    Crack!

    The man¡¯s body broke like fragile pieces of ss under ck Dragon¡¯s tightened grip.

    ¡°Then, from now on, I will teach you what morality and kindness are.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    It was only a moment. Only three seconds had passed. But in that short moment of time, one of their guild members was forced to log out.

    Silence engulfed the entire area.

    ***

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Aincarr and the Golden Staff guild members were all left speechless. The guild member who was forced to log out earlier was the mage named Rove. Rove was one of the top 20 mages in France.

    But you sent Rove out just like that?

    ¡®Th, this is crazy. This means that he has a higher magical attack power than Rove¡¯s magical defensive power?¡¯

    Aincarr was flustered.

    Aincarr¡¯s family was a fairly prestigious French aristocrat family. And because of that, he had never learned how to be considerate towards others. What he said to the boy was the reason why this happened. Basically, the situation right now unfolded from just mere words.

    ¡°Attack!¡±

    Aincarr hurriedly ordered his men. The rankers under him quickly gathered. The mages began to prepare their magic while the archers loaded their bows with arrows. Then, they all fired their attacks.

    [Piercing Arrow]

    [A strong arrow that pierces the enemy¡¯s vital point.]

    [Dragon Arrow]

    [A fire arrow shaped in the form of a dragon. Can devour the enemy.]

    [Open Fire]

    [Once the arrow is shot, it will only take 0.3 seconds to kill the enemy.]

    Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh!

    Dig¨D

    ck Dragon ced his weight on the tip of his toes. His feet dug the ground underneath as he dashed forward.

    Dozens of arrows rushed towards him but something moved on his right arm.

    ¡°The guy on my left hand is going crazy!!!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......W, what!!¡±

    ¡°Crazy bastard!¡±

    They thought that he was just saying something crazy but hot mes suddenly began to form from ck Dragon¡¯s arms.

    Crackle¨D

    A sword was suddenly formed from the burning mes that appeared from his arms. The mes were so strong that it engulfed everything.

    The ¡®Dragon¡¯s Tear Sword¡¯ was something that he had received together with the Dragon Armor. It was an artifact that changed Britney into the shape of a sword.

    Shwaaaaaa¨D

    When ck Dragon brandished the sword, a powerful force poured out of it and mmed into the iing arrows.

    Shwaaaaa¨D

    Pipipipipipipipi¨D

    The arrows failed to reach their target as they disappeared into nothingness. The strong force did not stop and even went forward to devour some of the guild members that were casting their magic from behind.

    ¡°Keu, keuaaaaack!!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaargh!¡±

    ¡°Keoheok!¡±

    Aincarr¡¯s guild members disappeared after receiving one shot.

    ¡®Th, this is sick¡­¡­!¡¯

    Aincarr was thrown into panic.

    That man was single-handedly dealing with dozens of high ranking mages and archers from France. No, it was more like he was overwhelming them.

    And although he was unaware, ck Dragon was now a candidate for a new line of job ss, the Royal ss. The Royal ss would only be able to be challenged by those who had ranked top in their own job ss. And even though he was still yet to transfer to the Royal ss, he was still several times stronger than before after Destiny and Britney evolved with the Dragon Orb.

    Just like how 20 Lv400 users wouldn¡¯t be able topete against a single Lv500 users, they also couldn¡¯tpare against the extremely powerful ck Dragon.

    What was worse was that dragons were born with ¡®magical defense¡¯ and ¡®magical attack¡¯. So the moment the Dragon Armor and the Dragon¡¯s Tear Sword were formed, ck Dragon would have a gigantic leap in his magical attack and defense. This was the reason why he could easily break through the enemy¡¯s magical defense as well as deal powerful skill damage. He was also able to greatly reduce his enemy¡¯s strong magical attacks.

    Grab!

    And once again, ck Dragon dashed forward as he quickly grabbed the neck of one of the mages in front of him.

    Crackle¨D

    [Destiny¡¯s Wrath]

    [A huge explosion of me will erupt just like an active volcano erupting.]

    Baaaaaaaaaaang¨D!

    A huge explosion broke out as it engulfed the mages in the surrounding area.

    Not long after, the mages finished their casting. Their skills began to go on a rampage.

    [Fire Spear.]

    [Lightning!]

    [Fire Field]

    [Firestorm]

    Grrrrrrrrrrr!

    Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

    Attack spells flooded ck Dragon. Then, ck Dragon punched the ground.

    Crack!

    A shield made up of gigantic bones sprang up from the ground. ck Dragon quickly hid behind the shield as he prepared for the iing impact that would collide on his defense.

    Baaaaaang¨D!

    However, no matter how powerful they thought their attack was, they could not prate ck Dragon¡¯s bone shield.

    Then¡­¡­

    ¡°I¡¯m Conir!!! I¡¯m angry too! You¡¯re bullying ck Dragon!¡±

    Fwoosh¨D

    ¡°Keok!¡±

    Fwoosh, fwoosh¨D

    Conir began to move quickly. His movements were quite elusive. In just a few seconds, Conir was able to log out some of the mages near him.

    ¡®This is impossible¡­¡­!¡¯

    Aincarr thought that this situation waspletely ridiculous.

    That hindrance is such a strong person?

    Conir was already someone powerful so how could those mages who had low physical defenses and a basic HP amount withstand his blows?

    Even the cute(?) Poison Dragon, who just had his belly up in the sky earlier, started to spray out powerful poison against them.

    [Poison Dragon¡¯s Deadly Venom]

    [You will be left in a daze as soon as it hits you.]

    [Nullifies magic casting.]

    ¡°Wh, what kind of bullshit is this?!!!¡±

    ¡°Goddamnit!¡±

    The Golden Staff was among the top three guilds in France. The pirs of the guild were even in this ce. So it was a moment of embarrassment for these people who believed themselves to be strong.

    Just when the mages were starting to panic¡­¡­

    Baaaaaaaaang¨D

    A gigantic bolt of lightning mmed on Conir and made him fly.

    ¡°Damn bastards! I did not want to use this.¡±

    The attack came from Aincarr. He was currently holding a small wand with sparks flying on its ends.

    It was the ¡®Lightning¡¯s Wind Wand.¡¯ It was a legendary artifact. No, perhaps it was something that was far better than legendary artifacts. It was an artifact that showed a strength that was almost on par with Half-God artifacts. A powerful bolt of lightning would be unleashed in every swing of the wand. However, the mana consumption was 1.5x greater than normal. This powerful artifact that could unleash a bolt of lightning without any casting was a perfectplement for a mage that was considered to be the weakest in closebat.

    The moment he brandished the wand¡­¡­

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Dozens of lightning bolts fell and struck Conir and ck Dragon.

    ¡°Keuheup!¡±

    [You have been hit with a strong lightning bolt.]

    [You will be stunned for 3 seconds.]

    He was the top ranker in France¡¯s mage rankings and he was also the second in the world¡¯s mage rankings. Sopared to the attacks of the other mages, his attacks could hit and damage ck Dragon.

    Then, Aincarr spoke as he paused his attacks.

    ¡°Let¡¯s call it a day. We¡¯ll also apologize for what happened earlier.¡±

    Aincarr knew that the damage between them would only increase if both sides continued to fight. No, to be exact, something far more embarrassing would happen to them if they continued to fight.

    ¡°I hope you will be kind to the people who are sick and unwell in the future.¡±

    ck Dragon calmed down when he saw him speaking and trying to make peace with them even though he could attack them. Conir also stopped when he saw ck Dragon stopping.

    ¡°R, right. I got it. Kid, I¡¯m sorry for this time.¡±

    Aincarr spoke as he looked at Conir who was a distance away from him. However, deep inside he thought differently.

    ¡®This dimwitted and disabled punk¡­¡­¡¯

    Then, ck Dragon spoke.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go Conir. We have received their apology.¡±

    ¡°Conir! I will follow ck Dragon ahjussi¡¯s words.¡±

    Both of them began to move.

    Then, at that moment, Aincarr muttered something loudly without him realizing it.

    ¡°We should minimize our losses so we can kill the Frying Pan Killer. It¡¯s the correct choice for us to stop here. Calm down.¡±

    He was trying to make sense of what he should say to his angry guild members. Then¡­¡­ ck Dragon suddenly turned back again.

    ¡°On second thought, let¡¯s just kill them all here.¡±

    ***

    Another monarch had appeared at the entrance to the Demon World. He was Monarch Arch, a fighter ss who had both of his hands wrapped in bandages. He was also garbed in rough and rugged leather armor.

    If Mage Monarch was in charge of leading the mages and archers units, Arch was in charge of the melee sses. He was also fourth in the world¡¯s fighter rankings.

    Unlike Aincarr, he was someone who was not designated in the Demon World. ¡®Designated¡¯ meant that they were assigned to that ce.

    Most of the summons and the return scrolls would only be applicable if they had been to those ces before. And Arch had not yet visited the Demon World¡¯s Tower so he had no stored area near the ce. So he thought that he would get there quickly if he passed by this ce.

    More than 60 melee sses began to move quickly towards the Demon World¡¯s Tower.

    ¡°GM-nim. The first person to kill the Frying Pan Killer will be rewarded by Cauhel-nim, right?¡±

    ¡°I suppose.¡±

    Arch¡¯s blood boiled in thought. As a fighter, he would feel a sense of camaraderie whenever he watched videos of the Frying Pan Killer. He even beat the Olympic gold medalist, Carr. That was the reason why he wanted to fight against the Frying Pan Killer just once.

    ¡®Of course, it will only be a one-sided victory.¡¯

    Even if he was the Frying Pan Killer, he would still not be able to handle this number. So he continued to walk forward with that thought.

    Suddenly, a man blocked their path. The man was wearing a ck robe while holding a staff. One of the man¡¯s sleeves was lowered since he was holding a staff. And from his exposed wrist, they could see a stark mark ring sharply on his fair skin.

    ¡®X¡­¡­?¡¯

    Arch had also seen the manga One Diss so he could tell what the X mark meant.

    ¡°A friend¡¯s token?¡±

    ***

    Report mistakes and chat wit us at: /woopread

 Chapter 275 - Good Guy, Bad Guy, Weird Guy

    Chapter 275: Good Guy, Bad Guy, Weird Guy

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    The person with the X token in front of them was none other than ck Mage Ali. ck Mage Ali was also heading towards the Demon World¡¯s Tower for the same reason as ck Dragon. Not too long ago, he became a candidate for the ¡®Royal ss¡¯ like him.

    ck Mage Ali¡¯s former job ss was going to be transferred to the Royal ss ¡®Great Mage Moldoron¡¯s Descendant¡¯. Moldoron was also a great mage that was on par with Great Mage Rafielt. Great Mage Moldoron was also known as the father and role model of all mages.

    Right now, he could tell who and what these people were after from what they had just said earlier.

    ¡®How dare you try to harm my friend¡­¡­¡¯

    For Ali, Minhyuk was his benefactor. He was the one who had helped him climb into the Hall of Kings. He was also the one who helped him ovee his limitations which enabled him to widen the gap with Alex, the world¡¯s number one mage. He also liked Minhyuk¡¯s friendly smile and pleasant attitude.

    There was also one thing. Once a user stepped foot in the Demon World, information would appear in Athenae¡¯s official webpage.

    This was the information¡­¡­

    [Due to the thick magi in the Demon World, God Vades¡¯s power, a power that punishes those who kill other people, does not have any influence in this area.]

    One could imply that God Vades was the god of ¡®Chaotic¡¯. In other words, if he did not have any influence in this area, then PK between users was allowed and killing others would not result in a chaotic state.

    So they must havee for this reason.

    ¡®The Demon World is a ce where users canpete against each other.¡¯

    Most of the people who came to the Demon World¡¯s entrance were usually representatives and top rankers of their own countries. And there was only one thing the rankers of each country wanted to do¡­

    I want to quicklypete with the rankers from all over the world. I hope the server consolidation finishes quickly!

    And the content that will relieve the itch from the itching users was none other than the ¡®Demon World¡¯.

    ¡°Look here. Get out of here if you don¡¯t want to get hurt.¡±

    Arch¡¯s face distorted as he growled at Ali.

    He did not know who he was but a mage and a melee ss user were both on different ends of the spectrum. Mages were people with extremely low AGI, STR and defense. When they exert their power, most of the time, they would showcase a wide-area of attack skill. Also, most of their magic skills needed time before they could be casted. Since mages had low AGI and took quite a long time before they could start, melee characters could easily deal with them. For that reason, he believed that the mage in front of him that was garbed in a rugged ck robe was an opponent that could be dealt with easily. He could easily do a ¡®3 second cut¡¯ on him.

    Then, the man spoke.

    ¡°I will not forgive anyone who tries to harm my friend.¡±

    ¡°.......What an otaku-like line.¡±

    Arch¡¯s lips curled into a smile at the absurd line that he had heard. However, that smile was soon erased from his smug face.

    When Ali swung his staff, a powerful force came from the staff and mmed on Arch.

    Baaaaang¨D

    ¡°......!¡±

    Just as Arch was thrown back by the force, the melee ss tankers flooded towards Ali. It seemed like they had an extremely fast response speed.

    sh¨D

    At the same time, Ali turned into a ck current as he disappeared from his original spot. Then, he reappeared right next to the man who was reaching for himself earlier.

    ¡°Energy bolt.¡±

    ¡°Bwahahahaha! What can you do with an energy bolt¡­¡­!¡±

    But before the guy could even finish his words¡­¡­

    Baaaaang¨D

    The man flew back with a loud explosion.

    ¡°Keoheok!¡±

    [You have been hit with an Energy Bolt.]

    [You have received an electric shock and have been stunned for 2 seconds.]

    The energy bolt was the most basic magic that was given to a user that had just transitioned to the mage ss. This skill was well known for its ability to stun the enemy from the electric current caused by the spell. However, a mage needed to have a magical attack power that was five times higherpared to an opponent to achieve a stun and it would usually onlyst for one second.

    But what is the situation right now?

    What was worse was that his HP was shed down by 30% after being hit with just a single energy bolt.

    That was the moment when the other guild members had tried to narrow the distance between them and the enemy. Just as they were about to get near, Ali¡¯s curled index finger unfolded. Then, the lightning power that was collected at the tip of his finger was unleashed. It attacked the approaching guild members and left them in a stunned state. In other words, it also hit the stunned Gerron.

    Crackle¨D

    ¡°Keoheok!¡±

    Then, the notifications rang for Gerron once more.

    [You have been hit with an Energy Bolt.]

    [You have received an electric shock and have been stunned for 2 seconds.]

    ¡°Sh, shit¡­¡­! I was stunned again!¡±

    Although stun was already subjected to a five-fold magical attack power proportion, it was also entirely up to probability.

    But I got it again?

    And when the guild members tried to narrow the distance again¡­¡­

    Baaaaaaang¨D

    Ali¡¯s regenerated energy bolt hit Gerron once more.

    ¡°Keuaaaack!¡±

    The guild members faltered as they made eye contact with him. They decided to abandon Gerron. However, Ali expected this oue too.

    sh¨D

    ck Mage Ali shot another energy bolt at Gerron before disappearing in a ck current.

    Baaaaaaang¨D

    [You have been hit with an Energy Bolt.]

    [You have received an electric shock and have been stunned for 2 seconds.]

    [You have been forced to log out.]

    Gerron was a high leveled user but he died under the attack of a basic magic. But his opponent was someone that was already at a terrible level. When Ali became a candidate for the Royal ss ¡®Great Mage Moldoron¡¯s Descendant¡¯ he received an effect that raised his stats as well as his ¡®Magic Combination¡¯. And the energy bolts that he had shot out were energy bolts that were transformed to a more powerful versionpared to the normal ones. This was the effect of his extremely high ¡®INT¡¯ stat as well as making use of his ¡®Constant Skill¡¯s Maximized Efficiency¡¯. And since he learned Magic Combination, he would be more powerful in the future.

    The guild members all sent their attacks.

    [Cannon Bomb]

    [Quickly drops off a powerful explosion akin to a dragon¡¯s rampage.]

    [Banging Snatch]

    [You will move as fast as a ghost to grab the enemy. Once grabbed, you will be able to m them to the ground causing 200% damage.]

    They had been narrowing down the distance while using their skills and techniques. But then, Ali disappeared in a ck current again.

    Shwaaaaaaa¨D

    When he appeared, he was on top of them apanied by dozens of energy bolts.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¨D

    The dozens of energy bolts rained down on the users like bombs dropping from aircrafts.

    [You have been hit with an Energy Bolt.]

    [You have received an electric shock and have been stunned for 2 seconds.]

    [You have been hit with an Energy Bolt.]

    [You have received an electric shock and have been stunned for 2 seconds.]

    [You have been hit with an Energy Bolt.]

    [You have received an electric shock and have been stunned for 2 seconds.]

    ¡°Th, this is crazy¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°What kind of ridiculous case is this!!!¡±

    ¡°Keoheok!!!¡±

    All they could do was stare in astonishment. Only half of the users that were hit with the energy bolt had been stunned. However, this showed the clear difference between the Royal ss candidates and the non-Royal sses.

    Then, Ali¡¯s staff moved.

    ¡°Shit¡­¡­! Saved magic!¡±

    And with the movement of his staff, three gigantic firestorms appeared and engulfed the stunned guild members.

    Crackleeee!

    Crackle!

    Crackleee!

    ¡°Keu, kueaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Ugh, aaaaaaack!¡±

    ck Mage Ali was a fraudulent user.

    It was clear that between the melee sses and the mage sses, the melee sses looked down on the mage sses that they could easily defeat. However, he was able to ignore this fact with the decisive aid of his blink and energy bolts.

    Originally, blink was a magic with a long cooldown. However, among his newly acquired skills, there was a skill that ¡®significantly reduces the cooldown of a target skill¡¯. Through that ability, he was able to reduce the cooldown of his blink to 1/5th of the original cooldown.

    In just an instant, more than ten of the guild members had died under his hands.

    Just as Ali was about to use magic again¡­¡­

    Craaaaaaaaaaaack¨D

    The sound of something breaking rang loudly. Ali keenly felt the iing danger so he quickly created shields.

    ¡°Shield! Shield! Shield! Shield! Shield!¡±

    Shields formed oneyer after the other around him!

    Then, he saw what was flying towards him. It was none other than Arch, the guild master of this guild and a user in the fighter ss.

    [Winding Kick]

    [Ignore 40% of the enemy¡¯s defense while dealing 200% additional damage to your prating kicks.]

    sh¨D

    A bright light erupted when the kick collided with the shield.

    Crack¨D

    A crack appeared in ck Mage Ali¡¯s shield. It seemed like his attack could even deal damage to the mage who was well known for his defensive magic.

    Baaaaaang¨D

    Ali quickly used blink and avoided the attack.

    sh¨D

    Arch swung his fist at a tremendous speed.

    Baaaaaang¨D

    Ali quickly moved his staff, piling up one shield after another on top of his staff. The shields then collided with the iing fist.

    Crack¨D

    ¡°You bastard! You¡¯re ck Mage Ali¡­¡­!¡±

    That was when Arch realized who he was.

    It was a fact that Alex was the official top mage ranker in the world. However, he was told that there was a mage user who had reached a level that was higher than him. He heard that he yed a huge role during the invasion of the demons in South Korea.

    But regardless of that, there were a lot of rankers who were only known in their own countries. Such rankers were rarely known by the rankers from other countries.

    He could only guess who he was because he had heard that ¡®Alex is not the best mage in the world¡¯.

    Meanwhile, Ali onlyughed with the staff in his hand.

    ¡°Why the hell are you doing this to us!!!¡±

    Then, Ali answered him.

    ¡°I¡¯m not going to let you touch my friend.¡±

    Shwaaaaaaaa!

    Then, a huge spell suddenly appeared around Ali. Arch couldn¡¯t help but be shocked.

    ¡®D, don¡¯t tell me¡­¡­!¡¯

    In the past, there was information posted in Athenae¡¯s official website about the method on how mages couldpensate for their ¡®closebat disadvantage¡¯. However, it also announced that only the best among the best could use this technique. This technique required the user to achieve the final peak of the 8th ss as well as having a huge pool of mana.

    The ability to make up for their shorings was none other than¡­¡­

    ¡®Do, double casting¡­...?!¡¯

    Casting other spells while secretly preparing for a wide-area of attack skill. And Ali did it.

    ¡°Lightning Storm.¡±

    Crack, crack, crack¨D

    Bang, bang, bang, bang¨D

    A huge lightning storm engulfed Arch who had just right around the corner.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ***

    A small smile hung around Cauhel¡¯s lips.

    [You have achieved the 30th floor¡¯s new record.]

    [You have acquired additional clues about the Royal ss Destruction Maestro.]

    He was also one of the candidates for a Royal ss. The conditions for the Royal ss were different from user to user. In Cauhel¡¯s case, he needed to achieve a new record on the Demon World¡¯s 30th floor.

    And just like that, a clue wasid in front of him.

    Flutter¨D

    [Hunt Cerberus, the Demon World¡¯s gatekeeper, on the 34th floor.]

    Cauhel nodded his head.

    Now, he had two choices. Hunt Cerberus and move on to the Royal ss or wait for another clue to emerge.

    However, there was one thing that he was sure of. He could feel it down to his very core. He would soon be a Royal ss.

    Perhaps the new Royal ss will be announced with a World Message.

    Just as he was about to move on¡­¡­

    [Bachur: Cauhel-nim, this is Bachur. I¡¯m the 1st Magic Commander of the Golden Staff Guild. Many of our guild members are receiving huge damages from an unknown tamer with a dragon right now.]

    ¡°......?¡±

    Cauhel¡¯s face was filled with confusion.

    A tamer with a dragon? Are you telling me that all of the members of Golden Staff are having a hard time?

    [Cauhel: What¡¯s the situation?]

    He received a reply about five minutester.

    [Bachur: I was eventually forced to log out. There are about 30 guild members who were forced to log out by a mentally challenged boy and a dragon tamer.]

    He was left speechless for a while. And just as he was about to send a whisper back¡­¡­

    [Casio: Cauhel-nim, ck Mage Ali has suddenlyunched an assault on us.]

    ¡°......!¡±

    Cauhel, someone who collected information about all of the rankers in the world, knew who ck Mage Ali was. Ali was the mage that Alex couldn¡¯t even grab the hems of.

    Why is he attacking the members of ckstone?

    [Cauhel: Your situation¡­¡­]

    Cauhel couldn¡¯t even finish his whisper.

    [The user ¡®Anonymous¡¯, who broke the first floor¡¯s new record, has been born to the world.]

    [There is a significant gap with the previous record.]

    Cauhel¡¯s eyes widened in shock. Someone broke the record that he was confident and proud of.

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    And the record breaking and food collecting begins!!!

    Report mistakes and chat wit us at: /woopread

 Chapter 276 - Good Guy, Bad Guy, Weird Guy

    Chapter 276: Good Guy, Bad Guy, Weird Guy

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Minhyuk entered the first floor of the Demon World¡¯s Tower with Roven, one of the creators of the tower. The notifications rang loudly as soon as he entered the ce.

    [You have entered the Demon World¡¯s Tower¡¯s 1st floor.]

    [The Demon World¡¯s Tower is divided into ¡®Trial¡¯ and ¡®General¡¯ types. For Trials, there are hardships and trials on every floor. And for the General type, demon viges might appear with regr demon residents in a part of the tower.]

    Just like what was said, the Demon World¡¯s Tower was divided into two. It could be a ce where demons live or perhaps it could be a ce where trialse out. For the trial type, he could infer from the notification that he needed to clear out the area before being able to head to the next floor. And in the case of the general type, it was like a ce where one could ¡®rest¡¯.

    And even though Cauhel was the new record holder in the Demon World¡¯s Tower, there was still a way for him to have his score listed as a new record despite not being the first to climb the tower. And that was if he exceeded the range that the operators had measured and set. That way, his record would be the new record.

    And right now, the designer, Roven, was quite proud.

    ¡°Now, I can break that arrogant nose of yours.¡±

    He was very confident. In the first ce, there were plenty of knowledgeable demons who gathered toplete the design of the Demon World¡¯s Tower. In his eyes, Minhyuk¡¯s words about breaking the record in just a few minutes was just pure conceit. He was clearly just a crazy human talking shit.

    Minhyuk could also see something written at the entrance when the trial on the first floor began.

    [1st Floor, New Record: 25,824 points.]

    It was not only Minhyuk who saw this, Roven also saw the new record. When Roven saw the record, he couldn¡¯t help but be surprised.

    ¡®H, how can this be¡­¡­ I did not expect someone to achieve 25,000 points on the first floor¡­¡­!¡¯

    It was something unbelievable. For a user to climb the Demon World¡¯s Tower¡¯s new record, they needed to exceed 10,000 points. But this was 2.5x more than that.

    ¡®That man back then.¡¯

    Roven¡¯s eyebrows crumpled. Not too long ago, a man came to the Demon World Shelter. He silently drank tea and before he left for the Demon World¡¯s Tower he heard him speak to his colleagues.

    ¡®Take care of it.¡¯

    The impact of his short words were quite great. His men, assuming that they were his men, camped in the Demon World Shelter and brutally murdered the powerful users that came in the shelter. At that time, he thought that this was somethingmon.

    Just as he thought about that, Minhyuk and Aruvel began to move.

    ¡°Fufufufufu. You bastard, you¡¯re going to die on the first floor.¡±

    Roven cursed. Although he couldn¡¯t get inside the trial with Minhyuk, he could still meet up with them once it was over.

    Not long after, Minhyuk and Aruvel went to challenge the first floor.

    ***

    [The 1st Floor Trial will now begin.]

    [Rewards will be given once the trial is cleared.]

    [A x2 EXP acquisition rate will be received as a special privilege upon achieving a new record.]

    There was a small smile hanging around the corners of Minhyuk¡¯s lips when he entered. Then, he also began to film.

    [You have started filming a video.]

    He was filming a video to fulfill his end from the discussion that he had with the TTBC broadcasting station. Minhyuk nned to continue filming each floor as he continued to climb up.

    Then, another set of notifications rang.

    [The Demonic Ghost Unit will be summoned.]

    [Demonic Ghost Unit.]

    [A small unit that participated in the Great Heavenly Demon War. This troop isposed of outstanding demons that defeated one of the strongest of the Heavenly Race. These demons were born to ughter and were considered to be the strongest fighters among the demons.]

    Based on the personal exnation from the system notification, there were six of them in total. The contents of this trial was something that Minhyuk already knew from Aruvel.

    ¡°The trial of the first floor is much more difficult than the other trials above.¡±

    Aruvel kindly exined the information that he knew in case Minhyuk had forgotten about what he had told him before.

    ¡°The reason why the first trial is this difficult is because we are looking for people who are qualified to challenge the rest of the tower. You can say that this is a qualifying floor.¡±

    The Demon World¡¯s Tower was their sacred ce. Basically, this was the ce where the power of the Demon King and the Four Heavenly Kings resided. That was the reason why they couldn¡¯t just let anyone step in. Only when they were able to clear the first floor would they be able to climb the rest of the tower.

    Then, the notifications rang again.

    [From this point on, the Demon Ghost Unit will hunt the demonic monsters. Hunting demonic monsters will give you hunting points.]

    [You will be able to clear this floor if you acquire at least 20% of the hunting points acquired by the Demon Ghost Unit.]

    [The higher the points you get, the higher your record will be.]

    Minhyuk would be able to win if he was able to at least hunt 20% of what the demons hunted. Of course, the Demon World¡¯s Tower was open to a lot of people but because of that, the difficulty was also set to be higher than normal.

    ¡°There¡¯s no way a human can keep up and reach our toes.¡±

    ¡°Challenging the tower, idiot.¡±

    The Demon Ghost Unit cackled. Theypletely ignored Minhyuk. The Ghost Unit actively participated in the Great Heavenly Demon War in the past so the squad leader was confident in their skills.

    At that moment, the space in front of them was torn apart. Then, hundreds of demonic beasts swarmed.

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Grooooooowl!¡±

    ¡°Human. Go back. You should see the difference between us.¡±

    Rockon confidently pulled out his sword as he stepped forward. Then¡­¡­

    Stab¨D

    A hair-raising sound suddenly rang loudly. When Rockon lowered his head, he could see a spear sticking out of his abdomen.

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    Red blood flowed out of his mouth.

    ¡°Th, this¡­¡­!¡±

    Then, Aruvel spoke...

    ¡°The tower is iplete and there are loopholes.¡±

    There was a simple method of clearing this floor.

    We only need 20% of their points? If we break this, will we get a new record? Instead of that¡­¡­

    ¡®If we kill them all¡­¡­¡¯

    It would be a very simple solution to their problem. Although Aruvel got drunk and gave Minhyuk his pocket money(?), he was still the Sage Aruvel. Aruvel was also someone that the Demon Ghost Unit couldn¡¯t easily deal with.

    ¡°D, Die!!!¡±

    ¡°Th, this¡­¡­!¡±

    The demons rushed towards Aruvel. That was when Minhyuk moved.

    ¡°Rain of Kitchen Knives.¡±

    Minhyuk had already prepared the Rain of Kitchen Knives. Once he unleashed his skills, a ck kitchen knife fell down on a demonic beast¡¯s body from above.

    Spurt¨D

    Then, the rain of kitchen knives began to fall down.

    Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¨D

    Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¨D

    The sound of the demonic beasts being devoured and the Demon Ghost Unit being hunted by Aruvel rang loudly in the first floor.

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keoheok!¡±

    In less than 40 seconds, all of the demons on the first floor had copsed. This feat was only possible since Minhyuk had a very powerful helper in Aruvel¡¯s form.

    Then, the notifications rang.

    [Calcting your score.]

    [The score calction attempt has failed.]

    ¡°Huh¡­¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk couldn¡¯t help but tilt his head in confusion.

    You failed to calcte the score?

    A moment of silence passed before the notifications rang again.

    [Attempting to calcte the scores again.]

    [Score calction has seeded.]

    [You have achieved an impossible score that went beyond what the operators had measured.]

    [1st floor cleared. 100,000 points.]

    [You have achieved a new record.]

    [1st floor cleared. There will be additional rewards added to the new record rewards after achieving 100,000 points.]

    [You have acquired 2,500,000 EXP.]

    [You have acquired an additional 2,500,000 EXP inpliance with the new record rewards.]

    [You have acquired an additional 2,500,000 EXP for achieving an impossible score.]

    [You have acquired 10 tinum.]

    [You have acquired Italy¡¯s Pizza and Carbonara Spaghetti.]

    [You have acquired an additional Steak te for achieving an impossible score.]

    ¡°Oh¡­¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk was surprised. The Italian pizza and carbonara spaghetti, together with the additional steak te was served in front of him.

    ¡°......This is definitely a steak te!¡±

    Minhyuk could tell that this was definitely the steak te that achieved the highest sales record in Seoga and Cook. The steak te in front of him had about four slices of pork neck with plenty of vegetables. There was also a long slice of cheese, pineapple and a half-cooked fried egg on top. This steak te tasted extremely delicious especially with the vegetables that came with it.

    Then, Minhyuk changed the filming mode.

    [The filming mode has been changed.]

    [You have changed to drone mode. The filming will now resume.]

    The drone mode was an expensive add on that the users purchased. Once he chose the drone mode, several drones popped out of nowhere as they began to circle around Minhyuk and film him.

    ¡°Is this how they do it?¡±

    Minhyuk just tilted his head.

    Among the several drones that were filming, one of them started filming the food.

    ¡°Hehe! I¡¯ll eat well!¡±

    The first thing that Minhyuk picked was the pizza turner. He ced the pizza turner below the pizza before lifting a slice up. The cheese stretched long as Minhyuk pulled the steaming pizza up. He couldn¡¯t help but gulp his saliva as he ced the pizza down on the te.

    Then, he put some ice in a ss as he poured some soda inside. His face was filled with a smile. This kind of food was the perfectbination with soda.

    Just like that, he pulled out the parmesan powder that he always had with him. Then, he sprinkled it all over the pizza slice.

    The smell of the rich and creamy cheese wafted through his nose as he lifted the pizza close to his mouth. The cheese stretched down when he took a big bite while pulling the pizza down. The cheese was only cut off when he chewed the pizza with his teeth. In his second bite, he could finally bite the potato and the bacon that were sprinkled on top of the pizza.

    The in and salty taste of the potato, the crispy bacon, the rich and creamy cheese, together with the soft breadbined together and created a harmonious vor in his mouth.

    Then, he took some pickles from his small jar before cing it in his mouth.

    Crunch, crunch, crunch¨D

    He sucked his fingers as he savored the lovely taste of the pizza and the pickles. After he ate a few slices of pizza, he gulped down the refreshing c to cleanse his mouth of the greasy vor.

    ¡°Kggghk!¡±

    He couldn¡¯t help but exim from the stinging sensation that he felt in his throat.

    This time, he aimed his hands towards the carbonara spaghetti. His left hand was holding a spoon while his right hand was holding a fork. Once the noodles were scooped up with his fork, he brought the fork gently towards the spoon before turning it around. Once the spaghetti noodles were turned perfectly, he used his spoon to support the carbonara and ced it in his mouth.

    The rich and savory vor of the carbonara spread in his mouth. Every bite of the noodles made his smile go deeper. Then, he used his spoon to scoop out the white sauce making sure that he scooped up the bacon, mushroom and other toppings before putting it in his mouth.

    Abundant and rich.

    Those were the words that fit the carbonara in front of him perfectly.

    Finally, he turned towards the steak te. He quickly cut the pork neck meat. Then, he used his fork to pick the vegetables that were ted beautifully around the meat. When he saw that the fork was filled with vegetables, he went ahead and picked a pork slice making sure that it was covered with the sweet sauce underneath it. Then, he ced it in his mouth.

    The sweet and juicy vor of the meat and sauce spread in his mouth. But that wasn¡¯t the end of it all, the soft and pleasant texture of the meat together with the crunchy and fresh vegetables created a mind-blowing harmony in his mouth.

    This time, instead of the vegetables, he picked a piece of the pineapple with a slice of meat and dipped it in the sauce. Thebination of the sweet, sour and fresh pineapple and juicy meat tasted exquisite.

    Minhyuk continued to eat deliciously like that.

    ¡°Wow. So delicious.¡±

    A soft smile spread out on Minhyuk¡¯s mouth as he patted his plump stomach. Then, he realized that he was filming.

    ¡°This is how you do it, right? Should I send it like this?¡±

    He decided to send this as an experiment. He believed that it was better to make sure of things like this. So Minhyuk sent the video right away.

    [Sending the video file named ¡®Demon World¡¯s Tower¡¯s First Floor Attack¡¯ to Nickname TTBC-nim.]

    ***

    Notes

    [Seoga and Cook] ???? it was actually written as Seoga and Cok. But upon research, it was a parody for Seoga and Cook, a restaurant chain based on SKr owned by S&Spany.

    TL''s corner!

    I want to order pizza.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Haven¡¯t left a note in a while. Even the system can¡¯t seem to keep up with our boy Minhyuk!

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 277 - Good Guy, Bad Guy, Weird Guy

    Chapter 277: Good Guy, Bad Guy, Weird Guy

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    TTBC used to have quite an influence among the game broadcasting channels. Among all four of the existing gaming broadcasting channels of that time, they used to be unrivaled. They had always achieved the number one overall including the viewership ratings. However, the current TTBC game broadcasting channel was facing a big crisis. They were chosen as the lowest among the game broadcasting channels by the viewers. From the viewer¡¯s standpoint, they believed that they were at the bottom of the list especially in terms of the beneficial attack information. They were also the current lowest in terms of ratings among all of the game broadcasting channels avable. If this went on, the TTBC game channel would be in danger of disappearing.

    And because of that, the TTBC director always had a vein popping out of his neck during every meeting.

    ¡°No, you missed Cain in the end?¡±

    Cain was a user that TTBC had spent a lot of effort and time to recruit. But in the end, he was taken away by ATV broadcasting station.

    ¡°What the hell are you good at then?! You can¡¯t even recruit so how the hell can we have a program?!!¡±

    For the first time in a long while, TTBC had received plenty of love from the users. The users had praised their contents as fresh and new. But over time, the freshness disappeared and the users demanded information that was beneficial and were tailored to their needs.

    TTBC tried very hard to get that information but things always ended up bad. As soon as they got top rated information from Athenae, other broadcasters would pop out faster than them while they waited for the right timing to release it.

    ¡°If you¡¯re just going to do this then just send me your resignation!!!¡±

    ¡®That bald eagle. He¡¯s mad again today.¡¯

    The TTBC program producers and reporters were definitely not happy about the director¡¯s daily anger. So the staff just ran out of the room and went back to their posts.

    Go Eun-ah also rushed out to sit in front of herputer. As soon as she booted herputer, she saw an e-mail waiting for her.

    ¡®U, User Minhyuk¡­¡­!¡¯

    The person who might probably be TTBC¡¯s savior!

    [A video file named ¡®Demon World¡¯s Tower¡¯s First Floor Attack¡¯ sent by nickname ¡®Delicious Food is the Best¡¯ has arrived in your mail.]

    She hurriedly tried to check the video file. Then¡­

    ¡°Delicious Food is the Best? What a nickname.¡±

    These days, the director¡¯s voice was filled with grudges so the voice that rang behind her was filled with gloom.

    ¡°This childish nickname, who the¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s User Minhyuk!¡±

    ¡°Hell would say that it¡¯s a childish nickname.¡±

    That¡¯s a fast transition!

    The director also had a faint sense of anticipation. This year, there was still no video in Korea that could be ced in the Hall of Fame.

    What if User Minhyuk, who signed a solo contract with us, got listed in the Hall of Fame?

    But it was just his expectations. In fact, even if there were plenty of rankers, the number of users who climbed the Hall of Fame could be counted on one hand. Only the most popr had a shot to do so. There were a lot of rankers all over the world and they also had a lot of different contents and styles so this was just a shot to the moon.

    However, even if he did not climb the Hall of Fame, the director believed that they would at least be able to achieve the highest effectiveness from the contract that they had signed.

    ¡°Open it.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    And just as Go Eun-ah opened the video¡­¡­

    ¡°Minhyuk?¡±

    ¡°The Food God?¡±

    ¡°Oh, I think I¡¯m looking forward to it?¡±

    People began to flock towards her desk.

    Minhyuk had be the nation¡¯s best user both in name and skills after he defeated Carr in Athenae: Korean War. Even those who worked under Athenae had no choice but to look at him in interest since he had kept himself tightly under a veil.

    Then, the video started.

    The director and the rest of the employees that flocked to Go Eun-ah¡¯s desk all had their mouths wide open as they watched the video.

    ¡°I, Impossible score¡­¡­?¡±

    ¡°C, crazy¡­¡­! That¡¯s ridiculous!¡±

    They had no choice but to be shocked and astonished. Once the users started filming, the notifications that popped up in front of them would also pop out in the video.

    ¡°My goodness¡­¡­ To twist it like that¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a method that anyone can do. At the very least, I can¡¯t do it since the demons are extremely strong. A while ago, didn¡¯t it say that the demons were the Ghost Unit?¡±

    ¡°Y, yeah¡­¡­¡±

    All of them gulped unconsciously at the huge strength that was disyed in the video. Then, User Minhyuk¡¯s mukbang began. It seemed like the employees were more focused than ever when the mukbang startedpared to earlier.

    ¡®Wow. Look at that cheese¡­¡­ When that stretchy cheese, hot bread and potato meet in your mouth¡­¡­¡¯

    Go Eun-ah unknowingly gulped her saliva.

    ¡®R, right. You should try carbonara now. Th, that¡¯s right! That¡¯s right! Have those sweet and sour pickles too¡­¡­!¡¯

    Go Eun-ah was in admiration. This was the best among all of the other mukbangs she had ever seen.

    Then, he started eating the steak te after he drank some of the cold c.

    Gulp¨D

    Someone gulped loudly. When she turned her head around, she saw her bald eagle director. Despite Go Eun-ah¡¯s protest of ¡®I want to eat pasta today!¡¯ the director would always speak in dignity saying ¡®As expected, we should have pork back-bone stew or rice soup for lunch!¡¯. But right now, he was watching this mukbang with awe and admiration.

    When the video ended, the entire area was filled with silence.

    Then, one of the reporters spoke.

    ¡°Sh, shall we take a look again? Just the part where he eats¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°O, Okay.¡±

    And the part where Minhyuk started eating got reyed again. All of them were watching with rapt attention again. This time, when the video ended, Go Eun-ah was the one who broke the silence.

    ¡°He, he¡¯s too¡­¡­¡±

    Everyone focused on the sound of her voice.

    ¡°Happy whenever he eats.¡±

    ¡°R, right! That¡¯s right. He really looks happy when he eats.¡±

    ¡°Correct! Wow¡­¡­! Although I¡¯m only looking at him, I also couldn¡¯t help but smile. You feel that too, right?¡±

    Everyone nodded their heads. And at this moment, the director had a hunch.

    ¡®A video attacking the Demon World¡¯s Tower¡­¡­¡¯

    It¡¯s a rope that came down to help TTBC! And it¡¯s a golden rope to boot!

    ¡°Start preparing the trailer.¡±

    Everyone turned towards the director as they listened to his words.

    ¡°Make the trailer simple. Just put the scene where User Minhyuk eats and make it a trailer!¡±

    It was a groundbreaking method.

    Are you telling us to skip the entire process and just release a preview of him eating?

    The video where he attacked the Demon World¡¯s Tower was definitely excellent content but the key of the video was the eating part.

    Then, the director continued to speak.

    ¡°Shall we have that for lunch today?¡±

    ¡®Nice!¡¯

    Reporter Go Eun-ah unknowingly yelled out a nice in her head.

    ***

    Roven, one of the tower¡¯s architects and designers, waited for Minhyuk in front of the entrance of the first trial. He currently had a big smile on his face.

    ¡®Fufufufufufufu. He¡¯s been there for one hell of a long time. No, maybe he did not clear it?¡¯

    He couldn¡¯t stop himself fromughing greasily. After all, even though he went in proudly, he still had note out after 30 minutes.

    However, Roven did not know that Minhuk was just eating deliciously inside. Then, at that moment¡­¡­

    [The first floor trial has beenpleted and closed.]

    ¡°Hoo? He must have attacked it.¡±

    And with that notification, Minhyuk and Aruvel came back out. Then, the notification rang loudly.

    [You can climb the 2nd floor anytime you prefer.]

    Roven couldn¡¯t help butugh at him.

    ¡°Keuhahahahaha! You said that you will be over in 5 minutes, but it must have been harder than you thought, huh? As expected, humans are just conceited and arrogant.¡±

    ¡°Eh?¡±

    Minhyuk couldn¡¯t help but tilt his head in confusion. Once Minhyuk came back out, the new record written on the entrance had also changed. The record that was listed above the entrance was only the new record. But because of the time he took toe out, Roven did not even check it out.

    ¡°Now that you¡¯ve realized your arrogance, go back to the human world!!!¡±

    Roven shouted confidently.

    After all, he wouldn¡¯t be able to climb the tower again. But Minhyuk just pointed at one ce with his chin. He did not even say a word.

    ¡°What¡¯s in there?¡±

    Then, Roven turned his head with a happy smile. He was happy that he made him eat a defeat. However, what he saw made his face harden.

    ¡®Wh, what¡¯s this¡­¡­?¡¯

    For a moment, he thought that he had seen it wrongly. The mysterious and strange man¡¯s score was just at 25,000 but the score that was written right now was¡­¡­

    ¡°1, 1, 1, 1, 1¡­¡­ 100, 000?!!¡±

    No, this is an impossible score!

    It was literally a ridiculous score.

    ¡°Wh, what the hell did you do¡­¡­?!¡±

    Then, Minhyuk spoke up.

    ¡°I told you. It won¡¯t take long! Now, please give me a reward!¡±

    He spoke cheerfully.

    He finally received the rest of the information about the tower from Roven. Then, he took a step forward to challenge the second floor.

    ***

    Aincarr looked around. Most of the guild members of Golden Staff had been wiped out. Even the agile and quick footed archers.

    He looked in horror at the man wearing a ck mask and the little boy in front of him. They were attacked because he said that the little boy was a ¡®XXX¡¯ but the boy was stronger and more nimble than the dragon tamer. What was worse was that, just one strike from the boy¡¯s lithe body could easily log out his guild members. In addition, the man with the dragon also had a high magical attack and defense.

    ¡®I, I¡¯m one of ckstone¡¯s monarchs¡­¡­¡¯

    They were also one of France¡¯s top three guilds.

    ¡®We copsed with just two of them¡­¡­¡¯

    Then, ck Dragon spoke to Aincarr.

    ¡°I hope you don¡¯t forget what I said.¡±

    sh¨D

    Then, ck Dragon shed his neck without any mercy before packing the spoils that they had left behind.

    ¡°Hoo¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Kiyeeeee!¡±

    Poison Dragon curled his body down as he gestured for him to lean his body on him. ck Dragonid down as he leaned on Poison Dragon¡¯s body. Exhaustion overflowed from his body but he felt that he needed to climb the tower quickly.

    ¡®I won¡¯t let these bastards touch my son¡­..!¡¯

    If he was not aware that they were after Minhyuk, then he would have definitely ended it at just that. However, knowing that fact meant that he could not let a single person be left alive.

    Then¡­¡­

    Step, step, step, step¨D

    Poison Dragon suddenly reacted to the faint sound of footsteps that registered in his ears.

    ¡°Kiyeeek!¡±

    In response to his call, ck Dragon lifted his body up again as he slowly lifted Dragon Tear¡¯s Sword. Then, he saw the man walking from afar. When he saw him, ck Dragon couldn¡¯t help but let out a sigh of relief.

    ¡°ck Minute Man¡­¡­! No, ck Mage-kun¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°Yes? B, ck Minute Man?¡±

    ¡°N, No. Haha.¡±

    He knew how hard it was to touch a man¡¯s ¡®injury¡¯ so he did not say anything anymore.

    Ali was also on his way towards the tower after hunting all of the guild members, including Arch, near the entrance. The two people talked about the experience that they had.

    ¡°Hoo. So you got the Royal ss quest too?¡±

    ¡°Yes. But I don¡¯t think there would be any problems if we went up together.¡±

    Parties could enter the Demon World¡¯s Tower but individuals could also do so. But when individuals enter, they need to conquer the tower¡¯s first floor under the same conditions. For that reason, individuals would not ovep with others even if they climbed together. But in the case of the General Type, such a setting was null so users could freely meet.

    ¡°Let¡¯s climb quickly.¡±

    At this moment, the goals of the two had aligned. To clear their Royal ss quest and to protect Minhyuk. The two powerful people who easily defeated the elites of arge guild alone started their trek towards the Demon World¡¯s Tower for one person¡¯s sake.

    ***

    [Aincarr: I have no face to show you.]

    [Arch:......I¡¯m sorry.]

    Cauhel was speechless.

    There was a person who cleared the first floor and set a new record with a huge gap from his score. And he knew that he was clearly the Frying Pan Killer. What was more surprising was the fact that the people who he assumed to be his colleagues suddenly appeared and dealt with the elites of arge guild.

    However, Cauhel still thought¡­¡­

    ¡®It¡¯s impossible for him to close the gap in floors between us.¡¯

    He had already crossed the 30th floor. He was sure that catching up to him when he just started on the first floor was nearly impossible.

    And¡­¡­

    ¡®Why are there so many strong people around this bastard?¡¯

    He had the backing of the Empress of an Empire and colleagues who could easilyy waste to elites of arge guild alone.

    He even seemed to be quite different from him. If the rtionship between Cauhel and ckstone was that of a contractual rtionship, then the rtionship between them was fueled by the desire to purely ¡®protect¡¯ the Frying Pan Killer.

    This was notmon sense. He couldn¡¯t understand them at all. But Cauhel, who only believed that he could solve anything with the power of money, might not be able to find the answer in his life.

    And right at that moment¡­¡­

    [The user ¡®I¡¯m¡¯, who broke the second floor¡¯s new record, has been born to the world.]

    [There is a significant gap with the previous record.]

    ¡°......!¡±

    The second floor?

    Cauhel¡¯s eyes widened in shock.

    And just five minutes after this notification¡­¡­

    [The user ¡®Going Up¡¯, who broke the third floor¡¯s new record, has been born to the world.]

    [There is a significant gap with the previous record.]

    Another notification rang.

    Cauhel knew that the nickname could be changed, but the nickname that he had been setting was changing.

    2nd floor: I¡¯m

    3rd floor: Going Up.

    And finally¡­¡­

    [The user ¡®Just You Wait¡¯, who broke the fourth floor¡¯s new record, has been born to the world.]

    [There is a significant gap with the previous record.]

    And finally: Just You Wait.

    If Ibine these words¡­¡­

    Grit, grit¨D

    Cauhel¡¯s teeth ground together. It was a ¡®warning¡¯ message that was solely meant for him.

    ***

    Notes

    [Minute Man] ??? he actually used Jorusa, where joru (??) means premature ej******ion. Hence Minute Man. also, it sounds strangely simr to ??? (mabeobsa) or mage/magic man.

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Yeah, just you wait!

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Lol, I¡¯ve been waiting so long for how people will retract to the Minhyuk mukbang. And Cauhel better watch out!

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 278 - Fragment Of The Golden Crown

    Chapter 278: Fragment of the Golden Crown

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    77 Fragment of the Golden Crown

    [Minhyuk: The mukbang is the trailer so the people won¡¯t know where it is at first, right?]

    Reporter Go Eun-ah nodded fiercely as if Minhyuk was in front of her instead of the whisper that he had sent.

    He had also sent her videos from the 2nd and 3rd floor of the tower. Meanwhile, TTBC had informed him that they would use his ¡®mukbang¡¯ as a trailer. But Minhyuk had told them that he wanted the video to be released after some time.

    Go Eun-ah could easily guess the reason for this. It was because once the video was released while he was still going up, the people from all over the world who had watched the video would try to use his methods. They were fully aware of this. And¡­¡­

    ¡®Even if others know of this method, they will not be able to imitate it at all.¡¯

    She knew that his new record would definitely not be broken. There were things that you couldn¡¯t break just because you knew the method to attack and the Demon World¡¯s Tower was just like that.

    Go Eun-ah was able to get his confirmation as the team leader of the Editorial Team said to her¡­¡­

    ¡°I¡¯m done editing the mukbang!!!¡±

    All of their preparations were done.

    ***

    The university freshman, Mijin, had a huge dream. She was a freshman and had been single for all 20 years of her life. One of the reasons why she was single was because of her fat body. She was 160cm tall while having a 75kg body.

    Because of that, she had been swimming and working out at the same time these days. After doing extreme work out, she had already lost 12kg. If this trend continued, she might just be able to achieve her target weight of 50kg by the end of winter vacation!

    This was only possible thanks to her ¡®strong will and mindset¡¯. There was no temptation that could waver her burning desire to get into a rtionship once she became pretty.

    ¡®I¡¯m hungry¡­¡­¡¯

    She felt extreme hunger aftering back from her exercise today too.

    But¡­¡­

    ¡®If you eat now, you¡¯re not a human! You¡¯re a pig!¡¯

    She overcame it with her strong will.

    Instead of eating, she thought that it would be better for her to watch a video from her favorite game, Athenae. Whenever she focused on the rankers¡¯ game videos, she would forget her hunger.

    As she opened her mobile phone, she could see the video with the highest number of views. It was only posted for two hours but the number of clicks had already reached about 500,000 and was already on the top 10 videos in Ztube. And the title was¡­¡­

    ¡®The Food God¡¯s Happiness.¡¯

    ¡°O, our Minhyuk oppa?!!!¡±

    Mijin was a huge fan of Food God Minhyuk. It was not just because of his handsome face but also because of his polite personality, superb skills and adorable and lovely eating!

    ¡°Oh my! I must see this!¡±

    She quickly clicked on the video as a phrase shed on the screen.

    [The nation¡¯s best user is challenging the Hall of Fame. Food God Minhyuk!]

    [This is the Epic of his Great Challenge!]

    [His mukbang has more surprising results than the number 1 box office!]

    Then, the video started. When she watched the video, she felt like she had been possessed by something. Watching it made her feel happy and good but it also made her mouth drool.

    ¡®I, I want to eat¡­¡­!!!¡¯

    Every time she saw Minhyuk eating happily, she also felt happy. Mijin even watched the trailer thrice just to see his happy face. After watching the video, she hurriedly grabbed her wallet as she ran out of the house.

    ¡®N, no¡­¡­ I, I have to lose weight!!¡¯

    Her mind was shouting at her but her body continued to run to Seoga and Cook. And after eating deliciously¡­¡­

    ¡®Right. I¡¯m a pig¡­¡­ Oink, oink¡­¡­ oink!!¡¯

    Tears welled up in her eyes but her stomach felt full and happy.

    Meanwhile, thements on the video began to reach an all time high.

    [I¡¯m the owner of a Seoga and Cook franchise. Thanks to Minhyuk-nim, our sales increased by 300% today. All hail god!! Food God!!]

    [Take responsibility! My diet has failed!!!]

    [Wow¡­¡­ How can a person eat so happily? I¡¯m just watching but I think I¡¯m really smiling like a mom when I look?]

    [Our manager who said that he would only eat rice soup every day has changed his mind!!!]

    [Wow, I can¡¯t wait for the full episode¡­¡­]

    [Where the hell is this ce? I don¡¯t know where it is, but there¡¯s food? It looks like a dungeon or something¡­¡­]

    [Wow¡­¡­ I¡¯ll watch the show once the main episodees up¡­¡­!]

    [This year too, our country doesn¡¯t have any video that can challenge the Hall of Fame but is God Minhyuk going to challenge it? I¡¯ll make sure to watch it!!!]

    [Wow. Challenging the Hall of Fame with eating. The Boss is on another level. Hehehehehehe.]

    Thements were filled with anticipation for the main episode.

    ***

    Aruvel spoke with a serious expression on his face.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to repeat this again but you can¡¯t overdo it on the 10th floor.¡±

    His seriousness was because of the existence on the 10th floor.

    ¡°The predator residing on the 10th floor is a snake that¡¯s extremely powerful. Besides, the way to break the 10th floor is very simple. That guy sleeps a lot in his position so all we need to do is to go to the 11th floor without making a single sound.¡±

    Aruvel had given him groundbreaking methods to set new records so far. However, that wasn¡¯t the case for the 10th floor. Instead of challenging the 10th floor, he rmended for him to clear it as fast as he could.

    ording to Aruvel, the predator residing on the 10th floor was an extremely powerful snake that was around Lv700.

    There were many powerful beings in the Demon World that have yet to be released to the world. In addition, even if Aruvel and Roven, one of the creators of the tower, were knowledgeable, they did not know of a method to set a new record on the 10th floor. Roven also did not know much information about several floors on the tower.

    Roven had told them¡­¡­

    ¡®I don¡¯t know the information about the 10th and the 21st floor since those floors were made by the general architect of the tower, Arlead-nim. I also don¡¯t know about the rewards on those floors.¡¯

    It was the 10th floor of the tower that even Roven did not know of!

    He also heard about one other thing from him.

    ¡®Although I don¡¯t know about the information on that floor, I¡¯ve been told that the predator on that floor was trying to protect something.¡¯

    The snake was trying to protect something.

    Minhyuk decided to follow Aruvel¡¯s words. After all, if he was forced to log out for no reason inside the tower while he was trying to set a new record, then he would not be able to enter the tower again. In the first ce, the tower was designed to not allow any other challenges once the user died inside once.

    Then, Minhyuk moved to climb the stairs going up to the 10th floor.

    [You have entered the Demon World¡¯s Tower¡¯s 10th floor.]

    [Please arrive at the exit without waking up the gigantic sleeping predator.]

    [There are stepping stones all over the ce. Step on them and move quickly to avoid the sleeping predator underneath.]

    Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr¨D

    Minhyuk felt a strong vibration on the soles of his feet as soon as he stepped foot on the 10th floor. For a moment, he wondered where the vibration wasing from until he saw it with his own eyes.

    ¡®Th, the snake¡¯s breathing¡­¡­.?¡¯

    The vibration was caused by the snake¡¯s breathing.

    My god! The snake¡¯s breath is causing the entire floor to vibrate?

    Minhyuk was shocked to see the solid wall-like thing in front of him. However, it wasn¡¯t really a wall but a part of the snake¡¯s gigantic body.

    ¡®Wow. So big¡­¡­¡¯

    Aruvel had strongly rmended moving quickly without even letting out a single breath. So Minhyuk was holding his breath as he looked at the stepping stones right above the snake.

    He quickly jumped up and stepped on one of the stepping stones. The stepping stone was so small that he was only barely able to stand on it with one of his feet. Mage users could use their fly magic while archers had their agility. However, it would be difficult for warriors with their high endurance that increased when they increased their ¡®stamina¡¯ stat. This floor was a test of the user¡¯s agility and swiftness.

    And just like that, Minhyuk and Aruvel quickly moved forward as they stepped foot on one stepping stone after another.

    Once they reached the middle, Minhyuk crouched down to look at the snake¡¯s closed eye.

    ¡®I think its eye is about as big as my body?¡¯

    That was how big this predator was.

    And just as Minhyuk was about to move towards another stepping stone¡­¡­

    Blink!

    The gigantic predator opened its eyes!

    ¡°......?!¡±

    Minhyuk and Aruvel were both caught in surprise.

    ¡®Wh, what the¡­¡­?! We didn¡¯t even make a single noise¡­¡­! We didn¡¯t even stumble towards its body¡­¡­.!¡¯

    This was apletely unpredictable situation.

    Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr¨D

    Then, the giant snake began to move.

    ¡°R, Ruuuuuun!!!!¡±

    Minhyuk and Aruvel both ran quickly as soon as Aruvel opened his mouth.

    ¡°Kiyeeeeeeee!¡±

    The snake¡¯s tongue flickered as its gigantic head moved. Then, Aruvel moved with his spear.

    [Demon Dragon¡¯s Spear Arts Chapter 3.]

    [Dragon¡¯s Roar.]

    Hot mes flew out of Aruvel¡¯s spear. It was a fire spear that was far stronger than a hellfire in terms of devouring everything in its path!

    Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¨D

    He threw it at the snake that was approaching him with its mouth wide open but¡­¡­

    ng¨D

    The spear could not even pierce the snake¡¯s skin. Both Aruvel and Minhyuk were appalled at the scene.

    In just a blink of an eye, the snake was already in front of Minhyuk. The snake opened its mouth wide.

    But when Minhyuk was just about to use his skill¡­¡­ Minhyuk made eye contact with the snake. Then¡­¡­

    Drop, drop, drop¨D

    ¡®Wh, what the hell?¡¯

    Tears flowed down from the snake¡¯s eyes and Minhyuk¡¯s skill was nullified.

    [You have witnessed the Predatory Snake¡¯s Tears.]

    [You will not be able to use your skills.]

    However, more than that, Minhyuk was wondering why it cried. Then, the gigantic predatory snake opened its mouth wide to swallow Minhyuk.

    At that moment, Aruvel shouted¡­¡­

    ¡°N, no!!! My food supplier!!!¡±

    That was right. Just as Minhyuk thought of Aruvel as his knowledge and information provider, Aruvel had also thought of Minhyuk as his food supplier!

    However, an unexpected event suddenly urred. The gigantic snake did not swallow Minhyuk. With Minhyuk¡¯s head in his mouth, the snake jerked its head to the left. Then, the snake opened its mouth letting Minhyuk fly towards that direction.

    Just as he was about to hit the wall¡­¡­

    Vwooooom¨D

    The wall suddenly disappeared as Minhyuk passed through the wall.

    ¡®What?¡¯

    Aruvel tilted his head in confusion when he realized that it wasn¡¯t a wall but a trick. He caught a glimpse of something inside.

    Then, the gigantic snake just stared at Aruvel. It did not even attack him. Aruvel tried to step on the stepping stone to get inside but¡­¡­

    Bang¨D

    Aruvel couldn¡¯t get past the clear wall. The predatory snake used its tail to gently support the falling Aruvel.

    ¡®Why are you¡­¡­ protecting me and my food supplier?¡¯

    Aruvel was convinced that the predatory snake had no intention of harming the two of them.

    ***

    [You have entered a mysterious dungeon.]

    [You have gained 30 reputation points.]

    Minhyuk looked over the wall after being thrown by the snake inside. Aruvel tried to jump in but he fell down after heating the clear and transparent wall that separated them.

    ¡°Aruvel!!!¡±

    Minhyuk shouted at him but it seemed like Aruvel could not hear him. Curious, he reached out towards the transparent wall.

    [You cannot go outside until you reach the end of the mysterious dungeon.]

    That was when Minhyuk realized that his only way out of here was reaching the end of this dungeon. As he continued to move forward, Minhyuk saw the murals on the walls.

    He saw a gigantic wolf in one of the murals.

    Then, the notification sounded.

    [The Incarnation of Light, Penrus. The incarnation that saved the Empire single handedly.]

    ¡®Incarnation of light¡­¡­?¡¯

    Kaistra had called his giant wolf Penrus. Perhaps they were the same?

    He continued to walk forward just like that.

    This time, Minhyuk also stopped in front of another mural. In the mural, there were four gigantic dragons.

    [The Four Legendary Dragons. No one will be able to beat them once theye together.]

    ? ¡®Hmm¡­¡­?¡¯

    Did the four legendary dragons have anything to do with the five great incarnations?

    Without an answer to his question, he continued to move forward. And finally, he was able to see another mural.

    [The Incarnation of Death, Predatory Snake. The Snake King who devours everything in the world.]

    ¡®The Predatory Snake¡­¡­?!¡¯

    Minhyuk was so shocked. The Predatory Snake was also an incarnation just like Penrus. When he moved forward once again, he saw another incarnation. The incarnation was named ¡®ck Bear Ruvandal.

    As he continued to move forward, he finally reached the light at the end of the dungeon. When he arrived at the end, Minhyuk saw a huge temple. It was the temple that he had seen from the four murals earlier.

    Then, the murals began to move. The moving murals moved toward the ¡®?¡¯ painted in the middle of the temple. Once they reached the ¡®?¡¯ in the middle, the beings in the mural bowed their heads.

    ¡°Grrrrrrrrr!¡±

    ¡°Kiyaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kiyeeeeeee!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡±

    Then, the ¡®?¡¯ was engulfed with a bright light. The ¡®?¡¯ slowly began to form a figure under the bright re of the light. Not long after, a figure was shown in the painting. It was none other than a baby piggy wearing a golden crown and holding a sword high up in the sky.

    ¡°I, Isn¡¯t that Kongie?!¡±

    ***

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 279 - Fragment Of The Golden Crown

    Chapter 279: Fragment of the Golden Crown

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    It was definitely Kongie. The only difference between the Kongie now and the Kongie in the mural was the golden crown and the sword that mural Kongie was wearing.

    Then, another picture began to be painted. Minhyuk watched with bated breath as the colors moved. A ck current seeped and imprinted itself into the painting.

    When the painting was finished, Minhyuk couldn¡¯t help but mutter to himself.

    ¡°Dragon¡­¡­?¡±

    The painting was clearly a dragon. However, the dragon in the painting looked different from Britney, Destiny and Amba who were with his father. Dragons were the greatest existence in this world! And Kongie with his golden crown was staring at such a dragon.

    Then, the notifications rang.

    [You, the master, have taken the Incarnation of Gluttony as your pet.]

    [You have met the conditions for reading the Quest: Incarnation of Gluttony¡¯s Golden Crown Fragment.]

    [You can view the video of the birth of the Incarnation of Gluttony (1).]

    [If you do not wish to view the video, you can just say ¡®I refuse¡¯.]

    Minhyuk was also curious about Kongie who looked like a baby piggy. Minhyuk already knew that Kongie was the Incarnation of Gluttony.

    ¡®Well, just in case¡­¡­¡¯

    Perhaps there was something delicious hidden in Kongie¡¯s secret since the word ¡°Gluttony¡± was attached to him. And he was also very curious about Kongie¡¯s existence.

    ¡°ept.¡±

    [You have epted to view the video.]

    [Your character bes ¡®invincible¡¯ while watching this video.]

    Minhyuk¡¯s soul flew out of his body as a bright light wrapped around him. The shell of his character fell down into a deep sleep. Then, Minhyuk¡¯s soul disappeared into the light.

    ***

    [Around 500 years ago, chaos began to engulf the world as continents waged war against each other.]

    When the light faded and Minhyuk opened his eyes, the first thing that greeted him were bloody red words imprinted on a white background.

    [There were more than ten continents that existed all over the world. The war had killed countless people including the people of the Asgan Continent, Foricon Continent, Carbia Continent, Vale Continent, and Bielei Continent. The cause of this war was none other than the ¡®Empires¡¯ Ferocious Guardians¡¯.]

    There were also guardians in the two Empires in the Asgan Continent where Minhyuk¡¯s local server was located. The guardians of the Eivelis Empire were the Minotaur and the Phoenix. And as far as he knew, the Cordis Empire¡¯s guardian was the Wyvern.

    [The guardians once lived together in ¡®Utopia¡¯. One day, the guardian of the Rontley Empire, the Griffin, suddenly attacked the other guardians. The attack resulted in the death of the guardian of the Archden Empire, the ck Leopard.]

    ¡®Hmm¡­¡­¡¯

    Minhyuk¡¯s head shook in thought.

    There was a huge difference between the guardians and the regr monsters. For example, the Phoenix. The Phoenix was the guardian deity of the Eivelis Empire but the Phoenix that was ssified as a guardian and a regr phoenix werepletely different from each other. First of all, the guardian Phoenix known as the ¡®Empire¡¯s Guardian¡¯, was stronger than regr phoenixes thanks to their special privileges. In other words, those that were ssified as guardians would be considered as Emperors and Kings of their own races.

    But the Griffin killed the other guardian?

    This was definitely not a simple matter over guardianship. Such a hugemotion would also bring forth conflicts between Empires.

    Then, the words started to appear again.

    [But the disaster did not end there. The guardian of the Iron Empire, the Dark Bear, suddenly became violent as it started to attack the other guardians too. One after the other, the guardians began to be violent and ferocious. As a result, the Empires became enraged as they began to cross other continents. They used all means possible including ships and magic. This was the reason why the ¡®Continental War¡¯ began.]

    Minhyuk kept on listening to the exnation. ording to the exnation, the war between the Empires escted and led to the war between continents. And in the midst of that war, Great Mage Moldoron announced one fact.

    [The guardians must have been under a very powerful brainwashing spell so they started a fight.]

    The guardians basically had incredibly high magical defenses. In addition, the utopia was a ce where lower or moderately high magic could not fully express its power. Many had wondered about who had expressed such a magic.

    However, even if they knew this, there was no end in sight from the continental war that had already broken out. Eventually, the war began to spread in the entire world as the divine beasts started to battle against each other. A lot of blood was spilled as countless people died.

    And towards the end of the war, the video finally changed.

    ¡°The divine beasts and the people are dying. This must be stopped.¡±

    A man suddenly appeared when the screen changed. The man was wearing a helmet in the shape of a wolf while a gigantic white wolf stood beside him.

    Then, the man¡¯s information suddenly appeared in Minhyuk¡¯s head.

    [The Envoy of Incarnation. Baroque.]

    ¡®The Envoy of Incarnation?¡¯

    Minhyuk, who was watching him in soul form, could easily guess that he was the ¡®Envoy of Incarnation¡¯ of the past. In other words, he was the original owner of Kaistra¡¯s job ss.

    Then, someone came in. It was a man with dragon tattoos all over his body.

    ¡®Is he the one simr to dad?¡¯

    This was the thought that passed through his head when he saw the dragon tattoos that were littered all over the man¡¯s body.

    Then, the man¡¯s information also appeared in his head.

    [Dragon Monarch. Barnacle.]

    ¡®Dragon Monarch¡­¡­? I heard from dad that he recently received a job ss quest for the Dragon Monarch ss¡­¡­¡¯

    Not long after, the Dragon Monarch opened his mouth.

    ¡°Baroque, I finally figured out the root of all thismotion. It¡¯s the ck Dragon, Vormon.¡±

    ¡°ck Dragon Vormon?¡±

    ¡°Right. Among the dragons, he was the most destructive even when they were children. But what¡¯s surprising is that when he was still a young hatchling, he used so much magic and power that even the Dragon Lord couldn¡¯t defeat him.¡±

    ¡°Why is that guy¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what his reason is but he manipted the guardians and started a war between the continents. We must kill him and stop this war from spilling any more blood.¡±

    Then, the words floated in front of him again.

    [The masters of the three great divine beasts and the divine beasts that ruled over other divine beasts did not want to have a war between the divine beasts and the humans so they tried to stop it.]

    Barnacle suddenly spoke.

    ¡°I¡¯ve found out where he is so I¡¯ll go right in.¡±

    The images in front of him immediately changed.

    The result was disastrous. The masters of the three great divine beasts were forced to flee under the assault of ck Dragon Vormon. The three divine beasts who existed ever since the creation of the world couldn¡¯t win against him even if theybined their powers together. ck Dragon Vormon easily defeated them and they were only able to escape with only a breath of their lives left.

    ¡°At this rate, we will not be able to stop the final war¡­¡­¡±

    The final war would divide them into winners and losers. The war might end but it would result in disastrous damage that could not be easily repaired.

    Then, Great Mage Moldoron spoke. Moldoron joined them since he was able to summon his divine beast, the predatory snake.

    ¡°There¡¯s a way.¡±

    Everyone listened carefully when they heard the word ¡®way¡¯.

    ¡°We need to awaken the Supreme Divine Beast.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    [Supreme Divine Beast. A divine beast that is leagues stronger than the three great divine beasts. The object of dread and terror among the divine beasts.]

    The exnation briefly passed by as Baroque, the Envoy of Incarnation, spoke up.

    ¡°But the Supreme Divine Beast is dangerous. Isn¡¯t he either of the two?¡±

    The Dragon Monarch also chimed in.

    ¡°Right. He either brings forth great catastrophe or serene peace.¡±

    Either of the two. Whatever would happen would depend on what personality he had when he was awakened.

    ¡°But what¡¯s clear is that this is the only solution to this impasse.¡±

    They couldn¡¯t deny his words. So in the end, they decided to awaken him. All of them went inside a dark dungeon. Inside the dungeon was a huge coffin surrounded by thick andrge chains.

    ¡°It was said that God Athenae had sealed the Supreme Divine Beast because he thought that he could bring forth dangers in the world. That¡¯s why he used the Ten Thousand Year Cold Iron to stop his awakening.¡±

    The masters of the three great divine beasts stood in front of the ten thousand year cold iron. Only when theybined their powers would they have enough strength to cut off the ten thousand year cold iron.

    Each of their divine beasts used their powers. Penrus, Predatory Snake and the four Legendary Dragons all let out white lights from their mouths. The white light started to corrode the ten thousand year cold iron.

    Sizzle¨D

    ng!

    The corroded chains broke off and fell on the ground with a loud thud. Moldoron immediately casted powerful spells. The Envoy of Incarnation summoned a spear made out of bones as he and Penrus began to prepare for battle. Even the four Legendary Dragons and the Predatory Snake prepared immediately.

    Creaaaaaaaaaak¨D

    Baaaaaaang!

    The lid of the coffin opened loudly as a being slowly emerged from its depths. The being was none other than a sleeping baby piggy.

    ¡°Wh, what¡­¡­?!¡±

    ¡°The Supreme Divine Beast is a pig?!¡±

    ¡°Keok!¡±

    Each and every one of them were flustered.

    ¡°B, but he¡¯s still the Supreme Divine Beast!!!¡±

    ¡°Everyone, don¡¯t let your guard down!!!¡±

    The being slowly opened its eyes as they all stood on alert.

    Gulp¨D

    Someone gulped their saliva loudly. And with that sound, the baby piggy appeared in front of them with a broad smile.

    ¡°Oink!!!¡±

    It was the happiest smile that ever existed in the world.

    The screen suddenly froze in that part. Then, the notifications rang.

    [The video of the birth of the Incarnation of Gluttony (1) has ended.]

    [You can now check the Incarnation of Gluttony¡¯s Diary (1) ¡®Who am I?¡¯.]

    [The quest will be triggered once you read the diary¡¯s first entry.]

    Minhyuk tilted his head in thought as a torn diary appeared in front of him. Then, he started to read the contents of the diary.

    [ Who am I? This is the question that I asked as soon as I was born in this world.

    There was only one being around me. That was ¡®Athenae¡¯. Athenae told me that I can either bring disaster or peace to this world. Then, he pushed me inside this cold and dark coffin.

    Back then, I thought that it was not that frustrating. Because God Athenae said that this coffin was my one and only world and he even put a lot of things in there for me.

    1 yearter, 3 yearster, 5 yearster. I always ate something delicious there. I felt happy since I like to eat delicious food. I thought that it would be nice if I could always eat something delicious like this over time.

    But one day, I suddenly cried.

    I don¡¯t know why I cried. All I know is that tears kept on flowing.

    Who am I?

    Why am I alone here?

    So a few decades passed like that.

    There was also a book there so I found out things while reading that book. It seems like there¡¯s this thing called friends in the world. There¡¯s also a thing called family. I finally realized that no one really exists alone in this world.

    The loneliness in me grew bigger.

    Then, one day, I heard unidentified voices. Those voices began to cut off the big chain outside. The door that left me all alone in the world suddenly opened.

    When I opened my eyes, I saw that those unidentified voices were creatures with long arms, legs, two eyes and little fur. They were even holding something in their hands.

    Ah, are these the humans that I saw in the book?

    There¡¯s also a hairy creature and creatures that are long with long mustaches.

    I felt so d to see them. The corners of my mouth couldn¡¯t help but curl up the moment I saw them.

    Today, for the first time in my life, I learned how to smile.]

    That was where the diary entry ¡®Who am I?¡¯ ended.

    Then, a bright light burst out of the page.

    sh¨D

    Minhyuk¡¯s body was once again surrounded by light as he got sucked back into his character.

    After watching the video and reading the diary, Minhyuk was lost for words.

    He knew what loneliness was.

    I did not wish nor want this. I did not want to have a disease called bulimia. I didn¡¯t even do anything bad. I was just unlucky being born with this disease. I even cursed the world. This world that took everything away from me and left me all alone.

    Minhyuk knew this feeling more than anybody else so his heart was deeply moved.

    Then¡­¡­

    Kongie left the summoning room on his own as he tilted his head and looked up at Minhyuk.

    ¡°Oink?¡±

    Kongie felt confused when Minhyuk remained silent.

    Even though he called Kongie his ¡®emergency ration¡¯ every day, it was just more of a joke. Who would eat someone who protected him? Besides, Kongie had already be someone special to him since they have been together for so long.

    Kongie was even trying to make him feel rxed by wiggling his butt and picking his nose in front of him. But Minhyuk couldn¡¯tugh so easily after seeing what was written in Kongie¡¯s diary.

    Then, Kongie jumped on his shoulder as he pressed his paws and nose on his cheeks.

    ¡°......Huh?¡±

    ¡°Oink!!¡±

    When Minhyuk turned his head to look at him, he saw Kongie smiling happily just like he did in the video.

    ***

    Notes

    [ck Dragon¡¯s Royal ss] Previously, I think I used Dragon Lord for his ss. But looking at it, it seems like it¡¯s more of Dragon Monarch so I¡¯m going to use this moving forward.

    [????] Ten Thousand Year Cold Iron. Basically ?? (hancheol) is a metal that¡¯s the strongest among all of the metals. It¡¯s like 3 levels higher than steel. It¡¯s called Cold Iron in western texts and the best among them is the Ten Thousand Year Cold Iron.

    TL¡¯s corner!!!

    Noooo! I teared up at the end. Kongie deserves all the love. Huhuhuhu.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    I was going to make an Avatar reference about how all the guardians were living in harmony, and then everything changed when the Griffin attacked, but then Kongie¡¯s diary¡­my heart¡­

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 280 - Fragment Of The Golden Crown

    Chapter 280: Fragment of the Golden Crown

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Minhyuk couldn¡¯t help but smile when he saw Kongie smiling like that. When Kongie saw that he was feeling a lot better, he shrugged his shoulders as if he was saying ¡®As expected, I¡¯m the best. Oink!¡¯. Minhyuk joked with him.

    ¡°Don¡¯t wipe your nose sneakily on my cheeks!¡±

    Pause!

    Kongie was stunned.

    Then, a notification rang.

    [The Pet Awakening Linked Quest: Fragment of the Golden Crown has been created.]

    A quest window popped out right after the notification.

    [Pet Awakening Linked Quest: Fragment of the Golden Crown.]

    Rank: SSS

    Restrictions: The owner of the Incarnation of Gluttony who has reached the Temple of Incarnations.

    Rewards: Awakened Incarnation of Gluttony, The Birth of the Incarnation of Gluttony video (2)

    Penalty for Failure: The Incarnation of Gluttony will not be awakened forever.

    Description: Just like you have seen in the video, the Incarnation of Gluttony originally wears a crown. However, he currently does not have a crown on his head. This crown has the power to awaken the Incarnation of Gluttony of the past. If you gather the fragments of the Golden Crown scattered all over the world, you will be able to awaken and open his powers. The first hint can be heard from the Predatory Snake.

    Number of Fragments of the Golden Crown Gathered: 0/3

    ¡®Fragments of the golden crown¡­¡­¡¯

    He could recall that the Kongie in the mural definitely had a golden crown on his head. He continued to ponder over the video and realized that the incarnations in the video were described as the three great incarnations but now they were described as the four great incarnations. From what he heard from Kaistra, Kongie was like the king of the three great incarnations.

    Perhaps I¡¯ll find out about it or get a hint if I look at the additional video after collecting the fragments of the golden crown?

    Then, another notification came in.

    [You will now be warped to the original 10th floor where the Temple of Incarnation was previously located.]

    ***

    The executives of Joy Co. Ltd. were all sitting around President Kang Taehoon. There was a video ying in front of them. In the video, they could see Minhyuk disappearing in a sh of light from the Temple of Incarnation.

    ¡°This will be the biggest event in Joy Co. Ltd. ever.¡±

    These were the words that President Kang Taehoon spoke after the long silence. No one denied his words.

    ¡°He found the ¡®Crown Fragment¡¯ faster than what we thought. And right now, Jiang Chen, the ck Dragon¡¯s Guardian, will start collecting the ¡®artifacts¡¯ to awaken the sealed ck dragon Vormon.¡±

    All of them nodded their heads in agreement.

    ck dragon Vormon and Kongie, the Incarnation of Gluttony that Minhyuk had, were at the center of this massive unprecedented update and event in Athenae.

    There was only one reason why President Kang Taehoon and the rest of the people in the room all sported serious expressions on their faces.

    ¡°Of all ces¡­¡­¡±

    President Kang Taehoon mumbled the end of his words.

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe that our country has to deal with China in the continental war.¡±

    That was right. As if to follow the past, another continental war would break out amidst the users. And this event would mark the beginning of the server integrations.

    Joy Co. Ltd. had judged that it was virtually impossible to integrate all of the continents in Athenae all at once. And as a result of countless blood, sweat and tears, they had determined that they could unite and integrate several countries under the pretext of the continental war. For example, the Japanese and the French servers would meet together and fight against each other. And South Korea¡¯s opponent was none other than China. And the two servers would be integrated in this continental war.

    Now, this was the problem.

    China was one of the three major powers in Athenae. Aside from that, they had predicted that this would be the number one country in terms of power when a war between nations erupted in the game. Their reason was simple. Each and every person knew that China¡¯s poption was tremendous and because of that there were definitely plenty of users that held hidden sses, legendary sses, secret sses and even God sses. They even had a lot of supplies for the war. These factors were definitely something that would work well for them.

    However, there was a reason why South Korea was bound to China in this continental war. This was because of the rtionship between the Incarnation of Gluttony and the ck dragon.

    In the first ce, the Incarnation of Gluttony was a being that existed in many countries in every continent so anyone could get him regardless of their country. But the person who got him was none other than Food God Minhyuk. And since he had obtained him, all of the rted quests to the Incarnation of Gluttony would be conducted in his country. The same was true for the ck dragon. The ck dragon could be obtained from any country. And the person who had obtained the ck dragon was a Chinese user named Jiang Chen.

    The Incarnation of Gluttony and the ck dragon had to meet and end things once more. However, in this process, they had to fight against China.

    ¡®It looks like we only have a small chance of winning¡­¡­¡¯

    At President Kang Taehoon¡¯s sigh, each and every person present in the room also began to sigh.

    ***

    When Minhyuk came back to the 10th floor, he saw Aruvel sitting in one corner.

    ¡°I¡¯m back!¡±

    Aruvel quickly greeted him as he nodded towards the predatory snake who was looking at Minhyuk with its yellow eyes.

    ¡°This guy has no intention of hurting us.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head at his words.

    ¡°I know.¡±

    Minhyuk saw the predatory snake in the video. The predatory snake was a divine beast that was summoned by Great Mage Moldoron. And this divine beast was currently in front of him.

    The predatory snake turned to look at Kongie, who was perched on Minhyuk¡¯s shoulders. And once more¡­¡­

    Drop, drop, drop¨D

    It shed tears.

    ¡°Oink?¡±

    Kongie looked at the snake curiously.

    The predatory snake then turned to look at Minhyuk as its tongue flickered out of its mouth. Then, the notifications rang.

    [The Predatory Snake has granted you some of the rewards for the new record by its authority as the guardian of the floor.]

    [You have acquired Vietnamese Rice Noodles and Vietnamese Fried Rice (C?m Chi¨ºn).]

    Minhyuk¡¯s body trembled in excitement. There was an unexpected food reward that appeared in front of him.

    ¡°You¡­¡­ You¡¯re a good guy!!!¡±

    That was when Minhyuk knew that the predatory snake was definitely a good guy.

    ***

    Minhyuk looked at the Vietnamese rice noodles and fried rice in front of him with a pleased and delighted expression.

    In the past, Vietnamese rice noodles were quite unfamiliar to the general public. But in recent years, plenty of people have flocked to Vietnamese restaurants.

    Vietnamese rice noodles were usually made with beef or chicken. And the bowl of Vietnamese rice noodles that was ced in front of him was filled with shredded chicken and chicken soup. There were even plenty of crunchy-looking bean sprouts floating in the milky white soup. Minhyuk personally preferred having plenty of bean sprouts in his Vietnamese rice noodles so this bowl, which was filled with plenty of bean sprouts, was perfectly to his taste.

    Minhyuk first started his meal by grabbing his spoon and scooping up some of the milky white soup.

    ¡®Wow¡­¡­ So refreshing.¡¯

    The taste of the rich chicken broth of the Vietnamese rice noodles strangely tasted simr to samgyetang. But it wasn¡¯t greasy at all, it even gave off a refreshing vor.

    Then, Minhyuk grabbed some noodles, bean sprouts and shredded chicken with his chopsticks. Minhyuk quickly chomped on the perfect mouthful of noodles.

    Crunch, crunch, crunch¨D

    The crunching sounds from the bean sprouts were like music to his ears. The bean sprouts together with the light and chewy rice noodles as well as the delicious chicken all came together to create a superb vor in his mouth.

    Minhyuk once again mped some noodles. He slurped them up deliciously before bringing the entire bowl up to his mouth. Then, he slightly blew on the soup before tilting the bowl and gulping down the hot soup in one go.

    ¡°Kghhhk~¡±

    A sharp exmation of admiration automatically flew out from his mouth. Then, he picked up a spoon as he stretched his hand towards the Vietnamese fried rice.

    The official name of the Vietnamese fried rice was C?m Chi¨ºn. In Vietnam, they call ¡®rice¡¯ as ¡®c?m¡¯ and sometimes, they would even put some pineapple chunks in their fried rice. And of course, the vor was a bit different from the fried rice in his own country since they used different spices in Vietnam.

    Minhyuk quickly scooped up a spoonful of the fried rice. The fried rice had chopped carrots, chopped onions, cocktail shrimps and small pineapple bits. As soon as he ced it in his mouth, he could immediately taste the unique spice and texture of the rice.

    ¡®As expected! Fried rice is always right!¡¯

    Kimchi fried rice, vegetable fried rice and Vietnamese fried rice, all of them are delicious. Right?!

    Minhyuk smiled happily as he ced a pickled radish in his mouth together with a spoonful of rice. Whenever he felt parched from the dryness of the fried rice, he would turn towards the rice noodles and gulp some of the soup. Just like that, he ate everything in front of him. Then, the notification rang.

    [The Vietnamese Rice Noodles and Vietnamese Fried Rice has a special power that allows you to speak and understand thenguage of the snakes.]

    Minhyuk already knew this fact since he checked the information earlier.

    In the first ce, there were no recorded rewards for this floor. It seemed like it was just a meeting ce set up for the predatory snake and the master of the Incarnation of Gluttony.

    Then, the predatory snake started to give him hints.

    ¡°A fragment of the golden crown is in the hands of Ankheseramun in the Demon World¡¯s Tower.¡±

    ¡°Ankheseramun?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. She¡¯s on the 14th floor and she is the master of the Aelcrei Territory, a territory located on that floor.¡±

    ¡°I see. By any chance, can you tell me what happened in the past?¡±

    At his question, the predatory snake lowered its head as it stared at Kongie. It watched Kongie eat the fried rice and rice noodles that were the exact same replica of what Minhyuk ate earlier.

    ¡°I can¡¯t tell you. All I can say is¡­¡­¡±

    The predatory snake was looking at Kongie sadly.

    ¡°Sacrifice.¡±

    Then, it opened its mouth again.

    ¡°Regret.¡±

    And hisst word.

    ¡°Birth.¡±

    That was the end of its words. The predatory snake did not say anything anymore. Then, a bright light engulfed Minhyuk¡¯s and Aruvel¡¯s bodies.

    [The Predatory Snake has warped you to the next floor.]

    They disappeared in a sh of light.

    ***

    Most of the members of Legend Guild had entered thend of the elves and were operating to wipe out the demons in there. Meanwhile, Valha Territory, Vice Lord Ben was seeking ways to gain more profits through Pdin Corr and the Talmor Religion.

    Before he knew it, the middle of his empty head was already filled with rich ck hair. Old Man Ben¡¯s hobby these days was staring at the mirror and brushing his hair.

    ¡°Hmm. It¡¯s really abundant.¡±

    After he brushed his head, he went ahead and sat on the sofa. A man named Rookie was sitting in front of him. Rookie started to read the charts and tables that he had given to Ben when he saw him sit down in front of him.

    Rookie was the man that they had left in charge of the finances of Valha Territory. He had a fairly good eye formerce and money. He was also a prominent person who had led a fairlyrge-scale up anding group.

    ¡®At this rate¡­¡­ I¡¯m pretty sure we¡¯ll be able to make a better profit.¡¯

    Rookie proposed that they announce Corr¡¯s ability to grow hair to be limited. His reasoning was simple. If the ability was limited, rich aristocrats would definitely scramble for it. Anything scarce was something that they deemed worthy of buying. If they did that, then they would be able to sell it for a considerable cost. If this was approved, they would definitely be able to earn twice as much as what they were earning now.

    ¡°How is it?¡±

    ¡°Sounds great.¡±

    Knock, knock.

    Not long after, the door was opened as a girl came inside.

    ¡°Vice Lord-nim, here¡¯s your tea.¡±

    The girl was none other than Haze. When she arrived in Valha Territory, Haze had told them that she wanted to work. She even took the initiative to take care of the Vice Lord. Although she was new, Vice Lord Ben readily epted her proposal since she was bright and intelligent.

    Haze ced the tea in front of him. In the short three seconds that she had gazed at the documents on the table, she had already read and analyzed the contents of the documents. It was truly an unimaginable speed.

    ¡°This could raise more than 300% of the revenue that we¡¯re making right now.¡±

    ¡°I see, so it¡¯s satisfactory. What a relie¡­¡­¡±

    But then, a woman¡¯s calm voice cut through Rookie¡¯s words while he was speaking with the tea cup in his hands.

    ¡°But if we use another method then we can increase it to more than 700%.¡±

    ¡°......Hmm?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    The one who cut through the conversation between Ben and Rookie was none other than Haze.

    ***

    Notes

    Ankheseramun (?????) - A parody of Ankhesenamun (?????) - Wife of Tutankhamun. She was born as Ankhesenpaaten but due to the changes in belief and religion, her name was changed to Ankhesenamun. The character in the Mummy movies Anck Su Namun had her as the inspiration.

    [Predatory snake pronouns] - I will refer to the predatory snake with it until the snake receives a name, then we will determine whether the snake is a he or a she.

    Report mistakes and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 281 - A Strange Date Between Him And Her

    Chapter 281: A Strange Date Between Him and Her

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    78 A Strange Date Between Him and Her

    Vice Lord Ben and Rookie both turned to her in confusion. To rify her words, she began to speak calmly.

    ¡°It¡¯s very good to have a limited sale. But in the end, limited sales will also run into its limits.¡±

    When they heard her exnation, Vice Lord Ben tilted his head while Rookie¡¯s eyes were widened in surprise. Rookie, a person who had gone pretty high up in ranks, believed that this maid was just talking nonsense.

    ¡°Don¡¯t say anything strange in front of the Vice Lord. Leave.¡±

    ¡°No. I didn¡¯t say anything strange. I definitely can raise it by 700%.¡±

    Haze was confident with her words. He could see that Ben was partial but Rookie couldn¡¯t help but jump up in anger.

    ¡°How dare you! Where do you think you are¡­!¡±

    ¡°Rookie. Sit down. Let¡¯s listen to her words.¡±

    ¡°.....!¡±

    Rookie sat down huffing as he tried to calm down after hearing Vice Lord Ben¡¯s words. Well, he just decided to listen to her words and scold her for her strange nonsense after.

    ¡°Speak.¡±

    Ben spoke to her graciously. There was only one reason why Ben was smiling kindly to her. It was because she spoke up when she had an opinion. She did not even hide it and put it forward. Having something like that could be her biggest weapon.

    ¡°Instead of having limited sales, I think we should introduce it more. Your hair will grow once you enter Valha Territory. That¡¯s what we should tell them.¡±

    ¡°How so?¡±

    ¡°If we do that, then people will naturallye here.¡±

    Right now, if Ben decided to follow Rookie¡¯s proposal and leak the information that the hair growth was limited most of their guests would only be nobles.

    Rookie also protested against Haze¡¯s words.

    ¡°You don¡¯t even know the B in business. Don¡¯t you know that it¡¯s better to sell a small number of toys worth 10 tinum than sell arge number of toys worth 500 gold? In addition, hair loss and baldness is something that anyone with money will be willing to buy. If you apply them to the nobles, then a dramatic effect will definitely be created.¡±

    Haze nodded silently as she calmly epted his words.

    ¡°You¡¯re correct. However, what I¡¯m thinking is a little different. First of all, the people¡¯s hair were growing thanks to Sir Corr¡¯s ¡®Athenae¡¯s Prayer¡¯ and recorder. The scope of this prayer and recorder can be very wide. It is a power that can be delivered to a wide area with the help of a microphone. Of course, if they heard it through the microphone then the effect would be weak. But still, people will be able to grow their hair once they enter Valha Territory. Then, through word of mouth, even those without money, will flock to this ce.¡±

    ¡°......Continue.¡±

    ¡°Whether we gain money or not, we will still be able to attract a lot of people. And for the people whoe here, where will they sleep, eat and buy souvenirs? Of course it¡¯s here in Valha Territory.¡±

    ¡°Hoo? In other words, more money wille out once peoplee in and out of the territory?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s correct.¡±

    Both Rookie and Ben nodded at Haze¡¯s words. When Rookie thought about it, he couldn¡¯t help but smile widely.

    ¡°You¡¯re a more discerning child than I thought.¡±

    Rookie too was weing of a budding child who could grow well. However, Rookie thought that his suggestion was still better than this.

    ¡°However, this will increasebor costs. In my proposal,bor cost will be minimal while we can create the maximum efficiency. This is a way to make money with no effort at all. But yours is making money using a lot of effort. Making 300% increase in profit effortlessly and making a 300% increase in profit with extreme hard work are two different things.¡±

    This was business. They should also value thebor costs and human rights.

    However, Haze just asked him with a soft smile on her face.

    ¡°So Rookie-nim is saying this because you think your method is better overall, right?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    Ben also looked like he agreed with Rookie. But Haze decided to give them a critical blow.

    ¡°What will you do if I say that we should put an incredibly high price on our territory¡¯s specialties?¡±

    ¡°Specialty?¡±

    ¡°We can see a lot of different benefits frommoners and if we tell them that if they eat this specialty the effect of treating their hair loss will increase by several times. Just like I said earlier, Sir Corr¡¯s prayer and recorder will only have a minimal effect through the microphone. This minimal effect will make both themoners and noblese here and increase the number of people visiting our territory. Once theye here, that¡¯s when we will announce it. ¡®There¡¯s a food that will help you increase the effect of treating hair loss¡¯. A prime example will be the Voltonis Merchants.¡±

    The Voltonis Merchants was one of the famous department stores. They sell extremely expensive and valuable items. But¡­

    ¡°The Voltonis Merchants only sell expensive things but their items are also essible tomoners. They have a lot of tinum worthy and rare items thatmoners dare not look at. But does that mean that they¡¯re not able to sell it?¡±

    Rookie couldn¡¯t answer her.

    They can sell it. No, they can¡¯t sell it because they don¡¯t have enough stocks.

    It was because of ¡®scarcity¡¯.

    ¡°Nobles want to have ¡®rare and scarce¡¯ items. Of course, Rookie-nim¡¯s words meant that we should limit the sales and make it rare and scarce. But if we use my method, then we can attract tourists.¡±

    Haze grinned at them brightly.

    ¡°We can still do limited sales. That¡¯s why I said that we can generate more than 700% increase as an effect.¡±

    Both Ben and Rookie were speechless.

    That was right. They did not need to emphasize the rareness and scarcity of their items just to appeal to the nobles. All they had to do was make theme here and let them buy their specialty that were only made one by one in their territory. Since the number of tourists would increase and Rookie¡¯s proposal could also be done, they would really be able to make more than 700% increase in profits.

    Haze once again smiled softly when she saw the two of them pondering over her words.

    Ben just tilted his tea cup as he smiled pleasantly.

    This was the beginning and birth of ¡®Wealthy Billionaire Haze¡¯, a person who would grab the entire continent¡¯s riches by her hands in the future.

    ***

    Just like what was mentioned before, the Demon World¡¯s Tower was like a miniature Demon World. The Demon World¡¯s Tower was divided into plenty of sections on the ¡®General¡¯ floors, of course this was not the case on the ¡®Trial¡¯ floors. On those floors, there were also territories, cities, kingdoms and even empires.

    For example, one could go straight to Vaidenue Territory on the 32nd floor from Aelcrei Territory on the 14th floor if they knew the way. This meant that one could only move between the general floors.

    And Ankheseramun, the owner of the Aelcrei Territory, was a female demon. She was the firm and resolute master of this territory. But these days, she was in big trouble.

    ¡®Queen Baphomet doesn¡¯t listen to me¡­¡­¡¯

    Queen Baphomet was a well-known demonic beast in the Demon World. Baphomet was also the reigning queen of the Baphomets. And Queen Baphomet was not following the control of the demonic beast tamer, Ankheseramun.

    And one of her biggest problems right now was the drought.

    ¡°My Lady, if things continue on like this then the whole territory will dry up.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    The only way that they could deal with this terrible drought was through Queen Baphomet. Baphomets were basically demonic beasts that were well-versed in magic. And among them, Queen Baphomet was the one with an unimaginable power. In addition, among all of the magic that she used, she mainly controlled water. She could easily make rain from a clear sky.

    But in the first ce, she¡¯s the one who turned this ce into a horrible ce without any rain?

    Ankheseramun summoned Queen Baphomet. The summoned woman was sulking.

    ¡°What the hell is wrong with you?!!!¡±

    Queen Baphomet just ignored her words.

    ¡°Do you want me to give you something delicious?¡±

    ¡°Meeeeeeeeh¨D¡±

    Queen Baphomet just bleated at her.

    ¡°Then, do you want me to promise you not to take you out to hunt for 1 year?¡±

    ¡°Meeeeeeeeh¨D¡±

    She also just bleated.

    ¡°How about 3 years?¡±

    ¡°Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh¨D¡±

    ¡°So what the hell is wrong with you?!¡±

    Compared to the short lives that humans lived, demons could live up to 300 years. And Ankheseramun, who had lived with Queen Baphomet for about 200 years, was wondering why she suddenly was behaving like this. It was as if they were back to day one when she was still sharp and disobedient.

    Her head couldn¡¯t help but ache.

    She had built her territory under the ¡®Peaceful Race¡¯ so it would only be ridiculous if she went ahead and attacked other ces to deprive them of water.

    When she was already knee deep in her troubles, a man knocked on her door as he knelt on one knee in front of her.

    ¡°Lady Ankheseramun-nim.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s your business?¡±

    Ankheseramun couldn¡¯t help but feel unhappy when she nced at Queen Baphomet. She crossed her arms and replied briskly at the man who entered.

    ¡°A human hase to find you.¡±

    ¡°Human¡­¡­?¡±

    Ankheseramun¡¯s face couldn¡¯t help but wrinkle at the word ¡®human¡¯.

    A human came to find me?

    Of course, her territory was and of peace filled with demons that loved peace so they would not attack humans just because they came into their territory. She was rather curious as to the reason why a human came to find her.

    Ankheseramun was a proud noble demon. She was someone that a mere human couldn¡¯t easily meet.

    ¡°Tell him to get lost if he doesn¡¯t want to die.¡±

    ¡°We said that to him at first. But right now, the human¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Now¡­¡­?¡±

    Ankheseramun felt that something strange had happened.

    ¡°...says that he can make a lot of water.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡±

    Ankheseramun pondered over his words. In the end, all she could do was shake her head.

    ¡°I¡¯ll listen then.¡±

    She believed that she could just wring his neck if he did something ridiculous in front of her. She was willing to kill even if she belonged to the peaceful race.

    ***

    After listening to the words of the Predatory Snake, Minhyuk quickly climbed up to the 14th floor. However, a terrible sight appeared in front of him when he stepped foot on Aelcrei Territory.

    Everything had been dried up and twisted. It seemed like the 40 degree heat that he felt over the asphalt road had been burning for quite a long time. When Minhyuk asked around, he heard that it was because of ¡®Queen Baphomet¡¯.

    He had also asked the guards about how he could meet with Lady Ankheseramun. However, from what he had heard, it seemed like she was nigh impossible to meet.

    ¡°Crazy bastard!¡±

    ¡°How dare a human like you meet with our lord!¡±

    ¡°If we weren¡¯t from the peace tribe then you would have been long dead by now!¡±

    Maybe this is a natural reaction? After all, another race is asking to meet their lord?

    In fact, it was already hard enough to meet another lord even if they were under the same race so it seemed like it was harder if they were of different races.

    Minhyuk thought hard before talking to one of the demons who looked like he had a high position.

    ¡°I¡¯ve got a lot of water~¡±

    ¡°W, water?¡±

    ¡°H, how much do you have?¡±

    ¡°About 8 meters in height.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Of course. Can I even lie if I¡¯m in a ce where there are a lot of demons like you?¡±

    The demons shook their heads before disappearing in front of him. They told him that they would go and make a report first. Then, after a while, they came back and led Minhyuk inside the Lord¡¯s castle. In the end, he sessfully entered the ce. The lord of this territory, Ankheseramun, had one of the fragments of the golden crown so he definitely needed to meet with her.

    The door to the lord¡¯s audience room opened. He could see a woman sitting on a chair by the end of a long red carpet. She even had her legs crossed as she looked at them imposingly.

    ¡°You asked to see me?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, mydy.¡±

    Minhyuk greeted her politely.

    ¡°What¡¯s your business with me?¡±

    ¡°I need the fragment of the golden crown.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Ankheseramun¡¯s eyes widened when she heard his words. She looked like she was flustered for a while but she still spoke calmly.

    ¡°It¡¯s an item that I can¡¯t give to just anyone.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not trying to get it out of you without something in return either.¡±

    ¡°......Do you mean the water?¡±

    Ankheseramun knew that he was trying to make a deal with her. However, the golden crown fragment was an item that she could not trade even if water had be precious to them.

    ¡®If he can appease Queen Baphomet, then I will give him the fragment.¡¯

    Getting water is different from getting her back to the way she used to be. The former was only a stopgap measure but thetter would help them be drought free for a long time.

    ¡°The golden crown cannot be exchanged with water. Instead, if you give me water then I¡¯ll grant you one thing that you want.¡±

    ¡°Then, the most delicious thing here. That¡¯s what I want.¡±

    Ankheseramun tilted her head in confusion.

    Just something delicious?

    But before she could even ask him that, something unexpected suddenly happened.

    Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaa¨D

    Queen Baphomet came out of the summoning room all by herself.

    ¡°You, you!!!¡±

    Ankheseramun was agitated. The queen of her stronghold¡¯s Baphomets couldn¡¯t be controlled at all. But then¡­¡­

    Something really strange happened. Queen Baphomet was staring at Minhyuk. Then¡­¡­

    Her cheeks glowed red.

    ¡°......?¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    Both Minhyuk and Ankheseramun couldn¡¯t understand the situation. But what Queen Baphomet did next was something that was more shocking. She suddenly pulled her hair, no¡­ her ck fleece, behind her ears as she shyly nced at him. It seemed like she was trying to show off her beauty.

    ¡°......¡±

    That was when Ankheseramun realized something.

    ¡®Did you do that because you wanted to mate¡­¡­?!!!¡¯

    Isn¡¯t this weird? No,e to think of it, Queen Baphomet has a slightly lower intelligence than the average demons.

    And such a being had not met a male in her 200 years of life. Perhaps this phenomenon was not that unusual. After all, it was obvious that most living beings would want to pair with a mate.

    So the question is¡­... why would you even look at a human like that?

    Then, right at that moment¡­...

    aaaaash¨D

    Minhyuk¡¯s summoning room opened by itself. Then, another Baphomet also appeared. Then, Queen Baphomet¡¯s eyes began to glow.

    The Baphomet that appeared in front of her had an elegant figure. He had glossy ck fur, finely raised horns, round eyes and solid and firm thighs that resembled the thighs of a beautiful horse.

    A fine note of music floated over Queen Baphomet¡¯s head.

    Destiny~~~

    This is fate. That¡¯s what this is!!!

    And¡­¡­

    Gulp¨D

    Queen Baphomet suddenly gulped.

    Ankheseramun supported her forehead.

    ¡®Why are you gulping?!!!¡¯

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    You are my destiny~

    PR¡¯s corner!

    You know, Ipletely forgot Minhyuk had that.

 Chapter 282 - A Strange Date Between Him And Her

    Chapter 282: A Strange Date Between Him and Her

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Baphomet was one of the Demon World¡¯s Seven Great Demonic Beasts that was summoned by the Pharaoh¡¯s Envoy. Minhyuk had used his ¡®Allurer¡¯s Cooking Skill¡¯ on Baphomet and seeded in taming him. Minhyuk even gave him the name ¡®Rune¡¯. Just like when he appeared in Athenae: Korean War, Rune had always appeared as his miniature version ever since he became Minhyuk¡¯s pet. But right now, he emerged in hisplete form.

    Rune swept his bangs(?) up. Queen Baphomet looked both shy and ecstatic as she watched him.

    Meanwhile, Ankheseramun was just staring at this scene with a bewildered expression on her face. Then, Queen Baphomet approached her.

    In fact, Queen Baphomet and Ankheseramun could notmunicate. However, they were able to achieve some sort of ¡®empathy¡¯ between each other. And right now, she was sending a signal through their empathy to Ankheseramun.

    ¡®I like him.¡¯

    ¡°......¡±

    Did she really go crazy?

    Minhyuk couldn¡¯t help but chuckle as he watched the scene in front of him.

    He had heard a lot of information about Ankheseramun from Aruvel. ording to Aruvel, Ankheseramun was a wise and powerful ruler. Originally, this territory was like hell on earth. It was and where demons and demonic beasts couldn¡¯t live on at all. It was a ce where not even a single drop of rain fell, so many would wonder how one could survive in this ce, right? However, she was a woman who sessfully established her home in this ce. She even ruled over hundreds of thousands of demons in thisnd. That was how powerful she was.

    But what was even more surprising was this one thing that Minhyuk knew about her.

    ¡®She¡¯s the daughter of the Demon King.¡¯

    She was the daughter of the current Demon King, Alberdo. However, this was something that only a select few knew about. And right now was the perfect time to gain the favor of the Demon King¡¯s daughter.

    Ankheseramun easily schooled her bewildered expression to her usual cold and intelligent look.

    ¡®I should first check if this human punk is lying or not.¡¯

    This man had spoken about water, something that was essential to their territory, just so he could meet with her. If his words were a lie, then she would not give him any rewards nor agree to any of his requests. And even if it was disgraceful and vited her honor, she would kill him right there and then.

    ¡°You have to first prove that you can provide us with water. If it¡¯s just a very small amount of water that you can only create temporarily then I¡¯ll make you regret everything.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head.

    ¡°May Ie closer for a moment?¡±

    ¡°Alright.¡±

    Then, Minhyuk approached her step by step before handing her a ring. The ring was none other than ¡®Roves¡¯ Ring¡¯. Roves¡¯ Ring was a ring that had a special power that allowed him to create a huge tidal wave. If Roves¡¯ tidal wave was used in a ce that wasrge enough to amodate such a gigantic tidal wave then their month-long drought would certainly be resolved right now.

    She nodded her head when she saw the information on the ring.

    ¡®It¡¯s true.¡¯

    So what was left was the matter between Queen Baphomet and Rune.

    ¡°I think that being is your pet. Why don¡¯t you sell it to me?¡±

    When he heard her words, Minyuk just gently shook his head.

    The first rule of business! If there¡¯s something that a person really needs then raise it¡¯s value!

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry but this Baphomet, Rune, is arade that has gone on life and death experiences with me. Selling him at a price¡­¡­ absolutely impossible. If this child dies then I die with him! I have to follow his wishes!¡±

    Hismunication skills right now were so brilliant that he could even sell the water made from Roves¡¯ tidal wave for 1 tinum per liter.

    So what did Rune really mean to Minhyuk? From what he had said, he was not that special of an existence to him.

    ¡°......Is that so?¡±

    She looked a bit embarrassed after hearing his words. That was when the two of them found a point for negotiation.

    ¡°Queen Baphomet seems to have a crush on your pet named Rune but she is a very meticulous being. In fact, I still am not sure if they will really love each other just because they are together. After all, Queen Baphomet is a pure and noble being.¡±

    That was right. That was the reason why she did not have a mate despite the plenty of Baphomets present in this ce. In fact, if she did not fall in love with them then she wouldn¡¯t even think about staying with them at all. And even though she always fell in love at first sight, her naiveness and purity still remained beautiful and noble. She would only give her body and heart to the Baphomet that she had truly fallen in love with.

    ¡°Help these two mate. If you let them mate and raise their satisfaction then I¡¯ll give you a treasure in this territory. And if you get the highest satisfaction, I¡¯ll give you the golden crown.¡±

    At that moment, a quest window popped in front of Minhyuk.

    [Quest: n a Date Course for Him and Her.]

    Rank: SS

    Restrictions: The one who owns Baphomet.

    Rewards: If the mating seeds, you will receive one of the territory¡¯s treasures. If you achieve 100% satisfaction, you will be able to receive the fragment of the golden crown.

    Description: Queen Baphomet is a woman living a tragic life. She has lived her entire 200 years of life being single and alone. Help her have a satisfying date and hot night with Rune!!!

    It was a very strange and interesting quest. However, additional notifications followed not long after.

    [This is a quest for additional rewards.]

    [If Baphomet Rune sessfully mates with Queen Baphomet and receives her vitality, Rune will evolve.]

    ¡°......!¡±

    Will Rune evolve if he receives her vitality?

    From beginning to end, it was a very strange and unusual quest.

    ¡°If I seed, I ask mydy to give me the most delicious food that you are proud of.¡±

    Minhyuk had heard a lot of information from Aruvel and knew two things about the delicious food that could be found here. The first one was rted to Queen Baphomet.

    ¡°Delicious food¡­¡­ We do have one specialty. It¡¯s none other than Queen Baphomet¡¯s milk.¡±

    Queen Baphomet¡¯s milk¡­¡­ I wonder how delicious it is?

    ¡°And our territory¡¯s famous food is seasoned tripe and chitterlings.¡±

    It was a food that he couldn¡¯t help but admire.

    A smile will definitelye out if you dip the seasoned tripe in bean powder, right? That soft bean vor that catches the greasiness of the tripe¡­ hmmm! What about the chitterlings? If you bite the chitterlings dipped in the sauce made with gochujang and mayonnaise, the vorful and hot seasonings inside will definitely burst and create a harmonious vor! And after eating both the seasoned tripe and chitterlings?

    ¡®You have to eat fried rice! Kyaa!¡¯

    Minhyuk couldn¡¯t help but burst out in admiration.

    ¡°I promise to give you Baphomet¡¯s milk, the seasoned tripe and chitterlings, as well as this territory¡¯s treasure once you achieve 100% satisfaction.¡±

    Those words were enough for him. Minhyuk replied solemnly.

    ¡°I will do my very best!¡±

    ***

    Minhyuk had to squeeze out everything that he could for Queen Baphomet and Rune¡¯s date course! This was also his mission so he had to do his best. However, Minhyuk, Aruvel, Kongie and Rune all faced enormous difficulties.

    ¡°Is there anyone here who has ever been in a rtionship¡­¡­?¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    There was no one who answered the question.

    ¡°I heard Aruvel has lived for 1,000 years. Have you ever had a rtionship?¡±

    Compared to other demons, Aruvel lived a particrly long life.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t do it because it¡¯s too troublesome.¡±

    When Minhyuk heard his words, he knew that that was just his excuse. He had been single since birth! Minhyuk could only sigh ruefully in the end. It was truly difficult to n a date course since the four of them did not have any dating experience.

    Then, Minhyuk suggested something.

    ¡°Then, I¡¯ll work on a dating course first. So all of you should look at itter.¡±

    All of them nodded their heads in agreement. And 40 minutester, Minhyuk finished writing his date course n and handed it over to everyone.

    [Minhyuk¡¯s Date Course Proposal!]

    Meet up at 7am to eat.

    After the meal, enjoy some drinks and cake as dessert together.

    Lunch wille after the cake. The lunch must have some kind of meat.

    After lunch, just like some street food, eat grass that¡¯s grown on the ground.

    Then, eat some cake and have some drinks.

    Eat.

    Eat happily ever after.

    Enjoy your meal.

    Eat deliciously.

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    All of them were left speechless. Minhyuk couldn¡¯t understand their silence.

    ¡°Why? Isn¡¯t this a really happy date?¡±

    ¡°Oiiink¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°This is not it. Hoo¡­¡­¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s head was only filled with thoughts. Then, Minhyuk spoke.

    ¡°Why are you dating in the first ce? Isn¡¯t it to share food!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d rather be the one to do it. Give it here.¡±

    Aruvel quickly began to map out a dating course. Sage Aruvel¡¯s dating course! It was something to look forward to.

    [Aruvel¡¯s Date Course!]

    Start the morning with some reading.

    Read and discuss books about the philosophy of the demon race.

    Read a useful book titled ¡®What is a race?¡¯ together.

    Discuss this topic together.

    Go to the garden, lie down together and watch ¡®The Demon God¡¯s Autobiography¡¯.

    Discuss.

    Have a pleasant discussion.

    Read some books.

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Everyone else was also left speechless. Minhyuk was sure that Aruvel was someone who learned mating through books and writings! This was the moment when they all realized why he had been single even after living for a thousand years.

    ¡°Meeeeeeeeeeeh¨D¡±

    This time, it was Rune who stepped up. Since Rune couldn¡¯t write anything down, he asked Kongie for help and conveyed his thoughts to him. And since Minhyuk could understand Kongie¡¯s words, he spoke up what he heard from Kongie.

    ¡°1. As soon as you wake up in the morning, give a hug and start a hot morning. 2. Give a deep kiss at lunch and spend more hot moments together. 3. In the evening, in bed¡­¡­ Wait! Everything you said is weird!!!¡±

    Minhyuk realized that Rune was only cute and adorable when he was in a pet state. But it seemed like he was a ¡®Pervert Rune¡¯ through and through.

    In the end, Kongie watched them as he smiled confidently. Then, everyone checked what Kongie had written. Looking at what he wrote, the word strange floated in everyone¡¯s heads. However, this was the most normal dating course that had been proposedpared to the other three proposals.

    ¡°I, I guess this is the best that we can do.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s definitely something strange with this but this has been the most normal proposal¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°Meeeeeeeeeeeh¨D¡±

    In the end, they decided to follow Kongie¡¯s dating course. Then, the thought that popped in Minhyuk¡¯s head was¡­¡­

    ¡®We¡¯re doomed¡­..¡¯

    Kongie¡¯s proposal was chosen because it was the most normal out of all their proposals. But in fact, Kongie¡¯s proposal was also very strange. At this point, Minhyuk thought that it would be a relief if he even managed to get them to mate.

    Then, the next day¡­¡­ Rune left early in the morning to go on a date.

    Meanwhile, the three of them followed him secretly.

    ***

    Rune went to meet Queen Baphomet.

    When Queen Baphomet met him, she couldn¡¯t help but bow her head shyly. Then, Rune handed her a rose that he had picked up from the side of the road.

    ¡°Meeeeeeeeeh¨D (I brought this because I thought of you.)¡±

    ¡°Meeeeh? (Oh my god?)¡±

    Not long after, Rune said something that Kongie had emphasized to him. He definitely told him to say these words.

    ¡°Meeeeeeeeeh¨D (However, this beautiful flower looks nothing more than grass when ced in front of you. You¡­¡­ are so beautiful.)¡±

    And Minhyuk thought¡­¡­

    ¡®Uuuuuugh! So cheesy!!! My goosebumps are rising just by thinking about it! I don¡¯t think women will like this!¡¯

    But something unexpected happened.

    ¡°Meeeeeeeeh? (Really?)¡±

    ¡°Meeeeeeeeeh¨D (Of course. Hoho.)¡±

    Completely contrary to what Minhyuk had expected, it seemed like the response was good.

    Then, the two of them moved together.

    Queen Baphomet had been very thirsty since she woke up. Because of the long drought, she couldn''t even drink water.

    They went to the ce that Minhyuk filled with water temporarily with Roves¡¯ Ring yesterday. Then, the two of them drank some water gently. While they werepping the water with their fleeting tongues, the two of them made eye contact. Rune swept his bangs up again. He looked at her with his deep and mellow eyes before speaking.

    ¡°Meeeeeeeeeh¨D (To your beautiful eyes, cheers!)¡±

    When Minhyuk heard the line¡­¡­

    ¡®W, we¡¯re done for¡­¡­! That¡¯s a poor line from a third rate drama¡­¡­!¡¯

    Instead of mating, Minhyuk thought that everything would finally go down the drain. But he was shocked once again.

    ¡°Meeeeeeeeeh¨D (You¡­ You¡¯re so cool.)¡±

    Then, he heard a notification.

    [Queen Baphomet¡¯s satisfaction increased dramatically.]

    [She¡¯s imagining her mating with Rune.]

    ¡°Oink¡­..!¡±

    Kongie smiled proudly.

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    I never imagined that a day woulde when I would trante a dating scenario between two baphomets. Ahhh. I can feel my goosebumps rising. I think there will be more of this next chapter¡­¡­ maybe this is why I¡¯m single too. HAHAHAHAHAHA SMH.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    ¡­And suddenly Athenae is a dating sim. Of course it is. And of course Kongie is a Casanova.

 Chapter 283 - A Strange Date Between Him And Her

    Chapter 283: A Strange Date Between Him and Her

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    ¡®Keok! This is ridiculous¡­¡­!¡¯

    It was something that Minhyuk couldn¡¯t believe.

    How canments like that work?

    ¡®No. This is truly ridiculous.¡¯

    And this was something that Aruvel agreed on.

    ¡°Can you see this? My hair is standing on edge.¡±

    Aruvel showed off the goosebumps that rose on his arms. Meanwhile, Minhyuk thought that they should wait and see.

    Rune and Queen Baphomet started the morning with a refreshing drink in the water reservoir before moving forward to eat. They both grazed the grasses on one of the hills in the Demon World. While they were chewing on some grass, Rune turned to her and asked¡­¡­

    ¡°Meeeeeeeeeh¨D (Do you smell something burning?)¡±

    Minhyuk couldn¡¯t help but get shocked when he heard Kongie¡¯s trantion.

    ¡®N, no. Th, that line¡­¡­¡¯

    ¡°Meeeeeeeh? (Something burning?)¡±

    ¡°Meeeeeeeeeh¨D (It¡¯s because my heart is burning for you.)¡±

    ¡®Keok¡­¡­!¡¯

    Minhyuk was going crazy. No, perhaps that wasn¡¯t it? He knew that Kongie would y music with Minhyuk¡¯s ¡®Music Listening Setting¡¯ every once in a while. For the convenience of the user, a ¡®Beam Project¡¯, something that could let you watch TV would often be allowed to be taken to the summoning room. And Kongie had brought it there with him. He wondered what he was using it for but it seemed like Kongie must have brought it there to watch dramas!

    However, another unexpected thing happened.

    [Queen Baphomet¡¯s satisfaction has increased dramatically.]

    [She¡¯s imagining her mating with Rune.]

    Minhyuk was left speechless again and again.

    The date between Rune and Queen Baphomet continued. They were walking down the streets together when Rune suddenly spoke up.

    ¡°Meeeeeeeeeh¨D (Aaaaack! It¡¯s too bright.)¡±

    ¡°Meeeeeeeeh? (Is it the sun?)¡±

    ¡°Meeeeeeeeeh¨D (No, it¡¯s your smile.)¡±

    [Queen Baphomet¡¯s satisfaction has increased dramatically.]

    [She¡¯s imagining her mating with Rune.]

    He got another notification.

    Then, they yed tag together.

    ¡°Meeeeeeeeeh¨D (Come and catch me~!)¡±

    ¡°Meeeeeeeeeh¨D (This, this, this~ My lovely and adorablemb~)¡±

    Just like that, another notification popped up.

    [Queen Baphomet¡¯s satisfaction has increased dramatically.]

    [She¡¯s imagining her mating with Rune.]

    And by the end of the date¡­¡­

    [Queen Baphomet¡¯s satisfaction has increased dramatically.]

    [She wants to mate with Rune.]

    ¡°Th, this can¡¯t be happening¡­ for real¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk was shocked. No. He was already doubting his thoughts as of the moment.

    Perhaps Kongie is the master of romance?

    ¡®That¡¯s right. After all, I have never been in a rtionship in my entire life¡­¡­¡¯

    Then he thought¡­¡­ If he ever got free of his disease and he finally met someone that he truly loved then he would definitely use the lines: ¡®Aaack! It¡¯s too bright. Your smile.¡¯.

    Kongie slowly approached Minhyuk before tapping him on the shoulders.

    ¡°Oiiink.¡±

    This is the difference between you and me.

    Kongie then turned to the two beings who were on a date with a faint yet solemn look. For a moment, he looked like he was a hidden master. He let out a shrug as Queen Baphomet and Rune disappeared from their sights.

    ***

    In fact, Queen Baphomet was embarrassed when he heard Rune¡¯s lines for the first time.

    ¡®To your beautiful eyes, cheers!¡¯

    For a split second, she wanted to put his head in the water. However, she had no other choice but to put up with it.

    ¡®I, I also want to feel the touch of a male¡­¡­!¡¯

    It had been 200 years. And in those 200 years, she had never smelled the scent of a male let alone date. This was also caused and influenced by Ankheseramun. She used to tell Queen Baphomet every day that she was noble and pure so it got stuck in her head.

    But didn¡¯t she ce everything down just to say yes? This was her opportunity. But Rune¡¯sments became more and more excessive.

    ¡®No, it¡¯s your smile.¡¯

    When she heard that line, she wanted to summon Hellfire and throw it at Rune¡¯s face. But she continued to endure it. And she began to imagine it. The very first wonderful night that she would ever have!

    That was right. The reason why Minhyuk kept on hearing those favorable notifications whenever Rune¡¯sments rang loudly was because the image of the beautiful night that she wanted was much more powerful than Rune¡¯s ¡®third-rate lines¡¯.

    And Rune who came with her to this ce¡­¡­

    ¡°Meeeeeeeeeh¨D (I feel happy just thinking about holding you in my arms.)¡±

    Rune had once again spouted his third-rate line. Then, Rune turned his head as a fresh and bright smile curled on his mouth. However, he suddenly got confused.

    ¡°Me, meeeeeh? (What¡¯s that?)¡±

    It was because he saw a whip on Queen Baphomet¡¯s hands. She smiled wickedly as she held the whip with her right hand. She even pped it on her left hand ominously. This whip looked like it was Queen Baphomet¡¯s ¡®Whip of Death¡¯.

    ¡°......!!!¡±

    Queen Baphomet took the opportunity when she saw Rune¡¯s shock. She quickly rushed towards him to start their glorious night together.

    And in that ce¡­¡­

    ¡°Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh!¡±

    Baphomet Rune¡¯s screams rang loudly.

    ***

    Minhyuk turned to look at Queen Baphomet and Rune. Rune was all red and shy, perhaps it was because they spent their night enthusiastically together. Rune was even startled when Queen Baphomet shamelessly pushed her body into him.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Minhyuk couldn¡¯t help but tilt his head in confusion.

    ¡°Meeeeeeeeeh¨D (What¡¯s wrong with you?)¡±

    Queen Baphomet had spoken those words when she saw Minhyuk tilt his head. However, Rune could clearly see a different meaning. The hidden meaning behind those words.

    ¡®Hey. Smile. Pretend that you had fun.¡¯

    ¡°Me, meeeeeeeh¡­¡­¡±

    Rune shed an awkward smile towards his owner, Minhyuk.

    Meanwhile, after Rune had mated with Queen Baphomet yesterday, he had achieved a remarkable 1st ss growth.

    Then, Minhyuk approached Ankheseramun. The notifications rang when he stood in front of her.

    [You havepleted the Quest: n a Date Course for Him and Her with 100% satisfaction.]

    [You can now receive Queen Baphomet¡¯s Fresh Milk.]

    [You can now receive the Demon World¡¯s Fantastic Seasoned Tripe, Chitterlings and Beef Chitterlings.]

    [You can now receive 1 fragment of the Golden Crown.]

    [You can now view the video: Birth of the Incarnation of Gluttony (2).]

    At the order of Ankheseramun, a few demons handed Minhyuk¡¯s rewards to him. The first item that he received was Queen Baphomet¡¯s fresh milk. Upon consumption of the milk the person¡¯s magi stat would increase by 200 together with a 20 points increase in STR and AGI.

    Then, the seasoned tripe and chitterlings hat he was looking forward to came out. However, it did not end there.

    Ankheseramun received a signal from Queen Baphomet. It seemed like Queen Baphomet was truly satisfied. Then, a thought shed in Ankheseramun¡¯s head.

    She¡¯s the same Queen Baphomet that stayed with me for 200 years but I was only made aware of her loneliness today. It seemed like I had been toocent.

    Considering the fact that other creatures would also experience this, she realized that loneliness was only a matter of course. So she tried to give additional rewards to the human who had solved this problem of hers.

    Unlike thebat race, the peaceful race had simr core values with humans. Although they were reluctant to wage war and fight against other races, they would still fight if necessary. And they also knew how to repay those who had helped them albeit asionally.

    And just like that, Ankheseramun gave Minhyuk a gopchang hot pot as an additional reward.

    [You have acquired Gopchang (Large) Hot Pot.]

    ¡°......!¡±

    Minhyuk was both in awe and admiration. He felt truly grateful to Ankheseramun.

    ¡°The fragment of the golden crown is a rare item that has been handed down by our ancestors. ording to our ancestors, this was entrusted to us by the divine beasts. And this was an item that contained a very strong power. However, I was also told that this power can only be used by its true owner.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head when he heard Ankheseramun¡¯s words.

    But before he could use the fragment of the golden crown on Kongie, there was still something that he needed to do, right?

    ¡°Can I go out for a while?¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    Ankheseramun tilted her head at him as Minhyuk disappeared in front of her. It seemed like there was something really urgent that he needed to do.

    ¡®It must have been really urgent. I wonder what it is that he needed to do?¡¯

    She was quite interested in the fragment of the golden crown. But right now, the man seemed to be more interested in something else.

    ***

    Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle¨D

    The sizzling sound from a grill resounded in the area. In front of Minhyuk was a stone grillyered with seasoned tripes, chitterlings and beef chitterlings. The chitterling¡¯s oil made the grill sizzle as the sliced onions, chives and garlic were being cooked together.

    Gulp¨D

    It was truly abination that could make anyone drool.

    Minhyuk had also made sure to prepare the most basicbination on the table in front of him. On the table was a sauce made with bean powder, mayonnaise and gochujang. And not only was there that sauce, there was also a bright red gochujang together with some seasonings and chojang. He also made sure to ce some peri leaves, lettuce, ssamjang and raw garlic on the table.

    While the tripes and chitterlings were grilling, he lifted a piece of heart from the grill. The oil on the surface of the heart was sizzling hot. He quickly blew on it before dipping it in sesame oil and salt. Then, he took the piece to his mouth. He couldn¡¯t help but be amazed at the savory scent of the sesame oil as well as the salty taste of the heart that spread in his mouth.

    ¡®This is the vor. This is the taste!¡¯

    Heughed happily as he ate a few more pieces of the heart. As he continued to eat the heart, the other things on the grill started to get cooked. Although it was called gopchang, it was divided into makchang. daechang, and other parts. It would also taste differently depending on what part one was eating. The texture of each part was also different.

    The first thing that he picked up was the makchang. Then, he dipped the piece, which was empty in the middle, in the sauce made from mayonnaise and gochujang before putting it in his mouth. The light and soft vor of the mayonnaisebined perfectly with the gochujang¡¯s spicy vor. The perfect harmony of the sauce added a great ir to the chewy texture of the makchang.

    Chew, chew¨D

    After eating the makchang, he extended his chopsticks towards the daechang. Compared to makchang, daechang was longer and it was filled with white fat inside. As soon as he bit on it, the fat spread in his mouth making him feel both the hotness and the smoothness of the daechang.

    His mouth was easily filled and coated with oil. Then, he went ahead and mped some seasoned tripe with his chopsticks. He also picked up some chives to go along with it before putting it in his mouth.

    ¡°Hooo. Delicious!¡±

    He mped another piece of tripe. This time, he dipped the tripe in bean powder before eating. The savory vor of the bean powder easily catched andplemented the spicy vor of the tripe.

    After he finished eating the tripes, he quickly picked up his spoon as he scooped some of the gopchang hot pot.

    Boil, boil, boil¨D

    The boiling soup from the gopchang hotpot was also filled with peri leaves. Something that Minhyuk truly liked.

    A smile couldn¡¯t help but spread out in his mouth when he tasted the gopchang hotpot. He quickly picked some gopchang before dipping it in the same sauce from earlier.

    After tasting and eating most of the gopchang from the hotpot, he quickly added some kalguksu noodles in the soup. He quickly scooped up the kalguksu after cooking it and transferred it to a te. And just like that, he began to eat noodles that were cooked in the soup of the local specialty, gopchang hotpot.

    ¡°Sluuuuuuuuurp!¡±

    The chewy and spicy vor that permeated the noodles was just like a perfect work of art.

    After eating everything. He turned towards the final highlight. It was none other than fried rice.

    Sometimes, when one visited a gopchang restaurant, they would see a ¡®Self Egg Frying Corner¡¯. Whenever Minhyuk visited that restaurant in the past, he would always make sure to fry an egg and ce it on top of his fried rice.

    Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle¨D

    The seaweed that he sprinkled over the ttened fried rice danced from the heat. Minhyuk even added three fried eggs on top of it. Then, he quickly poked the top of the yolk of the egg in the middle. The yolk easily burst out and flowed down the rice.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡­ This is like art itself.¡±

    Minhyuk quickly cut a portion of the egg as he scooped a spoonful of fried rice before cing it in his mouth. Thebination of the fried rice, egg and gopchang created an extremely fantastic vor in his mouth.

    Scratch, scratch, scratch¨D

    The sound of someone scratching the bottom of the pan rang loudly. Minhyuk scratched the pan and made sure to get everyst piece of fried rice in his mouth.

    ¡°So happy~¡±

    Then, he ced a piece of kimchi on top of the spoonful of fried rice before taking a big bite.

    ¡°Hehehe.¡±

    Whenever his throat felt thirsty and dry, he would hold up a bowl of cold dongchimi soup and take a sip.

    Before he realized it, he had already finished everything in front of him. He couldn¡¯t help but look at the empty bowls and tes with a huge smile on his face.

    [You have eaten the Demon World¡¯s Seasoned Tripe and Chitterlings.]

    [The Food God¡¯s Greatness.]

    [The penalty for the medicine has been ignored. However, this does not work for many people.]

    [A Medicine Dish. You have obtained additional stats.]

    [Magi +230, STR +25, AGI+24.]

    Smiling at the notifications, Minhyuk finally wrapped up his food party by drinking some cider to wash his mouth.

    Originally, gopchang should be enjoyed with a shot of soju but he did not do so since he still had things to confirm and check. And that was the Birth of the Incarnation of Gluttony video (2).

    Minhyuk wanted to check it immediately. And just like before, Minhyuk¡¯s soul escaped from his body as the second video started to y.

    ***

    Notes

    [Tripes and Chitterlings] - actually this was a tripe and entrails. Basically the organs inside of a pig. Idk if you guys eat that but we also eat them from here. That¡¯s why they said that you can eat almost every part of the pig. They¡¯re quite delicious. So basically it¡¯s not just some tripe and chitterling (intestine). It¡¯s tripe and all the other organ that you can eat in a pig. Including the heart and the liver.

    [??] Gopchang - intestines. Usually the cow¡¯s small intestine or the pig¡¯srge intestine.

    [??] Makchang - abomasum. A part of the cow¡¯s rectum.

    [??] Daechang -rge intestine. Another term for gopchang. An offal.

    [??? ??] Kalguksu sari - kalguksu noodles. Chopped noodles.

 Chapter 284 - A Strange Date Between Him And Her

    Chapter 284: A Strange Date Between Him and Her

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Just likest time, the exnations rang as the second video began to y.

    [The three Great Divine Beasts that awakened the Supreme Divine Beast went back with him. They locked the Supreme Divine Beast in a ¡®control room¡¯ and observed him. The Supreme Divine Beast¡¯s power was limited and restricted when he was inside the control room.]

    The Envoy of Incarnation, Baroque, called Penrus before sitting down together with the other divine beasts masters.

    ¡°The Supreme Divine Beast is just a baby piggy¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not what crossed my mind. Is he at ¡®peace¡¯ right now?¡±

    Moldoron shook his head when he heard the Dragon Monarch¡¯s words.

    ¡°We should not becent. He¡¯s still the Supreme Divine Beast. Perhaps he¡¯s still hiding his true self.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go to the control room first.¡±

    All of them stood up and walked in front of the control room. Everything inside the control room was white. It was a ce where no power could be used and inside it was the Supreme Divine Beast, a baby piggy.

    ¡°Where did he go¡­¡­?!¡±

    Moldoron tried to check the baby piggy through the slits on the iron door but he was left in a fluster when there was no baby piggy in sight. Baroque also tried to look for the baby piggy through a small gap but he could not see him at all.

    ¡°Th, this¡­¡­!¡±

    Just as they were shouting in surprise¡­¡­

    ¡°Oink!!!¡±

    The creature that they were looking for suddenly appeared behind them. He was smiling widely at them with a face that was covered with whipped cream.

    ¡®I, I did not even feel him¡­¡­¡¯

    ¡®He, he got out of the control room on his own¡­¡­?!¡¯

    ¡®Unbelievable!¡¯

    The baby piggy approached them slowly as he held out one of the things he was eating towards them.

    ¡°Oink!!!¡±

    The baby piggy was smiling at them brightly as if he was greeting his friends. But the three great divine beasts were all afraid. He was a being that could move out of the control room on his own and approach them without even alerting them.

    Baroque pped his hands away.

    ¡°M, Monster¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°W, what kind of power do you possess?!¡±

    ¡°What are you nning?!¡±

    Even though they were the ones who broke the Supreme Divine Beast out, the three great incarnations remained suspicious of him. It was because of their ¡®fear¡¯. Terror gripped their beings when they thought that the Supreme Divine Beast that they had awakened would be a ¡®disaster¡¯.

    The baby piggy tilted his head at their questions. Then¡­¡­

    sh¨D

    The baby piggy disappeared in a sh of light and appeared in front of Penrus.

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    The baby piggy appeared in front of Penrus and carefully reached out to stroke his head. Then, heughed happily.

    ¡°Oiiiink!!!¡±

    ¡°R, ridiculous¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s Penrus¡¯ ¡®Speed of Light¡¯......!¡±

    The power that the baby piggy had just used was¨D

    It was an ability that Penrus had, the Speed of Light. It was a skill that would bring forth a sh of light while allowing the user to narrow the distance all at once.

    ¡°Grrrrrrrrrr!¡±

    Penrus felt afraid when he felt the touch of the Supreme Divine Beast on his head. He even tried to m his body onto him. But just as they were about to hit¡­¡­

    A ck barrier appeared in front of the Supreme Divine Beast.

    Baaaaaaaang!!!

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t this the Dragon of Destruction¡¯s ¡®Dragon Protection¡¯?¡±

    That was the moment that they realized that the Supreme Divine Beast had the ability to use the abilities of other beings. He was a very dangerous being. And he was an object of terror.

    ¡°Oiiink?¡±

    The Supreme Divine Beast tilted his head as he looked at Penrus in confusion. Everyone felt afraid when they saw him.

    Then, the exnation began to appear again.

    [The three Great Divine Beasts and their owners had learned the power of the Supreme Divine Beast. But instead of feeling relief, they all felt a greater sense of fear. As a result, they became more distanced, repulsive and disgusted with the Supreme Divine Beast. They even locked the Supreme Divine Beast in the ¡®Ten Thousand Cold Iron Year Room¡¯. They pushed the Supreme Divine Beast inside the Ten Thousand Cold Iron Year Room that had borrowed power from the God of Athenae.]

    In the end, they decided not to use the power of the Supreme Divine Beast in their battle against the ck Dragon Vormon. If the ck Dragon Vormon and the Supreme Divine Beast were on the same side then the world would really end.

    Eventually, the final war broke out.

    ¡°Die!!!¡±

    ¡°Give up the entire Asgan Continent!!!¡±

    ¡°The people who wille out alive of this are none other than the people of our Irucan Continent!!!¡±

    Tens of millions of humans fought a fierce battle during the continental war.

    ¡°Keu, keuaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Ugh, aaaaaack!¡±

    Screams and shrieks ran rampant all over the world.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Hundreds of thousands of magical spells and arrows rained down and washed the world with blood.

    Then, three white pirs of light suddenly shed in the sky.

    Baaaaaaaang¨D

    All the beings that were fighting intensely stopped and focused on the pirs of light. The incarnation of light, Penrus, together with the Envoy of Incarnation, Baroque, appeared.

    ¡°Stop all these pointless battles!!! Stop taking each other¡¯s lives!!! The war should end here!!!¡±

    Moldoron swung his huge staff.

    ¡°Everyone, wake up!!! Break free from ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s brainwashing!!! This is a war that began with an intention to paint the world in blood!!!¡±

    ¡°From this point on, we, the three Great Divine Beasts, will deal with any of you who continue to fight!!!¡±

    Everyone paused in their movements. Then, a bright light burst from the incarnation of light, Penrus¡¯ mouth.

    [Light Serenade]

    [Any anger and desire to kill subsides.]

    ¡°I, I don¡¯t want to fight¡­¡­¡±

    ¡°I want to live.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m so sick and tired of all of these pointless battles.¡±

    They all rxed their grips on their weapons as they stopped their fights. If someone fought, then the three Great Divine Beasts would mete out punishments upon them.

    Then¡­¡­

    ¡°Garararararaaack!¡±

    Along with the horrendous roar, ck currents began to engulf the humans once more.

    [Vormon¡¯s Roar]

    [ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s ¡®Destructive Instinct¡¯ had been triggered.]

    [Rage, jealousy and envy will dominate your feelings.]

    Poof¨D

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kill!!!!¡±

    ¡°Go die!!!!¡±

    The three Great Divine Beasts had expected this to happen. They turned to look at a huge mountain peak from far away. From there, a gigantic being that was asrge as a mountain started to spread its ck wings and fly.

    ¡°Three Great Divine Beasts¡­ Spare your efforts. Humans are ultimately greedy, arrogant and conceited beings. Once they all disappear this world will regain ¡®stability¡¯ as powerful beings like us reign over this world.¡±

    ¡°Stop spouting nonsense!¡±

    ¡°Without them, this world will not exist!¡±

    ¡°Then, death is the only thing that waits for you.¡±

    ck Dragon Vormon immediately flew towards them. In his webbed and polymorphed hands was a sword that was glistening with ck light.

    The three Great Divine Beasts had already realized that they would not be able to subdue him with force. So they brought a parchment with the power from the ¡®Book of Taboos¡¯. It was none other than the ¡®Sealing Pledge¡¯. This parchment would allow them to seal him once his HP drops to 50%. However, they had to exchange their lives for it.

    ¡°Penrus!!!¡±

    ¡°Four Legendary Dragons!!!¡±

    The Dragon Monarch, Baroque and Moldoron started to struggle against ck Dragon Vormon.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    But ck Dragon Vormon was extremely powerful. Magic would pour out and rain on them with each swing of his sword.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kyaaaaahack!¡±

    They were able to hit ck Dragon Vormon but they couldn¡¯t even bring his HP down to 50%. The three Great Divine Beasts and their owners all gathered in one ce. They couldn¡¯t help but feel stunned and overwhelmed by the power of ck Dragon Vormon. Even the humans couldn¡¯t ovee his power as they continued to fight fiercely against each other.

    ¡°Keuheuk!¡±

    ¡°Grrrrrrr¡­¡­¡±

    Penrus, the four Legendary Dragons, and the Predatory Snake were all bleeding and in danger. Then, a huge explosion suddenly bloomed at the ground where they were all gathered.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    The power of this explosion was enough to drive the war to its end and put the three Great Divine Beasts into the brink of death in one fell swoop.

    ¡°......N, no!¡±

    Baroque fell in despair.

    ¡°......Sorry.¡±

    The Dragon Monarch smiled faintly at the dragons that fought alongside him.

    ¡°This world is going to ¡®end¡¯.¡±

    Moldoron felt death encroaching upon them. Then¡­¡­

    Crack¨D!

    The space in the air was torn apart as an unknown hand came out of the space. It was a tiny hand that resembled that of a baby piggy¡¯s hand.

    [The Ten Thousand Cold Iron Room is being destroyed with physical force.]

    [The durability of the Ten Thousand Cold Iron Room has decreased dramatically.]

    [The Ten Thousand Cold Iron Room is being destroyed with physical force.]

    Not long after, the baby piggy¡¯s body slowly came out of the torn apart space.

    [The Ten Thousand Cold Iron Room has been destroyed with physical force.]

    The torn space suddenly squeezed as the being emerged out of the opening.

    ¡°Oiiiink!¡±

    aaaaash¨D

    A huge golden pir of light suddenly appeared in the hands of the baby piggy. And the baby piggy swung it strongly.

    Shwaaaaaaaaa¨D

    Vormon¡¯s power was so huge that every explosion in the ground had the same intensity. And each explosion was apanied by ck mists and currents of energy. With the appearance of the golden pir of light, it signaled that the being in front of them was different from Vormon.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    The huge force from the golden pir of light shed with Vormon¡¯s power and caused a huge conflict. The golden pir of light was easily lifted as the baby piggy appeared in front of Moldoron using the Speed of Light.

    ¡°Oink.¡±

    The baby piggy smiled brightly at him. Then, the baby piggy took the ¡®Sealing Pledge¡¯ parchment from the Book of Taboos that Moldoron was trying to use in exchange for his life.

    ¡°Th, this¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°Oink.¡±

    The baby piggy smiled at him as he disappeared in a sh of light. Before they knew it, the baby piggy was already rushing towards Vormon. In his hand was the same sword that Vormon was using.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    The entire world shook whenever their swords shed and collided. But the Supreme Divine Beast never lost an inch against the ck Dragon Vormon. But that did not mean that he was overwhelming him with strength either.

    Looking at him, the masters of the three Great Divine Beast realized one thing¡­¡­

    ¡®He could get out of the Ten Thousand Cold Iron Room any time he wanted so why didn¡¯t he¡­¡­?¡¯

    ¡®Is it because he knew that we were afraid of him¡­¡­?¡¯

    As the fight grew longer, the wounds inflicted on the baby piggy¡¯s body increased. And the same was true for ck Dragon Vormon.

    ¡°Keuaaaack! Cocky bastard!¡±

    ¡°Oiiink!¡±

    The baby piggy desperately held on. He did not back down even if the wounds on his body increased. ck Dragon Vormon suddenly changed his targets as he aimed a huge amount of damaging force towards the humans and the three Great Divine Beasts.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    The baby piggy used his entire body to block off the huge force that flooded straight towards the humans.

    ¡°Oiiiiiink!¡±

    Then, he rushed back to Vormon. He gave it his all and eventually inflicted a serious injury on ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s body.

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡±

    The bleeding baby piggy looked like he was about to keel over but he still continued to cling on Vormon¡¯s body.

    ¡°No¡­...!¡±

    Moldoron shouted without realizing it. But the baby piggy just looked back at him with a broad smile on his face. Just like the smile that he had shown them when they had first met. His smile made him look like he was really happy. And because of that, Moldoron and the other owners of the three Great Divine Beasts felt hatred for themselves.

    ¡°Oink!¡±

    And¡­¡­

    Rip¨D

    The parchment that carried the seal was torn apart and ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s body began to split and separate.

    ¡°Kyaahaaaack!¡±

    His body split into hundreds. Then, the hundreds became thousands, the thousands became tens of thousands, the tens of thousands became millions until his body became so miniscule that all it could do was float in the air. Then, the seal started to suck the tiny pieces into it.

    ¡°This will never be the end of this!!!¡±

    Before he could be sealed, ck Dragon Vormon warped his body as far as he could with thest bits of his strength. The being that was supposed to be sealed had disappeared. However, they were certain that the ce that he warped into would be sealed.

    Then, the baby piggy began to fall from the air.

    sh¨D

    Penrus, the incarnation of light, hurriedly used Speed of Light. He caught the falling baby piggy with a bite before carefully putting him on the ground.

    ¡°......¡±

    No one spoke. Everyone felt bitter and sorry for keeping him away and locking him up because of their fear. They thought that it was funny. It was them who awakened him because they needed him but they were too afraid of him so they kept away from him and locked him up.

    But the baby piggy just slowly reached out his tiny hands and stroked Penrus¡¯ chin just like he did with his head back then.

    ¡°Oink¡­¡­!¡±

    Then, he smiled broadly with his usual bright smile before closing his eyes. They med themselves thoroughly as they watched the baby piggy turn cold.

    That was the end of the continental war.

    [Three yearster.]

    Time slowly passed by. The three Great Divine Beasts together with their masters stood together at the site. They all looked at a huge statue that was built and erected in front of them.

    ¡°We will never forget your noble sacrifice. From this point on, we will serve you as our ¡®king¡¯.¡±

    ¡°Since you love to eat and your ability is strangely simr to devouring and cloning other¡¯s abilities, I will give you the title ¡®Incarnation of Gluttony¡¯.¡±

    ¡°For your sake, I will use the Resurrection Pledge from the Book of Taboos. In the distant future, our descendants will definitely apologize to you.¡±

    ¡°You are our ¡®friend¡¯ and our king and we will call you by the name ¡®Vernaroche¡¯.¡±

    Then, Moldoron moved with a golden crown on his hands.

    ¡°I order this in the name of the three Great Divine Beasts. Using the Book of Taboos, we wish to awaken you once again. His power will remain in this golden crown and he will awaken in the same form that he had before. When he awakens, he won¡¯t have much of his power and he will only get his power once he collects all of the fragments of this crown. Everytime he collects a piece, he will also receive a ¡®Dish made from Heavenly Cooking Ingredients¡¯ as a gift. To his master, when the dayes that Vormon¡¯s seal has been lifted, collect the fragments of the golden crown. And.¡±

    Moldoron turned to look around. The owners of the Divine Beasts smiled and spoke together with him.

    ¡°Please cherish and treasure him.¡±

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    I¡¯m not crying, you¡¯re crying. Baby Kongie deserves all the best!

 Chapter 285 - A Strange Date Between Him And Her

    Chapter 285: A Strange Date Between Him and Her

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    After watching the video until the very end, Minhyuk realized what the words that the Predatory Snake had told him meant.

    ¡®Sacrifice, regret, birth.¡¯

    The name ¡®Incarnation of Gluttony¡¯ was a name that was given to Kongie by the three Great Incarnations after his death. In addition, they hailed him as their king in honor of his sacrifice for them.

    Then, the notifications rang.

    [The video of the Birth of the Incarnation of Gluttony (2) has ended.]

    [You can now read the Incarnation of Gluttony¡¯s Diary Entry (2): ¡®I¡¯m Fine¡¯.]

    [A quest will be triggered once you read Diary Entry (2).]

    Minhyuk quickly read the contents of Diary Entry (2) as soon as the notifications rang.

    [The friends that awakened me locked me up in a room that was all white. They look like they¡¯re scared of me. However, I¡¯m fine. I understood them. When the wolf with white fur attacked me, I could tell that they locked me in this Ten Thousand Cold Iron Room because of fear. It seems like they¡¯re more afraid of me than what I initially thought.

    But I still like them a lot. I didn¡¯t want to hurt them. I didn¡¯t want them to be afraid of me. So all I did was stare at them from inside the room.

    I did not know why, but watching them like that made me cry again. I felt so happy just watching them. They were the first people that made me smile.

    I also heard that they will have their final fight tomorrow as I listened to them in this Ten Thousand Cold Iron Room.

    I also want to be a source of strength for them.

    I want to help them.

    I want to be ¡®friends¡¯ with them.]

    The words ended there.

    Minhyuk thought that the words and the videos would disappear after he finished watching just like what happened earlier but that wasn¡¯t the case at all. Instead, he received another set of notifications.

    [You are the owner of the Incarnation of Gluttony.]

    [The supplement to the Incarnation of Gluttony¡¯sst Diary Entry would be released.]

    Then, the letters were listed right after.

    [When I opened my eyes again, they were there. They used the Book of Taboos to save my life. Although they couldn¡¯t see me, I could still see them. I felt happy that they were finally my friends. They kept on saying sorry to me but I was fine.

    Friends, stop saying sorry. I¡¯m happier than ever at this very moment. This is the very first time that I ever had ¡®friends¡¯.

    To the person that¡¯s reading this diary, I¡¯m asking for a favor.

    Please be my friend.

    I will not betray you and I will care about you more than anyone else.

    So please.]

    Minhyuk read the letter until the end. He felt heartbroken from the words that were written in the diary.

    Kongie was a very energetic and happy pet. There were times when he was ¡®Serious Kongie¡¯ and there were times when he was ¡®yful and Mischievous Kongie¡¯. But Minhyuk was certain that Kongie cared about him and Minhyuk believed that he also cherished Kongie.

    And after watching all these videos, Minhyuk was certain of one thing.

    ¡®This video is a hint of what¡¯s going to happen.¡¯

    The episode that would happen in the future. The hint that was rted to that episode was extremely obvious. There was also the ck dragon that warped his body just before the seal waspleted. Perhaps, this was a sign that he would reappear once again. That was something that could easily be interpreted from the hints that he had gathered. And¡­¡­

    ¡®You can make a whole roast with the ck dragon!!!¡¯

    There were a lot of recipes that Minhyuk wanted to try in Athenae. And one of them was a Dragon¡¯s Breath Roast!!!

    It¡¯s somewhat possible!

    Then, Minhyuk returned to the ce where he was before. After returning, he immediately checked the fragment of the golden crown.

    (Golden Crown Fragment)

    Applicable for Use: Incarnation of Gluttony

    Special Abilities: Can open and awaken the powers and abilities of the Incarnation of Gluttony.

    Description: This is a fragment of the golden crown that contains the power of the Sealed Incarnation of Gluttony. Only after you have collected all of the fragments of the Golden Crown will you be the true incarnation.

    Minhyuk immediately used the golden crown fragment on Kongie.

    [You have used the Fragment of the Golden Crown.]

    [The Fragment of the Golden Crown is applied to Kongie, the Incarnation of Gluttony.]

    At that exact same moment, the golden crown fragment that Kongie received from Minhyuk started to move. The fragment of the golden crown slowlynded on Kongie¡¯s head before being sucked in his body.

    [All of the fragments of the Golden Crown must be collected first before the Golden Crown appears.]

    Then, the notifications continued to ring.

    [The fragment of the Golden Crown will open up a part of the Sealed Incarnation of Gluttony.]

    [At someone¡¯s discretion, a part of his power has been randomly freed from the seal.]

    [Kongie has acquired the Active Skill: ¡®Predator¡¯s Acquisition¡¯.]

    Minhyuk knew that the ¡®a part of his power has been randomly freed¡¯ in the notification was talking about Penrus, the incarnation of light. Then, he immediately looked at Kongie¡¯s status window.

    (Kongie)

    Rank: The Incarnation of Sealed Gluttony

    Race: Pet

    Level: 8

    Attack Power: 2,941

    Defensive Power: 3,541

    Summoning Duration per Day: 8 hours.

    Summoning Waiting Time: 16 hours

    Special Abilities:

    ©¥ He will immediately detect if there is a medicine nearby.

    ©¥ Pet Owner¡¯s attack power will be increased by 20%.

    ©¥ Pet Owner¡¯s defensive power will be increased by 20%.

    ©¥ Passive Skill: Instinctual Protection

    ©¥ Active Skill: Predator¡¯s Acquisition

    ©¥ He can now wear three artifacts.

    Condition for Growth: Fragment of the Golden Crown

    Potential: 184

    Experience Value: 74% / 100%

    (Predator¡¯s Acquisition)

    Active Skill

    Level: 1

    Penalty for Use: None

    Effects:

    ©¥ You can acquire and learn most of your opponent¡¯s debuff skills, attacks, and magic through predation.

    ©¥ You can replicate one skill. The replicated skill can only be used twice.

    ©¥ Replicated Skill has a cooldown of 72 hours.

    ©¥ The Replicated Skill can also be used by the owner of the Incarnation of Gluttony.

    The Predator¡¯s Acquisition was quite a remarkable skill. There was only one reason for this and it was because it had no ¡®restrictions¡¯. ording to the Predator¡¯s Acquisition skill, Kongie would be able to acquire and learn the skills of someone above Lv700. An example of a skill that was beyond Lv700 was ck dragon Vormon¡¯s Dragon¡¯s Breath.

    What will happen if you can acquire that skill and use it again?

    The answer was obvious. This meant that he could use a power that he couldn¡¯t use at his current level.

    Then, additional notifications poured in.

    [The Pet Awakening Linked Quest: Fragment of the Golden Crown (2) has been created.]

    [Pet Awakening Linked Quest: Fragment of the Golden Crown]

    Rank: SSS

    Restrictions: The owner of the Incarnation of Gluttony that found the first fragment of the Golden Crown.

    Rewards: Awakened Incarnation of Gluttony.

    Penalty for Failure: The Incarnation of Gluttony will not be awakened forever.

    Description: You have sessfully retrieved the first fragment of the golden crown. The hint for the second fragment is with Ankheseramun. Listen to her for the hint.

    Number of Fragments of the Golden Crown Gathered: ?

    The quest looked almost identical to the first quest. After collecting the first fragment of Kongie¡¯s golden crown, Minhyuk began to list out the information that he had gathered for the first 50 floors of the Demon World¡¯s Tower in his head. He quickly formted a ¡®n¡¯.

    ¡®Shall we feed Cauhel some big shit with Kongie¡¯s Predator¡¯s Acquisition?¡¯

    Then, he walked to go and meet with Ankheseramun again.

    ***

    Cauhel was able to sessfully hunt Cerberus on the 34th floor without using any of his skills. After killing Cerberus, he finally received hisst clue about his change of ss to Maestro of Destruction.

    Then, one being suddenly appeared in front of him.

    ¡°My descendant. Have you finally reached this ce?¡±

    He was King Arthur, a person who had once shaken the entire continent with his own hands. Arthur was a person that was widely-known for uniting all of the continents in the past. And the Royal ss ¡®Maestro of Destruction¡¯ was a shortcut to bing the continent¡¯s King.

    Cauhel couldn¡¯t help but feel delighted after hearing more information about the Maestro of Destruction. Of course, there was a setback of growing his kingdom step by step. He needed to grow his own kingdom into an empire before taking over the entire continent. But it was a fascinating thought for him. Controlling Athenae, the world¡¯s currentrgestke and mountain.

    Cauhel shook his head.

    ¡°The power that you can use to walk the path that I walked lies in the Demon World¡¯s Tower¡¯s 40th floor. You have to go there together with your most loyal subjects. In addition, your loyal subjects will bring you a ¡®piece of the shattered de¡¯. With the pieces of the shattered de, you will be able to gain the power to hunt Diablo at the end of the quest. You can¡¯t kill Diablo unless you have the power of the Demon King or the Ankhassads¡¯ judgement from the daughter of the Demon King. But as an exception, collecting the six pieces of the shattered de will give you the ¡®Dagger of Mortality¡¯. Diablo could easily be killed with just a single attack from this de. Doing this will let you sit on the throne at the end.¡±

    That was it. That was the end.

    Cauhel had summarized everything from the clues and points that he had gathered.

    1 Go to the 40th Floor.

    2 This has something to do with using my strongest subordinates.

    3 My loyal subjects should pass the trials and give me the pieces of the shattered de.

    4 I need to gather the pieces of the shattered de to get the Dagger of Mortality. I need to use that dagger to stab Diablo straight in the chest.

    Then, he suddenly asked a question.

    ¡°Why do I need to stab him all at once?¡±

    ¡°Just like I said, you can never win against Diablo without the power of the Demon King or Ankhassads¡¯ judgement from his daughter.¡±

    ¡°Who knows? I don¡¯t think it¡¯s right for you to say that you can¡¯t winpletely against him.¡±

    King Arthur couldn¡¯t help butugh at his lofty words.

    Cauhel was conceited. He had always ced people under his feet ever since he was young.

    Just as his face was about to crumple, King Arthur spoke once again.

    ¡°He¡¯s a sly and viinous demon that has been created from the condensed powers of the three great demons. Although a long time had passed and he had already weakened, based on the calctions by you, foreigners, his strength is stillparable to a Lv700 being.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Cauhel¡¯s current level was at Lv529.

    ¡®Perhaps there are still a lot of things that haven¡¯t been cleared up in Athenae?¡¯

    Cauhel had no choice but to swallow his pride.

    ¡°The Dagger of Mortality has a hidden, or whatever it was, power that can bring your opponent to a ¡®stunned¡¯ state. If you use that power, it wouldn¡¯t be hard for you to press a sword on the stunned Diablo¡¯s chest.¡±

    Cauhel nodded his head before adding another point to his summaries. The final point, number ¡®5¡¯.

    5 Putting all these things together, I estimate that collecting those pieces will not be an easy task.

    In fact, he knew that his final trial would easily be resolved once he had the dagger on his hands. It wouldn¡¯t be hard to pierce Diablo¡¯s chest with his sword once he was in a stunned state.

    Not long after, King Arthur¡¯s faint body disappeared and scattered in the air. After seeing that, Cauhel decided to summon his men. He was also a Monarch ss so he could easily summon his guild members. But his ss was a bit special. It was because Cauhel could summon his guild members, party members or even servants.

    And the people that he was trying to summon were all of the world¡¯s rankers including Deru, the 11th ranked warrior ss user, and Leverlin, the 12th ranked tamer ss user.

    ¡®I¡¯ll be the Maestro of Destruction soon¡­¡­!¡¯

    ***

    Meanwhile, Ankheseramun was telling Minhyuk the locations of the remaining fragments of the golden crown. The ce was none other than the 50th floor, or the top of the Demon World¡¯s Tower.

    One of the Demon World¡¯s Tower¡¯s creators and one of the Four Heavenly Kings had informed her that a fragment of the golden crown was located in that ce together with the treasure that could help him make a Half-God oven.

    It had been Ankheseramun¡¯s mission to speak of the location of the fragment of the golden crown to the rightful owner of the Incarnation of Gluttony. But right now, she was looking at Minhyuk with confusion painted on her face.

    ¡°Wh, what?¡±

    ¡°The one and only daughter of the Demon King, Ankheseramun-nim.¡±

    ¡°Th, that¡­¡­ How¡­¡­¡±

    This was a fact that only a few people knew about.

    How the hell did you know about this?

    This was something that only the Demon King and the Four Heavenly Kings knew.

    No, to be exact¡­¡­

    It was the information that only the Sage Aruvel, who once served the Demon King, knew.

    But how does Minhyuk know that?

    Then, he spoke of something more iprehensible.

    ¡°Can you show us Ankhassads¡¯ Judgement?¡±

    What Minhyuk asked for was something iprehensible. He had asked her to show and use the Ankhassads¡¯ Judgement on Kongie, the owner of the golden crown.

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    I¡¯m not crying. You¡¯re crying. Baby Kongie!!!! I volunteer! I¡¯ll be your friend. Also¡­ I already know where this is going. I feel somewhat, no not really, bad for Cauhel and his money is the answer to everything attitude.

    PR¡¯s corner!

    Oh, I see what Minhyuk¡¯s up to¡­ Cauhel, to quote a funny skeleton, ¡°You¡¯re gonna have a bad time...¡±

 Chapter 286 - A Strange Date Between Him And Her

    Chapter 286: A Strange Date Between Him and Her

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Diablo.

    The three great demons of the Demon World were so powerful that the magi that leaked from their body was strong enough to kill and suffocate all of the nts and animals in the Demon World. So the three demons decided to create a basin that would suck off their excess magi. Their only requirement for the basin was that it should have a body that was attuned to nature that could withstand their mana.

    However, they weren¡¯t able to find such a body in the Demon World. So they searched high and low even venturing to the heavens and the elves¡¯ realms. But they still couldn¡¯t find a body fit enough to be their magi¡¯s basin.

    Eventually, they went to the human world. And finally, they were able to find an existence that would fit their requirements. He was a young boy. However, his body was extremely attuned to nature and had an amazing talent. They immediately brought the boy to the Demon World to be their magi¡¯s basin. However, something unexpected happened.

    ¡®He was too powerful.¡¯

    The boy that they brought in to be a vessel for their magi had grown formidable after sucking up their magis. The more he sucked the magi, the more he grew. So the great devils had no choice but to stop his body from growing further. But although he had stopped growing further, no one in the Demon World could beat him.

    The former Demon King had called him ¡®Sly Devil¡¯. And the boy who had be the Sly Devil Diablo was locked up on the 40th floor of the Demon World¡¯s Tower in fear that he would go on a rampage someday.

    Diablo, who was locked on the 40th floor of the tower, could only be defeated through three methods. One was using the strength of the Demon King. Or instead of the Demon King, with the use of Ankhassads¡¯ Judgement with Ankheseramun¡¯s power. He could also be killed with the power of the Dagger of Mortality that had its pieces hidden all over the 40th floor.

    He wants me to show him the power of Ankhassads¡¯ Judgement?

    ¡°Your reason?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a ce to use it.¡±

    Ankheseramun¡¯s brows furrowed as Minhyuk continued to speak.

    ¡°Ah! I can keep secrets well!¡±

    Minhyuk gestured as if he was zipping his mouth shut. And Ankheseramun realized¡­

    ¡®This is a trade, isn¡¯t it?¡¯

    There were many reasons why Ankheseramun was hiding here despite being the daughter of the Demon King. It was something that absolutely could not be released yet to the world.

    Ankheseramun shook her head. She knew that it wasn¡¯t that hard to show him her power. The problem was that Ankhassad¡¯s Judgement one attack was strong enough to match the Demon King¡¯s strongest one shot skill. She believed that this baby piggy would not be able to withstand such strength.

    But you want me to attack him?

    ¡°But what if he dies?¡±

    She did not know how Minhyuk knew about Ankhassad¡¯s Judgement but what he was sure of was the fact that he was looking down on it. Even if he died, this was a price that Minhyuk had to pay since he dared to make a ¡®deal¡¯ with her.

    Step, step.

    Ankheseramun stood up from the chair. Then, she used Ankhassad¡¯s Judgement. Ankhassad¡¯s Judgement was one of the one shot attacks of Gorac, one of the three great demons. A small ck spear suddenly popped out in the empty space in front of her. The ck spear immediately flew towards Kongie.

    Shwaaaaaak¨D

    The spear was filled with magi to the point that it was vibrating strongly in the air. Just looking at the power contained in this single attack was enough to make anyone shudder. But at that moment¡­¡­

    [Predator¡¯s Acquisition]

    [Use any of your opponent¡¯s abilities through predation.]

    Kongie¡¯s mouth suddenly widened. Then, he pointed his open mouth towards Ankhassad¡¯s Judgement that was flying straight at him.

    Aaaaaaaah¨D

    Then¡­¡­

    Shwaaaaaak¨D

    Ankhassad¡¯s Judgement started to get sucked in his mouth. So what happened to Kongie?

    ¡°Oink?¡±

    He remained peaceful and calm.

    ¡°......!¡±

    Ankheseramun couldn¡¯t help but be shocked.

    ¡®Th, the ability to nullify all the damage¡­¡­!¡¯

    No, it did not look like he nullified the skill. It looked like he ate it.

    Swooooosh¨D

    Ankhassad¡¯s Judgement and his mouth slowly closed. Kongie¡¯s throat just moved. He looked like he was swallowing down the skill that she had unleashed.

    Then, the notification rang.

    [Kongie has devoured Ankhassad¡¯s Judgement.]

    [You can now check the information about Ankhassad¡¯s Judgement.]

    (Ankhassad¡¯s Judgement)

    Active Skill

    Mana Required: 2,000

    Cooldown: 72 hours

    Number of Avable Uses: 2/2

    Effects:

    ¨D A powerful force with an additional 1,200% attack power will pierce through the enemy at once ignoring 50% of the enemy¡¯s magic defense.

    ¨D When facing the Sly Devil, Diablo, additional attack power increases to 2,000% while the percent of ignoring the magic defense increases to 80%.

    ¡°......!¡±

    Minhyuk was shocked.

    ¡®C, crazy¡­¡­¡¯

    It was a ridiculously strong force.

    ¡®How strong are the Demon King and Ankheseramun, really¡­¡­?¡¯

    They have skills like this?

    Of course it would definitely be their strongest one shot skill. But did it even make sense to have a 1,200% additional attack power?

    ¡®If we¡¯re able to collect the rest of the golden crown¡¯s fragments here¡­...¡¯

    It was a bit hard for him to imagine how strong Kongie would be once that happened.

    ¡°Thank you for everything!¡±

    And just like usual, Minhyuk had given his thanks to Ankheseramun with politeness and enough courtesy.

    Neither of them knew that the meeting of two great beings would happen once again in the future.

    ***

    Cauhel¡¯s face was currently distorted.

    ¡°Useless.¡±

    The world rankers shut their mouths tightly when they heard his words. Der, the 11th in the world¡¯s integrated rankings, couldn¡¯t help but throw out a curse in his head.

    ¡®Damn bastard.¡¯

    If it wasn¡¯t for money, then he wouldn¡¯t follow Cauhel. They weren¡¯t people who could be treated like this. But just like usual, they still epted his rage since Cauhel¡¯s offer was extremely ridiculous.

    ¡®Eight billion for each individual¡­¡­¡¯

    They couldn¡¯t imagine how much money he had.

    All of the rankers here were the best of the best. Der was even confident with his skills. After all, he was 2nd in the world¡¯s warrior rankings and 11th in the world¡¯s integrated rankings. There was also the Tamer Leverlin who ranked first in the world¡¯s tamer rankings and 12th in the world¡¯s integrated rankings. Even the top rankers that gathered here were all above Lv500. They were all the key members of ckstone. With just thisbination, they were confident enough to wipe out at a fairlyrge association. And there were only six people in their group. However, even with that small number, they were confident enough to achieve a feat like that.

    But right now, they were unable to solve this one stumbling block in front of them.

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe not a single one of you knows a chef that can bewitch a monster with their food.¡±

    The trials on the 40th floor could be challenged ten times in total. Even if you failed the floor, you would not be able to be forced to log out and receive penalties.

    And as they moved, they realized some things about the trial on the 40th floor. The first trial dealt with darkness. And the mages¡¯ detecting magic waspletely useless. Even Cauhel was helpless in the face of the tricks, magics and mobs that silently appeared within the darkness. But it was possible to move thanks to one existence.

    Amber, one of the assassin sses, was ranked 27th in the world rankings. Assassins were beings that were ustomed and familiar with the dark. They also had the passive skill ¡®Five Senses¡¯. This Five Senses skill allowed assassins to feel a lot of things in the dark. However, it was still hard for Amber, someone who had reached the Five Senses¡¯ Lv9, to ovee this trial in the darkness.

    This meant that taking on each trial was only possible for beings that reached the top of their professions.

    Just like that, they needed to tame a demonic beast toplete the 2nd trial of the floor. They were able toplete this trial thanks to Leverlin, the 12th in the world¡¯s integrated rankings.

    The 3rd trial was meant for the tanker ranker in their group. And just like that, they cleared the 4th and 5th trials by challenging it with the ranker that corresponded to the requirements of the trial.

    Cauhel was a Monarch ss. And he was a monarch that sat on top of the other monarchs.

    Perhaps, the operators had ced this ordeal for people like Cauhel. They deliberately did this to ensure that the monarch would have men like this that would help him once he gained the Royal ss.

    But they encountered a problem in the final trial, the sixth trial. The sixth trial asked them to let the monster Verogan drool with food. Verogan was a monster in pursuit of great delicacies and vors. The monster was well over 4m in height. And they were asked to tempt and bewitch such a monster with food.

    However, when things didn¡¯t work out the way Cauhel wanted it to, Verogan aimed his gun at the people around him and killed them. Then, they immediately reappeared at the ce where they were before they started the trials. The meaning of his actions were simple. If they did not clear the trial just like the notifications had told them, then they would not be able to break the trial. And if they rebounded back to the ce where they were, then the pieces of de that they had acquired would also disappear.

    So they immediately invited one of the world¡¯s best chefs. He was the Lv416 Chef, Veron. However, they still failed. Chef Veron was well-known for putting ¡®poison¡¯ in his food. Because of this, they were not able to meet the requirement of ¡®delicacy¡¯.

    They tried twice with Veron but they failed so their ten chances to challenge had diminished considerably. So far, they had already tried eight times. They only had two more chances left so they had to be careful.

    However, there were only two chefs that popped into Cauhel¡¯s head.

    Twilight Chef ck.

    One of the best chefs in Korea and was one of the world¡¯s top ten chefs. But he did not know his code so he could not send him a whisper. In fact, contacting him was not that easy either. Twilight Chef ck was already one of the wealthiest men in the food and restaurant industry so he couldn¡¯t be easily moved with money. In addition, his personality would bring them a lot of risk.

    So that left him with the final choice.

    ¡®Food God Minhyuk.¡¯

    He was the guy who was rapidly climbing the tower right now. He was certain that it would be possible if it was his dish. However, there were certain problems right now. He had recognized Cauhel as his ¡®enemy¡¯. But even if he looked back on the steps that he had taken so far, then it was only safe to assume that Cauhel also treated him as his enemy.

    Not long after, Cauhel smirked.

    ¡®He¡¯s something I can use since we¡¯re enemies.¡¯

    There was one trick that came to mind.

    ¡°Looks like we¡¯re going to need Great Thief Elion.¡±

    Great Thief Elion was a world-ss thief in Athenae. No one could exceed him in terms of ¡®stealing¡¯, ¡®swindling¡¯ and ¡®tricks¡¯. And he also had a special skill.

    ¡®Among his skills¡­¡¯

    He had a skill that could deceive people by disguising as an NPC and creating quests for them.

    ***

    ¡°User Minhyuk has cleared the 15th floor!¡±

    ¡°User Minhyuk has cleared the 17th floor!¡±

    ¡°User Minhyuk has cleared the 19th floor! His level increased to Lv423!¡±

    President Kang Taehoon listened to Lee Minhwa¡¯s reports.

    ¡®What a ridiculous speed.¡¯

    His pace was truly too fast. And right now¡­¡­

    ¡°User Minhyuk has reached the 36th floor. His level is now Lv434!¡±

    All of the people who heard her words clicked their tongues. Setting new records in the Demon World¡¯s Tower would give enormous EXP to the user. In addition, if the user set an impossible score then the user would also receive additional bonus EXP.

    Minhyuk was currently bombing his level tremendously. He needed more EXP than any other sses since his job sses were Food God and entric Gourmand. However, with the enormous EXP that he was gaining, it looked like he was ignoring the restriction in EXP with how fast his level was increasing.

    ¡°What is this user doing¡­¡­¡±

    Manager Kim Daesik couldn¡¯t help but mumble under his breath after he saw Minhyuk receiving Ankheseramun¡¯s Ankhassad¡¯s Judgement. Team Leader Park spoke up to answer him.

    ¡°You know that Cauhel is in there, right? I think he¡¯s trying to get Diablo? No. But Cauhel won¡¯t tolerate that.¡±

    After leaving those words, Team Leader Park started to list down the items that he would receive once he cleared the ¡®General¡¯ floor.

    ¡®Vassal Summoning Parchment and Guild Member Summoning Parchment.¡¯

    Aruvel was also providing him with useful information. So he knew the items that he would get.

    Then, Lee Minhwa spoke up.

    ¡°Cauhel has summoned the Great Thief Elion on the 40th floor!¡±

    Team Leader Park and President Kang Taehoon¡¯s eyes met.

    ¡°Why Great Thief Elion¡­¡­?¡±

    Team Leader Park slowly started to match the puzzle pieces in his head.

    ¡®Right now, Cauhel needs a chef. But he couldn¡¯t use just any other chef since there are a lot of risks involved if he asked others on the spot. The existence of ckstone might be pushed to the forefront if he did that. But he summoned Great Thief Elion right now. Great Thief Elion has a variety of skills that can trick the person¡¯s eyes. D, don¡¯t tell me he¡¯s trying to dig in the gap with his enemy¡­¡­?!¡¯

    Bang¨D

    Team Leader Park¡¯s fingers banged on the table. The answer came out. And just in time, User Minhyuk had finally reached the 40th floor. And the being that approached him was¡­¡­

    An old man wearing a ck robe. It was none other than the Great Thief Elion.

    ¡®It¡¯s not that hard to deceive this punk. Fufufufufu.¡±

    He would trick Minhyuk with his ¡®Quest Creation¡¯ and ¡®Perfect Makeup¡¯ skills.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk was staring at the old man that was smiling kindly at him.

    ¡®Oho? I didn¡¯t know that he¡¯d do this?¡¯

    Minhyuk was easily able to grasp the entirety of the situation.

    ¡®To catch a tiger, you have to go to the tiger¡¯s den.¡¯

    The corners of his mouth curled up imperceptibly.

    ***

    TL¡¯s corner!

    I mean¡­ How can you even deceive him with the eye that he received from the Elf King? Besides, he knew all of the information about the tower so¡­ Hehehe. Tough luck Cauhel.

 Chapter 287 - Dangerous Company

    Chapter 287: Dangerous Company

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    79 Dangerous Company

    Team Leader Park Minggyu couldn¡¯t help but flick his finger. He stared at Great Thief Elion and User Minhyuk who had reached the 40th floor.

    ¡°C, crazy¡­¡­!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±

    Everyone turned their attention to Team Leader Park.

    ¡°All of User Minhyuk¡¯s ns are being enacted right now.¡±

    ¡°What are you saying?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Manager Kim Daesik, President Kang Taehoon and Lee Minhwa focused on his words.

    ¡°User Minhyuk knew most of the information about the tower up to the 50th floor. Even the 40th floor.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s thanks to Aruven and the bet he made with Roven, the tower¡¯s architect.¡±

    ¡°So User Minhyuk knew that the 40th floor needed a chef.¡±

    All of them nodded their heads in agreement.

    ¡°And he knows that he¡¯s the one who¡¯s most likely to be able to meet the conditions for that floor. So Cauhel would be ced in a situation where he had to choose. He would either take his time to find another user or just cast his to User Minhyuk. But both choices are close to impossible.¡±

    Team Leader Park gulped his saliva to moisten his throat before continuing his words.

    ¡°User Minhyuk has elerated his pace in climbing the tower. This was so he could put pressure on Cauhel. If you don¡¯t hurry up and clear it then I¡¯ll be there in no time or something like that. Of course, teaming up together is impossible since the two are hostile against each other. Now, Cauhel¡¯s position was simple.¡±

    ¡°......?¡±

    ¡°Break the trial with User Minhyuk¡¯s help by all means necessary.¡±

    President Kang Taehoon¡¯s eyes widened in shock.

    ¡°So Great Thief Elion has to create a quest for that?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    Team Leader Park gulped again before continuing once more.

    ¡°User Minhyuk will receive a quest from Great Thief Elion. And Cauhel will pretend to be an NPC to lead Minhyuk. And User Minhyuk is most definitely sharpening his de while pretending to be fooled.¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    All of them were left speechless. It was a ridiculously impossible n. First of all, Minhyuk did not know of the existence of Great Thief Elion. However, he knew that Cauhel would make a move to use him in any way possible. In other words, he was reversing their roles.

    ¡°H, he¡¯s going to do¡­¡­ that n?¡±

    Manager Kim Daesik still couldn¡¯t believe it. He couldn¡¯t believe that Minhyuk intentionally fell for their n as he prepared to give them a big shock. It was like everything was on the palm of his hands.

    Team Leader Park Minggyu¡¯s eyes returned back to the monitor. He took in a breath before speaking again.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure of one thing. If User Minhyuk is not obsessed with food and he ys like a regr yer¡­¡­¡±

    For a moment, goosebumps rose all over Team Leader Park¡¯s body.

    ¡°And if he had a regr job ss¡­¡­ Then, that user would have been in the top ten of the world¡¯s ranking¡±

    ***

    There was a reason why Minhyuk could easily tell their ns as soon as an old man showed up in front of him. It was because he knew a lot about the 40th floor.

    The 40th floor was the floor where ¡®King Arthur¡¯ appeared. And he knew that King Arthur would give a quest that would require the strength of a few vassals and users. ording to Aruvel, the 40th floor was also unlike other floors in a way that it could be climbed without clearing the floor.

    But an old man greeted him as soon as he climbed to the 40th floor. He was obviously not King Arthur. Then, the man said¡­¡­

    ¡°You¡¯re really amazing for climbing the 40th floor. My name is Bero. Can you listen to my story?¡±

    The old man continued to talk.

    ¡°A long time ago, I lost my beloved to the being called ¡®Sly Devil Diablo¡¯. So I chased him with my colleagues. But killing him was not an easy task because that bastard hid at thest trial in this ce. And one would need the power of an excellent chef to clear the trials. I need the chef¡¯s cooking to lure and tempt the monster in the sixth trial and get a piece of the broken de. Can you do it for me?¡±

    Then, a notification rang at that moment.

    Ring!

    [The quest that will be created will change depending on the user¡¯s job ss.]

    [Chef ss Quest: The man who had lost his family to the Sly Devil, Old Man Bero¡¯s Request.]

    Rank: SS

    Restrictions: The person who has reached the 40th floor.

    Rewards: Bero¡¯s Treasure

    Penalty for Failure: Drop in Bero¡¯s favorability.

    Description: Old Man Bero had lost his family to the Sly Devil Diablo a long time ago. Known as one of the Strongest Men of the continent, he arrived here with his colleagues. However, he has yet to pass and ovee the sixth trial that required a chef¡¯s expertise. Help him break through the sixth trial and hand him the piece of the broken de!

    ¡®Hoho. Quite surprising.¡¯

    Minhyuk was quite surprised.

    He can create a quest window?

    He thought that the old man was someone who had drunk something like the doppelganger¡¯s potion. However, he could now tell what the skill of the person in front of him was.

    ¡®So this person has this ability¡­¡­¡¯

    It was a mysterious ability. But there was one thing that he was sure of. He was Cauhel¡¯s man. If Minhyuk did not know Aruvel and he was unaware of the tower¡¯s information, the chances of him being fooled were high.

    But Cauhel did not know that Minhyuk had the tower¡¯s information up to the 50th floor. So in fact, the person that was being fooled right now was Cauhel and not him.

    ¡°I understand.¡±

    When Minhyuk epted the quest, the old man smiled kindly at him.

    ¡°Come here. I will introduce you to my friends.¡±

    Bero led Minhyuk to where the six people were gathered.

    ¡®One of these people is Cauhel.¡¯

    He could not see Cauhel¡¯s figure anywhere. In fact, all six of them that were standing at the ce where Bero guided Minhyuk were people that he had never seen in Athenae.

    ¡®They all changed their faces and pretended to be NPCs.¡¯

    ¡°Nice to meet you. I¡¯m the Taming Princess, Roney.¡±

    ¡°Yes. Hello. I¡¯m Minhyuk.¡±

    Minhyuk shook hands with them one by one.

    ¡°Can a rookie like this cook the dish that we need?¡±

    The man openly mocked Minhyuk. He looked like he was a warrior ss user with his bulging muscles and intimidating appearance.

    ¡®Are you going to y the undesirable NPC?¡¯

    Quite a few of the NPCs, especially those who exert great power in their respective Empires, often ignored users.

    ¡°Hehe. Even if I look like this, just one of my dishes will end it all.¡±

    Then, Minhyuk said hello to thest person.

    Then, at that moment¡­¡­

    [The Royal ss ¡®Dragon Monarch¡¯ has been born to the world.]

    [May the birth of the first Royal ss be filled with blessings.]

    The face of the man in front of him began to distort rapidly at the same time the notifications sounded.

    Minhyuk could tell just by looking at him.

    ¡®There¡¯s a good chance that this bastard is challenging the Royal ss too. And clearing the 40th floor is his transferring process.¡¯

    In other words, the man in front of him was Cauhel. However, the man in front of him quickly erased his raging emotions as he spoke.

    ¡°ck Monarch. Orden.¡±

    ¡°Food God. Minhyuk.¡±

    The two shook hands. This was the first meeting between Cauhel and Minhyuk.

    ***

    Ten minutes ago.

    ck Dragon was told by the Dragon Knight that Krakana of the Destruction was located on the 16th floor of Demon World¡¯s Tower. And finally, he was now facing Krakana of the Destruction. Next to Krakana of the Destruction was the Demon Sorcerer that injected him with magi and made him go crazy.

    ¡°Because of you, I couldn¡¯t make him mine! If I make you disappear, then Krakana of the Destruction willpletely be my dragon!¡±

    The Demon Sorcerer shouted loudly at him. And Krakana also roared with him.

    ¡°Kiyeeeeeeeek!¡±

    [Krakana of the Destruction has been under the influence of the Demon Sorcerer for quite a long time.]

    [Based on his explosive state, Krakana of the Destruction¡¯s abilities and skills has been increased by 1.6x.]

    [You should either cure or make Krakana of the Destruction submit to you.]

    [To be the Dragon¡¯s Monarch, you must be able to municate¡¯ sincerely.]

    [We hope that you canmunicate your sincerity with Krakana of the Destruction.]

    Krakana of the Destruction was a huge dragon with reddish scales covering his entire body. Then, he flew high up in the sky as he opened his mouth.

    ¡°Kyaaahaaaaaack!¡±

    [Destruction Dragon¡¯s Breath.]

    [You will receive an additional 300% damage as soon as the attack hits you.]

    Shwaaaaaaaak¨D

    A strange sense of death suddenly appeared in ck Dragon¡¯s head when he saw the breath that was rushing at him.

    p¨D

    With a loud sound, ck wings spread out from his back. It was none other than Poison Dragon.

    [Poison Dragon¡¯s Wings.]

    [At the moment of danger, he will spread his wings to protect you. He will also shoot ¡®Dragon Plumes¡¯ and randomly target your enemies with poison.]

    Fwoosh, fwoosh¨D

    ck Dragon flew as high as he could. Then, a square shield made out of bones appeared in front of him.

    Bang¨D

    The square shield collided strongly with the iing Breath.

    ¡°Keuheop!¡±

    ck Dragon groaned from the powerful impact of the shockwave and fell from the height he was staying at.

    Crack, crack, crack, crack¨D

    Cracking sounds suddenly echoed from the bone shield as Krakana of the Destruction mmed against ck Dragon.

    Bang¨D

    Smoke engulfed the huge area.

    ¡°Kyahahahahaha!¡±

    The Demon Sorcererughed loudly.

    But then¡­¡­

    Shwaaaaaak¨D

    As the dust cleared, the man that dared challenge him appeared. And in his hands was a red spear that looked like it was made of bones. It was Britney¡¯s ¡®Dragon¡¯s Tear Sword¡¯ which turned into ¡®Blood¡¯s Tear Spear¡¯. There was also a huge pair of wings that protected ck Dragon from the attack.

    sh¨D

    ck Dragon¡¯s wings spread out as he began to fly.

    ¡°Graaaaack!¡±

    Krakana of the Destruction opened his huge mouth to bite on ck Dragon.

    Bang¨D

    ck Dragon sessfully escaped letting the fierce dragon bite on empty air. Then, ck Dragon opened his mouth to speak to him.

    ¡°I¡¯m not going to fight you.¡±

    ¡°Fufufufufufu. I don¡¯t know if you can survive then.¡±

    The Demon Sorcererughed wickedly.

    But ck Dragon just tried to have a ¡®dialogue¡¯ with Krakana. He spoke of words that he believed would heal and cure him. His words were filled with sincerity!

    ¡°You¡¯ll be with your siblings. And you, me, and the other dragons will defeat the evil of this world together! We will be the justice of this world!!!¡±

    At the same time, Ruslein, the sorcerer, got goosebumps from the words that he heard.

    ¡®What a cringey line¡­¡­!¡¯

    The Dragon of Destruction, Krakana, was known to be the most brutal and violent among all four of the legendary dragons. No one could tame him at all. This was also the reason why the sorcerer couldn¡¯t tame him despite injecting him with magi for quite a long time. However, he thought that it would be different if the owner that Krakana had been waiting for suddenly came. But now¡­¡­

    ¡°How can you say that to win Krakana¡¯s favor!¡±

    Demon Ruslein trulyughed at him from the bottom of his heart. He couldn¡¯t believe that the man in front of him would use such a cringey line to win the favor of such a brutal dragon.

    However¡­¡­

    [Krakana of the Destruction¡¯s explosive state has calmed down. He is now beginning to heal.]

    The Demon Sorcerer couldn¡¯t help but tilt his head in confusion.

    ***

    Report mistakes, get notified on updates and announcements and chat with us at:/woopread

 Chapter 288 - Dangerous Company

    Chapter 288: Dangerous Company

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    What did I just hear?

    This thought shed through the sorcerer¡¯s mind.

    Meanwhile, Krakana suddenly paused mid-attack. His pupils that had been dominated by ck suddenly started to shake.

    ¡°As expected, my sincere words worked!¡±

    The sorcerer denied him vehemently in his head.

    ¡®It¡¯s just a coincidence!!! The Dragon of Destruction, Krakana, cannot be shaken by such a cringey line!¡¯

    But ck Dragon just continued to speak.

    ¡°Just imagine it. You, Krakana, flying in the vast and open sky with Amba, Destiny and Britney! You will save those who are in danger and we will all speak our lines!¡±

    The sorcerer wanted to cover his ears so badly.

    ¡®What lines do you want to say?!¡¯

    Then, ck Dragon spoke of the lines that he wanted them to speak.

    ¡°Hero? If you want one, then I¡¯ll be one. I¡¯ll be the hero that will save you.¡±

    ¡°Keoheok!!!¡±

    The 2nd year middle school syndrome and cringey lines looked like it was distracting the sorcerer. But then¡­..

    [Krakana of the Destruction¡¯s explosive state has calmed down. He is now beginning to heal.]

    ¡®This, this is ridiculous¡­¡­!¡¯

    That was when the sorcerer realized that Krakana of the Destruction had simr tendencies with the ck d man that had the 2nd year middle school syndrome.

    ¡®No. What if¡­¡­¡¯

    I don¡¯t know but what if that guy really knows everything about the dragon!!!

    ¡°Kiheeeeeeee!¡±

    As if to prove his thoughts, he clearly saw Krakana slowly freeing himself from the craze. His eyes that were covered with ck also started to return to normal. And Krakana looked like he was really listening to ck Dragon¡¯s voice.

    ¡°Ah! I already thought of a name for you!¡±

    ck Dragon knew that anyone would be shaken once they heard his wonderful lines. And to deal the final strike¡­¡­ he even prepared a name for him!

    ¡°Breaker!¡±

    Then, the notification rang.

    [You have sessfully ¡®Communicated¡¯ with Destruction Dragon Krakana in his explosive state.]

    [Destruction Dragon Krakana¡¯s explosive state has been lifted.]

    [Destruction Dragon Krakana epts you as his master.]

    [You can now change Destruction Dragon Krakana¡¯s name.]

    ¡°Breaker.¡±

    [Breaker Lv547]

    ck Dragon could tell what was going on in Krakana¡¯s head after seeing the dragon fail to control his curling mouth.

    ¡®This kid is thrilled with the name that I gave him¡­¡­!¡¯

    He could tell by the twitch of his lips. And Krakana, no, he was now named Breaker, hunted the Demon Sorcerer with ck Dragon. Since Krakana broke free of his explosive and crazed state, the sorcerer was defeated easily. After all, the sorcerer wasn¡¯t that strong of an opponent.

    Suddenly, the notifications rang one after the other.

    [You have gathered all four of the Legendary Dragons.]

    [You have met all of the conditions to transfer to the Royal ss.]

    [You have now transferred to the Royal ss ¡®Dragon Monarch¡¯.]

    [New skills will be added to your repertoire.]

    [Yourmanding ability has increased by +300.]

    [The Job ss Quest: Monarch¡¯s Qualifications has been created.]

    [The Job ss Quest: Monarch Among Monarchs has been created.]

    [You can only select one out of these two quests to proceed. There is no time limit for the selection.]

    [The birth of the first Royal ss has been spread to the world.]

    ¡®Choose between the two quests?¡¯

    ck Dragon quickly checked the two quests. He first clicked on Monarch¡¯s Qualifications.

    ¡®Ho?¡¯

    The Monarch¡¯s Qualifications quest was simple. It lied with the word Monarch. In other words, it wanted him to create a ¡®kingdom¡¯. There was no other user in Athenae who had built a kingdom as of yet. No. To be exact, there was no territory that had enoughnd and financial power to reach even half of the requirements to build a kingdom.

    And the second quest, Monarch Among Monarchs.

    ¡®Choose a person and help him ascend the throne?¡¯

    It literally meant king of kings. The Dragon Monarch was also a ruler job ss. But this one wanted him to make a king of kings. It wanted him to choose a user and help him be king.

    ***

    A deceiving and deceivedpany. Cauhel couldn¡¯t help butugh deep inside.

    ¡®It wouldn¡¯t make sense if he noticed this.¡¯

    The tricks and deceptions of the Great Thief Elion were truly spectacr. In addition, Great Thief Elion was not only a simple thief, he was also a God ss. His level was around 480 but his estimated level of strength was only at Lv250. Elion gave up his other abilities so he could focus solely on deceiving others.

    So the party moved on smoothly.

    [You have reached the first trial.]

    [A powerful spell has been cast upon you. You have gone blind and cannot see anything in front of you.]

    [The spell blinds you and makes the sound surrounding you turn quieter.]

    ¡°It¡¯s dark.¡±

    Minhyuk remained vignt. He also did not act like a fool like usual. In the first ce, the people around him knew who he was. It was counterproductive if he exaggerated his acting.

    Darkness surrounded them to the point that they could not see even an inch ahead of them. The sounds ringing in their ears were also small. It felt like someone had lowered the volume of the speaker to the lowest level.

    Inside this space, the assassin ss Amber disyed her Five Senses. Using her five senses, she instructed them to destroy the tricks while figuring out where the magic and monsters would attack them.

    That was how they passed the first trial.

    [You have passed the first trial.]

    [Those who passed the trial will be given a piece of the broken de.]

    The notification was only heard by the person who had received the piece of the broken de. And Cauhel, who introduced himself as the ck Monarch Orden, exined to Minhyuk.

    ¡°As mentioned before. All of the pieces of this de must be collected so we can hunt the Sly Devil Diablo.¡±

    And along with his words, the assassin Amber handed the piece of the broken de to Cauhel.

    They kept on moving on and on like this.

    In the 2nd trial, they were tasked to tame a beast that was known for its power in the Demon World. In the 3rd trial, the archer had to shoot an arrow through a small, needle hole-like space to turn off all tricks and magics that woulde their way. In the 4th trial, the tanker and the Great Iron Golem, which boasts a tremendous defense, had topete against each other.

    The pieces of the broken de kept on piling up one by one just like that. And finally, only thest trial was left. The problem that Cauhel and his party couldn¡¯t get through no matter what they did. The Chef¡¯s Trial.

    [You have reached the sixth trial.]

    [Verogan, the giant monster, is hungry. However, he has an extremely picky taste.]

    [Please prepare a dish for Verogan.]

    [The cooking ingredients for Verogan are prepared in front of you.]

    [The dish that he wants is a Gigantic Samgyetang.]

    Then, Verogan, a gigantic monster that was 4m tall appeared chained to the wall. He was literally a giant monster. However, Verogan overwhelmed the other giant monsters in terms of strength. He was at Lv500 and he also had the power to rip apart a twin headed ogre with his bare hands. That was how frightening Verogan¡¯s existence was.

    ¡°Grrrrrooooooooar!¡±

    Verogan broke into a roar.

    ¡°Can you satisfy him with your dish?¡±

    ¡°Leave it to me.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded under everyone¡¯s eyes.

    The ingredient thaty before him was none other than chicken. The problem was that it was a bizarre and mysterious chicken that looked like it was about 30kg in weight.

    Minhyuk was already aware of this trial.

    ¡®Chefs¡¯ dishes would taste different even if they used the same ingredients.¡¯

    His challenge was already given. He needed to cook a gigantic samgyetang. However, he did not try it right away. After all, the Create a Recipe skill would help him check things more clearly.

    [Creating a recipe that the other party desires.]

    [You can now check the recipe for gigantic samgyetang.]

    [The amount of buff that can be used has been decreased due to creating a recipe.]

    (Gigantic Samgyetang Recipe for Verogan)

    Required Ingredients: Large native chicken in front of you, hundred years old ginseng, Bapae¡¯s jujube¡­¡­ (omitted)

    Expected Dish Grade: Unique ~ Legendary

    Expected Effects:

    ©¥ Verogan¡¯s recovery.

    ©¥ Verogan¡¯s attack as well as defense, and magical attack and defense will increase.

    ¡°Can you do it?¡±

    This was quite the tricky trial. He needed to cook a lot. However, the problem was that the cooking would usually be harder as the number of people increased. Of course, he could think of a way to cook things separately but there was a crucial and decisive reason why something like that was impossible.

    [If the dish is notpleted within 2 hours, then the trial will fail.]

    He needed to cook the chicken within 2 hours.

    Minhyuk shook his head. In principle, samgyetang should be cooked only after the intestines, the head, the dirt as well as the feet had been removed from the chicken. He had to follow the rules. However, if he did that, then it was nigh impossible to cook a chicken that weighed nearly 30kg.

    ¡®Make cuts as deep as possible while maintaining the shape as much as I can.¡¯

    That will help cook the insides well.

    So Minhyuk began to cook.

    ***

    Cauhel and his group looked at Minhyuk with interest.

    He was making deep cuts on the chicken after transforming his weapon into a giant kitchen knife. Then, before they knew it, the giant kitchen knife had already turned into a huge cauldron. He ced the huge chicken inside the cauldron together with the garlic, salt and other ingredients before starting to cook with firewood. Then, he covered the cauldron and controlled the fire to make sure that the dish was cooked thoroughly. If sweat dripped down from his forehead, then he would dab it with his towel.

    ¡®A gourmand¡­¡­¡¯

    Cauhel found it funny.

    This was a game where power was dominant. However, he did not know how he did it, but the Frying Pan Killer was able to gain enough strength while being a chef. But he knew that he was walking on the wrong path.

    If he had sought power from the very beginning, then he might have already surpassed Mei Wei, the world¡¯s number 1 in the integrated rankings.

    Cooking was basically just a part of a human¡¯s routine. It was on par with clothes and daily necessities. So Cauhel was not interested in cooking.

    Buff ability?

    ¡®Buff ability is useless in the face of great power.¡¯

    He had also tried an excellent buffed dish. It was a dish that Twilight Chef ck had cooked. All of his stats had increased by 8% after he ate it. But that was it. He¡¯d rather gain strength than learn cooking that would increase his stats by 8% temporarily.

    This was his theory.

    He would spend all of his items, money and everything necessary just to be strong. That was how you get to the top. Cooking was only a ¡®small thing¡¯ for him.

    But that man was weird.

    ¡®He¡¯s having fun?¡¯

    Is cooking in the game fun?

    He was smiling broadly as he toiled in front of the fire. Although he was sweating, the smile that grazed his lips was still bright. Then, he spoke.

    ¡°Hungry?? Just wait. I¡¯m making you a really good meal.¡±

    Then, he opened the lid of the cauldron that was cooking the samgyetang. He carefully removed the dark oil that floated on top of the soup with adle.

    ¡°Grrrrrr¡­¡­¡±

    Giant monster Verogan was an extremely vicious creature. However, the brutality and violence that brooded in his eyes died down when he looked at Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk continued to cook the huge chicken with all his might. He looked like a cksmith that was working hard to produce a huge artifact.

    And in the end, he finished it in time. Then, Minhyuk transformed his weapon into a spoon. He even ced the 20kg kimchi that he made with the Aging Jar in front.

    ¡°Just a moment. Can you taste it first?¡±

    Cauhel could not understand why he worked so hard. He was even as keen as a cksmith working on an artifact. A cksmith¡¯s artifact would remain permanently. But a chef¡¯s dish would not.

    Why are you putting so much effort into it? Is that even worth it?

    With those thoughts floating in his mind, he tasted the dish.

    ¡®......!¡¯

    He did not say anything.

    Then, at that moment, Minhyuk spoke to Verogan.

    ¡°Try it.¡±

    Verogan ate it with the huge spoon that Minhyuk gave him. His body trembled as soon as he tasted a sip of the soup. Then, he began to eat with relish.

    ¡°Keuheeeeeeee!¡±

    His roar transmitted his joy. He quickly picked up the chicken leg as he ripped it like crazy. He even sipped the soup and ate it with some kimchi.

    Minhyuk just stood in front of him with his arms folded on his chest.

    Cauhel¡¯s body was still trembling as he watched Minhyuk and Verogan.

    By the end of it, Verogan grabbed the cauldron with both of his hands before gulping down thest dregs of the soup left inside.

    Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp¨D

    Verogan drank it all. After finishing everything, he let out a rough puff of breath from his mouth.

    ¡°Guwoo¡­...¡±

    Then¡­¡­

    Baaaaaaaaang¨D

    He slowly, very, very, slowly, bent his knees. Then, he lowered his head on the ground and thanked Minhyuk.

    Everyone who witnessed the scene was left speechless.

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Verogan had always been vicious and ferocious every time they came here. And when the other chef cooked, he just tasted a bit before throwing the food away. But right now, he was bowing deeply to the man in front of him to show his deep gratitude.

    ***

 Chapter 289 - Dangerous Company

    Chapter 289: Dangerous Company

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    President Kang Taehoon did not leave the Special Users Management Team as he continued to monitor the situation on the screen. It wasn''?t just him. Even the team leaders of various teams including the episode production team as well as the customer center were present. They were all here to witness Cauhel''?s transfer to the Maestro of Destruction ss. After all, once that happened, something earth shaking would happen in Athenae.?

    ''?What will happen if User Minhyuk kills Diablo?''?

    Lee Minhwa asked a question while continuing to look closely at the monitor. Team Leader Lee Seokhoon, the one in charge of the development team, was the one who answered her question.

    ''?The rewards that he would get if he transfers sessfully to the Maestro of Destruction job ss is something that''?s specific and in alignment to Cauhel''?s ss characteristics. On the other hand''|''|''?

    Development team''?s Team Leader Lee Seokhoon looked solemn.?

    ''?If User Minhyuk seeds in killing Diablo first''|''| then he will receive a reward that has nothing to do with his job ss. He might just be the fastest person with a territory to own a kingdom. He will be the owner of As.''??

    ***

    Cauhel believed that having different artifacts, superior control and overwhelming strength were the most important things in ying the game Athenae. Because of this belief, he had dismissed Minhyuk''?s excellent cooking abilities as something insignificant.?

    However, he thought that his belief would start to change after seeing Verogan bow deeply to Minhyuk.?

    ''?How can a dish like that appear''|...?''??

    This was something that was far more than any artifact or skill that he had.

    The others approached him while he was still in a daze.?

    ''?Cauhel-nim, what''?s the matter?''??

    ''?Cauhel-nim''|''|?''??

    Cauhel recalled the information of the samgyetang that he had just checked earlier.

    (Gigantic Samgyetang)

    Ingredients Ranking: SS

    Restrictions: Can only be eaten by the giant Verogan.

    Storage Time: 28 days

    Preservation Time: 28 days

    Special Abilities:

    ''? Giant Verogan''?s attack power and defensive power will increase by 26% and 25% respectively.

    ''? Giant Verogan''?s magical attack and magical defense will increase by 40% and 31% respectively.

    ''? With Giant Verogan''?s recovery, all of his stats will increase by 3%.

    Description: This was a gigantic samgyetang made by Chef Minyuk with all his might for the hungry monster, Verogan.

    He couldn''?t help but murmur unknowingly.

    ''?......That''|...Want''|''|''??

    ''?Yes?''??

    ''?What did you say?''??

    The others looked at him in puzzlement but Cauhel couldn''?t hear any of them at all.

    ''?I want to have him''|''| that man''|''|''??

    ''?......!''??

    ''?......!''??

    Everyone was caught in surprise. They knew Cauhel as a man who had always kept a straight face. But right now, his face was showing a great ''?longing''? for something.

    Cauhel came back to his senses not long after. He continued to look at Minhyuk and Verogan.

    ***

    ck Mage Ali started to speed up. The fact that ck Dragon had be the ''?First Royal ss''? when they began climbing the tower put pressure on him.?

    The condition that he had to meet to transfer to his Royal ss ''?Moldoron''?s Descendant''? was to receive recognition from the giant snake called Predatory Snake.

    While he was climbing like that''|

    [Minhyuk: Ali-nim.]

    He received a whisper from Minhyuk. Ali grinned as he sent a reply to Minhyuk.

    [Ali: Yes, Minhyuk-nim!]

    [Minhyuk: By any chance, can you lend me a handter?]

    [Ali: Lend you a hand? I''?ll definitely run whenever Minhyuk-nim calls for me. We''?re friends after all!]

    Ali proceeded to listen to Minhyuk''?s story.?

    Then, after their long talk, Minhyuk said these''|''|

    [Minhyuk: Can you tell this to my dad too?]

    ?Ali nodded his head in agreement while a thought passed through his head.

    ''?ckstone.''??

    ***

    Cauhel naturally approached Minhyuk after he finished clearing the sixth trial. Minhyuk was looking at the fragment of the broken de.

    ''?Now, please give me that de. Will you?''?

    Everyone turned to look at Minhyuk.

    ''?8 billion''|''|!''??

    ''?I can live my whole life without worrying about money''|''|!''??

    Of course, it was not only the fragment of the de that was worth 8 billion, it was also Diablo. But in a way, once Minhyuk handed over that de fragment to Cauhel then their situation was already no different from achieving their best ending. Everyone was now looking at Minhyuk nervously.

    ''?What if this punk knows?''??

    ''?Did we make any mistakes?''??

    Perhaps they had identally acted like they were still users and talked about stories in their reality. When everyone was focusing their attention on him, Minhyuk stood facing Cauhel.

    ''?If you give me that, I will fuse the pieces and destroy the Sly Devil Diablo.''??

    Minhyuk nodded his head as he handed the piece of the broken de to Cauhel.?

    [You have collected all six pieces of the broken de.]

    [You can now fuse it to form the Dagger of Mortality.]

    Cauhel felt delighted. He finally got closer to the throne that he had desired for so long. He quietly mumbled and let the pieces fuse together.?

    [The pieces of the broken de have now fused.]

    The six pieces of the broken de emitted a dazzling light as they floated and hovered in the air while merging one by one. Then, the ''?Dagger of Mortality''?, a curved red de, appeared in front of him.

    [You have acquired the Dagger of Mortality.]

    ''?Thank you.''??

    Cauhel smiled lightly.

    I wanted to coborate with Minhyuk and kill him. Right? No. It doesn''?t matter anymore.

    ''?I can just hunt Diablo before doing that.''??

    This trial required and needed considerable faith from the monarch''?s subordinates. If someone else broke the trial and did not hand over the piece of de, the trial would not be cleared. That was why he was not sure whether they would go back to square one if one person died. If that happened, then everything that they did would all be for nothing.?

    Then, they began to move forward.?

    After a bit of a walk, they came in front of a huge iron gate. Just standing in front of the iron gate was giving them a great sense of pressure.?

    Creaaaaaak''?

    Cauhel pushed the iron door.?

    A huge altar greeted them inside. A man was currently standing on the huge altar. The man looked pure and innocent with a skin that was as white as snow. The handsome man looked like a human except for the horn stretching out from his forehead and the bat-like wing folded behind his back.?

    [You have met with the Sly Devil Diablo.]

    [You have gained 200 reputation points.]

    [Those who sessfully hunt Diablo will receive rewards.]

    Then, Amber the assassin identally made eye contact with Diablo.

    [Diablo''?s Spection.]

    [Diablo''?s spection has ced a huge pressure on you.]

    ''?Keoheok!''??

    The assassin Amber fell down on one knee and gasped for breath.?

    ''?W, what the hell. This is a game''|''|!''??

    His eyes looked wretched and creepy. She did not fall on her knee just because she was simply frightened. It was clearly because of Diablo''?s skill.

    ''?Amazing.''??

    Cauhel smiled as Diablo looked at them from above the altar. The existence in front of him was so superb that his skin tingled from the chills that run down his body.?

    Then, Diablo took one step forward.

    Step''?

    And another.

    Step''?

    He tried to step down from the altar but Cauhel did not miss the opportunity. He quickly took out the Dagger of Mortality as he used the ''?Mortality''?s Stun''? that the dagger possessed.?

    [Mortality''?s Stun]

    [Stun any target for 3 seconds.]

    The majestic Diablo suddenly stopped. He paused in his movements just as he was about to go down the altar.?

    ''?Finally''|''|!''?

    Cauhel felt delighted. He quickly grasped the Dagger of Mortality as he pulled out a fan from his inventory. He unfolded the fan before throwing the dagger with all his might.

    Shweeeeeeeeeek''?

    The Dagger of Mortality flew straight towards Diablo''?s heart. Everyone felt happy at the sight.

    ''?This is 8 billion!!!''?

    ''?Cauhel-nim is finally going to be the king!!!''?

    A smile was also painted on Cauhel''?s lips. He would be the first King in Athenae, he could even be the Emperor!

    Then''|''|

    aaaaaaang''?

    A kitchen knife suddenly dropped down and intercepted the Dagger of Mortality. And along with that, a huge spear stabbed Diablo''?s heart from behind.

    Someone suddenly poked their head out.?

    ''?Oops? Let''?s stop pretending that we don''?t know.''?

    ''?......!''?

    ''?......!''?

    It was Minhyuk.?

    Then, Diablo leaned forward and fell down on the ground. Everyone could tell with just one nce that Diablo was killed. All of the people present in the room fell into shock.?

    The first thing that they felt was confusion. The question ''?How?''? floated in their heads.

    ''?What the hell?''??

    ''?How did Diablo''|''|?''??

    From what Cauhel had learned, the power of the Demon King or the power of Ankhassad''?s Judgement were needed to kill Diablo.?

    Does this mean that this bastard has Ankhassad''?s Judgement?

    The second feeling was being taken advantage of. They were wondering how they got fooled.

    ''?How did he know?''??

    All of their meticulous ns with the help of Great Thief Elion had crumbled down. It was even them who got hit on the head.

    And the third was anger and rage.?

    They had been preparing for a long time. It was not only Cauhel, but all of them who had used their blood and sweat just to reach this point. But everything was ruined by this guy.?

    What was worse was''|''|

    ''?Yayy! This is a crazy level up!!!''??

    He was mocking them.?

    And just like that, Minhyuk had received surprisingly shocking notifications.

    [You have acquired 1,113 tinum.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have learned the passive skill: ''?Spection''? after sessfully hunting Diablo.]

    [You have acquired Diablo''?s de fragments.]

    [You can now be the owner of As after sessfully hunting Diablo.]

    A notification about the territory As rang in Minhyuk''?s ears but he did not have the time to check about it.?

    Then, the notifications rang for Cauhel too.

    [You have failed to meet the transfer conditions for the Royal ss ''?Maestro of Destruction''?.]

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk spoke as brightly and as cheekily as he could.

    ''?Woooooooooow! Look at all these level up notifications! This is a big catch! A big catch!!! And these rewards. Wow! Wow! Woooow!!!''??

    The final string in Cauhel''?s temper and reasoning snapped after hearing his mocking words. This was the first time in his life that he had felt this furious.?

    Cauhel was someone who had everything. And this was the man who had stolen his things. What was worse was that he was even mocking him.?

    ''?Die!!!!!''??

    Cauhel shouted loudly.

    The worst that could happen was them being forced to log out of here so everyone took their position andunched an attack on Minhyuk.?

    Cauhel''?s fan was engraved with ''?Hurricane Wind''? so when he fanned it, huge des of wind immediately flooded Minhyuk.?

    [Wind de]

    [A wind de that can cut anything. Has additional 220% attack power.]

    And that was not the end of it.?

    Even Assassin Amber had her speed boosted thrice her original speed as sheunched her attack.?

    [Vital Strike]

    [The speed of your movement has increased by x3. You will be able to attack a vital point. Sessful attack will give you an additional 180% attack power.]

    Just like that, their attacks poured down on Minhyuk.?

    But at that moment, Minhyuk took out and tore the parchment in his hands.?

    [You have used the Guild Member Summoning Parchment.]

    [Only the Guild Master and the Lord of the Guild Territory will be able to use the Guild Member Summoning Parchment.]

    [The Guild Summoning Parchment is a special parchment that can also summon members of your allied guild if you were given their explicit approval.]

    Several rays of light appeared in front of Minhyuk.?

    The man that appeared in front of him quickly moved as his left arm changed into a dragon''?s head momentarily. The dragon''?s head immediately nullified all of the attacks that were pouring down on Minhyuk. It looked like the dragon devoured their attacks.

    ''?......!''??

    Cauhel was shocked. Dispel or attack nullifications would only be possible if the levels of the enemies were lower than the caster. But the man that stood in front of them nullified all of their attacks. And''|''|

    ''?I''?ll give them back to you.''??

    Shwa, shwa, shwa, shwa, shwa''?

    Cauhel stared at the wind de that had been returned to him.?

    ''?This is ridiculous''|''|!''??

    But their shock and dismay did not end there. The other members of ckstone were also hit by the skills that they had used on Minhyuk.?

    sh''?

    Stab!

    Bang!

    ''?Keoheok!''??

    ''?Kggghk!''??

    ''?Keup!!!''??

    Shrieks rang loudly in the area.

    Cauhel could tell that the man in front of them was the first Royal ss in existence, the Dragon Monarch.

    ***

    Report mistakes, get notified on announcements and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 290 - Dangerous Company

    Chapter 290: Dangerous Company

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Cauhel had always stood on top of others. He had never experienced being robbed of anything ever since he was young. His extraordinary brain made him into a genius and his superb body made him run faster than anybody else. Even his enormous wealth left no one that could possibly dare to touch him.

    But right now, the man named Minhyuk had taken away from him something that he was craving for. Then, the existence of the Dragon Monarch also appeared. He had taken the title of being the first Royal ss, something that he was coveting. This was the man who had taken that title away from him and he was looking indifferently at Cauhel.

    Then, people began to show up from the ray of lights that surrounded Minhyuk.

    Keuaaaaaaaaa!

    Kaistra, the Envoy of Incarnation and Penrus the Incarnation of Light appeared. Then, another man who had his left arm raised also appeared.

    ¡°Frieeeeeeend!!!¡±

    It was ck Mage Ali.

    But it did not end there.

    ¡°Hyuuuung!¡±

    Even the Sword Saint Conir appeared and hugged Minhyuk with a bright smile on his face.

    There were a total of four people who appeared and stood next to Minhyuk.

    ¡°B, ck Mage Ali?¡±

    ¡°Envoy of Incarnation Kaistra?¡±

    The world¡¯s number 1 in the Tamer Rankings, Leverlin, immediately recognized the unofficial ranker, the African boy who was well known as the Envoy of Incarnation, Kaistra. She also recognized the existence called the divine beast right beside him.

    Bardol, a mage on Cauhel¡¯s side, also recognized ck Mage Ali. Bardol was the world¡¯s number 1 in the ck Mage rankings. But he knew that the difference between him and ck Mage Ali was like a deep and dark abyss.

    ¡®What kind of party members is this? Isn¡¯t this too fraudulent¡­¡­?!¡¯

    ¡®Crazy¡­¡­!¡¯

    All of them were shocked.

    The people that Minhyuk had invited were people that would not be pushed back whenpared to Cauhel¡¯s forces.

    p¨D

    Kaistra, who was summoned while doing the dishes, took off his rubber gloves. He carefully ced his rubber gloves in his inventory before taking out his spear.

    ck Mage Ali was also preparing his magic casting while huge ck wings unfurled behind the Dragon Monarch, ck Dragon.

    Silence pervaded the area.

    A drop of cold sweat dripped down Leverlin¡¯s forehead. And the moment her sweat dropped on the ground¡­¡­

    Drip¨D

    A fierce battle began starting with the energy bolts from ck Mage Ali. Ali¡¯s energy bolts made the wand on ck Mage Bardol¡¯s hand tremble.

    [Dispel]

    [Nullifies and voids magical attacks.]

    As soon as he casted the dispel, Bardol shot forward to Ali.

    Then, Leverlin waved her hands and arrows appeared from the sky.

    Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¨D

    Dozens of arrows flew down from the sky and caused explosions.

    ¡°Kiyeeeeeek!¡±

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaack!¡±

    Dozens of wyverns emerged from the explosion site. Leverlin quickly climbed on top of a wyvern and flew up into the sky.

    Kaistra followed suit and climbed on top of Penrus.

    sh¨D

    ¡°Keuaaack!¡±

    Penrus roared as he leapt high up in the sky.

    Then, Assassin Amber and Tanker Cardo rushed towards ck Dragon.

    On the other side, Cauhel and Minhyuk made eye contact.

    Dash¨D

    Cauhel moved quickly while he opened his fan.

    [Blood Wind]

    [Upon impact, blood and wind created from the fan will tear your enemy apart.]

    Cauhel folded his fan with a simple hit on his fan while Minhyuk swung his sword.

    Sword of Fury.

    Shwaaaaaaaaa¨D

    Creak, creak, creak¨D

    Cauhel¡¯s fan moved fast as if he was an assassin ss wielding their daggers. He easily pushed the tips of the sword lights created by Sword of Fury with his fan.

    Pipipipipipipipi¨D

    Cauhel dispersed the Sword of Fury as his attacks rained down on Minhyuk.

    ¡°Keuk!¡±

    But at that exact same moment, the Armor of Immortality¡¯s special effect was suddenly triggered.

    [Physical Damage Reflection!]

    [Returns the physical damage with a x2 increase in strength.]

    Peep!

    Shwaaaaaaa!

    Blood spurted out from Cauhel¡¯s body but he did not stop his movements. He even continued to jump up and dash forward.

    [Soaring Hawk]

    [The soaring hawk will fly down andnd a powerful strike on your enemies.]

    Wind flew from Cauhel¡¯s feet. They formed into a gleaming de that strangely resembled the feathers of a hawk. It was a single strike that would stab straight through and kill an enemy all at once.

    Bang!

    But Minhyuk used Like the Wind and narrowed the distance between them by a meter. Cauhel had no choice but to pull out the de from his attack that he was going to stab into the ground while Minhyukunched a fierce assault on him.

    Dozens of afterimages from his sword rained down on Cauhel. Cauhel quickly spread out his fan and swung it to create shields that protected him from the raging swords.

    ng, ng, ng, ng, ng¨D

    By the time Rampant Sword had ended, Cauhel had already calcted his next moves. He immediately wielded his fan as the wind des stabbed the ground and attacked Minhyuk.

    Spurt¨D

    ¡°Kghk!¡±

    But Minhyuk was not the only one who received an attack. Minhyuk had already stabbed his sword on the ground as soon as hended from his assault.

    Blooming Sword.

    Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh!

    Hundreds of sword des appeared on the ground. Some even stabbed Cauhel on his ankles.

    Stab!

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Explosions rang loudly all over the ce. When the dust finally settled down on the ground, Cauhel could be seen standing with a ck cape wound around him and protecting his body.

    ¡®We¡¯re on equal grounds¡­¡­?¡¯

    Cauhel couldn¡¯t believe it.

    He had seen Food God Minhyuk¡¯sbat videos. But Athenae was a game so there was definitely a difference between their strength because of their level gap. And he knew that Minhyuk had a much lower level than him. But he could stand toe to toe with him right now.

    He might not know this but the reason why the low-leveled Minhyuk could fight against him on equal terms was because he had raised his stats by eating countless amounts of food during his journey in Athenae. In the end, the reason why he was much stronger than his peers on the same level was because he had a lot of bonus points. Minhyuk had raised his bonus points continuously and would not be left behind by Cauhel who was around Lv500.

    Cauhel found it strange.

    ¡®He said that he only eats.¡¯

    There were rumors floating about Food God Minhyuk saying that he was a weirdo that only loved to eat.

    If he¡¯s only eating, then why can he fight toe to toe with me? It¡¯s strange.

    Cauhel took a few steps back.

    However, he couldn¡¯t help but burst out inughter.

    ¡°Keuhahahahahahaha!¡±

    He was Cauhel. He was the owner of Rothschild, a noble family. He hasn¡¯t shown everything yet. He was also someone who challenged the Royal ss so he had acquired some of the skills of the Maestro of Destruction.

    One of them was Tyrant¡¯s Mask.

    A white mask emerged from his hands. And as soon as Cauhel ced the mask on his face¡­¡­

    [Tyrant¡¯s Mask]

    [All stats will dramatically increase when used. There will also be a +3 increase in skill level.]

    Cauhel dashed forward. His speed dramatically increased as he targeted Minhyuk¡¯s arms.

    ¡°Scattering¡­¡­¡±

    But Cauhel¡¯s fan had immediately pierced Minhyuk¡¯s arms even before he could finish his words.

    Baaaang¨D

    [Your HP has dropped below 60%.]

    A huge chunk of Minhyuk¡¯s HP disappeared with just one attack. He couldn¡¯t help but look surprised as he prepared for a counterattack against the iing Cauhel. But Cauhel used his ghostly skills and attacked him all over his body with his fan.

    p, p, p, p, p¨D

    [Your HP has dropped below 40%.]

    [Your HP has dropped below 30%.]

    He was being attacked indiscriminately. But despite that, Minhyuk just continued to prepare for his own attack.

    p, p, p, p, p¨D

    Cauhel attacked Minhyuk continuously. He even attacked Minhyuk straight in the middle of his forehead.

    Bang!

    Minhyuk received a powerful shock on his head. But Minhyuk continued to wait for the right moment. Then, Cauhel¡¯s fan sharpened like a sword as it prated through Minhyuk¡¯s abdomen.

    Spurt¨D

    Minhyuk suddenly grabbed Cauhel¡¯s wrist as he threw the kitchen knife into the air.

    ¡°Rain of Kitchen Knives.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Cauhel hurriedly tried to escape but he couldn¡¯t. Minhyuk¡¯s grip was too tight. Then, a knife fell down and stabbed him on his shoulder.

    Bang!

    ¡°Wh, what¡­..! Are you going to die with me?!¡±

    ¡°No?¡±

    Minhyukughed as he hugged Cauhel to prevent him from escaping.

    Then, the Rain of Kitchen Knives engulfed the two of them.

    Pipipipipipipipipi¨D

    [Your HP has dropped below 80%.]

    [Your HP has dropped below 70%.]

    Cauhel¡¯s ck cape moved and wrapped around him once again when he started receiving damage. The damage that he had received had been reduced from the Rain of Kitchen Knives that had just finished its duration. Meanwhile, Minhyuk¡¯s body started to lie limply on him.

    [Your HP has dropped below 30%.]

    Cauhel had survived while Minhyuk drooped and sagged on his body.

    ¡®I won.¡¯

    He felt like his anger had been relieved after he had sessfully killed him.

    But at that moment¡­¡­

    [You have used the Armor of Immortality¡¯s Special Ability.]

    [Your HP and MP are being rapidly restored and recovered.]

    The wounds on Minhyuk¡¯s body immediately recovered.

    Cauhel immediately fell back. He felt flustered when he saw Minhyuk recovering quickly. However, the smile on his face did not disappear. His Tyrant¡¯s Mask state was still not over yet. He would be able to pressure and defeat Minhyuk much more easilypared to before. And in the end, Minhyuk would still lose. The members of ckstone that were here with him were also top rankers so the conclusion was already set in stone.

    ¡°Those top rankers will finish your colleagues ande here with me. This will be your end.¡±

    Minhyuk tilted his head as a voice rang behind him.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. It¡¯s the end.¡±

    ¡°Yep. The end.¡±

    Cauhel immediately turned around to see Leverlin being forced to log out. Assassin Amber¡¯s body had also started to go cold while ck Mage Ali just had his arms crossed on top of his chest.

    ¡°......!¡±

    It had only been a few minutes since their battles had started.

    Instead of them, it was my colleagues who had been wiped out? And in just a few minutes too?

    What was worse was that the Dragon Monarch, ck Mage Ali, Kaistra and even the mysterious boy all looked fine.

    ¡°Y, you bastard! You dragged the time¡­¡­.?!¡±

    Cauhel just realized the reason why Minhyuk desperately blocked him. Right now, this would be a tough fight to win.

    ¡®If that¡¯s the case¡­¡­¡¯

    Cauhel moved lightly as he stretched his hand out.

    [Monarch¡¯s Sacrifice.]

    [Sacrifice your own life to revive a targeted individual.]

    [All the abilities of the revived individual will be reduced by 15%.]

    Monarch¡¯s sacrifice would make use of one¡¯s own life to revive another being. The reason why this skill was so brilliant was because he would not receive any penalty aside from the sacrifice of his HP. At the very least, doing this would be better than being forced to log out.

    The screen in front of Cauhel turned ck.

    ¡®Goddamnit!!!¡¯

    In the end, he was forced to run away. He was furious.

    However, he soonughed. Everyone left in that ce would definitely be killed by Diablo. The target that he had chosen was Diablo. He resurrected Diablo.

    But just as he was about topletely leave the game¡­¡­

    [An unknown force has revived you.]

    [Return scroll and teleporting will not be avable for 30 minutes.]

    ¡°......?¡±

    Cauhel tilted his head in confusion. When he opened his eyes, he could see his character being revived in front of Diablo.

    ¡°What the hell?¡±

    ck Mage Ali was standing in front of him.

    ¡°I also have the ability to revive someone.¡±

    Ali smiled wickedly. Then, he immediately rushed to Minhyuk, his friend, as he casted a barrier that covered them all.

    The only people left outside the barrier were Cauhel and Diablo.

    Diablo slowly trudged toward Cauhel. The only thing that Cauhel could do was to gulp dryly. If he died like this then he would be forced to log out. But what was even more irritating was the fact that Minhyuk was mocking him from inside the barrier. He kept on shouting at him as he waved his hands vigorously.

    ¡°y! y! y! Diablo! y, y Diablo! Come on, hit Diablo!!!¡±

    Then, he pulled out a fishing chair, sat down and began to eat popcorn.

    ¡°Hiyaaa! Caramel popcorn is the best popcorn!!!¡±

    Minhyuk was really good at teasing and aggravating his opponents.

    ¡°Th, that bitch!!!¡±

    In the end, Cauhel shouted a string of profanities after being fooled and tricked by his opponents.

    ***

    Report mistakes, get notified on announcements and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 291 - Dangerous Company

    Chapter 291: Dangerous Company

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Cauhel had never felt such anger in his life.

    He had revived Diablo and tried to run away. Although running away was the biggest stain that he would ever have in this life, he still did it. He nned to kill everyone with the revived Diablo. But right now, Diablo couldn¡¯t kill them since they were hidden behind a barrier. So instead of targeting them, he targeted Cauhel himself.

    Not long after, Sly Devil Diablo began his attacks on Cauhel.

    ¡°Damn! Shit! Crap!¡±

    Curses constantly spewed out from his mouth as a fierce battle between him and Sly Devil Diablo began in earnest.

    ***

    They thought that Sly Devil Diablo would brutally trample on Cauhel. But as if true to his famed strength, Cauhel was able to hold on and not lose easily.

    ¡°Chew, chew, chew.¡±

    Minhyuk watched their fight while eating some caramel popcorn.

    ¡®Diablo¡¯s definitely a cut above the rest. But¡­¡­¡¯

    Cauhel¡¯s artifacts were helping him hold out. His artifacts could exert special abilities that were beyondmon sense. He had artifacts that could help himpletely defend against anything and even artifacts that could help him recover some of his HP whenever an attack was sessful. There seemed to be a lot of artifacts that could help him even without the use of potions.

    ¡°Minhyuk-nim, we¡¯re in trouble. Given the situation, I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll be safe either once the barrier is released.¡±

    Even with Cauhel¡¯s outstanding artifacts, he was only able to hold out and note out on top. He was still struggling not to die despite his artifacts¡¯ special abilities. While he desperately held on, Cauhel was most definitely hoping that their ¡®Barrier¡¯ would vanish.

    ¡°Ali-nim, how long does your barrier have left before it gets released?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s still 5 minutes left.¡±

    Minhyuk shook his head. He was sure that Cauhel would be able to hold out for five more minutes. He needed a trick to kill Cauhel and hunt Diablo at the same time.

    ¡°Ah¡­¡­!¡±

    That was the moment when Minhyuk came up with another trick.

    ***

    Keuhaaaack¨D

    [Sly Devil¡¯s Wrath]

    [Powerful mana will turn into des and press down onto his enemies.]

    ck currents cut through the air as they rained down on Cauhel¡¯s body. When blood bursted out of his body, the Blood engraved on his fan sucked the blood back into Cauhel¡¯s body. Thanks to his fan, Cauhel¡¯s wounds were slowly recovering. This was a special ability that allowed him to recover 60% of the damage that he had received.

    ¡®Crazy¡­¡­!¡¯

    Cauhel felt like he was going crazy. However, he realized that the gap between him and the demon Diablo was not that big. But even though the gap was not that big, it was still something that was impossible for him to ovee right now.

    Then¡­

    ¡°Hell fire!¡±

    ¡°Splitting Sword!¡±

    A huge hellfire appeared and engulfed Diablo while two crescent sword lights flew straight towards his body. And it did not stop there. A huge tempest of light was fired from a huge white wolf that rained down on Diablo¡¯s body. ck Dragon even used the new skill that he had gained from transferring to his new ss, Dragon Monarch.

    [Dragons¡¯ War]

    [The four dragons will send a strong breath towards a single being.]

    The four dragon heads appeared on each side of Diablo as they fired their breath in unison.

    Kuhaaaaaaaack¨D

    Four streams of breath engulfed Diablo!

    Diablo couldn¡¯t help but stagger after receiving an influx of attacks. Beings that were revived via Cauhel¡¯s Monarch¡¯s Sacrifice would receive an initial penalty and have all of their skills and abilities decreased by 15%. But even though Diablo had received such a penalty, he was still overwhelming in terms of strength.

    However, Minhyuk and his group suddenly began to attack Diablo.

    ¡°I¡¯ll help you, Cauhel!¡±

    ¡°...Crazy!¡±

    Cauhel¡¯s face distorted in anger.

    Even though he could not understand their actions, they still continued attacking Diablo. After receiving all of their attacks, Diablo¡¯s body was now littered with wounds. However, he was still in great shape and could easily attack them.

    But when Diablo tried to attack them, all of them ran back to the barrier.

    ¡°What the hell are you trying to do?!!!¡±

    Cauhel gritted his teeth in anger. Then, Minhyuk spoke.

    ¡°Come to think of it, you¡­ didn¡¯t you say that you¡¯re from Rothschild? I thought I shouldn¡¯t be hostile to you.¡±

    Cauhel¡¯s eyes shook after hearing his words.

    ¡®That doesn¡¯t even make sense¡­¡¯

    Before he could finish his thought, Diablo, who had lost his target, started attacking Cauhel again. But before Cauhel could stage an attack, Minhyuk and his group rushed out of the barrier and began to attack again.

    ¡°Rampant Sword.¡±

    ¡°Incarnation¡¯s Dash!¡±

    ¡°Dragons¡¯ Melee!¡±

    Various skills once again engulfed Diablo¡¯s body.

    ¡®They¡¯re afraid of my family?¡¯

    Perhaps it was true. The Rothschild Family was one of the world¡¯s most prestigious noble families. They even had more property than an entire country. This was legit and proper information. People even assumed that the Rothschild Family had more power than a country¡¯s president.

    His words may be true but I doubt it.

    However, there was something that he needed to do before he could ponder on this deeply. He first needed to hunt Diablo.

    ¡®If I die now¡­¡¯

    He wouldn¡¯t know what kind of artifact would drop from him. In addition, Cauhel couldn¡¯t bear to imagine the level down penalty that he would receive since he was well beyond Lv580. It wouldn¡¯t be strange to at least receive a 10% down penalty for EXP. But even that would deal a huge blow to him.

    I¡¯ll kill him first before I think about it.

    ¡®Maybe their Barrier¡¯s duration is running out.¡¯

    Perhaps they¡¯re also feeling hurried and urgent.

    Cauhel ced them in the back of his head as he continued attacking the wounded Diablo.

    ¡®What the hell is this defense!!!¡¯

    He wondered how high his defense was. Despite their continuous attacks, his HP did not seem to fall below 50%. So, to deal with Diablo, Cauhel decided to start using his best one shot kill skill. However, he needed someone to drag the time for him.

    ¡°If what you¡¯re saying is true, then draw Diablo¡¯s attention for 10 seconds!¡±

    During his battle against Minhyuk, he was not able to use his best one shot kill skill since they were fighting against each other toe to toe. However, if they were going to drag the time, then it might be possible for him to pull this out.

    Then, Minhyuk answered.

    ¡°Okay!!!¡±

    And with his words, Minhyuk and the rest of his group came out of the barrier and attacked Diablo.

    ¡°shing Spear!¡±

    The light shing at the end of Kaistra¡¯s spear immediately caught Diablo¡¯s attention. He was able to sessfully drag Diablo¡¯s aggro. Then, Diablo began to attack them.

    Cauhel¡¯s fan suddenly started to weigh ten times more than its original weight. There were actually five special properties engraved on his fan. Fire, water, thunder, earth, wind. These five special properties were Cauhel¡¯s best skills. He could easily swallow and engulf his enemies just by maximizing the use of his fan and its properties.

    After 10 seconds, Cauhel immediately swung his fan. He did not even give them any warning when he attacked.

    Ali immediately noticed his actions so he quickly used a short-range mass teleport to increase the distance between Diablo and his party.

    With Cauhel¡¯s swing, light began to emanate from the characters engraved on his fan. Then, each of the properties exerted great strength.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    A powerful fire engulfed Diablo as strong wind with crackling lightning made him roar in anguish. Roots suddenly sprang up from the ground as they bound Diablo while the wind tore through his skin.

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡±

    This was the first scream that Diablo had let out during their fight.

    By the end of the skill, Diablo looked like he was about to keel over. Then, the aggro went back to Cauhel.

    ¡°Let¡¯s end this with an all-out attack!¡±

    Minhyuk and Cauhel were almost on par in terms of skills. He assumed that the first Royal ss, the Dragon Monarch, would also be as strong as them. Combining the overwhelming strength of these people might just let them kill Diablo.

    ¡°I get it!¡±

    Diablo, who was bleeding all over his body, immediately rushed toward Cauhel. Cauhel tilted his fan to the back. But just as he was about to use his skills¡­

    ¡°Lightning Hell.¡±

    Dark clouds hovered in the sky.

    ¡°A powerful lightning strike will hit Diablo! It¡¯s a single attack so you don¡¯t have to worry!¡±

    Quickly gaining confidence, Cauhel lifted his fan to use his skills. But¡­

    Baaaaang!

    ¡°Keheok!¡±

    A lightning bolt struck Cauhel and left him in a stunned state.

    [You have been stunned after being hit by a powerful lightning bolt.]

    ¡®Wh, what?¡¯

    He couldn¡¯t understand what had just happened.

    Crack, crack, crack¨D

    Having fallen into a stunned state, Cauhel could only move his eyes around. Then, he made eye contact with Minhyuk. He could see the corners of his mouth curling up in a smirk.

    ¡°You, you bastard¡­!¡±

    Cauhel finally realized.

    ¡®They wanted to reduce Diablo¡¯s HP while killing me at the same time¡­!¡¯

    That was right. Cauhel had yed very well as both a tanker and a dealer while Minhyuk and his party cleverly used the barrier to reduce Diablo¡¯s HP. They have easily done this thanks to him being easily fooled. And that wasn¡¯t all. His HP had also been reduced. What was worse was that all of his skills had been activated to attack Diablo.

    Currently, he was being sucked dry in front of them.

    He had killed himself.

    Bang¨D

    Another lightning bolt struck Cauhel. His vision turned white.

    First, he failed his Maestro of Destruction quest and ate some big shit.

    Second, he revived Diablo and was fed some big shit.

    Third, he was used by them and ate some big shit.

    ¡°Y, you bit#$$¡ö%#$%#$%."

    Unintelligible words came out of his mouth one by one. Then, Diablo approached Cauhel and cut his neck off.

    sh¨D

    Then, his fan as well as an enormous amount of tinum dropped on the ce where Cauhel was killed.

    Cauhel gritted his teeth and squeezed out of the capsule when his connection ended.

    ¡°Minhyuuuuuuuuuuuk!¡±

    The owner of the Rothschild Family, Rausch¡¯s furious roar shook the entire mansion.

    ***

    ¡°Let¡¯s have a meal!!!¡±

    Ali¡¯s barrier was released immediately after Cauhel¡¯s death. As soon as it disappeared, Minhyuk used his skill ¡®Let¡¯s have a meal¡¯. Let¡¯s Have a Meal was a skill that also created an invisible barrier.

    Seeing that Diablo was almost keeling over after being hit hard, he thought that the only way to sessfully hunt him was to feed buffed dishes to Kaistra, his father ck Dragon, and ck Wizard Ali.

    Once the barrier was set in ce, the probability of cooking a high buffed dish would increase. And the buff that the people that ate his dishes would also be higher.

    He first used his Create a Recipe skill on his father, ck Dragon. Based on what he had seen, it seemed like his father wanted to eat some doenjangjjigae.

    He did not have enough time. He had to feed everyone within 30 minutes. So Minhyuk started cooking.

    Zhini and tofu were immediately chopped on the chopping board as he dissolved the deonjang in water.

    While he was busy cooking, Diablo was already slowly trudging to where they were. Diablo stood in front of them as he stared at them in a daze. It seemed like he had already realized that it was impossible to attack them.

    But then, Diablo suddenly spoke up after watching him cook for quite a while.

    ¡°...A¡­ chef¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk abruptly turned his head. He felt like chills running down his spine as he made eye contact with Diablo. Then, Diablo spoke again.

    ¡°...A dish¡­ can you cook one for me¡­?¡±

    ¡°......?!¡±

    Everyone stared in confusion at Diablo¡¯s bloody appearance.

    ***

    Report mistakes, get notified on announcements and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 292 - The Devil Judgeâ€™s Sword

    Chapter 292: The Devil Judge¡¯s Sword

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    80 The Devil Judge¡¯s Sword

    Diablo was once an ordinary boy. He was just a child who liked to y with his friends and bumped wooden swords with them. He even dreamed of bing the best knight in the entire empire. Whenever he finished rolling around on the ground with his friends, he woulde home to his weing mother, Helen.

    Helen would always ask him with a smile.

    ¡®You¡¯re here? You must be hungry. Let¡¯s eat.¡¯

    Diablo would smile at her as he grabbed his empty belly and sat in front of her. He would excitedly and hurriedly eat the food that she made for him while his mother Helen would smile and wipe the sauce off of his mouth.

    That was right. Diablo was no more than a child when he became the three great demon¡¯s vessel for magi. He had lost everything when they took him here.

    He quietly told the chef that was standing on the other side of the transparent barrier his sad past.

    It would be nice if I could experience that at least once. Maybe it¡¯s fine since it will be thest time.

    He wanted to taste and feel that once again. So he told him¡­

    ¡°I¡¯m¡­ begging¡­ you¡­¡±

    ***

    ¡°I¡¯m¡­ begging¡­ you¡­¡±

    A quest window popped out in front of Minhyuk.

    [Unexpected Quest: Diablo¡¯s Wish.]

    Rank: S

    Restrictions: Chef

    Rewards: The path to the 41st floor

    Failure for Penalty: Diablo¡¯s Wish quest will not be linked.

    Description: Diablo, before he became the Sly Devil, was nothing more than an ordinary human. He said that there was food that he wanted to eat. Please listen to his story.

    ¡®The path to the 41st floor¡­¡¯

    The path to the 41st floor could easily be interpreted. This meant that if Diablo was satisfied, he would let them go and not attack them. To be honest, they did not want to fight Diablo if there was a way where they could be sent away smoothly.

    First of all, the ¡®resurrection¡¯ skill was a very rare and precious skill in Athenae. However, it was a skill that users could still gain. And these resurrection skills follow the same form. Once the hunted monsters had been revived, anything that dropped before like EXP, artifacts and golds would not be dropped after killing them again. This was a system that the Athenae operators had set up to stop the users from trying to hunt rare boss monsters continuously.

    ¡°Minhyuk-ah.¡±

    His father approached him. Kaistra and ck Wizard Ali also turned to look at him.

    ¡°A quest came up. The reward is a path to the 41st floor.¡±

    Kaistra shook his head when he heard his words.

    ¡°But there¡¯s a risk. If you fail¡­¡±

    Minhyuk wanted to try hunting Diablo by feeding buffed dishes to his party in the Let¡¯s Have a Meal barrier. But if he took that time to cook for Diablo, then he would lose a considerable amount of time.

    In other words, he needed to choose. He needed to choose between cooking for Diablo or rejecting him and cooking for the others in the barrier.

    His father, ck Dragon, watched Minhyuk hesitating while looking at Diablo. Then, he spoke.

    ¡°Just do it.¡±

    ¡°...Can I really do that?¡±

    Feeding Diablo with his dish was an extremely dangerous task. In fact, no one in this ce knew what Diablo liked. But he was sure of one thing. There was hunger, longing and reminiscing in his eyes.

    Everyone was bound to have that one ¡®food¡¯ that was filled with memories in their lives. Just like Minhyuk who missed and longed for the spicy braised chicken that his mother used to cook for him. It was quite a strange thing. It was just an ordinary spicy braised chicken and his mother never really cooked in her lifetime. But it was her spicy braised chicken that usuallyes to Minhyuk¡¯s mind.

    So when Minhyuk made eye contact with Diablo, all he could do was shake his head.

    ¡°I understand. What kind of dish?¡±

    ¡°San¡­ dwich¡­ and¡­ so¡­ up¡­¡±

    Diablo was clearly just inly speaking but he looked extremely depressed.

    Minhyuk looked up to him and used his Create a Recipe Skill.

    [Creating a recipe that the other party desires.]

    [You can now check the recipe for ham and egg sandwich and beef soup.]

    [The amount of buff that can be used has been decreased due to creating a recipe.]

    Minhyuk bowed his head and scrutinized the Create a Recipe skill window. The ham and egg sandwich and beef soup coulde out as legendary dishes. However, the rank of the dish was not important. What was important was the taste. This was about Diablo¡¯s satisfaction.

    But maybe¡­

    ¡®Maybe Diablo is much smarter than we think and he¡¯s dragging the time.¡¯

    Quests were mostly promises made with NPCs. Most of the users would proceed with the quest and receive the rewards that they were promised. However, although it was rare, there were cases where that promise could be ignored. That was especially the case for named NPCs.

    Perhaps Diablo was like that too. If he was such a being, then each and everyone of them would be wiped out here.

    Then, Diablo said.

    ¡°When I came back¡­ after ying¡­ my mother would make¡­ this for me¡­ from time to time¡­ ham and egg sandwich¡­ soup¡­ but my mother¡­ starved¡­ I didn¡¯t know¡­¡±

    Diablo¡¯s voice was colored with sorrow.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know because I was young¡­ she was hungry because she was feeding me¡­¡±

    Minhyuk turned around and shook his head.

    If Diablo was a child from a poor family, then the ingredients for making the ham and egg sandwich would be expensive for them.

    The Athenae worldview was entangled with modern culture but there were still poor people among the ordinary NPCs. And those people often lived a life below that ofmoners.

    Diablo¡¯s mother had to starve just to give him an expensive ham and egg sandwich. There was nothing impossible. Since she¡¯s a mother, she would do anything for her child.

    Those feelings touched Minhyuk deeply as he started cooking. He shook off all of the misconceptions and wariness that he had. All of the thoughts about whether he should believe him or not disappeared from his head.

    ¡°I¡¯ll do my best.¡±

    Ham and egg sandwiches were simple to make. This was the reason why many people used them as a simple meal. This was also themon food that people who worked or studied in cafes usually ate with their coffee.

    Then, Minhyuk began to cook.

    First, he ced a pot on the burner and boiled water to boil some eggs. While the eggs were boiling, he washed some lettuce and tomatoes before chopping them to bite sized pieces. Then, he took the fully-boiled eggs out of the pot and dumped them in cold water before peeling off the shells. After peeling off the shells, he crushed the eggs. Then, he ced a lettuce on top of a soft sandwich bread before cing a slice of cheese.

    The ¡®egg¡¯ in a ham and egg sandwich varied depending on the person¡¯s preference. In some cases, the mashed eggs would be mixed with mayonnaise and minced pickles while some cases would add other spices to make it fancier. However, right now, Minhyuk was just preparing a simple ham and egg sandwich.

    Then, Minhyuk spread the egg on top of the sliced tomato and ham before finally covering it with a piece of bread. His sandwich did not have any other special sauce. It was just a in and simple ham and egg sandwich.

    Thispleted the ham and egg sandwich.

    Then, he began to cook the soup. Unfortunately, the only soup that he could cook in such a short time was just some instant beef soup. After he ripped open the package, he dumped the powder of the soup in the water and stirred it to cook.

    Minhyuk was concentrating deeply without his prior notice.

    ¡®A dish in one¡¯s memory¡­¡¯

    When that thought shed through his head, he unwittingly went into a trance. If he could ¡®only¡¯ bring back some of the person¡¯s memories through his dish¡­

    Isn¡¯t that such a wonderful and beautiful thought? And if he is satisfied with my dish¡­ isn¡¯t that also enjoyable for me?

    Of course, Minhyuk still thought that eating was the best.

    ¡®But it¡¯s not bad to do this every once in a while.¡¯

    Just as he wanted to eat his mom¡¯s spicy braised chicken, something that he couldn¡¯t do anymore since she was no longer in this world, he hoped to at least bring back the memories of Diablo¡¯s mother back to him.

    And with that, the soup waspleted.

    [You havepleted a Ham and Egg Sandwich and Soup.]

    [This is a dish that only Diablo can eat.]

    [The Create a Recipe Skill Effect can only be tasted by the same person once per month.]

    [Trance. It¡¯s a dish that has your ¡®reminiscence¡¯, ¡®passion¡¯ and ¡®desire to make food for others¡¯ poured into it.]

    [Due to the effects of Trance, the buff effect has be better and the rank has gone up.]

    [Legendary Grade.]

    [You have gained 30 DEX.]

    [You have gained 200 reputation points.]

    [You have gained 5,000 Achievement Points.]

    [You have gained +2 on all 5 basic stats.]

    But Minhyuk could not hear the notifications. He was still focused on stirring the soup.

    The memories of his mother came to mind as he made the dish for Diablo. Without realizing it, tears started to flow down his cheeks.

    ¡°Minhyuk-ah? Why are you crying?¡±

    His father approached him in worry. And all Minhyuk could do was smile bitterly at him.

    ¡°I thought about mom for a moment.¡±

    ¡°...I see.¡±

    ck Dragon, his father, shook his head in understanding. There were also times when he thought of her. It was sad, but they were able to at least lessen their longing for her as Minhyuk and ck Dragon hugged each other.

    Then, Minhyuk came out of the barrier as he handed the finished dish to Diablo.

    ¡°I wish I could show you the memories that you wanted to see with this dish. I truly mean it.¡±

    ***

    Diablo looked at the ham and egg sandwich and soup that the chef had given him. He saw it earlier.

    ¡®Water came out of his eyes¡­?¡¯

    He was wondering what they were at first. After all, he had been trapped on the deste 40th floor of the Demon World¡¯s Tower for a long time so he had long forgotten about some of the emotions that a person could experience. But he recalled that they were tears. Just like the tears that he shed endlessly when he missed his mother. Perhaps Diablo and Minhyuk shared the same pain and longing. Although they did not know each other¡¯s pain they could somehow feel it.

    Diablo¡¯s emotions had grown dull over the years but it seemed like they were slowlying back to life.

    But before that, he stared at the ham and egg sandwich first. It was obviously different from the ham and egg sandwich that his mother had made. But he still chewed the sandwich slowly.

    The bread was soft, followed by the crunchy lettuce and the sour tomatoes. Then, the chewy ham and the soft mashed eggs.

    ¡®Delic¡­ ious¡­¡¯

    It was clearly different from that time but it was still delicious.

    Then, he grabbed a spoon. It¡¯s been a while since he¡¯d held a spoon so he was still a bit awkward. But he still slowly tasted the soup. The soup was warm, salty and savory. The taste was almost the same as that time.

    ¡°Delic¡­ ious¡­¡±

    Diablo hurriedly began to gobble up the ham and egg sandwiches and soup.

    At that moment, the barrier of Let¡¯s Have a Meal was released. All of them were staring at a figure. Diablo was only focused on eating food and was currently defenseless. After he finished eating everything up, tears glistened in his eyes.

    ¡®I remember¡­ Ah¡­ that time¡­ happiness¡­¡¯

    It was just a normal daily life but when he thought about it now he was very happy. Then, Diablo slowly lifted himself up.

    Shiiiiiing¨D

    He swung his sword up then a space appeared. The party realized that the space was the path to the next floor.

    ¡°Thanks.¡±

    Minhyuk had made him remember the memories of his mothers so he thanked him for reminding him of those precious times.

    But just as they were about to enter the space¡­

    ¡°Wai¡­ t¡­¡±

    A voice called out to Minhyuk. He looked at Diablo standing there. He raised his hand in the air.

    Crackle, crackle¨D

    Sparks shed in front of him as a sword appeared in his hands.

    [Diablo has presented you with the Devil Judge¡¯s Sword.]

    ***

    In the Special User Management Team¡¯s office.

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Everyone staring at the monitor was left in shock. Then, Team Leader Park Minggyu mumbled to himself.

    ¡°He gave him the Devil Judge¡¯s Sword, one of the Half-God artifacts¡­?¡±

    It was extremely unbelievable.

    The Athenae operators named the best and most powerful Half-God artifact among all of the Half-God artifacts as the ¡®Absolute Half-God Artifacts¡¯. There were in fact ten of these items. But the time was still not ripe. They were weapons that should not be revealed in their original forms. And one of them was the sword that Diablo was holding out to Minhyuk.

    That sword was one of the Absolute Half-God artifacts.

    ***

    Report mistakes, get notified on announcements and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 293 - The Devil Judgeâ€™s Sword

    Chapter 293: The Devil Judge¡¯s Sword

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Minhyuk turned to look at the sword in Diablo¡¯s hands. The de of the sword was ck and the hilt looked rough. However, even if this artifact turned out to be useless or insignificant, he still felt that it would be alright.

    He gracefully received the sword that was stretched out to him. Then, the notifications rang.

    [You have acquired the Devil Judge¡¯s Sword.]

    [Absolute Half-God Artifact.]

    [A weapon that¡¯s infinitely close to the God Level. There are only 10 artifacts of this caliber in the world.]

    [There are only 10 Absolute Half-God Artifacts to ever exist on earth. The lower its number, the better the artifact is.]

    [The Devil Judge¡¯s Sword is in 3rd ce.]

    The notifications werepletely different to what he had expected when he first saw the form of the Devil Judge¡¯s Sword.

    ¡®Absolute Half-God artifact? Third?¡¯

    These were pieces of information that were still undisclosed to the world. In addition, the third most powerful among the ten artifacts in this world was the Devil Judge¡¯s Sword in his hands.

    Then, a quest notification appeared.

    [Linked Quest: Hunt Demon Verus.]

    Rank: Sealed

    Restrictions: Lv500 or higher

    Rewards: Sealed

    Penalty for Failure: Sealed

    Description: Sealed

    Looking at it, the quest that he had received was meant for users Lv500 and above. He also found the quest name somewhat unusual.

    ¡®Hunt demon Verus?¡¯

    There were three great demons in total. They were Gorac, Gremory and Verus. And the demon that directly influenced others and instigated them to invade the human world was none other than ¡®Verus¡¯.

    In fact, in most cases, quests were often equipped with a choice for users. And the same was true for this quest.

    Minhyuk shook his head for now.

    ¡°I understand.¡±

    ¡°Thank¡­ you.¡±

    The corners of Diablo¡¯s mouth awkwardly curled up. His figure was quite grotesque. He tried to smile but it seemed like he couldn¡¯t do so. When Minhyuk saw this, he smiled broadly. He smiled in Diablo¡¯s stead. Then, he walked straight towards the opened up space.

    Diablo stared into the space that he opened for a long time even after they had long left.

    At this time, Minhyuk was still unaware that the Sly Devil Diablo would be his loyal servant.

    ***

    Minhyuk¡¯s father, ck Dragon, returned back to the ground floor since he had already achieved what he wanted to achieve.

    In ck Mage Ali¡¯s case, he also had to go down a few more levels since he was still not yet recognized by the Predatory Snake.

    The summoning parchment that Minhyuk used was a parchment that would return the summoned people after two hours if they did not climb the Demon World¡¯s Tower or if they were at a floor that was at a lower number than where they were summoned.

    Then, Kaistra said¡­

    ¡°Genie noona and the other guild members keep on looking for Minhyuk-nim. They said that the hunt for the Demon World Army was almost over.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head. It seemed like the episodes that were rted to the Demon World Army were gradually being settled.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go and help the guild first.¡±

    ¡°Alright. Thanks for your hard work, Kaistra.¡±

    Kaistra then disappeared in a sh of light.

    Minhyuk only checked the Devil Judge¡¯s Sword in his hand after everyone, except Conir, had disappeared.

    (Devil Judge¡¯s Sword)

    Rank: Absolute Half-God

    Restrictions: Lv400 and above

    Durability: ¡Þ / ¡Þ

    Attack Power: 1,002

    Special Abilities:

    ¨D 22% increase in STR, AGI and STM.

    ¨D Passive Skill: Swordsmanship Level Mastery increased to Lv9.

    ¨D Active Skill: Diablo¡¯s Eyes

    ¨D Active Skill: Diablo¡¯s Scythe

    ¨D Active Skill: Berserk

    Description: Diablo is filled with resentment against demons especially Great Demon Verus. This sword of his has grown stronger after cutting down demons for a long period of time.

    (Diablo¡¯s Eyes)

    Active Skill

    Mana Required: 700

    Cooldown: 30 minutes

    Effects:

    ¨D Diablo¡¯s eyes will help you see through your enemies all at once. It will show you all of your enemy¡¯s vital points in one second.

    ¨D Once Diablo¡¯s eyes have been triggered and you sessfully stabbed a vital point within 30 seconds, an additional 200% will be added to your attack¡¯s damage.

    ¨D If you seed in stabbing the vital point with your own skill, it will ovep with the additional attack power.

    (Diablo¡¯s Scythe)

    Active Skill

    Mana Required: 1,000

    Cooldown: 24 hours.

    Effects:

    ¨D Diablo¡¯s sword will turn into a scythe with chains attached to its end so you can use it freely.

    ¨D Your attack speed will increase by 180% if you swing the scythe.

    ¨D There is an 8% chance of triggering judgement when facing off against an opponent with magi. If judgement is sessfully triggered, additional 400% damage will be added to your attack.

    (Berserk)

    Active Skill

    Mana Required: 3,000

    Cooldown: 72 hours

    Effects:

    ¨D A stronger awakening would be experienced during the first berserk state. The second state onwards would continue to show the effects of the skill Berserk.

    ¨D While using the skill Berserk, all stats and skills will increase significantly.

    ¨D Your HP will continue to fall by 3% per second during the duration of your Berserk state.

    ¨D Once you¡¯re done using the skill, your HP will fall below 10% and your defense will fall below 20%.

    ¡®Wow¡­¡¯

    Even Minhyuk, someone who was only impressed with food, couldn¡¯t help but be impressed with the information in front of him. Everything that he had seen was superior to the Ancient Water Dragon, Barraca¡¯s sword. And that was to say that Barraca¡¯s Sword had been strengthened with a +4 before. After the strengthening, Barraca¡¯s Sword¡¯s attack power did not exceed 950. But the Devil Judge¡¯s Sword easily exceeded the 1,000 point threshold in the attack power. Even all of the skills attached to the artifact were amazing.

    A thought shed in his head as soon as he saw the information.

    ¡®Aren¡¯t these allbat skills?¡¯

    Whether it was Diablo¡¯s eyes, scythe or berserk all of them werebat skills. Among them, the most surprising was the ¡®Berserk¡¯ skill. When in use, the user¡¯s HP would fall by as little as 3% every second. However, aspensation, all of the user¡¯s skills and stats would be stronger.

    And finally, he checked thest thing that he failed to check earlier.

    (As Territory)

    Restrictions: Guild Master or Lord of a Territory. Reputation at 2,000 or more.

    Description: At one point in time, all of the monarchs in the entire world dreamed and vied to be the owner of As, a territory that had only been deemed as a legend. You are now qualified to be the owner of the territory As. Once you say ¡®As¡¯ you will be guided on the way there.

    He was unclear about what As was like as a territory. However, he knew that it would definitely be helpful to Legend Guild.

    ¡®Well then, let¡¯s climb quickly.¡¯

    To the 50th floor.

    There were two things that he needed to get on the 50th floor of the Demon World¡¯s Tower. They were none other than Kongie¡¯s second golden crown fragment for his awakening and the treasure from the Four Great Heavenly Kings that would help him create an ¡®Oven¡¯ using the Half-God artifact production method.

    So, Minhyuk quickly started climbing the Demon World¡¯s Tower once again with Aruvel.

    ***

    Joythenae was a site that all of the users used to talk about Athenae. And Joythenae was currently discussing a very hot topic this time.

    This was the beginning of the controversy that became a hot topic.

    [Who is the strongest user in Athenae?]

    Countlessments began to flood to answer the question.

    [It¡¯s definitely Ca, right?]

    [Agree. Ca is a hidden user but he has shown what kind of user he is through the Hall of Kings.]

    [I don¡¯t think he¡¯s the strongest user just because he climbed the Hall of Kings. If we based it on that, then we can also say that South Korea¡¯s Food God, who achieved a triple crown in the Hall of Kings in the shortest period of time, would be the strongest. Right?]

    People all over the world acknowledged that Food God Minhyuk was strong. But if theypared him with the world¡¯s rankers, the experts of Athenae evaluated that there were a lot of people that were far stronger than him. And most of their evaluations were true.

    [Then, who is it?]

    [No. There are also unofficial rankers, right? So, who is the strongest in the world of the adventure game Athenae?]

    Each of the users began to mention the best users of their countries before they remembered the words of one user. That was when they realized that it was impossible to measure since there were also a lot of unofficial rankings.

    Then, the topic changed.

    [Then, who¡¯s the strongest user that the people knew well?]

    There were a lot of people who hesitated over this question. Ca was still unknown and the Food God was still not the best among the best.

    So, who are the remaining candidates?

    [Mei Wei.]

    Joythenae was a globalmunity site that had the function ¡®like¡¯ as well as other functions in thements.

    And thisment had reached more than 10 million in just a day. It rose as the bestment surprisingly fast. And thements following it did not deny it.

    Mei Wei.

    She was China¡¯s number 1 in the official rankings as well as the number 1 in the world official rankings. A master among masters.

    Those who had watched her videos at least once would be fascinated by her battles. From what they heard, Mei Wei also had the same name in reality. She was even called ¡®Goddess Mei Wei¡¯ in Athenae after people saw her beautiful countenance that no one couldpare with. She wasn¡¯t only the number 1 in the official rankings, she was also the number 1 in the beauty rankings in the Athenae worldview.

    She had ck hair and big eyes that glistened brightly like ake being shined on by the sunlight. She looked pure and naive but would turn into a peerless and cool warrior on the battlefield. This contrast turned her into the object of a lot of people¡¯s fantasies and dreams.

    And right now, a Chinese doctor wearing a doctor¡¯s gown was currently sitting in front of a skinny woman that was almost all bones while weighing 31kg in her 167 cm height. The phrase ¡®all bones¡¯pletely matched her appearance. Her cheekbones were protruding, her eyes were sunken and her entire body was as thin as a dried branch.

    Then, the doctor spoke.

    ¡°Miss Mei Wei, at this rate, things will be dangerous.¡±

    The doctor¡¯s words were extremely shocking. The woman who was praised to be the world¡¯s number one beauty and the woman who was most likely the strongest in Athenae, Mei Wei, was the woman who was all bones.

    ¡°We need to find a way to treat your anorexia. If this continues, your life will be in danger.¡±

    Anorexia. This was the illness that she had. She had been fighting against it for a long time but there was no progress at all. It was not that she did not want to be cured, Mei Wei also desired it. She longed for the day when her anorexia got treated.

    Then, the doctor continued to speak.

    ¡°Perhaps¡­ I don¡¯t know if it will work but I have a method to try to cure it.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    The doctor¡¯s words were akin to a miracle. The doctor started exining.

    ¡°You heard that there were more and more people dieting because of Athenae recently, right?¡±

    She nodded her head. She was the world¡¯s best ranker so she could not be slower than others in terms of information gathering.

    ¡°On the contrary, we¡¯ll be looking for delicious foods in Athenae to gain weight. After all, anorexia is also a type of mental illness. Your body might be rejecting food, but you are in fact mentally rejecting it even more. So, you should go and find food in there that would treat your anorexia. Perhaps, you will be able to eat food once you taste it there.¡±

    The doctor¡¯s words made her expression turn solemn.

    ¡°Is there a dish in there that will satisfy my appetite and taste?¡±

    ¡°Athenae is a virtual world. That¡¯s a ce where anything is possible.¡±

    The doctor pped his hands together and continued to speak to her.

    ¡°Miss Mei Wei. Once you log in to Athenae, you should hurry and find this person.¡±

    ¡°Find someone? Not cook something?¡±

    The doctor nodded his head. Seeing that she was listening properly to his words, he once again opened his mouth.

    ¡°Food God Minhyuk.¡±

    ***

    [You are the first user to attack the Demon World¡¯s Tower¡¯s 50th floor.]

    [You have gained 30,000,000 EXP.]

    [You have acquired 1,000 tinum.]

    [One of the Four Heavenly Kings, Heavenly King Damon, acknowledges you.]

    [Heavenly King Damon has given you his treasure, the Bronze Sword.]

    [Heavenly King Damon has given you a fragment of the golden crown.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    Minhyuk leveled up all at once after gaining a lot of EXP. In just an instant, his level had surpassed Lv440.

    Minhyuk realized that just reaching the 50th floor would allow him to receive Heavenly King Damon¡¯s treasures as well as the fragment of the golden crown.

    Then, the king gently handed Mihyuk the items as he spoke to him.

    ¡®The qualifications that you have are more than enough.¡¯

    Heavenly King Damon had told him that he did not expect anyone to actually ever attack the 50th floor so him climbing to this ce was more than enough for him to receive the rewards.

    Then, Minhyuk tried to awaken Kongie by equipping the fragment of the golden crown on him again. But at that moment¡­

    ¡°In the end, you really climbed to the 50th floor.¡±

    It was Aruvel.

    In the first ce, the Demon World¡¯s Tower was a ce that could never be broken even if the person had all the information up to the 50th floor.

    Minhyuk suddenly felt something strange.

    ¡°If it¡¯s you, I think you¡¯re strong enough to take me with you.¡±

    That was what he said but Minhyuk could tell what his intentions were. He had been enamored by his cooking skills and was trying to sneakilye with him!

    Then, the notifications rang.

    [Great Sage Aruvel has pledged his loyalty to you.]

    ¡°Ha, hahahahahaha¡­!¡±

    ¡°Are youughing because you¡¯re happy?¡±

    Minhyuk almost fell into despair. He punched Aruvel straight in the guts.

    ***

    Notes

    [Joythenae] I was written as ???. ?? was from Athenae, and ? when used as a prefix means joy, enjoy have fun. But when used by itself, it¡¯s a ng meaning whatever or smth along those lines.

    [Anorexia] Anorexia nervosa - potentially life-threatening disorder. Characterized by self-starvation and extreme weight loss. You will be diagnosed with this disorder once your weight drops by 15% of a normal person¡¯s weight. People who have this disorder have intense fears of bing fat and see themselves as fat even when they are already extremely thin. People with this disorder tend to eat less while exercising excessively.

    PR¡¯s Corner!

    Welp, calling it now, she¡¯s Minhyuk¡¯s girl. Also, just realized it¡¯s been a year since I started proofreading for this. Here¡¯s in

    TL¡¯s corner!

    Let¡¯s all thank Matt for preventing me from doing a lot of mistakes!!!

    Report mistakes, get notified on updates and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 294 - Splendid Return

    Chapter 294: Splendid Return

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    81 Splendid Return

    The content Reiming the Elven Forest was still being done by the domestic users. They were still struggling to recapture the Elven Forest from the grasps of the demons. This time, the human and elven coalition worked together to finally reach their final destination.

    There, in the center of the Elven Forest, was ¡®Lapur¡¯. Lapur was the capital of the Elven Kingdom. Recapturing this area would be the biggest key to solving the war against the demons.

    While they fiercely struggled to recapture the area with Legend Guild at the forefront, notifications began to ring in their ears.

    [Legend Guild has be the first guild to enter the city of Lapur.]

    [You have gained 5,000,000 Guild EXP.]

    [There¡¯s not much time left to recapture Lapur.]

    [If you tear down the Demon God¡¯s Rock and defend the area for 2 hours, you will be able to recapture the city.]

    The Demon God¡¯s Rock was something that Commander-in-chief Rufel had applied in the city of Lapur. This Demon God¡¯s Rock had also turned the city of Lapur into an aggressive city fit for the demons. Extreme pressure and magi were running rampant in the city as the summoned demons red at the users.

    ¡°The end is just around the corner.¡±

    Genie spoke up while thementators mored as they watched them through the screen.

    [Ah! Legend Guild is the first guild to enter Lapur City!!!]

    [There were a lot of people saying that Legend Guild will not do well without their splendid allies, ck Dragon and the Boys and ck Mage Ali. And of course, their guild member, Minhyuk. But look at them now! They¡¯re showing us that they¡¯re the best guild in Korea!]

    [The Sun Guild Alliance is trying to speed up and dig inside so they wouldn¡¯t lose against them!!!]

    [Ah, they¡¯re going to try and break the Demon God¡¯s Rock and eat a lot of contribution points.]

    [They can¡¯t dig into Legend Guild! So, the Sun Guilds immediately went to dig in using their numbers!!!]

    Perhaps this was a situation that they couldn¡¯t really do anything about.

    Legend Guild had immediately dug in. But as soon as they started, the situation became extremely exhausting. The Sun Guild Alliance tried to take advantage of the gap as they swept the mobs and tried to enter the city.

    Thements from the viewers began to appear.

    [Ah. Such a shame. Legend Guild entered first but they¡¯re not doing well.]

    [But there¡¯s nothing they can do. The ck Dragon and the Boys are missing and even ck Mage Ali is not there.]

    [Kgghk! In fact, God Food God-nim will be able to take care of everything if he¡¯s here. Agree?]

    [No Agree.]

    [Nono. I don¡¯t think so. If Minhyuk-nim came with ck Mage Ali, then the situation may change. But with him alone? I don¡¯t think so.]

    [It¡¯s not like he can do the part that dozens of other guilds can do by himself.]

    Everyone nodded their heads in agreement. No matter how strong Minhyuk was, they had deemed it impossible for a single person to change the situation by himself. He had tremendous wide-area of attack skills, powerful one-shot kill skills, and high stats, but everyone was of the opinion that he would not be able to revive the situation that Legend Guild was in now. This was what the viewers thought to be appropriate.

    However, there was one fact that the viewers and thementers had overlooked. It was the fact that Minhyuk had awakened Kongie and had undergone explosive level ups during his stay in the Demon World¡¯s Tower. He even gained plenty of excellent artifacts during his climb.

    Then, at that moment.

    A magic circle suddenly appeared surrounding Lapur, the capital of the Elven Kingdom. Lava suddenly sted out. It was as if an active volcano had just erupted in the area as it swept those who were trying to enter the city.

    Puhaaaaaa¨D

    Puhaaaa¨D

    Puhaaa¨D

    ¡°Ugh, aaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keheok!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡±

    The number 1 tanker, Golden Shield Valdar, felt flustered after being hit directly by theva.

    [You suffered from Barach¡¯s Roar.]

    [Demon World¡¯s Lava will corrode your armors and weapons and melt your flesh away.]

    [Your HP has fallen below 20%.]

    ¡°Wh, what¡­?!¡±

    Valdar¡¯s HP was clearly full earlier. This was possible because he currently had the best HP recovery artifact, Rufad¡¯s Stamina Ring, equipped. However, his HP fell below 20% in just one single attack.

    Then, this means¡­

    ¡°Eve, everyone¡¯s already dead?¡±

    It was just earlier that the vicinity was teeming with people but now, almost everyone was forced to log out after being directly hit by the pirs ofva.

    And there was also a name included in the skill that hit them.

    ¡®Barach¡¯s Roar? Barach?¡¯

    Along with that thought, a huge whip made out of mes swept around him.

    Shwaaaaaa!

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keok!¡±

    As soon as the whip of mes touched the users, their bodies disintegrated and disappeared while being forced to log out.

    The one in the center of it all was about 6m tall with red skin and muscr body, it had a cow¡¯s head with two horns sticking out and a whip in one of its hands and a steel bar on the other. With it in the center, thousands of ming demonic beasts surrounded it as they escorted the Demon God¡¯s Rock.

    Then, notifications rang for the users in the vicinity.

    [The Demon God¡¯s Knight, Barach, has appeared!]

    [Abnormal State. You have been subjected to extreme heat.]

    [The heat has reduced your physical defense by 30% and your magical defense by 40%.]

    [The heat has reduced all of your stats by 10%.]

    [The one who sessfully hunts the Demon God¡¯s Knight, Barach, will receive rewards.]

    Thementators immediately searched for information as they shouted loudly on their microphones.

    [Aaaaaaaaaaah!!! The Demon God¡¯s Knight Barach has appeared!!!]

    [Commander-in-chief Rufel must have squeezed thest of Verus¡¯ strength in him to summon him!!!]

    [The Demon God¡¯s Knight Barach is known to be an existence beyond Lv600!!!]

    Then, Barach suddenly roared.

    [Knight¡¯s Momentum]

    [A powerful explosion kills off all of the enemies in the vicinity.]

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Loud and violent explosions bloomed under the feet of the elves and the users, swallowing them down and killing them at the same time.

    And Genie, who saw all of that happen¡­

    ¡®C, Crazy¡­¡­! How can we kill that?!¡¯

    Kaistra quickly avoided the explosions and approached Genie.

    After he had finished the work with Cauhel, Kaistra had immediately joined the guild to recapture the Elven Forest.

    ¡°Noona, I think it¡¯s better if we avoid it and stay at the back.¡±

    ¡°Alright.¡±

    Genie stared at the Sun Guild Alliance and the other guilds that were targeted by the skill. They were trying to push forward with their numbers at the thought of killing Barach. Looking at them, she thought that Legend, a guild that was no match for them in terms of numbers, was better off retreating while seeking other opportunities.

    [Guild Master Genie: Legend Guild. Everyone should retreat and continue to watch the situation.]

    Then, Genie turned to ask Kaistra.

    ¡°When will Minhyuke here?¡±

    Kaistra thought about Minhyuk¡¯s words before answering her.

    ¡°Pretty soon.¡±

    ***

    [Aruvel has be your vassal subordinate.]

    Minhyuk struggled to swallow down his tears as he epted Aruvel as his vassal.

    There was a reason why he epted him as a vassal despite his obvious intentions. He had received a lot of help from his guild members. His guild members always brought Minhyuk high-quality ingredients as payment for his buffed dishes. And the more powerful the vassal he epted, the more helpful they would be not only for him but also for them. In addition, he knew that doing this would also help him move forward to some extent and find more ways to eat delicious food.

    But¡­

    ¡®Even though my head knows all of this, my heart still hurts¡­ Sob!¡¯

    After sighing deeply, Minhyuk quickly used the second fragment of the golden crown on Kongie.

    [You have used the Fragment of the Golden Crown.]

    [The Fragment of the Golden Crown is applied to Kongie, the Incarnation of Gluttony.]

    [All of the fragments of the Golden Crown must be collected first before the Golden Crown appears.]

    [The fragment of the Golden Crown will open up a part of the Sealed Incarnation of Gluttony.]

    [Kongie has acquired the Three Great Divine Beast¡¯s Armor.]

    [Kongie has acquired the Passive Skill: ¡®Using Master¡¯s Weapon¡¯.]

    (Three Great Divine Beast¡¯s Armor)

    Rank: Half-God

    Restrictions: Incarnation of Gluttony

    Durability: 50,000 / 50,000

    Defensive Power: 1,287

    Special Effects:

    ¨D Penrus¡¯ Active Skill: Speed of Light

    ¨D Dragon of Destruction¡¯s Active Skill: Dragon¡¯s Shield

    ¨D Predatory Snake¡¯s Active Skill: Eye of Domination

    Description: This is an armor that the three great divine beasts¡¯ had created with their defensive and special skills. An item solely created for their King, the Incarnation of Gluttony.

    Minhyuk was speechless.

    Kongie¡¯s Three Great Divine Beast¡¯s Armor had a higher defense than Minhyuk¡¯s Armor of Immortality. It¡¯s rank was even a ¡®Half-God¡¯. And there were also the skills that he had seen in the video from before.

    The Speed of Light had a cooldown that was only half of the mage¡¯s movement skill, Blink. The distance that it could cover was even farther and the speed was much master. Dragon¡¯s Shield was also tougher than the shields that ordinary mages could use. Andstly, the Eye of Domination was a unique skill that would brainwash the opponent as long as their mental strength was weaker than Kongie¡¯s own.

    There was also the passive skill ¡®Using Master¡¯s Weapon¡¯ where he could use one of his master¡¯s weapons. However, there was something that he should be cautious about. From what was said, as soon as the weapon was handed over for his use, the weapon¡¯s attribute wouldpletely change to a pet¡¯s weapon and would not be able to be used by the owner anymore.

    Minhyuk thought of the efficiency of his weapons. But the answer came quickly.

    ¡®Food God¡¯s Kitchen Knife.¡¯

    The Food God¡¯s Kitchen Knife was an auxiliary weapon that belonged to Minhyuk. It was not his main weapon. There was also the extremely lethal wide-area of attack skill, Rain of Kitchen Knives. Once Kongie owned it, he would still be able to use it through him. If Minhyuk casted another skill while Kongie used the Rain of Kitchen Knives then the effect would double. Besides, the Food God¡¯s Kitchen Knife was small and appropriate for Kongie¡¯s size.

    [You have handed over the ¡®Food God¡¯s Kitchen Knife¡¯ for Kongie to use.]

    [The Food God¡¯s Kitchen Knife now belongs to Kongie.]

    It was clear that Using Master¡¯s Weapon was a unique skill. After all, most of the pet¡¯s weapons were artifacts that had much lower power than ordinary users¡¯ weapons. But thanks to this skill, this weakness was easily covered and supplemented.

    Then, he looked at the Three Great Divine Beasts¡¯ Armor. It was an armor that was made entirely of gold. It was floating in the air just a bit earlier but it had now moved by itself and approached Kongie. Then, the armor suddenly turned into fluid as it covered Kongie¡¯s entire body. After covering Kongie¡¯s body, the armor solidified and protected Kongie¡¯s upper and lower body. The armor looked quite impressive as it covered Kongie from his neck down to his toes. There were even a pair of golden boots that softly glittered and shed on Kongie¡¯s feet.

    ¡°I can tell that this armor is made for Kongie.¡±

    The reason was simple. The armor, as if aware of Kongie¡¯s slightly protruding belly, also had its belly part protruding. It looked a bit funny.

    ¡°Oiiiiiink!¡±

    Kongie stared at him confidently. Minhyuk could imagine how cool Kongie would look once the golden crown was ced on his head. He was even cool right now.

    ¡®Come to think of it¡­¡¯

    There were no hints about the third fragment of the golden crown whatsoever.

    ¡®Will a hint appear when the time is right? Or not?¡¯

    He didn¡¯t know if it would appear when the time was right but he was still somewhat disappointed that he couldn¡¯t see Kongie¡¯s awakening immediately.

    Then, finally, Minhyuk turned to look at the Four Great Heavenly King¡¯s treasures. There was a mandolin, a pipa, a bronze sword and an orb. By collecting the four treasures of the heavenly kings, the user would be able to obtain the artifact with a form that they desired. But the problem was the part that said ¡®Instead, the performance of the artifact cannot be expected¡¯. Of course, this was a fact that all of the users knew.

    The operators already knew that the users were bound to know this fact one day. But it seemed like it was still a bit hidden. Once the Four Great Heavenly Kings¡¯ treasures were all collected, the artifact that it would produce would be simr to a disaster level artifact. Those were the Authority Artifacts.

    In addition, Minhyuk was also doing more with his ¡®Half-God Artifact Production Method¡¯. Minhyuk might not know this yet but this was an unimaginable moment where he would create an artifact that wasparable to the Devil Judge¡¯s Sword that he had received from Diablo.

    And of course, this artifact that would beparable to that was already decided.

    ¡°I will make an oven using the treasures of the Four Great Heavenly Kings and the Half-God Artifact Production Method.¡±

    Then¡­

    Shwaaaaaaaaaak¨D

    Strong wind suddenly blew. The wind was so strong that it looked like it was swallowing all of the magi in the Demon World. The strong wind sucked up all the ck magi in the surroundings as it devoured the four artifacts and the Half-God Artifact Production Method. Then, a huge tornado was formed from the chaos.

    Shwaaaaaaaa¨D

    Minhyuk¡¯s cape and hair were blown by the wind. However, he could see that the four artifacts and the production method met in the middle of the tornado. Inside, the production of the artifact began on its own.

    Crack, crack, crack¨D

    The strong wind became stronger and stronger as if it was going to devour everything in its path. Then¡­

    Crackle¨D

    A huge ck lightning fell down from the sky and struck the artifacts.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Notifications rang loudly not long after.

    [You have acquired the Authority Artifact: Oven of Destruction]

    [The Oven of Destruction has reached the Half-God rank.]

    [The rank of the artifact has changed to Absolute Half-God.]

    [Oven of Destruction. Absolute Half-God Artifact that ranked second among all the other Absolute Half-God artifacts.]

    At the same time, in the Special Users Management Team¡­

    ¡°This, this is impossible¡­!¡±

    President Kang Taehoon, Team Leader Park Minggyu and all of the people present in the room were all shocked and astonished.

    No, they were more shocked that God of Athenae, a more absolute authority than them in the game, intervened like that. This was a situation that they did not expect to happen.

    ¡°Half-God artifacts could change to Absolute Half-God artifacts¡­?! No, it wasn¡¯t even a Half-God artifact, it was just an authority artifact¡­¡±

    However, when they thought about it more, the Absolute Half-God artifacts were the ten most outstanding to exist in that world. They could assume that it should not be unterally and unconditionally ranked as ¡®Half-God¡¯.

    While Kang Taehoon was immersed in his astonishment, Team Leader Park spoke.

    ¡°The second among the Absolute Half-God artifacts is an¡­ an oven¡­¡±

    They had no choice but to feel both astonished and appalled again.

    ***

    Report mistakes, get notified on updates and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 295 - Splendid Return

    Chapter 295: Splendid Return

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Park Taehoon hurriedly ordered as he continued to watch the monitor with his widened eyes.

    ¡°Bring up the information about the artifact.¡±

    ¡°Yes, President.¡±

    Lee Minhwa hurriedly pulled out the information about the ¡®Oven of Destruction¡¯ the new second Absolute Half-God artifact.

    (Oven of Destruction)

    Rank: Authority

    Restrictions: DEX 1,500 above

    Durability: ¡Þ / ¡Þ

    Special Abilities:

    ¨D All special abilities and skills can be used and applied just by having the ability and skill.

    ¨D The HP and MP that you have will increase by 50%

    ¨D Active Skill: Skill Destruction

    ¨D Passive Skill: Fantastic Oven

    ¨D Active Skill: Oven of Disaster

    Description: A powerful Authority Artifact that has now be the 2nd of the Absolute Half-God Artifacts. Since the user has created the artifact based on his desires, the desired ability will be added on the artifact.

    ¡°The skills too.¡±

    Kang Taehoon was still speaking urgently. Hearing the urgency in his voice, Lee Minhwa hurriedly opened the skill windows on the monitor.

    (Skill Destruction)

    Active Skill

    Level: None

    Mana Required: 1,000

    Cooldown: 72 hours

    Effects:

    ¨D You can seal your enemy¡¯s highest-ranked skill for 5 minutes.

    ¨D You can specify one of your enemy¡¯s skills and seal it for 5 minutes.

    (Fantastic Oven)

    Passive Skill

    Level: None

    Mana Required: None

    Effects:

    ¨D Create the best food that you want efficiently with your oven.

    ¨D You can add ingredients to your oven to create various vors. Example: When charcoal is applied to the oven, the taste of charcoal and smoke will permeate the food.

    (Oven of Destruction)

    Active Skill

    Level: None

    Mana Required: 3,000

    Cooldown: 96 hours

    Effects: The oven will recognize all hostile parties within a radius of 12m. It will cause an explosion that has 450% additional attack power.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s really awesome¡­¡±

    The people in the area were looking at it in awe while Production Team Leader Lee Seokhoon spoke up.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t this a bit closer to the 1st Absolute Half-God Artifact???¡±

    The Oven of Destruction was excellent to the point that it could bepared to the 1st Absolute Half-God artifact.

    Then, Lee Minhwa spoke.

    ¡°He can use all special abilities and skills just by having them. The artifact could ignore the limit of the skills that one can use. Yes, it¡¯s excellent. But when you look at the Absolute Half-God artifacts, most of them are weapons. And this oven is not a weapon.¡±

    Presiden Kang Taehoon shook his head.

    ¡°And the Skil Destruction, it¡¯s an amazing skill that can tie up the strongest power of your enemy for five minutes. If he did that, he could easily tie up the core of users or mob bosses.¡±

    Users had yet to encounter these high-leveled monsters. However, the most taxing and demanding aspect of fighting against them was dealing with their power. But if one could seal just one of the monster¡¯s strongest powers then they would probably be at an advantage during their raid.

    Then, Team Leader Park spoke too.

    ¡°There¡¯s a skill that User Minhyuk would really like.¡±

    And just like Team Leader Park Minggyu had said, Minhyuk was really jumping around with joy in the monitor.

    [Yeah!!! I can apply the vor of charcoal in the oven?! Does that mean that I can add the vor of Cheongyang chili peppers as long as I add it in the oven? Kgghk! As expected of the 2nd Absolute Half-God artifact!!!]

    Just like they expected, Minhyuk was gushing over the ¡®Fantastic Oven¡¯ skill and not the other two skills. Then, Minhyuk continued to speak.

    [Shall we go back now?]

    ***

    The name Sun Guild was given after several guilds hadbined together. Lee Hoseung, one of the ¡®Absolute Best¡¯ guild masters in the Sun Guild was flustered and in a mess.

    ¡°Im, Impossible¡­!¡±

    After the Legend Guild had first stepped in Lapur, the capital of the Elven Kingdom, the sun guild alliance began to move quickly and follow their momentum. More than 40 rankers stepped forward to pave the road and break the Demon God¡¯s Rock. If they were able to destroy the Demon God¡¯s Rock then they would be able to clear this episode. However, Barach suddenly appeared. With Barach¡¯s appearance, Legend Guild decided to step back while their Sun Guild Alliance stepped forward and prepared for an all-out attack. But right now¡­

    [Aaaaaaaahhh!!! Most of the users that stepped forward were wiped out by Barach¡¯s summoned spells!!!]

    [This is an unexpected gruesome spectacle!!!]

    [The Demon God¡¯s Knight Barach¡­ is he really someone that can be hunted?!]

    Lee Hoseung looked around. All of the outstanding rankers of the Sun Guild that fought with him were now all wiped out and forced to log out. The biggest problem that they had encountered was the sweltering heat that Barach¡¯s body emitted as well as the ¡®Lava Corrosion¡¯ skill that got activated whenever he swung his sword.

    The sweltering heat reduced their magical defense by 40% and the Lava Corrosion skill was like a passive skill that would spoutva whenever he swung his weapon. The skill rapidly reduced the durability of their weapons and armor.

    ¡°This is our chance!¡±

    ¡°Attack!!!¡±

    Valdar, the Golden Shield, who surprisingly survived the attack earlier shouted. He squeezed thest of his strength as he moved forward with the remaining users that were still alive.

    ¡°Golden Shield¡¯s Brilliance!¡±

    A golden light appeared in front of his golden shield. Once the golden light was formed, it was fired directly at Barach. The tankers stood in front and did their best to express and trigger their best skills.

    ¡°Beast¡¯s Dash!!!¡±

    ¡°Fire Dragon¡¯s Circle!!!¡±

    ¡°Galloping Sword!!!¡±

    But Barach suddenly swung a ming whip.

    Shwaaaaaaaa¨D

    The whip easily smashed the tankers¡¯ best one-shot kill skills before continuing on and devouring the users behind them.

    Shwaaa¨D

    ¡°Ugh, Uaaaaaaack!!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keoheok!¡±

    By the end of it all, Valdar was the only one left. However, he was also forced to log out after another attack. The number of users on the frontline that survived Barach¡¯s attacks decreased sharply.

    However, this fight desperately needed rankers. There was no way that users with lower levels could hunt a being that couldn¡¯t be hunted by rankers.

    ¡°This is the end¡­!¡±

    Lee Hoseung couldn¡¯t help but mumble to himself. Then, Barach turned to look at him as he reached out his colossal hand. Then, when he clenched his fist¡­

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Huge explosions bloomed on the ground until they reached where Lee Hoseung was.

    At that moment¡­

    ¡°Gather.¡±

    Shwaaaaaaaa¨D

    All of the surviving users were sucked and concentrated in one ce. And Lee Hoseung was among them.

    ¡°Gather¡­?¡±

    Gather was a tremendously high-leveled magic skill.

    A user who knows this magic?

    ¡®Was it ck Mage Ali?¡¯

    No, ck Mage Ali is a man. The voice I just heard was the voice of a woman.

    Just as that thought shed through Lee Hoseung¡¯s head, he saw the figure of the person who gathered them together.

    [Aaaaaaaah! Just before the explosion happened, Alicia arrived!!!]

    [The Witch of Agony, Alicia!!! The guild master of one of the Four Great Guilds Artheon!!! She has made a spectacr appearance!!!]

    [The rankers who almost got attacked were saved thanks to the Gather skill!!!]

    But then, the huge force that bloomed from Barach stretched out and spread out in the surrounding area.

    Kuhaaaaaak!

    Kuhaaaaaaaaaaak!

    Kuhaaaaaaaaaaaaaak!

    However, the space in front of Alicia was torn apart as a ck shaft with lightning patterns appeared.

    [Wh, what¡¯s that¡­?!]

    [The, the Witch of Agony, Alicia!!!! She¡¯s grabbing the hilt of a sword!!!]

    Alicia was smiling deeply.

    ¡®I really found my way thanks to Minhyuk-nim.¡¯

    She was the top ranked yer in the game Versal, a game that was created before Athenae. Back then, she was a knight. A ss who used swords. However, when she came to Athenae, she changed into the mage ss. But even though she became a powerful mage, she still faced limitations. That was when she met a user. His name was Minhyuk and he told her.

    ¡®I don¡¯t need to join a guild to chase and seek high level yers. I think that¡¯s not necessary for me to have fun.¡¯

    At that time Alicia realized something.

    That¡¯s right. Games are meant to be enjoyed.

    She looked back at her position as the best mage.

    I did not y games because I wanted to be famous. I also did not y games because I wanted to be strong. I came to y games so I can have fun.

    She finally found the basics. She realized that she had fun when she was swinging swords. So she also began to use swords. And one day, she heard a notification.

    ¡®You can now challenge the Royal ss Knight of Agony.¡¯

    She awakened new skills and became a candidate for the Royal ss. She became even more powerful than before.

    And right now, she was slowly shing her sword in the air. Then¡­

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Dozens of lightning strikes fell down from the sky and neutralized Barach¡¯sva explosions.

    Thementators shouted in excitement.

    [Th, the Witch of Agony, Alicia!!! She¡¯s showing us a lot more power than what we thought she had!!!]

    [It¡¯s incredible!!! The rankers had been struggling to deal with Barach¡¯s skill but she easily neutralized it!!!]

    Then, she jumped up and ran in the sky.

    Dash, dash, dash!

    She also sent a whisper.

    [Alicia: Genie-nim.]

    [Genie: Yes.]

    At that moment, he guild members of Legend Guild who had been holding their breaths and watching the situation appeared from all sides.

    ¡°If we die, this episode ends in our defeat!!!¡±

    Genie shouted as the members of Legend Guild nodded their heads in agreement.

    For episode events, the direction of Athenae¡¯s future depends on whether the users could make it or not. They must recapture the Elven Forest and drive out the demons for their future.

    The members of Legend Guild started to put pressure on Barach.

    [Jefreet¡¯s Dash!]

    [The crazy priest takes over Jefreet¡¯s power as he dashes forward!]

    Locke rushed forward towards Barach as a huge power surged in his body. Khan also jumped and aimed at Barach¡¯s face as he used the skill ¡®Giant¡¯s Back Attack¡¯.

    Baaaaaang!

    Khan¡¯s body spinned and twisted beforending a punch on Barach¡¯s face. As soon as Barach stumbled, Locke, with Jefreet¡¯s Dash, rushed forward and mmed his stomach.

    Baaaaaang¨D

    Barach stumbled once again after suffering from one attack after another. Then, a man suddenly appeared in the air. It was none other than Abel the informant.

    [Sudden Death]

    [There¡¯s a 50% chance that the opponent will be destroyed if you seed in attacking the top of your opponent¡¯s head.]

    ¡°Heeeeeeeup!¡±

    The Legend Guild¡¯s members held hope. Abel¡¯s Sudden Death was a skill that gave him a 50% chance of destroying his enemy upon a sessful attack.

    Khan, Locke, Ascar and Genie rushed to Barach to restrict his movements.

    ¡°Let¡¯s goooooo!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s end this!!!¡±

    Alicia, the Witch of Agony, also threw a whip to wrap around Barach.

    Crack, crack, crack¨D

    Just when Abel¡¯s dagger was about to hit Barach¡¯s head¡­

    Baaaaaang¨D

    [Knight¡¯s Revolt]

    [A strong me erupts around his body and kills the enemies around him.]

    ¡°Keuhack!¡±

    ¡°Keoheok!¡±

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    The members of Legend Guild that clung to Barach flew away after being pushed back by Barach. The hotva that his body emitted corroded their artifacts and dwindled their HP at a rapid pace.

    [Strong burns put you in a state that is unable to fight.]

    [You will die if you don¡¯t get treated.]

    Even Abel, who was trying to stab him in the head, was pushed away from the sudden explosion of mes on Barach¡¯s body.

    ¡°Goddamnit!¡±

    Abel hurriedly checked the surroundings when he fell on the ground. Most of the members of Legend Guild were seriously injured after getting hit by the explosion head on. Then, Barach took a step forward to finish them off.

    ¡®Damn. There are so many mobs around me that I can¡¯t go to them to help.¡¯

    Alicia was surrounded by the demonic beasts that protected Barach. There was nothing she could do except to watch Barach step forward to cut off the Legend Guild¡¯s final breath.

    [Lightning Sword¡¯s Tempest]

    [A huge lightning and thunderbolt follows the movement of your sword as it strikes the enemies.]

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Dozens of lightning bolts fell and struck down the demonic beasts that surrounded her. It even made Barach falter in his steps for a moment.

    Alicia tried to take a step forward as she shouted at the members of Artheon that protected her from behind.

    ¡°Attack them with magic while I try to rescue them to safety!¡±

    Then, she quickly dropped to where Genie was. But just as she was about to use Mass Teleport with Genie at the center, Barach suddenly appeared in front of her.

    ¡°Quick¡­!¡±

    Alicia was speechless when he looked back at her guild members.

    ¡°......!¡±

    She did not know when it happened, but Barach had already forced his guild members to log out. She couldn¡¯t help but tremble as she watched Barach approach her slowly.

    ¡°...Thank you foring to save me.¡±

    Genie spoke up as she slowly raised her body.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Unfortunately, this recapture will end in failure.¡±

    Genie and Alicia smiled bitterly.

    This recapture was already over.

    Then, thements started to run.

    [In the end, it seems like they¡¯re going to fail¡­]

    [Still, Alicia and the Legend Guild did their best¡­!]

    [That Barach is too strong! Isn¡¯t this a bnce breaker?]

    Alicia watched as Barach swung his whip violently.

    ¡®Is it a level down?¡¯

    Then, at that moment¡­

    ¡°Diablo¡¯s Scythe.¡¯

    ¨DCreaaaaaak!

    A huge ck scythe appeared in the air. The scythe was connected to an equallyrge chain. This mysterious scythe immediately rushed towards Barach¡¯s chest. Then¡­

    Spuuuuurt!

    Barach¡¯s defense was so tremendous that no one could break through his thick skin. But the ck scythe was cleanly lodged on his chest.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    The bastard¡¯s grating and horrendous shriek rang loudly in the entire area.

    Then, thementator shouted¡­

    [God, God Food God¡­ Us, User Minhyuk has appeared!!!]

    Then, the man holding the end of the chain pulled his arm back amidst the gaze of all the people present.

    Puhaaaaaak!

    Creaaaaaaak¨D

    Blood spurted out of Barach¡¯s chest, just like a fountain that was just discovered. He had sessfully recovered the scythe in his hands after pulling the chain back.

    This was the splendid return of Minhyuk, who went to the Demon World¡¯s Tower.

    ***

    Report mistakes, get notified on announcements and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 296 - Create A Recipe For Me

    Chapter 296: Create a Recipe for Me

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    82 Create a Recipe for Me

    Upon Minhyuk¡¯s appearance, all of ATV broadcasting station¡¯s cameras rushed to film him.

    With the previous contract between Legend Guild and ATV broadcasting station still in effect, they still needed to fulfill the contents of their contract while being able to receive lots of money. Because of this, they would not have any sanctions and restrictions even if they filmed Minhyuk.

    [User Minhyuk has entered splendidly!!!]

    [Our God Food God has finally made his appearance! The moment he appeared, a scream came out of Barach¡¯s mouth! This is the first time that a scream hade out of his mouth, no one has been able to make him shriek and scream in pain!!!]

    Thementators shouted excitedly. However, they only cheered at his splendid appearance.

    [But will User Minhyuk be able to defeat Barach that the Legend Guild and the Sun Guilds failed to ovee?]

    [I think it will be hard. I don¡¯t know but there might be a chance if User Minhyuk is 100 levels stronger than he was before. But that¡¯s a fact that¡¯s theoretically impossible.]

    [What¡¯s even worse is that the number of demons are increasing while the number of rankers are dropping sharply!]

    Along withments that praised the return of God Food God Minhyuk,ments that raised various concerns also began to appear one by one.

    [God Minhyuk has appeared. It¡¯s nice that he appeared splendidly but he looks like he will be left out with his level. Smh.]

    [Minhyuk-nim seems to like to appear in shy situations. Does he want to be the hero who appears towards the end?]

    [He¡¯s done quite some huge damage but the situation will not change.]

    [To be honest, Minhyuk-nim can¡¯t carry¡­]

    Barach was still not dead, and the users¡¯ reaction seemed to only be natural.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk, who had approached Alicia and Genie earlier, looked back at them before rushing towards Barach.

    ***

    Bathump, bathump¨D

    Alicia liked Minhyuk. He was a cheerful, bright and wonderful person who taught her how to have fun. However, Alicia had always thought that it was just a ¡®fleeting¡¯ feeling.

    She had been the envy of the public for a long time and had long grown up faster than the others. She knew that there was no other emotion that could cool down and disappear quickly except for like. Of course, it was true that she was grateful to Minhyuk. And it was also true that she liked him as a person. However, her heart was just pounding a bit slightly and it was not enough to call it something serious.

    However, her thoughts changed the moment she saw Minhyuk appear here before stabbing a huge scythe on Barach¡¯s chest and retrieving it casually. The thumping of her heart increased in intensity and she couldn¡¯t take her eyes off of Minhyuk.

    That was when she realized¡­

    ¡®I think I¡¯m really in love¡­ with this man¡­¡¯

    ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    Minhyuk asked them as he smiled brightly. Alicia just nodded her head nkly. Minhyuk nodded his head at her.

    ¡°I will give it my all so stay away and go to the rear for now.¡±

    ¡°...Yes.¡±

    The moment Minhyuk turned his head away, the sunlight fell on his face. It illuminated his high nose bridge, soft eyes and pretty smile. He looked so admirable under the bright ray of the sun.

    While Alicia was busy thinking like that¡­

    ¡®Did the number of mypetitors increase? Tch!¡¯

    Genie sighed.

    But Alicia hurriedly spoke when Minhyuk ran out.

    ¡°Wait¡­! That guy is not something that you can hunt alone!!!¡±

    Barach¡¯s skin was extremely thick and his defense was beyond one¡¯s imagination. Even if one got lucky andnded a strike, their physical defense and magical defense would be greatly reduced with Barach¡¯s me which in turn would cause a lot of damage.

    However, Minhyuk did not look like he heard her words as he continued to run.

    Then, Genie spoke.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    Alicia turned her head to look at Genie.

    ¡°Minhyuk never fights recklessly.¡±

    Alicia could not understand what she meant.

    ¡°He¡¯s not a fool who¡¯s just burning for justice.¡±

    Alicia truly couldn¡¯t understand her. Minhyuk was an innocent man who liked food and smiled brighter than anybody else. In fact, Alicia did not really know what kind of man Minhyuk truly was. On the other hand, Genie knew him well.

    ¡®Victory.¡¯

    He would only run to Barach like that if he was sure of that.

    Barach gripped his chest.

    [Demon God¡¯s Blessing]

    [Rapidly regenerates the injured area.]

    Thementators were horrified.

    [Th, They¡¯re in big trouble! They might have dealt a huge damage to Barach earlier but Barach had his own recovery skill!!!]

    [This is really a losing fight!]

    And Minhyuk, who was approaching Barach, thought¡­

    ¡®Is the reason why Barach was stabbed on his chest earlier because the judgement was triggered?¡¯

    This question shed in his head.

    Based on what was stated in the special abilities of Diablo¡¯s scythe, there was only an 8% chance of triggering a judgement upon sessful attack. When judgement was triggered, he would be able to inflict an additional 400% damage. A while ago, judgement was triggered when the scythe stabbed through Barach¡¯s chest which resulted in a powerful damage. Even his attack speed had increased by 180% since he summoned Diablo¡¯s scythe.

    Then, Barach¡¯s whip flew towards Minhyuk.

    Shwaaaaaaak¨D

    Minhyuk quickly used Like the Wind. He narrowly avoided the attack and closed the distance between them at the same time. He also swung Diablo¡¯s scythe that was connected to the chain on his hands.

    Shwa, shwa, shwa, shwaaa¨D

    Diablo¡¯s scythe moved freely and fluidly as it stabbed Barach¡¯s body here and there. But just like what Minhyuk had expected, he was unable to break through Barach¡¯s defenses.

    ¡®Just how good is his defense¡­?¡¯

    Minhyuk had Diablo¡¯s sword with him. Thanks to this Devil Judge¡¯s Sword, there was at least a 1,000 increase in his attack power since his attack power was added on top of his overwhelming stats. But despite that, he was still unable to pierce through Barach¡¯s thick skin.

    aaaang¨D

    Minhyuk quickly raised his arms up after digging down with his scythe. The scythe started from Barach¡¯s lower body and went upwards but only sparks came out from the attack. And as if to annoy Minhyuk, a change happened in Barach.

    [Demon God¡¯s Blessing]

    [Receiving the Demon God¡¯s blessings, Barach¡¯s attack and defense will be increased by 20% while his skill level will be increased by +1]

    Minhyuk was shocked. Even the rest of the people who heard the notification were shocked.

    ¡®He¡¯s getting stronger even at this point¡­?¡¯

    Thementators shouted in agitation.

    [A boost is added to the enemy when it''s already a losing game!!!]

    [User Minhyuk¡¯s attacks don''t work at all. His initial attack seemed to be an attack with a critical hit effect.]

    [Big trouble! After God Food God¡¯s appearance, Barach has grown even stronger.]

    Then, at that moment¡­

    Shwaaaaaa¨D

    Barach¡¯s whip flew even faster.

    Swish!

    Bang¨D

    Minhyuk evaded the attack. But a huge me exploded at the ce where the whip fell down. It was as if a bomb had fallen at the exact same spot. Minhyuk quickly used Like the Wind to escape even further. But the iron mace in Barach¡¯s other hand suddenly moved.

    Baaaaaaaang¨D

    Minhyuk narrowly avoided the gigantic iron mace, but¡­

    [Earth Quaker]

    [An intense earthquake!]

    Crack, crack, crack!

    The ground shook and cracked, which broke Minhyuk¡¯s bnce. Barach used the opportunity to smash his iron mace towards Minhyuk¡¯s face.

    Then¡­

    Shwaaaaaaaak!

    Three ck kitchen knives flew in and collided with the iron mace.

    Crack!

    A baby piggy appeared right in front of Minhyuk after the space had been torn.

    [User Minhyuk¡¯s pet, Kongie, has appeared!]

    [Huh? But doesn¡¯t Kongie look a bit different from before? He¡¯s now wearing a golden armor and using the ck kitchen knife.]

    [Wow. The baby piggy is wearing golden armor. So cute.]

    [It¡¯s not the time to think that he¡¯s cute. But I do agree that he¡¯s cute.]

    ¡°Oiiink!¡±

    Then, Kongie kicked the ground with his tiny feet.

    Kongie had now undergone two awakenings and had already grown close to the speed of light. This was the speed that he disyed as he rushed towards Barach and pressured him with the ck kitchen knife in his hand.

    ¡°Oiiiiiink!¡±

    [Kongie¡¯s body is as light as a feather.]

    [Just like doing acrobatics, he runs around Barach¡¯s body with his small body as he attacks. Unfortunately, his attacks don¡¯t work.]

    A thought shed in Minhyuk¡¯s head as he watched Kongie fight.

    ¡®It¡¯s too early to use the Oven of Destruction¡¯s skill.¡¯

    The Oven of Destruction¡¯s skill could allow him to tie up his opponent¡¯s strongest skill or whatever skill he targeted for five minutes. However, he thought that this should only be used when he was sure that he could kill him. In a situation where their attacks did not work, they needed to do something that could give them a chance of winning.

    ¡®Explosion?¡¯

    The Devil Judge¡¯s sword had the power to increase its attack power dramatically. However, Minhyuk had never used explosion. So he wondered if this power was enough to kill the monster in front of him.

    If not, is there anything else?

    Then¡­ a thought passed in Minhyuk¡¯s head.

    ¡®Come to think of it I¡­¡¯

    He had been using his Create a Recipe Skill to feed other people excellent buffed dishes. But he had never used the Create a Recipe Skill on him. Not even once.

    ¡®Why didn¡¯t I think of that?¡¯

    Minhyuk¡¯s thoughts turned calm. Looking around, he could see that it was nigh impossible to kill Barach with their current strength.

    ¡®Then¡­¡¯

    Minhyuk hurriedly shouted.

    ¡°Everyone, gather around me!¡±

    The surviving members of the Legend Guild, Alicia and other rankers were busy fighting against the other demons and demonic beasts.They knew that a rabbit would only intervene in a fight between beasts so they tried to use their strength and helped in a direction that they could maximize their power.

    Hearing Minhyuk¡¯s shout, everyone moved quickly. As soon as everyone had started to move towards Minhyuk, he quickly activated the ¡®Oven of Destruction¡¯¡¯s skill ¡®Oven of Disaster¡¯. At that moment¡­

    A timer suddenly appeared in the air as the sound rang loudly in the surrounding area.

    Tick, tick, tick, tick.

    Countless rankers ran around Minhyuk.

    ¡°Ruuuuun!¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no other way except for Minhyuk-nim!¡±

    Many of the surviving rankers were from the Sun Guilds. But right now, they knew that they did not have the power to focus on who would hunt Barach. Their problem right now was to find a way to survive then think of a way to hunt Barach.

    [Their only hope right now is User Minhyuk!!! All of the rankers are running and following what he says!]

    [But we can expect that more than half of the rankers would die while they¡¯re running!]

    [There¡¯s suddenly an unknown sound that rang in the air.]

    [This sound¡­ Doesn¡¯t it sound a bit familiar?]

    Thementators looked at each other as if they were trying to remember where they heard this sound before. Then, one of thementators shouted ¡®Ah!¡¯.

    [This is the sound of the second hand¡­! I¡¯m sure! This is the sound of the ticking of a second hand when you put food in the oven and turn the knob!!!!]

    Even thements section was filled with doubt about this.

    [The sound of an oven timer? What kind of bullshit is this?]

    [Sound of an oven¡­ Is God Minhyuk really obsessed about food¡­]

    Meanwhile, one of the viewers posted a keyment.

    [But the oven timer is ticking. Doesn¡¯t this make a sound when it¡¯s cooking? What happens when the cooking¡¯s done?]

    Then, at that moment¡­

    Ding!

    A cheerful ding! resounded as if to tell that the cooking was finally over. And the demons and demonic beasts that chased the Legend Guild and the others, even Barach who was standing in the middle¡­

    Were engulfed in a tremendous explosion.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    The scene looked like there were countless missiles being fired in the area. It seemed like the explosion was equipped with a spell that recognized enemies since all of their opponents that got hit disappeared without a form. The small explosions generated a tremendous power that had 450% additional attack power. This was the power of the second in the Absolute Half-God artifacts, the Oven of Destruction.

    Shwaaaaaaaaaa¨D

    The wind that blew in the surrounding blew the dust that the explosion had created and showed the surrounding area. More than 70% of the demons and demonic beasts disappeared without a form while 20% fell into a state that made them unable to fight. Even Barach was staggering from the shock of the explosion.

    Thementators were speechless at the sight while thements section turned calm. They were all lost for words from the tremendous power that was shown. Then, one of thementators slowly opened his mouth and said¡­

    [F, frightening¡­]

    And with his words as the catalyst, thements section suddenly started to flood and explode withments.

    ***

    Report mistakes, get notified on updates and announcements and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 297 - Create A Recipe For Me

    Chapter 297: Create a Recipe for Me

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    PD Kim Daeguk of ATV still hasn¡¯t forgotten about the highest rating in ATV¡¯s history. The viewer rating reached as much as 61.4%.

    The other broadcasting stations hadughed at ATV when they chose to broadcast Legend Guild back then. But Legend Guild and ck Dragon and the Boys were the ones who overturned the results. And the user that gave them the highest rating was none other than Food God Minhyuk. And that Minhyuk had shown another great power in front of them.

    PD Kim Daeguk quickly checked the real-timements.

    [Wow¡­! Shit¡­! What skill is that?! I have never seen such a strong wide-area of attack skill in my life¡­!]

    [There were around 400~500 demonic beasts and demons but almost all of them are dead, right? Even those that survived are unable to fight.]

    [Even Barach¡¯s body exploded. Isn¡¯t it trying to regenerate quickly?]

    [No, what in the world did Food God Minhyuk-nim do in the past few days that we haven¡¯t seen him?]

    Just like thements, PD Kim Daeguk was also curious.

    ¡®Where was he and what did he do during the past few days that he did not appear?¡¯

    From his huge scythe, to his oven explosion skill down to Kongie¡¯s appearance. Everything had changed. However, a helpless smile still spread on his face.

    ¡°But still¡­¡±

    It will still be hard for him to hunt that, right?

    Perhaps Athenae had set the next update in the direction of failure and not sess in the recapture of the Elven Forest. Of course, they wouldn¡¯t bet their everything in that direction. But looking at the current situation, Athenae must have definitely only calcted a 5% winning chance on the side of the users.

    ¡°The ratings went up by more than 5%!¡±

    ¡°Wow¡­! I¡¯ve never seen such a skill in my life!! It¡¯s really amazing. Looking at the explosion, he could take out the demonic beasts and demons but probably also be able to take out a decent noble demon too.¡±

    PD Kim Daeguk nodded his head but a bitter smile still hung around his lips. Fortunately, the rankers safely arrived behind Minhyuk after he triggered the skill. But PD Kim Daeguk still expected something from Minhyuk despite the bitter smile on his face.

    ¡®Well then, User Minhyuk¡­ what kind of strength are you going to show us?¡¯

    He obviously had something if he called for the users to gather together.

    Then, Minhyuk raised his hands up in the sky.

    The eyes of PD Kim Daeguk and the people in the broadcasting station shone in anticipation.

    Minhyuk shouted¡­

    [Let¡¯s have a meal!!!]

    ¡°Keok?!!!¡±

    ¡°Wh, what? Have a what?!¡±

    The people at the broadcasting station were flustered when they heard him shout Let¡¯s have a meal!. This was because this was the first time that Minhyuk had used the ¡®Let¡¯s have a meal¡¯ skill in public.

    Just like them, the viewers also found the situation to be ridiculously absurd.

    [What a fucking ridiculous skill name¡­]

    At that moment, a lot of people¡¯s expectations were suddenly dampened.

    ***

    Thanks to Alicia, Lee Hoseung barely managed to survive being forced to log out. He was also one of the users who had been desperately running towards Minhyuk after hearing his cry. When he heard the name of Minhyuk¡¯s skill, he couldn¡¯t believe his ears for a moment.

    ¡°Let¡¯s¡­ Let¡¯s have a meal, what?¡±

    And he wasn¡¯t the only one. Even the other rankers started to make a fuss.

    ¡°Ah¡­ Did, did we gather here to have a meal?¡±

    ¡°No matter how desperate we are, eating is a bit¡­¡±

    Then, a huge barrier was created.

    [An absolute invincible barrier has been created.]

    [You can only attack your enemies once you leave the barrier.]

    And amidst the fuss of the rankers, Minhyuk was eagerly hoping.

    ¡®Please, please, please, please, please!!¡¯

    Minhyuk was actually not certain about this. He was only expecting it to work.

    Then¡­

    [Create a recipe that you want.]

    Ring!

    [You have found a job ss skill.]

    [You have learned your job ss¡¯ active skill ¡®Food God¡¯s Recipe¡¯.]

    [You can now check the recipe for Harmonious Fire Chicken Stir-Fried Noodles.]

    [The amount of buff that can be used has been decreased due to creating a recipe.]

    (Food God¡¯s Recipe)

    Active Skill

    Level: 1

    Cooldown: 336 hours

    Effects:

    ¨D Create a recipe for the Food God ording to the current situation.

    ¨D The rank of the food varies depending on the harmony of food, the quality of the ingredients, the choice of food ording to the circumstances and the satisfaction for your cravings.

    ¨D It¡¯s a bit differentpared to the normal Create a Recipe skill. And everything would most likely have an increase in power aspensation for drastically reducing the buff duration.

    ¨D There is a higher chance of the food having a higher rank than the food created using the normal Create a Recipe skill.

    ¡®Oh¡­¡¯

    It was the perfect skill for their current situation. Minhyuk immediately checked the recipe that was created from his new skill.

    (Food God¡¯s Harmonious Fire Chicken Stir-Fried Noodles Recipe)

    Required Ingredients: Ingredients for Fire Chicken Stir-Fried Noodles

    Expected Dish Ranking: Unique~Legendary

    Expected Effects:

    ¨D Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship sharply evolves.

    ¨D All stats will increase sharply.

    Description: A typical Create a Recipe dish would bepleted once you start from beginning to end. But the Food God¡¯s Recipe does not follow the regr rules. Right now, you are extremely annoyed due to various stress factors. Let¡¯s properly get rid of that annoyance all at once with thebination of Fire Chicken Stir-Fried Noodles.

    The Food God¡¯s Recipe broke out of the loop of the traditional way of producing excellent buffed dishes. Once hepleted an excellent dish and achieved great harmony, the ranking of the dish would increase.

    Minhyuk couldn¡¯t help but feel amazed.

    ¡®That¡¯s right! I¡¯m feeling so stressed right now so I definitely need a spicy hot vor to get rid of it!¡¯

    The best in terms of spiciness in the ramyeon world.

    Fire Chicken Stir-Fried Noodles.

    Although Fire Chicken Stir-Fried Noodles was spicy enough to make one¡¯s tongue tingle, its spiciness was at a strangely delicious level. Because of that, it was a food that was loved by many.

    As soon as Minhyuk used his ¡®Let¡¯s Have a Meal¡¯ skill, he also hurriedly began to cook the Fire Chicken Stir-Fried Noodles while making sure to create harmony.

    Meanwhile, Lee Hoseung looked at him with expectations when he saw him taking something out.

    ¡®That¡¯s right. User Minhyuk is a Food God. He¡¯s the one who beat the Crown Prince of Swords Carr and swept the Demon Army alone¡­ He must have some sort of secret potion¡­ Keoheok?!!

    The faces of Lee Hoseung and the other rankers crumpled as if they wanted to cry.

    ¡°Fi, fire Chicken Stir-Fried Noodles¡­?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re doomed¡­ this is our end¡­¡±

    ¡°Soob!¡±

    It was our fault! Why did we ce our trust in him!

    They immediately gathered together as they discussed how they would hunt Barach once the barrier was gone.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk opened the lid of a cup of Fire Chicken Stir-Fried Noodles. He could see the kes powder and the liquid soup pack resting on top of the on the Fire Chicken Stir-Fried Noodles.

    Minhyuk thought about it before he started cooking.

    ¡®Should I add a variety of things inside or should I add the things that I eat together with the Fire Chicken Stir-Fried Noodles?¡¯

    He thought about it for a second.

    There were tons of recipes circting on the inte on how to enjoy the Fire Chicken Stir-Fried Noodles. Minhyuk nodded his head as he chose one among those.

    ¡®Let¡¯s put the most basic ingredients that should be eaten with the Fire Chicken Stir-Fried Noodles then add other things that I can eat together.¡¯

    He poured hot water into the Fire Chicken Stir-Fried Noodles. Then, he put oil on his frying pan, heated it and added two eggs.

    Sizzleeeeee¨D

    An exciting and entrancing sound came out of his pan as he cooked the egg making sure that he wouldn¡¯t cook the yolk fully.

    Then, Minhyuk reached his hand out towards the microwave. He quickly opened the door of the microwave as he ced the bulgogi-vored sausage that was stuck on a wooden stick and had its stic wrapper slightly opened.

    After doing all of that, his Fire Chicken Stir-Fried Noodles was finally done cooking. He quickly poked the lid with his chopsticks as he discarded the hot water. Then, he peeled the lid offpletely as he sprinkled the kes, seaweed powder, sesame seeds and a lot of various things before adding the liquid soup.

    ¡°Hmm~ Smell~¡±

    The unique spicy scent wafted to his nose. The scent was so spicy that it immediately stimted his mouth making him drool.

    After squeezing the liquid soup pack, he quickly mixed it together with his chopsticks. Mixing was an art that made the yellow noodles turn red.

    Once he was done mixing, he ced a long string cheese on top of it. And just in time¡­

    Ding!

    The ham bar that was heated in the microwave was quickly taken out and added to his Fire Chicken Stir-Fried Noodles.

    Then, he ced the entire cup in the microwave.

    Minhyuk looked at the microwave in anticipation. Then¡­

    Ding!

    Minhyuk hurriedly pulled the cup out of the microwave once he heard the ding!.

    ¡°Hot! Hot! Hot!¡±

    He felt the heat transferring to the tips of his fingers as he hurriedly took the cup out.

    As soon as he looked at the Fire Chicken Stir-Fried Noodles, he felt like he was looking at art itself. The white cheese melted like snow and piled up on top of the fiery red noodles. He couldn¡¯t help but let out a gasp of admiration when he saw the cheese stretch out with just a slight touch of his chopsticks.

    He quickly started to arrange the setting.

    Fire Chicken Stir-Fried Noodles, microwave heated ham bar, tuna mayo triangr kimbap and peach-vored Julpis.

    ¡°Kyaah! It¡¯s done, it¡¯s done!¡±

    Minhyuk quickly stirred with his chopsticks. He even purposely left out the fried egg. He held the noodle cup in one hand as he used his other hand to lift the noodles and the cheese with his chopsticks.

    Just a small whiff could let him smell the spicy vor of the food on his hands. Then¡­

    Sluuuuuurp!

    The deliciously spicy taste that was mellowed out by the soft cheese greeted him in his first bite.

    After taking one big bite, he held out his chopsticks again and took another big one.

    Sluuuuuurp~

    The charm of the Fire Chicken Stir-Fried Noodles was its spiciness that gradually increased in intensity the longer you ate.

    ¡°Fwip! Hooo!¡±

    He couldn¡¯t help but let out a breath as he soothed his hot and tingling tongue while biting on his fried egg. The light and soft vor of the fried egg evened out the spiciness for a bit. Then, he took another bite of the spicy noodles before taking a bite out of the ham bar.

    Chew, chew, chew¨D

    The juicy ham bar and its soft texture brought a smile to his face.

    And thementators¡­

    [Wow¡­ That¡¯s, that¡¯s crazy¡­]

    [Fire Chicken Stir-Fried Noodles are the best!! That¡¯s right!! Everything is good whenbined with the Fire Chicken Stir-Fried Noodles but don¡¯t you think that thebination of a ham bar and the triangr kimbap next to it is the truth of this world?!]

    [No. I don¡¯t know why Athenae bes a mukbang whenever User Minhyuk appears but what I¡¯m sure of is that the sales of Fire Chicken Stir-Fried Noodles would be the best today!!]

    [Aaaaaaaaah!!! User Minhyuk took off the stic from the triangr kimbap!!! What amazing hand movements!!! Usually, arge chunk of the seaweed gets torn off whenever we open the wrapper but the wrapper that he took off is surprisingly clean!!!]

    [Crunch! That¡¯s the sound of User Minhyuk biting on the triangr kimbap!!! I can¡¯t believe that the tuna mayo triangr kimbap can go easily in someone¡¯s mouth like that! Is there a more fascinating meal like this?!]

    [That¡¯s right! User Minhyuk takes another bite out of the ham bar¡­! That¡¯s right! Yeah! Yes!! Bite that! Our God, Food God, bites the ham bar once again!]

    [Aaaaaaaah! I¡¯m going crazy! Just like the viewers wanted, User Minhyuk gulps down that julpis! It looks cold and refreshing! Gulp! It went in!]

    [His ¡®Haaa!¡¯ exmation towards the end made me scream in awe without realizing it!!!]

    And the rankers, with Lee Hoseung among them, who looked at Minhyuk strangely just a while ago¡­

    Gulp¨D

    Their throat moved as they let out a loud gulp without them realizing it.

    ¡°Looks, looks delicious¡­¡±

    This time, Minhyuk won against Barach in this strange battle of nerves with his mukbang.

    ***

    Notes

    The Fire Chicken Stir-Fried Noodles is what I believe to be the one made by samyang. That super spicy one. I like the cheese vor tho. Kekeke.

    TL''s corner!

    I honestly don''t know where he got a microwave oven. At this point in time, I believe that its his oven of destruction that is working as a microwave oven. Or maybe microwave ovens are for sale in Athenae????

    Report mistakes, get notified on updates and announcements and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 298 - Create A Recipe For Me

    Chapter 298: Create a Recipe for Me

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Gulp¨D

    PD Kim Daeguk gulped as he watched Minhyuk¡¯s mukbang.

    Then, at that moment, the barrier got lifted. All of the rankers that gathered together pulled back in unison. PD Kim Daeguk thought that it was only a natural move in their current circumstances.

    ¡®User Minhyuk clearly did not do anything except eat there¡­!¡¯

    The increase in rating from his mukbang was clear. However, only User Minhyuk ate. As soon as the barrier got released, all of the rankers fell back as if they were going to try and hunt in their own way.

    On the contrary, Minhyuk just stood there staring at Barach¡¯s majestic figure with his bat-like wings spread wide behind his back.

    Crackle¨D

    zing mes fell down with each of Barach¡¯s step as everything began to burn in mes. And Barach immediately fired his mes towards the retreating rankers.

    Shwaaaaaaaa¨D

    But Minhyuk just stood there without any hesitation. And when he took a step forward¡­

    sh¨D

    He appeared in front of the flustered rankers. The distance between them was as long as 10m but he immediately appeared in front of the rankers.

    ¡®How can you travel that distance in just one go¡­?!¡¯

    Then¡­

    Shwaaaaaaaaa¨D

    A strong wind began to blow.

    This was a skill that User Minhyuk had always used so far.

    ¡®Fluttering Sword¡­?¡¯

    It was both a wide-area of attack skill and a single kill skill.

    But can he even pierce through Barach¡¯s skin with that skill?

    But something unexpected happened.

    Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaa¨D

    The wind began to pick up in intensity. It became as strong as a typhoon that could blow everything away. And the rankers around him all fell into chaos.

    [Kyaaaaaak!]

    [What the hell is this wind?! It¡¯s blowing like a typhoon!]

    [Crazy¡­! I think it would be hard to remain steady, right?]

    And the leaves that fluttered in the wind were glowing gold, not silver. Hundreds of falling leaves fluttered strongly amidst the strong typhoon-like wind. The golden leaves movements were enough to dig the ground and piles of stone flying around.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Barach pushed his iron mace towards this strong force as a huge me exploded out and rushed towards Minhyuk before colliding with the golden leaves.

    Shwa, shwa, shwa, shwa, shwaaak!

    But the clumps of mes that rushed forward were easily torn apart by the fluttering leaves. The leaves did not even stop as they rushed straight towards Barach.

    Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack¨D

    A strange and mysterious sound rang out. However, it was not the sound of cutting through something. It sounded strangely simr to something passing through and tearing through something.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Blood spurted out of Barach¡¯s body.

    ¡°What, what the hell¡­!¡±

    PD Kim Daeguk jumped up in surprise.

    This was not the Fluttering Sword that he knew. It was far stronger than the skill that they knew before!

    ¡®He just ate¡­ So how¡­?!¡¯

    They couldn¡¯t believe this since Minhyuk only ate inside the barrier.

    ***

    The notifications rang one after the other in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    [You have eaten a dish made with the recipe for yourself.]

    [You won¡¯t be able to eat a recipe made by yourself for 2 weeks.]

    [You can¡¯t receive any duplicate buffs during the duration of the buff retention period.]

    [Harmonious Fire Chicken Stir-Fried Noodles]

    [All stats will have an increase of 19% and Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship will have an increase of +4 in mastery for 5 minutes.]

    In the case of this dish, the ranking would change depending on the harmony that was created. The notifications that he had heard werepletely different from the notifications before after hepleted a dish.

    ¡®Wow¡­ Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship increases by +4¡­?¡¯

    Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship was the best swordsmanship skill from Empress Ellie. It was something that could not be essed just by anyone. The swordsmanship had grown even stronger after receiving the evolution from a king of a kingdom and had recently be even more powerful with Sword God Valen¡¯s strong sword.

    Half-God Skill.

    And such a Half-God skill had been increased by +4 too.

    The reason why Create a Recipe Skill was amazing was because it could ovee the limits of skills and even make them be stronger. The skill level would usually remain stagnant at 9 and stop at MAX. It could grow stronger with evolution which would make the skill go back to 1 or justpletely stop at that point. And the power of Minhyuk¡¯s cooking could let those skills go beyond that point.

    Minhyuk could see that the power of his dish could only give him 5 minutes of that overwhelming strength. So, he quickly released the barrier from ¡®Let¡¯s Have a Meal!¡¯.

    Meanwhile, the rankers behind him were saying¡­

    ¡°I trusted you and you just ate¡­¡±

    ¡°Why did you release the barrier?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s enough. We¡¯ve already prepared inside the barrier so let¡¯s move back for now.¡±

    The other rankers continued to grumble while Lee Hoseung calmed them down and asked them to fall back. Then, the mes that were burning on Barach¡¯s iron mace rushed towards them.

    ¡°God¡­ Goddamnit!¡±

    ¡°If we get hit directly, we¡¯ll die!¡±

    The users screamed.

    Most of the people knew that they would not be able to avoid it on the spot.

    At that moment, Minhyuk thought that he could traverse that distance in an instant since his Like the Wind, a technique under Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship had increased by +4.

    ¡°Like the Wind.¡±

    sh!

    And just like he thought, he was able to traverse a distance of 10m. After travelling that distance, Minhyuk immediately used his Fluttering Sword.

    ¡®The power¡­ has increased¡­¡¯

    Although he couldn¡¯t confirm it exactly, Minhyuk was still able to feel a huge amount of power to the point that it made him scared.

    Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaa¨D

    The wind around him began to blow strongly. The strength and intensity of the wind was something that he had never seen before.

    ¡°Kyaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°What the hell is this wind?! It¡¯s blowing like a typhoon!¡±

    ¡°Crazy¡­! I think it would be hard to remain steady, right?¡±

    The users on site couldn¡¯t help but scream in shock.

    [Wow¡­! This looks like a huge tornado with User Minhyuk at the center!]

    [Such a strong wind!!!]

    Minhyuk fired the powerful force towards Barach.

    Shwaaaaaaaak¨D

    The golden leaves, which were different from the usual, collided with Barach¡¯s powerful mes that shot out of his iron mace. After destroying his mes like it was nothing, the leaves continued to push forward as it tore Barach¡¯s body.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡±

    And he screamed wildly.

    [Something unbelievable is happening right now.]

    [Wow¡­ I actually thought that he wouldn¡¯t be able to pierce through Barach¡¯s skin. But, didn¡¯t he just eat something a few minutes ago in the barrier?]

    Thementators were astonished.

    We¡¯re sure that User Minhyuk just ate something before!

    And they weren¡¯t the only ones that were surprised. Even Minhyuk himself was surprised.

    ¡®This is the power of Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship once it reaches Lv4...?¡¯

    Perhaps. No, it might really be the power of Ellie¡¯s swordsmanship after being strengthened further.

    Then, Barach roared.

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaaaaaar!¡±

    [Demon God¡¯s Blessing]

    [The Demon God¡¯s strength recovers your injured body.]

    Then, Barach¡¯s injured body began to recover quickly.

    ¡®I have seen another of this guy¡¯s skills.¡¯

    Minhyuk was not only eating inside the barrier of the ¡®Let¡¯s Have a Meal!¡¯ skill. He was also analyzing the skills that Barach had used.

    The Skill Destruction was divided into two. It could tie the opponent¡¯s strongest skill or tie up the chosen skill of the opponents for five minutes. However, it was not because the skill was too strong that he was reluctant to use it right away. He wanted to analyze Barach¡¯s skills and ability further before choosing what to do. And so, he analyzed all of the skills that the outraged Barach used to hit his barrier.

    Whenever hisva erupted, the rankers artifacts would be corroded and their movements would turn dull.

    ¡®But now, all the other rankers are useless.¡¯

    They were the best of the best, but they justcked the strength to deal with Barach. So, Minhyuk had to do his best. He finally made a decision after thinking about which skill he would block and tie up.

    ¡®I should tie up and prevent him from using that recovery skill that he had just used.¡¯

    He wouldn¡¯t let him recover once again.

    Minhyuk¡¯s buffed dish effect would onlyst for 5 minutes. It could be said that he was betting his all on this. Whether he won or lost, it¡¯s all in.

    [Skill Destruction]

    [Sealing one of the target¡¯s designated skills.]

    [The Demon God¡¯s Blessing will be sealed for 5 minutes.]

    Barach seemed to feel the restriction from Minhyuk¡¯s Skill Destruction.

    Lava erupted from Barach¡¯s body. It was as if an active volcano had erupted.

    [Knight¡¯s Berserker.]

    [Barach¡¯s offense and defense will be 30% stronger.]

    [After the Berserk period, all of Barach¡¯s stats will fall by 30%.]

    Barach had realized that Minhyuk was unusual.

    Minhyuk immediately turned the Devil Judge¡¯s Sword into Diablo¡¯s Scythe before jumping up and swinging.

    Creak, creak, creak, creak, creak¨D

    Blood flowed down all over his body as a line was drawn across Barach¡¯s tough and thick skin.

    Just like Barach had turned stronger, Minhyuk had also be stronger. However, he only had three minutes left now.

    ¡®Well, he can be my experimental subject for Berserk.¡¯

    Berserk was a special skill attached to the Devil Judge¡¯s Sword. And his experimental time was only a few tens of seconds.

    Shwa, shwa, shwa, shwak!

    Barach¡¯s whip became faster and stronger as he began to pressure Minhyuk. Even his movement speed increased to the point that he could easily hit Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    ¡°Keuheup!¡±

    However, it was still too early. He would only use that skill once he had approached it closely.

    Shwa, shwa, shwa, shwa¨D

    Barach swung his whip and wrapped it around Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    Shwaaaaaaaa¨D

    Crack, crack, crack!

    The whip tightened around Minhyuk¡¯s body immediately as Minhyuk¡¯s HP dropped sharply.

    Crackleeee!

    The powerful me travelled along the whip and stretched towards Minhyuk.

    Hwaaaaaaaaa¨D

    Minhyuk was a user that had a tremendously high magical defensepared to the regr rankers. But despite his high magical defense and the increase in stats that was added, his HP still fell by 20%.

    And it did not end there. Barach quickly pulled the whip strongly and pulled Minhyuk towards him.

    [Aaaaaaah!!! It ends like this!]

    [But User Minhyuk fought very well!!! The thing that he did just now, I believe he will be able to get the upper hand in front of the other world rankers.]

    Thementators had predicted the end.

    And just when Minhyuk had reached Barach¡­ A ck me zed all over Barach¡¯s body.

    [Fire Devil¡¯s Explosion]

    [A 700% increase in attack power will be expressed as soon as a direct hitnds on the opponent.]

    Keuhaaaaaaaack!

    The huge ball of fire that came from Barach¡¯s body flew towards Minhyuk. It was an extremely powerful attack that boasted an additional 700% attack power. It was clear that this was Barach¡¯s strongest one-shot kill skill.

    Everyone had predicted that Minhyuk would die.

    But¡­

    Crack!

    The whip wrapped around Minhyuk¡¯s body broke down as a ck fog appeared and wrapped around Minhyuk¡¯s body before being absorbed inside.

    Then, the notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    [Berserk.]

    [This is the first time that you have used the Berserk skill.]

    [For your first awakening, all of your skills and stats would be much higher than the normal Berserk skill.]

    [All abilities will be increased b 19% and all stats would have a +2 increase.]

    [Your HP will decrease by 3% per second. By the end of the skill, your HP will fall below 10% while your defense will fall below 20%.]

    Minhyuk¡¯s skill level had increased tremendously due to his buffed dish. And the same was true for his stats. And now, his Berserk skill had dramatically increased his skills once again.

    Then, another notification came.

    [Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship¡¯s cooldown temporarily decreases by 70%.]

    And another set of notifications¡­

    [Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship has temporarily reached the extreme level.]

    [The techniques in Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship can be temporarily used.]

    [Chapter 8. Berserk Sword]

    ¡®Extreme¡­?¡¯

    This was his first time hearing about such a level.

    Then, Minhyuk saw the Fire Devil¡¯s Explosion rushing towards him. It was a skill that has given an additional 700% attack power on top of Barach¡¯s basic damage.

    Minhyuk immediately activated the technique.

    ¡°Berserk Sword.¡±

    The 8th chapter of the skill, the Berserk Sword was temporarily opened.

    Something shocking happened once he used the technique.

    As soon as Minhyuk wielded his sword, hundreds of 4m long ck sword lights appeared in the air. It looked like a flock of hundreds of ck migratory birds. A flock of migratory birds pping their wings and zooming up in the sky!

    [An additional 700% attack power is added to your sword.]

    [If the sword seeds in attacking a vital point, it will gain an additional 1,300% attack power.]

    Minhyuk immediately realized that this was abination of his Splitting Sword and Sword of Fury.

    ¡®A sword will have an additional 700% attack power and an additional 1,300% attack power if I seed in hitting a vital point¡­? And with each and every single one of those hundreds of swords¡­?¡¯

    Minhyuk was shocked at how powerful the sword technique was.

    Then, the hundreds of swords collided against Barach¡¯s Fire Devil¡¯s Explosion, a magnificent fire that seemed to be able to burn everything down to the ground.

    Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!

    The hundreds of ck swords broke through the Fire Devil¡¯s Explosion and turned it into nothing. Then¡­

    Shwaaaaaaaaaak¨D

    The hundreds of swords continued forward to stab into Barach¡¯s body.

    [You have sessfully dealt a critical strike.]

    [Additional 1,300% attack power.]

    [You have sessfully dealt a critical strike.]

    [Additional 1,300% attack power.]

    [You have sessfully dealt a critical strike.]

    [Additional 1,300% attack power.]

    [You have sessfully dealt¡­ omitted.]

    Notifications constantly rang in Minhyuk¡¯s head.

    Barach was torn to shreds until his shape couldn¡¯t be distinguished anymore. The sword even continued to fly forward destroying all of the remaining buildings and towers until finally getting spent after reaching the magnificent elf mountain.

    Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!

    Although the mountain did not disappear, its shape was still alteredpletely.

    Crumble¨D!

    ¡°......!¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    [......!]

    [......!]

    [......!]

    The skill finally disappeared and everything had turned still and silent.

    Then, notifications were heard through the silence.

    [The Demon God¡¯s Knight Barach has been sessfully hunted.]

    [You have acquired the Demon God¡¯s Knight¡¯s Training Room Stone.]

    [You have acquired the Demon God¡¯s Special Parchment.]

    [You have gained 3,135 tinum.]

    [You have acquired 61,315,479 EXP.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    [You have leveled up.]

    ¡­

    [You have gained 11,190,441 contribution points.]

    [The Job Quest: Kingdom Warriors has been created.]

    [The Job Quest: Food God¡¯s Kingdom has been created.]

    ***

    Report mistakes, get notified on updates and announcements and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 299 - Siblings Selling Ramyeon

    Chapter 299: Siblings Selling Ramyeon

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    83 Siblings Selling Ramyeon

    Ellie, the Great Sword, was walking while listening to the report of her aide, Ruth.

    ''?Count Gedir has collected more taxes than usual and has reigned like a king in thend. If there was anyone who bothered him, he would slit their throat and if he fancied a woman, he would hug her and bed her even if they haven''?te of age yet.''?

    ''?Call him in and put him in jail right away. If he refuses then it''?s alright to make a summary judgment on the spot.''?

    ''?Yes.''?

    Ellie, just like usual, was living her life as the cold Empress. Then, Ellie suddenly stopped walking as she trembled on the spot.

    ''?Im''| Impossible''|''?

    The direction where she was looking was in the direction where Minhyuk just used the Berserk Sword. She could feel a vast amount of power from her swordsmanship in that direction.

    ''?Minhyukie''| has reached Ellie''?s Swordsmanship''?s Extreme rank...?''?

    Ellie''?s Swordsmanship was not always called Ellie''s Swordsmanship before. It was only named ''?Ellie''?s Swordsmanship''? after she named it after herself. This was a skill that had always been the framework of the swordsmanship of her ancestors. However, the former Emperors had been blocked by the limitations of their bodies.

    ''?A godly state that is in reach but can never be reached.''?

    Ellie and her ancestors had called it like that but the users and the operators had called it as ''?Half-God''?. However, this swordsmanship was originally a swordsmanship that God had personally left and dropped in this world. They had said that plenty of skills and powers in Athenae had been born from a God. There were eight extreme attack skills created by Aerod, the god of abilities and destructions, that had fallen on earth. One of them was Ellie''?s Swordsmanship. However, no one has ever reached the extreme.

    So, when she felt that power from earlier, all she could do was stand in shock.

    ''?ording to the legends''|''?

    Those who had reached the extreme level of Ellie''?s Swordsmanship were supposed to save the continent.

    However, the power appeared only for a moment and disappeared quickly. And Ellie could tell.

    ''?Did the power open temporarily because of something?''?

    She took a breath and calmed herself down.

    ''?It''?s still a bit early but perhaps Minhyukie will be able to reach the extreme level. Something that even I can''?t reach.''?

    Then, she began to walk again.

    ***

    ATV broadcasting station''?smentator, Lee Daejin, looked at the monitor with blinking eyes. Then, he rubbed his eyes.

    ''?What, what did I just see''|?''?

    He couldn''?t even tell what he just saw. Then''|

    Badump, badump, badump, badump''?

    His heart beat intensely as the hairs all over his body stood up. It was a thrilling sensation.

    And''|

    ''?The Athenae: World War''| I think our country can win''|!''?

    The world experts had said that South Korea was very likely to remain in the 40th ce out of the 49 participating countries. And there weren''?t even a lot of people who could deny this im. But then, they saw Minhyuk.

    Lee Daejin couldn''?t help but mutter loudly.

    ''?Our country is 40th ce? Are there any other users in your country who are as powerful as that?!!!!''?

    And his voice was transmitted just like that.

    [Our country is 40th ce? Are there any other users in your country who are as powerful as that?!!!!]

    Even if he sounded arrogant, no one could say that he was not qualified as amentator despite his conceited and arrogantment.

    Thements that had fallen silent began flooding in once more.

    [Crazy''| shit''| that''?spletely crazy''| so crazy''|! This is the best out of all the videos that I have ever watched''|!]

    [Wow''| I think I have to change my underwear. It''?s so awesome that I might have wetted my pants a bit!]

    [I didn''?t like User Minhyuk because he''?s a Food God but I decided to be his fan today!]

    [No user in their countries could ever show their bestest and strongest skill that could rival his.]

    [Where are all the members who said that our God, Food God can''?t carry others?]

    [Everyone, what we need to do right now is certain and has been decided.]

    [What''?s that?]

    [Korea, make some noiiiiiiiiiiseeeee!]

    [Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah!]

    [Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!]

    And on that day, shouts and screams resounded all over Korea as if they had scored during the World Cup. Korea''?s ster performance in Athenae: World War was not that impossible after all.

    ***

    [The duration of Berserk has ended, your HP has now dropped below 10%.]

    [You can''?t increase your HP with any sort of potio or heal for 3 minutes.]

    [Your defense level drops below 20%.]

    Minhyuk felt all of his strength disappear as soon as he heard the notification that the duration of the skill Berserk ending. What came after was none other than a huge decline in HP including enormous muscle pain. What was worse was the fact that he couldn''?t increase his HP through any potion or heal so it was safe to assume that the Berserk skill was a double-edged sword.

    While feeling the strength leaving his body, Minhyuk recalled the countless notifications that he heard earlier.

    ''?Demon God''?s Knight''?s Training Room Stone, Demon God''?s special parchment, more than 3,000 tinum and 61 million EXP''|''?

    He even leveled up as much as 11 times straight. There were even two job quests created in a row.

    ''?Was it created because I reached Lv450?''?

    Minhyuk immediately checked out the quests.

    [Job Quest: Food God''?s Warriors]

    Rank: ???

    Restrictions: Lv450

    Rewards: The third legacy dish and Food God''?s Secret

    Penalty for Failure: Unable to challenge the fifth and final Food God''?s legacy dish.

    Description: The Food God has the best servants and subordinates all over the world. Raise and collect subordinates and make them into your own warriors. It''?s possible to make NPCs and users your own warriors. Can only be fulfilled once they make the ''?Warrior''?s Oath''?. Have at least 10 legendary people or more.

    [Job Quest: Food God''?s Kingdom.]

    Rank: ???

    Restrictions: Lv450

    Rewards: The fourth legacy dish and the Food God''?s Silver Armor set.

    Penalty for Failure: Unable to eat the remaining God''?s dishes and legacy dishes.

    Description: Food God is a powerful being that shook the entire continent. Take your first steps, create a kingdom and get closer to bing a Food God like that. The quest will bepleted once the kingdom has been dered.

    ''?A kingdom?''?

    Building a kingdom was some kind of funny story. No one has ever created a kingdom in Athenae at all. No, there wasn''?t any guild that has even dered about owning a greatnd that could house a kingdom.

    But you''?re telling me to create my own kingdom?

    And there was only one reason why Minhyuk was interested in the quest.

    ''?A kingdom filled with delicious food! Should I create a kingdom like that?!''?

    Aaaaaah! Just imagining it is making me happy.

    The kingdom in and of itself was filled to the brim with food and no one would be hungry.

    As for the Food God''?s Warriors, Minhyuk already has warriors.

    Kaistra, the Envoy of Incarnation.

    Legendary Spear Ben.

    Great Sage Aruvel.

    Someone who could be a Legend, Haze.

    The leader of Talmor Religion, Corr.

    Sword Saint Conir.

    ''?Uhm''|''?

    Minhyuk felt a bit overwhelmed when he thought of it.

    ''?Howe''|''?

    Each and every single one of them were special beings. They were all good whenpared to others.

    ''?They have distinct personalities too.''?

    Minhyuk suddenly looked around to check on his surroundings.

    ''?......''?

    ''?......''?

    ''?......''?

    ''?......''?

    All of the people present were looking at Minhyuk and his easy-going expression.

    And one of them, Lee Hoseung, couldn''?t help but startle and fall on his bum.

    ''?...What?''?

    ''?No, nothing. Ho, hohohohoho!''?

    Genie also smiled awkwardly.

    ''?Just, just because!!! Ha, hahahahaha!''?

    ''?You, you seeded in hunting Ba, Barach!!!''?

    ''?Hahahahahahaha!''?

    ''?Hohohohohoho! You''?ve gotten a lot stronger since thest time I saw you!''?

    Alicia alsoughed.

    On this day, Alicia, the Legend Guild and all the other rankers present were given a huge surprise by Minhyuk. On the other hand, they also experienced jealousy, envy, and yearning to be the one to turn around the situation like that.

    ''?We want to be stronger too''|''?

    ''?Move forward. We have to move forward.''?

    Minhyuk''?s overwhelming strength promoted everyone''?s growth through theirpetitiveness and envy.

    ***

    Before BJ''?s used Minhyuk''?s video of using his skill to kill Barach without permission, ATV broadcasting station has already threatened them that they would write aint as soon as a video was published. In this way, they were able to control the video. In addition, the reruns that they had scheduled were also briefly stopped from airing.

    ATV was creating a board right now. They also made sure to give most of their proceeds to Legend Guild and Minhyuk as they obtained another approval from them. It was for the ''?Hall of Fame''?.

    Right now, ATV''?s PD Kim Daeguk was standing behind a female employee with his hands in his pockets.

    ''?Upload it.''?

    ''?Yes, PD-nim.''?

    The video that will challenge the Hall of Fame.

    ATV had also distributed the opening to users in advance.

    ''?It hit 300,000 views as soon as it opened! 350,000! 400,000! 450,000! This is crazy!!! The number of clicks is so unbelievable!!!''?

    People from all over the world are watching.

    The users and rankers from Korea and other countries tried to check and see this hot scene.

    PD Kim Daeguk looked out of the window.

    ''?User Minhyuk''?s video is spreading quickly all over the screens of the viewers.''?

    Then''|

    ''?We''?re over 1 million views!!!''?

    ''?We''?re over 5 million views!!!''?

    The number of users ying Athenae exceeded hundreds of millions. And the number of views continued to soar thanks to these people. And this was just for one day, just one day. And it did not stop.

    And on that day.

    ''?We entered 6th ce!!!''?

    ''?We reached the 4th ce!!!''?

    And''|

    ''?3rd ce''|!!! User Minhyuk''?s video has stayed in 3rd ce in cumtive views!!! Oh?!!! Th, that!!!''?

    When they clicked on the upper right corner of the video, they saw a small crown shape''|

    ''?...User Minhyuk''?s video has been confirmed for the Hall of Fame!!!''?

    The world has turned upside down. The video has entered the top 10 in cumtive views in just a few days.

    And it did not stop there. They originally estimated that it would take a month to reach the Hall of Fame. However, in just a few days, the video had ranked third in the Hall of Fame.

    [Shocking!!! There''?s a ranker like that in Korea?]

    [That''?s a skill that I''?ve never heard of!!!]

    [Our country''?s top ranker Mushashi Kentaro talked about his rtionship with User Minhyuk. He said that he''?s the one who enlightened him!!!]

    [The World''?s Number 1 in the Mage Rankings, Alex, stood up and gave a round of apuse after watching Minhyuk''?s video!]

    Meanwhile, PD Kim Daeguk took out his cellphone andmented on the Hall of Fame video.

    ''?What did you write?''?

    ''?Secret.''?

    PD Kim Daeguk smiled as he ced his hands on his pockets and went outside. And although he didn''?t mean it to happen, onement quickly came up as the bestment.

    And thement with the most likes and replies was''|

    ''?World, wait for it. Our South Korea ising.''?

    ***

    Report mistakes, get notified on updates and announcements and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 300 - Siblings Selling Ramyeon

    Chapter 300: Siblings Selling Ramyeon

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    A man wearing a ck robe was walking towards the end of the dark cave.

    ¡®I didn¡¯t know this opportunity woulde to me¡­!¡¯

    His face was filled with delight.

    The man walking towards the end of the dark cave was named Jiang Chen. He was Athenae¡¯s Chinese server¡¯s Death Tamer Jiang Chen. He was one of the most brilliant rankers, ranking 2nd, in China and was well known for mainly taming and handling the undead. However, he was still only 2nd in the tamer rankings.

    Whether one was in the top 30 in the job rankings or in the top 30 of the overall rankings, as long as there was someone else standing in number 1, one would alwaysg behind.

    And an opportunity came to him after a series of notifications.

    [You have met the conditions to challenge the Royal ss.]

    [You have met the conditions to be the Royal ss: ck Dragon Tamer.]

    [ Job Change Quest: Collect the artifacts of the ck Dragon, Vormon.]

    Not too long ago, the very first Royal ss, the Dragon Monarch, was born and the world was abuzz. Even the second Royal ss, the Descendant of the Great Mage Moldoron, was also born. The Descendant of the Great Mage Moldoron, ck Mage Ali, posted a video showing off his significantly stronger power and posted it on the inte. The effects and aftermath were beyond imagination. He had proved that he and Alex, the current number 1 in the mage rankings, had a big gap and he was the best mage in name and in reality.

    And Jiang Chen also believed that he would be able to defeat those world rankers right now.

    ck Dragon Vormon!

    Information about the ck dragon was not difficult to gather since Jiang Chen was going to change into a Royal ss.

    ck Dragon Vormon was a dragon that showed enormous strength during the continental war and had a tremendous influence on the entire continent. ck Dragon Vormon was also known for being far stronger than any other dragon to ever exist.

    And for him to rule and tame such a ck dragon¡­ it was something that made him shiver with thrill.

    Finally, Jiang Chen was able to reach the end of the cave. And there¡­

    ¡®The Wand of Destruction made from ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s teeth!¡¯

    The Wand of Destruction was floating on top of an altar. Jiang Chen slowly approached and reached his hands out to it.

    Shwaaaaaaa¨D

    A ck vortex suddenly appeared in front of it as the soul of some being appeared.

    ¡°Finally¡­ Arrived¡­¡±

    The voice sounded as if it was delighted at Jiang Chen¡¯s arrival.

    Vormon was only in the shape of a dragon¡¯s head when he appeared in front of Jiang Chen. So, Jiang Chen spoke to him arrogantly.

    ¡°From now on, I am your master. Vormon. You have to give your life to me.¡±

    Jiang Chen was speaking cringy lines but the thought that reaching the number 1 rank in the world rankings would not be impossible with ck Dragon Vormon under him had him forget about the cheesiness of his words. Besides, the name of the Royal ss that he would transfer to was ¡®ck Dragon Tamer¡¯. Then...

    ¡°My¡­ Owner¡­ you¡­ say¡­¡±

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Blood spurted out of Jiang Chen¡¯s body as small explosions broke deep inside him. Jiang Chen was forced to kneel from the sudden blow. He looked at Vormon incredulously.

    ¡®Wh, what¡­?!¡¯

    Is there a monster that attacks its owner?

    ¡°You bastard. You should only do what I tell you to do.¡±

    At that moment, Jiang Chen realized that his Royal ss name was not ¡®ck Dragon Tamer¡¯ but ¡®ck Dragon Pawn¡¯. It was definitely something that one should be furious about. But soon, ck Dragon Vormon said¡­

    ¡°If you follow me, you will be able to gain many things. I¡¯ll have to go to my hiddenir too.¡±

    I¡¯ll be able to gain many things. Well, ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s task was to dye the entire continent with chaos. It wouldn¡¯t be impossible for him to grant his pawn at least a kingdom or an empire in the process, right?

    ¡°I understand!!! Fine!!! I¡¯ll give you my life!!!¡±

    Jiang Chen¡¯s arrogant and cocky expression when he asked him to give him his life earlier was nowhere to be seen. Vormon gritted his teeth as he spoke.

    ¡°Where¡­ is he¡­¡±

    Jiang Chen was quite curious. Who was the ¡®he¡¯ that he was referring to?

    ¡°The absolute divine beast. It¡¯s a baby pig.¡±

    ¡®Absolute divine beast? A baby pig?¡¯

    Jiang Chen had obtained a lot of information about the continental war and he had also heard a lot about the absolute divine beast. However, the word baby pig was quite new to him. However, he recalled Kongie, the pet of User Minhyuk, the Food God in a small country called Korea.

    ¡°He¡¯s in the Asgan Continent.¡±

    ¡°As expected, he has awakened too.¡±

    Vormon¡¯s eyes turned chilly. Then, a ck jewel popped out of his spirit.

    Notifications rang in Jiang Chen¡¯s ears after he had politely received it with both of his hands.

    [You have acquired a Warp Gate Gem.]

    [Vormon is not strong enough. You can only use it three times.]

    ¡°Once you go to myir, you will be able to awaken most of my powers. But first, go to Asgan Continent through this gem and understand the power and status of the absolute divine beast.¡±

    ¡°......!¡±

    Jiang Chen was shocked.

    ¡®Am, amazing¡­!¡¯

    From all the information that he had gathered there was no item or path that could allow him to traverse continents. But at that moment, the power to move to other continents emerged. Of course, it was only limited to Chinese users.

    Jiang Chen¡¯s brain immediately rolled around.

    ¡®I should post it on the ck market.¡¯

    After listening to Vormon, it seemed like he would be able to move a lot of users once his power had awakened. No, perhaps there would be a path created to connect one continent after the other. But before that happened, this limited warp gem could have an astronomical value if presented to the users who did not know of this fact.

    What Vormon wanted from this gem was information about the baby pig. So, it was enough if there were more than one or two people going together with him. And if he sold these in the ck market, people would definitely seek them for their own gain.

    ¡®I need to ask about 3 billion in cash.¡¯

    The rich are spread far and wide in China. After all, it was a country that had the extremes when it came to rich and poor people. Three billion for a continental warp was a just price especially for the top rankers.

    Jiang Chen logged out of the game and posted it quickly on the ck market. The users that joined the market consisted of informal rankers, top rankers or rich yers and had undergone strict screening before they could join in.

    Not long after he posted, a user had sent him a note.

    [I¡¯ll trade it for 4 billion.]

    ¡°.....!¡±

    Jiang Chen was shocked.

    You want to trade for 4 billion?

    This meant that they wanted to block otherpetitions. Jiang Chen found it unusual but¡­

    [I understand. Instead, I would like to see something that can prove your identity. May I ask for your in-game name?]

    A user who can pay 4 billion won. I wonder who it is?

    Not long after, he received a reply.

    ? [Mei Wei]

    ¡°.....!¡±

    ***

    Valkyrie. This was what the maidens of war were called in Nordic mythology. And Mei Wei¡¯s ss was exactly this, Valkyrie.

    She had finally logged in to Athenae after a week. Although she had bought the warp gem from the ck market for 4 billion and had gone to Asgan Continent, she was only able to log in now since she fainted for a whole week.

    Surprisingly enough, despite not being able to log in for that long period of time, Mei Wei¡¯s ranking remained unchanged. The top rankers¡¯ rankings change a lot in just a single day. So her ranking remaining unchanged meant that she was overwhelmingly strong.

    ¡®I have to hurry up and find him¡­¡¯

    She must go and see Food God Minhyuk.

    So far, Mei Wei was only able to contact the user named Jiang Chen.

    ¡°I¡¯m a bit worried since your whisper is off and your note box is closed.¡±

    Jiang Chen had continued to send whispers to Mei Wei but she could not be reached since she usually refused to receive whispers from Athenae. However, Jiang Chen was urgently asking her to deposit the 4 billion in his bank.

    Jiang Chen held a ck jewel in his hand as he began to mutter something. Then, the space was torn as a warp gate was created. When they were about to enter the warp gate.

    ¡°Be careful.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡­?¡±

    Mei Wei tilted her head just as she was about to take a step.

    ¡°Actually, I¡¯m your fan.¡±

    Jiang Chen had a gloomy appearance. Even though he was inside the game, his face still remained thin and his eyes protruding. Even his hair was unkempt and messy. But despite looking like that, he was also one of the leading users in China. However, he was Mei Wei¡¯s fan. This just showed that her power in Athenae was extremely overwhelming.

    ¡°What do you mean about that?¡±

    Her cold voice was enchanting.

    Then, Jiang Chen spoke.

    ¡°I actually told you to be careful but I don¡¯t know what you should be careful about.¡±

    ¡°...Yes?¡±

    ¡°To be honest, I signed a contract with a ranker recently and sent him to Asgan Continent yesterday. However, I can¡¯t get in touch with him. I think he¡¯s in a whisper-restricted area. But thankfully I was able to get in touch with him by ident. And he only said two words.¡±

    ¡°Two words?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Jiang Chen spoke with his head down.

    ¡°Demon.¡±

    And.

    ¡°Boy.¡±

    Mei Wei¡¯s brows furrowed. She couldn¡¯t understand what he was saying.Then, Jiang Chen continued to speak.

    ¡°But you¡¯re Valkyrie Mei Wei so you probably have nothing to worry about.¡±

    Mei Wei shook her head. They seemed to be in danger as if they were being targeted. But that did not mean that she should dy.

    ¡®I don¡¯t have much time left.¡¯

    The doctor had told her that her physical condition would start to deteriorate in a few months to the point that she wouldn¡¯t be able to y games. No, in fact, her physical condition was so bad that it would not be strange if she died silently right now. Even her Athenae capsule would always sh a ¡®Warning!!! You can¡¯t ess the game.¡¯ and rmend her to log out and take a break before logging in again. However, Mei Wei deliberately tinkered with her capsule with the help ofpetent mechanical experts and hackers just so she could continue ying Athenae.

    And beyond that portal existed¡­

    ¡®A dish that might be able to cure my sickness.¡¯

    A bright light engulfed her as she walked towards the portal. Then, the notifications rang in her ears.

    [You are a user from Cairon Continent.]

    [You are warping to Asgan Continent.]

    [You have entered the entrance passage.]

    [If you fail to pass through the entrance passage, you will not be able to go to the Asgan Continent.]

    [The use of return and teleport scrolls are restricted in the entrance passage.]

    [You can¡¯t send a whisper in the entrance passage.]

    [Please note that if you are forced to log out, you will be connected at Cairon Continent again.]

    ¡®So, there¡¯s a system like this.¡¯

    Jiang Chen did not tell her but of course it was because he did not know about it either.

    ¡®Is that why he said something about a demon?¡¯

    Perhaps the boss monster at the end of this passageway was a demon.

    Then, she began to walk. She encountered monsters above Lv540. The monsters that came out included but were not limited to basilisk, snakes that turned a person into stone, giant soldier ants and many more high-leveled monsters. But Valkyrie Mei Wei just hunted them and moved forward.

    After a long walk, it seemed like she had finally reached her destination. There, she saw a small cave. No¡­ perhaps¡­ it was an entrance to a ¡®Mine?¡¯. Just when Mei Wei was about to step forward. An unidentified voice suddenly rang.

    ¡°S, stop¡­! Please. It¡¯s my fault!!! So, stop now! Please send me back!!!¡±

    ¡®This voice?¡¯

    It was a voice that she had heard at least once before. She quickly concealed her presence.

    [Goddess¡¯ Secret.]

    [The Goddess of Secrets is helping you.]

    It was an amazing skill that could conceal any sound or even the mana flowing in one¡¯s body. She slowly moved. And there, she saw¡­

    [Conir¡¯s Namyeon To-Go.]

    ¡®......?¡¯

    It was a small handcart with a clumsy name. It seemed like the spelling was also wrong. And the man sitting in front of the handcart was Ma Zheonu, the number 1 in China¡¯s assassin rankings and number 3 in China¡¯s overall rankings. He was sitting in front of a ramyeon shop and screaming.

    ¡°S, Stop¡­! Let me go back! Kill me!¡±

    Then¡­

    Dash¨D

    Someone appeared in front of her.

    ¡®He, he saw through the Goddess¡¯ Secret Skill¡­?!¡¯

    The Goddess¡¯ Secret Skill had only been seen through once.

    A boy appeared in front of her after he had seen through her skills. Then, the boy bowed.

    ¡°A second customer! Wee! I¡¯m Conir!!!¡±

    Then, he asked her with a big smile on his face.

    ¡°Which do you put first in a ramyeon, the noodles or the soup?¡±

    ***

    Report mistakes, get notified on updates and announcements and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 301 - Siblings Selling Ramyeon

    Chapter 301: Siblings Selling Ramyeon

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    Right after they had seeded in recapturing the Elven Forest, Legend Guild ranked 13th in the Korean rankings. Compared to Legend Guild¡¯s reputation and achievements, their results this time were quite shabby.

    Genie looked out of the window.

    ¡®Minhyukie keeps on getting stronger.¡¯

    When they first met Minhyuk in the game, his strength was overwhelmingly strong for his level. However, the gap between them had now widened more than back then. In fact, every member of the Legend Guild felt that there was a huge wall in front of them when Minhyuk hunted Barach. However, none of them felt frustrated. They kept on hunting like crazy to catch up and reach him. All of their guild members were working hard. And the guild master, Genie, also wanted to climb higher. She wanted to make Legend Guild the best guild in the world. Not just the 13th in the domestic rankings.

    Then, Haze spoke.

    ¡°So, this is a kingdom. So cool.¡±

    Genie slowly turned around and made eye contact with Haze.

    Haze was a smart girl. She was able to seed in bringing up the low sales and ie of Valha territory up to 700%. She was even able to reach a 1,000% increase this month by reaching out to various businesses.

    ¡®Really amazing. And objective. And¡­¡¯

    She had nothing to say. After all, she only spoke the right things.

    ¡°For the first time, a foreigner would be a king of a kingdom in Asgan Continent. There¡¯s nothing more awesome than this title. However, for that kingdom, master will have to yield.¡±

    Haze was now stabbing her with a dagger. She was telling her respectfully but to Genie it was just a stab to her weak spot.

    Not too long ago, Minhyuk said that he had a job quest and it was ¡®Building a Kingdom¡¯. If one was building a kingdom, then, there should be a king. Would Genie be the king?

    ¡®No.¡¯

    Only when Minhyuk became a king would his job quest bepleted.

    Minhyuk was extremely excited to do this kingdom construction quest. And there was only one reason why he was so excited, especially when he only ever got excited with food.

    ¡®Genie! Think about it! I can make a kingdom filled with delicious food where no one will get hungry!¡¯

    That was right. Because this was also somewhat rted to food.

    However, Genie¡¯s thoughts were different. In order for Minhyuk to be king, he might probably need to leave the guild. Because only a guild master was qualified to be king. However, that would weaken Legend Guild¡¯s powers. And not only that. They might also be a hostile force against their friend, Minhyuk.

    And Haze was implying that she should hand over the Legend Guild¡¯s master position to Minhyuk.

    ¡°Minhyuk-nim has wide connections throughout Athenae. There will be significantly different results when Legend Guild¡¯s master is Genie-nim or when it¡¯s Minhyuk-nim.¡±

    Genie could not deny her words.

    Eivelis Empire¡¯s Empress Ellie.

    Asvon Empire¡¯s Emperor Asvon.

    ck Dragon and the Boys.

    There were also Alicia, Lucia, Ruan, ck Mage Ali and many more.

    In fact, even Japan¡¯s Musashi Kentaro had praised Minhyuk not too long ago.

    There were a lot of powerful and influential people who cared about and liked Minhyuk.

    In other words, there was a need to rece the master of the guild for their guild to achieve explosive growth. She had to slowly let go of this position. Only then will the guild be the best guild in Korea and probably the world.

    ¡°Only after getting everyone¡¯s approval will I proceed.¡±

    Genie shook her head.

    Would Genie approve of it? It was a guild that she had built, and she was just going to hand it over? No, she might have built it but it was a guild that was built with the dream of bing the best together. She was just going to choose the most optimal path to achieve their dream of being the best.

    Then, at that moment, Minhyuk came inside.

    ¡°Oh, Minhyuk-ah.¡±

    ¡°I brought something big to help our guild.¡±

    ¡°A big one?¡±

    Genie¡¯s expression turned strange at Minhyuk¡¯s words.

    ¡°Yeah. I got information about this ce called Antis.¡±

    ***

    Guild members of Legend Guild hurriedly gathered at Valha territory. The reason was simple. It was because Minhyuk had gotten information about a territory called Antis. Just the exnation alone about this territory was amazing enough. In the exnation, there was a line that said ¡®Thend that has been hailed as the legendarynd that all the monarchs dreamt of owning.¡¯ And there was a reason why the guild members were dreaming.

    ¡®Perhaps in that new territory¡­ we can be stronger and we can have power.¡¯

    ¡®We don¡¯t know but maybe there¡¯s a better hunting ground in the vicinity.¡¯

    ¡®Maybe there are amazing quests hidden in the area.¡¯

    It was a territory that was in the legends. There might be limitless possibilities in that ce.

    While the Legend Guild members were busy, Conir was moving quickly.

    Conir was able to sessfullyplete the Lv2 quest at the entrance of the Demon World¡¯s Tower, the quest about the ramyeonbination, with the help of ck Dragon. And his Lv3 quest was to find a way to enjoy bibimmyeon. And he wondered about it for a long time until Minhyuk gave him some help.

    ¡®How to enjoy bibimmyeon? First, you should prepare about 20 packs of bibimmyeon so you don¡¯t run out. Then, prepare about four kilograms of meat like pork neck and samgyeopsal.¡¯

    ¡®20 packs of bibimmyeon, four kilos of samgyeopsal, Conir wrote it all down¡­!¡¯

    ¡®Right. Prepare them and go to the valley and enjoy yourself. You can even y in the water. When you¡¯re tired, grill some samgyeopsal and boil some bibimmyeon.¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯m going to cook bibimmyeon, also grill some samgyeopsal!¡¯

    ¡®That¡¯s right, that¡¯s right! You can eat your bibimmyeon with your samgyeopsal while still wet with the water on a bench under the shade of the valley. If you eat it like that¡­ Kghhhk!¡¯

    ¡®Kghhhk! Conir will try too! Thanks, hyung!¡¯

    So Conir tried it right away. Then, Conir heard a heavenly voice.

    ¡®As expected of hyung!¡¯ was what he felt when this happened. He could still remember the feeling of eating the sweet and sour bibimmyeon and samgyeopsal after being exhausted from ying in the water.

    ¡°SLuuuuuurp!¡±

    Conir slurped his drool as he recalled that moment. Then, he finallypleted the handcart that he was preparing.

    ¡®Conir¡¯s Namyeon to-go¡¯

    There was one reason why Conir prepared a ramyeon shop. It was because of his next quest.

    [You havepleted the Lv3 quest: How to Enjoy Bibimmyeon.]

    [You have learned the passive skill ¡®Delicious Ramyeon from Time to Time¡¯.]

    [The Lv 4 Quest. Selling Ramyeon has been created.]

    The Delicious Ramyeon from Time to Time worked ording to the situation. It wouldn¡¯t work if you just eat it. It would work if you sneak out at one in the morning to a convenience store, eat out on the terrace, or cook it outdoors while fishing. It depended on the environment too. Originally, ramyeon was delicious if you were hungry outside and had nothing else to eat. However, this skill maximized the effectiveness of that.

    And his Lv4 quest was literally just selling. By selling ramyeon, it meant that he should generate about 1 tinum of sales. It was also included in the description that the ¡®sincerity¡¯ of the one who would eat would also be included. And since the Lv4 quest was a bit special, the following quest was immediately stated as well as the rewards.

    [Lv5 Quest. The Most Delicious Ramyeon in the World.]

    [Create an instant ramyeon filled with passion. Present two meaningful bowls of ramyeon to someone. Make it so these two bowls of delicious ramyeon are unique and can¡¯t be seen anywhere else in the world.]

    Conir wanted to hurriedly finish his Lv4 quest to give Minhyuk a bowl of ramyeon. That was the reason why he opened up a shop.

    ¡°Conir!! I will be rich starting today! Wow! Wow! Wow!¡±

    Meanwhile, the Legend Guild members had already gathered.

    ¡°Who¡¯s that¡­?¡±

    Locke tilted his head when he saw Conir standing in front of his rear car.

    Thanks to the allowance that Minhyuk gave him, Conir was wearing a Japanese ramyeon owner¡¯s outfit with a headband that said ¡®Conir Ramyeon!¡¯ on his forehead.

    ¡°I think he¡¯s Minhyuk¡¯s new vassal?¡±

    ¡°The Ramyeon Master?¡±

    ¡°I guess so.¡±

    That was all. The guild members did not pay him that much attention.

    Then, Conir approached Minhyuk after he had prepared everything.

    ¡°Hyuuung! Hyuuung! Conir!!! I¡¯m going tomand the continent with ramyeon!!! The Ramyeon Merchant, Conir!!!¡±

    Ramyeon Merchant Conir.

    The guild members who heard this thought that he had a strange and weird naming sense. However, Minhyuk¡¯s eyes were sparkling.

    ¡°That¡¯s so cool?!¡±

    ¡°Hyuuung, Conir!!! I¡¯m going to sell ramyeon!¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head.

    It was alright even if Conir wasn¡¯t with him while he was on his way to Antis. And Conir was someone that he could summon and call at any time. So, Minhyuk just took out various parchments, travel necessities, and potions.

    ¡°This return parchment will send you back to the vige if you rip it. This¡­¡±

    Minhyuk exined the items one by one. And Conir¡­

    ¡°If I grab and tear the parchment like this, will it be activated?¡±

    He grabbed one parchment and tore it apart.

    ¡°...I, I just pretended to rip it. Why did you really tear apart¡­¡±

    ¡°Heok! Conir! Made a mistake!¡±

    Conir turned into a light and disappeared.

    And Minhyuk saw what was written on the paper.

    ¡®Instant Teleportation Parchment?¡¯

    The instant teleportation parchment would randomly choose a ce to go to. There were pros and cons to these parchments. If you were lucky, you would probably be able to go to unexplorednds randomly anywhere in the continent. The only downside was that you could encounter a being that was much stronger than your level.

    Minhyuk pondered for a moment.

    ¡®Should I call for him right away?¡¯

    No, Conir would be summoned to the summoning room on his own if he was in danger. That meant that everything would be fine.

    ***

    Conir was actually teleported to the passageway via the instant teleportation parchment.

    ¡°Ant, do you want to eat some ramyeon? Lizard!!! Do you want some too?¡±

    Conir actually rmended eating ramyeon to ant soldiers and basilisks that were above Lv500. Those who attacked him died quickly.

    ¡°Conir! I will be rich here!¡±

    Conir hunted the boss mob and opened up his store here. However, even after one hour, ten hours, two days¡­ no customer came.

    ***

    Ma Zheonu. He was China¡¯s number 1 assassin and the 3rd in the top rankers list. He said that there was no one, whoever they were, that he could not kill as long as he wanted to kill them.

    And this Ma Zheonu joined hands with Jiang Chen. He had also expressed his desire to acquire valuable treasures, artifacts and skills from ck Dragon Vormon. So, he entered the portal and tried to collect information on Minhyuk and the baby piggy, Kongie.

    Then, he entered a passageway that was called Entrance Passage. He dealt with high-leveled monsters and finally faced ¡®Conir¡¯s Namyeon To-Go¡¯ at the end of the passage.

    ¡°First customer! I¡¯m Conir! I sell ramyeon!!! Buy ramyeon!¡±

    ¡®......?¡¯

    Ma Zheonu couldn¡¯t understand the situation for a moment. Then, he realized.

    ¡®A boss mob? Is this how it¡¯s like in the Korean server?¡¯

    Ma Zheonu suddenly attacked this unidentified being.

    ¡°Conir!!! I¡¯m angry!!! You¡¯re not going to buy but you¡¯re bothering Conir! Hyung said that I can scold people if they bother me!¡±

    And Ma Zheonu¡­

    Crack¨D

    ¡°Keok!!!¡±

    He fainted on the spot after being stabbed on the chest with a wooden chopstick.

    When he came to his senses, he had already turned into a panda and was met with a bowl of ramyeon.

    ¡°Eat ramyeon, Conir!!! I¡¯m selling it!¡±

    ¡°......¡±

    Ma Zheonu had never faced something this bizarre in his life, ever.

    ¡®This boss mob is clearly over Lv600¡­!¡¯

    Ma Zheonu ate the ramyeon believing that he would get out of the entrance passage if he finished the bowl. But the boy said¡­

    ¡°You¡¯re not sincere!!! Conir. I will give you another bowl!!!¡±

    So, he ate another bowl. Two or three days had passed with him doing nothing but eat all day. He sent a whisper to Jiang Chen to somehow get him out of this situation.

    [Ma Zheonu: Are there any trials in the Korean Server?]

    [You can¡¯t send a whisper in this area.]

    Sadly, not only was whispering prohibited from the entrance passage, most of themunications were also prohibited in most areas. Whenever Ma Zheonu had time, he would move from ce to ce and try to send a whisper.

    Sometimes, although extremely rare, he would be able to send a whisper in some areas.

    [Ma Zheonu: There¡¯s a demon here. It¡¯s a boy but he locked me up here and gave me 20 bowls of ramyeon a day. Save me!!!]

    [The reception is not good.]

    [Only the words demon and boy had been sent.]

    Ma Zheonu was in despair. He did not have any other way. It was impossible even if he wanted to die. He was once again beaten until he was bruised with the scooping when he tried to attack the boy.

    ¡®I¡¯m¡­ the number 1 in the assassins rankings, Ma Zheonu but¡­ I got hit by a scooping.¡¯

    He almost cried.

    As time went by, Ma Zheonu panicked. He even resorted to begging.

    ¡°S, stop¡­! Please. It¡¯s my fault!!! So, stop now! Please send me back!!!¡±

    He even cried and screamed.

    ¡°Conir!!! I won¡¯t forgive the bad person who attacked first!!! Eat ramyeon!¡±

    Ma Zheonu was unaware. But he tried to steal information about Minhyuk and the absolute divine beast Kongie but he was already caught by the cor by Minhyuk¡¯s vassal, Conir.

    Then, the boy suddenly moved.

    The body of the woman, who was hiding in the direction where the boy moved, was revealed under a bright burst of light. The woman was wearing a silver armor, a silver horned helmet and a dazzling red cape. The cape had the pattern of an altar and a sword.

    ¡®Va, Valkyrie Mei Wei¡­?!¡¯

    Ma Zheonu immediately knew her identity. Unlike the treatment that he received, the boy bowed his head politely as he greeted his new customer. Of course, their treatment would be different since Ma Zheonu was someone who had tried to kill Conir out of nowhere.

    ¡°A second customer! Wee! I¡¯m Conir!!!¡±

    Then, he asked her with a big smile.

    ¡°Which do you put first in a ramyeon, the noodles or the soup?¡±

    Mei Wei answered.

    ¡°Of course¡­¡±

    Ma Zheonu gulped dryly.

    ¡®If you answered wrongly¡­ you will be punished by eating ramyeon here!¡¯

    Then, Mei Wei continued to speak.

    ¡°You have to put the pot first, Little Boss.¡±

    ¡°...!!!¡±

    This was the moment that Conir realized what logic was in this world. That was right. Instead of saying water first, you should definitely ce the pot first. This was literally the world¡¯s logic! He realized that he needed something to start anything with this logic.

    ¡°W, wooow¡­ ge, genius¡­ Waaaaaah!!! An amazing genius!!!¡±

    The boy was left in shock. While Mei Wei, who still couldn¡¯t understand the situation, pondered.

    Mei Wei and Conir did not know that this encounter would shake the entire continent.

    Meanwhile, ck Dragon Vormon checked the current situation through a hologram, using the power that he nted on Ma Zheonu, when he heard from Jiang Chen that he did not receive any news from the information source that he sent.

    ¡°......¡±

    ck Dragon Vormon was left speechless.

    He was finally resurrected after hundreds of years but a strange boy was sprinkling ramyeon powder on the person that he had sent to check on the location of the absolute divine beast.

    ¡°I¡¯m going nuts¡­¡±

    Confusion and perplexity was hidden in his voice.

    ***

    Report mistakes, get notified on updates and announcements and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 302 - Siblings Selling Ramyeon

    Chapter 302: Siblings Selling Ramyeon

    Trantor: ChubbyCheeks

    PR: MattForgenti

    The number 1 in the world¡¯s ranking, Valkyrie Mei Wei. There was a very decisive reason why she had developed anorexia.

    Originally, Mei Wei was quite a chubbydy with a weight of 100kg. She also had a younger sibling with an intellectual disability. Her intellectually disabled younger sibling followed Mei Wei the most. One day, her younger sibling died in a car ident. However, the problem was that Mei Wei was with them at that time. Mei Wei failed to stop her younger sibling as they headed towards the road with a bright smile while chasing after a butterfly. It was because she was fat. Her heavy body had prevented her from moving quickly. And because of that, she had developed a trauma.

    I killed my younger sibling because I¡¯m fat. If I wasn¡¯t fat, I could have saved my brother.

    Her body immediately lost weight and only fell under 50kg. Furthermore, her body began to refuse food and was eventually diagnosed with anorexia.

    ¡°W, What should I do?!!!¡±

    She had a younger sibling with intellectual disability so she wasn¡¯t flustered when she saw the little boss speaking gibberish.

    And Ma Zheonu saw all that.

    He immediately ran somewhere else while the boy was flustered.

    ¡°Ma Zheonu¡­!¡±

    Mei Wei did not have any particr hostility against Ma Zheonu. However, she still wondered when he used his skills to move somewhere else.

    ¡®I can finally escape¡­!¡¯

    Ma Zheonu used all of the assassin¡¯s skills that could help him speed up to escape as he looked for monsters outside. Then, he immediately ced his head inside the mouth of a gigantic basilisk.

    ¡°Uaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Hurry up and bite me! Have a taste and enjoy!¡±

    ¡°Keuaack¡­?¡±

    The basilisk looked at him incredulously.

    How can someone put their head in my mouth and urge me to hurry and eat them up?

    But first, the basilisk bit off Ma Zheonu¡¯s head just like he said.

    Crack¨D

    And Ma Zheonu, whose head was inside the basilisk¡¯s mouth, was smiling happily.

    ¡®I can finally escape from that devil¡­!¡¯

    [You have been forced to logout.]

    Ma Zheonu was probably the only user who was so happy to be forced to log out.

    Mei Wei, who followed Ma Zheonu, couldn¡¯t understand the situation at all. And the flustered boy continued to speak restlessly..

    ¡°It¡¯s alright. Calm down, you can say what you want to say.¡±

    Mei Wei was a woman that was skilled in talking to people with intellectual disabilities. Hearing her words, Conir, who was in a mess, finally calmed down and came back to his senses.

    ¡°Sell ramyeon! Eat ramyeon at my house!¡±

    ¡°Ramyeon?¡±

    Mei Wei looked at him in confusion.

    Then, Conir made a bowl of ramyeon not long after.

    Mei Wei extremely liked ramyeon back when he still did not have anorexia. She used to eat it four or five times a week. But the moment she saw the food made by the boy¡­

    ¡°Euuuuup!¡±

    She covered her mouth and ran away as she started to puke in the corner.

    ¡°Uweeeeeeeck!¡±

    It was a game that could even be influenced by her anorexia.

    ¡°Sick?¡±

    Mei Wei looked extremely apologetic when the boy looked at her suspiciously. The boy¡¯s expression looked exactly like her younger sibling¡¯s when they offered her the food that they made and she told them ¡®It¡¯s not that delicious¡¯.

    ¡°The ramyeon that you made is great but this noona can¡¯t ept it. I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be sorry! Conir! Alright!¡±

    It seemed like her sincere apology had been conveyed to Conir. Then, she heard notifications ringing in her ears.

    [Conir¡¯s favorability has increased.]

    [Conir¡¯s favorability has increased.]

    [Conir¡¯s favorability has increased.]

    [The Hidden Quest: Help Conir¡¯s Business has been created.]

    [Hidden Quest: Help Conir¡¯s Business]

    Rank: SS

    Restriction: Favorability with Conir

    Reward: The most delicious ramyeon in the world.

    Penalty for failure: Your favorability with Conir will decrease.

    Description: The boy Conir is trying to reach the pinnacle of ramyeon. Help his sales increase.

    ¡°......!¡±

    Mei Wei was shocked especially when she clicked on the details of the reward ¡®The most delicious ramyeon in the world.¡¯. ording to the details, she would be able to increase all of her skills¡¯ level by +1 the moment she ate it. But it wasn¡¯t just that.

    ¡®The best ramyeon that tastes better than any other ramyeon in Athenae.¡¯

    Mei Wei¡¯s biggest problem was that she refused to eat. That was the reason why she was looking for Food God Minhyuk. From what she heard, his food was delicious enough to break and surpass the expectations of ordinary people. The doctor told her that eating such food would probably eliminate her reluctance to eat food.

    But, the most delicious ramyeon in the world?

    ¡®I might be able to take one step closer to my treatment.¡¯

    Even without that, she would still be able to gain +1 in all of her skill levels as long as she ate that ramyeon.

    The game Athenae did not give any skill points easilypared to the other games¡¯ leveling system. In this game, one should level up their skills by increasing the skill proficiency or using skill points obtained through special quests. However, it was extremely hard to gain such skill point so it could be said that they were very precious.

    Then, Conir brought her some tissues.

    ¡°Conir is sorry for hurting nice noona! Wipe your mouth with this!¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Mei Wei did not know why Ma Zheonu did something so ridiculous. However, there was one thing that she was sure of¡­ Conir was a good boy and he might not even know how he got here in this entry passage.

    Mei Wei, who had been wiping her lips, couldn¡¯t help but pause.

    ¡®Huh¡­?¡¯

    She was surprised because¡­

    ¡®Isn¡¯t this a return parchment?¡¯

    Then, Conir took out more tissues(?) out of his arms.

    ¡°Conir. Lots of tissues! Don¡¯t be thankful!¡±

    ¡°Hohohohohoho!¡±

    What Conir took out were parchments that could be used in various ways.

    Mei Weiughed.

    Conir might seem like a fool but he had a good heart.

    Mei Wei, who hadn¡¯tughed at all ever since her younger sibling died, grabbed her stomach as sheughed loudly.

    ***

    [User Minhyuk is searching for the location of the territory As.]

    A notification window popped up on the monitors of the Special User Management Team.

    Team Leader Park Minggyu rubbed his chin as he looked at the notification window.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect User Minhyuk would go to As territory.¡±

    Lee Minhwa was also paying attention to him.

    What he did was something that none of them had expected.

    As territory was a ce that was originally supposed to be owned by the Maestro of Destruction.

    Lee Minhwa had also begun to read information about As territory.

    Since the Special Users Management Team literally managed the users, theycked enough informationpared to Athenae¡¯s production team or management team. So, there were many cases where they had to fill in the information that they werecking.

    ¡°You will be the master of As if you score more than 90 points during the trial¡­ As will be the City of the Sky¡­ But after checking, it did not seem easy to score 90 points.¡±

    Lee Minhwa quickly checked the rewards before reading on As¡¯ origin and power. Her eyes widened in shock.

    ¡°T, Team Leader¡­!¡±

    Team Leader Park Minggyu looked back at her with his head held down as if he had expected this reaction.

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right.¡±

    Lee Minhwa was extremely shocked. Her voice that answered the team leader was shaking.

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe it but¡­ As was¡­ originally the¡­ Food God¡¯s territory.¡±

    Team Leader Park nodded his head.

    ¡°That¡¯s why ording to the territory¡¯s ¡®special characteristic¡¯ if they set the trial to ¡®farming¡¯ then one could gain a power that no one can dare to imagine.¡±

    Lee Minhwa looked up at him.

    If one was your normal and regr user, they would never choose ¡®farming¡¯ for the trial. The rewards and contents of the trial would change based on the trial that was set. But if it was User Minhyuk then¡­

    ¡®There is a high chance that he will open up a lot ofnd and farm a lot of food which would then give him the greatest power.¡¯

    ***

    [You have started exploring the territory As.]

    [The location of As is marked on the map.]

    Minhyuk searched for As¡¯ location and it was immediately disyed and marked by an arrow on the map.

    The user could actually spread the map open and expand the radius from where they were. Maps were usually marked as ¡®opened areas¡¯ and ¡®non-opened areas¡¯. Opened areas were areas that you could go to without needing to check them. While non-opened areas were areas where you needed a special map before you could check and and visit.

    ¡®Unexplored¡­?¡¯

    Through the map, Minhyuk could see that As was still an unexplored site.

    ¡°Unexplored¡­ There must be a lot of high-leveled monsters there?¡±

    ¡°Oh! A chance to bomb our level up!¡±

    With Minhyuk¡¯s rapid growth, Legend Guild was eager to be stronger. But they actually weed it because they would receive twice the experience and drop rate if they were the first to reach the unexplorednds.

    They went to the open vige closest to the path that they could take to go to the unexplorednd.

    The vige closest to the path that they would take to As territory was Held Vige, a vige right next to Dragon King¡¯s Sea in the Northern Continent.

    They began their journey to pioneer the unexplorednd through the coast of the Dragon King¡¯s Sea in Held Vige.

    [You have entered the Dragon King¡¯s Sea Coastline¡¯s 4th Zone.]

    [This is an area that has not been pioneered yet.]

    [If you seed in pioneering, you will be able to earn twice the EXP and drops.]

    Unlike hidden dungeons, unexplorednds would give twice the rewards if they seeded inpleting pioneer sessfully.

    ¡°Kuhwiiiiiick!¡±

    Monsters that they had never encountered before appeared in the 4th Zone. The monster was called ¡®Jeweled Turtle¡¯ and was a turtle that wasrge enough to be called a ship. The jeweled turtle¡¯s shell was ck like a shining ck jewel. Just like a dragon, it let out breath and had tremendously high defense.

    [Your attack has failed.]

    ¡°Why the hell is this guy so strong?!!!¡±

    ¡°Shit! Can I even use my sword to hunt this guy or not?!¡±

    Even the Legend Guild, the best guild in the country, was flustered when they saw that the jeweled turtle only had the basic level of 500. Its level might not be high but it was never an easy mob to fight against because of its high defense.

    Crack¨D

    Minhyuk swung Diablo¡¯s scythe. Thanks to its 8% probability of having a critical strike and the effect of the skill Intangible Sword, they were barely able to hunt the jeweled turtle.

    In addition, monsters above Lv500~580 continuously appeared such as sea scorpions and ¡®White Tooth Whale¡¯. And since the coastline was foggy, it was difficult for them to secure visibility.

    Their party continuously moved like that as they slowly approached the destination that was indicated in the map.

    Then, the fog cleared up in front of them and a huge ind-like ce appeared.

    ¡°As?¡±

    Locke spoke the words but the party heard apletely different sound from what they had expected.

    [You have reached the closest point to Cairon Continent.]

    [You have received 500 reputation points.]

    It was none other than the Chinese Server.

    ***

    Report mistakes, get notified on updates and chat with us at: /woopread

 Chapter 303: Siblings Selling Ramyeon

    Chapter 303: Siblings Selling Ramyeon

    <strong>Chapter 303</strong>

    Over the course of their stay in the entry passage, Mei Wei and Conir became extremely close. She even willingly taught Conir ¡®business etiquette¡¯. Conir also liked Mei Wei very much. He felt like she was a person that was as warm and kind as his hyung. So, he willingly opened his heart to her. In response, Mei Wei was also open with Conir, perhaps it was because his image ovepped with the image of her younger brother.

    As they got closer, they were able to learn a lot of things about each other. Especially Mei Wei, she was very surprised when she learned that Conir was a ''vassal'' and was serving under a master. However, it did not really matter to her.

    Conir remained focused on his goal. He kept on tasting his ramyeon, wondering why he could not sell a single bowl of his delicious food.

    <em>Grin¨D</em>

    Mei Wei chuckled at his confused appearance.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s just¡­ it¡¯s quite hard to sell ramyeon because your only customers here are monsters, right?¡¯</em>

    Mei Wei thought that Conir should learn business etiquette to some extent before leaving the entrance passage to start doing business outside. However, as she watched him move around in a busy manner, it caused a pang of pain in Mei Wei''s chest and unknowingly made her cry.

    ¡°Conir! Conir¡¯s heart breaks when Noona cries, don¡¯t cry!¡±

    ¡°...You see, I used to have a brother like you, but I lost him because of my mistakes. You reminded me of him."

    Conir was restless as he cast a worried look toward her. He looked extremely cute and kind like that, despite being an NPC.

    Perhaps that was the reason, or perhaps she just wanted to relieve some of the pressure that was suffocating her. Nevertheless, Mei Wei still felt like she could open her heart out to Conir and tell him the pain that she had hidden deep in her heart.

    ¡°Do you want to listen to this noona¡¯s story for a bit?¡±

    Conir¡¯s eyes shone brightly at her words, his ears perking up to listen carefully.

    Then, Mei Wei began to tell her story. She told him about the death of her younger brother, about how she med herself for having a fat body, and about the resulting <em>anorexia</em> that she suffered from in the foreigner¡¯s world.

    Conir looked like he did not fully understand her story. However, his next action waspletely unexpected for the relieved Mei Wei.

    ¡°A fingerflick, Noona!¡±

    <em>Thwack!</em>

    ¡°<em>Ouch! </em>Conir, why did you do that?¡±

    Mei Wei looked at Conir strangely as she nursed her forehead. However, Conir did not answer her question, he just told her what was on his mind.

    ¡°It¡¯s not Noona¡¯s fault!! Noona¡¯s an idiot!!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not my fault? How do you know?¡±

    Conir had the answer to her question. However, it was a bit too difficult for him to exin. To be frank, it was because of the words that Minhyuk had told him before, reminding Conir that things were not his fault.

    ¡°My Hyung is always correct! Whenever Conir med himself, Hyung would always do that!!! I¡¯ll tell Noona what Hyung told me!!!¡±

    Then, Conir began to tell his own story.

    When Conir first became a vassal, he unknowingly did a lot of rude and improper things that made the people in the territory dissatisfied. Because of his actions, Minhyuk received severe criticisms. Realizing what happened, Conir med himself immensely.

    ¡°Conir is an idiot!!! I¡¯mpletely useless!!! I shouldn¡¯t have been born!!!¡±

    However, Minhyuk never once med him. He only asked him gently, ¡°Why do you think so, Conir?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m¡­ I¡¯m more stupid than ordinary people¡­ There¡¯s nothing I can do¡­"

    Minhyuk saw the disappointment on Conir''s face. He knew that the boy was ming himself. He smiled softly and patted him on his head.

    ¡°There were times when your hyung also thought the same. Why did the world curse me and made me this fat? Why should it be me? I¡¯m useless. I¡¯m a pathetic person who can¡¯t do anything by myself.¡±

    Conir listened to Minhyuk''s words intently.

    ¡°However, there are a lot of people around me. They all cheered for me and cared for me, which made me realize¡­ Ah, this disease is not my fault.¡±

    Just like him, Conir¡¯s intellectual disability was not his fault.

    ¡°It¡¯s alright. I¡¯m alright. There¡¯s just one part of me that¡¯s more ufortable than the others.¡±

    Minhyuk had continued to speak, ¡°Conir, you¡¯re a precious person. So, I will just fill in and help you with your inconvenience. It was not your fault that you were born in this world. But know that you are more precious than anybody else. You¡¯re just a bit more ufortable in one partpared to others.¡±

    And Conir, who was standing in front of Mei Wei, repeated the words that Minhyuk had told him.

    ¡°Noona is a precious person. It¡¯s not Noona¡¯s fault that she¡¯s ufortable with one part of her body. That one part that¡¯s ufortable¡­¡±

    Mei Wei''s down-trodden heart began to lift at his words, eyes widening in surprise.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s not your fault. It¡¯s not your fault. Your illness, your brother¡¯s death. It''s not your fault.¡¯</em>

    And the part that she was ufortable with¡­

    ¡°...would be nothing if Conir helps you.¡±

    Mei Wei was left speechless as tears flooded her cheeks. Every word that Conir had told her struck a chord deep in her heart. These words had be her salvation. She could not help but wonder who Conir''s master was.

    <em>¡®Conir, who is your master? Who is he that canfort both you and I this much?¡¯</em>

    Despite countless visits to psychiatrists and psychotherapists, they could not stop Mei Wei from ming herself. However, just those simple and sincere words from Conir were able to loosen the tight knot of self-me in her chest. She did not know that the vassal Conir¡¯s master and lord that she was curious about, was the very same Food God that she was looking for.

    Minhyuk was also unaware that the world¡¯s number one yer, Valkyrie Mei Wei, already had a favorable impression of him because of the words that he had spoken to Conir.

    ***

    After getting over the shock that the Chinese Server was not too far away from them, the Legend Guild realized a lot of things.

    <em>¡®Does this mean that we are getting closer and closer to the day where the continents be integrated?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Maybe the Chinese Server and the territory are extremely close?¡¯</em>

    The Chinese Server, Cairon Continent, was visible from where they were, despite the wide Dragon King''s Sea, the sea famous in the Northern Continent, separating them.

    However, even if they found it to be mystical, Legend Guild''s current goal was not to cross the sea and go to Cairon Continent. Their mission was to go to the legendary territory, As.

    They hurriedly rushed forward and defeated countless powerful monsters and mobs. Only after doing it for a long time were they able to reach the destination marked on the map.

    The map was pointing them towards the ce covered in thick and thorny vines. After dealing with the vines, a long and dark passage appeared in front of them.

    Minhyuk took the lead and entered the passage. They continued to walk, trying to reach the end of the dark passage. After about twenty minutes¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaa</em>¨D

    Light suddenly appeared in front of them, as the gentle, pleasant sound of cascading water weed them.

    Their steps hastened as if they could not wait to see what awaited them at the end of this long passage. Then, a spectacr view unfolded and greeted Minhyuk and his party the moment they stepped out of the dark and monotonous passage.

    In front of them was a gigantic waterfall gushing down a cliff, while huge monsters lurked around and blocked the entrance to the territory. The scenery around the territory was so beautiful and abundant that it could easily rival any utopia created in people''s imaginations. Some distance ahead was the colossal castle of the lord made with shining metals and special stones, surrounded by splendid and abundantnds. In fact, it was more like a stylish and decorative armor than a castle, with how sparkly and shiny it was. The territory, spread out in front of them, looked so stunning that anyone who saw it would only be able to gasp in admiration.

    ¡°I¡­ I have never seen this kind of territory before¡­ incredible...¡± Genie burst out in admiration.

    Locri, a territorial lord hailed as one of Athenae''s Richest Men, was a yer famous for being one of the world''s richest in reality. He owned an extremely splendid and beautiful territory that most yers tagged it as the ce that everyone had to visit at least once in their life. The territory was also well equipped with strong military power that everyone believed that would be the fastest territory to develop into a kingdom.

    This territory was named Bentleisa. Yes. The owner of the territory was none other than the chairman of Bentleisa, a famous automobilepany.

    However, even Bentleisa paled inparison to the territory in front of them. As looked more stylish, stunning and colorful than that territory.

    ¡°So, this is a legendary territory?¡±

    ¡°The territory that would be the kingdom the fastest¡­¡±

    The members of Legend Guild were all in awe. They also felt thrilled and delighted at the fact that they would be the new masters of this ce.

    However, their dreams, which had just taken flight, were immediately shattered.

    <em>Shwaaaaaa</em>¨D

    Minhyuk felt the wind pick up around them.

    The surroundings began to change, as if the wind was tearing away the facade that was ced there to put everyone in awe. The once gushing waterfalls had dried up, while the beautiful and splendid trees turned withered. The fertile and abundant fields that seemed like they could grow anything looked so dry that even grass would dare not grow on it. Even the splendid and gigantic lord¡¯s castle turned old and weathered with spider webs hanging on its eaves.

    In just a blink of an eye, the dream-like territory had be a ruined nightmare.

    ¡°Wh¡­what¡­!¡±

    A being suddenly appeared in front of the flustered members of Legend Guild. It was a short old man, about 150cm tall, with short white hair and bulging red muscles.

    <em>[You have encountered one of the Legends: Golden Hammer Dwarf Lant.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 50 REP.]</em>

    <em>[You are the first to meet a new species that no one has met yet: Dwarf.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 80 REP.]</em>

    <em>[The trial for the ownership of the territory, As has now begun.]</em>

    <em>[The trial will only be given to those who had received the ownership of the territory, As.]</em>

    The notifications were extremely unexpected. It seemed like the only one who could proceed further and take the trial was Minhyuk.

    The trial was like a test to check the qualifications of the owner of the legendary territory, As, the one who would rule thisnd as its king.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk recalled a vague memory about the ¡®Golden Hammer Dwarf Lant¡¯. He seemed to recall Gordon, the deputy tower master of the Chef¡¯s Tower, speaking about him when he visited that ce in the past.

    From what he said, the Food God had asked Golden Hammer Dwarf Lant to make him a cooking tool that could fry the ends of the pancakes well. In other words, Lant, the person in front of him right now, had met the Food God in the past.

    ¡°Just like you heard, only one person can be the true master of this ce. Only that person can take on the trial. And that person must choose one of these trials.¡±

    Then, several more beings appeared behind Dwarf Lant.

    <em>[You have encountered one of the Legends: Sword and Shield, Crusoe.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 50 REP.]</em>

    <em>[Crusoe. He is a legendary man who had raised 100 of the lowest soldiers in the Empire¡¯s standards and made them into knights. It was said that anyone who passed through his hands would be a personparable to a hundred men in force.]</em>

    That was not the end of it all.

    <em>[You have encountered one of the Legends: Mother of Life, Eden.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 50 REP.]</em>

    <em>[Eden. She is the mother of all farmers. She could grow fruits and grains abundantly, even on wastnds. She could also grow crops with surprising special abilities among the fruits and grains nted on her fields.]</em>

    <em>[You have encountered one of the Legends: Saint Louis.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 50 REP.]</em>

    <em>[Louis. He was the one that developed a treatment for a pandemic that killed hundreds of people and plunged the entire continent in terror overnight. He is an outstanding alchemist and a legend among the believers of God.]</em>

    Minhyuk could tell just by looking at them.

    <em>¡®These are my choices.¡¯</em>

    He could already tell that he was being asked about the direction in which he would develop the territory, As.

    If he chose the Legend Crusoe, the Sword and Shield, he would be able to gain great military power. If he chose Eden, the Mother of Life, everything would be abundant, and the fruit that they harvested from this abundance would also have a chance to give them the power to gain special stats. If Louis were chosen, they would be able to receive an outstanding priest and have a high probability of cultivating plenty of priests.

    And finally¡­

    <em>[Lant. The King of Dwarves hailed as the Golden Hammer. He is a legendary figure famous for not losing against Hepas, the God of cksmiths.]</em>

    Including Lant¡¯s trial, there were a total of four trials. Yet, he could only choose one among the four.

    For Genie, the most efficient choice was the ¡®Sword and Shield¡¯, or the ¡®Golden Hammer¡¯.

    Sword and Shield Crusoe would be able to help them develop a strong and excellent military power. It was not just military power and might. It seemed like he was a genius instructor. In other words, if they brought amander to him, they would be an outstanding and excellentmander under his tutge, and if they brought an archer, they would be an excellent and outstanding archer. He was very useful in so many ways.

    In Dwarf Lant¡¯s case, they would be able to strengthen their territory on their own. Of course, Hyemin¡¯s Dad was still in their guild, but he was just considered to be the best among the yers, not the best among everyone, including the NPCs. Through Lant, they would be able to reinforce their artifacts. Hyemin¡¯s Dad would also be able to enter and walk a higher path through him.

    After hearing the choices, the guild members all hoped and prayed.

    <em>¡®Please¡­ Please¡­¡¯ </em>

    Minhyuk pondered deeply. He wanted to take into consideration everyone¡¯s best interest.

    Minhyuk pondered for a while, before turning to look at the Dwarf Lant. Then, he asked him politely, ¡°Is there no way for me to do all of them?¡±

    That was right. That was the wisest and most proper question for their situation.

 Chapter 304: Siblings Selling Ramyeon

    Chapter 304: Siblings Selling Ramyeon

    Golden Hammer Dwarf Lant was a well-known figure. He was hailed as the Golden Hammer, and was the King of the Dwarves. His legends about going toe-to-toe with God Hepas and not losing any ground were also widespread.

    That very same Dwarf Lant personally liked people who were brave and knew what they wanted.

    ¡°Bwahahahahaha!<em></em>You want to challenge all four trials?¡± Dwarf Lantughed in satisfaction as he asked Minhyuk.

    <em>[You have received Lant''s favor.]</em>

    A notification suddenly rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    All four of the trials were extremely difficult. The person presented with these choices must take into consideration their special skills and abilities before choosing which path they would choose.

    To take on Mother of Life Eden¡¯s trial, one had to have a high level of dexterity and an outstanding knowledge in farming. If they wanted to tackle the trial of Sword and Shield, they should have excellent individual skills and outstandingmanding abilities. The trials were not meant to be taken at the same time. They were created to give an individual a choice, allowing them to take on the challenge of a trial that was ¡®tailored¡¯ to their skill set and abilities. They needed to have the basic requirements of the trial of their choice to be able toplete it. One could not just freely choose the Sword and the Shield just because they wanted to get a strong army.

    <em>¡®No¡­ I don¡¯t know, but perhaps it will be possible if it¡¯s the Food God.¡¯</em>

    The Food God was equipped with high dexterity and was someone proficient in all fields. He had tremendous strength as an individual, and even more outstanding abilities as amander. In fact, As territory was originally owned by the Food God. He was the one who made it prosper and thrive.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t told you what will happen if you fail yet.¡±

    A notification rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears the moment Dwarf Lant finished his words.

    <em>[In the event of failure, CHA -30, 5 basic stats -10, and disqualification to challenge ande to As territory once again.]</em>

    With the decrease of thirty in the charisma stat and ten in each of the five basic stats, the minimum loss of stats would amount to eighty. For anyone at Minhyuk¡¯s level, this would be a huge loss in terms of total stats.

    The main reason why top rankers risked their lives to increase their level, even by one, was because the difference in their power came from the bonus points that they would receive from just a single level up. What separated each ranker was equivalent to a thin piece of paper in the form of that single bonus point. However, that small point was what defined the world of difference between their strengths. There was also the fact that he would not be able to challenge the trials for As territory ever again. In other words, if he truly decided to proceed with all four trials, just one failure among the four would mean that he would not be able to receive this territory.

    <em>¡®No matter how strong or outstanding Minhyuk is, it might still be hard for him to pass all four trials¡­¡¯ </em>

    Then, Dwarf Lant spoke, ¡°If you choose your first trial and receive an extremely high score, then you can make another choice. However¡­¡±

    Lant grinned as he continued to speak, ¡°If you proceed with the second trial and fail, you won¡¯t be able to challenge the ownership of As territory once again. The loss of your strength in this trial would ovep with your previous trial and that trial would be considered a failure too.¡±

    In other words, if he challenged the second trial and failed, the reduction of thirty points in his charisma stat would be sixty and the loss in his five basic stats would be twenty points each. Failure would mean falling by thirty levels and losing the rights to challenge the ownership of the territory. This was a very dangerous gamble.

    At that moment, Minhyuk asked, ¡°I¡¯m curious about something. Have all of you been here all this time? Or did you just awaken when we came to As territory?¡±

    ¡°We awakened. It¡¯s been hundreds of years, actually,¡± Lant answered. He was curious about why he asked such a question, but Minhyuk believed that he found a way to get out of this.

    <em>¡®How delicious would my food be for these people who only awakened after a long time, huh? Fufufufufu.¡¯ </em>

    Every question that Minhyuk asked was for a reason. It seemed like there was already a n brewing in his head.

    ¡°Let¡¯s talk for a moment,¡± Minhyuk spoke as he gathered the members of Legend Guild.

    ¡°What do you think we should do?¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it better for you to choose one trial first to determine the difficulty of the trial, then base your decision on whether to challenge another one or not on that?¡± Genie said. After all, it made perfect sense.

    ¡°Personally, I want to take the Mother of Life, Eden¡¯s trial," Minhyuk said. The words that the members of the Legend Guild were extremely worried about finally came out.

    Minhyuk liked food, more than anyone else in the world, so they knew that this would be his choice. However, the guild members believed that this choice was not the best in terms of efficiency.

    ¡°Do whatever you¡¯refortable with.¡± Genie agreed with him and allowed him to make his own choice. Because of that, the other guild members had no other choice but to ept it too.

    The chance to challenge this territory was something that Minhyuk had gotten through his own efforts. Of course, they were a team, a group, and amunity, but they all respected Minhyuk¡¯s opinion.

    ¡°Everyone, aren¡¯t you looking quite disappointed there?¡± Minhyuk asked.

    ¡°No, well¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s because the Sword and Shield looks like the best choice.¡± Locke bluntly answered Minhyuk¡¯s question.

    Minhyuk turned to ask Locke, ¡°Howe?¡±

    ¡°How great would it be if we can raise soldiers that are much more powerful than the soldiers in other territories?¡±

    Minhyuk shook his head before speaking, ¡°It¡¯s true that I want to choose Mother Eden because I like to eat, but I also believe that taking on Mother Eden¡¯s trial first would have the greatest effect.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± The guild members all asked in a daze. They looked at Minhyuk in confusion with eyes that were clearly asking him, <em>¡®What are you on about?¡¯ </em>

    ¡°Once Iplete Mother Eden¡¯s trial, the territory will have excellent agriculturalnd. The crops that will grow out of thisnd will have special abilities that we haven¡¯t seen before. What Locke said just now, strong troops? What if the crops that grow out of thend have an ¡®Experience Buff¡¯ effect on them?¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡±

    ¡°And what will happen if we feed those experience buff crops to the soldiers and train them?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    The guild members¡¯ eyes widened in shock. That was right. They had only focused on the thing in front of them, failing to think ahead and not consider anything else. They only wanted to gain strength quickly, without considering the overall development of the territory.

    ¡°To be honest, just the special crops alone can help us gather and secure our wealth and financial stability. What can we do with this wealth? Lant might be a dwarf that can make artifacts, but with a lot of money, we can fully equip our soldiers with A-ranked artifacts.¡±

    ¡°...C¡­crazy. Why didn¡¯t we think of that?¡±

    ¡°Now that I hear it, it seems to be true¡­¡±

    The guild members were all sincerely in awe. These were the things that they did not think of and would not havee up with themselves. Their vision was only limited to bing strong. Through Minhyuk¡¯s enlightenment, farming was something that could have endless uses.

    A few days ago, Genie had told the members of Legend Guild that she would hand over the position of guild leader to Minhyuk. The guild members discussed deeply about the <em>¡®leadership¡¯ </em>aspect of the position. Could someone like Minhyuk, who liked food more than anything else in the world, be a leader? This was the doubt in their hearts. However, right here and then, the guild members felt their heart shake.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s fulfilling his own personal greed, but he¡¯s also trying to fulfill our greed¡­¡¯ </em>

    <em>¡®Minhyuk is really incredible.¡¯</em>

    Then, Minhyuk turned to Lant and said, ¡°I choose the farming trial.¡±

    ¡°Really? You won¡¯t have any regrets?¡± Lant asked, eyes narrowing at Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®The farming trial is the most difficult and strictest trial, but if he seeds and receives the Food God¡¯s territory, this will exert the most special power in all thend.¡¯</em>

    However, the fact that it was the most difficult trial still remained.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    Not long after, the Mother of Life, Eden, approached Minhyuk.

    <em>[You have chosen the trial of Eden, the Mother of Life.]</em>

    ¡°I will summon the best farmer in existence for you. This person is like the king of farmers. Right now, you will be tasked to manage the garden here. He will be your aid and assistance.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I understand.¡±

    Then, a man appeared surrounded by a bright light. The man, who appeared, made eye contact with Minhyuk. He blinked nkly, looking alternately at Minhyuk and Eden. Then, his face twisted as he burst out in tears.

    ¡°...?¡±

    Eden tilted her head in confusion. The man that she had summoned was the best among all of the existing farmers. She wondered why this man was crying so loudly. Then, the man whispered in Eden¡¯s ears, ¡°Is he the one that will challenge the trial?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. What¡¯s the matter?¡±

    ¡°That, that person¡­ He¡­he¡¯s an elephant. He can rival an elephant when eating. <em>No</em>, he can eat as much as an elephant¡­¡± He whispered. However, his voice clearly had a hint of fear, even though he was just here to manage a garden.

    Seeing him, the corners of Minhyuk¡¯s lips raised in a small smile. Then, he greeted him politely, ¡°Aaaaaaah!<em></em>Is that you, Bran?!?!?! Oh my. Oh man!! What a coincidence!! Are you still farming sweet potatoes and potatoes well?¡±

    Hearing his words, the man hailed as the King of Farmers, in other words, Bran, spoke in despair, ¡°You ate them all and left!!!¡±

    Tears welled up in his eyes again. That was right. Bran was the person that Minhyuk met in a hidden dungeon in the past. The very same man who asked him to dig up sweet potatoes and potatoes.

    Back then, Minhyuk ate thousands of sweet potatoes and potatoes, leaving only one grilled butter potato and disappearing from his sight. Bran cried at the memory. It seemed like the memory had be a source of his trauma and fear.

    <em>¡®This time, it¡¯s farming¡­ with this wild boar here¡­ No, he¡¯s worse than them!!!¡¯ </em>

    ***

    China¡¯s Great Wall Guild was a name that referred to the top four guilds in China, the same way Korea had the Sun Guild Alliance. The guilds that were part of the Great Wall Guild were usually busy tearing each other apart. However, right now, these guilds had gathered together with one goal in mind.

    ¡°Our priority is to determine who will go to the Korean Server first¡­¡±

    The man sitting at the center was none other than Zhang Chen, the ck Dragon¡¯s subordinate. Not too long ago, Zhang Chen was able to reach Vormon¡¯sir and was able to receive another artifact. Right now, he only needed to secure just one more artifact for ck Dragon Vormon, to awaken some of his strength from days of yore.

    Just like thest time, he was also able to send people over to the Korean Server through the ck gem. But this time, instead of only two or three, he would be able to send a total of thirty people. And that was not the end of it.

    It was a well-known fact that there was an ocean separating the Cairon and Asgan Continents. From what Vormon had said, he would be able to guide around 1,000 people through that sea. In other words, 1,000 people could set sail on a ship to go to the Korean Server.

    Zhang Chen had learned from Ma Tianyu, who was caught by the devil boy that he mentioned, that the Korean Server was not a ce that was as easy as he thought. Because of that, he decided that going on his own would be unreasonable. So, he contacted the Great Wall Guild and made deals with them.

    ¡°We need to trash and smash the best guild in the Korean Server, the Legend Guild. The thirty yers who would enter through the entrance passage should be at least a part of the top 100 Chinese yers.¡±

    Vormon not only wanted to destroy the absolute divine beast, he also wanted to destroy the master that owned the absolute divine beast, as well as the guild that the human was a part of. For him to do that, he needed the help of the best people in his server. The thirty rankers who would enter the entrance passage would immediately go straight to Legend Guild¡¯s territory, Valha and scope the territory.

    ¡°Why did Mei Wei go there?¡±

    They knew that Zhang Chen had sold a slot to Mei Wei, which allowed her to enter the Asgan Continent ahead of the server integration. Wei Xin, the guild leader of ¡®White Dragon Guild¡¯, one of the four guilds that were part of the Great Wall Guild, spoke up, wondering why Mei Wei went there alone.

    Wei Xin was second in the yers¡¯ rankings in China. In fact, the White Dragon Guild that he was leading was shining brightly at the top of the country¡¯s guild rankings. He was also a Lv580 yer with the Legendary ss ¡®Fist King¡¯s Disciple¡¯. He was only second only to the number one ranker in the world in the Chinese server.

    Then, Liu Xiaowei, the guild master of Red Rose Guild said, ¡°Of course, it¡¯s because Mei Wei also wanted to experience a new continent.¡±

    ¡°I see¡­¡± Wei Xin answered as he slowly nodded in agreement. However, there was still something that did not sit right in his head.

    <em>¡®But why would she be in a hurry to the point that she even willingly paid a huge amount of four billion?¡¯ </em>

    Of course, she would not be in the entrance passage anymore. She was probably already going around to experience the Korean Server.

    ¡°Let¡¯s carefully select the 30 rankers that will enter the entrance passage. The three guild masters should lead your guild members by boat.¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡±

    ¡°Alright.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    No one paid attention to the words that Wei Xin had uttered before. They did not have the time to care about that. For them, it was already exhausting enough to be sitting in the same room as each other. After all, they were in a situation where they had to cooperate together.

    Meanwhile, Wei Xin¡¯s eyes were shining brightly as he mumbled to himself, ¡°By tomorrow, we will be known as the people who destroyed the Korean Server¡¯s elite guild.¡±

    ***

    Mei Wei was smiling more happily than when she hunted a legendary-ss monster and bombed her level up. She wiped the sweat off of her forehead after fixing Conir¡¯s handcart. Now, the name that was hanging on the handcart was correct.

    <em>[Conir¡¯s Ramyeon Shop ]</em>

    ¡°Wow!<em></em>Noona¡¯s amazing!! You know how to write all of the letters?!! Do you also know how to read?!!!¡±

    ¡°Y¡­yeah¡­¡± Mei Wei stuttered as she looked back at Conir with a wry smile on her face. It seemed like the child was truly too ignorant of the world.

    Not long after, Conir said, ¡°What if the business doesn¡¯t go well?¡±

    Mei Wei answered him confidently, ¡°With this beautiful Noona as your employee, there¡¯s no way that your business won¡¯t do well, Conir. Hohohohoho!¡±

    ¡°Aaah! Hyung told me about people like you, Noona!!¡±

    ¡°What? About a breathtaking beauty¡­¡±

    ¡°Princess syndrome[1]!! That¡¯s right! Noona, you have princess syndrome!!¡±

    The veins on Mei Wei¡¯s forehead ticked in anger, but she did her best to endure. She smiled and stroked Conir¡¯s head, whose eyes were shining brightly as he looked at her, as if waiting for her praise.

    ¡°Conir. This Noona found a way to sell your ramyeon like hotcakes.¡±

    ¡°<em>Wooow! </em>Really~?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right," Mei Wei answered confidently.

    <em>¡®Look forward to it.¡¯</em>

    ***

    White Dragon Guild¡¯s guild master, Wei Xin, immediately received ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s power and led thirty of the most elite Chinese rankers to the entrance passage the very next day. They immediately delved deep into the entrance passage the moment they arrived.

    <em>¡®They said that there¡¯s a devil boy here, right?¡¯ </em>

    Wei Xin walked as this thought ran through his head. However, despite the warning, he believed that there was nothing to worry about. After all, most of the people present in their group right now could rival Ma Tianyu.

    So, Wei Xin continued to walk forward, before suddenly stopping in his tracks. In the distance, he saw a handcart with a sign that said ¡®Conir¡¯s Ramyeon Shop¡¯.

    ¡°Wee!! Wee to Conir¡¯s Ramyeon Shop!!¡± A boy greeted them, suddenly appearing in front of them.

    Wei Xin and the rankers grew wary and alert at the sudden appearance of the boy. Then, a woman appeared too. The woman had a ck mask covering her mouth and nose. However, despite the mask covering almost half of her face, the woman, wearing a sky blue one-piece dress, was still so beautiful that she looked like a fairy that descended from the heavens.

    The men of the group gulped loudly as drool dripped down their chins. Their eyes wandered down her chest and her smooth and silky legs, wanting to see more.

    The woman, then, grabbed her dress and lifted it lightly as she seductively stuck out her right leg and said, ¡°Would you like to eat some ramyeon at our shop? <em>Ah, heung~?</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! </em>We¡¯ll eat!!¡±

    At that moment, one of the guild members next to Wei Xin shouted ¡®Yes¡¯<em></em>more than seven times in a split second, expressing his strong will to do so.

    1. ??? - a ng or word referring to a girl who has a severe case of narcissism and acts like a spoiled princess ?

 Chapter 305: What I Want to Do the Most

    Chapter 305: What I Want to Do the Most

    Mei Wei stuck her leg out demurely while slightly lifting her skirt. The method of attracting customers that Mei Wei boasted proudly to Conir was none other than the ssic honey trap. Just as she expected, the men in front of her were mesmerized by her smooth and fine skin peeking through the slits of her skirt.

    The first toe back to his senses was Wei Xin. He thought, <em>¡®Th¡­this¡­ I almost ordered a ramyeon from this shabby handcart shop¡­!¡¯</em>

    Despite the temptation, Wei Xin still resisted. He turned around, wanting to give a piece of his mind to his guild members, especially the man who shouted ¡®Yes!¡¯ more than seven times in a split second. However, someone else beat him to the bush.

    ¡°Rolt! You bastard, are you crazy?!¡±

    The White Dragon Guild¡¯s 1st attack leader and overall attack captain, ¡®Great Sword Knight¡¯ Brecht vented his anger for him. Brecht was a gigantic man that stood tall at 1.9 meters. He was a charismatic and serious man that could easily overpower and intimidate his guild members with just a single nce.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s right. As expected of you, Brecht. You¡¯re not someone who gets caught in a honey trap!!!¡¯</em>

    Just when he was thinking like that¡­

    ¡°We have ranks for these matters! There are only two people who can sit down in front of that small handcart shop. The guild master and I should be the ones to eat first!¡±

    ¡®<em>Gasp!!!</em>¡¯

    Wei Xin almost choked at Brecht''s words. He wanted to give him a piece of his mind too, but¡­

    ¡°Boss! I¡¯ll eat exactly 50 bowls of ramyeon!¡±

    ¡°Yes! I have received your order!!¡± The little boy answered as he began to move.

    Wei Xin really wanted to give them a piece of his mind. Who in their right mind would not go crazy after seeing something like that?

    ¡°Master. Let¡¯s quickly eat ramyeon.¡±

    What was worse was the fact that the man that he praised in his mind as charismatic and serious, was looking back at him as if he was asking for praise.

    ¡°You morons!!! We did note here to eat ramyeon! We came here to take over the Korean Server!!¡± Wei Xin roared, bringing back the mesmerized male rankers to their senses.

    However, it was already toote. The women in their party were already fuming deep inside.

    <em>¡®C¡­crazy¡­ she¡¯s too beautiful¡­¡¯ </em>

    <em>¡®The world is truly unfair¡­¡¯ </em>

    Some of the women had these thoughts in their hearts after seeing a woman that was far more beautiful than them, <em>¡®Oh no, she did it! She did it! She raised the bar higher!¡¯ </em>

    Some of them were in some sort of denial and wanted to shout loudly. However, they would not even dare to do something like that in front of Mei Wei. They wanted to criticize and nitpick on her, but she was so beautiful that all they could do was gasp in admiration and awe, which further ignited the anger in their hearts.

    <em>¡®The world is really unfair¡­! H¡­how¡­!¡¯ </em>

    <em>¡®I want to break her¡­!¡¯ </em>

    Then, one of the women stepped forward. She was about 170 centimeters tall with wide shoulders that could rival any man. The woman was none other than ¡®Aldeidi¡¯s Descendant, Leiven¡¯. Leiven was a woman, but because she was manly and brave, some people called her ¡®Lu Bu Leiven¡¯.

    ¡°You¡¯re a perfect match for that vicious spirit in Korea, the legendary nine-tailed fox that attracts and lures men in.¡±

    <em>Swoosh¨D</em>

    <em>Swoosh¨D</em>

    Leiven approached Mei Wei while swinging her iron mace. The sound of the iron mace ripping the air in the surrounding was quite intimidating. However, before she could approach any further, Wei Xin blocked her.

    ¡°We did note here to fight.¡±

    Wei Xin was very flustered right now. He already noticed that the woman and the boy¡¯s concept was not that of a boss mob. He did not know why they were doing this here, but he was sure that fighting here would do them no good.

    At that moment¡­

    ¡°Your ramyeon is here, customer!¡± Conir said while smiling brightly. He had learned enough business etiquette from Mei Wei to know that he should smile when serving a dish. Besides, he was also happy to prepare and serve ramyeon to his customers.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but it seems like I don¡¯t have the time to eat ramyeon.¡±

    ¡°Pardon¡­?¡±

    Conir was now in a fluster. He sincerely prepared fifty bowls of ramyeon to fulfill Brecht¡¯s order earlier. But they were suddenly telling him that they would not eat it anymore.

    ¡°I will pay you enough money. Is one tinum enough?¡±

    ¡°Master. What¡¯s the matter with you¡­¡±

    ¡°Be quiet. We have to go to Korea with the least amount of loss in our fighting force.¡±

    Mei Wei looked back and saw the disappointment sh across Conir¡¯s face. She said, ¡°Since you ordered it, at the very least, shouldn¡¯t you show some courtesy and eat it?¡±

    ¡°I feel apologetic since we ordered it, but shouldn¡¯t it be enough if we give you one tinum aspensation?¡±

    ¡°Money is not always what matters. I hope you think about the sincerity and efforts that the person who cooked that dish put into it. Is it that hard for you to eat just a bite of the food that this child had made?¡±

    Leiven had been huffing and puffing at the sides, ring at the beautiful Mei Wei talking. In the end, she could not endure her anger and struck out first.

    ¡°Master, I just can¡¯t leave this wicked chick alone!!! We already obviously told her that we¡¯ll pay the price, but she won¡¯t let us go. I¡¯m going to kill that chick and that XXX crying little boy!!!¡±

    ¡°Le¡­ Leiven¡­!¡± Wei Xin called out to her in a fluster, but Leiven did not stop at all. She was a Lv556 warrior who was solely focused on physical strength. Just a light swing of her iron mace would easily break down a huge rock.

    <em>[Aldeidi¡¯s Warrior¡¯s Fighting Spirit]</em>

    <em>[Your STR will increase by X2]</em>

    Aldeidi¡¯s Warrior referred to the famous female warriors of the past. And Leiven¡¯s ss was a descendant of the person who was hailed as the leader of all of the Aldeidi Warriors. Having the ss Aldeidi¡¯s Descendant gave her twice the strength of normal warriors.

    Then, Mei Wei said, ¡°Just now, what did you say about my brother? You¡­¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa</em>¨D

    The powerful iron mace that could demolish walls and easily break rocks into pieces mmed into Mei Wei. However, Mei Wei did not budge an inch. Leiven thought that she was petrified from fear. But¡­

    <em>[Goddess¡¯ Shield''s Blessings]</em>

    <em>[Your rate of evasion will increase by 250% in 3 seconds.]</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    <em>ck, ck, ck!</em>

    Leiven was sure that she mmed her iron mace on Mei Wei¡¯s head. However, the iron mace was embedded deep on the ground, just slightly in front of her opponent. Shedding the appearance that she had from before, Mei Wei moved swiftly and silently like a ghost grabbing Leiven by the neck.

    ¡°<em>Gasp, gasp¡­!!!</em>¡±

    Everyone was shocked to see Mei Wei, with her petite and light build, easily lifting the gigantic and burly Leiven with just one hand. What was more shocking was the fact that Leiven could not break free from the hand that was clutching her neck, despite being the person with the highest STR among all of the rankers present in their group.

    Then, Mei Wei chanted coldly, ¡°God told me to love all of her creations. However, I am also tasked to judge anyone foolish enough to disregard another¡¯s life.¡±

    <em>[Goddess¡¯ Judgment]</em>

    <em>[An additional 800% attack power will be added in the Judgment¡¯s Lightning Bolt¡¯s strike.]</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang</em>¨D

    A huge explosion followed the terrifying lightning bolt that fell down from the sky and devoured Leiven. When everything finally settled down, Leiven¡¯s figure was nowhere to be seen. Mei Wei¡¯s basic attack power was already leagues beyond the standards of the current rankers. With the additional 800% attack power, Leiven definitely would not be able to withstand the Judgment¡¯s Lightning Bolt.

    ¡°G¡­goddamnit¡­!¡±

    The quick-witted Wei Xin had already deduced that the woman in front of them was most likely Mei Wei. That was the reason why he wanted to pay the ramyeon shop and just leave quietly.

    Mei Wei was the number one yer in the Official Global Rankings. She was famous for her videos that had been broadcasted all over the world. However, not many people had met her in person, and Wei Xin was among the select few that were lucky enough to have met her before.

    Mei Wei lookedpletely different in person and in front of the screen. This was the main reason why the rankers were not able to recognize her. Besides, would anyone believe them if they said that Mei Wei was actually using honey trap tactics to sell ramyeon? In fact, this doubt made Wei Xin uncertain at first. However, he grew more convinced after hearing her voice. There was also the fact that Mei Wei passed by this ce earlier than them too.

    But this time, Wei Xin waspletely certain. And he knew¡­

    <em>¡®The being that we absolutely should never fight against¡­¡¯ </em>

    That being was none other than Mei Wei. She was a person who never talked and interacted much with others. However, seeing her fight personally made Wei Xin realize how high the wall was between the two of them. However, looking at their numbers, Wei Xin thought that they might have a chance to hunt and kill her.

    <em>¡®I wanted to let her go to minimize our damage.¡¯</em>

    But after this incident, he could not afford to let Mei Wei off anymore.

    <em>¡®Our original goal was to smash Korea¡¯s greatest guild, but since this happened¡­¡¯</em>

    Wei Xin could not let the opportunity to rece Mei Wei as the world¡¯s number one ranker go. Besides, defeating her would bring enough merits to him and his guild, which showed just how big the value of Mei Wei¡¯s name was.

    ¡°That woman is Valkyrie Mei Wei. Everyone, get into position and don¡¯t let your guard down.¡±

    ¡°Di¡­did you just say Mei Wei¡­?!¡±

    ¡°Wh¡­what do we do¡­ She¡¯s too strong¡­¡±

    The rankers were shocked by Wei Xin¡¯s revtion. However, they still readily went into position, delighted at the fact that they would face Mei Wei.

    <em>¡®Mei Wei is alone right now.¡¯ </em>

    <em>¡®We¡¯re more than enough to hunt her right now.¡¯ </em>

    <em>¡®I can¡¯t believe we¡¯re going to kill the world¡¯s number one ranker, Mei Wei¡­!¡¯ </em>

    Joy filled the faces of the rankers present. Among them, those with the assassin ss, including Ma Tianyu, moved quickly.

    <em>[Assassin¡¯s Dash]</em>

    <em>[Increase in agility, increases the speed of rush towards the enemy by x4.]</em>

    <em>[Instant Death]</em>

    <em>[Additional 600% in attack power upon sessful attack towards a vital point.]</em>

    <em>[Covert Assassin]</em>

    <em>[Allows the yer to be transparent for a moment, giving them the time to quickly rush undetected towards the enemy.]</em>

    Mei Wei red fiercely at the people who suddenly initiated an attack on her. Just when she was getting nervous about the iing attack from the three assassins¡­

    <em>Stab!</em>

    <em>¡®Stab¡­?¡¯</em>

    Mei Wei was confused by the sudden sound that came behind her. She was confident that she had the means to defend herself from behind. That was why she was only facing forward. However, to think there was suddenly a stabbing sound from behind her? After all, she still had not allowed anyone to stage an attack on her.

    Then, at that moment, Richornia, the assassin that tried to attack her from behind, staggered and fell to the ground with his hands clutching at his throat.

    <em>Swoosh, swoosh</em>¨D

    Meanwhile, the attacks from the two other assassins were able to fly towards Mei Wei undeterred. However, instead of hitting the target, their attacks only met with air after Mei Wei triggered her Shield Goddess¡¯ Blessings and increased her evasion rate by 250% again.

    And the two people attacked her¡­

    <em>Stab, stab</em>¨D

    ¡­also died.

    Mei Wei finally turned around only to see Conir huffing and puffing in anger behind her. The air surrounding him hadpletely changed from the innocent and naive air that she had seen so far.

    ¡°Those who harass¡­ my Noona¡­¡±

    Sharp, cold and bloody killing intent spilled from the eyes of the furious boy.

    ¡°Die.¡±

    ***

    Minhyuk was very happy to hear that Bran would be the one helping him in As territory.

    <em>¡®His potatoes and sweet potatoes were really delicious. Fufufufufu,¡¯ </em>was what Minhyuk thought as he logged out of the game.

    From what he heard, the trial had a time limit and it would not be stopped the moment he chose to start the trial. If Minhyuk suddenly logged out in the middle of the challenge, the time limit would end. However, today was a special day. So, he logged out first before starting the trial, in order to do what he needed to do.

    In terms of health, Minhyuk was definitely starting to show signs of improvement, to the point that even he himself could feel the changes in his body.

    <em>¡®My body feels lighter¡­¡¯</em>

    As the days went by, Minhyuk felt that this thought was slowly bing a fact. So, he set a rule for himself.

    <em>¡®Don¡¯t look in the mirror until the day of the regr check-up arrives.¡¯</em>

    The reason why Minhyuk set this rule for himself was simple. ¡®Relief¡¯ was dieting¡¯s main enemy. Minhyuk was aware that there was a high chance that he would binge the moment he felt relieved about his body¡¯s conditions. So, to avoid this, he wanted to remove as many factors as possible that would hinder him from continuing to lose weight.

    Because of that, Minhyuk had to force himself to not look in the mirror every time he passed by one. However, he could still see that his wrists were starting to get thinner. During in times like this, thoughts like ¡®<em>Am I hallucinating? Is this an illusion?</em>¡¯ would pop up in his head.

    Generally, people that had not seen each other in a long time would definitely notice if there was a difference in weight. However, for those that saw themselves every day, they would inevitably fail to notice the changes in their bodies. Minhyuk¡¯s treatment was a slow process. In addition, he saw his body every day. That meant that he would still remain clueless, despite the fact that his wrists were truly getting thinner. However, he believed that his condition was getting better. After all, the shortness of breath and the pain shooting from his knees had already disappeared.

    When Minhyuk got out of the capsule, he saw his father, Kang Minhoo, his trainer, Oh Changwook, his doctor, Lee Jinhwan and his dietitian, Hyejin, gathered in front of him. Then, Minhyuk slowly stepped forward until he climbed up on the weighing scale.

    He clenched his eyes shut as the numbers on the scales constantly changed. When the numbers stopped, Oh Changwook had to hurriedly cover his mouth to stop himself from screaming after seeing the numbers on the scale.

    Then, Minhyuk slowly opened his eyes.

 Chapter 306: What I Want to Do the Most

    Chapter 306: What I Want to Do the Most

    <strong>Chapter 306</strong>

    <em>[126.4 kg]</em>

    ¡°<em>Heeeeeeeeey! </em>Kang Minhyuuuuuuk! You puuuuuunk!¡±<em></em>Oh Changwook shouted loudly, before jumping on Minhyuk and hugging him tightly.

    When Minhyuk turned towards Lee Jinhwan, he saw him giving him a thumbs up. Kang Minhoo, on the other hand, was so moved that his eyes reddened with tears. Even Dietitian Hyejin¡¯s eyes turned red as she covered her mouth in shock.

    ¡°Is, is this broken or something?¡±

    ¡°No, you punk!¡±

    ¡°This is really your weight, Minhyuk. To be honest, we also had a hard time trying not to tell you even though we saw you get slimmer every day.¡± Lee Jinhwan said, smiling wryly.

    Kang Minhoo slowly approached Minhyuk as he spread his hands widely. He hugged his son tightly while patting him on the back. Unfortunately, they could not savor the moment. Lee Jinhwan immediately poured a cold bucket of water on them the moment they separated from each other.

    ¡°But, you shouldn¡¯t be at ease yet. Your eating addiction, which is our biggest problem, has not disappeared yet.¡±

    That was right. There was an extremely high probability that Minhyuk¡¯s weight would increase again the moment he let his guard down. Minhyuk might have lost weight but his desire to eat and his high appetite still had not disappeared yet. However, even if his eating addiction was not yetpletely cured, his body was already beginning to show signs of improvement through this slow, long-term treatment.

    ¡°No wonder I don¡¯t get out of breath whenever I walk anymore. Even my knees don¡¯t hurt as much either.¡±

    ¡°Does this mean that you can run or do weight training now?¡± Oh Changwook asked, looking extremely delighted.

    After all, this meant that the range and choices of exercises, which had been limited due to his overweight and plump body, had now widened. However, expanding the range and choices of exercise did not mean that Minhyuk would be able to lose weight faster. The calories that were consumed when moving differ from a person weighing 170kg to a person weighing 120kg. Still, there was a high chance that he would lose weight slowly and firmly in the future.

    ¡°If it¡¯s like this then¡­ I can do what I want to do the most, right?¡±

    ¡°What do you want to do?¡±

    Everyone¡¯s attention was suddenly focused on Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®What does Minhyuk want to do the most the moment he loses weight?¡¯</em>

    ¡°Get a girlfriend?¡±

    ¡°No, no!¡±

    ¡°Renting the entire movie theater and watching movies alone?¡±

    ¡°I can do that at home, though?¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­<em></em>That¡¯s right¡­¡± Oh Changwook said as he nodded in agreement. He remembered the fact that there was a private movie theater installed in Minhyuk¡¯s own home.

    ¡°Then, what do you want to do the most?¡± Kang Minhoo looked extremely curious as he asked his son this question, but Minhyuk just smiled calmly.

    ¡°It¡¯s a secret!¡±

    ¡°Hohoho<em>. </em>You brat. Are you going to keep secrets from your father too?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll find out soon enough.¡±

    Kang Minhoo smiled in satisfaction after seeing Minhyuk being happy about his weight loss. Then, Changwook appeared with a groan, dragging a full-length mirror to the room. Minhyuk held his breath as he slowly walked in front of the mirror. Then, he saw his reflection.

    ¡°Is this¡­ me¡­?¡±

    He had lost around 45kg ever since they started this treatment. Usually, anyone could clearly tell if they lost even just 2kg, but Minhyuk still carefully looked at every inch of his body. When he used to be in the 170kg range, his face looked dark, and even the shape could not be determined easily. The fat on his belly was also sagging and no regr clothes could fit him.

    However, that was no longer the case right now. Minhyuk¡¯s height was around 185cm. The average weight for this height should be between 80-90kg. In fact, someone who exercised as much as Minhyuk would gain more weight from muscle mass. This was because muscle, assuming that they were the same size as fat, was three times heavier. That was the main reason why people with high muscle mass tend to look skinnier than the weight disyed on the scale. Minhyuk was the prime example of that.

    At first nce, he looked like he was about 105kg, when in fact, he was 120kg in weight. Of course, he still looked big. But right now, he did not look like someone that was ¡®hyper-obese¡¯. Anyone that saw him would feel that he was just a muscr athlete. Right now, Minhyuk saw that his nose bridge and jaw lines were starting to appear again.

    ¡°...No one would dare touch you if you came with me.¡±

    His figure right now could be phrased like that in a good way, but in a bad way¡­

    ¡°M¡­muscle pig¡­?¡±

    ¡°<em>Pffft. </em>What do you mean by muscle pig? Muscle pig¡­ Will a muscle pig be as cool and handsome as you?¡±

    ¡°Minhyuk, you¡¯re so cool!¡±

    Obviously, Minhyuk could really look like a muscle pig, just like what he said. However, that was not the case at all. Minhyuk¡¯s outward appearance was so pretty that one could feel his elegance flowing from his body, despite his huge build.

    Then, a thought shed in Minhyuk¡¯s head, <em>¡®I have to try harder.¡¯</em>

    Fortunately, he was not the type of person that would feel relieved and let his guard down. At this moment, he vowed that he would lose another 30kg in the future. However, even though he wanted to lose weight as much as possible, he knew that the process would inevitably slow down and that he needed to give it his all.

    When everyone went on their own way to do their own things, Minhyuk approached Changwook and said, ¡°Hyung, let¡¯s go do what I want to do the most.¡±

    ***

    Wei Xin was forced to recall Ma Tianyu¡¯s incessant pleas when the Chinese rankers shed with Mei Wei.

    <em>¡®The boss mob there is the devil incarnate! You must never believe that he only sells ramyeon!!¡¯</em>

    However, the shock of meeting Mei Wei for the first time made him forget about this fact. Compared to the devil that he had heard of, the boy seemed to be just selling ramyeon politely. As it turned out, that very same boy used only one hit to kill each of the three assassins that set out to hunt Mei Wei. In fact, it was not just Wei Xin. Even Mei Wei was surprised by this.

    <em>¡®Co¡­Conir¡­?¡¯ </em>

    Mei Wei thought that the cute boy, Conir, the very same boy that made herugh, was an NPC with special needs. However, the aura he emitted right now spoke a different story.

    ¡°Those who harass¡­ my Noona¡­ die¡­¡±

    Tremendous and shocking killing intent spilled from Conir¡¯s body, swallowing Wei Xin and the rankers'' bodies. It was like they were really seeing the ¡®devil¡¯ incarnate. What was worse was his power¡­

    <em>¡®H¡­he¡¯s more powerful than me¡­¡¯ </em>

    The fact that he could force the two assassins to log out with just a single strike in their vital points was evidence that he was a step ahead of Mei Wei.

    Right now, Conir had already recognized Mei Wei as someone that he cherished, just like Minhyuk. The ¡®bad people¡¯ had made the mistake of attacking Mei Wei in front of him.

    <em>¡®Bad customers that order 50 bowls of ramyeon but don¡¯t eat them!¡¯</em>

    <em>sh! </em>

    Conir moved quickly, like a ghost.

    At this point, Mei Wei did not feel the need to stop Conir. He was far stronger than them. Besides, Wei Xin and the rankers were in the wrong, so they should be killed. What Mei Wei did was simple.

    <em>[The Goddess¡¯ Blessings upon the Knight.]</em>

    <em>[Attack +24%, Defense +21%, Skill Level + 1 with the basic HP volume increases by 25%.]</em>

    The Valkyrie might be skilled in attacking, but it was originally a ss that was focused on ¡®buff¡¯ abilities. In fact, she was the one who reached the highest level in terms of buffing capabilities.

    After jumping among the rankers, Conir moved like he was some sort of nuclear bomb.

    <em>[Faramil¡¯s Swordsmanship Chapter 1]</em>

    <em>[Wailing Child]</em>

    <em>[An unpredictable and fast swordsmanship.]</em>

    His attacks were so fast that the rankers did not even realize that they were already attacked in their vital points.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¨D</em>

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Ugh, aaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kill him!!¡±

    Rueden had a higher defensepared to other yers since he was a tanker-based yer. That was the main reason why he risked receiving damage in order to kill the boy named Conir. However, the boy was too fast. Conir stepped back from the rankers and activated another skill.

    <em>[Faramil¡¯s Swordsmanship Chapter 2]</em>

    <em>[Roaring Child]</em>

    <em>[A powerful force is condensed at the tip of the stabbing sword. This range of the sword will be longer than what could be seen by the naked eye.]</em>

    A powerful force extended from the tip of Conir¡¯s sword toward Rueden, a Lv579 tanker that was hailed as the number one tanker in China. He was dubbed as the ¡®Immortal Rueden¡¯ with an HP that was around three times higher than any ordinary warrior ss. Rueden immediately struck his shield down to try and defend against the sword that was stretching towards him.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¨D</em>

    ¡°Stopped y¡­!¡± Ruedenughed loudly.

    However, he realized that the tip of the sword that he wanted to defend against had already stabbed through his body. Roaring Child was a sword skill that had a longer range than what the eye could see. In other words, it was a skill that allowed the yer to stab a vital point, all the while deceiving their eyes. In addition, with Mei Wei¡¯s blessing, this skill¡¯s level had increased, making its power much stronger than normal.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¨D</em>

    A powerful force suddenly exploded in Rueden¡¯s abdomen. At that moment, Rueden, who was well-known for his triple HP volumepared to normal warrior sses, was forcibly logged out.

    ¡°Im¡­ Impossible¡­¡± Wei Xin said. He was horrified.

    <em>¡®The Korean Server is teeming with monsters like this¡­?¡¯</em>

    The fact that such a strong person was living in a small country with a poption of less than 60 million, was somethingpletely unbelievable. And, was this really that mentally disabled boy from earlier?

    Then, Mei Wei participated in the battle too.

    <em>[Lightning God¡¯s Grace]</em>

    <em>[You will be able to move as fast as lightning]</em>

    <em>Crackle¨D</em>

    Sparks appeared with every move that Mei Wei took. She was so fast that it looked like she disappeared with every step she took. In a blink of an eye, she appeared in front of the rankers with several missiles surrounding her body.

    <em>[Goddess'' Destruction]</em>

    <em>[The wrathful goddess¡¯ missiles will have an additional 850% attack devouring the enemies.]</em>

    ¡°Block iiiiit!¡±

    The mages hurriedly created a huge shield at Wei Xin¡¯s orders while the tankers raised their huge shields. However, Conir moved like a ghost and dug into their gaps, sessfully destroying their formation. This was fantastic teamwork between him and Mei Wei.

    Then, the huge missiles dropped among the twenty or so rankers.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    <em>ck, ck, ck, ck¨D</em>

    Wei Xin could not believe what he was seeing.

    <em>¡®Her power is this overwhelming¡­?¡¯ </em>

    He thought that they had a chance of killing her, but the truth was, they could not. The wall between the number one ranker, Mei Wei, and himself was too high. Even the little boy in front of them was problematic too. After receiving the buff from Mei Wei, the person with the best buff abilities, there seemed to be no one that could stop him. In desperation¡­

    ¡°Mei Wei. We¡¯re just trying to go to the Korean Server. Are you going to stop us and turn your back on us just because we didn¡¯t eat those ramyeon bowls?!!!¡±

    In fact, Mei Wei had blocked all contacts from the guilds. This was a way for her to express her intention of ying the game silently by herself. She was a yer who did not want to belong anywhere. However, she had never made things hard for other yers. But right now, she was blocking them from going to Korea.

    ¡°Do you have subordinates in that country?!¡±

    Mei Wei walked slowly after hearing his words. Fist King¡¯s Descendant, Wei Xin, immediately prepared his best attack. His fists were suddenly filled with a powerful force.

    <em>[Fist King¡¯s Consecutive Fists]</em>

    <em>[Each of the 15 consecutive hits will have 400% damage.]</em>

    Heunched 15 consecutive hits, each with 400% damage. This was the skill that gave Wei Xin the title of PVP God.

    <em>Punch, punch, punch, punch, punch¨D</em>

    His fists struck Mei Wei.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    He continuously sent blows to her body.

    <em>¡®I, I can kill her¡­!¡¯</em>

    Wei Xin saw a ray of hope. Then, he dealt his final blow.

    <em>Baaaaaang¨D</em>

    Mei Wei¡¯s body copsed and flew towards the wall. Wei Xin felt thrilled and excited at this sight.

    <em>¡®I did it, I killed Mei Wei¡­!¡¯ </em>

    Then, someone suddenly spoke behind him, ¡°Well, I don¡¯t have any subordinates, but I believe that there¡¯s someone that I can be friends with over there. Of course, I haven¡¯t seen him yet. In fact, I have only heard of him. But, I believe that he would be different from the likes of you who cast me out just because you did not find me profitable anymore. To be exact, I want to be friends with him. No, I definitely have to be friends with him.¡±

    <em>¡®H¡­ how¡­?¡¯</em>

    Wei Xin was horrified to hear Mei Wei¡¯s voice behind him.

    She had triggered her skill in an instant.

    <em>[Goddess'' Secret]</em>

    <em>[A doll will rece you to receive the attack, effectively invalidating your enemy¡¯s attack.]</em>

    A skill that could instantly create a doll that would take all the attacks for oneself was extremely amazing. She could even quickly break away from the doll, with her body turning transparent and invisible.

    Wei Xin felt a searing pain in his neck.

    <em>sh¨D</em>

    ¡°<em>Keoheok!</em>¡±

    Wei Xin was forced to log out. He looked at the ck screen while lost in thought.

    <em>¡®The¡­there¡¯s a yer that Mei Wei wants to befriend?¡¯</em>

    Who was it? Wei Xin did not know who it was, but at this very moment, he felt incredibly jealous of that person.

 Chapter 307: What I Want to Do the Most

    Chapter 307: What I Want to Do the Most

    Mei Wei turned to look back at Conir only after all of the rankers had been finished off.

    ¡°Conir still couldn¡¯t sell my ramyeon today¡­ Noona¡¯s method failed¡­!¡±

    Mei Wei looked at the once again innocent boy with confusion.

    <em>¡®Who the hell¡­?¡¯ </em>

    What was Conir¡¯s real identity? She had never seen an NPC as powerful as Conir. Since the game was continuously updating, strong NPCs would definitely start to appear one by one. However, she was certain that there was no other existence in the game that was stronger than Conir currently.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Your Noona¡¯s method failed, so let¡¯s scrap it,¡± Mei Wei said with a grin. So what if Conir¡¯s identity was that of an unknown NPC? So what if Conir was strong and special? Mei Wei did not see him as an NPC anymore. She had long considered him as a person, a friend, and a younger brother.

    Mei Wei did not have any friends in reality. She had distanced herself from everyone after that incident. However, she felt that Conir was someone special to her. Especially since she only lived with her precious younger brother before.

    ¡°Conir, why don¡¯t we go outside this ce to sell ramyeon?¡±

    ¡°Conir!!! Conir will definitely be able to sell ramyeon this time!!!¡±

    Mei Wei left the entrance passage with Conir and finally entered the Asgan Continent.

    ***

    Wei Xin, who used his real name in Athenae, came out of the capsule furiously afterpletely forgetting the envy that he felt towards the yer that Mei Wei wanted to befriend.

    <em>¡®Mei Wei¡­!¡¯ </em>

    He would probably be able to kill Mei Wei if the little boy was not there. The coboration between the Valkyrie, a ss known to be the ss with the best buff abilities, and the powerful little boy was the strongest coboration that he had seen. However, Wei Xin believed that their fight was not over yet.

    <em>¡®The yers that went through the Dragon King¡¯s Sea¡­¡¯ </em>

    There were a thousand of rankers and semi-rankers that took that route to ruin Valha territory and show Korea what kind of country China was. From what Wei Xin recalled, Cannibal was one of the thousand rankers that set out and sailed through the Dragon King¡¯s Sea. He immediately sent a whisper to him in Athenae via his mobile phone.

    <em>[<strong>Wei Xin</strong>: Cannibal, have you arrived at Asgan Continent?]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Cannibal</strong>: We¡¯re in big trouble. All of the other yers have been wiped out. Only two other yers and myself are left!!!]</em>

    Wei Xin was unaware of the situation so he could not understand what he meant.

    <em>¡®What do you mean by wiped out?¡¯</em>

    <em>[<strong>Wei Xin</strong>: What are you¡­]</em>

    <em>[Cannibal has been forced to log out.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Wei Xin was left hanging in the air, not knowing what was happening.

    <em>¡®Just what in the world happened?¡¯</em>

    ***

    There were a thousand semi-rankers and ordinary rankers from China¡¯s four major guilds that were sailing across the sea located between the Cairon and Asgan continents. They nned on joining the thirty top rankers who went through the entrance passageter on, and take over theValha territory. However, hundreds of monsters suddenly attacked the huge warship that they were sailing on.

    <em>Bang¨D</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    ¡°Kill the sea monsters!!! Don¡¯t let them destroy the ship!!!¡±

    ¡°H¡­how did this happen?!¡±

    ¡°<em>Keuaaaaack!</em>¡±

    One of the guild members urgently called for Cannibal, ¡°Ca¡­Cannibal!!! The¡­ the front! Look in front of us!!!¡±

    Cannibal hurriedly turned to look at the front. What he saw made his eyes go round in shock.

    <em>¡®What¡­what the hell¡­¡¯</em>

    It was none other than a white-bearded dolphin. The white-bearded dolphin was a Level 500 monster that was eight times bigger than ordinary dolphins. This dolphin was also known as the Dragon King¡¯s Sea¡¯s shark, because of its extremely sharp and strong bite. And this very same monster was rushing towards them with three beings standing on top of them, all carrying a fierce momentum. Two of the beings were rabbits and one was a turtle with an eye-patch. The two rabbitmen were none other than Kiari and Jevis, while the softshell turtle man was none other than Radin.

    However, another shocking thing happened right after. A gigantic tidal wave reaching seven meters in height cast a huge shadow over them. When they looked up, they saw the shadow of a figure standing on top of the waves.

    ¡°Dr¡­ Dragon King!¡±

    There, on top of the waves, was a man wearing a golden king¡¯s robe with a long beard and the face of a catfish. He was holding his trident while staring fiercely at the rankers.

    ¡°Dr¡­Dragon King!! You don¡¯t have any reason to stop us!!! We haven¡¯t harmed anything while sailing across the sea!¡±

    However, the Dragon King remained silent at his words. In fact, there was a reason for this incident. Kiari was curious about the business and trade in Cairon continent, so she sailed on a ship to visit. While she was onboard the ship, she overheard some stories and rumors.

    <em>¡®The baby piggy is the Supreme Divine Beast. Hehehehe. And the Food God is the Korean yer Minhyuk. If we can defeat the strong yers over there then we, the Chinese rankers, will be known as the stronger ones.¡¯ </em>

    <em>¡®Minhyuk?¡¯ </em>

    Minhyuk was hailed as the savior and benefactor of the entire Dragon King¡¯s Sea after he saved the life of the Dragon King. Upon hearing about their ill-intent, Kiari immediately sent a report to the Dragon King, who mobilized his Sea Army after seeing her report.

    ¡°You will drown in the sea, if you don¡¯t turn your ship around and go back to where you came from.¡±

    ¡°Th¡­this crazy¡­ attack them!!!¡± Cannibal shouted. He did not have the heart to turn back aftering this far.

    Unfortunately, the Dragon King, his children, and the hundreds of sea creatures were putting pressure on them. This was the sea, which was the realm and territory of the Dragon King. They had the absolute advantage over the yers, who would die after sumbing to breathing difficulties and abnormal statuses the moment they fell into the water.

    <em>Bang</em>¨D

    A powerful force extended from the tips of the Dragon King¡¯s trident and hit the ship with a loud explosion. Kiari, Jevis, and Radin also jumped on the ship and began their ughter.

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Ugh, aaaaaack!¡±

    The ship was ruined by the time they ended their attacks. Only Cannibal and two other yers survived the attack. The three of them were left standing at the surviving rails of the ship as they looked at the scene in disbelief.

    <em>¡®We, we¡¯re already wiped out even though we haven¡¯t even stepped foot on Koreannd yet¡­.?¡¯ </em>

    That was the moment when Cannibal received a whisper.

    <em>[<strong>Wei Xin</strong>: Cannibal, have you arrived at Asgan Continent?]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Cannibal</strong>: We¡¯re in big trouble. All of the other yers have been wiped out. Only two other yers and myself are left!!!]</em>

    Then, Cannibal and the two other yers began to sink under the sea.

    ***

    Team Leader Park Minggyu¡¯s eyes were shaking. He watched as the Chinese yers set the direction of the update by invading the Asgan Continent. However, the people that went out and set sail in the Dragon King¡¯s Sea had been wiped out by an unexpected attack.

    Watching the scene from behind Team Leader Park Minggyu, Employee Lee Minhwa said, ¡°P¡­yer Minhyuk is really special¡­ He did not even make a move, but the people and beings that care for him have already blocked his enemies from reaching him¡­¡±

    Employee Lee Minhwa¡¯s gaze was now focused on the screen showing Conir and Mei Wei.

    That was right. Minhyuk did not need to make any move, in fact, he did not even know about the situation at all. However, the people and beings that loved him were fighting to protect him.

    Team Leader Park Minggyu looked at her as he said, ¡°Miss Lee Minhwa, it seems like people really need to live a good and kind life.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not hurt and bothered because I get angry a lot, right?¡±

    Lee Minhwa smiled brightly as she answered, ¡°Of course not.¡±

    <em>¡®I do!¡¯</em>

    Employee Lee Minhwa¡¯s outward appearance and words werepletely different from her inner thoughts. Team Leader Park Minggyu could only see her bright smile, but he waspletely unaware of the fact that Employee Lee Minhwa had a cursed doll in her housebeled ¡®Park Minggyu¡¯,<em></em>that she always stabbed with a needle at night!

    ***

    At the Royal Department Store¡¯s Suit Shop, a female employee by the name Hyo-Jin hurriedly wiped the tears that dripped down her cheeks, the very same tears that she tried so hard to hold back.

    Hyo-Jin¡¯s family was in a difficult situation. She had no other choice but to work at the department store at the young age of twenty. Today, she met with the lowest of the low. It was a young man, a CEO of a small business enterprise that began to rise to fame not too long ago. The man came to get a refund for the suit that he bought before, iming that it was torn. The problem was that the part that he had imed to be torn waspletely fine, instead, the suit waspletely stained.

    <em>¡®He definitely spilled on it¡­ while he was drinking¡­¡¯</em>

    However, he still asked for a refund on the suit. At first, Hyo-jin calmly told him that it was impossible to get a refund. Besides, she had meticulously checked the item before sending it out, so she knew that this was something that was definitely not the fault of the store.

    However, the man, Woo Tae-jin, roared loudly at her, ¡°Are you saying that I¡¯m lying?!!! Huh?!!! I want to file aint!!! Is this how you treat your customer?!!!¡±

    A human¡¯s true nature would never change. Woo Tae-Jin was the type of person who only seeded as a chairman of hispany because his business went well, thanks to luck. However, he had been in a bad situation before his rise to fame.

    ¡°B¡­But, sir¡­ this is definitely¡­ an alcohol stain¡­¡±

    ¡°Wow. Keep this in that muddled head of yours!¡± Woo Tae-Jin shouted as he pressed his finger hard on her forehead.

    ¡°Do you know how much money I spent here?! Is this how a department store under Ilhwa Group works?! Did thatpany teach their employees like this?!!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    Hyo-Jin felt that this waspletely unfair. However, she had no other choice but to bow her head and apologize. Just then, a voice suddenly rang from somewhere in the store.

    ¡°Ilhwa Group¡¯s chairman, Kang Minhoo, taught the employees of the Royal Department Store like this. The employees are the masters of the group.¡±

    Woo Tae-Jin turned around and saw a huge man standing at 185cm height.

    <em>¡®What? He¡¯s huge?¡¯</em>

    Woo Tae-Jin felt flustered for a moment. Even the short-haired man standing next to the person who spoke was also huge. However, it was only for a moment. He knew that money, not body or strength, made the world go round. The two men were not even wearing any luxury or branded clothes.

    ¡°What¡¯s it to you¡­¡±

    ¡°And the chairman also told them this. Never bow your head when you did not do anything wrong. You are all my precious and dear family, I will take care of the aftermath for you.¡±

    This was what made Ilhwa famous. Chairman Kang Minhoo was someone who cared about his employees deeply. In fact, there was a well-known incident during one of the small and medium-sized business representative meetings, where one of the chairmen harassed a female employee and pretended not to know about it. Kang Minhoo personally rushed to him and attacked him in front of everyone, before breaking the contract with them. His words clearly showed that the stakeholders of the Royal Department Store was not only the chairman, but also the employees.

    ¡°That¡¯s why that employee should never bow her head.¡±

    ¡°No, you are really¡­!¡±

    Woo Tae-Jin felt the man¡¯s overwhelming presence the moment he strode towards him. The man stood in front of them and inspected the clothes.

    ¡°Anybody that sees this will obviously know that this is an alcohol stain. And this torn part that you¡¯re talking about? It seems like it has been scratched in the middle by a nail.¡±

    ¡°Hey!!! Who the hell are you?!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m a customer?¡± The man replied calmly as he took something out from his pockets, his voice calm, not shaking even once.

    ¡°I¡¯m a customer that knows how to use SNS and loves to upload a lot of things. I really captured your face well, you see? Shall we continue? <em>Ah, </em>everyone, can you see properly? The CEO of Daeil Company, Woo Tae-Jin, is ripping clothes and abusing his power. Wow~ He¡¯s being very mean just because he has a~ lot~ of~ money~.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Woo Tae-Jin suddenly recalled the ¡®Power Abusing Videos¡¯ that were widespread in the news these days. And this man was doing it right now. However, his pride had been trampled severely that he did not want to back down.

    So, he tried to open his mouth and refute the man¡¯s words, but the man spoke coldly before he could do so, ¡°Your greediness knows no shame.¡±

    The man was none other than Minhyuk.

 Chapter 308: What I Want to Do the Most

    Chapter 308: What I Want to Do the Most

    ¡°...!¡±

    That was when it dawned on Woo Tae-Jin that the man in front of him was no ordinary person. His face flushed in anger from the humiliation and embarrassment that he received. However, he knew that his pride would continue to be trampled on if he stayed in this ce longer. So, he quickly tucked his tail and rushed away in shame.

    Hyo-Jin saw the man¡¯s cold and stern face slowly turn soft and amiable the moment Woo Tae-Jin left.

    ¡°This is my first time here¡­ can you suggest business suits that would suit a man in his early fifties?¡±

    ¡°Ah, ah¡­ With pleasure!! Are you going to give it as a gift?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. I¡¯m going to give it to my father as a present.¡±

    ¡°Wow. You, you¡¯re definitely a good son.¡±

    Hyo-Jin suggested the suits that she thought would suit the man¡¯s preferences. However, she was surprised that the man in front of him chose to buy this brand. After all, this was a fairly expensive brand.

    ¡°I earned some money so I wanted to buy him some gifts personally.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s very nice.¡±

    Hyo-Jin felt strange the more she talked with the man. The man obviously looked rugged, huge, and scary, but his face lookedpletely gentle and amiable. Even his voice sounded soft and kind. In fact, what surprised her the most was his calm, cool demeanor. At that moment, the man looked endearingly foolish, while trying his best to choose a gift for his father. He looked just like one of those ordinary students who got their first paycheck from their part-time job and wanted to buy their parents a gift.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go with this.¡±

    ¡°Alright! Ah. I will give you these socks for free.¡±

    ¡°Ah! Thank you very much!¡±

    The young man bowed politely and turned around to leave. Just before he stepped out of the store, he looked at her and said, ¡°The chairman of Ilhwa Group really hates it when his employees get beaten and scolded, so if this happens again, make sure that you tell them this¡­¡±

    ¡°Huh? What?¡±

    ¡°I will tell this to the Chairman. Like that.¡±

    ¡°<em>Pffft.</em>¡±

    Hyo-Jin felt lighter at the man¡¯s wit and humor. She felt like working here was not that bad. It was true that there were many kinds of customers in this department store, but it was also a ce that was visited by a lot of good people.

    Hyo-Jin clocked out and got ready to get off work after a short while.

    <em>¡®I wonder if that man is a college student?¡¯</em>

    From what she saw, the man seemed to be around her age. If that was the case, then the man was truly a college student. After she finished changing into her own clothes, Hyo-Jin went out just in time to witness a jaw-dropping scene.

    ¡°Young master! How can you leave me when you went out to shop for the first time? I¡¯m very sad!¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Hyo-Jin felt both shocked and flustered. The man groveling a bit further away from her was none other than the chairman of Royal Department Store, Park Munsoo. From what she heard, the man was also Ilhwa Group¡¯s chairman¡¯s personal secretary. And this same man was calling the huge, young man ¡®young master¡¯.

    <em>¡®Don¡¯t¡­ Don¡¯t tell me¡­!¡¯</em>

    Hyo-Jin¡¯s eyes made eye contact with the young man from earlier. The young man, Minhyuk, smiled softly at her, before getting inside the car that sped away from her sight.

    For some reason, Chairman Kang Minhoo¡¯s son went out personally to buy gifts using the money that he earned himself, even though he could have just gotten something under his name. However, Hyo-Jin felt that he had his own reason. So, she decided to not tell anyone, despite the wild and restless thumping of her heart.

    <em>¡®Is, is this what a truly wealthy person is like¡­?¡¯</em>

    She felt like the man was truly rich in every sense of the word. His way of speaking, his care for others, everything. He was different from the kind of wealthy person like Woo Tae-Jin.

    ***

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk was smiling happily as he sat in the car. His grin almost reached his ears at the thought of the shopping bags and items that were carefully sitting inside the trunk.

    So, what was it that Minhyuk wanted to do the most the moment he lost weight? Was it dancing and having fun with women in clubs? Perhaps, going to an amusement park? Or maybe walking around Hongdae, the streets of the youth? The answer was none of the above.

    What he wanted to do the most was to personally buy gifts for the people that had fought alongside him. Minhyuk even sold his gold coins in Athenae and exchanged them for cash, just so he could buy those gifts with the money that he earned himself.

    As soon as he got home, Minhyuk handed the gifts to everyone. He gave his health trainer, Oh Changwook, who apanied him during his shopping spree, aplete set of training suits and sneakers. For his dietitian, Hyejin, he gave her the padded jacket that she was always looking at and drooling over her cellphone every day. For Munsoo, he got him a high-quality fountain pen. As for his father, he gave him a luxurious and high-quality suit.

    ¡°Hohohohoho,¡± Kang Minhoo burst into a chuckle.

    This happened whenever he caught sight of the suit hanging properly on the wall. He would chuckle even when he was drinking tea, or talking on the phone.

    ¡°Hohohoho!¡±

    Heughed like that, even patting his suit gently whenever he went out to have a meeting with other chairmen, as he said, ¡°Ah. This? My son bought this for me!! Hahahaha! Doesn¡¯t he have such a nice taste in fashion?¡±

    ¡°Oh. He really has a great sense of fashion.¡±

    This was the very same Kang Minhoo that had enough money to buy tens of thousands of business suits. However, even when he had that much money, no other luxurious suit would be able topare to the suit that his son personally chose and bought with his own hard-earned money.

    ¡°If I had known that he had such discerning taste in fashion, I would have made him into a fashion designer¡­!¡±

    ¡°Ha, hahahahahaha, haha!!¡±

    Among the chairmen and representatives, they had established the fact that Kang Minhoo was a fool for his son. After all, whenever they met with Chairman Kang Minhoo they would always hear things like¡­<em> ¡®This? My son bought this for me!!!¡¯</em> or something along those lines.

    ***

    Thepany that Woo Tae-Jin had founded seemed to be on the rise. However, in secret, their finances were already bing difficult recently. That was why he wanted to get an investment. Fortunately, Ilhwa Group had once reached out their hands to him and told him that they were interested in investing in hispany.

    <em>¡®That little punk¡­¡¯</em>

    He had hired people to look for the brat that humiliated him in the department store from before, but no one could find him. However, the moment there was news, Woo Tae-Jin swore that he would definitely show him what fear was like by unting his money at him.

    Woo Tae-Jin fixed a friendly smile on his face, greeting the employees that he met along the way amicably as he walked towards the meeting ce. Then, talks about the investment began.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s right. Invest your money in me, you bastards!¡¯</em>

    If Ilhwa Group decided to carry him and his copsingpany on their back, they would definitely be able to stage aeback. Just when their conversation was leaning towards a good oue, a man arrived at their meeting ce.

    ¡°<em>Huh?</em> Director, what brings you here?¡±

    ¡°<em>Ah. </em>I think you should be going back to thepany, right?¡±

    Woo Tae-Jin was shocked. The real and legitimate right-hand man of the Ilhwa Group Chairman Kang Minhoo, Secretary Park Munsoo, had arrived at their meeting ce! Some might just see him as a secretary, but he was someone who aided and worked alongside Kang Minhoo for decades. He had grown to be very sessful in his own right, to the point that he held a significant amount of shares in thepany. He was also the one in charge of the department store and several other subsidiaries under the Ilhwa Group. In other words, he was an extremely important figure that Woo Tae-Jin could not carelessly get close to, or make eye contact with.

    ¡°It¡¯s an honor to meet you,¡± Woo Tae-Jin politely greeted the man as sweat dripped down his back.

    Just then, Park Munsoo looked down at him as he opened his mouth and said, ¡°Do you remember the incident in the Royal Department Store not too long ago?¡±

    In fact, the incident was something that Park Munsoo had learnt from his employees and not from Minhyuk himself. It seemed like the boy did not put it to mind, but it was something that he could not let pass him.

    ¡°De¡­department store? I don¡¯t reme¡­¡± Woo Tae-Jin said, pretending to be innocent after recalling the incident from a few days ago. However, Park Munsoo just smiled softly as he sat down and lifted the teacup in front of him.

    ¡°I can remember it well since I saw it clearly on the CCTV.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Woo Tae-Jin¡¯s eyes widened in both shock and terror as he watched Park Munsoo grab the contract in front of him before tearing it in half.

    <em>Rip!</em>

    ¡°N¡­No¡­ I know that I made a mistake back then¡­ but are you going to reject the contract that could benefit Ilhwa Group immensely¡­ just because of a single employee?¡±

    If they went with Woo Tae-Jin¡¯smon sense, then his rhetoric would be totally understandable. With plenty of subsidiaries all over the world, Ilhwa Group alone housed hundreds of thousands, maybe even tens of millions of employees. There were as many of them as the leaves in the park. However, would they willingly decline a beneficial contract just because of one young employee, just one among the many employees of thepany?

    ¡°It¡¯s not <em>just because</em>,¡± Park Munsoo said, tightening his necktie and straightening his suit.

    ¡°It¡¯s because that employee is a member of our family. Besides, it¡¯s because thispany is supported by those employees that we have be like this.¡±

    Park Munsoo slowly stood up as he continued to speak, ¡°In addition, will a chairman who acts like you and treats people that way be truly beneficial to Ilhwa Group? I doubt that. Well then, farewell.¡±

    ¡°...No, no! Pl¡­please¡­!¡±

    s, Park Munsoo coldly ignored his pleas. He resolutely left the room without even turning back.

    Woo Tae-Jin was left in the room, frustrated and in despair. Just as he was going to wallow in his own frustration, he received a phone call. It was a call from the mercantile agency[1].

    <em>[I¡¯m sorry, but I can¡¯t find the person no matter how many times I ask. There¡¯s not even a single clue. In this case, it can either be one of the two. The person is either dead or¡­]</em>

    Woo Tae-Jin listened intently as he waited for the end of his words.

    <em>[He¡¯s a bigwig and is someone that shouldn¡¯t be touched.]</em>

    Woo Tae-Jin¡¯s forehead creased. Nothing was working well for him right now. In other words, everything that he had was ruined.

    ***

    Golden Hammer Dwarf Lant watched the foreigner that would challenge the trials of As territory disappear to return to his world, before reappearing right in front of him again. The foreigner named Minhyuk had received and epted the quest that Eden, the Mother of Life, had sent.

    <em>[<strong>Territory Quest</strong>: Remove the crops that gnaw on the roots of the World tree.]</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: SS</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: The person who received the hint about As territory.</em>

    <em><strong>Rewards</strong>: A Small World Tree will be nted in As territory. You will also acquire the World Tree¡¯s Mysterious Fruit (1).</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong> : Surprisingly enough, a Small World Tree, the reduced form of the World Tree, was growing in As territory. But one day, crops such as ¡®Withering Watermelon¡¯ and ¡®Withering Melon¡¯ suddenly appeared and gnawed on the roots of the Small World Tree. Remove at least 20% of those pesky crops within two weeks to be the owner of the As Territory.</em>

    <em>¡®Withering Fruits!!!¡¯</em>

    The moment the owner of the territory changed from the Food God to the Maestro of Destruction, the withering fruits cropped up. These crops began to chew and gnaw on the roots of the Small World Tree, making it wither and hold on for dear life.

    In fact, this trial was not even a quest to save the Small World Tree. After all, they were only tasked to remove twenty percent of these crops to help Bran and Eden, the Mother of Life, in order to seed. However, even if saving the Small World Tree was not the task, there was still a problem.

    <em>¡®It will be hard to reach the target number, especially if you startte in the day.¡¯</em>

    Just like in the world of the foreigners, farming in Athenae also required a variety of factors. Even the legendary farmer Bran had a hard time picking and removing thirty of these crops in a single day.

    At that moment, the foreigner Minhyuk asked Bran, ¡°Do the withering fruits all taste bad? Is it poisoned?¡±

    ¡°Not at all. In fact, the withering fruits are much more delicious than ordinary fruits. It¡¯s just that their effects on the Small World Tree are extremely bad.¡±

    After hearing the answer, Minhyuk quickly approached Lant and said, ¡°I saw the people of the territory awakened earlier.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    The As territory also housed arge number of people from the past that slumbered within its confines. If the trial waspleted, most of the people in the territory would disappear so that the new owner would be able to fill in the territory with new people.

    ¡°Can I get help from the people of the territory?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t guarantee something like that.¡± Lant answered with a grin. These people all lived in the legendary As territory. They had experienced the splendor and grandeur of As territory in the past. Could people who livedvishly and abundantly before be willing to help a foreigner that was trying to be their new owner and lord? It seemed like Minhyuk was unaware of this fact.

    Lant turned around and left for somewhere after seeing the smile on the boy¡¯s face. It seemed like he could not bear to break his heart.

    <em>¡®Digging up twenty percent of the withering crops ispletely impossible.¡¯ </em>

    Lant continued to walk until he was greeted with a ridiculously wide and vast field. The size of the field proved that the boy would not be able to get twenty percent of the crops alone! Of course, there was still a chance. It would all depend on how the challenger took on the trial. However, the fact that it was a difficult trial still remained.

    Lant firmly believed that Minhyuk would most definitely fail, not because he underestimated the skills of the boy, but because of the sheer amount of crops that he needed to remove. Legendary Farmer Bran was a prime example. He was already a legendary figure, but he still had a hard time harvesting thirty of these crops per day. He could barely harvest enough to fill ten percent in about two weeks.

    Then, Lant went somewhere else. The ce that he went to housed a statue. It was none other than the Food God¡¯s statue. Lant sat in front of the statue,ughing wryly and cursing the figure of the man in front of him loudly.

    ¡°You damn bastard! You asked me to make you a tool that can help you make vegetable pancakes well, but you ended up dying alone!¡±

    The<em></em>King of the Dwarves brought out alcohol and drank in front of the statue. It seemed like he was trying to drown himself in alcohol to forget the pain and sorrow of losing a friend.

    ¡°I miss seeing you drink alcohol from the small crock.¡±

    Suddenly, Lant remembered about the Small World Tree¡¯s tree trials.

    <em>¡®Perhaps it would be possible if he was the Food God.¡¯</em>

    It might be possible if he had high dexterity, a dexterity that exceeded a thousand. However, even if he reached that level, he would only be able to barely make it.

    <em>¡®I wonder if that bastard¡¯s descendant has already appeared in the world?¡¯</em>

    Lant took a swig of his alcohol and continued to drink for three days straight, as he wondered about the descendant of the Food God. After the three days, he went outside to check the progress of the trial, and was greeted by a strange scene.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud¨D</em>

    Eden, the Mother of Life, had red eyes as she worked hard on digging up the withering fruits. She was normally a taciturn and prideful woman, but she was now covered in dirt and digging wildly.

    Then, he heard her mumble, ¡°I¡¯m going to drink¡­ fresh watermelon fruit juice!¡±

    <em>Thud¨D</em>

    ¡°I¡¯m going to drink the watermelon punch!!!¡±

    <em>Thud¨D</em>

    It was not just her. Even Crusoe, the Sword and the Shield, the person hailed as the best teacher in the continent, was gripping a hoe and digging with all his might!

    <em>[Connecting Swordsmanship.]</em>

    <em>[Rapidly attack the enemies.]</em>

    He even tilled the ground by using his skills while hoeing.

    ¡°<em>Eh?</em>¡±

    And that was not the end of it either. Even Louis, the person hailed as the greatest priest and someone who created the cure for a pandemic that hit the continent, had his hands together to pray on the field!

    ¡°Please! Let this be the day Minhyuk gives me my daily bread, the melon juice!!! Amen!¡±

    ¡°Wh¡­what the hell is happening?!¡±

    The surprises just kept oning.

    The hundreds of people of the territory were all grabbing hoes in their hands, as they dug the ground like clockwork. They looked like they had been possessed and controlled by some sort of ck magic.

    However, the most shocking thing that he witnessed was when the foreigner appeared. All of the people digging on the ground immediately turned towards the foreigner and watched him as he raised his hand above his head. Every single resident of As looked like they had be believers of a pseudo-religion that were devoted to their newfound Lord.

    ¡°Please hang in there a bit more, everyone!!! Today!!! We¡¯re going to have all of the watermelon juice and melon juice that we want!!!¡±

    ¡°<em>Uwooooooooo!</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Kyaaack! </em>I¡¯m so happy!¡±

    ¡°I have to do my best!¡±

    ¡°<em>Minhyuk-llujah</em>!¡±

    Lant was left in shock.

    <em>¡®How can the three legendary people in the continent willingly be farmers?! And, and just for some sort of juice?!¡¯</em>

    They were the three legendary figures in the continent, but Minhyuk was treating them as if they were his employees. However, the most shameful fact was that they willingly agreed to work just for a cheapbor cost of ¡®juice¡¯.

    <em>¡®What in the world happened while I was away?!!¡¯ </em>

    Just like an illiterate man that was asked to read, Lant could not understand what was happening at all.

    1. An agency that investigates information such as careers and assets upon request. Can be used interchangeably with detective/investigators ?

 Chapter 309: Juicy Drink

    Chapter 309: Juicy Drink

    Three days earlier, Minhyuk had pondered over his trial right after Dwarf Lant disappeared to who knows where.

    <em>¡®The Small World Tree¡¯s mysterious fruit?¡¯ </em>

    The mysterious fruit was something that would give anyone who ate it a huge amount of EXP. It was also clearly described to be a fruit that had the vor of several different fruitsbined together. The fruit sounded extremely mysterious and delicious, that even just its description was enough to make Minhyuk drool unknowingly. However, this was something that he would only get once he finished the trial. So, Minhyuk followed behind Bran.

    ¡°These, over here, are the withering fruits.¡±

    Strangely enough, the fruits that Bran pointed at were growing on the ground and not on the trees. They grew just like how potatoes and sweet potatoes grew.

    ¡°The fruits grow on the ground so they could receive the power of the Small World Tree. However, the withering fruits suddenly appeared and gnawed on the roots of the Small World Tree. These fruits are weakening the power of the tree. That¡¯s why we have to remove it. Well then, let me show you how to do it. It¡¯s not that hard," Bran said as he brandished his hoe and started digging on the ground.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud¨D</em>

    The process might have been just a simple strike of a hoe, but it took Bran at least thirty strikes before a withering fruit appeared. The fruit that appeared was none other than an apple.

    ¡°Wow. That¡¯s amazing.¡±

    ¡°Thend itself is being nurtured by the Small World Tree, so unless the owner of As territory appears, it would be hard for anyone to dig through the ground.¡±

    ¡°Unless the owner appears?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Didn¡¯t you see how long it took for the fruit to appear when I dug just now? I need at least twenty minutes to dig up one withering fruit. That¡¯s how hard it is to dig this ground.¡±

    Bran continued to move his hoe as he exined things to Minhyuk. After a while, he took out a small dagger and carefully cut off the stem that connected the apple to the Small World Tree.

    ¡°We have to be very careful. The stem of this fruit is directly connected to the roots of the Small World Tree so we have to be careful not to hurt the tree while cutting off the stem. That¡¯s why it takes me at least twenty minutes to dig out one.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded to show his understanding. Bran carefully and gently collected the apple as he continued his lecture, ¡°Back then, you were able to dig out potatoes and sweet potatoes quickly but this is extremely different from that. It would be hard for you to dig out one within an hour.¡±

    At that moment¡­

    <em>Roll</em>¨D

    ¡°...Huh?¡±

    Bran was still lecturing Minhyuk when a melon suddenly rolled towards him. He looked at the melon in confusion not knowing where it came from, or how it came to be. However, it did not end with just a single melon.

    <em>Roll, roll, roll, roll, roll</em>¨D

    Withering fruits rolled one after another towards Bran¡¯s feet as he nkly watched Minhyuk¡¯s quick hand movements. And then¡­

    <em>[You have acquired a Withering Watermelon]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1 DEX]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Bran was both speechless and confused.

    <em>¡®Wh¡­what¡¯s happening?¡¯ </em>

    The hard, unyielding ground was easily turned over with just a strike of Minhyuk¡¯s hoe. Just like Bran said before, thend was extremely solid after receiving the power of the Small World Tree for a long time. However, Minhyuk was able to easily dig and cut off the stem of the withering fruits connected to the tree without any damage because his DEX had already exceeded 2,000. Even though Bran was known as a legendary farmer, his DEX was only a little over 1,000, which made it hard for him to dig through the hard soil, effectively lowering his speed and efficiency.

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°Yay! It¡¯s a withering melon! Hehe.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah!<em></em>It¡¯s a withering oriental melon!¡±

    Watching Minhyuk dig up one withering fruit after another made Bran feel like crying.

    <em>¡®Th¡­this punk is really¡­¡¯ </em>

    It seemed like the man in front of Bran did not change at all over the course of time that they had not seen each other. Minhyuk was still a very unique and special person.

    <em>¡®This speed should probably be enough, right?¡¯ </em>

    It seemed like the requirement of the trial¨D harvesting 20% ¡®withering fruits¡¯<em></em>growing in the wide field¨Dcould be achieved easily if Minhyuk continued at this rate. However, Minhyuk did not look satisfied with his progress and speed. He continued to dig while surveying the area.

    ¡°This field is <em>really</em> big. <em>Hiyaaa~</em>¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes, stained with greed and desire, were glinting sharply as he looked at the vast field. The look in his eyes looked strangely simr to the one that he had when he saw the potatoes and sweet potatoes in Bran¡¯s farm in the past. After all, it had already been long established that Minhyuk was a person who only wanted delicious food. He was someone who only longed for more delicious food, over money, fame, and honor. For Minhyuk, the crops hiding underneath thisnd were worth more than gold and silver treasures. That was to say, the 20% quota was not enough for him. He wanted to harvest them all.

    However, it seemed to be an impossible feat. Minhyuk was only one person, and harvesting all of the withering fruits within the set time limit was something that was impossible. He knew that he would not be able to do it alone. Just then, he recalled the things that he did in the temple.

    <em>¡®Back then¡­¡¯</em>

    The look in Minhyuk¡¯s eyes changed. It seemed like he was going to use that method once again. He quickly looked around to try and think of something that would suit everyone¡¯s pte.

    <em>¡®Yeah. That''s right. There¡¯s a variety of fruits here. And¡­¡¯ </em>

    Minhyuk quickly took out a bottle of water from his inventory to wash off the dirt covering the apple. Then, he wiped the apple on his shirt and took a big bite out of it.

    <em>Crunch</em>¨D

    His teeth sunk deeply into the crunchy apple, as the sweet and tart juices flowed in his mouth with every bite.

    <em>¡®Wow, it¡¯s really sweet¡­¡¯ </em>

    The withering fruits tasted more delicious than regr fruits, which brought a sense of awe to Minhyuk. He snapped his fingers together as he thought of a way to utilize these fruits.

    <em>Ding!</em>

    <em>¡®There are many fruits here. And¡­¡¯ </em>

    Minhyuk turned his gaze upwards. The sun was shining brightly above As. Its zing rays were shining brightly over the entire territory, making the residents sweaty and hot. Every single person that passed by Minhyuk¡¯s eyes were all fanning themselves from the terrible heat of the sun. In fact, even the continent¡¯s Legendary Figures were all hiding under the shade of a tree and trying to cool themselves off. They looked like kindergartners having a pic and ying house, while hiding away from the harsh re of the sun.

    ¡°That¡¯s right! <em>Juicy </em>is the answer!¡±

    <em>Juicy</em> was a popr franchise store out in the streets that was well-known for its cheap price and wonderful vors. The store¡¯s main menu was none other than fresh fruit juice. It was extremely vorful and so fresh, that everyone would recall its taste the moment summer came around. Minhyuk was going to replicate this <em>Juicy </em>drink. With a n finally in mind, Minhyuk immediately dug up more withering fruits.

    <em>¡®What is this rascal trying to do again?¡¯</em>

    Bran had been together with Minhyuk in the past. He knew that he was up to something with just one look at his face. That was why he was looking at him strangely right now.

    After digging up enough fruits, Minhyuk quickly cleaned them. Then, he ced the fruits inside a huge blender together with ice. Before he turned the blender on, he added one final ingredient.

    <em>¡®Sea honey!¡¯</em>

    Sea honey was a wonderful ingredient that could only be harvested near the Dragon King¡¯s Sea. To show how spectacr this ingredient was¡­

    <em>(<strong>Sea Honey</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Material Grade</strong>: C</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>: </em>

    <em>?Relieves stress.</em>

    <em>?Addictive.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: Sea honey is an ingredient that can be collected from the sea¡¯s flora and fauna. It¡¯s best eaten when one¡¯s low on sugar. A healthier and sweeter alternative to ordinary sugar and honey. However, this ingredient is very addictive, so ingesting a huge amount is prohibited.</em>

    Minhyuk had personally tried sea honey. True to its words, it was truly addictive. The extraordinary sweetness and unique texture of this honey was to die for. This honey might be healthier and sweeter than any ordinary sugar or honey, but its taste would linger in one''s head, making them crave for more. The crafty Minhyuk added this very same honey inside the blender. Then¡­

    <em>Whiiiiiiiiir</em>¨D

    Minhyuk blended everything. After blending, he immediately started taking out disposable cups and straws from his inventory.

    ¡°N¡­no. Boy, why do you even have those in your inventory?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think it tastes good drinking in a mug, so I always bring around 30,000 disposable cups. Why?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Bran was left speechless with his logic. He could not find the words to refute him at all. That was right! Even if it was hot, Minhyuk liked to drink cafe drinks. But for some reason, he always found it more delicious to drink in disposable cups than mugs. Of course, Minhyuk was environmentally conscious, so he always made sure to wash his disposable cups and reuse them as much as possible.

    Minhyuk watched the blender and finally deemed the drink ready. Then, he poured the watermelon juice carefully in his cup. The finely ground ice, together with the delectably red watermelon juice, looked so simr to those 900mL bottled watermelon juices that one could buy in stores. The moment he held the cup, Minhyuk felt the refreshingly cold sensation travel from the tips of his fingers to every part of his body. Then, out of nowhere, Minhyuk suddenly did some push-ups.

    ¡°Boy, what¡¯s wrong with you?¡±

    ¡°It will taste better if I do this.¡±

    Seeing him do something strange again, Bran recalled the past. Back then, Minhyuk had also told him that it would make the sweet potatoes delicious if he ate it under the covers of a nket.

    <em>¡®This boy is really¡­ out of his mind¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk only stopped doing push-ups when he felt his breath turn ragged. Sweat immediately rained down from his forehead down to his toes the moment he stopped moving.

    <em>¡®Yeah, it¡¯s exactly like this.¡¯</em>

    He imagined himself hurriedly running to visit the nearest <em>Juicy</em> franchise under the ring rays of the sun. Then, he would say¡­

    ¡°Onerge watermelon juice please.¡±

    The store staff would then ask him, under the refreshing background of blending watermelon juice¡­

    <em>¡®Would you like me to put in a straw?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Yes, please!¡¯</em>

    Once the drink was prepared, he would reach out for it and take a sip to quench his thirst, before leaving the store. Then, the feeling of the cool and sweet <em>Juicy</em> watermelon juice traveling from his mouth, to his throat and down to his stomach¡­ would definitely be simr to what he was feeling right now.

    ¡°<em>Kggghk!</em>¡±

    It was a truly marvelous drink. Anyone who drank this on a hot summer day would definitely burst out in exmation. Strangely enough, the <em>Juicy </em>drink did not seem to decrease, despite Minhyuk chugging it non-stop. Perhaps it was because he found it to be extremely delicious. And since he found it delicious, it would naturally be the same for the general public. The first person that Minhyuk handed a cup of the <em>Juicy </em>watermelon drink to, was none other than Bran.

    ¡°Here, have some watermelon juice. It¡¯s quite refreshing~ Please have some before you work again! <em>Haha!</em>¡±

    <em>¡®Is, isn¡¯t this rascal someone who doesn¡¯t like giving away his food?¡¯</em>

    Bran looked at Minhyuk suspiciously.

    <em>¡®Is it poisoned? Or maybe he added something else to the drink?¡¯</em>

    However, it was true that Bran was extremely thirsty. Being presented with a cool drink on this hot day was something that he could not refuse. So, he took a sip. The taste of the drink flowed down to his throat and made his eyes widen.

    ¡°It¡¯s, it¡¯s delicious¡­¡±

    ¡°<em>Hehe. </em>I know, right?¡±

    Bran could not stop himself from gulping down the delectable drink.

    Minhyuk chose to make the <em>Juicy </em>drink for a variety of reasons. First, the residents of this territory had been in slumber for hundreds of years. Was ice somethingmon back in their day? The answer was most definitely a huge no. It would have been difficult for them to find and taste cold drinks like this back then. Besides, Minhyuk had already guaranteed the taste. Even in the event that they found it mediocre, the honey that he added would not make them forget about its taste. Second, this ce was teeming with ingredients. If he sessfully tamed the residents with the drink, then he would be able to somehow make use of the residents to help him dig them out from the ground.

    After pouring the drink in hundreds of cups, Minhyuk began to walk around. He handed a cup to Eden, the Mother of Life.

    ¡°Oh my! I haven¡¯t tasted something like this before. This is really delicious!!!¡±

    A cup to Sword and Shield Crusoe.

    ¡°I¡¯m not really fond of sweets, but it wouldn¡¯t hurt for me to taste it once¡­¡±

    <em>Sluuuuuuuuuurp!</em>

    ¡°<em>Gasp¡­! </em>It¡¯s, it¡¯s delicious! I¡¯ve never tasted anything like this before!!!¡±

    The priest, Louis.

    ¡°Thank you. May the grace of God be with you¡­¡±

    <em>Sluuuuuurp!</em>

    Louis suddenly grabbed Minhyuk¡¯s hands.

    ¡°<em>Oh my Lord!</em>¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s nothing.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Minhyuk continued on his way after giving each of the three legendary figures a <em>Juicy</em> drink. He gave a cup to a young girl that he met on his way.

    ¡°Kid. Would you like to have a drink?¡±

    ¡°Thank you!¡±

    <em>Sluuuuurp!</em>

    ¡°De¡­delicious!!!¡±

    Minhyuk smiled happily as he watched the child drink the juice.

    <em>¡®This child will also work hard in farmingter.¡¯ </em>

    Minhyuk continued to hand out <em>Juicy </em>drinks to the residents of the territory. They did not know what the drink was, what it contained, or what the consequences would be once they epted it, but they still drank it well. At first, the residents were all prideful and arrogant. They looked down on Minhyuk and distanced themselves away from him.

    ¡°A foreigner? A foreigner wants to be the owner of thisnd? Do you think someone like that would be able to do it?¡±

    However, they immediately threw away their pride and grabbed Minhyuk''s hands after they tasted his <em>Juicy </em>drink.

    ¡°My Lord. I love you.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s <em>Juicy </em>drink spread wildly by word of mouth among the residents of the territory. It was so delicious that all of them scrambled to get a taste.

    Meanwhile, Bran¡­

    ¡°W¡­wait. Why am I here blending these juices?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll give you another cup, so please make sure they are well blended!!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll make sure of it!!!¡±

    In the blink of an eye, Bran had turned into an employee of Minhyuk¡¯s drink shop, just like that. He felt that it was strange, but he could not tell exactly which part of it was off. However, no matter what Bran did, he could not forget the cool and refreshing taste in his mouth. Even the cold feeling that traveled from the cup to his hand, and the feeling of sucking the juice through the straw was something that he could not forget.

    <em>Gulp</em>¨D

    Bran blended the drinks non-stop as he sucked the straw on his own drink. His throat bobbed continuously as if he could not live without it.

    By the time when almost everyone in the territory had had a taste of the <em>Juicy </em>drink, the Mother of Life, Eden, approached Minhyuk and Bran. Her pupils and hands were both trembling wildly. She lookedpletely restless, as if she wanted to do something that she could not do. It was the look of an addict.

    ¡°Ex¡­excuse me.¡±

    ¡°Yes? Miss gullib¡­ No, Miss Eden!¡±

    ¡°Can I have another cup of juice? <em>Ah, </em>of course, I¡¯m not asking something from you for free. This¡­¡±

    Mother of Life, Eden, was a prideful being. She would not take anything from someone for free. So, she handed over a 500-year-old watermelon in exchange for a cup of juice. The 500-year-old watermelon was a fruit that was known to be much sweeter than ordinary watermelons, thanks to the concentrated essence that it had gathered over the years of its growth. It also had a special ability that could increase the experience of anyone who ate it by 1,000,000 points.

    Minhyuk reached out for the watermelon and hid it first in his inventory. After hiding the fruit, he looked at Eden sadly. He looked like someone who was disappointed with himself and his incapabilities.

    ¡°That¡­ I¡¯m really happy to blend juices for the three legends, but I also want to be fair and give the people of As a drink each as a small gift, so I think it would be hard to give you more. I used the ¡®withering fruits¡¯ that I dug to make the juice and I don¡¯t have enough to give to everyone.¡±

    ¡°That, that¡­¡±

    Eden, the Mother of Life, trudged back to her ce with tears in her eyes.

    <em>¡®Fufu, I got a 500-year-old watermelon.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk smiled happily at his unexpected gain. This time, the one to approach him was the Sword and Shield Crusoe.

    ¡°Uh¡­ Give me another one of those!¡±

    Minhyuk just repeated the words that he told Eden earlier. Hearing his words, Crusoe turned around and stomped his feet away in disappointment.

    The ¡®free tasting section<em>¡¯</em> in supermarkets was ced there for people to taste the food and encourage them to buy. This was what Minhyuk was doing. He gave them a taste so he could make them work. And sure enough, his ns were moving in the direction that he wanted.

    ***

    Eden, the Mother of Life, was sitting under the shade of the tree. From afar, she might look peaceful and calm, but if one went closer, they would see that her eyes were shifting wildly, while her hands were shaking like a loose leaf in a storm. She was clearly showing signs of anxiety and restlessness.

    ¡°<em>Cough, cough.</em> I wonder what¡¯s wrong with my arms?¡±

    It was not just Eden. Crusoe and the priest, Louis, were also shaking.

    ¡°<em>M¡­My Lord¡­ </em>why are you giving me a trial like this¡­ Please have mercy and grant me another sip of that melon juice¡­¡±

    However, the other residents would find it strange if the three of them suddenly received more cups when Minhyuk said that he would give everyone an equal share, right?

    They watched as the residents of the territory passed by with cups of watermelon juice in their hands. Their eyes were trained on the red juice sloshing around in the cup.

    ¡°<em>Wow! </em>This is really delicious!!!¡±

    ¡°<em>Woah! </em>Will we be able to drink this everyday if he bes the new Lord?¡±

    ¡°Idiot. We¡¯ll disappear once there is a new Lord.¡±

    ¡°<em>Oh, </em>yeah.¡±

    Eden was hailed as the Mother of Life. She excluded the gentleness of nature and embodied the words life, warmth and grace. However, the thoughts running through her mind right now at the sight of the residents passing by with cups of juice in their hands, were theplete opposite.

    <em>¡®Should I catch them by surprise and take away those cups in their hands?¡¯ </em>

    No! That was a very bad idea. Thankfully, her reason came back in time. Eden endured the urge and told herself that she could survive this day without any more juice, hoping that she would receive a cup tomorrow.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s right! He has to dig withering fruits tomorrow! That means that there will be more juice. I can drink more tomorrow¡­¡¯ </em>

    <em>¡®I just need to get by today!¡¯ </em>

    Unfortunately, all their hopeful thoughts were shattered the very next day.

    ***

    Almost a thousand As residents, together with the three legendary figures, gathered together in front of Minhyuk hoping to get a cup of juice. They gathered together to wait for Minhyuk to dig the withering fruits and make the juice, just so they could be the first ones to taste it today.

    However, Minhyuk did not dig the withering fruits. It was not because he waszy, but because he looked sick. Minhyuk¡¯s lips had turned blue and he was even coughing loudly, making his already sickplexion even paler.

    ¡°<em>Cough, cough, cough! </em>I caught a cold after working too hard yesterday. <em>Cough! </em>I¡¯m sorry, but I won¡¯t be able to harvest withering fruits<em></em>for a while.¡±

    ¡°Oh, oh no¡­!¡±

    ¡°No, no way!!!¡±

    ¡°This won¡¯t do!!! You have to quickly recover¡­!¡±

    ¡°<em>Cough!</em>¡± Minhyuk coughed loudly, as he grabbed his throat and copsed on the spot.

    Yes, that was right. The Best Actor of the Year<em></em>would definitely go to Minhyuk. He was just pretending to be sick, but in the eyes of everyone present, he looked like he was dying.

    ¡°<em>Ugh¡­ </em>I feel so bad.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    The people present were all going crazy at the thought of not being able to drink the juice today. They jumped around, trying to find ways to drink that heavenly juice once again. But! They could not force a sick person to work, just because they wanted to drink it!!!

    Just then, a woman stepped out of the crowd. Every step of hers was filled with grace, warmth and life. She was none other than Eden, the Mother of Life. And the ever graceful Eden was now holding a hoe in her left hand, and a pickaxe in her right hand. She stood in front of the crowd and said¡­

    ¡°Everyone, grab your tools.¡±

    The Sword and the Shield, Crusoe also stepped out of the crowd with a hoe and a pickaxe in both of his hands. Under their lead, the residents of the territory ran out to get their farming tools. Seeing everyone leave for a moment, Minhyuk immediately ate a ¡®paint candy¡¯ to keep his lips blue and continue the act.

    ¡°<em>Kgghhhk!</em>¡±

    His blue lips were smiling widely. After all, his ns had gone smoothly. Just then¡­

    <em>[You have gained the Title: The One who Exploits the Legends]</em>

    A notification rang in his ears.

 Chapter 310: Juicy Drink

    Chapter 310: Juicy Drink

    Minhyuk¡¯s smile grew wider in satisfaction. The title was unexpected, but it was most definitely wee. The effect of the title ¡®<em>The One who Exploits the Legends</em>¡¯ was not anything grand. However, it would make him sound more reliable and trustworthy whenever he tries to lie to legends. After checking the title, Minhyuk turned to look at the field.

    <em>[Mother¡¯s Touch]</em>

    <em>[The roots will follow the Mother¡¯s warm touch and move on their own.]</em>

    The roots felt the forceing from Mother of Life Eden¡¯s pickaxe and popped out of the ground to harvest the fruits. However, despite the roots working hard for her, Eden continued to strike her hoe in order to dig more fruits. It seemed like she really wanted to drink that juice as fast as possible. On the other side, a spectacr sight unfolded when Sword and Shield Crusoe struck his pickaxe on the ground strongly.

    <em>[The Teacher¡¯s Summons]</em>

    <em>[Crusoe summons and awakens the hundreds of talents that studied under his tutge.]</em>

    Hundreds of people formed from dirt and soil appeared. These people looked at Crusoe in doubt, wondering why he suddenly summoned them.

    ¡°Heed my orders!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    The hundreds of men quickly stood in perfect line at Crusoe¡¯s words that were, strangely enough, filled with dignity and majesty. This was their teacher¡¯s first order after hundreds of years of slumber!

    ¡°Dig up the fruits! Focus on the fruits that give off a dark light! Quickly!¡±

    ¡°Ye¡­yes, sir!¡±

    Crusoe¡¯s hundreds of disciples summoned from the earth looked at their teacher in doubt as they started to harvest the fruits in the field. Meanwhile, Louis¡­

    ¡°<em>My Lord¡­</em> I really, really want to drink watermelon juice¡­ <em>Please</em>, please grant them the strength that will allow us to drink watermelon juice¡­!¡±

    He was praying to God, granting buffs to the soldiers that Crusoe summoned, as well as the residents of the territory that were working on the field.

    ¡°Minhyuk is sick. We won¡¯t be able to drink fruit juice today if we don¡¯t harvest these fruits.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s all work hard together!!!¡±

    ¡°<em>Uwaaaaaaaah!!</em>¡±

    Suppose the regr wage forbor work was around 50,000 gold, while an ordinary fruit, like apple, was around 1,500-2,000 gold. One could assume that the price of the ingredients used for the juice that everyone was craving for was only around 1,500 gold. That meant that Minhyuk only spent 1,500 gold to make the residents of the territory and the three legendary figures work for him, saving himself dozens of tinum worth of wages.

    <em>¡®Oooooh! It¡¯s steadily increasing! It¡¯s going up!¡¯ </em>

    Minhyuk looked at the rate of harvesting that was disyed on the upper left corner of the quest window. Yesterday, the rate sat at 3%. But after pretending to be sick today, the rate of harvesting that was initially at 3% suddenly shot up at an incredibly shocking pace. It only took one hour to increase by another 3%. It would take at least around three to four hours for a person to dig out and harvest a withering fruit alone. But with hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of people working together, the rate of harvesting rose rapidly.

    <em>¡®Well then, shall we give them some proper motivation?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s body shook as he stood up.

    ¡°Minhyuk, yourplexion looks a little bad¡­¡± Mother of Life, Eden, said.

    However, Minhyuk just told her, ¡°You¡¯re all working so hard for me, I can¡¯t just rest like this and let you do all the work. <em>Cough!!!</em>¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s body staggered as he heaved a cough out. Eden rushed to help him thinking<em>, ''Aaaaaaah! I can¡¯t believe a person can be this admirable¡­! Even though he¡¯s sick, he still wants to make us some drinks because he saw how thirsty we were¡­! His character is really wonderful!!!¡¯</em>

    <em>[You have received Eden''s favor.]</em>

    <em>[You have received Eden''s favor.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained +10 in all five basic stats.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 20 REP.]</em>

    <em>¡®What¡¯s this?¡¯ </em>

    Minhyuk looked confused, and he thought about the reason why his five basic stats and reputation increased along with his favorability with Eden.

    <em>¡®Aaah¡­!!!¡¯ </em>

    That was when Minhyuk remembered an incident in the past. The same thing happened when his favorability with Ellie increased back then too. So, Minhyuk tried to find what themon ground was between these two incidents.

    <em>¡®Maybe it¡¯s because it¡¯s hard to increase favorability with people like Ellie Noona and Mother of Life Eden? Ah! That must be why the system gives out additional rewards whenever someone increases their favorability with them!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk hadpletely figured out the system. Then, Crusoe and Louis approached the two of them.

    ¡°What happened?¡±

    Seeing them approach, Minhyuk thought that it was the perfect time for his y to start.

    ¡°I¡¯ll make drinks for everyone, no matter what! Even if my body breaks down!!!¡± Minhyuk yelled as he walked away from them.

    <em>¡®W¡­what tenacious mental power¡­ His lips are even bluer than before¡­!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Brother Minhyuk is really cool¡­!¡¯ </em>

    Minhyuk made sure to add a fancy re to the finale of his act.

    <em>Thud</em>¨D

    He pretended to faint and copse on the spot. Then, the notifications rang wildly.

    <em>[You have received Crusoe''s favor.]</em>

    <em>[You have received Crusoe''s favor.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 50 CHA.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 40 STR.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 20 REP.]</em>

    <em>[You have received Louis'' favor.]</em>

    <em>[You have received Louis'' favor.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 50 holy power.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 30 REP.]</em>

    It did not end there. The residents heard themotion and rushed to where Minhyuk and the three legendary figures were. They saw Crusoe hugging Minhyuk as if he was hugging a fellow soldier who had been hit by a bomb. Crusoe was crying passionately, ¡°He¡­he fainted trying to make drinks for us¡­ He said that he would do it!!! Even with his sick and weak body!!!¡±

    ¡°<em>Aaaaaaaah! </em>Minhyuk!!!¡±

    ¡°<em>Aaaaaaaaaaah! </em>He must have felt pressured since we kept on asking for drinks. That must be why he tried to meet our demands even with his sick body. But in the end¡­!¡±

    <em>¡°Sob!</em>¡±

    <em>[You have received Beirgen¡¯s favor.]</em>

    <em>[You have received Richard¡¯s favor.]</em>

    <em>[You have received Robert¡¯s favor.]</em>

    <em>[You have received Kennedy¡¯s favor.]</em>

    Notifications about the increase in favor with the residents of the territory flooded Minhyuk¡¯s ears, and his lips had curled up into a smile, hiddenpletely by Crusoe¡¯s arms.

    ***

    Dwarf Lant had stayed in front of the Food God¡¯s statue for a few days, so he waspletely shocked at the sight in front of him.

    <em>¡®He harvested 64% of the total fruits?¡¯</em>

    ¡°Wh¡­what kind of nonsense is this¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk was working three out of the four legendary figures in this territory to the bones without even lifting a single finger. He even made sure to always give them a carrot after the stick.

    ¡°It¡¯s a bit hard, right? Please have a drink to cheer yourself up.¡±

    ¡°Th¡­thank you! Thank you! Thank you very much!!!¡± One of the residents said as he received a cup of drink, bowing several times in session to show his deep gratitude. Then, he began to work harder.

    Minhyuk approached Lant with a dark smile the moment he saw him appear in the vicinity, asking, ¡°Isn¡¯t it hot? Have a cup of watermelon juice. <em>The drink goes in, glug, glug, glug, glug~ until when are we going to do the~ shoulder~ dance~</em>[1]¡±

    ***

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    The entire Special yers Management Team was left speechless at what they saw.

    ¡°N¡­No¡­ Th¡­that¡­ <em>Sigh</em>¡­¡± President Kang Taehoon smiled helplessly, not knowing what to say while Team Leader Park just supported his forehead.

    Meanwhile, Lee Minhwa¡­

    <em>¡®A cup of Juicy right now sounds delicious¡­ Heh¡­¡¯</em>

    ¡­was craving for a cool and refreshing sip of <em>Juicy </em>watermelon juice herself. A cup that was as cold, or maybe cooler, than the situation that they were in right now.

    ¡°No¡­ Who in their right mind will think of tempting the residents of a territory with a cup of drink to make them work like ves?¡±

    That was right. <em>ves. </em>The word seemed perfect for the situation. Minhyuk¡­ <em>No, </em>he was just pretending to be sick, blending drinksfortably, while he made the residents of the territory and the three legendary figures, <em>scratch</em><em> that, </em>now it should be¡­

    <em>[I¡¯ll sharpen and clean your farming tools so you can harvest fruits better!!!]</em>

    ¡­four legendary figures, work to the bone.

    The prideful and majestic Golden Hammer Dwarf Lant also became like putty in Minhyuk¡¯s hands after drinking a cup of watermelon juice made by him. He even helped the residents sharpen and clean their farming tools, making them more efficient and faster in harvesting the withering fruits.

    ¡°How can they be like that with just a cup of juice?¡±

    Lee Minhwa, the ¡®<em>Prospective Eating Captain</em>¡¯ among the employees, answered President Kang Taehoon¡¯s question, ¡°They had been slumbering for hundreds of years. Of course they would be like that. In fact, even if we ignore that and assume that they were back in their era, it would still be hard for them to find any kind of iced drink. Besides, it must have been very delicious since the one who blended it was yer Minhyuk, a yer with over 2,000 DEX¡­ They must have heard some sort of heavenly voice the moment they drank it.¡±

    ¡°...S¡­so that was the case.¡±

    Everything made sense after they heard Lee Minhwa¡¯s perspective. There was even the ¡®Sea Honey¡¯, an addictive ingredient, added into the juice. However, no matter the reason or the cause, what Minhyuk achieved was something amazing. The trial had a time limit of two weeks. Only a week had passed since the trial had started, and he already collected almost all of the withering fruits.

    ¡°What will happen if he clears every trial like that?¡± Lee Minhwa asked.

    Team Leader Park Minggyu could only sigh as he said, ¡°The territory will have overflowing wealth just from the seeds alone. They will also have the best offensive and defensive capabilities, as well as outstanding artifacts. And¡­¡± Team Leader Park continued to speak, ¡°The territory will be equipped with the recovery function. An overly powerful territory will literally be born to the world. It will probably beparable to the As of the past.¡±

    ***

    Meanwhile, male yers had gathered around a woman in a small vige in Asgan Continent. The woman said, ¡°Come to our shop¡­¡±

    Then, she slightly lifted her skirt and continued to say, ¡°Do you want some ramyeon~? <em>Ah, heung~</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!!</em>¡±

    ¡°I want to eat!!! I will eat!!! I will definitely eat!!!¡±

    ¡°Please give me five bowls over here!!!¡±

    Countless male yers continued to gather in front of a small handcart shop.

    ¡°<em>Irasshaimase!!</em>[2]¡± Conir greeted the customers with excitement, using the greeting that Mei Wei had taught him as he began making ramyeon.

    ¡°<em>Hiyaaah¡­</em>¡± yer Adle sighed in satisfaction. He was the first person to sessfully sit down in front of the shop. Adle was a bonafide member of the ¡®<em>No Girlfriend Since Birth¡¯ </em>club! He was struck in awe when he saw the woman selling ramyeon, and ended up lining up to buy a bowl.

    ¡°Customer, here¡¯s your ramyeon!¡± said the little boss, as he handed the bowl of ramyeon to him.

    The bowl was filled with chewy noodles with chopped green onions and boiled eggs on top. No matter how he looked at it, all he saw was just some normal ramyeon, right?

    <em>¡®It might not even taste good, since the one who made it is the young little boss¡­¡¯</em>

    However, the taste did not matter. After all, the employee was a beauty. It was a win-win situation no matter what.

    ¡°Hurry up and have a taste. Customer~ <em>Hoho~</em>¡±

    Adle¡¯s eyes were trained on Mei Wei¡¯s face as he hurriedly picked up his chopsticks at her charming urge.

    ¡°Yes, yes, I will,¡± he said as he took a bite of the ramyeon.

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuuuurp!</em>¡±

    <em>¡®Hiyaaa. She¡¯s so beautiful. I might mistake my nose for my mouth with how distracting her beauty is¡­ huh?¡¯</em>

    Adle¡¯s stray thoughts came to aplete halt.

    <em>¡®Wh¡­what the hell?¡¯</em>

    The ramyeon in his mouth tasted somewhat different. So, he tried another bite to make sure.

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuuurp!</em>¡±

    This time, he also ate a piece of kimchi with the noodles.

    <em>¡®Wow, even the kimchi¡­¡¯</em>

    Adle could not stop his mouth from moving anymore. Then, the little boss looked at him with his bright, shining eyes as he asked, ¡°How¡¯s the taste, customer?¡±

    ¡°Please give me some cold rice[3],¡± was what Adle said, instead of answering the boy¡¯s question. The little boss hurriedly brought over some cold rice. Adle immediately added the rice, and the hot ramyeon soup cooled down a bit. Then, he scooped a huge spoonful into his mouth.

    ¡°Wh¡­what¡¯s this?¡±

    A line had already started to form behind Adle while he was crazily slurping the bowl of ramyeon in front of him. Adle grabbed the entire bowl and drank everyst bit of the soup. He licked the bowl clean, not leaving a single grain of rice behind.

    ¡°<em>Phew¡­ </em>One¡­one more bowl please¡­¡±

    ¡°<em>Boo!</em>¡±

    ¡°There are people waiting behind you!!!¡±

    Boos echoed loudly behind Adle, but he did not pay them any mind. He only stood up after he finished eating another bowl of ramyeon. Adle was left in a daze as he stood up from his seat.

    ¡°Wh¡­what¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°How is the taste?!!!!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s¡­ freaking¡­ delicious.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    Adle turned to the person asking and spoke clearly, ¡°The vor is heavenly! This is the most delicious bowl of ramyeon I have tasted in this world!!!¡±

    ¡°R¡­really?¡±

    ¡°I, I didn''t even have the mind to look at that beautiful woman the moment I took the first bite!!!¡±

    ¡°<em>Gasp!!!</em>¡±

    Conir, the owner of the shop, was smiling brightly as he said, ¡°Conir¡¯s ramyeon business is a great sess!!! I¡¯m rich now!!! <em>Wow!</em>¡±

    True enough, Conir¡¯s ramyeon shop was booming.

    ***

    Mei Wei was shocked after seeing Conir¡¯s ramyeon business earn one tinum in just a single day, from word of mouth that his ramyeon was delicious, no less. The main reason why they were able to achieve one tinum in sales was because most of the customers were generous and gave a lot of tips. This came as a surprise to Mei Wei, since she did not know what it tasted like due to her anorexia. Then, Mei Wei received the questpletion notification.

    <em>[You havepleted the Hidden Quest: Help Conir¡¯s Business.]</em>

    <em>[Conir wants to give you a bowl of the most delicious ramyeon in the world.]</em>

    Mei Wei nodded in understanding.

    Then, Conir said, ¡°<em>Uwaaah,</em> Conir!!! Conir can make two bowls of the most delicious ramyeon in the world! Conir will give one bowl as a gift to Noona.¡±

    The boy proceeded to make ramyeon, while Mei Wei looked with both anticipation and worry. While Conir turned on the heat and ced the pot filled with water on the stove, he turned towards Mei Wei and said, ¡°Conir!!! Conir wants to ask Noona a favor.¡±

    ¡°A favor?¡± Mei Wei asked in confusion.

    ¡°The person Noona is looking for, the Food God? That person is actually Conir''s Hyung! Conir''s very cool and handsome Hyung!¡±

    ¡°What¡­?¡± Mei Wei¡¯s eyes shook as she asked in disbelief. Mei Wei and Conir had plenty of conversations before. She had told him that she was looking for the yer called the Food God. Back then, Conir had only nodded.

    But now, Conir said, ¡°Conir will give you ramyeon, so don¡¯t fight with Conir''s Hyung. Conir will give you hundreds, no thousands, bowls of ramyeon so protect Conir''s Hyung instead! Conir knows Noona is strong! Don¡¯t fight Conir''s Hyung and just protect him!¡±

    Conir smiled widely at her. It seemed like he wanted the two of them to be friends and did not want to see them fight. As it turned out, Conir had misunderstood her, thinking that Mei Wei was trying to find Minhyuk, because she wanted to fight with him. Instead of fighting against each other, Conir wanted her to fight for him instead.

    So, Mei Wei replied with a big smile on her face, ¡°Conir, you misunderstood. I have no intentions of picking a fight with your Hyung. And since you¡¯ve gone to this extent¡­¡±

    She smiled gently at the boy as she continued to say, ¡°I¡¯ll make sure to protect him no matter what.¡±

    1. song for the drinking game loser. ?

    2. Wee to my shop! in JPN. One of the many formal ways to wee their customers ?

    3. leftover rice, rice that has been left to cool down for sometime ?

 Chapter 311: Juicy Drink

    Chapter 311: Juicy Drink

    ¡°Yeah!!! Don¡¯t fight! Good people should be close to each other!!!¡± Conir said with a wide and bright smile on his face, nodding furiously at his own words. Mei Wei smiled softly at the boy when she saw him acting like this.

    <em>¡®Only once.¡¯</em>

    Although Mei Wei told Conir that she would protect his Hyung no matter what, she only intended to help him to the best of her abilities once. Only once, when he needed her help the most. Minhyuk¡¯s words had healed the wounds in Mei Wei¡¯s heart to some extent. Of course, the words came from Conir¡¯s mouth, but his words were still deep and meaningful for her. And, this was a favor that Conir asked of her. It was already surprising enough that the world¡¯s number one yer, Mei Wei, was willing to help someone else.

    Then, Conir said, ¡°Conir is giving Conir''s Princess Syndrome Noona the most delicious ramyeon in the world!¡±

    A small, yet warm, light enveloped the bowl of ramyeon in Conir¡¯s hands, one that he personally made for her. Mei Wei sat down in front of the it and closed her eyes, trying to control her breathing.

    <em>¡®Will¡­ I¡­ be able¡­ to eat it?¡¯</em>

    Mei Wei was a person that vomited just at the sight of food. So, she had quite a lot of concerns. Just then, she recalled the words that Conir had told her, <em>¡®It¡¯s not your fault. It¡¯s not your fault. The part that you¡¯re ufortable with will be nothing if I help you.¡¯</em>

    That was right. It was not her fault. The corners of her lips curled lightly. What happened was not her fault. It was simply an unfortunate ident. Then, she slowly opened her eyes and stared at the piping hot ramyeon. She saw the chewy noodles inside the red soup, the chopped green onions on top of it, and the well-boiled whites and yolk of the egg. Mei Wei grabbed her spoon and slowly lifted it to her mouth to taste the soup first. Then, something surprising happened.

    <em>¡®I don¡¯t feel nauseous¡­?¡¯</em>

    Mei Wei knew that anorexia was some sort of mental illness. The longer this mental illness stayed with her, the more her stomach began to reject the food in front of her. But right now, she was not feeling any repulsion at all.

    ¡°<em>Slurp!</em>¡±

    The hot and spicy ramyeon soup entered her mouth as she took a small sip from her spoon.

    <em>¡®Deli¡­ cious¡­¡¯ </em>Mei Wei thought, her heart was ovee with emotions. She felt that this was right. Food was not a bad thing. It was something that could make people happy. The smile lingered in her lips as she picked up her chopsticks and mped on some noodles.

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuurp!</em>¡±

    Mei Wei picked a piece of kimchi and ate it with the chewy noodles.

    <em>Crunch, crunch, crunch¨D</em>

    The sweet and sour taste of the kimchi spread pleasantly in her mouth, as she took a bite of the well-cooked egg. She said, ¡°Delicious. It¡¯s really delicious, Conir.¡±

    ¡°Conir! That¡¯s good!!!¡±

    Mei Wei ate the bowl of ramyeon in front of her in a hurry. However, before she took another bite of the noodles, she said, ¡°Boss, can I have some cold rice over here?¡±

    ¡°Yes~¡± Conir answered cheerfully, bringing some cold rice over.

    Mei Wei had always liked mixing some cold rice in her ramyeon when there were still some noodles left in her bowl. She mixed the rice well before pressing it down with her spoon. Then, she scooped a spoonful,plete with rice, soup and noodles, and lifted it to her mouth.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s really delicious¡­¡¯</em>

    Thebination of ramyeon and cold rice was the best of the best. She lifted the entire bowl and finished everything, down to the veryst drop. Then, she heard the notification that her skills¡¯ level had increased by one, but she did not pay it any mind. It did not matter to her.

    <em>¡®The first¡­ step¡­¡¯ </em>

    Mei Wei was finally able to take the first step in treating her anorexia.

    ¡°How was it?¡±

    ¡°This is really the most delicious ramyeon in the world. Thank you, Conir,¡± she smiled softly as she answered Conir.

    Just like that, Conir¡¯s business quest had ended. Mei Wei had only made a bit of progress, but she was still not yetpletely cured. She still needed to meet with Minhyuk.

    ¡°Shall we go and meet your Hyung?¡±

    ¡°Yeah!¡±

    Conir had grown close to Mei Wei. That was why he believed and trusted her. Besides, Mei Wei had told him that she would be friends with Minhyuk and protect him. So, he took out a parchment.

    <em>¡®Vassal¡¯s Tracking Parchment.¡¯</em>

    The Vassal¡¯s Tracking Parchment was an item that could only be used by a vassal with a master. This parchment would allow the vassal to track and check the location of their master. Then, Conir tore the <em>Vassal¡¯s Tracking Parchment</em>.

    <em>[You have torn the Vassal¡¯s Tracking Parchment.]</em>

    <em>[Checking Minhyuk¡¯s location.]</em>

    ***

    After exploiting the four legendary figures and over a thousand residents of the territory, Minhyuk heard the trialpletion notification in just over a week.

    <em>[You have sessfully harvested all of the withering fruits.]</em>

    <em>[The power of Eden, the Mother of Life, has seeped through all of As territory.]</em>

    <em>[The weakened Small World Tree is now being revived.]</em>

    <em>sh¨D</em>

    Soon, the withering leaves on the giant World Tree located in the center of the As territory disappeared, and young green leaves began sprouting in ce.

    <em>[More than 20~30 vegetables and fruits nted in As territory will grow to S~SS rank in thirty days.]</em>

    <em>[The growth rate of all seeds nted in As territory will double.]</em>

    <em>[Once all the seeds nted in the As territory bear fruit, the fruits will acquire E~SS rank special power.]</em>

    <em>[All of the crops that will grow from the seeds nted in As territory will always taste delicious regardless of seasons.] </em>

    <em>[Beautiful flowering trees will grow in As territory that will boost and revitalize the energy of the residents of the territory.]</em>

    <em>[In the future, residents of As territory will experience a +4% recovery effect.]</em>

    <em>[Legendary Farmer Bran has permanently be a resident of As territory. He will manage and maintain the farming system in the territory.]</em>

    <em>[Minhyuk, the person who holds the ownership of As territory, will receive a gift.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 500 REP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 300 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[You have achieved a high score and awakened As territory¡¯s power as the City in the Sky.]</em>

    <em>[You have achieved a high score. You can now choose to take another trial.]</em>

    <em>[You havepleted the Territory Quest: Remove the crops that gnaw on the roots of the World Tree.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Small World Tree¡¯s mysterious fruit.]</em>

    The Small World Tree shed brightly. The bright light condensed into a sphere and floated in front of Minhyuk before falling down. The light disappeared, reced by a fruit the moment Minhyuk reached out. The fruit was shining with a variety of colors.

    <em>¡®Is this the mysterious fruit?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s smile was bright and wide as he washed the fruit clean with water. The fruit had thin skin, simr to an apple and was about twice the size of a regr apple too.

    <em>¡®I can probably eat it as it is, right?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk took a big bite out of the fruit.

    <em>Crunch¨D</em>

    His first bite tasted sweet and refreshing.

    <em>¡®It tastes like an apple?¡¯</em>

    On his second bite¡­

    <em>¡®Huh? Now, it tastes like pear?¡¯</em>

    <em>Crunch, crunch¨D</em>

    This time, it tasted like those refreshingly cool and sweet pear freshly taken out from the refrigerator. On Minhyuk¡¯s third bite¡­

    <em>¡®Oriental melon?¡¯</em>

    It tasted like sweet oriental melon. He could even feel the seeds whenever he chewed. There were obviously no seeds in the fruit at all, but he felt the sensations of chewing on the melon and its seeds together.

    ¡°<em>Ho¨D</em> It really is mysterious!!!¡±

    Minhyuk was amazed at the sweet and deep vor of the fruits that he tasted with every bite. Finally, the vor of soft peach appeared on hisst bite. He said, ¡°Yeah. That¡¯s right. Peaches should be soft, not hard. It tastes sweeter like that.¡±

    Minhyuk found the fruit extremely delicious that he ended up eating everything, even the stem! Then, notifications rang loudly the moment he finished eating the fruit.

    <em>[You have eaten the Small World Tree¡¯s mysterious fruit.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 30,000,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up¡­ omitted]</em>

    Eleven consecutive level-up notifications rang in his ears. Minhyuk smiled in satisfaction at the notifications. Then, he turned his attention towards the ¡®City in the Sky¡¯.

    <em>¡®Wow¡­¡¯</em>

    With this power, As territory could literally be a city in the sky. The owner of the territory could choose to let the city fly if he so desired. Of course, there was a time limit. The territory could only fly for six hours the moment it rose in the air. This power made it possible to relocate the territory to any ce that they wanted and was also a very useful power in war. After he finished checking his notifications, Minhyuk immediately chose his next trial.

    <em>[You have chosen the trial of the Sword and Shield.]</em>

    The trial that Minhyuk deemed was necessary for the territory¡¯s growth right after Eden¡¯s trial was none other than the Sword and Shield¡¯s trial. Having a strong military power meant that they would have enough power to protect the territory. But before he could start the trial, something unexpected appeared.

    <em>[Easter Egg: The One who Achieved Eden¡¯s Impossible Territory Test.]</em>

    <em>[The Food God¡¯s Hidden Trial might appear depending on your next trial¡¯s achievement level.]</em>

    <em>[If you sessfullyplete the hidden trial, you will be able to receive additional rewards.]</em>

    <em>[The owner of As territory will be able to receive the beef ribeye, chuck p tail and hanging tender that the Food God had personally acquired from Heaven¡¯s God Runia¡¯s farm.]</em>

    ¡®<em>Gasp¡­! Wh¡­what?!¡¯ </em>Minhyuk thought, hands and body shaking in excitement.

    <em>¡®Beef from Heaven¡¯s God Runia¡¯s farm? Even the ingredient list is shocking! Rib eye, chuck p tail and hanging tender?¡¯</em>

    At that moment, Crusoe approached him and said, ¡°Now, the next trial¡­¡±

    ¡°ce a piece of chuck p tail on top of a grill. Grill it exactly for seven to ten seconds then flip it. After that, pick it up and dip it in salt¡­¡±

    <em>Chew, chew, chew!</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s mouth moved unknowingly. Crusoe looked at Minhyuk in confusion when he saw him suddenly acting strangely. After all, his lips were moving as if he was chewing, and his entire body was exuding happiness.

    ***

    Meanwhile, in the Special yers Management Team.

    <em>[yer Minhyuk haspleted the Easter Egg: The One who Achieved Eden¡¯s Impossible Territory Test.]</em>

    <em>[The Food God¡¯s Hidden Trial might appear depending on his next trial¡¯s achievement level.]</em>

    ¡°Team, Team Leader!¡± Lee Minhwa urgently called for Team Leader Park the moment an unexpected situation appeared in front of her. Hearing the urgency in her voice, Team Leader Park rushed over.

    ¡°Wh¡­what the hell?!¡± Team Leader Park could not contain the shock in his voice. That was because¡­

    ¡°What the hell is this?!¡±

    ¡­he waspletely clueless about the situation. The same was true for Lee Minhwa and the other employees. None of them knew what this was about. So, they hurriedly contacted the Development Team¡¯s Team Leader, Lee Seokhoon. Team Leader Lee Seokhoon rushed over the moment he received the call.

    ¡°<em>Gasp¡­ gasp¡­! </em>C¡­crazy¡­! Was what you told me true?!¡±

    ¡°What exactly happened?¡±

    ¡°...A system that shouldn¡¯t be opened yet has been awakened.¡±

    ¡°What¡­?¡± Team Leader Park asked Team Leader Lee Seokhoon in doubt, not understanding what he was saying.

    ¡°The Maestro of Destruction, who should be around Level 550~630, should have been the one to originally receive As.¡±

    Team Leader Park nodded. This was a fact that everyone was aware of.

    ¡°The <em>Athenae </em>Development Team predicted that yer Minhyuk would fight a battle against him at Level 600 to regain ownership of As territory, and that was originally under the ownership of the Food God. ording to our predictions, the server integrations should start around that time too.¡±

    ording to the <em>Athenae</em> system operators, the Level 700 yers would first appear around a year and a half, or even two yearster. That was the original time frame that they expected the sh between Cuhel and Food God Minhyuk to happen.

    ¡°Only after yer Minhyuk challenged the farming trial and achieved a high score would that trial have a high probability of awakening. <em>But, </em>that system is supposed to be under the<em> ¡®inessible¡¯ </em>stage.¡±

    The system operators might have been the ones to create the settings, but there were still hidden systems that yers could not ess yet, these were systems in inessible stages. However, these systems would be released, one after the other at ater date, once the level of the yers increased.

    ¡°So, what you¡¯re saying is that this trial shouldn¡¯t have appeared right now and it was supposed to be around one to two yearster?¡±

    ¡°Then, what about the rewards¡­?¡±

    ¡°...The rewards are also things that shouldn¡¯t have appeared and nor received at this point in time.¡±

    <em>¡®Rewards that shouldn¡¯t have appeared and nor received at this point in time.¡¯</em>

    Team Leader Park rubbed his chin in thought. The value of artifacts that would appear a yearter would bepletely different from the ones that were already in the market right now. Back in <em>Athenae¡¯s </em>early days, unique artifacts were able to be sold at high prices, but just a yearter, the value of these artifacts had already depreciated by thirty times their initial value. Of course, that was only natural. After all, the supplies and items back in the day were rare. But right now, something that should not be released yet was about to be released. That would pose a huge problem.

    ¡°Heavenly Beef¡­¡±

    Heaven was a ce that was hidden more deeply than the Demon World. And beef that came from that very ce was actually offered as a reward.

    Meanwhile, Lee Minhwa gulped as she spoke, ¡°<em>Heh¡­</em> That, that Heavenly Beef¡­ must be delicious, right?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. It must be delicious¡­<em> Huh</em>?¡± Team Leader Park¡¯s words went into a halt as he turned to look at Lee Minhwa. Lee Minhwa hurriedly schooled her expression the moment the two of them made eye contact. This was not the time to think those thoughts.

    ¡°I believe yer Minhyuk will do his best to somehowplete this trial and eat that beef.¡±

    Then, Team Leader Park asked, ¡°But, what do you think is the probability that yer Minhyuk has inpleting this trial?¡±

    Lee Seokhoon looked at the monitor solemnly and replied, ¡°Two percent.¡±

 Chapter 312: The Sword and Shieldâ€™s Trial

    Chapter 312: The Sword and Shield¡¯s Trial

    ¡°...If it¡¯s just 2%, we don¡¯t need to worry too much, right?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. We analyzed them just now and with yer Minhyuk¡¯s level, stats and skills, clearing the trial is nigh impossible. That is, if no other variable appears.¡±

    ¡°A variable?¡± Team Leader Park asked weirdly the moment he heard the word <em>variable.</em>

    Lee Seokhoon looked at him seriously and said, ¡°If yer Minhyuk takes the risk and chooses to challenge the Food God¡¯s trial, he will be allowed to take one ¡®helper¡¯ with him. If that helper somehow has the power to make yer Minhyuk more powerful then¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible.¡±

    Lee Seokhoon was talking about an outstanding priest. That was the only person capable of making Minhyuk strong enough to clear the trial! However, despite Legend Guild being a guild of elites, they still did not have a priest, or people with great buff abilities among their members. The vassal Corr? He was a ¡®<em>pdin</em>¡¯, so his skills were mainly focused on the offensive and would not be able to be of much help.

    ¡°Then, we can rest assured.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    <em>Flinch!</em>

    Lee Minhwa stopped what she was doing and turned to look at Team Leader Park when she heard him say that. Those were the taboo words that she had specially determined for the Special yers Management Team!!! Whenever she or Team Leader Park Minggyu uttered these words, the situation always unfolded in apletely different direction from what they had expected. So, she made sure to make the words ¡®<em>We can rest assured.</em>¡¯ the department¡¯s taboo words.

    <em>¡®This is ominous¡­¡¯ </em>

    Lee Minhwa¡¯s expression turned solemn as she looked back at her monitor.

    ***

    Minhyuk extricated himself from the thought of eating beef and regained his senses to listen to Sword and Shield Crusoe¡¯s exnation about the trial.

    ¡°The trial of the Sword and Shield is simple. Sect Leader Minhyuk¡­ No, Minhyuk¡­ and I will be given 100 troops each.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded.

    ¡°Then, you and I will pass through the same stretch ofnd with our troops. We might be going through the same stretch ofnd, but we¡¯re technically in different ces.¡±

    Minhyuk easily understood the gist of it. The ce where the trial would take ce was the same, however the both of them would still be in different spaces.

    ¡°Do you understand?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I understood the gist of it.¡±

    Basically, they would both have the same conditions.

    ¡°If you reach at least a level that¡¯s within 20% or equal to my achievement level, you will be able to proceed to the next trial.¡±

    In other words, Minhyuk only needed to achieve around 60%~80% achievement level if Crusoe achieved 80% in the trial to pass.

    ¡°What if I reach a higher level than you?¡±

    ¡°...Who knows,¡± Crusoe answered with a wry smile. Even he did not know what would happen. However, he was sure of one thing, that would be a difficult task.

    ¡°During the time that I have been together with you, I learned that you are a very smart and clever person. However, I was called ¡®teacher¡¯ by those that used the sword and the shield in the past.¡±

    Crusoe was one of the legends in the continent, recognized as the master and teacher of everyone who used swords and shields. There was even a legend praising his outstandingmanding ability and various tactics that allowed him to make 10,000 soldiers retreat with just 200 men under his banner.

    He was apletely different person from the God of War, Eclei and the God of Death, Bach. The two of them might have the abilities of amander through their ¡®<em>Monarch</em>¡¯ and ¡®<em>God</em>¡¯ sses, but they had never lived on the battlefield where one had to walk the tightrope of life and death. On the other hand, Crusoe had lived in the world of <em>Athenae </em>and had actually gone through hundreds and thousands of battlefields. In other words, he was in an entirely different leaguepared to them.

    Then, Crusoe added on, ¡°This trial is different from your regr subjugation quests. In this trial, your troops will be able to grow quickly with every hunt. That¡¯s why it¡¯s very important for you to make sure that your troops stay alive and you incur only minimal damage.¡±

    This meant that they would be able to exert greater power if the troops survived every hunt and continued to minimize their losses and damages. However, if they continued to lose their men, there was a high chance that they would not be able to make it to the end of the trial.

    ¡°There are three boss monsters that will appear in this trial. As permon knowledge, the final boss is never an easy opponent. Also, make sure to remember that every boss monster that you hunt will drop useful parchments and potions.¡±

    Minhyuk made sure to remember all of the information that Crusoe had told him.

    ¡°It¡¯s going to start now. Be careful,¡± Crusoe sincerely said to him. After all, if he died during the trial, they would not be able to drink any more of those watermelon juice!

    Then, Minhyuk disappeared under the cover of the bright light that surrounded him.

    ***

    Soldier Park¡¯s eyes were closed tightly as he sped his hands tightly in prayer.

    <em>¡®Please¡­ Please¡­¡¯</em>

    Even the 99 other soldiers were all thinking the same thing. They were the 100 soldiers who stayed in As territory over a hundred years ago. All of them had long been dead, but thanks to the territory¡¯s special power, they were able to awaken once again. All of them were given a chance to have their human bodies and wander around As territory for a day, if they participated in this trial and survived.

    <em>¡®I will make sure to survive throughout this trial so I can visit my mother¡¯s grave¡­¡¯</em>

    Park had awakened for the first time in hundreds of years. If he survived this trial and was able to gain that one free day, he wanted to go and visit his mother¡¯s grave. That was why he prayed hard that Crusoe would be theirmander. If Crusoe appeared here, he was sure that he would save a lot of them andplete this trial. But when Park opened his eyes¡­

    ¡°Hello, everyone?¡±

    A man bowed politely at them with a soft smile on his face. The extremely good-looking man also shook hands with each and every soldier present, including Park.

    <em>¡®This person¡­ will be the one leading us through the trial¡­?¡¯</em>

    That meant that this man was the onepeting against Crusoe.

    <em>¡®Did he make the wrong choice?¡¯</em>

    Park was aware that the four trials in As territory were trials that should be chosen based on the owner¡¯s special characteristics and skills. If they had high dexterity, they should choose Eden¡¯s trial. If they had high holy power, they should choose Louis¡¯ trial. If they had high offensive and defensive power, as well as goodmanding abilities, they should choose the Sword and Shield¡¯s trial.

    He knew this because they were not just ordinary soldiers. They were part of the 200 legendary troops that fought under Crusoe¡¯s leadership and forced 10,000 troops to retreat. These 200 soldiers were equally divided between Minhyuk and Crusoe. Among them, Park was a remarkable and outstanding hidden NPC that acted as a <em>Centurion.</em>

    ¡°Excuse me. Is it possible for us to know what themander¡¯s ss is?¡± Park asked, hoping against hope.

    Minhyuk answered him, ¡°My ss is¡­ a chef.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    At that moment, all of the soldiers went speechless.

    <em>¡®Did, did he say chef?¡¯ </em>

    <em>¡®N¡­no! What is a chef doing here?!¡¯ </em>

    However, they believed that exceptions always existed!

    <em>¡®That¡¯s right. It doesn¡¯t mean that he¡¯s weak just because he¡¯s a chef. Right?¡¯ </em>

    So, Park asked him again, ¡°Then, what is your special ability?¡±

    Minhyuk rubbed his chin as he pondered about how he should answer him.

    ¡°<em>Hmm¡­</em>¡±

    Then, he spoke after careful consideration, ¡°I eat really well.¡±

    <em>¡®Gasp!¡¯ </em>

    <em>¡®We¡­we¡¯re doomed!¡¯ </em>

    <em>¡®We¡¯re</em><em>pletely done for!!! We might die the moment we start!!!¡¯</em>

    Then, Minhyuk added again, ¡°<em>Ah, </em>I <em>really, really</em> eat well.¡±

    Park suddenly thought, <em>¡®Mother¡­¡¯</em>

    Somehow, Park felt like his longing to see his mother¡¯s face had deepened. Although the soldiers tried their hardest not to show it, Minhyuk knew that they were disappointed. So, he said, ¡°<em>Ah, </em>Since¡­ I eat well. My soldiers should also eat well. You know?¡±

    Then, they saw Minhyuk take out several transparent sses, containing liquids with different colors, but mostly red and green. There was even some sort of sticks stuck inside the ss while dew dripped down the outside of the transparent ss.

    ¡°This, what¡¯s this?¡±

    Commander Minhyuk smiled and said, ¡°Watermelon juice, melon juice, banana juice, strawberry juice, mixed berry juice.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    All of the soldiers present looked at Minhyuk strangely.

    ***

    ¡°<em>Kgghk~</em>¡±

    Park was in awe after he tasted the watermelon juice for the first time under the ring heat of the sun. Luke, another soldier, sitting next to him was drinking melon juice, he said, ¡°<em>Wow¡­</em> Are you telling me that there¡¯s ice in this small bowl?¡±

    ¡°This is really amazing!!¡±

    The soldiers¡¯ mood had soared once again. However, Park was still left depressed.

    <em>¡®I think it will be hard¡­ to see my mother again, right?¡¯</em>

    Park smiled wryly. Despite the soldiers admiring the vor and taste of the drinks in their hands, all of them still believed that they would die in this trial.

    Meanwhile, Commander Minhyuk, who dered that he was a chef, was busy cooking. When Minhyuk cooked his first legendary dish, he acquired the title ¡®<em>The Man Who Created a Legend</em>¡¯ and doubled his buff capacity. That meant that the buff capacity depended on titles and several other factors, just like when his buff capacity increased when he changed to the Food God ss, and when he acquired his cooking skills. Right now, it was possible for him to make four times as many buffed dishes than his initial capacity. It was more than enough to feed all 100 soldiers in front of him.

    ¡°Let¡¯s help themander.¡±

    ¡°<em>Ah. </em>That¡¯s right, let¡¯s do that.¡±

    The soldiers quickly approached Minhyuk to offer their help the moment they finished their drinks. Park was also among them. He had rolled up his sleeves ready to help. They might be disappointed with Minhyuk and his skills, but they were people who were raised properly. Even if he was weak, he was still theirmander. And if theirmander took the initiative to cook for them, how could his subordinates sit still?

    ¡°Thank you for helping out.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t need to be polite, Commander.¡±

    ¡°<em>Hmm.</em>¡±

    Minhyuk looked at Park and saw his name and level pop up above his head.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s a soldier but his level is at Level 473¡­¡¯</em>

    Park was much stronger than any of the soldiers in Eivelis or Cordis Empire, so it was surprising.

    Minhyuk said, ¡°Then, let¡¯s do that.¡±

    Minhyuk wanted to cook chicken. It was mainly because he wanted to wee the soldiers that would apany him to the world of the ¡®<em>almighty chicken</em>¡¯. Of course, he also had his other reasons.

    ¡°You¡¯re a chef, right? So, why did you choose to take the trial of the Sword and Shield?¡± Park carefully asked Minhyuk.

    After thinking for a moment, Minhyuk answered, ¡°I might be a chef, but I¡¯m also very strong.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    Minhyuk only smiled at Park when he saw him looking at him in confusion. He looked at the soldiers helping him with cooking.

    ¡°I should also do my best since these handsome and dashing soldiers are helping me, right? I should at least give Sir Crusoe a good bashing in the head, what do you think?¡±

    ¡°That would be nice,¡± Park smiled as he answered. Deep inside though, he was feeling bitter. They might never get any chance of winning against Crusoe. He might be called the <em>Sword and Shield</em>, but he was also a man hailed as the ¡®<em>God of Tactics</em>¡¯. With the sound of the buff notifications, Minhyuk finallypleted cooking all of the chicken. Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°Centurion Park.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Commander.¡±

    ¡°Sir Crusoe¡¯s soldiers and the soldiers here have the same power, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°Since everyone¡¯s at the same level, what would happen if your strength and speed increased by around 14%, and your swordsmanship, spear techniques, and archery skills grew to the next level?¡±

    ¡°...If that happens, then we¡¯ll have the advantage in the early stages. But, that¡¯s impossible, right?¡±

    <em>¡®Why did he suddenly ask that after cooking a dish?¡¯</em>

    Park looked at Minhyuk in confusion. It seemed like he could not understand his train of thoughts. However, Minhyuk just smiled softly as he said, ¡°I¡¯m asking you this because it¡¯s possible.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s possible. And one more thing¡­¡±

    Minhyuk looked at the wide stretch ofnd where the trial would take ce. Once they went out of this safe zone, the monsters woulde out and attack them. He continued to survey thend before saying, ¡°We will move forward, but we will not hunt the boss monsters here.¡±

    ¡°...Wh¡­what in the world are you talking about?¡±

    Minhyuk grinned and said, ¡°We will make them our allies instead.¡±

    Park truly could not understand the wordsing out of Minhyuk¡¯s mouth. However, Minhyuk was already thinking about one of the Food God¡¯s secret skills. And this skill was none other than the ¡®<em>Allurer¡¯s Cooking¡¯.</em>

 Chapter 313: The Sword and Shieldâ€™s Trial

    Chapter 313: The Sword and Shield¡¯s Trial

    <em>(<strong>Allurer¡¯s Cooking</strong>)</em>

    <em>Active Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: 2</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty for Use</strong>: -2 to all stats.</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?You can create a recipe that the opponent wants to eat. There is a possibility of taming your opponent once they eat your food. The probability of taming will increase or decrease depending on various conditions.</em>

    <em>?Current number of avable uses: 3/3</em>

    The Allurer¡¯s Cooking skill was a skill that Minhyuk had received after feeding Riche, Kaistra¡¯s younger brother, andpleting the Food God¡¯s ss quest ¡®<em>To Have a Feast with Other People</em>¡¯. Minhyuk had only used this skill once before, when he tamed Baphomet Rune. After that one time, he identally increased its level by one. Thanks to the increase in level, the number of avable uses had refreshed and even the restriction regarding monsters and beings with a 100-level gap with him had also disappeared. Minhyuk only had one reason why he never used this amazing skill.

    <em>¡®Why would I even want to add more mouths to feed?¡¯</em>

    That was right. It did not matter how strong the monsters or the troops were, Minhyuk still did not like the idea of having more mouths to feed. So, he never used it. But¡­

    <em>¡®I may gain more mouths to feed but if the result of taming them will allow me to get that Heavenly Beef, then¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk would willingly take a step back just to take two steps forward! That was exactly what he wanted to do. However, Park just looked at him strangely, not knowing his thoughts. Minhyuk smiled as he watched the man leave. It did not matter if he did not know right now, they would find out soon enough.

    ¡°Since the food is ready, it¡¯s time for us to wee the almighty chicken.¡±

    ***

    Park and the rest of the troops had no other choice but to change their evaluation of Minhyuk in their hearts.

    <em>¡®Our strength and abilities really increased by 14% just because of the power of the almighty chicken¡­?¡¯ </em>

    <em>¡®How can this be¡­?¡¯ </em>

    <em>¡®From what I heard, the almighty chicken is an existence like a god. Maybe that¡¯s the reason why our powers increased?¡¯</em>

    All of them were in admiration after tasting the dish that Minhyuk had cooked for them. Minhyuk was even sharpening and polishing their armor and weapons, which increased their defense by 4% and their attack by 3%. But, was that all of it?

    <em>¡®I feel like my swordsmanship skill has increased by a level¡­¡¯ </em>

    <em>¡®My archery skills too¡­¡¯ </em>

    Even a simple level increase in skills would be able to bring about tremendous effects inbat and would be able to help them survive better. After all, the battlefield was a ce where survival or death could be determined in just a split second. Then, Park looked at the other team¡¯s progress.

    <em>[Crusoe. Hunting the first boss monster. Expired troops: 1. Injured troops: 5. Achievement: 23%]</em>

    <em>¡®Sir Crusoe is already trying to kill the first boss¡­¡¯ </em>

    On the other hand¡­

    <em>[Minhyuk. Located in the safe zone. Expired troops: 0. Injured troops: 0. Achievement: 0%]</em>

    ¡­they had not even started yet. This trial generally would give higher achievement to the team that could hunt the monsters faster. Just then, Minhyuk shouted, ¡°We¡¯re moving out!!!¡±

    ***

    The troops under Crusoe were still very energetic, despite finishing the hunt and killing the first boss monster. The soldiers could not help but look at Crusoe in admiration.

    <em>¡®As expected of Sir Crusoe¡­!¡¯ </em>

    <em>¡®Hundreds of years might have passed, but to still achieve minimal damage with only one dead and five injured¡­¡¯</em>

    The troops had deep faith in Crusoe. After all, the name <em>Sword and the Shield </em>was not wasted on him. Meanwhile, Crusoe was checking on Minhyuk¡¯s progress. The trial had a system that allowed each of the teams to check in and see what the other was doing every thirty minutes.

    ¡°<em>Eh?</em>¡± A dull voice somewhat came out of the majestic and dashing Crusoe. He could not understand what he was seeing.

    ¡°What¡¯s happening here?¡±

    <em>[Minhyuk. Shoveling. Expired troops: 0. Injured troops: 0. Achievement: 0%]</em>

    ¡°Shoveling¡­?¡± Crusoe asked. He was left confused after reading that Minhyuk was doing his best to shovel.

    ***

    Park and the other soldiers were a bit excited after hearing that they would move out. They might have been disappointed in Minhyuk the first time they saw him, but after being fed such an amazing dish, their views changed. However, after walking forward quite a bit, they saw Minhyuk suddenly take something out. The item was none other than a shovel.

    <em>Dig, dig, dig, dig¨D</em>

    Then, he quickly started shoveling.

    ¡°You guys should dig too!¡±

    ¡°<em>Ah. </em>Yes, yessir!¡±

    The soldiers immediately started digging after hearing Minhyuk¡¯s orders. This happened while Crusoe was hunting his first boss monster. However, the soldiers were shocked to see how Minhyuk worked.

    <em>¡®Gasp¡­ He just tapped his shovel on the ground, but the ground was easily dug just like that? And it¡¯s even deep?!!!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Is he the Sh¡­Shoveling God?!¡¯</em>

    Whenever Minhyuk brought his shovel down, the ground would be easily dug up. It seemed like the ground was much softer wherever he struck his shovel. His shoveling skills were so good that the troops were all shocked.

    ¡°Shovel over there!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    The soldiers felt that what they were doing was strange, but they still followed orders well and shoveled hard. Then, Park asked, ¡°Why are we shoveling? If we continue doing this, we will definitely lose to Sir Crusoe.¡±

    Park knew that they would be as good as dead if they did not proceed with the trial. They did not need to fight, but Minhyuk would not be able to pass the trial. In the first ce, did he even want to pass the trial? Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°We¡¯re going to lure them.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Park asked, still not understanding. Meanwhile, Minhyuk was already moving on to another topic.

    ¡°Are there any soldiers who¡¯s worked in reconnaissance here?¡±

    ¡°Me!¡±

    ¡°I did!¡±

    ¡°Me too!¡±

    The soldiers that worked in that position answered one after the other.

    ¡°You guyse with me. The rest of the troops continue shoveling here.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    Ten quick-footed soldiers went forward and approached Minhyuk.

    ¡°We will quickly check what monsters are in the vicinity and retreat without being noticed.¡±

    ¡°We understand.¡±

    Minhyuk and the soldiers moved together to scout. The first monster that they saw was¡­

    <em>¡®Iron Armored Orc Warrior.¡¯</em>

    The Iron Armored Orc Warrior was gigantic, with its entire body made with iron and they looked much scarier than ordinary orc warriors. Catching sight of the monster, Minhyuk immediately used his ¡®Create a Recipe¡¯ skill.

    <em>[Creating a recipe that the other party desires.]</em>

    <em>[You can now check the recipe for raw meat.]</em>

    <em>[The amount of buff that can be used has been decreased due to creating a recipe.]</em>

    Then, he said, ¡°Let¡¯s fall back before that guy notices our presence!¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    Just like that, Minhyuk used his ¡®Create a Recipe¡¯ skill whenever they passed by a monster. Minhyuk willingly used it after he found a very familiar nt in the area.

    <em>(<strong>Scent Flower</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Material Grade</strong>: D</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>: The smell of the food will be amplified and spread widely once sprinkled on top of any dish.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: The scent flower is amon flower in Athenae. You can use it to bully and harass other monsters and users by sprinkling it on top of stinky food.</em>

    The flower was abundant andmon, but it was something that the users had usually neglected. However, it would be useful for his n. The moment Minhyuk returned with the reconnaissance team, he began cooking ording to the recipes that he created. His n was something simple. After cooking, he threw the food into the deep and wide pit that they dug earlier. Then, he sprinkled a lot of scent flower on top of the food before quickly retreating with his troops. Minhyuk and his troops hid behind the bushes and waited. Then¡­

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud¨D</em>

    The ground trembled as the sounds of loud thuds of feet running got closer to where they were. More than fifty iron armored orc warriors appeared, alongside Lv450 monsters that looked like eagles which could not fly, only walking on two feet. These monsters jumped into the pit one after the other, enticed by the smell wafting from deep inside.

    ¡°<em>Chwiiik. </em>I¡¯ll eat those!!!¡±

    ¡°<em>Chwiiik!</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Ppiii! </em>No, I will!!!¡±

    The monsters pushed each other away trying to get into the pit somehow. However, there were a few exceptions. They were one of the monsters that Minhyuk was watching out for, the Steel Owlbears! Despite smelling the enticing and tantalizing scent, the steel owlbears still did not move.

    <em>¡®So, they¡¯re the exception.¡¯</em>

    So, what would happen after most of the iron armored orc warriors and the eagles had already jumped inside the pit? Minhyuk loved cooking and eating and he always kept tons of ingredients in his inventory. He always bought ingredients to the point that the stores would run out of ingredients once he went to shop. And, Minhyuk also always kept a lot of oil in his inventory.

    ¡°Charge forward! Throw the oil into the pit and set it on fire!!! Take care of those trying to climb over!!!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± The soldiers answered loudly and moved quickly.

    <em>Stab!</em>

    The soldiers wielding spears skillfully stabbed the monsters that had not entered yet, while the archers shot their bows from behind.

    <em>¡®I¡¯ve definitely be stronger¡­¡¯ </em>

    <em>¡®My arrow¡¯s hit rate went up by a lot!¡¯</em>

    They clearly knew that this was because of Minhyuk¡¯s cooking. Then, the troops threw oil into the pit¡­

    <em>Drip, drip, drip, drip!</em>

    ¡­before setting fire on it.

    <em>Crackle¨D</em>

    ¡°<em>Chwiiik!</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Heuaaack!</em>¡±

    The soldiers continued to stab and shoot the monsters trying toe out of the pit with their spears and arrows. Meanwhile, Minhyuk took out Diablo¡¯s Sword and changed it into ¡®Diablo¡¯s Scythe¡¯, altering the shape of the sword into that of a scythe with chains.

    <em>Rattle! </em>

    His scythe moved quickly. At that moment, an iron armored orc was trying to jump out with its ax after one of the soldiers, Lerode, set it on fire.

    <em>Rattle!</em>

    <em>Stab!</em>

    <em>[Intangible Sword.]</em>

    <em>[Your sword strike has ignored all of the enemy¡¯s defenses.]</em>

    Then, the scythe moving freely around flew straight towards the neck of the iron armored orc, immediately killing it in one blow. Minhyuk took care of the monsters running around and trying to attack the soldiers. However, it did not end there. He also shot arrows with the bow on his back like a <em>godly archer.</em>

    ¡°<em>Wow¡­</em>¡±

    ¡°This¡­this is shocking¡­¡± One of the soldiers said while the rest of the soldiers looked at him in shock.

    <em>¡®We have also gotten stronger but¡­¡¯ </em>

    <em>¡®The Commander¡¯s skills are jaw dropping¡­¡¯ </em>

    <em>¡®He appeared silently like a ghost and saved me when I was in danger!!!¡¯</em>

    Park shuddered when he saw Minhyuk fight. He thought, <em>¡®M¡­mother¡­ Per¡­perhaps I will be able to see my mother again.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was someone who knew how to deal with people. So, he deliberately turned to Park and asked, ¡°Centurion, how about our men? Are there any injuries?¡±

    ¡°Th¡­there¡¯s none so far.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Just as I¡¯ve expected.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    His words were filled with confidence. The troops trembled at his words. <em>Just as expected. </em>In other words, he was certain that this would happen.

    <em>¡®Sir Crusoe¡¯s troops had one dead and five injured, but¡­¡¯ </em>

    <em>¡®He has excellent buffed dishes and can make tactics based on the terrain! He also has outstanding individual skills and abilities. Even his ability to handle the troops is surprising!!!¡¯ </em>

    <em>¡®And when he was cooking earlier, he did not even order us to help. He just believed that we would take the initiative and help him!!¡¯</em>

    All of the soldiers were in awe as their bodies continued to tremble.

    <em>[The soldiers¡¯ morale has increased dramatically.]</em>

    <em>[The soldiers have put their trust in you and will follow you.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained the trust of the unit hailed as the best unit in the continent, the As¡¯ ¡®Death Corps¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 50 CHA.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 100 REP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 7,000,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    Minhyuk received unexpected, but weed, rewards. It was at this moment that Minhyuk gained the full trust of the soldiers. Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°After hunting the steel owlbears, we will move forward and tame the boss monster!!!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!!!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!!!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!!!¡±

    Minhyuk and his troops finally began to advance.

    ***

    ¡°<em>Oh?</em>¡±

    Crusoe¡¯s interest was piqued when he saw Minhyuk¡¯s achievement jump up to a very high level from when he just saw him shoveling earlier.

    <em>¡®26%.¡¯</em>

    Despite them being the one to move out first, Minhyuk and his troops were still able to take the lead on them. This was because they did not incur any death or injuries.

    <em>¡®There are no deaths or injuries among them. That¡¯s a bit surprising, huh? But they¡¯re a little slow.¡¯</em>

    Their progress was definitely slow whenpared to Crusoe and his troops¡¯ progress. After all, they were already in the middle of the second stage while Minhyuk and his troops were still trying to hunt their first boss monster. Crusoe moved carefully and cautiously with his troops. They already had one dead and five injured soldiers, so they needed to move cautiously to make up for that loss! Then, Crusoe thought, <em>¡®Hunting the first boss is not easy.¡¯</em>

    It was the monster that made him lose one soldier and caused his men to incur injuries. The first boss monster was none other than a Twin Headed Ogre. The biggest problem in dealing with this monster was the fact that it hadpletely different abilitiespared to the regr twin headed ogres. In fact, there were two things that made it differ from the other twin headed ogres. First, it had the skill ¡®Summon Ogres¡¯ which allowed it to summon other ogres. And, its second skill was ¡®Cure¡¯, which could help the summoned ogres and allies recover and heal their wounds rapidly just by being near the twin headed ogre. Then, at that moment¡­

    ¡°<em>Huh?</em>¡± Crusoe tilted his head in confusion at the strange words that appeared in front of him.

    <em>[Minhyuk. Taming the First Boss Monster. Expired troops: 0. Injured troops: 0. Achievement: 26%]</em>

    Crusoe¡¯s eyes widened in shock after understanding the situation of his opponent.

    ¡°<em>Gasp!!!</em>¡± He let out a loud gasp at the unexpected situation that unfolded in front of him.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s taming it?!!!¡¯</em>

    That was impossible.

    ¡®<em>Isn¡¯t he a chef?!! So, why does he have the monster taming ability?¡¯</em>

    Crusoe¡¯s pupils shook at the thought that shed in his head.

    <em>¡®If¡­ what if¡­ what if he seeds in taming the twin headed ogre?¡¯</em>

    He was sure that something more incredulous would happen by then. The twin headed ogre¡¯s special ability allowed it to heal its allies nearby. What would happen if this very same twin headed ogre was sessfully tamed?

    <em>¡®It will definitely heal the wounds and injuries that Minhyuk and his troops will incur. In other words, they will be able to move forward quickly without sustaining any damages, right?¡¯</em>

    Something really ridiculous would definitely happen once he seeded.

 Chapter 314: The Sword and Shieldâ€™s Trial

    Chapter 314: The Sword and Shield¡¯s Trial

    Minhyuk and his soldiers fought very hard in the first boss area.

    ¡°Fluttering Sword.¡±

    Minhyuk used ¡®Fluttering Sword¡¯ and sent an attack towards the dozens of ogres that flocked to him and his men. The hundreds of leaves that fluttered around flew straight toward the ogres, killing them as they went.

    ¡°Charge!!!¡± Centurion Park ordered loudly as he raised his sword high and charged forward. The Twin Headed Ogre living in the first boss area had a special recovery skill, so they needed to hunt it quickly, or it would recover immediately and the rest of the orges could even recover as well.

    <em>Stab! Stab! </em>

    <em>sh¨D</em>

    <em>Stab!</em>

    The soldiers stabbed the ogres until they were bleeding, left with only an inch to their lives. However, the ogres immediately ran towards the Twin Headed Ogre in desperation. Before they could do so, Minhyuk had changed Diablo¡¯s Sword into Diablo¡¯s Scythe and attacked them.

    <em>sh¨D</em>

    <em>sh¨D</em>

    An additional 180% to the attack speed would be added to Diablo¡¯s Sword the moment it transformed into Diablo¡¯s Scythe. Its reach would also increase to eight meters, thanks to the chains attached to the end of the scythe. This allowed Minhyuk to ughter the ogres from behind. In the end, only the Twin Headed Ogre was left. It could summon more ogres with its skill, but it was a skill nheless, and would have a cooldown.

    ¡°<em>Grrrr!</em>¡±

    The <em>Twin Headed Ogre </em>cried loudly as it watched the man while holding a thick chain in its hand and an ax on the other. On the other hand, Minhyuk was using his Create a Recipe skill.

    <em>[Creating a recipe that the other party desires.]</em>

    <em>[You can now check the recipe for roasted pig.]</em>

    <em>[The amount of buff that can be used has been decreased due to creating a recipe.]</em>

    Minhyuk grimaced when he saw the created recipe. He thought, <em>¡®Damn bastard. It¡¯s just a monster but it wants a whole roasted pig¡­?¡¯</em>

    Of course, Minhyuk had at least one whole pig in his inventory. If he so decided, he could eat more than this Twin Headed Ogre bas¡­ <em>no¡­ </em>guy. However, this guy wanted an entire pig by itself, not just a small bowl of food.

    <em>¡®Ugh. I feel like I¡¯m carving my flesh and bones¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk really hated this, but he had no other choice. He would only be able to eat the Heavenly Beef if he did this.

    ¡°Everyone, stop that guy as much as you can, but don¡¯t kill him. Rune, Beanie!¡±

    ¡°<em>Oink!</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Meeeeeeeeh!</em>¡±

    ¡°Help the soldiers whenever they are in danger. Rune, be prepared for magic casting and don¡¯t forget to use it!¡±

    ¡°<em>Meeeeeeeeh!</em>¡± Rune cried in answer.

    Then, Minhyuk began to prepare for the whole roasted pig. He ced appropriate amounts of cuts to the pig¡¯s skin and meat and seasoned it. Since it would be barbecued, he did his best and roasted over a fire to give it the best vor.

    <em>¡®Ugh. I can¡¯t believe I am giving my best efforts when I¡¯m not the one who¡¯s going to eat it¡­¡¯</em>

    After around fifty minutes, the roasted pork was finallypleted. Minhyuk reached his hand out towards the roasted pork as he thought to himself, ¡®<em>Allurer¡¯s Cooking.¡¯</em>

    <em>[The effect of ¡®Allurer¡¯s Cooking¡¯ has been triggered.]</em>

    <em>[You can tame a monster depending on various unpredictable factors in a monster like vor preference and hunger.]</em>

    Toplete the <em>Allurer¡¯s Cooking</em>, Minhyuk had to apply cooking energy into the dish that he made using the ¡®<em>Create a Recipe¡¯</em> skill.

    ¡°<em>Roaaaar</em><em>!</em>¡± The Twin Headed Ogre roared loudly.

    Thanks to Beanie and Rune¡¯s timely support, no serious injuries or death had happened yet. Minhyuk would also swing Diablo¡¯s Scythe every once in a while to protect the soldiers from danger.

    <em>Thud¨D</em>

    Minhyuk dropped the finished whole roasted pig in front of the Twin Headed Ogre and ordered his men to retreat. The soldiers immediately rushed to the rear at Minhyuk¡¯s order. The roasted pig had just finished cooking, so its skin was still bubbling with hot oil. The sight made Minhyuk drool, wanting to rush up and cut up the pig¡¯s sulent butt and dip it into some spicy dipping sauce. While Minyuk was imagining himself tearing into the whole roasted pig¡­

    <em>Poof~</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    The Twin Headed Ogre kicked the roasted pig away.

    ¡®<em>Gasp!</em>¡¯ All of the soldiers gasped at the shocking scene, while Beanie and Rune trembled in fear.

    ¡°<em>Oink, oink, oink, </em><em>oink</em><em>. Oink!!!</em>¡± Beanie¡¯s words could be directly interpreted as¡­ <em>¡®Master is going to be angry!!! My goodness. That Twin Headed Ogre must really want to die. Oink!!! How dare it kick food in front </em><em>of master</em><em>¡­¡¯ </em>

    ¡°<em>Meeh, meeeh, meeeeeeeh!!!</em>¡± Tranting Rune¡¯s words¡­ <em>¡®I¡­ I think the Twin Headed Ogre might only have one head in the future! Master will definitely pull out one of its heads, meeeeeeh!!!¡¯ </em>

    ¡°...<em>Grrr?</em>¡± The Twin Headed Ogre let out a confused roar after feeling an incredible amount of killing intent burst out from one of the humans in front of it.

    ¡°Did you¡­ just¡­ kick¡­ the food¡­?¡±

    ¡°<em>Grr, Grrrrr¡­</em>¡±

    The Twin Headed Ogre unknowingly took a step back. That was when Minhyuk realized something that he had not thought of before. There was no guarantee that the dishes made with Allurer¡¯s Cooking would be eaten by monsters with relish. However, even if that was the case, it still should not have kicked it. Then, a brilliant idea shed in Minhyuk¡¯s head. He thought, <em>¡®If you don¡¯t want to eat it, then I¡¯ll just have to make you eat it.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk hid Diablo¡¯s Scythe in his inventory.

    <em>¡®The Twin Headed Ogre is roughly at Level 532.¡¯</em>

    The guy was much more powerful than any other ordinary Twin Headed Ogres. The fact that it could summon ogres and help them recover made it into a difficult opponent. However, whenpared to Minhyuk?

    <em>¡®My strength is still enough to overwhelm it.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk dashed forward with just his bare hands. He quickly dodged to the side when the Twin Headed Ogre aimed for his head with its ax.

    <em>Bang¨D</em>

    Minhyuk fist smashed into the Twin Headed Ogre¡¯s hand that was holding its weapon. The difference in their builds was all too clear. However, if youpare Minhyuk and the Twin Headed Ogre¡¯s stats, Minhyuk would be the one on top.

    ¡°<em>Keuaaaack!</em>¡± The Twin Headed Ogre shrieked loudly. However, Minhyuk still continued to attack the monster¡¯s right hand.

    <em>Punch, punch, punch, punch¨D</em>

    ¡°<em>Keuaaaack!</em>¡±

    <em>ng!</em>

    In the end, the Twin Headed Ogre was forced to drop the weapon in its hands. Minhyuk immediately threw the ax further away from where they were. yers were not allowed to take the monsters¡¯ weapons. However, they could still make it so that the monster would not be able to use it in their fight. Though, most yers would not think of taking away the monster¡¯s weapon during a fight. After all, it was better for them to just kill the monsters, than expend the effort to do that. After Minhyuk threw the ax away, he immediately targeted the Twin Headed Ogre¡¯s left hand.

    <em>Punch, punch, punch, punch!</em>

    Just like what happened with the ax, the Twin Headed Ogre lost its grip on the chain which allowed Minhyuk to take it and throw it away. Now, the Twin Headed Ogre was left with no weapons. What Minhyuk did next was very simple¡­

    <em>Punch, punch, punch, punch¨D</em>

    Minhyuk picked the most painful areas of the body as he began to beat the Twin Headed Ogre to a pulp.

    ¡°You!!!!¡±

    ¡°<em>Roaaaaar</em><em>!</em>¡±

    <em>Punch, punch, punch!!</em>

    ¡°Should have eaten the food!!!¡±

    ¡°<em>Keuaaaack!</em>¡±

    <em>Punch, punch, punch!!</em>

    ¡°Why did you kick it away?!!!¡±

    ¡°<em>Aaaack!</em>¡±

    The Twin Headed Ogre could not understand why the human was doing this to itself. Both of its heads squirmed and roared, trying to talk and negotiate with the human.

    ¡°<em>Keuaaack! (Let¡¯s fight with weapons! Why are you doing this?!)</em>¡±

    <em>Punch, punch, punch!</em>

    ¡°<em>Keuaaaack! (Wait, that¡¯s my bone! My bone!!!)</em>¡±

    <em>Punch, punch, punch!</em>

    ¡°<em>Keuaaaack! (Don¡¯t hit me where you¡¯ve already hit!)</em>¡±

    But Minhyuk did not care. He even used his skills whenever he attacked the Twin Headed Ogre.

    <em>[Diablo¡¯s Eyes.]</em>

    <em>[You will be able to see the enemy¡¯s vital points for one second.]</em>

    <em>[If you sessfully hit a vital point that Diablo¡¯s eyes found within 30 seconds, an additional 200% damage will be added to your attack.]</em>

    The Twin Headed Ogre had a total of three vital points. If Minhyuk sessfully punched any one of them, his attacks would gain an additional 200% damage. And since the skill was still being triggered due to the speed of his punches, the additional damage effect continued to ovep. Minhyuk first sent an attack towards the Twin Headed Ogre¡¯s stomach.

    <em>Punch¨D</em>

    ¡°<em>Keuaaaack! (Pl¡­please stop!!!)</em>¡±

    <em>Punch!</em>

    Then, he punched it on its neck.

    ¡°<em>Keuaaaaack!</em><em>(Gasp, break! Wait, wait! Hold on, not there!!!)</em>¡±

    And finally, on its most important body part¡­

    <em>Bang!</em>

    ¡°<em>Keuheoook</em><em>! (It exp¡­explo¡­)</em>¡±

    A loud bang rang loudly in the area. Minhyuk hesitated for a bit. He was also a man and he knew this pain too well. In fact, even the sound was a bit unusual. It sounded like something exploded. But not long after¡­

    <em>[The Twin Headed Ogre expressed its special skill.]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s injuries have started to recover.]</em>

    ¡­It just recovered again. And Minhyuk, who had paused in hesitation, once again¡­

    <em>Punch, punch, punch, punch!</em>

    ¡°<em>Grrrrrrr!</em>¡±

    And¡­

    <em>Bang!</em>

    ¡°<em>Keuaaaack! (Again, it explo¡­)</em>¡±

    The terrible tragedy unfolded again.

    ***

    ¡°<em>Ugh¡­</em>¡±

    Park and the other soldiers averted their eyes. They could not bear to look at the appalling scene in front of them.

    ¡°It seems like the Commander is really cold-hearted.¡±

    ¡°H¡­how can he be so cruel¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh my god. Did you hear the sound? It went <em>bang!</em>...¡±

    Although they knew that it would not happen to them, they still thought that they should listen more carefully to theirmander from now on. While they were busy shaking in fear, the Twin Headed Ogre suddenly did something unexpected. It immediately jumped up and ran to where the roasted pig fell after it kicked it off the ground. Then, it kneeled down, picked it up with reverence, and carefully ate it.

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    The Twin Headed Ogre knelt politely and ate the pork barbecue! It was the strangest sight that they could ever see in their lives. At that moment, the notification rang in Minhyuk¡¯s head.

    <em>[The Allurer¡¯s Cooking has been sessful.]</em>

    <em>[You have sessfully tamed the Twin Headed Ogre.]</em>

    Meanwhile, the Twin Headed Ogre, who was trying to keep its tears from falling, ate to survive.

    <em>¡®It hurts, but it¡¯s delicious¡­¡¯ </em>

    That was right. It definitely hurt a lot being pummeled like that, but as it turned out, the roasted pig that it was eating was extremely delicious. Just like that, Minhyuk tamed the first boss and moved quickly once again.

    ***

    Several teams had once again gathered in the Special yers Management Team. The Team Leaders from the Development Team, Story Team, and even the Customer Center Team had gathered together.

    ¡°N¡­No¡­ Can he really use this method to tame monsters?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s like in that one ssic game where you hit the fox with your bare hands and lower their HP before feeding them meat to tame them¡­¡±

    Then, Lee Minhwa said, ¡°yer Minhyuk has moved forward to the second area without sustaining any damage to his troops!!¡±

    In the second area, Crusoe sustained great damage. He and his troops had three injured, with two dead. On the other hand, Minhyuk¡­

    ¡°It would be impossible for them to receive damage!!¡±

    It was inevitable. After all, they had the Twin Headed Ogre¡¯s special ability! Just with its ability to restore and help its allies recover, their damage had already been minimized. And since they were moving carefully, they did not have any deaths among them. On top of that, Minhyuk was also using the Twin Headed Ogre¡¯s special ability to summon ogres cleverly. He used the Twin Headed Ogre and the ogres as tankers, while the rest used their spears and bows from behind. Minhyuk also used Diablo¡¯s Scythe to help them around. In the end, the second boss¡­

    ¡°Pl¡­ yer Minhyuk seeded in taming the second boss monster, Harpie Queen¡­¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Minhyuk seeded for the second time. The Harpie Queen had the petrification ability like the ordinary harpies, but it was a bit more special. Ordinary petrification ability would not allow the enemies to suffer any damage once they had hardened into stone. However, the Harpie Queen¡¯s petrification ability could also allow the enemies to receive damage, despite being petrified. It also could dorge-scale petrification.

    After sessfully taming two boss monsters, the damage that Minhyuk and his troops incurred were further reduced. In the third area, the Harpie Queen petrified the enemy monsters, while the Twin Headed Ogre and ogres rushed to destroy them. All the soldiers did was to shoot their arrows from behind.

    ¡°...yer Minhyuk has already gone beyond Crusoe¡¯s achievement level.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...N¡­no way¡­¡±

    All of the Team Leaders were left frustrated. It seemed that the content, that should only have been released around one to two yearster, was more or less confirmed to be released right now. This meant that they would definitely have to work overtime.

    Then, Team Leader Park said, ¡°But, even if the trial is triggered, his probability of sessfully clearing the Food God¡¯s trial is only at 2%. Right?¡±

    ¡°Ah.<em></em>That¡¯s right,¡± Team Leader Lee Seokhoon smiled as he answered.

    <em>That was right! He only has a 2% chance of clearing the trial!</em>

    ¡°Well, it doesn¡¯t seem like he has any special helper present right now.¡±

    yer Minhyuk could have one helper during the trial. However, even with the help of such a person, the probability was still at 2%.

    ¡°But, I wonder what kind of helper will yer Minhyuk call for?¡± Team Leader Lee Seokhoon asked.

    However, after thinking hard, Team Leader Park just shrugged his shoulders and answered, ¡°Who knows?¡±

    ***

    Near the Dragon King¡¯s Sea, a boy and a beautiful woman could be seen moving at a rapid pace.

    ¡°Conir!!! Conir and Noona will be able to see Hyung soon!!! Conir is happy, Conir will be seeing Hyung soon!¡±

    The woman stroked the boy¡¯s head. She was none other than Mei Wei, the world¡¯s number one yer.

    <em>¡®Are we almost there?¡¯ </em>Mei Wei thought, while smiling slightly at the fact that she would be able to meet with Food God Minhyuk soon.

 Chapter 315: The Sword and Shieldâ€™s Trial

    Chapter 315: The Sword and Shield¡¯s Trial

    Crusoe was currently sporting an incredulous expression on his face. He had finished the trial faster than Minhyuk, and was currently resting with his troops. Those who had finished the trial were given the privilege to peek through what their opponent was doing through a crystal ball. This was Crusoe¡¯s result¡­

    <em>[Crusoe. Completed the Trial. Expired troops: 19. Injured troops: 23. Achievement: 71%]</em>

    His achievement had reached 71%! This trial might be conducted by Crusoe, but he did not know of its contents until Minhyuk challenged it. In fact, the one who set this trial was the previous territory master, the Food God. For this trial, an achievement of 71% was already considered to be a very high record. However, Crusoe could only stare in shock and disbelief after seeing Minhyuk¡¯s achievement.

    <em>[Minhyuk. Hunting the Final Boss Monster. Expired troops: 0. Injured troops: 0. Achievement: 85%]</em>

    ¡°...N¡­no. This doesn¡¯t even make sense, right?¡± Crusoe asked. He was left speechless after checking the crystal ball. Minhyuk did not have any dead nor injured members in his troops. This waspletely nonsensical.

    Only after looking through the crystal ball did Crusoe understand how that result came to be. In front of Minhyuk, stood dozens of ogres acting as tankers with the Harpie Queen. In the rear, stood the soldiers shooting their arrows and thrusting their spears to kill the monsters. Minhyuk was also freely attacking his enemies using his chained scythe. His reach was so far that he could even attack monsters seven meters away from him. And his skills were also very powerful! His sword could create hundreds of sword lights to attack the boss monster. Not long after¡­

    <em>Thud¨D</em>

    The boss monsters copsed without being able to let out a scream. The notification rang right after that.

    <em>[Minhyuk. Finished hunting the Final Boss Monster. Expired troops: 0. Injured troops: 0. Achievement: 93%]</em>

    <em>¡®...This¡­this is crazy!¡¯</em>

    A 93% achievement was high enough to make Crusoe speechless. Just then, Crusoe and his surviving troops were warped somewhere else.

    ***

    <em>[You have sessfully hunted the final boss monster.]</em>

    <em>[The Sword and Shield Trial has ended.]</em>

    <em>[Your achievement has reached 93% and has overwhelmingly surpassed Crusoe¡¯s achievement.]</em>

    Minhyuk nodded in satisfaction after hearing the notification. He wanted to have a higher achievement than Crusoe so he could proceed with the Food God¡¯s Hidden Trial. After all, he would be able to obtain the Heavenly Beef once hepleted this hidden trial.

    ¡°We did it!!!¡±

    ¡°None of us died!!!¡±

    ¡°<em>Uwooooooooooh!!!</em>¡±

    All of the soldiers cheered loudly the moment the trial ended. It was because they would be able to live in As for a day if they survived the trial. Even Park could not control his joy. Minhyuk tried to tell them that another trial was going to proceed, but before he could do so¡­

    <em>[The Hidden Trial will now begin.]</em>

    <em>[Crusoe and all of the soldiers will be warped again.]</em>

    <em>[The trial is a ¡®Siege Battle¡¯.] </em>

    <em>[Protect As¡¯ Castle Verdo for two hours.]</em>

    <em>¡®A siege battle¡­?¡¯ </em>Minhyuk thought in confusion. But then¡­

    ¡°<em>Waaaaaaah!!!¡±</em>

    ¡°Stop them!!!¡±

    ¡°Stop them from climbing the walls!!!¡±

    The vision in front of him changed. Minhyuk could not understand what was happening. Thankfully, an exnation popped out as a notification.

    <em>[As was originally owned by the Food God.]</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

    Minhyuk had been wondering why the Food God¡¯s trial was hidden here but these words had solved his confusion.

    <em>[But one day, the Maestro of Destruction invaded, wanting to take ownership of the legendary territory, As. The Maestro of Destruction sessfully took away the ownership of the territory. The situation right now is a part of the battle back then. Please protect As territory from the enemies.]</em>

    <em>[You will receive a reward if you sessfully protect As from the enemies.]</em>

    <em>[The trial¡¯s challenger can choose one, and only one, helper.]</em>

    <em>[You can recruit a helper even if they¡¯re not your guild member or guild ally, as long as they are in As territory.]</em>

    <em>[You will be unable to be As¡¯s true owner if you fail this hidden trial.]</em>

    <em>[To you, who wants to be the true owner of As, prove that you have the greatness of being a king.]</em>

    <em>¡®A helper?¡¯ </em>Minhyuk thought. He immediately looked around. The troops that fought alongside him, as well as the troops that fought with Crusoe were all present. But there were also soldiers that he did not know of. The ones he did not know of had their names and levels popping above their heads.

    <em>[Hans. Level 474]</em>

    Crusoe hurriedly approached him and asked, ¡°How did this hidden trial appear¡­¡±

    Crusoe looked like he was in despair as he watched the enemy troops appear. The enemies all had ck robes covering their bodies as they rode on horses made of bones. Suddenly, deafening explosions rang loudly in the area.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang! </em>

    <em>[The ramparts¡¯ durability has decreased to 132,136.] </em>

    <em>[The ramparts¡¯ durability has decreased to 113,478.] </em>

    The enemies attacked the ramparts. Minhyuk was confused at the sudden changes presented in front of him. However, he was able toe back to his senses quickly.

    ¡°Sir Crusoe!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re themander here, please don¡¯t speak politely with me!¡±

    ¡°Crusoe! What kind of enemies do we have?!¡± Minhyuk asked, waiting for a briefing as he walked quickly.

    Crusoe realized what he was asking as he followed next to him and gave him a quick briefing, ¡°Our enemies are the Maestro of Destruction¡¯s underlings. The Maestro of Destruction was the one who unified the entire continent through force. He has strong troops.¡±

    ¡°How much damage did the enemy incur and how much damage was taken whilst protecting the territorial castle?¡±

    ¡°Back then, all of the troops guarding the territorial castle were annihted while the enemy troops only incurred 20% damage.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Minhyuk turned to Crusoe in shock.

    ¡°Back then, I was the only legendary figure in the territory. The Food God has also passed away and the enemy¡¯s military force¡­¡±

    After walking for quite a while, Minhyuk finally reached the ramparts. And that was when he saw it.

    ¡°...What is this? Isn¡¯t this too overwhelming?¡± Minhyuk asked, frowning. Just like how he could do it with allies, it was also possible for him to check the level of the enemy¡¯s troops. So, Minhyuk checked the enemies dashing forward with ck robe covering their heads!

    <em>[Dark Knight. Level 513.]</em>

    The average level of their enemies was above 500. Then, Minhyuk turned towards the upper left corner of his vision. There, he saw the number of his allies and his enemies.

    <em>[Number of Enemies: 2,135]</em>

    <em>[Number of Allies: 1,735]</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Ugh, aaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°For As territory!!!¡±

    ¡°For As!!!¡±

    The soldiers shouted loudly, determined to face death to protect their territory. They were soldiers who would not back down and face a glorious death to protect what they love. The average level of his troops was around 470. There were a few elites who were around 530. On the contrary, their enemies¡¯ average level was around 500, while their elites were at around 550. There was an overwhelming difference. One might say that it was just a difference of 20~30 levels, but that difference had a great influence inrge-scale battles. What was worse was the fact that their enemies were already at an advantage in terms of numbers. And¡­

    ¡°Your king is already dead!!! We will spare you if you swear your allegiance to us!!!¡±

    <em>[The ¡®Maestro of Destruction¡¯ has appeared!!!]</em>

    <em>[The Tyrant that unified the entire continent in the past!]</em>

    <em>[The person who sessfully hunts the Maestro of Destruction will receive a reward.]</em>

    <em>[Maestro of Destruction. Level 664.]</em>

    ¡°Stop speaking bullshit!!!¡±

    ¡°Even if I end up getting a de down my throat, I won¡¯t let you have this territory!!!¡±

    ¡°Attack! Forward!!!¡±

    Despite his words, none of the soldiers surrendered. The Maestro of Destruction was wearing a ck, full te armor, with a pitch-ck sword in hand. He also had a ck robe covering his horned helmet.

    ¡°Then, death is the only thing that awaits you!¡± The Maestro of Destruction said while brandishing his sword. Then¡­

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    ¡­a powerful force mmed into the ramparts and devoured the soldiers, killing a lot of them in an instant.

    <em>[More than 2% of your troops had died.]</em>

    Minhyuk muttered to himself, ¡°Was this created¡­ for me to clear?¡±

    ***

    <em>[Was this created¡­ for me to clear?]</em>

    Team Leader Lee Seokhoon looked bitter after hearing Minhyuk mutter to himself.

    ¡°It was created for you¡­ but it wasn¡¯t meant for you to clear it now¡­¡±

    That was right. If he had received these quests as scheduled, which would have been around one to two yearster, his strength would have been enough to challenge the trial. Minhyuk¡¯s 2% probability of winning would have been at least 50%. But right now, Minnhyuk¡¯s level was too low.

    ¡°We¡¯ll have to give yer Minhyuk a reward after this.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right. In a way, this can be considered to be a bnce breaker. The fact that yer Minhyuk can reach and awaken a trial that should not be awakened yet means that yer Minhyuk is good enough to put us in this embarrassing situation. This is totally our fault,¡± President Kang Taehoon said, shaking his head.

    ¡°I think we can give yer Minhyuk the rewards that he had obtained so far from the Sword and Shield trial and the Small World Tree growing in As territory.¡±

    ¡°I believe that¡¯s enoughpensation too.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. This is our own fault, but we have to make sure that yer Minhyuk does not get too much damage as possible. Let¡¯s have a separate meeting for this.¡±

    Just like that, they had confirmed that Minhyuk had already failed in his trial, even though it had not started yet.

    <em>¡®Why are they saying that he¡¯s definitely going to fail?¡¯</em>

    Meanwhile, Lee Minhwa was feeling both sad and irritated at all of the people present in the room. Team Leader Lee Seokhoon said that there was a 2% chance of winning. But what if Minhyuk pulled off a miracle and grabbed that 2% winning chance? Then, a notification popped up on the monitor.

    <em>[yer Minhyuk has moved to As territory to pick a helper.]</em>

    Minhyuk was now trying to choose a helper. Once he tried to choose a helper, time in the trial would be suspended for a while inside the trial and Minhyuk would be able to enter the territory to find a helper. The helper could be an NPC or a yer, anyone could be possible.

    ¡°Who¡¯s in As territory right now?¡±

    ¡°Are you talking about the yers?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    <em>Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap¨D</em>

    Lee Minhwa¡¯s fingers tapped on the keyboard quickly. However, her expression turned strange quickly. She said, ¡°I think all the members of Legend Guild are not online right now?¡±

    ¡°<em>Huh?</em> Weren¡¯t they all there just yesterday?¡±

    The Special yers Management Team did not know, but today was the day that Legend Guild gathered together in reality to have a serious meeting. In fact, today was the day for the Legend Guild to discuss delegating the guild master¡¯s authority to Minhyuk.

    ¡°Then, are there only NPCs?¡± President Kang Taehoon mumbled to himself.

    Suddenly, Employee Lee Minhwa tilted her head and asked, ¡°Huh? Who¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°A person?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I think it¡¯s a woman? There¡¯s also a kid next to her! Wait, what? Why do I think that the woman looks familiar¡­?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± Lee Minhwa asked dumbly as she immediately zoomed in on the view in the monitor.

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    The entire Special yers Management Team was left astonished.

    ***

    Minhyuk came back to As territory to choose a helper. Seeing that no one was around, Minhyuk hurriedly sent whispers to the Legend Guild members.

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: Genie, where are you guys?]</em>

    <em>[Genie is currently logged out.]</em>

    That was when Minhyuk realized that he had made a mistake. He finally recalled that today was the day when all of the guild members were set to have a meeting. They told him that it was a very important meeting. Minhyuk usually did not attend meetings ,so it was not strange for him to not be present. But right now, Minhyuk felt that he was facing a very big challenge.

    <em>¡®There are no guild members around¡­?¡¯</em>

    Even if Minhyuk was able to get in touch with one of them and urgently asked them toe inside the game and leave the meeting, it would still take an incredible amount of time. After all, one hour in reality is equivalent to four hours in <em>Athenae</em>. He did not have any time to wait since he only had fifteen minutes to choose a helper. Just then, at that moment¡­

    ¡°<em>Hyung!!!</em>¡± A boy happily called out to him while running cheerfully. The boy continued to say, ¡°Conir!!! Conir sessfully became a great ramen merchant!!!¡±

    <em>¡®Ah, Conir¡­! Conir¡¯s here¡­!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk looked down at Conir. <em>Sword Saint Conir! </em>That was his identity. However, Minhyuk hesitated.

    <em>¡®If Conir dies in the trial then¡­¡¯ </em>

    Conir would be sent to the summoning room once his HP reached 10%. However, if he received a huge amount of damage that could make that 10% disappear at once, the gap that would allow him to be sent there would also disappear. And there was definitely an existence that could do that inside the trial. Just then¡­

    ¡°Hello?¡± A woman greeted him nicely. She smiled softly at him and continued to say, ¡°Let''s be friends?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk thought, ¡®<em>So suddenly?¡¯</em>

 Chapter 316: The Territoryâ€™s True Owner

    Chapter 316: The Territory¡¯s True Owner

    Everyone knew Mei Wei. She was the number one yer in <em>Athenae</em>¡¯s Official Global Rankings. She also had the Valkyrie ss, a ss known to be the best with regards to buff abilities. Mei Wei¡¯sbat abilities were also known to be top-notch. However, whenpared to her buff ability, herbat ability could only be called shabby at best. Anyone who saw Mei Wei would look at her in awe. Even those who received a slight touch from her would shed tears of joy, asking her to be their friend. However, when she asked Minhyuk to be her friend, Minhyuk just looked at her incredulously.

    ¡°<em>Ah. </em>I see,¡± Minhyuk replied before hurriedly turning towards Conir.

    <em>¡®Did¡­did I just get rejected¡­¡¯</em>

    Mei Wei was left in embarrassment for a moment. However, Minhyuk did not pay her any mind and just hurriedly exined the situation to Conir. Mei Wei began to think about her actions.

    <em>¡®Let¡¯s see¡­¡¯</em>

    When she thought about it, Mei Wei realized that she would also look at the person strangely if they just came up to her for the first time and told her, <em>¡®Let¡¯s be friends?¡¯</em>. That was when she realized that perhaps her first greeting was not that smooth. After all, Mei Wei had been alone for a long time now. She had not talked to anyone in so long, except for her personal doctor and NPCs. While she was thinking about her actions, Mei Wei overheard Minhyuk¡¯s conversation with Conir.

    <em>¡®Maestro of Destruction?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was talking quickly since he did not have much time. However, he only talked about it with a bitter smile on his face.

    ¡°No, Conir. You should do your best making ramen here today.¡±

    Although it was a very urgent situation, Minhyuk did not want to bring Conir along. He did not want to know what it would feel like should Conir die inside the trial.

    <em>¡®Then, who should I bring along?¡¯</em>

    He wondered if he should bring Priest Louis? Or perhaps Mother of Life Eden? Maybe Dwarf Lant? However, his best shot was Priest Louis. It was because he knew that Eden and Lant¡¯s power would be useless in the situation right now. Then, suddenly¡­

    ¡°I¡¯ll go with you.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk looked at her strangely once again.

    <em>¡®No,e to think of it, I don¡¯t recognize her because I¡¯m in a hurry, why did shee here with Conir? And why is she here in As territory?¡¯</em>

    Just then, Conir said, ¡°Conir!!! Conir hopes Mei Wei Noona and Minhyuk Hyung will get along well!!!¡±

    ¡°<em>Huh?</em>¡± Minhyuk said, looking between Conir and Mei Wei alternately.

    ¡°You should be closer from now on!!! Conir heard that kids grow through fights, but don''t fight!!!¡± Conir said, bringing Minhyuk into confusion. But then, he suddenly paused.

    <em>¡®Mei Wei? The Global Rankings number one, Mei Wei?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk turned to look at the woman in front of him more carefully. Looking at her, he could see that she was definitely Mei Wei. Minhyuk had studied and learnt a lot of things about <em>Athenae </em>in his quest to find more delicious food. During the process, he came to know who was ranked number one in the Global Rankings<em>. </em>No, it would be even more strange if he was an <em>Athenae </em>yer and he did not know who she was.

    <em>¡®Why does she want to help me? No, why does she want to be friends with me?¡¯</em>

    However, he did not have any more time to ask her. So, even though Minhyuk was conflicted, he still made his decision.

    ***

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    Screams rang loudly in the ramparts. The soldiers could not endure the relentless attacks of the <em>Dark Knights </em>and the ¡®Maestro of Destruction¡¯. However, the brave and valiant As soldiers still continued to rush out of the gates. Cornell, the Commander-in-chief turned to look back at Crusoe as he asked, ¡°What bullshit are you saying? You¡¯re telling me to follow the orders of a foreigner?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right,¡± Crusoe said.This was a war that Crusoe had already experienced once before in his life. However, for the soldiers here, it was like they were fighting this war for the first time. And right now, Crusoe was telling them to hand over the position of <em>Commander </em>to the foreigner named Minhyuk that suddenly appeared in front of them.

    ¡°That¡¯s bullshit. I will never hand overmand to a foreigner.¡±

    It did not matter what kind of territory this was. This would remain as the Food God¡¯s territory. That was absolute. However, after the death of the Food God, the Continent¡¯s Emperor dared to target this ce and make it his own. And it did not end there. Even a foreigner that did not know of the existence of the Food God¡¯s territory dared to takemand of this ce? Crusoe shut his mouth.

    <em>¡®It wouldn''t make any difference even if Minhyuk tookmand¡­¡¯</em>

    Crusoe knew how this war would end. That was also the reason why the soldiers that participated in the trial with him and Minhyuk, including Park, were all flustered with shock. After getting over the shock, they were then left in frustration.

    <em>¡®Sob, sob, sob¡­ I came back here again¡­ to the ce where my mother died¡­¡¯</em>

    Park tried to hold back his tears. Then, a thought shed in his head. He thought that perhaps his mother was still alive right now. Perhaps he might still be able to see her face onest time, or maybe even talk with her again. Park quickly rushed out of the castle. He saw their troops blocking their enemies, while the enemies were pushing forward to try and capture the castle!

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaack!¡±

    <em>Fwoosh!</em>

    <em>Bang!</em>

    The mages¡¯ explosion magic, that had a simr effect to nuclear bombs, dropped one after the other. However, Park still ran forward amidst the ensuing pandemonium. Crusoe felt his heart break at the sight. That was when Commander-in-chief Cornell realized, <em>¡®We will¡­ face defeat.¡¯ </em>However, even if he knew the oue of the battle, he still pulled his sword out and shouted loudly.

    ¡°To victory!!!¡±

    ¡°<em>Uwoooooooh!</em>¡±

    The troops ran out while screaming loudly. However¡­

    <em>[Death¡¯s Messenger. The Grim Reaper has appeared.]</em>

    <em>Shwaaa!</em>

    A ck vortex appeared in the middle of the battlefield, opening up to let a gigantic being over six meters tall out. The being was wearing a ragged ck robe while sitting on top of a gigantic ck horse, with a huge ck scythe in its hand. Crusoe had already experienced fighting against it before. This bastard was a Level 645 being that was literally an envoy from hell. Hell was a ce that existed above the Demon World. However, no one had ever been to that ce. And this guy¡¯s power and strength was beyond anyone¡¯s imagination.

    <em>Shwaaa¨D</em>

    A crescent de light flew out of its gigantic scythe, ughtering the soldiers blocking its path. And when it stretched its right hand¡­

    <em>Stab!</em>

    ¡°Ha¡­Hans¡­ What are you¡­¡±

    ¡­the mind of its target would fall under its control.

    <em>[More than 23% of your troops have died.]</em>

    <em>[More than 25% of your troops have died.]</em>

    <em>[The soldiers¡¯ morale is dropping.]</em>

    <em>[The soldiers are starting to tremble in fear.]</em>

    <em>[All of their skills have fallen by 5%.]</em>

    They began to kill each other.

    ¡°Priests!!! Do we not have any priests?!!!¡± Commander-in-chief Cornell urgently shouted but Crusoe just shook his head.

    <em>¡®Ordinary priests don¡¯t have the ability to release them from this¡­¡¯</em>

    It was a fact that they would bepletely defeated, while only being able to inflict a 20% damage to their enemies. Then, the enemies began to push through the gates.

    ¡°Archers!!!¡±

    <em>Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh! </em>

    Their archers tried to hold out by shooting their enemies with their arrows, but their enemy archers were faster and stronger.

    <em>Stab! Stab! Stab!</em>

    ¡°<em>Aaaaack!</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Ugh!</em>¡±

    The archers died and fell down the ramparts one after the other. Then, Crusoe¡¯s eyes began to shake.

    <em>¡®N, No¡­¡¯</em>

    A gruesome and horrible scene appeared in front of Crusoe. Centurion Park stood in front of an olddy after running desperately through the chaos. However, the problem was that his sword was unsheathed. He was now under the control of the enemy.

    ¡°So¡­son¡­¡±

    Park¡¯s mother trembled as she looked at her son. Seeing this, Park was left in despair.

    <em>¡®N, no¡­ No¡­ Stop¡­ No¡­!¡¯</em>

    This goddamn curse!!! Park¡¯s mind went nk. However, he still continued to pray and wish.

    <em>¡®Someone, anybody, please! Please save me and my mother! Goddamnit!!!¡¯</em>

    Then, at that moment¡­

    ¡°Wings of Light.¡±

    ¡­gigantic wings, reminiscent of an angel¡¯s wings, appeared in the sky. When the wings pped, thousands of feathers made of light scattered and got absorbed inside the soldiers¡¯ bodies.

    <em>Swish, swish, swish, swish¨D</em>

    <em>[You have been released from the abnormal state: Mind Control.]</em>

    Thanks to those feathers of light, Park was able to control his body again. That was not the end.

    ¡°Goddess¡¯ Shield.¡±

    A gigantic and radiant shield of light appeared in the sky. The shield scattered into lights that fluttered down into the soldiers¡¯ bodies.

    <em>[Your defensive power has increased by 35%.]</em>

    Then¡­

    ¡°Goddess¡¯ Sword.¡±

    ¡°Goddess¡¯ Like the Wind.¡±

    <em>[Your attack power has increased by 24%.]</em>

    <em>[Your moving speed has increased by 20%. Your attacking speed has increased by 10%.]</em>

    A gigantic image of a sword and boots appeared in the sky, disappearing not long after. The troops immediately felt their bodies turning lighter as their vitality and energy increased. Cornell and Crusoe immediately headed over to the castle¡¯s ramparts. There, they saw a woman with long ck hair fluttering in the wind, wearing silver armor while standing beside a man wearing bone armor and a helmet. They were watching the situation of the entire battlefield. Notifications rang loudly in the ears of these two people.

    <em>[The ramparts¡¯ durability has decreased to 132,136.]</em>

    <em>[The ramparts¡¯ durability has decreased to 113,478.]</em>

    Then, the woman stretched her hand out.

    ¡°Wrathful Goddess.¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    A power that was as enormous and as powerful as the Maestro of Destruction¡¯s attack appeared. Then, light appeared under the feet of their enemies as a huge explosion swallowed them up, effectively protecting the ramparts.

    <em>Dash¨D</em>

    <em>Dash¨D</em>

    The woman and the man wearing bone armor dashed down.

    <em>Neigh!</em>

    The two of them jumped on the two horses made of light that suddenly appeared before dashing straight towards the Dark Knights in front of them.

    ¡°Rampant Sword.¡±

    The man¡¯s sword shot out hundreds of sword lights as the woman next to him stretched her hand out.

    <em>[Goddess¡¯ Reinforcement]</em>

    <em>[Instantly reinforces the skill being triggered.]</em>

    The hundreds of sword lights turned into thousands as the des lengthened and became more powerful.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    The sword lights attacked the enemies that blocked their path.

    ¡°<em>Keuaaaaaack!</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Aaaaack!</em>¡±

    Screams rang loudly in the area as the man grabbed the reins of his horse and dashed forward once again. Most of the enemies that received the attacks of the Rampant Sword did not die. Then, three small books floated behind the woman.

    <em>[Judge¡¯s Antique Book]</em>

    <em>[The Judge¡¯s Antique Book assists the Valkyrie. Lightning strikes with 300% additional attack power strikes the enemies in the surrounding.]</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The severely injured that could not be knocked down earlier, eventually died under the onught of lightning strikes that came from the three books behind the woman.

    <em>[More than 4% of the enemy troops have died.]</em>

    Then, the man and woman appeared in front of the Grim Reaper. Commander-in-chief Cornell¡¯s hands were covered with sweat as he issued an order, ¡°Men!!! Stop the enemies from approaching those two people!!!¡±

    The soldiers pierced through the enemies¡¯ battle line and opened a path, much like Moses parting the Red Sea. Thanks to the mysterious woman¡¯s strong abilities, their force and skills increased, making them more powerful! However, the man and woman were both struggling just ten minutes into the fight against the Grim Reaper. The woman was urgently shouting, while the man¡¯s sword moved quickly. Then, a light appeared from the woman¡¯s hand which extended towards the man¡¯s sword. After receiving the light, the man dashed up.

    <em>Dash¨D</em>

    With a swing of his sword, the man shed the Grim Reaper¡¯s neck.

    <em>sh!</em>

    As the man fell from his jump, he quickly stepped on the horse that the Grim Reaper was riding on and attacked its lower half.

    ¡°<em>Roaaaar</em><em>!</em>¡±

    The Grim Reaper stopped moving for a moment as a shriek burst out of its mouth. The man took advantage of the gap as he attacked the Grim Reaper¡¯s body strongly. Just then, wind began to surround the man¡¯s sword.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¨D</em>

    A powerful light covered the man¡¯s sword as he stabbed it in the Grim Reaper¡¯s<em></em>heart.

    <em>Stab!</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¨D</em>

    The wind that blew around the sword swept away and tore down the enemies that tried to get close to the man.

    ¡°<em>Roar!</em>¡± The Grim Reaper roared loudly as it began to turn into ash and disappear. The man could be seen heaving through the gap in the attack.

    Then, the man shouted, ¡°I, Commander Minhyuk, have hunted the Grim Reaper!!!¡±

    He raised his hand high up in the sky before clenching it into a fist and shouted again, ¡°Men!!! Forward!!!¡±

    ¡°<em>Uwoooooo!</em>¡± The troops shouted loudly in answer.

    At that moment¡­

    ¡°...the <em>Food God¡¯s Kitchen Knife?</em>¡± Cornell mumbled to himself after he caught sight of the kitchen knife with a baby pig who was fighting with the man. Cornell¡¯s eyes began to shake wildly. That was when the man¡¯s armor caught his eyes.

    <em>¡®That armor¡­</em>¡¯

    That was the Armor of Immortality, the Food God¡¯s armor. When he saw the armor, he recalled the words that the <em>Food God </em>had told him.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m going to pass this on to my descendantter. So, don¡¯t try to look for it for no reason.¡¯</em>

    Cornell let out a shaky breath. He couldn¡¯t stop himself from shuddering as he said, ¡°The Food God¡­ has returned¡­¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°The Food God has returned!!! Follow the Commander¡¯s orders!!! Those who don¡¯t, I will make sure to slit your throats myself!!!¡±

    ¡°The Food God?¡±

    ¡°<em>The Food God?</em>¡±

    ¡°Did he say the Food God?¡±

    That was when the soldiers noticed the existence of the Food God¡¯s Kitchen Knife.

    Then, they shouted loudly.

    ¡°<em>Uwaaaaaaaaah!!!</em>¡±

    ¡°The Food God is with us!!!!¡±

    ¡°He came back to protect our territory!!!¡±

    The flow of the battlefield started to change as the true owner and king of thend had returned.

 Chapter 317: The Territoryâ€™s True Owner

    Chapter 317: The Territory¡¯s True Owner

    In the end, Minhyuk chose to bring Mei Wei in as his helper. The moment they arrived, Mei Wei immediately looked over the situation of the entire battlefield. Then, she used the Wings of Light, a wide range abnormal state dispel magic.

    <em>¡®What a ridiculous AOE skill¡­¡¯ </em>

    Minhyuk looked at Mei Wei in shock. He knew that the number of soldiers afflicted with an abnormal state were more than 300. However, all of the soldiers had been released from their abnormal state after Mei Wei used the skill ¡®Wings of Light¡¯. And she did not stop there. A gigantic sword and pair of boots appeared in the sky after, increasing the soldiers¡¯ attack power by 24%, movement speed by 20%, and attack speed by 10%. Then, Mei Wei turned to him and said, ¡°My skills can be used without any casting time. However, my MP consumption will double if I choose to do so.¡±

    That was the reason why she could cast her skills immediately. Minhyuk asked, ¡°How much is left in your MP reserves?¡±

    ¡°Around 30%.¡±

    ¡°...What the hell? How high are your MP reserves?¡± Minhyuk asked in shock. Despite using a wide-area buff ability to strengthen arge-scale army, she still had 30% of MP left. It was truly shocking.

    But Mei Wei said, ¡°This can only be possible because I used my Valkyrie Awakening skill. It¡¯s a skill that can only be used once every three months. To be honest, this is my first time using this. After all, there¡¯s a 1% reduction in all stats. However, in exchange for the reduction in stats, it will double my MP reserves and give me a stronger buff ability.¡±

    Minhyuk looked at her dubiously again after hearing her words. He thought, <em>¡®Why is she doing this much for me?¡¯</em>

    Perhaps it was because Mei Wei had already noticed the moment she arrived on the battlefield that it was hard for them to win the battle. So, she decided to reduce all of her stats by 1% and raise their odds of winning. For someone standing at the number one position in the Global Rankings, a decrease of 1% in all stats was a huge penalty. Assuming that her STR stat was at 500, it meant that her STR stat would decrease by five. This was enough to lower the entire strength of a person. The two of them looked down at the enemies from above the ramparts before rushing down. Mei Wei rode on top of the horse made of light that she had summoned, as they pierced through the enemy lines. Meanwhile, Minhyuk triggered Rampant Sword.

    <em>[Rampant Sword.]</em>

    <em>[A flurry of rampant swords with additional 35% attack power will be created for 14 seconds.]</em>

    Hundreds of sword lights appeared in the air. Then¡­

    <em>[Goddess¡¯ Reinforcement.]</em>

    <em>[Rampant Sword¡¯s level increases by +2 while still being triggered.]</em>

    <em>[A flurry of rampant swords with additional 45% attack power will be created for 14 seconds.]</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    Minhyuk was shocked beyond belief. He even saw Mei Wei easily pierce through the Dark Knights. Once they arrived near the vicinity of the Grim Reaper, Mei Wei and Minhyuk began to attack it. Unfortunately, the Grim Reaper was strong. Just a simple swing of its scythe had a 50% chance of ignoring their defensive power andnding a hit on them.

    <em>[Goddess¡¯ Breath.]</em>

    <em>[HP recovery per second increases by five times.]</em>

    In response, whenever the Grim Reaper swung its scythe, Mei Wei would send support with her ridiculous buff ability. The fierce battle between the two of them and the Grim Reapersted for about ten minutes. That was when the As soldiers appeared and blocked the other enemies from interfering in the battle.

    Then, Mei Wei said, ¡°I have a skill that can amplify the damage twice in 2.4 seconds. It can also amplify the damage of other skills being used twice in that 2.4 seconds.¡±

    ¡°...2.4 seconds?¡±

    The 2.4 seconds that she was saying was a very short time frame. However, once the attack seeded, they would be able to inflict twice the damage.

    ¡°I¡¯ve actually never used it on someone else,¡± Mei Wei said, having never used the skill before. This was a fact. After all, this skill required both the person using the buff ability and the target of the buff to have amazing control skills.

    Minhyuk asked, ¡°How much MP do you have left in your reserves?¡±

    ¡°5%,¡± Mei Wei answered.

    They were both left exhausted during the ten-minute fierce battle against the Grim Reaper. Around 35% of their allies had also perished. Of course, the damage to the enemies was also quite formidable. Thanks to Mei Wei¡¯s buffs, the soldiers became stronger and faster, allowing them to kill around 10% of the enemy troops. Minhyuk thought about their situation for a moment before nodding and saying, ¡°I have a skill that can target the enemy¡¯s vital points. Within that 2.4 seconds, I can sessfullynd around two or three attacks.¡±

    ¡°...What?¡± Mei Wei asked dumbfoundedly. She knew thatnding a single attack in that 2.4 seconds time frame was a very difficult feat. Not to mentionnding a hit on a monster that was as powerful as the Grim Reaper. However, there was no time to talk and ask about his confidence. The Grim Reaper was already moving its scythe to trigger its skill.

    ¡°Let¡¯s do it right away.¡±

    ¡°Alright!!¡±

    Minhyuk immediately jumped up at the sight of the Grim Reaper¡¯s scythe covered with some sort of ck energy. Then, light suddenly bloomed on Mei Wei¡¯s hand. The light quickly stretched forward and seeped through Minhyuk¡¯s sword.

    <em>[War Goddess¡¯ Attack]</em>

    <em>[All sessful attacks within 2.4 seconds will have twice the damage. The damage will ovep with damage from other skills.]</em>

    The Grim Reaper immediately dragged its scythe to stop Minhyuk¡¯s descent. However, Minhyuk was grinning.

    <em>Vwooong!</em>

    The Grim Reaper saw a gap in Minhyuk¡¯s defense and tried to swing its scythe to dig into his gaps. In doing so, it also caused its own defense to bex. Minhyuk quickly turned his body andnded an attack on its neck.

    <em>Clink!</em>

    <em>[War Goddess¡¯ Attack is sessful.]</em>

    <em>[Enemy receives double the damage.]</em>

    That was not the end of the attack. Minhyuk did not waste 0.1 second to marvel at the Grim Reaper¡¯s shriek. He immediately triggered Diablo¡¯s Eyes.

    <em>[Diablo¡¯s Eyes.]</em>

    <em>[Allows you to see more than one vital point in your enemy for one second]</em>

    <em>[If you sessfully stab a vital point within 30 seconds of triggering Diablo¡¯s Eyes, additional 200% damage will be added to your attack.]</em>

    Minhyuk was able to see two of the Grim Reaper¡¯s vital points.

    <em>¡®I already spent 1.5 seconds.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk immediately attacked the vital point that appeared in the Grim Reaper¡¯s legs.

    <em>Stab!!!</em>

    <em>[War Goddess¡¯ Attack is sessful.]</em>

    <em>[Diablo¡¯s Eyes¡¯ effect adds additional 200% damage to the attack.]</em>

    <em>[War Goddess¡¯ Attack ovepped with another skill.]</em>

    <em>[Attack will receive x2 additional damage.]</em>

    Minhyuk jumped up once again and got a clear view of the shrieking Grim Reaper¡¯s chest. This was another vital point that Diablo¡¯s Eyes had shown him! Minhyuk immediately activated the Sword of Fury that he had <em>¡®saved¡¯</em> in advance. His save skill could allow him to store one skill in advance, but the most surprising effect of the skill was the fact that he would not need any casting time to trigger his saved skill. A powerful force immediately gathered at the tip of Minhyuk¡¯s sword as the light from Mei Wei¡¯s War Goddess¡¯ Attack covered his sword once again. And then¡­

    <em>Stab!</em>

    ¡­Minhyuk stabbed the Grim Reaper¡¯s chest with all his might. The Sword of Fury was a skill focused on stabbing. If the yer sessfully stabbed the opponent, the skill would have an additional 140% attack power. On top of that, Diablo¡¯s Eyes gave an additional 200% damage, and then, it was further amplified by War Goddess¡¯ Attack, which added another 200% damage. In other words, a force with at least 1,300 additional damage had stabbed straight through the Grim Reaper¡¯s chest.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa!</em>

    A strong wind blew, sweeping and tearing away the enemies in the vicinity trying to rush forward and attack.

    ¡°<em>Keuaaaaack!</em>¡±

    The Grim Reaper disappeared into ash with a scream. Then, the notifications began to ring one after the other.

    <em>[You have gained 32,314,555 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up¡­ omitted.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 315 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired a fragment of the Grim Reaper¡¯s Scythe.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Grim Reaper¡¯s Dark Robe.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired a map of Hell¡¯s Area 31.]</em>

    <em>¡®Cra¡­crazy¡­!¡¯</em>

    Mei Wei was left in shock. She watched as Minhyuk moved within 2.4 seconds. During that short time, he was able to sessfullynd three attacks on the Grim Reaper. Doing it twice might be called a <em>¡®coincidence¡¯, </em>and one might even say that he just got lucky and sessfullynded those attacks. However, doing it three times could not be called a <em>¡®coincidence¡¯ </em>anymore.

    <em>¡®It''s his skill¡­¡¯</em>

    Mei Wei was known to have ridiculously strong control skills. After all, she was the number one ranker in the Global Rankings<em>. </em>Someone like her could only click her tongue in awe at Minhyuk¡¯s skills. Then, Minhyuk yelled, ¡°Men!!! Forward!!!¡±

    The one they had hunted might not be the enemy general, but they still were able to hunt something that was equivalent to it.

    ¡°Follow Minhyuk!!!¡±

    ¡°Follow the <em>Food God</em>!!!¡±

    <em>[The allied troops¡¯ morale has increased by 5%.]</em>

    <em>[The allied troops¡¯ attack power and defensive power has increased by 2%.]</em>

    Their allies began to push forward. The Maestro of Destruction clearly looked flustered at the sudden turn of events.

    <em>[50 minutes 31 seconds]</em>

    The trial would bepleted once they seeded in defending the territory for two hours. So, Minhyuk and Mei Wei continued to ughter their enemies. They would also asionally use their wide-area of attack skills.

    <em>[Oven of Disaster]</em>

    <em>[The oven will recognize all hostile parties within a 12-meter radius and cause an explosion with 450% additional attack power.]</em>

    Mei Wei, with her scant few MP left, casted ¡®Goddess¡¯ Reinforcement¡¯ once again to amplify the effects of Oven of Disaster.

    <em>[Oven of Disaster]</em>

    <em>[The oven will recognize all hostile parties within a 15-meter radius and cause an explosion with 600% additional attack power.]</em>

    The buff increased the damage by 150%.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The hostile Dark Knights in the surrounding area were swept away like dry autumn leaves on a windy day. The surviving enemies were ughtered by the charging soldiers.

    <em>[More than 50% of the enemy troops have perished.]</em>

    Victory was now obviously leaning on their side. Finally, the battle came to an end.

    ¡°Retreat!!!¡±

    <em>[The enemy has started to retreat.]</em>

    The Maestro of Destruction chose to retreat.

    ¡°<em>Waaaaaaaaah!</em>¡±

    ¡°We won!!!¡±

    ¡°Food God! Food God! Food God!¡±

    ¡°Food God!!!¡±

    The damage incurred by the allied troops was around 40%, while the damage incurred by the enemy troops was around 50%. Just with the damage alone, it could be said that they had achievedplete victory. And Crusoe, watching from a distance, thought, <em>¡®Un¡­unbelievable¡­¡¯</em>

    Crusoe had already experienced this war once. Back then, most of their troops had been wiped out, while the enemies only suffered 20% damage. What happened right now made him feel like they had taken revenge for what happened in the past. The victory that they gained had washed away the sorrows that they kept deeply in their hearts. And it was all because of those two. The two people who fought together with them. Crusoe smiled broadly.

    <em>¡®As has found its true and original owner.¡¯</em>

    ***

    ¡°...I thought you said it was just 2%?¡± President Kang Taehoon asked. He looked at Team Leader Lee Seokhoon, waiting for him to exin to him what had just happened.

    ¡°Uh¡­¡±

    In fact, Team Leader Lee Seokhoon was also growing crazy. Who knew that Mei Wei would suddenly appear and offer herself to be Minhyuk¡¯s helper? It was apletely unexpected situation. And they had even watched it happen through the monitor in real time.

    ¡°Mei Wei said that she wanted to be friends with him¡­?¡±

    Mei Wei, the number one user in the Global Rankings, wanted to be Minhyuk¡¯s friend. They even showed fantastic teamwork during the battle earlier.

    ¡°There are two rewards, right?¡± President Kang Taehoon asked with a deep sigh.

    ¡°yer Minhyuk will now receive the greatest army in existence.¡±

    ***

    Minhyuk looked around his surroundings. He could see the enemies retreating while their own soldiers cheered loudly. They were even expressing their gratitude and awe to him by shouting <em>¡®Food God!¡¯ </em>loudly.

    In the midst of everything, the only thought running through Minhyuk¡¯s head was, <em>¡®I can eat it now!!! Heaven¡¯s Rib Eye!!! Heaven¡¯s Chuck p Tail!!!¡¯</em>

    It was already making Minhyuk happy just thinking about the beef. After all, grilled beef was delicious after a hard day¡¯s work, right? While he was waiting for the notifications toe, something unexpected happened.

    <em>[Among the expired soldiers, the soldiers belonging to the ¡®Death Corps¡¯ will be revived.]</em>

    ¡°<em>Huh?</em>¡± Minhyuk asked in confusion. Then, Minhyuk saw 200 soldiers walking towards him, with Park at the forefront. 100 of those people were those who fought alongside Minhyuk in Crusoe¡¯s trial, while the remaining 100 were the ones that fought alongside Crusoe in the same trial. They were the legendary soldiers that pushed back and made 10,000 enemies retreat with just their measly 200-strong number. Park stepped forward from his peers.

    ¡°I, Centurion Park! Swear my eternal allegiance and loyalty to the Food God!!!¡± Park shouted loudly as he knelt down on one knee and ced his fist on his chest. Behind him, the rest of the 199 soldiers all knelt down and shouted too.

    ¡°We swear our eternal allegiance and loyalty to the Food God!!!¡±

    ¡°We swear our eternal allegiance and loyalty to the Food God!!!¡±

    ¡°We swear our eternal allegiance and loyalty to the Food God!!!¡±

    <em>[Park vows his eternal loyalty to you.]</em>

    <em>[Rucard vows his eternal loyalty to you.]</em>

    <em>[Courtney vows his eternal loyalty to you.]</em>

    <em>[Broto vows his eternal loyalty...omitted]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s expression distorted when he saw them do that.

    <em>¡®The¡­the mouths that I have to feed have grown ¡­? They even joined as a group¡­? Why are you doing this to me?!!!¡¯</em>

    He looked like he was going to cry at any moment.

 Chapter 318: The Territoryâ€™s True Owner

    Chapter 318: The Territory¡¯s True Owner

    ck Dragon smiled slightly at the notification window that popped up in front of him. He thought, <em>¡®My son will be the king of a kingdom.¡¯ </em>This was something that ck Dragon had personally heard from Minhyuk himself. Besides, didn¡¯t he receive two quests before? The quests <em>¡®Monarch¡¯s Qualifications¡¯ </em>and <em>¡®Monarch among Monarchs¡¯. </em>The Monarch¡¯s Qualifications quest was literally a quest that asked him to prove his qualifications as a monarch by building a kingdom. The quest would give him the reward <em>¡®Dragon Monarch¡¯s Armor Set¡¯. </em>On the other hand, the Monarch among Monarchs quest was a quest where he needed to designate someone else as the monarch and help them build a kingdom. The quest would give him the same reward as the other quest. No matter what path he chose, he would still receive the same rewards.

    Chairman Kang Minhoo, or Dragon Monarch ck Dragon, was a man with enough fame and reputation to his name that would allow him to climb the throne and be a king. However, this very same man was faltering between these two choices. He pondered over the two choices for a long time before finally making a decision.

    <em>[Of the two quests, you have chosen the Monarch among Monarchs quest.]</em>

    ck Dragon chose to undergo the Monarch among Monarchs quest. The quest that tasked him to help others, not himself, be king! He thought, <em>¡®My </em><em>son bing</em><em> king¡­¡¯</em>

    ck Dragon wanted to see his son be king, a position that no one had achieved yet in <em>Athenae. </em>Besides, Minhyuk had only hidden himself from people¡¯s view because of his <em>eating addiction,</em> but he was still the person that would lead Ilhwa Group in the future. ck Dragon wanted to see his son be king, and show the world that Minhyuk was capable of this. And as his father, he wanted to provide endless support for his son. After ck Dragon made his choice, additional quest windows popped up in front of him.

    <em>[The ss Quest: Dragon Descendants has been created.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>ss Quest</strong>: Dragon Descendants]</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: SS</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: The one who chose Monarch among Monarchs</em>

    <em><strong>Rewards</strong>: Dragon Warriors, Dragon Monarch¡¯s Armor Set</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty for Failure</strong>: Unable to obtain Dragon Monarch¡¯s Armor Set</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: As one who chose another monarch to be king instead of yourself, you are a Dragon Monarch with a ss of the same title. Awaken the slumbering Dragon Descendants. Sessfully awakening the Dragon Descendants will reward you with the Dragon Warriors. Go to Parden Vige and meet with the Dragon¡¯s Child.</em>

    <em>¡®Dragon Warriors?¡¯ </em>

    ording to the quest description, ck Dragon would be able to receive the Dragon Warriors once he sessfully cleared the quest. ording to the description , it was a power that could give strength to the person that he chose as king. So, ck Dragon stood up and began to move.

    <em>¡®I have to go to Parden Vige.¡¯</em>

    Since ck Dragon wanted to see his son, Minhyuk, sit on the king¡¯s throne, he had to work hard in <em>Athenae.</em>

    ***

    All 200 soldiers vowed their <em>¡®</em>pledge of eternal loyalty<em>¡¯</em>! This fact made Minhyukpletely heartbroken. However, he felt relieved after a moment. Thankfully, no one noticed his bout of embarrassment. Minhyuk realized that the soldiers were not under the vassal category, rather, they were under the soldier category that belonged to the territory. If that was the case, then, he did not need to share any food with them, even if he took them under his wing. ording to the notifications, the soldiers should disappear after the trial, but they did not disappear and became an additional reward. Then, the additional notifications rang.

    <em>[The Death Corps¡¯ 200 soldiers now belong to As territory.]</em>

    <em>[The Death Corps¡¯ 200 soldiers have learned the Skill: ¡®The One who Returned from Hell¡¯.]</em>

    <em>¡®The One who Returned from Hell?¡¯</em>

    Each and every soldier of the Death Corps had learned the said skill. Minhyuk immediately checked the skill¡¯s information.

    <em>(<strong>The One who Returned from Hell</strong>)</em>

    <em>Passive Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Mana Required</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Cooldown</strong>: 160 hours</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?In the event of death, they will be revived with 40% HP.</em>

    <em>?All of the abilities will increase by 20% in the revived state.</em>

    <em>?The physical defense and magical defense will both increase by 40% in the revived state.</em>

    <em>?A mirror of the revived person¡¯s body would be created upon revival. Death during the revived state would mean permanent death.</em>

    <em>?If the revived person did not die after revival, the body will return to their human form within an hour.</em>

    <em>¡®Ho¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk rubbed his chin in thought after reading the information. Simply put, even if the soldiers¡¯ HP became zero, they would still be revived. If they did not die in that state, their body would return to their original human form in an hour. Just when he finished checking the skill, another wave of notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[You havepleted the Food God¡¯s Trial. You can now receive the rewards of the other trials without undergoing them.] </em>

    <em>[As territory will now be filled with the power and strength of the Four Legendary Figures.]</em>

    <em>[Sword and Shield Crusoe will be a member of As Territory for one month. He will disappear after helping the soldiers train.]</em>

    <em>[During Crusoe¡¯s stay in the territory, all the soldiers¡¯ EXP acquisition rate will double.]</em>

    <em>[Except for the yers, all troops will have a 5% increase in their defensive power and attack power.]</em>

    <em>[Golden Hammer Dwarf Lant will be a member of As Territory for one month. He will help train and nurture outstanding cksmiths. In addition, Lant¡¯s descendant, Dwarf Olger will now belong to the territory.]</em>

    <em>[During Dwarf Lant¡¯s stay in the territory, the probability of increasing the artifact rank will double.]</em>

    <em>[Dwarf Lant will nurture and produce at least three master-rank cksmiths within his one month of stay.]</em>

    <em>[Priest Louis will be a member of As Territory for one month. He will train outstanding priests,]</em>

    <em>[With Priest Louis¡¯ ¡®God¡¯s Decree¡¯, three Athenian Priests from the Athenae Temple will migrate to the territory.]</em>

    <em>[Strong holy power covers the entire As Territory thereby doubling the territory¡¯s residents¡¯ natural recovery abilities.]</em>

    The notifications were all about the changes in As territory. Then, the notifications for Minhyuk¡¯s personal reward began to ring one after the other.

    <em>[You have acquired the Monarch¡¯s Armor.]</em>

    <em>[Absolute Demigod Artifact.]</em>

    <em>[Only ten of this artifact type exists in the world. This artifact is the closest to the God-rank.]</em>

    <em>[Among the ten artifacts, the lower the number of the Absolute Demigod artifact, the better the artifact will be.]</em>

    <em>[The Monarch¡¯s Armor is the first among the ten.]</em>

    <em>[You can now receive the beef rib eye, chuck p tail, and hanging tender from cows that were raised in Heaven¡¯s God Runia¡¯s farm.]</em>

    <em>[The Heavenly Cows raised in Runia¡¯s farm grew up eating only clean grass that can purify the body. The beef ribeye, chuck p tail and hanging tender have effects simr to medicine.]</em>

    <em>[Artifact closest to God. You have received the first Demigod Artifact.]</em>

    <em>[The notification about you, the person who received the artifact closest to God, will spread to the entire world.]</em>

    Mei Wei standing next to Minhyuk was shocked to hear about the notification. She thought, <em>¡®Artifact closest to God¡­?¡¯</em>

    The notification that rang for her went like this..

    <em>[The yer who received the artifact closest to God has been born.]</em>

    Mei Wei was certain that the yer that the notification was pertaining to was Minhyuk based on their current situation.

    <em>¡®The artifact closest to God¡­ it will be nice if he can check it out soon.¡¯</em>

    Although the artifact was not theirs, anyone would be filled with excitement and anticipation to see the yer who received the artifact with the strongest attack or strongest defense.

    <em>¡®It seems like what Conir said is true. He really is an extraordinary person,¡¯ </em>Mei Wei thought. But instead of checking the artifact immediately, Minhyuk pulled out a stone grill.

    ¡°<em>Eh?</em>¡± Mei Wei cried strangely. She had only seen and interacted with Minhyuk for a short few hours, so she just looked at him in confusion.

    ***

    Minhyuk definitely received the notifications about the first absolute Demigod artifact, the Monarch¡¯s Armor. However, the notifications did not register in his mind at all. He was already thinking about grilling and eating beef, together with the dishes and ingredients that he had stored in his inventory and food storage inventory in advance.

    <em>Boil, boil¨D</em>

    The dish, soybean stew with chopped Cheongyang chili peppers, was boiling inside a pot while pickled garlic leaves, scallions in red pepper powder and sesame oil, kimchi, and lettuce and chives were all ced in bowls next to it. There were also ordinary fine salt, salt in sesame oil and spicy dipping sauce in front of Minhyuk.

    ¡°Are¡­are you not going to check the artifact that you received?¡± Mei Wei asked carefully. But Minhyuk just turned to look at her to shush her.

    ¡°Shhh! We have to be reverent during this time.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Mei Wei was left in a fluster! However, Minhyuk did not pay her any mind. He just went to check his chuck p tail.

    <em>¡®Look at this color, this marbling¡­¡¯ </em>

    The color of the meat, a red that was much deeper and stronger than any regr meat, contrasted brightly against the red and white branch-like stems spreading on top of the meat. Minhyuk carefully lifted a piece of the meat with his tongs and slowly ced it on top of the well-heated stone grill.

    <em>Sizzle¨D</em>

    The thrilling sizzle of the meat rang loudly in the area. Minhyuk immediately counted up to ten in his head before flipping the piece of chuck p tail.

    <em>Sizzle¨D</em>

    The part that was first in contact with the grill was cooked perfectly and deliciously. The meat¡¯s juices were also dripping tantalizingly down the meat while being grilled. The key to preserving these juices was turning the meat over properly and quickly.

    <em>¡®Beef does not taste good if it¡¯s cooked too much.¡¯ </em>

    Minhyuk lifted the chuck p tail that was cooked ording to his standards. The charm and beauty of beef could be tasted by eating it purely without any salt or sauce. Minhyuk rolled the piping hot piece of meat inside his mouth to cool it down a bit before chewing it. The phrase <em>¡®the meat melts in your mouth¡¯ </em>fitted perfectly for this situation. The taste brought a smile to Minhyuk''s face.

    ¡°This is the taste,¡± Minhyuk said happily as he ced a few more pieces of chuck p tail on the grill.

    <em>Sizzle¨D</em>

    Once the meat was cooked perfectly again, Minhyuk picked a piece and dipped it in salt. The salt perfectly bnced the nd and greasy vor of the beef. Then, he dipped the next piece in oil before taking a bite.

    ¡°Hahahaha! This taste alone can rival a gold medal!¡±

    Then, Minhyuk grabbed a lettuce leaf, ced a piece of beef on top, some garlic with dipping sauce, some scallions seasoned with red pepper powder and sesame oil, before wrapping it all together and cing the entire thing into his mouth. The wrap was so big that his cheeks became plump from chewing on it. The crunchy lettuce brought the vors wrapped inside it into perfect harmony. To bnce everything, he quickly scooped up a big bite of rice and a spoonful of soybean stew. The spoonful of soybean stew was filled with zhini and tofu, which added another great harmony to the vors rampaging in his mouth. The taste of soybean stew in barbeque restaurants was much deeper and spicier. It made one want more.

    ¡°<em>Kgghk~</em>¡±

    So, Minyuk tried another spoonful. Then, he lifted another piece of beef, cing it on top of a spread of chives, before adding a bit of wasabi and wrapping it together to take it in his mouth.

    ¡°<em>Kgghk</em>~ This is wagyu, wagyu!¡±

    His next bite of beef was topped with seasoned scallions.

    ¡°<em>Hahahaha!</em>¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s following bite was beef wrapped in lettuce and kimchi.

    ¡°Delicious¡­ Ha¡­ Thank you very much, Food God!¡±

    The Heavenly Beef that he was eating right now was considered to be the best among the best whenpared to all of the beef that he had eaten. After finishing the chuck p tail and hanging tender, Minhyuk turned his sights to therge beef ribeye. The ribeye¡¯s marbling was blooming perfectly like a flower.

    <em>Sizzle¨D</em>

    Steam rose from the ribeye the moment it made contact with the grill! Then, Minhyuk skillfully turned it over to prevent the juices from escaping, before cutting it into bite sized pieces with his scissors. Minhyuk mped a piece and took it into his mouth. The juicy ribeye felt softer than any meat that Minhyuk had ever tasted. Its vor was fantastic by itself. When he finished eating the ribeye, Minhyuk took out a bowl of banquet noodles from his inventory.

    <em>¡®The dessert is noodles!¡¯</em>

    In a meat restaurant, there were times when people would crave banquet noodles, not cold noodles or lunch boxes, as dessert in barbeque restaurants. This was also the case for Minhyuk. He even prepared it in advance just for this situation. The thinly chopped kimchi, zhini and carrots were floating perfectly in the soup. Minhyuk quickly stirred the noodles with his chopsticks before taking a big bite. Minhyuk¡¯s one big bite was enough to take half of the noodles in the bowl into his mouth.

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuuuurp!</em>¡±

    Minhyuk did not forget to ce a piece of kimchi in his mouth together with his big bite of noodles.

    <em>Crunch, crunch¨D</em>

    The spicy and sour vor of the crispy kimchi added a burst of vor to the banquet noodles. He could not stop himself from slurping the noodles! After finishing off the noodles in his mouth, Minhyuk lifted the entire bowl, blew on it to cool it down, before drinking the remaining soup.

    <em>Sluuuuurp¨D</em>

    ¡°Oh! This is very refreshing!¡± He shouted before inhaling the noodles once again.

    <em>Sluuuuurp!</em>

    Just when Minhyuk licked his smiling lips after drinking thest drop of soup of his noodles dessert¡­

    <em>Gulp¨D</em>

    Someone beside him gulped. The person was none other than Mei Wei.

    <em>¡®...Did I just gulp?¡¯ </em>She thought. As a person suffering from severe anorexia, she felt shocked by her own subconscious deed.

 Chapter 319: The Territoryâ€™s True Owner

    Chapter 319: The Territory¡¯s True Owner

    Minhyuk chose to eat beef, instead of checking the artifact closest to God that he had received. Mei Wei continued to watch him, only to realize, <em>¡®If it was the usual, I would have vomited at the sight already¡­¡¯</em>

    Mei Wei was suffering from the most severe case of anorexia, to the point that she would vomit just at the sight of food alone. However, with Minhyuk eating so happily and with gusto in front of her, her nausea and vomiting did not rear their ugly heads, surprisingly. It even made her drool and want to eat. Watching this scene, Mei Wei finally made her decision. She said, ¡°As expected, I really should stick close to you.¡±

    ¡°What, why?¡± Minhyuk asked, flustered. Although Mei Wei was unaware, Minhyuk was already having an ominous premonition that the number of mouths that he needed to feed was going to increase once again. Nevertheless, she began to tell her own story.

    ***

    The employees of the Special yers Management Team were also watching Minhyuk do his beef mukbang.

    ¡°<em>Slurp!</em>¡± President Kang Taehoon wiped the drool dripping from his mouth. He then turned to Lee Minhwa and said, ¡°Show us the artifact information.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    <em>(<strong>Monarch¡¯s Armor</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: Absolute Demigod</em>

    <em><strong>Restrictions</strong>: Food God</em>

    <em><strong>Durability</strong>: 50,000 / 50,000</em>

    <em><strong>Defense</strong>: 1,789</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>?All stats+18%</em>

    <em>?Magical Defense x2</em>

    <em>?A 300% increase in evasion rate.</em>

    <em>?100% HP and MP recovery once every day.</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Physical Damage Reflection</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Monarch¡¯s Shield</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: In the past, the legendary dwarf who was called the Golden Hammer, created the Armor of Immortality and presented it to the Food God as a gift. The very same Golden Hammer Dwarf used the framework and blueprint of the Armor of Immortality and sessfully created an even more amazing armor.</em>

    That was right. The blueprint and framework of the Monarch¡¯s Armor was the Armor of Immortality. And it was the masterpiece that Golden Hammer Dwarf Lant had created, something that should have been released a yearter!

    ¡°Isn¡¯t the defense of the artifact too ridiculous?¡±

    ¡°...That¡¯s right. It would still be considered to be an extraordinary amount of defense even a yearter.¡±

    ¡°And there¡¯s even a 300% increase in the evasion rate¡­¡±

    Evasion rate was something that all yers tend to have. However, the effects of the evasion rate would only be triggered depending on the level gap between the opponents. In a fight between yers with a 50-level difference, the probability of the higher-leveled yer evading the attack of the lower-leveled yer would increase. In other words, various factors, like the enemy¡¯s attack. and level could affect the enemy¡¯s attack, and make them miss.

    So, what would happen if there was a 300% increase in this evasion rate? This meant that Minhyuk could avoid the attacks of other yers at the same level with a 20-40% probability. Besides, even if the opponent sessfully sent an attack, he was still wearing the armor with the highest defense in existence. On top of that, the armor was equipped with the passive skill ''Physical Damage Reflection''. The skill originally had a 20-30% chance of returning twice the damage that it received from the enemy. However, it now had a 25-35% chance of returning thrice the damage.

    ¡°A ranker can use a single skill in an attack, but if there''s physical damage reflection, then¡­¡±

    ¡°Will the opponent die instead?¡±

    Then, Kang Taehoon opened his mouth again and said, ¡°Open the active skill window.¡±

    ¡°Yes, President.¡±

    <em>(<strong>Monarch¡¯s Shield</strong>)</em>

    <em>Artifact Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Mana Required</strong>: 3,000</em>

    <em><strong>Cooldown</strong>: 48 hours</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>: The defenses of party members, guild members, allies and territory troops within a ten meter radius will receive a 60% increase for ten minutes.</em>

    Even the Monarch¡¯s Shield had an additional skill that could give a wide-area buff. In other words, anyone within a ten meter radius could receive the wide-area buff from Minhyuk. This was a truly surprising, and powerful addition to his strength, and by extension, hisrades.

    ¡°The gap between yer Minhyuk and the other yers would continue to widen over time,¡± Team Leader Park said.

    President Kang Taehoon just rubbed his chin as he recalled something. Then, he said, ¡°But that¡¯s still a relief.¡±

    Then, Team Leader Park turned to look at him and said, ¡°It¡¯s about time for the High ss to appear.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­¡± President Kang Taehoon said. Team Leader Park turned to look at him and nodded.

    What was a High ss? It could easily be described as an additional awakening for general yers. Currently, there were only around twelve people that had achieved the Royal ss. These Royal sses already had power simr to, or even surpassing Minhyuk¡¯s strength, and were all considered to be bnce breakers already. These Royal sses were none other than Dragon Monarch ck Dragon, Great Mage¡¯s Descendant Ali, Hunter Veiron, and the recently changed Crown Prince of Sword, Emperor of Sword Carr. They became agents of <em>Athenae</em> and would sometimes broadcast together with famous BJs.

    All of the yers that have seen the videos and images of their battles were shocked by their abilities. Talks about bnce copse and game breakers started to spread widely. In fact, a group of four general yers had the probability of defeating a Royal ss before, as long as they were on the same level as them. Of course, the Royal sses received benefits and privileges since they were yers that walked their own arduous path, so the chances of that happening were pretty slim. Therefore, thepany more or less knew that they would receive bacsh from the general yers if that happened.

    That was the reason why they prepared the High ss. High ss could allow anyone who reached Level 500 to have the chance to change their ss. They could change and receive a High ss if they cleared a trial at Level 500. They could also change into a High ss if they cleared a trial in a ce with the High ss trial, even after they reached a level higher than 500. Once they changed into a High ss, new skills would open up to them and stats tailored to their ss would also appear, giving the yer a significant increase in strength. Some High sses were evenparable to Royal sses. Of course, this was only a privilege for those who had reached Level 500. Team Leader Park and President Kang Taehoon turned to look at another monitor after watching Minhyuk¡¯s monitor. There, they saw ck Dragon Vormon.

    ¡°It¡¯s going to start soon.¡±

    The Development Team and the Story Team had been working overtime the past couple of days after the Dragon King, Mei Wei and Conir had annihted the Chinese yers silently. The result of their hard work was a new episode. This new episode was almost atpletion. They were confident that this episode would proceed without a hitch and start a continental war.

    ¡°From this point on, until the continental war begins, the biggest and most important factor is whether some of the Korean yers would be able to change into High ss.¡±

    If that happened, then there was a sliver of chance for South Korea to win the continental war. Of course, that was only a small glimmer of hope.

    Then, Lee Minhwa said, ¡°But¡­ There¡¯s an NPC among the Legend Guild that knows quite a lot of these trials. Right?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°Are you talking about the High ss?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Lee Minhwa answered with a nod as she tapped on her keyboard swiftly. The moment she finished typing, the figure of the Great Sage Aruvel reading a book, despite the hugemotion around him, appeared on the screen.

    ***

    Minhyuk listened to Mei Wei¡¯s story. As someone who was suffering from another illness, he could understand and rte to Mei Wei¡¯s feelings better than anybody else.

    <em>¡®It must have been hard.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk knew that she was suffering more than anybody else. There were illnesses where one would eat and eat, and illnesses where one could not eat at all. It did not matter which was more painful. Minhyuk was fully aware about the difficulties and pain that apanied the person during the process. However, even if he knew it was hard, he never gave Mei Wei a look of <em>¡®pity¡¯,</em> he looked at her with eyes shining with hope.

    ¡°You¡¯ll definitely get better! I will help you!¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Hearing his words, Mei Wei realized that he was different from others. Mei Wei was considered to be the world¡¯s most beautiful woman. However, her friends all left her side the moment they learnt about her anorexia. Their eyes were filled with <em>¡®sympathy¡¯</em> and <em>¡®contempt¡¯</em>. In the end, their eyes would be colored with superiority over her. It was something inevitable. After all, Mei Wei was more beautiful than anyone else, and just staying by her side would make anyone feel that they had lost their shine. So, they would all feel superior to her once they knew this fact. However, Minhyuk was different. He understood her difficulties and looked at her with hope.

    <em>¡®Conir, I think I know the reason why you love and care for this person so much.¡¯ </em>

    ¡°What kind of food do you want to eat the most?¡± Minhyuk asked her. He was going to do this to help her, but also to <em>¡®return¡¯ </em>the favor that she had given him. After all, if it had not been for Mei Wei¡¯s help, Minhyuk would have failed in clearing the Food God¡¯s trial, and he would not have been able to taste the fantastic, mouth-watering beef that he ate earlier.

    ¡°Kimchi stew.¡±

    ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll make it for you.¡±

    Foreigners often wanted to eat Korean food. And kimchi stew was amon choice. So, Minhyuk began to cook, giving it his all. While he was cooking, he said, ¡°Your brother will definitely want his Noona to be happy.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Minhyuk struggled the most when his mother passed away. However, he eventually understood that his mother would want him to be happy, even if she was not around anymore. Hearing his words made Mei Wei¡¯s heart shake. Then, Minhyuk finally finished the kimchi stew. When Mei Wei saw the finished dish, she thought, <em>¡®Minhyuk might be the Food God, but can he help me treat my illness?¡¯ </em>

    Mei Wei¡¯s doctor had suggested that she make contact with the Food God, because this was theirst resort. They did not have any more choices to choose from. So, they did not know whether this treatment would work or not. When she was able to eat Conir¡¯s ramen before, she thought that she was already showing signs of improvement. However, Mei Wei still refused to eat food in reality. Her doctor had told her that it would take a long, slow process in <em>Athenae </em>for her to shake off her mental rejection towards food<em>. </em>Mei Wei looked at the kimchi stew with some warm and well-fried eggs to the side.

    ¡°Kimchi stew is best eaten with fried eggs.¡±

    Mei Wei nodded thinking, <em>¡®I¡¯m still fine at this point.¡¯</em>

    Mei Wei thought that perhaps it was because her heart was starting to be at peace, that she could stomach the sight of the food, just like what happened with Conir before. Then, she stretched her hand and grabbed the spoon.

    <em>¡®Can food really taste differently from each other? That doesn¡¯t even make sense.¡¯ </em>

    Mei Wei had found Conir¡¯s ramen to be very delicious. However, she thought that it was because of manyplex reasons. She thought that it was because she had not tasted ramen in a long time, or perhaps it was because she ate it after a hard day¡¯s work, or plenty of other reasons like that. However, would it be different and special, just because the Food God made it? That was what she thought as she scooped up a spoonful of soup to sip.

    ¡°<em>Gasp¡­</em>¡± Mei Wei let out a gasp of surprise. She immediately scooped another spoonful and sipped it again. When she looked up, she saw light glowing from behind Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®What the hell? Why do I feel like I have be an extra in Cooking Master Bay?¡¯</em>

    What was happening to her right now felt exactly like that. It seemed like Mei Wei saw a dragon ascending to heaven from the halo that was glowing behind Minhyuk. When she saw this, Mei Wei¡­

    ¡°Wait, this vor¡­!¡±...unknowingly uttered these words.

    Minhyuk just watched her with a big smile on his face, as Mei Wei ate spoonful after spoonful of rice. Each spoonful of rice that Mei Wei put in her mouth tasted soft and savory, with a hint of sweetness. Mei Wei was just about to get another spoonful of soup when Minhyuk said, ¡°Try the soup with some pork.¡±

    Mei Wei quickly followed his advice and scooped up some pork with the soup.

    <em>¡®The pork¡­ has the perfect ratio¡­¡¯</em>

    The pork was half fat and half lean meat, the perfect ratio of meat and fat. And the moment she put it in her mouth¡­

    ¡°Wow¡­¡± A burst of admiration came out of her mouth, and she could not help but eat her food with renewed haste.

    Then, Mei Wei ced a fried egg on top of her rice bowl, scooped a spoonful of rice and egg, then ced it in her mouth. The soft taste of the fried egg mellowed down the spicy vor of the kimchi stew. This time, she tried the tofu. She cut a small piece and ced it in her mouth.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s light¡­¡¯</em>

    It was the best. Mei Wei was eating so fast that it was hard to tell if she was suffering from anorexia or bulimia. It seemed like her rejection towards food was disappearing.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s right. Food should make us happy.¡¯</em>

    Mei Wei recalled how Minhyuk ate his beef earlier. He looked happier than anyone else as he ate. That was right. Food was not a bad thing. It was something that should make people happy. She happily emptied the food in her bowl. Just then, the members of Legend Guild arrived in the territory.

    ***

    Genie, Locke, Khan and the rest of the members of Legend Guild hurried to the territory after they finished their meeting. When they returned, they saw¡­

    <em>¡®Is¡­ isn¡¯t that Mei Wei?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Why is Mei Wei eating kimchi stew here?¡¯</em>

    All of them were dumbfounded and confused. After all, why would Mei Wei, a Chinese yer, be eating kimchi stew here? But before they could voice out their thoughts, Minhyuk sent a whisper to them.

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: Wait, guys.]</em>

    So, Legend Guild continued to watch Mei Wei eat as if she was possessed. Today was the day that they were finally convinced¡­

    <em>¡®Minhyuk will be the guild leader of our guild.¡¯</em>

    They continued to watch Mei Wei from afar after she finished eating. Anyway, they were still waiting for the exnation for what happened.

    ¡°Oh, it was really so delicious. My goodness. How can that be possible?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m d that you¡¯re satisfied with the meal.¡±

    Then, Mei Wei said, ¡°I heard that you¡¯re going to build a kingdom?¡±

    This was something that Mei Wei had heard from Conir.

    ¡°I want to be a part of your guild.¡±

    ¡°Do¡­do you really have to?¡±

    <em>¡®Why are you rejecting her, you punk!¡¯</em>

    The guild members were all shocked when they heard Mei Wei say that. They could hardly believe that Mei Wei wanted to join the Legend Guild. She was the number one yer in the Global Rankings. However, to their horror, Minhyuk actually looked reluctant. Even if he was reluctant, Genie and the rest of the guild would still wee Mei Wei. It was simply because Mei Wei had been known for doing good deeds, even though she only yed alone without showing herself to people. Not long ago, they heard that Mei Wei even donated half of her entire fortune to a volunteer organization. The amount was at least around 80 billion. So, they believed that Mei Wei would not be a bad person. But, right now¡­

    ¡°Please ept me!!!¡±

    ¡°Ah. No. Do you really have to join and be a guild member?¡±

    ¡°Yes! I¡¯ll be a huge help around here too. I¡¯ll do everything you ask that is within my means!¡±

    ¡­the members of Legend Guild were all puzzled at the sight of the number one yer, Mei Wei begging, while Minhyuk was vehemently rejecting her.

    ¡°Why do you hate my proposal?¡±

    ¡°Just because.¡±

    Then, Conir appeared right next to them and said, ¡°Conir knows why.¡±

    ¡°Really? Why?¡±

    ¡°Because there¡¯s another mouth to feed!¡±

    ¡°<em>Gasp!</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Heok!</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Keoheok!</em>¡±

    The Global Ranking¡¯s number one yer Mei Wei was willing to help with anything, but Minhyuk was rejecting her because he would have another mouth to feed? Still, it seemed that Minhyuk finally took a step back as he said, ¡°Are you really willing to do anything for me?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right! As long as you let me eat your food.¡±

    ¡°<em>Phew¡­</em> Alright. But you have to get approval from my guild members if you want to join the guild. But, if you be a member of the guild, your mission is¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Mei Wei said, eyes shining brightly as she focused on Minhyuk¡¯s words.

    ¡°...getting the ingredients that I want. I will cook you a meal for every excellent ingredient that you bring.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    After hearing Minhyuk¡¯s words, Locke said, ¡°...Hey! Aren¡¯t you talking about a bread shuttle[1]? Let¡¯s assume that Minhyuk¡¯s dishes cost 100 won, then that punk will definitely ask for 1,000 won worth of ingredients. Doesn¡¯t this sound like <em>¡®I¡¯ll give you 100 won, buy me some banana milk and bread.¡¯</em> or something like that?¡±

    ¡°H¡­huh? That sounds quite true¡­¡±

    ¡°Rather than bread shuttle, isn¡¯t she more of an ingredient shuttle¡­?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    The guild members all went silent at that. They once again felt admiration for Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®My goodness¡­ I can¡¯t believe he¡¯s making the Global Ranking¡¯s number one yer into his bread shuttle...¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Minhyuk is really incredible.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I suddenly want to eat bread.¡¯</em>

    Anyway, Mei Wei entered Legend Guild, by way of backdoor, as a bread shuttle.

    1. A term generally used in schools, where one student is picked to run errands for the bullies ?

 Chapter 320: Strengthening the Territory

    Chapter 320: Strengthening the Territory

    Minhyuk and the members of Legend Guild all sat together to discuss with him what they talked about during their meeting. The words that Genie uttered broughtplete shock to Minhyuk.

    ¡°Me.. the guild master¡­?¡± Minhyuk asked, looking at Genie and the rest of the guild members. He could see that all of them had already made their decision. However, Minhyuk still found it to be a bit concerning.

    ¡°Am I even fit for the job?¡±

    This was his concern. Besides, Minhyuk also felt sorry for Genie, since she was the one who built Legend Guild. However, Genie said, ¡°You¡¯ll do well. I trust you.¡±

    Genie had seen Minhyuk¡¯s leadership before, back when they were still in middle school. Of course, he was suffering from eating addiction so he tended to be greatly biased towards food. Still, Genie was confident that he would be able to catch up on that part somehow.

    In fact, during the meeting when they voted for Minhyuk bing a guild master, there were nine votes in favor and eight votes against it. It was just a slight difference. However, all eight of those who voted against changed their minds the moment the Legend Guild members returned to As. Crow and Ace, two of those that voted no, had no choice but to admit and recognize Minhyuk¡¯s abilities.

    <em>¡®He was able to apply the strength and power of all of the four legendary figures to the territory by himself¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®So, we get the best territory just like that?¡¯</em>

    With those thoughts in mind, they lowered their heads and decided to trust and believe in Minhyuk. Seeing Minhyuk still hesitating, Genie finally said, ¡°I believe Legend Guild would be given wings if you be our guild master.¡±

    ¡°Wings?¡± Minhyuk asked. However, Genie, Locke and Khan just smiled at him.

    Genie opened her mouth again after looking at him silently to say, ¡°We need to expand our guild now.¡±

    Legend Guild could not be an elite guild with just a few members anymore. Currently, Legend Guild was ranked twelfth among all the other guilds in the country. It was only natural since they were an elite guild with only a few members. Since they were just a small group, it was natural that the guild EXP that they umted would be less than any other guilds. No, it was already a miracle that they could stand tall and maintain their rank with just their small numbers alone. After saying that they needed to expand, Genie looked at Minhyuk and thought, <em>¡®Your power to attract people¡­ I know it better than anybody else.¡¯</em>

    Haze had once told Genie that Minhyuk needed to be the guild master for them to be a kingdom. In truth, Geniepletely agreed with her words. She knew full well that Minhyuk had the power to attract people to his side, even if he just stayed still. Mei Wei¡¯s case just now was a prime example of that.

    ¡°Also, I think it would be better to start a new guild. We need to let everyone know that you have be the new master of the guild.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded. Many people wanted to grab Legend Guild¡¯s hand and join them. However, there were not a lot of strong yers among them. This was because the moment these strong yers joined Legend Guild, they would exert little influence in the guild. Many strong yers believed that they should just stand tall and show the world their strength somewhere else, rather than stay trapped in Legend Guild without any influence. However, the yers that usually enjoyed ying alone, as well as the people that built friendship with Minhyuk over the course of his stay in the game, would want to join him ande to his guild, even if they were strong yers. That was why they wanted to remove the name <em>¡®Legend¡¯</em> and create a new name for themselves.

    ¡°Do you have any guild name in mind?¡±

    After being asked about his opinion, Minhyuk went silent and pondered over the name. The guild members waited calmly as he thought about it for around three minutes. Then, he said, ¡°Personal vor¡­?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Everyone went silent. Goodness! What kind of naming sense was that?

    <em>¡®Ah, that¡¯s right. Minhyuk¡¯s naming sense is shit¡­¡¯</em>

    In the past, Minhyuk used the nickname Red Shot King in an FPS game. He also used the nickname Dungeon King Minhyuk in a character raising dungeon game. That was right. If there was something that Minhyuk could not do, it was naming!

    ¡°Then, Eat Kill Guild?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Silence once again enveloped the area.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t we discuss it together for a bit¡­?¡±

    Then, a boy said, ¡°Why? It¡¯s good though.¡±

    The boy was none other than Ace. All of the guild members turned to look at him. They just stared silently at the boy.

    ¡°It¡­it¡¯s not good?¡±

    Just like that, they spent the entire day trying to decide a name for their guild.

    ***

    The South Korean <em>Athenae</em>munity was suddenly in a buzz.

    <em>[Legend Guild suddenly disappeared in the guild rankings. Does anyone know why?]</em>

    <em>[Huh? You¡¯re right. Why did Legend Guild suddenly disappear? Did something happen in their guild so they disbanded? But, they¡¯re all strong people so they will still be able to thrive somewhere else even if they did break up.]</em>

    <em>[Haaa. Is our country¡¯s elite guild going to disappear under the tides of history?]</em>

    The yers suddenly saw a public statement posted by Genie the moment questions about Legend Guild appeared on the inte.

    <em>[Huh? Genie has given the guild master¡¯s authority to the Food God?]</em>

    <em>[Gasp! For real? Will the Food God lead Legend Guild now?]</em>

    <em>[Based on what I read, it seems like they won¡¯t remain as Legend Guild anymore. They¡¯re going to register a new guild and name at 5:00 p.m. today. We should check it out by then.]</em>

    Plenty of the yers were curious as to what name Legend Guild would take now. And since they were changing their guild name, it meant that they were aiming for a new beginning. After all, they willingly abandoned and left behind their current guild rankings, just to create a new guild. All of the yers waited patiently for the clock to strike five. Finally, a system notification appeared in the guild channel of <em>Athenae¡¯s </em>official website.

    <em>[Minhyuk has created a new guild.]</em>

    <em>[Ohhhhh! Finally!]</em>

    <em>[What¡¯s the guild name?!!]</em>

    <em>[Kyaaa! Since it¡¯s the Food God¡¯s guild, it should be named with a name that¡¯s as cool as ¡®Legend¡¯, right?]</em>

    The yers immediately searched for ¡®Minhyuk¡¯ in the guild master¡¯s section. Then, they saw the guild name.

    <em>[Guild Name: Let''s Eat Sect. Guild Master: Minhyuk. Sub-Guild Master: Genie. Number of Guild Members: 19.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    That day was the day when plenty of the people of <em>Athenae </em>were left in confusion. That was right. No one in Legend Guild had a good naming sense. The only reason why Legend Guild was named as such was because the public shouted <em>¡®Legend, legend!¡¯</em> before. In fact, in the past, Genie used to have the in-game nickname ¡®zing Shot Genie¡¯, Locke used to have the name ¡®Steel Gun Locke¡¯, and Khan was ¡®HandsomeSeoktae¡¯. After seeing the name, one of the yers¡¯ments became the bestment of the post.

    <em>[The guild name definitely leaves a mark¡­]</em>

    It was a guild name that no one would forget once they heard it.

    ***

    Crusoe was the one currently in charge of training the soldiers in As. He went to the master and owner of As, Minhyuk, and said, ¡°Could you call for people that can train the troops that you currently have in the territory? How about the current instructors of Valha territory?¡±

    He requested this simply because there were a total of 200 soldiers in the territory¡¯s troops. Even though he was the Sword and Shield, it would still be a bit too much for him to handle it alone. Besides, there would also be troops that would migrate to As from Valha territory. Minhyuk also gained an additional 700-strong troop as an extra reward the moment he gained ownership of the territory. These 700 soldiers were different from the 200 ¡®Death Corps¡¯ soldiers. Although the 700 soldiers were weaker than the Death Corps, they were still stronger than any ordinary soldier from other territories. So, Crusoe had to train them. However, he only had a month. It would be a difficult feat for him topletely train them until they reached mastery over the course of a single month. The fact that the troops would gain twice the EXP in that month meant that he would have to speed up the process to take advantage of the benefit.

    Then, Minhyuk asked, ¡°What are you going to teach the soldiers?¡±

    ¡°Swordsmanship, spearmanship, horsemanship, archery, tactics and strategy and a lot more.¡±

    ¡°Ho. I have very suitable people in Valha territory for that.¡±

    After hearing his answer, Crusoe was filled with great expectations. Then, after that, more than half of the residents of Valha territory migrated to As, along with a considerable number of soldiers. That was when Crusoe saw a strange old man.

    ¡°Grow up hair! Grow!¡±

    The old man had long and shiny hair like Terrius[1] which hebed carefully. The old man quickly made coffee and handed it over to Minhyuk.

    ¡°My Lord, please have some coffee.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Thank you, Grandpa Ben. <em>Kyaa! </em>Your iced americano is the best!¡±

    ¡°Hohohoho.¡±

    ¡°But, your hair¡­¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it cool?¡±

    Actually, it did not look cool at all. Imagine an old man in his sixties growing soft and shiny ck hair just like Terrius. The old man continued to give Minhyuk coffee. Minhyuk drank thirty cups in a single go. Then, an African boy suddenly appeared and stretched his hands towards the dirty dishes.

    ¡°Godly Dishwashing!¡±

    <em>[Godly Dishwashing]</em>

    <em>[A dishwashing technique given by god! You can wash dishes without using water and remove foreign substances from tes, cups and other dishes!]</em>

    ¡°Fufufufu!¡±

    After doing the dishes, the African boy removed his rubber gloves and took out a piece of sweet red bean bread. His expression looked overwhelmed as he took a bite and said, ¡°Delicious¡­¡± The boy¡¯s eyes even turned red.

    ¡°...¡±

    Crusoe was left speechless at the sight. Then, another man appeared.

    ¡°Please give me a cup of coffee too.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Talmor came too?¡±

    The man was holding a recorder and looking at something.

    ¡°Ho. So you¡¯re practicing a new song on your recorder. What song is it?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Butterfly. <em>Butterfly, butterfly,e fly over here. Yellow butterfly, white butterflye dance over here~</em>¡±

    ¡°Oh. That sounds very cool.¡±

    Then, Conir¡¯s eyes reddened with tears. He stood among them and said, ¡°Co¡­Conir!!! Conir feels like Conir¡¯s going to cry at the beautiful song!!! Conir is touched!!!¡±

    <em>¡®N¡­no. How can you be moved only after hearing Butterfly?¡¯</em>

    Crusoe could not infer who they were and what roles they yed.

    ¡°...¡±

    <em>¡®The God of Dishwashing, the Coffee Master, the Recorder yer, and the boy that cried after being moved by the song Butterfly?¡¯</em>

    Then, Crusoe turned to Minhyuk and asked, ¡°My Lord, where are the instructors that would teach spearmanship, swordsmanship, archery and horsemanship?¡±

    ¡°What? Aren¡¯t they here? I¡¯ll introduce them to you. Granda Ben will be teaching spearmanship. Conir and Sir Corr will be teaching swordsmanship, and Kaistra will teach horsemanship.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Crusoe was once again left speechless.

    <em>¡®These people?¡¯ </em>

    Crusoe knew that he should not say this, but he felt like he could not expect anything from them. The old man looked weak as if he would faint if he so much as pushed him. He was even told that the recorder man and the young boy would be the ones to teach swordsmanship.

    <em>¡®What in the world will happen to the territory?¡¯ </em>

    It was so ridiculous that Crusoe even wondered how Valha territory was managed and operated. However, even if he found it ridiculous, Crusoe could not openly show his dissatisfaction.

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll give them a week. I need to go on special training with the Death Corps in a week anyway¡­¡¯ </em>

    The Death Corps was As¡¯ core unit. So, he decided to give these people a quota and a goal for that week that he would train the core unit. Finally getting into a decision, Crusoe said, ¡°Can you raise the level of the soldiers by four levels in a week?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not a difficult task,¡± the old man answered whilebing his hair.

    Conir and Corr also answered his question.

    ¡°Conir!! Conir will train soldiers!! Wow!!¡±

    ¡°Well, I won¡¯t have time to practice with my recorder, but I will do my best. Ah, wait. Did you say you were Sir Crusoe? You don¡¯t look like you have enough hair on your head. If you pay me, I will pray for you.¡±

    ¡°I will train the soldiers hard so they can be a cavalry! Ah, wait. All of the dishes that are used during meals will also be done by me. Fufufufu!¡±

    If they failed to raise the level of the soldiers and reach Crusoe¡¯s requirements, he intended to stop them. No, actually he did not expect them to meet his requirements at all. Then¡­

    ¡°Minhyuk, what are you going to cook this time?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Royal Court Rice Cakes[2].¡±

    ¡°Wow. What ingredients do I need to bring?¡±

    ¡°Hmmm. Bring me an eagle egg from the nest of a Giant Eagle.¡±

    The eagle egg! It was a well-known S-rank ingredient with an outstanding vor! However, the giant eagles were extremely strong monsters, known to give people hell once they came in a flock. Their nest was a ce that even rankers did not dare go.

    ¡°I¡¯lle back as quickly as possible! I¡¯ll do my best!¡± The beautiful woman said, running away like the wind. The woman that looked like she was sent running to buy bread was none other than the number one yer in the Global Rankings, Mei Wei.

    Minhyuk could not help but chuckle as he watched her disappear. Then, he said, ¡°Hehehe. I took one step in retreat, only to take two steps forward.¡±

    After watching all of these happen, Crusoe suddenly felt like he missed the previous Food God. However, Crusoe waspletely unaware of the miracle that would unfold in As after a month.

    1. A nickname given to handsome men with long and shiny hair. A reference to Terry/Terrius in Candy Candy. ?

    2. Snacks served to the king, unlike normal spicy rice cakes, it leans more on the savory side. Also called soy sauce rice cakes since they are stir-fried in soy sauce ?

 Chapter 321: Strengthening the Territory

    Chapter 321: Strengthening the Territory

    The next day, Crusoe took the 200 Death Corps soldiers, and left As territory for their special training on a beach located nearby.

    ¡°Run!!! If you arrivete, I¡¯ll have you run back and forth another time!!!¡±

    Crusoe¡¯s running drill was extremely unique and special, with many powerful monsters blocking their course. However, the Death Corps just ran forward without stopping. It was as if they were already used to this drill.

    <em>Dash, dash, dash, dash¨D</em>

    They were not tasked to hunt. So, they weaved through the monsters and avoided them, while continuing their run. In just a blink of an eye, they had already left hundreds of monsters behind them! The sight was so thrilling and could bring a chill down one¡¯s spine. However, through this method, they would be able to gain a strong mental fortitude and quick feet. They kept on running like crazy because they wanted to survive and live.

    <em>[Soldier Rocard¡¯s AGI has increased by +1]</em>

    <em>[Soldier Laerito¡¯s AGI has increased by +1]</em>

    The notifications rang constantly! After doing their running drill, the Death Corps were then tasked to kill 200 monsters, one for each of them. However, the soldiers using swords were given wooden swords, the soldiers using spears were given wooden sticks, and the soldiers using bow and arrow were given carved wooden arrows to fight against the monsters. They might have easily killed the monsters with their usual weapons, but Crusoe¡¯s method was pushing the soldiers to their limits. This method could also quickly increase the soldiers¡¯ swordsmanship, spearmanship and archery skills. Once their morning training was over¡­

    ¡°Sir Crusoe.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Centurion Park?¡±

    ¡°Do you think the training in As territory is going well?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Crusoe could not assume that it was going well. After all, all 200 of the soldiers present here had seen those weirdos too. Crusoe just said, ¡°When we return and the soldiers¡¯ level has not increased by four, I will immediately tell Minhyuk to make them step down. Minhyuk¡¯s probably calling them instructors because he¡¯s very kind, but¡­¡±

    He did not need to say anything anymore, everyone understood what he meant.

    ***

    The night before, the soldiers of As were told that they would receive apletely different training from the people that came from Valha territory! Just before they went to sleep, one of the soldiers, Leo, said, ¡°Speaking about the instructors, aren¡¯t they a bit weird?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not a bit, they¡¯re really weird. Will they really be able to train us?¡±

    The soldiers that remained in As were all worried. However, some of them also thought like this¡­

    ¡°It seems like we¡¯ll be able to rest a lot.¡±

    ¡°I know right. Fufufufu. We can just sit on the ground and grill some pollock. Ah, someone should bring some alcohol in a bucket too!¡±

    The soldierspletely ignored the people who migrated from Valha territory, even the lord¡¯s vassals. Perhaps it was inevitable. After all, they were people that wielded their swords and spears to protect their loved ones and survive! As for the people that came from Valha, they lookedpletely far from their desperation. Meanwhile, Leo fell asleep with a smile on his face, believing that he would live afortable life for a week from the weird, weak-looking instructors that they had. s, they had not even slept for a few hours when¡­

    ¡°Wake up!!!¡±

    A loud voice shook the entire barracks, waking the soldiers up in surprise. Grandpa Ben, with his luxurious long ck hair, stood there with his spear.

    ¡°Ah, gramps. It¡¯s still early. Why are you waking us up already?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right! We need to get more sleep. Training can start at nine o¡¯clock. <em>Yawn,</em>¡± Leo said with a yawn.

    But then, a man suddenly appeared behind the soldiers and threw water at their backs.

    <em>Shwaaaaaa¨D</em>

    The man was none other than Corr.

    ¡°You should be in the training grounds in 20 seconds. Those who arrivete will have to run 30ps around the training grounds.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Okay¡­¡±

    The soldiers wondered why Grandpa Ben and the other instructor did this. Simply put, they thought that it was <em>¡®troublesome¡¯.</em> It wasmon to feel that way especially when they felt that the people that were going to teach them were worse than them. They just openly ignored their words and came out leisurely to the training grounds.

    ¡°Twenty seconds are long over. Run 30ps in the field!¡±

    ¡°<em>Ehhhh! </em>How can we run 30ps like that~¡±

    ¡°Thirtyps means that I have to run 20 kilometers. How can I run that far, instructor?¡±

    ¡°Then, how about the instructors run instead! Hehehehe!¡±

    When they heard their words, Grandpa Ben showed them a wide smile and said, ¡°Hohoho. Look at them?¡±

    The soldiersughed slyly at Grandpa Ben. After all, they were soldiers of As territory! A weak old man could not make them move! But then, Grandpa Ben said, ¡°Instructors, forward!¡±

    <em>Swoosh! </em>

    <em>Swoosh!</em>

    <em>Swoosh! </em>

    <em>Swoosh! </em>

    With his words, the strange God of Dishwashing, the pdin with a recorder and the other member of their group stepped forward in unison. Then, Grandpa Ben gave each of them a pair of wooden chopsticks. After he did that, he looked at the soldiers and said, ¡°All of you hold your spears, your swords and your bow and arrows. If you¡¯re able tond a hit on your instructors with your weapons, then we will exclude you from training.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Oh! I can rest easy until Sir Crusoees back!¡±

    ¡°Eyyy~ How can you even deal with us with just chopsticks alone?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll just get hurt. Haha!¡±

    Then, Grandpa Ben said, ¡°Start.¡±

    The soldiers wereughing with ease, but they immediately rushed forward the moment they heard Grandpa Ben speak. The soldier Leo was even the first to rush towards Grandpa Ben.

    <em>¡®Let¡¯s have a rxing week!¡¯ </em>

    However, a pair of wooden chopsticks stabbed him strongly in the chest.

    ¡°<em>Keoheok!!</em>¡±

    Leo could not breathe from the pain!!! While he screamed in pain, another soldier rushed towards Conir.

    <em>¡®This little kid looks the easiest!¡¯ </em>

    So, the soldier swung his sword, trying to scare the little boy away. But then, Conir stabbed the tip of the soldier¡¯s sword with his chopsticks.

    <em>Clink!</em>

    The boy did not stop. He gently rotated his body and mmed his head on the soldier¡¯s face.

    ¡°Keoheok!¡±

    As for the boy hailed as the God of Dishwashing¡­ he picked up his chopsticks and stabbed the soldiers easily and leisurely, effectively suppressing them.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab¨D</em>

    And it did not end there. Corr threw away his chopsticks and took out his recorder and easily overpowered the soldiers. Just like that, the hundreds of soldiers began to copse without even touching a single hair of their instructors!

    ¡°Keheok!¡±

    ¡°Ugh, aaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaack!¡±

    The soldiers screamed loudly as they rolled on the floor in pain one after the other. However, Grandpa Ben and the rest of their instructors did not stop. The person that got hit on the head by Grandpa Ben¡¯s chopsticks felt like an iron hammer had mmed on his head.

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡±

    The one that got stabbed by the young boy, Conir¡¯s chopsticks felt like he was stabbed by a sword.

    ¡°Keheok!¡±

    Not long after, all of the soldiers had copsed from the pain.

    ¡°Stand up!¡±

    Ben¡¯s words might be short, but his words were strong and filled with momentum. The soldiers hurriedly stood up, groaning in pain as they did so.

    ¡°Ugh. How, how can this be¡­¡±

    ¡°This, this is impossible¡­¡±

    Then, Ben told them, ¡°You still have the energy to chat?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Everyone turned silent at his words.

    ¡°Run 30ps around the field! Double time!¡±

    ¡°...Yes, sir!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    That was when the soldiers realized that they would be in trouble for a week, no, perhaps even in the future.

    ***

    The soldiers¡¯ bodies were hurting all over as they gasped heavily after morning training. They were so exhausted that they were dragging their bodies to the mess hall. However, the moment they entered the mess hall, they saw their training schedule¡­

    <em>[Training Schedule]</em>

    <em>4:00 a.m.: Wake up</em>

    <em>4:00 a.m - 6:00 a.m. : Morning training and running</em>

    <em>6:00 a.m. - 7:00 a.m.: Breakfast</em>

    <em>7:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.: Soldier¡¯s personal training (e.g. swordsmanship, spearmanship, etc.)</em>

    <em>9:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.: Underwater training at Dragon King¡¯s Sea</em>

    <em>11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.: Lunch</em>

    <em>12:30 p.m. - ¡­omitted</em>

    <em>11:00 p.m.: Lights out</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Leo and the rest of the soldiers looked at the training schedule in shock and astonishment.

    <em>¡®What, what the hell¡­!¡¯ </em>

    <em>¡®Why, why is it so packed?!¡¯ </em>

    <em>¡®Hiiik!¡¯ </em>

    What would happen to them if they continued training with the same intensity as the one that they experienced this morning? Just imagining their schedule was terrifying enough.

    They ate the moment they entered the mess hall. Their breakfast was a set of <em>¡®seaweed soup, vienna sausage, seasoned seaweed, and kimchi¡¯</em>. They felt like breakfast after working out and exercising hard in the morning was the best. To their pleasant surprise, Minhyuk was even the one working in the kitchen.

    ¡°Wow. It¡¯s really delicious.¡±

    ¡°This is the most delicious breakfast that I ever had.¡±

    Leo looked around with his aching body as he said, ¡°I wonder how delicious that seaweed soup is?¡± Then, he scooped a spoonful of soup filled with plenty of seaweed and beef.

    <em>¡®Huh?¡¯</em>

    Leo scooped another spoonful. His eyes widened in shock from the deep vor of the beef and seaweed broth that had the appropriate amount of soy sauce and sesame oil. Then, Leo quickly scooped some rice together with his seaweed soup. He also made sure to add some kimchi on top of that spoonful. And when he ced it in his mouth¡­

    <em>Crunch, crunch, crunch</em>¨D

    The crispy and crunchy sound of the kimchi together with the warm seaweed soup spread in his mouth. Then, Leo took a bite of the vienna sausages. The vor and warmth of the food made him feel like his fatigue was going away. That was when the notifications rang.

    <em>[You have eaten Seaweed Soup & Vienna Sausage.]</em>

    <em>[The food helps you recover from your fatigue.]</em>

    <em>[Your ability to acquire EXP and learn skills will increase by 15%.]</em>

    The soldiers were in a buzz. This was because Minhyuk¡¯s buff abilities were amazing and great.

    After their meal, Leo swung his sword towards the wooden doll in front of him during his swordsmanship training.

    <em>¡®Ah, why isn¡¯t it working?¡¯</em>

    Leo also wanted to grow further and stand on the next level of his swordsmanship. However, it was not going as well as he thought.

    <em>sh, sh, sh!</em>

    Leo swung his sword at the doll but nothing was improving. Then¡­

    ¡°Instructor Conir!!! Your Instructor will not bully you if you listen well!!!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    ¡°Conir says to rx your arm and only bring your strength into your attack when you stab!!! Conir is telling you that you¡¯ll see improvement in your swordsmanship if you do that!!!¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Leo was confused but he smiled as he thought, <em>¡®Rx my arm? What nonsense is he talking about?¡¯ </em>

    Leo believed that he would miss his target or lose his sword if he rxed his arm holding his sword. Missing a target or losing his sword in the battlefield would bring him close to death. Still, Leo tried out Conir¡¯s advice. He rxed his arm and only put his strength when he stabbed. Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>Shwaaaa!</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

    Fierce wind apanied his sword as the tip stabbed deeply into the wooden doll.

    ¡°Conir will exin!!! Trainee Leo is using too much strength, because of that Trainee Leo¡¯s sword cannot show its proper strength. Trainee Leo loses strength even before Trainee Leo swings his sword!¡±

    ¡°...I¡­I see. Th¡­thank you! Thank you!!!¡± Leo shouted, bowing repeatedly in gratitude.

    Minhyuk, who watched everything from afar, heard a series of notifications.

    <em>[The soldiers are starting to learn swordsmanship.]</em>

    <em>[The As¡¯ soldiers¡¯ understanding of swordsmanship has significantly increased.]</em>

    Meanwhile, Root brought the archers to the peak of the mountain. Then, he pulled his bow and shot his arrow somewhere.

    <em>¡®What is he doing?¡¯ </em>

    <em>¡®No, why did he shoot in the air?¡¯ </em>

    Then, Root said, ¡°Go to the ce where I shot my arrow.¡±

    The soldiers ran with grim expressions on their faces. When they arrived at the location, they saw the arrow piercing through a very small rabbit. This was the prowess of the former archery gold medalist Root! In fact, with the game <em>Athenae¡¯s </em>influence, the title <em>¡®Godly Archer¡¯ </em>was not a waste on him.

    ¡°At least two weeks. You¡¯ll have to be able to shoot like this in two weeks. Pull the strings of the bow, no. Hold your breath and pull the bow string as hard as you can. Don¡¯t close your eyes, that¡¯s right. Do it like that.¡±

    <em>Woosh¨D</em>

    <em>Stab!</em>

    Rapier, a soldier known for being the worst among the archers, followed Root¡¯s instructions and shot an arrow so fast that it looked like he was a master archer.

    <em>¡®Wow¡­!¡¯ </em>

    <em>¡®That, that¡¯s crazy¡­!¡¯ </em>

    ¡°Thank you, instructor! Thank you!¡±

    <em>[The soldiers are starting to learn archery.]</em>

    <em>[The As¡¯ soldiers¡¯ understanding of archery has significantly increased.]</em>

    The surprises did not end there. Kaistra sat on his horse and taught the cavalry unit some horsemanship. He had been training with wolves ever since he was five years old, and teaching this much was nothing.

    ¡°The destructive power of the spear increases in the hands of those riding the horse. It is important to know how to use your spear on a horse, but it¡¯s also important to learn how to handle the horse. You must be one with the horse in mind and body,¡± Kaistra said, showing his high intimacy with the horse. Then, he urged the horse to run towards the targets and¡­

    <em>Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!</em>

    Kaistra sessfully hit the target te dead on the center while still riding on top of the horse.

    <em>[The soldiers are starting to learn horsemanship.]</em>

    <em>[The As¡¯ soldiers¡¯ understanding of horse riding has significantly increased.]</em>

    The soldiers grew incredibly fast in just a single day! After all, they received a x2 buff for growth and EXP rate. They were even nurtured by Minhyuk¡¯s buffed dishes and their amazing instructors!

    ***

    During that time, a man wearing a ck robe and riding on top of a huge snake was moving quickly.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m almost there.¡¯</em>

    The man had a smile on his face. This man was none other than ck Mage Ali. He had sessfully changed into the Royal ss Moldoron¡¯s Descendant! Not too long ago, he read from the official website that Legend Guild had disbanded to form a new guild. Knowing the new owner of the new guild, Ali wanted to lend his strength to him and stay by his side. Just when he was smiling at the thought¡­

    ¡°Oh? That boy?!¡±

    ¡°Over here!! ck Prema¡­ No, ck Mage Ali!!!¡±

    ck Mage Ali turned to look at the source of the shout. Then, he saw the people calling for him. He said, ¡°Oh. Aren¡¯t you the Four Hyenas? By any chance¡­¡±

    Hearing Ali¡¯s words, the Four Hyena¡¯s, also known as the chairmen of Nottogi, Ilhwa Distribution, Ilhwa Electronics and Ilhwa Construction, answered Ali¡¯s question with, ¡°Yes. We also want to join Minhyuk.¡±

    ¡°Hahaha! I see. I want to do the same thing too!¡±

    Strong yers were starting to gather in As territory.<blockquote>

    ChubbyCheeks''s Thoughts

    There¡¯s been a mix-up with the names. Lute should be Root, the archer yer that they helped with the King Varen quest. It must have slipped my mind to change it, what with all the names in the novel. Sorry about that. It has already been fixed. ~CC</blockquote>

 Chapter 322: Strengthening the Territory

    Chapter 322: Strengthening the Territory

    While the soldiers were busy training, the others were also moving to strengthen As. The strengthening of the territory did not only depend on the soldiers¡¯ training, so everyone had to put in work.

    <em>ng! ng! ng! ng!</em>

    Steam was blowing from the burning heat inside the smithy.

    <em>Fwoosh¨D</em>

    Steam once again rose from the red hot iron that was dipped in the water.

    <em>¡®Within a month, I have to bring three or more cksmiths to master level. I also have to equip the troops with the best armor and weapons.¡¯</em>

    Golden Hammer Dwarf Lant was putting his all into his work today!!! The reason¡­

    <em>¡®If I do that, then the Lord will¡­¡¯</em>

    Originally, equipping the soldiers with armor and weapons was not a part of the rewards. But Dwarf Lant had made a promise with Minhyuk. However, if he fully equipped the soldiers, Minhyuk would make him ten cups of sweet and delicious watermelon and melon juice. What would it feel like if he drank a cup of cool, refreshing watermelon juice, or melon juice, under the steam of this hot and zing ce?

    <em>Gulp¨D</em>

    Lant already felt that it was awesome just by thinking about it. However, the problem was that he did not have enough hands to help him. He thought, <em>¡®Can I really do this alone?¡¯ </em>No matter how strong Golden Hammer Dwarf Lant was, it would still be difficult for him to create weapons and armor for around 1,000 soldiers in just a month. Of course, it would be possible if he imprinted it like the ones in the factories. However, if he did that, that would be a stain to his name as Golden Hammer! At that moment¡­

    ¡°Hello. I was sent by the Lord,¡± A middle-aged man greeted him and entered the smithy. Dwarf Lant had already heard about his story before.

    <em>¡®From what they said, he¡¯s a very talented cksmith from the ce called Legend Guild.¡¯</em>

    He was told that this man would be very helpful to him, but Lant did not have much expectations. All he needed was an assistant, right?

    ¡°Boy, I want to see your skills. I¡¯m actually in the middle of making swords for the soldiers. Can you make a sword with these materials?¡±

    Legend Guild¡¯s financial prowess was quite huge. After gaining ownership of As, they gained a <em>¡®treasure warehouse¡¯</em> located in the territory. Inside the warehouse were artifacts worth around 3,000 to 4,000 tinum. That meant that most of the materials used for these items were at the medium or upper-grade. Just like chefs, cksmiths could also use simr materials, but produce artifacts withpletely different ranks and performance.

    ¡°I understand,¡± The man answered as he immediately started working.

    <em>ng, ng, ng!</em>

    Lant listened to the sound that his work was creating. He thought, <em>¡®It would be a relief if he can create something rare but¡­¡¯</em>

    Those who could master the current avable materials could only produce rare items. Of course, even if the rank was rare, it would still have excellent performance. Time went by just like that.

    ¡°I¡¯m done.¡±

    ¡°I see. Good work.¡±

    The man brought the sword that hepleted to Lant, who began to examine every nook and cranny of the sword.

    <em>¡®Huh¡­?¡¯ </em>

    Lant¡¯s eyes widened in surprise at the sword¡¯s even and smooth de. When he dropped a piece of paper over the de of the sword, the paper tore easily. Lant determined that the sword was admirable after inspecting the de.

    ¡°You¡¯re pretty good.¡±

    However, he still had to closely inspect the substance and performance of the sword. Lant might not know this, but since <em>Athenae </em>was a game, there were quite a few cases where only the attack of the weapon was high. Just like that, Lant checked the sword¡¯s information.

    <em>(<strong>As Soldier¡¯s Sword</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: Unique</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: Level 300 or higher</em>

    <em><strong>Durability</strong>: 6,000/6,000</em>

    <em><strong>Attack</strong>: 599</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>?All stats +4</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Sword Mastery +1</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Soldier¡¯s Roar</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Soldier¡¯s Dash</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: A sword created by the man that inherited God¡¯s talents. A very special sword waspleted using extremely normal materials.</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

    Lant was very shocked. The sword wasparable to the artifacts that he had made. He swept his hand on the t of the de as he said, ¡°That¡­that¡¯s surprising¡­¡±

    Just when he was thinking about asking for the man¡¯s name, he saw the letters that had been engraved on the de of the sword.

    ¡°Amazing Hyemin?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Hyemin is the best!¡±

    That was right. The man was none other than Hyemin¡¯sDad. Recently, he started adding the letters for <em>¡®Amazing Hyemin¡¯ </em>on the artifacts that he made. True enough, he was the typical daughter-con father.

    ***

    Genie, Locke, and the other guild members of Let''s Eat Sect were all wandering around As territory to map out the topography, discover the dungeons, and identify all the various elements inside the territory. In the process of discovering dungeons, they were able to increase their level up a bit. However, their strength was stillcking. No, perhaps it was because they saw Minhyuk¡¯s ridiculous fighting prowess that they were still not satisfied with themselves.

    ¡°Should we keep looking for more hidden dungeons?¡±

    ¡°Do you think it¡¯s that easy to find hidden dungeons?¡±

    They were currently back in the territorial castle taking a break. As they chatted, Locke said, ¡°I want to be stronger¡­¡±

    Everyone fell silent at his words. They felt like they had be stagnant while Minhyuk continued to move forward. Then, suddenly¡­

    ¡°Strength is truly a good thing.¡±

    Their heads turned to look at the person who suddenly talked. There, they saw a man from the demon race wetting his finger with his tongue to flip a page of his book. The man was none other than Great Sage Aruvel. Of course, they had heard about his name too. He was the man hailed as the Great Sage in the Demon World! From what they heard, he was extremely strong. However, he only kept on reading books the moment he arrived here. In fact, there was no problem with reading books. The problem was the type of books that he was reading!

    <em>¡®His Majesty the Emperor¡¯s ndestine Stories.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®The Maid Leipi and the Passionate Bed.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Your Highness, You Can¡¯t Do This!¡¯</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Aruvel looked at them with a solemn expression on his face as he said, ¡°Human¡¯s love is truly splendid.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Yes¡­¡±

    ¡°That person, no, that demon is weird¡­¡±

    ¡°Why are all of the people here weird¡­? It seems like I¡¯m the only exception.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the weirdest one here, Locke.¡±

    Everyone shook their heads at Locke as they moved slightly away from him. Then, the man mmed his book shut and stood up as he turned to them and said, ¡°So, this is the end of all of the wonderful books left here. Ah¡­ I want to read the third volume of <em>¡®Your Highness, You Can¡¯t Do This!¡¯</em>¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Everyone was left speechless.

    ¡°Your Highness, You Can¡¯t Do This! is a story about how a cold and strong prince fell in love with an innocent and pure maid¡­ <em>mumble, mumble¡­</em>¡±

    Strangely enough, everyone present was perking their ears up and listening attentively to Aruvel¡¯s words! Then, Aruvel said, ¡°But, it turned out that the maid was Loudee, the princess of a fallen kingdom!!! She was the person promised to the prince for marriage from before!!!¡±

    ¡°My goodness! How can that be?!¡±

    ¡°Wow! This is thrilling!¡±

    ¡°<em>Kghhhk~~</em>¡±

    Drama truly was crazy and thrilling! They unknowingly admired the work as they listened to Aruvel. Then, Aruvel continued to say, ¡°But, this is the end of the second volume. How can this be¡­¡±

    ¡°It was cut off here?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m asking you, can you guys get it for me? If you can get me the third volume, I will show you the path to be strong.¡±

    <em>Ring!</em>

    At that moment, a notification window popped out in front of all the guild members present.

    <em>[<strong>Hidden Quest</strong>: Find the Third Volume of Your Highness, You Can¡¯t Do This!]</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: A</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: Aruvel¡¯s favorability</em>

    <em><strong>Rewards</strong>: The path to High ss. Power.</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty for Failure</strong>: Aruvel¡¯s favorability will drop sharply</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: Aruvel was known as the Demon World¡¯s Great Sage! Right now, he wants to read the third volume of Your Highness, You Can¡¯t Do This!. Get him the third volume.</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Everyone was shocked at the sudden turn of events. First, the reward listed ¡®The path to High ss¡¯. Second, they only needed to get the third volume of an adult book to get the enormous reward of High ss!

    Genie recalled a notice posted on <em>Athenae¡¯s </em>official website not too long ago. They had issued a sentence after a lot of yers began makingints about the ¡®Royal ss¡¯ and ¡®God ss¡¯, saying that the bnce had been broken. Words like ¡®<em>I don¡¯t feel like ying this anymore¡¯</em>, or ¡®<em>Who wants to y something like this?¡¯ </em>or ¡®<em>The bnce of this game is extremely bad¡¯ </em>had already spread widely on the inte<em>. </em>

    The notice said, <em>¡®Athenae already has a set measure prepared for cases like this. We have always aimed for a ¡®clear and fair bnce¡¯. Of course, it will only be avable for the best and worthy yers.¡¯</em> Currently, all of the members of the guild were around Level 500 or higher. It was like those words were aimed at them. And from how they said it¡­

    <em>¡®Don¡¯t tell me the path is¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Awakening?¡¯</em>

    In RPGs, awakenings were usually divided into first awakening, second awakening and third awakening. With every awakening, the yer would gain overwhelming power, as well as new skills and stats. Although they were not sure yet, it seemed like that was the case here too. So, they started to move quickly.

    When everyone left, Aruvel whistled happily as he opened his book again. But then, a man, Locke, came back again and said, ¡°By any chance, can I borrow the first and second volumes of <em>Your Highness, You Can¡¯t Do This!</em>?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ***

    ck Dragon had met with the Dragon Race¡¯s child and had arrived at the <em>¡®Forgotten Dragons Land¡¯</em>, the ce where the dragon race was residing. The moment he arrived, he received the quest<em> ¡®Dealing with the Infected Dragon Race¡¯</em>. He received the quest from the Dragon Race¡¯s King Broque, a hidden NPC living as the king in the Forgotten Dragons Land. If hepleted this quest, he would be able to receive the recognition of King Broque. The dragon race had been infected by an unknown poison and had be ferocious. The infected dragon race was then forced to quarantine themselves off inside the Forgotten Dragons Land. The time limit for the quest was only three days.

    <em>[You have hunted an infected member of the dragon race.]</em>

    <em>[Total Number Hunted: 513/513]</em>

    <em>[You have sessfully hunted all of the infected members of the dragon race.]</em>

    <em>[You havepleted the <strong>Quest</strong>: Dealing with the Infected Dragon Race.]</em>

    ck Dragon nodded in satisfaction as he listened to the notifications. The dragon race was at an average level of Level 430, but they were not as strong as he thought. After finishing the quest, he recalled that the Dragon Race¡¯s King Broque said that he would wait for him three dayster at the entrance to the infectednd.

    ¡°<em>Kiyeeeeek!</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Kiyeeeeeek~</em>¡±

    The quest was fairly easy so he still looked rxed. Even the three legendary dragons were ying around among themselves nearby. Then, ck Dragon rubbed his chin. He thought, <em>¡®The dragon race is not as tolerant and generous towards me as I thought.¡¯ </em>In fact, the dragon race was even wary of them. Of course, it could have been because he had not finished his quest yet. However, ck Dragon believed that if he used his situation well, he would be able to get the best reward possible, and even increase his favorability with them.

    ¡°Ah¡­!¡± ck Dragon eximed in excitement as his floating thoughts came back to him the moment he found the best n.

    ***

    Dragon Race¡¯s King Broque was pondering deeply. He thought, <em>¡®Dragon Monarch¡­ If he sessfully clears all of my trials, he will be able to awaken the Forgotten Dragons Land once again.¡¯</em>

    But before that, he wanted to confirm and check what kind of existence the Dragon Monarch was. Besides, the Dragon Monarch was a human. This was the part that the Dragon Race¡¯s King Broque was very doubtful about. After all, the former Dragon Monarch had used the dragon race as his own weapon of mass murder. Because of them, many died and plenty were left in grief. And right now, he was waiting in front of the infectednd. Not long after, he saw theming from afar.

    ¡°He¡¯s here!!!¡±

    ¡°He¡¯sing.¡±

    Broque narrowed his eyes to look at the arriving figures. But what he saw made him frown.

    <em>¡®What¡¯s this?¡¯</em>

    The Dragon Monarch¡¯s condition was a bit unusual. Blood was dripping from his mouth and right arm. He was even limping as he held his right arm tightly with his left hand.

    ¡°<em>Kki, kkiyyyeeeeeck¡­</em>¡±

    Even the dragons were in a sorry state. The dragons were all covered in blood and looked like they were going to copse anytime soon. The ck dragon that was flying in the sky even fell down from exhaustion. Broque heard him say, ¡°Hang, hang in there, Britney! Hang in there! We¡¯re almost there!¡±

    ¡°<em>Ki, kiyeeeee¡­</em>¡± Britney cried as he struggled to raise his body up while ck Dragon tried to cheer him up. The other dragons also staggered forward to help the ck dragon named Britney. And the moment they left the infectednd and stood in front of Broque, ck Dragon¡­

    ¡°Aaaah¡­¡±

    <em>Fall¨D</em>

    ¡­copsed and fell down on his knees.

    ¡°What, what happened?!¡±

    ¡°The¡­the enemies were too strong¡­ But Broque doesn¡¯t trust me so I wanted to prove myself¡­ <em>Cough!</em>¡±

    Then, he bit his own cheek, causing blood to burst out of his mouth, before saying, ¡°I knew that it¡¯s a bit too much for me¡­ but I did it. With these children¡­¡±

    ck Dragon sent a nce towards Destiny and the other dragons.

    ¡°<em>Kiyeeeeee¡­</em>¡±

    <em>Thud¨D</em>

    Starting with Destiny¡­

    <em>Thud.</em>

    <em>Thud.</em>

    ¡­the dragons began to faint one after the other. Just like that, ck Dragon scammed and tricked the dragon race together with the four legendary dragons. Broque, unaware of their act, felt his heart warm. He said, ¡°If you knew that you couldn¡¯t do it, then you should have run away! Why¡­why did you do something this reckless¡­!!!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡± ck Dragon smiled as he continued to say, ¡°...because Broque asked us to do it.¡±

    <em>Thud.</em>

    Leaving those words behind, ck Dragon also fainted on the spot. In their fainted state, ck Dragon and the four legendary dragons all had sly and wicked smiles on their faces!!!

    ¡°H¡­Hey!!! Help me bring the heroes back!¡±

    ¡°Y¡­yes!¡±

    ¡°Ah!!! How can this be¡­!¡±

    ¡°My goodness! Dragon Monarch!!! He really fits the name of Monarch!!!!¡±

    Notifications about the increase in favor constantly rang in ck Dragon¡¯s ears. That was right. It was because of Kang Minhoo, that Minhyuk was a natural at scamming and tricking people, learning it all from his father. They were the embodiment of <em>Like Father, Like Son</em>.

 Chapter 323: Start of the Continental War

    Chapter 323: Start of the Continental War

    Crusoe was on his way back with the Death Corps after a grueling week of special training. He thought, <em>¡®Four levels? We¡¯ll see.¡¯</em>

    When Minhyuk gained ownership of As territory, the additional 700-strong troop given to him were all at Level 370. Considering that normal territories only had troops at around Level 200~250, the level of the troops given to him was suitable enough for the legendary territory.

    But would their levels rise by four after a week? The answer was most definitely <em>NO.</em> This was what Crusoe wholeheartedly believed, knowing that they were being trained by those strange and weird people! It would definitely be impossible. Perhaps they could only increase the troops¡¯ level by one at most. And the worst possible oue?

    <em>¡®I hope it¡¯s not the case, but they might have just wasted their time doing nothing.¡¯</em>

    If that happened, then Crusoe would definitely unleash his wrath. Just as they were trekking the road that led to the entrance of the territory¡­

    ¡°One, two! One, two! One, two! One, two!¡±

    ¡­Crusoe saw the troops running in a straight line. When he turned to look at the training grounds, he saw the soldiers well-versed in swords practicing their swordsmanship, while the soldiers well-versed in spears training in spearmanship. Every single soldier was doing their best in their personal training.

    <em>¡®Ho?¡¯ </em>

    Crusoe looked at the troops in surprise. They were working much more diligently than what he had thought. This meant that the instructors had trained them strictly. He recalled the status of the As¡¯ troops that he sawst week.

    <em>(<strong>As Troops¡¯ Current Status)</strong></em>

    <em>?<strong>Average Level</strong>: 381</em>

    <em>?<strong>Average Swordsmanship Level</strong>: Intermediate 1</em>

    <em>?<strong>Average Spearmanship Level</strong>: Intermediate 1</em>

    <em>?<strong>Average Archery Level</strong>: Intermediate 1</em>

    <em>?<strong>Average Horsemanship Level</strong>: Intermediate 1</em>

    <em>?<strong>Average</strong>¡­omitted¡­</em>

    <em>?<strong>Weapon and Shield</strong>: Good</em>

    <em>?<strong>Average HP</strong>: 2,135</em>

    <em>?<strong>Average MP</strong>: 1,031</em>

    <em>?<strong>Soldiers¡¯ Satisfaction Level</strong>: Satisfaction unable to determine as they¡¯re only getting to know As.</em>

    <em>?<strong>Soldiers¡¯ Attitude Towards Training</strong>: Passion unable to determine as they have yet to start training.</em>

    <em>¡®If there¡¯s no growth, or the growth is just insignificant¡­¡¯</em>

    Crusoe would definitely dismiss the instructors. So, Crusoe immediately checked the troops¡¯ status. What he saw made him tilt his head in confusion.

    <em>¡®Huh¡­?¡¯</em>

    Then, he closed the current status and opened it again.

    ¡°Oh¡­?¡±

    What he saw was a reality. Centurion Park saw his expression and spoke solemnly, ¡°From your reaction¡­ It seems like they did not improve.¡±

    Crusoe just shook his head absentmindedly at Centurion Park and said, ¡°N¡­No. That¡¯s not it¡­ Th¡­this is just too unbelievable. You know? It¡¯s because the troops have be significantly stronger¡­¡±

    ¡°Pardon?¡± Centurion Park asked, wondering what Crusoe meant. Meanwhile, Crusoe checked the troops¡¯ current status again.

    <em>(<strong>As Troops¡¯ Current Status)</strong></em>

    <em>?<strong>Average Level</strong>: 400</em>

    <em>?<strong>Average Swordsmanship Level</strong>: Intermediate 3</em>

    <em>?<strong>Average Spearmanship Level</strong>: Intermediate 2</em>

    <em>?<strong>Average Archery Level</strong>: Intermediate 2</em>

    <em>?<strong>Average Horsemanship Level</strong>: Intermediate 3</em>

    <em>?<strong>Average</strong>¡­omitted¡­</em>

    <em>?<strong>Weapon and Shield</strong>: Very Good</em>

    <em>?<strong>Average HP</strong>: 2,341</em>

    <em>?<strong>Average MP</strong>: 1,093</em>

    <em>?<strong>Soldiers¡¯ Satisfaction Level</strong>: With the help of their excellent instructors, they have improved their swordsmanship, spearmanship, archery, horsemanship and physical strength in a short period of time. They might feel like they were in hell during training, but they are extremely satisfied.</em>

    <em>?<strong>Soldiers¡¯ Attitude Towards Training</strong>: They are ready to jump into hell to follow their instructors¡¯ orders. Because of that, their satisfaction towards As had significantly increased and reached a new level.</em>

    <em>?The talents of the outstanding knights have been awakened! They have discovered five soldiers with outstanding talents in a week. This was because their new instructors have recognized their talents and have trained them intensively.</em>

    ¡°...This is crazy,¡± Crusoe said. He could not believe what he saw. The description even depicted that the troops were willing to jump into hell at their instructors¡¯ orders. That meant that the level of trust and reliance the troops had for their instructors was as much as themselves and theirrades. There were even five soldiers that awakened their talents as outstanding knights! In Crusoe¡¯s eyes, these soldiers looked like ¡®outstanding knights¡¯, but to yers like Minhyuk, they would see them as <em>¡®hidden NPCs¡¯</em>. People like that were not easy to find. Somehow, they were able to unearth five such talents.

    <em>¡®It seems like As territory will be ridiculously powerful¡­¡¯ </em>

    Crusoe could not even imagine the extent of the changes that As would undergo during this month.

    ***

    The Four Hyenas had be rankers with levels exceeding Level 500. In the first ce, they were overgeared and overpowered unofficial rankers. Then, there was Great Mage Moldoron¡¯s Descendant Ali, whose strength wasparable to Minhyuk! All of them asked to join Minhyuk¡¯s guild. Of course, Minhyuk happily epted them.

    <em>[A new guild member has been added to Let''s Eat Sect.]</em>

    <em>[Ali(Mage) is now a member of the guild.]</em>

    <em>[Bez(Fighter) is now a member of the guild.]</em>

    <em>[Killei(Mage) is now a member of the guild.]</em>

    <em>[Roadol(Trap Specialist) is now a member of the guild.]</em>

    <em>[Smooth(Poison Expert) is now a member of the guild.]</em>

    Minhyuk weed them with open arms and a bright smile at their request to join him. He looked at their sses and said, ¡°Huh? Uncle Taesik, you¡¯re a Trap Specialist?¡±

    Taesik, or Roadol, was Ilhwa Construction¡¯s chairman. He said, ¡°That¡¯s right! It¡¯s because of the illegal buildings in our country! I made bombs in <em>Athenae</em> while thinking of those buildings and ended up changing my ss to the legendary ss <em>¡®Master Trapper¡¯.</em>¡±

    ¡°...You made bombs while thinking about illegal buildings?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s because I can¡¯t tear them down in reality! Hahahahaha!¡±

    Minhyuk had felt it long ago. He knew that his uncles were all pleasant and kind people, with their own quirky personalities too. Then, there was Smooth, the Poison Expert. Minhyuk asked, ¡°Why did Uncle Wooseok be a Poison Expert?¡±

    Smooth was the chairman of Nottogi. He said, ¡°It seems like I¡¯m extremely talented at making poisons. It¡¯s as much as my talent for cooking.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Minhyuk just nodded. From what he heard, Smooth also had a legendary ss<em> ¡®Poison Master¡¯ </em>and he could produce extremely potent poisons, to the point that those assassins whose sole focus was poisoned attacks would pale inparison to his poisons.

    <em>¡®It would be amazing if we can install traps and poisons around the territory. Fufufufu.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk smiled happily at the thought of strengthening As even further. However, he still found one part very disappointing.

    <em>¡®It seems like I can¡¯t eat food outside these days.¡¯</em>

    Of course, the crops that grew in As were much better than the crops grown on normalnd, thanks to the Small World Tree¡¯s power. Soon, Minhyuk decided to let go of his disappointment in not being able to eat food from the outside, as he put his heart and soul into strengthening the territory. After all, strength and power is essential for him to eat deliciously.

    ***

    A month quickly passed by in <em>Athenae.</em> Minhyu¡¯s As territory had grown rapidly over the course of that month. His troops¡¯ average level had reached Level 433. And that was not the end of it. Golden Hammer Dwarf Lant and Hepas¡¯ Descendant Hyemin¡¯sDaddy joined hands to produce armor and weapons, enough to equip the more than 900 soldiers of the territory. Because of that, all of the troops were wearing equipmentparable to rare, ranked artifacts. This was something amazing, since ordinary territories would only give their troops around thirty rare artifacts.

    The surprise did not end there. More than half of the guild members, including Genie, Locke, Khan, Informant Abel and Ascar had changed their ss to High ss. The guild members that changed into High ss politely asked for PVP with Minhyuk. Minhyuk agreed and was surprised to see their improvement.

    <em>¡®They¡¯ve be really strong¡­?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk felt like their strength had gone beyond his imagination, as if they had taken two steps at a time on the steps of improvement. The gap between their strength and Minhyuk¡¯s strength had narrowed quite a bit. That was when articles began to pour out on the inte.

    <em>[Lucia. She has transferred to the High ss Assassin of the Moon. She¡¯s rapidly pursuing the 1st ce in the assassins¡¯ rankings.]</em>

    <em>[Ruwan. He has transferred to the High ss cksmith of Steel. Hisbat videos against Ares, the 13th in the Domestic Rankings with his amazing sorcery has be a hot topic. He even defeated Ares by a narrow margin. But what¡¯s more surprising is the fact that he¡¯s a cksmith!]</em>

    <em>[Royal sses and High sses have already appeared all over the world. But the Let''s Eat Sect, which received the attention of the public, has remained silent. Are there no High sses in the Let''s Eat Sect yet?]</em>

    The Let''s Eat Sect did not announce when a High ss had been born under their banner. That was the case even after more than half of their guild had changed into a High ss. Their only reason was to keep this as their ace in the hole. Genie and Informant Abel had already predicted that there would be arge-scale updateing their way soon after knowing that the yers of the Chinese Server had started to cross over their continent. Sure enough, those predictions came true.

    ***

    <em>Rumble!</em>

    <em>Crackle!</em>

    It was a rainy night. Thunder and lightning ran rampant outside the safety of the walls. Ellie, the Sword Emperor, sighed as she looked over the window. It seemed like she could not fall asleep.

    <em>¡®The pinnacle of swordsmanship¡­¡¯</em>

    Erod, the God of Abilities and Destruction, had eight pinnacle attack skills thatnded on earth. One of these was Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship. ording to the legends, only Ellie and her ancestors failed to reach the pinnacle among the eight skills. Recalling the story brought a bitter smile to Ellie¡¯s face.

    <em>¡®Am I not good enough?¡¯</em>

    Including her ancestors, Ellie was known to be the strongest woman in this world. Yet, this woman was ming herself for being weak. Since sleep had long eluded her, she was taking a walk to relieve her bitterness and boredom. Then¡­

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The sound of the thunder and lightning banging outside the walls grew louder. Along with those sounds, Ellie suddenly felt an unknown murderous intent. She always carried her sword with her, even when she was sleeping, hence, she quickly grabbed the hilt of her sword and ran towards the location where she felt the murderous intent.

    <em>Dash¨D</em>

    <em>¡®This ce¡­¡¯</em>

    She arrived at the ce where the Empire took care of and served its guardian deities. It was the ce where the statues of the Phoenix and the Minotaurus were located. Ellie slowly opened the door.

    <em>Creak¨D</em>

    ¡°...This¡­¡±

    What appeared in front of her was somethingpletely shocking. The gigantic statues of the Phoenix and the Minotaurus had blood flowing down their bodies! This meant that the actual bodies of the Phoenix and Minotaurus living in the world of the guardian deities, the utopia, were also bleeding! Ellie hurriedly grabbed the summoning stone of the guardian deities and called for them.

    ¡°<em>Kiyeeeeeeeeck!</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Grrrrrrr!</em>¡±

    The two guardian deities appeared in front of Ellie, covered in blood, almost on theirst breath.

    ¡°Wh¡­who¡­ Who did this to you?!!!¡± Ellie shouted, realizing that they were already beyond saving.

    Ellie couldmunicate with both the guardian deities, the Phoenix and the Minotaurus. That was when she heard that they were in this situation because of the guardian deities of the Cairon Continent. It was not only the guardian deities of Eivelis Empire, even the guardian deities of Cordis Empire were attacked. Hearing their words, Ellie could tell that this was simr to the continental war that happened in the past, and more importantly, the memory of ck Dragon Vormon. She muttered¡­

    ¡°The start of a new war¡­¡±

 Chapter 324: Start of the Continental War

    Chapter 324: Start of the Continental War

    Minhyuk saw Changwook, his dietitian Hyejin, and Jinhwan huddled together in front of the TV, while on his way to ess <em>Athenae</em> after his daily exercise. He asked, ¡°Are you watching a mukbang?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not a mukbang, you punk. Today¡¯s the day that they would broadcast the content rted to <em>Athenae</em>¡¯srge-scale update!¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­ I see.¡±

    A few days ago, <em>Athenae</em> had announced on their official website that they would broadcast a video rted to therge-scale update. Minhyuk sneakily slipped between them to watch as well.

    ¡°It¡¯s starting!¡±

    ¡°Oh!¡±

    The scene in the TV flickered and showed the furious Ellie after seeing the Phoenix and the Minotaurus covered with blood. They heard her mumble¡­

    <em>[The start of a new war¡­]</em>

    As if prompted by her words, the scene in the screen changed, showing Emperor Asvon and Ellie sitting together in a discussion. Minhyuk eximed, ¡°Oh! Isn¡¯t that Ellie Noona and Asvon Hyung?¡±

    ¡°...Did you just call those two people Noona and Hyung?¡± Changwook asked as he shook his head in disbelief.

    <em>¡®My goodness. You¡¯re calling the two Emperors in the same continent as Hyung and Noona?¡¯</em>

    It seemed like this punk besides them was truly an enigmatic person.

    <em>[Ellie. What do you think of this?]</em>

    <em>[I think we need to wait a bit longer. But we can assume that this is caused by ck Dragon Vormon.]</em>

    <em>[I agree. However, they might wee this opportunity. Cairon Continent is muchrger than the Asgan Continent, they have an overwhelming poption, so they might want to plunder our resources. If we sit back and observe the situation just because their number overwhelms us, they might look down on us.]</em>

    <em>[I know. We must first dere a state of emergency and start preparing for war.]</em>

    The two of them were discussing preparations for the continental war. Just then¡­

    <em>[We¡¯re in trouble!!!]</em>

    <em>[How impertinent!! How dare you enter without knocking¡­!!]</em>

    <em>[And of clouds has been formed between the Asgan Continent and the Cairon Continent.] </em>

    <em>[...!]</em>

    <em>[...!]</em>

    Ellie and Asvon looked at each other after hearing the report of the vassal.

    <em>[Let¡¯s finish this quickly and see themotion.]</em>

    <em>[I agree. Let¡¯s do that.]</em>

    The scene changed quickly once again. The scene showed Ellie and Asvon standing together with 10,000 troops each standing behind them. What was surprising was the long stretch of clouds floating above the Dragon King¡¯s Sea and connecting thend they were standing on to Cairon Continent.

    <em>[Th¡­this¡­]</em>

    <em>[Thisnd of clouds clearly looks like the Continent Cloud.]</em>

    <em>[Did Vormon awaken the Continent Cloud?]</em>

    <em>[That might be the case.]</em>

    There was only one thing that they could get from this video. They could use thisnd of clouds to cross over to each other¡¯s continent. In other words, even if the two Emperors wanted to watch the situation for a while, this was a signal that the war was about to break out soon. However, that was not necessarily a bad thing.

    <em>[ording to the legends, the Continent Cloud is something that the God of War, Argas, has created.]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s right. Perhaps the appearance of the Continent Cloud is the better path for the people of the Asgan Continent.]</em>

    <em>[The number of people that can enter the Continent Cloud every day is limited. And only those with the cloud ticket are allowed to enter the other continent.]</em>

    ¡°Hmm? Only a limited number of people can enter the Continent Cloud everyday? And only those that can get their hands on a cloud ticket can go to the other continent? Why does it sound soplicated?¡±

    ¡°I know, right?¡±

    Changwook, ying General, and Hyejin, ying AmazingHyejin, both looked confused. However, unlike the two of them, Minhyuk was in awe. He said, ¡°<em>Kgghk~ </em>As expected of <em>Athenae</em>¡¯s Development Team~¡±

    ¡°Huh? Why?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean, Minhyuk?¡±

    ¡°The difference between the number of yers in China and our country is around ten times, right?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right?¡±

    ¡°So, if all of the yers from China came through the Continent Cloud, what do you think our odds will be?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    That was right. Just like Minhyuk had implied, it would be hard to find even a 0.1% guarantee that Asgan Continent would survive the moment the yers from the other servers rushed to their continent. Having arge poption meant that they had topete among a lot of people toe out on top. The rankers of a country with such arge poption was bound to be better than their country¡¯s own rankers. So, what would happen even if there were plenty of resources at hand? It would definitely be a defeat.

    Even so, if they could not achieve a perfect bnce, what would happen if only a limited number of people were allowed to enter from both continents each day? A small percentage of hope would arise for their country.

    ¡°And once every day, <em>Athenae</em> will issue missions to each of the continents. The continent that clears the mission first will have a higher score, which will then increase the number of people that can enter the Continent Cloud. This is how it will work.¡±

    ¡°Then, what about the cloud ticket?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s simple. Cloud tickets will definitely have rankings. C-ranked cloud tickets for Level 150~250, B-ranked cloud tickets for Level 250~300. Like that. Imagine if twenty rankers from every 100 levels came to our country, what do you think would happen?¡±

    ¡°...They won¡¯t even be able to make a sound. The yers of the Cairon Continent will be wiped out.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Minhyuk said with a nod.

    They would not be able toe over to their continent with just a few hundred cloud tickets. In other words, it was necessary for them to collect thousands or tens of thousands of tickets before they could do something.

    ¡°We can expect the Asgan Continent to be in a defensive position and the Cairon Continent to be in an offensive position. But, if our yers start to fall behind inside the Continent Cloud, then the number of enemies that will enter the Asgan Continent will also increase. That¡¯s why the oue of this war will depend on how well the yers of our country perform in the Continent Cloud.¡±

    Based on what Minhyuk had said, the side that performed well in the Continent Cloud would be given arger amount of cloud tickets. What would happen if there were more than 50,000 cloud tickets dispensed? The Asgan Continent would falter. As soon as the war started, the yers of Asgan Continent would definitely not use their tickets. It was clear that their role should be preventing the Chinese yers from getting more tickets.

    <em>[Then, let¡¯s form a patrol squad so we can know what¡¯s inside the Continent Cloud.]</em>

    <em>[We should do that.]</em>

    After the patrol squad returned, Ellie and Asvon continued to have their discussions.

    <em>[It¡¯s just like any ordinary continent¡­ There are monsters as well as various defense and attack bases.]</em>

    <em>[Dungeons also exist inside.]</em>

    One thing was for sure, during this episode, the yers wouldpete against each other, inside this ce called Continent Cloud, while hunting new monsters and fighting wars. Then, the words that appeared next on the screen were¡­

    <em>[Continental Wars¡¯ Episode 1 has begun.]</em>

    <em>[Take over as many attack and defense bases as possible inside the Continent Cloud.]</em>

    <em>[You can also take away the attack and defense bases of yers from Cairon Continent inside the Continent Cloud.]</em>

    <em>[The total number of yers that can enter a day is 10,000. 50 yers at Level 470~500 or higher, 300 yers at Level 400~470¡­ yers should check the official announcement for other information. Tickets can be obtained through NPCs or monsters.]</em>

    <em>[yers that will die inside the Continent Cloud will not be able to participate in the episode anymore. ess will also be restricted for 3 days.]</em>

    <em>[Please check the notice for the cloud ticket system.]</em>

    The Continental War Episode had started. Meanwhile, Minhyuk thought, <em>¡®Wow. There must be a lot of delicious food inside the Cloud Continent, right?¡¯. </em>Minhyuk smiled slightly at the thought. He was already thinking about how he should talk his guild members into participating in this episode.

    ***

    Three days after the start of the Continental War, Ares, the GM of Ares Guild, and Callian, the GM of Iris Guild were able to get a pretty good defense base inside the Continent Cloud. Since this was a continental war, none of the yers of Asgan Continent would benefit if they fought against each other, so around five of the country¡¯s leading rankers had worked together with Ares. All of them werepetent yers standing at the country¡¯s top 50.

    ¡°Fortunately our country¡¯s yers and the Chinese yers are just sticking to our part of thend when reiming bases.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Also, that¡¯s a relief.¡±

    ¡°What? Which one?¡±

    ¡°Legend Guild separating.¡±

    ¡°Ah. That one?¡±

    In fact, when Legend Guild¡¯s guild leader and name changed, most people believed that only the guild leader had changed. However, none of the members of Legend Guild had entered the Continent Cloud yet. Because of that, many of the people believed that the guild had gone their own ways, but were unaware that they were actually training a huge force of their own.

    ¡°Huh? What¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Callian turned to look after hearing Ares¡¯ words. A yer was walking forward, with yers wearing ck armor behind him. He stood at the very front, smiled deeply and said, ¡°My name is Hu Yitian.¡±

    <em>¡®Hu Yitian?¡¯ </em>

    He was clearly a Chinese yer. Seeing him, Callian turned to Ares and whispered, ¡°Hu Yitian is the yer standing in the fourth ce of the Chinese Assassins¡¯ Rankings.¡±

    ¡°Fourth¡­ What¡¯s his ranking in the Chinese Overall Rankings?¡±

    ¡°Neenth.¡±

    ¡°...Hmmm.¡±

    If he was ranked 19th, then they would be enough to take him on. No, more precisely, they could win. Ares had recently finished changing his ss to High ss. Although Ares had been trampled all over the ce, he was still one of the rankerspeting for the top rankings in South Korea! Ares asked, ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    ¡°I want to have a match with you.¡±

    ¡°A match?¡±

    This was a battlefield in the first ce, so Ares and Callian could not understand why he was asking them politely for a match.

    ¡°I heard that the top users of Korea are here.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡±

    ¡°I know<em>.</em> Of course.¡±

    Ares and Callian bothughed after hearing his words. However, Hu Yitian¡¯s next words were shocking. He said, ¡°I want to fight against the five best rankers here by myself.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Ares and Callian looked at him at that moment, wondering what bullshit he was saying. Ares believed that he could probably win against him alone. No, he would definitely win. He was now a High ss yer. But then, Hu Yitian provoked them further by saying, ¡°If you win, I will hand over three of our defense bases and three of our attack bases. But, if you lose, I want you to step back from this base.¡±

    <em>¡®Three attack bases and three defense bases¡­?¡¯ </em>

    <em>¡®Gasp..!¡¯ </em>

    The bases that they currently had in their hands was just this defense base. But, the opponent was willing to give up six bases? If that happened, then their position would definitely increase sharply.

    <em>¡®This is an unexpected windfall!!!¡¯ </em>

    <em>¡®We will definitely benefit from his arrogance!¡¯ </em>

    Callian and Aresughed happily. So, five Korean rankers stood in front of the lone assassin Hu Yitian.

    ¡°Please take care of me!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll crush that pride of yours!!!¡±

    Their duel began and before they knew it, Ares, Callian and three other rankers were defeated miserably. They could not evennd a huge blow on Hu Yitian.

    ¡°As expected, you¡¯re just around this much?¡± Hu Yitian said,ughing as he watched them disappear after being forced to log out.

    ***

    <em>[As expected, you¡¯re just around this much?]</em>

    Sword Emperor Ellie was leading the wars inside the Continent Cloud with Asvon. She was able to watch the situation on the battlefield in real time. Since Ares and Callian were quite important figures, Ellie and Asvon handed over a video crystal ball to them.

    ¡°Pinnacle¡­?¡±

    Ellie¡¯s eyes shook. That man was clearly a foreigner, and yet, that assassin had clearly disyed a dagger technique that had reached the ¡®pinnacle¡¯. His dagger technique pierced through the rankers and crushed thempletely. Asvon saw it too. After all, he was standing next to her.

    ¡°...From what I heard, that person is going around the entire Continent Cloud looking for the strongest people from Asgan Continent and defeating them. If this continues, the tide of war will turn in favor of Cairon Continent. We might personally¡­¡±

    Ellie shook her head after hearing Asvon. She said, ¡°That¡¯s not possible. You must not forget that we are the pirs of Asgan Continent, Asvon.¡±

    Ellie had been speaking politely before because she was morefortable doing so. Still, she and Asvon were equals. And right now, she was speaking coldly. She knew that the two of them must never get hurt, or die.

    ¡°Then, who will defeat that person using the Power of Pinnacle?¡±

    At Asvon¡¯s question, Ellie said, ¡°You and I both know him.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Asvon looked at Ellie strangely wondering who she was talking about. Ellie said, ¡°Minhyuk.¡±

    Hearing her words, Asvon¡¯s expression turned serious as he nodded. Then, he said, ¡°I¡¯m sure my younger brother will definitely be able to defeat him. I understand your thoughts. It seems like you want him to have the Pinnacle Awakening.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. By the way, what do you mean by younger¡­ brother?¡±

    ¡°Minhyuk and I are very close. I treat him as my younger brother and he treats me as his Hyung. You didn¡¯t know?¡±

    Hearing his words, the veins on Ellie¡¯s forehead popped up. She said, ¡°Hohoho! Whatever do you mean? Minhyuk and I are like blood-rted siblings! He even wants to stay by my side everyday! Hohohoho!¡±

    ¡°Hahahaha! Ellie, you don¡¯t know anything. Minhyuk likes me more, you know?¡±

    ¡°Not at all. I taught Minhyuk swordsmanship, you know?¡±

    Right now, the two Emperors were fighting a war of nerves against each other. They seemed to be asking, <em>¡®Do you like Dad?¡¯ </em>or <em>¡®Do you like Mom?¡¯</em> despite the severity of their situation. In any case, the expressions that the both of them were sporting were very serious.

    ¡°I drank tea with Minhyuk!¡± Asvon said.

    Ellie just grinned and said, ¡°But, we had a meal together?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Asvon''s face twisted in defeat while Ellie smirked, <em>¡®Fufu. I won.¡¯</em>

    For some reason, the two Emperors looked very cute today.

 Chapter 325: Start of the Continental War

    Chapter 325: Start of the Continental War

    Over the course of four days since the start of the Continental War, the yers had analyzed deeply, determining the Continent Cloud to be a field. The ce had countless hidden dungeons and plenty of mysterious and unfamiliar monsters loitering around. Even the amount of artifacts and gold that dropped was quite good.

    <em>Athenae</em> did not announce any of the rewards that they would receive in the future. However, the country that would win the war would definitely receive great rewards. There was also the possibility of receiving far greater rewards if they were a part of the small number that achieved high scores inside the Continent Cloud.

    And then, there were the Cloud Tickets. Anyone could get Cloud Tickets, anywhere from twenty to a hundred, by hunting monsters, discovering hidden dungeons, or obtaining attack and defense bases.

    At first, both the Asgan and Cairon Continents seemed to show simr patterns. Then, on the fourth day, the tide suddenly turned in favor of the Cairon Continent. And the main reason was none other than Hu Yitian!

    Hu Yitian was originally only ranked fourth among the Chinese Assassins, one of the country¡¯s top rankers. Although a bit unexpected, he was able to transfer to a High ss. But what was even more surprising was that he met the character named Da Zhuang, the King of Assassins of the past, overcame the trial and learned the Pinnacle of Dagger Techniques. Hu Yitian was currently at Level 501. However, after learning the Pinnacle of Dagger Techniques, he could be considered as the strongest in PVP. In fact, he could even defeat five of the Korean rankers with just his strength alone. What was more shocking was the fact that he had only been able to learn half of the Pinnacle of Dagger Techniques.

    Since Hu Yitian was the guild master of the assassin guild, ck Mask Guild, Da Zhuang also ended up teaching his guild members various assassin skills like dagger techniques, throwing techniques, and even stealth techniques which resulted in a significant increase in their stats. Currently, Hu Yitian was leading forty of his guild members all over the Continent Cloud on a mission, to destroy the rankers<em></em>of South Korea.

    ¡°It seems like the level of the Korean yers is as bad as I heard.¡±

    Right now, Hu Yitian had been hailed as a hero by China after he started killing the Korean rankers. Since this was a battle of pride between countries, the Chinese yers cheered loudly whenever Hu Yitian knocked down a Korean ranker. In fact, High ss yers were all strong, so killing these rankers must mean that they were just bad at ying this game. Of course, Hu Yitian had only met with one High ss yer so far, which was none other than Ares.

    <em>¡®He was strong.¡¯</em>

    However, Ares was still no match against Hu Yitian. And, if the other High ss yers of Korea were only at Ares¡¯ level, then Hu Yitian¡¯s prestige would just increase, since he could easily defeat them.

    Da Zhuang said, ¡°Keep in mind that we have to find Ellie, who¡¯s hiding like a rat, as quickly as possible.¡±

    ¡°Of course, Master,¡± Hu Yitian answered, smiling softly at his master.

    Da Zhuang was a legendary NPC at around Level 600. However, with his Pinnacle Skill, the strength that he could show wasparable to someone at Level 700. But from what he heard, the strength that he was wielding right now was actually around 20% less than his original strength. This was a restriction imposed on him after his revival. So, it was safe to say that Da Zhuang¡¯s power was ridiculously strong.

    There was only one reason why Da Zhuang wanted to deal with Eivelis Empire. That was because Ellie¡¯s ¡®<em>Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship¡¯</em> was also one of the Pinnacle of Attacking Skills. However, no one knew where this Pinnacle Skill was located, except for Ellie. Da Zhuang nned topensate for his 20% loss of power by acquiring her Pinnacle Skill. Just thinking about it made Da Zhuangugh gleefully.

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter, Master?¡±

    ¡°Ellie. She¡¯s an unlucky woman.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s because she has the power that she shouldn¡¯t have, that¡¯s why she can¡¯t climb any further.¡±

    ¡°...What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Empress Ellie has one of the Pinnacle Skills. From what I heard, she has the best out of the eight Pinnacle of Attacking Skills, which is known to be difficult to learn. She will probably be the best Empress in the continent if she can even reach the fourth level,¡± Da Zhuang said, clicking his tongue at the thought.

    ***

    The fifth day after the Continent Cloud opened, a ¡®Sudden Mission¡¯ was released simultaneously to yers from both the Asgan and the Cairon Continents.

    <em>[<strong>Mission! </strong>Please recapture Berdk, thergest attack base located in the center of the Continent Cloud!]</em>

    <em>[The Empire that sessfully recaptures the base will be given 1,000 Cloud Tickets.]</em>

    <em>[The Empire that sessfully recaptures the base will be given the chance to gain the Kharamis Soldiers.]</em>

    <em>[The Empire that sessfully recaptures the base will be given a bottle that can recover physical STM.]</em>

    This mission marked the beginning of a full-fledged war. The troops from Cairon Continent were around 3,000, and they stood face to face against the 2,500-strong troops from Asgan Continent. Both troops were gathered at the center of the Continent Cloud.

    At the forefront of the Asgan Continent¡¯s yers stood Carr, the Emperor of Swords. Afterpleting his High ss trial, Carr had changed his ss from Crown Prince of Swords to Emperor of Swords. Standing next to him was Lucia, the Assassin of the Moon. Lucia was now leading her own guild after bing one of the best rankers at Level 501. Her guild <em>¡®Murderous Beauty¡¯</em> was alsoprised of semi-rankers and top rankers. Finally, the person standing next to them was the cksmith of Steel Ruwan.

    Then, Ruwan asked, ¡°Do you know what the three of us have inmon?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Lucia and Carr turned to look at him strangely wondering what he was talking about.

    ¡°Don¡¯t we all like Minhyuk?¡±

    ¡°What bullshit?!¡±

    ¡°Oh my, of course~¡± Lucia said as she smiled lightly behind her mask.

    Meanwhile, Carr gritted his teeth and roared, ¡°If you say something like that again, I will be the one to PK you first.¡±

    ¡°<em>Woah, woah.</em> What¡¯s wrong with you? We¡¯re both from the same continent.¡±

    ¡°But¡­¡± Lucia gulped dryly as she looked at the battlefield, and asked, ¡°Why aren¡¯t they showing up?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Ruwan¡¯s mouth turned shut. Perhaps it was because they did not seed in changing into a High ss? Or perhaps it was because the Legend Guild had truly broken up and was only a memento of the past? Ruwan had worked hard and ran after Minhyuk hoping to be like him, wanting to stand shoulder to shoulder with him. He ran forward with that thought in mind. Right now, he believed that he was already in the same position as him, but he could no longer see him.

    <em>¡®The moment High ss appeared, perhaps Minhyuk¡­¡¯ </em>

    Perhaps Minhyuk was no longer the best ranker in their country. Maybe that was also the reason why he was not showing up? Then, Carr said, ¡°If they haven¡¯t changed into a High ss, then they will only be excellent rankers. They wouldn¡¯t be helpful anyway.¡±

    Carr was just reveling in his sarcasm when the enemies began to attack.

    ¡°Archers!¡±

    Carr wanted to wash away the shame that he had experienced in <em>Athenae</em>: Korean War in this ce and take revenge. The archers pulled their bows and fired their arrows towards the Cairon Continent¡¯s yers and troops. Hundreds of magic spells ran rampant in the air. In between them was the attack base, Berdk.

    ¡°Mages and archers! Continue to attack from a long distance! Closebat fighters!¡±

    <em>Shing!</em>

    <em>Shing! </em>

    <em>Shing! </em>

    Weapons were unsheathed one after the other.

    ¡°Charge!!!¡±

    Carr and the other yers ran forward. The fastest among them was Lucia, the Assassin of the Moon. With every step that she took, she would disappear and appear at another location. She looked like she was teleporting. She even used her skills to deal with the enemies that appeared in front of her.

    <em>[Beautiful Moon]</em>

    <em>[The moon shines light upon your enemies, dazzling them and bringing them into a 0.4 second stun.]</em>

    A beautiful moon rose behind Lucia, causing the yers of the Cairon Continent to fall into a momentary stun.

    ¡°B¡­ Beautiful¡­¡±

    ¡°Wow¡­¡±

    That single moment was enough for Lucia¡¯s dagger to reach their throats. Just like that, hundreds of dagger lights spread towards her enemies.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¨D</em>

    These hundreds of dagger lights urately stabbed the Cairon Continent yers¡¯ vital points.

    <em>[Critical Hit!]</em>

    <em>[Critical Hit!]</em>

    <em>[Critical Hit!]</em>

    <em>[Critical Hit!]</em>

    This was what a High ss¡¯ yer¡¯s skill was like. And it did not just end there. Carr ran forward and jumped high up in the sky.

    <em>[Emperor of Sword¡¯s Bloody Wind]</em>

    <em>[Strong wind made of bloody sword energy rips and shreds your enemies to pieces.]</em>

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¨D</em>

    A bloody wind blew towards the Cairon Continent¡¯s camp and became des that cut the yers¡¯ bodies to pieces. Hundreds of yers and soldiers alike screamed from the wide-area attack that was unleashed upon them.

    ¡°<em>Ack!</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Keuaaaack!</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Ugh!</em>¡±

    The rankers collided not long after.

    <em>sh! sh¨D!</em>

    <em>Bang!</em>

    Thementators were also busy exining the situation.

    <em>[Both sides aren¡¯t onlyposed of rankers. Their levels vary from 200 to 500.]</em>

    <em>[This is because the higher the level of the Cloud Ticket, the lower the probability of dropping.]</em>

    <em>[There are only a few rankers among them. It seems like the influence of the soldiers is quiterge in this battle.]</em>

    <em>[But if the rankers are able to get a good head start, then I think there¡¯s a possibility that our Korea can win this war.]</em>

    The yers¡¯ levels were varied. Most of the tickets that were released tend to be for NPC soldiers. In other words, the NPCs'' tickets and the yers¡¯ tickets were different. Thementators continued their livementary.

    <em>[In fact, I believe that this mission will give us the opportunity to turn the tide that¡¯s going in favor of Cairon Continent!]</em>

    The Koreans watching the scene all had their hearts up their throat.

    <em>[I feel so sorry that I¡¯m not there. Awoo!!!]</em>

    <em>[Let¡¯s go, Korea! Let¡¯s go!]</em>

    <em>[Let¡¯s gooooo!!!!]</em>

    <em>[The Chinese areughing and mocking our country, you must win!!!]</em>

    <em>[Awoo! If only we had the Legend Guild, we might have wiped them out!]</em>

    <em>[Legend? Aren¡¯t they outdated? Many people even say that they already disbanded. They did not even post any videos or anything even after they created a new guild, right?]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s been quite a while since Legend broke up¡­]</em>

    <em>[Even if theye, they wouldn¡¯t be able to create the miracles that they performed in the past. None of them had announced that they changed to a High ss.]</em>

    <em>[When theye there, they would only be high-leveled rankers, not special rankers.]</em>

    <em>[Regardless¡­ I want us to win!!! Is that even important? I hope that we win!!!]</em>

    Their anger had all been bottled up. In the past four days, plenty of articles had poured in saying that South Korea¡¯s chances of winning against China was close to 0% after the <em>¡®Ranker Destroyer¡¯</em> incident. There were even plenty of rumors that the Asgan Continent would be devoured by the Chinese yers in the end. Even the global rankers thought the same.

    American Mage Alex¡­

    <em>[South Korea is very weak in the Athenae Global Rankings. There¡¯s no way that a small and weak country like that can beat one of the three major nations, China.]</em>

    Russia¡¯s Ruvid¡­

    <em>[The probability of South Korea gaining victory? Maybe around 1%? You think what I said is too much? But if they did not even have that 1% chance of winning, would it still be fun to y such a game?]</em>

    Japan¡¯s Kentaro¡­

    <em>[I really want to meet with Food God Minhyuk again! What? Ah, it¡¯s not about that? Talk about the Continental War between Korea and China? But more than that, I just want to meet with Minhyuk. Minhyuk, aishiteru.]</em>

    Andstly, South Korea¡¯s Carr¡­

    <em>[We will do our best to win. Just like when our country failed to advance to the 16th Round of the 2018 World Cup but still sessfully beat Germany, the number one in the FIFA rankings. I will make that miracle happen.]</em>

    At that moment¡­

    ¡°<em>Keuaaaaack!</em>¡± The very same Carr shrieked. Hu Yitian, the ranker destroyer, had appeared. And with his appearance, the bnce that had initially seemed to be equal, started to break and tilt to one side.

    <em>[Ah¡­ Pushed¡­ We¡¯re being pushed back!]</em>

    <em>[The Korean rankers are starting to get pushed back!!!]</em>

    <em>[But our fellow citizens, don¡¯t be discouraged yet. We still have hope!!!]</em>

    However, unlike their hopefulmentary, thementators¡¯ expressions looked so forlorn, as if they had <em>¡®confirmed¡¯</em> their defeat. Even the viewers were aware. The phrase <em>¡®We still have hope!¡¯ </em>is something that was only used in tragic situations.

    ***

    At the same time.

    South Korean yer Roy was busy focusing on hunting Level 350 monsters inside the Continent Cloud. The monsters that resided in the Continent Cloud were all made up of clouds.

    <em>Shwaaaa¨D</em>

    After cutting down an enemy, Roy suddenly heard a scream.

    ¡°<em>Keuaaaaack!</em>¡±

    ¡°Run away!!¡±

    ¡°The Chinese yers are extremely strong!!!¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Roy also wanted to participate in the same battlefield as them, but his level was only at Level 370. He knew that his power was not enough to give a significant boost even if he went there. So, he just went to sharpen his de and increase his level.

    <em>¡®One day, I¡¯ll also¡­¡¯</em>

    He would also join the fight and fight for his country one day. s, that was clearly not the time right now. The reason why Roy did not participate right now was because he was a patriot. His heart was so patriotic that he knew that he would not be able to see reason the moment he participated in the battle. He knew that he wouldpletely lose if that happened.

    ¡°...Damn,¡± Roy muttered dejectedly.

    All of a sudden.

    ¡°Huh¡­?¡±

    The sky above his head suddenly turned dark. He slowly raised his head¡­

    ¡°<em>Gasp¡­!</em>¡±

    ¡­and saw something huge flying in the sky. It was around 500 meters, no, 1,000 meters wide? Anyway, something surprisingly huge was flying in the sky.

    ***

    At the same time.

    Minhyuk turned As territory into a ¡®City in the Sky¡¯, and sent it to Cloud Continent. The reason why none of the members from the Let¡¯s Eat Sect had appeared over the course of five days, was simply because they took that time to check the enemy¡¯s power and military prowess.

    Minhyuk also took the time to determine if he should change As into a City in the Sky and transfer his territory over. If their enemies were stronger than expected, then their NPCs would die. So, if his assumptions were wrong, all of their NPC troops would be wiped out. That was why it was necessary for them to check if he should send the entire territory over, or just the yers alone. In other words, with his decision, he was confident that their troops would not die nor incur much damage, since he sent the territory over.

    Minhyuk had also entered the Continent Cloud. However, he was not in As. Instead, he was somewhere else, standing in front of Ellie, to be exact. Right now, Ellie was looking at him coldly, as she said, ¡°Minhyuk, grab your sword. Attack me as if you¡¯re going to kill me.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk was bewildered, not understanding what was happening right now.

 Chapter 326: Atlas, The Territory with the Strongest Defense

    Chapter 326: As, The Territory with the Strongest Defense

    In the battle for the Berdk Attack Base.

    At first, it seemed like the Korean yers were doing quite well. The top rankers stepped forward and boosted the morale of the soldiers and the other yers as much as possible, doing their best to lead them. However, the Chinese rankers were very formidable too.

    This was a continental war, and both sides were proud of their strength and power. The battle seemed to be in perfect bnce with the Korean rankers showing that they were not easy opponents for the Chinese yers.

    That was until Hu Yitian appeared. His appearance brought a crisis to the Korean rankers gathered in Berdk¡¯s vicinity.

    <em>[Emperor of the Sword¡¯s Carnage]</em>

    <em>[An additional 250% damage will be added to your quick sword attacks.]</em>

    Carr immediately used his skills the moment he saw Hu Yitian appear. Carr was one of the main dealers in South Korea. He had a high level and high attack. Even his artifacts and skills could deal additional damage to his opponents. In a blink of an eye, his sword had unleashed around thirty strikes. But, something surprising happened¡­

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¨D</em>

    <em>[Your attack has failed.]</em>

    <em>[Your attack has failed.]</em>

    <em>[Your attack has failed.]</em>

    <em>[Your attack¡­]</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

    Carr¡¯s eyes widened in shock. His attacks would only fail if the stats difference between him and his opponent was that of over a 100-level one.

    Carr did not know this, but Hu Yitian had a skill named <em>¡®The One who Evades¡¯</em>. It was a newly-acquired skill that reached half-pinnacle and had given Hu Yitian a 400% increase in his evasion rate. But that was not the end. A ck light slowly covered Hu Yitian¡¯s daggers. Then, in a blink of Carr¡¯s eyes¡­

    <em>[Dagger of Death!]</em>

    <em>[Immediately narrows the distance between you and the enemy, allowing you to stab the enemy in the chest with 800% additional damage.]</em>

    <em>Stab¨D!</em>

    ¡­a dagger was already right in front of him! The attack was so fast that Carr did not have the time to react and stop Hu Yitian from stabbing him in the chest with one of his daggers!

    ¡°<em>Keuaaaack!</em>¡±

    Carr¡¯s HP immediately dropped. Thankfully, he was still in good condition. Seeing this, Hu Yitian spun the daggers in his hands and triggered another skill, making both of his daggers fly in the air.

    <em>[Phantom Daggers of Death]</em>

    <em>[Hundreds of phantom daggers move on their own and target the enemy]</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa!</em>

    The two daggers floating in the air suddenly split into hundred images and flew towards Carr.

    <em>[Emperor of Sword¡¯s Guardian]</em>

    <em>[Can see through the enemy¡¯s attack and defend against it.]</em>

    The Emperor of Sword¡¯s Guardian was a skill that was solely focused on defense, and there had never been an attack that Carr could not stop with the help of this skill. But while he was staring at the daggers and preparing to defend¡­

    <em>Shwiiiiiiik¨D</em>

    ¡­the daggers changed their trajectory. They moved sideways, then forward, and then backward, changing direction over and over. It was as if they had a will of their own. The daggers moved swiftly and fluidly as they attacked Carr.

    <em>ng!</em>

    ¡°Shit¡­!¡±

    <em>¡®Do these daggers have a mind of their own?¡¯</em> Carr thought as he struggled to defend against the dagger strikes. The daggers were unbelievably fast and hard to track, and Carr ended up suffering from some of the attacks thatnded on his body.

    ¡°Keuhaaack!¡±

    <em>[Ah!!! Korea¡¯s official number one ranker, Carr, is losing ground!!!]</em>

    <em>[Are there no yers out there that can stop Hu Yitian?!]</em>

    Then, the Assassin of the Moon Lucia and the cksmith of Steel Ruwan took advantage of the gaps from the daggers¡¯ attacks to rush forward.

    ¡°Ha!¡± Ruwan shouted as he hurriedly mmed arge square shield in front of them. The square shield stretched and turned into a dome that covered their bodies.

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng, ng¨D</em>

    ¡°Go¡­ god damn it¡­¡±

    ¡°Our situation is not good. While Carr is busy fighting Hu Yitian, our forces are being pushed back.¡±

    ¡°SHIT!¡± Carr cursed loudly.

    ¡°We have to retreat.¡±

    ¡°What is this bullshit?!¡± Carr shouted, the veins on his neck popping in anger after hearing Ruwan¡¯s words. His <em>¡®retreat¡¯</em> literally meant <em>¡®escape¡¯</em>.

    Carr had always been on top. No, that ce had been taken away from him once, but that did not mean that the word <em>¡®escape¡¯</em> suited Carr, a person that stood at the top.

    But then, Lucia said, ¡°Carr, you¡¯ve done well already. Our fellow citizens will not me us. If you continue to be stubborn and die here, not only will you lose ess for three days, you will also be banned from entering the Continent Cloud.¡±

    That was right. Carr was just upset over the fact that the attack base would be taken away and victory would tilt towards the Chinese side. But what was important right now was their survival. Only if they survive would they be able to n the next steps that they could take in the future. If all of the top rankers died here, then all hope would be lost. In the end, Carr hid behind Ruwan¡¯s shield and gave his order.

    ¡°Retreat!!!¡±

    ¡°Retreat!¡±

    ¡°Retreat!¡±

    <em>[Ah!!! In the end, Korea chose to retreat.]</em>

    <em>[But this is the correct decision. If they lose more of their forces here, then our country¡¯s defeat will be the only oue.]</em>

    <em>[What do you think caused their defeat?]</em>

    <em>[There are two reasons. Hu Yitian, who are keeping the rankers'' hands tied, and the Chinese NPCs. They</em><em>ount for a significant portion of their forces.</em>]

    <em>[The Cairon Continent is muchrger than our country¡¯s continent. That¡¯s the main reason why the number of their NPCs is overwhelming and why they have a lot of strong NPCs. In fact, they even deployed the ¡®The ck Knight Order¡¯ in this war.]</em>

    <em>[The ck Knight Order is the personal troop of the Arcas Empire¡¯s Emperor, and is considered to be the best order of knights in China. Their levels range from Level 500-530. There¡¯s also the fact that once our country¡¯s rankers die, they won¡¯t be able to enter the Continent Cloud anymore. On the contrary, even if China¡¯s NPCs die, they will still be able to send out more strong NPCs from their huge reserves. There aren''t that huge level restrictions on NPC tickets too.]</em>

    The viewers described it simply as¡­

    <em>[Even if the rankers from Korea and China are on the same level, we can¡¯t win because of the gap between the NPCs¡­?]</em>

    <em>[The truth is thend in China is reallyrger and there are more opportunities there. How can we even win with this¡­]</em>

    <em>[There¡¯s a really huge gap between our NPCs¡­]</em>

    Yes, it seemed that it was truly the case.

    Meanwhile, the Korean rankers chose to retreat to minimize their damage.

    ¡°Run!!!¡±

    All of them started to run without looking back, but the problem was that the Chinese rankers did not want to leave them alone.

    ¡°After them!!!!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t let even a single one of them survive!!!¡±

    The Chinese yers chased them with great fanfare. But then¡­

    ¡°Firestorm! Firestorm! Firestorm! Firestorm! Firestorm!¡±

    <em>Crackle!</em>

    ¡­huge whirlpools of fire appeared in the middle of the battlefield stopping the advance of the Chinese rankers.

    <em>[Ah! There¡¯s only one person that can use magic like this!]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s ck Mage Ali!]</em>

    Just like they expected, Ali appeared in front of them using Blink. He said, ¡°Go.¡±

    ¡°How, how can you deal with them alone¡­?!¡±

    ¡°Run. The nts will show you the way. So, run.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°Run along the path that they show you. You will find the way for our country to win there.¡±

    ¡°...Alright,¡± Lucia answered with a nod. She could not understand what he meant but she still followed his words. Then, after running quite a distance, she heard his voice again.

    ¡°Frieeeeeeeeeeeend!!!¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    As she continued to run, Lucia thought, <em>¡®Is he trying to make us not feel grateful with that?¡¯ </em>

    Lucia had just been moved by Ali¡¯s sacrifice, but it seemed like that feeling had quickly started to disappear.

    ¡°You think we can¡¯t kill you when you¡¯re all alone?¡±

    But then, a hellfire and an ice spear suddenly appeared in Ali¡¯s hands.

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible!¡± One of the high-leveled mages from China¡¯s camp shouted in shock. What was even surprising was the fact that Ali cast both spells in a short amount of time. No mage had achieved such a feat yet.

    ¡°Double casting?!!!!¡±

    ¡°Not a single one of you rats can go past me to get to my friends.¡±

    At that moment¡­

    <em>Crack!</em>

    ¡­a gigantic snake of over ten meters in length appeared from the ground.

    <em>Slither!</em>

    The giant Predatory Snake flicked its tongue and red at the opposing rankers. Watching this scene, Ali thought, <em>¡®Friends, there¡¯s a path to our victory.¡¯ </em>

    The viewers of Korea and the world did not know which guild Ali belonged to right now. But this mysterious Ali just began to shoot his magic spells towards the thousands of enemies in front of him.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The magic was so strong that even Hu Yitian could not escape from the attacks. After all, Ali did not spare any of his MP as he defended his fellow citizens from the enemies.

    ***

    <em>[South Korea¡¯s yer ck Mage Ali has tied up the feet of our country¡¯s rankers and soldiers!]</em>

    <em>[We have no choice but to acknowledge the strength of that yer. Even that gigantic snake by his side could dispel the mages, archers and warriors¡¯ skills!]</em>

    <em>[He¡¯s amazing!!!]</em>

    Three Chinese people were sitting together in front of the TV.

    ¡°Hu Yitian has done a lot, right?¡±

    ¡°Hu Yitian¡¯s head is getting bigger. He thinks he¡¯s really strong just because the people call him a hero.¡±

    The three of themughed at that. These three people were unofficial Chinese rankers. They were part of a group of fifteen people. However, unbelievable as it might be, Hu Yitian could only rank tenth among these people. The three people watching the TV were all ranked first to third among their own group and they couldpletely overpower Hu Yitian.

    ¡°But the real big shots in Korea have not appeared yet.¡±

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s the same for us too.¡±

    None of the unofficial rankers in Korea, like Kaistra, have appeared. The same was true for them. These unofficial rankers from China were called <em>¡®ck Dragon Order¡¯</em>, a group of dark gamers that only moved for the money.

    ¡°He¡¯s going to escape the moment he runs out of MP.¡±

    Just like what the man said, ck Mage Ali used Blink and escaped. The members of the ck Dragon Order continued to watch their TV leisurely.

    ***

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk stood still, not understanding what was happening.

    If someone asked him, ¡®<em>Do you think of Ellie as an NPC and not as a person?¡¯,</em> his answer would be no. Minhyuk, with his eating addiction, had built several connections as he yed <em>Athenae. </em>Among those connections, he could say that he valued his rtionship with Ellie the most.

    Even though Ellie sat in a high position as the Empress of an empire, she treated Minhyuk kindly and cared for him as if he was her younger sibling. Back then, Minhyuk firmly believed that he did not have any friends in reality, so he was very grateful for Ellie¡¯s love and care.

    However, that same loving noona of his was now pointing her sword coldly towards him and said, ¡°Minhyuk, grab your sword. Attack me as if you¡¯re going to kill me.¡±

    Minhyuk just asked her, ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Because I judged that you¡¯re the only one that can help us ovee our current situation,¡± Ellie answered, smiling bitterly.

    Ellie knew that it was something that she could not do. However, she believed that Minhyuk could do it. Even though it was only temporary, Ellie was aware that Minhyuk had performed the Pinnacle of Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship before. So, he was better than her in that case. But she had to experiment and see if he was qualified to get something of that caliber right now.

    Ellie continued to say, ¡°I will check your power and tell you a way to be stronger.¡±

    Hearing her words made Minhyuk think and reflect. Did he have to fight Ellie desperately to be stronger? Minhyuk thought for a while before shaking his head and saying, ¡°Then, I won¡¯t do it.¡±

    But Ellie just smiled after hearing his words. It was as if she had expected this to happen. She asked, ¡°Really? Are you sure?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I won¡¯t do it!¡±

    Then, Ellie called for her aide, Ruth, who came in with a golden treasure chest in his hands. When she opened it, a small and mysterious stone was lying inside.

    Ellie said, ¡°This is the Wishing Stone. This Wishing Stone can be used in the ce that you will be going, and I will only give this to you if I acknowledge your strength in a fight against me. Also, this Wishing Stone allows the one that will use it to set anything that they want.¡±

    Minhyuk looked a bit disappointed so Ellie continued to exin, saying, ¡°For example, you can set ¡®artifact materials¡¯ as your reward forpleting a trial. If you do that, you will get excellent materials every time you clear a trial.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s expression started to change. Like a sly fox, Ellie¡¯s eyes gleamed. She said, ¡°That¡¯s right. If you set cooking ingredients, it will give you ingredients every time you break and clear a trial.¡±

    Then, after her exnation, Ruth immediately closed the treasure box with a snap. Ellie continued to speak, ¡°I was going to give it to you if you showed me a satisfactory result, but¡­ What. A. Pity.¡±

    Despite the tempting reward, Minhyuk still hesitated. No matter how much he liked food, he was not someone that would attack his noona after all.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s still hesitating. I have to use myst resort.¡¯ </em>

    Ellie did not expect that Minhyuk would hesitate despite being offered food. She still felt happy about it. This just showed how much Minhyuk cared about her. It was also because of his love and care that Ellie had no choice but to use herst resort.

    ¡°Listen well.¡±

    Minhyuk obediently perked his ears up to listen.

    ¡°Minhyuk, I ate the egg that you saved for your cold noodlesst time.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°I also only asked for a bite of ramyeon, but ended up eating everything.¡±

    ¡°...!!¡±

    ¡°I was eating sweet and sour pork, but I poured the sauce and made it soggy without asking.¡±

    ¡°Dieeeeeeeee!!!¡±

    Minhyuk charged at Ellie with the intent to kill. That was right. This was Ellie¡¯s dignity and pride as someone that had reached the pinnacle level in her Minhyuk-Training skill!

 Chapter 327: Atlas, The Territory with the Strongest Defense

    Chapter 327: As, The Territory with the Strongest Defense

    Ellie had pondered deeply about this matter. She was aware that the appearance of the Continent Cloud system gave them a slight increase in their chances of winning. This was something that she was very grateful for.

    However, just like the rumors, the Cairon Continent was a huge continent. In other words, their reserves of resources and strong individuals were deep and overflowing.

    Ellie was also aware that the concept of the Eight Pinnacle Attack Skills existed only in both the Cairon Continent and the Asgan Continent. But to her knowledge, there were skillsparable to the power of the Pinnacle Attack Skills in other continents beyond the two. Ellie might not know this, but the <em>Athenae </em>operators only gave the Pinnacle Attack Skills to the Korean and Chinese servers, and gave the other countries skills that were on par with the Pinnacle Skills, but under different names.

    Ellie recalled that there were two Pinnacle Attack Skills in Asgan Continent. One was her Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship, and the other was the swordsmanship of a mysterious person that was known to be second only to the Sword God of the past.

    <em>¡®If the remaining six skills are in the Cairon Continent then¡­¡¯ </em>

    If that was truly the case, then they were facing the worst possible situation. Fortunately, the Ranker Destroyer Hu Yitian¡¯s Pinnacle Skill was only at the half-pinnacle level.

    That was when Ellie thought of a way for Minhyuk to reach the realms of the true Pinnacle.

    <em>¡®He can learn half of two Pinnacle Skills.¡¯</em>

    Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship had never reached theplete Pinnacle form. But, if Minhyuk was able to learn the halves of two Pinnacle Skills, then a new form of Pinnacle might be born. However, there was still a problem.

    <em>¡®The Pinnacle can only be obtained by the chosen ones.¡¯</em>

    One had to be strong to reach and learn the Pinnacle. Ellie was also aware that Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship was the most dangerous, and the most powerful among the eight Pinnacle Attack Skills. That was the reason why she felt a lot of pressure on her body whenever she used the skill. And it was also the same reason why she had to test Minhyuk. She had to know if Minhyuk deserved to receive that power.

    <em>¡®Will he be able tond an attack on me?¡¯</em>

    Sessfully doing so would prove his talent and skill. That was all Ellie needed to know.

    ¡°Dieeeeeeeee!!!¡± Minhyuk shouted as he rushed forward with all his might. But just like the soft dance of a gentle woman, Ellie¡¯s sword moved gently to parry his attack.

    <em>ng!</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s sword bounced back. Seeing this, Ellieughed and said, ¡°So, you¡¯re weak.¡±

    Ellie leisurely moved her sword to stop Minhyuk¡¯s attack. Despite his failed attack, Minhyuk did not stop. He turned around and used the power of Sword God Valen that resided in his body, increasing the power of his swordsmanship. One of the skills that was strengthened was ¡®Like the Wind¡¯.

    <em>Dash!</em>

    Minhyuk dashed forward with ¡®Like the Wind¡¯ and narrowed the distance between him and Ellie, before unleashing his Rampant Sword.

    <em>sh! Dash, dash, dash! Dash, dash, dash! sh! </em>

    However, even with the hundreds of sword lights that Rampant Sword had created, Ellie was still able to somehow easily dodge the attacks. No, she was even able to rush forward and narrow the distance between her and Minhyuk.

    ¡°Step.¡±

    Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship was originally Ellie¡¯s own. She could use the skill far better than Minhyuk. The distance that she could cover with the skill was longer than when Minhyuk used it. Even the movements of her sword that struck Minhyuk were as clear and fluid as a gentle, flowing stream.

    <em>p!</em>

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    ¡°With this strength, you think you can get any ingredients that you like? Can you even kill me for stealing the eggs for cold noodles?¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s sides were struck by Ellie¡¯s sword but he was smiling happily. He thought, <em>¡®This is fun¡­!¡¯ </em>

    Minhyuk definitely found it to be fun. After all, he was also a very strong person that could rival and surpass the Olympic gold medalist, Carr.

    On the other hand, Ellie had held her sword since she was born. At seven years old, Ellie had killed and shed the necks of those that tried to kill her, all by herself. At thirteen, she ughtered hundreds of soldiers with her own hands. At sixteen, she surpassed the previous Emperor. And at twenty, her abilities to lead and govern had been recognized as the people sat her on the Empress¡¯ throne. Ellie¡¯s strength and power was beyond one¡¯s imagination.

    ¡°Blooming Sword,¡± Ellie said as she gently lowered the tip of her sword on the ground.

    <em>[Blooming Sword]</em>

    <em>[A sword will rise from the ground and attack your enemies indiscriminately within a 20 meter radius from your position. It will cause an additional 450% damage even if the sword failed to stab the opponent.]</em>

    Ellie¡¯s strength was fundamentally different from Minhyuk. Compared to Minhyuk¡¯s Blooming Sword, Ellie¡¯s Blooming Sword could deal an enormous amount of damage with thousands of sharper, longer sword lights. Even the radius was twenty meters. That was not all. It would even cause an explosion even if it did not stab through the enemies.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Minhyuk was momentarily put into a daze from the powerful explosion caused by thousands of blooming flower sword lights. Ellie took the time to tie her loose hair up during themotion. However, even after being engulfed with thousands of explosions, Minhyuk was still able to summon Beanie.

    <em>[Absolute Defense.]</em>

    <em>[No attack will be allowed to touch Beanie and his master for two seconds.]</em>

    With the Absolute Defense skill, all attacks that came towards Minhyuk would be nullified. Once the thick cloud of dust settled down, Minhyuk appeared and said, ¡°Noona! Isn¡¯t this really fun?!¡±

    ¡°...Ha!¡± Ellie let out a scoff in disbelief after seeing Minhyuk swiftly summon his pet and use his pet¡¯s skill, despite the confusion and chaos. Ellie was also shocked after hearing the words that Minhyuk used to describe his fight against her, the Sword Emperor and strongest sword of the Eivelis Empire.

    <em>¡®Fun.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s words made Ellie startled. She thought, <em>¡®Minhyuk, </em><em>how far </em><em>have youe?¡¯</em>

    Ellie could feel it. She could tell that Minhyuk¡¯s rise to power might already be much higher than what she had predicted before. The situation right now made it clear to her that she had underestimated him.

    ¡°Well, then¡­¡± Ellie grinned and continued to say, ¡°Let¡¯s both give it our all.¡±

    ***

    <em>[<strong>Mission! </strong>Cairon Continent has sessfully recaptured Berdk Attack Base.]</em>

    <em>[The rewards will be given to Cairon Continent.]</em>

    Hearing the notifications made Lucia grimace. She knew that they were in a desperate situation. Out of their 2,500 strong troops, only 300 had survived. Fortunately, most of the survivors were their country¡¯s top ranking yers.

    ¡°Damn! Damn! Damn!¡±

    The guild leaders and the top rankers that did not belong to any group were all constantly cursing. That was when Lucia saw the nts in their surroundings move together and bend to one side.

    ¡°We should follow the direction that the nts are telling us to go.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Carr asked, looking at her in question. Even the other rankers were looking at her in confusion.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t Ali say that they will lead us to the path for our country to win?¡±

    ¡°Do you believe his words?¡±

    ¡°...If we don¡¯t believe his words, do you think that we will still have hope with the situation that we¡¯re in?¡± Lucia asked, effectively silencing Carr and the rest of the yers. After all, what she said was true.

    The attack base, Berdk, located in the center of the Cloud Continent had already been lost. From what they read on the operators¡¯ announcement, Berdk was well-equipped withrge siege weapons. This meant that their position would be pushed back even further in the future. There was even a high possibility of the cloud ticket-bearing Chinese yers stepping into Koreannd and invading.

    ¡°We understand.¡±

    All of the yers present nodded in agreement as they ran towards the direction that the nts were pointing to. As they continued their journey, they eventually arrived in front of an indescribably beautiful territory.

    ¡°What, what?! Howe there¡¯s a ce like this¡­?¡±

    ¡°What the hell? Isn¡¯t this a territory?¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­ Perhaps Ali found this hidden territory inside the Continent Cloud?! Maybe the owner of the territory is very strong!¡±

    The yers talked about countless theories. After all, this was a very magnificent territory! Even the crops growing around the territory looked scrumptious.

    ¡°Ahhh. I want to eat those apples.¡±

    Strangely enough, apples were growing on the ground and not on the trees. The moment a yer reached out for an apple¡­

    ¡°I believe Minhyuk will not let you go if you pick that apple and eat it?¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    All of the yers present turned to look at the source of the sound and saw around twenty people dressed in glimmering red armor. Everyone looked at their armors in awe and admiration while one of the yers muttered unconsciously, ¡°Legend Guild¡­?¡±

    ¡°We wee you to our territory, As,¡± Genie said, smiling lightly. But the moment she said that¡­

    ¡°Why the hell didn¡¯t youe?!!! Why?! Damn bastards! If you came!! If you came, then the oue would have changed!!!¡±

    ¡­someone went into an outburst. And this someone was none other than Carr. Carr was someone that was known for being conceited and arrogant. He always believed that he was the best. But his voice right now was tinged with <em>¡®despair¡¯</em> and <em>¡®resentment¡¯</em>.

    Even if Carr said that they would be <em>¡®useless¡¯</em> since they did not be High ss yers, the Legend Guild of the past would definitely not be powerless in the field. They were outstanding and skilled rankers by themselves even if the game¡¯s flow had changed.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. We were running a bit toote.¡±

    ¡°Damnit¡­!¡±

    It was not easy for Carr to calm his anger and resentment. Then, Lucia stepped forward and said, ¡°So, what are you going to do now? Ali said that there¡¯s certainly a way for us to win here?¡±

    ¡°I guess our guild member has delivered the words safely.¡±

    ¡°...?!¡±

    ¡°...?!¡±

    ¡°...?!¡±

    ¡°...?!¡±

    Everyone present wondered if they had some problem with their hearing for a moment. ck Mage Ali was their guild member? The same mage Ali that was said to be standing at the peak of the yer mages in the entire continent? All of the guilds had offered him their best treatment. Even the four major guilds had offered more than 50% of stakes in their guild to recruit him. But Ali had refused them all. And this very same Ali had be a member of Legend Guild, no, the new guild with their new name?

    ¡°So, what¡¯s the way?¡±

    Genie opened her mouth calmly and said, ¡°It¡¯s simple¡­¡± Then, Genie looked at them one by one before continuing her words. She said, ¡°Protect As territory and believe in it.¡±

    However, the rankers looked at her as if they could not understand her words. Carr even spat out, ¡°You¡¯re crazy¡­¡±

    What way? There was no way at all! They could not really understand her. But then, Genie said, ¡°Ah, we have some visitors. Would you like to see them?¡±

    Genie brought out arge crystal ball as the yers flocked to see what she was talking about. There, they saw the team chasing after them. It was something that they were even unaware of.

    ¡°Red Dragon Order¡­¡± Lucia, the assassin, mumbled.

    Genie turned to look at her. Sensing her gaze, Lucia continued to say, ¡°The Red Dragon Order is a guild created by unofficial Chinese assassins. They have a total of thirty people. Even though they are only thirty, each and every single one of them are yers above Level 500. In fact, they are considered to be China¡¯s top assassin guild. That¡¯s the Red Dragon Order.¡±

    Genie smiled, her eyes turning into crescents. She said, ¡°Is that so? Then, let¡¯s see who will win between the best killers and the best defense. Shall we?¡±

    ***

    Rio, a Chinese Ztuber, was world-renowned. The videos that he posted were always considered to be the best video of the month. And right now, Rio was smiling from ear to ear.

    <em>[Kgghk! Those barbarian Korean bastards are running away! Is it because they know that the Red Dragon Order ising for them?]</em>

    <em>[If only all thirty of the Red Dragon Order came, then all of the Korean rankers will be killed in a blink of an eye. Don¡¯t you think so?]</em>

    The Red Dragon Order had decided to show themselves in the battle in the Continent Cloud. Instead of asking a broadcaster, they asked Rio, a Ztuber, to help them do this. Rio had been expecting high ratings for this video since the Chinese yers would definitely love to watch this <em>¡®Massacre¡¯</em>. In fact, even the leader of the Red Dragon Order, Luca, was an assassin with a level of at least Level 530. Transferring into a High ss? He already finished that long ago. His High ss was called the Envoy of Death. It was a ss that was on a different level from Lucia¡¯s Assassin of the Moon.

    Right now, they were running towards where the Korean yers had fled. They had missed the perfect moment to deal with them, but their members had been using their stealth and speed to chase in the direction where the Korean yers went. They began to go deeper and deeper into the Korean side in the midst of their chase.

    ¡°This way.¡±

    The members of the Red Dragon Order were all stealthy and fast, none of them was an exception. Rio might be a BJ, but he was also a ranker and yet, he was already having a hard time following them. Just then¡­

    ¡°<em>Slurp¡­ nyam, nyam¡­ slu¡­ nyam¡­ </em>deli¡­ myeon!¡±

    A strange and mysterious voice began to echo through the thickets. Luca immediately raised his right arm at the sound, making everyone stop in their tracks.

    ¡°Somebody¡¯s here,¡± Luca whispered.

    ¡°This¡­ It¡¯s a very unusual ce.¡±

    The members of Red Dragon Order nodded, still calm. After all, they have the strength to kill the Emperor during his meal if they ever wanted to. They believed that there was no enemy that they could not defeat. They continued to move forward, only to see a boy singing in his creepy and ghastly voice.

    ¡°<em>Slurp, nyam, nyam! Slurp, nyam, nyam! </em>Delicious Ramyeon[1]!¡±

    Rio¡¯s camera caught the figure of the boy causing a flood ofments from the viewers.

    <em>[Is that a Korean Ghost?] </em>

    <em>[What the hell? Isn¡¯t this too scary? Why is that little boy sitting alone and singing in this dark and gloomy forest?]</em>

    <em>[Is he the boy who lost his family in the forest?]</em>

    <em>[Then, did he be a ghost with resentment¡­?]</em>

    Just like them, the members of the Red Dragon Order were also nervous. It was strange. How could they be nervous, right? Was the boy really a Korean Ghost?

    ¡°Hey,¡± Luca called out to the boy carefully. And then¡­

    ¡°Aaaaaaaack!!!¡±

    ¡­the boy jumped to his feet and turned to face them and asked, ¡°What do you put in your ramyeon first? The noodles? Or the soup?¡±

    1. A quick recall! This is the noodles song from Dooly the dinosaur ?

 Chapter 328: Atlas, The Territory with the Strongest Defense

    Chapter 328: As, The Territory with the Strongest Defense

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    The members of Red Dragon Order and Rio the Ztuber all went silent for a moment. The only thing that was still bustling with activity was BJ Rio¡¯s live chat.

    <em>[What the hell was that Lololol!]</em>

    <em>[Are there no frightening bastards in Korea at all?]</em>

    <em>[As expected of the game XXX country.]</em>

    <em>[Of course you have to put the soup first when ites to ramyeon.]</em>

    However, the members of the Red Dragon Order and Luca were not in the mood to y games at all. All of them had no intention of answering.

    Although they did not intend to y around, they were aware that this mysterious, albeit intellectually handicapped, boy came from the Asgan Continent. That meant that there was only one course of action. Their verdict? Show no mercy. They had to kill him.

    <em>Shing!</em>

    Luca¡¯s daggers appeared. Red Dragon Order¡¯s Luca was fundamentally different from Ma Zheonu, despite them both being assassins. Looking closely, Luca could see that the boy had just finished cooking ramyeon.

    <em>¡®One strike,¡¯ </em>Luca thought. This was his only act of mercy. A quick, painless death.

    Luca¡¯s arm moved as an image of his body appeared right behind the boy, despite his body still standing among his group. Then, he slit the boy¡¯s throat. No. He tried to do so. He truly intended for his dagger to slit the boy¡¯s throat, but his dagger was easily blocked by the boy¡¯s wooden chopsticks.

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    All of the members of the Red Dragon Order were shocked. The skill that Luca used to attack the boy was <em>¡®Illusion Attack¡¯</em>, an attack that created an image simr to his figure. Even if it was just an illusion, the attack power of the skill would still be as strong as his own attack. No, in fact, the illusion would even have a 200% increase in attack power. It was meant to be a skill that could kill his enemies quickly and easily. To their horror, that skill was blocked by a pair of wooden chopsticks.

    ¡°Hey? Do you put the noodles in ramyeon first? Or the soup?¡±

    ¡°...Die,¡± Luca said loudly as all thirty members of the Red Dragon Order moved to attack the boy. The image of the Red Dragon Order with their ck mask and red armor attacking a single boy looked a bit overkill.

    <em>sh!</em>

    The daggers of the members of the Red Dragon Order hiding behind a tree flew towards the boy.

    <em>ng!</em>

    To their horror, the boy¡¯s chopsticks were enough to stop each and every single one of their attacks. The boy did not even stop moving as he rushed towards them, shouting, ¡°I¡¯m Conir!!! Conir just asked a question but you attacked Conir!!! Bad!!!¡±

    Five members of the Red Dragon Order flew straight towards the boy. Someone even sneakily threw a dagger towards the boy¡¯s head.

    <em>Fwoosh!</em>

    The boy just tilted his head to avoid the sudden attack. Then, another dagger aimed for his shoulders. And just like before, the boy gently turned his body with a slight twist of his feet and easily evaded the attack. Then, another dagger went for the boy¡¯s abdomen. However, the boy grabbed the assassin¡¯s wrist and pulled his body down in a single move.

    <em>¡®Ho, how can this be possible¡­¡¯ </em>Rio thought, astonished and appalled at the sight.

    The Red Dragon Order was the best assassin guild in China. Once someone ced a name on their murder list, they would definitely finish the job in just three hours. But these assassins were actually being yed around by a single little boy.

    ¡°Sh¡­shit¡­!¡± Luca cursed. Just then, the boy suddenly appeared in front of him.

    ¡°Death Dag¡­¡±

    Luca tried to cast his skill, but the boy was faster. He raised his chopsticks high and stabbed Luca straight in the head.

    <em>Dong!</em>

    The sound of the wooden chopsticks hitting Luca on the head rang loudly in the clearing. The stab was so strong that Luca, the leader of the Red Dragon Order, staggered and swayed. What was worse was the fact that 15% of his HP had disappeared from that blow. But that was not the end of the boy¡¯s attack. The boy¡¯s wooden chopsticks went straight towards his neck, chest, and several other vital points.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¨D</em>

    ¡°Keuhaaaack!¡±

    <em>[Your HP has fallen below 70%.]</em>

    <em>[You have received an attack to the neck.]</em>

    <em>[Your breathing has beenpromised.]</em>

    <em>[You have received an attack to the chest.]</em>

    <em>[Your body has been paralyzed from the pain in your chest.]</em>

    Luca was rendered helpless in an instant. He thought, <em>¡®There, there¡¯s someone like this in Korea¡­?¡¯</em>

    It was clear that the boy in front of them was just an NPC. Regardless, he turned out to be a monstrous existence. The members of the Red Dragon Order rushed forward to save him.

    ¡°Captain!¡±

    ¡°Stop him!!!¡±

    Unfortunately for them, the boy was quicker. He had already grabbed the dagger from Luca¡¯s arms even before his guild members had arrived. And¡­

    <em>Stab!</em>

    ¡­the boy stabbed Luca in the chest.

    ¡°Keuhaack!¡± Luca screamed in pain as he fell down. His guild members looked at him in agitation.

    ¡°You goddamn bastard!¡±

    ¡°How dare youy your hands on Captain!¡±

    ¡°I will show you what hell is like!!!¡±

    ¡°Conir!! Conir is the greatest ramyeon businessman!!! Conir, bring it on!!!¡± Conir shouted loudly. However, even if the boy wanted to fight, the appearance of another man made him stop.

    The man was quite handsome, with his dark skin and tall build. His right hand was holding a ck spear, while his left hand was holding a book with the title <em>¡®Why Did the Prince Go Out Tonight?¡¯</em>. The man said, ¡°Conir, it¡¯s time to go home. You can¡¯t y anymore past this time. <em>Coochie, coo~</em>¡±

    ¡°Okay!¡±

    ¡®<em>A man from the demon race suddenly appeared? But, why does he sound like he¡¯s a parent picking up his son, as though he had run around and yed with his friends untilte in the evening?</em>¡¯

    Just then, the demon also did something strange. He said, ¡°Listen, this is a very interesting scene. <em>My body trembled in excitement as His Majesty¡¯s hands slowly swept down my legs¡­</em>¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°You want to hear more, right? You¡¯re curious, right?¡± The man from the demon race asked, even though he was the only one who talked. He then continued to say, ¡°Then, purchase the bestseller novel <em>¡®Why Did the Prince Go Out Tonight?¡¯</em> by the erotic novelist and unique author Aruvel. Now, at a 5% discount from its original price of 10,000 gold. You can now buy it at a rare price of 10,500 gold.¡±

    ¡°<em>Hiiiik</em><em>!</em>¡±

    ¡°This bastard¡­¡±

    The Red Dragon Order lost their calm. This was clearly mockery. How could someone dare speak peacefully and calmly in front of their ring killing intent?

    These peaceful and calm words made the Red Dragon Order lose their sanity. They faltered and trembled until all reason left their minds, clouded by anger. All of this was what Aruvel intended to do. The moment all of them jumped towards him in anger, Aruvel raised his spear and swung it gently.

    <em>[Demonic Dragon¡¯s Spear Arts Chapter 5.]</em>

    <em>[Exploding Spear.]</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    A huge explosion rose from the direction that the spear swung in. Three of the members of the Red Dragon Order had been caught in the explosion, while the rest flew back from the impact.

    Then, Aruvel and the young boy, Conir, took the opportunity to run. However, the man from the demon race did not forget to say, ¡°If you buy it now, I will sell it to you at a 10% discount for 11,000 gold!!!¡±

    How could the price get more expensive when the discount increased?!!! The Red Dragon Orderpletely lost their reason as they ran after them, disappearing behind the huge thicket.

    ¡°...¡±

    Rio was speechless after being left alone. He might be a top ranker too, but he was no match against the Red Dragon Order, the man from the demon race, and the young boy when it came to speed. All he could do was look around his surroundings.

    <em>Caw¨D</em>

    <em>Caw, caw, caw¨D</em>

    All he could hear were crows cawing in the distance.

    <em>[Look at Rio¡¯s face¡­]</em>

    <em>[Doesn¡¯t he look like a lost child?]</em>

    <em>[But where can we buy the ¡®Why Did the Prince Go Out Tonight?¡¯ that the man from the demon race mentioned earlier?]</em>

    <em>[...]</em>

    <em>[...]</em>

    <em>[...]</em>

    <em>[...]</em>

    Then, someone suddenly appeared from the bushes.

    ¡°Hiiiic!¡± Rio shouted in shock and fear. However, what came out was a very beautiful woman, a figure that could never be the cause of a terrified shriek. It was none other than Genie.

    ***

    Ruth had worked as Ellie¡¯s aide for a very long time. In fact, he had been supporting her and staying beside her ever since she was born. To him, Ellie was a wonderful person standing at the peak. Ruth had watched Ellie carry her sword since she was a child. She used that very same sword to correct and restore the nation¡¯s power, that had weakened due to the Emperor¡¯s disease. She was also a genius. Her talent for swordsmanship easily surpassed the previous Emperor, making her the Sword Emperor at the mere age of twenty.

    This very same Ellie began to care for, and loved a foreigner named Minhyuk. In fact, her love for Minhyuk seemed to be more than anybody else at this point. When it happened, Ruth thought that Ellie was lonely. She had fought for her kingdom, against the world all by herself, but she still remained the same. She never shed tears nor showed frustration despite the hardships and sorrow that was thrown at her. Her image as the Empress was the very image that her citizens had of her. She was and would always be tough.

    Interestingly, she wouldugh and joke around whenever she was with Minhyuk. Ruth thought that was all. But at this moment, Ruth¡¯s thoughts changed.

    <em>¡®Perhaps Her Majesty, Ellie¡­¡¯</em>

    He was not aware of it despite their closeness, but he realized that perhaps Ellie was tired. She might have wanted to lean on someone¡¯s shoulder or listen to someone¡¯s voice. He realized that Ellie did not cherish and love Minhyuk just because she was lonely. It seemed that she cherished and loved him because she saw the potential in Minhyuk. He had the potential to grow strong and share her burdens. Ruth¡¯s heart burned and zed at the sight in front of him. Ellie soaring in the sky and showing her powerful swordsmanship while Minhyuk tried to dig into her gaps while casting ¡®Scattering Sword¡¯. They were strong. He was strong.

    When Ruth first saw Minhyuk, Minhyuk was chuckling happily at him after he cooked and ate a precious medicine. It almost drove him crazy. He had thought that Minhyuk was an idiot. However, his views and thoughts on Minhyuk hadpletely changed. Minhyuk had now be strong, strong enough to fight toe to toe against Ellie without being pushed back.

    <em>¡®But¡­¡¯ </em>

    He could not beat Her Majesty yet. However, Ruth could see that Minhyuk had the desire to win and triumph over Ellie. He would never shame that. He would even apud him for maintaining that strong desire to surpass such a mountain.

    <em>sh!</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s body moved smoothly and neatly. He also had huge talents for the sword. His movements were quick and fast, like a butterfly flying quickly with the wind.

    <em>[Three Consecutive Quick Assault] </em>

    <em>[Your attacks will have three consecutive strikes.] </em>

    Although his power and skill was still low, he was someone who Ellie had recognized and taught her Swordsmanship to. However, there were two things that Minhyuk had an advantage over Ellie. And those were ¡®artifacts¡¯ and ¡®skills¡¯.

    <em>ng! ng, ng!</em>

    Ellie gently blocked Minhyuk¡¯s sword that came thrice in a row, before stabbing Minhyuk at his sides.

    <em>[You have sessfully evaded the attack.]</em>

    The effect of Minhyuk¡¯s newly acquired <em>¡®Monarch¡¯s Armor¡¯</em> was fully disyed here, allowing him to evade the attack. Thankfully, evading attacks would leave a gap in the opponents'' movements. This was an advantage of evading over nullifying.

    ¡°Sword of Fury.¡±

    Minhyuk did not miss the opportunity and quickly used Sword of Fury. Wind blew strongly in the area as a powerful force appeared in his sword.

    <em>Shwaaaaaa!</em>

    Minhyuk immediately stabbed his sword forward. However, Ellie was already behind him.

    <em>aaang!</em>

    She used the same powerful force to send Minhyuk flying away.

    ¡°<em>Cough!</em>¡± Minhyuk coughed after rolling around from the force.

    ¡°So, you¡¯re really weak,¡± Ellie taunted. However, she was very surprised deep inside.

    <em>¡®One level.¡¯ </em>

    Minhyuk had only gone up by that much, but his strength was alreadyparable to Ellie¡¯s own power. She wondered since when the kid that loved to eat food grew to be this strong.

    <em>¡®I have already confirmed it.¡¯ </em>

    She had confirmed that Minhyuk had the body and the talent to learn the Pinnacle Skill. However, she wanted to see more of Minhyuk¡¯s strength, so Ellie did not stop the fight. Meanwhile, Minhyuk stood up and pondered about something.

    Then, Minhyuk raised his hand and asked, ¡°Noona, can I eat?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    It was none other than the skill ¡®Let¡¯s Have a Meal¡¯. His idea was to use the skill and his Absorption Conversion at the same time. Ellie nodded and said, ¡°You can use any means necessary.¡±

    ***

    Rio was shocked by the sudden appearance of a woman. He thought, <em>¡®A Korean ranker?¡¯</em>. He was working as a BJ, so he knew the faces of the rankers from other countries.

    Seeing him Genie asked, ¡°You¡¯re doing a live, right?¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­ Oh¡­ Uhm¡­ Yes¡­¡±

    If Rio got logged out at this point in time, he would not be able to broadcast any content inside the Continent Cloud. That was why he was behaving like an obedient puppy in front of Genie.

    ¡°Hello. I¡¯m Genie from the Korean Server,¡± Genie said, starting with a small greeting. Then, she continued to say, ¡°These days, the confrontation between Korea and China is very hot on the inte. And I have seen a lot of badments about our country.¡±

    She chuckled lightly and started to talk about some examples. Genie said, ¡°Korea¡¯s a game XXX country. Korea will definitely lose to China even if we only use 20% of our power. In fact, it was only just yesterday that the Chinese Ranker Chaos said that this is not a continental war against South Korea. What was it that he said? It was a ughter?¡±

    That was right. Even Chinese rankers, who had to be careful with their words and actions, were openly mocking Korea. Then, a cold smile settled on Genie¡¯s lips. Their words and actions were a p across the face of Korea. So Genie smiled and said, ¡°Well then, let me give you my answer.¡±

    Her smiling expression immediately turned cold and frosty. Korean rankers were also proud and strong. She thought that no matter what country it was, anyone that mocked them had to be crushed to death. They could not lose their confidence and pride.

    Genie¡¯s voice was cold as she said, ¡°Stop wagging your tongues ande if you can. You XXX bastards.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Rio looked at Genie in shock when he heard her words. This was a total deration of war against all of the Chinese yers in Continent Cloud. And¡­

    <em>¡®So, so cool!¡¯</em>

    Rio shuddered in excitement. The rankers of the country that his people had mocked, believing that they would lose, did not shake nor waver. They even dered a war against them. Rather than being angry, Rio thought that she looked cool. He looked at her and thought, <em>¡®Perhaps¡­¡¯</em>.

    Perhaps they were far stronger than what they had thought. And at that moment, the real-time search results on Chinese Portal Sitespletely changed.

    <em>[<strong>1. </strong>Why Did the Prince Go Out Tonight?]</em>

    <em>[<strong>2. </strong>South Korean Ranker Genie¡¯s deration of war.]</em>

 Chapter 329: The Soldiersâ€™ Great Battle

    Chapter 329: The Soldiers¡¯ Great Battle

    The video of South Korea¡¯s former Legend Guild Master Genie dering war against China had be a hot topic on various Chinese portal sites! This was how the Chinese yers responded to her words¡­

    <em>[Is she crazy? They already lost the greatest attack base Berdk in the center to us, China, but they still want us toe at them?]</em>

    <em>[They say that those who are courageous are always naive. LOL. The people over there always said Legend Guild, Legend Guild, but what did Legend Guild really do there?]</em>

    Then, Doctor Ranker, the person most knowledgeable about all of the rankers in the world, appeared.

    <em>[Genie. Real name: Im Jihye. One of Korea¡¯s top rankers and was the master of the Former Legend Guild. Although Legend Guild, the guild that she led, was only a small guild, it was considered as Korea¡¯s best guild. But then they dered their guild¡¯s dissolution suddenly. She subsequently joined the ¡®Let''s Eat Sect¡¯ , a new guild led by Food God yer Minhyuk, as the vice-guild master. There has been a lot of discussion over this matter.]</em>

    <em>[A lot of discussion?]</em>

    <em>[Oh! The great doctor has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[Yes. There has been a lot of discussion over Locke, Ascar and Crow¡¯s love triangle. There¡¯s also talks about Food God Minhyuk fighting an 18:1 battle against the Legend Guild to absorb the guild. However, what¡¯s certain is Legend Guild, once known as the best guild in Korea, disappeared so suddenly, only to reappear as a strange guild called Let''s Eat Sect. However, the problem begins here. High ss and Royal ss have appeared all over the world. However, contrary to all of the yers¡¯ expectations, the members of Legend Guild did not seem to have produced any High ss yers.]</em>

    <em>[Great doctor. Do you think that getting High ss is easy? From what I heard, Legend Guild is only a group of twenty people. Isn¡¯t it more logical that they do not have any High ss yers?]</em>

    However, Doctor Ranker rebutted almost immediately.

    <em>[Not at all. They¡¯re different. The four major guilds in Korea have twenty-one people in the top 40, but Legend Guild alone has over fifteen yers in the top 40.]</em>

    Everyone that saw this was both shocked and impressed. They were truly the most prestigious guild in Korea, enough topare against the four major guilds.

    <em>[But, they haven¡¯t transferred to a High ss and there are rumors that they have disbanded for real. In other words, it¡¯s just a waste of time.]</em>

    These were the final words of the great and trusted doctor. The people listened attentively to the words of the doctor, not knowing that the doctor¡¯s true identity was actually Ascar, a member of Minhyuk¡¯s guild.

    Ascar was sitting in a suite in a five-star hotel in Korea. She looked out of the window before turning her attention back to herputer and tapping on her keyboard. Then, she took a sip of tea to moisten her throat while thinking, <em>¡®It started.¡¯</em>

    Everything was going ording to Genie¡¯s ¡®n¡¯. Right now, their counterattack had already begun.

    ***

    Ever wondered what the Let''s Eat Sect did when the Asgan Continent and Cairon Continent got connected through the Continent Cloud?

    At the appearance of the Continent Cloud, the guild master, Minhyuk, told his guild members to watch the war situation for a while as they made preparation for emergencies and contingencies.

    ¡°Uncle Roadol, please set up powerful traps around the territory to make sure that none of our enemies can enter.¡±

    Ilhwa Construction¡¯s president, Roadol, had the legendary ss Master Trapper. Upon Minhyuk¡¯s request, he began setting up a huge number of traps around As Territory.

    Installing traps was basically something that the yers did not want to do. First off, a trapper was considered to be the worst ss to have, especially during PVPs. However, Roadol was different. He was also excellent in closebat with his gigantic ax. His ss then changed to the legendary ss Master Trapper after he used his amazing skills in making bombs from real life, to make bombs without the help of the <em>Athenae</em> game system. In fact, the members of the Let''s Eat Sect had seen his traps at work before. However, it was more fitting to call them mines, rather than traps. It was because they had an explosive power that could blow up everything within an entire four meter radius area!

    ¡°...Uncle.¡±

    ¡°Yeah?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not really going to wipe out the illegal buildings in our country, right?¡±

    ¡°If I could, then I would? Hahahaha! Explosions are thrilling!¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Minhyuk was speechless after discovering another surprising side of his Uncle Roadol. On the other hand, Uncle Smooth, the Poison Master and the president of Nottogi, was the only person that could handle thousands of poisons in <em>Athenae.</em> The most surprising fact was that he walked the same path as Roadol. Smooth was basically an expert when it came to food distribution, but his sense of ¡®taste and vor¡¯ might as well be in the gutters. However, the fact that he was an expert in food distribution meant that he knew how to use food as poison.

    ¡°I really don¡¯t like uncle¡¯s ss¡­¡±

    ¡°...Eh?¡± Smooth gasped at Minhyuk¡¯s iprehensible words.

    However, Smooth could nt a variety of poisons anywhere possible, whether it be in fruits, animals or even thend. The apples that he nted might look delicious and ripe for the picking, but anyone that ate the apples would definitely experience instant death. If the skunk that he nted poison in farted, everyone in the vicinity might faint.

    Just like that, Minhyuk went through a lot of preparations for the uing war. As they continued to monitor the situation in the Continent Cloud, the mission to recapture the attack base located in the center of the continent had been issued. That was when Minhyuk concluded that As territory¡¯s power was enough to withstand whatever attack they might receive. So, for the first time, As territory flew in the sky.

    However, there was only one problem that they did not expect. As, despite bing the City in the Sky, was extremely slow. It was still some distance away, but the Korean rankers were already being pushed back. When he saw this, Minhyuk judged that joining the fray at this time would not change a thing. So, his following strategy centered around defending territory and epting the fleeing rankers. After giving his orders, Minhyuk went to see Ellie.

    And right now, the Red Dragon Order was chasing after Conir and Aruvel deep inside As territory. Rumel, the Red Dragon Order¡¯s vice guild master, was leading the chase. Although he was not as good as Luca, he was still a strong yer that no other assassin could keep up to.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Rumel quickly turned to look at the direction where the huge explosion rang.

    <em>[<strong>Vice Guild Master Rumel</strong>: What¡¯s going on?]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Cairo</strong>: Rumel! Bacoh, Ruthinue and Calo have been logged out from the sudden explosion.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Vice Guild Master Rumel</strong>: What¡­?]</em>

    Rumel was shocked. They were assassins that were expert at stealth, quick attacks and digging through the enemy¡¯s traps. They even received the passive skill <em>¡®Trap Search¡¯ </em>the moment they changed sses and became assassins. All of the members of Red Dragon Order had already reached Level 7 of the Trap Search skill. Reaching this level meant that every member of their guild could easily discover a trap just by looking at it. However, it seemed like the skill proved to be useless in front of some trap. And that was not even the end of it.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keheok!¡±

    ¡°I¡­I can¡¯t breathe! Aaaaaack!¡±

    Screams rang loudly among them.

    <em>[<strong>Vice Guild Master Rumel</strong>: What¡¯s going on again?!!]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Kaiden</strong>: Rumel, poison suddenly spurted out of an unknown flower.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Vice Guild Master Rumel</strong>: What¡­ are you telling me that you¡¯re poisoned¡­?]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Kaiden</strong>: That¡¯s not all! A skunk suddenly appeared in front of us and farted before running away. Now, our guild members are melting.]</em>

    Was this the murderous fart that he had only heard of?

    ¡°...¡±

    Vice Guild Master Rumel was left speechless. Assassins were,of course, very resilient against poisons. No, in fact, the Red Dragon Order¡¯s ability to withstand poison could be said to be the strongest in the continent. But the poison that they encountered was strong enough to ignore their passive skill <em>¡®Poison Resistance¡¯</em>?

    <em>¡®We¡¯ve underestimated this territory.¡¯</em>

    Only then did Rumel realize that this was their n all along. The enemy had deliberately led them deep inside their territory.

    <em>[<strong>Vice Guild Master Rumel</strong>: Everyone, retreat!!!]</em>

    s, it was already toote. Counting all of those that had been caught in the trap and poisoned, it seemed like the only one left was him. Then, the boy that they had been chasing suddenly appeared in front of Rumel. The boy said, ¡°Conir!!! Conir got a hostage!!! Hostage!! Eat ramyeon!!!¡±

    ¡°What¡­?¡± Rumel asked dumbly, not understanding the situation that he was left in. Then, the boy suddenly attacked him, leaving him unable to resist. In the first ce, the boy was an opponent that he could not fight against. Then, the boy covered Rumel¡¯s eyes with a blindfold and brought him somewhere. When Rumel opened his eyes again, all he could see were white walls and a small handcart. And¡­

    ¡°Eat ramyeon!!!¡±

    ¡­the boy cooked ramyeon for him.

    ¡°Please, please stop¡­ stop feeding me ramyeon!!!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m Conir!!! Hostage attacked Conir first! So, Hostage must tell Conir valuable information, otherwise Hostage eats ramyeon!!!¡±

    ¡°Keheok! I¡¯ve already eaten thirty bowls of ramyeon¡­!!! No, why the hell do you put chocte in ramyeon!!! N¡­no¡­! Not ramyeon and orange juice¡­! Keheok!¡±

    It seemed like Conir had learned how to torture using ramyeon. Right now, the second Ma Zheonu was screaming.

    ***

    Meanwhile, in As territory.

    The Korean rankers were all shocked after watching the Red Dragon Order disappear through the crystal ball.

    ¡°My¡­my goodness¡­¡±

    ¡°This¡­this is ridiculous¡­¡±

    The Korean rankers saw how fast the Red Dragon Order moved. It was to the point that they knew that they would not survive an attack from them. They were all rankers, so it was not difficult to determine the power of their opponents.

    ¡°B¡­but, can skunk farts really melt the enemies¡­?¡±

    ¡°So, this is the murderous fart that we¡¯ve only heard of¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure it can make your lungs rot the moment it enters your system,¡± Genie said aftering back from who knew where.

    ¡®<em>My goodness! What terrible poison, right?</em>¡¯

    None of them had heard of such a terrible poison before.

    ¡°So, this is the only ce that can guarantee our victory¡­?¡±

    Ali made it clear to them that they would find a way to victory if they followed the nts. All of the rankers could tell that protecting this territory was their path to victory. However, there was a problem. No matter how strong the territory was, it would be useless if the top rankers were all weak. Their Chinese enemies still had a lot of trump cards hidden up their sleeves. Even during this battle, their high rankers still had not appeared yet.

    ¡°Let me takemand of the battle,¡± Carr said. It was only reasonable since he believed that the strongest yer here was him. It was also true that the person that could survive the longest should be themander.

    But then, Genie said, ¡°You can¡¯t be themander.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Carr asked in disbelief, his face distorting in anger. Who was supposed to be themander, if not him? Of course, this was not his territory, but if Genie asked for a cooperation, it would not be impossible. It was clear that she also needed the power of all the rankers present here.

    Genie just gave them a clear and blunt answer. She said, ¡°Becausepared to our guild members, all of you are weak.¡±

    ¡°What bullshit! You think we¡¯re the same? You haven¡¯t even changed into a High ss¡­¡± Carr¡¯s words faded after seeing the glint in Genie¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Who said that?¡± Genie asked as she looked everyone in the eye. Then she continued to say, ¡°We don¡¯t have any High ss members? More than half of our guild members have already transferred to High ss.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    There were a total of neen key members of the former Legend Guild. From what Genie said, half of that number had transferred to High ss.

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Everyone was shocked and speechless. The silence that enveloped them was only broken with Carr¡¯s words. He said, ¡°My god¡­?¡±

 Chapter 330: The Soldiersâ€™ Great Battle

    Chapter 330: The Soldiers¡¯ Great Battle

    A High ss referred to a ss that was much more stronger than the existing sses. For example, Genie was a <em>¡®Whip Conjuror¡¯</em> before she transferred to a High ss. After transferring to a High ss, it changed into <em>¡®Whip Warrioress¡¯</em>. She received an additional 350 bonus stat points, and an increase in stats that suit the ss Whip Warrioress. On top of that, she also received new skills, and a dramatic increase in skill level the moment she transferred to a High ss.

    ording to Genie¡¯s analysis and research, the quality of stats and skills that would be bestowed to the yer upon awakening to a High ss would depend on the trial that they cleared. Of course, all the yers right now only knew that the High ss trials were simr. They were the only exceptions, since they were the only ones to go to the Demon World to undergo their High ss trials. This was all thanks to Great Sage Aruvel. He opened the door for them and guided them through this path. That was the ce where more than half of their group had awakened.

    However, the other rankers, with their exception, posted articles <em>¡®about High ss¡¯</em>. The articles reported how much stats, skill levels, and skills had been added to their repertoire after transferring sses. Genie was able topare the data of all the High ss rankers all over the world through these articles. In doing so, she came to a conclusion.

    Genie realized that the people thatpleted average High ss trials and awakened would only receive a 250 to 270-point increase in stats. Their skills¡¯ levels would also increase only by around two or three levels. Meanwhile, the yers that underwent the lower trials for High ss would only receive around 200 to 230 stat points, and would only have around one to two levels increase in their skill levels.

    In addition, there were those that had achieved higher stats and skill levels, despite transferring to simr High sses. They were none other than the members of Let''s Eat Sect. On average, the members of their guild had received around 300 to 340 stat points, with their skill levels increasing by around three to four levels, just as Genie experienced.

    This was what Genie had concluded from all of the information avable: <em>¡®Everything depends on the trial that one takes to awaken to High ss.¡¯. </em>In other words, the rewards that they would receive would vary depending on the type of trial that they underwent. Thinking about that, it seemed like the members of Let''s Eat Sect were very fortunate. No, it was extremely difficult to enter the Demon World, but they had Great Sage Aruvel. He guided them and told them about the ces where they could transfer to High ss inside the Demon World.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s all thanks to Minhyuk.¡¯</em>

    The moment Minhyuk assumed the position of Master, he brought them overwhelming advantages.

    ¡°But¡­ why didn¡¯t you make it public?¡± Carr questioned them.

    Genie simply answered him, ¡°To catch the enemy off-guard.¡±

    In fact, they had aimed this <em>¡®surprise¡¯</em> for the local yers. However, the Continent Cloud suddenly appeared and the war began. And now, their enemy had changed and became China. And China did not know any information about them at all. What did that mean?

    <em>¡®We can surprise them with a big curveball.¡¯</em>

    Genie¡¯s eyes narrowed as she looked at each of them. She asked, ¡°Anyone want to join us?¡±

    All of them hesitated. In a way, it was like they were going to raise the prestige of the Let''s Eat Sect.

    ¡°If you¡¯re not going to help, then leave.¡±

    Lucia was the first to raise her hand. She had no reason to refuse. This was a matter of their nation¡¯s pride, not their own individual pride. The rankers that used to growl and bite at each other should join forces to help their country get out of this difficulty. Then, the people behind Lucia began to raise their hand one after the other. In the end, only Carr was left. However, he eventually raised his hand, despite being unwilling to, up until this point. It was only right for them to join forces and get rid of the disgrace that they had shown earlier.

    ¡°Let¡¯s prepare for war now. I¡¯m pretty sure the Chinese yers are very angry after I told them, ¡°Come if you can, you XXX bastards!¡±.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Everyone was shocked to hear Genie¡¯s words.

    <em>¡®She looks like a gentle puppy but¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®It seems like she¡¯s also a beast.¡¯</em>

    They quickly moved to prepare for the war.

    ***

    The atmosphere in the Special yers Management Team was not good. Berdk, located in the center of the Continent Cloud, had been captured. This was a very harsh condition for Korea. After all, not only were siege weapons in that ce, but also the Kharamis soldiers that could use them. There were a total of 800 Kharamis soldiers that were stronger and more proficient in killing than soldiers from other territories. With these 800 troops, China had plenty of opportunities to use them. But what was worse was¡­

    ¡°Tomorrow, the mission<em> ¡®Soldiers¡¯ Great Battle¡¯</em> will be issued.¡±

    Missions would be released every 2-3 days inside the Continent Cloud. This was simply done to bnce out the battle between China and Korea, which already had an overwhelming gap. These missions would be simr topetitions. If their country won, then their citizens would cheer, right?

    The Soldiers¡¯ Great Battle was a mission where yers would not participate in. This was the day when they would solely focus on acquiring their own offensive and defensive bases. This was also a system where NPCs were tasked to fight each other. Most of the NPCs inside the Continent Cloud followed the yers based on their abilities. Some of them were troops from guilds, and of course some of them were named NPCs. Of course they were present on both the Korean and Chinese sides.

    However, what they were most concerned about was China¡¯s Great Wall Guild. The Great Wall Guild had ranked second among the three most influential guilds in <em>Athenae </em>around three months ago. They achieved this mainly because of their powerful soldiers and strong, hidden NPCs. What was worse was the fact that China had acquired the Kharamis soldiers and the troops from Berdk and other attack bases.

    ¡°I hope a miracle will happen tomorrow,¡± President Kang Taehoon said. Team Leader Park and the other team leaders all looked at him in surprise.

    ¡°Why are you all gathered in the Special yers Management Team every day?¡±

    ¡°Huh? Because it¡¯sfortable here?¡±

    ¡°Because it¡¯s asfortable as my house, Team Leader Park.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Team Leader Park sighed. Everyone in the room had dark expressions on their faces. Then, Lee Minhwa said, ¡°China might have the Great Wall, but we have As.¡±

    ¡°...As is only a little over a month old, right? No matter how much it was hailed as a legendary territory, what can they do against the NPCs of the Great Wall Guild? They even have Qin Shi Huang¡¯s[1] warriors?¡±

    Team Leader Park had been very busy the past few days. No, in fact, he had been busy since a month ago, working overtime together with everyone else for the continental war, so he did not have any time to monitor the yers. However, Employee Lee Minhwa had always been in the Special yers Management Team and monitoring the yers. She got by everyday by eating ramyeon, chicken, pizza and otherte night snacks.

    And right now, her eyes were sparkling as she said, ¡°They¡¯re more than enough.¡±

    ***

    If Ellie asked Minhyuk what kind of person she was in his eyes right now, he would immediately answer her with, <em>¡®A mountain I want to climb over and surpass.¡¯</em> Minhyuk might have started to y the game due to his eating addiction, but he was also a true gamer.

    Right now, Ellie was standing like a mountain that he needed to climb and surpass. Every single yer wanted to sh swords against the Sword Emperor Ellie at least once in their lives. Besides, her swordsmanship was known to be the strongest among all of the swordsmanship that existed in Asgan Continent.

    In fact, Sword Saint Conir could also be said to be a flickeringmp amidst a thunderstorm in front of Ellie. Minhyuk wanted to go beyond his noona. But even if he wanted to, Minhyuk realized that he was only being pushed back. So, he decided to use his final trump card. And Ellie willingly responded to him.

    ¡°Let¡¯s Have a Meal!¡± Minhyuk shouted as he activated his skill. Then, a round barrier appeared around him.

    Minhyuk used Let¡¯s Have a Meal because it had a higher probability of letting him create higher-grade dishes. Of course, Minhyuk would also use the <em>¡®Recipe for the Food God¡¯.</em> This skill was inherently different from regr dishes in the first ce. The grade of the dish that this skill would create would vary depending on various factors, like what he craved, the harmony of the dishes, and many other factors. This skill would also create a recipe that would give a much higher stat and skill increase than regr recipes. However, it had a w. The duration of the effect was only a few seconds. Minhyuk quickly used the Recipe for the Food God.

    <em>[You have used the Recipe for the Food God.]</em>

    <em>[You can now check the recipe for Rabokki</em>[2]<em>]</em>

    <em>[The amount of buff that can be used has been decreased due to creating a recipe.]</em>

    <em>(<strong>Rabokki Recipe for the Food God</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Necessary Ingredients</strong>: Rice cake, ramyeon noodles, red pepper paste, other ingredients.</em>

    <em><strong>Expected Dish Grade</strong>: Unique-Legendary</em>

    <em><strong>Expected Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>? Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship will have a significant increase and evolve.</em>

    <em>? All stats will receive a significant increase</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: You are tired and exhausted from this hard battle! And you¡¯re also very hungry right now. That¡¯s when you saw Kimbap Heaven! Go inside and cook some rabokki quickly! Then clean up as you go!</em>

    That was right. Just like in the recipe¡¯s description, Minhyuk was in a state of extreme hunger as he continued to battle against Ellie. Every single moment of the battle was intense, making him tense, and increasing the calories that his body burned.

    The moment Minhyuk saw the recipe for rabokki, he could not help but chuckle. He was someone who knew how to eat after all.

    Rabokki was something that was eaten with blood sausage and fried fritters. Minhyuk made rabokki first, as it was something that could be done easily and quickly. Then, he quickly took some blood sausage, liver, and innards from his inventory, before skillfully cutting them with his borate knife skills.

    ¡°N¡­No¡­ how can food like thate out of your inventory?¡±

    ¡°I always carry some with me, in case I get hungry.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Ellie was left speechless. My goodness! There was actually a person that carried blood sausage, liver, and innards 365 days a year! It did not end there. Ellie saw Minhyuk adding some squid, covered with batter, into boiling oil.

    <em>Sizzle!</em>

    Ah! The sound was clearly lively and shocking! Even Ellie jumped up a bit in shock the moment the squid made contact with the oil. She watched in rapture as the squid danced around in the oil. Minhyuk quickly scooped up the squid with a sieve and tapped it with his hands, his movements like a very experienced snack bar owner! With that, all of the dishes had been finished. Minhyuk had added some cheese in his rabokki, so he went to open the lid of the pan to check.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¨D</em>

    Steam rose from the pan showing the perfectly captivating scene of melted cheese inside. That was not the only attractive dish, even the blood sausage , liver and innards as well as the other fried fritters and fish cake soup lined up beside it were also eye-catching. Minhyuk grabbed his chopsticks and mped some rabokki and cheese.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¨D</em>

    The noodles covered with the spicy rice cake sauce and cheese were easily pulled up by his chopsticks. Minhyuk quickly grabbed a te and used it to support the noodles as he slurped them up.

    ¡°It¡¯s well-soaked.¡±

    Then, he grabbed some rice cakes and chomped on them. The texture was extremely chewy! As expected of rice cakes made with flour! After eating the rice cake, Minhyuk quickly stretched his chopsticks towards the fried seaweed rolls. He decided to taste the fried seaweed roll in its entirety without dipping it in anything.

    <em>Crunch¨D</em>

    The fried seaweed roll was still a bit greasy and warm when it entered his mouth. Oil spread in Minhyuk¡¯s mouth, together with the unique and delightful vor of the seaweed roll in every bite. Then, with the remaining half of the seaweed roll, he dipped it in the rabokki sauce and put it in his mouth again.

    <em>Crunch, crunch¨D</em>

    The nd and thick sauce easily swept away the greasiness of the fried seaweed roll. It was simply the perfectbination. Then, what happened if his throat got a little too dry? He would drink spoonfuls of warm fish cake soup.

    ¡°<em>Kgghk</em><em>! </em>My energy ising back! I¡¯m getting energized!¡± Minhyuk shouted as he grabbed a skewer of fish cake before dipping it in soy sauce and eating it happily. Then, he turned his sights on the blood sausage. Blood sausage was best eaten with just a bit of salt at first. This would best showcase the soft and chewy texture of the blood sausage. Then, after tasting its original vor, one could dip it in the rabokki¡¯s sauce. Next was the liver. Liver had quite a dry texture, but what would happen if this dry texture met with the vor of the rabokki sauce?

    <em>¡®Its texture will be soft, and its vor will turn spicy.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk smiled happily as he dipped the liver in the rabokki sauce. Just like that, he added the rice cake, blood sausage and fritters set to his rabokki and ate it happily. Then, the notifications rang.

    <em>[You have eaten a dish made solely for the Food God.]</em>

    <em>[You won¡¯t be able to eat any Recipe for the Food God for two weeks.]</em>

    <em>[You can¡¯t receive any duplicate buffs during the duration of the buff retention period.]</em>

    <em>[Rabokki. Together with the Blood Sausage, Fritter Set and Fish Cake Soup.]</em>

    <em>[All five basic stats will have a 16% increase and Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship will have an increase of +3 in mastery for five minutes.]</em>

    The second round had begun.

    1. Shihuangdi, the first emperor of Qin dynasty ?

    2. Ramyeon + tteokbokki(rice cakes) ?

 Chapter 331: The Soldiersâ€™ Great Battle

    Chapter 331: The Soldiers¡¯ Great Battle

    Compared to the time when Minhyuk faced Barach, the increase in his stats that he received this time was around 3% less. Even the increase in Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship was a level less than before. However, the temporary 16% increase in his stats and a 3-skill level already allowed Minhyuk to be on equal grounds, perhaps even stronger, than the High ss members of Legend Guild.

    In an instant, Minhyuk was already as strong as a High ss right there and then.

    <em>¡®This is strange.¡¯ </em>Ellie thought, an awkward smile hanging on her lips. Her skin started to crawl and she felt numb at the sudden change in Minhyuk¡¯s momentum. She became a little wary of Minhyuk and was about to make the first move when¡­

    <em>sh!</em>

    ¡­Minhyuk had already used ¡®Like the Wind¡¯ to narrow the distance between them.

    <em>Fwoosh!</em>

    Ellie struck her sword out but before she could even hit him, Minhyuk had already disappeared from sight. This was <em>¡®invisibility¡¯</em>, the special ability that was attached to Minhyuk¡¯s cape.

    <em>Shwaaaaa¨D</em>

    Then, hundreds of falling leaves began to flutter around Ellie. Right now, Ellie was only wearing thin clothes with no armor over them. Her white clothes fluttered with the fierce wind around her.

    <em>¡®Strong.¡¯ </em>

    The wind was so strong that the strap tying Ellie¡¯s hair snapped, making her hair flutter loosely in the wind. Ellie¡¯s eyes narrowed sharply, realizing that she could no longer rx, even for a bit. Ellie could tell why Minhyuk used the Fluttering Sword.

    <em>¡®I can¡¯t see him but I can hear him. He¡¯s doing this to remove his presence entirely. The fluttering leaves and the wind have be his allies.¡¯</em>

    Ellie could see that Minhyuk was pretty adept at using his skills to his advantage. Just then, the fluttering leaves gathered in one area.

    <em>sh¨D</em>

    Ellie¡¯s sword moved quickly.

    <em>[Quick Sword]</em>

    <em>[You can draw your sword 2.5x faster than usual to cut the enemy.]</em>

    <em>ng¨D</em>

    Ellie¡¯s sword moved quickly towards where the fluttering leaves had gathered, but Minhyuk had already pulled himself back after reappearing.

    Minhyuk could only remain invisible for <em>¡®two seconds¡¯,</em> but he could easily make an attack within that time frame. So, Minhyuk used the Fluttering Sword that he had prepared using <em>¡®Save¡¯</em>, a skill that removed the casting time of the skill. However, Ellie was still able to block hundreds of the falling leaves. After pulling back, Minhyuk quickly jumped and dashed towards Ellie.

    <em>¡®Crazy¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk waspletely shocked. The Fluttering Sword that he used this time had a +3 increase in level. That meant that the leaves were longer, stronger and sharper than usual, but Ellie was still able to block each and every single one of them with just a single sword in hand.

    This was thanks to Ellie¡¯s <em>¡®Absolute Senses¡¯</em>, a skill that she had since birth, which allowed her to maximize her senses up to three times the normal. Each attack from Minhyuk looked like it was in slow motion to her. However, with her preupied with blocking that attack, Minhyuk was able to prepare something else. The Devil Judge¡¯s Sword had changed into <em>¡®Diablo¡¯s Scythe¡¯ </em>and flew towards Ellie.

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng, ng, ng¨D</em>

    Ellie quickly left the range of the fluttering leaves and blocked Diablo¡¯s Scythe as her sword tore through the air. Then, shockingly, Minhyuk¡¯s Diablo¡¯s Scythe was suddenly sucked into space.

    <em>[Empress¡¯ Absorption]</em>

    <em>[The absorbed skill will be triggered just like the original attack.]</em>

    And at that moment¡­

    <em>Stab¨D</em>

    ¡­the very same Diablo¡¯s Scythe that Minhyuk had swung earlier appeared behind him and stabbed him in the back.

    <em>[Your HP has gone below 70%.]</em>

    Just when another scythe was about to hit Minhyuk in the back¡­

    <em>[Physical Damage Reflection! Returns 3x the physical damage received.]</em>

    <em>[Physical Damage Reflection has been offset by Empress¡¯ Protection.]</em>

    <em>¡®...!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was shocked. <em>¡®Empress¡¯ Protection¡¯ </em>was another skill that Ellie had since birth. She was the strongest person with the highest potential among all of the Named NPCs, an existence called <em>¡®Supreme NPC¡¯</em>. And the skill <em>¡®Empress¡¯ Protection¡¯ </em>was a skill that greatly enhanced her physical and magical defenses, which also made reflect skills useless. Seeing this, Minhyuk had to make a decision.

    <em>¡®To win¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk immediately rushed towards Ellie after seeing that she had already cut down most of the fluttering leaves.

    <em>sh!</em>

    Diablo¡¯s Scythe turned back into a sword in an instant, while Minhyuk activated the skill Diablo¡¯s Eyes. When using the skill, he would be able to find more than one vital point in his enemies.

    Usually, Diablo¡¯s Eyes would reveal at least three or more vital points to him, but right now, it was only showing him one. That single vital point was in Ellie¡¯s chest. In other words, he had to stab her strongly in her chest.

    <em>Dash, dash, dash, dash¨D</em>

    Ellie quickly pulled further away from the fluttering leaves, staring at the tip of the sword that was aiming for her chest. Then, Minhyuk activated another skill. It was none other than the <em>¡®Oven of Disaster¡¯</em>. A ticking timer suddenly appeared above them. The only way for Minhyuk to defeat Ellie was to use his artifact skills.

    <em>ng!</em>

    Ellie gently parried the sword aiming for her chest and moved to stab Minhyuk¡¯s left chest with her own sword, which shed red. Starting from the hilt of the sword, a force that seemed like it would tear everything apart radiated fiercely. However, instead of shying away, Minhyuk grabbed the de of the sword. The strong force tore into Minhyuk¡¯s chest and devoured his body.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh! </em>

    Minhyuk did not let go of Ellie¡¯s sword despite bleeding all over. Rather than letting go, he pulled it deeper into his body and grabbed onto Ellie¡¯s clothes.

    ¡°...You.¡±

    ¡°Noona, you should grit your teeth now.¡±

    Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>Tick, tock, tick, tock¡­</em>

    <em>Tick¡­ tock¡­</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    ¡­a huge explosion engulfed the area. Then, a pentagon appeared on the ground at the same time as the explosion.

    <em>[Eivelis¡¯ Shield]</em>

    <em>[A huge barrier appears to protect you.]</em>

    Eivelis¡¯ Shield was a skill that would create a huge barrier protecting the person inside it. However, surprisingly enough, attacks could still be made inside the barrier. Protected from the explosions, Ellie moved again, stabbing Minhyuk with her sword once more.

    <em>Stab¨D</em>

    But then¡­

    <em>[Monarch¡¯s Armor]</em>

    <em>[You have used Monarch¡¯s Armor¡¯s special ability.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP and MP will quickly recover at a fast rate.]</em>

    ¡­Minhyuk¡¯s HP and MP were refilled. However, Ellie was different from him. She could tell that her barrier would notst any longer.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¨D</em>

    Eivelis¡¯ Shield was a skill that maximized the defensive power of the person that used the skill. The skill could increase the defensive power by 300%. However, cracks had already appeared in the barrier. And then¡­

    <em>Bang!</em>

    ¡­the barrier broke loudly, the explosion engulfed Ellie and made her fly back. Ellie¡¯s white clothes were ripped here and there, her blood dying it red. But even though she flew back, Ellie was still able to use <em>¡®Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship¡¯</em>.

    Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship was the skill that Minhyuk always used as a buff skill. However, Minhyuk¡¯s fundamentals were vastly different from the original, since he only learned part of the skill.

    <em>[Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship.]</em>

    <em>[HP increases by 0.5 every second, defensive power also increases by 1.5x, while all stats increase by 25%.]</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaak¨D</em>

    A golden aura began to appear and cover Ellie¡¯s body, who thought, <em>¡®I did not expect that he would be able to make me utilize Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship fully¡­¡¯ </em>

    Ellie looked at Minhyuk in awe as he stood up and flew towards her.

    Ellie immediately activated her skills. Compared to Minhyuk, there was a passive skill <em>¡®Fusion Sword¡¯ </em>that would be applied the moment Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship buff was activated. She immediately fused two skills using Fusion Sword, and the two skills that she fused were Splitting Sword and Scattering Sword. When fused, a different skill name appeared.

    <em>[Roaring Sword]</em>

    <em>[Dozens of swords fly towards the enemy, attacking them fifteen consecutive times.] </em>

    Itbined the Scattering Sword¡¯s ability to attack the opponent consecutively, and the Splitting Sword¡¯s ability to shoot a powerful sword towards the enemy. This skill was none other than <em>¡®Roaring Sword¡¯.</em> Dozens of sword lights appeared from Ellie¡¯s Sword and flew towards Minhyuk in a fierce manner. They were three times longer and sharper than when Minhyuk expressed the skill. In response¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa!</em>

    ¡­Minhyuk triggered Berserk. Fierce ck energy spread out from his body before getting sucked back inside his body.

    <em>[All abilities will increase by 15%, skills will have an increase of 2.]</em>

    <em>[Your total HP will decrease by 3%. Once the skill ends, your HP will be less than 10% and your defensive power will be less than 20%.]</em>

    Berserk was a skill that could express an overwhelming strength with the first use and would show a weaker power by the second use. However, even though it was weaker, the power that it could express was still unimaginable.

    <em>[Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship has temporarily reached the Pinnacle.]</em>

    <em>[You can temporarily use the Advanced Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship.]</em>

    <em>[Chapter 9. Sword Like Lightning.]</em>

    The skill waspletely different fromst time. Even this Sword Like Lightning was infinitely weaker than the skill from before. Minhyuk faced off against the dozens of swords flying towards him and used the Sword Like Lightning against Ellie.

    ¡°Sword Like Lightning.¡±

    <em>[Sword Like Lightning]</em>

    <em>[Several lightning strikes fall down from the sky causing 400% damage to the enemy.]</em>

    Dozens of lightning strikes fell down and shed against the sword lights that Ellie had released. Just like that, the tides of the battle could not be determined. A huge explosion urred as both the skills collided.

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng!</em>

    ¡°Urgh!¡±

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng¨D</em>

    ¡°Kyaaack!¡±

    Ellie also received huge damage from Minhyuk¡¯s Sword Like Lightning. Ellie staggered back as Minhyuk fell down on the floor. Minhyuk saw that almost all of his HP had already disappeared.

    However, he knew that the skill ¡®He Who Ovees¡¯ would take effect. Even so, he still needed to recover again. So, he took bread and ate it. Almost 25% of his HP had recovered after activating the skill <em>¡®Absorption Conversion¡¯</em>.

    Ellie, on the other hand, had overwhelming HP so she did not die. No, in fact, Minhyuk was able to do his best because he knew that she would not die.

    ¡°Im¡­impossible¡­¡± Ruth said, astonished at the sight. He never dreamed that someone could push Ellie this far.

    Then, Minhyuk opened his mouth and said, ¡°Noona, we have a ti¡­¡± before falling forward.

    <em>[You have used up all of your STM. You have temporarily fainted.]</em>

    <em>Athenae </em>had the concept of stamina. Inside the game, the higher the STM, the higher the amount of stamina the person would have. Right now, Minhyuk had used up all of his stamina from the tense battle with Ellie, and was temporarily knocked out.

    Ellie smiled lightly and said, ¡°No. I won.¡±

    Then, something surprising happened¡­

    <em>Thud,</em>

    ¡­She too, fell unconscious.

    ¡°Your Majesty!!!¡± Ruth shouted, hurriedly checking Ellie¡¯s condition. Thankfully, it seemed like she had just fainted from exhaustion.

    It was just by a hair¡¯s breadth. That was the difference between them. Of course, Minhyuk had used all of his artifact skills and abilities, but he had faced Ellie, the person known as the Sword Emperor, and only lost by a few seconds to someone like that. Then, countless notifications rang for Minhyuk.

    <em>[You have achieved Spiritual Enlightenment from your fight against one of the Supreme NPCs, Ellie.]</em>

    <em>[Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship has increased by +1]</em>

    <em>[You have gained +10 in all five of your basic stats.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the <strong>Title</strong>: The One who Fought on Equal Grounds with a Supreme NPC.]</em>

    After checking on Ellie, Ruth looked at Minhyuk, his eyes shaking in disbelief. He finally realized why Ellie called for Minhyuk and why she wanted him to awaken to the Pinnacle.

    <em>¡®Perhaps he can¡­¡¯ </em>

    Perhaps Minhyuk could be the one toplete and climb to the Pinnacle, a stage that even Ellie could not reach. Then, the fainted Minhyuk suddenly mumbled, ¡°Nyam¡­ Ellie Noona, I won¡¯t let you go if you steal my spam. Nyam, nyam, nyam. Spam is delicious!¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Ruth was left speechless. Facts had proven that Minhyuk still thought about eating, even though he had lost consciousness. Ruth thought, <em>¡®Why¡­ do I suddenly feel sad?¡¯ </em>

    This was the person that would probably lead them to victory in the Continental War.

 Chapter 332: The Soldiersâ€™ Great Battle

    Chapter 332: The Soldiers¡¯ Great Battle

    The provocation that Genie, a high ranker and the guild master of the former Legend Guild, sent to China had heated up the entire country. Chinese Ranker Kanex even posted this:

    <em>[I apud Korean Ranker Genie for her courage. The truth is China has always mocked Korea in SNS saying that they will suppress them easily. But as we have witnessed Red Dragon Order¡¯s annihtion a few days ago, South Korea might not be as easy of an opponent as we thought.]</em>

    Then, he added:

    <em>[In addition, she did not lose her ¡®pride¡¯ and spoke bravely, despite being a citizen of the small Asian country named Korea. Come if you can. These words may sound harsh and unkind to us but if I were a citizen of their country, I would definitely raise a thumbs up for them.]</em>

    Unfortunately, only a small number of people agreed with this ranker¡¯s statement. Another ranker even posted an opposite opinion. This ranker was none other than the Great Wall Guild Master Nangong Hao.

    <em>[She¡¯s very arrogant. I don¡¯t think this is something that those who fled from the captured attack base Berdk should say, at the very least. In fact, it¡¯s already safe to say that the battle for Berdk was the core of the power struggle between our countries.]</em>

    Many of the Chinese rted to these words. People began to leavements in sympathy with this statement.

    <em>[I heard that there''s a Korean saying that even a worm will writhe when stepped on[1] but it seems like they¡¯re just writhing by themselves.]</em>

    They literally meant that the Koreans were wriggling and writhing around. They believed that South Korea was only trying to make one final struggle after being severely pushed back. But Nangong Hao did not stop talking.

    <em>[Also, it seems like there¡¯s a special territory that we are not aware of, if you look closely in the video of the Red Dragon Order¡¯s massacre. I believe they¡¯re just telling us to go to them and invade¡­]</em>

    This was the end. This was Nangong Hao¡¯s answer to South Korea¡¯s Genie¡¯s provocation. The rest of his answers were done by the rest of the Chinese citizens.

    <em>[He¡¯s saying¡­ How dare you act up in front of us, right? LOL.]</em>

    <em>[Ah. LOL. Nangong Hao, if you stab them directly like that the Koreans will be shocked.]</em>

    <em>[Nangong Hao¡¯s territory is ranked second among all the powerful territories in Athenae. His territory is teeming with Hidden NPCs and he has the Qin Shi Huang¡¯s Warriors as his soldiers.]</em>

    Most of the Chinese yers agreed wholeheartedly with what Nangong Hao said. Since they stepped on South Korea, the yers there were writhing around. Besides, they firmly believed that thend that yer Genie, no, to be exact, the Food God, owned would only be shabby whenpared to Nangong Hao¡¯s territory. Then, Hu Yitian said in one of his interviews¡­

    <em>[Food God? I¡¯ll finish him in 20 seconds if he appears in front of me.]</em>

    Some people frowned at his cocky remarks, but most of the Chinese yers cheered. And just like the Chinese yers had expected, another mission that would show their military might appeared in the Continent Cloud again.

    ***

    <em>[<strong>Mission!</strong> The Soldiers¡¯ Great Battle has begun.]</em>

    <em>[The location of the ¡®Warriors¡¯ Secret Warehouse¡¯ hidden in the Continent Cloud will be revealed to yers of both Asgan and Cairon Continent.]</em>

    <em>[Benefits and privileges will be given to each continent¡¯s yers that will be able to send troops to the locations marked in the map and open the Warriors¡¯ Secret Warehouse.]</em>

    <em>[yers will have a 20% buff for EXP and artifact drop rate during the two day duration of the Soldiers¡¯ Great Battle.]</em>

    <em>[yers will receive penalties if they attack NPCs.]</em>

    <em>[Only one yer can lead the troops from their continent.]</em>

    <em>[yers will be given two hours to vote for their representative. Participating yers will be given special rewards.]</em>

    <em>[The mission participants must be elected through the yers¡¯ voting and must be at least Level 500 with a REP higher than 800.]</em>

    <em>[NPCs participating in the Soldiers¡¯ Great Battle will be resurrected outside the Continent Cloud upon death. However, they will not be able to enter the Continent Cloud again.]</em>

    <em>[The Soldiers¡¯ Great Battle will begin once the voting period ends.]</em>

    These series of notifications rang loudly in the ears of every yer present in the Continent Cloud. Nangong Haoughed loudly and mockingly the moment he heard the notifications.

    ¡°Keuhahahahahahaha!¡±

    Nangong Hao wasughing loudly because this event seemed almost tailored for himself. Right? He was the guild master of the Great Wall Guild, and was the person leading the ¡®Behemoth¡¯ territory, thergest existing territory in <em>Athenae</em>. The strength of his Named NPCs were also beyond anyone¡¯s imagination. What about his troops? Normal territory troops would have an average level of Level 200, with stronger ones at around Level 300. The troops in Nangong Hao¡¯s territory exceeded Level 370. And, he even had around 3,000 soldiers in numbers. Nangong Hao thought, <em>¡®This is God¡¯s will. He wants me to smash the nose of that arrogant woman named Genie.¡¯ </em>

    Nangong Hao¡¯s lips twisted in a gruesome smirk as he looked at the information of his most powerful NPC.

    <em>(<strong>ck Lion</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: Legendary</em>

    <em><strong>Type</strong>: Vassal</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: 483</em>

    <em><strong>Attack</strong>: 4,921</em>

    <em><strong>Defense</strong>: 2,951</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Lion¡¯s Flesh</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Lion¡¯s Roar</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Lion¡¯s Rush</em>

    <em><strong>Potential</strong>: 129</em>

    <em><strong>Experience Value</strong>: 18%/100%</em>

    ck Lion was a legendary NPC. To top it off, Nangong Hao had two legendary NPCs under his banner. A territory with just one legendary NPC could already exert tremendous power. Just look at ck Lion¡¯s tremendous attack and defense! That was not all, with the ck Lion¡¯s potential at almost 130, he could be considered as the best NPC! And Nangong Hao¡¯s territory also had the White Lion, an NPC that wasparable to ck Lion in strength! These two NPCs were brothers, the two NPCs that made Nangong Hao the envy of many Chinese yers! My goodness!!! He not only had a legendary ss, he also had legendary NPCs as vassals! Did that even make sense?

    Nangong Hao was confident in his territory¡¯s strength. Not only because there was ck Lion, but also because he had soldiers above Level 350! He believed that his soldiers were more than enough to destroy the South Korean NPCs. He thought, <em>¡®My territory is the best!¡¯ </em>

    Nangong Hao was very, <em>very</em> confident.

    ***

    On the other side, Genie also heard about the mission that was released in the Continent Cloud. However, the only thing that she did was to examine the strength and power of the legendary NPCs that were the core forces of their territory.

    Genie looked through each of them until she reached the weakest legendary NPC. The weakest NPC among all of the legendary NPCs that resided in As territory was none other than Corr. Of course, this excluded <em>¡®Haze¡¯</em>, a nonbat NPC.

    <em>(<strong>Corr</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: Legendary</em>

    <em><strong>Type</strong>: Vassal</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: 504</em>

    <em><strong>Attack</strong>: 5,321</em>

    <em><strong>Defense</strong>: 3,151</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Athenae¡¯s Prayer</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Athenae¡¯s Swordsmanship</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Athenae¡¯s Shield</em>

    <em><strong>Potential</strong>: 139</em>

    <strong><em>Experience Value</em></strong><em>: 18%/100%</em>

    The legendary NPCs living in As territory were Ghost Spear Ben, Talmor¡¯s Corr, Great Sage Aruvel, Named Legend of Tactics and Strategies Haze, and Sword Saint Conir. As territory also had additional five hidden NPCs that were born when they were training. All of the hidden NPCs in the territory were at <em>¡®Epic¡¯</em> rank. They did not belong to the <em>¡®Legendary¡¯</em> ss, but at the very least, they could exert a strength that could rival the power of ordinary rankers with their levels exceeding Level 460.

    <em>¡®I wonder how strong Nangong Hao¡¯s territory troops are?¡¯</em>

    Genie still believed that the troops of the territory known to be the second strongest among all territories in <em>Athenae</em> could be formidable. The Chinese yers would definitely choose Nangong Hao as their Commander, a position that only one yer could participate in.

    Genie had also applied for this Commander position. Fortunately, Genie was able to be the one chosen to participate thanks to the influence of the rankers that kept on sharpening their swords and training inside As territory.

    <em>[Asgan Continent¡¯s ¡®Genie¡¯ has received 2,413,711 votes and will be the one to participate in the Soldiers¡¯ Great Battle.]</em>

    <em>[The chosen yer would not receive any penalty even if they attacked NPCs.]</em>

    <em>[Cairon Continent¡¯s ¡®Nangong Hao¡¯ has received 41,133,624 votes and will be the one to participate in the Soldier¡¯s Great Battle.]</em>

    The results were just as Genie had expected.

    ***

    Minhyuk had gained a lot from that duel with Ellie. During their fight, he had realized his limits, which allowed him to obtain additional 50 stat points and an additional level in his Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship. And that was not the end of it. Just like Ellie had said, he received the Wishing Stone.

    From what Minhyuk had learned, the <em>¡®Wishing Stone¡¯</em> could allow the yer to wish for <em>¡®cooking ingredients¡¯</em> for the rewards that they would obtain, once they cleared a trial. This meant that this item was not just for show.

    Then, Ellie told him, <em>¡®Follow the directions in this map. Once you arrive at that ce, you will be able to receive a Pinnacle Skill from someone else. Take note that it¡¯s not my Pinnacle Skill, but another Pinnacle Skill.¡¯</em>

    ording to Ellie, it would be extremely difficult even for Minhyuk to learn Ellie¡¯splete Pinnacle Skill. That was why he should try and attempt to learn the other Pinnacle Skill first.

    Ellie made sure to exin it to Minhyuk. She said, <em>¡®Even I don¡¯t know what will wee you when you arrive there. However, one thing¡¯s for certain. The world¡¯s best swordsman, only next to the Sword God, is there.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk took the old and shabby map that Ellie had given him and made his way over to the ce marked on it. Then, he thought, <em>¡®Genie will do well, right?¡¯ </em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s strength was now only at the same level with the members of the Let''s Eat Sect. However, Minhyuk could not change to a <em>¡®High ss¡¯.</em> There was only one reason, and that was because he was a God ss. God ss yers were not given the benefit to change into a High ss since this was some sort of bnce adjustment.

    So, Minhyuk had to do his best to quickly be stronger. He moved swiftly, crossing mountains and rivers, until he was met with the sight of a gigantic volcano that was steaming with hotva and smoke.

    ¡°...Are you telling me to go there?¡± Minhyuk asked in doubt for a moment. However, he still decided to jump. The ce was like ava vent[2]. However, it seemed like it was different from that. Minhyuk gathered strength in his legs and jumped in. Then¡­

    <em>Fwoosh!</em>

    ¡°Ugh!¡± Minhyuk groaned unknowingly from the heat. He felt like his skin was going to melt if that ever touched his body. However, none of the heat touched his body as theva engulfed him.

    Before Minhyuk knew it, his feet were already standing stably on the ground. Looking up at the ceiling, Minhyuk saw theva that he jumped into. He thought, <em>¡®This is quite amazing and mysterious.¡¯ </em>Minhyuk was once again in awe at <em>Athenae</em>¡¯s ability to make things look and feel realistic.

    <em>[You have entered the Innocent Hero¡¯s Trial.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 100 REP.]</em>

    Despite the notification ringing in his ears, Minhyuk¡¯s eyes remained fixed towards the front. At the end of his gaze was a statue of what seemed to be a young man with short ck hair wearing full-te armor. There were words written right below the statue.

    <em>[The World¡¯s Most Pure and Innocent Hero.]</em>

    <em>[He slumbers, awaiting the arrival of his descendant.]</em>

    <em>[Sword Saint Conir. Level 796.]</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

    Minhyuk was shocked. At first he thought that the statue looked very familiar, from the man¡¯s face, to his posture as he held his sword and executed his swordsmanship. Everything looked extremely familiar. It was sopletely unexpected, and Minhyuk was shocked to the point that he mumbled unconsciously, ¡°Why did Conir suddenly appear in this ce¡­?¡±

    1. Even someone gentle can be antagonistic when being treated with contempt ?

    2. A fissure where any volcanic material, likeva, flows out. ?

 Chapter 333: The Soldiersâ€™ Great Battle

    Chapter 333: The Soldiers¡¯ Great Battle

    ATV PD Kim Dae-Guk was staring at Genie in the monitor seriously. There was not just one, but dozens of cameras trained on her. Then, a notification appeared on one of the monitors in the broadcasting station.

    <em>[The voting has ended, the location of the Secret Warehouse will now be revealed.]</em>

    <em>[The Commanders of both the continents shouldmand their NPCs and head to the Secret Warehouse.]</em>

    The match between South Korea and China had now begun. However, the expressions of PD Kim Dae-Guk and the rest of the directors inside ATV broadcasting station remained solemn.

    This was currently being broadcasted in all gaming channels. However, all of the people, including the other broadcasters and yers, were of the same mind. All of them thought, <em>¡®Our odds of winning are slim.¡¯</em>

    Nangong Hao, the yer leading China, was the owner of the second strongest territory, Behemoth. They also knew that China¡¯s NPCs had a stronger, and longer, history than the NPCs in Korea.

    Only one person could go inside the Cloud Continent with every ticket, and these tickets were distributed equally to both China and Korea. But for the NPCs, their admission tickets did not have any limits and restrictions, unlike the tickets given to yers. For that reason alone, the Chinese would most definitely fill in their slots with high-leveled people. On the other hand, Korea, which was infinitely smaller than China, had a weaker military force and smaller number of yers. That was still the case, even if both China and Korea could lead 3,000 troops.

    ¡°PD Kim!!!¡± One of the employees shouted urgently.

    Genie only selected the top NPCs among the NPCs gathered in the territory. Then, she said¡­

    <em>[The rest should wait here.]</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    PD Kim Dae-Guk and the director were both taken aback. They were broadcasting this over the three great broadcasting station¡¯s gaming channels. Even the citizens watching this broadcast would definitely be taken aback.

    ¡°N¡­No¡­ It¡¯s not enough¡­ You¡­you need to fill in the numbers¡­!¡±

    ¡°Are you crazy?!!!¡±

    In just one nce, they could tell that there were only around 400 NPCs chosen for this match. That was in addition to the 700 troops that were left by Genie inside the territory. In other words, they would only have 1,100 troops against 3,000 troops. Did she mean that they would fight against the carefully groomed enemy NPCs with just that number alone?

    ¡°...No way,¡± PD Kim Dae-Guk said bitterly. Even the director was bitter. It seemed like he knew what the PD meant.

    ¡°We¡¯ll definitely lose.¡±

    ¡°I think it¡¯s because they know that they¡¯ll lose this battle so they¡¯re trying to minimize the damage.¡±

    These words were quite bitter but perhaps Genie¡¯s choice was the <em>¡®truth and reality¡¯ </em>that they had to face. If they lost here while losing a lot of troops too, then the damage that Korea would receive would be enormous. Comments came in fast after that. It seemed like the viewers thought they understood what Genie was trying to do.

    <em>[Ah¡­ I think she made that choice because she knows that it would be a big deal if all of the troops went and they got destroyed.]</em>

    <em>[Isn¡¯t that choice a bit too sad and pitiful?]</em>

    <em>[No. Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s not alright to lose even before they tried?]</em>

    <em>[Genie, you became my girl crush when you dered war on China the other day but I¡¯m very disappointed in you¡­]</em>

    <em>[Perhaps Genie¡¯s choice is correct. It might be better for them to keep those 2,000 troops and make a better n for the future.]</em>

    PD Kim Dae-Guk copsed in a heap of helplessness when he saw thosements. All he could do was watch the monitor nkly. He once confidently left ament in the World War Official Website saying <em>¡®Wait for us, World. Our country, South Korea, ising.¡¯</em>. PD Kim Dae-Guk believed that each and every Korean citizen were of the same mind right now. But then, Genie¡¯s confident smile shed on the monitor.

    ¡°...What?¡±

    How could she smile so confidently after knowing that they would lose? PD Kim Dae-Guk murmured, ¡°Director¡­¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°Did you watch the 2018 World Cup?¡±

    The Director smiled excitedly and said, ¡°Of course!¡±

    Was there someone from their country that did not know about that World Cup? In that World Cup, South Korea had lost two consecutive games and was left facing Germany, the team ranked number one in the FIFA rankings, as their third opponent. It was a match that would determine who would move forward to round 16. What was the public¡¯s reaction back then?

    <em>¡®It¡¯s a relief if we don¡¯t lose 4:0.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Should we even watch the World Cup today?¡¯ </em>

    <em>¡®Why should we watch?! We¡¯re going to lose anyway!¡¯ </em>

    <em>¡®I¡¯m betting on Toto.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Which one are you betting on? Our country?¡¯ </em>

    <em>¡®Of course in Germany!¡¯ </em>

    None of them expected that their country would win. In fact, they only wished to have a draw. But, as it turned out, what was the result back then? Although Korea failed to move to round 16, they were still able to defeat FIFA¡¯s number one, Germany, 2:0.

    ¡°Boy, did you watch the World Cup too?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I was a child back then but¡­¡±

    PD Kim Dae-Guk smiled as the words of his father rang in his head. He said, ¡°My father cheered loudly back then and said¡­¡±

    The Director looked at PD Kim in interest, waiting for his next words.

    ¡°...Our country has always produced miracles.¡±

    The words set the Director¡¯s heart aze with hope. He clenched his fists and looked at the monitor. PD Kim Dae-Guk also turned to look at the monitor as he murmured the rest of the words that his father had said.

    ¡°So, don¡¯t give up hope until everything is over.¡±

    ***

    Nangong Hao led his 3,000 strong troops and began their campaign as the Chinesementators began to talk.

    <em>[Nangong Hao finally begins his attack towards the ¡®Warrior¡¯s Secret¡¯ Warehouse.]</em>

    <em>[Nangong Hao is the guild master of the Great Wall Guild, one of China¡¯srgest guilds. As an individual, he has proven himself to be a powerful Chinese ranker as a swordsman at Level 504.]</em>

    <em>[Right now, you can see ck Lion and White Lion marching, each with around 1,000 troops under theirmand. There are also around 200 Qin Shi Huang¡¯s Warriors under the Great Wall Guild¡¯s banner. Each warrior is said to be above Level 450.]</em>

    <em>[ording to our estimates, his military force is, on average, around Level 450.]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s not all. Nangong Hao¡¯s Qin Shi Huang¡¯s Warriors consist of at least seven knights at Epic-rank, with a potential that exceeds 100. From what I heard, each of them were around Level 480-490 and can grow much stronger than that. At first, their level was only around Level 420, a level that matched their ranking as Epic, but Nangong Hao had increased their level by around 60-70.]</em>

    <em>[Wow. That¡¯s unbelievable. I can only be in awe. No matter how high the NPC¡¯s potential is, it¡¯s hard to do that. Only Nangong Hao can cultivate such forces!]</em>

    <em>[However, I¡¯m sure that the yers from the Asgan Continent will also be tough to deal with. The main characters on their side are the unknown little boy and the man from the demon race, who had both just recently appeared. We can consider them as the core forces of the Korean side.]</em>

    <em>[However, wouldn''t they just prove to be useless in front of the ck and White Lions?]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s a very likely oue. Both ck and White Lions are brothers. They receive a seven percent buff from each other¡¯s abilities so their levels are almost around 530.]</em>

    <em>[Although the little boy and the man from the demon race looked strong, it seemed like they¡¯re only around Level 500.]</em>

    Thementators kept on talking. Then, one of thementators piped up in surprise.

    <em>[Huh? This is breaking news! Asgan Continent¡¯s troops are marching towards the Warrior¡¯s Secret Warehouse with just around 1,100 soldiers!]</em>

    <em>[Then, that means that the Asgan Continent has already given up this battle.]</em>

    This was also something that was ryed to the advancing Nangong Hao.

    <em>[<strong>JTV Broadcasting Station</strong>: Mr. Nangong Hao, South Korea is marching with only around 1,100 troops. From what we heard, Genie has removed most of their troops.]</em>

    Hearing those words, Nangong Hao¡­

    ¡°<em>Keuhahahahahahaha!</em>¡±

    ughed loudly. Where did Genie¡¯s confidence go? Where was the person who cursed them and told them toe if they could go? It seemed like she was struggling to minimize the damage to their troops right now?

    <em>¡®A ridiculous andughable woman.¡¯ </em>

    It seemed like her dignity and pride disappeared, with just the slightest change in their situation. But then, the woman appeared in front of Nangong Hao. She appeared with around 200 troops behind her.

    <em>[Ah. Genie, the Commander of the Asgan Continent, has appeared right at this moment!!!]</em>

    <em>[She showed up with only 200 troops.]</em>

    <em>[What in the world is she thinking?!] </em>

    <em>[However, I can¡¯t see the mysterious little boy and the man from the demon race, the NPCs that yed active roles in hunting the Red Dragon Order, anywhere among their ranks?]</em>

    <em>[Maybe they were just temporary NPCs.]</em>

    Temporary NPCs were NPCs that helped yers during their quests. Temporary NPCs would provide help for the yers, but would have no reason to stay with them if they were idle. It was an entirely different concept from vassals. In fact, the Chinese only spected this. After all, it did not make sense for strong NPCs like them to willingly fall under the control andmand of a yer.

    ¡°Miss Genie, I wonder why you only came here with just 200 of your troops? Aren¡¯t you aware that an army that had lost its Commander is like a light and useless leaf fluttering in the harsh winds?¡±

    <em>Athenae</em> had a good <em>¡®trantion system¡¯</em> so there were no problemsmunicating between the two of them. Besides, Nangong Hao was very confident that even if the troops that Genie had brought were the best of the best, they were still strong enough to deal with just 200 of them. After all, he had 3,000 troops behind him. He wondered if the remaining 900 troops were preparing for some kind of strategic tactic as theirst struggle.

    Then, ck Lion, with his ck mask and double sword, folded his arms as he guffawed and said, ¡°Hahahahaha. Nangong Hao, can you see that?¡±

    ck Lion did not have any respect for Nangong Hao, the guild master. This was because both ck Lion and White Lion were too free-spirited for Nangong Hao to control.

    ¡°I¡¯m talking about that old man! Look, it¡¯s like they brought that ragged old man just to match the number of people!¡±

    Nangong Hao chuckled at ck Lion¡¯s words. That was exactly what the old man looked like. He even believed that the old man was just around Epic, or perhaps almost at Epic rank. That was probably the reason why that old man had joined the battlefield. But¡­

    ¡°What a unique hairstyle for an old man¡­¡± Nangong Hao said with augh. The old man looked old, but he had long, luscious ck hair, tied up in a ponytail. Nangong Hao could not help butugh at the sight.

    Then, Genie raised her arm up in the sky. The moment she clenched her fists¡­

    <em>Dash, dash, dash, dash, dash!</em>

    ¡­something unexpected happened. Nangong Hao thought that Genie was here to negotiate but she suddenly started to attack with her 200 soldiers.

    ¡°Wh¡­what?!¡±

    ¡®<em>Is there such a f*cking idiot? Does she really think that they have a chance at winning? Or maybe¡­</em>¡¯

    ¡°There may be troops hiding in the area. Don¡¯t let your guard down.¡±

    ¡­they were just acting as a distraction. ck Lion and White Lion both stepped forward.

    ¡°We have to take the initiative.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s start with that girl.¡±

    ck Lion and White Lion stood confidently in front of their enemies and got into position. ck Lion and White Lion were both closebat fighters. Their main specialties were consecutive attacks, quick jabs and kicks. Their fists and kicks were so fast that it was even hard for rankers that transferred to High ss to deal with them and endure the onught of their attacks. Then, thementators¡¯ exnations began.

    <em>[Aaaaaah! The 200 soldiers are now rushing towards the troops from the Cairon Continent!!!]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s apletely iprehensible strategy!!!]</em>

    <em>[Did they believe that they have a chance at winning?]</em>

    Then, the 200 soldiers collided with the 3,000 strong troops. To be exact, they appeared right in front of the Cairon Continent troops.

    <em>[This is an unexpected but fierce match!]</em>

    <em>[White Lion and ck Lion stepped forward to defend against Commander Genie and her troops!]</em>

    <em>[We¡¯ll be able to see their wide area of attack specialty skill soon, the Thousand Fists and Thousand Kicks!]</em>

    White Lion¡¯s main specialty were his fist attacks, while ck Lion¡¯s main specialty were his kicks. The skills that these two used together could easily devastate a 20 meter radius. Perhaps they might be able toy waste to the 200 troops in a single attack once they entered their range. Then, the old man with the head of ck hair rushed towards White Lion.

    <em>[Aaaaaah! That old veteran soldier chose the wrong opponent! Why did he choose to go to White Lion?] </em>

    <em>[I can already tell that he¡¯ll die without even crossing fists and swords thrice¡­]</em>

    Thementators continued to speak, but then somethingpletely beyond the realm ofmon sense happened in front of their eyes. The old man thrust his spear forward, and everyone firmly believed that White Lion would be able to stop the attack. But¡­

    <em>Stab!</em>

    ¡­White Lion¡¯s neck waspletely pierced through. He turned into ashes and disappeared in a span of two seconds. This was the one shot kill that they had only heard of!!!

    <em>[Screech!]</em>

    Thementators let out some iprehensible words in shock. It was actually the sound of one of thementators kicking a chair in surprise.

    <em>[...!]</em>

    <em>[...!]</em>

    <em>[...!]</em>

    Thementators, the livements and the viewers that watched the broadcast were all left in silence. But then¡­

    <em>[There¡­ there¡¯s a woman standing over there!]</em>

    Dozens of drone cameras from the Chinese¡¯s side flew to get a shot of the woman standing on top of a small hill. The woman was wearing a white priestess robe and had her hands stretched out towards the 200 troops from the Koreans¡¯ side. The woman was so beautiful that it was enough for people to call her an angel that descended from heaven. She was considered to be the most beautiful woman in <em>Athenae</em>, including the women from real life<em>.</em> The woman rumored to be sent to the world by God <em>Athenae </em>himself to be his agent in this world.

    Thementator¡¯s voice trembled as he spoke¡­

    <em>[S-S-S-S-S-Saintess Loyna is, is standing over there! But howe¡­]</em>

    <em>[Saintess Loyna is helping the soldiers from the Asgan Continent¡­?]</em>

    China, no, the entire world watching the Continental War between China and Korea, were all left in shock.

 Chapter 334: Overwhelmed

    Chapter 334: Overwhelmed

    After Minhyuk hadpleted the trials of the legendary territory, As, he was allowed to bring in three Athenean priests through the help of the Legendary Priest, Louis. And, because this was a promise between God Athenae and the Food God, the lord of As territory, Athenae Religion had to send three of their men to As. Minhyuk received Keh and Lloyd as priests for his territory. As for the remaining person, he immediately asked Saintess Loyna for a favor.

    However, Saintess Loyna was undoubtedly a prominent figure that symbolized Athenae Religion and was an NPC that appeared in all of the Athenae Religion Temples all over the world. She was the subject of envy, admiration, and wonder. Everyone wondered what kind of abilities she had. Of course, her ability would naturally be a buff ability.

    The Saintess of the Athenae Religion, Loyna, had an excellent buff ability! However, there was one setback. Her ¡®AOE buff¡¯ could not exert much power. Of course, if it waspared to the value and worth of Saintess Loyna¡¯s name, then her power was truly meager. In fact, her AOE buff was slightly weaker whenpared to Mei Wei¡¯s buff. On the flip side, Saintess Loyna¡¯s targeted buff was said to be extremely outstanding, to the point that Mei Wei¡¯s ability could not evenpare at all.

    The request for Saintess Loyna to migrate to As was because she and Guild Master Minhyuk had built a close friendship. However, she could only make a decision to be a ¡®Temporary NPC¡¯ for the territory. Loyna told Minhyuk that she woulde to Minhyuk¡¯s aid, or lend her hand to the Let¡¯s Eat Sect once when they needed her help. That was the reason why Loyna was on the Asgan Continent¡¯s side during this Continental War.

    Before their 200-strong troop shed with Cairon Continent, Loyna participated in Asgan Continent¡¯s operation meeting. In the center of the meeting was a girl named ¡®Haze¡¯.

    <em>¡®The enemies are looking down on us. In other words, we can catch them off guard. So, we will only march forward with 1,000 troops and leave behind 2,000 troops.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Why?¡¯ </em>

    Haze simply answered Genie¡¯s question with a, <em>¡®They¡¯ll be a hindrance.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Ah¡­¡¯</em>

    The 2,000 troops did note from As. As for the troops of As Territory that grew tremendously strong over a short period of time, the help of the other yers¡¯ troops would most probably not be helpful to them at all. They might even be a hindrance to their operation.

    <em>¡®The enemy has ck Lion and White Lion as their trump cards. And that¡¯s not all, they also have a cold-blooded mage, as well as the Vice Tower Master of the Assassin Tower among their forces.¡¯</em>

    ck Lion and White Lion were very famous figures. How did they know about this information? This was all thanks to Conir¡¯s ¡®Ramyeon Torture¡¯. Rumel, the vice leader of the Red Dragon Order, was forced to eat thirty bowls of ramyeon a day. He could not stand the ¡®ramyeon torture¡¯ and ended up spilling all of the information that he knew. And, the Red Dragon Order had <em>excellent</em> information.

    <em>¡®Saintess Loyna¡¯s targeted buff is very outstanding, so we must first take the initiative and hunt either the ck Lion or White Lion with the help of her buff.¡¯</em>

    To catch the enemy off guard, they have to hunt their strongest and most powerful figure. It was a good strategy. So, they discussed it with Saintess Loyna.

    Grandpa Ben looked like an old veteran soldier that had difficulty wielding his spear at first nce. Anyone that saw him wouldugh and mock him. How ridiculous would the sight be for ck Lion or White Lion, right? So, Saintess Loyna cast her buff on Grandpa Ben. She had been hiding on the hill, before suddenly appearing, and used her Athenae¡®s Prayer the moment Grandpa Ben dashed forward.

    <em>[Athenae¡¯s Prayer]</em>

    <em>[Ignores 80% of the enemy¡¯s defensive power and deals a 400% damage for three seconds.]</em>

    Saintess Loyna was a figure that could never be owned or be subordinated by yers. The reason? It was because the bnce would be broken. If Loyna belonged to someone, instead of a bus, they would be riding the <em>KTX</em> train[1]. The power and influence that she wielded was that immense. She had the power to let anyone ignore 80% of their enemies'' defense!

    Grandpa Ben dashed forward fiercely with his spear, while White Lion just leisurely stretched his fist and stepped forward. Grandpa Ben had been Minhyuk¡¯s vassal for quite a while now. At first, his status was like this:

    <em>(<strong>Ben</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: One of the Pinnacle Strong Men of the Past</em>

    <em><strong>Type</strong>: Vassal</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: 509</em>

    <em><strong>Attack</strong>: 4,959</em>

    <em><strong>Defense</strong>: 2,683</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Minhyuk¡¯s Fan</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Ghost Spearmanship</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Ghost Defense Arts</em>

    <em><strong>Potential</strong>: 137</em>

    <em><strong>Experience Value</strong>: 13%/100%</em>

    This status was almost equivalent to ck Lion¡¯s status. However, that was Grandpa Ben¡¯s status almost a year ago. He was now on apletely different level.

    <em>(<strong>Ben</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: One of the Pinnacle Strong Men of the Past</em>

    <em><strong>Type</strong>: Vassal</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: 569</em>

    <em><strong>Attack</strong>: 5,949</em>

    <em><strong>Defense</strong>: 3,613</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Minhyuk¡¯s Fan</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Ghost Spearmanship</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Ghost Defense Arts</em>

    <em><strong>Potential</strong>: 137</em>

    <em><strong>Experience Value</strong>: 62%/100%</em>

    Ben¡¯s outstanding potential allowed him to keep on growing stronger. Although he kept on extracting luwak coffee beans, Ben had never missed a day of training. There had been an influx of strong peopleing to Minhyuk¡¯s territory and Ben had alwayspeted with them, like Kaistra and Corr, and had achieved an explosive growth in his strength.

    On the other hand, White Lion just leisurely prepared to counter Grandpa Ben¡¯s strike. He thought, <em>¡®I should grab his spear first and strike him on the neck. That way, I can easily break his neck.¡¯</em>

    After all, Grandpa Ben did not use any special skills against White Lion, the Fist Master! However, there was something that White Lion had failed to realize. If he was considered to be the Legendary Fist Master, then Ben was the father and master of all of the spearmen in the entire Asgan Continent.

    Among the Ghost Spearmanship skills that Grandpa Ben had, there was a ¡®Pinnacle Spear¡¯ that could be triggered in an instant. The Pinnacle Spear was a skill that increased Grandpa Ben¡¯s instantaneous damage by around 900%, ignored his enemy¡¯s defense by 30%, and increased his instantaneous attack speed by as much as four times.

    White Lion¡®s hand moved to grab Grandpa Ben¡¯s spear the moment he saw Grandpa Ben thrust it towards his neck. However, contrary to his expectations, White Lion failed to grab the spear. This was Grandpa Ben¡¯s technique that was four times faster than White Lion¡¯s own skill level!

    In an instant, White Lion¡¯s throat was pierced by Grandpa Ben¡¯s spear. The strike to White Lion¡¯s vital point ignored 80% of his defense and had an additional 1,000 damage. There was even the critical strike triggered after Ben struck his vital point.

    ¡°Keuheok!¡± White Lion gasped as he grabbed his neck, dying helplessly on the spot.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The fierce momentum of the Cairon Continent¡¯s troops faltered and dampened.

    ¡°You, youngsters, are easily frightened,¡± Grandpa Ben said as he watched the enemy troops retreat after seeing him walk leisurely with his hands behind his back. The old man had killed White Lion in one strike. Even Nangong Hao was in a panic.

    <em>¡®This¡­this is impossible¡­¡¯ </em>

    Nangong Hao knew that there must be a difference of 100 levels for their enemy to kill White Lion in one shot. That gap in the level was like the difference between heaven and earth.

    <em>¡®Are you telling me that old man is over Level 600?!¡¯</em>

    In fact, Ghost Spear Ben had temporarily reached that level thanks to Saintess Loyna¡¯s buff. Then, Ghost Spear Ben demonstrated his AOE skills.

    <em>[Ghost¡¯s Attacking Spear]</em>

    <em>[Dozens of spears will stab through the enemies¡¯ vital points.]</em>

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    <em>Stab¡ª </em>

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    Dozens of soldiers from the Cairon Continent were stabbed and died on the spot. Nangong Hao took another step back after seeing his soldiers on the frontline die one after the other. However, he came back to his senses not long after.

    ¡°The old man might be strong, but he¡¯s only one person!!! Attack the old man!!!¡±

    No matter how strong the old man was, he would not be able to do anything if they ganged up on him. One man alone could not stand against thousands. Nangong Hao, ck Lion, and the thousands of soldiers from Cairon Continent rushed forward to attack Grandpa Ben.

    Ghost Spear Ben immediately used his Ghost Defense Arts the moment they gathered around him. He mmed his spear on the ground, causing a powerful wave of red aura to sweep outwards and pushed the enemies back, effectively protecting himself from their assault.

    Then, a woman flew up in the sky with her whip extending far and wide as she swung it down on the ground.

    Crack¡ª

    ¡°Aaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuack!¡±

    Even before the whip mmed on the ground, the enemy soldiers that tried to block it had been shed. It was as if the weapon that attacked them was a de and not a whip. The whip then continue its trajectory onto the ground, unleashing a powerful spark that created spider web-like cracks.

    <em>[The Whip Warrioress¡® Rage.]</em>

    <em>[A huge explosion ofva will engulf your enemies and inflict 600% damage the moment your whip ms on the ground.]</em>

    zing redva spouted out from the cracks in the ground and devoured the troops from Cairon Continent.

    ¡°Aaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Sa¡­save me!¡±

    Nangong Hao looked at his troops being devoured and melted by the hotva in disbelief. He thought, <em>¡®She killed more than 50 soldiers in an instant¡­¡¯</em>

    There was only one thing that came to mind after seeing that much power.

    <em>¡®High¡­High ss?¡¯</em>

    A gap was created amidst the enemies after Genie retracted her whip. Then, mysterious weapons suddenly sprang up from the ground. Spears and swords appeared and pierced through the bodies of the troops of Cairon Continent.

    ¡°Ugh¡­ Aaaaaaaack!¡±

    The enemy soldiers fell down, grabbing their ankles and bodies that were pierced through by the des of the weapons that suddenly sprouted from the ground. Then, mysterious soldiers crawled up from the ground. They were none other than the soldiers of As!

    They had used ¡®Underground Digging¡¯, a strange training that Ghost Spear Ben had made them do. Throughout the course of their training, their Underground Digging skill had reached Level 7. Ghost Spear Ben was fully aware how strong and powerful thend was especially if it was used effectively in a fight. Just like that, hundreds of Cairon Continent troops had died under the hands of the As soldiers that sprang out from the ground.

    <em>¡®This¡­this is impossible¡­!¡¯ </em>Nangong Hao thought as he looked at the scene in confusion.

    Even if they dug deeply underground for a surprise attack, it was difficult for ordinary territory soldiers to pierce through andnd a sessful attack on his Qin Shi Huang¡¯s Warriors and Cairon Continent soldiers. Nangong Hao¡¯s troops were on average at Level 350, while his warriors were around Level 440. s, the enemy attack was sessful. Just with their level gap, his troops should have been able to trigger their evasion.

    As it turned out, the As territory troops were, on average, over Level 450. And that was not all. They had reached Level 6 in their spearmanship thanks to their great spearmanship instructor Ben, Level 7 in swordsmanship with the help of Conir and Corr, and even Level 5 in archery with the help of the former archery gold medalist, Root.

    At the same moment, the Koreans that were sitting in front of their TV and despairing at their supposed defeat¡­

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s goooooooo!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡­ran around their houses and screamed!

    ¡°Look at those bastards¡¯ faces!!!! Our South Korea is winning!!!!¡±

    Even the people eating chicken and beer in chicken restaurants jumped up to scream and hug whoever was sitting next to them. They even danced! Even the people in subways¡­

    ¡°Wooooow! So cool, Genie!!!¡±

    ¡­watching the live broadcast on their smartphones shouted loudly, before covering their mouths and looking around in embarrassment, after they caught the attention of the other people riding in the subway. All of the citizens of South Korea were of one mind as they cheered.

    PD Kim Dae-Guk clenched his fists as he watched the scene on the monitor. Surprise and shock colored his voice as he said, ¡°Genie, those troops, those vassals and guild members¡­ All of them are working under Let''s Eat Sect Guild¡¯s Master, Minhyuk?¡±

    At this moment, the yers, even the Chinese yers, thought of Minhyuk as if he was an existence that they could never reach. His existence was like <em>¡®A sky beyond the sky</em>[2]<em>¡¯</em>.

    1. Korean Train eXpress. A high-speed rail system in Korea. ?

    2. ???(ÌìÍâÌì). A Chinese proverb meaning that there will always be someone better than you. It can also refer to infinity. Outside of the sky, there is another sky. Outside of people, there are other people. ?

 Chapter 335: Overwhelmed

    Chapter 335: Overwhelmed

    Nangong Hao bit his lips tightly as he watched his Qin Shi Huang¡¯s Warriors being ughtered by the soldiers that suddenly popped up from the ground. In just a moment, his 3,000-strong army had fallen into a state of great confusion. Nangong Hao¡¯s vision turned ck as he thought, <em>¡®The people must be jeering loudly¡­¡¯</em>

    This was a Continental War, a war between two countries, and Nangong Hao had confidently, no, <em>arrogantly</em> guaranteed his victory in an interview with a media outlet before. However, right now, he was actually losing the most important battle? The Soldiers¡¯ Great Battle? The worst part was that his 3,000-strong troops were being ridiculously trampled on by just 1,000 soldiers!

    After a while, Nangong Hao managed to rein in his emotions, and his breaths evened out as he grew calm. He thought, <em>¡®Just who did you say was going to lose?¡¯</em>

    Nangong Hao just lost his mind for a moment after seeing the enemy¡¯s powerful disy of force. However, they still had the upper hand. Besides, even their numbers trumped their enemies. Even though the enemy was doing well now, it was still a fact that their own strength was overwhelming. Nangong Hao also had the ¡®ck Knight Order¡¯ with him.

    What was the ck Knight Order? They were a group of their most elite NPCs that had been formed ahead of this battle, albeit in a hurry. These were the people that the yers of China had entrusted to go with Nangong Hao. There were around five people with the average level of around Level 480~490.

    Nangong Hao had also seeded in transferring into the High ss ¡®Sword Master¡¯. So, even though he lost his momentum for a while there, he was still able to easily get back on his feet.

    ¡°Spread out into a defense circle!¡± Nangong Hao issued his order as he dashed forward. Sword Master Nangong Hao¡¯s specialty was none other than the sword. In addition, his sword was different from the sword of ordinary swordsmen.

    <em>[Aura]</em>

    <em>[Your sword will ignore 50% of your opponent¡¯s magical and physical defense.]</em>

    Nangong Hao¡¯s sword turned blue as sword lights began to shoot out from it.

    <em>Fwish, fwish, fwish, fwish, fwish¡ª</em>

    Dozens of sword lights scattered and ughtered Nangong Hao¡¯s enemies as his Qin Shi Huang¡¯s Warriors dashed forward valiantly.

    <em>Shwaa! Shwaa! Shwaa!</em>

    The warriors all held square shields on their hands and formed a wall with that. Through the gaps in their shields¡­

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh!</em>

    ¡­they started shooting their arrows.

    ¡°Aaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaack!¡±

    Screams began to ring from their enemies.

    <em>[Ah, yer Nangong Hao responded calmly to the threat.]</em>

    <em>[He looked like he was flustered and confused by the enemy¡¯s tactic, but he was able to quicklye back to his senses.]</em>

    <em>[As expected of the owner of Behemoth Territory.]</em>

    The Chinesementators hurriedlyunched back into momentum as they talked about Nangong Hao.

    The moment Nangong Hao¡¯s forces spread out into a defense circle, their defenses had increased by 40%. This skill was none other than ¡®Qin Shi Huang¡¯s Shield¡¯, a skill that could only be used by plenty of people. With this shield, they could use the bow, the spear, and the gun safely, without receiving any harm or damage from their enemies. And there was also another tactic¡­

    <em>Crackle</em>¡ª

    A gap appeared in between the shield as a noose stretched out and entangled a soldier¡¯s neck.

    ¡°Aaaaaaack! S¡­save me!¡±

    Once the soldier was dragged inside, the shield¡¯s gap was closed and the soldier was stabbed to death. And just like that, they opened a gap in the shields from time to time, dragged the soldiers in, and killed them before closing the gaps once again.

    ¡°Keuhahahahahahaha! You won¡¯t be able to pierce through this shield!¡± Nangong Hao cackled loudly as he watched Genie use a one-shot attack skill called ¡®Unruly Whip¡¯. It was a skill that increased Genie¡¯s whip¡¯s shing force by 300% as well as an additional damage of 700%.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    s, the Qin Shi Huang¡¯s Warriors immediately used the ¡®Shield Wall¡¯ the moment the whipnded. The Shield Wall tripled their defense for ten seconds, a defense that wasparable to an Iron Fortress.

    Nangong Hao chuckled from behind the shield. Their enemies might have shown a fierce momentum at first but they already lost over 70% of their men. The smaller the number of their troops remained, the more certain their defeat was.

    Nangong Hao quickly led his stronger men forward, whilemanding the weaker ones to fall back and shoot arrows. He thought, <em>¡®Fufufufufu, our army has mastered archery, spearmanship and horsemanship!¡¯</em>

    For an ordinary territory, it was hard for their soldiers to master just one thing! However, Nangong Hao¡¯s territory soldiers had mastered everything that they could master. They were even equipped with weapons and armors that ranked from general to rare. More than a thousand of his men were wearing artifacts! At this juncture of the game, it seemed nothing could be as amazing as this.

    Nangong Hao¡¯s troops might have slowed down at first but their enemies remained weak. Once his main force stepped forward, he was confident that they would be done for. He ordered, ¡°Kill them all!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    ¡°They might be retreating soon enough.¡±

    Nangong Hao was confident that they would never be able to break through his shield. And, if they could not break through, the enemies would never have any chance of winning.

    Just then, a soldier in full armor standing to the left spoke up. He said, ¡°Commander!¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Nangong Hao asked, turning to look at the soldier whose helmet was tilting down to his chin and covering his face.

    ¡°Do you put the noodles, or the soup, in ramyeon first?¡±

    ¡°Of course it¡¯s the soup¡­¡±

    <em>¡®Wait, isn¡®t that too out of the blue? And why does his voice sound like that of a boy¡¯s?¡¯</em>

    Then, another voice piped up from Nangong Hao¡¯s other side. The voice said, ¡°Let¡¯s get this over with quickly. I have to write the second volume of ¡®Why Did the Prince Go Out Tonight?¡¯. Hmmm.¡±

    <em>¡®What? Write? What kind of bullshit title is this?</em>¡®

    Then, the two people took off their helmets.

    ¡°I¡¯m Conir!!! Wrong! Conir knows that you have to put the pot first!!!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m Aruvel!!! ¡®Why Did the Prince Go Out Tonight¡¯ is on a 50% discount!!! Buy it for only 15,000 gold!!!¡±

    Nangong Hao looked at the two in a daze for about two seconds, from the sheer ridiculousness of their words. He looked at the demon named Aruvel silently as the man said, ¡°Ah. I wanted to copy Conir too.¡±

    Only then did Nangong Hao¡¯s expression turn to one of horror. He shouted, ¡°Hurry, there are rats hid¡­¡±

    <em>Stab!</em>

    Conir¡¯s sword stabbed Nangong Hao¡¯s sides.

    ¡°Keuheok!¡±

    Nangong Hao safely twisted out of the attack¡¯s range, thanks to his fast reflexes. Then, Aruvel aimed his spear towards the soldiers that formed the shield.

    <em>[Demonic Dragon¡¯s Spear Arts]</em>

    <em>[Exploding Spear.]</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The soldiers forming the shield were all concentrated in one area. With that single attack from Aruvel who was above Level 600, more than 200 soldiers were killed instantly, while the lucky few were severely injured at the very least. The shield copsed just like that.

    Meanwhile, Conir continued to attack Nangong Hao.

    ¡°Don¡¯t think that you¡¯ll get me that easily!¡±

    ¡°Yeah! Conir will get you!¡±

    Nangong Hao quickly narrowed the distance between him and Conir. In fact, Nangong Hao was someone that held a sword in reality. To be precise, he was someone trained in various martial arts ever since he was young. And in <em>Athenae</em>, opponents on a simr level could easily be dealt with and overwhelmed by the other, depending on their control on their bodies and skills. No, he believed that he would be able to overwhelm Conir with his control.

    However, when Nangong Hao¡¯s sword, which was dyed in blue, stabbed Conir, the boy just lightly struck the tip of his sword and easily offset his sword skill. Then, Conir stabbed Nangong Hao in the thigh before swiftly moving around to attack his Achilles¡¯ heels.

    <em>[You have received an attack on your vital point.]</em>

    <em>[Your movements have been restricted.]</em>

    ¡°Noona told Conir not to kill you!¡±

    ¡°Keheok!!!¡±

    Nangong Hao looked at the boy ridiculously. It was much harder to keep an enemy alive than to kill one. This was because in a fight between life and death, showing mercy towards one¡¯s enemy was being cruel to oneself. However, doing this meant that the boy was far stronger than what he had expected.

    Nangong Hao had no choice but to plop down and nurse his Achilles¡¯ heels, while watching the situation on the battlefield with a dismayed expression. He saw Aruvel jumping around the soldiers.

    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you why the Prince went out tonight!!!¡±

    ¡°What bullshit!¡±

    ¡°Dieeeeeee!!!¡±

    <em>Spurt!</em>

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab!</em>

    The soldiers continued to rush forward, only to fall down in front of Aruvel, who continued to chime in, ¡°A few days ago, the wild and free-spirited Prince snuck out of the Imperial Pce and pretended to be a beggar roaming around the city. By chance, a woman graciously served the Prince a meal. She was the poormoner, Benjamin! The Prince fell in love with her and went out every night to meet with her and get hot in bed¡­ Creak, creak!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Crazy bastard!!!¡±

    Aruvel freely gave a spoiler to the book that he wrote! It seemed like he hoped to pique their interest, so they would buy his book! However, strangely enough, the soldiers were actually listening to Aruvel, despite being in the middle of a war.

    <em>¡®Aaaaah! This is a story between amoner and a Prince! The story might be filled with spicy hot scenes, and it arouses curiosity!¡¯</em>

    Then, Aruvel said, ¡°It¡¯s on a 50% discount!!! Buy one for 15,000 gold! Buy two for only 40,000 gold!!!¡±

    <em>Stab!</em>

    <em>Stab! </em>

    <em>Stab!</em>

    ¡°Keheok! Why does it get more expensive if I buy two books!!!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s up to me to decide!¡±

    <em>¡®This, this bastard is crazy too! What the hell!¡¯</em>

    The demon wrote spicy bed stories, but the problem was that he was strong too! Nangong Hao tried to regain his calm as he looked around.

    <em>¡®This is a war between soldiers. Even if they pierce through our shield, they still won¡¯t be able to deal with thousands of soldiers with their numbers alone.¡¯</em>

    Then, the troops collided. However, something very surprising happened.

    <em>Stab!</em>

    <em>Stab!</em>

    <em>Stab!</em>

    <em>Spurt!</em>

    The enemy soldiers were extremely powerful! They jumped into the fray and ughtered the Qin Shi Huang¡¯s Warriors mercilessly.

    <em>¡®This¡­this¡­! How can this be possible¡­!¡¯ </em>

    Nangong Hao could hardly believe his eyes. His troops werepletely overwhelmed. Even the arrows they shot¡­

    <em>Stab, stab, stab!</em>

    ¡­urately stabbed through the chests of Nangong Hao¡¯s troops. They even dealt fatal and critical blows to his troops with countless explosions.

    This was the power of the As soldiers that had undergone strict training from excellent instructors! They were even equipped with amazing artifacts created by the coboration of Hyemin¡¯sDaddy the Hepas¡¯ Descendant, and Golden Hammer Dwarf Lant! Their artifacts were far more superior than those belonging to the soldiers of Behemoth Territory. After all, their artifacts were equipped with a 20% chance of ignoring the enemies¡¯ defense as its most basic option.

    <em>¡®Wh¡­what the hell¡­!¡¯ </em>

    Nangong Hao could not understand what was happening at all. His territory was hailed as the second-most powerful territory in the world!

    <em>¡®Are you telling me that this territory is the number one territory in the world¡­?¡¯</em>

    Nangong Hao did not know where the strongest territory in the world was and he was only making his own assumptions.

    As Territory was still pretty much at the bottom of the Integrated Territory Rankings. For the Territory Rankings, there were various factors that needed to be met for them to increase their rankings, like activities in the territory, EXP, etc. Basically, As Territory was still at the bottom of the food chain, since this was their first ever appearance.

    In other words, for all intents and purposes, the second most powerful territory in the world was being trampled and beaten by the lowest ranked territory.

    ***

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk had just entered the Innocent Hero¡¯s Trial.

    A man, with sharp, handsome and refined features and standing at a height of 185 centimeters, stood in front of a crystal ball and watched Minhyuk. The man watched as Minhyuk stood in front of his statue in shock.

    <em>[Why did Conir suddenly appear here¡­?]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The man was in disbelief. The challenger that entered his own trial actually knew about his identity! That was because the tall and handsome man was none other than Conir.

 Chapter 336: Overwhelmed

    Chapter 336: Overwhelmed

    Out of all the troops that Nangong Hao brought, around 1,500 were left alive. There were still arge number of soldiers.

    ¡°Archers!¡±

    The As soldiers pulled their bowstrings taut. And when they let go¡­

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh-</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    ¡­their arrows urately shot their enemies¡¯ vital points.

    <em>[Critical strike!]</em>

    The crowd rushed forward to try and dispose of the archers that sent nearly 100 arrows over. However, the archers were not just simple archers. They drew their swords and fought valiantly against their rushing enemies. They were not just good at archery, spearmanship and swordsmanship, they were proficient in everything. Some of them also jumped on their horses with their spears.

    <em>Clip, clop, clip, clop!</em>

    These were the 100 As Cavalry Men! The 100 soldiers whose talents were recognized by Kaistra and went under intense training under his tutge!

    <em>Stab! </em>

    <em>Stab!</em>

    <em>Stab!</em>

    <em>Stab!</em>

    <em>Stab!</em>

    The crowd would shift and open every time the cavalry passed by. It was as if Moses was present and was creating his miracle once again.

    ¡°<em>Hihihihihing</em><em>!</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Hihihing!</em>¡±

    Even the horses that the soldiers were riding on were not just any normal ones! They acted as if they were one with the soldiers that rode on them, and were not just simply running. Kaistra had once told the soldiers, <em>¡®The horses are yourrades. You will help them when they¡¯re in danger and they will help you when you¡¯re in danger.¡¯</em> The soldiers never forgot those words. They raised their horses with love and care, until each and every one of them had reached the maximum favor of the horse that they were with.

    One of the horses reared its hind and kicked the enemy that was rushing from behind.

    <em>Kick!</em>

    ¡°Euaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°<em>Hiiing</em><em>!</em>¡±

    Sometimes, the horses would even raise their front legs to kick and m their enemies fiercely, fighting together and protecting their master riding on their backs.

    Park, who watched the entire situation of the battlefield, shuddered and thought, <em>¡®Are you watching this, our previous Food God?¡¯</em>

    He also could not believe his eyes. The soldiers of As had grown incredibly strong in just one month. Their growth was beyond anymon sense. It was extremely explosive, that Park could already imagine how Minhyuk¡¯s As would surpass the As of the past. This was all possible because of Minhyuk¡¯s greatness and influence.

    ¡°Forward!¡±

    The 200 As¡¯ Death Corps soldiers marched forward and went wild on the battlefield.

    The ck Knight Order, whose level was considerably higher than the other soldiers, also moved forward. However, they were being pushed back by the excellent strategies and tactics that the As soldiers were pressuring them with. The Death Corps were the elites of the elites, and they were being led by Ghost Spear Ben, Talmor¡¯s Corr, Sword Saint Conir, as well as Great Sage Aruvel.

    In the end, Nangong Hao was forced to use hisst resort. He thought, <em>¡®Suicide Troops! Blow yourselves up!!¡¯</em>

    These Suicide Troops were special soldiers created in the event of emergencies. They were literally covered with bombs all over their bodies. The soldiers would lose their lives in exchange for terrifying explosions from the bombs nted in their bodies.

    The Suicide Troops numbered around 50 people. Nangong Hao had tried to refrain from using these soldiers. After all, the public might me him once their soldiers were lost. However, they would inevitably die anyway, so he figured, might as well. Besides, the public¡¯s stance might soften a little bit since the NPCs that died during the Soldiers¡¯ Great Battle would be resurrected in their territories once again.

    With Nangong Hao¡¯s orders, around 50 soldiers moved out, their expressions at rapt attention.

    ***

    <em>[Aaaah! 50 soldiers suddenly started rushing forward to the 200 enemy soldiers in the lead!!!]</em>

    <em>[What are they doing? Are they not concerned about the enemy¡¯s attacks?]</em>

    China was now in a state of panic. They had been certain that Nangong Hao and his Behemoth territory forces were going to win! But, as it turned out, they were losing ground. The Chinese NPCs were being pushed back and were losing ground against the South Korean NPCs, no, to be exact, residents of Minhyuk¡¯s As.

    Everyone had stopped in front of a device, whether it was in front of aputer store, in front of the screen in the bus terminal, or even in front of a building¡¯s electronic disy, just to watch the scene.

    ¡°There¡­there are monstrous beings like that in South Korea¡­?¡±

    ¡°This can¡¯t be¡­ Our China is one of the strongest countries in the <em>Athenae</em> worldview.¡±

    That was right. China was one of the powerful countries in <em>Athenae</em> worldview. On the contrary, Korea, despite being the producer and creator of the game, was a very weak country. No one, even the <em>Athenean </em>experts, expected South Korea to y an active role in the Continent Cloud. As fate would have it, they were overwhelming a 3,000-strong troops with just their measly number of over a thousand.

    Then, Nangong Hao¡¯s 50 soldiers suddenly dashed forward. The Chinese yers watched with bated breaths as the 50 soldiers jumped and hugged who they assumed were the most powerful soldiers among the 200 enemy troops. Then¡­

    <em>Baaaaaang!</em>

    An explosion rang out, covering everything within a five meter radius of those 50 soldiers.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­Sui¡­suicide bombers?¡±

    ¡°Wasn¡¯t that amazing?¡±

    The suicide bombers¡¯ explosive power was very amazing. It engulfed the soldiers around them with just a single st, killing off their enemies one after the other. That was right. China might still have a hope of winning this war.

    <em>[Behemoth Soldiers made themselves explode!!!]</em>

    <em>[Fortunately, even if they exploded, the NPCs that died during the Soldiers¡¯ Great Battle would be resurrected in their territories! What an amazing explosive power.]</em>

    <em>[If we can kill the enemy¡¯s strongest forces, then we have a chance of winning.]</em>

    Hundreds of millions of Chinese that were watching the broadcast sighed in relief. That was right, after all, China could not lose that easily, right? But then¡­

    <em>[H¡­huuuuuuuh?! Wh, what is that?!!!]</em>

    <em>[G¡­ghost?! Are those ghosts?!! What are those?!!]</em>

    The flustered and panicked voices of thementators rang loudly in the speakers, as the cameras panned and focused once again to the area where the explosions happened.

    The dust settled down, only to reveal the soldiers of As territory in a semi-transparent state after dying from the explosion. Then, something more surprising happened. The As soldiers began to attack their enemies, their movements much faster and more ferocious than before.

    ¡°Wha¡­what the hell is that?!!¡±

    ¡°Is South Korea teeming with those?!¡±

    The Chinese yers were unaware, but this was the skill that all 200 of the Death Corps had learned, <em>¡®The One who Returned from Hell¡¯</em>. It was a skill that restored 40% of the Death Corps¡¯ HP in the event of death and brought them back in a semi-transparent state. The skill would also increase all of their stats by 20%, and their physical and magical defense by 40%. In other words, the As Death Corps¡¯ soldiers were now as strong as someone at Level 500. The speed at which they trampled on their enemies also increased significantly.

    <em>[Hiiiiiiik!]</em>

    <em>[Euaaaaaack!]</em>

    The Behemoth territory soldiers looked like they were trembling in fear. In the end, the forces from Behemoth territory were all wiped out except for one man, Nangong Hao. Even ck Lion had been killed during the battle.

    ***

    Genie walked slowly after the forces from Behemoth territory had been wiped out. Even their leader, Nangong Hao, had copsed after being attacked at his vital points.

    ¡°Don¡¯t think that you¡¯ll win just because you won this one time!¡± Nangong Hao shouted, while gnashing his teeth in anger.

    Genie had kept him alive to make him suffer. After all, Nangong Hao had taken to SNS and interviews to mock South Korea. That was also the reason why Genie did not hesitate to humiliate him as well.

    <em>Shwaaaaaa!</em>

    The sword in Genie¡¯s hands moved to cut off Nangong Hao¡¯s neck. The scene looked exactly like the beheading scenes in the movies. Then, she raised the sword that she used to cut the enemy¡¯s head high in the sky¡­

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡­and roared. The Koreans watching this scene felt their hearts heat up and soar.

    Then, the notifications rang for Genie.

    <em>[Let¡¯s Eat Sect¡¯s Guild Level has increased.]</em>

    <em>[Let¡¯s Eat Sect¡¯s Guild Level has increased.]</em>

    <em>[Let¡¯s Eat Sect¡¯s Guild Level has increased.]</em>

    <em>[Let¡¯s Eat Sect¡¯s Guild Level has increased.]</em>

    The notifications rang non-stop. This was an inevitable result, even if they were in the Continent Cloud. After all, the Let¡¯s Eat Sect, a guild at the bottom of thedder, overpowered and defeated the guild sitting at the top.

    On this day, the Let¡¯s Eat Sect climbed to ninth ce in their Local Guild Rankings. Minhyuk¡¯s guild was slowly making its way towards bing the strongest guild in the world.

    ***

    Minhyuk entered the Innocent Hero¡¯s Trial and was met with the adult version of Conir in the form of a statue. It was proof that Conir was a being that stood at a pinnacle, considering that this was a ce where one could awaken into the Pinnacle.

    <em>¡®From what I heard, Conir was the person that created the foundation of the Knight Tower¡¯s Faramil Swordsmanship.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk knew about that fact, but he never imagined that he had reached the Pinnacle. Conir was also a figure that was once considered as the Saint.

    <em>[Sword Saint Conir. Level 796.]</em>

    This was the first time that Minhyuk had ever seen an NPC with this monstrously high level. Would his Ellie noona also be at this level? After all, she was considered as the best NPC currently.

    ¡®<em>No. Not at all. It¡¯s impossible.</em>¡¯

    Minhyuk shook his head and left those doubts behind as he moved forward. He needed to keep moving deeper inside to challenge the Innocent Hero¡¯s Trial. After walking for some time, Minhyuk was met with a set of stairs that seemed to reach the skies. Minhyuk quietly looked up and counted the number of steps.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s a total of 25 steps.¡¯</em>

    Strangely enough, each step was far higher than any ordinary stairs. Then, the notifications began to ring the moment Minhyuk went in front of the stairs.

    <em>[You can challenge the Innocent Hero¡¯s Trial.]</em>

    <em>[The Innocent Hero¡¯s Trial has a total of 25 gates.]</em>

    <em>[Achieving a high score will give you better rewards.]</em>

    <em>[Every gate will have a different trial.]</em>

    Minhyuk did not forget to use the Wishing Stone that he had received from Ellie.

    <em>[You have used the Wishing Stone.]</em>

    <em>[You can now choose the rewards that you will receive¡ªartifact materials, cooking ingredients, potions, parchments, etc.¡ªupon trialpletion in every trial.]</em>

    The Wishing Stone was an amazing item that would allow Minhyuk to gain ingredients whenever hepleted a trial. Of course, Minhyuk chose cooking ingredients without any hesitation.

    <em>[You have applied the Wishing Stone¡¯s Cooking Ingredients.]</em>

    <em>[You can now receive cooking ingredients whenever you clear a trial.]</em>

    Minhyuk looked up at the stairs once again. The number of gates for the trial was 25, which corresponded to the number of steps of the stairs in front of him. Minhyuk firmly ced both of his feet on the first step of the stairs. Then¡­

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    ¡­Minhyuk disappeared in a sh of light as his viewpletely changed.

    ***

    Conir, in the form of a young man, watched the man take his first step through the crystal ball.

    <em>¡®Who in the world are you?¡¯</em>

    This was the question that floated in his head. It was clear that the man knew him. As Conir watched the man enter the first trial, he thought, <em>¡®A being from hell will appear in the first trial.¡¯</em>

    A monster from hell that no other yer had ever encountered before! This was the being inside the trial.

    Meanwhile, Conir looked down at his body. His body was now translucent. It was even flickering as if he was going to disappear at any moment.

    <em>¡®My power is slowly disappearing¡­¡¯</em>

    Conir looked at his translucent hands as he moved somewhere else. He nced at the crystal ball for a moment and thought, <em>¡®Hunting a being from hell is not an easy feat. Perhaps the first trial can be considered to be more difficult than the tenth trial.¡¯</em>

    After all, they had to deal with that monstrously strong being. Then, he turned around and went to a mysterious river and submerged himself in it. This was the ¡®River of Eternal Life¡¯, a river that helped him, someone that had already died in the past, to breathe and live once more.

    Conir rested there for two hours. After taking a rest there¡­

    <em>Shwaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡­Conir stood up, his body no longer translucent as he walked back to the crystal ball.

    <em>¡®Did he die?¡¯</em>

    Conir wondered if the man had died as he approached the crystal ball, only to be shocked.

    <em>¡®What¡­what the hell?!!¡¯</em>

    He was met with an astonishing sight. The demonic beast from hell that was ced in the trial was none other than Hell¡¯s Gatekeeper, the three-headed Cerberus. And that very same Cerberus was wagging his tail in front of the foreigner, who¡­

    <em>[Sit! Wait!!]</em>

    ¡­was talking to Cerberus as if he was talking to his pet dog. What was more surprising was the fact that Cerberus obediently sat down in front of the foreigner.

    Then, the man took out a big piece of meat, gesturing as if he was holding a gun, before saying sharply¡­

    <em>[Bang!]</em>

    Cerberus copsed on the ground as if he was shot. When the man rubbed Cerberus¡¯ belly, Cerberus gasped and purred as if he was enjoying the treatment.

    ¡°Keheok!¡± Conir gasped in surprise.

    Cerberus was rumored to be a Level 650 ferocious being. However, what wasical was when the man patted the ground with his hands, as one of Cerberus¡¯ heads tried to snatch the meat in his hands.

    <em>[Happiness, you! You know that this is for your brother, Love, right? Didn¡¯t I tell you that I, your hyung, will get mad if you get too greedy? Huh?!]</em>

    <em>[Kkiiing¡­ kkiiiing¡­]</em>

    <em>[You just ate your portion!]</em>

    <em>[Kkiing, kkiiing¡­]</em>

    Cerberus looked like he was a pet dog being scolded by his owner. What was appaling was the name. The head in the left was named Happiness, the head in the center was named Love, and the head in the right was named Hope.

    That was right. Hell¡¯s Gatekeeper, Cerberus had now been named as Happiness, Love and Hope by the unknown and mysterious man.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    All Conir could do was stare at the scene, speechless beyond belief.

 Chapter 337: The Innocent Heroâ€™s Trial

    Chapter 337: The Innocent Hero¡¯s Trial

    The notifications rang the moment Minhyuk got warped after stepping foot on the first step of the stairs.

    <em>[The First Trial of the Innocent Hero has started.]</em>

    <em>[Either hunt the Hell¡¯s Gatekeeper, Cerberus, or find other methods to climb up to the Second Step.]</em>

    The trial was a choice between hunting, or finding other ways to move forward. Then, another notification rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[With the influence of the Wishing Stone, you can obtain Capri¡¯s Buckwheat once youplete the trial with outstanding results.]</em>

    ¡°Oh¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s expression changed, as he quickly checked the information about Capri¡¯s Buckwheat. From what he gathered, buckwheat naturally changed vors depending on the season that it was nted. However, Capri had devoted his time to studying it, and found a way to enjoy delicious buckwheat through all four seasons. In fact, he had seeded in it. Even the taste was said to be more delicious than any other buckwheat in the world. Capri¡¯s Buckwheat also had a special ability that allowed one random artifact skill to increase by a level.

    <em>¡®Hiyaaa¡­ Buckwheat, huh¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was thinking about the things that he could eat with buckwheat when he realized that the temperature of the surroundings was getting hotter than normal.

    <em>¡®Why is it so hot?¡¯</em>

    When Minhyuk looked around, he was surprised to see a river ofva flowing to the side, with scalding steam puffing out from time to time.

    <em>¡®If it¡¯s this hot, then¡­¡¯</em>

    There was only one food that came to mind and that was none other than ¡®cold noodles¡¯. Minhyuk decided that he would eat cold noodles and spicy mixed noodles the moment he cleared this trial.

    ¡®<em>Also, isn¡¯t there that dish that can pair perfectly with cold noodles and spicy mixed noodles?</em>¡¯

    It was none other than charcoal-grilled meat and dumplings! Just the thought alone could make Minhyuk¡¯s mouth water.

    That was when he saw a huge door in front of him. The door was around nine meters tall and was very wide.

    <em>¡®Cerberus¡­¡¯</em>

    Cerberus was a monster that was well-known to most. He was the three-headed Hell¡¯s Gatekeeper.

    <em>Creaaaaaak¡ª</em>

    The huge door slowly opened on its own as the three meter tall Cerberus walked out.

    ¡°Grrrrrr!¡±

    ¡°Grrrrrrrrruwoo!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaa!¡±

    Cerberus growled ferociously as Minhyuk looked at the level floating above his heads.

    <em>[Hell¡¯s Gatekeeper, Cerberus. Level 650]</em>

    Cerberus was a very high-leveled monster that rarely appeared in Asgan Continent. That very same Cerberus suddenly dashed forward.

    <em>Dash¡ª</em>

    ¡°Graaaaaa!¡±

    Cerberus leapt high up in the sky as Minhyuk used his Rampant Sword. No, he tried to use his Rampant Sword. Just when he was about to activate the skill, the mouth of the head in the middle opened and a white light shed, shooting towards Minhyuk¡¯s sword. He had no time to avoid the attack. Then, he heard the notification.

    <em>[Your skill has been nullified.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Then, Cerberus¡¯ right head let out a breath of zing mes, and they were as hot as the Hellfire that Ali usually summoned.

    <em>Puhaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk immediately summoned Beanie as he used his passive skill, Absolute Defense. Beanie and Minhyuk became invincible for two straight seconds.

    ¡°Oink!¡±

    Beanie sat on Minhyuk¡¯s shoulders as he looked at the ferocious Cerberus drooling out in front of them. Then, Cerberus leapt again and tried to bite Minhyuk with all three of his heads.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s quite fast and very strong.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk could already imagine how sharp those teeth were, after seeing them gleam under the light. He could tell that anything would be ripped and torn apart with just a single bite from those mouths. Then, the left head opened its mouth as a cold, frosty breath sprayed out.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk intuitively felt that he needed to get out of range of that cold breath. So, he tried to block, before using Like the Wind to retreat. Then¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡­Cerberus shot his cold breath and immediately froze the ground solid. Unfortunately, Minhyuk¡¯s arm got caught in the aftermath, despite using Like the Wind to retreat.

    <em>[Your arm has been temporarily frozen and has been restricted from moving.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has fallen below 80%.]</em>

    <em>¡®Strong.¡¯</em>

    It was already difficult to deal with one head, but Minhyuk had to deal with all three heads attacking him at the same time. Each of the three heads even had different characteristics and attributes. The head on the left could use frost, the head on the right could use fire, and the head in the middle could nullify attacks. It even had the skill that could allow its body to harden, using it to attack Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®Their level might be above 600, but their powers are beyond that.¡¯</em>

    That was usually the case for beings with tricky abilities that were hard to deal with. Then, Minhyuk hurriedly took out some bread from his inventory to restore his STM with the help of ¡®Absorption Conversion¡¯. Just then¡­

    ¡°Grrr?¡±

    ¡°Grrr?¡±

    ¡°Grrr?¡±

    ¡­Cerberus¡¯ three heads suddenly looked at Minhyuk with interest, their tails wagging fiercely. The left head looked like he was saying something as they continued to wag their tail.

    ¡°Grrrr. <em>(Hey. Don¡¯t wag our tail. We, Cerberus, have our own pride to maintain.)</em>¡±

    ¡°Grrr. <em>(It¡¯s not like I can stop it from wagging just because I want to.)</em>¡±

    The attention of Cerberus¡¯ three heads was focused on the bread in Minhyuk¡¯s hands. When Minhyuk brought the bread to the left, the heads followed along and turned together to the left. When he brought it to the right, they all turned to look at the right.

    <em>¡®Ho?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk recalled that dogs had veryrge appetites, in fact, they were several timesrger whenpared to a human¡¯s appetite. Minhyuk pondered deeply. He was aware that if things continued at this rate, it would be difficult for him to clear this trial. If that was the case, what would happen then?

    <em>¡®I won¡¯t be able to eat my buckwheat noodles.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk would only be able to obtain cooking ingredients if he cleared the trial and obtained a good enough result. But if things went on like this, he would not be able to get anything at all. So, Minhyuk slowly ced the bread on the ground as he watched Cerberus stop in front of him, while watching the bread intently.

    ¡°Wait!¡±

    ¡°Grrrrrrrr? <em>(What did he say?)</em>¡±

    ¡°Grrrrr! <em>(I don¡¯t know!)</em>¡±

    Cerberus ignored what Minhyuk said and tried to approach him. Seeing this, Minhyuk quickly picked up the bread and ate it. He also made sure to eat it very, very, <em>very</em> deliciously. It was as if he was teasing Cerberus with the food.

    ¡°Kyaaa! This red bean bread is really, <em>really</em> delicious!!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Cerberus¡¯ three heads turned to look at Minhyuk as if they had lost everything in the world. Then, Minhyuk took out another piece of bread.

    <em>¡®Repetitive training is very important for dogs!¡¯</em>

    ¡°Wait!¡±

    ¡°Grrrrr! <em>(What?)</em>¡±

    ¡°Grrrrr! <em>(It seems like we won¡¯t be able to eat the bread if we get closer!!!)</em>¡±

    Cerberus stopped in their tracks for a moment and when they tried to walk, Minhyuk ate the bread again. Then, Cerberus finally stood still as Minhyuk used his ¡®Create a Recipe¡¯ skill. The food that they wanted to eat the most right now was dried pock soup.

    <em>¡®The dog¡¯s healthy food, dried pock soup!!!¡¯</em>

    This was the food that was usually fed to dogs that had undergone surgery during hot summer days. It was a dish that could help them feel energized and rejuvenated.

    Minhyuk started cooking, leaving the piece of bread in front of him. When he saw Cerberus started to approach him, he said, ¡°Oho~ No~¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    He quickly removed all the salt from the dried pock soup, added the tofu and thoroughly beat the eggs. Minhyuk quickly finished the soup. After he let it cool down for a bit, he ced it in front of Cerberus.

    <em>Gulp, gulp, gulp¡ª</em>

    <em>Slurp, slurp, slurp¡ª</em>

    Cerberus bowed all three of their heads and ate the dried pock soup in three separate bowls! In fact, the only things that Cerberus ate in hell were rotten centipedes, decaying humans, and the stinky water from a nasty river. After eating only those things before, they were suddenly fed with the food that Minhyuk, someone who¡¯s DEX reached 3,000, had made. Food that had reached a godly level!

    As the three heads continued to eat, they seemed to hear an angelic voice singing in their ears. The voice sang, <em>¡®Destiny~~~¡¯. </em>This was fate! Cerberus emptied three bowls in an instant. They suddenly pretended to sit down as they wagged their tail at Minhyuk, who had no desire whatsoever to apany them, nor be with them.

    <em>¡®From what I heard, dogs eat a lot more than humans. If that¡¯s the case, then how much can they eat?¡¯</em>

    So, Minhyuk just wanted to talk with them and move peacefully to the next trial. But¡­

    ¡°<em>Huff, huff, huff, huff.</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Huff, huff, huff, huff.</em>¡±

    ¡­they grinned at Minhyuk and continued to shake their tails gently. Then, all of a sudden¡­

    ¡°<em>Kiiing, kiiing, kiing¡­</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Kiiiing, </em><em>kiiingg</em><em>¡­.</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Kiiing¡­</em>¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡­their faces looked like the epitome of the words, <em>¡®You, be our master!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk felt a sense of foreboding as he said, ¡°N¡­ No. Guys?¡±

    However, no matter what he said, Cerberus had already decided by themselves.

    ¡°Grrrrr! <em>(We¡¯re taking you as our master! Come on, quickly take us in. Master!)</em>¡±

    ¡°Grrrrrr! <em>(I want to eat some more, master.)</em>¡±

    ¡°Grrrr. <em>(</em><em>Yeah! You have to be the one.</em><em> Master.)</em>¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s face crumpled. When a shocking notification rang, he looked like he was about to cry.

    <em>[Hell¡¯s Gatekeeper, Cerberus, swears their eternal loyalty to you.]</em>

    The scenario that Minhyuk imagined in his head was just trying to persuade Cerberus to let him go to the next trial, not one where they would be his pet dog! s, since it had alreadye to this, Minhyuk had no choice but to ept it and move on to the next trial. Minhyuk nodded reluctantly, tears brimming in his eyes.

    <em>[Cerberus is different from Hidden NPCs.]</em>

    <em>[Please give them a name.]</em>

    Cerberus was not an NPC, but a monster. Just like Beanie and Rune, they needed to have a name. After taking a lot of things into consideration, Minhyuk gave them their names. He said, ¡°You¡¯re Love, you¡¯re Happiness and you¡¯re Hope.¡±

    <em>Sniff¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk sniffed proudly, he was in awe of himself.

    <em>¡®Wow. Look at my naming sense¡­¡¯</em>

    So great!

    The Hell¡¯s Gatekeeper, Cerberus, now named Happiness, Love and Hope. Dubbed as the three musketeers, they smiled brightly at Minhyuk. Then, the notifications rang.

    <em>[You havepleted the First Trial extraordinarily.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 100,000,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s level had now reached Level 481. Considering that his guild members were all beyond Level 500, his level was still quite low.

    <em>[You can now increase the level of one of your artifact skills.]</em>

    <em>[With your surprisingly amazing results, the artifact skills that were excluded before could now be strengthened too.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Capri¡¯s Buckwheat.]</em>

    Minhyuk could finally eat his cold noodles.

    ***

    Minhyuk did not immediately climb up to the next trial. He first used the buckwheat that he received to make some cold noodles. My goodness! Would anyone believe it if he told them that he actually had some cold noodle machine in his inventory? Well, Minhyuk was that kind of person.

    In front of Minhyuk, were bowls of cold noodles and spicy mixed noodles, all made of the buckwheat that he received and covered with a thinyer of ice. He also had some Ssamhyuk Naengmyeon[1]¡¯s charcoal grilled meat and dumplings ced on the side.

    Minhyuk first cut his cold noodles in a cross shape, then he tasted the cold broth before adding some vinegar and mustard to his bowl. Then, he grabbed some eggs, pears, pickled radish and meat together with some noodles, before slurping them up.

    A smile gently hung in the corners of Minhyuk¡¯s lips as the vor of the cold noodles spread in his mouth. There was even a hint of sourness from the radish and sweetness from the pears.

    Then, Minhyuk wrapped a piece of meat with the noodles and ced it in his mouth.

    ¡°Sluuuuuuuurp!¡±

    The sweet charcoal-grilled meat added a dash of savory to the dish. Then, Minhyuk grabbed the steel bowl containing his cold noodles to drink the cold soup.

    ¡°Ugh! Brain freeze!¡±

    After feeling his head start to pound from the coldness, Minhyuk then turned his attention to the dumplings. The juice of the warm dumplings spread in his mouth the moment he bit into them. The vors of the dish blended perfectly in his mouth. Minhyuk smiled happily as he ate the remaining half of the dumpling in his mouth.

    After finishing his cold buckwheat noodles, Minhyuk turned to eat his spicy mixed noodles. He quickly broke the yolk of the egg ced on top of the noodles and mixed them together.

    ¡°That¡¯s right, this is the best way to eat spicy mixed noodles.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s mouth was watering as he continued to mix the noodles gently. After mixing the noodles, Minhyuk slurped the spicy mixed noodles in his mouth. He also did not forget to eat some dumplings together with the noodles. The dumplings were, in a way, to control the spiciness of the spicy mixed noodles. Charcoal-grilled meat was a perfect match for the spicy mixed noodles too.

    ¡°Sluuuuuuurp!¡±

    After eating his cold buckwheat noodles, Minhyuk gently turned to the side.

    ¡°Kkiiiing¡­¡±

    ¡°Kking, kking, kking¡­¡±

    ¡°Kiiiiiiing.¡±

    Cerberus had their bellies and faces t on the ground as they watched Minhyuk. They looked like golden retrievers waiting for their owner to pay attention to them.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Despite them acting cute, Minhyuk still shed tears at the thought of how much food these guys would eat in the future.

    At the same time¡­

    Conir, who rewound the crystal ball to see how Cerberus became Love, Happiness and Hope, gulped unknowingly.

    <em>Gulp¡ª</em>

    ¡°Looks¡­looks delicious¡­¡±

    He also muttered words out loud without realizing it.

    1. A reference to ????, a restaurant in KR ?

 Chapter 338: The Innocent Heroâ€™s Trial

    Chapter 338: The Innocent Hero¡¯s Trial

    ¡°<em>Slurp!</em>¡±

    Conir hurriedly wiped the drool that dripped down from his mouth. He thought to himself, <em>¡®Get, get your act together.¡¯</em>

    My goodness! He was once hailed as the continent¡¯s Sword Saint. Rudor, the best ck Sorcerer of that time, could not even shake Conir¡¯s mental power with his brainwashing magic, but now!

    <em>¡®I can¡¯t believe I actually got entranced just by watching others eat.¡¯</em>

    Conir knew that the man was strange. Then, he looked at the Second Trial.

    <em>¡®The Second Trial¡­ the Trial of Desire.¡¯</em>

    The Second Trial, the Trial of Desire, was literally a trial that gave the challenger what they wanted the most.

    <em>¡®Beautiful women, money, honor or power.¡¯</em>

    These were the things that men wanted the most in the world. Basically, the Second Trial¡¯s challenge was to get out of the ce that was filled with what the challenger desired the most within the time limit.

    <em>¡®Anyone with a strong mental prowess can get out of there,¡¯ </em>Conir thought as he focused on the crystal ball to monitor the situation once again.

    ***

    Special yers Management Team.

    Team Leader Park was staring at the monitor gravely. yer Minhyuk had entered the Innocent Hero¡¯s Trial and had performed a spectacr job by taming Cerberus and turning them into his subordinate during the First Trial.

    ¡°For some reason, I think there will be a <em>¡®Love, Hope, Happiness¡¯ </em>house ced in front of As Territory from now on. Right?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Team Leader Park Minggyu became speechless.

    <em>¡®My god! These names would actually be written on the house where Cerberus, Hell¡¯s Gatekeeper, would live?!!!¡¯</em>

    What was more surprising was the fact that Cerberus willingly turned their belly up and wagged their tails for their owner, Minhyuk!

    ¡°<em>Ugh,</em>¡± Team Leader Park groaned lightly and saw that the Second Trial was now about to begin.

    ¡°The Second Trial is the Trial of Desire but¡­ yer Minhyuk¡¯s desire is¡­¡± Team Leader Park murmured as he continued to look at the monitor. Both Team Leader Park and Lee Minhwa had their guesses.

    The Second Trial was something that was meticulously created by the Athenae Production Team and was very different from other trials. The game system would read the yer¡¯s desire and literally express it in front of them. The trial would literally create the most wonderful dream that the yer could ever have.

    Usually, ordinary people would not want to wake up from their happiest dreams. The trial¡¯s challenger would not even realize that they were inside the trial, albeit only temporarily, upon entry. It would just feel like a wonderful dream that they would not want to wake up from. The yer just needed to do one thing, and that was to leave behind the desiresid in front of him. The yer had toe back to their senses by themselves, and escape the trial.

    Team Leader Park shook his head and said, ¡°There¡¯s no one else in the world that loves food more than yer Minhyuk. He¡¯s always been greedy for food, more so than anybody else.¡±

    If anyone looked closely at Minhyuk, his love for food would look like ¡®greed¡¯ itself. Anyone that saw him would wonder how he could be someone that was so gluttonous. He was more greedy for food than powerful artifacts and rewards. So, it was a foregone conclusion that this trial would not be easy.

    Then, Minhyuk appeared in front of the monitor as Lee Minhwa eximed, ¡°Wow, the trial¡­ is an Aeshley Buffet[1]?¡±

    Aeshley Buffet was said to be famous for their affordable prices and delicious array of food!

    Lee Minhwa said, ¡°If you go there, you have to eat their boneless chicken. <em>Gulp¡ª</em>.¡±

    Then, she gulped loudly. Team Leader Park turned his head. For some reason, Lee Minhwa felt that Team Leader Park had be just a tad bit restless. But then, he said, ¡°¡­I agree.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    That was right. Aeshley¡¯s chicken was the way, the truth and the life!

    ***

    Minhyuk burst out in exmation, ¡°W¡­wow¡­!¡±

    He looked around in admiration at the sight in front of him. This was because he was in Aeshley Buffet, a ce that he wanted to go so much to. The buffet that his dad¡¯s friend, the CEO of Carend Enterprise built! He used to go often with his friends when he was younger, each time with fierce determination on his face.

    <em>¡®Hey, let¡¯s go to Aeshley today and eat our money¡¯s worth?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Fufufufu. It¡¯s not that hard to eat our money¡¯s worth. Let¡¯s go, I¡¯m hungry!¡¯</em>

    Whenever Minhyuk said that, he would always stay true to his words and eat his money¡¯s worth. As for his friends, they would usually stop after around two or three tes.

    ¡°Wee~¡±

    The employee guided Minhyuk and asked, ¡°Have you dined at our shop before?¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes, yes!¡±

    Surprisingly enough, <em>Athenae</em> was able to copy the exact same Aeshley Buffet in reality inside the Second Trial.

    <em>¡®This ce is heaven!!!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s steps were swift and quick as he took a te and served himself food. His te was piled up with boneless chicken, Aeshley¡¯s main attraction! And that was not all, he also served himself carbonara, tomato spaghetti, and even the pizza slices from the pizza corner! Minhyuk also did not forget the dish that he always had as his first dish whenever he came to Aeshley. It was none other than creamy corn soup.

    The bowl of creamy corn soup, an array of tes filled with different dishes, as well as cider and sses of ice were prepared andid out on Minhyuk¡¯s table. He smiled brightly as he eximed loudly, ¡°Thanks for the food!¡±

    The main advantage of a buffet was that one could taste a variety of dishes. Some would choose to focus on one dish before going to another, while some would choose to taste a variety of dishes in one sitting.

    The first thing that Minhyuk tasted was a spoonful of his creamy corn soup. The warmth and sweetness of the soup spread in Minhyuk¡¯s mouth and stimted his appetite.

    <em>¡®Eating soup first in a buffet protects your stomach and allows you to eat more in a buffet. Fufufufu,¡¯ </em>Minhyuk thought as he continued to whet his appetite with the creamy corn soup.

    Meanwhile, the timer kept on ticking in the upper left corner of his vision¡­

    <em>[57M 56S, 57M 55S, 57M 54S¡­]</em>

    Minhyuk grabbed his fork and stabbed the steaming boneless chicken in front of him and said, ¡°Kggghk. This is really Aeshley.¡±

    Then, he put the chicken in his mouth after admiring it. The soft and juicy texture of the meat that immediately followed the crunchy texture of the chicken skin made Minhyuk¡¯s mouth curl up in a smile.

    After finishing the boneless chicken, Minhyuk turned his attention to the spaghetti. He dragged the carbonara and tomato spaghetti to him and used his chopsticks to roll the carbonara, before putting it in his mouth. The carbonara was cooked moderately as seen with its light and taste vor in his mouth. The tomato spaghetti, on the other hand, tasted sweet and sour at the same time.

    ¡°Wahahahaha!¡± Minhyukughed happily as he stood up from his seat to get more food.

    Although this was a virtual world, the employees and staff of this restaurant could also think andmunicate since this was a world that was temporarily created. Adelei, the employee that was on duty, watched Minhyuk before rushing to her manager.

    ¡°M¡­Manager.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡± Barrod, Adelei¡¯s manager, asked curiously.

    ¡°A customer has emptied his te in 22 seconds.¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    <em>¡®Emptied their te in 22 seconds? Is that a speed a human can aplish?¡¯</em>

    ¡°Are you joking with me right now?¡± Barrod asked angrily. He was known for his bad temper so Adelei immediately ced her hands together and bowed after seeing him be angry.

    ¡°How can a person only take 22 seconds to empty their te? Did he ce two pieces of boneless chicken on his te and ate it all in one go, huh?¡±

    ¡°N¡­not at all!¡±

    ¡°Ha! I¡¯m already so busy that I feel like I would keel over but¡­ Kid, you¡¯re really¡­¡±

    Barrod looked really pissed. It was dinner time, their hottest and busiest period. It was only normal for him to get angry at his employee that had the gall to y jokes on him, right?

    Barrod walked to check the situation for himself as he said, ¡°If what you said was true then I will give you my sry this month. But, if you¡¯re not telling the truth, you better be prepared!¡±

    The store manager strode forward angrily only to stop in his tracks.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Barrod tilted his head in confusion.

    <em>¡®What¡¯s that?¡¯</em>

    He could see seven clean tes piled up on the table, which made his already tilted head to tilt even further.

    ¡°By any chance, did some athletese to that table?¡±

    ¡°N¡­no sir.¡±

    Aeshley Buffet always removed empty tes the moment they were emptied. There was no way that their employees would fail to clean them up. In other words, those tes were emptied in record-breaking time.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The manager hurriedly rushed to check the bill for that customer, to determine the time that he started the buffet. He was appalled after confirming the time.

    <em>¡®He ate seven tes in 4 minutes and 38 seconds¡­?¡¯</em>

    Was he even human? Then, someone coughed beside Barrod and said, ¡°Since you made a promise, I will take your sry this month.¡±

    Adelei rubbed her middle and index fingers with her thumb!

    ¡°N¡­no. That, no¡­¡±

    ¡°Manager, you¡¯re not going to take back your words, right? Hoho. There¡¯s no way, right~ A man should never go back on his words, right? Are you telling me that Manager is not a gentleman? Eyyy~ That¡¯s. Not. Possible, right? Hohohoho!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Adelei made her manager shut his mouth before he could even retort. She was a woman that truly knew how to talk and converse with others!

    ***

    Minhyuk never stopped eating. This time, his te was filled with meat: pork ribs,A smoked salmon, and even duck! He only gently grabbed a piece of ribs and it had already ripped apart. When he ced it in his mouth, the soft and sweet vor of the ribs filled his mouth. There was not a single piece of meat left on the bone when he chewed on it. It was divine! Minhyuk dipped his duck in mustard sauce, while he enjoyed his smoked salmon with some apple dressing and onion!

    ¡°Keuhahaha! A buffet is really great!¡±

    The employees eventually gave up on cleaning up his empty tes. For the record, Minhyuk had already piled up 47 empty tes. It did not end there. This time, he turned his attention to the fruits. Minhyuk attacked the Hawaiian mango sd and watermelon.

    ¡°Ugh. So cold! My teeth!¡±

    Hawaiian mango sd was a fruit sd with frozen mango. Biting the mangoes with your teeth would make your teeth ache from the coldness. However, the sweet and crunchy texture of the watermelon was enough to bring a smile back to Minhyuk¡¯s face.

    He did not stop there. Minhyuk even asked the employees to make him a bowl of warm rice noodles to warm his chilled stomach.

    ¡°Sluuuuurp!¡±

    The bean sprouts, together with the rice noodles, had a crunchy texture as he ced them in his mouth together. The kimchi on top of the noodles was like icing on the cake.

    Meanwhile, the timer¡­

    <em>[11M 15S, 11M 14S, 11M 13S¡­]</em>

    ¡­kept on ticking. Minhyuk just hummed as he picked up his te and went to the dessert section.

    ***

    Conir was both shocked and bewildered as he watched Minhyuk eat. He said, ¡°Your greatest desire is to eat?¡±

    Of course, eating, hunger and appetite were part of a human¡¯s basic instinct. However, Conir never expected that Minhyuk¡¯s desire was eating. Then, Conir thought, <em>¡®He has a weak mentality.¡¯</em>

    The man looked like he was not aware that this was a trial as he indulged himself in his desire. He did not even look at the timer that kept on ticking.

    <em>¡®Will there be no one that can learn my Pinnacle?¡¯</em>

    Conir sighed as he watched the man stand up with a bowl and prepared a huge serving of bingsu.

    ***

    The members of the Special yers Management Team shook their heads.

    ¡°It seems like even yer Minhyuk can¡¯t ovee the sweetest trial.¡±

    ¡°Yeah¡­¡±

    There were only a little over two minutes left in the timer, but yer Minhyuk still asked the employee for arge basin, as he began to make some bingsu. He piled up a huge amount of finely ground ice in the basin that was almost enough for 40 people. He also added some rice cakes, cereals, and red beans, before adding snacks like Pepperro and the likes. That was not all. yer Minhyuk went to the dessert section and grabbed handfuls of fruits, and around three heapings of vani ice cream on top of it. He was like a master in making bingsu. There were now only 20 seconds left.

    ¡°¡­So, there are things that even yer Minhyuk can¡¯t do,¡± Team Leader Park said as he nodded. Just then, something unexpected happened.

    <em>[Ll~ I¡¯ve already eaten everything, time to go~]</em>

    yer Minhyuk walked to the stairs leading to the next trial. With only two seconds left in the trial, Minhyuk stepped on the stairs while eating bingsu happily.

    <em>[yer Minhyuk haspleted the Trial of Desire.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Team Leader Park jumped up from his seat as he thought, <em>¡®What¡­what the hell¡­?!¡¯</em>

    He was left flustered and unable to understand the situation.

    1. A reference to Ashley Restaurant, a buffet-style restaurant. ?

 Chapter 339: The Ruler of the Forest

    Chapter 339: The Ruler of the Forest

    ¡°Was he aware of the trial from the very beginning?!!!¡± Team Leader Park shouted in shock.

    The only thing that they witnessed earlier was Minhyuk eating like a madman. But, from what just happened, it almost seemed like he had been conscious of the fact that it was a trial the moment he entered.

    ¡°A person can still be conscious of what he has to do, despite being faced with his greatest desire?¡±

    Most people would deny the truth and reality when faced with the sweetest of dreams. They would always want more.

    ¡°By the end, he took away at least 40 servings of bingsu. He really has my respect!¡± Lee Minhwa, a promising glutton herself, eximed in awe.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Team Leader Park went speechless at Lee Minhwa¡¯s words. Then, he thought, <em>¡®yer Minhyuk suffers </em><em>from eating</em><em> addiction, how did¡­¡¯</em>

    Lee Minhwa might not know this fact, but Team Leader Park was fully aware. It was mainly because he knew that Minhyuk was suffering from a disease where he needed to constantly eat. That was why he thought that Minhyuk would not be able to ovee his desires. It was a very rare disease, what can a human¡¯s willpower do against it? It was even a very terrifying and ridiculous disease that had killed someone just a few years back.

    However, after thinking about it further, Team Leader Park wondered how Minhyuk stayed sane despite the hardships brought about by his disease. It must have been very hard, right?

    <em>¡®It seems like he has been controlling his monstrous appetite with his strong mental power¡­¡¯</em>

    The disease that Minhyuk had was a disease where he would not be able to stop himself from eating. But Minhyuk was able to control it to some extent. Based on that, Team Leader Park could tell that Minhyuk had a very strong willpower. After all, he was a man that was literally wrestling with his disease just using his strong mentality.

    ¡°He¡¯s really cool, huh¡­?¡±

    Fighting a disease with his willpower? Nothing could be cooler than that. Just as he was admiring the fact, the voices of the temporary employees rang loudly through the monitor.

    <em>[H¡­how can he eat 131 tes of food in an hour by himself¡­?!]</em>

    <em>[Is¡­is he still human?!]</em>

    Then, Lee Minhwa said, ¡°For yer Minhyuk, this trial was killing two birds with one stone. He can eat well in a buffet, and clear the trial at the same time.¡±

    That was right.

    However, the truth was the Production Team was very proud about the trial of desire, so much so that they had bragged about it. s, the trial that they were so proud of just made Minhyuk full and be stronger!!!

    Meanwhile, Team Leader Park looked at Minhyuk through the monitor. He was smiling as he thought, <em>¡®It was because it¡¯s him. That¡¯s the only reason why he can catch two rabbits at the same time</em>[1]<em>.¡¯</em>

    ***

    <em>[The Innocent Hero¡¯s Second Trial will now begin.]</em>

    <em>[You will be undergoing the Trial of Desire. Please get your senses together and get away from your current situation and go to the next trial.]</em>

    <em>[Completing the trial will give you +1% in both physical and magical defense.]</em>

    These were the notifications that Minhyuk heard when he entered the Second Trial, the Trial of Desire. However, this notification rang when Minhyuk was immersed in his happiness after seeing the variety of dishes in front of him. Minhyuk had always been constantly monitoring what kind of food, and just how much he ate, whenever he sat on the table to eat.

    <em>¡®All I need to do is step on those stairs.¡¯</em>

    That was all he needed to do toplete the trial.

    Minhyuk was someone that constantly toed the line between reality and dreams. He could just grab his wallet and run out of the mansion to relieve his intense hunger anytime that he wanted, but he did not do so. There was one time when he got so hungry that he got angry and screamed inside the mansion. However, even if he shouted to vent out his anger, he still did not eat.

    Minhyuk¡¯s everyday life was a bnce between ¡®fantasy¡¯ and ¡®reality¡¯, and he had always chosen reality. He had chosen to live longer for his father, for the people that cared for him, and for himself. Minhyuk was truly someone that had the power to ovee his desires and fantasy.

    So, when he came in, he thought, <em>¡®I can just leave here as long as it¡¯s still within the time limit, right?¡¯</em>

    This was the precarious bnce between fantasy and reality! But this time, it was a bit different. Minhyuk would be able to eat to his heart¡¯s content and earn rewards, despite still being conscious.

    After eating well at Aeshley¡¯s Buffet, Minhyuk made a huge serving of bingsu enough for at least forty people, before walking away with the basin in his arms with a hum. When he ate a spoonful of the deliciously sweet bingsu, the sweetness immediately pervaded his mouth.

    ¡°Kggghk~ Brain freeze!¡±

    Then, he stepped on the stair¡¯s third step.

    <em>[You havepleted the Second Trial.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 5,000,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained an additional +1% to your physical and magical defense.]</em>

    Unfortunately, there were no notifications that popped up in the Second Trial that mentioned anything about gaining ¡®ingredients¡¯. That was in fact the main reason why Minhyuk took his own sweet time inpleting the Second Trial, as he decided to leisurely enjoy his food.

    Through this trial, he was able to gain an additional 1% in his physical and magical defense. For rankers, the amount of physical and magical defense were usually in the hundreds. With that number, an increase of 1% meant that they would gain at least around 4 or 5 points in their defense, which was not small at all. There were even 23 steps left in this trial. What would happen if Minhyuk was able to conquer all of these steps?

    <em>¡®Won¡¯t Ipletely change by then?¡¯</em>

    The reward that Minhyuk received from the First Trial was an enhancement of one of his artifact¡¯s special abilities. The reward had strengthened Minhyuk¡¯s Monarch Armor¡¯s special ability to recover 100% of his HP and MP, and changed it to:

    <em>¡®HP and MP will recover to 100%, while your physical and magical defense will increase by 50% for ten minutes.¡¯</em>

    In other words, his artifact¡¯s special ability had improved dramatically.

    ¡°Kyaaa!¡±

    Minhyuk arrived in the Third Trial while still eating his 40 servings of bingsu. He even added plenty of Hawaiian mangoes and fruits, and made sure to add some condensed milk on top of it. Just as he was eating like that¡­

    <em>Step, step¡ª</em>

    ¡­he heard someone approaching.

    ***

    Asgan Continent was home to countless towers. There were towers for nonbat sses like the Chef Tower, the cksmith Tower, the Painter Tower, and many other towers. There were also towers forbat sses like the Knight Tower, the Mage Tower, the Archer Tower, the Warrior Tower, and the Assassin Tower.

    These towers acted as a source of strength for the novice <em>Athenae</em> yers that just received their sses, as well as a source of ss quests. In fact, it was a well-known fact that the masters of these towers had powerparable to the kings of kingdoms.

    The most powerful towers among thebat towers were none other than the ¡®Knight Tower¡¯ and the ¡®Mage Tower¡¯. The person that served as the Knight Tower¡¯s first tower master, as well as its founder, was none other than Knight Arakhan, a knight that once dominated the entire continent. He taught the members of the Knight Tower the amazing swordsmanship called Faramil¡¯s Swordsmanship.

    However, Arakhan had once made a shocking and unbelievable statement. He said, <em>¡®This swordsmanship was not created by me, but by a little boy.¡¯</em>

    Arakhan¡¯s statement brought shock to the entire continent. However, none of them believed his words. They just thought that he was being ¡®humble¡¯. They also thought that he wanted to create a legend so he was just spouting baseless nonsense.

    However, what Arakhan said was the truth. The creator of the Faramil Swordsmanship had taught Arakhan the swordsmanship. The only thing that he did was to modify it and make it much easier to learn, before spreading it to the world. Although Arakhan was hailed as the best knight of the continent, he waspletely defeated under the hands of a boy. The boy that defeated him was named <em>¡®Conir¡¯</em>.

    Arakhan walked as he thought, <em>¡®Only the chosen ones could awaken the Pinnacle.¡¯</em>

    Arakhan had been temporarily awakened because of the Innocent Hero¡¯s Trial. He had readily responded to Conir¡¯s request based on his pure admiration for the young man named Conir.

    <em>¡®I wonder how great the person that overcame the Second Trial is?¡¯ </em>Arakhan thought as he walked, only to stop in his tracks.

    ¡°Kgggghk~ Bingsu is really more delicious if it¡¯s already starting to melt, right?¡±

    Arakhan stood as he stared at the man standing in front of him.

    ¡°Ah! Hello!¡±

    ¡°Huh, oh? Ah. Hello?¡±

    Arakhan returned the man¡¯s polite greeting as the man continued to say, ¡°Please wait, let me just finish my bingsu!¡±

    The man was polite and amiable, so Arakhan ended up nodding and waiting for him to finish his food. The man in front of Arakhan ate bingsu deliciously, while Arakhan thought, <em>¡®Huh? Why did I agree to wait for him?¡¯</em>

    Arakhan was confused and bewildered. He watched as the man covered his bingsu and ate it up, only to look like he lost everything in the world after finishing it. He even had tears in his eyes as he looked at his empty basin.

    ¡°<em>Sob¡­</em> I ate everything¡­ What to do¡­ I feel like I will cry just from the thought of not seeing you anymore¡­¡±

    His eyes were so sad, it was as if he had lost his brother!! He truly looked like he was going to cry!!!

    ¡°I¡¯ve been toocent¡­ Ha¡­ Pleasefort me¡­¡±

    ¡°Ah, oh¡­ R¡­right¡­¡± Arakhan said, momentarily forgetting about his mission, as he approached the man and patted him on his back.

    ¡°It¡­it¡¯s alright. The bingsu went to a better ce¡­ In your stomach¡­¡±

    ¡°<em>Sob.</em> Really? I can eat it again, right?¡±

    Arakhan patted the man¡¯s back in confusion. He wondered to himself, <em>¡®Why am Iforting him?¡¯</em>

    To be fair, the man looked so innocent and pure! Since he was polite, Arakhan had forgotten his pious obligation for a moment. Aftering to his senses, Arakhan hurriedly widened the distance between them, as he stared at the man.

    <em>¡®Why do I feel like this is somewhat familiar¡­?¡¯</em>

    Arakhan felt a sense of familiarity from the man. After pondering deeply, he realized, <em>¡®He¡¯s simr to Conir¡­¡¯</em>

    Innocent, pure and polite. The man kneeling in front of Arakhan strangely resembled the Sword Saint Conir of the past. For Arakhan, this thought was a little amusing.

    Then, the notifications rang for the man, Minhyuk.

    ***

    <em>[The Innocent Hero¡¯s Third Trial has now begun.]</em>

    <em>[Arakhan, the Legendary Sword of Asgan Continent of the past, has entered the trial as your guide.]</em>

    <em>[Challenger Minhyuk¡¯s status will temporarily change.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will reflect your body¡¯s condition in reality.]</em>

    <em>[All of your equipped artifacts will be restricted and cannot be used.]</em>

    <em>[You can use whatever means necessary to hunt the monsters that will appear in front of you.]</em>

    <em>[You will get a reward with every monster that you hunt. Sessfully hunting all five monsters will give you a better reward.]</em>

    <em>[With the influence of the Wishing Stone, you might be able to obtain ingredients whenever you hunt a monster.]</em>

    ¡°Hmmm,¡± Minhyuk hummed as he looked at his stats.

    <em><strong>(Minhyuk)</strong></em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: 1</em>

    <em><strong>ss</strong>: Food God, entric Gourmand</em>

    <em><strong>HP</strong>: 213 <strong>MP</strong>: 50</em>

    <em><strong>STR</strong>: 13 <strong> AGI</strong>: 10 <strong>STM</strong>: 14</em>

    <em><strong>WIS</strong>: Unmarked <strong>INT</strong>: Unmarked</em>

    <em><strong>Fullness</strong>: 100%</em>

    Minhyuk nodded. Reflecting his body¡¯s condition in reality meant that whatever status his body had in reality would be expressed as stats.

    <em>¡®Isn¡¯t this trial quite extraordinary?¡¯</em>

    For some reason, Minhyuk felt that this was simr to the trial that he took for Sword God Valen in the past. However, he could also tell that it was subtly different.

    First off, the words <em>¡®whatever means necessary¡¯</em> was added in the notifications. Ordinary yers might overlook this phrase, after all, it did not matter what they did, since they were just going to hunt monsters, right? However, Minhyuk interpreted it differently. Based on the notifications, he inferred that he could literally make use of everything around him and take full advantage of their usefulness.

    Minhyuk looked around. He felt that the trial area was simr to a military training ground with swords, spears, bows, and even horses lined up. It looked like amon military training ground.

    <em>¡®Normally, I would go for one of the swords over there.¡¯</em>

    It was only natural. After all, he could not use his current artifacts now and he could not fight barehanded, right? However, what if he thought differently and leaned towards something unconventional?

    ¡°Oh! Isn¡¯t Sir Arakhan¡¯s sword very cool and amazing?¡±

    ¡°Boy, you have very keen eyes, huh?¡±

    ¡°Ahahaha! Is there anyone in this world that wouldn¡¯t be able to recognize the greatness of your sword?¡±

    ¡°Hahahahaha! You¡¯re good with words!¡±

    Minhyuk grinned to himself and thought, <em>¡®Let¡¯s get on with it. Fufu.¡¯</em>

    ***

    The Production Team and Story Team were both currently inside the Special yers Management Team. This was because the Third Trial was part of an important category.

    Lee Suk-hoon, the Development Team Leader, was impressed as he said, ¡°Wow. He noticed that in just one nce?¡±

    He was amazed with Minhyuk¡¯s sharp, keen eyes. However, Lee Suk-hoon smiled. He did not seem worried at all as he said, ¡°Arakhan is not an idiot. Will he even willingly lend him his sword?¡±

    Arakhan¡¯s sword was truly avable for use in this trial. However, it was nigh impossible to be used. After all, the NPCs in <em>Athenae</em> had a high degree of freedom! And for them, their swords were like their own lifeline, especially for someone like Arakhan, a once prominent figure in the past. He had often showed off his great love and care for his sword!

    The Production Team willingly removed Arakhan¡¯s sword¡¯s <em>¡®restriction¡¯</em> for this trial. This was because they were confident that no one would be able to aplish such a feat. Was there even someone that could borrow the sword of a past Legend, Arakhan?

    At that moment, a very ominous voice rang in the room.

    <em>[Have you eaten?]</em>

    They could see Minhyuk smiling through the monitor. Lee Minhwa¡¯s mouth opened nkly as she thought, <em>¡®It¡­it started! yer Minhyuk has used his devil¡¯s whisper¡­!¡¯</em>

    Then, Arakhan said¡­

    <em>[It¡¯s been hundreds of years, so it¡¯s safe to say that I haven¡¯t had a meal, right?]</em>

    <em>[Nooooo!!!! This! You haven¡¯t eaten anything for hundreds of years¡­?!! This breaks my heart!!!!]</em>

    Then, everyone in the room saw the corners of Minhyuk¡¯s lips curling up ominously!

    1. Might be referring to the proverb ¡®If you try to catch two rabbits at the same time, you will not be able to catch one¡®. A proverb that means trying to do two things at once won¡¯t yield anything fruitful. ?

 Chapter 340: The Ruler of the Forest

    Chapter 340: The Ruler of the Forest

    ¡°That, that smile¡­!¡± Team Leader Park shouted as a chill ran down his spine.

    However, Team Leader Lee Suk-hoon just smirked. He said, ¡°What? You think yer Minhyuk¡¯s seduction through food will work every time? Arakhan is a legendary figure. Besides, a sword is a knight¡¯s lifeline! Arakhan will be different from the rest.¡±

    Lee Suk-hoon was brimming with confidence. Team Leader Park nodded in response. Just like what Lee Suk-hoon said, Arakhan was the Legendary Sword. Aside from that, he was the first Tower Master of the Knight Tower, right? It would not make sense if he lent his sword to yer Minhyuk.

    Then, Team Leader Park recalled something before saying, ¡°From what I recall, this trial has five stages. If the challenger receives an impossible score, a hidden system will be triggered, is that correct?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. However, we only see it as something impossible. To be honest, yer Minhyuk¡¯s stats are a reflection of his body¡¯s condition. From what I saw, his stats are not that of an ordinary person, but that of a national athlete. Even if that was the case, it would still be hard for him, as an ordinary person, to hunt monsters.¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡±

    That was a fact. The third trial wasparable to an ordinary person hunting monsters. Unfortunately, the monsters were extraordinarily strong.

    ¡°Then, what will happen if an additional system is triggered?¡±

    ¡°The monsters that will appear will be more powerful and the rewards will be more amazing.¡±

    Team Leader Park nodded after hearing that answer. It was a hidden system that did not differ much from other systems. After all, it was a privilege for the yers that had reached the realms of the impossible.

    <em>¡®Right, it¡¯s just like what Team Leader Lee Suk-hoon had said¡­¡¯</em>

    No matter how much yer Minhyuk tried to fool and cajole Arakhan, would someone like him really fall for something like that?

    ¡°I see, so we can rest assured.¡±

    <em>Flinch!</em>

    Lee Minhwa¡¯s eyes widened as she turned to look at Team Leader Park after hearing his words.

    <em>¡®The¡­the taboo words¡­!¡¯</em> Lee Minhwa thought, feeling very, <em>very</em> worried.

    ***

    The young man who introduced himself as Minhyuk, looked at Arakhan with tears in his eyes!

    ¡°It really pains me!!! How can you not have eaten any meals for hundreds of years?! <em>Sob, sob, sob!</em>¡±

    ¡°Is¡­is that so?¡± Arakhan said, feeling that it was truly the case after hearing Minhyuk¡¯s words. After all, he had waited here for hundreds of years to help guide Conir¡¯s descendants.

    Then, Minhyuk held Arakhan¡¯s hands and said, ¡°I¡¯ll treat you to a very delicious meal.¡±

    ¡°N¡­no. Before that, the trial¡­¡±

    ¡°Shhh,¡± Minhyuk shushed, cing his index finger on Arakhan¡¯s mouth. Then, he continued to say, ¡°I know everything. Just tell me what you want to eat. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m a chef that cooks delicious food! Besides, I¡¯m so happy that I met with Mister Arakhan, that I want to do my best to cook a dish for you!¡±

    Arakhan waspletely moved by his words. He thought, <em>¡®He¡¯s very considerate. And he even wants to do his best for me?¡¯</em>

    <em>[You have received Arakhan¡¯s favor.]</em>

    The notification rang in Minhyuk¡¯s head. It was to be expected. After all, even his face was showing the deepest and most sincere expression.

    All of this was in Minhyuk¡¯s ns. Besides, the thought of receiving ingredients for every monster that he hunted was enough for him to show sincerity in his words and actions. These words truly came from the depths of his heart! As long as Arakhan ate his food, he would definitely be entranced and enchanted!

    Then, Arakhan said, ¡°Toast. I want to eat toast. With strawberry juice.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded. This was something that he already knew since he had used his ¡®Create a Recipe¡¯ skill earlier. The toast that Arakhan wanted was even the ¡®Crunchy Ham and Vegetable Special Toast¡¯ that wasmonly seen in the market. The biggest takeaway here was that it also happened to be Minhyuk¡¯s favorite vor.

    So, Minhyuk quickly whipped his pan out and spread plenty of butter on it to grill the bread, the ham, and the well-beaten eggs. After grilling and frying everything, he took the bread and spread some jam on top of it. As Minhyuk applied the jam, he made sure to add some ¡®Sea Honey¡¯ in it.

    <em>¡®Fufufu.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk chuckled ominously and quietly, as he finished the toast and moved on to make strawberry juice. Of course, Minhyuk reced the sugar with the highly addictive Sea Honey.

    After finishing everything, Minhyuk wrapped the toast with a wrapper and served it to Arakhan, together with the strawberry fruit juice. Then, the same toast and fruit juice appeared in front of Minhyuk through his ¡®Joy of Eating Together¡¯ skill.

    <em>¡®Toast¡­¡¯</em>

    The only reason why Arakhan wanted to eat toast was because his wife used to make it for him back when he was still alive. His wife was a very good cook and toast was something that she did the best.

    The man named Minhyuk said that he was a good cook, but Arakhan believed that he would not be able to satisfy his pte. Still, it would be fine as long as he could savor that fantastic vor once again.

    Arakhan slowly took off half of the wrapper and took a bite of the toast. The moment he bit into it, he tasted the warm and soft bread, the sweet apple jam, the savory ham and cheese, as well as the soft eggs that worked in perfect harmony with the crunchy cabbages. The vor was indescribably delicious!

    For a moment, Arakhan did not know what to say. His mind went nk and turned weird as he said, ¡°D¡­Darling!¡±

    <em>Screech!</em>

    Minhyuk, who was enjoying his toast, turned to look at Arakhan with trembling eyes. He said, ¡°Your¡­your type¡­¡±

    ¡°N¡­no! Ahem, ahem.¡±

    To be honest, the toast in Arakhan¡¯s hands right now tasted much better than the toast that his wife made for him.

    <em>¡®How can it taste like this¡­¡¯</em>

    Arakhan was shocked as he reached out for the strawberry fruit juice.

    <em>Slurp¡ª</em>

    Sweet and delectable strawberry fruit juice flowed into Arakhan¡¯s mouth as he sucked on the straw. There were even strawberry bits that he could bite with every mouthful. Arakhan could not help but be amazed by the refreshing sweetness and coolness of the drink.

    <em>¡®Wow¡­¡¯</em>

    Arakhan visibly sped up as he continued ravaging his crunchy toast and sweet strawberry juice. He said, ¡°This is the best toast that I have ever tasted. Thank you.¡±

    ¡°I did my best since Mister Arakhan told me that this is your first meal in hundreds of years.¡±

    Then, the notifications rang for Minhyuk once again.

    <em>[You have received Arakhan¡¯s favor.]</em>

    Minhyuk decided to ride the rhythm.

    ¡°That¡­ by any chance¡­¡±

    Minhyuk carefully chose his words and said, ¡°Can I borrow your sword?¡±

    ¡°Hmm? Are you talking about my sword?¡± Arakhan asked as he looked down at his sword, the very same sword that had been with him for decades. The sword that saved him and countless other lives from his enemies. Then, Arakhan felt the mes of anger burn in him.

    ¡°Boy, I can see that you also use a sword. You should know how important a sword is to a knight. But you still asked me to lend you my sword? It seems like you don¡¯t understand it well¡­ I¡¯m very disappointed in you.¡±

    <em>[Arakhan¡¯s favor has decreased.]</em>

    This was when Minhyuk learned that the <em>¡®sword¡¯</em> was like a knight¡¯s second life, their very own lifeline. He thought, <em>¡®It¡¯s harder than I thought. Then, let¡¯s switch methods.¡¯</em>

    The trial had no time limit after all.

    <em>¡®It will take a little more time for the addicting effect of the honey to take effect.¡¯</em>

    Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°I¡¯m so sorry. How dare I think of Mister Arakhan¡¯s sword. I was just very curious about it. I will be careful next time.¡±

    ¡°Right. It¡¯s good that you understand.¡±

    Arakhan was quite upset, but thinking about the dish that Minhyuk made for him, he decided topromise.

    ¡°I feel sorry that I made Mister Arakhan mad at me. I will go back to my world for a moment to look back and reflect on myself.¡±

    ¡°Hmm,¡± Arakhan hummed in agreement. He also knew about the existence of foreigners. He smiled after seeing Minhyuk disappear.

    ¡°Although he made a slip of the tongue, he¡¯s still an innocent and kind young man. <em>Aaah.</em>¡±

    That was what Arakhan thought. Then, an hour passed as he waited for Minhyuk¡¯s return.

    <em>¡®That toast really tasted delicious. Even the strawberry juice was delectable.¡¯</em>

    Just the thought of those dishes made Arakhan¡¯s mouth water. He recalled the taste of the warm and crunchy toast that he ate earlier. The vor and harmony that was created from the blend of the sweet apple jam and the various ingredients in the toast was truly scrumptious! There was also that strawberry juice! It was enough to quench the thirst in his mouth after eating the toast with just a single sip.

    Then, about two hourster¡­

    <em>¡®Why do I feel like my body is losing strength? Even my sweat is cold?¡¯</em>

    ¡­somethingpletely iprehensible happened. Arakhan felt the strength leave his body. Even his mouth and right hand were both trembling and twitching. Arakhan quickly grabbed his right hand with his left hand.

    <em>¡®Just a bite of that toast will make me feel better. I¡¯m sure of it. No, not just one bite, just the smell¡­¡¯</em>

    Half a day passed by in a blink.

    <em>¡®T¡­toast¡­ I want to eat toast¡­!¡¯</em>

    Arakhan wanted to eat that toast again. However, Minhyuk still had note back from his world. Arakhan thought that it would be better if he slept, so he went to sleep but¡­

    ¡°<em>Chew, chew</em>.¡±

    ¡­he dreamt that he was eating toast. However, a dog suddenly appeared in his dreams, took his toast and ran away.

    ¡°Give me back my toast, you bastard!!! Faramil¡¯s Swordsmanship Chapter Three!!!¡±

    Arakhan even used Faramil¡¯s Swordsmanship to chase after an escaping dog in his dreams.

    ¡°Huff, huff, huff!¡± Arakhan breathed roughly as he woke up in a cold sweat from his scary nightmare.

    <em>¡®He should be back now, right?¡¯</em>

    But Minhyuk still did note back.

    <em>¡®Ce back quickly and make me some toast¡­ please¡­!¡¯</em>

    ***

    Since the first method did not work, Minhyuk could tell that the rtionship between the sword and its owner was much more important than he initially thought. So, Minhyuk switched to n B.

    n B was keeping Arakhan waiting for a long time after being fed his dish! In other words, Minhyuk would be using the carrot and stick method. Since Minhyuk had already given Arakhan a carrot, he was now working on giving him the stick.

    After spending an entire day in reality, Minhyuk finally logged back inside the game. When he came back inside, he was met with a pale Arakhan. It seemed like Arakhan had been waiting for him.

    ¡°B¡­boy!¡±

    ¡°Oh my. I¡¯ve been outside for too long, right?¡± Minhyuk asked naturally.

    Arakhan was sweating and trembling as he said, ¡°Ha, haha. It¡¯s, it¡¯s alright. M¡­more than that, can you make me that thing that you made me thest time?¡±

    ¡°That thing? What thing?¡±

    ¡°Y¡­you know¡­ that, that warm and sweet thing¡­¡±

    This was the usual withdrawal symptoms from food addiction after eating Minhyuk¡¯s food! At first, one would sweat and tremble as the desire to eat more of his dishes surged up from within them. Once things progressed further, they would start to feel extreme hunger and desire to eat that dish again. And by the end¡­

    ¡°Pl¡­please cook me that dish one more time! I¡¯m not saying that you should cook it for me for free, money is not a problem!¡±

    ¡°<em>Sigh. </em>I have enough money. Mister Arakhan, you don¡¯t look that well. Please take some rest¡­¡±

    ¡°Boy, your cooking will make me feel better!!!¡±

    ¡°But¡­ didn¡¯t you refuse me when I asked you to lend me your sword?¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Arakhan¡¯s eyes widened. That really did happen.

    ¡°That¡­ that¡­ that¡­ I¡¯m sorry about that.¡±

    ¡°I cooked for you with all my heart but¡­ <em>sigh¡­</em> I¡¯m already hurt.¡±

    Arakhan readily held his sword out to Minhyuk the moment he heard his words.

    Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°I already got hurt! Do you think I¡¯ll feel better just because you are lending it to me now? <em>Hmph.</em>¡±

    Arakhan became restless after hearing Minhyuk¡¯s snort. So, Arakhan asked, ¡°W¡­what do you want? I¡¯ll do whatever you want!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes were staring at one ce. Arakhan had taken off his armor earlier and ced it there.

    <em>¡®Fufufufu!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s smile was borderline sinister. Since Arakhan had rejected him before, it was only right that he get double the price when he cooked for him the next time, right? Minhyuk needed to ovee the trial to get his food, and this was truly a clever method. Then, the notifications rang¡­

    <em>[You can now borrow the Sun God¡¯s Sword from Arakhan.]</em>

    <em>[You can now borrow Phrakan¡¯s Armor from Arakhan.]</em>

 Chapter 341: The Ruler of the Forest

    Chapter 341: The Ruler of the Forest

    Special yers Management Team.

    Team Leader Lee Suk-hoon shouted out despite himself as they watched the situation unfold on the monitor, ¡°Hey! You son of a b*tch!! No!!¡±

    They had continuously worked overtime! Their foxy wives and rabbit-like brats would get angry once again saying that they never came home! Lately, Team Leader Lee Suk-hoon had always been worn out by working overtime, thanks to yer Minhyuk. However, he believed that they would not be forced to work overtime this time around. No, he vehemently denied it!!!

    Just then, Team Leader Park suddenly became aggressive as he shouted back, ¡°Boy, did you just call our yer Minhyuk a son of a b*tch? Aren¡¯t you being too harsh, huh?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right! You can¡¯t say that to our yer Minhyuk! He did everything with his own power. How can you curse him like that?!¡±

    Even Lee Minhwa added her two cents making Team Leader Lee Suk-hoon gape in astonishment. He thought, <em>¡®Has the Special yers Management Team also been bewitched by him?¡¯</em>

    Since when did Minhyuk be ¡®our¡¯ Minhyuk?! To be honest, Team Leader Park and Lee Minhwa had both gained affection for Minhyuk without realizing it. After all, they had been watching over him and his progress for a long time now.

    In Team Leader Park¡¯s case, his ¡®fanatic heart[1]¡¯ had already bloomed after watching Minhyuk¡¯s countless incredible ys and his high ying IQ, just like with this incident. On the other hand, Lee Minhwa respected Minhyuk¡¯s mukbang.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m going to eat like that someday too!¡¯</em>

    Then, Team Leader Lee thought, <em>¡®If you work overtime, we¡¯re also working overtime. Don¡¯t you know that?!¡¯</em>

    However, those words just silently echoed in his head. Then, Team Leader Park said, ¡°Even if he had those artifacts, we still don¡¯t know if he would be able to clear the trial.¡±

    Although this was unexpected, they still did not know what would happen, since this trial was set to be extremely hard.

    ***

    <em>Chomp, chomp, chomp!</em>

    <em>Bite, bite, bite!</em>

    <em>Gulp, gulp, gulp!</em>

    Minhyuk immediately made toast and fresh fruit juice after temporarily receiving the sword and armor from Arakhan. After receiving the food, Arakhan began to eat as if he was possessed.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk checked the artifacts¡¯ information.

    <em>(<strong>Sun God¡¯s Sword</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: Legendary</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Durability</strong>: 7,000/7,000</em>

    <em><strong>Attack</strong>: 691</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>?A 16% increase in STR, AGI and STM.</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Sun God¡¯s zing mes</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Sword Explosion</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Sun God¡¯s Authority</em>

    <em>?A +50 increase in Defense against Fire-attribute attacks</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: This is an amazing sword created by the Chief cksmith under the Sun God¡¯smand. The sword¡¯s zing mes could give one damage with just a slight touch.</em>

    <em>(<strong>Sun God¡¯s zing mes</strong>)</em>

    <em>Artifact Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Mana Required</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Cooldown</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>: There¡¯s a 50% probability of setting the opponent aze upon sessful attack. The damage incurred by the mes will be 1% of the user¡¯s attack power every two seconds.</em>

    <em>(<strong>Sword Explosion</strong>)</em>

    <em>Artifact Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Mana Required</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Cooldown</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>: There¡¯s a 15% chance of triggering three consecutive explosions with 200% of the basic attack power upon a sessful attack.</em>

    As for the Sun God¡¯s Authority, it was a great AOE skill that made use of an explosion to create a ring of zing hot mes. The radius was ten meters, and it could cut off any ess for five straight minutes. Unfortunately, because of Minhyuk¡¯s temporary stat degradation, the skill was currently unavable to him. After all, the MP requirement was enormous.

    Then, there was Phrakan¡¯s Armor.

    <em>(<strong>Phrakan¡¯s Armor</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: Epic</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Durability</strong>: 5,000/5,000</em>

    <em><strong>Defense</strong>: 314</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>?An 8% increase in STR, AGI and STM.</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Reinforced Steel Armor</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Absorption</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: Phrakan was a Viscount vampire. This was a trophy that Arakhan had obtained when he slit Phrakan¡¯s throat after Phrakan had gone on a rampage in a small vige and killed indiscriminately.</em>

    The skill Reinforced Steel Armor was an active skill, so Minhyuk was also unable to use it. On the other hand, the passive skill, absorption, had a 10% chance of absorbing an enemy¡¯s attack once it hit the armor. Once absorbed, the damage that the wearer had received would immediately be recovered. Even the HP would be recovered to 10% of the damage received.

    <em>¡®Not bad.¡¯</em>

    The artifacts that Arakhan had temporarily let him borrow were quite good. After finishing his preparations, Minhyuk told Arakhan that he would start the trial. Then, the notifications rang.

    <em>[The Third Trial has now begun.]</em>

    <em>[Sessfully hunting the first monster will let you obtain Arakhan¡¯s Sword Mastery. Your previous Sword Mastery will be deleted and reced once this has been obtained.]</em>

    <em>[The first monster is a werewolf.]</em>

    <em>[With the influence of the Wishing Stone, you will be able to get ¡®Native Chicken¡¯ once you sessfully hunt the werewolf.]</em>

    <em>¡®Native chicken?¡¯</em>

    As usual, Minhyuk did not pay much attention to the other rewards. However, his eyes were sharply trained on the words ¡®native chicken¡¯. Native chickens weremonly seen in the valleys where families go for vacation. They were usually sold in shabby, yet amiable andfortable, shops. The shops were usually given the same name, ¡®Sky Garden¡¯. Even their menus were the same¡ª native chicken samgyetang, green onion pancakes, buckwheat pancakes, and acorn jellies.

    <em>¡®Gulp.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk swallowed down the saliva that pooled in his mouth. He used to go to the valley and visit the Sky Garden with his parents when he was younger. After they were seated in a small room and served their food, his father would always tear off a big chicken leg and ce it on Minhyuk¡¯s te. Even the greasy soup was very, <em>very</em> delicious! Minhyuk trembled. His eyes glinted in determination as he vowed to hunt the first monster!

    Then, he looked ahead of him. However, strange as it might be, the monster did not appear in front of Minhyuk. After a moment, another notification rang.

    <em>[You will now be warped to Torr Vige in Eiderr Continent, the ce where the werewolf is currently located.]</em>

    ***

    Conir was a little surprised as he thought, <em>¡®He managed to win over Arakhan and made him lend him his sword and armor.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk used his skills to his advantage, creating a favorable situation for himself. It was unexpected, but it worked. However, what Conir was more surprised about was the average abilities and stats of the man.

    <em>¡®For an ordinary human, his abilities are very remarkable.¡¯</em>

    No, they were actually ridiculous. STM, STR, and AGI, all of these stats were well beyond the range of an ordinary human.

    Conir might not be aware of it, but Minhyuk was a 120 kilograms giant in reality. The power that he packed was naturally strong. In addition to his strong andrge physique, his speed and stamina had been honed after more than three hours of exercise every day.

    The <em>Athenae</em> capsule was equipped with a built-in status checker that could monitor the yer¡¯s health and status. It was through that built-in function that they were able to make a status corresponding to the yer¡¯s physical condition.

    However, this trial would still prove to be difficult. This was simply because Minhyuk was only around Level 10 at most, with his current physical condition. In fact, when it came to stats, ordinary people could only show the power of someone at Level 3~4 at best and someone at Level 1~2 at worst. That was why Minhyuk was already considered to be beyond the ordinary human range.

    And yet, even if his stats were considerably higher than most ordinary humans, it still did not change the fact that the trial tested the challenger¡¯s personal skills. The person¡¯s control and motor skills in reality would have a great impact on this trial.

    This trial would test one¡¯s own skills and not their stats. This was the intention of the Athenae Production members. Could a normal person win against a goblin if they ever encountered one in real life? Inside the game, it would be possible, since the goblins were known to be weak and dimwitted. However, if it was in real life, it would be nigh impossible. After all, a person would be ovee with fear, right? But if the person had impable control and amazing skills, it was possible that they would be able to ovee this hurdle! Only yers that overcame this trial and gained such a mindset would be able to continue challenging the ¡®Pinnacle¡¯.

    In fact, this trial was something that Conir had prepared since he thought that it would be entertaining. The ce where the werewolf would appear was a ce where yers of the same level as Minhyuk¡¯s average ability would appear. This could bring about plenty of variables. Minhyuk could choose to request the cooperation of the yers around him, or take thest hit after the yers had exhausted the werewolf from their hunt. However, thetter was almost impossible.

    <em>¡®Because werewolves are considered as disasters in the Novice Zone.¡¯</em>

    Since they were considered as disasters, it would be nigh impossible for novice yers to chip off a huge chunk of their HPs.

    ***

    Eiderr Continent¡¯s Torr Vige!

    Eiderr Continent was literally the American Server. America was unterally agreed to be the number one among the strongest countries in the <em>Athenean </em>world view. They had overwhelming military forces, a staggering number of global rankers, and an even terrifying number of unofficial rankers that had yet to show themselves to the world!

    However, there were still novice zones and novice viges in this very same American Server. Among these viges was Torr Vige. yers usually hunted rabbits in Torr Vige to level up. All of the novice zones inside <em>Athenae</em> were very simr in format. They would only have subtle differences from each other.

    One of the men in this novice zone thought, <em>¡®This is the ce where my hyung hunted a werewolf.¡¯</em>

    The werewolf would asionally appear in novice viges in the Eiderr Continent. They just appear ¡®asionally¡¯ and would disappear after an hour of their regeneration. The werewolf was a kind of an event monster in the novice zone and in the event of a yer¡¯s death, they would usually not incur any penalties. However, the werewolf would drop unique~rare artifacts if they got hunted. The appearance of the werewolf was like a golden opportunity for the novices so none of them everined to the Athenae Production Team.

    However, the number of people that could hunt the werewolf was close to zero. The average level of yers in this zone was usually at Level 4~7. On the other hand, the level of the werewolf was around Level 20. The level of this opponent was too much for the novice yers that only had ¡®dulled swords¡¯ and ¡®rusty armor¡¯ as their weapons.

    However, there was one man that had sessfully hunted a werewolf by himself. And that man was the ¡®Battlefield¡¯s Ghost, Alexander¡¯, the older brother of the yer hunting rabbits right now, yer Marvin. The unofficial ranker, Alexander! He used the opportunity given to him after being the sole person to have ever hunted a werewolf and used it to umte a huge amount of wealth in Athenae. However, he remained as an unofficial ranker and had always moved about secretly.

    Marvin wanted to be like Alexander. He thought, <em>¡®Big bro was born like that.¡¯</em>

    Marvin knew that his brother was born a fighter. When Alexander was still a student, he had beaten five other students until they were all ck and blue, with just his bare hands alone. But was that the end of it all? No, no one could go against him after he learnt all kinds of martial arts. However, despite trumping over his peers, he was never interested in them for too long. The only thing that piqued his interest was <em>Athenae. </em>Marvin believed that his hyung would definitely be able to win a gold medal if he ever stayed focused in a sport. Marvin, however, waspletely different from Alexander. He was timid and had close to no athletic bone in his body.

    <em>¡®Control isn¡¯t everything in Athenae!¡¯</em>

    It would be the same as long as he had a God ss! Marvin believed that he would be able to ovee the gap in his abilities as long as he obtained something like that. So, he continued to hunt rabbits with that dream in mind.

    <em>Stab!</em>

    ¡°Hwiik!¡±

    Marvin hurriedly took the gold and item that dropped from the rabbit once it died.

    <em>¡®I don¡¯t need big bro to carry me. I can grow stronger by myself.¡¯</em>

    Just as the thought crossed Marvin¡¯s mind¡­

    ¡°R¡­run¡­!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a werewooooolf¡­!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kill it!!! If we kill that, we will be able to get good items from the drops!!!¡±

    ¡­screams rang loudly in the area. Marvin immediately turned to look at the source of themotion. There, he saw a werewolf sh and bite the novices with its long ws and sharp teeth, killing them. The werewolves¡¯ main weapons were their swift feet, strong bite, and sharp nails.

    <em>¡®W¡­werewolf¡­?¡¯</em>

    Marvin watched as the yers rushed towards the werewolf. However, just one swipe of its long, sharp nails was enough to log out six yers at once. The werewolf swiftly dashed forward as it ripped open the novices¡¯ necks and shed their bodies.

    ¡°Kggghk! How can we even kill something like that?!¡±

    ¡°Cra¡­crazy! Run!!!¡±

    The werewolf was quick on its feet as it chased the escaping novice yers and bit on their necks. At this moment, Marvin recalled the words of his elder brother, <em>¡®There¡¯s only one way for ordinary yers to kill the werewolf. They needed to be brave and someone </em><em>has</em><em> to lead them. If dozens of yers joined forces, they would be able to hunt werewolves, no matter how many they were.¡¯</em>

    Of course, those words did not work for his big brother that hunted the werewolf alone. So, Marvin valiantly rushed forward, despite the fleeing yers.

    ¡°Gather together!!! We can kill it if we stick together!!! Don¡¯t be afraid!! This is a game at best!!!¡± Marvin said. However, none of them listened. After all, they were just novices that had still not yet adapted to the vividness of the game that looked strikingly simr to reality.

    Marvin jumped in after seeing the werewolf bite the neck of one of the female yers. He thought, <em>¡®Big bro has mentioned before that I can kill monsters that are far stronger than myself, as long as I strike their vital point correctly.¡¯</em>

    To be honest, Marvin was also very frightened. He was also a novice, after all. However, he had always beenpared to his brother.

    <em>¡®Your brother has always been strong-willed and brilliant, so why are you very timid, Marvin? Ha¡­¡¯</em>

    This was their parents¡¯ sigh!

    <em>¡®Your brother is good at studying and sports. But what about you, Marvin? What are you good at?¡¯ </em>

    His friends¡¯ ridicule!

    Marvin believed that he would not be able to break free from this life if he ran away at this point, so he plucked up his courage and ran towards the werewolf¡¯s neck.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaah!¡±

    Marvin was able tond a strike on the werewolf, who was biting the female yer¡¯s neck, with his sword.

    <em>Ping¡ª!</em>

    However, the sound that rang loudly was not the sound of a de cutting through flesh, but the sound of a de hitting something hard. Marvin¡¯s sword was akin to a stick that had no sharpness in front of the werewolf.

    The werewolf, with blood dripping from its mouth, rushed towards Marvin.

    ¡°Grrrrrrr!¡±

    Marvin tried to send another attack, but his attempt was swiftly knocked down by a single sweep of the werewolf¡¯s hand. And when the werewolf jumped towards him¡­

    <em>¡®I¡¯m¡­I¡¯m done for¡­¡¯</em>

    But he did not have any regrets. At the very least, he did his best inside the game. At that moment¡­

    <em>Spurt!</em>

    ¡­blood gushed out from the werewolf¡¯s chest as it shrieked, ¡°Graaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    Then, a man kicked the werewolf away. Marvin looked at the man in front of him as the werewolf rolled and swiftly got back on its feet.

    ¡°Big bro¡­?¡±

    For a moment, the figure of the man ovepped with the figure of Marvin¡¯s brother. The man was 185 centimeters tall and had a golden proportion that most Westerners did not have. However, the man was different from his brother. His brother had blond hair, but the man in front of him had ck hair. The man was also holding a sword with the image of the sun and had beautiful armor.

    <em>¡®An¡­an Asian¡­?¡¯</em>

    The man was wearing a white mask, but the mask could not hide the man¡¯s shining, yet pitch-ck eyes.

    1. ?? fan¡¯s heart - the heart and feelings of someone passionate about sports, athletes, yers, musicians etc. ?

 Chapter 342: The Ruler of the Forest

    Chapter 342: The Ruler of the Forest

    The Asian man¡¯s mouth was curled into a smile as he said, ¡°Hiyaaa. You¡¯re amazing! If I were a novice, I would also be scared shitless! But, it¡¯s cool to see you rushing forward alone when everyone¡¯s running away!¡±

    <em>¡®Cool¡­?¡¯</em> Marvin thought, an awkward smile stered on his face after hearing the word.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Hunting is not always cool, but I can assure you that you¡¯re really amazing!!¡±

    Marvin could hear the sincerity in the man¡¯s voice which made him feel awkward and embarrassed. However, underneath those emotions was also a faint sense of happiness. Marvin felt happy that someone had recognized his courage and efforts!

    ¡°And that werewolf¡­¡±

    Marvin unknowingly listened carefully to the man¡¯s words.

    ¡°¡­doesn¡¯t the breast part look delicious?¡±

    ¡°¡­What?¡± Marvin asked dumbly, wondering if he heard right. The man just shrugged as the werewolf dashed towards him. Then, a splendid sword dance unfolded in front of Marvin.

    <em>¡®Wow¡­ C¡­crazy¡­!¡¯ </em>Marvin gasped in awe. He thought, <em>¡®H¡­he wouldn¡¯t lose in a match against big bro!¡¯</em>

    ¡®<em>Wait¡­ what¡¯s up with the fancy</em><em> armor and sword?</em>¡¯

    However, it seemed like it also was not easy for the man to hunt the werewolf by himself. Then, the man¡¯s sword pierced through the werewolf as¡­

    <em>Crackle, crackle¡ª</em>

    ¡­mes suddenly red up and engulfed its body.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡± The werewolf shrieked and trashed as if it was going on a rampage. Then, a notification rang for both Marvin and the man.

    <em>[Werewolf¡¯s Frenzy]</em>

    <em>[AGI increases by 20%.]</em>

    This was the werewolf¡¯s trickiest ability! Marvin¡¯s elder brother had told him that he almost died when the werewolf went on a frenzy back then. However, the man in front of him was not losing any ground as he continued to fight against the frenzied werewolf.

    <em>¡®W¡­what¡­ I heard that big bro was the first yer to ever hunt a werewolf alone¡­¡¯</em>

    Marvin even heard that Alexander had met with several deadly crises throughout the hunt. But the man in front of him was overwhelmingly powerful. For the second time, someone was trying to hunt a werewolf alone in the American Server, the strongest server in <em>Athenae</em>. Marvin looked at the man in admiration.

    However, the werewolf was not an easy opponent. It repeatedly closed in using its speedy legs, swiped its sharp nails, then retreated. In fact, the reason why werewolves were tricky opponents, was because they were intelligent. The difference between a mindless monster and an intelligent monster was like the difference between heaven and earth. Just then, the man allowed an attack on his arm! The werewolf quicklytched on the man¡¯s arm.

    <em>¡®Aaack¡­ D¡­dangerous¡­!¡¯</em> Marvin thought, leaping to his feet in a bid to help, using his meager power.

    s, his help was not needed. The man¡¯s arm that was bitten was not his dominant arm. The werewolf bit the man¡¯s arm, choosing to fight directly against the man. As proof, the monster sent an onught of attacks and did not retreat. But, this was what the man wanted.

    <em>Ping¡ª!</em>

    The man¡¯s sword shed at the werewolf¡¯s chest, painting it with streaks of blood. Then¡­

    <em>[Sword Explosion]</em>

    <em>[Creates three consecutive explosions with an attack power that¡¯s 200% of your basic attack power.]</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang!</em>

    ¡­explosions rang loudly on the werewolf¡¯s chest.

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡±

    The werewolf was forced to take a few steps back from the impact. The man did not miss the opportunity as he raised his gleaming sword and stabbed the werewolf¡¯s neck.

    <em>Stab!</em>

    The werewolf fell down. Marvin could barely hide his excitement as he thought, <em>¡®Godly Control¡­?!¡¯</em>

    No, Marvin was still unaware of this, but the term ¡®Godly Control¡¯ was bestowed to gamers that could use the appropriate skills at the right time, while taking into ount the harmony and synergy of the skills. yers that were hailed to have Godly Control often calcted their opponent¡¯s skill cooldown, as well as the time that it would take for them to attack, down to the very seconds. But the man in front of him showed a godly control that was far beyond an athlete¡¯s godly control.

    <em>¡®This¡­ this is the second time that the werewolf has been hunted alone!¡¯</em>

    Marvin bowed his head down to his chest as he said, ¡°H¡­ how can I be as strong as you? P¡­ please teach me!¡±

    Looking closely, the man was just a novice yer. Like him! However, Marvin clearly knew that the man would be able to rise to the position of the strongest, and could even rival his own brother, Alexander!

    The man smiled and said, ¡°You already have it all. Courage, passion and effort.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Marvin¡¯s pupils shook wildly. Did the man just acknowledge him? Then, the man chuckled as he continued to say, ¡°And, this is a game, it¡¯s all good as long as you have fun. Right?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Marvin felt like he was struck on the head with this revtion. He was right. Games were made for them to have fun. It seemed like the man in front of him was truly a cut above the rest. He waspletely different from those that crave the rankers¡¯ position and only pursued after others, hoping to be the best!

    Then, the man said, ¡°Oh and¡­ you should always eat well, exercise well and sleep well.¡±

    ¡°¡­What?¡±

    Really? For a moment, Marvin thought that he had hearing problems. But the man¡¯s expression was very serious.

    ¡°Ah, wait. The werewolf was killed thanks to your first strike. It had already be weak. Take this sword as a gift.¡±

    When the werewolf died, it dropped a sword. From what Marvin could recall, this was the ¡®Wolf Bone Sword¡¯, a unique artifact that had a rare chance of dropping. With that Bone Sword in hand, Marvin was sure that he would be able to grow faster than the rest of the yers here.

    The man in front of Marvin gave him advice and even gave him this item. Just then, the man was suddenly covered in light. The man said, ¡°Ah, it¡¯s time to go back.¡±

    ¡°A, aaaack¡­! B¡­ by any chance, can I have y¡­ your name¡­?!¡±

    Marvin was very curious about the man¡¯s name. Then, the man¡¯s mouth opened¡­

    ¡°Min¡­ H¡­ Ch.. cken¡­ sou¡­ oooh¡­ ooooh~¡±

    ¡­as he disappeared. The man had a strange look of excitement by the end. Marvin tilted his head in confusion. He said, ¡°His name is <em>Chicken Soup~ oooooooh~</em>¡­?¡±

    ***

    Minhyuk heard the notifications while he was talking to Marvin after he had hunted the werewolf.

    <em>[You hunted the first monster.]</em>

    <em>[You havepletely overwhelmed the werewolf.]</em>

    <em>[You have received the recognition of the Innocent Hero.]</em>

    <em>[You gained +1 on all your five basic stats.]</em>

    <em>[Arakhan¡¯s Sword Mastery Skill will now be created.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 10,000,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[With the influence of the Wishing Stone, you have acquired a Native Chicken.]</em>

    <em>[With the recognition of the Innocent Hero, the hunt for the second monster will be skipped.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 12,000,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[Arakhan¡¯s Sword Mastery Skill level has increased by one.]</em>

    <em>[With the influence of the Wishing Stone, you have acquired Abalone.]</em>

    Minhyuk was in awe. Then, the foreigner asked for his name. He said, ¡°My name is Minhyuk. <em>Kggghk~</em> I¡¯m going to eat abalone soup now~ Fufufufu. Chicken soup~ oooooooh~¡±

    However, Minhyuk was left unaware that the first part of his sentence had been omitted due to the influence of the warping, and Marvin had only heard thest part!

    To be honest, Minhyuk had two reasons why he gave the sword to Marvin. The first reason was Marvin¡¯s passion and intelligence. Minhyuk had already yed <em>Athenae</em> for quite a while, and he could recognize those with talent, to some extent. He thought, <em>¡®He¡¯s going to climb high.¡¯</em>

    The second reason was because the unique artifact that came from a novice zone would not be of any help to Minhyuk at all. He would also not be able to acquire the item since he was undergoing a trial.

    On the other side, Arakhan was shocked to see Minhyuk being warped back. Arakhan thought, <em>¡®This is unbelievable.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk achieved an overwhelming victory during his first monster hunt. His strength was even recognized by the trial, to the point that he was allowed to skip the second monster hunt and receive the rewards for that trial directly.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s really strong¡­¡¯</em>

    Of course, Arakhan was aware that his artifacts yed a huge role in that victory. However, even if a person was overgeared, they would not be the best in this world. After all, control yed a huge role in the virtual reality game, <em>Athenae, </em>something that waspletely different from the RPG games yed onputers in the past.

    Just then, Minhyuk, who shocked him with his strength, suddenly began cooking. He said, ¡°Hiyaaaa. This chicken is really tough!¡±

    He had pulled out a huge cauldron, lit up a fire underneath it, and poured in some water, as well as the cleaned native chicken inside! Then, he added a whole head of garlic, a ginseng, some green onions, jujube and the abalone inside the cauldron, before covering it with a lid and letting them boil.

    After a while, Minhyuk lifted the lid of the cauldron to remove the broth scum, causing the hot steam to escape immediately.

    <em>Shwaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Green onions and the ginseng were seen floating in the thick soup boiling inside the cauldron. Then, Minhyuk poked the chicken with his chopstick to check if it was cooked, before taking the cauldron off the fire.

    <em>¡®Kggghk~ Cauldron is really the perfect match for chicken soup.¡¯</em>

    It was strange, but whenever someone made rice or chicken soup in a cauldron on TV, the food looked much more delicious when it was in the cauldron! Minhyuk took out the chicken from the cauldron and ced it on a te. The chicken was still dripping with the thick soup!

    <em>Gulp¡ª</em>

    Drool began to drip from his mouth! The addition of abalone, ginseng and jujube in the soup was superb! Then, Minhyuk spread open an aluminum table that was often used in the past, before cing the te of chicken and another te with a different dish. This was because Minhyuk had prepared another dish while he was cooking the chicken soup, which was none other than ¡®seasoned acorn jelly¡¯.

    ¡°Mmm! I feel healthier already just by looking at it!¡±

    It was a proper dish that was good for the body! Then, Minhyuk began to rip therge chicken leg from the chicken. Steam rose from the chicken as the heat passed through the pads of Minhyuk¡¯s fingers. Thankfully, the pads of Minhyuk¡¯s fingers were a bit thick so it did not matter that much. Then, he bit on the chicken leg.

    ¡°Aaaaaah!¡±

    The juices of the chicken flowed in Minhyuk¡¯s mouth the moment he took a bite. Even the texture of the chicken was chewier than regr chicken. Then, he dipped the leg in the salt and pepper that he prepared earlier and took another bite.

    ¡°Delicious. Really delicious.¡±

    The salt perfectlyplemented the greasiness of the soup, creating a perfect bnce that was pleasant to the tongue. Then, Minhyuk grabbed the ginseng and chewed on it.

    <em>¡®I did not like the vor of this when I was young, but I feel like it¡¯s getting more and more to my taste.¡¯</em>

    The ginseng had a slight tangy bitterness towards the end! However, this bitterness was very addictive. After eating the chicken, he took a spoonful of the greasy chicken soup and took a sip.

    ¡°Kgghk~ This feels refreshing,¡± Minhyuk eximed as he tore a piece of kimchi and ced it on top of the chicken, before cing it in his mouth.

    Minhyuk nodded in satisfaction as he stretched his chopsticks out to taste the seasoned acorn jelly. The seasoned acorn jelly was a dish that could stimte anyone¡¯s appetite with its bright red color and savory aroma. There were even sesame seeds that piqued one¡¯s interest sprinkled on top of it, you know?

    Minhyuk quickly mixed the sesame seeds into the dish. Then, he lifted the acorn jelly together with some chives, lettuce, peri leaves and onions and ced thebination in his mouth. The savory and authentic vor of the vegetables quietly spread in his mouth with every single bite. A bit of spiciness appeared and tingled his taste buds the more he chewed, which was a perfect apaniment for the slightly greasy chicken soup.

    After eating all of the chicken and abalone soup as well as the seasoned acorn jelly, the notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s head.

    <em>[Food God¡¯s Greatness.]</em>

    <em>[You have eaten an Abalone Soup.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 70 STM.]</em>

    It seemed like the ingredients that he could obtain from the Wishing Stone could possess random special abilities. He surmised this because he did not receive any special ability after he finished eating the first dish.

    ***

    Alexander was a yer that stood tall and high as an <em>Athenae</em> powerhouse, like the unreachable sky, even in America,. He was now watching several reruns of the Korean and the Chinese¡¯s Soldier¡¯s Great Battle on the TV in his luxurious mansion.

    <em>¡®The Korean NPCs are very outstanding. No, is it safer to say that Food God Minhyuk¡¯s territory is very outstanding?¡¯</em>

    A lot of information had already been released about the young boy, the demon, the old man and even Saintess Loyna. And these NPCs had actually acted for the Food God alone.

    <em>¡®Isn¡¯t that amazing?¡¯ </em>Alexander thought, refreshing his views about Korea, a small and weak country that he thought was something that could just be ignored before.

    Then, his brother, Marvin, came out of his <em>Athenae </em>capsule. Marvin said, ¡°Big bro, I just saw something amazing.¡±

    ¡°Something amazing?¡± Alexander asked nonchntly, believing that his brother¡¯s words were just nonsense. After all, Marvin had always exaggerated his words because he wanted people to pay attention to him. He once told them that he killed a ¡®beastly and rabid rabbit¡¯ when all he did was hunt a rabbit. However, the following words that his brother uttered made Alexander focus on him.

    ¡°Another person followed after your steps. I saw that person hunt the werewolf alone. I even greeted him and talked to him.¡±

    ¡°What¡­?¡± Alexander asked, pupils trembling in disbelief.

    The public knew Alexander as an unofficial ranker. However, there were several legends that apanied his name. One of these legends was the story about how he hunted the werewolf alone. But, that was not the truth.

    <em>¡®I was the only one left after all of the other yers had been killed and forced to log out.¡¯</em>

    Alexander did not technically hunt the werewolf alone. However, he felt that he did not need to deny the public¡¯s praise andpliments for him. Right now, Marvin told him that he had seen someone hunt the werewolf by himself.

    ¡°The man is Asian. He had a white mask on his face so all I can see is his eyes, but I¡¯m pretty sure that he¡¯s a Korean yer.¡±

    ¡°¡­Are you really sure, Marvin?¡±

    Marvin nodded fiercely.

    <em>¡®Another point of interest.¡¯</em>

    Alexander¡¯s interest towards the country called Korea was growing over time. Someone from that country really hunted a werewolf alone? So, Alexander asked, ¡°How can you be so sure when he¡¯s wearing a white mask? Ah, right. What¡¯s his name?¡±

    Marvin had immediately searched the portal site with the man¡¯s name the moment he terminated his connection to the game. That was when he knew which country he was from.

    Alexander¡¯s ears perked up attentively as Marvin said, ¡°His name is <em>Chicken Soup~ Oooooh~</em>.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Alexander immediately thought that the name was unique.

 Chapter 343: The Ruler of the Forest

    Chapter 343: The Ruler of the Forest

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    The sound of something falling down rang loudly in the area. It was the third monster, Caeris, a rodent that could be easily dealt with by novices around Level 25. It usually had a small trident in its hands and quick feet. However, with Minhyuk¡¯s current stats, it was already very surprising that he was able to hunt them. Even if he had the Sun God¡¯s Sword and Phrakan¡¯s Armor equipped, it was still not an easy task.

    <em>¡®Ho. That¡¯s really amazing,¡¯ </em>Arakhan thought, slight admiration evident on his face.

    Then, Minhyuk heard the notifications.

    <em>[You hunted the third monster.]</em>

    <em>[You havepletely overwhelmed Caeris.]</em>

    <em>[You have received the recognition of the Innocent Hero.]</em>

    <em>[You gained +1 on all five of your basic stats.]</em>

    <em>[Arakhan¡¯s Sword Mastery Skill Level has increased by one.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 15,000,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[With the recognition of the Innocent Hero, the hunt for the fourth monster will be skipped.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 20,000,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[Arakhan¡¯s Sword Mastery Skill Level has increased by one.]</em>

    Minhyuk smiled in satisfaction. The Innocent Hero¡¯s Trial was truly giving him a lot in terms of rewards. First, it gave him additional +1 to all five of his basic stats. Of course, it was because he had received the recognition of the Innocent Hero. After all, this was a bonus that could only be obtained if the challenger cleared the trial with a very high score.

    Since it was a bonus, the rewards were extremely great. A +1 in all five basic stat was equivalent to the stat points that one could get once they leveled up. On top of that, there was also an enormous amount of EXP, which allowed Minhyuk to increase his level quickly. Finally, there was also Arakhan¡¯s Sword Mastery.

    <em>(<strong>Arakhan¡¯s Sword Mastery</strong>)</em>

    <em>Passive Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: 4</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?There will be an 8% increase in both basic sword attack and speed.</em>

    <em>?There will be an 8% increase in basic attack when shing and stabbing an opponent.</em>

    <em>?There will be a 4% increase in attack for skills rted to swordsmanship.</em>

    In fact, ordinary yers would be equipped with various passive mastery skills, like Sword Mastery or Bow Mastery. However, Arakhan¡¯s Sword Mastery was different from that.

    Sword Mastery was divided into the novice grade, intermediate grade, advanced grade, and mastery grade. Achieving the mastery grade of the Sword Mastery skill would increase the yer¡¯s basic attack and speed by 1.5%. On the other hand, Arakhan¡¯s sword mastery would increase the basic attack and speed by 2% for every increase in level.

    Once the mastery grade of the Sword Mastery skill reached Level 9, the yer would not be able to level up anymore. Only the acquisition of special skills would give the yer the possibility of leveling the skill further. This limitation had made it impossible to further improve the effect of the Sword Mastery skill. However, Arakhan¡¯s Sword Mastery would increase in effect the higher the level.

    The most surprising part about Arakhan¡¯s Sword Mastery was the part where the % attack of the skills rted to swordsmanship would also increase. It was a special effect that was not even in mastery grade of the Sword Mastery skill.

    ¡°This trial is very generous. The Sword Mastery has already increased by four.¡±

    Arakhan vehemently denied the fact about the trial being generous, however, he never voiced it out. He was very much aware that his Sword Mastery was brilliant and amazing, but this Hero¡¯s Trial would only allow it to increase up to Level 5. Once Minhyuk left this ce, he would have to increase his proficiency on his own to increase the level of the skill. But this was only the case for the ¡®general¡¯ score. Minhyuk had always cleared the trial with an ¡®overwhelming¡¯ score, that was why he had already reached Level 4 for the Sword Mastery.

    Then, additional notifications rang for Minhyuk.

    <em>[You have aplished an outstanding feat in hunting monsters.]</em>

    <em>[The Fifth Monster Hunt will be held in a different way. You will have to hunt two monsters at the same time.]</em>

    <em>[If you fail the Fifth Monster Hunt, you won¡¯t be able to enter the Hero¡¯s Trial once again.]</em>

    <em>[You can move forward to the next trial without taking the challenge.]</em>

    Arakhan had also recognized Minhyuk¡¯s strength.

    <em>¡®Unbelievable. Will this guy really be my and Conir¡¯s sessor?¡¯</em>

    Arakhan was shocked. This was because anyone that could reach the final trial in this level could already be considered to be a part of the continent¡¯s legendary figures. The prime examples were both him and Conir. However, the truth was neither he nor Conir expected anything from Minhyuk. Bing a <em>Legend</em> and gaining that name was not an easy task.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s amazing¡­!¡¯</em>

    The Innocent Hero¡¯s Trial had a total of 25 stages. The truth was that Conir himself believed that the limit was at the 15th stage. In fact, reaching the 15th stage would allow the person to already reach the Half-Pinnacle.

    However, as long as Minhyuk did well, he might actually be able to reach the 25th stage. If that was the case, then there was a high possibility that he would reach and acquire the true pinnacle skill of the person hailed as the Sword Saint.

    Then, Arakhan thought, <em>¡®He will definitely be stopped by the frustration in this trial.¡¯</em>

    It was too bad. Arakhan thought that it would have been better if Minhyuk did not score overwhelming scores during the previous trials. In that way, he would not need to go through this special Fifth Monster Hunting Trial. Truth be told, neither he nor Conir could break this trial. The worst part was that failure in this trial meant total failure. Of course, there were still trials where Minhyuk could try to challenge again upon failure, but that was not the case for the monster hunting trial. Once this trial failed, Minhyuk would be immediately ejected from this ce, never to return again. That was why Arakhan selfishly wanted Minhyuk to skip this challenge.

    However, Minhyuk said, ¡°I will challenge it.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Arakhan felt that it was a shame that a strong candidate for their sessor would not be able to go any further than here. However, Arakhan still had a duty. So, he exined, ¡°The Fifth Monster Hunt will take ce in a forest.¡±

    Arakhan waved his hand to present a hologram of a huge forest.

    ¡°You have to hunt the monsters in this forest. You need to take advantage of the topography of this ce to hunt these monsters since the difference in your levels is vast. There¡¯s also a variety of wildlife in this area, so a momentarypse in attention might cause you to lose your life and be prey to these beasts and not the monsters¡­ <em>mumble, mumble¡­</em>¡±

    After listening to Arakhan¡¯s exnation, Minhyuk bowed his head in thought before asking, ¡°What kind of monster will appear inside?¡±

    ¡°You have to check it out yourself.¡±

    It was something that Arakhan could not disclose. Then, Arakhan continued to say, ¡°The Fifth Monster Hunt has a time limit. You are only allowed to stay inside for half a day. If you fail to hunt the monsters within that time frame, then the trial will be deemed as failure. This is set to prevent you from hiding and not hunting the monsters.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded as he got warped away and disappeared.

    ***

    After appearing in the forest, Minhyuk looked around. He could see that he was alone and was surrounded by thick and luscious trees.

    ¡°<em>Awoooooooooo~</em>¡±

    <em>Falter!</em>

    Minhyuk froze, his senses going on full alert. He made sure to maintain his calm as he looked at his surroundings. He was trying to assess the topography of the forest and analyzing if he could use them. Since he was given half a day to hunt, it meant that he could retreat once he failed an attack and try again.

    Holding his breath to conceal his presence, Minhyuk finally spotted a monster after walking quite a distance. Then, the monster turned around. Minhyuk made eye contact with the monster bearing only one eye.

    <em>¡®Crazy¡­?!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was very shocked to see that the monster that appeared was none other than a cyclops. It was a monstrous giant that wielded a club!

    <em>[Weakened Cyclops, Level 45.]</em>

    Fortunately, the cyclops that appeared was not the normal cyclops. However, even if its level was lower, it was still at Level 45.

    <em>¡®What kind of trial is this¡­?¡¯</em>

    The operators'' will to not give anyone the Pinnacle Skill was very evident in this trial. However, it did not end there.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud.</em>

    Loud thumping footsteps rang loudly from the other side of the forest. Minhyuk turned to look to the other side, only to see a gigantic drake. The drake was a monster that was of a lower hierarchy than a dragon. However, it was still an existence that was originally at Level 600.

    <em>[Deteriorated Drake, Level 54.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was speechless.

    He could still consider the cyclops as a conventional monster to hunt. However, adding the drake to the trial made the difficulty of this trial clear to him. Drakes were aerial monsters that were quick on their feet even when they were on the ground.

    Minhyuk quickly analyzed the situation that he was in. He thought, <em>¡®Both the cyclops and the drake have poor hearing and smell. Only their eyesight is good.¡¯</em>

    Despite these drawbacks, the two monsters were given an overly outstanding and keen vision.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk quickly took a step back after analyzing the situation.

    ¡°Kiyaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kiyeeeeeeee!¡±

    Then, the monsters roared and started to run after him. So, Minhyuk began to run away.

    <em>Dash, dash, dash, dash, dash!</em>

    The best choice for him right now was to not stand out or show himself in front of these monsters.

    ***

    Arakhan met with Conir after a<em> very </em>long time.

    ¡°It¡¯s been hundreds of years.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m very happy to see you again.¡±

    Conir smiled slightly at Arakhan¡¯s words. Arakhan had always been very kind to Conir. Arakhan thought, <em>¡®If it wasn¡¯t for you, then I¡¯d¡­¡¯</em>

    He might not have realized things by himself. However, Conir just smiled at him.

    ¡°An excellent person that can be our sessor has appeared.¡±

    Conir nodded and said, ¡°I know, I have been watching. He¡¯s very amazing. And, he also knows who I am.¡±

    ¡°Could it be that he knows your alter ego?¡±

    The alter ego that they were talking about was none other than the young boy, Conir.

    Then, Conir said, ¡°It might be my alter ego, but he is also me. Although he might not be theplete version of myself yet.¡±

    Arakhan nodded and said, ¡°It¡¯s a pity, I had hoped that he wouldn¡¯t challenge this Monster Trial¡­¡±

    Conir looked bitter after hearing Arakhan¡¯s words. After watching Minhyuk throughout the trials, he could tell that Minhyuk¡¯s power was enough to sessfully finish the trial, if only the cyclops had appeared. Although the cyclops was at Level 45, the terrain and topography of the area was readily avable for Minhyuk to take advantage of. He could also use unconventional ways like letting a gigantic rock roll over the cyclops, or setting the forest on fire. Of course, these were just strategies and tactics that Conir and Arakhan hade up with. The problem was the drake.

    <em>¡®Drakes have immense speed and resistance.¡¯</em>

    Although the drake had deteriorated, its resistance was enough to survive a forest fire.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I will be able to think of ways to clear the trial if I was ced in the same position as he was.¡±

    Conir agreed with Arakhan¡¯s words. After all, the trial was so ridiculous that a person could panic and not perform well. However, they did not have any say on the matter. <em>God Athenae</em> had intervened himself during the creation of the Innocent Hero¡¯s Trial. He was the one that ced this additional trial himself. Even though they wanted to deny it, this Monster Hunt would be Minhyuk¡¯s failure.

    Then, Conir¡¯s body started to be translucent.

    ¡°How about going to the River of Eternal Life?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. You¡¯ve been here after death in your spirit form, and I¡¯m in a state of being neither alive nor dead.¡±

    Conir¡¯s alter ego was still alive and well, that was why the original Conir was in a state of being neither alive nor dead. All he could do was walk to the River of Eternal Life, close his eyes, and breathe. Meanwhile, Arakhan sat in front of the River of Eternal Life. The two of them closed their eyes and mouths and focused on maintaining their bodies. After a bit of time, Conir opened his eyes. Arakhan opened his eyes after the moment he sensed Coniring out of the River of Eternal Life.

    ¡°I see, the trial is not over yet.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s only an hour left from the half-day time limit.¡±

    The two chatted as they moved to check the crystal ball. When they peered through the crystal ball, they saw that the cyclops and the drake were still very much alive. What was more problematic was the fact that the two were together. But then¡­

    <em>[Awoooooo~]</em>

    The howl of a wolf rang loudly through the crystal ball. One of the reasons why this trial was very difficult was because of the wildlife living in the forest. There were wolves and bears which made it all the more difficult for Minhyuk, whose level had been reduced.

    The two of them did not pay much attention to the wolf¡¯s howl. However, they had no choice but to wonder what was happening after hearing continuous howls.

    <em>[Awoooooooo!]</em>

    <em>[Awooooooo¡ª!]</em>

    <em>[Graaaaaaaaa¡ª!]</em>

    Not only the wolves, but even the bears and other wild beasts began to howl.

    ¡°Are the wild beasts vying for territory?¡±

    ¡°I know. I wonder why they are howling at the same time?¡±

    The two were both puzzled. Then¡­

    <em>Dash, dash, dash, dash¡ª</em>

    Dozens of wolves suddenly dashed forward from behind the thickets as they rushed towards the cyclops and the drake.

    <em>[Grrrrrrrrrrrr!]</em>

    <em>[Roaaaar!]</em>

    <em>[Keuwaaaaaaa!]</em>

    <em>[Graa, graa, graaaa!]</em>

    Dozens of wolves suddenlyunched an attack! However, no matter how much they overwhelmed the cyclops and the drake with their numbers, the dozens of wolves were no match for them. Still, more wolves appeared.

    ¡°W¡­what the hell is happening?¡±

    Then, another howl rang loudly through the crystal ball.

    <em>[Awoooooo¡ª!]</em>

    Conir and Arakhan both looked at each other after hearing the howl. It was the howl of a wolf. However, it was clearly the sound of a person imitating the howl of a wolf. Then, hundreds of wolves, bears and other wild animals appeared on the top of the hill overlooking the cyclops and the drake. Among them was a gigantic wolf carrying a man with his sword raised high up in the sky.

    <em>[Awooooooooooo!]</em>

    The man, Minhyuk, howled once again. The wild beasts howled in answer to his call. And when he lowered his sword¡­

    <em>Dash, dash, dash, dash¡ª</em>

    ¡­hundreds of wild beasts ran. In the lead was Minhyuk. The wolf that he was riding on was moving the fastest. Then, he said¡­

    <em>[Bossam, run!]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    The expressions on both Arakhan and Conir¡¯s face were indescribable.

    <em>[Chicken, don¡¯t fall behind!]</em>

    <em>[Pizza, are you not going to run faster, huh?!]</em>

    <em>[Curry, don¡¯t rush ahead of us!!]</em>

    <em>[Grilled Pork Belly, run next to us!!!]</em>

    <em>[Gomtang! Why are yougging behind?!]</em>

    <em>[Gomguk, you! Why are you so slow?!]</em>

    ¡°It seemed like the names of the wolves were Bossam, Chicken, Pizza, Curry and Grilled Pork Belly. While the bears are named Gomtang and Gomguk[1]¡­ It seemed like he named them with the food that he wanted to eat.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The two legends watching the scene were both left speechless.

    1. Both Gomtang and Gomguk refers to Beef Bone Soup, in this case, the monsters are named Gomtang and Gomguk because they are bears (gom) ?

 Chapter 344: The Ruler of the Forest

    Chapter 344: The Ruler of the Forest

    Witnessing the birth of weird and unusual names from Minhyuk¡¯s absurd naming sense brought the two people standing in front of the crystal ball in a daze. The first one to gather their senses back together was Conir. He said, ¡°I believe that¡¯s not the main point.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    They were wondering how Minhyuk led hundreds of wild beasts to attack the cyclops and the drake.

    ¡°How in the world did this happen¡­?¡±

    Arakhan had told Minhyuk that he could use the topography and the terrain however he wanted, but he had never imagined that Minhyuk would make use of the wild beasts in the forest. Then, as if recalling something, Arakhan said, ¡°Ah, from what I recall, that boy¡¯s ss is a ¡®chef¡¯.¡±

    ¡°I see¡­¡±

    Conir and Arakhan were once again dumbfounded. For a chef, such an outstanding performance in the past trials was simply shocking. How could he be so strong when he was just a chef? And that was not all¡ªhow could a chef be like a monster tamer and tame those ferocious wolves and bears, making them follow hismand?

    On the other hand, Arakhan, who had tasted Minhyuk¡¯s food before, felt like he could sympathize with what the beasts felt. He thought, <em>¡®That¡¯s really amazing. Everything is¡­!¡¯</em>

    The strongest contender to be their sessor was not a knight, a swordsman, or a warrior, but a man whose main ss was nonbatant: a chef.

    ¡°Maybe, with this¡­¡±

    Conir and Arakhan looked at each other.

    ¡°¡­he might really awaken.¡±

    ***

    Much earlier.

    Minhyuk immediately escaped deeper into the forest after being spotted by the cyclops and the drake. He quickly found a cave and hid himself within its depths, concealing his presence as much as possible. While he was busy trying to hide himself, his head was already hard at work and had already thought of plenty of methods to deal with the two monsters.

    <em>¡®Should I set the forest on fire?¡¯</em>

    The method was feasible. With the help of the Sun God¡¯s Sword, he had a high probability of creating mes with a sh. Using those mes to set the forest on fire was not that difficult. However, Minhyuk shook his head and dismissed the thought.

    <em>¡®The drake has a ridiculously high speed and high resistance. It would be able to survive the forest fire.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had studied a lot about <em>Athenae</em> in search of ways to eat as much delicious food as he could. With the amount of his research, he was confident that he knew more about the game than anybody else. That was why Minhyuk was sure that it would be impossible for him to hunt the drake, even if he set the forest on fire. Also, there was the chance that he would burn himself instead, dying an ironic and stupid death.

    <em>¡®My skills are also not avable.¡¯</em>

    With his MP significantly reduced, Minhyuk could only use a few of his skills. Even his stats were in the same state. After taking everything into ount, Minhyuk finally came to a conclusion.

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll just have to do what I¡¯m best at, right?¡¯</em>

    What was the thing that Minhyuk was good at? It was none other than food! He had incredibly high DEX and cooking skills to begin with, and even with his DEX reduced, there was no way that his body would forget how to cook.

    After making that decision, Minhyuk did not fall into frustration even after knowing that he could not use his Create a Recipe skill as usual. He had memorized countless recipes, so he could easily make one of those.

    Minhyuk quickly took out the beef¡¯s ¡®eye of round¡¯<em></em>cut and drained its blood. Then, he took out his Super-Large ¡®Food Dehydrator¡¯ that he always brought with him.

    <em>¡®Fufufu. This really is the Super-Large Food Dehydrator.¡¯</em>

    A food dehydrator was an appliance that was used to dry fruits and meat. It was also used by many pet owners to make snacks for their beloved cats and dogs. The best thing about Minhyuk¡¯s food dehydrator was itsrge capacity and the ability to shorten the time needed to dry the food. Minhyuk quickly filled it with slices of eye of round, then started the dehydration process.

    While he was waiting for the meat to dry, Minhyuk went outside to survey the wild beasts in the area. From what he saw, wolves were the majority, with the asional bear and snake.

    The dehydrator made beef jerky for six straight hours. After the jerky was finished, Minhyuk scattered some pieces around the cave. Then, he hid himself and waited with bated breath.

    Dragged in by the tempting smell, a few wolves approached the cave. The wolves were very cautious at first as they looked around and sniffed before taking a bite of the scattered jerky. And then¡­

    <em>Chomp, chomp, chomp.</em>

    ¡­they started eating with relish, as if they were dogs presented with snacks. It seemed like they were also having a conversation, with how they were growling back and forth.

    ¡°Grrrrrr! <em>(Th, this is delicious!)</em>¡±

    ¡°Grrrrrrr?! <em>(Delicious? How delicious?)</em>¡±

    <em>Chomp, chomp.</em>

    ¡°Grrrrrrr!! <em>(Extremely delicious¡­!)</em>¡±

    Then, the wolves began to gather one after the other. Of course, Minhyuk had deliberately added some ¡®Sea Honey¡¯ to the seasonings that he had used to coat the beef jerky earlier. That was the reason why the wolves looked like they were craving for more of that heavenly taste. After a few moments, Minhyuk silently approached one of the wolves that had strayed away from the pack.

    ¡°Grrrrrrrr!¡±

    The wolf naturally showed its aggressiveness! But then, Minhyuk raised the jerky in his hands.

    ¡°Stop!¡±

    ¡°Grr, grrrrr? <em>(Th¡­that¡¯s¡­?)</em>¡±

    The wolf began to drool as it thought of ways to take the piece of jerky away from the man.

    Minhyuk said, ¡°Well then, I will give you this beef jerky if you listen to me.¡±

    ¡°Grrr?¡±

    Minhyuk started to train the wolf, just like that. When the wolf tried to approach him, Minhyuk hid the jerky. When the wolf stopped moving, Minhyuk would take it out again and throw it to the wolf. And before he knew it, the wolf was already wagging its tail at him. Seeing this, Minhyuk smiled in satisfaction.

    ¡°Well, from now on your name will be Chicken. Chicken, I will give you this jerky if you call your friends over.¡±

    Chicken immediately showed an aggressive stance, firmly rejecting Minhyuk¡¯s proposal. It was showing Minhyuk that it wanted to eat the delicious jerky on its own!

    However, Minhyuk said, ¡°If you bring your friends over, I will give you twenty more pieces of jerky.¡±

    <em>Dash, dash, dash!</em>

    Chicken disappeared in a sh. My goodness! A wolf dashed away in an instant to sell out its friends! Not long after, the wolves gathered in front of Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk lifted the jerky in the sky and said, ¡°Catch the bears and snakes alive. The first one to bring back one will get a piece of jerky~¡±

    The wolves immediately went to work, catching bears, snakes, and other wild beasts, while Minhyuk fed them. Then, Minhyuk shouted, ¡°You see that giant chicken over there? And the giant? The first wolf to kill them will get three pieces of jerky!!!¡±

    Minhyuk climbed on top of thergest wolf in the pack as he started hunting the cyclops and the drake.

    ***

    ¡°Grrrrrrrr! <em>(Beef jerky!!!)</em>¡±

    ¡°Grrrrrrrrrr! <em>(I will be the one to eat the jerky!!!)</em>¡±

    The bears and the wolves dashed forward together with Minhyuk, who was sitting on top of thergest wolf, named Bossam. Hundreds of wolves pressured the cyclops and the drake as they jumped up and bit on their necks while scratching them with their ws.

    ¡°Graaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Grrrrrrrr!¡±

    Injuries also began to show up on the bodies of the wolves.

    <em>m¡ª</em>

    ¡°<em>Whine, whine!</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Whine!</em>¡±

    However, despite their efforts, the gap between the cyclops and drake and the wild beasts was just too wide. The wolves hit by the cyclops¡¯ club flew away and rolled on the ground.

    ¡°Grrrrrr! <em>(I! Will! Eat! Jerky!!!)</em>¡±

    ¡°Grrrrrrrr! <em>(</em><em>If we fall here, then</em><em> we will not be able to eat beef jerky¡­!!!)</em>¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaaaa! <em>(The beef jerky is mine!!!)</em>¡±

    Despite the ring gap in strength, the wolves showed their unwavering spirit. They might be bleeding and exhausted, but they would fight to the death for their beef jerky!

    Minhyuk also stormed the chaotic battlefield for these weary and injured wolves. He shouted, ¡°Wolves! Attack the cyclops¡¯ lower body!!!¡±

    ¡°Grrrrrr!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s AGI was very low right now. However, the wolves could run as fast as fifty kilometers per hour, and the wolf that he was riding on was special to boot! In other words, Minhyuk was covering his shorings by making full use of the wolves.

    ¡°Grrrrr!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaaa!¡±

    Unfortunately, the truth was that just one attack from either the cyclops or the drake could kill these wolves.

    Minhyuk quickly used one of the wolves as his springboard as he jumped up and stabbed the cyclops¡¯ one and only eye!

    <em>Stab!</em>

    <em>Crackle!</em>

    <em>[Sun God¡¯s zing mes]</em>

    <em>[There¡¯s a 50% chance of triggering zing mes that will cover the opponent¡¯s entire body while dealing 1% of the user¡¯s attack every two seconds.]</em>

    With perfect timing, the Sun God¡¯s zing mes burned the cyclops¡¯ eye. The cyclops grabbed its face and roared, ¡°Graaaaaaack!¡±

    Having lost its vision, the enraged cyclops swung its huge club indiscriminately. With the opportunity presented to them, the wolves immediately dashed forward and attacked it. Dozens and dozens of wolves clung to the desperate monster. In the end, the cyclops could not withstand their fierce assault and fell down in a heap. The wolves quickly bit on the cyclops¡¯ copsed body until it breathed itsst.

    After dealing with the cyclops, Minhyuk focused their attention towards the drake. The drake had a very high HP and defense. However, the attack that had been divided between the cyclops and the drake was now only focused on thetter.

    ¡°Kieeeeeeeeeeck!!!¡± The drake shrieked loudly as the wolves bit on its wings. Its wings were the weakest part of its body in terms of defense! In the end, the drake also copsed and sumbed to the attacks.

    ¡°Awooooooooooo! <em>(Jerkyyyyyyyyy!!!)</em>¡±

    ¡°Awoooooooo! <em>(I can eat </em><em>jerkyyyyy</em><em>!!!!)</em>¡±

    ¡°Awoo, awoo, awooooooo! <em>(Oooooooooh!!!</em>)¡±

    The wolves howled in joy as Minhyuk threw the beef jerky towards them. The wolves immediately jumped forward to munch on their much awaited treat.

    ¡°Bossam, you did a good job! That¡¯s right, Chicken too!!!¡±

    Minhyuk waited for the trialpletion notification as he fed the wolves jerky. Then, Genie¡¯s whisper suddenly came in.

    ***

    Genie was with Haze as they looked at Berdk attack base located in the distance. After the end of the Soldiers¡¯ Great Battle, several rankersunched attacks to try and recapture Berdk. Genie had told them that this was a hasty operation, but all of them ignored her. The result of their stubborness wasplete and utter defeat.

    Berdk was fully equipped with 800 Kharamis soldiers and siege weapons! It was already an uphill battle with those things alone, but the Chinese yers had also joined in the fray, making it more difficult for them.

    Then, Haze said, ¡°We have seen how useful and effective the siege weapons are during this battle. We must take Berdk.¡±

    Haze was also well-versed in reading the flow of battle, which was why Genie had always kept her by her side.

    ¡°Do you have a n?¡±

    ¡°We do. The members of the Let¡¯s Eat Sect and the rankers should work together andunch an attack.¡±

    ¡°But that will bring us a lot of casualties.¡±

    Haze agreed with Genie¡¯s words. Once they died, they would not be able to re-enter the Continent Cloud, so they had to be careful. So, she said, ¡°Seems like we can¡¯t find the answer on our own. Why not contact Master?¡±

    Genie nodded. She knew that Minhyuk had gone somewhere to be stronger. Although they were in the middle of the continental war, Genie knew that this was something that Minhyuk had to do. She was confident that Minhyuk was the only one that could kill the Chinese rankers, which included Hu Yitian.

    Then, Genie sent Minhyuk a whisper.

    <em>[<strong>Genie</strong>: Are you working hard to be stronger?]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: I¡¯m improving immensely~]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Genie</strong>: Oh~ I look forward to it. Ah, more than that, Minhyuk¡­]</em>

    Genie exined the situation that they were in. She told him that the chances of Korea winning this Continental War would increase once they recaptured Berdk. Even their morale would increase tremendously if they seeded in this feat. Although they had won the Soldiers¡¯ Great Battle, the public still expected that they would be defeated. However, Genie was sure that this would change once they recaptured Berdk.

    Minhyuk went silent for a moment after hearing Genie¡¯s exnation. He only sent a reply after a while.

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: I have thought about a good n.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Genie</strong>: What is it?]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: Set fire to Berdk¡¯s food storage warehouse.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Genie</strong>: Fire?]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: Yeah.]</em>

    Genie was confused. She unconsciously blurted, ¡°Set fire to the food storage warehouse¡­?¡±

    Haze, who was standing beside her, looked as if she had been enlightened. She said, ¡°I think Master wanted to make the soldiers of Berdk hungry and decrease their morale. As expected of Master¡­!¡±

    Genie was in awe. She thought, <em>¡®It¡¯s not that hard to sneak into their </em><em>food warehouse</em><em>.¡¯</em>

    They might be caught if arge number of troops moved, but they would be able to sneak in if only a small number of assassins went in to infiltrate. Thinking that she had gotten the gist of it, Genie sent a whisper back.

    <em>[<strong>Genie</strong>: We¡¯ll set fire to Berdk¡¯s food warehouse to reduce the morale of the soldiers, right? After that, we attack?]</em>

    However, Minhyuk¡¯s reply was shocking.

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: No, nope. Set fire to the food warehouse and cut off their food supply route.]</em>

    Genie could understand up to this point. So, what did Minhyuk mean when he said ¡®no¡¯?

    The next reply that Minhyuk sent brought her a far greater shock.

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: We¡¯re not going to kill Berdk¡¯s Kharamis soldiers. We¡¯re going to make them our ¡®allies¡¯.]</em>

    ¡°Make them¡­ our allies¡­?¡± Genie mumbled in confusion.

 Chapter 345: Spectacular Recapture

    Chapter 345: Spectacr Recapture

    After Minhyuk finished exining how to make the Kharamis soldiers into their allies to Genie, the notification about thepletion of the trial rang in his ears.

    <em>[You havepleted the Fifth Monster Hunting Trial using a unique method.]</em>

    <em>[You have received the recognition of the Innocent Hero.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained +4 to all five of your basic stats.]</em>

    <em>[Arakhan¡¯s Sword Mastery Skill Level has increased by three.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 150,000,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    Since the rewards that he could obtain from this trial were not mentioned in the beginning, Minhyuk had to carefully examine and read every notification. After all, he hadpleted it with a unique method, so there had to be something worthwhile for him. However, no matter how much Minhyuk went back and forth in the notifications window, no sight of his most cherished, most desired rewards could be seen.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s¡­ there¡¯s nothing that I can eat¡­?!¡¯</em>

    In the end, all Minhyuk could do was sigh ruefully. This meant that he lost more than he had gained, since he had willingly filled the stomach of those wolves! However, Minhyuk had to admit that the rewards that he had received this time were tremendous. He had obtained +4 on all five basic stats, which was equivalent to gaining twenty stat points. In other words, it was like he had increased his level by four. Even Arakhan¡¯s Sword Mastery had increased by three levels!

    <em>(<strong>Arakhan¡¯s Sword Mastery</strong>)</em>

    <em>Passive Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: 7</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?There will be a 14% increase in both basic sword attack and speed.</em>

    <em>?There will be a 14% increase in basic attack when shing and stabbing an opponent.</em>

    <em>?There will be a 7% increase in attack for skills rted to swordsmanship.</em>

    <em>?There will be a 15% reduction of physical and skill damage of sword-rted attacks.</em>

    There was even another special effect added to the skill! The additional effect simply meant that Minhyuk would receive 15% less damage from any sword attack, whether a skill or pure physical damage. Moreover, Minhyuk¡¯s level had also increased by four. The amount of rewards that he had received this time was overall no different from a ten-level increase.

    Minhyuk was wrapped in light once again. When he opened his eyes, he was already in front of Arakhan. Seeing him, Minhyuk grumbled, ¡°I have something to do, so I¡¯ll be right back¡­¡±

    Min-<em>disappointed</em>-hyuk had appeared!

    ¡°Al¡­alright,¡± Arakhan said in confusion. However, he did not stop Minhyuk from leaving. After all, the Innocent Hero¡¯s Trial was a trial that allowed the challenger to go outside after clearing the trial ande back once they were ready.

    Just like that, Minhyuk left the Innocent Hero¡¯s Trial.

    ***

    Berdk Attack Base.

    There were currently 770 Kharamis soldiers stationed at Berdk. They had lost around thirty people not too long ago during the sudden raid by the Korean rankers. There were also around four hundred yers and more than six hundred ordinary NPC soldiers in the base. In total, they numbered close to two thousand!

    The attack base was being guarded and led by a Chinese yer by the name of Arohan. He was ranked ninth in the Chinese Rankings and was the owner of a fairly prestigious territory, although admittedly not as great as Nam Gungho¡¯s territory. He also ranked first in the Chinese Archer Rankings, and was quite good in strategies and tactics.

    ¡°How dare these Korean rat bastards covet Berdk?! Keuhahahahahaha!¡± Arohan guffawed as he admired the greatness of Berdk.

    They had been suddenly attacked by the Korean yers a few days ago! In fact, thetter had even brought a considerable number of NPCs with them. However, Berdk was not hailed as the strongest attack base for nothing. The overwhelming siege weapons mounted on the walls of the base were enough to inflict enormous damage to their enemies.

    That was not all. The general level of the Kharamis soldiers stationed in the base was above four hundred, far superior to Nam Gungho¡¯s NPCs. The only disadvantage was the fact that they were NPCs that lived in the Continent Cloud. In other words, they would truly die if they perished here. The Kharamis soldiers were also very difficult tomand. One had to have a decent REP and high CHA. This was the reason why Arohan had been unable to make them follow his orders when he had tried to recapture other attack and defense bases. They did not listen to him at all!

    As such, they had decided to just let them stay here in Berdk. However, the power that the Kharamis soldiers had shown them a few days ago was beyond their imagination. They felt like they were holding a golden treasure after acquiring Berdk here in the center!

    The Cairon Continent¡¯s momentum was at an all-time high. Of course, it was only natural for their yers to ride this wave and attack other bases around the center. With this, the gap between the Cairon and Asgan Continent had widened further. They even had a 6:4 ratio with just the base distribution alone.

    Just as Arohan was smiling at the thought¡­

    ¡°C¡­Commander! There¡¯s trouble!¡±

    A soldier rushed to him. Arohan looked at the soldier in doubt as he asked, ¡°What¡¯s the matter now? Did you see signs of the Asgan bastards trying to attack us again?¡±

    ¡°Th¡­that¡¯s not it. The, the food warehouse is¡­ is on fire.¡±

    ¡°What did you say?¡± Arohan asked, jumping from his seat in shock.

    Berdk¡¯s food warehouse had been filled with enough food tost them two months when they had first recaptured the base. But the soldier was telling Arohan that it was now on fire?

    ¡°Let¡¯s go and take a look,¡± Arohan said, rushing there only to see a huge fire devouring the food warehouse.

    ¡°What are you all gawking about?! Still not putting out the fire?!!!¡±

    <em>¡®Is this an error on our side or an enemy attack?¡¯</em>

    Arohan did not know which of the two was the answer, but what he knew was that they needed to put out the fire as soon as possible. It would be very troublesome if the food in their warehouse waspletely devoured by fire.

    That was right. Arohan thought that this matter was just ¡®something troublesome and annoying¡¯<em>.</em> After all, all they needed to do was transport a new batch of food supplies here.

    The mages rushed forward and tried to use their magic to put out the raging fire. But then¡­

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The food storage warehouse was suddenly engulfed in huge explosions.

    ¡°What, what the hell¡­?!¡±

    By now, Arohan had alreadye to the conclusion that this was their enemy¡¯s trick. Based on the results, it was highly likely that they had set up this trap to explode the moment they used magic to put out the fire.

    ck smoke continued to rise from the burning warehouse. Knowing that this was an enemy trick, Arohan quickly informed the other rankers about the situation. yers from the same country were in an alliance inside the Continent Cloud, which gave them a separate chatroom to discuss tactics and ns.

    <em>[<strong>Arohan</strong>: Berdk¡¯s food warehouse is currently on fire.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Koden</strong>: It¡¯s on fire?]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Kaius</strong>: If it¡¯s on fire¡­ is this done by Asgan Continent?]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Arohan</strong>: That¡¯s most probably the case.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Koden</strong>: It seems like they want to starve the soldiers of Berdk beforeunching an attack.]</em>

    Arohanpletely agreed with Koden¡¯s words. If that was the case, then they needed to deal with it quickly. The gears in his brain turned as he pondered over this matter.

    <em>[<strong>Arohan</strong>: The enemy will probably be split into two teams. One team will block our food supply route while the other will prepare to take down Berdk.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Koden</strong>: I think so too. Let¡¯s first send food to Berdk from the attack and defense bases in the vicinity. Berdk should also heighten its defenses.]</em>

    Arohan ended the conversation with a grin. He said, ¡°They¡¯re all doing the same thing. Why do they keep on using methods that won¡¯t work anymore?¡±

    Then, Arohan unfolded the Continent Cloud map that showed all of the ces that had been pioneered and explored. He thought, <em>¡®There are three possible routes.¡¯</em>

    Just like what Arohan thought, there were three routes that the yers of the Cairon Continent could use to send food rations to Berdk. However, the chances of the enemy troops trying to concentrate their strongest forces on a single route were almost zero. They were most likely just trying to intimidate them. After all, none of their forces would be able to return to the Continent Cloud in the event of their death.

    <em>¡®The NPCs from the Soldiers¡¯ Great Battle?¡¯</em>

    Arohan recalled those NPCs, but he thought that they would most likely be spread out, since they were going to divide their forces between those that would attack Berdk and those that would block their supply routes. If they truly split their forces, then there was no way that they would be able to stop the Cairon Continent forces. In other words, this tactic of their enemy waspletely meaningless in front of their overwhelming forces.

    Arohan giggled to himself,pletely unaware of the impending disaster.

    ***

    The Chinese divided their troops into three to deliver the food rations to Berdk. They moved along three separate routes. The person in charge of the troops aiming to take the third route, which was the fastest to Berdk, was none other than the talk of the town, Hu Yitian, the Ranker Destroyer.

    As they moved, the Chinesementators began to talk.

    <em>[The yers of Cairon Continent are telling us that they won¡¯t show any gaps.]</em>

    <em>[The moment Berdk¡¯s food warehouse got burnt down, they immediately deployed their troops to transport food. There are 2,000 troops on the first and second routes, and 3,000 troops on the third route.]</em>

    <em>[From what I heard, the troops will be stationed in Berdk after transporting the rations, in case of emergency.]</em>

    <em>[It seems like the Korean yers will block their supply routes.]</em>

    <em>[But if that¡¯s the case, then the yers from South Korea will be split into two groups. One to attack Berdk and another to block the supply routes.]</em>

    <em>[I think it¡¯s a meaningless tactic. If Berdk¡¯s food storage warehouse was burned down, then it¡¯s only natural that the yers of Cairon Continent would send supplies. As is the case right now.]</em>

    <em>[This tactic shows how foolish the yers of Asgan Continent are.]</em>

    Yes, this was the natural response after seeing the Koreans¡¯ tactic. If the food warehouse was set on fire, then the yers of Cairon Continent would most definitely transport food to Berdk. And once they transported the food to Berdk, the troops that transported it would be able to strengthen and enhance the defenses of the base.

    <em>¡®What can they even do with this strategy that¡¯s so easy to disrupt?¡¯</em>

    And there was also another thing. The yers of Asgan Continent did not have the power to stop the yers of Cairon Continent. That held even more true if their forces had to be split in two. So, why did they do something this irrational?

    <em>¡®Even if they block the supply routes with their rankers, they will just be forced to log out, never to set foot on the Continent Cloud.¡¯</em>

    ¡®<em>What the hell are they thinking?</em>¡¯

    The troops continued to march, lost in their thoughts, when they were suddenly plunged into a buzz.

    ¡°What? ck Mage Ali? Four Hyenas?¡±

    ¡°Yes! ck Mage Ali, the Four Hyenas, Lucia, Carr and Alicia are blocking the first route.¡±

    ¡°Why are there so many rankers?¡±

    <em>Whisper, whisper, whisper¡ª</em>

    Hu Yitian¡¯s brow furrowed at the voices of his troops. He thought, <em>¡®Have they lost their minds, what the hell?¡¯</em>

    From what he heard from their conversation, there were also a lot of troops stationed on the first route. Hu Yitian had also heard that thebined number of NPCs and yers was around two thousand. Even the top rankers stationed there numbered quite a few. Then, what about the second route? The third route?

    Then, anothermotion broke out among their ranks.

    ¡°Hey, they said that the members of the Let¡¯s Eat Sect are blocking the second route. Is that true?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s Eat Sect? Ah, the former Legend Guild? But, Genie is the only one that transferred to High ss among them, right? Can they even show their power there?¡±

    Hu Yitian¡¯s brows furrowed deeper at the words of the people around him.

    <em>¡®What in the world are they thinking?!!!!¡¯</em>

    Based on the current situation, it seemed like the enemy had concentrated a huge amount of their troops and forces on the first and second route. Hu Yitian decided to check the alliance GC for news. However, as he opened the window, he could see that the chat was in a huge uproar.

    <em>[<strong>Hai Lou</strong>: The Korean rankers must have gone crazy! There¡¯s a huge number of rankers on both route 1 and route 2!]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Caddy</strong>: Crazy¡­! Isn¡¯t thatpletely dumb? Don¡¯t they know that they¡¯ll eventually get pushed back if they do something like this?]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Hamen</strong>: That¡¯s definitely a stupid strategy. They ced most of their rankers on the first and second route? Why? To stop the food transport?]</em>

    Hu Yitian also agreed. It was definitely idiotic. Even if they fought for the transportation routes, they would eventually be pushed back and destroyed once the additional troops from Cairon Continent arrived. In the first ce, the yers from Cairon Continent were far superior to the Asgan rankers. This meant that the Asgan Continent was in a very disadvantageous situation.

    <em>¡®It seems like they have given up on the Continental War¡­¡¯</em>

    Just then¡­

    <em>[<strong>Keidi</strong>: The second route!!! More than half of the troops in the second route have been wiped out!!!]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Gallen</strong>: More than half of the members of the Let¡¯s Eat Sect have transferred to High ss!!! They¡¯re monstrous! We¡¯re helpless against them!!!]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The eyes of Hu Yitian and the other yers from Cairon Continent widened in shock.

    ¡°M¡­ more than half of the Let¡¯s Eat Sect have transferred to High ss?¡±

    ¡°Is¡­ isn¡¯t that something¡­ impossible?¡±

    ¡°The¡­ the troops going through the second route are currently being wiped out by the Let¡¯s Eat Sect!!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Hu Yitian gritted his teeth and thought, <em>¡®They¡­ tried to bait us¡­?¡¯</em>

    He could tell the reason why they had hidden their power. They wanted to catch their enemies off guard and create a huge impact. Just like that, the troops sent out in the second route had been wiped out. However, it did not end there.

    <em>[<strong>Arven</strong>: The first route!!! The countless rankers including ck Mage Ali have begun to push back our troops! There are also dozens of mines that exploded and engulfed our people!!!]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Kordna</strong>: The troops going through the first route are on the verge of being wiped out due to a powerful poison!!! Even the old man that killed White Lion and the pdin has joined the fray!!!]</em>

    <em>¡®What kind of strategy is this¡­?!¡¯</em>

    Hu Yitian could not understand, because he had only thought of one possibility. He had assumed that the other party was aiming to block the supply routes, starve the soldiers in Berdk, and recapture the base with the rest of their forces.

    The problem was the Asgan Continent¡¯s action did notply with their assumed strategy. What they did was use most of their forces to control the supply routes. Their actions only meant one thing¡­

    <em>¡®They never intended to attack Berdk¡­? No, that¡¯s also weird.¡¯</em>

    If that was the case, what benefit could they gain from that? Increasing their casualties? Showing off their hidden cards? No matter what they did, there was no benefit that could be reaped from this. So, why were they doing this?

    Then¡­

    ¡°O¡­ over there!¡±

    ¡°Hu¡­ Hu Yitian!!!¡±

    The troops that apanied Hu Yitian began to shout.

    The third supply route was the most dangerous route. This was because the troops had to brave through a route winding through canyons. Even so, it was the shortest and fastest route to Berdk. That was the reason why Hu Yitian and several of their strongest rankers were among the troops that were trying to pass through using this route.

    The soldier was pointing at the top of a canyon wall. When Hu Yitian looked over, he saw a man with his sword raised high, brimming with a powerful aura.

    ¡°M¡­Minhyuk!!!¡±

    ¡°It¡­it¡¯s the Food God!!!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s South Korea¡¯s top ranker!!!¡±

    This was the first ever appearance of the Food God in the Continent Cloud.

 Chapter 346: Spectacular Recapture

    Chapter 346: Spectacr Recapture

    ATV PD Kim Dae-Guk¡¯s heart started to thump wildly when the Food God appeared on the monitor. This was the first ever appearance of South Korea¡¯s top ranker after the opening of the Continent Cloud! He was standing on top of the canyon while looking down at his enemies. However, Kim Dae-Guk and the other ATV directors could not figure out what the Korean rankers wanted to do.

    ¡°What the hell are they thinking? Why did they focus their core forces on the first and second routes? Once the third route gets breached, South Korea will lose.¡±

    War was a battle of push and pull. It was not wise to send all of their troops at one go. Often, both sides had to use their wits and battle it out, one step at a time. That was the reason why they could not understand what Minhyuk and the rest of the rankers¡¯ current strategy was. But more than that¡­

    ¡°Hu Yitian¡­¡±

    <em>Grind¡ª</em>

    PD Kim Dae-Guk gritted his teeth as he recalled the arrogant words of Hu Yitian in one of the interviews. After all, PD Kim was very patriotic, so he could not help but get angry at Hu Yitian¡¯s words.

    <em>¡®Food God? I¡¯ll finish him within 20 seconds if he ever appears in front of me.¡¯</em>

    It was an outright mockery. That was why all of Korea''s citizens were furious at him. Even some of the Chinese yers criticized his arrogance. However, they were only the minority. The majority apuded Hu Yitian¡¯s lofty aspirations.

    <em>¡®We¡¯ll see¡­¡¯</em>

    yer Minhyuk appeared on the station''s official broadcast during Barach¡¯s hunt. ording to an anonymous post from a global ranker, the overwhelming skill that he had shown back then was a Pinnacle Skill. However, ording to the ranker¡¯s analysis, the Food God¡¯s skill was only a temporary power. This could be concluded from the sudden dramatic increase in his stats and skill back then. Because of that, they had concluded that he had not yet reached his peak. If theypared yer Minhyuk¡¯s strength to Hu Yitian''s, Hu Yitian might overwhelm him.

    <em>¡®However¡­¡¯</em>

    yer Minhyuk was a yer that had always created variables. Even though he believed that to be the case, PD Kim was still worried. He was currently looking at the first and second routes on the other monitors. Most of their country¡¯s rankers and NPCs were on those routes. As for the third route?

    <em>¡®I can¡¯t see anyone aside from yer Minhyuk.¡¯</em>

    Of course, the troops that he led were the strongest, but the Chinese¡¯s side had Hu Yitian and several other rankers too. They even had the Beijing Ghosts, a group of unofficial rankers, working with them.

    The ¡®Beijing Ghosts¡¯ was a group of four extremely strong unofficial rankers, their levels at around Level 530 and higher. To put it simply, they were like the Four Hyenas of Korea.

    Instead of worrying over those matters, PD Kim Dae-Guk decided to focus on the video that was being aired first.

    ***

    A smile appeared at the corners of Hu Yitian¡¯s lips.

    <em>¡®Food God Minhyuk.</em>¡¯

    He was hailed as the strongest ranker in South Korea after he defeated the unofficial strongest ranker, Carr, in <em>Athenae</em>: Korean War.

    However, Hu Yitian had beaten Carr. Besides, Hu Yitian was aware that Minhyuk did not even have a Half-Pinnacle skill in his arsenal. He hadpared himself to Minhyuk when he had hunted Barach and knew that he was far stronger than Minhyuk back then.

    The Chinesementators began to give their two cents.

    <em>[Not too long ago, Hu Yitian dered that he would make yer Minhyuk log out within 20 seconds. This caused a huge issue over the inte.]</em>

    <em>[It may sound a bit arrogant, but if you look at it the other way, you can consider it as a statement of confidence. After all, Hu Yitian has defeated a lot of Korean rankers.]</em>

    <em>[In fact, many rankers from all over the world raised their hands in support of yer Hu Yitian¡¯s statement about fighting yer Minhyuk.]</em>

    <em>[yer Hu Yitian can avoid most of his opponent¡¯s attacks with his high Evasion Rate. From what we have seen so far, it seems like his defense is extremely high too.]</em>

    <em>[There are also the Beijing Ghosts working together with Hu Yitian this time. Although our yers have failed to transport the food rations on the first and second routes due to the unexpected move from the Korean yers, it seems possible for us to breach through the third and fastest route.]</em>

    <em>[As long as they seed in one route, the Korean yers will face defeat.]</em>

    Just like what thementators had said, plenty of rankers from all over the world were cing their bets on Hu Yitian¡¯s victory.

    While they were busy discussing Hu Yitian¡¯s supposed victory, Minhyuk had already swung his sword brimming with power as he jumped down from the canyon. Then, the soldiers standing on top of the canyon began to shoot their arrows and magic spells.

    ¡°Get in the defensive formation!¡±

    ¡°Great Shield!!!¡±

    With Hu Yitian¡¯s cry, Ghost Mage, who was one of the Beijing Ghosts, stepped forward and created a huge shield,parable to a barrier due to itsrge size.

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng, ng!</em>

    At the same time, the golden leaves that fluttered around Minhyuk¡¯s sword began to fly towards them.

    <em>¡®During Barach¡¯s hunt, I recall that he created a barrier and ate some food to boost his abilities. And the skill that he used after doing all that, was that skill with the golden leaves.¡¯</em>

    From what Hu Yitian had gathered, the skill with the golden leaves was something that Minhyuk could use during the short duration of the buff that he had received. And its power¡­

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª</em>

    ¡­hit the Great Shield continuously until it waspletely broken. Hu Yitian immediately dashed forward to where Minhyuk hadnded. But before he could even reach him, a woman wearing a ck robe suddenly appeared behind Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®Who¡¯s that woman?¡¯</em> Hu Yitian thought in doubt.

    Hu Yitian was sure that the woman was not Saintess Loyna. Even if she was hailed as the Saintess, she was very vulnerable in battles. In fact, her steps were unusual as she went down the canyon.

    However, the woman did not run towards Hu Yitian. It was actually Minhyuk that weaved through the arrows and magic spells to dash towards Hu Yitian.

    <em>¡®Come, I¡¯ll show you who¡¯s the strongest!¡¯</em>

    At the same time, the people of China and South Korea, as well as the rest of the world, were all paying attention to this fight.

    <em>[From what it looks like, it seems to be true that yer Minhyuk would notst 20 seconds against Hu Yitian. Hu Yitian is one of the few yers that have learnt the Pinnacle.]</em>

    <em>[Hu Yitian¡¯s Evasion Rate and defense are extremely high. yer Minhyuk¡¯s attacks won¡¯t work.]</em>

    Hu Yitian immediately activated his skills after seeing Minhyuk dash towards him.

    <em>[Pinnacle Defense Arts]</em>

    <em>[Your defense will increase by 250% and your Evasion Rate will increase by 600% for one minute.]</em>

    A skill that could increase one¡¯s defense by two hundred and fifty percent, and Evasion Rate by six hundred percent, was a remarkable skill. With the increase in Evasion Rate, Hu Yitian could easily ignore half of his opponents¡¯ attacks. And that was on top of being an assassin, a ss that was well-known for their good evasion. For someone like Hu Yitian, who only needed to evade or defend easily, fighting another opponent was an easy job. He continued to cast his skills leisurely while Minhyuk ran towards him.

    He had vowed to finish Minhyuk off in twenty seconds! For him to do that, Hu Yitian needed to use his strongest one-shot kill skill. The skill had no cooldown, but it could only be used once every month. It also had a huge penalty that decreased all five of his basic stats by three points.

    <em>[Pinnacle Assassination]</em>

    <em>[Launches a sessful attack towards the enemy within two seconds, shaving off 95% of their HP and leaving them stunned for five seconds.]</em>

    It was a very shocking skill that could overwhelm anyone in a PVP! In fact, it was this skill that allowed Hu Yitian to be arrogant and make conceited remarks. On the other hand, a strong current of energy wrapped around Minhyuk¡¯s sword. It was the telltale sign of a skill being triggered.

    Hu Yitian counted in his head, <em>¡®One, two¡­¡¯ </em>as they both ran towards each other. By the four second mark, Hu Yitian watched as Minhyuk tried to swing his sword. However, the scene just brought a smirk to Hu Yitian¡¯s face.

    <em>¡®Heh! You won¡¯t be able to use that skill at all!¡¯</em> Hu Yitian thought as his dagger turned red, looking like it was dyed with blood. It was a sign of him executing the skill Pinnacle Assassination.

    <em>Fwooooooosh¡ª</em>

    The dagger equipped with the skill, Pinnacle Assassination, flew swiftly and urately pierced through Minhyuk¡¯s neck.

    ¡°Keheok!¡± Minhyuk groaned as blood dripped from his mouth, but he continued to run.

    <em>¡®So, it¡¯s true that stun does not affect him?¡¯</em>

    Hu Yitian had also investigated Minhyuk. From the videos and information that he had gathered, he assumed that Minhyuk had the power to ignore abnormal states. However, even without the stun effect, it would still be alright.

    Hu Yitian believed that Minhyuk¡¯s HP would be at 5% at most, after the strike. He could tell that Minhyuk had the skill to restore his HP and MP, as well as another skill that could revive himself. So, he knew that Minhyuk would immediately use his HP and MP recovery skills.

    To counter those, Hu Yitian used two skills of his own. Once he used that, only ten seconds would be left. However, he would be able to focus and concentrate on killing Minhyuk.

    Hu Yitian immediately dashed forward after the sessful attack. Minhyuk, who seemed to have staggered, sent out his skill.

    <em>¡®Six¡­¡¯</em>

    That was the amount of seconds that had passed since the two of them saw each other.

    Hu Yitian watched in confusion as Minhyuk brandished his sword. He suddenly could not understand the situation at all. Minhyuk raised his sword high up in the sky as dozens of sword lights covered with lightning began to rain down on them.

    <em>¡®Pinnacle¡­?¡¯ </em>Hu Yitian thought in disbelief.

    The Pinnacle Skill that Minhyuk had used before was definitely temporary. He also obviously did not receive the buff that could rapidly increase his strength. In other words, he did not have the power to use the skills that he used back then. So, howe he was able to use it? No, when Hu Yitian looked back, he found something strange. There was a woman that went down together with Minhyuk. Hu Yitian immediately turned his attention towards the woman, only to see a bright and white light covering the tips of her fingers.

    <em>¡®¡­!¡¯</em>

    The Pinnacle Skill, Sword of Lightning!!!! It suddenly poured down on Hu Yitian¡¯s body.

    <em>¡®It doesn¡¯t matter, my defense and Evasion Rate will be enough¡­¡¯</em>

    But then¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>[Your defense has been ignored by the sword attack.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    For a moment, Hu Yitian could not understand what the notification meant. In that moment of daze, his HP had already been cut down by twenty percent. And it did not end there.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Dozens of sword lights covered with lightning rained down on Hu Yitian. Hu Yitian swiftly weaved through the attack, running around as he evaded the sword lights. But at that moment¡­

    <em>[Goddess¡¯ Shackles]</em>

    <em>[Strong shackles will appear and restrict your movements.]</em>

    <em>[Your AGI has decreased by 20%.]</em>

    <em>¡®¡­!¡¯</em>

    Hu Yitian¡¯s resistance against abnormal states was already beyond anyone¡¯s imagination after he had reached the Pinnacle. In fact, no other ranker could make him suffer from an abnormal state.

    <em>¡®That woman¡­ what the hell¡­¡¯ </em>Hu Yitian thought, eyes widening in shock.

    By the eight second mark, Minhyuk¡¯s sword was already approaching Hu Yitian.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s a normal attack! As long as I get out of its range¡­!¡¯</em>

    Hu Yitian firmly believed that Minhyuk would not be able to cast a skill within that short period of time. Unfortunately, contrary to his expectations, a skill was cast.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Strong wind blew and tore through the surroundings, as a red current appeared and surrounded the sword in Minhyuk¡¯s hand. Just when Hu Yitian tried to block the sword with both of his daggers¡­

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    The tip of Minhyuk¡¯s sword was initially two meters away from him, but it suddenly pierced through his chest.

    ¡°Urrrk!¡±

    <em>Nine.</em>

    At the same time as Hu Yitian¡¯s vital point was pierced through and he copsed¡­

    ¡°D¡­die!!!¡±

    ¡°Attack that woman!!!¡±

    ¡°Focus on the Food God!!! Don¡¯t let your guard down against the robed woman!¡±

    The mysterious woman appeared behind Minhyuk and stood back to back with him as they both red at their enemies.

    <em>Shiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    The crisp, clear sound of the sword being drawn from the sheathe hanging on the woman¡¯s waist rang loudly in the surroundings.

    <em>aash!</em>

    The sound of Minhyuk cutting through Hu Yitian and the Ghost Knight, one of the Beijing Ghosts that tried to intercept his attack, also rang loudly.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    After the first attack, ten more attacks followed right after. And the attacks did not stop there.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang!</em>

    A huge lightning bolt fell from the sky and struck the man thrice, forcing him to log out. And when the woman brandished her sword, countless gigantic golden spears appeared in the sky and attacked the Ghost Mage, another member of the Beijing Ghosts.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab!</em>

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaack!¡±

    <em>Sixteen.</em>

    That was the amount of seconds it took for two Beijing Ghosts to die. Minhyuk looked at the remaining Beijing Ghosts that were rushing towards him as he stabbed his sword into the ground. At the same time, the woman ced her hand on Minhyuk¡¯s shoulder and granted him a buff.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    Hundreds of blooming sword lights appeared on the ground and engulfed the two Beijing Ghosts and the troops behind them.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Not long after, a huge explosion swept the entire area. The woman that appeared with Minhyuk was none other than the Bread Shuttle, Mei Wei.

    <em>Twenty. </em>

    That was the amount of seconds it took for them to dispose of the four Beijing Ghosts and Hu Yitian.

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    The chattering Chinesementators, as well as the so-called experts, no to be precise, <strong>X</strong>perts, all turned silent, as if a cat got their tongues.

 Chapter 347: Spectacular Recapture

    Chapter 347: Spectacr Recapture

    The Chinesementator Lin Tao gulped dryly.

    Exactly twenty seconds.

    Hu Yitian had arrogantly dered that it would take him only twenty seconds to finish off Food God Minhyuk. However, in that very same amount of time, Minhyuk, together with the mysterious woman, had finished off Hu Yitian and the four Beijing Ghosts.

    The experts on the various sites andmunities around the world, who imed that yer Minhyuk would be logged out within twenty seconds, all became silent. Even the chat windows in the Chinesemunity and portal sites were all frozen.

    <em>¡®What¡­ what the hell¡­?¡¯</em>

    Lin Tao could not believe what he saw, even after he rewatched the scene again. He wondered if it was really possible. And that mysterious woman? What was her identity? A hidden unofficial ranker?

    Lin Tao, as well as the countless Chinese citizens, never imagined that Mei Wei, the official number one yer in the Global Rankings and China¡¯s pride, was actually working as Minhyuk¡¯s bread shuttle.

    Then, a message was posted on the frozen, silent Chinesemunity chat window.

    <em>[South~~~ Korea! p, p! p, p, p!]</em>

    ***

    Minhyuk was fully aware that once the Korean yers set Berdk¡¯s food warehouse on fire, the Chinese would immediately set out to send food supplies and rations using the three supply routes. He also knew that others would find it difficult to take advantage of the situation.

    However, Minhyuk racked his brains and predicted several situations that could spring from this course of action. For one, he was sure that Hu Yitian would appear during the supply transport. He was also sure that Hu Yitian would choose the fastest, which was the third supply route.

    As for Hu Yitian, he had been confident that he would be able to finish Minhyuk within twenty seconds. However, he was unaware that the number one yer in the official Global Rankings, Mei Wei, had be Minhyuk¡¯s ally. After all, this was something that they had kept under wraps, and was only known to the members of the Let¡¯s Eat Sect.

    So, Minhyuk decided to block the route that Hu Yitian would take, together with Mei Wei. Minhyuk wanted to show them that in war, it was morale, not strong soldiers, nor amazing artifacts, that often yed an important role. Minhyuk wanted to boost the morale on their side.

    After all, he had Mei Wei, the strongest buff yer. Back when they hunted the Grim Reaper, the targeted buff that she used was limited, after using plenty of buffs on the hundreds of soldiers from As.

    But now, her MP was full, so she had plenty of targeted buff skills avable for use. Some of those included buffs that dramatically improved the skill, as well as buffs that could have a high probability of ignoring the opponent¡¯s defenses, or dramatically increasing attack.

    Thanks to Mei Wei¡¯s buffs, Minhyuk was able to temporarily reach the Pinnacle state once again, even without using the Food God¡¯s Recipe or the Berserk skill. With Mei Wei¡¯s help, Minhyuk was able to kill Hu Yitian, as well as the four Beijing Ghosts.

    The entire battlefield was plunged into silence the moment Hu Yitian and the four Beijing Ghosts died. After all, five of China¡¯s strongest members had died at once.

    ¡°Ah¡­ ah¡­¡±

    The yers and the NPCs under Hu Yitian¡¯smand could not move forward. No, it even looked like they were slowly retreating. But before they could do so, hundreds of arrows rained down from above the canyon.

    ¡°Aaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Save me!¡±

    Minhyuk and Mei Wei both took advantage of the chaos, as they ughtered the enemy troops that were on the third route.

    ***

    <em>[Breaking news! Most of the troops sent out to bring food supplies to Berdk have been wiped out!]</em>

    <em>[South Korea, the country said to be the weakest in Athenae, has gained andslide victory during their fight over the food supply routes.]</em>

    <em>[Let¡¯s Eat Sect Members, who are they? And just who is their Guild Master, Food God Minhyuk?]</em>

    Countless articles on the battle over the food supply routes towards Berdk had been released all over the world.

    Meanwhile, the Korean rankers that gained victory in the first route scuffle remained stationed where they were. Seeing this, a lot of people voiced their disagreement.

    <em>[Why are the Koreans only guarding the food supply routes?]</em>

    <em>[Perhaps they aren¡¯t interested in recapturing the Berdk attack base in the first ce?]</em>

    <em>[Ah, then, does that mean that they only wanted to bait the Chinese yers by blocking the supply routes?]</em>

    <em>[That sounds most likely. They won¡¯t get anything by guarding the supply routes, but they don¡¯t seem to have any intention of attacking Berdk.]</em>

    The Chinese yers all came down to one conclusion.

    <em>¡®The Koreans were not interested in Berdk in the first ce.¡¯</em>

    They just went there as a pretext to bait them. Because of this, the Chinese yers started to move with more caution. After all, they might be able to regain control of the food supply routes, as long as they were able to deal with the Koreans sessfully. However, they also expected that the resulting damage that they would receive would also be great.

    So, the Chinese yers just kept an eye on the Korean rankers that guarded the supply routes. It became a war of nerves. However, there was one person that aimed for the exact result, and that person was none other than Minhyuk.

    ***

    <em>¡®It¡¯s the third day today.¡¯</em>

    The Chinese and Korean yers had not moved an inch for three days, as they continued to monitor each other. So, what would happen now? The forces stationed in Berdk would definitely beining of hunger by now.

    Then, Minhyuk sent a whisper to Kaistra, who was stationed at As Territory.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Minhyuk</em></strong><em>: Kaistra. Let¡¯s start the operation.]</em>

    Kaistra, together with the soldiers left in As territory, began to move quickly. They were currently packing the dishes that Minhyuk had made a few days prior, into stainless steel lunch boxes while making sure to seal the boxes properly, to stop the contents from spilling.

    ¡°No matter what I think, it¡¯s really amazing,¡± Haze said in admiration.

    Haze was a girl that was adept at strategies and tactics, but she was still in awe of Minhyuk¡¯s strategy. She recalled the words that Minhyuk told her.

    <em>¡®What do you think will happen if we block the supply routes? China will believe that we did not have any intention of attacking Berdk at all, and they will monitor the situation until we are at a standstill. If that happens, the soldiers stationed in Berdk will definitely suffer from hunger.¡¯</em>

    That was right. If the soldiers could not eat anything for two to three days, then they would start toin about their hunger.

    <em>¡®In fact, the Kharamis soldiers are not like your regr NPCs. They are not the subordinates of the yers of Cairon Continent, and are only on the Chinese¡¯s side, because they captured Berdk first.¡¯</em>

    Haze smiled and thought, <em>¡®Their allegiance to theirmander is superficial at most.¡¯</em>

    As for the lunch boxes that they were making right now¡­

    Locke, who was also packing the lunch boxes, said, ¡°Don¡¯t you think that it¡¯spletely like that?¡±

    ¡°That?¡±

    Locke kindly exined to the confused Haze. He said, ¡°In the foreigners¡¯ world, Korea is divided into North Korea and South Korea. However, the people of our country dislike the leaders of North Korea, and not their citizens. So, we try to help them in our own ways.¡±

    Haze listened attentively to Locke¡¯s words.

    ¡°So, volunteer organizations would often put rice in water bottles and stuff some USB sticks in them, before letting them flow down the river for those that are suffering from food shortage over on that side. Then, they would take those stic bottles filled with rice and eat it. This is our people¡¯s way of telling them that <em>¡®We don¡¯t hate you.¡¯</em>. It also shows them that there¡¯s a different world that they could experience together with us, through the dramas, music, and movies on the USB.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    Haze smiled. The strategy that they were using was truly simr to that. They were announcing that there was a new world out here. Meanwhile, Great Sage Aruvel also began to write snippets of ¡®Why Did the Prince Go Out Tonight?¡¯ on the back of the lunch boxes.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°Promoting my work,¡± Aruvel said, grinning.

    Locke rubbed his chin and thought, <em>¡®Hooo? Isn¡¯t that genius?¡¯</em>

    Just like that, hundreds of lunch boxes were packed.

    ***

    At Berdk Attack Base.

    Comints began to ring out from one ce to another.

    ¡°H¡­hungry¡­!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m so hungry, I feel so weak.¡±

    During exhausting training or war, the only thing that the soldiers looked forward to was meal time. These soldiers also consume a lot of food, usually around twice or thrice that of a normal person. Unfortunately, they had run out of food and were in a terrible state of hunger.

    ¡°If¡­if only I can just take a sip of some warm soup¡­ I won¡¯t wish for anything more¡­ ¡±

    ¡°Me¡­ me too¡­!¡±

    ¡°Kgghk~ I also want to eat some well-baked garlic bread with that!!!¡±

    Because of that, notifications rang for Berdk¡¯smander, Arohan.

    <em>[The soldiers are suffering from hunger.]</em>

    <em>[All of the soldiers¡¯ stats will be reduced by 10%.]</em>

    <em>[The soldiers¡¯ morale has decreased.]</em>

    <em>[The soldiers have started toin.]</em>

    Even the reports of the centurions and the knights kept oning!

    ¡°If you don¡¯t feed them quickly, our troops will starve to death!¡±

    ¡°Wait. Just wait a bit more, the food wille.¡±

    However, even if Arohan said that, the other rankers seemed to have given up on transporting food.

    <em>[<strong>Hai Lou</strong>: The supply routes are blocked so there¡¯s no way for us to go there as of the moment. I think it¡¯s better to give out the food that the yers currently have. Endure a bit more.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Keidi</strong>: I think you guys canst a few more days, right? Anyone can survive for a week with just water alone.]</em>

    From the tone of their voice, it sounded like they were not worried at all. But a few more days? That was not the problem. The Kharamis soldiers were starting to be more violent as their hunger intensified.

    Also, the food that the yers had was already used up. After all, which yer would carry dozens of kilograms of food like Minhyuk? Regr yers would only carry food that wouldst them two or three days. Some would even just bring rations and easy to eat food when hunting.

    However, Arohan still hoped. He thought, <em>¡®The food that I asked for ising.¡¯</em>

    He had asked for the assassin rankers to stock up on food and bring it to Berdk. They were on their way, so it would definitely be a good solution to their problems! However, the whisper that he received gave him a shocking blow.

    <em>[<strong>Arin</strong>: Lucia, the Assassin of the Moon, was hiding around Berdk Castle. It seems like there were yers lurking around the castle. All of the assassins have been wiped out.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Carran</strong>: They have no intention of attacking Berdk, but they blocked the transport of food to the castle, they even hid themselves in ambush. There¡¯s nothing we can do about it.]</em>

    The South Korean assassins did not allow the Chinese yers to enter the vicinity. Everything was in a total mess.

    ***

    Eisden, one of the soldiers in Berdk, had a huge appetite. He usually ate a lot more than the others. As part of the Kharamis soldiers, their workload was intense. He would get dizzy if he missed even a single meal.

    With his hungry andining stomach, Eisden wandered around the city walls in the middle of the night to distract himself.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m starving.¡¯</em>

    Just as the thought shed in his head¡­

    <em>Plop¡ª</em>

    ¡­something fell down from nearby.

    ¡°Wh¡­ who¡¯s that?!¡± Eisden shouted, turning his head quickly to look at his surroundings. However, all he saw was something glittering under the re of the light.

    Eisden cautiously approached the glittering object. A delicious aroma wafted to his nose as he lifted the object. It was none other than a lunch box. When he opened the lid, there was fried shrimp, fried rice, fried kimchi and karaage inside. Ovee with hunger, Eisden hurriedly ate up the food in the lunch box. He did not even bother to check where it came from.

    <em>¡®My¡­ my goodness! I have never tasted a more delicious lunch box than this¡­!¡¯</em>

    It was a lunch box that fell from the sky when he was famished! And it was delicious! Smacking his mouth, Eisden finally found a note that was attached to the lunch box. He failed to notice it earlier because of his hunger.

    <em>[Did you enjoy the lunch box? This lunch box is specially prepared for you, who¡¯s very hungry. We would like to give you this lunch box every day. Please make sure to share this with yourrades. We will make sure to send enough to you every day. But, there are conditions. Please don¡¯t let the foreigners know about it.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Eisden pondered for a moment. Theirmander, Arohan, was a foreigner. He wondered if he should report this or not? Just when Eisden fell into a dilemma, the pads of his fingers felt the texture of paper attached to the back of the lunch box. He quickly flipped the lunch box and read the paper.

    <em>[<strong>Why Did the Prince Go Out Tonight </strong>(Snippet)</em>

    <em>Tonight was a sleepless night for the Prince. He had been thinking about her desperately and had no choice, but to sneak out of the castle in the middle of the night again to go to her house.</em>

    <em>She did not sleep. It was as if she knew that he wasing, that was why she waited for him. The two of them shared a fierce and passionate kiss as they headed towards the bed. The bed creaked, her moans ringing loudly in the darkness of the night as sweat dripped down her body¡­]</em>

    ¡°<em>Gulp¡ª</em>¡°

    Eisden gulped unconsciously as he read through the note, concentrating deeply on the words! But, why did the text end there?!

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    <em>¡®No! How could you stop there?! What did they do for the bed to creak violently? I¡¯m hungry! And curious!¡¯</em>

    He was very curious about the things that made the bed creak loudly. Eisden hadpletely fallen for the food and the story!

 Chapter 348: Spectacular Recapture

    Chapter 348: Spectacr Recapture

    Eisden was very, <em>very </em>curious! As if to pique his curiosity further, there were additional words on the note.

    <em>[If you don¡¯t divulge this to the foreigners, I will send you the next part along with the lunch boxes. ¡ªFrom the best-selling author, Aruvel.]</em>

    Eisden hurriedly left the ce and jumped inside his sleeping bag to get to sleep.

    ¡°I¡¯m hungry¡­¡±

    ¡°I feel like I will die from hunger¡­¡±

    The voices of Eisden¡¯srades-in-arms rang loudly throughout the base, making him feel guilty. The note had told him that they would give them lunch boxes everyday, in exchange for not telling the foreigners about it. Eisden agonized about the choice that he should make.

    <em>¡®No. I have to let them know. Ha. This might be an enemy trying to sow discord,¡¯ </em>Eisden thought. He vowed to report that the enemy had employed a strange strategy the first thing tomorrow, when the sun rose. So, he tried to sleep, but failed to do so.

    <em>¡®That perfectly warm karaage¡­ The crunchy skin and the juicy meat inside¡­ theyplemented each other perfectly¡­ the taste inside my mouth was divine.¡¯</em>

    This thought shed in Eisden¡¯s head as he tossed around.

    <em>¡®Aaaaah. That fried rice too, how can it be like that¡­¡¯</em>

    His lips smacked unknowingly at the thought.

    <em>¡®I¡¯d rather not say anything about the lunch box¡­¡¯</em>

    ¡®<em>No! That¡¯s a very dangerous thing to do.</em>¡¯

    That was what Eiden told himself as he shook his head vehemently! So, he swept it out of his mind and tried to sleep again. However, this time, something else floated in his mind.

    <em>¡®The creaking bed¡­ the two people sweating on top of it¡­ I wonder what happened there?!!¡¯</em>

    Eisden could not sleep from the curiosity and thoughts running wildly through his mind. This went on until the next day befell upon the base.

    Meanwhile, inside Eisden¡¯s dream¡­

    <em>¡®Ooooh, Prince Eisden!!!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®My love is only for you, Benjamin!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Prince!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Benjamin!¡¯</em>

    ¡­that he became the protagonist of the story ¡®Why Did the Prince Go Out Tonight?¡¯. Eisden dreamed that he was hugging Benjamin tightly. The bed creaked loudly as they made love all night long.

    <em>Blink¡ª</em>

    When he opened his eyes¡­

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡­Eisden immediately ran to the bathroom after ncing at his pants.

    <em>¡®Ugh! Doing this at my age¡­!¡¯</em> Eisden grumbled as he crouched down to hand-wash his underwear.

    While washing his underwear, Eisden thought, <em>¡®Whoever that was, they really know how to drive one crazy¡­!¡¯</em>

    He originally wanted to report to Commander Arohan at the break of dawn but right now¡­!

    <em>¡®Let¡¯s just look at the situation first and read the next part of the story!¡¯</em>

    That was right. This was the lunch box filled with Minhyuk¡¯s cooking and Aruvel¡¯s novel ¡®Why Did the Prince Go Out Tonight¡¯, that fascinated and hooked Eisden sessfully!

    ***

    That day, Eisden did not inform his higher-ups about the lunch box. He waited and loitered around the walls, in both hunger and curiosity.

    <em>Plop¡ª</em>

    Just like yesterday, a lunch box filled with food was sent over from the wall.

    <em>¡®I think there¡¯s less food than yesterday?¡¯ </em>Eisden thought as he gulped down the food in a hurry. Then, he flipped the lunch box over to check the contents of the note written on its back.

    <em>[<strong>Why Did the Prince Go Out Tonight</strong> (Snippet)</em>

    <em>The two of them shared a night of hot and passionate love and weed a sweet and blissful morning. They felt happy to wee the sunshine in each other¡¯s arms. However, it was time for the Prince to go back. He reluctantly kissed her forehead and made his way back to the castle. </em>

    <em>At that moment, the Emperor, the Prince¡¯s father, noticed his abnormality. He immediately sent the knights to her house.]</em>

    ¡°¡­Aaaaah! This is really driving me crazy!¡± Eisden roared, jumping in anger.

    <em>¡®Look at this massive cliff hanger?! My goodness, is this what you wanted to do with your readers?! Isn¡¯t it only right for the writer to send more content to satisfy the readers¡¯ curiosity?¡¯</em>

    As those thoughts shed in his head, an additional note caught his attention.

    <em>[Starting today, we will deliver lunch boxes for all the soldiers to eat. Let yourrades know about it so they could satisfy their hunger. We will also make sure to send you a lunch box tomorrow. Remember, do not tell the foreigners about this. EVER.]</em>

    <em>¡®The curiosity is killing me¡­!¡¯</em>

    What happened to Benjamin when the knights went to her house?!! With this curiosity driving him, Eisden hurriedly informed hisrades about the lunch box. When they appeared next to the dark walls, lunch boxes began to drop down from the sky.

    The next morning, the bathroom was crowded with people.

    <em>Tap, tap, tap, tap¡ª</em>

    Hundreds of Berdk soldiers stood in line with their underwear in hand! They chatted with each other as they hand-washed their underwear.

    ¡°I wonder what happened to Benjamin?¡±

    ¡°The Emperor must not like the fact that the Prince, a noble existence, fell in love with her, amoner. Maybe he¡¯s going to kill her on the spot?¡±

    ¡°No way! The novel hasn¡¯t reached its climax yet!¡±

    The soldiers were curious. However, none of them reported this incident to the foreigners. All they did was wait for the next night toe.

    ***

    Commander Arohan was filled with doubt. He thought, <em>¡®It seems like the faces of the Kharamis soldiers are full of vigor these days. But, they¡¯re definitely suffering from hunger. What¡¯s going on?¡¯</em>

    Something has changed among the soldiers. It was evident on the smiles constantly stered on their faces. Arohan felt like he was looking at people that had their eyes opened to a new world after going to a bar as an adult!

    However, their hunger still remained. This was because Minhyuk and the As soldiers reduced the amount of food that they sent over by a very small margin. Besides, they only delivered food once a day, so the Berdk soldiers were still hungry. This was to make them hunger for more. As a result, no Kharamis soldier reported to Arohan about the current situation. Still, how could there be hungry, yet happy, soldiers?

    <em>¡®Did they all go crazy?¡¯</em> Arohan thought, doubt lingering on his face.

    This was the fifth day since China and Korea¡¯s sh over the supply routes.

    ***

    In the middle of the night.

    The soldiers hurriedly chowed down the food in their lunch boxes. They divided themselves into two groups. One group would guard, while the other group would eat and read. They would switch after. In a way, they were thorough and meticulous about the whole process.

    After eating his lunch box, Eisden hurriedly turned over the box.

    <em>[<strong>Why Did the Prince Go Out Tonight</strong> (Snippet)</em>

    <em>The knights forced Benjamin on her knees.</em>

    <em>¡°You b*tch, do you know the person that you dared to love?!¡±</em>

    <em>However, Benjamin did not falter in front of the knights. </em>

    <em>¡°Is love a sin?¡±</em>

    <em>¡°Your love is equivalent to high treason.¡±</em>

    <em>¡°Then I will die for it. But I have no regrets. He loves me and I love him. Even if I die, that truth will still remain.¡±</em>

    <em>Her love was not something that death could stop. Even if she died, her love for him would remain steadfast.</em>

    <em>¡®I love you, my Prince.¡¯</em>

    <em>She slowly closed her eyes and epted her imminent death. But just when the knight¡¯s sword was about to fall¡­</em>

    <em>aaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>A sword suddenly appeared out of nowhere and parried the knight¡¯s sword. A man had appeared in front of her.</em>

    <em>¡°Stay behind me. Benjamin.¡±</em>

    <em>It was her Prince.]</em>

    ¡°N¡­ no¡­!¡±

    ¡°D¡­ don¡¯t cut it here!!!¡±

    ¡°A¡­aaaaaaack!¡±

    The soldiers allmented. They could not believe that there was a novel that always kept them hooked everyday!

    ¡°This writer is a genius!!!¡±

    ¡°I know! I know exactly how you feel!!!¡±

    The soldiers were all in awe at the writer¡¯s skill. And just like the other days, there was an additional note attached to the box. However, the contents of the note brought a whole new level of shock to the soldiers.

    <em>[Will you lend us your strength?]</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    The soldiers stared at the note in horror.

    <em>¡®How dare you try to bewitch us?!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®This is bullshit!¡¯</em>

    And yet, they kept on reading the note. After all, they knew that they would not be able to read the next part of the story anymore if they ignored this!

    <em>[If youe to our side, we promise to give you three delicious meals a day. Also, there are twopleted books by Author Aruvel entitled ¡®Today, the Wild Horse Runs¡¯ and ¡®The Princess and Ondal the Fool¡¯ that will be given to you for free.]</em>

    ¡°I will volunteer to be your strength right now!¡± Eisden shouted unknowingly, his heart pumping in excitement.

    <em>¡®Ah! I really wanted to see hispleted works ¡®The Princess and Ondal the Fool¡¯ and ¡®Today, the Wild Horse Runs¡¯!¡¯</em>

    However, that was just something that he said in the heat of the moment. The soldiers still analyzed things rationally.

    ¡°But, can we really do that?¡±

    ¡°In the first ce, we aren¡¯t on the side of any continent. Right?¡±

    That was true. They really did not belong to either of the two continents. They were just supporting whoever that captured Berdk first for a while.

    ¡°In fact, Commander Arohan just sees us as tools. But, if we work under these people, then we will be able to continue eating these delicious meals and reading the fascinating works of that author named Aruvel.¡±

    ¡°Th¡­ then, will I be able to get an autograph?¡±

    ¡°I think so?¡±

    ¡°Oh¡­ ooooooh!!!¡±

    The fans of Aruvel¡¯s works were burning with determination!!! Their decision was slowly setting in stone. So, they kept on reading the note.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s going to be tomorrow¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Tomorrow¡­¡¯</em>

    The soldiers double-checked the word <em>¡®tomorrow¡¯</em> written at the end of the note.

    ***

    Arohan was suddenly put in a flustering situation. There was a change between the Chinese and Korean yers that were engaged in a battle of nerves! ording to the Chinese yers keeping watch on the situation, the yers of Asgan Continent that blocked the supply routes had started to retreat.

    <em>¡®Perhaps¡­¡¯</em>

    They were most likely going to attack Berdk. As themander, he hurriedly gave his order for his men to prepare for battle, while the Kharamis soldiers were sent to man the siege weapons and be on standby.

    Arohan kept on monitoring the situation through the words of their allies in the chat window.

    <em>[<strong>Hai Lou</strong>: They¡¯re giving up the supply routes to attack Berdk!]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Kenny</strong>: I don¡¯t know what they¡¯re trying to do. They should know that we¡¯ll be able to catch up to them anyway.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Hai Lou</strong>: Berdk, a gigantic attack base, is in our hands and we¡¯re chasing them from behind. We¡¯ll be able to kill all of these idiots at once! Hahahahahaha!]</em>

    The Chinese yers were delighted. They immediately gave chase the moment the Korean yers pulled back from the supply routes. The Korean yers would definitely be hit with Berdk¡¯s siege weapons once they reached Berdk. Once that happened, the Chinese yers that were chasing them from behind would be able to finish them off. They were very confident that South Korea would finally face their defeat in this fight.

    Arohan, who was standing on the ramparts, looked at the Korean yers flocking to Berdk from all over the ce.

    <em>¡®Morons!!!¡¯</em>

    Arohan smiled menacingly as he gave his orders, ¡°Send orders for the Kharamis soldiers to use the siege weapons.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    There were more than three thousand Asgan troops dashing forward in a reckless manner. In this situation, the siege weapons would definitely y a huge role and show their ridiculous might! Despite the siege weapons¡¯ tremendous power, they were soplicated and difficult to operate, that only the Kharamis soldiers could use them.

    In an instant, the Korean yers had already reached their vicinity.

    ¡°Fire! Fire!¡± Arohan shouted loudly to the point that the veins in his neck popped as he covered his ears in preparation for the loud booming sounds that would erupt, spelling the downfall of their enemies! However, the siege weapons did not fire, even after quite some time had passed.

    <em>¡®D¡­ don¡¯t tell me¡­?¡¯</em>

    Arohan wondered if the soldiers had passed out from hunger. After all, there was a huge possibility of that happening.

    <em>¡®Were they aiming for this?¡¯</em>

    However, even if that was the case, Arohan was sure that the Korean yers would be ughtered by the Chinese yers that were chasing them from behind.

    In a blink of an eye, all three thousand Asgan troops arrived at Berdk.

    ¡°Men, load your bows and shoot the enemy troops! Mages! Let your magic run wild!¡± Arohan ordered his men as he watched the Cairon yers and troops advancing from behind their enemies. From his estimate, there were at least four thousand of his alliesing towards Berdk!

    <em>¡®Fufufufufu!¡¯</em>

    Arohan chuckled at the thought of his enemies¡¯ defeat. Just then, an ominous sound rang loudly in the surroundings.

    <em>Creak, creak, creak, creak¡ª</em>

    It was the sound of creaking machinery as the ground vibrated. Arohan thought that the siege weapons were being activated. However, that was not the case at all! It was the huge gate located at the center of Berdk¡¯s ramparts! The gates had opened on their own!

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Arohan looked at the gates in disbelief as thousands of Asgan troops rushed inside the base.

    ¡°<em>Heoook</em><em>!</em>¡±

    The nightmare was far from over. Even the siege weapons also began activating. Just a single attack from any of Berdk¡¯s siege weapons wasparable to a falling meteor. Then, the magic catapult was triggered.

    <em>Vwoooooong¡ª</em>

    A gigantic ming stone, akin to a falling meteor, soared through the air. Its size seemed to increase in the eyes of the Cairon forces, and as the meteor fell¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaang!</em>

    ¡­death and screams were everywhere!

    ¡°Wh¡­ what the hell?¡± Arohan asked dumbly, unable toprehend the situation in front of him.

    ***

    <em>Creak, creak, creak, creak!</em>

    Minhyuk, together with the Korean rankers, rushed inside Berdk the moment the huge gates opened.

    All of the rankers were looking at Minhyuk with awe and admiration. They could not believe that it only took him 12 minutes and 30 seconds to recapture Berdk.

    Then, Minhyuk raised his sword high up in the sky as he shouted. His voice rang loudly for the people watching the broadcast on their screens. He said, ¡°We have recaptured Berdk!!!¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaah!¡±

    Thunderous roars shook the ground as they cheered.

    Meanwhile, the rest of the world were all dumbstruck, not understanding how the gates of Berdk could open on their own for the Asgan forces to enter.

 Chapter 349: Spectacular Recapture

    Chapter 349: Spectacr Recapture

    South Korea had sessfully recaptured Berdk, thergest attack base in the Continent Cloud! The thing that made thementators from both the Chinese side and the Korean side shocked was the fact that they only took less than 13 minutes to take over.

    After getting over the shock, the Koreanmentators shouted excitedly...

    <em>[Th¡­they have sessfully recaptured thergest attack base under yer Minhyuk¡¯s lead!!!]</em>

    <em>[My goodness!!! Something incredible just happened in front of my eyes. Did you see that?! Berdk opened their gates by themselves!]</em>

    <em>[What the hell! I don¡¯t even have the slightest clue about what¡¯s going on right now!]</em>

    It was only natural that the whole world was shocked and dazed by the events that unfolded.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk led the other yers inside Berdk with a small smile hanging on his lips. They had controlled the supply of food to Berdk by blocking the supply routes. This made the Kharamis soldiers suffer from hunger. The Chinese yers had no choice but to fight against the Korean yers to get through the supply routes.

    However, while they were busy trying to pierce through the supply routes, the Koreans were already seducing the Kharamis soldiers with their lunch boxes. The most important part of this strategy was slowly reducing the amount of food that they sent over every time. If the amount of food in their lunch boxes decreased over time, the Kharamis soldiers would still remain hungry. In fact, they would feel even worse than not eating anything at all.

    The note that Minhyuk sent to the Kharamis soldiers informed them to open Berdk¡¯s gate and attack the Chinese yers with their siege weapons if they wanted to help them. This was because Minhyuk had predicted that the Chinese yers would chase after the Korean yers.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s no way that they¡¯ll give this opportunity up.¡¯</em>

    If the yers from Asgan Continent ran to Berdk, the Chinese yers believed that the Koreans would be attacked with Berdk¡¯s siege weapons. Once the yers of Cairon Continent gave chase and hit them from behind, then the Chinese would be able to kill everyone in one fell swoop. But, what if the tables had turned?

    <em>¡®We can gain aplete victory.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk advanced with the rest of the Korean rankers. Soldiers with their heads bowed lined up in the streets and greeted them. They were the Berdk soldiers that decided to side with Minhyuk. This sight brought infinite shock to the Korean rankers that were walking with Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®How did this happen¡­¡¯ </em>Alicia thought. She had always been slightly skeptical of Minhyuk¡¯s ns. After all, no matter how hungry the soldiers were, would they willingly give up their castle just like that? What more if they asked the soldiers to be on their side? Seeing this, Alicia felt that Minhyuk¡¯s back looked very wide and reliable after seeing everything that he nnede to fruition.

    Minhyuk, together with the people that came with him, began to drive out the Chinese yers that were stationed inside the base.

    ***

    ¡°Load!¡± The Centurion shouted loudly as the Kharamis soldiers began to load their siege weapons.

    These siege weapons were magical tools! These weapons were created by cksmith Ruka, a cksmith known to have a transcendental power. At the same time, he was an aplished mage, and was known to be the best at creating siege weapons among the cksmiths that existed during his time. However, there was one problem. The siege weapons that Ruka had created were very difficult to activate. Only the Kharamis soldiers, who had devoted themselves to Berdk¡¯s defense at a young age, were able to learn how to activate and use Ruka¡¯s siege weapons.

    ¡°Fire!¡°

    <em>Puhaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Huge stones, loaded with Ruka¡¯s magic, were fired from the catapults, one after the other. The stones grewrger as zing mes covered their surfaces, before falling in the midst of the enemies.

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    And that was not the end of it. Twenty soldiers groaned as they loaded what seemed to be a gigantic spear into the siege weapon. There were around twenty volleys of these gigantic spears, that had as much power as an AOE magic skill of quite a few rankers.

    <em>Shwooooooooooooosh¡ª</em>

    The Kharamis soldiers loaded the spears and fired them all at the same time.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The huge spears flew sharply through the air, beforending in the middle of the enemy camp.

    <em>Rip, rip, rip, rip¡ª</em>

    ¡°Euaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keheok!¡±

    ¡°Urk!¡±

    Instead of stabbing the enemies, the spearsunched from Berdk¡¯s siege weapons would tear and rip apart the enemies. A single shot of this spearid dozens of their enemies to waste.

    ***

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Gigantic spears flew towards the area where the majority of the troops from Cairon Continent had gathered, effectively ripping the soldiers¡¯ bodies into pieces as screams rang loudly in the area.

    Airen, the current strategicmander, could not understand the situation. He thought, <em>¡®Berdk was recaptured¡­?¡¯</em>

    Even the Kharamis soldiers stationed in Berdk were targeting them with the siege weapons mounted on the walls of the base. The Chinese might have chased after the Koreans from behind, but they were now being overwhelmed in terms of firepower. Arohan also told them that their enemies wereing to kill him in the alliance chat.

    <em>¡®W¡­we¡¯re in trouble.¡¯</em>

    Berdk, located in the center of the Continent Cloud, was both a key offensive and strategic base. What would happen if their enemies took over that ce? The future might be dark for them.

    However, the question now was whether they could break through Berdk¡¯s siege weapons to recapture the base. Airen concluded that it was impossible. Perhaps, it would be possible if all of the Chinese yers present in the Continent Cloud joined forces. But that was impossible. Even the four thousand troops that they brought along had already dispersed. It was obvious that they would be wiped out even before they could step foot through the gates of Berdk castle.

    ¡°R¡­ retreat!!!¡±

    ¡°Retreat!¡±

    Airen was one of the unofficial rankers in China, standing strong at Level 561. He had long finished transferring into a High ss and was very confident of his strength. Airen was sure that the Chinese people would definitely cheer as long as they killed and annihted the Korean rankers. However, the situation that they were facing right now waspletely different.

    Airen was now wondering how much of his troops could get away safely. The moment he issued his orders, the Chinese yers immediately dispersed and ran back to where they came from.

    Unfortunately, the route that they had taken safely previously was altered by Smooth, the Poison Master, and Roadol, the Trap Specialist. They were lying in wait for the yers of Cairon Continent to pass through so they could trigger the huge amount of explosives and poison that they had set up. The worst part about this was the fact that Smooth and Roadol had coborated! Just like that, the retreating Cairon Continent yers were engulfed in a huge explosion the moment they stepped on their path of retreat!

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¡ª!</em>

    A huge mushroom of smoke bloomed in the sky. To the horror of the troops of Cairon Continent, the smoke was green.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Airen quickly turned to look at the situation. There were around 2,900 Chinese yers remaining. He thought that he should at least save 2,500 out of that number, but a huge explosion suddenly engulfed them!

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The yers of Cairon Continent stepped on Roadol¡¯s nted mines one after the other, triggering a series of explosions.

    There was a yer lying in ambush, and he muttered, ¡°Wind.¡±

    The wind blew strongly and carried the green smoke brought about by the huge explosion through the air, and entered the lungs of the unsuspecting yers of Cairon Continent.

    <em>[You have inhaled the poison of a Poison Master.]</em>

    <em>[You will experience a 40% decrease in AGI, and a 30% decrease in magical defense and physical defense.]</em>

    <em>[Your mind is starting to waver and lose focus from the extreme poison.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP drops by 0.8% every second due to the effects of the extreme poison.]</em>

    ¡°Keheok!¡±

    ¡°Urkkkk!¡±

    The yers of Cairon Continent grabbed their throats as they desperately tried to cough out the poison that entered their systems. Their speed dramatically decreased as they continued to run away. Some even drank their antidotes in a hurry.

    However, even if they drank the antidotes, the poison still floated in the air, which turned their vision hazy. Then, someone used Wind again, helping the poison infiltrate the Cairon yers¡¯ systems more deeply.

    The yer that used Wind was none other than ck Mage Ali, who was sitting on top of the gigantic Predatory Snake! When he transferred sses and became the descendant of the Great Mage Moldoron, he gained the Predatory Snake as his subordinate, as well as a new spell, called <em>¡®Snake¡¯s Amusement¡¯.</em>

    <em>[Snake¡¯s Amusement]</em>

    <em>[Hundreds of snakes will appear and bite your enemies, consuming their HP to convert into your own HP and MP.]</em>

    <em>[If the snakes seeds in biting ten consecutive enemies, the cooldown for all of your magic spells will be reduced by 1%.]</em>

    <em>[A 70% decrease in physical defense and magical defense, as well as a 50% decrease in HP will be incurred as a penalty.]</em>

    Snake¡¯s Amusement was a very valuable and useful skill during arge-scale war. It was somewhat simr to Mana Drain, a skill that could take away the enemy¡¯s mana. The difference was that while Mana Drain was a skill that would only target a single person, Snake¡¯s Amusement was a skill that would release hundreds of snakes, which meant that it could target hundreds of enemies.

    Ali swung his staff wildly, each swing apanied by dozens of snakes. In the blink of an eye, hundreds of snakes slithered around in search of prey.

    ¡°Chwiiiiik¡ª!¡±

    ¡°Chwiiiiiik¡ª!¡±

    <em>Bite!</em>

    <em>Bite!</em>

    The snakes swiftly crawled on the ground, biting the thighs, calves, sides, and even the faces of the Cairon troops that bent down to wash away the poison from their bodies.

    <em>[Converting your enemy¡¯s HP to your MP.]</em>

    <em>[Your snakes have sessfully bitten ten enemies, cooldown has been decreased by 1%.]</em>

    The cooldown for Ali¡¯s spells was already significantly shorter than other mage yers, and with this, he could easily go on a rampage with his magic spells. So, he went wild.

    ¡°Hell Fire!!!!¡±

    Each of Ali¡¯s hands held and created a hell fire that he immediately sent towards the fleeing Cairon Continent yers.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaang¡ª!</em>

    The huge hell fire engulfed the Chinese yers and wiped them out. However, Ali¡¯s attacks never stopped.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The battlefield was rife with the desperate shrieks of the yers from Cairon Continent! Airen, who watched this scene, was caught in a dilemma. Right in front of them were huge siege weapons, while behind them was ck Mage Ali, mines and poisons. However, worthy of being a strategicmander, Airen quickly collected himself.

    ¡°Summoners! Summon your weakest monsters and make them march forward to clear a path to retreat!¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    Summoners were yers that could summon monsters. Whenever there was arge gap between the levels of the summoners and their monsters, there would be a significant decrease in the MP consumption, which could allow them to increase the number of summons.

    The summoners immediately summoned the gremlins! They might be at the bottom of the food chain, but they were still quick with their feet. Hundreds of this monster appeared and ran towards the Cairon yers¡¯ path of retreat.

    ¡°Kiyeeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Kyahaaaaack!¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Airen¡¯s n was simple. He wanted to remove thend mines by using the monster summons. Just like he expected, the hundreds of gremlins triggered countlessnd mines and helped them reopen a path for their retreat.

    ¡°Archers, mages. Focus on ck Mage Ali!¡±

    ¡°Yes!!!¡±

    The archers fired more than five hundred arrows, while the mages created countless magic spells, enough to cover the sky.

    ¡°Shield! Shield! Shield! Shield! Shield!¡± ck Mage Ali shouted, quickly super-imposing the shields that he had created. However, the assault of the arrows and the magics made the small snakes disappear one after the other.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng, ng, ng, ng!</em>

    The arrows and magical attack spells kept on crashing into Ali¡¯s shields. Even the skills of the talented archers and stronger mages had been added to the mix.

    It did not matter how strong ck Mage Ali was, it would still be too much for him to block all of those attacks. Besides, his HP had decreased by fifty percent, and his physical and magical defenses were lowered by seventy percent, from the Snake¡¯s Amusement penalty. He was a mage with a significantly lower HP and now, his HP was even further reduced. Just allowing one or two attacks tond on his body would result in death.

    <em>Crack!</em>

    Just as the rain of arrows and magical attacks were about tond on Ali after his shield broke¡­

    ¡°Kuhaaaaaaaaak!¡±

    ¡­the gigantic Predatory Snake opened his mouth widely and swallowed Ali. The rain of arrows and spellsnded on the Predatory Snake¡¯s body.

    ¡°Kieeeeeeeeeck!¡± Predatory Snake shrieked as he writhed all over the ce, his body bleeding. However, he only let Ali outside after the baptism of arrows and spells had been over.

    Ali immediately crouched down to check on Predatory Snake¡¯s condition. He had formed a strong friendship with Predatory Snake to the point that he also had the mark of a friend on his back. As a sign of his love and care for Predatory Snake, Ali even gave him a name¡­

    ¡°C¡­ Cupid-chan!!!¡±

    Cupid. This was Predatory Snake¡¯s new name.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Predatory Snake looked at Ali helplessly wondering if this was the time for him to call out such a cringy and ticklish name. It was the shame that brought him endless pain, not the wounds on his body!

    ¡°Cupid-chan¡­ You¡¯ve worked hard¡­¡± Alimented as he hugged Predatory Snake before sending him to the summoning room. When he turned around, another baptism of arrows and spells were waiting for him.

    Airen smiled. Even the Chinesementators sighed in relief.

    <em>[We finally found a way out.]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s truly a relief. Thankfully, Airen¡¯s excellentmanding skills have helped us ovee this crisis.]</em>

    <em>[We still have more than 2,000 troops alive. We have to make ns for our future moves.]</em>

    At that moment, Ali did something strange. People in China were unaware that ck Mage Ali was an otaku among all other otakus!

    ck Mage Ali raised his left hand and shouted, ¡°Frieeeeeeeeeeeeeend!¡±

    And the ce where he was looking¡­ was where his friend was, flying over to save him. That was right. He was literally flying.

    <em>[Wh¡­what¡¯s that?!]</em>

    <em>[There¡¯re, there¡¯re wings!!!]</em>

    The camera panned over the ramparts to show a guy with a pair of white wings pping behind his back. This man was none other than Minhyuk. He flew swiftly before stopping in front of Ali. Then, he took out his mixer and bowl and began to stir it.

    <em>[¡­?]</em>

    <em>[¡­?]</em>

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    All of the yers andmentators looked at Minhyuk in doubt. The man with angel wings was whipping something in a mixing bowl while in the midst of the battle? But then¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡­the hundreds of magic spells and skills disappeared in an instant.

    <em>[¡­?]</em>

    <em>[¡­?]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    The situation was so absurd that everyone on the scene became speechless.

    <em>¡®If you take out a mixer and bowl and mix something, the spells and skills will be dispelled?¡¯</em>

    While everyone was looking at the scene in a daze and confusion¡­

    <em>Swoosh!</em>

    ¡°Frieeeeeeeeeend!!!¡± Minhyuk shouted as he raised his left hand and pped his wings vigorously.

    ¡°Y¡­you¡¯re so cool, Minhyuk,¡± Ali said excitedly as Minhyuk flew up in the sky.

    Minhyuk¡¯s sword, which was already raised high up in the sky, was radiating an immense amount of energy. Sparks began to appear all over his sword.

    ¡°Sword like Lightning.¡±

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh!</em>

    Sword lights that looked to be shrouded in lightning, their length fifty meters each, covered the sky above and fell down on the yers of Cairon Continent.

 Chapter 350: Spectacular Recapture

    Chapter 350: Spectacr Recapture

    Ali was a very precious existence to Minhyuk. He was the one who never turned his back on Minhyuk, willingly taking the risk of sacrificing everything when everyone else disdained him back in Beas Vige.

    He had taken on the task of stopping the enemies from retreating.

    On the event of Berdk¡¯s sessful recapture, the yers of Asgan Continent were all tasked to annihte all of the retreating enemies. Minhyuk had already driven out all of the yers from Cairon Continent, and captured Commander Arohan alive inside Berdk Castle. However, despite standing with Mei Wei on the ramparts, Minhyuk was still very restless. This was because he could see that his friend, Ali, was in danger of being logged out.

    That was when Mei Wei offered a solution, ¡°I have the ability to fly.¡±

    Just like that, she sent a buff to Minhyuk.

    <em>[Archangel¡¯s Wings.]</em>

    <em>[The Archangel¡¯s wings will grow on your shoulder des and allow you to fly in the sky at high speed.]</em>

    <em>p¡ª</em>

    Huge white wings sprout out of Minhyuk¡¯s back, which allowed him to fly! Mei Wei also continued to give him buffs while he was on his way to save Ali.

    <em>[God¡¯s Bestowed Abilities]</em>

    <em>[Increases all skill levels by +2.]</em>

    <em>[God¡¯s Weapons]</em>

    <em>[Increased the physical attack power by 20% and the critical hit rate by 40%.]</em>

    <em>[God¡¯s Shield]</em>

    <em>[Increases the physical and magical defense by 30%.]</em>

    Minhyuk flew quickly, while dispelling all of the iing attacks with the help of his mixer and bowl. Then, he flew up. They were already in a situation where most of their enemies were on the verge of sessfully retreating. However, Minhyuk never had intended to keep even a single one of them alive.

    ¡°Berserk.¡±

    With his words, the figure of a demon appeared above his head before being sucked inside his body.

    <em>[Berserk]</em>

    <em>[All abilities will be increased by 16% and all stats would have a +2 increase.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP will decrease by 3% per second. By the end of the skill, your HP will fall below 10% while your defense will fall below 20%.]</em>

    <em>[Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship has temporarily reached the Pinnacle.]</em>

    <em>[Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship¡¯s cooldown has decreased by 30%.]</em>

    <em>[You can temporarily use the evolved Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship.]</em>

    <em>[Chapter 8. Sword Like Lightning.]</em>

    Even though he did not utilize the buff effect from ¡®Let¡¯s Have a Meal¡¯, he was still able to temporarily reach the Pinnacle, thanks to Mei Wei¡¯s buff.

    <em>[Sword Like Lightning]</em>

    <em>[Several sword lights akin to lightning strikes will fall from the sky, dealing 400% damage to your enemies.]</em>

    The moment Minhyuk swung his sword down, more than fifty gigantic sword lights were created, shooting towards the enemies that were attacking Ali from below.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa!</em>

    Spine-chilling and electrifying thunderbolts and lightning sword strikes fell upon the Cairon Continent forces.

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    The lightning sword strikes devoured more than a hundred enemy troops, which either rendered them immobile or killed them.

    <em>¡®Ho? It feels quite nice to be able to fly in the sky, huh?¡¯</em>

    The biggest advantage of flying in the sky was being able to avoid attacks from melee yers. However, it also made Minhyuk an easy target for archers and mages.

    ¡°Ali! Please make sure to kill the troops that are further away.¡±

    ¡°Alright!¡± Ali answered, stepping up to support Minhyuk.

    Hundreds of energy bolts appeared around Ali. The hundreds of sparking energy bolts looked like raindrops frozen in time as they floated in the air. Then, these energy bolts flew and attacked the archers and mages that were trying to target Minhyuk.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    ¡°Keheok! Wh¡­what kind of energy bolts are those?!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°A¡­aaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    The yers that tried to attack Minhyuk all screamed in pain. Then, an oven timer started to ring loudly in the air.

    <em>Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick¡ª</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The enemies that stepped foot within a twelve meter radius of Minhyuk were all swept away like autumn leaves on a windy day. However, the number of enemies left were still around two thousand.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Most of the Chinese yers who were outside of the range were not even affected by these AOE attack skills. One of them shot a spear that tore through one of Minhyuk¡¯s wings. With one wing torn, Minhyuk naturally lost his bnce and fell down to the ground. The enemies took this opportunity to flock to where he was.

    Spearman Everon, the number one yer in China¡¯s Spearman Rankings, was the one that shot the spear at Minhyuk earlier. He firmly believed that Minhyuk would be killed by his spear right then and there.

    <em>¡®Only through that will we be able to relieve some of the public¡¯s dissatisfaction and criticisms.¡¯</em>

    The current situation that the Chinese were in was very bad. Minhyuk had prevented them from retreating, which left them with only one choice, to flock towards him. However, it could also be considered to be a potential turnaround for them.

    <em>¡®How can he kill us by himself¡­¡¯</em>

    Everon did not know how Minhyuk would be able to kill them when they had the advantage with just their numbers. However, he did not care about that. With plenty of enemies, Minhyuk would definitely show a gap, and Everon was targeting that gap. After a moment, Everon finally saw a gap, and he prepared another spear with a powerful force.

    <em>[Phoenix¡¯s Spear]</em>

    <em>[The Phoenix will devour your enemy¡¯s entire body as your spear pierces through them.]</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>¡®Critical hit!¡¯</em>

    Everon¡¯s spear flew sharply towards Minhyuk, passing through the gaps between the troops. The part that he was targeting was the pit of Minhyuk¡¯s stomach. Once the Phoenix¡¯s Spear pierced through that part, it would break Minhyuk¡¯s ribs and prate deeper. And it would not end there, a huge phoenix would appear and cover his entire body to turn him into ash.

    However, Everon finally noticed that there was something strange after he stabbed his spear through.

    <em>ng!</em>

    One of the Chinese yers mmed his hammer on Minhyuk¡¯s back.

    <em>Vwoooooong!</em>

    The hammer struck uselessly on the ground. However, Everon believed that his attack should have been sessful. He carefully looked at Minhyuk¡¯s location and movement as he stabbed forwards. However, the sound that he expected to hear did not ring in his ears.

    <em>aaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    <em>¡®That¡¯s impossible.¡¯</em>

    Everon¡¯s Phoenix¡¯s Spear would temporarily increase his attack power by four hundred percent. With his insane speed, it was impossible for him not to pierce through Minhyuk¡¯s stomach. There was only one possibility, and that was if Minhyuk¡¯s defense was enormous.

    <em>¡®H¡­how high is his defense¡­?¡¯</em>

    Just as the thought crossed Everon¡¯s mind¡­

    <em>[Physical Damage Reflection! Returns triple the damage received.]</em>

    ¡°Kuhaaaaaaack!¡±

    Pain suddenly bloomed in Everon¡¯s chest. He felt as if his ribs had been broken and crushed. The worst part was that this damage made his full HP go down to zero in an instant.

    <em>¡®Wh¡­ what the¡­!¡¯</em>

    This was something that was witnessed by the other Chinese yers andmentators.

    <em>[H¡­how high is his defense for him to fail to pierce through his chest?]</em>

    <em>[Hundreds of yers have been trying to attack yer Minhyuk, but he either avoids or blocks their attacks.]</em>

    <em>[The Cairon Continent yers continue to send their attacks to the ground.]</em>

    <em>[Ho? What in the world is that armor?]</em>

    <em>[There are more yers being forced to log out than yers sessfullynding an attack on him!]</em>

    The amount of defense would depend on the damage the enemy¡¯s attack dealt. However, if the yer¡¯s defense was leagues higher than the enemy¡¯s attack, there would not be any direct damage, instead, it would only shave off some of the yer¡¯s armor¡¯s durability.

    The Monarch¡¯s Armor was also an armor with a special ability that increased Minhyuk¡¯s evasion rate by three hundred percent. That was on top of various factors, like the enemy¡¯s level and attack, Minhyuk¡¯s own defense, HP volume and level, all added up together. With Minhyuk¡¯s increased evasion rate, normal yers would not be able to pierce through his body.

    <em>Stab!</em>

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    However, it was also true that Minhyuk could not stop all of the attacks that came his way. An arrow sent by the Chinese rankers, flew over Minhyuk¡¯s shoulders.

    Physical damage reflection was a skill that would only be triggered by chance. Besides, having a high defense did not mean that Minhyuk would be invincible, the same way a high evasion rate would not allow him to avoid everything that came his way.

    Attacks continued to be unleashed on Minhyuk. Most of them had been avoided, but some still dug into his flesh. Minhyuk did not hesitate to use the Fluttering Sword that he ¡®saved¡¯ before.

    <em>Shwaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk and Ali had sessfully eliminated the enemies that blocked them upfront.

    <em>¡®But, there¡¯s still around 1,800 people left.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s vision was slowly turning dark. It seemed like he was getting exhausted. Just then¡­

    <em>[Jeffrit¡¯s Net]</em>

    <em>[A red will prate through the ground and drag in everything hostile within an eight meter radius.]</em>

    Dozens of enemy troops flocking in front of Minhyuk were suddenly trapped inside a red. When the man that sent over the leaned back, the enemy troops were dragged back towards where he was. The man was none other than Locke, who had just finished transferring to a High ss. And it was not just him. There was also another man that was flying through the sky.

    <em>[Giant¡¯s Consecutive Kicks]</em>

    <em>[The Giant¡¯s gigantic feet will continuously attack the enemies. Kicks have an additional 600% attack power.]</em>

    Khan¡¯s feet, which became huge, split into dozens of images as he kicked away the enemies surrounding Minhyuk. And there was more. Informant Abel had continued to work as an informant for Let¡¯s Eat Sect, but he still remained an outstanding assassin. He moved like a ghost, reaping the lives of the enemies in front of him, with a swift jab to their vital points.

    The guild members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect had quickly organized the situation in Berdk and joined the fray. Even Alicia, Carr and Ruwan also joined them. Of course, Aruvel and Conir were also among them. Aruvel swung his huge spear.

    <em>[Demonic Dragon¡¯s Spear Arts Chapter 5]</em>

    <em>[Exploding Spear.]</em>

    Huge explosions swept away the enemy troops as Conir dashed forward with his sword with a scream. Just when Aruvel was about to cut down the enemy¡­

    ¡°By any chance, are you Aruvel? The author of <em>¡®Why Did the Prince Go Out Tonight¡¯</em>???¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Aruvel pulled his spear back for a moment, as he looked at the foreigner that was staring at him with a twinkle in his eyes.

    ¡°That¡¯s right?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m, I¡¯m your fan! Please give me your autograph!¡±

    ¡°Ho?¡± Aruvel hummed in interest as they briefly stopped their fight to sign the paper that was handed out to him by the excited foreigner.

    ¡°I, I¡¯m truly in awe of your ingenuity!¡±

    ¡°Really? Thank you. But¡­¡±

    Aruvel looked at the man suspiciously. His works had only been distributed in Asgan Continent, so how could this man read them?

    ¡°¡­how did you get your hands on my book?¡±

    ¡°Pirate site¡­¡±

    <em>Stab!</em>

    Aruvel swiftly pierced the man¡¯s neck. He clicked his tongue and said, ¡°I don¡¯t know what <em>pirate site</em> means, but I don¡¯t feel good hearing it.¡±

    Then, he turned around and continued to swing his spear as the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect and the Korean rankers dashed forward to help! Because of this, the retreating Cairon Continent yers went further on the defensive. Furthermore, the gates of Berdk opened as Asgan troops came out in droves to kill the Cairon yers and troops.

    One of the Chinesementators sighed andmented¡­

    <em>[Th¡­ they have been wiped out.]</em>

    China, and the<em> Athenae </em>yers from all over the world, were left in shock.

    ***

    Sword Emperor Ellie was smiling in satisfaction. She said, ¡°Minhyuk will like this.¡±

    ¡°Yes. He will definitely like it,¡± Ruth answered as he showed a warm smile, after seeing Ellie¡¯s expression.

    ced in front of Ellie were raw beef ribs, an ingredient that she gathered after asking Ruth to inquire about it. It was the meat of the deep sea cow living ¡®deep¡¯ under the sea, a very, very, <em>very</em> precious meat. ording to the legends, the texture and juices of the meat were extremely excellent.

    ¡°I¡¯ll give it to the rascal once he learns the Pinnacle.¡±

    ¡°You look pleased.¡±

    ¡°Do I look that happy?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Whenever you talk about Minhyuk, you always smile.¡±

    Ellie smiled a bit after hearing his words and said, ¡°I see.¡±

    For some reason, Ellie always felt energized whenever he thought about the rascal, Minhyuk. She was looking forward to the day of his return after learning the Pinnacle.

    ***

    ¡®ck Dragon Order¡¯ was a group built by dark gamers. They were currently in the middle of a discussion.

    ¡°Hu Yitian, that bastard, kept on acting up, but he ended up like that.¡±

    ¡°It seems like yer Minhyuk is much stronger than we thought. We can see it during Berdk¡¯s recapture.¡±

    However, there was a small smile on the member of ck Dragon Order that said those words. Minhyuk might be strong, but for them, he was still considered to be weak.

    Plenty of the members of their group had awakened to full Pinnacle,pletely different from Hu Yitian, who was like a wriggling worm to them. They were actually hiding in the Continent Cloud to try and find another Pinnacle Skill. In other words, their continent still had not shown their real colors.

    Then, Belleck suddenly came inside. Belleck was the man in charge of collecting information for ck Dragon Order. He smiled in delight as he said, ¡°We found where Ellie is hiding!¡±

 Chapter 351: The Food Godâ€™s Territory

    Chapter 351: The Food God¡¯s Territory

    Berdk, thergest attack base, had been sessfully recaptured by the yers from Asgan Continent! They had also ughtered nearly four thousand Cairon Continent troops and yers in the battle! Four thousand might be a small number in arge <em>¡®war¡¯</em>, but the fact that many of the yers who died were in the top 10,000 of the Chinese Rankings, came as a huge blow to the yers of Cairon Continent. Even the eight hundred Kharamis soldiers had been taken away by the Asgan Continent.

    <em>[Asgan and Cairon Continents might be currently hostile towards each other, and even as a yer of Cairon Continent, I have no choice but to acknowledge the brilliance of yer Minhyuk¡¯s strategy.]</em>

    <em>[My God! Who would even think of bringing the Kharamis soldiers to their side?]</em>

    <em>[The tides have turned in this war thanks to the appearance of the Food God.]</em>

    Berdk was considered as the best attack base, not only because of its outstanding Kharamis soldiers and siege weapons, but also because of the extraordinarily high Rampart Level. The Rampart Level was dependent on the durability of the castle itself. Simply put, it depended on the physical and magical defense of the base. Berdk had the highest durability among all of the fortresses and bases in the Continent Cloud. Berdk¡¯s Rampart Level was already at Level 7. This meant that the walls would only copse if several rankers unleashed dozens of AOE attacks and magic skills, more than a dozen times in session.

    With Berdk¡¯s and the Kharamis soldiers¡¯ sessful recapture, Minhyuk''s status in the hearts of the citizens of South Korea rose to that of a hero.

    <em>[Kggghk~ I won¡¯t wish for anything more, as long as I can hold the hands of our Lord, Food God.]</em>

    <em>[Isn¡¯t our Lord, Food God very handsome? His proportions are out of this world too!]</em>

    <em>[I like our Lord, Food God, but my long time wish is to pet Beanie¡¯s plump and chubby belly.]</em>

    <em>[Kyaaa~ I agree about Beanie.]</em>

    In a single night, the members of Minhyuk¡¯s fan cafe jumped from 550,000 to 900,000. Articles that praised Minhyuk were also being published non-stop in the country.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk was sitting and having a discussion with his guild members. After all, he still had to go back to finish the Innocent Hero¡¯s Trial.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure that there¡¯s a lot of people that haven¡¯t shown up on the other side yet. Like Da Zhuang, they still have him.¡±

    Informant Abel had given them the information about Da Zhuang. He was an NPC that had learned the Pinnacle. Despite being Hu Yitian¡¯s master, he did not reveal himself, even after his disciple had been forced to log out. That was why Minhyuk had to grow stronger.

    <em>¡®If I run across someone that haspletely awakened and learned the Pinnacle then¡­¡¯</em>

    When that happened, the only conclusion would be Minhyuk¡¯splete and utter defeat. He might be able to raise his level to Pinnacle with his power now, but that was just a temporary feat. There was a vast difference between having the power permanently and having it temporarily. In fact, he could only maintain the Pinnacle state for about forty seconds. That was about it. After the time was up, Minhyuk would definitely be defeated. Before such a situation happened, Minhyuk had to awaken to Pinnacle. So, Minhyuk quickly headed back to the Innocent Hero¡¯s Trial to awaken the Pinnacle.

    As Territory.

    Locke was running swiftly somewhere. Although Locke looked rugged, and had a big and scary head, he was someone that had a soft spot for cute and lovable pets. He was even taking care of three puppies at home!

    Locke immediately ran off after hearing that Minhyuk had made a dog house for Love, Happiness and Hope near the entrance of As Territory. He thought, <em>¡®I wonder what kind of pups they are? Are they poodles? No, pomeranians? Heok! What, what if they¡¯re Welsh corgis?!¡¯</em>

    Locke was very excited. He was looking forward to seeing the ¡®pets¡¯. He firmly believed that dogs were all angels sent by God. There was not a dog in the world that would not behave cutely and listen well to their owners! If the dog behaved badly, that meant that the owner was bad and trained them wrong! Whether it was a husky, a doberman or a hunting hound, as long as they let Locke pet their bellies, he would love them.

    So, Locke ran like that, only to stop in his tracks.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    <em>[?Love, Happiness, Hope?]</em>

    The dog house was painted as if it was the replica of a rainbow! However, that was not the surprising part. Locke was very shocked to see the gigantic kennel in front of him. Was there really a need for such a huge kennel? It was evenrger than he was!

    <em>¡®Huh? Maybe there¡¯s a special breed that only exists in Athenae?¡¯</em>

    Locke¡¯s expectation grew further. A special breed! Just the thought of stroking the soft fur of such a special puppy was enough to make Locke feel happy. He looked at the closed kennel door, took out a pet snack and used the voice that he specially reserved for dogs and said, ¡°<em>Chu, chu, chu~ </em>Will our Love, Happiness and Hopee out to have some snacks~?¡±

    <em>Creaaaaaaaak¡ª</em>

    The image of golden retrievers happily bounding towards Locke appeared in his head as the door slowly creaked open. He could already tell by their names that they were very sweet and kind! But¡­

    ¡°Grrrrrrrrr!¡±

    ¡°Grrrrrrrrrrrr!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Locke¡¯s head tilted in confusion. What appeared in front of him was not the golden retrievers that he imagined, but a three-headed dog from hell, with sharp, pointed teeth that were as big as three of his fingersbined. Even the saliva that dripped down from their mouths¡­

    <em>Sizzle¡ª</em>

    ¡­corroded the ground.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Locke was left speechless at the sight. Then, the three-headed dog rushed towards the snack in his hands.

    ¡°A¡­ aaaaack!¡± Locke shrieked. But Cerberus did not pay him any heed. Their attention was solely directed at the snacks in his hands. All three heads turned to sniff at Locke.

    <em>Sniff, sniff.</em>

    ¡°Grrrrrr. <em>(He smells </em><em>like Master</em><em>. He must be Master¡¯s friend.)</em>¡±

    ¡°Grrrrrr! <em>(Master¡¯s friend. Take us out for a walk! Otherwise, we¡¯ll tear your body apart and throw you to the pits of hell!)</em>¡±

    However, Locke could not understand the situation at all. He thought, <em>¡®What the hell is that punk, Minhyuk, doing? How can he call a monster like this¡­ with the names Love, Happiness and Hope?¡¯</em>

    Just as the thought shed in Locke¡¯s mind, a window suddenly appeared in front of him.

    <em>[<strong>Hidden Quest</strong>: Take Love, Happiness and Hope out for a walk.]</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: A</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: An acquaintance of Love, Happiness and Hope¡¯s master.</em>

    <em><strong>Rewards</strong>: A +40 increase in Fire Attribute Resistance, 50,000,000 EXP</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty for Failure</strong>: Love, Happiness and Hope might kill you.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: Love, Happiness and Hope are all very bored right now. Take them out on a 30-minute walk every day for two weeks!</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Locke was in disbelief. He only had to take them out for a walk, but he could increase his Fire Attribute Resistance by forty and gain 50,000,000 EXP?

    ¡®<em>Is this for real?</em>¡¯

    ¡°Grrrrrrr¡­¡±

    However, he understood it right after looking at Love, Happiness and Hope¡¯s faces.

    ¡°K¡­ kids¡­ W¡­ would you like to go on a walk with me?¡±

    ¡°Grrrrrrrr!!!¡±

    ¡°Grrrrrrrr!!!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaaaa!!¡±

    ¡°That, I¡­ I think we might need a lea¡­ leash¡­¡±

    ¡°Grrrr!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The speechless Locke, without any leash in hand, went on a walk with Love, Happiness and Hope.

    Meanwhile, Love, Happiness and Hope all thought that they should at least soothe the fear of this man. From what they knew, there was a verymon greeting among dogs, just like the human¡¯s handshake. They greet each other by smelling the butt!!!

    ¡°Sniff, sniff, sniff! <em>(Uhm¡­ this is a man¡¯s butt¡¯s smell~)</em>¡±

    ¡°Sniff, sniff, sniff! <em>(But this human, his butt smells worse than other dogs!!!)</em>¡±

    ¡°Sniff, sniff, sniff¡ª<em> (He must have eaten some banana today. Sniff, sniff¡ª)</em>¡±

    Not knowing that they were giving him a friendly greeting, Locke wept tearfully. His voice trembled as he said, ¡°¡­K¡­ Kids, don¡¯t eat me¡­ I¡­ I don¡¯t taste good¡­¡±

    ***

    A week had gone by since Minhyuk returned to the Innocent Hero¡¯s Trial. Over the course of the week, he had sessfully cleared 14 of the 25 trials and was well on his way to the 15th trial. He had also increased his level by 20 and had finally crossed the Level 500 mark.

    However, inparison to the members of the Let¡¯s Eat Sect, whose levels were well above 500, his speed was considered to be not that fast. In fact, even Bread Shuttle Mei Wei¡¯s level was at Level 580, a level that far surpassed Minhyuk¡¯s level.

    However, Minhyuk¡¯s strength did note from his <em>¡®level¡¯</em>. His strength and power stemmed from the countless superb medicines that he had eaten, his Food God skills, his Demigod skill: Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship, as well as his excellent artifacts.

    Minhyuk received these stats over the course of the Innocent Hero¡¯s Trial: STR 60, STM 70, AGI 20, WIS 10, INT 5. These were numbers that could only be received by someone that had leveled up thirty times! Even his Arakhan¡¯s Sword Mastery skill had reached MAX after he finished clearing the 14th trial.

    <em>(<strong>Arakhan¡¯s Sword Mastery</strong>)</em>

    <em>Passive Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: MAX</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?There will be a 22% increase in both basic sword attack and attack speed.</em>

    <em>?There will be a 20% increase in basic attack when shing and stabbing an opponent.</em>

    <em>?There will be a 15% increase in attack for skills rted to swordsmanship.</em>

    <em>?There will be a 25% reduction of physical and skill damage of sword-rted attacks.</em>

    <em>¡®Even I can tell that this is something amazing.¡¯</em>

    The numbers on the skill were truly too ridiculous. In fact, the word ridiculous was not enough to describe it. It was literally a jaw-dropping boost to his power. On top of all that, the enemy¡¯s attack would need to pass through his Monarch¡¯s Armor, an armor with high defense that could sharply decrease damage, before the damage could reach him. This meant that it would be hard for Minhyuk¡¯s enemies to deal much damage to him.

    Then, Arakhan said, ¡°You will now undergo the 15th trial. After this trial, the Innocent Hero¡¯s Trial will be closed.¡±

    ¡°Closed?¡± Minhyuk asked suspiciously.

    But Arakhan just nodded and exined, ¡°The Innocent Hero¡¯s Trial has a total of 25 levels. However, anything beyond this trial is something that you can¡¯t challenge yet.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­¡± Minhyuk hummed. He could easily understand what his words meant. Simply put, the management had blocked the system beyond the 15th trial.

    Minhyuk recalled that Ellie had told him that he could only learn a Half-Pinnacle skill in here. She had also told him that he would be able to awaken toplete Pinnacle by learning her own Pinnacle skill.

    ¡°As for the 15th trial¡­ Boy, I don¡¯t know what trial you¡¯ll face once you challenge it.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Minhyuk asked in confusion. Arakhan had apanied him all throughout the trials and told him about the contents of the trial that he took. However, the trial in front of him was something that even Arakhan did not know.

    ¡°It¡¯s because the final trial is a trial that is tailored specifically for the challenger.¡±

    ¡°Ah, I see,¡± Minhyuk said, nodding his head in understanding. In other words, the final trial would be influenced by the challenger¡¯s ss, stats, or other various factors.

    Seeing Minhyuk nod, Arakhan said, ¡°I wish you sess and good luck. One more thing, you will get the reward over there, not from here.¡±

    Minhyuk disappeared in a sh of light by the end of Arakhan¡¯s words. As he closed his eyes, he thought, <em>¡®I will get the reward over there¡­¡¯</em>

    ***

    Albero Territory was once a vige that existed in the Asgan Continent over hundreds of years ago. However, it had long disappeared in the currents of history. This ce was like a territory and haven for chefs. The best chefs of the world could be seen in this ce, and with the grace that the Food God had bestowed upon them, the dishes that they cooked used to hold a special, strong power. Now, the Albero Territory, which had disappeared hundreds of years ago, had reappeared.

    No, it would actually be more correct to say that Minhyuk had gone back in time.

    A man was sighing deeply. This man was none other than Lucaro, a person that served under the Food God. Albero Territory might not have disappeared as of yet, but it had already been two years since the Food God fell into his eternal slumber.

    However, the bunch of rascals that were jealous of the Food God had spread bad rumors about him and had been doing it for decades already! Because of that, the Food God¡¯s status had fallen immediately after his death.

    Still, there was one person that respected and loved the Food God, and that was Lucaro! There was only one reason why Lucaro respected the Food God deeply¡­ He was once a child orphaned by the war. Without any pir of support, he was forced to beg people for food. However, people would kick and curse him for the stinking smell that covered his body.

    One day, a very nice man approached him and asked, <em>¡®Are you hungry?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Yes. I¡¯m very hungry. I haven¡¯t had a meal in days!¡¯</em>

    The man smiled softly at Lucaro as he handed him a piece of bread and a bottle of milk. The man said, <em>¡®This milk is directly harvested from the legendary sheep, Cerdo. I only have one piece of bread left too, but I¡¯ll give it to you.¡¯</em>

    The man handed over hisst piece of bread andst bottle of milk over to Lucaro, despite his own grumbling stomach.

    <em>Rumble¡ª</em>

    The young Lucaro immediately gobbled up the bread!!! However, the man that handed over this meal to him was also hungry, so Lucaro handed the remaining half of the bread back to the man with aining stomach.

    <em>¡®Thank you.¡¯</em>

    The two of them shared the bread and the milk in an enjoyable manner.

    <em>¡®I can¡¯t forget the taste of the milk and bread back then¡­¡¯</em> Lucaro thought, eyes reddening from tears that he fought to hold back.

    The bread and milk that he had eaten back then had given him a surge of energy that allowed him to walk and search for another territory. But it was not just that, he did not feel hungry nor thirsty at all. Lucaro knew that it was because of the bread and milk that the man had given him. Thanks to that, he was able to reach the chef¡¯s territory.

    When he arrived there, he saw the man that had given him the bread and the milk. To be exact, it was the man¡¯s statue and the people of the territory called him <em>¡®Food God¡¯</em>.

    Lucaro had asked the man before they went their separate ways, <em>¡®Why did you show me, a beggar, kindness and mercy?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®It¡¯s not your fault that you became hungry. I don¡¯t want to see you, me, or anybody else get hungry.¡¯</em>

    The Food God was a great man. But after he fell into eternal rest, bad rumors about him began to circte wildly. The rumors said that the Food God forcefully took away crops from other territories to fill his own stomach, while taking the women and children as his ves, that he was an evil person, and many more nderous remarks.

    However, Lucaro knew that the Food God was a man that has devoted himself to the goodness of the world, more than anybody else.

    <em>¡®I</em><em> miss you very much, Food God,</em><em>¡¯ </em>Lucaro thought as he kneaded the dough in his hands with tears in his eyes.

    Lucaro owned a bakery. However, it was very shabby and deste, with not a single customer in sight. It was also surrounded by transparent ss so anyone outside could see how he made the bread. When he turned his head to look outside, Lucaro made eye contact with a drooling man, whose face was pasted on the other side of his bakery¡¯s transparent ss.

    ¡°A¡­aaaaack!¡± Lucaro shrieked in fright.

    Lucaro quickly calmed himself down and looked at the man. He could see that the young man¡¯s eyes were trained solely on the bread in his hands. The man looked extremely hungry. He was even dressed poorly.

    <em>¡®Wh¡­what?¡¯</em>

    The sight of the man reminded Lucaro of the past, so he beckoned to the young man, who swiftly entered the store. And just like what the Food God did for him, Lucaro also gave the man a piece of bread and a bottle of milk.

    Looking closely, the young man was handsome and tall. But, the most eye-catching feature was his smile. The young man had the happiest smile stered on his face when he ate the bread that Lucaro had given him.

    ¡°Hohohoho. Eat slowly.¡±

    ¡°Wow! This bread is really delicious!¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°But, I don¡¯t have any money¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s alright. I just don¡¯t want to see anyone go hungry. So what if you don¡¯t have money? Haha!¡± Lucaroughed happily.

    The young man stared at Lucaro in a daze. He looked like he had been hit on the head with something. Then, the young man smiled softly and said, ¡°Your values and views are really good. Uncle, can you please tell me your name?¡±

    ¡°My name is Lucaro. I¡¯m this bakery¡¯s owner.¡±

    The young man smiled and introduced himself. He said, ¡°My name is Minhyuk. I¡¯m a traveler.¡±

 Chapter 352: The Food Godâ€™s Territory

    Chapter 352: The Food God¡¯s Territory

    The notifications regarding the 15th trial poured into Minhyuk¡¯s ears the moment he got warped into Albero Territory.

    <em>[You are not allowed to equip any kind of armor or protective gear inside Albero Territory. Your currently equipped armor will be temporarily removed during the trial.]</em>

    <em>[You will only be provided with rag-like clothes.]</em>

    <em>[You cannot use any gold in your possession.]</em>

    <em>[You cannot open your inventory and use the items inside.]</em>

    <em>[You cannot disclose about your ¡®Food God¡¯ ss unless the system allows you to.]</em>

    Minhyuk could tell at a nce that Albero Territory was a territory that used to be under the Food God of the past. To understand the trial better, he went around Albero Territory to investigate. To be exact¡­

    <em>Growl¡ª!</em>

    ¡­he went around with his grumbling, hungry stomach. Albero Territory was like heaven on earth, a paradise for someone like Minhyuk. There was a long line of stores in the territory! The best part was that they were mostly stores rted to food! And since this was a chef¡¯s territory, it seemed like their cooking skills were superb.

    However, Minhyuk was presented with a very huge problem. He could not use his money! Even the items in his inventory were currently unavable to him. What kind of absurd scenario was this?!

    With his hungry stomach, Minhyuk quickly moved to find out what he needed to aplish so he could fill his empty stomach. To put it simply, Minhyuk wanted to try and receive quests from the people here. Doing so would most likely give him a hint, or a link to his trial.

    With his ns set, Minhyuk set out and went into one of the restaurants in the street. The restaurant wasrge, with a huge, majestic signboard that said, <em>¡®Paradise Restaurant¡¯</em>.

    ¡°I¡¯m so hungry. Please give me some food! I will do any chores for you, be it washing dishes or cleaning!¡± Minhyuk said, bowing politely to show his firm will to do anything for food, despite looking shabby with his rag-like clothes.

    Minhyuk waspletely unaware of the fact that this restaurant housed the best chef in Albero Territory. The head chef, Balza, had reached the master craftsman level in cooking. Head Chef Balza came out, and looked at Minhyuk from head to toe, before pinching his nose and saying, ¡°My god, this smell! It stinks! Get out of my Paradise Restaurant! I will never let a beggar and bum like you work for my restaurant. And even if you have the money, I will never sell you my food!¡±

    Minhyuk was left in disbelief after hearing his words. This restaurant was considered to be quite luxurious! It seemed like it was a restaurant that would even screen its customers before epting them inside. So, he asked, ¡°What do you mean that you won¡¯t sell me your food, even if I have the money?¡±

    ¡°Look at yourself. You¡¯re a beggar. The food of my Paradise Restaurant is something that someone like you can never taste.¡±

    ¡°So, you¡¯re telling me that the people that can eat your dishes will depend on their status?¡±

    ¡°Of course! A bastard like you only deserves the cheap ingredients sold in the market!¡±

    The head chef was telling Minhyuk that only those wearing luxurious and good clothes and had a lot of money could eat at his restaurant. This principle waspletely absurd in Minhyuk¡¯s point of view. People could be picky with their food, but the food could never distinguish the people that would eat them. However, the tone of one of the chefs of Albero Territory had turned out to be conceited and arrogant.

    Minhyuk left this restaurant. He had a reason to be angry, but he needed to be patient, since this might be a part of his trial. If he acted rashly here, he might never be able to find the clue to his trial. Minhyuk kept on walking around and trying his luck with other restaurants, but most of the chefs from these restaurants had the same thoughts as Balza. Minhyuk truly could not understand why they were like that. He thought, <em>¡®Why? Why are they like this? This is clearly a territory under the Food God of the past¡­ so why?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had the chance to meet the Food God of the past and he could tell that he was a person that was like him. He did not want to see others be hungry. However, the people that served him and continued his legacy did not have the same views at all. No, they were more like the run-off-the-mill restaurants.

    <em>¡®This is like¡­¡¯</em>

    For Minhyuk, this felt more like a premium restaurant. They served under the Food God and used his name to produce excellent delicacies, only to let people with money and power to taste their dishes.

    <em>¡®This is not what the Food God¡¯s territory is supposed to be.¡¯</em>

    Then, the fragrant scent of fresh bread wafted towards Minhyuk¡¯s nose. The scent was very appetizing, that his body moved on its own and followed it to its source. The scent brought Minhyuk in front of a shabby bakery. Inside, he saw a man baking bread. The man looked to be lost in thoughts as he waited for his bread to be baked. From what Minhyuk could see, the man also did not have a left hand.

    <em>¡®Smells, smells delicious¡­¡¯</em>

    The bread waspletely baked not long after. The appetizing and fragrant scent of the bread intensified as the man took it out of the oven. Just as Minhyuk started drooling, the man made eye contact with him. The man shrieked when he saw his figure outside of the transparent ss. The man quietly patted his own chest, before smiling kindly and beckoning to him. Minhyuk swiftly rushed inside and ate the bread that the man gave him.

    <em>¡®I¡¯ve¡­ I¡¯ve never tasted a bread that¡¯s as delicious as this one!!!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was in awe. Then, he realized that he did not have any money. When he told the man that he did not have money to pay him, the man justughed and told him, ¡°It¡¯s alright. I just don¡¯t want to see anyone go hungry. So what if you don¡¯t have money? Haha!¡±

    His words made Minhyuk¡¯s keen intuition ring. He could tell that this man was rted to the trial. He was definitely the hint that he was looking for. Besides, even after he saw the state that he was in, the man still smiled gently and naturally at him. He was a man that definitely did not want anyone to go hungry! This man had the same values as Minhyuk. The owner of this shabby, old and deste bakery had a value and principle that could not be bought, even if someone gave him billions of money. However, there was something that Minhyuk could not understand¡­

    <em>¡®Why? Howe it¡¯s like this¡­?¡¯</em>

    Why was this bakery without a customer? Minhyuk had roamed the entire Albero Territory and found that there were more than 80 restaurants, bakeries, and food rted stores. Minhyuk had already yed <em>Athenae </em>for quite a long time now, and he could proudly say that the bread that this man made was the most delicious bread that he ever had. So, why were there no customers in this delicious bakery? Was it because it was expensive? No, it did not seem to be the case. And, there was also his missing left hand!

    <em>¡®There¡¯s clearly a story behind this,¡¯ </em>Minhyuk thought, as he decided to stay here for a while.

    He introduced himself and said, ¡°I will help you with the chores here! I have to pay for the bread that you gave me!¡±

    ¡°Ho, hoho?¡±

    To Lucaro, it sounded like this, <em>¡®I will live here and help around. Haha!¡¯</em>

    However, Lucaro just smiled kindly at him.

    ***

    Albero Territory¡¯s Lord¡¯s Castle.

    Lord Anton, the one hailed as the <em>¡®New Food God¡¯</em>, was a chef that was bestowed with the title of a Count. He was currently examining his kitchen knife as he listened to the reports of his personal aide.

    ¡°Lucaro has also applied.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡± Anton said with a nod.

    ¡°He applied for the Gourmet Dragon¡¯s Banquet. Thest descendant of the previous Food God.¡±

    Anton burst out inughter after hearing his remarks.

    The previous Food God was already dead. His body, his glory and honor, even all of his followers. Everything was dead. However, there was one man that tried to carry the burden of that pride and honor by himself. That man was none other than Lucaro, the owner of a small bakery in town.

    Meanwhile, Anton took over and became the new Food God after his death. He immediately came here once Food God Allen wasid to rest. Anton had always been trailing behind the Food God. He might be hailed as the best chef, but he could never go beyond the Food God.

    However, after his death, Anton finally got the title <em>¡®Food God¡¯</em>.

    Anton immediately took over the territory, ndered the Food God, and showed the chefs here what money was. Over the years, the chefs here became greedy for money and had changed rapidly.

    ¡°He doesn¡¯t have money to buy ingredients. His left hand is also broken, and won¡¯t be able to bake properly. He will be eliminated in the preliminaries.¡±

    The Gourmet Dragon Banquet was a very important asion. The Gourmet Dragon would visit this ce every few decades. He would then go back after eating the dish created by the best chef in this ce. Up until now, the only person that could satisfy the Gourmet Dragon was the previous Food God. But now, Anton was confident that he would be the one cooking for him. After all, Lucaro would be easily eliminated in the preliminaries.

    ¡°Pfft,¡± Anton tried to hold in hisughter. This was Anton, whose original ss was the Twilight Chef.

    ***

    Minhyuk had been working for Lucaro for a few days now. He did not mind the hard work that he did in the bakery. Minhyuk learned one thing over the course of his stay. Everyone in the territory hated Lucaro. There were plenty of people who would stop in front of his bakery to spit or curse at him. Among the curses that they used to swear at him, the mostmon was ¡®Get out of here!¡¯. The reason? Minhyuk did not know yet, because Lucaro always avoided telling him the whole story.

    Today, Lucaro was working hard in making bread today. From what he said, it was in preparation for his participation in the Gourmet Dragon Banquet.

    <em>¡®Gourmet Dragon¡­¡¯</em>

    From what he heard, this territory would often invite the Gourmet Dragon for a meal every few decades or so. The Gourmet Dragon was a dragon that was strong enough to easily mess around with the ordinary dragons. They would be able to gain <em>¡®peace¡¯</em> by offering a banquet to the Gourmet Dragon. If the Gourmet Dragon was not satisfied with their food, then he wouldy waste to the territory. The Gourmet Dragon was powerful enough that even Food God Allen could not stop him!

    <em>¡®Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk knew that this territory did not exist in the future. With that knowledge alone, Minhyuk could already tell that the territory was destroyed by the Gourmet Dragon.

    Lucaro groaned lightly and said, ¡°N¡­no¡­ I won¡¯t be able to pass the preliminaries at this rate¡­¡±

    Unfortunately, cooking needed a lot of different ingredients. However, the poor and unfortunate Lucaro could only afford the cheapest of ingredients.

    ¡°The Delicate Mountain Goat¡¯s Milk¡­! If I only have that¡­!¡±

    ¡°The Delicate Mountain Goat¡¯s Milk?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Delicate Mountain Goat,¡± Lucaro said, smiling bitterly at Minhyuk.

    Lucaro¡¯s affection for Minhyuk grew over the days that they had been together. Minhyuk might be a poor man without a cent on his body, but he willingly became Lucaro¡¯s left hand. When Lucaro woke up in the morning, he would see him cleaning the store front. Even the interior of the store was very shiny. He would justugh awkwardly at the swearing people whenever he went outside to shout <em>¡®Come and buy Lucaro¡¯s fantastic bread!¡®</em> to promote the store. Lucaro grew to like Minhyuk.

    ¡°Delicate Mountain Goats are much bigger than ordinary mountain goats. They are very picky and fussy creatures by nature. Their bodies are also very sensitive to the point that they would kick people with their hind legs if touched just a bit wrongly. There have been only three people who have sessfully extracted milk from these Delicate Mountain Goats. The previous Food God Allen, the current lord Anton, and me.¡±

    ¡°Oh¡­¡± Minhyuk said in admiration. Lucaro was the only other person that has extracted milk from the Delicate Mountain Goats, aside from the previous and current lords of the territory. That was very amazing.

    ¡°However, to do so, I need to gently and softly squeeze the goat¡¯s tits with both of my hands, but I can no longer¡­¡± Lucaro said, looking at his missing left hand with a sigh. He knew that he could no longer milk the Delicate Mountain Goat.

    ¡°The Delicate Mountain Goat¡¯s Milk tastespletely different from the milk of ordinary mountain goats. It also has an amazing ability that can keep the bread from going stale and bing spoiled. If I use that to make bread, I believe that I would be able to pass the preliminaries but¡­¡±

    <em>¡®But, it¡¯s impossible.¡¯</em>

    Lucaro knew that Lord Anton would never milk the Delicate Mountain Goat for him. No, he was already lucky that Anton did not kick him out of the preliminaries.

    Minhyuk pondered deeply. He thought, <em>¡®These three people have something inmon.¡¯</em>

    He wondered if it was their excellent cooking? That was a given, but he knew that there was something else. Minhyuk could tell that Lucaro had a high DEX. After all, he could still knead bread excellently even though he only had one hand. As the current Food God, he knew that the previous Food God would definitely have a high DEX too. The same must be true for Lord Anton, the person hailed as the second Food God. If that was the case, then¡­

    ¡°I will extract the Delicate Mountain Goat¡¯s milk for you.¡±

    ¡­He might just be able to extract the milk himself.

 Chapter 353: The Food Godâ€™s Territory

    Chapter 353: The Food God¡¯s Territory

    Lucaro¡¯s smile was gentle as he listened to Minhyuk¡¯s words. He had long epted the fact that he was singled out in the territory, just because he had served the Food God of the past. Still, the words of this visiting traveler were very precious to him.

    Even so, the Delicate Mountain Goat were considered legendary beings in this territory. There were even rumors that those that could sessfully extract fresh milk from the Delicate Mountain Goat would be the next Food God.

    <em>¡®But, it¡¯s because of that very same reason that my hand¡­¡¯</em>

    It was because of that reason that Anton took his hand away. It was to keep the fact hidden that someone serving the previous Food God could milk the Delicate Mountain Goat.

    ¡°I¡¯m very grateful for your words but¡­¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry! I will definitely bring you some mountain goat¡¯s milk!¡±

    Startled, Lucaro looked at Minhyuk¡¯s bright and clear eyes. He already knew that Minhyuk was a clever young man that easily understood the things that were taught to him only once. He even did other things without being asked to. Of course, that was only in the confines of this bakery, but Lucaro could still tell that the young man in front of him was one of a kind.

    <em>¡®If I could take in a disciple then¡­¡¯</em>

    If that was the case, then Lucaro wanted to take this young man as his disciple. But fate was fickle and cruel, he could never take in anyone as his disciple, with his broken left hand.

    Lucaroughed and nodded at Minhyuk. He said, ¡°Then, I will ask this favor of you.¡±

    Anyone from the territory could try and milk the Delicate Mountain Goat. However, anyone that wanted to take on the challenge had to take into ount the fact that they could be severely beaten by the Delicate Mountain Goat.

    Then, a quest window popped out in front of Minhyuk.

    <em>[<strong>Quest</strong>: Extract the Delicate Mountain Goat¡¯s Milk.]</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: SS</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: The One that has received Lucaro¡¯s favor.</em>

    <em><strong>Rewards</strong>: Delicate Mountain Goat¡¯s Milk, Lucaro¡¯s highest favor.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: The milk of the Delicate Mountain Goat is the best tasting milk, not only in Albero Territory, but in all of the world. However, there have only been three people that can extract the milk from these goats. Be the fourth person!</em>

    Minhyuk learned the location from Lucaro and immediately set out. Behind him, Lucaro whispered, ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Lucaro had thought that he would have to give up his right to participate in the Gourmet Dragon Banquet. That was why he was very grateful to Minhyuk. However, milking the Delicate Mountain Goat was a different matter altogether. After all, the chefs that had reached the master craftsman level had tried and failed in milking this Delicate Mountain Goat. Lucaro was able to seed in milking this picky and fussy Delicate Mountain Goat, thanks to his surprisingly high DEX. To put it in yer stats, Lucaro had around 2,000 points in DEX. That was how high it was.

    ***

    Paradise Restaurant was hailed as one of the top three restaurants in Albero Territory. It was a restaurant that had been passed down from one generation to another, and had been around for hundreds of years.

    The Head Chef, Balza, was one of the chefs that had reached the master craftsman level in Albero Territory. However, it had not been that long since he reached this level. And he was not just a <em>¡®master craftsman¡¯ </em>chef, he was also a chef that was preparing to take part in the Gourmet Dragon Banquet.

    <em>¡®As long as I can milk the Delicate Mountain Goat¡­!¡¯</em>

    If that happened, then Balza would be Anton¡¯s protege. It was a simple task, all he needed to do was to milk the Delicate Mountain Goat. However, from what he heard, anyone that milked the Delicate Mountain Goat could rise and take the position of Food God!

    Food God! It was an honorable and sacred title! However, rumors had gued the previous Food God after his death, making him out to be an evil and vicious man. ording to the rumors, the previous Food God destroyed viges and ughtered innocents to fill his stomach. Rumors also said that he stole people and food to pad his empty and hungry stomach.

    However, Balza was one of the few that knew the truth. The previous Food God was not that kind of man at all. Everything had been fabricated by Anton. The previous Food God held no desire for anything, aside from food. On the contrary, Anton was a person that was greedy by nature. He did not want this territory to remain free from greed and desire, like the territory of the past.

    Even so, Balza also denied the previous Food God. He wanted to be Anton¡¯s protege because he also wanted to seize money, power, honor, everything!

    Balza brought his disciples to climb the mountain where the Delicate Mountain Goat lived. They arrived at a vast expanse ofnd, with green grass swaying around and mountain goats prancing around along the mountain walls. Many chefs, as usual, tried to take on the challenge of milking the Delicate Mountain Goat! Balza let out a slight groan as he looked at the area where the Delicate Mountain Goat were resting.

    <em>¡®How should I go about this¡­¡¯ </em>Balza thought as he looked at the sheer height of the cliff wall in front of him.

    Mountain Goats were creatures that mainly lived on rocky mountain walls, and the Delicate Mountain Goat lived on precarious and dangerous cliffs, which made it a very challenging task to get to where they were. There was a high chance of falling to their deaths if they stumbled while climbing these cliffs. However, despite the danger, the chance of sessfully milking the Delicate Mountain Goat was still worth the challenge!

    Balza¡¯s eyes wandered around before spotting a Delicate Mountain Goat sitting on an inconspicuous corner by the edge of a cliff. Unlike other mountain goats that tended to gather around in groups, this goat preferred a solitary life. It was also around three timesrger than ordinary mountain goats, withrger curved horns and sharp teeths. To put it simply, it looked more like a beast than a mountain goat.

    ¡°Euaaaaaaaack!¡±

    One of the chefs that tried to climb the cliff slipped and fell down to the ground.

    ¡°Keuk!¡±

    In the end, the chef broke his leg. Some of the chefs watching to the side eventually gave up and returned to their restaurants. However, there were a few willful ones that decided to challenge and approach the solitary mountain goat. The moment one of the chefs reached out to milk the goat¡­

    <em>Bang!</em>

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaaack!¡± The chef shrieked as he fell down the cliff.

    Fortunately, Lord Anton had assigned three knights to monitor the situation here. If a chef fell down from a height that could endanger their lives, these knights would move quickly to save them.

    Meanwhile, Balza had tied arge, empty milk can on his back, as he began to climb the cliff walls. He thought, <em>¡®I¡¯m different from these regr chefs! I have been constantly exercising while practicing my cooking skills since I was young!¡¯</em>

    Besides, he was a chef that had reached the master craftsman level! He could easily climb a cliff like this, with skill as well!

    ¡°As expected of Mister Balza!¡±

    ¡°Wow! He¡¯s really a cut above the rest that tried to climb these cliffs!¡±

    His disciples eximed in awe. However, unbeknownst to them, Balza¡¯s throat had already gone dry. The Delicate Mountain Goat was extremely terrifying up close.

    However, he had to get that coveted milk! As long as he could get his hands on it, he would be able to use milk of a different level! Balza was sure that he would be able to get that milk. After all, he was second only to the territorial lord in terms of DEX. Actually, he could be considered second to the lord only if Lucaro, the man with a broken left hand, was excluded.

    Balza slowly approached the Delicate Mountain Goat, then carefully reached out his hand to grab the Delicate Mountain Goat¡¯s tit.

    ¡°<em>Phew</em>.¡±

    ¡°W¡­ wow¡­¡±

    ¡°H¡­ he seeded in milking the goat!¡±

    ¡°My goodness! This is the Delicate Mountain Goat that no ordinary chef can milk!¡±

    His disciples were once again in awe. Balza¡¯s lips curled up in a smile. He would be able to create another legend today! Then, he moved his hand to gently extract the milk from the goat¡¯s tits. But¡­

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡­not a single drop of milk came out. Balza gently moved his hands again to try and extract the milk. But there was still nothing. In fact, what he did only made the Delicate Mountain Goat¡¯s mood turn sour.

    ¡°Meeeeeeeeeeh!¡± The Delicate Mountain Goat cried loudly as it raised its hooves and kicked Balza away.

    ¡°Keheok!¡±

    The force of the kick was so powerful that Balza was sent tumbling down the cliff. Fortunately, he was able to quicklye back to his senses, grabbing a tree¡¯s hanging root.

    ¡°Huff, huff, huff!¡±

    His situation, where he was hanging by a tree root, looked very precarious.

    ¡°Head chef!¡±

    ¡°Head cheeeeeef!!!¡±

    Balza heard the urgent and worried voices of his disciples. However, he did not care one bit about the danger to his life. If he fell, the knights would definitely save him. However, the shame that he would receive was something that was far more painful than falling from a cliff.

    <em>¡®I¡­I¡¯m¡­ the best chef in Albero Territory¡­!¡¯</em>

    He could not even extract milk from a mountain goat! Then, at that moment¡­

    ¡°Huh? Huuuuuuh?!¡±

    ¡°Wh¡­who¡¯s that?!¡±

    ¡°He, he¡¯s so fast!!! Looks like a wolf!!!¡±

    <em>Dash, dash, dash, dash!!!</em>

    A man was scaling the cliffs swiftly, as if he was the wind.

    ¡°Is¡­ is he trying to save the head chef?¡±

    ¡°That must be right! I¡¯m sure that mysterious guy has recognized Mister Balza!!!¡±

    The man, with his extreme climbing speed, came to a stop beside the hanging Balza.

    ¡°Q¡­quick! Come and save me! You should know that I¡¯m Albero Territory¡¯s best chef¡­!¡±

    s, the man just passed by Balza and continued to climb up the cliffs. It seemed like he was climbing to where the Delicate Mountain Goat was!

    ¡°Y¡­ you impertinent fool!!! Do you not know who I am?!! How dare you leave me behind¡­ huh?¡±

    That was when Balza realized something. He thought that the face of the man looked very familiar. However, his once shabby clothes had been changed into the white uniform of someone working in a bakery. This was the man who came to his restaurant not too long ago.

    ¡°You, you¡¯re that beggar, aren¡¯t you?! Come and save me!!! If you don¡¯t save me right now, I swear I won¡¯t leave you alone!!!¡± Balza shouted, the veins on his neck popping from the stress.

    The man, who had climbed up higher in the cliffs, looked down at him for a moment. Then, the man grinned and said, ¡°Why should I?¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just a shabby and unworthy beggar. Besides, weren¡¯t you the one that argued with me about the qualifications to eat at your restaurant? You even told me that you wouldn¡¯t sell me anything from your restaurant, even if I had the money, right?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Balza¡¯s mouth turned shut. Even if he was in this situation, it was something that he would never change.

    ¡°It looks like you¡¯re not showing any remorse at all, huh? Based on your expression, it seems like your thoughts will not change. You actually cook with that thought in mind? Was cooking something that¡¯s just for power, honor and money?¡±

    ¡°Is, isn¡¯t that obvious?! Those are things that everybody wants!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Everyone has their greed and desires. But, even if you harbor those desires, as a chef, shouldn¡¯t you think about the person who will eat your food? When the person that eats my food bes happy, I will also be happy. Isn¡¯t that what a chef is?¡±

    Balza thought that his words were ridiculous. What did a beggar like him know about cooking? Compared to Balza, a chef that had reached the master craftsman level, the beggar was nothing! In the entire continent, chefs that had reached this level could only be counted on one¡¯s hands. How dare someone like him talk about cooking to someone like Balza!!!

    ¡°I will climb up on my own. You bastard, I won¡¯t let you go!!!¡± Balza shouted as he tightened his grip on the root, and pulled himself up to climb the cliffs again.

    When he arrived where the Delicate Mountain Goat was, he saw the man crouched down with an empty milk container.

    ¡°Ha!¡± Balza barked out augh. How dare a beggar like him challenge and milk the Delicate Mountain Goat?!

    Balza immediately shouted to the knights below, ¡°Don¡¯t save him if he falls down the cliff!¡±

    ¡°B¡­ but¡­¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you see how this bastard ignored me?! Does this beggar¡¯s life even matter?! And you¡­ you guys look a bit down these days, make sure to pass by my restaurant!¡±

    The knights¡¯ faces brightened. That was right. It did not matter if this beggar died! Who cared about these kind of things? They were people that served under Anton after all, and were just as greedy as him.

    Then, the man¡¯s hand reached for the Delicate Mountain Goat¡¯s tit.

    <em>¡®Fufufufu.¡¯</em>

    Balza grinned maniacally. He was sure that the bastard would be mercilessly kicked down the cliff and die the moment he touched the goat¡¯s tit.

    <em>¡®How dare someone like you talk about cooking with me?¡¯</em>

    He was just a beggar after all.

    Then, Minhyuk gently reached out and petted the goat¡¯s teeth to extract the milk. At that moment¡­

    ¡°Me, meeeeeeeeeeh~?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    A strange bleat came out of the Delicate Mountain Goat¡¯s mouth. Minhyuk moved his hands once again.

    <em>That movement!</em>

    <em>¡®What, what is this? He¡­ he looks like he¡¯s ying an instrument, gentle yet skillful. The way his hands caresses the goat¡¯s tits are like a gentle and delicate touch towards his own lover!¡±</em>

    And what about the Delicate Mountain Goat? This creature was very vicious and ferocious, but in front of Minhyuk, it looked gentle and loving. Its gaze was so sweet that it seemed like honey would drip from its eyes! It even moved closer to Minhyuk so he could touch its tits easily!

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    What kind of nonsense was this? Once again, Minhyuk moved his hands.

    <em>Pat, pat, pat, pat, pat¡ª</em>

    His touches were gentle and soft as he patted the goat¡¯s belly and tits. In the end¡­

    <em>Fwoooooosh¡ª</em>

    The Delicate Mountain Goat let out its milk.

 Chapter 354: The Food Godâ€™s Territory

    Chapter 354: The Food God¡¯s Territory

    Minhyuk hurriedly took out his milk container and collected the goat¡¯s milk.

    ¡°Thank you. I¡¯ll drink it well.¡±

    ¡°Meeeeeeeeeeh~?¡±

    ¡°I know, everyday was hard for you, right? People came to grab your sore teats for your milk. You¡¯re delicate and sensitive, but they grabbed them roughly, right? I won¡¯t hurt you.¡±

    ¡°Meeeeeeeeh~¡±

    In fact, it was only Minhyuk that treated this ferocious Delicate Mountain Goat like this. He treated it better than anybody else that tried to get its milk. He was so gentle to the point that hearts appeared in the eyes of the Delicate Mountain Goat. What the Delicate Mountain Goat exactly felt was¡­

    <em>¡®Th¡­ thrilling¡­!¡¯</em>

    The mountain goat felt a pleasure that it had never experienced in its entire life the moment Minhyuk¡¯s hands touched its teats. This was because Minhyuk¡¯s DEX of more than 3,000 had far surpassed the previous Food God, the current Food God Anton, and even Lucaro.

    Minhyuk quickly filled his milk containers. He filled as many as five 2L bottles of milk. Balza trembled at the sight. Then, the Delicate Mountain Goat leaned down in front of Minhyuk.

    ¡°You want me to ride on your back?¡±

    ¡°Meeeeeeeeeh~¡±

    Minhyuk looked at the Delicate Mountain Goat¡¯s back. It seemed like it wanted to take him down the cliffs safely.

    ¡°How¡­how can this be¡­?¡±

    ¡°That¡­ that ferocious mountain goat actually let a man ride on its back?!¡±

    ¡°This is ridiculous!¡±

    While Balza¡¯s disciples and the knights below were in shock, Balza said, ¡°How, how¡­ how can a beggar like you do that?! How can you milk the mountain goat!!!¡±

    Hearing his words, Minhyuk, who was about to ride the Delicate Mountain Goat, turned to look back at him coldly and said, ¡°People like you...¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s cold voice pierced through Balza as if it was a cold and ruthless dagger.

    ¡°¡­will never understand it your entire lives.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Balza¡¯s face turned red from shame. This was his first time experiencing humiliation in his life. However, he was frozen in ce. At that very moment, he could feel an unparalleled power emanating deep within the man¡¯s body.

    <em>¡®J¡­just who in the world is that beggar?¡¯</em>

    Then, the Delicate Mountain Goat jumped down the cliff to go down the mountain. Seeing Minhyuk getting farther away from him, Balza came back to his senses. He shouted, ¡°K¡­Kill that man!!! I will give you plenty of rewards if you kill that bastard!!!¡±

    Balza was one of the most powerful and influential people in Albero Territory. He had plenty of power to wield. The knights quickly drew their swords and tried to approach Minhyuk. However, the Delicate Mountain Goat red at them with its ferocious eyes.

    ¡°¡­Ugh, urk¡­¡±

    Delicate Mountain Goats might be goats, but they wielded a tremendous amount of force. In fact, they could rival monsters at Level 500 and were like the guardian deities of Albero Territory. This very same Delicate Mountain Goat was protecting Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk made eye contact with Balza as the knights stepped away from him, allowing him to climb on the back of the Delicate Mountain Goat.

    <em>Grin¡ª</em>

    The corner of Minhyuk¡¯s lips curled up slightly. At that moment, Balza felt his heart sink. The man looked at the sky above them and chuckled. Balza believed that this was an obvious mockery. Then, the Delicate Mountain Goat disappeared into the distance with the man on its back.

    ¡°Aaaaaaack! You bastard! I¡¯m going to kill you!!!¡±

    The man did not cause any harm to Balza, instead, he spoke to him, smiled and chuckled. However, Balza was agitated. It was because the man¡¯s existence was proof that Balza had been beaten.

    ***

    The notifications rang after Minhyuk extracted the milk from the Delicate Mountain Goat.

    <em>[You havepleted the <strong>Quest</strong>: Extract the Delicate Mountain Goat¡¯s Milk.]</em>

    <em>[Lucaro¡¯s favor has reached the highest level.]</em>

    <em>[You can drink 2L of the Delicate Mountain Goat¡¯s Milk.]</em>

    Minhyuk was able to extract 10L of milk from the Delicate Mountain Goat, and was now even allowed to drink 2L out of it. However, the notifications did not end there. There was even an additional quest window that popped up in front of him.

    <em>[<strong>Linked Quest</strong>: The Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat.]</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: SSS</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: The one that sessfully extracted milk from the Delicate Mountain Goat.</em>

    <em><strong>Rewards</strong>: ???</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty for Failure</strong>: You will no longer be able to continue challenging the 15th Trial.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: You have sessfully extracted the Delicate Mountain Goat¡¯s milk. Go to Lucaro to find out about the location of the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat.</em>

    <em>¡®Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat¡­?¡¯</em>

    Sun¡¯s Wheat was the reward that he had received when he joined the Goblin Subjugation Forces in the past. It was an ingredient that was far more delicious than regr wheat. To think there was an ingredient called Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat? Minhyuk quickly clicked on the detailed information.

    <em>[Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat was literally the Sun¡¯s Wheat that became legendary. This was because it had disappeared at the same time that the Albero Territory had disappeared. In fact, the Sun¡¯s Wheat is a lower quality variety of the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat. The Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat has an amazing power. You can confirm this once you have obtained the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat.]</em>

    Minhyuk was surprised. He recalled that the food that he made using the ordinary Sun¡¯s Wheat already tasted good. However, ording to this information, it was actually considered the lowest quality.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s definitely because of the amazing power that it carries,¡¯ </em>Minhyuk thought as he decided to ask Lucaro about it.

    Then, Minhyuk looked down at the Delicate Mountain Goat that carried him on its back and asked, ¡°¡­Why aren¡¯t you going home?¡±

    ¡°Meeeeeeeeh~¡± The Delicate Mountain Goat cried as it smiled abashedly at Minhyuk, with its eyes filled with love.

    Minhyuk instinctively felt something. He said, ¡°Y¡­you¡­ Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡±

    ¡°Meeeeeeeeh~¡±

    That was when Minhyuk knew that the Delicate Mountain Goat wanted to stay with him. For a moment, Minhyuk was in despair. There was another mouth to feed! However, he immediately calmed down at the thought of being able to extract milk continuously from the Delicate Mountain Goat. And¡­

    <em>¡®Emergency food ration. Fufufufufufu!!!¡¯</em>

    The Delicate Mountain Goat had be Minhyuk¡¯s emergency food!

    ***

    Lucaro desperately prayed that Minhyuk would return safely. While he was praying desperately, he felt a vibration behind him.

    <em>Turn!</em>

    Lucaro turned his head, and saw a red-haired man with impressive and handsome features.

    ¡°Mister Kardeon.¡±

    The man was called Kardeon and his real identity was extremely shocking. That was because he was the Gourmet Dragon, an existence that had lived for more than 5,000 years. He was considered as the greatest dragon of all time, with power that far surpassed the chief of the Dragon Lords. ck Dragon Vormon, who appeared at a muchter time than him, was actually no more than a trifling speck of dust in front of him. And, he was also the highest judge in the Gourmet Dragon Banquet.

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you leaving, Food God¡¯s descendant?¡±

    Unlike Lucaro¡¯s warm and gentle wee, Kardeon¡¯s expression was frosty and as hard as stone. No, he looked like he did not understand Lucaro.

    ¡°I have to protect the Food God¡¯s territory.¡±

    ¡°Do you think that it¡¯s still possible for you to protect this territory?!!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The people believed that the Gourmet Dragon, Kardeon¡¯s fury would calm down as long as he ate the Food God¡¯s dish. In other words, the Food God was just a weak and feeble existence in front of him. However, this was not the truth. The Gourmet Dragon Kardeon was the Food God¡¯s close friend. Before the Food God sumbed to eternal rest, he told him, <em>¡®There will be a lot of people who will disgrace, destroy and defile the things that I have cultivated. This is only natural. But, if things go out of control, can you please guide them in the right path? Do me this favor, huh?¡¯</em>

    Kardeon epted the Food God¡¯s request. However, he interpreted his words differently and thought that he was referring to a violent approach. What the Food God wanted him to do was for him to tell them off and guide them towards the correct path. But, after watching these greedy humans, Kardeon had apletely different idea.

    They were the ones that hadughed, mocked and sullied his friend, after being blinded by greed. They did not know and cared to know what true cooking was. If that was the case, then he should just punish them.

    The Gourmet Dragon Banquet was just a pretext. Gourmet Dragon Kardeon was sure that none of these greedy humans¡¯ dishes would be able to satisfy him. Once that day arrived, the fallennd, Albero Territory that was once hailed as the Food God¡¯s territory, would disappear from the currents of history.

    Kardeon had informed Lucaro, the only person that continued to respect and love the Food God. He told him to leave, but Lucaro never did.

    ¡°I will save this territory with my own hands. I will show them what true cooking is, and what the previous Food God truly was like. I will proudly show them that I am his sessor.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Kardeon saw something in Lucaro¡¯s bright and determined eyes. He said, ¡°You won¡¯t have any regrets, even if you die fighting for him?¡±

    Gourmet Dragon Kardeon was hell bent on destroying everything. The only one that he wanted to keep alive was Lucaro. However, he saw in Lucaro¡¯s eyes that he did not want mercy. Kardeon wanted to tell this to the Food God over and over again, <em>¡®For you to have such a loyal follower, you must be a very happy person.¡¯</em>

    Even after his death, someone still loved and cared for him deeply. On the other hand, Kardeon also felt grief. Lucaro only had his right hand left, but the dishes that he needed to prepare for the Gourmet Dragon Banquet should be a lot. After all, he had to prepare a meal for a dragon.

    The chefs from other restaurants wouldpete, with the aid of their disciples, but Lucaro was alone. No matter how good his cooking was, he would not be able to get over this hurdle by himself.

    However, Kardeon was reluctant. He did not want to wound his purity and pride anymore than this. So, all he did was smile.

    ¡°May you have boundless glory, honorable and noble Dragon Kardeon.¡±

    With his words, Kardeon disappeared in a sh of light.

    Seeing him disappear, a bitter smile crept on Lucaro¡¯s face. He already knew that this territory would disappear. However, he wanted to protect it until the very end. The thought alone brought joy to Lucaro. He thought, <em>¡®I might die, but I¡¯m sure that another sessor of yours will take over and continue your pride and legacy.¡¯</em>

    Lucaro smiled as he looked at the sky. Then, a voice suddenly broke him out of his reverie.

    ¡°Mister Lucaro~ Pleasee outside!¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Minhyuk, the person that Lucaro was waiting for a long time for, was finally back. Lucaro quickly went outside only to see the boy smiling broadly at him while shaking a container filled with milk. Right next to him was a Delicate Mountain Goat bleating, <em>¡®Meeeeeeeh~¡¯, </em>coquettishly.

    <em>¡®What, what is happening¡­?¡¯</em>

    Lucaro was shocked. However, Minhyuk just smiled as he gulped down a cup of milk in one shot! He even said, ¡°Kyaaaa~! The Delicate Mountain Goat¡¯s milk is very delicious! Please have a drink, Mister Lucaro!¡±

    Minhyuk smiled and Lucaro chuckled too. He said, ¡°Boy, I told you to milk the goat, not bring the goat to me! It seems like you¡¯re a tamer, huh!¡±

    Lucaro thought that Minhyuk¡¯s ss was a legendary tamer. Otherwise, there was no exnation as to how Minhyuk could make the Delicate Mountain Goat follow him, right?

    Then, Lucaro said, ¡°I believe I will be able to pass the preliminaries and it¡¯s all thanks to you. Well then, let¡¯s go. I will show you how to make bread.¡±

    ¡°Yeeees~!¡± Minhyuk answered happily.

    The two of them entered the shabby bakery with bright smiles on their faces. However, Lucaro remained unaware of the fact that the true sessor of the Food God was right here beside him.

 Chapter 355: Two Food Gods

    Chapter 355: Two Food Gods

    Minhyuk followed Lucaro inside the kitchen as they both wore their cooking caps and chef¡¯s uniforms.

    ¡°Tamer boy, I will tell you something. The first thing that you need to take into ount when cooking is hygiene.¡±

    ¡°I understand,¡± Minhyuk answered in the affirmative for now, despite being surprised that he was called a tamer.

    Meanwhile, Lucaro had started boiling his pre-soaked red beans. After letting the beans boil, he discarded the water and reced it, before starting a new round of boiling. His movements were very careful, precise, and urate.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s amazing.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk looked at Lucaro in awe. He was just making some red bean paste, but he waspletely showing the aura of a master craftsman. There were no gaps or errors, despite not using any measuring instrument. He was able to pour the exact amount of water and turn off the heat on time, even without using any timer.

    Then, Lucaro started to mash the red beans with his remaining hand. However, since he could only use his right hand, it proved to be a difficult task.

    ¡°Please let me do it.¡±

    ¡°Will you, please?¡± Lucaro said, smiling lightly.

    Then, Minhyuk began to mash the perfectly boiled red beans. Lucaro¡¯s smile never left his face as he looked at Minhyuk, while he started to make the dough of the bread for the red bean bread.

    ¡°They said that the territory will buy the dishes that had passed the preliminaries at twice the price. They will also distribute the purchased bread for free to the citizens of the territory.¡±

    Lucaro was very pleased to hear that they would distribute the bread for free and feed the hungry. He was so happy that the smile never left his face as he did his best in cooking to pass the preliminaries. Lucaro looked just like Minhyuk whenever he saw something delicious and wanted to eat it. He lookedpletely delighted at the thought of other people being able to eat his bread.

    Finely ground flour scattered like falling snow whenever Lucaro¡¯s hands patted the dough. He would also make sure to wipe the sweat that dripped down his forehead with a handkerchief so that it did not interfere with his work. He was truly doing his best and giving it his all, even though he was only making red bean bread. Lucaro was literally the figure of an outstanding master craftsman. Minhyuk let out a gasp in awe after seeing him work.

    <em>¡®How can he do that with just one hand¡­¡¯</em>

    Then, the sweet red bean bread, made with mountain goat¡¯s milk and perfectly boiled red beans, finally entered the oven and began to bake quickly. Lucaro was smiling like a child as he monitored the bread inside the oven.

    While Minhyuk continued to admire Lucaro, notifications suddenly rang in his head.

    <em>[You have witnessed how a True Master Craftsman Chef cooks.]</em>

    <em>[Your understanding of cooking has increased dramatically.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 100 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[The vor of the dishes that you will make in the future will increase by 30%.]</em>

    Lucaro took out the red bean bread from the oven. Steam rushed out from the bread the moment he tore it in two. Minhyuk unknowingly gulped at the sight, wondering about the taste of the red bean paste inside the torn red bean bread.

    After tearing the bread in half, Lucaro handed one half to Minhyuk. This was freshly made bread! The only ones that could taste this vor were the ones that made the bread themselves.

    The warmth of the freshly baked bread spread out in Minhyuk¡¯s mouth when he took a bite. There was also the slightly hot red bean paste that teased his tongue in between bites. A smile slowly curled up at the corners of his lips at the sweetness that enveloped his mouth when he rolled the bread in his mouth.

    ¡°It¡¯s really delicious¡­!¡±

    ¡°Here. Try it with some mountain goat¡¯s milk.¡±

    <em>Gulp, gulp, gulp¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk quickly gulped the mountain goat¡¯s milk, while he continued to chew on his red bean bread. The red bean bread that he was chewing meltedpletely the moment the milk entered his mouth. The feeling was so soft and light that he let out a satisfied sigh.

    <em>[You have eaten the Amazing Sweet Red Bean Bread that a Master Craftsman Chef had made with all his might.]</em>

    <em>[Your hunger will disappear for a week and your vitality (VIT) will increase by 20%.]</em>

    <em>[You have eaten a Sweet Red Bean Bread made by someone of a higher level than you.]</em>

    <em>[You can now choose what kind of buff you want in your dish.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk was very shocked before turning to look at Lucaro.

    ¡°It¡¯s definitely important to have excellent cooking skills, but more than that, I hope that the hungry people of the territory that will eat these sweet red bean bread will be happy.¡±

    The reason why Minhyuk was shocked was because he could choose whatever buff he wanted to put in the dish which effectively brought him to a new level. And this happened just because he ate Lucaro¡¯s dish.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s only possible because I¡¯m the Food God, right?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk could tell that there would be no enlightenment with regards to cooking if ordinary people ate this bread.

    Meanwhile, Lucaro packed his sweet red bean bread in a pretty packaging and headed to the Lord¡¯s Castle.

    ***

    Gourmet Dragon Banquet.

    There were a total of eight judges that would judge the participants for thepetition¡¯s preliminaries and finals. Seven of these eight judges were rumored to have excellent ptes. They were said to be culinary researchers on par with master craftsmen, actual master craftsman chefs, explorers of culinary ingredients, and entric gourmands. The remaining one was both a chef and a contestant, Lord Anton.

    As for the Gourmet Dragon Banquet¡¯s preliminaries, the chefs that created the dishes submitted for their perusal would remain hidden. This was to make sure that the judges judge the food, and not the person that cooked the dish.

    Anton lifted the best dishes served in front of the seven gourmands. Lord Anton looked at the four dishes presented in front of him.

    ¡°What¡¯s the dish that you liked the most?¡±

    The seven gourmands answered Anton¡¯s question without any hesitation. They said, ¡°The sweet red bean bread.¡±

    Although this was just the preliminaries, there were a variety of colorful dishes served to these gourmands. There was a crab meat soup that was made after hunting a kraken, a lollipop made from sugar that has been preserved for hundreds of years, and even pf made from beef. These dishes were the epitome of splendor and delicacy itself. However, it made Anton irritated to know that the dish considered to be the best was the most ordinary and insignificant sweet red bean bread.

    Although Anton and the seven gourmands were all judges, they were different from each other. The seven gourmands were people that Anton could not control!

    <em>¡®What the hell happened to these people¡¯s ptes?¡¯</em>

    Anton thought that their amazing ptes had gone to waste over the years. After all, it was very uncharacteristic of them to say that the best dish was the red bean bread. Antonughed silently as he took a bite of the sweet red bean bread.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    However, he was left speechless. The texture of the bread was soft, a tell-tale sign of bread having the correct amount of flour in the dough. There was also the sweet red bean paste inside the bread that was just moderately sweet. Any sweeter than this and it would be too repulsive. However, the red bean paste inside had the right amount of sweetness that it could make anyone feel good with just a bite.

    ¡°How is it? It¡¯s delicious, right?¡±

    ¡°The chef used ordinary ingredients, but was able to produce the best dish. It¡¯s like we¡¯re looking at the dish made by the Food God of the past.¡±

    Anton, who unknowingly closed his eyes to savor the vor of the dish, instantly opened his eyes at the sound of the gourmands¡¯ discussion. He also caught the slight hint of mountain goat¡¯s milk towards the end.

    <em>¡®W¡­who the hell was able to milk the mountain goat?!!¡¯</em>

    Anton did not show his shock and maintained his expressionless face.

    ¡°Do you think the head chef of Paradise Restaurant is the one that made this bread?¡±

    ¡°We will know who made these dishes soon. Just wait for a while.¡±

    The gourmands continued to talk, while Anton tasted the dishesid in front of him one after the other. That was when he realized why the other judges deemed the sweet red bean bread as the most delicious dish.

    <em>¡®Aside from their colorful and showy appearance, their taste is just so-so. However, the bread is not showy or colorful. It¡¯s just in delicious.¡¯</em>

    Once the evaluation of all the dishes had been finished, the identities of the chefs were revealed. Anton had also given the sweet red bean bread the highest score that he could give.

    The soup made from kraken meat was made by Paradise Restaurant¡¯s head chef. The other outstanding dishes were also dishes created by the best chefs of Albero Territory. And the sweet red bean bread¡­

    <em>[Lucaro.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Anton was horrified. The sweet red bean bread was made by Lucaro, the previous Food God¡¯s sessor! He felt very flustered, as if his conscience had been stung.

    ¡°Lucaro¡¯s hands shouldn¡¯t have be like that.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. I don¡¯t know who it was, but someone broke the hands of such a talented man as Lucaro.¡±

    Then, one of the gourmands asked, ¡°Who could have done something like this?¡±

    ¡°<em>Cough!</em>¡±

    The gourmands were well-known figures in the entire world. They were not citizens of Albero Territory in the first ce. Anton coughed to dispel the difort. He wanted to deny their words, but what could he do? He himself had given a high score to the bread that Lucaro had made.

    <em>¡®Goddamnit.¡¯</em>

    The finals for the qualified contestants would be held tomorrow. It was the day when the Gourmet Dragon would appear.

    ***

    There were countless people gathered in front of the za for the announcement of the qualified contestants. Lucaro and Minhyuk were also among these people. Just like usual, there were plenty of people that criticized Lucaro.

    ¡°To work under such trash, get out of our territory!¡±

    ¡°Lucaro!!! You¡¯re a disgrace to our territory!!!¡±

    ¡°Do you think losing one hand is not enough?! Do you want me to rip apart your other limbs?!¡±

    These were the words that the corrupt and fallen chefs shouted at Lucaro. However, Lucaro never lost his pride and dignity.

    Then, someone shouted, ¡°You will never be able to pass the preliminaries!!!¡±

    However, Minhyuk snickered in between his words. He thought, <em>¡®Aren¡¯t they just jealous of his talents?¡¯</em>

    They were spouting nonsense out of their jealousy. They were just using the excuse of him serving the Food God to swear and curse at him. They were cursing him out and swearing loudly because of their inferiorityplex. That was why they did not need to fight back.

    Then, the official announcement of all qualified contestants was posted. And the dish with the highest score as well as the chef that created the dish was¡­

    <em>[Lucaro. Sweet Red Bean Bread.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    All of the chefs presents were shocked and horrified. How could he do that when he only had one arm left? What was more shocking was the fact that he only made the most ordinary dish, a sweet red bean bread.

    However, something unexpected happened.

    ¡°The dishes of the contestants that passed the preliminaries will be distributed free of charge. However, the sweet red bean bread will be excluded.¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Lucaro looked at the announcer in shock and confusion.

    ¡°H¡­ howe?!¡±

    ¡°The sweet red bean bread has the power to alleviate someone¡¯s hunger for a week. This power does not fit this ce that¡¯s hailed as the Chefs¡¯ Territory. If everyone feels full for a week, the sales of all of the restaurants will drop significantly. This consideration had led to that decision.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Lucaro was not able to savor the joy of passing the preliminaries. All he wanted was to give out his bread to the hungry! Then, Lucaro thought, <em>¡®Things will just continue to be like this.¡¯</em>

    It did not matter if it was in thepetition or not. Perhaps, he would even suffer from a sudden raid tonight too.

    Then, Minhyuk, who was standing next to him, said, ¡°They won¡¯t share the red bean bread that we made? What does that mean?¡±

    ¡°¡­What do you mean?¡±

    Lucaro¡¯s face turned stiff as he turned to Minhyuk and said, ¡°What do you mean by <em>¡®we¡¯</em>? I made it?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Lucaro¡¯s expression was cold as he said, ¡°Don¡¯t be mistaken, mister tamer. I¡¯m the one that prepared that dish, not <em>¡®we¡¯</em>.¡±

    Then, Lucaro continued to say, ¡°I¡¯m so disappointed in you! How can you be this shameless?!! Get the hell out of this territory right now!! This is how you pay me back, huh?!! You beggar!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was speechless. He could not say anything. In the end, Lucaro¡¯s spiel ended.

    <em>¡®Tomorrow. Albero Territory will disappear from the world, just as scheduled.¡¯</em>

    Lucaro would die, and so would everybody else. This was the end that Lucaro had guessed. He knew that the Gourmet Dragon would not be satisfied. And this ending would never change, unless someone stopped him. At the very least, Lucaro wanted Minhyuk to get away from this ce and save himself from the fate of this ce.

    ¡°I won¡¯t listen to you! Go away!!!¡± Lucaro said, his words filled with barb, but his chest was filled with sorrow and his eyes with grief.

    That was when Minhyuk realized. He thought, <em>¡®Is this the trial? Does it want me to save Lucaro and this territory?¡¯</em>

    There was also the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat.

    ¡°<em>Ptew! </em>That¡¯s so disgusting! So shameless!!!¡± Minhyuk said, pretending to spit. He was clear that Lucaro was trying to push him away. He chose to go along and put his mind at ease for now. Still¡­

    ¡°I¡¯ve worked with you for so long! At least tell me where the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat is!¡±

    ¡°H¡­how did you know about the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat¡­?¡±

    Lucaro was shocked. How did Minhyuk know about the wheat that was only passed down in the legends? However, instead of pondering deeply over the matter, he thought that it was best to tell him. After all, the ce where the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat was located was further away from Albero Territory.

    <em>¡®Minhyuk, you¡¯re a traveler. You shouldn¡¯t stay here and die. If you go there, then you will be able to live.¡¯</em>

    So, Lucaro angrily said, ¡°Go past that boulder and go to the ce closest to the sun, that¡¯s where you¡¯ll find the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat! Now that you know already, go away!!!¡±

    At his words, Minhyuk turned around and left without looking back. He disappeared within the crowd of people. As he left, Minhyuk thought, <em>¡®I¡¯ll be right back, Mister Lucaro.¡¯</em>

    Meanwhile, Lucaro thought, <em>¡®Go, go further away and survive, boy.¡¯</em>

    The two people with different thoughts separated ways. And when the next morning came, the curtains for the <em>¡®Gourmet Dragon Banquet¡¯</em> had opened.

 Chapter 356: Two Food Gods

    Chapter 356: Two Food Gods

    Originally, knights and diators would be the ones parading inside the magnificent coliseum, but what was present inside instead, wererge tables and cooking utensils. The name of each of the seven qualifiers were listed on top of each table, while tens of thousands of spectators filled the seats of the coliseum.

    Today, most of the residents of Albero Territory took a break and flocked to the coliseum to witness thepetition. They were here toy their eyes on the Gourmet Dragon, for whom the Food God of the past made a satisfying dish! However, the Food God of the past was now dead, it was now the time for a new Food God to sit on the throne. And this Gourmet Dragon Banquet was the perfectpetition to choose the person that would take on the mantle of the previous Food God!

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Food God!¡±

    ¡°Food God!¡±

    Anton, the Territory Lord and Twilight Chef, entered the coliseum amidst the calls of <em>¡®Food God¡¯ </em>from the citizens.

    He had immediately rushed to Albero Territory after news of the Food God¡¯s death. He was considered to be a man of wealth and power, especially with his restaurants scattered all over the continent. That was why it was not difficult for him to win the favor of the citizens of the Food God¡¯s territory. All he had to do was reduce the tax of the citizens for them to be fond of him. Then, he found some gossipers to spread bad rumors about the previous Food God.

    As the lord of the territory, Anton could not be considered to be a bad person. For one, he could just be considered to have bought the title of <em>¡®Food God¡¯ </em>with money. However, while he might not be a bad example as a lord, the same could not be said of his capacity as a chef.

    He was the one that hired someone to break Lucaro¡¯s left hand, in order to eliminate his rival and the only remaining person that served the previous Food God. He also kept sending people to Lucaro¡¯s ce to try and chase him out of the territory. As a chef, it was very unbefitting. In fact, instead of calling him a chef, it was more apt to call him a ¡®politician¡¯.

    The citizens of the territory that were unaware of his dirty tricks, sang praises to his name. They shouted in joy the moment he entered the coliseum. And the voices of the citizens of the territory eximed¡­

    ¡°Our Food God will definitely satisfy the Gourmet Dragon!¡±

    ¡°My goodness! The dragon is the strongest creature in the world! Anton¡¯s the only being that will satisfy the pte of such an existence!!!¡±

    ¡°He said that he would cook what he made today for everyone!!!¡±

    ¡°His dishes have excellent buffs! If you eat his dishes, you won¡¯t feel tired for a few days!!!¡±

    Not long after Lord Anton took to the stage, harsh winds fluttered in the coliseum. The spectators immediately held down their hair as a ck shadow fell down on them. The ck shadow casted upon them made them look up in the sky.

    ¡°The¡­ the Gourmet Dragon!!!¡±

    ¡°The dragon that¡¯s more ferocious and more powerful than any dragon in existence!!!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Sc¡­scary¡­!¡±

    The Gourmet Dragon stopped in the sky. Surprisingly enough, despite not pping his wings, he could stay in the sky and look down at themfortably. He was supporting his tremendous weight and colossal body with the magic Fly! This was an aspect of the dragons, an existence hailed as the king of magic.

    Then, the other participating chefs began to appear one after the other.

    ¡°Paradise Restaurant¡¯s Balza and his disciples!¡±

    ¡°Sunset Restaurant¡¯s Korean Chef Ager and his disciples!¡±

    ¡°If the Paradise Restaurant is on the morous and showy side, the Sunset Restaurant is on the clean and neat side.¡±

    ¡°Kgghk~ So, is it a battle between steak and rice?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true!¡±

    The chefs participating brought their disciples and kitchen assistants. After all, the Gourmet Dragon was a dragon of an enormous build! It was not easy for anyone to cook arge amount of dishes alone.

    And finally, Lucaro arrived on the stage alone. No cheers and shouts rang out for him. He did not have any colleagues, disciples, nor assistants beside him. He just walked silently by himself. The spectators tried to curse and swear at him, but they could not bring themselves to do so.

    <em>¡®Wh¡­what¡¯s this?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He looks quite cool?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He looks confident.¡¯</em>

    It was because of the pride and dignity that overflowed from Lucaro¡¯s body. Despite being alone, he exuded a lofty pride and dignity that made the audience fall into a trance. However, the fact that Lucaro came alone would not change. It would still be difficult for him to make a lot of food by himself.

    ¡°There will be no time limit set for cooking. The chef that received the highest score from the eight gourmands and the Gourmet Dragon will be the chosen winner. The winner will also receive five legendary ingredients from the <em>¡®Five Legendary Boxes¡¯</em>.¡±

    ¡°The five legendary ingredients that God sent down to earth!!!¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re the ingredients that the Gods eat in their own world!¡±

    ¡°The best part is that the ingredients that wille out will be entirely dependent on what you want!!!¡±

    ¡°Its value is astronomical!¡±

    The spectators and the chefs were in awe.

    The same was true for Paradise Restaurant¡¯s Balza, who thought, <em>¡®The ingredients bestowed by God. The five legendary ingredients. What¡¯s more, we can pull out whatever ingredient we wanted from the box. Every single one of those ingredients is priceless.¡¯</em>

    Balza¡¯s eyes went green with greed. All of the chefs present here were aware that anyone that could win over Anton would be able to be his sessor. In other words, once they won, they would be able to grab the position of the lord¡¯s sessor. Albero Territory was a territory that could especially appoint the king of a kingdom! Their biggest strength here was cooking. If Balza won thispetition, he wanted to make franchises of Paradise Restaurant all over the continent through the king he appointed to make a lot of money. The same was true for the other chefs.

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll be able to make a lot of money!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Perhaps, I¡¯ll be able to buy several castles and mansions too.¡¯</em>

    The chefs were so filled with greed to the point that they were practically drooling from their imagination. All they wanted to do was to fill their own pockets. They never had the desire to see the happiness and pleasure that the others would feel once they ate their cooking.

    Among them, a man stood in reverence as he silently paid his own tribute. The man thought, <em>¡®Please grant me the strength so I can raise my head and maintain my pride, my dignity. I sincerely ask this of you my Lord, Food God.¡¯</em>

    The Gourmet Dragon Banquet began just as Lucaro slowly opened his eyes.

    <em>ck!</em>

    The chefs brought out their knife roll bags made out of superb monster leather and unfurled them to reveal glittering and colorful kitchen knives. The chefs¡¯ assistants and disciples began to wash and clean their top-notch ingredients, as the chefs grabbed their knives and began to slice, cut and chop.

    <em>Tak, tak, tak, tak, tak, tak!</em>

    The taste and vor was very important in cooking, but so was the shape and cut of the ingredients. Even when the chefs were only slicing a carrot, there was not even a single margin of deviation in their movements. Their splendid and showy hand movements were enough to bring out sounds of admiration from the spectators!

    ¡°W¡­ wooooooow!¡±

    The chef from Sunset Restaurant took out a huge cauldron and reached his hand out under it. Then¡­

    <em>Crackle¡ª</em>

    A huge fire bloomed under the cauldron.

    ¡°The Sunset Restaurant¡¯s head chef has learned Second Tier Magic. ording to him, he learned magic just to incorporate it into his cooking. This is a really great feat!¡±

    ¡°The fire will not go out as long as he has his mana. Even the way he controls the fire is excellent.¡±

    Everyone in the audience eximed in awe. Meanwhile, Anton, the current territorial lord and the fake Food God, had the territorial castle¡¯s main chefs helping him.

    ¡°From what I heard, he only brought SS-grade ingredients.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s also the Siren¡¯s Tears included among his ingredients, an ingredient that isparable to the five legendary ingredients.¡±

    ¡°Amazing ingredients! Spectacr skills! Kgghk!¡±

    Among them, a man continued to knead silently with one hand. His movements were very slow which made the audience, who once got fascinated by his momentum, disappointed.

    ¡°What can you do alone?!!!¡±

    ¡°Can you even feed the Gourmet Dragon with that?! Why don¡¯t you just go and feed that beggar assistant of yours!!!¡±

    ¡°Hahahaha!¡±

    Lucaro¡¯s beggar assistant had stayed with him for a few days, but it seemed like he also grew tired of Lucaro and his pathetic nature!

    ¡°Shut up! Thepetition has no time limit! Don¡¯t disturb them with your noises!¡±

    <em>¡®Everyone else¡¯s in a hurry. But, it seems like he doesn¡¯t feel the urgency. His hands continue to move cautiously.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®How can he show great kneading skills despite only having one hand? Every time his hand moves, the water and the oil that usually doesn¡¯t mix,es together. It¡¯s like an art.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He chose pizza as his dish. This dish does not require stir-frying or any other cooking technique except baking. It seems like this is one of his strategies.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®However, there¡¯s one problem¡­¡¯</em>

    Compared to others, he made one dish at a time. And every time he made a pizza, he would add it together to create arger pizza. However, with this process, the pizza would cool down. Pizza was a dish that would be tasteless once it cooled down. The stretchy cheese and toppings would go hard over time and could make anyone that tasted it frown.

    For the pizza to be called delicious, it had to have enough heat for the cheese to stretch and for the mouth to feel warm the moment someone ate it. What Lucaro was trying to cook was a double-edged sword.

    The gourmandsmented after they watched Lucaro finish his dough.

    <em>¡®How will he slice and chop his ingredients?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Can he even slice and chop those ingredients properly and neatly with just one hand?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Both the taste and shape of the ingredients in the dish are important.¡¯</em>

    The audience were also looking at Lucaro as he stood in front of his rinsed and washed ingredients. He stood out, not only because of his pride and dignity, but also because he was the only participant that participated alone.

    Not long after, Lucaro pulled out something from his shabby and worn out bag. The item that he pulled out was none other than his <em>¡®left hand¡¯</em>.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The left hand that Lucaro took out was a magic tool. It would move like it was his real hand and would even provide the same warmth as a hand the moment he ced it on top of his missing left hand. This was something that Lucaro had bought with all of his remaining wealth. However, everyone knew that this fake left hand moved slowly and more roughly than a person¡¯s hand! However, the moment Lucaro put it on, something surprising happened¡­

    <em>Tak, tak, tak, tak, tak, tak!</em>

    Lucaro¡¯s movements were quick and light, as he began to chop and slice his ingredients skillfully!

    ¡°Un¡­ unbelievable¡­¡±

    ¡°H¡­ how can he do that¡­ with a fake hand too¡­¡±

    ¡°He practiced a thousand, no, tens of thousands of times by himself!!¡±

    There were limitations to the amount of times that Lucaro could use the fake hand in a day. He used that limited amount of time to practice and grind himself to be skillful with that hand.

    <em>¡®This is the dish that I¡¯m making, Food God.¡¯</em>

    Lucaro¡¯s hands moved swiftly as he chopped and stir-fried his ingredients. His skills did not fall behind Lord Anton, which effectively made everyone watching him shut their mouths. Finally, he ced his pizza in the oven for baking.

    ¡°He might be slow¡­ B¡­ but he¡¯s really good¡­¡±

    ¡°Wow¡­ I have never seen Lucaro cook with both hands until now.¡±

    ¡°H¡­ how can he do it like that?¡±

    The chefs and the citizens of the territory all recognized Lucaro¡¯s superb skills. They had always cursed and swore at him, but they finally realized that they had to acknowledge his skills and abilities.

    Finally, the pizza came out of the oven.

    ¡°<em>G¡­ gulp¡­</em>¡±

    ¡°Looks, looks delicious¡­¡±

    ¡°I have always cursed at Lucaro, but I won¡¯t deny the fact that the bread he makes is the best of the best. I¡¯ve tasted it once¡­ the taste is something that I can never forget.¡±

    ¡°Wow, look at that bubbling cheese!¡±

    Under everyone¡¯s amazement, Lucaro was able to finish six pizzas in under two hours. Lucaro hovered his hand on top of the pizza to check its temperature.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The temperature of the pizza had fallen. The once-warm pizza had now cooled down, while the other chefs were still preparing their own ingredients. The chefs were aiming to create a warm dish by cooking arge portion in one go. But, that was something that was only possible if there were plenty of people. For Lucaro, who was all by himself, it was nigh impossible.

    Lucaro thought, <em>¡®If only I had the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat¡­¡¯</em>

    What was the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat? It was an ingredient that grew under the direct, ring heat of the sun and could produce food that would never cool down, nor get soggy. It was a legendary ingredient that would maintain the best temperature suited for the dish, or for human consumption. As long as he had that ingredient¡­ For some reason, he suddenly remembered the boy, Minhyuk, that he kicked out.

    <em>¡®Go farther away from here. Never look back.¡¯</em>

    Lucaro smiled bitterly at the thought.

    <em>Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick¡ª</em>

    The time was up for Lucaro¡¯s left hand. The once swiftly moving hand lost its power and stopped moving ording to his will. However, he was Lucaro and he would never give up. He continued to spread his pizza dough and sprinkle it with toppings. His feet moved swiftly taking him from one end of his table to another. The chefs standing on the same stage looked at Lucaro in awe when they saw how he was moving.

    ¡°A true master craftsman¡­¡±

    ¡°He doesn¡¯t know the words ¡®<em>giving up¡¯¡­</em>¡±

    ¡°He hasn¡¯t given up yet! His eyes are still burning with the will to win!¡±

    They looked at Lucaro in awe, the person that they had cursed all their lives. However, Lucaro was already reaching his limits. Cooking was a task that required a lot of energy after all. Lucaro continued to move swiftly until¡­

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    He tripped on something!

    The biggest setback that could happen was his right hand, the hand that he used to cook, was bent awkwardly in order to support his falling body. Tremendous pain shot through Lucaro¡¯s right hand. However, he just shakily stood up as he hurriedly moved again,pletely ignoring the pain in his body.

    Lucaro ced the pizza on a wide iron te and tried to put it in the oven with his right hand alone. However, another shot of tremendous pain spiked in his right hand, causing him to lose his grip on the tray.

    ¡°N¡­ no!¡±

    All Lucaro could do wasment the fact that he would lose this pizza. Just then, someone supported his right hand¡­

    <em>Grab¡ª</em>

    ¡­and helped him ce the pizza in the oven. Lucaro slowly turned to look at the person that helped him.

    <em>¡®Who is it? Is there anyone here that¡¯s even willing to help me like this?¡¯</em>

    The man that helped him smiled widely at him and said, ¡°Head chef! How can you cook without your assistant! You¡¯re really too much!¡±

    The man waspletely covered in dirt with obvious signs of burns all over his body. It would not even be strange if the man were to fall down right away, but he was still smiling brightly in front of Lucaro.

    <em>Murmur, murmur¡ª</em>

    The audience began to murmur. Surprisingly, someone came to help Lucaro. However, the appearance of the person that came to help him was very unusual. He looked burnt, but his face was very familiar.

    ¡°He¡­ he¡¯s the beggar that used to live with Lucaro, right?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s the one that came to our restaurant to beg for food!¡±

    The murmurs grew louder.

    Meanwhile, the man, Minhyuk, looked at the pizza that Lucaro made. The pizza had grown cold. Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°Head chef, I got you the ingredients that will help you make food that will never grow cold.¡±

    Minhyuk took a bag out of his inventory. The moment he opened the bag¡­

    <em>Crackle¡ª</em>

    ¡­a pir of me burst out.

    ¡°Urk!¡± Lucaro groaned as he took a step back in shock. However, he felt something strange. He thought, <em>¡®It doesn¡¯t feel hot?¡¯</em>

    Then, the mes that shot out of the bag were sucked back into the ingredient. The ingredient was none other than wheat, wheat that devoured the red sun as it lit up the entire coliseum.

 Chapter 357: Two Food Gods

    Chapter 357: Two Food Gods

    <em>Crackle¡ª</em>

    The zing mes brought a red tint to the wheat!

    ¡°No¡­ no way¡­¡± Lucaro said in disbelief.

    The Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat was something that he himself, and even the territory¡¯s Lord Anton, could not harvest. No, to be exact, it was something that no one had ever harvested yet. The only one that had ever harvested this wheat was the true, genuine Food God. The tales about the amazing dishes that he created with the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat had surprised the world and were still widely spread. In fact, it was not just Lucaro who was surprised by this feat.

    ¡°The¡­ the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat¡­?!¡±

    ¡°That superb ingredient that would never cool down¡­?!¡±

    ¡°That, that¡¯s impossible¡­! H¡­ how can a beggar like that obtain the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat?!¡±

    The audience was in a buzz. Even the gourmands jumped to their feet to get a glimpse of the shining red Sun¡¯s Wheat.

    Anton, on the other hand, was trembling. He said, ¡°H¡­how can this be¡­?¡±

    The Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat was an ingredient that the Sun God had gifted to Albero Territory after tasting the Food God¡¯s delectable dishes. However, this ingredient was something that only one person could harvest and that person was none other than the true Food God. The Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat was known for its divine vor, its ability to maintain the most suitable temperature at all times, and its ability to not let any food spoil forever. These special abilities were what made it deserving of the name <em>¡®Legendary¡¯</em>. However, surprisingly enough, the man that was burnt ck and was standing next to Lucaro, was actually able to get and bring the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat!

    ¡°L¡­ Lord¡­ It¡¯s the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat¡­!¡±

    ¡°What should we do?¡±

    Anton bit his lips and reluctantly shook his head at the words of the castle chefs. He said, ¡°The Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat is not an ingredient that anyone can cook.¡±

    The Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat was a very sensitive ingredient. Just one mistake in cooking would make it lose its vor. The wheat would even go so far as devour itself and burn the entire dish. Whether it was in the past or the future, the only person that could cook the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat was none other than the Food God. There was no way that the crippled Lucaro and his beggar assistant would be able to achieve such a feat. In fact, Anton¡¯s mouth was already curled into a hideous grin.

    <em>¡®No. I might be able to cook the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat.¡¯</em>

    From what Anton could see, the young man had an unknown power that allowed him to harvest the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat. If that was the case, then?

    <em>¡®I have to get that young man to my side and make him harvest the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat for me.¡¯</em>

    That alone would allow Anton to gain a lot of things. Money, honor, power. He would even receive a baptism and be reborn as the chef that sessfully cooked a dish with the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat. The thought alone made a smile appear on Anton¡¯s lips.

    It only took Anton a split second to finish the plot in his mind that he needed to y out, in order to take everything away from Lucaro. He smiled as he looked at the young man, Minhyuk, who was smiling while standing next to Lucaro and spreading the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat.

    ***

    Minhyuk realized what he needed to do in this trial after being scolded by Lucaro in the za and told to leave the territory. What he needed to do was to harvest the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat, help Lucaro obtain victory, and reveal the fact that Anton was a fake, and did not deserve the title of ¡®Food God¡¯.

    After a while, Minhyuk was able to reach the ce that Lucaro said was where the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat was located.

    <em>Shwaaaa¡ª</em>

    A st of hot steam engulfed Minhyuk¡¯s entire body. The ce was located near an active volcano. Minhyuk¡¯s eyes darted around and saw the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat spread out in a six meter radius, while sting off hot steam. It was as if it wasva, with how hot the air was around it. The sight was very spectacr. The Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat glowed a reddish light from the mes that frolicked around it. It was an ingredient that was very hard toe by.

    <em>¡®I want to have a taste of the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat.¡¯</em>

    On top of being a hard toe by ingredient, it was also wheat that could only be seen in <em>Athenae</em>. Still in awe at the greatness of the <em>Athenae</em> Production Team, Minhyuk took a step forward. The more steps he took, the stronger the heat that licked his skin. Minhyuk¡¯s body was already soaking with sweat, even though he was still three meters away from the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat. When he was only a meter away from it, he felt like his body was on fire from the heat that the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat was emitting.

    <em>[Your HP has dropped by 2%.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped by 3%.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped by 3%.]</em>

    <em>[Your body has sustained a huge burn.]</em>

    <em>[Your movements have been restricted.]</em>

    <em>[The damage from the burn has be higher.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped by 5%.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped by 5%.]</em>

    ¡°Urk!¡± Minhyuk groaned as he hurriedly retreated.

    He only stood a meter away from the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat for around three seconds at most, but his HP had already decreased by 18%. The heat from the mes of the wheat was so strong that it could make his HP drop in percentages. The fact that this damage was only caused by the residual heat emitting from the wheat, and not from direct contact with the mes inside the wheat, was very frightening. In fact, Minhyuk¡¯s shabby clothes were already burnt ck just by the heat alone.

    <em>¡®Once I get there¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk could not imagine what would happen to him once he went inside the six meter radius to harvest the wheat.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s not much information avable about the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat. However, I know that most of the chefs have given up on harvesting them because they can¡¯t bear the heat and can¡¯t get close to it.¡¯</em>

    At least 90% of those that tried to harvest the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat had fled from the heat. So, what about the remaining 10%?

    <em>¡®They died after being devoured by the fire of the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat.¡¯</em>

    If that was the case, how did the Food God harvest the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat?

    <em>¡®The harvesting process doesn¡¯t seem to be that difficult.¡¯</em>

    Farming in <em>Athenae</em> was very difficultpared to reality. One needed to have a high DEX and excellent farming skills to be able to do so. However, harvesting the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat became an almost impossible feat, since only those with skills above master craftsman could do so. But, even if there were master craftsmen avable to harvest them, it would still take them a lot of time to do so. In other words, this ce was the perfect burial for the slow master craftsmen that dared to harvest the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat.

    Based on those facts, Minhyuk confirmed that he would be able to harvest the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat as long as he went inside that area. However, the problem still stood.

    How could he ovee those mes and heat to go inside and harvest the wheat? Minhyuk had a high magical defense and high fire attribute resistance. Even his STM was high enough that it could surpass ordinary chefs several times over.

    <em>¡®What do I have inmon with the original Food God?¡¯</em>

    What Minhyuk needed to do was to find his and the Food God¡¯smon ground.

    <em>¡®Maybe use God¡¯s Cooking Skills? No. Cooking and harvesting are twopletely different skills. If that¡¯s not it, then what? Ignoring the penalty when eating? No. This has nothing to do with that either.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk pondered deeply about this matter until he finally reached a conclusion. He thought, <em>¡®I can increase my fire attribute resistance.¡¯</em>

    He did not need tost longer than an hour inside that area, all he needed was a scant few minutes. But for him tost those few minutes, he needed to increase his fire resistance. The pieces of the puzzle were finally in ce. Thanks to Lucaro, Minhyuk learned and acquired the power to choose the buff that he wanted to focus on in a dish.

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll use all my buff to increase my fire attribute resistance in this dish.¡¯</em>

    Originally, buffed dishes were dishes meant to increase various abilities and powers in the consumers¡¯ body evenly. After all, a dramatic increase in STR would not result in a good oue if the one that ate the dish did not have the speed (SPD) to hit the enemy with that STR. The only oue would be failure.

    The same was true for AGI. A dramatic increase in AGI would mean nothing if they could not deal enough damage from their quick attacks. That was why it was always rmended to have a bnced, even buff to dishes. However, Minhyuk¡¯s situation right now would be an exception.

    ¡°Let¡¯s Have a Meal!¡±

    Minhyuk was done thinking. Now, he needed to try and execute the n. He also made sure to use his skill <em>Let¡¯s Have a Meal,</em> since he would be able to have a higher chance of getting a higher grade dish inside the barrier. Minhyuk continuously ate to increase his fire attribute resistance. Then, the notifications rang.

    <em>[You have eaten the Tonkatsu with Capsaicin Sauce.]</em>

    <em>[Your Fire Attribute Resistance has increased by 52%.]</em>

    From what was seen from the notifications, the buff increase for resistances was much higherpared to stat increases. No matter how intense someone ate to increase their STR stat, the highest that they could get would be at around 30%. However, it was different for resistances. Minhyuk was able to increase his fire attribute resistance by 52%. After seeing the increase in his resistance, Minhyuk immediately stood up and jumped into the ring of heat.

    <em>Crackle¡ª</em>

    A huge me burst out and engulfed his body the moment he entered the area. However, Minhyuk thought that it would be worth it as long as he could endure the heat. He was willing to use all of the skills that he could use to harvest all of the wheat around him. Now, the only question was whether harvesting the wheat was as easy as what he heard. So, Minhyuk reached his hand holding a sickle out and tried to harvest the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat.

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    <em>[You have sessfully harvested 1 kilogram of Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat.]</em>

    <em>[You are the first person to harvest the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 200 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[Your Fire Attribute Resistance has increased by +10.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk felt relieved. Thankfully, harvesting the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat was truly easy. The game system was even generous enough to allow him to harvest in kilograms with every sh. It was not a small amount at all.

    Minhyuk quickly moved to harvest the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat. Although the heat was scalding and had engulfed his entire body, he endured and persevered through the task.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s someone who believes in me,¡¯ </em>Minhyuk thought as he recalled the warm smile on Lucaro¡¯s face. The chef that had the same values and beliefs as himself. Someone that also did not want to see anyone go hungry in this world. Minhyuk endured the harsh and scalding heat and continued to harvest the wheat for this man.

    <em>sh¡ª sh¡ª</em>

    <em>[You have sessfully harvested 1.2 kilograms of Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat.]</em>

    <em>[Your Fire Attribute Resistance has increased by +5.]</em>

    <em>sh¡ª </em>

    <em>[You have sessfully harvested 0.9 kilograms of Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat.]</em>

    <em>[Your Fire Attribute Resistance has increased by +5.]</em>

    The amount of wheat that he could harvest after the first few harvests became smaller subsequently. But it did not matter. Anyone that would eat a dish made from the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat would be able to receive a tremendous effect.

    Minhyuk continued to harvest the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat and was able to harvest everything by the time his HP reached below 4%. Then, something amazing happened. The zing mes that emitted a scalding heat as it surrounded the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat got sucked inside the wheat that Minhyuk harvested.

    <em>Crackle¡ª</em>

    The mes burned brightly, but Minhyuk did not feel the heat at all. Then, the notifications began to ring in his ears one after the other.

    <em>[You have sessfully harvested all of the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained +15 to all five of your basic stats.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 200 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[The Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat is an ingredient that can only be cooked by those that possessed the God¡¯s Cooking Skill and the One Acknowledged by the Food God.]</em>

    <em>[You have harvested one of the Five Legendary Ingredients.]</em>

    <em>[What are the Five Legendary Ingredients? Please check the book.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Truth Droplets.]</em>

    <em>[You can now reveal that you are the Food God in Albero Territory.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Sacred Drink for the One Acknowledged by the Food God.]</em>

    <em>[Find the One Acknowledged by the Food God and give him the Sacred Drink.]</em>

    Minhyuk immediately ran to where the Gourmet Dragon Banquet Competition was being held the moment the notifications ended.

    ***

    Lucaro could not say anything. Minhyuk hade back. He could not understand why he did so, but he could see that Minhyuk was still smiling softly at him. Then, he looked at the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat that was spread out and shining brightly before mourning, ¡°Why did youe back?! Look at you getting all injured like this! Your body is even ck all over! Boy!!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s smile turned even softer after hearing Lucaro¡¯s words. The man was more concerned about his state than thepetition right now. He did not even give another nce at the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat that was spread out in front of him after seeing the state of Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    Then, Minhyuk handed the Sacred Drink to Lucaro. He thought, <em>¡®The Sacred Drink for the One Acknowledged by the Food God.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk could tell who this drink was for. That person was none other than Lucaro. He said, ¡°Mister Lucaro, this drink is left by the Food God for you.¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Lucaro could not understand the words that Minhyuk told him. What did he mean by that?

    ¡°I received this after harvesting the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat. He already expected this to happen. Everything that happened in this territory, the greed, the chaos, the disaster, he had anticipated everything.¡±

    Lucaro¡¯s hands were trembling as he epted the drink from Minhyuk. The contents of the drink inside the transparent ss bottle was shining mysteriously with various colors.

    ¡°It seems like the Food God loves you dearly,¡± Minhyuk said as he smiled brightly at Lucaro.

    However, Lucaro just looked at him as if he could not understand what was happening.

    ¡®<em>How can this boy in front of me harvest the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat? How can he bring this drink that was left behind by the Food God? How can this young beggar, who loves food more than anyone else, and has a pure and innocentugh, do such things?</em>¡¯

    Minhyuk saw the questions shing in Lucaro¡¯s eyes. So, he opened his mouth and answered, ¡°Because, I¡¯m the Food God. And just like the previous Food God, I care deeply about you too, Lucaro.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Lucaro¡¯s heart thumped wildly.

    The man that he longed to meet once again. The man that he ced his trust and faith in. That man was now standing in front of him, with a bright and wide smile on his face.

 Chapter 358: Two Food Gods

    Chapter 358: Two Food Gods

    Lucaro had been fighting an uphill battle all by himself, for a long time. This was the case ever since the rumors about the original Food God being an evil and vicious person started circting. Rumors about how he looted, pindered, and killed other races to fill his stomach and eat their food for himself, surfaced one after the other. However, Lucaro denied the ims every time.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s a good person. He¡¯s someone that doesn¡¯t want anyone to go hungry in the world.¡¯</em>

    But Lucaro¡¯s words were met with curses and stones. The people swore at him, pointed fingers at him, and spat at his storefront. Nevertheless, his belief remained firm. He protected the Food God¡¯s legacy by himself. He was truly alone. He was the only one that believed in the Food God.

    Oftentimes, he would wonder if Allen was not the God that he thought he was, but because of the piece of bread that he handed over to him, Lucaro was able to remain steadfast in his trust towards him, as he continued to stand by him and think about him. And right now, his God had responded to his pride and dignity. Lucaro gulped down the drink that Minhyuk had handed over to him without any hesitation.

    Then, Anton approached them. He wanted to bring Minhyuk over to his side, thoroughly bringing despair upon Lucaro. He acted as if he was astonished with the sudden turn of events and said, ¡°H¡­ hey! The Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat will burn a normal person¡¯s hands the moment they touch it! Even if thispetition is very important, you shouldn¡¯t risk something like that!!!¡±

    Anton acted as if he was concerned, but Minhyuk could tell what he wanted to say.

    <em>¡®Stop acting pretentiously. This is an ingredient that the likes of you can¡¯t touch.¡¯</em>

    The same thought ran through the minds of everybody else. Then, the gourmands began to speak one after the other.

    ¡°We are very grateful that you allowed us to see the light of the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat, stranger. We can see yours and Lucaro¡¯s will. This is more than enough to spread your name to the future generations.¡±

    ¡°We hope that you don¡¯t try to go any further. We do not wish to see any more of your sacrifices. A chef¡¯s hands are his most important assets, and it could burn away from your willful sacrifice.¡±

    ¡°You should stop cooking, we still need talented people like you!¡±

    There were also the spectators!

    <em>p, p, p, p!</em>

    ¡°You did well enough, Lucaro!!!¡±

    ¡°Thank you for showing us the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat!!¡±

    ¡°Please stop now!!! We don¡¯t wish to lose someone like you!!!¡±

    ¡°Please stop!!!¡±

    The spectators and the gourmands apuded their bravery and contributions.

    <em>¡®Morons¡­¡¯ </em>Anton thought, as he watched the scene unfold.

    Why did they sing praises for Lucaro? What did he even do? Anton firmly believed that Lucaro did not deserve those apuse. After all, he was not someone that could cook the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat. On the other hand, Anton might have a chance to do so. So, they should stop apuding him! The person that they needed to apud was him!

    Anton really could not understand the thoughts of the people. Instead, he said, ¡°It¡¯s not an ingredient you can handle.¡±

    Right at that moment, something strange happened. The ce where Lucaro¡¯s left hand should be now had a left hand made of light. Then, the notifications rang for Lucaro after he finished drinking the drink that Minhyuk handed to him.

    <em>[You have drunk the Sacred Drink for the One Acknowledged by the Food God.]</em>

    <em>[Yourtent and dormant potential is being drawn and raised.]</em>

    <em>[You have opened your eyes to a new level.]</em>

    <em>[You can now cook the Five Legendary Ingredients.]</em>

    <em>[As the One Acknowledged by the Food God that drank the Sacred Drink, you have temporarily acquired God¡¯s Cooking Skill.]</em>

    Then, Lucaro made eye contact with Minhyuk. He said, ¡°Boy, you¡¯re really a chef, huh? No. You¡¯re truly the one that has seeded the Food God of the past.¡±

    ¡°Yes. I¡¯m not a tamer.¡±

    Then, the two of them both raised their hands towards the zing red Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat, which evoked an extraordinary scene.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The mes that covered the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat were sucked in both of their hands.

    Minhyuk was the Food God. He was someone that had learned and mastered <em>¡®God¡¯s Cooking¡¯</em> skills. On the other hand, Lucaro was the One Acknowledged by the Food God. He was someone that had <em>¡®temporarily acquired God¡¯s Cooking skill¡¯</em> and was the person that could cook the <em>¡®Five Legendary Ingredients¡¯.</em> These two people began to grind the burning Sun¡¯s Wheat until its texture became fine and smooth. The movements of their hands were very illusory and worthy of the title of a master craftsman.

    The ever-burning Sun¡¯s Wheat had soon turned into white flour. However, the two of them did not stop. The temperature of the Sun¡¯s Wheat flour remained hot, yet not as scalding as the burning mes when cooking, as they added water and began to knead. They both kneaded at the same rhythm and in cadence, with their fantastic and illusory skills. It was as if they were dancing to a tune that only they knew.

    Not long after, the dough, which was once as round as a ball, spread out gently in a wide circle, while emitting a dazzling red light. The dough was like a peacock showing its beautiful feathers for everyone to see.

    Then, the two of them both grabbed their knives at the same time. Minhyuk was using the Food God¡¯s Kitchen Knife, the item that he attributed to Beanie, while Lucaro used the kitchen knife that he used in the past, as they both sliced and chopped the toppings.

    <em>Tak, tak, tak, tak, tak, tak¡ª</em>

    <em>Tak, tak, tak, tak, tak, tak¡ª</em>

    The two men stood facing each other as they sliced, chopped and cut the ingredients on their respective chopping boards. Lucaro and Minhyuk¡¯s gazes met in the air.

    <em>¡®Even if I die now, I wouldn¡¯t have any regrets. After all, he responded to me and my faith in him.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®You have to live longer. Let¡¯s save this territory together.¡¯</em>

    The various ingredients for the toppings, like cheese and the likes, were sliced and chopped nicely before getting sprinkled evenly on top of the dough twinkling with a red light.

    Both of their hands moved swiftly and urately. After they finished chopping the ingredients, they immediately washed their hands and dried them, before proceeding with the next steps. Even if they were in the midst of a hectic cookingpetition, they did not forget the most basic and most important part of cooking¡­ ¡®Cleanliness¡¯.

    ¡°Ah, aaaaaaaaaah¡­!¡± A woman from among the crowd could not help but burst out in awe and admiration, after witnessing their fantastic cooking skills and tandem.

    <em>¡®Two Food Gods!¡¯</em>

    More than that, what she felt as she watched the Food God and the One Acknowledged by the Food God cook, was actually warmth. Of course, she knew that Lucaro was just a shabby bakery owner, and the other man was just a ragged young beggar, but for some reason, she felt as if tears would fall down her cheeks as she watched the two cook.

    Then, Lucaro asked, ¡°Boy, what do you think cooking is?¡±

    ¡°Something that anyone, whether they are a man or a woman, rich or poor, sad or happy, without any distinction at all, can eat. That is cooking.¡±

    ¡°Then, what do you think a chef is?¡±

    ¡°Someone that will give his all to cook for you, for me, or for anybody else. Sometimes, they will smile when they see someone eat their dishes, sometimes they will feel disappointed whenever they see someone grimace at the food that they made, and tell them that it barely fits their taste. Although that might be the case, they are still the creators of one of the most amazing and greatest things in the world,¡± Minhyuk said as he wiped off the water from his kitchen knife before moving again. His kitchen knife moved swiftly as a bright light scattered from its movements. He continued to say, ¡°That¡¯s what a chef is.¡±

    Lucaro smiled softly. Those were the words that Anton would never understand in his life. Meanwhile, the gourmands were all in awe.

    ¡°The sound of their movements sound just like a fantastic performance made by superb performers.¡±

    ¡°The sound when they slice the ingredients, the sound of the water dripping, even the sound of the oven heating up. All of these sounds put together creates a harmony! It¡¯s practically music to our ears.¡±

    ¡°Their movements are faster, more sophisticated, more elegant than any other chefs that I have seen before.¡±

    ¡°Lucaro is one thing, but who is that stranger?¡±

    While the gourmands were in awe, there was a man that felt hurried. That man was none other than Anton.

    <em>¡®Crazy bastards!¡¯</em>

    Anton quickly went back to his ce and began to cook again. He was in disbelief. He could not understand the reactions of the gourmands and the people in the stands.

    <em>¡®What food can they even make?¡¯</em>

    It was just <em>¡®pizza¡¯</em>, a food that wasmonly enjoyed by ordinary people. It was a verymon dish where they ce plenty of toppings on bread, sprinkle it with cheese and bake it in an oven. What was thatpared to the food that he was making? The dish that he was making was a luxurious dish that only consisted of awe-inspiring ingredients that could never be bought, or eaten, by anyone easily, even if they had the money. These were the delicacies that the former Emperor, Adron, enjoyed! However, the people around him only cared about the pizza. They did not even pay attention to the delicacy that he was making!

    Then, the chefs finished their dishes one after the other.

    Ager, Sunset Restaurant¡¯s master of Korean dishes, made bibimbap. The enormous bowl where the dish was ced was muchrger than therge pot thatpanies usually used in their canteens. The ingredients inside the bowl were beautifullyid out with a surprisinglyrge yolk ced in the center. This yolk was from the drake¡¯s egg.

    The Gourmet Dragon was a monster. That was why they made delicacies with ingredients that were enticing for monsters.

    Balza, Paradise Restaurant¡¯s head chef, cooked steak together with his disciples. Arge b of meat was ced on top of a gigantic te, coupled with countless grilled and roasted cherry tomatoes, onions, and well-chopped, stir-fried garlic.

    Anton, on the other hand, made a delicacy that was usually enjoyed by Emperors. Foie gras. It was a dish that was made with goose liver, an expensive ingredient with high fat content that could not be normally enjoyed by ordinary people. The fact that Anton and his disciples created it together gave it an astronomical value.

    The chefs had finished their dishes, but there were still some other people cooking. They were none other than Minhyuk and Lucaro, these two people. Cooking was something that could not be hurried, even if they were skillful.

    While the two of them continued to cook, the Gourmet Dragon transformed himself into a hatchling. With his somewhat smaller size, he slowlynded in front of the dishes. He looked at the dishes in turn, while the gourmands also turned to look at the dishes.

    ¡°<em>Gulp,</em>¡± Paradise Restaurant¡¯s Balza gulped when he met with the snake-like eyes of the Gourmet Dragon thatnded in front of him.

    Not long after, the Gourmet Dragon slowly lowered his snout to taste the te of steak ced in front of him. He began chewing slowly. However, his expression soon distorted into a grimace. He said, ¡°That taste is very fancy.¡±

    ¡°Haha. Of course. It¡¯s a dish that we made for Your Excellency Gourmet Dragon.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not good enough.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry?¡±

    ¡°Cooking is not just about getting the best ingredients. Sometimes, cheaper ingredients can help you achieve a better vor for your dish. Somehow, you made something like this, with those expensive ingredients.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Balza trembled. The Gourmet Dragon¡¯s words meant that his dish was worth 70,000 reeked of money alone. Then, the gourmands also tasted his steak.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t taste like the steak the Balza usually makes.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe that he made something taste this fancy and showy for the banquet¡­¡±

    Rather than serving something delicious, Balza served something that tasted worse. This was because they were trapped with the notions of <em>¡®ingredients¡¯</em> and <em>¡®fancy¡¯</em>.

    Meanwhile, the bibimbap.

    ¡°<em>Ptew!</em>¡± The Gourmet Dragon spat the dish without any scruples. He said, ¡°Monster ingredients and human ingredients are ingredients that taste differently. However, one can find a way to make themplement each other properly. For some reason, this dish tastes like trash.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The chefs panicked. Who were they? They were the best chefs of Albero Territory, the chefs that have reached the <em>¡®Master Craftsman rank¡¯</em>! But the Gourmet Dragon had deemed their dishes to be trash.

    Just like that, most of the chefs¡¯ dishes had been shunned by the Gourmet Dragon. These were dishes that the gourmands had praised as delicious, but once the Gourmet Dragon tasted them, all he would say was that it tasted bad.

    That was right. He was the <em>¡®Gourmet¡¯</em> Dragon. He was a very picky dragon, especially with the food that passes through his pte. Not only did he take into ount the taste and vor of the dish, he also took into ount the heart and soul of the chef that they imparted in their dishes.

    In a blink of an eye, the Gourmet Dragon has arrived in front of Anton. Anton looked very nervous, his eyes darting to one ce. That was the ce where Minhyuk was cing the pizza on the gourmands¡¯ table. The gourmands had asked to taste the pizza that Lucaro and Minhyuk had made, while they were waiting for the Gourmet Dragon. Anton hurriedly looked back only to meet with the eyes of the Gourmet Dragon.

    ¡°I heard that you call yourself <em>¡®Food God¡¯</em>.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just ttery on their part.¡±

    Contrary to his seemingly humble answer, Anton¡¯s back was straight and proud. No, he even looked arrogant. It seemed like he was telling them that they should notpare him to the Food God of the past. He was a far better person than him!

    The Gourmet Dragon lowered his snout and tasted the foie gras that Anton made. The food passed through his big mouth and went down his throat. With his eyes closed, the Gourmet Dragon said, ¡°How¡­ how¡­ How can it taste like this¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Anton was very delighted to hear his words. He was the Twilight Chef and the lord of Albero Territory! Just one taste of his food and the Gourmet Dragon was filled with admiration!

    The spectators and gourmands turned to look at the scene. The Gourmet Dragon slowly opened his eyes and said, ¡°How can your food taste and smell like this? It has the vor of greed and a very vile stench¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    What made Anton devastated were the words that the Gourmet Dragon uttered next.

    ¡°This is a dish of someone that wants to take power. You must have trampled on a lot of people to make this dish. Just how many did you drag down?¡±

    Anton could not understand his words. His dish was reeking with greed? The Gourmet Dragon¡¯s words also implied that his cooking was not delicious. Hepletely denied these words.

    However, at that moment¡­

    ¡°Ah, aaaaah¡­ aaaaaah¡­!¡±

    Someone eximed from somewhere. Anton and the Gourmet Dragon both turned their heads to the direction of the sound. The one that made a fuss was none other than one of the seven gourmands. He was the man standing in the center of all the other gourmands. The name tag attached to his chest said <em>¡®Lonesome Gourmand Arcay¡¯</em>.

    Who was the Lonesome Gourmand Arcay? He was well-known among the humans to be the most difficult to please, and had quite the picky pte. He was someone that couldpletely grasp the essence of the food and taste the true vors inside the dish. He was also very famous for being strict.

    The Lonesome Gourmand Arcay was such a man. However, tears started to flow down his cheeks the moment he took a bite of the pizza that was served in front of him.

    ¡°Aaaaaaah¡­!¡±

    Arcay¡¯s tears kept on flowing down his cheeks as his cries echoed inside the coliseum.

 Chapter 359: Two Food Gods

    Chapter 359: Two Food Gods

    The gourmands were left in confusion after watching Arcay burst into tears when he tasted the pizza in front of them.

    <em>¡®Arcay, that Arcay¡­ burst into tears¡­?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He¡¯s the most picky among all of the gourmands. So, howe¡­¡¯</em>

    The audience sitting in the stands were in a buzz.

    ¡°Did, did you see? He¡¯s definitely smiling, but tears keep on dripping down his cheeks!¡±

    ¡°Maybe they¡¯re tears of joy?¡±

    ¡°He ate something delicious, so it¡¯s definitely tears of joy!¡±

    The people in the audience began to wonder what the pizza tasted like. As if wondering the same thing, the other gourmands hurriedly took a slice of pizza and took a bite of it. The moment they took a bite¡­

    <em>Crunch¡ª</em>

    ¡­the crispy, crunchy texture of the pizza greeted their mouths. It was immediately followed by a chewy texture which became more evident the more they chewed the pizza in their mouths.

    <em>¡®How? How did they do this?¡¯</em>

    It was very difficult to both incorporate the crunchy and crispy texture in the first bite, and the chewy texture right after. In fact, the warm bread was both crispy and moist. All in all, the bread was amazing.

    What about the toppings? Putting too much cheese on a pizza might make it feel too greasy in the mouth. To counter this, the tomato sauce should be added in perfect ratio with the cheese. This wouldplement the greasiness of the cheese. The tomato sauce¡¯s slightly tangy vor, with a hint of sweetness, should be able to catch the cheese¡¯s greasiness and create a perfect harmony.

    However, whenpared to other pizzas, this pizza¡¯s cheese was not too greasy, and even its tomato sauce was perfectly vored. It was wless. And then, there were the other toppings that they had sprinkled on top of the cheese and tomato sauce.

    The pizza made by Minhyuk and Lucaro differed across the sections. There was a bulgogi portion, Hawaiian portion, cheese portion, pepperoni portion, and many more. Dozens of these portions gathered together and created one round and whole pizza for the Gourmet Dragon.

    ¡°Aaaah¡­ How, how can someone achieve such harmony in just a slice of pizza?¡±

    ¡°D¡­ delicious! It¡¯s really delicious! This is the best!¡±

    <em>Rush, rush, rush¡ª</em>

    The audience were once again agitated. The gourmands were all noble men. They were people that usually maintained their noble aura and dignity, having served as an empire or a kingdom¡¯s representative under the title ¡®Gourmand¡¯. And these very people were now hastily grabbing the pizza with their own bare hands, not minding the fact that they forgot to maintain their prestige or image.

    <em>Gulp, gulp, gulp¡ª</em>

    The gourmands even enjoyed a refreshing and cool c with ice to go along with the pizza, which made thempletely satisfied.

    ¡°I¡­ I want to eat more¡­¡±

    ¡°Just, just one more slice and I won¡¯t wish for more.¡±

    The gourmands were filled with infinite longing. They felt that just having another slice would make them wish for nothing else anymore. But, as for the audience that watched them eat¡­

    ¡°We¡­ we want to eat too¡­¡±

    ¡°It looks delicious¡­¡±

    ¡°I wonder how good that is?¡±

    ¡°Heuoooook!¡±

    These were the voices of countless people in the audience. But Minhyuk and Lucaro, both sporting nice and bright smiles on their faces, continued to cook under their scrutiny. The Gourmet Dragon also turned his backpletely from Anton, as he gazed at the two people that were still cooking.

    Meanwhile, Anton trembled at the sight. He thought, <em>¡®That¡¯s just bread¡­!¡¯</em>

    Anton firmly believed that pizza and foie gras were two fundamentally different dishes. His foie gras was a dish that was very difficult for ordinary people toe by. But, pizza was just an ordinary dish. It was amon dish that anyone could eat. Was such a trivial dish better than his foie gras?

    Anton thought that everyone was crazy. However, there were things that he did not know. For one, whenever people had the thought of eating, the first thing that they would think of was usually ordinary and readily-essible dishes. People that were experiencing hunger would rarely think of <em>¡®foie gras¡¯</em> or <em>¡®caviar¡¯</em>, luxurious dishes that they rarely came across.

    Anton still did not show any signs of remorse as he went back to where his disciples were. Then, he ordered, ¡°As soon as thepetition ends, once that man and Lucaroes out of the coliseum, kill them.¡±

    ¡°Huh? But¡­ but¡­¡±

    ¡°Kill them. I don¡¯t want to say it twice. Use any means necessary.¡±

    It was not just their hands, Anton had ordered to take their lives away. He was showing the epitome of filth and ugliness.

    ***

    Minhyuk and Lucaro were still cooking as the Gourmet Dragon, the gourmands, the other chefs, and the rest of the audience looked at their dishes. There was a huge fuss around them, but they looked like they could not hear them at all. The two of them could only see each other. With joyful smiles stered on their faces, the two of them continued to knead, sprinkle the toppings, and bake their pizza.

    Minhyuk waspletely immersed in a state of happiness, one that was brought about by cooking! There was a time when he found pleasure and happiness only in eating, but after bing the Food God<em>,</em> he also found such happiness in cooking. And for Minhyuk, cooking with Lucaro, someone that had been waiting for his existence for a long time, brought a great deal of happiness in him.

    The two of them had been baking pizza for more than five hours already. But for some reason, the two looked like they were not tired at all. It was also because of their tireless actions, that a wee notification rang for Minhyuk.

    <em>[The Skill: Will has been triggered.]</em>

    <em>[All skills and abilities rted to DEX will temporarily increase by 24%.]</em>

    Minhyuk had received the passive skill ¡®Will¡¯ during his early days of ying <em>Athenae</em>. It was a skill that could only be triggered, if someone continuously exerted their best effort and showed their greatest passion towards something. Whenever this skill got triggered, the fatigue weighing down on Minhyuk¡¯s body would disappear in an instant. Even his head would be clear and his DEX would also temporarily increase. With the 24% increase in DEX, Minhyuk¡¯s hand movements became even more skillful.

    The Gourmet Dragon Banquet ced a huge importance on the taste and vor of the dish. However, the ability to ce ¡®buffs¡¯ and reaching a higher ¡®grade¡¯ were also important. This was because the Gourmet Dragon Banquet was also apetition to select the best chef of the territory. Naturally, the two of them would do their best.

    Six hours had already passed by, but the two of them were still kneading, cing toppings, and baking pizza. An hour after that, the two finally baked their final pizza.

    Thergest pizza ever baked as recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records had a diameter of 37.4 meters. Although it was far below that size, the pizza that Lucaro and Minhyuk made was stillrge, with its nine meter diameter. It was the size of five grown men lying together in a straight line.

    The moment Minhyuk ced thest pizza at the end¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡­a huge pir of mes burst out from the pizza. It was the final manifestation of the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat¡¯s power. The zing mes soared high in the sky, before scattering and falling like drops of snowkes in the ground.

    ¡°It¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s beautiful¡­¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°My goodness! I never thought that I would be able to see such a scene in my life!¡±

    The audience gasped and shouted in awe, which was followed by the loud gulp of the gourmands in front of the pizza. Even the chefs that participated in thepetition could not help but look up in a daze.

    The notification about the dish¡¯s grade and the buffs rang loudly for Minhyuk and Lucaro. The two looked at each other and smiled happily. Then, the Gourmet Dragon took a huge step andnded in front of the finished pizza.

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk and Lucaro moved quickly, pouring the contents of the two liter bottles of c in a huge stainless steel cup. In fact, the cup was so huge that they needed to climb adder to pour the c in it. After pouring at least 300 liters of c in the cup, Minhyuk hurriedly took out his frying pan and cast ice magic. This was the refreshing cold c with ice!

    All that remained was for the Gourmet Dragon to have a bite of their food. The Gourmet Dragon looked alternately between Minhyuk and Lucaro. He thought, <em>¡®I acknowledge your dignity, pride and bravery.¡¯</em>

    The two of them had exhibited the greatest dignity and pride among all of the chefs present in thispetition. The Gourmet Dragon could see their pure hearts. Just one nce and he could tell that the two of them wanted to be the best chefs, in order to cook delicious food for others. They werepletely different from the other chefs that only participated in thispetition for money, power and riches.

    The Gourmet Dragon closed his eyes and slowly lowered his snout to taste the outermost section of the giant pizza. He savored the vor before opening his eyes. He did not say anything. The audience, the chefs, and the gourmands all turned to look at the Gourmet Dragon with bated breaths. Then, the Gourmet Dragon took another bite of the pizza. No, the words ¡®another bite¡¯ were not enough to describe the actions that the Gourmet Dragon took next.

    <em>Chew, chew, chew, chew¡ª</em>

    <em>Crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    <em>Chew, chew, chew, chew¡ª</em>

    <em>Crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    The Gourmet Dragon did not even pause in his tracks. He was like a dog that had been starved for a long time as he lowered his head and continued to devour the pizza. It seemed that he did not even bother maintaining his pride and noble aura.

    <em>Crunch¡ª</em>

    The Gourmet Dragon kept on shoveling the pizza into his mouth.

    <em>Chew, chew, chew¡ª</em>

    A satisfied smile bloomed on his face as he continued to chew on the pizza.

    <em>¡®I think it¡¯s aplete waste to swallow it down my throat and not chew it for a long time¡­¡¯ </em>The Gourmet Dragon thought, before burying his head into the cup filled with the refreshingly cold c and gulping it down.

    The brain-freezing c perfectlyplemented and washed away the greasiness of the pizza. Then, without wiping his mouth, the Gourmet Dragon buried his head into the pizza again. After eating thest piece of pizza¡­

    ¡°<em>Buuuuuuuuuuuuurp¡ª</em>¡°

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaaak¡ª¡°

    ¡°What a shocking burp¡­!¡±

    ¡°Huh? Why do I think that the burp smells good¡­?¡±

    It was literally a dragon¡¯s burp[1]. The Gourmet Dragon failed to withstand the effects of the c¡¯s carbonation and burped loudly, which effectively blew the hair and the clothes of the audience in the stands into a mess.

    ¡°Hoooo,¡± the Gourmet Dragon sighed in satisfaction as a smile lingered on his mouth. He looked like he was a starving person that had finally achieved satisfaction andfort after eating a lot of delicious food in a hurry.

    ¡°Thank you, Lucaro. Thank you, stranger. No, it should be Food God.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The Gourmet Dragon¡¯s words had an explosive effect.

    ¡°Did¡­ did he say Food God?!¡±

    ¡°Food God?!!!¡±

    ¡°That¡­ that man is the Food God?!¡±

    The Gourmet Dragon already knew this fact from the moment Minhyuk brought out the <em>¡®Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat¡¯</em>. The previous Food God had told him that there was a chance that his sessor would save Albero Territory if it fellpletely into the abyss. Back then, the Gourmet Dragon thought that it would be Lucaro. Of course, it was a fact that Lucaro also saved Albero Territory.

    However, it was also true that the current Food God came to save the territory too. The two Food Gods had stepped up and satisfied the Gourmet Dragon.

    With the previous Food God gone from the territory, the Gourmet Dragon thought that it would be better if the territory stained with greed disappeared. This was something that he had decided on, since he was also a cold-blooded being. However, the Gourmet Dragon felt that he did not need to fulfill the previous Food God¡¯s request anymore. The Albero Territory now had someone that could be hailed as their new Food God. He was sure that <em>¡®Lucaro¡¯</em> would be able to lead them onto the right path.

    Then, the notifications rang for Minhyuk.

    <em>[You have brought satisfaction to the Gourmet Dragon.]</em>

    <em>[You acquired 300,000,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[The Gourmet Dragon wishes to give you a special gift.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Gourmet Dragon¡¯s Special Scale.]</em>

    <em>[Your resistance to all attributes has increased by 40%.]</em>

    <em>[You have won the Gourmet Dragon Banquet.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Five Legendary Ingredients Box.]</em>

    Minhyuk was very shocked by the 300,000,000 EXP that he gained through this trial. However, right at that moment¡­

    ¡°I don¡¯t ept this!!!¡±

    ¡­a voice rang loudly from somewhere. They saw Anton striding along from the direction of the voice. Seeing this, Minhyuk stealthily sprinkled a few drops of a mysterious liquid in the remaining pizza slices.

    ¡°Can an ordinary pizza like that be even superior to foie gras?!!!¡±

    ¡°Lord Anton, are you trying to question my choice right now?¡± The Gourmet Dragon asked, murderous intent ring out from his body. He was a dragon, on top of that, he was an existence known as the greatest and strongest among all the other dragons.

    The words of the Gourmet Dragon brought unease and difort to Anton. There was a chance that the huge mouth in front of him would swallow him up.

    ¡°But, this ispletely unbelievable! There¡¯s a chance that the Gourmet Dragon favored them because the previous Food God asked him to do so, right?¡±

    Anton¡¯s words made the Gourmet Dragon¡¯s brows furrow in annoyance, and his fierce and vicious intent increased ever so slightly. In a way, his words were true. He had been tasked by the previous Food God to do this. However, the current situation was very different from his task. After all, he thought he was tasked to bring ruin to the greedy and corrupted Albero Territory.

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then thispetition¡­!¡±

    ¡°Then, why don¡¯t you try one?¡± Minhyuk interrupted.

    Anton¡¯s re was fierce and stinging as he turned to look at Minhyuk. This was the shabby young beggar! Anton fiercely strode to where Minhyuk was as he thought, <em>¡®Even if it¡¯s delicious, it doesn¡¯t matter. As long as I deny that fact, they would never know.¡¯</em>

    He wanted to deny the fact and tell the people that everything had been scripted under the guidance of the Gourmet Dragon. So, Anton took a bite of the pizza. The moment he chewed on the pizza, the taste of the crispy and chewy bread, together with the warm cheese and toppings, burst out in his mouth. His frivolous and vicious thoughts changed right at that very moment.

    <em>¡®I have to frown and spit the food out of my mouth!¡¯</em>

    If he did that, he could then tell the people that everything was a scam. s, his mouth kept on moving despite himself. No, in fact, he was hurriedly shoveling the food in his mouth. And finally¡­

    ¡°<em>Sob, sob, sob, sob!</em>¡±

    ¡­he shed tears. He could feel the <em>¡®God¡¯</em> level in this pizza, a level that he could not reach. This level waspletely unattainable to him, the Twilight Chef that posed as the fake <em>¡®Food God¡¯</em>. This was the heavenly and divine vor that he could not replicate, no matter how hard he tried!

    However, that was not the end. Anton suddenly opened his mouth and said, ¡°I¡­ I was the one that ordered someone to destroy Lucaro¡¯s hand!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    The audience were in an uproar at his sudden confession! Meanwhile, Anton was in disbelief and confusion. Why did he suddenly spit these words out? He hurriedly tried to shut his mouth, but he could not prevent the words that continued to spill out of his mouth.

    ¡°I instigated the gossipers to spread bad rumors about the previous Food God and bought the other chefs with money. Then, I pretended to be the real ¡®Food God¡¯,<em></em>even though I¡¯m originally the Twilight Chef. <em>Hi¡­</em><em>hiiiiiik</em><em>!</em>¡±

    Anton¡¯s face turned pale at his own words.

    Seeing this, Lucaro turned to look at Minhyuk in contemtion. That was when he saw the small bottle in Minhyuk¡¯s hands. The bottle contained the <em>¡®Truth Droplets¡¯</em>, an item that Minhyuk obtained after harvesting all of the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat.

    Without missing a beat, Minhyuk approached Anton and said, ¡°You¡¯re not a Lord. You¡¯re a XXX trash bastard, right?¡±

    1. Dragon¡¯s Burp (???) - a burp purposely made loud for appearances¡¯ sake. Unstoppable, explosive ?

 Chapter 360: Ellieâ€™s Pinnacle

    Chapter 360: Ellie¡¯s Pinnacle

    The Truth Droplets were something that Minhyuk had obtained after sessfully harvesting all of the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat. Just one drop in any food would make the person speak the truth. The previous Food God had judged that this Truth Droplets would be useful. No. To be exact, the <em>Athenae</em> Management Team had ced it there so that the person taking the Gourmet Dragon Banquet Trial would be able toplete the trial in a clean and excellent manner.

    <em>¡®This¡­ this goddamn¡­!¡¯ </em>Anton thought, face turning red at the curses that Minhyuk threw at him.

    <em>¡®Who the hell are you?¡¯</em>

    Compared to him, the lord of Albero Territory, the territory hailed as the chefs¡¯ territory, and a man of great wealth, who was he to say <em>¡®XXX trash bastard¡¯</em> to him?

    Anton tried to grab Minhyuk¡¯s cor, but he was quickly horrified by the fact that his mouth did not stop moving. He said, ¡°I wanted to be the Food God. So, as the Twilight Chef, I bought everything, the name of the Food God, and even the hearts of these pigs, with money.¡±

    ¡°Pig¡­ pigs?!¡±

    ¡°That goddamn bastard!¡±

    The people in the stands roared indignantly as the Gourmet Dragon looked at his surroundings. He said, ¡°What¡¯s the difference between you and this guy?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The Gourmet Dragon¡¯s eyes passed by the chefs and the audience, effectively shutting their mouths. Perhaps they already knew about this. However, they had chosen to shun the Food God and everything rted to him, in exchange for the vast amount of money that was being supplied to the territory, as well as an abundant and luxurious life.

    What about the chefs? They were blinded by gold and only moved to pursue money and power. Among them, only Lucaro was not misled by these things.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. Lucaro¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m very ashamed of my actions!!!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m very sorry for throwing stones at you!!!¡±

    These were the voices that rang from the audience. This time, it was Paradise Restaurant¡¯s Balza. He said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. You were really cool during this tournament. You truly are the best chef in our territory.¡±

    Balza was a proud man. He always believed that he and the Paradise Restaurant were the best in the territory. This very same person actually bowed his head and swallowed his pride.

    However, Lucaro was not a naive person. He said, ¡°Do you think such an apology can win my heart over?¡±

    ¡°¡­I will try my best to change.¡±

    It seemed like Balza was finally enlightened after hearing Lucaro¡¯s words. Lucaro did not nod or acknowledge him at all, but for some reason there was a faint hint of satisfaction at his remarks. Just like that, plenty of chefs came and bowed their heads in apology to Lucaro.

    On the other hand, the Gourmet Dragon approached Anton, who was still spitting out confessions. Anton said, ¡°I did everything. I cursed and swore at the previous Food God, and punished the chefs that had the chance of bing better than me in the future¡­ Hoo, aaaaaaack!¡±

    Anton screamed as the gigantic Gourmet Dragon lifted him with his mouth. Then, the Gourmet Dragon threw him high up, before opening his huge maw.

    ¡°N¡­nooo! Aaaaaack! Save, save me!!!¡±

    Then, Anton fell into the Gourmet Dragon¡¯s mouth and¡­

    <em>Crunch¡ª</em>

    ¡­a chilling sound rang loudly in the coliseum, as blood dripped down the Gourmet Dragon¡¯s mouth. The people in the stands and the chefs that participated in thepetition turned their heads and trembled at the sight that they saw. The blood dripped down the Gourmet Dragon¡¯s chin and stained the floor red.

    <em>¡®The Gourmet Dragon killed Lord Anton?¡¯</em>

    However, none of them dared to speak up and seek justice. The Gourmet Dragon was an existence that sought peace. As long as his bottom line was not touched, he would maintain friendly rtions. Even kingdoms and empires would not dare to fight against the Gourmet Dragon. Besides, there was a living witness here.

    The Gourmet Dragon slowly trudged and approached someone. This person was none other than Minhyuk. He said, ¡°Food God¡¯s Sessor, you have rectified all of the wrongs that happened in Albero Territory.¡±

    As the Gourmet Dragon was tasked with this responsibility, it was only right that he thanked Minhyuk for doing it on his behalf. Also, it was because the pizza that he made was far superior to the dishes that the Food God of the past had made for him.

    These were the notifications that Minhyuk heard after he finished cooking the pizza:

    <em>[Trance. This is a dish that has your ¡®happiness¡¯, ¡®passion¡¯ and ¡®efforts for Lucaro¡¯ poured into it.]</em>

    <em>[Due to the effects of Trance, the buff effect and the dish grade became better.]</em>

    <em>[The dish is graded Legendary.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 30 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 200 REP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 2,000 AP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained +2 on all five of your basic stats.]</em>

    <em>[You have seeded in a new attempt that was never tried before.]</em>

    <em>[You havepleted a Legendary Grade Large Pizza.]</em>

    <em>[Your buffing ability will improve together, with an additional +2 on all five of your basic stats.]</em>

    <em>[Perhaps there¡¯s a chance that you can make an even better dish.]</em>

    The buff effects in therge pizza were a 28% increase in the five basic stats, a 50% reduction in the Gourmet Dragon¡¯s magic casting time, and an unconditional first ss growth. It also had a 40% increase in magic attack power.

    <em>¡®If things are like this then¡­ it¡¯s literally legendary¡­¡¯</em>

    In fact, the dish could already be considered as a God-grade dish, but the reason that the God grade did note out was because only Minhyuk¡¯s buffing ability increased during his cooking process after his sess in a special attempt. The probability of getting a higher dish grade did not increase. However, Minhyuk faintly realized something.

    <em>¡®I have taken a step closer to the God grade.¡¯</em>

    At this moment, Minhyuk realized that there was a chance that he might be able to cook God-graded dishes in the near future.

    Then, the Gourmet Dragon turned to him and said, ¡°Is there anything that you wish for? I will do whatever I can for you.¡±

    The audience gasped in shock and awe at the Gourmet Dragon¡¯s words. Even the chefs next to Lucaro looked at Minhyuk with envy. Who was the Gourmet Dragon? He was an existence rumored to have mountains of treasures that no human had ever seen, in hisir! ording to those rumors, the Gourmet Dragon had more money and treasures than a king of a kingdom.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m¡­ I¡¯m so jealous¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Oh¡­ oh my God! The Gourmet Dragon wants to fulfill his wish!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I wonder what he will wish for?!¡¯</em>

    Amidst everyone¡¯s envious and jealous stares, Minhyuk looked to be extremely excited. He was so excited to the point that he could not calm his wildly thumping heart. Then, he shot a sneaky nce at the Gourmet Dragon.

    ¡°Go on, tell me. Whether it be gold or silver or artifacts, I can give them to you.¡±

    Minhyuk hesitated for a moment, before taking something out of his inventory. It was a seven meter long skewer jam-packed with pork bellies, cut sausages, shrimps and bell peppers, onions, and button mushrooms, looking exactly like the skewers prepared for barbecue.

    Then, Minhyuk smiled cheerfully and said, ¡°Mister Gourmet Dragon, I want to eat barbecue made with your breath!!! I really, really want to eat it!¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The people in the audience, the chefs, and even the Gourmet Dragon himself, were stunned silly with his words. The Gourmet Dragon blinked slowly, as he looked dumbly at Minhyuk with his yellow eyes.

    ¡°Is¡­ is that the only thing that you want?¡±

    ¡°Do I even need something else? Kgghk! Barbecue made with Mister Gourmet Dragon¡¯s breath! This is already my lifelong dreaming true!¡±

    My goodness! A person wanted barbecue made with dragon breath, instead of gold, silver or artifacts!

    ¡°Keuhahahahahaha!¡± The Gourmet Dragon guffawed as he blew a small breath of fire.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Then, a warm energy seeped into Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    <em>[The Gourmet Dragon¡¯s Breath.]</em>

    <em>[This is a blessing that the Gourmet Dragon could only bestow once in his life.]</em>

    <em>[Your Physical Defense has increased by 10%.]</em>

    <em>[Your Magical Defense has increased by 10%.]</em>

    <em>[Your Physical Attack has increased by 10%.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 3%.]</em>

    This was the Gourmet Dragon¡¯s gift to Minhyuk. Then, the Gourmet Dragon casted Fly on Minhyuk, making him fly high in the sky! The Gourmet Dragon, who was flying right behind him, aimed his snout at the seven meter long skewer. After properly controlling his strength, he let out the strongest breath that he could, to cook Minhyuk¡¯s barbecue.

    <em>Puhaaaaaaaaak¡ª</em>

    On that very day, Albero Territory witnessed the rare sight of barbecue being grilled with Dragon¡¯s Breath. When Minhyuk finally stepped down on the ground again, his body started to be translucent.

    <em>[You havepleted the 15th Trial.]</em>

    <em>[You can now learn Sword Saint Conir¡¯s Sword of Pinnacle.]</em>

    Lucaro appeared in front of the now translucent Minhyuk. Lucaro had always been a man that was grateful for the things that were given to him. So, Minhyuk smiled at him and said, ¡°Now, you¡¯re the Food God.¡±

    Lucaro was the One Acknowledged by the Food God, and he would now be the Food God and the legend of Albero Territory.

    ***

    Sword Emperor Ellie had left the Continent Cloud briefly to check the overall situation of Eivelis Empire. However, that did not mean that she went back to the Imperial Pce. She needed to be able to get back to the Continent Cloud and take the Commanding General¡¯s position anytime, if something ever happened inside.

    ¡°Minhyuk ister than I thought.¡¯

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty,¡± Ruth answered her with a smile as Ellie looked into the distance. Ruth could see that her face was filled with a lot of mixed emotions.

    <em>¡®Her Majesty¡¯s very happy right now, but she¡¯s also ming herself.¡¯</em>

    Ruth¡¯s smile turned bitter. He knew that Ellie hated herself for failing to awaken to Pinnacle. However, she also felt joy that her dearly beloved younger brother Minhyuk, could do so. And, she med herself for putting such a heavy burden on Minhyuk¡¯s shoulders.

    Ellie caressed the red ne that she wore around her neck. She said, ¡°I hope that Eivelis¡¯ grace and blessings are with Minhyuk¡­¡±

    The ne was a gift given to Ellie by thete Emperor when she turned twelve. Seeing the scene, Ruth smiled and thought, <em>¡®Sword Emperor Ellie, you should not feel sad and sorry for yourself. You have already reached the Pinnacle. It¡¯s just that His Majesty sealed your powers to protect you.¡¯</em>

    A long time has passed since she turned twelve. Back then, thete Emperor already knew that Ellie could reach the true <em>¡®Pinnacle¡¯</em>. Thete Emperor had told Ruth, an aide that had been with her since her birth, <em>¡®This child¡¯s power might destroy her. Besides, an overwhelmingly strong power can breed arrogance. With this jewel, my child will remain stagnant, but safe.¡¯</em>

    She was the only child that could reach the Pinnacle of Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship. However, the cost of such a feat and the fear that it could bring was too much for her to bear. So, thete Emperor decided to seal her power with that jewel. As of now, Ellie was still unaware of the true power that she wielded.

    Then, at that moment¡­

    ¡°The¡­ there¡¯s trouble!!!¡±

    The Knight Commander rushed inside the room.

    ***

    ck Dragon Order was a group of dark gamers. In fact, Hu Yitian, the one that Minhyuk recently defeated, was also part of the ck Dragon Order. However, he only ranked tenth among the thirteen members of the group.

    Currently, the 2nd to the 5th ranked members of the ck Dragon Order finally used their <em>¡®Cloud Tickets¡¯</em> to set foot in the Asgan Continent¡¯snd. They were all talented individuals that could either awaken the Pinnacle, or step into the ranks of the official Chinese rankers. However, none of them were well known, since they only focused on making money under the cover of the darkness. Now, they came here to make a fortune and find a way to be even stronger.

    Sword Emperor Ellie was a woman that knew the path to another Pinnacle. She was also someone that had reached the Half Pinnacle state. From what they had gathered, Ellie would leave the Continent Cloud and return to Asgan Continent every few days or so, to monitor and reorganize her Empire. They all came to Asgan Continent for that.

    Da Zhuang, together with three members of the ck Dragon Order, came with them. Theirprehensive power was enough to crush arge territory.

    Xu Jiaqi, the person leading their group, looked around and said, ¡°How can we even find Ellie here?¡±

    They were sure that Ellie was back in the Asgan Continent. However, finding her was like finding a needle in a haystack. It seemed like she did not go back to the pce as a countermeasure for ns like theirs.

    ¡°¡­I know, right?¡± Arcas, with his huge build, nodded in agreement. His entire body was rippling with muscles to the point that he looked like he could break down walls with his bare fists alone.

    Then, their eyes caught sight of a small carriage heading somewhere else. The small carriage was led by a shabby-looking man with his wife and child.

    ¡°We might be able to find a small town or a territory if we follow them, right?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s about right.¡±

    All of them nodded at the question. Meanwhile, Xu Jiaqi licked her upper lip and said, ¡°I have a good idea.¡±

    ¡°A good idea?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Let¡¯s follow them to the town and kill the people there one by one, until Ellie shows up.¡±

    It was a brutal and disgusting idea. However, someone asked, ¡°They¡¯re just trivial NPCs. The Empress should only move if we killed at most tens of millions of people, right?¡±

    The n was actually next to impossible. After all, most Emperors would decide to abandon their people in exchange for their safety.

    ¡°Do you have any other ideas?¡±

    ¡°None. Well, we¡¯ll find out once we start killing them anyway.¡±

    Meanwhile, a woman standing to one side shook violently at their words. She was none other than China¡¯s famous BJ, Luo. For a moment, Luo thought that she misheard them.

    <em>¡®They¡¯re going to ughter the NPCs¡­?¡¯</em>

    Although they knew that they were just artificial intelligence, the people that yed <em>Athenae</em> regarded them as people too. No. They were just the majority of the yers. There would always be exceptions to the rule. Although rare, there were still some people that would willingly and indiscriminately kill these NPCs.

    Still, the people that Luo came with gave her a sense that they were just killing ants with their fingers, even though they were talking about killing NPCs. Luo felt ecstatic after she heard that they would allow her to film <em>¡®Empress Ellie¡¯s Hunt¡¯</em>. But right now, the initial joy had turned to great terror.

    Just like that, they all walked behind the carriage.

 Chapter 361: Ellieâ€™s Pinnacle

    Chapter 361: Ellie¡¯s Pinnacle

    After following the carriage, the ck Dragon Order arrived in a small territory called Avecker Territory, with an average poption of 2,000.

    ¡°Luo.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡± Luo asked curiously as she looked at Xu Jiaqi.

    ¡°You should start broadcasting now,¡± Xu Jiaqi, ck Dragon Order¡¯s second ranked individual, said while pulling out her mask and covering half of her face. The members of the ck Dragon Order immediately followed suit and pulled up their masks that reached the bottom of their eyes.

    ¡°R¡­ right now?¡± Luo asked with uncertainty. Were they telling her to broadcast how they were going to ughter NPCs? She tried to persuade them, ¡°Scenes showing the ughter of NPCs could garner the ire of the masses. I think it¡¯s more than enough to start the broadcast once Ellie appears and show the world how you hunt her¡­¡±

    However, no matter how much Luo said, the expressions of the members of the ck Dragon Order did not change. In the end, her words faded into nothing. Xu Jiaqi said coldly, ¡°If we start the broadcast here, we can use the yers¡¯ mouths to get to Ellie faster. If that happens, she wille out quickly. Besides, a provocative video will attract more viewers, right?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Even if Luo wanted to deny it, this was the sad and undeniable truth. The viewers were definitely fond of provocative and thrilling videos. Viewers would definitelye to her channel to watch and see Ellie appear. They might curse and me them for their tactics, but it was also true that they would continue to watch them. So, Luo thought, <em>¡®There¡¯s no way that an Empress woulde just because of one small territory, right? These¡­¡¯</em>

    Their idea was to turn thisnd in Eivelis Empire into a wastnd. They intended to ughter one, two, three, and many more until she appeared. Besides, they all had their masks up so it did not matter.

    However, the name <em>¡®ck Dragon Order¡¯ </em>would be included in the title of the broadcast. They might be operating unofficially, but they already had a notorious reputation. A group that would do anything for money, that was the ck Dragon Order.

    ¡°Then, then let¡¯s start filming.¡±

    Luo was one of China¡¯s best BJs. She quickly turned on her camera and started broadcasting. The title of the broadcast was <em>¡®The ck Dragon Order Hunting Sword Emperor Ellie¡¯.</em> Just like any other BJs, Luo¡¯s broadcasts always guaranteed enough fun and interesting content. So, the moment she turned on her camera and started broadcasting, a considerable number of viewers flooded in her channel.

    That was not all, she even had a provocative broadcast title. The viewers¡¯ interest towards her broadcast was bound to be greater, especially after Berdk was recaptured and taken away from China¡¯s grasp not too long ago.

    <em>[We can always trust Miss Luo¡¯s broadcast so let¡¯s watch it!]</em>

    <em>[The ck Dragon Order Hunting Sword Emperor Ellie? You¡¯re going to hunt the Empress? That¡¯s crazy shit.]</em>

    <em>[But, I don¡¯t see Ellie anywhere?]</em>

    Sword Emperor Ellie was already standing in the spotlight for a lot of groups and yers all over the world. The biggest contributors to her fame and poprity were her beauty and charm. Her morous appearance wasparable to Saintess Loyna¡¯s! However,pared to Saintess Loyna, Ellie had always exuded a cold and dangerous aura, an aura with a unique charm that captivated most people.

    As the broadcast began, shocking scenes appeared on the screens of the viewers.

    The muscr giant Arcas was the ck Dragon Order member that learned the <em>¡®Pinnacle¡¯</em> rted to closebat. However, his skill level was not yet at a high level, since he only recently learned the skill. Even though that was the case, the power of his skill was still beyond anyone¡¯s imagination. That very same Arcas swiftly moved to break the neck of the guard stationed at the entrance of the vige.

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    ¡°What¡­ what the hell?! You bastard!¡±

    <em>m¡ª</em>

    Arcas punched his huge fist towards the guard that rushed to his side.

    <em>Bang¡ª!</em>

    The guard¡¯s head exploded to pieces. Thankfully, Luo had set a <em>¡®For 19-year-olds and above only¡¯</em> restriction when she started her broadcast. Just like that, the horrendous and appaling ughter by the ck Dragon Order began.

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keheok!¡±

    The members of the ck Dragon Order killed everything and everyone in sight. They even went so far as to look for the people hiding in inns, houses, and inconspicuous ces, and wasted no time in ughtering them. When the doors were locked, they would just set the entire building on fire.

    <em>Crackle!</em>

    The citizens of the territory died helplessly under their hands without knowing what was happening.

    <em>[What are they doing right now?]</em>

    <em>[Wow¡­ It¡¯s an NPC massacre, hehehehehe?]</em>

    <em>[You can stillugh? No, more than that, why are they doing something like that?]</em>

    <em>[They¡¯re NPCs anyway. What are you thinking? Aren¡¯t you taking things too seriously?]</em>

    <em>[That, that might be true but¡­ still, that¡¯s a bit¡­ they still show the curiosity and personality that a normal human has.]</em>

    <em>[What do you mean by personality? Kahahahaahaha! Kill more! More, more, more, more! ughter them all!]</em>

    Spaces that encourage anonymosity were truly terrifying ces. They were ces that breed the hidden and darkest desires of a person. There were plenty of people that lived normally by hiding their ugly and hideous natures. Someone that lookedpletely normal inside apany setting might very well be someone that would curse celebrities to die on the inte.

    What more inside <em>Athenae,</em> a virtual reality game that these people could y wildly in? It became a ce where they could manifest the hideous nature that they had hidden in reality and act out their darkest desires.

    Then, the troops of the territory appeared.

    ¡°Bastards!!! How dare you do something like that here!!!¡±

    ¡°Kill those that dared to wreak havoc inside our territory!!!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re in trouble,¡± Arcas said, face crumpling at the sight of the hundreds of soldiers that appeared in front of them. However, his hands were still moving calmly.

    A scarlet circle suddenly appeared at that moment. The scarlet circle spread out and sucked in the soldiers that moved to attack the ck Dragon Order.

    ¡°Keheok!¡±

    ¡°Ugh, urrrrrk!¡±

    The soldiers tried to grab onto something, the trees, the rocks, the pirs, even the ground. But they were still sucked into that red circle as if they were being dragged inside a whirlpool. The moment the captain of the guards got sucked inside the circle, Arcas clenched his open palms tightly.

    <em>St¡ª</em>

    <em>St¡ª</em>

    <em>St¡ª</em>

    <em>St¡ª</em>

    <em>St¡ª</em>

    Then, the bodies of their enemies burst into pieces.

    ¡°Hohohohoho! These soldiers can¡¯t evenst 30 seconds against us!¡± Xu Jiaqiughed shrilly.

    Upon the arrival of the troops, hope had bloomed on the faces of the citizens of the territory. However, it quickly disappeared into smoke, as despair and gloom fell on them. The ck Dragon Order continued the massacre that was briefly interrupted by the arrival of the soldiers.

    ¡°How about killing one every five minutes until Ellie shows up?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not a bad idea.¡±

    The ck Dragon Order captured all of the remaining vigers and herded them into the middle of the za. They numbered around 700. Then, Xu Jiaqi turned to look at Luo, who was broadcasting the scene, before dering, ¡°Ellie, if you don¡¯t show up, we will kill one of them every five minutes.¡±

    Then, Xu Jiaqi cut off one of the middle aged men¡¯s neck.

    <em>Spurt!</em>

    ¡°Ho¡­honey!!!¡± The man¡¯s wife clutched the man¡¯s body as she screamed loudly. Even the young baby cried loudly over his father¡¯s death.

    However, in the eyes of Xu Jiaqi and the members of the ck Dragon Order, they were nothing more than artificial intelligence that could be easily disposed of.

    ***

    The Korean reporters immediately wrote and sent out articles about the ck Dragon Order infiltrating Eivelis Empire, ughtering the NPCs and taking a territory hostage.

    <em>[Who are the ck Dragon Order? They¡¯re a group that will do anything for money.]</em>

    <em>[The Korean Ranker Destroyer, Hu Yitian. Is he also a member of ck Dragon Order?]</em>

    <em>[The ck Dragon Order¡¯s wicked acts. There¡¯s more than meets the eye¡­]</em>

    Countless articles were written about them, while the yers of Eivelis Empire seethed in anger.

    <em>[Bastards! How could they do something like that in broad daylight?!]</em>

    <em>[They¡¯re making fun of our country, right?]</em>

    <em>[I saw the video and it¡¯s really terrible. They¡¯re killing indiscriminately. They would even kill children, women and the elderly.]</em>

    <em>[But they¡¯re just NPCs, you know?]</em>

    <em>[They might just be NPCs but mister, did you notugh, chat and dine with those NPCs while you were ying the game? That¡¯s their world.]</em>

    <em>[Are you being serious? Will you even stop killing monsters just because you feel pity for them?]</em>

    The people were divided into two factions. One faction believed <em>¡®They¡¯re just NPCs anyway.¡¯, </em>while the other believed<em> ¡®Still, that¡¯s too much.¡¯</em>. However, the majority was leaning towards the former.

    Either way, they were just NPCs. The yers all had a different mindset from them, and began to move quickly.

    <em>[I¡¯m Rocker, a Level 253 warrior yer. I¡¯m currently in the vicinity of Avecker Territory where the NPCs are being ughtered. We¡¯re thinking of going straight to Avecker Territory to save their citizens.]</em>

    <em>[I¡¯m a Level 341 mage yer. I¡¯m also going straight to Avecker Territory.]</em>

    <em>[I¡¯m a Level 390 assassin yer. I¡¯m already hiding near Avecker Territory to watch the situation and what our enemies are doing. They¡¯re killing a person every five minutes.]</em>

    <em>[There are already around 80 yers gathering near the vicinity of Avecker Territory.]</em>

    <em>[There are around 30 yers from Quad Vigeing on their way to join you.]</em>

    <em>[I¡¯m the merchant, Another. We¡¯re willing to support the Avecker Territory Recapture Operation with all the potions and scrolls that you will use during the operation.]</em>

    <em>[This is Aeios Guild Master. We only have thirty priests, but we¡¯re currently building a small temple near the vicinity of Avecker Territory. We will immediately head to Avecker Territory to give buffs and heals.]</em>

    In a short time, the number of yers that gathered together to head to Avecker Territory reached almost 300. The range of their levels might be varied, but there were still a few high-leveled yers among them. This was understandable, since the hunting grounds surrounding Avecker Territory were only for novice and advanced yers.

    <em>[Ah. I want to go too, but I¡¯m too far away.]</em>

    <em>[I¡¯m also a bit further away, but I¡¯m going to hurry to get there.]</em>

    <em>[I¡¯m on my way there too. Yep, yep¡­ The yers are all on their way there.]</em>

    Avecker Vige was one of the few special viges where the yers could not move to using warp or return scrolls. Aside from the fact that it was a remote area, the terrain that they had to pass through to go there was also quite difficult to traverse.

    But, there was one thing that was for sure, there were already more than a thousand yers heading to Avecker Territory. Considering that most of the yers were concentrating on the Continent Cloud, this was already a significant number of yers.

    Then, someone asked.

    <em>[Guys, just looking at your levels which are at the 200s and the 300s, do you think you even have a chance to beat them? If you go there, you¡¯ll just die and drop all your items, artifacts, and even your level. Are you all morons?]</em>

    <em>[Why are you even going? You¡¯ll get ughtered if you go there anyway. Besides, if you go, the Chinese will just mock us.]</em>

    <em>[Why am I going there? I once finished a cksmith ss transfer trial in Avecker Territory. The owner of the smithy there gave me a sword and armor as a gift because I¡¯m just a novice.]</em>

    <em>[Even if we get ughtered there, we can still drag the time and might even be able to buy those NPCs more chances of survival.]</em>

    <em>[We just don¡¯t want to stay silent when those Chinese are doing something like that. At most, we¡¯ll just receive some penalty after dying while fighting against them.]</em>

    <em>[Our nation¡¯s citizens are all amazing. Just like what we did during the Gold-collecting Campaign[1], and during the 2002 World Cup[2] when we all waved our Korean g while wearing red shirts. And the same is true right now. Our country¡¯s teamwork is amazing!]</em>

    That was right. The ck Dragon Order would face very unexpected opponents this time around.

    ***

    ¡°Over there!!!¡±

    ¡°Bastards!!!¡±

    Voices rang loudly from all over the Avecker Territory. After watching the broadcast, numerous yers united and advanced to Avecker Territory together.

    <em>Baaaaaaang¡ª!</em>

    The mages cast their fire magic, while the archers shot their arrows.

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª</em>

    Dozens of arrows rained down on their enemies.

    However, with just one wave of Xu Jiaqi¡¯s arm, these magic spells and arrows stopped right in front of the ck Dragon Order.

    ¡°<em>Gasp!</em>¡±

    ¡°What¡­ what the hell?!¡±

    Another swing of Xu Jiaqi¡¯s arm and the magic and arrows were returned to their owners. She was the holder of the Legendary ss ¡®Master Reflector¡¯. Just like that, the arrows and magic that the yers sent engulfed them.

    <em>Baaaaaang¡ª!</em>

    <em>Stab! Stab!</em>

    ¡°Bastards! Don¡¯t even think about touching the citizens of the territory!¡±

    ¡°Die!!!¡±

    Still, the Korean yers never stopped. Even the closebat yers gathered together and rushed at them like a tide. Among them were the Level 511 Rukawo and Eden. Rukawo and Eden were a famous ranker couple. The couple started ying together and eventually grew strong and became rankers. They were considered among the top rankers in Korea, and were very loved by many yers.

    The two might be a lovey dovey couple, but they constantly bickered about the most trivial things while ying the game! The man, Rukawo, was a knight ss yer. The woman, Eden, was a mage ss yer. They were rankers that were well-received by other yers, since they covered each other¡¯s shorings during hunts. And right now, the two of them were left in frustration after seeing the huge gap with their enemies.

    ¡°O¡­ Oppa¡­ The enemies are too strong.¡±

    ¡°¡­Goddamnit!¡±

    The ck Dragon Order members were too strong for the coalition that aimed to eradicate the ck Dragon Order. And this was considering Rukawo and Eden were already included. And the worst part was that they had not shown their all yet. However¡­

    ¡°Let¡¯s still do it.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡­the two were not afraid. The high-leveled mage Eden could cast high-tiered magic! Rukawo immediately dashed ahead of the other yers, rushing at the ck Dragon Order.

    ¡°Let¡¯s get rid of these ck Dragon Order bastards!!!¡±

    ¡°Die!!!¡±

    The members of the ck Dragon Order snickered, as they watched them run around in front of them.

    ¡°The small fries are getting too excited.¡±

    ¡°This is fun.¡±

    Then, Arcas mmed his fist on the ground strongly.

    <em>Baaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    A powerful shockwave erupted and engulfed all of the yers that entered the territory.

    <em>[You have been subjected to a Halting Wave.]</em>

    <em>[You will be stunned for four seconds.]</em>

    ¡°Hi, hiiiiik¡­!¡±

    ¡°This¡­ this is ridiculous!¡±

    Hundreds of yers, including the high-leveled Rukawo, fell into a stunned state. This was an unbelievable debuff ability! Then, Xu Jiaqi moved. She slowly trudged forward, while spilling gas on the vigers from the oil can in her hands.

    <em>Shwaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The vigers were also affected by the Halting Wave. She took this opportunity to cover them with gas. Then, Xu Jiaqi took out a match.

    ¡°What grudge do you have with us?¡±

    ¡°Ugh¡­ aaaaack¡­!¡±

    ¡°W¡­ waaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaack! N, no!!! Spare us! Please!!!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaah, uwaaaah!¡±

    The Korean yers were plunged into anxiety and frustration as the ck Dragon upped their ante and became more brutal in dealing with the vigers upon their arrival.

    ¡°We¡¯ll continue to do this. Anyway, this is Eivelis Empire¡¯s vige and territory,¡± She smiled wickedly as she lit the match in her hand. No, she tried to, because when she was about to light it¡­

    <em>Tik¡ª</em>

    <em>Swoosh¡ª</em>

    ¡­something brushed past her hand as red blood dripped down the ground. Xu Jiaqi turned her head around and saw the existence that they never thought woulde. That single move overshadowed the words of the people that said that the Empress would never move just because of a mere hundreds of people.

    There were hundreds of knights wearing full te armor, with the symbol of the phoenix on them. Standing in front of these knights was a woman with fluttering red hair, and she was wearing bright red armor. This was the person that threw the dagger at Xu Jiaqi¡¯s hand. Ellie, the Sword Emperor, hade. Ellie slowly tied her bright red hair with a hair tie and¡­

    <em>Shiiiing¡ª</em>

    ¡­pulled out her bright red sword from its sheath. Ellie walked slowly as she dered, ¡°Keep your hands off of my people...¡±

    The corners of Xu Jiaqi¡¯s mouth awkwardly curled up. She tried tough her words off, but she could not do so. The murderous intent that Ellie was emitting had tightly bound their limbs.

    Then, Ellie finished her words, ¡°¡­before I kill you.¡±

    Goosebumps covered Xu Jiaqi¡¯s entire body.

    1. A national sacrificial movement that started in Korea to repay their debt to the International Mary Fund back in early 1998. ?

    2. South Korea¡¯s Red Devils defeated Pnd, Italy and Spain and headed towards the semi-finals. This is their most memorable world cup run. However, there were plenty of controversies surrounding this world cup ording to European news outlets, nevertheless, it¡¯s still the most memorable run for SKR. ?

 Chapter 362: Ellieâ€™s Pinnacle

    Chapter 362: Ellie¡¯s Pinnacle

    ¡°Ho, hoho¡­¡±

    Xu Jiaqi took a step back instinctively. Even Arcas, with his huge and muscr build, was shivering from the suffocating murderous intent that Ellie was giving off.

    <em>¡®This¡­ this is¡­ ridiculous¡­¡¯</em>

    This was just a game. Compared to other yers, the members of ck Dragon Order had a much lighter conception about the game <em>Athenae.</em> Whether it was the Empress, or the other people inside the game, they only thought of them as artificial intelligence at best. However, the murderous intent that Ellie, an NPC, was giving off right now was enough to scare them, who were yers, until they were shivering.

    Ellie¡¯s bright and alluring eyes were currently sharp, her expression simr to that of a snake staring at its prey, and was very terrifying. Her cold and aloof voice, and even her posture when holding the sword were all overflowing with dignity and grace. Just by standing there, it was enough to show them how unapproachable she was. On top of that, Ellie was already seething with anger. The problem was that they could not find a gap in her stance, despite her overflowing rage.

    Then, the notifications rang for the members of the ck Dragon Order.

    <em>[Sword Emperor Ellie¡¯s murderous intent has restricted your airways.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have decreased by 15%.]</em>

    <em>[Your physical and magical defenses have decreased by 15%.]</em>

    <em>[Your chances of sessfullynding an attack has decreased by 40%.]</em>

    <em>[Your skill cooldown has increased by 20%.]</em>

    <em>[Your skill damage has decreased by 20%.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The ck Dragon Order looked at the notifications incredulously. They were all people that had awakened and learned the power of the eight greatest attack skills in all of Korea and China, the Pinnacle. With their Pinnacle awakening, they gained an incredible amount of resistance against abnormal states. However, right now, Sword Emperor Ellie had caused them to suffer many abnormal states, just by standing in front of them.

    The situation was unexpected, but Xu Jiaqi knew that she could not back down here and show fear. All of the Chinese yers had to be watching the broadcast right now. And even though they only signed a contract with BJ Luo, she was sure that the broadcasting stations would have already contacted Luo the moment they began their operation.

    This was what the ck Dragon Order was aiming for. Ellie¡¯s hunt would definitely generate a huge viewership rating and would help them rake in huge revenues from advertisements. If they were sessful, the ck Dragon Order¡¯s value would rise astronomically.

    There was one important thing for them to do in this situation, and that was to overwhelm Ellie. Ellie¡¯s hunt was the trigger and indication that ck Dragon Order was nowing into the light and raising their public awareness. They could never show the copse of the ck Dragon Order.

    So, Xu Jiaqi tried to maintain herposure and said, ¡°Ellie. I heard that you know the location of another Pinnacle.¡±

    Ellie did not answer her and only looked at the shivering citizens of the territory. The citizens of the territory were shivering from fright, but some of them still tried to smile to appease Ellie the moment she appeared. Some of them looked at Ellie, and despite their fears, cried loudly at her.

    ¡°Your Majesty!¡±

    ¡°Why?! Why did youe to such a dangerous ce!!!¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty! <em>Sob, sob, sob!</em> Forgive us, we were too foolish!¡±

    Ellie¡¯s father, thete Emperor, had been a tyrant. He regarded the lives of his citizens as ants, and did nothing to help revive the Empire. He even went so far as to sell the people away. Because of that, more people became hungry, and the voices of resentment against his tyranny had grown louder.

    Naturally, everyone became worried when Ellie, a woman, climbed to the throne and became Empress. However, Ellie waspletely different from thete Emperor. Although she had the same personality as her father, her thoughts and understanding about her people werepletely different. She took down and reced the rotten, corrupt nobles, returned the food that they had taken away from the people, and implemented a new policy wherein those that worked hard would be rewarded greatly. Her care for her people was genuine and true.

    Some might call Ellie an irondy, a person that would never bleed or shed tears when stabbed, but she was warm to the people that she cared about, and tough against those that threatened her and her people.

    The hearts of the vigers soared and warmed when their great ruler, their Empress Ellie, came running to save their own, measly lives. And just like that, Ellie once again won the hearts of the people of the Eivelis Empire. This move would definitely increase the number of people that would want to work harder for Ellie and live a better life. This was the driving force behind Eivelis Empire¡¯s outstanding growth, surpassing itself when ruled by the tyrant many times over, despite their different policies.

    Then, Xu Jiaqi asked, ¡°You know that you have to tell us the location, right? Before we kill you? Yeah?¡±

    Xu Jiaqi giggled. It was as if she was trying to dispel her fears by putting on a brave front. But Ellie just snorted at her words and smiled.

    ¡°I shoved it in your ass. Why not try and look for it?¡±

    The ck Dragon Orderpletely failed to get ahead of Ellie. However, that was just for a moment.

    ¡°Hohohohohoho! I think I¡¯m going to go crazy because of this Empress!!!¡±

    ¡°Hahahahaha! Interesting. That¡¯s very funny!¡±

    ¡°Keuhahahahaha!¡±

    Xu Jiaqi and Arcas, who were both left dazed for a moment after hearing Ellie¡¯s words, and Anox, another member of the ck Dragon Order,ughed loudly.

    ¡°You¡¯re just an unlucky Empress that can only awaken to Half Pinnacle¡­!¡±

    They have already heard from Da Zhuang that the Sword Emperor Ellie, despite her great power, only awakened the Half Pinnacle state. What did they even have to worry about when Da Zhuang was with them right now? Da Zhuang was someone that had awakened theplete Pinnacle, with the skill reaching Level 6. It was already very difficult for them to take down Da Zhuang even if they all cooperated and attacked him, so how dare Ellie try to hold them down and be arrogant?

    Meanwhile, the people watching Luo¡¯s broadcast were all in awe of Ellie''s actions to save her people.

    <em>[Wow. The Empress personally went out to save her people¡­]</em>

    <em>[I wonder how it feels to live under the rule of such an Empress?]</em>

    <em>[I wish the president of China was like that¡­]</em>

    However, their awe was only there for a moment. Then, thoughts of how stupid her move was began to emerge.

    <em>[Still, Ellie is very foolish.]</em>

    <em>[ck Dragon Order has yet to show their full strength. However, we can expect them to overwhelm Ellie. And once the Emperor of the Empire dies, the whole Empire will copse, tsk...]</em>

    <em>[It won¡¯t be that easy to deal with them¡­]</em>

    Then, Xu Jiaqi¡¯s hand moved. She asked, ¡°Can you even stop us?¡±

    Xu Jiaqi¡¯s ss was a Master Reflector, which meant that she could reflect her enemy¡¯s attacks. Aside from that, there were also countless skills associated with the ss. Xu Jiaqi had also awakened to the Reflector¡¯s Pinnacle. Right now, she could either reflect, or absorb and store the enemy¡¯s attacks sent at her. As a restriction, there will be a 20% damage reduction effect, or skill reduction effect. In a way, the ss could be considered to be very weak in terms of 1-on-1 PVP.

    However, once it reached the Pinnacle, it becamepletely different. The Master Reflector could reduce the enemy¡¯s attack damage by 80%, and even the stats given to her were so high, that it wasparable to a knight¡¯s stats. The change was so great that using the reflection skill on an enemy¡¯s attack could return it with even higher damage.

    Simply put, if the enemy dealt 100 damage, Xu Jiaqi could return and reflect that attack with 140 damage. The power of the skill had be ridiculous.

    On the other hand, the closebat fighter Arcas was someone that had awakened the <em>¡®Pinnacle of Consecutive Attacks¡¯</em>, a skill with a ridiculous power in which additional damage would be dealt whenever hended consecutive attacks.

    If he seeded innding six consecutive attacks, there would be around 1500% in additional damage. Furthermore, the additional damage was not limited to just that. In other words, if hended another set of six attacks, or even more, the total damage could easily exceed 4500%.

    And as if that was not enough, Arcas also had an ace up his sleeve, his strongest attack¡ªa single attack skill.

    Xu Jiaqi and Arcas looked at each other silently.

    ¡°Haaaa!¡±

    <em>Dash¡ª</em>

    Ellie used Step to narrow the distance between the two of them, and her.

    Cass, the Phoenix Knight Order Commander, also came with her on this journey. Cass was next to Ellie in terms of swordsmanship. He was even considered to be the second most powerful swordsman in the entire Eivelis Empire, widely recognised as the best knight after winning over the knights of the Knight Tower.

    Cass was also nked by Eivelis Empire¡¯s knight order and mages.

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    Arcas¡¯ arms began to swell in a strange manner after he concentrated his power on it. His Pinnacle skill might only be a single skill, but it had several chapters in it. Chapters 1 and 2 were both consecutive attack skills, while Chapter 3 was a single attack skill. The third and final chapter of his skill would give him an additional 1200% damage, even if he did not sessfullynd the attack.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    A strong force shot out of Arcas¡¯ strangely swollen arms. However, the direction of the force looked very strange. It was not headed at his enemies, but towards Xu Jiaqi instead. Currently, none of their Pinnacle skills were exposed yet. That was why Ellie could not understand their moves.

    Then, at that moment, Arcas¡¯ skill, ¡®Explosive Dragon Fist¡¯, that was headed towards Xu Jiaqi, collided with a translucent mirror that suddenly appeared in front of her.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The powerful skill that almost turned the ground to dust was sucked inside the mirror. Then, Xu Jiaqi turned her body and dragged the huge mirror that had absorbed the Explosive Dragon Fist.

    <em>Puhaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>[Reflected Explosive Dragon Fist]</em>

    <em>[After processing, the Explosive Dragon Fist will be split into dozens of attacks and sent to the enemy. The power of the Explosive Dragon Fist will be 700% more powerful.]</em>

    Dozens of smaller Explosive Dragon Fists flew out towards Cass and Ellie.

    <em>aaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaang!</em>

    Cass shed one of the iing Explosive Dragon Fists with his sword. The enormous force hidden behind the attack made his body tremble from the impact.

    Arcas, who unleashed his strongest single attack skill, and Xu Jiaqi, who reflected the attack, were showing chemistry and cooperation.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Several sword lights flew out from Cass¡¯ sword which extinguished the flying Explosive Dragon Fists. Then, the knights stationed behind him took out their swords and rushed forward. However, their powerbined was not enough to offset all of the iing Explosive Dragon Fists.

    Meanwhile, Ellie kept running, just like Arcas thought she would. Arcas¡¯ Pinnacle¡¯s Explosive Dragon Fist was a skill that could be casted three times in a row. The first attack was supposed to be bait. Once she approached, Arcas would immediately strike her chest with another Explosive Dragon Fist. Then, Ellie appeared right in front of Arcas.

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaack!¡±

    The still-running Cass, together with the other knights, were not able to withstand the onught of the Explosive Dragon Fists, and were pushed back by its overwhelming power. During that moment, Ellie had already reached Arcas.

    ¡°Explosive Dragon Fist!¡± Arcas shouted as the powerful force hidden in his arms stretched out towards Ellie.

    But at that moment¡­

    <em>Tap!</em>

    ¡­Ellie used her skill Step and continued to advance on air without stopping. She was literally walking on air. This showed the difference between her and Minhyuk¡¯s <em>¡®Step¡¯</em>. Ellie continued to take one, two, three steps in the sky above them.

    <em>Dash, dash, dash!</em>

    Ellie climbed up higher in the sky the more steps she took. She had already realized that this fight could not be dragged longer. Ellie did not want to kill Minhyuk during their fight, so she did not deal a heavy blow to him. That was the reason why no one had ever seen her tie-breaker move as of yet. After climbing high up in the sky, Ellie headed straight towards the ground with her sword, while using her buff skill <em>¡®Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship¡¯</em>. Then, a red aurora shot out of her body.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Finally, she swung her sword strongly.

    ¡°Sword of Annihtion.¡±

    <em>Shing, shing, shing, shing, shing, shing, shing¡ª</em>

    Hundreds of four meter long sword des were created in an instant. The sword des rained down on Xu Jiaqi, Arcas, and the rest of the members of the ck Dragon Order, like a disaster falling down upon mankind. Xu Jiaqi hurriedly triggered her Master Reflector skills.

    <em>[Pinnacle Attack Reflection]</em>

    <em>[Absorbs and reflects the enemy¡¯s attacks.]</em>

    This was a skill that never failed her, always allowing her to absorb and reflect any attack. A confident smile hung on Xu Jiaqi¡¯s lips.

    <em>¡®Ellie will be done for once this skill gets reflected¡­!¡¯</em>

    Things would be easier for them. Then, a gigantic mirror rose in the sky and met with the falling sword des.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The sword des got sucked in the mirror. No, that was what Xu Jiaqi thought. To her shock¡­

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¡ª!</em>

    <em>[The Attack Reflection has failed.]</em>

    <em>[The skill cannot be reflected.]</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>Spurt¡ª!</em>

    A sword de pierced through Xu Jiaqi¡¯s chest. The hundreds of sword des also fell down and stabbed Arcas, as well as the rest of the members of ck Dragon Order present. They all looked like hedgehogs after being stabbed by the hundreds of glittering sword des.

    On the other hand, BJ Luo and the countless viewers across the screen were all in awe at the powerful skill that had never been seen before.

    ***

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk was currently learning a Pinnacle skill from Conir. Minhyuk had also told Conir about the young Conir that he knew. The Trial Conir only told him that he would tell him what happened once he awakened the Pinnacle.

    Minhyuk went out of the game for a moment to take a break, and was able to see a battle video on his mobile phone.

    ¡°Noo¡­ noona¡­?¡± Minhyuk asked, his entire body trembling.

    There was one person that he loved and cherished the most in <em>Athenae,</em> and that was none other than Sword Emperor Ellie. And right now, someone was threatening his precious person.

    Minhyuk clenched his fists tightly.

 Chapter 363: Ellieâ€™s Pinnacle

    Chapter 363: Ellie¡¯s Pinnacle

    A smile of relief bloomed on Ruth¡¯s face, after seeing the members of the ck Dragon Order get pierced by the hundreds of sword des that Ellie released.

    As someone who had watched over Ellie since her childhood and as her aide, Ruth had opposed her decision and tried to stop her.

    <em>¡®You can¡¯t go, Your Majesty!¡¯</em>

    However, Ellie was stubborn. She said, <em>¡®Don¡¯t try to stop me, Ruth. I have to go.¡¯</em>

    This happened a few hours ago. Up until this moment, Ruth believed that Ellie¡¯s n was flimsy and filled with loopholes. But after pondering the steps that she took so far, he could see how much of a genius the woman she had be.

    <em>¡®She doesn¡¯t fight a battle that she will lose¡­!¡¯</em>

    With this move, Ellie couldunch an attack towards her enemies, and also win the favor of the people, right?

    ¡°Your Majesty!¡± Ruth shouted, running to check if she sustained any injuries.

    But then, Ellie said, ¡°Sir Cass.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty.¡±

    ¡°I will buy you some time. Take the people to safety and take the knights and mages with you.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°Your¡­ Your Majesty¡­?!¡±

    Ruth and Sir Cass both looked at her in horror. Especially Ruth. He could not even understand why she said that. Right now, three of their enemies looked to be incapacitated and could not engage inbat anymore. Their blood was already flowing down their bodies from the sword des stabbed on their bodies. Ruth was sure that they only needed to twist their neck to finish the fight.

    Ellie was a very smart and intelligentmander and warrior. She would never shy away from her enemies if she could fight them head-on. She was the Sword Emperor Ellie, and the greatest Empress of Eivelis Empire. However, this very same woman was telling them to run away.

    Ellie just stared at Ruth and Cass before saying, ¡°This is an order.¡±

    ¡°I have received your order.¡±

    Then, Ruth and Ellie¡¯s eyes met.

    ¡°Aide Ruth.¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­ Your, Your Majesty!¡±

    ¡°Just in case, can you give the Deep Sea Beef to Minhyuk for me?¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Ruth felt his heart break after hearing her words. However, there was nothing he could do. This was an Imperial Order. He was barely able to open his lips and bow his head.

    ¡°I¡­I have received your order¡­¡± His voice a deathly whisper.

    Cass quickly took the knights and the mages and evacuated the cowering citizens behind the enemies. Ellie just continued to look at the ck Dragon Order coldly. The hiltless sword des that she had sent out were slowly scattering in the air.

    <em>¡®Da Zhuang has not made his move yet. And there¡¯s also that man.¡¯</em>

    There was only one among the two other remaining members of the ck Dragon Order that had not yet made his move. That man was none other than Anox. Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>Swish¡ª</em>

    <em>Swiiiiiiiish¡ª</em>

    ¡­the three members of ck Dragon Order that had been stabbed to death by the sword des melted and turned into liquid. The liquid then turned viscous, wriggling like jelly as they took form once again.

    ¡°<em>Phew.</em> I didn¡¯t know she had that ability¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s beyond our expectation.¡±

    ¡°I was so surprised when I failed to reflect the skill. My Pinnacle Reflection skill has never failed like that before.¡±

    Xu Jiaqi¡¯s smile was greasy.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    For a moment, Ellie could not understand what had just happened. None of them showed any signs of any damage from her Sword of Annihtion. There was also the fact that their bodies had melted and reformed.

    <em>¡®A resurrection ability?¡¯</em>

    Ellie¡¯s brows furrowed in thought. No, to her, it did not look like it was a resurrection ability. This was mainly because there was no harm inflicted on their regenerated bodies. Besides, she had never heard of an ability that could resurrect three people at the same time.

    <em>¡®What the hell is it?¡¯</em>

    She looked at them in both confusion and disbelief, especially at the man wearing a ck mask, Anox. He was someone worthy to take note of, since none of his abilities has been revealed yet. However, Ellie was certain that the reason why the ck Dragon Order could still stand unscathed was because of that man named Anox.

    <em>Step, step, step¡ª</em>

    Da Zhuang, who just stood still to watch the show, finally stepped forward.

    ¡°This fight won¡¯t take long, Ellie. I acknowledge your pride and dignity foring all the way here.¡±

    Da Zhuang was someone that had awakened to full Pinnacle, and had helped Xu Jiaqi, as well as the rest of the members of ck Dragon Order, to awaken to Pinnacle. He was someone that only existed in the past. However, thanks to the ck Dragon Order, he was able to awaken once again.

    Da Zhuang was currently in a situation where his strength was notpletely restored. However, he could recover the power that he had lost, once he learnt of the location of another <em>¡®Pinnacle¡¯</em> and learnt the skill.

    Ellie was, in fact, very nervous. Although Da Zhuang seemed to have lost his former strength, he was still a legendary figure of the past, a legend among all of the assassins.

    Finally, Da Zhuang made his move.

    <em>Shwaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The moment Da Zhuang flew out, a ssh rang loudly. His body disappeared as if it was sucked by water. Then, the next moment, he appeared right in front of Ellie.

    <em>aaaaang¡ª</em>

    Da Zhuang instantly appeared on Ellie¡¯s right side andunched another attack just as his flying dagger was blocked.

    <em>aaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>¡®From what I heard, Da Zhuang can switch his body with nature at will. His speed is also very unimaginable.¡¯</em>

    Ellie recalled Da Zhuang¡¯s legends in the past.

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    Da Zhuang moved again after his dagger was blocked. Ellie recalled that there were leaves falling gently behind her. Da Zhuang instantly changed his position with the falling leaves and struck Ellie from above.

    ¡°Step.¡±

    The moment Ellie widened the distance between her and Da Zhuang¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡­Arcas moved and grabbed her cor as he punched straight at Ellie¡¯s full te armor.

    <em>Baaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    When Ellie staggered back, Da Zhuang had already switched his position with the soil on the ground and stabbed his dagger towards her neck. The worst part was the additional 800% attack power added to his dagger from the power of his attack skill.

    <em>Grab¡ª</em>

    However, even while Ellie was retreating, she did not forget to grab Da Zhuang¡¯s wrist.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Da Zhuang was very surprised.

    <em>¡®She really is a true genius of her generation.¡¯</em>

    Ellie was worthy of the title of genius, being able to fight against those that had awakened the Pinnacle. Meanwhile, Arcas was able to sessfullynd his second attack.

    <em>Baaang!</em>

    He struck Ellie head on and was able to push her back. The damage that he inflicted was also stacked. The skill ¡®Pinnacle of Consecutive Attacks¡¯ had finally shown its true worth.

    <em>[Pinnacle of Consecutive Attacks]</em>

    <em>[You have dealt an additional 700% damage after the second sessful attack.]</em>

    ¡°Ugh!¡± Ellie groaned as she turned her head. The moment her feetnded on the ground after being sent flying back, she immediately cast Blooming Sword.

    <em>Shwa, shwa, shwa, shwa, shwa, shwa!</em>

    Hundreds of flowers made of sword des bloomed on the ground.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The flowers of sword des exploded, stopping Anox, Xu Jiaqi and Da Zhuang in their tracks.

    ¡°Urk!¡±

    Da Zhuang, who was closely chasing after Ellie, was caught in the explosion, his body tearing apart.

    <em>¡®What an amazing person¡­¡¯</em>

    Da Zhuang had no choice but to admire Ellie¡¯s prowess. In the meantime, Arcas had already sent out his fourth sessful attack.

    <em>[Pinnacle of Consecutive Attacks]</em>

    <em>[You have dealt an additional 1000% damage after the fourth sessful attack.]</em>

    ¡°Ughhhh!¡±

    Ellie¡¯s vision grew dark for a moment from the powerful damage. Arcas took the opportunity to raise her body up in the sky.

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡°Urk!¡±

    Shining red blood spurted out of Ellie¡¯s mouth. She was so dizzy that she could not even see what was in front of her. Then, Arcas sped his hands together and sent his final blow.

    <em>Baaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The attack connected with Ellie¡¯s body the moment she fell down on the ground. The impact of the attack shattered the ground and buried her body in it. It was as if a bomb had fallen on that ce. From the looks of it, Ellie seemed to be buried around 80 centimeters deep in the ground. Her body twitched slightly, and she could not move.

    ¡°Ellie, spit out the location of the Pinnacle. Perhaps, we can spare your life if you do so.¡±

    Da Zhuang acknowledged her pride. This was his final act of mercy towards her. And as an answer to his question, Ellie slowly moved her hand. Da Zhuang, Xu Jiaqi, Arcas, and Anox looked at each other in excitement.

    Then, Ellie, despite her trembling hand, raised her middle finger and said, ¡°Bullshit.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    BJ Luo and the viewers that watched that scene all expressed their awe and admiration.

    <em>[Crazy. In that situation¡­]</em>

    <em>[Wow. From today onwards, I¡¯m Ellie¡¯s fan¡­ That¡¯s really freaking cool¡­]</em>

    <em>[Isn¡¯t she showing us that she won¡¯t let her enemies win, even if she¡¯s not stronger than them?]</em>

    <em>[But even if I be Ellie¡¯s fan today, she¡¯s still going to die¡­]</em>

    This was Ellie¡¯s great pride and dignity! The odds would not be so tilted had they fought against her one on one.

    ¡°Then, we¡¯ll get it by force,¡± Da Zhuang said as he slowly approached Ellie.

    Then, at that moment¡­

    ¡°Your¡­ Your Majesty!!!¡±

    ¡­a man came running towards Ellie. He was just an old man that looked like he did not have the power to lift a sword. However, he still ran towards Ellie while crying out her name. This man was none other than Ruth. He had picked up a sword that someone had left behind and held it with both of his hands. He swung the sword wildly towards their enemies.

    ¡°Keep your hands off of Her Majesty!!! Keep your hands off of Her Majesty!!!¡±

    He lookedpletely ridiculous. Ruth hadpletely defied the Imperial Order. However, he thought that it was alright even if he died. But, just when he was about to strike at them to protect Ellie¡­

    <em>Fwoosh¡ª</em>

    Xu Jiaqi shed Ruth¡¯s side with her de. Ruth screamed and fell down from the pain but he still jumped up and came at them.

    ¡°Hohohoho! This old man is really funny!¡±

    This time, Xu Jiaqi shed Ruth¡¯s shoulders.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    Then, she kicked the screaming Ruth, who crawled towards Ellie.

    ¡°Your¡­ Your Majesty¡­!¡±

    ¡°Hohohohohoho!¡±

    Xu Jiaqi and the members of the ck Dragon Orderughed at him.

    ¡°Stop. Let him die a painless death. Don¡¯t mock his pride and dignity,¡± Da Zhuang said as he slowly bowed his head towards Ruth and Ellie. He sincerely admired their pride.

    <em>¡®I¡­ I have to break¡­ to break the gem in Her, Her Majesty¡¯s ne¡­¡¯</em>

    Ruth thought about Ellie¡¯s power being restrained by the gem iid in Ellie¡¯s ne. He was sure that they would not be in this situation right now, had that gem beenpletely broken.

    Meanwhile, Xu Jiaqi was slowly approaching Ruth.

    ¡°Ruth¡­ I can¡¯t¡­ believe¡­ that¡­ you disobeyed¡­ my Imperial Order¡­¡±

    ¡°Your¡­ Your Majesty¡­¡±

    Ruth gathered all of his strength to crawl to Ellie after hearing her voice. That was when he saw Ellie grab the ne hanging on her neck.

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Ruth was very shocked. He thought, <em>¡®Did, did Her Majesty know all along?!¡¯</em>

    Then¡­

    ¡°Protect Ellie!!!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s gooooo!¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaah!!!¡±

    The hearts of the Korean yers beat wildly as they watched Ellie fight proudly. A huge number of people had already gathered near the vige, over 2,000 yers, and they all quickly advanced towards the ck Dragon Order.

    <em>sh¡ª!</em>

    ¡°Keheok!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaargh!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t back down!¡±

    ¡°Urk!¡±

    These countless yers all thought about themselves as a meat shield.

    ¡°It seems like Asgan Continent is a very admirable ce,¡± Da Zhuang assessed while looking at the rushing yers, before he nodded.

    ¡°We should treat them with great courtesy.¡±

    Both the daggers in Da Zhuang¡¯s hands shone brightly, showing off their sharpness. He was about to use his <em>¡®Pinnacle¡¯</em>. Da Zhuang was an assassin that utilized the power of nature. And right now, the mana that surrounded nature was being sucked into him.

    Da Zhuang was a great legend of the past. He had used his own power to stop and kill 3,000 iing enemies at once. Although his power had been weakened, his experience would never be lost.

    The mana in nature gathered around him and formed the shape of a bloody red dagger. Then, tens of thousands of bloody daggers appeared in the air the moment Da Zhuang extended his arm. These tens of thousands of daggers all gathered together to form one gigantic, bloody dagger. The dagger, which was the size of a jet, looked extremely domineering. Anyone would be split in half the moment they touched the tip of that sharp dagger.

    ¡°Stop them!!!¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaah!!!¡±

    However, even though they knew of the strength behind that attack, the Korean yers still continued to rush forward. But just when the skill was about to devour the yers¡­

    <em>Tap¡ª</em>

    Da Zhuang jerked his head back. This was because the ce where Ellie was buried was empty. She was nowhere to be found. When he turned back to look back at the yers, Da Zhuang saw Ellie standing in front of the man that was at the forefront of the pack.

    Ellie¡¯s hair fluttered in the wind. But, instead of the usual bright red, it had now turned into silver. Even her stance as she held her sword looked infinitely soft and light. Ellie slowly sped the hilt of her sword and lightly swung it down towards the iing <em>¡®Pinnacle¡¯</em> skill.

    That was right. Ellie only lightly shed her sword down. At that moment¡­

    <em>Craaaaaaaack¡ª</em>

    Da Zhuang¡¯s Pinnacle continued to move forward. However, it was already split in two, and both parts only passed by the thousands of yers before colliding against the buildings behind them.

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The buildings behind them copsed and created a strong gust of wind. The now silver-haired Ellie looked at Da Zhuang and spat coldly, ¡°I told you to get your hands off of my people, you fucking bastards.¡±

 Chapter 364: Ellieâ€™s Pinnacle

    Chapter 364: Ellie¡¯s Pinnacle

    Da Zhuang took a step back in surprise from the sudden, oppressing aura that Ellie was emitting.

    ¡°Pin¡­ Pinnacle?¡±

    The sword that shed his skill was not Half-Pinnacle. It was, without a mistake, aplete and perfect Pinnacle.

    Aerod, the God of Abilities and Disasters, had bestowed the earth with eight of the strongest, and most powerful forces. Among them, there was a power that was so strong that it was said that no human could ever achieve its Pinnacle. But right now, Ellie was using that very skill.

    Then, Ellie suddenly disappeared from Da Zhuang¡¯s sight. He hastily tried to activate his defensive skills, but Ellie was already standing in front of him before he could even do so.

    ¡°Da Zhuang. Make sure to feel the difference between us.¡±

    Ellie¡¯s cold voice pierced through Da Zhuang¡¯s ears.

    ¡°Lamenting Sword.¡±

    Wails and cries ofment rang loudly the moment those words ended.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The sounds that flowed through Da Zhuang¡¯s ears were clearly that of a sword swinging, but he could feel the despair and sorrow from within those sounds. And the moment that feeling engulfed him¡­

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh!</em>

    ¡­hundreds of invisible sword des pierced through Da Zhuang¡¯s body.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaaack!¡± Da Zhuang screamed loudly as he slowly copsed to the ground.

    Ellie turned her head towards Xu Jiaqi, Arcas, and Anox. Then, the notifications rang in their heads.

    <em>[You are subjected to the Absolute Supreme NPC¡¯s Killing Intent.]</em>

    <em>[All of your skills and abilities have been reduced by 40%.]</em>

    <em>[The cooldown for all of your skills and abilities has increased by 40%.]</em>

    <em>[Your resistance to abnormal status has decreased and reached below 50%.]</em>

    <em>¡®Did¡­ did you just say Supreme NPC¡­?¡¯</em>

    Xu Jiaqi, Arcas, and Anox all gulped dryly at the title that they had never encountered before.

    ***

    Special yers Management Team.

    Lee Minhwa, with various snacks on hand, was shocked after what she saw during her usual monitoring duties.

    <em>Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep¡ª</em>

    This was because the monitor was shing an ominous red color.

    ¡°Team, Team Leader!¡±

    Team Leader Park rushed to her table when he heard her call. He asked, ¡°What is it again this time?¡±

    The moment Team Leader Park reached her table, he saw the words blinking on the monitor screen that was shing with a red warning.

    <em>[Empress Ellie, one of the Absolute Supreme NPCs of the Continent, has awakened.]</em>

    <em>Athenae</em>¡¯s executives and management departments immediately convened a meeting the moment the warning appeared. President Kang Taehoon sat solemnly in the center of the conference room, with both of his hands sped together under his chin.

    ¡°The Absolute Supreme NPC that should only appear two yearster has awakened¡­¡±

    Each continent had quite a number of Supreme NPCs among them. There were more than 100 Supreme NPCs if they tallied all of the Supreme NPCs present in all of the continents. However, the Absolute Supreme NPCs were an entirely different ssification for NPCs, and they were only scheduled to awaken two years from now. Compared to the Supreme NPCs, the Absolute Supreme NPCs numbered only seven at most.

    In fact, they were scheduled to open this ssification during a step-by-step process and release of episodes. It was supposed to happen only after the servers had integrated, and Ellie would then start dreaming of integrating the continents. Once Ellie realized that her powers were limited after she had achieved the continent integration, she would try to awaken herself to be the Absolute Supreme NPC. Once she achieved that, she would then be known as <em>¡®Continental Empress Ellie¡¯</em>.

    In the first ce, Ellie was an NPC with great influence, not only in Korea, but across the entire continent. And the power that she woulde to possesster had appeared faster than they expected. Would there be a problem with the bnce? No. That was not the problem at all.

    ¡°There¡¯s a high chance that Absolute Supreme NPC Ellie may die¡­¡±

    The Absolute Supreme NPCs were pivotal existences for the direction of the future updates. But Ellie had already opened up and released her power as an Absolute Supreme NPC. This meant that the strength that she had sealed for a long time had awakened. In the first ce, she was the woman that was supposed to reach and awaken the highest and strongest Pinnacle.

    The problem was that her current body would not be able to handle that much power. There was even a high chance that the power would turn on her and gradually devour her, until she died.

    ¡°Anyone have any suggestions or ideas for a way to deal with this?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    All of them went silent. None of them could think of a definite method. They were sure that she would be devoured by that power in the end.

    Then, Team Leader Park expressed his opinion, ¡°Currently, there¡¯s only one person that will try to change the situation at hand.¡±

    All of them turned to look at Team Leader Park.

    The truth was that the <em>Athenae</em> operators and administrators did not usually engage in the game, and would only intervene if there was a chance of a huge imbnce happening. It was the case right now. Even though they wanted to save Ellie, they still would not get involved. That was why Team Leader Park thought of only one person.

    ¡°This person cares and loves Ellie more than anybody else. He¡¯s none other than yer Minhyuk. I¡¯m sure that he will do anything to save her.¡±

    All of the people present frowned, with the exception of President Kang Taehoon. He was the only one that looked at Team Leader Park in interest.

    ¡°Team Leader Park, he might be the Food God, but do you really think that yer will be able toe up with a solution to this situation?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t say with certainty if he will be able to do it or not. Butpared to us, who are helpless and can¡¯t do anything, yer Minhyuk will surely do something, anything, just to save her.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. yer Minhyuk loves Ellie very much. Besides, Ellie also holds him dearly in her heart.¡±

    The two were so close that they even called each other siblings. In fact, the two of them had a strong bond that was far beyond a simple sibling rtionship.

    President Kang Taehoon smiled at the thought. Seeing him smile, the rest of the people turned to him. Then, he said, ¡°If yer Minhyuk can solve this problem that we don¡¯t have any solution for, he will be Ellie¡¯s benefactor, on top of being her younger brother. The very same Ellie that will be the Continental Empress.¡±

    ***

    Xu Jiaqi¡¯s body trembled wildly. It only took one move to make Da Zhuang copse. Even Da Zhuang¡¯s most powerful Pinnacle skill was split in half by Ellie¡¯s light sword strike.

    <em>¡®What¡­ what the hell is an Absolute Supreme NPC¡­?!¡¯ </em>Xu Jiaqi thought, as Ellie appeared in front of her.

    <em>aaaang!</em>

    Xu Jiaqi quickly used her Pinnacle Reflection to counter Ellie¡¯s swinging sword. However, even though the hit was a simple and direct one, a shocking notification rang in Xu Jiaqi¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You cannot reflect the attacks of an Absolute Supreme NPC.]</em>

    <em>tter!</em>

    The mirror was helpless under the assault of the attack. It easily broke in half, as the sword continued on to cut Xu Jiaqi¡¯s body.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaack!¡±

    Xu Jiaqi was horroried at the reality that was in front of her. Just that one hit was enough to reduce her HP by 70%. The scariest part was the fact that Ellie only drew her sword gently, but it had already pierced deep through her chest.

    Ellie then turned to look at the rushing Arcas, pulled her sword out from Xu Jiaqi¡¯s chest, before cing it back in the scabbard on her waist and pulling it out again.

    ¡°Splitting Moonlight.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Ellie was able to utilize all of the power and skills that she could use the moment she awakened to Pinnacle. Those included the chapters of the skills rted to the Pinnacle. Among all of Quick Draw skills, Splitting Moonlight was the best. The skill could ignore 80% of the enemy¡¯s physical defense, and could deal 2,000% damage once she cut them.

    ¡°Keheooook!¡±

    Arcas¡¯s defense was very high. There were not many yers who could even deal a scratch on Arcas¡¯ body. However, Ellie¡¯s sword was able to cut Arcas¡¯ body. And that was not all, hundreds of sword lights with unbelievable force and shing power also flew out of her sword towards Anox.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Anox¡¯s body disappeared under the onught of the hundreds of sword lights. Then, just like before, the others also disappeared from the ground and turned into jelly.

    ¡°I finally found how you cane back to life,¡± Ellie said, sneering.

    Xu Jiaqi, Da Zhuang, Arcas and Anox were all shocked and astonished.

    <em>¡®She¡­ she already saw through it?¡¯</em>

    They knew that they were finished the moment she discovered their secrets. Even Da Zhuang shook in fear when he saw the insurmountable wall that separated him from her. When Ellie took a step forward, Da Zhuang panicked and fell on his buttocks.

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    ¡°This¡­ this can¡¯t be happening¡­¡±

    The Legendary NPC, Da Zhuang, was so powerful that he could make anyone flinch from fear. However, just one step from the dignified and absolute being, Ellie, and he was already down on the ground.

    At that crucial moment, blood suddenly spurted out of Ellie¡¯s mouth.

    ¡°Urk¡­?¡±

    Ellie felt the blood flow from her mouth.

    <em>¡®It seems like my body can¡¯t stand this much force¡­?¡¯</em>

    Perhaps, this was the reason why her father had sealed this power with a sealing stone before. But, she knew could not fall down here. She tried to use her remaining strength to swing her sword again, as her body fell down.

    <em>Copse¡ª</em>

    ¡°Ha¡­ hahahahaha!¡±

    ¡°Ho¡­ hohohoho. Won, we won¡­!¡±

    Xu Jiaqi, Da Zhuang and the ck Dragon Order felt lucky that they survived.

    ¡°Hurry up and kill her!¡± Xu Jiaqi said.

    Everyone agreed with her. Da Zhuang also thought of the same thing. When he saw how powerful Ellie was, he decided that it was better to kill her off than chase other <em>¡®Pinnacle¡¯</em> skills.

    Just when they were approaching here with all of their attacking skills¡­

    <em>Vwooooong¡ª</em>

    A man covered with fluttering ck currents of energy appeared in front of Ellie. The man that appeared definitely used Blink. Xu Jiaqi and the rest of the ck Dragon Order were very familiar with this man.

    ¡°ck¡­ ck Mage Ali?¡±

    ck Mage Ali red coldly at the members of the ck Dragon Order. He said, ¡°My friend wille to collect this debt soon.¡±

    When thest word fell from his mouth, bright lights covered Ellie and the rest of the citizens of Eivelis Empire, including the knights, the mages, and the yers.

    ¡°Sh¡­ shit¡­!¡±

    He used a Mass Teleport that covered more than 1,500 yers, and even included Ellie and the other NPCs! This act alone showed the world that Ali truly was the best mage in the world.

    At the same time, the ck Dragon Order failed to obtain anything. They failed to kill Ellie, and harvest the proof of their overwhelming force. Instead of receiving praises, they even garnered curses after they tried to kill the fainted Ellie that they had pushed to this point. Just like that, the chatroom in BJ Luo¡¯s broadcast was filled with curses.

    <em>[Ellie won.]</em>

    <em>[No matter how much you look at it, Ellie is the one that won¡­ The ck Dragon Order just tried to kill a person that already copsed. Tsk. Tsk.]</em>

    <em>[Even though we¡¯re yers from the same country, I feel so embarrassed with what they did.]</em>

    <em>[The ck Dragon Order¡­ No, they should be called the Moron Order, right? How can they fail to kill her? She already copsed in front of them.]</em>

    <em>[They¡¯re a group of f*cking bastards. Hehehehehehehehehe. They said that they were strong, but in the end they couldn¡¯t kill her. Sigh.]</em>

    The ck Dragon Order received constant criticisms from the viewers. And China would most likely continue to write articles about this. In the end, what the ck Dragon Order achieved was no different from a defeat against Ellie. They did not gain anything, and would only suffer mes, curses, and criticisms.

    Meanwhile, the members of the ck Dragon Order were in doubt.

    <em>¡®His friend wille to collect this debt?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Who the hell is his friend?¡¯</em>

    The same doubt ran through everyone¡¯s heads: ¡®<em>Who is his friend?¡¯</em>

    ***

    Minhyuk received a whisper.

    <em>[<strong>Ali</strong>: Fortunately, Her Majesty, Ellie, is safe. But, it looks like she¡¯s in a bad shape right now. ording to her aide, her body can¡¯t withstand the force and power that she has awakened.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: I¡¯m always grateful to you, Ali.]</em>

    Minhyuk wanted so desperately to run to where Ellie was when she was forced into a corner in that situation. Unfortunately, the distance between them was not something that he could traverse in an instant.

    However, Minhyuk was aware of what he needed to do. He needed to climb further and awaken the Pinnacle. But before he did so, he asked the members of the Let¡¯s Eat Sect for help. Among the members, Ali was the only one that was closest to the vige.

    Then, Conir suddenly said, ¡°You have only learned the first chapter.¡±

    There were still three chapters left for Minhyuk to learn. That was when another whisper from Ali came.

    <em>[<strong>Ali</strong>: Her Majesty, Ellie, woke up for a moment. She told me to deliver a message to you, Minhyuk.]</em>

    Minhyuk was currently taking a break after learning the first chapter. This was because the Pinnacle was very hard and strenuous to learn. Not long after, Ali sent the words that Ellie wanted to tell Minhyuk.

    <em>[<strong>Ali</strong>: Minhyuk, I¡¯m alright. Don¡¯t worry about me.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk went silent.

    Even though Ellie only gained consciousness for a moment, she still knew that Minhyuk would be worried about her, so she said those words.

    Minhyuk quickly rose to his feet and said, ¡°Let¡¯s continue with the

 Chapter 365: Pinnacle

    Chapter 365: Pinnacle

    Sword Saint Conir was looking at Minhyuk in interest. The method to learn Conir¡¯s Pinnacle was very simple. All Minhyuk needed to do was to swing his sword repeatedly inpliance with the chapter. That was on top of adjusting the posture and form to Minhyuk¡¯s own swordsmanship.

    However, even though the method was simple, obtaining the Pinnacle was not an easy feat. After all, Minhyuk had to swing his sword repeatedly for 30,000 times.

    The number of times that Minhyuk had to swing his sword should be at least 30,000 times. This was a very difficult feat to achieve. If someone had a weaker mentality, they would simply be unable to hold on for long. Most people would grow tired of simply swinging their sword, even before they could achieve 10,000 swings.

    However, Minhyuk went without sleep for several days to continue swinging his sword when he was learning the first chapter. His driving force was his goal, and fury.

    <em>¡®What are you furious about?¡¯ </em>

    The reason remained a mystery to Conir. However, he knew that Minhyuk¡¯s current feelings were the reason why he could repeatedly swing his sword 30,000 times, a task that was arduous toplete.

    Conir¡¯s method of training each chapter was simple, they needed to swing the sword with all their strength, with the most urate form. An hour has 3,600 seconds, and one swing with the urate form needed at least four seconds to execute. This was mainly because it consumes stamina, or STM. Someone that could swing 1,800 times in two hours would then need to take a break to replenish their strength. No matter how much someone wanted to continue, they would already then feel the limits of their physical and mental strength.

    However, Minhyuk was able to learn the first chapter, without any rest.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s truly an exceptional man.¡¯</em>

    While Minhyuk was learning the Pinnacle, he also made sure to talk with Conir. He had told Conir that the young boy Conir was working under him as a <em>¡®vassal¡¯</em>.

    <em>¡®He might be young, but he¡¯s still me. He would never choose to serve someone that easily.¡¯</em>

    In fact, it was very surprising that the young Conir willingly served someone. But, after interacting with Minhyuk, Conir understood why his young version chose to do so.

    Meanwhile, the first chapter that Minhyuk had just learned was a sword skill thatbined Sword of Fury and Scattering Sword.

    <em>[A new chapter will be added to Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship.]</em>

    <em>[Its power has reached Half Pinnacle.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired +5 to all five of your basic stats for learning a Pinnacle Chapter.]</em>

    <em>[You have learned the Sword of Frenzy.]</em>

    <em>[You will have additional 400% damage to your attack upon a sessful strike to your enemy¡¯s vital point. The six consecutive attacks that would follow the attack will have additional 100% damage. Upon a sessful vital point attack, enemies within a five meter radius will receive six consecutive attacks with additional 100% damage.]</em>

    The Sword of Frenzy was literally thebination of Sword of Fury and Scattering Sword. Just like in Scattering Sword, where Minhyuk could deal consecutive sword strikes with additional 140% damage, he would be able to unleash six more attacks with additional 100% damage upon a sessful strike to his enemy¡¯s vital point.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s crazy¡­¡¯</em>

    If one calcted the total, potential damage, then it would add up to 1000%. Of course, in the case of consecutive attacks, there was the possibility of missing his attacks. However, the effects of the skill were definitely far better than before. Just the fact that he could deal six consecutive attacks, with 100% additional damage to his enemies within a five meter radius, was well over the top already.

    <em>¡®So, this is the power of Pinnacle¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk could also tell the reason why it was only at Half Pinnacle.

    <em>¡®A single use of this skill will consume 7,000 mana¡­?¡¯</em>

    Thanks to all the medicines and elixirs that Minhyuk had eaten so far, his mana reserves had reached 26,000, an amount that far surpassed plenty of ordinary ss yers. This was the reason why he was only restricted by the <em>¡®cooldown¡¯</em> whenever he used Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship and various other skills, but never the MP.

    With his MP, the amount of times that he could use Sword of Frenzy would be extremely limited. In fact, even its cooldown was twice as much as the existing Sword of Fury and Scattering Sword. He surmised that the same must be true with the other skills.

    <em>Fwooooooom¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk continued to swing his wooden sword. This time, the skill that he was learning was abination of Splitting Sword and Blooming Sword. Splitting Sword was a skill that would send out sword lights the moment Minhyuk swung his sword horizontally. On the other hand, Blooming Sword was a sword skill that would trigger flowers of sword des to bloom on the ground, which would stab his enemies and inflict additional damage with the flowers explosions.

    <em>Fwooooooom¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk swung his sword horizontally. After finishing that movement, he immediately stabbed his sword strongly on the ground. However, these movements required high mental concentration, and just the slightest deviation would cause notifications to ring out for Minhyuk.

    <em>[You have not reached the correct number of swings.]</em>

    <em>[Please use the correct posture and power when swinging the sword.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Current Number of Swings</strong>: 105.]</em>

    One could say that this method of learning was too stringent. In order for Minhyuk to learn, he literally needed to swing his sword repeatedly and urately, to the point that it could already be ssified as <em>¡®torture¡¯</em>.

    However, Minhyuk did not stop, even after one hour, then two hours, then three hours. Perspiration continued to drip down his body, but he still continued to swing.

    Ever since he had contracted his eating addiction and ate a huge amount of food everyday, Minhyuk always had to grit his teeth and exercise more than anybody else to live and survive. To avoid damaging his knees, he chose to swim in the pool continuously and wiggle his fat body while lying in bed.

    Perhaps, the thing that he was best at was <em>¡®working hard¡¯.</em> Someone once said that Minhyuk, who had everything, was the perfect man if only he did not have his <em>¡®eating addiction¡¯.</em> However, that might not be the answer at all. Minhyuk had always worked harder than anybody else. Even when he was struggling so hard to exercise and fight against his eating addiction, he would still continue to ponder over mathematical forms in his head, and would even murmur English words to himself. His athleticity and quick reflexes? This, too, was something that could be considered as a result of Minhyuk¡¯s repeated training and efforts.

    In a blink of an eye, five hours had passed.

    ¡°You should get some rest now.¡±

    ¡°No, thank you. I¡¯m alright.¡±

    For some reason, Conir felt increasingly worried about Minhyuk and tried to dissuade him. He knew that Minhyuk was a <em>¡®foreigner¡¯</em>, a special existence that coulde back to life. However, he believed that they would also feel the same pain as them.

    <em>Athenae</em> was a very realistic game and doing something repeatedly like this would definitely make Minhyuk feel the same way if he were to do something like this in reality.

    In fact, Minhyuk¡¯s eyes had already started to go blurry from dizziness, as drops of perspiration dripped down from his chin. Even his breaths had turned haggard. His body was thoroughly soaked, while his mouth was burning from dehydration. He could feel that his body was already sore and was close to sagging from the pressure. Still, he did not stop.

    Then, the notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s head.

    <em>[You have acquired 1 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 1 Will.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 1 Will.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 1 Will.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 1 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[¡­acquired 1 Will.]</em>

    Thanks to Minhyuk¡¯s consistent efforts, his <em>¡®Will¡¯</em> stat was rising continuously. Even his DEX was increasing rapidly. Although the effects were a bit insignificant, wielding a sword would also have an effect in DEX, especially after he repeatedly swung his sword without using a skill. That was the main reason why his DEX and Will stats kept on increasing. He earned as much as 11 Will stat points in just one day alone.

    Then, the skill that assisted Minhyuk and stopped him from sumbing to his exhaustion was triggered.

    <em>[You have triggered the Skill: Will.]</em>

    <em>[All of your skills and abilities rted to DEX will temporarily increase by 25%.]</em>

    The skill, Will, would be triggered every hour since the skill only had a one hour duration. In a blink, eight hours had already passed.

    <em>[<strong>Current Number of Swings</strong>: 9,997]</em>

    The one swing every four seconds that Conir had estimated before included breaks in between. But Minhyuk hadpletely foregone taking breaks, andpleted 10,000 sword swings.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s crazy¡­! Very crazy¡­!¡¯</em>

    Conir was both in shock and horror at the ridiculous mental fortitude that Minhyuk was showing him.

    Meanwhile, the notifications continued to ring for Minhyuk.

    <em>[You have umted more than 50 points in your Will stat.]</em>

    <em>[The Skill: Will has leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have umted more than 50 points in your Will stat.]</em>

    <em>[The Skill: Will has leveled up.]</em>

    Minhyuk had leveled up his skill, Will, twice in a row.

    <em>(<strong>Will</strong>)</em>

    <em>Passive Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: 3</em>

    <em><strong>Level Up Requirements</strong>: Increase Will by 50 points.</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?Your fatigue and exhausted mind will clear up whenever you exert your utmost effort, passion, determination and indomitable will. All skills and abilities rted to DEX will have a 20-30% increase for one hour.</em>

    <em>?Increases the Will Acquisition Rate.</em>

    The level up requirement for the passive skill <em>¡®Will¡¯</em> was to umte 50 Will stat points. Today, Minhyuk was able to level up his once-stagnant passive skill Will, twice in a row. And with the increase in level, he was able to trigger the skill Will once again.

    <em>[You have triggered the Skill: Will.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats, skills, and abilities, including DEX, will temporarily increase by 28%.]</em>

    There was a significant difference after the level up in the skill. Compared to the effects of Minhyuk¡¯s Level 1 Will skill, his current skill helped his head be much clearer. Even his exhausted body was energized once again. This was mainly because the Level 1 Will skill mainly focused on DEX, which had nothing to do with temporarily clearing the mind and clearing fatigue.

    However, an astonishing change happened after the skill ¡®Will¡¯ reached Level 3. It was not only DEX<em>,</em> but all stats, skills, and abilities would increase for an hour.

    <em>¡®This is amazing¡­!¡¯</em>

    He was lucky enough to have gained an amazing, yet ridiculous, ability. Simply put, once this passive skill was triggered, Minhyuk would be able to increase his skills, abilities, and stats by almost 30%, and could disregard the <em>¡®no ovepping buff¡¯</em> restriction. A 30% increase was equivalent to a 150-level increase, and for someone at Minhyuk¡¯s level, an increase of that degree would result in a monstrous power. That was why this was an amazingly ridiculous ability.

    Just like that, Minhyuk continued his repetitive and hard task. Out of the entire 24 hours each day, he only took four hours of break to replenish his strength and stamina. Because of this, even though he had the skill ¡®Will¡¯, he often fell into a <em>¡®faint¡¯</em> state. However, as a result, Minhyuk was able to learn and awaken the remaining two chapters within three days.

    <em>[Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship has reached Half Pinnacle.]</em>

    <em>[You will receive rewards for applying a Half Pinnacle skill to the entire Swordsmanship.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired +20 to all five of your basic stats.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 500 REP.]</em>

    <em>[You have learned the Heaven Tearing Sword.]</em>

    <em>[You will be able to send a red sword light with an additional 350% damage and 20% increase in critical hit rate towards your enemies. Upon a sessful attack on a vital point, an explosion with an additional 600% damage will engulf your enemy.]</em>

    The Heaven Tearing Sword was thebination of Splitting Sword and Blooming Sword.

    <em>[You have learned the Sword of Tempest.]</em>

    <em>[Hundreds of sword des with 250% additional attack will be created around your body that will indiscriminately ughter your enemies within six seconds. During the duration of the skill, your movement speed will increase by 200%.]</em>

    The Sword of Tempest was the sword skill created afterbining <em>¡®Rampant Sword¡¯</em> and <em>¡®Like the Wind¡¯</em>. It was most suitable as a defensive skill. Although using all three of these skills would consume 21,000 of his MP, Minhyuk found it justifiable, with how unbelievably powerful the skills were.

    Then, another notification rang in Minhyuk¡¯s head.

    <em>[You have gained the <strong>Title</strong>: The Only One Acknowledged by the Sword Saint.]</em>

    The One Acknowledged by the Sword Saint. Minhyuk saw Conir nodding at him, and Conir¡¯s expression filled with infinite trust and respect for Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®How can you swing your sword like that without taking enough breaks?¡¯ </em>Conir thought in shock.

    However, that was not the end. Just when Minhyuk was about to check the effects of the title¡­

    <em>[Aerod, the God of Disasters and Abilities, has acknowledged you.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained the <strong>Title</strong>: The One who Exceeded God¡¯s Expectations.]</em>

    The God of Disasters and Abilities, the very same God that bestowed the earth with the Eight Pinnacle Skills, was also in awe of Minhyuk¡¯s will and determination.

 Chapter 366: Godâ€™s Ox Bone Soup

    Chapter 366: God¡¯s Ox Bone Soup

    <em>(<strong>The Only One Acknowledged by the Sword Saint</strong>)</em>

    <em>Unique Title</em>

    <em><strong>Title Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>? Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship¡¯s cooldown and MP consumption will decrease by 10%.</em>

    <em>? Physical and Magical Defense will decrease by 5%.</em>

    <em>(<strong>The One who Exceeded God¡¯s Expectations</strong>)</em>

    <em>Unique Title</em>

    <em><strong>Title Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>? You have acquired the Sword of Absolute Death, a sword skill made from thebination of Sword of Frenzy, Heaven Tearing Sword, and Sword of Tempest.</em>

    <em>? A 3% increase in all stats.</em>

    <em>? Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship¡¯s cooldown and MP consumption will decrease by 20%. </em>

    ¡°Oh my god¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was very thrilled. He received numerous benefits, even though all he did was concentrate on his task and move repeatedly, as if he was in a trance. Thanks to these two title effects, the high MP consumption of his skills had been reduced by 30%. And there was also the fact that he couldbine his three newly acquired Half Pinnacle skills and use it in one go, thanks to the effects of the title <em>¡®The One who Exceeded God¡¯s Expectations¡¯</em>.

    Simply put, the skill that he acquired from the title¡¯s effect was a skill thatbined all of the advantages of the three Half Pinnacle skills.

    Minhyuk¡¯s breath was taken away after he checked the description. He thought, <em>¡®This is really crazy¡­¡¯</em>

    The skill was beyond anyone¡¯s imagination. In fact, the Half Pinnacle Swordsmanship that Minhyuk had just learned was already far superior to any swordsmanship that currently existed. However, the Sword of Absolute Death was far beyond his Half Pinnacle Swordsmanship.

    <em>¡®Pinnacle?¡¯</em>

    That was right. Just one look and Minhyuk could tell that this single skill had reached the Pinnacle.

    Then, Conir approached Minhyuk and said, ¡°It¡¯s time for you to go out now.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded in understanding. The two of them had made a promise earlier. Conir had promised that he would tell Minhyuk about his own story, his past, and the story of his younger self, once Minhyuk learned and awakened his own Pinnacle. So, Conir started to tell his story.

    ***

    Aide Ruth felt his heart clench at the sight of Ellie. Her skin was growing darker, and even her face had started to turn ck.

    <em>¡®Your Majesty, forgive me for not being able to protect you¡­¡¯</em>

    He wanted to take her ce and die for her instead. Ruth had been Ellie¡¯s aide and assistant ever since she was born. She might be a woman but she loved to wield the sword more than anybody else. She shined so brightly that anyone could see her brilliance. Thete Emperor feared that she would also grow and be a tyrant like him, with the way she liked the sword. Thankfully, she did not.

    One day, Ruth asked Ellie, <em>¡®Why do you wield your sword?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Aide Ruth, I want to gain the power to protect my people when I grow up!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Hoho? So, you¡¯re wielding your sword to protect your people?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®That¡¯s right! I¡¯m also going to protect Aide Ruth. Hehe!¡¯</em>

    At that moment, Ruth made a vow. He would also protect her with his own life. However, even though he made a vow like that, Ruth could not do anything for her right now, but watch her die. It might not be his fault but nevertheless, he med himself more than anybody else.

    Then, at that moment¡­

    ¡°Aide, Minhyuk has arrived.¡±

    ¡°Let him in.¡±

    Minhyuk was one of the few people that Ellie cared for, and loved. Ruth was also very grateful to him. For the longest time, Ellie was like a person that had lost her own personality and soul. She was only the <em>¡®Empress¡¯</em>. However, Minhyuk made her smile once again, and showed her that she could also be someone¡¯s <em>¡®noona¡¯</em>, and not just an Empress.

    Minhyuk always had a bright and cheerful expression whenever he was with Ellie, while Ellie always had a smile on her face whenever she saw him. But right now, Minhyuk was unusually grave as he entered the room and looked at Ellie. Although he was silent, his breathing was heavy andbored. It was obvious that he was holding himself back.

    Minhyuk did not think that Ellie was just artificial intelligence. For Minhyuk, who had shut himself and turned away from the rest of the world for a long time, Ellie was his dearly beloved friend. That was why she was a very precious existence to him.

    Ruth bowed silently to Minhyuk and went outside to leave them for a moment. Not long after, Ruth came back with the box containing the Deep Sea Beef which he handed over to Minhyuk.

    ¡°Her Majesty told me to give this to you once you awakened to Pinnacle. This is Deep Sea Beef. It came from a legendary cow that only dwells deep under the sea.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk silently epted the box that Ruth handed over to him. Then, he looked down on the box and asked, ¡°How¡¯s her current condition?¡±

    ¡°¡­It¡¯s very bad.¡±

    ¡°Can I check it myself?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Go ahead.¡±

    Before Minhyuk came here, he stopped by the <em>Athenae </em>Temple and personally visited Saintess Loyna to get the scroll <em>¡®God¡¯s Eye¡¯</em>,<em></em>an item that could only be received by <em>Athenae </em>Religion¡¯s benefactor. God¡¯s Eye was a scroll that could ignore the difference between the level and power of two people and reveal the other person¡¯s illness and method of treatment.

    <em>[Both the body and the mind are being devoured by a powerful force. It¡¯s still in its infancy stage, but is about to reach the middle stages. Once it reaches thete stages, the person will lose all her skills and stats and slowly sumb to eternal rest.</em>

    <em><strong>Method of Treatment</strong>: There¡¯s no known treatment.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s heart sank after seeing the method of treatment and the words ¡®eternal rest¡¯<em>.</em>

    <em>¡®There¡¯s no known treatment¡­?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk could not understand why there was no known treatment. In the end, the patient and silent Ruth burst into tears.

    ¡°<em>Sob, sob, sob, sob!!! </em>Mister Minhyuk! Please, I beg you, save Her Majesty Ellie!!!¡±

    Ruth had alreadymissioned the best priest in the Empire and discussed the state of Ellie¡¯s body. However, he also did not find any cure. Even the best potions and artifacts in the Empire were not working. In a way, he knew that this was just an old man¡¯s whims, but Ruth could not help but beg, as if he was grasping at straws.

    Then, a quest window appeared in front of Minhyuk.

    <em>[<strong>Imperial Quest</strong>: Save Ellie.]</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: SSS</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Rewards</strong>: Eivelis Empire. Ellie¡¯s Savior and Benefactor.</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty for Failure</strong>: Ellie¡¯s Death</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: Ellie, the Empress of Eivelis Empire, is now on the brink of death. Right now, you¡¯re the only one that has a chance of saving her. If you save her, you will be Eivelis Empire¡¯s hero, as well as Ellie¡¯s benefactor and savior.</em>

    Minhyuk looked at the box containing the Deep Sea Beef that Ellie had prepared for him. Ellie had always given him delicious food. She would always watch him with a pleased smile on her face, as he ate the food that she gave with relish. This time, it was his chance to make a dish for her.

    ¡°I will do my very best,¡± Minhyuk said as he used his <em>¡®Create a Recipe¡¯ </em>skill on Ellie. He also made sure to set the buff effect to focus on healing Ellie.

    <em>[Creating a recipe that the other party desires.]</em>

    <em>[You can now check the recipe for Ox Bone Soup.]</em>

    <em>[The amount of buff that can be used has been decreased due to creating a recipe.]</em>

    <em>(<strong>Ox Bone Soup Recipe for Ellie</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Required Ingredients</strong>: White Cow¡¯s Marrow Bone, White Cow¡¯s Knuckle Bone, Steel Cow¡¯s Shank, Steel Cow¡¯s Brisket, Somen made from Moon¡¯s Wheat, (omitted)</em>

    <em><strong>Expected Dish Grade</strong>: Unique ~ Legendary</em>

    <em><strong>Expected Effects</strong>: The dish can slow down the effects of Ellie¡¯s disease for two weeks.</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk frowned. He had already focused all of the buff effects to focus on Ellie¡¯s healing and treatment, but the expected effect could only dy her condition by two weeks. In the end, a cooking buff was still just a buff, it could not have a permanent effect. Minhyuk¡¯s expression was shrouded in darkness for a moment. However, his face soon cleared up.

    ¡°What difference will it make if we be frustrated?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Meanwhile, Ruth felt his heart throb in pain again, after hearing Minhyuk¡¯s words. He had begged Minhyuk to do something, although he knew that it was just a vain, meaningless hope. Since they could not do anything, he tried to grasp straws and asked Minhyuk to do something, but Minhyuk was different. He still had not lost hope, and he would do everything in his capability to make this hope a reality.

    ¡°Aide Ruth!¡±

    ¡°Yes!!!¡± Ruth hurriedly wiped the tears from his eyes as he straightened his posture and answered Minhyuk¡¯s words that were filled with great momentum and pride. This was not the foolish Minhyuk that he had seen before.

    ¡°Get all the chefs out of the Imperial Kitchen right now.¡±

    Minhyuk had already thought about it. The ingredients listed in the recipe from the ¡®Create a Recipe¡¯ skill were the best ingredients among all of the known ingredients. There was a chance that the buff rating would increase if the grade of the ingredients used were the highest.

    However, these applied to only known ingredients. Any unreleased ingredients would obviously not be included in the recipe from the ¡®Create a Recipe¡¯ skill.

    Right now, Minhyuk had ingredients that were not yet released with him. The first one was the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat, one of the Five Legendary Ingredients. There were still quite a few left in his hands after he participated in the Gourmet Dragon Banquet. The second one was the Five Legendary Ingredient Box, the reward that he received after winning the Gourmet Dragon Banquet.

    <em>(<strong>Five Legendary Ingredient Box</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Ingredient Grade</strong>: ???</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>: The owner of the box can choose the ingredient that wille out of the Five Legendary Ingredient Box. This is an amazing box that will release a Legendary grade ingredient, no matter what kind of ingredient the owner chooses.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: Originally, there were only four legendary ingredients. But this Legendary Ingredient Box created the fifth legendary ingredient. It has an amazing power that could make any ingredient reach the Legendary grade. However, it remains unknown whether the ingredient that woulde out can be cooked.</em>

    Because of that, Minhyuk had two legendary grade ingredients. Besides, there was also the fact that Minhyuk heard the following notification after he created a legendary <em>rge pizza¡¯ </em>during the Gourmet Dragon Banquet: <em>¡®Perhaps there¡¯s a chance that you can make a better dish¡¯. </em>The ¡®Create a Recipe¡¯ Skill only showed the buff effect until the <em>¡®Legendary¡¯</em> grade. Hence, there might be a chance.

    Minhyuk quickly went to the Imperial Kitchen. Right now, all of the Imperial Chefs had already left the kitchen.

    <em>¡®The notifications meant that there¡¯s a chance that I can make something of a higher grade.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk rolled up his sleeves and wore an apron. It was time for him to challenge a new grade of dish for ¡®Ellie¡¯.

    ***

    Not too long ago, ck Dragon Order received harsh criticisms from Chinese citizens after they failed to hunt Ellie. There were also countless rankers from all over the world that have pointed their fingers at them. If the ck Dragon Order were able to sessfully hunt Ellie at that point in time, the public opinion would not have swayed towards this direction. But, they failed.

    In order to calm the public¡¯s anger and change their opinion, the ck Dragon Order announced that they would move, and y an active role in the Continent Cloud. This meant that the yers from Cairon Continent had gained a huge power. After all, they were yers that pushed Ellie to her limits, even though they failed to hunt her. Although it was not something that they liked, they had already decided to takemand and lead their continent to victory.

    There were three locations that they wanted to attack. The first was Berdk, located in the Center of Continent Cloud. The second was As, located somewhere at the rear of Continent Cloud and near Asgan Continent. And the third was the Korean Defense Base, the ce where most of the Korean rankers had gathered to create a huge defense base. If all three of these ces were destroyed, the Cairon Continent would basically win. Just like that, hundreds of thousands of troops made up of yers and NPCs began to march forward.

    Chinese Rankers, ck Knight Rajan, and Trap Dismantler Hans, together with 1,000 troops, headed towards Food God Minhyuk¡¯s Territory, As.

    Trap Dismantler Hans was someone famous for being able to see through all kinds of traps and poisons. At night, when all of the stars were already out in the sky, Hans led the Chinese¡¯s troops as they moved stealthily. Just like they expected, Trap Dismantler Hans was able to quickly dismantle the traps and poisons along the way and inform them of the path that they should take. The only reason why he could easily do so was because Hans had reached a higher level than the Master Trapper Roadol and Poison Specialist Smooth.

    In the first ce, Roadol and Smooth were people that had also focused their time to increase their fighting power. So, for someone like Hans, who had focused solely on dismantling traps, it was easy for him to neutralize the traps and poisons that theyid out on the ground.

    ck Knight Rajan, on the other hand, was the number one yer in the Chinese Knight Rankings. A knight was a ss that was armed with quick sword attacks and impressive sword skills. The ss was quite simr to a warrior, but knights had the Sword Master Level 1 as their specialty in the very beginning.

    Currently, there were plenty of Chinese broadcasting cameras following behind them. Once they reached As, they would immediately begin broadcasting. The reason for the dy was to catch As in surprise. After all, if they start broadcasting even before they arrive, the people in As would be notified in advance.

    Finally, they were able to reach the entrance of the magnificent and splendid As Territory. However, what they saw was a man holding a huge dog bowl in front of the gates.

    ¡°<em>Chu, chu, chu~ </em>Our Love, Happiness and Hope, aren¡¯t youing out? Are you tired because you took a walk with your dear hyung today? Are you sleeping? <em>Chu, chu, chu~</em> Hyung wants to sleep with you too~¡±

    This person was the one that the Chineseizens have scolded as <em>¡®Big Head¡¯.</em> However, he had the name Crazy Priest among the rankers. This person was none other than Locke. The ce was covered with darkness and the only thing that they saw was Locke trying to enter the obscure housebeled <em>¡®Love, Happiness and Hope¡¯</em>.

    Meanwhile, the live broadcast finally started, and thementary also began.

    <em>[Contrary to his looks, it seems like yer Locke loves cats and dogs.]</em>

    <em>[Love, Happiness and Hope¡­ Just by hearing those names, we can already tell that they must be cute.]</em>

    <em>[Although we can¡¯t see that well since it¡¯s dark inside the Athenae game, perhaps they¡¯re a special breed like a giant poodle, or a giant golden retriever?]</em>

    Then, Carden, the Abnormal State Master moved.

    Abnormal State Masters were literally a ss under the field of debuffs, with abilities that could give <em>¡®abnormal states¡¯ </em>to their opponents. It was a rare ss that only existed in China, with less than one hundred holders. Carden was the person that ranked first in the Abnormal State Master Rankings. He was a yer that utilized his ss the best among the other yers of the same ss. The only drawback of his skill was the fact that it took a long time to cast.

    Locke was currently unaware that the Chinese yers were there, so Carden was able to safely finish his casting and send out his abnormal state debuff.

    <em>[The Paralyzed One¡¯s Shrieks]</em>

    <em>[The paralyzed person will not be able to move for five minutes and could only speak. If the caster dies within five minutes, the state will be released.]</em>

    ¡°Huh? Huuuuuuuuh? Huh?!¡±

    The abilities of the person that ranked number one in the Abnormal State Master Rankings were amazing. He was able to subject the High Ranker Locke to an abnormal state. In fact, Locke¡¯s low Magical Defense also yed a role in this.

    Then, one of the mage yers pounced on Locke and made him fly in the air. The Chinese yers, including Rajan, approached Locke.

    ¡°Kekekekekeke.¡±

    ¡°My goodness. What¡¯s this? One of Korea¡¯s top rankers sleeps in a dog house? What?¡±

    ¡°Y¡­ you¡­!¡±

    Locke looked around and saw at least a thousand troops in the area. Their numbers were truly plentiful.

    <em>¡®How were they able to get to As safely?¡¯</em>

    Then, Rajan drew his de.

    <em>Shiiiiing¡ª</em>

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I will kill you and the pups that you care about.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Locke looked at him wide-eyed.

    <em>[So, yer Locke is going to die, huh?]</em>

    <em>[His death will be in vain.]</em>

    But then, Locke smirked and said, ¡°Was it you? Were you the one that ced an abnormal state on me?¡±

    Carden, the Abnormal State Master nodded in answer to Locke¡¯s question. Then, Locke asked, ¡°Hey, have you seen Rocket Monsters?¡±

    ¡°Of course, I¡¯ve seen it! That¡¯s a masterpiece¡­ <em>Cough!</em> What bullshit are you talking about?!¡±

    Rocket Monster was an animation series that aired in Japan. In this animation, the people would throw small balls and catch the monsters called <em>¡®RocketMon¡¯</em>.

    Rajan was a huge Rocket Monster fan. After all, it was a show that instilled hopes and dreams in its viewers!!! And among all of the RocketMons, Rajan liked <em>¡®</em><em>Ppikachu</em><em>¡¯</em> the best.

    As Rajan tried to hurriedly swing his sword, Locke shouted, ¡°Love, Happiness, Hope!!! Body smashhhhhh!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    <em>[Uhmm¡­ I think yer Locke is still dreaming.]</em>

    <em>[Is he drunk?]</em>

    Just when thementators were questioning Locke¡¯s sanity, and the Chinese yers were giggling at Locke¡­

    <em>Thump, thump, thump¡ª</em>

    In a split second, really, just a few seconds after Locke¡¯s words fell, the whole ground shook. Under the darkness of the night, something that they could not see was approaching fast. Then, a loud bang reverberated in the area.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    A giant creature suddenly <em>¡®Body </em><em>Smash¡¯</em>ed Carden, the Abnormal State Master. The most surprising part was the fact that Carden was instantly forced to log out.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    The creature that showed up was a five meter tall, shockingly cool, demonic beast, with three heads. It was Cerberus.

    Thementators were all in disbelief at the sight.

    <em>[That¡¯s¡­ that¡¯s Love, Happiness and Hope¡­?]</em>

    <em>[Which part of that figure screams Love, Happiness and Hope¡­?]</em>

    <em>[¡­OMG?]</em>

 Chapter 367: Godâ€™s Ox Bone Soup

    Chapter 367: God¡¯s Ox Bone Soup

    The Chinesementators and the 1,000-strong troops that arrived at As were all flustered.

    <em>¡®Love, Happiness, Hope.¡¯</em>

    The name was filled with pleasantness and hope. Whatever good feelings they had quickly disappeared the moment the gigantic Cerberus appeared, and was reced with a domineering, ominous dread.

    <em>Sizzle¡ª</em>

    Even the saliva that dripped down their chins had melted the ground. Then, the three heads roared wildly.

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Roaaaaaaar!¡±

    ¡°Grrrrrrrrrrrr!¡±

    <em>[Hell¡¯s Gatekeeper¡¯s Roar!]</em>

    <em>[Your Attack Hit Rate drops by 10% while your Skill Cooldown increases by 10%.]</em>

    <em>[Your Physical and Magical Defense have decreased by 15%.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    All of the Cairon Continent yers that heard the roar were immediately hit with a debuff.

    ¡°What¡­ what kind of bullshit¡­!¡±

    Even ck Knight Rajan was flustered.

    ¡°How can a monstrous beast like that be called Love, Happiness and Hope?!!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right!!!¡±

    ¡°Your naming sense is trash!!!¡±

    ¡°Boooo!!!¡±

    Rajan and the Chinese yers were distracted by the absurd naming sense. Meanwhile, Locke had already been released from his <em>¡®paralyzed state</em>¡¯ after the Abnormal State Master had been forced to log out. He tilted his head at them as he grabbed his huge red ax and said, ¡°I think it suits them. You¡¯re the ones that have a trashy naming sense.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    That was right. Locke had grown very fond of Love, Happiness, and Hope, after taking them on walks! Every time they jumped on him and licked his face, he would think, <em>¡®Are they going to eat me¡­?¡¯</em>. And every time they smelled his butt, he would think, <em>¡®Do they think that my butt is more delicious¡­?¡¯</em>. That might be what he felt, but still!!! Locke had eventually fallen for their charm! And the same was true for the Cerberus. To be exact¡­

    <em>¡®He looks pitiful. Let¡¯s help him.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I feel sorry for that human every day¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I think I will cry whenever I look at his face.¡¯</em>

    ¡­Cerberus was trying to protect Locke, because they actually felt sorry for his face.

    However, one should never forget that Locke was the Crazy Priest that had awakened some of Jeffrit¡¯s powers. In fact, he had been able to awaken more power after he had transferred to High ss.

    Jeffrit¡¯s power was abination of excellent buffs and powerful debuffs. In fact, he was an entity that specialized in <em>¡®AOE debuff¡¯</em>. This ss was actually very weak when it came to 1:1 PVP matches. However, anyone with this ss would gain a huge advantage, exerting great power whenever they dealt withrge numbers of people. What more if Locke was with the Level 600 Cerberus?

    And¡­ what would happen if he applied a buff to Cerberus?

    <em>[Jeffrit¡¯s Blessings]</em>

    <em>[All of Love, Happiness and Hope¡¯s stats will increase by 15%.]</em>

    <em>[Love, Happiness and Hope¡¯s skill damage will increase by 15%.]</em>

    <em>[Love, Happiness and Hope¡¯s skill uracy rate will increase by 30%.]</em>

    A bright light appeared from Locke¡¯s ax. The Chinese yers had alreadyunched their attacks just as the light disappeared into Cereberus¡¯ body.

    ¡°Wind Cutter!¡±

    ¡°Fireball!¡±

    ¡°Fire Field!¡±

    ¡°Lightning!¡±

    ¡°Fire Storm!¡±

    ¡°Wind Storm!¡±

    The enemy troops had around 30 high-leveled mages. These mage yers went on a rampage and sent out numerous magic spells without casting. Even the archers let out their arrows.

    ¡°Dragon Arrow!!!¡±

    ¡°Multi Shot!!!¡±

    ¡°Aimed Shot!!!¡±

    ¡°Arrow of Destruction!!!¡±

    Dozens of magic spells and arrows flew towards Locke and Cerberus. At that moment, the middle head of Cerberus opened his huge mouth and sent out a blinding white light.

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    A shocking notification rang in the ears of all the Chinese yers present.

    <em>[Your skill has been nullified.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    <em>[Aaaaaah! They disappeared in the air!!! All of the magic spells and arrows that the yers of Cairon Continent had sent out had disappeared into thin air!!!]</em>

    <em>[A very un¡­ unbelievable scene has unfolded in front of our very eyes!!! How can they nullify that many magic spells and skills all at once?!]</em>

    <em>[Cerberus is a being that not only appears in the Athenean worldview, but also in ancient times, and has always been hailed as ¡®Hell¡¯s Gatekeeper¡¯. If the same is true inside Athenae, then Cereberus is most likely the gatekeeper of hell inside the game too. If that¡¯s the case, we can expect their level to be very high, since Hell is a ce that hasn¡¯t been pioneered yet!]</em>

    Then, Locke stretched out one of his arms forward. A red energy in the form of a skull shot out and flew towards the bleeding Cairon Continent yers.

    <em>[Jeffrit¡¯s Skull]</em>

    <em>[All of your skills and abilities have been reduced by 10%, while your magical defense and magical attack have decreased by 20%.]</em>

    <em>[Your AGI has dropped by 10%.]</em>

    The Cairon Continent yers were in a fluster after witnessing Cerberus¡¯ buff and Locke¡¯s debuff skills. Assuming that the yers present were at Level 300, the amount of debuff that they had received already cost them a 60-level decrease in their power. The worst part was, the higher the level of the yers, the greater the impact of the debuff.

    In a blink, Locke had already climbed on top of Cerberus.

    <em>¡®The people in front of us will never set foot at As.¡¯</em>

    The members of the Let¡¯s Eat Sect were scattered all over the Continent Cloud. Some were located in the Berdk Attack Base, while some were located in the Defense Base. However, most of the troops in As had been sent out to fight, because they did not think that the Chinese yers would be able to neutralize the traps and poisons set up along the way that easily. The fact that there were enemies present here meant that there was a high chance that the other bases were also being attacked. If they were able to breach As, Locke was sure that reinforcements from Cairon Continent would arrive one after the other.

    So, Locke decided that he would do his best to keep them out of the territory.

    ¡°Love, Happiness, Hope¡­ Hundred Thousand Volt!!!¡±

    Locke flew up in the sky as frost began to form in the mouth of Cerberus¡¯ leftmost head, while mes began to form in the rightmost head.

    Cerberus was a monster with different attributes per head. The leftmost head could use up to the Seventh Tier Ice Magic, while the rightmost head could use up to the Seventh Tier Fire Magic. Their power wasparable to high-leveled mages. In fact, Cerberus also had a tough skin that could not be easily pierced through by any physical or magical attack. They could even devour yers that ranked fairly high in the rankings with their mouths alone. On top of that, Crazy Priest Locke would even send them heals. Simply put, Cerberus and Locke were the magnificent and sturdy ¡®walls¡¯ that blocked the yers of Cairon Continent from entering As.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The zing and powerful mes sent out by the right head swept through the yers of Cairon Continent¡­

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    ¡­while the cold and bitter frost from the left head covered their bodies and slowed down their advance. Then, there was also Locke.

    ¡°Jeffrit¡¯s Fury!¡±

    The two axes in Locke¡¯s hand struck down on his enemies from the sky. Huge explosions bloomed from the ground and engulfed the yers the moment the axes fell down on the ground.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Today, Locke, who had always been mocked by the Chineseizens as <em>¡®Big Boulder¡¯</em>, had be a myth, and was hailed as <em>¡®ughterer Dog Tamer Locke¡¯.</em>

    ***

    Inside the Imperial Kitchen, Minhyuk, who was wearing his apron, opened the <em>¡®Five Legendary Ingredient Box¡¯.</em>

    <em>[You have used the Five Legendary Ingredient Box.]</em>

    <em>[The ingredient that the owner chooses will appear inside the Five Legendary Ingredients Box.]</em>

    <em>[It remains unknown whether the ingredient that wille out can be cooked or not.]</em>

    Minhyuk could cook the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat. However, for ordinary chefs, it was like a <em>¡®taboo¡¯</em>. An ingredient that they could never cook. However, once the ingredient was sessfully cooked, it could result in a dish that could shock most gourmands to tears.

    The problem here was if the ingredient could be cooked or not<em>. </em>The ingredient that Minhyuk chose to get from the Five Legendary Ingredient Box was <em>¡®Marrow Bone¡¯</em>.

    <em>[You have chosen ¡®Marrow Bone¡¯ as the ingredient that you will get from the Five Legendary Ingredient Box.]</em>

    <em>[Marrow Bone is an ingredient that can help with recovery and bone strengthening.]</em>

    <em>[The Five Legendary Ingredient Box is searching for the ¡®Fifth Legendary Marrow Bone Ingredient¡¯.]</em>

    <em>Ring!</em>

    The cheerful ringing of the notification rang loudly in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You have acquired the Legendary Giant Cow¡¯s Marrow Bone.]</em>

    Minhyuk immediately checked the information.

    <em>(<strong>Legendary Giant Cow¡¯s Marrow Bone</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Ingredient Grade</strong>: Fifth Legendary Ingredient</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>? There¡¯s a chance to cure people with incurable diseases. </em>

    <em>? Can greatly recover one¡¯s vitality.</em>

    <em>? Once you seed in cooking the marrow bone, your dish will have the most appropriate taste and deep vor of the marrow bone.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: ording to Legends, the Legendary Giant Cow was as big as a small ind. The bones of this Legendary Giant Cow are very tough, with high calcium and nutritional value. Rumors say that this ingredient can even revive the dead. The processing of the Legendary Giant Cow¡¯s marrow bone is not easy. To produce white and nutritious ox bone soup, one needed to have a high concentration and high DEX. It is a very sensitive ingredient. The slightest mistake and the Legendary Giant Cow¡¯s Marrow Bone will cken and erode.</em>

    Based on its special abilities, this ingredient was very different from those that Minhyuk had handled so far.

    <em>¡®It doesn¡¯t have the concept of increasing the stats or skills.¡¯</em>

    Simply put, it was written like that because there was a chance that the dish was not limited by the current grading system, and could climb to a level that was far beyond that. The description also said that the ingredient was extremely sensitive and might turn ck with just the slightest of mistakes.

    <em>¡®Once it turns ck, you can¡¯t eat it.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was now in a dilemma. That was on top of the fact that he needed days to process the marrow bone.

    <em>¡®The ingredients are all ready.¡¯</em>

    The broth would be made using the Legendary Giant Cow¡¯s Marrow Bone while the somen[1] would be made using the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat.

    <em>¡®The meat in Ox Bone Soup goes well with somen.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk personally preferred adding the somen and some green onions to the marrow bone broth that was fresh out of the stove and still boiling, before slurping it with some radish kimchi, or some fresh kimchi. After finishing the dish, Minhyuk liked adding some salt and pepper to the soup instead of rice.

    He started cooking to make that delicious bowl of ox bone soup. He first drained the blood from the marrow bone, knuckle bones, and ox foot. Minhyuk was very careful about this part.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s not good to drain too much blood. The Legendary Giant Cow¡¯s Marrow Bone is literally sensitive.¡¯</em>

    That was the reason why Minhyuk had to be extremely careful when removing the blood. Minhyuk patted the blood off of the shank and the brisket. Then, he started boiling the marrow bone.

    Next, he poured water into a huge cauldron and let the water boil. Once the water was boiling, he added the marrow bone, knuckle bone, and ox foot inside, before leaving the broth for five minutes. Then, he took out the bones and discarded the water with impurities.

    Minhyuk once again poured clean water inside the cauldron and added the ingredients. He needed to boil it under high heat for an hour, then in low heat for the next five hours. Just when he was about to boil the marrow bone, knuckle bones and ox foot¡­

    <em>[The Legendary Giant Cow¡¯s Marrow Bone is certainly different from ordinary marrow bone.]</em>

    <em>[You have to shift into high heat, medium heat and low heat to cook the marrow bone.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk tilted his head in confusion. This was the <em>¡®additional exnation¡¯</em> from the God¡¯s Cooking Skill that he had learned before. If it were not for these exnations, he would not know how to cook some ingredients.

    <em>¡®The heat needed changes erratically? This is a really tricky ingredient to process¡­¡¯</em>

    Usually, one needed to boil the bones for an hour in high heat, and five hours in low heat to make ordinary ox bone soup. The more the marrow bone was boiled, the more delicious and nutritious the ox bone soup would be. It was as if the longer the marrow bone was filtered and boiled, the more delicious it became.

    However, the steps that he needed to follow to process the Legendary Giant Cow¡¯s Marrow Bone were far more tricky and particr than ordinary marrow bones. Nheless, he started the boiling process.

    <em>[The Legendary Giant Cow¡¯s Marrow Bone releases a lot of impurities and oil. You don¡¯t have the time to rest. Proceed to filter out the impurities and the oil.]</em>

    Minhyuk saw ck scum and oiling out of the bone.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s ck?¡¯</em>

    Ordinary oil and scum that was filtered out of marrow bones were usually not as bad as this. The color of the impurities were as ck as ink. Minhyuk hurriedly filtered out the oil and scum. Then, a notification rang.

    <em>[Quickly turn the heat to medium heat, otherwise the Legendary Giant Cow¡¯s Marrow Bone will turn bad.]</em>

    ¡°What kind of marrow bone is this¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk quickly turned the heat to medium heat and filtered out the oil and scum again. He did not have any time to rest. He even had to battle against the exhaustion and fatigue brought about by the hot steam. After four hours, another set of notifications rang.

    <em>[You have boiled the marrow bones from the Legendary Giant Cow¡¯s Marrow Bone.]</em>

    <em>[You cannot eat the marrow bone. Eating it will make your stomach go bad.]</em>

    <em>[You can drink the marrow bone broth made from the Legendary Giant Cow¡¯s Marrow Bone. It tastes the best and is rich in nutrients.]</em>

    <em>[You have to boil it for ten more minutes to get the most authentic vor of the bones.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The marrow bone had turned transparent as it floated on top of the oil. The soup, on the other hand, had turned milky white. It was really a very tricky, yet amazing, ingredient.

    <em>¡®I wouldn¡¯t have been able to cook this if I weren¡¯t the Food God.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk felt lucky that he could hear additional exnations to make this dish. However, it was also thanks to the fact that Minhyuk was someone that never gave up.

    <em>¡®Noona, wait for me.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk moved to boil the marrow bone again. He vowed to make the ox bone soup a dish with a never-before-seen grade in order to save Ellie.

    1. A very thin noodle made out of wheat flour. An ingredient used mainly on East Asian cuisines. ?

 Chapter 368: Godâ€™s Ox Bone Soup

    Chapter 368: God¡¯s Ox Bone Soup

    The yers of the Cairon Continent, led by ck Dragon Order¡¯s Xu Jiaqi,unched a full-scale attack against Berdk Attack Base. With Xu Jiaqi leading the attack, the yers of the Cairon Continent were able to continuously advance forward. There were around 30,000 troops from the Cairon Continent that partook in the recapturing of Berdk. The yers of Asgan Continent had also started to defend themselves.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Powerful attacks flew out of Berdk¡¯s magic tool siege weapons and engulfed the yers of Cairon Continent.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Ugh, aaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaaargh!¡±

    Half a day had passed since the beginning of their attack. Although the yers of Cairon Continent kept on flocking to Berdk, their numbers were slowly dwindling from the huge amount of casualties on their side.

    <em>¡®ck Dragon Order is hiding in the rear and waiting for the right time to strike,¡¯ </em>Genie thought, standing on the ramparts and watching the entire situation.

    Although the ck Dragon Order had takenmand of the attack, they still had yet toe forward. It was simply because they did not want to damage the excellent siege weapons in Berdk by sending out hasty and unnned attacks.

    Besides, the magic tool siege weapons had clear limitations. In other words, their bullets would run out. What would happen then? Once that happened, the only thing that the Asgan forces could rely on was Berdk¡¯s solid walls, and they would then wage a defensive battle against the Cairon Continent. The ck Dragon Order nned to move once that time came.

    And finally, the imposing Berdk siege weapons that sent out countless overwhelming attacks stopped.

    ¡°The siege weapons¡¯ mana has been exhausted!¡±

    ¡°The siege weapons are no more!!!¡±

    The Kharamis soldiers reported quickly as thousands of Cairon Continent yers flooded to Berdk. Of course, there was also a significant number of Asgan Continent yers concentrated in Berdk. Counting the yers stationed at the ramparts, as well as the yers and NPCs inside, there were a total of 10,000 Asgan Continent troops inside Berdk. However,pared to the number of yers from Cairon Continent, they were just like a drop of water in an ocean.

    ¡°Stop them!!!!¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Protect Berdk!!!¡±

    The yers of Asgan Continent were shouting frantically. Then, Genie raised her hand high and said, ¡°Fire!!!¡±

    Thousands of magic spells and arrows fell down from the ramparts the moment Genie lowered her hand and gave her order. She also sent her orders to the members of the Let¡¯s Eat Sect Guild.

    <em>[<strong>Vice Guild Master Genie</strong>: Join in immediately.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Crow</strong>: Okay.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Ace</strong>: Roger!!!]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Ascar</strong>: Alright.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Khan</strong>: Yepyep.]</em>

    The members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect Guild were divided and stationed at three different ces, As, the Korean Defense Base, and here in Berdk. They were currently in a situation where they could not afford to lose even a single ce in their hands.

    Khan lightly tapped his feet on the ground and flew up. He was now ranked first in the Korean Fighter Rankings. In fact, he could be considered the fastest and swiftest among all of the yers in Korea. He was also a fourth dan ck belter in Taekwondo.

    The yers¡¯ eyes were attracted by his figure that flew in the sky like a bird.

    ¡°Stop him!!!¡±

    ¡°Attack!!!¡±

    ¡°Archers!!!¡±

    The yers of Cairon Continent shot their arrows and used their long-distance attack skills. Just then, Khan¡¯s body suddenly turned ck.

    <em>[The Fighter¡¯s Shield]</em>

    <em>[Your physical and magical defense will increase by 500% for 5 seconds.]</em>

    The skill Fighter¡¯s Shield was a skill that gave the yer an advantage by allowing them to send out attacks, even while the defensive skill was still being expressed.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh!</em>

    A cloud of dust bloomed and rose in the sky, as arrows, skills, and magic spells mmed into Khan¡¯s body. Once the dust settled, Khan, who was already high up in the sky, lifted his leg.

    <em>[Korea¡¯s Best Fighter, Ranker Khan!!!]</em>

    <em>[Khan¡¯s foot is raised high up in the sky.]</em>

    Along with those words, Khan¡¯s foot turned huge as it fell down on the ground.

    <em>[Giant¡¯s Falling Press]</em>

    <em>[Inflicts an additional 400% damage to an area of 10 meter radius.]</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    It was like a bomb had fallen on the area. The enemies within a ten meter radius were instantly devoured by the attack and swept away.

    Meanwhile, Crow took advantage of the gap and jumped into the fray.

    <em>[Tornado Spear]</em>

    <em>[A huge rotating spear will drag your enemies and tear them apart while inflicting additional 340% damage.]</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Crow was both a bounty hunter and a spear master, and he was Let¡¯s Eat Sect Guild¡¯s true and strongest dealer. The enemy troops that were flocking towards them were sucked and dragged by the spear that Crow threw with all his might.

    ¡°Ke¡­keuaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keheok!¡±

    In a blink of an eye, more than 30 yers had their bodies shredded apart and were forced to log out. Continuing their momentum, Ace stepped forward and shouted, ¡°Red mes¡¯ Hell Chariot!!!¡±

    This was Ace¡¯s forte. Four gigantic hell horses covered in red zing mes appeared, pulling a huge golden chariot.

    ¡°<em>Neeeeeeeigh!</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Neiiiiiigh</em><em>!</em>¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaack!¡±

    The burning hell horses and carriage advanced forward, sweeping away their enemies that were trying to push forward. By the end of the skill duration, the chariot exploded.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>[Sure enough, they are Korea¡¯s high rankers.]</em>

    <em>[There are quite a lot of Korean rankers that have formed defense teams and are protecting Berdk.]</em>

    <em>[Support, through long-distance attacks, are continuously being sent out from the ramparts.]</em>

    <em>[However, they need to know that our Chinese rankers are just as great as their Korean rankers.]</em>

    Then, at that moment¡­

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡­Ascar¡¯s scream rang loudly. Khan, Crow, and Ace all looked towards her direction at the same time. There, they saw Cairon Continent high rankers pushing inside. The one that attacked Ascar was Dark Elf Sonia. Sonia was a ranker that mainly focused on using double swords. She was also a ranker that had changed her species and turned herself into a dark elf.

    However, it was not only her, there were also plenty of other rankers surrounding her.

    ¡°Giant¡¯s Quick Fists!!!¡±

    <em>Punch, punch, punch, punch!</em>

    Khan¡¯s feet moved swiftly as he sent out a series of attacks, his huge fists aimed at the rankers that attacked Ascar. But¡­

    <em>Grab!</em>

    ¡­a man suddenly appeared and grabbed his gigantic fist.

    This was a Chinese Fighter Ranker, Liu Yuan. To be exact, he started out as a fighter. However, after practicing various Chinese martial arts, he had transferred sses and became a <em>¡®warrior¡¯</em>. He was also well-known in reality for his martial art skills.

    Liu Yuan moved gently, like a butterfly silently pping its wings, and narrowed the distance between him and Khan in a single step. Then, he struck Khan¡¯s abdomen strongly with his fist.

    <em>Punch!</em>

    ¡°Keheok!¡±

    <em>[Hundred Step Divine Fist]</em>

    <em>[Hundreds of powerful fists stretch out from behind and attack your enemies.]</em>

    The Hundred Step Divine Fist dug deep into the pit of Khan¡¯s stomach, despite his high defense and impressive armor. That was not the end. A young girl suddenly moved forward and blocked Ace¡¯s path when he tried to move and join the battle. She was the Ice Sorceress Zhao Jiamin.

    Zhao Jiamin might be young, but she was a ranker among the top 30 yers in China. And she looked extremely simr to the young ¡®Nico Nobin¡¯, a character in the manhwa One Diss that Ace loved.

    ¡°Ni¡­ Nico Nobin¡­? You, you are my ideal type!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Zhao Jiamin looked at Ace incredulously as she showed off her skills as an Ice Sorceress.

    <em>[Ice Flower]</em>

    <em>[Hundreds of flowers made of ice will bloom and attack your enemies.]</em>

    <em>Clink, clink, clink, clink, clink¡ª</em>

    Hundreds of sharp and deadly ice flowers bloomed beneath Ace¡¯s feet. However, Ace was also a top ranker. He reacted quickly as mes appeared and covered his entire body.

    ¡°Uwoooooooooooh! Nico Nobin! I¡¯m Fire Fist Ace!!!¡±

    <em>Crackle!</em>

    The zing mes that erupted from his body spread out and melted the ice flowers that bloomed on the ground. An ice sword appeared in Zhao Jiamin¡¯s hand, as fire bloomed on Ace¡¯s fist. Ace looked extremely excited as they began to move.

    ¡°Nico Nobin! I¡¯m Eunpyong Elementary¡¯s Fire Fist Ace. Let¡¯s have a cup of milk together if I win, alright?¡±

    Ace lookedpletely serious. However, his words were so greasy that it seemed like he had swallowed an entire stick of butter in one gulp.

    ¡°Shut up!¡± Zhao Jiamin shouted as she swung her ice sword wildly. However, the truth was¡­

    <em>¡®A¡­ Ace¡­! He¡¯s my ideal type in the One Diss manhwa!!! Oh my god. What milk will we drink? He¡¯s so cool!!!¡¯</em>

    Zhao Jiamin¡¯s eyes were filled with mist.

    <em>¡®Fate is so cruel, we can¡¯t be together¡­ Ace¡­!¡¯</em>

    Ace saw the sadness that suddenly sprung up in her eyes.

    <em>¡®Nico Nobin¡­!!!¡¯</em>

    Then, the two people shed against each other.

    <em>[Aaaah! The Korean and Chinese rankers¡¯ sh!]</em>

    <em>[Ice Sorceress Zhao Jiamin and Fire Fist Ace have crossed des!!!]</em>

    <em>[Korea¡¯s Ranker Khan and Warrior Liu Yuan are also fighting a fierce battle!!!]</em>

    At first, it seemed like both sides were on par with each other.

    <em>[Korea¡¯s rankers are getting pushed back.]</em>

    <em>[As expected. There¡¯s nothing that they can do to fight the Chinese yers off.]</em>

    This was war, not a one-on-one fair duel. Other Chinese rankers would attack the Korean rankers that were already fighting in a battle. Simply put, the Korean rankers were being pushed back from the sheer number of their enemies. Plenty of Korean rankers, including Crow, Khan, Ace and Ascar, had already started to retreat.

    ¡°Damn! Dammit! Goddammit!¡±

    ¡°If only it were a 1:1¡­!¡±

    They had lost the battle against people whose sses and skills were simr to them. It happened the moment the others intruded in their fight. All of the Korean rankers that lost their own battles had expressions that were crumpled and distorted in frustration.

    On the other hand, Zhao Jiamin watched Ace running away.

    <em>¡®Ace, go¡­ quickly¡­!¡¯</em>

    Zhao Jiamin even went the extra mile and froze the ground, causing the Chinese rankers that were secretly following behind Ace, to lose their bnce and fall down on the ground.

    ¡°Urk!¡±

    ¡°What¡­ what the hell?¡±

    ¡°Zhao Jiamin?!!!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry! I¡¯m sorry!¡±

    Zhao Jiamin kept on bowing, pretending that what she did was a mistake. Then, she made eye contact with the escaping Ace, who looked back at her.

    ¡°¡­!!!¡±

    Ace could see her heart and thoughts. And thanks to Zhao Jiamin¡¯s ¡®mistake¡¯, Ace was able to enter through the castle¡¯s small opening safely.

    ¡°¡­If only I was a bit stronger.¡±

    Khan looked despondently down at his fists. They were defeated in a war of numbers. However, he thought that it was just an excuse. Everything would have been different if they had overwhelming power and strength. And everyone standing on the same height and position as him all thought the same.

    <em>¡®If only I was stronger¡­¡¯</em>

    They might have won. At that moment, all of the yers that were fighting on the battlefield suddenly stopped. They either stopped swinging their weapons, or unknowingly stopped. This was because of a very shocking message.

    <em>[A yer that has created something that transcends the Human Realm has been born for the first time in Athenae.]</em>

    <em>[This message resonates loudly throughout the entire continent.]</em>

    Just this short message was enough to bring confusion to all of the yers present.

    ¡°Transcends the Human Realm¡­?¡±

    ¡°Who? Who transcended the Human Realm?¡±

    ¡°What did they make that transcended the Human Realm?¡±

    The yers were all murmuring. Among them, Genie murmured to herself, ¡°Transcends the Human Realm¡­? God ss¡­?¡±

    The first God ss item had made its appearance.

    ***

    Ruth was counting the days. It had already been several days since Minhyuk entered the Imperial Kitchen. He was aware that Minhyuk had not slept all this time. From what he saw, Minhyuk did not have any time to sleep nor rest, as he did his best to cook the marrow bone. ording to the most recent report, Minhyuk was already reeling from exhaustion after reaching the limits of his mental strength.

    <em>¡®You can stop now.¡¯</em>

    Ruth already knew that it was impossible to save Ellie. The words that he said to Minhyuk were just him grasping atst straws, trying to find a sliver of <em>¡®hope¡¯</em>. But now, Ruth already knew that there was no <em>¡®hope¡¯</em>. Ellie¡¯s illness had already reached the middle stages and was rushing towards thete stages. He was actually hoping that Minhyuk would stop to see her before she died.

    <em>¡®I will never forget your efforts and hard work.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was already Eivelis Empire¡¯s benefactor. Ruthmended his efforts and hardwork, but it was now time to stop. Ruth stood in front of the Imperial Kitchen and slowly opened the door. At that moment¡­

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    Mysterious pirs of light suddenly fell down from the sky and pierced through the ceiling of Eivelis Empire¡¯s Imperial Pce. Amidst all of these lights was a man holding an earthen pot filled with thick ox bone soup. The pirs of light slowly thinned out, as they got sucked into the pot of ox bone soup.

    Minhyuk smiled broadly at the ox bone soup and said, ¡°Mister Ruth.¡±

    Ruth was left speechless after seeing the amazing sight that unfolded in front of him. Then, Minhyuk continued to say, ¡°We can save Noona.¡±

 Chapter 369: Godâ€™s Ox Bone Soup

    Chapter 369: God¡¯s Ox Bone Soup

    <em>Boil and throw the scum away. Boil and throw the scum away.</em>

    The process of making the marrow bone broth for Ellie¡¯s ox bone soup required a high degree of concentration, constant and swift movements, and high chef skills. Minhyuk did not even dare to take his eyes off of the pot for a moment, in fear of the soup bing ck from idental neglect.

    To avoid all distractions, Minhyuk turned off his whispers and GC notifications. Of course, he made sure to tell Genie the situation that he was in, before he went radio silent. Genie readily agreed and thus began Minhyuk¡¯s lonely battle in this quiet kitchen.

    The kitchen was literally a steamer at this point, thanks to the constant heat and steaming from the boiling soup. But Minhyuk continued to stand in front of the pot as he cooked, despite the perspiration dripping down and covering his entire body.

    Instead of stopping, Minhyuk just hung a towel around his neck to wipe off the perspiration dripping from his forehead so that no sweat could drop into the marrow bone broth. He had already been repeating the process twenty times. This just showed how difficult it was to process the Giant Cow¡¯s Marrow Bone.

    When he closed his eyes once, he felt the sleepiness and exhaustioning over like a tide and washing over his entire body. Every time this happened, Minhyuk would ssh his face with cold water to make hime back to his senses.

    <em>¡®The soup has to boil until it bes milky white!¡¯</em>

    Then, the notification rang when he reached his limit!

    <em>[You have triggered the Skill: Will.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats, skills, and abilities, including DEX will temporarily increase by 28%.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1 Will.]</em>

    Minhyuk had already lost track of time. He did not know how long he had been in the kitchen, but he knew that this was already the 23rd time that he had boiled and thrown the scum away from the broth. Goodness. All of the chefs in the world would be shocked to learn that he had boiled and removed the scum from the marrow bone 23 times in a row. This just showed how special the Giant Cow¡¯s marrow bone was.

    <em>[The best broth from the marrow bone is starting toe out.]</em>

    <em>[You have to frequently adjust the heat.]</em>

    <em>[This is the final stage. One small mistake and the Giant Cow¡¯s Marrow Bone will be contaminated and scrapped.]</em>

    <em>[Change to medium heat.]</em>

    A white, thick liquid began to spread in the soup from the Giant Cow¡¯s Marrow Bone. Minhyuk gathered his senses and hurriedly adjusted the heat. Not long after¡­

    <em>[Change to low heat.]</em>

    The notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears constantly. Sometimes, it happened every few seconds, sometimes, every few minutes. It was a very strange and mysterious ingredient. Joy was slowly blooming on Minhyuk¡¯s face as he watched the soup slowly turn milky white.

    Ellie was Minhyuk¡¯s noona and dear friend. In the past, she dropped everything and ran straight to the Chocte Mine when he called for her help. This time, it was his time to return her call.

    Just the thought of Ellie eating this ox bone soup made Minhyuk feel happy and calm. He had always received things from others but this time, he was giving his all to make an amazing dish to give to someone else. Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>[Turn off the heat and scoop a bowl of marrow bone broth.]</em>

    Minhyuk hurriedly turned off the heat and grabbed an earthen pot. Then, he scooped out a hugedle of marrow bone broth before pouring its contents into the earthen pot. Afterdling out the soup, he quickly added the noodles that he previously made with the <em>¡®Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat¡¯</em> and added a generous amount of brisket, shank, knuckle bone, and ox foot.

    <em>¡®Anyone will be happy if they can find a restaurant that serves arge amount of meat in their ox bone soup!¡¯</em>

    Some restaurants would serve a bit of meat in their ox bone soup, and that was it. Every time that happened to Minhyuk, he would always feel disappointed. So to avoid that, he made sure to add arge heaping of meat. Then, he sprinkled some green onions on top of the soup.

    <em>¡®The best time to sprinkle the green onions is when you¡¯re about to eat it.¡¯</em>

    Then, the notifications began to ring.

    <em>[The Somen made from the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat added in the Marrow Bone Broth will never get soggy and will always maintain the best temperature for eating.]</em>

    <em>[The Giant Cow¡¯s Marrow Bone has been boiled properly. The meat is tender and the vor of the soup is rich and deep.]</em>

    <em>[You have cooked the Ox Bone Soup.]</em>

    <em>[Trance. This is a dish that has your ¡®hard work¡¯, ¡®passion¡¯, ¡®love for someone¡¯, ¡®spirit of an ideal craftsman¡¯, and ¡®power of a true chef¡¯ poured into it.]</em>

    <em>[You have made a dish that has transcended the Human Realm.]</em>

    And with those notifications, pirs of light fell from the sky, before getting sucked into the bowl of ox bone soup. Not long after, Ruth came in. However, the notifications still did not stop ringing in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You have made a God-grade Ox Bone Soup.]</em>

    <em>[Since you have made a God-grade Ox Bone Soup, the power that you desired the most will be made ¡®permanent¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[¡®Anonymous¡¯ has been announced to the entire continent for your achievement in creating a food closest to God.]</em>

    <em>[God¡¯s Cooking Skill has leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You will be able to make a better dish.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 100 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 200 REP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 100 AP.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 300,000,000 EXP as a special reward.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled¡­]</em>

    <em>[The marrow bone broth inside the pot has special powers. You will receive an amazing buff effect that has never been seen before, once you eat or cook these marrow bones.]</em>

    <em>[The marrow bone broth inside the pot will add a buff effect tailored to the person eating the dish.]</em>

    Minhyuk immediately checked the information of the <em>¡®Ox Bone Soup¡¯.</em>

    <em>(<strong>Ox Bone Soup</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Ingredient Grade</strong>: Legendary</em>

    <em><strong>Grade</strong>: God</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: Only Ellie will receive the effects permanently.</em>

    <em><strong>Shelf Life</strong>: Evesting</em>

    <em><strong>Preservation Time</strong>: Evesting</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities:</strong></em>

    <em>? Allows one to ovee any kind of illness or disease.</em>

    <em>? The Marrow Bone Soup will help create a harmony between the body and the powerful force ravaging the body. However, this will limit the power that you can use during the process. This problem will be solved by growing stronger through a step-by-step process.</em>

    <em>? All stats will increase by +50 and all skills will increase by +1.</em>

    <em>? Upon consumption, the probability of dealing a fatal damage increases by 200% while the attack evasion rate increases by 300%.</em>

    <em>? Upon consumption, HP will increase by 15,000 while MP increase by 10,000</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: The chef that came close to God had created an Ox Bone Soup that surprised even the Gods. The dish goes beyond increasing vitality and will help allow one to ovee any kind of illness or disease. It has a variety of powers and has the best taste among all of the existing Ox Bone Soup.</em>

    The abilities of the dish were truly amazing, and that was the situation when the effects of the dish ox bone soup was solely focused on Ellie¡¯s treatment. It was also in a state where the additional effects would remain permanent! Minhyuk was truly in awe.

    Then, he rushed quickly to where Ellie was currently resting. Ellie¡¯splexion was darker than what he saw thest time. Even her veins were bulging and swollen.

    ¡°Noona will get cured once you feed her this ox bone soup.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re saying that¡­ once she eats this ox bone soup then¡­?¡± Ruth said as he looked at the still steaming ox bone soup in the earthen pot.

    He had also seen the pirs of light get sucked inside the pot of ox bone soup. However, he still thought that this was just an ox bone soup. But even if he thought like that, this was still the ox bone soup that Minhyuk worked so hard toplete for Ellie. So, Ruth carefully received the ox bone soup, before discreetly checking the information of the dish.

    <em>¡®This is unbelievable¡­!¡¯</em>

    Ruth was struck dumb. The ox bone soup had the power that transcended the human realm. This was a dish that only a true God could make!

    ¡°<em>Sob, sob, sob, sob, sob! </em>Thank you!!! Thank you very much!!!¡±

    Ruth was in tears as he knelt down and prostrated in front of Minhyuk.

    At first, Ruth wondered how a fool could appear in front of Ellie. He truly could not understand. Why did Ellie love him so much? Why did she care about him so much? But as time went by, he realized why. And today, that very same fool had saved Ellie.

    ***

    After telling Ruth to feed Ellie the ox bone soup the moment she woke up, Minhyuk returned to the Imperial Kitchen. Once Ellie ate the ox bone soup, she would bepletely cured. This thought made Minhyuk feel much lighter.

    Then, he saw the marrow bone broth left inside the cauldron. At a nce, the amount left inside the cauldron was enough to serve ten people. ording to the notifications earlier, the marrow bone broth itself has an amazing power.

    <em>¡®I also worked very hard¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk felt the pangs of hunger, and his overwhelming appetite tugged him towards the food. This was the marrow bone that created a godly dish! He quickly filled another earthen pot with the marrow bone broth. Of course, he made sure to add somen made from the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat and plenty of meat.

    Then, he sat down with his steaming ox bone soup, shining red radish kimchi, and well-ripened kimchi. Minhyuk also made sure to sprinkle green onions on top of ox bone soup. He grabbed a spoonful and took a sip of the soup. Minhyuk was amazed by the rich and savory taste of the marrow bone broth the moment the soup touched his mouth.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡±

    <em>¡®Is this really something that I made? It tastes so good that I can¡¯t even believe it.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk grabbed a pinch of salt and seasoned his bowl properly. When he found it to be moderately salty, he dug in with his chopsticks and grabbed a mouthful of somen. Minhyuk personally preferred eating almost all of the somen first, leaving only a bit with the soup before adding some rice in it. Then, he slurped the somen. The chewy somen created a perfect blend with the thick and rich marrow bone, and gave out a pleasant vor. Then, he grabbed another mouthful of somen, but this time he added some brisket into the mix.

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuuurp!</em>¡±

    He slurped the somen again, before taking a bite of some kimchi.

    <em>Crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    Eating somen with perfectly ripe, sweet, sour kimchi, was like an icing on cake. He ate somen again. This time, it was with rice.

    ¡°Hiyaaaaa.¡±

    Minhyuk pressed the rice with his spoon in the marrow bone soup. Thebination of the rice and the milky white soup was so harmonious, that it was like art itself.

    He scooped a spoonful of marrow bone broth, rice, brisket, and the final touch, the brightly colored radish kimchi that could stimte the appetite, was ced on top of the spoonful. Just like that, Minhyuk brought the entire spoonful into his mouth.

    <em>Crunch, crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    As soon as he ced the spoonful in his mouth, he tasted the marrow bone soup, the rice and the sweet, sour rice kimchi. The vor of each ingredient blended together and created a harmony that was perfection itself. Then, Minhyuk lifted the entire earthen pot, blew a little on the soup, before gulping it down.

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuuuuuurp! </em>Kyaaaa! This is so refreshing!¡±

    The soup was really the best! Just like that, Minhyuk continued to consume his ox bone soup until the bottom of the pot started to peek at him. He quickly lifted the pot again and tilted it, before scraping the remaining rice and soup and bringing it to his mouth.

    Minhyuk patted his bulging stomach after eating everything. Then, he wiped his greasy mouth with a napkin, and drank a cup of cool, refreshing water.

    <em>Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp¡ª</em>

    After drinking everything, Minhyuk could not help but burst in awe, ¡°Kyaaaah!¡±

    Minhyuk had been extremely hungry after not being able to eat properly the past few days. He was already in that state, then he tasted the most delicious ox bone soup in the world. It was only natural that he was in awe of its vor. The surprise did not end there.

    <em>[You have eaten an Ox Bone Soup made from the leftover Special Marrow Bone Broth.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP and MP reserves have increased by 1.6x.]</em>

    <em>[Your Skill Cooldown has been reduced by 40%.]</em>

    <em>[Your Physical Attack has increased by 30%.]</em>

    <em>[Your Skill Attack has increased by 30%.]</em>

    <em>[Your Physical Defense has increased by 30%.]</em>

    <em>[Your Magical Defense has increased by 30%.]</em>

    <em>[Your Critical Hit Rate has increased by 30%.]</em>

    <em>[Your Evasion Rate has increased by 300%.]</em>

    <em>[Your EXP Acquisition Rate has increased by 300%.]</em>

    <em>[All of the skills in your repertoire will exert more power than usual.]</em>

    <em>[The buff willst for three days.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk doubted his ears for a moment. A 1.6x increase in HP and MP reserves? A 40% decrease in skill cooldown? There even was a 30% increase in physical attack and the like. For example, if Minhyuk was at Level 500, then, he could already exert the power of someone at Level 680 with this. The most surprising thing about this was the fact that it wouldst for three whole days, and to think that there was still quite a lot of marrow bone broth left.

    Minhyuk was in awe. However, at the same time, he also truly felt lost. He felt like if he could continue going on at this rate, he would really be invincible. However, the thought onlysted for a fleeting moment.

    ¡°Urk¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was really tired. He had been awake for days on end in <em>Athenae </em>ever since he started learning the Pinnacle from Conir. After saving Ellie, he finally rxed and the exhaustion began to engulf his entire body. For now, he should log out.

    ***

    After Minhyuk logged out, he ate his cherry tomatoes and sd, before drinking water and was already getting ready to get a good night¡¯s sleep. On his way to bed, he passed by the people hanging out in the living room. Sitting in front of the TV were his dietitian, Hye-Jin, and personal doctor, Lee Jinhwan. Then, he heard the desperate cries of the Koreanmentators.

    <em>[The yers and NPCs around Berdk will get wiped out!!!]</em>

    <em>[The remaining troops inside Berdk Castle have to do their best to defend the base.]</em>

    <em>[But the number of troops that they have shaved off from the enemies are only a few. And there seems to be significantly less troops left inside Berdk castle.]</em>

    <em>[Right at this moment! There are 3,000 additional Chinese troops marching towards As, Food God Minhyuk¡¯s territory!!!]</em>

    <em>[Cerberus and Locke had shown an incredible show of power by keeping a thousand troops at bay. The Master Trapper and Poison Specialist and ck Mage Ali have joined them in As! But, even though they have hundreds of As soldiers left inside the territory, will they really be able to fend off more than 3,000 enemy troops?]</em>

    <em>[The yers in the Korean Defense Base are getting pushed back!!!]</em>

    <em>[We can¡¯t beat them with their huge number of troops!!!]</em>

    <em>[Aaaaaaah! Is this how Korea will lose in the Continent Cloud?!!!!]</em>

    <em>[If theypletely pry away victory from our hands, the yers of Cairon Continent will definitely invade Asgan Continent.]</em>

    <em>[All I can see is darkness. Is there any way for us to get out of this desperate situation?]</em>

    Minhyuk turned around again. It was only for a moment, but he saw the exhausted faces of Genie, Khan, Locke, and the rest of the Let¡¯s Eat Sect Guild. Even Conir and Aruvel looked tired from the long and overdrawn battle.

    <em>¡®Just wait a bit, the marrow bone broth ising.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk headed straight back to his <em>Athenae</em> capsule.

 Chapter 370: Turning the Tide of War

    Chapter 370: Turning the Tide of War

    The people in Berdk Attack Base were in a desperate situation. The yers and NPCs that fought outside the base and blocked the enemy troops had already been wiped out. The number of troops left inside Berdk numbered 3,000 at most. On the other hand, the enemy troops advancing towards Berdk were around 20,000. These troops were an alliance of yers and NPCs sent to recapture Berdk!

    ¡°We¡¯re in trouble!¡±

    Genie frowned after hearing the urgency in Lucia¡¯s voice. The mages and archers continued to shoot their arrows and magic spells, preventing the enemies from sticking to the ramparts. However, keeping the enemies in check through this method was already impossible. Their attacks were being reflected back.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The magic spells sent by the mages were being deflected away to hit the ramparts, while the arrows sent by the archers were being reflected and sent back to target their necks. This was all because of the hundreds of mirrors floating around Berdk.

    <em>¡®Master Reflector, Xu Jiaqi.¡¯</em>

    She was the one that led the ck Dragon Order to attack Ellie not too long ago. The only reason why she appeared now and not during the previous battles was because she felt that the battle right now had be easier.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s high time you surrender? Hoho!¡± Xu Jiaqiughed derisively as she tapped her lips with her thin and slender fingers. She was obviously mocking them.

    ¡°You won¡¯tst long anyway,¡± Xu Jiaqi said, before looking up at Genie.

    In fact, what she said was true. There was a high possibility that they would notst any longer. Even if the battle had dragged on and turned into a long-term one, they would not have any chances of winning.

    Genie, who was standing on top of the ramparts, smiled and said, ¡°Guys, they want us to surrender?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°What did you say?! But I¡¯m really busy!¡±

    ¡°¡­They¡­ they want us tomend her. Noona?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Everyone turned to look at Ace nkly after hearing his words. The members of the Let¡¯s Eat Sect Guild, who were moving busily, peeked out from the ramparts and looked at Xu Jiaqi. Then, all of them raised their middle fingers at the same time and said¡­

    ¡°But we don¡¯t want to?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Xu Jiaqi¡¯s expression was distorted in anger after hearing their answer. For some reason, she felt that the Let¡¯s Eat Sect Guild always had that unpleasant energy radiating off of them. However, Xu Jiaqi nned to wash off the shame that they received from their recent Ellie hunt.

    <em>¡®As long as we kill Genie, the former Legend Guild Master, and her colleagues, victory will definitely be in our grasp.¡¯</em>

    Then, Xu Jiaqi took out the trump card that she had hidden. This was something that they had acquired from ck Dragon Vormon, one that could summon Vormon¡¯s Subordinates. ck Dragon Vormon was an existence that long reigned supreme. This just meant that ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s Subordinates would also show great power.

    <em>Riiiiiiiip¡ª</em>

    Hundreds of ck holes twisted and opened in the air the moment Xu Jiaqi tore apart the parchment. Then, monsters started appearing from these twisted spaces.

    ¡°Kraaaaaaaaaaa<em>!</em>¡±

    ¡°Kraaaaaaaaack!¡±

    The first noteworthy point was the monsters¡¯ extraordinary builds. An ogre with red skin and a height of seven meters appeared out of one of the twisted ck holes. And that was just the beginning. There were also trolls, orcs, and many other monsters. The other monsters seemed to be around five meters tall and were almostparable to giants. To top it all off was the fact that these red-skinned ogres, trolls, and orcs were all equipped with armor made of dragon bones.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud!</em>

    ¡°Shit¡­!¡±

    ¡°The¡­ the ogre¡¯s advancing! What the hell!!!¡±

    Around 800 monsters appeared and began to advance towards the ramparts together. Xu Jiaqi had already checked the durability of the ramparts earlier.

    <em>[The Berdk Ramparts have received 1,414 damage.]</em>

    <em>[The Berdk Ramparts have received 1,624 damage.]</em>

    And just like they had expected, Berdk¡¯s ramparts truly boasted a high defense that was worthy of the best base in the entire Continent Cloud. Even if the rankers mmed into the ramparts, they could only deal around 4,000 damage altogether.

    But, what would happen if the ones that mmed into the ramparts were the summoned monsters?

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    One of the gigantic red-skinned ogre swung its axe and¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>[The Berdk Ramparts have received 6,541 damage.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Genie and the yers inside Berdk were shocked and terrified at the huge amount of damage.

    In the first ce, Vormon¡¯s Subordinates had their own purpose and objective upon their summoning, and the summoner could choose what kind of objective that was during their first summon. They could summon the defensive type, the ughterer type, or the siege type. For the defensive and ughterer type, the summoner could summon around ten times more than the number of the monsters that were currently summoned. On the contrary, the siege type wasparably smaller in numbers, but there would be an additional 250% damage to the wall whenever they attacked. They also had a 50% damage reduction from siege weapons, on top of their incredibly high HP and defensive power. In other words,

    ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s Subordinates had be a specialized and optimized <em>¡®siege weapon¡¯</em>.

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Each of their attacks could shake the entire Berdk castle.

    ¡°Great Spear!!!¡±

    Crow, their strongest dealer, tried to stop their attacks by targeting the head of one of the ogres that hade closest to the ramparts.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa!</em>

    A powerful spear flew at an incredible speed and mmed into the ogre¡¯s head.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°Guooo¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    However, the ogre just nonchntly pulled out the spear that got stuck on its head. Crow hurriedly used his retrieval skill to get his spear back.

    <em>Scratch¡ª</em>

    ¡°Guo¡­ Graaaaaaack!¡±

    Then, the ogre struck the walls again.

    <em>Baaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡°Sh¡­ shit¡­!¡±

    That was right. Their enemies were more like the undead. They did not die even after receiving fatal attacks. Even the archers were having a hard time trying to pierce through the dinosaurs¡¯ thick skin due to their high defense against magical attacks and skills. Just like that, hundreds of monsters created a united front to m on the ramparts of Berdk.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Not long after, explosions rang loudly. These were the harbinger of despair that Berdk.

    As.

    ck Mage Ali, Crazy Priest Locke, Cerberus, and Kaistra were the key figures in the defense of As Territory. However, no matter how strong they were, the constant influx of enemy troops proved to be too much. Once the enemies breached their defenses and created a path, the troops behind them would follow behind and march through that path.

    Among the 700 troops initially left in As, only 200 had survived so far. It did not matter how powerful the soldiers of As were, they were no match against the sheer volume of their enemies. On the other hand, the number of the enemies kept on increasing. Once they had sessfully hunted and killed 1,000 enemy troops and there were only 2,000 left, another 2,000 strong troops would arrive and fill in the gaps left behind by the dead.

    ¡°Don¡¯t falter!!! Food God Minhyuk¡¯s army can¡¯t lose this territory!!!¡±

    Death Corps¡¯ Soldier Park was able to reunite with histe mother to give her a tight hug, thanks to Minhyuk. That was not all. Minhyuk was a good lord to them. He trained with them, ate with them, and also worked together with them. And all of the soldiers of As territory agreed with Park.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!¡±

    They were in a situation where a single soldier had to deal with hundreds of enemies alone. And in this chaos, a spear suddenly appeared and pierced through the advancing Soldier Park. But Park held onto his spear tightly. Even if they died here, they would still be able to be resurrected back in Asgan Continent. That was the <em>¡®Power of the Continent Cloud¡¯.</em> However, even if they knew that, everyone still dreaded and feared death. Soldier Park firmly grabbed the enemy¡¯s spear and pulled it off of his body.

    <em>Spurt¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­You, aren¡¯t you a crazy bastard? Huh?!¡± One of the Chinese yers spat out unintelligible words in a fluster, as Park squeezed out the power from his body and stabbed him in his abdomen.

    <em>Thuuuud!</em>

    Then, Park kicked the body away. He was already in a state where he did not know how many enemies he had killed. His entire body was even covered with blood and he felt extremely exhausted and dizzy. However, he endured it.

    ¡°Protect Aaaaaaaas!!!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaah!!!¡±

    There were only around 200 soldiers left, but they were all squeezing out the remaining strength in their bodies to protect the territory. Then, the notifications rang for Locke, ck Mage Ali and Kaistra.

    <em>[The As¡¯ Soldiers¡¯ morale has increased.]</em>

    ¡°For real¡­¡± Locke murmured in awe. He was impressed by how much power that Minhyuk could bring out from his people. However, their situation was still quickly approaching hopelessness.

    <em>sh!</em>

    Locke cut down another enemy! Then, he tried to trigger his skills to deal with the dozens of enemies rushing towards him.

    <em>[You cannot trigger your skills. Your MP has been exhausted.]</em>

    ¡°God f*cking damnit!¡±

    This was mainly due to the long and exhausting battle that they were in. Even their mana and HP potions had already been exhausted.

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡± Kaistra screamed, as someone punched him while he was still sitting on top of Penrus, the Incarnation of Light.

    ¡°Grrrrrrrr!¡±

    Penrus unleashed a powerful, majestic aura to protect his master. The incarnation of Light¡¯s fur exuded a blinding white light! However, the opponent in front of him was none other than Arcas, a yer that had awakened the Pinnacle. Perhaps Penrus could prove to be a worthy opponent against Arcas if he was in a healthy state, but Penrus was exhausted right now. Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>Craaaaaaaack¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    A powerful fist struck strongly on Penrus¡¯ body and made him fly back!

    ¡°Pen¡­ Penrus!!!¡±

    ¡°Grrrrrrrrrr¡­¡±

    Despite copsing from the blow, Penrus still struggled to stand up and protect Kaistra. However, Kaistra held him tightly. He said, ¡°No¡­ no more. Get some rest, Penrus.¡±

    Kaistra did not want to see Penrus get hurt any further. So, he sent him back to the summoning room and grabbed his spear tightly.

    ¡°The summoner is going to fight with a spear?¡± Arcas said, looking at Kaistra in interest. Then, Kaistra rushed towards him with all his might.

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    Kaistra had been hunting wild animals since he was young! Because of that, Kaistra¡¯s spear had be fast and urate. However, this was the game.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    They could not go beyond their stats, skills, and level. Arcas grabbed Kaistra¡¯s spear and said, ¡°Kid, where is your king?¡±

    Kaistra just smirked at Arcas¡¯ words and said, ¡°In your ass?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Arcas learned one thing. The people that followed and served the Food God were all stubborn and filled with pride.

    <em>¡®This is something that is worthy of great envy.¡¯</em>

    Even if this was a game, how could one yer win the hearts of so many people in the world? However, this was still just a game. And just when Arcas was about to smash Kaistra on the head¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡­a huge me engulfed Arcas¡¯ body. He faltered, but he did not feel too much from the hit. After all, he had a very high magical defense. He even had the passive skill ¡®Magic Armor¡¯, that reduced magical damage by 50%.

    This was the magic that ck Mage Ali had casted. Ali was the only one left inmission and he was using his magic and Blink appropriately. He was demonstrating the power of someone that could summon infinitely by summoning hundreds of snakes and using them to absorb MP.

    Just like that, Ali continued to fight, and tried to run away from Arcas. He and Arcas were an extremely bad pairing, as he could easily die under Arcas¡¯ hands. And then¡­

    ¡°Caught you.¡±

    This was Arcas¡¯ trap. He had deliberately attacked Penrus and grabbed Kaistra¡¯s spear. That was the opportunity he was looking for, and in an instant, he had narrowed the distance between him and Ali.

    Light Step. It was a skill that could narrow the distance between him and his opponent, as long as they were within a 15 meter radius.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    Arcas grabbed Ali by the cor and mmed him on the ground.

    ¡°Keheooook!¡±

    <em>[Your HP has fallen below 50%.]</em>

    No skills were used, but his HP dropped by a lot. Then, thousands of yers circled around them and pushed the remaining As forces behind. Just when Arcas was about to m his fist on Ali¡¯s head again¡­

    ¡°Kieeeeeeeeeeek!¡±

    The huge Predatory Snake appeared from Ali¡¯s hand and tried to devour Arcas, who just mmed the Predatory Snake with his huge fist.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡°Cu, Cupid-chan!!!¡± Ali shouted in despair. If only he were a bit stronger.

    <em>¡®Goddamnit¡­ If only my magical attack is stronger¡­¡¯</em>

    Mage Ali had climbed to the top. However, no matter how much he looked at it, his magic did not work on Arcas. This was his limit. He was only up to this point.

    ¡°Love, Hope, Happiness!!!¡± Locke shouted as he rushed to the bloodied Love, Hope and Happiness.

    Even though they were a demonic beast that came from hell, it was still difficult for them to deal with thousands of humans by themselves. The truth was it was ¡®Arcas¡¯ that had made Cerberus feel bad. They could see Arcas asking Ali with their own eyes.

    ¡°Where is your king?¡±

    But, Ali just smiled at him and said, ¡°Minhyuk? Didn¡¯t you check your ass?¡±

    <em>Fwooooooooooom¡ª</em>

    Arcas struck down on Ali¡¯s face without any mercy.

    ***

    Washington D.C., United States of America.

    In arge cafe inside the city, the Americans¡¯ attention was all focused on the TV screen showing the showdown in <em>Athenae</em> between South Korea and China.

    ¡°In the end, China wins against South Korea. And they did not even use much force.¡±

    ¡°Even the strongest territory in Korea is helpless in front of them.¡±

    ¡°Compared to what I heard, ck Mage Ali looks a bit sloppy.¡±

    ¡°The Koreans can only reach that far. How strong can they even be?¡±

    However, they still admitted one fact.

    ¡°The NPCs are giving their all to protect a territory where yers gather.¡±

    ¡°Even the guild members are desperately trying to protect their lord.¡±

    ¡°We have to admit how united the Koreans are, right?¡±

    There was one guy among them. He was none other than Team Leader Park. He came to America to meet with some of the <em>Athenae</em> executives from all over the world to discuss <em>Athenae</em>: World War, which was just around the corner.

    ¡°Here¡¯s the americano that you ordered.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Thank you,¡± Team Leader Park graciously epted the coffee, his eyes never leaving the TV screen.

    On the screen, Ali remained helpless as he got stuck on the ground. Team Leader Park felt numb. The As yers and troops were being pushed back to a corner and being shown what despair was like.

    Team Leader Park smiled dejectedly and thought, <em>¡®In the end¡­ is there nothing we can do¡­?¡¯</em>

    He had faith in them and he held immense hope. However, the situation remained desperate. Immersed in bitterness, Team Leader Park turned around.

    Just as he was about to leave in a hurry¡­

    ¡°Huh?! What the hell?!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°The Chinese troops are dying!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Team Leader Park quickly turned back to look at the screen. And on the screen, he saw a man moving quickly to where the Chinese troops had gathered. Every time he moved, hundreds of des appeared from his body and brutally devoured and ughtered them. The yers from Cairon Continent were easily swept away like autumn leaves on a windy day! Arcas moved to smash Ali in the face.

    <em>[Where is your king?]</em>

    <em>[Minhyuk? Didn¡¯t you check your ass?]</em>

    When Arcas¡¯ fist was about to m down¡­

    <em>Spuuuuuurt¡ª</em>

    Blood spurted out of Arcas¡¯ back. Was it a skill? No. It was just a swing of the sword. Simply put, it was just a simple attack. However, Arcas, who had not screamed at all from all of the attacks that he had received, suddenly screamed in pain.

    <em>[Keuaaaaaaaaack!]</em>

    And the man that shed Arcas¡¯ back said¡­

    <em>[Did you just bully my friend???]</em>

    Team Leader Park smirked before turning around and leaving. He murmured to himself, ¡°You guys are XXX.¡±

    The Food God had appeared.

 Chapter 371: Turning the Tide of War

    Chapter 371: Turning the Tide of War

    Minhyuk was faced with As¡¯ dire situation the moment he arrived. Without any hesitation, he jumped straight into the fray and began fighting against thousands of enemies.

    ¡°What the hell?!!!!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s¡­it¡¯s the Food God!!!¡±

    ¡°Kill!!!¡±

    The yers that were trying to dig into the gaps of As turned toward him and attacked him. But, Minhyuk just opened his mouth calmly and said, ¡°Pinnacle.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­Stop him from using his skills!!!¡±

    ¡°Did, did he just say Pinnacle?¡±

    A red current of energy suddenly appeared and covered Minhyuk¡¯s body, as a strong wind blew around him.

    ¡°Sword of Tempest.¡±

    That was right. A tempest. There was literally a tempest of des numbering in the hundreds that appeared around Minhyuk.

    <em>[Sword of Tempest]</em>

    <em>[Hundreds of sword des with 250% basic attack will indiscriminately ughter your enemies within six seconds. During the duration of the skill, your movement speed will increase by 200%.]</em>

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    Hundreds of des with 2.5x the regr attack speed created a violent storm, brutally massacring the yers that flocked around Minhyuk. Even Minhyuk¡¯s movement speed had increased by 200%, which allowed him to move swiftly across the battlefield, effectively ughtering his enemies.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Ugh¡­ aaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keheooook!¡±

    It only took an instant. In just a blink of an eye, Minhyuk had already pierced through thousands of yers. They tried to approach him and attack him, but the hundreds of des had tremendous speed that they could not easily break through, which allowed Minhyuk to ignore them. There were asional magic attack spells that wouldnd on Minhyuk¡¯s body, but his magical defense was extremely high that the attacks did not cause great damage to him.

    The scene looked quite simr to Moses¡¯ miracle as a path was created in the ces that he passed through. And finally, Minhyuk arrived behind Arcas, who was trying to punch Ali in the face.

    <em>[The duration of Sword of Tempest has ended.]</em>

    The skill ended and started its cooldown as Minhyuk attacked Arcas¡¯ back to stop him.

    <em>[Critical Strike!]</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaack!¡± Arcas shrieked from the powerful attack that he received. The attack had instantly shaved 10% off of his HP.

    <em>¡®A single attack skill?¡¯</em>

    When Arcas turned to look behind him, he saw Food God Minhyuk and the remaining forces of As gathering around him. And just when Arcas was about to attack him¡­

    ¡°Let¡¯s Have a Meal!¡±

    ¡­Minhyuk triggered his skill and arge and translucent barrier appeared around them.

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Arcas¡¯ fist mmed on the barrier but it did not even shake at all.

    <em>¡®What kind of skill was that?¡¯ </em>Arcas thought, wondering if he was just tricked by Minhyuk. After all, his HP had decreased by 10% in an instant. However, would a simple attack of the strongest ranker be able to shave off 10% of his HP? He believed that the answer would most definitely be no.

    Then, Minhyuk did something shocking inside the barrier.

    ¡°<em>Pffft¡­</em>¡± Arcas burst out inughter.

    In fact, even the members of the Let¡¯s Eat Sect Guild were looking at Minhyuk in doubt.

    ¡°You want us to eat this¡­?¡±

    ¡°So suddenly?¡±

    This was because Minhyuk had served them a bowl of food, which was none other than <em>¡®Rice Cake Dumpling Soup¡¯.</em>

    ***

    Ali was in disbelief. His friend, Minhyuk, was here!

    After not seeing each other for a long time, the first thing that Minhyuk did was to trigger his skill <em>¡®Let¡¯s Have a Meal¡¯</em>, before distributing rice cake dumpling soup to them.

    ¡°We don¡¯t have time. Eat the soup quickly.¡±

    ¡°What¡­ what is this¡­¡±

    ¡°This rice cake dumpling soup is the only way for us to ovee this situation.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    They were just fighting a bloody battle. But, as if trying to match the name of the skill <em>¡®Let¡¯s Have a Meal¡¯ </em>they were now being told to eat. It soundedpletely ridiculous, but Ali remembered something.

    <em>¡®Minhyuk¡¯s buff abilities are extremely amazing. He¡¯s definitely trying to help us be a bit stronger.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®This is a food that our Minhyuk has made for us. We have to eat it!¡¯</em>

    Everyone present believed in Minhyuk.

    ¡°Thank you for the food, Minhyuk.¡±

    ¡°Thanks.¡±

    ¡°Minhyuk, I¡¯ll eat it well.¡±

    Compared to them, Arcas and the rest of the Chinese troops were looking at them ridiculously.

    ¡°They¡¯re really going to eat¡­?¡± Arcas mumbled, his expression bing the epitome of ¡®?0?¡¯, as he stood beyond the barrier and watched them eat. His rugged face and that expression was¡­ truly quite a spectacle. The other yers were also sporting the same look.

    ¡°They¡­ they¡¯re really eating¡­?¡±

    ¡°Excuse me? Aren¡¯t you supposed to be fighting against us?¡±

    ¡°I heard that Koreans power up with a meal[1]. It seems like it¡¯s true¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Everyone turned to look back at one of the Chinese yers when he said those words.

    <em>¡®Ho. So they always eat when they fight.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®It seems like Koreans are quite unique.¡¯</em>

    However, despite the buzz from outside the barrier, Minhyuk just continued to tell his guild members, ¡°That¡¯s the rice cake dumpling soup made from marrow bone broth.¡±

    ¡°Oooooooh!¡±

    ¡°Thanksss!¡±

    Ali smiled at Minhyuk. In fact, he thought that it would be alright even if the rice cake dumpling soup did not exert that much power. The most important thing was that their friend, Minhyuk, prepared it for them. Of course, there was also the possibility that they would not be able to ovee this situation, even if the food did exert a great power. It did not matter how good the buff was, it was nigh impossible for them to survive.

    Regardless, Ali still focused on his dish. Steam rose from the bowl of the rice cake dumpling soup. The soup was topped with egg garnish, green onions, and seaweed kes. There was even a te of well-ripened kimchi ced next to it. More steam rose when Ali stirred the contents of the bowl with his spoon.

    Ali personally liked eating his rice cake dumpling soup in the morning. Of course, that did not mean that he thought that the rice cake dumpling soup in front of him would taste bad. He just preferred having it in the morning. Then, Ali took a sip of the soup.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡±

    The soup made from the marrow bone was thickened using the wheat flour¡¯s starch, which made the taste light and clean. Then, Ali cut the dumpling in half and scooped it into his mouth.

    ¡°<em>Chew, chew.</em>¡±

    The inside of his mouth felt warm from the ingredients wrapped inside the dumpling.

    ¡°It¡¯s delicious¡­¡±

    It was so good that for a moment, Ali even forgot that they were in the middle of a bloody battle. This time, Ali scooped up a rice cake and ced it in his mouth.

    <em>Chew, chew¡ª</em>

    The more he chewed, the more chewy the rice cake became. Ali smiled as he ced a piece of the bright, colorful kimchi in his mouth.

    <em>Crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    ¡°Wow. This kimchi is really amazing¡­¡±

    From the initial disbelief that colored his face when Minhyuk first brought out the dish, Ali was now in a rush to eat everything in his bowl. Finally, Ali picked up his entire bowl and tipped it over his mouth to drink every singlest drop.

    ¡°Waaaa¡­¡± Ali smiled as he burst out in admiration. He had been living alone for five years, so it had been a long time since he had such a delicious meal like this. Then, the notifications began to ring.

    <em>[You have eaten the Rice Cake Dumpling Soup made from the Leftover Marrow Bone Broth.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP will increase by 1.3x and your MP will double.]</em>

    <em>[Your Magic Spell Cooldown will decrease by 50%.]</em>

    <em>[During the duration of the buff, you can use the highest Eight Tier Magic spell.]</em>

    <em>[You don¡¯t need preparation to cast Fifth Tier Magic spells.]</em>

    <em>[Your Magical Attack has increased by 40%.]</em>

    <em>[Your Physical Defense has increased by 40%.]</em>

    <em>[Your Magical Defense has increased by 40%.]</em>

    <em>[Your Magical Critical Hit Rate has increased by 300%.]</em>

    <em>[Your Evasion Rate has increased by 300%.]</em>

    <em>[Your EXP Acquisition Rate has increased by 300%.]</em>

    <em>[All of the skills in your repertoire will exert more power than usual.]</em>

    <em>[The buff willst for three days.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Ali was very shocked.

    ***

    The major executives of <em>Athenae</em> South Korea had also gathered at the conference hall today to watch the events on the TV screen.

    President Kang Taehoon groaned, ¡°Hummmm¡­¡±

    Aside from theirrge numbers, the other side also had plenty of rankers among them. In the first ce, there was already a vast difference between the number of yers in South Korea and China. Because of that, Cairon Continent wasrger than Asgan Continent.

    However, none of them expected that they would be extremely helpless in front of such numbers. Berdk¡¯s ramparts were on the verge of copsing, while the rankers and yers in the Korean Defense Base were all screaming and howling. Even the Food God¡¯s territory was on the verge of being taken away.

    ¡°I¡¯ll turn off the TV,¡± Director Kim Daesik said as he turned off the TV amidst their disastrous and desperate atmosphere. Everyone sighed ruefully. They were not just <em>Athenae</em> executives, they were also Koreans. <em>Athenae</em> was no longer considered as a simple game in the world. This fact made them feel even sadder, and for some, despair.

    Then, Director Kim Daesik turned to look at themunity sites abroad.

    <em>[In the first ce, a shabby country like Korea is not a match for a powerhouse like China.]</em>

    <em>[I heard Athenae was created by Koreans so there should be a lot of benefits for their people, but look at the way it is. Hahahahahaha.]</em>

    <em>[They kept on saying ¡®Food God, Food God¡¯, but isn¡¯t he just a moron? In fact, they said that he¡¯s the best in Korea right? What can he even do in Athenae: World War?]</em>

    <em>[I agree. Food God is a nonbat ss. In the end, he¡¯s just like a rookie in front of the strongest people in the continent.]</em>

    <em>[I¡¯m looking forward to Athenae: World War. I wonder how Korea will rank? If there are 45 countries participating, they¡¯ll probably rank 44th, right? Hahahahaha.]</em>

    Everyone here was aware that a lot of people all over the world were mocking the Korean yers.

    Meanwhile, President Kang Taehoon was talking with Team Leader Park Minggyu. They had sent Team Leader Park Minggyu to attend the meeting about the <em>Athenae</em>: World War, because he was a very straightforward person, with a clear head that went far beyond his position as a <em>¡®Team Leader¡¯</em>. President Kang Taehoon was confident that Park Minggyu would not lose any ground against the <em>Athenae</em> branch managers from the other countries, especially in that ce where they had to hold their breaths and fight against each other.

    Even President Kang Taehoon relied on Park Minggyu, his firm conviction, and beliefs sometimes.

    <em>[What do you think about the battle this time? It¡¯s hard, right?]</em>

    An answer came right away.

    <em>[It¡¯s hard, but we have to ovee it. The fight is not yet over. We don¡¯t have the time to get frustrated yet.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Kang Taehoon grinned. He had always liked this confidence and look in Team Leader Park Minggyu.

    ¡°The war is not yet over.¡±

    ¡°¡­That¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not yet over.¡±

    Kang Taehoon was greeted with the small smiles of the executives in the conference hall. Then, at that moment¡­

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaah!!!¡±

    ¡°Food God!!!¡±

    ¡°As expected of Our Lord, Food God!!!¡±

    ¡°Uwoooooooooo!!!¡±

    ¡°Huh? Why are they eating when they¡¯re in the middle of a fight?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s his skill <em>¡®Let¡¯s Have a Meal¡¯</em>.¡±

    Cheers suddenly erupted outside the conference hall. That was when Director Kim Daesik sensed that something unusual had happened. He hurriedly turned on the TV to see Arcas lying on the ground.

    ¡°Ar¡­ Arcas?!¡±

    But that was not the end of the surprise. ck Mage Ali flew high up, as a magic spell unfolded in the sky above him. Then¡­

    <em>[Grrrrrrrrroaaaar¡ª]</em>

    With the loud roar, the sky was torn apart. Then, giant meteorites began to fall from the torn space.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    President Kang Taehoon jumped up in surprise. Even Director Kim Daesik did the same. Then, Development Team Leader Lee Seokhoon shouted in disbelief, ¡°Meteor¡­¡±

    ¡°Did¡­ did he¡­ he just used the strongest AOE magic spell, Meteor?¡±

    They knew that Ali had already reached his limit earlier. Besides, Meteor was the top skill among all of the Eight Tier Magic spells. It was a skill that they expected Ali to only awaken and master in another year and a half.

    So, how was he able to use Meteor right now? Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The giant meteorites rained down upon the thousands of enemy troops and tore them apart.

    1. ?? (literally food/rice power. Eating a meal/rice to gain energy. ?

 Chapter 372: Turning the Tide of War

    Chapter 372: Turning the Tide of War

    Fifteen minutes ago.

    After eating the rice cake dumpling soup, Ali¡¯s magical attack had increased by 40%, while his MP reserve had doubled. Even his chances of dealing a magical critical strike had increased by 300%. Ali even received buffs that strengthened his magic spells.

    That was not the end of it. It was not only Ali that ate Minhyuk¡¯s rice cake dumpling soup. Even Cereberus ate the food together with him, and received buffs tailored for them. The leftover marrow bone broth from the God-grade dish had a special ability that could increase the buff needed by those that ate it. And¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The moment the ¡®Let¡¯s Have a Meal¡¯ barrier was released, thousands of Chinese yers surrounded them with Arcas, the one leading them, moving straight towards Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®Food God Minhyuk is Korea¡¯s strongest ranker. If I can make him kneel down in front of me, my reputation all over the world will rise significantly.¡¯</em>

    The ck Dragon Order had long decided not to live under the rock anymore. And if Arcas killed Minhyuk then he would most likely be hailed as a hero in China. Besides, he had already made hisplete analysis of the Food God, and was confident that Minhyuk would never be able to beat himself. Whether it be his STR, AGI or skill, none of them could everpare to his own.

    <em>[yer Arcas is moving towards yer Minhyuk the moment the ¡®Let¡¯s Have a Meal¡¯ barrier is released.]</em>

    <em>[We have to agree that yer Minhyuk is a yer that we should be careful around. He showed incredible power during Athenae: Korean War.]</em>

    <em>[But that was the Athenae: Korean War. There are still countless hidden and stronger yers lurking all over the world.]</em>

    <em>[One of them is none other than Arcas. He might have received plenty of harsh criticisms a few days ago over the Ellie hunt episode that they staged, but the fact that Arcas is one of the best and strongest people representing China, is undeniable.]</em>

    <em>[This is a very dangerous situation for Food God Minhyuk.]</em>

    <em>[From what we can see, the Chinese yers and the members of the Let¡¯s Eat Sect Guild are just watching and would not get involved in their fight.]</em>

    <em>[This is a very interesting situation that even our broadcasting station¡¯s ratings are increasing rapidly. However, I wonder if yer Minhyuk can endure Arcas¡¯ fiery attacks?]</em>

    Meanwhile, the Chinese yers that surrounded them¡­

    ¡°He¡¯s walking to his own grave. Isn¡¯t he aplete moron?¡±

    ¡°Arcas! Isn¡¯t it enough for you to use one hand to deal with that little novice?¡±

    ¡°Hahahahahahahaha!¡±

    ¡°Guys, how long do you think Arcas needs to deal with the Food God?¡±

    ¡°Around two minutes?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m for a minute and forty seconds for 1,000 gold.¡±

    ¡°Hahahahaha! Oh! Me too, 1,000 gold!¡±

    ¡°Eyyy! I think it willst for two minutes. 1,000 gold for two minutes!!!¡±

    Amidst the Chinese yers mocking and cheering stood Arcas and Minhyuk. Arcas took a deep breath. Compared to the other yers thatpletely mocked and ignored Minhyuk, Arcas remained calm. No matter how strong he was and whatever data he had in hand, the fact that the Food God was the strongest in Korea did not change.

    ¡°Haa!¡±

    Arcas¡¯ entire body expanded, before returning to its original size while turning rough and firm, like a turtle shell.

    <em>[Giant Dragon¡¯s Armor]</em>

    <em>[During the duration of the Giant Dragon¡¯s Armor, your Physical Defense will increase by 300% while your Evasion Rate will increase by 150%.]</em>

    The Food God¡¯s skill was extremely strong and it could evenst for quite a while.

    <em>¡®Is it Berserk?¡¯</em>

    All Arcas needed to do was to be careful about that skill. No, he just needed to kill Minhyuk before he could use the skill <em>¡®Berserk¡¯</em>. Arcas immediately prepared his Exploding Dragon Fist, the skill that he strengthened by reflecting it with Master Reflector Xu Jiaqi¡¯s skill to attack Ellie.

    If he hit Minhyuk square on his chest with the Exploding Dragon Fist, then Minhyuk would fall into a temporary stunned state. Once he was stunned, Arcas nned to use his <em>¡®Pinnacle of Consecutive Attacks¡¯</em> that he was proud of. In other words, he intended to kill Minhyuk without even letting him send out a single attack.

    Arcas¡¯ right arm began to swell. This was the tell-tale sign of the skill <em>¡®Exploding Dragon Fist¡¯</em> being triggered. Finally, Arcas made his move.

    ¡°Ohooooo!¡±

    ¡°So fast!!!¡±

    ¡°Kyaaaa!!!¡±

    The Chinese yers were in awe.

    <em>[Light Step]</em>

    <em>[Narrow the 15 meter distance between you and your opponent in one go.]</em>

    The closebat dealers in <em>Athenae</em> had various skills that were simr to Minhyuk¡¯s <em>¡®Like the Wind¡¯</em>. Among those skills, Arcas had learned <em>¡®Light Step¡¯</em>, a skill that allowed him to traverse a 15 meter distance between him and his opponent in one go. This was a very useful skill for Arcas, who needed to be within a certain range for his fists to have a strong effect. And with the addition of the Exploding Dragon Fist¡¯s explosive power, the power of his fists was already close to bing fraudulent.

    As he used Light Step, the casting time for Exploding Dragon Fist ended and he arrived right in front of Minhyuk.

    ¡°It seems like he¡¯ll die with his body exploding.¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaah! But it¡¯s boring if you kill him all at once~¡±

    The Chinese yers had already predicted what would happen. Even the Chinesementators were doing the same thing.

    <em>[Arcas narrowed the distance between him and the Food God in one go and is now going to send a powerful shot towards him.]</em>

    <em>[The problem is that his move is too big!]</em>

    <em>[Why is the Food God not reacting?]</em>

    Meanwhile, Arcas, whose Exploding Dragon Fist¡¯s casting time had ended, threw out his fist. No, to be exact, he tried to throw it out.

    ¡°Exploding¡­¡±

    ¡°Pinnacle.¡±

    Minhyuk murmured quietly as he watched Arcas approach himself.

    ¡°Sword of Absolute Death.¡±

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    A moment of silence passed by the entire clearing. Minhyuk gently raised his sword and with a sh of light, the de had already pierced through Arcas¡¯ body. However, Arcas was the one that was most taken aback by the situation.

    <em>¡®I¡­ I didn¡¯t see iting? No. I didn¡¯t even see any sign that he was using his skill¡­¡¯</em>

    Arcas was unaware, but Minhyuk had long been waiting for him. He banked on the fact that Arcas would approach him and made proper use of his skill <em>¡®Save¡¯</em>, a skill that allowed him to use one of his skills without any casting time.

    However, the notification that came after caused Arcas to be both stunned and terrified.

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 60%.]</em>

    <em>[You will remain in a stunned state for three seconds.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The drop was very enormous. After all, Arcas¡¯ strength and defense were far beyond that of any ordinary ranker. However, despite his overwhelming power, he still received this much damage.

    The Sword of Absolute Death was Minhyuk¡¯s most powerful skill. It was a sword skill that he had acquired from Aerod, the God of Disasters and Abilities. It was also his sword skill that had reached theplete, and absolute, Pinnacle. Then, the notification rang for Minhyuk, the one that triggered the Sword of Absolute Death.

    <em>[Sword of Absolute Death]</em>

    <em>[The first sword strike will hit your enemy with a 100% chance and an additional 700% damage as long as they are within four meters of you. The opponent that received the first sword strike will receive seven consecutive attacks with 500% additional damage and will fall into a stunned state for three seconds.]</em>

    <em>[Hundreds of des with 200% additional damage will shoot out and dance around to destroy and devour your enemies. A direct hit will cause a powerful explosion that will deal an additional 500% damage.]</em>

    Yes, that was right. The Sword of Absolute Death was the strongest single-attack skill and AOE skill. It was a skill thatbined the advantages of the Sword of Frenzy, Heaven Tearing Sword, and Sword of Tempest.

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡±

    The first sword strike was immediately followed by seven consecutive attacks with additional 500% damage, an effect that took full advantage of the stunned state that Arcas was ced in. On top of that, thanks to the buff effects of the <em>¡®marrow bone broth¡¯</em>, Minhyuk had received a 30% increase in his skill attack power and a 300% increase in his critical hit rate. Arcas could not do anything at all.

    <em>Fall¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The silence continued to pervade the surroundings. Minhyuk only used one move to deal with Arcas. He only took four seconds to make him fall down on his feet. And it did not end there. Minhyuk¡¯s sword even sent out hundreds of sword lights that destroyed the enemy troops concentrated behind Arcas.

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    The sword lights cut off plenty of enemies and even exploded whenever theynded directly on their bodies.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    In a blink of an eye, the number of enemy troops that Minhyuk had either forced to log out or incapacitated, was more than 700.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The yers that had been grinning mockingly just now all fell silent. Even the Chinesementators had their mouths shut. In fact, Minhyuk was confident that he could kill Arcas even if he did not use his Sword of Absolute Death. However, Minhyuk had used the Sword of Absolute Death to show China, ck Dragon Order, and the rest of the world, that even though he yed this game to eat, he was now the master of a guild and he carried a huge responsibility for his members as their guildmaster. That was why he performed such a showy attack.

    Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°It¡¯s a piece of cake though?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°What, what?! R¡­right¡­ I, I guess you¡¯re right¡­¡±

    The Chinese yers all collectively took a step back the moment Minhyuk took a step forward. Minhyuk¡¯s gaze turned sharp as he looked around.

    <em>¡®Is heing back to life? As expected, it¡¯s not happening.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had watched Ellie¡¯s battle video more than a dozen times. From the video, he had learned that the man named Anox was the one that revived Da Zhuang and the ck Dragon Order. Since Anox was not around, Arcas was noting back to life, which simply went with Minhyuk¡¯s expectations. Just like how Ellie had found how they came back to life, Minhyuk had also found the reason.

    The Chinese yers immediately took another step back as Minhyuk took another step closer to them.

    ¡°Ugh¡­ugggghhhh¡­¡±

    ¡°Mon¡­ monster¡­¡±

    Some of the yers even fell down on their butts in terror, after seeing a power that was far beyond their reach.

    Minhyuk turned to look at Ali and said, ¡°I¡¯m going to Berdk. Please take care of the rest.¡±

    Minhyuk firmly believed in Ali and his guild members. Ali nodded his head in answer. Besides, they had all eaten his food, which allowed Ali to temporarily cross that imaginary line to the next stage. Ali immediately summoned a fire arrow the moment Minhyuk disappeared.

    ¡°What are you even going to do with that Fire Arrow?!¡±

    The Chinese yers snorted and mocked Ali. However, it was not just a simple Fire Arrow.

    <em>Baaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    One of the yers was instantly forced to log out the moment Ali¡¯s Fire Arrow made contact with his body.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Today, the Chinese yers¡¯ faces were all filled with incredulity. Ali¡¯s magical attack power and even his critical hit rate had increased dramatically.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Even his MP reserve had doubled, which allowed him to constantly send out magical attacks, ughtering and massacring thousands of Chinese yers. Then, Ali flew high up in the sky and casted his most powerful skill, Meteor.

    On the other hand, Crazy Priest Locke hadpletely received Jeffrit¡¯s power. His power and abilities had received a dramatic increase, after also eating the rice cake dumpling soup earlier. Then, he sent Ali a buff.

    <em>[Jeffrit¡¯s Glory]</em>

    <em>[Increases Magical Attack by 30%.]</em>

    <em>[Decreases MP consumption by 20%.]</em>

    Ali¡¯s Meteor fell down gobsmack in the middle of the thousands of Chinese yers below him.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    In just one move, hundreds of yers died. Locke¡¯s ax was also showing off a different momentum from earlier. It did not end there. The Incarnation of Light¡­

    <em>aaaaash¡ª</em>

    ¡­Kaistra climbed on Penrus¡¯ back and flew high up in the sky. The Breath of Light that the Incarnation of Light sent out immediately devoured and devastated the surroundings.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    They were only a little over ten people, but they started ughtering thousands of Chinese yers. This was the moment when the Chinese yers finally realized terror. And this was what the Chinese said about this incident, ¡°The Koreans might have just eaten a meal to power up, but it was a really scary power up.¡±

 Chapter 373: Turning the Tide of War

    Chapter 373: Turning the Tide of War

    Berdk Attack Base.

    Genie and the remaining yers all turned white in fear after seeing cracks appear on the ramparts.

    <em>[Hundreds of Vormon¡¯s Subordinates are attacking Berdk Attack Base.]</em>

    <em>[Cracks have started appearing on the walls! Even the yers are getting frustrated after using all of their skills to stop their attacks but failing to deal heavy damage. They are further helpless due to the advent of their skill cooldown and the exhaustion of their MP.]</em>

    <em>[Once the ramparts copse, there will be more than 30,000 enemy troops and hundreds of Vormon¡¯s Subordinates waiting for them.]</em>

    <em>[Inparison, there¡¯s only 1/10th of the troops remaining in Berdk.]</em>

    They were in a very dire situation. The ramparts were copsing while most of the troops remaining in Berdk could not use their skills. Even the number of enemies that they needed to face were more than ten times their number. In other words, the future ahead of them was dark and bleak.

    <em>¡®However, we can¡¯t just give up here.¡¯</em>

    Genie immediately ordered, ¡°Get some rest for a moment and prepare for the battle that will unfold once the ramparts copse.¡±

    They did not have any other methods to protect Berdk. The members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect Guild and the other rankers all moved to restore the HP and MP that they had consumed earlier. Even if they did so, they were aware that they would only be able to fill a third before the wall copsed.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    Not long after Genie ordered them to take a break, the small cracks that appeared on the walls began to spread uniformly. All of them gathered in front of Berdk¡¯s main gate. They were sure that the enemies would push forward the moment the walls copsed. Unlike their walls, Berdk Attack Base was not that strong and durable. They knew that it was only a matter of time before it copsed. So, it was better for them to make their stand in front of the main gate.

    ¡°Let¡¯s hold out for as long as we can.¡±

    Genie grabbed her whip tightly as Khan, Ascar, and Ace nodded in agreement. Along with her words, a loud bang rang out.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The magnificent ramparts that surrounded Berdk copsed and kicked up a dense cloud of dust that covered the surroundings in a haze. And in that haze, what greeted them was none other than the marching Cairon Continent yers and Vormon¡¯s Subordinates.

    ¡°Arrows!!!¡±

    The remaining Kharamis soldiers mounted their bows with arrows and shot at the enemies.

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!!!¡±

    ¡°Ugh¡­ aaaaaaaaack!!!¡±

    The rushing yers shrieked.

    ¡°Mages!¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    The mages cast their strongest and highest-tiered magic spells that they had prepared earlier from recovering their MP.

    ¡°Fire Field!¡±

    ¡°Fire Storm!¡±

    ¡°Fire Ball!!!¡±

    ¡°Wind Storm!!!¡±

    ¡°Ice Rain!!!¡±

    ¡°Lightning Sword!!!¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keheok!¡±

    ¡°Urk!¡±

    Screams and shrieks rang loudly. However, just like the soldiers running out of ammunition, the yers of Asgan Continent also ran out of skills to use. In shows or movies, the characters would usually be pushing on with sheer will, their passion and sense of justice burning brightly. Just like that, Genie clenched her hand, holding her whip tightly as she ran forward. Khan, Ace, and Ascar also followed behind her.

    <em>Thwack¡ª</em>

    Genie¡¯s whip crackled and pped one of the yers that were rushing in front of her.

    ¡°Urk!¡±

    Hundreds of yers that were rushing behind that yer also flew back from the impact. Khan was in a simr situation. Even though he had exhausted his MP, he was a fighter that specialized in fighting closebat. Just a simple jump and a knee to the face of one of the enemy yers caused that yer, as well as those rushing behind him, to copse.

    Ace also used thest of his strength.

    ¡°Fire Fist!¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    A huge pir of me stretched out from Ace¡¯s fist which directly drove away the enemies that threatened Genie. The elites that remained in Berdk began to move. Although all they did was to strike their enemies directly without any skills, their attacks still packed a punch. After all, they were Korea¡¯s top rankers.

    Khan swiftly punched the enemies that flocked in front of him. However, one of the melee fighter¡¯s skills mmed into him, which made him fly back.

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    The enemies flocked to where Khan was the moment he copsed. Ascar¡¯s dual swords swung in a beautiful arc, as she covered for Khan and blocked the iing enemies.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The enemies fell helplessly under the onught of her sword strikes. However, she could not hold out any longer than that.

    ¡°Urk!!!¡±

    ¡°Keuk!!!¡±

    Khan, Ace, and Ascar all screamed in pain as they shielded Genie.

    ¡°Why, why¡­!!!¡±

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we protect our Vice Guild Master?¡±

    Even though their guild master was clearly Minhyuk, their leadership remained unchanged and they still followed the orders of Genie, the former Legend Guild master. At the very least, they did not want to hear from their enemies that they could not even protect their leader. Besides, she was their spiritual pir of support. She had to survive longer than them.

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaack!¡±

    Ascar threw herself directly in front of Genie to block the magic attack aimed towards her. From the looks of it, it seemed like her HP had dropped significantly, which made her movements dull andbored.

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    Khan, who was left alone to block hundreds of enemies, eventually fell down on one of his knees. Then, the enemies¡¯ deadly attacks came!

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Khan rolled on the floor after receiving a direct kick to his face. In the end, even Ace stood in front of Genie and blocked the enemies in front of her.

    ¡°Justice! If this is my justice, then I will willingly give my life to protect this princess!!!¡± Ace proudly dered a line from some animation that he had watched before, as he blocked the attacks aimed at Genie.

    ¡°Urk!¡±

    However, even though his voice sounded domineering and imposing, his body copsed just a few seconds after. Genie, whose face was covered with dirt and grime, supported herself on one knee as she looked at her surroundings. Everything seemed to be in slow motion. The enemies continued to cut them down as they advanced forward. Only 100 of their own troops were left and they had all gathered around Genie to protect her.

    <em>¡®I didn¡¯t live my life in vain.¡¯</em>

    Genie smiled as she held her whip tightly in preparation. Then, she swung her arm forward with the remaining strength in her body.

    This was the end.

    <em>Spurt¡ª</em>

    The right side of her chest was pierced, as she grabbed the de of the sword in her enemy¡¯s hand.

    ¡°Haa¡­¡± Genie sighed lightly. She knew that her fate of being forced to log out was just around the corner.

    ¡°It¡¯s Genie!!!¡±

    ¡°Berdk¡¯smander, Genie, has been caught!!!¡±

    ¡°Why, why isn¡¯t thising out?!¡± The yer that stabbed her in the chest tried to pull away his sword, but he could not do so. However, even if she stopped this yer, there were already hundreds of yers rushing to where she was.

    Genie smiled wryly and said, ¡°Thank you, everyone.¡±

    Today, Genie found out that there were a lot of people around her that cared for her and protected her. This fact was far more valuable than their victory. But at that moment¡­

    ¡°Sword Maniption.¡±

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab!</em>

    A single sword flew swiftly through the air, as it shed and swept away the iing enemies. There, amidst the clouds of dust, was a man flying in the air, while wearing an armor that looked strangely like the scales of a dragon and a pair of dragon wings spread out from his shoulder des.

    ***

    PD Hu Wei of TBC Broadcasting Station, one of China¡¯s top gaming broadcasting stations, burst out inughter, ¡°Keuhahahahahaha! These f*cking Korean bastards are so pathetic!!!¡±

    The Korean yers were fighting a desperate and uphill battle, amidst the thick clouds of dust. However, what could they even do against the throngs of Chinese yers and Vormon¡¯s Subordinates? They fought desperately and did not want to surrender, but in the end, they fell one after the other. It was apletendslide victory for the Chinese.

    Of course, the situation in As waspletely different. ck Mage Ali, Locke and Kaistra were all literally flying around and ughtering the Chinese yers after having a bite of Minhyuk¡¯s food. They had already massacred 4,000 Chinese yers, all by themselves. This was a disgrace to China.

    However, Berdk was on the other end of the spectrum. In Berdk, the Chinese were trampling the Koreans.

    <em>¡®These uncivilized Koreans¡­¡¯</em>

    What were their ratings like? As China¡¯s top broadcasting station, they had already reached around 38% in viewer ratings. The ratings especially reached an all-time high during the process where the Korean yers were being swept away by the Chinese.

    ¡°Now, once Genie gets killed then¡­¡±

    After fighting until the end, Genie had finally copsed. Hundreds of yers took this opportunity to flock towards her. Hu Wei¡¯s hands were covered in sweat. All they needed to do was to cut her neck off and Berdk¡¯s recapture would be practically over.

    ¡°PD!!!¡±

    ¡°What?! Can¡¯t you see that this is a very important scene?!¡±

    Hu Wei had a hot temper that went along with his high prestige. He frowned at the sudden call, but everyone around him began to call his name.

    ¡°PD Hu!!!¡±

    ¡°PD Hu! You have to see this!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s on Camera 4! Camera 4!!!¡±

    Hu Wei turned his gaze ordingly. From camera 4, camera 6, camera 8 and so on. Several cameras were trained on something. The figure was none other than a man swiftly descending down from the sky with ck wings on his back.

    ¡°What, what the hell?! That man¡­?!¡±

    The man had a pair of gigantic ck wings, a ck sword, and a body covered with ck scales, which made him look like he was wearing Iron Man¡¯s suit. Strangely, he looked like a beacon of light amidst the pandemonium that was wreaking havoc on the ground.

    Hu Wei immediately turned to focus on cameras 9 and 10, the cameras that were showing the current situation in Berdk. The man that had suddenly appeared released his sword.

    Sword Maniption. It was a sword technique that could only be used by those that had reached the highest level in martial arts! The Sword Maniption skill was triggered, which swept away the hundreds of yers that flocked towards Genie. But that was not the end of it.

    ¡°PD¡­ PD Hu Wei.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s¡­ there¡¯s something strange in the sky¡­¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s something strange in the sky?¡±

    Coincidentally, their viewership ratings reached another peak.

    ¡°The ratings have broken through 45%!!!¡±

    ¡°The ratings have broken through 46%!!!¡±

    This meant that almost half of the Chinese TV viewers were currently watching their broadcast. At that moment, Hu Wei turned to look at the camera that was trained on the sky.

    ¡°What, what in the world are those?! A murder of crows?¡±

    There seemed to be beings that strangely looked like crows wandering around the sky above Berdk. Then¡­

    ¡°The ratings have broken through 50%!!!¡±

    The Chinese viewers were definitely waiting for the final scene where they cut off Genie¡¯s head. However, as their viewership rating reached 50%, what the viewers saw was not that scene, but a scene where a man all d in ck appeared.

    One of the Chinese mages used <em>¡®Wind¡¯</em> to blow the dust covering the scene away. That was when a clear image was shown on the screen. All of the cameras zoomed in on the man for a second.

    As the cameras closed up on the man, what they saw was more than 300 yers forced to log out by Sword Maniption, and zing ck mes from the man¡¯s sword.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Hu Wei was shocked.

    <em>¡®Who the hell is that man¡­?¡¯</em>

    Hu Wei and the viewers that contributed to their 50% ratings all watched the man with bated breaths. Then, the man opened his mouth¡­

    <em>[Fufufufufufu¡­]</em>

    It was a gloomy, dark, and ominousugh! Hu Wei fell in a daze for a moment.

    <em>¡®Doesn¡¯t, doesn¡¯t he sound cool¡­?¡¯</em>

    Hu Wei knew that the man had great taste. As someone with the same chuunibyou tendencies, he felt like he was enchanted by the man.

    <em>[Aaaaaaaaaah! My Dragon Tear Sword has brought tears as it killed my enemies.]</em>

    <em>¡®Did, did he just say Dragon Tear Sword? My goodness. So, there really is an artifact that has such a beautiful and artistic name¡­?¡¯</em>

    Hu Wei became more enchanted.

    <em>[And what is this warmth in my chest? Aaaaaah! I¡¯m facing tens of thousands of enemy troops. but my heart is burning in mes!!!]</em>

    Then, the man stepped forward. The faces of the Chinese yers present looked like they had been forced to eat shit, just by listening to the man¡¯s childish and cringy lines!

    However, contrary to their disgust, Hu Wei watched the man in admiration. Then, the man spoke again.

    <em>[It¡¯s time to awaken those that slumber in front of these ten thousand strong enemies.]</em>

    The man raised his hands high up in the sky and..

    <em>[Kiyeeeeeeeeeeeeck!!!]</em>

    <em>[Kyaahaaaaaaaaack!!!]</em>

    <em>[Kieeeeeeeeeee!!!]</em>

    The ck crows that covered the skies, no, the beings that they thought were ck crows, swiftly descended to the ground. Then, they reached the ce where the camera could finally recognize their figure. Upon closer inspection, they saw that the creatures were covered with dragon scales and had a pair of dragon wings on their back. However, they were able to walk on their two feet and carried dazzling weapons like spears and swords. They numbered around 4,000. All of themnded and knelt down on one knee in front of the man as they dered loudly¡­

    <em>[Oh great one! Please give us your orders!!!]</em>

    <em>[Oh great one! Please give us your orders!!!]</em>

    <em>[Oh great one! Please give us your orders!!!]</em>

    The voices of these thousands of unidentified beings rang loudly. Then, the man in front of them lifted his <em>¡®Dragon Tear Sword¡¯ </em>and shouted¡­

    <em>[My passionaterades, let¡¯s show the world what our zing chant is!!!]</em>

    <em>[The being in my right hand is going to go berserk!!!]</em>

    <em>[The being in my right hand is going to go berserk!!!]</em>

    <em>[The being in my right hand is going to go berserk!!!]</em>

    Hu Wei shuddered as he thought, <em>¡®That¡¯s so cool¡­!¡¯</em>

    The man, with his domineering and cold voice, said¡­

    <em>[Heed my orders.]</em>

    The mysterious man red coldly at the iing enemies.

    <em>[ughter them.]</em>

 Chapter 374: Turning the Tide of War

    Chapter 374: Turning the Tide of War

    Hu Wei shuddered. Although the man¡¯s face was covered in a ck mask, Hu Wei was sure that his expression was frigid. Then, at that moment, the thousands of troops stood up from their kneeling position and answered the man loudly, <em>¡®Yes, sir!¡¯</em>

    ¡°The¡­ the Dragon Race¡­¡±

    ¡°The Dragon Race? Aren¡¯t they a species that hasn¡¯t been revealed nor released to the world yet?¡±

    <em>Athenae</em> housed countless races. The typical ones were the elves, dwarves and humans, but there were also countless others in the wide worldview of <em>Athenae</em>. However, the Dragon Race was an existence that was entirely unfamiliar to everyone. In fact, even <em>¡®ck Dragon¡¯</em>, who appeared as their king, was also unfamiliar with the race.

    Still, the knights moved under the orders of their king.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª!</em>

    Just like a fluttering swallow, the Dragon Race flew in the sky and swooped among their enemies with their spears.

    <em>[Keuaaaaaack!]</em>

    <em>[Aaaaaaaaaack!]</em>

    Shrieks rang loudly as their spears pierced through their enemies. Along with them, hundreds of men from the Dragon Race held their bows and flew high up in the sky. The moment they let go of the strings¡­

    <em>Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack!</em>

    What they released was more like a spear, than an arrow. In fact, when their attacks reached their enemies, it was not so much of sticking to the body, rather, it was the concept of piercing through the body.

    <em>[Keheok!]</em>

    <em>[Sh¡­shit¡­! Their attack power is extremely high!]</em>

    The yers were helplessly being swept away. Thousands of men from the Dragon Race began to create a path among the tens of thousands of enemy troops. On top of that, the Dragon Race could move freely in the air and wage aerial warfare against them. There were even dozens of men from the Dragon Race that flew swiftly to where Vormon¡¯s Subordinates were, and attacked them until they no longer breathed.

    From what they could see, they could estimate that the men from the Dragon Race were around Level 450~500. There were even men from their race that were a cut above the rest. Those that wore a ck full-ted armor were faster, stronger, and more experienced inmanding the troops. Then¡­

    ¡°PD Hu!¡±

    ¡­Hu Wei¡¯s attention was once again disrupted by the sudden call of one of the broadcasting station staff. The call immediately brought him back to his senses as he turned to look. That was when he saw the man called <em>¡®ck Dragon¡¯</em> distributing something to the members of the Let¡¯s Eat Sect Guild. It was none other than <em>¡®rice cake dumpling soup¡¯.</em>

    ***

    The Koreanmentators were all shouting in excitement.

    <em>[Aaaaaaaah! ck Dragon appears in our most desperate hour!!!]</em>

    <em>[ck Dragon came back as a king. The mighty warriors of the Dragon Race are overwhelming the yers from Cairon Continent and Vormon¡¯s Subordinates.]</em>

    At this very moment, the entire nation was trembling. What about his chuuni lines? They seemed genuinely nice to hear at this very moment! After handing something around to the members of the Let¡¯s Eat Sect Guild, ck Dragon turned around. He slowly moved forward as the men from the Dragon Race swept away the enemies blocking his path. He looked like a true and genuine king, whose knights were moving for his sake alone. Then, ck Dragon began the real sortie.

    <em>[Kiyeeeeeeeeeck!!!]</em>

    <em>[Kyahaaaaaaaack!!!]</em>

    <em>[Graaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!]</em>

    <em>[Kiyaaaaaaaaaaack!!!]</em>

    The four legendary dragons appeared! They lookedpletely different from their figures before. Their original scales were now covered with a bright and splendid armor. The whiskers around their mouths had grown longer, while their horns were higher and tougher.

    ck Dragon rode on top of Destiny as they soared high up in the sky. Destiny let out his own breath and devastated more than 200 enemy yers at one go. The three other dragons also flew up in the sky and surrounded Destiny and ck Dragon. Then, ck Dragon¡¯s wings spread out behind him as he flew on his own. He held his <em>¡®Dragon Tear Sword¡¯ </em>and flew straight towards one of the giant ogres.

    <em>Spurt¡ª</em>

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    One of the toughest mobs in terms of skin among Vormon¡¯s Subordinates, had fallen down and copsed in one attack! ck Dragon stepped on the ogre¡¯s dead body and pulled his bloody sword out, before raising it high up in the sky.

    Thementators all over the world began to talk wildly.

    <em>[Korea¡¯s ck Dragon easily took down the tough and strong ogre and stepped on its body!]</em>

    <em>[Thousands of men from the Dragon Race are marching forward!!!]</em>

    <em>[Unbelievable!!! ck Dragon appears and turns the tide of war!!!]</em>

    <em>[Right at this very moment, the king of a new species has been born!]</em>

    <em>[With their appearance, thousands of yers from Cairon Continent are being pushed back from fear.]</em>

    <em>[Korea still has some hope left!]</em>

    The world¡¯s spotlight was now trained entirely on ck Dragon.

    ***

    The tide of war somehow changed with ck Dragon¡¯s appearance. A small ray of hope was reignited in the hearts of the remaining yers in Berdk, amidst their desperate situation.

    Broque had acknowledged ck Dragon in the <em>¡®Forgotten Dragons¡¯ Land¡¯</em>. Thanks to the additional quests that he had cleared, ck Dragon was able to increase his power and prestige as the <em>¡®Dragon Monarch¡¯</em> even further. The additional power was none other than the strengthening of the four legendary dragons, and themand of the 4,000-strong Dragon Race troops.

    ck Dragon had been in contact with Minhyuk before he came to Berdk, and had received the rice cake dumpling soup from his son. After meeting up, Minhyuk immediately headed to the Korean Defense Base, while ck Dragon came to Berdk.

    However, it was not just the yers of the Cairon Continent that he needed to keep at bay and push back, even though their numbers were far superior to his side at the moment.

    ¡°Harpoons!!!¡± Xu Jiaqi ordered loudly, as the harpoons fired and pierced through the bodies of the men of the Dragon Race flying in the sky. The moment they got hit by the attack, the yers joined forces and pulled them down.

    ¡°Kiyeeeeeeeeck!!!¡±

    The yers struggled as they cooperated to hunt the men of the Dragon Race with their harpoons.

    The estimated level of the men of the Dragon Race was around Level 450~500. Dozens of the men of the Dragon Race needed to cooperate together to deal with Vormon¡¯s Subordinates, an existence that the Korean rankers could not deal with at all. On top of that, their numbers were already smaller to begin with.

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    Xu Jiaqi reflected one of the arrows back to the Dragon Race that sent it to her, effectively making the flying Dragon Race fall. She ordered, ¡°Attack the men of the Dragon Race wearing full te armor. The men of the Dragon Race will also be incapable of dealing you once they started dealing with Vormon¡¯s Subordinates, so deal with them by then.¡±

    Xu Jiaqi did not lose her calm. Although the men of the Dragon Race were far stronger than ordinary yers, they had no numerical advantage. Besides, even if that was not the case, they were not armed to deal with the Chinese rankers in the first ce. On top of that, Vormon¡¯s Subordinates had high defenses. Although they had slowed down in their march for a moment, the yers of Cairon Continent were already starting to push forward once again.

    <em>¡®We¡¯re going to win the war anyway. The road to get there just became a bit tougher, that¡¯s all.¡¯</em>

    Xu Jiaqi grinned maliciously as the Chinese rankers began their ughter of the men of the Dragon Tribe. Compared to them, the enemies did not have any powerful rankers that they needed to take note of. That was when she suddenly started bing suspicious.

    <em>¡®¡­What the hell? Where did Genie and the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect Guild go?¡¯</em>

    Just when she started getting suspicious, a man suddenly jumped up high in the sky. The man was none other than Khan. Xu Jiaqiughed mockingly when she saw Khan flying up in the sky.

    <em>¡®It seems like the dying man is now filled with energy.¡¯</em>

    Xu Jiaqi was aware that it was only because of ck Dragon that these people had escaped their deaths, even if for a while. It seemed like they had appeared again after hiding somewhere for a moment to recover.

    However, something very surprising happened not long after. Khan¡¯s entire body was covered in a dazzling golden light. He headed straight towards the ground, with his legs aimed for his enemies.

    <em>[Giant¡¯s Consecutive Kicks]</em>

    Khan¡¯s foot turned gigantic as he let out dozens of kicks in session. They were so powerful that it looked like bombs have fallen on the ces that theynded on.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª!</em>

    More than 70 yers disappeared from his kicks. But Khan did not stop. He kicked his foot on the ground and sent out a powerful blow towards the ogre blocking the path upfront.

    <em>Baaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The ogre, whose skin was as tough as steel, fell down and died from the powerful blow that made its chest copse.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Xu Jiaqi looked at the scene incredulously while thinking, <em>¡®How, how in the world¡­?¡¯</em>

    She had clearly seen Khan on the verge of death just a few moments ago, but the attack that he sent just now that killed the ogre was just a¡­

    <em>¡®Basic attack¡­?¡¯</em>

    Xu Jiaqi could clearly see that it was just a basic attack. It was just a simple swing of Khan¡¯s fist.

    <em>¡®No. That¡¯s definitely not a basic attack. I¡¯m sure that¡¯s a power jab skill.¡¯</em>

    However, something more surprising happened.

    <em>Craaaack¡ª</em>

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaang!</em>

    The yers that received Khan¡¯s kicks and punches all fell down and died. Khan even pierced through the throngs of yers with his dazzling kick. A jump and kick to one of the yers¡¯ faces, and the yer was forced to log out.

    Among the yers was the <em>¡®Warrior¡¯</em> Liu Yuan. Liu Yuan had suffered from immense shame during this encounter. For one, he was apanied by hundreds of yers. Of course, this fact remained true. The yers of Cairon Continent far surpassed the yers of Asgan Continent in numbers. And there was also the fact that Khan was gobsmack in the middle of his enemies.

    ¡°What nonsense,¡± Liu Yuan mocked as he gently crossed his fists in front of him to defend against Khan¡¯s fists. But then¡­

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    ¡°Ah¡­?¡±

    Khan clearly did not use any skills, but Liu Yuan could hear his bones thumping and cracking from the force of his fists. Then, Khan flew high up in the sky again.

    ¡°How dare¡­¡±

    Liu Yuan thought that Khan would use his skill. Just when he tried to cast his skill to defend and respond to Khan¡­

    <em>Craaack¡ª</em>

    ¡­Khan¡¯s foot once again appeared and made contact with his chin.

    ¡°Keheok!¡±

    <em>[Your HP has fallen below 50%.]</em>

    ¡°What¡­ what kind of bullshit¡­!¡± Liu Yuan waspletely shocked, wondering what skill Khan used. As he pondered about this question, Khan had already prated through his defenses and raised his foot strongly.

    <em>[Giant¡¯s Upper Kick]</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaam¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!¡±

    Liu Yuan screamed as he flew back from the impact of the attack. He was then met with a ck screen the moment hended on the ground. Liu Yuan, one of China¡¯s top rankers, died helplessly under the onught of Khan¡¯s attacks.

    As for Khan¡¯s secret?

    <em>[You have eaten the Rice Cake Dumpling Soup made from the Leftover Marrow Bone Broth.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP and MP will increase by 1.5x.]</em>

    <em>[Your Skill Cooldown will decrease by 50%.]</em>

    <em>[During the duration of the buff, you can use the ¡®Giant Arts¡¯ that you are currently learning.]</em>

    <em>[Your Physical Attack has increased by 60%.]</em>

    <em>[Your Skill Attack has increased by 30%.]</em>

    <em>[Your Critical Hit Rate has increased by 300%.]</em>

    <em>[Your Critical Hit Attack has increased by 300%.]</em>

    <em>[Your Evasion Rate has increased by 300%.]</em>

    <em>[Your EXP Acquisition Rate has increased by 300%.]</em>

    <em>[All of the skills in your repertoire will exert more power than usual.]</em>

    <em>[The buff willst for three days.]</em>

    Unlike Ali, Khan¡¯s buffs were focused more on his physical attack. Right now, the Level 520 Khan¡¯s physical attack power had increased by 60%. In other words, Khan¡¯s basic attack had reached the level of someone at Level 800.

    Khan wandered around the battlefield and began ughtering their enemies.

    <em>[yer Khan has started hunting the Chinese yers.]</em>

    <em>[That tactic is correct. He can minimize the damage to the Dragon Race if he can break and kill off the Chinese rankers.]</em>

    <em>[Ace and Ascar have also be stronger. The two of them have begun hunting Vormon¡¯s Subordinates! Ah! That¡¯s surprising. Ace and Ascar can now hunt Vormon¡¯s Subordinates in one move!]</em>

    <em>[What in the world happened in that short period of time?]</em>

    In fact, that was what Xu Jiaqi wanted to ask.

    <em>¡®If the rankers die, then those that are taking the lead in keeping the men of the Dragon Race in check will be in trouble¡­¡¯</em>

    Xu Jiaqi finally felt the urgency of the matter. But just when she was about to move¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡­a huge whip struck her. Xu Jiaqi could tell who the owner of the whip was. It was none other than Genie.

    Xu Jiaqi smirked.

    <em>¡®How dare this Genie girl¡­¡¯</em>

    Genie was the former master of Legend Guild. However, the level of her force was in the lower ranks among the members of Legend Guild. She would not dare to do anything to someone like Xu Jiaqi, who had awakened the Pinnacle.

    A huge mirror appeared in front of Xu Jiaqi as she used her Pinnacle Reflection skill. Redva was gushing out and sttering about from Genie¡¯s whip. Once this attack got reflected, it would be a weapon that Xu Jiaqi could use. Then, the mirror and the whip collided.

    <em>Thwack¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Xu Jiaqi tilted her head in confusion for a moment. The sound that rang from her mirror was not the sound of the skill being sucked inside. And not long after¡­

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    ¡­cracks started to appear on her mirror.

    <em>[You have failed to reflect the attack.]</em>

    <em>[You cannot reflect this skill.]</em>

    Along with the terrifying notification, Genie¡¯s whip mmed hard onto Xu Jiaqi¡¯s body.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    An explosion rang loudly in the area within a 30 meter radius. Lava spurted out from the cracked ground and burned the surroundings. Once the explosion died down, they were met with the horrible sight of the melting Xu Jiaqi, who¡¯s HP was down to 5%. Xu Jiaqi staggered and asked with wide eyes, ¡°How, how¡­?¡±

    Genie swung her whip once again, until Xu Jiaqi¡¯s HP fell down to zero. Then, she answered, ¡°It¡¯s a meal power-up. B*tch!¡±

 Chapter 375: Turning the Tide of War

    Chapter 375: Turning the Tide of War

    The press and media all over the world were practically exploding. Breaking news and articles were constantly published on the inte in each and every country.

    <em>[The desperate As has been resurrected from their despair with the miraculous appearance of Food God Minhyuk and his dish.]</em>

    <em>[ck Mage Ali creates a new legend with Minhyuk¡¯s dish.]</em>

    <em>[Locke has changed sses and became a dog tamer? He has shocked the world with his excellent and tacit cooperation with his pet dog.]</em>

    <em>[As has ughtered all of their enemies and flew high up in the sky. Perhaps the reason why As has not flown so far is because of the restriction, ¡®When there''s an enemy in the territory¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[The copse of Berdk Attack Base, and the appearance of ck Dragon, along with the new species ¡®Dragon Race¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[Korea¡¯s Fighter Khan flies swiftly like a butterfly but stings like a bee. A lot of rankers have been forced to log out under the assault of his fists.]</em>

    <em>[The former Legend Guild master Genie. Who even remembers her by that name? Genie, the Whip Warrioress, that¡¯s who she is.]</em>

    <em>[Genie¡¯s cool words directed to ck Dragon Order¡¯s Xu Jiaqi: ¡®It¡¯s a meal power-up. B*tch!¡¯]</em>

    <em>[The world is left in shock after seeing Korea put up a good fight.]</em>

    <em>[ck Dragon¡¯s catchphrase: ¡®The being in my right hand is going to go berserk¡¯ spreads like wildfire in the world. My writing skills are going to go berserk!]</em>

    <em>[South Korea is still enduring and holding on in the battle against China, the third in the powerhouse rankings in Athenae. How far can they go?]</em>

    <em>[The Koreans are cheering. College students spotted in Gwanghwamun Square running around and waving their g.]</em>

    <em>[They only have a brief moment of joy. The Korean Defense Base is on the verge of copse.]</em>

    <em>[Korean Defense Base? </em>

    <em>This is a base created by several Korean rankers and guilds, with around 15,000 troops stationed inside. However, Cairon Continent has staged a siege against them by sending 70,000 strong troops. Most of their bases have been pushed back.</em>

    <em>The rankers that represented the Korean Defense Base are Artheon Guild¡¯s Master Alicia, Emperor of the Sword Carr, Informant Abel, Ramyeon Boy Conir, Best Selling Author Aruvel, and Terrius-haired Spear Master Ben.]</em>

    <em>[The Korean Defense Base has thergest concentration of their troops. If Korea loses this defense base, then Korea¡¯s defeat would be a given.]</em>

    <em>[Food God Minhyuk has disappeared once again. Where did he go?]</em>

    ***

    Alicia had changed sses from the Witch of Agony to the Knight of Agony. She raised her sword and said, ¡°Thunder sword!¡±

    <em>Crackle, crackle, crackle, crackle!</em>

    The moment she swung her sword down from the walls of the Korean Defense Base, a huge sword made of lightning and thunder stretched out to a length of ten meters, sweeping away the enemies that were rushing in front of them. However, that was the end.

    <em>¡®I don¡¯t have any more MP.¡¯</em>

    On top of that, Alicia was already exhausted.

    <em>[Your Stamina has reached its limits.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have been reduced by 20%. Your skill cooldown has been extended.]</em>

    Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    A rain of arrows fell down from the sky and poured towards the walls of the base. Alicia did not have the chance to escape. But then, a woman flew in front of her and blocked the arrows that were aiming for Alicia.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud!</em>

    ¡°Nickel!!!¡±

    Nickel was a mage yer and a ranker under Artheon Guild. Alicia bit her lips tightly as she watched her guild member die under the onught of arrows.

    Alicia had been dreaming a new dream these days. Minhyuk made her realize that games were created for people to have fun.<em></em>So, she yed the game and had fun to her heart¡¯s content. While doing so, she found out the reason why she enjoyed the game. It was all thanks to her guild members.

    Alicia was an orphan. Ever since she was young, she did anything and everything that could be done to survive. And this virtual reality game had be a small haven, a brief respite, to a girl like her that had been living a life like that. With her life experiences, the name <em>¡®Alicia the Witch of Agony¡¯</em> naturally resonated with her.

    The cold and aloof Alicia started to chat andugh with her guild members, as much as she could inside the game. That was when she knew that she truly liked and cared for her guild members. She felt like they were her family. And that included Nickel, who sacrificed herself and died on her behalf, just a few moments ago.

    ¡°Nickel¡­¡±

    Even though they were inside a virtual reality game, the fact that she sacrificed herself for Alicia remained true. Alicia had the dream of making Artheon the best guild. This was the dream that she had recently dreamt of. But she was aware that this was impossible now. Artheon might be one of the four major guilds in the country, but they were already on a major decline. In fact, she wondered if they could still be considered to be one of the four major guilds with the current state that they were in.

    Alicia thought, <em>¡®To be the best then¡­¡¯</em>

    To reach her dream, she thought that perhaps it was better if she joined someone else¡¯s side. And that someone was none other than the person that she was thinking about now.

    <em>¡®I wonder when Minhyuk wille here?¡¯</em>

    The truth was Alicia was still feeling conflicted. She did not know if Artheon should affiliate itself with Let¡¯s Eat Sect Guild<em></em>to be the best or not. At that moment, the desperate chats in the alliance chat group suddenly appeared.

    <em>[<strong>Carr</strong>: The enemies have taken over Binark Base. The survivors are currently heading over your way. Please send cover.]</em>

    The Korean Defense Base was a hexagonal-shaped base built afterbining six bases together. Each of the bases included in the formation yed a very important role. Defense, attack, transport, and support. With the copse of Binark Base, the base ying the defensive role, more enemies would flock towards them. Their original 13,000-strong troops were already down to just around 4,000. Alicia saw the surviving 400 troops from Binark Base running towards them.

    ¡°Fire!!!¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    They covered their allied troops and squeezed thest of their strength out. Once the survivors had entered the base, they immediately closed the gates.

    <em>Thuuuuud¡ª</em>

    ¡°Haa, haa.¡±

    Both Alicia and Carr, who finally reached the ramparts, were gasping as they tried to catch their breaths. Lucia even vomited a mouthful of blood the moment she climbed on top of the ramparts.

    ¡°Urk!¡±

    Everyone was already exhausted. Their enemies were still around 50,000. Considering the fact that the numbers were more than 70,000 earlier, it could be said that their performance was already good. This was all thanks to one woman, a mysterious woman wearing a mask! And this was what the others called this woman¡­

    ¡°Miss Bread Shuttle! Please give me a buff!¡±

    ¡°MP all-in!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­That¡­ that girl is Minhyuk¡¯s bread shuttle?¡±

    ¡°Y¡­ yeah. I think so?¡±

    Bread Shuttle. They did not know who she was, but they knew that she was an amazing bread shuttle. She was faster than anybody else, carried buffs well, and healed like a perfect bread shuttle! Of course, she did not defeat the 20,000 troops all by herself.

    Meanwhile, a man from the demon race stood on top of the ramparts.

    ¡°Attention everyone!!!¡± The man¡¯s voice, which wasden with mana, rang loudly in the surrounding area. This man was none other than the best selling author, Aruvel. Not long after he spoke, something very surprising happened.

    <em>[The Great Author¡¯s voice has drawn the attention of the masses.]</em>

    The thousands of enemies flocking towards them halted for a moment to listen to him. Not too long ago, Aruvel, from being the best selling author, had grown further and became a <em>¡®legendary¡¯</em> existence. NPCs also had the concept of notifications and new ss growth. In Aruvel¡¯s case, hisbat stats and skills did not disappear upon his growth to a new ss. Simply put, his new ss gave him additional effects.

    ¡°The unfinished story of <em>Why Did the Prince Go Out Tonight?</em>. The prince fought and knocked down the knights sent by the emperor. He took her away and fled to a faraway ce, a ce beyond the seas. The two of them swore their eternal love in front of the sunset by the seashore as they sat on top of a small cloth, until the sands beneath them turned sticky!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m¡­ I¡¯m so freaking curious!!! Sticky?! What do you mean by sticky?! Was it their sweat that became sticky?!¡±

    The curious and raging crowd turned silent as Aruvel lifted one of his hands and said, ¡°But when the prince woke up¡­ The only thing he saw was a letter that Benjamin left him. <em>¡®You can¡¯t just throw everything away for me.¡¯</em> At the same time, in the pce, the emperor began a thorough investigation of Benjamin. He had learned a lot of things about her. She was¡­!¡±

    ¡°She¡­ she was?¡±

    ¡°She was!!¡±

    ¡°She¡­ she waaaaaaaas?!¡±

    ¡°She was what?¡±

    Even Lucia, who had vomited blood and copsed on the floor, had mustered the energy to turn her head to look at Aruvel with rapt attention, gulping dryly in anticipation.

    ¡°She was the abandoned daughter of the person that he had taken in as a concubine!!!¡±

    The enemy soldiers that came to attack the ramparts were in chaos.

    ¡°Ugh!! Aaaaaaack!¡± Someone screamed while grabbing his head, while another grabbed his chest.

    ¡°Keheok! Morning drama stories are very, very fun and interesting!!!¡±

    ¡°The¡­ the next part¡­ What happened next?¡±

    ¡°A¡­ aaaaaaaargh. I¡¯m so damn curious!!!¡±

    On the other side, Aruvel gestured secretly to the soldiers behind him. Right now, these were the notifications that rang for Aruvel:

    <em>[Your enemies have been seduced and distracted by the contents of the novel.]</em>

    <em>[The confused and distracted enemy troops have turned their focus on you and have fallen into a defenseless state.]</em>

    <em>[Their Physical and Magical Defenses will decrease by 40%.]</em>

    Thousands of soldiers crouched behind the railings of the ramparts as they prepared their magic spells, arrows and stones. Meanwhile, Aruvel looked at the enemy troops that had turned into his fans and said, ¡°You will get a 50% discount if you buy <em>¡®Why Did the Prince Go Out Tonight¡¯ </em>right now, for a price of 20,000 gold from the original 10,000 gold!!!¡±

    ¡°Why did the price increase?!!!¡±

    ¡°Author!!! Please give us a spoiler!!!¡±

    ¡°Please!!!!¡±

    Then, the arrows, magic spells and stones rained down on the defenseless enemy troops.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh!</em>

    Aruvel swung his spear strongly and said, ¡°Shut up! There will be no spoilers!!! Demonic Dragon¡¯s Spear Arts Chapter 3, Exploding Spear!¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Aruvel showed his white teeth, smiling widely as hundreds of his enemies died in an instant.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    <em>¡®Bread Shuttle and the Great Author Aruvel¡­ Is there even a normal person around Minhyuk?¡¯</em>

    Then, Alicia saw the cold and always stiff-faced Carr tremble. She thought, <em>¡®With Carr¡¯s personality, it seems like he¡¯s getting irritated after hearing the story?¡¯</em>

    Of course, it was thanks to Aruvel that they could bring chaos and confusion to the enemies, which allowed them to hunt plenty among their numbers. But in a way, this method could also be considered to be repulsive.

    Then, Carr grabbed his hair. He looked like he had been contemting something as he said, ¡°Shit¡­ It¡¯s, it¡¯s so interesting¡­! That author is a genius!¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Carr, the ever frigid and arrogant one, had a bright sparkle in his eyes. The gaze that he was using to look at Aruvel was simr to the gaze of someone looking at their idol.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Alicia was dumbfounded as she looked at this scene. When she thought about it, there was one more special and unique person among them.

    The person was none other than Ramyeon Boy Conir. Alicia was very worried about Conir. After all, he had been cutting down the enemy soldiers as the vanguard. She was very worried about him, since he was just a young boy, but the truth was he was the highest contributor among them in terms of enemy kills.

    She saw Conir in the base¡¯s rear. Conir was crouching by himself and eating something that looked delicious. In front of Conir was a mysterious and unidentified man. The man was currently holding a hoe and digging for the vegetables growing in the base¡¯s rear.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Alicia tilted her head in confusion. Meanwhile, the man smiled broadly as he pulled out what seemed to be <em>aster scabers</em>[1]

    ¡°Mi¡­ Minhyuk?¡± Alicia asked in confusion after seeing Minhyuk dig for vegetables in the middle of a war.

    ***

    An hour has already passed by since Minhyuk began digging for herbs and wild vegetables around the Korean Defense Base! Conir was also eating the rice cake dumpling soup that he brought in front of him.

    ¡°Hyung! The rice cake dumpling soup that you made is very delicious!¡±

    Minhyuk smiled softly as he looked at Conir.

    <em>¡®Conir, you will temporarily awaken your true strength.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had heard the story about his existence from the real Conir, not the young boy Conir in front of him. And the rice cake dumpling soup that the young boy Conir was eating right now would awaken him to his original form, even for a moment.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk continued to dig for herbs and wild vegetables.

    <em>[You have acquired an Aster Scaber.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired a Lettuce.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired a Peri Leaf.]</em>

    He felt extremely lucky. He did not expect that there would be such arge garden in the vicinity of the Korean Defense Base. For some, Minhyuk¡¯s figure right now might look just like someone crazy for food. Of course that was true, but he was doing this for a reason. Minhyuk concentrated hard as he kept on digging for the herbs. That was when the notifications rang.

    <em>[You have triggered the Skill: Will.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats, skills, and abilities, including DEX, will temporarily increase by 28%.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1 Will.]</em>

    He finally heard the notification that he was waiting for. These were the specs that he would show his enemies:

    <em>¡®Half Pinnacle Skill.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Rice cake dumpling soup¡¯s buff.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Skill: Will¡¯s buff.¡¯</em>

    Currently, the yers considered to be the best dealers were already on the move. On top of the rice cake dumpling soup buff given to Conir, Minhyuk also broke a ck gem in front of him.

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    Then, a ck light covered Conir¡¯s entire body.

    ***

    Meanwhile, on the ramparts.

    Aruvel tried to take a rest. He looked extremely exhausted. But at that moment, a ranker that was fairly good with the sword approached him. The ranker¡¯s eyes were filled with deep emotions.

    <em>¡®His eyes look simr to the eyes of my fans¡­ no¡­ my extreme fans.¡¯</em>

    His eyes were filled with longing, love, and anticipation! Then, the man excitedly said, ¡°I¡¯m¡­ I¡¯m your fan! Can I please get an autograph? Over here, on my armor?¡±

    The man turned around and showed his back to Aruvel. His voice was trembling like a young fangirl that just met her idol.

    Then, Aruvel asked, ¡°Boy, what¡¯s your name?¡±

    After all, an autograph would be memorable if the other¡¯s name was signed on it too. The man¡¯s voice became more excited as he said, ¡°It¡¯s Carr!¡±

    That was right. He was the Emperor of the Sword. This was the moment that Korea¡¯s number one official ranker, Carr, became Aruvel¡¯s huge fan!

    1. ??? (Chwinamul) <em>Doellingera scabra</em>: a perennial herb under the family <em>Asteraceae</em> usually found in the wild mountain regions of Korea, Russia, China and Japan. Generally used in Korean cuisine and can either be nched, steamed with rice to make rice cake, used as a ssam (wrap) and many more. ?

 Chapter 376: Turning the Tide of War

    Chapter 376: Turning the Tide of War

    The intense war between the Korean Defense Base and the yers of the Cairon Continent had reached its climax. Only one base, Apiro Base, remained out of the six bases that made up the hexagonal shape of the Korean Defense Base. The number of troops remaining in the base were at most 2,000. On the other hand, the number of their enemies still numbered around 48,000.

    The media and press from all over the world were in a buzz.

    America.

    <em>[The fact that the yers of Asgan Continent have held on this long, is very amazing. They were able to hold out against Cairon Continent, the third andrgest powerhouse in the entire Athenae worldview. However, they don¡¯t have any hope left.]</em>

    China.

    <em>[Just like we expected, victory will be in the hands of our continent. Once we capture the Korean Defense Base, all of the battles will be virtually over. We thank all of the Chinese yers for their hard work!]</em>

    France.

    <em>[We¡¯re looking forward to Korea¡¯s performance in Athenae: World War. There¡¯s a chance that Korea will rise to prominence if they weren¡¯t fighting a war, but fighting one-on-one battles, or a small skirmish.]</em>

    Russia.

    <em>[The Food God yer still hasn¡¯t made his appearance yet. However, we can be sure of one thing. Even if the Food God yer appears, there¡¯s not much that he can do to change the situation right now.]</em>

    Before long, the attention of the masses shifted from the <em>¡®Cairon and Asgan Continent¡¯</em> to the Food God. This was because they believed that the victory of the Cairon Continent in this war was already a foregone conclusion. Various media outlets and global rankers began to discuss the Food God.

    <em>[The Food God is definitely a surprising and amazing yer. We can see this much, especially after witnessing how he saved As just a few hours prior.]</em>

    <em>[However, if we look at it from a global perspective, the Food God is just one among the countless rankers in the world.]</em>

    <em>[yer Minhyuk is definitely strong. However, he¡¯s infinitely weakerpared to the globally acknowledged strongest yer, ¡®Fighter God¡¯, and perhaps even the Crazy Hunter Ross. If he goes against France¡¯s number one ranker now, he will just be like a flickeringmp in front of a fierce wind.]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s right. Many of us here in America do not see the ¡®Food God¡¯ as a threat.]</em>

    <em>[In the first ce, Food God is a nonbat ss. His limits are clear to everyone.]</em>

    <em>[What¡¯s funny is that we¡¯reparing someone with a nonbat ss against the world¡¯s ¡®summit rankers¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[Right. His existence is definitely iparable to the summit rankers. In the end, he just might be one yer among the many.]</em>

    But then, one yer from one country gave apletely different judgment on the matter.

    <em>[Food God, yer Minhyuk, is a yer that is beyond the ¡®summit rankers¡¯.]</em>

    What kind of an existence was a summit ranker? As far as the media outlets all over the world were concerned, summit rankers were yers that had the same power as an entire kingdom. There were only five summit rankers acknowledged by the world, and they were called <em>¡®The Summit Five¡¯</em>.

    But, to think a single person objected to their words and said that the Food God was an existence that transcended that level? A sky beyond a sky? The media outlets from all over the world turned their attention towards the yer. This yer stood in front of dozens of media reporters in Japan when he said these words, his image transmitted to various screens all over the world.

    This man was none other than Japan¡¯s Musashi, Kentaro.

    Musashi Kentaro had once dered that he was familiar with Minhyuk. And he had shocked Japan not too long ago by gaining victory against the person that Japan has considered to be closest to the summit rankers, Samurai Ren. By gaining victory, Kentaro has annexed and absorbed Samurai Ren¡¯s guild, <em>¡®Samurai¡¯</em>.

    Samurai was Japan¡¯s best guild. Kentaro¡¯s current guild had be stronger after he had annexed Samurai.

    That was right, the whole world was paying attention to the person that had the highest chances of bing the sixth summit ranker, Kentaro. While the entire world was focused on him, one of the reporters asked¡­

    <em>[Why did you say that he¡¯s ¡®beyond¡¯ the summit rankers?]</em>

    Kentaro looked at the reporters around him and said,

    <em>[The people all over the world are looking down on the Food God for being a ¡®nonbat ss¡¯. That¡¯s hrious. Are there any other nonbat ss yers from among the people all over the world that can beat the Food God in a fight?]</em>

    Yes. Kentaro came prepared, his words sharp. The five summit rankers widely acknowledged by the entire world were allbat ss yers. The Food God, on the other hand, was a nonbat ss. However, despite being a nonbat ss, his prowess was both surprising and amazing.

    <em>[Also, it¡¯s extremely unbelievable that the people all over the world are analyzing and criticizing him. Each and every expert in the world will keep on bbering as they please, without even checking things. And whenever their predictions miss they will say ¡®It¡¯s an unforeseen propaganda!¡¯. Bull. You should be embarrassed.]</em>

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    At that very moment, the faces of the reporters from media outlets all over the world and the global rankers that saw the article turned red with shame, which soon transformed into fury.

    <em>[Food God? He won¡¯tst an hour if he showed up here.]</em>

    <em>[The Food God will copse in the face of ck Dragon Order and Da Zhuang. Just like Ellie.]</em>

    <em>[I don¡¯t even understand why we¡¯re arguing for something that does not matter at all.]</em>

    <em>[At this very moment, Apiro Base is on the verge of copse. But where¡¯s the Food God? Kentaro, tell us where your Food God is.]</em>

    <em>[He probably ran away. Just thinking of his figure running away is making meugh.]</em>

    <em>[That might be the better alternative. After all, his limits will be made clear in the eyes of everyone in the world if he appeared.]</em>

    They believed that the Food God¡¯s chances of gaining victory in a fight against almost 50,000 troops was absolutely zero. That was why they kept on talking down on the Food God.

    ***

    Apiro Base had copsed. The remaining troops from the Asgan Continent formed a circle and created a defensive line. The priests were in the center, followed by the mages, then the archers, and finally the melee sses. This was the best, and at the same time the worst, defensive line that they could form at the moment.

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    Carr stood at the vanguard as he cut off one of the enemies. Being in a circle meant that they werepletely surrounded by the 50,000-strong enemy troops.

    ¡°Damn, goddamnit!¡±

    <em>Spurt¡ª</em>

    The brilliance in Carr¡¯s eyes had already started to dim from the continuous onught of the enemies. His sword waspletely covered in blood, and even its durability has fallen sharply after cutting off his enemies nonstop.

    <em>¡®I can¡¯t see any chance of us winning this battle!¡¯</em>

    They were in a hopeless situation. Even if they cut down the enemies in front of them, more would fill in the gap that the fallen had left. This was the vicious cycle that they were being tormented in. The worst part was that the Chinese high rankers, the ck Dragon Order, and Da Zhuang were all waiting in the rear.

    <em>¡®Are you telling us that you will devour us easily if we so much as rx our defenses?¡¯</em>

    This was a petty and shameful method.

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡± Lucia, who was right next to him, shrieked in pain.

    Carr immediately stabbed the yer that was trying to attack Lucia¡¯s neck.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    That was when a sword suddenly stabbed Carr on the shoulder.

    ¡°Carr!¡± Lucia shouted as she threw the dagger to push back the enemies. Lucia looked at Carr as if she could not understand why he saved her life.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it better if there¡¯s at least one more strong ranker that won¡¯t die so fast under their hands?¡± Carr said, smiling. His smile might be covered in blood, but it could clearly convey the camaraderie and friendship that he felt at that moment.

    Carr had slowly started to change ever since <em>Athenae</em>: Korean War ended. No, it was more urate to say that he had looked back and reflected on himself. Everything was rted to Minhyuk. And that was when he realized that the hand that Minhyuk had reached out to him and the smile that he showed Carr when he defeated him was not a sneer, but the courteous etiquette of a rival. At that time, Carr hadughed at his own stupidity.

    During the <em>Athenae</em>: Korean War, Minhyuk had given him a good beating, while the entire nation spat and cursed at him. That was when he realized that everything was because of his inferiorityplex and he was the XXX bastard.

    Carr felt both bitterness and regret. He felt sorry for what he did, but he had always hesitated. He wanted to send a whisper to Minhyuk right away and apologize. He wanted to pay for his actions. But, it was a very difficult thing for him to do. How could he be so shameless? Even his remaining pride and ego was stopping him from doing so, which left him conflicted and indecisive. However, the fact that he was changing for the better was true.

    <em>Graaaaab¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!!!¡±

    The scream of Spear Master Ben rang loudly from beside him.

    <em>¡®Minhyuk¡¯s people.¡¯</em>

    Carr immediately threw his entire body in front of Ben as seven sword strikes flew in their direction. He was able to deflect three while the remaining four stabbed deep into his body.

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    Carr staggered from the impact of the strikes, but his re remained sharp as he looked at their enemies with a hawk-like gaze. He did not have any remaining skills or MP left. However, he was still the Olympic gold medalist, Carr. He could still use his own personal skills and brilliant techniques to cut down his enemies. But that was all.

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    He fell down on one knee.

    ¡°B¡­ boy¡­¡± Ghost Spear Ben mumbled as he looked at Carr in doubt.

    Carr just looked back at him and said, ¡°Please tell Minhyuk that I¡¯m really sor¡­¡±

    But before he could finish his words¡­

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: Are you alright?]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡­Carr received a whisper from Minhyuk. Carr, who had fallen on one knee, blinked nkly as an enemy rushed towards him.

    <em>¡®Why so suddenly?¡¯</em>

    When Carr thought about it, he realized that Minhyuk had always been like this. Even if he shook off his hands harshly, Minhyuk still contacted him several times. Back then, he had acted terribly by badmouthing him. This time, he answered without any hesitation.

    <em>[<strong>Carr</strong>: I¡¯m sorry.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: What for?]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Carr</strong>: Just¡­ for everything.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: We¡¯re friends, you don¡¯t have to feel sorry for anything. Hehe. Ne, ne, ne, ne~]</em>

    <em>Grin¡ª</em>

    A smile appeared on his lips. That was right. Minhyuk had always called him a <em>¡®friend¡¯</em>. Carr pondered for a while before starting to send a whisper again.

    <em>¡®I will definitely say what I want to say.¡¯</em>

    But, before he could do so, Minhyuk had already sent him another whisper.

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: I have a favor to ask.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Carr</strong>: A favor?]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: Yep. I have a very strong spirit with me right now, and I need a very good vessel to put it in. The most important part is that the temporary vessel has to be good with the sword.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Carr</strong>: Are you talking about my body?]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: Yeah. Nothing bad would happen. You will house the spirit, but you¡¯ll still be able to control your body.]</em>

    Carr did not need to hesitate for a long time.

    <em>[<strong>Carr</strong>: Alright.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: Thanks.]</em>

    Then, the enemy troops began to flock to where Carr, the main pir of the defense, was.

    ¡°Die!!!¡±

    ¡°All we need to do is cut his head off!!!¡±

    ¡°Kyaaa~ We¡¯ll be able to get rid of the number one ranker in Korea!!!¡±

    The Chinese yers rushed excitedly to where Carr was. But at that moment¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    An unidentified force appeared in the sky and got sucked inside Carr¡¯s body.

    <em>[What, what was that?!!!]</em>

    <em>[Something mysterious got sucked inside Carr¡¯s body!!!]</em>

    <em>[What was it?]</em>

    Just when thementators were bewildered from what happened, a notification rang for Carr.

    <em>[Conir is trying to ¡®possess¡¯ you. Will you ept?]</em>

    Carr nodded silently as he watched the enemies rush to where he was.

    At the same time, boundless energy and power began to surge from within his body. Then, darkness descended upon him. He felt tired but it was apanied by delight. The smile that bloomed on his face expressed both surprise and joy.

    Hundreds of enemies came to him after seeing him copse on one knee. Carr slowly stood up. His eyes had turnedpletely ck, the iris and the white indistinguishable from each other. Carr stretched his knee, before bending down again and looking forward. His figure was overflowing with pride and dignity. This was the Olympic gold medalist. Carr looked ahead as he held the hilt of his sword in his hand.

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    He held his breath for a moment before quickly drawing his sword.

    ¡°Quick Draw.¡±

    Then¡­

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    ¡­a powerful force flew from his sword and cut down all of the enemies rushing towards him within a 30 meter radius.

    <em>[You have been forced to log out.]</em>

    <em>[You have been forced to log out.]</em>

    <em>[You have been forced to log out.]</em>

    <em>[You have been forced¡­]</em>

    It did not end there. Explosions rang loudly in the direction where he shed his sword at.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    <em>[You have been forced to log out.]</em>

    <em>[You have been forced to log out.]</em>

    <em>Boooooooom¡ª</em>

    The sight was horrifying. The ces where the sh from Carr¡¯s Quick Draw passed by had been devastated in just a moment. More than 300 yers died and disappeared from sight.

    <em>[¡­!!!]</em>

    <em>[¡­!!!]</em>

    <em>[¡­!!!]</em>

    This was the same Carr that had shocked the world with his sword in the Olympics. This time, he brought astonishment and shock to the world once again, through <em>Athenae</em>.

    That was when the people watching him saw him open his mouth and spit the words that he had wanted to say for a very long time, ¡°Minhyuk, I¡¯m sorry!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Carr cried loudly in front of the viewers from all over the world. His speech was not that long. After getting the apology off his chest, he dered in front of everyone in the world, ¡°I will help you be the first king in <em>Athenae</em>! I will be your subordinate and open up the path for you to be king. I¡­ I will be your friend andrade!!!¡±

    Carr, Korea¡¯s number one yer in the official ranking, had openly requested to join the Let¡¯s Eat Sect Guild, causing the entire world to erupt into chaos.

 Chapter 377: Turning the Tide of War

    Chapter 377: Turning the Tide of War

    The entire world was in an uproar after the unexpected deration of Korea¡¯s number one official ranker, Carr. He expressed his firm will and determination to help forge a path for the Food God¡¯s kingship.

    <em>[Ah. Carr has dered that he would make him Athenae¡¯s ¡®King¡¯, an existence that has not appeared yet.]</em>

    <em>[Unbelievable!!! This is very surprising. Korea¡¯s number one ranker, Carr, has dered that he will go under someone else¡¯smand!]</em>

    <em>[Who in the world is Food God Minhyuk? How can he make a person like Carr, the number one ranker in their country, dere that he would be his subordinate!!!]</em>

    There were plenty of people from all over the world that did not hold any interest towards the Food God. No, it was more urate to say that there were plenty of people from all over the world that did not even know of the Food God. That was only natural. After all, most people would not pay attention to others, unless they were people that came from their own country.

    However, there were plenty of people that knew Carr, since he won the Olympics a few years ago. Hence, they were very shocked by his deration.

    Then, Carr dashed forward. These were the notifications that rang for him when the young boy, Conir, had possessed his body.

    <em>[You can use theplete power of Conir during the duration of the possession.]</em>

    <em>[Conir, who had possessed your body, is currently at Level 751.]</em>

    <em>[Your Skill Level has increased by +5.]</em>

    <em>[Your Sword Mastery has gone beyond the limitations and has entered the Transcendental Realm.]</em>

    <em>[You have recovered all of your HP and MP.]</em>

    <em>[Your Physical and Magical Defenses have increased by 250%.]</em>

    <em>[The more sword strikes you link sessfully, the higher the damage.]</em>

    That was right. There was only one reason why Minhyuk chose Carr. This was because he was the perfect choice for the person that can use and control Conir¡¯s powers. In particr, the more <em>¡®Sword Link¡¯ </em>he used, the more damage he would deal, as long as he couldnd another attack within three seconds. There were only a few yers that could use the Sword Link in quick session.

    Carr was a sword genius, and if such a sword genius temporarily absorbed Conir¡¯s power, then he would be the best.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    <em>[You have linked your sword strikes.]</em>

    <em>[You will receive 2% additional attack power for three seconds.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Additional Attack Power</strong>: 2%]</em>

    <em>[You have linked your sword strikes.]</em>

    <em>[You will receive 1.5% additional attack power for three seconds.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Additional Attack Power</strong>: 3.5%]</em>

    <em>[¡­linked your sword strikes.]</em>

    <em>[¡­linked your sword strikes.]</em>

    <em>[Ten consecutive links!]</em>

    <em>[You will receive 5% additional attack power for three seconds. Your Skill Level will increase by +1.]</em>

    <em>[Fifteen consecutive links!]</em>

    <em>[You will receive 6% additional attack power for four seconds. Your Skill Cooldown has been reduced by 30%.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Current Additional Attack Power</strong>: 29%. <strong>Skill Level</strong>: +2. <strong>Skill Cooldown</strong>: 30% reduction.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s choice of Carr was the perfect candidate, especially after he achieved an incredible feat of 15 consecutive linked sword strikes. The enemies that appeared before him fell helplessly under his sword. Seeing this, the enemies panicked.

    ¡°N¡­no! We can¡¯t attack!¡±

    ¡°What, what the hell?! He¡¯s alone, so why can¡¯t I sessfullynd an attack?!!!¡±

    <em>Ping¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaack! How can I only have 2% HP left when I only received a basic strike from him?!¡±

    ¡°How high is his damage?!!!¡±

    The yers from Cairon Continent failed to attack Carr, despite him standing in the middle of their ranks. There were tens of thousands of enemy troops, but thanks to his sword skills and Conir¡¯s power and speed, he remained invincible. Just when Carr cut down one of the enemies¡­

    ¡°Frieeeeeeeend!!!¡±

    ¡°Frieeeeeeeeend!!!¡±

    ¡°Frieeeeeeend!!!¡±

    ¡­voices came from behind him. Carr turned his head for a moment to look. That was when he saw the members of the Let¡¯s Eat Sect Guild. The members of the Let¡¯s Eat Sect Guild were very surprised when they heard that Carr was willing to join their guild. Recruiting Carr into their ranks meant that they would gain a huge boost to their strength. They weed him together with a passionate call.

    ¡°Frieeeeeeend!!!¡± Carr, amidst their enemies, also raised his left hand and shouted back at them, his cheeks flushing pink.

    <em>¡®To be honest, I really wanted to try this too!!!¡¯</em>

    Carr had long wanted to try this, ever since he watched the video of them doing this before! And at some point, the surviving Korean yers also shouted loudly among the roars of their enemies.

    ¡°Friend!!!¡±

    ¡°Frieeeeeeeend!!!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s be friends!!!¡±

    ¡°Frieeeeeend!!!¡±

    Their voices rose above the roars of their enemies and entered through Carr¡¯s ears. He finally belonged to the Let¡¯s Eat Sect Guild, and had also be their friend. Carr felt his thumping heart. There was a strange sense of tion and excitement thrumming through his veins. There was also faith and trust.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s right. I¡¯m not alone anymore. I can also fight alongside everyone¡­!¡¯ </em>Carr thought as he turned around only to see the retreating backs of the yers from Asgan Continent.

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°Hey, aren¡¯t your friends retreating?¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    <em>[¡­???]</em>

    Carr suddenly felt flustered when he saw them retreat.

    <em>¡®What is this situation? Why did they suddenly retreat after shouting ¡®friends¡¯?!¡¯</em>

    A curse unknowingly drifted past his mouth.

    ¡°Hey, you f*cking bastards!!! Come back here!!!¡±

    Even the yers from the Cairon Continent felt sorry for Carr.

    ¡°You¡¯ve been abandoned? My god¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­Go to hell!¡±

    ¡°Waaah!¡±

    Carr¡¯s head went nk after he cut down the yer that tried to sympathize with him, albeit mockingly. He also could not figure out why they suddenly retreated. Then, among the figures of the retreating yers from Asgan Continent, appeared a man that went against the flow and dug through the enemy gaps.

    <em>[It¡¯s, it¡¯s the Food God!!!]</em>

    <em>[Food God Minhyuk has unleashed a fierce offensive to get through where yer Carr is!!!]</em>

    <em>[Hundreds of des dancing around his body are ravaging and devouring the enemies. He¡¯s swiftly breaking through tens of thousands of troops!!!]</em>

    <em>[What a spectacr sight!!! A lone man silently pierces through and kills his ways against tens of thousands of troops!!!]</em>

    <em>[He¡¯s responding to Carr after hearing his request to join the Let¡¯s Eat Sect Guild!!!]</em>

    <em>[Just like what Carr said, he just might be the very first king in Athenae! He¡¯s running towards Carr!!!]</em>

    <em>[The Food God that both Korea and the rest of the world are waiting for has appeared!!!]</em>

    <em>[ording to the global rankers and Athenae experts, they expect the Food God to onlyst for less than half an hour!]</em>

    <em>[Carr suddenly wakes up from his trance! Perhaps Carr will show us something more and move more actively!]</em>

    Then, Minhyuk reached Carr. The two men leaned on each other¡¯s back and faced off against their enemies. Both of them started to cut down their enemies without any hesitation.

    <em>[What a splendid sight. Carr, the world-ss Olympic gold medalist, and the yer that defeated him! These two people are fighting together, back to back!!!]</em>

    <em>[I think this video right here will be the best video of the year.]</em>

    <em>[Can you see the movements of the swords of these two people? It looks like their swords are dancing.]</em>

    <em>[Their swords are extremely sharp and infinitely delicate in their movements! There will be no other yer in Athenae that can show such fantastic skills!!!]</em>

    <em>[The people watching from all over the world are going crazy after witnessing these two people fighting together!]</em>

    <em>[Their swords are fluttering around like a butterfly, but strike sharply like the sting of bees!!!]</em>

    The two shook off their enemies at almost the same time.

    ¡°Blooming Sword.¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The tens of thousands of troops might hold a huge advantage in numbers, but they also had their own weakness. Since their numbers were huge, they were very concentrated in one area. This meant that it would be quite easy to deal with a huge number of people using AOE attack skills.

    ¡°The Emperor¡¯s de.¡±

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    Sword des appeared around Carr, before swiftly flying around and cutting down his enemies. Then, the two of them looked back at each other and smiled. The first one to reach his hand out was Minhyuk. Carr immediately grabbed his hand. The scene made the hearts of the viewers from all over the world grow warm.

    <em>[Aaaaaaaaaaah! Yesterday¡¯s enemy is today¡¯s friend!!!]</em>

    <em>[What a wonderful scene!!!]</em>

    <em>[Passionate friendship! Burning skills! And these two people¡¯s hot looks!!!]</em>

    <em>[The scene in which two people with sculpturesque figure¡¯s standing at 180 centimeters tall fighting together hand in hand! Surrounded by tens of thousands of troops! It¡¯s like a scene straight out of a movie!!!]</em>

    <em>[If Food God Minhyuk looks simr to our country¡¯s actor, Kang Dongwonbin, then yer Carr looks like So Ganzi</em>[1]<em>!]</em>

    <em>[This is an amazing scene that you can¡¯t help but go ¡®Kyaa~!¡¯!!!]</em>

    <em>[It seems like the two of them are talking about something.]</em>

    <em>[I can¡¯t hear them well.]</em>

    Everyone focused and turned their attention to their conversation. Even the Cairon Continent troops stepped back and listened in on them. Just like that, they heard their voices.

    ¡°Just the two of us?¡±

    <em>Nod.</em>

    ¡°We¡¯re going to stop these 50,000 strong troops? Just the two of us?¡±

    <em>Nod, nod.</em>

    <em>[¡­???!!!]</em>

    <em>[¡­???!!!]</em>

    The people all over the world once again received shocking information. They felt flustered after listening in on their conversation.

    <em>[What, what did they say?]</em>

    <em>[The, the two of them are going to stop the 50,000 enemy troops?]</em>

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    Carr was the one to voice out what everyone was feeling. He said, ¡°Have you gone crazy¡­?¡±

    ***

    While the whole world was left reeling in shock, Carr had difficulty hiding his embarrassment. No, in fact, he could not hide his shock and outburst.

    The reason for the sudden retreat of the yers of Asgan Continent was finally revealed. It was because Minhyuk made them withdraw from the battlefield. He even said that the two of them would be the one to face the 50,000 strong enemy troops.

    ¡°Have you gone crazy¡­?¡±

    To be honest, it was not strange for Carr to blurt out these words. Minhyuk¡¯s words were so preposterous that all he could do was choke on his spit from the shock.

    That was when Minhyuk started sending him a whisper.

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: Our retreating troops will take a detour and catch the enemies off-guard. As long as we can sessfully block this then the Asgan Continent will take the victory.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Carr</strong>: Let¡¯s follow somemon sense. Do you think something like that is even possible?]</em>

    Carr looked at Minhyuk with an absurd expression, but Minhyuk just nodded cheerfully at him and said, ¡°Yeah!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Carr suddenly felt like he wanted to cancel his membership request to the Let¡¯s Eat Sect Guild. The bastard in front of him was unnecessarily optimistic. Then, Minhyuk suddenly looked at the encroaching enemies and sent him another whisper.

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: I¡¯m going to try a skill so buy me a bit of time. Ah, we have a strategy. Our operation should be¡­ murmur¡­ murmur¡­]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Carr</strong>:¡­I¡¯m, I¡¯m supposed to do something like that?]</em>

    This time too, Minhyuk¡­

    ¡°Yeah!¡±

    ¡­was extremely optimistic and bright.

    <em>¡®Maybe I should just kill him¡­¡¯ </em>This thought shed in Carr¡¯s head for a moment. Then, Minhyuk started casting his skill.

    ¡°Stop him!!!¡±

    ¡°The Food God is casting something!!!¡±

    ¡°Attack!!!¡±

    The yers from Cairon Continent began to flock to where they were again. The skill that Minhyuk was casting was none other than <em>¡®Sword of Absolute Death¡¯.</em> However, it was not just a simple Sword of Absolute Death. Minhyuk¡¯s Sword of Absolute Death was now being activated with his ¡®Will¡¯ skill buff, his ox bone soup buff, and he would even add his Berserk skill on top of that. This would be the best version of his Sword of Absolute Death. It would take Minhyuk 40 seconds before he could use the skill. So, Carr began his attack.

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    Carr danced around splendidly with his sword to prevent the enemies from flocking towards Minhyuk. However, there were too many yers from Cairon Continent. Some of their attacks reached the defenseless Minhyuk, whose body was now covered with a dark red current of energy. However¡­

    <em>ng!!!</em>

    The enemy¡¯s attacks would either barely cause damage on Minhyuk¡¯s body or¡­

    <em>[Your attack has failed.]</em>

    ¡­the attack would miss. The mages created a wall of mes between Minhyuk and Carr.

    <em>Swooooosh¡ª</em>

    However, even after being subjected to that situation, Minhyuk¡¯s skill casting remained unimpeded. Even the damage that he received was negligible.

    <em>sh!</em>

    Carr finally felt that something was weird after he cut down another enemy.

    <em>¡®This¡­ this momentum and pressure¡­¡¯</em>

    Carr felt like the entire area was engulfed in killing intent, which was so prominent that it could even choke the enemies rushing forward. When the skill casting time was finally over, Minhyuk murmured, ¡°Berserk.¡±

    <em>[Berserk]</em>

    <em>[All abilities will be increased by 16% and all stats would have a +2 increase.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP will decrease by 3% per second. By the end of the skill, your HP will fall below 10% while your defense will fall below 20%.]</em>

    The figure of a gigantic demon rose above his head before getting sucked inside his body.

    ¡°Kiyeeeeeeee!¡±

    Then, a ck current appeared and merged with the red current that was flowing around Minhyuk¡¯s body, until they merged into a single color. Minhyuk then triggered his skill and sent it to Carr¡¯s other side.

    ¡°Sword of Absolute Death.¡±

    <em>[Sword of Absolute Death]</em>

    <em>[The skill has been strengthened and enhanced after being subjected to various buffs.]</em>

    <em>[The first sword strike will hit your enemy with a 100% chance and an additional 1600% damage as long as they are within eight meters of you. The opponent that received the first sword strike will receive 13 consecutive attacks with 800% additional damage and will fall into a stunned state for three seconds.]</em>

    <em>[Hundreds of des with 800% additional damage will shoot out and dance around to destroy and devour your enemies. A direct hit will cause a powerful explosion that will deal an additional 1000% damage.]</em>

    The first sword strike could literally kill any enemy that itnded on.

    So, Minhyuk sent his attack towards the yer that looked the most powerful among the enemies. His name is Oz, the sun in China¡¯s tanker world, a well-known yer that could handle dozens of rankers all by himself. But at that moment¡­

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    <em>[You have been forced to log out.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    The crowd was plunged into a momentary silence, as hundreds of sword des extended from Minhyuk¡¯s sword. Minhyuk was currently in a state where his skills and abilities had risen dramatically, thanks to his Berserk skill, Will skill, and other buffs. The Cairon yers died helplessly under the onught of his sword des. Even the yers that were only in the vicinity of the dancing sword des died.

    In a blink of an eye, the yers that rushed in front of him were swept cleanly away. And it did not stop there.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Huge explosions bloomed all over the ce. In just an instant, literally an instant, more than 1,800 yers copsed on the ground.

    ¡°¡­Hiiiik!¡±

    ¡°Cr¡­ crazy shit¡­!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s something beyond a human¡¯s capability!!!¡±

    The yers from Cairon Continent shouted in fright. Carr also looked back at Minhyuk in shock.

    <em>¡®Crazy¡­!¡¯</em>

    He had never seen such a ridiculously frightening skill in his life. No, just half of that skill¡¯s power was enough to frighten most people.

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    Thementators and experts from all over the world had dered earlier that Minhyuk would not evenst an hour, when theypared him to the Summit Five. But now, they were rendered speechless by the current situation. All they could do was keep their mouths shut, not knowing what to say. Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>Copse¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk fell down. The faces of the embarrassed and flusteredmentators finally jumped back to life. They felt that this was their opportunity. Many quickly gave their interpretations and assumptions.

    <em>[Aaaaaaaah! What, what an amazing skill.]</em>

    <em>[Perhaps this skill far surpasses the skills of all the other users from all over the world!]</em>

    <em>[However, it seems like there¡¯s a penalty. It seems like there¡¯s a penalty where the skill user¡¯s HP will get exhausted after using the skill! It wouldn¡¯t make sense if a skill like that did not have any penalties.]</em>

    <em>[Just like what we expected. He did notst an hour. Right? What do you think? Our guesses were right, am I right?]</em>

    Thementators tried very hard to tie it back to their one hour guess.

    Then, at that moment, Carr finally carried out the operation that Minhyuk had told him about earlier. He quickly dashed to where Minhyuk was, hugged him, and began to show his bad acting skills.

    ¡°No, my dear friend! Why did you use that skill? Didn¡¯t you tell me that your HP will go down to one, and your defenses will be zero if you use that skill? If someone hit you once right now, then you¡¯ll die, right? Don¡¯t. Die. My. Dear. Friend!¡±

    This was Carr¡¯s great acting ability, which sounded like he was reading from a Korean textbook!

    <em>¡®Carr¡¯s not good at acting¡­¡¯</em> Minhyuk thought.

    However, Carr was brimming with confidence. He thought, <em>¡®This year¡¯s Best Actor award is mine!!!¡¯</em>

    He even did some ad-lib¡­

    ¡°<em>Sob. Sob. Sob. Sob. Sob. </em>Quickly get up, let¡¯s fight together my dear friend! Let¡¯s show them what a bloody battle truly is! Come on! Get up! My friend!!!¡±

    Thankfully, no one noticed his bad acting skills in the chaos of the battle. That was when Minhyuk heard some of the voices around him.

    ¡°He only has one HP left? Even his defense is zero?!¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t, isn¡¯t this our chance to kill the Food God?¡±

    ¡°Oh, ooooooooooh!!!¡±

    Then, the enemies started to flock once again. Carr immediately stood up and blocked them from getting to Minhyuk.

    ¡°My friend, Minhyuk. I will protect you. Take this! My sword of justice!!!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that bastard saying over there?!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know! Let¡¯s get to the Food God first!!!¡±

    Carr moved as if he was trying to block them with all his might. The enemy yers kept on pushing forward until they were concentrated around them. The moment they crowded around to kill them, Carr had already fallen into a trance, absorbed in his own performance.

    ¡°Don¡¯t touch my friend!!! Die!!!¡±

    <em>[In the end, yer Minhyuk has given us one surprise and one disappointment. This is the end.]</em>

    <em>[Didn¡¯t they say that they will stop their enemies with just the two of them?]</em>

    <em>[Just like we thought, it was just their ridiculous bluffs.]</em>

    <em>[I feel a bit sorry for yer Carr.]</em>

    Thementators'' words were harsh and scathing.

    That was when the copsed Minhyuk that they had cursed hard at, and criticized severely, suddenly stood up. And¡­

    ¡°Sword of Absolute Death.¡±

    <em>Stab!</em>

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    <em>Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    ¡­Minhyuk triggered the skill that he had stored using his <em>¡®Save¡¯</em> skill. And with that, more than 3,000 of the yers that gathered around them died in an instant. In other words, they hadpletely fallen for the trap that the two of them had set up.

    <em>¡®Kyaa¡­! Isn¡¯t my acting crazy good? Haha! What will I do if people from the movie industry start to contact me?¡¯</em>

    Carr firmly believed that this result was thanks to his wonderful acting skills! The two of them had killed 5,000 enemy troops in an instant. The yers of Cairon Continent looked at the two of them and screamed¡­

    ¡°You¡­ you baited us!!!¡±

    ¡°You lied?!!¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t notice!!! That man over there is so good at acting!!!¡±

    Minhyuk looked at Carr. The two of them nodded fiercely as they brightly and innocently said¡­

    ¡°Yep!!!¡±

    ¡°Yeah!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The Cairon Continent yers¡¯ hands itched, wanting to beat the two of them up, after seeing their annoying reactions.

    1. So Ji-sub¡¯s nickname. ??? ?

 Chapter 378: Turning the Tide of War

    Chapter 378: Turning the Tide of War

    <em>[Your troops have lost 5,000 men.]</em>

    <em>[The morale of your soldiers has decreased sharply.]</em>

    ¡°5,000¡­¡±

    Da Zhuang, one of the legendary figures, had a hard time believing the notifications that rang just now.

    They had 50,000 troops marching forward and advancing to the point that they looked like a sea of ck. However, a powerful force suddenly appeared among their troops. Da Zhuang could tell that this power had reached the Pinnacle.

    <em>¡®What the hell is that Pinnacle?¡¯ </em>Da Zhuang thought as he became interested. That was when he suddenly remembered the words of the man named ck Mage Ali who had dered not too long ago.

    <em>¡®My friend wille soon to kill you.¡¯</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    As Da Zhuang recalled those words, he immediately changed locations and moved to a higher vantage point to survey the battlefield. The sight presented to him was that of two men ughtering the soldiers from the Cairon Continent.

    <em>¡®Interesting¡­!¡¯</em>

    Da Zhuang was sure that it was one of them. In other words, the person that used the Pinnacle was the person that Ali was talking about. Da Zhuang smiled and gave his orders, ¡°March forward!!! Advance! Don¡¯t back down!!! Cut off the heads of your enemies!!! I will personally cut your neck off if you dilly-dally here!!!¡±

    Da Zhuang felt the interest surging in him for a moment. However, he was sure that they would not be able to reach him. Besides, the power that had reached theplete Pinnacle had already disappeared, and only the power of Half Pinnacle remained lingering in the air. Could someone with just that much power reach him? Definitely not. He would die without even reaching his toes. Then, at that moment¡­

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    A woman wearing a mysterious mask appeared in Da Zhuang¡¯s sight. The woman was as swift as lightning as she held out something in front of Minhyuk. The thing that she held out to Minhyuk was none other than <em>¡®bread and milk¡¯. </em>

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    <em>¡®Handing out milk and bread in the middle of a war?¡¯</em>

    Some of the yers that saw the scene shouted loudly¡­

    ¡°The¡­ the Bread Shuttle!!!¡±

    ¡°The Bread Shuttle appeared!!!¡±

    ¡°Bread Shuttle¡­?¡±

    Da Zhuang looked back at the yers in doubt after hearing a new name. Their currentmander-in-chief, Da Zhuang, asked, ¡°What¡¯s a Bread Shuttle?¡±

    ¡°Ah. Bread Shuttle is a ng used by the people in Asgan Continent.¡±

    The yer thought a while on how he should exin it, then opened his mouth again, ¡°Some of the strong people make the weakest among them run errands and buy bread for them.¡±

    ¡°Hooo?¡±

    Thew of the jungle! In every world, there would be people sitting at the top and people crawling at the bottom. And the Bread Shuttle was someone that stood at the bottom of the food chain!

    <em>¡®So, the woman is not worth caring about, huh?¡¯</em>

    Da Zhuang clicked his tongue and shook his head. At the same time, the Bread Shuttle turned transparent and disappeared from their sights.

    <em>¡®She¡¯s just a Bread Shuttle that has mastered plenty of useless skills.¡¯</em>

    Da Zhuang did not pay much attention to her anymore. That was right. He did not care about her at all. And that was precisely where the problem began.

    ***

    Valkyrie Mei Wei, the official global number one ranker! She was the only one that did not retreat with the others to take advantage of their enemies¡¯ unawareness. This was because she had a very important mission to do here. Her mission was none other than bread delivery!

    The bread and milk that she delivered were made from precious ingredients that she had painstakingly gathered a long time ago. That was the reason why she swiftly and quickly sent the bread and milk to Minhyuk the moment they met. Minhyuk had the <em>¡®Absorption Conversion¡¯ </em>skill, so giving him the bread and milk was tantamount to giving him a <em>¡®potion¡¯</em>. Besides, Mei Wei was very happy to do this too.

    <em>¡®Hehe. I just gave Minhyuk bread and milk, and he said that he would make me something delicious again!¡¯</em>

    Yes. Mei Wei had reached the peak of being a bread shuttle, to the point that she even rejoiced at the fact that she was bringing food and ingredients around. And now, it was time to finish her heavy responsibility. Mei Wei was tasked to get rid of the high rankers and themanding officers of the enemy troops.

    Using her stealth skills, Mei Wei quickly moved to where themanding officers of the enemy troops were. There were still 45,000 enemy troops left. Out of this huge number, most of themanding officers were made up of NPCs. Simply put, themand of the troops wasrgely relegated to the NPCs. As long as they took out themanding officers, the troops would be thrown into confusion and chaos, and their enemies¡¯ morale would drop sharply.

    She saw Marquis Rundal of Cairon Continent¡¯s Avast Empire riding on top of a horse andmanding his troops from afar.

    ¡°Keuhahahahahahaha! There are two rats jumping around!!!¡± Marquis Rundal, instead of being frightened after witnessing the strength of the two people,ughed loudly. After all, even though the two of them had strength far beyond anyone¡¯s imagination, Cairon¡¯s victory was still a foregone conclusion.

    For one, they were only two people. On the other hand, their own camp still had a 45,000-strong army. On top of that, the rest of their troops had already fled far away. It was safe to say that the fall of the Korean Defense Base was just right around the corner. Besides, Marquis Rundal was a mage of considerable power, he was not afraid of anything.

    At that moment, the space in front of Marquis Rundal distorted and revealed the figure of a woman.

    ¡°Bread Shuttle?¡±

    Marquis Rundal had also heard stories and conversations about this Bread Shuttle. She was different from the rest, she was a woman that delivered bread faster than anybody else! But right now, she was standing in front of Marquis Rundal.

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe you came here on your own, Bread Shuttle!¡±

    Marquis Rundal was a mage that could use Sixth Tier Magic. Mana immediately appeared and surrounded his body. But just when he was about to create and send out a powerful spear of ice towards the Bread Shuttle¡­

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    <em>Fall¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Marquis Rundal fell on the ground after receiving a single stab from her sword.

    ¡°What¡­ what the hell?!¡±

    ¡°Mar¡­ Marquis!!!¡±

    ¡°Die!!!¡±

    <em>[Goddess¡¯ Lethargy]</em>

    <em>[AGI decreases by 40%.]</em>

    <em>[Physical Defense decreases by 30%.]</em>

    The knights and soldiers immediately gathered around Marquis Rundal. However, as the notifications fell, they felt their legs turn heavy, as if a ten kilogram weight had been strapped on them. They seemed to be nothing but slow and sluggish existences in front of the woman called Bread Shuttle.

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    She lightly swung her sword and dealt with them, before disappearing from their sights once again. Just like that, Bread Shuttle Mei Wei had begun her hunt for the enemymanding officers.

    ***

    In the fierce battlefield.

    Carr and Minhyuk were fighting their own battles fiercely at a distance from each other. The reason why they both went further away from each other, was to avoid dragging the other into their own fights, and identally sending a heavy blow to one another.

    Plenty of disastrous and huge magical attacks would fall down on them from time to time. These magical attacks could affect the surrounding area, even if they were just single attack skills. That was why they had to separate from each other.

    The Chinese yers constantly sent attacks at Minhyuk.

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    However, something surprising unfolded in front of their eyes¡­

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡­the troops that sent their attacks to Minhyuk were the ones that screamed in pain and copsed. Just to show how hard Minhyuk¡¯s <em>¡®Monarch¡¯s Armor¡¯</em> was, these notifications rang loudly in the ears of the attacking yers the moment they sessfullynded an attack on him.

    <em>[Your sword¡¯s durability has dropped.]</em>

    And, what about the rain of arrows that were being sent towards Minhyuk?

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    All of them uselessly fell on the ground. Not a single one was able to pierce through Minhyuk¡¯s tough armor. However, that did not mean that he was totally unaffected from the damages that he received.

    ¡°F*ck! How freaking high is your defense?!!! Hey, how much HP do you have left?!!!¡±

    Minhyuk cut down the yer that asked him and answered his question, ¡°98%. Bye, bye!!!¡±

    <em>Stab!</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaack! Aren¡¯t you too broken?!!!¡±

    The yer reeled in shock as he was forced to log out. Even the entire world was surprised by this scene.

    <em>[yers Minhyuk and Carr¡¯s defense are shockingly out of this world.]</em>

    <em>[Even yer Minhyuk¡¯s evasion rate is extremely high, to the point that he could evade half of the attacks sent to him.]</em>

    <em>[Hooo. Isn¡¯t that extremely amazing?]</em>

    <em>[There¡¯s also the fact that most of the attacks that the two of them sent out were basic attacks.]</em>

    <em>[They¡¯re dealing with tens of thousands of enemies with only their brilliant sword techniques.]</em>

    <em>[However, they will eventually reach their limits and be exhausted.]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s right. Even if they cut down as much as they could, they would just be able to cut down hundreds by themselves. However, their enemies are tens of thousands.]</em>

    <em>[No matter what it looks like, it¡¯spletely impossible to win against tens of thousands of enemies.]</em>

    Even the people at the globalmunity site were of the same opinion.

    <em>[No matter how strong and high the defense of those yers are, it¡¯s impossible for them to win against tens of thousands of soldiers.]</em>

    <em>[I agree. Their stamina will reach the limit. Their stats will fall, their MP will run out, and they will be taken down once their skill cooldown starts.]</em>

    In the eyes of everybody else, this was an undeniable fact. Their odds of winning were extremely small. Hundreds of cameras moved along the battlefield, but they remained unaware that the enemymanding officers were being swept away.

    Minhyuk had not used any of his skills yet. So far, he only used basic attacks to fight against the enemies. His armor and sword were already beyond anyone¡¯s imagination. They could never imagine what these items would do to themter.

    In order to stop Minhyuk in his tracks and prevent him from attacking, several rankers joined forces and sent their attacks towards him.

    ¡°Boom Spear.¡±

    ¡°Dragon Sword.¡±

    ¡°Fire Field.¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>Craaaaaack¡ª</em>

    <em>Crackle!</em>

    A long spearnced straight at Minhyuk¡¯s chest, while a sword in the shape of a dragon mmed into him. zing mes also bloomed on the ground. However, something shocking happened not long after.

    Minhyuk used his toes as a fulcrum and twisted his body to evade the iing spear. Then, he lifted his sword and deflected the iing dragon sword. And just like what Ellie did before, Minhyuk used <em>¡®Like the Wind</em>¡¯ and stepped into the sky.

    <em>Dash¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk, who stood high up in the sky, held a millstone and began turning its handle.

    <em>Turn, turn, turn, turn, turn¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°This bastard. He¡¯s doing something weird!¡±

    ¡°Now!!! Rankers, attack!!!¡±

    The enemy yers did not know what Minhyuk¡¯s millstone was and thought that he made a wrong judgment by swapping his equipment. There were dozens of rankers hiding among countless troops below Minhyuk waiting for the perfect moment to attack. Just when they had prepared their skills and waited for Minhyuk to fall¡­

    <em>[Lightning Hell]</em>

    <em>[Powerful lightning strikes will strike down indiscriminately within a 20 meter radius and deal 120% damage for one minute.]</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaargh!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Lightning Hell was a skill where lightning struck within a 20 meter radius and dealt 120% damage. In fact, 120% damage was nothing to the rankers. However, when ced on top of Minhyuk¡¯s extremely high attack power, the damage would be huge.

    There was also the 20 meter radius, assuming that there were three people in every meter that the entire radius covered, there would be more than 100 yers that would be hit by the skill.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack, crack!</em>

    The worst part was them falling into a stunned state the moment the lightning struck their bodies. Minhyuknded on the ground and swiftly dashed around, shing the dozens of rankers that tried to attack him, in one fell swoop.

    <em>[My, my goodness!!!]</em>

    <em>[The Chinese rankers have been swept away in an instant!]</em>

    <em>[The power that yer Minhyuk is showing us is enough for him to be considered as the world¡¯s best and strongest!]</em>

    <em>[He hasn¡¯t shown this much power until much recently!]</em>

    <em>[What the hell happened in that short amount of time of his absence?!]</em>

    The world was in awe and admiration of Minhyuk¡¯s brilliant use of his skills and his excellentbat ability. Meanwhile, the other operation and tactic that Minhyuk had prepared¡­

    <em>[<strong>Mei Wei</strong>: The preparations areplete.]</em>

    With this whisper, Mei Wei, who had already found Da Zhuang long ago ording to Minhyuk¡¯s instructions, used her skills.

    <em>Thwaaaaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    <em>Light Pistol! </em>This was a skill that could be used, even if there was a 100 meter distance between Mei Wei and her enemy. This was her most powerful one-shot kill attack skill that she could use to deal 1,000% damage against her enemy. This skill was very useful, especially when her enemies were concentrated in an area.

    A path in the middle of the troops had been created in an instant. Minhyuk¡¯s line of sight was clear as he looked at the middle of this path. There, he saw Da Zhuang standing loftily and looking at him.

    <em>Dash, dash, dash, dash, dash, dash!</em>

    Minhyuk dashed forward, as Carr shook off the enemies and dashed forward with him. Just when the enemies tried to fill in the gap that was cleared¡­

    <em>Thwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡­another Light Pistol was linked and fired again. The Light Pistol was a ridiculously strong skill that could be linked and fired three times in a row. Carr and Minhyuk continued to dash forward as the Light Pistol extended once again.

    <em>[Carr has taken the lead and has started to beat the enemies that tried to block yer Minhyuk¡¯s path!!!]</em>

    <em>[yer Minhyuk was swiftly following behind him!]</em>

    <em>[This is crazy!!! That¡¯s the only thing that I can say!!! Where is the woman hiding?!!!]</em>

    <em>[Who in the world is that woman?!!]</em>

    <em>[Bread Shuttle! The people call her Bread Shuttle!]</em>

    <em>[¡­What a unique name.]</em>

    <em>[We can easily predict yers Minhyuk and Carr¡¯s position. We can clearly tell from their actions that yer Carr and yer Minhyuk are going to attack Da Zhuang!!!]</em>

    Then, Minhyuk flew high up in the sky.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    At the same time, a whip of light extended out of Mei Wei¡¯s hand and wrapped around Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    ¡°You, you b*tch¡­!!!¡±

    Da Zhuang was very shocked. He did not think to care about this woman at all!

    Mei Wei continued to hold Minhyuk¡¯s waist with her whip.

    <em>Graaaab¡ª</em>

    <em>Tiiiiing¡ª</em>

    Mei Wei grabbed her whip tightly and pulled Minhyuk down. Minhyuk¡¯s body descended rapidly, like a bird of prey descending down to bite its prey. As he descended, Minhyuk triggered his skills. The moment Da Zhuang¡¯s dagger was about to strike down on Mei Wei.

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    A shield of light blocked Mei Wei¡¯s body. When the dagger mmed into the shield¡­

    <em>[You have attacked the Shield of Arrest.]</em>

    <em>[You have fallen into a stunned state for 2 seconds.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Da Zhuang, regardless of who he was, was still a legendary figure, even though it was in the past. That fact would remain true. He was also the person that pushed Ellie to her limit and had assassinated more than 20,000 enemies.

    But this very same Da Zhuang had now fallen into a stunned state. And currently, Minhyuk, who had never cursed much in his life, was boiling in anger.

    Meanwhile, Da Zhuang was left in surprise. He thought, <em>¡®Half¡­Half Pinnacle¡­¡¯</em>

    Truth be told, the power emanating from the skill was far beyond that of a Half Pinnacle. In the first ce, skills were also greatly affected by the skill user¡¯s attack power and artifacts. And right now, the skill that Minhyuk used was none other than Sword of Frenzy.

    <em>[You will have additional 400% damage to your attack upon a sessful strike to your enemy¡¯s vital point. The six consecutive attacks that would follow the attack will have additional 100% damage. Upon a sessful vital point attack, enemies within a five meter radius will receive six consecutive attacks with additional 100% damage.]</em>

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s sword pierced through the stunned Da Zhuang¡¯s ribs and through his chest. The first thing that hit him was the 400% damage, followed by the six consecutive attacks with additional 100% damage!

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaack!¡±

    Da Zhuang shrieked as his body was ripped apart by the sword strike. The enemy troops tried to rush forward to save Da Zhuang. However, the Sword of Frenzy had an additional effect. The effect would strike the enemies within a five meter radius, six times in a row, with 100% additional damage.

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    Blood spurted out from the bodies of the enemies all around Minhyuk. It did not end there.

    <em>[Intangible Sword.]</em>

    <em>[Your sword strike has ignored all of the enemy¡¯s defenses.]</em>

    <em>[Lightning]</em>

    <em>[You have a 5% chance of triggering 2~4 consecutive lightning strikes.]</em>

    <em>[4 strikes.]</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaack!¡± Da Zhuang shrieked loudly, as blood spurted out from the wounds littering his body. He looked at Minhyuk incredulously, wondering where this fury wasing from.

    However, Minhyuk just gripped his sword tightly with both of his hands as he swung his sword sideways. He dered, ¡°Ellie¡¯s my noona! You f*cking bastard!!!¡±

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

 Chapter 379: Hunting Black Dragon

    Chapter 379: Hunting ck Dragon

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    The shouts of the raging troops from Cairon Continent died down, as silence enveloped the area. The same was true for thementators and viewers watching from all over the world.

    Every single TV program in the world had already introduced who Da Zhuang was. He was a <em>¡®legend¡¯</em> of the past. In fact, it was rare to see any <em>¡®god¡¯</em> or <em>¡®legend¡¯</em> of the past generation that was still active in the present. Most of the active ones were either their sessors, or yers that had inherited their powers.

    Everyone was aware that the reason for the rare appearance of the characters hailed as gods and legends was bnce control. The people all over the world saw the appearance of Da Zhuang as the Cairon Continent¡¯s trump card in this Continental War.

    Of course, Asgan Continent also had a trump card of their own, which might just be ck Dragon and his 4,000-strong army.

    The people had estimated Da Zhuang to be at a level where the current yers would be helpless against him. In fact, the <em>Athenae</em> design team had already prepared a storyline where he would end his career in the Continent Cloud and hide himself again.

    But right now¡­

    <em>Puhaaaaaaaa!</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    Da Zhuang¡¯s body was spurting blood like a fountain, after being shed sideways by a yer. They had estimated his level to be at around Level 700. He was an extremely strong Named NPC! But, this strong NPC was now screaming in pain.

    So, what did the world say earlier?

    Things like ¡®<em>The Food God will notst an hour and will be forced to log out as soon as he arrives on the battlefield!</em>¡¯, or ¡®<em>The Food God is nothing more than a ¡®small fry¡¯ in front of the real strong yers in the world!</em>¡¯ Some even went as far as to say, ¡®<em>A nonbat Food God? How dare he try to jump up and act in front of the Summit Fivebat yers, right?</em>¡¯

    But right now, all of them were speechless. To be precise, most of them felt that there was a zing me burning in their chests. The appearance of a strong yer in a country other than their own was a major threat. The rest were looking forward to what changes and development this new powerhouse would show in the near future.

    Because of that, none of thementators dared to say that there was no more <em>¡®hope¡¯</em> for the yers of Asgan Continent. They just shifted their angle, and began to show their ¡®enthusiasm¡¯ for Minhyuk¡¯s power.

    <em>[This is crazy!!! The Food God is insanely strong! I am confident that his power far surpasses the Summit Five that are widely acknowledged by the whole world!!!]</em>

    <em>[Did you see that?! The sword that pierced through Da Zhuang¡¯s armor, the horizontal sword strike, as well as the four lightning strikes that followed right after. yer Minhyuk¡¯s skills and abilities are very surprising!!!]</em>

    <em>[The scream that was ripped out of Da Zhuang¡¯s mouth has opened our eyes to a new world!]</em>

    <em>[Food God Minhyuk will be writing history once the world is united!!!]</em>

    <em>[Korea¡¯s Food God yer is making waves in our world!!!]</em>

    <em>[I¡¯m sure the portal sites all over the world are being used to search for the name ¡®Food God¡¯!]</em>

    <em>[I¡¯m very proud! I¡¯m very, very proud! That yer, Food God Minhyuk, is one of our country¡¯s citizens!!!]</em>

    Although Minhyuk was unaware of it, countless Korean viewers watching from all over the country were all cheering loudly.

    ***

    At the same time.

    The remaining troops from the Korean Defense Base that had retreated earlier divided themselves into five groups, and circled around to take advantage of their enemies, wanting to catch them unaware. Most of the survivors among their troops were those with a high level, while the bases that the Chinese had left behind only had the minimal troops for protection.

    Lucia, the Assassin of the Moon, entered the base first, struck down the key figures andmanding officers inside the base, before opening the gates. Their troops flocked inside the base the moment the gates opened. Meanwhile, Lucia used her skills repeatedly.

    <em>[Shadow Teleport]</em>

    Shadow Teleport was a unique skill of Lucia¡¯s ss, Assassin of the Moon. It had a GPS-like tracking function, which allowed her to teleport and move to her opponent¡¯s shadow. In fact, piercing through a base¡¯s defense was quite a difficult task since they needed to break down their walls. However with Lucia breaking inside first, killing the enemy key figures and opening the gates, their enemies became helpless under their assault.

    <em>[You have sessfully captured Ednik Defense Base.]</em>

    <em>[You can now acquire the special potions and artifacts left behind in Ednik Defense Base.]</em>

    <em>[You have sessfully captured Caidron Attack Base.]</em>

    <em>[You can now acquire the special potions and artifacts left behind in Caidron Attack Base.]</em>

    <em>[¡­Eidren Defense Base.]</em>

    The five teams recaptured five bases in one go, while maintaining their momentum and recapturing the other bases with minimal troops within.

    On the Continent Cloud Map, the bases upied by Asgan Continent were marked with red dots, while the bases upied by Cairon Continent were marked with blue dots. Initially, 70% of the bases had been marked with blue dots and turned into Cairon Continent¡¯s bases.

    When they took advantage of the Chinese¡¯s absence and began their counter, the red dots gradually covered the Continent Cloud map. They were only able to do this because Minhyuk and Carr were doing a good job in blocking the 50,000 enemy troops.

    After Lucia and Alicia had taken over another base, the two made eye contact.

    ¡°We have to go back.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Minhyuk and Carr were both fighting by themselves, so they had to hurry back and help them. Besides, they only needed to leave a minimal number of troops behind for protection, since they had alreadypletely captured the attack and defense bases.

    ¡°Rankers, rush back to the Korean Defense Base!!!¡±

    ¡°Yes!!!¡±

    Meanwhile, Alicia and Lucia¡¯s hearts were both burning for one person, and one person alone.

    <em>¡®Wait for us, Minhyuk.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®We¡¯reing.</em>

    At the same time.

    ¡°Ha¡­ ha¡­ ha¡­ ha¡­¡±

    ¡°Ughhhh.¡±

    Tens of thousands of enemiesid down on the ground, while the man in ck armor stood in line with the countless Dragon Race warriors that he led. Genie and the other key members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect Guild had also survived. The fierce battle in Berdk Attack Base had taken a different turn. ck Dragon¡¯s arrival gave them the chance and made it possible for them to turn the tides.

    However, there was still something that they needed to do.

    ¡°My son, Minhyuk, is fighting against tens of thousands of troops by himself?!¡±

    ¡°Yes, father¡­¡±

    ¡°Ho¡­¡±

    A dark shadow briefly flickered in ck Dragon¡¯s eyes. However, he soon felt pride swelling up deep in his bones after hearing what his son was doing.

    ¡°Rascal.¡±

    ck Dragon had also learned that his son had ordered all of the remaining troops to <em>¡®rob the empty houses</em>[1]¡¯. Minhyuk might have a hard time holding out against the tens of thousands of troops, and might possibly suffer from defeat, but there was one thing that they were sure of. He had already paved their path to <em>¡®victory¡¯</em>. He knew how to sacrifice himself.

    There was always a saying: There would always be a ruler sitting in the position of power, but it might not always be a good ruler.

    ck Dragon knew this well, and ran his empire in as much a different manner as he could, and could be considered a ¡®good ruler¡¯. It seemed like Minhyuk was also someone worthy of those words.

    <em>¡®As expected of my son.¡¯</em>

    ck Dragon decided to stop wasting time, and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    The 1,200 remaining warriors from the Dragon Race, along with the surviving troops from Berdk Attack Base, set off towards the Korean Defense Base.

    ***

    As, the City in the Skies!

    As was also currently heading to the Korean Defense Base.

    ¡°Our Love, Happiness and Hope, did you get injured? Oh my, my~ Did it hurt?¡± Locke said as he borrowed some medicine from Kaistra to treat Cerberus¡¯ injuries.

    Meanwhile, Ali had his hands folded as he looked down at the ground below them. Then¡­

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[<strong>Sudden Quest</strong>: King of Snakes]</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: SSS</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: Great Mage Moldoron¡¯s Descendant</em>

    <em><strong>Rewards</strong>: Final Fragment of the Golden Crown</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty for Failure</strong>: Failure to get the Fragment of the Golden Crown. You will not be able to be the King of Snakes.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: As one of the owners of the divine beasts, you need to take the test and determine if you are fit to be the King of Snakes. Go to the ¡®World of Snakes¡¯ with the help of the Predatory Snake and be recognized as their king.</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Ali was very shocked. There was no doubt that this was a very huge, and important, quest. In the rewards, the <em>¡®final Fragment of the Golden Crown¡¯ </em>was written.

    <em>¡®This Fragment of the Golden Crown¡­¡¯</em>

    Ali had heard from Minhyuk in passing before that these fragments had the ability to awaken Beanie. However, that was not the problem right now.

    <em>¡®Why did this suddenly appear?¡¯</em>

    Sudden quests would appear depending on what was currently happening, or what would happen in the near future. Ali was still unaware of what would happen, but he was certain that he needed to get his hands on this power, in preparation for what would happen in the future.

    Ali hurriedly talked about his situation with the remaining people in As, before opening up a space through the Predatory Snake and entering the World of Snakes. Ali stepped foot in the space and promptly disappeared from everyone¡¯s sight.

    ***

    Joy Co. Ltd.

    This was thepany that produced the extraordinary game, <em>Athenae</em>! Thepany had started bing busy again. There were quite a lot of people rushing around the corridors and the elevators.

    Among these busy people was none other than Team Leader Park Minggyu. He was also bustling, despite justing back from Washington early this morning. Team Leader Park saw Team Leader Lee Seokhoon appear and run beside him as they both rushed to the same ce.

    <em>ck¡ª</em>

    When they opened the door to the conference room, they were met with the sight of the other executives breathing heavily, while President Kang Taehoon sat in front of the monitor, sporting a very heavy and solemn look on his face.

    The executives had just been enthusiastically jumping around and cheering after watching Minhyuk cut down Da Zhuang. All of a sudden, an emergency fell upon them.

    Team Leader Park Minggyu asked, ¡°Is it true? ck Dragon Vormon is heading straight towards and breaking into the Continent Cloud right now?!¡±

    President Kang Taehoon nodded slowly at Team Leader Park¡¯s hurried question. He said, ¡°That seems to be the case, yes.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ck Dragon Vormon was originally just an existence that would serve to open the passage called Continent Cloud and ignite the spark of war between the two continents. He was not supposed to directly intrude inside the Continent Cloud.

    This meant that someone took personal liberty in dabbling with ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s affairs.

    ¡°Who, who in the world¡­?!¡±

    ¡°Crazy Tyrant Akhan.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Everyone present in the conference room were all in horror.

    He was the person that the yer management team shunned the most. In fact, he was someone that everyone shunned. Besides, he was a yer that originally did note from Asgan Continent.

    ¡°Akhan deliberately acquired the right to go to another continent and made Vormon go into a frenzy. They¡¯re now flying towards the Korean Defense Base.¡±

    Team Leader Park slumped down in his chair after hearing those words. Vormon¡¯s level was at a level that no yer could fight against at this juncture of the game.

    Vormon was supposed to be an existence that would only be used in another episode, in the next few years. Only then would they be able to hunt him. However, his existence had now been revealed.

    The worst part was that he was going to appear in the middle of the Continent Cloud. There were tens of thousands of yers concentrated in that area. ck Dragon Vormon would not care about who was who, he would just ughter the yers from both Cairon and Asgan Continents.

    In other words, the Continent Cloud episode was likely to bepletely destroyed.

    And that was not the end of their problems. Whether it was the Asgan Continent or the Cairon Continent, Vormon remained an existence that they could not currently kill. They would just be helpless in front of him.

    Once this untouchable existence broke into the Continent Cloud and killed everyone, the yers would definitely me thepany. Since they had set <em>Athenae</em> as a game with a high degree of freedom for both NPCs and yers, the <em>Athenae</em> executives would have nothing to say to defend themselves, even if they grew ten mouths on their bodies. Their biggest problem was the amount of criticism and rebuke that they would receive after that. It would definitely surpass any other criticisms that they had received before. After all, the entire world was currently tuned in to what was happening right now in the Continent Cloud.

    Then, as if he recalled something, Team Leader Park jumped up and said, ¡°What would happen¡­ if someone kills Vormon¡­?¡±

    ¡°It will be a blessing in disguise.¡±

    Simply put, they would turn their misfortune into their own fortune. Instead of turning on them and criticizing them, the entire world would turn their attention to the man that killed the disaster and shower him with <em>¡®praises¡¯</em>. This would automatically remove the dark cloud hanging over all the heads of <em>Athenae</em>¡¯s executives. The problem was¡­

    ¡°Who the hell would be able to do that? Tell me who. Huh?¡± President Kang Taehoon mocked, as Team Leader Park Minggyu closed his eyes after a deep and heavy sigh.

    ***

    At the same time.

    <em>Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp¡ª</em>

    A woman was moving her spoon hurriedly as she ate. She was in such a hurry that she ended up lifting the entire bowl and gulping down its contents. The moment the woman finished drinking the contents of the bowl, the darkness that bloomed on her face and skin slowly receded, until it returned to its original color. Even her dry, rough, and tangled silver hair returned to its original smoothness, beauty, and luster.

    This woman was none other than Sword Emperor Ellie.

    ¡°Puhaaa!¡± Ellie exhaled in contentment after eating the sumptuous meal. Then, she slowly stood up and reached for the sword that was hanging at one side. The sword immediately flew to her hands.

    ¡°Aide Ruth.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty!!!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s give our thanks to Minhyuk,¡± Ellie said, grinning widely.

    Ellie, the Continental Emperor, the Absolute Supreme NPC, was on her way to the Korean Defense Base!

    1. Basically taking advantage of the fact that the Chinese weren¡¯t there so they could easily take over and rob the bases from them ?

 Chapter 380: Hunting Black Dragon

    Chapter 380: Hunting ck Dragon

    While the world was burning with excitement and enthusiasm after witnessing Minhyuk cut down Da Zhuang, the person that was cut himself was in awe.

    <em>¡®How can there be a genius like him in this day and age¡­?!¡¯ </em>Da Zhuang thought as blood spurted out of his body.

    Da Zhuang was a legendary assassin that had even killed an emperor before. The reason why he was still able to keep his cool was simply because of Anox, who had learned the Pinnacle. He even shocked the world with his incredible power during the final battle with Ellie. Back then, they would have all died already, if it were not for Anox. And this time, once again¡­

    <em>[Pinnacle Puppetry]</em>

    <em>[Your body is trying to swap with another intact body.]</em>

    With their hidden trump card, Da Zhuang¡¯s body started to melt in preparation for its recovery. But then¡­

    ¡°Fluttering Sword.¡±

    Wind blew strongly around Minhyuk¡¯s body. The wind picked up the fallen leaves and made them flutter. Then, as if on cue, Carr also sheathed his sword as he slowly gripped the sheath before drawing his sword again.

    ¡°Continuous Quick Draw!!!¡±

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng, ng, ng!</em>

    The hundreds of troops that rushed to save Da Zhuang all fell down in a useless heap. Then, the golden leaves from Minhyuk¡¯s ¡®Fluttering Sword¡¯ turned as sharp as sword des as they began to cut down the enemies.

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping!</em>

    This attack also cut down hundreds of their enemies. Meanwhile, Da Zhuang, whose body was starting to form, thought, <em>¡®Did you think that I¡¯m dead?¡¯</em>

    For a moment, Da Zhuang wondered if they were worried about him at all. Did they not see how resilient and persistent his people were during their fight with Ellie? Da Zhuang smirked as he watched his body¡¯s regeneration reach his neck.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s strong, but he¡¯s a moron.¡¯</em>

    Da Zhuang could see that the eyes of the man in front of him were dull. His eyes could only see the enemies in front of him. At this moment, Da Zhuang¡¯s body had already regenerated up to his eyes. He immediately grabbed his dagger and thought, <em>¡®I¡¯ming now.¡¯</em>

    Carr and Minhyuk were still showing off their powerful force and momentum as they cut down the surrounding enemies. They did not spare any of their skills. The same was true for <em>¡®Bread Shuttle¡¯</em>. Then, at that moment¡­

    ¡°Found you.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Da Zhuang looked at Minhyuk in doubt.

    <em>¡®Found you? What do you mean by ¡®found you¡¯?¡¯</em>

    Da Zhuang could not understand who Minhyuk found. Then, he slowly turned his head to look at the direction that he was looking at.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Da Zhuang saw a living existence standing nkly in the distance. He knew full well who that was. That was his ¡®<em>own self¡¯</em> created by <em>¡®Anox¡¯</em> using his skill Pinnacle Puppetry. Da Zhuang would be able to revive the moment he died, by swapping his body with that puppet. In fact, after any of their deaths, they would be able to survive again, as long as Anox made another puppet like that.

    However, the story would be different if that puppet got destroyed. Da Zhuang¡¯s pupils shrank in disbelief.

    <em>¡®H¡­ how¡­?¡¯</em>

    Da Zhuang had been revived by the Pinnacle Puppetry during their battle with Ellie. He thought, <em>¡®Ellie had seen through this power back then. Did Ellie tell him? No, she¡¯s not in a state where she can tell him that at all.¡¯</em>

    If that was the case, then what did this mean?

    <em>¡®He saw through it by himself?!¡¯</em>

    In fact, Minhyuk had watched the battle video between Ellie and the ck Dragon Order more than a dozen times, ying it on repeat. When Ellie said that she <em>¡®found it¡¯</em>, he realized that there was a reason why they came back to life. That was when he realized it as well. So, he turned his attention towards the enemies that surrounded Ellie.

    For skills like this, there was a high chance that the puppet was close to the skill user. So, what would happen if he used his skills to sweep away the surrounding enemies? Then, there would only be one person left.

    The reason?

    The puppet would be designed to be resilient and tough. This meant that its defense or HP would be much higher than anybody else. There was also a high probability that the puppet was wearing a mask or a helmet, while hiding amongst the enemies.

    Da Zhuang was already almostplete. But, Minhyuk was already peeling off the helmet from the puppet.

    ¡°N¡­no!!!¡±

    Da Zhuang¡¯s face, with his unfocused eyes, appeared. Then, Minhyuk swung his sword down fiercely.

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    At that moment, Da Zhuang¡¯s figure that was almost regenerated, melted once again. Then, the notifications rang for Minhyuk.

    <em>[You have sessfully hunted Da Zhuang, who had stepped on the Pinnacle realm.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the <strong>Title</strong>: The One who Defeated the Pinnacle.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 500 REP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 500,000,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[Due to the Marrow Bone¡¯s Power, a 3x EXP buff has been applied.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained an additional 1,000,000,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Da Zhuang¡¯s Bloody Dagger.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Da Zhuang¡¯s records of Assassin¡¯s Dagger Technique: ¡®What is the Pinnacle Dagger Skill?¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 845 tinum.]</em>

    <em>(<strong>The One who Defeated the Pinnacle</strong>)</em>

    <em>Unique Title</em>

    <em><strong>Title Effects:</strong></em>

    <em>? You will receive an additional 12% increase in both Attack and Defense in a battle against those that have mastered the Pinnacle.</em>

    <em>? You will receive an additional 15% increase in both Attack and Defense in a battle against opponents that are 200 levels stronger than yourself. </em>

    <em>? Your body has developed into a body that can truly climb to the Pinnacle realm.</em>

    <em>(<strong>Da Zhuang¡¯s Bloody Dagger</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: Legendary</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: Assassin ss</em>

    <em><strong>Durability</strong>: 5,000 / 5,000</em>

    <em><strong>Attack</strong>: 818</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>? Has a 60% chance of ignoring the opponent¡¯s defense.</em>

    <em>? The damage will double upon sessful hit to a vital point.</em>

    <em>? Movement Speed increases by 1.5x</em>

    <em>? Active Skill: Deadly Strike</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: This is a dagger that Da Zhuang, a legend of the past, carried with him for the longest time. Rumor has it that the bloody luster of the de came to be by being soaked in the blood of his enemies for a long, long time. This is the best artifact for the assassin ss.</em>

    It was truly a drop worthy of a legendary figure like Da Zhuang. The best part of this was the fact that the dagger could increase the wearer¡¯s movement speed by 1.5x.

    <em>¡®Fufu. I¡¯ll give this to Abel so I can get something delicious.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s thoughts were the same as ever. Of course, this thought did not linger in his head for longer than necessary. This was because he still had plenty of enemies that he did not have the luxury to dawdle around.

    Then, these notifications rang for his enemies:

    <em>[Da Zhuang, your Commander-in-Chief, has been killed by the enemy.]</em>

    <em>[Your morale has decreased sharply.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have decreased by 15%.]</em>

    <em>[Your skill cooldown has increased by 15%.]</em>

    <em>[Your attack hit rate has decreased by 10%.]</em>

    The enemies fell into chaos. They had just witnessed Da Zhuang¡¯s absolute death! Minhyuk even found Anox, who was hiding nearby, and used his sword to cut him lightly. Simply put, the <em>¡®ck Dragon Order¡¯</em> hadpletely copsed under the hands of the Food God.

    That might be the case, but things still were not looking optimistic for the Asgan yers.

    <em>[It¡¯spletely shocking and unbelievable that three people alone can deal this much damage against their enemies.]</em>

    <em>[Those yers are the best yers in Korea. Ah, pardon. Let me rephrase that. We can safely say that they are the best yers in the entire world right now.]</em>

    One of thementators corrected himself.

    Carr was originally Korea¡¯s number one ranker in the official rankings. On top of that, he temporarily acquired Conir¡¯s power when Conir possessed his body. Then, there was Bread Shuttle Mei Wei, she was the woman hailed as the official global number one ranker. And then, there was Minhyuk, he was themander that these two people served willingly.

    However, there were literally too many enemies.

    <em>[There are still 30,000 enemies left.]</em>

    <em>[No matter how many times they cut their enemies down, they would eventually get tired and exhausted.]</em>

    <em>[If each of the 30,000 enemy troops dealt 100 damage, the umted damage that they would receive would be huge.]</em>

    Even the ordinary viewers were of the same opinion.

    <em>[The three of them did their part well. They hunted Da Zhuang, the ck Dragon Order, and 20,000 troops, all on their own.]</em>

    <em>[No person would dare to deny that the Food God is on par, perhaps even stronger, with the Summit Five.]</em>

    <em>[I want to join the Let¡¯s Eat Sect Guild¡­]</em>

    <em>[I want to join the Let¡¯s Eat Sect too.]</em>

    With Minhyuk at the center of the world¡¯s spotlight, it was only natural that the interest of the public towards the Let¡¯s Eat Sect would increase. But then, at that moment¡­

    <em>[Huh? I think there¡¯s a strange ck being flying over there?]</em>

    <em>[Oh? What¡¯s that over there? Wow, your eyes are really sharp, huh? How can you see that?]</em>

    It was just a tiny speck that appeared in the distance, like a small dot from a ballpoint pen ced on a clean sheet of paper. However, this speck of dot was growing in size. That was when the cameras broadcasting all over the world turned to look at it. Even the broadcasters from all over the world began to buzz.

    <em>[Camera 5!!! The sky! Get a shot of the sky!!!]</em>

    <em>[Camera 8!!! Is it still impossible for you to identify the mysterious flying being?!!!]</em>

    <em>[What the hell is that?! It¡¯s getting bigger and bigger!!!]</em>

    The truth was the broadcasting stations were about to lose their ratings. After all, it seemed like it would take days before the three against 30,000 battle happening over here would finish. But just when they have decided to just look at the <em>¡®results¡¯</em>ter, a mysterious, unidentified flying being appeared in front of their cameras.

    With the appearance of the mysterious flying being, they expected their ratings to shoot up once again. The broadcasters from all over the world were hoping that this mysterious flying being would revive their dying ratings. And they did get their wish, as the mysterious flying being truly revived their ratings.

    However, it was through despair. Despair had caused their ratings to skyrocket.

    Before they knew it, the speck of dot had grown so big, to the point where they could see its outline. The mysterious flying being was as huge as a mountain and had two gigantic wings.

    Then, the terrifying roar came.

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    The roar made all of the yers present in the Korean Defense Base cover their ears in pain.

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaargh!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaack! My ears! I can¡¯t hear!!!¡±

    Blood flowed down from their ears, as their eardrums erupted from the loud roar. Some of the troops could not bear it and copsed on the ground while shrieking in pain.

    <em>[¡­!]</em>

    <em>[¡­!]</em>

    <em>[¡­!]</em>

    <em>[¡­!]</em>

    The ground shook from a single roar of this being. Then, the notifications rang for the yers from both the Cairon and Asgan Continents.

    <em>[ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s Descent!]</em>

    <em>[ck Dragon Vormon is in a frenzied state.]</em>

    <em>[If you fail to stop ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s frenzy, both continents will be razed to the ground and turned into wastnds.]</em>

    <em>[The ones that are able to hunt ck Dragon Vormon will receive rewards that have never been seen before.]</em>

    <em>[The path to ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s ¡®Lair¡¯ will be shown to the ones that will be able to sessfully hunt him.]</em>

    With ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s imminent arrival, fear and terror engulfed the entire area.

    ¡°D¡­ Dragon¡­!!!¡±

    ¡°Are you crazy?!!!¡±

    ¡°There was no dragon invasion scheduled in the episode?!!!¡±

    ¡°Hey! Get a grip!!!¡±

    Plenty of the troops were rolling on the ground in pain, while those that were still standing were already cowering from fear. This was a being that reigned supreme in the <em>Middle-Earth</em> worldview. On top of that, ck Dragon Vormon was said to be an existence that far surpassed the Dragon Lord in strength.

    That was right. <em>Athenae</em> had earlier announced that ck Dragon Vormon would not directly invade the Continent Cloud. That was why they could not understand the situation right now. That was when they discovered an existence standing on top of ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s back.

    ¡°Crazy¡­ Crazy Tyrant Akhan!!!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s, it¡¯s, it¡¯s the Crazy Tyrant!!!¡±

    He was an existence that brought terror to the American <em>Athenae </em>server. This person wore a skull mask, a ck robe, and held a scythe. This person was known as the Crazy Tyrant, Akhan. However, the information about him was notplete and precise. All they knew was that he was an existence that brought <em>¡®terror¡¯</em> wherever he went. This man, as though possessed by ghosts, mumbled viciously and hoarsely, ¡°This is a disaster.¡± Then, he disappeared after those words, leaving a frenzied ck Dragon Vormon behind.

    <em>[Shit. How can they kill something like that?!]</em>

    <em>[No. They have to do the best they can. But, how can any yer hunt a dragon right now?!!! Goodness, our Minhyuk could have wiped out those 30,000 troops!]</em>

    <em>[Athenae operators, make sure to make an announcement andpensate everyone for this!!!]</em>

    Meanwhile, thementators¡­

    <em>[A disaster has appeared in front of us¡­!]</em>

    <em>[ck Dragon Vormon is an existence that can easily travel between both Cairon Continent and Asgan Continent. If no one can stop him, then both the Chinese and Korean servers might just disappear from existence.]</em>

    <em>[In the first ce, there¡¯s no way that a yer can hunt a dragon right now.]</em>

    <em>[This is clearly Crazy Tyrant Akhan¡¯s doing.]</em>

    <em>[Crazy Tyrant Akhan has been constantly disrupting the ns of the Athenae Management.]</em>

    <em>[Perhaps this is the biggest disaster ever. Especially with the fate of two servers at stake.]</em>

    <em>[Can they stop him? Will this episode end in vain?]</em>

    At that moment, Korea¡¯s ATV Broadcasting Station reached its all time high in viewership rating at 60%. And in front of 60% of the nation¡¯s poption¡­

    ¡°Despair.¡±

    The being hailed as the king of magic, ck Dragon Vormon, created thousands of magic spells around his body. This was a spectacr and terrifying sight that no one could ever replicate. And then¡­

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The notifications rang for the yers as the spells rained down on their 30,000-strong troops.

    <em>[Your Magical Defense has been deemed useless.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has turned zero. You have been forced to log out.]</em>

    <em>[Your Magical Defense has been deemed useless.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has turned zero. You have been forced to log out.]</em>

    <em>[Your Magical Defense has been deemed useless.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has turned zero. You have been forced to log out.]</em>

    <em>[Your Magical Defense has been deemed useless.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has turned zero. You have been forced to log out.]</em>

    It was just an instant. However, in that short time, more than 6,000 yers had been wiped out. The entire world was thrown into panic and chaos from the horrifying disy of force that ck Dragon Vormon showed.

 Chapter 381: Hunting Black Dragon

    Chapter 381: Hunting ck Dragon

    The advent of ck Dragon Vormon had brought shock and terror to countless <em>Athenae</em> yers, viewers, and experts all over the world.

    Cold sweat formed in the hands of the viewers watching TV in their houses, while those watching on their mobile phones stopped in their tracks to look at the scene. People began to flock to the screens disyed in front of stores with banners that said <em>¡®Computers for Sale¡¯.</em> The people in the subway secretly peeked at the screen of the person sitting next to them, unknowingly feeling nervous and anxious. Then, the buzz finally came.

    ¡°What¡­what the hell?!¡±

    ¡°A single attack killed thousands¡­¡±

    ¡°How can they hunt something like that? Are the Athenae operators crazy?¡±

    Some of thementators said that both the Cairon and the Asgan Continents would beid to waste if ck Dragon Vormon was not stopped. This might just be the truth. After all, ck Dragon Vormon was a very powerful existence that could easily suppress and hold down a powerful figure like an emperor. That was why thementators did not distinguish between Korea or China when they spoke.

    ¡°Who the hell can kill a monster like that?¡±

    ¡°If they can¡¯t hunt that, then will the Continent Cloud episode be over?¡±

    ¡°But¡­ who in the world will be able to do that?¡±

    ¡°Who can kill that?¡±

    That was right. Who could kill ck Dragon Vormon? Out of all the content in <em>Athenae</em>, plenty were still yet to be released. Vormon¡¯s existence was supposed to appear muchter when people that could hunt him down would appear. But, for the yers¡¯ current level at this point in time, it was an impossible feat.

    Then, the cameras from all over the world focused and zoomed in on one person. It was an impossible feat, but perhaps, they might still have a chance if it was him. And this person was none other than Food God Minhyuk. Right now, all of the global rankers and the viewers from all over the world were looking at the figure of the Food God reflected on their screens.

    ***

    Thementators from all over the world were brought into a panic. They were so shocked and terrified that they lost their words, not knowing what to say about the situation.

    Just a single attack had wiped out 5,000 yers and left no traces at all. The magic spells floating around ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s body were only from the Second to Fourth Tier Magic. However, the fact that it was ck Dragon Vormon that used the magic was what made it different. ck Dragon Vormon was an existence that stood at the apex of magic. The damage that stemmed from his magic was beyond anyone¡¯s imagination and was even enough to cripple his opponents¡¯ magical defense and render them useless.

    One of thementators, who watched the scene in a daze, finally came back to his senses and said,

    <em>[More than 5,000 yers from Cairon Continent have disappeared.]</em>

    <em>[There are only 25,000 of their troops left together with the three people from Asgan Continent. These people are the only ones that could do something about this disaster.]</em>

    <em>[If they stop him, they will all be remembered as Athenae¡¯s heroes.]</em>

    <em>[But if they can¡¯t stop him, then all hell will break loose.]</em>

    <em>[In fact, all of the rankers and experts from all over the world see this as a disaster for both the Asgan and Cairon Continents.]</em>

    <em>[Everyone said that this is an impossible feat. Of course, they might have a chance if all of the rankers in the world will gather to fight.]</em>

    <em>[However, the only people present in the Continent Cloud are the yers from Asgan and Cairon Continents.]</em>

    <em>[While everyone is curious about what kind of tactic and strategy they will use, Cairon Continent has already lost their Commander-in-Chief Da Zhuang. They are already in a state of confusion, and with ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s advent on top of that, they have clearly descended to despair right now.]</em>

    <em>[I¡¯m very curious about how they will try to hunt Vormon.]</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    A thick cloud of dust rose up in the sky. All of the surviving yers looked up in the sky in panic and terror.

    <em>Gulp¡ª</em>

    The sound of someone gulping dryly rang loudly in the otherwise silent battlefield. Then, they made their choice. The decision that all of the Chinese high rankers made was simple.

    ¡°Food God! Give us your orders!!!¡±

    ¡°Get a hold of yourselves!!! We¡¯ll all die if we get distracted for even a second in here!!!¡±

    ¡°Food God, your orders!!!¡±

    ¡°Give us your orders!!!¡±

    ¡°We will follow you!!!¡±

    <em>[Something, something surprising just happened.]</em>

    <em>[The Cairon Continent high rankers that were just pointing their swords towards the Food God are now asking the Food God to give them his orders.]</em>

    <em>[They unanimously chose the Food God as their Commander-in-Chief.]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s a good decision. From this point on, this battle is no longer a war between Asgan Continent and Cairon Continent. If both the Asgan and Cairon Continents seed in hunting Vormon, their battle will be a legend that will remain in Athenae for a very long time toe.]</em>

    <em>[They¡¯re afraid. But, they¡¯re also trembling right now for another reason.]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s up to them to write history. And the hero that will lead them is none other than the Food God. This is something that they have no doubts about.]</em>

    That was right. Plenty of the yers were scared. But, they were not trembling for that reason. A new existence. A new monster. A being that humans could not hunt. However, the fact that they had a chance to hunt this monster brought a thrill of delight in them.

    Sometimes, in a dungeon, when a yer discovered an extremely strong monster, and even died during the process, they would still be delighted. After all, their name would be known as the yer that met the monster for the first time.

    Minhyuk, who had be flustered, came back to his senses after hearing the voices of the 25,000 strong troops. When he looked around, he saw tens of thousands of troops looking at him and waiting for his orders.

    Worried about their betrayal? Impossible. None of them would be willing to stab them in their backs when all of them were in danger of dying. Besides, they could just cut each other down after they dealt with Vormon.

    Minhyuk finally breathed again, firm determination coloring his eyes, as he raised his sword high up in the sky.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaah!!!¡±

    A loud roar spread from within the Korean Defense Base. The panicked yers slowly gained their determination to hunt, to reach for the skies and hunt a being that transcended beyond their own realm.

    ¡°Bread Shuttle! Carr!¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°Bread Shuttle, release your power!¡±

    ¡°¡­Yes!¡±

    The reason why Mei Wei was called <em>¡®Bread Shuttle¡¯ </em>was partly because she wanted to hide her identity. But perhaps, it was time to reveal her identity. Mei Wei had no regrets, even if all of the Chinese people med her. It was alright even if everyone criticized her and spoke ill of her. It would not change the fact that she cared for, and loved the Food God. He was her king, the global number one ranker¡¯s king.

    Mei Wei had also eaten the marrow bone broth ahead of their long-term battle against the 50,000 troops. She had used her power and buff abilities only towards herself, Minhyuk, and Carr. These were the notifications that she heard after she ate the marrow bone broth.

    <em>[You have eaten the Ox Bone Soup made from the Leftover Marrow Bone Broth.]</em>

    <em>[Your MP reserve has increased by 2.5x.]</em>

    <em>[Your Buff-rted Skill Cooldown has decreased by 70%.]</em>

    <em>[Your Buff-rted Skill Mana Consumption has decreased by 40%.]</em>

    <em>[The radius of your AOE Buff Skill has increased by 40%.]</em>

    <em>[Your Buff Duration has increased by 40%.]</em>

    <em>[Your Debuff Effect has increased by 30%.]</em>

    <em>[Your Magic Defense has increased by 30%.]</em>

    <em>[Your Critical Hit Attack has increased by 300%.]</em>

    <em>[Your Evasion Rate has increased by 300%.]</em>

    <em>[Your EXP Acquisition Rate has increased by 300%.]</em>

    <em>[All of the skills in your repertoire will exert more power than usual.]</em>

    <em>[The buff willst for three days.]</em>

    Mei Wei could also use debuffs, but she was best in terms of buff abilities, so it was more efficient to use her buff abilities to increase their power. And with the buff from the marrow bone broth, her buff abilities would naturally improve.

    ¡°Rankers,e forward!¡±

    Most of the rankers were already waiting for Minhyuk¡¯s orders so they immediately stepped forward. That was when Mei Wei¡¯s skills came into y. After a moment, white light shot out of Mei Wei¡¯s hands, before turning into a gigantic woman wearing an armor made of light and helmet while holding a huge spear. Then, the Goddess of War cried loudly.

    <em>[Troops, advance!!!]</em>

    Then, the Goddess of War burst into specks of lights that seeped through the yers¡¯ bodies.

    <em>[The Goddess of War¡¯s Cry]</em>

    <em>[The Physical and Magical Attack of everyone within a nine meter radius will increase by 30%.]</em>

    <em>[Your AGI will increase by 30%.]</em>

    <em>[Your Attack Hit Rate will increase by 50%.]</em>

    <em>[Your Critical Hit Rate will increase by 200%.]</em>

    ¡°Heeeeeok?!¡±

    ¡°Keheoook?!¡±

    ¡°How¡­ how can this be¡­?!¡±

    The yers that were within the nine meter radius were very shocked. Especially the ones with buff abilities too. They were very astonished after seeing the shocking ability disyed in front of them. Among them, there were some people that had received Mei Wei¡¯s buff at least once.

    ¡°Are¡­ are you Mei Wei¡­?¡±

    So far, Mei Wei had never used her buff towards the Chinese yers. She also refrained from using her debuffs. One of the reasons was because Mei Wei was well-known for her buff abilities. Some of the yers with buff abilities might recognize her if she did so. However, she used it in consideration of Minhyuk¡¯s orders.

    ¡°Did you say Mei Wei?¡±

    ¡°The global number one ranker, Mei Wei?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s our China¡¯s pride, though¡­¡±

    ¡°The world¡¯s greatest beauty!!!¡±

    Mei Wei took off her mask amidst their murmurs. The entire world was left in shock the moment she revealed her face. She knew that she could not hide her identity any longer anyway. However, Mei Wei knew that her appearance right now would change the minds of those that were still hesitant to ce their trust on the Food God.

    ¡°It¡¯s really Mei Wei!¡±

    ¡°Mei Wei is Bread Shuttle¡­?¡±

    ¡°How could it be her¡­?¡±

    Then, Mei Wei said, ¡°Although I¡¯m not good enough, I will also lend you my strength. So please, trust me and follow me.¡±

    Then, one of the yers asked, ¡°Why, why did you serve the Food God? Why didn¡¯t you fight for us in the Continent Cloud?!¡±

    Mei Wei was very famous for her volunteering and donation activities all over the world. It was to the point that people deified her. And this deified Mei Wei said, ¡°The Food God is my king.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The world was shocked and thementators were in a buzz from the global number one ranker¡¯s deration. The Chinese yers knew that this was not what was important right now. So, what they did was grab their swords tightly.

    <em>Clench¡ª</em>

    ¡°It¡¯s worth trying if we¡¯re with Mei Wei.¡±

    ¡°Mei Wei!!!¡±

    ¡°Lead our charge!!!¡±

    Mei Wei looked around them and said, ¡°Put your trust in the Food God, follow him, and we will gain victory!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    Their roars shook the sky.

    On the other hand,

    ¡°Carr, I''ve been your fan since a long time ago.¡±

    ¡°Olympic Gold Medalist Carr!¡±

    Carr, Korea¡¯s official number one ranker and Olympic gold medalist in kendo, had countless fans from all over the world. His finals match in the Olympics was against a Chinese. During their match, Carrpletely overwhelmed his Chinese opponent with his skills, which made the Chinese people unable to criticize nor speak ill of him.

    Carr raised his sword high up in the sky and told his fans, ¡°Lift your swords and protect the Food God! Follow him and fight for him and he will lead us to the path of victory!!! We will win!!!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    The three of them moved andmanded the 25,000 strong troops.

    <em>[The, the three people that fought against them had now be their strongest and most reliable allies, and even moved tomand them!]</em>

    <em>[Global number one ranker, Mei Wei! Korea¡¯s official number one ranker and Olympic gold medalist Carr! And their king, the Food God!]</em>

    <em>[The 25,000 strong troops are now united! Perhaps there is a chance!!!]</em>

    Minhyuk took over the entiremand and started giving his orders, ¡°Spread out! Mage yers, start casting and umting your most powerful magic! Send it to the air as soon as Vormon uses his skills!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!!!¡±

    ¡°Archer yers! Focus your arrows on Vormon¡¯s eyes! No matter how hard and tough his scales are, his eyes would still remain vulnerable!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!!!¡±

    ¡°Assassins, stick to Vormon¡¯s body the moment he descends and continuously send your attacks! As long as you stick close to Vormon¡¯s body, his magic will not reach you!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!!!¡±

    ¡°Priests, don¡¯t spare your heals, use them on those that will stick close to Vormon. Make sure to take care of the allies around you and stick close to the melee yers for protection!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!!!¡±

    The world was in awe as they watched the Food God skillfully give out his orders, despite the dire situation that they were in. People from all over the world were in admiration at the scene.

    Among the jet-ck sea of the 25,000 strong army stood the Food God, Minhyuk. He lifted his Devil Judge¡¯s Sword high up in the sky, like a shining beacon, as ck light shot out from his sword.

    ¡°Let Vormon¡¯s hunt begin!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s solemn and dignified voice rang loudly and made the entire world tremble. With hismand, the 25,000 strong troops started to move.

 Chapter 382: Hunting Black Dragon

    Chapter 382: Hunting ck Dragon

    Following Minhyuk¡¯s orders, the 25,000-strong troops quickly spread out. If they stayed as they were and remained clustered together, the damage that they would receive would inevitably increase. That was why Vormon¡¯s attack took out more than 5,000 of them in one go. So, the yers spread out as much as they could.

    ¡°Interesting,¡± Vormon said, chuckling lightly as he looked down at them from the sky. The fact that these human beings were trying to fight against him, a supreme and lofty being in this world, was trulyughable. And along with his words¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>Crackle¡ª</em>

    <em>Burst¡ª</em>

    ¡­gigantic pirs of zing mes burst out from all over the ground and devoured the yers.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Urghhhh!¡±

    There were a total of seven pirs of mes! The troops that identally made contact with the pirs of me disappeared without leaving any trace. After that, thousands of magic spells reappeared all around Vormon in the sky.

    The moment he saw the magic, Minhyuk cried, ¡°Archers and dealers!!!¡±

    ¡°Yes!!!¡±

    ¡°Focus all your arrows and attacks on me!!!¡±

    ¡°What?!¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t say it twice! The moment I give you the signal, attack me as hard as you can!!!¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    All they could do was to put their faith in the Food God.

    Meanwhile, thementators from all over the world were wondering what was happening.

    <em>[What did he mean by asking them to focus their attacks on him?]</em>

    <em>[I can¡¯t understand it either.]</em>

    <em>[However, the archers and the dealers still started to prepare their skills.]</em>

    <em>[They¡¯re showing through their actions that they have ced their trust and faith in the Food God.]</em>

    <em>[Since the yers have spread out, we can expect that the damage that they will receive should significantly decrease.]</em>

    <em>[Even so, based on our estimates, there will at least be 3,000 yers that will die in this attack.]</em>

    Just when the thousands of magic spells that surrounded Vormon¡¯s body were about to fall down, wings made of light spread out from Minhyuk¡¯s shoulder des, and he flew up in the sky with the help of the <em>¡®Wings of Light¡¯ </em>that Mei Wei had temporarily used on him..

    <em>p¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk immediately swapped his equipment as he flew higher in the sky. The weapon that he took out was none other than Hepas¡¯ Legendary Frying Pan. He had strengthened this frying pan once, which increased its defense to 1,000, while its magical defense increased by +200. Even its chances of reflecting magic had increased to 50%. It had be a weapon that could exert the most powerful force against beings that use magic.

    Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>[Frying Pan Gigantification]</em>

    <em>[You can adjust the size of your frying pan depending on the mana that you will input.]</em>

    The frying pan grewrger than Minhyuk¡¯s body. But it did not end there.

    <em>[Frying Pan Gigantification]</em>

    <em>[You can adjust the size of your frying pan depending on the mana that you will input.]</em>

    It grew bigger again. The Frying Pan Gigantification was a skill that could allow the frying pan to increase in size, as long as the skill user continued to inject mana into the frying pan.

    <em>[Frying Pan Gigantification]</em>

    <em>[You can adjust the size of your frying pan depending on the mana that you will input.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Warning</strong>. The frying pan¡¯s size has grown out of control.]</em>

    The frying pan had grown sorge that its shadow now covered a huge area on the ground. But Minhyuk was still increasing its size.

    <em>[Frying Pan Gigantification]</em>

    <em>[You can adjust the size of your frying pan depending on the mana that you will input.]</em>

    <em>[Frying Pan Gigantification]</em>

    <em>[You can adjust the size of your frying pan...]</em>

    The frying pan grewrge enough to cover a 40 meter radius. But there was a problem. As per the warning before, the frying pan had truly grown sorge that Minhyuk could not control it anymore.

    ¡°Kgggggghk¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was just enduring it at best, but it had already grown to the point that he could barely support its weight. Even the entire world wondered if the frying pan could be swung with that much air resistance. Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Thousands of Vormon¡¯s magic spells descended on the yers. Then¡­

    ¡°Now!!!¡±

    ¡­each of the yers on the ground triggered their skills with Minhyuk¡¯s signal.

    ¡°Running Sword!¡±

    ¡°Great Arrow!¡±

    ¡°Sword Dance!¡±

    ¡°Multishot!¡±

    Thousands of attacks flew up all at once. Towards Minhyuk? No. All of their attacks were directed towards Minhyuk¡¯s frying pan. This was what Minhyuk was aiming for. He wanted to use the force of the thousands of skills and attacks from the yers to move the frying pan.

    The thousands of skills mmed into the huge frying pan, creating a huge tremor that shook Minhyuk and his hold on the frying pan. At the same time, the frying pan began to move towards the magic spells falling on the ground. Then, when all of the skills had mmed into the frying pan¡­

    ¡°Haaaaa!¡±

    ¡­Minhyuk flew up once again. The power and impact of the skills had been absorbed by the frying pan, which made it rotate. Minhyuk used this power to sweep away the thousands of magic spells that descended upon them.

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng, ng, ng, ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    The thousands of magic spells mmed into the frying pan all at once. However, they only mmed into the frying pan, and failed to pierce through its defenses. This was all thanks to Minhyuk¡¯s magical defense, which had doubled, and the extremely high magical defense of the frying pan itself. It did not end there.

    <em>[Magical Reflection]</em>

    <em>[You have returned the magical attack back to your enemy.]</em>

    <em>[Magical Reflection]</em>

    <em>[You have returned the magical attack back to your enemy.]</em>

    <em>[Magical Reflection]</em>

    <em>[You have returned the magical attack¡­]</em>

    Hepas¡¯ Legendary Frying Pan¡¯s magical reflection ability had increased to 50%. This meant that half of Vormon¡¯s magic spells that hit the frying pan were reflected back to him.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Vormon¡¯s eyes widened in surprise. Then¡­

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The powerful magic spells that Vormon sent himself were thrown back at him. Then, the mages, who had been preparing their magic spells and waiting for the right time, triggered their skills.

    ¡°Fire Field!!!¡±

    Someone casted Fire Field on Vormon¡¯s body.

    ¡°Lightning!¡±

    ¡°Wind Cutter!¡±

    ¡°Fire Wall!¡±

    ¡°Great Boom!¡±

    Hundreds of magic spells devoured Vormon¡¯s body.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaack!¡±

    Vormon shrieked involuntarily.

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    The viewers watching from all over the world were in shock.

    <em>[C¡­ crazy¡­!]</em>

    <em>[What an amazing method. My goodness! How did he think of reflecting the thousands of magic spells like that?!]</em>

    <em>[And! And! With the help of the thousands of yers, he was able to swing his frying pan!]</em>

    <em>[How can he think of something like that in such a frantic and urgent situation?!]</em>

    ¡°That¡¯s crazy¡­¡±

    ¡°The Food God¡­ is amazing, huh?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m surprised he can make a decision like that.¡±

    ¡°The people from Asgan Continent are our enemies, but I have to admit his brilliance.¡±

    ¡°Food God is truly our Lord, Food God¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s really amazing¡­¡±

    The tens of thousands of troops that followed Minhyuk were all trembling in excitement. All of the Chinese yers were looking at the Food God in fascination and shock. One of the reasons why they were shocked was because they were in a very chaotic situation, and yet, the Food God was still able to quickly analyze everything and make a decision like that. He waspletely different from the other yers, whose minds had gone nk.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk was still flying in the sky. He swapped his now-shrunken frying pan with his Devil Judge¡¯s Sword again. Then, he quickly casted the Sword of Frenzy as he flew higher in the sky. Once he reached Vormon¡¯s vicinity, Mei Wei, with great timing and uracy, sent him another buff.

    <em>[War Goddess¡¯ Attack]</em>

    <em>[All sessful attacks within 4.5 seconds will have a 2.5x damage. This can ovep with other skills.]</em>

    Minhyuk had received the buff <em>¡®War Goddess¡¯ Attack¡¯</em> from Mei Wei back when they hunted the Grim Reaper. Back then, he had to carry out all of his attacks within 2.5 seconds. However, after eating the marrow bone broth, Mei Wei¡¯s power and skills had been strengthened, which increased the duration and power of the skill. As long as Minhyuk¡¯s attacks were sessful within 4.5 seconds, then the damage that he would inflict would be increased by 2.5x. It can even ovep with other skills.

    Minhyuk flew quickly as he triggered the Sword of Frenzy and sent it towards Vormon, who was still shrieking from the onught of the thousands of magical spells that had been sent back to him.

    <em>[Sword of Frenzy]</em>

    Sword of Frenzy was a skill that evolved from the Sword of Fury, and it had reached Half Pinnacle. There was also the marrow bone broth buff that Minhyuk had on top of that. In other words, he could deal an additional 600% damage upon a sessful hit on Vormon¡¯s vital points, as well as strike another eight consecutive hits with an additional 120% damage with each hit. What would happen in that situation if his damage had increased by 2.5x with Mei Wei¡¯s buff?

    <em>Clench¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk grabbed his sword tightly as he stabbed it upward towards the still-roaring Vormon¡¯s chest. And then¡­

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s sword pierced through Vormon¡¯s tough scales and hard skin before digging deeper into his body. At the very same moment, Vormon felt an intense searing pain. It was like no other, a sensation that he had never experienced in all his life.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaaaack!¡± Vormon screamed wildly. But the attack did not end there. Eight consecutive attacks mmed into him right after.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    Attacks continued to m into Vormon¡¯s body while hundreds of sword des formed around Minhyuk¡¯s body. This was the Sword of Frenzy that could attack and strike down the enemies in the surrounding area. And right after that¡­

    <em>[Intangible Sword]</em>

    <em>[Your sword strike has ignored all of the enemy¡¯s defenses.]</em>

    <em>[Lightning]</em>

    <em>[3 strikes!]</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Huge lightning bolts struck down and engulfed Vormon¡¯s body. Then, Minhyuk swapped his weapon once again. Minhyuk erged his frying pan and swung it strongly.

    <em>aaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    A loud and clear sound rang loudly as Vormon fell down on the ground.

    <em>[A very shocking scene is unfolding right in front of our very eyes!]</em>

    <em>[Is Food God, yer Minhyuk, going to be a hero just like this?!]</em>

    <em>[My God!!! Vormon, who everyone thought was impossible to kill, is now going to fall!]</em>

    However, it was not an easy feat.

    ¡°How dare¡­!¡± Vormon shrieked furiously. His voice sounded strangely like something sharp scratching against an iron bowl, ¡°How dare you¡­ HUMAN!¡±

    And with his roar, the falling Vormon immediately spread out his gigantic wings and¡­

    <em>Puhaaaaaaaaaa¡ª!</em>

    Poison magic engulfed the entire area, eroding the lungs and throats of all of the yers on the ground. The radius of Vormon¡¯s poison magic was beyond anyone¡¯s imagination.

    ¡°Keheoook!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaack!¡±

    <em>[You have been subjected to a deadly poison.]</em>

    <em>[A terrible poison has started to erode and melt your organs.]</em>

    <em>[Your skin has started to erode.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has fallen below 50%.]</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    The troops shrieked as they grabbed their necks helplessly from the pain of the poison eroding their organs. At the same time, the injuries they inflicted on Vormon¡¯s body began to twitch and regenerate.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk was very shocked to see it. No, it was more exact to say that he was dispirited. He could not use his Frying Pan Gigantification skill again, which meant that he would not be able to reflect any of the magic spells that Vormon used anymore. Then¡­

    <em>Creak, creak, creak, creak¡ª</em>

    Gigantic tree roots sprung up from the ground and stretched towards Minhyuk, binding his entire body tightly.

    ¡°Urgh!¡±

    Like an anaconda that found its prey, the tree roots wrapped around Minhyuk¡¯s body. Minhyuk tried to force his way out of the tree roots¡¯ hold, but he could not get out from the extremely powerful grip. The tree roots then dragged Minhyuk in front of Vormon.

    ¡°Did you humans think that you stood a chance against me?¡±

    As Vormon¡¯s pupils erged in front of Minhyuk, fear and terror engulfed his entire body.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª!</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    <em>[Your HP has fallen below 70%.]</em>

    The gigantic tree roots tightened their hold on Minhyuk¡¯s body, which made his bones crack. If things continued at this rate, Minhyuk¡¯s body would be crushed from the pressure.

    ¡°N, no!¡±

    ¡°Get the Food God out of there! Quick!¡±

    ¡°Attack!!!¡±

    The poisoned yers staggered as they quickly cast their attack skills to protect Minhyuk, while trying to get him out of his predicament. Hundreds of shields were created and formed in front of Vormon¡¯s re.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Thankfully, they managed to keep him and his attack at bay. But then, Vormon whispered, ¡°Watch in despair. Destruction.¡±

    Vormon knew full well how much terror he could bring to these humans. They would get chills if they so much as thought about his terrifying figure. He would be their worst nightmare. But¡­

    ¡°<em>Haack! Ptew! </em>I want to eat lizard meat!!!¡± Minhyuk shouted as he grinned at Vormon. Vormon grew furious at Minhyuk¡¯s expression. He tightened the grip of the roots that wrapped around Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    <em>[Your HP has fallen below 20%.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has fallen below 10%.]</em>

    <em>[¡­fallen below 6%.]</em>

    The world fell into despair.

    <em>[This is the end.]</em>

    <em>[There¡¯s no hope.]</em>

    <em>[But they gave their all and did a very good job.]</em>

    <em>[The only way to kill Vormon is to call for troops from each of the continents and attack him.]</em>

    ¡°We¡­ we lost¡­¡±

    ¡°In the end, it was impossible for us, huh?¡±

    ¡°¡­Nevertheless, we still gave our all in this fight. Right?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    Everyone had already fallen into despair. But suddenly, a voice rang loud and clear among their desperate sighs.

    ¡°My son¡­ no, my Lord¡­¡±

    The voice shook from repressed anger and fury.

    ¡°How dare you¡­!¡±

    Then, the voice spat out, ¡°Absolute Pinnacle Spear¡±

    Minhyuk, who¡¯s mind was already turning nk, shouted weakly, ¡°N¡­no¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk knew full well what the skill Absolute Pinnacle Spear was, and who was using it. It was a skill with a terrible penalty wherein both of the body¡¯s HP and MP would instantly reach zero upon casting. However, it was a one-shot kill skill that would raise the skill user¡¯s attack power by 3,500%.

    Minhyuk had once said to the person that had this skill, <em>¡®Grandpa. Even if you don¡¯t want to make coffee anymore, don¡¯t ever use this Absolute Pinnacle Spear. Got it?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Hohohoho. Son¡­ No, my Lord, don¡¯t worry. I won¡¯t!¡¯</em>

    s, the power of the skill was being used right now.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    At that moment, the entire world began to shake. Both the earth and the sky trembled as something shot through the air as fast as a bullet. It emitted a bright light that shone light in this world that had been filled with despair.

    ¡°What¡­ what the hell is that?!¡±

    ¡°Heeeeok!¡±

    And that huge beam of light, which to be exact, was Ghost Spear Ben covered in a bright light, pierced through Vormon¡¯s thick skin and stabbed him straight through his neck.

    <em>Craaaaaaack¡ª</em>

    The flesh in Vormon¡¯s neck was torn badly from the spear that pierced through him. With that strike, the poison that was eroding the yers¡¯ organs, as well as the roots that squeezed Minhyuk, disappearedpletely.

    <em>Thuuuuud¡ª</em>

    Vormon shrieked loudly as he copsed on the ground with a loud thud.

    ¡°Kieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeck!!!¡±

    In front of this gigantic being, an old man immediately turned around and rushed in front of Minhyuk, who had fallen on the ground. He gently lifted Minhyuk¡¯s hands and smiled kindly at him before saying gently, ¡°Please don¡¯t give up, my King.¡±

    Ghost Spear Ben turned around once again. He stabbed his spear deep into the ground and folded his arms before ring at Vormon without any hesitation. And slowly, his stalwart figure began to turn into ash, disappearing with the wind.

 Chapter 383: Hunting Black Dragon

    Chapter 383: Hunting ck Dragon

    Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s conference room.

    The entire team of Athenae executives and management personnel felt their hearts thump and burn with hope, as they watched an old man fly brilliantly, like a light in their time of despair. The old man saved Minhyuk, held him until Minhyuk stood up once again, and turned around to re fiercely at Vormon before dying.

    Of course, the old man did not die for real. The NPCs¡¯ death in the Continent Cloud was not permanent. They would revive ande back to life in Asgan Continent. However, the power that he showed, his desire to protect, and his unwavering will to never show his back to Vormon, his enemy, until his veryst moments were enough to light another me of hope for them!

    ¡°Amazing¡­¡± Kang Taehoon eximed. He was the one that nned and created this game. But even his heart was pounding wildly right now.

    Meanwhile, the entire world pped as they watched Ghost Spear Ben¡¯s sacrifice.

    <em>[Crazy. Very crazy. Isn¡¯t that the weird old man that never failed tob his ck hair every day?]</em>

    <em>[Wow. I got goosebumps right now. I really got goosebumps, for real¡­ I will never forget this scene in my life.]</em>

    <em>[Did you hear his words? Don¡¯t give up, my King. I cried when I heard it.]</em>

    <em>[Ghost Spear Ben. He¡¯s hailed as the father of all the Spear Masters in Asgan Continent. In fact, he¡¯s also one of the legendary figures of the continent.]</em>

    <em>[A legendary figure sacrificed himself to save the Food God¡­]</em>

    <em>[Ah. Guys, you know that they won¡¯tpletely die inside the Continent Cloud, right?]</em>

    The globalmunity sites were discussing heatedly while Team Leader Park Minggyu watched the scene on the monitor with folded hands.

    ¡°The support troops have arrived.¡±

    That was right. The rest of the support troops have arrived with Ghost Spear Ben.

    ¡°Hope is still with us in this desperate situation.¡±

    President Kang Taehoon nodded in agreement with Team Leader Park¡¯s words. They were not afraid of the ¡®condemnation¡¯ that the public would heap on them if they failed.

    What they were afraid of was the frustration that the yers would feel once they failed to stop Vormon. But what if the yers seeded? The impact and effect of their sessful hunt would be beyond anyone¡¯s imagination.

    ¡°That woman will arrive soon too.¡±

    On one of the countless monitors opened in front of them, a silver-haired woman was seen crossing through the Continent Cloud at the speed of light. And¡­

    ¡°ck Mage Ali is also doing his best to awaken the Supreme Divine Beast.¡±

    As long as Ali was able to get the final fragment of the Golden Crown, they would be able to awaken the Supreme Divine Beast.

    Yes. Their fight was not yet over.

    ***

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ck Dragon Vormon writhed in pain. Standing in front of him was a ring old man with folded arms. His expression showed his unwavering spirit and determination despite his body turning gray and disappearing into nothingness. Everyone at the scene looked at Ghost Spear Ben and the Food God.

    Minhyuk clenched the fist that held his sword tightly. He was very aware that death in the Continent Cloud was not an actual death. As long as he went back to the Asgan Continent, he would still see Ghost Spear Ben. He was sure that he would even say this to him, <em>¡®Hohoho. My son¡­ no, my lord. Are you going to bottoms up 20 cups of coffee right now?¡¯</em>

    Still, Ghost Spear Ben was like a grandfather to Minhyuk. Ever since he contracted his eating addiction, he had long distanced himself from his friends. Ben was someone that always joked around with him, gave pieces of advice to him, and silently gave him strength. And right now, he even sacrificed himself to save him.

    <em>¡®I won¡¯t give up.¡¯</em>

    <em>Swoosh¡ª</em>

    Ghost Spear Ben had disappearedpletely. The appearance of Ghost Spear Ben meant that reinforcements had arrived.

    ¡°Minhyuk!¡±

    ¡°Are you alright?!¡±

    The members of the Let¡¯s Eat Sect Guild flocked towards Minhyuk.

    <em>[The members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect Guild have arrived.]</em>

    <em>[A small me of hope is being ignited in this dark, dreary, and desperate situation.]</em>

    <em>[Crazy Priest Locke, Fighter Khan, Red me Fighter Ace, Assassin of the Moon Lucia, Informant Abel, Whip Warrioress Genie, Knight of Agony Alicia, Master of Divine Beast Kaistra, Best Selling Author Aruvel, and Bounty Hunter Crow have arrived.]</em>

    <em>[And that¡¯s not all.]</em>

    ¡°Kiyeeeeeeeeeeeee¡ª¡°

    ck bird-like figures appeared in the sky along with thementators¡¯ words. No, to be exact, the warriors of the Dragon Race have appeared and covered the skies. Then, among them, a man quicklynded in front of Minhyuk and said, ¡°Son, are you alright?¡±

    The man wore an armor made out of ck scales. This man was none other than ck Dragon.

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m fine.¡±

    ck Dragon breathed a sigh of relief. He worried about what would happen if he met his son who was feeling frustrated after facing a strong opponent. However, his son¡¯s eyes were still shining brightly.

    <em>¡®Yeah. He¡¯s my son, alright!¡¯</em>

    There would always be times in life where one would meet strong opponents that they could not deal with. However, ck Dragon believed that even if they copsed and fell down in front of such an opponent, as long as they stood up time and time again, they would eventually stand strong and gain victory.

    Then, Minhyuk¡¯s gaze turned back to Vormon.

    <em>Twitch, twitch, twitch¡ª</em>

    The injuries on his neck twitched as they started to regenerate once again. The surviving troops continued to send their attacks at Vormon¡¯s fallen body but¡­

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng, ng!</em>

    Vormon¡¯s defense was unimaginably high. Despite their all-out attacks, they could not deal any significant damage. There were even hundreds of translucent shields created around Vormon¡¯s body. These shields defended him from the yers¡¯ attacks.

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡±

    Vormon once again spread his wings as he flew high up in the sky.

    ¡°Spread out!!!¡±

    Everyone moved quickly after receiving Minhyuk¡¯s orders once again. And even though the members of the Let¡¯s Eat Sect Guild had just arrived, they were all quickly engaged in battle. After all, they were faced with a very desperate situation the moment they arrived.

    Then, Vormon opened his mouth and sucked in the mana in the surroundings.

    <em>[Vormon has devoured 10% of your MP.]</em>

    Blue energy seeped out from the troops¡¯ bodies, before getting converted into ck energy that entered Vormon¡¯s mouth. Everyone present knew what Vormon was preparing to do.

    ¡°It¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s Breath!¡±

    ¡°Stop it! We have to stop it, no matter what!¡±

    The entire army was horrified. That was when ck Dragon threw his Dragon Tear Sword in the air with all his might.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ck Dragon used Sword Maniption and tried to attack Vormon, but a gigantic shield appeared and blocked his attacks.

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng, ng!</em>

    The shield was so solid and tough, that it was very hard for any of his attacks to pierce through it.

    <em>Thwaaaaack¡ª</em>

    Genie swung her whip. But just when the mes created from her whip were about to hit Vormon, the shield moved and blocked her attack too. And the worst part¡­

    <em>[Shield Reflection]</em>

    <em>[The shield reflects your attack and sends it back to you.]</em>

    <em>Crackle¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡± Genie screamed as the fire engulfed her and spread all over her body in an instant.

    Informant Abel lightly leapt forward, while Penrus, who Kaistra was riding on, let out a breath of light.

    ¡°Demonic Dragon Spear Arts Chapter 3. Exploding Spear!!!¡±

    Even the Best Selling Author Aruvel also added his strength into the mix. However, their attacks remained useless. Most of their attacks were blocked by the shield, and even if they pierced through the shield, their attacks still could not pierce through Vormon. In the end, Vormon was still able to spit out his tremendous and horrifying power.

    <em>Keuhaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    He let out a ck breath that covered the entire army. The only ones that were able to rush out of the radius of the breath were the members of the Let¡¯s Eat Sect Guild. The ones that received a direct hit from Vormon¡¯s breath were instantly wiped out, and disappeared without leaving any trace. The ck breath¡¯s energy lingered in the battlefield. 8,000 people. That was the number of troops that died in that instant.

    ¡°Hiiiiiiiiik¡­!¡±

    The troops were terrified after witnessing the sudden disappearance of the person right next to them. With the disappearance of the 8,000 people in the army, their once-overflowing will to fight and charge forward had disappearedpletely. On top of that, all of Vormon¡¯s injuries had healedpletely thanks to his regenerative abilities.

    ¡°We¡¯re done for¡­¡±

    ¡°We can¡¯t beat something like that.¡±

    ¡°Goddamn! Damn it!!!¡±

    <em>[Vormon¡¯s Terror]</em>

    <em>[Your defensive power will drop by 30% while your attack hit rate and critical hit rate will drop by 20%.]</em>

    Vormon¡¯s Terror debuff appeared and encroached upon the entire army. With the poison and breath from earlier, they only had at most 9,000 troops left. However, despite the crippling despair and frustration, there were still some people struggling against Vormon.

    ¡°Locke!!!¡±

    ¡°Okay!!!¡±

    Khan ran to Locke. When Khan jumped up, Locke grabbed him by the ankle before spinning around.

    <em>Vwooooom¡ª</em>

    And since Khan¡¯s ankle had been grabbed by Locke, he also followed and spun along with him. When Locke released his grab on Khan¡¯s ankle, Khan gained unprecedented momentum and power as he sped up through the air towards Vormon.

    ¡°Little Giant¡¯s Wild Fist!¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Khan¡¯s fast flying speed had allowed him to ignore the shield covering Vormon¡¯s body. That was on top of his skill¡¯s 50% chances of ignoring his opponent¡¯s defenses.

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡± Vormon shrieked.

    No one let the opportunity pass by. Aruvel already jumped up on Penrus¡¯ back with Kaistra.

    <em>Daaaash¡ª</em>

    Then, Aruvel lightly leapt up and narrated, ¡°Not too long ago, Dragon Varoi had met up with his first dragon love again. It was a dreamy reunion after 5,000 years of not seeing each other. The two of them <em>bang, bang, bang</em> as they mated in the mountains. However, it turned out that the female dragon Ceroi was the female of Dragon Lord Chief Patnia!!!¡±

    Was Aruvel spitting out nonsense in this situation? Not at all. His powerful voice was enough to distract and make the enemy turn his gaze towards him.

    ¡°Keuhaaaack?! That dragon Varoi dared to touch the Dragon Chief¡¯s female?!¡±

    Vormon showed interest in the story. Even the great ck dragon could not avoid the temptation of rumors and stories! While his attention was dragged somewhere else, Abel, Ascar and Crow, who were preparing to attack, finally made their move.

    ¡°Abeeeeeeeeel!!!¡± The running Minhyuk shouted as he threw a dagger towards Abel.

    Abel snatched the dagger in the air with a grin and said, ¡°Thanks!¡±

    The dagger was none other than the Bloody Dagger that Da Zhuang dropped on his death.

    ¡°Mortal¡¯s Dagger!¡±

    <em>Puhaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Abel casted and triggered his one-shot kill skill ¡®<em>Mortal¡¯s Dagger¡¯</em> and stabbed it on ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s back.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    Crow also used his Tornado Spear, while Ascar used her Dance of the Twin Swords. They fought and struggled against despair and hopelessness. Seeing them like that made the frustrated Chinese rankers grab their weapons tightly.

    ¡°We can¡¯t be left behind by Korea!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±

    ¡°Uwoooooooooooh!¡±

    They also moved to join the battle once again.

    <em>[The Chinese rankers that have lost their morale and fighting spirit have charged forward once again.]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s right. The Cairon Continent should not be left behind and pushed back by Asgan Continent.]</em>

    <em>[yer Minhyuk has flown forward and taken the lead.]</em>

    Minhyuk faced against ck Dragon Vormon with his sword surging and overflowing with powerful energy. Then this powerful energy stretched and shot out from his sword.

    <em>[Heaven Tearing Sword]</em>

    <em>[You will be able to send a red sword light with a 350% additional damage and 20% increase in critical hit rate towards your enemies. Upon sessful attack on a vital point, an explosion with additional 600% damage will engulf your enemy.]</em>

    A gigantic red sword light flew straight towards Vormon¡¯s body.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    <em>[Intangible Sword.]</em>

    <em>[Your sword strike has ignored all of the enemy¡¯s defenses.]</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaack!¡± Vormon screamed as his flesh was torn apart by the attack. But the attack did not end there, as the red sword lights sent a series of consecutive attacks towards Vormon¡¯s body.

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    The attacks would cause explosions with additional 600% damage in every sessful strike.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª</em>

    Another scream ripped out of Vormon¡¯s mouth, ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!!!¡±

    However, not long after, gigantic mes burst out of Vormon¡¯s body.

    <em>Puhaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡°Uuuurk!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaack!¡±

    ¡°Ugh, aaaaaah!¡±

    The yers scrambled to get out of the fire¡¯s vicinity. Unfortunately, Ascar was caught by the mes. The mes devoured her until she disappeared without a trace. Genie had reached out to her, but she still failed to get out of the mes¡¯ radius of attack.

    ¡°Ascar¡­!¡±

    ¡°Everyone¡­ finish it¡­¡±

    This was Ascar¡¯sst words. But unlike her confidence in them, Vormon brought them more despair.

    <em>[Vormon¡¯s Fury]</em>

    <em>[Vormon has released his hidden power.]</em>

    <em>[Vormon¡¯s defense has increased by 1.4x]</em>

    <em>[Vormon¡¯s speed of regeneration has increased by 1.4x]</em>

    <em>[Vormon¡¯s magic damage has increased by 30%.]</em>

    <em>[Vormon has summoned his Legion of Despair.]</em>

    The space in the sky was torn apart as 3,000 lizardmen armed with various weapons appeared in front of the yers. They held swords, spears, bows and axes. Some of them were even mages that held staves. All of them were also wearing ck full-ted armor. And their levels¡­

    <em>[Warrior of Despair. Level 547.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡­were unimaginable. Vormon not only increased his own power, but even brought his own army into the mix. Everyone that watched this scene all looked at Vormon with ugly faces.

    ***

    ck Mage Ali was able to sessfully acquire the final fragment of the Golden Crown. The ce that he went to to get the fragment was Moldoron¡¯s final resting ce. This was a sanctuary filled with countless trials and various quests for Moldoron¡¯s sessor, Ali.

    After acquiring the final fragment of the Golden Crown, Ali did not return to the game immediately. Before he could deliver the fragment, something urgent happened in reality, so he had to log out and check things out. Ali had watched on TV how Vormon turned furious and how he opened up more of his strength and summoned his Legion of Despair. He was sure that his friends would not be able to keep up and fight back against Vormon and his troops by themselves.

    Originally, Ali¡¯s level was not yet high enough to go and meet Moldoron. It was only possible because another route had been presented to him due to a different reason. Moldoron¡¯s sessors had a chance to open up and awaken his power once. But as a payment for this opportunity¡­

    <em>[My descendant, why do you wish to obtain such power? If you forcefully awaken and open up that power, when you haven¡¯t reached the requirements yet, it would remove your qualifications to be my sessor. There¡¯s even a chance that your magical power and strength will disappear forever.]</em>

    This was what Great Mage Moldoron had told him. But, Ali just smiled slightly at him before saying, ¡°It¡¯s alright even if I lose everything to get that power.¡±

    Moldoron looked at him as if he could not understand how his head worked. A mage with a power that transcended this world. This was who Moldoron was. What did he want to do for him to be willing to lose the chance to gain that power?

    <em>[By any chance, can you tell me the reason why?]</em>

    ¡°There¡¯s something that I need to protect.¡±

    Moldoron chuckled, finding Ali¡¯s reason to be interesting. What was he trying to protect that he would willingly take the risk of losing everything just so he could protect it?

    <em>[What is it that you want to protect?]</em>

    Ali turned to Moldoron. His eyes sparkled as he stared directly at Moldoron¡¯s eyes before saying, ¡°My friend.¡±

    Then¡­

    <em>Puhaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡­a golden pir of light fell from the sky.

    The reason why Ali was hailed as the ck Mage was because everything, from his staff to his robe, even to his hat, everything was ck. But at this very moment, his robe, his staff, his hair, and even his eyes had turned golden.

    A new legend was being written. This was the story of how ck Mage Ali became the <em>¡®Golden Mage¡¯ </em>and how he reached <em>¡®Godhood¡¯</em>.

 Chapter 384: Hunting Black Dragon

    Chapter 384: Hunting ck Dragon

    There were 3,000 lizardmen that appeared so suddenly in front of the yers. This was the Legion of Despair that Vormon personallymanded. They were an army that brought despair and hopelessness across the continents and all over the world.

    They had been trained and nurtured for a long time, and even wore armor made out of Vormon¡¯s own scale, as well as possessing weapons imbued with his power. Their father was none other than Vormon, which meant that their power was also bound to be tremendous. Each one of them had levels around Level 547~570. It wasparable to some of the high rankers.

    On the other hand, the yers¡¯ army only had 9,000 troops remaining. However, surviving and remaining on the battlefield did not mean that they were strong. The truth was there were only a few high rankers left among them.

    ¡°Kireeeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Keuryaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    The remaining troops looked at the Legion of Despair as they gathered together. They screamed strangely as they ran together. Both Carr and Mei Wei still had the role ofmanding the troops. And since Vormon was mainly dealt with by the members of the Let¡¯s Eat Sect Guild and Minhyuk¡­

    ¡°Let¡¯s go!!!¡± Carr shouted as he took the lead in dashing forward and facing the Legion of Despair.

    Mei Wei immediately followed behind while summoning a pegasus. Pegasus! This was a noble and amazing horse!

    ¡°Neiiiiiiigh!¡±

    <em>Clip¡ª clop¡ª clip¡ª clop¡ª</em>

    Mei Wei sat on top of the pegasus before raising her sword high up in the sky with the remaining 9,000 troops. The remaining 9,000 troops of theirrge army followed behind her.

    ¡°Haa!¡±

    Carr flew forward and attacked the ones taking the lead. He also made sure to link his attacks to increase his attack power.

    <em>Ping¡ª</em>

    <em>Puhaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    As Carr fought with the Legion of Despair, he could tell, <em>¡®This is not an army that we can fight against¡­¡¯</em>

    One, their defense was too high. It was very hard for Carr to cut down even a single one of them despite the fact that Conir had possessed his body. What more if the ordinary troops were the one to fight against them?

    Two, they were veterans. On top of being experienced, their enemies were systematically trained, fast, and very strong.

    Three, they did not have any fear. Even if Carr cut them down, they would just continue to attack without any hesitation.

    <em>aaaash¡ª</em>

    Then, therge troops behind them finally shed against the Legion of Despair. However, all that followed were screams and shrieks.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°My¡­ my sword won¡¯t pierce through! It can¡¯t get through!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s like I¡¯m fighting against the rankers¡­¡±

    ¡°Shit¡­!¡±

    Even if they were being overwhelmed by despair, Carr still continued to swing his sword with all his might. They still had to charge forward. They did not have anywhere to retreat to.

    Even those that were trying to stop Vormon were also in despair. Cerberus, with Locke riding on top of them, ran swiftly, while avoiding the magic spells that Vormon had fired.

    ¡°Grrrrrr!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Love! Hope! Happiness!!!¡±

    Cerberus was desperately running with all its might to protect Locke. However, one of the magic spells struck Cerberus straight on its side.

    ¡°<em>Whine, whine, whine.</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Whineee!</em>¡±

    Cerberus rolled on the ground from the pain. However, it still struggled to get up. Seeing this, Locke hugged it tightly. He said, ¡°Hyung will protect you.¡±

    Locke grabbed both of his gigantic axes, as he began to cut down the magic attack spells that wereing down on them like a tidal wave. But he was quickly pushed back. The magic that Vormon sent out became more and more powerful, to the point that he could not stop them anymore.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Locke rolled on the floor after receiving one of the attacks. Still, he stood up once again. After all, he was a yer. On the contrary, Cerberus was a being that lived here. It would definitely feel the intense, burning pain that would bring it misery and despair.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    Locke triggered his skill as he ran forward with all his might. Even though he ate the marrow bone broth that Minhyuk made for him, it was still hard for him to fight against Vormon.

    <em>Fall¡ª</em>

    <em>Is this the end?</em>

    Locke¡¯s strength left him as he sank on both of his knees. He could see his friends still struggling as they rolled on the ground. Genie flew back and vomited a mouthful of blood after being struck by one of the magic spells. Fire Fist Ace leapt high in the air only to fall down after his entire body was frozen by Frost Magic.

    ¡°Hoo¡­¡± Locke sighed shakily. Was it truly impossible for them to raid Vormon? But then, at that moment¡­

    ¡°How can you younglings sink and copse like that?¡±

    ¡­a gentle voice rang in his ears. When Locke turned to look at the source of the voice, he saw ck Dragon, Minhyuk¡¯s father. ck Dragon stared at the battlefield before striding forward and telling Locke, ¡°Stand up. This is not the time for us to copse yet.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir¡­!¡± Locke answered loudly as he forced himself to stand up.

    ck Dragon walked in front of him as he ordered the warriors of the Dragon Race to soar in the skies and attack the Legion of Despair.

    ¡°Kihyaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kieeeeeeeck!¡±

    The warriors of the Dragon Race¡¯s level were also quite high. Together with the yer troops in a united front, they fought desperately against the Legion of Despair.

    Meanwhile, ck Dragon stared at the four dragons that he had summoned. These dragons trusted and relied on ck Dragon the most. The same was true for ck Dragon, he loved and cared for them the most too. He looked at them and said, ¡°Kids, there¡¯s something that I want to protect.¡±

    ck Dragon¡¯s eyes turned towards Minhyuk, who was fighting against Vormon. As Minhyuk¡¯s father, he felt that he had not done anything properly for his son when heined of hunger after he had contracted and suffered from eating addiction. He felt like he was a very useless and stupid father. Minhyuk had always trembled and shook with pain, but now, he had discovered this new world and finally had the chance to search for a new hope once again.

    This world was none other than ¡®<em>Athenae</em>¡¯.

    ¡°I want to protect this world.¡±

    ck Dragon¡¯s will was conveyed to Britney, Destiny, Breaker and Poison. These four dragons cried in reverence.

    ¡°Kiyeeeeeeeeee!¡±

    ¡°Kiyaaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    ck Dragon also had a power with an extreme penalty like Ghost Spear Ben. Once he triggered this power, ck Dragon¡¯s strength, as well as the four dragon¡¯s power, would increase by 1.7x. However, for one entire month, the four legendary dragons would not be able to make an appearance.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    However, the four dragons just affectionately rubbed their heads on ck Dragon¡¯s body when they heard his voice. Then, the four dragons ascended to the sky.

    <em>[ck Dragon¡¯s four dragons have flown to the skies!!!]</em>

    <em>[Four dragons ascending the heavens!!! This is a once in a lifetime scene!!!]</em>

    <em>[What a spectacr sight. Four dragons with the colors red, blue, green and ck ascending to the skies together!!!]</em>

    <em>[Aaaah! The sky! Look at the sky!!!]</em>

    The troops that had been fighting paused for a moment to turn their attention to the soaring dragons. They all looked at the sky where the four dragons had ascended! A blinding light shed in the skies. The light slowly shifted until a huge cloud was created. This huge cloud sucked the four dragons that were flying in the skies.

    Minhyuk and the members of the Let¡¯s Eat Sect Guild were unaware that ck Dragon had used and cast his most powerful skill with an extreme penalty. However, even if they were not aware, the scene in front of them was telling them that there would be a tremendous power that would appear soon.

    ¡°Mister ck Dragon! There¡¯s a jewel! A jewel has appeared on the bastard¡¯s forehead!!!¡±

    ¡°A jewel?¡±

    That was right. The members of the Let¡¯s Eat Sect Guild were not there just to get beaten. Even though the guild members were suffering from tremendous damages, they were still constantly seeking the reason for Vormon¡¯s regenerative powers. Even if Vormon was the most vile and evil of monsters, there was no way that he could continue to regenerate on his own. There must be a reason for his regeneration. If they could stop him from regenerating his injuries, then their odds would increase tremendously.

    That was when they saw the ck jewel that was cleverly hidden in between the ck scales on Vormon¡¯s forehead. The signs were so subtle that it was hard to find even for the Master Archer, Root. However, they were now sure. They were sure that the jewel on Vormon¡¯s forehead was a hint.

    And finally¡­

    ¡°Kiheeeeeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kiryaaaaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    The majestic roars of the four dragons resounded in the area and shook the entire world. The huge cloud made of light began to clear away to reveal ck Dragon, who had spread his dragon wings as he jumped down. When the cloud made of light finally disappeared, what appeared in front of everyone were the four dragons, each half the size of Vormon.

    ck Dragon climbed on top of Britney and said, ¡°Poison.¡±

    ¡°Kiheeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    Poison descended on the ground and attacked the Legion of Despair.

    <em>Crunch¡ª</em>

    Poison immediately gobbled up one of the enemies. Then, gigantic poison arrows started to form around Poison which he promptly sent out towards the Legion of Despair.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    ¡°Graaaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    The soldiers from the Legion of Despair, which wasposed of troops over Level 547, began to melt one after the other. Then, Poison roared.

    ¡°Kiheeeeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    <em>[The abnormal status that you have been subjected to has been cleared.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The abnormal state that pressed down and wrapped around the entire allied army had been cleared. Carr trembled at the sight.

    <em>¡®Very, very strong¡­!¡¯</em>

    Poison¡¯s power might not be as much as Carr¡¯s power after Conir had possessed him, but he could tell that Poison was several times stronger than him without the possession.

    Then, ck Dragon, who was riding on top of Britney, finally moved.

    ¡°How dare such a wild and puny dragon be so impudent!¡± Vormon cried in rage.

    However, contrary to his words, Vormon was fully aware of the infinite potential that these dragons had. Vormon also knew that this was a different power and they had not yet awakened to their true power. These four great dragons would eventually reach godhood but as of now, they were still not there yet. Once they advanced and reached that point, they would gain a magical defense that could allow them to ignore hundreds of strong magical spells, while having a tremendous amount of magic and powerful magic spells.

    At that moment, the ck dragon, Breaker, opened his mouth and created a gigantic ck barrier.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The ck barrier that Breaker created stopped all of Vormon¡¯s magic spells.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    This was the power that hundreds, even thousands, of the yers failed to stop. Then, the blue dragon, Destiny, spat out a huge cloud of frost.

    <em>Puhaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>Crack, crack crack, crack¡ª</em>

    The powerful frost froze parts of Vormon¡¯s body and restricted his movements. That was when ck Dragon leapt up with all his might and soared through the skies. Then, Britney took the opportunity to wrap his body and entangle himself around Vormon¡¯s body.

    <em>Clench¡ª</em>

    That was when the ¡®Fire of Extinction¡¯ was triggered. The Fire of Extinction was a skill that could only be used when their sealed power had been released. Simply put, it was a skill that they could only use once they awakened the power, in return for a tremendous penalty. The Fire of Extinction was more powerful than Hellfire, stronger than Vormon¡¯s magic, and hotter than any existing fire in the world.

    <em>Puhaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    A huge and zing me engulfed Vormon¡¯s body.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaaack!¡± Vormon screamed. He could feel his hide melting. His hard, tough, and shiny ck scales were melting off!

    ck Dragon knew that he only had one minute to use and control this power at will. At the same time, Poison, who had killed more than a thousand of the Legion of Despair, Breaker, who was protecting ck Dragon, and Destiny, all turned into clouds of their own color, before getting sucked into ck Dragon¡¯s Dragon Tear Sword.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Finally, Britney, who was shing with Vormon and made Vormon scream from pain, was also sucked inside the Dragon Tear Sword.

    <em>[Britney¡¯s power has been added.]</em>

    <em>[An explosion with 2300% additional damage will ur upon sessful attack.]</em>

    <em>[Destiny¡¯s power has been added.]</em>

    <em>[The opponent¡¯s body will freeze for three seconds upon sessful attack.]</em>

    <em>[Breaker¡¯s power has been added.]</em>

    <em>[You will have the power to ignore your opponent''s defenses and a power that canpletely break down whatever is on your path.]</em>

    <em>[Poison¡¯s power has been added.]</em>

    <em>[A strong and fearsome poison will encroach and devour your opponent.]</em>

    Then, ck Dragon flew forward.

    <em>¡®Son, don¡¯t protect me.</em>

    A world where his son couldugh freely. A world where his son could eat whatever he wanted. A world where his son could meet people that could be dear and important to him. These things were enough. This was the reason why ck Dragon existed.

    ck Dragon¡¯s sword tore down more than a dozen of the shield that Vormon had hurriedly casted.

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    And finally, ck Dragon used all of his strength to stab the ck jewel embedded in the middle of Vormon¡¯s brows.

    <em>Piiiiing¡ª</em>

    Britney¡¯s power created a huge explosion while Destiny¡¯s power froze Vormon¡¯s body. Poison¡¯s power released a powerful toxin that ate away at Vormon¡¯s body while Breaker¡¯s power assisted his sword.

    <em>¡®Thank you, kids.¡¯</em>

    ¡°Kiheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!¡± Vormon roared wildly.

    And finally¡­

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    The jewel cracked¡­

    <em>Shatter¡ª</em>

    ¡­and fell off. ck Dragon¡¯s lips curled up in a small smile as Vormon continued to shriek. However, ck Dragon saw the corners of Vormon¡¯s mouth quirk up in a sinister smile of his own.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ck Dragon felt immense frustration. He could see the injuries on Vormon¡¯s body start to regenerate quickly.

    <em>¡®He¡­ deceived us¡­?!¡¯</em>

    That was right. Everything was just a trick. The ck jewel on Vormon¡¯s forehead was just a trap! Vormon opened his huge maw to devour ck Dragon.

    ¡°Dad!¡±

    ¡°Mister ck Dragon!!!¡±

    ¡°Stop him!!!¡±

    ck Dragon slowly turned his head. He looked at his son, Minhyuk, with a bitter smile on his face. This was his final blow, but he had fallen for Vormon¡¯s deception. Vormon¡¯s mouth slowly started to close. When ck Dragon turned around, he saw Minhyuk try to jump up and save him. However, he was already toote.

    But then, somethingpletely unexpected happened. Vormon¡¯s jawpletely stopped moving, no, he could not move his jaws anymore. This was because someone was preventing him from doing so.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Vormon shrieked as his jaw got restrained. ck Dragon¡¯s attention was caught by something. It was there that he saw a very small thing. A sword that was far, far smaller than Vormon¡¯s existence. This sword pierced through Vormon¡¯s lower jaw and was being pressed by a hand.

    The hand belonged to a woman with silver hair. She pressed Vormon¡¯s jaw with one hand as she turned towards ck Dragon, her gaze and movement not even wavering in the slightest. Then, she said, ¡°Nice to meet you. Father. I¡¯m Ellie who wants to be Minhyuk¡¯s ¡®noona¡¯.¡±

    The Continental Empress Ellie has appeared. Then, she red at Vormon.

    <em>Flinch¡ª</em>

    It was the first time. For the first time in Vormon¡¯s life, he felt fear and terror after being stared at by those eyes.

 Chapter 385: Hunting Black Dragon

    Chapter 385: Hunting ck Dragon

    ¡°That trap of yours is so annoying, should I cut it for you?¡±

    <em>Tiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    Her sword moved at a speed that even Vormon could not follow. The sword moved precisely and swiftly, as it swept through Vormon¡¯s jaw and cut the muscles underneath his thick skin.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaaack!¡± A scream erupted from Vormon¡¯s mouth as the bottom part of his jaw hung loosely.

    Shock. The whole world fell silent at this very moment. Vormon¡¯s hide was extremely tough and so strong, that the rankers could not cut through it, even using their powerful attack skills. They could not even be considered to be cutting, as much as beating his tough hide. And yet, Continental Emperor Ellie just lightly swung her sword and the muscles in Vormon¡¯s jaw had been cut off.

    Plenty of people thought that Ellie was already dead. This was because Xu Jiaqi had spoken ill of her and had dered that Ellie was likely to have fallen into eternal rest after she had awakened her sealed power. In fact, Ellie had not appeared in front of the public for quite a long time.

    But now, she appeared again and with silver hair no less. Just with that alone, everyone all over the world could tell that she was in a state where she had awakened her powerspletely.

    Blood continued to drip down Vormon¡¯s jaw as he struggled from her attack. Ellie continued to re coldly at him, as she moved her sword once again. She said, ¡°It seems like that¡¯s all you have.¡±

    Then, her sword stabbed at Vormon¡¯s eye.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    Ellie¡¯s sword dug deep into Vormon¡¯s eye, until it finally reached the ck jewel that he had hidden in the depths of his eye. That was right. Vormon pretended to hide the ck jewel in the middle of his brows, but in fact, he hid it behind his eye.

    <em>Shatter¡ª</em>

    The ck jewel hidden behind Vormon¡¯s eye shattered into pieces. And with that, another ear-piercing scream was ripped out of Vormon¡¯s mouth.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Then, a set of notifications rang for the yers present in the area.

    <em>[Vormon¡¯s Vitality Stone has been sessfully broken.]</em>

    <em>[Vormon will no longer be able to use his regenerative ability.]</em>

    A small fire of hope burned for the yers once again. However, that small hope was immediately extinguished.

    <em>[Vormon has released thest of his powers to protect himself.]</em>

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    A powerful mana burst out from Vormon¡¯s body. The mana wave was so powerful that the yers could not endure it, and their bodies were sent flying.

    ¡°Urrrrrk!¡±

    ¡°Kyaaaaaack!¡±

    The same was true for the members of the Let¡¯s Eat Sect Guild. They were all lying t on the floor after failing to maintain their bnce. Then, a shocking notification rang in their ears.

    <em>[Vormon¡¯s Final Awakening!]</em>

    <em>[All damage has been recovered!]</em>

    <em>[Magic Cooldown has decreased by 50%]</em>

    <em>[Magical Attack has increased by 30%.]</em>

    <em>[Magical Pration has increased by 50%.]</em>

    <em>[Maximum number of magic that can be used has been doubled.]</em>

    <em>[HP and MP has increased by 1.9x]</em>

    <em>[Defense has increased by 1.5x]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    He was just like a final boss. This meant that the surviving troops were in a very hopeless situation. Carr was left in a daze after cutting off another member of the Legion of Despair. He murmured, ¡°Can we even kill that¡­?¡±

    Vormon¡¯s strength was already beyond what they could even imagine. However, he got even stronger. His defense had increased by 1.5x. As if his power was not enough, even his HP had almost doubled. And with the 50% increase in magical pration, he could ignore his enemy¡¯s defenses and inflict additional damage. On top of that, his magical attack had increased by 30%, while his cooldown decreased by 50%. Simply put, Vormon¡¯s power had doubled. This was a fact that no one could deny.

    ¡°Ha¡­¡±

    ¡°Your mom.¡±

    ¡°F*ck everything¡­!¡±

    Curses and voices of resentment directed towards the Athenae management rang one after the other. This was an inevitable oue. They had broken the jewel that was the source of Vormon¡¯s regeneration, only to be presented with more despair and hopelessness.

    ¡°Kikikikikikikikikiki!¡± Vormonughed maniacally, causing everyone¡¯s skin to crawl. The mockery and difficulty of the task at hand were extremely real.

    <em>[Vormon has achieved his final awakening.]</em>

    <em>[However, I think that it¡¯s still a bit too much. In the first ce, Vormon is already a monster that can¡¯t be hunted by anyone with our current levels.]</em>

    <em>[Ellie¡¯s splendid appearance is good to see, but it seems like she¡¯s also destined to die here.]</em>

    Just like what thementators said, everyone watching this scene was of the same mind.

    <em>¡®How can you even kill such an existence?¡¯</em>

    However, they did not know the fact that Ellie was also that kind of existence.

    ¡°What a pest,¡± Ellie spat.

    Then, thousands of magic spells were created around Vormon¡¯s body. All of the magic was aimed at Ellie, who was standing in front of him. At that moment, Ellie grabbed ck Dragon and said, ¡°Father, please excuse me for a moment.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Then, Ellie threw ck Dragon towards Minhyuk. Minhyuk hurriedly rushed forward to catch his father. Minhyuk and Ellie made eye contact.

    <em>¡®Thank you for recovering well, Noona.¡¯</em>

    Ellie smiled silently at Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®Thank you, Minhyuk. I will make sure to repay your kindness.¡¯</em>

    To Ellie, Minhyuk was now more than her younger brother. Then, thousands of magic spells poured down on Ellie.

    <em>Shwa, shwa, shwa, shwa¡ª</em>

    Ellie¡¯s sword moved so fast that it could not be seen by the naked eye.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The magic either exploded or dissipated in the air. Among the loud explosions, Ellie said, ¡°Sword of Annihtion.¡±

    This was a skill that Ellie had learned when her seal was released during her fight with the ck Dragon Order. This was the skill that released hundreds of sword des that ravaged the enemies. The very same power that none of the members of the ck Dragon Order could withstand.

    Butpared to back then, Ellie had now fully released her seal. This Sword of Annihtion was on a different level from the one that she released back then. More than a thousand of eight meter long des shot out sharply from her sword and poured down on Vormon.

    At that moment, a huge ck barrier appeared and surrounded Vormon. Barriers were mostly simr in powers. Vormon boasted an absolute defense, and after he had reached the apex of magic, his barrier was different. It allowed him to cast magic despite being inside the confines of the barrier.

    So, Vormon cast his magic and created his barrier confidently. But then a long spear-like de struck the barrier.

    <em>Craaaack¡ª</em>

    <em>[This is a power that your barrier can¡¯tpletely defend against.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Vormon was shocked. He could not understand what just happened. Who was he? Dragons were the greatest existence in the world, and he was a special entity that sat on the peak of these dragons. But the fact that Ellie couldnd an attack on his barrier? A human?

    <em>Craaaaaaack¡ª</em>

    The thousands of des continued to m into the barrier. Most of the des could not pierce through the barrier and were deflected, but not long after, a fine line of crack appeared on the barrier

    <em>Shatter¡ª</em>

    Then, a de dug in between these cracks and flew straight towards Vormon¡¯s back.

    <em>Stab!</em>

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    This was Vormon whose defense had increased by 1.5x and whose HP had almost doubled. But, the de that struck on his back brought him so much pain. And then¡­

    <em>Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump¡ª</em>

    More des began to stab Vormon¡¯s back one after the other. In an instant, there were as many as 500 des stuck deeply on Vormon¡¯s thick and tough back.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Vormon¡¯s loud scream brought delight to the faces of the troops.

    ¡°This¡­ this is unbelievable¡­¡±

    ¡°Ellie¡­ is crazy¡­¡±

    ¡°That woman is Eivelis Empire¡¯s Empress Ellie¡­?¡±

    Everyone was in admiration. They watched as hundreds of des got stabbed deep into Vormon¡¯s back, until he looked like a hedgehog. That attack would definitely cause at least a 30% decrease in Vormon¡¯s HP. Vormon¡¯s eyes rolled to find the figure of Ellie. She was right underneath him.

    <em>Thwaaaaaack¡ª</em>

    Ellie used only one hand to swing her sword strongly. When the sword mmed into Vormon¡¯s body, he flew high up in the sky. That was Vormon, who looked to be hundreds of tons in weight, flying up from that one attack.

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    Vormon cast hundreds of magic to keep Ellie, who followed him up in the sky, at bay. However, the magic that heunched did not pierce through the red shield that surrounded her body. She flew to the top of Vormon¡¯s back as she swung her sword down.

    ¡°Empire Asunder.¡±

    This was her newly awakened power. Empire Asunder was a quick draw attack where she had to quickly draw her sword out of its sheath, before swinging it down. However, the skill¡¯s radius was around 40 meters and it had an additional 5,000% damage.

    <em>aaaaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    Vormon fell back down on the ground as blood spurted out from the huge gash on his back.

    <em>Thuuuuuuuuud¡ª</em>

    A thick cloud of dust rose from the ground as the entire army, as well as the whole world, watched in stunned silence. Ellie, who was standing still in the sky and casually looking down on Vormon¡¯s existence, looked peerless and unrivaled.

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Everyone watching the scene held their breaths. They did not even realize that they had been holding their breath as they continued to watch the scene in silence. The entire world was both in awe and admiration after witnessing the tremendous power that Ellie, an NPC from the small country of Korea, had disyed.

    Just when Ellie was going to swing her sword again¡­

    <em>Keuhaaaaaaaaaak¡ª</em>

    ¡­a tremendous amount of mana radiated out of Vormon¡¯s body. And with that, thousands of beams of light shed and stretched out from the gaps in the thick cloud of dust.

    <em>Shwa, shwa, shwa, shwa, shwa, shwa¡ª</em>

    ¡°Di¡­ Diss¡­?!¡±

    Minhyuk knew what the skill was. This was a skill called <em>¡®Diss¡¯</em>. Ali, a mage, could only use this in limited numbers. This was his strongest one-shot kill skill. But this very same Diss was being cast by the thousands, which attacked the people in the vicinity indiscriminately.

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuhaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaack!¡±

    The worst part was that Diss did not stop even after it struck one enemy, it continued forward and pierced through the enemies behind them.

    <em>Shwa, shwa, shwa, shwa, shwa¡ª</em>

    Ellie also hurriedly used her shield to block the attack, but the spears of light created by the Diss skill were unimaginably fast and strong.

    <em>ng¡ª</em>

    The spears of light broke down Ellie¡¯s shield as they locked on and attacked Ellie¡¯s body. Thankfully, her high defense saved her and stopped the spears of light from piercing through her body. However¡­

    ¡°Urk!¡±

    A mouthful of blood gushed out of her mouth. The damage of the attack itself was beyond anyone could imagine. The spears of light exterminated the rest of the army, leaving only 4,000 of the troops. Even the members of the Let¡¯s Eat Sect Guild were in a simr situation.

    Locke stood in front of Cerberus and stopped the spears of light from reaching it, which led to his death.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    Cerberus roared in grief. Meanwhile, Abel continued to fly in the air and send his attacks towards Vormon. However, he was immediately shot down by the attack and forced to log out. The members of the Let¡¯s Eat Sect Guild were all forced to log out.

    ¡°Kahahahahahahaha!¡± Vormonughed maniacally.

    That was right. If Ellie¡¯s attack was focused on a single target, Vormon¡¯s attack was an AOE skill. No, perhaps he could even control the range and target of his magic, making it work both ways.

    ¡°Urgh.¡±

    The spears of light stabbed on her body and made Ellie fall down on the ground. She watched as Vormon flew in the sky once again. He had now transformed and changed into his human form. This was so he could avoid being attacked indiscriminately due to his huge size.

    In his human form, Vormon was a handsome man with white hair, wearing a white robe and holding a white staff.

    <em>Crackle¡ª</em>

    The sky was torn apart to reveal a space with thousands of fireballs from hell that started to fall down on the ground. This was none other than Hellfire.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Hellfire was a high-tiered magic that was only a level lower than Diss. However, it was also an AOE attack skill. These Hellfires would literally turn this ce into hell. It did not end there. Thousands of spears of light also appeared and fell down from the sky.

    ¡°Keuhahahahahaha!¡±

    Vormon¡¯s body was still dripping blood from Ellie¡¯s attack, but hisugh was filled with delight. After all, his catastrophic magic was slowly falling down on the remaining forces in the Continent Cloud. The number of magic attacks that he sent out was enough to annihte everyone present here.

    But at that moment, the voice of a mage, the voice that Minhyuk knew all too well, rang loudly in the area.

    ¡°Dispel.¡±

 Chapter 386: Hunting Black Dragon

    Chapter 386: Hunting ck Dragon

    The Athenae operators themselves were also left speechless when they saw the thousands of Hellfires and spears of light pour down from the skies.

    Vormon¡¯s existence was created by the supeputer <em>Athenae,</em> and this very same existence had turned into one that was borderline iprehensible and undefeatable for the yers. No, perhaps they might have a chance if someone had reached the realms of a true and genuine <em>¡®God¡¯</em>.

    But there was no such person right now. Although there were God sses, they were only sessors that had, and would inherit the power of their Gods. And right now, among all of the yers in existence, some of these God sses had only reached the Demigod level.

    ¡°The entire world will be seeing this,¡± Director Kim Daesik murmured after gulping dryly.

    That was right. The whole world would be able to witness how ck Dragon Vormon annihted the remaining troops with his Hellfires and gigantic spears of lights, before proceeding to turn both the Asgan and Cairon Continents into wastnds.

    ¡°Are we going to save both the Asgan and Cairon Continents with updates once they turn into wastnds?¡± Kim Daesik asked bitterly.

    But then, a man murmured, ¡°It¡¯s not over until it¡¯s over.¡±

    Team Leader Park Minggyu had always been stubborn and blunt. However, his words made Director Kim feel emotional. Team Leader Park wanted them to believe in the yers. Director Kim also wanted to believe in them, but the situation right now was so desperate that faith in a miracle was something that seemed out of reach.

    ¡°But the situation right now is¡­¡±

    Just when he was about to speak¡­

    <em>Bang¡ª</em>

    ¡­the door to the conference room was mmed open by a woman. This woman was their new employee, no, she was already a pretty decent employee. She was none other than Lee Minhwa.

    ¡°Employee Lee Minhwa?¡± Team Leader Park looked at her in confusion. Everyone¡¯s gazes also turned to her.

    Then, with her voice filled with excitement and agitation, she said, ¡°A God¡­! A God has appeared!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­What are you saying?¡±

    Because of the crisis that Vormon had brought to theirpany, only a few of the employees were left to do their original jobs. Lee Minhwa was among the few that were left in their original posts. She was the only one that witnessed this scene.

    ¡°A yer that has be a True God has appeared!¡±

    ¡°What?!¡±

    ¡°What did you just say?!¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?!¡±

    Everyone keenly felt something. Meanwhile, President Kang Taehoon jumped up from his seat and asked, ¡°Who is it? No, more importantly where is he right now?!¡±

    This was an event that was as shocking as Vormon¡¯s descent into frenzy. Then, Lee Minhwa shakily raised her finger and pointed at one ce. Everyone followed her finger to the screen.

    Disyed on it was the scene where thousands of Hellfires and Diss were slowly falling down on the remaining thousands of troops, Minhyuk and Ellie. All of the people below Vormon fell into despair. And just when the attack was about to reach them¡­

    <em>[Dispel.]</em>

    A voice rang in their ears. The voice sounded as distinct and beautiful as God¡¯s whisper. And along with that voice¡­

    <em>[Keuhaaaaaaaack!]</em>

    ¡­the thousands of Hellfires were sucked back into the torn space while the thousands of gigantic spears of light stopped right above the heads of the remaining troops, before slowly dissipating and disappearing into nothingness. Vormon looked bewildered and in disbelief as he turned his gaze to one ce.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The ce where Vormon¡¯s gaze stopped was shown on the screen of the TV that the Athenae executives were looking at.

    Vormon, as mentioned before, had transformed into a handsome white-haired man, wearing a pristine white robe and holding a white staff. In front of him stood an equally handsome man using Fly magic. The man¡¯s figure, with his golden hair, golden eyes, golden robe and golden staff, was a stark contrast to the figure of the transformed ck dragon. This man was illuminated with a strong golden light as he stood facing Vormon. This man was none other than Golden Mage Ali.

    ***

    Dispel could be said to be an exclusive skill for high-leveled mages that could nullify their enemy¡¯s magical attacks. A familiar voice rang loudly in the area as he cast this very magic. Following his words, the Hellfires that were about to rain down on the remaining troops were instantly sucked back into the space torn out of the sky. Even the spears of light that were already looming above the yers¡¯ heads and trying to stab them to their deaths slowly dissipated, until they disappeared into nothingness.

    ¡°What was that?¡±

    ¡°What the hell just happened?¡±

    ¡°Dispel? Is that really a Dispel? Can Dispel really nullify all of that magic?!¡±

    The power of the skill Dispel depended on the magic user¡¯s level of attainment. To think there was an existence that could cast a Dispel which extinguished more than a thousand Diss and Hellfire created by Vormon in one single go! Everyone was both shocked and in disbelief. And then¡­

    ¡°Over there!!!¡±

    ¡°Heok?!!! Who¡¯s that?!¡±

    The gazes of the thousands of remaining troops all turned towards Vormon, no, to be exact, to the man standing in front of Vormon. For a moment, the remaining troops could not figure out who the man was. Unlike his usual gloomy and dark aura, the man was flying steadily in the sky as he faced off against Vormon, while shining with a bright golden light that could even surpass the sun in brightness.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t¡­ isn¡¯t that Ali?¡±

    ¡°The world¡¯s greatest mage, Ali?!¡±

    That was right. There was only one mage that the entire world had recognized, and that was none other than ck Mage Ali.

    There was only one reason why the people heaped praises on the Summit Five and that was because they were unrivaled in terms of strength and power. As for the mages, Ali, as an unofficial ranker, was not included in the rankings. Even the mage yer hailed as the global number one official ranker was said to be a tier lower than Ali in terms of power. And that was a fact.

    This was the reason why Ali was more famous than any other Korean yers to the people all over the globe.

    Even if that was the case, Ali was still just a yer. However, it was clear to everyone present that Vormon was sporting a flustered expression on his face, as Ali stood in front of him with a cold expression. Surprisingly enough, Ali was not pushed back by Vormon¡¯s overwhelming momentum.

    Ali had also confirmed his power after using that Dispel. As the sessor of the Great Mage, Ali met with Great Mage Moldoron and asked him to awaken his powers inside his body in exchange for a penalty. Ali would be able to use Moldoron¡¯s power for half a day, but all of his magical power would be exhausted and he would return to Level 1. However, he willingly epted this penalty for one reason, and one reason alone. It was so he could protect his friends. And this was the power that he gained:

    <em>[Great Mage Moldoron has been moved by your dedication and actions.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained the <strong>Title</strong>: The Man that Moved the Legend.]</em>

    <em>[Great Mage Moldoron has increased the power that he would temporarily grant you.]</em>

    <em>[You have temporarily awakened the power of the God of Magic, Archipello.]</em>

    <em>[Eight Tier Magic. You have transcended beyond the human realm and have entered God''s realm.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has temporarily doubled while your MP reserve has temporarily quadrupled.]</em>

    <em>[Your magic attack has tripled while your magical pration has increased by 100%.]</em>

    <em>[You will be able to use Eight Tier Magic without any cooldown restrictions.]</em>

    <em>[Dual ss. You have acquired the ss ¡®His Companion¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[His Companion can only allow you to choose one partner.]</em>

    Even his dual ss had requirements and restrictions. The dual ss <em>¡®His Companion¡¯</em> would only be granted to someone who could sacrifice their everything for the sake of someone else. Also, the achievements that thepanion that they should choose must be far greater than any other yers.

    Yes, Ali believed that there was one person who was more than enough to be chosen as his partner. And that was none other than Minhyuk.

    <em>[Ali has appointed you as his panion¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[Do you agree?]</em>

    There was only onepanion that Ali, someone that hade close to God, could choose. Minhyuk did not even hesitate. Then, surprising notifications rang one after the other.

    <em>[You have be Ali¡¯spanion.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will increase by 1.2x when Ali is with you, hispanion.]</em>

    <em>[Your EXP Acquisition rate will increase by 1.5x when Ali is with you, hispanion.]</em>

    <em>[You can receive apanion exclusive buff if Ali is with you, hispanion.]</em>

    <em>[Ali has used ¡®Companion¡¯s Support Buff¡¯ on you. The buff can only be used once a month.]</em>

    <em>[Companion Support.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP and MP has fully recovered.]</em>

    <em>[All of your skill cooldown has been reset.]</em>

    <em>[Your EXP Acquisition Rate has increased by 200%.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 15%.]</em>

    <em>[Your basic attack power has increased by 1.4x.]</em>

    Ali looked at Minhyuk as he stretched out his finger and pointed at Vormon, who was struggling to hide his embarrassment.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Vormon almost burst into a fit ofughter. Who was he? He was a dragon, the one and only king of magic in this world. Could someone really take on a magic attack that he sent himself? Besides, human magic was something that eventually came to be after taking a hint from dragon magic. Their magic casting time was too long and their power was not enough. But at that moment¡­

    ¡°That¡¯s not how you use Diss,¡± Ali said as he looked at him with a wide grin. Then, he spat out, ¡°Diss.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    A tremendous amount of mana swarmed around Ali¡¯s finger.

    <em>Flutter¡ª</em>

    Ali¡¯s golden hair and robe fluttered as a golden spear of light was shot out from his finger before swiftly piercing through the pit of Vormon¡¯s stomach.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    <em>[Your Magical Defense has been ignored.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has decreased by 7%.]</em>

    ¡°Urk¡­?!¡±

    Vormon looked down at his chest in disbelief. A huge golden spear was piercing through his chest.

    <em>¡®How¡­ how can such a weak and puny human do this¡­?¡¯</em>

    Humans were beings that stole magic from the dragons. But he, an existence that stood at the peak of magic, actually suffered from a human¡¯s magic attack?

    ¡°How dare you, human?!¡±

    Hundreds of lights appeared as Vormon cast Diss and fired the skill towards Ali. Then¡­

    ¡°Dispel.¡±

    And just like before, they all dissipated and disappeared into nothingness. On the contrary¡­

    ¡°Diss.¡±

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    ¡­another golden spear shot out of Ali¡¯s finger and stabbed through Vormon¡¯s chest.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Vormon could not understand what was happening. The master of the Supreme Divine Beast smacked him with a frying pan earlier! There was also a self-sacrificing old man that stabbed him in the neck. There was also that man that called himself a dragon, and that woman who performed incredible swordsmanship.

    Then, there was this mage in front of him. His power was quite astonishing, but Vormon believed that this mage would eventually feel shamed in front of his prowess. Thousands of magic spells appeared in the skies. And once again¡­

    ¡°Dispel.¡±

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡±

    Everything disappeared in front of Ali¡¯s power. Then, gigantic spells appeared around Ali one after the other. Hellfire, Diss, and even the gigantic meteor created from the skill Meteor appeared in the sky.

    ¡°Spatial Distortion,¡± Ali muttered.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud!</em>

    The debris and destruction below Ali flew up and formed a transparent space that locked him and Vormon inside. This was to keep the others from being affected by the Hellfires and Meteors that would fall down at any moment.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Vormon, who was trapped in this huge space, tried to shoot down the Meteor falling down by firing his own magic. However, Ali¡¯s Meteor was already at a level beyond Vormon. The Hellfire and Diss were the first attacks that came down and devoured him.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Vormon¡¯s HP had fallen below 50%. The attacks had brought him terrible pain. And by the end of it¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaam¡ª</em>

    A huge meteor shot down and crushed Vormon into the ground.

    <em>Thuuuuuud¡ª</em>

    A huge shockwave erupted the moment the attack made contact with Vormon. Ali swiftly created a golden shield to protect himself from the shockwave. Then, the transparent wall disappeared by itself.

    <em>¡®The amount of MP it consumed had been too high.¡¯</em>

    Ali broke into a cold sweat. Even if he had temporarily loaned God¡¯s power, he still used up too much of his MP.

    <em>¡®What a monster¡­¡¯</em>

    Even though Ali went on a rampage with his magic, he still did not receive the notification that he had hunted Vormon. Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    A sword pierced through the thick cloud of dust and stabbed Ali¡¯s chest.

    ¡°Urk¡­!¡±

    Ali¡¯s face wrinkled in dismay.

    <em>¡®I¡¯ve been seen through¡­¡¯</em>

    Ali¡¯s face crumpled as he watched Vormon¡¯s lips twitch in delight. That was right. Ali¡¯s abilities and skills had risen by leaps and bounds. His magical abilities had reached their peak and were able to neutralize and nullify Vormon¡¯s magic.

    However, what would happen if his enemy came close and did not engage in magical warfare with him?

    <em>¡®I won¡¯t be able to stop him.¡¯</em>

    Ali¡¯s HP had dropped below 40% in an instant. But then¡­

    <em>Vwoooom¡ª</em>

    ¡­Ellie stormed in and swung her sword to stop Vormon¡¯s attack. Vormon and Ellie¡¯s swords collided. Vormon was a dragon that had lived for thousands of years. It was only natural that he excelled in swordsmanship. In fact, his swordsmanship was even beyond that of the Sword Saint¡¯s skills. The worst part of it was the fact that he couldbine it with the most powerful magic.

    ¡°Ughhh!¡±

    Ali pretended to fall as he grabbed his chest, but he just pulled back a little, before leaping forward again. Vormon stood in the center while Ellie attacked him from the left and Ali from the right. With every wield of Ali¡¯s golden staff, dozens of magic would appear to attack Vormon.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    With every swing of Ellie¡¯s sword, dozens of sword strikes would m into Vormon¡¯s body. But¡­

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    ¡­Vormon was a boss monster. It was a fact that his HP was hundreds of times that of Ellie¡¯s and Ali¡¯s HP. His HP had been reduced, yes, but the amount was still too high to begin with.

    Meanwhile, Vormon could tell, <em>¡®It¡¯s my victory¡­!¡¯</em>

    If this battle continued at this rate, these people attacking him would eventually copse. But then¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡­a pir of light struck down from the skies.

    <em>[Camera 5!!! Camera 5!!!]</em>

    <em>[Camera 8!]</em>

    <em>[Camera 9! Shoot whatever it is over there!]</em>

    The cameras from all over the world moved swiftly as they followed the orders of their own PDs.

    <em>[What the hell is that pir?!]</em>

    <em>[What kind of existence has appeared this time?!]</em>

    <em>[Hope. Is our hope growing once again?!!!]</em>

    The cameras finally arrived at a ce that was close enough for them to capture a scene that was never witnessed before.

    <em>[Zoom in!!! Zoom in!!!]</em>

    <em>[What the hell is that?!!! Get a close up!!!]</em>

    Something was slowly falling from the pir of light that pierced through from the skies. When the cameras finally got a close up, they finally saw what it was.

    <em>[A crown?]</em>

    <em>[A golden crown?!]</em>

    <em>[What, what the hell is that?]</em>

    The golden crown slowly fell down and the pir of light slowly dissipated. When the pir of lightpletely disappeared, it showed the figure of the being that was enveloped in its light. It was none other than a baby piggy wearing a golden crown, a golden armor, while holding a ck and shiny kitchen knife.

    ¡°Oiiiiink!¡±

    It was the Supreme Divine Beast, Beanie.

 Chapter 387: Hunting Black Dragon

    Chapter 387: Hunting ck Dragon

    The Supreme Divine Beast was an existence that held absolute power. He was the one that sealed Vormon when he wreaked chaos, havoc, and despair in the past. He had sacrificed himself in the past to bring peace to his friends, and was only able toe back to life with the help of the Dragon Monarch, the Great Mage Moldoron, and the Incarnation of Light.

    The fragments of the Golden Crown had been scattered all over the world. These items had the power to awaken the power of the Supreme Divine Beast. Minhyuk had collected almost every fragment except for one. No matter what he did, he could not get a quest that was rted to the final fragment of the Golden Crown. Instead of him, it was Ali, the owner of another divine beast, that received the quest and handed over the fragment to Minhyuk. That was right. Beanie hadpleted his final awakening.

    <em>[You have collected all of the fragments of the Golden Crown.]</em>

    <em>[The Supreme Divine Beast Beanie has awakened.]</em>

    <em>[Beanie has learned the Predator¡¯s Authority.]</em>

    <em>[Predator¡¯s Authority has temporarily reached the MAX level.]</em>

    <em>[Beanie¡¯s HP, MP, Basic Attack and Defense have significantly increased.]</em>

    <em>[The power of the Supreme Divine Beast will reach MAX level upon awakening. After that, everything will reset and he will have to get stronger.]</em>

    Minhyuk immediately understood what the notifications meant the moment he heard it. The Supreme Divine Beast would gain his strength back in the days for a moment of time. But after that, Beanie had to follow the step-by-step process and grow stronger, until he fully regained that power.

    As for Beanie, no matter what kind of existence he was, he was still the mascot of the <em>Athenae</em>: Korean War. He had gained countless fans in the country thanks to his cuteness. And that very same Beanie had shown himself to the world.

    <em>[So, so adorable¡­]</em>

    <em>[What a very cute and adorable being. Who¡¯s that baby piggy with a golden crown?]</em>

    <em>[It doesn¡¯t matter. What I¡¯m sure about is that I want to take a chomp out of that cute little piggy.]</em>

    <em>[Thick paws, chubby face, a golden armor, and a cool ck kitchen knife!]</em>

    <em>[I don¡¯t care if this kind ofment doesn¡¯t fit with the desperate situation that we¡¯re in, but he¡¯s really cute and adorable. I feel like both my heart and my breath have been taken away.]</em>

    And just like that, the globalmunity sites went wild.

    <em>[Kawaii-desu ne!!!]</em>

    <em>[Wow. This baby piggy is extremely cute~]</em>

    <em>[Kyaaaaaack! Mister Baby Piggy, please let me touch your soft and chubby belly, just once! Please!]</em>

    That was right. Beanie was now on a rise to global stardom. However, there was one thing that they hadpletely overlooked. Beanie, who had suddenly awakened, was not just cute. He was also the Supreme Divine Beast.

    ***

    Ali once again fired out a skill from his fingertips as he faced Vormon.

    ¡°Diss.¡±

    A golden spear flew towards Vormon. However, Vormon just twisted his body and moved out of the way of the golden spear¡¯s trajectory. His fluid movement when avoiding the spear of light was beyond astonishing. Then, Vormon countered by shooting out dozens of magic spells towards Ali.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Ali started feeling flustered and nervous as he watched Vormon¡¯s attacks m into the golden shield that he had created.

    <em>¡®I only have 10% of my MP left.¡¯</em>

    Although he had temporarily reached the level closest to God, he was not a God after all. On top of that, ck Dragon Vormon was the strongest existence in this world, his HP was just too high. Inparison, just one Diss from Ali could easily kill any other boss-ranked mobs in one shot. That was how awful and terrifying their opponent was.

    Continental Emperor Ellie¡¯s sword began to close up and tighten the noose around Vormon.

    <em>Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump¡ª</em>

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    <em>Ping¡ª</em>

    Ellie did not evade the dozens of magic spells that came pouring down on her to cut down Vormon¡¯s body. In the first ce, the attack was almost impossible to get away from. Besides, even if she sessfully avoided the magic attack, Vormon¡¯s sword would be able to deal a much stronger damage.

    <em>Baaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    With the imminent exhaustion of his MP, Ali was forced to reduce the amount and duration of the magic that he used over time. This was to stop himself from using it indiscriminately and instead, use his magic in a more efficient way.

    However, Ali¡¯s HP had already fallen below 20%. Then, Vormon¡¯s magic suddenly mmed into Ali, who did not have enough MP to cast a shield anymore.

    Seeing this, Vormon smirked viciously. He said, ¡°It¡¯s over, weak humans.¡±

    Once Ali was killed, the results of this battle would eventually tilt towards Vormon¡¯s victory. Vormon, however, admitted and acknowledged Ali¡¯s strength. Although it was only for a moment, Ali still reached God¡¯s level and pushed himself, the greatest dragon in this world, to the limits. Vormon sent a strong and powerful magic spell to finally end Ali¡¯s life. At that moment, Ali felt something warm. This warmth spread slowly on his back. Ali was currently at his most desperate moment so he could not understand what just happened.

    The source of warmth on Ali¡¯s back was none other than Beanie, the Supreme Divine Beast. There was a gold current of energy seeping out of his tiny paws. This was the Predator¡¯s Authority.

    That was right, the Supreme Divine Beast was a predator, one that would eat anything and everything, creating miracles with his own power. At that moment, several colossal golden shields ovepped in front of Ali.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    These ovepping shields protected Ali from Vormon¡¯s attacks.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Ali was extremely shocked. The shields that appeared just now were not something that he created but strangely enough, they looked very simr to his own shield. Simply put, someone else created the shields and made it look like his own. Another shocking fact was that it had enough power to defend against Vormon¡¯s magic and keep it at bay.

    But then, something more surprising happened.

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    More than five golden spears flew straight towards Vormon.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡± Vormon was forced to scream in pain once again.

    Ellie did not miss this opportunity. She quickly approached Vormon and struck him down with all her might.

    <em>Baaaaang¡ª</em>

    Vormon started to fall on the ground. Seeing this, Ali finally had the leeway to turn his head and look at the source of warmth behind him. And there, standing behind him was a baby piggy just a tiny bit bigger than a fist, wearing a golden armor and holding a ck kitchen knife.

    ¡°Bea¡­ Beanie?¡±

    Then¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Beanie disappeared in a sh of ck. What he used was Blink, a mage¡¯s teleportation magic. Another sh of ck and Beanie appeared once again, this time under the rapidly falling Vormon. Just when both Ellie and Ali felt the warm andforting energy wrapped around them disappear, Beanie looked up at the falling Vormon as he brandished his kitchen knife.

    Ellie looked at the scene in disbelief as she murmured, ¡°Sword of Annihtion¡­?¡±

    That was right. It was the Sword of Annihtion, Ellie¡¯s most powerful skill. The skill that could easily ughter thousands, or even tens of thousands, of enemies in a single go. The very same skill that she had learned and acquired after awakening to her powers as a Continental Emperor. This power had shown itself in front of them as thousands of long des flew up, like raindrops falling in reverse, towards Vormon. Then, the des stuck deeply in Vormon¡¯s body.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡±

    <em>[Your HP has fallen below 20%.]</em>

    A loud and miserable shriek was ripped out of Vormon¡¯s mouth the moment the des stuck deeply in his body. At the same time, the viewers and yers from all over the world watched in shock as Beanie sessfullynded an attack on Vormon, a figure that was several times more bigger and ferocious than the cute baby piggy.

    ¡°Supreme Divine Beast¡­ you f*cking bastaaaaaaard¡­!¡± Vormon shouted, his eyes turning red in anger. This was the same being that had stopped him in the past when he tried to devour and let the entire continent be engulfed with chaos.

    The very same Supreme Divine Beast stood in front of him to block his path once again.

    If it was just the Supreme Divine Beast, Vormon was confident that he could clinch the victory. But right now, Continental Emperor Ellie and Golden Mage Ali were both present. Fear suddenly engulfed Vormon. He would die in the hands of these humans and a little pig? No, never. That should not happen. His own death could not be so humiliating. Then¡­

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    As Vormon was falling through the sky, his body suddenly shone brightly, like a diamond shining under the bright sun, as a solid ck gemstone started to appear and cover his entire body. To be exact, the ck gemstone contained Vormon. As his body turned to that state, Vormon transformed once again into his dragon form. Then, the ck dragon that was covered in gemstone came to a stop in the skies.

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    Ellie sent a sword strike up, but it did not even leave a single scratch on the ck gemstone.

    <em>[No way, did he seal himself?]</em>

    <em>[Are you telling me that he sealed himself again?]</em>

    <em>[I don¡¯t think so.]</em>

    <em>[Then, it¡¯s not some sort of suicide bomb kind of thing, right?]</em>

    <em>[No way¡­]</em>

    Sadly, one of the predictions was right. Vormon chose to explode himself. And this was the notifications that rang for all of the yers present.

    <em>[Vormon will explode in two minutes.]</em>

    <em>[Upon the explosion, all of the mana that has been stored in Vormon¡¯s body will spread out and cause heavy damages.]</em>

    <em>[Please restrain and stop Vormon within two minutes.]</em>

    ck Dragon Vormon chose to explode himself! It was clear to everyone present that this explosion would definitely blow up everyone here, perhaps even the entire Continent Cloud would disappear from this explosion.

    <em>[Vormon chose to explode himself? This is really ridiculous and absurd.]</em>

    <em>[Then, what about their rewards for the hunt?! It wouldn¡¯t be the case where they wouldn¡¯t receive anything, right?!]</em>

    <em>[We have never encountered a situation like this before. And it seems like Sword Emperor Ellie will die here too.]</em>

    <em>[Of course, with the help of the Continent Cloud¡¯s power, it wouldn¡¯t be an absolute death.]</em>

    Each and every single one of the yers and soldiers from the 4,000 remaining troops were of the same mind.

    ¡°How can we drive that bastard to a corner and restrain him by ourselves¡­?!¡±

    ¡°N¡­ no¡­ this can¡¯t be happening¡­!¡±

    ¡°This game scenario is really f*cking trash. F*ck!¡±

    The yers immediately squeezed thest of their remaining strength to attack the colossal gem-stone covered Vormon.

    <em>Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump¡ª</em>

    However, the gemstone remained in a pristine condition. This meant that the defense of the gemstone that surrounded Vormon¡¯s body was beyond anyone¡¯s imagination. The results were the same, even for both Ali and Ellie.

    ¡°Diss.¡±

    <em>Piiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    Ali¡¯s Diss flew swiftly to attack the gemstone, but instead of dealing damage, the skill was reflected away.

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    Ali had escaped the reflected skill by a small margin. He turned to watch Ellie swing her sword. However, the gemstone was so tough that it did not do anything at all. She even used her skills, but to no avail. Even though she stabbed the gemstone with all her might, only her sword trembled and shook from the impact.

    <em>[Will everything end like this?]</em>

    <em>[Ha¡­ Vormon¡¯s Hunt this time was extremely spectacr but everything still ended up being in vain.]</em>

    Yes. The people would never remember the great battle that took ce here. They would only remember the <em>¡®results¡¯</em>.

    ***

    The same desperate and gloomy air hung over the heads of the entire Athenae executives as they sat in Athenae¡¯s conference room.

    ¡°God f*cking damnit!¡± President Kang Taehoon spat out as he stood up from his seat and bit a cigarette in his mouth. Not long after, he took the cigarette out of his mouth and sighed deeply.

    This time, they were able to tell the entire world that the yers of South Korea were not weak. They were far stronger than what everyone had thought. And the world should have gone wild over this. Everyone that participated should also receive proper rewards for hunting Vormon. It had to be done. They had to bepensated and rewarded well for their efforts and sacrifices. Now, it seemed like it was going to be impossible.

    But then, at that moment¡­

    ¡°Minhyuk¡­?¡±

    Team Leader Park¡¯s voice floated in Kang Taehoon¡¯s ears as he turned to look at where he was looking. That was when he saw the scene on the TV screen.

    Minhyuk was standing on Vormon¡¯s right side, while Beanie stood on the left. The two of them cast the same power at the same time. And this power was none other than Sword of Absolute Death. Two of the same sword lights were fired at the same time. The sword lights sessfully passed through the strong and tough gemstone and pierced through Vormon encased inside the gem.

    <em>[Kueaaaaaaaaaaack!]</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    President Kang Taehoon looked at the screen inser focus. The information about the Sword of Absolute Death was disyed on the screen. The first attack would always have a 100% chance of sess. This meant that the two sword lights sessfully cut through Vormon at the same time! Then, hundreds of huge sword lights appeared and flew towards the gemstone.

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng, ng, ng, ng, ng!</em>

    ¡°As expected¡­¡± President Kang Taehoon said, his face crumpling in dismay. Just like he expected, there was no sword that could pierce through the ck gemstone. But then¡­

    <em>[Ping, ping¡ª Baaaaaaang!]</em>

    One of the sword lights passed through the gemstone and struck Vormon once again!

    ¡°Intangible Sword¡­ It¡¯s the absurd skill that can ignore the opponent¡¯s defense¡­!¡± Team Leader Park Minggyu said, his hands tightly clenching into a fist.

    <em>¡®Yes! Didn¡¯t Minhyuk have that passive skill Intangible Sword? The skill that gives him a chance of ignoring his enemy¡¯s defense?¡¯</em>

    Hundreds of sword lights struck down on Vormon, whose gemstone encased body was being struck down by rampaging sword lights on both sides. And then¡­ an explosion!

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>[Keuaaaaaack!]</em>

    There was only 13% left of Vormon¡¯s HP.

    ¡°Just a bit more¡­ just a bit more¡­¡±

    President Kang Taehoon and the rest of the Athenae executives present watched, tense with cold sweat dripping down their backs.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s passive has been triggered as lightning fell down from the skies and struck down on Vormon.

    9%! There was only 9% left of Vormon¡¯s HP. The sword strikes kept oning! And then, it became 7%. But that was the end. The two of them were no longer able to send any more sword strikes. There were only 50 seconds left before Vormon exploded.

    <em>[Keuhahahahahahahaha!]</em>

    Vormon¡¯s maliciousughter rang loudly and dug into the ears of all of the people watching from all over the world. Despair crashed down on all of the people present in the conference room. They could see that Vormon was mocking them, despite his imminent death.

    Just then, Minhyuk and Beanie cast another skill at the same time.

    <em>[Sword of Absolute Death.]</em>

 Chapter 388: Hunting Black Dragon

    Chapter 388: Hunting ck Dragon

    Minhyuk had received a buff from Ali¡¯s subss <em>¡®His Companion¡¯</em>. There was a <em>¡®Cooldown Reset¡¯</em> among the buffs that he had received,<em></em>which meant that all of Minhyuk¡¯s skills could be used again, immediately. After seeing him use his Sword of Absolute Death once, Vormon burst out inughter.

    ¡°N¡­ no¡­¡±

    ¡°This goddamn f*cker!!!¡±

    ¡°What the hell! This XXX game!!!¡±

    ¡°Aaaah! I¡¯ll make sure to shelve <em>Athenae</em>!!!¡±

    Vormon smiled gleefully at the voices of the people that were filled with despair. However, the corners of Minhyuk¡¯s lips were curled up with a twinkle in his eyes. The sight made Vormon¡¯s eyes widen in shock. But it was already toote.

    Minhyuk¡¯s Sword of Absolute Death, which could immediately be used thanks to his <em>¡®Save¡¯</em> skill, had already been triggered. And the same was true for Beanie, who had already used his Predator¡¯s Authority, a skill that he had just recently learned!

    <em>(<strong>Predator¡¯s Authority</strong>)</em>

    <em>Active Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: Temporary MAX</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty for Use</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>? Beanie can acquire and use most of your opponent¡¯s debuff, attack, and magic skills through predation immediately. </em>

    <em>? The replicated skills would have no requirements nor limitations, and the replicated skills would continue to be avable for use. </em>

    <em>? Upon the predation and acquisition of the opponent¡¯s skills and powers, Beanie¡¯s attack would be equivalent to his opponent¡¯s attack.</em>

    <em>? The replicated skills will have a 24 hour cooldown time.</em>

    In a way, the Predator¡¯s Authority was quite simr to Predator¡¯s Acquisition, but it was also quite different. First off, Beanie¡¯s attack would match his opponent¡¯s. It was a very surprising power. There was also the fact that the limit on the number of the amount of skills and powers that he could replicate had disappeared. Of course this was probably because of the temporary MAX in the skill¡¯s level.

    ¡°Sword of Absolute Death.¡±

    Minhyuk and Beanie triggered the same skill at the same time on both sides of Vormon, once again.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    A huge sword light with 100% chance of sessful hit rate struck Vormon¡¯s body from both sides.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡± Vormon screamed once again.

    All they needed to do was to devour Vormon¡¯s remaining 7% HP and they would be able to kill him. The problem was that the 7% of his HP was several timesrger than a regr high ranker. Then, continuous strikes mmed into Vormon¡¯s body following that first attack!

    <em>[The attack has failed!]</em>

    <em>[The attack has failed!]</em>

    <em>[¡­has failed!]</em>

    Unfortunately, only the first attack had a 100% of having a sessful hit rate, although there were times when the Intangible Sword was triggered.

    <em>[Intangible Sword.]</em>

    <em>[Your sword strike has ignored all of the enemy¡¯s defenses.]</em>

    <em>[Critical Strike!]</em>

    Beanie and Minhyuk both brandished their swords as hard as they could and sent hundreds of sword strikes strongly towards Vormon.

    <em>[Will they be able to do it?]</em>

    <em>[Right now, there are only 30 seconds left.]</em>

    <em>[Food God Minhyuk is the only one that can stop Vormon and his self destruction.]</em>

    <em>[Our ITV Broadcasting Station, America¡¯s current best broadcasting station, has recorded a record breaking 54% in viewership ratings for the first time in history. More than half of our poption is watching this!]</em>

    <em>[My hands are sweating. He will receive the highest honor if he seeds and he will receive the greatest frustration if he fails.]</em>

    Their swords struck the gemstone that surrounded Vormon¡¯s body.

    <em>nk, nk, nk, nk, nk, nk!</em>

    <em>[The attack has failed.]</em>

    <em>[The attack has failed.]</em>

    <em>[The attack has failed.]</em>

    <em>[Intangible Sword.]</em>

    <em>[Your sword strike has ignored all of the enemy¡¯s defenses.]</em>

    <em>[The attack has failed.]</em>

    <em>[The attack has failed.]</em>

    <em>[The attack has failed.]</em>

    <em>[Intangible Sword.]</em>

    <em>[Your sword strike has ignored all of the enemy¡¯s defenses.]</em>

    <em>[The attack has failed.]</em>

    <em>[The attack has failed.]</em>

    <em>[Intangible Sword.]</em>

    <em>[Your sword strike has ignored all of the enemy¡¯s defenses.]</em>

    With every strike of the sword light, an explosion would ur on the gemstone following the effects of the skill.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    There was only 1% of Vormon¡¯s HP left now. They were also in thest few seconds of a very desperate situation.

    <em>[There are only three seconds left before Vormon self-destructs.]</em>

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    They continuously sent sword strikes on the gemstone, but the problem was that the attacks still continued to fail. The Intangible Sword skill only had a 7~12% chance of ignoring the opponent¡¯s defense. In other words, only one out of ten attacks could have the possibility of triggering the Intangible Sword. And then¡­

    <em>[There are only two seconds left before Vormon self-destructs.]</em>

    <em>[There¡¯s only one second left before Vormon self-destructs.]</em>

    <em>[Vormon is self-destructing¡­]</em>

    All of the viewers watching the scene had distorted expressions on their faces. The same was true for the yers present in the Continent Cloud.

    At that very same moment, a miraculous notification rang faster than the end of the notification announcing Vormon¡¯s self-destruction.

    <em>[Lightning]</em>

    <em>[You have a 5% chance of triggering 2~4 consecutive lightning strikes.]</em>

    <em>[4 strikes.]</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The lightning struck down swiftly which resulted in theplete exhaustion of Vormon¡¯s HP!

    <em>[You have sessfully stopped Vormon¡¯s self-destruction.]</em>

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    <em>ng!</em>

    Fine cracks, akin to that of a spider-web, spread out in the gemstone that surrounded Vormon¡¯s body. It spread widely until the gemstone was covered entirely in cracks, before it broke into pieces. Then, Vormon crashed down on the ground.

    Finally, Vormon had died.

    Then, the notifications rang one after the other.

    <em>[You have sessfully hunted ck Dragon Vormon.]</em>

    <em>[ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s hunt will be shared and divided among all of the participating yers depending on their contributions.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 333,306,314 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[Due to the Marrow Bone¡¯s Power, a 3x EXP buff has been applied.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained an additional 999,918,942 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[The one that Ali chose as hispanion will receive a 1.5x EXP buff.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained an additional 166,653,157 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[¡­leveled up.]</em>

    Minhyuk, who was still around thete Level 400s, jumped 30 levels with this level up alone. His level had surpassed the 500 threshold, finally reaching Level 511 in a single go.

    The notifications still kept oning.

    <em>[You have acquired the <strong>Title</strong>: Dragon yer.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 9,411 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 8kg of ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s scales.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Staff of Despair.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 3kg of ck Dragon¡¯s Heaven¡¯s Boneless Chicken that he enjoyed eating the most.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 32 pieces of Vormon¡¯s Weapon Reinforcement Stone.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 45 pieces of Vormon¡¯s Defense Reinforcement Stone.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s Magic Book.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the map to ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s ¡®Lair¡¯.]</em>

    Minhyuk could not help but feel thrilled. The amount of EXP that he had gained during this hunt had exceeded one billion. There was also 9,411 tinum. The tinum that he acquired was already worth around 50 billion in cash.

    And there were also the valuable artifacts!

    But what made Minhyuk feel most excited was acquiring the Heaven¡¯s Boneless Chicken that ck Dragon Vormon enjoyed eating the most.

    <em>¡®Kghhhk, spicy stir-fried chicken¡­! Kyaaa!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was ted. He knew the rewards did not end there. The reason was because he had acquired the <em>¡®Map to ck Dragon </em><em>Vormon¡¯s</em><em> Lair¡¯.</em> Then, additional notifications rang once again.

    <em>[The Continent Cloud Event has ended.]</em>

    <em>[The yer¡¯s score that will be reflected will be measured based on the yer¡¯s contribution, the number of bases acquired, and the total poption.]</em>

    <em>[The yers from Asgan Continent have imed victory.]</em>

    <em>[All yers from Asgan Continent will receive a 40% EXP buff and a 10% increase in all stats for two weeks.]</em>

    <em>[The gold that the yers will receive will be based on the contributions of the yers inside the Continent Cloud. The yers of Asgan Continent will receive thrice the amount of gold that the yers of Cairon Continent will receive.]</em>

    <em>[The Continent Cloud will now allow the Cairon and Asgan Continents to engage freely in diplomatic discussions.]</em>

    <em>[The Continent Cloud is now reformed and turned into a new continent named ¡®Apocalypto¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[Both continents have to resolve their misunderstandings through diplomatic discussions.]</em>

    <em>Fall¡ª</em>

    ¡°It¡¯s over¡­¡±

    ¡°We did it!!!¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaah!!!¡±

    Cheers erupted loudly in the area. The yers of Asgan Continent were particrly delighted, as they raised their swords up high in the sky. They had worked hard for this victory and had finally won against one of <em>Athenae</em>¡¯s powerhouses, China.

    <em>[That¡¯s very surprising. Asgan Continent has triumphed over Cairon Continent.]</em>

    <em>[We can confidently say that some of their yers had yed a big role during the process.]</em>

    <em>[The cheers of the yers from Asgan Continent, right now, are loud enough to cause the people watching to quiver in excitement.]</em>

    <em>[The steps that they decided to take have also made my heart tremble and shudder in thrill.]</em>

    <em>[To all the yers of Asgan and Cairon Continents, thank you for all of your hard work.]</em>

    The Continent Cloud Episode had finally beenpleted. However, it was still notpletely over. Alicia looked at Minhyuk from afar with her hands clenched tightly into a fist.

    <em>¡®If it¡¯s you, then¡­¡¯</em>

    Then, she began to move.

    ***

    Crazy Tyrant Akhan was the powerful man that brought ck Dragon Vormon into a frenzied state. There were rumors publicized about him, that no NPC or yer could touch him. The reason why he was called a <em>¡®Tyrant¡¯</em> was because of his summoning techniques. He was an unofficial ranker with a significant number of named monsters under his rule.

    Akhan was currently leaning on his sofa and watching the cheering yers of Asgan Continents through his TV Screen.

    ¡°That¡¯s a bit unexpected, huh?¡±

    What Akhan wanted was for Vormon to go on a rampage and bring both the Asgan and Cairon Continents to ruins. He had deemed this to be feasible with ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s power. This was because he was confident that there were no Korean or Chinese yers that could exert more power than the Summit Five. However, yer Minhyuk, who was now being shown in a close-up view on his screen, had aplished the impossible.

    ¡°Ha~ But, I¡¯m sure I¡¯ve made the <em>Athenae</em> operators eat some shit for a bit.¡±

    Crazy Tyrant Akhan only wanted to do one thing, and that was to watch the copse of <em>Athenae</em>. He had a deeply rooted resentment against Joy Co. Ltd.

    Akhan looked at the screen coldly as he waited. Right now, the yers of the Cairon Continent had suffered greatly from their defeat. This was all because of the sudden appearance of <em>¡®ck Dragon Vormon¡¯,</em> so they would most likely protest. After all, that was how human beings usually were. They would always try to catch their opponent¡¯s weakness and somehow try to gain some benefits of their own. Looking at the grim expressions of the yers from Cairon Continent made the smile on Akhan¡¯s face deepen. But then¡­

    <em>[p, p, p, p, p.]</em>

    The sound of pping was weak, but it still rang loudly through the TV screen. The screen was showing the figures of the remaining yers from Cairon Continent. And with the high rankers¡¯ example, the others also started to apud until it gradually spread in the entire Continent Cloud.

    <em>[p, p, p, p, p, p!]</em>

    <em>[That was a good fight! Asgan Continent! You have really strong people among you!]</em>

    <em>[You guys are amazing!!!]</em>

    To be honest, anyone could tell that this battle was an uphill battle for the yers of Asgan Continent. With their apuse, the yers of Asgan Continent also pped their hands as they cheered and greeted each other.

    <em>[You¡¯ve worked hard.]</em>

    <em>[Isn¡¯t that person over there really strong?]</em>

    <em>[Hahahahaha. Eyy. That person over there is stronger, you know!]</em>

    <em>[If I go to Cairon Continentter, will you treat me to something delicious?!]</em>

    <em>[Oooh! Of course!!!]</em>

    <em>[Hahahahaha!]</em>

    Akhan¡¯s face turned horribly ugly when he realized that the scene that he wanted to happen did not happen. And in their conversations, there was also a name that kept popping up.

    <em>¡®Food God.¡¯</em>

    He was an existence that might have possibly surpassed the Summit Five. However, he found itughable when he heard the words that they had referred to him as.

    <em>¡®King?¡¯</em>

    It was absolutely ridiculous that he was about tough. But before he could do so, something unexpected happened. A silver-haired woman walked slowly until she reached Minhyuk. The woman then knelt down on one knee and showed her respect.

    <em>[Wh¡­ what¡¯s this?!]</em>

    <em>[This is very shocking! Ellie, the empress of Eivelis Empire knelt down and showed courtesy to a yer!!!]</em>

    Then, Ellie smiled gently as she looked up at Minhyuk and said,

    <em>[To the man that will be my king, I, Ellie of the Eivelis Empire, feel great honor and glory from fighting alongside you.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Akhan jumped up from his seat in shock. Ellie had acknowledged the fact that Minhyuk would be a king. In other words, Ellie would help him be a king!

    ¡°Ha, haha!¡± Akhan burst out inughter. However, that alone did not mean that he would be king. Besides, the number of the members of the Let¡¯s Eat Sect Guild that he had seen earlier were very small. Their help did not necessarily mean that he would be king that easily.

    But then, as if to make him feel more horrible, another surprising thing happened. A beauty that wasparable to Ellie walked forward, her sword engraved with a lightning bolt. This woman was Alicia, and she walked forward before kneeling down on one knee just a step behind Ellie. Then, the survivors of the Artheon Guild followed right behind her.

    <em>[To the one who will be our King, Artheon Guild¡¯s master, Alicia, requests to join you and work under your banner.]</em>

    It did not end there. Masked assassins lined up next to them and knelt on one knee at the same time.

    <em>[To the one who will be our King, Light Assassin Guild¡¯s master, Lucia requests to join you and work under your banner.]</em>

    There were even Chinese high rankers that lined up next to them and knelt on one knee.

    <em>[Although we came from different continents, we have seen how qualified you are to be King. Please ept us in your Let¡¯s Eat Sect Guild!!!]</em>

    There were around a hundred Cairon Continent yers that made this request. The Empress, the masters of a guild, and even their enemies had dered their heartfelt words and sincerity. Akhan¡¯s pupils shook at the scene.

 Chapter 389: Dragonâ€™s Lair

    Chapter 389: Dragon¡¯s Lair

    Minhyuk looked at the people that lined up and knelt down in front of him. The first thing that he did was to urgently assist Ellie up. Ellie was expressing her gratitude to Minhyuk for giving her a new lease in life with his ox bone soup. She had shown the world how close she was to Minhyuk, and was demonstrating that she would not let a single one of them go, if they ever dared to touch Minhyuk.

    Then, Minhyuk looked around at the people that knelt in front of him. He thought, <em>¡®The mouths that I have to feed are going to increase in groups now¡­?!¡¯</em>

    His line of thought and concern were the same, as usual. However, it finally urred to Minhyuk that he was now truly the leader of a guild. Not only did he have to pursue and make his personal ambitione true, he also had to take into ount and bring benefits to his own guild as well.

    The Let¡¯s Eat Sect Guild would no longer be a small guild of elites. Even though they were elites, the fact that they were still a small guild would sooner orter restrict them and their ambitions. So, Minhyuk nodded to their requests.

    Alicia and Lucia were women that Minhyuk had known for quite some time now. Alicia¡¯s Artheon Guild was mainlyposed of mages, and was considered as one of the four great guilds in their country. They also had significantly fewer memberspared to the other three major guilds in the country. The fact that a guild with such small numberspared to the other major guilds, and yet could climb up to be one of the four great guilds, was a very surprising achievement. This meant that Artheon Guild was a guild teeming with highly talented mages.

    On the other hand, Lucia¡¯s Light Assassin Guild was a newly established guild. Ever since its establishment, it had already caused a huge fuss. Although they were an assassin guild made up of only 100 people, every single one of them were poised to be elites.

    Simply put, Minhyuk had gained a tremendous boost to the magical side and the hidden shadow side of his guild. There was only one more group left. This group was none other than the group of Chinese yers. There were around 200 Chinese yers kneeling down on one knee and waiting for his approval.

    Among these yers was Huang Xuan. This person had brought a huge surprise to the yers of Cairon Continent.

    Who was Huang Xuan? Huang Xuan was hailed as the <em>¡®Roaring Beast¡¯ </em>and was ranked fourth in the official Chinese rankings. The reason why he was called the Roaring Beast was because he could change into various animal forms while fighting. He was clearly a man that stood at a high ce in China, but he wanted to work under Minhyuk¡¯s banner. Huang Xuan was confident in himself and his ability to read others. He had an eye for outstanding people, and he knew, <em>¡®This yer will stand at the apex.¡¯</em>

    Huang Xuan had witnessed a battle involving one of the Summit Five. The scene back then caused his blood to boil with passion. Every member of the Summit Five each had power that wasparable to an entire kingdom. However, this thrill had grown exponentially after he met Minhyuk. And he had always believed and sided with his instinct and senses.

    Minhyuk finally stood in front of them after talking with both Genie and Mei Wei. He said, ¡°You already know this, but we are from different continents.¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter to us!¡±

    ¡°It may not matter to you, but it does for us.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s voice was very firm and dignified. Huang Xuan looked at him with a bit of surprise. He thought,<em> ¡®He¡¯s quite different from what I heard.¡¯</em>

    ording to what Huang Xuan has heard, Minhyuk was a very bright, pure and naive man. However, his solemn and dignified voice was firm enough to make him, the person that ranked fourth in the Chinese rankings, shudder and flinch.

    ¡°With Mister Huang Xuan as the representative, I hope that you can meet our conditions to join the Let¡¯s Eat Sect Guild.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean by conditions?¡±

    ¡°Yes, you don¡¯t like it?¡±

    Huang Xuan and the rest of the Chinese yers shook their heads when they heard Minhyuk¡¯s words. Conditions to enter a guild? Of course these things existed in each and every guild. And since they were from different countries, these conditions were bound to be even greater.

    Huang Xuan thought, <em>¡®What conditions does the Let¡¯s Eat Sect Guild, a guild that dreams of bing a kingdom, want? Do they want us to give them outstanding artifacts? Or proof of hunting a legendary monster? Maybe they want us to hand over the ownership of an undiscovered dungeon?¡¯</em>

    As the thought passed his head, Minhyuk said, ¡°Doesn¡¯t China have some of the best cooking ingredients in the world? Bring me S~SS grade ingredients.¡±

    Huang Xuan was stunned as he looked at Minhyuk and asked, ¡°Cooking ingredients?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    Huang Xuan turned suspicious for a moment. Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°That¡­ Don¡¯t bring in those that taste healthy, but make sure to bring those that taste unhealthy. Understand? Also, bringing the ingredients doesn¡¯t mean that you will be epted easily. Your entry to our guild will also depend on our guild¡¯s own assessment of you.¡±

    ¡°¡­Yes. Alright. We understand.¡±

    No matter what, it was strange. A healthy taste basically meant that it was not tasty, while an unhealthy taste obviously meant that it was supposed to taste good.

    ¡°Mister Representative, Huang Xuan, we will appreciate it if you can write down the names of those that will participate and take the opportunity to lead them.¡±

    ¡°I understand,¡± Huang Xuan obediently answered, which came as a bigger shock to all of the Chinese yers. This just showed how much he wanted to join the Let¡¯s Eat Sect Guild.

    And with this, the Continent Cloud Episode had ended.

    ***

    Countless rumors began to circte all over the world. The rumors were all rted to <em>¡®Mage Ali¡¯.</em>

    <em>[Is it true that Mage Ali has returned to Level 1? There are rumors saying that all of the magic that he had learned had disappeared, you know?]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s true. Mr. Rupert, the Legend Seeker, had discovered Moldoron¡¯s archives quite some time ago. ording to the records that he found, Moldoron¡¯s sessor could temporarily awaken Moldoron¡¯s incredible and tremendous power. However, whoever awakened this power would receive punishment. It is said that God will take away all of their powers. And ording to a yer eye witness, they have recently spotted Ali in a novice hunting ground.]</em>

    Legend Seekers were people that chased after legends by digging up old documents and ancient records. The rumors about Ali were spreading like wildfire locally and even internationally, because Rupert¡¯s ims were 90% correct.

    <em>[South Korea has lost one gold medal in Athenae: World War. Mage Ali had truly be a ¡®legend¡¯. He became a legend with nothing else left to his name.]</em>

    <em>[In the Athenae: World War a monthter, I wonder how many medals Korea will win?]</em>

    <em>[Four bronze medals? Hehehehehe.]</em>

    <em>[I think four bronze medals are a bit too much, I think one bronze medal, hehehe?]</em>

    <em>[The truth is, with Ali back at a low level, Korea doesn¡¯t seem to have any chances of winning.]</em>

    <em>[What is he doing right now?]</em>

    <em>[He¡¯s probably killing some rabbits in the novice vige.]</em>

    At that time, Mage Ali was actually located in the Ogre Mountains. Him being found in a novice hunting ground was just some baseless rumors. ording to Rupert, someone had spread false rumors. However, it was true that his level back then was at Level 1, although his level was currently at Level 45. An ogre, which could easily cross Level 100, was running in front of him.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Ali stretched his fingers out.

    <em>[Wind Cutter]</em>

    <em>[The Dragon¡¯s Mana Heart is expressing its power.]</em>

    <em>[Your Magic Damage has increased by 50%.]</em>

    <em>[You have ignored your opponent¡¯s Magical Defense.]</em>

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    Ali¡¯s Wind Cutter produced wind saws that were six timesrger than those that ordinary mages produced. This skill of his easily tore the ogre into pieces in just one go.

    <em>Thuuuud¡ª</em>

    The ogre copsed into a heap.

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    Just one magic shot and it took the ogre down. Ali felt pleased. His level might have fallen all the way back to 1, but these were the notifications that he heard, after they had sessfully hunted ck Dragon Vormon not too long ago.

    <em>[ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s Mana Heart has resonated with you, the one that used the most powerful magic.]</em>

    <em>[ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s Mana Heart has chosen you and has seeped into your body and your body¡¯s power.]</em>

    <em>[The more you level up, your WIS and INT will increase by 500 and the more you will be able to open up ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s magic Book.]</em>

    Ali smiled a bit. He had to work a bit harder until the <em>Athenae</em>: World War.

    ***

    <em>Athenae:</em> World War was just a month away. However, the problem was that everyone believed that Ali, who they had expected to win at least one gold medal in magic, had returned back to Level 1. And right now, all of the branch managers from all over the world had gathered.

    ¡°We will be holding our very first <em>Athenae</em>: World War and it will be the world¡¯s hottest issue.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. We can expect that the finalists will be <em>¡®America, Russia and Japan¡¯</em>.¡±

    ¡°What will Korea¡¯s ranking be?¡±

    ¡°Hmmm¡­¡±

    ¡°Uhmm¡­¡±

    Even though the branch managers from all over the world had gathered together like this, they had to be cautious of their words. They could not speak with any ill will.

    ¡°To be honest, I¡¯m not sure if they¡¯ll be able to win any gold medal.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a pity, but I think so too.¡±

    ¡°Why do you think so?¡±

    ¡°Currently, the Food God still hasn¡¯t made clear if he intends to participate, so it¡¯s still undecided. Of course, he can choose to jointer. I expect him to do a great job as a nonbat yer.¡±

    The person that spoke did not seem to care much about the Food God.

    ¡°Meanwhile, Mage Ali has returned back to Level 1, while the Emperor of the Sword, Carr, has only temporarily awakened that strange power of his. They¡¯re not enough when ites to a fight against the world¡¯s rankers. To be blunt, South Koreacks yers that are on par with Carr.¡±

    Everyone nodded in agreement.

    ¡°<em>Athenae</em>: World War might have individual battles but there are many events where a lot of people need to join forces. Even if one person can be equivalent to ten people, they would still be no match against their opponents who are in a group of around six to seven members. I don¡¯t think a single person can do much about it.¡±

    The person that uttered these words was none other than America¡¯s branch manager, Robert Duval. All of the other branch managers agreed with his statement.

    ¡°Hoo,¡± A man let out a sigh.

    Everyone turned their attention to this ck-haired Asian man. The man took off his horn-rimmed sses for a moment, before sweeping his bangs up. His eyes were very impressive and intimidating. They glinted sharply like that of a hawk looking at its prey. This man was the only <em>¡®Team Manager¡¯</em> among all of the <em>¡®Branch Managers¡¯</em> here.

    Then, the man wore his horn-rimmed sses once again, before looking at each and every single person present with his hands folded to his chest.

    ¡°Since you are very generous with your praise of South Korea, we¡¯ll just have to meet your great expectations and take home four gold medals.¡±

    These were sarcastic words. Each of the branch manager¡¯s faces were filled withughter as they looked at him. Even Robert Duval looked at him in amusement.

    Team Leader Park Minggyu was a graduate of America¡¯s Harvard University. He was a man that refused the olive branch that Apple+, America¡¯s toppany, had reached out to him to be their branch manager. Plenty of people had waited for him to ept the offer, but he came back home to work at a gamepany where he could only be a team leader at best.

    These were the words that he said in an interview, <em>¡®It¡¯s because that¡¯s what I want to do.¡¯</em>

    That was right. Team Leader Park Minggyu was the only person in this room that had a low rank, but he was not inferior to any of them. Also, knowing his brilliant and flexible mind, there were rumors about him being a man with tens of billions of assets in stocks and investments.

    Robert Duval smiled in amusement at his words. Then, he said, ¡°Do you have any evidence to support that im?¡±

    The mouths of all of the people present were stained with a mocking sneer. However, Team Leader Park Minggyu just smirked at them as he crossed his legs and folded his hands together. He said, ¡°Because I believe in them.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    All of the branch managers sneered at his ridiculous statement. Even a few of them ridiculed him. But then, Team Leader Park Minggyu countered, ¡°Does everyone here not believe in their own country? That¡¯s quite a shame.¡±

    A blush of shame spread widely on the faces of all of the branch managers present in this meeting.

 Chapter 390: Dragonâ€™s Lair

    Chapter 390: Dragon¡¯s Lair

    All of the people were red with shame and left speechless. Very few of them had actually spoken about their own country and that they would do well. They only opted to talk about the three Athenae powerhouses. Robert Duval even loosened his tie.

    Then, Team Leader Park Minggyu stood up and said, ¡°The meeting is over, right? Well then, please excuse me, I have to go back to make preparations for thepetition.¡±

    Team Leader Park Minggyu opened the door and left.

    ¡°<em>Cough, cough, cough.</em> Korea might not even win a gold medal after losing ck Mage Ali. He¡¯s very arrogant.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s very absurd. How dare a team leader like him¡­¡±

    Almost all of the people in the room began to speak ill of Park Minggyu to hide their shame the moment the man left. However, one person among them stared at the empty seat with a smile and said, ¡°I have to admit it.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡±

    ¡°Korea is also one of the favorites to win thispetition. We¡¯re all very bitter about it, but everyone knows that this is a fact.¡±

    The branch managers were all left speechless. It was man¡¯s nature to always try to deny and belittle anyone that was better. In fact, the branch managers were fully aware that it was them that had stepped out of line as well.

    ¡°The Food God. Once his participation is confirmed, he would prove to be the biggest variable in thispetition. All of you should stop ttering me and start making preparations against South Korea¡­¡± Robert Duval said with a smile.

    Robert Duval might just be the branch manager of the American branch, but he had more power than any of the people present here. To be honest, the discussions and words from the others were nothing more than ttery to curry favor with Duval. After all, America was one of the strongest candidates to win in the Athenae<em>:</em> World War. He had also tried to deny the fact that Korea could create a big ssh in the World War because he was very much afraid about the steps that they nned and were going to take. On the other hand, he also could not wait for it.

    <em>¡®Will Team Leader Park Minggyu¡¯s words prove to be true?¡¯</em>

    ***

    Minhyuk had once again turned As into a City in the Skies and moved his territory from the Continent Cloud, now named Apocalypto, back to its original location somewhere near Eivelis Empire. For the first time in a long time, Minhyuk was preparing to cook for himself.

    There was a pleasant smile on his face. The dish that Minhyuk was preparing to cook right now was none other than ¡®Spicy Stir-Fried Chicken.¡¯. He had cooked this dish for God Juis in the past. However, this ¡®Spicy Stir-Fried Chicken¡¯ was slightly special.

    <em>(<strong>Heaven¡¯s Boneless Chicken</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Ingredient Grade</strong>: ???</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>? ???</em>

    <em>? ???</em>

    <em>? You might be able to receive a ¡®hint¡¯ about something once you eat it.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: This is the boneless chicken that ck Dragon Vormon enjoyed eating the most. It has a special power, but it is yet to be known.</em>

    Unlike other ingredients, there was nothing written in the ingredient description about what kind of ingredient it truly was. He would only know once he cooked it and tried it for himself. Minhyuk quickly brought out the grill pan that was usually seen in spicy stir-fried chicken restaurants and ced it in front of him.

    ¡°Oink!¡±

    Beanie sat in front of him, like a customer waiting for his meal. Beanie, sans his golden armor and ck kitchen knife, waited with the golden crown still on his head. After his <em>¡®Predator¡¯s Authority¡¯ </em>had temporarily reached MAX, the skill had returned to Level 1. Now, what Beanie needed to do was to follow the step-by-step process and grow up slowly.

    Minhyuk poured the ingredients that he had prepared earlier onto therge grill. The ingredients were the boneless chicken, rice cakes, sliced sweet potatoes, chopped peri leaves, and gochujang. There was also pre-boiled <em>¡®udon¡¯</em> ced on the table that could be added at any time.

    <em>Sizzle¡ª</em>

    The ingredients started to cook on the well-heated grill. Beanie stretched his paws out with a solemn expression, wanting to try something. And with some shy movements¡­

    <em>Tak, tak, tak, tak, tak, tak, tak¡ª</em>

    ¡­he started cooking the spicy stir-fried chicken. His hand movements looked exactly like the seasoned hands of a spicy stir-fried chicken restaurant¡¯s part-timer!

    ¡°Oooh¡­¡± Minhyuk eximed in amazement. Then, Beanie threw the udon noodles and mixed it in with the glossy and red spicy stir-fried chicken. The udon noodles were gradually colored red as it got mixed well with the stir fried chicken.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡°Oooh¡­!¡±

    Beanie¡¯s hand movements became even more mboyant and shy, as he split the spicy stir-fried chicken in the middle, just like Moses¡¯ miracle in the red sea. Then, Beanie sprinkled white cheese right in the empty space. And the cheese¡­

    <em>Tak, tak, tak, tak, tak, tak¡ª</em>

    ¡­had been struck swiftly as it melted on the grill. Minhyuk smiled happily as the cheese spread out nicely in the middle of the grill.

    ¡°Oiiiink!¡±

    Beanie¡¯s plump belly jiggled, as he shrugged to show off his confidence. Then, the skill ¡®Joy of Eating Together¡¯<em></em>was triggered and the same spicy stir-fried chicken appeared in front of Beanie. Minhyuk smiled in satisfaction.

    <em>¡®How long has it been since Ist cooked for myself?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was now in the territory lord¡¯s office. He had not been eating as much as he used to since the Continent Cloud episode started. Would anyone believe that Minhyuk had eaten only 100 bowls per day instead of his usual 250 bowls?

    ¡°Hiyaa¡­¡±

    Minhyuk looked at the spicy stir-fried chicken sizzling on the grill pan in front of him, as well as the tableid out next to it. There were sliced garlic, ssamjang, thinly sliced radish, corn cobs, refreshing bean sprout soup, as well as vegetables for wraps like lettuce and peri leaves.

    The first thing that Minhyuk tasted was a sip of bean sprout soup. The refreshing bean sprout soup tasted clean, fresh, and natural, since there were no other ingredients added. After whetting his appetite with the bean sprout soup, he skillfully mped a piece of spicy stir-fried chicken, along with a piece of well-cooked cabbage leaf. Then, he ced everything in his mouth and ate it as it was.

    <em>Munch, munch, munch¡ª</em>

    ¡°Wow¡­ it melts in the mouth. It melts!¡±

    Minhyuk smiled happily as he ced a thin slice of round radish on his te. Then, he ced a piece of spicy stir-fried chicken on top of it, before cing thebination in his mouth. The harmony of the sweet and sour thinly sliced radish with the spicy stir-fried chicken would not lose out to any icing on top of a cake.

    He drank another spoonful of bean sprout soup, before taking a piece of peri leaf and spreading it on his palm. Then, he added two pieces of spicy stir-fried chicken, half of the thinly sliced radish, and a garlic dipped in ssamjang on top of it. The first thing that greeted his senses when he ate the wrap was the scent of the peri leaf.

    It was a truly amazing scent<em>.</em> Of course, chewing the wrap was a delightful experience. The vor of the peri leaf blended perfectly with the other ingredients in his mouth. If his mouth was not full of the wrap, he would want to shout to the world that he had never tasted food like this in the world.

    This time, he dipped a piece of spicy stir-fried chicken in the melted cheese in the middle before lifting it up.

    The cheese stretched out as Minhyuk took the piece into his mouth.

    ¡°Kggghk.¡±

    The savory and tasty vor of the cheese met with the spicy vor of the spicy stir-fried chicken inside his mouth. This time, he mped some udon noodles. The udon noodles werepletely covered by the red sauce of the spicy stir-fried chicken. He then ced the mped noodles on his te before slurping it up.

    <em>Chew, chew, chew¡ª</em>

    ¡°As expected, udon noodles are the perfect fit for spicy stir-fried chicken.¡±

    When he looked at Beanie, he saw thetter slurping the udon noodles and staining his mouth with the red sauce.

    ¡°Oiiink!¡±

    ¡°Here. Beans, you can¡¯t eat like that. Your mouth is all dirty.¡±

    Minhyuk wiped off Beanie¡¯s mouth with a wet wipe. Then, when he saw that there was only a bit of meat left in the grilling pan, Minhyuk took out the buckwheat noodles that he had prepared earlier. There was a thinyer of ice floating on top of the broth with sliced pears, cucumbers, a dollop of seasoning, soft boiled eggs, and thick slices of meat ced on top of the buckwheat noodles.

    Minhyuk took his scissors and skillfully cut the noodles before separating them perfectly. Then, he seasoned the broth with a dash of vinegar and mustard.

    <em>Sluuuurp! </em>The unique vor of the buckwheat noodles captivated his taste buds.

    Buckwheat noodles was a dish that was very simr to cold noodles. The only difference was the texture of the noodles itself. Minhyuk personally preferred buckwheat noodles. They were less tough and more chewy than cold noodles. As he ate the noodles, Minhyuk made a spicy stir-fried chicken wrap and ate them together.

    ¡°Woo, haha!¡± Minhyuk eximed, as he took a sip of the cold broth covered in a thinyer of ice from his bowl. After cleaning the bowl of buckwheat noodles up, Minhyuk took his spicy stir-fried chicken spat and cut up the remaining spicy stir-fried chicken meat and vegetables. Then, finally, he added some rice and made fried rice. He spread the fried rice evenly, before sprinkling seaweed kes on top of it. Once the bottom of the rice was burnt perfectly, Minhyuk scooped up a spoonful of the fried rice and ced it in his mouth. A little burnt fried rice was the perfect finale for spicy stir-fried chicken.

    ¡°Hooo. That was very satisfying,¡± Minhyuk patted his stomach happily, while Beanie leaned down until his back waspletely glued to the ground, making his round and plump belly bulge like a mountain. But not long after¡­

    ¡°Oiink¡­¡±

    ¡­Beanie passed out! Only two seconds had gone by after heid down and he had already passed out! He literally fell asleep like that.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was left speechless after seeing Beanie¡¯s amazing and surprising talent! Then, the notifications rang one after the other.

    <em>[You have eaten Spicy Stir-fried Chicken made from Heaven¡¯s Boneless Chicken.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the key to the ¡®Farmer¡¯s Kingdom¡¯, a ce where you can acquire the Five Legendary Ingredients.]</em>

    <em>[You can now check the path to ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s Lair, as well as the path to the Ingredient Heaven.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk was very surprised because ¡®Ingredient Heaven¡¯ was the ce where one of the Five Legendary Ingredients could be obtained. When Minhyuk had won the Gourmet Dragon Banquet, he found a book titled ¡®What are the Five Legendary Ingredients?¡¯. Among its contents was the ¡®Ingredient Heaven¡¯. This was what was written in the book:

    <em>[In the Ingredient Heaven, you can continuously acquire ingredients like onion, green onions, chives, rice and other legendary crops and produce.]</em>

    <em>[Those who have eaten the crops and produce from the Ingredient Heaven will be stronger and tougher. It was said that those who have eaten the ingredients from the Ingredient Heaven since ancient times have achieved ¡®Immortality¡¯.]</em>

    There was only one reason why Minhyuk¡¯s attention was piqued: There was no limit to the amount of ingredients one could acquire in Ingredient Heaven, and those who entered could acquire plenty of materials. He was also aware that the Five Legendary Ingredients were all shrouded in a thin veil of mystery.

    Minhyuk had already witnessed the power of these legendary ingredients, such as the Legendary Sun¡¯s Wheat, as well as the Legendary Giant Cow¡¯s Marrow Bone. The fact that Minhyuk could make a ¡®God¡¯s Dish¡¯, a dish that has transcended the human realm, by using these ingredients made him realize how powerful they were.

    There was also the fact that it was located in ¡®ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s Lair¡¯. In fact, the Five Legendary Ingredients could be acquired after taking ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s quest. However, hunting Vormon had created an anomaly which allowed him to proceed. It was actually just in time for the members of the Let¡¯s Eat Sect Guild to gather together and raid ck Dragon Vormon¡¯sir. Then, Genie and Haze entered the office.

    ¡°Minhyuk. We¡¯ve finished all of the preparations for the raid. Also, Ali has returned and it seems like he wants to talk to you about something.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? I understand. Ah, wait. I found something about the Ingredient Heaven.¡±

    Minhyuk discussed and exined everything in a calm and orderly manner. Both Haze and Genie looked at Minhyuk in surprise, especially Haze. She looked like she had thought about something. She said, ¡°Perhaps the crops and produce from the Ingredient Heaven don¡¯t have a permanent effect.¡±

    ¡°Permanent effect?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right. I believe there are two main reasons why it¡¯s called Ingredient Heaven. First, you can get plenty of ingredients. Second, Ingredient Heaven probably referred to thend itself. If we can research and study the Ingredient Heaven, then we might be able to continue growing crops like theirs. It will definitely be a huge stepping stone for the Let¡¯s Eat Sect.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s mouth broke into a smile when he heard these words. Then, Haze continued, ¡°Ah, please don¡¯t forget about building our kingdom and participating in diplomatic discussions.¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± Minhyuk nodded in agreement. Diplomatic discussions between Cairon Continent and Asgan Continent were very important. It was especially so after the empire¡¯s emperors said that they would elect foreigners to participate and engage in diplomatic discussions with them. Simply put, this was the perfect opportunity for the guilds to build rtionships with the other continent¡¯s empires. It was definitely nice to get acquainted with them.

    ¡°In that case, Genie, Sir Corr and Abel will go to Cairon Continent for the diplomatic discussions.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded in agreement. Genie and Abel were very smart and quick-witted. They would definitely find a solution to any problem that would arise.

    ¡®<em>But, why Corr? What about him?</em>¡¯

    ¡°There must definitely be a lot of people suffering from hair loss in Cairon Continent. <em>Fufufufu.</em> We¡¯re currently short on funds to build our kingdom by 2,000 tinum. We need to do business there too,¡± Haze chuckled.

    ¡°¡­Uhmm.¡±

    Minhyuk had always been in awe of Haze¡¯s merchant¡¯s disposition. However, there was still another problem.

    ¡°We also have to step up in our efforts in building our kingdom. However, the numbers of our citizens are far toocking. We should have at least 3,000 people and arger territory.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded again. However, they could not receive just anyone in the Let¡¯s Eat Sect.

    Not too long ago, he had received updates about Huang Xuan and the rest of the Chinese yers. The Chinese yers still had not collected the ingredients. However, even if they did collect the ingredients, the guild would not ept them wholeheartedly. The guild still had to let the Chinese yers undergo meticulous and rigorous screening, and take into consideration if they would betray the guild or not.

    ¡°We¡¯re also expecting to spend huge amounts of money for the development of As and Valha territories.¡±

    Simply put, it was also another funding problem. Of course, Minhyuk was the son of a chairman, but he did not want to borrow his father¡¯s wealth and financial abilities to be king.

    ¡°So, how much do we need to develop and build our kingdom?¡±

    ¡°Around 1,000 tinum.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s quite arge sum.¡±

    A thousand tinum was around 100 billion gold and it was truly quite arge sum.

    ¡°Do we have another way to secure our funds?¡±

    Haze, Genie and Minhyuk racked their brains for a solution. And then¡­

    <em>Knock, knock¡ª</em>

    A knock broke them out of their reverie. The door opened and in came Great Sage Aruvel, or to be exact Best-Selling Author Aruvel. Aftering in, he suddenly ced severalrge bags in front of Minhyuk and said, ¡°A writer should always be hungry.[1]¡±

    He turned around after leaving this famous saying as a notification rang for Minhyuk.

    <em>[Aruvel has gifted you 612 tinum.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    The three people were all shocked and speechless. Calcting it in ordinary gold and not tinum, Aruvel had left behind 61.2 billion gold. How the hell did he get so much money? There was only one conclusion that they could make¡­

    ¡°¡®<em>Why Did the Prince Go Out Tonight?¡¯</em> was such a blockbuster¡­?¡±

    ¡°Keok!¡±

    ¡°OMG¡­?¡±

    It was at this moment that they realized just how popr the Great Author Aruvel was.

    1. Apparently, there was a saying that masterpieces would appear if the author is starving and has no money. ?

 Chapter 391: Dragonâ€™s Lair

    Chapter 391: Dragon¡¯s Lair

    Team Leader Park Minggyu reclined on a chair after looking at the departure screen. He held his passport in one hand and closed his eyes in thought, while waiting for his flight back to Korea.

    Just like what the branch managers said, the entire world was discussing how Korea would rank at the lowest. They based this conjecture on the fact that Ali had regressed back to Level 1, and how the Korean yers were overall at a lower levelpared to other rankers from all over the globe. Even the discussions atmunity sites discussed simr topics.

    Of course, there were also those that wrote about their appreciation for the Food God and how he hunted Vormon. So, it was safe to say that Park Minggyu did not dere that he believed in them without any ¡®rhyme or reason¡¯.

    Then, at that moment, Park Minggyu¡¯s mobile phone rang. The caller was none other than Lee Minhwa.

    ¡°Yes, what¡¯s the matter?¡±

    <em>[Team Leader. Just like you said, Let¡¯s Eat Sect has started the raid on Vormon¡¯s Lair.]</em>

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s to be expected. Ah, what about Mage Ali?¡±

    <em>[He went with them.]</em>

    Team Leader Park grinned.

    The truth was Mage Ali¡¯s level has fallen to the point where his level could be considered to be far weaker than any other novice yer. However, Team Leader Park was sure that Ali would be able to easily take off and soar through the skies once again as long as he went to that ce. After all, ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s Lair was a ce filled with rewards that could easily surpass any of the yer''s expectations.

    ***

    ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s Lair was located in Apocalypto. The guild members of the Let¡¯s Eat Sect were currently on their way to ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s Lair.

    Minhyuk, who was leading his guild, felt guilty and sorry for Ali. Feeling his gaze, Ali said, ¡°You don¡¯t have to feel sorry for me. I have actually be much stronger.¡±

    ¡°But¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was aware that Ali¡¯s level had dropped back to Level 1. People had mocked and sneered at Ali saying that he was now ¡®ying poorly¡¯ and that they ¡®would PK him if they crossed paths¡¯.

    But just like what Ali had said, he had grown far stronger than he was before. Although he had dropped back to Level 1, he had awakened to a new God ss. The ss was none other than ¡®Magic God, and it currently had one passive skill that was of great use to him.

    <em>(<strong>God of Magic</strong>)</em>

    <em>Passive Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Mana Required</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Cooldown</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>: </em>

    <em>? Your Magical Damage will double.</em>

    <em>? Your Magic Cooldown will decrease by 50%.</em>

    <em>? Your Magical Pration will increase by 50%.</em>

    <em>? All of your attacks against the undead will have a 1.5x increase in attack power.</em>

    The power that he was wielding now was truly beyond anyone¡¯s imagination. His magical damage doubling, as well as the 50% decrease in cooldown and 50% increase in magical pration literally went against allmon sense.

    As for ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s Magic Book, it was a skill book that could allow him to learn even Eight Tier Magic. That was on top of the fact that ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s magic was more powerful than ordinary mages¡¯ magic.

    And there was also the power of the ¡®Mana Heart¡¯. All this together made Ali, a novice level yer, possess power that was far beyond his level. And it did not even end there.

    <em>(<strong>Staff of Despair</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: Absolute Demigod</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: Level 350 or higher.</em>

    <em><strong>Durability</strong>: ¡Þ / ¡Þ</em>

    <em><strong>Attack Power</strong>: 358</em>

    <em><strong>Magical Attack Power</strong>: 1,541</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>? Your total MP reserve will double.</em>

    <em>? Your Magic Cooldown will decrease by 20%.</em>

    <em>? Your Magical Attack will increase by 20%.</em>

    <em>? Passive Skill: Triple Target</em>

    <em>? Active Skill: Staff¡¯s Owner</em>

    <em>? Active Skill: Vorrmon¡¯s Breath</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: This is the most powerful staff among all of the staves that ck Dragon Vormon owned. The materials used to make this staff are materials that could not be easily obtained by anyone.</em>

    The Staff of Despair held enormous power. It was even an artifact that was on the same level as Minhyuk¡¯s Devil Judge¡¯s Sword, at the Absolute Demigod rank. The artifact¡¯s rank was truly shocking. However, the problem was that it required Ali to be at Level 350 or higher.

    The passive skill attached to the staff, Triple Target, was another amazing skill. It had a 1.5% chance of tripling the damage of the attack magic that the staff wielder could send out. The Staff¡¯s Owner skill was a skill that gave the mage buffs. On the other hand, Vormon¡¯s Breath was a skill that would allow the wielder to cast a magic that was a tier above the level of the wielder¡¯s ss. However, this skill could only be used once.

    In fact, with this much power avable, it did not matter who even if they regressed back to Level 1, they would still be able to easily increase their levels. Ali was originally at Level 561, but with his current state, if he reached that level again, he would undoubtedly be several times stronger than he was before.

    But there was also another fact that they could not deny.

    ¡°It¡¯s alright. We can always try and aim for the next world war,¡± Ali said with a smile. The truth was Ali¡¯s participation in Athenae: World War was already confirmed.

    Originally, he did not participate in Athenae: Korean War, so he did not receive the title ¡®MVP¡¯ and was not eligible to participate. However, the rules for Athenae: World War were still not yet made public during the Athenae: Korean War. Simply put, the branch managers, as well as Joy Co. Ltd., were looking for ways to continuously attract the viewers attention.

    Just two months ago, Joy Co. Ltd. announced that each country could elect two yers that could participate and qualify for thepetition without the MVP title. Athenae: World War was a very important event for each country, and not just anyone could participate. After receiving a call from Joy Co. Ltd. Ali¡¯s participation was already confirmed. With Ali¡¯s participation, it was a foregone conclusion that they would receive at least one ¡®gold medal¡¯ in the Magic Field.

    But what would happen if he participated in his current state? He would just perform poorly. It did not matter if his attack power was high, he was still just a yer below Level 100. Seeing Minhyuk¡¯s stiff expression, Ali could not help but say, ¡°Minhyuk.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°I would still make the same decision even if that happened again,¡± Ali grinned as he rolled the sleeves of his robe to show the <strong>X </strong>mark on his wrist.

    ¡°We¡¯re friends.¡±

    Minhyuk felt warmth blooming in his chest. He felt truly happy that he had met Ali and the members of the Let¡¯s Eat Sect. When he turned around, he saw the members of the Let¡¯s Eat Sect with their left arms high up in the sky as they unted their own <strong>X</strong> marks.

    They did not know this, but Ali¡¯s sacrifice had allowed him to soar higher and break out of his old shell.

    ***

    The guild members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect followed the map to ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s Lair. The ce that was originally the Continent Cloud had transformed and changed into an unexplorednd after it became the new continent, Apocalypto. That meant new hunting grounds, new artifacts, new cooking ingredients, new races. It was a new update. Everything was unfamiliar and terrifying.

    However, Vormon¡¯s Lair was definitely filled with rare and never before seen rewards. After all, the notifications before told them so.

    The members of the Let¡¯s Eat Sect traversed the path between two canyons, until a cave appeared in front of them. They immediately rushed to the depths of the cave, before a light greeted them.

    ¡°Wooow¡­¡±

    ¡°Wow¡­¡±

    Everyone present gasped in awe.

    ¡°Kiyeeeeeee~¡±

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaack~¡±

    There were gigantic beings that lookedpletely different from ordinary wyverns flying in the sky. On one side, a gushing waterfall poured down on a gigantic river that stretched out below. There was also a huge nest hanging on the precipice of the cliff. However, the location of the nest was around 20 kilometers away from them. It was like another world. Considering ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s gigantic size, it was only natural that hisir would look like another world. Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>[To the ones that stepped foot in ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s Lair, those that hunted and those that apanied in ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s hunt will receive rewards.]</em>

    <em>[Your EXP Acquisition Rate and Item Drop Rate will quadruple in Vormon¡¯s Lair.]</em>

    <em>[Special rewards will be distributed to the ones that have contributed greatly during ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s hunt.]</em>

    <em>[You will personally experience the special reward.]</em>

    <em>[Unexpected quests will appear all throughout Vormon¡¯s Lair. Please clear these quests to receive the rewards.]</em>

    <em>[Every time you clear a quest, you will get a fragment of the Lair¡¯s Map.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    All of them were shocked. The quadruple increase in EXP Acquisition and Item Drop rates were double that of a hidden dungeon¡¯s increase. With the uing Athenae: World War and server integration, this was a blessing for the Let¡¯s Eat Sect.

    But the blessings did not end there. Two people were chosen among those with the highest contribution during Vormon¡¯s hunt. These two people were none other than Minhyuk and Mage Ali.

    <em>[You are one of the two that have made the greatest contribution during Vormon¡¯s hunt.]</em>

    <em>[You can go to the Lair¡¯s Bonus Stage.]</em>

    <em>[If you don¡¯t ept it immediately, you will not be able to ess the Bonus Stage.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk and Ali made eye contact. The guild members nodded in understanding after hearing a quick exnation of their situation.

    ¡°We¡¯ll take a look around here by ourselves first.¡±

    The two agreed as a bright light swirled and engulfed their bodies.

    ***

    Ali and Minhyuk appeared at the same time inside a dark cave.

    <em>[You have to personally check the rewards for the Bonus Stage.]</em>

    <em>[You can choose to give up on the Bonus Stage at any time. In case you give up the Bonus Stage, you will not receive any logging out penalty.]</em>

    <em>¡®We can choose to give up?¡¯</em>

    The two looked at each other. It seemed like the two of them had the same hunch.

    <em>¡®An existence that¡¯s far stronger than what we expected will appear.¡¯</em>

    At the very least, they were the ones that hunted ck Dragon Vormon. The fact that they could give up at any time meant that the monsters that would appear would be incredibly strong. Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>Clunk, clunk¡ª</em>

    A huge monster appeared. The monster was none other than a golem that was covered in ck scales.

    <em>[Vormon¡¯s Golem]</em>

    <em>[Level 596]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The giant golem¡¯s level was so high at Level 596. Its level was far beyond Minhyuk or Ali¡¯s level.

    ¡°Damn¡­¡±

    Ali bit his lips in frustration. He followed in the Dragon Lair, thinking that he would be able to level up more easily. But what could he do if they were suddenly up against such a high-leveled monster? Instead of being helpful, he would just drag Minhyuk down.

    Vormon¡¯s Golem slowly approached them. Minhyuk looked at the golem vigntly, as he prepared for battle.

    <em>¡®Golems have high defense. The worst part is its level is at Level 596¡­¡¯</em>

    Perhaps he could only deal damage if he used his strongest skills. The golem slowly, ever so slowly, approached them. However, just when they were about to start their hunt, something unexpected happened.

    <em>Badump¡ª</em>

    Ali¡¯s heart thumped and then¡­

    <em>Thud!</em>

    The gigantic six-meter high golem suddenly copsed on its knees. Then, a set of notifications rang for Ali.

    <em>[Vormon¡¯s Mana Heart is protecting you.]</em>

    <em>[Vormon¡¯s Golem will not be able to fight back in the presence of the Mana Heart.]</em>

    <em>[The power of Vormon¡¯s Golem will significantly decrease depending on the power of the Mana Heart.]</em>

    <em>[Vormon, the original owner of the Mana Heart, does not wish for a weak existence to inherit his Mana Heart.]</em>

    <em>[Vormon¡¯s Mana Heart will protect you until you reach a certain level.]</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!¡±

    That was right. Vormon¡¯s Golem was kneeling and lowering its head in front of Ali. At that time, the two of them could tell that this was the perfect time for them to hunt this monster. Ali immediately sent out an energy bolt.

    <em>Crackle, crackle, crackle¡ª</em>

    But surprisingly enough¡­

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    <em>[Vormon¡¯s Mana Heart haspletely subdued Vormon¡¯s Golem.]</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Vormon¡¯s Golem copsed in a single shot. But the surprise did not end there, as the notifications came in.

    <em>[Bonus Stage. EXP Acquisition Rate is twenty times more than the usual.]</em>

    <em>[Sub ss. His Companion¡¯s effect has been triggered. You and yourpanion will have a 1.5x additional increase in EXP acquired.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 32,314,721 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[¡­leveled up.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk heard the same set of notifications. He looked at Ali in both disbelief and astonishment before asking, ¡°How many level ups¡­?¡±

    Ali smiled awkwardly before replying, ¡°Thirty seven level ups¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was left speechless.

 Chapter 392: Farmerâ€™s Kingdom

    Chapter 392: Farmer¡¯s Kingdom

    Employee Lee Minhwa was smiling proudly at the monitor. The monitor was disying Ali and Minhyuk¡¯s puzzled faces. Yes, that was right. She knew about ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s ¡®Bonus Stage¡¯. The Bonus Stage was literally only for those that raided the dragon, the greatest existence in the world. It was a reward for those that contributed greatly during the hunt of such a being.

    This stage had a 20x EXP buff effect, but it was not something that could easily be triggered. In the first ce, the monsters lurking in the Bonus Stage all had very high levels.

    As an example, the ¡®Vormon¡¯s Golem¡¯ that they had easily knocked down had a total defense that exceeded 30,000. As for Minhyuk? He might only be able to kill one if he used his Sword of Frenzy. However, as with any other situation, there would always be variables. And these variables had perfectly coincided to create this situation right now.

    The first variable was Ali being chosen by Vormon¡¯s ¡®Mana Heart¡¯. Originally, this Mana Heart should have been received by apletely different mage yer through apletely different linked quest. In the case of Vormon¡¯s death, the Mana Heart would roam around until it met with the greatest mage, and would then proceed to transnt itself into the said mage.

    But when Vormon died, the only mage that could be considered to be the greatest mage was Ali, who had regressed back to Level 1.

    There was also a second variable. The owner of the Mana Heart should originally be a mage of Level 700 or higher. However, Ali was back to Level 1 when the Mana Heart chose him. And it just so happened that this very same Mana Heart had a system where it would protect its master, until he had the capability to protect himself.

    <em>¡®Team Leader Park Minggyu expected all of this to happen.¡¯ </em>Lee Minhwa thought.

    The second variable then created a synergy with the third variable and created this situation. The Mana Heart was something that belonged to Vormon, and the monsters on this stage were Vormon¡¯s subordinates.

    Who was Vormon? He was the supreme ruler of the continent. The being that could not be hunted so easily and the owner of thisir. With the power of the ¡®Mana Heart¡¯ that belonged to their master, the owner of the purest and strongest source of power, they would never dare to attack.

    Then, Lee Minhwa said, ¡°I¡¯m looking forward to how you use these variables unbeknown to the world from this point forward.¡±

    There was no longer the aura of a new and naive employee. Lee Minhwa, now a seasoned and veteran employee, grinned brightly at her monitor.

    ***

    In the game, <em>Athenae, </em>there was a mage recognized by everyone to be the greatest mage of all time. This mage was none other than ¡®ck Mage Ali¡¯. But, there was also a yer that had not shown his brilliance to the world.

    That was Alex, the global number one official mage in the rankings. Alex was chosen and taught by Corden, the man hailed as the Magic King. Right now, he was in his hotel suite and talking on the phone.

    ¡°Oh. Smith. Right, congrattions on the gold medal? The World War has not started yet, what do you mean by congratting me? Haha!¡±

    Calls that congratted him flooded his phone. This was all because they had judged Mage Alex would win a gold medal in the magic category. As soon as he hung up, another call woulde in.

    ¡°Haha. We¡¯re not even sure that Ali¡¯s back to Level 1, what do you mean? I don¡¯t have the gold medal yet, Rochan.¡±

    Then, he turned off his phone to take a rest. When he turned around, he saw his reflection on the ss of the window. He was holding a wine ss filled almost to the brim with wine. However, his fists were clenched tightly.

    ¡°Hahahahaha! I can¡¯t believe ck Mage Ali jumped into the abyss himself!¡±

    Up until this point, everyone expected that no other country, whether it was America or another country, would win the gold medal as long as ck Mage Ali was present. But, to think that Ali had dug his own grave and jumped in it himself.

    Alex had always been called second! He might be the global official number one mage ranker, but he had always been behind Ali. He was evenparable to America¡¯s most favorite to win in power. But right now, he would be able to make a huge contribution in making America the greatest winner. He would be the nation¡¯s hero!

    As of now, Alex¡¯s current level was at around Level 570.

    <em>¡®Perhaps Ali is around Level 15 now? Eeek! What do you mean by Great Mage? He hasn¡¯t even mastered the energy bolt yet! Keuhahahahaha!¡¯</em>

    ***

    <em>[You havepletely mastered all of the Fifth Tier Magic in ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s Magic Book.]</em>

    <em>[Magic recorded in ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s Magic Book will exert more power than ordinary magic.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Example</strong>: Immobilizing Magic.]</em>

    <em>[Ordinary Immobilizing Magic: Stops two of the skills or magic that the yers surrounding you have cast to attack you.]</em>

    <em>[ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s Immobilizing Magic: Stops all of the magic and skills cast to attack you.]</em>

    Ali felt a thrill surface from the bottom of his heart. ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s Magic Book, together with the Magic God¡¯s special effects, had created a great synergy. He was now already at Level 200. This was all thanks to the effects of ¡®His Companion¡¯ ss¡¯ effect, which allowed him to get a 1.5x EXP buff as long as he was with Minhyuk.

    Only a day has passed since they had entered the Bonus Stage. All of the monsters that they had encountered all surrendered in front of Ali. Sometimes, Minhyuk would be the one hunting, while other times, Ali would be the one hunting. All of the monsters that they had encountered had lost their will to fight, so it was easy for them to hunt.

    Minhyuk had already leveled up four times. Of course, the shocking 37 consecutive level ups that Ali had experienced earlier was no longer replicable. But even if that was the case, Ali¡¯s EXP acquisition rate was still incredibly ridiculous. If he killed one, he would level up at least two or three times in a row. If things continued at this rate¡­

    ¡°Ali! You can go to the World War now!!! Wooooow!¡± Minhyuk shouted, jumping happily as he grabbed Ali¡¯s hands. Ali was all smiles too.

    ¡°Minhyuk, why do you look happier than me, huh?¡±

    ¡°Of course it¡¯s because I¡¯m very happy to see my friend doing so well!¡±

    Ali was now reaping the fruits of his ¡®sacrifice¡¯. He awakened as a Magic God, received Vormon¡¯s Mana Heart, and even entered the Bonus Stage. After all, hunting Vormon was not possible if he did not make such huge sacrifices in the first ce, so it was only natural that he received huge benefits too.

    ¡°Thanks, Minhyuk.¡±

    Ali was of course the happiest. He wanted to participate in the World War because he wanted to win a gold medal and show it to someone. Then, the notifications rang.

    <em>[You have 24 hours left in the Bonus Stage.]</em>

    The two of them remained connected to the game and did not take any breaks all day long. Of course, it was not just them that were getting benefits. The members of the Let¡¯s Eat Sect were also happily reaping EXP from the monsters that they had encountered. They were also trying to find the path to the ¡®Ingredient Heaven¡¯ that Minhyuk had mentioned to them before.

    ¡°Let¡¯s first take a bit of sleep before logging back in.¡±

    Their remaining ess time in the Bonus Stage would not be affected the moment they logged out, so Ali readily agreed with Minhyuk¡¯s suggestion.

    ¡°You¡¯ve worked hard today.¡±

    ¡°Alright. Ali also worked really hard today.¡±

    The two then logged out of the game.

    ***

    ck Mage Ali, or Yoon Ji-Hoo, left his capsule. His room was covered by dozens of One Diss posters. Ali looked out of the living room and saw a young man watching One Diss on the TV while being surrounded by countless One Diss figurines. The young man chuckled nkly while wearing the signature straw hat that the main character of the One Dissic wore.

    This young man was Yoon Ji-Seok, Yoon Ji-Hoo¡¯s older brother. Due to an ident a few years ago, Ali¡¯s older brother¡¯s mindset had regressed to that of a young child.

    Ali had lost his parents at the young age of seven. Back then, the only person that took care of Ali was his older brother. Yoon Ji-Seok back then was smarter and more mature than his peers. He was only a year older than Ali, but he became like his father and friend. But now, his brother¡¯s mindset had regressed to that of a young child. He even lost his voice.

    Ali suddenly felt frustrated. He stood up and left his capsule. When Yoon Ji-Seok saw Yoon Ji-Hooe out of the capsule, he pped happily. Ali smiled as he wiped the drool dripping down his brother¡¯s chin.

    ¡°Hyung, I can go to the World War now.¡±

    ¡°Uwooo! Uwooo!¡±

    Seeing Ali¡¯s smile, his brother, Yoon Ji-Seok also smiled happily. It seemed like Ali¡¯s hyung remembered him.

    Ali, in fact, was suffering from a disorder. He had social anxiety disorder[1]. Yes, he had a social anxiety disorder. This was the reason why he had been alone for the longest time. But, he was now doing a whole lot better.

    ¡°Uwooo?¡±

    Ali could tell what his hyung was trying to tell him just by how he opened his mouth.

    <em>¡®Are you happy with your friends?¡¯</em>

    Ali nodded as he answered his hyung¡¯s question, ¡°I¡¯m happy.¡±

    Yoon Ji-Seokughed happily when he heard Yoon Ji-Hoo¡¯s words. Ali wanted to win the gold medal so he could show his brother that he was no longer the loner with social anxiety disorder that could not do anything anymore. He wanted to show him that he did not need to worry about him anymore. Ali wanted to show that he, Yoon Ji-Seok¡¯s younger brother, had already be an adult and was now standing on top of the world. He wanted to show him that he loved him.

    ***

    The Let¡¯s Eat Sect heard that both Minhyuk and Ali were acquiring a lot of EXP in the Bonus Stage. But none of them wereining. They were also receiving rewards that were set by the system. None of them would deny that Minhyuk and Ali were the highest contributors in Vormon¡¯s hunt. Besides, their EXP was also increasing rapidly.

    They were now collecting the fragments of the map of Vormon¡¯s Lair. They were sure that this map would be the map that would guide them to the ¡®Ingredient Heaven¡¯. They had also found a hint.

    <em>(<strong>Heaven¡¯s Green Onion</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Ingredient Grade</strong>: ???</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>? STR +2</em>

    <em>? Magical Defense +2</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: Green onion grown by great and exceptional farmers.</em>

    High grade cooking ingredients usually had simr powers. Still, that was not the most important point. The main point was the potatoes lying around in the garden in front of them. There were so many that each of the 20 members of the Let¡¯s Eat Sect Guild could eat one by themselves.

    Usually, ingredients with special abilities were very rare. But these potatoes were justid around like this. This meant that there was an open path that led to the Ingredient Heaven out here. After searching high and low, they finally found a way down. The moment they went down, they were met with the undead.

    <em>[Skeleton Knight]</em>

    These mobs were very powerful, and there were hundreds of them blocking the path in front of them. It was obvious that they were guarding something. They were only able to hunt a few of the skeleton knights before they retreated.

    ¡°Ah. What should we do? I really think they¡¯re guarding something over there?¡±

    ¡°But we won¡¯t be able to go there unless we pass through this ce¡­¡±

    Haze told them that they could probably gain a lot of ie if they could find a way to grow those ingredients. That was why the Let¡¯s Eat Sect Guild had to do their best to clear that path. Then, Ali and Minhyuk finally came out of the Bonus Stage.

    ¡°I wonder what Ali¡¯s level is right now?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s probably around 100 now, right? They should also have a 4x EXP acquisition rate like us, right?¡±

    ¡°Right? But will Ali be able to go with us there?¡±

    They were at another dead end once again. Ali¡¯s level was very low. Although they heard that Ali and Minhyuk entered the Bonus Stage, they were oblivious about the 20x EXP acquisition rate. This was also the reason why they were very worried about Ali, to the point that they even wanted to tell him to go back.

    Of course, they were very grateful for Ali¡¯s sacrifice, but they had to put all of their attention into breaking through this ce.

    ¡°Then, who¡¯s going to tell him?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll do it,¡± Genie answered Khan¡¯s question. This was what she had to do as the vice guild leader. Ali would be in danger so he had to go back now. Just in time, Ali and Minhyuk arrived. They quickly exined that there were a lot of undead inside there and that they would be able to go to the ce that Minhyuk had mentioned before, only after passing through that path.

    ¡°So, why aren¡¯t you going there?¡± Minhyuk tilted his head in confusion.

    ¡°The Skeleton Knights are very strong.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Is that so?¡±

    Genie nced at Ali, who was rubbing his chin, and tried to be blunt with him. But before she could do so, Ali made the first move.

    ¡°Then, shall I take care of it?¡±

    ¡°Huh? What?! N¡­no! That¡­ Ali!¡± Genie tried to speak, but Ali had already moved before she could stop him.

    ¡°Wait, Ali! I¡¯m sorry but¡­¡±

    Hundreds of skeleton knights rushed towards Ali the moment he stepped foot on the path. Just when Khan and Locke hurriedly tried to block him so he could hear Genie¡¯s exnation¡­

    ¡°Turn Undead.¡±

    ¡­Ali cast Turn Undead with ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s power using his Staff of Despair.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª</em>

    The hundreds of skeleton knights exploded and turned into ash before disappearing in the wind.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    The guild members could not understand what just happened for a moment. Their faces were the epitome of this expression: (?0?)

    1. Social Phobia. A type of anxiety disorder that causes extreme fear and anxiety in a social setting. They fear being judged or scrutinized by others when doing things in public ?

 Chapter 393: Farmerâ€™s Kingdom

    Chapter 393: Farmer¡¯s Kingdom

    Stuttering and stammering.

    These were the words that perfectly described what the guild members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect''s current state was. All of them stuttered as they looked at Ali. They recognized the Staff of Despair that Ali had equipped right now. They knew that the level requirement for the Staff of Despair was at Level 350. The fact that Ali had the item equipped right now was something that they could easily interpret.

    ¡°You¡¯re already over Level 350?!¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Ali nodded with an abashed smile on his face. He was actually at Level 404. The moment his level reached 400, the Mana Heart stopped protecting him, which meant that the monsters were now attacking Ali. Vormon¡¯s Mana Heart had acknowledged and recognized Ali¡¯s strength. It had judged that Ali was now able to protect himself with his own power. However, there was something more surprising.

    ¡°It looks like you¡¯ve grown even stronger than before¡­¡±

    The power of the magic that he used was far stronger than the magic that he used when he awakened his power in the Continent Cloud. This was only natural. After all, he had ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s Magic Book, the Magic God¡¯s power, the Mana Heart, and the Staff of Despair. That was not all. Ali also had the God of Magic passive skill.

    <em>¡®All of my attacks against the undead will have a 1.5x increase in attack power.¡¯</em>

    The Magic God was a great and noble existence. An existence like him could exert a stronger power against the undead. In other words, even if the skeleton knights¡¯ defense was beyond 500, the fact that they were the undead had allowed Ali and his attacks to have a higher power that could ignore such defense. On top of that, Vormon¡¯s ¡®Turn Undead¡¯ was on apletely different level than the ordinary Turn Undead.

    Ali and Minhyuk exined what they had experienced in the Bonus Stage. After listening to their experience, the guild members of the Let¡¯s Eat Sect were very happy, as if it were them that had experienced it.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure Ali will shock the world!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t let go of those that areughing and mocking you now!¡± Locke dered as if he wanted to immediately tell this to the world. However, Minhyuk, Genie, Khan, and Ali shook their heads.

    ¡°Why?¡±

    Right now, they have received countless ridicule and criticisms from all over the world. Even the Koreans cursed at them asking why Ali did such a foolish thing despite knowing that Ali was the reason why Vormon¡¯s hunt was sessful. So, what was the point of hiding this at this point in time?

    ¡°Everyone is mocking and ridiculing me for participating in the World War. This will be our greatest variable. I¡¯m pretty sure that they have excluded me in all of the strategies that they are making right now.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­¡±

    That was right. All of the strategies that excluded and ignored Ali would definitely crumble and fall apart the moment the games started. This meant that they would not be able to execute all of their ns and tactics, which in turn would cause chaos and confusion.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll make sure to give them a good beating.¡±

    Locke could see that Ali had his own ulterior motive, so he did not pry anymore. Ali was not a fool. He knew himself well and he knew that he would do well on his own.

    ***

    <em>Farmer¡¯s Kingdom. </em>

    This was the ce hailed as the ¡®Ingredient Heaven¡¯ and even though it upied a huge area enough to be called a kingdom, it still remained hidden to foreigners. To be exact, the Farmer¡¯s Kingdom was a ce that was not only hidden to foreigners, but also to the locals from both Cairon and Asgan Continents. To put it simply, it was a hidden and unexplored gem of and.

    The Farmer¡¯s Kingdom was hidden in the depths of ck Dragon Vormon¡¯sir. Eating delicious food was one of ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s joys in life. After getting a taste, he fell in love with the incredibly splendid crops that this kingdom produced. Vormon had created hisir to protect these farmers with mysterious powers.

    Even if he was a powerful dragon, Vormon knew that he would not be able to receive good crops and amazing ingredients if he threatened and coerced the farmers to do his bidding. Instead of coercion, he decided to give the Hybrid Race his protection.

    The Hybrid Race had a simr appearance to humans, but had significantly different powers. They were farmers that lived in small viges, secluded from the rest of the world. With their outstanding agricultural and farming skills, they have caught the interest of many, to the point that plenty of their kin had died from raids and battles that were a result of people¡¯s greed.

    But thanks to Vormon¡¯s protection, this race was able to build a new home for themselves, plow a smallnd of their own, which grew into a small vige, then arge territory, and eventually into a small kingdom. This kingdom was named ¡®Rocard¡¯. And shrill screams were currently ringing inside this very same Rocard Kingdom.

    ¡°Keuhaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Verd!!!¡±

    The Hybrid Race lookedpletely like humans. The only difference was that they were born withpletely different characteristics and power. One of the Hybridmen, a farmer, vomited a mouthful of blood after being pierced through the chest by an arrow.

    ¡°Stop them!!! We must do all we can to stop them!!! We have to protect the Rocard Kingdom!!!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaa!¡±

    The difference between the Hybrid Men and humans was their power to control nature and make it obey their whims. This incredible power allowed them to always produce better crops and gain good harvest every year. On the other hand, the ones that were attacking the Hybrid Race were the Undead Corps that ck Dragon Vormon originally created to conquer the continent.

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    Hundreds of arrows flew in an arc and poured down on the walls that the Hybrid Race created. Seeing this, the Farmer Mages poured out their powers and controlled nature. Their stretched hands controlled the tree trunks, stretching them and making them expand, until a shield was created.

    <em>Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump¡ª</em>

    The arrows failed to pierce through and only ended up being stuck on the wooden shield. Meanwhile, the Farmer Knights fought valiantly with their pickaxes on the ground.

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    <em>Thuuuuud¡ª</em>

    <em>Crack!</em>

    The Farmer Knights, whose moves wereparable to that of an Imperial Knight, swung their pickaxes swiftly and skillfully. No, it was far more than that. The Ingredient Heaven had the power of immortality and evesting youth, for the Hybrid Race that were born and raised in this ce while eating the crops that they produced here had made them inherently stronger than any other races. Their numbers were only a fifth of that of the Undead Corps, but they remained steadfast as they endured the onught of attacks for days on end.

    To put it simply, if ordinary human soldiers were at Level 350, the level of their ordinary soldiers was at Level 450! This just showed how powerful they werepared to other races. In fact, the Farmer¡¯s Kingdom did not have any concept of ¡®civilians and ordinary people¡¯, they were all farmers, and they were all warriors.

    <em>Vwooooooooooooooom¡ª</em>

    Even if that was the case, it seemed that they still could not escape from despair and hopelessness. With the sound of the trumpet ringing loudly in the area, hundreds of drakes made from bones rushed straight towards the walls. There was also the Death Knight wearing a ck armor made of bones standing tall, as he rode a drake that hovered on top of the huge walls.

    Even though the Death Knight was an undead, its existence was something that could not be overlooked. It stood at the pinnacle of the undead. Their powers might be weaker than when they were alive, but the problem was that Vormon had used the souls of heroes that brought hope, as well viins that brought despair to the world, and trapped them in the bodies of these Death Knights.

    The one riding on top of the drake was well-known in the entire continent for his spearmanship andmanding abilities. He was Evon. The name ¡®Evon¡¯ was something that all of the spear masters had heard and learned about in their books since they were young. He created the foundation of spearmanship. He was a young ve that used his own spearmanship to catch the attention of the emperor and eventually became his friend.

    But was that all?

    Definitely not. There was also the mage that created the Mage Tower, the first ever Mage Tower Master, Verite. The woman hailed as the most beautiful woman of her time had also be a Death Knight and brought despair with her catastrophic magic attacks. And that was not the end of it. Arford, the Summoner of Despair, summoned a creature that was only known in legends, the Hydra.

    Deputy Commander Beth, who watched everything, stood on top of the walls and thought, <em>¡®Hydra is known to be the second most powerful monster. It¡¯s a monster that¡¯s only next to Cerberus, a demonic beast.¡¯</em>

    Beth realized that their doom was already right around the corner. He might also be powerful, but he knew that he would never be able to fight against those Death Knights even with the help of all of the powerful men with him.

    <em>¡®However, as long as we can endure for a few more days and maintain the walls¡­¡¯</em>

    But just as this thought crossed his head¡­

    ¡°These are Queen Iris¡¯ orders! Open the gates and destroy the enemies!!!¡±

    ¡°What, what did you say?!¡±

    Beth felt his heart sink into despair as he looked at their enemies outside the walls. One of the Death Knights used his spearmanship and sent spearlights that killed their army on the walls while still standing still on top of the drake. The gigantic hydra was also spewing powerful poison that engulfed their own troops until they died with no bones left. The first Mage Tower Master also used Fly Magic and urately threw Exploding Magic at their own mages below. They were being killed one after the other. The enemy hadunched an all-out attack against the Hybrid Race as if they were sure that they would see the end of this war by the end of the day.

    Yet, the Queen wanted to open the gates in this situation?

    <em>¡®I¡¯m begging you. Please! Queen Iris, pleasee back to your senses!¡¯</em>

    Beth begged desperately for their once wise ruler toe back to them. He knew that Vormon was the one that turned their beloved ruler into this. Vormon might not have coerced and threatened them, but he always had a back-up n set in ce. He kept them on a leash by brainwashing Queen Iris and getting control of her consciousness. However, he never delved deeper in his control. But with his death, the reaches of his control had gone awry.

    ¡°No¡­ Even if you threaten me with a knife to my throat!!!¡±

    Beth decided to risk his life for this. He would do everything to protect this kingdom that Queen Iris and her knight, Mercenary King Broad, had guarded before.

    But what Beth did not know was that there were already a lot of nobles from their kingdoms that had been seduced and tempted by themanders of the Undead Corps. They had received a promise, a promise for a life of luxury and not a life restricted by the walls of their small vige. A life that would allow them to reach the peak of the world. Yes, there were quite a lot of farmers that felt like they had been trapped in this small ce. The nobles were among those people. In fact, they felt this more severely than the others. They could easily turn their backs from their own kind, especially when their deaths were close at hand.

    ¡°Open the gates!!!¡±

    ¡°This is Marquis Roleid! Heed mymand, the queen has given her orders. Open the gates!!!¡±

    ¡°What, what?!¡±

    ¡°N¡­ No!!!¡±

    The public and the soldiers all fell into deeper despair. Marquis Roleid immediately shed their necks the moment they showed hints of hesitations.

    <em>Puhaaaa!</em>

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh!</em>

    Marquis Roleid¡¯s skillful disy of swordsmanship brought fear to the soldiers, which forced them to open the gates. Beth tried to stop them, but he was already toote.

    <em>¡®Aaaaaah! This kingdom has gone nuts!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®We will all be killed¡­!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Save me, please save me!¡¯</em>

    The enemy had coveted this Ingredient Heaven for a very long time now, as well as the shocking and ridiculousnd that they had created. Back then, this was what the queen told them: <em>¡®The Ingredient Heaven belongs to the Food God. It is all thanks to his blessings that we are able to live a very peaceful and fulfilling life. We should always remember to be grateful to him.¡¯ </em>

    But now, these fallen and corrupt nobles were personally trying to hand over the ¡®Ingredient Heaven¡¯ to their enemies.

    ¡°Noooooo!¡±

    ¡°Stop them!!!¡±

    ¡°For Queen Iris!!!¡±

    ¡°For the queen!!!¡±

    The soldiers squeezed thest of their strength as they moved to stop their enemies. They knew that death was just right around the corner, and although they resented their queen for this rash decision, they still loved her more than anyone in this world. And the same was true for Beth, the corrupted nobles, and Broad, the Mercenary King and the only knight that protected the mad queen. All of them loved her.

    Not long after, the soldiers were swept away by the flood of enemies. They had allowed the Undead Corps to enter their kingdom. Beth surveyed his surroundings as he continued to fight desperately. He could see their soldiers both covered and vomiting in blood while the undead, with only bones left on their bodies, continued to ughter them with their des while stepping on them to enter their gates. Beth continued to ruthlessly cut down another undead.

    ¡°Protect the gates!!! Kill the enemies!¡± The nobles shouted as greedy and vicious smiles stained the corners of their mouths knowing that a new world would unfold in front of them.

    <em>¡®Morons. Do they think that they will give you what they have promised you before?¡¯</em>

    Beth¡¯s bitter smile turned even more deste when he saw a little girl crying over the loss of her parents. He rushed forward and cut down all of the enemies that tried to surround the crying girl. But in the end, he had reached his limits and copsed on one knee. He quickly hugged the girl tightly to protect her and said, ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid.¡±

    Beth used thest of his strength to give a warm smile to the child. Then, hundreds of undead swarmed to him with their des raised high up in the sky. But suddenly¡­

    ¡°Turn Undead.¡±

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    A sh of golden light appeared in his vision. The golden light stretched out and covered the entire kingdom, devouring and ughtering thousands of undeads. Meanwhile, above the walls¡­

    ¡°Sword of Absolute Death.¡±

    ¡­a rain of sword lights poured down on thend of undead.

 Chapter 394: Farmerâ€™s Kingdom

    Chapter 394: Farmer¡¯s Kingdom

    The members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect delved deeper into the passageway blocked by the skeleton knights and saw hundreds of huge yet old mansions spread out in the area. Then, the notifications rang.

    <em>[You have entered the Kingdom of the Undead.]</em>

    <em>[The Kingdom of the Undead houses various types of undead. Starting from mansions 1, 2, and 3, you have to upy all 57 of the Undead Mansions.]</em>

    <em>[You will be able to acquire the treasures that the owner of the Undead Mansion had left behind the moment you sessfully finish your raid.]</em>

    ¡°Ah¡­!¡±

    All of them realized that this was a new type of hunting ground. To put it simply, each Undead Mansion could be considered as one dungeon. So far, the Let¡¯s Eat Sect had only dealt with the skeleton knights among all of the undead in existence. These skeleton knights were strong enough to beparable to Imperial Knights. They were proficient in swordsmanship, archery, and even magic.

    They could tell that this was one of the many benefits hidden in Vormon¡¯s giganticir. With the appearance of the new hunting ground in the form of the Kingdom of the Undead, they would be able to grow faster than their peers. On top of that, no other notifications rang for them. This meant that the 4x EXP buff and item drop rate from before when they first entered Vormon¡¯sir were still effective.

    ¡°Shall we start raiding the first mansion?¡± Genie asked. All of them were fully aware that it would be better for them to raid the mansions one after the other.

    Just then, Minhyuk paused and said, ¡°Wait.¡±

    His reason¡­

    <em>[The Key to the Farmer¡¯s Kingdom is resonating.]</em>

    <em>[Only the one chosen by the Farmer Kingdom, NPCs and one otherpanion chosen by him would be allowed to enter the Farmer Kingdom.]</em>

    A rusty key flew up on its own and appeared in front of Minhyuk. It floated up in the air and slowly guided him to another path. The members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect tried to follow behind him but before they could do so, Minhyuk said, ¡°¡­I think, only two yers can enter. The rest that I can take with me are NPCs.¡±

    ¡°Huh?!¡±

    ¡°What?!¡±

    The members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect felt dispirited. Their initial enthusiasm and expectations of pioneering a new kingdom, and showing off the power of new cooking ingredients, had been dashed. However, Genie looked around the mansions that surrounded them. She thought, <em>¡®It would be both fun and interesting for us to raid these mansions too¡­¡¯</em>

    Of course, not being able to participate in discovering a new kingdom was a shame, but Genie had a hunch, ¡°This is a trial.¡±

    ¡°A trial?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. The one that hunted Vormon had eaten the ingredients that the ck dragon had left behind and obtained the keys to this kingdom. This is a trial to see if the holder of the key deserves the kingdom.¡±

    After saying her thoughts, Genie could roughly guess what it was.

    ¡°It¡¯s like they''re testing your qualifications to be king. Right?¡± Genie concluded as everyone, including Minhyuk, nodded in agreement.

    ¡°It¡¯s a bit of a shame that we can¡¯t go with you, but we trust you. In the meantime, we will clear these mansions since the treasures left by the owners sound very tempting.¡±

    Genie rubbed her chin in thought. The undead in this ce were very high in level. There would definitely be undead that are far stronger than their peers, and if they owned a mansion, then the treasure that they left behind would definitely be appealing to their guild. Besides, they had not acquired an ¡®artifact¡¯ during their stay in Vormon¡¯sir so far. Anyone that heard the words ¡®Dragon Lair¡¯ would always think about rare, outstanding artifacts and treasures. Genie felt that there was a hint about that somewhere here.

    After a bout of discussion, they decided that Ali should be the one to apany Minhyuk. They all felt that it would be efficient for the two of them to go together, since Ali had a 1.5x increase in attack power against the undead with his God of Magic passive skill, as well as the power that he had just used before, Turn Undead.

    Minhyuk and Ali turned to follow the key, while the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect entered the first mansion. The two continued to follow the key until they arrived in front of a huge door. The key, which was still floating, entered the keyhole and turned by itself.

    <em>ck¡ª</em>

    <em>Creak, creak, creak, creak¡ª</em>

    The two walked through the open door, only to witness a farmer, both covered and vomiting in blood, copse on the ground with his pickaxe still in hand.

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Both Ali and Minhyuk were speechless at the shocking sight that greeted them when they entered.

    ¡°Y¡­ you¡­ How, how did you¡­ Urk!¡±

    Farmer Yvero knew that no one, other than them, could enter this ce. However, he suddenly recalled a story that he had heard before. ording to the story, the ones that could possibly enter this ce were the ones that sessfully hunted and killed Vormon.

    Farmer Yvero¡¯s eyes widened when he realized this. Then, he said, ¡°Vor¡­ Vormon¡¯s hunters¡­ Please, please save¡­ our, our kingdom!¡±

    Then, the notifications rang.

    <em>[<strong>Kingdom Building Quest</strong>: Save Rocard Kingdom.]</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: SSS</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: The ones that hunted Vormon and have been recognized for their qualifications.</em>

    <em><strong>Rewards</strong>: ???</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: The Farmer¡¯s Kingdom, Rocard Kingdom, is now on the verge of annihtion and extinction. This is the result of the death of ck Dragon Vormon, the being that protected them. Save the desperate and hopeless Rocard Kingdom!</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk was shocked to see the sudden appearance of a Kingdom Building Quest. He had heard about this kind of quest before. After all, the Let¡¯s Eat Sect was now well on its way to bing a kingdom. However, they faced plenty of problems.

    First, theycked sufficient financial power. The amount of money that they had to burn to build a small kingdom was definitely not going to be small. Second, they did not have enough civilians and troops. The number of people that they needed for the construction of a kingdom in Athenae should be at a considerable amount. Third, they did not have arge enough territory. To house and support a small kingdom, they needed arger territory.

    Finally, he was faced with a Kingdom Building Quest. These were few and far in between in the entire world.

    The Kingdom Building Quest could only be triggered and carried out by those that had the qualifications to build a kingdom. However, among all of those that tried to clear this quest, none had seeded so far. This was because the quest had a lot of difficult andplicated conditions that they needed to fulfill.

    However, there was one thing that everyone was sure of, and that was one needed to clear the Kingdom Building Quest once, for them to be able to build a kingdom. Even if they met all of the conditions from the first to the third, they would not be able to build a kingdom if they could not clear this final condition.

    <em>¡®Is that the reason why only NPCs can enter aside from two yers?¡¯</em>

    The Kingdom Building Quest would only recognize the yer to be qualified if they clear the quest. Minhyuk believed that they put forth this limitation so that the system could assess how many outstanding people were serving him, how he couldmand them, and use their abilities. Ali was also very surprised when he heard Minhyuk¡¯s thoughts about it.

    ¡°We will definitely save and protect this kingdom.¡±

    After letting the copsed farmer, Yvero, drink some potion, Ali and Minhyuk did not dy any further. They rushed deeper into Rocard Kingdom and soon saw hundreds, if not thousands, of undead flocking inside and entering through the wide open gates. The kingdom was engulfed in chaos and pandemonium. Screams rang loudly as the undead ughtered everyone, including the children, the women, and the elderly.

    Minhyuk and Ali briefly nced at each other after seeing the deputymander¡¯s soldier get cut down by one of the undead while he protected and hugged a young girl. Ali could roughly tell that the number of the undead that entered the kingdom was around 1,000. With this number in mind, he released the power that he had gained after entering Level 400.

    <em>[God of Magic.]</em>

    <em>[You have opened the power of the Magic God for 20 minutes.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has temporarily increased by 1.3x while your MP has temporarily doubled.]</em>

    <em>[Your Magical Attack has increased by 40%.]</em>

    <em>[Your Magical Pration has increased by 40%.]</em>

    <em>[Your Magic Sess Hit Rate has increased by 50%.]</em>

    Ali¡¯s body became wrapped in a golden light, his features turning gold. Then, he brandished his Staff of Despair and chanted, ¡°Turn Undead.¡±

    A shing and blinding golden light stretched out from the tip of his staff and devoured the Undead Corps in the area.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    Fine cracks started to appear on the undead¡¯s bodies. And then¡­

    <em>Thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    ¡­they fell apart. While everyone was in a daze, wondering what happened, Minhyuk had already climbed on top of the walls.

    ¡°Who are you?¡±

    ¡°A sword? You¡¯re not from our kingdom!¡±

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk looked at the situation and was able to analyze everything in that split second.

    <em>¡®The kingdom¡¯s nobles have already given up and turned against their kingdom. They have fallen for their enemies'' tricks and abandoned everything, even to the point that they willingly sent their own men and kin for ughter.¡¯</em>

    The gears in Minhyuk¡¯s head turned quickly as he casted his Sword of Absolute Death.

    <em>¡®We first have to kill those nobles. However, I can¡¯t let the fact that I will be the one killing them be known to these people.¡¯</em>

    Even though they were in the middle of a war, they would still be considered enemies as long as they, the foreigners, killed those nobles. As he waited for the casting time of Sword of Absolute Death to end, Minhyuk¡¯s eyes wandered around. That was when he caught sight of a huge cage. The cage housed around ten thousand pigs, ranging from small piglets to huge, fully grown pigs. The corners of Minhyuk¡¯s mouth curled into a devious smile.

    ¡°Sword of Absolute Death.¡±

    Minhyuk pointed his sword towards the most prominent Death Knight. This was the most rational move. After all, their first attack should always target the strongest among their enemies to gain momentum. That existence was none other than Duke Amanthi, the person that was once hailed as the Sword Duke. However, he was nothing but a Death Knight now.

    <em>aaaaaash¡ª</em>

    Sword Duke Amanthi tried to block Minhyuk¡¯s first sword strike by swinging his ck sword, but it waspletely useless.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    Amanthi¡¯s body started to crack. Then, hundreds of long, sharp sword lights fell down in the middle of the undead camp before exploding.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    <em>ng¡ª</em>

    Sword Duke Amanthi, a Death Knight, fell down on the ground as his ck armor cracked and fell apart. Thousands of the undead that flocked to the walls disappeared with him. It was a tremendous show of force.

    ¡°Y¡­ you¡­?¡±

    ¡°We came here to save you!¡± Minhyuk said as he hurriedly left the ce. He disappeared for a moment beforeing back again. During his disappearance, he had summoned Beanie and gave him instructions.

    ***

    Marquis Roleid frowned at the sudden appearance of an unknown man and a golden mage. Their appearance had pushed back the enemies that flocked to the walls.

    ¡°Hmph¡­ What kind of variable is this?¡± Marquis Roleid snorted, his brows furrowing deeper as he sat on top of his white horse. He saw the stranger try to close the gates again with the remaining troops.

    ¡°What the hell are you doing?! Don¡¯t close the gates!!! ughter our enemies!!!¡±

    Although Roleid shouted for the destruction of their enemies, deep inside he wanted the ¡®death of everyone¡¯ here.

    ¡°B¡­ but if we don¡¯t close the gates now¡­¡±

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    Roleid stabbed the soldier that cried out in protest without any hesitation.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s gone crazy¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®The nobles have sold us out.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Even if we try to protect it, this kingdom will eventually meet its end.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I can¡¯t believe that they switched sides like this the moment Vormon died¡­¡¯</em>

    While Vormon was alive, they all tried to avoid conflict amongst themselves somehow. After all, they would all die if Vormon saw a conflict break out among them. However, the moment Vormon died, the faces of these greedy nobles immediately changed.

    <em>¡®What a pest! Just hurry up and die!!!¡¯</em>

    All of them must die for this kingdom to fall into the hands of their enemies. Once that happened, he would be the king.

    Roleid had grown sick of this Farmer¡¯s Kingdom. He would make sure that his kingdom would be fancy, wonderful, and showy, something that would bepletely different from this mundane and ordinary kingdom! Under the current rule, even the nobles of this kingdom were no exceptions to the rule, they also had to farm. He had long grown sick of that kind of life. That was right. Roleid would make use of the other nobles and subjects. He would make them his limbs and use them to make a fortune.

    ¡°Open the gates!!!¡±

    ¡°Open the gates!!!¡±

    ¡°Who the hell are you?! Get out of here!¡±

    ¡°Kill them!!! They must be spies sent by the enemies!!! They¡¯re after the queen!!!¡±

    The nobles worked in tandem, shouting loudly to cause chaos. Since the war started, the nobles that did not share the same ideals with them had already been cut off. Right now, they were the center ofmand in this battlefield. They were the rulers, the leaders, themanders. In the end, the soldiers slowly opened the gates again. But then¡­

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    <em>Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump¡ª</em>

    The ground began to shake after a strange sound rang out. Marquis Roleid turned to look at the direction from where the sound came from.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    His eyes widened in shock. It seemed like the undead had broken the cage that surrounded the pigsty.

    Since this was the Farmer¡¯s Kingdom, it was generally different from ordinary kingdoms. The kingdom was in fact formed with the huge pigsty at the center. With the cage surrounding this pigsty broken, more than ten thousand fully grown pigs and piglets rushed out. But¡­

    ¡°Wh¡­ what?! Why are the pigsing this way?!¡±

    ¡­the pigs might be domesticated animals, but they were still animals nheless. Besides, pigs were also known for their intelligence that far surpassed that of dogs. They headed to where they were, disregarding the dangerous situation that they were in. What they did not know was that there was a baby piggy, that usually walked on two feet, but was currently running on all fours in the middle of the herd.

    ¡°Oiiiiink!¡±

    ¡°Oink, oink, oink!!!¡±

    ¡°Hwiiiiiiik!¡±

    ¡°Oink, oink, oink, oink, oink!¡±

    All of the pigs obeyed the orders of this mysterious baby piggy.

    ¡°Oiiiiiiiink! <em>(You don¡¯t want to run head on?!! Huh?! Then, I¡¯m going to tell my master that we should go eat some samgyeopsal, jokbal, and barbeque! Oink!!!)</em>¡±

    Yes. That was right. The Pig King Beanie had appeared, make way!

 Chapter 395: The Dignity of the Food Godâ€™s Knight Order

    Chapter 395: The Dignity of the Food God¡¯s Knight Order

    A herd of ten thousand pigs dashed forward under Beanie¡¯smand. He deliberately hid his golden crown, armor, and weapon, blending among the pigs and looking exactly like he was one among the thousands of pigs rushing forward.

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaah¡­! The pigs are going to fight(?) with us to protect our kingdom!!!¡±

    ¡°Pi¡­pigssssss!!! Thank you! <em>Sob, sob, sob!</em>¡±

    The farmers of Rocard Kingdom were moved to tears by the pigs'' sudden appearance, not knowing that the pigs were moving just because they were being threatened by Beanie.

    Even Marquis Roleid felt his heart shake after hearing the people¡¯s cries. He thought, <em>¡®Even the pigs¡­ are trying to protect this kingdom?!¡¯</em>

    However, his dumbfounded expression was soon reced with ayer of frost. This was the reason why Roleid hated this kingdom. He hated that he was given the fate of raising pigs in the capital and having to farm every single day.

    <em>¡®Pigs won¡¯t have that much strength anyway!¡¯</em>

    In a blink of an eye, the 10,000-strong herd of pigs arrived near the soldiers and shed against the undead, effectively pushing them out of the gates.

    ¡°Hwiiiiiiiik!¡±

    ¡°Hwiiiik!¡±

    ¡°Hweeeeeeek!¡±

    The shrill and loud cries of the pigs covered the entire battlefield. And then¡­

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°Oiiink¡­¡±

    Marquis Roleid watched the situation and judged that the pigs would be of no help at all. However, right below him was a small baby piggy. The baby piggy looked up at him with moist and sparkling eyes. The pig then climbed up his white horse and sat in front of Roleid. The baby piggy looked strangely simr to a puppy, as it stared at Roleid with sparkling eyes once again.

    ¡°What, what the hell?¡±

    The baby piggy was very strange. What kind of a pig could climb up on a horse and sit in front of him like some kind of human? But, even though Roleid thought that the pig was strange¡­

    <em>¡®So, so cute¡­!¡¯</em>

    ¡­it was so cute to the point that Roleid wanted to poke and y with its plump and chubby belly all day. The most shocking part was the reason why the baby piggy was sullen!

    ¡°Oink, oink¡­¡±

    Roleid¡¯s body was littered with injuries and the baby piggy showed a heartbroken look as it looked at his wounds. Seeing this, Roleid felt his heart flutter.

    ¡°P¡­ piggy, are you worried about me?¡±

    ¡°Oink¡­!¡± The baby piggy nodded furiously.

    Right then and there, Marquis Roleid thought, <em>¡®Right, everyone might curse at me. But they will stille to cherish and respect me as much as this pig.¡¯</em>

    This baby piggy in front of him might just be a pig, but Roleid vowed that he would let this pig survive and let it enjoy wealth and glory with him!

    ¡°Come here,¡± Roleid said as he reached out to the pig to try and pet it. But at that moment¡­

    ¡°Oiiink! <em>(It¡¯s all fake! Oink!)</em>¡±

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    Beanie swiftly stole the dagger hanging on Marquis Roleid¡¯s body and used ¡®Sword of Frenzy¡¯ on him. The powerful blow threw Roleid off of his seat. His eyes even started to close slowly! Then, the horse shrieked and threw off Beanie. However, the ce where Beaniended was none other than Marquis Roleid. In fact, Beanie¡¯s buttnded straight on Roleid¡¯s face!

    <em>Fwoot, fwoot, fwoot¡ª</em>

    Beanie¡¯s fart was both strong and smelly.

    ¡°Keuhoooook!¡±

    The foul stench permeated deeply in Marquis Roleid¡¯s nose. In fact, Roleid felt that the terrible stench brought far greater anguish than the injuries that littered his body. The terrible smell was something that he had never experienced in his entire life!

    Then, the baby piggy, Beanie, stood up with twitching hips!

    <em>Grin¡ª</em>

    Beanie looked back as he smiled viciously at Marquis Roleid, before running on all fours again to hunt the other nobles. And Marquis Roleid, who was on the brink of death, thought, <em>¡®I, I can¡¯t believe that I died at the hands of a pig¡­!¡¯</em>

    It was a disgrace! The worst part was that there was a chance that this would go down in history as: ¡®<em>Rocard Kingdom¡¯s Marquis Roleid, brought to eternal rest by a pig.¡¯</em>

    ***

    Minhyuk stood in front of the gates as he fought and pushed back the undead with the citizens and the soldiers.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know who you are but I¡¯m very grateful to you!¡±

    ¡°Who the hell are you?!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just someone that doesn¡¯t want this beautiful kingdom to be destroyed!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The citizens of Rocard Kingdom were thrilled as they looked back at him. This was the truth. ording to Minhyuk¡¯s standards, Rocard Kingdom was truly a very beautiful and amazing ce. The kingdom raised delicious and excellent pigs. The greatest part about this was that they were all farmers that could breed and harvest great crops. Simply put, this kingdom was a paradise of ingredients in and of itself.

    ¡°Hwiiiik!¡±

    ¡°Oink, oink, oink, oink, oink, oink!¡±

    ¡°Pigs!!!¡±

    ¡°<em>Sob, sob, sob, sob, sob! </em>Thank you, pigs!¡±

    The 10,000-strong herd of pigs jumped through the gaps bravely and would asionally make the undead stumble and fall from the impact of their attacks! The pigs were covered in blood as they died one after the other! The Rocard Kingdom troops were deeply moved as they watched the pigs jump up to stop the undead. The moment this war ended, they would make sure to build statues for them.

    At this point, Minhyuk could tell that his ns were working smoothly. He could see Beanie through the gaps of the ten thousand pigs. From what he could see, Beanie was using the honey trap tactic to lure and hunt the nobles that had been moring for the gates to remain open.

    Beanie had awakened and became the Supreme Divine Beast. This meant that he was not weak. In fact, he was strong enough to rival a decent high ranker in terms of strength and power. None of them would be able to beat Beanie, especially if Beanie caught them by surprise. And just like Minhyuk expected, Beanie had finished hunting all of the remaining nobles that had turned to the other side. No one was moring to keep the gates open anymore. And then¡­

    ¡°Mar¡­ Marquis Roleid!¡±

    ¡°Count Cainos!¡±

    ¡°Count Arnai!¡±

    ¡°Did they get attacked by the undead? They took advantage of our distraction and killed these nobles!!!¡±

    The people started to shout one after the other! The troops of Rocard Kingdom once again grieved for the loss of their people.

    ¡°I¡­ I can¡¯t believe that you¡¯reid to rest with such a bitter look on your face¡­!¡±

    ¡°Tears? Did you die crying for our copsing kingdom?!! <em>Sob, sob, sob</em>!¡±

    ¡°What, what¡¯s this¡­ Why do the bodies of our nobles reek?!¡±

    The people that grieved for the death of their nobles did not know that they died under the hands of a baby piggy.

    ¡°Close the gates!!!¡±

    Finally, the huge and magnificent gates began to close.

    <em>Thuuuuuud¡ª</em>

    The troops began to work to dispose of the remaining undead from inside the walls the moment the gates closed. Minhyuk also secretly sent Beanie back to the summoning room amidst the chaos. Meanwhile, Deputy Commander Beth hurriedly approached Ali and Minhyuk.

    ¡°I¡¯m very grateful for your help. But you¡­¡±

    Beth looked at them warily. It was only natural since they were a very different race from the people of Rocard Kingdom. In fact, their interactions with humans could only be counted with one hand. Minhyuk and Ali were both at a loss. They did not know how to exin their identities. They did not want to tell them that they were helping them because of a quest and for the Ingredient Heaven.

    Minhyuk could tell that Beth was very skilled and talented. He thought, <em>¡®I think he wouldn¡¯t lose against Grandpa Ben.¡¯</em>

    But not long after, Yvero, the farmer that Minhyuk and Ali gave potion near the entrance, approached Beth and whispered in his ears. It seemed like the farmer had already recovered to some extent.

    ¡°What, what did you say?! They¡¯re the heroes that hunted Vormon?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    His words brought a huge impact to everyone present. It was to the point that all the remaining troops in the kingdom roared. It was only natural since they knew what kind of existence Vormon was after seeing him all this time. Beth believed Yvero¡¯s wordspletely. He did not have any doubts. After all, that was the only requirement for these humans to enter this ce.

    ¡°Ho¡­ Did the two of youe to save us after hunting Vormon after knowing the fact that we were being persecuted?!¡±

    ¡°That¡­¡±

    That was not the case either. Minhyuk came to Vormon¡¯s Lair to find valuable rewards and more delicious ingredients! But Beth¡­

    ¡°<em>Sob, sob, sob, sob, sob.</em> Thank you. Thank you foring to our rescue even though we¡¯re from different races.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡±

    Beth grabbed Minhyuk¡¯s hand and dered, ¡°We will remember you forever!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡±

    ¡°Thank you for fighting together with us!!!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Ali and Minhyuk made eye contact.

    <em>Since this was already the case, then¡­</em>

    ¡°After learning about the race that the vicious and cruel ck Dragon Vormon had persecuted, we came running as fast as we could to save you!!!¡±

    And Ali¡­

    ¡°Aaaaaaah! Meeting you has made me feel deeply regretful! I¡¯m very sorry. We came toote!!!¡±

    ¡­was so deep into his y that tears started to well up in his eyes!

    ¡°Don¡¯t cry, dear friend. We¡¯re grateful that you came here even if you werete!¡±

    ¡°B¡­ but¡­ <em>Sob, sob, sob!</em>¡±

    Minhyuk gently hugged Ali, who finally shed a tear, and patted him on his back. Ali¡¯s acting was perfect! It was the best! The two of them truly had the perfect chemistry! It was to the point that some of the troops shed tears with them. However, it was only for a moment. They still needed to deal with the undead outside of their walls.

    ¡°Can you exin to us your exact situation?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    Beth started exining, ¡°The ones leading the undead are the ¡®Death Guides¡¯. They¡¯re foreigners.¡±

    Ali and Minhyuk were very shocked. However, they both quickly came to a conclusion.

    <em>¡®Those people must have received some sort of quest after Vormon¡¯s death.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®But there is no information about someone that can control the undead on that scale?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Are they unofficial rankers?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk and Ali were both certain that they were a group of unofficial rankers.

    ¡°As you can see, the undead could wield the same power that they had when they were alive. They are still proficient in swordsmanship, archery, and even magic.¡±

    This was a problem. The undead were originally beings that had gone into a frenzy after losing their reasoning. It was very easy to deal with these beings, since they were not capable of thought. But, the problem now was that their enemies could now use their heads.

    ¡°The biggest problem is the Death Knights that they have summoned. They were once beings that have led andmanded in their past lives. There¡¯s the first Mage Tower Master, the man hailed as the founder of spearmanship, and even a summoner that could summon a being like the hydra.¡±

    Minhyuk could not help but shake his head after hearing Beth¡¯s words. Sometimes it was better to have one powerful knight than to have a hundred soldiers. The worst part was that the Death Knights on the other side were doing the work of 10,000 soldiers.

    ¡°I¡¯ll call for my troops first. But I don¡¯t know how long it would take for them to get here.¡±

    ¡°Troops?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I¡¯m also someone that holds a title. I¡¯m a lord of my own territory.¡±

    ¡°Y¡­ you¡¯re a noble!¡± Beth shouted in surprise. However, he quickly calmed down and said, ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about your troops.¡±

    ¡°Huh? What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°One of our kingdom¡¯s specialties is the ¡®Almond of Subordinates¡¯. It has the power that can allow you to call and bring in your subordinates the moment you eat it.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk and Ali were both shocked. Could crops really exert a power like that? To put it simply, the almond could temporarily help them teleport their troops.

    <em>¡®We must protect this kingdom and take the opportunity to have Let¡¯s Eat Sect engage in diplomatic discussions with them.¡¯</em>

    The benefits that they would reap if they could gain diplomatic ties with the Rocard Kingdom would be beyond their imagination. They should definitely discuss diplomacy with this kingdom that had a very special power.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk said, ¡°Almonds are delicious.¡±

    ¡°Ah, yes. Of course¡­¡± Beth answered in doubt as he sent his orders to his own troops. Not long after, the troops rushed back with almonds in hand.

    The almonds had a slight golden sheen on its skin, something that waspletely different from ordinary almonds.

    ¡°This Almond of Subordinates does not give us much harvest.¡±

    However, they still brought more than 200 pieces of almonds in front of Minhyuk and Ali. When they checked the information, they saw that the almonds truly had the power to summon their allies.

    <em>Crunch¡ª</em>

    A savory vor spread out in Minhyuk¡¯s mouth the moment he bit on it. The Almond of Subordinates was quite hardpared to its ordinary peers, but the more he chewed on it, the more he could taste the savory vor in his mouth.

    <em>Crunch, crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    ¡°Pl¡­ please take your time and eat it slowly.¡±

    <em>Crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    But Minhyuk¡¯s mouth moved even faster. The almonds tasted very delicious! He even forgot that he was eating the Almonds of Subordinates to call for his troops for a moment,pletely entranced by the taste of these almonds!

    ***

    Beth and the people of Rocard Kingdom had high expectations for the people that hunted ck Dragon Vormon! They wondered what kind of subordinates he would summon? Were they the best and strongest existences in the entire continent?

    <em>¡®That must definitely be the case!¡¯</em>

    After all, they were the ones that hunted Vormon. Just when a strange sense of excitement had started to bubble in them, a presence started to walk out from the huge light created by the Almonds of Subordinates. The person that walked out of the light was none other than the Ramyeon Boy, Conir.

    ¡°<em>Sluuurp, </em>nyam nyam. <em>Sluuuurp,</em> nyam nyam. Delicious ramyeon!¡±

    Conir appeared while eating ramyeon from the lid of a nickel silver ramyeon pot! Even though he suddenly appeared in a strange ce, all he said was, ¡°Mister farmers! Have some ramyeon!¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    All of them tilted their heads in confusion. Beth even had a small smile on his lips.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s a very kind and generous man. He must have taken in this kid that has be a war orphan.¡¯</em>

    That was what he thought. When his anticipation rose again, an old man appeared. It was Old Man Ben with a head full of ck hair, just like Terrius! Grandpa Ben appeared just when he was about to check underneath the cat¡¯s tail for Luwak coffee. Unexpectedly, the cat was teleported with him.

    ¡°<em>Sniff, sniff. </em>I can smell the coffee¡¯s aroma wafting from underneath your tail. Teehee~¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Beth tried very hard to remain calm andposed. Then, another man appeared.

    ¡°Everyone can grow their hair again! Do you trust me?! Put your faith in me and I will help you grow each and every strand of your hair!!! You can avail my service for a cheap price of five million gold!!! Ah! It¡¯s very cheap and affordable!!!¡± The strange knight shouted as he raised his hands high up in the skies.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Then, a ck-skinned member of the demon race appeared.

    <em>¡®N¡­ no¡­ there¡¯s a member of the demon race among the people that he summoned?!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®My goodness! As expected, he won¡¯t let us down!!!¡¯</em>

    However, the member of the demon race that appeared was trying to write his new work these days. The title of his book was ¡®The Prince¡¯s Magic Tool¡¯.

    <em>Thwack, thwack¡ª</em>

    A whip suddenly appeared in his hands.

    ¡°So it sounds like this! If I write it down like this, then¡­¡±

    The man sat down on the ground, whip in one hand and pen in the other, as he began to write.

    ¡°Waaaaah! My inspiration has bloomed! Inspiration!!! Erden, the maid, fell in love with the prince¡¯s magic tools and ended up stealing them!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    And finally¡­

    ¡°Hek, hek, hek!¡±

    ¡°Grrrr, grrr.¡±

    ¡°Hek, hek¡ª¡°

    A gigantic three-headed dog suddenly appeared. The dog appeared lying on the ground. They looked confused after suddenly being transported while still being petted by Locke. However, their tails were still wagging vigorously.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Everyone from Rocard Kingdom looked at the scene in silence as Beth murmured to himself, ¡°We¡¯re doomed¡­¡±

 Chapter 396: The Dignity of the Food Godâ€™s Knight Order

    Chapter 396: The Dignity of the Food God¡¯s Knight Order

    The people of Rocard Kingdom had simr expressions. When Ramyeon Boy Conir appeared, this was what they all thought: <em>¡®Ah, of course it¡¯s possible that someone like him wille here. The next one will definitely be a great person!¡¯.</em>

    However, what appeared next was an old man that was checking the area below a cat¡¯s tail. At that point, their burning expectations had already started to cool down. Nevertheless, they still looked forward to the next one. Then, a strange knight appeared, with his hands raised high up in the sky. From what they could see, the knight was pretending to be a pseudo-religious leader.

    Their expressions turned stiff at the sight of these men. Who would appear next? Why did a strange man from the demon race appear while making strange sounds like <em>¡®Haa~ haa~¡¯</em>?!

    And that was not all!

    A three-headed demonic beast from hell, Cerberus, also appeared! Although Cerberus looked just like their description, they were lying down and showing their belly while panting happily, like a cute puppy asking for a belly rub! The strangest part was the fact that they suddenly sat down obediently while wagging their tail gently when they saw Minhyuk in front of them!

    ¡°Oh my. How is my Love, Happiness and Hope? Did you miss hyung, huh?¡±

    ¡°Grrr!¡±

    ¡°Grrrrr!¡±

    ¡°Grrrr¡­!¡±

    <em>¡®Even, even their names are strange! What do you mean by Love, Happiness and Hope¡­?!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk patted this strange pet dog on the head, while Beth desperately hoped that they could really protect their kingdom. After all, they were the ones that hunted ck Dragon Vormon! However, after witnessing these shocking scenes one after the other, Beth finally realized, <em>¡®Ah, I see. ck Dragon Vormon has been sealed for quite a long time.¡¯</em>

    ck Dragon Vormon had basically ruled and dominated the entire Rocard Kingdom. Even if he was sealed, he still had enough power to control and rule over Queen Iris. But it seemed like things werepletely different from his tyrannical reputation. From what Beth could see, Vormon definitely had to be a lot weaker if these weird people could hunt him.

    <em>¡®I think that Cerberus-like creature is just something that they made up. They probably just made a im that the dog is a demonic beast from hell.¡¯</em>

    Rocard Kingdom waspletely cut off from the rest of the world. Although they were not sure, they were very open to the idea that a creature molded after the appearance of Cerberus, a great demonic beast from hell, was really being raised like a pet dog in the outside world. All of them sighed lightly as they watched Minhyuk call for his troops.

    The Death Corps that he has nurtured so far! Their total number was at 1,500, and unlike those that have appeared before them, they lookedpletely normal.

    Beth did not express any disappointment nor dissatisfaction. He said, ¡°You¡¯re really reliable.¡±

    Although Beth felt that they were not as powerful as they expected them to be, it did not change the fact that they came here to help them.

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded in return. He was now the master of a guild, he should never bow his head easily to others. Then, the notifications began to ring one after the other.

    <em>[If Ben wins against the Founder of Spearmanship, Evon, he will be able to grow a step further.]</em>

    <em>[Every time Conir cuts down 10,000 undead, he will be able to grow a step further.]</em>

    <em>[If Love, Hope and Happiness hunt Hydra, they will be able to grow a step further.]</em>

    <em>[If Best Selling Author Aruvel sessfully confuses his enemies using his brilliant and amazing tactics, he will gain inspiration from the undead.]</em>

    <em>[If Pdin Corr cleans up the undead, he will be able to grow a step further.]</em>

    <em>[The general troops¡¯ EXP acquisition rate will increase by 5x.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The notifications were quite a blessing. They were already taking on a Kingdom Building Quest, but they were able to get some windfall and acquire additional rewards! Minhyuk roughly estimated the number of the undead to be around 50,000. On the other hand, the total number of their troops and allies was only around 10,000.

    ¡°How many farmer knights and mages do you have with you?¡±

    ¡°Around 500 people.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded as he hurriedly looked around again. That was when he saw an NPC store.

    <em>¡®Lily¡¯s Grocery Store.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk hurriedly went to Lily¡¯s store. He knew that Beth and the people of Rocard Kingdom were bound to doubt them and their powers. However, he had a n. Soon, he was able to find the ingredient that he was looking for among the groceries sold in Lily¡¯s Grocery Store, <em>¡®Special Ramyeon Noodles¡¯. </em>He hurriedly clicked on the item to check its information.

    <em>(<strong>Special Ramyeon Noodles</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Ingredient Grade</strong>: S</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>? Can increase the attack and defense. However, it will be entirely dependent on the chef¡¯s skills.</em>

    <em>? Can increase the skill level. However, it will be entirely dependent on the chef¡¯s skills.</em>

    <em>? Buff Ingredient.</em>

    <em>? There will be no special effects or abilities if the dish fails.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: These are ramyeon noodles made from wheat harvested from the Farmer¡¯s Kingdom. It is a special buff ingredient.</em>

    There was only one reason why Minhyuk chose to check the grocery store first. Whenever a new kingdom was opened, the first thing that yers would check were their stores. This was mainly because kingdoms would sell their own specialties in these stores. And Minhyuk had a strong hunch that the ingredients sold in the Farmer¡¯s Kingdom would bepletely different from ordinary ingredients.

    Sure enough, his hunch was proven to be true by just a single ingredient. This was actually the first time that Minhyuk had seen a ¡®Buff Ingredient¡¯. There was only one question¡­

    ¡°All of you receive buffs from your dishes?¡±

    ¡°Yes, we do. We can increase our attack and defense by 1% through these buff ingredients.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk tilted his head in confusion. He could tell that something was strange here. Those were S-grade ramyeon noodles. And there was also that note in the special abilities section that said: ¡®It will be entirely dependent on the chef¡¯s skills.¡¯.

    This line meant that the ingredient could be reborn and made into a dish that could exert tremendous power. So, howe it only increased their power by 1%?

    ¡°By any chance, can you tell me how do you usually eat?¡±

    ¡°We either dip it in chocte soup, or eat it raw. That¡¯s what we do most of the time.¡±

    Minhyuk could tell that this was the reason why Rocard Kingdom did not gain much benefit even though they have this many ingredients on hand. These farmers, the Hybrid Race, were really powerful and amazing especially with growing crops. Just one look around Lily¡¯s Grocery Store was enough to tell how amazing their agricultural skills were.

    However, it seemed like God Athenae was fair, in order to maintain bnce, he gave their race lousy hands that could not cook. ording to them, they eat most of their crops raw, and even if they cooked their crops, the methods that they used were too much for Minhyuk to bear.

    ¡°Although it¡¯s quite something else to eat some broli soup with chocte used as seasoning.¡±

    Minhyuk felt emotional for a second. He felt that these people in front of him were too pitiful. They had such heavenly farming hands and excellent ingredients but they were so bad at cooking! No, perhaps it was because they did not feel a need to cook. Even if they just eat apples, the apples that they grew here already tasted a lot better than ordinary apples.

    ¡°What do you want to do? We¡¯re running out of time. They¡¯ll probably startunching an all-out attack soon.¡±

    Hearing the question, Minhyuk sighed and said, ¡°Please gather all of the elite soldiers that you have mentioned earlier.¡±

    ¡°Are you talking about the knights and mages?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right.¡±

    Beth nodded. There were currently no more nobles left with them. Beth, as the deputymander, had no choice but to put his trust on Minhyuk for now. After gathering their men, Beth turned to Minhyuk and asked, ¡°Did you think of a strategy?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°What strategy are you thinking of?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re going to eat.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Today was the day that the people of Rocard Kingdom questioned almost everything that they have seen or heard. All of them tilted their heads in confusion.

    ¡°We¡­ we¡¯re going to eat?¡±

    Beth could not understand what was going through Minhyuk¡¯s head. They were already in a very desperate situation. Their enemies mightunch an all-out attack any time soon. But Minhyuk wanted them to eat at this point in time?

    Beth tried to calm himself down and tried to exin their situation to him. He said, ¡°If we eat, who will stop the enemy troops? The gates would not be able to hold out. It would only take them half an hour to breach the gates and take over our kingdom.¡±

    But, Minhyuk answered, ¡°My knights and soldiers will stop the enemies.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Beth frowned. He knew that when Minhyuk said <em>knights and soldiers</em> he was referring to the boy eating ramyeon, the member of the demon race with a whip, and the dog that imitated Cerberus, as well as the 1,500 troops that he called for.

    <em>¡®Is his 1,500 strong troops that strong?¡¯</em>

    Just as the thought passed Beth¡¯s mind¡­

    ¡°Uwaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°What uracy! That¡¯s some deadly uracy you got there!!!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re really strong!¡±

    ¡­cheers erupted from above the walls. Beth immediately led his men to climb the walls. There, he saw the As Soldiers under Minhyuk¡¯smand shooting their arrows or using magic. The shocking thing was that whenever they shot their arrows, their uracy rate was 100%. Even their magic had unbelievable destructive power. There were also five priests among them! These priests were using their holy power to destroy the undeading near the walls.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Beth was very shocked.

    ¡°They were originally Athenae Religion¡¯s priests but they have converted now and have be Talmor priests.¡±

    ¡°Talmor?¡±

    Beth looked around until he caught sight of the Talmor Cult Leader, Corr, standing beside the priests. Beth knew about Athenae Religion, it was the religion with the greatest and most outstanding priests! But no matter how he looked at it, those priests that originally served the Athenae Religion were now serving the sect leader next to them.

    <em>¡®Ho?¡¯</em>

    Beth could not help but burst out in admiration. However, this much power was not enough to stop their enemies.

    ¡°But¡­¡±

    But before Beth could finish his sentence, Minhyuk had already turned to his Cerberus, who was rubbing its heads on his body, and said, ¡°Love, Happiness, Hope. If you teach a lesson to that ugly guy with nine heads for hyung, hyung will give you some nice beef jerky for your snack. Can you do it for me? Huh?¡±

    ¡°Grrrrr!¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaa!¡±

    The pet dog, which they thought to be a demonic beast, suddenly roared before leaping off of the walls. It leapt to where the hydra was.

    ¡°W¡­ wait¡­! Y¡­ you! Why would you put your pet dog in danger?!!!¡± Beth shouted hurriedly.

    However, Minhyuk just looked at the battlefield with his arms folded in front of his chest while his knights stood on both his sides.

    ¡°Conir! Conir will teach a lesson to the ugly guys!¡±

    ¡°Hoho. My son¡­ no, my lord. I will finish it soon so I can make coffee for you.¡±

    ¡°Tsk, tsk. Look at all those undead. All of them are bald! I¡¯ll make sure to make hair bloom on that bald head of theirs!¡±

    ¡°Oho? How about a story about a hot and zing love between an undead and a human? Huh? But there¡¯s no such concept for the undead¡­?¡±

    All of them were looking at the situation on the battlefield. Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°Knights.¡±

    ¡°Yes, my lord!¡±

    They replied loudly with a distinctly different momentum from before. Ghost Spear Ben slowly held his spear, while Conir raised his sword. Corr also wore his horned helmet, while Aruvel picked up his ck spear.

    <em>¡®Their, their aura and momentum changed¡­?!¡¯</em>

    The aura and dignity that they were showing was that of a legend. And at that moment¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡°Kiheeeeeeeeek!¡±

    ¡°Kyahaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaack!¡±

    A shrill scream broke out from somewhere. Beth and the rest of the troops on the walls turned to look at the direction where the sound came from. There, they saw the pet dog, Love, Hope, and Happiness, tearing the necks of the hydra that was five times bigger than it.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Beth¡¯s breath was caught in his throat. Then, Minhyuk gave his orders to the legends that were standing beside him, ¡°Destroy them.¡±

 Chapter 397: The Dignity of the Food Godâ€™s Knight Order

    Chapter 397: The Dignity of the Food God¡¯s Knight Order

    Special yers Management Team.

    Team Leader Park Minggyu, who had returned from Washington D.C., was watching the monitor with Employee Lee Minhwa. The two looked at the screen with zing eyes.

    ¡°Compared to the World War, yer Minhyuk will definitely give his all for the Rocard Kingdom in this Dragon Lair.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re absolutely right,¡± Lee Minhwa nodded furiously.

    Dragons were the greatest existence in this worldview! And those that hunted an existence like that would definitely be rewarded greatly! Especially for yers that were undertaking the Kingdom Building Quest, they were likely to receive special rewards. The problem was that the rewards had to be obtained from Queen Iris.

    ¡°He might obtain the King¡¯s Authority.¡±

    The King¡¯s Authority was a special power that could only be obtained by kings, or those that would be kings! However, the only one that could grant this power was none other than Queen Iris, the mad queen.

    But since this was Food God Minhyuk, there was a way for him to restore Queen Iris¡¯ sanity. The key was whether he would notice it or not.

    Then, Lee Minhwa said, ¡°There¡¯s also Mercenary King Brod, he¡¯s one of the candidates for the Absolute Supreme NPCs, right?¡±

    Team Leader Park nodded. There were only eight Absolute Supreme NPCs that existed in the entire world. Six of them had been confirmed, while the other two were NPCs that still had to grow further to obtain this status. One of the candidates was Mercenary King Brod.

    Mercenary King Brod was a Supreme NPC. He had fought around and yed an active role in a ce called ¡®God¡¯s Empire¡¯. Legend has it that he was a man that took on 70,000 strong men by himself. This very same Brod served and followed themand of Queen Iris. It was impossible for him to move, unless he received the orders from Queen Iris.

    Suddenly, Team Leader Park thought, <em>¡®Ah,e to think of it¡­¡¯</em>

    There was another important reward hidden in the Rocard Kingdom. No, rather than saying that there was a hidden important reward, it would be safer to say that for Minhyuk to obtain the reward, he had to do his very best. The reward was none other than the residents.

    Rocard Kingdom was bound to leave this territory after this war. If they remained there, plenty of people would continue to attack them. Simply put, if Minhyuk did his best, they might be a part of his power. However, this was something that Minhyuk had to figure out and solve by himself.

    ¡°How will he win the hearts of the people?¡± Team Leader Park mumbled curiously as he watched Minhyuk through the screen.

    ***

    Beth¡¯s pupils were shaking wildly. He watched as Ramyeon Boy Conir kicked the wall and flew away! Conir took the opportunity to cast his skill and let it loose towards the hundreds of undead below him.

    ¡°Child¡¯s Tempest!¡±

    A roaring tempest came out of Conir¡¯s sword. Sword des flew fiercely from the tempest and ughtered the undead below him. Conir had the requirement to hunt 10,000 undead in order to grow further. At that moment¡­

    <em>aaaash¡ª</em>

    Beth turned his head again. He clearly saw the three-headed pet dog ripping apart and devouring one of the hydra¡¯s heads.

    <em>¡®Crazy¡­!¡¯</em>

    Hydras were monsters that were considered to be the crystallization of poison. Just a slight touch from their bodies would melt their opponent¡¯s body. But that pet dog ate one of the hydra¡¯s heads! In fact, they did not stop there. One of Cerberus¡¯ heads shot out a powerful cold breath that froze the neck stump, preventing it from regenerating. Cerberus leapt away from the hydra, while another of its heads shot out a strong burst of me.

    <em>Puhaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kiyeeeeeeeek!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaak!¡±

    The hydra¡¯s snake heads shrieked loudly, while the skeleton mages fired hundreds of magic spells toward Cerberus. But then, Cerberus'' middle head opened its mouth and shot out a white light that dispelled the hundreds of magic spells that flew in the air.

    ¡°They¡­ they¡¯re very strong¡­ D¡­ don¡¯t tell me?!¡±

    Beth finally realized that the dog that he thought was an imitation of Cerberus, turned out to be the real deal. It was literally Cerberus, Hell¡¯s Gatekeeper. For a moment, Beth felt chills run down his spine.

    <em>¡®A¡­ a demonic beast from hell is, is following this human?!¡¯</em>

    Just when Beth was wondering if something like that was truly possible¡­

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    ¡­his eyes caught sight of the old man that had been checking the ce below the cat¡¯s tail when he appeared. He was fighting against the Founder of Spearmanship, Evon!

    Ghost Spear Ben shed with Evon, who skillfully used his spear technique to stab at Ben¡¯s chest, but Ben was able to twist his body and escape his stabbing spear.

    <em>Stab! Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab!</em>

    Dozens of spear strikes were exchanged in their short sh!

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Beth¡¯s breathing turnedbored. Evon, the Founder of Spearmanship, truly had an outstanding spear technique. Beth had never seen anyone wield their spear so skillfully like that! But someone had appeared who could actually use the spear better than Evon! And that someone was none other than the current Ghost Spear Ben.

    Evon was famous for being the ¡®founder¡¯ of spearmanship. However, over the course of time, the spear technique that he had created gradually evolved and developed further. The being that stood at the pinnacle of this evolved and developed spear technique was none other than Ghost Spear Ben.

    Then, Evon casted his spear technique: ¡°Ivory Spear Arts, Chapter Two. Exploding Spear.¡±

    Beth had seen dozens of his own people die in a single go under the gruesome disy of that Exploding Spear. The attack waspletely unstoppable and unavoidable. Dozens of spears flew forward, but Ghost Spear Ben triggered his own power.

    ¡°Ghost¡¯s Attacking Spear.¡±

    <em>[Ghost¡¯s Attacking Spear]</em>

    <em>[Dozens of spears will stab through the enemies¡¯ vital points.]</em>

    Ghost Spear Ben used a simr skill! His spear shot down Evon¡¯s Exploding Spear in the air. Upon Evon¡¯s casting of his Exploding Spear, he would be left defenseless for two seconds. However, Ghost Spear Ben waspletely different. Just like what was said, Evon¡¯s spearmanship was the root and foundation of spearmanship. This meant that the technique had plenty of loopholes and disadvantages. However, Ghost Spear Ben¡¯s ¡®Ghost Steps¡¯plemented his skill and covered up the holes and disadvantages.

    <em>Daaaaash¡ª</em>

    Only Ghost Spear Ben¡¯s afterimage was left behind after he used his Ghost Steps. Just one step and he was already standing in front of Evon. Then, Ghost Spear Ben stabbed Evon in the head.

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    Evon screamed! And with a crack, Evon¡¯s body started to crumble and disappear. At the same time, a notification rang in Minhyuk¡¯s head.

    <em>[Ghost Spear Ben has won against Death Knight Evon, the Founder of Spearmanship.]</em>

    <em>[Death Knight Evon has acknowledged Ben¡¯s strength. A portion of his power will be absorbed by Ben.]</em>

    At that moment, a ck strand of soul separated from Death Knight Evon¡¯s body, before flying towards Ghost Spear Ben. The ck strand of soul disappeared inside Ghost Spear Ben¡¯s body.

    <em>[Ghost Spear Ben has be more powerful.]</em>

    <em>[His skill level has increased by +2.]</em>

    <em>[His HP and MP reserves will increase by 1.4x.]</em>

    <em>[Ghost Spear Ben has gotten a step closer to bing a Supreme NPC.]</em>

    A Supreme NPC! Before Ellie awakened hertent powers, she was one of the Supreme NPCs. After she released her seal, she had established herself as an Absolute Supreme NPC. At the same time, no one would deny the fact that Supreme NPCs were NPCs that could use tremendous power.

    The knights that Minhyuk had let loose were putting on a shocking disy of power and skill. The member of the demon race that kept on panting while using a whip was speaking to the undead, whose ears were perked up and listening intently. There were roughly around two thousand undead listening to his majestic and captivating voice.

    ¡°Arcapel, themander of the Imperial Knight Order, had been told that his wife had been killed from one of the undead¡¯s raids a few years ago. Even though he was grieving, he had no choice but to make his stand and fight for his empire. One day, the emperor told him that the ¡®Immortal Queen¡¯ had appeared. With the appearance of the Immortal Queen, Arcapel marched with 20,000 troops under hismand. The battlefield remained fierce and unforgiving as the never-ending war between the undead and the humans continued on! But in the end¡­¡±

    The skeletons all turned to look at him as they vibrated from excitement and anticipation. Their eyes were even shining brightly!

    ¡°The Immortal Queen that Arcapel had marched forward to confront was none other than his wife that died years ago! Aaaaaah! What should he do?! Why was fate so cruel?! Why did God y a trick like this on him?!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kiyeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaack!¡±

    It seemed like the undead enjoyed this crazy drama as they shrieked while wrapping their skulls with their bony hands. All of them were dying of curiosity. What choice would Arcapel make? Why did his wife be the Immortal Queen?!

    ¡°You¡¯re curious? Then, attack them!¡± Aruvel said. Hearing his words, the undead suddenly turned around and attacked their own troops.

    ¡°Keuaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kiheeeeeek!¡±

    <em>Crack, crack¡ª</em>

    The undead showed their firm determination and strong will to hear the ending of the story. This was the power of the best-selling author! He could even attract and fascinate the undead!

    Meanwhile, Corr, who was wielding a sword covered in white light, ughtered the undead, one after the other. In fact, the one that had the greatest advantage against the undead was Corr. Corr was a pdin. He was a pdin of the Athenae Religion, which meant that he would have an increase in attack and defense against the undead.

    ¡°Ho¡­¡±

    Beth was really impressed. He turned around.

    ¡°Everyone is doing well. Hang in there a bit more!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    ¡°Thank you, my lord!¡±

    ¡°Haha!¡±

    Minhyuk encouraged his 1,500 As troops that were working hard to attack the enemies. Then, not long after, Minhyuk said, ¡°I¡¯ll make you some delicious food after this war ends!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s words brought a huge impact to the fighting troops. Each and every single one of the 1,500 troops felt excited, their faces filled with anticipation and firm determination.

    ¡°My lord, you¡¯re the best!!!¡±

    ¡°My lord, you¡¯re the coolest!!!¡±

    ¡°Oooooooooh!¡±

    The As soldiers were also growing rapidly as they continued to fight.

    <em>[Centurion Park has leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[Soldier Randolph has leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[Soldier Hekain has leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[Soldier¡­]</em>

    ¡°We¡¯re quickly getting stronger!¡±

    ¡°We can be of much greater help to our lord!¡±

    ¡°Hahahaha! That¡¯s good! Ah, so great!¡±

    The As soldiers kept the undead at bay and stopped them from stepping foot inside the walls. Since they could just use their arrows and magic to hunt the undead that were clinging to the walls, the As soldiers were literally riding an ¡®express bus¡¯.

    Meanwhile, Beth and the people of Rocard Kingdom, who saw them smiling while fighting, finally realized something.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s because everyone believes in him.¡¯</em>

    Beth¡¯s thoughts about Minhyuk were finally restored. The same was true for the citizens of Rocard Kingdom.

    <em>¡®I wonder how happy we would be if we also had a lord like that?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I feel a bit jealous. How can they smile like that when we¡¯re in this situation?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®That man over there is a noble but he truly cares for his people. It seems like he knows the name of each of his soldiers!¡¯</em>

    Meanwhile, the people of Rocard Kingdom recalled their very own nobles.

    <em>¡®They told us to open the gates, despite knowing that all of us would die if we did so.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®They cut down our path to retreat with their own hands.</em>

    <em>¡®The worst part is that they even hide in the rear, the safest ce on this battlefield.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He¡¯s different! They¡¯repletely different from us!!! I¡¯m so jealous!!! Very, very jealous of them!!!¡¯</em>

    At that moment, another set of notifications rang for Minhyuk.

    <em>[You have received favor from the people of Rocard Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[You have received favor from the people of Rocard Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[A special event will be triggered if your favor with the people of Rocard Kingdom reaches a certain level.]</em>

    Minhyuk stared at the notifications in confusion and doubt.

    <em>¡®A special event will be triggered once I reach a certain level?¡¯</em>

 Chapter 398: The First God Rank Artifact

    Chapter 398: The First God Rank Artifact

    Minhyuk understood that this was a hint, although he did not know what answer the hint was leading to. If he reached a certain level of favor, would they willingly and obediently hand over the Ingredient Heaven to him? Or maybe, they would give him the best crops and produce that they have harvested? Or perhaps¡­

    <em>¡®Will I be their king¡­?¡¯</em>

    However, Minhyuk decided to put this question aside for the moment. He did not have enough time to ponder over this thing deeply. There was something else that he needed to do. He quickly descended from the walls to carry out what he had told Beth that he would do earlier.

    ¡°Now, it¡¯s time for us to eat.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Uhm¡­ Alright¡­¡±

    Beth had his doubts when he first saw the strange knights that Minhyuk had summoned, but after seeing them fight, his doubts had long disappeared. Rather than doubt him, he came to believe and trust in Minhyuk more. But even if that was the case, the situation that they were in made him a little hesitant to respond positively to Minhyuk¡¯s suggestion of eating. It took much consideration for Beth to decide to ce his trust in them.

    ¡°Can I have some of your ramyeon noodles here?¡±

    ¡°How many do you need?¡±

    ¡°Enough for 500 servings. It would also be good if you can provide me with some eggs and cheese.¡±

    ¡°Alright. We¡¯ll bring it to you.¡±

    Beth immediately ordered his men to bring the ingredients. Minhyuk asking for the ingredients from them meant that he would not need to spend his personal money to buy it. Following Beth¡¯s orders, their troops brought enough ramyeon noodles, eggs, and cheese for 500 servings. Minhyuk hurriedly checked the information of the ingredients.

    <em>(<strong>Ancient Chicken¡¯s Egg</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Ingredient Grade</strong>: S</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>? Can sharply increase the defense. However, it will be entirely dependent on the chef¡¯s skills.</em>

    <em>? Can sharply increase the natural recovery rate. However, it will be entirely dependent on the chef¡¯s skills.</em>

    <em>? Buff Ingredient.</em>

    <em>? There will be no special effects or abilities if the dish fails.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: It is an egg born from one of the ancient chickens, the gamecock. These chickens can only live inside the Farmer''s Kingdom, where the air and water is good and pure.</em>

    <em>(<strong>Fantastic Sliced Cheese</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Ingredient Grade</strong>: S</em>

    <em>? Battle Qi, Bravery, and Will will increase. However, it will be entirely dependent on the chef¡¯s skills.</em>

    <em>? Buff Ingredient</em>

    <em>? There will be no special effects or abilities if the dish fails.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: It is a cheese made from the milk of the ancient cows that can only live inside the Farmer¡¯s Kingdom, where the air and water is good and pure.</em>

    The part that surprised Minhyuk the most was the part that said ¡®ancient¡¯. A species being tagged as ancient meant that there were only a few of them left. They were very great existences that had survived through the eons.

    ¡°Your chicken and cows are very special, huh?¡±

    ¡°Special? I don¡¯t know about that.¡±

    However, Deputy Commander Beth looked like he was not aware of this fact. It was only natural since the Rocard Kingdom had been cut off from the outside world for a very long time now.

    <em>¡®We must obtain the power of this kingdom no matter what!¡¯</em>

    What Minhyuk wanted to cook was none other than ¡®Chapagetti¡¯. However, the amount of chapagetti that he had to make was sorge that it would be a bit difficult for him to cook. The biggest problem was the ¡®noodles¡¯. Noodles would eventually get soggy, what more if he had to make 500 servings? So, the first thing that Minhyuk prepared was the fried eggs. Minhyuk immediately erged his frying pan and coated it with cooking oil.

    ¡°Mister Beth, there¡¯s something very important that I need you to do with the knights.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    The knights of Rocard Kingdom all nodded solemnly when they saw the serious expression on Minhyuk¡¯s face. Minhyuk¡¯s troops were doing a very exceptional job, so they wanted to do something too!

    ¡°Please crack an egg over the frying pan! This is very important. If you break the yolk then you¡¯ll be in big trouble!¡±

    All of them looked like they could not understand what was happening for a moment. But it did not end there.

    ¡°Also, please gather the noodles of these 500 chapagetti noodles in one ce. Please make sure to ce the kes and soup powder in separate bowls too!¡±

    Minhyuk would cook the noodles for himself and use the soup powder, kes, and olive oil in a separate bowl. The noodles that he would use for them would be the Special Ramyeon Noodles, while the noodles in the pack would be left for himself.

    The people of the kingdom were speechless and doubtful, but the urgency in Minhyuk¡¯s voice was unmistakable.

    ¡°Do it, quick!¡±

    ¡°Ah. Yes!¡±

    ¡°Fire!¡±

    Minhyuk casted Fire Magic underneath his gigantic frying pan. His Legendary Frying Pan had the function where it could automatically control the temperature that was most suitable for the dish that he was cooking by using magic. The oil gradually reached a high temperature from the heat of the mes that spread underneath the pan.

    <em>¡®This is a new challenge.¡¯</em>

    He had to make 500 servings of chapagetti while in the middle of a war! Minhyuk also joined in on cracking the eggs.

    <em>Crack, crack¡ª</em>

    They held the egg with both of their hands, cracked the shells apart, and let the egg fall on the pan.

    <em>Sizzle, sizzle¡ª</em>

    <em>Sizzle, sizzle¡ª</em>

    The sound of the eggs being fried rang loudly in the area. In particr, Minhyuk¡¯s skill of cracking eggs with only one hand was spectacr, especially whenpared to Beth and the knights of Rocard Kingdom that cracked eggs with both of their hands.

    ¡°Aaaah! Wait! Mister Beth, you broke the yolk! Please be careful.¡±

    <em>¡®I¡¯m the deputymander but¡­ I¡¯m being scolded for breaking the yolk¡­¡¯</em>

    ¡°Hey! That knight over there! There¡¯s a piece of egg shell in your fried egg! Do you know how disappointing it would be if someone ate that shell?!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m, I¡¯m sorry. <em>Hic! </em>I havemitted a mortal sin¡­¡±

    Some of the knights felt ridiculous after seeing the severity of Minhyuk¡¯s expression. The way he scolded them made them feel like they hadmitted a grave sin and betrayed their kingdom without realizing it! It was truly a sight to behold. Rocard Kingdom¡¯s elite troops were all cracking eggs together while Minhyuk divided the fried eggs!

    Fried egg was a single dish, and yet, so much more. There were fried eggs with runny yolk and only one side cooked. There were also fried eggs with both sides cooked thoroughly and fried eggs whose yolks were fully cooked and broken. There were some people that like their yolks broken too but Minhyuk believed that there were not that many of them. So, while he was dividing, he made sure to divide it equally while keeping in mind to keep only a few of the ones with yolks that burst.

    After finishing the fried eggs, he quickly fished them out of the pan and ced them on arge tray. Then, he used the frying pan¡¯s automatic cleaning function to clean the frying pan, before making itrge again and pouring water inside it.

    From this point on, he needed topletely focus on the task at hand. Minhyuk needed to make at least 500 servings of chapagetti, on top of the restriction: ¡®<em>There will be no special effects or abilities if the dish fails.¡¯</em>. If he failed because he cooked the noodles the slightest bit more than necessary, they would be in trouble.

    Unfortunately, the severe time constraint and the current situation forced him to take on that risk and challenge the dish.

    In the blink of an eye, the knights had already added the kes in the pan. The 500 servings of kes swam and danced around in the boiling water. Then came the 500 servings of Special Ramyeon Noodles.

    Surprisingly enough, the item that Minhyuk took out to cook the noodles was a shovel! To be exact, it was a cooking shovel used for mixing. Since he was cooking a huge amount of noodles, the task was extremely taxing, to the point that sweat had already started to pool on his forehead.

    ¡°Keuaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kiyaaaack!¡±

    Screams were ripped out of the mouths of Minhyuk¡¯s troops that were standing above the walls but he tried his best to concentrate on the task at hand.

    <em>¡®The heat is quite good.¡¯</em>

    One of the problems when cookingrge amounts of a dish was the heat. In fact, cooking 500 servings of a dish was not that umon. This was something that was usually done in cooking units, cafeterias, and other simr ces. However, most of the dishes that these ces offered were not cooked with proper heat control, so their taste tended to be less than satisfactory.

    The most important part of cooking is heat and its control. Some dishes required low heat while some required a quick stir in high heat.

    One of those dishes with tricky heat control was ramyeon. The best method to produce an amazing serving of ramyeon was to lift and stir the noodles while they were being boiled. But, how could one lift and stir 500 servings worth of ramyeon noodles? The answer was simple.

    Ali quickly gulped some Mana Potions!

    ¡°Ali, please lift the noodles in the pan from time to time.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Yes¡­¡±

    Mage Ali used his magic to lift the 500 servings worth of ramyeon noodles from time to time! Ali, the world¡¯s strongest mage, was tasked to use his power to lift noodles from the pan!

    But his work did not end there, Minhyuk continued to solicit Ali¡¯s help after they had cooked the noodles. After all, it was very hard to transfer 500 servings worth of noodles. Also, they would not know when the noodles would get soggy so¡­

    ¡°Ali! Please use your Dehydration Magic! Make sure to leave enough water inside the noodles!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Golden Mage Ali, the world¡¯s strongest mage, used Dehydration Magic on noodles.

    <em>Shwaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The excess water from the noodles were removed, leaving only the appropriate amount.

    ¡°Nice!¡±

    Then, Minhyuk added the soup granules and olive oil that the knights had separated earlier. Of course, mixing the noodles, the soup granules, and olive oil was something that Ali also helped with. The noodles slowly got mixed following the movements of his hands as the unique aroma of olive oil wafted through their noses. Anyone would know that chapagetti was being mixed as soon as this smell started to linger in the air. The smell alone could make anyone¡¯s mouth water and gulp.

    Once everything was done, Minhyuk scooped the noodles in a bowl before topping it with cheese and a fried egg. With that, the notifications rang for Minhyuk, which caused delight to bloom on his face.

    Then, Beth approached and asked, ¡°¡­Ho. What¡¯s the name of this dish?¡±

    Beth looked at the bowl of chapagetti that was handed to him in wonder. Rocard Kingdom was a kingdom that was popted with people that had poor cooking skills. So, what was their way of cooking ramyeon noodles?

    ¡°We just add the ramyeon noodles in boiling water and season it with salt¡­¡±

    ¡°Uhm¡­¡±

    It was the worst recipe to have ever existed. If that was the case, then they would be more weing and delighted once they got a taste of the chapagetti.

    ¡°Do it like this. Get some chapagetti and ce some on your own bowl, then add some cheese and fried egg to your liking.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s instructions were quick and easy so that the 500 servings worth of chapagetti would not get soggy. The knights hurriedly moved as they followed his instructions.

    Minhyuk also got a bowl of chapagetti on his own. The fried egg that he chose was the one that was only cooked on one side with the slightly cooked yolk.

    The knights continued to look at Minhyuk. They watched him take out some ponytail kimchi, well-ripened radish kimchi, pickled radish, and many more from his ¡®aging jar¡¯. Of course, the server was also Ali. He used his magic to serve these side dishes to the point that he wanted to give up on everything and wonder why he was here!

    <em>¡®I¡¯m the best and strongest mage, but I¡¯m actually using my magic to deliver kimchi¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk demonstrated first. He poked the yolk of his egg on top of his chapagetti noodles and let the runny yolk cover the noodles. After that, he grabbed some cheese and chapagetti noodles, before lifting them high up and slurping them in one go.

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuurp!</em>¡±

    A sweet taste lingered in his mouth from the chapagetti noodles which was immediately followed by the special scent and vor of olive oil. The taste of the yolk and the cheese also made an appearance, creating the perfect harmony of vors in Minhyuk¡¯s mouth. Minhyuk smiled happily as he grabbed a piece of ponytail kimchi and ced it in his mouth.

    <em>Crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    The ponytail kimchi was crunchy and brought forth a burst of spiciness in his mouth. Minhyuk lifted his chopsticks again. This time, he sliced his fried egg. Then, he grabbed some noodles with it and slurped it up. A bright and happy smile graced his lips as he munched on the noodles.

    Chapagetti and jajangmyeon might have plenty of simrities, but they were also inherently different dishes. There were times when chapagetti triumphed over jajangmyeon in terms of taste and vor.

    Minhyuk once again slurped the noodles. He did not forget to eat up the remaining pieces of his fried egg together. There were also small pieces of meat in the kes! It was always a fun and interesting activity to try and pick each meat before eating them one by one. Soon, he came to thest bit of the dish from his bowl.

    When Minhyuk came back to his senses, the people around him were already in a buzz.

    ¡°My goodness! I have never tasted such a delicious dish in my life!!!¡±

    ¡°Hoo. I was very ignorant and naive! I can¡¯t believe we just boiled our ramyeon noodles and seasoned them with salt!¡±

    ¡°How can this be¡­ This is very delicious¡­ Oh my god! I feel like I¡¯m going to cry with how delicious this dish is! <em>Sob!</em>¡±

    That was right. They just boil their ramyeon and season it with salt! So, for them, tasting this chapagetti was like opening the doors to a new world. After eating this delicious dish, the notifications rang for them.

    <em>[You have eaten a Chapagetti that has reached the Legendary Grade.]</em>

    <em>[You can¡¯t receive any duplicate buffs during the duration of the buff retention period.]</em>

    <em>[Legendary Chapagetti.]</em>

    <em>[Your farming efficiency will increase by 17%, attack and defense power by 39%, and natural recovery rate by 80% for 20 days.]</em>

    <em>[Your skill cooldown will decrease by 15% for 20 days.]</em>

    <em>[All of your skills¡¯ level will increase by +1 for 20 days.]</em>

    <em>[The Large-Serving Chapagetti has reached the legendary grade. The ¡®no effects when shared¡¯ penalty will be ignored.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    All of them were shocked. The people of Rocard Kingdom were not the only ones that heard a set of notifications.

    <em>[The favor that you have received from Deputy Commander Beth has reached the highest level. You have exceeded the set level.]</em>

    <em>[He now dreams of bing one of your people.]</em>

    <em>[The favor that you have received from Knight Hayden has reached the highest level. You have exceeded the set level.]</em>

    <em>[He now dreams of bing one of your people.]</em>

    <em>[The favor that you have received from Soldier Hecan has reached the highest level. You have exceeded the set level.]</em>

    <em>[He now dreams of bing one of your people.]</em>

    <em>[The favor that you have received from Soldier Kaylin has reached the highest level. You have exceeded the set level.]</em>

    <em>[He now dreams of bing one of your people.]</em>

    The notifications rang for all 500 of them! All of them dreamt of bing one of Minhyuk¡¯s people! But, the notifications did not end there.

    <em>[You have gained the <strong>Title</strong>: The One that Bewitched a Kingdom with a Single Dish.]</em>

 Chapter 399: The First God Rank Artifact

    Chapter 399: The First God Rank Artifact

    At that moment, another set of notifications rang for Minhyuk.

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[<strong>Unexpected Quest</strong>: Save Queen Iris]</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: SSS</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: The One that received the Kingdom Building Quest.</em>

    <em><strong>Rewards</strong>: King¡¯s Authority</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty for Failure</strong>: You will fail in rescuing Rocard Kingdom.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: You have captured the hearts of 500 people. However, they will only be able to migrate to your own territory with Queen Iris¡¯ permission. Right now, Queen Iris has gone crazy after being subjected to Vormon¡¯s brainwashing. Save her from her madness and release her brainwashing!</em>

    The sudden appearance of a quest to save Queen Iris! The thing that Minhyuk was most curious about was the part that said ¡®King¡¯s Authority¡¯. This was something that he had not heard of before.

    However, one thing was for sure. Queen Iris¡¯ rescue was much more important than what was written on the notifications. After all, there was a high chance that Minhyuk would be able to strike a good deal with her once he released her from her brainwashing.

    Minhyuk thought that it would be better for him to visit the Royal Pce first. Besides, he knew that everything would be alright, even if he left this ce to Ali for a while.

    The elites that had eaten the chapagetti were now burning with enthusiasm. After all, their attack had increased by 39%, while their rate of natural recovery increased by 80%. In fact, it was already safe to say that they had grown 1.5x stronger than they were before. So, he moved to his destination quickly.

    ***

    Mercenary King Brod¡¯s legends were spread not only in Asgan Continent, but through all of the continents in the world. He was a man that had made plenty of achievements across plenty of continents.

    Brod was a part of the Hybrid Race. To be exact, he was a half-breed. He was born between the love of a Hybrid and a human! The Hybrid Race had a longer lifespan than humans, and this year, Brod had turned 192 years old. Although he inherited the Hybrid Race¡¯s long lifespan, he did not inherit their talent for ¡®farming¡¯.

    Because he was a half-breed with a different nature and characteristic, this kingdom had always ignored and treated him badly. Especially when he did not have any talent for farming. This was the reason why he left the kingdom. Instead of farming, he used his sword to travel the world. He only came back after he became strong.

    Even though Brod now had the power to conquer everything in the world, he came back to this kingdom for a reason. Some would say that perhaps it was for a retreat, but his main reason for returning was for ¡®Queen Iris¡¯.

    Mercenary King Brod and Queen Iris were born in the same year. When they were fifteen, the shabby and dirty Brod watched Princess Iris¡¯ journey through the kingdom. The people of the Hybrid Race that saw him immediately mocked and belittled him.

    <em>¡®How dare that half-breed look at the princess¡¯ face?!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Bastard?!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Can¡¯t he just drop dead?!¡¯</em>

    Brod had lost his parents, he did not have the capability to support himself. That was why he was dressed so shabbily. The crowd went mad and tried to throw stones at him. But just when he was about to escape¡­

    <em>¡®What are you all doing?!!!¡¯</em> Princess Iris cried out.

    That beautiful voice still rang clearly in Brod¡¯s memories.

    <em>¡®That child is also my subject. He is also a precious person!¡¯</em>

    It was the first time. It was the first time that Brod had ever been called ¡®precious¡¯. Even so, Brod had thought that the princess was just pretending in front of her people. But once night fell, the princess visited his barren and almost-copsed hut with a sword in her hand.

    <em>¡®You don¡¯t have the talent for farming like the rest of the Hybrid Race, but you have the dexterity of a human and our long lifespan. Why don¡¯t you try to wield a sword?¡¯</em>

    Brod was beyond thrilled. This girl was the only one that reached her hand out to a beggar like him.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s just because you pity me, right?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®No.¡¯</em>

    Princess Iris¡¯ words were firm and resolute.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s not just because. I heard that we were born at the same time. Besides, I knew from the moment that I saw you that we will be able to forge a deep and strong bond.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I don¡¯t know how to repay your grace¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Then, protect me with that sword. Promise me that you will be strong.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I promise.¡¯</em>

    From what Brod heard, Princess Iris had the ability to see through people at a nce. So, he believed her. And from that point on, Brod held and swung a sword. To him, the princess also changed from being a princess to a friend. Eventually, Brod fell in love with her. However, he never showed it. Rumors started to circte that the princess was Brod¡¯s woman. But it was never proven, especially since Brod left the kingdom to travel the world.

    Out there, he swung his sword to the point that rumors about him cutting down an entire kingdom started spreading! As it turned out, that was a fact. There were also rumors about him cutting down 70,000-strong troops by himself! It was also true. Rumors about him bing the king of the mercenaries all over the world also started circting! And as usual, it was also true.

    The Undefeated Mythical. The Strongest Swordsman. The Mercenary King. The God¡¯s Empire¡¯s Knight. These were a few among the countless titles that were attached to Brod¡¯s name. However, he came back one day. Back to the arms of Queen Iris.

    When Brod came back, Queen Iris¡¯ was already on her slow descent to madness. Trapped by Vormon¡¯s brainwashing, she was slowly losing her sanity. Just a few days ago, they were notified of Vormon¡¯s death. However, this did not free her, instead, it eroded her sanity even more.

    Back then, there was a short window where she regained her sanity. At that time, Queen Iris called, <em>¡®Sir Brod.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Yes, Your Majesty?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Please don¡¯t leave my side. And¡­ And if I ever want to stain my Rocard Kingdom with chaos and destruction then¡­ kill me.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®¡­?!¡¯</em>

    Brod looked at Queen Iris in shock. She continued to speak despite her trembling lips, <em>¡®You have to be the one to do it. Remember the first time we met? When I told you that we will be able to forge a deep and strong bond? When I met you, I knew that we would grow to love each other.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®¡­¡¯</em>

    Brod had no words. All he could do was look silently at her.

    <em>¡®I love you¡­ so much. And¡­¡¯</em>

    s, her words ended there. She turned silent as she lost consciousness once again.

    And now, she had gone crazy.

    ¡°Kyahahahahaha! Open the gates!!! Shouldn¡¯t we go and wee the Undead Corps?! Huh?! My knight ordermander, Brod!!! What are you doing?! Why aren¡¯t you cutting down the undead?! Hihihihihi!¡±

    Brod knelt on one knee in front of the mad queen, Iris. He had his head bowed down, with his sword lying t on the ground on his right side. He had maintained that posture for days on end. Queen Iris was a very powerful existence. If she went wild, then everyone inside Rocard Kingdom would die. Besides, even if she did not say it, Brod knew what she wanted to say in the end.

    <em>¡®Please protect the kingdom.¡¯</em>

    Brod hated this kingdom, he only maintained civility for his lover. If Iris died, then he would disappear along with this kingdom. He nced back for a moment. There, in a corner, was a box wrapped in cloth.

    <em>¡®Brod. I heard that the outside world is filled with recipes that use our kingdom¡¯s ingredients, as well as various delicious dishes. Is it true? I really want to try them!¡¯</em>

    Brod had always told her tales about the outside world and she would always have a look of anticipation on her face. When she descended into madness, Brod went to the ¡®God¡¯s World¡¯ to find a way to stop her brainwashing even for a moment. There were only a few that knew how to get to God''s World! And one of them was Brod!

    And that box over there was something that he got from there. It was the ingredient for the ¡®steak¡¯ that she had been craving so much. The ingredient was very special. Imbued with God Athenae¡¯s power, this beef could exert a very shocking power. The ingredient was, in fact, so amazing that it could even clear away Vormon¡¯s brainwashing that had devoured her sanity.

    However, the ingredient was very sensitive. Brod had just arrived with the ingredient, but it was already releasing a foul and rotten stench.

    <em>¡®I can¡¯t even help you get a taste of the steak that you wanted to eat so much.¡¯</em>

    Brod looked up at her with a bitter smile on his face. At that moment, Iris¡¯ eyes widened in anger.

    ¡°Brod! Did you not hear what I ordered you to do?! Go and kill those undead! If you¡¯re not going, then I¡¯ll go there myself!¡±

    Iris rose from her throne.

    ¡°You can¡¯t go.¡±

    If Iris went, then she would kill both the undead and her beloved subjects inside Rocard Kingdom. But she did not stop. So, Brod moved and blocked her path.

    <em>Shiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    The clear ring of the sword being pulled out of its sheath rang loudly in the room. This was the sword that cut more than a million enemies. The first sword that he owned, the sword that Iris handed to him. The sword had been stained countless times with blood as it cut down millions of his enemies, until it became a sword that held amazing power.

    But this very same sword had turned into a sword that would cut her.

    ¡°Are you going to kill me?¡± Iris snorted. Not long after, she cackled, ¡°Kyahahahaha! You¡¯re going to kill me! Hihihihihi! Go on, kill me. Brod!!!¡±

    Brod only needed one move. Just a single sword strike, and he could cut her throat, but his hands could not move. He should have cut off her neck when she ordered for the gates to be opened, but he did not. He did not want to be the one to cut off her life. Tears trickled down his cheeks as he forced himself to hold his sword against her.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be right behind you.¡±

    Brod lifted his sword as high as he could. But at that moment¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡­a strange scythe tied to a chain swooped in.

    <em>aang¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keheook!¡± A strange man groaned as he flew back from Brod¡¯s powerful strike that mmed into the scythe.

    ¡°Please stop! I¡¯m here to save the queen!¡± The man shouted loudly in between gasps after rolling on the ground.

    <em>¡®Save the queen.¡¯ </em>

    These words resonated with Brod¡¯s heart. Brod quickly turned to look at the strange man and asked, ¡°Who are you?¡±

    The man hesitated for a moment but in the end, he replied, ¡°I¡¯m the Food God.¡±

    ***

    Minhyuk looked at his hands holding Diablo¡¯s Scythe. It was shaking badly after receiving a single hit from Brod. The impact from the powerful blow was something that Minhyuk had never experienced, ever.

    There was also a reason why Minhyuk answered Brod¡¯s question with ¡®Food God¡¯. By telling Brod that he had a ¡®God¡¯ ss, he could possibly gain his trust. In fact, hearing his words put a dash of hope in Brod¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Did you just say that you¡¯re going to save Her Majesty?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    Brod had heard somewhere that foreigners had special powers that allowed them to do things that they, locals, could not do themselves. Minhyuk¡¯s words brought a small light of hope in Brod.

    Then, another notification window appeared in front of Minhyuk.

    <em>[<strong>Unexpected Quest</strong>: Save Queen Iris has changed.]</em>

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[<strong>Unexpected Quest</strong>: Queen Iris¡¯ Final Radiance of the Setting Sun.]</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: SSS</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: The One that received the Kingdom Building Quest.</em>

    <em><strong>Rewards</strong>: King¡¯s Authority, Rocard Kingdom¡¯s Guardian</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty for Failure</strong>: Death</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: Queen Iris is fighting an invisible battle against Vormon¡¯s brainwashing. Perhaps your dish is what she needs to gain that final push. If you sessfully clear the quest, Queen Iris and Mercenary King Brod will help you protect Rocard Kingdom.</em>

    Final radiance of the setting sun.

    This was the phenomenon when the sky would brighten imperceptibly for a brief moment of time, before the sun setpletely and darkness took over. It could also mean the person¡¯s final burst of strength before dying. In other words, even if Minhyuk worked hard to cook and feed her, she would still die a few dayster. She would only stand up once again to save her beloved kingdom.

    <em>¡®This will be the quest¡¯s ending¡­?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk might not be aware, but this quest was actually dependent on one¡¯s ss. That was why the unexpected quest changed. It changed to suit the person taking the quest.

    If he was a knight, he would be tasked to destroy the ck staff hidden in the depths of ck Dragon Vormon¡¯sir. If he was a mage, he would be tasked to enter Vormon¡¯s room and gain the recognition of Vormon¡¯s Guardian Knights and acquire a ¡®temporary antidote¡¯.

    The quest had a ton of variety in ways that it could be cleared. As a yer whose ss was rted to cooking, Minhyuk was tasked to cook a dish and help Iris regain her sanity. However, even if the quest or the ss changed, the result would remain the same. She would still die in the end.

    ¡°How is it?! Is there a way to save her?! Hey! Tell me if there¡¯s a way! Tell me if you can save her!!!¡±

    Before he came here, Minhyuk had heard the whole story from Beth. Brod¡¯s continuous questions had made Minhyuk¡¯s head turn nk. Could he even tell him that he could just help her live for a short moment?

    <em>¡®This is a scenario in Athenae where the queen is supposed to die.¡¯</em>

    That might be the case but Minhyuk knew that a scenario in <em>Athenae</em> was just a scenario. In the end, the scenario could be created and altered by the yers. The problem was that Minhyuk could not see an answer at this very moment. He did not have the time to solve this leisurely. Should he just take the set path and let her temporarily regain her consciousness?

    Minhyuk worriedly answered Brod, ¡°I can temporarily let her regain her consciousness.¡±

    ¡°Tem¡­ porarily¡­?¡±

    Brod¡¯s breath got stuck in his throat.

    Perhaps he would be in much more pain than he was in now. He could tell that he would feel a much deeper and sharper pain in his heart even if he could see her, who had lost her mind to madness,e back to herself and regain her sanity to save her kingdom. But at that moment¡­

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    ¡°I¡¯m begging you. Please save mydy!¡±

    Mercenary King Brod knelt down on both knees. He even held his sword in both hands and presented it to Minhyuk.

    ¡°This, this is all I have. I will give you this, so please¡­¡±

    This was Brod¡¯s sword that had cut millions of enemies. However, Minhyuk did not covet it. All he wanted to do was to help Brod. This was because he knew what a ¡®precious person¡¯ was. For Minhyuk, <em>Athenae </em>was not just a virtual world filled with people created with artificial intelligence. This was a world where he could eat a lot of delicious food, build a lot of new rtionships, and live a new and fulfilling life.

    So for him, this ce was another world.

    Then, an unexpected set of notifications rang for Minhyuk.

    <em>[The power of the God of Death is embedded deeply in Mercenary King Brod¡¯s Sword.]</em>

    <em>[Mercenary King Brod¡¯s Continent Destroyer Sword has reached the God Rank.]</em>

    <em>[You can challenge the Fourth God Artifact Quest.]</em>

    <em>[All of the three challengers before you have failed the quest.]</em>

    ¡°¡­God Artifact?¡±

    That was right. The sword that cut down millions of enemies, the very same sword that Brod had presented to him, was a God-rank sword. A God-rank artifact that had yet to appear in the world.

 Chapter 400: The First God Rank Artifact

    Chapter 400: The First God Rank Artifact

    Kang Taehoon, Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s president, rushed straight to the Special yers Management Team when he saw the blinking red light on his monitor. When he arrived there, there were already several people inside. Just like what happened with President Kang Taehoon¡¯s screen, the important executives also had blinking red lights appear on their monitors.

    All of them shared a single concern, that the representatives of America, China, and Russia were given the opportunity to challenge the God Artifact Quest, but none of them had seeded. And now, yer Minhyuk from their own country had received the Fourth God Artifact Quest.

    Originally, the Fourth God Artifact Quest should not have appeared at this point in time. ording to the original script, after losing Queen Iris, Brod should have gone on a journey to challenge the realm of the Absolute Supreme NPCs. The scene where Brod handed his sword to someone else should not have appeared in this scenario.

    Of course, it was also because saving Queen Iris was an impossible feat. In fact, it was safe to say that there was no such thing as saving her.

    ¡°There¡¯s no way that is possible.¡±

    However, someone thought differently. Team Leader Park Minggyu turned to look at Kang Taehoon and said, ¡°It was originally impossible. But if it¡¯s yer Minhyuk, then there¡¯s a way.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Kang Taehoon asked in disbelief. Even the Production Team¡¯s team leader, Lee Suk-Hoon, looked at Team Leader Park in confusion.

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡±

    ¡°yer Minhyuk had received this power when he was still a novice. I can¡¯t believe that such a variable would y a big part here.¡±

    ¡°¡­Hmm? The power that he gained when he was still a novice? What are you talking about?¡±

    Everyone believed that there was no way to save Iris right now. But Team Leader Park was telling them that a power that yer Minhyuk acquired when he was still a novice would be a viable method? Park Minggyu posted the skill information on the screen.

    <em>(<strong>Material Restoration</strong>)</em>

    <em>Special Benefit</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>: It can restore all materials and ingredients that have been spoiled, inedible, or damaged such as bruised fruit, meat that was left out at room temperature, or even spoiled milk.</em>

    ¡°¡­No, no way!¡±

    That was right. It was the Material Restoration skill. This was a ¡®Special Benefit¡¯ that Minhyuk had obtained from the Bandaging skill after his DEX had reached a high level.

    Kang Taehoon was also aware that Mercenary King Brod had retrieved steak from God¡¯s World lying around in the room. However, the following notification rang for yer Minhyuk:

    <em>[If yer Minhyuk epts Brod¡¯s quests and fails, the Kingdom Building Quest will be terminated and he will receive the death penalty.]</em>

    Minhyuk had to make his choice now. He could either choose the safe path where he would only need to save Queen Iris and let her live for a short while, or choose the dangerous path where he would need to challenge the first God-rank artifact.

    ¡°Please¡­¡±

    Kang Taehoon desperately looked at the monitor. Did he want him to fail? Would the bnce break? No, the bnce being broken by the appearance of a God Artifact was not something that anyone could just easily achieve. Only those that have received recognition, awakened the Pinnacle, and won the God Artifact could do so.

    The three previous challengers were also prominent figures in their own countries. The challenger from America was one of the Summit Five, and was also the country¡¯s representative. But even so, the fact remained that he failed. However, there was a small part of Taehoon that wished that Minhyuk would seed. If that happened then¡­

    <em>¡®yer Minhyuk¡­ You will definitely bring all the hype and craze in Athenae: World War.¡¯</em>

    And Minhyuk, who was being shown on the monitor, looked like he was very conflicted.

    ***

    Aplete failure in the Kingdom Building Quest and a death penalty. For Minhyuk, who had finally reached a considerably high level, a death penalty was something that he could not ignore. If that happened, then everything that they had done here in Rocard Kingdom would all amount to nothing.

    Seeing his indecision, Brod smiled bitterly and said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    Brod found himself acting like a spoiled and selfish child. After, it did not matter who it was, anyone in his position would do the same thing. However, he knew that foreigners were different from them and would have to face a lot more risks. Brod believed that the boy in front of him would not take those risks to save her. So, even if she could survive for a short while, Brod felt like he should already be happy with that.

    Just then, Minhyuk said, ¡°Please stand up, Sir Brod.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Brod felt the solemnity and dignity in the boy¡¯s voice. He knew that he had already made his decision. In fact, with Minhyuk¡¯s high CHA stat and the attitude that he had learned from his father, Minhyuk¡¯s dignity and aura could rival that of a country¡¯s king.

    Brod slowly rose to his feet as he looked at the man in front of him. The eyes of the man in front of him were sparkling and bright, his expression filled with a sense of determination. Then, the man said, ¡°I will do my very best to save Queen Iris.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The request was brought about by Brod¡¯s own selfishness. For a moment, he wondered if Minhyuk epted him. But perhaps¡­

    ¡°Do you want this sword?¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± Minhyuk grinned widely as he answered. However, Brod knew that it was not the only reason why he chose to help him.

    ¡°Besides, if I save her, I will be able to see a beautiful picture of you and Queen Iris standing together. I think that would be a very nice thing to see.¡±

    Brod felt his heart thump at this foreigner¡¯s reckless challenge. He thought, <em>¡®This foreigner is different from the others. He doesn¡¯t think less of this world, and is willing to take risks for me and Iris.¡¯</em>

    Brod¡¯s favorable impression of Minhyuk shot through the roof.

    As for the reason why Minhyuk epted the quest¡­ First, it was because of Brod and Iris. Even if he failed, he was sure that he would not harbor any regrets. After all, he would definitely do his best. Besides, even if he did not get the rewards, he would still be able to make a favorable impression on Brod.

    Minhyuk was by no means a reckless person. He had most definitely calcted his chances of sess. The truth was there were no hints avable in the quest and in this ce. So, Minhyuk tried to use his ¡®Ingredient Tracking¡¯ skill before epting the quest. s, the system notification that returned to him was like this:

    <em>[You can¡¯t use any skill before epting or rejecting the quest.]</em>

    In other words, the system wanted him to bear the risk of the God Rank Artifact quest. That was when Minhyuk made the decision that it was alright to fail.

    ¡°But, how¡­?¡±

    Brod admired Minhyuk¡¯s bravery and courage to take the risk. Still, after he epted it, Brod could not help but worry about the boy.

    ¡®<em>How in the world will he do it?</em>¡¯

    Only then did Minhyuk use his Ingredient Tracking skill.

    <em>¡®This is all that I can do right now.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had to try and use it, even if there was only a small chance of bringing in results. His current Ingredient Tracking skill had a ten kilometer radius of effect. And the setting that he used was ¡®can ovee any brainwashing¡¯. Then, the tracking started.

    <em>[Searching for the ingredients in a 10-km radius.]</em>

    <em>[Sessfully searched for the ingredients.]</em>

    <em>[Athenae¡¯s Beef Tenderloin is an ingredient known to ovee any curse.]</em>

    <em>[Suggested Menu: Filet Mignon.] </em>

    But then, another set of notifications rang for him.

    <em>[Ingredients that came from God¡¯s World, especially the beef tenderloin, will spoil and get rotten the moment it leaves the realm of God¡¯s World.]</em>

    <em>[You will not be able to make a Filet Mignon. The current ingredient is spoiled and cannot be eaten. It will cause a stomachache, abnormal status, and plenty of other abnormalities.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Minhyuk looked at the notifications in doubt before looking at the direction where the Ingredient Tracking Skill was pointing at. The arrow was pointing behind Brod at a luxurious box with intricate designs.

    ¡°No way¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk rushed to open the box. What greeted him was a foul stench.

    ¡°Urk!¡± Minhyuk groaned as he hurriedly pinched his nose.

    Brod smiled bitterly and said, ¡°That¡¯s already spoiled. It seems like any ingredients that came from God¡¯s World will spoil and turn rotten the moment they are brought down to the human realm.¡±

    Brod had also been grasping at straws previously. He wondered, <em>¡®Is there really no way?¡¯ </em>as he looked at Iris bitterly.

    But at that moment¡­

    ¡°There¡¯s a way.¡±

    ¡­a bright smile bloomed on Minhyuk¡¯s face.

    ¡°Material Restoration.¡±

    Then, a bright light stretched out of Minhyuk¡¯s fingertips and covered the ck, rotten tenderloin. When the light disappeared, Brod saw that the ck color that covered the ingredient had disappeared. It even looked fresh, as if the meat was just freshly procured from the cow.

    ¡°H¡­ how¡­?!¡±

    It was only natural for Brod to feel shocked at the miraculous sight. Meanwhile, the meat¡¯s information appeared in Minhyuk¡¯s head.

    <em>(<strong>Athenae¡¯s Beef Tenderloin</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Ingredient Grade</strong>: God</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>? Helps you recover from brainwashing and any other abnormal condition.</em>

    <em>? Can allow you to ovee your limits and help you grow a step further.</em>

    <em>? You have to choose the steak¡¯s doneness from rare, medium rare, medium, medium well-done, well-done. Grilling this beef will be much more difficult than grilling regr steaks.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: This is a special beef tenderloin that can only be obtained in God¡¯s World, a ce that humans can¡¯t enter yet. The cow that grew with Athenae¡¯s holy power has be a sacred being itself.</em>

    If Minhyuk seeded in cooking this ingredient, the one that would eat the dish would be able to rise above their limits and ovee their brainwashing, and other abnormal conditions. And since it was a God-grade ingredient, the one that would seed in cooking this ingredient would receive a considerable amount of rewards.

    <em>¡®God¡¯s Ingredient.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk shuddered at the thought. Then, he began his preparations for cooking. ording to the ingredient information, grilling this tenderloin would be much more difficult than grilling ordinary steaks. If he failed, then he would lose everything. But if he seeded then¡­

    <em>¡®I will be able to get Rocard Kingdom, its queen, Brod, and a God-rank sword.¡¯</em>

    ***

    Globalmunity sites.

    With <em>Athenae</em>: World War just around the corner, countless opinions were brewing all over the world.

    <em>[America is sure to win Athenae: World War, right? After all, they are the strongest candidates in the world.]</em>

    <em>[There¡¯s no denying that. But our very own China is not a pushover either. After all, Mei Wei will bepeting. Mei Wei¡¯s excellent buff abilities and stunning attacking skills will be able to catch two birds in one stone. She will definitely be able to y a huge role during the team matches.]</em>

    <em>[The fact that China is the strongest favorite for the championship will not change.]</em>

    <em>[What about Japan?]</em>

    <em>[Japan has Kentaro, one of the Summit Five-level yers. I think they¡¯ll be able to win at least one gold medal. But I think their performance will be a bit disappointing for a country that¡¯s a favorite to win the championship.]</em>

    <em>[Then, how about Korea¡­?]</em>

    <em>[The truth is, everyone expects Korea to be very active this time. After all, they have Food God Minhyuk with them.]</em>

    <em>[If he shows the same power that he disyed when they hunted Vormon, then we can expect him to do a very good job. He might even be able to win at least one or two gold medals.]</em>

    <em>[But Athenae: World War is not an individualpetition. In the end, their overall ranking will be determined by the total number of medals that they will win.]</em>

    <em>[From what I heard, Korea¡¯s Mage Ali¡¯s level has fallen and he wasst seen working hard in the novice hunting grounds. They don¡¯t have any other yers aside from the Food God.]</em>

    <em>[And no matter how strong a yer the Food God is, it doesn¡¯t make sense for him to win a gold medal in every category that he will participate in.]</em>

    Sadly, this was the truth. It was nigh impossible for an individual to win gold medals for all of the categories that they would participate in.

    <em>[Unless they have variables in hand, Korea won¡¯t be able to win thispetition. And I don¡¯t think they have any huge variables on hand.]</em>

    <em>[If we¡¯re talking about variables, I wonder what variable is huge enough to catapult Korea into winning.]</em>

    In the middle of their heated discussions, shocking notifications rang for all of them at the same time.

    <em>[A yer that has created something that transcends the Human Realm has been born for the second time in Athenae.]</em>

    <em>[This message resonates loudly throughout the entire continent.]</em>

    <em>[¡­!]</em>

    <em>[¡­!]</em>

    <em>[¡­!]</em>

    The globalmunity sites started another bout of heated discussions.

    <em>[Who is it? Is it America¡¯s Alexander? Or maybe it¡¯s France¡¯s Jean-Paul?]</em>

    <em>[Wow. I don¡¯t know who it is, but they¡¯re amazing for sure. Someone that has reached the God-rank has appeared for the second time, that¡¯s really amazing.]</em>

    <em>[They¡¯re either from America or Russia. There¡¯s no way that someone from Korea will ever reach that level.]</em>

    <em>[Nope. They¡¯ll probably reach that level once Athenae has reached the end of its service. Maybe around 50 years from now? Fufufufufu.]</em>

    However, what they did not know was that the two instances announced to the world about someone reaching the God-rank, were all achieved by a Korean. That was right, it was Minhyuk, who after cooking all by himself, was now full and satiated.

    <em>Kggghhhhk~</em>

 Chapter 401: The First God Rank Artifact

    Chapter 401: The First God Rank Artifact

    What kind of an existence was the Death Guide? The truth was, there was only one Death Guide, a fact that was contrary to what the Rocard Kingdom believed. And this person happened to be Death, an unofficial Korean ranker that had been working under a thin veil of mystery for the longest time.

    Death transferred to the ck Wizard ss and identally reached the God ss ¡®Immortal¡¯. The Immortal ss was simply put, a higher rank of the necromancer ss. The biggest reason why his existence remained unknown was¡­

    <em>¡®Undead summoning.¡¯</em>

    The ability to summon a huge number of the undead had allowed him to forego participation in any party hunt. The Immortal¡¯s summons werepletely different from an ordinary necromancer¡¯s summons, which had given him the leeway to work independently.

    Death was one of the few people that had received the ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s quest. He was the one that found the Death Knights and the souls trapped in their bodies. He had struggled desperately to gather all of the legendary souls. He also did his best to grow stronger and eventually gained enough foothold, bing ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s Undead Corps¡¯mander.

    But after all those hardships, what the hell was happening right now?!

    Death thought that he could continue digging through and pushing the Asgan Continent to its limit with ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s Undead Corps as long as he remained alive. However, Vormon had died and Death was left with no choice but to give up on his dreams. However, even if he gave up on that dream, Death still had the power to swallow a huge dungeon or field by himself.

    Yes, he had power that wasparable to the Summit Five.

    Each of the yers hailed as the Summit Five had the power to fight against an entire kingdom by themselves. However, Death was different. He could fight against an entire kingdom thanks to the power of the undead that he summoned.

    So, he made a decision. Death, who had be the king of Vormon¡¯s Undead Corps, knew that the Undead Corps would disappear forever a month after Vormon¡¯s Death. However, he thought that it would be a pity to simply lose them like that.

    If Death risked everything and attacked Asgan Continent, he was sure that Ellie and her troops would decimate them. Therefore, he needed to increase his power. Besides, he did not want all the time and effort that he invested into Vormon¡¯s Undead Corps, as well as his ns on building an undead kingdom, to go to waste. So, he decided to plunder the Hybrid Race living under Vormon¡¯s protection.

    Death wanted to gain their special crops and special artifacts! On top of that, he also wanted to gain money by selling the Hybrid Race as ves! That was right. He nned to destroy the lives of thousands of people in the Rocard Kingdom, just for his own personal gain.

    However, something unexpected happened. Golden Mage Ali and Minhyuk had suddenly appeared. The outstanding men from As came and trashed his Death Knights. But not long after, Minhyuk disappeared to who knew where.

    ¡°Where did he go?¡±

    Death did not know where he went but there was one thing that he was sure of. Ali and the Food God might have appeared as variables but he would still be able to seed in his quest to plunder the Rocard Kingdom. Death wanted to squeeze the Undead Corps until the very end and make them exert their strongest power before they disappearedpletely.

    Furthermore, as the Immortal and their king, he would also be able to temporarily exert the strongest power he could muster. Death decided to use this opportunity to push through. He might not know where the Food God went, but he knew that he would be gone for a while. So, he once againunched an all-out attack.

    s, another unexpected thing happened.

    ¡°What the hell?!¡±

    Five hundred of Rocard Kingdom¡¯s elite soldiers suddenly became more powerful. These soldiers were barely able to deal with the skeleton knights before, but now every single one of them could fight against three or four by themselves! This was something very surprising.

    <em>¡®Don¡¯t¡­ don¡¯t tell me!¡¯</em>

    Death had a hunch that this was all thanks to the Food God¡¯s power.

    ¡®<em>Yes! It must definitely be the Food God¡¯s excellent buff abilities!</em>¡¯

    However, that thought was unbelievable, so he shook his head. If he continued to think in that direction, then it meant that he was not denying the fact that the Food God harbored power that was beyond anymon sense.

    Even if he was not using Vormon¡¯s Undead Corps, the number of undead that he could summon were usually around 2,000. However, the Named NPCs that the Food God had summoned in this battlefield, together with the mighty elites of the Rocard Kingdom, as well as Ali, were more than enough to deal with those undead. Death needed to prepare another move.

    That was when he brought out two small decrees. These parchments were something that Vormon had handed over to him when he became themander of Vormon¡¯s Undead Corps. These were decrees created with Vormon¡¯s amazing magic and brilliant mind.

    <em>¡®Undead Strengthening Decree.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Powerful Undead Troops Production Decree.¡¯</em>

    The Undead Strengthening Decree had the power to increase the power of Vormon¡¯s entire Undead Corps right now. Vormon had intended to use itter during the battle of the continents. Of course, by then, the number of undead in their hands would be replenished, although it did not came to be.

    On the other hand, the Powerful Undead Troops Production Decree was a special parchment that could produce Vormon¡¯s Undead Corps. And the one that could produce these troops was none other than Immortal Death. Death used this excellent parchment to produce several incredibly powerful units of undead every day. However, the only downside was that these troops were disposable. Thankfully, the parchment could umte the troops that he produced everyday. It was because of this that Death had refrained from using the parchment and opted on umting the troops that he could produce. It was only today that he thought of using them.

    Death immediately tore the Undead Strengthening Decree. The moment he tore the parchment, a ck current swirled over the heads of the undead and got sucked into their bodies.

    ¡°Kiheeeeeeeek!¡±

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaaack!¡±

    Notifications rang for Death alongside the roars of the undead.

    <em>[You have used the Undead Strengthening Decree.]</em>

    <em>[All of Vormon¡¯s Undead Corps¡¯ abilities have increased by 1.3x.]</em>

    <em>[Their HP reserves have increased by 1.5x.]</em>

    And it did not end there. With his God ss Immortal, he gained a new set of special skills. He could designate a ce and make the area around it a ¡®death zone¡¯. Death raised his staff encrusted with ck gems. A powerful wave of power stretched out from the staff before seeping down into the ground just below the gates of Rocard Kingdom.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Then, a ck aurora stretched out and covered a radius of 30 meters.

    <em>[Death Zone]</em>

    <em>[Those that stand inside the Death Zone cannot use any skill or potion.]</em>

    <em>[You cannot use any special power to stop the Death Zone.]</em>

    <em>[The skill has a 30 minute duration.]</em>

    That was right. Death Zone was a skill that restricted anyone within its radius of effect from using any of their skills and potions. However, as long as they escaped the 30 meter radius of the Death Zone, then it would be alright.

    However, with the enemies in a position where they had to protect? The moment they stepped back, the gates would be taken over. It was a fact that they were forced to defend their gates. Simply put, this ability was very much perfect for their situation. And finally¡­

    <em>Riiiip¡ª</em>

    <em>[You have used the Powerful Undead Troops Production Decree.]</em>

    <em>[You have awakened the 3,151 Powerful Undead Troops that have been produced and umted in the decree.]</em>

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    The ground suddenly cracked the moment the decree got ripped into two. Creatures with thick, bony, yet sturdy arms, broke out of the ground. Some appeared while wearing crowns on their heads, while some wore ck full-te armor on their bodies. These were the strong troops that Death had produced everyday.

    When he produced these troops, Death had ced one word among each and every one of them. And that word was none other than ¡®Lord¡¯. The name of these armor-d undead were ¡®Skeleton Knight Lord¡¯. At first, he added the word to distinguish them from the other undead. But with the crown on their heads, the name sounded perfect, so he used the word on all of them. The level of the skeleton knight lords were around Level 490. But, was that all?

    <em>Bang, crack, bang¡ª</em>

    Giant bone drakes appeared as the ground exploded once again. They were also wearing huge crowns on their heads! Their defense was unimaginable that it was safe to say that they were breaking the bnce. It was beyond what any ordinary yer could deal with. In fact there would not be any difference between them and those Named NPCs over on the other side.

    However, their HP was less than 1,000. With their defense over 10,000 and HP less than 1,000 it was clear how much of a help they would be. But with their almost impregnable defense, even with their extremely low HP, they would still be able to exert a tremendous force in the battlefield.

    <em>Thuuuud!</em>

    Even among the undead, their size was overwhelming. They were six meters in height! They were named ¡®Lord Legends¡¯. That was right. Death¡¯s naming sense was among the worst! But it did not matter, he was currently intoxicated by power and in ecstasy.

    ¡°I really gave the Lord Legends a nice name! As expected of me¡­¡±

    He must have been a genius! He waspletely unaware of the stinky and cringy name that he had given. However, unlike their stinky names, the six meter tall Lord Legends had simr defenses as bone drakes, while their attack was simr to those of the Death Knights. Even their HP was quite significant.

    Simply put, they harbor a lot of power!

    ¡°Clean them up!¡± Death ordered as the strong troops moved forward.

    ¡°Heok! I¡­ I can¡¯t use my mana!!!¡±

    ¡°Thend and the trees won¡¯t listen to me!!!¡±

    ¡°Everyone, retreat!!!¡±

    ¡°What nonsense are you talking about?!!! If we retreat, then who will protect the gates?!¡±

    The Death Zone had brought chaos and confusion to the Rocard Kingdom troops. Its sudden appearance meant that they would have to use their bare bodies to defend the gates. And the six Lord Legends shed against Minhyuk¡¯s exhausted Named NPCs.

    <em>Baaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Stones and dust sshed around as one of the Lord Legends struck its sword down on the ground. Ben hurriedly avoided the attack as he stabbed it urately on the forehead. However, he failed to deal any damage.

    ¡°What kind of¡­¡±

    The Lord Legend sent another attack to the shocked Ben. Conir, Aruvel, Corr, and Cerberus were also in a simr situation. The worst part was that there were new types of undeading up from behind! The skeleton knight lords with their ttering bones stuck to the gates while the bone drakes mmed their gigantic bodies on it.

    <em>Baaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Ben, Aruvel, Conir, and the rest of the troops, including the soldiers of Rocard Kingdom, could only flee inside and block them by closing the gates. All they could do was block the gates with their bodies to stop them from being opened.

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Dozens of bone drakes continued to m into the gates at Death¡¯s order.

    ¡°Keheok!¡±

    ¡°Kggggghhhk!¡±

    They screamed as their bodies bounced off of the gates.

    ¡°Attack!¡± Beth ordered loudly. However, their arrows just bounced off of the bone drakes¡¯ bodies and did not do any damage at all. It was clear that their defense was very high! But what made them feel more desperate was the fact that their skills had been restricted.

    ¡°Ali, if you use Turn Undead at a distance, then¡­¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have enough MP.¡±

    They were in the worst situation possible. Ali could release his snakes and prey on his enemies¡¯ MPs, but that only worked for the living. He could not prey on the bony undeads¡¯ MP. But, even if that was the case, they would not let the undead get past them easily.

    ¡°Block them with your bodies!¡±

    ¡°Stop them!!!¡±

    ¡°Open the gates for a moment, our First Unit will take that opportunity to go out. Make sure to immediately close the gates right after we go out!!!¡±

    Those that were already on the brink of death volunteered to go out of the city once the gates opened. Then, they fought against the undead just right outside. Those left inside saw how the First Unit fought against the undead right at the entrance of the gates.

    ¡°Quick, close the gates!!! Keuhaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Close theeeem! Aaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Be! You must survive! Close the gates!¡±

    Screams rang loudly in the area as they got stabbed by spears and des. They cried loudly as their bodies spurted out blood. The people of Rocard Kingdom had no choice but to close the gates in tears and reluctance.

    All of them were of the same mind. They all had a firm will and determination to protect their kingdom! Under these dire circumstances, they were able to hold out and protect the gates for twenty minutes. s, they were already at their limits.

    ¡°Keuhahahahahahahaha!¡± Deathughed viciously.

    He would build his ¡®Kingdom of the Dead¡¯ by plundering and looting the Rocard Kingdom! Then, the gates slowly began to open.

    ¡°Keooook!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaack!¡±

    The undead once again stepped foot inside the kingdom through the open gates.

    ¡°Kill all of the Food God¡¯s subordinates!¡±

    They said that the Food God would be a king. But the first king would be him, and him alone. In reality, he might be someone that could easily be ignored and could not do anything. However, in this ce he would be the king.

    <em>¡®Even if I can¡¯t do anything in reality, I will still be king here!¡¯</em>

    The cries of the people that he put into despair did not register in his ears. Only the fact that one of the Lord Legends had broken through the gates entered his mind. This was the Lord Legend that had powerparable to a Legendary Named NPC! And it will ughter hundreds of these people for him.

    Just when Death was about to grin widely¡­

    <em>Crackle! </em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang!</em>

    A mysterious, yet domineering, blood-red lightning bolt fell down from the sky and struck the Lord Legends. The lightning strike had wiped out dozens of undead in one go.

    <em>[Three Lord Legends has been destroyed.]</em>

    <em>[Forty one Skeleton Knight Lords have been destroyed.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    The Lord Legend that wasparable to a Legendary Named NPC was thrown away in one strike?! However, it did not end there. Another set of notifications rang the moment the unidentified lightning bolt struck down again.

    <em>Crackle!</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang!</em>

    <em>[Five Lord Legends has been destroyed.]</em>

    <em>[Thirty four Skeleton Knight Lords have been destroyed.]</em>

    <em>Crackle!</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang!</em>

    <em>[Fifty four Skeleton Knight Lords have been destroyed.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Death suddenly turned flustered. What the hell was that skill and how the hell did it have that much power? Then, it made him think, <em>¡®But skills can¡¯t be used inside the Death Zone, right¡­?!¡¯</em>

    He could not understand what was happening. Finally, the figure that struck down his Lord Legends appeared in front of him. The man was none other than the Food God. The Food God held an unidentified blood red sword which he brandished once again.

    <em>Crackle!</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Another blood-red lightning bolt fell down from the sky and annihted everything that it fell down on.

    <em>¡®Im¡­ impossible! Does he have the power to neutralize the Death Zone?¡¯</em>

    Common sense told Death that it was impossible. The Death Zone was an ability that ignored any kind of power or ability that could stop it. However, this was the Food God, and he might really have that kind of power.

    So, Death decided to use one of his skills. This skill was none other than ¡®Enemy Troops Observation¡¯. This skill was very useful in creating the undead. This skill would observe the enemy¡¯s active skill and develop a sub-par, yetpatible, active skill that the undead could learn.

    <em>[The Enemy Troops Observation has started.]</em>

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[The Enemy Troops Observation has beenpleted.]</em>

    <em>[There are no skills that are currently being used.]</em>

    <em>[The attack is an ordinary attack.]</em>

    The moment Death heard the notifications, he recalled¡­

    ¡°Ordinary attack¡­?¡±

    ¡­ he recalled what the yers called attacks like this. A direct and basic attack.

 Chapter 402: Vassal Brod

    Chapter 402: Vassal Brod

    After restoring Athenae¡¯s Beef Tenderloin using his Material Restoration skill, Minhyuk immediately started cooking.

    When requesting for medium rare, in terms of degrees of steak doneness, it could be considered slightly undercooked. Quite a lot of people preferred this doneness, especially with its perfectly charred outside and juicy insides. Thus, medium rare was the perfect doneness for those that were still new to steak.

    Minhyuk seasoned the meat and tried to start grilling on his now well-heated pan. But before he could do so, a set of notifications rang in his head.

    <em>[God¡¯s Cooking Ingredient does not recognize and approve of you.]</em>

    <em>[You will receive a huge restriction while cooking.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk looked at the notifications in doubt. It did not recognize and approve of him? What did it mean?

    <em>¡®Are you telling me that I¡¯m not yet at the level where I can handle God¡¯s Ingredient yet?¡¯</em>

    This was the only conclusion that he coulde up with. Minhyuk might have a God ss, but he was not yet a ¡®God¡¯. The <em>Athenae</em> management had also informed him that he was not a true ¡®God¡¯, but a ¡®candidate¡¯ to be one. Even if Minhyuk had made a ¡®God-grade¡¯ dish, the ingredients that he used back then were only the ¡®Five Legendary Ingredients¡¯. These ingredients were inherently different from God¡¯s Ingredients.

    However, even after knowing that, Minhyuk did not have the leisure to back down and step away from this challenge. He quickly ced the steak on the frying pan to grill it. But then, at that moment¡­

    <em>Sizzle¡ª</em>

    ¡­around a hundred droplets made of light appeared on the surface of the meat before shooting toward Minhyuk.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    <em>[God¡¯s Barrier has interfered with you.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 85%.]</em>

    ¡°Keheok?!¡±

    It was only then that Minhyuk realized that the attack of those light droplets was beyond what he could imagine. He was so shocked to discover that these droplets, which looked smaller than his fingernails, could deal so much damage to him.

    <em>¡®If things continue at this rate, then I will die cooking.¡¯</em>

    However, Minhyuk did not have any other choice.

    <em>Sizzle¡ª</em>

    He had already ced the steak on the pan, and it was already starting to get cooked. The way to cook steak was short and simple. However, it was vital that the meat get flipped at the right time. If he missed the timing even just by a little, Athenae¡¯s Beef Tenderloin would be turned into scrap.

    The notifications before just told him that he was not acknowledged, but it did not mean that he could not cook the ingredient. This meant that Minhyuk could cook it using any method possible. However, if things continued at this rate, he might die while cooking. That was when Brod stepped forward.

    ¡°I will try to stop this power.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll do that?¡±

    Brod nodded. And just when Minhyuk grabbed the tongs to flip the meat¡­

    <em>[God¡¯s Barrier has interfered with you.]</em>

    This time, there were more drops of light that shot out to attack Minhyuk. But then¡­

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    ¡­Brod started splitting the small drops of light.

    <em>¡®Crazy¡­!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk looked at him in shock as he continued to cook. However, despite Brod¡¯s spectacr disy, he was still unable to block all of them. There were hundreds of droplets, and it would only take two seconds for these droplets to hit Minhyuk. Within that time frame, Brod was able to cut down 90, while the remaining 10 continued to shoot toward Minhyuk. Then¡­

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    ¡­Brod used his own body to stop the water droplets. Minhyuk could tell that he was suffering from immense pain. As a yer, he did not really feel that much pain from these attacks, but for Brod, an NPC, Minhyuk was sure that the pain would be borderline torturous.

    But Brod just frowned and continued to swing his sword toward the forming droplets of light. The ones that he could not stop with his sword, he used his body to block.

    ¡°<em>Spat</em>!¡± Brod suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood. He did not even mutter a sound, but it was obvious that he was suffering from the drops of sweat that covered his body. Brod staggered and in the end¡­

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    ¡­he was forced to support his body with his sword as he copsed on one knee. Shockingly, he did not let out a single groan from the pain.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t stop!!! Don¡¯t ever stop!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­Yes.¡±

    Right then and there, Minhyuk decided to concentrate and put his all into cooking this steak. As he grilled the meat, Minhyuk thought that the figure that blocked the attacks for him was dazzling and eye-catching. Brod was fighting with his life on the line for Princess Iris whom he loved since he was a child. And his will to save his beloved was clearly transmitted to Minhyuk. At that moment, Minhyuk thought that he did not want to see these two people part ways forever. Unknowingly, Minhyuk fell into a ¡®trance¡¯.

    <em>Sizzle¡ª</em>

    And finally, he flipped the steak for thest time and grilled it for a bit more.

    <em>Thuuuud¡ª</em>

    Brod had copsed on the ground, but Minhyuk did not hear it. However, there was a smile gracing his lips from the notifications that announced thepletion of the dish.

    <em>[You havepleted the Filet Mignon Steak.]</em>

    <em>[Trance. It is a dish that has your ¡®Admiration for Love¡¯, ¡®Efforts¡¯, ¡®Hope¡¯ and ¡®Courage to Offer Everything¡¯ poured into it.]</em>

    <em>[This dish is graded Legendary.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 30 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 200 REP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 5,000 AP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained +2 on all five of your basic stats.]</em>

    <em>[You are the first yer that cooked a God¡¯s Ingredient!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 500 REP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained +20 on all five of your basic stats.]</em>

    <em>[You now have the privilege to cook one dish using God¡¯s Ingredient without any restriction.]</em>

    Only then did Minhyuk have the time to look at the copsed Brod. He slowly stood up with a smile on his face despite the blood dripping down his body. Brod was the one that took most of the damage, but there were still droplets that asionally slipped through him and dealt huge damage to Minhyuk and made him bleed all over. The two, who were covered with blood, were smiling at each other. The scene was bizarre, yet wonderfully warm.

    ¡°Quickly give the steak to Iris¡­¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡±

    Minhyuk hurriedly moved to hand over the steak to Iris. But then, he thought of a problem¡­

    <em>¡®Will she even be willing to eat it?¡¯</em>

    Just when this thought passed through Minhyuk¡¯s head, her eyes that had turned ck turned to look at him. Then, she reacted to the steak, ¡°The dish called steak that I wanted to eat! The steak that I really wanted to eat! Hihihihihihi!¡±

    It might be true that her mind was blurred and being controlled by the brainwashing, but there were still parts of her memories that remained clear to her. Iris hurriedly grabbed and ate the steak. And fifteen minutester¡­

    Iris stared at the bleeding Brod that was lying on herp. Brod, who had endured for a long time, had reached his limits and eventually copsed. Iris patted his cheeks gently and lovingly. Brod smiled at her as he lifted his sword to Minhyuk.

    ¡°Boy. This is yours now. However, I have a favor to ask of you. Please save her kingdom.¡±

    Then, Minhyuk heard the questpletion notifications. He also heard the notifications about gaining Iris¡¯ Authority. Minhyuk was shocked when he checked the description, but he did not have much time and quickly rushed out.

    Iris watched Minhyuk¡¯s departing back, before saying, ¡°Sir Brod.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty?¡±

    Brod, who regained his senses, looked at Iris with a smile on his face.

    ¡°I gave him two of my most powerful authorities. I did a good job, right?¡± Iris sniffed as tears fell down her cheeks.

    Brod grinned and said, ¡°You did a really great job.¡±

    At the same time, Minhyuk had arrived at the gates, only to discover a new type of undead. He moved quickly to block them and stop their advance at the front of the gates.

    ***

    Death had no choice but to be shocked. Basic attacks, in gaming terms, were general attacks that did not use any skills. And yet, the basic attacks that were sent out just a few moments prior had destroyed many Lord Legends.

    But was that the end?

    No. Every swing of his sword had destroyed dozens of Skeleton Knight Lords and turned them into dust.

    <em>Baaaaaaang! Baaaaaaaaang!</em>

    In the end, the man destroyed all of the undead that slipped past the gates beforeing out of Rocard Kingdom. The man ordered the people of Rocard Kingdom to close the gates as he dashed in the middle of thousands of undead.

    ¡°Kyahaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kiyeeeeeeee!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right! These drakes have extremely high defenses! What can you do against hundreds of drakes when you can¡¯t use any skills?! Huh?!¡±

    Death was thrilled. It was foolish of him toe out alone, especially against him that could control the undead during battle. His powers were far beyond any of the ordinary necromancers who could not control the majority of their summoned undead.

    ¡°Everyone, kill that guy!!!¡±

    Hundreds of bone drakes made the ground shake and tremble as they rushed toward Minhyuk! At that moment, Minhyuk jumped up and mmed his sword down strongly on the head of the drake leading the pack.

    <em>Crackle, crackle¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    A bloody lightning bolt fell down and devoured the surrounding area. The lightning strike decimated a huge number of drakes leaving no traces behind.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Minhyuk quickly advanced among tens of thousands of the undead. And this was him still in the ¡®Death Zone¡¯! Each swing of Minhyuk¡¯s sword created a bloody lightning bolt that struck down and devoured the undead in his path. Even the aftermath decimated those that surrounded him.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s the sword! It¡¯s the sword!¡¯ </em>Death finally realized that it was Minhyuk¡¯s sword that was creating that special effect.

    Death¡¯s ¡®Enemy Troops Observation¡¯ would seed in its observation and search if his enemy used an active skill. It was because of this that Death reached a very surprising conclusion.

    <em>¡®What kind of passive skill is that¡­?!¡¯</em>

    A passive skill could blow up an area with a radius of ten meters? Passive skills were inherently different from active skills. For passive skills, a critical damage or special attack would only be triggered based on chances and luck. Compared to active skills, some could not be easily used and could only be up to one¡¯s pure luck.

    But right now, every swing of Minhyuk¡¯s sword triggered a passive skill that engulfed the entire battlefield. That was when Death suddenly realized something¡­

    ¡°Hi, hiiiiik?!¡±

    The thought brought horror to Death. Minhyuk only needed to take one step, just one step, and he would get out of the Death Zone. Two steps and he would reach his vicinity. Three steps and he would be right in front of him.

    ¡°Stop hiiiiiiim!¡±

    Those were just basic attacks. But the advantage of passive skills was that they could be applied to ¡®continuous attacks¡¯ and ¡®AOE attacks¡¯. For example, the skill ¡®Light of Death¡¯ was a skill that could stab the enemy¡¯s vital points ten consecutive times in a split second. But what if the assassin had a chance to double the damage that they could inflict in an instant with their passive skill? What would happen if that passive skill was triggered? Then, the assassin¡¯s attack would be much stronger. On top of that, passive skills were heavily influenced by ¡®luck¡¯. Simply put, one could trigger three critical hits after those ten stabs. So, what would happen if that powerful passive skill was triggered continuously?

    Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>Step¡ª</em>

    ¡­Minhyuk left the sphere of influence of the Death Zone. The moment he stepped out of the area, hundreds of golden leaves started to fall and flutter around him!

    ¡°Fluttering Sword.¡±

    The falling leaves turned into sharp sword lights that cut through the undead.

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    Even the mysterious passive skill was triggered as dozens of bloody lightning bolts fell down from the skies.

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The aftermath of the passive skill blew away an area with a radius of dozens of meters. The notifications that resulted from this attack brought terror to Death.

    <em>[The notification cannot determine the exact amount of damage received by the undead.]</em>

    <em>[Analyzing the total damage incurred. 4,151 Skeleton Knights, 1,111 Skeleton Mages, 130 Skeleton Knight Lords and 120 Bone Dragon Lords have been destroyed.]</em>

    ¡°Hiiiiiiiik!¡± Death shrieked when he heard the notifications. He took a step back only to fall down on the ground. This was the power that only one yer exerted?!

    <em>¡®Summit Five¡­?!¡¯</em>

    It was a personal power that could rival a kingdom. It had to be his own personal power, otherwise, Death could not exin it at all.

    <em>¡®They said that he was weak!¡¯</em>

    For a moment, Death wanted to argue with the people from all over the world. The experts from all over the world and the people from the globalmunity sites evaluated the Food God as just some pretty good ranker.

    However, the power that he was demonstrating right now was not just a pretty good ranker! A single attack from him had made more than 5,000 undead disappear in an instant!

    ¡°<em>Gasp, gasp!</em>¡± Death gasped heavily. This was a very unexpected situation.

    <em>¡®Wait¡­ I still have a chance.¡¯</em>

    That was right. After all, Minhyuk was alone among thousands of his undead! Besides, the people of Rocard Kingdom and his Named NPCs were already exhausted! Just when the thought crossed Death¡¯s mind, Minhyuk looked around as he continued to stand still in the middle of the tens of thousands of undead that rushed towards him.

    ¡°Earth King¡¯s Authority,¡± Minhyuk said as he looked at the undead flocking towards him.

    ¡°Worship.¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    At that moment, Death felt a suffocating pressure press down on him. His entire body trembled from the pressure and fear. It was so scary that he almost wet himself. The scene that unfolded in front of Death made him shudder in fear. Tens of thousands of undead knelt down and heeded his every word.

    Worship. That was right, they knelt down in worship. All of the undead knelt down and showed their reverence, as if they had epted Minhyuk as their king.

 Chapter 403: Vassal Brod

    Chapter 403: Vassal Brod

    Kings and emperors were key figures in the <em>Athenae</em> worldview. They were existences that were responsible for maintaining the bnce of the world. Kings were, of course, somewhat inferior to emperors. After all, a few kingdoms had to unite to produce a power that could rival an empire. But among these kingdoms, there were some special kingdoms whose kings had authority.

    The number of things that were yet to be revealed in the <em>Athenae</em> worldview was something that no one could fathom. One of them was that it was not easy for a yer to obtain the King¡¯s Authority. There were plenty of requirements for a yer to obtain the King¡¯s Authority.

    One, the yer should be preparing for, or had already received a Kingdom Building Quest. They should also have the territory, people, capital funding, and individual power. On top of that, they had to inherit that power from a king.

    But what kind of an existence was a king? Although kingsgged behind the emperors, they were still beings that stood at the apex of a kingdom as absolute rulers. Inheriting the authority from them was not an easy task. And the authority that Minhyuk had received was none other than the Earth King¡¯s Authority, which stood among the high ranking King¡¯s Authorities.

    The system originally set that the king could only let a yer inherit one authority. But when Iris came to herself, she saw the bleeding Brod and Minhyuk, and knew that this foreigner named Minhyuk had risked his life to save her. So, she bestowed upon him two of the strongest powers among the Earth King¡¯s Authority.

    These were the notifications that Minhyuk heard upon thepletion of his quest:

    <em>[The favor that you have received from the Rocard Kingdom¡¯s Queen Iris has reached the highest level!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 100 REP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained +10 on all of your stats.]</em>

    <em>[Iris has bestowed upon you the Authority held by the Earth King.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Earth King¡¯s Authority. Worship.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Earth King¡¯s Authority. King¡¯s Eye.]</em>

    <em>[Rocard Kingdom¡¯s Guardian has given you a blessing for inheriting the Authority.]</em>

    <em>[The Authority Buff has been triggered. During the buff¡¯s 12 hour duration, you will be able to exert three times your original power.]</em>

    <em>(<strong>Earth King¡¯s Authority. Worship</strong>)</em>

    <em>King¡¯s Authority</em>

    <em><strong>Minimum Authority Mana Required</strong>: 50</em>

    <em><strong>Cooldown</strong>: 6 hours.</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>? The power that it can exert depends on the amount of Authority Mana gathered. When triggered with only the minimum Authority Mana required, it can force your enemies within an eight meter radius to kneel in worship. This cannot be triggered against an opponent that is far stronger than yourself, unless you fill your Authority Mana to 100%.</em>

    <em>? The enemies that are forced to kneel down in worship will be put in a stunned state. The amount of time that they would remain in that state will depend on your luck. </em>

    <em>? The enemies that are forced to kneel down in worship will have a 50% reduction in both their physical and magical defense. </em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: Earth King. This was the strongest among the three absolute authorities in Iris¡¯ hands. Upon the worship¡¯s casting, your enemies will be bound by invisible roots that sprang from the ground. </em>

    Minhyuk looked at the term ¡®Authority Mana¡¯ curiously as he read the authority¡¯s description. The sudden appearance of a new term made Minhyuk quickly click on its detailed description.

    <em>[Authority Mana is the mana used to trigger and cast the King¡¯s Authority. You can gradually umte Authority Mana by quickly hunting enemies in a short period of time, dealing a huge amount of damage and fighting against more enemies than your side. The more Authority Mana you umte, the stronger the power you can exert.]</em>

    The concept was very easy to understand. In RPGs, or 1v1 martial arts games, there existed a special absolute kill move, also known as ¡®limit breaks¡¯ or ¡®Musou¡¯. The more one fought against their enemies, the more their absolute kill gauge increased. The concept of this absolute kill gauge was simr to the concept of ¡®Authority Mana¡¯. For Minhyuk, this was a power that would allow him to shine during ¡®group¡¯ matches.

    Then, there was the King¡¯s Eye.

    <em>(<strong>Earth King¡¯s Authority. King¡¯s Eye</strong>)</em>

    <em>King¡¯s Authority</em>

    <em><strong>Minimum Authority Mana Required</strong>: 0</em>

    <em><strong>Cooldown</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>? You can check the NPC¡¯s stat window even if they are not your subordinate or vassal.</em>

    <em>? However, if your favor with them is low, you will not be able to check their stats.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: The King¡¯s Eye, a power that only a king can have, will allow you to recognize talents and bring them to your side.</em>

    The King¡¯s Eye was a skill that was useful in many ways.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk¡¯s Authority Mana rose at a rapid pace as he continued to fight against tens of thousands of undead. Those were tens of thousands of undead! This meant that it was very easy for Minhyuk to trigger linked attacks and continuous strikes. He could also deal a huge amount of damage in a short amount of time.

    However, the amount of physical damage that he dealt to his enemies did not really hurt them. Nevertheless, he continued to attack until his Authority Mana reached 88. Once it reached that number, Minhyuk made sure that he was at the center of the undead before using his newly acquired authority.

    <em>[You have used Earth King¡¯s Authority. Worship.]</em>

    <em>[The Authority Buff has been applied. The effect of the skill will be three times stronger than normal.]</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk was very surprised to see the effect of the skill once it was cast. Tens of thousands of undead knelt down in front of him to worship him as their king. Minhyuk watched as tree roots, and even the ground itself, restricted the undead from moving, a sight that was invisible to them, but was clearly visible to him.

    <em>[The chances for triggering the stunned state have been triggered. Your enemies will worship you for seven seconds.]</em>

    The only reason why Minhyuk was able to let thousands of his enemies kneel down to him was because of the ¡®Authority Buff¡¯¡¯s 3x effect. Even the eight meter radius of effect for the minimum Authority Mana had been extended to 50.

    And finally, there was also Minhyuk¡¯s first God-rank sword, the sword that he received from Brod.

    <em>(<strong>Continent Destroyer Sword</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: God</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: Level 500 or higher, The One Brod has Acknowledged</em>

    <em><strong>Durability</strong>: ¡Þ / ¡Þ</em>

    <em><strong>Attack</strong>: 1,914</em>

    <em><strong>Special Effects</strong>: </em>

    <em>? A 33% increase in STR, AGI and STM.</em>

    <em>? Passive Skill: Supreme Sword Mastery has reached Level 9</em>

    <em>? Cutting Power and Prative Power has increased by 50%.</em>

    <em>? Critical Hit Rate has increased by 40%.</em>

    <em>? <strong>Active Skill</strong>: Armor Break</em>

    <em>? <strong>Active Skill</strong>: Continent Destroyer</em>

    <em>? <strong>Passive Skill</strong>: ???</em>

    <em>? Attack power will double against the undead. All passive skills¡¯ chances of getting triggered will be at 100% against the undead.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: After cutting down more than a million enemies, Brod¡¯s prowess has been recognized and acknowledged by the God of Death. The God of Death has added his full power into this sword.</em>

    Minhyuk blinked nkly at the description. His Devil Judge¡¯s Sword was an Absolute Demigod Artifact with 1,002 ATK, proving itself to be the strongest sword in the world.

    So, what about the Continent Destroyer¡¯s Sword that had reached as much as 1,914 in attack?

    It could easily trample over the Devil Judge¡¯s Sword. It even had a 50% increase in cutting and prative power against ordinary enemies, and a x2 increase in attack against the undead.

    The cutting and prative power of a sword were very important factors. In <em>Athenae</em>, the amount of damage that would be reflected in real-time wasrgely dependent on how big and how deep the attack was.

    But, the surprise did not even end there.

    <em>[You have be the new owner of the Continent Destroyer Sword.]</em>

    <em>[The Passive Skill: ??? will dramatically awaken the owner¡¯s power and reinvent it into a new type of passive skill.]</em>

    <em>[The Continent Destroyer Sword is searching through your artifacts and passive skills.]</em>

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[Lightning has been selected.]</em>

    <em>[Artifact Skill: Lightning has dramatically increased in power.]</em>

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>(<strong>Lightning</strong>)</em>

    <em>Artifact Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Mana Required</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Cooldown</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>: </em>

    <em>? You can choose between the two modes: Explosion and Destruction.</em>

    <em>? In Explosion mode, you will have a 25% chance of triggering bolts of lightning with 1,000% additional attack and 600% additional damage in a five-meter radius for every basic attack youunch.</em>

    <em>? There is a 3% chance of your enemy falling into a three-second stunned state after getting struck by Explosion.</em>

    <em>? In Destruction mode, you will have a 15% chance of triggering eight bloody lightning bolts with additional 800% damage for every enemy.</em>

    <em>? There is a 20% chance of your enemy falling into a two-second stunned state after getting struck by Destruction.</em>

    That was right, the Continent Destroyer Sword¡¯s newly created Lightning skill had two modes that could easily be used. Minhyuk only needed to mutter or think about ¡®Explosion¡¯ or ¡®Destruction¡¯ and the mode that he had chosen would be engraved on the de of the sword.

    Right now, Minhyuk¡¯s sword had the word ¡®Explosion¡¯ engraved on it, which allowed him to annihte his enemies easily.

    However, even if that was the case, how could a passive artifact skill be triggered with each and every strike that he made?

    This was only possible thanks to the Continent Destroyer Sword¡¯s effect: ¡®<em>all passive skills¡¯ chances of getting triggered will be at 100% against the undead¡¯.</em> The God of Death had bestowed this power upon the sword because it did not want those that wished for immortality to remain in the world. And this became the reason why the sword¡¯s attack had be overwhelmingly strong.

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kieeeeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaaack!¡±

    Minhyuk looked at the tens of thousands of undead that had fallen into a seven-second stunned state after being subjected to Worship. Then, for the first time, he used the active skill attached to the Continent Destroyer Sword.

    <em>¡®This is a name that fits my dad¡¯s style. He will definitely like it if he hears it.¡¯</em>

    The skill name was very much in line with a chuunibyou¡¯s style. But the moment Minhyuk cast the skill, a tremendous force appeared around Minhyuk. When using a skill for the first time, there was a choice where one¡¯s character could move automatically ording to the skill¡¯s notifications and Minhyuk had chosen to use this.

    <em>Daaaaash¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk leapt high up in the sky with the blood-colored sword in his hands pointing straight toward the ground. He took advantage of gravity and used its momentum to stab his sword into the ground.

    <em>Baaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The moment the sword touched the ground, all of the undead around him disappeared into nothingness.

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    Even the ground started to crack and twist, which increased the skill¡¯s range and allowed it to devour more undead.

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    <em>Crack!</em>

    <em>Crack!</em>

    Minhyuk stood at the center of the twisting and crackingnd, as it continued to extend forward and devour the undead. It was literally a disaster, which spread outward until bloodyva erupted from underneath and flowed out onto the ground.

    <em>Shwaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa!</em>

    Theva slithered and flowed all over the ce, melting away the undead that it passed along the way. In this way, the Continent Destroyer Sword had given the impression that it could destroy everything and anything in its path through this small area ofnd. With just one attack, more than 8,000 undead had been wiped out and disappeared into nothingness.

    ¡°Hiiiiiik!¡± Death screamed in horror. Was that man really human? There were only 30,000 undead left in his troops.

    Suddenly, at that moment, a woman stood on top of the walls, raised her hands and said, ¡°Earth King¡¯s Authority. Worship.¡±

    <em>Thuuuuuuuuuuud¡ª</em>

    And once again, the undead were forced to kneel down in worship. But this time, they were facing the woman standing on top of the walls.

    ¡°I, Iriiiiiis?!¡± Death shouted as he rubbed his eyes in doubt.

    Queen Iris was supposed to be under Vormon¡¯s brainwashing and was supposed to help him gain victory! So, what was happening?! Death pondered for a moment. Then, he easily found the reason. After all, he knew about that person¡¯s existence.

    Mercenary King Brod, also known as God¡¯s Empire¡¯s Knight and the Strongest Swordsman, stood beside Iris on top of the walls. He took a sword handed to him by one of the soldiers as he flew towards the undead kneeling down and worshiping Iris.

    ¡°Mercenary¡¯s Pinnacle Swordsmanship Chapter 2. Death¡¯s Wolf.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The sword that Mercenary King Brod was using was just an ordinary sword that the As soldiers used. However, hundreds of bloody sword lights appeared and stretched out from this ordinary sword and jumped around like wolves fiercely running and climbing the mountains to bite the necks of their prey.

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    A tremendous amount of force swept through and ughtered thousands of undead as Brod flew up in the sky.

    ¡°Mercenary¡¯s Pinnacle Swordsmanship Chapter 4. Wolf¡¯s Kill.¡±

    <em>aaaash¡ª</em>

    A ten-meter sword light stretched out of Brod¡¯s sword. And when he mmed his sword on the ground¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡­all of the undead that received the brunt of the attack disappeared without a trace as the ground split in half.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    He only swung his sword once, but dozens of undead had disappeared without a trace. Minhyuk quickly joined in the fight. In the end, it only took both men thirty minutes to finish off the undead. After they cleaned up everything, Minhyuk looked at Brod in shock as he thought, <em>¡®He¡¯s as strong as noona.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was confused. Ellie was an Absolute Supreme NPC. But what Minhyuk did not know was that although Ellie awakened as an Absolute Supreme NPC, she still had yet to acquire her full power as the Continental Emperor.

    Ellie still needed to follow a step-by-step process and grow stronger before she could acquire that power. Only then would she be able to disy a power that was several times stronger than what she had now.

    On the other hand, Brod had already reached his strongest state. Simply put, in terms of growth potential, Ellie had greater potential than Brod. However, Minhyuk could confidently say right there and then that Brod, in his current state, was the strongest among all of the NPCs in the entire continent.

    Just when this thought shed in Minhyuk¡¯s head, Brod suddenly turned to look at him. Minhyuk looked at him in doubt, only to see him kneel down on one knee and say, ¡°My king. Please allow me, Mercenary King Brod, to stay by your side.¡±

    <em>[Mercenary King Brod swears his eternal loyalty to you.]</em>

    There were two thoughts that floated in Minhyuk¡¯s head. One was that another mouth had been added to the list of mouths that he had to feed and the other was¡­

    <em>¡®So suddenly?¡¯</em>

 Chapter 404: Vassal Brod

    Chapter 404: Vassal Brod

    Brod, who was still lying on Iris¡¯p, was gradually getting healed thanks to Iris¡¯ power, ¡®King¡¯s Warmth¡¯. By the end of it, he had mostly recovered from his injuries. Brod coughed in embarrassment as he lifted himself off of Iris¡¯p. But, despite the embarrassment, the two were smiling brightly at each other.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go and help him now.¡±

    Iris nodded before asking, ¡°You¡¯ve seen him, right? What kind of person is he?¡±

    ¡°¡­He might be a foreigner but he¡¯s a trustworthy man. I saw plenty of things from him.¡±

    Mercenary King Brod, with almost 200 years of experience, was very confident in his eye for people and how he assessed them. He could tell what the person was like as an individual.

    ¡°He¡¯s a very strange man.¡±

    The boy, who had eaten the same steak that Iris ate earlier, smiled brightly. His smile was like that of a child¡¯s, pure and bright.

    ¡°And? What else?¡±

    Brod wondered why Iris kept on asking about the boy. Was Iris also aware that the boy risked everything to save her life?

    ¡°He¡¯s different from me. He looks like he cares deeply for his people.¡±

    That was right. He cared deeply for his people. The boy constantly looked outside of the room, his face filled with concern while he cooked earlier.

    Iris smiled, ¡°Sir Brod.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty.¡±

    Iris¡¯ voice was different from when she asked him about the boy. It was now filled with dignity and solemnity. Brod knelt on one knee and looked at her seriously.

    ¡°Live for him from here on out.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean by that¡­!¡± Brod¡¯s eyes widened as he shouted in a fluster. He thought that they would live together for the rest of their lives after they had confirmed their love for each other. Yet now, she was telling him to live for someone else? He could not understand at all.

    ¡°Don¡¯t deny yourself with what you truly want, Sir Brod. We both know that you still want to go further and reach higher ces. I¡¯m the only reason why you came back to this ce.¡±

    Brod became silent at her words.

    She was right, there were a lot of things that he had experienced in the God¡¯s Empire and he was only forced toe back because of Iris¡¯ situation! In fact, he had been truly reluctant to leave and reminded himself that he had to return to protect Iris.

    Iris was aware of this and did not want to be a hindrance to him. However, even if Brod felt reluctant toe back, that was then and this was now. He did not want to part ways with her now that they were together. He wanted to protect her with his sword, just like what he promised her all those years ago.

    ¡°But¡­¡±

    Iris interjected before he could even finish his words, ¡°Sir Brod.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty!¡±

    Iris¡¯ voice was solemn and dignified, yet there was an unmistakable tremor beneath it, ¡°Imand you, in the name of your Majesty. Protect Food God Minhyuk and his territory, and fulfill your dreams of creating the most powerful Empire.¡±

    On top of that, Iris¡¯ reasoning was sound and valid.

    ¡°I will also engage in diplomatic discussions with them. I will make sure to give them a lot of help.¡±

    This was an order in Iris¡¯ capacity as Queen. Even though Brod wanted to refute her so badly, his trembling heart betrayed him. All he could do was remain silent at her order. Mercenary King Brod was a man of great ambition. It was a waste for him to live in the peacefulnds of Rocard Kingdom.

    In the end, Iris said, ¡°I love you, Brod.¡±

    ***

    Brod looked up at Minhyuk as he knelt down on one knee. This man was his and Iris¡¯ benefactor. He felt at ease with him. For some reason, Brod felt like he could achieve anything as long as he stayed with him. It was not just because of his promise with Iris. He himself wanted to ce his bet on Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk did not hesitate for a long time and agreed to it.

    <em>[You have epted Mercenary King Brod as your vassal.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 300 REP.]</em>

    <em>[All of the stats of the troops in both Valha and As Territories will increase by 10%.]</em>

    <em>[Mercenary King Brod is the widely recognized king of millions of mercenaries all over the world. He will do his best to make the As and Valha Troops the strongest in thend.]</em>

    <em>(<strong>Brod</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: Supreme NPC</em>

    <em><strong>Type</strong>: Vassal</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: 682</em>

    <em><strong>Attack</strong>: 7,559</em>

    <em><strong>Defense</strong>: 4,683</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Dreaming Genius</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Mercenary¡¯s Pinnacle Swordsmanship</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Continent¡¯s Tyrant</em>

    <em><strong>Potential</strong>: 115</em>

    <em><strong>Experience Value</strong>: 18% / 100%</em>

    <em>¡®Crazy¡­! He¡¯s way stronger than Conir and Aruvel?!¡¯</em>

    Conir was the Sword Saint while Aruvel was hailed as the Demon World¡¯s Great Sage. Both of their powers were already beyond anyone¡¯s imagination. However, Brod was more powerful than them. Then, Minhyuk looked at Brod¡¯s passive skill, ¡®Dreaming Talent¡¯, in contemtion.

    <em>(<strong>Dreaming Talent</strong>)</em>

    <em>Passive Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>: Dreaming Talent. As long as you have the passion for something, you will be able to reach the pinnacle. </em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: Mercenary King Brod has been honing his swordsmanship for close to 200 years. Although he is not aware, he always craves to learn something new. As long as he chooses something, he will be able to reach the pinnacle of that.</em>

    Minhyuk was in awe after seeing the words ¡®<em>he will be able to reach the pinnacle</em>¡¯ in the description. After some thought, Minhyuk realized that it had been quite some time since hest epted a vassal. He started to wonder about what task he should give him, to the point that his expression turned grave. Brod, who saw the solemn expression on his face, looked at him in doubt.

    ¡°Please stand up, Brod.¡±

    ¡°Yes, my lord,¡± Brod answered as he stood up. He knew that Minhyuk would give him his orders now. He felt huge expectations for Minhyuk¡¯s orders. After all, Brod could make the entire continent tremble in fear! He was Mercenary King Brod!

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk continued to ponder deeply about the task that he wanted to give Brod. Brod could tell that the man in front of him was a very outstanding and eye-catching man.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s right. He¡¯s the man that I believe is most suited to be an emperor! What kind of task will he give me?!¡¯</em>

    Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°Brod, I hope that you¡¯ll be able to take on this important task in As Territory from here on out.¡±

    ¡°Please give me your orders, my lord.¡±

    The scene in front of them was the scene of a lord and his kneeling vassal. Brod had shown his firm will and determination by killing tens of thousands of undead, which Minhyuk answered in kind by giving him a very important mission. It was like picture-perfect scenery.

    Minhyuk spoke, ¡°You will be in charge of the territory¡¯s livestock.¡±

    ¡°As you ordered! I will now be in charge of the territory¡¯s livestock¡­! Huh?¡± Brod stopped in his tracks. He was in doubt for a moment.

    ¡®<em>I¡¯m in charge of¡­ what? Livestock means animals like pigs, cattle and chicken, right?</em>¡¯

    ¡°Li¡­ livestock?¡±

    ¡°Yes. This is a very important task. Pigs, cattle and chicken will taste differently depending on how they are raised. Fufufufufufu!¡±

    Something was wrong here. Was this man, his lord, not aware of who he was and what kind of existence he was? At that moment, a few people appeared and surrounded Minhyuk. Brod could feel a huge amount of pressure from these people.

    <em>¡®They¡¯re on par with me in terms of strength and power. So, these are the key figures around the lord, the knights of As territory!¡¯</em>

    The old man¡¯s gait and posture was fierce and unusual, while the aura on the boy¡¯s sword was suffocating. Brod could even hear the cries of the enemies that it had cut down. In fact, one of the men that stood with Minhyuk had an overwhelming amount of holy power. The man¡¯s holy power was, in fact,parable to an Athenean Envoy¡¯s holy power. And¡­

    <em>¡®De¡­ demon race¡­?!¡¯</em>

    My goodness! A foreigner had actually taken a member of the demon race under hismand! This was an extremely extraordinary feat! That was right. Such an outstanding lord could not have asked Brod to raise livestock.

    <em>¡®He must have made an error. I¡¯m sure he¡¯s just exhausted from the long battle.¡¯</em>

    That was right. Brod convinced himself that Minhyuk was just exhausted. His exhaustion must have definitely made it hard for him to give him a task.

    Then, Minhyuk started to introduce the people around him, ¡°Ah. This man here is Grandpa Ben. He¡¯s the territory¡¯s barista. The coffee that he makes tastes absolutely divine.¡±

    <em>¡®Wh¡­ what?! You¡¯re telling me that he¡¯s the one in charge of making coffee in the territory?!¡¯ </em>Brod thought in shock.

    Grandpa Ben looked at Brod kindly and said, ¡°Hoho. Boy, I heard that you¡¯ll be the one in charge of the livestock? Let¡¯s have a cup of coffee some time. I¡¯ve been researching squirrel luwak coffee and I assure you, the taste is excellent!¡±

    <em>¡®Sq¡­ squirrel luwak coffee?!¡¯</em>

    Then, Minhyuk introduced another one, ¡°Ah, this man right here is our territory¡¯s bald heal¡­ no, pdin, Sir Corr.¡±

    ¡°Hello.¡±

    Brod could tell by the man¡¯s greeting that he was normal! But then, his next words almost caused Brod to faint.

    ¡°Hoo? I can see signs of baldness in your head. If you join our Talmor Religion, I will make sure to let your hair grow well! Fufufufu! Grow hair, grow!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Was that the end? Of course not.

    ¡°This man from the demon race is the rare erotic author, Aruvel.¡±

    ¡°Nice to meet you. So, you¡¯re the Mercenary King¡­ I¡¯m very curious, how hot your bed was while you traveled the entire continent? It must have squeaked strongly!!! How many beauties have you taken in your arms?!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°Ah, this boy right here is Conir.¡±

    ¡°Conir! Conir is good at cooking ramyeon! Conir is very happy to meet you! Brod should definitely eat at Conir¡¯s ramyeon store!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    That was the exact moment that Brod realized that Minhyuk did not make a mistake. That was right, Mercenary King Brod, the King of all the mercenaries in the continent and a Supreme NPC, was being tasked to take care of the livestock in the territory!

    <em>¡®Your¡­ Your Majesty Iris¡­ Please, please save me¡­¡¯</em>

    However, Iris, who was watching Brod from afar, thought when she saw his unchanging expression, <em>¡®He''s still expressionless, but I¡¯m sure he¡¯s very happy! Go, Brod! Write a new chapter in history with your new friends and colleagues!¡¯</em>

    ***

    Minhyuk watched as Iris, who was riding on a white horse, approached him with the people of Rocard Kingdom.

    Rocard Kingdom was clearly the smallest among all of the small countries. However, the main reason why they became a kingdom was because of their outstanding power and abilities. Of course, this power was like a small gust of wind against tens of thousands of undead, but the fact that they had outstanding powers and abilities remained unchanged.

    If they chose to go out and show themselves to the world, there was no doubt that their finances would soar and surpass that of the other kingdoms. This was all thanks to their special power, crops and ingredients! They might be a small country, but the power and influence that they could exert could easily surpass an ordinary kingdom by more than twice, or even ten times! And the queen of this kingdom, Iris, personally appeared and stood in front of Minhyuk.

    Then, Iris said, ¡°Our Rocard Kingdom vows to engage in friendly rtions with you and your territory.¡±

    Her words were very shocking. The first one to suggest cooperation and friendly rtions was Queen Iris! Of course, this made Minhyuk very happy. However, Iris was aware that Minhyuk was not a ¡®king¡¯ but a ¡®lord¡¯. A lord meant that he was a noble that belonged to a kingdom, or an empire.

    ¡°It seems like your qualifications are still not yet enough. So, I, and my Rocard Kingdom, will help you. However, I want you to help us too.¡±

    Iris smiled softly as she looked at her people.

    ¡°We have secretly acquired a territory in the Northern Continent, and we want to build our newnd and home there. After all, we have already lived a long time disconnected from the rest of civilization. We need protection and we want to entrust this to you. We will, of course, do our best to cooperate with you andply with your requests. Although we¡¯re saying that we want to create an alliance with you, the truth is we want to be under your umbre and receive protection. So, in exchange for this protection, I will delegate to you a huge part of authority to our Rocard Kingdom.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Shock. Minhyuk was literally shocked! The words that she uttered were something that was beyond Minhyuk¡¯s expectations. Then, the notifications began to ring.

    <em>[You have received 3,957 members of the Hybrid Race.]</em>

    <em>[With Rocard Kingdom¡¯s abilities to cultivate special crops, the cultivation rate of As and Valha Territories will increase by 60%.]</em>

    <em>[With Rocard Kingdom¡¯s outstanding military force, the military force of As and Valha Territories will increase by 40%.]</em>

    <em>[You and Queen Iris will have a 5:5 ownership of the Ingredient Heaven.]</em>

    <em>[You will now be able to grow special crops.]</em>

    <em>[If you agree with Queen Iris¡¯ proposal, you will be able to meet the requirements for building a kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[You have met the required number of subjects.]</em>

    <em>[Once your ally, the Rocard Kingdom, establishes a foothold in the Northern Continent, you will be able to annex some of their territories. With those territories on top of As and Valha, you will be able to meet the territory requirement for building a kingdom.]</em>

 Chapter 405: Spotlight

    Chapter 405: Spotlight

    Minhyuk waspletely shocked. Although Iris said that this was an alliance, her words meant that she would put her trust in him, and follow him. He knew why she wanted to make such an arrangement with him.

    <em>¡®Iris wants to live a simple and peaceful life with her people.¡¯</em>

    Those that wanted to see the world would stay by Minhyuk¡¯s side and receive his protection, while those that wanted to protect their Rocard Kingdom would stay with Iris and live in their newnd and home. Although she said those words to dere their independence, the truth was Rocard Kingdom willingly went under Minhyuk¡¯smand.

    Minhyuk had yet toplete all of the requirements for bing a king. This was because the territories under hismand were stillcking. However, Iris had said that she would hand most of the authority over to Minhyuk once they had finished building their newnd and home. By then, the Let¡¯s Eat Sect would be the Let¡¯s Eat Kingdom. However, the true reason that made Minhyuk thrilled was none other than¡­

    <em>¡®We have received the cultivation rights and can cultivate and grow special crops!¡¯</em>

    There was no doubt that Minhyuk and his territories would be able to gain a huge amount from this. After all, the value of the Hybrid Race¡¯s crop cultivation rights was astronomical!

    There was also the Ingredient Heaven. Minhyuk had also acquired the authority over the Ingredient Heaven. All of thesebined had given Minhyuk the power of a kingdom. The only thing that hecked was territory.

    However, his work here was not yet done. Minhyuk¡¯s gaze turned towards the main culprit of this disaster, who was standing helplessly at a distance.

    ***

    Death, themander of Vormon¡¯s Undead Corps that attacked Rocard Kingdom, was left in confusion. He wanted to escape and run away but he could not see a path out. That was when his anger red up. He hated the happy and bright Food God. This was a man that lived a life that was aplete opposite of his. Death wanted to show all of the people that trampled and ignored him that he was also a great person.

    The truth was Death had quite a viin-like back story. In reality, Death had a huge burn mark on his face. Because of this, he suffered severe bullying and humiliation ever since he was a child. And after he became an adult? He closed himself off and stayed in his house to y games. The only thing that he enjoyed was ying games. To top it off, he was very good at it.

    So, even if it was just once, he wanted to gain the public¡¯s recognition of his talents and achievements. Death wanted to gain the title of king! He wanted to be the very first person to gain this name and title, and show the world that he was a very amazing person.

    However, this battle had crushed his dreams. The main reason was the ¡®penalty¡¯ from the quest that he received to plunder the Rocard Kingdom with Vormon¡¯s troops. The penalty was extremely heavy. It was all due to that man over there, the Food God, who took everything away from him, despite already receiving everyone¡¯s love. Death loathed this man.

    Then, the Food God approached Death with a sword in hand and a fierce re.

    ¡°Don¡¯t give me that damn look! What do you know, Food God?! Huh?! You¡¯re famous, kind, well-mannered, and a good person? Bullshit! You¡¯re just like those kids back then! Just like the ones that bullied me for having a huge burn on my face!¡±

    Minhyuk looked at Death in confusion when he heard his words.

    ¡°Because they¡¯re stronger, they beat the shit out of a weakling like me while mocking me! They banged my head on the toilet until I cried all because I was weaker than them! But, you¡­ you¡­! You live a life where everyone idolizes you?! Damn you! Damn all the bastards like you! How dare you bully the weak and torment them!¡±

    Death did not know why he was spewing out all of this in front of this man. All he knew was that he was letting out the anger and helplessness that he had repressed and kept inside him for a very long time.

    ¡°Do you bastards know how I feel every day of my life?! It wasn¡¯t even my fault that I got a huge burn on my face!!! My parents died saving me from the fire but all I get is people calling me ¡®monster¡¯!!! How dare you call me a monster!!!¡±

    Death wept bitterly but for some reason, he felt relieved. His life had been saved by his parents, but the people around him called him a monster.

    ¡°I only stay at home and y games. I have not seen anyone for a long time. But you¡­ you¡­¡± Death could not talk anymore and just continued to weep. He closed his eyes and waited for his death. He knew that he would only feel more miserable if he continued to say more.

    But then, a soft and gentle voice tickled Death¡¯s ears. It was like a soft caress on Death¡¯s cheeks, ¡°I see. You¡¯re living the precious life that your parents had saved, but peopleughed and mocked you and gave you a hard time.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Death slowly opened his eyes and saw the soft, yet bitter, smile gracing Minhyuk¡¯s lips. The man was smiling at him.

    ¡°Conir! Conir don¡¯t want you to me yourself! Conir believes your life is precious!¡± Conir told Death.

    ¡°Hoho. What a bunch of bastards. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll make a cup of coffee for youter.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure your parents are very kind and wonderful people. Don¡¯t waste the life that they saved and treasure the life that they gave you.¡±

    Death looked around in confusion. What was going on? In fact, even Brod was left dumbfounded and confused by the sudden turn of events.

    <em>¡®What¡¯s happening¡­? Are they showing pity to the enemy?!¡¯</em>

    Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°Your life is very precious, it¡¯s the life that your parents saved after all. So live it to the fullest. Don¡¯t give up. I¡¯m sure they¡¯re looking down on you with pride. I understand what you feel. We¡¯re not much different, you know? However, the fact that we¡¯re two different people still stands. I think I know how you can gain happiness. Ten times. Just ten times. Come and visit me ten times and I will tell you how you can be happy.¡±

    Death was moved. Minhyuk and his Named NPCs¡¯ expressions were all sincere and kind. Death felt tears well up again in his eyes. For some reason, he had great expectations for this man. He asked, ¡°Then, are you¡­ are you¡­ going to spare me?¡±

    Death felt both grateful and happy as he continued to shed tears. Finally, someone understood him! The man in front of him had a very generous heart!

    On the other hand, Brod felt suffocated. In the end, they were headed to the catastrophic ending that he dreaded!!! Were these people dreaming of building a kingdom when they were all driven by their emotions?!

    But then, Minhyuk and his Named NPCs all tilted their heads in confusion.

    ¡°But we¡¯re going to kill you, though?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re going to kill you.¡±

    ¡°Yep. It¡¯s only natural for us to do that.¡±

    ¡°In a single strike too!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m Conir!!! Conir knows that¡¯s one thing and this is another!!!¡±

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s sword stabbed through Death¡¯s neck. He did not show any mercy or hesitation. Minhyuk was not a fool. He would not keep him alive just because of sympathy.

    ¡°Keok. Give¡­ give me back my feelings¡­¡±

    Death slowly copsed. But he still heard Minhyuk¡¯s cold and frosty voice, ¡°Even if we feel sympathy for you, the fact that you raided and tried to plunder this kingdom will not change.¡±

    Then, Death finally died. Iris looked at the scene with a smile on her face as if she had expected this to happen. Yes. She knew that Minhyukforted him and gave him hope to live because he saw a great potential in the man.

    <em>¡®He could possibly do a lot of great things¡­¡¯</em>

    Before they could dig through his potential, the man still had to pay the price for his crimes. And Minhyuk also told him, <em>¡®Treasure your life.¡¯</em>

    If he treasured his life, then they could possibly coexist and live together. Iris was very impressed with how Minhyuk handled this situation.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s very intelligent.¡¯</em>

    Even though they were enemies, he knew that people with such backstories could change. However, he was also a cold and decisive man. Iris could tell that Minhyuk would be a wise ruler.

    ***

    <em>[You have failed the Quest: Plunder Rocard Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[As a penalty, you will lose a significant number of ownership on your undead summons.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will be reduced by 5%.]</em>

    This was a huge penalty for Death! The penalty for the quest: Plunder Rocard Kingdom was as big as the rewards that he could get.

    Jung Ji-Hoon went out of the capsule. His face looked a bit grotesque because of the huge burn mark that covered the right side of his face. However, his tall stature that reached 182 cm, as well as his fair and white skin, could make him stand out from the crowd. On top of that, the left side of his face was very handsome.

    Despite the huge penalty, Jung Ji-Hoon felt something different from disappointment and frustration. He thought, <em>¡®If I go to him ten times, then he¡¯ll tell me how I can be happy¡­?¡¯</em>

    Death, or Jung Ji-Hoon, asked himself: ¡®<em>Am I happy? Do I smile everyday? Do I want to continue living this lonely life in this cold, dark, and gloomy curtained room?¡¯ </em>

    The answer was no. Not at all. He also wanted to gain happiness, but then anger came over him.

    <em>¡®What does a man like him, who has everything in the world, know?!¡¯</em>

    The Food God was very handsome. His face was enough to surpass any of the actors or actresses that he had seen. He was also the leader of a guild. Everyone looked up to him and his leadership despite still being young. He was someone that lived apletely different life than him. Jung Ji-Hoon believed that such a man could never understand him. But¡­

    <em>¡®I¡¯m very curious¡­!¡¯</em>

    He wanted to know the way to be happy!

    ***

    With thepletion of all of the quests rted to Rocard Kingdom, the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect were allowed to enter the kingdom. Genie and the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect heard about what they did in the kingdom, and what Minhyuk had received, including the thousands of members of the Hybrid Race and Mercenary King Brod. He even received ownership of the Ingredient Heaven, the ce where they could get incredible ingredients.

    All in all, Minhyuk, Ali, and the vassals truly did a great job.

    Suddenly, the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect turned to Brod and bowed deeply.

    ¡°Thank you! Thank you very much! Thank you for being normal!¡±

    ¡°Sir Brod, you don¡¯t have any interest in luwak coffee, baldness, ramyeon and erotic novels, right?!¡±

    Brod felt emotional when he heard the words of Minhyuk¡¯s guild members!

    ¡°You¡­ you guys are normal too?!!!¡±

    ¡°Yes! We¡¯re also normal!!!¡±

    ¡°Thank you!!! Thank you for being normal!!!¡±

    The scene unfolding in front of them was very strange and shocking. However, Locke, who was very pleased about this situation, looked the most abnormal among them.

    Then, Genie asked, ¡°Ah, by any chance, Brod¡­ did you already receive a task from Minhyuk?¡±

    ¡°He told me to be in charge of the livestock.¡±

    As soon as they heard his answer, the guild members could already tell what would happen in the future.

    <em>¡®Ah, Brod will also¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He¡¯ll eventually get Minhyuk-ified.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Sob!¡¯</em>

    The gazes that the members of the Let¡¯s Eat Sect used to look at Brod was filled with sympathy. Brod did not know it yet, but he will eventually get Minhyuk-ified and live a very happy life, one that was far happier than his life before.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk and Genie were discussing something.

    ¡°Death?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Do you know him?¡±

    ¡°I know. He¡¯s an unofficial ranker, but he rarely makes an appearance. And since only a few had seen him, there are only a few discussions about him. However, he¡¯s well-known as the leader of Korea¡¯s one-man legion. The story about him leading thousands of undead troops alone was so unrealistic that I thought it was just some kind of made-up story created by the public¡­¡±

    After hearing about Death from Genie, Minhyuk realized that the man was more amazing than what he thought. Even though he was still unknown to the general yer poption, there were a few rankers that heard about his feats.

    ¡°Death¡¯s very powerful. I can tell that he¡¯s on par with the Summit Five. Of course, it was all thanks to the undead that he summoned, but that¡¯s also his own power.¡±

    Minhyuk had clearly felt the power from Death¡¯s undead legion. Even though he used Vormon¡¯s Undead Corps, his own undead could also clearly exert tremendous power. If Minhyuk did not have the ¡®Continent Destroyer Sword¡¯ and his special abilities, then he would have fought a very difficult battle earlier.

    ¡°But to ask him toe ten times to you¡­ Do you think he¡¯lle?¡± Genie asked in doubt.

    Minhyuk could only smile bitterly in answer. He had given Death a chance, but he did not really have much of an expectation that he woulde.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think it makes sense. No yer woulde to you ten times just because of something like that. Besides, Death is a yer that has always kept to himself¡­¡±

    But before her words could finish¡­

    ¡°Minhyuk, there¡¯s a strange person that came to find you?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk and Genie both tilted their heads in confusion after hearing the words that Locke said. Then, the man, Death, was left standing in front of Minhyuk, inside Rocard Kingdom¡¯s audience hall as Genie and Locke went out. However, the people of Rocard Kingdom red at him as if they wanted to kill him.

    ¡°Food God! Tell me! How can I be happy! If you lie, I will make your life a living hell!¡±

    <em>¡®So, he¡¯s curious.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk grinned and said, ¡°This is the first. You still have nine more to go.¡±

    Then, Minhyuk nodded at the people of Rocard Kingdom, who immediately rushed forward and attacked Death.

    ¡°Keok! Why, why are you letting them attack me when you told me to find you?! Don¡¯t gang up on me! I¡¯ll, I¡¯ll summon my undead! Keok?! N¡­ not there! Keuaaaaack! It¡­ it exploded¡­?!¡±

    That was right. Minhyuk had told him toe to him ten times. Finding him ten times meant that Death would experience death ten times too. This was because hemitted an unforgivable crime against the people of Rocard Kingdom.

    However, Death knew that he would not be able to find the answer to his question if he summoned the undead and fought against the people of Rocard Kingdom.

    This marked the beginning of Death¡¯s visits to Minhyuk. And this was where the legend about Death, the King of Death that would lead millions of undead troops in the future, and Food God Minhyuk started.

 Chapter 406: Spotlight

    Chapter 406: Spotlight

    Death, or Jung Ji-Hoon, went out of the capsule with a satisfied smile on his face. He said, ¡°I¡¯m d I died a less painful death today!¡±

    It was not the usual gang beating, but a swift and easy twisting of his neck. As of today, Jung Ji-Hoon had already made five visits. Death¡¯s first two visits were made in quick session but after that he decided to take some breaks in between.

    This was because of what Minhyuk had told him on his second visit. He said, <em>¡®I¡¯ll give you a hint every time you die. Ah, Do you have any problem with dying every time? If you have, then you don¡¯t have toe. It¡¯s totally up to you.¡¯</em>

    That was right. Death continued to visit and die, despite the high penalties. But he also wondered¡­

    <em>¡®Howe?¡¯</em>

    Why was he showing mercy to him? Minhyuk was supposed to kill him, so why was he showing mercy to him? It was simple. Death wanted to stay with Minhyuk but he was Rocard Kingdom¡¯s enemy. It was only right for him to die every time under the hands of the people of Rocard Kingdom. However, even after killing him time and again, the people¡¯s resentment did not decrease. After all, they had lost their family and precious people.

    <em>Throb¡ª</em>

    It has been a long time since hest felt his heart ache. Death thought that he lost all of his emotions. However, the more he went to find Minhyuk, the more he felt his emotionse back.

    <em>¡®Although it¡¯s just a game, what I did was no different from what those people did to me.¡¯</em>

    He trampled, mocked, and tried to plunder their resources with force. Although they might be NPCs¡­

    <em>¡®It¡¯s also like a world to me¡­¡¯</em>

    Just like how he lost his parents, he also took away their precious families. After finding the first hint, Death still continued to wee his death there.

    <em>¡®Even if they kill me a hundred or a thousand times, their resentment towards me will never disappear.¡¯</em>

    This was the result of what he did. Besides, he was doing this to gain enlightenment and find a way to be happy. And today, two weeks before the start of <em>Athenae</em>: World War, Death came to die for the seventh time.

    ¡°Argh! Urk! Aack! Heok?! Keheok! N, not, not there!¡±

    <em>Spurt¡ª</em>

    He did not know how many times that part had exploded! However, the anger and wrath of the people of Rocard Kingdom did not subside, despite the fact that they had killed him many times, and continued to trample on him.

    ¡°I understand. I¡¯vemitted a great sin.¡±

    However, even if he realized that, it did not mean that they would forgive him. This was a burden that he had to carry for the rest of his life. As Death weed his death again after being beaten badly by the people, he sent a whisper to Minhyuk.

    <em>[<strong>Death</strong>: I came here to get beaten and die once again. However, I¡¯m very curious about one thing. What did you mean when you told me that you were simr to me?]</em>

    Not long after, an answer came back.

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: I meant it literally. The only difference is the circumstances that surrounded us. You will continue to die here today, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, and the day after that. However, I will not entertain your whispers anymore.]</em>

    The end of Minhyuk¡¯s words made Death re up in anger, <em>¡®What the hell?! Are you telling me that I¡¯m not even worth your whispers?! Huh?!¡¯</em>

    Death wondered furiously what Minhyuk was trying to get at, when he had not even given him the exact answer that he wanted. His head waspletely filled with anger!

    <em>[Minhyuk has blocked you.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Death¡¯s anger red up again, and he vowed to never return and die at the hands of the Rocard Kingdom again. For a moment, he believed that Minhyuk¡¯s words about them being simr and him telling about how to be happy were all lies.

    <em>¡®How can this trashy life of mine be worth something?!¡¯</em>

    In the first ce, he believed was born as a pathetic trash.

    Then, the next day, Death still went back to Rocard Kingdom.

    ¡°Bastard! You¡¯re here again?! Good. I was just thinking about more painful ways to kill you.¡±

    ¡°You damn bastard! Why do youe here everyday?!¡±

    ¡°Die!!!¡±

    Death, just like usual, was stoned and beaten to death by hundreds of people from the Rocard Kingdom. But even though he was just being cursed at and spat on by the people inside the game, Death¡¯s mind and spirit, which had long been corrupted and rotten by the criticisms that the world had thrown at him, was slowly changing for the better.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m sorry. I acted just like the people that I hated. I plundered and took away those precious to you.¡¯</em>

    And just like that, he died again. After logging out, Death could only stare nkly into space with a bitter smile on his face. In the end, he would still go back tomorrow. He sighed deeply before going on the inte and ordering his food for tomorrow. But what he saw made him stop in his tracks.

    <em>¡®What¡­ </em><em>what</em><em> the hell is this?¡¯ </em>Death thought in shock.

    Both the local and globalmunity sites were boiling. The number one real time search word was ¡®Food God¡¯ while the second search word was ¡®eating addiction¡¯. Death read the various articles that appeared on his screen the moment he clicked on the topic of discussion.

    <em>[Food God Minhyuk and Eating Addiction. What kind of rare disease was he afflicted with?]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s a rare disease where one cannot stop eating for the rest of their lives. A disease with a survival rate of less than 1%.]</em>

    <em>[It is a terrible disease that has shocked the global medicalmunity.]</em>

    <em>[Who was the informant that tipped about the Food God to Despatch[1]?]</em>

    <em>[Food God Minhyuk has filed aint and will be taking tough actions against the informant.]</em>

    <em>[A huge and fat man of 170kg, this is the man called Food God.]</em>

    Death¡¯s eyes widened in shock.

    <em>¡®A rare disease? A mysterious informant?¡¯</em>

    Someone mysteriously informed the media about Minhyuk¡¯s disease during this precarious time leading to the <em>Athenae</em>: World War, especially when the entire world was paying attention to him.

    In a way, it was quite amazing that this news leaked at this point in time. After all, it was a secret that Minhyuk had guarded for a very long time. News travels as fast as the wind, so it was very surprising that it had not been leaked all this while. Minhyuk also dered that he would be taking tough actions against the informant.

    The worst part was the fact that a picture was also attached to the article, showing Minhyuk and his huge, 170kg body. His figure looked horrible. The shape of his face could not even be seen from the flesh that hung all over his body. Even his legs wererger than a normal person¡¯s waist. There were a flood ofments under the photo.

    <em>[This is the handsome Food God? Uweeeck!!!]</em>

    <em>[Woah. What the hell is this? This is the Food God?]</em>

    <em>[OMG. That¡¯s shocking¡­ I was originally his fan but I¡¯m going to stop now!!!]</em>

    <em>[I¡¯m so shocked. I can¡¯t believe that I liked a person like this. I¡¯m going to leave his fan cafe now.]</em>

    <em>[As expected. God is fair. Hahahahahahaha. Bastard piggy!]</em>

    Death¡¯s eyes widened even further after seeing thements.

    <em>¡®He said that he was simr to me, right¡­?¡¯</em>

    Death finally realized why Minyuk said that. No, perhaps Minhyuk lived a far more difficult life than him. After all, this was a paragraph taken out of a transcript written by a world-renowned doctor:

    <em>[Living feels more painful than experiencing death. From the time they open their eyes in the morning, until they close their eyes to sleep, they would feel extreme hunger. It would feel like they¡¯re living in hell. The Food God is living a hellish life.]</em>

    Many had expressed their sympathy towards him. However, the curses were still rampant. This was how people were. Most hated seeing someone else live a good life, and once they grabbed a hold of their weakness, they would curse them vehemently.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s simr to me but he¡¯s living a different life from me¡­¡¯</em>

    It seemed that Minhyuk was living a life like that. But in <em>Athenae</em>, Minhyuk was able to ovee his hell and live a good life. Tears dripped down Death¡¯s cheeks as he thought, <em>¡®Someone intentionally let out the news!¡¯</em>

    Jung Ji-Hoon¡¯s anger red up again. What he hated the most was seeing people mocking others¡¯ pain. He quickly grabbed his mobile phone and used his <em>Athenae</em> ID to send a whisper to Minhyuk. He was still unable to ess the game because of the death penalty, so all he could do was use his phone.

    <em>[Minhyuk is currently logged out.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Death sighed. Minhyuk must have been devastated. But then, at that moment, he received a letter from <em>Athenae</em> on his mobile phone. If one was logged in <em>Athenae</em>, the letter would be delivered via pigeon.

    <em>[You have received a letter sent by Minhyuk.]</em>

    <em>Athenae</em>¡¯s letter function was very urate and flexible. One could, in fact, schedule a letter to be sentter. That was when Death remembered the words that Minhyuk said a few days ago. ¡®<em>You will continue to die here today, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, and the day after that.¡¯</em>

    <em>[I¡¯m suffering from a rare and unimaginable disease. However, there¡¯s a reason why I have ovee it.]</em>

    The letter ended at that. Then, it disappeared by itself.

    <em>[This letter will immediately disappear after you read it.]</em>

    It was set like this so that Death would not be able to say it to anyone. And even if he let out the news and used the letter as reference, his voice would eventually be buried without any evidence on hand. Death felt his heart clench in pain when he saw the letter.

    And just like that, the day before the <em>Athenae</em>: World War finally came.

    ***

    The very first World War was of course held in Korea. The global rankers arrived, one after the other, on private nes loaned to them by their own countries, before heading straight towards the huge stadium where the World War would take ce. They went there a day earlier to take pictures and strengthen their resolve. Meanwhile, the cameras were broadcasting live and showing the figures of their own rankers.

    <em>[The Korean yers are entering!]</em>

    <em>[Mage Ali, cksmith Hyemin¡¯sDaddy, Emperor of the Sword Carr, Knight of Agony Alicia, and Jefreet¡¯s Descendant Locke! The Korean yers are entering one after the other!]</em>

    <em>[We can see how tense the Korean yers are even through the broadcasting camera.]</em>

    <em>[However, they¡¯re one person short. We don¡¯t see the Food God. Not too long ago, news about the Food God and his eating addiction, a rare disease, had spread not only in Korea, but all over the world.]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s a shame but I will keep on rooting for yer Minhyuk and hisplete recovery.]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s alright even if he doesn¡¯t show up. He will always remain as our nation¡¯s ¡®hero¡¯.]</em>

    One of thementators, Jan, was stunned when she heard the word hero.

    <em>¡®Minhyuk¡­¡¯</em>

    Jan had the chance to get acquainted with him before, so she was a little bitter when she heard his sad story. Well, everyone was thinking the same thing. They all knew that he would not show up. With his heavy and huge build at 173kg, he would definitely note. Yeah, it was better for him to not show up. After all, the world would justugh and mock him.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m rooting for you. Please make it happen!¡¯</em>

    She hoped that Minhyuk could recover from his diseasepletely. Right now, all that was left for thementators to do was simple, and that was to meet the other Korean representatives heroes.

    ¡°Mr. Locke, give us a few words! Did you hear anything from Food God Minhyuk?¡±

    ¡°Mr. Khan, when was thest time you¡¯ve seen Mr. Minhyuk? Did you know about his eating addiction?¡±

    ¡°We refuse to answer those questions.¡±

    All of the yers from South Korea refused to answer the reporters¡¯ questions. Meanwhile, Mage Ali looked at the seat next to him. This was the seat where Minhyuk was supposed to be.

    <em>¡®Is that why he did not confirm his participation?¡¯</em>

    Perhaps that was the reason why he was a bit reluctant to participate in the World War.

    Meanwhile, on themunity sites¡­

    <em>[I guess the Food God ran away? What? Is he trying to lose weight?]</em>

    <em>[Trashy Korea is now without any hope.]</em>

    <em>[Stop that. Who would want to be like that? No one. Why are you criticizing him so harshly but you did not praise him when he was doing well? You¡¯re all bastards.]</em>

    <em>[Why isn¡¯t he showing up?! Are we just going to give up on the World War just like that?!]</em>

    <em>[Hey, if it were you, would you be willing to show up with a body like that?]</em>

    Their opinions were divided. On the other hand, the yers from all over the world felt a bit relieved. Simply because¡­

    <em>¡®The most dangerous guy is gone.¡¯</em>

    After all, there was nobody who would not be delighted if the greatest threat disappeared by themselves. Among the hundreds of yers gathered together, darkness seemed to shroud the heads of all of the Korean yers.

    Meanwhile, the Japanese yer, Kentaro, thought, <em>¡®You¡¯re noting?¡¯</em>

    Kentaro chuckled bitterly as he stood still amidst the countless cameras that were focused on him.

    <em>¡®However, what I think about you won¡¯t change. I still think that you¡¯re the best.¡¯</em>

    Just when Kentaro was going to let out another bitterugh, a sudden disturbance urred on the side where the Korean yers were.

    ¡°What?! He came?!¡±

    ¡°What did you say?!¡±

    ¡°He¡¯sing?!¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s already here?!¡±

    Kentaro¡¯s eyes widened.

    <em>¡®Who¡¯sing? The Food God?¡¯</em>

    Themotion grew louder while dozens of cameras turned to focus on the entrance where the vehicles stop at. Just then, a slick limousine, a limited edition sold only to the 50 richest people in the world by Benza, stopped together with several ck SUVs. Then, dozens of handsome and strong-looking bodyguards quickly got off the SUVs and lined up on either side of the limousine, as a man slowly opened the door. Exmations burst out from the mouths of the people that watched the scene.

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaah!¡±

    <em>Click, click, click, click, click, click¡ª</em>

    Hundreds of cameras clicked away to capture the man¡¯s face, while plenty of women screamed unknowingly. Someone even looked like they were going to faint after making eye contact with the man. Kentaro could not see what was happening due to the crowd. The guards lined up and created a path for the man.

    No, to be exact, the crowd unknowingly paved a way for the man.

    <em>ck, ck, ck, ck, ck¡ª</em>

    The click of the man¡¯s heels rang loudly in the area amidst the silence.

    <em>ck, ck, ck¡ª</em>

    The hundreds of cameras and thousands of people all watched the man in silent awe.

    <em>ck, ck, ck, ck¡ª</em>

    The representatives from all over the world turned to look at them in doubt. That was when Kentaro finally saw the man.

    The man¡¯s bangs were perfectly brushed up, showcasing his thick and smooth eyebrows, sparkling eyes, straight nose, sharp jawline, and small face. He was around 185 cm tall, with legs long enough that could rival that of a model. Even his shoulders were wide and strong.

    Everything seemed to have been set in slow motion as the man continued to walk. Kentaro and the rest of the people looking at the man felt their breath stop.

    <em>ck, ck, ck, ck¡ª</em>

    The click of the man¡¯s heels continued to ring loudly, overwhelming the entire crowd. The man, wearing a ck suit, walked with one hand on his pocket and a gentle smile on his face. His looks wereparable¡­ no, his looks surpassed even that of an actor. The man¡¯s gorgeous looks were enough to incur any man¡¯s jealousy and steal any woman¡¯s heart.

    The mysterious man continued to walk until he stood in front of the photo zone. His gait and gaze remained natural as he stood in front of thousands of cameras.

    ¡°Crazy¡­¡±

    ¡°My goodness¡­ That man¡¯s really handsome¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve never seen such a handsome Asian before¡­¡±

    The man, with his hand still in his pocket, looked at the audience confidently, while the representatives from all over the world looked at him in surprise.

    ¡°What the hell? He¡¯s so handsome.¡±

    ¡°Can a person really look that gorgeous?¡±

    ¡°He looks like his looks have been carved in stone.¡±

    ¡°It seems like South Korea has already won a gold in terms of appearances.¡±

    The man stood in front of thousands of shing camera lights and said, ¡°Food God Minhyuk. Participating in <em>Athenae</em>: World War.¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    <em>Murmur, murmur.</em>

    <em>Click, click, click, click, click, click¡ª</em>

    His gorgeous appearance, striking proportions, and gentle voice left everyone and the entire world astonished. Minhyuk, standing at 185cm and weighing 77kg, had made his appearance!

    1. A reference to Dispatch, a mediapany in Korea. Somewhat like the Korean version of TMZ ?

 Chapter 407: Spotlight

    Chapter 407: Spotlight

    Two weeks ago.

    Minhyuk went with the farmers of Rocard Kingdom to the Ingredient Heaven. When they arrived at the Ingredient Heaven, he was surprised to find the field shining brightly. It was both a strange and shocking sight. On top of that, all of the ingredients nted in the Ingredient Heaven were auxiliary cooking ingredients, like garlic, spring onions, onions, carrots, and the like.

    Minhyuk harvested one onion and checked the ingredient¡¯s information.

    <em>(<strong>Ingredient Heaven¡¯s Onion</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Ingredient Grade</strong>: Five Legendary Ingredients</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>: STM +1, STR +1</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: One of the Five Legendary Ingredients. Heaven''s Onion is an ¡®auxiliary¡¯ ingredient. Auxiliary ingredients are one of the most important ingredients when cooking. Only ten of these onions can be eaten per person, any more than that and the effect will not be expressed. The effects of this onion can ovep with the effects of other ingredients.</em>

    ¡°Heok¡­?!¡± Minhyuk gasped in shock.

    The size of Ingredient Heaven wasrger than what he initially expected it to be. The ingredients that they could harvest right away looked to be in the thousands. And those thousands of ingredients had an effect that could permanently increase one¡¯s stats.

    However, the <em>Athenae</em> management were definitely not stupid. They had set a limit and only allowed each person to eat ten of each ingredient to maintain bnce. However, there were no limits imposed on how many kinds of restricted ingredients one could eat. One could increase their stats by 50 just by eating onions, garlic, spring onions, and carrots alone.

    This was also another reason why Minhyuk was so shocked¡­

    <em>¡®The ingredients in Ingredient Heaven can rival an elixir?¡¯</em>

    Elixirs were regr urrences in RPG games. They were extremely expensive potions that could raise one¡¯s stats by +1 or +2 upon consumption. However, elixirs were very difficult to obtain. Assuming that one obtained STR elixirs by luck, they could only take five. Any more after that and it would not work anymore.

    This was the main reason why medicines were extremely valuable. However, even after one had taken those elixirs, they could still eat the ingredients from Ingredient Heaven.

    After searching through and looking through the details of Ingredient Heaven, Minhyuk found another surprising thing¡­

    <em>[You can always harvest at least 500 crops every year in the Ingredient Heaven.]</em>

    This amount of crops would never change even if they had a bad harvest. So, what would happen if there was a good bumper? This meant that the number of crops that they could harvest would increase.

    Haze, who went with Minhyuk, looked at the Ingredient Heaven in admiration. She said, ¡°Our troops will be able to grow further and get stronger with this. And, if we find a way to nt and harvest more crops in this Ingredient Heaven, then¡­¡±

    The value of this ce was astronomical. With this in hand, they would be able to strengthen their As Territory troops and solve their financial problems. However, this was only assuming that they found out how to nt these crops. In fact, even the farmers of Rocard Kingdom did not know how to cultivate crops in the Ingredient Heaven.

    ording to them, the crops in this ce grew on their own. And since the crops were heavily influenced by nature, they could not determine if they would have a good or bad harvest until the time to harvest came. As long as they found a way to cultivate crops in thisnd, they would be able to utilize it better, which in turn would help them leap to a higher ce.

    <em>[<strong>Guild Master Minhyuk</strong>: For both the troops and the guild members, please study and look for references in books about how we can cultivate crops and gain a good bumper harvest in the Ingredient Heaven. Also, if you can, please let the people of our territory help out.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Genie</strong>: Roger that!]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Locke</strong>: OK!]</em>

    They had to try everything that they could find, whether it was information from an old book, legendary soils, fertilizers, or nutritional supplements. Minhyuk and the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect gave their all in preparation for the uing <em>Athenae</em>: World War.

    Then, a piece of news stood out in the guild chat window.

    <em>[<strong>Khan</strong>: Death came again. He¡¯s still asking: ¡®What¡¯s the way to be happy?!¡¯]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Guild Master Minhyuk</strong>: Let him get killed.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Khan</strong>: Gotcha.]</em>

    Minhyuk smiled. Death had alreadye here to find him several times. However, he never intended to show him mercy and stop the people from killing him. But after a while, a whisper came from Death.

    <em>[<strong>Death</strong>: I came here to get beaten and die once again. However, I¡¯m very curious about one thing. What did you mean when you told me that you were simr to me?]</em>

    Minhyuk smiled bitterly. He fully understood what Death was feeling. That was right. Minhyuk lived a life simr to Death. He hid in the dark for the longest time possible and lived a difficult life, one that he did not choose. Then, Minhyuk sent a whisper to Death¡­

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: I meant it literally. The only difference is the circumstances that surrounded us. You will continue to die here today, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, and the day after that. However, I will not entertain your whispers anymore.]</em>

    ¡­and cut him off.

    <em>[You have blocked Death.]</em>

    Even if Minhyuk blocked him, he knew that Death would continue toe here and die. Minhyuk went to the general goods¡¯ store and bought letters. He would send these letters starting from Death¡¯s sixth death until hisst death under the hands of the people of Rocard Kingdom.

    Minhyuk wrote him letters and used the ¡®schedule function¡¯ to send the letters to Death. His first letter was:

    <em>[I¡¯m suffering from a rare and unimaginable disease. However, there¡¯s a reason why I have ovee it.]</em>

    Including that letter, Minhyuk wrote a total of five letters that he sent on a schedule. He stretched his body and thought, <em>¡®Will I be able to change his life?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was not sure either. After all, he did not really do much for Death. He just told Death toe to him ten times and die, while he wrote a few letters. However, Minhyuk knew that this small act of kindness will be a driving force for a desperate person to rise up and live a new life. Of course, he just showed Death a bit of mercy, but Minhyuk predicted that he would be able to bring Death to his side with this small act.

    And just when Minhyuk was about to move¡­

    <em>[<strong>General</strong>: Minhyuk! There¡¯s trouble! Log-out, quick!]</em>

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    Minhyuk looked at the whisper in doubt. But when he logged out, the news left him struck dumb. He felt as if he had been hit hard on the head. The first in the real-time search words was Food God and the second was eating addiction. This meant that someone had tipped Despatch about him.

    The entire mansion was shrouded with a tense atmosphere. Even Minhyuk himself looked solemn after knowing that the thing that they hid for a long time ended up suddenly being revealed to the world without their consent. However, in a way, one could say that they had already hidden it very well. After all, Kang Minhyuk was Chairman Kang Minhoo¡¯s son!

    Minhyuk strived hard to achieve excellence in everything that he did. He was Ilhwa Group¡¯s most promising star, their next chairman. That was why he usually drew attention from the public. However, he suddenly disappeared.

    ¡°This is clearly a scheme done by a rivalpany!¡± Oh Changwook shouted in anger.

    Minhyuk¡¯s father also rushed back to the house the moment he heard the news, ¡°Son!¡±

    His father looked extremely worried. He was not even worried about hispany, all he was worried about was how his son was faring. Minhoo was very worried about the bacsh that his son would receive. What would his son feel if the world sneered and mocked him?

    Everyone looked at the dazed Minhyuk worriedly. After a few minutes, Minhyuk slowly stood up from his seat and went to the weighing scale.

    <em>[89.5kg]</em>

    Ever since he measured his weight back then, Minhyuk did his part and steadily lost weight. And right now, he has already reached a normal weight. In fact, he was not at all flustered. He seemed to be in a daze, because he was calmly assessing the situation.

    Oh Changwook and Lee Jinhwan looked at Minhyuk in admiration.

    <em>¡®My goodness¡­ It¡¯s amazing. How can he be so calm in front of this situation?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®As expected of the Chairman¡¯s son, right¡­?¡¯</em>

    They knew that they would have already fallen into despair if they were in Minhyuk¡¯s shoes right now. Then, Minhyuk opened his mouth and said, ¡°It¡¯s okay for the world to know.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    Everyone around him looked at him in confusion when they heard his words. Minhyuk looked at his father, Oh Changwook, Lee Jinhwan, Hye-jin, and the rest of the people that were worried about him and said, ¡°It¡¯s because I survived and overcame this disease.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    That was right. He could proudly say that he had created a miracle. World-renowned doctors were discussing the disease called eating addiction and had dered that it was an incurable disease, an unprecedented disease that had no sessful treatment, and would eventually kill the patient. Plenty of people mocked andughed at Minhyuk¡¯s misfortune. However, what they did not know was that Minhyuk overcame it.

    ¡°We can use this to reverse the situation,¡± Minhyuk said with a grin.

    Turning a disaster into an opportunity<em>. </em>An idiom that meant changing one¡¯s crisis into a blessing and opportunity. Minhyuk thought about it calmly. Everyone would curse at him and mock him for being fat. They would also think that he would not participate in the World War because of how he looked.

    Everyone was assuming that he was over 200 kg in weight right now. This meant that the person that tipped Despatch knew him before he started ying <em>Athenae</em>. The informant was most likely someone that worked in the mansion in the past.

    Minhyuk had ovee this eating addiction, a disease that no one could fight against. He stood in front of the mirror and looked at himself. He still had to lose around 10 kg, but he thought that he looked great already.

    What would happen if he lost another 10 kg and appeared in public? And with his life story, how would the people feel if they knew that his sad and desperate drama had actually turned into a sess story?

    The people would definitely go wild and look up to the Food God that had ovee a deadly disease who appeared in front of the world with a handsome and outstanding appearance!

    <em>¡®Perhaps, I should thank the informant instead?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk did not know who he was, but he gave the tip-off at the perfect time. They intended to use it to abuse Minhyuk, but he would use it as an ¡®opportunity¡¯. Even thepanies that targeted Ilhwa Group would fall into frustration and despair once they saw his sess story.

    However, there was a problem. With the uing World War, he did not have much time to lose 10 kg. He only had a little over two weeks left to lose that much weight.

    ¡°Doc Jinhwan. I think I should take <strong>k4-1</strong> for two weeks.¡±

    ¡°Will you be alright with that, Minhyuk?¡± Lee Jinhwan asked worriedly.

    The drug k4-1 was a drug specially manufactured for Minhyuk by Ilhwa Pharmaceuticals, a pharmaceuticalpany under the Ilhwa Group. It had been a month since the drug was developed sessfully.

    However, this drug could not be taken for more than three weeks. Besides, it was not an effective drug against eating addiction. But with Minhyuk¡¯s surprising weight loss, amazing improvement, and tenacious wil, Jinhwan had judged that this drug would work for him. He was just reluctant to rmend it because of the side effects.

    ¡°It¡¯s going to be alright. I only have two weeks left to work with. I have to give the people that are cursing and mocking me during this two-week duration a surprise and turn the situation around,¡± Minhyuk said.

    Changwook grinned and said, ¡°What are you saying? It¡¯s not ¡®I¡¯, it¡¯s ¡®we¡¯.¡±

    Changwook¡¯s words warmed Minhyuk¡¯s heart. Meanwhile, Kang Minhoo watched the scene in shock. He thought, <em>¡®My son has truly grown up.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s ability to read the entire situation ande up with a solution could already rival his own. Even his n to use this disaster and turn it into an opportunity was very shocking.

    And just like that, two weeks had gone by.

    ***

    ¡°Food God Minhyuk. Participating in <em>Athenae</em>: World War.¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    <em>Murmur, murmur.</em>

    <em>Click, click, click, click, click, click¡ª</em>

    Everyone in the audience was shocked. The figure that they saw in the pictures hadpletely disappeared. They could not recognize Minhyuk, despite him looking exactly like how he looked in <em>Athenae</em>. This was because they were in denial. After all, was there really a person that could really lose that much weight ande back to this level?

    On top of that, Minhyuk also looked different from his character in <em>Athenae. </em>First off, the armor in <em>Athenae </em>and modern suits and clothes werepletely different. Besides, Minhyuk¡¯s face was also prepared and had make up.

    Meanwhile, thementators¡­

    <em>[This ispletely unbelievable. Minhyuk, the yer that has created miracle after miracle in Athenae, has appeared in front of us. His appearance alone could surprise and overwhelm the representatives from other countries!!!]</em>

    <em>[My heart is filled with indescribable emotions! It must have been a hard fight against that disease! However, yer Minhyuk had fought fiercely and won against this unwanted and incurable disease! My tears keep on flowing!!!]</em>

    <em>[This is something that could bring a huge shock to the global medicalmunity!!!]</em>

    <em>[I don¡¯t know what to say. All I could say is that he looks handsome and cool!!!]</em>

    It was the truth. Everyone that looked at Minhyuk, whether they be the reporters, the national representatives, or the general poption, everyone held their breaths in awe.

    And Go Eun-ah, the reporter acquainted with ¡®Ruwan¡¯, stood among the other reporters. She was a reporter that had written several articles about Ilhwa Group. She had been scouted and hired by Park Munsoo to write articles for them. Go Eun-ah smiled as she started to write an article on the spot.

    <em>Food God Minhyuk. No, Minhyuk, who was afflicted with Eating Addiction, has ovee his disease and proudly appears in front of the world. This is his ¡®sess story¡¯.</em>

    She was sure that his story would bring countless tears to the eyes of everyone in the world and would give hope to those suffering from rare and unknown diseases.

    Everyone¡¯s taunts and ridicule had turned into cheers and shouts of envy. Minhyuk hadpletely turned the tide in his favor.

 Chapter 408: Penalty Shoot-Out

    Chapter 408: Penalty Shoot-Out

    <em>Click, click, click, click, click, click!</em>

    The hundreds of cameras present in the venue were still filming and taking pictures of the South Korean representatives. On this day, the eve of the start of thepetition, the Korean representatives received the most attention among all of the representatives.

    ¡°Andstly, may we all ask the representatives to gather together on stage to take pictures?¡±

    Minhyuk suddenly interjected after hearing the reporter¡¯s request, ¡°Ah. Wait a moment. There¡¯s still one more personing.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    The reporters looked at Minhyuk in doubt. All of the publicly dered representatives were already gathered. However, when they looked at it closely, they realized that there was still one more seat without a yer.

    ¡°What? Who¡¯s going toe?¡± Locke, or Jisoo, expressed his doubts. But then¡­

    <em>Murmur, murmur¡ª</em>

    Anothermotion started as a man, wearing a white mask that covered half of his face, walked out from the crowd. Minhyuk smiled happily when he saw the man appear. The man slowly approached Minhyuk and reached his hand out for a handshake, a gesture that Minhyuk dly epted. This man was none other than Death. It was ¡®Jung Ji-Hoon¡¯.

    Jung Ji-Hoon had originally received the <em>Athenae</em>¡¯s management¡¯s invitation to participate in the World War since he met the requirements for the quota. This was the quota wherein each country could send out two people to participate in the games, even if they did not receive the MVP title.

    However, despite their invitation and persuasion, Death maintained radio silence. He did not have any intention to participate at all. But after receiving Minhyuk¡¯s letter, Death eventually changed his mind. Minhyuk¡¯s letter wrote:

    <em>[I¡¯m suffering from a rare and unimaginable disease. However, there¡¯s a reason why I have ovee it.]</em>

    <em>[Because there are people that lead me to a path that has given me hope.]</em>

    <em>[You and I are no different from each other. The only difference between us are the people that surround us. You might havecked good people around you, something that I have plenty of.]</em>

    Jung Ji-Hoon looked at the letters incredulously. Was this man mocking him? There were no people around him? But, at the end of Minhyuk¡¯s letter¡­

    <em>[If you don¡¯t mind, I wish to be one of the good people around you.]</em>

    Those words touched Death deeply. He continued to receive these letters even after Minhyuk¡¯s eating addiction had been released to the world for the picking. This made Minhyuk¡¯s words ring louder and resonate stronger with him. That was when Death made his decision. He willingly went to join Minhyuk in <em>Athenae</em>: World War.

    Jung Ji-Hoon stood beside him in the photo zone as the reporters began to take their pictures. But despite that, everyone was in doubt and confusion.

    <em>[The yer with the nickname ¡®Death¡¯ is an unknown yer.]</em>

    <em>[He¡¯s wearing a white mask to cover the huge burn mark that covered half of his face.]</em>

    <em>[I wonder if this unknown and hidden yer that South Korea had chosen will perform well?]</em>

    <em>[If he can be a variable and a stumbling block to the other countries, then he might be able to help us secure a medal.]</em>

    Just like that, everyone ushered in the first day of the <em>Athenae</em>: World War.

    ***

    <em>[Ladies and gentlemen, your most awaited Athenae: World War has now begun!!!]</em>

    <em>Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!</em>

    This was the first ever <em>Athenae</em>: World War to be hosted. There were a total of 50 countries participating, with around 15 known and popr events. And with the inclusion of the unpopr events, the total number of events were quite a lot. Of course, the events were divided between team and individual events. Everyone was looking forward to watching these events.

    The stadium that they were using for the World War was the stadium that they used during the Pyeongchang Olympics in the past and could amodate 40,000 people. This just went to show how much and how long the Korean Government and Joy Co. Ltd. had been preparing together.

    The most awaited first event was an event made by transforming and changing the sport ¡®ser¡¯, a sport that everyone from all over the world was very enthusiastic about. This event was none other than the ¡®Penalty Shoot-Out¡¯. Thementators started to exin the game.

    <em>[I think it¡¯s safe to say that the Penalty Shoot-Out is the ¡®Athenae Sports¡¯¡¯ ser event.]</em>

    <em>[They took inspiration from ser but they have apletely different way of ying it. In fact, the game will have thousands of balls and hundreds of goal posts. And these goal posts can also move quickly and freely.]</em>

    <em>[ording to what I¡¯ve heard, it¡¯s almost impossible to make a goal with these balls if one isn¡¯t a real ranker.]</em>

    <em>[I believe it¡¯s because the goal posts have a will of their own and can quickly move and change ces to avoid or block the ballsing their way. What¡¯s more, the balls will only move if they ¡®reach a certain amount of damage¡¯ or if they urately hit a small red dot in the ball. If that red dot is urately hit, they don¡¯t need to worry about the damage, the ball will move normally.]</em>

    <em>[Even monsters that are well-known for their power can¡¯t move the ball with their normal power.]</em>

    <em>[There¡¯s also a special golden ball among the thousands of balls. It appears erratically but they can score 15 points as long as they m it in the goal post. However, the golden ball has a will of its own and is much heavier than the other balls. On top of that, it can only be moved by reaching a certain damage.]</em>

    <em>[And they also can¡¯t control the trajectory of the ball unless they use their magic and skills. However, scoring a golden ball will ultimately allow them to gain a huge leap in scores.]</em>

    <em>[Three people per country can participate in this event.]</em>

    <em>[There are many familiar faces from Korea¡¯s side that will participate in the first event. Food God Minhyuk, Mage Ali, and Root. However, their situation is a bit worrying. Mage Ali was said to have fallen back to Level 1. It¡¯s already a foregone conclusion and it makes you wonder why he still participated.]</em>

    <em>[Perhaps it¡¯s because they want to fill in the numbers. However, I believe Korea¡¯s decision to add him to the roster is very foolish.]</em>

    <em>[There¡¯s also Root. He¡¯s a yer called Master Archer and a very promising yer for the World Olympics. However, he retired due to some ident.]</em>

    <em>[But the balls will only move after receiving a ¡®certain amount of damage¡¯ and the damage that a bow can incur is very small. It¡¯s also a weapon that requires a high amount of concentration and uracy. These are the reasons why all of the countries, except Korea, have added an archer to their roster.]</em>

    <em>[Let¡¯s look at yer Minhyuk, Korea¡¯s Penalty Shoot-Out captain and the highest contributor in Vormon¡¯s hunt. Plenty ofments from people all over the world ignore his capabilities while plenty also say that he¡¯sparable to the Summit Five. However, there¡¯s one thing that we¡¯re sure of, everyone expects him to y very well in this Penalty Shoot-Out.]</em>

    In the South Korean yers¡¯ waiting room.

    ¡°Hooooo!¡± Ali, or Yoon Ji-Hoo, let out a shaky breath. He felt very grateful to Minhyuk and the Let¡¯s Eat Sect.

    ¡°Uwoo, uwooo!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s this? Huh? Are you drawing something for me?¡±

    Yoon Ji-Seok, Ali¡¯s hyung, was staying with them in the waiting room. He really wanted his hyung to be present in the stadium and watch him on that stage. After all, this was something that his Yoon Ji-Seok hyung had told him time and again before. He told him that he wanted to personally watch him on that stage, ying in apetition. And everyone from Let¡¯s Eat Sect was looking after his brother fondly and with kindness.

    <em>¡®As expected, my vision and judgment for people are very good.¡¯</em>

    Then, Minhyuk beckoned to Ali, ¡°Ali,e and look at this!¡±

    In the past, Yoon Ji-Seok was a fine arts major and right now, he was drawing something on the national representatives¡¯ wrist where ther friendship token was originally drawn on. In other words, he was drawing some kind of friendship token on the wrists of all the people present in the room.

    Ali looked at them in doubt, as Root and Minhyuk held out their arms only for him to see a Korean g drawn on both of their wrists. Ali smiled as he watched his hyung finish the Korean g on his own wrist.

    ¡°Frieeeeeeeend!¡±

    ¡°Frieeeeeeeend!¡±

    ¡°Frieeeeeeeend!¡±

    The three of them all reached their arms out to ce the gs together before shouting loudly. The other representatives were shocked by their sudden outburst but they did not really care that much.

    And finally, the first game, the Penalty Shoot-Out, started. The representatives of each participating country warped one after the other inside the stadium. The same was true for Minhyuk, Ali, and Root.

    The area where the game was going to be held was a huge in. The scale of this event was beyond anyone¡¯s imagination, even with hundreds of rankers running around, the ce did not even feel cramped.

    There were also dozens of goal posts, a third of the size of an ordinary ser goal post, whizzing over the yers¡¯ heads. The goal posts moved swiftly, flying in the sky, dashing on the ground, or even taunting the yers right at their face. There were also transparent shields that appeared and disappeared in front of the goal posts. These shields were ying the role of the goalkeepers.

    As for the rules of the game? There was none in particr. All they had to do was to score a goal. The team could kill their opponents and keep them in check as long as they could ept the risk of falling behind the others in terms of goals. Not long after, a ball appeared in front of each of the teams.

    <em>[The first five minutes of the game is set for the yers to familiarize themselves with the ball.]</em>

    <em>[The movement and trajectory of the ball will vary depending on how strong your attack is.]</em>

    Victor, one of the Russian Team¡¯s yers, was a former ser yer that also represented Russia before. He was also one of the closebat fighters in their team and had learned the Korean traditional martial arts, taekwondo, an art that used powerful kicks to attack the enemies.

    To put it simply, Victor viewed this ¡®Penalty Shoot-Out¡¯ event as something ridiculous and funny. In fact, he firmly believed that Russia would win the gold medal for this event. Of course, it was all on the basis that Russia had named him as someone that could reach the Summit Five.

    Countless cameras zoomed in on Victor¡¯s face.

    <em>[It seems like this game is very much suited for Russia¡¯s Victor, a former ser yer, a taekwondo martial artist, and a closebat fighter ss yer.]</em>

    <em>[You¡¯re absolutely right. Plenty of people are expecting him to score a lot of goals in this event.]</em>

    <em>[Yes. To add to the exnations, the cooldown of the skills and abilities that the yers will use during the five minute preparation period will be reset once the actual game starts.]</em>

    Meanwhile, Victor confidently stood in front of the ball and slowly pulled his leg back.

    <em>¡®A ball like this will easily move around with just a basic attack.¡¯</em>

    Victor was a yer whose ss focused on strengthening the legs. And when he kicked the ball strongly¡­!

    <em>Boom¡ª</em>

    A loud noise erupted as the ball moved. However, shockingly enough, the ball stopped after flying for about 1.5 meters.

    <em>[¡­?]</em>

    <em>[¡­?]</em>

    <em>[¡­?]</em>

    The audience looked at Victor strangely. Even the other representatives felt strange.

    <em>Boom¡ª</em>

    <em>Booom¡ª</em>

    <em>Booooom¡ª</em>

    They punched, kicked, mmed it with an iron mace, and even used their skills, but the ball only moved within a five meter radius from their starting point.

    ¡°No, what the hell is this¡­?!¡±

    Only then did the yers start using their individual skills.

    <em>Baaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Even though they used their skills, the balls only flew up as if someone just kicked it normally.

    That was when they remembered the ¡®red dot¡¯ on the ball. ording to the rules, the ball would move easily as long as they urately hit it on that spot. However, there was a problem. The red dot was literally just a small red dot on the ball, and it was very difficult to find with the naked eye.

    <em>[The Red Dot System is closely rted to the concept of critical strikes. Just like inside the Athenae game, our chances of getting a critical strike increases when we hit a vital point. The only difference here is that the vital point is reduced to the size of a dot.]</em>

    <em>[However, even if you struck the red dot, it doesn¡¯t necessarily mean that the ball will move. The force of your attack must be concentrated on that red dot for the ball to move. In other words, just striking the red dot on the ball won¡¯t mean anything. Let¡¯s put it this way, assuming that the red dot is 1 and the rest of the ball is 99, you have to focus at least 50% of your power and damage into that one point for the ball to move.]</em>

    <em>[I don¡¯t think it¡¯s possible for anyone to move the ball using that red dot.]</em>

    <em>[I agree. The red dot is an element taken from the critical strike rate system that Joy Co. Ltd added for fun.]</em>

    Meanwhile, the representatives from each country were all sighing.

    ¡°I think we can only move the ball with our skills, right?¡±

    ¡°Ahh! What the hell is this ball?!¡±

    Fortunately, they still have their buff abilities. As long as they used their buff abilities and increased their basic attack power, they would be able to move the ball a lot. And if they used their skills on top of that, the ball would move sharply as if it had been kicked normally. Through trial and error, they each found out that the ball could be moved and controlled with skills, buffs and asional passive skills.

    But then, at that moment¡­

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    <em>Thuuuuuuud¡ª</em>

    <em>Thuuuuuuuud¡ª</em>

    <em>Thuuuuuuuud¡ª</em>

    A strange sound began to ring loudly in the stadium. All of the representatives turned their heads to look at the direction of the sound. The sound was, in fact, the sound of the ball getting hit. When they finally turnedpletely, they saw Minhyuk holding a sword with one hand while his other hand was ced over his eyes, as if he was checking if the course of the basketball-like ball was correct and if he had hit it properly. Everyone knew what that meant.

    ¡°What the hell?! Are you telling me that his basic damage is much higher than mine?!¡±

    ¡°Crazy¡­¡±

    Then, something unexpected happened.

    ¡°I think I can make it fly further¡­¡± Minhyuk mumbled to himself. Then, he used his sword to hit the ball.

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s sword struck the falling ball urately and then¡­

    <em>Crackle, crackle, crackle¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaang!</em>

    A bloody lightning bolt struck down from the skies apanied by a loud explosion the moment his sword made contact with the ball. The ball flew straight towards one of the goal posts. A transparent shield immediately appeared around the goal post to act as the goalkeeper, but it was no use. The of the goal post was already fluttering wildly from the ball rotating fiercely inside it.

    <em>[Gooooooooooal! It¡¯s a goal!!!]</em>

    <em>[The game hasn¡¯t started yet but yer Minhyuk has already scored a goal!]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s following words brought shock to the other representatives that were focused on him. He said, ¡°It¡¯s easy.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

 Chapter 409: Penalty Shoot-Out

    Chapter 409: Penalty Shoot-Out

    The former Russian ser yer Victor, as well as the other representatives, who were pondering over how to control the ball, were all left speechless when they heard Minhyuk¡¯s words.

    <em>¡®Did he just say that it was easy?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®How is this thing easy?¡¯</em>

    Just making the ball move was a difficult task in itself. In fact, the damage needed to move the ball was set by Joy Co. Ltd., by calcting the average damage output of all the representatives.

    However, could the ball be moved like a normal ball? Of course not.

    The reason why rankers were called rankers was because their gaming skills far surpassed that of the ordinary poption. Onemon example of this was the FPS-game Battle Lord. The game would start on one ind where 100 yers would pick up weapons scattered all over the ce and use it to fight against their opponents. Professional yers could garner 10 kills, 20 kills, or even more than 30 kills by themselves, in an environment where they had the same HP, same speed, and same weapons. Everything that they had was equal, but at the same time they were all different. Their control skills made them a cut above the rest.

    The rankers needed to utilize their skills to manage and control the movement and trajectory of the ball. However, Minhyuk was showing them that his skills were beyond theirs. To move the ball and let it fly like that, he had to have at least a 1.5x higher attack than everyone present here. And¡­

    <em>¡®What the hell was that lightning? The ball flew swiftly after receiving a tremendous force from the lightning that struck it after receiving a hit from his sword.¡¯</em>

    Victor came to a conclusion of his own, <em>¡®It must be his active and buff skill.¡¯</em>

    Just like Minhyuk¡¯s Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship, plenty of yers had various buff skills ranging from artifact buff skills, to battle buff skills, and plenty more. These kinds of buff skills, however, were subjected to a cooldown. And Victor was convinced that the bloody lightning that appeared after Minhyuk used his sword was an active skill.

    <em>¡®Over-buffed and over-skilled! How can you strut proudly with a power that anybody can have?!¡¯</em>

    In the end, buff skills and active skills were restricted. Especially skills that could increase the yer¡¯s attack power by 1.5x. Skills like that usually had a duration of only ten minutes. In the end, all of the representatives came to the same conclusion.

    <em>¡®What a moron.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He shouldn¡¯t have acted so conceitedly. These five minutes were the time to get the feel for the ball, not to act so high and mighty.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He already exposed one of his powers. A buff that greatly increases the attack power and an active skill that triggers lightning strikes. I will remember that.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®It seems like the Food God is a stupid fool, contrary to the rumors that I have been hearing.¡¯</em>

    That was right. None of them wanted to show off their buff and active skills before the game started. And that was not all. Root was shooting arrows in the air as if he was trying to get the feel of his bow, while Ali did not even bother to touch the ball.

    Alex, the world¡¯s official number one mage, thought, <em>¡®The Koreans have gone crazy!¡¯ </em>and smiled deeply. He never expected that they would let Ali y. The Penalty Shoot-Out game did not have many rules. Alex wanted to take advantage of this game to PK Ali, who was infinitely weaker than him, and sought to do so the moment the game started.

    On the other hand, a man stood among the other representatives from the France Team and stared at Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®Food God¡­!¡¯</em>

    The man ring at Minhyuk was none other than Cuhel, the leader of ckstone and the head of one of the richest and noble families in the world, the Rothschilde Family.

    Cuhel had undergone several earth-shattering changes after being brutally PKed by Minhyuk in the Demon World¡¯s Tower. He decided to stop hiding his existence and let the world know about who he was. He was Cuhel of the Rothschilde Family, one of the Summit Five, and was also one of France¡¯s representative yers. He had a power that could rival an entire kingdom by himself. And, he came here to hunt Minhyuk.

    Just like that, the balls that appeared in front of the yers disappeared into thin air.

    <em>[The game will now begin!]</em>

    <em>[The Penalty Shoot-Out game is divided into two halves. Both halves will have a duration of forty minutes. Representative teams with simr scores vying for the gold, silver, and bronze medals will y in an overtime match.]</em>

    <em>[The first event of the Athenae: World War!!! The game with the most rankers!!! The Penalty Shoot-Out has started!!!]</em>

    <em>Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!</em>

    With thementators¡¯ words as the signal, the yers all dashed forward to wee the hundreds of balls that started to fall down from the skies.

    ***

    The representative yers swiftly dashed forward as hundreds of balls fell down! These were the strongest yers that hid their power during the five minute preparation time!

    America¡¯s Alexander, the Ghost of the Battlefield, ran among these yers. He was not recognized as one of the Summit Five since he was working unofficially. However, the truth was his power and talent wasparable to the Summit Five.

    Hundreds of greatswords appeared and surrounded the Ghost of the Battlefield, Alexander, which flew straight towards the hundreds of falling balls.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    <em>[Ghost of the Battlefield Alexander¡¯s ¡®Greatsword Battleground¡¯ has appeared in front of us! From what I heard, each greatsword has a 600% increase in attack!]</em>

    <em>[Alexander is already a great dealer. And if he has an additional 600% increase in attack, then he will be able to move however he wants!]</em>

    The moment Alexander¡¯s sword made contact with the balls they flew straight towards the goalposts.

    <em>Baaaaaaang!</em>

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    <em>[Goaaaaaaaaaal!]</em>

    <em>aaaaaash¡ª</em>

    <em>[And another goaaaaal! Alexander has scored goals one after the other! He made a total of eight goals in one go!]</em>

    <em>[America¡¯s Alexander will definitely y a key role moving forward in this game!]</em>

    <em>[However, unlike the hundreds of greatswords that Alexander had let out to hit those balls, the number of points that he had scored is a bit pitiful.]</em>

    <em>[Even though he has the ability to send out hundreds of greatswords, taking control of the ball itself is a very difficult feat. As you can see, most of the balls that his sword had hit flew wildly and did not even get anywhere near the goal posts.]</em>

    However, Alexander was not the only one garnering attention. There was also the French Team¡¯s Cuhel. Cuhel opened his fan, a disaster artifact that could create storms. He had been able to strengthen Gorac¡¯s Disaster Artifact once again. Because of that, he had reached a level where he could freely control the storm¡¯s power.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>Flutter¡ª</em>

    Strong winds started to blow in the stadium. Everyone knew that the ball would only fly if the attack reached a certain damage. However, he was able to make the balls fly under the constant onught of damage from the force of the wind.

    <em>[Several balls flew up in the sky!]</em>

    <em>[They look like balloons that flew up from the force of the wind!]</em>

    Cuhel pointed his fan towards the goal posts. As if following his orders, the wind blew strongly and made the balls fly straight towards the posts one after the other.

    <em>Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom¡ª</em>

    <em>[Cuhel scores 14 straight goals!]</em>

    <em>[France is also making great progress!]</em>

    <em>[There¡¯s also Japan¡¯s Kentaro! He¡¯s surprisingly quick-footed! Heok! Kentaro¡¯s way of scoring goals is very surprising! He¡¯s using the red dot! He¡¯s hitting the red dot to move the ball!]</em>

    <em>[My goodness! So, it was really possible!]</em>

    <em>[It seems like Kentaro has a skill that allows him to urately hit the ¡®vital point¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[Currently, America has 21 goals, France has 19 goals, Japan has 14 goals, and China has 12 goals! Even though the yers looked flustered when they first made contact with the ball, they¡¯re all scoring goals in their own ways!]</em>

    And amidst them¡­

    <em>Thuuuuuud¡ª</em>

    <em>Crackle, crackle, crackle¡ª</em>

    A powerful and loud explosion caught the attention of all of the yers present. This was because this was a very familiar sound. And over there, they saw Minhyuk skillfully hitting the ball with his sword and scoring goals.

    <em>[Korea has scored four goals!]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s the fifth goal! They have scored five goals in a row!]</em>

    <em>[yer Minhyuk has been scoring one goal after another.]</em>

    <em>[Korea is currently 30th, but it¡¯s really amazing to see yer Minhyuk scoring most of their goals!]</em>

    <em>¡®His skill is going to end soon anyway!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Once that skill ends, he won¡¯t be a big deal anymore!¡¯</em>

    That was what everyone believed. Meanwhile, Ali and Root were both getting ready. Root was holding his breath and waiting for something, while Ali was preparing something too. Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>[It¡¯s the golden ball! The golden ball has made its first appearance!!!]</em>

    <em>[Just a few minutes after the game has started, the greatest variable of the event, the golden ball, has appeared!]</em>

    A bright golden light shed brightly the moment the golden ball appeared! Every yer present had their eyes trained on the golden ball that started to fall down from the sky. Just one goal with this ball and they would be able score ten points! All of them started to run for the falling goal.

    ¡°Run!¡±

    ¡°As long as we make a goal with that golden ball then we¡¯ll be able to turn the tides in our favor!¡±

    Hundreds of yers ran towards the ball. And by chance, the one closest to the golden ball was Cuhel. Then¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The golden ball mmed down into the ground loudly. It was so loud that it wasparable to a bomb explosion. Just with the sound alone, anyone could tell that the ball was extremely heavy and would be very hard to control. But, at that moment¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The golden ball moved on its own. It was only natural. After all, they had announced that the golden ball had a will of its own. The golden ball, which had flown up on its own, mmed into the yers running forward to try and make a goal with it.

    <em>Baaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keheeeeok!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡±

    Some of the representative yers flew back, just like bowling pins being hit by the bowling ball. Just like that, the golden ball flew wildly in the field. But once the golden ball flew back to the position where it had originally fallen from, Cuhel immediately used his one-shot kill skill.

    <em>[Maestro¡¯s Lethal Blow]</em>

    <em>[A strong force will extend 15 meters from the tip of your sword and urately stab the opponent¡¯s vital point, incurring an additional 1500% damage.]</em>

    <em>Thuuuuuuuuump¡ª</em>

    A strong force extended from the tip of Cuhel¡¯s sword and urately aimed for the ball. The skill had a 100% chance of stabbing the vital point which would allow Cuhel to stab the golden ball¡¯s ¡®red dot¡¯ urately. The attack would then add a strong spin to the ball and make it enter the goal post. Nothing wascking, the strength, the power, everything was perfect. Then, the force and the golden ball collided.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    And just like expected, the golden ball flew fiercely towards the goal post.

    <em>[Aaaaaaaaaaah! The golden fall is flying towards the goal!]</em>

    <em>[Looking at the speed of the ball, it looks like it willnd safely into the goal post before the shield appears!]</em>

    <em>[Will France turn the tables of this game just like that?!]</em>

    But suddenly¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    One man held his breath as he sharply drew the strings of his bow while watching the course of the golden ball. And when the man released the strings¡­

    <em>Piiiiiing¡ª</em>

    An arrow made of light flew fiercely, grazing the golden ball flying towards the goal post. That was right, the arrow just brushed against the ball.

    There was one loophole that the Korean team wanted to take advantage of. This Penalty Shoot-Out game was different from ser. No one owned the goal post and whoever touched the ballst would be recognized as the one that made the goal.

    Yes, the arrow made of light just lightly grazed the golden ball, it did not even change the course of the ball. However, it sessfully changed the st hitter¡¯.

    <em>Thuuuuuump¡ª</em>

    The goal post shook wildly as the score of one country rose significantly.

    <em>[<strong>1st ce. </strong>Korea. 21 points.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    All of the screen showed the figure of a smiling man holding his bow. Knowing that all of the cameras were focused on him, the man raised his left wrist and unted the ¡®Korean g¡¯ drawn on it. This action made the mes burning in the hearts of all the Korean people watching burn brightly. All of them called out the name of this man loudly.

    ¡°Root!!!¡±

    ¡°Root!!!¡±

    ¡°Root! Root! Root! Root! Root!¡±

    The audience cheered loudly, and at the center of it all was Korea¡¯s Master Archer, Root.

 Chapter 410: Penalty Shoot-Out

    Chapter 410: Penalty Shoot-Out

    Root was once a part of the Korean national team that was sent to the Olympics. However, a harrowing ident left him with a paralyzed lower body. Since then, Root lived a life cut off from the rest of the world, wallowing in despair.

    That was until he encountered the game called <em>Athenae. </em>In that world, he was once again able to shoot the bow that he loved as much as he wanted to. And while he yed alone, he was able to meet the gamer named Minhyuk and became a member of the guild called ¡®Legend Guild¡¯.

    Root often met up with the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect for get-togethers. The members did not care and treated Root warmly like they were family, even after knowing that he lived alone and that he had a body that was ufortable to move with. This warmth gave Root a new driving force to move forward and turn the Archery Representative Root into the <em>Athenae</em> Representative Root!

    <em>[Goaaaaaaaal!]</em>

    <em>[And that¡¯s a goal!!! Korea has scored with the golden ball!!!]</em>

    <em>[Unbelievable! Cuhel¡¯s blow added a fierce momentum to the ball which increased its speed tremendously to the point that we couldn¡¯t even follow it with the naked eye! How was he able to graze that with his arrow?!]</em>

    <em>[My jaw just dropped open at the sight.]</em>

    <em>[Oh my god! Root, the only archer yer in this game and the yer that everyone thought would be useless in the game, is doing a good job! He¡¯s making Korea soar higher!]</em>

    Minhyuk nodded at Root and Ali as they made eye contact. Root, who was smiling slightly, raised the bow in his hand and let loose a series of arrows. The arrows that were flying fiercely in the skies were no different, no, perhaps even more shocking and stronger with the help of <em>Athenae¡¯s</em> game system, than the arrows that he had sent flying during his heyday as a national archer representative.

    Root¡¯s arrows urately struck the ball¡¯s red dot.

    <em>Thump¡ª</em>

    Fueled with the force of Root¡¯s arrow, the ball went straight into the goal post.

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    The sight of the goal post shaking wildly left the entire world in shock.

    <em>[Another goal!!! Unbelievable!!!]</em>

    <em>[Root urately struck the red dot on the ball, sending it directly to the goal!]</em>

    However, Root¡¯s hand did not stop moving.

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    Root¡¯s arrows urately struck the balls¡¯ red dots which sent four of them straight into the goal posts!

    <em>[Ko¡­ Korea''s team has reached a total of 26 points! The gap between them and the other teams has widened!!!]</em>

    <em>[P¡­ yer Root has proven himself to be a great variable!]</em>

    President Kang Taehoon, who was working as a specialmentator, sat among the othermentators and exined the situation.

    <em>[yer Root¡¯s skills with the bow arepletely unbelievable! ording to our analysis, striking the ball¡¯s red dot with the yer¡¯s individual ability and Athenae¡¯s archery skills isparable to scoring the highest score in the Archery Olympics.]</em>

    Kang Taehoon¡¯s exnation made the fire in the hearts of the Koreans burn even brighter. However, because of Root¡¯s outstanding disy, the other representative teams hade to a consensus.

    ¡°Kill him!¡±

    ¡°Kill that archer!!!¡±

    ¡°You want to take away our scores, huh?!¡±

    That was right, Root became their number one target. Minhyuk nodded quietly after making eye contact with Ali. Then, with Cuhel at the lead, dozens of rankers rushed to attack Root with their skills, magic, and basic attacks.

    However, before they could reach Root, ck Mage Ali, who they had believed to have regressed back into being a novice yer, stepped forward.

    ¡°Ali?¡± Alex murmured while sending plenty of Fire Balls at Root. But not long after, heughed to himself, <em>¡®What can you do?! Huh?! You have lost all of your power!¡¯</em>

    All of the yers were thinking the same thing.

    <em>¡®You¡¯re just here to fill the numbers¡­!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®We will definitely kill Root!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Mage Ali will just die with him. Heh.¡¯</em>

    <em>[Mage Ali steps forward to protect Root!]</em>

    <em>[However, I don¡¯t know why Mage Ali stepped forward to protect Root.]</em>

    <em>[Ali has not taken any action so far so plenty of people said that he just participated to fill in the numbers.]</em>

    Ali, on the other hand, was looking at the stands where the Korean Team¡¯s families were seated. He saw his beloved hyung, Yoon Ji-Seok, standing among them and holding a card that he wrote himself. Although his letters were a bit crooked, the message still brought a gushing warmth to Ali¡¯s heart.

    <em>[Strongest Mage Ali! Fighting!!!]</em>

    Ali wanted to tell his hyung, <em>¡®Hyung, you don¡¯t need to worry about me anymore. Hyung, your brother, Yoon Ji-Hoo¡­ that little boy that had a social anxiety disorder has grown up and has ovee his fears.¡¯</em>

    Dozens of skills, magic, and basic attacks started to fall down on Ali and Root. However, in Ali¡¯s eyes, everything was moving in slow motion. He smiled slightly before raising his hand and snapping his fingers.

    <em>Snap¡ª</em>

    With a snap, everything stopped. The dozens of powerful magic and skills and even the yers with their swords, spears and maces stopped. The wide area covered by this huge stadium, this entire space, stopped for Ali. His smile grew wider as he looked at the Fireball that stopped right at the tip of his nose. Even the stands seemed to have stopped as their eyes focused on him.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡± Deafening shouts shook the entire world! Among them, was Ali¡¯s hyung, Yoon Ji-Seok, with a bright and wide smile on his face. Ali had shown them another miracle. And the scene created by that miracle made them doubt their eyes.

    <em>[N¡­ no way! That magic is not ¡®Space Stasis¡¯ right?!]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s totally unbelievable! The Space Stasis can really stop anything and everything around the caster but I haven¡¯t heard anything about it having such a wide radius!]</em>

    <em>[No. I think that¡¯s really Space Stasis. Its range of effect is entirely dependent on the caster¡¯s mana, stats, and ss.]</em>

    Then, one of thementators asked¡­

    <em>[Th¡­ then if that¡¯s the case, how high has Ali reached now?]</em>

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    Silence reigned among thementators.

    Meanwhile, Ali brandished his Staff of Despair. With a swing of his staff, all of the magic and skills that aimed for him and Root started to move again. But this time, they were moving back to the yers that sent them.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuhaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keheok!¡±

    ¡°Keok!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    The opposing yers shrieked in pain. They could not understand what had happened, let alone what was going on. However, there was someone among them that understood. This man was none other than Alex, the world¡¯s official number one mage.

    <em>Tremble¡ª</em>

    Alex¡¯s body trembled wildly, his thoughts stunned into silence. For a moment, he wondered if he could disy even a fifth of the level of the Space Stasis that Ali had just casted. But he knew that he could not.

    It was at this point in time that they realized that Ali, who everyoneughed at, and Root, who they ignored, had proven themselves to be huge variables in this game. This was something that all of the people from all over the world had witnessed. After all, almost everyone was tuned in and watching them since this was the very first game of the very first World War.

    ¡°Impossible!!!¡± Alex shouted as he summoned one Hellfire after the other.

    <em>Crackle, crackle¡ª</em>

    ¡°Alex¡­!¡± Alexander¡¯s face crumpled in annoyance as he shouted at Alex. They were in the same team and he knew that Alex, as a mage, should save his MP. Besides, using AOE magic required high concentration, which would put him at a risk of gaining the attention of everyone and receiving the attacks of the enemies that were spread out in the field.

    However, for some reason, Alex felt that he would forever remain in second ce if he failed to kill Ali at this point in time.

    <em>Crackle, crackle¡ª</em>

    Gigantic fire from hell shot straight towards Ali. Alex smiled after hearing the notification about his passive skill, a skill that ignored the opponent¡¯s magical defense and increased his magic¡¯s pration by 40%, getting triggered.

    However, Ali just stretched out his index finger and said, ¡°Dispel.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The Hellfires rushing towards Ali disappeared into thin air. Then¡­

    <em>Fwoosh¡ª</em>

    ¡­two golden spears created from a more powerful ¡®Diss¡¯ stretched out from Ali¡¯s fingertip and pierced through Alex¡¯s chest, one after the other.

    ¡°Urk¡­?¡±

    Alex was a mage yer. Most mage yers had low HP and defense as a bnce for their ridiculously high magical defense and mana. But then, there was Ali¡¯s magic.

    <em>¡®What kind of ridiculous damage is this¡­?¡¯</em>

    Ali¡¯s magic was at a level where Alex¡¯s magical defense could not keep up with.

    <em>Copse¡ª</em>

    It only took 1.7 seconds for the world¡¯s official number one mage, Alex, to lose the battle against Ali.

    <em>[Mage Ali forced America Team¡¯s Alex to log out in one shot!]</em>

    <em>[The scene that I¡¯m witnessing right now ispletely unbelievable!]</em>

    The entire world was left in shock. Ali had logged out the world¡¯s official number one mage in just a single shot! His disy of magic ced him at a level where no one could easily touch him. However, the mboyant disy also made him into a target.

    <em>¡®I didn¡¯t know that Korea is hiding such variables!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I definitely heard that Ali has regressed back to Level 1. What¡¯s going on here?!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®We have to kill him! Otherwise, they¡¯ll get the gold medal.¡¯</em>

    The thoughts of everyone present were divided into two. There were those that wanted to score goals since the others were fighting against each other, and there were those that wanted to eliminate the most dangerous enemies first.

    Among those that chose to eliminate the enemies, Cuhel stood at the forefront. Cuhel waspletely furious about his golden ball getting stolen.

    But, as they narrowed their distance with Ali and Root, one man continued to silently do his job. This man was none other than Minhyuk.

    <em>Thuuuump¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk watched as their opponents approached his teammates, while calmly scoring one goal after the other.

    <em>Thuuuuuump¡ª</em>

    With every goal that he scored, the approaching representatives felt their mouths twitch. Only then did the other yers take the time to look at how much time had passed in the game.

    <em>[<strong>First Half.</strong> 21 minutes 41 seconds.]</em>

    More than twenty minutes have passed in the game, so howe Minhyuk was still going strong?

    <em>¡®What the hell? Howe his buff is still not ending?¡¯</em>

    They expected the buff, which increased Minhyuk¡¯s attack by 1.5x, to have a short duration. It was amon urrence and bnce to buff abilities that increased power by a tremendous amount. So, howe? Just when they were wondering about that¡­

    ¡°Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡­a red current appeared and surrounded Minhyuk before it got sucked inside his body.

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Only then did they realize¡­

    <em>¡®He wasn¡¯t using any buff skill?!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Are you telling me that his basic attack and damage is 1.5x higher than ours?!!!¡¯</em>

    Terror. Yes, terror.

    Right now, the yer named Minhyuk struck fear and terror, along with a sense of helplessness to the national representatives.

 Chapter 411: Penalty Shoot-Out

    Chapter 411: Penalty Shoot-Out

    They finally realized that it was not Minhyuk who was stupid, it was them. Minhyuk hadpletely deceived them and his actions had told them about how foolish they were for assuming that he was just a nobody. He was also telling them that he would now start to y this game seriously by finally using his buff skill. At this moment, the yers felt¡­

    <em>¡®He¡¯s the most dangerous person right now.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He¡¯s more eye-catching than the other yers from Korea¡­!¡¯</em>

    This was because they could tell that the stadium would be rife with screams the moment the game reached the thirty minute mark. By that time, most of the representatives¡¯ skill had reached cooldown and would be struggling to somehow get the ball to move, with just their basic attacks.

    In fact, most of the rankers present had already used 50% of their skills and abilities. The worst part was that their HP and skill cooldown would not reset with the start of the second half.

    Then, what about Minhyuk?

    <em>¡®He has only used two skills so far. He had just used his buff skill and that mysterious skill where he triggers a bloody lightning bolt with each strike.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Korea is even in first ce¡­!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk only used his basic attacks to score countless goals earlier. He was fully aware that the other yers would immediately exclude him from their list of hostile and dangerous targets. So, he silently scored goals and took advantage of their errors in judgment.

    The yers all broke out in cold sweat after realizing how much of a huge disaster Minhyuk poised to be. However, what they failed to notice was the fact that those bloody lightning strikes with explosive power created from a spark from Minhyuk¡¯s sword was not an ¡®active skill¡¯.

    Then, Helion, one of the members of the France National Team and a yer known to have a high HP reserve, stepped forward and took the lead. Theirmon enemy now was the Korean Team. Plenty of them had judged that their own country would not be able to win that gold medal, so they decided to not let Korea, a country that they mocked and sneered at, win any medal at all.

    Helion, who stepped forward to lead the attack, was hailed as France¡¯s Tanker God. He was originally a pdin ss and had plenty of special skills attached to his ss. And one of those skills was:

    <em>[Shield of Nullification]</em>

    <em>[Neutralizes all of the damage that the opponent¡¯s active skill could incur.]</em>

    This was Helion¡¯s special skill, a skill that everyone in the world knew about, the Shield of Nullification! This skill had even nullified a legendary ss monster¡¯s active skills, which allowed him to sessfully hunt the monster and gain a lot of attention. Yes, that was right. They were also that kind of existence. One should not forget that these were also rankers that represented their own countries.

    ¡°The Shield of Nullification¡­!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right! If it¡¯s that power, then¡­!¡±

    If they could stop the Food God from using his active skills, then they, the majority, would be able to kill him. As long as the Food God was left in a state where he was literally shackled by that skill, they would be able to easily kill him.

    Everyone charged at Minhyuk with fierce momentum. At the same time, the Lightning Explosion branded on Minhyuk¡¯s sword disappeared and changed into Lightning Destruction. Then, Minhyuk swung his sword to stop the rushing Helion.

    ¡°You won¡¯t be able to deal with me with just your basic attacks!¡± Helion shouted as he continued to rush forward with fierce momentum. Then, his sword collided with Minhyuk¡¯s sword.

    <em>aaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Helion shed a few times with Minhyuk and was able to see the red sparks start to form in Minhyuk¡¯s sword.

    ¡°Your active skills are useless¡­!¡±

    But then¡­

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Eight bloody lightning strikes struck Helion in one go.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaaaaack!¡± Helion shrieked as his HP dropped by 40% in an instant. s, the shocking notifications did not end there.

    <em>[You have been stunned for two seconds.]</em>

    Helion¡¯s pupils shook wildly as he stared at Minhyuk in shock and disbelief. There were two reasons why he was in disbelief. First, Minhyuk¡¯s damage was tremendous. And, second¡­

    ¡°It¡¯s, it¡¯s a passive skill?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    The yers, who worked together with Helion believing that Minhyuk¡¯s active skill would be neutralized, stopped in their tracks.

    The explosive speed and power that Minhyuk packed into the balls that he sent to the goal was not an active skill, but a passive skill! Helion trembled wildly when he realized this. However, fear did not brew in his mind for long, as he died with a swift and painless stab to the neck.

    <em>Copse¡ª</em>

    Helion slowly copsed. With his death, the total number of yers that the Korean Team had logged out had increased to two. However, the most shocking part was the fact that both of the yers that they killed were yers that had been deified by their own countries.

    Minhyuk¡¯s gaze turned cold as he watched his opponents look helplessly at each other. Then, he opened his mouth and spat, ¡°Wow. Look at that¡­¡± Then, a cold smile lingered at the corners of his mouth as he continued to say, ¡°¡­I¡¯ll force you all to log out.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s smiled brought fear and terror to his opponents. They did not even dare to imagine how much strength and power was hiding behind Minhyuk¡¯s cold and ruthless smile.

    ¡°Hi¡­ hiiiiiiiik¡­!¡±

    ¡°Crazy bastards! There are only three of you!¡±

    Indeed, there were only three yers in the Korean Team, while they were still in the dozens. Besides, the fact that they were their own countries¡¯ representatives would not change. They also had their own ¡®one-shot kill¡¯ skills and powerful AOE skills. They believed that they would be able to kill them, as long as they hit them hard enough. After all, talent alone would not allow the three of them to hold out against their numbers.

    The problem was that they also needed to save some of their skills. They might be rankers, but they were also yers participating in this game. They also wanted to leave some room for themselves to score goals for their own teams.

    However, Ali also started to join in scoring goals for the Korean Team. It was as if they wanted to set their opponents¡¯ antsy hearts on fire.

    <em>Crackle, crackle, crackle¡ª</em>

    <em>Crackle, crackle, crackle¡ª</em>

    The other yers watched as dozens of sparking spheres flew up in the air. These spheres were none other than the manifestation of Energy Bolt, the most basic magic spell in a mage¡¯s arsenal.

    However, the effect of this magic was entirely dependent on the mage that was using it. And Ali, with the help of the Mana Heart¡¯s power, had an unbelievable amount of magical attack.

    Just like that, dozens of Energy Bolts flew straight towards the falling balls.

    <em>Baaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The Energy Bolts urately struck the balls and gave them a powerful boost that brought them straight towards the goal posts.

    ¡°He can use Energy Bolts to move the balls?!¡±

    ¡°What the hell?! How high is his magical attack?!¡±

    The yers found themselves in another difficult predicament. They were fully aware that mage yers were the ones that could score the most in this game.

    If that was the case, what would happen if that very same mage yer could easily score goals just by using low-tier magic?

    Simply put, they could score even more. However, in reality, this was an impossible feat. Even the official world¡¯s number one mage, Alex, could not move the balls with a low-tier magic like Energy Bolt. But, Ali could do it. Taking into consideration the amount of mana that he has, the yers could already tell that he would be able to cast thousands of Energy Bolt in one go.

    Then, suddenly, a man holding the fan that could call forth storms, an artifact hailed as a disaster artifact, stepped forward. Seeing this man make a move brought a small smile to the yers¡¯ faces. Yes, that was right. They were just cooperating with their opponents for a while. And the opponent that they cooperated with was none other than the owner of France¡¯s Rothschilde Family, Cuhel.

    Cuhel, the yer that became one of the Summit Five not too long ago, was the head of the global Athenae alliance ¡®ckstone¡¯. Also, as the owner of the Rothschilde family, he had plenty of money and assets in his hands. Naturally, the value of the artifacts on his body were beyond anyone¡¯s imagination. Yes. He literally stood at the peak using his money.

    <em>¡®Our power will be enough to deal with him if we fight together with Cuhel.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®No. It would even be an easy feat.¡¯</em>

    The yers lookedpletely funny with their noses high up in the sky, acting all conceited and proud.

    The first to move was France¡¯s Antoine, a yer on the same team as Cuhel in the Penalty Shoot-Out game, wielding a sturdy and tough iron mace that could easily allow him to whack his opponent into a stunned state. Antoine raised his iron mace up with all his might and swung it strongly towards the Korean Team. This was the first shot.

    <em>Fwoosh¡ª</em>

    ¡°Lightning God¡¯s Wrath!¡±

    A powerful lightning bolt fell down from the sky as another yer raised his spear and pointed it to the skies.

    <em>Crackle¡ª</em>

    The attack brought forth an extremely formidable momentum! With those attacks acting as signals to start, dozens of attack skills poured down on the Korean Team.

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    Ali hurriedly casted one golden shield on top of the other in front of the Korean Team.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Despite the dozens of attack skills that fell down on them, Ali¡¯s golden shields did not break. In fact, he even had time to quickly cast another AOE spell, Fire Field.

    <em>Fwoosh, crackle¡ª</em>

    zing heat caused by the Fire Field spread out widely under the feet of their opponents.

    <em>Crackle¡ª</em>

    Then, tall pirs of mes erupted from the ground, forcing the other yers to disperse. Root also took advantage of the gap as he raised his bow and shot the approaching enemies with his arrows. Root looked exactly like those elven marksmen that were depicted in movies as he shot two arrows with every draw of his bow!

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    But then, Cuhel stabbed Ali¡¯s golden shield with his sword.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack!</em>

    Small cracks started to spread from the golden shield. There were more than a dozen shields ovepping to create that one huge golden shield, but the shields could not withstand the attacks of Cuhel¡¯s, one of the Summit Five.

    <em>ng!</em>

    The shields broke helplessly from Cuhel¡¯s attack. Dozens of yers took advantage of this and rushed forward.

    For the first time since the start of the game, Minhyuk cast an active skill. His first target? Cuhel.

    ¡°Sword of Absolute Death.¡±

    ***

    As, the City of the Skies.

    Three thousand people from Rocard Kingdom, who had outstanding abilities and were well-versed in farming, migrated to Food God Minhyuk¡¯s territory! They did not need any guidance as they started to plow the fields and sow the seeds on their own. Thanks to their efforts, As Territory¡¯s fields¡¯ growth rate increased by 30%. Even the variety, special abilities, and quality of their crops increased by 40%.

    Slowly, the people of Rocard Kingdom got used to living in As Territory. And just like them, there was also one man trying to adapt and get used to living in As. This man was none other than the one in charge of raising livestocks.

    Mercenary King Brod, or perhaps it would be more apt to call him Livestock King Brod now, was greatly disappointed when he first arrived in the territory and received the task of raising livestocks. However, as time went by, his thoughts gradually changed.

    The first change happened after he had a taste of Minhyuk¡¯s food. It tasted absolutely divine. It was so tasty that he even thought about it in bed. Before Minhyuk left for thepetition, Brod said to him, ¡°My lord, your cooking is truly delicious. Will you please cook for me again?¡±

    ¡°Those that do not do work will not eat. Sir Brod, what task are you given?¡±

    ¡°To¡­ To¡­ raise livestock¡­?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Please think about it carefully and don¡¯t stray too far away from your task. Then, I will give you a very sumptuous and valuable meal.¡±

    Nevertheless, Brod still could not understand why he, the king of tens of millions of mercenaries all over the world, had to raise livestock! But, regardless of his doubts, the temptation of whatever food Minhyuk would give him was too great, that he still ended up trudging to where the pigs, cows, and chickens were being kept.

    Brod sighed deeply as he looked around the pigs, chickens and cows. But eventually, he found peace of mind from the pigs: ¡®<em>Oink, oink, oink, </em><em>oink</em><em>~ </em><em>hwiiiik</em><em>!¡¯ </em> and the cows: ¡®<em>Moooooooo~¡¯</em> while he fed them and gave them water.

    For some strange reason, he felt calm and at peace amidst the livestocks noises. Brod had been struggling and fighting for a long time. Although he did not realize it, he had already grown tired of that life. Besides, the pigs, cows and chickens that surrounded him did not have an ¡®evil mindset¡¯ like those ¡®humans¡¯.

    ¡°Oinkies, eat lots and lots today too.¡±

    ¡°Moos, what will we do if you guys poop a lot today, huh?¡±

    ¡°Cluck-clucks. It¡¯s all thanks to you that we¡¯re able to get up early in the morning!¡±

    Brod gradually adapted to his role and even began municating¡¯ with the livestock. But then, that day finally came. The day when the As chefs had to drag his Oinkies away with the ropes in their hands.

    ¡°How¡­ how dare you¡­!¡± Brod shouted, almost pulling his sword out. But then, he suddenly realized something as he listlessly looked at the ce where his Oinkies were before.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s thew of nature¡­¡¯</em>

    If necessary, a king would choose to kill tens of millions of people for the good of all. Wolves devour the cute and fluffy sheep, but no one would speak ill of them.

    That was right! Food chains existed everywhere. And he was speaking with utter sincerity when he said that he realized how precious these beings were. They were born in a cage and raised in their confines only to die for the people. That was when Brod made a solemn vow.

    <em>¡®I promise to find a way to make you guys live more freely.¡¯</em>

    Yes. He was now aiming to challenge a new method of raising livestocks. Since these livestocks were living to give them nourishment and a better life, he ought to try and let them live more freely andfortably. Then, the notifications rang for Brod.

    <em>[You have gained an understanding of thews of nature.]</em>

    <em>[You are trying to guide the animals and livestock to a better path.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Livestock, Aevalin, has shown an interest in you.]</em>

    <em>[You may be able to reach a shocking level in the livestock industry.]</em>

    That was right. Mercenary King Brod was now approaching the peak of the livestock industry. And although he was still unaware of it, he would also be able to raise dragons in the distant future.

 Chapter 412: Penalty Shoot-Out

    Chapter 412: Penalty Shoot-Out

    Cuhel, as the richest man in the world, did everything he could to improve himself. He used a tremendous amount of money to purchase countless artifacts, seeking to increase his power for the sake of trampling the man hailed as the Food God. That was why he was looking forward to meeting Minhyuk again.

    And right now, Minhyuk was standing in front of Cuhel, using his Sword of Absolute Death. However, Cuhel was wearing the ¡®Merciless Hero¡¯s Armor¡¯, an extremely expensive armor.

    The Merciless Hero¡¯s Armor was a legendary rank artifact, but after several strengthening and reinforcement, it could exert power that was more shocking than the ¡®Demigod Artifacts¡¯ spread all over the world.

    Then, the Sword of Absolute Death engulfed Cuhel.

    <em>[Merciless Hero¡¯s Will]</em>

    <em>[All attacks will be nullified and all stats will increase by 15% for four seconds.]</em>

    <em>Ping¡ª</em>

    The Sword of Absolute Death did not deal any damage to Cuhel.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk frowned at the sight. As for Cuhel, he just smiled deeply as he watched hundreds of sword des engulf him and the other yers.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    ¡°Urk!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Ugh, aaaaaaaack!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s Sword of Absolute Death was able to log out some of the yers that tried to attack him and their team. However, as yers that represented their countries, they had at least one skill that could counter skills like the Sword of Absolute Death. This skill allowed these yers to safely stay in the game.

    Cuhel, who held out firmly against the Sword of Absolute Death, approached Minhyuk slowly. There was only one reason for Cuhel¡¯s confidence. And that was¡­

    <em>¡®The Merciless Hero¡¯s Armor may not be God rank, but it can reduce both the basic and skill damage by 60%!¡¯</em>

    The Food God might be an excellent damage dealer, but what could a dealer do if the power that they could exert had been reduced by 60%? They would just be useless and ripe for the taking.

    <em>[Maestro of Destruction¡¯s Rage]</em>

    <em>[A tremendous force will stretch out from your sword. Once this force hits the target, it will explode and deal 1,200% additional damage.]</em>

    Cuhel grinned happily as he mmed his sword on the ground right in front of Minhyuk. Then¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    ¡­a huge explosion engulfed Minhyuk and the rest of the Korean Team.

    <em>[Ah! It¡¯s Cuhel¡¯s forte! He cast the Maestro of Destruction¡¯s Rage!]</em>

    <em>[Cuhel is also well-known for reducing his opponent¡¯s attack power by a significant amount!]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s thanks to that ability that he was able to climb to the Summit Five.]</em>

    <em>[Did you see that? The powerful Sword of Absolute Death did not deal any damage to Cuhel.]</em>

    <em>[A powerful explosion and strong shockwave has devoured the Korean Team!]</em>

    <em>[As expected of a Summit Five yer. They¡¯re really powerful. Will yer Minhyuk and his team be able to ovee this?]</em>

    Cuhel¡¯s attack had caused a series of explosions. The ¡®Red Dragon Sword¡¯ was a supreme sword that ranked fourth among the Absolute Demigod Artifacts. The sword also had the special ability ¡®Dragon Breath¡¯ attached to it. This was the ability that was currently spreading wildly and melting anyone within a five-meter radius while dealing additional 2,000% damage.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Cuhel brandished his sword once again, which resulted in another set of explosions. However, when the explosions finally died down and the dust had settled, they were met with the Korean Team safely hiding behind a solid and thick golden barrier.

    <em>[It¡¯s Barrier!!! The mages¡¯ absolute invincible shield has been cast!!!]</em>

    <em>[Barrier is a magic spell exclusive to high-leveled mages. This is ast resort magic spell that mages use whenever their HP and defense have reached a low level.]</em>

    <em>[We can safely say that the Korean Team had used up a strong and great defensive measure.]</em>

    <em>[Ah, as we speak, the American Team has taken the opportunity to surpass the Korean Team in rankings!!!]</em>

    <em>[Alexander and James might have lost Alex in their team, but they are still making good progress in the game!]</em>

    <em>[In the end, what we were worried about has happened! The collision between the other yers had resulted in their teams being pushed back in the rankings!]</em>

    Cuhel also saw that the rankings had changed but he did not care. The main reason why he participated in this game was to hunt the ¡®Food God¡¯. Anything beyond that did not matter much.

    Minhyuk swiftly rushed out the moment the golden barrier started to disappear.

    <em>[Sword of Tempest]</em>

    <em>[Hundreds of sword des with 250% additional attack will be created around your body that will indiscriminately sh your enemies within six seconds. During the duration of the skill, your movement speed will increase by 200%.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s speed, which was already fast to begin with, increased dramatically as hundreds of des appeared and surrounded his body while ughtering everything that blocked his path..

    ¡°You and I both know that your attacks are useless!¡± Cuhelughed mockingly. The engraved words on Minhyuk¡¯s sword instantly changed to Lightning Destruction. And when they collided¡­

    <em>Baaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡­his passive was triggered together with the Continent Destroyer Sword¡¯s active skill that he cast.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Blood-colored lightning bolts fell down from the sky one after the other and devoured Cuhel. Naturally, Cuhel believed that he would be able to nullify and ignore the damage from the attack. But¡­

    <em>¡®What the hell?! What kind of outrageous damage is this?!¡¯</em>

    ¡­all he could do was stare nkly at the man in front of him as hundreds of swords with damage far beyond what he could imagine tore his body apart.

    <em>Grab¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk took advantage of Cuhel¡¯s daze and grabbed him by the cor, dragging him to wherever Ali was pointing at. Ali, who stood behind Minhyuk, pointed his finger and cast his magic, ¡°Compress.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    With a flick of Ali¡¯s hands, all of the yers that tried to approach the Korean Team were all dragged by a powerful force and gathered together in one ce.

    ¡°Heup?!¡±

    ¡°I¡­ I can¡¯t move!!!¡±

    Minhyuk, with Cuhel in hand, ran to where the yers were dragged to. The problem was¡­

    ¡°Heok?!¡±

    ¡°Crazy!!!¡±

    ¡­hundreds of des were dancing around his body! The yers, who watched Minhyuk approach them, could tell that they were facing impending doom!

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping!</em>

    The bodies of the yers that Ali gathered together were mercilessly torn apart and devoured by the sword des that surrounded Minhyuk¡¯s body. The worst part was that none of the yers could stop nor avoid the sword des. After all, the des¡¯ attack speed had increased by 250%. Just like that, the yers were forced to log out one after the other. And Cuhel¡­

    ¡°You bastaaaaaaaard!¡±

    ¡­was only momentarily stunned by the tremendous damage that Minhyuk could deal. He firmly believed that the damage and power that Minhyuk had disyed just a few moments prior were not his own and were only caused by a skill, or some kind of buff.

    Then, Minhyuk released his hold on Cuhel¡¯s cor only to send him a very powerful blow.

    <em>aaang¡ª</em>

    The tip of Minhyuk¡¯s sword made contact with Cuhel¡¯s Merciless Hero¡¯s Armor.

    <em>Crack, crack¡ª</em>

    Suddenly, an ominous sound rang faintly, yet clearly, in Cuhel¡¯s ears. For a moment, he wondered if his ears were working properly. Cuhel¡¯s Merciless Hero¡¯s Armor¡¯s durability was infinite and would not really sustain any damage, unless a God-rank artifact was used against it. But right now, thin, thread-like cracks started to cover his armor from the small chip created by the tip of Minhyuk¡¯s sword.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    And finally¡­

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    ¡­Cuhel¡¯s armor fell down as it broke into pieces. The skill that Minhyuk used was none other than the Continent Destroyer Sword¡¯s skill, ¡®Armor Break¡¯.

    <em>(<strong>Armor Break</strong>)</em>

    <em>Artifact Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Mana Required</strong>: 2,000</em>

    <em><strong>Cooldown</strong>: 24 hours</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>? The sword that contains God¡¯s power will have the ability to reduce an armor¡¯s durability, no matter what kind of ore or mineral was used in making the artifact.</em>

    <em>? You will be able to deal at least 5,000 damage to the armor¡¯s durability. You will also have an 8% chance of bringing the armor¡¯s durability to zero and bringing it to destruction.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: All armors are bound to be equal in the face of God¡¯s sword. No matter what kind of armor it is, it will be nullified and destroyed by the Continent Destroyer Sword.</em>

    Coincidentally, Lady Luck had shone her light on Minhyuk. He was able to trigger the 8% chance in the skill andpletely destroy the armor.

    <em>[You have been hit by the opponent¡¯s Armor Break.]</em>

    <em>[Armor Break has destroyed the Merciless Hero¡¯s Armor.]</em>

    <em>[All armors are bound to be equal and submit in the face of your opponent¡¯s sword.]</em>

    <em>[The armor¡¯s durability has reached zero.]</em>

    <em>[Artifacts that have reached zero durability cannot be restored and recovered.]</em>

    That was right. The armor that had made Cuhel one of the Summit Five had broken down into pieces. That was the moment when Cuhel realized that the notification about someone reaching the ¡®God¡¯ rank not too long ago was rted to the Food God.

    ¡°You¡­ you bastard! F*c¡­¡±

    However, Minhyuk did not let Cuhel finish his words.

    <em>[Sword of Frenzy]</em>

    <em>[You will have additional 400% damage to your attack upon a sessful strike to your enemy¡¯s vital point. The six consecutive attacks that would follow the attack will have additional 100% damage. Upon a sessful vital point attack, enemies within a five meter radius will receive six consecutive attacks with additional 100% damage.]</em>

    The moment Cuhel¡¯s armor broke, Minhyuk triggered Diablo¡¯s Eyes and explored all of his vital points. Then¡­

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    ¡­a strike with 400% additional damage was sent out, quickly followed by one strike after another.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    The six consecutive strikes that followed the initial strike were even apanied by lightning strikes thanks to the influence of Minhyuk¡¯s sword¡¯s passive skill.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    And it did not end there. The surviving yers within Minhyuk¡¯s five-meter radius were devoured by his Sword of Frenzy.

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    The worst part was that they were also affected by the Continent Destroyer Sword¡¯s passive skill. The very same passive skill that would only be triggered by chance. Bloody lightning bolts fell down and easily killed two yers.

    <em>Copse¡ª</em>

    Just then, Cuhel, one of the Summit Five and someone with a power that could rival an entire kingdom, copsed. Then¡­

    <em>[Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!]</em>

    <em>[Woaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!]</em>

    <em>[Something unbelievable just happened in front of us!!!]</em>

    <em>[Cuhel, one of the Summit Five, copsed in just under five minutes in a battle against yer Minhyuk!!!]</em>

    <em>[This means that Korea¡¯s Food God Minhyuk has now climbed to the ranks of the Summit Five!!!]</em>

    Shouts and cheers shook the world while the yers that survived the onught of Minhyuk¡¯s attack rushed to get up and disperse, putting distance between them and the Korean Team.

    <em>¡®This guy has also suffered from a lot of damage.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®If we attack him a few more times then we can kill him.¡¯</em>

    If they could kill Minhyuk, then dealing with Ali and Root would be a piece of cake. After all, the two of them were definitely vulnerable and weak when it came to closebat.

    Just when they were all thinking that Minhyuk was already exhausted and weak, Minhyuk took something out of his pockets and started eating. What he took out was none other than ¡®Choco Pie¡¯, Korea¡¯s signature snack! And the moment Minhyuk ate the choco pie¡­

    <em>Fwoosh¡ª</em>

    ¡­the injuries that he sustained started to recover one after the other. And he did not stop there.

    ¡°Bandage!¡±

    Minhyuk wrapped his injuries with bandages and stopped the bleeding which allowed him to recover his HP by a lot.

    ¡°Ref¡­ referee!!! Referee!!! You told us that we¡¯re not allowed to use any potions, right?!!!¡±

    ¡°This is cheating!!!¡±

    The yers started protesting against themittee and the referees. Then, Team Leader Park Minggyu, who was watching the stadium and acting as the referee, said, ¡°ording to our findings, the Choco Pie is just a regr snack and does not have any special abilities nor any abilities that allow recovery. In addition, ¡®Bandage¡¯ only has the same effect as using bandages to cover wounds in real life for people that have not learned the skill. They are not against the rules.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Yes, only the Food God had the skill that could help him recover through eating. On top of that, the effects of the bandage from the Bandage skill would not be expressed if one has not mastered the skill. It was safe to say that both were the Food God¡¯s skills.

    ¡°Ugh¡­ Uuuuuuuuuuuuugh¡­¡±

    ¡°Shit¡­ how can we beat someone like that?!¡±

    Everyone looked at Minhyuk in horror. And just like that, the first half of the game ended and the scores of the teams were disyed.

    <em>[<strong>1st ce</strong>: America. 112 points.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>2nd ce</strong>: Japan. 89 points.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>3rd ce</strong>: South Korea. 66 points.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>4th ce</strong>: Russia. 64 points.]</em>

    <em>[</em><em><strong>5th ce</strong></em><em>: China. 62 points.]</em>

 Chapter 413: Deathâ€™s Performance

    Chapter 413: Death¡¯s Performance

    All of thementators began discussing the events that unfolded during the first half of the game.

    <em>[We witnessed a series of surprises during the first half. This was true especially with the Korean Team who shocked the entire world with their overwhelming performance!]</em>

    <em>[Ali, who they said had regressed back to Level 1, came back even stronger, while Master Archer Root showed us a far more sophisticated archery skills than from his time as a national archery representative. And there¡¯s also the Food God¡­ He truly lives up to his name.]</em>

    <em>[Yes, that¡¯s right. A lot of countries have shown us their amazing powers. Just like Alexander, he has proven to us that he¡¯s truly the strongest and the best among all of the yers.]</em>

    <em>[Just like the Korean Team, Alexander has also been targeted by the other countries¡¯ representatives. However, instead of engaging in a fight, he avoided them and focused on scoring goals. True to his name: ¡®Ghost of the Battlefield¡¯, he used his ¡®ghost¡¯ to get away and escape from his opponents¡¯ sights and keep scoring.]</em>

    <em>[We can all agree that that¡¯s an extremely smart strategy. It¡¯s a bit hard for me to say this since they did a good job, but it looks like the Korean Team would be having a hard time getting a medal.]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s mainly because they have no choice but to fight fiercely against their opponents. They do not have Alexander¡¯s ¡®ghosts¡¯ which makes it harder for them to escape their enemies.]</em>

    <em>[Perhaps showing off in the early stages had brought an adverse effect to the Korean Team.]</em>

    <em>[Alright. Now, let me exin how the second half works. Most of the rules in the first half still work for the second half. However, there will be a special ¡®time¡¯ waiting for our yers twenty seconds before the end of the game. This special time is none other than the ¡®Golden Time¡¯. Once the Golden Time starts, dozens of golden balls will fall down on a certain area in the field. Anyone could turn the tables as long as they score goals with these golden balls that would appear in thest twenty seconds of the game.]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s right. They can possibly turn the tables. However, you have seen yers like Alexander, Root and Japan¡¯s Kentaro scoring goals with the golden ball. Scoring a goal with the golden ball is not an easy task.]</em>

    <em>[We can confidently say that it¡¯s very hard to score a goal with the golden ball in just under twenty seconds. After all, the golden ball has a will of its own. There¡¯s also the fact that the yers would do their best to keep each other in check.]</em>

    <em>[There are only thirty seconds left before the second half starts! Right now, we can see that the representatives from each of the countries are having a discussion.]</em>

    <em>[They need to have a new strategy for the second half of the game.]</em>

    <em>[The Korean yers are also having a discussion.]</em>

    <em>Ppiiiiiiiiiii¡ª</em>

    <em>[As we speak, the second half begins!]</em>

    ***

    Second half.

    Alexander and James flew all over the stadium, rushing after balls to score goals.

    <em>Thuuuump¡ª</em>

    Alexander chuckled lightly after striking another goal.

    <em>[<strong>1st ce</strong>: America. 120 points.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>2nd ce</strong>: Japan. 94 points.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>3rd ce</strong>: Russia. 81 points.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>4th ce</strong>: South Korea. 69 points.]</em>

    At first, it seemed like Korea was doing well. However, as time went by, the gap in their scores began to widen. Alexander acknowledged the strength of the Korean yers, however he could not help but think about how foolish their choice was.

    <em>¡®You drew too much attention in the first half.¡¯</em>

    In fact, the Korean Team would definitely be able to perform well in the second half. With America at the lead, the other teams had chosen to ignore them in favor of keeping the team ranked first in check and scoring goals to quickly catch up. Of course, their scores were not enough for them to win the gold medal but if things continued at this rate, the Korean Team would most likely be thrown out of the top ten rankings.

    At that moment, Alexander wondered, <em>¡®That¡¯s strange?¡¯</em>

    He was located quite far away from where the Korean Team yers were, so he could not pinpoint them from the other yers. America was currently in the lead, so Korea was not that much of a threat to any of the top ranking teams. However, they were still unable to make a huge ssh. This meant that the other yers were still entangling with them and keeping them in check.

    <em>¡®Why are they still keeping Korea in check?¡¯</em>

    Just when the thought shed in Alexander¡¯s head¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡­a yer suddenly appeared in the sky and attempted to cut him down with his ax. But the ax just brushed past Alexander¡¯s body, which had turned translucent after he turned himself into a ghost, before mming on the ground.

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    Alexander took advantage of the gap and shed the man¡¯s neck neatly. James was also seen logging out the man¡¯s colleague. Yes, it was without a doubt that the American Team was the best team at this point in time.

    <em>[America¡¯s Alexander and James are really powerful.]</em>

    <em>[There are only two people left in their team but they can still easily keep their opponents at bay while scoring goals one after the other.]</em>

    <em>[The American Team stood firmly on the number one spot ten minutes after the second half had started.]</em>

    <em>[The fact that the gold will belong to the American Team will remain unchanged unless some other variable suddenly pops out. To be honest, Alexander is much stronger than Cuhel in terms of power, he just hid himself and his power really well. But from what I heard, he is hailed as the strongest.]</em>

    <em>[There are actually rumors saying that Alexander will not lose even if he faces all five yers of the Summit Five.]</em>

    Alexander was indeed a legend. He was very famous for turning the American Server¡¯s Koiku Kingdom into a wastnd with his power alone. Of course, Koiku Kingdom was one of the weaker kingdoms.

    However, even if it was weak, it was still a kingdom and it was a huge feat for an individual to assassinate its king and queen amidst the hundreds of thousands of troops stationed inside the kingdom. There was also the story about how he swept the kingdom¡¯s elite knights. Just like Minhyuk, who created a ¡®legend¡¯ by hunting Vormon, Alexander also had plenty of legends under his belt. This was the reason why the Americans called him as the strongest candidate for the championship. In fact, Alexander had always been hailed as the strongest and the best among all of the ¡®rankers¡¯ in <em>Athenae</em>.

    Alexander brandished his sword once again.

    <em>Thuuump¡ª</em>

    The goal post rattled loudly as the ball went in.

    ***

    President Kang Taehoon, with his headset on and working as a specialmentator, chewed on his lips. Team Leader Park Minggyu, who was acting as the referee, was standing next to him.

    Minggyu felt the piercing gazes from behind him. The branch managers looked at him proudly and talked condescendingly as if to unt that they already knew that this would happen.

    ¡°They did their best but it seems like the Korean Team will only barely remain in the top ten.¡±

    ¡°You were so confident back then but what a pity, huh?¡±

    ¡°Tsk. Tsk. Team Leader Park Minggyu is so brazen. I would definitely clean you up if you get transferred to our branch.¡±

    President Kang Taehoon, who also felt their stinging gazes, looked at Minggyu and asked, ¡°Hey, what did you talk about during the branch managers¡¯ meeting?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t say much,¡± Team Leader Park grinned and continued to say, ¡°I think they¡¯re talking about how I said that our country will win at least four gold medals?¡±

    ¡°Hahahahahahaha! This is why I like you!¡± President Kang Taehoonughed happily when he heard Park Minggyu¡¯s words. He could already tell what transpired even if he was not there. After all, this was the reason why he trusted Park Minggyu more than anybody else.

    But not long after, a shroud of darkness loomed over Kang Taehoon¡¯s face. He said, ¡°It¡¯s not too bad. But, it would be nice if things really worked out the way you said it.¡±

    Yes. It was a decent performance so far. South Korea had done enough to show the world that they were not the weak and helpless country that the other countries said they were. However, even if they became aware of the power of the individual yers, in the end, <em>Athenae</em>: World War was still apetition. They were in apetition where they had to devise strategies and beat people that are stronger than them. But the Korean Team, with Minhyuk as their captain, was not showing any kind of strategy at all.

    But then, Park Minggyu said excitedly, ¡°President, can¡¯t you feel it?¡±

    Kang Taehoon, who had turned off his microphone when he started talking with Minggyu, looked at him in doubt and said, ¡°What are you talking about?¡±

    ¡°The Korean Team deliberately created a fight.¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Kang Taehoon finally realized that the other yers were not keeping the Korean Team in check, rather, it was Minhyuk, Ali and Root that induced a fight.

    But that was a very strange tactic. It made it difficult for them to score a goal as was reflected in the current rankings. So, why did they choose to do that?

    Team Leader Park said, ¡°President, you remember that I stayed in yer Minhyuk¡¯s house for quite some time during the <em>Athenae</em>: Korean War, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I remember.¡±

    ¡°We talked a lot back then. And I found out that whenever yer Minhyuk does something, he will first run a simtion in his head.¡±

    Kang Taehoon nodded. Professional gamers, athletes and yers in reality did a lot of simtion training in their heads. Simtion training was a very helpful training.

    ¡°But, would you believe me if I told you that he runs hundreds of simtions in his head?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± President Kang Taehoon asked in surprise.

    ¡°Perhaps¡­ he has already run hundreds of simtions of this ¡®Penalty Shoot-Out¡¯ in his head.¡±

    Team Leader Park Minggyuk looked at Minhyuk.

    ¡°First, he drew the attention of everyone by easily scoring the ball. Then, he let Root take the golden ball to sh against Cuhel. And finally, what they are doing now¡­¡±

    Sweat almost covered Team Leader Park¡¯s forehead from the excitement as he continued to say, ¡°Perhaps all of the participating countries and the viewers are ying into the palm of his hands.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    President Kang Taehoon believed in Park Minggyu. After hearing his analysis, he also found something strange. Food God Minhyuk was not a fool, but it was an undeniable fact that he showed off to catch everyone¡¯s attention in the first half and cause conflict.

    Team Leader Park spoke firmly and confidently, ¡°That yer is a genius. And if he really is carrying out the ¡®n¡¯ that I think he¡¯s doing then¡­¡± He paused for a moment and continued, ¡°¡­the gold medal will be ours.¡±

    ***

    The flow of the game went the way everyone expected it to flow, the American Team maintained their position in first ce.

    And just like that, the time for the ¡®Golden Time¡¯ was fast approaching. The Golden Time was the short twenty seconds before the end of the game where golden balls would rain down from the sky at a certain ce. This was the perfect chance to turn the tables especially if the countries ranked first and second were only ten points apart.

    Since the golden balls would fall in one area, the yers started to gather together. The same was true for Alexander and James.

    ¡°Good job, Alexander! The gold medal is ours!¡±

    Alexander chuckled at James¡¯ words. He said, ¡°We¡¯re still not sure if we¡¯ll get the gold medal. Don¡¯t let your guard down, James.¡±

    Right now, what they needed to do was to stop the yers that wanted to score a goal with the golden balls. The one hundred surviving yers had already gathered together in one ce with one minute left to the game. All of them stopped fighting for a moment as they waited with bated breath, some even gulped to ease the dryness in their throats. Then, Alexander turned to look around.

    <em>¡®Where is he?¡¯</em>

    Where was Minhyuk, the yer that showed a shocking disy of power? Alexander turned until he saw him scoring regr balls in the distance. Alexander realized what he wanted to do.

    <em>¡®Are you trying to tell me that you will remain in the top ten?¡¯</em>

    Alexander admired them a bit. They did well enough to the point that his views about their country had been refreshed. And finally¡­

    <em>aaash¡ª</em>

    <em>aaaaaash¡ª</em>

    <em>aaaaaash¡ª</em>

    <em>aaaaaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    Dozens of golden balls shing a brilliant light fell down from the sky. Alexander did not miss the chance.

    <em>[Ghost of the Battlefield.]</em>

    <em>[Movement Speed will increase by 350% within a 30-meter radius.]</em>

    <em>[Attack and Defense will increase by 30% within a 30-meter radius.]</em>

    This was the power that made Alexander the strongest. The moment the skill was triggered, an area with a thirty-meter radius would be his own battlefield.

    Then, countless yers leapt towards the golden balls falling from the sky. Some even used their AOE skills. But, it was useless in the face of Alexander, who had already turned into a ghost and was running in between them in his translucent state.

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Alexander was so fast that the only thing that people could see were yers spurting blood and falling down from the skies. Even the yers trying to cast their AOE skills on the ground also copsed with a spurt of blood. Everyone was shocked and terrified by Alexander¡¯s ghostly movements. He was literally the embodiment of his name, the Ghost of the Battlefield. On the other hand, Alexander was delighted.

    <em>¡®The first gold medal¡­!¡¯</em>

    But something strange happened just as the thought shed in his head. Two men covered with a bright and blinding light suddenly appeared in front of him. One of the men had golden hair and an aloof and noble air. This man was none other than Golden Mage Ali. The other man, the Food God, had short hair and a beautiful face. However, at this time, his eyes were as sharp as a hawk.

    ¡°Earth King¡¯s Authority.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Alexander realized that something was wrong. Also, <em>¡®King¡­ King¡¯s Authority?!¡¯</em>

    But before he could finish his thought¡­

    ¡°Worship.¡±

    <em>Thuuuuuuud¡ª</em>

    ¡­Alexander was already kneeling in worship before him. That was right. Worship. Alexander looked up only to see Minhyuk looking down at him. Then, he looked at the people around him. Hundreds of yers all knelt down to worship Food God Minhyuk.

    That was when Alexander felt fear and terror creep up his spine. King. The man in front of him was showing him the figure of a king as well as the power that he could not afford to fight against.

    <em>Tremble, tremble¡ª</em>

    Alexander¡¯s body trembled both in shock and fear. And just like him, the entire world was shocked to see the yers all kneeling down to worship the Food God, as if they were all equal in the face of his authority.

 Chapter 414: Deathâ€™s Performance

    Chapter 414: Death¡¯s Performance

    The Korean viewers in the audience all expressed their regrets as they watched the highlight of the second half begin.

    ¡°So the first ce goes to America, huh?¡±

    ¡°But I think we¡¯ll be able to rank in the top ten, right?¡±

    Everyone felt disappointed, but the oue was already inevitable. Still, despite their disappointment, their lips were all curled up in a smile. They might not get the gold, but the three yers from South Korea, a small country that most ignored, had made dozens of yers flustered and at a loss. On top of that, the Food God had also sessfully killed Cuhel, one of the Summit Five. In other words, their performance did notg behind America¡¯s performance.

    ¡°South~ Korea!¡±

    <em>p, p! p! p, p!</em>

    ¡°South~ Korea!¡±

    <em>p, p! p! p, p!</em>

    <em>¡®You did well. You look cool. We¡¯re proud of you!¡¯</em>

    These were the words that they wanted to convey to them. The Koreans in the crowd cheered loudly in hopes that their representatives would feel their heartfelt sincerity. By the time the ¡®Golden Time¡¯ arrived, the entire nation was already shouting with one voice.

    ¡°Ooh~ Oooooooh~ Ooh! Ooooooh~¡±

    The Koreans, with the same mind and heart, shouted loudly and cheered for their representatives. Countless people across the country watched with rapt attention, waiting for the game to end. Everyone, including the people watching from their TVs at home with their families, to the people gathered in front of electronic disys, and even PD Kim Daeguk, who was watching together with the staff from various Korean broadcasting stations, all chewed their lips nervously.

    <em>¡®yer Minhyuk has always created miracles. Please¡­¡¯</em>

    PD Kim remembered all of the things that Minhyuk had achieved¡ªthe battle against the demon race, Vormon¡¯s hunt and many more!¡ªhe had created countless miracles. Even so, his current obstacle was in the form of America¡¯s Alexander, threatening to stop him from creating another miracle.

    <em>[Aaaaaaaaaah! Alexander!!! He¡¯s prowling around the stadium as if he¡¯s telling the other yers that he wouldn¡¯t let them get to the golden balls!]</em>

    <em>[He¡¯s moving so fast that we can¡¯t even see him with our naked eyes!]</em>

    <em>[America¡¯s strongest, Alexander, is showing us why he¡¯s called the best right here and now!!!]</em>

    <em>[It seems like the Korean Team is hell-bent on scoring goals until thest minute. They look very determined in narrowing down the gap in the rankings.]</em>

    Just like PD Kim Daeguk, many yers were gritting their teeth and waiting for a miracle. However, in the end, all they could do was sigh in pity at the medal that they would never have. Nevertheless, all of the Koreans present all felt the same way, <em>¡®Good job, Korea!!!¡¯</em>

    Feeling that nothing would change, PD Kim decided to get back to work. But, at that moment¡­

    ¡°Huh. Huuuuuuuuuh?! Huuuuuuuuuh!!!¡±

    ¡°What, what the hell?!¡±

    Exmations rang one after the other. PD Kim looked at them in confusion only to catch sight of the scene disyed on the huge TV screen. The representatives of each country were all kneeling in front of Minhyuk.

    <em>Bathump, bathump, bathump, bathump!</em>

    PD Kim Daeguk felt his heart thump wildly.

    <em>[The yers are all kneeling down in worship to one yer, and one yer alone! They are all kneeling down in worship to Food God Minhyuk!]</em>

    <em>[What kind of skill did he use?!! This is very shocking! Even the person hailed as the strongest, Alexander, is also kneeling in front of him!!!]</em>

    <em>[Alexander is looking at yer Minhyuk with shock!!!]</em>

    <em>[The entire world watches as yer Minhyuk forced all of the surviving yers to kneel down and submit to him!]</em>

    <em>[Look at his dignified and noble aura! Ah! I feel a zing me sparking in my heart!]</em>

    <em>[Yes! There¡¯s still hope. My fellow citizens, please don¡¯t give up! Pres¡­ President Kang Taehoon! We still have hope! There are still fifteen seconds left before the game ends!!!]</em>

    The thunderous shouts and cheers of the Korean people rang loudly in the stadium.

    <em>[Fourteen seconds before the game ends.]</em>

    Everyone watching the scene sped their hands tightly in tense anticipation. Meanwhile, the current rankings was:

    <em>[<strong>1st ce</strong>: America. 131 points.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>2nd ce</strong>: Japan. 101 points.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>3rd ce</strong>: Russia. 99 points.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>4th ce</strong>:¡­]</em>

    <em>[<strong>5th ce</strong>:¡­]</em>

    <em>[<strong>11th ce</strong>: South Korea. 79 points.]</em>

    ***

    Minhyuk watched as the surviving yers knelt before him, with confusion and disbelief all over their faces. Just like what Team Leader Park Minggyu had expected, Minhyuk had run hundreds of simtions in his head, until he came up with the perfect strategy.

    Minhyuk¡¯s strategy involved taking advantage of the second half¡¯s ¡®Golden Time¡¯. If they scored high in the beginning, the yers would definitely target them. However, even if that was the case, they would not lose out. Their team would be able to score high during the first half, on top of being able to gain enough Authority Mana to use ¡®Earth King¡¯s Authority. Worship¡¯.

    The Authority Mana was a power that would umte the more Minhyuk fought. The conditions to umte Authority Mana was to deal damage to countless enemies, or fight against enemies that were far stronger than him.

    However, under normal circumstances, even if he fought against countless opponents, Minhyuk judged that he would only be able to fill 30% of Authority Mana to trigger ¡®Earth King¡¯s Authority. Worship¡¯. Furthermore, that would only trigger the most basic effect of Worship. Simply put, Minhyuk would only be able to force his enemies within an eight meter radius to kneel in worship.

    On top of that, the length of time that they would stay kneeling would also depend on his luck. ording to the skill¡¯s description, Minhyuk would be able to make opponents stronger than him kneel down to him in worship if he filled 100% of his Authority Mana.

    But this was the World War, apetition where Minhyuk would fight countless strong opponents that he had never met before. It was the perfect opportunity for him to fill his Authority Mana. It grew exceedingly difficult to fill once it went past the 50% mark, but Minhyuk knew that it would not be too difficult to aplish in thispetition.

    In other words, he would be able to show the greatest and strongest Worship on this stage, the World War.

    So far, Mage Ali, Minhyuk, and Root had only shown the world their basic attacks, together with one skill in their arsenal. This was because they had been waiting for this moment.

    <em>[You have used the Earth King¡¯s Authority. Worship.]</em>

    <em>[Your Authority Mana has reached 100%.]</em>

    <em>[You can make stronger opponents kneel down to you in worship.]</em>

    <em>[The radius and stun duration has increased.]</em>

    <em>[All of your opponents within a fifteen meter radius will be forced to their knees.]</em>

    <em>[The ones forced to their knees will be in a twelve second-stunned state.]</em>

    <em>¡®N¡­ no way¡­!¡¯</em>

    Alexander and the other yers finally felt the danger of the situation that they were in. Each of them used their skills to try and get out of their abnormal state. But¡­

    <em>[You can¡¯t nullify the abnormal state.]</em>

    <em>[You will not be able to resist the power that is forcing you down to your knees.]</em>

    Cold sweat dripped down from Alexander¡¯s forehead. Then¡­

    <em>Boom¡ª</em>

    Alexander could clearly see an archer standing slightly further away from him pulling the strings of his bow and targeting the golden ball that bounced once after falling down the ground. The bow in the archer¡¯s hand looked extraordinary. It was none other than ¡®Elf King Gorn¡¯s Great Bow¡¯.

    Since they contributed greatly during the remation of the Elven Forest, Let¡¯s Eat Sect was able to build a deep and strong connection with Elf King Gorn. Elf King Gorn¡¯s bow was a legendary artifact that could only be pulled by a beingparable to Gorn, someone that has also reached the realm of the legends.

    Right now, this bow that Root had hidden deeply, finally appeared.

    <em>Stretch¡ª</em>

    Elf King Gorn¡¯s Great Bow was a famous artifact, one that could not be pulled by anyone unless they were the chosen one. But slowly, ever so slowly, Root was able to pull the strings of the bow. The arrow that he used was also extremely huge. It was so huge that it was alreadyparable to a spear.

    ¡°Master Archer¡¯s Bullseye.¡±

    <em>Thwaaaaaaack¡ª</em>

    Root released his arrow. The arrow shone brightly like the dawn breaking through the darkness of the night. Master Archer¡¯s Bullseye was a skill with a hundred percent uracy and a very shocking destructive power. The arrow that Root released struck the golden ball¡¯s ¡®red dot¡¯ right in the center.

    <em>Thump¡ª</em>

    The golden ball flew fiercely as it passed through the nearest goal post even before the transparent shield could form.

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The tremendous force behind the ball destroyed the goal post. Then¡­

    <em>[Goaaaaaaaaaaaal!]</em>

    <em>[yer Root has scored a golden ball!!!]</em>

    Everyone turned to look at the electronic disy.

    <em>[<strong>1st ce</strong>: America. 131 points.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>2nd ce</strong>: Japan. 101 points.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>3rd ce</strong>: Russia. 99 points.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>4th ce</strong>:¡­]</em>

    <em>[<strong>5th ce</strong>: South Korea. 94 points.]</em>

    South Korea¡¯s ranking, which was at eleventh ce, rose quickly. There were only nine seconds left in the game. Meanwhile, Ali had already finished all of his preparations. His golden hair and robe fluttered, as he reached his palm out towards the goal posts that were spread out all over the ce. Then, he clenched his palm into a fist and said, ¡°Compress.¡±

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng, ng!</em>

    Then, after gathering the goal posts together, Ali sent Diss to seven golden balls.

    <em>Thuuud¡ª</em>

    <em>Thuuud¡ª</em>

    <em>Thuuud¡ª</em>

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    The tremendous force from Ali¡¯s attack sent seven golden balls into a wild track. Thankfully, most of them flew towards the goal posts that he had gathered.

    <em>Thunk¡ª</em>

    However, one of the golden balls mmed into the sides of one goal post and was thrown back out to the field while another glided past the goal post, only grazing its side. Only thest and final ball made the goal, the goal post shaking wildly from the impact.

    <em>Thuuuump¡ª</em>

    <em>[Goooooooooal!!!]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s another goal!!! Ali scores another goal!!!]</em>

    <em>[There are only a few seconds left before the game ends!!!]</em>

    Once again, everyone turned to look at the electronic disy.

    <em>[<strong>1st ce</strong>: America. 131 points.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>2nd ce</strong>: South Korea. 109 points.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>3rd ce</strong>: Japan. 101 points.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>4th ce</strong>: Russia. 99 points.]</em>

    Everyone shook in nervousness. Meanwhile, Minhyuk, who everyone was still worshipping, jumped up in the sky and said, ¡°Sword of Frenzy.¡±

    A powerful force stretched out from the tip of his sword that stabbed one of the golden balls.

    <em>Baaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The golden ball powered by the force of Minhyuk¡¯s Sword of Frenzy flew towards the goal post sharply. But, the shield was already up around the goal.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    However, the force that Minhyuk used to strike the ball was so strong that it spun fiercely even after colliding with the shield. And finally¡­

    <em>ng!</em>

    The shield broke down into pieces and the ball flew inside the goal post.

    <em>[<strong>1st ce</strong>: America. 131 points.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>2nd ce</strong>: South Korea. 124 points.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>3rd ce</strong>: Japan. 101 points.]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>4th ce</em></strong><em>: Russia. 99 points.]</em>

    All eyes were trained on Minhyuk as they sat on the edge of their seats. Even thementators¡¯ were shouting loudly in trepidation to the point that they overwhelmed the crowd¡¯s shouts.

    <em>[Only three seconds!!! There are only three seconds left in the game!!!]</em>

    <em>[In three seconds, the first game of Athenae: World War, the Penalty Shoot-Out, will end!]</em>

    However, at that moment, the power that bound Alexander and made him submit was released. Minhyuk quickly changed the words engraved in his Continent Destroyer Sword from Destruction to Explosion when he saw him break free. Now, there were only two seconds left. Minhyuk hurriedly swung his sword with all his might towards the golden ball lying in front of him.

    <em>¡®Please!!!¡¯</em>

    If the passive skill Explosion did not get triggered, then there would not be enough force to drive the golden ball towards the goal post. However, at the same time Minhyuknded a hit on the golden ball, he received Alexander¡¯s sh on his back.

    One second left¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    A bloody lightning bolt fell down from the sky and struck the golden ball in front of Minhyuk. A huge explosion erupted and made it fly towards the goal post.

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk, who received an attack from Alexander, copsed while vomiting blood.

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    He had no time to check the result of his shot. He only heard the sound of the ball making contact with the goal post from the ground.

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    And zero.

    Minhyuk turned to look at the goal post as the ball spun fiercely and went inside the. And the rankings¡­

    <em>[<strong>1st ce</strong>: South Korea. 139 points. Gold medal.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>2nd ce</strong>: America. 131 points. Silver medal.]</em>

    <em>[</em><em><strong>3rd ce</strong></em><em>: Japan. 101 points. Bronze medal.]</em>

 Chapter 415: Deathâ€™s Performance

    Chapter 415: Death¡¯s Performance

    The cheering audience suddenly turned mute the moment the electronic board disyed the final rankings of each country, as well as the medalists! Up until that point, everyone believed that the American Team would clinch the Penalty Shoot-Outs¡¯ gold medal. After all, there was only a minute left in the game. However, within that short time frame, the situation was reversed and the country that won the gold medal was not America, but South Korea!

    ¡°Wo¡­ woaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!¡±

    The audience, who went silent for a moment, finally broke out into loud cheers and shouts. The Americans in the audience were all holding their heads in disbelief and frustration, the Japanese stared at the electronic disy in a daze, while some just let out dejectedughs. However, no matter their reactions, one thing was certain. Korea won the gold medal.

    <em>[South¡­ South Korea¡¯s gold medal has just been confirmed!!! Everyone! Korea has won the gold medal in the very first event!!!]</em>

    President Kang Taehoon, a specialmentator, jumped up from his seat and shouted loudly. He was shouting so loudly that the veins on his neck popped up.

    All eyes were still focused on the representative teams, who could not hide their surprise, and the Korean Team standing in the middle of the stadium. That was when they saw Alexander stand up and approach the Korean Team.

    ***

    Ghost of the Battlefield Alexander felt extremely frustrated when he saw the rankings disyed in the electronic board. The very first game was the event with the most participants and the event that everyone was most excited about. Somehow, America lost the gold medal to South Korea, only taking home the silver medal.

    <em>¡®Are you telling me that we yed into the palm of his hands?¡¯</em>

    Alexander watched as Minhyuk, the captain of the Korean Team, hugged Ali and Root, cheering happily together. For a moment, he felt both anger and frustration. However, not long after, his thoughts changed.

    <em>¡®Amazing.¡¯</em>

    What kind of existence was Alexander? He was hailed as the strongest in one of the greatest Athenae powerhouse, America. He acknowledged Minhyuk and his strength. No, to be exact¡­

    <em>¡®I¡¯m scared.¡¯</em>

    ¡­he was afraid of him. There were plenty of games left in thispetition, and various anomalies and variables would appear during each game. These anomalies and variables could turn an easy situation into a very terrifying one.

    Alexander approached Minhyuk in curiosity and disbelief. The people around them gulped nervously as they watched the two face off. No, the entire world was in fact paying attention to the rising powerhouse, Minhyuk, and Athenae¡¯s strongest, Alexander. Not long after, Alexander reached his hand out for a handshake.

    ¡°I¡¯m looking forward to your performance in the uing games.¡±

    Minhyuk looked at the hand that reached out to him for a moment before grabbing it and¡­

    ¡°Look forward to it.¡±

    ¡­tightening his grip. Alexander chuckled.

    <em>[America¡¯s Strongest Alexander and South Korea¡¯s Food God Minhyuk are shaking hands.]</em>

    <em>[This is what they mean when they say fairpetition and rivalry. Ah, just looking at this scene is enough to make anyone smile!]</em>

    The entire world admired the scene where these two people shook hands amiably. The scene of the two of them, one that wanted to rise in power, and one who wanted to defend their throne, shaking hands was very heartwarming. That was how the first event of the very first World War ended.

    ***

    Athenae: World War, Day Two.

    America had proven to the world why they were called an Athenae powerhouse. Even though they lost to South Korea during the Penalty Shoot-Out game and only won a silver medal, they were able to win three gold medals on the same day. The total tally of the medals that they gained on the first day were three gold medals, three silver medals, and one bronze medal.

    What about South Korea? After winning the gold medal in the first game, they secured another two gold medals, bringing their total to three. But after that, they were not able to secure any more medals.

    On the eve of the second day, the Koreanmunity sites were all filled with questions.

    <em>[Who in the world is yer Death? Who is he to suddenly join the Korean Team?]</em>

    <em>[Death is a yer that everyone knows little about. There are plenty of rumors about him but they are all baseless. However, there¡¯s one thing that we¡¯re certain about. He¡¯s a necromancer.]</em>

    <em>[Who in the world does not know that he¡¯s a necromancer? That¡¯s why everyone is wondering why Death participated in the ¡®Summoner¡¯s Great War¡¯.]</em>

    Only one yer was allowed from each of the participating countries to fight in the Summoner¡¯s Great War. This event would be held in a huge field where participants would be given a bracelet. The bracelet was none other than the ¡®Ruler¡¯s Bracelet¡¯. The destruction of the bracelet would result in the participant¡¯s disqualification from the game, while the ones that could destroy plenty of these bracelets would gain special privileges.

    Simply put, the bracelets could strengthen the summoner¡¯s abilities or increase their MP. On top of that, the yer that destroyed the opponent¡¯s Ruler¡¯s Bracelet would be able to gain their opponent¡¯s abilities once they had been logged out of the game. The final three yers left in the field would win the gold, silver, and bronze respectively.

    This was where the issueid¡­

    <em>[Everyone knows that a necromancer is the weakest ss in the summoner category, right? So, what the hell were they thinking when they let him participate?]</em>

    That was right. The necromancer was the weakest ss among all of the summoner sses. This was mainly because the summons that the necromancer could call for were very weak. The participants from the other participating countries had summons of varying ranks, from Epic to Legendary.

    But, a necromancer?

    The current official global number one necromancer, Jack, could only summon three Death Knights at most. Were these three Death Knights powerful?

    The answer was no.

    The Death Knights that he could summon were incrediblycking in front of the monsters that the best summoners could summon. This was because the undead had literally died, which meant that the power that they could exert were just 80% of the power when they were still living. The 20% loss in power was enough to cause them a huge disadvantage.

    Unlike what was depicted in most novels, a necromancer gaining victory through numbers with the undead was an impossible feat in <em>Athenae</em>. From what they knew, Necromancer Jack could no longer summon any other undead after he summoned the three Death Knights under his disposal.

    It was because of this that everyone judged that the necromancer ss would not be able to do much in the Summoner¡¯s Great War. Even the game¡¯s ¡®rule¡¯ posed a great problem. The rule where they could gain special privileges if they destroyed plenty of Ruler¡¯s Bracelets.

    Naturally, most of the yers would go for the easiest target and try to attack Death, a necromancer, to destroy his bracelet. In other words, Death, or Jung Ji-Hoon, was just an easy prey in that huge field.

    Currently, this very same person that everyone was talking about was sitting and waiting in the yers¡¯ waiting room for the game that would start in ten minutes. He was holding something tightly to his chest and his eyes were red. The other participating yers looked at him and whispered to each other.

    ¡°Is he crying?¡±

    ¡°Maybe he¡¯s crying because he¡¯s scared to y? Pffft.¡±

    ¡°His gloomy and dark aura really fits his necromancer ss.¡±

    Some of the representatives felt that he was dull and dim-witted, so theyughed and mocked him. That was on top of people from all over the world questioning and mocking his abilities.

    There were two decisive reasons for their mockery and disregard of Death. One, half of his face was covered in a mask. There would definitely be people who had bad intentions. They would mock, criticize and dig into other people¡¯s pain. It was especially worse for the people that came from other countries. Plenty of them wanted to mock Ji-Hoon for having a huge burn on half of his face. And two, he had acted in a strange manner yesterday, during Athenae: World War¡¯s first day.

    Most of the time, he had looked left and right with a scared look on his face and could not even raise his head. It was as if he had some kind of mental disability with how weird he acted. He was the textbook example of a weak person. That was why everyone wanted to trample him even more.

    However, unlike yesterday, he only stared in front while hugging something unknown. But then¡­

    ¡°Hey, monster bastard. Take that mask of yours off.¡±

    ¡­someone that went a bit overboard passed by. Death¡¯s poker face broke for a moment before going back to how it was. The man that mocked Death had long blonde hair. This man was none other than Bastien, France¡¯s official number one summoner, and the global official number one summoner.

    The main reason why he taunted and mocked Death was because he was one of ckstone¡¯s executives, and was Cuhel¡¯s de facto right-hand man. The fact that he was the global official number one summoner made him the strongest candidate to win this game. All of the yers of this event had great admiration for him, mostly because he could summon two legendary monsters.

    That was not all. He could also summon more than a hundred unique and epic monsters at the same time. His existence was akin to the summoner world¡¯s king.

    Bastien looked at Death andughed, ¡°Hey, monster bastard, are your ears not working? Take off your mask.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Death maintained his silence. The other yers knew that Death was aplete underdog. After all, they did not have any data on him. However, perhaps it was because he did not have any feat that made him famous, or perhaps it was because he could not speak at all and was releasing a pathetic aura, that they felt that there was no way that such a man could do something.

    ¡°Then, I will take off that mask for y¡­¡±

    Just when Bastien was about to touch Death¡¯s mask¡­

    ¡°Participants, please enter your capsules!!!¡±

    ¡­the officials announced the start of the game. Bastien sneered as he walked to his capsule. Ji-Hoon ignored him and just silently entered his own capsule.

    ***

    <em>[Athenae: World War¡¯s Summoner¡¯s Great War is now starting, with a more impressive and hotter bang than any other games!!!]</em>

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!!¡±

    Loud and fiery cheers erupted from the stands as dozens of dragons, which they ced as an event, flew to the skies and breathed fire to set off fireworks that marked the beginning of the Summoner¡¯s Great War. And with that, dozens of contestants appeared together with the huge field.

    The Summoner ss was well known for summoning or taming monsters! The participants quickly dispersed, running to take advantage of the huge field¡¯s terrain.

    ¡°Kiheeeeeeeeek!¡±

    Some of the summoners quickly summoned their aerial monsters and used them to fly up in the sky. Now that they were wearing the Ruler¡¯s Bracelet, they realized that they had to protect it from the very beginning! And just like that, the summoners revealed the summons that they were very proud of one after the other.

    <em>[The dragon of the sea, the Turtle Dragon has appeared! It¡¯s known for its ridiculous defense!]</em>

    <em>[The Ogre Troll that reaches as high as nine meters has also appeared. Its master, Matsumoto, climbs on its shoulder and looks down on the other yers.]</em>

    <em>[Summoner Nick, the Emperor of the Skies, has already upied the skies with his dozens of wyverns. He¡¯s even standing on the back of a Wyvern King!]</em>

    <em>[Our impressive summoners have called out their most powerful summons one after another, bringing in more heat to our already fiery stadium!!!]</em>

    And Bastien, who stood among them, hurriedly looked around to find Death¡¯s location.

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll kill you first, you bastard.¡¯</em>

    Although he had received instructions from Cuhel, Bastien was willing to do it even without one. This was because he found Death¡¯s existence an eyesore. He wanted to ridicule and humiliate him. Besides, he was convinced Death was already living a pathetic life, so he wanted to push him off the cliff. Bastien was such a man. Then, he called out for his summons.

    <em>[You have summoned the Siren¡¯s Knight.]</em>

    <em>[You have summoned the King¡¯s Guardian.]</em>

    He summoned exactly two of them. But the impact that these two could bring was immense. He summoned a knight that had protected the siren for hundreds of years. Its level was said to be around Level 550.

    But was that all? No. The King¡¯s Guardian was a monster created to protect the king of Italei Kingdom. It looked simr to humans, but had a far superior speed and destructive power than them. With its level around Level 530, it boasted a ridiculous amount of strength. And it did not even end there, as more monsters continued to appear one after the other around Bastien. It was his Epic and Unique monster corps! Their momentum was so strong that it brought an immense amount of pressure to all the yers present.

    <em>[The¡­ the strongest summoner corps has appeared! This is the global official number one summoner, Bastien!!!!]</em>

    Several summoners had tried to attack Death. However, Death was Bastien¡¯s prey. The Siren¡¯s Knight and King¡¯s Guardian swiftly rushed forward and approached Death. Everyone believed that Death, who looked grim with his long ck hair and ragged robes, would eventually be deprived of his Ruler¡¯s Bracelet. Swiftly, the Siren¡¯s Knight¡¯s sword stabbed Death in the chest. But at that moment¡­

    ¡°Death Knight Summon. Varda.¡±

    <em>aaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    A bolt of ck current fell down from the sky only to reveal a Death Knight. One swing from the Death Knight and the Siren¡¯s Knight¡¯s attack was nullified.

    <em>[It¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s a Death Kniiiiiiiight!]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s the same undead knight that the global official number one necromancer, Jack, can only summon three of!]</em>

    Bastien frowned at the sight. But Death did not stop there.

    ¡°Death Knight Summon. Ondoen.¡±

    ¡°Death Knight Summon. Baroque.¡±

    ¡°Death Knight Summon. Kiara.¡±

    ¡°Death Knight Summon. ck.¡±

    ¡°Death Knight Summon. Gerpin.¡±

    ¡°Death Knight Summon. Amber.¡±

    ¡°Death Knight Summon. Ilrod.¡±

    ¡°¡­Wh¡­ what?!¡±

    ¡°What the hell?! Are you kidding me?!¡±

    Dozens of bolts of ck currents fell down from the sky, as one Death Knight appeared after the other. They all lined up and knelt down on one knee in front of Death. He looked back at the other yers coldly and¡­

    ¡°Kingdom of Death.¡±

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    The ground twisted and cracked as thousands of undead broke through and crawled up. Each and every single one of them were wearing armor and holding weapons. Gigantic bones sprang up from the ground and created a small kingdom. A long red carpet rolled out as the gates to this kingdom opened. At the other end of the red carpet was a throne made entirely out of bones.

    ¡°Im¡­ impossible¡­!¡±

    ¡°Ho¡­ how¡­¡±

    Everyone, including the participants and the viewers, were left speechless at the sight. Death summoned his ck staff and slowly walked past the speechless yers.

    <em>Step, step¡ª</em>

    Finally, he sat down on his throne. The hood of his robe fell down as he leaned back, revealing his smooth forehead. Then, he crossed his legs and leisurely ced his ck staff on his chest before looking down at his opponents. His gaze was both piercing and indifferent, as if he was looking at someone ¡®insignificant¡¯.

    Meanwhile, Bastien thought, <em>¡®He, he summoned fifteen Death Knights¡­?!¡¯ </em>He was so shocked that he lost his words and even forgot to breathe.

    Then, Death looked at Bastien and said, ¡°What the hell are you f*cking looking at, dumb*ss?¡±

    Deathpletely overwhelmed Bastien with a string of curses.

 Chapter 416: Deathâ€™s Performance

    Chapter 416: Death¡¯s Performance

    Thirty minutes before the Summoner¡¯s Great War began.

    Ji-Hoon, with his head down, sat in a corner of the yers¡¯ waiting room sipping his water and peeking from one side to the other.

    ¡°Hyung, look at this! Euryaaaaaaaaa! Frieeeeeeeeeend!¡±

    ck Mage Ali, or Yoon Ji-Hoo, was showing Yoon Ji-Seok a video of One Diss on his phone. And his hyung was smiling widely as if to tell him that he was very happy.

    On the other side, Locke, or Jisoo, ¡°No. Mom, Dad!!! Don¡¯te to the yers¡¯ waiting room. Ah~ wait! What in the world is that shirt you¡¯re wearing?!¡±

    Jisoo was very shocked. His parents and sister, who looked just like him, were all wearing a shirt that said: ¡®Locke Love!¡¯

    ¡°Jisoo! Fighting!¡±

    ¡°Our son is the most handsome man in the entire stadium!¡±

    A moment of silence passed in the yers¡¯ waiting room after hearing Jisoo¡¯s mother¡¯s words. However, it immediately became lively once again. Everyone was free toe and go in the Athenae¡¯s waiting room. It would only be strictly guarded and controlled before the start of each game.

    Ji-Hoon sat alone in this lively waiting room. He had always been a loner. He thought, <em>¡®I feel jealous.¡¯</em>

    Ji-Hoon was jealous of the red-faced Locke who was looking at the shirt that his family was wearing. He also felt the same thing when he looked at Yoon Ji-Hoo and Yoon Ji-Seok. The same was true when he saw one of the yers crying over the phone while talking with their family. Envy brewed in his heart but he kept his head down and only peeked at them. Then, someone approached him and said, ¡°What are you doing here all alone?¡±

    ¡°¡­Eh? Yes, what? Huh?¡± When Ji-Hoon raised his head, he saw Minhyuk and his father, Kang Minhoo, standing in front of him. Ji-Hoon lowered his head even more after seeing Kang Minhoo, one of the bigshots, from nervousness.

    Kang Minhoo smiled and said, ¡°Minhyuk, is this the friend that you were talking about before?¡±

    ¡°Yep. That¡¯s right, dad.¡±

    ¡°Hohoho,¡± Kang Minhooughed when he heard his son¡¯s words.

    Ji-Hoon lowered his head even further. He felt his heart thump when he heard one word. And that word was¡­ <em>¡®Friend.¡¯ </em>This was the term that Minhyuk used to introduce Jung Ji-Hoon to his father, Kang Minhoo.

    ¡°Jung Ji-Hoon.¡±

    ¡°Yes, uh, yes, sir?¡± Ji-Hoon looked up at Minhoo, however his eyes kept on dodging to the sides. Ji-Hoon had been cut off from society for a long time, on top of that, he was still reeling from the trauma of being bullied when he was younger. Because of that, he developed extreme fear of interacting with others.

    Kang Minhoo looked at him for quite a while before saying, ¡°You¡¯ll definitely shine brilliantly soon, like an unearthed jewel showing its brilliance to the world.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Ji-Hoon asked dumbly, unknowingly making eye contact with Kang Minhoo. He could see the sincerity in the man¡¯s eyes. Minhoo chuckled before patting Ji-Hoon on the shoulder and stepping out of the room. This was the first time that Ji-Hoon had felt something like this in his life. Then, he turned to Minhyuk and asked, ¡°Why are you helping me?¡±

    ¡°¡­When did I do that?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk had no choice but to cough in embarrassment when he saw the earnest gaze that Ji-Hoon gave him. He just told Ji-Hoon to find him ten times and die ten times, and he really did that. Ji-Hoon was the one that had begun to change himself after realizing a lot of things through Minhyuk¡¯s letters, he did not do much for him.

    Still, Minhyuk looked at Ji-Hoon¡¯s eyes for a moment before saying, ¡°It¡¯s because I think that you can change.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Ji-Hoon fell silent at his words. However, he thought differently. The world threw curses at Minhyuk yet he was able to ovee the pain brought by his eating addiction, a pain that was far more painful than the pain that he was feeling, and even tried to protect him.

    ¡°Ah. Here, take this,¡± Minhyuk said while handing over a note to Ji-Hoon. The note had a string of numbers written on it.

    ¡°¡­What¡¯s this?¡±

    Minhyuk smiled at Ji-Hoon¡¯s question and said, ¡°This is your gift foring to find me ten times. This is Kennedy¡¯s number. He¡¯s a world-famous burn specialist. My father already talked to him so you can get treated after your game.¡±

    Kennedy was a world-renowned burn specialist, an authoritative doctor in his field, and a person that Ji-Hoon could not meet even once in his life, despite having countless assets and money under his name. In fact, Ji-Hoon wanted to meet with him but as time went by, the world changed and he grew more isted from society. At some point, he just gave up on getting treatment.

    Ji-Hoon¡¯s pupils shook wildly when he heard Minhyuk¡¯s words. The words of the announcement broadcasted over the speaker registered weakly in his ears as Minhyuk punched him lightly on his shoulder.

    <em>[All participants for the Summoner¡¯s Great War, please proceed to the waiting room.]</em>

    Then, Minhyuk told him, ¡°Now¡¯s the time for you to take that leap and change.¡±

    Ji-Hoon nodded silently. Not long after, one of the Athenae staff approached him and escorted him to the waiting room. He walked behind the staff through the crowded hallway while clutching the note that Minhyuk handed to him on his chest. In the end, he burst out in tears.

    Jisoo looked at Ji-Hoon suspiciously as he stepped out of the room. He asked, ¡°I don¡¯t understand why you¡¯re going so far for him. Is that guy even reliable?¡±

    Everyone was free to have opinions of their own about a person. Some of the members definitely did not see Ji-Hoon in a good light. Then, Ali, or Yoo Jin-Hoo said, ¡°But I think he¡¯s a good person?¡±

    Minhyuk smiled lightly and said, ¡°It¡¯s alright. It only took one call from my dad to get Kennedy¡¯s phone number.¡±

    Yes, that was right. It was something easy for Minhyuk to achieve. However, that single call was enough topletely change a person¡¯s life in the future.

    ¡°Besides. That¡¯s what he worked hard for himself.¡±

    Minhyuk listened to the crowd¡¯s loud cheers that signaled the start of the Summoner¡¯s Great War. Then, he said, ¡°He¡¯s the perfect ally and¡­¡±

    Minhyuk looked at everyone in the room and continued to say, ¡°¡­friend.¡±

    ***

    <em>[Even, even though it¡¯s happening in front of me, I still can''t bring myself to believe it¡­!]</em>

    <em>[Are you seeing this? He summoned fifteen Death Knights! And that¡¯s not the end of it, he even created a small kingdom of bones. Correct me if I¡¯m wrong but I think there are liches around the kingdom that he created.]</em>

    <em>[Right now, in Athenae: World War, the yer named Death has brought shock to the entire world.]</em>

    <em>[Look at Death¡¯s aloof gaze. His sharp and cold gaze looks simr to a leopard¡¯s eyes! It was just yesterday, during the Korean group photoshoot when we saw Death fidgeting around and lowering his head in anxiety. There were even many people concerned about his anxiety and restlessness. Is he really the same person as the one from yesterday? He¡¯s giving off apletely different vibe.]</em>

    <em>[You¡¯re absolutely right. His aloof gaze makes him look like a king that looks down on the other yers! He¡¯s literally the King of Death!]</em>

    Death ced one hand on his chest, to that ce where he ced the note that Minhyuk had given him earlier. It was not there right now, but the warmth that it gave him still lingered in his heart, giving him the courage to change himself.

    <em>¡®This is the only thing that I can do to repay him for what he has given me.¡¯</em>

    The thing that Death could do for Minhyuk was to change, just like what he told him earlier. For the first time in a long time, he wanted to throw away the dirty and gloomy robe that he was wearing and let the world see how he could shine brightly.

    <em>¡®Those that curse and mock me? Laugh and curse at me all you want. I will stand up and overtake you with my head held high.¡¯</em>

    Then, at that moment¡­

    ¡°Keuhahahahahaha!¡± Bastien burst intoughter.

    Death, who was sitting on his throne, slightly lowered his head and looked coldly at theughing Bastien. Bastien looked at him proudly, as though he had seen through his act.

    ¡°This is amazing. Really amazing! It seems like you¡¯re also a big shot. That¡¯spletely unlike what we expected!¡±

    Bastien could tell that Death far surpassed the global official number one necromancer, Jack, in terms of power and abilities. Then, he looked at the yers trembling in fear. He said, ¡°What are you afraid of, huh?! Pull your shit together! These people, <em>tch</em>. This is apetition. What can one bastard who shows off his amazing summons and gets the spotlight in the start of the game do? Can he even beat forty of us by himself? Huh?!¡±

    ¡°¡­So, that¡¯s the case.¡±

    ¡°Moron. Kekeke,¡± Bastien mumbled, firmly believing that Death was as dumb and foolish as ever. This was because they, the majority, were a total of forty people while Death was all by himself. Putting on a spectacr disy of power would just light a fire in everyone. Someone as skilled and powerful as Death was definitely ¡®someone that could never win a gold medal¡¯. Death could not argue with anyone, he brought it upon himself. No matter how strong he was or how many undead he could summon, he would be of no match against forty powerful summoners altogether.

    But Death just looked down at them from his throne as if he found them amusing. He said, ¡°Is that so?¡±

    The yers burst out in a fit ofughter when they heard Death¡¯s words. What could he do when they had Bastien, the global official number one summoner with them? It would not be toote for them to fight against each other once they dealt with and robbed Death of his Ruler¡¯s Bracelet. Dozens of yers were looking at Death and his rxed smile. Bastien thought that Death should be feeling antsy right now.

    ***

    The audience, the variousmunity sites from all over the world and even thementators admired Death and his splendid appearance. However, they alsomented his brilliance.

    <em>[yer Death¡¯s splendid appearance sparked a fire in the hearts of his opponents. It seems like the game would turn into a 40:1 fight.]</em>

    <em>[If yer Death chose to hide his power and summoned his Death Knights step by step then he would definitely have secured the gold medal. But his pride and arrogance have driven himself into a crisis.]</em>

    <em>Murmur, murmur¡ª</em>

    The audience was in a buzz. The Koreans among them cheered loudly, delighted at the fact that Death, someone from their country, had reached the apex of summoners. However, they felt pity and disappointment after watching him make foolish actions one after the other. Even the Korean representatives sitting in the yer¡¯s stand werementing his defeat.

    ¡°With the situation as it is, he¡¯s already doomed.¡±

    ¡°How can someone beat forty people by himself?¡±

    Their voices rang loudly, but Minhyuk just looked upfront and watched Death on the screen with a smile on his face.

    ¡°Death has won this fight.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± Locke felt that Death was already going to lose, so he turned to look at Minhyuk in doubt.

    Then, Minhyuk turned to him and said, ¡°Death has already set up the board. You know, that guy is a genius gamer.¡±

    ***

    The summoners stood in line, waiting for Bastien¡¯s orders. Then, Bastien said, ¡°Turtle Dragon! Since you have a high defense, go and take the lead. Push the ones blocking the front away! While you¡¯re at it, we¡¯ll be dealing with the mobs loitering around that castle-like ce!¡±

    Bastien¡¯s order was reasonable. Although the Turtle Dragon was a turtle-shaped monster, it was very quick on its feet. On top of that, it had a ridiculous amount of defense that even the best of rankers would find it hard to chip the tough shell covering its body. In just a blink, Bastien¡¯s summons and the other yers¡¯ summons had gathered together in one ce.

    Just then, Bastien felt something was wrong.

    ¡°Hey, Lacarie! Hurry up and make your Turtle Dragon move!¡±

    ¡°¡­Why does it have to be my Turtle Dragon? There are a lot of other monsters here, too.¡±

    Bastien frowned. Everyone here knew that the Turtle Dragon had the highest defense on top of a tremendous amount of HP. But even so, why should it be the Turtle Dragon? But if the owner did not want it, then so be it.

    ¡°Then, Matsumoto. Take the vanguard!¡±

    ¡°¡­I don¡¯t want to. My Ogre Troll is not as sturdy and tough as the Turtle Dragon.¡±

    Bastien¡¯s brows furrowed even deeper as he listened to the other yers.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you want to take the lead?¡±

    ¡°If I be the vanguard then my Turtle Dragon and I will be the first to get eliminated, right?¡±

    ¡°Are you just going to give orders and stay at the rear? Why? Just so you can reduce your losses?¡±

    ¡°Th¡­ then what about the Wyvern Corps? How about we burn them down with the Wyvern Corps first¡­?!¡±

    ¡°My Wyvern Corps can¡¯t do it either. Their HP is too low for that.¡±

    Bastien realized that something was very wrong when he heard themotion among the other yers. Yes, anyone, even if they were a fool, knew that they would lose a lot of power if they took the lead. And even if they killed Death, they would still eventually be forced to log out.

    ¡°Pfft. Kekekekekeke. Kikikikiki. Kihihihihihi!¡± Death¡¯s gratingughter rang loudly over their voices.

    Bastien suddenly turned pale. Thatugh told him that Death had already predicted this situation. Death¡¯sughter continued to ring in the field. Even thementators and the audience sitting in the stands finally started to realize that the situation was taking an unusual turn.

    <em>[If they follow Bastien¡¯s orders, those that sh against the undead legion will incur a huge amount of damage and be eliminated.]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s why they¡¯re all trying to point fingers at each other. Truth is, I overlooked this fact until now. But it seems like Death has predicted that this would happen.]</em>

    <em>[If that¡¯s the case, then he¡¯s a very clever yer. We can expect yer Death to bring forth a new and fresh wind in Athenae.]</em>

    But unbeknownst to them, Death was already a step ahead of them.

    ¡°Ah. That¡¯s right,¡± Deathughed for a moment before looking down at Bastien and saying coldly, ¡°Did you forget that you¡¯re as much of a threat to them as I am?¡±

    Bastien, who felt suffocated at Death¡¯s words, looked around. The main reason why the field for the Summoner¡¯s Great War was sorge was to allow the summoners to make full use of their summons¡¯ attributes and utilize the terrain¡¯s characteristics. Bastien also knew this fact.

    Right now, the summoners and their summons were lined up one after the other. And just like Bastien, the other summoners also started to realize this fact.

    Then, Death raised his pointer finger and said, ¡°How about I make you a deal? I will not make a move on you while you¡¯re fighting Bastien.¡±

    A vein popped up in Bastien¡¯s forehead. He shouted, ¡°Bastard, what are you trying¡­!¡±

    But before he could finish his sentence, the other yers started to agree with Death.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that a good deal?¡±

    ¡°I must agree. It sounds very tempting.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s first deal with Bastien, then deal with Death. After that, the rest of us will fight after that. Death looks like someone that keeps his word.¡±

    Bastien felt his breath get stuck in his throat. He could tell after seeing Death giggling while sitting snugly on his throne, that he was hunting him without even lifting a single finger.

    ¡°Kekekekekeke! Keuhahahahahaha. Hihihihihihi!¡±

    Fear and terror crept up Bastien¡¯s spine when he saw Death¡¯s vicious smile. He finally realized that he provoked someone that he should not have touched.

 Chapter 417: Deathâ€™s Performance

    Chapter 417: Death¡¯s Performance

    Bastien felt his head turn nk as he watched the summoners surround him for an attack. He could already tell that the booing and mockery from the French spectators would tarnish his honor, and even Cuhel¡¯s, since he was working as his right-hand man. The disgrace that he would feel from Death literally sitting there without lifting a finger to deal with him would be tremendous.

    ¡°You bastaaaaaard! Bastaaaaaaard!¡± Bastien roared in anger. But at that moment, the Ogre Troll mmed its ax down on him.

    <em>Baaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The two-meter King¡¯s Guardian equipped with a full-te armor and a helmet appeared in front of Bastien with a huge greatsword in hand to block the Ogre Troll¡¯s ax.

    ¡°Everyone, stand back!¡±

    ¡°We have to deal with Bastien first!¡±

    One of the summoners sent out their Orc Great Mage, which brandished its staff and flew up in the sky.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    A huge magic spell fell down and engulfed Bastien and his summons.

    ¡°Attack!!!¡±

    ¡°Wyverns!!! Focus on attacking!¡±

    The summoners sent one fierce attack after the other. However, Bastien was not known as the summoners¡¯ king for nothing. He not only had two legendary monsters, he alsomanded hundreds of epic and unique monsters.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Gigantic beasts sprang up from the ground and surrounded Bastien. He did not call for all of his summons, only the gigantic leopards and hyenas. Their bodies reached four meters in height and their entire body was shining brightly, as if they were wearing armor. They were the epic monsters: ¡®Steel Leopard¡¯ and ¡®Hyena of Death¡¯, monsters that lived in the Sky of Death. Bastien had tamed these monsters and created a small army of his own. And with their power, these monsters were not something that his enemies could take for granted.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaack!¡±

    The beast-type monsters jumped up and bit the Ogre Troll. The Siren¡¯s Knight also took advantage of the split second when the wyverns would swoop down to attack and cut them down. Yes. They were literally even in terms of power. Bastien might be fighting a bloody battle alone, but he was not losing his ground against dozens of yers.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Bastien personally shed the head of one of the wolf-type monsters rushing towards him with an ax. It was not easy for his enemies to deal damage to him, but it was different for the other yers. However, there was one obvious reason why they still tried to attack Bastien with all their might, despite knowing that they would suffer great damage in the process. This was because unlike Death, Bastien was within their reach. The problem was that Bastien went beyond their expectations and fought fiercely against them.

    ¡°Hing, hing, hing!¡±

    ¡°Heeeeeeeng!¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaack!¡±

    Bastien started to get pushed back as his summons started to copse and fade to gray. However, the other yers also suffered significant losses. Bastien was able to kill at least ten monsters on his own.

    ¡°He¡¯s just one guy, we can take him down!!!¡±

    The fight between Bastien and the other yers continued. By the time their battle reached its peak, around 40% of the total number of summoners had disappeared. Bastien had no choice but to hide behind his summons the moment his Siren¡¯s Knight and King¡¯s Guardian reached their limits and were unable to fight. He knew that he wouldst for another minute at most, but at least he was able to take down a lot of people with him.

    ¡°Keukeukeukeukeu!¡±

    And once again, another wild and menacingughter rang loudly in the stadium. The bleeding Bastien, who was supporting himself with his ax, turned to look at the direction of theughter. There, he saw Death still sitting on his throne. However, something has changed from earlier. A bloody red energy crept up and surrounded his small kingdom. Hundreds of nts then sprouted. And instead of flowers, the nts had spears and arrows.

    <em>Fwoooosh¡ª</em>

    <em>Fwoooosh¡ª</em>

    <em>Fwooosh¡ª</em>

    Dozens of arrows flew out from the nts. The Siren¡¯s Knight and the King¡¯s Guardian squeezed theirst power to block the iing arrows. However, there were still a few arrows that got past them and struck Bastien¡¯s body.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack! You coward!!! Didn¡¯t you say that you wouldn¡¯ty a finger on us while we¡¯re fighting?!¡±

    Death had made a promise in front of the world, but he broke his own promise and attacked Bastien. Death tilted his head at Bastien as he reiterated the words that he uttered earlier, ¡°You¡¯re talking about the words: <em>¡®How about I make you a deal? I will not make a move on you while you¡¯re fighting Bastien.¡¯</em>, right? But I was talking to ¡®them¡¯ and not you. You aren¡¯t included in that deal, you know?¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Indeed, the ones that interpreted it freely were Bastien and the other yers. Death never said that he would not make a move against Bastien. With the addition of what seemed to be poisoned arrows, Bastien¡¯s death was fast approaching. But before he faded into gray, Bastien was given another shock. He shot his mouth off saying that he would take another guy with him and he really did take down a lot of yers. But the problem?

    <em>¡®It¡­ it increased Death¡¯s chances of winning¡­!¡¯</em>

    Bastien, although unwilling, became Death¡¯s puppet and moved ording to his will and helped him deal with his opponents. It brought a bitter taste to his mouth. It was extremely hateful. Finally, Bastien turned gray and disappeared from everyone¡¯s sight. And Death, who sent the final blow, was recognized as the one that destroyed Bastien¡¯s Ruler¡¯s Bracelet.

    <em>[You have destroyed a Ruler¡¯s Bracelet.]</em>

    <em>[Bastien¡¯s Ruler¡¯s Bracelet remains unused. His bracelet has three Summon Strengthening Decrees, two Summon Healing Decrees, and a 20% HP and MP Recovery for All Summons Decree.]</em>

    <em>[You have destroyed an unused bracelet. The privilege hidden in the destroyed bracelet will be added to your own bracelet.]</em>

    <em>[The Ruler¡¯s Bracelet¡¯s ability will take ten seconds to be applied. In the case of an attack, the time will be reset.]</em>

    Bastien had killed a lot of yers, which meant that he had destroyed countless Ruler¡¯s Bracelets and gained plenty of abilities. However, he was not given the opportunity to use all of the abilities that he gained. After all, he was struggling to avoid the other yers¡¯ attacks. But considering the pitiful amount of abilities left in his bracelet, it seemed like Bastien was still able to use quite a lot of them.

    However, it did not matter, as all of the abilities that he had gathered were left to Death. It was like killing two birds with one stone. On top of that, Bastien and Death were inpletely different circumstances. Bastien was under siege, while Death was sitting alone in his kingdom.

    Then, Death used the bracelet¡¯s powers.

    <em>[You have used the Ruler¡¯s Bracelet¡¯s power to strengthen Death Knight Ondoen.]</em>

    <em>[Ondoen¡¯s attack and defense will increase by 8% and his HP and MP will increase by 5%.]</em>

    <em>[You have used the Ruler¡¯s Bracelet¡¯s power to strengthen Death Knight Baroque.]</em>

    <em>[Baroque¡¯s attack and defense will increase by 8% and his HP and MP will increase by 5%.]</em>

    <em>[You have used the Ruler¡¯s Bracelet¡­omitted.]</em>

    Death strengthened his Death Knights just like that. At first, this game looked disadvantageous for one yer being attacked by a group of enemies, but reality was different.

    What would happen if Death continued to take his opponents¡¯ bracelets to strengthen his army? And what if, unlike Bastien, he could freely use these bracelets, since he was not subjected to his enemies'' siege? Then, his chances of winning would increase even further.

    Death was also really smart. While they were busy fighting against each other, he silently used the ¡®Kingdom of Death¡¯s Wrath¡¯. The skill¡¯s casting time was very long, it actually needed fifteen minutes before it could be casted. He would not be able to use it right away with encroaching enemies, but once he sessfully cast it, it would be able to make his Kingdom of Death stronger.

    Death had also used another of his abilities and spread it around his Kingdom of Death. It was none other than the ¡®Death Zone¡¯, the same ability that he used in his fight against Minhyuk in the past. It could restrict anyone and everyone from using their skills, as long as they were inside its area of effect. He even used the buff skill ¡®Undead¡¯s Evil Energy¡¯, a skill exclusive to necromancers that could be used in battle. He had strengthened all of his weapons ahead of his fight.

    Now, everyone¡¯s target had finally changed from Bastien to Death. But even if that was the case, they would not be able to do anything. After all, Death had already strengthened himself as much as he could.

    ¡°ughter them.¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Following hismand, Death Knight Baroque moved at the speed of light and cut down the summons and its owner. And just like that, another Ruler¡¯s Bracelet had been destroyed.

    <em>[You have destroyed a Ruler¡¯s Bracelet.]</em>

    <em>[You have destroyed two bracelets and will receive a special privilege. You have acquired a 50% HP and MP Recovery Decree.]</em>

    In fact, the management had set a ten second casting time for each of the special privileges that the yer would get to prevent one yer from destroying and hogging plenty of Ruler¡¯s Bracelets. However, Death was already in a ce where his opponents could not touch him easily.

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Urk, Uaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    The undead ughtered the summons and their owners mercilessly, destroying their Ruler¡¯s Bracelets, while Death reaped the special privileges.

    ¡°Strengthen, recover, strengthen, recover! Kikikikiki!¡±

    Death instantly recovered the Death Knights with significantly lower HP and MP. He also further strengthened the already overwhelmingly powerful Death Knights. Even if Death was already powerful, some of the summoners would use their special skills, sending their summons near the Kingdom of Death. However, once they did so, a terrifying notification would ring in their ears and bring them deeper to the depths of despair.

    <em>[Your summons have stepped into the Death Zone.]</em>

    <em>[All skills cannot be used.]</em>

    The good thing about having a named monster for a summon was that they had skills on their own. But once these monsters stepped into the Kingdom of Death, they would just be turned into monsters slightly stronger than ordinary mobs in terms of attack and defense. These monsters then became prey to the undead prowling around the Kingdom of Death.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaack!¡±

    Another wolf-type summon had been killed once again. The nts growing around the strengthened kingdom started to attack Death¡¯s enemies. And just like always, Death¡­

    ¡°Strengthen, recover, strengthen, recover!

    However, none of them could use Death of being cowardly. After all, Death was all by himself while they were fighting him with their numbers. Besides, Death might have vowed to make a change, but he was never interested in ying the hero. What he wanted to do was to sprint forward and aim for a brilliant future.

    Even so, the summoners still represented their own countries. In other words, they were very strong! They tried to enter Death¡¯s kingdom by using a systematic approach and knocking down one undead after another. But as if he was waiting for them, Death opened his mouth and said, ¡°Resurrection of the Dead.¡±

    <em>Crack, crack, crack!</em>

    <em>Craaaaaaaack!</em>

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, craaaaack!</em>

    Death resurrected the summons that had died. The bones of the summons that were originally theirs sprang up from the ground and headed towards the Kingdom of Death. They lined up and became Death¡¯s shield.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    At that moment, all of them felt that they would not be able to win. He was an absolute monster. Thirty minutester¡­

    <em>[<strong>1st ce</strong>: South Korea. Death. Gold Medal.]</em>

    The world was in shock. However, there was one fact that brought them more shock. The moment he sat on his throne, Death did not stand up at all. In other words, he won without fighting personally. The reporters immediately flocked around Death, who was wearing his white mask, after the game.

    ¡°Mister Death, please say something!¡±

    ¡°Did you expect the result of this game?!¡±

    ¡°The entire world is looking at you right now. Plenty of them are saying that the Summit Five had be the Summit Six right now. Please leave us some words!¡±

    ¡°Moving forward, are you also going to establish a kingdom?¡±

    Death looked around the hundreds of reporters that surrounded him. His words were simple and concise. He said, ¡°I dedicate this honor to Food God Minhyuk.¡±

    That was the end of his words. However, the impact of his words was huge. This was because he did not mention anything else aside from dedicating his honor and glory to Food God Minhyuk. And when they looked at where Death was headed, they saw Minhyuk standing there, waiting for him with his hand stretched out and a small smile on his face. Death grabbed his hand and said, ¡°I¡­ Please ept me as a member of Let¡¯s Eat Sect.¡±

    ¡°Woaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°This¡­ this is a scoop!¡±

    <em>Click, click, click, click, click!</em>

    The King of Death dered his intentions to join and work under Minhyuk¡¯smand, causing the whole world to go into another uproar.

 Chapter 418: Lesser Demon Diablo

    Chapter 418: Lesser Demon Diablo

    Go Eun-ah, who was standing among the reporters, was shocked when she heard what Death said.

    Who was Death? He was a powerful man that defeated all of the summoners that participated in the Summoner¡¯s Great War without even lifting his butt off of his throne. Everyone even agreed that his power was equal to that of the Summit Five.

    And right now, that very same man had dered to the world that he wanted to stand by Minhyuk. The reporters clicked away at their cameras, while the entire world felt terror creeping up from their spines from the video that was being transmitted to their screens.

    <em>¡®How strong will Let¡¯s Eat Sect be once Death joins them?!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Can we even fight against them?!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®If a necromancer like Death joins the Let¡¯s Eat Sect then it¡¯s like adding wings to a tiger</em>[1]<em>!¡¯</em>

    A one-man kingdom. These words perfectly described Death. However, the words that Minhyuk uttered next brought greater shock to everyone watching, ¡°No. You can¡¯t join us.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The reporters looked at Minhyuk in stunned silence.

    <em>¡®What did you say?! Food God, are you crazy?!¡¯</em>

    The reporters suddenly broke out into a buzz. Even Death was shocked after hearing Minhyuk¡¯s refusal. However, Minhyuk¡¯s expression remained unfazed, it was as if he would never change his decision. And not long after, Death expressed his gratitude, ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Minhyuk did not exin why he refused Death. But Death, who was rejected, thanked him. The people that watched this scene might not know, but the two of them were very much aware of Death¡¯s dream. It was to ¡®establish a kingdom¡¯ of his own. Minhyuk believed that he had enough power to do so.

    Besides, Death was Rocard Kingdom¡¯s enemy, a kingdom in alliance with Minhyuk. If Death served under Minhyuk, the Let¡¯s Eat Sect would be thrown into chaos and confusion. They would just be like oil and water, never mixing together. Besides, Death said those words because he wanted to ¡®pay back¡¯ Minhyuk for his grace and kindness.

    However, Minhyuk did not show him kindness in order for Death to repay him. Also, if Death served Minhyuk, he would not be able to expand his influence and territory in <em>Athenae</em>. After all, his ¡®bowl¡¯ was too big to work under Minhyuk.

    All in all, refusing Death would, in fact, bring more benefits to Let¡¯s Eat Sect. The Kingdom of Death that he would establish in the future would definitely form a strong alliance with the Let¡¯s Eat Sect and be their shield.

    But it did not matter whether they knew these facts or not, the entire world was busy discussing with each other in themunity sites.

    <em>[The Food God is ve¡­ No, he¡¯s very impressive! My goodness! He rejected a strong person like Death!]</em>

    <em>[So, there really is a yer that can reject a strong person like Death. Food God Minhyuk! You¡¯re really amazing.]</em>

    <em>[The Food God has brought us a lot of surprises in thispetition.]</em>

    ***

    The Athenae: World War had brought out plenty of yers, who had hidden their power, into the public eye. They were fully aware that participating in the world war would show the world the extent of their powers. However, there was one main reason why they decided to participate. Was it for the glory of their country? Or perhaps, for fame? Of course, those were also included. The biggest reason though, was the rewards that they would get once they acquired medals.

    The yer that won a bronze medal would be able to acquire fifty tinum. The yer that won a silver medal would be able to acquire an Artifact Reward Book, a book that could randomly award an epic~legendary artifact.

    And, what about winning a gold medal? It would depend on the yer¡¯s choice. If the yer chose to receive an artifact, they would be able to receive a legendary rank artifact, together with two hundred tinum.

    It was not just limited to artifacts, the yer could also choose an artifact ¡®material¡¯ or food ¡®ingredient¡¯. ording to Athenae¡¯s announcement, there was a high chance of receiving legendary-grade materials and ingredients. There was even a chance, albeit much lower, of getting God-grade materials and ingredients.

    To be honest, all of the participants were more interested in God-grade materials and ingredients than a legendary-ranked artifact. After all, God-grade materials and ingredients would be able to help them approach, or even reach the ¡®God-rank¡¯. Besides, ¡®God-grade¡¯ materials and ingredients were still not yet officially released in Athenae, so all the more reason for their curiosity and hunger to get one.

    As for the overall champions, they had a very slim chance of getting a God-ranked artifact instead of a legendary artifact. But even though Athenae had announced that they could obtain such an artifact, the odds were so slim that it was basically impossible.

    The most important and the biggest reward was the MVP reward that would only be awarded to the yer with the most medals. The rewards that the MVP would receive were naturally greater than the other rewards. In fact, the rewards that the MVP would receive had already been discussed by the management and the individual yers before the Athenae: World War had started, they even signed a contract with thepany.

    The reward that Minhyuk asked for during the discussion was the ¡®God¡¯s Land¡¯, something that could increase the amount of crops that they could harvest from Ingredient Heaven. The surprising fact was, Locke was the one that found out about the God¡¯s Land in one of the books that he read. It was also the decisive reason that pushed Minhyuk in participating in Athenae: World War. In the end, the force that drove Minhyuk forward was still food.

    With Death¡¯s performance, South Korea has once again taken a gold medal. But after that, they only tasted bitterness. During the ¡®Archer¡¯s Great War¡¯, Root only settled for the silver medal and failed to get the gold medal, despite his splendid performance. Right now, South Korea only had four gold medals and one silver medal. On the other hand, America had five gold medals, two silver medals and four bronze medals, with China and Japan following closely behind.

    China and Japan were able to follow closely behind America because France, which Cuhel belonged to and the country they predicted to be close contenders, made blunders and dug their own graves during the Penalty Shoot-Out and Summoner¡¯s Great War.

    And the event that was going to be held soon was none other than the ¡®Named Monster Hunting¡¯. And the one representing Korea for this event was Minhyuk, who was currently waiting for the game to start in five minutes.

    Meanwhile, thementators quickly exined the rules of the event.

    <em>[The Named Monster Hunting event is as simple as its name suggests. The yers are tasked to hunt the named monsters that would appear all over the area and get points. The yers can get higher points for the monsters that they hunt, depending on the monster¡¯s rank based on the Named Monster Ranking that the Athenae Management have set. The monsters will generally be ranked from one to five. The lower the number, the stronger the monster, and the higher the score.]</em>

    <em>[On top of that, the yers can use various potions, artifact materials, cooking ingredients, materials for bomb manufacturing and many other items during the event.]</em>

    <em>[This rule aims to let the yers exert their strongest power during the event. Ah, naturally, they can¡¯t use it indefinitely. Each person can only drink up to three potion bottles. However, the ingredients and materials in their inventory, as well as the ingredients and materials that the named monsters will drop can be used indefinitely.]</em>

    <em>[There¡¯s also a monster ranked zero. We¡¯ll pass the mic over to President Kang Taehoon for this. President, please exin it to us.]</em>

    <em>[There will only be one zero-ranked monster that will appear in this event. Since this zero-ranked monster is stronger than all of the named monsters in this event, there will be scores for sessful attacks, sessful damage, and attack evasion. A zero-ranked monster is something that none of the rankers can easily deal with, it was ced there to show them that only a part of the Athenae worldview has been released to the public and that there are still a lot of strong beings in existence out there waiting for them. If, by any chance, someone sessfully hunts this monster in this event, they will be hailed as this event¡¯s champion.]</em>

    Everyone was filled with expectations after hearing President Kang Taehoon¡¯s exnation. That was the zero-ranked monster, a monster that was yet to be revealed to the world! In fact, even the named monsters that were known to the world were already very hard for the ordinary viewers to hunt, that was why they were excited to watch the rankers hunt these monsters.

    <em>[I heard that thispetition has a special system. Is that true?]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s right. The emotions of the zero-ranked monster will ring as notifications to the yers and will be disyed to the audience on the screens. Even though the monster is a zero-ranked monster they also have emotions, like ¡®fear¡¯ and the like, and would change from time to time. I¡¯m sure it will make the audience go wild, watching the rankers push the zero-ranked monster to its limit.]</em>

    <em>[But unlike other games, we can expect plenty of variables to appear in the Named Monster Hunting event.]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s only natural. There are other sses that have special abilities for monster hunting.]</em>

    <em>[Just being the strongest in PVP won¡¯t make you the best in monster hunting. There will definitely be someone else that would reach the apex in monster hunting.]</em>

    <em>[Let me tell you this. ording to the experts, it will be hard for those yers hailed as the strongest in their own fields to keep the title of the strongest in this Named Monster Hunting event.]</em>

    <em>[Then, how about our very own, South Korea¡¯s Food God Minhyuk?]</em>

    <em>[yer Minhyuk is definitely our pride and he really is a strongpetitor, but we must expect a difficult battle ahead. Compared to the Penalty Shoot-Out, he will not have Ali and Root to support him. It¡¯s also still up for discussion if his strong abilities could exert great power in a battle against named monsters. And that¡¯s not all. Cuhel is also ying in this event, so we can expect him to do his best to keep Minhyuk in check.]</em>

    <em>[I think it¡¯s not a bad idea for yer Ali to participate in this event with his AOE magic.]</em>

    <em>[This is mainly because yers can¡¯t participate in two consecutive games. And Ali will be participating in the following event, the ¡®Magic Battle¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[The yers are entering their capsules as we speak!]</em>

    <em>[I¡¯m so excited to watch these yers hunt named monsters!]</em>

    What greeted the yers when they entered the stadium was a different view from the stadiums that had been used so far. There was hotva erupting all over the ce and the atmosphere was dark and gloomy. It was as if they were in the¡­

    ¡°De¡­ Demon World¡­?!¡±

    That was right. Just like one of the spectators said, the stadium looked like the Demon World depicted inic books. Then, dozens of named monsters began to appear. The audience wondered if the reason why the Demon World appeared was because of the existence of the zero-ranked monster. This was because the zero-ranked monster was the boss mob of this Named Monster Hunting event. Minhyuk, who appeared after a warp, also saw the named monsters appearing one after the other around him.

    Right now, all of the yers were thinking the same thing. The zero-ranked named monster would appear towards the end of the game, so they had to do their best to gain points by quickly hunting the other named monsters. America¡¯s Alexander moved swiftly. Japan¡¯s Kentaro also moved, not losing ground against him. Minhyuk also tried to move. However, Cuhel appeared in front of him before he could do so. He was not alone. The other yers that were also wary of Minhyuk¡¯s strength also moved to block him.

    <em>¡®Just like I thought, it¡¯s going to be difficult from the start.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk frowned. But then, at that moment, a startling notification rang out for everyone. Cuhel, who was trying to attack Minhyuk, and even Alexander and Kentaro, who were dashing forward to hunt monsters, also heard the notification.

    <em>[The Zero Monster has shown itself to the world!]</em>

    <em>Booooooooom¡ª</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    It happened in an instant. Dozens of ck lightning bolts struck down the ground. Then, the yers heard another notification.

    <em>[The Zero Monster is happily greeting someone.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°What the hell?¡±

    ¡°What nonsense is this?! Why did the zero-ranked monster appear at the start?!!¡±

    ¡°Shit! He came out to wee someone?!¡±

    The yers shouted in disbelief. Who was the one that made the zero-ranked monstere out to meet them? What kind of bullshit was this? However, the notifications did not end there.

    <em>[The Zero Monster will never forget the yer that shed tears for him.]</em>

    <em>[The Zero Monster remembers the yer that gave his all for him.]</em>

    Then¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡­the figure of the monster appeared in front of them as the final ck lightning bolt struck down. Contrary to what the Athenae management had announced, the monster had the figure of a human, who was around 180 centimeters tall, with a sword hanging on his waist. There was one yer that identally made eye contact with him. This yer was none other than Japan¡¯s Kentaro. And Kentaro¡­

    <em>[The transcendental power of the being in front of you has forced you to submit.]</em>

    <em>[You will experience difficulty in breathing.]</em>

    ¡°<em>Gasp, gasp, gasp, gasp.</em>¡±

    Kentaro, who was in disbelief, felt the sweat drip down his entire body. Just a simple eye contact and he was already brought down to his knees with an abnormal status. The number of yers groaning and moaning started to increase. Finally, the monster¡¯s eyes stared at the ce where Minhyuk was standing. Then, the notifications started to ring once again.

    <em>[The identity of the Zero Monster has been revealed!]</em>

    <em>[He is a being that was once a human. However, the Great Demons turned him into a vessel that would contain their demonic energy. He is an existence that even the Great Demons fear.]</em>

    <em>[Lesser Demon Diablo.]</em>

    1. A Chinese idiom. Tiger refers to something strong and powerful and adding wings to a tiger means they¡¯re making something that¡¯s already strong even more powerful. ?

 Chapter 419: Lesser Demon Diablo

    Chapter 419: Lesser Demon Diablo

    Everyone watched as Diablo, the zero-ranked monster, moved to stand in front of Food God Minhyuk the moment he revealed his appearance. All of them, whether they were in the stands or inside the stadium, were left in doubt and disbelief.

    ¡°What the hell? Is this some kind of bug?! Why would a monster like that show interest in a yer?!¡±

    ¡°I know that this is the very first World War, but aren¡¯t you a bit toox when ites to this part?!¡±

    Even thementators voiced their concerns.

    <em>[Unlike other games, Athenae is famous for not having any major bugs. On top of that, President Kang Taehoon and Joy Co. Ltd. have always been transparent with us about their work process and etiquette. So, there shouldn¡¯t be a fatal error especially with the whole world paying attention to this event.]</em>

    <em>[Wouldn¡¯t it disrupt the game if the Zero Monster shows interest in a yer?]</em>

    In fact, even the management team was also in a mess.

    ¡°This is impossible¡­!¡±

    ¡°Team Leader, what should we do?¡±

    Park Minggyu and Lee Minhwa stared at the huge screen, which was disying the scene of Diablo looking at Minhyuk, in shock.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect that yer Minhyuk¡¯s influence on Diablo would be so strong. For him to recognize him even though he is in a ¡®Frenzied State¡¯ is very shocking¡­¡±

    Of course, the Athenae management was aware that Diablo and Minhyuk met in the past. However, Supeputer Athenae, the god that controlled the Athenae worldview, wanted Diablo in this contest.

    God Athenae¡¯s involvement in the game process was very considerable. In fact, it was safe to say that most of the events in Athenae were created by the A.I.. The job of the Athenae management was to add more flesh to the ns and make it moreplete. They also voiced their concerns about Diablo meeting Minhyuk, but the supeputer had emphasized Diablo¡¯s frenzied state.

    A lot of things happened in the Demon World after Minhyuk and Diablo¡¯s meeting. Diablo conquered the Demon World¡¯s Tower, then went to the ¡®Demon¡¯s Land¡¯ and pointed his sword at Great Demon Verus. As his resentment against Great Demon Verus grew by the day, his strength also grew.

    However, the difference between a great demon and a lesser demon was definitely a huge chasm that he could not cross so easily. In fact, the truth was, it was Great Demon Verus that gave Diablo the foothold to grow stronger. This was because he viewed Diablo as a form of entertainment of some sorts. When he found out about that, Diablo¡¯s anger and resentment grew even further, to the point that he reached a frenzied state which resulted in the loss of most of his feelings as a human that he had regained just recently.

    However, with the appearance of someone that was deeply ingrained in his memories, Diablo was able to regain some semnce of his sanity and emotion.

    Eventually, President Kang Taehoon began to talk.

    <em>[It would be a lie if I said that I¡¯m not surprised by this situation.]</em>

    Kang Taehoon knew that he would appear proud and knew-it-all, if he were to pretend as if he and his team had predicted this to happen.

    <em>[However, Joy Co. Ltd. has always considered the anomalies and variables that would appear in every event. And the same is true for the yers associated with Diablo. But please don¡¯t forget that the name of this event is ¡®Named Monster Hunting¡¯ event.]</em>

    The moring crowd slowly returned to calm after hearing Kang Taehoon¡¯s firm and unshakeable voice.

    <em>[One has to hit or hunt the Zero Monster to get closer to the medal. So, what would happen if the yer was friends with them? That means that they¡¯ll get further away from the medal.]</em>

    That was right. This was the Named Monster Hunting event, an event where they get ahead of others by literally hunting monsters. Kang Taehoon continued to speak¡­

    <em>[However, don¡¯t you think that it would be interesting if a yer made the shocking choice of teaming up with Diablo? In the end, that yer is just one among dozens of other yers. We don¡¯t know what or how much power he will be able to give to Diablo, but I¡¯m sure that the variables that wille out from that choice will be very interesting.]</em>

    President Kang Taehoon¡¯s words had the power to attract people and make them understand. Even thementators agreed with him.

    <em>[That¡¯s right. In the end, this event is called Named Monster Hunting event.]</em>

    <em>[We don¡¯t know if they would work together, but we know that this is a field where they have to hunt named monsters. It wouldn¡¯t matter if they met once, they have to hunt that monster.]</em>

    Right after thementators¡¯ words, an Indian yer named Sajan did something that he should not have done. He threw his huge axe and attacked Diablo. That was when a truly shocking scene unfolded in front of everyone, an invisible sword suddenly appeared near Diablo and stopped the axe¡¯s descent. At the same time¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡­a strong and powerful force stretched out of Diablo¡¯s body and covered the entire stadium. Then, invisible swords flew towards the yers. But they were high rankers, they could easily predict the course of the attack with the change in the air, or the sound of the attack, and defend against it.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaaargh!¡±

    ¡°Keheok!¡±

    However, something strange happened. The rankers were able to sessfully take on a defensive posture, but their bodies were still torn apart and blown away, receiving great damage. This was an AOE attack that damaged forty yers all at once! Surprisingly enough, Minhyuk was also among those that had been affected by the attack.

    <em>[yer Minhyuk was also attacked by Diablo¡¯s invisible weapons!]</em>

    <em>[yer Minhyuk was able to erge his frying pan and defend against the attacks, but he still flew back from the impact! His frying pan is already torn apart even though it has only received one attack. It seems like he won¡¯t be able to use it anymore.]</em>

    Sajan, the Indian yer, had moved at the perfect time, just after President Kang Taehoon¡¯s words. This made the crowd believe his words more.

    <em>[But why did yer Sajan decide to suddenly attack Diablo?]</em>

    <em>[I know right. It seems like all of the yers will view him in a bad light from now on.]</em>

    <em>[From what I can see, yer Sajan has lower chances of getting a medalpared to the other yers. I think he¡¯s aiming for higher chances of getting a medal by forcing the other yers to attack and keep Diablo in check.]</em>

    Meanwhile, President Kang Taehoon took off his headset and headed to where the management team was for a rest. Lee Minhwa, with her hands sped together, looked at her president with respect and admiration. She thought, <em>¡®Oh my god! The president is really on a different level! He can attract the attention of the crowd and make them understand the situation! As expected of our president!¡¯</em>

    However, contrary to her thoughts, President Kang Taehoon was actually very nervous. He rushed to where his employees were and¡­

    ¡°Team Leader Park.¡±

    ¡°Yes, president?¡±

    ¡°What do I do? I think I¡¯m in trouble,¡± Kang Taehoon said, sweat dripping down his back and forehead.

    ¡°You made that up?¡±

    ¡°What I said should be right. In the end, yer Minhyuk had to keep Diablo in check. If he did not do so, then he would not be able to win a medal.¡±

    Lee Minhwa, on the other hand, could not understand what they were worried about. She said, ¡°President, you¡¯re still worried about his ¡®methods¡¯?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right.¡±

    Lee Minhwa looked at him in doubt. But then, Team Leader Park said, ¡°But if yer Minhyuk chooses to use ¡®Let¡¯s Have a Meal¡¯ and join hands with Diablo, then¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Only then did Lee Minhwa realize that it would have gone as President Kang Taehoon said if it were any other yer. However, Minhyuk was different. With his abilities as a ¡®buffer¡¯ in the form of his dishes, Minhyuk could create the best and worst team possible.

    ¡°And if he makes a legendary-grade dish then¡­¡±

    The monster hunting field would usher in a new stage. It would be Diablo and Minhyuk versus forty global yers. The problem was that they could not guarantee who would take the victory.

    ***

    If they knew about what Minhyuk was thinking while they were having a serious discussion, President Kang Taehoon and the management team would surely shout, <em>¡®Stop that thought, you rascal!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®It¡¯s an AOE attack, so it¡¯s understandable that he attacked everyone and did not avoid me.¡¯</em>

    The truth was, Minhyuk was also conflicted about what he should do with his and Diablo¡¯s rtionship. Should he attack him or should he make him his ally? However, there was a way for him to solve this problem. It was none other than Minhyuk¡¯s skill: <em>¡®Create a Recipe¡¯</em>.

    ¡®Create a Recipe¡¯ was a skill that could allow him to peek at the food that the other person wanted to eat the most. But that was not all, there were also cases where he could take a peek at the other person¡¯s physical and psychological state. Then, Minhyuk used his Create a Recipe skill on Diablo. Minhyuk¡¯s lips curled into a wide grin after using the skill.

    <em>¡®I can do it with Let¡¯s Have a Meal.¡¯</em>

    As expected, that was the conclusion that Minhyuk had reached.

    ***

    Before Oh Changwook came to work under Kang Minhoo¡¯s mansion as Minhyuk¡¯s health trainer, there was Lee Jin-Sung. He was also the informant that leaked the fact that Minhyuk had ¡®eating addiction¡¯. Of course, Lee Jin-Sung did not do it by himself. He only did it because of someone¡¯s instigation.

    Right now, he was fidgeting in anxiety as he sat inside the police station. His biggest problem was the fact that Ilhwa Group¡¯s legal team did not want to let him go. Lee Jin-Sung looked around the dark investigation room in trepidation.

    <em>¡®I might have done something bad, but are you telling me that my sin is so heavy that you¡¯re even investigating me in an environment like this?¡¯</em>

    Lee Jin-Sung really could not understand what was happening. Then, suddenly, a man opened the door and came inside. Lee Jin-Sung had no choice, but to stand up after seeing the man¡¯s familiar face.

    ¡°Cha, Chairman¡­¡±

    That was right. It was Chairman Kang Minhoo. Lee Jin-Sung felt suffocated and pressured when he saw hime inside and sit in front of him, despite the kind smile on his face.

    ¡°That was a bit shocking. I did not expect that you would go around revealing Minhyuk¡¯s secret.¡±

    It was only natural. After all, Lee Jin-sung did not lose his job because he was fired, but because he decided to quit to do something else. Before he quit, he and Minhyuk treated each other as if they were brothers.

    ¡°I¡¯m¡­ I¡¯m sorry,¡± Lee Jinsung apologized. Even if he had ten mouths, he would still have nothing to say to the man in front him. All he could do was apologize.

    ¡°Is that so? Ah, did you eat yet?¡±

    Lee Jin-Sung went silent. He had not eaten yet. Chairman Kang Minhoo looked at him before turning to the policeman and asking for two bowls of hot soup with some rice. Not long after, two bowls of hot soup and rice were ced in front of the two. The soup was none other than blood sausage soup and was filled with plenty of ingredients. Lee Jin-Sung could not help but cry after eating spoonfuls of the soup.

    <em>¡®Aaaaaaah! Chairman Kang Minhoo!¡¯</em>

    Lee Jin-Sung felt the extent of Kang Minhoo¡¯s generosity and mercy. He even took care of a great sinner like him! Lee Jin-Sung felt regret flood in him as his tears fell down his cheeks.

    ¡°Who is it?¡±

    ¡°¡­Whoever you¡¯re thinking of is correct.¡±

    ¡°Daehan Group?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Lee Jin-Sung nodded silently. He thought that he would only be able to leave this ce if he asked for the forgiveness of the man in front of him.

    Kang Minhoo nodded as if he had expected it. Then, he said, ¡°I¡¯m sure you received a lot of money for that. What a mistake to make, and at such a young age too.¡±

    Lee Jin-Sung nodded, thinking that Chairman Kang Minhoo was indeed a very nice person! He hated the fact that he had done something so despicable for money. It seemed like the man in front of him had forgiven him too. That was right, Kang Minhoo was still the kind person that he met in the past! Lee Jin-sung felt both gratitude and respect for a man like him, who was willing to forgive someone bad andcking like him.

    Then, Kang Minhoo softly said, ¡°You should eat a lot,¡± before continuing, ¡°I believe you won¡¯t be able to eat something like this for a long time. You should eat a lot of this bean-mixed rice too.¡±

    Jin-Sung¡¯s eyes widened at that moment. The gaze that Kang Minhoo was using to look at him had turned extremely cold. He lookedpletely different from the person that he knew before.

 Chapter 420: Lesser Demon Diablo

    Chapter 420: Lesser Demon Diablo

    Chairman Kang Minhoo was definitely a good man. However, being a good man did not mean that he was a fool. If someone dared to touch his family or the Ilhwa Group, he would unleash his wrath upon them.

    ¡°There are a lot of people that question the way I operate and lead mypany, saying that I¡¯m not fit to be the chairman.¡±

    Lee Jin-Sung¡¯s pupils shook wildly as his breath stagnated from the unmistakable frost in Minhoo¡¯s voice.

    ¡°People always tend to show their true colors the moment they think that the person they¡¯re dealing with is a pushover. Am I right? It has helped me distinguish who my friends and enemies are so far.¡±

    Yes, that was right. To many, Kang Minhoo was a transparent, clean, and kind chairman and this gave him the power to distinguish the true colors that people hide deeply. His kindness always gave the people the idea that his judgment and ns were wed.

    However, such a perception waspletely wrong. In fact, he was deliberately exhibiting such gaps so that his enemies would reach their hands out to take advantage of them. And when they did so, like a venus flytrap, he would bite them and never let them go.

    That was when Lee Jin-Sung realized, <em>¡®He¡¯s a king among kings¡­¡¯</em>

    When Lee Jin-Sung sat with Daehan Group¡¯s chairman for five minutes, he felt like he was sitting in front of a snarling beast that no ordinary person could deal with. But in front of Chairman Kang Minhoo, the person that he thought was a meek and gentle sheep, he felt as if he was in front of a sleeping tiger, a predator that stood on top of all predators.

    Lee Jin-Sung felt immense regret as he stared at Kang Minhoo¡¯s departing back.

    ***

    Ask the people about the best TV brand in Korea and they would quickly answer¡­

    <em>¡®If you¡¯re talking about TVs then of course it¡¯s Ilhwa!¡¯</em>

    Ask them about the best smartphone brand and¡­

    <em>¡®Of course it¡¯s Ilhwa!¡¯</em>

    Then what about groceries?

    <em>¡®If it¡¯s groceries then it¡¯s definitely Ilhwa!¡¯</em>

    What about buildings?

    <em>¡®The buildings that Ilhwa makes are on an entirely different ss! Kyaa~!¡¯</em>

    Ask them what brand is next best when it came to TV, smartphone, groceries, and buildings, and they would say¡­

    <em>¡®It¡¯s a bit of a pity but I think it¡¯s Daehan Group?¡¯</em>

    That was right. Daehan Group had alwaysgged behind Ilhwa Group. They always ced second!

    Daehan Group¡¯s Chairman Eom Jin-Woong had trampled on plenty of his enemies. He reached this point by stealing other¡¯s works and trampling on them right after. Yes, he was someone that could easily betray yesterday¡¯s friend.

    However, no matter what he did, he could never bring down the Ilhwa Group. Ilhwa Group was an existence akin to a tall mountain, it could easily block the grandeur of a small mountain like his.

    Once again, Eom Jin-Woong realized how tough and sturdy Ilhwa Group was.

    Eom Jin-Woong thought he found a crack in Ilhwa Group¡¯s defenses through Kang Minhyuk, the chairman¡¯s son. Now was the time when they needed to find someone to take over for Chairman Kang Minhoo. It did not matter how fair and transparent he was as a chairman, he would still need to find a sessor.

    Of course, he did not want someone with the blood of a king like Minhoo to sit in that position. It just so happened that he received a tip about Minhoo¡¯s son having a very rare disease called eating addiction! A disease that would eventually lead to death! With information like this out in the open, Ilhwa Group¡¯s shareholders would definitely feel shaken and would do their best to support another sessor. Once that happened, Ilhwa Group would eventually fall behind theirpany.

    Eom Jin-Woong thought that he had dealt them a heavy blow. To his dismay, Ilhwa Group was able to ovee this blow and even climbed higher than where they were before.

    <em>¡®I can¡¯t believe he was able to stand up and ovee an incurable disease like that¡­¡¯</em>

    Eom Jin-Woong gritted his teeth as they tried their best to block the mouths of the reporters that they had gathered on stand-by. After leaking information about Minhyuk having eating addiction, he nned to take advantage of the fact that he was going to participate in the Athenae: World War to announce that he was Chairman Kang Minhoo¡¯s son.

    In fact, rumors had already started to circte about that fact. Thankfully, the hype and discussion about the World War had buried the topic.

    <em>¡®My son should win against the Ilhwa Group¡¯s next generation!¡¯</em>

    At that moment, he received a call. It was from Chairman Kang Minhoo.

    <em>[It¡¯s me.]</em>

    His greeting was brief and blunt. Then, he asked¡­

    <em>[Did you really have to go that far?]</em>

    ¡°You know how our world works. Our Daehan Group¡¯s next generation will be the best group in Korea.¡±

    <em>[Then I will respond ordingly. Today, an article will be released saying that Minhyuk is my son.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Eom Jin-Woong¡¯s eyes widened, his body trembling in shock, after hearing his words.

    ¡°We¡­ weren¡¯t you trying to hide him?¡±

    <em>[Afraid? Once I reveal that my son, Minhyuk, is Ilhwa Group¡¯s sessor, our stocks will soar tremendously.]</em>

    The reason why Eom Jin-Woong had gathered reporters was because he knew that he would be able to deal a fatal blow to Ilhwa Group once the fact that Minhyuk was Kang Minhoo¡¯s son was revealed. They would cause a stir that would result in Ilhwa¡¯s stocks plummeting.

    However, that would only happen if Minhyuk had not ovee his eating addiction.

    If Ilhwa released that Minhyuk was their sessor right now, his sess story and outstanding abilities, including the fact that he was a global Athenae top ranker, wouldpletely overturn the situation. Ilhwa¡¯s stocks would definitely soar, which would help them reach new heights.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you tell me that you hate to use your child for the sake of the group, hyung?!¡± Eom Jin-Woong stuttered in a hurry.

    Then, Kang Minhoo said¡­

    <em>[Yes. I still hate it. But this is what my son wanted.]</em>

    Jin-Woong finally realized after hearing Kang Minhoo¡¯s words that the tiger¡¯s cub had finally grown up to be an adult tiger. And that tiger was now trying to bite back at his aggressor.

    <em>¡®This, this¡­!¡¯</em>

    Not long after, Jin-Woong regained his calm. He said, ¡°Your son might be doing well right now but don¡¯t you think that it would also pose a threat?¡±

    <em>Athenae</em> was now like another world, a game with astronomical value. If he could take most of the spotlight in the World War, his value would soar tremendously if the fact that he was Chairman Kang Minhoo¡¯s son was revealed.

    But what if it was not the case? Then, he would not make a huge impact for thepany.

    But Kang Minhoo said¡­

    <em>[As a father, all I need to do is trust my own son.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    For some reason, Eom Jin-Woong felt a strange sense of defeat. All he could do was refuse to react to his words.

    ¡°What if he made a mistake? You will definitely receive a huge blow by then, right?¡±

    Jin-Woong was just spitting out whatever words that came to his mind. Then, Minhoo said¡­

    <em>[So what if he made a mistake? That¡¯s something that I have to deal with as his father.]</em>

    <em>Tremble, tremble¡ª</em>

    The strange sense of defeat grew stronger in Jin-Woong to the point that his body trembled.

    ¡°You¡­ you¡¯re telling me that you will continue to care for and treasure your son even if all he does is y games?! You¡¯re not going to teach Minhyuk the ways to be a sessor?! You¡¯ll just let him y games like that?¡±

    Minhoo responded¡­

    <em>[All I want is my son to be happy. So what if he can¡¯t be my sessor? He¡¯s the apple of my eye. As long as he¡¯s happy then everything would be fine. Isn¡¯t that right?]</em>

    Jin-Woong felt a wave of shame wash over him as a stronger sense of defeat pervaded his body. He waspletely different from Minhoo. What he did was push his son, who never wanted to be a chairman, to a cliff by forcing him to be his sessor.

    <em>¡®Be the best! Do all of this! Lead this group and trample on Ilhwa Group!¡¯</em>

    Eom Jin-Woong was fully aware that his son was living in hell each and every day. Then, Kang Minhoo said¡­

    <em>[Don¡¯t push your son away just because of your greed. For once, think about what¡¯s best for him. That¡¯s all. I¡¯m hanging up now.]</em>

    The moment the call ended, Jin-Woong threw the smartphone in his hands.

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    His breathing turned rough from anger. He was angry because he knew. He knew that his greed was making his son unhappy. He knew how heavy the weight he was forcing onto his son, by pushing him to be a chairman and defeating Ilhwa Group.

    But, Kang Minhyuk was a different breed from him.

    ¡°Do¡­ do you really think that Kang Minhyuk will do well in this event, huh?!¡±

    Athenae¡¯s value was astronomical. That was why Daehan Group had hired the best Athenae experts under their name. He could easily hear an answer the moment he asked them a question.

    ¡°Do you think he will try to cooperate with the monster in this Named Monster Hunting event?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. He had met Diablo in the past so there¡¯s a chance. Besides, countless yers will definitely keep Kang Minhyuk in check.¡±

    ¡°He won¡¯t be able to make a huge ssh in this game. There¡¯s Alexander and Cuhel, as well as the Chinese Hunter King called the Monster Hunter God.¡±

    Only then did Eom Jin-Woong smile in relief.

    <em>¡®Kang Minhyuk will not be able to make a huge ssh!¡¯</em>

    That should definitely be the case. When that happened, Daehan Group would no longerg behind Ilhwa Group. But what Jin-Woong did not know was that what he heard were these experts¡¯ mere guesses.

    ***

    Minhyuk finally decided on a course of action while watching Cuhel and the rest of the yers keep a distance from him.

    ¡°You¡¯re quite lucky,¡± Cuhel spat, voice carrying a hint of threat.

    The tremendous disy of power that Diablo showed them earlier made the rankers keep their distance from Minhyuk. They already assumed that Diablo and Minhyuk were close. This meant that attacking Minhyuk would incur Diablo¡¯s wrath, which would result in Diablo targeting them with powerful blows like that. And it would work as an advantage for Minhyuk.

    Instead of keeping him in check, the rankers had no choice but to focus their attention on hunting named monsters instead.

    <em>[China¡¯s Hunting King has gone ahead by killing a named monster!]</em>

    <em>[Diablo is not moving an inch from his spot! This ispletely contrary to our worries!]</em>

    <em>[Alexander has already killed two named monsters as we speak. That¡¯s very amazing!]</em>

    <em>[Named monsters are continuously being summoned in the field. This game will end in two hours. But I¡¯m sure that we can feast our eyes with their splendid battles during the entire duration of the game!]</em>

    Yes, the spectacr battles were truly a feast to the eyes of both the spectators andmentators. Just by running and attacking them a few times, the rankers were able to assess the named monsters¡¯ characteristics and weaknesses, quickly devising strategies to kill them. This was an amazing feat that no ordinary yer could pull off, and right now they were being blessed to see theplete process as to how the rankers do it. It was certainly a brilliant and spectacr view for them to watch and study.

    The ones that took the lead were Alexander and China¡¯s Hunting King. Hunting King was so famous that people dered him as the world¡¯s number one monster hunter, especially with one of his skills specializing in analyzing and hunting monsters. On the other hand, Alexander was literally the strongest.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk started to enact his ns.

    <em>[Huh, huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh?! Pl¡­ yer Minhyuk is rushing towards Diablo!!!]</em>

    <em>[What?! What¡¯s happening right now? He was also damaged by Diablo¡¯s attack earlier so why is he rushing to where Diablo is?!]</em>

    <em>[Perhaps he changed ns and will now attack Diablo?!]</em>

    <em>[It could be very dangerous for him. Besides we still haven¡¯t confirmed how strong his single-attack skill is!]</em>

    Every yer turned their attention to where Minhyuk was. After all, they could suffer from damage once Minhyuk rubbed Diablo the wrong way. They watched as Minhyuk ran and stood face to face with Diablo before shouting, ¡°Let¡¯s Have a Meal!¡±

    A barrier encircled Minhyuk and Diablo.

    ***

    ATV¡¯s PD Kim Daeguk went to Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium today to watch Minhyuk and Diablo up close. He was very excited for Minhyuk¡¯s performance today. He was certain that Minhyuk would definitely use a new and fresh method. Although Athenae and its management will be in trouble, it would be a ¡®shocking and exciting broadcast¡¯ for them so he just could not let it pass.

    At that moment, Minhyuk arrived near Diablo and cast ¡®Let¡¯s Have a Meal¡¯.

    ¡°Cameras! Focus on yer Minhyuk! Zoom in on him! Make sure that you don¡¯t miss any of his pores!!! All cameras, except for the bare minimum to track the other yers, focus on yer Minhyuk!¡±

    ¡°Are, are we really going to focus most of our cameras on yer Minhyuk?¡±

    ¡°Yes! Okay, I¡¯ll take care of whatever consequence that wille out of it!¡±

    PD Kim believed in Minhyuk. And it was because of that that he made that decision. Besides, it was because of Minhyuk that ATV obtained its highest recorded rating before.

    At this moment, only ATV¡¯s cameras focused on Minhyuk. This was a gamble. Focusing on shooting only one yer meant that there was a chance that their broadcast could be boring. But what if a variable appeared on that yer? Also, there was one more thing that PD Kim had taken into consideration. yer Minhyuk¡¯s cooking was enough to secure their viewership ratings.

    <em>¡®But will yer Minhyuk really work together with Diablo?¡¯</em>

    If he did that, then he would have to deal with all of the yers. Besides, could he really control Diablo? But surprisingly enough, Diablo did not attack Minhyuk. But before something could happen, shocking information was released to the world.

    ¡°P¡­ PD! Right, right now, on the inte¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    PD Kim Daeguk, who was closely monitoring Minhyuk¡¯s actions on the monitor, looked at his smartphone in doubt. His eyes widened after seeing the real-time search results.

    <em>1. Food God Minhyuk. Ilhwa Group¡¯s Sessor.</em>

    <em>2. Eating Addiction.</em>

    <em>3. World War: Named Monster Hunting.</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    PD Kim¡¯s body trembled as he looked at Minhyuk¡¯s figure on the screen. Meanwhile, the stands were in a buzz as their expectations on what he would do and achieve soared even higher.

    However, they believed that things were not going swimmingly for Minhyuk. Let¡¯s Have a Meal¡¯s duration was quite long. During its duration, Hunting King and Alexander, who were currently ranked first and second, would continue to raise their scores, while Minhyuk would have no points at all. Everyone felt their hearts rise to their throats.

    <em>¡®I know that you¡¯ll give a buff to Diablo when you use Let¡¯s Have a Meal, but it¡¯s not going to be easy¡­¡¯</em>

    But then, something very unusual happened.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    It was more shocking than unusual. A pir of light suddenly fell and surrounded Minhyuk, who was standing in the middle of the Named Monster Hunting field. The yers in the midst of hunting named monsters stopped and looked back at Minhyuk when they saw the pir of light fall. There, they saw Diablo shedding tears as Minhyuk handed a dish to him. Along with that, a series of notifications rang loudly.

    <em>[A yer that has created something that transcends the Human Realm has been born for the fourth time in Athenae.]</em>

    <em>[This message resonates loudly throughout the entire continent.]</em>

    Not too long ago, they heard that the third God-rank artifact was obtained by a yer in America. And now, the fourth one has appeared.

    ¡°Keheooook!¡± PD Kim Daeguk shouted in shock along with the audience.

    Meanwhile, in Daehan Group¡¯s chairman¡¯s office¡­

    ¡°G¡­God-rank?! Di¡­ didn¡¯t you tell me that he wouldn¡¯t do well?!¡± Chairman Eom Jin-Woong shouted as he looked at the shitty experts that he hired.

    ¡°Ugh, aaaaaaaaack!¡± Jin-Woong shrieked as he held his neck and copsed with a red face.

    This was the prime example of ¡®You reap what you sow.¡¯.

 Chapter 421: Lesser Demon Diablo

    Chapter 421: Lesser Demon Diablo

    Minhyuk took on the gamble despite the huge risk, mainly because he knew that the rtionship that he built with Diablo in the past would be cut off the moment he attacked him. Lesser Demon Diablo was extremely powerful and being hostile with such a being would incur far greater losses than he could imagine.

    Hence, he used his Create a Recipe skill.

    <em>[Creating a recipe that the other party desires.]</em>

    <em>[You can now check the recipe for Tonkatsu.]</em>

    <em>[The amount of buff that can be used has been decreased due to creating a recipe.]</em>

    <em>(<strong>Tonkatsu Recipe for Diablo</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Required Ingredients</strong>: Winged Pig¡¯s Tenderloin, Locrey¡¯s Frying Powder, Fighting Chicken¡¯s Eggs, Berlin¡¯s Button Mushrooms¡­ (omitted)</em>

    <em><strong>Expected Dish Grade</strong>: Unique~Legendary</em>

    <em><strong>Expected Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>? All of Diablo¡¯s stats will increase by 15%.</em>

    <em>? Demon¡¯s Invincible Swordsmanship Level will increase by +2.</em>

    <em>? Diablo¡¯s Frenzied State will be lifted.</em>

    The ¡®Create a Recipe¡¯ skill not only had the power to show Minhyuk the dish that his opponent wanted to eat the most, but it could also give him the power to increase the ability that the other person needed the most. Of course it was much more urate when used on NPCs than when it was used on yers.

    When Minhyuk saw thest effect: ¡®Frenzied State will be lifted¡¯ written under the Expected Effects, he realized, <em>¡®You don¡¯t want to do something like this either, huh?¡¯</em>. However, it was still impossible for him to know what had happened to Diablo. After all, it had been quite some time since theyst met in the Demon World¡¯s Tower.

    Diablo had been forcibly taken away from his single mother, leaving her alone, by the great demons to be the vessel of their demonic energy. He must have felt lonely and helpless, living a life that he never wanted to live, away from his beloved mother. And now, he was somehow in a frenzied state. From what he could see, Diablo had recognized him earlier but immediately after, he turned against him. In other words, he did not really recognize him and only faintly remembered something.

    <em>¡®My dish.¡¯</em>

    It seemed like Diablo could not forget the taste of the dish that Minhyuk had made for him in the past. Then, Minhyuk dashed forward while casting Let¡¯s Have a Meal. Once Let¡¯s Have a Meal¡¯s barrier was set in ce, anyone inside would not be able to attack. That was why Minhyuk hoped that Diablo would also not be able to attack him inside.

    But then, Diablo tried to move his hand holding his sword, which prompted Minhyuk to immediately take on a defensive stance. Thankfully, Diablo¡¯s hands just twitched, and he eventually stopped moving.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s stopping himself with his remaining consciousness.¡¯</em>

    A fragment of his memories had allowed Diablo to hold himself back, despite being in a frenzied state.

    ¡°I¡¯m curious about your story.¡±

    Minhyuk wanted to know what happened to Diablo so he decided to use the reward for the gold medal that he won before. Minhyuk had judged that it would not be a waste for him to use it at this point in time. After all, if he could do well here, then he would be able to win both the gold medal, as well as Diablo¡¯s trust.

    <em>[Gold Medal Reward: Choose from artifacts, artifact materials, or cooking ingredients.]</em>

    ¡°Cooking ingredients.¡±

    <em>[Please choose the cooking ingredient that you want.]</em>

    ¡°Pork tenderloin.¡±

    <em>[Searching for ¡®Pork Tenderloin¡¯ among the Gold Medal Rewards. Generally, you will be able to get legendary-grade ingredients. However, there¡¯s a chance that a God-grade ingredient will make an appearance.]</em>

    <em>[Searching for ingredients in Athenae. Search progress 14%, 22%, 31%, 57%, 78%, 88%¡­]</em>

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Pork Tenderloin from a pig raised by God Athenae in God¡¯s Farm.]</em>

    The expected dish grade that the Create a Recipe skill could estimate was based on the ingredients that were officially released, or had been discovered by yers. Through some heaven-defying luck, just as he did in the past when he acquired the beef tenderloin, Minhyuk had obtained another God-grade ingredient.

    <em>¡®It seems like I have good luck.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk immediately used his ¡®Create a Recipe¡¯ skill once again.

    <em>(<strong>Tonkatsu Recipe for Diablo</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Required Ingredients</strong>: Pork Tenderloin from a pig raised by God Athenae, Locrey¡¯s Frying Powder, Fighting Chicken¡¯s Eggs, Berlin¡¯s Button Mushrooms¡­ (omitted)</em>

    <em><strong>Expected Dish Grade</strong>: Unique~God</em>

    <em><strong>Expected Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>? All of Diablo¡¯s stats will increase by 33%.</em>

    <em>? Demon¡¯s Invincible Swordsmanship Level will increase by +2.</em>

    <em>? Movement and Attack Speed will increase by 15%.</em>

    <em>? Diablo¡¯s Frenzied State will be lifted.</em>

    <em>? You might be able to remove Great Demon Verus¡¯ spirit hiding in Diablo¡¯s body.</em>

    <em>¡®Are you telling me that I can free Diablo from Great Demon Verus?¡¯</em>

    Great Demons were existences akin to absolute beings like Gods. But perhaps, with something that had reached God¡¯s level, he might really have the chance to liberate Diablo from Verus.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s no time to spare.¡¯</em>

    Then, a series of notifications rang while Minhyuk hurriedly took out his frying pan to start cooking.

    <em>[God¡¯s Cooking Ingredient does not recognize and approve of you.]</em>

    <em>[You will receive a huge restriction while cooking.]</em>

    <em>[This is your second time challenging God¡¯s Cooking Ingredient. You have incurred God Athenae¡¯s wrath.]</em>

    <em>[If the dish that you make falls short of legendary grade, God Athenae will force you to log out with his ¡®Power to Grant Early Death¡¯.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Minhyuk was shocked. Thest time he cooked a God¡¯s Ingredient, the notifications told him that he would just face severe restrictions during the process, but this time, the risk was much greater.

    <em>¡®Then, why do I always get something from God Athenae every time?¡¯</em>

    Even Minhyuk would be furious if someone kept on taking away the precious food that he raised and grew dearly.

    <em>¡®No. I¡¯ll probably do something far worse. Right?¡¯</em>

    If it were Minhyuk, he would probably stalk the one that took away his precious food for days while hitting them with his frying pan, until they died over and over again. Minhyukpletely understood what God Athenae was feeling. Even though he understood that fact, he still found the risk too great to carry.

    But, he caught sight of Diablo watching him pour oil on his small pot with unfocused eyes.

    ¡°Let¡¯s do this, Diablo.¡±

    Then, he started cooking with a renewed resolve. The cameras from ATV broadcasting station were solely focused on Minhyuk, which made the viewers doubt the station¡¯s decision. However, Minhyuk did not know this and just continued to move his hands. He held the egg in one hand then¡­ <em>crack! </em>cracked it over a bowl.

    <em>Shwaaaa¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s skill of cracking eggs with one hand was truly spectacr! The eggs that he used here were the eggs of the golden chicken. After cracking the eggs, he used his whisk and mixing bowl to beat them evenly. Then, he soaked the tenderloin in it.

    <em>¡®I have to soak it in for an hour but¡­¡¯</em>

    He did not have much time. Then, Minhyuk took out a blender and some bread.

    <em>[It looks like bread. I wonder why yer Minhyuk took out some bread? What will he use it for?]</em>

    Not long after, Minhyuk ground the bread with the blender. After grinding it with the blender, what appeared was none other than ¡®breadcrumbs¡¯. Tonkatsu cooked with the breadcrumbsmonly sold in stores were often only perfectly cooked on the outside even after cooking for a long time. However, with breadcrumbs made from bread itself, the tonkatsu would cook evenly and quickly.

    <em>[Ho? So, he used it to make breadcrumbs.]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s a good alternative for when you don¡¯t have any breadcrumbs on hand.]</em>

    Some of the viewers were starting to get interested in what he was doing. Then, Minhyuk started making the sauce. With the pan at medium-heat, he added some butter and flour, before stirring it well so that it would not burn. Then, he added some sugar, water, Worcestershire sauce, milk, and sliced button mushrooms. When the sauce started to turn reddish, he sprinkled some pepper toplete it. The sparkling and reddish tonkatsu sauce looked scrumptious, and anyone that saw it would drool.

    Finally, he turned to his small pot. The temperature of the oil that he poured in the small pot had gradually increased. Minhyuk ced his hand over the pot and measured the oil¡¯s temperature to check if it was perfect for the tonkatsu. This was an amazing skill that only the Food God could do!

    <em>[The oil has reached the perfect temperature for tonkatsu.]</em>

    Minhyuk dropped some breadcrumbs in the oil.

    <em>Sizzle¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk promptly ced the tonkatsu, that was evenly coated with breadcrumbs, after hearing the pleasant sizzling of the breadcrumbs that he dropped earlier.

    <em>Sizzle¡ª</em>

    <em>[Ah! He dropped it! yer Minhyuk has gently dropped the tonkatsu in the pot with oil!]</em>

    <em>[Just seeing those crumbs floating about is enough to make me smile.]</em>

    The viewers that were getting interested with his untimely bout of cooking was increasing by the minute. But then, at that moment¡­

    <em>Crackle¡ª</em>

    Tremendous pain, which seemed to have been caused by the hot and zing mes, washed over Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    <em>[God¡¯s Barrier has interfered with you.]</em>

    <em>¡®What the hell¡­?!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk could tell that this was the restriction that the notification talked about earlier. It was as if¡­

    ¡°Ughhh!¡±

    ¡­he was the one being fried inside the pot of oil as the burning pain coursed through his veins. In his recent endeavor, Minhyuk had cooked God Athenae¡¯s Beef Tenderloin to save Queen Iris. Back then, small droplets made of light tried to stop him by attacking him.

    This time, it was a different restriction that was impeding him. Of course, Minhyuk¡¯s body was not really hot since he was inside the virtual reality. However, it still felt strangely weird and ufortable, which affected his control on his body.

    <em>[yer Minhyuk looks weird.]</em>

    <em>[Yes. He¡¯s sweating all over and it looks like he can¡¯t control his body well.]</em>

    For a moment there, Minhyuk felt that he would copse. Then, notifications rang for Minhyuk.

    <em>[An intense heat is putting pressure on your body.]</em>

    <em>[The burning pain that courses through your veins will make it hard for you to control your body.]</em>

    <em>[The intense and burning pain is interfering with your vision.]</em>

    <em>[You won¡¯t be able to fight against this power.]</em>

    Minhyuk felt his head turn nk for a moment. Those that had suffered from such intense pain would often say that their vision had turned white and that they could not see what was in front of them. In Minhyuk¡¯s case, his vision was on the verge of turning white from the setting that the system had set. He even had a hard time holding his body up, to the point that his breathing had turned ragged.

    However, regardless of what he was feeling, the tonkatsu continued to be cooked. A matter of seconds was very crucial when it came to cooking. Leaving a piece of meat on top of a piping hot grill for just a few seconds would cook the meat. The trial that he had to face appeared at a time when he could not afford to spare a few seconds. Still, Minhyuk had to keep cooking.

    Perhaps the reason why Diablo wanted the tonkatsu desperately was because his mother made it for him in the past. Minhyuk could rte to him. After all, there were also times when Minhyuk would miss the dishes that his mother had cooked for him.

    Back then, he would eat those dishes in front of her and his mother would ce a ss of water in front of him and fondly say, <em>¡®Eat slowly or your stomach will hurtter.¡¯</em>. The life that everyone lived normally from day to day had be an unforgettable memory for Minhyuk. So, he had to do his best here.

    There was one thing that God Athenae and the system did not know. Minhyuk had already mastered the skill ¡®Food God¡¯s Cooking¡¯. So, instead of persevering with a white vision, he would rather close his eyes. And that was what he did. To others, what Minhyuk was doing was quite astonishing. How could someone close their eyes while they were cooking? But then, a notification rang for Minhyuk.

    <em>[This is the perfect time to take the tonkatsu out of the oil.]</em>

    With his eyes closed, Minhyuk used his tongs and grabbed the tonkatsu out of the pot of oil. There was also one thing that God Athenae did not know. Minhyuk really, <em>really</em> liked tonkatsu. Because of that, he had fried tonkatsu tens of thousands of times. Even with his eyes closed, he could still skillfully pick up the tonkatsu from the sizzling oil. And that was not all. <em>Tak! Tak! </em>He was even able to remove the excess oil out of the tonkatsu before ting it.

    The unbearable heat and pain that coursed through his veins disappeared the moment he ced the tonkatsu on a te. And what greeted Minhyuk when he opened his eyes was a tonkatsu fried to a perfect golden brown. A smile curled at the corner of his mouth as he poured the sauce on top of the tonkatsu. Then, he added some corn and sd next to it, together with the warm instant soup. Finally, a delicious meal waspleted. Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡­a pir of light fell from the sky and covered the tonkatsu.

    <em>[You havepleted a Tonkatsu.]</em>

    <em>[Trance. It is a dish that has your ¡®efforts¡¯, ¡®passion¡¯, ¡®love for someone¡¯, ¡®spirit of a true chef¡¯ and ¡®power to ovee hardships and limits¡¯ poured into it.]</em>

    <em>[You have made a dish that has transcended beyond the human realm.]</em>

    Notifications constantly rang in Minhyuk¡¯s head.

    <em>[You have made a God-grade Tonkatsu.]</em>

    <em>[¡®Anonymous¡¯ will be known to the entire continent for making a dish closest to God.]</em>

    <em>[God¡¯s Cooking skill will dramatically increase.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 100 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 200 REP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 10,000 AP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 300,000,000 EXP as a special reward.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled¡­]</em>

    <em>[God¡¯s Tonkatsu will have a crispier skin and a juicier and chewy meat inside.]</em>

    Then, Minhyuk gave the tonkatsu to Diablo.

    ***

    Diablo was able to regain a bit of sanity and break away from his frenzied state for a moment when an unidentified pir of light fell down from the sky. And what greeted him was the same man asst time. The very same man that listened to his story, cooked for him with all his might, and cried for him.

    And this man did it all over again for him. Diablo might have been in a frenzied state, but he could remember everything that had transpired around him, as well as the feeling of using all of his power to endure the effects of the unidentified force that was forcing him to copse and submit. Even though he had lost most of the emotions that he regained from thest time he saw the man, he was fully aware that the man dedicated himself and risked his life to save him from this strange power.

    <em>¡®You¡¯re still¡­¡¯</em>

    Was there anyone else who treated him like a human being other than this man? A drop of tear fell down on his cheeks unknowingly. And despite his blurry vision, he watched as his body took the tonkatsu on its own. He thought, <em>¡®If I go with him then¡­¡¯</em>

    Diablo looked at the smiling Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®¡­can I be happy?¡¯</em>

 Chapter 422: Lesser Demon Diablo

    Chapter 422: Lesser Demon Diablo

    <em>[Heok! A, a God-grade dish has appeared in thepetition!]</em>

    <em>[Right now, the entire world is watching yer Minhyuk!]</em>

    <em>[Almost all of the cameras broadcasting all over the world had zoomed in on the pir of light that fell from the sky.]</em>

    <em>[Minhyuk and Diablo are both at the center of attention.]</em>

    It was not only ATV¡¯s cameras, almost all of the cameras from all of the broadcasting stations in the world had zoomed in on Minhyuk and Diablo. They all watched as Diablo epted the tonkatsu and sat side by side with Minhyuk. Just in time, another dish created from Minhyuk¡¯s ¡®Joy of Eating Together¡¯ skill appeared in front of him. The entire world watched as the two of them ate their tonkatsu happily.

    The first thing that Minhyuk tasted was the warm instant soup.

    <em>¡®It really whets your appetite.¡¯</em>

    A small smile curled at the corner of Minhyuk¡¯s lips as the soft yet thick, salty soup entered his mouth. He drank one sip, two sips, three sips of the delicious soup. Diablo, who sat beside him, copied him down to the T.

    And the entire world that was watching them¡­

    <em>[Aaaaaaaaah! I know the taste of that soup very well!]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s just some instant soup, but the taste can really whet your appetite. It¡¯s a vor that will definitely make youe back for more.]</em>

    After tasting the soup, Minhyuk grabbed his fork and knife and cut a piece of tonkatsu covered with the thick scarlet sauce. He ced the piece in his mouth as a¡­

    <em>Crunch¡ª</em>

    ¡­a loud crunch resounded. Each of Minhyuk¡¯s bite was apanied by a loud crunch that stimted the ears of everyone watching. Despite being soaked in sauce that Minhyuk had poured in advance, the God¡¯s Tonkatsu remained crunchy. It was both a mystery and a miracle. Minhyuk could not help but smile as he gulped down the meat in his mouth.

    <em>[He took a bite! yer Minhyuk has taken a bite out of the tonkatsu!!!]</em>

    <em>[He¡¯s the one that¡¯s chewing but I feel like I¡¯m the one tasting it. It¡¯s definitely making my mouth water!]</em>

    <em>[Ah! That smile¡­! That¡¯s definitely a smile that we make when we eat something delicious! Right? It¡¯s definitely that smile!!!]</em>

    <em>[Right now, the number one search term is tonkatsu. ¡®Tonkatsu¡¯ has taken over the global portal sites!]</em>

    <em>[I think I¡¯ll get some tonkatsu for dinnerter.]</em>

    But Minhyuk and Diablo¡¯s mukbang was not yet over. Minhyuk mixed the apple dressing with the sd. The sd, with its sweet vor and crispy texture, was the perfect dish for a change of pace whenever Minhyuk felt tired of the crunchy texture of the tonkatsu. The thinly sliced cabbage and its crisp, fresh texture was a delight to the mouth.

    Then, there was the corn. The savory vor of the corn, with the asional burst of sweetness, would spread inside his mouth in every bite.

    <em>Scrape, scrape¡ª</em>

    The sound of Minhyuk¡¯s spoon scraping everyst bit of the sauce on his te rang loudly! His firm determination to not leave a single drop of sauce and a single grain of corn was perfectly disyed at this very moment!

    <em>[yer Minhyuk is literally licking the te clean.]</em>

    <em>[He¡¯s not letting anyone else know what he ate on his te! That¡¯s the true spirit of a mukbang BJ!]</em>

    After their peaceful mukbang ended, Diablo began to twitch. The yers that were hunting named monsters near them began to retreat after realizing that an unusual situation was about to unfold.

    ¡°Keuheok!¡± Diablo roared to the sky as ck demonic energy poured out of his open mouth.

    <em>Puhaaaaaaaaaaa!</em>

    Vast amounts of ck demonic energy shot up and shrouded the entire stadium in darkness, until it eventually took on the shape of a demon¡¯s head.

    <em>[Once again, you¡­ interrupt¡­ trifling¡­ human¡­]</em>

    The demon was none other than Great Demon Verus. The entire world watched with bated breath. Great Demon Verus was an existence that appeared in all of the servers and was a figure that struck fear and terror to everyone. ording to the information that Athenae had published, Great Demon Verus¡¯ main body was a supreme being that none of the current yers could confront right now.

    However, Minhyuk just looked up at the Great Demon Verus and said, ¡°It¡¯s time for you to get lost.¡±

    As if on cue, Verus¡¯ figure slowly dissipated. Minhyuk¡¯s intuition was telling him that this incident would definitely lead to an episode one day. Then, the notifications rang.

    <em>[You have freed Lesser Demon Diablo from the demons¡¯ demonic energy.]</em>

    <em>[Diablo¡¯s frenzied state has been lifted. His sanity has returned.]</em>

    Then, a quest notification popped up in front of Minhyuk the moment Diablo looked at him.

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[<strong>Unexpected ss Quest</strong>: Diablo¡¯s Request.]</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: S</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: Food God</em>

    <em><strong>Rewards</strong>: ???</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty for Failure</strong>: Diablo¡¯s favorability will drop.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: Thanks to you, Diablo is finally freed from the demons and their hold on him. But he has a favor to ask of you. Please help him find his mother¡¯s whereabouts.</em>

    ¡°Of course. I will find her for you,¡± Minhyuk nodded.

    Diablo smiled lightly. Then, Minhyuk took out a sword from his inventory. The sword was none other than the Devil Judge¡¯s Sword, an Absolute Demigod artifact that was originally owned by Diablo. Diablo slowly reached his hand out to take the sword. This scene made the yers and the viewers realize¡­

    <em>¡®Diablo and Minhyuk will cooperate.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Thispetition is now heading to an unknown route.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®We can¡¯t guarantee our victory or our defeat now.¡¯</em>

    All of the yers had gathered enough data on Minhyuk. They were aware that the buffed dishes that he could make carried a supreme and absolute power that was far beyond anyone¡¯s imagination. If Minhyuk¡¯s normal dishes were already that powerful, what about the dish that Diablo ate? That was a God Dish!

    On top of that, he even gave Diablo a strange-looking sword.

    ¡°Our ratings are rising quickly!¡±

    ¡°Thepetition¡¯s ratings have increased dramatically!¡±

    The broadcasting officials shouted in joy.

    There were two main reasons why their ratings were increasing dramatically. One, just an hour ago, an article revealed Minhyuk as the sole sessor of his father, the chairman of Ilhwa Group, one of the top ten globalpanies, Ilhwa Group.

    Two, Minhyuk liberated the supreme and absolute named monster, a never before seen existence, from his frenzied state and returned him back to being a Named NPC. The said NPC even had a great bond with him. All of thisbined could pique anyone¡¯s interest. Those that were looking at the real-time search results, those that were listening to the discussion of the people around them, and those that were watching from their mobile phones and TVs all rushed to watch thepetition¡¯s live broadcast.

    Diablo and Minhyuk stood up and walked side by side to the ce where Diablo originally appeared. The two of them looked at the crowd of yers around them. The yers, who were hunting named monsters just a few moments prior, all stopped in their tracks and looked at Minhyuk and Diablo warily with sweat dripping down their foreheads.

    ¡°Our, our highest viewership rating since the start of the World War has been broken!!!¡±

    The ratings of the broadcasting stations from each country were slowly rising to reach and surpass their highest ratings. This was all thanks to Minhyuk. He often created shocking and big situations, ones that could increase his already astronomical value even further.

    <em>¡®Daehan Group, the one that dared to attack me, will no longer be able to chase after Ilhwa.¡¯</em>

    Simply put, not only would he win this fight, he would also win his fight in reality. And the fact that this game was a time-limited game yed a very important role. What would happen if the yers were logged out in the middle of the game? Then, they would not be able to raise their scores anymore. Everyone was nervous because they already knew that fact.

    Then, Minhyuk leapt forward and aimed for his first target. His first target? It was none other than Cuhel. Minhyuk already knew that Cuhel¡¯s Merciless Hero¡¯s Armor, the armor that helped him reach the ¡®Summit¡¯s ranks¡¯ was destroyed. After all, he was the one that destroyed it. Without the protection of that armor, it would be easy for Minhyuk to deal with him. Minhyuk had judged that Cuhel, who was hostile to him, should be dealt with first. But before Minhyuk could use Like the Wind to reach Cuhel with his God-rank sword¡­

    <em>tter¡ª</em>

    ¡­a strange sound rang loudly in the stadium.

    The yers all turned to look at the direction where the sound came from. What greeted them there was a ck scythe connected to a chain flying fiercely towards Cuhel. The power packed behind the flying scythe was so strong that it could dig up the ground and create rubbles that flew all over the ce.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    Cuhel failed to counter Diablo¡¯s attack and was forced to fly back the moment his sword collided with the scythe. However, Diablo did not let him go so easily, his scythe continued to fly after him to try andpletely destroy him.

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    Of course, as someone that reached the Summit Five, Cuhel had fantastic control. Despite being sent flying back by the impact of Diablo¡¯s attack, Cuhel was still able to try and defend himself from the scythe¡¯s irregr attacks. However, no matter what Cuhel did, Diablo¡¯s scythe was like fish in water. A flick of Diablo¡¯s wrist and it would fly up, down, left, right while ripping and tearing apart every part of his body. And the worst part¡­

    <em>[Your enemy¡¯s sharp attack has broken a string of muscle in your body.]</em>

    <em>[The movement on your right leg will be severely restricted.]</em>

    <em>[The movement on your left wrist will be severely restricted.]</em>

    Diablo¡¯s scythe was a long-range weapon. It gave him more freedom and fluidity than when he was using a sword.

    <em>¡®It seems like Diablo and the Devil Judge¡¯s Sword is the perfect fit. Huh?¡¯</em>

    Even Minhyuk was amazed with how amazing Diablo was using the sword. Hended on the floor and quickly used ¡®Like the Wind¡¯ to dash to where Cuhel was. Then, he used Scattering Sword, with an attack power that was several times higher than normal with the help of Continent Destroyer Sword, on the severely restricted Cuhel.

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Cuhel slowly disappeared from view as he mmed straight into the ground. It only took six seconds for Minhyuk and Diablo to deal with Cuhel. Recalling his death in the Penalty Shoot-out event before and watching him die pitifully in less than ten seconds during this Named Monster Hunting Event gave birth to an idea in everyone¡¯s mind.

    <em>¡®Is Cuhel born to be yer Minhyuk¡¯s second fiddle?¡¯</em>

    The idea that appeared in their heads made them even more shocked. After all, Cuhel, although known to be the weakest, was still a part of the Summit Five.

    <em>aaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The Hunting King sent out a ck energy from his sword and attacked Minhyuk.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaak¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk flew back from the impact of the attack. However, he was able to quickly center his bnce andnd stably on his feet. Then, he looked around. He could see that the other yers have realized the most important thing that they needed to do in their situation right now. This was especially the case for the Hunting King. He quickly gathered the yers around him.

    ¡°Hunter¡¯s Roar! Graaaaaaaaaaaaaa!¡± A strange roar, akin to that of a tiger¡¯s roar, broke out from the Hunting King¡¯s mouth. Tremendous force surrounded the Hunting King and the yers that surrounded him. These were the notifications that they heard right after¡­

    <em>[The Hunter¡¯s Targeted Prey¡¯s great power has been activated.]</em>

    <em>[You will be able to temporarily gain the same power after hearing the Hunter¡¯s Roar.]</em>

    <em>[If you sessfullynd an attack on your prey, the damage that you will receive will be reduced by 50% and your evasion rate will increase by 500%.]</em>

    <em>[The buff¡¯s duration is thirty seconds.]</em>

    That was right. The Hunter¡¯s Roar was the renowned skill that ced the Hunting King in the summit of monster hunting. It was also a skill that exerted more power when triggered and applied to his allies. This was because the skill would give the same power to his allies. But the most shocking part was¡­

    <em>¡®That¡¯s crazy! We¡¯re not even in a party but it still worked on us?!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®So this is the power of the Hunting King¡­?¡¯</em>

    This was the strongest monster hunter.

    Dozens of yers, who realized that this was their only chance to hunt Diablo, rushed forward.

    <em>aaaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    Diablo¡¯s scythe swung fiercely to stop them. But with a swing of Gravity Master Lupin¡¯s hands, Diablo¡¯s scythe was forced to stop in mid-air. Seeing this, the yers continued to fiercely dash forward.

    ¡°God¡¯s Revtion!¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    A gigantic sword made of light shot straight towards Diablo.

    ¡°Fist of Death.¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    An Indian closebat ss yer by the name of Vyanjan sent a fist containing a tremendous force towards Diablo. Dozens of attacks were sent towards Diablo.

    Diablo immediately retrieved his scythe and turned it into a sword. Then, he stopped for a moment before splitting the sword of light that was stretching towards him with a swing of his sword.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The sword that split the sword of light did not stop there. It stretched forward and even split the Fist of Death along with several other skills, effectively offsetting every attack that wasing his way.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Despite seeing everything up close, the yers still could not believe their eyes.

    Diablo was an absolute genius with a talent that could shock even the great demons. That was why they gave him the name¡­

    <em>Lesser Demon Diablo.</em>

 Chapter 423: Lesser Demon Diablo

    Chapter 423: Lesser Demon Diablo

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    Ten yers rushed forward with their swords and sent their attacks at Diablo. However, these ten swords that shed against Diablo¡¯s sword were all useless. And¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡­even their owners were sent flying back from the impact of Diablo¡¯s sword strike.

    ¡°Ur¡­ urk! This¡­ this is already the damage after the 50% damage reduction has been applied¡­?!¡±

    There were only a little over ten seconds left with the buff. Just when everyone¡¯s nerves were tense from anxiety¡­

    <em>[Ghost of the Battlefield.]</em>

    <em>[Movement Speed will increase by 350% within a 30 meter radius.]</em>

    <em>[Attack and Defense will increase by 30% within a 30 meter radius.]</em>

    ¡­Alexander swiftly made his move.

    <em>nk, nk, nk, nk¡ª</em>

    Alexander, with a ridiculous increase in his movement speed, greatly overwhelmed Diablo in terms of speed. He gathered a huge amount of force in his arm and struck Diablo.

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    For the first time, Diablo staggered and took one step back. But Alexander did not stop. Up, down, left, right, his sword continued to attack Diablo, forcing him to take more steps back. The viewers, even the yers in the stadium, could not follow his movements with their eyes. Alexander left dozens of afterimages and left extreme pressure on Diablo. As long as they worked together and did not miss this chance, they might have a chance of hunting Diablo! A ray of hope finally shone on the yers.

    Meanwhile, the viewers watched them at the edge of their seats.

    <em>¡®This is fun! So fun!¡¯</em>

    This was the new type of game that Minhyuk had created. Minhyuk and Diablo, versus forty yers! The yers rushed to fight against Diablo¡¯s supreme power. However, one yer, Minhyuk, was starting another spark on his own.

    ¡°Continent Destroyer.¡±

    Minhyuk flew high up in the sky. And as if in sync, Diablo also flew up.

    ¡°¡­What?!¡± Alexander felt something unusual. He immediately jumped up to attack Minhyuk but Diablo easily offset his attack with his sword, now turned into scythe.

    A powerful force wrapped around Minhyuk¡¯s sword, until it gathered at the tip of his sword. Then, he stabbed his sword straight down into the ground.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡°Huh, huuuuuuuuh?!¡±

    ¡°What the hell?!¡±

    The yers in the vicinity lost their bnce and fell down on the ground. Then, a powerful shockwave stretched out and caused damage to the yers that fell down.

    <em>[Continent Destroyer]</em>

    <em>[The moment the sword gets stabbed into the ground, everyone within a 35 meter radius will incur an additional 500% damage from powerful shockwaves.]</em>

    <em>[Lava will rise five meters from the ground and cause an additional 1,600% damage to anyone that it touches and will continuously incur additional 100% damage.]</em>

    The yers with a good sense of bnce, or those that had special skills immediately jumped up to the sky. However, there were still quite a few yers that had been forced to log out by the sudden changes in the terrain.

    ¡°We¡¯re saved¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s crazy¡­! I almost got logged out there!¡±

    All of the surviving yers sighed with relief. This was because they were all at the same level as Diablo, so they were safe from the damage of Minhyuk''s attack. But then, Minhyuk, who had already used Like the Wind, looked at Diablo. It was a sign that asked Diablo to use his scythe to grab onto Minhyuk. Diablo immediately understood what Minhyuk meant.

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    Diablo was pulled up as the chains of his scythe wrapped around Minhyuk¡¯s arm. And as if waiting for this moment¡­

    <em>Puhaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡­a gigantic pir ofva erupted from the ground and engulfed the yers that flew in the skies, incurring 1,600% additional damage.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaack!¡±

    The yers started to turn gray and disappear. Among them, there were quite a few people that had been exhausted from fighting against named monsters. In fact, even with yers that had high me resistance, it was hard for them to resist that attack.

    All but one yer. Alexander stepped on some mysterious beads and pulled himself out of the area of effect like a ghost. Then, he pulled out his mysterious pocket and recovered the beads while gulping dryly in trepidation.

    <em>¡®What the hell is that yer?!¡¯</em>

    Alexander could not help butpare Minhyuk to all the countless NPCs and monsters that he had encountered. After all, he had encountered many of them with at least this much power. However, no yer had reached that level yet. And Alexander, someone who could hunt monsters that were as powerful as that, was hailed as the strongest simply because he was the strongest yer in existence.

    However, this was a game and the yers would eventually grow in three, five, seven, or ten years, and be able to hunt monsters of that caliber. And at this very moment, everyone had witnessed Minhyuk¡¯s level, one where none of the current yers could reach.

    <em>¡®And what¡¯s more shocking is¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s main ss was a chef.

    Cold sweat dripped down Alexander¡¯s forehead. The area ravaged by Continent Destroyer had now literally be hell on earth. What about the yers that were using cooling potions to pull themselves out of the fire? Of course, Minhyuk and Diablo did not let them go. Minhyuk easily killed those that tried to get out. After all, it was easy to deal with exhausted yers. Those that Minhyuk had trouble dealing with, or missed out, were easily overpowered by Diablo. Most of the named monsters that were loitering in the field had also been dealt with, thanks to the Continent Destroyer¡¯s far-reaching radius.

    It was not long for Korea, who wasst in the rankings, to reach eight ce. Furthermore, this event was a ¡®time-limited game¡¯, the one that could hunt the most named monster within the time limit would win. In other words, those that had been logged out would no longer be able to score, while those that survived would still be able to score.

    The only ones left in the stadium right now were Minhyuk, Diablo and Alexander.

    <em>[It alles down to Alexander vs. Minhyuk and Diablo! The situation may not look very good, but we all know that Alexander is a legend. He¡¯s definitely not a pushover!]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s right. He has tremendous power. Besides, he still hasn''t used his ¡®Ghost¡¯s Frenzy¡¯ in thispetition yet.]</em>

    Thementators and the viewers all looked at them in anticipation. How would Alexander fight against them? Who would exert even more strength? But then¡­

    ¡°I surrender,¡± Alexander dered before going further away. ¡°It¡¯s a hard battle.¡±

    Alexander had thought about dropping out of the game, but if he did that then even the silver medal would be lost. ¡®Dropping out¡¯ meant that he would give the game up and his score would be reset. However, surrendering meant that he would no longer fight. Besides, he was aware that Minhyuk was very clever and cunning.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m sure he¡¯s not showing all of his strength since he knows that I¡¯ll eventually lose, right?¡¯</em>

    The game was already decided. If it was a 1v1 fight between him and Minhyuk, Alexander was sure that Minhyuk would lose. But with Diablo in the mix, it was a different story. Alexander and Diablo were on different levels. This was a fight that he would not win, and he would be foolish to think otherwise. He could already tell that he would be poured with a bucket of criticisms, but he still remained calm.

    <em>¡®Why would I even show all of my strength when it¡¯s already a losing battle?¡¯</em>

    Alexander did not have to fight recklessly here. And Minhyuk did not really need to attack him either. Whether he surrendered or got killed, the fact that he would only be able to get the silver medal and that Minhyuk would win the gold medal was undeniable.

    Minhyuk quickly narrowed the distance in scores between him and the other yers by hunting the named monsters. His score was able to dramatically increase since the only yers left were him and Alexander. And finally¡­

    <em>[<strong>1st ce</strong>. South Korea. 531 points. Gold Medal.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>2nd ce</strong>. America. 510 points. Silver Medal.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>3rd ce</strong>. China. 460 points. Bronze. Medal.]</em>

    Minhyuk won another medal. After confirming his gold medal, he quickly stopped fighting and turned to Diablo and talked to him. And once the game was over, he was covered with a shing light and disappeared from sight. Just like that, Minhyuk won two gold medals. As of now, only he and Alexander had won two gold medals.

    ***

    This was a story that took ce after the events of the Athenae: World War.

    Minhyuk visited Diablo, handed him two pieces of paper and then disappeared. Diablo followed the path that was written on one of the pieces of paper that Minhyuk handed to him.

    Whether it was under the cold rain, or over huge mountains, he continued to walk, until he finally reached the house that he used to live in. It was a house that he could not really remember that well, since it had turned into a fragment of a very distant memory.

    Diablo looked at his already copsed house. After looking at his house, he moved forward and headed somewhere else. It was not that far from his house. The ce was covered with a myriad of tombstones.

    <em>¡®My mother¡­¡¯</em>

    Perhaps his beloved mother had died waiting for him to return. Diablo felt horrible. He was a son that had never even visited his mother¡¯s grave. Perhaps, her grave had already disappeared with the sands of time. Or if, by any chance, it was still there, it would definitely be unmanaged.

    Diablo suddenly stopped in his tracks. The grasses that were growing around his mother¡¯s grave were neatly trimmed. There were even flowers that were nted in a beautiful arrangement around it, flowers that were in full bloom and facing the sky. They were sunflowers, flowers that meant ¡®waiting¡¯ in thenguage of flowers.

    An old man that was trimming the grass next to his mother¡¯s grave spoke up, ¡°It¡¯s a bit strange, but sunflowers always grew on that grave. Even if you pluck it, it will grow again and again. It¡¯s really strange.¡±

    The old man paused for a moment as if he thought about something before continuing to speak, ¡°Ah, that¡¯s right. Not too long ago, a man that can eat as much as an elephant came here with some people to clean that grave. He seems like he¡¯s in a high position, but he cleaned the grave with his own hands.¡±

    Tears welled up in Diablo¡¯s eyes. He watched as the squirrels jumped around and yed on his mother¡¯s clean and neat grave, whiledybugs frolicked around after falling down from the nts. This was what Minhyuk and the Hybrid Race did. When he looked down, Diablo discovered something written on her mother¡¯s tombstone as a memorial.

    <em>[Helen, Mother of the Great Hero that sacrificed himself for mankind, rests here.]</em>

    He was a lesser demon, not a hero.

    Hot tears dripped down Diablo¡¯s cheeks. Then, he started walking again. This time, he was following the directions written in the other note. He climbed mountains and crossed rivers. When he felt thirsty, he would drink river water, when he was hungry, he would hunt wild animals. Still, he walked.

    He walked for days on end, but his steps remained powerful and energetic. Finally, he reached his destination.

    ¡°Grrrrrr!¡±

    ¡°Grrr?!¡±

    A three-headed dog greeted Diablo the moment he arrived.

    ¡°Grow hair! Grow!¡±

    Then, he saw a strange man shouting loudly in public.

    ¡°Ack! Rascal! Why is your poop so little today?!¡±

    Turning around, he saw a ck-haired old man checking a cat¡¯s butt, and a dark-skinned boy taking a nap with a white wolf. There was also a burly man whose height could rival his own, emitting a fierce aura despite chewing on hay and humming, while lying among the pigs.

    Finally, Diablo reached an extremely huge mansion with a door that could only be reached after climbing a flight of stairs. The huge doors opened as a man came out and stood atop the stairs. The man looked down at Diablo with a smile on his face. Seeing the smile on the man¡¯s face made Diablo recall the words written on the note in his hands.

    <em>[Lesser Demon Diablo. What¡¯s your real name?]</em>

    The words were written together with the directions to this ce.

    ¡°El¡­ pi¡­¡± Diablo stuttered. Although he had returned to his human form, he was still clumsy in his speech, since it had been a long time since hest spoke. However, the man did not feel irritated and just listened to him patiently.

    ¡°Elpi¡­ s¡­¡±

    Elpis. Minhyuk knew the meaning of this word. In Greek, this word meant ¡®hope¡¯.

    ¡°What a good name.¡±

    Diablo knelt on one knee and spoke with a low and somber voice, ¡°I want¡­ to stay¡­ together¡­ with¡­ you¡­¡±

    Then, Diablo tried to look up at the man, with a bright smile on his face. However, it had been a long time since he hadst shown an emotion on his face, so his muscles had turned stiff. His lips moved slowly and awkwardly and it took him a long time, but he was still able to show Minhyuk a broad and bright smile. One could say that his smile was charming and beautiful.

    He was Elpis, the man that would be Let¡¯s Eat Sect¡¯s shield.

 Chapter 424: Beanieâ€™s Performance

    Chapter 424: Beanie¡¯s Performance

    The event that would mark the end of the first ever World War had firmly caught everyone¡¯s attention. This event was none other than Prince(ss) Rescue Event.

    One of the reasons why the Prince(ss) Rescue Event was gaining a lot of attention was because the yers¡¯ pets would be participating. Pets, while simr to summons in terms of appearance, were different in one aspect: they had an ¡®owner buff¡¯ effect, whereas summoned monsters did not.

    Also, anyone could have pets even though they were not summoners, since pets were not exclusive to the summoner ss. However, unlike other RPGs, pets in <em>Athenae</em> could not be purchased in stores and could only be obtained through sheer luck. In other words, although anyone could have one, the difficulty in obtaining one meant that the number of yers that owned pets was not that high.

    Another reason why the ¡®Prince(ss) Rescue¡¯ event was gaining a lot of attention was also because of the pets¡¯ cuteness, which yed a big factor.

    Still, the biggest reason was because it was the final event. The Prince(ss) Rescue was the final game that would determine the winner between South Korea and America, the two countries that were neck and neck, and were tied in terms of gold medals won. Also,pared to yers, information on pets was rtively unknown. This resulted in higher expectations for the battlefield where cool pets, cute pets, and beautiful pets would appear to fight.

    Of course, there were also requirements for those that would participate in the event. Only one pet could participate per country and this pet should have a certain amount of intelligence, before they could be epted to join the game.

    The lights started to sh as the start of the game approached quickly. The first pet appeared in front of the screens that turned on all at once.

    <em>[It¡¯s Japan¡¯s Nyan-nyanmon!!! Nyan-nyanmon is a small bipedal cat acting as Japan¡¯s mascot. He has plenty of fans under the fanclub ¡®Nyanshaimase¡¯. And as if to cater to Nyan-nyanmon¡¯s small build, he also has a small katana hanging on his back!]</em>

    Then, another small figure made a splendid appearance, breaking through streams of ck energy and shing his sword down on the ground.

    <em>[Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª]</em>

    The ground cracked as a st of heat burst out of the seams. What appeared in front of everyone was a small Death Knight the size of a goblin.

    <em>[Here we have a strong candidate for gold! Death Knight Lynn has appeared! Unlike Nyan-nyanmon earlier, he¡¯s in charge of coolness.]</em>

    Pets started to appear one after the other. With over forty countries participating, various pets were making their appearance! Just then, one of the pets that appeared caught everyone¡¯s attention the moment it made its appearance.

    <em>[Puhaaaaaaaaak¡ª!]</em>

    A powerful me burst out inside the stadium. What appeared after the mes died down was¡­

    <em>[Heooooooook!]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s a hatchling! A hatchling!!!]</em>

    <em>[Hatchlings are considered to be baby dragons. ording to America¡¯s yer Parker, a yer that owns a hatchling, they are pets that will never grow past the hatchling stage. They¡¯re also only as big as two adult man¡¯s fists put together. However, you can¡¯t look down on them just because they are small.]</em>

    ¡­literally a hatchling. The overwhelming appearance of the hatchling gathered the attention of countless people. In fact, this was the first time that a hatchling has ever made its appearance in public. The hatchling, who was named ¡®Dragonine¡¯, was also a strong candidate for gold. Now, there were only two pets left to be announced.

    <em>[Ah. The pet that I¡¯m going to introduce this time is a bit special. Ah, I stand corrected. It¡¯s not the pet, but the pet owner that¡¯s special.]</em>

    <em>[Howe?]</em>

    Thementators¡¯ words aroused the curiosity of the viewers.

    <em>[Don¡¯t worry, we have gained the consent of the pet owner before informing everyone. The pet owner, a Chinese, said that they had lived a lonely and sad life for the past thirty years and even got rejected by Athenae NPCs a hundred times. Ah~ My goodness~]</em>

    The stands sighed along with thementators. Then, thementator continued to speak¡­

    <em>[Just like that, they found an existence that was simr to them. It was their pet, another special existence. ording to the owner, their pet, previously a monster, had waited for one person, and one person alone, in the Korean server for a very long time. But after waiting for a very long time, the monster decided to roam the world and look for this person. The ¡®Goddess of Love¡¯ Lovia, as if to respond to the monster¡¯s feelings, blessed the monster and gave them a new strength, which helped them to wander the world to find the person that they were looking for. Well then, without further ado, we present you¡­!!!]</em>

    The viewer¡¯s expectations soared at thementators¡¯ words. It was the encounter of a dignified man, who had been single for thirty years, and a pet that had been waiting for someone for a very long time! And that existence was none other than¡­

    <em>[China¡¯s Immortal Monk!!!]</em>

    <em>[Just like we have mentioned earlier, Monk was originally a monster. But with the power that Lovia has bestowed upon her, she has turned into a pet. It¡¯s truly an unprecedented scenario.]</em>

    The monk, who appeared on the screens, shyly tucked her hair behind her ear.

    <em>[Okiikii!]</em>

    The viewers looked at the monk in curiosity. They were very surprised at the fact that a monster had turned into a pet.

    Meanwhile, one man among those that would be ¡®prince(ss) rescued¡¯ sat in arge cage, trapped like a bird. This man was none other than Minhyuk. He sat up in shock and eximed, ¡°M¡­Monk?!¡±

    That was right. The monk that appeared was the same monk that Minhyuk met during the preliminaries of apetition that Eivelis Empire held a long time ago! Minhyuk could clearly remember her because she gave him bananas. And, he was someone that never forgot someone that ¡®gave him food¡¯.

    <em>¡®I wonder who she¡¯s waiting for?¡¯</em>

    The dense Minhyuk did not know that the one that she was waiting for was actually him!

    Amidst the enthusiastic cheers of the crowd, one final pet stood on the stage. He was Korea¡¯s mascot, the pet that yed a huge role during Vormon¡¯s hunt. Everyone knew him, that was why they were looking forward to his appearance.

    Finally, he made his appearance. He was wearing a golden robe, the robe usually worn by wrestlers before they entered the ring, as well as a pair of sunsses, and a snapback on his head. There was even a thick golden ne hanging on his neck from who knew where.

    <em>[Beanie has appeared! What a strange appearance!]</em>

    <em>[Beanie is dancing to the rhythm. He¡¯s overflowing with swag!!!]</em>

    <em>[He actually looks like a rapper.]</em>

    Minhyuk supported his forehead helplessly.

    <em>¡®Where the hell did he get that?¡¯</em>

    Beanie had been watching <em>Show Me The Money</em>[1] in the summoning room these days. Minhyuk did not think too much about it, but in the end, something this worrisome had happened due to his negligence. However, the more shocking part was when Beanie took out a small mic and held it in his tiny paws. It was as if someone had handed him the mic with his posture.

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    Cheers echoed loudly in the stadium. Then, Beanie raised one of his three fingers and gently ced it on his lips as if to ¡®shush¡¯ the crowd. Surprisingly enough, the tens of thousands of crowd in the stadium turned silent after seeing his action.

    Beanie smirked while nodding haughtily, as if he was satisfied with their response. He then stood firmly before shing his neck with his tiny finger in a gesture as if he was announcing to the world that he would ughter all of his enemies! Then, his wrestling robe pped loudly with the wind as he turned around smuggly amidst the loud cheers of the crowd.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk might not understand them, but the audience found the baby piggy¡¯s unique style and appearance, together with his round and protruding belly, extremely cute.

    ***

    The Prince(ss) Rescue Event was finally about to begin. More than forty pets appeared in the field. Every single one of them was maintaining a distance from one another. There, in the distance, was a huge castle whererge cages, which imprisoned the pet owners, sprang up one after the other.

    <em>[It¡¯s pretty self-exnatory, the pets¡¯ owners are locked up by the cruel and vicious Adaels Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[The pets can gain attack points, defense points, andmand points. Of course, the more enemies they hunt, the higher scores they would get. But if the pet saves their owner first then they would get the highest score.]</em>

    <em>[In addition, the Adaels Kingdom will have the same number of ¡®knights¡¯ as the number of participating pets. And from what I heard, these knights are extremely strong.]</em>

    <em>[I¡¯m very excited to see the pets¡¯ unique characteristics.]</em>

    With those words, a hundred troops with simr characteristics to each pet appeared behind them. Just like how a hundred 140cm small bipedal cats appeared behind Nyan-nyanmon, a hundred 140cm bipedal pigs also appeared behind Beanie.

    ¡°Oink, oink! Oink! Oink, oink!¡± Beanie squealed somberly while the hundred pigs behind him listened intently. By the end of his spiel, Beanie lifted his ck kitchen knife up which¡­

    ¡°Hwiiiiiiiiiiiik!¡±

    ¡°Oiiiiiiiiiiiink!¡±

    ¡­effectively increased the morale of the pig troops.

    <em>[I¡¯m sure what Beanie said to them was: ¡®Evil and vicious people have imprisoned my master. I want to save and protect him so please lend me your strength! Let¡¯s fight together!¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[This is a pet¡¯s firm will and determination to save his master!!! Beanie really cares for yer Minhyuk. This is really heart-warming.]</em>

    However, it was just their wishful thinking. The reality was different from the picture that they painted.

    ¡°When that master bastard called me early in the morning, there¡¯s a delicious smell lingering on his clothes. He must have eaten something without me! Pigs, do you think that¡¯s fair?! Let¡¯s catch master and scold him! Also, my master has a lot of delicious food in his inventory!!!¡±

    Of course, the pigs had no choice but to cheer loudly.

    <em>¡®Let¡¯s take all of my master¡¯s food!!!¡¯</em>

    ¡°Oink, oink!!!¡± Beanie looked at one of the bipedal pigs grimly and asked it to walk on four feet. The pig, then, crouched down as Beanie rode on top of it. And with the golden crown on his head, Beanie red at the battlefield. Then¡­

    <em>Vwooooooooooooong¡ª</em>

    The re of the horn that rang deep inside the castle marked the beginning of the war.

    ¡°Oiiiiiiiiink!<em> (For the master¡¯s food!!!)</em>¡±

    ¡°Oink! <em>(The master¡¯s food!)</em>¡±

    ¡°Hwiiiiik! <em>(The master¡¯s food!)</em>¡±

    ¡®Dragonine¡¯, the hatchling, ran at the forefront, with 140cm tall dragon warriors following behind him, the moment the battle started. As he flew forward with his small wings, he opened his mouth and let out a huge breath of fire.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The kingdom¡¯s troops rushed out of the castle as the gate exploded from Dragonine¡¯s attack.

    <em>Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump!</em>

    <em>Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump!</em>

    <em>Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump!</em>

    Even archers and mages appeared on top of the walls! Meanwhile, Beanie, who was sitting on top of one of the pigs, dashed forward. A fire arrow flew straight towards him.

    <em>Fwooosh¡ª</em>

    However, Beanie easily dodged the attack by ducking his head. He continued to run forward, with his hundred-strong pig troops, to get as close to the castle as possible.

    Finally, the humans started to get serious and sent hundreds of their cavalry out!

    <em>[Aaaaaaaaaah! Nyan-nyanmon is running like a samurai!]</em>

    <em>[Nyan-nyanmon is going to use his skill! It¡¯s Nyan-nyan Punch!!!]</em>

    Nyan-nyan Punch was the skill name that Nyan-nyanmon¡¯s owner had given the skill! The moment the skill got cast, something round and furry appeared in front of each member of the cavalry! These furry and round things were none other than Nyan-nyanmon¡¯s paws! And each of these paws were holding a samurai sword.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    The samurai swords stabbed the horses and brought the cavalry down. In the end, the cavalry and the pet troops collided.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang!</em>

    ***

    The Immortal Monk had been waiting for Minhyuk for a very long time! She felt impatient knowing that the love of her life was right here and being imprisoned by evil men! She was sure that this was what he would tell her once she saved him: <em>¡®Monkie, thank you foring to my rescue. Actually, I¡­ to you¡­¡¯</em>

    Then, they would go behind the bushes together and¡­

    ¡°Kiikii!¡±

    Monk shyly tucked her hair behind her ears, her face flushing red at the thought! However, this was a momentary mistake. She should not be in a daze in the middle of a battlefield. The ground shook from the explosion spell cast by one of the human mages.

    ¡°Kii?¡±

    Monk hurriedly tried to use Blink to avoid the attack, but she was already toote. But then, at that moment¡­

    ¡°Oiiiiiiiink!¡±

    Someone hugged her tightly and brought her to the skies.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Reflected in Monk¡¯s eyes was a manly figure highlighted by the huge explosion behind them.

    <em>¡®Aaaaaah. This pig is so handsome.¡¯</em>

    The pig smirked at her as he gently put her down on the ground before sweeping his imaginary bangs up with his paw. And in Monk¡¯s head, a BGM was ying¡­

    ?~<em>Moonlight is falling~</em>?

    ?~<em>Shl</em>[2]~?

    Then, the pig, with his princely and gentle smile, turned around with his paw raised above his head, waving goodbye to her.

    ¡°Kiikii¡­ <em>(So cool¡­)</em>¡±

    Unbeknownst to Monk, Beanie fell into his own narcissistic thoughts the moment he turned around.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m so charismatic, oink!¡¯</em>

    1. A SKr TV show that gathers Hip-hop entertainers to pick the best among them. ?

    2. A parody of the song <em>Starlight is Falling</em> by Bye Bye Sea. You can listen to the song here: /watch?v=chIi--8tMkk ?

 Chapter 425: Beanieâ€™s Performance

    Chapter 425: Beanie¡¯s Performance

    A fearsome battle broke out as the pet troops shed against the Aedels Kingdom¡¯s troops! The human cavalry¡¯s spears, with the aid of gravity and speed, exerted power that far surpassed the norm which made it harder for the pets.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°Nyaaaaaaang!¡±

    ¡°Mooooooo!¡±

    ¡°Kiheeeeeeeck!¡±

    However, despite the battlefield being rife with shrieks and screams, the pet troops were not being pushed back. At that moment, Dragonine the hatchling, the strongest favorite for the championship, spread his wings and flew up to the sky, creating dozens of magical attacks which he sent straight towards the enemy human troops!

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    <em>[Dragonine¡¯s fierce momentum has allowed him to take the lead since the start of the game!]</em>

    <em>[As expected of the greatest existence in the world! Even though he¡¯s just a hatchling, the fact that he¡¯s a dragon still remains! He¡¯s extremely powerful!]</em>

    The difference in points in the rankings was very huge.

    <em>[<strong>1st ce</strong>. America. 7,151 points.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>2nd ce</strong>. Japan. 3,624 points.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>3rd ce</strong>. Russia. 3,611 points.]</em>

    The pets continued to score points using their abilities. But then, the gates opened once again only to release another unit of troops.

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    The hatchling felt a great sense of urgency. He knew that their path would remain blocked if they could not break through those iing troops. But at that moment¡­

    ¡°Oink!!!¡±

    ¡­Beanie flew up in the sky and cast his skill! The skill was none other than the skill attached to the ¡®Food God¡¯s Kitchen Knife¡¯, the ¡®Rain of Kitchen Knives¡¯.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    A kitchen knife fell down from the sky, stabbing one of the soldiers from Adaels Kingdom¡¯s troops. With that kitchen knife as the signal, kitchen knives began to rain down from the sky, effectively wiping out the Adaels Kingdom¡¯s leading unit. The power of the attack did notg behind the power that the hatchling disyed before.

    <em>[Am¡­ amazing. He wiped out the troops¡¯ vanguard unit in no time at all!]</em>

    <em>[This game determines Korea and America¡¯s fate. It seems like that fate is in the hands of Dragonine and Beanie.]</em>

    This was the finale of the very first World War. Beanie and Dragonine¡¯s eyes met as they led their own troops forward.

    ¡°Oiiiiiiiink!¡± Beanie raised his paw and pointed at the castle. With that, the pig troops finally advanced forward and entered the castle!

    Dragonine, with his fierce momentum, also followed right behind them. After sessfully entering the castle, Beanie climbed the stairs and fought fiercely against the troops blocking his path. He sneaked under their legs and stabbed their backs with his kitchen knife.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°Oink!¡±

    He also stepped on the fallen soldiers to leap forward and sh the neck of the next human ahead.

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª</em>

    That was right. Beanie and the hatchling werepletely different. Beanie was a ¡®melee ss¡¯, whereas the hatchling was a long-range ss. And Beanie¡­ he was the strongest among all of the melee ss pets.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    Countless soldiers, who stepped on the narrow passage to stop them from advancing, all fell under Beanie¡¯s kitchen knife.

    ¡°Oiiiiiiink! <em>(Just you wait, master bastard! I won¡¯t let you go!)</em>¡±

    Beanie tried to climb up again but the hundreds of troops were able to gain back their momentum and take control of the situation. At that moment¡­

    <em>Grab¡ª</em>

    <em>Grab¡ª</em>

    <em>Grab¡ª</em>

    ¡°Hi, hiiiik!¡±

    ¡°What¡­ what the hell is that?!¡±

    Mysterious ck hands suddenly appeared in the gaps of the walls! The ck hands grabbed the soldiers by the neck and pressed them against the walls.

    ¡°Keheok!¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaack!¡±

    In an instant, the road in front of Beanie opened. When Beanie turned around, he saw Immortal Monk looking at him with a shy smile on her face.

    ¡°Oink!¡±

    Beanie reached the top of the ramparts and saw Minhyuk with the hatchling right at his heels.

    <em>Keuhaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Dragonine sent out a frightening breath from his mouth, which melted and dealt damage to the iing troops and knights lined up together and waiting for their arrival. At the same time, Beanie opened his mouth wide and¡­

    <em>Keuhaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡­sent a hatchling¡¯s breath towards the troops and knights guarding Minhyuk¡¯s cage, effectively melting the troops and some parts of the cage down. This was Beanie¡¯s Predator¡¯s Authority.

    ¡°Beans, quick!¡±

    This fight would mark the end of the World War. So, Beanie wanted to make a splendid grand finale. However, something strange happened. More and more knights flocked to where Beanie was.

    ¡°This punk!¡±

    ¡°Oink!¡± Beanie oinked as he continued to fight fiercely against the knights.

    In fact, it was not just him, even the hatchling was being crowded by knights. It seemed like the knights moved to prevent them from trying to open the prison that held their masters. Although Beanie stood at the pinnacle of pets, it was still tough for him to fight against five knights all by himself.

    <em>Punch¡ª</em>

    A punch mmed the tiny Beanie straight on the ground. Even the hatchling was in a sorry state, with one of his wings ripped off by the knights. Despite fighting against each other in the beginning to arrive faster than the other pets, the two of them were forced to cooperate to fight back against these knights. Even after working together, in the end, the hatchling struggled and failed to stand up.

    Beanie, who was able to stand up, was just about to engage in another fierce and tough battle. However, one of the knights released his aura and shot a powerful force straight towards Beanie¡¯s face.

    ¡°Oiiiiiiiink!¡±

    Beanie could tell that he could not avoid this blow. But then¡­

    <em>Staaaaaab¡ª</em>

    ¡­the sound of the attack hitting someone¡¯s flesh rang. Strangely enough, Beanie did not feel any pain. This meant that the attack struck someone else. Beanie¡¯s eyes widened when he saw Immortal Monk take the attack in his stead.

    Then, at that moment, Beanie decided to show the world his secret skill. He quickly swapped his weapon with Hepas¡¯ Flipper de and used the skill: Flipping de.

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    Attacks constantly poured out from Beanie¡¯s swiftly moving flipper de which made the knights scream and copse. After dealing with the knights surrounding him, Beanie gentlyid the head of the dying Immortal Monk on hisp.

    ¡°Oiiiiiiiink?! <em>(Why?!</em>)¡±

    Hearing his words, Immortal Monk looked up at him. She looked at Beanie¡¯s pink nose that fluttered with every breath, at his round eyes and his cherry-red lips!

    <em>¡®Aaaah! A sexy sire!¡¯</em>

    At this very moment, Monk¡¯s love for Minhyuk hadpletely transferred to Beanie. She raised her trembling hands and tried to caress Beanie¡¯s face, but in the end¡­

    <em>Flop¡ª</em>

    ¡­Monk¡¯s HP reached zero. Until the very end, the thought that lingered in her head was a steamy night of mating with Beanie.

    ¡°Oiiiiiiiiiiiiiink! <em>(Noooooooooooo!</em>)¡±

    Beanie hugged Immortal Monk tightly and looked up at the sky and roared. The scene looked just like the usual tragic scenes in movies. No, in fact¡­

    <em>¡®They¡¯re ying around too much¡­¡¯</em>

    The dense Minhyuk was speechless at both Beanie and Immortal Monk. Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡­the hatchling, which was also surrounded by knights, sumbed to one of the attacks and disappeared into nothingness. Not wanting to let Immortal Monk¡¯s sacrifice be in vain, Beanie moved quickly and took advantage of the knights¡¯ daze.

    <em>ck¡ª!</em>

    Beanie sessfully unlocked Minhyuk¡¯s cage.

    <em>[Bea¡­ Beanie sessfully breaks the lock! He¡¯s the first one to do so! This means that Korea has won the first World War!]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s very shocking!]</em>

    Beanie and the rescued Minhyuk both disappeared in a sh of light. At the same time, the entire nation jumped up from their seats and jumped around in joy. Minhyuk and the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect were also very happy with the oue. Not long after, the winners of the event¡¯s silver and bronze medals were announced.

    Everyone turned to look at the electronic disy board after all of the events ended. And on the board¡­

    <em>[<strong>First World War¡¯s MVP.</strong> South Korea¡¯s Food God Minhyuk.]</em>

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    Passionate chants of the Food God¡¯s name resounded in the stadium.

    ***

    As, City in the Skies.

    The pigs, cows, and chickens, in short, all of the livestock of the entire territory were given a little freedom. This was all thanks to the efforts of Brod, who now dreamed of bing the Livestock King.

    Brod had taken care of the monsters around As Territory and asked for permission to allow the livestocks to graze in that area from Ben and Haze, the people in charge of As¡¯ management.

    ¡°We did it!¡±

    ¡°Oiiiiiiiiink!¡±

    ¡°Mooooooo!¡±

    ¡°Cluck, cluuuuuck!¡±

    ¡°Meeeeeeeeeeeh~¡±

    Brod felt genuinely pleased to watch the animals under his care roam around freely and happily. Some pigs¡­

    ¡°Hwiiiik!¡±

    ¡­even shed tears.

    Then, the notifications rang for Brod.

    <em>[You have sessfully led the livestock to a better path.]</em>

    <em>[Aevalin, the God of Livestocks, was deeply moved by your actions.]</em>

    <em>[God of Livestock Aevalin has granted you new powers.]</em>

    <em>[You have learned the Livestock Training skill.]</em>

    <em>[You have learned the Livestock Communication skill.]</em>

    Brod, who immediately checked his new skills, was shocked when he saw the Livestock Training skill. It was a very shocking skill that gave him the power to train the livestocks and make them stronger! On top of that, the Livestock Communication skill also gave Brod the charisma to make the livestock believe, follow, and trust him more.

    Brod turned to the animals and asked, ¡°Would you like to grow stronger with me? It¡¯s alright if you don¡¯t want to. All I want is for you guys to be happy.¡±

    The pigs cried loudly in answer, ¡°Hwiiiiiik! Kwiiiiiik!¡±

    Their cries conveyed their willingness to go through any trial with Brod.

    ¡°Cluck, cluck!!!¡±

    ¡°Moooooooooooooh!!!¡±

    ¡°Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh!!!¡±

    Thousands of animals showed their firm determination to follow Brod. From that day forward, Brod began training the livestock! Mercenary King Brod had a huge knack for teaching. On top of that, he was armed with the very surprising Livestock Training skill. Both yed a huge role and helped promote the strength of the livestock at a fast rate.

    Ever since then, Brod always brought the livestock on a morning run. The pigs, cows, and chickens would climb the top of the mountain with him and look down with delighted smiles on their faces. They continued to train like that and¡­

    <em>[Oinky 1¡¯s AGI has increased by +1.]</em>

    <em>[Oinky 2¡¯s AGI has increased by +1.]</em>

    <em>[Cow 103¡¯s STR has increased by +2.]</em>

    <em>[Cluck-cluck 13¡¯s Beak Attack Power has increased by +10.]</em>

    The livestock continued to grow day by day. Brod continued to stay with them, even to the point of eating together and sleeping together with them after training, with hay hanging in his mouth. When the chefs tried to take them away once again, Brod went to Haze and had a serious meeting.

    ¡°You know that it¡¯s survival of the fittest out there, right?¡±

    ¡°Then, I will find a substitute meat for As Territory,¡± Brod said and left As Territory. He was a supreme existence that could cross continents. The ce that he went to was a dragonir located in the American Server¡¯s continent.

    <em>¡®These are special seeds that can grow pork, beef, chicken, and mutton once sown.¡¯</em>

    However, what was surprising about these special seeds, other than the fact that they could grow meat, was the fact that they could produce the same number of seeds as the original number everyday. Of course, Brod was also a very shocking existence himself to be able to go inside a dragon¡¯sir and get those seeds!

    Brod easily acquired the ¡®Livestock Seeds¡¯ from the dragonir, whose owner was asleep. But just when he was about to turn around to leave¡­

    <em>Turn!</em>

    ¡­his gaze turned to the ce where a nest was quietlyid out. In the nest sat a bright and smooth red egg the size of a child.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m sure the Lord will like that if I give it to him. He¡¯ll definitely make some fried egg with that.¡¯</em>

    He could already imagine what Minhyuk would say to him once he presented the egg to him.

    <em>¡®Sir Brod. It would be nice to have some delicious soy sauce egg rice after eating that huge fried egg, right? Hehehehe!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He will definitely be happy!¡¯</em>

    Brod grinned as he grabbed the egg and put it in his backpack. Brod, who thought of giving a dragon egg to make fried eggs, was no different from Minhyuk, who would be happy to receive such an egg. And although he was still unaware, Brod was already barreling straight towards the peak of being ¡®Minhyuk-ified¡¯.

 Chapter 426: Beanieâ€™s Performance

    Chapter 426: Beanie¡¯s Performance

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡± The entire world cheered loudly.

    Minhyuk, with his ck suit and swept up bangs, stood at the center of the stadium. This was not an image projected on the screens, but Minhyuk¡¯s figure in reality. He looked around the huge stadium where he stood alone before looking down at his hands and thinking, <em>¡®This is where I should be.¡¯</em>

    Although Minhyuk had reached his target weight of seventy five kilograms, his fight against his eating addiction was far from over. Besides, reaching this weight wasrgely attributed to the medicine that he took before and was only a temporary stop gap measure to his disease. A single moment of carelessness and he might just go over the hundred kilogram range once again. Minhyuk believed that he would only bepletely free of this disease once the voices that shouted <em>¡®Eat, go on. Eat.¡¯</em> disappeared from his head.

    And if those voices truly disappeared then¡­

    <em>¡®I might be able to continue running to the top.¡¯</em>

    Although he appeared as someone that did not care about power and was totally in disregard of authority, to the point that he looked like he wanted to divide and share his merits with his friends and family, Minhyuk was still a man. Yes, he was still someone that wanted to stand at the peak of the world, and be the object of people¡¯s admiration. And perhaps, at this very moment, Minhyuk might have reached that dream.

    Minhyuk lifted his fist silently, yet proudly.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Wooooooaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    The Korean g drawn on his left wrist fanned the burning mes in the heart of every single Korean watching the scene. At that moment, the notifications for <em>Athenae</em>, which was linked to his mobile phone, rang for Minhyuk.

    <em>Ring!</em>

    He quickly took his phone and checked the notifications.

    <em>[You have gained the <strong>Title</strong>: Athenae: World War¡¯s First MVP.]</em>

    <em>[All of the gold medal winners in Korea will receive a 25% EXP buff for two weeks.]</em>

    <em>[All yers of Asgan Continent will receive a 10% EXP buff for two weeks as a special benefit.]</em>

    Minhyuk quickly clicked on the title that he obtained.

    <em>(<strong>Athenae: World War¡¯s First MVP</strong>)</em>

    <em>Unique Title</em>

    <em><strong>Title Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>? All stats will increase by 4%.</em>

    <em>? Physical Attack and Defense will increase by 300.</em>

    <em><strong>Short-Term Title Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>? You can acquire the ¡®Gods¡¯ Land¡¯.</em>

    <em>? You can gain 2,000 REP.</em>

    <em>? You can gain 50,000 AP.</em>

    After checking the notifications, Minhyuk looked at the crowd. Whether they were from America, France, Russia, China, Japan, India, Vietnam, or another country, they cheered loudly and enthusiastically. Minhyuk smiled silently, then stepped down from the podium. America¡¯s Alexander, who was waiting below, approached him.

    ¡°Congrattions.¡±

    Minhyuk thanked Alexander with a smile.

    ¡°I heard that there will be PVP events added in the next World War. Don¡¯t you think that it will be interesting?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it sounds interesting.¡±

    Alexander was not sure if Minhyuk would participate at that time, but he still hoped that he could y against him when the time came.

    ¡°More enemies will appear in front of us in the future.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Minhyuk nodded in agreement.

    Having the Athenae MVP title meant that he was officially recognized as the strongest powerhouse. However, that was only among those that were officially recognized by the public. Perhaps, those that chose to hide their powers from all over the world were sneering at them and saying, <em>¡®Empty vessels make the loudest noises.¡¯</em>

    These hidden powerhouses would deliberately opt out of most of these events. After all, it would be like a ¡®death sentence¡¯. This was because participating in events like the World War meant that they risked revealing the extent of their strength and power to the world. Knowing what artifacts and skills one¡¯s opponent has would bring a huge benefit in a battle.

    On the contrary, the opponent would find it difficult to fight against them if they were not aware of what skills and items they had in hand. Fame could be easily gained but one had to consider the risks that came along with it.

    And there would definitely be a growing number of these hidden powerhouses that would aim for Minhyuk, the official strongest.

    ¡°There¡¯s a high chance that God¡¯s Children are keeping their eye on you now.¡±

    ¡°¡­Is that so?¡±

    Information about God¡¯s Children were still mostly unknown to the public, since they usually only do covert operations. However, a few top-ranking yers knew about them. The God¡¯s Children were holders of God sses.

    ¡°I don¡¯t exactly know how many they are, but from what I heard, these God¡¯s Children belong to the ranks of ¡®Supreme Gods¡¯. Just so you know, I fought with one of the God¡¯s Children¡­¡± Alexander smiled bitterly before continuing to say, ¡°Six minutes.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the time it took for them to make me submit and kneel.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s expression morphed into that of surprise. After all, he knew that Alexander was hailed as the world¡¯s strongest. But it only took them six minutes to make such a man kneel?

    ¡°They are a group of individuals called by one name: God¡¯s Children. I believe the strongest among them is the unofficial global number one in Athenae.¡±

    ¡°Why are you telling me this?¡±

    Alexander chuckled after hearing Minhyuk¡¯s question. Then, he said, ¡°Of course it¡¯s to build a good rtionship and connection with you.¡±

    Minhyuk grinned. Alexander was showing him goodwill by telling him this. And the answer to that goodwill was¡­

    ¡°You should definitelye to visit us here again sometime. Although, I¡¯m not sure if I will be able to offer you a meal when the timees.¡±

    ¡°Of course. I¡¯ll definitelye to visit,¡± Alexander grinned. Then, the two of them left and moved to different directions.

    Indeed, Minhyuk was not yet the ¡®strongest¡¯. After all, there were still existences like the God¡¯s Children out there in the world.

    ***

    The entire country was in a constant state of excitement. The Food God, who won the MVP position, had led South Korea to victory during the World War. Not a single day had passed by without the words ¡®Food God¡¯ and ¡®Ilhwa Group¡¯ on the real-time search results. There were even countless articles being published about them everyday.

    <em>[Ilhwa Group¡¯s stock prices have increased tremendously. This is the crazy influence that Athenae has on reality.]</em>

    <em>[The Chairman¡¯s son, Kang Minhyuk, has rejected all of the advertisement offers sent to him. His reason? To ¡®focus on treatment¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[Minhyuk ranked number one as the Ideal Husband and Ideal Blind Date, number two, losing against Beanie, as the Children¡¯s Idol.]</em>

    There was a buzz every day.

    A young man looked at theputer screen in one of the rooms in Blue Orphanage. This was the same orphanage that Minhyuk frequented when he was younger. The young man fixed his horn-rimmed sses on the bridge of his nose and thought, <em>¡®Hyung, congrattions.¡¯</em>

    Then, the young man began to tap away on his keyboard. The story that he was writing right now was his and Minhyuk¡¯s story. Before the young man came to this decision, he had hesitated a lot. He was an orphan and he had to reveal who he was to publish this story so the people would know that his story was not just a marketing strategy.

    However, his desire to repay the favor and grace that he received from Minhyuk in the past triumphed over his fears. The young man¡¯s name was Im Jae-Seok and he was Seoul National University (SNU)¡¯s Medical admission test¡¯s top scorer this year.

    Minhyuk had always taken care of him and treated him as if he was his younger brother. Minhyuk told him once, <em>¡®You are a very precious person, Jae-Seok. Don¡¯t ever give up. Continue to move forward.¡¯</em>. Minhyuk¡¯s words gave Im Jae-Seok the strength to continue on his path. And with hard work, he was able to win the title of the top scorer of SNU¡¯s College of Medicine.

    <em>Tap!</em>

    Jae-Seok¡¯s finger tapped on the enter key as he uploaded his story.

    <em>¡®Now, I can repay you for your kindness.¡¯</em>

    And it was not just him. Plenty of people all over Korea were tapping at their keyboards to repay the kindness and grace that Minhyuk had given them in the past. With Im Jae-Seok as the spark, their stories continued to gain more attention.

    ¡°Waaah.¡±

    Im Jae-Seok leaned back on his chair and said, ¡°Congrattions on bing the best in Athenae, hyung.¡±

    A bright smile lingered on Jae-Seok¡¯s face as he continued to look at his screen.

    ***

    The entire country was once again in a buzz after Food God remained as the top real-time search result for a few days. Even the news was filled with articles about the good deeds and kindness that he did in the past. There was even an interview with the top scorer of SNU¡¯s College of Medicine admission exam about him.

    <em>¡®The Food God is really the best!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Hooray for our Lord the Food God!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Kyaaa! Look at how kind our Food God hyung is!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Don¡¯t you think that he¡¯s the perfect example for the unpretentious, kind and handsome guy?¡¯</em>

    Some of his anti-fans could not even make a ssh and eventually got buried from the onught of praise and admiration for him.

    Meanwhile, silence pervaded Ilhwa Group¡¯s board meeting. All of the board members were shocked and speechless at the endless amount of articles being published and shared on their mobile phones, tablets, andputers, as well as the ever increasing stock prices of theirpany.

    <em>[Not all angels have wings. With the continuous exposure of Minhyuk¡¯s good deeds and kindness, many people campaigned to purchase their electronic products and groceries from Ilhwa Group¡­]</em>

    <em>[Whether it is Ilhwa TV, Ilhwa Groceries, or Ilhwa Construction, Ilhwa Group is a group that walked on the righteous and clean path. And it seems like the Chairman¡¯s son, Minhyuk, is also walking on that same path.]</em>

    <em>[Ilhwa Group¡¯s stock prices have reached an all-time high, leaving Daehan Group in the dust. Meanwhile, Daehan Group¡¯s chairman has been reportedly admitted to the emergency room. The reason¡­ a stomachache?]</em>

    ¡°Does anyone have any objections?¡±

    At Chairman Kang Minhoo¡¯s words, those that mored and shouted to the point that their throats got sore and their blood vessels popped in their neck, for Minhyuk to do work and train as the group¡¯s sessor, all shut their mouths.

    ¡°Ahem¡­¡±

    ¡°Keuheum¡­¡±

    After all, Minhyuk, despite having eating addiction, achieved something that none of the people present here could achieve.

    ¡°So, there are no objections.¡±

    Chairman Kang Minhoo smiled softly while the board members looked at him in admiration.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s amazing¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®How can they live a clean and upright life like that¡­? Maybe it¡¯s something that has been passed on to the Kang father and son?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®With this, we won¡¯t be able to say anything about how he raises his son and what he should do as a sessor.¡¯</em>

    That was right. Everything was a result of Minhyuk¡¯s hard work. Kang Minhoo stood up from his seat. He opened the window and looked out.

    ¡°Will he start training to be the sessor now?¡±

    Kang Minhoo just smiled at the question and said, ¡°No. I¡¯m just going to stand behind him and cheer him on while he ys games and achieve his own happiness.¡±

    Minhoo was extremely happy. Minhyuk, his son, gave him the power to say these things.

    ¡°That child will be able to grow his own wings even more if I just watch at the sidelines and cheer him on.¡±

    No one could argue against Minhoo¡¯s gentle smile and agreement to let his own sessor y games as much as he wanted. Then¡­

    ¡°I will be cheering him on.¡±

    ¡°I will also give my support to Kang Minhyuk.¡±

    ¡°Kang Minhyuk is the perfect candidate to be the next chairman of Ilhwa Group.¡±

    Kang Minhoo smiled broadly as he continued to look out of the window while listening to the sincere words of his board members.

    <em>¡®Son, a bigger and stronger wind will blow now. However, I believe the wings that you have nurtured can endure it.¡¯</em>

    Standing at the top meant that he had to have the power to carry that weight and still stand tall. And right now, a huge gust of wind was billowing to where Minhyuk was.

    ***

    Diablo, no, he was called Elpis now, had moved to As Territory. Even though Minhyuk had already returned from the World War, he was yet to be assigned a mission. All he could do was to try to adapt to living as a human once again, by watching the people of the territory move about in their days. Just then, a devilish existence approached him¡­

    ¡°Oink!¡±

    Elpis thought that the pig, who was arrogantly looking up at him, was quite unique.

    ¡°I think¡­ you¡¯re¡­ a strange¡­ and arrogant¡­ pig¡­¡±

    ¡°Oiiink?!!!¡±

    Beanie, enraged at the word ¡®arrogant¡¯ directed at him, immediately sent a one-two punch on Elpis¡¯ leg. Then, realizing that it did not do anything, he swiftly climbed up on Elpis¡¯ body and settled on his shoulder.

    ¡°Oink! Oink, oink, oink! <em>(You should follow me from now on, oink!)</em>¡±

    Elpis could not understand what he should follow the pig for.

    Just then, he saw the strange thing, a pair of ¡®earphones¡¯, stuck in Beanie¡¯s ears. Athenae was a game that gave the yers the ability to listen to music everyday, even if they were ying. Beanie had taken advantage of this ability by taking Minhyuk¡¯s earphones every single day to enjoy music.

    ¡°Oink! <em>(I¡¯ll y some special music for you, oink!)</em>¡± Beanie oinked as he ced one of the earphones in Elpis¡¯ ear. The moment he pressed y, a beautiful and harmonious melody rang in Elpis¡¯ ear.

    Elpis had been searching for ¡®happiness¡¯ these days.

    <em>¡®How can I live happily for the rest of my life?¡¯</em>

    This was the moment that he realized what it was. This was it. Music. A beautiful melody that ringed in one¡¯s ears. An amazing tune that had the effect of making any passerby feel like they were the protagonist of a movie. Elpis, although awkward, smiled.

    Then, Beanie whispered, ¡°Oink, oink, oink! Oink, oink! <em>(You¡¯ll look cooler if you say this while listening to music, oink!)</em>¡±

    Beanie smiled ominously as he left the earphones in Elpis¡¯ care.

    ***

    Minhyuk was urgently trying to find Elpis. He had been thinking long and hard about what task to give him and finally found an answer today. After running around for quite some time, he finally found where Elpis was.

    However, something was strange.

    There were earphones stuck in Elpis¡¯ ears. And even though his eyes were closed, Minhyuk could tell that he was intoxicated and in ecstasy. Then, he said, ¡°Music is¡­ the only¡­ unrestricted drug¡­¡± which was immediately followed by a streak of tears!

    ¡°¡­¡±

    These were the words that Beanie had taught him to say. That was right! Elpis was also adapting well to living happily, as he quickly reached the state of being ¡®Minhyukified¡¯, no, ¡®Beaniefied¡¯!

 Chapter 427: Preparing for War

    Chapter 427: Preparing for War

    Haze, who was sitting in a daze, watched as a livid Minhyuk came back from his quest to find Elpis. She asked, ¡°Did something happen, my lord?¡±

    Minhyuk rubbed his chin after hearing Haze¡¯s question. Then, he said, ¡°It seems like there¡¯re no normal or sane people in this territory except for you and me, Haze.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°How can Elpis¡­?!¡± Minhyuk¡¯s arms iled around as his body trembled.

    Meanwhile, Haze thought, <em>¡®But, isn¡¯t it strange to want to make Elpis work as a fisherman¡­?¡¯</em>

    Based on what Haze was seeing right now, she could tell that Minhyuk was not able to sessfully give Elpis the task that he thought of.

    <em>¡®My lord is also not a normal person¡­¡¯</em>

    The words almost came out of her mouth, but Haze did her best to endure it. However, Minhyuk delivered another blow, ¡°I have to do my best to remain as a normal person.¡±

    There was a saying that among a group of friends, there would always be someone that thought that they were the normal one! And that person was none other than Minhyuk. However, his anger was only short-lived. Minhyuk¡¯s expression turned serious as he thought about something. Then, he said, ¡°From now on, we¡¯re going to use every means possible and start external activities.¡±

    ¡°External activities?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll have to prepare for what¡¯sing next.¡±

    Haze nodded silently. She knew that they would have to watch out for a lot of things after Minhyuk had won a lot of victories during the World War. In other words, they had to step up their efforts in building a kingdom.

    ¡°Aruvel, Ben and Corr, these three will start on our external activities. Of course, I will too.¡±

    These three were the key figures of As Territory. If something happened during their absence, As would receive a huge blow. However, Minhyuk believed that even if they were not here, the two beings that remained in the territory would be able to protect As. These two beings were none other than Brod and Elpis, As¡¯ powerful sword and sturdy shield. With these two, As would not be easily breached by any forces.

    ¡°What about the Ingredient Heaven?¡±

    ¡°The Hybrid Race that migrated from Rocard Kingdom said that we can expect the yield of our crops to increase by at least five times. They¡¯ve also expressed their surprise at the power of God¡¯s Land.¡±

    This meant that they would be able to let each soldier experience a ten-point stat increase, which would give them a ridiculous boost in their power.

    ¡°Ah. Where¡¯s Sir Brod?¡±

    ¡°Just like the lord had expected, he had sessfully be ¡®Lordified¡¯ and has been working hard on raising the livestock. However, the problem is that he¡¯s too into it now¡­¡± Haze said as she continued to exin about what happened and how he stopped the livestocks from being ughtered by acquiring the ¡®Livestock Seeds¡¯.

    ¡°How is the taste of the meat from the Livestock Seeds?¡±

    ¡°It tastes more exquisite than ordinary meat.¡±

    ¡°Then, there¡¯s no problem with that.¡±

    In Minhyuk¡¯s view, it would not matter whether they grew it or raised it, as long as it tasted good. Then, at that moment, someone knocked on the door. Brod mmed the door open the moment Minhyuk allowed him inside.

    ¡°My lord. I brought you something that you will definitely like.¡±

    <em>Thuuuuud¡ª</em>

    Brod ced a bright red egg on the ground. Minhyuk¡¯s eyes widened, his throat moving at the sight of the egg ced in front of him.

    <em>Gulp¡ª</em>

    ¡°I got the egg from a dragonir. I brought it back because I thought that the lord will definitely like it.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Haze was shocked when he heard Brod¡¯s words.

    <em>¡®An egg from a dragonir?¡¯</em>

    ording to the books that Haze had read, the colors of the shells of their eggs matched the attribute that the dragon would have once they grew up. A silver dragon would have a silver egg, a blue dragon would have a blue egg and a red dragon, a dragon known for its power and ferociousness, would have a red egg.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s the egg of a red dragon¡­!¡¯</em>

    Haze felt delighted. If this red dragon¡¯s egg hatched and grew up, it would be a great addition to As¡¯ forces. Haze wondered if Minhyuk was trembling because he also realized this fact.

    Minhyuk and Brod made eye contact.

    ¡°I¡­ I think it would taste good if we crack it open and make some fried eggs, right?¡±

    ¡°Hoho. I already took your thoughts into consideration, little lord. That¡¯s why I brought it back.¡±

    ¡°As expected of you, Sir Brod. No one canpare to you.¡±

    Haze, who turned to look at Minhyuk, was shocked to see the fierce gaze in his eyes. Those were the eyes of someone that was starving to get their hands on the egg. It was true. Minhyuk was really dying to eat the dragon egg in front of him. Then, Haze thought, <em>¡®If he can really eat it, then would it give him the same power as a powerful elixir?¡¯</em>

    However, a problem appeared.

    <em>Baaang¡ª Baang¡ª</em>

    The egg did not budge at all even after Minhyuk and Brod did their best to crack it open.

    ¡°Why can¡¯t I eat it when it¡¯s already in front of me?! Why?!¡±

    <em>¡®I¡¯m just like Kim Cheomji and his ox bone soup</em>[1]<em>!!!¡¯</em>

    If someone like Brod could not crack the egg open, then it meant that no one could break it.

    ¡°My¡­ fried¡­ dragon¡­ egg¡­¡±

    Looking at the teary-eyed Minhyuk, Haze thought, <em>¡®Ah. It seems like I¡¯m really the only normal person left in this territory huh?¡¯</em>

    The girl who thought herself normal, was the same girl that was selling a sack of normal rice worth 30,000 gold grown in Valha Territory for 30 million gold by saying that it was a ¡®power-enhancer¡¯ sack of rice blessed by Food God Minhyuk. With her talents as a great merchant, Haze was able to gain a hundred times more profit from anything and everything. She was nowhere close to being normal, with how she was rushing straight to bing a legendary swindler.

    ***

    All of the dragon elders had gathered together in Red Dragon Bracard¡¯sir, air located in the American Server. Dragons were the greatest and strongest existence in the world! They might be a bit weaker than ck Dragon Vormon, but the fact that they were the supreme rulers of magic remained unchanged.

    And the reason why these dragons gathered in Bracard¡¯sir was¡­

    ¡°Is it true? Was the Dragon Lord¡¯s egg really stolen?!¡±

    The owner of their, Bracard, was silent at Dragon Elder Belluc¡¯s words.

    ¡°Haaa~ How can something like this happen?!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re in trouble. The lord¡¯s egg has been stolen¡­¡±

    It was only just recently when the previous Dragon Lord, Bediaz, fell into eternal rest. Dragon Lords were pure-blooded dragons with excellent magic that far surpassed any other person. They were existences that had ridiculous growth and speed in learning. When Bediazid the now stolen egg, she left a prophecy, <em>¡®My child will be the strongest and the greatest dragon in the history of dragonkind.¡¯</em>

    Dragon Lords could take a glimpse of the power that the eggs theyid would have in the future. ording to her, the power of the dragon that would hatch from her egg was far superior than any dragon that has ever existed. She even dered that her child could trample ck Dragon Vormon, a creature that even the strongest Dragon Lord could not fight against. Knowing this, they called for the strongest Dragon Knight, Bracard, and gave him the task to protect the precious egg. However, someone was still able to steal the egg from under his ws.

    ¡°What were you doing when all of this happened?!¡±

    Bracard was silent at the elder¡¯s words. It was because he was in a deep sleep. However, just because he was asleep did not mean that he just allowed the thief to steal the egg.

    ¡°While I was still in deep sleep, the thief nullified all of the traps and mechanisms created with the dragon elders¡¯ power. On top of that, this thief was able to escape the eyes of the strong army that the Dragon Elders have ced in the vicinity of myir.¡±

    ¡°Ho¡­ how¡­¡±

    They were all in disbelief. The thief was able to nullify the traps and mechanisms that they, the Dragon Elders, had set up?! What was more shocking was the fact that this thief was also able to escape the eyes of the ten-thousand strong troops that they had stationed around their.

    ¡°This is definitely the work of an evil force that covets the Dragon Lord¡¯s power. They¡¯re definitely going to use the power of the lord¡¯s egg to gain more strength and authority.¡±

    ¡°Are they trying to control the continent¡­?¡±

    ¡°No, perhaps they are trying to destroy the continent.¡±

    ¡°Hoo¡­¡±

    ¡°This¡­¡±

    ¡°What are you doing?! We need to quickly find the lord¡¯s egg!!!¡±

    However, no matter how hard they tried, they would not be able to find the egg. This was because it was already far from where they were, safely nestled in another continent.

    ¡°If we can¡¯t find the egg, then the entire continent will be bathed in a sea of fire!¡±

    What they did not know was that the man that stole the egg, as well as the man that received the stolen egg, did not have much interest in the destruction of the continent, nor gaining authority.

    However, if the dragons knew that these two people were only thinking about making fried dragon eggs, their eyes might roll back and faint.

    ***

    Minhyuk waspletely disappointed when he failed to eat some fried dragon egg. But then, at that moment, Brod asked, ¡°My lord. Can you please allow the livestock to train alongside the soldiers?¡±

    ¡°You want the livestock to train with the soldiers?¡±

    Minhyuk frowned at Brod¡¯s request. Even though Brod could strengthen the livestock¡¯s physical power, they were still, after all, animals with low intelligence. It would be impossible for Brod to train them any more than what they could do before.

    Of course, this was also because Minhyuk was still unaware of the miracle that ¡®Livestock King Brod¡¯ had created and the fact that the pigs, cows, and chicken were able to grow and gain abilities by training with him everyday.

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be too hard if the livestock trained with the soldiers? I think this idea is a little rash.¡±

    Brod was the strongest and most powerful swordsman. Naturally, he would be As Territory¡¯smander-in-chief. So, how could someone like him get the crazy idea of having the livestock and the soldiers train together? Brod¡¯s thought process had nowpletely gone in apletely different direction from what Minhyuk thought. Minhyuk just wanted him to train a strong army while raising the livestock.

    ¡°Then, I¡¯ll show it to you,¡± Brod said confidently as he led Minhyuk to As¡¯ training ground. It seemed like Brod had already expected Minhyuk¡¯s reaction and opposition, so he had already made preparations in the training grounds.

    ¡°Attention, everyone.¡±

    ¡°Hwiiik!¡±

    ¡°Mooooo!¡±

    ¡°Cluck, cluck~¡±

    ¡°Meeeh, meeeh!¡±

    The animals cried out as they lined up neatly.

    <em>¡®Crazy¡­?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes widened in surprise when he saw the animals standing neatly in a row. Then, Brod winked at the chickens. One of the chickens started to run fiercely.

    ¡°Cluck, cluck!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes widened even further after seeing the chicken run as fast as an ostrich. In front of the running chicken was none other than a target. The target, which was made of copper, was harder than the wooden targets usually used for training. After all, this was the same target used by the soldiers for archery training. Then, at that moment, the chicken flew up fiercely¡­

    ¡°Cluck, cluck!¡±

    ¡­as a bright light shed briefly on its beak. And finally¡­

    <em>Thump¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The chicken¡¯s beak struck the target fiercely. The chicken, which hung on the target after being stuck, pulled its beak out and gentlynded on the ground.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s crazy¡­! Isn¡¯t that ridiculous?!¡¯</em>

    Just when this thought shed in Minhyuk¡¯s head, one of the pigs stepped forward. The pig stomped on the ground with its hind legs as if it was a bull, before rushing forward fiercely.

    ¡°Hwiiiiiik!¡±

    In front of it stood several soldiers holding huge square shields in front of them. At that moment, there was also a powerful light that shed on the pig¡¯s body.

    <em>¡®Both the chickens and the pigs have learned a skill?¡¯</em>

    When this thought shed in Minhyuk¡¯s head¡­

    <em>Baaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡­the soldiers flew back like bowling pins when the pig collided with them.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    It did not end there. One of the cows ran straight towards one of the soldiers, who also rushed towards the cow. He then thrusted his dull spear towards the cow. However, whether the spear was dull or not, it proved to be useless in front of the cow¡¯s tremendous defense. The cow just ignored the attack and rushed straight towards the horses.

    ¡°Hihihihing!¡±

    ¡°Kihihihing!¡±

    The horses could not do anything against a single cow. Then, Minhyuk''s gaze turned to one side.

    ¡°What¡¯s that over there?¡±

    There were a variety of puppies gathered together. From poodles, to pomeranians, to spitzes, to jindos, and even golden retrievers. These puppies all sat in a neat row, just like disciplined soldiers.

    ¡°They¡¯re abandoned dogs. I¡¯ll train them in the art of exploration, infiltration and beauty trap.¡±

    Minhyuk blinked nkly as he looked at one ce. He could not help but support his forehead helplessly.

    ¡°Why is Love, Hope, and Happiness also here¡­?¡±

    The three-headed dog Cerberus, the gatekeeper of hell, tilted its heads as it looked at Minhyuk while sitting proudly in front. There were also epaulets fitted on their shoulders with the words:

    <em>[Woof-woof Squad Leader]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was speechless.

    1. This reference has been mentioned before. It is a reference to the short story One Lucky Day ?

 Chapter 428: Preparing for War

    Chapter 428: Preparing for War

    <em>¡®Oh my god! This is so ridiculous! As expected! Aaaah, just like I expected, I¡¯m the only sane and normal person in this territory!¡¯ </em>

    This was the thought that passed through Minhyuk¡¯s head.

    Hell¡¯s Gatekeeper, Cerberus, became the leader of the puppy troops! In all honesty, the impact of this was no different from when Minhyuk named them ¡®Love, Hope, and Happiness¡¯. But Minhyuk did not see that fact.

    <em>¡®Ignoring that, how can the livestock achieve something like that?¡¯</em>

    This was beyondmon sense! So, Minhyuk looked at Brod¡¯s stats window.

    <em>(<strong>Brod</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: Supreme NPC</em>

    <em><strong>Type</strong>: Vassal</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: 682</em>

    <em><strong>Attack</strong>: 7,559</em>

    <em><strong>Defense</strong>: 4,683</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: The One with God</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Mercenary¡¯s Pinnacle Swordsmanship</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Continent¡¯s Tyrant</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Livestock Training</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Livestock Communication</em>

    <em><strong>Potential</strong>: 135</em>

    <strong><em>Experience Value</em></strong><em>: 18% / 100%</em>

    Minhyuk, whose pupils were shaking, could tell that there were changes in Brod¡¯s stats with just one nce. The first thing that he noticed was¡­

    <em>¡®His potential increased?¡¯</em>

    Having a high potential meant that there was a chance that they would be strong. However, growing stronger did not mean that their potential would increase. After all, potential was, for most, a stat that could not grow nor develop further.

    And yet, Brod¡¯s potential had grown from 115 to 135. Simply put, raising the livestock had opened up a new path for Brod to be even stronger than he was before.

    There was one more thing.

    <em>¡®His passive skill Dreaming Talent has be the passive skill The One with God¡­¡¯</em>

    The effects of his original passive ¡®Dreaming Talent¡¯ were as follows:

    <em>(<strong>Dreaming Talent</strong>)</em>

    <em>Passive Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>: Dreaming Talent. As long as you have the passion for something, you will be able to reach the pinnacle. </em>

    That was right. Dreaming Talent was the skill that could allow Brod to reach the pinnacle of something as long as he had the passion for it. He could be whatever he wanted. For example, if he had the passion for magic, then he would be able to be a great mage. Or if he chose to be a priest, he would be able to be a pope. But this skill changed and became ¡®The One with God¡¯.

    <em>(<strong>The One with God</strong>)</em>

    <em>Passive Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>? God came to watch over the one with the Dreaming Talent, after seeing him devote his efforts to one thing more than anybody else.</em>

    <em>? God will build him a foothold to grow further and stronger.</em>

    <em>? As he grows further and stronger in his field of choice, God will bestow him gifts. </em>

    <em>¡®Hoo¡­?¡¯</em>

    The description of the skill <em>¡®The One with God¡¯</em> had astonishing content. In fact, the contents of the skill gave Minhyuk a hint as to why the livestock was able to be special like that.

    <em>¡®So God intervened?¡¯</em>

    Brod also had two new skills, the ¡®Livestock Training¡¯ and ¡®Livestock Communication¡¯. Minhyuk immediately checked the information of the new skills.

    <em>(<strong>Livestock Training</strong>)</em>

    <em>Passive Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>? The animals, with every training, will be able to learn and grow like humans.</em>

    <em>? Whenever the animals train, their EXP acquisition rate will increase by 100x until they reach a certain level.</em>

    <em>? Whenever the animals train, their stat acquisition rate and skill proficiency acquisition rate will increase by 100x until they reach a certain level. </em>

    <em>? When they reach a certain point, the animals will ¡®evolve¡¯.</em>

    <em>? Brod, the skill owner, will be able to see through the animals characteristics and attributes and create skills that will match them.</em>

    <em>? The Livestock Training skill will ignore all of the animals¡¯ ¡®potential¡¯.</em>

    <em>¡®By a hundred times¡­?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk finally understood. Generally, no matter how much an animal was trained, it would be difficult for them to raise their stats. There was also that skill that the chicken had with the beak before, it did not make sense for a normal chicken to have a skill like that! But if it was increased a ¡®hundred times¡¯, then the story would be different.

    <em>¡®I feel like it¡¯s a bit of a pity that it only works for the animals.¡¯</em>

    If ordinary monsters were included in the scope of the skill, then they probably could raise a Level 1,000 goblin. Then, he moved on to the next skill.

    <em>(<strong>Livestock Communication</strong>)</em>

    <em>Passive Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>? The more Brod interacts andmunicates with the animals, the more they will trust and devote themselves to him.</em>

    <em>? The more Brod interacts andmunicates with the animals, the more their ¡®INT¡¯ will increase, albeit little by little.</em>

    <em>? The animals will be able tomunicate and interact with other humans aside from Brod. There¡¯s also a chance that they¡¯ll be great friends.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: Mercenary King Brod was a man that had once received the attention of the God of Death. Now, he lives together with the livestock and has awakened new powers. The livestock, moved by Brod¡¯s never-ending care and love as he tried to get others to recognize them and their skills, tried to reduce their sleep for him. One could say that this Communication skill was the skill acquired through their love and understanding for each other.</em>

    Minhyuk cast <em>Earth King¡¯s Authority. King¡¯s Eye</em>, a power that he acquired from Queen Iris, and used it on one of the pigs.

    <em>(<strong>Oinky 31</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: Growing Livestock</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: 98</em>

    <em><strong>Attack</strong>: 451</em>

    <em><strong>Defense</strong>: 518</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>? Active Skill: Oinky 31¡¯s Dash.</em>

    <em>? Active Skill: Oinky 31¡¯s Shield.</em>

    <em>? Passive Skill: Oinky 31¡¯s Pig-Out</em>

    <em><strong>Potential</strong>: 16</em>

    <em><strong>Experience Value</strong>: 18% / 100%</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: Oinky 31 will undergo any kind of hellish training for Brod right now. Oinky 31 is very determined and adamant on repaying Brod¡¯s care for them.</em>

    <em>¡®Hmm¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk thought that it would be worth the try, even if they only tried it once. First of all, the livestocks would be very useful to catch their enemies off guard.

    <em>¡®They might be necessary to prevent the gusts of wind blowing our way.¡¯</em>

    On top of that, there were a lot of livestock in As Territory. There were more than 10,000 of them as of the moment. What would happen if all of them could fight?

    <em>¡®They¡¯ll be able to exert more power!¡¯</em>

    Under Brod¡¯s earnest eyes¡­

    ¡°I¡¯ll give you permission.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, my lord! I will make sure to show you results in return for your grace!¡± Brod, after getting permission, immediately turned around to rejoice with the pigs, cows, and chickens. They even shed tears!

    <em>¡®I ¡­ really can¡¯t get used to scenes like this¡­¡¯</em>

    Brod was genuinely pleased. This was because they would no longer be recognized as ¡®livestock¡¯, but as ¡®soldiers¡¯. They would no longer be regarded as the ¡®livestock¡¯ that was born to be eaten, but as precious soldiers! And these livestock also had no regrets even if they lost their lives. After all, they were all destined to die and get reborn!

    Just like that, a wind of change blew in As. Minhyuk began to dispatch his subordinates outside.

    ***

    Arda Territory was a territory created by refugees, war orphans, prisoners of wars, and soldiers in the past, when a war broke out between Ethos Kingdom and Barras Kingdom. In fact, Arda Territory was not so much a territory, rather, it was a ce located between the borders of Ethos and Barras Kingdoms, one where they went to hide during the war.

    However, once the war ended and peace came, those that lost their homes and the ces that they could return to chose to stay in Arda.

    Barras Kingdom and Ethos Kingdom did not do anything to the territory as a ¡®sign of peace¡¯. This was because citizens of both Barras and Ethos kingdoms coexisted in Arda Territory. Even a fool would know that. So, the two kingdoms decided to leave those they considered traitors and double-crossers alone.

    The truth was, the territory was no longer a part of any kingdom. However, the reason why they could withstand and survive the attacks from yers and monsters was mainly because of Knight Lauvredo, an NPC over Level 480 with powerparable to a knightmander, a position he sought to be, as well as the strong troops that lived in the territory.

    The people were flocking to Arda Territory because of a mysterious person.

    ¡°ording to Lord Talmor¡¯s testaments¡­ Believe! If we believe it, then we¡¯ll be able to grow ck hair too!¡±

    The mysterious man stood on top of a tform with a grave and solemn expression on his face, as he looked at the ¡®sparkling heads¡¯ of the bald people gathered together in front of him.

    Pdin Corr opened a book titled ¡®Talmor¡¯s Testaments¡¯ and read it as if he was reading the bible! Corr, with a solemn voice, spoke loudly, ¡°A poor and pitiful soul, Ared, started to lose hair at the young age of five. After discovering Talmor, he devoted himself to serve the Lord and eventually started to grow hair each and every day. Aaaaaaaah! This is a very touching and astonishing deed!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Uwooooooo! Lord Talmor!!!¡±

    All of the religious fanatics present went wild as Corr continued to read ¡®Talmor¡¯s Testaments¡¯. The crowd turned silent when they saw Corr lift his index finger to his mouth.

    ¡°Everyone has to put their trust in the Lord. If you put your faith in the Lord then your hair will grow. Now, do you believe in the Lord?¡±

    ¡°We believe!!!¡±

    ¡°Do you believe?!!!¡±

    ¡°We do!!!¡±

    Then, a warmth covered their shiny and sparkling heads as Corr began to y his recorder. Among these believers stood Lauvredo, the man that once dreamed of bing a Knight Commander. That was right! Lauvredo was also bald!

    Shockingly enough, Corr¡¯s abilities had improved to the point that he could grow hair in a day. Of course, Corr did not forget to add these words, ¡°Lord Talmor does not wish for much. Talmor only hopes that you can give a little aid, when and only when As Territory, the ce where the power of Talmor originated and resides, is in danger.¡±

    Then, a dark smile shed on his lips.

    In another ce, somewhere in the wide expanse of Asgan Continent, a man with ck skin and a pair of sunsses nestled on the bridge of his nose appeared there! The moment this man sat down, a huge crowd gathered around him.

    ¡°That man is Aruvel, the author of the novel: ¡®Why Did the Prince Go Out Tonight?¡¯!!!¡±

    ¡°The unfortunate genius born from God! <em>Sob, sob, sob.</em> I did not expect to see him in person!!!¡±

    ¡°Mister Aruvel, please take me!!!¡±

    Aruvel held a signing event. Surprisingly enough, among the dense crowd of his fans, there were also yers! Then, he stood up from his seat and looked at the crowd. As soon as he stood up, the women fainted while the men stood in a daze.

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaah~!¡±

    ¡°Please give us some spoilers!¡±

    Then, Aruvel said, ¡°Well then, let me tell you a bit about my new work: ¡®The Prince¡¯s Magic Tools¡¯.¡±

    ¡°Ooooooh!¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaah!¡±

    More people gathered around him. Then, Aruvel opened his mouth, ¡°The prince, even though he could hold any woman that he wanted, felt a deep sense of emptiness wrap around his very being every night. Growing tired of his promiscuous nightlife, he started to crave for something new. One day, the prince got his hands on an ancient book and learned about the existence of the magic tools that the ¡®God of Night¡¯ had left on earth! So, he started to look for them. These tools can help him seduce any woman. And once a man and a woman did it together then¡­¡±

    ¡°Once they did it together?¡±

    Everyone gulped dryly as they listened intently to Aruvel¡¯s words.

    ¡°They will feel immense pleasure.¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaah¡­¡±

    ¡°Uwoooooooo!¡±

    Everyone burst into screams of admiration.

    ¡°In this book, the protagonist, the prince, travels around the world to acquire these magic tools and write down their uses, the best posture to use them, and much more information about them! This is my next work, the Prince¡¯s Magic Tool!¡±

    ¡°I¡­ I want to read it as soon as possible!¡±

    ¡°When will the book be published?!¡±

    ¡°I will definitely buy it!¡±

    After hearing their warm response, Aruvel grinned and said, ¡°I will distribute this work for free. However, in exchange, I hope that you can help me in times of need.¡±

    ¡°Of course!!!¡±

    ¡°Aaaah! Aruvel, you¡¯re my idol!!!¡±

    ¡°I will drop everything and run if you call for me!!!¡±

    Aruvel was very pleased.

    At the same time, in another ce.

    Grandpa Ben, whilebing his ck hair, sat inside the lord¡¯s castle in Eid¡¯s Territory, a huge territory with powerful troops under Marquis Bard.

    ¡°Tsk, tsk. The lord is like a stick, so stubborn and inflexible.¡±

    Grandpa Ben, as someone that personally taught them at one point in time, was regarded as the father of all of the spear masters.

    ¡°B¡­ but¡­ <em>Cough¡­</em>¡±

    ¡°Ho? Are you falling? Do you want me to make you stand on one arm for an entire day like in the past?!¡±

    ¡°N¡­No. Not at all, master!¡±

    Eid Territory¡¯s Marquis Bard felt his body, which was the epitome of ¡®burying the head in the ground¡¯, shake at the thought of everyone seeing him like this.

    Then, Ghost Spear Ben said, ¡°As a child, you did not have any talent for the spear. However, I did not give up on you. When you were a bar, you grew until you were hailed as a ¡®spear master¡¯, a feat that allowed you to get promoted to the position of a marquis.

    ¡°I remember! I will never forget your grace and kindness!¡±

    That was right. To others, Bard was a marquis. But in front of Ben, he was just a young and immature disciple.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want you to help me officially. Secretly. You just need to help me secretly.¡±

    ¡°Then, then¡­ even though our numbers are small, we will stille to help you!¡±

    ¡°Stand up.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    Marquis Bard¡¯s face was flushed from the effort of maintaining his posture earlier. He was even sweating profusely. Ghost Spear Ben looked at him happily as he opened his notepad and crossed out the name ¡®Bard¡¯ on the list.

    ¡°I¡¯ll drop by your territory sometime soon. I¡¯ll make you a cup of cat luwak coffee.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, master!¡±

    As he left the lord¡¯s castle, Ghost Spear Ben thought, <em>¡®Next will be Spear God Asveto¡¯s territory.¡¯</em>

    All of the people that Minhyuk dispatched were working hard on diplomatic activities, in their own special ways.

 Chapter 429: Preparing for War

    Chapter 429: Preparing for War

    King of the Dead, Death, had been receiving treatment for his burns recently from Kennedy, the world-renowned specialist and authoritative figure on burn treatment. It was thanks to the number that Minhyuk had handed to him before. He was very happy when he heard Kennedy say, <em>¡®Medical technology these days is far more advanced than the technology from five or ten years ago. Especially here in America. Our new treatment technology can erase up to 99% of the burn without leaving any scarring.¡¯</em>

    Kennedy¡¯s words meant that Death would be able to get almostpletely treated. In other words, he would finally be able to get rid of the thing that made the others call him a monster for a very long time. And it was all thanks to Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®I have to change.¡¯</em>

    Although Minhyuk did not ept him as a member of the Let¡¯s Eat Sect, Death decided to be their silent and invisible shield. And just like any other day, Death headed to Rocard Kingdom again.

    ¡°Damn bastard! You came again?!!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll definitely take your head with my hoe today!¡±

    Creepy words that could make one shiver were once again hurled at Death. However, he just remained silent as he summoned his huge legion, before sending them to the buildings that were on the verge of copse. As if familiar with this, the Hybrid Race did not stop them and surprisingly enough, the Undead Legion began to lift and clean up the remnants of the copsed buildings. But what was more shocking was the fact that there were even Death Knights among the troops that Death had sent out. Death and his troops continued to work here and help them on their restoration. But of course¡­

    ¡°This goddamn bastard!¡±

    ¡°Do you think we¡¯ll forgive you if you help us like that?!¡±

    ¡­the Hybrid Race did not forgive him. And Death, who was trying to change, said to them, ¡°Hey! You lowly farmers!!! You think you¡¯ll be able to kill me if you¡¯re dressed like beggars in this cold weather?! You definitely live up to your name, penniless farmers! You guys are so annoying! Put this on! I just picked it up on my way here!¡±

    Death threw hundreds of warm and toasty sweaters in front of them before going back inside Rocard Kingdom. This time, a boy rushed towards him and mmed a wooden sword on his leg.

    ¡°Bad guy! Die!!! I¡¯ll definitely grow to be a strong guy like Sir Brod and kill bad guys like you!¡±

    ¡°Ey! You brat! Do you think I, Lord Death, the King of the Dead will die with something like that? Oh? I think it hurts a bit? Brat, it seems like you have the talent, huh? Ah. So annoying. Should I kill you? Hey, you annoying brat! Take this sword that I picked up on the way and get lost!¡±

    Then, Death threw a shiny, well-sharpened sword on the floor and disappeared from the boy¡¯s sight. He wandered around and greeted the people that he passed by as if he was going to the market.

    ¡°What are you looking at, old hag?! Don¡¯t you know that the weather is already cold?! Why are you going around without wearing gloves?! So annoying, here! Take this pair of gloves! I picked it up on the way. What a damn nuisance!¡±

    ¡°What are you looking at?! You damn drunk old man! You reek of alcohol! So pathetic. Here! Have 100,000 gold and eat a warm bowl of soup with rice and get sober!¡±

    Death continued to wander around. However, he had lived alone for a very long time and had long forgotten how to say friendly and nice words to others. He was basically the prime example of a tsundere! He was tsun-tsun Death!

    Queen Iris watched as Death wandered around like that. They even made eye-contact for a moment.

    <em>¡®Even if you do this, you know that none of them will forgive you. Right?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®But I¡¯ll stille. Each and every day.¡¯</em>

    This was because this was the only atonement that he could offer to them. Then, at that moment, Death¡­

    ¡°What are you looking at, granny?! You¡¯re over 300 years-old huh?! Your bones must be cold! Every part of your body hurts?! This is why you have to go home quickly when you¡¯re old! What are you doing out in the cold, huh?! I¡¯ll put a stove in your house! Ah, don¡¯t feel pressured, I only picked it up on the way here!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Iris was dumbfounded with Death¡¯s actions and words.

    ***

    As Territory was still continuing to develop and strengthen their military force, even after half a year had passed in Athenae, which was equivalent to two months'' time in reality.

    Brod had the Hybrid Race and the animals train together in a 1:1 training! Each Hybrid Race soldier was assigned an animal to train with. They could choose from the chickens, ducks, pigs, cows, horses, dogs and many more. However, at first, the soldiers felt that training with them waspletely absurd.

    <em>¡®Are you kidding me?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®We¡¯re going to train together with the livestock?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Did Sir Brod hit his head or something?¡¯</em>

    They had no choice but to think like that.

    ¡°Cock-a~ doodle-do!!!¡±

    The worse part? The soldiers had to live together with these animals. The chickens would crow loudly in the morning and wake them up. For those that were used to taking their time in waking up, they could not help but feel annoyed at this. And when they started training with the livestock¡­

    <em>¡®Damn. Why are these damn animals so passionate about this?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®The animals are that eager to train?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Do they not get exhausted?¡¯</em>

    The soldiers watched the animals incredulously as they gave their all in training, even to the point of forgoing rest just so they could repay Brod¡¯s kindness and love.

    But after a week of intense training, the livestock grew tremendously. The big cows that were not swift on their feet could now move fast. What about the chickens? They could now fly like birds and sting and destroy things with their sharp beaks. The horses? Their speed increased tremendously and even their hind kicks could st a soldier of decent power backward.

    Was that all? Of course not.

    The ducks that took flight in the sky flew faster by the day! Even the bulls charging force was getting harder to stop by the shield unit. However, the most surprising were the puppies. The puppies¡¯ movement speed grew faster and their sense of smell heightened to around ten times their previous sense. They even started to see through the traps, mechanisms, and magicid in front of them.

    Brod even fanned the mes by saying, ¡°It seems like you guys are far worse than the <em>damn pigs</em> that you ignore, huh?¡± andparing the soldiers to the livestock! This was a huge blow to their self-esteem and pride. The biggest blow? The animals did not stop training until two in the morning. All of thesebined made the soldiers feel pathetic and useless.

    <em>¡®This¡­ are we really far worse than those guys?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Did I¡­ did I already forget the pain of almost losing Rocard Kingdom before?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Goddamn! Of course I also want to grow stronger!¡¯</em>

    And¡­

    ¡°Cock-a-doodle-do!!!¡±

    ¡­they gradually began to wee the chickens¡¯ loud crows early in the morning.

    ¡°Our dear Cluck-clucks woke us early today too, huh?¡±

    It did not end there. The soldiers started to ride on top of cows instead of horses! This was because they grew fond of the cows¡¯ fast speed, solid and sturdy defense, and incredible charging force.

    ¡°You might be slower than the horses, but your charging force is much higher! Haha!¡±

    ¡°No one would be safe if you charged at them with your head!¡±

    And that was not all! The soldiers also began to train the puppies. Even though they were training on a cold day, they felt immense warmth from the puppies that came to their arms.

    ¡°Did youe to warm me up because you think I will be cold?¡±

    ¡°Rascal! I promise to protect you forever, you brat!¡±

    They began to interact andmunicate with the animals that they were partnered with.

    <em>[Yourmunication with Oinky 21 has tremendously increased.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will increase by 5% and your courage will dramatically increase whenever you¡¯re with Oinky 21.]</em>

    <em>[Yourmunication with Poodle 11 has tremendously increased.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will increase by 5% and your courage as well as desire to protect Poodle 11 will dramatically increase whenever you¡¯re with Poodle 11.]</em>

    These notifications continued to ring in their ears! And that was not all!

    <em>[Oinky 32 has grown and reached the evolution stage.]</em>

    <em>[Cow 42 has grown and reached the evolution stage.]</em>

    <em>[Pomeranian 32 has grown and reached the evolution stage.]</em>

    The animals began to evolve as they continued to grow. They would either grow smarter, get stronger, or gain special powers. The animals were now on par with general and ordinary monsters. The animals might look slightly different than monsters, but they were now more powerful than ordinary monsters. They even had a hundred times increase in their growth rate, so they grew ridiculously fast.

    On the other hand¡­

    ¡°Sir Brod brought back another monster.¡±

    ¡°What kind of monster did he bring this time?¡±

    ¡°I heard it¡¯s a mamboth.¡±

    ¡°Ho? Wait, a mamboth?!¡±

    Brod kept on bringing in new monsters and animals from who knew where. As for the mamboths, they were huge elephant-type monsters that wererger than their animal counterpart. Their sheer power and charging force could easily overpower ogres. And right now, Brod had brought in thirty mamboths from somewhere.

    Brod also gained the power which allowed him to give skills to either animals or monsters as long as he trained them repeatedly. And the skill that he gave to the mamboths was a skill that strengthened their body. Of course, Brod could not just make any skill for them, but the skill that he gave them had given these monsters a huge boost in power.

    And right now, the soldiers of As Territory began to grow rapidly together with the animals and monsters that Brod had brought in.

    ***

    The appearance of a new king was bound to bring unrest to the kingdoms nearby. The new kingdom might start as a small one but the neighboring kingdoms, who could not know when this kingdom would grow stronger than their own, were bound to fear their existence.

    And the same was true for the kingdoms in Athenae. There were two huge mountains in the form of Eivelis and Collodis Empires in the Asgan Continent. There were also several kingdoms in existence among these tworge empires. And among these kingdoms was the Barras Kingdom.

    Barras Kingdom was a kingdom famous for their production sses. It was also famous for having the best pharmacies in the entire continent. However, a kingdom was still a kingdom and the current level of the yers in the game still would not be able to deal with a kingdom¡¯s strong military force and outstanding NPCs. This small kingdom had joined hands with the Korean Guild Alliance.

    ¡°It¡¯s an honor to be a part of your quest to punish the Let¡¯s Eat Sect,¡± Ares Guild¡¯s guild master Ares smiled.

    Standing in front of him was the king of Barras Kingdom, Grain de Freid. The king shook his hand firmly and said, ¡°I, Grain de Freid, will give you unlimited support for the destruction and elimination of the vicious and heinous cult, Let¡¯s Eat Sect, who¡¯s growing in power.¡±

    King Grain de Freid of Barras Kingdom was growing uneasy with the ever increasing fragility of his kingdom¡¯s position. What would happen if the Let¡¯s Eat Sect, which would soon grow to be a kingdom, trampled on them? If that happened then they would eventually be torn apart and devoured by their neighboring kingdoms.

    On the contrary, if he joined hands with these allied guilds and devoured the military forces of Let¡¯s Eat Sect, as well as their infinite amount of resources, then their kingdom would be the strongest kingdom in the continent.

    It seemed that Grain de Freid of Barras Kingdom was blinded by greed and had joined hands with the Let¡¯s Eat Sect Punishment Alliance.

    The Let¡¯s Eat Sect Punishment Alliance was made up of more than 3,000 Korean rankers. And that was not all. Two of the four great guilds, the Ares and Iris Guilds, together with four out of the ten guilds of the Sun Guilds, had joined forces. The number of members of this alliance alone had reached 60,000. There would also be an additional 200,000 troops that would be sent by the Barras Kingdom to help.

    However, Grain de Freid even made a more shocking remark, ¡°Let¡¯s Eat Sect¡¯s force will not be easy to deal with, so I will start drafting new soldiers right now.¡±

    Grain was aware that he was now walking the thread between life and death.

    A huge gust of wind was blowing towards the Let¡¯s Eat Sect in the form of the huge troops that the Barras Kingdom and guild alliance had deployed.

 Chapter 430: Start of War

    Chapter 430: Start of War

    After seeing everyone out, Barras Kingdom¡¯s King Grain leaned back in his seat, exhausted.

    ¡°Hoo¡­¡± Grain let out a sigh, his body still trembling from the thought of fighting a war. The future of Barras Kingdom was at stake. They could either devour the enemy or be devoured. What would happen if they won the war?

    Grain stood up and slowly approached the statue of the gant knight, the previous king, riding on a horse while holding his sword! Then, he reached out for the hand holding the sword and¡­

    <em>Creak, creak, creak, creak¡ª</em>

    ¡­the wall behind the throne split apart to reveal a variety of cooking ingredients. There were chicken, beef, pork, mutton, and even vegetables! These were the ingredients that the Barras Royal Family had been guarding and protecting for a very long time.

    The main reason why these ingredients had been left as they were was because neither the members of the royal family nor the members of the Chef Tower could cook them. However, even though none of them could cook these ingredients, the value and power that these ingredients could exert were tremendous.

    <em>¡®These ingredients have the power to permanently increase one¡¯s attributes and power once eaten, not like the power that one would get through buffs.¡¯</em>

    One could say that these ingredients only existed in Barras Kingdom.

    <em>¡®I will either take their power away.¡¯</em>

    Or¡­

    <em>¡®They will take my immortal ingredients away.¡¯</em>

    ***

    Minhyuk never had a day off ever since the Athenae: World War had ended. He never stopped engaging in diplomatic activities through Pdin Corr, Best Selling Author Aruvel, and Ghost Spear Ben. That was not all. He also dragged a handcart all over the ce and fed a lot of people. Of course, the food that he made in his handcart always had the ¡®Sea Honey¡¯.

    At the same time, he also devoted himself to cooking dishes for his guild members and vassals. He devoted the entire two months in reality, a time equivalent to half a year inside the game, to cook for them. And once he finished everything¡­

    ¡°Hoo¡­¡± Minhyuk breathed a sigh. He went out and looked out from the balcony of the lord¡¯s mansion and watched the lively Valha territory.

    That was right. Minhyuk had been going back and forth between As and Valha to make food. Even though he was staggering from fatigue and exhaustion, he was still grinning widely.

    Minhyuk also prepared some food for himself after he finished making food for others. He looked at the table ced on the veranda with a bright smile on his face. On the table were a huge bowl of m and knife-cut noodle soup, a te of bossam, and a serving of freshly made kimchi.

    <em>¡®Eating delicious food after a day of hardwork is really the best¡­!¡¯</em>

    Before Minhyuk knew it, the weather had already turned cold. A white cloud would even puff out of his mouth with every breath now. There was also steam curling up from the warm m and knife-cut noodle soup on the table.

    ¡°Well then.¡±

    Minhyuk quickly mped a heaping of noodles from the huge bowl and adle of soup filled with ms, zhinis, and shredded carrots in his smaller bowl. Then, he rubbed his cold hands together.

    <em>¡®Knife-cut noodles will taste better if you eat it outside!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk grabbed the small bowl and lifted it to his mouth for a sip of the warm and refreshing soup.

    ¡°Hoo! Hoo! <em>Sluuuuuuuuuurp! </em>Kgghk! I can feel the warmth! It¡¯s melting the coldness!¡±

    The coldness that settled in his body seemed to melt away with just a sip of the soup. Then, he used his chopsticks and mped some of the chewy noodles.

    ¡°Hoo! Hoo!¡±

    He blew on the chewy noodles first before putting them in his mouth and slurping them up! Then, he also grabbed a piece of m meat, wrapped it with the noodles, and ced it in his mouth again.

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuuuuurp!</em>¡±

    This time, Minhyuk¡¯s chopsticks stretched out to the freshly made kimchi. However, the most important thing about this kimchi was that it was ¡®oyster kimchi¡¯.

    ¡°<em>Crunch, crunch¡ª</em>¡°

    A sour taste spread in his mouth the moment he bit on the kimchi. Then, he picked out the oyster hidden among the kimchi and ced it in his mouth. Some would say that it has a fishy after-taste, but for Minhyuk, it tasted like the sparkling sea.

    ¡°This is definitely the authentic vor. <em>Aaaah.</em> Definitely.¡±

    Minhyuk lifted the bowl again for another sip of the soup. This time, he stretched his chopsticks towards the bossam and tasted it as it was. The moment the soft and exquisite texture of the bossam meat entered his mouth, it was the epitome of the expression ¡®melts in your mouth¡¯. It was well-cooked to the point that it did not feel like the usual tough meat.

    Next, he ced a small piece of tofu and a piece of kimchi on top of the bossam and ced it in his mouth. Three distinct yet harmonious vors burst inside his mouth. For a change of pace, he grabbed a piece of cabbage, dipped it in ssamjang and ced it in his mouth.

    <em>Crunch, crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    The more he chewed, the sweeter the cabbage tasted in his mouth. This was especially the case for the ones that were grown and picked perfectly. For Minhyuk¡¯s next bite, he took a piece of bossam meat, wrapped it with cabbage, and dipped everything in ssamjang. Minhyuk thought that thebination of bossam and cabbage was the next best thing since sliced bread!

    <em>¡®Hwaaa¡­¡¯</em>

    After finishing everything, Minhyuk stared nkly at his territory. He felt a fatigue creep up from deep within his bones after his two-month long efforts.

    <em>¡®I need to get some exercise and take a nap.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk smiled happily at the thought of giving the precious things that he had prepared for his guild members and vassals. Then, he logged out.

    ***

    Ares Guild¡¯s master Ares and countless rankers have gathered together.

    <em>¡®We can¡¯t wait for the Barras Kingdom¡¯s support to arrive. We have to take them down now.¡¯</em>

    ording to their estimate, the Barras Kingdom¡¯s troops would take a while to gather. But even if that was the case, their troops that were present could already rival arge army with 20,000 soldiers and 2,000 elite royal knights. It would take time to get additional recruits so they would have to make do with their current numbers and hit their enemy unaware. If they waited for the Barras Kingdom¡¯s troops to gather before attacking, Let¡¯s Eat Sect might notice their movements and send As to the skies.

    They could expect a total number of 20,000 troops from the kingdomter. But right now, their guild alliance had 20,000 troops present. In fact, their alliance had a total of 60,000 members, but because people were usually at work or school at this time of the day, only a fraction showed up. However, more of them would start to appear and join them, and their numbers would increase as time went by.

    These 20,000 troops, together with the 2,000 elite royal knights, were now currently divided and dispatched to different ces. Ares would strike As¡¯ upfront with most of the troops while Callian, Iris Guild¡¯s master, would attack their rear. That was how they divided their troops.

    In other words, the 22,000-strong troops would be divided into three main forces, with around 7,000 troops attacking upfront, 7,000 troops attacking the rear, and the remaining 8,000 troops further split into two subdivisions that would also move to attack the territory upfront in a quick two-pronged attack.

    Just when the 4,000 strong troops were about to move, Ares looked forward with a weird expression on his face. This was because there were around 500 people dressed in rags resting around a wagon a fair distance from them. They were obviously the people in charge of transporting something.

    <em>¡®Did Let¡¯s Eat Sect cooperate with someone without our knowledge? Are they bearing supplies?¡¯</em>

    Ares'' mouth almost split from the smile that was widening on his face. Then, he raised his hand. They were still quite a long way from As and had time to deal with this.

    ¡°Archer and Mage units, prepare with the Cavalry.¡±

    These were the well-trained soldiers of Barras Kingdom! On top of that, most of the yers that were logged in at this time were single-digit rankers. The only reason why these top rankers were here was because they thought of this game as their work.

    ¡°Don¡¯t leave a single one of them alive.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    A deep smile curled at the corners of Ares¡¯ mouth.

    ***

    Rocard Kingdom, which had sessfully established their new home in the Northern Continent, had seeded in sowing seeds and harvesting their crops safely. And right now, the gifts that Queen Iris had prepared to present to Minhyuk were now being transported by a transportation team.

    ¡°Oh my. This is tiring~¡±

    ¡°That might be the case, but you do know that Lord Minhyuk is our benefactor, right?¡±

    ¡°I can already imagine his happy face once he receives these, you know? Hohoho!¡±

    The people of Rocard Kingdom regarded Minhyuk as their hero after he saved their kingdom. On top of that, he was a kind and virtuous leader, a leader unlike any other king or ruler. Whenever they gave him something delicious, he would always smile brightly at them, as if to tell them that he really liked them. And this very smile could invoke a motherly smile on their faces.

    But at that moment, the sky suddenly darkened.

    ¡°Is it going to rain?¡±

    ¡°The sun is high up in the sky. What do you mean by rain?¡±

    However, when they turned to look at the sky, their eyes could not help but widen. The things that covered the skies were not rain clouds, but arrows and magic!

    ¡°Hiiiiiik!¡±

    ¡°Heeeeooooook!¡±

    Not long after, the arrows and magical attack rained down on them.

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    ¡°Keu, keuaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaack!¡±

    The people of Rocard Kingdom shrieked as the arrows and magical attacks sted them away. However, another round of attacks rained down on them, increasing their casualties. Plenty of people were bleeding from their injuries. Some even died on the spot, while others had their bodies sted and spread out in the area. It was literally like hell on earth.

    ¡°Ugh, uuuuuugh¡­¡±

    However, there were still plenty of survivors. Unfortunately, that was when these survivors saw hundreds of cavalry rushing forward.

    ¡°What, what the hell¡­?¡±

    ¡°Hiiiiiik¡­¡±

    Fear crept up from deep within them. And among them stood a woman, Rolein, who was bleeding from her head. She saw the tip of the spear of the leading cavalrying straight for her chest.

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaack!¡±

    But just when she screamed, bracing herself for the inevitable pain that the spear would bring her¡­

    <em>Grab¡ª</em>

    A man appeared in front of her. The man grabbed the spear before it could stab Rolein in the chest. Then, surrounded by a ck current, fifteen Death Knights appeared around the man. The ground cracked as thousands of undead appeared on his left, right and even in front of him.

    Rolein knew this man more than anybody else. Every time this man appeared, they would cut him with their sickle, stab them with their pickaxe, and kill him mercilessly. She was among the men that kept on trampling on this man.

    The man, with his long ck and messy hair, dark robe and gaunt face, looked back at her with a smile and said, ¡°Ma¡¯am, quickly run to As Territory with your fastest speed.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The dark knight that the man called for cut down the cavalry that was rushing at them. And with his aloof gaze, the man rushed forward with his legion.

    ¡°I will stop them here.¡±

    This was the moment that the King of the Dead, Death, has appeared.

 Chapter 431: Start of War

    Chapter 431: Start of War

    Dragon Knight Lantino was known to be the strongest among the dragon race. There was a very famous story about him riding on the back of a dragon and fighting against tens of thousands of enemies. He was also one among the few dragon races that lived scattered all over the continent.

    Lantino had chosen to live a life in seclusion after getting tired of fighting. But one day, a man came to him. The man introduced himself as ck Dragon and ording to him Broque, the king of the dragon race, had fallen into eternal rest not too long ago. The man also told Dragon Knight Lantino to believe him and follow him. However, Lantino was already tired of fighting. Nevertheless, Lantino ended up going with him after the man visited him several times in a row.

    There were quite a few reasons why Lantino came with the man, but it was mainly because ck Dragon was an extremely amazing man. He single-handedly supported the copsing dragon race and helped them stand up once again. On top of that, ck Dragon was also gathering the scattered members of the dragon race that lived cut-off from the rest of the world.

    <em>¡®This man has an immense amount of charm and appeal.¡¯</em>

    Before he knew it, Lantino had already arrived at the Forgotten Dragon¡¯s Land¡¯s training ground with ck Dragon. Lantino was left in shock with what greeted him there.

    <em>¡®He has already gathered this many dragon races?¡¯</em>

    There was no denying the fact that this man was a very amazing person. Sweat dripped down Lantino¡¯s forehead as he looked at the man beside him. This man was more than qualified to lead the dragon race.

    More than 5,000 members of the dragon race, a number that was a first for a gathering of a race known for their low reproduction rate, gathered and lined up in front of ck Dragon. Not long after, Lantino grinned widely.

    ¡°Fufu. Are you the one that will join us tomand the world in the future? Just the thought is making my blood boil already. I can¡¯t control myself! Keuhaha!¡±

    ¡°Kekeke! That¡¯s right. Join us and let us show the world how fearsome the dragons are! Keuhahaha!¡±

    ¡°Keuhahaha!¡±

    ¡°Keuhahahahaha!¡±

    Aughter, reminiscent of a chuunibyou, rang loudly in the area! By the end of it, Dragon Knight Lantino stood in front of the troops and knelt down on one knee. He dered, ¡°Oh great and strong man, I, Lantino, will be delighted to stay by your side and paint the world in despair! I can already hear their screams of agony. Keuhaha!¡±

    If someone heard Lantino¡¯s words, they would definitely say: ¡®<em>That¡¯s the </em><em>chuunibyou</em><em> ambassador!¡¯</em>

    But ck Dragon just smiled a dark smile and said, ¡°Keuhuhuhu! Let¡¯s use the power going berserk in our right arms to either save the world or bring it to despair.¡±

    That was right. The most decisive reason why Lantino joined ck Dragon was because they wererade-in-arms. After all, Lantino was also someone that had also reached the peak of being a chuunibyou.

    In the end, the 5,000-strong troops knelt down on one knee and cried loudly.

    ¡°The power in my right hand is going berserk! My burning and passionate heart can melt even the strongest of enemies!¡±

    ¡°The power in my right hand is going berserk! My burning and passionate heart can melt even the strongest of enemies!¡±

    ¡°Keuhahahahahahaha!¡±

    ¡°Kekekekekekeke!¡±

    ¡°Keuhuhuhuhuhuhuhu!¡±

    Their crazyughter rang loudly in the area.

    ***

    Ares was very shocked to see Death suddenly rushing straight at them.

    ¡°Wh¡­ why is Death here?!¡±

    Before they invaded, they assumed that Death would not appear anywhere near As. After all, Minhyuk had refused him when he asked to join his guild during the Athenae: World War.

    The truth was, Minhyuk refused Death¡¯s request in consideration for his circumstances and dreams and Death felt very grateful for that. However, the entire world did not know that.

    And Death, who was now running straight towards them, was just working hard on his mission to be Rocard Kingdom¡¯s ¡®Tsun-tsun Death¡¯ as usual. He secretly tagged along the convoy headed for As Territory to protect the people of Rocard Kingdom in case they met with a group of monsters. The reason why he was secretly following them was because the convoy still loathed and resented him deeply.

    So, Death hid behind the convoy while eradicating the monsters that popped out near them to make sure that they would have no inconvenience on their way to As.

    Hundreds of skeleton knights riding on top of death horses made of bones sprung up from the ground one after the other as Death swung his staff. They were the Death Cavalry! The Death Cavalry acted as vanguards as they rushed forward and collided with the leading enemy cavalry.

    <em>aaaash¡ª</em>

    <em>Grab!</em>

    ¡°Hihihihihing!¡±

    <em>Stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Dieeeeeee!¡±

    A violent and fierce conflict urred. Ares quickly tookmand as arrows and magic rained down from the sky.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    A huge shield, the size of a house, made of bones rose from the ground the moment Death stabbed his staff on the ground.

    <em>[Undead¡¯s Shield]</em>

    <em>[A gigantic shield with additional 500% defense will protect the undead.]</em>

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng, ng, ng!</em>

    <em>Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump!</em>

    The shield¡¯s high defense deflected countless arrows raining down from the sky. Even the magic bombs could not break through the Undead¡¯s Shield¡¯s defense. Fifteen Death Knights also started to move from both sides, wiping out the enemy cavalry in an instant. By that time, Death was already standing in front of Ares.

    ¡°This is none of your business, Death. Stand back. If you don¡¯t stand back now, even your Kingdom of Death will also be implicated.¡±

    Death looked at Ares and the people around him sharply. These people were the best guild leaders of the country. This meant that a considerable number of guilds in the country joined hands and came here with the determination to thoroughly destroy the Let¡¯s Eat Sect. No matter how strong and excellent the Let¡¯s Eat Sect was, it would be hard to fight against dozens, no, perhaps hundreds of guilds that have joined hands together.

    Hyenas were no match for elephants, but if hundreds of hyenas ganged up to fight against an elephant, the story would change. Ares had given Death a warning. He was warning him that if he did not step back at this point in time, then their alliance would destroy him.

    But Death¡¯s gaze remained indifferent.

    ¡°Shall we go first?¡±

    <em>Screech!</em>

    ¡°F*ckers! A single person is scaring you?! Kekekeke! Keuhahahahaha! Hihihihihihi!¡±

    The yers turned pale after hearing Death¡¯s gratingughter. Ares even gulped dryly as he said, ¡°Your Death Knights can only exert 80% of their power from when they were alive. With plenty of rankers on our side working together, we will definitely be able to kill them all in one go. And the same is true with your liches.¡±

    That was right. It did not matter if Death was strong. No matter how strong he was, he would be no match against several of the best Korean rankers gathered here. But then¡­

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeee!¡± One of the skeleton knights burst out in an eerieughter. Then, it flew fiercely while swinging its greatsword. And with the skeleton knight as the start¡­

    <em>Crackle¡ª</em>

    The ck robe that covered Death¡¯s body disappeared in a burst of ck me.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    Bones sprang up from the ground and crept up his body, forming a bone armor. And finally, a giant scythe appeared in Death¡¯s hand.

    ¡°Wipe them out.¡±

    <em>Ping¡ª</em>

    Following Death¡¯s orders, the Death Knights brandished their swords as they dove deep within the rankers¡¯ ranks. And it did not stop there. Five liches flew up into the sky and dispelled the magic that wasing their way.

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuhaaaaack!¡±

    Ares¡¯ face distorted in pain after blocking the Death Knight¡¯s sword.

    <em>¡®What the hell¡­?¡¯</em>

    Death Knights were literally knights of the dead and only Named NPCs could be made into one. However, even if they were Named NPCs before, they would lose most of the power and strength that they had in the past. After all, they have already died and they had to pay a price for eternal life. However, the Death Knights in front of Ares¡­

    <em>¡®They still have their entire power?!¡¯</em>

    In fact, the Death Knights really did not do much during the World War. This was because the Kingdom of Death had already swept away the enemies. And even if they missed some, the soldiers stationed inside the kingdom would deal with them. The ones that made wild assumptions about the Death Knights were Ares and the other rankers.

    In an instant, hundreds of undead had squeezed into the gaps of their troops.

    ¡°Keuheup!¡± Ares groaned as he staggered back from the two attacks that he unwillingly allowed on his body. Even the other rankers were breathing hard. Then, Ares and Death made eye contact.

    ¡°Ahihihihihi!¡±

    Chills crept up their spine after hearing Death¡¯s eerieughter. Only then did they realize that something was wrong.

    s, it was already toote. Hundreds of undead had already squeezed through the gaps of their troops. Then, Ares turned to focus at Death, whose mouth started to open and say, ¡°The Undead¡¯s¡­¡±

    Ares immediately used his skill to break away and escape as Death spat out the end of his words, ¡°¡­Sacrifice.¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Hundreds of undead exploded from within the 4,000 strong troops. The explosion that burst out was beyond anyone¡¯s imagination. It was to the point that even the elites of Barras Kingdom had been sent flying away, while those that were weaker disappeared without a trace.

    ¡°Do you realize who you¡¯re trying to touch? Huh?! Kihihihihihi!¡±

    Death¡¯s upper body bent back as he howled loudly. In the eyes of the dying soldiers of Barras Kingdom, he looked like the devil incarnate.

    ¡°Ugh, uuuuuuuuuuugh¡­¡±

    ¡°Mo¡­ monster¡­¡±

    They either peed, turned pale, screamed, or ran away from fright. Meanwhile, Ares and the rankers all turned mute after seeing the explosion. Death was not just the ¡®devil¡¯, he was a disaster in and of itself.

    ***

    Iris Guild¡¯s Callian, together with his troops, headed towards the rear of As Territory. The path that they chose to walk through arge field covered with reeds that were two meters tall.

    Callian, who was walking low and slow, raised his hand. The thousands of troops behind him immediately came to a halt. When he looked forward, he saw a very tall man brushing his palms against the reeds and moving about with his eyes closed. Upon closer inspection, he saw the earphones stuck in the man¡¯s ears.

    ¡°Who¡¯s that?¡±

    However, even if they did not know who the man was, they were certain that this man was a citizen of As Territory. Everyone held their breaths and watched the situation just in case the man did something.

    The man was thoroughly absorbed in the music, his eyes closed, clearly intoxicated. Then, tears began to drip down the man¡¯s cheeks as he said, ¡°Music¡­ is the only drug allowed by the kingdom¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Amidst the heavy silence, Archer Rovia used her ¡®Enhanced Hearing¡¯ and hummed the song the man was listening to.

    ¡°Assa~ a~ tiger swallowtail butterfly~ sat on a flowerbed~[1]¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    A Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly crazy man appeared!

    1. From Kim Heung-Kook¡¯s song ????. You can listen to to the song here: ?

 Chapter 432: Start of War

    Chapter 432: Start of War

    Callian once stood at the top of the country and received endless praise and admiration from the people. However, with the appearance of Kang Minhyuk, who created a stronger and bigger guild than his own, the people gradually forgot about his existence. Even his Iris Guild continued to exist in a state of decline.

    What would happen if Iris Guild sessfully attacked As Territory and turned it into a wastnd? Without a doubt, his Iris Guild would be one of the best guilds in Korea!

    But then, a madman suddenly appeared in front of him, spouting nonsense like, ¡°Music¡­ is the¡­ only¡­ unrestricted drug¡­!¡±

    Callian felt goosebumps rise from his skin. Did he get goosebumps because the words were cool?

    No. It was because he felt second-hand embarrassment from the man. The worst part was the song that he was listening to. It was Uncle Kim Heung-Kook¡¯s <em>¡®Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly¡¯</em>. It was literally absurd!

    Callian and the other rankers could not help but snicker at the absurdity of the situation in front of them. The 4,000 troops that Callian led had the most number of rankers. This was so they could quickly pierce through and break through As¡¯ defenses the moment it was breached. The troops being led by Callian were the elites of the elites.

    ¡°Rovia.¡±

    ¡°Yes, master.¡±

    Callian grinned and called for Rovia.

    Rovia, together with Master Archer Root, were the two tall mountains in Korea¡¯s archery scene. The only difference between them was that Root used a normal bow, while Rovia used a great bow.

    Unlike normal archers, great bow users required a high STR stat, so it was a given that they would sacrifice their uracy rate. However, Rovia was as good as Root in archery in reality so she couldpensate for this loss. The greatest advantage of a great bow was its high prative force and destructive power. With an arrow that could pierce through the thickest of metal tes, what was the need for a high uracy rate? As long as they hit their target, then it was fine.

    ¡°Kill that man right now. This will mark the start of our Let¡¯s Eat Sect hunt.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    It was funny that the killer that would start their hunt for the Let¡¯s Eat Sect was the strange man that was not too far away from them. But then, Rovia, who was pulling her bow, looked at the man weirdly and thought, <em>¡®Where have I seen him before?¡¯</em>

    It was definitely a familiar face. However, Rovia did not have the time to ponder over this matter. She was a bit reluctant to kill this tiger swallowtail butterfly madman and make him the first victim in As Territory. However, it was inevitable. Rovia nocked an arrow that was asrge as a spear on her great bow.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Then, Rovia pulled the strings of her bow tight before releasing it.

    <em>Thwaaaaaaaaack¡ª</em>

    The arrow flew straight towards the man, apanied by the loud roar of wind. This was just a small pause in their march. So, Callian and his troops tried to advance again. But then, the man looked up at the butterfly fluttering in front of him with a soft smile on his face. This butterfly was in the path where the arrow would pass through. In other words, the butterfly would be torn to shreds soon.

    The moment they thought so, the man gently wrapped his hand around the butterfly before twisting his body using his toes as the fulcrum and avoiding the arrow rushing straight at him. After that, the man gently unfurled his slightly closed fist and let the butterfly free. The man smiled as he watched the butterfly fly away while humming, ¡°Assa~ A~ tiger swallowtail butterfly~¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Callian and his troops had no choice but to stop in their tracks once again.

    <em>¡®What the hell¡­?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®The man did not even move much but caused Rovia to miss?¡¯</em>

    They could not believe their eyes. The man just twisted his body slightly, by a mere fifteen degree, but he was able to avoid the arrow. That was so unrealistic! The more shocking part? The man was still looking and smiling at the butterfly.

    ¡°Hey, Rovia. Did you make a mistake?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m¡­ I¡¯m sorry, Master!¡±

    Cold sweat dripped down Rovia¡¯s back. She did not make any mistakes. She definitely aimed for the man¡¯s forehead. Originally, the man¡¯s forehead should have exploded from the arrow, but even if that was what she intended to do, she would be put in a difficult position if she tried to exin himself.

    <em>¡®Rumors about me missing my shot and failing to kill such a crazy guy will definitely spread if I exined.¡¯</em>

    It would be a stain to her honor, and be her greatest shame.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Rovia pulled the strings of her bow once again.

    <em>¡®He clearly avoided the shot.¡¯</em>

    She used her skill ¡®Sure Kill Shot¡¯. It was a skill that could increase her basic attack by four times the moment she hit his enemy¡¯s vital point. Rankers that had been hit by her Sure Kill Shot would suffer a huge reduction in their HP. Finally, Rovia fired another shot.

    <em>Thuuuuuuuuuuuump¡ª</em>

    A louder sound than before rang loudly the moment the arrow was about to fly out. However, the man, who was five meters away from Rovia, suddenly disappeared and reappeared, grabbing the arrow with his hand.

    <em>Grab!</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Everyone present blinked nkly in surprise after seeing the man suddenly disappear from sight and appear in front of them.

    <em>¡®I¡­ I couldn¡¯t even follow him with my eyes¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®What the hell?! Did he use Blink?¡¯</em>

    Then, the man said, ¡°You shouldn¡¯t¡­ hurt¡­ the butterfly¡­¡±

    Rovia looked at the field of reeds at the man¡¯s words. There were plenty of butterflies fluttering around the field and they would definitely be torn apart from the shockwave of Rovia¡¯s powerful arrows.

    <em>¡®He stopped us because of the butterflies?¡¯</em>

    Cold sweat dripped down Callian¡¯s back.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s dangerous¡­¡¯</em>

    However, if they did not pass through this field then they would not be able to reach As Territory. Cold sweat started to drip down Callian¡¯s forehead as the silence continued to envelope them. None of them could open their mouths.

    <em>Gulp¡ª</em>

    The sound of someone gulping rang loudly in the otherwise quiet field, and this sound became their signal to start their attack.

    ¡°Attack!¡±

    None of them thought that this was some kind of joke anymore. Callian even took the lead to attack the man, who was of course, Elpis.

    Callian was a master of the quick sword and was a yer that alsopleted his transfer to high ss not too long ago. He had been struggling and fighting desperately to protect his slowly weakening position. But now, he had the power to deal with at least one or two members of the Let¡¯s Eat Sect.

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    Callian¡¯s sword lights shot at Elpis quickly, while other melee yers tried to attack him with their fists, feet, iron maces, and even spears. However, none of their attacks touched Elpis.

    Then, Elpis gently pulled out a piece of reed and grabbed it with his hands. With that very same reed, he cut down one of the yers in front of him.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Shockingly enough, blood spurted out when the reed in Elpis¡¯ hand cut down the yer, as if it was a very sharp de. Then, Elpis swung his reed upwards, creating a crescent sword light.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The crescent sword light released a powerful force that swept all the enemies that surrounded Elpis.

    ¡°Urk!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keheok!¡±

    Those that received the force from the reed¡¯s strike either copsed, stumbled on their feet, or gripped their heaving chests. Rovia¡¯s eyes widened when she saw this.

    <em>¡®Where the hell did I see this guy before? He looks really familiar¡­¡¯</em>

    Rovia was sure that she had seen the man from somewhere from the very first moment that she saw the man. Not long after, her pupils dted in fear. She finally remembered.

    ¡°Le¡­ Lesser Demon Diablo¡­?¡±

    ¡°Wha, what?!¡±

    ¡°What did you say?!¡±

    ¡°I, I think it¡¯s true? He¡¯s really Lesser Demon Diablo!¡±

    A buzz spread among the troops. Lesser Demon Diablo was the Zero Monster that crushed the strongest global yers during the World War. After thepetition, he suddenly disappeared from everyone¡¯s sight. But now, he resurfaced as a crazy guy that enjoyed music.

    <em>¡®What kind of variable is this¡­?! Lesser Demon Diablo is in Minhyuk¡¯s territory¡­?!¡¯</em>

    Rovia and Callian knew that Lesser Demon Diablo was a monster that no one could control. Of course, he joined hands with Minhyuk during the World War but, given his strength, everyone believed that he was not the kind of being that would willingly go under someone¡¯smand.

    But he was actually guarding As? Then, that meant that there was a very huge variable in front of them. After all, he was a tall mountain that was very hard to fight against.

    ¡°We are 4,000 strong! No matter how strong Diablo is, he can¡¯t win against our numbers! Kill him and advance to As!¡±

    There were only around forty rankers during the World War. But right now, there were 4,000 of them, a number that was a hundred times more than the number during the World War. That was why Callian thought that they could do this, that this was worth a try.

    But then, Elpis pulled out the sword, the Devil Judge¡¯s Sword, that was hanging on his waist and said, ¡°A threat to the lord¡­ I am Let¡¯s Eat Sect¡¯s shield.¡±

    That was when Callian realized that it was his actions that goaded Elpis into bringing out his full power.

    ¡°Everyone, attack tog¡­¡±

    But before Callian could even finish his words¡­

    <em>Stab!</em>

    ¡°Keuaaack!¡± A yer screamed and died on the spot.

    <em>Ping¡ª</em>

    While another one fell down.

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    Then, ten yers fell down all at once.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    And it did not end there, Elpis sent his scythe flying towards them, killing another thirty enemies in one go before reigning it back again.

    ¡°Mages!¡±

    High-tiered mages immediately used Blink and appeared in the skies.

    <em>Fwoosh, fwooosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª</em>

    However, despite escaping to the skies, Elpis¡¯s sword moved swiftly and made the dozens of mages fall back down on the ground.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Elpis raised his sword high up in the sky and swung it down. Then, disastrous sword lights flew towards the enemy troops, breaking their armors and weapons.

    ¡°Hiiiiiiiiik!¡±

    ¡°De¡­Demon¡­!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re a demon!!!¡±

    The kingdom¡¯s soldiers either peed or burst into tears after facing actual death.

    Elpis, who stood on the ground, took out the MP3, pulled out his earphones and turned on the full listening function. The full listening function was a game function where the MP3 user could st the music that it was ying in the small MP3 for everyone in the vicinity to listen to.

    The music that was ying right now was <em>Beethoven¡¯s Moonlight Sonata 3rd Movement</em>. It was a music that could unknowingly captivate the listeners¡¯ hearts with its rapidly changing tempo. Sometimes it would be slow, and sometimes it would be fast. This very same captivating melody was now ringing in the battlefield which brought a sense of urgency to survive in the listening troops. And with the fast tempo of the piano¡­

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    ¡­Elpis¡¯s sword also moved swiftly and decapitated dozens of soldiers, causing heads to fly up in the sky before falling and rolling on the ground.

    Dozens of rankers rushed at him. One person¡¯s body got cut down, two people got their heads cut off. and three got their bodies split in two. As <em>Beethoven¡¯s Moonlight Sonata 3rd Movement</em>, Beethoven¡¯s signature song, rang calmly in the field, blood spurted out from their bodies as if they were the ensemble and Elpis was the conductor.

    <em>¡®Are we in the orchestra right now?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Is this the orchestra of death?!¡¯</em>

    More and more troops died as the tempo of the song got faster and faster.

    ¡°What the hell is this¡­?¡±

    Callian lost his voice as he watched the troops die helplessly under Diablo¡¯s sword. He thought that it would be possible for them to kill such a monstrous existence with 4,000 of them working together. He thought that their number was enough to deal with him. But, seeing Diablo move with the music made him realize that he was not someone that they could handle.

    As the music approached the climax, the part where the piano yer¡¯s hand moved faster and faster across the keys of the piano, Elpis¡¯s movement also became faster and faster. And when the <em>Moonlight Sonata</em> approached the end, at the part where the performer would often raise their hands high to y thest key, he also raised his sword high up in the sky. And the moment he mmed his sword on the ground¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Elpis opened his arms wide and savored the lingering melody, as a powerful explosion engulfed a fifty meter radius area. The remaining troops from the original 4,000 that came with Callian exploded and died. And the same was true for Callian.

    Elpis looked around the myriad of artifacts that surrounded him. He suddenly remembered what Minhyuk always said when there was food in front of him. So, he mumbled, ¡°What a huge gain¡­¡±

    Elpis, the man who wiped out 4,000 troops all by himself, was Let¡¯s Eat Sect¡¯s shield.

 Chapter 433: Start of War

    Chapter 433: Start of War

    Just as the troops that would attack As upfront were divided into two, the troops that would attack As¡¯ rear were also divided into two. One unit was led by Callian, while the other unit was led by an NPC named Ruik.

    Ares aimed to create a huge fanfare by attacking the front of As and forcing them to concentrate most of their forces there, while the troops in the rear would take advantage of themotion and upy Let¡¯s Eat Sect¡¯s territory. This was the goal of both the alliance and the Barras Kingdom.

    Brony stood among the yers gathered in the troops led by Commander-in-chief Ruik. Brony was the guild master of Horden Guild and Minhyuk¡¯s ssmate in middle school. He tried to ughter the miners in the chocte mine, while also trying to deal a huge blow to Minhyuk.

    s, his n backfired and he eventually got defeated by Minhyuk and his Ellie noona. But, was that the end of it? No. Their identities were shared on the inte which forced their guild to dissolve. And right now, he¡¯s one of the people that had been waiting for ¡®this day¡¯.

    <em>¡®I did not expect that bastard to be so famous.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk really became a great man and stood at the center of the country¡¯s attention. But Brony only felt a deep-seated hatred for him. He had been looking forward to the day when he could bring frustration to Minhyuk, the person that caused the dissolution of his Horden Guild, and started hunting monsters alone.

    Because he kept on hunting for a long time, he had also grown quite a bit. Of course, it was not to the point where he could reach the rankers¡¯ level but, at the very least, he had reached the point where he could leave his own mark.

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll definitely sh that bastard¡¯s throat.¡¯</em>

    Brony, who was walking on the far left side of the troops, fanned the mes of his burning determination. That was when he saw some weird pigs and chickens roaming freely around the territory.

    <em>¡®Are they letting the livestock roam freely so they will taste more deliciouster?¡¯</em>

    He was sure that those pigs and chickens were being raised so Minhyuk could eat themter. The thought of Minhyuk having ownership of those pigs and chickens was enough for Brony to want to tear them apart. So, he broke away from the troops for a moment to deal with them.

    ¡°I¡¯ll make you suffer an agonizing death,¡± Brony dered as a strong force wrapped around his sword.

    Just when he raised his sword to hit one of the pigs, the chicken¡¯s eyes in front of him suddenly turned ferocious. Of course, he believed that it was definitely an illusion. Then, when his sword was about to hit the pig¡­

    <em>Peck¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡± A weird sound was ripped out of his mouth.

    <em>[You have received an attack on your vital point.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP will continue to drop if you don¡¯t stop the bleeding.]</em>

    Brony turned around, only to see blood dripping from the beak of the chicken on the ground beside him. However, it did not stop his arm from swinging his sword down and cutting the pig in front of him. No, he tried to cut the pig down.

    <em>ng!</em>

    <em>¡®What the hell¡­?!¡¯</em>

    The sound of steel striking steel rang loudly in the field. In other words, he was far from cutting down the pig in front of him. However, Brony¡¯s confusion, which left him in a daze, led to¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡­the pig¡¯s body mming straight at him. Brony¡¯s HP kept on decreasing as he flew back from the pig¡¯s attack. He tried to scream but the stab that he received on his neck was gurgling with blood and prevented him from doing so. On top of that, the cow, which was among the herd of livestock, gave the final blow. It dug its hind legs on the ground to increase its momentum as it rushed forward and mmed Brony with its huge body.

    Just like that, Brony¡¯s HP reached zero and he was forced to log out. That was right. Brony, who dreamed of getting his revenge on Minhyuk, died under the ws and hooves of the pigs, chickens and cows of As territory. The shame of dying from these livestock was too hard to bear that he ended up shelving <em>Athenae</em> for good.

    ***

    Rucado was one of the Sun Guilds¡¯ masters and he was not pleased with the fact that an NPC was leading the Let¡¯s Eat Sect Punishment Alliance troops. In fact, the members of ¡®Jihwaja[1]¡¯ guild eximed, their words fanning the mes of dissatisfaction.

    ¡°Why did they give the NPC the right tomand us?¡±

    ¡°Why did they put him as themander-in-chief of all the troops that will attack As Territory?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s better to drag him down if we can.¡±

    Rucado only nodded to the words of his guild¡¯s attackmander. Even if he also did not like this fact, he had to control his members. He coughed, ¡°<em>Ahem, ahem.</em> Well, you all know that Barras Kingdom is giving us support. Besides, for them, this is where they live. That¡¯s why it was better for him to takemand of this battle, instead of a yer like me.¡±

    His words were both true and false to some extent. If a yer took the lead, then the yer would gain huge benefits. However, the reason why Rucado could not protest against their decision to make Ruik theirmander-in-chief was¡­

    <em>¡®I almost died when I tried to say something about it. You punks.¡¯</em>

    Ruik had trampled on all three of them, Rucado, Ares and Callian, in under thirty seconds. That was when they realized that Ruik was on an entirely different level, and right then and there, they epted Ruik as themander-in-chief.

    <em>¡®The Land of the Gods and the story about God¡¯s Swords are true.¡¯</em>

    ording to rumors, there were Swords that protected the Gods living in the empire inside the Land of the Gods. These Swords had strength and power that were far beyond anyone¡¯s imagination, and were even rumored to have enough power to easily trample on the strongest of yers. The empire was also said to be protected by God Athenae himself.

    At first, Rucado believed that these rumors were just a myth. But today, he realized that it was not the case at all. This was because Ruik was one of the Swords that guarded and protected the God¡¯s Empire. His strength was believed to be enough to crush Minhyuk or Alexander with just one hand alone.

    And right now, Ruik, an envoy of the God¡¯s Empire, was leading their troops.

    <em>¡®The gods do not want another kingdom to be created in this world yet.¡¯</em>

    A few decades ago, a child was praised for his talent in swordsmanship and was said to be someone that could be a Continental Swordsmans. Receiving a decree from the God¡¯s Empire, this child, now a man, became a knight there. Whenever this man descended to the ground, he would be referred to as the Sword of the Gods. This man was none other than Ruik.

    It was believed that he was so talented in the sword that he could easily push down and trample on the Knight Tower¡¯s tower master.

    Ruik was given the task to watch over and monitor the king of Barras Kingdom, as well as manage and take charge of everything concerning the kingdom. This was how the Sword of Gods were dispatched and ced in kingdoms all over the continents in the world. There were even times when the Sword of Gods had more power than the kingdom or empire¡¯s ruler.

    This was because the God¡¯s Empire that was located in the Land of the Gods sat on the apex of everything in this world. In front of this empire, the entire world had to kneel down equally. In front of this empire, everyone was uncivilized. The truth was, the God¡¯s Empire was a system that the management and operators had created to bnce the kingdoms and empires in the world.

    <em>¡®How dare a foreigner dream of creating a kingdom?!¡¯</em>

    Ruik was enraged at the audacity of the Let¡¯s Eat Sect and was very determined to ughter them andy them to waste. Just when they were about to advance, the ground suddenly started to tremble. Ruik frowned.

    <em>¡®An army? No, it¡¯s not an army. It feels more like the sound of animals running.¡¯</em>

    Just like what he thought, there were 10,000 animals, from pigs, cows, chickens and horses, running freely from afar.

    <em>¡®Why are the animals moving in groups like that?¡¯</em>

    Ruik looked at the cows, pigs, and chickens that were flocking together in doubt. But what was more surprising was¡­

    <em>¡®The pigs and cows are smiling?¡¯</em>

    ¡­the animals were smiling happily as if they were going on a pic. Some of the pigs were even twitching their hips happily as they ran. That was when Ruik found a man from a distance. The man, who was wearing a hat that covered half of his face while chewing on hay, was riding on top of a mamboth, an elephant-type monster. His legs were even crossed leisurely on top of the monster.

    ¡°Meeeeeeeeeh~¡±

    ¡°Mooooooooo~¡±

    ¡°Hwiiiik! Oink, oink, oink!¡±

    The man looked like the epitome of someone raising livestock.

    <em>¡®Is he someone that canmunicate with animals? That¡¯s amazing,¡¯ </em>Ruik thought in admiration. The man was definitely someone with unusual ability.

    ¡°Hmm. What should we do?¡±

    Ruik shook his head at Rucado¡¯s question and said, ¡°Wait until he passes by before we advance again.¡±

    ¡°Eh? We¡¯re not killing them? Those monsters, cows, pigs, and chickens will be worth a fortune if we can catch them and sell them.¡±

    ¡°Are you telling me that you can catch all of the livestock that will escape the moment we touch them? That¡¯s just like announcing to all of As that we came to attack them.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    Ruik was very wise. He was sure that the thousands of soldiers that were with him would be thrown into chaos if they tried to catch the animals that would possibly escape all over the ce. The best course of action for them was letting them pass quietly.

    Ruik and his troops continued to hide in the bushes as they waited for the flock of animals to pass.

    <em>¡®I guess he¡¯s a special livestock farmer.¡¯</em>

    Someone as strong as Ruik could feel the aura that this opponent released and estimate how much power they had. There were only two cases where he could not detect their aura and power.

    <em>¡®Someone that¡¯s more powerful than me.¡¯</em>

    However, finding someone that was more powerful than Ruik was like finding a needle in a haystack. Ruik might be at the bottom of the ring among the Sword of Gods, but he could still feel the aura and power of the second and third-ranked Swords. The only person among the Swords that he could not feel the aura of was the first, the most powerful Sword, and the emperor of God¡¯s Empire.

    As for the second case, it was those that have weak abilities and mana. He could not feel their energy, but he could sense some signs.

    Slowly but surely, the herd of animals passed by them. The animals looked as if they were still going on a pic. But then, just as the man passed by Ruik, the man pushed his hat with his index finger and murmured, ¡°This should be the best timing, right?¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    After leaving those words, the man jumped down from the mamboth with a <em>¡®Ha!¡¯</em> before stretching his body.

    <em>¡®It can¡¯t be, right¡­?¡¯ </em>Ruik frowned. The man¡¯s words just now sounded very much like ¡®It¡¯s going to be difficult if I don¡¯t do it now, right?¡¯

    <em>¡®I can¡¯t even read anything from him!¡¯</em>

    Hepletely denied the fact that he could not detect the man¡¯s aura. However, Ruik thought that it was best to verify if his conjectures were right. So, he called for Roden, the pride of Barras Kingdom, ¡°Roden.¡±

    ¡°Yes,mander.¡±

    ¡°Use your beast to scare them off.¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡±

    Roden was Barras Kingdom¡¯s royal summoner. All of his summons were beastly predators, ranging from tigers, leopards, lions to hyenas, at around Level 480! On top of that, he could train and evolve these beasts.

    Generally, beasts would not be able to exert enough power to rival that of soldiers and knights. However, Roden¡¯s beasts were different. In the first ce, would someone even believe that a beast could reach Level 480? Furthermore, Roden could summon hundreds of them at one time, a feat that made him the representative of all the summoners in Barras Kingdom.

    <em>¡®We can just pretend that these beasts have suddenly appeared to attack the livestock and see how he will react.¡¯</em>

    There was no helping it. He had to test this man and see if he really could not read his signs, or it was just a coincidence. They had to do it even if As noticed their existence. After all, the man looked just like someone that was rxing with the animals, right?

    Then, Roden summoned a hundred of his beasts. The beasts prowled around the bushes, like hunters watching their prey. Although these beasts looked normal from the outside, they werepletely different from the ordinary beasts. But five minutester¡­

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Ruik and Roden¡¯s eyes widened in disbelief as they watched the incredulous scene unfold in front of their very eyes. Then, Roden heard the following notifications:

    <em>[You have lost ownership of the Brave Tiger.]</em>

    <em>[You have lost ownership of the Brave Leopard.]</em>

    <em>[You have lost ownership of the Brave Hyena.]</em>

    <em>[You have lost ownership of the Brave Lion.]</em>

    Something incredibly ridiculous was definitely happening in front of both Ruik and Roden!

    1. ??? - A shout of excitement, a song sung in peace, or the sound/tune made to make people excited ?

 Chapter 434: Start of War

    Chapter 434: Start of War

    ¡°What the hell is going on?!¡±

    Ruik had never seen such a ridiculous thing in his life. No, he just could not bring himself to believe in the sight in front of him. Just a few moments ago, the hundred Brave Beasts that Roden had carefully bred and raised for a very long time suddenly acted all cute and cuddly with the mysterious livestock farmer. The most shocking part?

    ¡°Hohoho. Yo! Such cuties! Sit!¡±

    The beasts followed hismand and sat obediently.

    ¡°My ownership of all of the beasts has been taken away¡­!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯spletely ridiculous¡­¡±

    Who on earth was that man? It was beyond Ruik¡¯sprehension. However, there was one thing that he was sure of. The man in front of them definitely had extraordinary power.

    <em>¡®We have to eliminate him right away if he¡¯s a part of Let¡¯s Eat Sect.¡¯</em>

    It was the only way to avoid any troubles in the future.

    <em>Shiiiing¡ª</em>

    At that moment, Ruik decided to step forward. He was someone that everyone had said would be a Continental Swordmaster when he grew up. However, they were wrong. After receiving the Gods¡¯ summons and serving them, he had grown far stronger than thend¡¯s Continental Swordmaster.

    Ruik swung his sword and sent out dozens of gigantic sword lights, like a rainstorm on a dark and cold night, towards the man.

    <em>Piiiiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    <em>Piiiiiiiiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    <em>Piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    But then, something very surprising happened. The man threw several of the ¡®livestock nkets¡¯ covering the cows¡¯ backs in the air. The very same livestock nkets that were made of straw that were used to cover the cows and pigs¡¯ backs to protect them from clothes. And¡­

    <em>¡®He, he knew that I was here?!¡¯</em>

    The man being aware of Ruik¡¯s existence and the fact that Ruik could not read any signs from him brought chills down his spine. This meant that the man in front of him was a step above him. However, even if that was the case, him throwing the ¡®livestock nkets¡¯ above their heads was iprehensible. But then¡­

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    ¡­the livestock nkets fluttering above them acted as shields and blocked all of Ruik¡¯s attacks.

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Ruik, despite being stronger than a Continental Swordmaster, felt his breath stagnate at the sight. His attack had been blocked by the livestock nket.

    <em>¡®The, the livestock nket¡­?!¡¯</em>

    However, the surprise did not end there.

    ¡°Grrrrrrrrr!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!¡±

    The sound of a dog growling rang right behind Ruik. When he turned around, he saw a weird three-headed dog with epaulets saying ¡®Woof-woof Unit¡¯s Leader¡¯. There were also hundreds of what seemed to be abandoned puppies with cows, pigs, chickens, ducks, some monsters, and mysterious people wearing ragged clothes while holding farming tools. These people were none other than the Hybrid Race.

    ¡°What the hell¡­?¡±

    Ruik was flustered mainly because he had not felt their presence as they crept up behind him. There were even 7,000 of them in total, with around 2,000 human troops and 5,000 livestock. However, what Ruik could not understand was why these animals were here. And then¡­

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡­the weird and mysterious three-headed dog, the leader of the Woof-woof Unit, rushed forward.

    <em>¡®They¡¯re not who they think they are, right?¡¯</em>

    Hell¡¯s Gatekeeper, Cerberus! This was the identity of the leader of the Woof-woof Unit. However, Ruik denied this. There was no way that Hell¡¯s Gatekeeper would be the leader of the abandoned puppies!

    While Ruik was lost in thought, one of the heads of the Woof-woof Unit¡¯s Leader let out a breath of me and attacked him.

    ¡°Get ready to attack!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    And the same was true for the yers, they were as flustered as Ruik, despite already knowing the identity of this dog. They knew that they were Hell¡¯s Gatekeeper Cerberus! They were Love, Hope, and Happiness that always paired with Locke! And this very same Cerberus was now the leader of all the abandoned puppies.

    <em>¡®How in the world¡­?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Is yer Minhyuk really out of his mind?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I can¡¯t believe that such a powerful monster, the Cerberus, is now the leader of all the abandoned puppies!¡¯</em>

    When these thoughts shed in their heads, the farmers, holding their farming tools, rushed forward.

    <em>¡®It seems like their territory really has a shortage of troops.¡¯ </em>

    <em>¡®They¡¯re bringing in farmers to fight?!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Are they using these farmers to get more time? Did someone in As notice something? Or are they just farmers that are farming nearby?¡¯</em>

    The truth was, the abandoned puppies, who were tasked to do scouting, had already noticed them with their sharp sense of smell and hearing and ran to inform the people about an enemy invasion. As was already in full-battle mode the moment they arrived here. Even the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect were gathering as quickly as they could after learning about the identity of the intruders.

    And the ones that came out to stop them were Brod, the Let¡¯s Eat Sect¡¯smander-in-chief, and Elpis, Let¡¯s Eat Sect¡¯s shield.

    ¡°Kkiing, kiiing, kiiing!¡±

    ¡°Kkiing, kkiing!¡±

    Cerberus shrieked and whimpered after being hit by Ruik¡¯s graceful swordsmanship. Then, Ruik looked around after striking back at them.

    <em>¡®All we have to do is deal with that mysterious livestock farmer. The farmers and livestock are just here to drag the time.¡¯</em>

    Then, he looked at the farmers and livestock that created amotion among them. All he could think of was how strange the sight was. How could these animals fight with these men?! This fact was both strange and shocking. But then, something more ridiculous happened.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Just when the Barras Kingdom troops were about tond an attack on the Hybrids, the chickens flew up and pecked their troops on the face.

    ¡°Cluck, cluck!¡±

    ¡°Ugh, aaaaaaack! What the hell!¡±

    With the soldier¡¯s vision blocked, one of the farmers used their sickle and cut off the soldier¡¯s arm. And it did not end there! The bodies of the cows that were rushing forward suddenly shed brightly! And when the cows collided with the shield of the soldiers that were standing in a defensive formation¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The soldiers, together with their shields, flew back and mmed to the ground. Their heads turned dizzy and they were unable toe back to their senses, after being hit by a huge force akin to a bomb explosion. Then, the Hybrids and the horses also joined the fray.

    <em>Thump!</em>

    ¡°Euaaaaaaack!¡±

    <em>Thuuuuuump¡ª</em>

    The soldiers¡¯ armors were blown to pieces with every kick from the horses¡¯ hind legs. The longer they fought, the stronger the livestock grew.

    <em>[Oinky 3 has leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[Cow 14 has leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[Cluck-cluck 1004 has leveled up.]</em>

    The livestock continued to grow stronger as they hunted their enemies that were above their level.

    <em>¡®What the hell¡­?! The level of this territory¡¯s livestock is high enough to fight against the elites of the Barras Kingdom?!¡¯</em>

    Even if Ruik was looking at reality, he really just could not bring himself to understand what was wrong with this territory. There were even ducks flying like hawks in the sky above them. These ducks suddenly opened their mouths and spat hundreds of mysterious beads. Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaaargh!¡±

    ¡°Keheoooook!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    The hundreds of beads rained down on the troops and caused huge explosions, effectively incapacitating the soldiers.

    <em>¡®They have bombs in their mouths?!¡¯</em>

    However, that thinking waspletely wrong. The ducks took off to the skies once again. And just like before, beads started to fall from their mouths again.

    ¡°Avoid those beads!!!¡±

    ¡°Those bombs will shave off 20% of your HP!¡±

    ¡°What the hell is that?!¡±

    When Ruik looked at the bombs that wereing out of the ducks¡¯ mouths, he realized¡­

    <em>¡®They did not bring those.¡¯</em>

    ¡­that they made it. Which meant¡­

    <em>¡®A¡­ a skill?!¡¯</em>

    Indeed, that was the correct answer. The beads that the ducks held in their mouth were created by their own skills. Then, the beads fell down on the ground and caused another set of explosions. After the explosion, the ducks descended on the ground and pecked the soldiers with their beaks. Although their beaks were not pointed, they were as strong as an eagle¡¯s beak, to the point that they could dig into and rip the flesh of the soldiers. Some would even attack the soldiers¡¯ eyes and dig them out.

    ¡°Hiiiiiiiik!¡±

    ¡°My eyes! My eyeeeeeeeees!¡±

    Meanwhile, on the other side. One of the soldiers of Barras Kingdom stood face to face with a pomeranian that was trembling in fright. Although the pomeranian was shivering, its eyes remained wide and bright as it looked up at the soldier and tilted its head cutely.

    ¡°It¡¯s dangerous here. Quick, go somewhere else¡­!¡±

    The soldier just briefly interacted with the pomeranian but¡­

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    ¡­the Hybrid, who owned the pomeranian, took this moment to stab the soldier with his spear from behind.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡±

    <em>Grin¡ª</em>

    A vicious smile curled at the corners of the pomeranian¡¯s mouth. What the pomeranian executed was none other than the beauty trap tactic. Worrying about the puppies in the middle of the battlefield was incredibly ridiculous and impossible.

    However, the puppies had the skill ¡®Powerful Temptation¡¯, apletely shocking skill that could force their opponent to pay attention to them and let them fall into a daze for a few seconds.

    ¡°Kghhk¡­¡±

    Ruik helplessly supported his forehead with his palm.

    <em>¡®What the hell is this?! They¡¯re a mess!¡¯</em>

    He was both bewildered and shocked by the strange and unfamiliar battlefield. However, not long after, he regained his calm. Ruik quickly looked at his surroundings.

    <em>¡®The animals and farmers have developed shocking powers and abilities. However, we can minimize the damage on our side and advance forward if I intervene.¡¯</em>

    After all, they were just ying a small sortie with them. These farmers and animals would be no match against them if they fought seriously since he was here. First, Ruik had to get rid of the livestock farmer in front of him as quickly as he could. When Ruik turned to look at the livestock farmer again, he saw him approaching Barras Kingdom¡¯s elite summoners.

    ¡°Hohoho! If you don¡¯t want to get beat up, take out your summons. You have to take out at least a hundred, otherwise I¡¯ll beat you up.¡±

    ¡°Hiiiiiik!¡±

    He was actually extorting the summoners. This was amon sight in a fight. However, he really hit the summoners that refused to do his bidding. No, to be exact, they had no choice but to call for their summons even if they did not want to. After all, after getting hit once, they were sent flying back. And once they summoned their monsters¡­

    ¡°Oh my. My babies~ Come, let¡¯s go with daddy.¡±

    ¡°Keuaaack! Keuack! Keuack!¡±

    ¡°Grrrr? Grr, grr, grr!¡±

    The monsters would be wary of him at first, but in the end, they would still approach him and remain by his side.

    <em>¡®H¡­ How the hell did he do that¡­?!¡¯</em>

    Only then did Ruik learn of the man¡¯s identity. From what he had witnessed, this man had inherited the power of the God of Livestock, Aevalin. He was sure since he had seen Aevalin a few times in the Land of the Gods. After all, he was free to visit the God¡¯s Empire there. And he could clearly remember Aevalin because¡­

    <em>¡®Aevalin is one of the few gods that hasn¡¯t chosen any heir yet.¡¯</em>

    ¡­she was a God without an heir. Also, she had the power to attract any kind of livestock or monster.

    <em>¡®Is that why I can¡¯t detect any signs from him?¡¯</em>

    That should not be the case at all. However, God of Livestock Aevalin was a part of the Higher Gods, an existence that waspletely different from the god that Ruik served, the ¡®God of Swordsmanship¡¯ who was a part of the Lower Gods.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s someone from God¡¯s Empire? No, he does not belong there.¡¯</em>

    Ruik thought that was impossible. After all, the people from God¡¯s Empire would never attack him. However, there was one thing that he was sure of.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s not because he¡¯s strong. It¡¯s because God Aevalin¡¯s protection is hiding his signs and preventing me from reading them.¡¯</em>

    Just because he was a God¡¯s Sword that served a Higher God did not mean that he would be stronger than Ruik. Besides, it would not matter even if he was or he was not a Sword of God¡¯s Empire. Ruik had already decided to kill him as fast as he could.

    But then, at that moment, Brod picked up a sword that was lying on the ground and said, ¡°The damage that you have brought upon my children is immeasurable. My heart aches for them.¡±

    Brod, who saw the livestock fighting desperately, thought that he had no time to dilly-dally like this. The sword that he held in his hand was nothing more than an ordinary sword that was used by soldiers but the skill that he used was a pinnacle swordsmanship, and he was the man that was hailed as the continent¡¯s mercenary king.

    ¡°Mercenary¡¯s Pinnacle Swordsmanship, Final Chapter.¡±

    A powerful red energy poured out and wrapped around Brod¡¯s sword until they formed the image of hundreds of ferocious wolves. And with a swing of Brod¡¯s sword, these hundreds of wolves dashed forward towards the enemy troops. And once the skill was fully cast¡­

    ¡°Wolf¡¯s Destruction.¡±

    <em>Shwa, shwa, shwa, shwa, shwaa!</em>

    Blood spurted out everywhere the hundred wolves passed by. Defense and armor? High HP? The yers¡¯ defensive skills? Everything was useless in front of these wolves that could ignore 100% of their enemies defenses and even invoke Break Armor! The soldiers that were struck sustained grave injuries and fell.

    <em>Fall¡ª</em>

    <em>Fall¡ª</em>

    <em>Fall¡ª</em>

    <em>Fall¡ª</em>

    <em>Fall¡ª</em>

    Then, Brod said, ¡°Oh no¡­ I should have left some guys so my children can level up¡­¡±

    Then, he turned to look at Ruik.

    ¡°Hey, you¡­¡±

    Ruik gulped in nervousness. He could feel his mouth turn dry from trepidation. He had never felt this in his life. But the man¡¯s next words were very shocking.

    ¡°Summon your monsters or pets if you have one. Also make sure to make your summoners summon a thousand each.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Ruik, someone that lived in the Land of the Gods, the Sword of the God¡¯s Empire, a man that had a power far stronger than any Continental Swordmaster, was being extorted by the man in front of him with fists raised high up in the sky.

 Chapter 435: The Ones that Gathered

    Chapter 435: The Ones that Gathered

    Ares felt both dread and disbelief as hell on earth unfolded in front of him. The bodies of the dead soldiers that died under the hands of Death and his Death Legion piled up like a mountain all around him. The rankers tried to attack him and his liches, but it was not an easy feat.

    <em>¡®What kind of monster is he¡­?!¡¯</em>

    Death had nearly wiped out the 4,000 troops that came with Ares, all by himself. There were only around 300 of his troops left, and Death was stillughing and cackling in a grating manner.

    <em>¡®His MP should be running out soon. By then, his undead will have disappeared already.¡¯</em>

    It did not matter how strong Death was, there was no way for him to summon the undead continuously. He even used the ¡®Undead¡¯s Resurrection¡¯ on the Barras Kingdom troops to bring them back to life and make them attack theirrades. The Undead Resurrection was a skill that consumed a lot of MP. The Death Knights that were summoned and rampaging around right now were also consuming a lot of his MP.

    Finally, what Ares had hoped for, happened.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Death¡¯s thousands of troops in the Death Legion disappeared one after the other in streams of ck energy, even those that have been resurrected with his Undead¡¯s Resurrection had also disappeared. In fact, Death only had at most 7% of his MP left, and he could only maintain three Death Knights with him.

    <em>¡®If I use Draining Dead, I might be able to fight again.¡¯</em>

    Draining Dead was one of the Immortal ss¡¯ skills. It was a skill that recovered mana and replenished his MP by sucking in and draining the remaining mana in the bodies of the dead. The only problem was that it had a long casting time, and it was very difficult to use during a battle. Right now, after the ck stream of energy disappeared, only around three Death Knights and twelve skeleton knights were left.

    ¡°Keuha, keuhahahahaha!¡±

    Ares burst outughing after feeling relief. A one man kingdom had defeated 4,000 strong troops that included many of the best rankers of the country. They even have the elite soldiers of Barras Kingdom with them. Losing against a single yer would bring them unimaginable shame and disgrace. Fortunately, they now had the chance to make up for their shame.

    ¡°In the end, I¡¯ll be able to take your neck,¡± Ares said as he led the surviving rankers and elite troops forward.

    Death¡¯s remaining undead were all staggering and creaking because their wounds and injuries failed to recover, since he had not been supplying them with enough MP.

    <em>¡®One more time¡­ I will never let you go to As.¡¯</em>

    It was because his first friend was there. Even though Death¡¯s mental power was already at its limit, he still stood firm.

    <em>¡®I wonder if they arrived safely in the territory?¡¯</em>

    A subtle smile curled at the corner of his lips at the thought of the transportation convoy from Rocard Kingdom! Death hoped that they arrived safely.

    The remaining three Death Knights and Skeleton Knights dashed forward to stop the iing 300 enemy troops. But they were useless. The exhausted Death Knights¡¯ skulls were easily smashed down by the enemy¡¯s axe. Ares¡¯ fists mmed into one of the Death Knights¡¯ body thirty two times in a row, which turned it into a powder. Even the Skeleton Knights failed to withstand the attacks from the kingdoms¡¯ elite soldiers.

    Death gripped his scythe tightly as he cut down the iing enemy soldiers one after the other.

    ¡°Keuaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keheooook!¡±

    Death looked like he was dancing as he cut down his enemies like crazy. Despite being exhausted, he still stood his ground.

    ¡°Kekekekekeke! Hahahahahaha! Ahihihihihi!¡±

    Deathughed maniacally amidst his falling enemies while their blood sttered on his face. He lookedpletely like a mindless murderer, with his face soaked in blood and his white teeth peeking from the gaps of his eerie smile. However, not long after, a spear stabbed into Death¡¯s back.

    ¡°Urk!¡±

    Ares thought that it was worth watching. The elite royal soldiers would, in the end, trample on the ranker that created the greatest topic during the Athenae: World War.

    ¡°Urk!¡± Death spat out a mouthful of blood. But despite his trembling body, he still cut down the elite soldiers that tried to approach him. And finally¡­

    <em>aaash¡ª</em>

    A hand axe flew over his shoulder and broke his Bone Armor. The blow forced Death to fall down on one knee, hand clutching his injured shoulder. Then, one of the elite soldiers raised his sword to cut his neck off. But then¡­

    <em>Creaaaaak¡ª</em>

    ¡­a strange root popped up from the ground as it wrapped the soldier¡¯s hand tightly.

    ¡°Ugh, ugh¡­!¡±

    No matter how much the soldier struggled, he could not break free from the root. The exhausted Death turned around only to see the hundreds of people that made up the transportation convoy that he had just told earlier to flee. And they looked furious as they rushed forward.

    ¡°Get your hands off of him!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t even dare to think about touching a single strand of his hair! We won¡¯t let you off!!!¡±

    They rushed forward and shed against the soldiers.

    ¡°Keuhahahahahahahaha! Do you think you¡¯ll be a match for the kingdom¡¯s soldiers?!¡± Aresughed loudly, finding this situation very funny.

    But then, something very strange happened.

    <em>Bam¡ª</em>

    One of the men brandished his heavy iron mace and blew away an elite kingdom soldier. Every time the farmer grandma swung her hands, roots would spring up and trap the soldiers and bring them down to their knees.

    The elite kingdom soldiers were already exhausted. However, these farmers were not. On top of that, they were also the Hybrid Race, a race born with far superior DNA to humans. All of the people of their kingdom were soldiers and were no less than the elite soldiers of the Barras Kingdom.

    In just a blink, they had broken through the gaps of the Barras Kingdom soldiers, dragged Death away from them, and brought him inside their own protective circle.

    ¡°Die!!!¡±

    Ares was also exhausted. At some point, he had also run out of MP to the point where he could not use a single skill anymore. However, he still took the lead as he punched his way through the Hybrids.

    Death spat out another mouthful of blood as he watched Ares approach. He said, ¡°I told you to run¡­¡±

    The one that was supporting Death was the father of one of the Rocard Knights that he had killed. He was one of the people that always trampled on him and killed him to vent his anger.

    ¡°Shut up! We¡¯re just keeping you alive because we want you to die at our hands, and not at theirs!¡±

    ¡°Death. You have to die an agonizingly painful death in our hands!¡±

    Although those were the words that they said, Death could feel the warmth from their voices and could not help but smile. However, Ares and the rankers were still very powerful. They Hybrids fell down one after another while shrieking in pain. But then¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    A man suddenly appeared in between them and the enemy troops. Both of the man¡¯s hands held axes that he used to cut the enemies approaching the Hybrids.

    ¡°Lo¡­ Locke?!¡±

    That was right. It was Crazy Priest Locke.

    The enemies were now in a state ofplete exhaustion. On the other hand, Locke, who had just entered the battlefield, was still lively and energetic. He was too powerful for the exhausted Ares and other rankers, who could not even reach the top 1,000 in the rankings.

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    Locke¡¯s axes split Ares¡¯ head and dealt with the enemies that approached them.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    <em>Fall¡ª</em>

    Locke remained silent as he looked at Death, who ended up copsing anyway. Locke was one of the few people that were reluctant to befriend and trust Death. However, looking at the situation right now¡­

    <em>¡®Death protected As Territory.¡¯</em>

    Death fell after the battle ended. This just showed how much he struggled earlier and how desperate he was. And when Locke turned to look around¡­

    <em>¡®Crazy¡­¡¯</em>

    He could not believe it. Was this really the work of a single person? The number of enemies that Death had cut down was beyond anyone¡¯s imagination.

    Today was the day that Death had created the legend of fighting 4,000 troops alone.

    ***

    The capital of Barras Kingdom was crowded with a huge number of troops, enough to fill the za. Their numbers easily exceeded 70,000. At this point in time, the yers could already guess that Barras Kingdom was definitely preparing for war! And not long after, a notification rang for the yers residing in Barras Kingdom.

    <em>[<strong>Kingdom Quest</strong>: Punishing Let¡¯s Eat Sect.]</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: S</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: yers affiliated with Barras Kingdom.</em>

    <em><strong>Rewards</strong>: Contribution will be paid in gold, artifacts and kingdom contributions.</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty for Failure</strong>: Will no longer be able to participate in the Let¡¯s Eat Sect Punishment Force.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: The Kingdom of Barras is gathering troops to punish the Let¡¯s Eat Sect. King Grain is very eager to support the foreigners in this war.</em>

    <em><strong>Quest Duration</strong>: The yers and Let¡¯s Eat Sect will not be ced under Chaotic or Half-Chaotic state even if they PK-ed each other. </em>

    ¡°Am¡­ amazing!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a Let¡¯s Eat Sect Punishment Quest!¡±

    ¡°If not now, when else will we have the opportunity to hit Let¡¯s Eat Sect?!¡±

    Let¡¯s Eat Sect was, without a doubt, the best guild in Korea. They owned two powerful territories and had plenty of rankers and Named NPCs. They were the subject of everyone¡¯s envy. And this envy could change into something else in an instant.

    The novices and ordinary yers were beyond thrilled at the thought of being able to hunt and take them down with their numbers, a feat that was otherwise impossible for them.

    Plenty of yers participated in the Let¡¯s Eat Sect Punishment Quest. As a result, the number of troops gathered in Barras Kingdom soon increased from 70,000 to 120,000. Of course, the number of novices and nonbat sses among them were quite considerable. However, with their number, they thought that it was definitely worth a try.

    King Grain, who was standing on top of the walls, looked at the countless troops gathered on the za and raised his sword high up in the sky.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    A loud roar rang loudly in the world.

    ***

    The Athenae Community was boiling.

    <em>[Guys, are you participating in the Let¡¯s Eat Sect Punishment Quest? Isn¡¯t the deal extremely good? As long as we can kill a ranker and pick up their artifacts, then we¡¯ll be able to hit the jackpot, right? Do you agree?]</em>

    <em>[And it¡¯s not only that. We¡¯ll hit the jackpot even if we just pick up the artifacts that the people around us drop.]</em>

    <em>[If we don¡¯t join this quest, when else will we be able to get the opportunity to mess with the Let¡¯s Eat Sect?]</em>

    <em>[No matter how strong the Let¡¯s Eat Sect is, it would be impossible for them to stop 120,000 troops, right?]</em>

    <em>[Many top rankers from our country will also participate in this quest. Is there a chance that the Let¡¯s Eat Sect Punishment Quest will continue even if we destroy As and Valha?]</em>

    <em>[I did not expect that quick progress and development will also be poison someday.]</em>

    The yers were all excited for this new event-type quest and the number of yers that flocked to Barras Kingdom continued to increase by the day.

    The truth was they had been blinded by their huge numbers that they did not even imagine seeing a big fight ahead of them. It was also because they had no way of knowing that Let¡¯s Eat Sect were allied with Death and Rocard Kingdom, and that they had hidden powers.

    ***

    Many people were gathering in a secret basement somewhere in Barras Kingdom. The basement was huge and dark, but only a few candles had been lit. The man that had been weing the guests in this basement was Lauvredo, a knight that once dreamt of bing Barras Kingdom¡¯s Knight Commander.

    The very same man that had been saved by Talmor¡¯s Pdin Corr from his baldness just a few months prior.

 Chapter 436: The Ones that Gathered

    Chapter 436: The Ones that Gathered

    Lauvredo personally greeted and shook the hands of the people that entered the basement, ¡°Oh my, you came. Brother, your hair looks very thick today.¡±

    ¡°Haha. Brother Lauvredo, I heard that you will be the leader of the Talmor Branch here in Barras Kingdom?¡±

    Lauvredo gently ced his hands together and looked up at the sky, before saying, ¡°Everything will happen ording to the will of Lord Talmor, right?¡±

    ¡°Hahahahaha! That abundant and thick hair of yours is proof of your solid belief and loyalty.¡±

    The men that stood behind him and the door were all ¡®believers¡¯ saved by Talmor. Surprisingly, there were many yers among them.

    <em>¡®This ce they call Talmor is really amazing.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Although we can¡¯t grow hair in real life, Talmor has be our hope!¡¯</em>

    The yers joined them in hopes that hair-loss treatment would also be developed in reality someday.

    After everyone had gathered together, Lauvredo¡¯s eyes took on a sharp glint. He was once the deputy knightmander of the kingdom. However, the kingdom had practically abandoned him and his troops. And now, he was going to fight for this new ce that epted him. He looked at the crowd, which exceeded a thousand, that had gathered in front of him, as he clenched his fist that was holding his sword.

    ¡°We can expect Barras Kingdom to strike Let¡¯s Eat Sect¡¯s territory, the ce where Talmor is located, soon.¡±

    ¡°How impertinent!¡±

    ¡°How dare they attack the sacred ce that houses Talmor!!!¡±

    ¡°Talmor is the greatest god!!!¡±

    All of their heads were covered with silky and thick ck hair, just like Terrius. Then, Lauvredo opened the secret letter that he had received through a carrier pigeon and dered, ¡°Our fellow believer in Eivelis Empire said that he has gathered around 2,000 troops. And that¡¯s not all. There are also around 1,500 troops crossing the border and joining us from Collodis Empire.¡±

    If they included that number in their ranks, then the number of troops gathered for Talmor would be around 5,000.

    ¡°Talmor has given us a new lease in life. We must protect Talmor!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Long live Talmor!!! Our Lord Talmor forever!!!¡±

    ¡°Now, let us all sing together!¡±

    ¡°Talmor Fati! <em>Fweet</em><em>, fweet, fweet, fweet!</em>¡±

    ¡°Talmor Fati! <em>Fweet</em><em>, fweet, fweet, fweet!</em>¡±

    ¡°Talmor Fati! <em>Fweet</em><em>, fweet, fweet, fweet!</em>¡±

    Everyone sang the Talmor¡¯s hymn passionately. And by the end of their song, Lauvredo plucked a strand of hair from his head.

    <em>¡®Aaaaaaah. Th¡­ that¡­!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I can¡¯t believe it¡­ he pulled out a strand of hair from his head¡­ his hair that is more important than his life¡­!¡¯</em>

    Then, Lauvredo said, ¡°This is a token that represents our will and determination. Everyone, pull out a strand of your hair.¡±

    Some would choose to cut their fingers and use their blood to show their firm will and determination. But for them, their hair was more than that. It was a representation of their life. Despite the tears welling up in their eyes, they still plucked a strand of hair from their heads.

    ¡°<em>Sob, sob, sob¡­</em>¡±

    ¡°My dear hair, goodbye¡­¡±

    Lauvredo gently and politely ced his strand of hair together with the thousands of strands of hair gathered in front of him. He could feel their strong will through these strands of hair.

    ¡°For Talmor!¡±

    ¡°For Talmor!¡±

    ¡°For the great Talmor!¡±

    Soldiers and troops from all over the continent stood up and took arms for the sake of protecting Talmor.

    ***

    The Dragon Pce, located deep within the Dragon King¡¯s sea, had undergone a lot of changes. Ever since the Great Mage Arfield incident, where the Dragon King almost lost both his home and his life, he made sure to make his troops undergo hellish training, which resulted in a far stronger army than before.

    And now, someone was rushing to the pce. With two long ears, fluffy and pristine white fur, and a twitching tail, Kiari, the rabbitman, furiously hopped along while shouting, ¡°Dragon King! More than a hundred thousand troops from the Barras Kingdom are marching towards Mister Minhyuk¡¯s territory, As!¡±

    A solemn and grave expression shed by the Dragon King¡¯s catfish face, as he sat with his golden king¡¯s robe and listened to Kiari¡¯s words.

    Who was Minhyuk? He was their benefactor, the hero that saved their Dragon Pce when they were in a crisis. Not too long ago, Minhyuk had paid them a visit and asked them if they could lend him some of their strength. Back then, the Dragon King only gave Minhyuk a vague answer and Minhyuk justughed it off.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s alright even if you choose not to help me! I love this ce that is filled with a lot of delicious things!¡¯ </em>Minhyuk said before taking a lot of ¡®Sea Honey¡¯ and going home.

    The reason why the Dragon King could only give Minhyuk a vague answer was because the beings residing in the Dragon King¡¯s Sea had never meddled in human affairs, especially in fights between them.

    But Minhyuk was not like the other humans. He was the one that saved his life and his entire pce.

    ¡°Kiari, Jevis, Radin.¡±

    The Dragon King¡¯s children all knelt down on one knee.

    ¡°Let us help him just as he had helped us before.¡±

    Both Kiari and Jevis smiled brightly after hearing the words of the Dragon King. Then, they started to rally the Dragon King¡¯s Sea Troops, including the shark race, a race of bipeds with shark heads, the blue whale race, a race that grew to a height of seven meters and was known to be the Dragon King¡¯s shield.

    There was also the Dragon King, himself, an existence that grew stronger despite being known as someone that was more powerful than any Named NPC in existence. His power now could rival or even best the Supreme NPCs.

    More than 5,000 Dragon King¡¯s Sea Troops went ashore under themand of the Dragon King and headed for As. After walking for a day, they met another 5,000 strong troops on the way. The one that was leading this army was sitting on top of a white warhorse with a hood covering most of his face. However, despite his face being covered, the presence of the leader¡¯s pointed ears could not be hidden at all.

    The Dragon King and his children stepped forward first. The leader of the unknown troops also stepped forward with his warhorse before removing the hood that covered most of his face. The Dragon King was very familiar with the face of the man in front of him.

    ¡°Gorn.¡±

    That was right. The man was none other than Gorn, the king of elves, the elves¡¯ absolute ruler that had sat on his throne for hundreds of years! And the one right next to him was Aragon, the prince of Elvenheim and the elf known to have the best archery skill in elven history.

    The truth was, the elven race and the seafolk did not have that close of a rtionship. In fact, they were hostile to each other. In the past, during the reign of the previous Dragon King and the previous Elven King, the Dragon King asked for the help of the elven race when their Dragon King¡¯s Sea was put in a crisis.

    However, the previous Elven King rejected his request. Fortunately, the Dragon King¡¯s Sea restored its peace and averted the crisis. But ever since that time, the seafolk and the elven race had grown hostile with each other.

    The Dragon King and Elf King Gorn stood face to face for a very long time. Both the Sea Troops and the Elven Troops standing behind them were wondering if a war would break out between the two of them.

    The one that broke the silence was Elf King Gorn. He said, ¡°It seems like we both came out for the same reason?¡±

    ¡°Are you talking about this guy that can eat as much as an elephant, Gorn? If you¡¯re talking about that, then we really dide out for the same reason.¡±

    Both Elf King Gorn and the Dragon King looked at each other silently with small smiles curling at the corners of their lips as they slowly inched towards each other.

    ¡°It seems like a new wind wille forth.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps, our intervention will make him stronger. This time, we might be able to witness the birth of an emperor that would rule the entire continent.¡±

    ¡°If he bes the continent¡¯s emperor, then I will be very delighted to have witnessed it first hand.¡±

    Then, the two of them grabbed each other¡¯s hand in a handshake. Just like that, over 10,000 troops,prising of the Dragon King¡¯s Sea¡¯s Troops and the Elven Army, began to march forward together.

    ***

    Eid Territory, a territory under the spear master Marquis Bard located in Eivelis Empire.

    Marquis Bard looked out of his window and watched the cold rain pattering outside while recalling the past.

    <em>¡®Master.¡¯</em>

    Born in a world where spearmanship had always been ignored in favor of swordsmanship, they met a great man in the form of Ghost Spear Ben, the father of all the spearmen in the continent and their master.

    Bard was an ordinary man, he was not born a genius. But with the teaching and training hidden under great scoldings from Ghost Spear Ben, he had grown out of his mold of just being the son of a bar knight and became who he was now, a marquis.

    The truth was, Marquis Bard felt happy when Ghost Spear Ben came to visit him not too long ago, even if it was to make him bury his head on the ground.

    <em>¡®Master is still alive and well¡­!¡¯</em>

    Some of the stories that he had heard about Ben¡¯s feats sounded more like a legend to his ears. However, for the longest time, he believed that Ghost Spear Ben had died and went after his son. But after seeing his hearty and lively appearance, Bard realized that it was just a baseless rumor that the people that hated him spread around.

    <em>¡®Bury your head.¡¯</em>

    Ben¡¯s words shook his heart that had long gone stagnant. Bard, after bing a marquis and standing in a high position, had gonezy in his spearmanship training.

    <em>Crackle! Bang, bang!</em>

    Thunder and lightning cracked and fell down from the sky as cold rain continued to fall down.

    ¡°Aide.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Marquis.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going to Louvide Vige for a small break.¡±

    ¡°I understand, my lord.¡±

    After leaving those words to his aide, Marquis Bard moved. He quietly wore an asura mask and covered his head with the hood of his dark robe as he walked inside the forest. And when he stopped in the middle of the dark forest¡­

    <em>Crackle! Bang, bang!</em>

    Thunder and lightning cracked once again, illuminating thousands of spearmen with fierce momentum and firm determination lined up in front of him. All of them stood under the cold rain wearing asura masks that were sent by Marquis Bard.

    ¡°Our father is facing danger.¡±

    Murderous intent shed in everyone¡¯s eyes. He was a legend, and at the same time, he was also their father and an old man that sometimes would get angry at them. Still, the fact that he was the idol of all the spearmen would never change!

    ¡°ording to my intel, around 150,000 troops from Barras Kingdom have already gathered together and are marching towards the territory where our father is residing.¡±

    Despite the cold rain pouring down on their body, the powerful voice made their hearts tremble, as their will and determination burned brightly.

    ¡°There is a high chance that we will die in this endeavor. But the moment we wear this mask, we are no longer nobles, merchants, wealthy people, nor some knight somewhere. We might even die without receiving any glory and honor. However¡­¡±

    Bard looked around.

    ¡°¡­we must take our weapons and fight because we are his children.¡±

    ¡°For Ghost Spear Ben!¡±

    ¡°For our legend!¡±

    ¡°If it¡¯s for our master, I willingly give up my heart!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    Loud and fiery shouts rang loudly in the otherwise silent forest.

    Just like that, another 2,000 strong troops began their march towards As Territory. All of these were the result of the kindness and great character that the man named Minhyuk and the vassals that worked under him had shown these people.

 Chapter 437: The Ones that Gathered

    Chapter 437: The Ones that Gathered

    Sword Emperor Ellie was sporting a cold expression on her face as she watched the kingdom¡¯s envoys lying prostrate in front of her. Each of these envoys were influential people that had titles at least at marquis-rank and were sent by the kings of their own kingdoms.

    ¡°Your Majesty Ellie! Please do not forget your alliance with our kingdom!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s Eat Sect is growing in power by each passing day and will definitely pose a threat to you someday, Your Majesty!¡±

    ¡°Six kingdoms have already made a consensus. They all refused to participate in this war.¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty Ellie, please consider your alliance with our kingdoms! Although Let¡¯s Eat Sect¡¯s Lord Minhyuk is friends with you, Your Majesty, he is still an existence that we are bound to be afraid of!¡±

    Ellie continued to sit on her throne with her legs crossed, with a cold and dangerous glint in her eyes as she watched them grumble and cry. The envoys sent by each of the kingdoms allied with them were asking for Eivelis Empire to not participate in the war between Barras Kingdom and the Let¡¯s Eat Sect. And no matter how much of a frank and straight-forward person Ellie was, she had to take this matter seriously and carefully.

    After all, these kingdoms also traded with her empire. Of course, Eivelis Empire was above them but if she decided to abandon them, then her empire would suffer a huge blow.

    If she decided to cut off their alliance with the kingdom that supplied and traded iron ore with them, then their weapons and agricultural tools would stop production and they would be left with nothing to farm and fend for themselves. If their transactions with the kingdoms that traded grains and fruits with them got cut off then her people would go hungry. Although her empire stood on top of all the kingdoms and empires, being in the same continent meant that she had to take into consideration the system and chains that linked them together.

    As a response to their pleas, Ellie said, ¡°I will grant your request.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re very grateful and honored, Your Majesty!¡±

    Vile and vicious smiles adorned the faces of the kingdoms¡¯ envoys as they bowed in front of Ellie. If Barras Kingdom devoured the Let¡¯s Eat Sect then they would grow immensely. However, King Grain had given them a promise that he would give them as much as what he would give to each of the kingdoms¡¯ royal families. Besides, even if Eivelis Empire seized more power, they would not be able to go against the empire anyway. However, Barras Kingdom was different.

    <em>¡®Foolish King Grain. We will definitely take over your kingdom once you devour the Let¡¯s Eat Sect.¡¯</em>

    With this request that Ellie had granted to them, they would be able to happily divide the torn and broken Barras Kingdom some day. The envoys¡¯ hips twitched happily as they walked out of the audience hall after Ellie had dismissed them.

    ¡°Ellie will not send troops in the war right?¡±

    ¡°She will not send them. Her people will be indignant if the emperor of a great empire like her would go out for just a single person.¡±

    That was right. Even if Ellie and Minhyuk were close, the fact that Minhyuk was just a single individual would not change. Why would an empress like her risk the lives of her troops just for a single person alone? On top of that, Barras Kingdom was allied with Eivelis Empire. If Eivelis Empire chose to abandon Barras Kingdom, then the empire would also lose their ties with their kingdoms. Just as they were chuckling about their deeds while they made their way back to their own kingdoms¡­

    <em>Grin¡ª</em>

    ¡­Ellie grinned widely.

    <em>¡®Do you think you can devour Barras Kingdom by yourselves?¡¯</em>

    King Grain had grown stupid. His kingdom could not even make a name for themselves anymore as their own power grew weaker by the day. Perhaps it was his own foolishness that brought the Barras Kingdom and made it into a weak kingdom like it was now. Ellie was a very clever emperor. She knew that they would tear Barras Kingdom apart by the end of it all.

    <em>¡®Even if you did note here, I did not intend to move my army at all.¡¯</em>

    The smile curled at the corner of Ellie¡¯s lips widened even further. She knew that none of these kingdoms would recognize Minhyuk and Let¡¯s Eat Sect if she helped them defeat Barras Kingdom. In fact, Minhyuk and Ellie met and had tea together not too long ago.

    <em>¡®Noona, you have to cheer for me as hard as you can once the wind blows over our way!¡¯ </em>Minhyuk said as he shed her a bright and wide smile.

    Minhyuk also knew that his Let¡¯s Eat Kingdom would be criticized and shamed forever if they became a kingdom with the help of the continent¡¯s most powerful empire. They would even have a hard time having diplomatic discussions with other kingdoms if that happened.

    Back then, Ellie smiled and said, <em>¡®Alright. I will make sure to do my best and cheer for you.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I¡¯m going to thank you in advance for your energetic cheers!¡¯</em>

    After recalling their conversation, Ellie stood up from her throne and walked to where Aide Ruth was waiting. Then, Ruth handed over what seemed to be a ck slime to her. Not long after, the slime that could fit on the palm of Ruth¡¯s hand suddenly grew as big as him before clinging on Ellie¡¯s body. A few momentster, the ck slime separated from her body and formed another figure. The figure that was created right next to Ellie was none other than Ellie herself. The ¡®ck slime¡¯ that she just used was none other than the Cloning Doppelganger.

    This Cloning Doppelganger was something that she had secretly trained in Eivelis Empire. Now, this Cloning Doppelganger would take Ellie¡¯s ce and protect her throne for her.

    Meanwhile, Ellie wore shabby leather armor and a ck mask that went below her eyes, together with a pretty good sword on her waist. After covering most of her features, she climbed on top of a horse.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m going to cheer for you, Minhyuk.¡¯</em>

    ¡°Hiyaa!¡±

    A soldier whose proportions were significantly smaller than the robust and sturdy Eivelis Empire soldiers dashed through the capital of the empire and headed straight towards the ce where the war was about to unfold. Although the soldier looked shabby and ragged, the power that this one person has could rival that of a huge army by herself.

    ***

    Ruik felt his entire body shrink from both fear and tension as the unknown man stood in front of him and spoke to him. <em>¡®Should I search through your pockets and get one gold each from you?¡¯ </em>His words sounded strangely simr to that. Also, Ruik was actingpletely like someone weak that was being bullied and extorted for money. After suffering from the pressure that the man put him on, Ruik finally came to his senses.

    <em>¡®How dare you¡­¡¯</em>

    Ruik was a Sword of the Gods and was someone blessed by the God of Swordsmanship. He was someone that could be considered as their object of fear if he had stayed in the Human Realm from the very beginning. But a lowly livestock farmer dared to extort something from him? He could never stand such a huge disgrace.

    The bodies of his allies that were killed by the livestock farmer in front of him were piled up like a mountain. However, this was something that Ruik could also do! Everything was so ridiculous. How could he feel intimidated by the sword of the man in front of him? So, he fiercely stabbed his sword towards the man in front of him.

    <em>aaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Brod looked at Ruik in slight admiration after feeling the strength that he had packed in his sword attack.

    <em>¡®So, you¡¯re strong.¡¯</em>

    It was hard to find a single w to dig into from his attack. Then, Ruik stepped forward and swung his sword again and again.

    <em>ng, ng, ng!</em>

    Brod looked at his sword strikes in interest as he deflected the attacks without taking a step back. That was right. Interest. He was interested. However, that was it. It was just interest, nothing more, nothing less. But the look in Brod¡¯s eyes suddenly changed after seeing Ruik¡¯s next attack.

    <em>Shwaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Dozens of ck sword light seeped out of Ruik¡¯s sword and flew towards Brod.

    <em>Thump, thump, thump, thump¡ª</em>

    Brod raised his sword and blocked all of the sword lights which made him finally take a step back from his position. Seeing this, Ruik could not help but be terrified.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s not an ordinary livestock farmer. This man¡¯s swordsmanship¡­ is not any weaker than mine¡­¡¯</em>

    No. The truth was Ruik was denying it. He was denying the fact that the swordsmanship and level of the man in front of him was leagues beyond him. The ¡®Deviant Sword Light¡¯, the skill that he had just cast, was the skill created by the God of Swordsmanship that no one could master. Although no one could master it, Ruik was able to learn it and that was also the reason why he was chosen by the Gods. But even after he used that skill, the only thing that he made the man do was take one step back.

    <em>¡®Who the hell is that lord named Minhyuk for him to have this man as a subordinate?!¡¯</em>

    It waspletely unbelievable. He also could not understand why a person like him would work under a lord and be a livestock farmer. However, there was one thing that Ruik was certain about. He had to live and go back.

    <em>Puhaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    A huge explosion swept the area the moment Ruik¡¯s sword hit the ground.

    ¡°Ha!¡±

    Only then did Brod pull back and fly forward after regaining his bnce once again. And Ruik¡¯s sword that flew fiercely towards him was very shy and mboyant. After all, he was someone that the God of Swordsmanship had chosen. Afterimages appeared as his swords flew swiftly and fiercely the moment he swung his arm!

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    The dozens of afterimages that collided with Brod¡¯s sword exploded as if there were bombs attached to them!

    ¡°Ho?¡±

    ¡°Did you just ¡®<em>Ho¡¯</em> at me?! Let¡¯s see how long you can keep that up!!!¡±

    With each powerful explosion, Brod¡¯s bnce would tilt and make him stumble. Ruik would then use that opportunity to press harder.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Explosions engulfed Brod¡¯s body one after the other.

    <em>¡®I can kill you!¡¯</em>

    Ruik was the only one that could drive this man to his death.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s a bit tricky since this man uses his left hand to wield his sword, but I am not an idiot who can¡¯t do something topensate for that small bit of trickery.¡¯</em>

    The trajectory of the sword and the way the swordsmanship was executed would change depending on which hand the sword user was using. It was rare for someone left-handed to use their left hand when using the sword, but it was not so difficult to handle for someone like Ruik. And finally¡­

    <em>Bang¡ª</em>

    ¡­Ruik, whonded on the ground, immediately moved back as a powerful force wrapped around his sword. Then, he fired a crescent sword light towards the dust that flew up from the explosion earlier.

    <em>aaaaash¡ª</em>

    This crescent sword light was different from ordinary sword lights. The further it went, the wider it became. It could even reach as much as fifteen meters in length. The ground shook from the force loaded in the crescent sword light. However, when Brod appeared from the cloud of dust that finally settled down his expression looked exactly like his expression when he said ¡®Ho¡ª¡® earlier.

    <em>¡®This Ho bastard¡­!¡¯</em>

    He would prove the bastard wrong. His ¡®Sword of God¡¯ was a one-shot kill skill that could increase his attack by an additional 1,800%. And so far, only two people have blocked this skill. But then, at that moment, the man grabbed his sword with his right hand.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Ruik could not understand what was happening for a moment. Why would a left-handed person using his left hand earlier grab his sword with his right hand when defending against an attack? The sword¡¯s efficiency would vary depending on what hand the sword user was using to grab his sword. Then, the man swung his sword towards the crescent sword light rushing towards him.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    A powerful wave of force stretched out from where the man was standing and dug up the surroundings. Even the ground cracked and the trees were pulled. And finally¡­

    <em>Riiiiiiip¡ª</em>

    ¡­it made contact with Ruik¡¯s Sword of God. However, despite its fierce momentum, the Sword of God fell down gently as if it was paper ripped into two.

    ¡°Hoo.¡±

    Ruik lost his mind after hearing Brod breathe out.

    ¡°You, you¡¯re right-handed?¡±

    Brod remained silent.

    <em>¡®So Ruik, the one the God of Swordsmanship chose to be his sessor, is just around this much?¡¯</em>

    Brod was someone that had visited the Land of the Gods and had gone through a lot of things there. That was right. Brod had never attacked Ruik. And this fact brought great shock to Ruik , along with the fact that Brod was right-handed to begin with. And then¡­

    ¡°If it¡¯s about this much, then it¡¯s worth a try.¡±

    Ruik trembled after seeing the cold and frosty expression on Brod¡¯s face. Then, he watched as Brod pulled out severalrge spears from his back. The first spear pierced through Ruik¡¯s heart.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    The speed of the spear was so fast that Ruik could not even dodge or stop it. Then, the next one pierced through his neck.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    Then, another spear pierced through the pit of his stomach.

    <em>Staaaaab¡ª</em>

    There were a total of eight spears that pierced through Ruik¡¯s vital points. The truth was, Ruik had heard of these spears before.

    ¡°Urk, urk¡­ Don¡¯t tell me¡­ you¡¯re¡­ the¡­ Absolute Supreme God¡¯s¡­¡±

    Ruik had copsed as he tried to finish his words. But then, Brod looked coldly at him and said, ¡°Tell these to those Gods.¡±

    Ruik was already on the verge of death, he could not even make a single sound but Brod¡¯s gaze made his body twitch.

    ¡°I will cut them down soon.¡±

 Chapter 438: The Ones that Gathered

    Chapter 438: The Ones that Gathered

    <em>Vwooooooooooong¡ª</em>

    The trumpet rang loudly, shaking the entire Valha Territory and its vicinity.

    Valha Territory, under the leadership of Let¡¯s Eat Sect, had transformed into something entirely new and became Valha Fortress. On top of the high walls of Valha Fortress stood the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect, together with countless territory soldiers, as well as NPCs. They were all geared up and ready for battle.

    <em>¡®Minhyuk, you¡¯re really a genius,¡¯ </em>Genie thought, a bitter smile on her face as she admired Minhyuk and his foresight.

    The first one to suggest turning Valha into a fortress city was Minhyuk. He told them, <em>¡®I don¡¯t know which kingdom it will be, but I¡¯m sure that plenty of people will want to devour us since we¡¯re trying to build a kingdom.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Wouldn¡¯t the other kingdoms be kept in check by the Eivelis Empire?¡¯ </em>Genie, as the vice guild master, expressed her doubts about Minhyuk¡¯s conjectures. However, the main reason why the other kingdom wanted to attack Let¡¯s Eat Sect was because they wanted to take their resources, their troops, and their abundant and rich crop for themselves. As for the other kingdoms¡­

    <em>¡®They¡¯re not going to participate. They will divide up the Let¡¯s Eat Sect and the exhausted kingdom that dered the war for themselves without using too much effort.¡¯</em>

    Up until that point, Genie still doubted Minhyuk. She really could not agree wholeheartedly, since building a fortress required a huge amount of resources and manpower. However, Let¡¯s Eat Sect still gave their all in remaking Valha.

    The ones that participated in turning Valha Territory into Valha Fortress were Olger, Golden Hammer Dwarf Lant¡¯s descendant, the very same person that Minhyuk had gained after sessfullypleting the As Territory. There was also Roadol, the president of Ilhwa Construction. Roadol personally created the fortress¡¯ blueprint. Olger was very shocked when he first saw the blueprint that Roadol had presented.

    <em>¡®I¡­ I have never seen a better blueprint than this in my entire life!¡¯</em>

    A dwarf was as talented in construction as they were in cksmithing. Shockingly, Dwarf Olger efficiently created and finished the sturdy and solid Valha Fortress, together with Roadol and the members of the Let¡¯s Eat Sect. Although it only appeared as a simple circle, the power hidden within the Fortress City of Valha was immense.

    <em>[You have created a Level 9 Building for the very first time.]</em>

    <em>[As a reward, the Fortress City of Valha¡¯s buildings¡¯ defense will increase by 2,000 and the siege weapons¡¯ attack will increase by 2,000.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained the <strong>Title</strong>: God of Architecture.]</em>

    This was an achievement that all of them got, but they were very shocked at Roadol who had led them. Roadol, or Taesik, had started from the bottom and worked his way up thedder until he became the president of Ilhwa Construction, the top constructionpany in Korea. He had dreamt of creating a ¡®Colossal Fortress¡¯ and had always imagined its structure tens of thousands of times in his head.

    And right now, he had finally achieved this dream.

    Genie stared at the iing cloud of dust as the trumpet rang loudly in the background. There were around 25,000 troops advancing towards Valha. They originally intended tounch a surprise attack but after hearing that the troops that attacked As had been defeated, they knew that Valha Territory was already aware of their existence and had already prepared for war.

    Then, Khan asked, ¡°¡­What about Minhyuk?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s still logged out. I sent him whispers and even tried calling him several times, but I couldn''t reach him.¡±

    Genie bit her lips. She could not reach Minhyuk, the one that prepared for this war the most. In fact, he even told them, <em>¡®Don¡¯t worry. I gave it my all and prepared as much as I could. It¡¯s my gift to you but it can also be a weapon and tool that will help you in this war.¡¯ </em>Minhyuk spoke proudly of his achievements. He did not gozy and prepared for days and nights on end to prepare this something for them.

    When he went off the radar, Genie could not help but wonder as she looked at the tense and nervous faces of the troops lined up inside the Fortress City of Valha. She thought, <em>¡®They must be scared.¡¯</em>

    It might be a game for the yers, but for these people, it was their reality, something that would determine their life and death. On top of that, there were around 25,000 enemy troops rushing towards them right now. From what she heard, there were another 165,000 troops that had gathered today and were slowly making their way towards this ce. It was clear that they wanted to head straight for As after they trampled on Valha. Their total would reach around 200,000. But Valha?

    <em>¡®We only have 6,000 troops.¡¯</em>

    Could they even stop them? It would be hard but it had to be done. Genie, who was looking around the troops, suddenly stopped. Standing among the troops was a soldier with a smaller stature. At one nce, she could tell that the soldier was a woman. She was wearing a helmet and a mask that went below her eyes, shabby armor, and a fine-quality sword.

    ¡°Are you volunteering?¡±

    Valha was also epting volunteer soldiers.

    The woman spoke firmly, ¡°Yes. I want to protect Minhyuk! Long live Minhyuk!¡±

    Genie smiled bitterly. She once again felt Minhyuk¡¯s greatness. He could even make the people of this world volunteer for him. Even women started to volunteer for him!

    The woman hesitated for a moment as Genie just stared at her. But she continued, ¡°The lord is very handsome! Long live the lord!!!¡±

    ¡°Ah?¡±

    That was when Genie realized that the woman in front of her was Minhyuk¡¯s hardcore fan! Genie smiled lightly as she moved back to where she was.

    The hardcore fan¡¯s identity was none other than Sword Emperor Ellie.

    <em>¡®I will hide my identity from you as long as I can hide it.¡¯</em>

    She used those rough and crude words to cover herself up and prevent anyone from recognizing her. If someone from the other kingdoms recognized her and knew that she had joined the war, she would incur their resentment and ire. So at this ce, Ellie would act as Minhyuk¡¯s extreme hardcore fan.

    ***

    Everyone in Minhyuk¡¯s home was bustling around when Minhyuk fainted while exercising after ying games. ording to his personal doctor, Lee Jinhwan, it was because he was ¡®overworked¡¯.

    ¡°We¡¯re not sure when he¡¯ll wake up. It¡¯s because his body is extremely tired. I¡¯m sure Chairman-nim is aware of the fact that Minhyuk has been pushing himself too hard for the past month to prepare for the big things that would happen in <em>Athenae.</em>¡±

    Kang Minhoo could only sigh after hearing Lee Jinhwan¡¯s words.Minhyuk had fallen into a deep sleep and they were not sure when he would wake up.

    Minhyuk¡¯s usual daily routine would consist of ying <em>Athenae</em> for twelve hours and exercising in reality for around four to five hours. But these days, his routine has be stricter and harsher. He even personally stepped things up in preparation for what was toe.

    Meanwhile, on the TV ced in the corner of the room.

    <em>[This is Ronnie, ATV Broadcasting Station¡¯s reporter. Right now, the Barras Kingdom and the allied guilds have joined forces and waged war against Valha Territory. We can expect a major war soon.]</em>

    <em>[Many of the experts said that they can only see little to no chance of winning for Valha.]</em>

    <em>[This is a war between 6,000 troops and 200,000 troops. There¡¯s no denying the fact that yer Minhyuk has reached the top, not only in our country, but also in the world. However, no matter how strong he is, the difference in their forces is still big.]</em>

    That was right. The difference in the size of their troops was extremely big. Six thousand men was not enough to stop 200,000 strong troops.

    <em>¡®What have you been preparing all this time, </em><em>son</em><em>?¡¯ </em>Minhoo thought as he smiled softly at his sleeping son. The truth was, as a father, he did not want his son to participate in this war and just take a good long rest even if he woke up.

    <em>¡®But I know that this is not what you want.¡¯</em>

    But more than that, Minhoo wanted to cheer for his son, Minhyuk.

    ¡°You have to wake up quickly to protect your friends and your territory,¡± Kang Minhoo said bitterly.

    Meanwhile, on the TV¡­

    <em>[With the sound of the trumpet, the kingdom troops that waged war against Valha have started to advance!!!]</em>

    <em>[The ground is shaking with the march of the 25,000 strong troops!]</em>

    ¡­the enemies finally began to advance. Today was the day where they would determine whether the Let¡¯s Eat Sect would be a kingdom or would just be devoured.

    ***

    The 25,000 troops on standby in the vicinity of Valha Territory began their attack. The Shield Unit, consisting of thousands of troops, took the vanguard and advanced forward, while the archers and the mages hid behind them and constantly sent attacks. There were also melee sses that were hiding in between theiryers with their bodies curled up as much as possible.

    Among them, someone was watching the battlefield very carefully. He was Amoure, the man hailed as the number one Pinnacle Strong Man. He stood at the peak of the strongest men in the continent as an assassin and a sage. In fact, not many knew of Amoure¡¯s existence. This was because he was great at being covert. He could even hide in the emperor¡¯s residence and assassinate the emperor without anyone knowing.

    <em>¡®However, I will not be able to assassinate Sword Emperor Ellie.¡¯</em>

    Amoure smiled weirdly. The only person that Amoure would not assassinate was Sword Emperor Ellie. He was sure that he would not even be able to pull off an assassination because of how powerful she was.

    <em>¡®However, it would not be that difficult to assassinate Valha¡¯smanders over there.¡¯</em>

    The ones that he was looking at were none other than Vice Guild Master Genie, the key figures of Valha, as well as Conir, the boy with a sword. Amoure was a master of assassination and stealth. Even Da Zhuang, the best assassin that had learned a pinnacle skill, would be no match against him in terms of stealth. Amoure quickly cast his skill.

    <em>¡®Covert Shadow.¡¯</em>

    This skill allowed him to move a thousand meters in one go and even allow him to use someone¡¯s shadow to change his position. And it was not just Amoure who joined from the Pinnacle Strong Men. Many others had joined because of the significant amount of silver, gold, and treasures that the kingdom had promised them. They participated as mercenaries because the promised reward wasrge enough for them to buy several territories for their own.

    Amoure had already discussed it with the kingdom troops¡¯mander. The moment the 20,000 strong troops moved, he would move through the shadows and go over Valha Fortress¡¯ walls and assassinate the key figures of the Let¡¯s Eat Sect.

    <em>¡®In the first ce, an army without amander would be useless.¡¯</em>

    The troops would be thrown into a whirlwind of confusion soon enough. In fact, there were countless people that were stopping the enemies from approaching Valha Fortress¡¯ walls.

    ¡°Child¡¯s Tempest!¡±

    Ramyeon Boy Conir cast his skill from atop the walls of the fortress and let out a storm that tore the iing shield units into pieces.

    ¡°Punks! Where do you think you are?! Ghost¡¯s Dance!¡±

    When the old man with long hair stabbed forward with his spear, the shield in the middle broke apart, effectively making their ranks copse.

    <em>¡®Rumor has it that Ghost Spear Ben has be much stronger than before. It seems like it''s true.¡¯</em>

    Of course, Amoure had connections with Ghost Spear Ben. After all, he was once the eighth among the Pinnacle Strong Men. Right now, Ghost Spear Ben¡¯s current skills were strong enough that it could allow him topete against the second Pinnacle Strong Man. Amoure looked at them and decided on his first target.

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll start with that woman. Theirmander.¡¯</em>

    Once theirmander copsed, the army would follow. Amoure would start with her and reduce the number of their key figures one after another. He hid behind one of the shields, and moved towards the Valhamander¡¯s shadow. When he appeared again, he was already right behind Genie.

    ¡°Mages! Use your fire magic to stop the advancing shield unit!¡±

    She was stillmanding her troops, unaware of the fact that Amoure was already emerging from her shadow. Amoure intended to slit Genie¡¯s throat in one go and take advantage of the noise and chaos of the battlefield to move to other shadows. But just as he stopped to pull out his dagger¡­

    <em>Pat¡ª</em>

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaa! For Lord Minhyuuuuuuk!!! Lord Minhyuk, I love you!!! Please take me!!!¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Genie, feeling a pat on her back, turned to look at the direction of the shout of an unknown woman. That was when she saw Minhyuk¡¯s extreme hardcore fan.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    At first, she could not understand what was happening, but that was when she found Amoure emerging from her shadows.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Both Amoure and Genie were in shock as they made eye contact. Meanwhile, Amoure felt goosebumps rise from his body.

    <em>¡®It, it was deliberate¡­! She did it to tell this woman about my existence¡­!¡¯</em>

 Chapter 439: The Ones that Gathered

    Chapter 439: The Ones that Gathered

    Amoure was the first among the Pinnacle Strong Men and was someone that was beyond Level 670. As an assassin, he made full use of his stealth and always aimed for a powerful one shot kill. Truth was, not many people could sense Amoure and his signs.

    However, that woman who screamed ¡®Lord, I love you!¡¯ deliberately patted Genie to look back at Amoure and made sure that she discovered his existence.

    ¡°Khan! Conir!!! Ben!¡± Genie hurriedly called for the people closest to her the moment she saw the man hiding in her shadows. It was clear to her that he was an enemy that she could not deal with on her own.

    ¡°Amoure¡­?!¡± Ghost Spear Ben shouted, as his expression turned into one of shock and dismay when he recognized Amoure. This was because Amoure was extremely strong and stealthy.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Amoure, who disappeared into the shadows again, appeared right behind Ben.

    <em>aaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Ben¡¯s spear moved swiftly, targeting Amoure¡¯s abdomen, neck, and head. However, it was not easy for Ben tond an attack on Amoure. Instead ofnding an attack, it was Amoure who used his ridiculous dagger technique.

    ¡°Bloody Death.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The dagger in Amoure¡¯s hand flew towards Ben¡¯s throat at breakneck speed.

    ¡°Gra¡­ Grandpa Ben!!!¡±

    ¡°Conir!!! Conir help Grandpa Ben!!!¡±

    Conir and Genie ran towards Ben but they were already a step toote. Even if they ran as fast as they could, Ben¡¯s neck would still be pierced by the dagger. Unlike the event in the Continent Cloud, the NPCs did not have the special privilege of living again after being killed here. In other words, if Ghost Spear Ben got killed here, then he would face absolute death.

    ¡°No!!!¡± Genie shouted with an ugly expression on her face. Many would be sad and in despair if Ben died. Especially Minhyuk. He treated Ghost Spear Ben tenderly and carefully as if he was his own paternal grandfather. But just when despair shed in their eyes¡­

    ¡°Ooooooooooooh?! Is that Minhyuk?!!! My lord, please take me!!!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s Extreme Hardcore Fan passed by Ghost Spear Ben. As she passed by, she pulled Ben slightly. The momentum of the slight pull forced Ben¡¯s body slightly away, causing the dagger that was aiming for his neck to miss by just a hair¡¯s breadth.

    ¡°Eh? I got the wrong one? Hiiiing¡­¡± Extreme Hardcore Fan scratched her helmet after passing by Ghost Spear Ben.

    Amoure frowned as he watched her scratch her helmet in a silly manner. He thought, <em>¡®Was it just a coincidence¡­?¡¯</em>

    Amoure doubted himself for a moment. This was because he could not feel any force from her and if he could not detect any sign of force from her body, it would either be just one of the two cases. Either the woman in front of him was weak, or her power far exceeded his own.

    However, no matter how hard he looked at her, the second case seemed to bepletely impossible.

    In that gap, Ghost Spear Ben thrusted his spear forward once again. However, Amoure could see many steps ahead of them. It would only take three seconds for Ben to close the gap between them. It was just three seconds, but Amoure already envisioned himself twisting his body away and evading Ghost Spear Ben¡¯s spear. Then, he would proceed to stab Conir, who was approaching him from behind, on the throat with his dagger. He would then use the boy¡¯s body as a springboard to deal with Genie, themander of Valha who was running to save them, before jumping in the shadows to hide.

    <em>¡®What a perfect scenario.¡¯</em>

    Amoure¡¯s lips twisted into a gruesome smirk as he immediately sprung into action. He twisted his body slightly and avoided Ghost Spear Ben¡¯s spear. Then, he turned around while stretching his arm to stab Conir, who was trying to cast his skill. No. He was about to stretch his arm out.

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaaaa! I¡¯m sure this time it¡¯s for real!!! Minhyuk! Look at me! My lord! Take me!!! Please hold me, my lord!!!¡±

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    It was just a split second. But in that moment, Extreme Hardcore Fan hit Amoure¡¯s turning body. To others, it might look like a light poke but¡­

    <em>Poke, poke, poke, poke¡ª</em>

    ¡­her fingers urately hit Amoure''s acupuncture points. Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>[You have received a blow from a veteran.]</em>

    <em>[All of your acupuncture points have been blocked. You will be in a stunned state for three seconds.]</em>

    <em>¡®Wha¡­ what¡­?!¡¯</em>

    Amoure¡¯s expression turned ugly. Well, to be exact, his confusion and shock could only be seen through his widening eyes. But the woman that only passed by him in that split second looked far away again while scratching her helmet.

    ¡°It¡¯s not him either? Hiiiing¡­¡±

    Amoure¡¯s eyes widened in shock.

    <em>¡®That¡­ that b*tch¡­¡¯</em>

    She did it on purpose. The blows that he received just now were a testament to that fact. And there was no doubt about her identity. But then, Conir finally cast his skill and¡­

    ¡°Wailing Child!¡±

    ¡­triggered a ridiculously fast sword dance! The sword lights danced around and wrapped around Amoure¡¯s body without stopping! Ghost Spear Ben took advantage of this attack to approach Amoure and stab him on the neck with all his might.

    <em>Staaaaaaab¡ª</em>

    Amoure, who was slowly copsing, saw Minhyuk¡¯s Extreme Hardcore Fan smiling quietly before his eyes slowly closed. Genie, on the other hand, approached the mysterious woman with a subtle smile on her face. The woman was making herself busy turning her head left and right as she tried to look for Minhyuk.

    ¡°Thank you for your help.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m willing to give my life for Minhyuk. I have no other wish but to hold Minhyuk¡¯s hands!!!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s Extreme Hardcore Fan, in other words Ellie, was ying dumb.

    However, Genie had already noticed that she was Sword Emperor Ellie. The same was true for Ben and Conir. Still, they all pretended that they did not know.

    ¡°Where¡¯s Minhyuk?¡±

    Genie could only smile wryly when she heard those words.

    ¡°About that¡­ We don¡¯t know either.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­ this¡­ But I thought this was my chance to see Minhyuk up close!!!¡±

    Ellie, with a disappointed expression on her face, could not help but wonder where Minhyuk was.

    ***

    Thousands of soldiers that formed the shield unit rushed forward, together with the Barras Kingdom troops, and pushed towards the fortress¡¯ entrance!

    <em>Thwaaaaaaaaack!</em>

    Genie¡¯s whip cracked andnded on hundreds of shields, splitting them in half. The enemies could not help but look at her in awe and admiration after seeing her shocking disy of power. This was because she swept away dozens of shields in a single attack. But it did not end there. Conir jumped down from the walls.

    ¡°Conir will make everyone eat ramyeon in our territory!¡±

    The moment hended, Conir jumped up like a spring and cut down the enemies that blocked his path. Just when Conir was being surrounded by the enemies¡­

    <em>aaaaash¡ª</em>

    ¡­Golden Mage Ali suddenly appeared beside Conir using Blink before using Mass Teleport to take Conir back with him to the walls.

    ¡°Firewall! Firewall! Firewall!¡±

    <em>Puhaaaaaa!</em>

    <em>Puhaaaaaaa!</em>

    A wall of fire about seven meters in height sprang to life and devoured the flocking enemy troops. The enemies that disappeared from the walls of fire numbered at around a hundred and fifty.

    ¡°Red Fire¡¯s Hell Carriage!¡±

    ¡°Giant¡¯s Battering!¡±

    Khan, Ace, and Crow stood in front of the gates and decimated their enemies with their AOE attack skills.

    <em>[Let¡¯s Eat Sect¡¯s pride and dignity is beyond what we can imagine.]</em>

    <em>[The 20,000 strong troops are having a hard time breaking through the 6,000 strong troops.]</em>

    <em>[Maybe it¡¯s because they are top rankers?]</em>

    Contrary to what thementators were saying, it was not only the rankers that were fighting.

    ¡°Archers, fire!¡±

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª</em>

    Hundreds of arrows poured down from the walls at Centurion Park¡¯s orders. The arrows that they sent down broke the armor of the enemy and shot through their vital points. With every ¡®<em>fwoosh¡¯,</em> an enemy would fall down.

    In the first ce, the soldiers that Let¡¯s Eat Sect and Minhyuk had trained were at a higher level than the soldiers of Barras Kingdom. Because of this, the invading guild alliance had no choice but to ce countless rankers and knights in the vanguard.

    <em>[The rankers and knights are hiding behind the shields as they try to advance forward.]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s because they can¡¯t advance with ordinary soldiers so they¡¯re trying to break through the defenses in one go!]</em>

    It was just like what thementators said. If they sent ordinary troops forward then they would just incur unnecessary losses. That was why the rankers and knights had to step forward. And the ones that were leading them were the Pinnacle Strong Men.

    <em>¡®Where the hell did Amoure go?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Did something go wrong? That¡¯s definitely not the case, right?¡¯</em>

    The thought that Amoure had died did not even cross their minds. This was because they knew that even if they grouped together, they would find it difficult to win against Amoure.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Under the rain of magic bombs and arrows, the shields that led the rankers and the knights, around a thousand in numbers, finally reached the gates of the fortress. The rankers and knights stepped forward and defended against the enemies attacks with practiced response.

    <em>¡®If we can break through the gates then¡­¡¯</em>

    It was no different from saying that the war had ended. So, the knights and the rankers increased their momentum and attacked the gates fiercely.

    <em>¡®We only need ten minutes to pierce through their gates¡­ huh?¡¯</em>

    One of the Pinnacle Strong Men, Loki the Sword Supreme, saw an incredible sight. The rankers and the knights were attacking the gates just like they were ordered. However, the problem was¡­

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Euaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keheoooook!¡±

    ¡­it was not the gates that were falling but the knights and the rankers. They even screamed as they fell down one after another. It was not long after that Loki realized the reason why.

    <em>¡®My goodness¡­ They ced a reflection ability on the gates itself?!¡¯</em>

    In order for the gates to have the ability to reflect attacks, the strongest mage and the best architect had to work together. But no matter how hard Loki tried to make sense of it, he could not understand it at all.

    The knights and soldiers that were attacking the gates shifted their attention and targeted the walls. They used their powerful attack skills, knights¡¯ auras, and mages¡¯ magic to attack the walls. However¡­

    <em>¡®There, there¡¯s not even a crack¡­?!¡¯</em>

    It waspletely shocking. What in the world did Minhyuk do to have such strong soldiers and a sturdy fortress?!

    <em>¡®Is he really talented enough to be king?¡¯ </em>Loki thought as he gnashed his teeth.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s why he has to disappear. No. We have to take it and make it ours.¡¯</em>

    The Pinnacle Strong Men intended to devour everything, including Let¡¯s Eat Sect, for themselves. At that moment, a pigeonnded in front of Loki and brought a smile to his face. Almost 170,000 troops from Barras Kingdom were now preparing to march here. There were even around 10,000 powerful soldiers, along with 20,000 cavalry sent here in advance too.

    <em>¡®Everything will end now,¡¯</em> Loki thought, already picturing their victory.

    ***

    ¡°Hiyaa! Hiyaa!¡±

    Twenty thousand cavalry, followed by ten thousand Barras Kingdom knights, soldiers, and top rankers, were advancing as fast as they could. Before anyone knew it, they were already approaching Valha Territory.

    Meanwhile, Team Leader Park Minggyu, who was monitoring the situation in the Special yers Management Team¡­

    <em>¡®What in the world is yer Minhyuk doing¡­? Where the hell is he?</em>¡¯

    He was wondering where Minhyuk was. The 30,000 cavalry and rankers were getting closer and closer, soon joining the 20,000 troops that advanced ahead of time. If these two troopsbined together, they would reach a total of 50,000. The cloud of dust that these iing troops had created would bring fear to Valha Territory.

    <em>¡®Is this the end¡­?¡¯</em>

    Minggyu thought that Minhyuk could do it. That he could be the very first person to climb and sit on a throne in Athenae. However, there were just too many enemies.

    Unfortunately, the Barras Kingdom cavalry joined with the rest of the kingdom''s troops without a hitch. There were too many of them. It was to the point that they almost looked like a sea of ck. This 20,000 strong cavalry would bring a great boost to their forces.

    But then, at that moment¡­

    ¡°Team, Team Leader¡­! There are unidentified troops moving towards Valha!¡±

    ¡°¡­What?¡±

    Park Minggyu¡¯s face was colored with shock.

    <em>¡®Unidentified troops? Are they from Barras Kingdom? Or perhaps they are volunteers from other kingdoms? ¡®</em>

    Up until that point, Park Minggyu had no idea if they were Let¡¯s Eat Sect¡¯s enemy or ally.

    ¡°Open the map and check the area.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Team Leader.¡±

    Lee Minhwa quickly tapped on her keyboard as Park Minggyu tried to make sense of what was happening. Finally, Lee Minhwa was able to find the troops. She quickly tapped on the location and erged it on her monitor. The figures of the troops finally came into view.

    <em>Dash, dash, dash, dash, dash¡ª</em>

    They were around seventy kilometers away from Valha. The troops were 5,000 elves riding on white warhorses and right in front of them were 5,000 strong Dragon King Legion riding on top of giant four-legged crabs. And that was not the end of it. There were several people running through the thickets a little over ten kilometers away from them. They were wearing asura masks on their faces with spears on their hands. Team Leader Park Minggyu watched the scene in stunned silence. This was a miracle that Minhyuk had created. And this miracle was heading towards Valha.

    At the same time, Minhyuk, who was fast asleep in his room¡­

    <em>Twitch¡ª</em>

    ¡­slowly started to move his fingers.

 Chapter 440: The Ones that Gathered

    Chapter 440: The Ones that Gathered

    The 20,000 cavalry, together with the top rankers and the kingdom¡¯s strongest knights that the Barras Kingdom had sent, were the true elites of the kingdom! Barras Kingdom¡¯s cavalry was even rumored to be the strongest in the continent, even more superior than Eivelis Empire¡¯s. These troops joined the 20,000 troops that went ahead earlier, bringing the total of the Barras Kingdom troops surrounding Valha to 50,000.

    <em>[That¡¯s quite the number. Valha facing these 50,000 troops is like a child fighting against an adult.]</em>

    <em>[Except for the war that Joy Co. Ltd. has set up, this is the first time that I have seen arge-scale war like this. I have no words for the overflowing majesty of these 50,000 strong troops.]</em>

    50,000 troops! This staggering number was enough to make a sea of ck! On the other hand, Valha Fortress¡¯ surviving troops numbered less than a tenth of their enemy troops. Plenty of people inside the fortress, including Genie, felt their breath stagnate at the sight. The huge army in front of them was enough to make their skin crawl. However, they could not retreat.

    Centurion Park remembered how Minhyuk gave him the opportunity to see his mother, the person that he wanted to see for the longest time. Themander of the mage corps, Golden Mage Ali, also remembered how Minhyuk approached him with sincerity and befriended a loner like him.

    Lucia, the assassin of the moon, grabbed her dagger tightly with her allies standing behind her firmly. She joined Let¡¯s Eat Sect with these people, her guild members, right after the hunt for Vormon. She remembered how Minhyuk instilled new values in her, making her reign in her pride and arrogance. She also wanted to protect him too.

    There was also Alicia and the mages of Artheon that joined Let¡¯s Eat Sect. Genie, who liked and cared about Minhyuk more than anyone else. Ghost Spear Ben, who cared for Minhyuk like he was his own son. Aruvel, who was reborn as a best selling author. Conir, who trusted and followed Minhyuk after he saved him from being a chimera. Every single one of the soldiers that stood here.

    Genie addressed all of these people, ¡°We will not let this ce be taken away.¡±

    The fear that stemmed from facing the 50,000 troops in front of them only appeared for a brief moment. It was, however, soon reced by the thrill of gaining unrivaled fame once they gained victory over these enemies. They could not help but look forward to it.

    ¡°Protect Valha!!!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    A loud roar rang from the depths of Valha Fortress. Their roar caused the 50,000 troops to be at loss.

    ¡°This¡­¡±

    Loki might be their enemy, but he could not help but be impressed. Even the remaining Pinnacle Strong Men were the same.

    ¡°Their king is not present, but they¡¯re still willing to protect him?¡±

    ¡°I acknowledge their spirit.¡±

    ¡°However, that spirit will soon be dragged through the dumps.¡±

    In front of these 50,000 strong troops stood the Pinnacle Strong Men. And Loki was the one that would lead these troops. The moment Loki pointed forward¡­

    <em>Dash, dash, dash, dash¡ª</em>

    Ten thousand cavalry immediately rushed forward, which was immediately followed by the Barras Kingdom troops in various formations. Their mage troops repelled the enemy¡¯s magic, while the archers shot their arrows at the soldiers standing on the fortress¡¯ walls. There were also the closebat troops that stuck close to the walls.

    Root pulled the strings of his bow tightly as he aimed at the approaching cavalry.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>Thwack¡ª</em>

    Root¡¯s arrow immediately spread out and became forty arrows the moment he let go. These forty arrows cut through the air and shot their enemies¡¯ vital points. The cavalry unit immediately raised their single-handed shield to protect themselves from the arrows.

    s, Root was not aiming for them.

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª</em>

    His forty arrows urately struck the necks of the horses that carried these soldiers.

    ¡°Hihihihihihihing!¡±

    ¡°Hihihihihihihihihihihing!¡±

    The horses shrieked painfully as they fell down to the ground after the arrows struck their necks. The knights hurriedly tried to get up but they saw the arrows turn red.

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me¡­?!¡±

    At that moment¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    <em>Baaaaang!</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaang!</em>

    ¡­the arrows exploded and devoured the nearby knights.

    <em>[The arrows that yer Root released suddenly exploded after getting stuck in the horses¡¯ necks. What an amazing sight.]</em>

    <em>[Those forty afterimages of his arrow can explode like that? That¡¯s extremely incredible.]</em>

    The explosion not only devoured the nearby knights, it also swept away the cavalry rushing from behind them. Just one attack damaged a hundred of the enemy troops, by either restricting their movements or causing them fatal injuries.

    However, contrary to the people¡¯s admiration, Root felt that it was a pity. He thought, <em>¡®If only my arrows could have more destructive power¡­¡¯</em>

    After all, what he used earlier was a ¡®skill¡¯. If Root¡¯s bow and arrow had more destructive power, then he would have broken the enemies¡¯ armors and pierced through their vital points without using any skill. They were fighting a war, which meant that they had to minimize their MP consumption as much as possible.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m still not good enough,¡¯ </em>Root thought, both admitting and regretting the fact that he was stillcking. However, he continued to pull his bow and stop the iing enemies. There were in fact more people that thought that way.

    ¡°Ghost¡¯s Dance!¡±

    <em>Shwaa, shwaa, shwaa, shwaa, shwaa, shwaa!</em>

    A powerful force extended from Ghost Spear Ben¡¯s spear, which pierced through the top ranking knights that rode on the warhorses, effectively bringing them down.

    <em>¡®If my spear has more destructive power then I could pierce through these knights and even kill the soldiers marching behind them.¡¯</em>

    They were now at war. The more powerful they be, the more they realized their shorings and limits.

    Crow, Let¡¯s Eat Sect¡¯s main dealer, fired a ¡®spear light¡¯ towards one of the Pinnacle Strong Men, Loki. However, Crow¡¯s spear light attack failed to reach Loki after dozens of knights stepped forward to destroy his attack and protect theirmander. Crow looked down at his hands and thought, <em>¡®If only my prative force and attack were much higher¡­¡¯</em>

    Then, his attacks would have probably reached Loki. This was the reason why Let¡¯s Eat Sect continued to be stronger. Even though they were already recognized as top yers and rankers, they were willing to acknowledge their limits and shorings, and strive to move forward and better themselves.

    Finally¡­

    <em>[The Barras Kingdom¡¯s 20,000 strong troops have sessfully advanced forward and reached the gates.]</em>

    <em>[The 30,000 strong troops in the rear are following the orders of the Pinnacle Strong Men.]</em>

    <em>[They¡¯re trying to make it into a battle of attrition. As you can see, there are a lot of siege weapons aiming to destroy the walls of the fortress.]</em>

    An overwhelminglyrge 50,000 strong troops surrounded Valha Fortress. Meanwhile, Commander Loki looked at the foreigners that surrounded him. He stood among them, as they looked forward to the walls falling down.

    <em>¡®The walls will fall down soon enough.¡¯</em>

    Loki did not know who was the architect behind Valha Fortress. However, there was one thing that he was sure of, that person was amazing. Even now, their mages were doing their best to use their most powerful magic attacks to deal damage to the walls. However, despite that, they could only deal small scratches on the walls.

    <em>¡®As long as we continue with our attacks, we will be able to make those walls copse.¡¯</em>

    They also pulled out their siege weapons to further aggravate the situation, in the hopes of advancing further into Valha Fortress. Their soldiers started hangingdders over the fortress¡¯ walls.

    <em>Thuuuuuuuud¡ª</em>

    <em>Thuuuuuuuuuuuud¡ª</em>

    The catapults from behind kept on throwing huge boulders.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Shockingly enough, the boulders that the catapultsunched would fall down unsessfully. The boulders could not break down the fortress. It was as if they had collided with a strong and tough iron wall. Only their allies were dying.

    ¡°They think they canst long, huh?¡±

    This war might take a day, two days, four days, or even a month. In this long and tedious war, these walls would definitely notst that long. And there were even 50,000 strong troops sticking on these walls!

    Among these troops, 10,000 of them were foreigners, and the one leading them was none other than Brad, ¡®The Dungeon Butcher¡¯ and one of Korea¡¯s top ranking yers. He had been working under wraps up until now, but his power was known to rival even Let¡¯s Eat Sect¡¯s strongest rankers. That was the reason why he was tasked to lead the foreigners during this war.

    ¡°Foreigner soldiers, climb thedders!!!¡± Loki cried loudly.

    Brad, who was nearby, could only smile bitterly as he thought, <em>¡®Do you want to minimize the damage to the NPC troops by using the yers as vanguard?¡¯</em>

    However, it did not really matter to Brad. He had already expected their strategy to be like this. It was only natural that they took better care of the NPCs than the foreigners.

    The members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect were moving busily on the walls as they destroyed thedders that unfolded all over the ce. While doing so, Genie recalled the conversation that she had with Minhyuk before.

    <em>¡®This is a method that you can also use during the war.¡¯</em>

    Although Minhyuk was not present, they had already talked about a lot of things before. Back then, Genie thought that Minhyuk was a genius. Genie stepped forward to enact one of the strategies that he had told her before, bringing a hugemotion to the people below.

    ¡°Are you trying to surrender?¡± Loki smiled in victory. In fact, everyone had the same idea as him. However, instead of surrendering, Genie just raised an unknown onion in the air.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    <em>¡®Why did she suddenly lift an onion? Is that some kind of onion bomb?¡¯</em>

    Just when everyone was wondering what it was about, Genie shook the onion in her hand as she looked around until she found Brad and shouted, ¡°Brad! How abouting to our side and killing the troops around you?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Brad remained silent at her words.

    <em>¡®Has Genie gone crazy?¡¯</em>

    When this thought shed in his head, Genie threw the onion to Brad. Brad, who unconsciously caught the onion, looked at it in doubt. Loki looked at Brad with a smile and thought, <em>¡®Is she a nutcase? You suddenly want them to go on your side?¡¯</em>

    Just like Loki, the yers and the soldiers in the vicinity all thought the same thing as they looked at Brad, who gulped dryly as he looked up at Genie.

    The truth was, Genie was making a bet. She said, ¡°If you side with us now, then I will add two more of that. With every centurion that you kill, you will get onions, green onions, and garlic. One per kill. Each person can get as much as ten of each ingredient in total.¡±

    ¡°Bwahahahahahahaha! You¡¯re crazy!¡± Loki burst intoughter.

    ¡®<em>Does she really think that they would betray their allies for an onion?</em>¡¯

    They were aware of the bountiful rewards that they would get from the Barras Kingdom quest.

    Brad smirked. Those that looked at him thought that he was smiling because he thought the same. Not long after, he looked up at Genie while grabbing his sword firmly. His skill ¡®Death Wind¡¯ was about to be cast. This was Brad¡¯s strongest AOE attack skill, a skill that could cut down each and every enemy that they passed by. It also had a death energy that would deal an additional 1,000% attack to the enemies that it passed by.

    Finally, a huge wind wrapped around Brad¡¯s sword. However, although unbelievable, the direction that he was pointing his sword at was not at Genie, but towards the enemies that surrounded Valha.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    A huge de of wind cut down hundreds of his so-called allies. But it did not end there, a strong power of death devoured them and led them to their deaths. Then, Brad said, ¡°I¡¯ll even willingly suck up to you. Long live, long live Let¡¯s Eat Sect! Long live!¡±

    Brad, who was their enemy just a few seconds ago, had defected to Let¡¯s Eat Sect¡¯s side, and even went so far as to ¡®suck up¡¯ to them. This was because the onion that Genie gave to Brad was none other than the ¡®Ingredient Heaven¡¯¡¯s onion, one that could permanently raise stats.

 Chapter 441: Extreme Hardcore Fanâ€™s Performance

    Chapter 441: Extreme Hardcore Fan¡¯s Performance

    Brad flew up like a butterfly and cut down the Barras Kingdom troops and their allied yers, before flying straight towards one of the centurions. For someone to be a centurion, one had to be either a holder of a title at least at bar-rank, or was one of the kingdom¡¯s knights.

    <em>Spurt¡ª</em>

    After stabbing the neck of one of the centurions, Brad, just like a raging bull, went on a rampage and cut down the surrounding troops, including his previous allies.

    ¡°Wh, what the¡­?!¡±

    ¡°What the hell is that onion?!¡±

    Loki could not help but rub his eyes in doubt. He wondered, ¡®<em>You¡¯d rather take that onion instead of the treasures that Barras Kingdom offered?</em>¡¯

    The nightmare did not end there, as Genie had talked about other ingredients like green onions and garlic. On top of that, she was not remotely satisfied with just tempting Brad, even calling out another ranker, ¡°Arte.¡±

    Arte was a magic swordsman, a ss that yers rarely choose when ying <em>Athenae</em> because of the difficulty of utilizing magic while wielding a sword. Most of the yers that chose this ss would exert lesser power when using magic and swordsmanship together, than when they used one or the other.

    However, Arte was a genius with superb control and excellent gamer skills. He was able to master both magic and swordsmanship and use it at the same time. Despite being ranked at 301st for the local knight rankings and 601st for the local mage rankings, Arte could exert far more power than Brad.

    Ever since the appearance of the onion, Arte had been looking at Brad incredulously. He was wondering if Brad had gone insane in that short period of time. How could he give up the rewards that they would receive for a single onion? After all, the rewards that they would receive from Barras Kingdom would increase the greater their contributions by hunting the Valha troops, breaking their walls, and so forth.

    The worst part of this? Brad would be condemned and mocked for his actions.

    <em>¡®Maybe Brad¡¯s a spy that Let¡¯s Eat Sect nted, right?¡¯ </em>Just as this thought shed in Arte¡¯s head, Genie threw an onion to him too.

    <em>¡®What the hell? You¡¯re also giving me an onion as a reward? That¡¯s ridiculous,¡¯ </em>Arte thought as he grabbed the onion and checked its details.

    <em>(<strong>Ingredient Heaven¡¯s Onion</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Ingredient Grade</strong>: Five Legendary Ingredients</em>

    <em><strong>Special Effects</strong>: An increase in STM +1~3 and STR +1~3</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: One of the Five Legendary Ingredients. Ingredient Heaven''s Onion is an ¡®auxiliary¡¯ ingredient. Auxiliary ingredients are one of the most important ingredients when cooking. Only ten of these onions can be eaten per person, any more than that and the effect will not be expressed. The effects of this onion can ovep with the effects of other ingredients. And with the help of the Land of Gods, the special effects of these onions have been reinforced.</em>

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    Arte, speechless beyond belief, looked between Genie and the onion alternately, as the abacus in his head started to ck at a furious speed. Each person could eat up to ten of this ingredient that could randomly increase the STM and STR from 1~3. If his luck was good, then he would be able to gain more than +15 in his stats in one go.

    The higher the rankers¡¯ level became, the more they clung desperately to even a single point increase in their stats. That was why the rankers would willingly trade more than hundreds of millions of cash, just for a single elixir. However, despite the growing demand, the elixirs remained scarce in the market, which made it all the more precious.

    To think that the onion in Arte¡¯s hand could raise his stats the moment he ate it? And permanently at that? At that moment, he could feel how great and amazing Minhyuk was.

    <em>¡®I know that he loves to eat, but I did not expect him to develop such an amazing ingredient,¡¯ </em>Arte could not help but admire Minhyuk.

    Just a few moments ago, Arte was cursing Genie and Brad. But now, the surrounding troops and yers were looking at him incredulously when they saw his expression turn into that of admiration.

    ¡°Eyyyy~ Not Arte.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. He¡¯s the one that told us that we should be nice to each other.¡±

    They thought that it would definitely be impossible. But at that moment¡­

    ¡°Long live Let¡¯s Eat Sect! Long live!!!¡±

    ¡­Arte also dered his overflowing love and affection for Let¡¯s Eat Sect. And along with his deration, his hands unfolded towards the horse that a centurion was riding on.

    ¡°Explosion.¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The skill created a huge explosion that engulfed a thirty meter radius area and devoured more than thirty troops at one go.

    Genie continued to throw onions towards the rankers in the vicinity, one after the other. And every time they received the onions¡­

    ¡°Long live Let¡¯s Eat Sect! Long, long live!!!¡±

    ¡°y, y Let¡¯s Eat Sect! y, y Let¡¯s Eat Sect!¡±

    ¡°Praise be to Let¡¯s Eat Sect!¡±

    ¡­the rankers, around thirty of them standing near the gates, immediately change sides.

    ¡°They¡¯re out of their minds!¡±

    ¡°Crazy bastards!!!¡±

    The Pinnacle Strong Men had no choice but to move urgently and deal with the rankers that suddenly changed sides. When the Pinnacle Strong Menunched their attacks, the rankers immediately gathered together to defend and block them. And when their HP reached 5%¡­

    <em>aaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    ¡­they would hurriedly use their return spells. As they disappeared in a sh of light, these thoughts shed in their heads:

    <em>¡®We need to hurry up and refill our tanks so we can hunt again!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®We can get onions with every sessful hunt!¡¯</em>

    The rankers that changed sides and held hands with Let¡¯s Eat Sect had killed more than four thousand Barras Kingdom Troops. This could be attributed to the fact that they were in the middle of the kingdom troops. They also had support in the form of magic bombs, arrows, and boulders that the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect kept on throwing down from the walls.

    However, even though they shaved off a huge chunk out of the troops, the majesty of the surviving 40,000 troops did not decrease.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    A shocking tremor would shake the walls of the fortress with every hit that the 40,000 strong troopsnded.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kggggghhhhhk!¡±

    ¡°Urkkkkk!¡±

    Of course, screams still rang rife among the kingdom troops with every hit, thanks to the reflection ability that covered the entire fortress¡¯ walls. The Barras Kingdom troops and their allied yers all abhorred this ability. However, they could not deny the fact that they had been left in awe by the amazing architecture and ability that these walls had.

    ¡°The reflection ability will soon disappear!¡± Loki said.

    The truth was just like Loki had dered. The fortress truly did not have an infinite amount of reflection ability and would eventually run out.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Just like that, the moment that they had been waiting for finally arrived. One of the soldiers that attacked the walls did not receive any more damage, proof that the fortress¡¯ reflection ability was no longer in effect. As if lighting a beacon for victory, the 4,000 strong mage unit started to cast magic bombs before sending them to the fortress¡¯ walls.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Valha Fortress shook tremendously with every hit of the magic spells. It did not matter how tough and sturdy the walls of their fortress were, as long as these 4,000 mages continued to bomb the walls, it would prove difficult for their walls to remain unscathed. Genie watched as the durability of their walls decreased at a rapid pace. She hurriedly ran out and shouted, ¡°Everyone, retreat!¡± before pushing a red button. Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>Whiiiiiiiiiiiir¡ª</em>

    <em>ck!</em>

    <em>Whiiiiiiiiiiiiir¡ª</em>

    <em>ck!</em>

    <em>Whiiiiiiiiiiiiir¡ª</em>

    <em>ck!</em>

    The bricks, or what seemed to be bricks, of the walls suddenly started to move and change shapes. This fortress, one that could be considered as a magic fortress with its ability to reflect attacks, was the result of the coboration of three people. They were Roadol, the president of Ilhwa Construction and a legend in the Korean construction industry; Olger, the descendant and genius disciple of Golden Hammer Dwarf Lant that had been acknowledged by his master as someone that had transcended him in abilities; and Ali, the world¡¯s strongest mage and the heir to the Dragon¡¯s Mana Heart.

    But the truth was, the reflection ability was only one part of the fortress. The more shocking ability of these fortress¡¯ walls was their ability to store and umte around 5,000 first to fourth tier magic.

    Simply put, these walls, instead of using siege weapons, couldunch magic attacks.

    The transforming bricks finally opened up as they unleashed the first to fourth tier magical attacks that Ali had saved by the hundreds for days towards the tens of thousands of troops that had been gathered near the fortress. All hell broke loose as disaster exploded towards the troops.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The first magic spell that burst out were huge mes. These mes, the Fireball, engulfed hundreds, perhaps more, of the enemy troops that loitered near the walls.

    <em>Crackle, crackle, crackle¡ª</em>

    The next one were spears made out of lightning. These electric spears pierced through the enemies and burned them into ashes in an instant.

    <em>Bang!</em>

    <em>Baaaaaang!</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaang!</em>

    <em>Baaaaaang!!!</em>

    Then, huge explosions engulfed the enemy troops that continued to advance forward.

    <em>Shwaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaa!</em>

    It was then followed by Wind Cutter, which unleashed des of wind that tore the enemies into pieces.

    Shockingly enough, even the elite knights could not stop the magic attacks. This could be attributed to the fact that it was Golden Mage Ali¡¯s magic that was umted in the walls.

    Golden Mage Ali, who was waiting for this opportune moment ¡ª the moment when all their enemies were swarming and were literally concentrated near the walls, the very same moment when AOE attack skills could exert their greatest powers ¡ª flew up to the skies with his Staff of Despair in hand and golden hair fluttering wildly, and unleashed despair upon the enemy troops.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    A space was torn open in the skies as seven gigantic meteors descended on the ground. The kingdom troops could only gape in horror as they watched the man-made ¡®disaster¡¯ cover the skies and cast a huge shadow upon them.

    <em>¡®This is Meteor¡­?¡¯ </em>Loki thought, shock prevalent on his face.

    No NPC mages could use Meteor as of the moment. However, Ali, who had continued to grow further, had reached the level where he could unleash Meteor without needing the support of Minhyuk¡¯s dishes like in the past.

    What did this mean? It meant that Ali was far more powerful than all the mages in existence currently.

    <em>Booooooooooooooom¡ª</em>

    The first thing that engulfed the troops was the zing fire that surrounded the falling meteor. Then, the moment the meteor made contact with the ground, the surrounding enemies disintegrated into nothingness. One meteor razed the ground and killed around two thousand troops. It was like a nuclear bomb going off, its power destructive. When the rest fell down on the ground¡­

    <em>Boooooooom¡ª</em>

    <em>Booooooooooom¡ª</em>

    <em>Boooooooooom¡ª</em>

    ¡­everything disappeared. The thousands of magic attacks that the fortress fired, together with Ali¡¯s Meteor,pletely devoured the 20,000 troops, causing them to disappear with no resistance at all.

    Loki¡¯s face turned ugly. He thought, <em>¡®Are you telling me that they really have the power to be a kingdom?!¡¯</em>

    He finally realized why King Grain was afraid. This was because they already had more power and force than an established kingdom.

    <em>[The morale of the Barras Kingdom Troops has dramatically decreased.]</em>

    <em>[All stats decrease by 15%.]</em>

    Loki immediately looked around only to see plenty of their troops lose their will to fight as fear enveloped their beings. There were even a considerable number of soldiers that turned away from the fortress¡¯ walls and ran away.

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    But Loki believed that they would eventually win this fight.

    <em>Puhaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    He cut off the head of one of the escaping soldiers. And the same was true for the other Pinnacle Strong Men. They brought judgment to the deserters.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Euaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Why, why us too?!¡±

    ¡°Those that decide to flee will be dealt with in ordance with King Grain¡¯s orders!!!¡±

    ¡°Forward!!!¡±

    They did not show any consideration or care for the survival of the kingdom¡¯s army. All that was running in their heads was to upy Valha.

    <em>¡®Terrifying¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®They, they only think of us as shields¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Is this truly what our kingdom thinks of us¡­?!¡¯</em>

    The fleeing kingdom soldiers grabbed their weapons tightly as they looked up at the cheering troops standing above the walls.

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Uwoaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    Themanding officers of the Valha Fortress were hugging and rejoicing with their soldiers.

    <em>¡®They¡¯repletely different from us.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®This means that Lord Minhyuk is a very nice person!¡¯</em>

    For a moment, the kingdom troops felt envy. The leaders of the Valha Fortress were different from the yers among their midst that were blinded by greed and willingly cut off the necks of their allies. To their ownmanders, they were just their meat shields that had no choice but to advance forward.

    In the end, Valha Fortress exhausted all of the magic that they had umted. The kingdom troops could only do their best to strike and break their walls, even if they did not want to anymore.

    <em>[The fortress¡¯ walls¡¯ durability has decreased and is only at 3/10.]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s dangerous. Those walls might copse anytime soon!]</em>

    Along with thementators¡¯ voices, the shouts that brought despair to the fortress troops began to ring loudly one after the other.

    ¡°The mana potions are all gone¡­¡±

    ¡°Is there anyone who can still use a skill?!¡±

    ¡°Is there anyone who can use an AOE skill?!¡±

    ¡°Soldiers, where are the arrows?! Are we out of arrows?!¡±

    What about their supply routes? There was no way that Valha could use them with how surrounded they were. The soldiers¡¯ arrows? Everything had been used up. Their weapons? Their swords and spears were broken from the continuous fight against the enemies that came up thedders.

    Then, what about the yers? They could use their return spells, right? Unfortunately, the answer was no. Their returning point was set to Valha, and for them to get supplies or to transport anything, they still had to go through the thousands of enemy troops that surrounded their fortress. These series of frustrating events piled up and eventually put the entire Valha Fortress into the pits of despair.

    <em>Thuuuuuuuuuuuud¡ª</em>

    A huge trunk with a pointed tip mmed against the fortress¡¯ gates with the help of the enemies¡¯ siege weapons. They targeted the gates because its durability was infinitely weaker than that of the walls. The soldiers of Let¡¯s Eat Sect immediately descended and used their bodies to stop the gates from opening.

    ¡°Endure!!!¡±

    ¡°We can¡¯t back down here!!!¡±

    ¡°We have to hold out here!!!¡±

    <em>Thuuuuuuuuuuuuuuud¡ª</em>

    ¡°Euaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Heupppp!¡±

    ¡°Stand, stand up!!!¡±

    The soldiers¡¯ screams began to engulf Valha.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaack!¡±

    However, despite doing their best, the enemies still continued to climb and enter the fortress using thedders that they had sessfully hung on the walls.

    ¡°Ugggghhh¡­¡±

    ¡°Shit¡­!¡±

    The members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect, who were blocking the gates with their own bodies, looked at the precarious condition of their walls. Although they were the best of the best and one of the country¡¯s top rankers, they did not have any MP left. In fact, it was only thanks to Orgel¡¯s continuous repair of their weapons that they were able to hold out this long.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Genie watched in despair as their troops flew back with every hit of the siege weapon on their gates.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Then, rain suddenly started to pour down from the skies. This war couldst for several days. However, they did not have any other opportunities to take advantage of. They had too many enemies and there would even be another 100,000 troops that would advance here sooner orter.

    <em>Baaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Another m from the siege weapon and Genie was forced to let go of her tight hold on the gates. It was very frustrating. They all knew that Barras Kingdom would issue a ¡®kill order¡¯ to constantly kill off the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect the moment Valha got taken over. They could just run away and hide if that was the case but¡­

    <em>¡®Thank you.¡¯</em>

    ¡­unlike them, the NPCs live in this world. This was their reality. Their troops devoted their lives, their entire beings, to protect this ce for Minhyuk and for their loved ones, until the very end.

    A sad expression lingered on Genie¡¯s face as the cold rain poured down and soaked their bodies. But despite the cold rain, the soldiers still tried their best to cheer themselves up and increase their morale. On the other hand, the enemy troops rejoiced at the crumbling gates. They pulled back their siege weapon far as they rushed forward to make the final blow. But then¡­

    <em>aaash¡ª</em>

    ¡­a woman descended down from the walls under the cold rain. One swing of her sword and the siege weapon cracked and fell into pieces.

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    With every swing of the woman¡¯s sword, a siege weapon would crack and fall into pieces. This woman stood in front of the 20,000 strong troops and blocked them from the blood-stained walls and gates.

    She was none other than Minhyuk¡¯s Extreme Hardcore Fan, the Sword Emperor Ellie. And today, using the sharp tip of her sword, she wrote the epic tale of Minhyuk¡¯s Extreme Hardcore Fan.

    The battle between one and 20,000 troops was now starting.

 Chapter 442: Extreme Hardcore Fanâ€™s Role

    Chapter 442: Extreme Hardcore Fan¡¯s Role

    Loki and the other Pinnacle Strong Men had no choice but to look at the woman in confusion. She stood alone with her small physique, shabby leather armor, shabby helmet, and a fine-quality sword in front of the gates. And yet, every swing of her sword would make the gigantic siege weapons crumble into pieces.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Fine cracks appeared all over the siege weapons before exploding into pieces, causing the dozens of soldiers that operated them to fly back. However, the most shocking part here was the fact that the siege weapons broke down with only one strike.

    <em>¡®What the hell is that woman?!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Was there such a strong person in Let¡¯s Eat Sect¡¯s troops?!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Who the hell are you?!¡¯</em>

    Just when these thoughts crossed their minds, the woman who was blocking the gates suddenly said, ¡°Long live Minhyuk! I will protect oppa¡¯s territory!¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    <em>¡®So strange?¡¯</em>

    To most, the woman just seemed to be Let¡¯s East Sect¡¯s Guild Master Minhyuk¡¯s Extreme Hardcore Fan. But for Loki, she was a giant barrier that stopped them from moving forward. Loki immediately sent thirty elite and well-trained knights forward. Six of these knights dashed through the army¡¯s gaps and closed in on the woman, while the rest shot their crossbows at her.

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    However, the woman easily dragged in the sword attacks that the six knights sent towards her. Yes, that was right. The woman changed the trajectory of the swords and forced them to collide with her own.

    <em>aaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    When she brandished her sword once again, a powerful storm of sword lights engulfed the six knights and killed them all at once. As for the arrows?

    <em>Swish, swish¡ª</em>

    She just twisted her body and moved her head to avoid them. What about the rest of the thirty knights? It only took less than two minutes for them to meet their deaths.

    ¡°I. Will. Protect. Oppa¡¯s. Territory.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Loki gnashed his teeth. The inevitable destruction of the gates in front of them was being blocked by the damn b*tch. However, even if that was the case, the Pinnacle Strong Men still could not hastily make their move.

    A man stepped forward next. He was Barras Kingdom¡¯s Master Swordsman, Ruad. A genius of his own era, he stood at the peak and became a Master Swordsman using his own swordsmanship. If he had been born in either Eivelis or Collodis Empire and not in Barras Kingdom, the kingdom of production sses, then he might have be the continent¡¯s Sword King.

    ¡°I¡¯ll kill that annoying chick.¡±

    Ruad was extremely loyal to King Grain. His loyalty was ingrained deep within his bones. He could not bear to see the dy of Valha¡¯s fall just because of a single, unknown woman.

    ¡°If it¡¯s you Ruad, then I can entrust this to you.¡±

    Ruad and the Pinnacle Strong Men were different. In the first ce, he was a part of the Barras Kingdom. On the other hand, the Pinnacle Strong Men were only driven by the rewards that the kingdom had offered. Loki judged that it was more than reasonable for Ruad to cut down the woman that was blocking their path. Besides, Ruad was also not that far behind the Pinnacle Strong Men in power.

    When Ruad stepped forward, the Barras Kingdom Troops regained their confidence. They immediately judged that the woman¡¯s head would fall off the moment Ruad made a move. Then, Ruwad rushed towards Minhyuk¡¯s Extreme Hardcore Fan.

    Minhyuk¡¯s Extreme Hardcore Fan, or Sword Emperor Ellie, grasped her sword tightly as she watched the rushing Ruad. She thought, <em>¡®I can¡¯t use Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship right now.¡¯</em>

    Even if their opponents were dumb, they would know that she was Ellie the moment she used Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship.

    Then, what should she use?

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll use the Overlord¡¯s Swordsmanship.¡¯</em>

    One of Ellie¡¯s ancestors was called ¡®Overlord¡¯ and was a prominent figure thousands of years ago. The name Overlord was a name that was widely spread in the past. In fact, it was a name that was far more famous and well-known than Ellie¡¯s name now. Overlord was the one that established the Eivelis Empire from a small kingdom before. Ellie respected him the most and considered him as the greatest emperor.

    This was because Overlord was a person that was born with a body that could not house any mana. But even though he could not cultivate any mana, he was able to cut down all of the swordsmen in the continent through his sheer effort and genius. A body that could not house any mana could only possess a miniscule amount of mana no matter how hard they tried to umte mana in their bodies.

    Thus, the Overlord¡¯s Swordsmanship was a swordsmanship that helped someone with a small amount of mana fight against all adversities.

    Ellie had been learning the Overlord¡¯s Swordsmanship ever since she was young, in the event that she had to fight with a low MP. It was a sword technique that was passed down only to those that would sit on the throne and be the emperor. The greatest advantage here was that it was a swordsmanship that waspletely unknown to the public.

    The Overlord Swordsmanship was a technique that strengthened the body by utilizing the weak mana coursing through the wielder¡¯s veins. Simply put, it was a technique that awakened the sealed senses in one¡¯s body. The more the person¡¯s senses awakened, the more sensitive their senses would be. Back then, when the Overlord awakened his senses, it was said that they reached the absolute peak. This very same power, the power that could awaken one¡¯s senses, erupted and coursed through Ellie¡¯s body.

    <em>[Overlord¡¯s Swordsmanship Chapter 1. Lion¡¯s Awakening.]</em>

    <em>[All stats will increase by 23%.]</em>

    <em>[All of your senses will exert far greater power than usual.]</em>

    Although Ellie cast the skill, no effect was shown. Ruad dashed forward and thrusted his sword towards her neck.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Ellie, using her toes, twisted her body slightly and narrowly avoided the sword that was whistling through the air and aiming for her neck. Ruad immediately twisted his wrist and chased after Ellie with his sword. But it was not that easy. Ellie grabbed the tip of his sword with her thumb and index finger, pushing it away before tilting her upper body slightly away and looking at the swinging sword once again.

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Loki and the Pinnacle Strong Men¡¯s eyes went wide open in shock. The movements that the woman used were clean and precise. But the more shocking part was¡­

    <em>¡®She did not take a single step away from her position.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®This is crazy¡­!¡¯</em>

    Just when these thoughts shed in their heads¡­

    <em>[Overlord¡¯s Swordsmanship Chapter 2. Lion¡¯s Stretch.]</em>

    Ellie lifted her sword up in the sky before shing it down towards Ruad, who was still rushing towards her.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Just like a lion stretching its body, the sword stretched out and made Ruad fly back.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Despite being sent flying in the air, Ruad was still able to cast his skill and sent swordlights towards Ellie. But Ellie just slightly moved her neck, her toes, and her waist to avoid them, using the most minimal of movements despite the ground behind her being dug through and sunken from the harsh attacks.

    Right now, Ellie¡¯s senses had reached the pinnacle. The five senses originally included hearing, smell, taste, touch and vision. But the Overlord¡¯s Swordsmanship¡¯s senses were different. It excluded the ¡®sense of taste¡¯, which was the most useless in battle, and reced it with a new sense in the form of reflection ability. The reflection ability could be said to be the pinnacle of the Overlord¡¯s Swordsmanship, increasing the ability to avoid anything by two or three times.

    <em>Tap¡ª</em>

    Ellie kicked the ground and flew up in the sky. Ruad took advantage of the opportunity and thrusted his sword up. However, Ellie easily changed the trajectory of his sword by touching it with her own sword.

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    Ruad¡¯s sword narrowly missed Ellie¡¯s nks. But then, at that moment, Ellie stabbed her sword at the joints of Ruad¡¯s armor. With a twist of her wrist, a powerful force appeared and gathered at the tip of her sword.

    <em>[Overlord¡¯s Swordsmanship Chapter 5. Lion¡¯s Roar.]</em>

    <em>ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    Then, the mana that gathered at the tip of her sword entered through the joints of Ruad¡¯s armor and spread throughout his body. And like a lion¡¯s roar¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡­Ruad¡¯s armor exploded into pieces. The now armorless Ruad was in a daze. Loki and the Pinnacle Strong Men immediately dashed forward when they saw Ruad fall in a perplexed daze. But Ellie was a step faster than them. They aimed for her heart but¡­

    <em>[Overlord¡¯s Swordsmanship Chapter 12. Lion Stalking its Prey.]</em>

    ¡­Ellie¡¯s sword urately stabbed Ruad¡¯s vital points five times in a row.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°Urk!¡± Ruad groaned and vomited a mouthful of blood before falling on the ground. The Master Swordsman¡¯s final breath was spent in vain. The Pinnacle Strong Men stopped in their tracks.

    ¡°Go in between the troops,¡± Loki ordered. The Pinnacle Strong Men immediately moved to hide among the troops. They joined this war to gain a foothold and an advantage, but if they tried to fight that woman then¡­

    <em>¡®We¡¯ll die.¡¯</em>

    Who the hell was that woman? She stood in front of the gates alone to fight against 20,000 troops, but she was not losing her ground against them. She even looked like a ghost with her five senses awakened to the absolute pinnacle.

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    With the soldiers falling down one after another, the troops had no choice but to take a step back and retreat. They could note anywhere near her. Her sword was stained with the blood of thousands of enemies but she did not look exhausted at all.

    <em>Thuuuuuuuud¡ª</em>

    One of the enemies flew up and fell down like a bomb in the middle of their camp. With every swing of her sword, dozens of her enemies would fall down.

    <em>aaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    Dozens of heads would be separated from their bodies the moment she threw her sword out. After losing her weapon for a moment, she grabbed the dagger from her waist and¡­

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    ¡­one, two, three, four, five, six, seven¡­ fifty people around her died with a single stab on their necks. It was both shocking and worthy of admiration. The blood from the soldiers¡¯ throats dyed her helmet red. It was like the advent of an evil spirit.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Ruuuuun!!!¡±

    ¡°Hiiiiiiiiiiik!¡±

    ¡°A demon! She¡¯s a demon!¡±

    <em>[The troops¡¯ morale dramatically decreases.]</em>

    <em>[A nerve-wracking terror engulfs their entire being.]</em>

    <em>[All of their stats will decrease by 25%.]</em>

    The 20,000 strong troops ran away in front of a single woman. This was a very shocking feat. Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>Vwooooooooooong¡ª</em>

    A loud re from the trumpet rang loudly in the battlefield. Ellie looked around coldly. A sea of ck appeared and surrounded Valha. It looked like it was a huge army of 130,000 troops. A g with the crest of a ¡®hammer and kitchen knife¡¯, symbolizing the Barras Kingdom was raised high up in the sky. And the shocking army shouted all at once¡­

    ¡°Victory!¡±

    ¡°Victory!¡±

    ¡°Take the enemies¡¯ necks!¡±

    ¡°Take the enemies¡¯ necks!¡±

    Everywhere was surrounded by a sea of ck. The shocking momentum of their reinforcement was enough to make even Ellie cringe. Cold sweat started to drip from Ellie¡¯s hands as the enemy troops slowly advanced forward. However, she still continued to cut down the enemies in front of her.

    <em>¡®Minhyuk, where on earth are you?¡¯</em>

    ***

    <em>[Minhyuk¡¯s Extreme Hardcore Fan is bringing terror to the 20,000 strong troops all by herself!]</em>

    <em>[What in the world is that woman?!]</em>

    <em>[Some are assuming that she is Ellie, but the swordsmanship that she is using ispletely different from the swordsmanship that Ellie uses.]</em>

    <em>[But there is one thing that we are sure of. She alone is terrorizing the 20,000 strong troops.]</em>

    <em>[Huh? Huuuuuuuuuuh?! Is that the sound of a trumpet?!!!]</em>

    <em>[More than 100,000 troops have appeared and surrounded Valha!!!]</em>

    <em>[Their shouts have shaken Valha, bringing them to the depths of despair!]</em>

    <em>Trudge¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk, who finally opened his eyes, staggered to the living room and headed straight towards the television that Changwook had turned on to watch.

    <em>¡®Noona.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk could already tell the situation in Valha with just one look at the video presented on the TV.

    ¡°Minhyuk?!¡± Changwook shouted in surprise as he hurriedly stood up to support the struggling Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk¡¯s father, Kang Minhoo, also hurried out of his room after hearing themotion. He said, ¡°Minhyuk, you¡¯re awake?!¡±

    ¡°I have to go, Dad.¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t! You need to calm down!¡±

    He had been working too hard. He would not have copsed if he simply pulled up an all-nighter. The problem was that Minhyuk had also pushed ahead with his ¡®diet¡¯. On top of ying in Athenae, he had also been exercising for five hours every day. The amount of time that he slept was only the bare minimum. He should be in apletely stable state, but more than 100,000 troops had suddenly appeared around Valha.

    ¡°I want to show it to them.¡±

    The results of his one month of hard work could turn the tides of war. His father, Kang Minhoo, could no longer dissuade Minhyuk after seeing his firm will and determination. Minhyuk immediately went into his Athenae capsule to ess the game but¡­

    <em>[Your psychological state is unstable.]</em>

    <em>[You will not be able to connect.]</em>

    <em>[It is rmended that you take a good rest before logging back in the game.]</em>

    <em>Athenae</em> was a virtual reality game and every capsule in production was equipped with the function to recognize the person¡¯s brain waves and check their physical condition. Minhyuk, who woke up after being unconscious for a few days, was in a dire state, both physically and mentally. In fact, even now, his vision was shaking.

    ¡°Why¡­?!¡± Minhyuk shouted, his face turning ugly.

    Kang Minhoo could only smile bitterly at Minhyuk after seeing him get out of the capsule in frustration. He said, ¡°Your Dad will stop them first.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk looked at his father in guilt. His son had just woken up but he was already trying to y games. However, Kang Minhoo, as his father, knew that Athenae, the ce that helped cure his son, was like another reality for Minhyuk. It was a world filled with people that he wanted to protect and cherish. Kang Minhoo, or ck Dragon, had also prepared a lot during Minhyuk¡¯s absence so he wanted to show it to his son too. Then, he entered his own capsule.

    The king of dragons, ck Dragon, had connected to Athenae.

 Chapter 443: A Bet with the Gods. And Cooking.

    Chapter 443: A Bet with the Gods. And Cooking.

    A smile hung on Duke Yverone¡¯s lips as he looked at the 130,000 strong army that he was leading. Duke Yverone, just like Eivelis Empire¡¯s Marquis Brad, was hailed as the continent¡¯s Spear Master.

    He could not help but chuckle deeply as he watched the situation in front of him and thought, <em>¡®Let¡¯s Eat Sect is falling apart.¡¯</em>

    He was sure that the Let¡¯s Eat Sect would fall apart under the pressure of their 130,000 strong army. After all, Valha looked like they had no more troops that could fight against them.

    <em>¡®Although most of the troops that I¡¯m leading are just newly conscripted soldiers.¡¯</em>

    Still, they could at least be useful as meat shields. After all, it would be ridiculously absurd for a measly amount of troops to stop their 130,000 strong troops.

    <em>Vwooooooooong¡ª</em>

    The loud re of the horn signaled the advance of the troops.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    The ground shook and trembled with every step they took. It was like a noose slowly tightening around Valha, with the loud thuds of their footsteps and their ever increasing momentum.

    ***

    Ellie gritted her teeth at the number of enemies advancing towards Valha. That number meant that a single release of arrows and magic would send at least 100,000 attacks towards her.

    <em>¡®Even if I use and release all of my power¡­¡¯</em>

    It would prove to be difficult for her to defeat them. However, she did not stop cutting down the enemies that approached her. Finally, more than 100,000 troops shot their arrows into the sky. There were only 1,000 remaining troops around Ellie, aside from these, the remaining ones were in the rear waiting for reinforcements.

    <em>¡®So I only have a thousand allies?¡¯</em>

    Ellie¡¯s face turned ugly at the sight of the thousands of arrows flying towards Valha. She immediately used a huge square shield and hid behind it to escape from the rain of arrows.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Ughhhhhh!¡±

    <em>¡®That goddamnmander.¡¯</em>

    Themander that was leading the enemy troops was foolish. They were about to win the war with the troops from Valha Fortress already on the verge of death, but they were still sacrificing their own allies. Regardless, the 130,000 troops were already fast-approaching.

    ¡°Can¡­ I do it alone?¡± A wry smile grazed the corners of Ellie¡¯s lips as she murmured to herself.

    Just then¡­

    ¡°You¡¯re not alone, Miss Extreme Hardcore Fan,¡± Genie said as she approached her. Genie felt extreme admiration and respect for the woman named Ellie. When all of them had given up, she stopped their enemies all by herself. Of course, the difference in terms of the number of forces was ring, but she never wavered nor ran away, focusing only on stopping the enemies.

    ¡°You have us too.¡±

    Genie, Crow, Abel, Alicia, Lucia, Ace, Ghost Spear Ben, Sword Saint Conir, Best Selling Author Aruvel, and Talmor Religion¡¯s Head Corr were all left in a situation where they did not have much MP left to cast skills. However, they all decided to fight.

    ¡°Miss Extreme Hardcore Fan, I have a request.¡±

    ¡°A request?¡±

    ¡°Please lead Ben, Aruvel, Corr, Conir, and the citizens of Valha away.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Ellie could understand what Genie was saying.

    <em>¡®A foreigner¡¯s life is infinite.¡¯</em>

    Unlike them, the guardians¡¯ lives would be over once they died in this ce. Asking her this favor meant that they wanted to protect these people.

    ¡°We¡¯ll open a path for you.¡±

    Ellie looked at the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect. Genie waspletely exhausted, blood dripping all over her body. Crow¡¯s arm was injured andpletely unusable. Lucia was also using a broken dagger, since she had no time to get it repaired before jumping in the fray again.

    <em>¡®I did not expect that the foreigners and the guardians would be in great harmony¡­¡¯</em>

    Ellie did not believe and trust the foreigners. But now, these foreigners were trying their best to protect the guardians, to the point that they were willing to sacrifice their lives for them.

    <em>¡®Minhyuk, the kingdom that you are building ispletely amazing.¡¯</em>

    Ellie nodded slowly to show her eptance.

    ¡°Hahaha. Lady Extreme Hardcore Fan, please take good care of our Conir, Corr and Aruvel,¡± Ghost Spear Ben said as he stepped forward. He looked tired but he was smiling and his eyes were still shining fiercely.

    ¡°I have to open one more path to save one more person.¡±

    ¡°Grandpa Ben.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve never learnt the words <em>back down</em>,¡± Ghost Spear Ben said, ramming his spear down on the ground.

    Meanwhile, the kingdom troops continued to narrow the distance between them. However, Ben believed that he would be able to stop the enemies¡¯ advance for a moment if he gave up his life.

    ¡°Conir won¡¯t go! Conir will protect hyung¡¯s territory!¡± Conir dered as he stood beside Ben.

    The same was true for Best Selling Author Aruvel. He stood beside them and dered, ¡°I¡¯m going to get good inspiration today and create a great work. A story about a knight who fell in love with the enemy. What do you think?!¡±

    ¡°I will free these poor and pitiful souls from hair loss!¡±

    Genie looked at them with a bitter smile on her face and thought, <em>¡®Thank you, everyone.¡¯</em>

    But this was different. Even if they were very determined to stay here and fight, they had to survive and live another day.

    <em>[<strong>Genie</strong>: Ali.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Ali</strong>: Yes, Genie.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Genie</strong>: The moment I give the signal, use Mass Teleport and take them away from here. Please.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Ali</strong>: Not considering the fact that we¡¯re ignoring their will, Mass Teleport will consume a lot of MP and using it now will sh half of my remaining MP, I need to recover more for me to do this.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Genie</strong>: We¡¯ll stall for time. Please include Miss Extreme Hardcore Fan too.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Ali</strong>: Alright.]</em>

    Genie let out a trembling breath after finishing the conversation with Ali. The 130,000 strong troops were just around the corner. Ghost Spear Ben was the first to run out which signaled the start of the battle.

    ***

    For the longest time, there was only one man that was considered the best BJ in Korea. He had been on the top of the rankings of Ztube and Paprika TV ever since theunch of the virtual reality game. His nickname was ¡®Know-it-all Dictionary¡¯ and the reason why he was loved by all people was because there was nothing that he did not know about the game that he was ying, hence the nickname.

    And this very same Know-it-all Dictionary was speaking enthusiastically, ¡°My dear viewers, can you see this? Let¡¯s Eat Sect is making their final struggle in this fierce battle against the 130,000 troops!¡±

    His body trembled at the sight. In an uphill battle against a 130,000-strong army, the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect did not back down. Then, at that moment, the mysterious Extreme Hardcore Fan stepped forward and cut down the enemies with her sword. Vice Guild Master Genie immediately followed behind her and used her whip to break down the shields that blocked their path. Ghost Spear Ben leapt up in the air before throwing his spear as hard as he could towards the enemy troops, killing them in one single blow.

    What about the Best Selling Author Aruvel? He was also disying his amazing spearmanship that was on par with Ghost Spear Ben¡¯s own. Then, there was Ramyeon Boy Conir, he was cutting down his enemies with his sword and moving swiftly like a ghost.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡± Know-it-all Dictionary might be a BJ, but as an Athenae yer, he could not help but look at them in admiration. Right now, Know-it-all Dictionary has ushered in hisrgest number of viewers.

    <em>[Let¡¯s Eat Sect is so cool¡­]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s what a real ranker is. Even though they are fighting against more than 100,000 enemies, they are still not backing down.]</em>

    <em>[Their MPs have tanked out right? So, does that mean that they¡¯re all holding out with their control alone¡­? Are they even human?]</em>

    <em>[Don¡¯t you think that it¡¯s like watching a scene from a movie?]</em>

    The viewers were all in awe of their battle. They were clearly losing in the battle of attrition, but it seemed like their embers were still glowing and burning brightly. Of course, it was mainly because Extreme Hardcore Fan¡¯s disy of power and force was perfect right now.

    <em>¡®I want to be on their side and fight together with them.¡¯ </em>Just when this thought shed in Know-it-all Dictionary¡¯s head, magic bombs began to fall down from the sky. Extreme Hardcore Fan split more than a hundred magic bombs with her sword. However, the ones that she failed to split fell down on the people behind her.

    ¡°Keuaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaack!¡±

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    Screams were ripped out of the mouths of the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect.

    <em>¡®What amazing defense?!¡¯</em>

    Still, they kept on moving forward, despite the bombs that constantly fell on them. The members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect not dying against the onught of the magic bombs was a terrifyingly amazing feat in and of itself.

    ¡°So, they¡¯re trying to make a path for retreat.¡±

    Know-it-all Dictionary looked worried. That was 130,000 enemies. It was not easy to open a path of retreat in the middle of 130,000 strong troops.

    ¡°To save their troops?¡±

    In fact, they could just use Mass Teleport for the Named NPCs. The fact that they were willing to sacrifice themselves to try to open a path for retreat meant they were going to allow the citizens and soldiers of Valha to flee.

    <em>¡®They¡¯re truly amazing.¡¯</em>

    However, opening a path for retreat was not easy at all. They could create a path to a certain degree, but the ces where the soldiers died were quickly being filled in. Genie and Ellie gritted their teeth as they continued to fight in this battle.

    <em>¡®Shit¡­ We can¡¯t open a path¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Everyone¡¯s exhausted. They can¡¯t open a path.¡¯</em>

    If they only had more MP then they could create a path by using AOE skills. Ellie wondered if she should use all of her power now. However, even if she did that, she knew that it would not work out well and would only bring a negative impact on Minhyuk and Let¡¯s Eat Sect.

    At this time, Ali, who had been using his snakes to fill up his MP, smiled lightly and said, ¡°It¡¯s enough.¡±

    However, this also meant that the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect would be forced to log out soon. Everyone would copse as soon as he sent the Named NPCs away. Ali swung his Staff of Despair the moment he saw Genie nod. But then¡­

    <em>[You have been trapped in a Mana Barrier.]</em>

    <em>[You will not be able to use magic and your MP will be drained by the Mana Barrier.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Ali¡¯s face turned ugly as an old man wearing a white robe stepped forward. This old man was none other than Berion, the head of Barras Kingdom¡¯s royal mages. He was known as one of the continent¡¯s supreme mages. He was someone that had already retired, but he participated in the war at the behest of King Grain.

    ¡°Unfortunately, you won¡¯t be able to escape.¡±

    The remnants from what seemed to have been a stone, gripped in one of Berion¡¯s hands, scattered in the air. Ali was fully aware of what it was.

    <em>¡®Mana stone.¡¯</em>

    A mana stone was an item that not only increased the person¡¯s mana, but also doubled their INT and WIS upon usage. As a restriction, the user could only use one magic with double the power. In other words, Berion had predicted this situation and prepared everything in advance.

    ¡°God damn it! Guild members! Protect the NPCs!!!¡± Genie gnashed her teeth.

    The guild members also realized the situation that they were in. The enemies would not let the NPCs escape easily.

    ¡°What do you mean by protect us? We¡¯ll protect you!¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t!!! Please don¡¯t be stubborn!!!¡± Genie pleaded with Ghost Spear Ben. Ben could hear the sincerity in her voice, but he never once backed down in his life, so he tried his best to ignore her words.

    ¡°Minhyuk¡­ Minhyuk will be sad!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Ghost Spear Ben gritted his teeth. That was his lord, the person that he treated like he was his own son! As his vassal, leaving this world without seeing him for thest time would be very unfaithful. Ben silently went back and blended in with the guild members. The guild members gave their all and threw everything away to protect the NPCs. But then, the kingdom troops began their full-scale attack. The knights sent hundreds of sword lights while the mages kept on sending magic bombs.

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    The guild members guarded the NPCs and blocked the enemy attacks with their own bodies. Crow threw himself in front of Ghost Spear Ben and blocked the arrow that was aiming for Ben, watching as it impaled his stomach.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuhaaaack!¡±

    One of the knights¡¯ spear pierced through Genie, while Abel and Lucia continued to fight desperately to create a path of retreat for the NPCs. However, one of the mage¡¯s magic would reach Lucia and force her to disappear.

    ¡°Lucia!¡± Abel shouted in despair.

    At the same time, one of the Pinnacle Strong Men aimed for Conir with his powerful sword strike.

    <em>aaaash¡ª</em>

    Abel immediately threw himself to block the sword light.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Abel, whose body was split in half from the attack, slowly disappeared.

    ¡°Conir¡­ Conir is sad¡­ Abel¡­ sorry¡­¡± Conir said, fat droplets of tears lining his cheeks.

    ¡°Protect them! Protect every single one of them! You can¡¯t let any of them die!!!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    The guild members screamed loudly as they made their final struggle.

    ***

    Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s president, Kang Taehoon, watched the video inside the conference room with the rest of the executive members. He felt his heart tremble and shake as the thought, <em>¡®The Athenae that I dreamed of¡­¡¯</em> shed in his head.

    A world where everyone epted the NPCs as people and became friends with them, and not just consider them as some measly artificial intelligence. This was the world that he wanted to create. However, it proved to be difficult since most people only considered the NPCs as simple artificial intelligence.

    However, on the screen in front of him, Let¡¯s Eat Sect was making their final stand to protect these NPCs.

    Regardless of their struggles, it seemed like they could not hold out any longer. They eventually copsed. Genie, with a spear stuck in her abdomen, retreated while vomiting a mouthful of blood. Even Crow was covered with swords and shes. However, they did not back down and even went so far as to rush forward.

    The worst part? Ben had to step forward and fight too. But soon, he also could not hold out and was forced to kneel down on one knee.

    <em>¡®My heart aches.¡¯</em>

    Athenae was, after all, a dog-eat-dog kind of world. It seemed like Let¡¯s Eat Sect would eventually copse. Loki, one of the Pinnacle Strong Men, approached the copsed Ghost Spear Ben and tried to behead him.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    President Kang Taehoon shut his eyes. Ghost Spear Ben cherished Minhyuk like he was his own son, so he did not want to see him die.

    ¡°He¡¯s going to hit¡­¡±

    President Kang Taehoon unknowingly clenched his fists when he heard the voices of the executives around him. But then, at that moment¡­

    <em>aaaaang¡ª</em>

    A clear and loud sound of iron meeting iron rang out loudly. Was it the sound of a sword blocking the attack? No.

    ¡°Where did that arrowe from?¡±

    ¡°A small arrow was able to block Loki¡¯s sword?¡±

    Hearing themotion that started to brew among the executives, President Kang Taehoon slowly opened his eyes. What greeted him was the flustered Loki who was busy looking around trying to search for the enemy that sent the arrow. Just when Loki gave up on finding the source and was about to swing his sword again¡­

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    ¡­arrows appeared again and pierced his heart in quick session.

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    The door suddenly mmed open while the executives were still trying to reel in their shock. Team Leader Park, with a messy head and red eyes, barged inside the room. His dead eyes, which looked strangely simr to Dongtae[1], was burning with life and determination once again as he smiled subtly at the monitor. He said, ¡°They¡¯re finally here...¡±

    Everyone, including President Kang Taehoon, looked at the monitor as Team Leader Park continued to say, ¡°¡­yer Minhyuk¡¯s miracle.¡±

    1. The protagonist of DICE, someone with very dark undereye ?

 Chapter 444: A Bet with the Gods. And Cooking.

    Chapter 444: A Bet with the Gods. And Cooking.

    President Kang Taehoon looked at Team Leader Park Minggyu in confusion.

    Team Leader Park was fully aware about the things that yer Minhyuk had prepared for this war, as well as the diplomatic activities that he participated in. He also knew the person that was wielding her sword to protect his territory.

    However, President Kang Taehoon had explicitly told them that they did not need to report anything if they judged that it would interfere with the <em>Athenae</em> yer¡¯s y. Also, the walls had ears. On the off chance that the executives and employees heard his report and ryed it to the guilds that they have connections with, then the enemies might reverse the situation and stop the advancing troops that came to help Let¡¯s Eat Sect. So, Park Minggyu decided not to report it.

    Even Kang Taehoon, the president, was no exception to this. And this was one of the qualities that the president liked about Minggyu.

    ¡°¡­Miracle?¡± Kang Taehoon asked in doubt. Minggyu just pointed towards the monitor as if he did not need to say anything to exin.

    The cameras that were broadcasting the scene hurriedly shuffled around to try and find the owner of the arrow. After moving around for quite a while, they finally closed up on a distant hill around three kilometers away from Loki. There, on top of that hill, stood a white warhorse carrying a man with pointed ears, long elegant hair, and an aloof, noble gaze. Everyone looked at the man in admiration.

    <em>[El, elf¡­?!]</em>

    One of thementators shouted in shock. However, the shocking events did not end there. Thousands of white warhorses, all carrying elves, appeared one after the other behind the man that shot the arrow. And the identity of the man that shot that arrow was¡­

    <em>[It¡¯s Elf King Gorn!!!]</em>

    <em>[Prince Argon, the elf that has reached the level of archery that no yer could ever achieve, and the son of Elf King Gorn, has also appeared!!!]</em>

    President Kang Taehoon jumped up from his seat the moment he heard the shocked voices of thementators ringing loudly in the room.

    At the same time, in another ce.

    It was abrupt and sudden, but fortunately, one of the broadcasting stations¡¯ cameras, the camera that was filming the battle from the sky, captured the scene of unidentified men piercing through the enemies¡¯ ranks from the other side of the path that the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect were desperately trying to create. These men were all wearing dark robes and asura masks that covered their faces. The most noteworthy part? All of them were wielding spears and using spear arts that had transcended the level of any regr knight.

    The troops could not hold out against them and were forced to back down and make way for them. The scene looked exactly like Moses¡¯ miracle with how quickly they separated to let these spearmen pass through. This group, led by Spear Master Marquis Brad, wasposed of either disciples that had learned spearmanship from Ghost Spear Ben, or spearmen that dreamt of meeting him. They all stood in front of Ghost Spear Ben as Spear Master Brad¡¯s spear cut through the air and pierced through Loki¡¯s already pierced chest and forced him to vomit blood and copse. They passed by the copsed Pinnacle Strong Man and created a defensive circle with a m of their spears, protecting Ghost Spear Ben and the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect.

    At this moment, the chests of all of the viewers watching this scene, especially Know-it-all Dictionary¡¯s viewers, felt their hearts burn aze. The scene even catapulted Know-it-all Dictionary¡¯s viewers to an all-time record-breaking high.

    Then, the elves, led by Elf King Gorn, began to unleash their arrows.

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª</em>

    The arrows that the elves shot were eerily urate, despite being thousands of meters away from the kingdom troops. They easily shot the troops¡¯ eyes, necks, and other vital points, wiping them out. Additionally, when Elf King Gorn and Crown Prince Argon released their own arrows¡­

    <em>Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack¡ª</em>

    ¡­their single arrow turned into hundreds of arrows and urately pierced through the necks of their enemies.

    Then, Elf King Gorn, who was sitting mightily on his horse, pulled out his sword and shouted, ¡°For Let¡¯s Eat Sect!!!¡±

    ¡°For Let¡¯s Eat Sect!!!¡±

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    <em>Bathump, bathump¡ª</em>

    Know-it-all Dictionary felt his heart beat wildly at the sight of five thousand elven troops rushing towards the 130,000 enemy troops. The moment Elf King Gorn¡¯s troops shed with the enemies¡­

    <em>aaaash¡ª</em>

    ¡­they immediately dug through the enemies¡¯ gaps, fighting fiercely to push them away.

    Know-it-all Dictionary took this time to say, ¡°Are you guys seeing this?! Right now, a miracle is happening in front of us! That¡¯s Elf King Gorn! It is a well-known fact that yer Minhyuk had saved Prince Argon during the Demon World Invasion Episode. And now, Elf King Gorn, the great and noble king of elves, stepped forward with his brethren to fight for Minhyuk!¡±

    Know-it-all Dictionary shared the information that he had in his hands to enhance the thrill that the viewers were feeling from watching his stream.

    <em>[Wow. I can feel my heart flutter. Did hee here to repay the favor from back then?]</em>

    <em>[But, aren¡¯t elves very hostile towards humans?]</em>

    <em>[Yo, who in the world are those men holding spears? Are they a spear unit?]</em>

    <em>[There are tens of thousands of enemies trying to pierce through the spearmen¡¯s defensive circle but they can¡¯t pierce through. Are they for real? Hahahaha.]</em>

    The spearmen were as active as the elves in this battle. They were protecting the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect while maintaining the perfect defensive circle. That was when the notification window suddenly popped up in front of Know-it-all Dictionary.

    <em>[MinhyukOppaILoveYou has sponsored you with 500 Moon Balloons[1]]</em>

    <em>[WhenWillAruvelReleaseHisNewWork has sponsored you with 1,000 Moon Balloons.]</em>

    <em>[BeanieCutie has sponsored you with 800 Moon Balloons.]</em>

    The Moon Balloon sponsorship rate of Know-it-all Dictionary dramatically increased. Unlike other BJs, Know-it-all Dictionary used a first person perspective in all of his live broadcasts which gave the viewers a different feeling, as if they were there and watching it themselves.

    <em>[FoodGod¡¯sSupporter has sponsored you with 1,000,000 Moon Balloons.]</em>

    <em>[FoodGod¡¯sSupporter has sponsored you with 1,000,000 Moon Balloons.]</em>

    <em>[FoodGod¡¯sSupporter has sponsored you with 1,000,000 Moon Balloons.]</em>

    <em>[FoodGod¡¯sSupporter has sponsored you with 1,000,000 Moon Balloons.]</em>

    <em>[FoodGod¡¯sSupporter has sponsored you with 1,000,000 Moon Balloons.]</em>

    The unknown and mysterious FoodGod¡¯sSupporter sponsored Know-it-all Dictionary with ny million Moon Balloons in one go and made him achieve a phenomenal record.

    ¡°Haaaaa?¡± Know-it-all Dictionary¡¯s breath stopped for a moment.

    He had been given offers and scouted by countless guilds so that he could broadcast for them. After all, he was the best BJ in Ztube, PaprikaTV, and many more live streaming tforms. However, he had never been bought over by money.

    But at this moment, he decided, <em>¡®Let¡¯s Eat Sect. That¡¯s where I¡¯ll go, that¡¯s where I belong!¡¯</em>

    However, the things that could make his veins thrum in excitement were not yet over. The Barras Kingdom¡¯s troops, who were flustered and in chaos from the sudden appearance of the elves and the spearmen, were slowlying back to their senses. Just as he was watching how the troops were about to form an attack formation to break through the elves and the spearmen¡¯s defensive circle¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡­an unknown and mysterious tidal wave suddenly appeared in Know-it-all Dictionary¡¯s sight.

    The twenty meter-tall tidal wave carried bipedal beastmen, two rabbitmen and one turtleman, on top of it. The three beastmen looked like they were surfing on the huge tide, a sight that was so shocking that even Know-it-all Dictionary could not take his eyes off of them. In a blink, the huge, twenty meter-tall tidal wave crashed down on the ground and engulfed tens of thousands of the kingdom troops in one fell swoop.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ***

    Everything, whether it was man or architecture, was powerless in front of a natural disaster. What more when faced with a twenty meter-tall tidal wave that was packed with a very strong momentum?

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Quite a number of the soldiers of Barras Kingdom¡¯s troops drowned and died on the spot from the sudden appearance of the tidal wave, while the rest of them were left in a daze and unable toe back to their senses. Surprisingly enough, the tidal wave left the elves, the spearmen and the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect alone.

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª</em>

    The mysterious rabbitmen and turtlemen, who stood on top of the tidal wave, also fought fiercely as they dealt with all of the soldiers that they passed by.

    ¡°Ugh!¡± Duke Yverone, who finally pulled his head out of the water, gasped for breath.

    ¡°<em>Gasp, gasp.</em>¡±

    Yverone looked around him in confusion. However, what greeted him was a two meter-tall being, with the face of a catfish and a long whitebeard wearing a golden king¡¯s robe and holding a trident in his hand. This being stood atop a giant crab, while hundreds of sharkmen warriors stood beneath him.

    <em>¡®Dragon, Dragon King?!¡¯</em>

    The man was none other than the King of the Seas, the Dragon King.

    Yverone could not understand why the king of the seas and the king of the elves stepped forward to protect Minhyuk, when they had never interrupted and joined in any of the conflicts that arose between humans before.

    <em>Puhaaaaaaaaak!</em>

    Jets of water sprang up from the ground and pierced through the hearts of the soldiers with every swing of the Dragon King¡¯s trident.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s really strong¡­¡¯</em>

    Each of the soldiers that these kings have led were far more powerful than any ordinary soldiers. But what was more surprising was¡­

    <em>¡®Who in the world are those spearmen?!¡¯</em>

    Yverone was someone that stood on par with Marquis Brad as the continent¡¯s Spear Master, so he could tell that the spearmen that appeared to protect the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect had reached a shocking level in terms of spearmanship.

    In just an instant, 20,000 of his troops had died. However, Yverone¡¯s shock and fluster onlysted for a moment. Even if 20,000 of his troops had died, they still had a little over 100,000 left. Right now, they might still have the momentum, but once their MP and STM ran out, then they would just be ducks waiting for the ughter. There was also the damage to their weapons.

    ¡°Don¡¯t back down! They will eventually fall under our hands!¡±

    Rather than fear, Yverone felt that this was his chance. Simply put, he was thinking that this was their chance to swallow thend of the elves and the dragon king¡¯s pce.

    <em>¡®And if we take the kings as our prisoners of war then¡­¡¯</em>

    He could not even imagine the value of what they would be able to gain from that. Just like that, the surviving Pinnacle Strong Men immediately stepped forward to keep the Dragon King, Elf King Gorn and Argon in check. They were also aware that they would be able to gain a lot of benefits if they won this battle.

    Just when these thoughts shed in Yverone¡¯s head, something ck suddenly dropped down from the sky. The moment it descended, hundreds of troops disappeared. It was as if a meteor had descended upon them.

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Yverone turned to look back in doubt, only to see ck Dragon getting up slowly.

    <em>[ck Dragon has made his appearance!!!]</em>

    <em>[ck Dragon! It has been a long time since west saw him but he finally appeared!!!]</em>

    And with his appearance¡­

    <em>Kiyeeeeeeeee! </em>

    <em>Kieeeeeeeeeeeeck!</em>

    <em>Graaaaaaaaaaaaaa!</em>

    Thousands of members of the dragon race descended from the skies. They were the ck Dragon Legion, a legionposed of the scattered dragon race warriors. They were now far stronger and greater than they were before. And¡­

    ¡°<em>Fufufufufu! </em>Wallow in despair. You all should drink this poisoned wine!¡±

    ¡°<em>Fufu!</em> How dare you measly humans try to deal with people born like us?¡±

    ¡­their chuunibyou-ness had also reached its peak. On top of that, the power that they possessed was far more overwhelming than their previous appearance.

    With their addition to the fray, the troops that Barras Kingdom had led here to deal with the Let¡¯s Eat Sect started decreasing rapidly. Thementators were quick to ry the sudden change in the battlefield¡¯s situation.

    <em>[ck Dragon, Elf King Gorn, Dragon King and the unknown spearmen all appeared to help Let¡¯s Eat Sect.]</em>

    <em>[However, the fact that they are inferior in terms of numbers in this ¡®battle of attrition¡¯ would not change. We can assume that the alliance that came to protect Let¡¯s Eat Sect will eventually be pushed back.]</em>

    <em>[That might be the case, but this is still a battle featuring four different races. I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll be able to see anything like this again, even if we want to see it in the future. This is a great battle that will leave its mark in Athenae¡¯s history.]</em>

    <em>[How many enemies will Let¡¯s Eat Sect be able to kill in this battle? I think that¡¯s also a very important question to consider.]</em>

    Thementators, who were gushing in admiration, suddenly stopped in confusion as they focused on Elf King Gorn. This was because the king of the elves was smiling subtly towards someone. Even Argon, who was standing next to his father, was smiling too. The cameras also captured the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect turning towards this someone. And Ali¡­

    ¡°Frieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeend!¡±

    ¡­called out passionately. Of course, the cameras immediately turned and followed the direction that they were looking at. Thementators shouted in excitement when they saw who it was.

    <em>[He has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[Let¡¯s Eat Sect¡¯s King, Korea¡¯s, no, the world¡¯s strongest yer has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[He has not made an appearance earlier but it seems like we can finally see him in action!]</em>

    Everyone, both Koreans and people from all over the world, that were tuned in on the broadcast focused on the figure of the man. At longst, he has made his appearance. He jumped on top of the fortress¡¯ walls and brought disaster upon their enemies.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    When he mmed his sword on the ground, a violent earthquake erupted and swallowed more than 5,000 troops in one go. The man rushed forward through the disaster that he released and handed something to the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect and the NPCs. The members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect bawled out, but the man ignored them. He looked like he was in a hurry. Not long after, the man put something in his mouth and¡­

    <em>Crunch, crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    <em>[???]</em>

    <em>[???]</em>

    Thementators were all perplexed as they watched the man, who appeared miraculously in front of the exhausted members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect, chew and swallow something. And with a smile of relief, the man called out, ¡°Elpis, Brod.¡±

    In a sh of light, two figures appeared. They were Let¡¯s Eat Sect¡¯s Sword and Shield.

    1. A parody of star balloons, the sponsorship system of AfreecaTV ?

 Chapter 445: A Bet with the Gods. And Cooking.

    Chapter 445: A Bet with the Gods. And Cooking.

    The Let¡¯s Eat Sect, the Let¡¯s Eat Sect Punishment Alliance, the Barras Kingdom, even the countless people that were watching from all over the world, had been waiting for the appearance of one person and one person alone. This was because they thought that he would be able to turn this desperate situation around. Countless people, despite not being able to reach his level, could not help but anticipate his arrival, so they could watch and admire his disy of power.

    When he suddenly appeared, he just handed some kind of dish to the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect, hurriedly ate something and summoned two men, before logging out.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    <em>[¡­?]</em>

    <em>[¡­?]</em>

    <em>[¡­?]</em>

    The members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect, the viewers, and even thementators that had been waiting for him were all dumbfounded.

    <em>[yer Minhyuk disappeared immediately after summoning two unknown men.]</em>

    <em>[What is happening?]</em>

    <em>[yer Minhyuk disappeared in less than five minutes, leaving behind two unknown men and several mysterious dishes.]</em>

    The people¡¯s expectations, the huge expectations that they had for Minhyuk, cooled down at the appearance of two unknown men. The same was true for ATV Broadcasting Station¡¯smentators. Even PD Kim Daeguk, today¡¯s specialmentator, frowned at the scene.

    <em>¡®He looks a bit familiar?¡¯</em>

    There were times when PD Kim would focus on an entirely different thing, than the rest of the people around him. This phenomenon was mostly attributed to his instincts. However, there were times when his instincts would be spot on.

    Right now, he felt that one of the men that had just appeared looked extremely familiar. Before he could even brood on this thought, the bright light that covered the two men finally disappeared. The two already had their swords unsheathed and ready for battle. One of the men had a stalk of hay in his mouth, but the sword in his hand was filled with unfathomable force.

    ¡°Mercenary¡¯s Pinnacle Swordsmanship, Final Chapter.¡±

    And when the man swung his sword¡­

    ¡°Wolf¡¯s Death.¡±

    ¡­hundreds of sword lights flew fiercely, like red wolves rushing for the kill. When these sword lights collided with the soldiers¡­

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    ¡­their bodies were ripped apart and torn to pieces, as if they had been mauled by wolves. The entire thing only took 0.1 seconds. However, the attack did not stop there. After ripping the soldiers in front apart, the attack continued forward and ripped apart the soldiers standing behind the ones before. More than 4,000 soldiers and knights died without even letting out a single scream from the man¡¯s lone strike.

    ¡°Hiiiiiiiiik!¡± Yverone shrieked.

    <em>[What, what just happened¡­?]</em>

    <em>[Is that even possible? This is impossible. Even though I¡¯m watching it with my own eyes, I still can¡¯t bring myself to believe it.]</em>

    That was not the end yet. The other man, who had a pair of earphones stuck in his ears, swung his ck sword. However, he suddenly stopped in his tracks as if he forgot something. Then, the man took away the earphones in his ears, activated the listening function, and yed the sweet melody of Beethoven¡¯s Moonlight Sonata¡¯s Third Movement loudly on the battlefield. The sudden appearance of the piano¡¯s fast tempo made everyone focus on the music.

    For some reason, this fast paced tempo sounded like it was announcing the advent of the devil. Then, the man swung his sword strongly. Simply put, Elpis had expressed himself and his strongest sword attack towards his enemies, the very same way that wiped out Callian and the 4,000 strong troops that came with him just recently.

    ¡°Devil Judge.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The moment Elpis mmed his sword on the ground, tiny ck beads rose from the ground, in front of the thousands of enemy soldiers focused on the music. These ck beads, packed with additional 2,500% attack, floated in front of them for a moment before exploding.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    None of the troops were able to let out a single scream. They could not handle the power of Elpis¡¯ move which was heaped on top of his basic attack. The explosion engulfed an area with a fifty meter radius and left no bodies intact.

    Everyone present at the scene all went silent. The Barras Kingdom troops and the Pinnacle Strong Men did not even dare to breathe. They feared that the two masterminds of this massacre woulde for them if they so let out a single, shaky breath.

    <em>[What the hell¡­]</em>

    Thementators could not put what they were feeling into words. At first, they thought that the Let¡¯s Eat Sect¡¯s engines would be truly and utterly spent after Minhyuk, who they thought would be the guild¡¯s savior, appeared and suddenly disappeared. However the two beings that he summoned, whom they ignored at first, could easily trample on and break the momentum of the 100,000 strong troops.

    Even Let¡¯s Eat Sect¡¯s allies were very surprised by this.

    Crown Prince Argon¡¯s pupils shook as he thought, <em>¡®Minhyuk, what kind of people have you taken in as your vassals?¡¯</em>

    It was not just him. The ruler of the seas, the Dragon King also thought, <em>¡®Are they really beings from the middle world?¡¯</em>

    Even the Spear Master, Marquis Brad was thinking, <em>¡®Master Ben, I think I already know the reason why you¡¯re living in this territory willingly.¡¯</em>

    Everyone was left speechless as they watched Let¡¯s Eat Sect¡¯s Sword and Shield in admiration. While the allied armies and the enemy troops stopped fighting to watch the two¡­

    <em>Slurp, slurp, slurp, slurp¡ª</em>

    <em>Chew, chew, chew¡ª</em>

    <em>Chomp, chomp, chomp, chomp¡ª</em>

    ¡°Kahaha. The dish that my son, no, my lord, cooked is really superb! This is really delicious!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m telling you, I always think of Minhyuk¡¯s food whenever I feel exhausted!¡±

    ¡°Wow. This sushi tastes amazing.¡±

    ¡­the voices of the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect being protected by the spearmen rang loudly as they spread the food in front of them and ate them with relish. Their voices broke the overbearing silence from earlier.

    <em>[Those are the dishes that yer Minhyuk gave them when he appeared briefly. They¡¯re probably buffed dishes.]</em>

    <em>[I wonder how good it is? How can they get so into the food that they can¡¯t even pay attention to the situation around them?]</em>

    <em>[I heard that you can hear a heavenly harmony the moment you take a bite of yer Minhyuk¡¯s dishes. I really look forward to trying that.]</em>

    <em>[They all looked like they were about to die just now. That old man named Ghost Spear Ben was even just about to be beheaded earlier. But now, he¡¯s eating merrily while bleeding from his chest. Ah! He¡¯s eating even though his chest is bleeding!]</em>

    <em>[Bounty Hunter Crow even has an arrow on his back¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­Miss Ascar looks like both of her legs have been broken but she¡¯s smiling while eating.]</em>

    <em>[Even Miss Extreme Hardcore Fan looks like she¡¯s in awe of the food that she¡¯s eating. But she¡¯s the only one that looks fine.]</em>

    <em>[This scene is a bit grotesque.]</em>

    Thementators looked at them in curiosity. They were in the middle of a war, but they were eating like crazy. Was the food really that good that they could even forget their current situation? Of course that was one of the reasons. However, the main reason why they were eating like crazy was because¡­

    <em>¡®The war will end once we eat this food.¡¯</em>

    They were all convinced about this.

    ***

    Back in reality.

    Minhyuk was still inside his capsule trying hard to reconnect to the game.

    <em>[Your psychological state is unstable.]</em>

    <em>[You will not be able to connect.]</em>

    <em>[It is rmended that you take a good rest before logging back in the game.]</em>

    Even after trying hundreds of times, Minhyuk still failed to log back in.

    <em>¡®Being able to connect earlier was only thanks to a sudden stroke of luck¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>Athenae</em> was a game that was famous for being a game that had no errors and bugs. However, although very, <em>very </em>rarely, there were cases where their yers would experience connection errors. It was extremely rare, but a yer that was not allowed to ess the games due to physical constraints would be able to seed in logging in after trying to log in for hundreds of times.

    And Minhyuk was able to grab that very slim chance by sheer luck. Even so, the Athenae equipment immediately noticed his abnormal state and stopped his normal gamey, only allowing him a brief amount of time inside the game.

    <em>[Your ess to the game has been forced through an abnormal method.]</em>

    <em>[Your psychological state is unstable.]</em>

    <em>[You will be forced to log out in three minutes. We rmend that you log out in a safe ce.]</em>

    Minhyuk tried to ess the game again and again after he was logged out by the system. But after experiencing failure time and time again, Minhyuk eventually gave up and came out of the capsule.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s better to get a good rest before logging back inside.¡¯</em>

    First, he decided to have a meal and calm his dizzy head to some extent. He sat in front of the TV and watched the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect eat his food in a hurry.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m d they all found my dishes to be delicious.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk smiled lightly. Of course, the dishes that Minhyuk made with all his might were packed with power too.

    ***

    A few months before.

    Minhyuk had started preparing for war.

    Minhyuk, who holed himself up inside the lord¡¯s mansion¡¯s private kitchen, had told Haze that he should not be disturbed if there was nothing special to report. He then looked at the memo that he had written. He used his ¡®Create a Recipe¡¯ skill and discovered the dishes that the NPCs and the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect wanted to eat. This memo was filled with those recipes that he had written.

    The number of dishes that Minhyuk had listed reached a staggering amount. But he never thought that it was a ¡®chore¡¯. In fact, he even thought of it as a ¡®reward¡¯. The first thing that came to mind when he started making the dishes was, <em>¡®Thank you, everyone.¡¯</em>

    Losing weight, adapting to <em>Athenae,</em> and bing the object of everyone¡¯s admiration were things that he aplished with the help of everyone. It was only possible because everyone helped him and stayed together with him. For Minhyuk, who had closed himself off from the world for several years, their existence had be special to him. They were like a family, sometimes like a friend, other times like a father and a mother to him. Their presence and kindness filled the hole in his empty heart.

    <em>¡®I hope that you will feel happy when you eat this dish.¡¯</em>

    Everyone was special to him. Conir, a boy who wanted to be the Ramyeon God, was like a brother to him. Ghost Spear Ben, the man that made coffee whilebing his luscious hair, was like his father. Vice Guild Master Genie was a close friend and a reliable helper that always gave him advice on guild management. Locke, who was ugly but had a heart that was warmer than anybody else, had always been sincere to him and he had always been grateful for that. It was not only them, there were countless people that were special to him.

    <em>¡®Let¡¯s start.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk rolled his sleeves up as he turned towards the hundreds of rare ingredients from all over the world piled up like a mountain to the side.

    The first dish that he had made was for Death.

    <em>¡®Thank you for changing yourself.¡¯</em>

    Death might not be a member of Let¡¯s Eat Sect, but he was a friend that Minhyuk wanted to treat to a delicious meal at least once. The food that Death wanted to eat as per the ¡®Create a Recipe¡¯ skill was none other than a ¡®homemade dish¡¯.

    He had lived alone for a long time and had long been ustomed to eating instant food and delivery just like any single man living alone. And it seemed like he did not cook in the game either, since his DEX was pitifully small. Just like any typical single man living alone, Death seemed to crave for some boiling soybean stew and grilled mackerel, the typical homemade dishes.

    Minhyuk, with a wide smile on his face, started to cook. He added a lot of tofu in the boiling soybean stew before tasting the vor. Then, he grilled the mackerel, made some seasoned spinach and bean sprouts, some sweet and salty soybeans, green onion kimchi and many other side dishes.

    <em>¡®You¡¯re going to eat this in a hurry, huh?¡¯</em>

    A smile immediately curled at the corners of Minhyuk¡¯s mouth. Minhyuk was cooking for others, and not for himself. This was indeed a tremendous improvement on his part and could be viewed as a great progress in his eating addiction treatment.

    The highlight of the special ability and effects of Death¡¯s dish was the ability to further strengthen the undead. When he finally finished the dish¡­

    <em>[You havepleted Homemade Dishes.]</em>

    <em>[Death¡¯s dish is the only dish with the buff effect.]</em>

    <em>[The Create a Recipe Skill Effect can only be tasted by the same person once per month.]</em>

    <em>[Trance. It¡¯s a dish that has your ¡®heart¡¯, ¡®joy¡¯ and ¡®effort for others¡¯ poured into it.]</em>

    <em>[Due to the effects of Trance, the buff effect has be better.]</em>

    <em>[Legendary Grade.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 30 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 200 REP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 5,000 AP.]</em>

    The fact that the first dish that he cooked was a legendary grade dish made Minhyuk extremely delighted. He did not stop there. This time, he prepared a ¡®Bizarre Rice Cake¡¯ set for Ascar.

    <em>¡®She¡¯s always been quiet, but she always steps forward for the guild.¡¯</em>

    To Minhyuk, Ascar looked aloof and cold but he knew that she was a warm-hearted person. Minhyuk sincerely hoped that her stress would be blown away once she ate this Bizarre Rice Cake set. He felt happy. Just as he felt delighted when he made Death¡¯s dish, he also felt happy when he cooked a dish for Ascar too. And when he finished it¡­

    <em>[Due to the effects of Trance, the buff effect has be better.]</em>

    <em>[Legendary Grade.]</em>

    <em>¡®Two legendary grade dishes in a row?¡¯ </em>

    Minhyuk smiled. This was a very rare urrence, nevertheless, he was still happy. This time, the dish that he was making was for Genie. What Genie wanted was a savory carbonara, a dish perfect with crispy pickles.

    <em>¡®The rascal has lost a lot of weight.¡¯</em>

    He smiled when he thought about how Genie had be very pretty,pletely unlike her appearance in the past. Minhyuk was still grinning when he finished the dish.

    <em>[Due to the effects of Trance, the buff effect has be better.]</em>

    <em>[Legendary Grade.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Instead of a smile, cold sweat started to drip down Minhyuk¡¯s forehead.

    <em>¡®Why did I suddenly be so lucky¡­?¡¯</em>

    Nevertheless, Minhyuk still continued to cook dishes. And his fourth dish¡­

    <em>[Due to the effects of Trance, the buff effect has be better.]</em>

    <em>[Legendary Grade.]</em>

    ¡°Uh, uhmm¡­¡±

    Minhyuk could not help but feel nervous when things went well for him. And when he finished his fifth dish, he received a totally unexpected set of notifications.

    <em>[Due to the effects of Trance, the buff effect has be better.]</em>

    <em>[Legendary Grade.]</em>

    <em>[You have made five legendary grade dishes in a row.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 500 additional REP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 30 additional points to all your five basic stats.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Cooking is in awe after watching you make five legendary grade dishes in a row.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Cooking is the Food God¡¯s master. Now, he has started watching you, the Food God¡¯s descendant, closely.]</em>

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[The God of Cooking is suggesting a bet. The God of Cooking is challenging you to make ten legendary grade dishes.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    They were truly shocking and unexpected notifications.

 Chapter 446: The Absolute Godâ€™s Secret

    Chapter 446: The Absolute God¡¯s Secret

    The Food God was someone that ate a lot. Simply put, the Food God¡¯s ss was just a tad bit different from a chef. However, the cooking skill that the Food God had inherited was amazing enough that it could ignore the skills of the secret sses, hidden sses, and legendary sses.

    And the source of this shocking cooking skill, a point of doubt for Minhyuk for the longest time, was finally somewhat revealed. It was basically not from the Food God but from the ¡®God of Cooking¡¯, the Food God¡¯s master. But the strangest part was¡­

    <em>[The God of Cooking is suggesting a bet. The God of Cooking is challenging you to make ten legendary grade dishes.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Bet with a God Quest</strong>: Ten Legendary Grade Dishes.]</em>

    ¡­the God of Cooking suggested a bet and challenged Minhyuk to make ten legendary grade dishes. The fact that a God made a bet with him was already amazing in and of itself. However, the conditions were ridiculous. The God challenged him into making ten legendary grade dishes.

    <em>¡®Can I even do that?¡¯</em>

    Of course, Minhyuk had already made five legendary grade dishes in a row. But that was a feat with lower chances than those of winning the lotto. In short, it was all thanks to his sudden stroke of luck. The greatest problem here was that he needed to make five more. After a moment of contemtion, he thought that this was something that would not hurt him even if he tried.

    <em>¡®Besides, my cooking skills might get stronger with this bet.¡¯</em>

    After all, this was a bet with the God of Cooking, the very same god that taught the Food God. He definitely had the power and skill to create better dishes. The first thing that Minhyuk did was to check the quest window.

    <em>[<strong>Bet with a God Quest</strong>: Ten Legendary Grade Dishes.]</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: SSS</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: The one that cooked five legendary grade dishes in a row.</em>

    <em><strong>Rewards</strong>: ???</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty for Failure</strong>: The destruction of the five legendary grade dishes.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: You have made five legendary grade dishes in a row and are now being observed by one of the Absolute Gods, the God of Cooking. You can challenge the remaining five legendary grade dishes within three weeks. There are no limits on the number of failures that you can get.</em>

    <em>¡®Absolute God?¡¯ </em>Minhyuk thought in doubt after hearing an unfamiliar word. What kind of being was an Absolute God? For now, he still did not know.

    <em>¡®But there are a lot of penalties¡­¡¯</em>

    In other words, the five legendary grade dishes that he hadpleted and was very delighted with, would disappear and be taken away. Just thinking about them was enough to make him happy.

    <em>¡®Should I challenge it? Or not?¡¯</em>

    He would feel heartbroken if these dishes that he made for his friends were suddenly taken away in vain. However, his curiosity towards the rewards marked as ¡®???¡¯ was too much for him to not challenge it. Also, this might be the chance for him to increase his own power. After thinking for a long time, Minhyuk finally made up his mind. He said, ¡°I ept the bet.¡±

    <em>[You have epted the <strong>Bet with a God Quest</strong>: Ten Legendary Grade Dishes.]</em>

    Minhyuk suppressed his emotions and tried to be as rational as possible. These dishes were dishes that he made for his friends and not for himself. They were something that none of them asked for and were just things that Minhyuk made on his own. Since they were unaware of it, none of them would be hoping for something. If he told them that he ¡®rejected¡¯ this, none of them would nod and agree with him. In fact, they might probably even tell him that he made the wrong decision here.

    After all, this was a quest that would present a new path for Minhyuk. And¡­

    <em>¡®Even if I fail, I¡¯ll just have to do my best to cook for them again.¡¯</em>

    ¡­he could cook for them anytime he wanted.

    <em>¡®I don¡¯t need to make five of them in a row. I have a time limit of three weeks to make them.¡¯</em>

    The truth was, the three-week time limit, for people other than Minhyuk, to create five legendary grade dishes was somethingpletely absurd. Legendary artifacts and legendary grade dishes had started to frequent the market as the yers started to y longer. However, they were like ¡®poison¡¯ tomon rankers, with their difficulty level to produce.

    In fact, producing a legendary grade dish within three weeks was something that Minhyuk was not even sure was possible for him, what more if it was five?

    <em>¡®It must either be luck, or maybe there¡¯s some other reason.¡¯</em>

    But even if he did not rely on luck in the future, it was alright. Minhyuk would not give up on the five legendary grade dishes and he would definitely be able to surprise the God of Cooking. In the first ce, he was not a genius, he was ¡®someone that worked hard¡¯.

    With firm determination, Minhyuk started cooking once again. This time, it was a dish for Lucia. She was the Assassin of the Moon and had be the master of her own guild. Together with her guild members, she joined Let¡¯s Eat Sect and dered that they were the guild¡¯s ¡®shadows¡¯. He was also very thankful to her. And the dish that he was making for her was none other than the Korean thistle rice meal.

    <em>¡®She always kept on saying that she wanted to eat ramyeon every day. This time, she should eat healthy food.¡¯</em>

    To Minhyuk, Lucia seemed like a person that liked ramyeon. She used to tell him, <em>¡®Do you want to eat ramyeon at my house?¡¯ </em>Every time Minhyuk received this message, he would always look at it in doubt.

    <em>¡®Does she only eat ramyeon?¡¯</em>

    Of course, for Minhyuk, ramyeon was the best food. But asking, <em>¡®Do you want to eat ramyeon?¡¯ </em>everyday was still a bit too much for him.

    <em>¡®Do you want to eat chicken at my house?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Do you want to eat some homemade meals at my house?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Do you want to eat pizza at my house?¡¯</em>

    She could ask him these, so why did she have to ask if he wanted to eat ramyeon everyday?!

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll definitely make you some delicious Korean thistle rice that is both delicious and good for your health!¡¯</em>

    Korean thistle rice was both good for the pte and the health. It was best paired with warm soybean paste soup with dried radish leaves or cheonggukjang. Minhyuk felt a bit better when he thought about Lucia, who only thought about eating ramyeon every day, eating this Korean thistle rice and regaining her energy. And that was how he started cooking.

    Minhyuk¡¯s hands moved lightly as he cooked. He sincerely hoped that Lucia would feel that eating rice was better and healthier than eating ramyeon every day. He ced the Korean thistle rice in a regr pressure cooker, not the electric rice cooker. The cheonggukjang was also boiling and emitting a tantalizing scent and filled with healthy chunks of tofu and unvored driedver. Minhyuk also mixed some soybean paste and soy sauce, to make the seasoning that he would use to mix with the Korean thistle rice.

    After thinking about how Lucia liked stimting things, he also made some spicy stir-fried pork for her. He felt happy just by making it.

    <em>¡®I won¡¯t eat ramyeon everyday anymore, Minhyuk!¡¯</em>

    A wide smile curled at the corners of Minhyuk¡¯s lips when he thought about how Lucia would choose to be healthy after eating the Korean thistle rice that he made for her.

    Minhyuk must have already been tired after making his sixth dish in a row. But he had forgotten about his exhaustion andpletely fell into a trance as he continued to cook. And when he finished the dish¡­

    <em>[You havepleted a Korean Thistle Rice.]</em>

    <em>[Rare Grade.]</em>

    Unfortunately, a lower-grade dish appeared the moment he epted the bet.

    ¡°Ah, man. What do I do if she feels sad about this?¡±

    Minhyuk thought that he should make another Korean thistle rice meal. However, even though his words sounded like it was filled with disappointment, his mouth was twitching with joy.

    There was one thing that the God of Cooking did not know. Minhyuk felt disappointed when legendary grade dishes came out. This was because he had already decided that he would eat all of the dishes that came out with a grade lower than unique.

    However, the dishes that he made earlier always came out as legendary, legendary, legendary! A series of regrets appeared one after another! This time, he could finally eat! With an expression that screamed ¡®it can¡¯t be helped¡¯, Minhyuk happily helped himself to some Korean thistle rice, before cooking once again.

    Despite the grueling work, he did not feel exhausted. He enjoyed cooking for his friends to the point that he even forgot the bet that he made with the God of Cooking. Besides, even if he failed, he would still be delighted since he would eat these failed dishes.

    A day, two days, three days, four days, a week then passed, but no legendary grade dish had appeared. Minhyuk had reached the point where he opted not to eat the failed dish right away so he could challenge another dish. He kept on cooking and changing things up.

    Although he did not achieve any legendary-grade dish during that week, he still showed his unwavering will. He slept as little as he could and immediately started cooking the moment he logged back inside the game.

    Of course, he was only a human being, so doing this was hard on him. Every once in a while, he would feel his vision turn blurry and his body start to feel heavy to the point that he wanted to sink and copse on the ground from exhaustion.

    Whenever that happened, he would get these notifications:

    <em>[You have triggered the Skill: Will.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats, skills and abilities including DEX will temporarily increase by 24%.]</em>

    His skill Will would relieve him of his exhaustion for a moment. And¡­

    <em>[You have gained 1 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[Your skill proficiency in the Food God¡¯s Cooking Skill has increased.]</em>

    Thanks to his repetitive cooking, his Food God¡¯s Cooking skill proficiency and his DEX were steadily increasing. In his trance-like state, the seventeenth day had passed by unknowingly. So far, he was only able to make one legendary dish.

    ***

    The world above the clouds. It could be simply put that way. The ground was made up entirely of clouds, and even though the ce was bright, there was no sun. In this world, one man was looking down through the clouds.

    <em>¡®Amazing,¡¯ </em>A sigh of admiration unknowingly escaped the man¡¯s mouth.

    How many days has it been since the person started cooking? The person that he had been watching was genuinely happy as he cooked and cooked for others. But the more surprising part was¡­

    <em>¡®Isn¡¯t he the Food God¡¯s descendant?¡¯</em>

    The Food God was literally someone that loved to eat more than anyone else. But that God¡¯s descendant was now doing his best for others, that he even ignored his exhaustion and fatigue. Even when the man had reached that point where his exhaustion was going to get the best of him, he would stand up firmly and express his firm determination to finish what he started.

    At first, he was just interested in him and had suggested the bet for fun. However, there were only four days left and the man was only able to make one legendary grade dish so far. The God of Cooking thought, <em>¡®It would be nice if he can get my secret¡­¡¯</em>

    However, if the man lost the bet, then he would not be able to get it.

    ***

    There were only four days left until the end of the bet. If others were in Minhyuk¡¯s shoes right now, they would most definitely be extremely tense and nervous and would have already resorted to cursing Joy Co. Ltd. and shouting about how <em>Athenae </em>was a ¡®freaking shitty game¡¯.

    However, Minhyuk was still smiling.

    <em>¡®I have no regrets.¡¯</em>

    Of course, Minhyuk was still human, so he would still feel disappointed if he failed in the end. However, even if that happened, he would not regret it since he gave it his all. If he did his best and it still did not work, then it was no longer his fault. So, he still continued to cook happily. Just like that, another day had gone by, then two days.

    <em>[You have gained 1 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1 DEX.]</em>

    The continuous notification about his DEX increase also helped him to not sumb to his exhaustion. He was able to umte 60 DEX points within the three-week time limit set for the bet. And finally, thest day came. Thankfully, he did not have any shadow of regret on his face.

    <em>¡®Our dear Jisoo.¡¯</em>

    His game nickname was Locke. What Minhyuk was trying to make for him was some rice cake dumpling soup. He had already prepared the beef bone broth a long time ago and with that as the base, he added some rice cakes and dumplings and boiled them for a while, before adding some egg and seaweed powder for garnish.

    <em>¡®If you scoop up some hot dumplings with your spoon and put it in your mouth together with some crispy kimchi then¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was sure that Locke would exim in delight. Just imagining how Locke would like it and how he would be happy when he received this dish was enough to bring his spirits up. Even the fact that there was only a day left for the bet was not enough to dampen his mood.

    When he sprinkled the sliced green onion on top of the soup, the notifications came.

    <em>[Due to the effects of Trance, the buff effect has be better.]</em>

    <em>[Legendary Grade.]</em>

    <em>[This is your seventh Legendary Grade Dish.]</em>

    ¡°Oh.¡±

    A deep smile curled at the corner of Minhyuk¡¯s mouth. His butt even started to jiggle unknowingly from the happiness of getting a legendary grade for Locke¡¯s dish.

    This time, he was making a dish for Grandpa Ben. Minhyuk wanted to give Grandpa Ben a taste of the dishes from their world, and not from Athenae. So, he prepared a homemade burger set for him. He could already imagine Grandpa Ben telling him this while eating the dish, <em>¡®Hoho. My son¡­ no, my lord. I feel like the food you make is giving me more strength.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk could not help but grin at the thought of Grandpa Ben smiling happily, while eating the dish he made for him.

    <em>[Due to the effects of Trance, the buff effect has be better.]</em>

    <em>[Legendary Grade.]</em>

    <em>[This is your eighth Legendary Grade Dish.]</em>

    He had achieved another unbelievable feat. Next, he made a dish for Khan. He was Minhyuk¡¯s close friend who liked to use his fists and never skipped exercising in reality. A real friend that he could talk to about anything and everything.

    Minhyuk was going to make some braised spicy chicken for him. He was sure that Khan would definitely give him the thumbs up when he mashed the potatoes with the braised spicy chicken¡¯s sauce and mixed it with rice. When that time came, Minhyuk would ask him, <em>¡®Is it good?¡¯</em> and Khan would give him a happy smile in answer. And when he finished the dish¡­

    <em>[Due to the effects of Trance, the buff effect has be better.]</em>

    <em>[Legendary Grade.]</em>

    <em>[This is your ninth Legendary Grade Dish.]</em>

    Surprisingly enough, Minhyuk failed to notice the series of notifications that rang for him. It was because he had already fallen into a deep trance, and started on his next dish.

    This time, he was making a dish for the Best Selling Author Aruvel. Whenever Aruvel was writing his work, he would concentrate deeply and fail to realize that the day had already turned into night. He always worked so hard that he would even get nosebleeds.

    For this hardworking Aruvel, Minhyuk wanted to present some Chinese food so he could realize and learn about the vor of the best food in the foreigners¡¯ world. Minhyuk made some dry ck bean noodles, sweet and sour pork, and fried dumplings. He could already imagine Aruvel, who dipped the fried dumplings in the dry ck bean noodles¡¯ sauce, saying, <em>¡®Fried dumplings¡­ Woah, I feel like I can write more with this!¡¯</em>

    Just the thought of Aruvel eating the dish that he made happily was enough to make him happy. If it was for them, Minhyuk would willingly face any hardships. After he finished the dish, a bright light shone and covered his entire body. Then, a strange, mysterious, old, decrepit book descended from the sky, immediately followed by a series of notifications.

    <em>[You have made ten Legendary Grade Dishes.]</em>

    <em>[You have seeded andpleted the <strong>Bet with a God Quest</strong>: Ten Legendary Grade Dishes.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Cooking was deeply impressed by your firm will and determination. You did not even sumb to your exhaustion when cooking for others. He is giving you additional rewards.]</em>

    <em>[The ten legendary grade dishes that you have made will have stronger buff effects and special abilities.]</em>

    <em>[All of the legendary grade dishes that you will make in the next month will have stronger buff effects.]</em>

    <em>[Your chances of creating legendary grade dishes in the next month will double.]</em>

    The ten legendary grade dishes that he made would have stronger effects? This was something that was alreadypletely iprehensible but the notifications were not over yet. The descending old book stopped in front of Minhyuk and¡­

    <em>[One of the Absolute God¡¯s Ten Secrets has awakened in the world.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained the Active Skill: Ovepping Delight.]</em>

 Chapter 447: The Absolute Godâ€™s Secret

    Chapter 447: The Absolute God¡¯s Secret

    Minhyuk was unfamiliar with the word ¡®Absolute God¡¯. There was a chance that other yers might know about this term, but Minhyuk? He waspletely clueless. He also did not have a single clue about the God of Cooking being one of the Absolute Gods, nor any knowledge about the Absolute God¡¯s Ten Secrets.

    <em>¡®But I¡¯m sure that it¡¯s something great.¡¯</em>

    The God of Cooking was the Food God¡¯s master, which meant that there was a high chance that the Food God was not in the ranks of these ¡®Absolute Gods¡¯. As for the Absolute God¡¯s Secrets, rather, the one that he acquired¡­

    <em>¡®The process of acquiring this secret ispletely absurd.¡¯</em>

    ¡­Minhyuk was sure that the other yers that had acquired the ¡®Absolute God¡¯s Secrets¡¯ would definitely have undergone harsh requirements and ridiculous trials, just like what he had experienced. After all, the rewards would definitely be proportional to the amount of effort they gave for the task and the things that they did.

    Minhyuk immediately checked the Absolute God¡¯s Secret, the Ovepping Delight.

    <em>(<strong>Ovepping Delight</strong>)</em>

    <em>Absolute God¡¯s Secret</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Mana Required</strong>: 10,000</em>

    <em><strong>Cooldown</strong>: 24 hours</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>? You can ovep the buff effects of two different dishes. </em>

    <em>? Once the buff effects of two different dishes ovep, you will be able to see the effects by eating one dish and then thinking about eating the other one. </em>

    <em>? A ¡®cooking die¡¯ will be thrown when the two dishes¡¯ buff effects ovep. The number that will be disyed on the die will determine the duration of the buff. </em>

    <em>? The lower the number, the shorter the duration of the buff effect. The duration per number rolled is as follows: thirty seconds for number 1, one minute for number 2, two minutes for number 3, three minutes for number 4, four minutes for number 5, and seven minutes for number 6. </em>

    <em>? The EXP you gain will double as long as Ovepping Delight is in effect.</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The Absolute God¡¯s Secret was far more powerful than what Minhyuk had expected.

    ***

    Genie and the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect were all in a desperate situation. When they were still Legend Guild, Minhyuk had started to bring one vassal after another. Each of these vassals had their own distinct personalities, but they had always been the strongest and most reliable backers of the guild, even after they had been reborn as the Let¡¯s Eat Sect. The guild members wanted to protect them as much as they could, but they werepletely hopeless in their current situation.

    Ghost Spear Ben was suffering from severe injuries and had copsed while vomiting a mouthful of blood. Best Seller Author Aruvel had his left arm broken and was only swinging his spear with his right arm. Ramyeon Boy Conir had used countless swords from the enemies that he had cut down and had broken them over and over again. Although he kept on taking the swords of the enemies that he had in to protect his dearly beloved hyung¡¯s territory, he had already reached the limits of his body. Pdin Corr was no different.

    More than 100,000 troops flocked to Valha, while the Pinnacle Strong Men, who were hiding among their midst, kept on attacking the NPCs. To the Let¡¯s Eat members, they had to protect and save the NPCs. However, they became aware of the bitter fact that they were just ¡®one yer¡¯. They were their country¡¯s strongest mage, strongest knight, strongest spearman, and strongest tamer fighting against 100,000 people. Although they even used their bodies to protect the NPCs, one of the Pinnacle Strong Men was able to get past their defenses and had tried to behead Ghost Spear Ben¡¯s head.

    ¡°Nooooooooo!!!¡±

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaaaack! No. Grandpa Ben!!! Quick, run away! Run away!¡±

    ¡°Please! I beg you, please!!!¡±

    Both the soldiers and the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect screamed. Ben was one of the pirs of the guild and was a precious person that Minhyuk cherished dearly. Then, at that moment, an arrow struck Loki¡¯s sword. The miracle that Minhyuk had created finally came. And it was nothing short of spectacr.

    ¡°Master!¡±

    ¡°Lord Legend!!!¡±

    The spearmen created a defensive circle to protect Ghost Spear Ben and their guild. All of the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect breathed a sigh of relief, but deep inside, they were all frustrated.

    <em>¡®We couldn¡¯t do anything.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®The best guild is like this¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I almost failed to protect our most precious people.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®We¡¯re still very muchcking.¡¯</em>

    They could only me themselves.

    <em>¡®If only I were a bit stronger. If only I had the power to go beyond my limits now. Then, we may not have copsed so helplessly like this.¡¯</em>

    Then, ¡®he¡¯ appeared.

    ¡°We don¡¯t have much time. Come and get your food, quick. This is for Grandpa Ben, for Genie, for Locke¡­¡±

    He did not exin why he waste and only moved hurriedly as if he was being chased by something.

    ¡°What do you mean by that? Why don¡¯t we have much time? You¡¯re already here, so why¡­¡± Genie asked in doubt.

    Unfortunately, Minhyuk only spoke after handing over all of the food to them, ¡°These are the dishes that I made for you in the past few months. Thank you for doing your best to fight while I was away. Please continue to do so.¡±

    Minhyuk looked at them in guilt. However, he immediately chewed and swallowed the ¡®Almond of Subordinates¡¯ and summoned the Let¡¯s Eat Sect¡¯s Sword and Shield. Then, he looked back at his guild members and said, ¡°I hope that you¡¯ll find the dishes enjoyable and delicious.¡±

    With a bitter smile on his face, he logged out and disappeared from their sights. Everyone could not understand the situation. But then, ck Dragon squeezed through the gap and entered the spearmen¡¯s defensive circle to exin everything quickly. Genie, the guild members and even the NPCs were all left speechless after they heard his words.

    <em>¡®He did that for months just for us¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Not only did he engage in diplomatic activities, he was also busy with guild management, yet he still cooked for us¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Thank you, Minhyuk.¡¯</em>

    Everyone was speechless. They were fully aware that Minhyuk had been pushing himself too hard these past few months. But they thought that since they were all rankers, they had to focus on the development of their territories. They thought that they had tried their hardest, but they could not evenpare to Minhyuk¡¯s efforts. It was no wonder that he was left unconscious for days. They felt something warm gush and cover their hearts.

    ¡°Hohoho. My son¡­ no, my lord. The food that he makes always looks delicious.¡±

    Ghost Spear Ben almost got killed earlier, but he was chuckling at the dish that Minhyuk had handed over to him. But if one looked closely, they would be able to see the tears that were misting Ghost Spear Ben¡¯s eyes.

    Genie, who was looking at the ¡®carbonara¡¯ ced in front of her, had unknowingly shed a tear.

    ¡°I was just getting a bit peckish. Come to think of it, we haven¡¯t eaten properly these days, right?¡± She said as she hurriedly wiped the tears off of her face.

    ¡°<em>Sniff, sniff, sniff. </em>Minhyuk, you rascal. You should have taken it a bit easier? You should have taken some rest!¡± Locke shouted, snot already dripping from his nose. He was someone that could not hide his feelings well, so he was already crying as he looked at the rice cake dumpling soup ced in front of him.

    ¡°¡­Let¡¯s eat,¡± Ascar, who was lying on the ground with both of her legs broken, said with a slight smile.

    That was right. They had to eat now. These were the precious dishes that Minhyuk made for them. But there was something that they needed to do first before they could do that. And that was none other than checking the ¡®dish effects¡¯. Of course, it would not matter to them if the effects were not that good. After all, these dishes were something precious that Minhyuk had made for them.

    <em>¡®Hoho. Shall I look at the effects of the dish that my lord has made for me?¡¯</em>

    The dish that Minhyuk made for Ben was none other than a homemade burger set meal. The words ¡®Grandpa Ben¡¯ were carefully written on the paper that wrapped the burger. Just one look and Ben could tell that Minhyuk wanted him to taste the food in the foreigner¡¯s world. Ben immediately checked the details of the homemade burger set meal.

    <em>(<strong>Homemade Burger</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Ingredient Grade</strong>: A</em>

    <em><strong>Grade</strong>: Legendary</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: Only Ben can have the buff effects.</em>

    <em><strong>Shelf Life</strong>: 30 days</em>

    <em><strong>Preservation Time</strong>: 30 days</em>

    <em><strong>Special Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>? All stats will increase by 25%.</em>

    <em>? Your spear¡¯s basic attack will increase by 250%.</em>

    <em>? Ghost Spearmanship¡¯s MP consumption and skill cooldown will decrease by 30%.</em>

    <em>? Ghost Spearmanship¡¯s attack will increase by 30%.</em>

    <em>? You can use Absolute Pinnacle Spear twice without incurring any penalties.</em>

    <em>? Upon consumption, you will recover 100% of your HP, MP, and release all of your abnormal states.</em>

    <em>? Upon consumption, the effect that¡¯s best suited for your needs will be activated for an hour.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: The chef that made this dish made it in the hopes that you will be happy when you eat it. Someone that has transcended the human realm has added their power to this dish.</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Ghost Spear Ben choked on his spit when he saw the dish¡¯s description.

    <em>¡®Ho¡­ how¡­¡¯</em>

    This dish was not just unusual. It was beyond that. The dish could increase all of his stats by 25% and increase his spear¡¯s basic attack by 250%? With this much, he would be able to pierce through several knights with just one attack. But was that all? Of course not.

    <em>¡®I can use Absolute Pinnacle Spear twice without incurring any penalties¡­?¡¯</em>

    The Absolute Pinnacle Spear, the spear¡¯s pinnacle skill, was precisely the one that Ghost Spear Ben had used when they hunted Vormon in the past. The power that this Absolute Pinnacle Spear possessed was so amazing that it was said that it could even pierce through the gods. It was proven when he was able to knock down ck Dragon Vormon in the past. However, the skill had an absolutely devastating penalty.

    <em>¡®If you use the Absolute Pinnacle Spear, then you will die,¡¯ </em>The ¡®God of Spearmanship¡¯ warned Ghost Spear Ben when he created the Absolute Pinnacle Spear. This was because this was a power that no human should have been able to make. On top of that, the power that it had was far beyond what Ben could control. The Absolute Pinnacle Spear was a skill that required the consumption of the user¡¯s entire HP and MP before it could be used.

    But, he was now allowed to use it twice without incurring that penalty. And that was not all.

    ¡°Heoooooook?!¡±

    ¡°This, this¡­ what the hell?! Is this even possible?!¡±

    ¡°Crazy¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­This is the best.¡±

    Minhyuk had brought them more than twenty dishes. Most of these dishes were legendary grade dishes. On the asion that they did not get that grade, the effects of the dish that were given to them was still enough to shock them to the core.

    Ghost Spear Ben, who thought about Minhyuk fondly, knew that the only way that he could repay him was to enjoy the dish that he gave him. So, Ben started to eat. The first thing he did was to peel off the paper wrapper and examine the homemade burger.

    <em>¡®Oho? So, this is that kind of food?¡¯</em>

    Sandwiched between the two halves of the bun were; some melted cheese, lettuce, and pickles as well as a fried egg, two slices of ham, and a golden brown, grilled beef patty. Additionally, there was enough sweet and spicy sauce spread over the bun that it was dripping out.

    <em>¡®The smell is making my mouth water.¡¯</em>

    Ghost Spear Ben¡¯s appetite waspletely stimted from the enticing scent that wasing out of the homemade burger in his hands. For a moment, he forgot about his age as he opened his mouth wide and chomped down on the burger. Then, he closed his eyes and slowly savored the vor. The various ingredients sandwiched in the burger created a great harmony with the sweet and spicy sauce. It even had plenty of vegetables in it.

    <em>Crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    The contrast of the chewy and crunchy textures of the ingredients were like art in itself. The best part?

    <em>¡®The patty is melting in my mouth.¡¯</em>

    The smile on Ghost Spear Ben never left. This time, he picked up the c and took a sip.

    ¡°Ho? I feel like the greasiness in my mouth is being washed away.¡±

    Then, a faint tingling sensation suddenly appeared at the back of his throat. The feeling was foreign to him, but it was not bad, rather, it felt pleasant and thrilling. After that, he grabbed one of the thick fries and ced it in his mouth.

    <em>Crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    ¡°I really like these hot and salty things.¡±

    This time, he dipped the fries in the sweet and sour ketchup before cing it in his mouth. The tangy vor of the ketchup went perfectly well with the fries, that Ben felt like it was the icing on the cake.

    ¡°Ho~¡± Ben let out a burst of admiration as he looked at the people around him.

    <em>Chomp, chomp, chomp, chomp, chomp¡ª</em>

    <em>Chew, chew, chew, chew, chew¡ª</em>

    <em>Slurp, slurp, slurp, slurp¡ª</em>

    Each and every single one of them were scrambling for the food in front of them, just like how Ghost Spear Ben was earlier.

    ***

    Thementators could not help but sigh as they watched the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect wolf down their food, despite being in the most critical juncture of the war that would determine their fate.

    <em>[Ah¡­ they¡¯re really only eating.]</em>

    <em>[Is the food really more important than the war right now?]</em>

    <em>[I know that yer Minhyuk¡¯s dishes are really outstanding and amazing. But even so¡­]</em>

    Of course, they were all aware about the buff effects of Minhyuk¡¯s dishes. However, they still could not help but wonder if those effects were enough for them to get out of this desperate situation that they were in.

    If that was not the case, it would be better for them to join hands with the two men that were stopping the Barras Kingdom¡¯s troops right away. But then, at that moment¡­

    <em>[Huh, huuuuuuuuuuuuh?! What, what the hell?! A golden light suddenly appeared and engulfed the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect that are being protected by the unknown spearmen!!!]</em>

    Thementators and viewers alike looked at the scene in both shock and doubt, after seeing a bright golden light shing brightly. The spearmen walked out one after another to open the path for the man that was emitting this bright golden glow. This man was none other than Ghost Spear Ben.

    His usual ck hair and eyes hadpletely turned white. He might have grown old, but his huge physique and even his mysterious and charming appearance that could make any woman cry out in admiration during his prime were all carefully maintained. Then, Ghost Spear Ben said, ¡°Absolute Pinnacle Spear.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    A huge force wrapped around the spear that he was holding in his hands.

    <em>[Just, just now¡­ wasn¡¯t Ghost Spear Ben about to die?]</em>

    <em>[Now that I looked closely, it seems like he haspletely recovered. There were no traces of injuries on his body!]</em>

    Ghost Spear Ben leapt up to the sky as a bright white light burst out of his spear and illuminated the battlefield that was covered in a thick cloud of despair.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The enemy troops perished and disappeared into nothingness whenever he passed by. The number that disappeared from his attack reached 3,000, a number that did not lose to Elpis and Brod¡¯s attacks.

    <em>[Heooooook?!]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s, that¡¯spletely ridiculous¡­!]</em>

    <em>[C, crazy¡­]</em>

    <em>[But Ghost Spear Ben immediately disappeared when he used that power during ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s raid.]</em>

    <em>[Perhaps Ghost Spear Ben has sacrificed himself for Let¡¯s Eat Sect.]</em>

    Everyone thought so.

    But then, something more shocking happened. More than ten of Let¡¯s Eat Sect¡¯s members and NPCs were engulfed in a golden aura, a signal that indicated that they had used the skills that they dared not use before, because of the severe penalties that they would incur. In this dark and dreary battlefield, they were the only ones that were exuding this bright and golden aura. They were the only ones that looked noble, aloof, and outstanding.

    At the same time, Ghost Spear Ben, who everyone thought was already going to die, once again leapt to the skies, as his spear emitted another blinding white light. He said, ¡°Absolute Pinnacle Spear.¡±

    <em>[¡­?!]</em>

    <em>[¡­?!]</em>

    <em>[¡­?!]</em>

    His powerful spear made another appearance, shaking the entire world once again.

 Chapter 448: For Elpis

    Chapter 448: For Elpis

    Demon World.

    <em>[How dare that puny human!!!]</em>

    <em>Puhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa</em><em>¡ª</em>

    The infuriated Verus was venting out his anger and was releasing his wrath on the entire Demon World, bringing it into shambles. Every single demon, even the 72 Devils lined up in front of him, did not dare to take a single breath.

    Great Demon Verus was known as the greatest and most terrifying demon among the three great demons. This was because he had the authority to lead the 72 Devils. The 72 Devils were all absolute beings that could easily overpower the dragons on earth. But even these absolute beings were unable to raise their heads in the face of Great Demon Verus¡¯ wrath. And the reason why he was angry was¡­

    <em>[Diablo, you¡­ how dare you¡­!]</em>

    ¡­because of Diablo. Diablo used to be nothing more than a vessel, a bowl for the great demons¡¯ demonic energy. However, he did not grow crazy despite the huge amount of demonic energy, and even honed his swordsmanship as he dered that he would hunt the demons. To Verus, this was just some sort of ¡®amusement¡¯. He sneered as he watched him grow terrifyingly fast. He, a human being, had grown strong enough to fight against the demons easily. And the more he grew, the greater and stronger the trials Verus gave to him, the more Diablo grew angrier at the said demon. In the end, Diablo was thrown into a frenzied state.

    Back then, Verus thought, <em>¡®A frenzied Diablo will be much easier for me to get.¡¯</em>

    Verus coveted Diablo. He wanted to keep him in the palms of his hands. But one day, an unknown man suddenly released him from his frenzied state, with nothing but simple and measly human food at that! But was that all? Diablo even knelt before that man and made an eternal vow, something that Diablo did not do towards Verus.

    <em>[How dare you!!!!]</em>

    <em>Puhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Terrifying ck mes bursted out all over the ce, showing the Great Demon Verus¡¯ wrath.

    <em>[I¡¯ll go there by myself!!!]</em>

    At that, Baal, one of the 72 Devils, expressed his concerns.

    <em>[But right now, we don¡¯t have the power to make the Great Demons descend, right?]</em>

    The demons and the great demons were separated from the earth and the heavens. This was because they found their existence unpleasant. But the main reason why they could not freely move to the other worlds was because of the gods that were controlling them. But there was still a method avable for them to descend.

    <em>[I will descend using the Scroll of Disaster.]</em>

    <em>[¡­!]</em>

    <em>[¡­!]</em>

    <em>[¡­!]</em>

    Everyone present was horrified by his deration. The Scroll of Disaster was a special parchment that could allow a greater being to temporarily descend. However, there was one big problem.

    <em>[But if you use the Scroll of Disaster to descend to the middle world and end up incurring physical damage to your body, you might get sealed.]</em>

    That was right. Sealed. The Great Demon Verus would be sealed. Of course, even if he was sealed, it would not be for a long time.

    But Verus justughed mockingly at their words.

    <em>[Do you think they can seal me?]</em>

    His words made the demons present remember that the enemies that the Great Demon Verus would face were nothing but puny humans.

    So, with that said, Great Demon Verus would proceed with his ns to use the Scroll of Disaster to descend. However, as a form of restriction, Verus¡¯ power would be halved. Even so, the might of that was still enough to split the continent easily in two. And right now, he was about to personally descend to the earth to take Diablo away.

    ***

    <em>Puhaaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Ghost Spear Ben once again leapt to the skies. A bright light shone upon the battlefield once more, as another 3,000 enemy troops died without uttering a scream. Ghost Spear Ben, who usuallybed his Terrius-like hair, descended upon thousands of enemies, his eyes and hair white. Tens of thousands of soldiers and knights rushed at Ben, who looked as they swung their swords and spears at him.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    The tip of Ben¡¯s spear broke the knights¡¯ armor and continued to move forward and break their bones and stab their hearts.

    ¡°Im¡­ impossible¡­!¡±

    Ghost Spear Ben¡¯s basic attack had increased by 250%. Even his stats had increased by 25%, which put him at a level above all of the Pinnacle Strong Men present.

    <em>[What in the world? I can¡¯t understand what¡¯s happening.]</em>

    <em>[Ghost Spear Ben did not die. He even used his skill with the worst penalty, twice in a row! Even though he almost died earlier, a lot of things changed after he ate that meal. It seems like he got stronger through his stomach, huh?]</em>

    When the strong be stronger, it would be different from ordinary people gaining more strength. Right now, Ben has be several times stronger than before. At that moment, another man covered with a bright golden aura stepped out. It was none other than Khan.

    <em>Daaaaash¡ª</em>

    Khan, Korea¡¯s strongest fighter ranker, also had skills with extreme penalties. This skill was none other than ¡®Giant¡¯s Explosion¡¯. It was a skill that would burn through all of the yer¡¯stent HP and MP to strengthen their body. Even if the skill user¡¯s MP and HP were at 100%, it would make both stats fall below 5%. After all, it was a skill that has reached the pinnacle. Khan, who was bathed in a golden light, leapt into the skies and caught the attention of everyone present.

    ¡°Stop hiiiiiiiim!!!¡±

    ¡°What the hell?!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaack! Sa¡­ save me!!!¡±

    Screams rang loudly among the enemy troops as Khan, with gold hair and eyes, mmed his fists on the ground.

    <em>[Giant¡¯s Explosion]</em>

    <em>[Your fists will gain an additional 1,800% attack the moment it hits your enemies.]</em>

    When his first punchnded¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡­it grew in size until it reached the size of a one-ton truck and mmed on the ground, making dozens of enemy soldiers explode in a rain of blood.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    With his second punch, the knights that were able to endure the first blow ended up being crushed to their deaths. And one after the other¡­

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Gigantic fists appeared and swept all of the enemies within a thirty-meter radius. But that was not the end of it. Ascar¡¯s silver hair, which she had always kept short, grew long enough to reach her waist, making her look more elegant and beautiful. She swung her sword once and¡­

    ¡°Ghostde¡¯s Massacre.¡±

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    ¡­easily tore apart the flesh hiding underneath the armors of the hundreds of soldiers and knights that were near her.

    <em>Fall¡ª</em>

    <em>Fall¡ª</em>

    <em>Fall¡ª</em>

    <em>Fall¡ª</em>

    She killed hundreds of enemies in one go. Everyone gaped at the long-haired Ascar in admiration.

    There was also Crow. His eyes and hair, which had grown long from his usual cropped-cut style and was fluttering towards the sky, turned red as he threw his spear with all his might.

    ¡°Tornado Spear!¡±

    <em>Crackle, crackle, crackle, crackle¡ª</em>

    Tornado spears swirled into existence and engulfed the enemies in his vicinity. The tornadoes tore the enemy troops¡¯ flesh and broke their bones, shocking everyone. Even the Pinnacle Strong Men were shocked by their sudden tremendous disy of power.

    <em>¡®What, what kind of¡­!¡¯</em>

    The most flustered among the Pinnacle Strong Men was Loki. At that moment¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡­Loki flew back from the impact of the attack that aimed for the pit of his stomach, an attack that he blocked with the de of his sword.

    ¡°What the hell?! What kind of power are you using to incur tremendous damage like this!¡±

    The one that appeared in front of Loki was none other than Khan. Khan just chuckled when he heard Loki¡¯s words, ¡°I know, right? It¡¯s like a skill, right? It hurts, right?!¡±

    Although Khan looked no different from his calm and poised self, he was very excited.

    ¡°Then, take another hit.¡±

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    Khan narrowed the distance between them so fast that even Loki could not follow his movements. If it was before, and Loki and Khan were topete one on one, then the one that would win would definitely be Loki. After all, Loki was the second Pinnacle Strong Man. But when Khan¡¯s swift punchnded on Loki¡­

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    ¡­his ¡®Mythril Sheet Armor¡¯, the armor that has been with him for decades, broke into pieces. That was not all. The punch, packed with tremendous force, broke several of Loki¡¯s ribs.

    ¡°Urk¡­!¡±

    However, Loki thought of this as an opportunity and wondered what kind of power the bastard in front of him was using, <em>¡®What kind of skill is it? I¡¯m sure it¡¯s some kind of body enhancing skill¡­¡¯</em>

    Otherwise, it would be impossible to produce such power. It was definitely some sort of buff skill! Just when those thoughts shed in his head, Khan¡¯s kick aimed for his chin.

    <em>Thuuuuuud¡ª</em>

    Loki¡¯s face, which he defended with one arm, turned ugly.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    This was because his bones cracked from the force of the attack.

    <em>¡®What the hell¡­?!¡¯ </em>Loki thought as Khan continued to send attacks. And with each attack, Loki felt an unbearable pain wrap around his body.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaack! Ugh, aaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°It hurts, right? Is it painful? Do you think it hurts a lot?!¡±

    ¡°This, this perverted bastard¡­!¡±

    But Khan just continued to punch and kick him with a pleased smile on his face. That was when Loki thought, <em>¡®How can he keep on doing this¡­?¡¯</em>

    Howe the amount of damage that he received was always that high? If it was just an ability to enhance his physical abilities, then it would not be able tost this long. Then, at that moment, a huge me erupted in Khan¡¯s fist.

    <em>Crackle¡ª</em>

    And when this fist hit Loki¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡­a huge explosion engulfed his body and tore it to shreds, forcing his HP to plummet in an instant. Only then did Loki realize, ¡°It was, it was just his bare fists¡­?!¡±

    Loki, who was on the verge of death, saw the grin on Khan¡¯s face as he received the final blow to his face. Khan smiled widely as he recalled the grilled eel that Minhyuk made for him.

    <em>(<strong>Grilled Eel</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Ingredient Grade</strong>: A</em>

    <em><strong>Grade</strong>: Legend</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: Only Khan can have the buff effects.</em>

    <em><strong>Shelf Life</strong>: 25 days</em>

    <em><strong>Preservation Time</strong>: 25 days</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>? STR and AGI will increase by 31%.</em>

    <em>? Your fist¡¯s basic attack will increase by 350%.</em>

    <em>? Giant¡¯s rted skills¡¯ MP consumption will decrease by 40%, while the skill cooldown will decrease by 30%.</em>

    <em>? Giant¡¯s rted skills¡¯ attack will increase by 30%.</em>

    <em>? You can use Giant¡¯s Explosion once without incurring any penalties.</em>

    <em>? Upon consumption, you will recover 100% of your HP, MP, and release all of your abnormal states.</em>

    <em>? Upon consumption, the effect that¡¯s best suited for your needs will be activated for an hour.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: The chef that made this dish made it in the hopes that you will be happy when you eat it. Someone that has transcended the human realm has added their power to this dish.</em>

    Khan trembled when he saw this information. He thought, <em>¡®This is crazy¡­ My fist¡¯s basic attack can be increased by 350%¡­?!¡¯</em>

    In fact, even his AGI and STR would also increase by 30%. His fists were literally explosive in terms of power.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Every punch that he released killed one knight. Looking around, he realized that the other members of their guild were also in the same situation as him. They only used their basic attacks, but the kingdom troops were not able to deal with them at all.

    ¡°How, how can this be¡­?!¡± Duke Yverone shouted in disbelief. The king of the elves, the dragon king, and the unknown spearmen were all shocking enough. But now¡­

    <em>¡®They¡¯re only a little more than twenty people¡­¡¯</em>

    ¡­they were sweeping away the Barras Kingdom troops like it was nothing. One swing of their swords, and dozens of people would die. A punch from their fists would kill an elite knight. And when they release their magic, hundreds of their troops would die at the same time. What Yverone was feeling went beyond fear and disbelief. But the more shocking fact was¡­

    <em>¡®This is unbelievable¡­¡¯</em>

    They were arge army of more than 100,000 strong troops. But now, there were only at most 30,000 of them left. Valha was already about to copse. It was already at arms reach but¡­!

    <em>¡®We have to save them.¡¯</em>

    He had to save the remaining 30,000 troops. Still, even though he thought it, he did not know what he should do to fight against these people who were pushing forward like bulldozers.

    <em>[Unbelievable.]</em>

    <em>[There are only twenty people putting pressure on the battlefield.]</em>

    <em>[With how they are now, I think they canpete with the Summit Five. Perhaps this video will be recorded as the best video of the year.]</em>

    Just when thementators and the viewers were in awe and admiration¡­

    <em>Vwooooooooooooong¡ª</em>

    ¡°Retreat!!!¡±

    ¡°Re¡­ retreat!!!¡±

    ¡­a shocking sound rang loudly on the battlefield.

    The Barras Kingdom¡¯srge army of over 150,000 troops, now with only 30,000 surviving soldiers, were forced to retreat. They abandoned their weapons and even abandoned theirrades to run away and survive.

    ¡°Don¡¯t give chase to the fleeing soldiers,¡± Genie ordered. Then, all the cameras zoomed in on her face as she uttered the line that would be the ¡®best line¡¯ in Athenae¡¯s history, ¡°I mean, why give chase to those annoying cheeky f*ckers, right?¡±

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    Over 150,000 troops were only ¡®cheeky f*ckers¡¯ in the eyes of Let¡¯s Eat Sect.

 Chapter 449: For Elpis

    Chapter 449: For Elpis

    ¡°Retreat! Retreat!!!¡±

    ¡°Quickly! Retreat!!!¡±

    The entire world was left reeling in shock, after watching the surviving 30,000 soldiers of the Barras Kingdom troops run away.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    The ones that arrived to help Let¡¯s Eat Sect all raised their weapons high up in the sky, as they cheered loudly and enthusiastically. Their shouts were a testament to their victory in this ridiculous battle as they watched the enemy troops retreat.

    Genie, after dering a famous line that would leave its mark and remain forever in the history of Athenae, smiled and said, ¡°We will immediately advance towards Barras Kingdom¡¯s capital and bring down King Grain.¡±

    Thirty thousand men would take a long time to get to Barras Kingdom while retreating. On the contrary, Let¡¯s Eat Sect¡¯s core force, a grand total of twenty people, would be able to move a lot faster. In other words, they could easily overtake the retreating forces and bring down King Grain and Barras Kingdom¡¯s capital faster.

    This was it. They were now going to make Minhyuk a king.

    <em>¡®Minhyuk.¡¯</em>

    The amazing dishes that he gave them during his brief appearance was something that made all of them, including Genie, feel amazing.

    When Genie turned around, she saw Elpis sitting on the ground and looking at the dish that Minhyuk made for him.

    ***

    Elpis once again took out his earphones and stuck them in his ears to listen to music after the war ended.

    ¡°Assa¡­ One¡­ Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly¡­¡±

    Elpis found the song¡¯s melody to be so beautiful to the point that it made his eyes water. This was the song about the lonely flight of a tiger swallowtail butterfly! Oh, how beautiful the words were! Elpis grinned widely as he listened to his song and looked at the dishes that Minhyuk made for him.

    <em>¡®Minhyuk¡­ thank you¡­¡¯</em>

    Anyone that saw the wide and brilliant smile on his face would never believe that he was the Lesser Demon of the past.

    Elpis heart thumped happily when he saw the dishes that Minhyuk made for him. His smile never left his face as he stared at the garlic bread and soup that he ced in front of him.

    Elpis¡¯ family had been poor. As a child, he rarely encounteredvish dishes. But once in a while, his mother would make them some delicious delicacies. And this garlic bread and soup was among them. Elpis felt Minhyuk¡¯s warm sentiments in this dish.

    <em>¡®Elpis, enjoy your meal.¡¯</em>

    Although Minhyuk was not here, Elpis felt like Minhyuk was standing in front of him and saying these words to him. Then, someone sat in front of him and said, ¡°Enjoy this meal. Our lord stayed up for days and did not even get a wink of sleep just to make these for us.¡±

    Elpis looked up, only to see Let¡¯s Eat Sect¡¯s Sword, Brod, who was also preparing to eat the dish that was made for him.

    ¡°Let¡¯s¡­ enjoy¡­ the¡­ meal¡­ Sir Brod¡­¡±

    Brod chuckled at Elpis. They had a long talk, which strengthened their bonds.

    Elpis could not hear a sound around him, despite the loud and boisterous cheers that celebrated their victory. He was focused solely on the warm garlic bread and soup in front of him. He grabbed his spoon and took a sip from the spoonful of soup, which immediately caused a rich, creamy, and savory vor to spread in his mouth. It brought a smile to his face.

    <em>¡®De¡­ licious¡­¡¯</em>

    This tasted like the dish that his mother made for him. No, in fact, it tasted a lot better than that. Then, Elpis picked up the garlic bread that was sprinkled with parsley powder. Just one look at the warm bread and he could already tell that there would be a ¡®<em>crunch¡ª</em>¡® the moment he bit on it. And just like he expected¡­

    <em>Crunch¡ª</em>

    A loud crunch rang from his mouth as he took one, two bites from the bread. The crispy texture and savory vor of the bread spread in his mouth with every bite, making him smile even wider. This time, Elpis dipped the garlic bread in the soup. The thick and creamy soup covered the garlic bread and entered his mouth. As he continued to smile in bliss, a notification about a tremendous buff, the same buff that the others had heard, rang loudly in his ears.

    After finishing everything and cleaning up, Elpis looked up at the sky with a blissful, content expression on his face. The meadows were green and beautiful as usual and the white clouds continued to float freely in the blue sky, while the birds sang happily. Elpis hoped that this happiness, this joy, wouldst forever. But someone was trying to take away that happiness from him.

    ***

    The loud shouts and cheers from Let¡¯s Eat Sect rang loudly in the ears of the retreating 30,000 troops. Duke Yverone was still in a state of disbelief. He thought, <em>¡®How¡­ How¡­! A kingdom alone will not be able to destroy a guild like that¡­!¡¯</em>

    Yverone knew that this was the end of Barras Kingdom. The king that sent troops to the front would definitely be dragged to the ground by his people. Let¡¯s Eat Sect would then devour him and create a new kingdom.

    <em>¡®At the very least, I saved 30,000 troops.¡¯</em>

    It was his only relief. Duke Yverone was a trashy noble ,but he knew that he needed to save the remaining 30,000 troops. He knew that he could not fight a losing battle, especially if he knew that everyone would die here. Saving them was the correct choice of action.

    But then, at that moment, a huge shadow was suddenly cast over them.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Yverone looked up at the sky in doubt. What he saw made his eyes widen in shock.

    ¡°Heoooooooook?!¡±

    This was because two gigantic ck arms were floating in the air. The ck arms held a huge parchment and¡­

    <em>Riiiiiiiip¡ª</em>

    ¡­a zing me erupted and wrapped around the torn parchment. Then, the ck fire directly fell down on the ground.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The troops could not avoid the zing mes. This was because the fire spread rapidly and devoured the soldiers the moment it fell on the ground.

    ¡°Heooooook?!¡± Duke Yverone shrieked as he watched the mes devour the soldiers¡¯ flesh and bones, until they turned into ashes. The mes did not stop and eventually reached Duke Yverone and engulfed him.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    His flesh burned and revealed his skeleton, which ended up breaking down into ashes and disappearing in the air. This strange and mysterious disaster engulfed and consumed the 30,000 retreating troops in an instant.

    ***

    ATV¡¯s PD Kim Daeguk felt his heart burn in delight after watching Let¡¯s Eat Sect gain victory against therge army that Barras Kingdom sent. However, their happiness did notst for long. The employees that were watching the monitors closely suddenly shrieked.

    ¡°What, what the hell is that?!¡±

    ¡°What is that¡­?!¡±

    PD Kim Daeguk turned around in doubt. He hurried towards the monitor, only to see a huge fire engulfing the retreating 30,000 troops. He would not be surprised if it was simply a huge fire. But this fire, shockingly enough, had engulfed the 30,000 troops and turned them into gray ashes in just three minutes.

    Then, they watched as the gigantic ck arms twitched. Whatever or whoever it was, they were gigantic. Starting with the ck arms that were floating above the ground, his upper body and lower body started to form and take shape.

    Finally, his gigantic face appeared. The face looked ugly and rugged, with yellow eyes that looked simr to that of a lizard''s, and two huge horns on top of his head. There was also a ck cape fluttering on his back. The man stood in the sky and watched the 30,000 troops that disappeared in a blink with an indifferent look on his face.

    Not long after, a shocking notification shook the entire continent.

    <em>[Great Demon Verus is descending.]</em>

    ¡°Great Demon¡­ Verus¡­?¡±

    With that, the number one search word was soon dominated by Great Demon Verus. And since the notification rang all over the world, broadcasting stations all over the world started broadcasting the scene.

    ***

    The entire world was in an uproar.

    <em>[Great Demon Verus suddenly devoured the retreating 30,000 Barras Kingdom Troops and descended.]</em>

    <em>[So far, Great Demon Verus has never shown his true self to the public.]</em>

    <em>[ck Dragon Vormon can¡¯t evenpare with Great Demon Verus. Right now, he¡¯s heading towards Let¡¯s Eat Sect, who¡¯s cheering for their victory.]</em>

    Their voices reverberated all over the world. The viewers watching the war between Let¡¯s Eat Sect and Barras Kingdom were all mortified.

    ¡°The Great Demon¡­ how¡­ how can humans win against that¡­¡±

    The sudden turn of events flustered and cooled down the excitement that the viewers felt when they watched Let¡¯s Eat Sect gain victory. In the end, plenty of people started protesting against Athenae. Since they were yers, they knew that a great demon was someone that the current mankind could not fight against.

    All of the executives rushed inside one of Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s meeting rooms. Waiting for them inside was the grim looking President Kang Taehoon.

    ¡°President¡­¡± Team Leader Park Minggyu called out in a trembling voice.

    ¡°You¡¯re here. Everyone should calm down,¡± President Kang Taehoon said, but his voice was trembling and weak.

    Minhyuk had brought Diablo under hismand. Diablo¡¯s fate as an integral character was not meant to be written like that. However, one yer had changed the NPC¡¯s fate and gave him a new lease in life. That resulted in this disaster that wasing straight for Let¡¯s Eat Sect.

    ¡°Fortunately, Verus descended using the Scroll of Disaster.¡±

    The Scroll of Disaster would halve the power of the person that used the parchment. Even if that was the case, Verus was still ridiculously strong.

    ¡°His summon time is one hour. What Verus wants is Diablo and not the destruction of Let¡¯s Eat Sect. As long as Diablo goes with Verus, then no disaster would befall them. Verus knows that he shouldn¡¯t remain on Earth for too long. Otherwise, he would risk the chance of being sealed.¡±

    Everyone nodded at Taehoon¡¯s words. This fact brought relief to them. As long as Verus took Diablo back with him, then he would disappear without a care in the world.

    But then, Park Minggyu said, ¡°President. That¡¯s not Diablo. That¡¯s Elpis.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Kang Taehoon and the executives were all left speechless. They all knew what he ¡®meant¡¯ with those words.

    ¡°Wasn¡¯t the president happy about it too? No, wasn''t everyone here quite happy when it happened?¡±

    It was true. They enjoyed it. They were happy to see the unfortunate artificial intelligence that they had created meet new people and live a new life. They were all very surprised, yet at the same time, they were grateful to Minhyuk for allowing their creation to know what kind of ce this virtual reality was like.

    Virtual reality, at the heart of it, was all about pioneering ones¡¯ self and creating new paths that they could tread on their own. That was right. Kang Taehoon had watched him happily when he saw how Elpis was living a life different from his unlucky life before.

    ¡°But now¡­¡±

    Their best bet was for him to leave. Still, Kang Taehoon couldn¡¯t help the selfish thoughts that shed in his head, <em>¡®Don¡¯t go with him, Elpis.¡¯</em>

    ***

    ¡°We did it! We won!!!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    Let¡¯s Eat Sect and their allies jumped in joy.

    Elf King Gorn approached the Dragon King and offered a handshake, ¡°Let¡¯s forget about the past. Come visit us at Elvenheim.¡±

    ¡°That would be good.¡±

    Marquis Brad, who was leading the spearmen, stood in front of Ghost Spear Ben.

    ¡°Haha~ The brats that I know of are quite useful too, huh?¡±

    ¡°Thank you, master.¡±

    Just when they were indulging in their victory, the yers around them suddenly froze in ce.

    <em>[Great Demon Verus is descending.]</em>

    Then, their faces hardened imperceptibly. There was no yer who did not know of Great Demon Verus. But now, he had descended upon them.

    ¡°Well, he cane for all I care.¡±

    ¡°Haha. I know, right?¡±

    They all nodded. All they needed to do was to rejoice. They did not need to fear someone that was far away from them. But then, at that moment¡­

    ¡°Huh? Th, that¡­¡±

    ¡­someone shouted. That was when they saw the huge ck figure that was approaching them from the sky above. Only then did they realize what Great Demon Verus came here for.

    Elpis trembled when he saw Verus approaching from afar.

    <em>¡®But I¡¯m¡­ happy¡­ now¡­¡¯</em>

    Elpis¡¯ pupils shook. Then, the Great Demon Verus snapped his huge fingers¡­

    <em>Thuuuud¡ª</em>

    <em>Thuuud¡ª</em>

    <em>Thuud¡ª</em>

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keheok!¡±

    ¡°Euaaaaack!¡±

    ¡­and all of the members and allies of Let¡¯s Eat Sect, who were enjoying their victory just a few moments earlier, were forced to kneel down and suffer.

    <em>[Great Demon Verus has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[The approaching Great Demon Verus¡¯ powerful demonic energy has brought terror and fear upon you.]</em>

    <em>[You won¡¯t be able to control your body from the numbing fear.]</em>

    <em>[All stats will decrease by 20%.]</em>

    <em>[Your troops¡¯ morale has dramatically decreased.]</em>

    <em>[Ordinary humans will lose their will to fight in Verus¡¯ presence.]</em>

    <em>[Verus¡¯ demonic energy has restricted the breathing of all the ordinary humans present.]</em>

    <em>[Verus¡¯ Wrath.]</em>

    <em>[You have been subjected to Verus¡¯ Wrath. You will not be able to move for three minutes.]</em>

    <em>[Everyone will be equal in front of the Great Demon Verus for three whole minutes.]</em>

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuhoooook!¡±

    ¡°Euaaaaaack!¡±

    Elf King Gorn, Dragon King, Bard, Ghost Spear Ben and the rest of the troops were forced to kneel on the ground. They could not even move an inch from their position.

    ¡°Keuheeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    The soldiers were even bleeding from their mouths and ears. While everyone was incapacitated and could not move, only Elpis stood. He stood idly as he watched the approaching Verus. Then, Verus opened his mouth and said¡­

    <em>[Come with me or I¡¯ll kill them all.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    And Elpis walked, one step at a time, towards Verus.

 Chapter 450: For Elpis

    Chapter 450: For Elpis

    The video that showed the advent of the great demon was broadcasted during a time when most people were not free to watch. Even so, the viewership rating of this video far exceeded that of the video of Vormon¡¯s hunt. The advent of Great Demon Verus was both a source of terror and shock. Most conversations, no matter where in the world, that talked about this event started with ¡®Why?¡¯.

    <em>[Why did he appear? Maybe Verus also does not want to see the creation of a new kingdom? Or maybe the operators manipted him to do so?]</em>

    At first, the opinion of the masses was leaning on this side. But not long after, someone said that this opinion waspletely ¡®unreasonable¡¯.

    <em>[Athenae Management has never changed a scenario that they have made, not even once. It¡¯s clear that Great Demon Verus descended on his own. Also, what do you mean by ¡®Verus not wanting to see the creation of a new kingdom¡¯? That¡¯s no different from saying that my Poppy just looked at the sausage that she passed by.]</em>

    That was right. It waspletely nonsensical. So, they all went back and asked the question again. ¡®Why?¡¯.

    <em>[Lesser Demon Diablo. He¡¯s a demon but he¡¯s serving a human? There¡¯s no way Verus would just sit back and watch that.]</em>

    This anonymous person was very sharp. Lesser Demon Diablo was the Zero Ranked Monster, he fought with a single sword and triumphed against countless demons. His existence in the Demon World was like a myth. Any yer that was knowledgeable about the Demon World has encountered at least one story about Diablo.

    <em>[Come to think of it, Diablo has always pointed his sword against the demons then swore his eternal allegiance to a human. It¡¯s only natural that Great Demon Verus would be enraged. It¡¯s very likely that Verus descended to take Diablo back.]</em>

    <em>[Agree. This is it.]</em>

    <em>[This is a fact.]</em>

    <em>[Wow. You¡¯re very sharp! Hey, who are you?]</em>

    And with this person¡¯s words, the people could tell.

    <em>[Then, Diablo only needs to go with Verus?]</em>

    <em>[There must be a reason why Great Demon Verus was not able to descend as he pleased. He must have forced his descent. Which means that he would want to avoid a lot of damage. So, if they hand Diablo over, Let¡¯s Eat Sect will be able to avoid a huge disaster.]</em>

    Everyone nodded in agreement. Let¡¯s Eat Sect was already on the verge of creating a kingdom. If they did not do that then Great Demon Verus would take them all down, including Valha and As, which would spell the end for Let¡¯s Eat Sect and their future.

    In the video, Diablo, or Elpis, took a step towards Verus.

    ***

    <em>Step¡ª</em>

    Hell on earth. Pandemonium. That was literally what was happening right now. Plenty of people were vomiting blood or bleeding through their ears and eyes. Some even peed in their pants, while some lost focus in their eyes and even foamed at the mouth. Great Demon Verus¡¯ descent had incapacitated countless soldiers in the field. He only made his appearance, but this simple appearance brought everyone down to their knees.

    Elpis turned around and saw anotherrge number of troopsing their way. It was the troops consisting of Lauvredo and the Talmor believers as well as Best Selling Author Aruvel¡¯s fans. They numbered around 6,000 and wereing with fierce momentum. However, the moment they arrived on the battlefield, they were all forced to kneel and submit.

    ¡°Uuuuuugh!¡±

    ¡°Euaaaaaaack!¡±

    They were quite pitiful. They came only after the war ended and were immediately forced to kneel and scream the moment they saw Great Demon Verus. Elpis, who finally took a step forward, looked around him. The situation was no different for the Elf King, Elf Prince, Dragon King, the spearmen, the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect, and the other NPCs.

    <em>¡®I¡­ have to¡­ go¡­¡¯</em>

    If he did not go, then everyone here would die. He took one step and another towards the Great Demon Verus. The great demon spread his arms wide as he weed Elpis.

    ¡°Don¡¯t go!!! Elpis!!!¡± But then, a woman¡¯s voice rang loudly. This voice was none other than Vice Guild Master Genie¡¯s voice. She screamed loudly despite being on her knees. She wanted to get out of this terrible restriction, but she could not do so.

    Elpis turned to look at her. Not long after, Centurion Park, who was clutching his chest, shouted, ¡°Please don¡¯t go!!! We will fight! Even if we die, we will fight to protect you!!!¡±

    Even Ghost Spear Ben, who was bleeding through his eyes, shouted, ¡°Elpis!!! Are you going to abandon our lord just like that?! Our lord still hasn''t given you his orders!!! You swore your eternal allegiance to him, did you not?!!!¡±

    Best Selling Author Aruvel also shouted, ¡°You promised that you will let me write a story about the woman that will fall in love with you in the future! Are you going to go just like that, huh?!!!¡±

    Elpis¡¯ indifferent steps stopped. Even the soldiers that were about to copse and fall used their final strength to shout:

    ¡°Lord Shield!!! Please don¡¯t go!!!¡±

    ¡°We will fight!!!¡±

    ¡°We will fight for you!!!¡±

    Elpis felt his heart sting. He had only spent little time with them. In fact, it was even them that approached him first.

    <em>¡®Hehe. Boy, do you want to taste a cup of my </em><em>luwak</em><em> coffee too?¡¯ </em>Ghost Spear Ben had asked him with a grandfatherly smile on his face.

    <em>¡®You and your future lover¡¯s story! I can already tell that it¡¯s going to be a masterpiece!¡¯</em> Aruvel shouted, inspiration blooming as he visited him every day.

    Even Genie and the guild members¡­

    <em>¡®Elpis, you¡¯re really reliable!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Elpis, you can¡¯t kill me just because I¡¯m ugly, you know?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Elpis, who gave you that MP3?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Elpis!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Elpis~¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Elpis!!!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Oiiiiiiink!¡¯</em>

    Elpis was very grateful to everyone. They truly cared for him, a child born to poverty, who was forcibly taken by the demons to be the vessel for their demonic energy and transformed into a lesser demon.

    And Great Demon Verus¡­ of course there was no way that he would sit still to watch this heartwarming scene.

    <em>[Come to me. If not, then¡­]</em>

    He raised his gigantic hand and flicked his finger.

    <em>Thump¡ª</em>

    At that moment, a huge fire made of demonic energy burst out in Lauvredo and Best Selling Author Aruvel¡¯s fans¡¯ ranks.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The fire made of demonic energy burned down more than 400 people in one go. It was just a flick of his finger, but it eradicated that many of their allies. It was like he was telling them about how much of an absolute being he was.

    <em>Step¡ª</em>

    Elpis took a step once again. But then, a man, someone other than Elpis, stood silently while looking at him. The man asked, ¡°Are you going?¡±

    <em>[¡­?!]</em>

    Great Demon Verus was in shock. One of the humans that he had restricted stood up in good condition and even dared to look up at him.

    Elpis turned to look at the man as the man said, ¡°I won¡¯t stop you. This is your choice, boy. But, let me remind you, our lord still hasn¡¯t given us his orders.¡±

    The man was calm as he judged their situation. He knew that they would be facing a huge risk if they fought against Great Demon Verus here. This might be cruel, but this was the reality. Besides, the lord of Let¡¯s Eat Sect had yet to give them any orders. He had to wait and know if they would keep Elpis, or save Let¡¯s Eat Sect. Right now, the one that was making the wisest judgement was Brod.

    Hearing his words, Elpis took another step forward. However, Brod said, ¡°I want you to think about the things that we, you, me and the lord, talked about not too long ago.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    But Elpis still continued to walk forward. Not long after, he stood in front of Great Demon Verus.

    <em>[Brat. Swear your eternal allegiance to me.]</em>

    His grating whispers were like a scratching record in the ears of those that listened. Then, a bloody parchment suddenly appeared on his stretched out hand.

    <em>[That, that parchment!!! That¡¯s the Subordination Parchment!]</em>

    <em>[The Subordination Parchment is a contract that will make anyone that sign it a ¡®ve¡¯ forever.]</em>

    <em>[ording to the terms written on that contract, the person that signs this contract must fulfill the orders of the person that they swore allegiance to with all their body, spirit and everything. This literally means that Lesser Demon Diablo, the one that fought against the demons, will be a demonpletely under the hands of Verus.]</em>

    The bloody parchment floated in front of Elpis.

    <em>[Swear your eternal allegiance to me on your knees.]</em>

    When Elpis knelt down, everyone was convinced that despair was upon them. Meanwhile, Elpis was recalling the conversation that he and Minhyuk had before.

    ***

    Elpis felt afraid. He feared that the days of living this happy and peaceful life in this territory, a ce that allowed him to smile every day, would someday disappear. He knew for a fact that Great Demon Verus was enraged at what he did. He also knew that the demon would not let him go so easily.

    Knowing this, he went to the lord¡¯s office. When he arrived, he saw that Brod was already having a conversation with Minhyuk. Even though Brod was there, he said, ¡°I think¡­ it¡¯s better¡­ for me¡­ to¡­ leave¡­¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Minhyuk looked at him in doubt. So, Elpis exined the entire story to them.

    ¡°I already understand.¡±

    Minhyuk was also aware that Elpis was not meant to be here. Great Demon Verus might not really care about the method as long as he could bring Elpis back. But then, he said, ¡°But Elpis, why are you so worried about that?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk smiled when Elpis looked at him in confusion. So, he said, ¡°You¡¯re both my friend and vassal. I will protect you so you don¡¯t have to worry about those things.¡±

    However, Minhyuk thought that those words weren¡¯t enough to dissuade Elpis from leaving. So, he pondered for a moment before continuing, ¡°Even if that happens, don¡¯t judge the situation by yourself. Think about how I will judge the situation. So, what if someone would judge your choice? Think about yourself. You should be a bit more selfish. And¡­¡±

    Minhyuk stood up and approached Elpis. He patted him on his shoulders and said, ¡°Remember the meaning of your name.¡±

    Brodughed happily when he heard Minhyuk¡¯s words. He also gave his two cents, ¡°Hoho. Elpis. Boy, you¡¯re worrying too much. I¡¯m also a part of this territory, so you shouldn¡¯t worry too much.¡±

    Elpis looked at the pair with an awkward smile on his face.

    <em>¡®This is the man that I serve. Ah, what a wonderful person. I want to stay with this person forever.¡¯</em>

    ***

    Elpis, who was on his knees, began to say, ¡°I pledge with my life.¡±

    Screams rang loudly.

    ¡°Elpiiiiiiiiiis! Don¡¯t do it! Don¡¯t!!!¡±

    ¡°Elpis! I will forever hate you if you continue to recite that pledge!!!¡±

    ¡°Minhyuk hasn¡¯t said anything yet, so why are you making your own decision?!¡±

    All of them screamed. Even the viewers from all over the worldmented these results.

    <em>[This shows that us, yers, are still infinitely weaker than the great demons.]</em>

    <em>[Diablo, the vassal that yer Minhyuk obtained with much difficulty, will be taken away.]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s a pity. But it leaves a more bitter taste in the mouth knowing that this is the only path for Let¡¯s Eat Sect.]</em>

    <em>[Even if they lose Diablo, they will be able to establish a kingdom.]</em>

    The man at the center of their attention, Elpis, kept on reciting the pledge, ¡°I, Elpis, swear that I will use my body, my spirit, my everything to carry ¡®his¡¯ everymand forever.¡±

    ¡°Shit! Shit!¡±

    ¡°Sir Brod! Stop him! Why aren¡¯t you stopping him?!¡±

    Despite everyone¡¯s desperate screams, Brod remained silent. He only looked at Elpis. With each and every line that Elpis recited, Verus'' smile deepened, while the members of Let¡¯s Eat sect fell deeper into despair. What brought them more despair was¡­

    <em>¡®Can we really fight to protect him if we¡¯re not bound?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Are we going to fight for Elpis without waiting for Minhyuk¡¯s decision?¡¯</em>

    No matter what they felt, the fact that they would risk everything they had built falling apart, if they were to fight against Great Demon Verus right now, would remain unchanged. It was more correct to say that they did not ¡®dare¡¯ to decide what to do. And they knew that Elpis felt the same. That was why they felt even more bitter. They told him not to go, but they did not know if it was the right decision.

    <em>[Keuhahahahahahaha!]</em>

    Great Demon Verus¡¯ terrifyingughter rang loudly in the area.

    ¡°Whether it¡¯s ten years, a hundred years, or an eternity, as long as I am breathing and living, I will live for him and him alone.¡±

    Verus felt delighted. Lesser Demon Diablo, the unruly demon, waspletely in his hands now. This was all thanks to the eternal contract, ¡®Book of Permanence¡¯! With this, Verus would be able topletely exploit him forever. And he would have no other choice but to follow him. After all, this contract would be for life! Verus would erase him from the memories of the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect and would use him to erase the Let¡¯s Eat Sect¡¯s existence.

    <em>[Fufufufufufufufu!]</em>

    Verus¡¯ugh resonated loudly and plunged everyone into the depths of despair. Diablo only needed to recite a few lines and everything would be over.

    ¡°I will be his sword, his shield, his vassal. And he will be my king, my heaven, my world. I, Elpis, am signing this life-long contract with...¡±

    Amidst Verus¡¯ delight and Let¡¯s Eat Sect¡¯s despair, Elpis took out his dagger and cut his finger. A bright red glow shed from the parchment as a drop of his blood fell down on the ¡®Book of Permanence¡¯. Then, Elpis uttered the name of his contractor, ¡°Minhyuk.¡±

    The Book of Permanence turned into blood and entered Elpis¡¯ body. Just like that, the contract has been signed.

    <em>Gasp¡ª</em>

    Elpis. His name meant hope. He stood up and held his sword to cut down the demon in front of him. Then, a notification rang for all of the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect.

    <em>[Guild Master Minhyuk has logged in.]</em>

 Chapter 451: For Elpis

    Chapter 451: For Elpis

    Just like what Minhyuk had told him before, Elpis had decided to be selfish and think of himself. He had lived a life filled with suffering and torment for the longest time. It was to the point where he thought that he would be in this hell forever, and even if he were to take his final breath, it would be in this hell.

    However, someone came and gave him happiness. So, Elpis wanted to stay with him and protect him.

    <em>¡®I am Let¡¯s Eat Sect¡¯s Shield. His shield.¡¯</em>

    <em>[Book of Permanence.]</em>

    <em>[You have made an eternal pledge to Minhyuk.]</em>

    <em>[You have to fulfill all of his orders with your everything.]</em>

    <em>Grasp¡ª</em>

    Elpis¡¯ hands grabbed the hilt of his sword, the ¡®Devil Judge¡¯s Sword¡¯, tightly. It was finally the time for this sword to show off its true powers. Elpis had pretended that he was going to be Verus¡¯ ve, just for this moment alone. From the very beginning, he intended to take this opportunity to get close to Verus.

    <em>[You, you bastard¡­!]</em>

    Great Demon Verus was left in a fluster.

    <em>¡®How dare a measly human like you??! How dare you mock me like this?!¡¯</em>

    And Elpis? He soared to the skies.

    <em>aaaaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    With his sharp, piercing re and fluttering ck hair, Elpis leapt to the skies and aimed at Verus. Everyone was shocked to see Elpis¡¯ figure leaping in the skies with his sword raised against Great Demon Verus. Then, he said, ¡°Berserk.¡±

    <em>[Berserk.]</em>

    <em>[All abilities will be increased by 16% and all stats would have a +2 increase.]</em>

    <em>[Thanks to the effects of the cooking buff, you won¡¯t receive the Berserk¡¯s penalty.]</em>

    <em>[You can use Berserk for five minutes.]</em>

    The Berserk skill that Minhyuk used was originally Elpis¡¯ skill. Which meant that its power was very much aligned with him. On top of that, Elpis had eaten the garlic bread and soup that Minhyuk had made for him less than an hour ago.

    The effects of the dishes that Minhyuk made for him were amazing. It increased his sword¡¯s basic attack by 300%, and even added a +2 on the level of the four-chaptered Devil Judge¡¯s skill. It also increased his STR, AGI, and STM by 20%.

    Simply put, the current Elpis was strong enough that he could probably even cut down the Gods.

    Elpis also had skills with extreme penalties like Ghost Spear Ben¡¯s Absolute Pinnacle Spear and Khan¡¯s Giant¡¯s Explosion. This skill was the final chapter of his Devil Judge¡¯s skill.

    ¡°Splitting the Great Demon.¡±

    <em>Swoooooooooosh¡ª</em>

    Elpis¡¯ sword grewrger until it reached ten meters in length, as a powerful force wrapped around it. Then, Elpis swung his huge sword down on Verus¡¯ head.

    <em>Puhaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Verus was, unfortunately, able to block his head with his demonic energy shield. When the sword and shield collided, a powerful shockwave erupted, which made the people in the vicinity fly back.

    However, even if Verus was able to erect a shield, the current Elpis had a 300% increase in basic attack. On top of that, his Splitting the Great Demon skill, the skill that Elpis prepared to deal with Great Demon Verus, was a skill that added 3,000% attack and raised his attack power to the extreme.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    Cracks appeared on the shield that protected Verus, and his eyes widened in shock. Finally¡­

    <em>tter¡ª</em>

    ¡­the shield broke into pieces. Elpis¡¯ sword continued its descent until it mmed straight down into Great Demon Verus¡¯ forehead.

    <em>[Keuaaaaaaaaaaaack!]</em>

    This was a very shocking and monumental moment. The existence called the Great Demon Verus shrieked in pain the moment Elpis¡¯ sword hit him.

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    The sword crushed Verus¡¯ skull. However, it did not end there, shing down until it cut Verus in half, before returning to its original size as Elpis unleashed another skill.

    ¡°Vanquishing the Demon.¡±

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    It was a skill that allowed Elpis to swing his sword dozens of times in an instant. The skill¡¯s level had also increased by a total of four levels, +2 levels from the Berserk skill and another +2 levels from Minhyuk¡¯s cooking buff. These increased the number of times the sword could be swung. From a dozen, Elpis could now swing a hundred times in an instant. Great Demon Verus¡¯ body was torn into shreds the moment the skill hit him.

    <em>[Keuhaaaack! Ack! Aaaaaaaack!]</em>

    None of the human yers could fight against a ¡®God¡¯ yet. No one would deny the fact that there were no sessors of the true and genuine gods among all of the God sses in existence. Yet, the current Elpis was strong enough to be considered as a ¡®Battle God¡¯.

    ¡°¡­Crazy.¡±

    Even the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect that were watching the scene were all gaping in shock. With the tremendous disy of power that Elpis was showing right now, they were sure that they would not be able to beat him, even if they fought together.

    <em>[Crazy! Diablo has split the Great Demon Verus!!!]</em>

    <em>[His reason for existing thus far is to cut down the great demon. He¡¯s finally realizing his goal!]</em>

    <em>[Did you see?! This is the shocking power of the most powerful NPC in existence! A power that none of the yers could ever go against. At this moment, I¡¯m sure that the guilds from all over the world are burning with envy. They must definitely be jealous of yer Minhyuk for having Diablo as his vassal.]</em>

    <em>[When Diablo said Minhyuk¡¯s name in the ¡®Book of Permanence¡¯, I felt the mes in my heart burn brightly. Diablo is proving to us that his choice is correct!!!]</em>

    Everyone was filled with anticipation. Would Diablo create a new legend by cutting down Verus? But not long after, Elpis said, ¡°Everyone¡­ run¡­ away¡­ I¡­ will¡­ stop¡­ him¡­¡±

    He turned to look at the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect. The members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect¡¯s faces turned ugly when they saw the resignation in Elpis¡¯ face. It seemed like he was ready to die in this ce.

    ¡°I¡­ have no regrets¡­ even¡­ if I¡­ die!!!¡± Elpis shouted. That was true, he did not have any regrets. After all, even if he died here, he died as Minhyuk¡¯s vassal. The thought brought a watery smile on Elpis¡¯ face. But then, at that moment¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡­a powerful sword explosion broke free from the ground and struck Elpis. Elpis was able to block the swords from the sword explosion with his own sword, but he could not do anything against the destructive power that came along with it.

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    The impact knocked Elpis away. At the same time, a being appeared in the ce where Verus once stood. The being was about two meters tall with two huge horns on his forehead. His skin was ck, and the contours of his face were sharp and angled. Even his eyes were sharp, narrow, and yellow like that of a lizard¡¯s. He also had a pair of bat wings on his back and a fluttering cape that showcased his majesty. His fingernails were yellow, long and sharp. Anyone that saw him would flinch and shrivel in fear. His figure reminded everyone of the ¡®Demon King¡¯ but he was greater and stronger than that.

    This was because he was Great Demon Verus.

    <em>[You!!! I will take everything that is precious to you, trample on them and destroy thempletely!!!]</em>

    <em>Keuhaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    His fury caused an explosion from the demonic energy that was scattered in the surroundings. Brod swiftly stepped forward and cut off all of the attacks that stretched towards the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª</em>

    However, the attacks stretched towards Lauvredo, Aruvel¡¯s erofans, the elves, and the seafolk.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keheooooook!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Screams rang rife as hundreds died from Verus¡¯ wrath.

    Then, Genie, along with the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect, slowly stood up from their position. The effect of Great Demon¡¯s Wrath, the effect that forced them to kneel on the ground, has finally ended.

    All of the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect were waiting for one person¡¯s order. This was not a light matter that they could easily gloss over and decide on their own. Genie looked on top of Valha¡¯s ramparts. To be exact, she was looking at the man, Minhyuk, who was standing on top of them. It seemed like the notification that he had logged in was not a dream. But then¡­

    <em>Swoooooooosh¡ª</em>

    <em>Fwooooooooosh¡ª</em>

    <em>Puhaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡­ck demonic energy wrapped around Verus as demons appeared around him one after another.

    <em>[One of Verus¡¯ 72 Devils, Zagan, has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[One of Verus¡¯ 72 Devils, uros, has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[One of Verus¡¯ 72 Devils, Forcas, has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[Those that will be able to seal the members of the 72 Devils will receive rewards.]</em>

    The demons showed off their majesty in front of everyone. The truth was, it was not only the Great Demon that the yers could not fight against, but also the Devil Legion that served Verus.

    uros was a male demon with a leopard¡¯s fur wrapped around his body, a javelin in his hand, and a huge ck hawk on his right shoulder. Zagan was a bipedal bull with a pair of gryphon¡¯s wings on his back and countless demons behind him. Forcas was an old man riding on a white horse with a long, impressive white beard, and a huge scythe on hand. Behind them stood thousands of monsters, humans, elves, and orcs with chains wrapped around one of their legs.

    These demons were not even in the top forty of the demons under hismand, in fact, they were the lowest in terms of rankings. This proved that Verus did not have the power to summon his top ranking demons at the moment. However, it still did not take away the fact that he summoned three of his generals at once.

    Elpis immediately moved forward and blocked Verus and the three demons that he summoned.

    ¡°Everyone¡­ quickly¡­ escape¡­!¡± Elpis shouted, hand sping his sword tightly and eyes filled with the determination to die. However, the eyes of all of the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect were all trained on Minhyuk, who was standing on top of the fortress¡¯ ramparts. He made eye contact with each of them.

    <em>[<strong>Guild Master Minhyuk</strong>: As your master, Imand you.]</em>

    All of them held their breaths as they waited for his orders. Do they leave Elpis behind or do they fight those mysterious beings in front of them? Either of the two, they would follow his choice.

    <em>[<strong>Guild Master Minhyuk</strong>: We will save Elpis and seal the Great Demon and the rest of the demons present.]</em>

    ¡°Roger!!!¡±

    ¡°Okaaaaaaay!¡±

    ¡°Uwooooooooooooh!¡±

    The members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect all jumped up as if they had been waiting for this moment.

    <em>¡®The stun just a while ago was definitely the great demon¡¯s power. He can¡¯t actually bind us.¡¯</em>

    The entire world was shocked to see them running forward.

    <em>[yer Minhyuk has made a decision!]</em>

    <em>[Let¡¯s Eat Sect is not backing down!!! Right now, they¡¯re rushing towards the demons!!!]</em>

    <em>[They look cool as they rush to save Diablo!!!]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s a very foolish decision!!! yers against demons is definitely impossible! So, why am I crying right now?!]</em>

    Meanwhile, Genie, who was also running forward, asked¡­

    <em>[<strong>Vice-Guild Master Genie</strong>: What about you?]</em>

    She thought that he would run together with them after he gave his orders. But then, Minhyuk said¡­

    <em>[<strong>Guild Master Minhyuk</strong>: I¡¯lle after eating this very delicious meal. Endure until then.]</em>

    ***

    Ardo¡¯s Training Grounds was the first ce that new Athenae yers would step foot on. This was the ce where they could learn many basic things, like how to attack through the scarecrow hitting quest, how to use the inventory, how the concept of stats worked and many other things. This was literally a tutorial point.

    In this ce, there were two people known as the neighborhood¡¯s specialty. These two people were none other than Instructor Valen and his wife, Instructor Roina. They always showed the other yers a refreshing scene by dealing with the arrogant and cocky new yers.

    However, the yers that had created their characters at this very day had no choice but to look around in confusion.

    ¡°What the hell?!¡±

    ¡°Where¡¯s the instructor?!¡±

    The new yers were bewildered. They were about to lose their cool until the instructor appeared. However, their instructor lookedpletely different from usual when he was instructing them in this tutorial zone. Today, he was wearing shiny and tough leather armor, with a well-maintained, sharp sword hanging on his waist.

    ¡°This guy will help you train today,¡± The instructor said, turning around and walking forward after leaving them with another instructor. There, in the distance, stood a woman waiting for him. This woman was none other than his wife, Roina. She was the person that contributed greatly and made Instructor Valen a local specialty. After all, they usually worked in a pair when they dealt with the arrogant yers! Roina was also wearing shiny silver full-te armor with a spear in her hand.

    ¡°Wa¡­ wait! Where are you going?! Is this something that NPCs can do?! What¡¯s more important than doing this?!¡± One of the yers asked in disbelief.

    Instructor Valen looked back at him with a smile and said, ¡°Saving the world.¡±

    Then, the two people disappeared in a sh of light.

 Chapter 452: For Elpis

    Chapter 452: For Elpis

    The supreme ruler of the seas, the Dragon King, the king of the elves, Gorn, and Crown Prince Argon, a once in a thousand year genius, all nodded at once as they made eye contact.

    ¡°Retreat. Run as far as you can from this ce!!!¡±

    ¡°Everyone, run away!!!¡±

    ¡°Yes. We understand!¡±

    ¡°Retreaaaaaat!!!¡±

    ¡°Retreat as far as you can!!!¡±

    The elves and the seafolk retreated quickly. They knew that the great demon and the three demons that he summoned were far beyond what they could handle. But as they retreated, they suddenly realized something.

    ¡°D¡­ Dragon King?¡± Kiari, who was hurriedly ordering the seafolks to retreat, turned back with shaking pupils.

    The Dragon King just smiled kindly at her and said, ¡°Hurry and go, Kiari.¡±

    ¡°N¡­ no. Let¡¯s go together, Dragon King!!! We have to go together! If you stay here then¡­¡± Kiari could not bear to finish her words.

    The Dragon King just smiled at her and said, ¡°I¡¯ve already died once.¡±

    That was right. He had already died once. The Dragon King looked at the member of Let¡¯s Eat Sect running towards Verus. That man that loved food had saved him from the grasps of Great Mage Arfield. Because of that, their Dragon Pce became stronger and produced more talents. It was the Dragon Pce that he made for him. So, this time, it was time for him to fight for his sake.

    ¡°Hurry and go. Kiari, this is an order.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­ aaaaaaaaaah¡­ aaaaaaaah¡­!¡±

    Kiari felt frustrated. Jevis, with her teary eyes, hugged Kiari and dragged her back to retreat.

    ¡°You have to survive. You must survive and live to protect the Dragon Pce!¡± The Dragon King said with a watery smile on his face as he looked away from them.

    Elf King Gorn, the elves¡¯ absolute ruler that had sat on his ¡®throne¡¯ for hundreds of years, approached Prince Argon. Elvenheim might still be reeling from the Demon World¡¯s attack on them, but the fact that he was an excellent and outstanding ruler would never change. He ced the crown, which was made from the branches and flowers of the World Tree, on Argon¡¯s head.

    ¡°My¡­ my king¡­¡±

    ¡°Argon. From now on, you will be the king of Elvenheim.¡±

    ¡°N¡­ no! You have to go with me!¡±

    ¡°You are qualified enough. This is myst order as your king.¡±

    Then, Gorn turned to look at the elven warriors that were still standing in front of him, unable to take a step away nor retreat, ¡°Protect and lead Argon to Elveheim! You must all survive!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­I heed your orders!¡±

    ¡°I heed your orders!!!¡±

    Argon ran with the elven warriors with tears in his eyes. The Dragon King, with his huge trident and Elf King Gorn, with his bow, stood side by side.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you go?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m already old. The Dragon Pce needs a new king. Gorn, why didn¡¯t you leave?¡±

    ¡°So, we¡¯re thinking about the same thing.¡±

    For hundreds of years, the two of them hated each other. But now, they were standing together with smiles on their faces.

    <em>[Where do you think you¡¯re going? I won¡¯t let a single one of you go!!!]</em>

    Then, Great Demon Verus mmed his palms on the ground. The explosion broke the ground and traveled towards Gorn and the Dragon King, intending to drag the retreating elves and seafolk as well. Seeing the approaching explosions, the Dragon King mmed his trident on the ground.

    <em>Fwooooooooooooosh¡ª</em>

    A huge tidal wave appeared and tried to stop the iing explosion. Elf King Gorn also moved and pulled his bow.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaak¡ª</em>

    <em>aaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    The moment his arrow hit the ground, a huge shield appeared.

    <em>Baaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Finally, the explosion and the tidal wave collided.

    ¡°Ugh!¡± The Dragon King, who was controlling the tidal wave groaned as his body got pushed back. It seemed like it was hard to contain the explosion even though he gave it his all. Elf King Gorn¡¯s shield stopped the shockwave from the collision of the tidal wave and the explosion.

    <em>Craaaaaack¡ª</em>

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    ¡°Keheok!¡±

    But in the end, the shield could not hold out for long. It shattered into pieces and allowed the explosion to hit them.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Urk!!!¡±

    The Elf King and the Dragon King could not escape and received tremendous damage. But even though the pain from the explosion seared through their bodies, all they did was look back to watch the elves and the Dragon Pce¡¯s seafolks safe escape. The two of them smiled bitterly at each other, before running straight towards Great Demon Verus.

    ***

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    A huge explosion swept the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect the moment uros swung his spear. The explosion caused by his spear was stronger than any skill ever casted.

    <em>[He just swung his spear but the power that it packed is ridiculously explosive!]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s like I¡¯m seeing a dragon¡¯s breath. No, it¡¯s far scarier than that.]</em>

    The explosive power of the spear alone made everyone watching the scene believe that the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect would die. That was not all, Great Demon Verus was also enraged.

    <em>[I will rip apart all of the people that you care about!!!]</em>

    Every time Great Demon Verus¡¯ fire sword and Elpis¡¯ sword collided, a huge explosion would ur.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    To be honest, Great Demon Verus only thought of the humans that were trying to oppose him as insignificant beings. It was only natural of him. After all, it did not matter how weak the demons had be, the fact that they were absolute beings that towered over these humans would not change. These puny humans would never be able to win against them.

    Just as these thoughts shed in his head¡­

    <em>Puhaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡­the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect jumped out of the cloud of dust that arose from the explosion one after the other.

    <em>[¡­?!]</em>

    Great Demon Verus was a bit shocked to see lesser injuries than he expected on the bodies of the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect. uros was a fire demon, the fire that he created had attack power that wasparable to Verus¡¯ own.

    ¡®<em>Howe? Howe these people did not incur that much damage?</em>¡¯

    ¡°Uwooooooooh!¡±

    Khan, the one leading the group, as well as the guild members and Named NPCs that were following right behind him, were all shrouded in some sort of extraordinary effect.

    ¡°Exploding Fire Fist!¡± Khan shouted as zing mes appeared and covered his fists. Demon uros sneered at the sight as he threw his spear to counter the fists.

    <em>Crackle, crackle, crackle¡ª</em>

    The moment uros¡¯ spear collided with Khan¡¯s fist¡­

    <em>Boom¡ª</em>

    ¡­the scene that uros expected did not happen. Khan¡¯s fist did not get blown away, it did not even budge despite going against uros. In fact, the one that backed down from the encounter was uros, who retrieved his spear.

    <em>Dash¡ª</em>

    Khan immediately dashed forward when he saw uros grabbing his spear. He sent his fist flying straight towards the demon¡¯s face.

    ¡°Do you think your measly human fist can scratch my body?¡± uros sneered. He was a demon that exceeded the power of the strongest being on earth, a dragon. He did not think that he would receive any damage even if that fist mmed into him. But then¡­

    <em>Punch¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keheok?!¡± uros¡¯ breath was caught in his throat, his head swinging fiercely to the side after getting hit by Khan¡¯s bare fist. He was even left in a bit of a dizzy daze from the impact.

    ¡°Giant¡¯s Battering!¡± Khan casted as dozens of his fists pounded all over uros¡¯ body.

    uros shrieked as he felt a searing pain, a sensation that he had never felt in his life, every time Khan¡¯s fists smashed into his body, ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    And finally, Khan¡¯s final strikended into uros and¡­

    <em>Puuuuuunch¡ª</em>

    ¡­made him fly back. Even though Great Demon Verus witnessed it with his own eyes, he still could not bring himself to believe it.

    The worst part? There were two women waiting for uros to fall.

    One of the two was a woman with long silver hair that reached her waist and katanas on both her hands. This woman was Ascar, the Goddess of the Battlefield. The other was wearing a shabby helmet pulled down to her nose, with a good quality sword in her hand. This woman was Minhyuk¡¯s Extreme Hardcore Fan, the disguised Sword Emperor Ellie. Of course, Ellie had also eaten Minhyuk¡¯s delicious meal.

    Ascar swung her sword in the air as she casted, ¡°Ghost¡¯s Massacre¡± and sent hundreds of weapons that stabbed, cut, shed at the falling uros.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaaack!¡± uros shrieked loudly once again. Of course, Ellie did not let the opportunity pass by and¡­

    <em>[Overlord¡¯s Swordsmanship Chapter 2. Lion¡¯s Stretch.]</em>

    ¡­struck uros with her sword.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaack?!¡± This time, uros shrieked in disbelief. The pain that he felt from this blow was on an entirely different level from the pain that he felt from the other woman¡¯s attack earlier. This attack made him feel like his body was being torn apart whenever the woman swung her sword and struck his body. The most painful part was Ellie flying once again to strike at his vital points one after the other.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuaaack! Ack! Ughhhh! S¡­ Stooooooop!¡±

    The whole world watched as the demon begged Ellie to stop. Sweat pooled at the palm of the viewers¡¯ hands as they continued to watch the scene. Someone even muttered unconsciously, ¡°Let¡¯s Eat Sect is crazy¡­¡±

    However, the woman¡¯s sword did not stop. She continued to strike uros¡¯ vital points.

    <em>[Overlord¡¯s Swordsmanship Chapter 12. Lion Stalking its Prey.]</em>

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaack!¡±

    Right now, Ellie had received Minhyuk¡¯s cooking buff. So what if they were facing demons? All of them, including the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect, were several times stronger than usual. In other words, Great Demon Verus and the demons had chosen the wrong day to descend.

    <em>[Overlord¡¯s Swordsmanship Chapter 7. Lion¡¯s Forelegs¡¯ Strike.]</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    uros got sent straight down into the ground, his body twitching helplessly. Great Demon Verus, although a direct witness to the scene, could not believe his own eyes. He thought, <em>¡®Did the Godse down as a group?!¡¯</em>

    Verus¡¯ pupils shook widely.

    ***

    At the same time.

    Although the war was at its climax and everyone was fighting for their lives, Minhyuk sat still and focused on the Bizarre Rice Cake Set in front of him. This Bizarre Rice Cake Set was something that he made when he was making the dishes for his guild members. Minhyuk nned to use his ¡®Ovepping Delight¡¯ skill after eating his Bizarre Rice Cake Set. The problem was that he only had one legendary grade dish right now.

    <em>(<strong>Bizarre Rice Cake Set</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Ingredient Grade</strong>: A</em>

    <em><strong>Grade</strong>: Legend</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: Only Minhyuk could have the buff effects.</em>

    <em><strong>Shelf Life</strong>: 25 days</em>

    <em><strong>Preservation Time</strong>: 25 days</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>? STR and AGI will increase by 31%.</em>

    <em>? Your sword''s basic attack will increase by 300%.</em>

    <em>? Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship¡¯s MP consumption and skill cooldown will decrease by 30%.</em>

    <em>? Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship¡¯s attack will increase by 30%.</em>

    <em>? You can use the Sword of Absolute Death two times in a row.</em>

    <em>? Upon consumption, you will recover 100% of your HP, MP and release all of your abnormal states.</em>

    <em>? Upon consumption, the effect that¡¯s best suited for your needs will be activated for an hour.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: The chef that made this dish gave it his all to make it tasty.</em>

    The effects of this single dish alone was ridiculously amazing. Unfortunately, these effects were not enough.

    <em>¡®To cut down the Great Demon Verus¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk needed greater power. The problem was that this was the only dish that Minhyuk had on his hands with such extraordinary effects. This meant that he had to make something right now. So, he pondered for a moment about what he wanted to cook before finally making a decision.

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll make some Spicy Braised Chicken. Hang in there and endure, guys.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was fully aware that even if his guild members were doing well right now, their enemies had yet to show the full extent of their powers. So, he began to cook.

    ***

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Elpis threw up a mouthful of ck blood after getting hit by Verus¡¯ sword, ¡°Urk!¡±

    Verus looked at the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect that drove the demons to a corner. Seeing them run freely among his men made him feelpelled to cut them down as quickly as he could. But just as he was about to take a step¡­

    <em>Step, step, step¡ª</em>

    ¡­the eerie sound of footsteps apanied by a tremendous killing intent rang near Verus, making his ugly face turn even uglier. The encroaching killing intent felt like a lion was stalking its prey.

    Great Demon Verus had seen a lot of absolute beings, but he had never felt such an absolute and terrifying energy before. When Verus turned towards the direction of the killing intent, he saw a man walking leisurely towards him.

    ¡°What are you looking at?¡± The man said. Strangely enough, it sounded like <em>¡®What the f*ck are you looking at me for?¡¯.</em>

    <em>[¡­?]</em>

    Then, the man snapped, ¡°I don¡¯t like the way your eyes look. Make sure you look at others kindly next time.¡±

    <em>[¡­?]</em>

    Verus was left speechless.

    <em>¡®Doesn¡¯t this sound like those chuunibyou humans that curse others for making eye contact with them?! And my eyes are naturally fierce and vicious, how can I make them look at others kindly?!¡¯</em>

    Verus felt his anger re. Then, the man, Brod, turned to look at Elpis¡¯ copsed figure before casting his skill. Brod also had a skill with a tremendous penalty that could allow him to hunt one person. It was mainly because of the huge penalty that he was not able to use it before.

    ¡°Wolf¡¯s Unquestionable Triumph.¡±

    Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>aaaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    ¡­Brod swung his sword once. It was just once. However, the red energy that flew out of his sword, carrying an additional 4,000% attack,pletely ignored Verus¡¯ defenses and stabbed through him.

    <em>[Keuhaaaaaaaaaack?!]</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    That was not all. Explosions burst out of Verus'' body immediately after the sword stabbed through him, causing even more damage to him.

    However, even though his body exploded strangely, Verus¡¯ regeneration was quick and swift. Still, Verus felt both shocked and enraged. What in the world was this human in front of him?! But when he saw Brod take a step forward, Verus unconsciously took a step back while hurriedly stuttering out¡­

    <em>[I, I was born with these eyes!!! I can¡¯t make them look nicer!!!]</em>

    The viewers that watched the scene realized¡­

    <em>[That¡­ Verus looks scared, right¡­?]</em>

    <em>[Yeah, he looks scared¡­ Ha¡­ ha.]</em>

 Chapter 453: For Elpis

    Chapter 453: For Elpis

    The video of the Great Demon Verus and the demons¡¯ invasion had garnered the highest ratings in the history of Athenae! Most of the game broadcasting stations had exceeded 50% of their viewership rating, an unbelievable record that caused most people to reevaluate their views about Let¡¯s Eat Sect!

    <em>[So, the Food God is not really the strongest in Let¡®s Eat Sect, huh¡­]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s crazy! Did you see Khan¡¯s fist? Doesn¡¯t it look like the demons can¡¯t do anything everytime he punches them?]</em>

    <em>[How about Diablo and that thug NPC? Did you see him beating the hell out of Verus because his eyes aren¡¯t nice? Verus was also scared of him.]</em>

    <em>[Let¡¯s Eat Sect is the best.]</em>

    The talented rankers all over the world were all tongue-tied at the amazing potential that Let¡¯s Eat Sect was showing right now. However, not long after, they realized¡­

    <em>[The great demon and the demons have limitless regenerative abilities, right?]</em>

    <em>[Ah,e to think of it, why aren¡¯t the demonic beasts and the enved beings behind the demons not yet moving?]</em>

    One of the 72 Devils, Zagan, was leading a legion made up of hundreds of demonic beasts. There were also hundreds of ves of various races tied with chains behind the old demon, Forcas. All of them have not yet made their move. It was as if they were testing the power of their enemies before they made their move.

    ***

    The members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect were already starting to get tired from pushing and pressuring the demons.

    <em>¡®What the hell is this incredible regenerative power?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®We don¡¯t have any chance of winning¡­¡¯</em>

    There were quite a lot of monsters with tremendous and shocking regenerative abilities. However, they had never seen anyone that could continuously regenerate like the demons in front of them. Even if they incurred just a little injury, their HP seemed to instantly reach 100% again.

    And uros, who was twitching on the ground by Khan¡¯s side, murmured¡­

    <em>[This is definitely shocking. How can a human be as powerful as a God?]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Khan looked at uros in doubt. When he turned around, he saw Zagan, the demon that Crow, Ace, Conir and Ghost Spear Ben were putting pressure on, smiling.

    <em>[I wonder how long you can fight against us? We¡¯re only using a fifth of our powers, you know?]</em>

    <em>¡®Wh, what did you say¡­?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®A fifth?!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®What kind of bullshit is that?!¡¯</em>

    Listening to their words made the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect tremble. They were putting their lives on the line, having a hard time fighting against enemies that had their powers sealed to that extent? If that was the case, then how strong would they be if the demons were at their full strength?

    <em>[Will you allow me to release the seal that restricts my power, O¡¯ Great Demon?]</em>

    Verus, who had just been beaten by Brod, grinned at Zagan¡¯s question.

    <em>[I grant you your request.]</em>

    At the end of Verus¡¯ words, several bottles of potions appeared in Zagan¡¯s hands. Demons were beings equipped with their own special attributes. In the field of alchemy, Zagan¡¯s characteristics were special enough to rival that of a God¡¯s. The purple liquid sloshing in the bottles in his hands suggested that a part of their power would be unsealed and restored.

    ¡°Stop hiiiiiiim!!!¡±

    ¡°Break those things!!!¡±

    The members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect shouted in agitation. Elf King Gorn¡¯s arrows that were made of light sped through the air and aimed for the bottles of potions in Zagan¡¯s hands.

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping!</em>

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    But Forcas approached him in an instant and broke the arrows that he sent out. The members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect, the Dragon King, Elf King Gorn, and other Named NPCs immediately rushed forward.

    But then, the ck hawk on uros¡¯ shoulder moved.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The ck hawk moved so fast that none of them could follow it with their own eyes. And with every p of its wings, a huge explosion would burst out in their ranks and knock them down. And amidst the explosions, they saw¡­

    <em>Pop¡ª</em>

    <em>Pop¡ª</em>

    <em>Pop¡ª</em>

    ¡­Great Demon Verus, Zagan, uros and Forcas opening the bottles of potions filled with sloshing purple liquid and gulping them down.

    <em>Gulp, gulp, gulp¡ª</em>

    Their throats moved as they continued to gulp the potion. Crow, who had copsed on the ground from the explosions, rushed forward with his spear.

    ¡°We have to kill them now!!!¡± He shouted while running. However, the notifications that rang right after brought him immense shock.

    <em>[Great Demon Verus is devouring the demonic energy in the surroundings!]</em>

    <em>[Humans will not be able to fight against this powerful force.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will decrease by 20%. Your attack¡¯s sess rate will also decrease by 40%.]</em>

    <em>[Your Physical and Magical Defenses will decrease by 30%.]</em>

    <em>[The tremendous amount of demonic energy in the surrounding area has shackled you. If you get attacked under this state, you will receive double the damage.]</em>

    Still, Crow did not stop in his tracks. He continued to dash forward and thrust his spear to pierce through the neck of the old demon, Forcas. s, Forcas was one step faster than him, and had already lightly swung his scythe against him.

    <em>aaaash¡ª</em>

    <em>[Your HP has fallen below 10%!]</em>

    <em>[More than 80% of your HP has been shaved off in one go.]</em>

    <em>[You have received a strong attack, you will not be able to control your body.]</em>

    ¡°Keheok?!¡±

    Crow copsed on the ground. He could not stand up and could only twitch helplessly. Then, hundreds of potion bottles floated around Zagan, before soaring to the skies and falling on the ground and exploding.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    <em>[Your HP has fallen below 50%!]</em>

    <em>[You have been subjected to Demon Zagan¡¯s potions.]</em>

    <em>[You will experience tremendous pain, as if you¡¯re being burned from the poison in the potion.]</em>

    <em>[The burning pain will make it harder for you to control your body.]</em>

    ¡°Keuhaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Euaaaaack!¡±

    The members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect that were hit directly by the explosions from the potions screamed loudly. The explosions were so powerful that they shaved off 30% of their HP in one go. The worst part?

    <em>ck¡ª</em>

    <em>ck¡ª</em>

    <em>ck¡ª</em>

    <em>ck¡ª</em>

    The ves shackled by chains standing behind Forcas started to move.

    ¡°Chwiiiiiiiik!¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    One of the enved orcs punched Khan.

    ¡°Kghhhhhk! Wha, what kind of orc is this¡­?!¡±

    If Demon Zagan was the master of alchemy, then Forcas was a demon that dragged countless beings down into the Demon World to make them his ves. Through Forcas¡¯ rigorous training, brainwashing, and torture, his ves had be ten times more powerful than their original power.

    <em>Fwooooooooosh¡ª</em>

    One of the enved elves shot an arrow that pierced through Elf King Gorn¡¯s shoulder.

    ¡°Urk!¡± Gorn groaned as he copsed on the ground from the pain. The Dragon King rushed forward to protect him. But not long after, uros¡¯ ck hawk passed by the Dragon King and set off another explosion.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡±

    The explosion caused the Dragon King¡¯s left arm to bend strangely and left one of his legs broken. All the Dragon King could do was fall down helplessly, his eyes wandering around in despair. He watched as Verus swung his sword and sent out thousands of explosions simultaneously.

    ¡°<em>Huff!</em>¡±

    Brod did not let out a groan, despite being engulfed in the explosion. But when the cloud of dust settled, his figure waspletely haggard and devastated. Blood was dripping from his head and his body was covered with the debris from the explosion. Elpis was also struggling to stand up to fight against Verus once again.

    But it waspletely useless. In another area, the NPCs and members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect were copsing one after the other. Their eyes were showing the mounting desperation.

    ¡°It¡¯s over¡­¡± The Dragon King murmured as he looked up at the sky helplessly.

    ***

    Brod was flustered after seeing the sudden leap in Great Demon Verus¡¯ power.

    <em>¡®How¡­¡¯</em>

    He was at a level where Brod could not do anything against him. Great Demon Verus was fear and terror in and of itself. He waspletely different from when he told him to open his eyes and make them look nicely earlier.

    ¡°Mercenary¡¯s Pinnacle Swordsmanship¡¯s Final Chapter. Wolf¡¯s Death.¡±

    Thousands of red wolves dashed towards Verus. But when Verus snapped his fingers¡­

    <em>[Great Demon¡¯s Attribute.]</em>

    <em>[The nullification attribute has been triggered.]</em>

    <em>Swooooooooosh¡ª</em>

    ¡­Brod¡¯s strongest AOE skill was rendered useless in one go.

    <em>¡®The Great Demon¡¯s Attribute is equivalent to the God¡¯s Authority in power¡­¡¯</em>

    The concept of the God¡¯s Authority was simr to the King¡¯s Authority. However, the two were most definitely notparable. Brod swung his sword to try and stop Great Demon Verus¡¯ sword.

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Unfortunately, he could only fly back helplessly while throwing up a mouthful of ck blood the moment his sword collided with Great Demon Verus¡¯ sword.

    ¡°Urk!¡±

    <em>[Human, didn¡¯t you say that I should look kindly? Huh? Keuhahahahahaha!]</em>

    Great Demon Verus guffawed. Just when he was about to step towards Brod¡­

    <em>tter, tter¡ª</em>

    ¡­Elpis, who was lying on the ground, threw his scythe and wound its chains around Verus¡¯ ankle.

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    Shockingly enough, the chains of his scythe broke the moment Great Demon Verus grabbed it with his hands.

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    <em>[Watch closely, Diablo. Your foolish decision will kill all of those that you love.]</em>

    Verus grabbed Elpis by the head and forced him to look at the terrible hell that surrounded them. The scene of Ghost Spear Ben falling on the ground as the enved orcs, elves and ogres pushed him back was seared in Elpis¡¯ eyes. There was also Best Selling Author Aruvel, who was forced on his knee with a broken arm, struggling to stand up and fight. The members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect were also screaming non-stop.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Tears welled up in Elpis¡¯ eyes as he fell into deep sorrow. But then, he suddenly remembered what Minhyuk told him.

    <em>¡®Elpis, why do you always cry? If you cry again, I will call you Wolfis. Huh? Speaking of Wolfis, I suddenly want to have some Koolpis! Keuhahahaha!¡¯</em>

    Recalling Minhyuk¡¯s words was enough to bring a smile to his face. So, he smiled. After all, this was what his lord had ordered him.

    <em>[Have you gone mad? You¡¯re smiling when you¡¯re already in this situation?!]</em>

    Verus sneered as he threw Elpis to the ground. Verus knew that he did not have enough time to stay in this ce, he had to end everything right now. So, he leapt to the skies as a zing ck me wrapped around his hands.

    <em>[Demon¡¯s zing me]</em>

    <em>[Your attack will increase by 7,000%. Everything within a 500 meter radius will be extinguished.]</em>

    The mes in his hands had far more destructive power than a dragon¡¯s breath. The area that it could cover was also huge. When the mes in his hands grewrge enough, he released it below him. A simple nce at this me would tell anyone that it was more than enough to kill everyone, including the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect, and even remove Valha Fortress from the map.

    <em>¡®I don¡¯t have any regrets¡­¡¯</em>

    Elpis did not have any regrets. He was d that before he died, he was still a man that served the lord named Minhyuk. He cried with him,ughed with him, and shared stories with him in his territory. He really enjoyed their time together. Even if he died now, he really would not have any regrets. However, there was one thing that he wanted to do, even if it cost him his life. He wanted to protect everyone here.

    Elpis¡¯ ¡®Devil Judge¡¯ consisted of several chapters. He had a skill that was simr to Devil Judge¡¯s Sword¡¯s ¡®Berserk¡¯, a skill that strengthened and increased his power, but was a cut above it in terms of power and could be considered as one of his extreme penalty skills.

    This skill was none other than ¡®Judge¡¯s Wrath¡¯. It could triple his attack and defense for ten seconds. Once the ten seconds was up, his HP would plummet to 2%. But with the situation right now, having only 2% HP would spell Elpis¡¯ death.

    ¡°Judge¡¯s Wrath.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    A tremendous amount of demonic energy burst out of Elpis¡¯ body. Then, he flew up to counter the falling Demon¡¯s zing me that had already grownrger than a meteor. While everyone had fallen into the depths of despair, only Elpis stood up to fight.

    ¡°Elpis!!!¡±

    ¡°Elpis!!!¡±

    ¡°N, no!!!¡±

    ¡°Elpiiiiiiiiis!!!¡±

    Everyone could tell that Elpis was sacrificing himself and they screamed his name.

    The entire world shook from the shockwave of the collision between Elpis, who used Judge¡¯s Wrath, and Verus¡¯ Demon¡¯s zing me. It created a huge cloud of dust that covered everything.

    ***

    In one of Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s meeting rooms.

    President Kang Taehoon shut his eyes. In the end, Elpis chose to save everyone and go down the path of death. No, in fact, Elpis might have thought that he saved them, but in the end everyone present would still die.

    A deep silence draped over the meeting room. None of them could see anything through the thick cloud of dust.

    ¡°Hoo,¡± President Kang Taehoon sighed loudly as he stood up from his seat to try and open the window to release his frustration. But at that moment, strange and shocking notifications suddenly rang loudly in the otherwise silent meeting room.

    <em>[yer Minhyuk has sealed Demon Forcas.]</em>

    <em>[yer Minhyuk has acquired Demon Forcas¡¯ Treasure.]</em>

    <em>[yer Minhyuk has sealed Demon Zagan.]</em>

    <em>[yer Minhyuk has acquired Demon Zagan¡¯s Treasure.]</em>

    <em>[yer Minhyuk has sealed Demon uros.]</em>

    <em>[yer Minhyuk has acquired Demon uros¡¯ Treasure.]</em>

    The notifications rang in intervals of around two to three seconds.

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Everyone was shocked. Then, President Kang Taehoon murmured in a trembling voice, ¡°What the hell is going on within that cloud of dust¡­?¡±

    The broadcasting stations¡¯ cameras were filming at different angles but it was still hard to see anything since everything was covered by the thick cloud of dust. Then, they suddenly saw the silhouette of someone falling rapidly down the ground.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    A loud bang resonated through the screen. All of the people watching their screens assumed that the silhouette was Elpis.

    <em>[Right now, it seems like Diablo¡¯s figure has fallen down on the ground.]</em>

    <em>[Will Diablo really die in the end?]</em>

    <em>[We can assume that Diablo, who protected Let¡¯s Eat Sect until the very end, has taken his final breath.]</em>

    <em>[We can hear the desperate shouts of the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect. Ah, my heart hurts so much.]</em>

    Right above the ce where the silhouette fell, another silhouette was reflected. The silhouette slowly descended from the sky as it looked down on Elpis¡¯ supposed copsed figure. After a few tense minutes, the dust finally settled down. However, what greeted the entire world was a very shocking scene. The figure that fell down on the ground earlier was¡­

    <em>[Ve, Verus?!!]</em>

    <em>[Great Demon Verus is the one that¡¯s stuck on the ground!]</em>

    <em>[What, what in the world happened?!]</em>

    The other figure that was descending from the sky was a man with silver hair and eyes. The man carried Elpis in his hands with a soft smile on his face as he apologized, ¡°Sorry, I¡¯mte.¡±

    It was none other than Minhyuk.

 Chapter 454: Verus vs. Letâ€™s Eat Sect

    Chapter 454: Verus vs. Let¡¯s Eat Sect

    Twenty minutes ago.

    Hell on earth literally unfolded in front of them. Some of the retreating troops fell down bleeding from all of their orifices, while some disappeared without a trace from the AOE attack that Great Demon Verus¡¯ sent out.

    ¡°Grandpa Ben!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll protect you!!!¡± Marquis Brad shouted, as he and the spearmen unit that he led jumped in front of Ben to defend against the power that stretched out from Great Demon Verus¡¯ sword. Some of the spearmen that jumped forward turned to gray and disappeared in a sh.

    ¡°Morons! Fools! Did I ask you to save me?! Why did you throw yourselves in front of me?! How can you do something so reckless!!!¡± Ben, who always nagged at them and made them bury their heads in the ground, screamed at them in despair.

    ¡°Conir¡­ Conir¡¯s having a hard time¡­ Conir feels like he¡¯s going to die¡­¡± Conir, who was usually sturdy and active, lost the shine in his eyes as he hung on his sword helplessly.

    ¡°Genie, are you alright?!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m, I¡¯m fine! Urk!¡±

    Each and everyone of them fought desperately to protect Valha.

    Meanwhile, above the walls of Valha Fortress, Minhyuk had started cooking to protect and save them.

    <em>¡®You can¡¯t die on me, Elpis,¡¯ </em>Minhyuk thought, immense gratitude gushing from deep within his heart when he heard Elpis utter his name when he swore in the ¡®Book of Permanence¡¯. Elpis believed in him and chose him, so Minhyuk had to answer that trust.

    Just like that, he started to cook. He chopped up the chicken and ced them inside the pot of boiling water to remove the impurities. Then, he cut the potatoes beautifully, making sure to slice them in bite-sized pieces. After removing the scum from the pot, Minhyuk added the potatoes and around eight spoonfuls of red pepper powder. He preferred using red pepper powder and oligosharide, instead of red pepper paste, when making braised chicken. If he cooked it like this, the vor that usually would get boring as time went by, would have that spicy and sweet aftertaste.

    After letting it boil for quite some time, Minhyuk pulled the lid off the pot. As the steam cleared up, the brilliant and gleaming red color of the spicy braised chicken greeted him. Then, he adjusted the heat from high to low as he thought, <em>¡®Elpis, I still want to cook more dishes for you.¡¯</em>

    The number of cuisines that Elpis had tasted could be counted in one hand. That was why Minhyuk wanted to cook a lot of tasty dishes for him.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    A loud bang, the sound of Elpis mming on the ground, rang loudly.

    ¡°Elpis!!!¡± Brod¡¯s furious scream as he rushed forward to help Elpis rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears. However, Minhyuk¡¯s concentration did not break. He needed to make the tastiest and most extraordinary dish right now. And the dish that he was making was entirely dependent on the intensity of the mes¡¯ heat and how many more seconds it needed to boil. Minhyuk focused and worked hard to make the most amazing braised spicy chicken. And finally¡­

    <em>[You havepleted a Braised Spicy Chicken.]</em>

    <em>[Your dish is the only dish with the buff effect.]</em>

    <em>[The Create a Recipe Skill Effect can only be tasted by the same person once per month.]</em>

    <em>[Trance. It¡¯s a dish that has your ¡®heart to protect¡¯ and ¡®concentration¡¯ poured into it.]</em>

    <em>[Due to the effects of Trance, the buff effect has be better.]</em>

    <em>[Legendary Grade.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 30 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 200 REP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 5,000 AP.]</em>

    ¡­hepleted the dish. Minhyuk smiled in relief. He now had two dishes ready, the Bizarre Rice Cake Set and the Braised Spicy Chicken. He had to choose only one among these two dishes to be his main dish. And the dish that he chose was the Braised Spicy Chicken.

    Steam rose from the hot white rice ced in front of him. The potato, which was gleaming red from the sauce, made him gulp unknowingly. The first thing that Minhyuk picked was the chicken leg.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡±

    The steaming chicken leg covered with the bright red sauce made his mouth water. The heat of the chicken leg passed through his fingers that were holding the piece.

    ¡°Hot, hot,¡± Minhyuk mumbled as he hurriedly took a bite of the chicken leg. The soft and juicy chicken leg entered his mouth, as the sweet and spicy sauce wrapped around his taste buds. The chicken leg was like the Braised Spicy Chicken¡¯s grand finale! A happy smile curled at the corners of his mouth. Then, he chomped on a spoonful of white rice.

    <em>¡®The sauce turned out really good.¡¯</em>

    It was important to braise and boil the chicken perfectly in the Braised Spicy Chicken, but it was also important to make the sauce perfectly bnced.

    This time, he poured the red sauce on top of his rice, before mixing it with his spoon. Then, he scooped a spoonful and ced it in his mouth. The thick sauce, together with the white, steaming rice, created a rich and fantastic harmony inside his mouth. Minhyuk then ced a piece of potato on top of his rice before pouring more sauce on top of it and mashing it together with the rice. Then, he scooped a spoonful of the rice, potato, and sauce, and added a piece of meat, before cing it in his mouth.

    <em>Chew, chew, chew¡ª</em>

    An intense, enjoyable vor spread in his mouth. This time, he scooped another spoonful of the rice, potato, sauce, and meat before adding his secret weapon, the seasoned and crispy seaweed, and ced thebination in his mouth.

    ¡°Wow~ As expected! Thebination of sweet and salty is really the best~!¡±

    The crispy seasoned seaweed, together with the spicy and sweet braised spicy chicken, created another burst of vor in his mouth. Then, Minhyuk picked a piece of chicken wing and devoured the meat, leaving only the bones when he pulled it out of his mouth. After finishing his braised spicy chicken, Minhyuk stood up and looked at Verus in the sky and Elpis on the ground having a staring showdown.

    ***

    <em>Fall¡ª</em>

    The bloodied and bruised Genie copsed on her knees. Her whip¡¯s durability had already been spent and was already on the verge of breaking. All she could do was look around helplessly while blood dripped down from her head. The demons were extremely strong. Even with Minhyuk¡¯s buffed dishes, it was still hard for them to fight against them.

    ¡°Aceeeeee!!!¡±

    At that moment, Ace, who was struggling against Zagan¡¯s ves, was forced to log out after receiving a hit from Forcas¡¯ scythe. Then, Great Demon Verus leapt into the skies and shot out a gigantic me towards the ground. Elpis, with a sudden increase in power, jumped towards that tremendous force.

    When they collided¡­

    <em>Booooooooooom¡ª</em>

    ¡­a powerful shockwave that felt like it was going to devour everything, spread out. It was so powerful that it seemed like it could even shake the skies. Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Genie felt her body move as if it was being sucked somewhere. The ce where they were gathered was where Golden Mage Ali was. He squeezed thest of his powers to gather the NPCs and the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect together with his ¡®Compress¡¯ magic and¡­

    ¡°Barrier.¡±

    ¡­casted a golden barrier to protect the more than fifty people that he had gathered together.

    ¡°Keheuuuuk¡­¡±

    ¡°Aaaaargh¡­¡±

    Elf King Gorn was left unconscious, while the Dragon King was sitting with a broken leg. Both of Khan¡¯s fists were in a bad shape from fighting against the demons, and even ck Dragon¡¯s armor was broken in several ces.

    ¡°Elpis¡­¡±

    Everyone wondered what happened to Elpis under the thick cover of dust that surrounded them. This was because he was the one that had to survive the most among them. Just then, Demon Zagan approached the golden barrier that protected them.

    <em>[Is this the humans¡¯ barrier?]</em>

    Zaganughed loudly as Forcas and uros appeared next to him.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Forcas swung his scythe but the golden barrier remained firm.

    <em>[From what I heard, barriers like this restrict any and all kinds of attacks. It boasts absolute defense.]</em>

    Zagan grinned, his interest reaching its peak. Then, a bottle of potion filled with milky-white liquid appeared in his hands.

    <em>[But¡­ is it really absolute?]</em>

    <em>Sizzle¡ª</em>

    The golden barrier began to melt the moment Zagan poured the milky-white liquid over it.

    ¡°That¡¯s, that¡¯s impossible¡­!¡± Ali shouted in shock and disbelief. Just how powerful were the demons?!

    A small hole formed on the barrier which gradually grew in size. All of them turned to look at the hole in the barrier. What would happen if that hole grewrge enough for them to pass by? The demons would most likely bombard them with their AOE attack skills.

    If that happened, then everyone would be wiped out. The members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect were alright with dying. However, what they could not ept was the death of Ben, Aruvel, Conir, and Corr. After all, they only had one life, and one life alone.

    <em>Sizzle¡ª</em>

    The small hole started to grow bigger and bigger.

    <em>[Keufufufufufufufu.]</em>

    <em>[Keuhahahahahahahaha!]</em>

    Their eerieughter resonated loudly in the surrounding area. In the end, Forcas¡¯ hand was able to reach inside the barrier. Ali could not make a decision. Should he terminate the barrier or should he let it stay as it was?

    But no matter what decision he made, the result would still be the same. They would still die. Then, mass teleporting them? From what it looked like, he did not have the time to cast the spell. Besides, his MP had already tanked out a long time ago.

    ¡°Damn! Goddamnit!¡±

    ¡°No! These f*ckers!¡±

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaack!¡±

    The light in Genie¡¯s eyes lost their luster as screams rang rampant around her.

    <em>¡®Minhyuk¡­¡¯</em>

    All she could do was earnestly and desperately call for the name of one person in her heart. Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    A crack rang loudly from behind the demons as a mysterious die that sprinkled a golden light appeared from within the gaps of the dust.

    <em>Roll, roll, roll, roll¡ª</em>

    After rolling several times, bright markings pierced through the thick cloud of dust as the numbers rose higher and higher.

    ¡°A six¡­?¡± Genie murmured to herself.

    The person that threw the die was none other than Minhyuk. And the ability that he was using was the God of Cooking¡¯s Secret.

    <em>[Ovepping Delight.]</em>

    <em>[You can now receive the effects of two dishes.]</em>

    <em>[The duration of the buff effect will depend on the number that the die will cast.]</em>

    Minhyuk smiled brightly when he saw the markings on the die rise until it reached six.

    <em>[The die has been cast! You have rolled a six!]</em>

    <em>[The Ovepping Delight¡¯s buff effect willst for seven minutes!]</em>

    <em>[You have rolled a six, your EXP Acquisition Rate will double for seven minutes!]</em>

    <em>[You have received the effects of the Legendary Grade Bizarre Rice Cake Set and the Legendary Grade Braised Spicy Chicken.]</em>

    <em>[Your STR and AGI has increased by 51%!]</em>

    <em>[Your sword¡¯s basic attack has increased by 500%!]</em>

    <em>[Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship¡¯s skill level has increased by +4!]</em>

    <em>[Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship¡¯s MP consumption and Cooldown has decreased by 70%!]</em>

    <em>[Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship¡¯s Attack Power has increased by 60%!]</em>

    <em>[You can ignore the Sword of Absolute Death¡¯s cooldown and use it three times in a row!]</em>

    <em>[All of your HP and MP has been restored!]</em>

    <em>[You have received the effects!]</em>

    <em>[With your artifact, stats, and buff effects, you have be a yer that has the power that could cut down even the Gods.]</em>

    <em>[You have received <strong>Title</strong>: The One that could Cut Down the Gods.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s hair and eyes turned silver, which brought him a different charm and beauty than usual. His looks¡ªwide eyes, sharp jawline, nose like that of a foreigner¡¯s¡ªexuded brilliance and elegance.

    At that moment, the ck demonic energy that swirled out of Forcas¡¯ hands moved as if it was trying to make a riot inside the barrier.

    ¡°Minhyuuuuuuuuuk!¡± Genie cried loudly when she saw him. Then¡­

    ¡°Sword of Tempest.¡±

    Sword of Tempest was a skill that could release hundreds of des in the surroundings. But with the +4 level increase in Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship, the skill had changed.

    <em>[Sword of Tempest.]</em>

    <em>[Thousands of des with 800% additional damage flies at the speed of light and attacks your enemies.]</em>

    <em>[While Sword of Tempest is in duration, your movement speed will increase by 300%.]</em>

    A de suddenly pierced through Forcas, who had reached inside the barrier.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    <em>[Keuaaaaaaaaaaaack?!]</em>

    Forcas¡¯ HP was reduced by more than 5% in an instant. Minhyuk¡¯s basic attack power had increased by 500%, and there was even an additional 800% damage added on top of it. This was the first damage that Demon Forcas has received.

    The next thing he knew, 999 des shot forward, stabbing through Forcas¡¯ back.

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keooooook¡­!¡±

    Forcas could not even let out a single scream. His head fell down as one of the hundreds of des shed his neck. A demon¡¯s regenerative abilities were almost infinite. And the only way to ignore their regenerative abilities was to inflict a huge damage to their HP in one go. Forcas¡¯ body, which fell to the ground, turned into ck demonic energy and scattered in the air.

    <em>[You have sessfully sealed Demon Forcas.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Forcas¡¯ Treasure ¡®Demon Forcas¡¯ Scythe¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1,862 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired a fragment of the Demon¡¯s Sacred Relic.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1,200,000,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[Due to Ovepping Delight¡¯s special effect, the EXP that you have gained has doubled.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1,200,000,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    ¡°Mi, Minhyuk?!¡±

    ¡°Son¡­ N, no. My Lord?!!¡±

    <em>[Wh, what?!]</em>

    The people in the barrier were all shocked after seeing Minhyuk seal the demon named Forcas in one go. And they were not the only ones that were shocked. Even Zagan and uros were shocked.

    <em>[How, how did this happen¡­?!]</em>

    <em>¡®How could a human seal a demon in one go?!</em>¡¯

    They did not have any time to turn around and escape to prepare. Hundreds of des flew and pierced through Zagan¡¯s body.

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª</em>

    Zagan¡¯s body fell down to the ground, turned into ck demonic energy, and scattered in the air.

    <em>[You have sessfully sealed Demon Zagan.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Zagan¡¯s Treasure ¡®Alchemy¡­omitted.]</em>

    Minhyuk immediately appeared in front of uros, who called for his ck hawk.

    <em>[Scattering Sword.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s Scattering Sword usually multiplied his basic damage by x8, but now it could multiply it by as high as x17. His sword mmed straight down uros¡¯ head.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Starting with uros¡¯ head, a powerful force exploded inside him. That was not the end, the explosion even affected the ground below him and crushed it to dust.

    <em>[You have sessfully sealed Demon uros.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired uros¡¯ Treasure ¡®ck Hawk¡¯¡­omitted.]</em>

    But the notifications did not end there. After Minhyuk sealed the three demons at once, a shocking set of notifications rang for him.

    <em>[You have sealed three demons in a row!]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s a very amazing feat! Even the Gods are impressed!]</em>

    <em>[The Absolute Gods are watching over you.]</em>

    <em>[You are the first one to receive the attention of a lot of Absolute Gods.]</em>

    <em>[The fact that you have gained the attention of the Absolute Gods is very unusual.]</em>

    <em>[The Absolute Gods will give you a reward if you sessfully seal Great Demon Verus.]</em>

    They were very unexpected and shocking notifications.

 Chapter 455: Verus vs. Letâ€™s Eat Sect

    Chapter 455: Verus vs. Let¡¯s Eat Sect

    Minhyuk looked at the notifications suspiciously. It was just recently that he acquired his ridiculous skill ¡®Ovepping Delight¡¯, from a bet with the God of Cooking, one of the Absolute Gods. But right now, there were several Absolute Gods that were paying attention and watching Minhyuk with interest.

    That was when Minhyuk recalled one of the stories that he had heard before, ording to which, Great Demon Verus and the demons could not descend on earth at will because the Gods had put a restriction on them to maintain order.

    <em>¡®Are they happy because they would be able to seal Verus through me?¡¯</em>

    However, Minhyuk could not afford to dwell and ponder on these thoughts.

    ¡°H¡­ how¡­!¡±

    ¡°Minhyuk¡­?¡±

    ¡°Crazy¡­!¡±

    All of the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect sitting inside the barrier looked at Minhyuk in shock after witnessing him seal the demons in a single move. The power that Minhyuk was wielding right now waspletely beyond any of their imagination.

    <em>¡®He looks like he will be able to win even if all of the Summit Five appeared right here and now, right?¡¯</em>

    In fact, with the condition that Minhyuk was in right now, there was a high chance that the Summit Five would lose even if they attacked him all together. Of course, that was just what they thought.

    However, Minhyuk¡¯s ¡®Ovepping Delight¡¯ was dependent on the number that the die cast and the grade of the dishes that he had. Minhyuk was able to ovep the buff effects of two legendary grade dishes, and thanks to the die rolling a six, he was able to gain seven minutes of buff duration.

    If he had been unlucky and the die only rolled a one, he would have only been able to wield this power for a mere fifteen seconds.

    ¡°Sorry, I¡¯mte,¡± Minhyuk said. However, he did not have much time so he did not say anything else. He started to run towards the thick cloud of dust that covered everything, until he saw Elpis and Verus¡¯ figures.

    <em>¡®So he used the Judge''s Wrath, huh¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk also knew about the Judge¡¯s Wrath. It was a top-level berserk skill with ridiculous power. However, its penalty was as high as the power that it could give. This was especially the case for NPCs. The penalty that NPCs would receive was higher, with only 2% of their HP remaining after the skill had been cast.

    From the looks of it, Elpis seemed to have decided to sacrifice himself to offset and counter most of the power of the Demon¡¯s zing me.

    Then, Minhyuk saw Great Demon Verus reached out for Elpis, who was crashing straight towards the ground, to finish him off.

    <em>Daaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk kicked the ground and flew towards them. He was so fast that he was already in front of Verus before Verus could even grab Elpis¡¯ neck.

    ¡°Sword of Frenzy.¡±

    The Sword of Frenzy would be able to exert its greatest power if it sessfully hit the target¡¯s vital point. Originally, the skill would give Minhyuk an additional 400% damage if he sessfully hit his opponent¡¯s vital point, and it would immediately be followed by six consecutive hits with additional 100% damage.

    On top of that, it could also deal eight consecutive attacks with an additional 100% damage to all of his enemies within a five meter radius.

    Currently, the Sword of Frenzy had be more powerful than before. The additional damage upon sessful hit on the enemy¡¯s vital point had increased to 2,000% and the six consecutive hits that followed had increased to twenty one hits, with additional 500% damage.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    <em>[Keuhaaaaaaack?!]</em>

    Verus screamed in shock as the notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[Your HP has dropped by more than 20%.]</em>

    <em>[You temporarily cannot move your body at will due to the strong impact that you have received.]</em>

    Verus, who could only move his head, turned to look at the man that attacked him. The man had silver hair and eyes, and waspletely unrecognizable to him. But before he could think about the identity of this man, the twenty one consecutive hits mmed into him.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    <em>[Keheeeeeok?!]</em>

    Great Demon Verus was a god-like existence in the Demon World. The power that he could wield was so strong that even many of the Gods feared him. But now, his eyes were rolling back as a desperate scream was ripped out of his mouth, and his body¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡­crashed straight down to the ground. Minhyuk quickly hugged the falling Elpis, before slowly descending.

    ¡°Sorry, I¡¯mte.¡±

    ¡°¡­My lord.¡±

    Elpis¡¯ body waspletely tattered. Both of his arms that held his sword were broken, his head was bleeding profusely, and his entire body was covered in burns. However, his lips curled into a wide and bright smile, the most beautiful smile that he could muster, the moment he saw Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk smiled lightly as hended on the ground and said, ¡°I have to finish this quickly,¡± before casting ¡®Sword of Absolute Death¡¯ towards Verus, who was still stuck and unmoving on the ground.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    Verus¡¯ body bounced high from the ground with every hit of the sword light that flew from Minhyuk¡¯s sword.

    <em>[Keuaaaaaaaack! Aaaaaaaack!]</em>

    Sword of Absolute Death was Minhyuk¡¯s strongest attack skill. Verus was receiving all of the damage from this attack. However, right after the Sword of Absolute Death¡¯s duration ended, and when Verus was about to move again¡­

    ¡°Sword of Absolute Death.¡±

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    ¡­another set of powerful and explosive sword lights rained down on him.

    <em>[The only thing that I can say about this is¡­ crazy¡­]</em>

    <em>[Isn¡¯t yer Minhyuk¡¯s appearance a bit morous? And he¡¯spletely overwhelming Great Demon Verus in terms of power, right?]</em>

    <em>[Silver hair and silver eyes. He lookspletely different from usual, but he still looks so cool. And towards what seems to be the most powerful monster in Athenae¡­ Ah, Verus seems like he can¡¯t even control his body anymore.]</em>

    Right now, the entire world was looking at Minhyuk in shock.

    ***

    Knight Lauvredo once dreamt of bing Barras Kingdom¡¯s knightmander. In fact, he had the ability to be a kingdom¡¯s knightmander, a fact that showcased how amazing a man he was and how shocking his abilities were. Truth was, Lauvredo wasparable to Ghost Spear Ben and Pdin Corr in power.

    Lauvredo had led 100,000 troops in the war between Ethos Kingdom and Barras Kingdom, fighting for days on end to protect and make sure that his kingdom would survive and prosper. However, after ten, then twenty days of fighting, he realized that their rations and supplies had run out.

    <em>¡®What about the support?! Are the transport troopsing?!¡¯</em>

    The kingdom¡¯s troops continued to fight hard for their families, hoping to survive and live until the day they could meet with them again. They waited for their kingdom¡¯s support to arrive as they fought an endless battle.

    Unfortunately, the support never came.

    <em>¡®The supply route must have been blocked! Those Ethos bastards!¡¯</em>

    In the end, Lauvredo and more than a thousand of his troops were captured. That was when he realized¡­

    <em>¡®Ah, King Grain has abandoned us.¡¯</em>

    Ethos Kingdom and Barras Kingdom were in the middle of a war and the final battle between the Ethos Kingdom¡¯s troops and Lauvredo¡¯s troops were only held so they could determine which kingdom would gain morend. Not long after that battle, Barras Kingdom and Ethos Kingdom signed a peace treaty.

    As prisoners of war, Lauvredo and his surviving troops did not have the heart toe back to their kingdom. So, they all settled down in a ce where prisoners of war and war orphans lived together.

    That was when they met a great man in the form of ¡®Talmor¡¯. Lauvredo took the position of a branch manager and came running to save this great man. Only then did Lauvredo realize, <em>¡®This is not the time for me to serve¡­ Talmor¡­¡¯</em>

    The moment they arrived, he witnessed the descent of Great Demon Verus. He felt extremely afraid and wanted to escape right away. Lauvredo hoped for the man named Elpis to quickly go with the great demon. But, as it turned out, Elpis chose Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s stupid!¡¯</em>

    Lauvredo thought that the Let¡¯s Eat Sect would abandon him. No, they had to abandon him. To his shock, that did not happen. Let¡¯s Eat Sect risked their lives and even the kingdom that they were going to build and fought to protect Elpis. All of them fought, and even died for the sake of one person alone.

    And now, even their king, the king that they followed and believed in, fought for this person and even went so far as to put a pressure on the being hailed as the great demon.

    <em>¡®Anyone looking at this would say that its stupid. But¡­¡¯</em>

    For some reason, Lauvredo felt his heart burn, not because he thought that the king and his vassals were stupid but¡­

    <em>¡®I want to serve him,¡¯ </em>Lauvredo thought.

    And, just like him, there were plenty of other people who had the same thought.

    ***

    <em>Twitch¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk was speechless. After using the Sword of Frenzy, he used the Sword of Absolute Death twice in a row. Even after all that, Great Demon Verus¡¯ fingers had already started to twitch as his body regenerated at a rapid pace.

    ¡°That¡¯s crazy¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was left speechless after seeing how powerful Verus was.

    <em>¡®If that¡¯s the case then I can only use that method¡­¡¯</em>

    The method that he thought of was crude and only entailed everyone rushing forward and using their strongest attack skill on Verus. Since the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect had received the strongest buff from Minhyuk¡¯s buffed dishes, there was a high chance that they could force Verus¡¯ HP to reach zero in one go, if they attacked together with the Named NPCs.

    <em>[<strong>Guild Master Minhyuk</strong>: We have to attack all at once, otherwise we don¡¯t have any chance of winning. I¡¯ll create a gap for our attacks to go through.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Vice Guild Master Genie</strong>: Alright. We¡¯ll tell the vassals.]</em>

    In fact, they risked facing a great catastrophe if this attack failed. Everyone nodded at Genie after they heard the situation from her. But then, at that moment¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡­a powerful force appeared and covered Verus, who was still stuck on the ground.

    <em>[Great Demon¡¯s Attribute.]</em>

    <em>[The resurrection attribute has been triggered.]</em>

    <em></em>Minhyuk¡¯s face turned ugly as shocking notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[Great Demon Verus¡¯ HP and MP have reached 100%.]</em>

    <em>[Great Demon Verus¡¯ resurrection attribute can only be triggered once.]</em>

    <em>[Great Demon Verus¡¯ does not have much time and has to go back to the Demon World soon.]</em>

    <em>[Great Demon Verus¡¯ has be 1.3x more powerful than before.]</em>

    <em>[The strengthened Great Demon Verus will be able to use half of the 72 Devils¡¯ attributes.]</em>

    ¡°This is f*cking driving me nuts¡­¡±

    They were now in a situation where they had no choice but to step forward even if they did not want to. The Great Demon Verus had be even more powerful than before.

    Even at their best, they could only shave off some of his HP, but that measly damage was immediately refilled by his insane regeneration. The fact that he was 1.3x stronger than before was already a cause for headache.

    The worst part was the fact that he could use half of the 72 Devils¡¯ attributes. Of course, if Great Demon Verus had all of his power at his disposal, then all of the 72 Devils¡¯ attributes would be avable to him. Thankfully, he had forced his descent, which resulted in a considerable sh in his power. Even so, each of the attributes of the 72 Devils were extremely powerful. Then¡­

    <em>[Baal¡¯s Spear.]</em>

    <em>Swoooooooooooooosh¡ª</em>

    A gigantic ck spear flew at the speed of light and pierced through Minhyuk¡¯s heart, which was immediately followed by another set of shocking notifications.

    <em>[Baal¡¯s Spear ignores all defenses.]</em>

    <em>[Upon sessful hit, Baal¡¯s Spear will incur an additional 10,000% damage.]</em>

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    A power with additional 10,000% damage waspletely, and utterly, ridiculous. Baal¡¯s Spear was a pinnacle one-shot kill skill that even Baal, the first among all of the 72 Devils, could only use once. That was just how powerful it was.

    ¡°Urk!¡±

    <em>[He Who Ovees.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has increased to 1. You are now invincible for 3 seconds.]</em>

    <em>[All of your abilities will increase by 30% for 3 seconds.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s HP dropped to zero before going back up to one. He would also be invincible for three seconds. Seeing this, Minhyuk knew that he did not have any time to waste. Verus, who could use half of the 72 Devils¡¯ power, waspletely different from before.

    So, Minhyuk quickly increased the distance between them while Great Demon Verus flew up in the skies.

    <em>[Fall in despair.]</em>

    <em>Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom¡ª</em>

    Verus used Demon Zagan¡¯s attribute and sent thousands of potion bottles flying in the skies. The potion bottles then fell down on the ground and swept everything that it fell on with explosions.

    <em>Kieeeeeeeeeee¡ª</em>

    Demon uros¡¯ ck hawk also made its reappearance, creating explosions to everywhere it passed by.

    <em>Swooooooooooosh¡ª</em>

    <em>[Focalor¡¯s Wave.]</em>

    This time, a huge tidal wave made of blood appeared with a swing of Great Demon Verus¡¯ sword. And everything that it passed by¡­

    <em>Sizzle¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡­melted as if they were touched byva. Focalor was the 41st demon among the 72 Devils and he was hailed as the Tyrant of the Seas. Great Demon Verus was utilizing all of the demons¡¯ power that he could send out.

    Although it could not be seen in his expression, Great Demon Verus was appalled when he saw Minhyuk survive the attack that he sent out earlier.

    <em>[How¡­ you bastard¡­!]</em>

    He wondered how the measly human in front of him survived the direct hit of Baal¡¯s Spear and how he was running towards him, despite the countless attacks that he sent out. And then¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk jumped up with all his might and rushed towards Great Demon Verus. This was so he could prevent Verus, albeit temporarily, from casting the demons¡¯ attributes and making it easier for everyone to attack him with all their might.

    <em>[Bastaaaaaaaard!!!]</em>

    Great Demon Verus, who stood in the sky, looked down at all the beings standing below him.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ck mes suddenly exploded around him. This was Amon¡¯s attribute. He was the seventh ranked demon, and had attributes that were specific to AOE attacks. Those attacks were capable of destroying a kingdom¡¯s castle in one shot. Verus, who was about to send the attack below, turned to look at the humans with shock in his eyes. This was because more than ten people had already jumped up and surrounded him.

    Sword Emperor Ellie¡¯s eyes glinted sharply from underneath her helmet.

    Sword Saint Conir pointed his sword towards Great Demon Verus.

    Vice Guild Master Genie swung her temporary whip, one that she always carried with her in case her normal whip broke, in a beautiful arc.

    Mercenary King Brod raised his sword, as thousands of wolves fluttered into existence around him.

    Dragon King, with his catfish-like face and golden king¡¯s robe, pointed his trident at him.

    Elf King Gorn nocked a golden arrow on his bow and pulled its strings tightly.

    There were also Best Selling Author Aruvel, Ghost Spear Ben, and many others.

    Dozens of people surrounded Verus, as they prepared to send him their strongest one-shot kill skill.

    And finally Minhyuk, who fell down, leapt to the skies once again.

    All of them unleashed their attacks at Great Demon Verus together.

 Chapter 456: Verus vs. Letâ€™s Eat Sect

    Chapter 456: Verus vs. Let¡¯s Eat Sect

    President Kang Taehoon looked at all of the people that were trying to stop Verus. The Absolute Supreme NPC Ellie, who he discovered was the Extreme Hardcore Fan. The father of the continent¡¯s spearmen, Ghost Spear Ben. Let¡¯s Eat Sect¡¯s Sword and Shield, Brod and Elpis, Pdin Corr, Sword Saint Conir, and of course, Minhyuk. Their line-up brought a shudder down Taehoon¡¯s spine.

    However, he could not think as a viewer here, he had to think as one of Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s executives.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think it will be possible to hunt Verus but¡­¡±

    In the first ce, all of them here had expected that all of the episodes that included Great Demon Verus would be unattainable and endless. There was also the fact that he should not have descended at this point in time, and that he was almost twice as powerful as he was before. All of them believed that it would be very hard to cut him down regardless of time.

    However, on the off chance that they seeded in sealing Verus in this situation, what would happen?

    The rewards that a yer could obtain was entirely dependent on the strength of the monster that they fought against. Hunting a chicken in the novice hunting grounds would give them one gold, while hunting a monster in a higher-leveled hunting ground would give at least a million gold in one go.

    If that was the case, what rewards would drop if the one they hunted was Great Demon Verus?

    The answer to that would obviously be ridiculous rewards. In fact, the demon¡¯s treasures that Minhyuk had acquired earlier from sealing the three demons were already ridiculous enough. Verus¡¯ rewards would be on an entirely different level from that.

    There were two key rewards that would drop if they sessfully hunted Verus. One was the ¡®Great Demon¡¯s All Creation Production Book¡¯, and the other was ¡®God¡¯s Ore d¡¯.

    The Great Demon¡¯s All Creation Production Book was an item that could create anything that its user desired. It did not matter if it was an artifact, a cooking ingredient, a potion or even a skill, as long as it was what the user desired, then it would be made. Of course, anything outrageous was out of the question.

    For example, if the user wanted a sword that could cut down all of the yers present in one swing, then the All Creation Production Book could either reject the desire, or remove the user¡¯s right to use the book. Still, even if they faced restrictions like that, the Great Demon¡¯s All Creation Production Book had a wide range of the items that it could ept. In fact, the items that it could produce could even reach up to the ¡®God¡¯ rank. In other words, the person that would get this item would be able to get their hands on amazing items.

    The executives of Athenae could ept it if a yer other than Minhyuk received this All Creation Production Book. This was because Minhyuk was the only yer to have a ¡®God¡¯ rank artifact with him. If this booknded in his hands, he would most definitely have two God-rank artifacts with him. And once that happened, then¡­

    <em>¡®This will most probably be the cause for the bnce to break¡­¡¯</em>

    Athenae was famous for being a well-bnced game. They had God sses and secret sses, but even yers with ordinary sses could exert far stronger power than these sses, as long as they had excellent gamer skills. But, judging from how things were going, it seemed like they would now experience their very first bnce break.

    And it was all thanks to yer Minhyuk¡¯s power.

    There was also the other reward, the God¡¯s Ore d. It was an ore that was supposed to be obtained only after hunting all of the gods. However, was this a feat that someone could truly achieve? Of course not. That waspletely ridiculous.

    But now, it would most likely make its appearance. This ore had the power of strengthening. And among all types of strengthening stones, God¡¯s Ore d had reached the peak. A sessful +1 strengthening with this ore would be able to give an artifact a tremendous boost in power. The more shocking part was the fact that God¡¯s Ore d could strengthen an artifact from +1~+5.

    <em>¡®If he seeds in strengthening the Continent Destroyer Sword by +3 or more then¡­¡¯</em>

    The Continent Destroyer Sword would be even more powerful, and it might even be the best, and the strongest, sword in the history of Athenae.

    On the screen, Great Demon Verus once again started his bombing spree.

    ***

    At this moment, all of the viewers had turned their attention to the people, including Minhyuk, that flew up to stop Verus. This was because this attack would determine what the future would hold for them. Let¡¯s Eat Sect was facing two paths, either destruction or the sealing of Great Demon Verus.

    Meanwhile, the Absolute Supreme NPC Ellie, who was looking at everything sharply through her helmet, used the Overlord¡¯s Swordsmanship¡¯s Final Chapter, Dragon and Lion¡¯s Roar.

    <em>[Dragon and Lion¡¯s Roar.]</em>

    <em>[The Dragon¡¯s Roar will allow you to pinpoint one target and force them to go under a stunned state and drop their defensive power by 50% for three seconds, regardless if they are stronger than you or not.]</em>

    <em>[The Lion¡¯s Roar will allow you to instantly hit your target enemy with 5,000% additional damage.]</em>

    <em>Shiiiiiiiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    Ellie¡¯s sword rang loudly and clearly as if it was roaring. And with that roar, Great Demon Verus fell into a stunned state.

    <em>[This¡­ impossible¡­!]</em>

    Great Demon Verus looked at the people that leapt in the sky with their AOE attack skills. The seventh ranked demon Amon¡¯s special attribute had the power to destroy and devastate everything around the attribute user.

    However before he could even use it, Ellie had already dealt her hand first. This meant that she saw through him. Even with his ¡®Submission Attribute¡¯, which allowed him to subdue any abnormal state or condition, he could not release himself from the stun. Then¡­

    <em>Roaaaaaaaaaaaaar!</em>

    ¡­as if a lion was roaring loudly, her sword flew towards Verus.

    <em>aaaaash!</em>

    <em>[Keuhaaaaaaaaaaaack!]</em>

    Verus was appalled when he saw his HP drop significantly. But it did not end there.

    ¡°Goddamnit!¡±

    Ghost Spear Ben, with his white hair and eyes, flew out once again. His hair fluttered wildly behind him after the strings that tied it broke loose.

    <em>[Ghost Spearmanship Chapter 5. Exploding Spear.]</em>

    The tip of his spear that was covered with a ck energy rotated fiercely as it pierced through Great Demon Verus¡¯ abdomen.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    Finally, his spear that stuck deeply in Verus¡¯ abdomen exploded.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª</em>

    <em>[Keuaaaaaaaaack!]</em>

    Pdin Corr was a holy knight, a ss that came to be to save the world from the great demons, the Demon World, and the undead. He was showing the world that he was a true and genuine holy knight worthy of being the leader of Talmor Religion.

    <em>[Sacred Sword.]</em>

    <em>[The sword blessed by God Athenae. It sends hundreds of swords to attack the enemy.]</em>

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    And right next to him, Conir cast his skill, Wailing Child.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    A strong force was released from Conir¡¯s sword.

    ¡°This is the story of the heroes that hunted the Great Demon Verus! It was a battle for life! After the battle ended, among the heroes, the woman Angel and the knight Corin spent the night together, drinking until they were dizzy and baring their hearts out for each other. They even spent a hot night together and¡­ it was not just the bed that creaked loudly! Even the ground trembled and shook, <em>thump, thump, thump</em>!!!¡±

    <em>[¡­!!!]</em>

    Amidst the fierce attacks, a fierce and hot story suddenly rang in Great Demon Verus¡¯ ears! When Verus turned his head to look at the direction of the sound, Aruvel¡¯s ¡®Exploding Spear¡¯ was already right at his nose.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The attack devoured Verus. Let¡¯s Eat Sect¡¯s Sword, Brod, stepped forward and leapt in the air and cast an AOE skill. His skill, Continent Destroyer, immediately appeared in front of Great Demon Verus.

    <em>aaaaaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    Because of Verus¡¯ high defense, he was able to prevent the sword from piercing through his body. However, he could not do anything against the fierce shockwave that set off inside him.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Immediately after, the man called the Lesser Demon cut down the Great Demon. Elpis drew his sword out, and used the Devil Judge¡¯s ¡®Quick Draw¡¯, the skill that added 2,500% attack to his sword.

    <em>Shwiiiiiiiiiiiiik¡ª</em>

    Cuts appeared all over Verus¡¯ body.

    Verus, who saw the sliver of HP left in him, never dreamt that humans would be able to push him to this extent. However, he knew that he would be able to kill everyone and go back safely to the Demon World as long as this bout of attacks failed.

    s, before he could rejoice, he saw Elpis turn around, only to reveal Minhyuk with his Sword of Absolute Death that he had stored with his ¡®Save¡¯ skill, ready to pounce on him.

    Minhyuk was able to use his Sword of Absolute Death twice in a row earlier, thanks to his buffed dishes¡¯ effects that ovepped with his ¡®Ovepping Delight¡¯ skill.

    But this time, the Sword of Absolute Death that he used was the one that he had ¡®saved¡¯ and waspletely unrted to the buff effects. And with the additional 500% attack power added on Minhyuk¡¯s basic attack power, his attack was able to strike down and pierce through Verus¡¯ body.

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    <em>[Keuhaaaaaaaaack?!]</em>

    Verus suddenly felt a sense of urgency, but his damned body could not move. All he could do was watch the hundreds of swords rushing towards him.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    Right now, Minhyuk¡¯s power was so strong that he could even log out a fairly decent ranker with a single blow. It did not matter if Verus boasted strong regenerative abilities, this attack was still too much for him especially after his defense had been halved by Ellie¡¯s Dragon¡¯s Roar.

    <em>[Keuaaaaaaack! Aaaaaaaaack!]</em>

    The entire world watched as the great demon screamed from the attacks of a single yer and several Named NPCs.

    Verus, who was driven to the verge of death after Minhyuk¡¯s Sword of Absolute Death ended, felt that he was very fortunate to survive. Since the attack had ended, his body would now be able to breathe and regenerate quickly. He only needed 0.1 second to refill his HP and pressure them once again. However, his dreams had been shattered when he saw Minhyuk appearing in front of him again.

    The word Explosion engraved on Minhyuk¡¯s Continent Destroyer Sword disappeared and was reced with the word Destruction. This word gave him a 15% chance of triggering eight bloody lightning strikes with 800% damage upon usage. With Minhyuk¡¯s additional 500% attack power, the damage that it would deal would be tremendous.

    Of course, this was depending on if he got lucky and triggered that 15% chance.

    Verus¡¯ pupils dted when he saw Minhyuk raise his arm up.

    <em>[N¡­ nooooooo!!!]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s silver eyes glinted sharply as he said, ¡°Go back to your revolting Demon World!¡±

    <em>aaaaaaaash!</em>

    Fortunately, Lightning¡¯s ¡®Destruction¡¯ was triggered along with his sword strike.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Eight bloody lightning strikes struck down from the skies and fell down on Verus. Not long after, the body of Great Demon Verus turned into ck demonic energy and scattered in the area.

    <em>[Kiheeeeeeeeeeeck!]</em>

    A monstrous cry rang loudly in the area as ck demonic energy spread all over the entire Asgan Continent. Then, the ck demonic energy soared into the skies before disappearing into nothingness, as if the demonic energy did not exist at all.

    <em>[You have sessfully sealed Great Demon Verus!]</em>

    <em>[Verus, who forced his descent to earth using the Letters of Disaster, will be sealed for eight months.]</em>

    <em>[The Absolute Gods are very surprised to see your sess!]</em>

    <em>[The Absolute Gods are giving you a huge reward.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 3%.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired a ¡®map¡¯ pointing to the ce where an Absolute God¡¯s Secret is being hidden.]</em>

    After those notifications, the notifications regarding Great Demon Verus¡¯ hunt immediately rang.

    <em>[The guild¡¯s gold and artifact will be distributed by Guild Master ¡®Minhyuk¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the reward for sessfully sealing Great Demon Verus.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 6,000,000,000 EXP!]</em>

    <em>[Due to Ovepping Delight¡¯s special effect, the EXP that you have gained has doubled.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired an additional 6,000,000,000 EXP!]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled¡­omitted.]</em>

    Minhyuk received as many as seven level ups. Then, another set of notifications rang again.

    <em>[You have gained 10,766 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Great Demon Verus¡¯ Demon Summoning Ring.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Great Demon Verus¡¯ Mask.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired three God¡¯s Ore d.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Great Demon¡¯s All Creation Production Book.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired fifty three Demon World¡¯s Hidden Identity Decrees.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the map of the Demon World¡¯s Artifact Treasure.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the map of the Demon World¡¯s Trainers Ind, ¡®ughterer¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[¡­Great Demon Verus¡¯ worn and tattered dual des.]</em>

    <em>[¡­Demon¡¯s Bow.]</em>

    <em>[¡­Demon¡¯s Sword of Carnage.]</em>

    After Great Demon Verus was sealed, the people who had jumped up to attack Verus earlier, all fell down on the ground, one after another. They allid down on the ground, gasping for their breaths. It seemed like they had lost all of their strength and could not move a muscle at all.

    <em>¡®I never thought that I''d be able to participate in the sealing of the Great Demon,¡¯ </em>The Dragon King and Gorn had faint smiles on their faces as they thought about the same thing.

    Meanwhile, the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect were all smiling brightly. This was because they knew that they had taken a step forward in seizing even greater power. All of them, even the cameras, were looking at only one person and one person alone. They zoomed in on Elpis, who was smiling brightly as he looked at them gratefully.

    ***

    At the same time.

    Sword God Valen and his wife, Roina, who were both working as instructors and were considered as Isbin Vige¡¯s specialties, had already arrived near Valha Fortress. In case they died, they had already left their wills to the vigers back home.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s time for us to reveal the true extent of our powers. We¡¯re very grateful to you all this time.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Me and my husband might not be able toe back alive. If something happens to us, please take care of our child.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I believe it¡¯s time for us to step forward and help save the world.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®The great demon¡­ We want to quickly seal him up and save everyone. Please don¡¯t try to hold us back.¡¯</em>

    Valen and Roina both ran as fast as they could, but were left speechless when they saw Great Demon Verus getting sealed.

    Perhaps, the vigers see them as a pair of fools that dreamt of sealing the demon king. After all, how could an ordinary couple like them suddenly say that they would deal with the Great Demon and save the world, right?! But now, they did not even manage to do anything?!

    Wouldn¡¯t that make them like those couples that weremonly seen in fantasy novels?!

    Valen stared nkly at Minhyuk while scratching the back of his head and saying, ¡°Wh¡­ what¡¯s our dinner for today, Roina?¡±

    ¡°W¡­ well¡­¡±

    The two of them looked at a figure in the distance. They were obviously d that Minhyuk was able to seal Verus. But¡­

    ¡°<em>Sigh¡­</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Sigh¡­</em> When should we go back home¡­¡±

    ¡­a huge sigh still came out involuntarily.

 Chapter 457: The Birth of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom

    Chapter 457: The Birth of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom

    The Let¡¯s Eat Sect was able to gain two huge achievements over the course of the day.

    One, they stopped more than 150,000 troops from Barras Kingdom and forced them to retreat. This was a clear victory for Let¡¯s Eat Sect. Two, they sealed Great Demon Verus and three other demons. They had now be legends in the history of Athenae and no one would deny this fact. Because of that, the entire world, whether it was the broadcasting stations,panies, Athenae global rankers, and even world-renowned actors, they were all paying attention to Minhyuk and Let¡¯s Eat Sect.

    The director of BBTV, America¡¯s top broadcasting station, ordered his employees, ¡°Make sure to recruit yer Minhyuk! Have him sign an exclusive contract with our broadcasting station! Ah, wait. What should we do about the contract terms and rates?! How about 8:2? No 10:0!!! Give him a three million dor down payment!¡±

    For broadcasting stations, just having Minhyuk sign with them was more than enough. After all, they would gain astronomical returns with just the advertising effect alone. It was not just the broadcasting stations from America that were discussing various conditions to rope Minhyuk in. Even China, Japan, Russia and many other countries were scrambling to get Minhyuk. Even the top globalpany Apel[1], apany famous for their APhones, was trying to vie for Minhyuk.

    ¡°How about giving yer Minhyuk a ten million dor down payment if he signs our contract?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s Ilhwa Group¡¯s sessor. So, ten million dors would not be enough. On top of that, the otherpanies are definitely thinking about their own terms for the contract that they would offer. Even fifty million dors might not be enough to catch his attention.¡±

    ¡°But¡­ we have to recruit him by hook or by crook. If we can also get the guild members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect with him, the advertising effect that they could bring will definitely be astronomical!¡±

    One of the world-renowned Hollywood actors, the one that boasted the greatest value, opened his mouth and said, ¡°Isn¡¯t that buddy, Minhyuk, so cool? He was actually able to ovee his eating addiction like that. I want to be friends with him. I¡¯m going to Korea now!¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you supposed to film Stone Man today?¡±

    ¡°Even so, I still want to go now!¡±

    And that was not the end of it. Various broadcasting stations and media outlets evaluated¡­

    ¡°yer Minhyuk will definitely be one of the one hundred most influential people in the world this year.¡±

    ¡°We can safely say that he will be in the top ten.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s already standing in the world¡¯s spotlight.¡±

    Everyone heaped their praises onto Minhyuk. Amidst all of that, they still could not take their eyes from the screens. This was because Minhyuk, who had won the battle against Barras Kingdom and had protected his vassal Elpis from the Great Demon Verus, was now marching towards the capital of Barras Kingdom.

    ***

    The game broadcasting stations in Korea were all overjoyed! This was because yer Minhyuk was their fellow citizen and that they could film him in Athenae. Hundreds of their drones flew up and filmed Let¡¯s Eat Sect and yer Minhyuk, who was leading them.

    <em>[Let¡¯s Eat Sect has started their march towards Barras Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[They¡¯re marching with Elf King Gorn, Dragon King, the unknown spearmen and the unknown troops that arrivedte.]</em>

    The unknown troops that they were talking about were of course Lauvredo and the Talmor believers. All of the troopsbined reached more than 10,000. This was because Dragon King and Elf King Gorn immediately summoned the retreating troops that came with them the moment they sealed Great Demon Verus. Elf King Gorn had also suggested Minhyuk to ride on his superb and favorite mount, Nutis.

    Nutis was a white horse with both a beautiful name and mane. Anyone that saw Minhyuk riding this beautiful mount as he rode in front of the troops heading towards Barras Kingdom felt jealous. More than half of the country were watching this scene. As they advanced, Genie and the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect began talking.

    ¡°Today is really the most suitable day.¡±

    Right now, the entire world was watching Minhyuk and Let¡¯s Eat Sect. The total number of viewers that watched them might even exceed a billion. Yes, that was right. Today was really the most suitable day for Let¡¯s Eat Sect to stage a rebirth and be a kingdom. Minhyuk, Let¡¯s Eat Sect and the more than 10,000 troops that he led, all arrived at the capital of Barras Kingdom.

    ¡°We will not touch a single hair of the elderly, the children and the women. We will kill the soldiers that will resist and we will not persecute those who surrender for their sins,¡± Genie dered as she stepped forward in Minhyuk¡¯s ce.

    However, not many surrendered from the 5,000-6,000 troops left inside Barras Kingdom, even though rumors about Let¡¯s Eat Sect defeating the more than 150,000 troops that they sent before had already started to circte.

    Even though King Grain was a foolish king, he knew that further sacrifices were inevitable. King Grain was still the king and ruler of Barras Kingdom. He stood in front of the castle with hundreds of knights behind him and stepped forward without ordering his men to move. Minhyuk just watched Grain silently as he remained seated on his white horse. The scene clearly showed that Minhyuk was the winner of the war.

    ¡°Let¡¯s Eat Sect¡¯s Leader, I, Barras Kingdom¡¯s King, King Grain will not back down and lower my head until the very end. Kill me,¡± King Grain dered. It seemed like he was trying to save thest of his pride with this.

    <em>¡®Minhyuk¡­.¡¯</em> Genie thought as she looked at the scene in front of her in concern.

    Would Minhyuk take King Grain¡¯s neck right away? If he did take King Grain¡¯s neck, then they had to destroy the entire royal family. But doing so meant that they risked gaining the ire of all the viewers watching the scene. Even though this was only natural, most of the people that yed Athenae were clueless about thews during the Middle Ages. Watching the destruction of the kings and royals that lost the war would definitely be unpleasant for the people that lived in the modern era and would definitely put a frown on their faces if they went down that path.

    Minhyuk, with his voice filled with dignity, said, ¡°I did not ask you to kneel. I did not ask you to surrender your supplies. Nor did I ask you for the blood of those rted to you.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes turned cold as he continued to say, ¡°But¡­¡±

    He looked at Barras Kingdom behind King Grain.

    ¡°¡­as a king that lost the war, you should not bow in front of your enemy kingdom¡¯s king, but in front of your people. Your people are crying because they lost their fathers and their children and could not even mourn their lost bodies. More than a hundred thousand of your people have died while the rest are grieving, because of your greed. Whether you are the king or the subject, the value of a life holds the same weight for everyone.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    King Grain was extremely shocked to hear Minhyuk¡¯s words.

    <em>¡®How¡­ how can he be so clever with his words¡­!¡¯</em>

    If Minhyuk took their kingdom¡¯s supplies and killed the royal family, all of the people that were huddled up here would definitely stage an attack against him and Let¡¯s Eat Sectter. In addition, when King Grain dered that he would not back down and lower his head, he meant that the troops hiding right now would stage a rebellion and cut them down someday in the future.

    He had already expected that he, the royal family and even the young princess would die here and now. However, just a few words from Minhyuk was making him doubt himself once again. If he could, he did not want his beloved child, his lovely princess, to die! And¡­

    ¡°<em>Sob, sob, sob, sob!</em>¡±

    ¡°Your majeeeeeeeeeeesty!!!¡±

    ¡°<em>Sob, sob, sob, sob!</em>¡±

    ¡­his people were crying.

    Despite being prepared for the destruction of Barras Kingdom, the sorrow that they had kept in for so long burst out like water breaking out of a dam. King Grain looked at the people of Barras Kingdom crying loudly, the sly and clever Minhyuk, and even the crying young princess. It seemed like this was his enemy¡¯s mercy and firm will.

    King Grain bowed to his people and could not get up for a long time.

    When he finally gained the courage to stand up once again, he ordered, ¡°I will surrender everything that the Barras Kingdom has to Let¡¯s Eat Sect. In addition, I order you to aid in the revival of Let¡¯s Eat Sect and to not rebel against them! As for the leader of Let¡¯s Eat Sect, I implore you. Promise me that you will spare my young princess and the rest of the royal family.¡±

    The words that Minhyuk said had a lot of different meanings. But after King Grain¡¯s deration, none of the people of Barras Kingdom would go against Minhyuk. And to answer King Grain¡¯s plea, Minhyuk nodded his head silently.

    <em>[Barras Kingdom¡¯s King Grain has left his final will.]</em>

    <em>[The King¡¯s Final Will exerts absolute power.]</em>

    <em>[The nobles and the royal family that have and will rebel against you have epted their king¡¯s final will.]</em>

    King Grain unsheathed his sword and stabbed himself in his chest.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°Father!¡± The princess shouted as she ran towards King Grain, who had justmitted suicide.

    ¡°All of the royal family and nobles of Barras Kingdom are hereby banished from the kingdom. As for the victims of the war, we will honor them by erecting memorials and gravestones in a ce not too far from Barras Kingdom.¡±

    ¡°Thank you!!!¡±

    ¡°Thank you!!!¡±

    ¡°Long live Let¡¯s Eat Sect!!!¡±

    ¡°Long live Let¡¯s Eat Sect!¡±

    The people of Barras Kingdom began to cheer for Minhyuk and Let¡¯s Eat Sect. They were already in a situation where their hatred for King Grain had reached the depths of their hearts and were already trying to do their best to understand them. Thementators could not help but admire Minhyuk.

    <em>[There¡¯s no doubt that yer Minhyuk is a very clever ruler. With just a few words, he was able to take King Grain¡¯s life and win the hearts of the people of Barras Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[A ruler who can¡¯t win the hearts of his people is not a true ruler.]</em>

    <em>[Even those that thought of rebelling against him were prevented from doing so because of King Grain¡¯s Final Will.]</em>

    <em>[Even if they can rebel, they will not do so. After all, doing so will renounce King Grain¡¯s final will and make light of his death.]</em>

    Everyone was in awe and admiration of him.

    Minhyuk walked towards Barras Kingdom¡¯s castle. The knights that stood in front of the castle stood down and created a path for him. He did not kill the king of Barras Kingdom personally, which protected their king¡¯s honor, causing them to respect him and increase his reputation among them. Just like that, Minhyuk and the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect entered the castle. And the people that followed behind them included hundreds of journalists that essed Athenae for this moment.

    Minhyuk continued to walk forward alone until he was in front of the throne. Finally, upon taking a seat, the notifications rang.

    <em>[You have gained victory in the war against Barras Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[In line with King Grain¡¯s final will, the authority over everything in Barras Kingdom has been surrendered to you.]</em>

    <em>[You will be able to hear about the hidden things in Barras Kingdom from King Grain¡¯s aide, Lucio.]</em>

    <em>[You will be able to acquire the 91,131 people of Barras Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[You will be able to acquire the 13,111 troops of Barras Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[Barras Kingdom is the kingdom of production sses.]</em>

    <em>[You are the sole yer that has met all of the conditions to be a king.]</em>

    The notifications that rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears were very satisfactory. And with that, all of the members, troops and Named NPCs of Let¡¯s Eat Sect knelt down on one knee. The sight of thousands of people kneeling in front of the throne was truly a sight to behold. It was enough to bring a thrill down one¡¯s spine. And¡­

    ¡°I beg for Let¡¯s Eat Sect¡¯s leader¡¯s forgiveness. I, Knight Lauvredo, was once the deputymander of Barras Kingdom¡¯s knight order. Me and around 2,000 people that were staying with me in the Arda Territory would like to request that you allow us to pledge our eternal loyalty to you, lord of the Let¡¯s Eat Sect.¡±

    Minhyuk was familiar with Arda Territory and he had also heard about the man in front of him, Lauvredo, from Pdin Corr. He said, ¡°I grant you your request.¡±

    New people had started to express their loyalty towards Minhyuk.

    <em>[Lauvredo together with 1,941 vagabonds has sworn their eternal allegiance to you.]</em>

    They knelt down one one knee in front of Minhyuk once again. Minhyuk looked softly at the people lined up in front of him. Now, the entire world was waiting with baited breath and waiting for what Minhyuk had to say.

    After looking around them, Minhyuk said, ¡°From now on, Let¡¯s Eat Sect will be free from the rule of any country or empire.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The journalists present in the hall opened their eyes wide, like shocked rabbits. Those words were something that everyone had expected. Nevertheless, they were still shocked when they heard it.

    ¡°I will be a king.¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Shoot this!!!¡±

    ¡°This is a historic moment!!!¡±

    His words shocked the world and brought cheers from the people of Korea. After all, the first king to ever appear in the history of Athenae was someone from their country.

    1. A reference to Apple and Iphones. ?

 Chapter 458: The Birth of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom

    Chapter 458: The Birth of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom

    The Korean reporters present in the audience hall of Barras Kingdom¡¯s Rouvre Castle all shuddered in excitement.

    <em>¡®A king has been born¡­!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®That person is a citizen of South Korea!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®This will be the springboard for Korea¡¯s progress!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s deration, which was broadcasted with the highest viewership rating in their stations¡¯ history, caused a huge stir in the world. And Reporter Go Eun-ah, who was standing on the other side of the reporters, thought, <em>¡®What will he name his kingdom?¡¯</em>

    Go Eun-ah had been writing articles and interviewing Minhyuk and his guild members, from their time as Legend Guild up until now, when they got reborn as Let¡¯s Eat Sect. As such, she came to learn that ¡®Personal vor¡¯, ¡®Round Belly Religion¡¯ and ¡®Supreme Chicken¡¯ were in the list of the potential names for their guild.

    In other words, she knew that Minhyuk had the worst naming sense. And it seemed like some of the members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect were not that different from him.

    Golden Mage Ali thought, <em>¡®I still think that Friend Kingdom is the best candidate for our guild name.¡¯ </em>As someone that chanted ¡®Frieeeend!¡¯ most of the time, he believed that there was no other name like the one that he thought of.

    Then, there was ck Dragon. He thought, <em>¡®Minhyuk and Friends. That sounds like a great name. Well, either way, I¡¯m looking forward to how great my son¡¯s naming sense is,¡¯ </em>as he smiled in anticipation, while recalling the name ck Dragon and the Boys, a name that his party had in the past.

    As for Genie, she thought <em>¡®Minhyuk, please. I beg you. Anything but Let¡¯s Eat Well Kingdom¡­!¡¯</em>. She once had a conversation with Minhyuk about the name that they would give the kingdom. Back then, Minhyuk strongly advocated for one name and one name alone, and that was Let¡¯s Eat Well Kingdom.

    Of course, it was understandable that Minhyuk would push for this. After all, for him, eating was everything. However, the outsiders that did not know of this would definitely find it strange. They would definitely ridicule them if the name of the first kingdom was ¡®Round Belly Kingdom!¡¯ or ¡®Have a Meal Kingdom!¡¯.

    The members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect, the hundreds of journalists, and even the entire world watched Minhyuk closely.

    And Minhyuk? He turned to look at the sky above them. However, his vision was being blocked by the castle¡¯s ceiling. Yes, that was right. He could only see the ceiling now. However, Minhyuk wanted to go beyond that ceiling someday and reach a higher ce, with his friends and guild members. That was when he muttered, ¡°Beyond the Heavens.¡±

    Minhyuk gazed at the people in the audience. His clear, intelligent eyes that shined with dignity and majesty shook the hearts of many, and even caused some envy in the hearts of the men in the crowd.

    ¡°My kingdom will be called¡­ ¡®Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    A nation beyond the skies. This meant that they would be a kingdom that would make everyone kneel at their feet.

    ¡°A kingdom beyond the skies¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a really cool name,¡± Genie said, smiling softly as immense relief washed over her body.

    <em>¡®I still think Friend Kingdom is a better name, but that¡¯s also a good name,¡¯</em> Golden Mage Ali thought. It seemed like he thought that Friend Kingdom was infinitely better, but since the name that Minhyuk dered was also cool, he nodded his head, convinced.

    Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡­a huge pir of light fell down from the sky as a set of notifications rang for everyone in Rouvre.

    <em>[The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s establishment ceremony has begun.]</em>

    <em>[Please join us in celebrating the birth of a new king.]</em>

    A golden aura, the effect that could only be seen during the birth of a king, surged and swirled around Minhyuk¡¯s body. As he stood up, he said, ¡°The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom will continue to advance and develop, even after the global servers have consolidated. We will do our best to rise above and beyond everyone¡¯s expectations.¡±

    Then, the notifications rang for all of the people present in the hall.

    <em>[Please show courtesy and maintain etiquette.]</em>

    <em>[Showing courtesy in front of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s King upon the kingdom¡¯s establishment would be of great help to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s diplomatic discussions in the future.]</em>

    Immediately after, King Argon, who Gorn had entrusted the throne with, stepped forward and showed courtesy as he said, ¡°I give my congrattions to the king of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.¡±

    He was not the only one. The Dragon King also showed courtesy as he dered, ¡°I give my congrattions to the king of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!¡±

    Ghost Spear Ben also showed courtesy as he said, ¡°I give my congrattions to the king of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.¡±

    Aruvel, Corr, and Conir also showed courtesy, as thementators started to exin.

    <em>[The greetings of Argon, the new king of the elves, and the Dragon King, the ruler of the Dragon Pce, seem to be the only congrattions that we will see.]</em>

    <em>[With this, the kingdom mighte off as just a ¡®small kingdom¡¯ that could not pose a threat to other kingdoms.]</em>

    <em>[As far as I know, there were more people than this when a small kingdom was born in the American Server¡¯s continent. I think the number of troops alone exceeded 50,000.]</em>

    <em>[Since the Elf King and the Dragon King are from a different race and do not have much influence in regards to human diplomacy and rtionships, we can safely say that there are significantly fewer attendees in this ceremony.]</em>

    <em>[Congratting and showing courtesy to the new king when a new kingdom is born is very important. Beyond the Heavens Kingdom will definitely be the main topic of all media outlets today. The other countries will definitely evaluate and scrutinize them especially in the case of the people that would congratte their kingdom¡¯s establishment. In fact, this establishment ceremony and celebration is really a bit too shabby.]</em>

    Some of the viewers that heard thementators began toment.

    <em>[That¡¯s shabby? Even when the kings of two other races have bowed their heads in front of him?]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s true that it¡¯s a bit too shabby¡­ yep, yep. In fact, other kingdoms would send their dukes or marquises and some troops to congratte and celebrate a kingdom¡¯s establishment.]</em>

    <em>[But the establishment ceremony is being held right after they won the war, so it¡¯s possible that they¡¯re noting because they do not know, right?]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s not true at all. In fact, everyone knew that Let¡¯s Eat Sect would establish their kingdom today, right? The other kingdoms should already have been informed about it the moment they heard that Let¡¯s Eat Sect defeated the more than 100,000 troops that marched against them. They should have already sent their greetings since theirmunicationwork is very fast.]</em>

    <em>[To be frank, it''s really quite shabby whenpared to the enthronement of an NPC king. Even though the number still looks amazing to us, he is now the king of ¡®Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯. It¡¯s apletely different concept from being a single yer.]</em>

    The fact that their establishment and founding ceremony was shabbypared to others was a true and resounding fact. After all, they did not receive any greetings and congrattions from other kingdoms.

    ***

    The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was suddenly born to the world. However, the existing kingdoms had already very much predicted that the establishment and founding ceremony would be held today after they heard about Let¡¯s Eat Sect¡¯s victory.

    However, even if they knew, they did not send any greetings or congrattions. Simply put, they were signaling that they did not recognize Minhyuk as a king, and were showing him that they would make it hard for him to have diplomatic discussions with them. It was only natural. After all, they were the ones that intended to split Barras Kingdom for themselves after Let¡¯s Eat Sect¡¯s copse.

    But that did not mean that they did not send their envoy. Marquis Arna of Orodith Empire had received the orders of the kings of various kingdoms to watch the situation. He was sitting quietly in an inconspicuous corner of the hall.

    <em>¡®The Elf King and the Dragon King congratting him will not have much influence on us. After all, they live far from us and our world. There are also no troops or greetings sent by anybody else. This is so shabby. Heh!¡¯ </em>Marquis Arna snickered.

    This rtively quiet founding ceremony established Beyond the Heavens Kingdom as one of the small kingdoms. In fact, they could already be considered as a smaller kingdom than Barras Kingdom, the weakest among all of the existing kingdoms.

    Even if they absorbed the troops of the defeated Barras Kingdom, the war had shaved off plenty of their troops and would not do much for them in terms of military prowess and manpower. However, with this, the other kingdoms could conclude that Beyond the Heavens Kingdom did not have power.

    In other words, any kingdom that staged an invasion at this point would be able to conquer them in a day. It did not matter if they had a few exceptional people with strong powers, they would not stand a chance against hundreds of thousands of troops.

    To prevent such an invasion, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom needed the ¡®greetings and congrattions¡¯ of other kingdoms in celebration of their founding. Visiting and attending the kingdom¡¯s founding ceremony was like a warning to everyone watching. It was like they were telling them that they should not dare to touch this newly established kingdom. However, no other kingdom or nation had appeared to give their greetings and congrattions to this kingdom.

    <em>¡®I have to tell this to the kings right away. Beyond the Heavens Kingdom will disappear from the maps in just a few days!¡¯</em>

    Marquis Arna had determined that they could easily trample on this kingdom. Besides, they had to step on this kingdom before it could grow further. They were already prepared to tear down Barras Kingdom, it was only a matter of changing their targets to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. He snickered and ridiculed them in his heart as he tried to leave the castle. But then, he was forced to stop in his tracks.

    <em>¡®Heoooook¡­?!¡¯</em>

    This was because a woman suddenly walked in front of him. The woman was the epitome of beauty to the point that she could make the air taste sweet by just standing and breathing alone. And this beautiful woman knelt down on one knee and said, ¡°Your Majesty, from the depths of my heart, I congratte you on the founding of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. I hope you cane out of the castle for a moment and bless those that came to congratte you with your words.¡±

    Marquis Arna¡¯s eyes widened in shock when he saw the woman appear in front of him. This woman was an absolute existence that denied any and all greetings of courtesy to any founding ceremonies! She was even a woman that wasparable to Eivelis Empire¡¯s Empress Ellie in terms of influence and power!

    Minhyuk smiled kindly and softly at her and said, ¡°Saintess Loyna, I¡¯m very grateful that you came to visit and greet us.¡±

    That was right. This woman was none other than Athenae Religion¡¯s Saintess Loyna. She was the most beautiful woman in the world, the proud saintess of Athenae Religion, and God¡¯s regent. Minhyuk stood up and went outside the castle. What greeted him outside was more than 10,000 Athenae priests wearing their pristine white priest robes, with swords in their hands all ready to congratte him! This was something that waspletely unusual, in and of itself. And when Saintess Loyna appeared and lifted the holy sword in her hand¡­

    <em>Shiing!</em>

    <em>Shiing!</em>

    <em>Shiing!</em>

    <em>Shiing!</em>

    <em>Shiing!</em>

    ¡­all of the priests lifted their swords high up in the sky as they shouted in unison¡­

    ¡°Congrattions on the founding of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!!!¡±

    ¡°Congrattions on the founding of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!!!¡±

    The scene of more than 10,000 priests wearing pristine white robes and raising their swords, which sprinkled with a bright and white light as if they were fireworks, high up in the sky was magnificent and breath-taking.

    <em>¡®This is crazy¡­?! More than 10,000 of those arrogant and prideful Athenae Religion priests actually came here?!¡¯</em>

    Marquis Arna felt his breath get caught in his throat at the sight. But that was not the end.

    A gloomy and dark man, Death, the King of the Dead, followed by thousands of undead passed through the capital of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and settled right next to the priests of Athenae Religion. The priests and the undead hated each other, but they could not express their dissatisfaction because they were celebrating the founding of Minhyuk¡¯s Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. And Death, who led this thousands of undead, said, ¡°Forgive me, I¡¯m a bitte. Congrattions on the founding of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!!!¡±

    ¡°Kieeeeeeeeee!!!¡±

    ¡°Kyahaaaaaa!!!¡±

    ¡°Kkiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!¡±

    The thousands of undead kneeling in unison was a spectacr sight to behold, as Marquis Arna¡¯s pupils shook..

    <em>Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump¡ª</em>

    The thundering of horses¡¯ hooves rang loudly in the area, as an army, akin to a sea of ck, appeared. A generous estimate of the army that arrived was around 200,000.

    Who in the world could bring such arge troop? There were only two people capable of such a feat. And both of them were riding on horseback and leading their troops.

    One of them was a beautiful woman with silver hair fluttering behind her. She was Ellie, and she was looking at Minhyuk with a wide smile on her face. The other was Emperor Asvon, the absolute and supreme ruler of Collodis Empire.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry I¡¯m a bitte, Minhyuk. I had to finish up some work before I coulde,¡± Ellie said. The work that she was talking about was referring to her work as ¡®Extreme Hardcore Fan¡¯.

    Marquis Arna¡¯s eyes trembled even more. Empress Ellie and Emperor Asvon usually only sent their servants during the other kingdoms¡¯ founding ceremonies. But now, they personally arrived here, and even led their soldiers to congratte Minhyuk.

    For Ellie, Minhyuk was her younger brother, a younger brother that she cared about more than anybody else. As for Asvon, he treated Minhyuk as his benefactor, the benefactor that freed him from his curse of eternal baldness.

    ¡°Congrattions.¡±

    ¡°Congrattions.¡±

    The moment these two people congratted him, the 200,000 strong troops behind them all knelt down on one knee and shouted, ¡°Congrattions on the founding of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!!!¡±. Their voices resounded in the capital of Barras Kingdom, which was now the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    Marquis Arna felt that he was about to pee in his pants at this shocking scene. He even began to sprint forward to escape.

    <em>¡®I have to tell everyone about this!¡¯</em>

    As he was running, Marquis Arna suddenly stopped in his tracks when he saw a couple among the crowd. He was a member of the Orodith Empire and their empire served several gods. Among these gods, the one with the most believers was the god named ¡®Sword God¡¯. The reason why they serve the Sword God was because their kingdom, which was once ravaged by the Demon World, had been saved by the Sword God and his sword. He had only ever seen the Sword God in statues, but now he was right in front of him!

    ¡°I¡­ I¡­ I have seen the Sword God!!!¡± Marquis Arna shouted. He had no choice but to bow down andy prostrate on the ground.

    The Sword God only nced at him for a moment before moving forward. All of the people¡¯s eyes were turned towards them because of the small disturbance that they have caused. Then, the yers present in the area all heard a notification.

    <em>[The Sword God has visited to give his congrattions in the founding of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Everyone present was shocked. A god had visited to celebrate the founding of a kingdom? This waspletely unprecedented in the history of Athenae. Meanwhile, Marquis Arna, who was lying prostrate on the ground, could not stand up at all.

    ¡°Hey mister. Are you alright?¡± One of the men around him sneaked up and shook him in worry. However, Marquis Arna did not get up from his seat.

    ¡°He, he fainted?!¡±

    ¡°Heok?!¡±

    ¡°Ah! He peed on himself?!¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t this Marquis Arna?!¡±

    Marquis Arna, who met with so many big shots in one day, fainted from shock. And from this day forward, the story about Marquis Arna peeing on himself spread far and wide.

 Chapter 459: Luna

    Chapter 459: Luna

    The sudden appearance of a ¡®God¡¯ during the birth of a new kingdom, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, brought tremendous shock to everyone present. But what surprised them the most was¡­

    ¡°In¡­ Instructor Valen?!¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t, aren¡¯t you the instructor in the scarecrow training grounds in Ardo?!¡±

    Many yers were caught in shock. After all, anyone that started in Ardo when they started ying in Athenae would know who Instructor Valen was. Valen even became Ardo¡¯s famous local specialty after repeatedly giving the cheeky and arrogant new yers their just desserts.

    But was that all? No. His wife, Roina, exuded a cool and frosty aura about her, which garnered them the nickname ¡®Cold Couple¡¯ and ¡®People that Shouldn¡¯t be Touched¡¯.

    That very same Instructor Valen was the Sword God? It would definitely be shocking, right?

    <em>¡®Valen was famous for not being close to any yers, right?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®There have been many people that tried to get in his good graces, but everything was for naught!¡¯</em>

    Many yers had deliberately approached him to try and befriend him because they had thought that Valen was some kind of former hidden or secret ss NPC. Yet no matter who tried, none of them could get close to him. From the situation right now, it seemed like Valen had quite a close rtionship with Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®What the hell? What kind of charm and appeal does that man have¡­?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He¡¯s the person that caught the eye and attention of Instructor Valen.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Even a god came here to congratte him.¡¯</em>

    Everyone would be more shocked if they knew that everything that happened here was a result of Minhyuk happily eating tasty meals.

    ¡°I would like to take this opportunity to congratte you, boy.¡±

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Minhyuk said as he shook hands with Valen.

    Hundreds of thousands of troops all kneeling down on one knee, the king of two different races, the emperors of two empires, the Saintess of Athenae Religion, and the King of the one-man legion, Kingdom of the Dead, all came to congratte Minhyuk.

    Even so, that was not the end yet.

    ¡°What?! Our young master became king?! As expected of our chairman¡¯s son, he really is a dragon¡¯s child!¡±

    ¡°My eyes are still red from the grace that I received from Chairman Kang Minhoo, and now this!¡±

    Ilhwa Group was a legendarypany with tens of millions of employees, perhaps even more, globally. Thepany provided generous benefits for their employees, especially the breadwinners of their families. They also funded and operated a home for the elderly, as well as a schrship foundation. This made many people in the world respect Ilhwa Group as a whole. The employees were also proud of theirpany, viewing it as something far more than a workce.

    Usually, employees would be dissatisfied with theirpanies, especially if their chairmen always said, <em>¡®Ourpany is everyone¡¯spany. I think of you as my family.¡¯ </em>

    This was becausepanies that imed that they treated them like family would always turn out to curse at them and work them to the bone, heaping countless overtime hours on their heads! This was the sad reality.

    However, Chairman Kang Minhoo was different. He was a principled man that abided by his words and even made sure that everyone in hispany also did the same. In fact, he even knew the names of all the employees that worked for him in his headquarters, a number that reached the thousands.

    <em>¡®Ho? Seonwook, it felt like it was just yesterday when you joined us as a new employee but you¡¯re already a team leader, huh? Hoho!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Miss Kim Inha, I heard that you got married recently? When will we celebrate your baby¡¯s first birthday party? I will definitely go!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®What did you say? Section Chief Kim¡¯s father passed away? I¡¯ll be there.¡¯</em>

    This was also what he said to his employees, <em>¡®I think of everyone as the owner of thispany and as my family. We will make sure to implement better welfare and policies for everyone, better than anypany in existence. In return, I would like to see you work diligently in your given position.¡¯</em>

    Some of the new employees might talk a bit about Chairman Kang Minhoo during office hours, but they would never ck off. In fact, even the section chiefs, department heads, and directors worked hard in their roles, every day. As a result, overtime work disappeared and every single employee spent their weekdays happily, as if they were in a dream.

    These tens of thousands of Ilhwa Group¡¯s employees that enjoyed such a good work-life bnce all appeared in Barras Kingdom¡¯s capital. They came here for one reason and one reason alone, to give their congrattions and blessings to Minhyuk and Chairman Kang Minhoo. There were also countless people that Minhyuk knew and had helped in the past that appeared alongside them.

    ¡°Long live Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!!!¡±

    ¡°Long live Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!!!¡±

    The chant of more than hundreds of thousands of people echoed loudly in the capital. And the global media outlets said¡­

    <em>[This is unbelievable. The Korean citizens are willinglying to the capital to congratte Minhyuk!]</em>

    <em>[I can understand why there are many employees from Ilhwa Group. Most of the time,pany employees think of work rted to theirpanies as an extension of their own work. But when looking at their faces, anyone can tell that these employees are truly happy and are sincerely giving their congrattions and blessings.]</em>

    <em>[This just goes to show how ck Dragon and yer Minhyuk live their lives.]</em>

    <em>[They have already cultivated a kingdom. I can¡¯t wait to see what the future holds for the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    On this day, the number of people that flocked to the capital of Minhyuk¡¯s kingdom was recorded to have exceeded a million. It was a day filled with many blessings and congrattions for Minhyuk and Beyond the Heavens Kingdom from all of the people that appeared.

    Meanwhile, in Instructor Valen and Roina¡¯s home.

    Valen heaved a huge sigh as he said, ¡°<em>Phew~ </em>I almost came back to the vige without doing anything at all.¡±

    ¡°Hohoho! It¡¯s a relief that it did not happen, right?¡±

    Instructor Valen and Roina smiled widely at each other, a fact that proved how tough their mentality was. This was the cuteness that was hidden under the cold exteriors of Sword God Valen and his wife, Roina.

    ***

    With the establishment of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, Minhyuk would naturally be as busy as a bee. But before that, Minhyuk first sat on his throne again after seeing everyone out to check the things that he had gained.

    First, he checked the notifications that rang when his kingdom was established.

    <em>[You have established the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[You are the first ever yer to have ever established a kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the <strong>Title</strong>: Brightest Sun.]</em>

    <em>(<strong>Brightest Sun</strong>)</em>

    <em>Unique Title</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: King of a kingdom.</em>

    <em><strong>Title Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?All stats will increase by 10%.</em>

    <em>?CHA will increase by 100%.</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: King¡¯s Voice</em>

    The 10% increase in all stats and the 100% increase in CHA were tremendous. The increase in CHA in particr, seemed like it was showing Minhyuk the importance of a king¡¯s dignity and influence.

    There was also the passive skill ¡®King¡¯s Voice¡¯, a skill that had the effect of making every word that he uttered be more powerful, and sometimes filled with great sincerity. In addition to the unique title Brightest Sun, Minyuk also received plenty of rewards when he sealed Great Demon Verus.

    First, he received the map where one of the Absolute God¡¯s Secret was hidden. Second, he received a map to the Demon World¡¯s Trainers Ind, ughter. Third, Great Demon Verus¡¯ Demon Summoning Ring. Fourth, God¡¯s Ore d. Fifth, the Great Demon¡¯s All Creation Production Book. And sixth, Great Demon Verus¡¯ Mask.

    Back when they were fighting Great Demon Verus, Genie had returned the rights to distribute the items that the guild would receive during a hunt to the guild master, the moment Minhyuk essed the game.

    This meant that not only the items that they gained when they hunted and sealed Great Demon Verus were acquired by Minhyuk, but also the items that the three demons dropped. Everything would be distributed fairly and anyone that would receive insufficient artifacts would be paid in gold.

    Among all of the items that he acquired, Minhyuk decided to keep Verus¡¯ Mask, the Great Demon¡¯s All Creation Production Book, and God¡¯s Ore d.

    <em>(<strong>God¡¯s Ore d</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Material Grade</strong>: God</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>?If the strengthening is sessful, the artifact will receive +1~+5 strengthening.</em>

    <em>?If the strengthening fails, there will be no negative consequences, whether it is a minus effect or the artifact¡¯s destruction. </em>

    <em>?Upon sessful strengthening, the artifact will experience better strengthening effects than normal artifact reinforcement.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: God¡¯s Ore d is a special ore that can only be obtained from the gods. There are rumors that the one with the greatest sword in existence used God¡¯s Ore d to create it.</em>

    <em>(<strong>Great Demon¡¯s All Creation Production Book</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: God</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>?A production book that can create anything that the user desires.</em>

    <em>?If the book user demands something ridiculous to the point that even the gods can¡¯t make them, the production book will be destroyed.</em>

    <em>?The production book can create most of the items in existence, including artifacts, cooking ingredients, materials, and many more.</em>

    <em>?There¡¯s a chance that you will be required to bring some materials for the item that you desire.</em>

    <em>(<strong>Great Demon Verus¡¯ Mask</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: Legendary</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: Level 500</em>

    <em><strong>Durability</strong>: 50,000 / 50,000</em>

    <em><strong>Defense</strong>: 1,241</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>?All stats will increase by 13%.</em>

    <em>?Magical Defense will increase by +400.</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Demon¡¯s Face</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Demon¡¯s Pupils</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: This is the mask that Great Demon Verus¡¯ wore whenever he descended to earth to have some fun. When wearing the mask, Great Demon Verus can change his face into any of the humans that he has met. </em>

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll take these things first since they are useful to me.¡¯</em>

    They had gained a lot of items and rewards during this battle. Among these, there were plenty of things that would be able to help him. Great Demon Verus¡¯ Mask would be able to hide Minhyuk¡¯s face, while the Great Demon¡¯s All Creation Production Book was very useful to him and could give him a great boost in power.

    <em>¡®Maybe I can get a God-rank artifact from it too.¡¯</em>

    However, if Minhyuk asked for something more than that, then the production book would disappear. In other words, he had to think carefully about what he wanted to make before using it.

    Then, there was also God¡¯s Ore d.

    <em>¡®If I can sessfully reinforce the Continent Destroyer Sword, then¡­¡¯</em>

    From what Minhyuk could gather, the Continent Destroyer Sword would gain even more power than it had now. As for the maps for the Absolute God¡¯s Secret and the Demon World¡¯s Trainers Ind, ughter, those things could be pursued and dealt with at ater date.

    <em>¡®What should I make with the All Creation Production Book?¡¯</em> Minhyuk thought as he pondered about what he wanted to make. Of course, the first thing that came to mind was ¡®dishes and cooking¡¯.

    <em>¡®But once I finish the dish, then that will be the end of it¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk might be making great progress in his eating addiction treatment, but he was still very crazy about food and eating. He thought about whether he should eat something tasty once, or eat them continuously.

    <em>¡®Just as I thought, it¡¯s better if it¡¯s thetter.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk believed that it was better to eat something delicious continuously and consistently. After all, he should milk this opportunity and not let it be just a one-time dish.

    <em>¡®What should be the best way for me to eat and make more yummy dishes?¡¯</em>

    All of Minhyuk¡¯s artifacts, whether it was his sword, armor, or essories, were all excellent. There was nothing more that he could wish for in this area. That was why he believed that he should no longer be greedy for something like that.

    Instead, he thought long and hard about how to make more delicious dishes.

    <em>¡®What can be useful in battle like my sword and essories, but also good enough to be out of ordinary, so I don¡¯t have to worry about the restriction of equipping only one kind of that item?¡¯</em>

    It would be great if he coulde up with something. After all, he did not need to have two of the same thing. If that was the case, then¡­?

    <em>¡®Something that will be useful for me when I cook during battles and when I¡¯m gathering regr ingredients and materials¡­¡¯</em>

    What could possibly fit this criteria? Minhyuk pondered deeply as he recalled everything that he had been through in this game. That was when he recalled the time when he joined the Goblin Subjugation Troops for the Sun¡¯s Wheat in Isbin Vige. Minhyuk had joined the troops and became a military chef, which allowed him to meet Len, the chef with no sense of taste. And in there, there was¡­

    <em>¡®A cooking trailer¡­!¡¯ </em>Minhyuk jumped up from his seat as the thought shed in his head.

    It was something that could help him make more dishes and did not ovep with any of the items that he had now! A cooking trailer was a truck-type cooking ware that could help him cook outdoors.

    <em>¡®Of course, the dishes that I make inside that trailer will definitely be tastier than the dishes that I make out in the open!¡¯</em>

    What more if it became a God-rank cooking trailer? And¡­

    <em>¡®I can also make it so that it can shrink to a very small size that I can carry in my pocket and only push a button for it to transform into the cooking trailer!¡¯</em>

    ¡­he would also take care of the portability of the item.

    At that very moment, Minhyuk had finally decided on what item he would make with the Great Demon¡¯s All Creation Production Book.

    ***

    At the same time.

    Brod, just like usual, was spending his time leisurely with the cows, the pigs, and the chickens. But then, at that moment¡­

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    A sudden, unknown sound rang in the area. Brod immediately turned his head to the direction where the sound came from. That was when he saw the red dragon egg that he, and His Majesty Minhyuk, could not break, no matter how hard they tried!

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Along with that sound, something extraordinary happened. A red stream of air gushed out and swirled around the egg, as a notification rang in Brod¡¯s ears.

    <em>[A new legend is trying to break free from the egg and hatch into the world.]</em>

    <em>Plop!</em>

    The hay in Brod¡¯s mouth fell down on the ground.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s only hatching but it¡¯s already a legend?¡¯</em>

    It was clear to Brod, that whatever it was that was hatching from that egg, it was an existence that would shake the entire world.

 Chapter 460: Luna

    Chapter 460: Luna

    After hearing the report of the soldier that Brod had sent, Minhyuk hurried after the soldier. It was not just him; Genie and Locke also followed right behind them after hearing the news.

    When they arrived, they were left reeling in shock, ¡°A legend upon hatching¡­?¡±

    They already knew that the egg was the egg of a dragon, but what they did not expect was the fact that it would be a legend the moment it hatched. That was very shocking.

    ¡°It must have been a very unusual egg,¡± Brod, who ¡®picked¡¯ up the egg, remarked. It was as if he also did not expect this to happen. The egg was still surrounded and covered by the red stream of air. Then¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The egg split in two as the red stream of air shot up to the skies. This was immediately followed by a set of notifications.

    <em>[A red dragon that has inherited the blood of the king has been born to the world.]</em>

    <em>[The current Dragon Lord has dered that the child born from this egg would be the most powerful and greatest lord in the history of dragon kind.]</em>

    <em>[The red dragon that inherited the blood of the king has infinite potential.]</em>

    <em>[The newly hatched red dragon will recognize you as her ¡®parent¡¯ the moment she opens her eyes.]</em>

    ¡°The, the blood of a king?!¡±

    ¡°Did, did it just say Dragon Lord?!!!¡±

    All of them were bbergasted.

    ¡®<em>The newly hatched egg can be a Dragon Lord?! And, ording to the notifications, </em><em>it will</em><em> even be the most powerful and greatest lord in history?!</em>¡¯

    While everyone was still reeling from their shock, the newly hatched dragon wriggled and twitched inside the egg shell.

    ¡°The newly hatched dragon will recognize her parent the moment she opens her eyes¡­¡±

    ¡°Who should be the dragon¡¯s parent?¡±

    There were a total of five people present here, Brod, Genie, Locke, Elpis, and Minhyuk. As they discussed the dragon¡¯s parent, Brod was shocked when he looked at the little dragon.

    <em>¡®Unbelievable¡­¡¯</em>

    It was because the little dragon was looking at one person, and one person alone, from the moment she opened her eyes. This person was none other than Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®Did she recognize His Majesty because she knew that he would be the greatest¡­?¡¯</em>

    It seemed as though the dragon knew whose child she was supposed to be the moment she was born. The red dragon¡¯s eyes, which were still soft around the edges and were surrounded by some soft red scales and a bit of mucus, shone brightly and intelligently.

    <em>[She has started to recognize yer Minhyuk as her parent.]</em>

    <em>[Please give the child a name.]</em>

    Minhyuk, who suddenly became a parent, was flustered. The situation was like someone appearing in front of him and saying, <em>¡®Hey, you. You be my dad!¡¯ </em>The people present all edged slowly towards the egg which allowed them to look closely at the little dragon¡¯s appearance.

    Unlike an ordinary human child, the little dragon already had a full set of teeth and a pair of tiny wings. The little dragon¡¯s eyes were also very round and big, big enough to cover half of her face. Whenever she blinked, she reminded them of that cat in the film Shriek[1].

    The person that was extremely thrilled to meet this cute creature was none other than Locke.

    He eximed, ¡°Ka, Kawaii¡­!¡±

    Contrary to his looks, Locke was very fond of cute animals like cats and dogs. It was evident by how much he cherished and cared for Love, Hope and Happiness. However, the moment Locke stretched his hand out to touch the little dragon¡¯s head¡­

    ¡°Kkiiiiiiiiik!¡± The hatchling screeched, her body shuddering from dislike.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Locke tilted his head in confusion as he watched Genie poke the cute little dragon in the cheeks.

    ¡°So soft!¡±

    ¡°Hiyeeee~¡± The hatchling cried happily at Genie¡¯s touch.

    ¡°Pre¡­ tty¡­¡± Elpis murmured, smiling softly as he caressed the hatchling¡¯s head. The hatchling twisted her body in delight as she cried, ¡°Hiyeee~¡±

    ¡°<em>Ahem.</em> It¡¯s cute,¡± Brod said, smiling happily when the little dragon turned to look at him.

    When the hatchling looked at Minhyuk, her eyes sparkled more brightly than when she looked at them. When Locke tried to reach his hand out again¡­

    ¡°Kkiiiiiiiiik!¡± The hatchling screeched once again, before twisting her trembling body away from Locke¡¯s reach.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    At that moment, everyone realized that the little dragon was doing that because of Locke¡¯s face! This was lookism[2] at its finest!

    Locke¡¯s face, which was alreadyrge to begin with, was a face that even a newly hatched dragon recognized as something scary. It was only natural that the little dragon felt shocked when he looked down on her. Realizing this, Locke took a few steps back away.

    ¡°What name should I give her?¡± Minhyuk asked worriedly as he hugged the hatchling to his chest. He looked down at the child wriggling in his hold and felt as if there was something familiar about her.

    ¡°Volcano¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°Or maybe, Red Combo?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°If it¡¯s not Volcano or Red Combo, then what?¡±

    Genie sighed when she heard Brod¡¯s words.

    ¡°Then, Seasoned Chicken as a name?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Brod was very shocked when he realized the true extent of Minhyuk¡¯s bad naming sense. Not too long ago, he sounded as if he was the master of naming when he dered the name of their kingdom as ¡®Beyond the Heavens¡¯, but it seemed like his disease suddenly came back!

    ¡°Seasoned Chicken, or maybe Capsaicin? These two seem to be okay¡­?¡±

    ¡®<em>My goodness!!! He¡¯s going to name the red dragon that might be the greatest dragon of all time ¡®Volcano¡¯, ¡®Red Combo¡¯, ¡®Seasoned Chicken¡¯ or even ¡®Capsaicin¡¯?</em>!¡¯

    Genie felt nervous. Was Minhyuk really going to name the dragon Volcano?

    <em>First name Volcano,st name Chicken¡­ What¡¯s my name? Yeah. My Name¡¯s Chicken Volcano~</em>

    Then, Minhyuk suddenly looked down at the hatchling again. He saw the little dragon¡¯s big round eyes that covered almost half of her face, as she touched Minhyuk¡¯s fingers with her small paws. Her eyes that were filled with faith and trust in him reflected his figure.

    <em>¡®Looks a bit stupid.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk, because of his eating addiction, could not control his desire for food. There were plenty of times when he tried to p himself awake and break out from this quagmire. But no matter what he did, he could not break free. And right now, the figure that was reflected in the eyes of the child in his arms was making him feel self-conscious. Her yellow eyes should have looked scary and strange to them, but it did not look like that at all. Rather than scary, her eyes seemed to shine beautifully as they illuminated his figure.

    ¡°Luna.¡±

    It was a Latin word that meant ¡®moon¡¯.

    ¡°Be the moonlight that illuminates the dark road ahead.¡±

    The hatchling was clearly a female judging by her appearance. And the name that Minhyuk gave her, along with its meaning, matched the child¡¯s beautiful and wonderful eyes perfectly.

    ¡°Hiyeeeeee~¡± The child cried softly as she wriggled in his arms happily. It seemed like she was in a very good mood. Then, Minhyuk heard the notifications.

    <em>[The hatchling really likes the name ¡®Luna¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[Would you like to name her ¡®Luna¡¯?]</em>

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    <em>[You have named the hatchling, ¡®Luna¡¯.]</em>

    Minhyuk immediately checked Luna¡¯s stats window.

    <em>(<strong>Luna</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: Legend</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: 1</em>

    <em><strong>Age</strong>: 1</em>

    <em><strong>Attack</strong>: 2,551</em>

    <em><strong>Defense</strong>: 2,001</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: King¡¯s Descendant</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Limitless Potential</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: King¡¯s Mana Heart</em>

    <em><strong>Potential</strong>: ???</em>

    <em><strong>Experience Value</strong>: 0%</em>

    <em>(<strong>King¡¯s Descendant</strong>)</em>

    <em>Passive Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?Born as a descendant of a Dragon Lord and fated to be one. With the blood of the king running through her veins, she will be able to dedicate superb concentration and amazing efforts in any field that she¡¯s interested in.</em>

    <em>?With the blood of the king running through her veins, she would be able to exude unparalleled dignity and majesty as she grows older.</em>

    <em>?With the blood of the king running through her veins, she would be able to awaken the powers of the Dragon Lords of the past the older she gets and the more she learns about something new.</em>

    <em>(<strong>Limitless Potential</strong>)</em>

    <em>Passive Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>: </em>

    <em>?She can do anything with her unlimited and infinite potential.</em>

    <em>?She may be able to surpass her teacher as long as she bes enlightened on the subject.</em>

    <em>?She will not be restricted by numbers and will show talent as she learns anything and everything, whether it is swordsmanship, magic, intelligence and resourcefulness, governance and many more.</em>

    <em>?However, if she disys an unusual tardiness in studying, she will lose her limitless potential and lose the effectiveness of the blood of the king flowing in her veins.</em>

    <em>(<strong>King¡¯s Mana Heart</strong>)</em>

    <em>Passive Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?With the King¡¯s Mana Heart, she will have 400% more INT and WIS than regr dragons.</em>

    <em>?She can use Fourth Tier Magic right away.</em>

    <em>?She might be able to reach a new ss that transcends the level of all the dragons in existence.</em>

    <em>¡®¡­That¡¯s amazing,¡¯ </em>Minhyuk thought as he blinked nkly at theughing Luna in his arms. She might be crying ¡®Hiyeeeee~¡¯ cutely but the power that she was wielding waspletely beyond anyone¡¯smon sense. However, it seemed like he still had to teach Luna a lot of things, including manners and etiquette. Still, he looked at Luna happily.

    Meanwhile, Locke, who was standing fifteen meters away from Luna, looked at her with sparkling eyes and thought, <em>¡®So, so cute¡­¡¯</em> but when he realized that he could only peek at her from a distance, he could not help but cry as he looked up at the sky.

    ¡°Mom and dad said that I was the most handsome person in the world though¡­¡±

    Today, Locke realized that his mom and dad lied to him.

    ***

    Bracard¡¯s Lair in the American Server.

    Not too long ago, the Lord¡¯s egg had been stolen right under Bracard¡¯s nose. The current Dragon Lord had ordered them to find the previous Dragon Lord¡¯s egg and everyone was working hard to follow this order. However, there was also another man that was looking for the Dragon Lord¡¯s egg, the cause of the shocking scene right now.

    Bracard had lost both of his wings and his body was filled with cuts. The pain of losing his wings was enough to make him writhe on the ground. Then, the man, who was also looking for the Lord¡¯s egg, stood in front of Bracard and gripped his face tightly. The man was wearing a skeleton mask and a ck robe.

    ¡°The Lord¡¯s egg¡­ has been stolen¡­¡±

    The man brooded over the words that Bracard uttered. This man was none other than Akhan, the Crazy Tyrant who dreamt of bringing Athenae down. He was a rtively unknown yer that was famous for his shocking and powerful summons. He was also the same person that tried to make a mess out of Asgan Continent by forcing ck Dragon Vormon into a frenzied state. But right now, he was able to easily overpower Bracard.

    Among the dragons, Bracard was hailed as a ¡®knight¡¯ because he was the most powerful among all of the dragons in existence. If it was based on the humans¡¯ rankings, then he would beparable to the ¡®Sword Saint¡¯ in terms of power. However, he could not leave a single scratch on Crazy Tyrant Akhan¡¯s body at all.

    <em>¡®The Dragon Lord¡¯s egg is something that I need,¡¯ </em>Akhan thought, his face that was hidden behind his mask turning ugly.

    The Lord¡¯s egg was like a double-edged sword. The life that the dragon that hatched from this egg would lead would differ depending on who raised it. Akhan had learned about the Lord¡¯s egg through one of his ¡®quests¡¯ and immediately came here to take it away. He intended to cultivate the egg with wickedness and evil and nt only murderous intent and destructive thoughts so it would only live to kill.

    Akhan thought that raising the dragon like that would contribute greatly to Athenae¡¯s copse. That was right. Akhan might be a yer but he could create new episodes in Athenae and bring them ¡®despair¡¯.

    ¡°Who was it?¡±

    ¡°Die!!! I won¡¯t say anything to you!¡±

    At the very least, Bracard thought that Akhan should not get his hands on the egg. Bracard believed that the egg would be the most vicious and evil existence in history if the egg was born under the care of this man in front of him. Akhan smirked, the skeleton mask covering his face also twisting into an eerie smile.

    Then, streams of energy stretched out from the tips of Akhan¡¯s fingers as he touched Bracard¡¯s head. The energy dug through Bracard¡¯s thick scales and went through his memories which appeared as a list in front of Akhan.

    <em>[The one that stole the Dragon Lord¡¯s egg.]</em>

    <em>[He uses the Mercenary Swordsmanship.]</em>

    <em>[Red wolves were released from his sword.]</em>

    <em>[A tall man.]</em>

    ¡°¡­A mercenary?¡± Akhan could not believe it. Were they telling him that the one that stole the Dragon Lord¡¯s egg from Bracard¡¯s Lair was just a human mercenary?

    But not long after, someone crossed his mind. This someone was the man that Akhan saw in the video of the battle between Barras Kingdom and Let¡¯s Eat Sect. The man was tall, used the Mercenary Swordsmanship and released red wolves from his sword.

    ¡°¡­It¡¯s that bastard again?¡± A deep smile curled at the corners of Akhan¡¯s mouth.

    ¡°Hurry up and kill meeee!!!¡± Bracard shouted. But before he could even pull Akhan¡¯s fingers deeper into his head, his yellow eyes suddenly turned ck.

    ¡°I swear¡­ my¡­ eternal¡­ loyalty¡­ to¡­ Crazy Tyrant¡­ Akhan¡­¡±

    ¡°It seems like I have to go to the Korean Server.¡±

    Just like that, Athenae¡¯s greatest ¡®disaster¡¯ was now slowly making his way towards Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    1. It¡¯s in reference to Shrek¡¯s Puss in boots. Here¡¯s a gif for you /view/cant-resist-too-cute-puss-in-boots-big-eyes-funny-gif-16771676) ?

    2. A prejudice or discrimination based on one¡¯s physical appearance that falls short of the beauty standards set by society. A discriminatory treatment against those that are deemed physically unattractive ?

 Chapter 461: Japanese Server

    Chapter 461: Japanese Server

    Luna¡¯s birth, as well as Minhyuk bing Luna¡¯s parent, were very meaningful. However, as the king of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, he was busier than anybody else. Then, that would raise the question of who would raise and take care of Luna? When they talked about this, Minhyuk only mentioned one being.

    <em>¡®Beanie.¡¯</em>

    Plenty of people were shocked at Minhyuk¡¯s choice. They immediately tried to dissuade him but Minhyuk¡¯s decision was final. He said, <em>¡®Beanie will raise and lead Luna in the right path.¡¯</em>

    Everyone could not understand what he meant. This was because they had seen how the Supreme Divine Beast baby piggy Beanie could be ¡®despicable Beanie¡¯. That very same Beanie would be able to lead Luna on the right path?

    <em>¡®Just watch. You¡¯ll understand.¡¯</em>

    As his owner, Minhyuk knew Beanie the best. Hearing this, they did notin about his choice anymore and just decided to watch. After everything had been settled, Minhyuk went back to the office. Then, he pulled out the Great Demon¡¯s All Creation Production Book, a very old parchment, out of his inventory.

    ¡°Use the All Creation Production Book.¡±

    The Great Demon¡¯s All Creation Production Book reacted to Minhyuk¡¯s words.

    <em>[The Great Demon¡¯s All Creation Production Book has been triggered.]</em>

    <em>[The Great Demon¡¯s All Creation Production Book contains a special power that can allow you to create anything you desire.]</em>

    <em>[If you wish for something that¡¯s beyond outrageous, the production book will disintegrate.]</em>

    <em>[It depends on the item that you want to make but you might need more materials.]</em>

    <em>[If there¡¯s a specific artifact or dish that you desire, you can exin it or draw a picture of it.]</em>

    Minhyuk decided to draw a picture of what he wanted. A bright light appeared at the tip of his fingers and when he put his finger in the air, a line was drawn, just like when someone drew something on paper. Then, Minhyuk began to draw. He drew a carriage with a ce to cook rice and prepare side dishes inside. There was also a small ce where he could ce a small frying pot and a ce for washing dishes. Minhhyuk continued to draw until he finished drawing a pretty big cooking trailer.

    <em>[Please describe what you drew in detail.]</em>

    ¡°A kitchen where you can perfectly make rice, side dishes, and meals, even when outdoors. It can shrink until it¡¯s small enough to be able to fit inside the inventory window, and can grow big enough when needed.¡±

    <em>[The Great Demon¡¯s All Creation Production Book is attempting to make the blueprint for the item.]</em>

    Then, a hologram appeared in front of Minhyuk and projected a huge cooking trailer. It looked far more sophisticated and intricate than the one that Minhyuk drew with his fingers. There was a chimney on the trailer¡¯s roof, while the inside was equipped with counters on both sides. The left side was allotted as the ce where he could cook rice, while the right was where he could make side dishes. There was also a ce where he could make fire underneath.

    As Minhyuk looked at the ce where he could ignite a fire, he suddenly thought, <em>¡®In real and actual trailers, it takes a long time for the fire to be ignited. Also, there should be a way to keep the fire under control.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had studied cooking trailers in reality. The military used cooking trailers in their training too. However, the trailers that they used were very ufortable to move in. Also, it usually took four hours for them to cook rice there.

    <em>[The blueprint for the Cooking Trailer is finished.]</em>

    <em>[You need the ¡®Eternal mes¡¯ toplete the Cooking Trailer.]</em>

    <em>[Applying the Eternal mes on the Cooking Trailer will remove the need to ignite the fire. The trailer can also trap and contain the Eternal mes when it¡¯s not being used.]</em>

    <em>[If you use the Eternal mes, your cooking time will be reduced by 40%.]</em>

    <em>[You can rece the Eternal mes with an alternative material.]</em>

    <em>[You can now check the Cooking Trailer¡¯s blueprint.]</em>

    <em>(<strong>Cooking Trailer¡¯s Blueprint</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Required Materials</strong>: Eternal mes. Can also be reced with other materials like the mes of Lumina. </em>

    <em><strong>Expected Production Rank</strong>: Legendary ~ God</em>

    <em><strong>Expected Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?You can keep the trailer in your inventory.</em>

    <em>?Your cooking time will be reduced by more than 40%.</em>

    <em>?Although you will cook outdoors, the dishes that you make in the trailer will be tastier as long as you use a strong me like the Eternal mes.</em>

    <em>?Any dish cooked outdoors will have a shorter buff duration. However, the buff effects would be greater.</em>

    <em>?It can detect any danger in the vicinity. The higher the level of danger detected, the higher the chances of creating a higher-ranked dish that can help you ovee the imminent crisis.</em>

    <em>¡®This is the best.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was in awe. The blueprint had everything that he needed. It could shorten his cooking time, make the dishes that he made better, and even significantly increase the chances of him getting a high-rank dish when cooking during a battle.

    <em>¡®The biggest advantage is that it can be useful for a very long time.¡¯</em>

    Everyone¡¯s needs and requirements for their sword or armor would change over time. That was not the case for this cooking trailer. It would continue to be useful for him in the long run.

    <em>¡®Now, where can I get this Eternal me?¡¯</em>

    The fastest way to get an answer was to call for Haze.

    ¡°The Eternal me is another name for Hepas¡¯ mes. It has tremendous firepower that can melt any mineral and ore in one go. Artifacts created using the Eternal mes will receive its force and will be able to gain great power. It¡¯s a godly material that has enough power that can blow up a city of decent size in one shot.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded after hearing her exnation. Haze read dozens of books everyday, and she was using the knowledge that she gained from these books to help many guild members.

    ¡°Do you know where I can find it?¡±

    ¡°I only know the rough location.¡±

    ¡°Where is it?¡±

    Haze immediately opened the map upon hearing Minhyuk¡¯s question. The map that she opened was not the map of Asgan Continent, but the map of the world.

    ¡°It¡¯s here.¡±

    ¡°¡­Japan?¡±

    Haze tilted her head in confusion when she heard Minhyuk¡¯s words.

    ¡°The foreigners call the Abbar Continent ¡®Japan¡¯.¡±

    That was right. The ce where Haze pointed at was located at Abbar Continent, the Japanese Server.

    <em>¡®The Gods are involved in all of the continents. Perhaps that¡¯s the reason why the Eternal mes came up as a material for the cooking trailer?¡±</em>

    Usually, when the required materials for an artifact production was listed, it would only list the avable items in the continent where the one creating was located. But it seemed like this was a very special case.

    <em>¡®Do I have to give up?¡¯</em>

    However, the All Creation Production Book was only avable once. He could make the trailer by recing the Eternal mes with the mes of Lumina, but recing it would definitely reduce the effects of the artifact.

    <em>¡®Then, maybe I should wait for the server integration and consolidation?¡¯</em>

    However, it did not make sense for him to wait for the server integration either. After all, he did not know how long it would take for that to happen.

    <em>¡®I also want to go to Abbar Continent if possible.¡¯</em>

    Abbar Continent, in other words, the Japanese Server, was one of Athenae¡¯s powerhouses. But the reason why Minhyuk was very inclined to go there was¡­

    <em>¡®The local dishes of Abbar Continent!¡¯</em>

    Fresh sushi, ramen, donburi, convenience store food, sukiyaki, karaage, and many more! Just the thought of these dishes was enough to make Minhyuk drool.

    <em>¡®It would be like an overseas trip, right? That¡¯s if I can go.¡¯</em>

    s, the problem was he did not know how he could get there.

    ¡°Is there a way for me to go to Abbar Continent?¡±

    ¡°I haven¡¯t seen anything about it in all of the books I have read so far.¡±

    ¡°¡­Hmmm.¡±

    ¡°But,¡± Haze paused, eyes twinkling brightly which greatly increased Minhyuk¡¯s anticipation, before continuing, ¡°I know someone that has traveled across the continents.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s attention was drawn by her words. He quickly asked, ¡°Who?¡±

    As if he had been waiting for these words, a man knocked on the door and said, ¡°That would be me.¡±

    The man was none other than Brod. He was just waiting outside of the door to give a report when he heard their conversation. As it happened, Brod was someone that had traveled across several continents.

    ¡°I know how to get there.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s face brightened immediately. This was because he could hear the method to cross to Abbar Continent from Brod!

    ***

    Joy Co. Ltd. Japanese Branch.

    Ryota, a new employee of the Special yers Management Team, was now on his second day of work.

    ¡°Ryota, is the work alright? Do you think it¡¯s worth working here?¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir! The work is alright!!!¡± Ryota stood up sharply as he answered his team leader.

    Team Leader Tadayoshi patted Ryota on the shoulders and said, ¡°Keep doing what you¡¯re doing. I worked overtime yesterday so I¡¯m going for a bit of shut-eye over there.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± Ryota answered, smiling brightly as he sat again.

    <em>¡®I really love the Special yers Management Team!¡¯</em>

    Ryota did not need to rack his brains to create a story like in the Story Team, nor did he need to face the brunt of the yers¡¯ criticism like in the Customer Center Team. All he needed to do was sit down, watch the monitor, and make a report! That was why he loved this team!

    <em>¡®I wonder why the person before me quit this job?¡¯</em> Ryota thought, expression turning into doubt. Based on his standards, the Special yers Management Team was like heavenpared to all the other teams. Today too, was a very peaceful day for Ryota as he watched the special yers on his screen and wrote a report. But then¡­

    <em>[A yer from Asgan Continent has reached the passageway to Abbar Continent.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Ryota looked at the screen in both doubt and disbelief as he quickly jogged his memory.

    <em>¡®All of the continents are connected.¡¯</em>

    However, the passageways that connected these continents were being blocked and yers were not allowed to pass through, unless they used a special method. For someone to enter the passageway that connected the Abbar Continent and Asgan Continent, they needed to enter and get sucked into the ¡®Death Vortex¡¯.

    The name Death Vortex was coined by the pirates that roamed around the seas, this was because anyone that tried to enter and get sucked in the whirlpool would die.

    Even if they did somehow survive the Death Vortex and arrived in the passageway, they still would not be able to pass through if they failed to meet the conditions. This was because of the gatekeeper, an NPC goblin modeled after Japan''s <em>oni</em>[1], called Red Goblin, a Level 690 NPC and was considered to be one of the bigshots.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s not that easy to cross through this continent.¡¯</em>

    In fact, attacking Red Goblin would immediately eject the yer from the passageway connecting the two continents. On top of that, Red Goblin had a very violent and mean personality, which he uses skillfully to harass and bully the yers. The only way for them to pass through this passageway was toplete the ¡®travel pass¡¯ quest, or to already have the travel pass in their hands.

    Each continent was given only ten travel pass tickets per year. In other words, even if they were able to get to this passageway by ident, they would still be unable to pass through if they did not have the necessary requirements.

    <em>¡®Hmm, maybe I should take a look? Who in the world broke through the ¡®Death Vortex¡¯ and entered the passageway?¡¯</em>

    Ryota wondered as he looked at the screen.

    <em>[Konnichiwa~]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Ryota was left speechless. The reason? It was because the man was dressed as if he was on a trip abroad, and even had sunsses perched on his nose.

    <em>¡®Is he really someone that entered through the Death Vortex?¡¯</em>

    Ryota tapped on his keyboard and tried to identify the man.

    <em>[Information about Korean yers can only be viewed by the Korean Branch.]</em>

    ¡°Ah¡­¡± Ryota eximed. Even if they were a part of the management team, as long as it was rted to another country, they would not be able to read any of the said information. This was so they could prevent any special information about the yers from another country from leaking.

    <em>¡®What the hell?!¡¯</em>

    And the man that greeted the Red Goblin brightly even had something in his hands.

    ¡°¡­Is that tfish skewer? My goodness! Someone eats tfish sashimi on a skewer?!¡±

    The unidentified man was munching away on the 30 cm tfish that was stuck on the skewer in his hands!

    <em>[If you don¡¯t have the travel pass then you can¡¯t pass through.]</em>

    <em>[Is that so? Ehhh, this is my first trip to Japan¡­ no, the Abbar Continent too. Is there anything I can do to remedy that?]</em>

    <em>[If you don¡¯t want to die then leave!]</em>

    The Red Goblin¡¯s violent nature exploded. But the man¡­

    <em>[Hiyaaaa. You look cool when you¡¯re angry. I¡¯ve never seen such a cool and amazing goblin like you!]</em>

    <em>[Hmm?]</em>

    <em>[Kyaaa! Your horns are standing wonderfully! Your nose also looks like a pig¡¯s snout! Your skin is also ringly red! And those teeth, they look like that of an orc¡¯s~ You¡¯re really cool! Wow, those muscles! They¡¯re bulging with veins! A manly man!!!]</em>

    <em>[Ahem, ahem, ahem. Human, it seems like your eyes are not just for decoration for you to praise this goblin! Keuhahahaha!]</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Ryota was shocked to see the Red Goblin immediately take a liking to a yer in their initial meeting. And what¡¯s more¡­

    <em>[Unfortunately, I have to go back today. It¡¯s such an honor for me to meet a handsome goblin like you. So, before I go, can I treat you to a dish? It¡¯s because Mister Goblin is so cool and handsome~]</em>

    <em>[Well, if you want to, then you¡¯re free to do that.]</em>

    Then, the man suddenly started cooking.

    <em>¡®Korea¡¯s stir-fried pork?¡¯</em>

    Ryota was a fan of Korean dishes so he immediately knew what the man was about to make. But then, the man suddenly popped open a strange bottle and dropped three thick and clear drops of the liquid into the stir-fried pork.

    Ryota tilted his head in confusion when he saw it.

    ¡®<em>What did he add </em><em>in the</em><em> dish? Some kind of seasoning?</em>¡¯

    Meanwhile, Red Goblin gobbled up the meal happily.

    <em>[So, human food is this delicious!!!]</em>

    <em>[Hehe. I¡¯m grateful that Mister Handsome Goblin finds my dish delicious.]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s good! It¡¯s really delicious!!!]</em>

    Red Goblin ate the stir-fried pork with relish as the man said¡­

    <em>[Can I take a look around here for a bit?]</em>

    <em>[If it¡¯s you boy, then it¡¯s alright. Take it as my return for giving me this wonderful dish.]</em>

    Ryota was in shock, <em>¡®The goblin allowed him to take a look around the passageway¡­¡¯</em>

    Then, the man disappeared. Ryota continued to monitor the Red Goblin. And after thirty minutes, cold sweat started to break out on the Red Goblin¡¯s face.

    <em>[The dish called spicy stir-fried pork¡­ Hoo¡­ I want to eat it again¡­]</em>

    After an hour.

    <em>[Ugh. Just once. If I can eat that dish once again then...]</em>

    After two hours.

    <em>[Heok, heok. Where did he go?! What is taking him long, he¡¯s just looking around, right?! Come back quickly so you can cook for me!!!]</em>

    After a while, the man came back.

    <em>[Sight-seeing is really fun.]</em>

    But before the man could turn around to leave, Red Goblin grabbed his wrists.

    <em>[You know that¡­ that thing earlier¡­ Can you cook it for me again?]</em>

    <em>[Aaaaah~ That would be a bit difficult~ After all, Mister Red Goblin won¡¯t even let me pass through here. You¡¯re asking too much from me¡­]</em>

    The man looked extremely troubled. But then, Red Goblin said¡­

    <em>[You can! You can pass through here! Just please cook that for me again!]</em>

    At the same time, a notification popped up in front of Ryota.

    <em>[The mysterious man has acquired a travel pass in an unconventional way.]</em>

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    That was when Ryota saw¡­

    <em>Grin!</em>

    ¡­the man smirking viciously! But he was not satisfied with just that and even took his demands a step further.

    <em>[But I was already hurt. And I feel so hurt that I don¡¯t think I can pass by anymore¡­ Well, if you have some kind of good ingredient or material that you can give me then¡­ I can think about it again~]</em>

    That face! That face clearly meant that the man was taking advantage of the Red Goblin and trying to make a deal with him! But the most shocking part was¡­

    <em>[I can do anything for you, just tell me what you want. So, please, I¡¯m begging you¡­!]</em>

    The smirk on the man¡¯s mouth widened even further. Then, another notification popped up in front of Ryota.

    <em>[The mysterious yer has acquired the Title: The One Who Can Even Trick the Continental Gatekeeper.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Ryota, on his second day at work, faced his greatest challenge.

    1. A yokai/demon/orc/ogre/troll in Japanese folklore ?

 Chapter 462: Japanese Server

    Chapter 462: Japanese Server

    <em>[You have acquired the <strong>Title</strong>: The One Who Can Even Trick the Continental Gatekeeper.]</em>

    Minhyuk could not stop the curl of the corners of his lips, even though he was still standing in front of the Red Goblin when he heard the notifications.

    He had reached the ¡®Death Vortex¡¯ with Brod. But when they arrived, Brod said that he could not go with him any further, and only told him about how to get through the Death Vortex safely.

    Minhyuk expressed his doubt after hearing Brod¡¯s words, <em>¡®You won¡¯te with me, Brod?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I¡¯m sorry, but I believe it would be difficult if I came with you.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Howe?¡¯</em>

    Brod was someone that had already gone through that passageway, so Minhyuk wondered why he could not go with him.

    <em>¡®The Red Goblin did not let me pass through the gates in the past, so I beat him up a few times. But after I attacked him, some kind of force stopped me from entering and ejected me from the passageway. If I go in with Your Majesty, there¡¯s a chance that you might get thrown out of the passageway too.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®¡­¡¯</em>

    Strangely enough, Minhyuk thought that it was something to be expected from Brod. After all, he was someone that extorted the kingdom troops¡¯ summons! There were even tales about the famous line he told the Great Demon Verus: ¡®Make sure you look at others kindly next time!¡¯.

    <em>¡®Red Goblin is the gatekeeper guarding the passageway connecting the continents so it knows a lot of secret information. From what I gathered, he can also give out decrees that will allow one to cross from Abbar Continent back to Asgan Continent. I believe it would be better for you to coax him so you can dig for more information and get the decrees from his hands.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk nodded as he recalled the conversation he had with the Dragon King not too long ago. The Dragon King said, <em>¡®This is the Sea Honey that has be more addictive.¡¯ </em>He had received a stronger and more addictive Sea Honey from the Dragon King. This was the liquid that he dropped in the spicy stir-fried pork that he made for Red Goblin.

    Also, Minhyuk knew that these things would be troublesome if he got recognized in Japan. After all, he was now one of the world-famous figures. That was why he used ¡®Demon¡¯s Face¡¯, a special effect from his recently obtained ¡®Great Demon Verus¡¯ Mask¡¯. The moment he used the Demon¡¯s Face, he could change his face to any of the humans that Great Demon Verus had met in the past.

    Right now, Minhyuk¡¯s face had changed to that of a young man of around the same age as him.

    Then, Minhyuk took out the stir-fried pork that he had prepared in advance. Of course, this stir-fried pork was also mixed with Sea Honey.

    ¡°Hurry, hurry¡­!¡± Red Goblin urged Minhyuk as cold sweat dripped down from his forehead.

    ¡°My demand is simple, just give me a boat. Even a small sailing boat is fine, as long as it''s a boat.¡±

    Red Goblin jumped up and down as if he was going crazy from want while he listened to Minhyuk¡¯s demand. His vision had started to blur as cold sweat continued to drip down from his forehead. This was the typical withdrawal symptoms from using Sea Honey! All he could do was nod his head as quickly as he could to make Minhyuk give him the dish faster.

    ¡°Second. My friends mighte pass by hereter, so please make sure to let them through.¡±

    <em>Nod, nod!</em>

    ¡°Third. Give me hints about the Eternal me and also give me a Return Order.¡±

    ¡°You, you¡¯re asking for too much, aren¡¯t you?! I¡¯m just protecting this ce because I¡¯m tasked to protect it!¡±

    ¡°Of course, of course. I understand you, Mister Goblin. Who else can understand your feelings aside from me. Right?¡± Minhyuk ced his palm on his chest and nodded, with a benevolent and kind expression on his face. He even went a step further by sping his hands together and speaking softly at him with watery eyes.

    ¡°You think I¡¯ll ask about it for nothing, huh? My friends will bring you tasty dishes too when they pass by, you know?¡±

    ¡°Is¡­ is that so?!¡± Red Goblin eximed, his eyes widening and sparkling brightly. It was a truly tempting deal.

    Minhyuk, while gently patting Red Goblin¡¯s back, said, ¡°A good thing in exchange for another good thing. Let¡¯s make a good deal, alright? I¡¯ll make sure to tell my friends to bring many dishes.¡±

    Minhyuk sounded as if he was talking about putting wads of money in apple boxes[1]!

    ¡°Al, alright¡­!¡±

    The Red Goblin looked conflicted for a while, but in the end, Minhyuk was able to sessfully coax him into agreeing. And with that, Minhyuk was able to get a Return Decree to Asgan Continent, a small sailing boat, and information about the Eternal mes.

    ***

    All of the seas were connected. However, the Dragon King¡¯s Sea and the seas of Abbar Continent, the Japanese Server, were definitely different. There was no concept of ¡®pirates and piracy¡¯ in the seas of Asgan Continent, but in Abbar Continent, pirates ran rampant.

    The biggest contributor to this was none other than that one famous Japaneseic. It was Ali¡¯s favoriteic that featured the words ¡®This is our token! Frieeeeeeeeeend!¡¯ and made many of the Japanese yers dream about sailing in the seas of Athenae. And because many of the Japanese yers chose to be pirates, the Athenae Japanese Branch focused on creating and building various quests, hunting grounds, and rewards around their server¡¯s seas.

    Currently, a huge warship was leisurely sailing and circling the seas. However, there were only three people aboard this huge ship. These three were pirates of the Ever Sea.

    Taichi, one of the men onboard, was wearing a navy uniform. However, his ss was originally a ¡®samurai¡¯. The samurai ss was simr to Korea¡¯s swordsman ss and Taichi was already close to the peak of this ss.

    There was also a man named Baroch. Among them, he was the only one with the original ¡®pirate¡¯ ss. And since he was the one with the most amount of skills rted to piracy, he was the most fussy and picky among them.

    And finally, there was Nana, a great beauty that no one would believe that she was one of the pirates. Her ss was ¡®Alchemy ughterer¡¯. She was good at making a variety of potions and was in fact as strong as some of the top assassins.

    The reason why the three of them were taking the huge warship for a spin by themselves was because they were confident in their strength. After all, in the official Japanese rankings, Taichi was ranked 31st, Baroch was ranked 6th, and Nana was ranked 19th. Their high levels had allowed them to be big names in the field of piracy.

    The three of them did not discriminate, they would kill everyone whether they were NPCs or yers, and would loot all kinds of ships, from warships, pirate ships, fishing boats, to even transport ships. After taking away everything from them, they would then dismantle their things and ships, before reselling them. They were notorious, with their PK count exceeding 5,000 per person. They also often treated NPCs as if they were flies, and acted as if they were real pirates who enjoyed watching those that they kill beg for their lives.

    ¡°We won¡¯t have any sacrifices if things continue like this¡­¡± Baroch, a pirate with an eye patch covering one of his eyes, expressed his disapproval.

    Nana nodded and said, ¡°We must find a sacrifice for the Kraken King¡¯s hunt by tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°If we can¡¯t find any sacrifices by tomorrow then the Kraken King will retreat deep down in the abyss again.¡±

    The being that they were talking about was none other than the ruler of Ever Seas, the Kraken King, which only appeared for two days every year in game time. The Kraken King had tentacles that were about ten meters long and weighed around several thousands of tons. A few ms from one of its tentacles was enough to destroy a fully-functioning warship. In addition, what made it hard to hunt the Kraken King was the fact that it could also get help from the creatures under the sea.

    The three of them might be their country¡¯s top rankers standing at Levels 540, 551, and 530, but the Kraken King was at Level 630. They were fully aware that they could not kill the Kraken King so easily. One wrong move and all three of them would be logged out.

    But that did not mean that there was no way for them at all to win.

    <em>¡®We can make an offering to the Kraken King.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®The sacrifice that we have to offer should at least be as strong as us.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®The Kraken is a gourmand that only eats the strong.¡¯</em>

    A legend had been passed down across the seas about how the Kraken King liked the food onnd, and that it would not eat anything unless they were strong, like the two-headed sharks that were known for their violent and fierce nature at sea. It was also omnivorous and would eat both meat and greens.

    This method was, in fact, proven by themunity sites. ording to the news, the Kraken, after eating a yer thatpleted their transfer to high ss, did not attack the other yers despite the yers¡¯ attacksnding continuously on its body for a full minute.

    <em>¡®A minute is enough, having that leeway means that we have a high chance of triggering a critical hit.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®One minute is enough for us to kill it.¡¯</em>

    They needed a living sacrifice that was why they attacked the warship that they were on now. However, none of the people on board this warship met their requirements. Then¡­

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± The pirate and their leader, Baroch, looked suspiciously through his telescope. The other two immediately went behind him to look at what he was looking at.

    Baroch saw a man sailing on a sailboat alone through his telescope. From what he could see, the man was throwing what seemed to be a bloody ¡®harpoon¡¯ at sea.

    ¡°A yer?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s definitely a yer, right?¡±

    The three of them looked at the man in doubt. It was extremely rare for someone toe out to sea alone. For yers that sail at sea alone, it was either just one of the two: yers who were in distress, or yers from Asgan Continent that asionally slipped through the passageway.

    ¡°He looks like a Korean.¡±

    ¡°Ho?¡±

    That was when they realized.

    ¡°If he can pass through the Death Vortex then that means that he¡¯s as strong as we are, right?¡±

    That was right. That man over there was their perfect ¡®sacrifice¡¯. However, they still had to confirm that to some extent. They quickly approached the man. When the man saw them, he smiled brightly and waved his hand at them excitedly while shouting something, ¡°¡­ men¡­ ge¡­ don¡­ tako¡­ konni¡­!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    As they got closer, the man¡¯s words finally started to make sense.

    ¡°Konnichiwa~~~ Karaage! Ramen! Takoyaki! Donburi! Sushi! Beef katsu! Oishi!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    The trio shot the man a weird look. They wondered if this was a new type of crazy. The words that the man uttered were all of the famous dishes in Japan. Tranting it, it would be: <em>Hello! Karaage! Ramyeon! Takoyaki! Donburi! Sushi! Beef Katsu! Delicious!!! </em>or something along those lines.

    The three of them snickered.

    ¡°He¡¯s perfect.¡±

    ¡°The bastard looks a bit wonky in the head.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps this is the God of the Sea helping us?¡±

    Vicious smiles curled up around their mouths. Then, they maneuvered their warship to get close to the sailing boat.

    ¡°Were you in distress? We¡¯re from the navy. You might already know this but we¡¯re also yers.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not in distress. But I think I¡¯m in trouble!¡±

    ¡°What seems to be your problem?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m so excited to be here!!! Oh my god! I came to thend of donburi, karaage and beef katsu! But now¡­¡±

    The man suddenly turned sullen.

    ¡°¡­I¡¯m hungry.¡±

    The three looked at him and said¡­

    ¡°Let¡¯s hang your small sailing boat and get you onboard our warship so we can bring you tond.¡±

    ¡°We also have a lot of food on board. You¡¯re probably Korean but as someone from Japan, we also want to treat you to something as a greeting.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll really do that?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    This was how the three of them plundered, looted and killed the people in distress. By getting them onboard their own ship. The man climbed on the rope that they threw at him before pulling his sailboat up. Just like that, the man boarded their warship safely.

    The man said, ¡°I¡¯m very happy to have met kind people like you! So lucky! Thank goodness. Ramen¡­ n, no¡­ Amen¡­!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re a very interesting person, huh?¡±

    ¡°Hahahahaha!¡±

    The three of them could only think of the man as someone that wascking in the brains department. Then, Nana asked, ¡°I saw you throwing a bloody harpoon at sea earlier. Did you hunt some monsters?¡±

    ¡°I made a friend at sea, you see. The harpoon was stuck in their body so I took it out and we became friends!¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re very nice.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. You made a friend as soon as you came here.¡±

    ¡°Where¡¯s that monster friend of yours?¡±

    ¡°They already went home. But we¡¯ll see each other next time.¡±

    They all believed that the man was as gullible as he was sociable. These kind of people were usually stupid and naive. They naturally maneuvered their ship to go to the ¡®Kraken¡¯s Sacred Land¡¯. They nned to take the man near there, knock him out, and throw him out to sea so that the Kraken woulde out to eat him up.

    ¡°Wow! Wow! Can I really eat as much food as I want on this ship?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Please help yourself.¡±

    ¡°Hahahaha! You can eat everything!¡±

    Their n went smoothly. And just like that, their warship approached the vicinity of the Kraken¡¯s Sacred Land. But then¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The warship suddenly began to shake and tremble. The three of them were very shocked to see a gigantic octopus head break from the surface of the sea. And from what it looked like, its tentacles were around ten meters long.

    <em>[The Kraken King has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[The Kraken King is one of the ten legendary monsters!]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The three pirates were very flustered.

    <em>¡®Why, why did it appear now¡­?!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®What the hell? Why did the Kraken suddenly appear?!¡¯</em>

    The three of them could not help but wonder why the Kraken suddenly appeared beyond their expected point. They could not help but flinch when they saw its gigantic size. But then, the Kraken¡¯s huge eyes suddenly turned into crescents as it lifted one of its tentacles that was as long as their warship and waved at someone.

    Then, they heard a voice ring loudly beside them, ¡°<em>Sukhoe</em>[2]?! You brat!!! Is this where you live?! Is the part where I took out the harpoon alright? Is it still painful?¡±

    <em>¡®The monster that he pulled the harpoon from¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®The friend that he got close to¡­?¡¯</em>

    ¡°Sukhoe?!¡± Nana asked, her voice shaking.

    ¡°Ah. I gave him a name. Last name Octopus, first name Sukhoe. Octopus Sukhoe! Sukhoe!!! Say hello to your oppa¡¯s friends!!!¡± Minhyuk said as he waved both of his arms towards Kraken King.

    <em>¡®The Kraken King was the friend that he made by taking out the harpoon¡­?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He named the Kraken King, Octopus Sukhoe?¡¯</em>

    Something was definitely wrong here.

    1. A reference to bribery and corruption in KR where they usually ce wads of cash in apple boxes. ?

    2. A variety of hoe(raw food) dishes consisting of nched vegetables, seafood or offals. ?

 Chapter 463: Japanese Server

    Chapter 463: Japanese Server

    Japanese Branch¡¯s Special yers Management Team.

    Ryota was both shocked and appalled at the scene that he was watching, <em>¡®My god¡­ He became friends with the Kraken King¡­ and even named it Octopus Sukhoe?¡¯</em>

    He could not help but wonder about the identity of the damn yer being reflected on his screen. Even Team Leader Tadayoshi was flustered.

    ¡°Who the hell is that guy?! Is it not enough for him to pass through the passageway without a travel pass?! He even befriended the Kraken King?!¡±

    After his outburst, Tadayoshi was left speechless. Even the new employee, Ryota, was fidgeting on his seat from nervousness.

    ¡°Ryota! Contact the Korean Branch!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± The flustered and restless Ryota answered as he hurriedly contacted the Korean Branch.

    <em>[Yes, hello. This is Employee Lee Minhwa of the South Korean Branch¡¯s Special yers Management Team.]</em>

    ¡°Hello. This is New Employee Ryota of the Japanese Branch¡¯s Special yers Management Team. We¡¯re contacting you regarding the Korean yer that managed to pass through the passageway connecting the two continents this time¡­¡± Ryota exined to the woman, Lee Minhwa, who answered the phone.

    From what he heard, the Korean employee Lee Minhwa had less than two years of experience in the field. However, she was a woman that was praised for her outstanding work by all of thepany¡¯s branches in the world.

    ¡°In line with that, we would like to request the yers¡¯ information!¡± Ryota said after deciding that he should know who his enemy was. However, the answer that he received was like a bolt out of the blue.

    <em>[I¡¯m sorry. We cannot disclose any information about another server¡¯s yer.]</em>

    ¡°Wh¡­ what?! But the situation right now is¡­¡±

    <em>[Please take another look at Chapter 4 of Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s ¡®yer Information Protection¡¯ Manual. We strictly abide by these rules.]</em>

    Ryota¡¯s eyes turned nk after hearing her answer. In the end, it seemed like they would not be able to learn about the man¡¯s identity.

    Ryotapletely understood what Lee Minhwa was saying. President Kang Taehoon had strictly banned exchanges of yers¡¯ information between different countries in fear of information leakage. After all, they risked leaking the country¡¯s yer¡¯s personal information, skills, and artifacts.

    <em>[Team Leader Park said that he understands where you¡¯reing from. However, we can only say one thing to you. The Japanese Branch needs to be prepared.]</em>

    Ryota¡¯s hand, which was holding the telephone¡¯s receiver, shook. Today was his third day on the job, but it felt like he was suddenly presented with a death sentence.

    <em>[He is one of our country¡¯s top figures. Ah, from what I recall, the Japanese Branch calls those kinds of people ¡®Disaster ss yers¡¯ right? That yer is a Disaster ss yer. Please be careful. You¡¯ll definitely be shocked every time you see that yer. I wish you luck.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!!!¡±

    Ryota hung up the call, his eyes shaking wildly as he turned to look at the man who was waving enthusiastically at the Kraken King.

    <em>¡®A Disaster ss yer¡­?¡¯</em>

    ***

    Minhyuk waved enthusiastically at the Kraken King, Sukhoe, as he recalled what happened earlier.

    When he was settling down after fishing to eat his hard-earned blue crab ramyeon, a gigantic shadow fell upon him. As he turned around to look, he was met with the vicious and ferocious eyes of the Kraken King. Strangely enough, the Kraken King¡¯s eyes were focused solely on the ¡®blue crab ramyeon¡¯ in Minhyuk¡¯s hands. It seemedpletely hungry.

    <em>¡®If only Sukhoe¡¯s a monster that I can eat then¡­¡¯</em>

    The Kraken King would have definitely been hunted and eaten! However, Sukhoe was a monster that did not shine with that ¡®ck light¡¯, so it was ssified as inedible. That was when he saw the Kraken King acting meekly,pletely different from what he imagined. He wondered why it became that hungry. After all, the Kraken King was a ruler of the sea.

    That was when he saw a huge harpoon stuck inside its mouth.

    <em>¡®My goodness! It must have been so painful that it can¡¯t eat, that¡¯s why it¡¯s so hungry!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk could understand its pain, and he readily removed the harpoon stuck inside the Kraken King¡¯s mouth. On top of that, he got close to the Kraken King after he gave it the name Octopus Sukhoe.

    And Sukhoe, who appeared right now, lookedpletely like what it was described in the legends about the Kraken King. It was around 25 meters in height and its huge tentacles seemed to be able to break a warship into two with just one m.

    But then, Sukhoe suddenly stretched out one of its tentacles and pulled something out. It was as if he was trying to tell Minhyuk something. And Minhyuk understood what it was saying easily.

    ¡°A sack?¡±

    Sukhoe nodded furiously. And when Minhyuk took the sack out, it shook its tentacle. Then¡­

    <em>Ting, ting, ting, ting, ting, ting¡ª</em>

    ¡­countless tinum coins fell inside the sack.

    <em>[The Kraken King has gifted you 941 tinum.]</em>

    ¡°¡­Suk, Sukhoe?¡± Minhyuk asked in surprise. There was no other choice. After all, the amount of tinum that Sukhoe gave him was worth 94.1 billion gold. If he converted that gold to cash, then he would be able to gain billions of won.

    But it did not end there.

    <em>ng, ng!</em>

    Sukhoe kept on sending countless artifacts, decrees, and valuable items inside Minhyuk¡¯s sack.

    <em>¡®Crazy¡­!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®What the hell is going on?! The Kraken King is willingly giving out its treasures?!¡¯</em>

    The three pirates looked at the scene in disbelief. This was because the Kraken King was clearly giving out its artifacts, gold, and decree parchments.

    Monsters also have the concept of inventories. As for monsters that lived for hundreds of years, the rewards for hunting them were rtivelyrge mainly because of their collection. The Kraken King had lived in these seas for more than 500 years. In fact, the three pirates were after these rewards. But now¡­

    <em>Clink, clink, clink, clink, clink¡ª</em>

    <em>[The Kraken King has gifted you the Diamond Mermaid¡¯s Scales.]</em>

    <em>[The Kraken King has gifted you the Mermaid Warrior¡¯s Trident.]</em>

    <em>[The Kraken King has gifted you 713 aqua stones.]</em>

    <em>[The Kraken King has gifted you the Turtle Dragon¡¯s Armor.]</em>

    <em>[The Kraken King¡­]</em>

    The rewards kept on pouring in Minhyuk¡¯s sack which made him very, very, <em>very</em> happy!

    <em>¡®I have four goals to achieve during my visit here in the Japanese Server.¡¯</em>

    <em>One. Get the Eternal mes.</em>

    <em>Two. Eat the famous Japanese food.</em>

    <em>Three. To develop the kingdom.</em>

    <em>Four. To find support troops.</em>

    Minhyuk did note here just for the Eternal mes and the food. He also came here to discover new talents and valuable items that he could not get his hands on in Korea.

    <em>¡®Just a nce and one can tell that these aqua stones are amazing.¡¯</em>

    The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom currentlycked good ores and minerals to create proper artifacts. But thanks to Sukhoe, he was not only able to get 713 aqua stones that were perfect for artifact reinforcement, but also the scales of the Diamond Mermaid, which were materials that were good for making armor, as well as countless valuable resources, armor, swords, bows, and even spears for soldiers.

    Meanwhile, the three pirates¡­

    <em>¡®¡¯¡­We don¡¯t need to kill the Kraken King.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®We will get more artifacts if we kill him.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He¡¯s like a walking treasure chest.¡¯</em>

    ¡­were all grinning widely. That was right. The man in front of them was now like a walking treasure chest. And they were coveting the artifacts that this man would drop the moment they killed him.

    <em>[<strong>Party Chat</strong> | <strong>Nana</strong>: How about luring him to the Pirate¡¯s Grave?]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Party Chat | Taichi</strong>: That¡¯s a very good idea.]</em>

    The Pirate¡¯s Grave was a famous ind where Great Pirate Gorfido¡¯s curse was lurking. The Great Pirate Gorfido was said to have been a very greedy pirate. ording to the rumors, death did not stop Gorfido¡¯s greed. He became a ghost and even invaded pirate ships and other ships so he could take away their treasures and valuables. In the end, he could not escape the grip of death and faced eternal rest in the ind called the Pirate¡¯s Grave, while his dark and greedy energy covered the entire ind.

    Since then, the ind was considered to be a ¡®Taboo Zone¡¯ and yers were rmended to not visit this ce. This was mainly because the yers¡¯ inventory drop rate would rise to more than 50% upon death inside the Pirate¡¯s Grave. This meant that they would risk losing their possessions. In other words, they risked losing half of all of the misceneous items and valuables in their inventory, except for what they had equipped on their body. The worst part was the fact that they would receive twice the usual amount of penalty upon death.

    Even pirates that were used to plundering did not dare to venture there.

    <em>¡®It is said that Gorfido¡¯s spirit will descend to judge upon those that wished to plunder.¡¯</em>

    That raised the question: When would he descend?

    However, only the Red Goblin that guarded the passageway between the two continents knew about Gorfido¡¯s existence.

    Gorfido would descend once and give judgment upon the pirates. A pirate judging other pirates was extremely strange to say, but Gorfido hated the fact that someone else took things from him. His judgment depended on how many people his opponents had killed and could go on for as long as 90 days. Also, as long as they were within Gorfido¡¯s grasp, they would continue to drop artifacts, gold and valuables, even if they did not die yet.

    <em>¡®However, this is something that only a few know, even those people like us that always sailed the seas.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®There¡¯s no way someone from another continent will know about this.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Hoho. If we take him to the Pirate¡¯s Grave and kill him then we¡¯ll be able to take away a lot from him, right?¡¯</em>

    The man was definitely their big catch. All three of them were greedy about the things that were in the man¡¯s inventory, especially the tinum that he received earlier! They would still be able to gain an enormous amount even if they would only be able to get half of that!

    ¡°Sukhoe, byeeeeee! See you next time!¡± The man waved his hand as he promised to see the Kraken King next time.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s really an idiot, huh?¡¯</em>

    That bright smile of his was definitely a sign that he was a pushover! The three snickered as they approached him.

    ¡°We want to pass by the ¡®Pirate¡¯s Treasure Ind¡¯ before going tond. Want to join us?¡±

    ¡°Pirate¡¯s Treasure Ind?¡±

    ¡°Yes. There¡¯s an event that¡¯s held once a month in the Pirate¡¯s Treasure Ind where your EXP acquisition rate and item drop rate increases by five times. On top of that, getting an amazing artifact is a sure win if you can kill the Pirate Leader boss mob. That¡¯s today, would you like toe with us?¡±

    ¡°Oooooooh. There¡¯s something good like that here?¡±

    The three lied with a straight face.

    And Minhyuk, who was nodding fiercely, smirked when they turned away from him.

    ***

    A huge warship threaded through the rough waters.

    <em>Grrrrrrrrrrr! Bang! Bang!</em>

    Suddenly, the skies darkened as a violent thunderstorm roared and poured down. The skies were so dark that anyone would doubt if someone told them that it was the middle of the day.

    ¡°This is how much the climate changes on the way to the Pirate¡¯s Treasure Ind. But once you ovee this rough patch at sea, you will be able to get amazing treasures. You know?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s this old saying from our country: April showers bring May flowers,¡± Minhyuk said with a smile as their trembling ship finally reached an ind. Once they reached the ind, the waters turned calm, and only the dark skies and the falling rain remained.

    When the warship stopped, Nana said, ¡°Get off.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going first?¡± Minhyuk wavered.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s¡­ doubting us? Well, that¡¯s understandable.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®No other choice. We¡¯ll have to get off first. Anyway, we¡¯ll get off to hunt him too.¡¯</em>

    They thought that Minhyuk¡¯s ss was a ¡®tamer¡¯ and believed that they could finish him off quickly as long as they moved fast. Nana first anchored the ship to the ind and brought down the bridge so they could go down to the Pirate¡¯s Grave. Then, Taichi and Baroch went down as Minhyuk slowly threaded down the bridge.

    The three smiled at Minhyuk and said, ¡°Be careful.¡±

    But, what they were saying outside was different from what they were thinking.

    <em>¡®Come, you moron.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Will this be the first time someone has PKed a Korean yer here? Wow, a global PK.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®From what I heard, Korean yers would be sent back to their continent once they are forced to log out. How pathetic.¡¯</em>

    They were grinning widely just by thinking about what was about to unfold. But at that moment, Minhyuk, who wasing down the bridge, suddenly stopped.

    ¡°But you know, there¡¯s something really strange here.¡±

    ¡°Something strange?¡±

    They tilted their heads in confusion when they saw him stop his descent.

    ¡°Yes. First, why are there only three people on such a huge warship? It¡¯s as if the ship has been plundered,¡± Minhyuk said, raising one finger up. Then, he raised another finger.

    ¡°Second. Your navy uniforms don¡¯t fit. Especially yours. It looks like you took it away from someone.¡±

    Then, Minhyuk looked back at the warship, before raising the third finger, and said, ¡°Third. ording to Red Goblin, the ind where the climate changes drastically is not called the Pirate¡¯s Treasure Ind, but the ¡®Pirate¡¯s Grave¡¯.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Their faces turned ugly as they watched Minhyuk turn around. Then, Minhyuk used his skill ¡®Like the Wind¡¯ and went back to the warship in one go. Along with that¡­

    <em>Bang¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk pulled out his sword from his inventory and immediately swung it down on the bridge.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk smiled as the bridge that connected the ship and the ind broke down.

    ¡°And because of that, you guys, who tried to hit me in the back, will be given the same treatment that you want to do to me.¡±

    ¡°Hi, hiiiiiiik¡­!¡±

    ¡°Do you think you can run away, huh?!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s bullshit.¡±

    They thought that the man was foolish enough to think that they would not be able to get on the warship just because he had broken the bridge connecting to it.

    To their dismay, Minhyuk justughed viciously and said, ¡°But you know, today¡¯s the day when the most threatening existence in the Japanese Server, the oneparable to demons, appears. Today¡¯s the day that Great Pirate Gorfido will descend.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    They immediately turned around after hearing his words and seeing Minhyuk jerk his chin forward as if he was pointing behind them. There, they saw a skeleton with glittering and sparkling bones like that of a Death Knight. On his head was a ck hatmonly worn by pirates and a ragged ck pirate robe on his body.

    <em>[Great Pirate Gorfido has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[Gorfido¡¯s Wrath!]</em>

    <em>[Gorfido¡¯s Wrath will increase in power against those with a higher kill count.]</em>

    <em>[Gorfido¡¯s power has bound you for five straight seconds.]</em>

    Before getting their bodies bound, they were able to turn around to see Minhyuk¡¯s smiling face.

    ¡°Gorfido will now constantly strip you of your artifacts, gold, and valuables. And those things that were stolen from you, I¡¯ll make sure to take good care of them. Ah, by the way, I¡¯m sure you know this, but Gorfido will definitely lock you up on this ind for at least 90 days. Heh,¡± Minhyuk smiled as he spoke, but his voice was filled with frost.

    Then, he uttered the Japanese word that the ten-year-olds back home would often say when they were in a good mood, ¡°Ki~ Mo~ Chi!¡±

 Chapter 464: Great Pirate Gorfido

    Chapter 464: Great Pirate Gorfido

    Nana and the rest of the three pirates immediately flushed red. The three of them were hailed as the ¡®Pirates of Despair¡¯ in the seas of the Japanese Server. Baroch, with his special skills, was able to sink pirate ships carrying hundreds of people and warships with powerful NPCs deep into the abyss of the sea. But now¡­

    <em>¡®We¡¯re being plundered?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®The pirates are being robbed at sea?¡±</em>

    <em>¡®What the hell¡­?¡¯</em>

    ¡­they were facing the biggest disgrace in their entire career. In fact, some said that even Japan¡¯s member of the Summit Five, ¡®Kentaro¡¯, would not be able to do anything against them if they were at sea.

    But a mere Korean yer dared to do something like this to them?

    ¡°Ah, that¡¯s right. Thanks for this warship. It¡¯s all thanks to you that I will be able to get tondfortably. And there¡¯s even plenty of food onboard,¡± Minhyuk said, grinning widely.

    <em>Grit, grit, grit¡ª</em>

    Baroch gritted his teeth. There were only two seconds left from the five seconds stun. However, looming behind them was Great Pirate Gorfido. Great Pirate Gorfido was the absolute and supreme pirate that once roamed the seas of the entire continent. His level was a testament to this fact!

    <em>[Gorfido. Level 779.]</em>

    Strangely enough, even though Gorfido was only made of bones, there was still a patch of whitebeard hanging on his skull.

    ¡°Did you just¡­ try to plunder someone else¡­ in my sea¡­¡±

    He had a rusty sword in one hand and a rusty chain in the other. Anyone that got tied up by Gorfido¡¯s chains would be locked up in the ind for 90 days and have their possessions and gold drop continuously.

    <em>¡®If it¡¯s 90 days then¡­ we¡¯ll¡­ definitely lose hope¡­¡¯</em>

    More rankers woulde up and rece them if they got locked up for 90 days.

    <em>Will the famous Pirates of Despair face their end here?!</em>

    No. They had a way to stop that from happening. All they needed to do was to take that warship back. But Gorfido was already running straight towards them just as their stunned state was released.

    ¡°I¡¯m¡­ the only one¡­ who can¡­ plunder¡­!¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Nana, who had the fastest pair of feet among them, nced at Gorfido as she kicked the ground.

    ¡°Hang in there! I¡¯ll save you!¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t have much time. We have to take back the warship quickly!¡±

    Pirate Baroch and the number one samurai Taichi quickly turned around to block Gorfido. Meanwhile, Nana, who flew up to the skies¡­

    ¡°You impudent bastard!!!¡±

    What did they assume was the man¡¯s ss? It was none other than tamer, a very special tamer at that too.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s clear that he¡¯s just a temporary tamer.¡¯</em>

    What did Nana mean when she said temporary tamer? She was talking about a yer that could only tame and work with monsters for a single day. Ordinary tamers would tame and work with monsters until their death. However, for temporary tamers, they were giving up this advantage to tame a monster just for a single day. The proof that they needed was the ¡®Kraken King¡¯.

    <em>¡®No one would be crazy enough to leave behind the Kraken King after taming them. He can do that because he only tamed it for a single day!¡¯</em>

    Nana jumped up swiftly! Although she was good at making poisons, no one should forget that she was originally an assassin. One leap and she was already on the deck where Minhyuk was standing. Then, she saw Minhyuk try to move the sword that he used to break the bridge.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m faster! How dare a tamer like you¡­!¡¯</em>

    She wanted to stab his vital points and throw him out to the Pirate¡¯s Grave in one go. And after rescuing the others, she would turn this man into Gorfido¡¯s prey! Nana flew up and triggered her skill, ¡°Critical Plunder!¡±

    If this attack sessfully stabbed a vital point, her attack would be explosive, with an attack speed that would instantly rise by four times and deal an additional 500% damage. Nana moved at the speed of light. But just when she was about to touch the man in front of her, a ck force erupted from the man¡¯s sword. It was so fast that Nana¡¯s chest had already been shed before her weapon could reach the man¡¯s neck. Then¡­

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª</em>

    Five consecutive explosions burst out and engulfed Nana, as a zing me shot out from the man¡¯s sword.

    ¡°Kyaaaaack!¡± Nana screamed as her body flew back. She was inplete disbelief despite the fact that she was sent flying back from the impact of her enemy¡¯s blow.

    <em>¡®What, what the hell¡­?¡¯</em>

    She truly could not believe it. One, each time the explosion mmed into her body, her HP would be reduced by 15%. Although assassins were known to be critical dealers with low defensive power and HP, as a ranker among rankers, Nana could easily surpass this stereotype. However, the damage was so powerful that she could not withstand it. And what was worse¡­

    <em>¡®How can a tamer¡­¡¯</em>

    What kind of unbelievably ridiculous power was that?! Just five consecutive hits and her HP had dropped by as much as 60%.

    <em>[You have received a strong impact!]</em>

    <em>[The bones in your body have been broken from the strong impact. Your movements will be severely restricted.]</em>

    ¡°What, What the hell¡­¡± Nana uttered in disbelief as her body finallynded. How many yers in Korea could deal damage like that? There were some people that came to mind, but she shook her head at the thought.

    <em>¡®I haven¡¯t seen anyonend five consecutive explosions like that though¡­¡¯</em>

    However, unbeknownst to her, there was a secret to this attack. And this secrety in Verus¡¯ Mask.

    <em>¡®Crazy¡­ Verus¡¯ Mask ispletely out of this world, huh?¡¯ </em>Minhyuk rejoiced. He was already aware of the abilities in Verus¡¯ Mask before he wore it, but now that he was experiencing it first-hand, he could not help but think that this waspletely ridiculous.

    ording to the ¡®Demon¡¯s Face¡¯ skill attached to Verus¡¯ Mask, he could change his face to the face of any of the humans that Verus had encountered before. To be exact, this was the details of the skill:

    <em>(<strong>Demon¡¯s Face</strong>)</em>

    <em>Active Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Required Mana</strong>: 3,000</em>

    <em><strong>Cooldown</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?You can change your face into the face of any of the humans that Great Demon Verus had met in middle earth. However, your height, weight, gender and other bodily features would not change.</em>

    <em>?In order topletely hide his identity, Great Demon Verus hid his power by copying the power of the human that he had met. You will be able to hide your power as long as you are wearing the mask.</em>

    <em>?The Demon¡¯s Face has a simr effect on your skills. You will be able to use the full extent of your skills but they would appear different to others. Aspensation, the amount of mana required to trigger your skills will increase by 1.5x. </em>

    It was literally the best skill to hide one¡¯s identity. The effects of the skills that he used would remain the same, but it would appearpletely different to others. As for the power that hit Nana just now, it was Lightning: Destruction. It was the mark engraved on the ¡®Continent Destroyer Sword¡¯ that would trigger the passive skill, attacking the enemies with continuous lightning strikes if sessfully triggered.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaack!¡±

    Just then, Nana, who fell back on the ind, heard an extremely familiar scream. When she turned around, she saw a rusty sword piercing through Pirate Baroch¡¯s chest. The sword was none other than Gorfido¡¯s sword.

    <em>¡®He couldn¡¯t evenst a minute¡­? That Baroch¡­?¡¯</em>

    When she turned to look at the other side, she saw that Taichi was already on the ground and twitching helplessly. Gorfido¡¯s chains, which moved as if it had a will of its own, wrapped around Taichi¡¯s ankle and dragged him to prison. Baroch fell down the moment Gorfido pulled his sword out. Then¡­

    <em>ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    ¡­as if a monster had been killed, various items fell from Baroch.

    ¡°Ugh¡­ Uwaaaaaa¡­¡±

    For him, it must have felt like his own blood and life were pouring out of him. The rare and valuable items that he had looted and plundered started to drop. Tens of tinum even started to drop from Baroch! It would keep on dropping like that.

    That was when Nana realized, <em>¡®If we lose everything important here, incur a huge death penalty, and even get trapped here for 90 straight days then¡­¡¯</em>

    The three Pirates of Despair would definitely face their end. The other pirates would most definitely surpass them. And not only that, they would always aim to ughter them and in the end, they would be forced to stop ying the game.

    ¡°How, how in the world did you know that Gorfido would appear today?¡± Nana asked in a daze.

    Minhyuk, who was standing on the deck of the warship and looking down at them, answered, ¡°Who knows.¡±

    He did not have any reason to answer them. These people had grown stronger by plundering and enjoying the look of despair on the yers and NPCs that they killed. In fact, Minhyuk could tell who they were at first nce. After all, he had heard about their notoriety. They were vicious yers that toyed around with lives, and killed not only yers, but also NPCs alike. For people like them, he would not show any mercy.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    A rusty sword pierced through Nana¡¯s back. Then, chains wrapped around her ankles and dragged her and the other two along.

    <em>[Pirate Gorfido has locked you up in the ¡®Pirate¡¯s Prison¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[Gorfido used Pirate¡¯s Prison to trap his fellow pirates that coveted his things.]</em>

    <em>[Gorfido has started his judgment.]</em>

    <em>[You have been given the maximum sentence. You will be in prison for 90 days.]</em>

    The three pirates¡¯ bodies were wrapped tightly in the chain as it dragged them into prison. And just like a ghost, their echoing voices slowly disappeared as the prison locked itself up.

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll stop by again before going back to Asgan Continent.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had already heard about Gorfido and what he was like from Red Goblin. He was the supreme and most feared existence in the seas. And from what he heard, it would be possible for him to fight against demons in a 1:1 confrontation as long as they were at sea. He did not want to deal with something like that.

    But just when he was about to turn the warship around, the hollow area where Gorfido¡¯s eyes were supposed to be suddenly shed a bright and dangerous red light.

    <em>[Gorfido¡¯s eyes have pierced through you.]</em>

    <em>[You won¡¯t be able to nullify Gorfido¡¯s eyes.]</em>

    <em>[You won¡¯t be able to withstand this power.]</em>

    <em>[Gorfido¡¯s force is pressing down on you.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s face turned ugly.

    Not long after, Gorfido opened his mouth, ¡°This is strange. I can smell the demons¡¯ smell on you but I can also smell the scent of the Athenae Religion. You also have the scent of the Asgan Continent¡¯s Ruler of the Sea, the Dragon King, and also the king of this very same sea, the Kraken. You also stink of elf¡­ and humans that are always on their knees¡­¡±

    Gorfido¡¯s red eyes shed as Minhyuk¡¯s breath started to stagnate.

    ***

    Beanie was given the exclusive task of taking care of Luna. Right now, he was leaning against the wall with his arms folded on his chest as he watched Luna sleeping. His puffed out cheeks and protruding belly were slightly more puffed out than usual! This was because Beanie was disying an extremely annoyed expression on his face.

    ¡°Oiiiiink¡­ oink, oink, oink!¡± <em>A high ranking person like me¡­ no, a high ranking and top quality pig like me is being tasked to take care of a baby? I hate you, Minhyuk! Oink!</em>

    Beanie was annoyed and irritated at Minhyuk. Why did he leave him behind to go out adventuring in another continent? But that was not the worst part. The worst part was that Minhyuk left him here to teach this tiny dragon in front of him. What would he even teach this dragon?

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    While Beanie was brooding on his anger and irritation, Luna, who was rolling around on the bed, finally fell down on the ground and opened her eyes blearily. The extremely tiny, mini dragon Luna crawled back up the bed and stared at Beanie!

    ¡°Kihyeeeeee~¡±

    Luna, with her big eyes that covered half of her face, came right in front of the annoyed Beanie, before rolling around and showing her belly to him.

    ¡°Oiiiiink!¡± <em>You¡¯re really troublesome and annoying! Oink!</em>

    But, even though he said that, Beanie quicklyid out the nket on the ce where Luna was rolling around earlier and patted it to signal for her toe back to bed.

    ¡°Oink, oink, oink!¡± <em>It¡¯s because the cold, hard floor will hurt your back. It¡¯s definitely not because you¡¯re pretty or anything! Oink!</em>

    That was what Beanie thought¡­

    <em>Poke¡ª</em>

    ¡­as he pressed down on Luna¡¯s soft cheeks. Beanie¡¯s pink snout fluttered rapidly at the sensation.

    ¡°Oiiiiiiiink¡­ oink!¡± <em>Cu, cu¡­ no! She¡¯s not cute at all! Oink!</em>

    Beanie jerked his head again. And just like that, the night passed by and the light of dawn slowly started to break through the skies. In the entirety of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, Luna¡¯s bedroom was the best ce to view the rising sun. Which meant that Luna would always have the best view of the rising sun.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeee! Kihyeeeeeeee!¡± Luna cried in delight when she saw the rising sun. She even gestured with her soft paw at Beanie, as if she wanted to show Beanie this view.

    ¡°Oiiiiiink!¡± <em>Hmph</em><em>. So annoying! Oink!</em>

    Beanie thought, his expressioncking in interest.

    ¡°Oink. Oink, oink¡ª¡° <em>The sun goes up like that every morning. </em><em>Hmph</em><em>.</em>

    But Luna kept on pointing to the sun, as if she really wanted him to see it.

    ¡°Oiiiiiiiiiiiink?¡± <em>Do you want to see the sun up close? Oink?</em>

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeee!¡±

    Luna, as a descendant of the Dragon Lord, was very smart. She could already understand what the pig in front of her was saying. Seeing her agreeing to his words, Beaniezily packed her things in annoyance, acting as if he could not help it and had to follow the dragon¡¯s wishes.

    ¡°Oiiiink! Oink!¡± <em>Take this and that! Oink!</em>

    Then, he ced his shiny silver pot on top of Luna¡¯s head, before wrapping her up with a soft and warm nket. After he was done, Luna, with the silver pot on her head as a helmet for protection, and a body tightly wrapped with a soft nket, leaving only her head poking out, looked extremely cute and endearing. After that, Beanie carried Luna on his back and began to move.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeee!¡± Luna giggled. It seemed like she liked this set-up.

    ¡°Oiiiink! Oink, oink, oink!¡± <em>Be quiet! Or I¡¯ll throw you away. Oink!</em>

    The grumpy and annoyed Beanie was still as small as ever, in fact he was only as big as a fist, but he still carried the baby Luna on his back to go to the ce where they could see the sun the closest.

    The ce where they were going was the mountain that stood tall behind Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, Mount Ard. In the distant future, what Luna, the greatest dragon in the history of dragonkind, would write in her autobiography was¡­

    <em>[The baby piggy loved me and cherished me more than anybody else. It was thanks to him that I was able to be king and unite all of the dragons in the world. Most of the things that I know were things that I learned from him. He was my second father and the one that enlightened me the most.]</em>

    ¡ªThe Greatest Dragon Luna¡¯s Autobiography (Excerpt)

    As they climbed the mountain today, the story of the legendary dragon and her second father began to unfold.

    ***

    ¡°Keheoook!¡± Minhyuk gasped on the deck. He was only able to breathe once again only after Gorfido¡¯s red eyes shed and disappeared.

    <em>¡®Crazy¡­! Even at this distance¡­?!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk realized that Gorfido was far more fearsome and stronger than what he had initially thought.

    Then, Gorfido suddenly said something shocking, ¡°Perhaps¡­ you might be able to¡­ make my wishe true¡­¡±

    Minhyuk could already tell that Gorfido¡¯s words were the trigger for a very huge quest.

 Chapter 465: Great Pirate Gorfido

    Chapter 465: Great Pirate Gorfido

    Mount Ard was a mountain located behind the capital of what was originally Barras Kingdom. But due to its freezing temperatures eternally set to negative 20¡ã C, not many people came to visit the mountains.

    However, that was not the only deterrent to visitors. The mountain was also home to extremely strong snow monsters. Thankfully enough, these monsters did not descend and bothered those at the capital, that was why the people had ignored them. And right now¡­

    ¡°Oiiink. Oink, oink, oink!¡±

    A baby piggy, with the bundled up baby dragon Luna on his back, was climbing this very same Mount Ard.

    ¡°Kihyeee! Kihyeeee!¡±

    Luna was beyond pleased as they climbed this snowy mountain. The snowkes that fell down on the trees and the grass were sparkling and bright in her eyes. She also felt delighted when the falling snow touched her cheeks and melted on her skin. Luna was a red dragon so her body was naturally hot. Even her scales were thick enough to resist and withstand the cold. Although she was still a young hatchling with soft scales, the fact that she was a dragon would not change.

    ¡°Oiiiiiiink, oink!¡± <em>Is it really that good? So annoying, oink!</em>

    Beanie grumbled as he looked back at Luna. But whenever he saw her blink herrge eyes at him, all he could do was turn his head back.

    ¡°Oiiiiiink!¡± <em>What are you giggling at? Oink!</em>

    Even though he was grumbling, Beanie¡¯s mouth was curled up in a wide smile. It was so cold that even the snot that trickled from his fluttering pink snout had turned to ice. Beanie did not have any resistance against the cold, so he could definitely feel the full extent of the environment.

    But Beanie still continued to climb the mountain.

    <em>Slip¡ª</em>

    <em>ck, ck, ck¡ª</em>

    ¡°Oiiiink!¡±

    There were times when he would slip, but he would stand up and continue to climb again.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeee!¡±

    It was hard but Beanie was able to hear Luna¡¯s joyful and delightedughter in his ears. So, he thought that it was still worth it. In fact, this was the reason why Minhyuk chose Beanie as Luna¡¯s guardian. Beanie might be a pet that was sometimes grumpy, sometimes yful and teasing, but he was also the pet with the biggest heart out of them all.

    Also, he was someone that would do anything and everything to protect the person that he was tasked to protect. Minhyuk was confident that Luna would grow well under his care.

    Despite the snowstorm and his little body, Beanie kept on going. All he did was push Luna¡¯s head under the nket to protect her from the harsh wind and snow. The only thing that the two needed to do was climb up this ice cliff and they would arrive in that ce.

    <em>¡®Oiiiiiiiiink¡ª¡® It¡¯s a bit hard to climb but you¡¯ll be able to see the most beautiful sunrise in this ce. Oink!</em>

    Beanie wanted to show Luna that the sun that she was so used to seeing was just a small one.

    ¡°Oiiiiiiiink!!!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Kiheeeeeeeek!¡±

    ¡°Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!¡±

    Suddenly, dozens of snow monsters popped up and surrounded them. Even though Luna was riding on his back and was making it hard for him to fight in this cold weather, Beanie did not put her down. He might be the Supreme Divine Beast, but fighting in such conditions would definitely take a toll on his body.

    Still, he continued to fight. Looking at Beanie, Luna felt an unknown emotion gush through her and envelope her entire being.

    ¡°Oiiiiiiiiiiink!¡± <em>Don¡¯t touch Luna! Oink!</em>

    If Beanie thought that Luna would get hurt by the monsters¡¯ attacks, he would turn his body to receive the attack with his own body.

    <em>¡®Kiyeeeeeeee!¡¯ </em>Luna tilted her head in thought as notifications rang in Beanie¡¯s ears.

    <em>[Luna has be aware of the concept of ¡®sacrifice¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[It could be both painful and delightful to sacrifice for someone. She realized this new concept and grew further.]</em>

    <em>[All of Luna¡¯s stats increase by +10.]</em>

    <em>[Luna¡¯s father, Minhyuk, has acquired a +1 in STR and AGI as a reward.]</em>

    Beanie was all smiles when he heard this. ording to Minhyuk, Luna could be a ¡®disaster¡¯ or a ¡®hero¡¯ depending on who she would meet in the future and what she would learn from them. And Beanie truly wanted to lead this child on the right path.

    Just like that, the two of them continued on their way. After breaking through onest snowstorm, they finally arrived at the top of the ice cliff. And when they reached the peak¡­

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeee¡­¡±

    ¡­Beanie and Luna were met with the sight of the big sun rising to the skies. The light of the sun shone on both Beanie and Luna¡¯s faces.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeee!¡± Luna cried out, eyes widening in surprise. The sun was so big that she felt like she could reach out to touch it! Beanie was also looking at the sun with his arms crossed over his chest and Luna still on his back!

    His body had sustained countless cuts and injuries and he was bleeding all over during their climb. But Beanie was still smiling in satisfaction. Then, Beanie said, ¡°Oink, oink, oink, oink!¡± <em>Luna, you have to be a child that¡¯s like this rising sun. Just like the view that you¡¯re seeing now.</em>

    And with Beanie¡¯s words¡­

    <em>[You are leading Luna towards the right path.]</em>

    <em>[Luna dreams of bing a dragon that will be like the sun. The only sun that will shine upon the darkness.]</em>

    <em>[All of Luna¡¯s stats increase by +5.]</em>

    <em>[Luna¡¯s father, Minhyuk, has acquired a +1 in STR as a reward.]</em>

    Beanie smiled in delight. Then, he suddenly settled down on the summit and took something out. This was none other than ramyeon and c. Luna¡¯s eyes widened even further after tasting the food called ramyeon.

    <em>[Luna has be aware of the concept of ¡®delicious food¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[Luna has realized that she feels good after eating something delicious.]</em>

    <em>[All of Luna¡¯s stats increase by +3.]</em>

    <em>[Luna¡¯s father, Minhyuk, has acquired a +1 in STR as a reward.]</em>

    That morning, Beanie immediately went back to the summoning room after descending the mountains.

    ¡°Our dear Luna, are you sleeping well?¡±

    And Genie, who could never imagine what happened during the break of dawn, was shocked when she came into the room and saw Luna, with her tiny hatchling paws poised as if she was picking something up with a pair of chopsticks. Then, she made a gesture as if she was slurping something up.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeee!¡± She cried in delight as she made another gesture. This time she looked like she was picking up a bottle and pouring something in a ss. Then¡­

    ¡°<em>Glug, glug, glug, glug~</em>¡± Luna imitated the sound of c, just like when Beanie poured it down on the ss earlier, before making the gesture of gulping the ss down.

    ¡°Kihyaa!¡±

    She almost sounded like she was saying, <em>¡®</em><em>Kihyaa</em><em>! This is the best!¡¯</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    A vein popped up on Genie¡¯s neck as she roared, ¡°Beanieeeeeeee!!! What kind of strange things are you teaching Lunaaaaaaaaa?!!!¡±

    ***

    Great Pirate Gorfido was the one that upied not only the seas of the Japanese Server, but also the seas located in other servers. In fact, the archives about Gorfido had stated, <em>¡®Gorfido is the devil of the sea. Death would be inevitable once you meet him at sea.¡¯</em> They even described his active years hundreds of years ago.

    Gorfido looted, plundered, and killed, until he became the supreme and absolute existence at sea. But he, who was hailed as an eternal and absolute existence, also faced his death. After dying, Gorfido¡¯s soul wandered around. However, he never stopped looting the people at sea.

    Seeing this, one of the Absolute Gods meted out a punishment for Gorfido, who unfortunately, did not know that he was being punished and just continued to kill and plunder people as a ghost.

    Then, one day, he met an unusual girl. Gorfido killed everyone on their ship, but the girl that survived his ughter did not even beg for her life.

    <em>¡®Get lost! You¡¯re not even the least bit interesting.¡¯</em>

    For some strange reason, Gorfido did not kill the girl. But then, the girl said, <em>¡®I have nowhere else to go. In the first ce, I¡¯m an orphan. It doesn¡¯t matter even if these people died in front of me. I would not care no matter what. But tell me, where should I go?¡¯</em>

    Gorfido looked at the girl in disbelief when he heard her question. But strangely enough he said, <em>¡®If you want toe with me thene. But let me tell you this, I will cover the entirety of the seas in despair from this point on.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Alright.¡¯</em>

    The girl followed Gorfido even though he was a soul in a translucent state. Gorfido regarded the girl as some sort of mystery. ording to the girl, she was an orphan that was rescued by the navy after she got caught by the pirates. But then, the pirates attacked the navy that rescued her and she ended up in the hands of the pirates once again. After that, Gorfido ughtered everyone on the pirate ship that she was on. There was not even an ounce of fear or regret inside her body even after she watched the people around her die. After all, she had been thrown around like some sort of baggage.

    Just like that, she went around the world with him.

    <em>¡®Gorfido!!! Look at this! We got a lot of treasures this time around!!!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Crazy b*tch. Are you happy to see people dying?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Do you really have the right to say that to me, huh? Pirate bastard, who killed the said people?!¡¯</em>

    She was the one and only girl that did not fear Great Pirate Gorfido. She even talked down to him and smiled at him with her teeth showing.

    <em>¡®Don¡¯t you have some sort of dream that you want to chase in these four years? How long are you going to chase after me?!¡¯ </em>Gorfido asked her one day.

    <em>¡®What I want to do? I want to be a merchant. I¡¯m going to be a very rich merchant and buy all of the orphans in the world. I will make a world where they can live happily!¡¯</em>

    She was apletely unusual girl. She was not afraid of Gorfido and even liked the treasures that he plundered. She even wanted to create a world where orphans could live freely and happily with the treasures that she acquired.

    One day, Gorfido realized, <em>¡®¡­I want to protect her. I want to help her make her dreamse true.¡¯</em>

    For once, the great pirate who only knew how to plunder and loot, realized he had a new dream. He wanted to protect her and make her dreamse true, as long as his soul permitted it. And just like that, he continued to advance forward. They killed, looted and plundered. He advanced without stopping to make this girl¡¯s dreame true. This was because it would take a lot of money for them to gather all of the orphans in the world.

    <em>¡®If I cane back to life¡­ Can I be a good father?¡¯</em>

    Pirate Gorfido even entertained a dream that he never thought he should have. He was just a wandering soul, but whenever he saw the girl, he dreamt of bing her father. However, the girl never stopped following behind Gorfido.

    She stood on top of the ship¡¯s deck and waved at Gorfido, <em>¡®Gorfido!!! You ugly-*ss pirate!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Do you want to die, huh? You crazy b*tch? Huh?? Hahahahahaha!¡¯</em>

    The two went around the seas happily.

    <em>¡®Andrei. From now on, your name is Andrei.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Andrei? That¡¯s some!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®L,me?! It¡¯s a very pretty name, you know!?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Then, I¡¯ll take into ount your sincerity and be Andrei!¡¯</em>

    He even gave her the name Andrei. Gorfido felt happy. He finally knew another form of happiness that did not involve looting. Living the life of a pirate with her every day was bliss. Then, one day¡­

    <em>¡®Andrei?¡¯</em>

    Andrei disappeared from the ship. Gorfido searched for her all over the ship but she was nowhere to be found. He even searched all over the seas, but he could not find her. The strangest thing was that all traces of her had disappeared.

    <em>¡®Andrei! Andreiiiiiii!!!¡¯</em>

    Gorfido wandered the seas in search of Andrei. But he could not find her even after looking for ten, twenty years. He kept on trying to find her.

    <em>Blink¡ª</em>

    He suddenly woke up from his dream. In front of him was the ship that he looted from a very long time ago. And there was only one living being on the ship.

    <em>¡®Why am I here?¡¯</em>

    Gorfido could not understand. Why was he here? But the strangest thing was his appearance. This was what he looked like before he died! This was what he looked like when he was the Great Pirate Gorfido! Gorfido¡¯s eyes shook as he approached a girl from all of the people that he ughtered in the ship. The girl¡¯s face was extremely familiar.

    <em>¡®Sp, spare me¡­ I, I have a dream¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®A dream? Let¡¯s hear it.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I¡¯m, I¡¯m going to save all of the money that I can get my hands on to buy orphans. I want to create a world where all these orphans will be able to live freely and happily. That¡¯s why, please¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Keuhahahahahaha!¡¯ </em>Gorfidoughed at the surviving passenger before swinging his sword down.

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    <em>Roll¡ª</em>

    Her head fell on the ground in a sh. Her eyes, which did not even have the time to close, were filled with resentment.

    <em>¡®Your dream¡¯s wasted! Keuhahahahaha!¡¯</em>

    Slowly, Andrei copsed. That was right.

    As it turned out, the life he led with Andrei was an illusion that the Absolute God created. The reality was, Andrei was a girl that lost her life to Gorfido a long time ago. The very same Andrei that Gorfido cherished as his daughter and promised to do everything for.

    And the one that killed her andughed at her dreams was ¡®Gorfido¡¯ himself.

    <em>¡®Keuaaaaaaaaaaack! Sob, sob, sob, sob, sob! Keuaaaaaaa! Andrei¡­ Andreiiii! Uwaaaaaa!¡¯</em>

    Gorfido, who realized the truth that fateful day, was left inplete despair, frustration, and hopelessness.

 Chapter 466: Great Pirate Gorfido

    Chapter 466: Great Pirate Gorfido

    Minhyuk was still able to hear Gorfido¡¯s story despite standing on the deck of a ship that had already sailed far away from the ind. It was a story about Andrei, the only girl that the great pirate loved and cherished, and Gorfido, the great pirate that killed that very same girl with his own hands.

    ¡°Now, I know. I have realized what kind of existence I was,¡± If he could shed tears, Gorfido¡¯s hollow eyes would definitely shed tears. Then, Gorfido looked down at his hands as he continued to speak, ¡°There are only two more years left before I disappear from this world¡­ I¡¯m asking you for a favor, please drive out all of the pirates from the seas.¡±

    Then, a quest window popped up in front of Minhyuk.

    <em>[<strong>Hidden Quest</strong>: Gorfido¡¯s Wish.]</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: SSS</em>

    <em><strong>Requirement</strong>: The One Chosen by Gorfido</em>

    <em><strong>Rewards</strong>: You can choose among four rewards.</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty for Failure</strong>: You won¡¯t be able to sail the seas.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: Gorfido has realized how hollow and vain his life and dreams were. Now, Gorfido only hopes that there will be no more pirates who will take someone else''s life and possession. If you ept this request, you can ask your colleagues to help you wipe out all of the pirates.</em>

    After seeing the quest window, Minhyuk turned to look at Gorfido. He had four choices for a reward and these rewards had popped in front of him.

    ***

    The Japanese Branch¡¯s Special yers Management Team¡¯s new employee Ryota suddenly shouted, ¡°Team, Team Leader!!! The quest to eradicate all pirates has started!¡±

    ¡°What?!¡±

    The quest to eradicate the pirates, in other words, Gorfido¡¯s Wish, was a quest that a yer with the position of a ¡®Navy Captain¡¯ should originally receive. It was an episode quest that would y a huge role in the Japanese server and its future. If the pirates could kill the one that received the quest, then they would be able to take away the treasures in the ¡®Pirate¡¯s Grave¡¯. And the same was true for the one that received the quest, if he could kill the pirates then he would be able to take away those treasures.

    However, the person that received this quest was a Korean. But the bigger problem was¡­

    ¡°We don¡¯t even know who he is?!¡± Team Leader Tadayoshi shouted as he grabbed his hair in frustration.

    Ryota, who did not know what to do, could only panic. This quest was something that should have taken ce a year and a halfter. But that was not their biggest problem. Their biggest problem was¡­

    <em>¡®The rewards.¡¯</em>

    It was the biggest and greatest reward in the entirety of the Japanese Server! There were a total of four rewards listed in the quest.

    The first was Gorfido¡¯s Gold Coins. Gorfido was someone that traveled the world to plunder and loot everyone that he had met. The value of the gold coins in his hands was beyond anyone¡¯s imagination.

    The second was Gorfido¡¯s Artifact. Great Pirate Gorfido was someone that wasparable to a Supreme NPC. What about the artifact of someone at that caliber? Of course it would be outstanding.

    The third was Gorfido¡¯s Slumbering Subordinate Pirates. Gorfido was an existence that had many outstanding subordinates that perfectly matched his name and title as the ¡®great pirate¡¯.

    And the fourth was the food that Gorfido had enjoyed in his lifetime. It was none other than wagyu. It was the best beef to grill and put wasabi on. This fourth reward was the most important out of them all.

    <em>¡®The fourth reward is a bit special.¡¯</em>

    The fourth reward being a dish was one of the reasons why it was special. This was because the more pirates the man hunted, the more power the cooking ingredient reward would umte. And there were a total of two things that it could umte, ¡®stats¡¯ and ¡®EXP¡¯. In other words, the more pirates he hunted, the more stats and EXP the wagyu could umte. This reward was like a double-edged sword.

    <em>¡®If the one that epted the quest could wipe out the pirates then his rewards will be better. On the contrary, if he failed to wipe them out then there would be no rewards.¡¯</em>

    Ryota and Tadayoshi recalled the words that the members of the Korean Branch told them.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s a Disaster ss yer.¡¯</em>

    Disaster. It was the highest rating for the special yers that they were monitoring. The two of them believed that it was very dangerous for the man to choose the fourth reward since they did not have an inkling as to how many he could kill and how much he could umte. Of course, there was also a chance that he would not be able to reach their expectations and not umte anything.

    ¡°Team Leader, he won¡¯t choose the dish, right?¡±

    ¡°Ye, yeah. Gorfido¡¯s artifacts and gold are far more valuable than that. Why would he even choose the dish, right? That wouldn¡¯t make sense.¡±

    Despite his words, Tadayoshi was still feeling anxious. Well, it was for another reason entirely, regardless, he was feeling anxious and fidgety. He thought, <em>¡®If he chooses the dish and he eradicates more than 50% of the pirates then¡­¡¯</em>

    From that point on, even the first, second and third rewards would also start to umte.

    <em>¡®No, that won¡¯t happen. Why would he choose a dish over artifacts and gold, right?¡¯</em>

    With those thoughts in mind, the two of them looked at the monitor. They looked at the artifact rewards window and the gold rewards window that were floating in front of the man. But something shocking happened.

    ¡°He did not even look at them¡­?¡± Ryota mumbled. The man did not even look at the quest rewards window that popped up in front of him. <em>¡®Gorfido¡¯s Blood-stained Sword¡¯ </em>was a legendary sword, no, it was even beyond that.

    ¡®<em>But the man did not even take a look at it?</em>¡¯

    Then, at that moment, the man¡¯s lips twisted in a vicious smile as he looked at Gorfido before speaking in a cold voice¡­

    <em>[You¡¯re aplete f*cking bastard, aren¡¯t you?]</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Ryota and Tadayoshi looked at the monitor in shock. Gorfido was literally a Named NPC. On top of that, he was offering an amazing quest with amazing rewards! This meant that his favor waspletely important.

    So, what did he mean by plete f*cking bastard¡¯?

    ¡°¡­What the hell?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t make heads or tails of what he¡¯s saying.¡±

    They had no choice but to wonder what the hell was going on in that yer¡¯s mind.

    ***

    ¡°You¡¯re aplete f*cking bastard, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°Wh¡­ what¡­?¡±

    Great Pirate Gorfido was flustered when he saw Minhyuk looking down at him from the deck with eyes that looked like he was looking down at ¡®trash¡¯.

    <em>¡®How dare¡­!¡¯</em>

    Many people would beg for mercy at the mere mention of his name. Even crying newborns would turn silent at the sight of him.

    But this man dared to say that to him?

    Minhyuk gathered a mouthful of saliva before spitting it out on the sea and going on a rant, ¡°You¡¯re sickening. You¡¯ve killed hundreds of thousands of people but now you¡¯re like <em>¡®Ah, I finally know my wrongs. I have to correct it immediately.¡¯</em> just like that? You want to do it because you want to put your heart to rest? But you want to do it through someone else¡¯s hands? Disgusting.¡±

    Gorfido felt his heart clench after hearing the man¡¯s words. It was because the man¡¯s words had hit every nail on the head.

    ¡°What a hypocrite! You thought I would go and tell you, <em>¡®Oh my, thank you very much Mister Gorfido!¡¯ </em>or something like that? Bullshit. Do it with your own hands! What? Do you have something to say against that? You don''t, right? Heh!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Gorfido was silent. He could not say anything because what the man said was true. That was right. Gorfido was hit by the modern man¡¯s most effective weapon, ¡®fact bomb¡¯, and he was left in a daze.

    ¡°You damn pirate head!¡±

    <em>¡®What, what pirate head¡­?¡¯</em>

    However, Gorfido could only tremble as he looked at Minhyuk from afar. He looked like some five-year old child that was being scolded by his parents.

    ¡°Do what you need to do, I don¡¯t care. This hyung will go away,¡± Minhyuk said as he turned his warship away without any hesitation.

    Gorfido felt his heart clench tighter as he watched the man leave without turning back. He murmured, ¡°I also want to do it with my own hands if I can, but I don¡¯t have much time left¡­¡±

    Besides, Gorfido could not leave the Pirate¡¯s Grave. But at that moment, he realized, <em>¡®I¡¯m being punished by the heavens, but to think I was going to use someone else¡¯s hands to wipe out pirates?¡¯</em>

    The man¡¯s words earlier made himugh. He did not hate the man¡¯s words at all. Rather than hating¡­

    <em>¡®Thank you. Thank you for helping me achieve enlightenment before I truly disappear. It¡¯s a bit shocking to be called a pirate head though¡­¡¯</em>

    Just when he was watching the departing warship¡­

    <em>[The Absolute God is going to give you one final chance.]</em>

    <em>¡®¡­A final chance?¡¯ </em>Gorfido wondered as he continued to look at the departing ship. But then, more shocking notifications rang in Gorfido¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You gained enlightenment from the man¡¯s words after he turned down your offer.]</em>

    <em>[The system hidden by the Absolute God that punished you will offer a secret quest to the man that rejected your offer.]</em>

    <em>[If the man epts and clears the quest, you will have a chance to get reborn.]</em>

    <em>[You might be able to repent with this opportunity.]</em>

    <em>¡®Repent¡­ and be reborn¡­?¡¯ </em>Gorfido looked at the notifications in a daze as this thought shed in his head.

    ***

    After turning his ship around, Minhyuk started sailing once again. He did not forget his main purpose ining here.

    <em>¡®I have to get my hands on the Eternal mes.¡¯</em>

    His main purpose ining to the Japanese Server was to produce his cooking trailer. Besides, if he epted Gorfido¡¯s quest then he would deviate from his own ¡®moralpass¡¯ and go beyond the moral line that he had set.

    Among these pirates and PK criminals were yers and people that lived here. How could he ughter them with no rhyme or reason, just so he could get some rewards that he might not even be interested in? He did not feel like doing so.

    <em>¡®Besides, if you really regret it then you have to do something about it by yourself.¡¯</em>

    That was right. Of course but¡­

    <em>¡®Why did I even do that?!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk, who turned around, could not help but regret his own choice, even if it was right. After all, there was that fourth andst reward there. Wagyu. He would ce that glistening red beef on top of the grill for ten seconds and¡­

    <em>Sizzle¡ª</em>

    ¡­quickly flipping it over before grilling it for another seven seconds. Then, what would happen if he ced a dollop of wasabi on top of this juicy beef and ced it inside the mouth?

    <em>¡®Kghhk!¡¯</em>

    There would definitely be a burst of exmation!

    <em>¡®Should I turn back?¡¯ </em>Minhyuk quickly shook his head when the thought of turning the ship around once again shed in his head.

    <em>¡®No. He should do it himself.¡¯</em>

    Gorfido had to realize what he had done,e to terms with his regret, and suffer from its consequences. That was the price that he had to bear.

    <em>¡®It seems like I¡¯ve also changed a lot.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk still liked to eat more than anyone else, but he had started to distinguish between public and private matters. However, it would still not take the fact that he was having a lot of regrets in regards to these decisions. Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>[To you, who has enlightened Gorfido, the Absolute God is offering the <strong>Secret Quest</strong>: Gorfido¡¯s Wish.]</em>

    <em>[There will be rewards added to the list of rewards in Gorfido¡¯s Wish.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk immediately opened the quest window to check and immediately saw the additional rewards.

    <em>[If you eradicate 80% of the pirates, you will be able to bring Gorfido back to life.]</em>

    <em>[The reborn Great Pirate Gorfido will be much weaker than in the past.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk was shocked.

    <em>¡®Gorfido can be my vassal?¡¯</em>

    That was the one and only Great Pirate Gorfido. ording to the notifications he would not be as strong as he was now. But he had ¡®experience¡¯ and ¡®skill¡¯. Even if his power was reduced, he would still be as strong as Minhyuk¡¯s vassals.

    <em>¡®And I just talked about my own moralpass and moral line.¡¯</em>

    He was in a situation where he had to decide by himself. However, he did not want to be the one to make a move against the pirates and wipe them out. In the end, he still decided to reject the request.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang! </em>

    But before he could do so, explosions suddenly burst out around his warship. Minhyuk quickly turned around, only to see two ships firing cannon balls at him from across the sea.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s expression turned ugly when he saw the cannon balls flying straight towards his ship. Finally, the huge impact from the attack broke a part of the ship and forced it to tilt strongly to one side.

    ¡°¡­Hey, now. Why are you presenting yourself to me? Are you really asking me to kill you?¡± Minhyuk said, a bitter smile gracing his lips. The ones that crossed his bottom line, they were the ones that made a move first. The warship started to sink. And along with that, the notifications rang.

    <em>[You have epted the Quest: Gorfido¡¯s Wish.]</em>

    <em>[You have chosen the fourth reward: Wagyu.]</em>

    ***

    Pirate Lundnu cackled at the sight of the sinking warship! Lundnu was akin to the Ever Seas¡¯ King. At the very least, in the seas of Ever, he was the absolute ruler. Whether it was the pirates, the yers, or the NPCs, all of them followed his orders. And the reason why he made a warship explode with his cannon balls was¡­

    <em>¡®How dare you trap my little brother in the Pirate¡¯s Grave?!¡¯</em>

    Lundnu¡¯s younger brother was none other than Pirate Baroch. And just now, the man on that warship had trapped Baroch inside the Pirate¡¯s Grave. As soon as he heard what happened to Baroch, he immediately summoned all of the pirates avable and led them out to sea and coolly made the warship explode into nothingness!

    ¡°Impudent Korean bastard!!!¡±

    <em>How dare you do that to the tyrant of the Ever Seas?</em>

    ¡°You¡¯repletely clueless about the dangers of the seas. It does not matter how strong you are, everything will be different in the sea. Also, you will need an artifact or potion to breathe underwater. And even if you have those artifacts or potions in question, maritime warfare ispletely different from what you are used to.¡±

    With the man¡¯s ship sunk deep under the sea, he would not have any chance, even if he survived the waters. The same was true for Japan¡¯s Summit Five, Kentaro. That was how cruel and treacherous the sea was. If a yer fell into the sea, theirbat power would immediately be halved.

    ¡°Keep on firing! Don¡¯t stop! Don¡¯t let his body resurface!!!¡±

    Under Lundnu¡¯smand, they continued to fire at the sinking warship. And finally, the warship sank in the seas. Lundnu smiled and turned around.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Even if he survived that bombing, the man would definitely swim up to the surface. However, no body surfaced. Just when Lundnu, who was convinced of the man¡¯s death, turned around¡­

    ¡°Ca, captain¡­! Over there¡­!¡±

    ¡°Heok?! What the hell is that?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Lundnu immediately turned around and was shocked to see hundreds of dolphins breaking through to the surface. And on top of the dolphin leading the pod, a man was riding on top of it. His presence among the hundreds of dolphins waspletely spectacr.

    This man was none other than Minhyuk.

 Chapter 467: Naval Warfare (Top)

    Chapter 467: Naval Warfare (Top)

    If Korea had Know-it-all Dictionary as their best BJ, then Japan had ¡®Mankai¡¯, well-known and loved by the Japanese for his varied content, funny way of speaking, excellent hosting skills, and his depth of knowledge. Right now, the ce where Mankai was located was none other than the ship of Ever Seas Pirate King and Captain, Pirate Lundnu.

    Lundnu¡¯s ss was ¡®Great Pirate¡¯s Descendant¡¯. That was why everything was already prepared for Lundnu when he became a pirate. Because of his special abilities and high level, Lundnu was recognized for his strength in the entirety of Japan. In fact, if one looked at the rankings, there was not much difference between him and Kentaro. This meant that he would be as powerful as Kentaro when at sea. Of course, this was only true if they were ¡®at sea¡¯, and it was also the main reason why he could not participate in Athenae: World War.

    Inside the Ever Seas, all pirates were under Lundnu¡¯smand. The reason for that was because they would receive a significant increase in the effect of their training if they trained under Lundnu. They can even learn various skills from him. But the most important part was the fact that they would be far more superior in a ¡®battle at sea¡¯. That was why all of the pirate guilds wanted to forge a rtionship with Lundnu and gain the help of the number one pirate guild in Japan, to the point that they would im that they were under hismand.

    Mankai came on board Lundnu¡¯s pirate ship after receiving a call from him. He recalled the words that Lundnu told him, <em>¡®Mankai. We have the opportunity to strike at and kill a Korean. From what I heard, he locked up the Three Pirates of Despair inside the Pirate¡¯s Grave.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®The Three Pirates of Despair?!¡¯</em>

    The trio that made up the Pirates of Despair were notorious around the Ever Seas. They were so vicious that no one could ignore their existence at all.

    ¡®<em>But the three of them had been locked up in the Pirate¡¯s Grave?!</em>¡¯

    Hearing this, Mankai immediately boarded Lundnu¡¯s ship. However, he was very disappointed to see the warship sinking easily under the bombardment of cannonballs from Lundnu¡¯s ship.

    <em>¡®It only took one round of bombing¡­¡¯</em>

    It only took a few hits from the cannonballs that theyunched and the warship immediately sank. However, Mankai was a professional. Despite the disappointing disy, he still shouted to the point that his veins popped up on his neck at his viewers, ¡°<em>Sugoi~! </em>The firepower of Lundnu¡¯s ¡®Gorfido¡¯s Pirate Ship¡¯ is truly superior to any other pirate ship in existence! The ship carrying a Korean man could not withstand its might and sank after only receiving a few hits!¡±

    Perhaps the man could not avoid being forced to log out after this bombing.

    <em>¡®Sigh. I should have gone to shoot Kentaro¡¯s Fitness Report.¡¯</em>

    Kentaro¡¯s Fitness Report was a broadcast that encouraged and showed people how to be strong. It was not in Athenae but in reality! And Kentaro¡¯s famous tagline was¡­ <em>¡®As long as you eat well, exercise diligently and sleep early, you will be strong!¡¯ </em>

    It was a very unique tagline! And this tagline had a deep meaning behind it! After all, most Athenae yers had irregr lifestyles. But by resetting their lifestyle and living a healthy and regr life, they could hone their bodies and sharpen their minds, and in turn, be stronger in Athenae too. Because of that, Kentaro¡¯s Fitness Report had amassed a massive and steady following and rating.

    Just when Mankai was about to wallow in self-pity, hundreds of dolphins began to surface around the sunken ship. The sight of hundreds of dolphins twinkling under the re of the sun was spectacr. And the shocking part?

    <em>¡®Aren¡¯t they the Diamond Dolphins?¡¯</em>

    Diamond Dolphins were a rare species of monster with skin that glittered like diamonds. They were known for their speed that far surpassed ordinary dolphins. And on the dolphin leading the pod¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡­stood a man.

    ¡°¡­Wow! Can you see this shocking and spectacr view in front of us?! The Korean yer is riding on top of a dolphin!!!¡±

    Diamond Dolphins were also known for their high intelligence and intense dislike for humans. So, howe?! Howe the man stood among them?! The pod of dolphins swam swiftly across the waters as Lundnu pulled his sword out and pointed in front while shouting, ¡°Fire! Fire at them!!!¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Dozens of cannons open fired at the Diamond Dolphins. However, shockingly enough, the Diamond Dolphins had already gone back underneath the water before the cannonballs could touch them. Even if the ships were lucky enough to hit them, the Diamond Dolphins¡¯ defenses, which were higher than a turtle dragon, could easily offset the damage.

    ¡°How did the Diamond Dolphins¡­¡± Lundnu mumbled in disbelief. Then, he saw¡­

    ¡°What, what the hell¡­¡±

    ¡­hundreds of underwater creatures breaking through the surface of the waters. There were mermaids and a mermaid warrior surrounding a gigantic Savage Halibut the size of a sailing boat. There were also thousands of monsters, like the swordfish with its sharp snout. All of these monsters floated and stared eerily at Lundnu¡¯s pirate ship.

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Lundnu felt his breath stagnate at the sight. In a blink, the pod of dolphins that rushed fiercely earlier had already disappeared, leaving behind an unknown yer hanging by a rope in Gorfido¡¯s Pirate Ship.

    ¡°Fireeeeeeeeeeee!!!¡±

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    Hundreds of arrows fired at the yer but¡­

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaack?!¡±

    ¡­instead of the man screaming, the ones that sent the arrows were the ones that screamed. This was because of Minhyuk''s passive skill ¡®Physical Damage Reflection¡¯ that was attached to his ¡®Monarch¡¯s Armor¡¯. On top of that, the Monarch¡¯s Armor was had an extremely high defense and a 300% evasion rate. In other words, most yers would have a hard time dealing damage to Minhyuk with just their basic attacks alone.

    ¡°What the hell is that bastard going to do with this ship?!¡±

    When this question rang, Minhyuk, who had been dangling on the rope, suddenly hacked at Gorfido¡¯s Pirate Ship with his sword.

    <em>Baaaaang! Baaaaaaang!</em>

    Lundnu looked at Minhyuk incredulously when he saw him hacking away at the ship. Gorfido¡¯s Pirate Ship was a ship that boasted high defenses! There would be no mark or scratch on Gorfido¡¯s Pirate Ship, even if it was fighting against hundreds of pirate ships. In fact, Lundnu considered Gorfido¡¯s Pirate Ship as his strongest and greatest force.

    <em>¡®Does he actually think he can do something to this ship?¡¯</em>

    An ordinary ship¡¯s cannonball could not even leave a scratch on this ship. But suddenly¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡­a shocking, huge explosion burst out the moment the man¡¯s sword made contact with Gorfido¡¯s Pirate Ship. The ship even shook fiercely.

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    <em>[Gorfido¡¯s Pirate Ship¡¯s durability has slightly decreased.]</em>

    Gorfido¡¯s Pirate Ship could not even be scratched by a cannonball, but a basic attack from the man¡¯s sword had damaged the ship and decreased its durability by a bit?! Lundnu immediately noticed their unusual situation.

    s, the man jumped again before settling down on top of one of the dolphins. Then, the pod of dolphins swam away as swiftly as they appeared.

    ¡°Chase, chase after him¡­!¡±

    Gorfido¡¯s Pirate Ship was three times faster than a regr ship. But¡­

    ¡°Heok?! The sea monsters are blocking the ship¡¯s route! We can¡¯t advance!¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t take control of the ship!!!¡±

    ¡°Advance!¡±

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    The sea monsters and underwater creatures sacrificed themselves to stop the ship! They stuck to the ship to push it backwards. However, as the pirate ship sped up, they ended up being swept away and allowing the ship to give chase. Thankfully, the monsters were able to slow down the ship which helped Minhyuk and the pod of dolphins to swim far away. Despite the ship¡¯s fast speed, they still missed their chance and let Minhyuk get away.

    <em>¡®Unbelievable. How can he damage this ship with just a basic attack¡­¡¯</em>

    Lundnu hadpletely realized that the situation was unusual.

    <em>[<strong>Party Chat</strong><strong>| Lundnu</strong>: Pirates! Gather!]</em>

    ***

    Minhyuk, who was riding on top of the rushing dolphin pod, also knew about Lundnu. He was the Japanese Server¡¯s Seas¡¯ Great Pirate! He also knew that he was on par with Kentaro in terms of power when at sea. And Gorfido¡¯s Pirate Ship, the ship that he assumed Lundnu was riding on, was the strongest pirate ship in existence. It has never been scratched let alone destroyed.

    <em>¡®It will be dangerous if I go head to head against that.¡¯</em>

    No matter how strong Minhyuk was, it would still be hard for him to handle more than a thousand people on Gorfido¡¯s Pirate Ship or whatever ship it was.

    <em>¡®I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s another ship but¡­¡¯</em>

    At first, Minhyuk was not sure if it was really Gorfido¡¯s Pirate Ship, but now, he was certain. After all, he approached them to swing his sword and test its defense. After learning that he only dealt some minor damage against it, he immediately retreated with the pod of dolphins.

    ¡°Kiiiiiiiiiiiiik!¡±

    ¡°Kieeeeeeeeek!¡±

    Minhyuk smiled bitterly as he looked at the dolphins that jumped around the blue sea.

    <em>¡®Thank you.¡¯</em>

    The only reason why the Diamond Dolphins helped him was because of Sukhoe. Sukhoe, the ruler of the sea, governed over all of life at sea. And since Minhyuk was friends with Sukhoe, the smart and clever creatures of the sea immediately recognized him and came to his help.

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll just have to lure them in one by one before destroying them.¡¯</em>

    But the truth was, it was something that was almost impossible to aplish alone.

    <em>¡®I need the help of my guild members and the Named NPCs.¡¯</em>

    Even if he was strong, Minhyuk knew that it was foolish to fight alone against a group of pirates at sea. After making this decision, Minhyuk immediately turned his guild chat on.

    <em>[<strong>Guild Master Minhyuk</strong>: This is Guild Master Minhyuk. I am now being attacked by Pirate Lundnu in the Japanese Server¡¯s Ever Seas. I request all Named NPCs and guild members that are free to join me.]</em>

    Minhyuk had already finished the deal with the Red Goblin about his friends and colleagues passing through the passageway.

    <em>¡®We need a strategy.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk pondered for a moment until¡­

    <em>¡®There¡¯s that, right?¡¯ </em>Minhyuk thought as a small smile curled at the corners of his mouth.

    ***

    The Japanese game broadcasting stations¡¯mentators have started their spiel.

    <em>[Right now, a lot of pirate ships have set sail.]</em>

    <em>[An estimate of the number of ships that have left the port numbered at 300. From what we can tell, we can expect more than 6,000 pirates.]</em>

    <em>[The Great Pirate¡¯s Descendant, Lundnu, has issued an order to gather all of the pirates around thirty minutes ago.]</em>

    <em>[As you can see, even the Red Skull Pirates have started to set sail.]</em>

    <em>[The ck Skull Pirates have also started to make their move.]</em>

    <em>[The pirates of the ck Skull Pirates and Red Skull Pirates are all rankers. From what I heard, each and every one of them are as powerful as a kingdom¡¯s NPC knight.]</em>

    <em>[They¡¯re a cut above the ordinary pirates. The ck Skull Pirates and Red Skull Pirates are famous for destroying an entire kingdom in an isted battle.]</em>

    The pirates were all setting sail to kill one yer alone! There were only two reasons why the effect would be this tremendous. One, Lundnu had used the ¡®Summoning Order¡¯. And two, it was because the pirates were having a party today. Unfortunately, their opponent had picked the wrong date to provoke them.

    Three hundred pirate ships set sail until they finally arrived and faced Lundnu, who was aboard Gorfido¡¯s Pirate Ship. Gorfido¡¯s Pirate Ship stood face to face against the 300 pirate ships, a scene that showed Lundnu¡¯s majesty and dignity.

    ¡°The bastard is still lurking around the Ever Seas. Kill him as soon as you find him! The one that is able to kill the bastard will receive great rewards!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    The pirates answered vigorously. Especially the captains of the Red and ck Skull Pirates, who were Lundnu¡¯s left and right hands. These two were yers that hadpleted their transfer to high ss. On top of that, their ability to operate and manage their ships were top notch.

    Everyone aboard these ships were among the best of the best. All 300 ships that appeared immediately started to roam the seas to search. There were only 300 ships right now, but they expected another 300 toeter.

    After giving his orders, Lundnu logged out for a while to have some lunch and wash up. Unbeknownst to all, he was a huge follower of Kentaro¡¯s Fitness Report! That was why he logged out in time for lunch! He was also someone that ate well, exercised diligently, and slept on time. He constantly received reports from the pirates in his mobile phone as he ate and washed up.

    <em>[<strong>Party Chat | Ruby</strong>: We have spotted the ¡®enemy¡¯ at Ever Seas¡¯ Northern Point. Thirty ships, including Ruby Pirates, are already in pursuit of the enemy.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Party Chat | Red Hawk</strong>: This is ck Skull¡¯s Red Hawk. Our third attack ship has already joined forces with the Ruby Pirates and are fiercely chasing after the ¡®enemy¡¯. We¡¯ll be able to catch up soon.]</em>

    The messages were sent around fifteen minutes ago. Lundnu, or Ichiro in reality, chuckled at the message, <em>¡®He¡¯s probably dead by now, right?¡¯ </em>Fifteen minutes had already passed since the message had been sent. On top of that, ck Skull Pirates¡¯ third attack ship had also joined the chase. Although the third attack ship was only one of the nine ships owned by the ck Skull Pirates, it was their third strongest ship. They were also rankers that wereparable to decent NPC knights.

    Ichiro kept on scrolling through his phone. From what he read, there were around forty ships chasing after the man. But just when he was about to type a reply to their location reports, a message suddenly popped out that made his eyes widen in shock.

    <em>[<strong>Party Chat | Ruby</strong>: We¡¯re sinking!!! Our ship¡¯s sinking!!! Ruby Pirates¡¯ Fifth Attack Ship is sinking!!!]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Party Chat | Beinen</strong>: Rukai Pirates Fourth Attack Ship, Sixth Defense Ship, Sixth Attack Ship and 7th Attack Ship are all sinking!]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Party Chat | Red Hawk</strong>: ck Skull Pirates¡¯ Third Attack Ship is sinking!!! All forty of the chasing ships are sinking!!! Everyone¡¯s sinking¡­!!!]</em>

    And the final message left by Red Hawk was¡­

    <em>[<strong>Party Chat | Red Hawk</strong>: All forty ships have been wiped out¡­!!!]</em>

    ¡°What, what the hell? How¡­?¡± Ichiro mumbled in shock.

 Chapter 468: Naval Warfare (Top)

    Chapter 468: Naval Warfare (Top)

    Let¡¯s Eat Sect¡¯s main territory was originally ¡®As¡¯. However, after absorbing the Barras Kingdom, the territory under them had expanded dramatically. They had also changed the name of the kingdom¡¯s capital from Lumasia to Valencia.

    And now, the Royal Court of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom that was located in Valencia was having a meeting. Haze, Minhyuk¡¯s appointed aide and the one in charge of managing the nation¡¯s finances, spoke coldly and seriously, ¡°If we continue at this rate, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would not be able tost for long. Even if we do our best, we can probablyst for half a year at most.¡±

    Genie spread out the tables and charts that Haze had given her. ording to her data, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s assets were being exhausted at a rapid pace. They might even face a severe food shortage if they continue at this rate.

    ¡°Several kingdoms have refused to have diplomatic ties with us. Barras Kingdom was originally a kingdom of production sses. But with His Majesty Minhyuk ascending the throne as the kingdom¡¯s new king, it¡¯s only right that we abandon the name Kingdom of Production sses.¡±

    That was right. When their kingdom was established, those that wanted to leave had left and those that wanted to stay had remained. It was inevitable. They could not wipe out those that rebelled but they also could not stop them from leaving.

    The tower masters of the Chef¡¯s Tower, the Fisherman¡¯s Tower, the Painter¡¯s Tower and all the other towers located in the Barras Kingdom had left immediately after the change of kingdoms. It could be said that only the skeleton of these towers were left.

    ¡°The core personnel of each tower, as well as plenty of their employees, have left. We also can¡¯t sell anything on hand since we¡¯re not interacting with other kingdoms.¡±

    Genie nodded. She could tell from Haze¡¯s words that Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had significantly fewer ¡®people¡¯ than their vast title of ¡®kingdom¡¯.

    ¡°We need both foreigners and new immigrants toe to ournd. Also, enough money to allow us to hold out longer.¡±

    After hearing Haze¡¯s words, Genie said, ¡°The most urgent task is to get more people to immigrate¡­ As we are now, our Beyond the Heavens Kingdom has no advantages to offer¡­¡±

    yers would choose a ¡®nation¡¯ or an ¡®empire¡¯ that was advantageous for them and their y style before they would migrate. That was only natural. Even with Minhyuk and Chairman Kang Minhoo¡¯s fame for their good deeds and virtues, no yer would choose to stay in a kingdom in a precarious state, that had no benefits or advantages that would actually work for them.

    ¡°We should probably start focusing on some sort of specialty. I think we also need to issue some quests. But, what we need the most are the tower masters, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes. There are too many empty tower master seats. Without someone sitting on those seats, the remaining people in the tower are also more inclined to leave. In fact, more are leaving right now as we speak.¡±

    ¡°Which tower master should we get as quickly as possible?¡±

    ¡°The first tower that we should fill is of course the Chef¡¯s Tower. His Majesty Minhyuk has the Food God ss, so it¡¯s only right for the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom to be a ¡®cooking kingdom¡¯,¡± Haze said, pausing for a moment to moisten her throat with some tea, before continuing, ¡°The second tower should be the ¡®Fisherman¡¯s Tower¡¯.¡±

    ¡°The Fisherman¡¯s Tower?¡± Genie asked, looking up at Haze in surprise. She wanted the Fisherman¡¯s Tower to be filled first and not the cksmith¡¯s Tower?

    ¡°Yes. It also came as a surprise to me, but the tower that collected the most taxes and brought the most immigrants to Barras Kingdom was the Fisherman¡¯s Tower.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the reason?¡±

    ¡°cksmithing is very famous in Allode Nation. Although a cksmith¡¯s Tower exists in the kingdom, the people prefer learning in Allode Nation since they can learn a lot from thempared to the tower here where they are only given limited quests and guidance.¡±

    Haze¡¯s words were true. Allode Nation was truly overflowing with excellent NPC cksmiths and yer cksmiths. Some even called the nation a cksmithing kingdom.

    ¡°On the contrary, the only choice for fishermen to learn fishing is to go to the ¡®Fisherman¡¯s Tower¡¯. The Fisherman¡¯s Tower¡¯s tower master was said to be a legendary fisherman with a free and wild spirit. From what I heard, he only needed to set sail with plenty of people to teach them his know-hows and he would be able to cash in a lot of money. Of course, such a nature allowed him to be loved and cherished by many. And because of that, many fishermen flocked to Barras Kingdom, which in turn allowed the kingdom to rake in a lot of profits. But when the tower master left, all of them left as they wanted to follow him immediately.¡±

    Genie tapped her finger on the table slowly.

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then we have to find a fisherman that can rece the Fisherman¡¯s Tower¡¯s Tower Master and¡­ he has to know about the seas more than anyone else and have more influence than that legendary fisherman¡­ They also have to be a bit more greedy so they can help increase our forces, an existence like that¡­¡± Then, Genieughed bitterly afterying out their requirements, ¡°There¡¯s no one like that, right?¡±

    ***

    He was, in fact, right here.

    ¡°Hello?¡±

    ¡°Heok! What the hell?! That shocked me!!!¡± Minhyuk shouted in surprise when the translucent ghost of Gorfido suddenly appeared beside him, who was standing on top of the dolphin. Gorfido was literally floating in the air right next to him.

    ¡°Why did you suddenly appear, you skullhead!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Even though he already heard it before, Gorfido could still not adapt to Minhyuk¡¯s words.

    <em>¡®A human who keeps on calling me skullhead¡­¡¯</em>

    How dare this human call him, the great pirate that could make a baby stop crying with his face, a skullhead?!!

    ¡°What are you looking at? Do you have anyints, you skullhead?!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Gorfido shut his mouth. He could tell that nothing would change even if he got angry at this point.

    <em>¡®This person is not interested in gold or silver. He¡¯s a very unusual man. He saw only the price I had to pay for my sin, instead of coveting my gold and silver,¡¯ </em>this thought kept Gorfido¡¯s mouth from opening. He knew that he would not be happy even if he tore apart the man in front of him.

    ¡°So, how and why did youe here?¡±

    Minhyuk had heard from the Red Goblin that Gorfido was trapped in the Pirate¡¯s Grave and that he could not escape from there, no matter what he did and no matter how translucent and more ghostly he became.

    ¡°I also don¡¯t know. I think it¡¯s you who knows about this and not me though?¡±

    Gorfido¡¯s words made Minhyuk recall the fact that the quest had been changed into a secret quest.

    <em>¡®Was Gorfido able to move around now because the quest has been changed into a Secret Quest?¡¯ </em>Minhyuk thought, believing that this was a possibility. Besides, Minhyuk had already epted that ¡®quest¡¯. After all, the pirates came to him asking for death. Would he still be a person if he let this opportunity pass by?

    ¡°Ah. You got hit by bird poop.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk rubbed his chin as he watched Gorfido tremble after one of the flying seagulls¡¯ poop dropped on him.

    <em>¡®The bastard¡¯s not even hit.¡¯</em>

    That was right. Gorfido was a ghost so the poop did not really hit him and just went through him. Still, Gorfido looked offended as he stared up at the sky while scratching his head, as if he was shooing away the poop.

    Then, Gorfido asked a question, ¡°I know that I¡¯ve asked you this favor and that it¡¯s an outrageously ridiculous favor, but will you be epting my request now?¡±

    Gorfido knew that it was very difficult to grant his wish. That was why the rewards were ridiculous too. In fact, for this quest¡­

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll p enthusiastically for you if you can even kill 5% of the pirates.¡¯</em>

    ¡­they were using % to calcte the progress. The quest would recognize and add 1% for hunting many pirates and would add more % the stronger the pirates that he hunted. Even if Minhyuk only hunted 5%, his results would already be enormous. No, perhaps¡­

    <em>¡®I think getting 1% will still be a bit hard.¡¯</em>

    When Gorfido appeared beside Minhyuk, he knew that he was connected to the man now. Gorfido told him where he was exactly and followed behind him. On their way, he saw countless pirates floating lifelessly at sea. The reason why Gorfido thought getting 1% was hard was because of the appearance of ¡®Gorfido¡¯s Pirate Ship¡¯.

    <em>¡®All of the pirates are now after you.¡¯</em>

    What would he do in this situation? Just when that question floated in Gorfido¡¯s head. Minhyuk, who stood on the dolphin¡¯s back, continued to move.

    ¡°Do you know where you¡¯re going right now?¡± Gorfido said, his face turning ugly after seeing the sea boundary that they were fast approaching.

    ¡°Who knows,¡± Minyuk said with a grin.

    Seeing this, Gorfido decided to opt out from giving any advice to where Minhyuk was headed. He thought, <em>¡®I don¡¯t know if he¡¯s going there unknowingly or not.¡¯</em>

    It was something that Gorfido truly could not figure out. This was because the ce where Minhyuk was headed to was the ¡®Sunset Sea¡¯. And in that ce, the seas¡¯ shocking power, which had been handed down a long time ago, was hidden.

    Minhyuk bowed his head to check the time before using Gryphon¡¯s cry.

    ¡°Bbiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!¡±

    Gryphon¡¯s Cry was Minhyuk¡¯s skill that was used to draw the aggro of the monsters in his vicinity. However, with his increase in strength, the radius that it could cover had already extended even further. And with that cry¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡­several pirate ships arrived swiftly. The ship at the forefront was the Ruby Pirates¡¯ pirate ships. Then, the pirate ships began to open fire.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go, dolphins!!!¡±

    <em>aaaaash¡ª</em>

    The dolphins swam swiftly away from the iing cannonballs.

    ***

    After hearing a burst of sound from somewhere, Ruby, the leader of the Ruby Pirates, immediately made her ship advance at full speed. As they moved swiftly forward, she finally caught sight of the Korean yer riding on top of a dolphin and its pod.

    ¡°After them!!! Fire!!!¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Dozens of cannonballs and hundreds of arrows were fired towards the man.

    <em>Booooooooom¡ª</em>

    Pirs of seawater bloomed from the sea as the mage pirates on board used Explosion.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    But the man just stood on top of the dolphin in a rxed manner, as man and beast maneuvered skillfully and swiftly away from the pirates. And when they heard the explosions, the other pirate ships also began to gather where the Ruby Pirates were.

    Ruby quickly sent in a report.

    <em>[<strong>Party Chat | Ruby</strong>: We have spotted the ¡®enemy¡¯ at Ever Seas¡¯ Northern Point. Thirty ships, including Ruby Pirates, are already in pursuit of the enemy.]</em>

    Around thirty three ships gave chase to a pod of dolphins at full speed! But no matter how they tried, Minhyuk remained a distance away in front of them.

    ¡°Fire! Why can¡¯t you hit one man?!¡±

    ¡°Go around him!!! Block his path!!!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the ck Skull Pirates¡¯ Third Attack Ship!!! The Third Attack Ship has arrived!!!¡±

    The appearance of the ck Skull Pirates¡¯ Third Attack Ship meant that their captain ¡®Red Hawk¡¯ had also arrived. Red Hawk was a murderer at sea that wielded a red sword and controlled blood.

    ¡°The Third Attack Ship led by me, Red Hawk, will take a detour and block the path. The other ships should nk the left and right sides while the Ruby Pirates charge forward!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    Everyone responded to Red Hawk¡¯s order as they went into position.

    <em>¡®How dare you think of running away from us, the hunters of the sea?¡¯ </em>Red Hawk thought, as he grinned with a vicious expression. Then, he saw where the man was headed to.

    ¡°¡­Sunset Sea?¡±

    Red Hawk looked at the man in doubt. Did he know about the Sunset Sea? The only ones that knew about the Sunset Sea were Pirate Lundnu, him, and the captains of the First and Second Attack Ships.

    <em>¡®No. There¡¯s now way that a Korean yer would know.¡¯</em>

    ¡°Chase after him!!!¡± Red Hawk cried loudly after thinking about it for a moment.

    The scene with Minhyuk riding with a pod of dolphins and several ships running after him at full speed was quite spectacr. Before they knew it, the sun above them had already started to set.

    <em>¡®The miracle of the sea will now make its appearance. If the miracle sessfully makes its appearance, then we will have him in our hands without a doubt. In fact, our ship won¡¯t even break even if the miracle appeared.¡¯</em>

    Red Hawk¡¯s lips twisted into a gruesome smile. The naive Korean yer was rushing towards hell all by himself. And finally¡­

    <em>Puhaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Red Hawk and his ship finally seeded in bypassing the man and his pod of dolphins. He stood on the deck facing his enemy. Even the pirate ships that he directed to block the man¡¯s nks were all in position! The Ruby Pirates had also blocked the rear! Red Hawk raised his arm as everyone prepared to open fire at the man. And Gorfido¡­

    ¡°What the hell were you thinking?!¡±

    ¡­seemed to be invisible to the eyes of others. Minhyuk turned to look at the sea where the red sunset was slowly disappearing from. Perhaps he looked in that direction because he was listening to Gorfido.

    Over the horizon, the shocking view of what seemed to be the sea swallowing the sunset appeared. And when the setting sun looked like it was just a boat floating in the sea, Minhyuk suddenly jumped up from the dolphins andunched to the skies. Red Hawk, who was about to lower his arm¡­

    <em>Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr¡ª</em>

    ¡­suddenly felt a tremor rock their ship.

    <em>[The Sunset Sea¡¯s Miracle has made its appearance.]</em>

    <em>[A huge whirlpool will be created around you. This whirlpool will suck in everything around you.]</em>

    <em>Vwoooooooooong¡ª</em>

    ¡°Damn! Why did the miracle suddenly start at this time?!¡±

    The waters suddenly started to turn and spin violently, as the sea created a whirlpool that sucked in all of the ships in the vicinity. Set against the sunset in front of them, it created a spectacr view. However, the pirate ships were ships that could not be easily broken by the whirlpool. All it did was make them spin around and around.

    ¡°Fire at that bastard above!!!¡±

    ¡°But if we open fire, then the other ships will also get damaged!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go after the bastard once he falls down to sea!¡±

    At some point, all of the pirate ships had been gathered in the middle of the whirlpool. Minhyuk, who started to fall back towards the sea, had already gathered a strong force at the tip of his sword. It was none other than his strongest AOE attack skill, the Continent Destroyer. And when his sword struck down, the tremendous force gathered at the tip was fired at sea.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    This great disaster headed straight towards the pirate ships that were crowded in the middle of the whirlpool. In an instant, the ships crumbled into pieces, like fragile ss shattering upon being hit by a strong impact.

 Chapter 469: Naval Warfare (Top)

    Chapter 469: Naval Warfare (Top)

    The Continent Destroyer was the strongest AOE attack skill attached to the Continent Destroyer Sword.

    <em>(<strong>Continent Destroyer</strong>)</em>

    <em>Artifact Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Mana Required</strong>: 4,000</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Cooldown</strong>: 240 hours.</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?A powerful force would spread out in a wave within a 35 meter radius that would incur an additional 500% damage upon the sword being stabbed straight down.</em>

    <em>?The ground within the 35 meter radius would break and fluctuate, reaching five meters in height, with redva erupting and causing 1,600% damage to everyone receiving a direct hit from theva.</em>

    <em>?Those directly hit by theva would receive additional 100% damage every three seconds.</em>

    The effects of most passive and active skills in Athenae were dependent on the users¡¯ attack power. Naturally, the stronger the ranker was, the higher their attack, the higher the % effect that would be added to the skill¡¯s effect.

    Minhyuk, as Korea¡¯s top ranker, had incredible stats. On top of that, he had the Continent Destroyer Sword with an attack of 1,900, one that far surpassed the weapons of most high rankers, which were usually set at 1,100~1,300. This meant that the Continent Destroyer that Minhyuk had unleashed with his Continent Destroyer Sword dealt a ridiculous amount of damage to his enemies.

    The worst part for his opponents? The Continent Destroyer Sword had a 50% increase in cutting and prative power and a 40% increase in critical hit rate. Therefore, almost forty ships that had been sucked and stuck together in the middle of the whirlpool were now facing the full brunt of the God-Rank Artifact Continent Destroyer Sword¡¯s strongest AOE attack skill, Continent Destroyer.

    <em>Puhaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    And thanks to the Demon¡¯s Face, this skill, whilst being presented differently to the others, was still able to maintain its full force. The moment Minhyuk¡¯s sword stabbed straight down in the middle of the whirlpool, huge waves erupted and mmed hard into the ships that were stuck together. This was the first wave of attack that hit them but¡­

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    <em>[Ruby Pirates¡¯ Sixth Defensive Ship has received a tremendous impact!]</em>

    <em>[The ship¡¯s durability has decreased by 28%!]</em>

    <em>[If you don¡¯t hurry and fix the damage to your ship, then it might break apart!]</em>

    <em>[Storm Pirates¡¯ Third Attack Ship has received a tremendous impact!]</em>

    <em>[The ship¡¯s durability has decreased by 54%!]</em>

    <em>[If you don¡¯t hurry and fix the damage to your ship, then it might break apart!]</em>

    <em>[Red Skull Pirates¡¯ Third Attack Ship has received a tremendous impact!]</em>

    <em>[The ship¡¯s durability has decreased by 17%!]</em>

    <em>[The ship needs repair.]</em>

    <em>[Merry-Merry Pirates¡¯ Fifth Defensive Ship¡­]</em>

    <em>[Yamete Pirates¡¯ Sixth Defensive Ship¡­]</em>

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Main, maintain the ship¡¯s bnce!!!¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡­all the pirate ships were already shaking and trembling from the impact of the attack. As for the pirate ships with lower durability, their ships were already broken through and water was starting to gush in.

    ¡°H¡­ how?! With just one attack¡­?!¡±

    Ruby Pirates¡¯ Ruby and Red Hawk were already in a state of panic. How could one attack deal so much damage at once? But it was not yet over.

    <em>Keuhaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    A five-meter-high tidal wave suddenly rose up from the sea. This was originally the ground fluctuation effect that could reach five meters in height, but the appearance of the skillpletely changed in the eyes of the others.

    <em>Keuhaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The tidal wave moved to devour the ships. The cksmiths were rushing to repair the ships, while the captains and deputy captains were working hard to center their ships once again. Even the other pirates that were preparing for battle were all trying so hard to not fall off of their ships.

    But even as they tried their best, the attacks were never ending. This time, a strong force immediately followed the tidal wave. This strong force was none other than theva that could deal an additional 1,600% damage upon a direct hit. It erupted from the seafloor. Originally, it could be avoided, after all, the damage would only be dealt with if it directly hit the opponent, but with the ships all stuck together¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>Craaaaaaaaack¡ª</em>

    And finally¡­

    <em>[You have sunk Merry-Merry¡¯s Pirate Ship.]</em>

    <em>[You have hunted Merry-Merry¡¯s Pirate Lucard.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Pirate Lucard¡¯s two tinum!]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Nimble Pirates¡¯ Twin Swords.]</em>

    <em>[You have hunted Merry-Merry¡¯s Deputy Captain Aven.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Deputy Captain Aven¡¯s one tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have hunted Verad, a yer with a high Chaos level.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Verad¡¯s Pirate¡¯s Cool Hat.]</em>

    <em>[You have hunted Aveto, a yer with a high Chaos level.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Aveto¡¯s Aqua Stone.]</em>

    ¡­the notifications rang non-stop! When a fight broke out at sea, the items that would drop would not automatically fall into the sea. These items would just automatically enter the inventory of the yer with the highest contribution. After all, if the items worked the same way as onnd, then the items and gold that dropped would be submerged deep in the sea and be useless.

    And with all the pirates, whether they were NPCs or yers, aboard these pirate ships being people with a high Chaotic level, they all dropped a huge amount of gold, silver, and artifacts.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The ships began to sink one after the other, as theva that erupted from deep within the sea devoured them. Only Red Hawk¡¯s Third Attack Ship, the ship with the highest defense and durability, was hanging by a thread and maintaining its bnce, albeit precariously.

    ¡°What the hell is this?! What kind of dealer is he!!?¡± Red Hawk shouted, his face turning pale.

    <em>¡®How can he sink 39 ships in one go?!¡¯</em>

    ¡°Sa, save meeeeee!!!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaack! Captain Red Hawk!!! Please save us!!!¡±

    ¡°Grrrrrrrrrk!¡±

    The moment the pirate yers and NPCs fell into the sea, they were all sucked by the whirlpool and sent to their deaths. It did not matter if they were good swimmers, as long as they were facing the sea¡¯s miracle, there was nothing they could do.

    ¡°cksmiths! Quickly fix the ship! Hurry!¡±

    Slowly, the miracle whirlpool started to subside. However, the ck Pirates¡¯ Third Attack Ship only had 30% of its durability left. Of course, their ship always had skilled cksmiths on board. These skilled cksmiths were now rushing back and forth to repair the ship.

    Usually, they would only need around three minutes to repair around 5~20% of the ship and its durability. ¡®Do you want to repair the ship?¡¯ This question would pop out in front of these cksmiths, which would then trigger and activate their skills, that would allow the ship to repair itself the moment they agree to it.

    But before they could even do so, Minhyuk, who was riding on top of a dolphin, shot towards the Third Attack Ship.

    ¡°What, what the hell?! Do you think you can destroy a pirate ship with your basic attacks?!¡±

    In fact, Minhyuk needed someone to experiment on.

    <em>¡®I only caused a bit of damage to Gorfido¡¯s Pirate Ship despite ¡®Explosion¡¯ triggering. What about when using it on other pirate ships?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s sword immediately stabbed the ck Pirates¡¯ pirate ship.

    <em>Crack!</em>

    Shockingly enough, a dent suddenly appeared in the otherwise tough and sturdy-looking part of the ship, while pieces of the already broken parts crumbled and flew away.

    <em>[The ck Pirates¡¯ Third Attack Ship has received a tremendous impact!]</em>

    <em>[The ship¡¯s durability has decreased by 5%!]</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    For a moment, Red Hawk thought that his ears were not working properly. A basic attack was enough to reduce 5% of his ship¡¯s durability?

    <em>¡®I¡¯m sure that¡¯s his one-shot kill skill against high rankers, right?¡¯ </em>Red Hawk thought in a fluster. But then, Minhyuk¡¯s sword moved swiftly as he hacked at the ship continuously.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    <em>[The ship¡¯s durability has decreased by 5%!]</em>

    <em>[The ship¡¯s durability has decreased by 4%!]</em>

    In the end¡­

    <em>Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam!</em>

    ¡­¡®Extinction¡¯ was triggered, and a shocking notification rang in Red Hawk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The ship¡¯s durability has decreased by 14%!]</em>

    <em>[The ship¡¯s durability has decreased by 16%!]</em>

    <em>[The ship¡¯s durability¡­!]</em>

    <em>[The ship is sinking!]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Red Hawk was left speechless as the ship that they were on started to sink. All he could do was ry the information as fast as he could to Great Pirate Lundnu. Not long after, they sank below the surface. The pirates either sank or floundered about in the sea. That was when Minhyuk saw people, who were wearing sleeveless shirts and werepletely unlike the regr pirates, shouting for help.

    <em>¡®Captives?¡¯</em>

    They were definitely captives. After all, pirates were known to attack warships, fishing boats, and sailing boats, capturing the people aboard them and selling the parts that were useful. Then, the notifications immediately rang.

    <em>[Saving these people might bring you, someone with the power of a king, huge profits.]</em>

    ¡°Dolphins!¡±

    ¡°Kieeeeeeeee!¡± The dolphins cried out as they rescued the captives, while leaving the pirates scrambling for their own lives.

    ¡°We, we¡¯re saved¡­!¡±

    ¡°Thank you!!!¡±

    ¡°Th, thank you! Thank you very much!!!¡±

    <em>[You have gained 5 CHA.]</em>

    <em>[You have saved a total of 321 captives.]</em>

    <em>¡®Wow. Isn¡¯t this really epic¡­?¡¯</em>

    Except for his greed for food, Minhyuk did not really desire anything else. But now, he had to think as the king of ¡®Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯.

    Just a few hours earlier, Minhyuk had received a report and briefing in the guild chat. They had told him that the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s finances were already reaching the bottom of the pan. Thankfully, he was able to earn 82 tinum when he wiped out the pirates. That was not all. A rough estimate of the prices of the various artifacts, treasures, and misceneous items that he had acquired would give him 300 tinum if sold. This was all because¡­

    <em>¡®All of these pirate NPCs and yers are people with a high Chaos level and a bounty on their heads.¡¯</em>

    In fact, even his EXP had risen significantly to the point that his level even increased by one. It was ten times more efficient than the rewards that he received during a hunt.

    <em>¡®If I receive these captives as my own people then¡­?¡¯</em>

    Then, the value that he would get from this quest would increase and reach astronomical levels.

    ¡°Who are you?¡±

    ¡°No way, are you a pirate too?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to wander around the seas anymore! I¡¯d rather you kill us!¡±

    ¡°Even our own kingdom has abandoned us! They all knew that we had been taken captive by the pirates but none of them came to rescue us! <em>Sob, sob, sob! </em>Kill us! I¡¯d rather you kill us!¡±

    All of them trembled in fear and anxiety which showed how much they had been tortured so far. Minhyuk moistened his throat as he spoke to them with a voice filled with dignity, ¡°I came from a distant continent after hearing about your sufferings. Your kingdoms and empires have abandoned you, forcing you to cry out in helplessness, despite your families waiting for you.¡±

    Minhyuk looked at them one after another atop his dolphin as he continued to speak, ¡°After hearing your stories, I could not help but run to your rescue. Although I am by myself, I fought a bloody battle and persevered just so I could save you! Aaaaaaah!¡±

    He grabbed his left chest as if he was feeling extreme pain. And when the captives saw his face and voice filled with sincere emotions, they thought¡­

    <em>¡®Someone from a distant continent came here to save us, the abandoned ones¡­?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Isn¡¯t he all by himself? Besides, he has no reason to fight against these pirates, right?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Did he reallye for us?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He came for us? Those that have been abandoned by our own kingdoms and empires?!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Aaaaaaaaaah! What a kind man! Is the distant continent filled with people like him?!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®No, perhaps there¡¯s something that he wants from us?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®No one will express any good will if there¡¯s no reward for them.¡¯</em>

    Then, the notifications rang.

    <em>[The passive skill ¡®King¡¯s Voice¡¯ attached to your title: Brightest Sun has been triggered.]</em>

    The King¡¯s Voice was a passive skill that would make Minhyuk, a king, sound more dignified and even more sincere to others.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want anything from you. It¡¯s just¡­ I want you to forget all of the pain and suffering that you have experienced as a captive¡­ You can now go back to your families. Just¡­ let me just help you do that!¡±

    ¡°¡­Waaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    The captives all shed tears while some of them swung their arms strongly as they cheered for him. Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°But, there are still a lot of people that I need to save. After all, there are still many people that have suffered the same painful fate as you!!!¡±

    ¡°<em>Sob</em>! Our pain¡­ is something that¡¯s worse than death!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. The sea is filled and overflowing with those suffering like us.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded as he said, ¡°I will drop you off on a nearby ind. For those who are willing to fight with me, please join me! Let¡¯s fight for those who want to return to their families, just like you!!!¡±

    Minhyuk raised his arm high up in the sky as¡­

    <em>Drip, drip, drip¡ª</em>

    ¡­streaks of hot tears dripped down his cheeks! His tears made everyone feel immense admiration and gratitude to him as their hearts burned hot.

    ¡°We will fiiiiiiiiiiight! We will fight for the other captives and return them to the arms of their own families!!!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s drive out all of the pirates from these seas!!!¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    This was only natural. After all, around 70% of these captives were part of the navy. Then, another set of notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The <strong>Title</strong>: The One Who Even Exploited the Emperor has been changed into a new title.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the <strong>Title</strong>: The One Who Still Exploits Even After Bing a King.]</em>

    Gorfido shook his head when he saw Minhyuk crying while raising his arms high up in the skies, and thought, <em>¡®He¡¯s probably sick in the head¡­¡¯</em>

 Chapter 470: Naval Warfare (Top)

    Chapter 470: Naval Warfare (Top)

    After rescuing the captives, Minhyuk asked the dolphins to carry them and bring them to a nearby ind.

    ¡°I will get the ship that we will need for battle. As for the equipment, you can wear these.¡±

    However, even after equipping them with the items that he picked up from the pirates, it seemed like it was still difficult for the captives to go into battle all at once. From what Minhyuk could see, it was better for them to get some grub and a bit of rest before joining the fight.

    So, he let them be for a while.

    After distributing the equipment that he acquired from the pirates earlier, Minhyuk turned to look at Gorfido and asked, ¡°Is there a way to make a ship sink with one strike?¡±

    As a great pirate, Gorfido¡¯s knowledge about ships was unrivaled. He exined, ¡°There is. It¡¯s simple. All you have to do is create a hole at the bottom of the ship. If there¡¯s a hole there, then the water will pour inside and fill it up. If that happens, you can easily topple it over. However, most of the ships right now are designed and created with mages so that no one could st through the bottom and create a hole. You need to at least have a magic power that¡¯s far stronger than the mage that created the ship, or enough attack power to deal a huge amount of damage in one go.¡±

    A ship waspletely different from a wall. If a part of the wall copsed, the soldiers could easily settle in that gap and defend against the enemy attacks. On the other hand, if a hole was created in a ship, water would flow inside and force it to sink. That was why most pirate ships were created with the help of the mages.

    ¡°The problem here is¡­ are you even capable of sting through that part of the ship? That¡¯s a very difficult feat. I say your damage output is not even close enough to put a tiny dent on it.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded at Gorfido¡¯s words. It was true. Although Minhyuk had dealt tremendous damage and caused a huge impact on the ck Skull Pirate¡¯s ship earlier, he still failed to st through and create a hole in the ship. Of course, he could probably drill a holerge enough to force that ship to sink if he mmed into it another twenty more times, but that method would take too long, especially if they were in arge-scale war.

    ¡°Will it be possible if I increase my damage?¡±

    At Minhyuk¡¯s question, Gorfido recalled the man¡¯s attack, <em>¡®It was truly a shocking attack. One of the strongest attacks that I have ever seen in my life.¡¯</em>

    With Gorfido¡¯s long life and experiences at sea, he knew that it was nigh impossible to sink a ship with just one attack. However, after seeing Minhyuk¡¯s attack earlier and the power that caused a series of explosions¡­?

    ¡°Perhaps it¡¯s possible.¡±

    Gorfido did not know how much more Minhyuk could increase his damage, nor how much stronger he could be. But, it seemed possible for him to sink a ship with the attack that he did earlier.

    ¡°Alright. That answer is good enough,¡± Minhyuk nodded while taking out the aqua stones from his inventory. The Kraken King, or Sukhoe, had gifted Minhyuk with more than 700 aqua stones before. After wiping out the pirates that chased after him earlier, he had also acquired around 800 aqua stones. Aqua stones worked like ¡®Reinforcement Stones¡¯.

    Typical reinforcement stones, there would be penalties like a minus reinforcement or artifact disintegration upon failure. The probability of getting a minus reinforcement that would need a higher maintenance was also higher.

    As for aqua stones, they belonged to a higher level of reinforcement stones. Upon failure of reinforcement, as long as one was using an aqua stone, they would not suffer from any minus reinforcement or artifact destruction. This was the main reason why aqua stones were traded at high prices. It was also a very popr reinforcement stone since there was no need to use an anvil during reinforcement.

    After taking out the aqua stones in his inventory, Minhyuk took out the ¡®Continent Destroyer Sword¡¯, the very same sword that Brod had passed onto him. It was the sword that cut down more than a million enemies.

    What would happen if this sword got reinforced?

    <em>¡®To be honest, I know that it¡¯s extremely hard to add even a +1 reinforcement to a legendary rank artifact.¡¯</em>

    Indeed, legendary rank artifacts with a +10 reinforcement were extremely rare, to the point that they were non-existent. That was how hard it was to reinforce. As for legendary rank artifacts with reinforcement beyond +11?

    There was none.

    <em>¡®That reinforced artifact would be equivalent to God-rank artifacts in power, right?¡¯</em>

    Reinforcing artifacts at the legendary level was extremely difficult. It was so difficult that everyone deemed it impossible at this point in time. Generally, the + effect of the reinforcement was dependent on the rank of the artifact. The higher the rank, the higher the + effect.

    At the end of the day though, reinforcement was mainly due to luck.

    <em>¡®And I¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk quickly checked his DEX. He had been constantly increasing his DEX to the point that it had already exceeded the 4,500 mark. And that was not all, he also had Ellie¡¯s Kitchen Knife¡¯s special effect, the effect that allowed him to ¡®double his DEX¡¯. In other words, the effect of his DEX was at around 9,000 now, a DEX that no other yer could ever hope to achieve. It was to be noted that DEX could also y a role, albeit only slightly, on ¡®luck¡¯, a factor that was needed during reinforcements.

    What would happen if a 9,000 DEX¡¯s slight effect affected the reinforcement?

    <em>¡®Well, it¡¯s worth a try.¡¯</em>

    Gorfido, who watched Minhyuk pull out the aqua stones from his inventory, could tell that the sword in his hands wielded an extraordinary power. He thought, <em>¡®I can hear the cries of those that died under the de of that sword. Just how many enemies has that sword cut down?¡¯</em>

    The sword was definitely extraordinary. And to reinforce a sword like that? Gorfido believed that it was impossible. But just as that thought shed in Gorfido¡¯s head, Minhyuk began the reinforcement process.

    ¡°Reinforce!¡±

    <em>[You have achieved ¡®perfect¡¯ reinforcement.]</em>

    <em>[Despite achieving a ¡®perfect¡¯ reinforcement, the aqua stone¡¯s power is not enough to reach the sword.]</em>

    <em>[Reinforcement has failed.]</em>

    ¡°Reinforce!¡±

    <em>[You have achieved ¡®perfect¡¯ reinforcement.]</em>

    <em>[Despite achieving a ¡®perfect¡¯ reinforcement, the aqua stone¡¯s power is not enough to reach the sword.]</em>

    <em>[Reinforcement has failed.]</em>

    ¡°Reinforce!!!¡±

    <em>[You have achieved ¡®perfect¡¯ reinforcement.]</em>

    <em>[Despite achieving a ¡®perfect¡¯ reinforcement, the aqua stone¡¯s power is not enough to reach the sword.]</em>

    <em>[Reinforcement has failed.]</em>

    ¡°Reinforce! Reinforce! Reinforce! Reinforce! Reinforce!¡±

    The aqua stones in Minhyuk¡¯s hands began to deplete at a rapid pace. What was the point of achieving a perfect reinforcement if the reinforcement kept on failing? This just showed how hard it was to reinforce an outstanding sword like the Continent Destroyer Sword.

    ¡°Reinforce! Reinforce! Reinforce! Reinforce! Reinforce! Reinforce! Reinforce!¡±

    In a blink, more than 300 aqua stones, an ultra-expensive reinforcement stone that priced at around one tinum per two stones, disappeared. They disappeared like snow melting under the hot and ring sun.

    ¡°Reinforce! Reinforce! Reinforce!!!¡±

    Quickly, Minhyuk used up another 100 aqua stones. Deep inside, he felt his stomach twist in regret, <em>¡®Sob¡­ how many chickens can I buy with this many aqua stones! What a waste!!!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk felt like someone took millions of chickens away from him. Still, he did not stop.

    ¡°Reinforce! Reinforce! Reinforce! Reinforce!!!¡±

    He consumed another 100 in an instant.

    ¡°Tch, tch. With that sword¡¯s power, you won¡¯t be able to reinforce it with such a trivial and weak reinforcement stone,¡± Gorfido clicked his tongue, judging that the reinforcement would never be sessful.

    Although Minhyuk felt his heart throb in pain with how wasteful he was being, he knew something, <em>¡®It might be impossible to reinforce a God Rank Artifact using the normal method but¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk held God¡¯s Ore d, the ore that he obtained after sealing Great Demon Verus. It was superior to any reinforcement stone in existence. Even Minhyuk, who had gathered a lot of information about Athenae, did not know much about it. He was the only one that acquired these superior reinforcement stones and he only had three in his hands at most. So, should he just use these three reinforcement stones just like that?

    Of course not.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s always thew of reinforcing, aw that has been passed down since the old RPG era! And that is to make offerings before doing the actual reinforcement!¡¯</em>

    Before these virtual reality games came out, countless old RPG games also had the concept of ¡®reinforcement¡¯. And in those games, it was natural to make a lot of sacrifices before doing the actual reinforcement of an outstanding artifact. As an example, after reinforcing a novice¡¯s ¡®rusty dagger¡¯ to +9, they would use it as a sacrifice and let it evaporate to dust before reinforcing the artifact that they wanted. After letting everything evaporate, they would have that one burst of ¡®luck¡¯.

    This was the way of the old!

    However, this was mostly some sort of myth and superstition. But at this point in time, even if there was only a slight possibility of it bing sessful, Minhyuk believed that it was still worth a try. In a blink, there were only forty aqua stones left in his hands.

    ¡°Reinforce! Reinforce! Reinforce! Reinforce!¡±

    Minhyuk, who was continuously trying to reinforce his sword, suddenly stopped his hands.

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    <em>[You have achieved ¡®perfect¡¯ reinforcement.]</em>

    <em>[You have sessfully applied a +1 reinforcement to the Continent Destroyer Sword.]</em>

    <em>[Congrattions! This is an unprecedented event! You are the first one to sessfully reinforce a God-rank Artifact!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 100 REP.]</em>

    <em>[You have received a +1% increase in all five of your basic stats.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was speechless. He did not know if he should be happy or sad. He tried to increase his luck by sacrificing all of the aqua stones in his hands before using God¡¯s Ore d for his final reinforcement. However, he actually seeded before his intended goal.

    <em>¡®What¡¯s this? This is probably a one in ten thousand kind of chance, but I was able to sessfully reinforce it?¡¯</em>

    It was aplete and total mess. But after checking, Minhyuk was very much surprised.

    ¡°My sword¡¯s basic attack power has increased by +60?¡±

    A sixty point increase in a sword¡¯s attack power could have a tremendous effect on the yer. For rankers, an addition of this much to their force would be able to allow them to reduce their opponent¡¯s HP by 0.5%, a significant amount that could determine whether they would win or lose in a fight.

    The power from that single reinforcement was truly amazing. Nothing else had changed but it was still a tremendous addition to his power.

    As those thoughts flew in Minhyuk¡¯s head, he quickly exhausted all of the remaining aqua stones in his hands. After using up all the aqua stones, he took a deep breath while taking out God¡¯s Ore d. God¡¯s Ore d was a precious ore that he was not sure if he could obtain again in the future. That was why he was both nervous and careful about it.

    <em>(<strong>God¡¯s Ore d</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Material Grade</strong>: God</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>?If the strengthening is sessful, the artifact will receive +1~+5 strengthening.</em>

    <em>?If the strengthening fails, there will be no negative consequences, whether it is a minus effect or the artifact¡¯s destruction. </em>

    <em>?Upon sessful strengthening, the artifact will experience better strengthening effects than normal artifact reinforcement.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: God¡¯s Ore d is a special ore that can only be obtained from the gods. There are rumors that the one with the greatest sword in existence used God¡¯s Ore d to create it.</em>

    That was right. Just like in the description, someone created the greatest sword in existence using God¡¯s Ore d. And now, it was time to change the ranking of that sword.

    ¡°Reinforceeeeeeeeee!!!¡±

    <em>[You have achieved ¡®perfect¡¯ reinforcement.]</em>

    <em>[Despite achieving a ¡®perfect¡¯ reinforcement and using God¡¯s Ore d, it is still very difficult to reinforce this sword.]</em>

    <em>[Reinforcement has failed.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    One God¡¯s Ore d had disappeared into dust. Minhyuk believed that the value of one God¡¯s Ore d was equivalent to around 10,000 tinum, perhaps even more than that. However¡­

    ¡°Reinforceeeeeeee!!!¡± Minhyuk shouted loudly, veins popping on his neck with how loud he was. And with his shout, the Continent Destroyer Sword was covered in a blue light. If that blue light persisted for quite a while, it would mean that the reinforcement was a sess.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s, it¡¯s blue¡­!¡¯</em>

    But just as the thought shed in Minhyuk¡¯s head, a disappointing set of notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[You have achieved ¡®perfect¡¯ reinforcement.]</em>

    <em>[Despite achieving a ¡®perfect¡¯ reinforcement and using God¡¯s Ore d, it is still very difficult to reinforce this sword.]</em>

    <em>[Reinforcement has failed.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was speechless as he looked up at the skies and said, ¡°I suddenly miss my dad¡­¡±

    If Kang Minhoo saw him right now, he would just chuckle at him with a kind and soft smile on his face while saying, <em>¡®Hoho~ My dear son, gambling is bad~¡¯</em>. In fact, even though he was not here, Minhyuk felt that his father¡¯s words were ringing in his ears, and very clearly at that too.

    Now, Minhyuk only had one reinforcement stone left. And Gorfido, who watched Minhyuk through all of that, shook his head and turned around while thinking, <em>¡®That man is really bonkers. Why did he suddenly look up at the sky and look for his dad?¡¯</em>

    Truth was, Gorfido firmly believed that what Minhyuk was doing was useless. After all, he could clearly feel the ¡®God of Death¡¯¡¯s power emanating from that sword. With a god¡¯s power enveloping such a sword, how could a mere human dare to reinforce it, right? So, he turned his back to him to just appreciate the scenery, a scenery that he had not seen for a long time since he was trapped in the Pirate¡¯s Grave. But then¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡­a fierce wind suddenly blew from behind him.

    ¡°Wha, what the hell?!¡±

    ¡°Ugh, aaaaack! What the hell?! Is there a mage or something?!!!¡±

    <em>Rumble¡ª</em>

    <em>Crack! Bang! Bang! Bang!</em>

    The waves of the sea suddenly turned violent as the strong wind continued to blow around them. The waves that mmed into the shores were so violent that they even broke the ind¡¯s rocks.

    A thunderstorm even brewed above them!

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Then, the fierce wind, which was a striking blue in color, swirled into a vortex before rising to the skies as if it was a dragon ascending. Gorfido quickly turned his head to look at the sky that suddenly turned dark. That was when he saw the blue wind, which was soaring to the skies just a bit earlier, fiercely rushing towards the sword in Minhyuk¡¯s hands.

    <em>Fwoooooooooooosh¡ª</em>

    Gorfido saw the delighted expression on Minhyuk¡¯s face as he held the sword in his hands while it absorbed the blue wind.

    <em>¡®The reinforcement¡­ seeded¡­?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s smile definitely signaled a sess.

 Chapter 471: Naval Warfare (Middle)

    Chapter 471: Naval Warfare (Middle)

    The entire Japanese archipgo was in a heated buzz from the video that was being broadcasted through their screens. The video showed the splendor of the sunset that casted over forty ships and one Korean yer on the seas! Several broadcast drones were able to film the battle in the seas as theyid witness to the forty ships that got sucked inside the miracle¡¯s whirlpool. They were also able to broadcast the scene of the thirty nine ships being sunk by a single attack, as well as the downfall of the ck Pirate¡¯s Red Hawk¡¯s ship!

    All of the headlines of every newspaper in Japan talked about this event. The game broadcasting stations that did not show any interest in the happenings at sea at first, also started to set sail. And¡­

    <em>[Wow. That was really amazing. He just stabbed his sword towards the sea and all of the ships sucked inside the vortex were destroyed¡­]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s a very refreshing sight to see. I can¡¯t even do any quests at sea because of those pirates. I even died more than five times because of them.]</em>

    The people of Japan cheered as a yer from another country eradicated and hunted their own yers. This was because the ¡®pirates¡¯ were a great source of headache for the yers that wanted to y normally in their own continent. These pirates would oftene tond to plunder, and would even PK the yers that wanted to go to sea, just so they could monopolize all of the contents prepared at sea.

    The worst part? Their numbers and strength were far greater than what the normal yers had expected that even the guilds, kingdoms, and empires of the Japanese Server could only let them do as they pleased.

    But now, a single man was fighting against these pirates and spilling their blood. How wonderful that was!

    The entire country was discussing the events at sea.

    <em>[Who in the world is he?]</em>

    <em>[I looked closely at the video but I don¡¯t know who he is at all.]</em>

    <em>[Maybe he¡¯s a hidden unofficial ranker in Korea?]</em>

    <em>[If we¡¯re talking about a Korean yer with that much power then the only one I can think of is the ¡®Food God¡¯ but his face ispletely different¡­]</em>

    <em>[No matter how strong the Food God is, there¡¯s no way that he can destroy forty ships at once. He¡¯s clearly a hidden ranker.]</em>

    <em>[Ah, if I recall correctly¡­ didn¡¯t Lundnu say ¡®The Food God will be nothing but a loser if I met him at sea¡¯ or something along those lines in the past?]</em>

    Along with thatment, a new article appeared and reced the number one real-time search term.

    <em>[<strong>Real-time Search Term Number 1</strong>. A re-examination of Lundnu¡¯s past remarks.]</em>

    That was right.

    In the past, Lundnu had mentioned that the Food God would be nothing but a mere loser if they were to meet at sea. Various media outlets started to publish articles about this. Even if Lundnu did not talk about the Food God, the fact that he mocked Korea and their beloved ranker would not change.

    And now, all of the spotlights had turned towards Lundnu and the unidentified yer. As the buzz burned hotter, another shocking notification hit them.

    <em>[A yer that has created a shocking legendary achievement that surpassed all of the legendary achievements made in the past has been born to the world!]</em>

    <em>[This message resonates across all continents.]</em>

    The Japanese yers were all excited after hearing the notifications.

    <em>[It¡¯s not a notification about a God-rank artifact¡¯s acquisition but a world message about a new achievement that broke all of the achievements of the past? This is my first time hearing something like this.]</em>

    <em>[Wow. I wonder who it is? Also, what kind of achievement did they make to break all of the legendary achievements made in the past?]</em>

    The number one real-time search term had changed once again. This time it was about the ¡®Legendary Achievement¡¯. It was followed by the ¡®Re-examination of Lundnu¡¯s Past Remarks¡¯ at second and the ¡®Japanese Pirates¡¯ at third. None of them could ever imagine that the first, second, and third real-time search terms were all rted to one person and one person alone.

    ***

    Gorfido watched as the blue energy swirling in the sky got sucked into the sword in Minhyuk¡¯s hand. Minhyuk looked extremely delighted. After the sword returned to its original color, Minhyuk stood up and headed somewhere.

    The people called the ind that they were currently located at, the ¡®Turtle Boulder Ind¡¯. The reason why they call the ind as such was because of the huge boulder, with a height that reached four meters. It looked like it was a turtle hiding in its shell resting in the middle of the ind.

    ¡°What are you trying to do?¡±

    Minhyuk did not answer Gorfido¡¯s question and just walked forward until he stood in front of the huge turtle boulder. The character ¡®Crazy¡¯ was engraved on the t of his sword.

    ¡°How do you read that thing written on your sword?¡±

    ¡°Crazy.¡±

    Then, Minhyuk hacked his sword at the huge turtle boulder. When Gorfido saw this, he thought that it was a ridiculous action. From what he had heard, those that have reached the supreme level of swordsmanship could break boulders with a sh. However, that was when they were talking about regr stones and boulders. But this rock, the Turtle Boulder, was something that existed from when Gorfido was alive up until this point in time. This was a very tough and sturdy boulder. But then¡­

    <em>Swooooooooooooosh¡ª</em>

    ¡­a powerful force that seemed like it could tear anything and everything in its path flew forward and literally shed the boulder right down the middle.

    <em>Boooooom¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Gorfido could not believe it even after seeing it with his own eyes. In fact, even Minhyuk could not believe it. These were the notifications that Minhyuk had heard after he used thest God¡¯s Ore d in his possession.

    <em>[You have achieved ¡®perfect¡¯ reinforcement.]</em>

    <em>[You have sessfully added a +4 reinforcement to the Continent Destroyer Sword.]</em>

    <em>[You have surpassed the achievement of the one that created the best sword using God¡¯s Ore d in the past.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 3,000 REP.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 3%.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 50,000 AP.]</em>

    God¡¯s Ore d was a reinforcement stone that could reinforce the artifact from +1~+5. And in hisst and final try, he was able to sessfully add a +4 reinforcement! The most shocking part was that it was a reinforcement of a God-rank artifact.

    When Minhyuk looked at the ¡®Continent Destroyer Sword¡¯¡¯s status window¡­

    <em>(<strong>Continent Destroyer Sword</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: God</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: Level 500 or higher, The One Brod has Acknowledged</em>

    <em><strong>Durability</strong>: ¡Þ / ¡Þ</em>

    <em><strong>Attack</strong>: 2,499</em>

    <em><strong>Special Effects</strong>: </em>

    <em>?A 41% increase in STR, AGI and STM.</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Supreme Sword Mastery has reached Level 9</em>

    <em>?Cutting Power and Prative Power has increased by 60%.</em>

    <em>?Critical Hit Rate has increased by 70%.</em>

    <em>?<strong>Active Skill</strong>: Armor Break</em>

    <em>?<strong>Active Skill</strong>: Continent Destroyer</em>

    <em>?<strong>Passive Skill</strong>: Lightning</em>

    <em>?Attack will double against the undead. All passive skills¡¯ chances of getting triggered will be at 100% against the undead.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: After cutting down more than a million enemies, Brod¡¯s prowess has been recognized and acknowledged by the God of Death. The God of Death has added his full power into this sword.</em>

    The Continent Destroyer Sword was now truly the best weapon in existence. World messages were usually ryed only after the yers made achievements, and they had nothing to do with NPCs.

    After all, there were quite a few NPCs with God-rank artifacts that were scattered all over the continents, which meant that the strongest among the yers were not the strongest in the entirety of Athenae.

    However, the birth of this sword proved that it was superior to any sword in existence. The fact that the sword¡¯s attack had increased by more than 500, with the 7% increase in STR, AGI, and STM, the 10% increase in cutting power and prative power, and the 20% increase in critical hit rate, was something that should also be taken note of.

    There was also the ¡®Crazy¡¯ mode added to the passive skill: Lightning.

    <em>(<strong>Crazy</strong>)</em>

    <em>Artifact Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Mana Required</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Cooldown</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?When using Crazy Mode, there is a 30% chance of triggering a sword wind with 1,100% additional attack power that can rip through anything and everything in its path when attacking with a basic attack.</em>

    <em>?When using Crazy Mode, there is a chance of consecutively triggering Crazy Mode.</em>

    <em>?There is a 20% chance of triggering the Crazy Mode two times in a row.</em>

    <em>?There is a 5% chance of triggering the Crazy Mode three times in a row.</em>

    <em>?There is a 1% chance of triggering the Crazy Mode four times in a row.</em>

    <em>?In Crazy Mode, there is a 10% chance of bringing the opponent hit by your attack into a three-second stunned state.</em>

    <em>?In Crazy Mode, there is a 20% chance of turning the Continent Destroyer Sword¡¯s Active Skill: Armor Break into a passive skill and triggering it to destroy the opponent¡¯s sword. </em>

    Crazy was an outrageous skill that utilized only the greatest advantages of the Continent Destroyer Sword.

    <em>¡®Are you telling me that there¡¯s a chance that I can trigger the sword wind with an additional 1,100% attack four times in a row?¡¯</em>

    The skill was literally the most outrageous of all outrageous skills. In fact, Minhyuk was able to split the turtle boulder into two because he was able to trigger the Crazy Mode three times in a row. With the addition of this shockingly outrageous skill called Crazy,bined with the dramatic increase in attack, Minhyuk had be much, <em>much</em> stronger.

    ¡°Shall we test it?¡± Minhyuk said confidently.

    ***

    Ever Seas.

    There were a total of 630 ships roaming the seas and searching for one existence.

    Tetsuya, the captain of the ck Skull Pirates and Lundnu¡¯s de facto right hand man, was hailed as the Ever Seas¡¯ Great Mage. When at sea, Tetsuya could exert 1.7x more power with his water attribute magic¡¯s attack power. Right now, Tetsuya was staring at the sea in a daze.

    <em>¡®Crazy bastards. How dare youpare Sir Lundnu to the Food God?!¡¯</em>

    Tetsuya was talking about the ¡®Re-examination of Lundnu¡¯s Past Remarks¡¯, the article that appeared as part of the top real-time search terms. Even though they were all Japanese, the people were calling Lundnu arrogant and conceited. But Tetsuya was confident that even if the Food God appeared here, as long as they were at sea, Lundnu would be the one reigning supreme. Lundnu¡¯s ship was unbreakable and as long as it was operated properly, anyone that went against it would immediately face death.

    That was right. Tetsuya was Lundnu¡¯s bootlicker.

    ¡°Sir Tetsuya. This family of three, a mother, a father and a daughter, tried to escape. We caught them trying to board a small boat that they had unloaded.¡±

    Tetsuya¡¯s brows furrowed upon hearing the words of his subordinates. The three captives that they have caught trying to escape were a family. The middle-aged couple were covered with whip-marks while the young girl was trembling with fear.

    ¡°Is that so? Then, let¡¯s just kill them.¡±

    The three trembled at Tetsuya¡¯s words, especially the frightened young girl. She looked more scared than before. Tetsuya was among the people that saw NPCs as mere artificial intelligence. The total number of NPCs that he had killed? Perhaps he had already surpassed a few thousands.

    ¡°Kid, do you want to live?¡±

    <em>Nod.</em>

    The girl, Riley, nodded in fear.

    ¡°Then, let me give you two choices,¡± Tetsuya smiled in delight as he continued to say, ¡°I will spare you if your mother and father jumped in the sea.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Riley and her parents¡¯ faces all turned pale at Tetsuya¡¯s words.

    ¡°Ah. But if you jump, I will spare your parents. The choice is yours.¡±

    ¡°You, you¡¯re not human!!!¡±

    ¡°How can you make a child do something like that?!!!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll jump!!!¡±

    ¡°Shush. Your daughter should be the one to make a choice. You havemitted a sin, so you should be punished,¡± Tetsuya cackled as he watched Riley walk towards the edge of the ship with her trembling legs.

    ¡°Riley!!! No!!!¡±

    ¡°Riley!!! No!!! Let, let us go instead!!!¡±

    Riley looked at the blue sea and the ships floating above it. As the cool breeze caressed her cheeks, she said, ¡°The Sea God will punish you!¡±

    Riley bit her lips tightly. She had heard about the legend of the sea. ording to that old legend, the Sea God descended personally to give judgment to the vicious and heinous pirates and bring peace to the seas once again. With a shaky inhale, Riley closed her eyes and tried to jump out of the sea. But before she could do so¡­

    ¡°What, what¡¯s that?!¡±

    ¡°What the hell?! Why did the ships suddenly sink? They¡¯re all in good condition right?!!¡±

    ¡°Captain!!! I think you should see this!¡±

    Riley, who was about to jump, slowly opened her eyes again only to see the ships sinking under the deep blue sea. And¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    A fierce st of wind rang in her ears.

    <em>Vwooooooooooom¡ª</em>

    That was when Riley saw a man swinging his sword as he went from one ship to another. And¡­

    <em>sh, sh, sh, aaaaash¡ª</em>

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    ¡­a hole was torn through the bottom of one of the ships. She also watched as water started to flow inside the ship which forced it to sink. After doing so, the man jumped to another ship.

    <em>aaaaaash¡ª</em>

    Another ship started to sink as the man sted a hole through the ship¡¯s bottom.

    ¡°E, everyone! Prepare for battle!!!¡±

    In a blink, the man arrived at Tetsuya¡¯s ship. The man¡¯s face, which was reflected by the light of the sun, glittered and sparkled as he smiled refreshingly and greeted, ¡°Hello, littledy?¡±

    Riley looked at the man as she sped her hands together and said, ¡°After the Sea God descended, he dered¡­¡±

    Before she could finish her sentence¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡­the ship rocked strongly from the strong impact of the man¡¯s attack. Then, Riley spat the end of her words, ¡°<em>¡­Fools. I will bring you judgment!</em>¡±

 Chapter 472: Naval Warfare (Middle)

    Chapter 472: Naval Warfare (Middle)

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaam¡ª</em>

    Tetsuya¡¯s ship tilted to one side and slowly started to sink under the sea after the loud bang rang loudly.

    ¡°Pour the water out!!!¡±

    Sea¡¯s Great Mage Tetsuya was someone that could express 1.7x the attack power of any water attributed magic in his arsenal. He immediately cast, ¡°Aqua Storm! Aqua Storm! Aqua Storm! Aqua Storm!¡±

    <em>Rumble!</em>

    The spectacle before him made Tetsuya realize that he had to stop this man from reaching Lundnu, even if it cost him his life. The four sea storms that he had cast rushed towards the man. However, Tetsuya was not the only mage in the ship. There were also several high-tiered mages onboard their ship and they were all casting magic towards the man.

    ¡°Ice Arrow!¡±

    ¡°Wind Cutter!¡±

    ¡°Aqua Wall!¡±

    Dozens of magic attacks flew towards the man that had jumped once again to the skies.

    ¡°Keuhahahaha!¡± Tetsuya, who believed the man was done for,ughed wildly despite his sinking ship. But then, the man took a book out of his inventory. The pages of the book began to turn rapidly the moment he took it out. And then¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>[Cancel.]</em>

    <em>[All skills and magic within a five meter radius from the skill user will be canceled and nullified.]</em>

    ¡­Gorac¡¯s Mixer and Bowl¡¯s special skill had been triggered. Its usual ¡®mixer and bowl¡¯ appearance had changed and turned into a book, thanks to the Great Demon¡¯s Mask effect. In just an instant, all of the magic that was rushing towards Minhyuk disappeared into thin air. After dealing with the magic, Minhyuk finallynded on top of Tetsuya¡¯s slowly sinking ship. The word ¡®Crazy¡¯ engraved on the t of the de of Minhyuk¡¯s sword stood out.

    <em>¡®Crazy¡­?¡¯</em>

    Tetsuya felt his breath stagnate from the pressure emitting from the sword.

    ¡°Stop hiiiiiiiim!¡±

    All of the pirates onboard gathered in the middle of the sinking ship at Tetsuya¡¯s orders. They, a group mostly consisting of Empire Knight-rank NPCs and yers, ran towards Minhyuk. However, shockingly enough¡­

    <em>aaaaaash¡ª</em>

    ¡­a simple graze of Minhyuk¡¯s sword had torn apart one of the pirates¡¯ bodies. The worst part?

    <em>[Armor Break has turned into a passive skill!]</em>

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    Even that pirate¡¯s armor, an armor that was made of tough and sturdy steel, was also easily torn apart. In the end, that pirate was forced to log out.

    ¡°This is¡­ a nightmare¡­¡± Tetsuya mumbled, as he took an involuntary step back in fright. The pirate that was forced to log out just now their strongest closebat fighter. Tetsuya was sure that the HP meter of that pirate was full before he rushed forward, but just a simple graze was enough to kill him. Before he could fully dwell on this thought, Minhyuk had already rushed forward once again.

    Minhyuk was like a ghost as he appeared and disappeared swiftly. This was his skill ¡®Like the Wind¡¯ under the Great Demon¡¯s Mask¡¯s effect. He darted in and out of the pirates'' gaps while swinging his sword at them.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    Tetsuya¡¯s men kept on trying to counter the man¡¯s attack but they failed time and again. The scene in front of him slowly chipped away at Tetsuya¡¯s will to fight. For the longest time, Tetsuya had viewed ¡®Lundnu¡¯ as the only supreme being. For him, Lundnu was the sky, the sea, and the world itself.

    However, as he looked at the man in front of him, he felt like his long standing belief was slowly being crushed and changed.

    ¡°Who are you?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    It was Tetsuya¡¯s polite inquiry to someone strong. But Minhyuk did not answer him and only lowered his head to look at him. Then, Minhyuk approached the girl, Riley, and said, ¡°You don¡¯t have to be afraid anymore.¡±

    Minhyuk picked Riley up before gently cing her on top of one of the dolphins¡¯ heads. He also did not forget to pat the child¡¯s head.

    ¡°Lord God! Thank you! Thank you for saving me! Thank you for bringing judgment to those fools!¡±

    <em>Throb¡ª</em>

    Watching everything, there was one who felt his chest throb in pain as he looked at the child in front of Minhyuk. This was none other than Great Pirate Gorfido, who enjoyed a life of plundering, killing and taking away the freedom of little girls like this child in front of him. But¡­

    <em>¡®Why?! Why are you making me regret everything this much?! Why?!¡¯</em>

    Gorfido¡¯s body trembled. The man in front of him lived a life that waspletely different from him. Gorfido plundered, looted and killed. He enjoyed trampling over and standing above people as they regarded him with fear and terror. But the man in front of him stood above all using apletely different method.

    <em>¡®Just like what he said. I really went down the wrong path during my life.¡¯</em>

    At this moment, Great Pirate Gorfido was truly andpletely enlightened. That was when Gorfido and Minhyuk heard a series of notifications.

    <em>[Great Pirate Gorfido is a vicious and heinous man that has killed millions with his own hands.]</em>

    <em>[With the few words that you have said to him, Gorfido finally truly realizes the mistakes that he made.]</em>

    <em>[Gorfido¡¯s more enlightened than when he was cursed with Andrei¡¯s existence.]</em>

    <em>[You have received Gorfido¡¯s favor.]</em>

    <em>[You have received Gorfido¡¯s favor.]</em>

    <em>[You have received Gorfido¡¯s favor.]</em>

    Even though he was listening to the notifications ringing in his ears, Minhyuk was still looking around and gauging the situation. Right now, there were more than a hundred ships rushing to surround Minhyuk. They all came here after hearing themotion earlier. But then, a far more shocking set of notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[Pirate Gorfido has started to regard you as someone special.]</em>

    <em>[Perhaps there will be a surprising event that will happen with Gorfido.]</em>

    And Minhyuk, who was watching the approaching ships, tilted his head in doubt. He thought, <em>¡®But I only spoke a few words to him though?¡¯ </em>as he recalled the conversation that they had back in Turtle Boulder Ind.

    ***

    Turtle Boulder Ind, an hour and a half ago.

    After creating a new achievement, Minhyuk tried to set sail again. Suddenly, he stopped and grabbed his belly, ¡°I need to go but I¡¯m hungry... Hey! Skullhead!¡±

    ¡°¡­<em>Cough.</em> Bastard, calling me skullhead¡­ What? Why are you calling for me?¡±

    ¡°Is there a way for me to catch local fish like, Emerald tfish, Ruby Rockfish, and Sapphire Salmon?¡±

    Naturally, Minhyuk had already researched the ingredients that he could find in the seas of the Japanese Server before setting foot in the Ever Seas. The Ever Seas was home to epic-ranked monsters like the Ruby Rockfish and Sapphire Salmon.

    <em>¡®And they taste leagues better than ordinary rockfish and salmon!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes twinkled brightly, a look that waspletely different from the usual stink eye that he gave to Gorfido, as he looked at him in anticipation. Gorfido nodded and said, ¡°There¡¯s a very easy way to do that.¡±

    Gorfido approached the shore, closed his eyes and touched the water of the sea. Then¡­

    <em>Swoooooooooooooosh¡ª</em>

    ¡­suddenly, something from deep within the sea began to surface. Until¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    A glittering and brilliant blue Sapphire Salmon jumped out of the waters and fell down pping in front of Gorfido.

    <em>p, p, p, p¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Minhyuk looked on in shock and surprise. But it was not yet over. Dozens of Sapphire Salmon, Ruby Rockfish, and Emerald tfish sprang up and gathered in front of Gorfido.

    ¡°Woooooooooow!¡± Minhyuk cheered as he jumped up and down with a bright smile on his face. ¡°Hiyaaaa~ look at this color! They look scrumptious!¡±

    Even for the most extraordinary and excellent fishermen, some of the rarest species of fish like Ruby Rockfish and Emerald tfish, were very hard to catch. And Gorfido only had this ability because his existence was akin to a god to all of the creatures living under the sea. His existence was in fact, superior and mightier than Kraken King Sukhoe.

    ¡°Oh my, Sir Gorfido! I¡¯m sorry for not recognizing your greatness. Thank you! Hehe!¡± Minhyuk said as he bowed politely to Gorfido.

    ¡°Ha! Now you know. Haha!¡± Gorfidoughed for only for a moment, before he caught himself in doubt, <em>¡®Did I just feel delighted because he praised me?¡¯</em>

    But the man in front of him was just a simple human being, right? For some reason, Gorfido felt a huge sense of shame. How could someone like him, someone that terrorized and brought fear to the seas, be happy just because someone praised him?

    When he turned to Minhyuk¡­

    ¡°Hiyaaa. Don¡¯t you all look plump and fresh? Huh? <em>Gulp.</em>¡±

    ¡­he saw him smiling brightly, like a child with a new toy. A face that waspletely different from when they first met back when he cursed him and spat at him. The eyes that he used back then were so cold and eerie that Gorfido felt as if he was being stared at by a mad beast, like a fierce lion watching its prey. He also lookedpletely different when he brought in the captives, just like a swindler trying to scam people of their money. But now¡­

    <em>¡®He looks like a kind and pure child.¡¯</em>

    Gorfido believed that Minhyuk was a man of many faces. But for some reason, seeing Minhyuk happy like this also made Gorfido feel calm and rxed.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s even happier than when he got the greatest sword in existence¡­¡¯</em>

    Gorfido continued to stare at Minhyuk. He watched as Minhyuk smiled brightly at the dishes that he prepared in front of himself. These dishes were none other than ¡®rockfish, tfish and salmon¡¯ sashimi. There were even tsukidashi[1] ced in a neat line in front of him!

    ¡°Hiyaaaaa~ You guys, you¡¯re so fresh that I can still feel you wriggle in my mouth~¡± Minhyuk gulped as he stretched his hands forward to mp a slice with his chopsticks. And the dish that he was aiming for was none other than fresh octopus sashimi, that was seasoned with sesame oil and sesame salt.

    ¡°How? I don¡¯t think there¡¯s any live octopus in these seas? I can¡¯t even catch a live octopus anywhere in this area¡­ ¡±

    ¡°Ah. It¡¯s because I always carry some with me, you know?¡±

    Gorfido looked at Minhyuk incredulously.

    ¡®<em>He carries some live octopus with him all the time?</em><em>Is he like that? The One that¡¯s always prepared¡­?¡¯</em>

    The savory vor of the sesame oil that coated the fresh and wriggling octopus spread in Minhyuk¡¯s mouth the moment he ced it in his mouth. The longer the octopus stayed in his mouth, the more it revealed its charms. It was springy, lively and even had a hint of crunchiness in there. A smile automatically appeared on Minhyuk¡¯s mouth.

    Then, Minhyuk stretched his hands towards a bowl. He mixed a small amount of soy sauce and wasabi in this small bowl before mping a piece of the tfish sashimi. But before dipping it in the sauce, Minhyuk savored it by itself.

    <em>Chew, chew, chew¡ª</em>

    The tfish sashimi¡¯s texture was very chewy. The more Minhyuk chewed, the sweeter the vor of the fish in his mouth became. The smile on his face did not wane, instead, it became even brighter.

    Then, he turned his attention to salmon. Compared to the tfish, the salmon had a softer texture and a richer vor. After tasting the pure salmon sashimi, he mped another piece of tfish before dipping it in the soy sauce and putting it in his mouth.

    ¡°Wow¡­ It¡¯s alive, the vor of the sea is alive in my mouth!¡± Minhyuk shouted happily, like a child enjoying everything and anything within his reach. He even closed his eyes to savor and enjoy the dish!

    Next, he ced some sliced raw onion and some radish sprouts on top of the salmon sashimi. Then, he dipped everything in some white sauce, before putting it in his mouth. The soft and crunchy texture and sweet aftertaste of the onions spread in his mouth.

    This time, he picked up a piece of peri leaf and spread it out. Then, he picked up a piece of tfish sashimi and dipped it into a sauce made of ssamjang, minced garlic, and sesame oil, before cing it on top of the peri leaf with some sliced garlic and peppers on top. The moment he ced it in his mouth, the fragrant scent of the peri leaf on top of the perfect harmony of the garlic, pepper and tfish spread and covered every part of his taste buds!

    ¡°Wahahaha!¡± Minhyukughed happily as he ate the sashimi. Minhyuk¡¯s eyes were filled with anticipation, his smile growing wider at the sight of the fish stew that was already starting to boil.

    <em>¡®What a strange man. Even if he does not have everything and even if everyone does not fear him, he¡¯s still happier than anybody else. And with what? Just some measly, insignificant and trivial food?¡¯</em>

    Gorfido had never experienced or felt something like this in his life. He only felt delight when he became the object of everyone¡¯s fear. But this man in front of him was being loved and respected by the people around him.

    ¡°Why¡­? Howe you look happier with just a trifling thing like food? Why are you happier than when you acquired the captives? Why are you happier than when you got the best sword? Why are you happier when you¡¯re just eating¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk turned to look at Gorfido after hearing his words. The look in Minhyuk¡¯s eyes were distinctly different from when he cursed him or when he was ying around and calling him ¡®skullhead¡¯. Both his eyes and smile were soft as he said, ¡°Yes, those are definitely good things, big things. However, you don¡¯t have to have everything to be happy.¡±

    Then, Minhyuk looked at the sashimi spread in front of him as he continued to say, ¡°The food in front of me right now is more precious to me than anything else in the world, this is my standard. So, tell me. Gorfido, what is your standard of happiness?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Gorfido was left speechless after hearing Minhyuk¡¯s question. What was his standard of happiness? Killing, plundering, looting and trampling on everyone. Those were his standards of happiness.

    <em>¡®I see. The standards that I have set for myself were wrong¡­¡¯</em>

    Seeing the speechless Gorfido, Minhyuk opened his mouth again, ¡°Then, let me ask you a different question. What will be your ¡®standard of happiness¡¯ from now on?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Gorfido felt his heart thump wildly. What would be his standards of happiness from this point on? Truth was, he still did not know. However, one thought shed in his head, <em>¡®Can I find it if I stay with you?¡¯</em>

    Gorfido could already imagine it. He believed that he would be able to find a new standard of happiness as long as he stayed with this man.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk reached out for adle of the now boiling spicy fish stew as he reflected on what happened earlier. He thought, <em>¡®Kgghk~ I think it would be awesome if Gorfido became a fisherman, right? Fisherman King Gorfido! Wow, that sounds great!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk basked in his revolutionary idea!

    1. A first light dish, like an appetizer, served while your sashimi is being cut so you can have something to eat with your first drink. ?

 Chapter 473: Naval Warfare (Middle)

    Chapter 473: Naval Warfare (Middle)

    Minhyuk saw that the enemy ships were gradually increasing in number. Despite the pressing situation, there was still something that bugged him.

    <em>¡®A special event might happen with Gorfido?¡¯ </em>

    He did not understand what that meant. However, from what he saw earlier, he could surmise that Gorfido had heard something as well. Finally, the number of ships that appeared to surround him had reached more than 150.

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll just continue with this strategy. Retreat and lure them in and destroy them one by one. And¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk decided to continue with this n after seeing the pleasant message a few moments earlier.

    <em>¡®Is it about time for me to reveal my identity?¡¯</em>

    Just when the thought shed in his head, Gorfido suddenly approached him and said, ¡°I¡¯ll help you.¡±

    ¡°Help me?¡± Minhyuk looked at Gorfido in doubt. Gorfido was the one that asked Minhyuk to fulfill his request, so why was he offering him his help?

    ¡°Although it¡¯s only for a very short moment, Great Pirate Gorfido will awaken in this world.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    At that moment, Gorfido¡¯s translucent body suddenly got sucked inside Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    ¡°Ugh! Wh, what the¡­?!¡± Minhyuk was extremely flustered.

    <em>[Gorfido has taken control of your body.]</em>

    <em>[Gorfido has received a gift from the one that punished him.]</em>

    <em>[Gorfido will possess the body of the one that made him realize something new and will awaken to this world for three minutes.]</em>

    ¡°¡­???!!!¡±

    Minhyuk could immediately tell that this was the special event that would happen with Gorfido. The one that cursed Gorfido had made the impossible possible for him after seeing him realize something new.

    Finally, Minhyuk¡¯s bodypletely fell under Gorfido¡¯s control. Minhyuk could only think and observe what was happening around him. It was as if he was the one that possessed the body, and not Gorfido. After Minhyuk epted Gorfido¡¯s soul and possession, his hair grew until it reached his waist. Then¡­

    <em>Vwooooooooooooooooooooong¡ª</em>

    A tremendous amount ck energy started to burst out of his body and swirl around him, before shooting out to the skies.

    <em>Rumbleeeeee¡ª</em>

    The sea trembled and shook as¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡­a huge st of wind blew fiercely in the area. At that moment, Great Pirate Gorfido opened his previously closed eyes¡­

    <em>Blink¡ª</em>

    The sky turned ck as darkness covered the world. After hundreds of years, Great Pirate Gorfido had once again awakened to the world.

    ***

    With the sudden start of a naval war with an unknown Korean yer, ¡®Lundnu¡¯s past remarks¡¯ were pushed to the forefront and re-examined. And because of that, Lundnu had gathered several reporters that were close to him and conducted an interview.

    ¡°You have said in the past that the Food God, the strongest yer in Korea, and perhaps even the world, would only be a ¡®loser¡¯ in front of you if you two ever met at sea. Does this statement remain true even now?¡±

    ¡°The reporters are clearly saying something ridiculous when they reported that I said that he would be a ¡®loser¡¯. I only said that it would not be easy for him to deal with me as long as we¡¯re at sea.¡±

    Lundnu clearly believed that calling him a ¡®loser¡¯ if they met at sea was correct. However, many of the Japanese were against his words. That was why he was acting pretentiously and denying their ims.

    ¡°I will make sure to take a tough response against those that continue to say that I have mentioned the word ¡®loser¡¯ and make ¡®suggestivements¡¯ and ¡®articles¡¯ about this.¡±

    The reporters all nodded as they asked another question.

    ¡°You say that¡­ it wouldn¡¯t be easy to deal with you. Can you please exin it in detail?¡±

    ¡°The Food God is definitely the best and strongest yer in Korea. But the seas are nothing like your ordinary field. It would be hard to move freely, especially if you fall into the sea. Besides, the ship¡¯s power is far more important than an individual¡¯s power when at sea.¡±

    The reporters nodded as Ichiro kept on talking, ¡°Also, everyone here knows that my ship, Gorfido¡¯s pirate ship, boasts the strongest attack and defense. No matter how strong the Food God is, as long as we¡¯re at sea, it would be difficult for him to deal with me.¡±

    Ichiro continued to exchange a few words with the reporters regarding this. After the interview was over, one of the reporters that was close to him approached him and asked, ¡°Brother, will you really win against the Food God if you met him at sea?¡±

    ¡°To be honest? He¡¯s no match for me at sea.¡±

    Although Ichiro said it, he actually had no idea if that was true. However, he still spat the words out and decided to let things run their course. His pride and ego were far more important at this point in time.

    <em>¡®Besides, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll see him even in the future? Right? Fufufufufu!¡¯</em>

    Meeting with the Food God was a story that would only happen after world integration. Even if he talked recklessly, there was no way for them to confirm the authenticity of his words. And¡­

    <em>¡®By the time all of the servers integrate, I would have already collected all of Gorfido¡¯s relics. By then, I can definitely tear him apart.¡¯</em>

    Lundnu was someone that held extreme dislike towards the Food God. As he walked with those thoughts, he was able to confirm through his messages that more than a hundred ships have already surrounded the unknown Korean yer.

    ¡°I have to hurry.¡±

    Finally, the ¡®hunt¡¯ for the unknown bastard wasing to an end. Lundnu hurriedly stepped inside his Athenae ess capsule.

    ***

    A total of 160 ships have surrounded the unknown Korean yer.

    <em>[Those that have witnessed it just now could tell that the man had tremendous power that could force a ship to sink in one go.]</em>

    <em>[Who in the world is that man?]</em>

    <em>[Truth is, I want to say that he looks simr to the ¡®Food God¡¯ but his skills and face arepletely different.]</em>

    <em>[It seems like this long chase is finallying to an end. It¡¯s impossible for him to deal with Lundnu and 160 ships alone.]</em>

    Thementators are speaking passionately. Viewers from all over the world had flocked to watch what was happening in the seas of the Japanese server. This was because the appearance of a new powerhouse was always enough to make anyone excited. In an instant, 160 ships had already surrounded the unknown Korean yer.

    However, something extraordinary happened.

    <em>Vwoooooooooooooooong¡ª</em>

    Tremendous ck energy burst out and shot to the skies. Then, a st of wind blew fiercely as the sea began to churn and the skies turned ck.

    <em>[What in the world is happening?]</em>

    <em>[The seas are angry. Even the skies have turned dark. I have broadcasted a lot of naval warfare but this is the first time I have seen something like this.]</em>

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°What is going on?¡±

    It was apletely mysterious phenomenon that even those onboard the ships could not understand. However, it looked and felt like a great disaster was going to descend and judge them. The scene made the air feel prickly with tension.

    Just when they were about to gulp down to moisten their dry throats, someone slowly rose to the skies. The man¡¯s hair was long enough to reach his waist and thick enough to cover his face. His eyes glinted sharply through the gaps of his hair as he looked around the pirates. Even the sword in his hands was vibrating fiercely as the ck energy surrounded it.

    Although his appearance waspletely different from before, everyone knew that he was the one that they were chasing after. And with his appearance, shocking notifications hit everyone present.

    <em>[The world is witness to Great Pirate Gorfido¡¯s awakening!]</em>

    <em>[Great Pirate Gorfido has and will always regret the life that he lived in the past.]</em>

    <em>[Right now, he has descended to give judgment to all of the pirates present.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Great Pirate Gorfido was hailed as the ¡®devil¡¯ of the Japanese Server. The records of all his past deeds during his hundred years of life were more than enough for him to be hailed as the devil. He cut off the neck of a colleague that had betrayed him, hung it on his ship¡¯s sails and let the crows feed on it. He killed the pirates and navy that attacked him and built an ind of death from all of the bones that he had harvested.

    And this very same Gorfido had awakened.

    ck blood started to drip from the sword in the hands of Gorfido, or Minhyuk, down to the sea.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°Heok!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Everyone turned to look at the drop of ck blood that was falling down. This moment felt too long, it was as if it was stretched to eternity.

    <em>Drip¡ª</em>

    When the ck blood finally fell down at sea, it spread quickly and dyed the waters ck. And¡­

    <em>Rumble¡ª</em>

    ¡­the sea began to rumble and churn. The waves turned so rough that the weaker ships started to break down and sink.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    ¡°Ugh. Aaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Sa, save meeeeeeeee!¡±

    Everyone screamed and shrieked.

    ¡°Look, Minhyuk,¡± Gorfido said as a huge rainstorm brewed in the skies, with thunder and lightning striking down from above.

    <em>Rumbleee¡ª</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang!</em>

    ¡°This will be my final ¡®evil deed¡¯ and ¡®judgment¡¯.¡±

    A fifteen-meter-tall tidal wave lifted from the sea as Gorfido slowly raised Minhyuk¡¯s hands. It moved and followed the wave of Minhyuk¡¯s hands and devoured the ships around him.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>Clench¡ª</em>

    And when he clenched his fists, the ships that were devoured by the tidal wave crumbled into pieces.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang¡ª</em>

    ¡°Heuooooook!¡±

    ¡°Hiiiiiiiik!¡±

    ¡°Im, impossible! This is ridiculous!!!¡±

    ¡°Sa, save meeeeeee!!!¡±

    <em>[What, what¡­ what did I just see¡­]</em>

    <em>[More than seventy ships sank in less than a minute!]</em>

    <em>[The ships that have survived the first wave are also on the brink of copse. The huge waves are rocking and keeping them from maintaining their bnce.]</em>

    <em>[Great Pirate Gorfido. A legend recorded in one of the history books that I¡¯ve reades to mind. ¡®Baal had once descended in the Ever Seas to bring despair. But in these seas, he met with a man. This man was more of a demon than the great demon at sea, forcing Baal to run away from him. And this man, he trampled on everything, even the demons, at sea. He brought them despair and fear. And his name was¡­]</em>

    Thementator gulped dryly as he continued.

    <em>[¡­Great Pirate Gorfido.¡¯]</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    It was as if the sea was the orchestra and Minhyuk, its conductor. Whenever Minhyuk moved his arm, the sea followed and created a hymn of death. The raging waves devoured his enemies as the tears of the sea weighed them down. When Gorfido finished ying his own music, there were only twenty ships left around him.

    This time, he used a different method. When he brandished his sword, sea water flew up and swirled and wrapped around his sword. The sword, which grew over ten meters long, split one of the ships in one go. Then, he spun around and danced, his sword making graceful arcs and breaking five ships in a row.

    Gorfido was as fearsome as a great demon when at sea. The remaining twenty ships were destroyed and exterminated quickly. He slowly descended on the sea before dashing forward.

    <em>Dash, dash, dash, dash, dash, dash¡ª</em>

    Gorfido continued to destroy the pirate ships floating in the Ever Seas. The scene of his ughter brought shivers down the spines of all the viewers. And finally, he stood facing the 300 ships that set sail a bitter than the others. The ship leading the pack, thergest ship among all of the ships present, was none other than Gorfido¡¯s Pirate Ship. Lundnu and the rest of his men had finally arrived. But then, at that moment¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>[Great Pirate Gorfido¡¯s possession has ended.]</em>

    ¡­Gorfido¡¯s soul left Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was left speechless when he saw the 300 ships in front of him.

    ¡°Of all ces to take me, you take me here¡­? Huh, skullhead¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Gorfido could not give any retort.

    ¡°I miscalcted the time.¡±

    Gorfido, who made a mistake, lookedpletely different from when he destroyed a hundred ships in one go. But then, Minhyuk grinned and said, ¡°Then, shall we start ying the second verse now?¡±

    ¡°What the hell are you talking about? Run. They¡¯re not something that you can handle alone.¡±

    Gorfido wanted to cut down as many of the pirates as he could, but three minutes was extremely short. That was why he miscalcted. However, he knew that this number was something that Minhyuk could not deal with alone. Then, Minhyuk turned to look back at him and said, ¡°Who said that I was alone?¡±

    And when Gorfido followed Minhyuk¡¯s gaze, he saw a single ship rushing towards the 300 ships in front of them.

    <em>[What¡¯s that ship?!]</em>

    <em>[There¡¯s an unknown and mysterious ship rushing straight towards the 300 ships that have gathered!!!]</em>

    And Minhyuk? He was smiling softly at the sight of more than ten people with folded arms, standing side by side on the deck of the lone ship going against the tides. A beauty stood in the middle with a two-meter tall man with earphones stuck in his ears. There was also an old man carrying a spear, a boy cooking ramyeon, and right next to them was¡­

    ¡°I, I came to the country where <em>Friend</em> originated from! <em>Sugoi</em>!!!¡±

    ¡­a mage with golden hair. A lot of them stood side by side with their crossed arms. And the pattern that soared above their sails and fluttered in the skies was a fork and knife crossed together.

    <em>[B, Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?!!!!]</em>

    <em>[That, that¡¯s Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, right?!!!]</em>

    Then, Minhyuk closed his eyes and¡­

    <em>[You have disabled the Demon¡¯s Face.]</em>

    <em>Swoosh¡ª</em>

    The face that Minhyuk used as a cover slowly disappeared into thin air. And when he opened his eyes, his true face was revealed to the world.

    The Food God had appeared!

 Chapter 474: Naval Warfare (Middle)

    Chapter 474: Naval Warfare (Middle)

    The entire Japanese archipgo was once again thrown into a heated uproar after knowing that the unknown and mysterious yer that chased and hunted down the pirates was none other than Korea¡¯s best and strongest, the Food God! The sudden appearance of one ship that was sailing at full speed towards the 300 pirate ships was also enough to shock them.

    The ship was owned by the first kingdom built by a yer in Athenae and the number one guild of Korea, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Their ship rushed forward and stood in front of the 300 pirate ships confidently. Minhyuk stood in front of their ship and looked calmly at the 300 pirate ships in front of them.

    <em>[That¡¯s, that¡¯s crazy. One ship is keeping 300 pirate ships in check.]</em>

    <em>[All I can say is¡­ wow. They¡¯re so amazing. They only have one ship, but the aura and momentum that they emit seem to overwhelm the 300 pirate ships in front of them.]</em>

    <em>[It feels like the pirates onboard the 300 pirate ships are shaking.]</em>

    They were literally shaking. In fact, even the Japanese people were in admiration of Minhyuk. They were siding with him and not the pirates.

    <em>[Sugoi-ne!!! Minhyuk-chan! So cool!!!]</em>

    <em>[Wow¡­ Did you see? They did not falter even in front of 300 pirate ships? They¡¯re even overwhelming them in terms of momentum! Ah, I can¡¯t believe it. Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s king and their guild leader Minhyuk has visited our country!!!]</em>

    <em>[Ah! Does this mean that we can finally watch yer Minhyuk¡¯s mukbang in our country?!]</em>

    <em>[Come to think of it, didn¡¯t Lundnu say that it would be hard for the Food God to deal with him when they met at sea? It was just a few minutes ago too.]</em>

    <em>[Hahahahahaha. He said that the Food God would be a loser if they met in the past, there¡¯s just no video so he can get away with denying it. Although everyone knows it, he threatened that he would file awsuit if someone spreads this ¡®false information¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[Can¡¯t Lundnu prove it right here and now? That remark?]</em>

    Lundnu and the Food God had indeede face to face, which made all the media outlets heat up. Meanwhile, Lundnu¡­

    <em>¡®Th, this¡­ dog-shit luck.¡¯</em>

    ¡­was extremely flustered. He thought that he would only be able to meet the Food God after all of the servers had integrated. That was why he spouted nonsense and made overconfident remarks like that.

    To think that the Food God was now standing in front of him.

    <em>¡®No. I can kill him. This is an opportunity. If I kill the Food God here, then my reputation will soar and the whole world will know of me.¡¯</em>

    Lundnu was able to quickly regain his calm. Looking at the situation that they were in, Beyond the Heavens Kingdom only had one ship, while Lundnu was inmand of 300 pirate ships.

    Would 300 pirate ships lose against a single ship? It was impossible.

    Besides, Gorfido¡¯s pirate ship was the strongest and toughest pirate ship in existence. It was a fact that no ship, magic, or skill had ever won against Gorfido¡¯s pirate ship.

    However, Gorfido was extremely worried. He said, ¡°What can you do with just one ship?¡±

    Gorfido watched as the captives that Minhyuk had saved climbed aboard his ship. However, even with their addition, there were only around 100 of them.

    What could he do with these numbers?

    Genie approached Minhyuk and shook hands with him the moment hended on deck. She said, ¡°I didn¡¯t expect that we¡¯ll be fighting a naval war.¡±

    The ship that they were on right now, was a ship that they had built long before the establishment of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Not only did Roadol, the president of Ilhwa Construction, and Olger, the descendant and disciple of Golden Hammer Dwarf Lant, create a fortress, they had also asked for Minhyuk¡¯s approval to create a ship.

    <em>¡®We will definitely have a chance to set sail and go out to sea in the near future. Besides, there are countless things that we can get there.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk nodded when he heard Olger¡¯s words and said, <em>¡®Right! We can get a lot of good ingredients at sea! </em><em>Kyaa</em><em>! Okay. I approve! Making a fishing boat is a very good suggestion! Approved!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Eh? N, no¡­ it¡¯s not a fishing boat¡­ uhmm¡­¡¯</em>

    They unexpectedly got the go signal. And just like that, Roadol, Olger, and even Hyemin¡¯sDaddy, the cksmith God Hepas¡¯ Descendant, all participated in the creation of the ship. The ship created by the best architect and cksmiths in existence might not be as strong as Gorfido¡¯s Pirate Ship, but it could still destroy ships with one strike. Even so¡­

    ¡°What can you even do with just this number of people?¡±

    ¡°Huh? Why do I suddenly feel like there¡¯s a chill running down my spine?¡± Locke, who was also on board, immediately turned around. The reason for the chill down his spine was because Gorfido settled on his shoulders.

    ¡°Well, we¡¯ll see about that. After all, we¡¯re all descendants of <em>chungmugong</em>[1],¡± Minhyuk said, lips twisting in a smile.

    <em>Chungmugong? </em>Gorfido could not understand what Minhyuk was talking about. Then, he looked around the ship.

    ¡°Hey, runts! You want a taste of my spear, huh? Huh?! Kikikiki!¡± Said an old man, who wasbing his long hair.

    On the other side¡­

    ¡°<em>Sluuurp, nyam, nyam! Sluuuurp, nyam, nyam! </em>Tasty ramyeon~¡± A boy, who was wearing an eyepatch from who knew where, sang as he ate ramyeon.

    But was that all? Of course not.

    ¡°Music¡­ is the only drug permitted by His Majesty¡­!¡±

    <em>Drip, drip, drip¡ª</em>

    There was also a tall, handsome, fine young man that was mumbling a strange song about butterflies while smiling at the distant seas with tears dripping down his cheeks.

    ¡°Poor, pitiful souls¡­ Tch, tch. How can you not have something like this?¡±

    <em>¡®What? There¡¯s something missing?¡¯</em>

    ¡°Why are the hair on your head so thin?! I will make sure to save all your pitiful souls! Talmor!!!¡± The man, who Gorfido believed was a pdin, suddenly cried out with his arms raised high up in the sky.

    <em>Pause!</em>

    Gorfido touched his shiny and empty head for some reason after hearing the man¡¯s words.

    ¡°Haa~ haa~¡± Then, a strange sound suddenly rang out on the ship. It sounded like a man¡¯s low groan. Gorfido¡¯s head jerked towards the direction of the sound and saw a man shuddering with an ecstatic look on his face.

    ¡°Come,e! This is the story of a framed and fallen prince that fell in love with the mermaid princess! After being used of false charges, the fallen prince fled to the seas of Ever to survive. However, despite running away from his pursuers, a stray arrow got him and forced him to fall into the depths of the seas. The mermaid princess, who saw everything, came to the prince¡¯s rescue. When the prince came to be, he was greeted with the sight of the mermaid princess tending to him. The two fell in love at first sight and enjoyed passionate and zing love every night, creating wave after wave at sea!¡±

    ¡°Wave, wave after wave?!¡±

    ¡°This is a story of two people going inside only toe out as three people!!!¡±

    ¡°Three, three people?! Heok?!!¡±

    Gorfido was shocked. What kind of magic would allow two people toe out as three?!

    ¡°But the people at the royal pce realized this and sent troops out to sea to chase after the prince¡­!¡±

    ¡°What, what happened! What¡¯s next?!!¡± Gorfido shouted despite himself. At some point, he had fallen in love with the story. After all, he had never heard such a masterpiece in his entire life at sea! This was how charming the hot and zing story of the mermaid princess and the prince was! And there were even kingdom troops chasing after him!

    <em>¡®He, he¡¯s definitely a genius!¡¯</em>

    But not long after, Gorfido came back to his senses. It did not matter if that mysterious author was a genius, their current situation was still dire. How could these strange men go to war against 300 pirate ships?! At this point in time, Gorfido was still unaware that he would also be categorized as weird and strange in the future!

    But right now it was not only Gorfido, even the captives and the troops that decided to stay with Minhyuk, were doubtful of their victory. All of them trembled in fear at the sight of these men.

    <em>¡®H¡­ how can we trust these people with our lives and fight against 300 pirate ships?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®We¡¯ve definitely been scammed! Fighting that number with these people is just in reckless!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®We¡¯re all going to die!¡¯</em>

    Fear began to bud in their hearts. The scene made it clear to everyone onboard that their victory in this fight was a long-shot. They did not want to fight in this battle when they would only be ¡®forced to die¡¯.

    ¡°I¡­ I want to live¡­¡±

    ¡°I want to go back!¡±

    ¡°Hiiiik! How can we entrust our lives to those fools! We can¡¯t fight with them!¡±

    But Minhyuk did not address them and only looked at the guild members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. At that moment, Gorfido felt an unknown pressure weigh down on him.

    <em>¡®The aura and momentum changed?¡¯</em>

    They all stopped what they were doing the moment Minhyuk¡¯s eyes passed by them. The tall man, Elpis, quickly pulled out the earphones in his ear, while the old man, Ghost Spear Ben, tucked away hisb. Even the boy who ate ramyeon, Conir, stood up and looked at Minhyuk with bright and clear eyes.

    ¡°Heed my orders.¡±

    At Minhyuk¡¯s words, everyone¡¯s momentum changed. Even the look in their eyes changed. Their eyes glinted sharply, like lions prowling at the peak of the food chain, as Minhyuk finished his orders, ¡°Destroy all of the pirates of Ever Seas.¡±

    ¡°We have received your orders!¡±

    ¡°We have received your orders!¡±

    ¡°We have received your orders!¡±

    Ghost Spear Ben banged his spear strongly on the floor, while Elpis, Conir, Corr and Aruvel knelt down on one knee. Then, Genie started to push the ship¡¯s lever. Then¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡­their ship began to elerate and rush towards the 300 pirate ships.

    Minhyuk walked on the ship¡¯s deck as he began to say, ¡°The pirates of the Ever Seas have looted, plundered and taken the lives of many people so far. The souls of the lives that they reaped hover above this very sea, as they wail and cry sadly for their justice.¡±

    Minhyuk looked at the captives, now turned soldiers. He could see that they were trembling in fear at the thought of fighting against these pirates once again. However, he also watched as theyy witness to the change in momentum of his men. Then, Minhyuk made eye contact with each and every single one of them.

    ¡°Stop letting those that took away your families and your happiness get away. Fight. Even if your sword breaks and yourrades die, fight and rush forward bravely with your weapon. If you copse, then grab your enemies legs and help yourrades survive. If you lose your weapon then use your teeth and bite your enemies. Never, ever, back down! We will all survive and take the victory!!!¡± Minhyuk shouted as he lifted his sword high up in the skies. The men onboard recalled their dead family and the countless torture that they suffered when they were still prisoners, and finally regained their courage once again.

    ¡°Drive out the pirates from the Ever Seas!!!¡±

    ¡°May divine judgment fall unto those that have taken my family away from me!!!¡±

    ¡°Fight! Fight! Fight!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaah!¡±

    They only had one ship. But, in an instant, the momentum and voices ringing from their ship suppressed the 300 pirate ships in front of them.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s lone ship sailed at full speed towards the 300 enemy ships.

    Gorfido was extremely surprised. He thought, <em>¡®He¡¯s sometimes yful and joking, sometimes like a child and sometimes like a swindler. You¡¯re telling me that this man is a king?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk smiled softly as he looked at the soldiers. He said, ¡°Never fear. These people that are standing before you¡­¡±

    He stood at the deck of the ship as he looked at the members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom that were preparing to take off. When their lone ship shed against the first line of enemy ships¡­

    <em>Craaaaack¡ª</em>

    <em>Bang!</em>

    <em>Boom!</em>

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    Their ship, which was only 2/3 the size of ordinary ships, continued to rush forward while trampling those that blocked their path. And as the ship shook, Minhyuk turned to look at the soldiers to finish his words. He said, ¡°¡­have the strength of a thousand men.¡±

    As if on cue, the ten key figures of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom flew to the skies and jumped in the middle of the hundreds of enemy ships. When Ghost Spear Bennded, he caused a huge explosion and destroyed several ships in one go.

    <em>Rumble¡ª</em>

    Sword Saint Conir swung his sword hundreds of times, urately stabbing one ship after another with every blow.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    Hundreds of magic arrows poured out of Golden Mage Ali¡¯s hands and rained down on hundreds of pirate ships in a brilliant disy of light.

    <em>Rumbleee¡ª</em>

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud!</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Seeing this, confidence in gaining victory started to fill the soldiers'' eyes once again. And Gorfido, who watched everything on the sidelines, was also shocked. He was witnessing the disy of power of people each with the strength of a thousand troops.

    1. ???(ÖÒÎä¹«) - Lord of Loyal Valor, a posthumous title granted to great militarymanders of the Joseon Dynasty. ?

 Chapter 475: Naval Warfare (Middle)

    Chapter 475: Naval Warfare (Middle)

    It was not only the Japanese, but also the Koreans, who were paying close attention to the battle in the Japanese Server¡¯s Ever Seas. Upon seeing the Food God and the members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom only bring one ship forward, they doubted what they could do against their enemies. After all, no matter how strong or how high they were in the rankings in Korea, it would still be hard for them to deal with that many pirate ships.

    But now, their thoughts changed as they watched the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s lone ship pierce through the 300 pirate ships! The ship kept on advancing forward while crushing every pirate ship that blocked their path. Then, the members of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom leapt to the skies and began their ughter, breaking one pirate ship after another.

    <em>[I think the power that they¡¯re disying right now is still the same as the power that they disyed when they hunted Great Demon Verus, right?]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s crazy¡­! The buff effect still hasn¡¯t worn off?]</em>

    <em>[Wow. That¡¯s amazing. What kind of power do the dishes made by our Lord Food God have?!]</em>

    Everyone was shocked when they realized that the members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom still had their buffs in effect. After all, everyone was aware that most of the members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had eaten Minhyuk¡¯s dishes when they hunted Great Demon Verus and received very shocking powers.

    But it was more shocking for them to see that the buff of the dishes that they ate were still in effect!

    <em>[If we get the power of his dishes, then isn¡¯t it possible for us to bomb our level?]</em>

    <em>[Will I be able to eat something like that if I go to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?]</em>

    <em>[From what I heard, you will be able to hear heavenly and divine harmony in your ears the moment you eat the Food God¡¯s dish. I really want to try it once!]</em>

    As of this moment, quite a number of people were seriously considering migrating to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    ***

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Lundnu looked at the ship owned by Beyond the Heavens Kingdom incredulously when he saw it charge recklessly forward.

    <em>¡®How high is that ship¡¯s attack and defense¡­?!¡¯</em>

    They were breaking through all of the ships that blocked their path and were charging forward? At first Lundnu thought that they were conceited and arrogant. After all, how could they go against their numbers with just a single ship, right?

    But just as the thought shed in Lundnu¡¯s head, the members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom suddenly leapt to the skies and started to destroy the pirate ships one after the other.

    ¡°Heoooook! Wh, what the hell?! How much damage can they deal¡­?!¡±

    That was right. Lundnu held onto the belief that the duration of the buff that they had received before had already ended. But right now, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were showing that they still had the effects of the buffed dishes with them.

    Ghost Spear Ben immediately dashed away after destroying the ship, and jumped onto another. The ship that hended on was Lundnu Pirates¡¯ Second Attack Ship. Lundnu was akin to a king in the seas, and the man that he left aboard the Second Attack Ship was Attor, Japan¡¯s number one spearman.

    Whenever Attor saw Ghost Spear Ben in the news, he would snicker and say, <em>¡®Korea¡¯s Ghost Spear Ben? Isn¡¯t he just a fangless tiger?¡¯ </em>These were Attor¡¯s true and honest thoughts. Attor was also a spearman in real life and was well-known for his skills, that was why he was confident. Then, he gave his orders, ¡°Stop him. There¡¯s only one enemy in front of us!!!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    The pirates aboard the Second Attack Ship were among the best of the best. Even their vice captain was once a kingdom¡¯s Knight Commander. Just like that, more than forty pirates rushed forward to stop Ghost Spear Ben.

    And Ghost Spear Ben? He just slid on the ship¡¯s deck, stabbed one of the pirates running upfront with his spear before pulling it out once again.

    <em>Spuuuuurt!</em>

    ¡°Hey runts! Did you think that it would be different if you attacked with numbers?¡±

    Ghost Spear Ben moved swiftly from one end to another as he pierced through the knights¡¯ armors and stabbed his enemies¡¯ stomachs.

    ¡°Keuheoooook!¡±

    This time, instead of pulling out his spear, he just took the pirate that he stabbed with him and rushed forward as it was. Ghost Spear Ben, who used the body of his enemy as a shield, flew up in the air and cast his Ghost Spearmanship¡¯s Exploding Spear.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The forty-odd pirates that rushed to stop Ben all fell down and died in one attack.

    ¡°Heook?!¡± Attor gasped incredulously. He could not believe that more than forty pirates were wiped out in just under twenty seconds. However, he knew that many of the Japanese had their eyes trained on him at this very moment. He had to maintain hisposure.

    <em>¡®I can¡¯t be scared. I will definitely cut off Ghost Spear Ben¡¯s head.¡¯</em>

    Attor was a master when it came to attacking with the spear. Even his passive skill supplemented his attack by doubling his speed. He firmly believed that no one would be able to beat him in terms of speed. The tip of Attor¡¯s spear directly aimed for Ghost Spear Ben¡¯s neck.

    However, Ben only tilted his head to the side and he was able to evade Attor¡¯s attack. Attor did not give Ben any chance to take a breather as he stabbed, swung and struck at him. Ben only lightly pushed the spear with his arm and he was able to evade the attack. He even used his own spear to lightly hit against Attor¡¯s spear and change its course.

    ¡°Runts! How dare you try to pressure and push my king with your numbers?!¡± Frost settled on Ghost Spear Ben¡¯s usually yful face. After evading Attor¡¯s spear, he swung his spear once and dug through Attor¡¯s chest.

    <em>Craaaaaaaaack¡ª</em>

    ¡°The price for daring to touch His Majesty is death.¡±

    Ghost Spear Ben pulled his spear out before stabbing Attor once again.

    ¡°Keheoook!¡± Attor could not believe what just happened despite the mouthful of blood that he vomited. His HP slowly started to go to zero in just one single attack. And finally, Ghost Spear Ben left him behind.

    <em>Thuuuuuud¡ª</em>

    As ckness started to encroach upon his vision, Attor mumbled, ¡°Lu¡­ Lundnu¡­ R, run¡­ awa¡­¡±

    It only took twenty seconds for Attor to be forced to log out.

    ***

    Several pirate ships had turned their attention to one man and one man alone. This man was none other than ¡®Golden Mage¡¯ Ali. At this point in time, everyone felt that Ali was far more dangerous than Minhyuk. After all, even the official global number one mage Alex could not reach his toes. If he unleashed his AOE magic attack, then the ships that were crowded in this area would definitely be destroyed. And because of that, they sent hundreds of assassin ss yers to the ship that Ali was currently in. But Ali¡­

    <em>Twitch, twitch¡ª</em>

    ¡­had his lips twitching with joy.

    ¡°What the hell? Why is he smiling?!¡±

    ¡°¡­Is he nuts?¡±

    From what they heard, Ali was one of the few normal ones among the people of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. That was why they did not have any idea why Ali was smiling like crazy right now. However, as the hundreds of assassins narrowed the distance between them, Ali suddenly raised his left arm up in the sky and shouted, ¡°Frieeeeeeeeeeeeend!!!¡±

    ¡°F, Frieeeeeeeeeend!¡±

    ¡°Frieeeeeeeeeeeend!¡±

    Some of the Japanese assassins that were rushing toward him reacted unconsciously to his words. Anyic fan would not be able to stop themselves from reacting to this heart-warming call, right?! At that moment, these few assassins recognized Ali as their ¡®friend andrade¡¯!

    ¡°Are you all nuts?! Come back to your senses?!!!¡±

    ¡°Ah. Yes!¡±

    The assassins that stopped in their tracks unconsciously were woken up by theirrades and started to rush forward again. It did not matter if they got dyed, Golden Mage Ali was just a ¡®mage¡¯. The fact that he was the weakest when it came to closebat would remain the same. The hundreds of assassins soared to the skies to approach him. At the same time, dozens of magic attacks shot out Ali¡¯s hands.

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª</em>

    All of the magic that he sent out urately stabbed through the hearts of the approaching assassins. But what was more surprising was the fact that Ali only used first to third tier magic.

    ¡°Keoheok?!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    That was right. Mages might be vulnerable with their low defense and HP, but so were the assassins. The worst part? Whenever the assassins reached Ali, Ali would use Blink and scurry away from them. And whenever they thought that they had finally seeded innding an attack, the gigantic predatory snake that was hiding in Ali¡¯s arm would show its face and bite them.

    All eyes turned to Ali as he soared to the skies with Fly, his lips still twitching with joy.

    ¡°C, crazy shit! Stop smiling!!!¡±

    Then, disaster befell them as magic poured out of Ali¡¯s Staff of Despair.

    ¡°Explosion.¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Mages could save and umte their magic. As a high-tiered mage, Ali always had dozens of fourth to fifth tier magic stored in his staff. Dozens of explosions burst out and engulfed the dozens of ships gathered together.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    All of the pirates that were watching the scene were left speechless. They could note back to their senses after receiving the bombardment of Ali¡¯s infamous AOE magic spells. Then, as if to drill it even further in their heads that these people were not to be taken lightly, Minhyuk cast his Sword of Absolute Death. His attacks also destroyed dozens of ships in one go. The thing that made the pirates fall into deeper despair was the ¡®Crazy¡¯ that was engraved on the t of his sword.

    Just then¡­

    <em>Rumbleeeeeeee¡ª</em>

    Gorfido¡¯s Pirate Ship, which was about eight or nine times the size of an ordinary ship, began to tremble as a deep smile hung at the corners of Lundnu¡¯s mouth.

    ¡°Let me show you the power of Gorfido¡¯s Pirate Ship.¡±

    And with his words, the bottom of Gorfido¡¯s ship started to open as hundreds of cannons appeared. The worst part was that the attack power of the canons of Gorfido¡¯s Pirate Ships was more than seven times that of the normal pirate ships. Even the speed at which they shot out the cannonballs were as fast as a machine gun.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Then, Gorfido¡¯s Pirate Ship began to rain down cannonballs upon them. Ali looked at the cannonballs in shock after quickly casting a shield in front of him.

    <em>¡®The shield can¡¯t handle the attack?¡¯</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Ali started to fall as a crack appeared on his shield. Minhyuk quickly picked Ali up before running toward their own ship.

    ¡°Get back onboard!!!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    With Minhyuk¡¯s order, everyone retreated back to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s ship.

    The name given to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s ship was ¡®Battleship¡¯. It was a ship exclusively built for battle. The ship was now receiving the brunt of heavy firepower. Fortunately, the ship was being protected by a transparent protective shield which prevented the cannonballs from dealing damage to their ship.

    ¡°They¡¯re holding out under the onught of Gorfido¡¯s Pirate Ship¡­¡±

    ¡°What in the world is that ship?!¡±

    The pirates looked at their ship in shock. This was because no ship had ever endured a bombing from Gorfido¡¯s Pirate Ship. However, instead of rejoicing, Genie¡¯s face had turned ugly. She said, ¡°Minhyuk. The damage that we are receiving from that ship¡¯s bombing is beyond our imagination.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s expression turned serious. He knew that his HP would at least decrease by 15% if he ever received a direct hit from that.

    ¡°My pirate ship has won against 500 ships in the past,¡± Gorfido said. However, what came as a bigger shock was his following words. He said, ¡°That¡¯s only a small part of what it can do. Gorfido¡¯s Pirate Ship is equipped with many excellent functions. You won¡¯t be able to deal any damage to it with just a normal cannonball.¡±

    That might be true. After all, Gorfido owned that ship.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Their ship continued to endure the bombardment of Gorfido¡¯s Pirate Ship.

    <em>[Battleship¡¯s Shield has decreased by more than 50%.]</em>

    <em>[Warning! Warning! There is a chance that the shield will be destroyed. Please be careful!]</em>

    Small cracks started to appear in the shield that protected the ship. Seeing this, more than a hundred pirate ships started to narrow the distance between them and the Battleship. And in a blink, Battleship was enduring the bombardment from several, perhaps even hundreds, of pirate ships.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The ship rocked fiercely from the bombardment. Then, Genie and Minhyuk made eye contact.

    ¡°Let¡¯s wait a bit more. Wait until we have filled more.¡±

    ¡°How much more?¡±

    ¡°Only 15%. Only 15% until it''s full.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Gorfido looked at the two of them in doubt as he wondered about what the two of them had been waiting for.

    ***

    Thementators looked at the Battleship that was being cornered by the pirates.

    <em>[In the end, they are ced in a tight spot.]</em>

    <em>[Their momentum was very high in the beginning. However, it¡¯s still reckless for them to rush into hundreds of pirate ships.]</em>

    <em>[The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s ship¡¯s shield will soon be destroyed. If the bombing continued, then even their Named NPCs and guild members would not be able to hold out against it.]</em>

    No one could deny their ims. They all believed that it was amazing for this single ship to hold out and still be intact, despite the constant bombing. However, they knew that it was only a matter of time. There was just one thing that they were wondering about.

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t they moving?¡±

    Battleship neither fled nor attacked. The members of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom just stood still and epted all of the attacks sent their way. Because of that, it made it easier for the ships to surround them. And before they knew it¡­

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    ¡­the blue shield that protected the Battleship began to fall apart.

    <em>[It seems like the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s ship will sink under the depths of the sea.]</em>

    <em>[If Gorfido¡¯s Pirate Ship continues its bombardment, then their shieldless ship will not be able to withstand the attacks and will definitely sink.]</em>

    Just when everyone predicted the end of this battle, Genie, who was standing on the deck, walked toward a mysterious ¡®red button¡¯.

    ¡°¡­What the hell?¡± Lundnu mumbled in puzzlement.

    ¡®<em>What in the world does that red button do?</em>¡¯

    Genie¡¯s lips twisted into a vicious smile as she stood in front of the red button. Then, she looked up at the pirate ships and shouted, ¡°F*ck off!!!¡±

    And the moment she pressed the button, a roof akin to a turtle¡¯s shell suddenly appeared and covered the Battleship, as iron shields popped up and covered its body. And along with that¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The bottom of the Battleship opened with a loud bang, as hundreds of thicksers stretched out from it and split more than seventy ships in half.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    All of the pirates were appalled when they saw the sinking ships in front of them.

 Chapter 476: Naval Warfare (Middle)

    Chapter 476: Naval Warfare (Middle)

    Barras Kingdom was once the home of production ss yers. It was a kingdom that was frequented by visitors, for its excellent iron ores, sculptures, outstanding dishes, paintings, and many more. Although their military prowess was infinitely weaker than the other kingdoms, their outstanding products made these kingdoms treat them carefully, and with respect.

    Barras Kingdom had always been thriving with production ss yers. But now, the streets were empty. Haze looked miserably at the empty Chef¡¯s Tower, Fisherman¡¯s Tower, Painter¡¯s Tower, cksmith¡¯s Tower and many other production towers that stood high around her. These towers were no longer being visited by people.

    <em>¡®Who should we put in the seat of the tower master in charge of the Chef¡¯s Tower? This is the most important tower to us.¡¯</em>

    The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s representative and main specialty should be ¡®cooking¡¯. However, it was impossible for Minhyuk, the king, to take the position of the Chef¡¯s Tower¡¯s tower master, since he already had a lot on his te and was busier than anybody else in the kingdom. That was why they needed a chef that was as good and as influential as him to work on his behalf. Someone that could be an idol and a teacher to all of the chefs in the world.

    <em>¡®The Chef of Delight will be perfect for the position.¡¯</em>

    There were rumors in the Asgan Continent about the Chef of Delight. ording to them, he was a chef that roamed the continent to taste different dishes, while making outstanding ones himself and giving them to those in need. He always cooked for hungry children and from what they heard, the way he ate was simr to how ¡®Food God Minhyuk¡¯ ate. It was also said that the dishes made by this mysterious Chef of Delight did not fall behind the dishes made by ¡®Twilight Chef¡¯ ck.

    Twilight Chef ck was someone that was always fed shit whenever he went against Minhyuk. In fact, his prowess could not even catch up to Minhyuk at all. However, it was undeniable that he was a great chef. His skills might be behind that of Minhyuk¡¯s but in terms of mercial value and publicity¡¯ he was the best in Asgan Continent. Was there a chef that couldpare to him, aside from the Chef of Delight?

    At that moment¡­

    ¡°Lady Haze.¡±

    ¡°Sir Abel.¡±

    ¡­Informant Abel appeared beside Haze.

    ¡°How was it?¡±

    ¡°I followed his trail based on the information that I have gathered. But when I reached the area where he was staying, he was already gone.¡±

    ¡°He did not leave because he knew that we were looking for him, right?¡±

    If, for some reason, the Chef of Delight was hostile to them, then it would be impossible for them to recruit him.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know about that. But¡­ the direction where the Chef of Delight wasst seen headed to is¡­¡± Abel trailed off in doubt for a moment before continuing, ¡°¡­the direction where our Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is located.¡±

    ¡°Here? The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?¡± Haze asked in surprise. She was very shocked to hear that the Chef of Delight was headed toward their kingdom. What was his purpose for visiting them?

    At that moment, one of the guards that were guarding the gates of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s capital rushed toward them and gasped, ¡°Heok, heok! Miss Haze. A man who identified himself as the Chef of Delight is requesting an audience with His Majesty!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Haze and Abel were both surprised at the report. The Chef of Delight was requesting an audience with their king? The two of them hurried behind the guard. When they arrived, they saw a man wearing a straw hat and some shabby clothes, sitting on the side of the street and eating some ramyeon from Conir¡¯s Ramyeon Shop, a store opened by Ramyeon Boy Conir.

    ¡°Ho? The noodles are chewy and the soup is spicy and refreshing. As expected of my boy, Minhyuk¡¯s kingdom.¡±

    <em>¡®My boy Minhyuk?¡¯</em>

    The man called His Majesty ¡®my boy, Minhyuk¡¯? What was more¡­

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuuuuuuurp! </em>Kihyaa! Wonderful. Amazing!¡±

    ¡­the way he ate ramyeon reminded everyone of how Minhyuk ate. He slurped the noodles and lifted the entire bowl to take a sip of the soup. It was a carbon copy of Minhyuk.

    ¡°<em>Phew</em>,¡± He spat out a sigh in admiration and ced the bowl down after finishing everything. The amount of ramyeon that he ate alone totaled to around six bowls.

    ¡°Excuse me. I am Haze, His Majesty Minhyuk¡¯s aide.¡±

    ¡°Hello?¡± The man greeted with a smile.

    Although he was a middle-aged man with a kind smile on his face, Haze thought that she should still be on guard. Although the man sounded friendly and close when he addressed their king, it might still be a part of some sort of conspiracy.

    ¡°With all due respect sir, we heard from the report that you requested an audience with His Majesty Minhyuk. May we please have the honor of knowing who you are? And if possible, what rtionship do you have with His Majesty?¡±

    The man stood up from his seat and said, ¡°I am His Majesty Minhyuk¡¯s cooking master.¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Haze was very shocked. The man that created amazing dishes and rocked the entire world with his cooking was the same master that taught Minhyuk how to cook?!

    ¡°I once worked in Eivelis Empire¡¯s imperial kitchen. I taught him a few things. Ah, when we met, I did not have a sense of taste. My boy Minhyuk was the one who gave me a sense of taste,¡± the man said. Then, he looked up at the Chef¡¯s Tower and continued to say, ¡°I came here to repay him. My name is Len.¡±

    This man was none other than the man that once served as an Imperial Chef in the Eivelis Empire, and the captain of the military kitchen back in the novice vige that taught Minhyuk how to cook. He was also the man that fell in love with Ellie, the Empress of Eivelis Empire. Now, he was the Chef of Delight, a chef that was respected by all. He had taken a step forward and offered himself in service for Minhyuk. This was all thanks to the virtue and good deed that Minhyuk had umted.

    ***

    The entire Japanese archipgo was left reeling in shock after seeing dozens of thicksers stretching out from Battleship and splitting seventy ships in half. Even the pirates in the vicinity were also struck dumb at the sight of the sinking ships.

    Thesers that they released just now were the thing that Minhyuk and Genie were waiting for. Theser was a system that they created after observing and studying Minhyuk¡¯s Earth King¡¯s Authority, Worship.

    Earth King¡¯s Authority, Worship was based on the amount of Authority Mana that the skill user umted. The more it umted, the stronger and more powerful the authority would be. Battleship¡¯sser system worked the same way. The more attacks they received from ships with stronger attack power, the more their ser gauge¡¯ would be filled.

    However, for Battleship¡¯sser gauge to increase, the ship needed to have a high defense and durability. And Battleship met these conditions perfectly. Originally, they could use thesers the moment they filled 30% of the energy gauge, but they waited until they reached 100%. After all, reaching 100% meant that they would be able to unleash the full force of the power that they had umted from their enemies in one go.

    Just like that, the notifications kept on ringing in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You have wiped out 60% of the pirates!]</em>

    <em>[You have umted +24 STR and AGI, +15 STM, +17 WIS and +20 INT in your Wagyu.]</em>

    <em>[You have umted 80,000,000 EXP in your Wagyu.]</em>

    Surprisingly enough, the fourth reward, which was the wagyu, kept on umting EXP and stats, the more pirates they wiped out. The rewards listed were already extremely ridiculous, but there was something that was even more ridiculous in store for Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®If I get 80%, then Gorfido will be given a new lease in life.¡¯</em>

    It was another reward that he would get if he reached the required percentage. However, Minhyuk was not sure if it was talking about Gorfido bing his ¡®vassal¡¯ or not. Then, Battleship began to speed up again.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    And the ce where Battleship, which was now covered with an iron shield and lookedpletely like a turtle ship, was going for¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡­was none other than Gorfido¡¯s Pirate Ship, and soon, the two powerhouses collided. s, Gorfido¡¯s Pirate Ship did not budge at all.

    However, Minhyuk did not intend to break it. The reason why he stuck Battleship directly to Gorfido¡¯s Pirate Ship was all because of Gorfido¡¯s advice.

    <em>¡®Gorfido¡¯s Pirate Ship is closely rted to its owner. As long as you get the captain, it will be nothing more than a powerful pirate ship.¡¯</em>

    That was right. Only one person could control Gorfido¡¯s Pirate Ship. And right now, that was Lundnu.

    <em>¡®Besides, once you board the ship, they will be forced to stop their bombardment. After all, no ally would dare to bomb their own ship.¡¯</em>

    As expected of Great Pirate Gorfido. When Battleship collided with Gorfido¡¯s Pirate Ship, a part of the iron shield opened up as Minhyuk and the members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom flew up and boarded Gorfido¡¯s Pirate Ship. That was when an unexpected notification rang in their ears.

    <em>[Gorfido¡¯s Pirate Ship¡¯s curse has fallen upon you.]</em>

    <em>[While you¡¯re on Gorfido¡¯s Pirate Ship all stats, including physical and magical defense, will drop by 30%.]</em>

    <em>[Sessful Attack Rate will decrease by 40%.]</em>

    <em>[You will feel heavy as if shackles have been tied to your feet.]</em>

    <em>[Your movement speed will decrease by 20%.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s body trembled. This was something that he had not heard from Gorfido earlier. He shouted, ¡°Isn¡¯t this something that you should tell me in advance?!¡±

    Gorfido awkwardly scratched his head and said, ¡°It has been hundreds of years. I forgot. Sorry.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    <em>¡®That bastard¡­ is very sloppy.¡¯</em>

    The members of Beyond the Heaven Kingdoms did not expect those notifications so they were a bit flustered.

    ¡°Minhyuk, why are you shouting in the air like that¡­?¡±

    ¡°Y, you¡­ is there a ghost¡­?¡±

    ¡°Your, Your Majesty¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    They looked at Minhyuk weirdly. It was only natural since Gorfido waspletely invisible to others. But Minhyuk did not have the time to exin it to them, they were in a very pressing situation.

    ¡°Keuhahahahahahahaha! Caught you! You have been caught in my trap!!!¡± Lundnu cackled. Truth was, he did not even think about that at all. He just said whatever was on his mind. ¡°You won¡¯t even be able to deal with the pirates of this ship. Even if your legendary NPCs have considerable power, do you really believe that you can deal with this ship?! This is Gorfido¡¯s Pirate Ship!¡±

    At that moment, a ck whirlwind surrounded Lundnu. When it disappeared, several figures appeared around him.

    <em>[Pirate Gorfido and the pirates that have made legendary achievements have appeared!]</em>

    <em>[Legendary Navigator Artney has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[Sea ughterer Bellod has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[Vicious Sorcerer Aelvero has appeared!]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    More than ten legendary figures surrounded by ck streams of air appeared. Gorfido did not even look at them. He just blinked and looked at Minhyuk before saying, ¡°¡­Why the hell are those punks here? They all died with me before. Brats, go back to hell!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk looked nkly at Gorfido. For a brief moment, he wanted to smash his skull head and break it to pieces. However, he did not have the time to do so, his mind spun fast as he thought about something. Just when Lundnu was about to order his summons to attack¡­

    ¡°Wait.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Lundnu and the pirates paused in their tracks as Minhyuk continued to speak calmly, ¡°I have a proposal.¡±

    ¡°What kind of bullshit¡­?!¡± Lundnu muttered, his face horribly distorted. What kind of proposal did he want to suggest?!

    ¡°How about doing a 1:1 PVPpetition? I think our numbers match up too, including your summons and mine.¡±

    ¡°¡­What?¡±

    Lundnu looked at Minhyuk incredulously. Why did he suddenly suggest doing a 1:1 PVP showdown?

    Minhyuk said, ¡°Just think about it. This kind of war will only increase the damage that both sides will incur if it continues. Besides, don¡¯t we both have something that we have to deal with?¡±

    That was right. The viewers from all over the world had high expectations for the confrontation between Minhyuk and Lundnu.

    <em>¡®The damage that we have incurred is already too much.¡¯</em>

    Even if the situation was favorable to Lundnu, the moment the members of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom went all out, the damage would continue to umte and would only stop until they got killed, or they killed their enemies. Besides, they already received a big blow after a huge number of their allies had been killed by only a small number of elites.

    <em>¡®They¡¯re also 30% weaker now.¡¯</em>

    Lundnu would not deny the fact that they were strong. But a 30% decrease in power, especially for a ranker or a Named NPC, was bound to be a huge decrease in power.

    ¡°But don¡¯t you have NPCs like Diablo and that guy who uses the Mercenary Swordsmanship?¡±

    There were still plenty of risky factors even though their power has decreased by 30%. These risky factors were none other than Diablo and Brod.

    ¡°Ah. Brod did note here because of some personal circumstances,¡± Minhyukpletely left out the fact that Brod beat up the Red Goblin that was why he could note here. He continued, ¡°Elpis will notpete if you so wanted to. But aspensation, me, the King, and you can summon as much as we can. How about that?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Lundnu¡¯s thoughts spun fast. The proposal was good. If Brod and Diablo did not step forward, then it would not matter how strong Minhyuk¡¯s summons were. As long as their power was decreased by 30%, Lundnu¡¯s side would be able to trample on them. This was a great opportunity for the Japanese.

    ¡°Okay, good,¡± Lundnu said. His grin was so wide that his face almost seemed distorted. Even if Minhyuk could summon someone to fight, could they do something against these legendary figures? Of course not, only Brod and Diablo could do so.

    The first person that Lundnu sent forward was Bellod, the Sea ughterer. He was one of the strongest Named NPCs in Japan and was Gorfido¡¯s right hand man. He could deal a tremendous amount of damage, had high defenses, fast speed, and excellent skills. Even his level was high.

    But before they could start, Minhyuk and Lundnu both signed the ¡®Foreigner¡¯s Pledge¡¯. If the yer that signed the Foreigner¡¯s Pledge vited their oath, then they would be forced to log out.

    ¡°I pledge¡­¡±

    ¡°I pledge¡­¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s grin was wide as he dered, ¡°Then, I will summon the first one.¡±

    Lundnu snorted. No matter who he summoned, the summon would not be a match against Bellod. But then, at that moment¡­

    ¡°Demon Summoning.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Tremendous ck energy swirled from the depths of the sea before gathering in front of Minhyuk and forming a figure. And along with that, a shocking notification rang in the pirates¡¯ ears.

    <em>[Demon Kimaris has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[Those that will seal Demon Kimaris will receive rewards!]</em>

    A gigantic ck horse carrying a devil in the form of a ck soldier appeared and descended at sea.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Everyone was speechless at the sudden appearance of a huge demon. And Bellod, the Named NPC that Lundnumanded, unknowingly took a step back from fright.

 Chapter 477: Naval Warfare (Bottom)

    Chapter 477: Naval Warfare (Bottom)

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Demon Kimaris, in the form of a ck soldier, had only just made an appearance, but his very presence already made the sea churn violently. When he red frostily at his surroundings¡­

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kghhhhhhhhk!¡±

    ¡°Arghh¡­!¡±

    ¡­the weaker and ordinary pirates that identally made eye contact with him ended up copsing on the ground from the pressure of his gaze. This scene was immediately broadcasted and described by the Japanese broadcasting stations and theirmentators.

    <em>[Something unbelievable just happened right in front of our very eyes. yer Minhyuk has summoned a demon.]</em>

    <em>[A yer has summoned a demon. How in the world¡­]</em>

    Everything was because of the ¡®Demon Summoning Ring¡¯.

    <em>(<strong>Demon Summoning Ring</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: Legendary</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: The One that has sealed a demon.</em>

    <em><strong>Durability</strong>: 1,000/1,000</em>

    <em><strong>Defensive Power</strong>: 70</em>

    <em><strong>Special Effects</strong>: Summons a random demon.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>:</em><ol><li>You can randomly summon one of the 72 Devils.</li><li>The first randomly summoned demon will be fixed. This will be the only demon that you can summon.</li><li>You can only summon this demon a total of four times.</li><li>The Demon Summoning Ring will disintegrate after using up all of the allowed number of summons.</li><li>The demon¡¯s summoning time will only be for thirty minutes.</li><li>The first demon that you summoned must follow the orders of their summonerspletely during the first summons.</li><li>If the summoned demon pledges their eternal ¡®obedience¡¯ to the ring user, then the demon would be the user¡¯s vassal.</li></ol>

    <em>This is the Demon Summoning Ring carried by Great Demon Verus. During the first summoning, the demon that you summoned will have no other choice but to obey your orders. However, in the next summoning, the demon can kill you or bring the world into the depths of despair. Be careful.</em>

    Minhyuk easily saw through Lundnu¡¯s careful thoughts. So he used them skillfully to his advantage. The rewards that they received after hunting Great Demon Verus have not been publicized. There was no way for others to know what Minhyuk had gained back then. In Lundnu¡¯s point of view, aside from Elpis and Brod, none of the summons that Minhyuk could summon on the fly would be a match against his Named NPCs. Also, if he epted Minhyuk¡¯s offer, he would be able to reduce whatever damage that they would incur and also get the opportunity to trample on Minhyuk easily.

    Then, an unexpected set of notifications rang for Minhyuk and his men.

    <em>[Demon Kimaris has the special attribute of instilling ¡®courage¡¯ to humans.]</em>

    <em>[Your morale has increased dramatically.]</em>

    <em>[A power that allows you to never back down has been applied.]</em>

    <em>[You have received an increase of 20% in stats and attack hit rate and a 15% increase in attack.]</em>

    Just because they were demons did not mean that they would only bring harm to humans. Especially with Kimaris, a demon with a special attribute that ¡®could instill courage to humans¡¯.

    ¡°This, this is ridiculous¡­!¡± Lundnu eximed, no other words coulde out of his mouth and he could only gawk at the sight. It was clear that this was the reason why Minhyuk had proposed a 1:1 PVP match. However¡­

    <em>¡®I don¡¯t know how he summoned that demon but that demon must definitely be weakened¡­!¡¯</em>

    There was no way that summoning a demon would not garner any penalty. Besides¡­

    <em>¡®There¡¯s no way a human like him can control a demon!¡¯</em>

    Unfortunately, Lundnu¡¯s beliefs were wrong this time. The special ability attached to the ring would force the summoned demon to obey all of the orders of the summoner unconditionally during the first summon.

    ¡°A human dared to call for me¡­¡±

    Just like Lundnu had thought, Kimaris did not look favorably upon Minhyuk. But¡­

    ¡°Shut up. Follow my orders.¡±

    <em>[His words have the same power as Great Demon Verus¡¯mands.]</em>

    <em>[If you don¡¯t follow his orders, the punishment that Great Demon Verus had ced in the Demon Summoning Ring will tighten its noose upon your neck.]</em>

    ¡°How dare¡­¡± Kimaris growled, face turning ugly from the notifications. However, the Demon Summoning Ring was an item that contained the power of Great Demon Verus, he had no choice but to follow Minhyuk¡¯s orders unconditionally, ¡°What do you want?¡±

    Minhyuk briefly exined to Kimaris the situation that they were in.

    ¡°Damn it¡­!¡± Lundnu cursed his failed predictions. However, he still had a little spark of hope in him. He immediately winked at Bellod. Sea ughterer Bellod, with his body turned into bones, was wearing a ck robe and holding two katanas in his hands. This very same Bellod flew swiftly to take Kimaris by surprise as he aimed his katana at Kimaris¡¯ neck.

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    Shockingly enough, Bellod¡¯s katana failed to cut through Kimaris¡¯ neck. But Bellod did not stop there, he took that opportunity to spin and attack Kimaris from atop his head.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡± Bellod, despite only having a skull as his head, looked at his opponent in confusion. He was known for his tremendous damage, speed, and his fine techniques. But none of his attacks had gone through at all. True, he might have created legendary achievements with Great Pirate Gorfido in the past, but he was only a human legend at best. In the face of a demon, a human was nothing but an ant. Bellod soared to the skies once again.

    This time, Demon Kimaris swung the huge ax in his hands.

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    The first swing smashed Bellod¡¯s skull.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack!</em>

    The second swing mmed into his ribs.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    And the final swing caused Bellod¡¯s bones to copse, forcing him to fall down helplessly on the ground.

    <em>Rumbleeeee¡ª</em>

    <em>[The Sea ughterer Bellod has been put to rest.]</em>

    <em>[You will not be able to summon Sea ughterer Bellod a second time.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Ludnu turned pale. Gorfido¡¯s subordinates were his pride. Of course, he rarely summoned them because he wanted to keep them as his trump card. He had kept a firm belief that Gorfido¡¯s subordinates would be able to keep their ground and would not be pushed back by the Food God¡¯s Named NPCs.

    s, this firm belief now brought great pain to Lundnu. The sight in front of him made his chest feel constricted.

    <em>¡®N, No¡­¡¯</em>

    Even though it pained him, he was now in a situation where he could not stop at will. This was because he signed the ¡®Foreigner¡¯s Pledge¡¯ on a live broadcast. He had no choice but to send another one forward. The next one that Lundnu sent out was Vicious Sorcerer Aelvero.

    <em>¡®If it¡¯s his one shot kill attack explodes then¡­¡¯</em>

    Vicious Sorcerer Aelvero could use the power of the sea to bombard his enemies with powerful magic. Just like that, Aelvero, with his shabby robes, cast his magic.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Sea water rose and surrounded his body, but just as he was about to send them toward Kimaris¡­ no, even before that¡­

    <em>ck, ck¡ª</em>

    Just one step from Kimaris¡¯ ck horse and he was already in front of Aelvero.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Aelvero¡¯s hollow socket looked at the demon in front of him nkly. If he could sweat, he would definitely be covered in it by now. And then¡­

    <em>aaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    ¡­Kimaris¡¯ axe broke Aelvero¡¯s skull.

    <em>[The Vicious Sorcerer Aelvero has been put to rest.]</em>

    <em>[You will not be able to summon Vicious Sorcerer </em><em>Aelvero</em><em> a second time.]</em>

    Lundnu felt his heart rip in two. Not only because he lost another summon, but also because this scene was being broadcasted live all over the world. It was as if he was showing how inferior he was to the Food God, to the entire world.

    <em>[The Storm Knight Caria has been put to rest.]</em>

    <em>[You will not be able to summon Storm Knight Caria a second time.]</em>

    <em>[The Navy Butcher Rudeina has been put to rest.]</em>

    <em>[You will not be able to summon Navy Butcher Rudeina a second time.]</em>

    Great Pirate Gorfido¡¯s Pirate Knight and Rudeina, his Sea Master Archer, both fell down after a few hits from Kimaris¡¯ axe. Lundnu felt like his heart was clenching in pain. He finally knew that he had beenpletely caught in Minhyuk¡¯s trap.

    <em>¡®If only I hadn¡¯t been greedy¡­¡¯</em>

    If only Lundnu did not be too conceited, believing that he would be able to trample on the Food God and kill him easily, then this would not have happened. But then, at that moment, Minhyuk suddenly extended a helping hand. He said, ¡°Shall I offer you another proposal?¡±

    <em>Grit, grit¡ª</em>

    Lundnu gritted his teeth. He wondered what Minhyuk was up to this time. But Minhyuk just smiled softly and said, ¡°Even I know that it¡¯s hard for ordinary Named NPCs to win against the demon.¡±

    ¡°So?¡±

    ¡°This time, I will allow you to pick your opponent in this PVP match. I won¡¯t let the demone out to fight anymore.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    It was like a sweet whisper to the desperate Lundnu. His eyes glinted in the dark as he thought, <em>¡®Are you trying to stop the people from criticizing you for killing my pirates with a demon?¡¯</em>

    Of course, everything happened because Lundnu epted Minhyuk¡¯s proposal. However, Minhyuk would not escape from the people¡¯s criticism if things continued at this rate. After all, it was not Minhyuk¡¯s vassal that participated in the match.

    <em>¡®Moron. Your men are 30% weaker.¡¯</em>

    That was right. Lundnu was going to grab onto thisst straw of hope. Besides, it was Minhyuk himself that said that he would not let the demone out to fight in the PVP anymore. He even graciously offered a way out for him, so how could he back out? Just like that, Lundnu began to scrutinize each of Minhyuk¡¯s vassals.

    <em>¡®Let¡¯s just choose the one that looks the weakest. I¡¯ll choose the weakest first and kill his Named NPCs one after the other.¡¯</em>

    Lundnu¡¯s head was suddenly filled with anger. He wanted to let Minhyuk feel the helplessness and pain of losing his NPCs too! As he looked at Minhyuk¡¯s NPC, his gaze finally stopped on one person.

    ¡°Conir¡¯s hungry. Conir wants to eat ramyeon! <em>Sluuurp, nyam nyam!</em><em>Sluuurp, nyam nyam! </em>Tasty ramyeon!¡±

    <em>That boy! </em>

    After careful consideration, Lundnu realized that he never saw any amazing performance from the boy in any of the videos that he had seen. Of course, he knew that the boy was strong. Butpared to others, he did not gain much attention in the broadcasts so far. And from what he could see, the boy wascking in the brain department.

    <em>¡®I don¡¯t know how that boy got this strong but he¡¯s definitelycking in skills and technique.¡¯</em>

    Lundnu was certain that the boy wascking in control and techniques. He confidently said, ¡°Then, I choose the ramyeon boy first.¡±

    Lundnu believed that he would be able to kill them one after the other. But when Minhyuk heard his words, his lips slightly curled up.

    The boy, Conir, was the Sword Saint and a genius of the sword that taught the Knight¡¯s Tower¡¯s Tower Master his swordsmanship. Conir was also the progenitor of the ¡®Faramil¡¯s Swordsmanship¡¯, the swordsmanship taught and used by the Knight¡¯s Tower to all of the strongest knights that have gathered in their tower.

    By a stroke of luck, Kimaris¡¯ special attribute had slightly offset the 30% loss in power the moment they stepped foot on Gorfido¡¯s Pirate Ship. Of course, Lundnu was unaware of all of this.

    This time, Lundnu sent out ¡®Sea Assassin Adron¡¯. Adron was a very outstanding assassin that could assassinate ordinary captains of pirate ships within seconds. Lundnu was confident that Adron¡¯s quick feet and delicate techniques would be able to kill the boy in one go.

    ¡°Conir! Conir¡¯s hungry! Conir will finish this quickly!¡±

    Adron dashed forward. But instead of killing the boy, Adron¡¯s two katanas, the katanas that he pulled out from behind him, were blocked easily. No, he was being pressured. The talented Sword Saint, Conir, was pressuring Adron, like a beast caging its prey. Then, Conir stabbed Adron in his empty chest before shing his sword upwards and breaking his skull with a crack.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    <em>[The Sea Assassin Adron has been put to rest.]</em>

    <em>[You will not be able to summon Sea Assassin Adron a second time.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Lundnu was left speechless.

    And the boy Conir¡­ as a child, he had always learned well and copied the adults in front of him! He immediately recalled the wise words that Genie had imparted to the world before as he dered, ¡°I am Conir! Why is an annoying and cheeky f*cker jumping in front of me?!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The legendary Sea Assassin Adron was nothing more than an annoying and cheeky f*cker in front of Conir.

 Chapter 478: Naval Warfare (Bottom)

    Chapter 478: Naval Warfare (Bottom)

    <em>[The Sea Hunter Korro has been put to rest.]</em>

    <em>[You will not be able to summon Sea Hunter Korro a second time.]</em>

    <em>[The Lunatic Ebetto has been put to rest.]</em>

    <em>[You will not be able to summon Lunatic Ebetto a second time.]</em>

    Gorfido¡¯s Subordinates, the Named NPCs that were the source of Lundnu¡¯s pride, fell down one after another under Conir¡¯s sword. Everything went ording to Minhyuk¡¯s expectations.

    Minhyuk knew that the whole of Japan would not recognize Minhyuk¡¯s victory if he used the demon to kill all of Lundnu¡¯s Named NPCs. So, to prevent something like that, he proposed another round with a different opponent.

    Minhyuk predicted that Lundnu would choose Conir. Of course, the results would not change even if Lundnu chose Ghost Spear Ben, Talmor¡¯s Corr, Best Selling Author Aruvel, or the others. Pdin Corr might be the weakest among Minhyuk¡¯s Named NPCs, but the fact that they were fighting the undead would give him higher additional damage as a benefit of his high holy power.

    As for Ghost Spear Ben and Best Selling Author Aruvel, they had ovee plenty of battles with Minhyuk and had grown stronger over the course of their stay with him.

    <em>¡®The fact that I was clueless about Lundnu being able to summon Gorfido¡¯s Subordinates meant that he did not summon them often.¡¯</em>

    Of course, there would definitely be penalties for summoning those Named NPCs. However, no matter how fine and outstanding a sword was, it would turn dull if left unattended for a long time. On the other hand, swords that were constantly being used, repaired and sharpened by cutting down countless enemies would always be superior.

    This was the case with Minhyuk¡¯s vassals. All of them had been sharpened by countless ordeals and trials. They were the men that had not lost their ground and had pushed back 150,000 enemy troops. They had even hunted a ck dragon and fought against demons. Going through these tough battles meant that they grew stronger. After all, NPCs were just like yers in the sense that they could grow infinitely.

    <em>ck¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk raised his Continent Destroyer Sword and pointed it at Lundnu.

    This sight, especially after losing all of his men, made Lundnu furious. Under their current circumstances, Lundnu was undeniably the loser.

    However, he still held on to one belief, <em>¡®I won¡¯t go down that easily.¡¯</em>

    Lundnu¡¯s arrogant remark, <em>¡®The Food God </em><em>would be nothing but a loser if we met at sea¡¯</em><em></em>was something that he blurted out because he believed that they would never meet under such circumstances. Even now, he still believed it. After all, the Food God was definitely exhausted. He had fought and destroyed countless ships by himself, which meant that he had also used up his skills. Hence, Lundnu believed that he still had a chance.

    <em>[Gorfido¡¯s Authority.]</em>

    <em>[You have awakened part of Great Pirate Gorfido¡¯s power!]</em>

    <em>[You will be unrivaled as long as you¡¯re at sea thanks to the power that you inherited from Great Pirate Gorfido.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will dramatically increase by 34%.]</em>

    <em>[You can use a portion of the skills that Gorfido harnessed in his life.]</em>

    Lundnu threw away his ck pirate hat, and when he waved his hand, the sea water followed his movements and attacked Minhyuk.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Lundnu immediately jumped up the moment the seawater made contact with Minhyuk. Then, hundreds of weapons made from seawater suddenly appeared and rushed forward to trap Minhyuk. However, even though Minhyuk¡¯s feet were firmly standing on Gorfido¡¯s Pirate Ship, his abnormally high stats granted him ease of movement. Minhyuk shed his sword toward the first attack that was about to reach him.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Along with the loud explosion, dozens of water weapons disappeared. This was the power of the Lightning ¡®Explosion¡¯ attached to Minhyuk¡¯s Continent Destroyer Sword.

    <em>Swoosh¡ª</em>

    ¡®Explosion¡¯ slowly disappeared and was reced with ¡®Crazy¡¯. At the same time, Lundnu¡¯s sword shed at Minhyuk¡¯s chest. However¡­

    <em>aaaaaash¡ª</em>

    ¡°Ugh?!¡±

    ¡­it was Lundnu that received the damage, not Minhyuk. The strong impact from the reflected attack made Lundnu shake and tremble. But he immediately shifted to his left and sent an attack again.

    <em>ng, ng, ng! Crack¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk easily deflected all of Lundnu¡¯s attacks.

    <em>¡®What kind of outrageous stats does he have¡­?!¡¯</em>

    That was not all; the way Minhyuk blocked Lundnu¡¯s attack was so clean and precise that it seemed as if he was one with the sword.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The effect of Crazy was activated and Lundnu was blown back by the force of the attack.

    ¡°Urk!¡± Lundnu vomited a mouthful of blood, but he still jumped up to attack Minhyuk.

    <em>[Arfey¡¯s Swordsmanship Chapter Four.]</em>

    <em>[Plundering Pirate.]</em>

    The moment his skill got triggered, Lundnu¡¯s AGI doubled, while his sword attack increased by 1.3x. Feeling confident with his speed and damage, Lundnu attacked Minhyuk once again. However, with every attack that he sent out, there came the mounting realization that the Food God was not a loser at all.

    The Food God was no match against him? No, the Food God hadplete dominance over him.

    <em>¡®I was definitely the one who attacked first. So why¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa!</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Lundnu vomited another mouthful of blood, his body flying back from the impact.

    ¡°How?!¡± Lundnu roared, still in denial about the ring gap between him and Minhyuk. He badly wanted to reject the existence of the gap between him and the man hailed as the strongest yer in the world.

    At that moment, a new word, ¡®Destruction¡¯, was branded on Minhyuk¡¯s sword. When the furious Lundnu tried to cut Minhyuk¡¯s neck, Minhyuk countered by shing at him. Then¡­

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    ¡­eight bloody lightning bolts struck Lundnu.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    The damage was crazy. Only a few attacksnded square on Lundnu, but his HP dropped sharply.

    <em>¡®This¡­ Is this the true power of top ranking yers¡­?¡¯</em>

    Lundnu felt extremely frustrated when he realized that without Gorfido¡¯s Pirate Ship, he was just one among the many ordinary yers.

    <em>[You have fallen into a two-second stunned state.]</em>

    Lundnu¡¯s head fell the moment he was put into a stunned state. In just a blink, he was met with the notifications of his forced log out.

    <em>[You have been forced to log out.]</em>

    <em>[You are Great Pirate Gorfido¡¯s Descendant.]</em>

    <em>[Great Pirate Gorfido¡¯s Descendant will have a different penalty. The penalty will be dependent on the atrocious deeds that you havemitted.]</em>

    <em>[Your ess has been limited. You can only ess the game four times.]</em>

    <em>[Your gold drop rate has increased by eight times.]</em>

    <em>[Your artifact drop rate has tripled.]</em>

    <em>[Your inventory has increased by five times.]</em>

    <em>[The one that has sessfully killed you will receive the <strong>Title</strong>: ¡®The One who Hunted the Great Pirate¡¯.]</em>

    At the same time, Minhyuk received a set of notifications.

    <em>[You have forced Great Pirate Gorfido¡¯s Descendant Lundnu to log out.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the <strong>Title</strong>: The One who Hunted the Great Pirate.]</em>

    <em>[Lundnu is the yer hailed as the Ever Seas¡¯ Great Pirate. You will receive EXP as a special reward.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 500,000,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have wiped out 82% of the pirates!]</em>

    <em>[You have umted +27 STR and AGI, +21 WIS and +25 INT in the Wagyu.]</em>

    <em>[You have umted 100,000,000 EXP in the Wagyu.]</em>

    The notifications did not stop there.

    <em>[Lundnu is considered an atrocious and vicious pirate. His penalties after being forced to log out are more severe than ordinary pirates.]</em>

    <em>[You can pick up the items that he dropped!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1,133 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Gorfido¡¯s Earrings.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Hunter¡¯s Harpoon.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 441 Sea Ore Pradnium.]</em>

    <em>[¡­Handsome Pirate¡¯s Boots.]</em>

    <em>[¡­the Undead¡¯s Feather Armor.]</em>

    The constant notifications that rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears informed him of the huge rewards that he had reaped. Then, Minhyuk ordered, ¡°Wipe them out.¡±

    ¡°As youmand!¡±

    ¡°As youmand!¡±

    ¡°As youmand!¡±

    There was no task easier than wiping out an army that has lost itsmander. The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom began to clean up the remaining pirates.

    ***

    Japanese Branch¡¯s Special yers Management Team¡¯s new employee Ryota was in both shock and disbelief. He thought, <em>¡®For real. He has wiped out more than 90% of the pirates¡­¡¯</em>

    The monitor was disying the scene of Minhyuk and the members of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom wiping out the remaining pirates and reaching more than a 90% wipeout rate. In fact, they hadpletely overruled the predictions of the Japanese Branch¡¯s Story Team, who predicted that it would already be amazing if they could reach 40%.

    <em>¡®Crazy¡­ the Food God is¡­ very cool.¡¯</em>

    Ryota was even fascinated by the Food God. However, there was one problem.

    ¡°Gorfido will be the Food God¡¯s vassal¡­ oh no¡­¡±

    Gorfido was considered as both the best and the worst NPC in Japan. He was also famous for being more evil than the demons at sea! Such an existence would actually be a yer¡¯s vassal?

    <em>¡®Of course, he will be weaker if he bes a vassal, but¡­¡¯</em>

    It was the price that Gorfido had to pay for the chance at a new life that the Absolute God had presented to him.

    Then, Team Leader Tadayoshi said, ¡°Gorfido? He¡¯s evil, you know? It does not mean that a yer would haveplete control over him just because he became their vassal. You have to understand that, Ryota.¡±

    ¡°¡­Huh? What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°In Athenae, a world where NPCs have a high degree of freedom, having Gorfido as yer Minhyuk¡¯s vassal might very well spell doom for him. Gorfido is a vicious killer, and having a crazy killer by his side would make the Food God suffer instead of reaping benefits.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Ryota nodded after hearing Tadayoshi¡¯s exnation. He thought, <em>¡®Unless he could win Gorfido¡¯s heart and loyalty, Gorfido will only bring disaster to him.¡¯</em>

    A vassal also had their own freedom. What would happen if Gorfido went crazy and went back to his old ways? It would bring a catastrophe for the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    Just like what Team Leader Tadayoshi had said, Gorfido would only bring disaster if Minhyuk did not have his heart and loyalty. At that moment, a white pir of light fell down into the empty space in front of Minhyuk. And in that empty space, a ragged and worn skeleton suddenly appeared. Flesh and skin started to appear and cover these bones. Long ck hair that reached the waist appeared on the skeleton¡¯s head. It was immediately followed by a long and majestic ck cloak, as well as a ck pirate hat with a skull pattern on it. After the transformation, the figure that appeared in front of them had sharp and glinting eyes, an elegant nose, and a soft, yet defined, jawline. He was a very handsome man.

    <em>[yer Minhyuk has exceeded 80% clearance rate in the quest: Gorfido¡¯s Wish. Great Pirate Gorfido has been granted a new life.]</em>

    <em>[Granted a new life, Gorfido has lost 20% of his original power.]</em>

    And just like Tadayoshi had predicted, Gorfido¡¯s expression did not look good.

    <em>¡®A great pirate like him going under themand of a human? There¡¯s no way he would not be reluctant,¡¯ </em>Ryota thought, fully convinced that this was the case. Then, Minhyuk approached Gorfido with a soft smile on his face.

    However, the words that he said were extremely shocking¡­

    <em>[I will not make you my vassal.]</em>

    <em>[yer Minhyuk has refused Gorfido¡¯s pledge of vassalship!]</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Ryota was extremely shocked.

    ***

    Gorfido, who was given a new life, had the same thought process as what the many people thought of him, <em>¡®Do I really have to live under someone¡¯s wing and atone for my sins? Do I have to live with someone who¡¯s just a human?¡¯</em>

    He wanted to atone for his sins after recalling the incident with Andrei. However, for someone like him to serve Minhyuk¡­ was that even possible? Perhaps his reluctance was because of his remaining pride as the Great Pirate. Then, Minhyuk approached him and said, ¡°I will not make you my vassal.¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Gorfido looked at Minhyuk in doubt. It was not just him. Even the members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and the viewers from all over the world watching the broadcast right now were also looking at Minhyuk in doubt.

    <em>¡®You don¡¯t want Japan¡¯s greatest NPC as your vassal?! Are you crazy?!¡¯</em>

    ¡°Do you remember what I told you before?¡±

    Gorfido did remember.

    <em>¡®Yes, those are definitely good things, big things. However, you don¡¯t have to have everything to be happy.¡¯</em>

    These were Minhyuk¡¯s words, the words that had greatly moved Gorfido¡¯s heart.

    ¡°I hope that you can find happiness even in the smallest of things and that you will live a good life, a better life than when you were a great pirate. Also, you have to atone for all of the sins and atrocities that you havemitted. And¡­¡± Minhyuk smiled softly as he continued, ¡°¡­find a pretty woman, get married, have a child, and care for them just like you cared for Andrei.¡±

    Great Pirate Gorfido did not know anything besides killing, looting and plundering.

    ¡°Get that kind of happiness by yourself.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Gorfido¡¯s heart shook wildly at that. Looking back, he already knew that Minhyuk was strange the first time they met.

    <em>¡®You¡¯re aplete f*cking bastard, aren¡¯t you?¡¯</em>

    Gorfido was an orphan. He had to do everything and anything to survive and had been the subject of everyone¡¯s fear from a young age. Everyone tried their hardest to please him, in fear. But strangely enough, when he had heard Minhyuk curse him back then, he had not felt bad. It had just made him look back on his life.

    <em>A strange man. A special man. A funny man. And a kind man. </em>

    At this moment, Gorfido truly realized that the man in front of him had taught him a lot of different things in the brief time they had spent together.

    Minhyuk smiled softly at him before turning around to leave. And Gorfido¡­

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    ¡­suddenly knelt down on one knee as streaks of hot tears fell down his cheeks.

    <em>¡®I can¡¯t and won¡¯t ask anyone to forgive me for my past, but I want to live the rest of my life atoning for them. I want to live by his side.¡¯</em>

    Gorfido mmed his fist on his right chest, his body trembling fiercely as he dered, ¡°I, Gorfido, will devote my life to Your Majesty¡¯s service!!!¡±

    Gorfido¡¯s loud deration echoed loudly in the vast seas. Minhyuk looked back at Gorfido with a smile.

    This was the moment when the King of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, the Food God, had truly won the heart of Great Pirate Gorfido.

 Chapter 479: Naval Warfare (Bottom)

    Chapter 479: Naval Warfare (Bottom)

    The entire world was in shock after witnessing Gorfido shed tears!

    Gorfido was a Named NPC that was notorious not only in Japan, but throughout the world. Everyone was of the same mind when it came to Gorfido. They all believed that Gorfido would only bring disaster to the one that decided to take him in. After all, it was impossible to tame a beast that already had a taste of the thrills of hunting.

    And that was exactly what Gorfido was, a beast that had a bloody history.

    But now, in front of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s King Minhyuk, he was bawling his eyes out while swearing eternal loyalty. Minhyuk just smiled quietly. The words that he told Gorfido? Hepletely meant them. He truly wanted Gorfido to be an ordinary man, an ordinary husband, an ordinary daughter-con or son-con, and live an ordinary life while atoning for the evil deeds that he had done in the world.

    <em>¡®I did not expect that Gorfido would swear his allegiance to me.¡¯</em>

    It was true. Deep down, he also felt that Gorfido would pose a threat to him if he did not change. But Great Pirate Gorfido was now kneeling and making a pledge of allegiance to him. With this, Minhyuk was sure that Gorfido would live in his kingdom for the better.

    So, he said, ¡°Gorfido. From this point on, you will live as a citizen of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. I want you to atone for the atrocious deeds that you have done in the past. And¡­ if you evermit a single evil deed, you will meet my sword.¡±

    ¡°As youmand!!!¡± Gorfido answered loudly and energetically while Minhyuk grinned at him. Meanwhile, the viewers watching the broadcast felt a huge tremor shake their hearts. Then, something unexpected happened again.

    <em>[The Absolute God was greatly impressed with you, who have given Gorfido a true ¡®awakening and enlightenment¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[The mysterious Absolute God has bestowed a present upon you.]</em>

    <em>[The quest: Gorfido¡¯s Wish has achieved a 100% pirate wipe-out rate.]</em>

    <em>[You have umted +30 STR and AGI, +21 STM, +20 WIS, and +15 INT in your Wagyu.]</em>

    <em>[You have umted 150,000,000 EXP in your Wagyu.]</em>

    <em>[You have wiped out 100% of the pirates. You have created a surprising achievement!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1000 REP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 100 CHA.]</em>

    <em>[With the 100%pletion rate of Gorfido¡¯s Wish, you will be able to obtain the countless trophies, like artifacts, golds and treasures, that Gorfido has obtained in the ¡®Pirate¡¯s Grave¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[Gorfido will be able to recover 10% of the 20% power deduction that was imposed upon him.]</em>

    <em>¡®Amazing¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk shuddered at the thought of gaining all of the artifacts and gold that Gorfido has obtained so far in the Pirate¡¯s Grave. This was a reward that waspletely out of this world.

    Meanwhile, Mankai, the best BJ in Japan, watched everything on the sidelines. He felt a warmth spread in his heart at the sight of Gorfido swearing his allegiance to Minhyuk. After all, everyone would feel the same if they watched such a sight. Then, Korea¡¯s representative BJ, Know-it-all Dictionary, approached him and said, ¡°You could probably tell why I signed an exclusive contract with the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom now, right?¡±

    Know-it-all Dictionary was also aboard the Battleship, hiding on the sidelines to broadcast the battle between Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and Japan¡¯s King of the Sea Lundnu. However, to others, it did not make sense for a man like Know-it-all Dictionary to be tied up somewhere, even if it was the very first kingdom established by a yer, right? Mankai had justughed at Know-it-all Dictionary thinking that he had finally gone crazy.

    But now¡­

    ¡°Hey, Dictionary. Can¡¯t you give me a free pass to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re in the Japanese Server so¡­ No.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Mankai still held a bit of hope. The regret that filled his face disappeared as he watched the kneeling Gorfido and Minhyuk with a slight smile on his face.

    ***

    First things first. Minhyuk boarded Battleship and headed straight toward the Pirate¡¯s Grave. Once they reached the ce, he was able to gain huge rewards.

    <em>[You have gained 3,719 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Gorfido¡¯s Cowboy Boots.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Bellod¡¯s Longsword.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 1,041 Aqua Stones.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 301 Mermaid Princess¡¯ Tears.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 51 Iron Sea Lion¡¯s Teeth.]</em>

    The notifications rang non-stop. There were also the artifacts, gold, and misceneous items that Minhyuk had received after killing the three Pirates of Despair earlier, as well as the pirates under Lundnu from before. Minhyuk simply calcted everything in gold.

    ¡°Around 18,000 tinum¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Everyone present was left speechless. That was right. Minhyuk earned 18,000 tinum when he came out at sea.

    ¡°How in the world¡­?¡± Genie asked in shock. As far as she knew, Minhyuk had called for them to the Japanese Server to help with his current situation.To think that they were able to earn 18,000 tinum, an amount that was worth around nine billion if converted to cash, in that short amount of time.

    ¡°This much money is enough for the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s development funds, right?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s more than enough. I think there will be a bit of a surplus too,¡± Genie said with a smile on her face. She wondered how far Minhyuk¡¯s opportunities could reach and thought, <em>¡®Ah. It would be nice if we can fill in a bit of our citizens.¡¯</em>

    Just like the saying: there was no end to a man¡¯s greed, Genie felt greed sh in her head. But suddenly, something huge approached the shoreline of the Pirate¡¯s Grave. Above that unknown thing, there were roughly 1,300 people. And when the unknown thing rose up, what greeted them was Sukhoe, with its eyes curved in a happy crescent.

    ¡°Oh~ Sukhoe, you¡¯re here? Thanks for helping oppa with this request!¡±

    ¡°K, keok?!!¡±

    ¡°Suk, Sukhoe?!¡±

    ¡°O, oppa¡­?!¡±

    While everyone was shocked, the people riding on top of Sukhoended on the Pirate¡¯s Grave and immediately knelt down in front of Minhyuk and dered¡­

    ¡°Please take us with you!!!¡±

    ¡°We swear our eternal allegiance to you, King of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!!!¡±

    That was right. These people were none other than the captives. The dolphins were hard at work rescuing the captives that fell at sea and bringing them to a nearby ind, while Minhyuk fought against Gorfido¡¯s Pirate Ship and the other pirates. These rescued captives were mostly people that had been abandoned by their kingdoms and empires. And all of them wanted to be with the one that saved them, the King of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    However, some of them were still on the fence. That was when Minhyuk hit the nail on the head and gave them a good proposal, ¡°My subordinates will assist you and your family in migrating to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.¡±

    ¡°Th¡­ thank you!!!¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    Most of the ones that were worried about the families that they left behind were the ones that were part of the navy before. Their addition to their kingdom would definitely reinforce their troops.

    But what if their families were also added to the count?

    <em>¡®There would be over 3,000 peopleing¡­¡¯</em>

    Genie nced at Gorfido with a smile before approaching Minhyuk for a talk. Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°Oh my. Of course~ That¡¯s only natural~¡±

    ¡°Really? As expected. Hohohoho! That¡¯s our Minhyuk!¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    Gorfido knew that they were definitely talking about him, but he could not hear the exact details of their conversation. Then, Minhyuk quickly dragged Gorfido away from the noise of the Pirate Grave¡¯s shore to a quieter side. Minhyuk looked at the sunset and said, ¡°The past few days have been tough.¡±

    For Minhyuk, these past few days were really tough. After all, he could not have a proper meal at all! Now was the time to reward himself, who worked very hard. Just like the people that chose to reward themselves with food after a hard day at work, Minhyuk also began his preparations to eat his wagyu reward. After he finished all of his preparations, he quickly handed a bowl of bibimbap to Gorfido.

    ¡°This is a Korean dish. Try it.¡±

    The truth was, this act had a different meaning.

    <em>¡®Fufu. This will definitely stop you from asking me for a bite of wagyu!¡¯</em>

    And Gorfido, who did not know anything, ate the bibimbap with relish. Then, as they watched the sunset, Minhyuk took out a bottle of cold beer and poured it in a ss.

    <em>Glug, glug, glug, glug~</em>

    Then, with the ss filled with the sparkling and golden beer, he watched the sunset and gulped it in one go.

    <em>Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp¡ª</em>

    It was a bottoms-up! After drinking everything, Minhyuk unknowingly eximed, ¡°Kghhk~ That was refreshing!¡±

    The fatigue from the past few days finally disappeared along with his exmation. And before he knew it, the grill in front of him was already heated. Then, Minhyuk ced a bite-size piece of glistening red wagyu on the grill.

    <em>Sizzle¡ª</em>

    The sizzle of the beef touching the grill rang loudly. Minhyuk only grilled it for around eight to ten seconds before flipping it.

    <em>Sizzle¡ª</em>

    As the smoke rose, Minhyuk quickly used his tongs to flip the meat and cook it well before cing the juicy piece of beef in his mouth. Juice filled his mouth with each bite. The piece followed the perfect and fantastic form: golden brown on the outside, soft and juicy on the inside.

    ¡°Wow. This is crazy,¡± Minhyuk eximed as he grilled two pieces at the same time. Before picking up a piece, he first washed the grease from his mouth with some beer.

    <em>Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp¡ª</em>

    ¡°Kghhhk!¡±

    After a shout of admiration, he took a pinch of salt, sprinkled it on a piece of beef before cing it in his mouth.

    ¡°Wow. It¡¯s melting! It¡¯s melting¡­!¡±

    Then, he ced a dollop of wasabi on top of another piece of beef. Each bite brought about the sweet taste of meat and spicy aftertaste of wasabi together in perfect harmony. After that, he brought out the green onion sd mixed with red pepper powder and sesame oil, before pairing them together with the beef. The crunchy texture of the sd and the savory vor of the sesame oil went perfectly together with the beef. Sometimes, Minhyuk would eat some pickled onions and beef together.

    <em>Chew, chew, chew¡ª</em>

    After eating everything, the notifications rang for Minhyuk.

    <em>[You havepleted the quest: Gorfido¡¯s Wish. You will now be able to acquire the umted stats and EXP in the Wagyu.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired +81 STR, +73 AGI, +69 STM, +70 WIS and +71 INT.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 2,800,000,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[¡­leveled up.]</em>

    Minhyuk had leveled up five times in a row. His level had now reached 522. He watched the sunset disappear beneath the horizon, while gulping down thest of his beer.

    ¡°Kgghk~¡±

    <em>¡®A fantastic dish and wonderful scenery.¡¯</em>

    As he smiled at the perfect setting, Gorfido approached him.

    ***

    Japanese Branch¡¯s Special yers Management Team.

    All of them had heard about the scary ¡®legend¡¯ spreading in the Korean branch. This legend referred to the members of not only their Special Management Team, but also the members of other teams gaining a lot of weight while watching yer Minhyuk.

    This was mainly because they monitored yer Minhyuk and his famous mukbang real-time. Rumor had it that the employees of several branches that dreamt of dieting all failed and were left in frustration after watching him eat. The employees of the Japanese Branch did not believe this at all.

    But now, more than twenty employees of their Special Management yers Team were drooling as they watched the screen.

    ¡°How, how can that¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh my God¡­ Such a big slice of beef in one bite¡­? Ah, look at his Adam''s apple bobbing as he drinks that beer¡­¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s also the scenery! A ss of beer and some wagyu in front of the setting sun¡­¡±

    ¡°Kghhhk!¡±

    All of them were drooling.

    ¡°How about having some wagyu for dinner tonight?¡±

    ¡°Hooray!!!¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaah!¡±

    The entire Japanese Branch realized at this moment that the outrageous legend was true! Then, they watched Gorfido approach Minhyuk.

    <em>[Your Majesty, what position should I take next to you?]</em>

    Gorfido¡¯s voice drew everyone¡¯s attention to them once again. Great Pirate Gorfido, the devil of the sea! What kind of position would he hold in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?

    ¡°As the greatest ughterer of his time, maybe he¡¯ll be an assassin?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps he¡¯ll be the Commander-in-chief of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?¡±

    ¡°No. His vassal, Brod, already has that position. N, no way¡­ Don¡¯t tell me he¡¯ll be the Food God¡¯s escort knight?!!¡±

    The Japanese Branch guessed the position that he would give to Gorfido. But to them, they felt like the position would be too low for someone like Gorfido. That was when they saw Minhyuk¡¯s lips twitch in joy as he said¡­

    <em>[Listen, Gorfido.]</em>

    <em>[Yes, Your Majesty!!!]</em>

    Gorfido immediately knelt down on one knee as Minhyuk continued to speak in a jolly tone¡­

    <em>[Your job is to be a fisherman. Be the Fisherman King, Gorfido!]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°Fi, Fisherman¡­?¡±

    ¡°Fisherman King?¡±

    ¡°Keheok?!¡±

    The entire Japanese Branch was left reeling in shock from the sudden and unexpected move by the Disaster-ss yer! Then, as if he was representing the feelings of everyone in the Japanese Branch, Gorfido¡¯s face twisted in doubt and confusion.

    <em>[Did, did you mean for me to be a fisherman?]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s right. But not just an ordinary fisherman. You have to be a Fisherman King! How¡¯s that? It¡¯s an amazing job, right? Keuhahahahaha! Hiyaa~ I think it¡¯s a really fantastic job. Hahahahahahahaha!]</em>

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    This was the fate of Gorfido, the man once hailed as the Great Pirate and the Devil of the Sea.

 Chapter 480: Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage Quest

    Chapter 480: Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage Quest

    Eto Kingdom, located in the Japanese Server, was a kingdom that resembled Barras Kingdom in a way that they were both kingdoms of production sses. However, there were slight differences between them. Unlike in the Korean Server, the Eto Kingdom did not have the concept of ¡®towers¡¯. Instead, there were existences hailed as the Five Stars.

    The First Star was a sculptor that created sculptures in honor of kings and emperors of the past. The gods, who saw his creation, admired him greatly and evenmissioned his service.

    The Second Star was a tailor that catered to both kings and emperors. In fact, the rulers of all the empires and kingdoms in the continent only wanted to wear the clothes that the Second Star created. Rumor had it that even emperors from other continents coveted her work.

    The Third Star was a chef that treated King Valex, the king of Eto Kingdom, curing him from his chronic illness by feeding him an incredible meal that he made himself.

    The Fourth Star was a painter that saved the kingdom from the demons¡¯ invasion by painting the image of an archangel.

    Finally, the Fifth Star was known to be the greatest star. He was the one that suggested to the Fourth Star to draw the archangel to chase the demons away. He was not a sculptor, a cksmith, a chef, nor a painter. He was a tactician and strategist, the hero that saved the Eto Kingdom from countless crises.

    However, the Fifth Star, along with the four other stars were all retired. They had established their home in Arsa Vige and gave their positions to their sessors. Still, their prowess were infinitely superior to that of their sessors. In fact, it could be said that they far surpassed the Asgan Continent¡¯s tower masters.

    <em>¡®Hmm? Who¡¯lle to find me today?¡¯</em>

    Tactician Jarrod was well-known for being an entric and picky NPC. After the death of King Valex, he came to Arsa Vige with the other stars, and spent his time harassing and bullying the foreigners with short riddles. Nevertheless, they still kept on approaching him. After all, he was the only one that knew the location of the ¡®Eternal mes¡¯.

    Enticed by the fact that the Eternal mes could help them create a God Artifact, people kept on approaching Jarrod. However, all of them failed to answer his entric riddles and were all sent back. This was because his riddles were all nonsense quizzes.

    ¡°What do you call a strawberry that was fired from the kingdom troops?¡±

    ¡°I know, I know! It¡¯s strawberry syrup[1]!¡±

    ¡°How can a strawberry lose its job?! It¡¯s a fruit!!!¡±

    ¡°That, that¡¯s too much! This is unfair!¡±

    ¡°But I¡¯m in the mood for something like this now. Hehehehe!¡±

    Only a few hadpleted the quest to acquire the Eternal mes. This was because they had to pass through this first gate, Jarrod¡¯s quizzes. Many could not answer the quiz. The truth was, all they needed to do was give Jarrod an entertaining and fresh, new answer.

    However, it was extremely difficult to please Jarrod, especially since the questions remainedrgely the same.

    ¡°I wonder which yer I should send to the hellish hunting grounds today? Haha!¡±

    The act of receiving quests from the entric and cranky Jarrod was called ¡®Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage[2]¡¯. Jarrod was basically modeled after the cranky and entric Zhuge Liang, only telling the location of the Eternal mes if they sessfully cleared three missions from him. And right now¡­

    <em>Chew, chew, chew, chew, chew¡ª</em>

    ¡­a man approached Jarrod, who was looking for his next prey in the vige, with a huge backpack hanging in front of him. The backpack contained several boxes of Japan¡¯s specialty, Loyce Chocte[3], as well as a huge stic container with a straw connected to the man¡¯s mouth.

    ¡°Hiyaa¡­ Loyce Chocte is really delicious.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Jarrod looked at the approaching man that was eating Loyce Chocte.

    ¡°It melts the moment you put it in your mouth. There¡¯s also the sweet taste that spreads! There¡¯s even this chewy texture! Kghkk!¡± The man eximed, touching his cheeks in happiness until he stood in front of Jarrod.

    ¡°Hello! Are you mister Jarrod?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right?¡±

    The man continued to munch on Loyce Chocte. Seeing the man eat the chocte happily, Jarrod, who personally disliked sweets, felt his mouth suddenly start to water.

    ¡°The cold chocte melts in your mouth the moment you put it in your mouth. And when you feel like your mouth is dry from all the chocte¡­¡± The man said as he sipped the ck liquid in his huge stic bag through the straw, ¡°Fwaaaa! Chocte and iced americano are really the bestbi!¡±

    ¡°¡­H¡­ hey. Why are you carrying your backpack like that?¡±

    ¡°I got toozy trying to get the chocte from behind me so I ced it in front of me. This is so I can take a box out easily to eat. I eat one box of chocte per minute, you see? It¡¯s easier for me if I carry it this way.¡±

    <em>¡®A, a box per minute¡­? No, what is this? Is this guy nuts?¡¯ </em>

    This was what Jarrod thought but strangely enough, the guy was very polite. So, Jarrod coughed and said, ¡°I also want some chocte and that iced ame¡­¡±

    ¡°No way!¡±

    A straight refusal! Jarrod looked at the man in doubt. Plenty of foreigners had tried to bribe him to make themselves look better in front of him. However, the man in front of him was so stingy that he did not even give Jarrod some of his food.

    ¡°So, you¡¯re a cheapskate? Fine. You must havee here to get the Eternal mes, right?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Wow! You¡¯re really smart, just like the rumors said!¡±

    ¡°Then, let me ask you a question.¡±

    Jarrod thought, <em>¡®You did not give me any chocte, huh? Annoying. I will banish you from this vige if you don¡¯t give me a satisfactory answer.¡¯</em>

    Jarrod was someone that could adjust the quest that he sent out at will. If the foreigners failed to give him a satisfactory answer, they usually ended up having to pay a steep price. That was why there were significantly fewer people that came to challenge the Eternal mes these days.

    As for the man, Minhyuk, in front of him, the penalty for failure was a -10 in all stats, as well as banishment from the vige. Jarrod had this authority since he was also the head of the vige. People began to flock to the two of them the moment they saw them talk.

    ¡°I feel a bit sorry for that guy.¡±

    ¡°Jarrod looks extra grumpy today.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯ll definitely get the worst penalty.¡±

    They all clicked their tongues as Jarrod raised his question, ¡°What do people say the most in their lives?¡±

    The usual answer to this question was ¡®breathing¡¯. But Minhyuk said, ¡°That¡¯s easy.¡±

    ¡°¡­Easy?¡±

    Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°The answer is <em>¡®I¡¯m hungry.¡¯</em>¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    That was right. Based on Minhyuk¡¯s standard, the mostmon words that came out of a person¡¯s mouth was, ¡®I¡¯m hungry.¡¯

    ¡°What is the soy sauce that no one can eat?¡±

    The original answer should be ¡®anxiety[4]¡¯.

    ¡°¡­But I can eat all the soy sauce in the world? I even ate the Poisonous Toad¡¯s soy sauce before?¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°What would you do if you found food on the street?¡±

    The general answer was <em>¡®pududuk(p, p)</em>[5]<em>¡¯</em>, abination of <strong>Food</strong> (pudu) and <em>duk</em>[6].

    ¡°Hiyaaa?! Picking up food on the street? Ah, isn¡¯t that a good thing? That will definitely be my lucky day! I will definitely pick it up and run as fast as I can to go back home and eat it alone.¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the bridge that no one saw?¡±

    The answer was, <em>misunderstanding</em>[7].

    Of course, Minhyuk knew the answer. He said, ¡°A misunderstanding? Ah. Speaking of misunderstanding, I want some squid tentacles[8]. Munching on some squid while ying games in a PC room is the best!¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    <em>¡®No. Isn¡¯t this guy strange?! Howe all of his answers are rted to eating?!¡¯</em>

    Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°What¡¯s the color of hamburger?¡±

    ¡°¡­a variety of colors,¡± Jarrod answered the sudden question with a little uncertainty.

    ¡°Wrong! It¡¯s a tasty color! Keuhahahaha!¡±

    ¡°Keheok?!¡±

    ¡°Why is a cannibalining about his meal?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have the will to live[9]! Right! This is the answer!¡±

    ¡°Anyone thatins about their meals should be hit in the back of the head! What¡¯s the fastest chicken in the world?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s, it¡¯s swift[10]! That¡¯s the answer! I¡¯m sure of it!¡±

    ¡°Wrong! Minhyuk already ate the chicken! Hahahahaha!¡±

    ¡°Ugh, aaaaargh! Why did I not think of ¡®Minhyuk already ate the chicken¡¯?!¡±

    Jarrod fell. Hepletely and utterly fell in Minhyuk¡¯s rhythm and was slowly bing Minhyuk-ified. Jarrod grabbed his head in frustration wondering why he could not get anything right!

    ¡°Someone dealt with Jarrod and even gave him a reverse quiz¡­?¡±

    ¡°Oh my god¡­¡±

    The yers in the area that saw this scene were all shocked. This was because the yerpletely had Jarrod in the palm of his hands.

    ¡°Q, quick! Give me the next question! Huh?! I think I¡¯ll be able to get the next question right! Wahaha!¡± Jarrod shouted in excitement. He had never felt this exhrated and amused during his long and boring stay in this vige.

    At that moment, Minhyuk heard a notification.

    <em>[You havepleted the <strong>Quest</strong>: ¡®The First of the Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage: Bet Against Jarrod¡¯ in a spectacr way.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained +3 in all five of your basic stats.]</em>

    It was immediately followed by another notification.

    <em>[The <strong>Linked Quest</strong>: The Second of the Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage: ¡®The Four Stars and the Vigers¡¯ have been created.]</em>

    Minhyuk immediately checked the quest.

    <em>[<strong>Linked Quest</strong>: The Second of the Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage: ¡®The Four Stars and the Vigers¡¯.]</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: SSS</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: The One who haspleted and answered Jarrod¡¯s Riddle.</em>

    <em><strong>Rewards</strong>: +15 to all five basic stats and gift from the Four Stars.</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty for Failure</strong>: -20 to all stats. Banishment from the town.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: This is the second of the Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage. The Four Stars refer to the Star Chef, Star Tailor, Star Sculptor, and Star Painter. Increase your favor with the Four Stars and the Vigers. The quest will bepleted if you achieve 70% favor. The duration of the quest is ten days.</em>

    ¡°All the Stars were once connected. But with the death of the previous king, our connection has been lost and we no longer work together. Of course, the same is true for me. Build your favor with them and the vigers, and help us reconcile.¡±

    Most of the people that lived in this vige settled here after the death of the previous king of Eto Kingdom. ording to rumors, it was not only the Stars, even the vigers were meticulous and strict. Minhyuk nodded. This was something that he already knew.

    Jarrod looked away. He thought, <em>¡®It¡¯s impossible to win their hearts.¡¯</em>

    After that event, they no longer worked together. Jarrod smiled sneakily as he thought, <em>¡®I might have fallen into that rascal¡¯s hands without noticing it, but he will definitely fail this mission.¡¯</em>

    Jarrod was confident about the oue of this quest.

    ***

    One weekter.

    Every six months, the vigers would set aside a day and gather to discuss their vige¡¯s development in the future. And today happened to be that day. The vige¡¯s poption was very small, their total only a thousand people. The vigers all stood behind the Five Stars, who had not seen each other in a long time, sitting in front of a circr table.

    Everyone, except Jarrod, looked unhappy.

    ¡°Why the hell do we have to do this?¡±

    ¡°Jarrod. In the end, everything is up to you, right?¡±

    ¡°Do I really have to sit with these people? It¡¯s making my mood turn sour.¡±

    There was a time when the Stars treated each other warmly, but now the mood around them had turned for the worse. Even the vigers looked reluctant to be here. Jarrod hoped that they would return to what they were before, and be as close as they were back then.

    ¡°You probably know this already but the members of the Vignte Corps have suffered great injuries after being attacked by monsters not too long ago. As such, I would like to recruit more members for the Vignte Corps. Do we have any applicants here?¡± Jarrod said inly as he started the meeting.

    Although everyone here was very reluctant, they still participated on grounds that they were all citizens living in this vige.

    ¡°Ah. The clothes of Evelyn¡¯s daughter are already worn out.¡±

    As soon as he heard the words, Berk, the Star Sculptor, snorted and said, ¡°Didn¡¯t Evelyn lose her husband not too long ago? Oh my. Hey, tailor! What are you doing? Why didn¡¯t you make some new clothes for the child?!¡±

    ¡°What?! Do you not know how busy I am?! If you¡¯re so kind then why don¡¯t you pay me for my services and I¡¯ll make it?!¡±

    ¡°Money?! Why is it always about money?!¡±

    ¡°What?! What the hell is wrong with you, you sleazy cook?!¡±

    These people that were once called Stars were now arguing and quarreling with each other. Jarrod felt his temples throb at the sight as he barked, ¡°Stop, stop!¡±

    Things settled down slightly after his intervention. Then, Chef Star Cord said, ¡°I have a customering in today. I think we should end this early.¡±

    ¡°Me too.¡±

    ¡°Same.¡±

    ¡°Fufufufu.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    The Stars all smiled as a person¡¯s figure shed in their minds. They all looked strange. That was when Jarrod remembered the man, Minhyuk, that he met not too long ago. So, he opened his mouth to change the mood and said, ¡°Not too long ago, a man that loves to eat came to find me. It was quite funny. The rascal dared to challenge me, a Star, to a reverse quiz. He¡¯s a strange guy. No, perhaps it¡¯s more apt to call him crazy?¡±

    Jarrod chuckled. He was confident that the man would never be able to win the hearts of these Stars. He believed that they would curse the man along with him. s¡­

    ¡°What? What do you mean by strange man? Someone that likes to eat? No way, are you talking about my boy, Minhyuk?¡±

    ¡°You dare call my boy Minhyuk a crazy guy?!¡±

    ¡°You called my boy Minhyuk a strange guy?! Jarrod, do you want to die?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Confused, Jarrod looked at the Four Stars, who suddenly went crazy as they defended Minhyuk. These people, who had not worked together and agreed for a long time, shouted and cursed at Jarrod with veins popping in their necks. What was more¡­

    <em>¡®What, what do you mean by ¡®my boy Minhyuk¡¯?!¡¯</em>

    ¡°Jarrod, how dare you curse my boy Minhyuk?! You! How can you do that?!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right! That¡¯s my boy Minhyuk!¡±

    It did not end there; even the vigers standing behind them¡­

    ¡°How dare you call Minhyuk a strange guy?! He¡¯s a very good person!¡±

    ¡°Stop calling Minhyuk like that!!!¡±

    ¡°Long live Minhyuk!¡±

    ¡°Long live Minhyuk Religion!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right! Long live Minhyuk!¡±

    ¡°Jarrod, you have disappointed us!!!¡±

    ¡°You are a disappointment!¡±

    Then, they all rushed out and left Jarrod behind. He was left speechless and confused. He thought, <em>¡®What, what just happened¡­?¡¯</em>

    1. Syrup sounds like the word ?? (which means unemployed). A y on words ?

    2. ???? - A story about how Liu Bei visited the tactician and strategist Zhuge Liang with patience and sincerity to recruit him. It can also mean ¡®to patiently and sincerely recruit a talented individual¡¯. ?

    3. A reference to Royce Chocte ?

    4. Soy sauce is ?? (ganjang) and anxiety is ??? (aeganjang). ?

    5. ??? (pududuk), an onomatopoeia for pping ?

    6. ?(µÃ) which means gaining a profit. ?

    7. ??(dari) was bridge and ??? (heottari) can mean a lot of things including ¡®misunderstanding something and doing something wrong about it. ?

    8. ???(odari) (means legs, he¡¯s talking about those spicy squid leg snacks) sounds like ???(heottari) ?

    9. ?? ? ?! ?? here can mean both flesh and will to live. ?

    10. Swift, nimble or quick is ???(hudadak) while chicken is ?(dalk) which sounds simr to thest syble of ??? ?

 Chapter 481: Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage Quest

    Chapter 481: Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage Quest

    One week ago.

    After receiving the second of the Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage quest from Jarrod, Minhyuk was left lost in thought, <em>¡®From what I heard, quite a few people have received the second of the Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage quest.¡¯</em>

    However, no one had seeded in clearing the second quest. Based on what Minhyuk had heard, it might be possible to win the heart of one Star, but impossible to win the heart of all of them, including the vigers. On top of that, there was little to no information about all of the people that settled in this vige.

    <em>¡®The nearest Star would be the Star Painter Elise, right?¡¯ </em>Minhyuk thought, immediately deciding on Star Painter Elise as the first Star that he would visit.

    ***

    Star Painter Elise was well over forty this year but it was obvious from her looks that she definitely made many men cry in her younger years. The image of her painting a vivid and greenndscape in the middle of her exhibition hall was extremely beautiful and awe-inspiring.

    After painting for a long time, Elise finally took a short breather. She stretched her body before grabbing the cup of tea nearby and looking outside. Not long after, her expression morphed into that of puzzlement. A man stood outside while admiring the paintings that she hung in front of her shop.

    In the man¡¯s hands were¡­

    <em>¡®Takoyaki?¡¯</em>

    ¡­takoyaki. The very same takoyaki that came in those rectangle paper boxes. Strangely enough, the takoyaki,plete with mayonnaise, takoyaki sauce and bonito kes sprinkled on top of it, was still steaming hot. Elise folded her arms on her chest as she watched the man. She thought, <em>¡®Is there a shop that sells takoyaki around here?¡¯</em>

    As far as she could remember, there was no shop selling takoyaki in this ce. Then, she watched as the unknown man stabbed a takoyaki ball with his long toothpick before cing it in his mouth.

    <em>¡®The takoyaki is still piping hot¡­¡¯</em>

    The man immediately huffed and puffed while rolling the still steaming takoyaki in his mouth. The best time to eat takoyaki was while it was hot and fresh out of the pan. This was because the takoyaki would be crispy on the outside and moist on the inside. If one chewed on it while it was still hot, they would be able to munch on the chewy octopus hidden inside.

    ¡°Takoyaki is really delicious!¡±

    The man ate one, two, three, four takoyakis in a row! A drop of Elise¡¯s drool fell down on the ground as she watched the man eat.

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuurp!</em>¡±

    This was the very same Elise, who was known for her elegance in the vige! For a moment, she wondered about how shameful her actions were. But¡­

    <em>¡®I want to eat some takoyaki¡­¡¯</em>

    ¡­the way the man ate so happily made the food look extremely mouth-watering. As much as she wanted to, she could not take her eyes off of him. Elise watched as the man looked around while eating his takoyaki. And as he looked at the pictures, the man shed tears while eating thest takoyaki ball.

    ¡°<em>Sob.</em> So beautiful¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Elise was extremely shocked to see the man cry over her painting. She thought, <em>¡®Those tears are sincere and truly from the bottom of his heart.¡¯</em>

    She could tell just by the look on the man that was bawling his heart out. Elise personally believed that a painting contained both the painter¡¯s thoughts and feelings. Unfortunately, there were many times where these paintings were used to garner false admiration from the nobles, for their wealth and false elegance. That was why she felt like it had been a long time since shest saw sincere and heartfelt tears!

    <em>¡®Aaah. He¡¯s crying his heart out. He¡¯s bawling!!!¡¯</em>

    Elise¡¯s hands immediately shot up to her chest when she felt a twinge of pain from watching the crying man. Then, she made a decision, <em>¡®I¡¯ll go ask him where he bought his takoyaki, then I¡¯ll show him my other paintings! After all, he¡¯s someone that truly loves paintings!¡¯</em>

    She rushed out the door and said to the man, ¡°I saw you shedding tears while looking at my paintings. I¡¯m sure you understood the loneliness that I felt when I created this. <em>Fufu.</em> It has been a long time since Ist saw someone like you. Someone that can truly understand the meaning and sincerely love my paintings.¡±

    ***

    The notifications rang for Minhyuk.

    <em>[You have received Elise¡¯s favor.]</em>

    <em>[You have received Elise¡¯s favor.]</em>

    Minhyuk could tell that the woman that ran out of the shop was Elise. However, he could not understand the nonsense that she was spouting. She said, ¡°I saw you shedding tears while looking at my paintings. I¡¯m sure you understood the loneliness that I felt when I created this. <em>Fufu.</em> It has been a long time since Ist saw someone like you. Someone that can truly understand the meaning and sincerely love my paintings.¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    Him? Crying over a painting? Of course, it was an undeniable fact that the painting that Minhyuk was looking at was extremely beautiful. But¡­

    <em>¡®I cried because I ate thest takoyaki though?¡¯</em>

    ¡­this was the reason why he cried! He was crying his eyes out because he ate the final piping-hot takoyaki ball in his hands! Minhyuk felt sad because he could not believe that the delicious takoyaki was all gone. It was something that was truly worth crying over!

    But then, the woman in front of him even took things a step further as she said, ¡°Pleasee inside. I want to show you more of my paintings. Someone like you is qualified to do so.¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    From what Minhyuk had heard, Elise¡¯ exhibition hall was ready for viewing. However, no outsider was allowed to enter to view her artworks. She had not opened her exhibition hall for a long time and was only painting inside all by herself. No one could enter even if they wanted to. But Elise personally invited Minhyuk toe inside and view her art.

    Then, another set of notifications rang the moment Minhyuk entered the exhibition hall.

    <em>[You have entered Elise¡¯s Exhibition Hall.]</em>

    <em>[Something amazing will happen every time you view Elise¡¯s Paintings.]</em>

    Elise smiled lightly and said, ¡°You can take a look at the paintings as much as you want. A person like you, who truly loves paintings, is always wee in my exhibition hall.¡±

    Just like what was previously mentioned, no one else had entered Elise¡¯s exhibition hall since she settled down in this vige. That was also the reason why he was eating takoyaki and looking at the paintings outside, he had been trying to find a way to enter.

    ¡°Aaaaah. Thank you. I can¡¯t believe I will be able to see Miss Elise¡¯s beautiful paintings up close! Ah, I can¡¯t help but feel emotional! I feel like I¡¯m going to cry again!¡± Minhyuk said, tears falling from his eyes again. His figure was the epitome of a scammer who could sell a ss of water for five million won!

    Minhyuk turned to look at the paintings while maintaining an expression of being moved. The first painting was andscape painting. It depicted the sight of a tall mountain, with snow that looked like fluttering petals falling down on it.

    <em>[You have seen Elise¡¯s ¡®Falling Snow on a Lonely Mountain¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[You have seen the Star Painter¡¯s painting.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 2 DEX.]</em>

    There were no titles under the paintings, but the notifications rang for Minhyuk. He quickly eximed, ¡°Snow falling atop the mountain. It¡¯s a very beautiful artwork. I can¡¯t take my eyes off of the details of the snowkes.¡±

    Elise smiled lightly as Minhyuk continued to talk, ¡°However, as beautiful as it is, your lonely heart is evident in this painting. It¡¯s both lovely and lonely. What a bitter and sad piece.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s words shocked Elise. She said, ¡°Ac¡­ actually, the name of this piece is Falling Snow on a Lonely Mountain. I can¡¯t believe it. Youpletely understood the feelings that I wanted to express in this painting¡­¡±

    Elise gently ced her hands on her chest as she looked at Minhyuk with genuine admiration.

    <em>[You have received Elise¡¯s favor.]</em>

    Not long after¡­

    <em>[You have seen Elise¡¯s ¡®Mother Bear and Baby Deer¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 2 DEX.]</em>

    ¡°Survival of the fittest. The mother bear needs food so it could feed its cub. That¡¯s why it has to hunt the poor and pitiful fawn. This piece is a clear representation of survival of the fittest. A work that shows a sad, yet undeniable truth of our reality.¡±

    ¡°H, how¡­¡±

    <em>[You have received Elise¡¯s favor.]</em>

    Next¡­

    <em>[You have seen Elise¡¯s ¡®Bird¡¯s Flight¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 3 DEX.]</em>

    ¡°Ah! A bird flying high in the skies! From what I can see, the bird seems to express your desire to take flight and soar to the beautiful skies once again. Just like when you were younger. The blue sky represents the splendor of your youth.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe this. You¡¯re able to easily see through my heart like this¡­ I feel ashamed.¡±

    <em>[You have received Elise¡¯s favor.]</em>

    <em>[Your favor with Star Painter Elise has reached an extremely high level.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 50 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained +1 in all five of your basic stats.]</em>

    Was it possible for an ordinary person to improvise this fast? No. This was only possible because Minhyukpletely understood how others¡¯ minds work! In the end, Elise sat down and offered to serve Minhyuk tea.

    That was when Minhyuk delivered the final blow. He even purposely made his voice shake as he said, ¡°Hoo. That¡¯s really sad.¡±

    ¡°Yes? What¡­¡±

    ¡°I can tell what you¡¯re feeling with your paintings. You¡¯re very lonely right now, but you can¡¯t go out and show yourself to the world again, because of something.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Elise was taken aback. What Minhyuk said waspletely true. Then, Minhyuk smiled softly as he continued to say, ¡°You were once hailed for your beauty and even your paintings were known to be the best in the continent. But it seems like something had happened. May I ask what?¡±

    Elise felt her heart shake as Minhyuk held her slender hands. The person in front of herpletely understood what she was thinking and feeling! There was also his soft and gentle smile!

    ¡°But know this, you and your paintings are still as beautiful as ever. There¡¯s no one on the continent, no, in the world that can draw a more amazing painting than you.¡±

    Elise suddenly burst into tears the moment she heard his words. She sobbed, ¡°Thank you. Thank you for your words of understanding. I was very, very lonely¡­¡±

    Minhyuk smiled softly as he watched Elise¡¯s tears drip down her cheeks. Then, Elise, with a smile on her face, wiped her tears and said, ¡°Ah. That¡¯s right. Where did you buy the takoyaki that you were eating earlier?¡±

    ¡°No one was selling it, so I made some.¡±

    ¡°But it was in a paper box¡­?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s because it will taste more delicious if I ate it that way.¡±

    ¡°¡­????¡±

    Elise looked bewildered.

    ¡®<em>He ate it like that for that reason?</em>¡¯

    Then, she said, ¡°By any chance, can you give me that takoyaki¡­¡±

    ¡°I cannot.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk spoke out of reflex. He was shocked at himself as he thought, <em>¡®Ah! Oh my. What if the favor drops?!¡¯</em>

    His favor with Elise was very important right now. So, Minhyuk quickly quipped, ¡°Actually, this takoyaki is very important to me. It¡¯s a dish that my friend and I loved to share together a long time ago. But now, that friend of mine is¡­¡±

    Minhyuk suddenly looked up at the distant skies as his eyes reddened with tears.

    ¡°Ha¡­¡±

    ¡°Th, that¡­ I didn''t mean to bring up something painful! For me to ask you for something so precious¡­ Ah, it¡¯s, it¡¯s just that I really want to eat it but¡­¡±

    Even after hearing Minhyuk¡¯s exnation, Elise¡¯s disappointment was still clear on her face.

    ¡°I can make some for you. However, I want you to know that takoyaki is really precious to me. My friend is even called Takoyaki. Ah! Takoyaki! I miss you!¡±

    ¡°Aah. Then¡­ ah!¡± Elise was suddenly put in a tight spot. She immediately tried to remedy the situation, ¡°I can¡¯t just ask you for something so precious for nothing. How about this; can I give you the Star¡¯s Blessing in exchange?¡±

    ¡°A Star¡¯s Blessing?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. A Star¡¯s Blessing is a power that only the Five Stars can use once every three years.¡±

    ¡°Very well, I understand.¡±

    Minhyuk was a veteran at spewing lies and expending his saliva just so he would not make dishes for someone for nothing! Then, he took out his takoyaki pan.

    ¡°¡­Why do you have a takoyaki pan with you?¡±

    ¡°I always carry it with me to remember my friend. It¡¯s his keepsake, you know?¡±

    ¡°Th, that¡­¡±

    Minhyuk quickly poured the takoyaki mix, ced some octopus bits inside before pouring the mix again. Then, Minhyuk quickly flipped the takoyaki upside down, showing the perfectly golden brown underside. His dexterous hand movements were shy and ornate, just like a takoyaki stall owner!

    ¡°Wow¡­¡±

    In a blink, Minhyuk had finished cooking the takoyaki. He ced them neatly in a paper box before sprinkling some mayonnaise, takoyaki sauce, and bonito kes on top. The bonito kes fluttered and danced from the heat of the freshly-made takoyaki.

    Then, Minhyuk took out a small ss bottle and tapped a few drops on the dish.

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°A special sauce.¡±

    ¡°Aha!¡±

    Elise looked at the takoyaki in awe as she stabbed a takoyaki covered in the fluttering bonito kes with the long toothpick, before putting it in her mouth. The heat immediately spread in Elise¡¯s mouth which prompted her to roll it in her mouth. And the moment she chewed on it, the chewy octopus greeted her.

    While she was savoring the dish, a notification suddenly rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[Elise, one of the Five Stars, has the power of the stars.]</em>

    <em>[The Sea Honey will not be able to show its powers.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    The notification was very shocking. But then¡­

    ¡°It¡¯s so delicious. For real¡­¡± Elise eximed.

    And the look in her eyes¡­

    <em>¡®It looks simr to the eyes of my devout fanatics.¡¯</em>

    Then, another set of notifications rang out.

    <em>[Your favor with Elise has reached the highest level.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 100 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 30 REP.]</em>

    <em>[You have discovered the secret hidden in the second of the Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage Quest.]</em>

    <em>[As the king of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, there is a chance for you to take Elise in as your vassal.]</em>

    <em>[However, this is only possible if you can capture the hearts of the rest of the Stars.]</em>

    He had won the heart of one of the Five Stars, the greatest painter.

    <em>¡®The reason why the quest was called Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage¡­¡¯</em>

    ording to the records, Liu Bei visited Zhuge Liang three times before he was able to get him to his side. Just like the notifications said, there was a chance that he would be able to get the greatest painter for the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s a chance that I can make her be the Painter¡¯s Tower¡¯s tower master.¡¯</em>

    If Minhyuk got the four remaining Stars then¡­

    <em>¡®Plenty of yers will flock to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.¡¯</em>

 Chapter 482: Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage Quest

    Chapter 482: Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage Quest

    <em>[You have been given the Star¡¯s Blessing of the Star Painter Elise.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 200 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained +30 on your Physical and Magical Defense.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will permanently increase by 1.]</em>

    The Star¡¯s Blessing that Minhyuk had received from the Star Painter Elise was amazing. There was a permanent increase in all of his stats! Even his DEX increased sharply!

    ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m telling you, I cackled at him!¡±

    Elise looked noble and elegant, but the moment she opened her heart to someone, she turned into a huge chatterbox. Minhyuk just nodded along and listened to her, turning this story session into an information-digging session.

    ¡°Then, what did the Star Sculptor say? Isn¡¯t he too much?¡±

    ¡°Yes! Truly unbelievable! What a perfectionist. <em>Sigh~</em> The Star Sculptor is a very fussy person. But if you¡¯re able to truly win his heart, then he will give you everything. That¡¯s the kind of person he is.¡±

    ¡°The Star Tailor?¡±

    ¡°That person is even more fussy and strict. Not even a small misced thread is allowed to stick out in front of him.¡±

    Just like that, Minhyuk was able to dig out information about the other stars and the rest of the vigers from Elise. Then, he suddenly thought, <em>¡®It doesn¡¯t matter if I listen to all of the information about them, it¡¯s still too much.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk only had ten days, which was a very short period of time to win the hearts of not only the Five Stars, but all of the vigers.

    <em>¡®Is there no way? Hmmm. A way¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk thought about a method to capture the hearts of the remaining Stars after hearing the information about them.

    <em>¡®Ah, there¡¯s that method, right?¡¯</em>

    There was a very easy way for him to approach the vigers and make friends with them, all the while making sure he catered to the nature of the Stars.

    ***

    Hamil, an architect working in Arsa Vige, was one of the people that settled in the vige after the death of Eto Kingdom¡¯s previous king. Right now, this very same Hamil was facing the greatest worry of his life¡­ lunch time.

    <em>¡®What should I eat for lunch today?¡¯</em>

    It was the same worry faced by those who worked during the day! All of them worried about what to eat for lunch.

    <em>¡®Today¡¯s work is especially hard. I want to eat something special.¡¯</em>

    There would always be days when one wished to eat something special, something different from what they usually had. It was the same thought running through Hamil¡¯s head as he walked around.

    After walking for a while, Hamil suddenly stopped a distance away from a man, who seemed to be preparing to open a shop in front of a small trailer. He thought, <em>¡®It¡¯s my first time seeing that guy here.¡¯</em>

    Hamil could tell that the man was a foreigner. And with the banner hanging in front of his shop saying, <em>¡®Asgan¡¯s vor¡¯</em>, it seemed like the man was not only a foreigner, but also someone from another continent.

    But then, Hamil snickered not long after. He thought, <em>¡®He dares to sell food here in our Arsa Vige?¡¯</em>

    Arsa Vige was home to Star Chef Cord, a master chef that served as the role model for all of the chefs in the kingdom and the continent. His disciples even followed him and settled in this vige. In other words, Arsa Vige, which was teeming with chefs, was home to the best dishes. In fact, Hamil could confidently say this because their vige was selected as the ¡®vige with the most delicious dishes¡¯ in the entire continent.

    But someone from Asgan Continent actually dared to sell strange food here? Hamil could only snort at the man. Nevertheless, he still continued to watch.

    ¡°Come,e! Buy some rice cakes, fritters and blood sausages! <em>Chomp!</em>¡±

    The first thing that the man tried to sell was rice cakes, fritters, and blood sausages. But as he continued to watch the man, Hamil felt dumbfounded.

    ¡°Buy some rice cake, fritters and blood sausage sets! <em>Chomp!</em>¡±

    It was because the man kept on eating what he made. Strangely enough¡­

    <em>¡®Eh? I don¡¯t like that rice cake, fritters and blood sausage from Asgan Continent¡­ so, why do I want to try some?¡¯</em>

    ¡­this thought shed in Hamil¡¯s head.

    ¡°Haa. I¡¯ll finish all of the rice cakes, fritters and blood sausages at this rate. Right, ramyeon! Let¡¯s make some ramyeon!¡±

    After eating three sets of rice cakes, fritters and blood sausages, the man, as if realizing that the method that he was doing was wrong, suddenly switched things up and started cooking ramyeon.

    <em>¡®Oh? What¡¯s that?¡¯</em>

    The Athenae worldview¡¯s theme might be following the medieval era, but their NPCs were still able to eat modern dishes and food unique to each server¡¯s original country, thanks to the foreigners that created them inside the game. Of course, each of these countries had dishes that suited the tastes and preferences of their server in the Athenae world.

    However, Minhyuk¡¯s ¡®ramyeon¡¯, which looked simr to the ¡®ramen¡¯ that Hamil knew, had a different packaging. It was only natural. After all, the ramyeon in Minhyuk¡¯s hands was none other than ¡®Jjin Ramyeon¡¯. Being in different servers meant that the food that they knew werepletely different from each other, so it was only right that Hamil found the ramyeon different.

    Unaware of Hamil¡¯s doubts, Minhyuk quickly cooked the ramyeon, cracked an egg in it, whisked everything together, boiled it some more, then added some green onion garnish once everything was done.

    <em>¡®Is he really going to sell food? Why is he making one when no one¡¯s cing an order?¡¯</em>

    Then, the man said, ¡°Ah, wait~ Why did I make one when there¡¯s no order? Oops. What should I do with this~?¡± before picking up his own chopsticks!

    <em>¡®It¡¯s on purpose! He definitely made it on purpose! He made it so he can eat it!¡¯</em>

    The man blew on the mouthful of noodles that he mped with his chopsticks before putting everything in his mouth.

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuuuuuuurp!</em>¡±

    Then, a shocking sound rang in Hamil¡¯s ears. He continued to watch as the man lifted his entire bowl, blew on it, and gulped down a mouthful of soup.

    ¡°Woah! That¡¯s spicy!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Hamil felt drool start to flow down his mouth as he watched the man suddenly whip out a serving of Korean Kimchi with his remaining ramyeon.

    <em>Crunch, crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    Hamil¡¯s adam¡¯s apple bobbed as the divine sound of the man¡¯s eating rang in his ears. He did not know what the food tasted like but strangely enough, his mouth was already watering. This was all because the man was eating ramyeon with relish, as if the dish in his hands was the most delicious dish in the world. His face was even filled with happiness!

    Hamilpletely forgot the fact that he was snorting and mocking the man earlier as he called out, ¡°Ex, excuse me! Please give me a bowl of Asgan ramyeon too!¡±

    ¡°<em>Irasshaimase!</em>¡± Minhyuk, the man who was eating the ramyeon, shouted enthusiastically. He knew how effective his powers were more than anybody else. After all, there were quite a number of people on the inteining about how they gained more than 20 kilograms just by watching him eat.

    This was the method that Minhyuk used. Besides, there was something that made this one ramyeon bowl that Minhyuk made different¡­

    <em>[You havepleted a ¡®perfect¡¯ ramyeon.]</em>

    <em>[The ramyeon noodles will be more chewy while the soup¡¯s vor bes richer and deeper.]</em>

    ¡­it was none other than the prestige of his DEX! Minhyuk did not stop there. He even ced a drop of mysterious liquid in the ramyeon bowl.

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°Ah, it¡¯s the special sauce that I made, dear customer. <em>Fufu,¡± </em>Minhyuk chuckled as a crowd started to flock around them.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that Hamil?¡±

    ¡°Hey, he¡¯s the pickiest eater in our vige, right? Howe he¡¯s eating something that¡¯s sold on the street?¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t he the guy that only ever eats Mister Cord¡¯s meals?¡±

    Hamil was very famous in Arsa Vige as a tried and tested gourmand. That was why everyone was very shocked to see Hamil slurp away at a bowl of ramyeon sold on the streets.

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuuuuuuuurp!</em>¡±

    Hamil was eating his ramyeon so fast it looked like he was inhaling it. He did not let a drop go and even went so far as lifting the entire bowl to slurp everything. When he finished, sweat had already gathered in his nose.

    ¡°<em>Fwaa</em>,¡± Hamil spat out a satisfied sigh.

    ¡°Hey, hey look at Hamil¡­ What in the world does that dish taste like?!¡±

    ¡°Huh? Hey, Hamil! Say something!!!¡±

    ¡°It, it tastes better than Mister Cord¡¯s ramen¡­! It¡¯s the tastiest ramen that I have ever tasted!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    His words brought a huge shock to everyone. In the blink of an eye, Minhyuk¡¯s shop was filled with customers. In fact, he sold around 500 bowls of ramyeon in just a single day. The customers ordered one bowl at first, but would always order seconds. His shop¡¯s ramyeon was aplete blockbuster!

    The very same night¡­

    ¡°I, I want to eat some ramyeon¡­!¡±

    ¡°I want to eat ramyeon!¡±

    The vigers felt an unknown, yet intense craving for ramyeon, which made them lose a lot of sleep. The next day, these people crowded over Minhyuk¡¯s shop. In fact, the number of people that gathered far exceeded the number yesterday and it was all thanks to word of mouth.

    Furthermore¡­

    ¡°What?! A chef from Asgan Continent dares to sell instant ramen, rice cakes, fritters, and blood sausages in Arsa Vige without my permission?!¡±

    Star Chef Cord was enraged. He dragged his disciples along with him, firmly believing that he would be able to kick Minhyuk out of this vige.

    <em>¡®Maybe I should try it? Just to see what kind of trashy dishes that fraud is selling.¡¯</em>

    But after eating just one bowl¡­

    ¡°One more order of ramyeon please! No, make that two!!!¡±

    ¡°<em>Arigato </em><em>gozaimasu</em><em>!</em>¡±

    Cord and his disciples fell in love with the taste of Minhyuk¡¯s ramyeon and fritters!

    Once Minhyuk captured the hearts of the vigers to some extent, Minhyuk decided to enact thest of his ns.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry but I don¡¯t think I will be able to sell ramyeon anymore.¡±

    ¡°Wh, what?! Why?!¡±

    ¡°Tell us why?!¡±

    ¡°I¡­ I ran out of ramyeon¡­ I¡¯m truly sorry,¡± Minhyuk said, looking extremely sorry and bitter. Meanwhile, the vigers that were already addicted to his ramyeon were left stunned.

    Unbeknownst to them, Minhyuk was lying through the skin of his teeth. After all, he was someone that had 50,000 pieces of instant ramyeon stocked up in his inventory! Besides, he was someone that had spent most of his money on food, when most of the people spent them on potions.

    ¡°How, how can this be¡­¡±

    ¡°Is there no other way?!¡±

    ¡°There is. I have to go back to Asgan Continent and bring some back. But the road back is too¡­ difficult¡­ Hoo¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Everyone was left speechless. They all knew how difficult it was to cross through different continents. The vigers all started to talk. At that moment, Minhyuk, with a grim look on his face as if he had finally decided on something, said, ¡°¡­Alright. I¡¯ll give it my all! It pains me to see everyone so sad.¡±

    Then, he bowed politely, before turning around with a somber look on his face.

    ***

    Hamil and the rest of the vigers wondered about how the foreigner that was selling ramyeon before was doing. After all, he has been gone for two days now.

    <em>¡®I want to eat ramyeon! Where the hell is he?!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Didn¡¯t you say that you¡¯d give your all?! Huh?! Thene back quickly and feed us those delicious Korean dishes!¡¯</em>

    At the time when the vigers were running around like headless flies and waiting for Minhyuk¡­

    ¡°He¡¯s back!!!¡±

    ¡°He came back!!!¡±

    Cord, who heard the excited shouts of the vigers, immediately rushed out. But what greeted them was very shocking. The vigers that gathered together opened a path for someone.

    That someone was none other than Minhyuk. However, he was walking with the support of crutches, his entire body covered with blood, and he was even vomiting blood. In the end, he copsed in front of Cord.

    ¡°Haa¡­ Haa¡­¡±

    ¡°What, what in the world happened to you?! Why are you injured?! What happened, huh?!¡±

    ¡°¡­I, I was able to go back to Asgan Continent for everyone. But the Red Goblin caught me and¡­ urk!¡±

    Blood, or tomato juice to be exact, dripped down from Minhyuk¡¯s mouth. Truth was, Minhyuk did not go to Asgan Continent during his two days of absence. Simply put, he was just lying. But seeing him vomit blood made everyone from Arsa Vige feel gratefulness and admiration for him.

    ¡°Why, why did you do something so foolish¡­ just for some stupid ramyeon?!¡±

    ¡°You, you got hurt so much just for our sake?!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaah! What a good person!!!¡±

    ¡°As a chef, there¡¯s nothing that brings me more joy than seeing you guys enjoy my dishes¡­¡±

    Cord¡¯s heart trembled when he heard Minhyuk¡¯s words. Without realizing it, he had already knelt down to give Minhyuk a big hug.

    ¡°You¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk returned Cord¡¯s hug, his eyes shining sadly and his body shaking. He was definitely in full performance mode!

    <em>¡®Aaaaah! This is a true and genuine chef. Although he only cooks instant food, his mindset is that of a master craftsman!¡¯</em>

    Cord stood up and looked around and said, ¡°He¡¯s a great man. Someone worthy of our respect. Even though his body is covered with blood after going to a faraway ce, he¡¯s still smiling for our sake. This man is a precious noble of our Arsa Vige!¡±

    ¡°Agreed!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    The vigers shouted loudly.

    <em>[Your favor with Cord has reached the highest level.]</em>

    <em>[Your favor with Hamil has reached the highest level.]</em>

    <em>[Your favor with Alesia has reached the highest¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­the highest level¡­]</em>

    The notifications kept on ringing in Minhyuk¡¯s ears. Then, he licked the tomato juice off of his mouth.

    <em>¡®Tomato juice is really delicious!¡¯</em>

    ¡°Long live Minhyuk!!!¡±

    ¡°Long live!!!¡±

    ¡°Long live Minhyuk Religion!!!¡±

    In the end, the vigers cheered loudly for Minhyuk. This was the secret behind the birth of ¡®Minhyuk Religion¡¯ in the Japanese Server.

 Chapter 483: Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage Quest

    Chapter 483: Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage Quest

    <em>[You have been given the Star¡¯s Blessing of the Star Chef Cord.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 200 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained +30 Physical and Magical Defense.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will permanently increase by 1.]</em>

    <em>[You have been given the Star¡¯s Blessing of the Star Tailor Ellen.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 200 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[All of your skills¡¯ cooldown will be reduced by 2%.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will permanently increase by 1.]</em>

    <em>[You have been given the Star¡¯s Blessing of the Star Sculptor Berk.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 200 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[You will get a higher increase in stats after looking at a remarkable painting or sculpture.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will permanently increase by 1.]</em>

    Minhyuk was able to increase his favor with all of the vigers with only a few simple dishes in the form of ramyeon, rice cakes, fritters, and blood sausages! On top of that, the things that he received were not limited to the Star¡¯s Blessings. As he strolled around the morning market¡­

    ¡°Minhyuk! The apples that I got today are very fresh. Have some!¡±

    <em>[You have acquired a delicious apple from Lorenei¡¯s Fruit Store.]</em>

    ¡°Minhyuk, this is a sculpture that I made before. I want to give it to you. I carved your image when you were cooking!¡±

    <em>[You have acquired a sculpture from Caddy¡¯s Sculpture Store.]</em>

    ¡°Minhyuk, have some cold juice!¡±

    ¡°Minhyuk, have some ramen!¡±

    ¡°Minhyuk?!¡±

    ¡°Minhyuk!!!¡±

    ¡°Our dear Minhyuk?!!!¡±

    ¡°Sect leader!!!¡±

    Just like that, all of the vigers showed great enthusiasm with Minhyuk.

    ¡°Hiyaa. This apple is very ripe. <em>Chomp!!!</em>¡±

    Minhyuk received countless gifts from everyone in the vige. As he continued his stroll, one man watched him. This man was none other than Jarrod.

    <em>¡®Ho?! How¡­?¡¯</em>

    Since that incident, the vigers and the Five Stars had disbanded and grown apart. They even became hostile towards each other. Jarrod had tried many times to mend their rtionship but he failed every single time. However, in just a short week, Minhyuk was able to revitalize the vige and even seeded in increasing his favor with them.

    <em>¡®What an amazing guy. If it¡¯s him, then perhaps¡­¡¯</em>

    Jarrod felt like Minhyuk might be able to pull off the thing that he had been trying to do for a long time. But before that, Jarrod went to visit Minhyuk¡¯s shop and ordered something to eat. The ramyeon was so delicious that it even made him cry. There were also rice cakes, fritters, blood sausages, and fish cakes!

    ¡°Now, please follow after me.¡±

    ¡°I was the one that ordered but why are you eating with me?¡±

    ¡°Ah, no~ I don¡¯t really want to eat it but I have to eat some to show Mister Jarrod how to eat it.¡±

    ¡°¡­Wipe your saliva first before you speak.¡±

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuurp!</em>¡± Minhyuk quickly slurped the drool that dripped down his mouth while Jarrod copied what he was doing.

    Minhyuk first took a sip of warm fish cake soup which Jarrod immediately copied. The deep and rich vor of the soup immediately spread in their mouths!

    ¡°As expected, fish cake soup really tastes best when you eat it out on the street.¡±

    ¡°Yeah!¡±

    Jarrod copied Minhyuk down to the T. He mped a piece of fried seaweed roll, dipped it in the spicy red rice cake sauce, then ced it in his mouth.

    <em>Crunch, crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    The crunch of the seaweed roll rang sweetly in Jarrod¡¯s ears the moment he took a bite. The spiciness of the rice cake sauce washed away the greasiness brought about by the fried seaweed roll. Just like that, he continued to move his chopsticks.

    This time, his chopsticks stretched out towards the blood sausage. He dipped the blood sausage in salt and ced it in his mouth. The chewy texture of the blood sausage brought a smile to his face. After that, he grabbed a piece of the dry liver and dipped it in the rice cake sauce.

    ¡°It¡¯s not fishy at all¡­¡±

    The spicy rice cake sauce perfectlyplemented the dryness of the liver and the slightly fishy aftertaste that apanied it. Then, Jarrod lifted the bowl of fishcake soup, blew on it, and drank everything in one go.

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuuuuuuurp!</em>¡±

    Next, Jarrod picked up a skewer of fish cake, brushed some soy sauce on it, and munched on it.

    ¡°Ho~¡± A sigh of satisfaction gently flew out of Jarrod¡¯s mouth after he finished savoring the warm fish cake in his mouth. He admired his bowl happily as notifications began ringing in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You havepleted the <strong>Linked Quest</strong>: Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage: Four Stars and the Vigers.]</em>

    <em>[You have achieved more than 90% favor with the vigers and the Stars.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained +15 in all of your stats.]</em>

    <em>[An additional +5 in all of your stats is rewarded for achieving more than 90% favor.]</em>

    <em>[You can acquire gifts from the Four Stars.]</em>

    <em>[Please ept the gifts from the Four Stars.]</em>

    ¡°When we first met, I actually believed that you won¡¯t be able toplete it. You¡¯re quite amazing, huh?¡± Jarrod smiled softly before continuing, ¡°This is myst request.¡±

    Then, Jarrod began to tell his story.

    The Five Stars were the most prominent individuals of the Eto Kingdom. Most of the kingdoms and empires were ranked based on their power and force, but not for Eto Kingdom. This was because themercial value of their art and products was so remarkable and outstanding, that it allowed them to be exempted from that ranking rule.

    In fact, Painter Elise only needed to create a few paintings and she would already be able to fill up 3% of the kingdom¡¯s finances. But that was not all. Whether it was the Star Chef, the Star Tailor, or any of the stars, they were all so talented, that the kings and emperors of other kingdoms and empires coveted them.

    Painter Elise was known for being able to paint the real sky. Tactician Jarrod was famous for repelling a 40,000 strong monster corps with only 500 soldiers. Star Tailor Ellen was well-known for being able to craft ordinary cloth armor with defense that was as good as sheet metal armor. Star Sculptor Berk was famous for being able to carve the figure of the gods. Because of these, the Five Stars were hailed as the legendary and supreme figures in the history of Eto Kingdom.

    However, their loyalty was only exclusive to King Valex. And of course, King Valex also cared for them.

    There was one more person King Valexcared for: his treasured queen. Then, Queen Aria, the most beautiful woman not only in the kingdom, but the entire continent, had gotten pregnant.

    That was when things began to spiral out of control. Wild rumors suddenly started to spread in the kingdom.

    <em>¡®The child in Queen Aria¡¯s belly is the child of one of the Stars.¡¯</em>

    This unfounded and ill rumor started to spread. At first, Valex did not believe the rumors. But as time went by, his suspicions gradually grew as if he was being possessed by something. Even the Stars suspected each other. Elise, the only woman among them, became disgusted with them, while the male Stars all doubted each other.

    Eventually, they grew distant. In the end, King Valex suspected them to the point that he even interrogated them. But the truth was nowhere to be found. He could not charge the Stars of a crime that had no evidence and was only based on groundless rumors.

    The rtionship between the queen and King Valex deteriorated as well, which plunged him further into madness. Soon, he went crazy. The once gentle and benevolent King Valex began to thread the path of a tyrant as he killed off his beloved queen¡¯s servants. However, this journey to tyranny did notst that long. gued by his suspicions, King Valex turned to alcohol. One day, he was found dead in his bedroom, surrounded by empty bottles.

    Queen Aria took to the throne and gave birth to her child, which left the entire Eto Kingdom shaken. The people no longer wished to follow Queen Aria nor the Stars.

    Muchter, these Stars, who doubted each other, only found out that everything was nned by the Verax Kingdom.

    Verax Kingdom¡¯s ck sorcerer manipted and weakened King Valex¡¯s spirit, while spreading false rumors throughout Eto Kingdom. Even though they discovered the truth, it was already toote. The Stars had already screwed everything up. All they could do was leave the pce and settle down in the same vige.

    ¡°We grew to hate each other, but we still settled down in the same vige. I believe deep down, no¡­ I know that we all wish to be together again. And you¡­ you might be able to tear down the walls that us, the Stars, have built between ourselves,¡± Jarrod smiled softly as he continued, ¡°I hope that we can show the world, that the Stars the people thought could not shine anymore, are still and will still shine brightly in the skies, illuminating the heavens where the former King Valex is now resting in.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded silently.

    ¡°This is my final request. I want to build a building for the despairing Queen Aria and His Majesty King Valex, assuage the chaotic minds and disorganized thoughts of the people, and stabilize the shaken Eto Kingdom.¡±

    The crazy tyrant King Valex¡¯s tomb was so shabby that it was hard to believe that a king was resting in that ce. After all, Aria could not bring herself to treat the crazy tyrant that doubted her with care upon his death. However, she now knew that everything was a ploy of another kingdom. This story was also circting among the masses.

    However, it was very hard to correct the public opinion that had once faltered due to the rumors. So, in order to remedy that, Jarrod wanted to erect a building for King Valex. Since King Valex¡¯s tomb was already in ce, Jarrod was only left with a building that would honour his king.

    ¡°Gather the Stars, the vigers, and any helping hand that you can get and create this building.¡±

    <em>[<strong>Linked Quest</strong>: The Third of the Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage: The Five Stars and the King¡¯s Building.]</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: SSS</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: The One whopleted the Second of the Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage.</em>

    <em><strong>Rewards</strong>: Eternal mes, ???</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty for Failure</strong>: Favor with the Five Stars will drop. Banishment from the Vige.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: Jarrod dered that he needed a building that can support and correct the faltering public opinion of the shaken Eto Kingdom. Gather people and build a building for the king with the Five Stars.</em>

    ¡°King Valex¡¯s tenth-year death anniversary will happen a monthter. ording to the legends, former kings that had passed away would descend upon the earth once again to take a look at their kingdom. The building must bepleted before that day.¡±

    ¡°How should the building be done?¡±

    ¡°The building should be the grandest, most noble and greatest building in history.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk could tell what Jarrod meant. If they could create the greatest building in existence, they would be able to give a huge blow to those that shook the foundations of Eto Kingdom.

    <em>¡®But, that¡¯s impossible, right?¡¯</em>

    As the thought shed in Minhyuk¡¯s head, Jarrod said, ¡°We are the Stars of Eto Kingdom. Nothing is impossible in our vocabry.¡±

    That was right. They were the Five Stars of Eto Kingdom. They were the most suited people for the creation of this building. After all, they were the ones that made statues and robes for their king, the ones that painted him throughout his life, made splendid architectures for him, and the ones that cooked meals for him.

    ¡°The one thing that bothers me the most is that there are only a few people here.¡±

    Even if all of the vigers participated, they roughly numbered around a thousand. That number was not enough to finish such a grand building in just a month. Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°I have a friend here but¡­ I have to contact him and ask him if he¡¯s free.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡± Even though Jarrod answered him like that, he still doubted Minhyuk''s words.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s from Asgan Continent. He definitely wouldn¡¯t have one or two friends here.¡¯</em>

    Even so, Jarrod thought that he should trust Minhyuk for now.

    ¡°Can you set up an appointment with the Stars tomorrow?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ***

    The next day, at lunch.

    Jarrod stood with Minhyuk, waiting nervously for the Stars toe. Ten years. They had been talking ill of and treating each other badly for ten whole years. Would they evene? And when the appointed time came, no one appeared.

    <em>¡®¡­In the end, they did note. Huh?¡¯</em>

    It seemed like the walls that they had built between each other were still too high. However, the two of them waited and waited and waited. Thirty minutes went by but still, none of them came. Another thirty minutes crawled by and still no one appeared.

    ¡°Hoo¡­¡± Jarrod sighed, face pale as he turned towards Minhyuk and said, ¡°In the end, it didn¡¯t work, huh?¡±

    But then, at that moment¡­

    <em>Step, step, step, step¡ª</em>

    A woman, wearing a mboyant attire, appeared followed by a hundred people. She said, ¡°I was running a bitte since I went out to gather my painters. Sorry, Jarrod.¡±

    That was not the end. Chef Cord also arrived followed by his disciples. Even Sculptor Berk and Tailor Ellen appeared leading many people behind them. The vigers had also gathered around them. Most of them came from Eto Kingdom and also wanted to take part in their ns. Jarrod smiled slightly.

    However, only a small number of people had gathered. They were only a thousand at most. This number alone could not make the grandest and most splendid building for their king. Then, at that moment¡­

    ¡°My friend is here,¡± Minhyuk said.

    Jarrod saw someone walking through the vige, leading tens of thousands of people behind him.

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Jarrod was shocked. He thought, <em>¡®Howe there''s so many people?!¡¯ </em>as he stared dumbly at the people that arrived.

    Meanwhile, the man that led the group smiled lightly and said, ¡°Long time no see, Minhyuk.¡±

    ¡°Long time no see. I wasn¡¯t able to greet you properly during the World War.¡±

    The man that appeared was Japan''s strongest and the guild leader of Japan¡¯s best guild. The very same man that changed the ¡®Summit Five¡¯ and turned it into the ¡®Summit Six¡¯.

    He was Japan¡¯s greatest, Musashi Kentaro.

 Chapter 484: The Kingâ€™s Building

    Chapter 484: The King¡¯s Building

    In the past, Musashi Kentaro had met Minhyuk and Mage Ali in Beas Vige. Of course, their first impression of each other had been awful. Kentaro was arrogant back then. However, thanks to Minhyuk, he realized that the world was teeming with strong and powerful yers, and that he wascking in many ces. He became stronger thanks to the teachings of none other than Minhyuk.

    <em>Eat well, exercise diligently and sleep on time!</em>

    Following this doctrine, which eventually became Kentaro¡¯s famous line, Kentaro¡¯s physical body became healthier, which in turn allowed him to obtain strength in Athenae better than before. To Kentaro, Minhyuk was his benefactor. So with his call for help, Kentaro led his guild members, the members of the best guild in Japan, to where Minhyuk was.

    However, no matter how prestigious the position of a guild leader was, it was impossible for him to make all of his guild memberse to Minhyuk¡¯s aid with just one order. The reason for everyone¡¯s participation? There was only one.

    <em>¡®Perhaps¡­ we can taste the Food God¡¯s dishes.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I heard that we¡¯ll be able to hear heavenly harmonies with just a bite of the Food God¡¯s dish.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I can¡¯t wait!¡¯</em>

    That was right! Anyone that tasted Minhyuk¡¯s dishes, whether they were a gourmand or not, would always find themselves moaning, even with just the side dishes! There would be some people in the world that felt that eating was an annoyance, but none of them hated the act. And Minhyuk already knew that this quest was an extensive quest. In fact, he only ¡®barely¡¯ received the quest when these notifications had already appeared in front of him:

    <em>[You are the one that directly received the quest.]</em>

    <em>[You will be given special privileges during the quest.]</em>

    <em>[You can now make quests.]</em>

    <em>[You can personally set the rewards.]</em>

    He was given the ability to create quests! Of course, as the king of ¡®Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯, he already had the ability to create quests to have yers help in his kingdom. However, that was an ability that was only possible in the confines of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    Now, that was not a problem anymore.

    <em>¡®Through this, I can make a linked quest. I can reward them ordingly through each step. It will definitely foster a good environment and spur people''s enthusiasm to work.¡¯</em>

    Azy worker would definitely be of no use. Only those that were willing to try and work hard would be more useful and create good results.

    ¡°I will give a present to those that came here to help,¡± Minhyuk said as he looked around with Kentaro.

    ¡°Wow~ Are we finally going to be able to taste the dishes of Our Lord Food God?¡±

    ¡°Kghhk!!!¡±

    ¡°Kyaaaa!¡±

    Minhyuk took the opportunity to create quests while everyone was in awe of their luck.

    <em>¡®Three linked quests per day. I¡¯ll also set the rewards so that they will get better as time goes by. The meals that they will get will be tastier the better their performance.¡¯</em>

    At this point, it was certain that Minhyuk would not participate in the construction. His job here was to cook for them.

    <em>¡®They¡¯re definitely curious about Korean dishes. After all, they all ate a lot of kimchi stew, soybean paste stew, and bulgogi when they visited Korea.¡¯</em>

    But Minhyuk was fully aware that finding a ce where they could eat authentic and delicious bulgogi and kimchi stew was really hard. After all, Japanese tourists would often flock to ¡®tourist attractions¡¯. To be honest, most of the restaurants in those ces were considered bad by Korea''s standards. In fact, there were even plenty of rip-offs among those restaurants. That was why Minhyuk wanted to give them a taste of authentic and delicious Korean dishes!

    <em>[Have youpleted the Quest Creation process?]</em>

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    At the same time, all of the people present have received a quest.

    <em>[<strong>Linked Quest</strong>: Korean Dishes Will Come Out While Making a Building?!!!]</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: D</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: The Ones that participate in the creation of the King¡¯s Building.</em>

    <em><strong>Rewards</strong>: You can choose from the following choices: Kimchi Stew Set Meal, Soybean Paste Stew Set Meal, Seaweed Soup Set Meal, etc.</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty for Failure</strong>: You will not be able to continue participating in the King¡¯s Building Quest if you fail to achieve 100% of the participation rate within 24 hours.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: This is a quest presented by Minhyuk, the person that directly received the King¡¯s Building Quest. You can get food whenever you reach 100% of your participation rate. Everytime you get food, your participation rate will return to 0%. You will be able to get another dish once your participation rate reaches 100% again. If you reach the final link, a surprising and shocking dish will be prepared for you.</em>

    ¡°Oh? A quest where we can get food from the Food God?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s getting me excited, huh?¡±

    ¡°That sounds excellent.¡±

    Kentaro led around 20,000 of his guild members. This was the best way to get them to do their best. However, plenty of them were stillining.

    ¡°Are you kidding me? The reward is just food?¡±

    ¡°Are there no other rewards besides food? The quest doesn¡¯t seem to be easy and the rewards are terrible too.¡±

    Even in reality, they would be provided with full meals as long as they went to work in construction sites.

    But to think the rewards that they were being given here were only food?!

    Kentaro could only smile bitterly at the ones that wereining. Minhyuk was also aware that these reactions were inevitable. It was only natural since everyone here was going to invest their ¡®precious time¡¯. They already did not have enough time to do various quests and increase their levels, but the only reward that they would get was food. It was definitely a ridiculous quest!

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll do my best so that the food I make will not look sloppy.¡¯</em>

    Besides, even if he wanted to, there were too many people for Minhyuk to give another reward. Also¡­

    <em>¡®Fufufu. Do you really think this reward is bad?¡¯ </em>Minhyuk thought, expecting a very rare scene in the future. Then, he unfolded arge parchment in front of Kentaro and the Five Stars.

    ¡°This is the blueprint for the building.¡±

    ¡°¡­Th, this¡­¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t this really grand?¡±

    ¡°No. It¡¯s not only cool, it¡¯s also perfect. Look at that interior?! Who in the world made this?!¡±

    In fact, Jarrod was someone that had dabbled in construction and had a considerable amount of knowledge about it. Even the well-versed Jarrod had never seen such an intricate and perfect design.

    The answer to his question was Roadol, the president of Ilhwa Construction. The blueprint was something that Roadol had spent a long time nning and drawing.

    ¡°This will be the greatest building in existence once it¡¯s finished,¡± Minhyuk dered confidently, his confidence making all of the Five Stars believe in him.

    Finally, the construction started.

    ***

    The construction site of the building was set in a huge forest located close to Arsa Vige. This forest was called the Forest of the Sun. Although trees and grass grew lush around it, nothing grew in the middle. That ce was where they were going to construct their building.

    Thousands of people began to pull out the small andrge stones embedded on the ground. They gathered it together and ced it in a cart to dispose of it somewhere else. Then, the people that were unearthing the rocks¡­

    ¡°<em>Fwaa. </em>This is tiring. So backbreaking.¡±

    ¡°If only I could taste the Food God¡¯s dish.¡±

    ¡°Ugh¡­ I don¡¯t want to do it anymore. Doing something like this just for one dish?!¡±

    Many of the yers among them were forced toe because of Kentaro¡¯s call. All of them grumbled. After all, in ces that required strenuousbor, most of them would reveal their true personalities. Some worked silently and diligently, carrying the stones away, wiping their perspiration with the towels on their necks, before running back to carry more. There were others already feigning exhaustion, showing that they were having a hard time carrying one or two pieces of rocks.

    ¡°Aenil. Take it easy. Why are you working so hard when there¡¯s no reward?¡±

    ¡°Even so, it¡¯s a quest given by a Korean yer that came to our country. If I do it half-heartedly, I feel like I¡¯ll be showing them that Japanese people are all like this. Anyway, doing something like this is fun in its own way.¡±

    ¡°Well, you work hard at everything you do. That¡¯s a problem on its own.¡±

    The man, Aenil, smiled. He was the typical model student! However, his friend just leaned against a tree while whistling leisurely. Just when Aenil was preparing to work hard again, an unexpected notification rang in his ears.

    <em>[Your participation rate has increased dramatically in just a short period of time!]</em>

    <em>[You can choose between Juicy Juice and Iced Americano for your special reward.]</em>

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    It just so happened that his throat was getting dry. Aenil went to where the people had gathered. There, he saw a handsome young man handing out drinks.

    ¡°Gorfido?¡±

    ¡°Heok! It¡¯s, it¡¯s really Gorfido!¡±

    ¡°Gorfido¡¯s handing out drinks here?¡±

    There was no one that did not know who Great Pirate Gorfido was. After all, he knelt in front of Minhyuk and swore his allegiance not too long ago. But what he was doing now¡­

    <em>¡®He¡¯s giving out drinks?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Keok?!¡¯</em>

    The shock did not end there.

    ¡°Gorfido. Can¡¯t you go any faster when handing out drinks?! Can¡¯t you see the crowd lined up here?! Oh my~ our dear gulli¡­ no, brothers! Haha! Have some refreshing drinks! The <em>Juicy</em> goes in, <em>glug, glug, glug~ until when are we going to do the~ shoulder~ dance~</em>¡±

    This was the typical business owner! Smiling kindly to customers while getting angry with their part-timers! Aenil, who was also in line, finally received a ss of watermelon juice from Gorfido.

    ¡°Thank, thank you for the drink,¡± Aenil said, eyes and body quivering as he received the ss of watermelon juice from the fierce Gorfido and tipped it to his mouth. The moment the juice entered his mouth¡­

    <em>Blink¡ª</em>

    <em>Hallelujah~ Hallelujah~ Hallelujah, Hallelujah~ Minhyuk-llujaaaaaaaah~ </em>

    Aenil blinked nkly, eyes growing wider by the second, as a heavenly voice rang in his head! After that? Well, he could not stop his mouth from gulping down everything in his ss!

    <em>Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp¡ª</em>

    After gulping down his watermelon juice, Aenil could only shout in shock, ¡°Cra, crazy¡­! This is very delicious!¡±

    It was just watermelon juice, so how could it be this delicious, right?! Of course it would be delicious. Even though it was just a simple watermelon juice, after passing through the hands of Minhyuk, someone that had 5,000 DEX, that was doubled by the effects of Ellie¡¯s Kitchen Knife, it would definitely be able to attract anyone¡¯s attention!

    But that was not all! A set of shocking notifications even rang in Aenil¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You have drunk the Refreshing Juicy Watermelon Juice.]</em>

    <em>[Strength starts to fill your body as your exhaustion fades away.]</em>

    <em>[Your STM will increase by +20 for four hours.]</em>

    How could a buff from a simple juice produce this much effect?! This was the thought that shed in everyone¡¯s head.

    <em>¡®I, I want to drink it again¡­!¡¯</em>

    However, that was when Aenil realized why Gorfido was the one tasked to hand out drinks. Just one look and he could tell that he would be logged out if he tried to ask for another drink.

    <em>¡®I, I have to work harder! I¡¯ll definitely get another drink.¡¯</em>

    <em>Rush, rush, rush, rush¡ª</em>

    Aenil immediately ran back to work. And the ones that had a taste of the drink with him¡­

    <em>Rush, rush, rush, rush¡ª</em>

    <em>Rush, rush, rush¡ª</em>

    <em>Rush, rush, rush¡ª</em>

    ¡­all ran at full-speed and went back to work.

    ¡°Huh? What the hell?!¡±

    ¡°What the hell¡¯s wrong with them?!¡±

    ¡°For a moment, I thought we¡¯re in a zombie movie?¡±

    Minhyuk smiled viciously at the sight of the rushing people. He was making full use of the ¡®quest system¡¯ by using the juice as a special reward for those that worked hard. Once they got a taste of it, they would definitely work harder. Then, what would happen if someone that was doing things half-heartedly saw them?

    ¡°Can I have one of those drinks too?¡±

    ¡°¡­You do not meet the requirements to get a drink.¡±

    ¡°No. I also worked hard so why don¡¯t you give me a drink too¡­ Ah, I know. Of course not, huh? I won¡¯t drink it.¡±

    One of the grumbling andining yers immediately dashed away when he saw Gorfido¡¯s hand settle on the hilt of his sword. The yer thought, <em>¡®I want to drink it too, you know? Hoo¡­ I have no choice but to work hard for a bit, huh?¡¯</em>

    They would have no choice but to work, out of sheer curiosity for the drink. And once they got a taste of the drink? They could only change and turn into ¡®Aenil¡¯¡¯s state and¡­

    ¡°Minhyuk-llujah!¡±

    ¡­do their best!

    <em>¡®Fufufu! Work hard, ves!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk grinned widely.

    ***

    PD Haruo of Japan¡¯s top broadcasting station, KBTV broadcasting station, was walking around in Athenae with his filming crew. He dered, ¡°Either way, the situation will be interesting. We can film how the Food God and the Japanese yers fail in creating the King¡¯s Building.¡±

    Reporter Yuka nodded when she heard his words. PD Haruo believed that they would fail simply because¡­

    ¡°Just now, I¡¯ve heard that the rewards that the Food God offered is food, you know? On top of that, Kentaro brought 20,000 people there. Do you think they went there willingly? They just went there because they can¡¯t disobey Kentaro. Also, who would want to work hard when the rewards are that poor? That¡¯s 100% a failure. That¡¯s why we came here to film.¡±

    It was the quest to build a building for a king! That was why it was not unusual to fail. However! This was the Food God failing! PD Haruo had already thought of a title too. It went like this: <em>The Food God Can¡¯t Do Anything in Japan!</em>

    Yuka nodded since PD Haruo¡¯s words were well-founded and convincing. But still, she raised his doubts and said, ¡°But, wasn¡¯t the Food God known for making the impossible possible?¡±

    ¡°This time is definitely different. They have to make the grandest building in the world. The Food God is just a yer that eats well. He¡¯s not a builder, you know?¡±

    Yuka nodded once again while Haruo smiled in a cunning manner and said, ¡°I don¡¯t really like that Food God. I¡¯m sure that the rumors about the food that he made is just something exaggerated for marketing!¡±

    Haruo was definitely certain that the testimonies about the greatness of the Food God¡¯s cooking were only exaggerated by the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    <em>¡®And even if the food that he made is really delicious, there¡¯s a limit to how much that can motivate others to work.¡¯</em>

    Moving with such thoughts in mind, they finally arrived at the construction site. Just then, the Food God appeared to meet them. He said, ¡°Oh my~ Aren¡¯t you PD Haruo, the famous PD from KBTV broadcasting station? Hahaha!¡±

    ¡°You know me?¡±

    ¡°Of course~ Of course~ You¡¯re very famous. What was that¡­ Ha¡­ ha¡­¡±

    ¡°Happy Days!¡±

    ¡°Ah! Yes, that! I always watched Happy Days!¡±

    Haruo could feel that Minhyuk had not seen a single episode of Happy Days. Even so, he said, ¡°Oh. I guess my programs are famous in Korea too.¡±

    As they talked, Yuka said, ¡°PD, I¡¯ve already informed you but I have something to do so I¡¯ll log out ande backter.¡±

    ¡°Alright.¡±

    Then, Food God Minhyuk handed out drinks to the PD and the rest of the broadcasting station¡¯s employees while singing, ¡°<em>Until when are we going to do~ the shoulder~ dance~ Glug~ glug, glug, glug~</em>¡±

    Yuka just shrugged and logged out. She did not have the time to receive and taste the drink because she was busy and had work to do in reality.

    An hourter, when she came back and reconnected inside the game, Yuka tilted her head in confusion.

    ¡°Where did everyone go? Why are their whispers off too?¡±

    Haruo said that they would start their shoot after talking with the Food God. He said that discussions would definitely onlyst for an hour. But she could not find anyone aftering back after the hour was up. So, Yuka moved forward to find them.

    What greeted her was a shocking sight.

    ¡°Uwoooooooh!¡±

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack!</em>

    A man was digging the ground like crazy. But that was not all, there were around twenty people that gathered around the man and were also digging crazily. These crazy people were none other than PD Haruo and the rest of the broadcasting station¡¯s employees. All of them were smiling weirdly.

    ¡°Fufufufu¡­ I, I can drink a bit more of that drink¡­¡±

    ¡°Refreshing and sweet¡­ watermelon juice¡­¡±

    ¡°My, my melon¡­¡±

    ¡°He, hehehe¡­!¡±

    ¡°Uwooooooooh!¡±

    Then, Haruo said, ¡°Everyone, you can do it! Just a few more and we will be able to drink it again!¡±

    ¡°Uwoooooh! Long, long live the Food God!!! Long live the Sect Leader!!!¡±

    <em>Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Yuka could not understand what was happening in front of her. Why were they working here when they only came to cover what was happening here? What was worse, this was Haruo, the one that said that the Food God¡¯s food was only exaggerated by the rumors.

    <em>¡®What in the world happened?¡¯</em>

 Chapter 485: The Kingâ€™s Building

    Chapter 485: The King¡¯s Building

    PD Harui, with all of his programs receiving high ratings, was one of the producers that soared high in Japan. He was also someone that had clear boundaries and distinction between his private and public matters. But now¡­

    <em>¡®We¡¯re here to cover the story and shoot their progress. So, why the hell¡­!¡¯</em>

    Reporter Yuka immediately approached PD Haruo and said, ¡°PD, why did you suddenly decide to grab a pickaxe?¡±

    When Haruo turned to look at her, Yuka was very shocked to see the crazed look in his eyes. He looked just like those zombies craving for blood in the movies. Then, he said, ¡°Yu, Yuka¡­ Youe here, quick! Grab a pickaxe too!¡±

    ¡°What?! Why should I also grab a pickaxe¡­?¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re not joining us then don¡¯t interrupt what we¡¯re doing! Go away!¡± PD Haruo shouted as he pushed Yuka away. Even her other colleagues were showing simr reactions.

    Seeing this, Yuka pulled out her personal camera and moved to start filming while thinking, <em>¡®Since we already got the permission to film, let¡¯s do this. I won¡¯t lose my professionalism.¡¯</em>

    She might be a reporter, but she could also film. As she continued to film, she was met with another shocking sight.

    <em>¡®Huh? Now that I¡¯m looking closely, aren¡¯t all of the people working here in a simr state?¡¯</em>

    Yuka felt like both the yers and NPCs were going crazy. All of them were getting tainted with madness! Yuka continued to walk around until she found Kentaro¡¯s Seven Admirals.

    Kentaro¡¯s Seven Admirals were Japan¡¯s top rankers that had been with Kentaro for the longest time. If Kentaro was number one, then they were ranked third, fifth, sixth, eight and the likes. They were known for their strict, cold, and ill-tempered personalities.

    Of course, just like Yuka expected, these people were working unwillingly. Yuka sneaked forward to get a scoop of their story.

    Japan¡¯s ¡®Iron Tanker Kaisei¡¯. He was Japan¡¯s number one tanker and was famous for enduring the attacks and damage dealt by thousands of monsters. He said, ¡°This is really ridiculous. Isn¡¯t Kentaro a bit too much?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. I also think that it¡¯s a bit too much.¡±

    And the one that answered Kaisei was¡­

    <em>¡®Isn¡¯t that Saint¡¯s Wing Louvin?¡¯</em>

    Saint¡¯s Wing Louvin was Loyna¡¯s devout follower and a priestess that has received her grace. She was someone with outstanding power and firmly sat at the top rank in the priest¡¯s rankings.

    ¡°Why is he making us do hardbor when we already don¡¯t have enough time to level up?¡±

    ¡°The worst part is the rewards. It¡¯s just food. Why do I have to do something ridiculous just for that?¡±

    ¡°Calm down. Take into consideration the server consolidation in the future. It¡¯s good for us to build ties with the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom,¡± Messenger of Death Taichi said calmly.

    ¡°Of course, that¡¯s a good thing. But what if? Just, what if Beyond the Heavens Kingdom turns their back on us once the servers are consolidated?¡±

    ¡°Do we have a guarantee that he will fulfill what he said?¡±

    ¡°Twenty thousand of our guild members participated in this because Guild Leader Kentaro said, <em>¡®If you go there, you will definitely get something special when youe back.¡¯</em>. But is there anything more special than artifacts and EXP to yers like us?¡±

    ¡°Right, right. Kentaro is truly mistaken this time.¡±

    Their words made it hard for Taichi to defend Kentaro. In the end, he could not say anything against them. The only reason why they could not protest loudly was because Kentaro was working so passionately.

    <em>¡®Just like what PD Haruo said, there are many yers that are against this.¡¯</em>

    The sun slowly set in the horizon. Meanwhile, the Seven Admirals began to talk again.

    ¡°It seems like I have met the requirements to eat one dish.¡±

    ¡°Those that tasted the dish are suddenly working harder but what¡¯s the point of that? It¡¯s just food.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t understand it either. I only eat <em>meal tablets</em>.¡±

    Meal tablets were a kind of medicine. This tablet contained abination of nutrients and proteins beneficial for the body. Just one tablet and one would feel full for the day. Plenty of rankers use this tablet so as not to waste any time eating. Also, even though twelve hours had passed since they started working, the Seven Admirals had only met the requirements to eat one dish, the first dish.

    ¡°Let¡¯s just try this one dish then.¡±

    They all moved to where Minhyuk was. Minhyuk was busy delivering food here and there. Iron Tanker Kaisei received a soybean paste stew set meal, Saint¡¯s Wing Louvin received a kimchi stew set meal, while another one of them received the bulgogi set meal.

    ¡°The dishes that I¡¯ve tried in Korea are the worst out of all the dishes that I have ever tasted.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. It was incredibly expensive too.¡±

    ¡°It was also too salty.¡±

    ¡°It was alright. But it¡¯s something that I would not want to eat again.¡±

    These were their thoughts and assessments regarding Korean food. Meanwhile, Saint¡¯s Wing Louvin looked at her kimchi stew set meal. The side dishes included in the meals Minhyuk prepared were spinach and bean sprouts, spicy stir-fried fish cake and two fresh out-of-the-pan fried eggs. In reality, Louvin was a picky eater. She was someone that was very choosy in the food that she ate. That was why every once in a while she would consider changing her diet and using meal tablets instead of having regr meals. That very same woman was now stirring the kimchi stew in her bowl.

    <em>¡®It looks very salty to me though?¡¯</em>

    Louvin scooped a mouthful of the soup, blew on it gently, before taking a sip.

    <em>¡®Huh?¡¯</em>

    Louvin was very shocked at the sudden burst of vor that danced in her mouth. Although it was just a sip, she could tell that the soup was very refreshing, even though it was hot. On top of that, the spiciness that lingered in her mouth made her crave for something. After a few moments of pondering, Louvin realized that what she was craving for was none other than rice. So, she hurriedly scooped up a mouthful of rice and ced it in her mouth.

    <em>¡®The rice is well-cooked¡­¡¯</em>

    Louvin could tell that the rice was cooked in perfect proportions. It was very well done! Then, at that moment, Minhyuk approached and said, ¡°You should try putting some meat and kimchi on top of the white rice.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Thank you,¡± Louvin answered as she followed Minhyuk¡¯s suggestion. She scooped a spoonful of the steaming white rice before cing a piece of kimchi and a perfectly cooked meat with a 5:5 ratio of lean meat and fat on top of it.

    The moment she ced it in her mouth¡­

    <em>Hallelujah~ Hallelujah~ Hallelujah, Hallelujah~ Minhyuk-llujaaaaaaaah~ </em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Her hand, which was holding the spoon, trembled. The taste of the kimchi and its soup spread in her mouth gently and smoothly. The 5:5 perfect ratio meat was also easy to chew, like some tender beef that melted in her mouth.

    And the steaming mouthful of white rice? It was the icing on the cake!

    ¡°De, delicious¡­!¡±

    Louvin finally realized what ¡®vor¡¯ was. She, an extremely picky eater, finally learnt what a ¡®true delicious meal¡¯ was,after her twenty nine years of existence!

    ¡°You should also try the fried egg and the rice,¡± Minhyuk suggested, like a kind Korean Restaurant boss to his customers. Following his suggestion, Louvin hurriedly added a piece of the fried egg on her rice.

    <em>¡®It looks really pretty.¡¯</em>

    The glossy yolk looked a bit runny, but it was still cooked very well.

    ¡°Poke the yolk with your chopsticks.¡±

    The golden yolk flowed gently down the rice the moment Louvin¡¯s chopsticks touched the egg.

    ¡°Scoop a mouthful of the white, the yolk, and the rice.¡±

    Louvin immediately followed Minhyuk¡¯s instructions. She pressed the middle of the egg and scooped the whites, the yolk, and the rice altogether. Then, she ced it in her mouth.

    ¡°Crazy¡­ This is crazy delicious¡­!¡± She covered her mouth as she eximed in admiration. Even her eyes looked shiny and wet with tears. But that was only for a moment, she did not have much time for sentimentality as she hurriedly moved her hands to scoop another mouthful of the kimchi stew!

    ¡°Can I have another bowl of rice?¡±

    ¡°This¡­ I can¡¯t give you anything else aside from your quest rewards. It will be unfair for others.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­ just one¡­ please¡­!¡±

    Saint¡¯s Wing Louvin, the woman famous for being the most picky and choosy individual in Japan, was now begging for a bowl of rice.

    ¡°Then, I¡¯ll give it to you for 10,000 gold. Ah, this is only because it¡¯s you, Louvin.¡±

    ¡°O, okay!¡±

    Minhyuk was someone that would never incur a loss! He even sold his rice at a price that was ten times more expensive than usual! On top of that, as if he did her a favor, Louvin would feel closer and more grateful to Minhyuk.

    With the additional bowl of rice, Louvin quickly finished everyst drop of soup in the earthen pot. The meal was so satisfying that she could not help but sigh in awe. As she wiped her mouth with a tissue, a quest window immediately popped up in front of her.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Linked Quest</em></strong><em>: Korean Dishes Will Come Out While Making a Building?!!!: Second Part has been created.]</em>

    The contents of the quest were the same as before. The only thing that changed was the rewards list. This time their choices were: <em>¡®Bulgogi, Spicy Stir-fried Pork and Spicy Braised Chicken¡¯</em>.

    <em>¡®I, I want to eat them¡­!¡¯</em>

    Saint¡¯s Wing Louvin, the pickiest and choosiest woman in Japan, grabbed her pickaxe and¡­

    ¡°Uwooooooooooh!¡±

    ¡­rushed out. Yuka looked at her disappearing figure. She had already seen the other Admirals rushing out long before Louvin did. All of them looked frantic as they worked harder than everybody else.

    <em>aaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡°I will eat!¡±

    <em>aaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡°Spicy Braised Chicken!!!¡± Saint¡¯s Wing Louvin shouted with firm determination.

    <em>¡®How, how can this be¡­ she just ate one meal¡­¡¯</em>

    At this point, Yuka realized that PD Haruo and the rest of her colleagues were working hard because they were entranced by the food. Then, at that moment¡­

    ¡°Oh my~ Aren¡¯t you one of the employees of the broadcasting station?¡± Minhyuk asked as he approached her with a soft smile on his face. Then, he handed Yuka a cold ss of watermelon juice before continuing his words, ¡°You¡¯re not supposed to get this if you¡¯re not working but since you¡¯re a broadcasting station employee, I¡¯ll give you this. In return, please make a good broadcast of our situation here.¡±

    And Yuka¡­

    <em>Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp¡ª</em>

    ¡­gulped everything in one go.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Suddenly, she grabbed her camera in one hand, while grabbing a pickaxe with another, before rushing out and screaming, ¡°Uwoooooooh! I will get another of that watermelon juiiiiiiiiiiiiice!¡±

    All of the people that participated in the building quest were slowly being ¡®Minhyukified¡¯.

    ***

    It was two in the morning. However, the construction site where the King¡¯s Building would be built was still as lively as ever.

    ¡°Sleep?! What do you mean by sleep?! Is that even a problem?! Especially when I¡¯m about to be able to eat Minhyuk¡¯s food again?!¡±

    ¡°Because I have to go to work?! I can get by with just an hour of sleep!!!¡±

    ¡°Uwoooooooooh!!!¡±

    None of the yers logged out for the night. It was because they had the crazy idea that they would be able to eat Minhyuk¡¯s dishes once or twice more if they worked at night! They were trying to rationalize their actions by telling themselves that they would just be tired in the morning.

    ¡°Let¡¯s work hard a bit more! Just a bit more and we¡¯ll be able to drink that ss of watermelon juice again!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s gooooooo!!!¡±

    Minhyuk scuttled in between them and cheered them up. Those that heard his encouragement squeezed their strength and worked even harder. And that was not all¡­

    ¡°Oh no. Old man~ why aren¡¯t you sleeping?¡±

    ¡°Hoho. Boy, I haven¡¯t eaten anything that¡¯s more delicious than your cooking in my entire life.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? Then, please hang in there a bit more. I¡¯ll make you a very delicious drink and treat you to a meal.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, thank you!!!¡±

    ¡­even the elderly were participating in the work that they were doing at dawn. It had been almost twenty hours since they started the construction! The Five Stars all looked at the scene in shock.

    <em>¡®How can a simple dish¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®There¡¯s still many people at this time?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®But their faces¡­ they don¡¯t look tired at all.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®From what it looks like, his dishes also carry an amazing power that helps them gain more strength.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Amazing.¡¯</em>

    The Five Stars were the best Named NPCs in Japan. But even for them, Minhyuk¡¯s dishes still looked extremely excellent. However¡­

    <em>¡®We¡¯re still short on people.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Even if more than 20,000 people worked 24 hours a day, we still won¡¯t be able to finish everything on time.¡¯</em>

    Just when this thought shed in their heads, bad news came crashing down. Literally crashing down.

    <em>Rumbleeeeeee¡ª</em>

    It was still obviously dawn but the world suddenly turned bright all of a sudden. Then, this bright light suddenly converged and enveloped the site where they were building the king¡¯s building.

    <em>[The Absolute Gods are watching you and the Five Stars.]</em>

    <em>[They are extremely furious.]</em>

    <em>Rumbleeeee¡ª</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª</em>

    Was this what they meant when they said a bolt out of the blue? Just like that, lightning began to strike down from the once clear skies above. There was even a huge thunderstorm that brewed and crushed the pile of stones that the workers struggled to collect and build. Minhyuk, the Five Stars and all of the workers hurriedly tried to dodge the lightning bolts that were already reaching the thousands.

    <em>¡®The Absolute Gods are angry? Why?¡¯</em>

    Then, as if answering the question, the notifications popped up.

    <em>[The Absolute Gods are furious that a building honoring a human will be grander than their temples.]</em>

    <em>[The Absolute Gods are giving you a warning right now.]</em>

    <em>[You will suffer from a terrible disaster if you continue to construct the building.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s face turned ugly after hearing the notifications. The notifications also rang for the other yers and NPCs. Minhyuk quickly tried to ponder about the matters at hand.

    <em>¡®We have to stop because the gods are angry? A disaster will befall upon us if we continue?¡¯</em>

    It waspletely ridiculous. Also, there was a ¡®part¡¯ that he was suspicious about.

    ¡°What, what do we do?¡±

    ¡°Minhyuk, what should we do?¡±

    The Five Stars were all confused. Kentaro and the 20,000 yers also rushed to him to see his decision. Minhyuk looked up at the skies. And beyond everyone¡¯s expectations, he said, ¡°Hey! Gods! Stop the bullshit. Do I really have to listen to your nonsense?¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Everyone was horrified to hear his words. But then, the notifications rang again.

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods looks at you nkly.]</em>

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods is confused.]</em>

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods has taken a fancy to you.]</em>

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods has be extremely furious.]</em>

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods looks at you with shining eyes as if they found something interesting.]</em>

 Chapter 486: The Kingâ€™s Building

    Chapter 486: The King¡¯s Building

    Jarrod, one of the Five Stars, thought that the Absolute Gods¡¯ anger would definitely soar and they would wipe everything out here after hearing Minhyuk¡¯s shocking remarks. After all, no one had ever dared to say ¡®Do I even need to listen to your nonsense?¡¯ to these gods. Even if they stood against the wrong opponent, Jarrod thought that this was still too much. But then, something strange happened. No, more like nothing happened.

    <em>¡®What?¡¯</em>

    While everyone was looking around in doubt, Minhyuk looked like he had already expected this to happen. He thought, <em>¡®The Absolute Gods would stop a yer¡¯s ongoing quest? Even if they were gods, that would still mean that there was a huge copse somewhere, right?¡¯</em>

    If the quest was going to be stopped midway then it should not have existed in the first ce, right? Minhyuk noticed right away that the Absolute Gods were only ¡®scaring¡¯ them and he had confirmed it with the remarks that he said earlier. The Absolute Gods had various reactions to his words too with one of them bing extremely furious.

    <em>[The Absolute Gods have started a discussion.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s expression turned solemn after hearing the notification.

    <em>¡®They might not be able to stop us but they can get involved.¡¯</em>

    The key here was how they would get involved. Then, additional notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[The Absolute Gods have suggested that you make the grandest and noblest building in existence.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>A Bet With the Gods Quest</strong>: The Noblest and Grandest Building]</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: SSS</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: The One that received the King¡¯s Building Quest.</em>

    <em><strong>Rewards</strong>: ???</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty for Failure</strong>: -30 on all stats, -1 on all skill levels, the Five Stars will receive a punishment from the Absolute Gods.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: The Absolute Gods are furious that the humans are trying to create the grandest building in existence for just a mere human king. But they are willing to give you onest chance. If you¡¯re going to make one, then make it so the building would invoke their admiration. The rewards that you receive will be dependent on the scores that they will give you. If you give up now, then you will not incur any penalties.</em>

    <em>¡®The penalty for failure¡­¡¯</em>

    It was tremendous. A thirty point decrease in all stats and even a one level decrease of all skill levels? The worst part? The one level decrease in all skill levels was equivalent to at least a sixty level decrease in his overall level. And that was not all. The Five Stars were also going to be punished by the Absolute Gods. This notification was not only received by Minhyuk but also by the Five Stars and the yers present. They also saw the penalty for failure. However, they only received a -2 in all stats. It was much lesspared to the penalty that Minhyuk and the Five Stars would receive but it was still something that could sting. They were also informed that they would not incur any penalties if they withdrew now.

    ¡°A -2 in all stats? There¡¯s even a +1% in skill cooldown?¡±

    ¡°My gosh¡­ what the hell is this?¡±

    ¡°Why did the gods suddenly intervene?¡±

    Minhyuk could tell what this was. <em>¡®What a shallow and petty trick¡­¡¯ </em>That was right. The Gods were intent on making them give up by allowing them to refuse the quest with no penalties incurred.

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s just a -2 on all stats, right? Won¡¯t we gain more if we eat our Sect Leader¡¯s dishes?¡±

    ¡°To be honest, a -2 on all stats for penalty is well-deserved with the level of those dishes.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, yeah. I have never eaten anything that¡¯s more delicious than that in my entire life.¡±

    They were the ones that had eaten Minhyuk¡¯s dishes! None of them were afraid of the -2 in all stats penalty. After all, the taste of Minhyuk¡¯s dishes were so divine that it was enough for them to ignore such penalties. The ¡®pleasure of eating¡¯, something that they had never felt before in their life, was something that couldpletely overwhelm the stat penalty. Also¡­

    ¡°Aren¡¯t the rewards marked as <em>???</em>, right?¡±

    ¡°Have you ever seen the gods make this kind of quest?¡±

    ¡°Of course not.¡±

    ¡°Then, wouldn¡¯t the rewards be ridiculous?¡±

    ¡°Well, let¡¯s try it just once.¡±

    ¡­the yers were extremely determined. None of them left their posts.

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods is impressed by you after seeing everyone unite together.]</em>

    After confirming everyone¡¯s willingness to stay here, Minhyuk said, ¡°Let¡¯s hurry and get back to work!!!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!!!¡±

    Then, Minhyuk stood up and went somewhere. He was actually very angry. It was already a quest in the form of a ¡®bet¡¯ but the Absolute Gods tried to stop it by inducing ¡®fear¡¯ in them. The ce where he went to was where PD Haruo, Reporter Yuka and the rest of the KBTV, the top broadcasting station in Japan, employees were. All of them were still working crazily and banging their pickaxes just so they could ¡®eat more dishes(?)¡¯.

    ¡°Everyone from the broadcasting station! You have something else to do.¡±

    Of course, he took out some watermelon juice for them.

    ¡°What, what is it? We¡¯ll do anything!¡±

    ¡°Loyalty! Salute!¡±

    ¡°Uwoooooooh!¡±

    The broadcasting crew cheered and rushed in like zombies when they saw the watermelon juice in Minhyuk¡¯s hands.

    ¡°Please broadcast about the bet with the gods and tell them that we¡¯re recruiting people. Ah, you can use the scenes that you have personally seen here.¡±

    ¡°I understand what you mean,¡± PD Haruo was a veteran among veterans. He could easily edit and send videos that would attract everyone¡¯s attention. Minhyuk also thought that he needed something that could ¡®stimte¡¯ the public¡¯s enthusiasm.

    ¡°I think this will be a good title¡­¡±

    PD Haruo and the rest of the crew looked at Minhyuk excitedly.

    ¡°The Ones Making their Stand Against the Gods.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    PD Haruo had a hunch. Everyone knew that humans were incapable of going against the gods. After all, even the demons that were far stronger than humans remained helpless under gods. However¡­

    <em>¡®One yer is gathering his forces to go against the Absolute Gods!¡¯</em>

    He could expect a huge impact from this.

    ***

    Ever since they joined thepany, PD Haruo and the rest of the KBTV broadcasting station¡¯s crew had been overly enthusiastic regarding editing the videos. They were the ones that could edit simple videos and make it the center of attention.

    ¡°Remove this part! This will get severe criticism and invoke hostility!¡±

    ¡°In the end, yer Minhyuk is Korean. Many of our fellow citizens would be against him just because he is of a different nationality. We have to package him up nicely.¡±

    ¡°We have to make it so that it would be the most stimting video so we can get the highest ratings. That way we can get more people toe!¡±

    The biggest reason why they were working this hard?! It was because Minhyuk, while rubbing his thumb and index finger in a gesture as if he was talking about money, promised to give them a lot of food if their broadcast was sessful.

    And then, the video was broadcasted to the world. The video showed how everyone turned into zombies crazed for something as they gobbled up Minhyuk¡¯s dishes. The notable fact here was that Minhyuk did not add any ¡®Sea Honey¡¯ in his dishes this time mainly because he was prepared for scenarios like this. That was right, these people that were showing extreme fanaticism and crazed actions were purely because of Minhyuk¡¯s dishes. Of course, the video was apanied by the broadcastingpany¡¯s experiencedmentary.

    <em>[With the advent of advanced technology, Athenae, a virtual reality game, has now be our second world. However, in this world, the existence of ¡®Gods¡¯ have put pressure upon the yers. It has always been that way. As if to answer their overwhelming existence, Food God Minhyuk, a yer, stood tall and dered war against them.]</em>

    The figure of Minhyuk standing up and looking up at the sky was disyed in the video. Then, he spat¡­

    <em>[Hey! Gods! Stop the bullshit. Do I really have to listen to your nonsense?]</em>

    Of course, thementary did not end there.

    <em>[The ones that can make a stand against the Gods. Food God Minhyuk is recruiting such individuals. Those that are willing to fight with him, please head over to Arsa Vige.]</em>

    Plenty of people went wild after seeing the video.

    <em>[Standing against the Gods? Doesn¡¯t that sound so cool?]</em>

    <em>[Have you seen those dishes? Everyone suddenly started working hard the moment they got a taste of it. Just how delicious is the Food God¡¯s cooking?]</em>

    <em>[I¡¯m from the Restaurant Exploration Association. Who wants to go to Arsa Vige with me?]</em>

    <em>[But¡­ don¡¯t you think that it¡¯s a bit overboard? Isn¡¯t it too ridiculous for someone to be like that after eating one dish?]</em>

    <em>[Aren¡¯t those things rampant on public TV these days??? That¡¯s too obvious, right???]</em>

    <em>[The Food God is too disgusting. Did you see his fat picture? I almost threw up when I saw it.]</em>

    <em>[I don¡¯t think anyone will go there¡­?]</em>

    <em>[If we go there then he¡¯ll just exploit us forbor.]</em>

    <em>[He¡¯s not even a yer from our country, why do we have to help him with his quest? Anyone going there is justplete BS.]</em>

    <em>[The bastards that will go there are a disgrace to Japan. Bakayaro!]</em>

    Everyone was divided into two distinct opposing opinions. But then, at that moment, some people posted other posts.

    <em>[Still, I think I want to go and help the Food God. I still can¡¯t forget how he went to Yuuta. It moved my heart deeply.]</em>

    <em>[I don¡¯t think the Food God is a bad person. Just look at what he did for Yuuta. I believe he¡¯s a very cool and collected adult.]</em>

    <em>[Back then, the Food God has received and rejected countless offers for advertisement and contracts offered bypanies that were worth tens of billions of won. However, he went out of his way to visit Japan for a while for something that could not garner him any profit.]</em>

    <em>[He has shown great kindness towards a Japanese child. That¡¯s why I¡¯ll help him.]</em>

    The ¡®Yuuta Incident¡¯ was an event that touched the hearts of the Japanese deeply.

    ***

    This was a story that happened shortly after Athenae: World War. At that time, the world has dered and chosen the Food God as the top influential figure. However, despite his great influence, he never made a move. Even with countless advertising offers andpany offers worth tens of billions of won, he still remained silent.

    Currently, a skinny boy sat in front of a window with his hands sped together in prayer. This boy was none other than Yuuta. Yuuta, born with a rare disease that resulted in a severe gastrointestinal disorder, could only consume ¡®liquids¡¯ which forced him to be thinner and smaller than his peers. And this very same Yuuta prayed dearly, <em>¡®Dear God, please let me meet the Food God once. Just once, while I¡¯m still alive.¡¯</em>

    gued by this rare disease, Yuuta, who had mostly lived in the hospital, did not know how long he could live in this world. However, an existence fanned the mes of hopes in his heart once again. And this person was none other than the ¡®Food God¡¯. He was a Korean hero that overcame his rare disease. He was Yuuta¡¯s hero. After praying, Yuuta immediately turned to look back while asking, ¡°Dad. Do you think the Food God received the chocte and letter that I sent him?¡±

    ¡°Of course, Yuuta. He must definitely be happy to receive them.¡±

    Yuuta¡¯s parents turned sad after seeing him ask so enthusiastically. The Food God was a world-renowned figure. There would definitely be thousands of fan letters and gifts that he received each day. There was no way that he would notice the boy¡¯s chocte and letter. But the young Yuuta still wrote his letter carefully and diligently with his bony hands.

    <em>[Hello Mister Food God! I hope I can see you while I¡¯m still alive! I also have a rare disease like you but I still dream of bing a baseball yer and y in the major league! Also, I hope that you can eat this chocte once you¡¯repletely cured from your eating addiction!]</em>

    Yuuta firmly believed that he would be able to meet with the Food God while he was still alive. But his parents did not.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s someone that does not even move even when presented with tens of billions of won.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Yuuta¡­ forgive me. I can¡¯t do anything for you.¡¯</em>

    The two of them could only despair at their helplessness. But then, one of the nurses rushed into their room and said, ¡°Mo, mother! Father! Hurry! Bring Yuuta to the rooftop!¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    They all went up to the rooftop in confusion.

    <em>¡®No way¡­¡¯</em>

    Apletely ridiculous thought shed in their heads. They wondered if it was possible from the shocking words that the doctor-in-charge had told them earlier. However, they still remained doubtful as they continued to climb to the rooftop of ¡®Fuji Hospital¡¯, thergest hospital in Japan. But there was no one on the rooftop. Then¡­

    <em>Whirl, whirl, whirl, whirl, whirl¡ª</em>

    A bright light lit up the rooftop as a helicopter appeared above them. On the pilot¡¯s seat, a bulky and muscr pilot wearing sunsses manned the helicopter tond on thending spot. With a loud noise, the helicopter finallynded on the hospital¡¯s rooftop.

    <em>Whirl, whirl, whirl, whirl, whirl, whirl¡ª</em>

    The strong wind brought about by the helicopter¡¯s whirling de made the hairs on Yuuta and his parent¡¯s head flutter fiercely. Then, several strong and sturdy men wearing suits got off the helicopter. And finally¡­

    <em>Step¡ª</em>

    ¡­a 185cm tall man with his swept up ck hair and ck suit stepped down while loosening his tie. Then, with his hair and cor fluttering from the wind, he walked forward before stopping in front of Yuuta.

    The man held out his hand holding a glove and a baseball as he lowered himself until he was at Yuuta¡¯s eye level. He smiled brightly as he gave his gift to Yuuta and said, ¡°Hello, Yuuta? I¡¯m the guy that you call Food God.¡±

    ¡°¡­Waaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    The boy¡¯s hero, the Food God, the very same person that did not move despite the tens of billions of won of offerings and contract has appeared in front of Yuuta. And the reason why Minhyuk came here¡­

    ¡°Woah! The Food God is right in front of me! I can¡¯t believe it! The Food God even gave me a glove and a baseball! Waaaaaah!¡±

    ¡­was to see Yuuta smile.

 Chapter 487: The Kingâ€™s Building

    Chapter 487: The King¡¯s Building

    The entire Japanese Server was in a huge buzz after the release of the announcement that Food God Minhyuk was recruiting people.

    ¡°This is our chance to taste the Food God¡¯s dishes.¡±

    ¡°I heard his dishes are crazy good!¡±

    ¡°Ah, more than that, I want to help him because of the Yuuta Incident.¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t go. The Food God is just an ugly human hiding in a thick coat of pretense.¡±

    People were divided into different opinions. However, what was sure was that the entire Japanese Server was in a huge buzz.

    Meanwhile, King Louvre of the Verax Kingdom, the kingdom that nted hidden gossip mongers and spread false rumors about Eto Kingdom¡¯s Queen Aria being pregnant with the child of one of the Stars, trembled.

    <em>¡®How dare these Five Stars¡­!¡¯</em>

    He was trembling in anger at the audacity of the Five Stars, who were constructing a building to honor King Valex. He knew that Queen Aria had already given up on revealing the truth of the matter. After all, it was very difficult to reverse the public¡¯s opinion and clear her name after something like that.

    However, the story would be different once this building was finished. This was because all eyes of the people of Eto Kingdom would be focused on the building. What was more, the building that they were constructing was¡­

    <em>¡®A building that¡¯s grander and nobler than the Gods¡¯ Temples?!¡¯</em>

    What kind of bullshit was that?! If that building was sessfully made, they would suffer from severe repercussions. Eto Kingdom would even be able to return to its peak.

    <em>¡®Valex, you bastard! You¡¯re still trying to drag me down even after your death!¡¯</em>

    King Louvre had a tremendous inferiorityplex. However, he thought he had been freed from that. After all, Valex was already dead and the Eto Kingdom was falling apart.

    But now? King Louvre began to make correspondence with the other empires and kingdoms. And along with that¡­

    <em>[The <strong>Quest</strong>: Verax Kingdom¡¯s Monster Expedition has been created.]</em>

    <em>[The <strong>Quest</strong>: Vedna¡¯s Child Quest has been created.]</em>

    <em>[The <strong>Quest</strong>: Ruby¡¯s Gathering Quest has been created.]</em>

    Each of the kingdoms and empires began to actively create quests. What was more, there was great disparity between the quests¡¯ difficulty and rewards that the word ¡®beneficial¡¯ was stamped on them. This was because the other kingdoms and empires did not want to see the rise of the Eto Kingdom once again.

    <em>[Isn¡¯t this quest too amazing? Ah, there¡¯s a time limit. Oh no, what to do? I had already decided to go to the King¡¯s Building¡¯s site¡­]</em>

    <em>[I also got a good quest. Compared to the quest¡¯s difficulty, the reward is extremely good. I can even get a sword made by the cksmith Baro¡­]</em>

    The emperors and kings slyly put a ¡®time limit¡¯ on their quests. Doing so would sway the foreigners to choose their quests. If the foreigners headed for their quests first, by the time they finished, the quest for the King¡¯s Building would already be over.

    They were only able to do this because they believed that they would not incur any losses. After all, the original quests benefited both sides. Even if they generously amped up the rewards, the only loss that they would incur would be the benefits from the quest. Besides, to them, creating quests was but a simple task. The people¡¯s mind began to sway from this move.

    Still, they were not satisfied, and did some more petty tricks.

    ¡°Have you heard the rumors? I heard that King Louvre will send troops to wipe out those that have gone to the Eto Kingdom¡¯s King¡¯s Building¡¯s site.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll die if you go there! The empires and kingdoms do not want them to build a building in honor of King Valex!¡±

    ¡°Each of the empires and kingdoms have sent tens of thousands of assassins. If you go there, you¡¯ll die without anyone knowing.¡±

    ¡°And that¡¯s not all. From what I heard, Eto Kingdom¡¯s Queen Aria is being pressured by her officials with regards to the creation of the building. If worsees to worst, she¡¯ll also send her troops to stop people froming.¡±

    Yes. That was what they did. Since these empires and kingdoms did not have a justification to stop the building¡¯s construction, they went so far as to send their own troops and made ridiculous excuses that they were just subjugating monsters to snoop around.

    Meanwhile, a masked woman, escorted by a select few knights, arrived in the vicinity of the construction site. This woman was none other than Queen Aria. Queen Aria looked around, <em>¡®The kingdom is already done for. Why are the Stars going through all the trouble of doing something like this?¡¯</em>

    Queen Aria had already lost all hope and will to stand up once again. This was because she had seen the copse of Eto Kingdom, a growing and lively nation, in an instant. She did not have any confidence that her kingdom would be able to hold out and endure against the attacks of the other empires and kingdoms at this point in time.

    <em>¡®It would be for the better if they stop this nonsense right now,¡¯ </em>She thought, as she hid near the construction site. As they settled down, her gaze drifted somewhere. And the ce where she was looking was where Jarrod and Minhyuk were.

    ***

    Jarrod immediately realized that the other empires and kingdoms were keeping them in check. So, with a somber expression on his face, he went to talk to Minhyuk.

    ¡°Unbelievable.¡±

    What did it have to do with those people if they were making a building that would honor the king of Eto Kingdom?

    <em>¡®We have to somehow finish this building on time.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk immediately checked the current Building Completion Rate, which was indicated on the blueprint that he had on him.

    <em>[Completion Rate: 11%]</em>

    Minhyuk sighed. Everyone worked hard for days on end but they only finished around this much. They needed to do more and they also needed to attract more people. Then, a thought suddenly shed in his head, <em>¡®There¡¯s one other way.¡¯</em>

    ¡°We need the Eternal mes.¡±

    ¡°The Eternal mes¡­?¡±

    The rewards from the building creation quest clearly indicated that Minhyuk would be able to get the Eternal mes. That was why he confidently said this, ¡°Yes. Once I get my hands on the Eternal mes, I will be able to cook better dishes and even make them faster.¡±

    ording to the expected effects of the trailer, Minhyuk¡¯s cooking time would be reduced by as much as 40%. On top of that, the dishes that he would be able to make with a strong fire like the Eternal mes would be tastier and have a stronger buff effect, despite its short duration.

    ¡°But from what I know, only His Majesty King Valex could get the mes of the Eternal mes.¡±

    ¡°Only His Majesty King Valex?¡± Minhyuk asked in doubt. He was sure that the Eternal mes was listed on the rewards, right? Then, he realized, <em>¡®Ah¡­!¡¯</em>

    In the first ce, the quest said that the soul of the deceased king would descend upon the building upon its creation. He could tell that this soul would be the one to bring out the Eternal mes.

    ¡°Is there another way?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s one way but it¡¯s going to be very hard,¡± Jarrod said, face turning extremely serious. ¡°You have to break the stone that covers the Eternal mes and bring it out with your own power. In fact, the reason why it¡¯s very hard to get the Eternal mes is because of the rock shell that covered it. The true Eternal me inside does not bring harm to people.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean by hard¡­?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s because the rock shell is too hard. And it¡¯s also too hot. On top of that, one has to m it for at least eight hours a day, otherwise the shell will regenerate on its own.¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡± Minhyuk¡¯s face morphed into that of surprise. The stone shell will regenerate?! ¡°To top it off, it¡¯s extremely hot¡­¡±

    The Eternal mes were known to have enough force to blow away an entire city in one go. But there seemed to be no other way.

    ¡°It can¡¯t be done by many people?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Only one person can challenge the Eternal mes at a time.¡±

    ¡°Then, I¡¯ll challenge it.¡±

    ¡°It would be better if we go a bit further away for that then,¡± Jarrod said, pointing his hands toward the hill that was a bit further away from them. Minhyuk and Jarrod immediately moved toward the hill. The hill was quite high, high enough to overlook the entire construction site.

    ¡°I will take it out now,¡± Jarrod, the man protecting the Eternal mes, dered as he took out a rock emitting a dazzling red light. ¡°The Eternal me will shoot out the moment you attack it. You can avoid the mes as long as you¡¯re out of the five meter range.¡±

    ¡°¡­When did you get there?¡±

    ¡°Ordinary people will disappear the moment they touch that,¡± Jarrod said from ten meters away. Minhyuk took a deep breath in response as he pulled out his Continent Destroyer Sword. And the moment he attacked the rock¡­

    <em>[You are challenging the Eternal mes!]</em>

    <em>[The Eternal mes will burn even brighter if you seed in acquiring it with your own hands!]</em>

    <em>[The items that will use the Eternal mes, including artifacts, will have a stronger effect if you seed in acquiring it with your own hands.]</em>

    <em>[You have to attack and hit the Eternal mes for at least eight hours a day.]</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    A huge st of fire engulfed the area where Minhyuk was. And along with that¡­

    <em>[Your HP has decreased by 2%.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has decreased by 1%.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has decreased by 1%.]</em>

    <em>[Severe burns have restricted your movements!]</em>

    It was only two seconds. Two seconds and Minhyuk¡¯s HP has already plummeted by 4%.

    ¡°¡­Ugh?!¡± Minhyuk staggered back a few steps.

    <em>¡®Shit¡­?¡¯</em>

    The fire that licked Minhyuk¡¯s skin was shockingly hot. If it was anyone other than him, someone with high fire attribute resistance, then they would have already been burnt to a crisp and turned into dust, scattering into the wind.

    ¡°Can you do it?¡± Jarrod asked, which only prompted silence from Minhyuk.

    After a few moments, Minhyuk finally said, ¡°There¡¯s no other choice. Please gather the priests. I think I might need to get constant heals from them.¡±

    Aside from the priests, Minhyuk also needed some buffs with regards to his fire attribute resistance. Minhyuk made and ate epic-grade ¡®cold noodles¡¯ on the spot.

    <em>[You have eaten Cold Noodles.]</em>

    <em>[Your Fire Attribute Resistance has increased by 36%.]</em>

    By the time he was finished with his meal, more than a thousand priests had gathered around him already.

    ¡°You need to give me heals non-stop for eight hours straight so make sure to take turns.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°Just a slight mistake and everything will be for naught.¡±

    The priests all nodded their heads as they watched Minhyuk reach his hands out toward the Eternal mes once again. Then¡­

    <em>aaaaash¡ª</em>

    ¡­he attacked it again.

    <em>[Your HP has decreased by 2%.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has decreased by 1%.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has decreased by 1%.]</em>

    The fire engulfed Minhyuk as the priests casted heal on him continuously. Then, the notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[A warm and gentle power surrounds your body.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 600 HP.]</em>

    <em>[A warm and gentle power surrounds your body.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 450 HP.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has decreased by 2%.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has decreased by 1%.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s HP constantly increased and decreased! Thankfully, Minhyuk¡¯s fire attribute resistance was high enough that he could endure the attacks of the Eternal mes with just the priests¡¯ heals. If an ordinary yer was standing here, they would have already died many times over even if they were receiving constant heals.

    <em>ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    A huge st of me devoured Minhyuk everytime his sword struck at the Eternal mes. But despite the burning mes, Minhyuk still had enough leeway to make a game n, <em>¡®I¡¯ll attack the Eternal mes for eight hours and cook for 10 hours.¡¯</em> Of course, he should not stop cooking so that those that were building would continue to do so.

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    Just like that, three hours had gone by. However, the priests¡¯ faces gradually turned ugly as time went by.

    ¡°Heok, heok. Shit. This is so hard¡­¡±

    ¡°I feel like I¡¯m going to die.¡±

    ¡°Ugh¡­¡±

    ¡°I know that we¡¯re just casting heals here but it¡¯s still too hard.¡±

    ¡°Look at the Food God. He should be the one saying that.¡±

    It was already crazy hard for them to cast heals for three hours straight. Of course, they had all the right toin. But after seeing the Food God, they could only remain silent. Three hours have passed but the Food God was still going strong. Some dered that the Food God was just lucky that was why he became strong.

    But that was not it. The Food God became strong through his own efforts and hard work.

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk was definitely exhausted and burning from the mes. But he never stopped his movements. <em>¡®My dishes will taste better and be more outstanding if I get the strong firepower of the Eternal mes!!!¡¯ </em>A dish cooked with a strong me would be more delicious. This was the thought that was running in Minhyuk¡¯s head and spurring him on.

    Meanwhile, those that were gathered here¡­ <em>¡®We have to work hard to meet his expectations.¡¯ </em>Since Minhyuk put his faith in them, then they would step up to meet that expectation. After all, he was doing this for them.

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    <em>[Due to the extreme pain that you are suffering, the DEX rewards have improved.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 2 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1 Will.]</em>

    The notifications rang continuously in Minhyuk¡¯s ears. Then, another two hours went by. Perhaps it was due to exhaustion that Minhyuk suddenly staggered.

    ¡°Huuuuh?!¡±

    ¡°Huuh?!¡±

    Just when the priests were getting worried, Minhyuk pped himself awake and started to attack the rock again.

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡°Crazy¡­¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t he cool?!¡±

    He stood up once again in front of the huge fire and continued this lonely fight. Seeing this, the priests'' admiration for him began to skyrocket. And eight hourster¡­

    <em>[You have sessfully restricted the regenerative properties of the Eternal mes.]</em>

    ¡­Minhyuk finally stopped attacking.

    ¡°Fwaaaa. We¡¯re going to logout for a bit.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s backbreaking.¡±

    But then, Minhyuk said, ¡°I should go and cook for them now.¡±

    ¡°¡­When will you rest?¡±

    ¡°Ah. Around ten hourster?¡±

    The priests were all left speechless.

    ¡°Are you crazy?! You have to rest, even for a bit. It must definitely be harder for you. Us, priests, took turns to rest but you, Food God, you did not.¡±

    ¡°A lot of people came here and put their faith in me. So, I have to repay that.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°Well then, I¡¯m going to make food for everyone now.¡±

    The priests all looked at him with genuine awe and admiration.

    <em>¡®The Food God is truly a good person.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Are you telling me that everything that he has now was all thanks to his effort and hardwork?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Is he still a person?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He¡¯s really amazing.¡¯</em>

    The injuries on Minhyuk¡¯s body were stark on his skin. And since they were on top of the hill with the best view of the construction site below, everyone could see what happened. Right now, all eyes were looking at Minhyuk. Their eyes were all shining with awe and yearning to be with the Food God which spurred their enthusiasm on and made them work harder.

    ¡°Minhyuk.¡±

    ¡°Ah, yes?¡±

    One of the priests called out to Minhyuk, who was on his way to cook, and said, ¡°When the servers mergeter, will you ept me as a citizen of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?¡±

    ¡°Of course, you¡¯re very wee there.¡±

    Some of these priests were Kentaro¡¯s guild members. However, there were still quite a few unaffiliated priests among them. And these people were willing to go to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom as long as Minhyuk epted them.

    ¡°Me, me too! Please ept me too!¡±

    ¡°Me too!!!¡±

    ¡°Include, include me too!¡±

    Right now, it was a very foolish move for yers to migrate to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. After all, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was still in a precarious situationpared to other kingdoms. However, they clearly saw the kingdom¡¯s potential right here and now.

    <em>¡®If it¡¯s that person then¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He will definitely not stop at bing king. He might even be an emperor!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Everything will be possible if we¡¯re with him!¡¯</em>

    The priests that were present here saw a future with Minhyuk and his kingdom. And¡­ they were not the only ones shocked right now.

    <em>[You have received Aria¡¯s favor.]</em>

    <em>[You have received Aria¡¯s favor.]</em>

    <em>[You have received Aria¡¯s favor.]</em>

    ¡°Eh?¡± Minhyuk looked around in doubt. After all, Aria was King Valex¡¯s wife and the current ruler of Eto Kingdom.

 Chapter 488: The Kingâ€™s Building

    Chapter 488: The King¡¯s Building

    Aria, King Valex¡¯s wife, was hailed as the most beautiful woman in the continent. After King Valex¡¯s death, she ascended the throne and became Eto Kingdom¡¯s queen.

    Currently, she was stomping furiously on her way to the construction site.

    <em>¡®The Stars did not even consult with me¡­! How dare they! How can they do something like this without consulting with me, the queen of Eto Kingdom? And who in the world is the foreigner that¡¯s leading the build?!</em>¡¯

    <em>¡®Eto Kingdom is already done for¡­¡¯ </em>This was what Aria wholeheartedly believed. After all, their people no longer had any faith and trust in the kingdom. There were even many people that left the kingdom, just like the ¡®Five Stars¡¯. There was no hope left for the Eto Kingdom anymore.

    But then, on that hill not too far away, the man, the main culprit behind the recent hubbub, challenged the Eternal mes.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s impossible. No human has ever taken the Eternal mes with their power alone,¡¯</em> Aria thought. She had heard a lot from King Valex, the only one that could freely bring out the Eternal mes, <em>¡®Even the gods have a hard time taking out the Eternal mes with their own power. The tremendous st of mes that bursts out can immediately turn a person into cinders. On top of that, one has to attack it for eight straight hours, otherwise it would just regenerate. Something like that ispletely impossible.¡¯</em>

    It was difficult for a person alone to continuously strike the Eternal mes for eight straight hours, but that was not the biggest problem. The biggest problem was the damage that the Eternal mes could incur on the person the moment they attacked. Aria believed that the man would not be able to endure this torture. He would either withdraw from the pain, or die and turn into cinders. However¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>aaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡­the man looked like he did not know how to back down. He continued to attack even when the tremendous st of mes licked his body and made him suffer from extreme pain.

    <em>aaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>aaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The man continued to swing his sword while stumbling on his feet every once in a while.

    <em>¡®N, no¡­!¡¯ </em>Aria unconsciously became worried for the man. However, he was able to endure the pain and even continued to swing his sword.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Once the eight hours was up, the sts of mes and the rock¡¯s regeneration stopped.

    <em>¡®Impossible¡­!¡¯ </em>Aria was shocked. Then, she watched as the priests knelt down in front of the man. But that was not all.

    ¡°Did you see that? He swung his sword repeatedly for eight straight hours. He did not even take a break once!¡±

    ¡°Is that even possible¡­?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s really amazing¡­¡±

    ¡°Crazy¡­¡±

    Everyone was in awe of the man. But just when they thought that everything was over for the day¡­

    ¡°You¡¯re going to cook¡­?¡±

    ¡­the man did not take a break and began to cook for an hour, two hours, four hours, seven hours straight. Aria, who saw the scene, was left speechless. After cooking for ten hours, the man disappeared for a while, but when he came back he started striking the Eternal mes once again.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Aria was once again at a loss for words. She thought, <em>¡®Even I have given up on my own kingdom.¡¯ </em>There was no more hope for their Eto Kingdom, so why was that man not giving up? And it was not just him¡­

    ¡°No! You have to sharpen it like this!¡±

    ¡°Stones! I need more stones! Bring it to me, quick!¡±

    ¡°Hurry!!!¡±

    ¡­even the Five Stars and the other foreigners were not giving up.

    ¡°Hey! Can¡¯t you see the Food God over there? Do you think you can ck off when he¡¯s working hard for us?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not going to log out today. I¡¯m cashing in my annual leave.¡±

    All of them were giving their all.

    But what was she, the queen, doing?

    <em>¡®Can we even get back on our feet?¡¯</em> Aria imagined herself asking the unknown man over the hill. Just like that, one day, two days, three days passed by. Time continued to pass by. Aria kept watching them make progress. One day, at dawn, while Aria was sleeping in the small tent that she had set up near the construction site¡­

    <em>Rumbleeeeee¡ª</em>

    ¡­a loud rumble shook everything.

    ¡°Your Majesty, the Queen!¡±

    ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    The escort knights hurriedly rushed to her to check on her situation.

    ¡°I¡¯m alright. What¡¯s happening?¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t know either.¡±

    Not long after, Queen Aria came out of the tent. Everyone¡¯s eyes were focused on a particr area. And in that ce, they saw the rough shell that surrounded the Eternal mes scattered on the ground, as the Eternal mes that were glowing like ruby and burning hotter than any mes appeared.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Aria waspletely and utterly taken aback. How could the man get the Eternal mes with his own power? Then, a huge burst of mes swirled in the area, but the heat did not affect the man. With a pinch, he was able to seize the Eternal mes in his own hands.

    ***

    <em>[You have sessfully acquired the Eternal mes with your own power.]</em>

    <em>[The effects of the Eternal mes have been improved.]</em>

    <em>[Even the Gods are surprised with your achievement!]</em>

    <em>[Ingredients for the Cooking Trailer have been detected. You can use the Eternal mes for the artifact.]</em>

    A faint smile hung at the corners of Minhyuk¡¯s mouth as he thought,<em> ¡®I can¡¯t get enough of this sweet aftertaste!¡¯ </em>Hard work would always bring about great rewards! And Minhyuk could never get enough of it.

    He immediately applied the Eternal mes to the Cooking Trailer.

    <em>[You have used the Eternal mes on the Cooking Trailer.]</em>

    <em>[The All Creation Production Book has been triggered. Producing the Cooking Trailer.]</em>

    <em>[With the improved effects of the Eternal mes, thepleted Cooking Trailer will have better effects than expected.]</em>

    <em>[The Cooking Trailer has beenpleted.]</em>

    <em>[¡®Anonymous¡¯ has been announced to the entire continent for your achievement in creating an artifact closest to God.]</em>

    And along with that, a cooking trailer that was as small as a toy floated on top of Minhyuk¡¯s palm. Minhyuk immediately checked the artifact¡¯s information.

    <em>(<strong>Cooking Trailer</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: God</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: A DEX higher than 2,000</em>

    <em><strong>Durability</strong>: ¡Þ / ¡Þ</em>

    <em><strong>Special Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?Your cooking time will be reduced by 60%.</em>

    <em>?Your cooking time for bulk dishes will be reduced by 70%.</em>

    <em>?The vor of the dish will be preserved in bulk dishes. No deterioration will ur.</em>

    <em>?Automatic cooking function.</em>

    <em>?With the stronger firepower, stir-fried dishes will have a 10% increase in buff effects.</em>

    <em>?Dishes cooked in the trailer would have a 30% increase in buff effects and a 40% duration reduction.</em>

    <em>?The trailer can detect any danger in the vicinity. The higher the level of danger detected, the higher the chances of creating a higher-grade dish that can help you ovee the approaching crisis.</em>

    <em>?Attacks and damage will be nullified while you are cooking. However, it is only effective for an hour.</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Double Food</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: This is a cooking trailer created with an Eternal me that has stronger firepower. Cooking will be done much faster than expected when inside the trailer. Even the buffs of thepleted dishes will be greater than initially expected.</em>

    ¡°Wow¡­¡± Minhyuk could only utter this word in amazement. The effects were extremely good, especially these two: the 60% reduction in cooking time and the active skill ¡®Double Food¡¯. Both effects were outstanding.

    <em>(<strong>Double Food</strong>)</em>

    <em>Active Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty for Use</strong>: -1 to all stats</em>

    <em><strong>Cooldown</strong>: 24 hours</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>: Activating the skill anytime within ten minutes of a dish¡¯s creation would produce a simr dish with the same effects.</em>

    Double Food was literally an overpowered effect. If Minhyuk casted Double Food within ten minutes after he cooked a ¡®God-grade Dish¡¯ then, the same dish would appear in front of him.

    <em>¡®And also¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk also had a skill, Ovepping Delight, that allowed him to receive the effects of two buffed dishes at once. What would happen if he ate a dish with Double Food at the same time?

    <em>¡®Crazy¡­¡¯</em>

    It would definitely give him a tremendous boost in power.

    ¡°God-rank?¡±

    ¡°The Food God received a God-rank artifact?¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaah!¡±

    Once again, plenty of people turned their attention toward Minhyuk after hearing the world message. This was the first time that Minhyuk had ever received a God rank in public. However, he did not care. Especially when a notification rang in his ears as he looked at the cooking trailer that looked like a carriage in his palms.

    <em>[Would you like to use the Cooking Trailer?]</em>

    ¡°Yes,¡± Minhyuk answered as he threw the trailer on the ground. The moment he threw it, the Cooking Trailer grew bigger and bigger until it was the size of a huge carriage.

    Minhyuk could not help but rub his eyes in disbelief the moment he entered the trailer, ¡°This¡­?¡± Although it was not explicitly mentioned in the Cooking Trailer¡¯s special effects, the cooking trailer¡¯s outside appearance looked small enough. A rough estimate of its size outside would be around ten to thirteen square meters.

    But once he was inside¡­

    <em>¡®It¡¯s roughly around fifty square meters?¡¯</em>

    It was quite arge area for a kitchen.

    Minhyuk began to cook, <em>¡®With this, the people outside will work harder and faster.¡¯ </em>He was solely after the buffs that the dishes would bring as he cooked. The first dish that he made was spicy stir-fried pork. The trailer wasplete with a huge cooking pot and a small space for cooking single dishes. He could use whatever space he wanted based on the situation that he was in. And right now, he was using the huge cooking pot. He ced enough ingredients for 400~800 people as he started cooking the spicy stir-fried pork.

    <em>Rumbleee¡ª</em>

    Along with that, a set of notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The Eternal mes are disying their firepower.]</em>

    <em>[You have received an additional 10% increase in the buff effects for stir-fried dishes.]</em>

    Then¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡­as if olive oil was poured into a heated frying pan, huge mes soared from within the pot. However, <em>¡®It¡¯s not hot,¡¯ </em>Minhyuk did not feel the heat at all despite the mes burning brightly and cooking the dish evenly. As Minhyuk continued to stir-fry with his cooking shovel, another set of shocking notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[You can activate the Automatic Cooking function.]</em>

    <em>[Upon activation, the Automatic Cooking function will follow the user¡¯s DEX.]</em>

    Minhyuk had been doubtful about the automatic cooking function since earlier.

    ¡°Start Automatic Cooking.¡±

    At that moment¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡­the spicy stir-fried pork began to move on its own as it got cooked evenly.

    ¡°Crazy¡­!¡±

    It was truly convenient. With this, Minhyuk could make other dishes at the same time. It was not just that; it could also exert the same power and ability that was in ordance with the user¡¯s DEX. When the dish was finally done¡­

    <em>[You havepleted the Spicy Stir-Fried Pork.]</em>

    <em>[Epic Grade.]</em>

    After that, Minhyuk quickly distributed the dishes. Those that received the dishes felt their hand tremble as they looked at the effects.

    <em>¡®This is crazy¡­!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®W, waaaaaaaaah¡­!¡¯</em>

    <em>(<strong>Spicy Stir-fried Pork</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Ingredient Grade</strong>: C</em>

    <em><strong>Grade</strong>: Epic</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Shelf Life</strong>: 12 days</em>

    <em><strong>Preservation Time</strong>: 48 hours</em>

    <em><strong>Special Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?All stats increase by 18%.</em>

    <em>?Increases a chosen skill¡¯s level by +2.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: A dish made by Chef Minhyuk in his Cooking Trailer. With the power of the trailer, this bulk dish has the same taste, vor and effect as the single dishes that he made.</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Those that have finallye across the Food God¡¯s actual dishes were shocked. Minhyuk tried to go back to cooking. But then¡­

    ¡°What, what did you say?!¡±

    ¡°Right, right now?!¡±

    Amotion broke out among the workers. After receiving the report, Kentaro immediately ran to Minhyuk and said, ¡°Minhyuk, there¡¯s trouble!¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°ording to the reports, what seemed to be the troops gathered by the other empires and kingdoms areing. Their number is said to have exceeded 180,000!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk was shocked at the report. There were more than 180,000 troops marching toward here?

    <em>¡®What the hell should we do?¡¯</em>

    Why did they suddenly decide to attack? They also did not have any justification to wage war. After all, they were just constructing a building.

    <em>¡®Something¡¯s strange.¡¯</em>

    However, no matter the cause, the fact that it was an emergency remained. Once the 180,000 troops arrived, they would kill everyone here, and even destroy everything that they had built.

    <em>[<strong>Completion Rate</strong>: 27%]</em>

    ¡®<em>Everything that we worked so hard for would be wiped out?</em>¡¯

    ¡°We will fight!¡±

    ¡°This is tyranny! Those empires and kingdoms! Bastards!¡±

    ¡°Uwooooooooooooh!¡±

    Queen Aria was also flustered by the sudden turn of events.

    ¡°Your Majesty Aria, we have to quickly escape from here.¡±

    Aria looked at her escort knights in doubt. She asked, ¡°I don¡¯t understand. If they were going to attack anyway, why not do it earlier? Why now¡­? If those empires and kingdoms did this, then they would not be able to escape the public¡¯s criticism.¡±

    Aria bit her lips in anxiety.

    <em>Rumbleeeee¡ª</em>

    The ground began to shake. This was more than enough evidence to prove the rumors that more than 100,000 troops were marching here. Some of the 20,000 yers logged out while others wailed in despair. However, Minhyuk and Kentaro stood firmly in front of them.

    In a blink, a sea of ck appeared and surrounded them, their weapons pointed at them and ready to fight. Minhyuk¡¯s lips were also pursed in a thin, straight line, tension evident in them despite his calm facade. But then, the man that led the group stepped forward and approached Minhyuk. Minhyuk looked confused when he saw the man stop in front of him. He voiced his doubts, ¡°Yuuta¡¯s dad?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s been a long time, Minhyuk.¡±

    He was the father of the boy, Yuuta, that Minhyuk met in the past. Then, the people that surrounded them all sheathed their weapons. That was when Minhyuk realized why he felt that it was strange, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡±

    Yuuta¡¯s dad smiled brightly, ¡°We all came here to help with the construction.¡±

    ¡°We came to join you!!!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re here to help!!!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    Only then did Minhyuk learn that the 180,000 troops were not enemy troops, but allies. Meanwhile, Queen Aria felt her body start to tremble as she thought, <em>¡®The man that won the hearts of this many people¡­ How far can you go with your power?¡¯</em>

 Chapter 489: The Kingâ€™s Building

    Chapter 489: The King¡¯s Building

    The rumors about the 180,000 enemy troops charging towards the construction site was something that they themselves had spread. This was because there were plenty of empire and kingdom troops that were snooping around Minhyuk¡¯s construction site and a single rumor about theming to help would definitely bring about disastrous results.

    So, the people that wanted toe to Minhyuk¡¯s aid and help in the construction site talked about ways to go undetected on themunity sites. Seeing this, Yuuta¡¯s dad took the initiative to gather them and yed a small trick that could cause distraction and disturbance among the other kingdoms and empires.

    First, they spread rumors that Artha Empire sent troops to Yveno Kingdom. Yveno Kingdom sent troops to Artha Empire, while Artha Empire sent troops to Borto Empire. Just like that, they created disturbance among the other kingdoms and empires. With those rumors, the kingdoms and empires would have to spend some time to confirm the truth of the matter, which would give them enough leeway to arrive at the construction site. The other kingdoms and empires had no ¡®justification¡¯ to stop the construction and once their troops had arrived at the construction site, they would have no other way to stop them froming.

    <em>[A 180,000 strong group had appeared to help yer Minhyuk.]</em>

    <em>[Some of them came to try his dishes, some came to join in and share in getting a new achievement, while the others came just to purely help yer Minhyuk.]</em>

    <em>[This is a shocking and amazing sight.]</em>

    Thementators from all over the world were very shocked to see 180,000 people gather together to help Minhyuk. With that, the speed of their progress grew rapidly.

    ¡°Quick, move the stones!¡±

    ¡°If you work a bit harder, you¡¯ll be able to get watermelon juice!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m really looking forward to the Spicy Braised Chicken for dinner, you know?¡±

    The surprise did not end there. Minhyuk also prepared dishes for the Five Stars.

    <em>[You have eaten Spicy Braised Chicken.]</em>

    <em>[During the 72 hours buff duration, all of your stats will increase by 12%, your DEX will increase by 19% and your painting skill¡¯s level will increase by +2.]</em>

    Elise was very shocked after eating the dish that Minhyuk had made for her, <em>¡®My DEX will increase by 19% and even my painting skill¡¯s level will increase by +2?¡¯ </em>This was the best buff effect that she had ever experienced in all her life. It was not only her, all of the Stars had received tremendous buff effects.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m in a better state than when I was in my prime.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Unbelievable¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I will be able to make the best sculpture in my condition right now.¡¯</em>

    The Stars were able to create better items, whether it was a painting or a sculpture, than the items that they produced in their prime.

    ¡°Gorfido. Let¡¯s take advantage of your ability to create the sea.¡±

    Gorfido, the man that would be the fisherman king, had a skill ¡®Sea Creator¡¯. This skill allowed Gorfido to create the sea and the creatures living within it. With this skill, Gorfido created ake around the building.

    Exactly neen dayster¡­

    <em>[The building in honor of King Valex has reached 100%pletion rate!]</em>

    <em>[With the involvement of the Absolute Gods, the exact score could not beputed yet.]</em>

    <em>[The Absolute Gods will send the kings and emperors from each of the neighboring nations to the building.]</em>

    <em>[The Absolute Gods will look at the building through their eyes.]</em>

    <em>[The higher the score the Absolute Gods give, the greater the rewards that you will receive.]</em>

    Minhyuk received an unexpected notification, <em>¡®The kings and emperors wille here?¡¯</em>

    The kingdoms and empires served different gods. Minhyuk did not know much about the Absolute Gods, but it seemed like this case was an exception. From what he could tell, it seemed like the Absolute Gods would pass their orders via the ordinary gods to these rulers.

    Minhyuk looked at the finished building in satisfaction, <em>¡®They¡¯ll probably be surprised.¡¯</em>

    The smile on Minhyuk¡¯s face was filled with confidence.

    ***

    King Louvre was the one that brought King Valex to his death. He had a severe inferiorityplex, so he asked the gossip mongers to create rumors and incite suspicions and doubt between King Valex and the Five Stars. This very same King Louvre was the first to reach the vicinity of the building thatmemorated King Valex.

    When he arrived there, he saw around 200,000 people near the building. KBTV broadcasting station only broadcasted the first eight days of the construction. No video was released after that. Because of that, the broadcasting stations from Japan, Korea and the rest of the world were very curious about the building.

    <em>¡®I know that God sent me here but I¡¯m still speechless.¡¯</em>

    As mentioned before, King Louvre felt very inferior to King Valex. That was why he would definitely scrutinize and criticize every corner of this building. King Louvre believed that the building would be nothing more than trash and stepped forward with thoughts about how he would ridicule it.

    Minhyuk appeared right next to King Louvre the moment he took a step forward. He said, ¡°I will assist you.¡±

    ¡°Alright,¡± King Louvre agreed as he walked towards the building with his arms crossed behind his back. Using outstanding magic and meticulous arrangement, the building waspletely hidden from the outside.

    <em>¡®How great can this building be that even the gods are interested in it?¡¯ </em>King Louvre thought as he entered. However, his breath was stuck in his throat the moment he stepped foot inside.

    <em>¡®Heok?!¡¯ </em>Louvre gasped in shock the moment he saw the building. It was because the building was surrounded by glittering white lights and floating in the sky. That was not all, underneath it, as if it was enveloping the building, was¡­

    <em>¡®Isn¡¯t, isn¡¯t that ake?!¡¯</em>

    It was not just an ordinaryke. Theke glittered an emerald light that reflected on the building. Everything in front of Louvre brought him in a daze.

    <em>¡®I¡¯ve, I¡¯ve never seen a building more beautiful than this in my life¡­¡¯ </em>However, he hid the thoughts in his mind and said, ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± as he stepped foot on the stairs leading to the building floating in the skies.

    Then, a notification rang in King Louvre¡¯s ears the moment he stepped foot inside.

    <em>[You have entered Star Painter¡¯s Elise exhibitionmemorating Valex.]</em>

    A spectacr sight immediately greeted Louvre, <em>¡®Isn¡¯t, isn¡¯t this the universe?!¡¯</em>

    With countless stars glittering in the darkness, the vast universe unfolded in front of him. The stars slowly floated in front of Louvre until it created a figure. Like a book flipping quickly, the scenes engraved in the universe changed. From Valex¡¯s birth, to when he first held his sword, to when he first went to the battlefield, to when he worked hard to benefit his poor citizens, to when he first addressed his people, to when he became king, until he became friends with Louvre.

    <em>[Elise¡¯s paintings have brought out the sincerity within you.]</em>

    <em>[As an agent of God, you will be sincere and true the moment you enter the building.]</em>

    ¡°Va, Valex¡­¡±

    The scene of Valex smiling brightly as he held Louvre¡¯s hand shed by right in front of Louvre.

    <em>Throb¡ª</em>

    Louvre felt his chest ache. Although Valex treated him sincerely as a friend, because of his own inferiorityplex, he longed to deprive Valex of his growing and developing kingdom. Because of his greed, he did everything until he took everything away from his friend.

    But even after doing all of that, he never felt happy. He med himself and wallowed in both regret and hate. However, everything was already done. There was no turning back for him anymore. In front of this painting, King Louvre felt like he was about to copse from the pain. What was more¡­ Elise¡¯s painting in front of him¡­

    <em>¡®Is this truly a painting?!¡¯</em>

    ¡­she painted the universe to show Valex¡¯s life. The sight alone made his heart pound in both awe and admiration. As Louvre moved forward, the paintings also changed. The universe slowly disappeared, turning into the things Valex loved and cherished during his lifetime. Valex had always loved birds. And these birds that he loved were now chirping and fluttering their wings in the skies.

    <em>¡®The sculptures of Star Sculptor Berk¡­¡¯</em>

    The sculptures of the flowers that covered the ce were blooming beautifully. Despite the fact that they were sculptures, these flowers still emitted a wonderful scent that wafted into Louvre¡¯s nose. In fact, the sun above him was also a sculpture, yet it was shining brightly upon him. Louvre kept on walking further inside. The building itself was so beautiful that the only proper word to describe it was: otherworldly.

    In the end, he reached the ce where arge statue of Valex in his prime stood. The statue was wearing a golden robe. This golden robe, which passed through the hands of the Star Tailor, was more beautiful than any other king¡¯s robe in existence. Then, Louvre saw the small hill behind the statue. It seemed like that hill was where Valex was supposed to be resting. And finally, King Louvre, who stood there in a daze¡­

    <em>Thuuuud¡ª</em>

    ¡­could no longer support his body. He fell down on his knees and cried out, ¡°Forgive, forgive me¡­ I¡­ I¡­¡± while bowing deeply. He kept on bowing to Valex for a long time.

    The building that Minhyuk, the Five Stars and 200,000 people made, was beauty in and of itself. It was also something that brought about the sincerity within one¡¯s heart.

    ***

    After King Louvre entered the building, the rulers of three kingdoms and one empire arrived.

    ¡°This is ridiculous. King Louvre will never give a good evaluation on that building,¡± Ephino Empire¡¯s Emperor Broden scoffed in annoyance.

    ¡®<em>Why do I have toe here personally just to see a building?</em>¡¯

    The other kings were also of the same mind.

    ¡°Let¡¯s just take a quick look and go back.¡±

    ¡°The gods said that they would look at this building through our eyes so we have to scrutinize every nook and cranny. Of course, I¡¯m sure everything in there is lousy. After all, the Five Stars are not the same as before.¡±

    The kings mocked openly, their faces covered with ridiculing sneers. How dare they challenge the gods! The broadcasting stations from all over the world reported this scene.

    <em>[It seems like the kings and emperors of the Japanese Server are quite unhappy.]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s only natural. After all, they''re busy enough as it is but they still have to personallye here just to look at a building. And it¡¯s not even a temple that honor their own gods.]</em>

    <em>[They will definitely not give a good score.]</em>

    Of course, thementators could proudly and confidently utter these words because they did not know the true face of the building. Because of that, the general viewers also thought negatively of the situation.

    <em>[Weren¡¯t the Five Stars and King Valex the ones in the wrong? But they still expect these kings to give them a good score?]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s a huge contradiction.]</em>

    <em>[But I¡¯m still dying to see what¡¯s inside¡­]</em>

    Just when their worried voices started to echo in the area¡­

    <em>Step, step, step, step¡ª</em>

    The kings and emperors waited with mockery clear on their faces.

    <em>¡®Come, tell us quickly that it¡¯s trash.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®How dare they build a building that honors a mere human¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Even I, an emperor, only thought of having a tomb to honor me, but never a building.¡¯</em>

    Just when these thoughts shed in their heads, King Louvre appeared and said, ¡°This building¡­¡± Everyone gulped nervously as they focused their eyes on Louvre, who turned to look back at the building with a bittersweet smile on his face, ¡°¡­is the greatest, noblest and most beautiful piece of architecture that I have ever seen in my life.¡±

    At the same time¡­

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods that looked at the building through King Louvre¡¯s eyes is now giving their score.]</em>

    <em>[The Absolute God has thoroughly enjoyed looking at the building.]</em>

    <em>[The Absolute God has given 100 points, the highest score possible.]</em>

    <em>[The Absolute God has given a present for King Valex.]</em>

    Then, at that moment, a huge shooting star fell from the otherwise clear skies. The shooting star fell down and settled on top of the building, as it emitted a bright and shining light.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Everyone was so shocked to hear that a hundred points had been given. With that, the kings and emperors all rushed inside the building. When they came out an hourter, some were bawling while some were smiling happily. Then, another set of notifications rang in the ears of everyone present.

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods that looked at the building through Emperor Broden¡¯s eyes is now giving their score.]</em>

    <em>[The Absolute God shed heartfelt tears while looking through the building.]</em>

    <em>[The Absolute God has given 100 points, the highest score possible.]</em>

    <em>[The Absolute God has given a present for King Valex.]</em>

    Then, another shooting star fell down from the skies.

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods that looked at the building through King Alex¡¯s eyes is now giving their score.]</em>

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods that looked at the building through King Lephos¡¯ eyes is now giving their score.]</em>

    One after another, four shooting stairs streaked through the skies and settled on top of the building. Then, once more¡­

    <em>[The Absolute Gods have been truly delighted and will now bestow their gift.]</em>

    The brightest, most brilliant, and most beautiful gift began to fall from the sky. This time, it was not a star, but a small sun. It fell down in the middle of the stars as a dark space surrounded them. The suns and the stars seemed to reflect the figures of the Five Stars and King Valex, who used tough and have a good time together in the past.

    Then, the notifications rang not long after!

    <em>[You have seen the Five Stars and the Sun!]</em>

    <em>[As the first person to witness the birth of the grandest and noblest building in existence, all of your stats will permanently increase by +1.]</em>

    <em>[Your EXP Acquisition Rate will increase by 30% for two weeks.]</em>

    The notifications that rang were very shocking. Before the shock could die down, Queen Aria, who had always been watching on the sidelines, suddenly made her appearance and dered, ¡°Five Stars, heed my words!¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty!¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty!¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty!¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty!¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty!¡±

    The Five Stars hurriedly showed their courtesy at the queen. All of them had small smiles fluttering on their lips. They were sure that Aria would definitely acknowledge their hard work and give them credit after they built this building. Perhaps, they might even live together once again just like they did in the past.

    But then, Aria said, ¡°For creating a building in honor of King Valex without my permission, I am now expelling you from Eto Kingdom.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Everyone was shocked. That was when they saw Aria looking at Minhyuk. Minhyuk, who was also looking at her, could see that Aria¡¯s body was shaking lightly.

    <em>¡®Don¡¯t tell me¡­?¡¯ </em>Minhyuk already had an inkling of the reason behind her actions. Besides, her eyes were clearly telling him: <em>Please take good care of the Five Stars.</em>

 Chapter 490: The New Tower Masters

    Chapter 490: The New Tower Masters

    Aria felt her heart thump like crazy. She wanted to take back the words that she said right away but she could not do that. She had hated them, yet they still used their skills and power and worked together to create their final work for Eto Kingdom. Keeping them by her side meant that she had no shame. Also¡­

    <em>¡®The Stars will shine more brightly if they¡¯re with him and not with me,¡¯ </em>Aria realized that their ce was not with her in the Eto Kingdom anymore. They must follow that man for them to shine even more brightly.

    ¡°Your Majesty!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d, I¡¯d rather you kill me!!!¡±

    ¡°How, howe?!¡±

    The Five Stars, with their heads down on the ground, screamed. They could not understand why they were suddenly expelled from the kingdom when they were supposed to be praised for their hard work.

    ¡°I will not take back my order. Leave the Eto Kingdom within a week,¡± Arya smiled bitterly.

    ¡°And every once in a while¡­¡± her voice got stuck in her throat, ¡°e and visit me.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Only then did the Five Stars realize what Aria meant. She was sending them away so they could shine brighter than they could here. Aria then, with a tear dripping down her cheeks, smiled brightly at them.

    ¡°May you live a long life, Your Majesty!¡±

    ¡°May you live a long life, Your Majesty!¡±

    ¡°May you live a long life, Your Majesty!¡±

    ¡°May you live a long life, Your Majesty!¡±

    ¡°May you live a long life, Your Majesty!¡±

    The Stars no longer asked her to take back her orders. They knew that she would not change her mind no matter what they did. All they could do was to answer her with all their might and give her their final courtesy. At that moment, a set of notifications rang for Minhyuk.

    <em>[The Five Stars can now be your vassals.]</em>

    <em>[Star Painter Elise. She¡¯s a legendary painter that can make her art look alive.]</em>

    <em>[yers that will migrate to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom will gain an additional 5% increase in DEX Acquisition Rate, 10% improvement on painting skill, and a dramatic increase in skill proficiency.]</em>

    <em>[Star Chef Cord. He¡¯s a chef hailed to be the best in Eto Kingdom. Even emperors dreamt of tasting his dishes.]</em>

    <em>[yers that will migrate to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom will gain an additional 5% increase in DEX Acquisition Rate, 10% improvement on cooking skill, and a dramatic increase in skill proficiency.]</em>

    <em>[Star Tailor Ellen. Every cloth that passes through the hands of Ellen gains a special ability. He¡¯s the only one in the world with this ability.]</em>

    <em>[yers that will migrate to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom will gain an additional 5% increase in DEX Acquisition Rate, 10% improvement on tailoring skill, and a dramatic increase in skill proficiency.]</em>

    <em>[Star Sculptor Berk. He¡¯s hailed as the father of all sculptors. All of the sculptures that he made look like they¡¯re alive.]</em>

    <em>[yers that will migrate to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom will gain an additional 5% increase in DEX Acquisition Rate, 10% improvement on sculpting skill, and a dramatic increase in skill proficiency.]</em>

    <em>[Star Strategist Jarrod. He¡¯s a genius strategist and tactician famous for defeating tens of thousands of enemies with only 500 troops. Legend has it that having him was like having ten thousand troops in your hands.]</em>

    <em>[yers that will migrate to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom will gain an additional 5% increase in DEX Acquisition Rate, 5% improvement on INT. Having him as your vassal will also produce outstanding effects like troops and kingdom strengthening and reinforcement.]</em>

    <em>¡®Crazy¡­¡¯ </em>Minhyuk was very shocked. All in all, just by having the Five Stars as his vassals, yers that decide to migrate to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would have a total of 25% increase in their DEX Acquisition Rate.

    But was that all? Of course not.

    <em>¡®Depending on their job, they will have a dramatic increase in their skill proficiency rate.¡¯</em>

    It was apletely ridiculous benefit.

    <em>¡®This¡­¡¯</em>

    At this point, Minhyuk could already tell that all of the production ss yers in Asgan Continent would flock to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom after knowing these effects.

    <em>¡®This will revitalize Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡­!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk trembled in excitement. However, one should take note of one important fact. It was the fact that the rewards were not yet over. Then, a brilliant blue light suddenly shone and covered the entire building. At the same time, a notification rang for everyone present.

    <em>[Eto Kingdom¡¯s King Valex has descended to visit the building that was made to honor him.]</em>

    At that moment, all of the NPCs present hurriedly bowed. Seeing this, the sensible yers also followed suit and showed courtesy.

    <em>Swoooooooooooosh¡ª</em>

    The blue light seeped through the building and went deeper inside before rushing towards the skies and falling down gently, like snowkes on a cold winter day.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaah¡­¡±

    ¡°Beautiful¡­¡±

    The blue snowkes immediately melted the moment it touched the people¡¯s bodies. But surprisingly enough, instead of coldness, they were met with ¡®warmth¡¯.

    <em>[King Valex¡¯s soul is very pleased with the building that honors him.]</em>

    <em>[King Valex is thankful to everyone that participated in the construction.]</em>

    <em>[Everyone that participated in the construction will receive EXP based on their contribution.]</em>

    <em>[As the one in charge of the building¡¯s construction, you will receive a higher EXP and greater rewards.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 3,000,000,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[King Valex has bestowed you his blessings.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will increase by 2%.]</em>

    <em>[Your Physical and Magical Defense will increase by 10%.]</em>

    Minhyuk smiled in satisfaction after hearing the notifications. And finally, the long awaited notifications rang.

    <em>[You have achieved a splendid result and sessfully won the bet against the Absolute Gods.]</em>

    <em>[The Absolute Gods will now give you your rewards.]</em>

    <em>[Your EXP Acquisition Rate will permanently increase by 27%.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Vestagio¡¯s Golden Crown.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired one God¡¯s Ore d.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired two God¡¯s Resetting Potions.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Tonkatsu Ramen made by God.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Soy Sauce Egg Rice made by God.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Beef Katsu made by God.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Karaage made by God.]</em>

    <em>[Among the dishes made by God only the ¡®Tonkatsu Ramen¡¯ has a special ability.]</em>

    Then, another set of notifications rang.

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods clicks their tongue at the rewards that ¡®he¡¯ has bestowed upon you.]</em>

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods thinks it''s ridiculous.]</em>

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods shoos ¡®him¡¯ away.]</em>

    <em>[The Absolute God that bestowed the dishes smiles strangely.]</em>

    The Absolute Gods¡¯ reacted weirdly. After all, why did ¡®he¡¯ give food as a reward? However, Minhyuk immediately knew who bestowed him these rewards, <em>¡®It¡¯s definitely the God of Cooking.¡¯ </em>Contrary to the Absolute Gods¡¯ expectations¡­

    ¡°Kyahaa! As expected, my rewards are dishes!!! Keuhahahaha! You really know me well!¡±

    If they were standing in front of Minhyuk, they would definitely have question marks floating above their heads.

    <em>¡®No, do you mean that the valuable artifacts and gold that we have bestowed upon you are nothing in front of food?¡¯</em>

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods urges you to check the other rewards.]</em>

    They thought Minhyuk¡¯s reaction was like that because he did not check the information of the rewards. However¡­

    ¡°Ah, that¡¯s too troublesome! Well, I¡¯ll go check it quickly then I¡¯ll eat my ramen~¡± Minhyuk immediately checked the rewards, as if he found the act to be annoying.

    Vestagio¡¯s Golden Crown was a golden crown with no special abilities. However, it was an item that was made from pure gold and was extremely heavy. Its description also explicitly stated that one would be able to receive ¡®1,011 tinum¡¯ if they sold it. In other words, it was a gold reward. There was also a resetting potion.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s a bit special, huh?¡¯</em>

    The moment the potion was consumed, all of the yer¡¯s stats and skills would be returned to its state at your specified time. Simply put, it was a potion that restored the yers stats and skills to its original state.

    <em>¡®This could be the best potion depending on how one uses it, right?¡¯</em>

    For example, one could immediately use this potion after incurring the penalty of using their pinnacle skills. Using that would mean that their stats and skills would be restored to their original state.

    After checking, Minhyuk smacked his lips and said, ¡°It¡¯s not bad.¡± He looked like he was not interested in anything else aside from food.

    <em>[The Absolute Gods are looking at you incredulously.]</em>

    Ignoring them, Minhyuk quickly entered his cooking trailer.

    <em>¡®This is so no one can ask me for a bite!¡¯</em>

    The actual King¡¯s Building Quest was already over. There was nothing else that he needed to do at the moment. So, he immediately took out the tonkatsu ramen and the soy sauce egg rice the moment he entered his trailer. He could already feel his thumping heart, his mouth watering at the thought of eating everything after all of his hard work.

    Steam rose from the bowl of ramen, as he took in the sight of the white broth enveloping the green onion and bean sprout garnish, tender char siu, two pieces of soft boiled eggs, and seaweed.

    ¡°<em>Kgghk</em><em>~</em> The God of Cooking really knows how to eat!¡±

    It was not just one, but two soft boiled eggs! The yolk even looked like it would flow down immediately. Minhyuk took out the stic spoon and disposable chopsticks for eating ramen. He then took a sip of the white broth.

    ¡°Wow~ The vor is really clean and refreshing,¡± Minhyuk burst out in admiration the moment the broth entered his mouth, a smile hanging pleasantly on his face.

    Then, he immediately mped a mouthful of noodles and slurped on it. The noodles were not the curly ones and were the long and white type but nevertheless, the sound that it produced was still divine, ¡°<em>Sluuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurp!</em>¡±

    The chewy and firm texture of the noodles widened the smile hanging on his lips the moment they entered his mouth. There was also the sound that apanied the slurping¡­

    <em>Crunch, crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    ¡­it was the sound of the fresh and crisp bean sprouts.

    ¡°Kghhhk~¡±

    Then, Minhyuk lifted the entire bowl, blew on it gently before slurping up a mouthful of the broth.

    ¡°Kyaa~ That¡¯s so refreshing.¡±

    This time, Minhyuk munched on a mouthful of noodles as he added two pieces of char siu on his spoon.

    <em>¡®Char siu tastes best if you pair it with the ramen soup,¡¯ </em>he thought as he tilted the spoon slightly, allowing the soup to fill it up, before lifting it up to his mouth. The smile on Minhyuk¡¯s lips widened further the moment the tender char siu and the refreshing soup met in his mouth. They truly were the bestbination.

    Then, he turned his attention to the soft-boiled egg, partnering it with the noodles, ¡°<em>Sluuuuuuuuuuuuurp~</em>¡±

    The smile on his face was extremely wide, but he just could not help himself. The harmony of the vors and textures of the soft-boiled egg and the noodles were perfect.

    After finishing the ramen, Minhyuk stretched his chopsticks towards the soy sauce egg rice. The soy sauce egg rice was topped with egg yolk, in seaweed powder, chopped green onions, slices of beef and a drizzle of Japanese soy sauce.

    The moment Minhyuk poked the yolk with his spoon, the yolk spilled over the rice below. Its bright yellow color coated every piece of rice the moment he mixed it. When he scooped a mouthful of the dish in his mouth, the mix of vors from the yolk, the thinly sliced beef, and the other ingredients danced in his mouth. Whenever Minhyuk¡¯s mouth turned dry from the rice, he would scoop up a mouthful of ramen soup and moisten his throat.

    Minhyuk finished everyst piece of grain and every drop of soup. He slowly went into a daze as a satisfied smile erupted on his face. He thought, <em>¡®It¡¯s really delicious. It¡¯s truly the vor of Japan.¡¯</em>

    Then, he dragged a ss of cold water towards him as he gulped its contents.

    <em>Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp¡ª</em>

    The distinct and greasy after taste of the ramen was instantly washed away by the cold water.

    ¡°Kgghk~¡±

    Then, Minhyuk pulled a piece of tissue and blew his nose! After throwing this piece, he pulled a new piece and wiped the oil around his mouth. When everything was done, the notifications began to ring.

    <em>[You have eaten Ramen.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained +5% on all of your stats.]</em>

    An additional 5% to all of his stats, was a tremendous increase in power considering Minhyuk¡¯s stats. Everyone would feel satisfied and happy after eating something delicious and gaining stats, right?

    Then, the notifications regarding the Absolute Gods, who were clicking their tongues at him about liking food instead of their rewards, rang.

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods wipes their drool.]</em>

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods is begging the one who cooked the ramen to make one for them too.]</em>

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods is looking at you with a motherly smile.]</em>

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods is rubbing their stomach.]</em>

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods is in awe after watching your mukbang.]</em>

    Even the Absolute Gods could not escape the charms of Minhyuk¡¯s mukbang!

 Chapter 491: The New Tower Masters

    Chapter 491: The New Tower Masters

    <em>[You have finished the construction of the building in honor of King Valex.]</em>

    <em>[The building is grander and nobler than any other architecture in existence.]</em>

    <em>[The building¡¯s level has exceeded Level 9.]</em>

    <em>[As the building¡¯s foreman, you have acquired the rewards for the sessful build.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 100 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 100 REP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained a 1% increase in all five basic stats.]</em>

    <em>[Please determine the status of the people that can enter the newlypleted building.]</em>

    <em>[ves. Commoners. Lower Nobility. Higher Nobility. Royal Family. Imperial Family.]</em>

    These were the notifications that rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears the moment the construction for the building was finished. After enjoying his meals, Minhyuk finally came back to the Five Stars for a discussion.

    ¡°King Valex treasured his people, and that includes the ves.¡±

    ¡°He was the first ever king to abolish very. Of course, theints of the other nobles about this all amounted to nothing.¡±

    The decision was made easily.

    <em>[Anyone that wishes to enter the buildingmemorating King Valex can enter the building.]</em>

    <em>[Please set an entrance fee.]</em>

    When it came to entrance fees, Minhyuk suddenly became very indecisive. Of course, he wanted to get less from the ves and more from the nobles. But if he did that, then many would protest.

    At that moment, Star Strategist Jarrod said, ¡°Then, let¡¯s just make it so that everyone can enter with the same entrance fee.¡±

    ¡°But, doing that would make our efforts insignificant, right? The weight that this building will carry might be too small if we did that.¡±

    ¡°The public is willing to believe in a lot of rumors and fake stories,¡± Jarrod said, which made Minhyuk confused, as he looked at the building with a soft smile on his face, ¡°We can spread rumors. Amoner paid a higher amount than the entrance fee and he became lucky that day. A lower noble paid an amount that was several times over the entrance fee to honor His Majesty Valex and was promoted to a countter in the same year. Some wouldn¡¯t bite it, but there would be a lot of people who will pay more, just because of these stories. In fact, it would be more profitable to do this instead of setting different prices.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­¡± Minhyuk gasped in admiration. It was not the ves nor themoners, but the rich and the nobility that had always lived a life of luxury and contentment. They might also pay a hundred, perhaps even a thousand, times more than the entrance fee just because of a few simple words.

    And once they took a look inside?

    <em>¡®There¡¯s no way that they would think that it¡¯s a waste of their money,¡¯ </em>Minhyuk finally decided.

    <em>[You have determined the entrance fee for the buildingmemorating King Valex.]</em>

    <em>[The building¡¯s entrance fee is 5,000 gold.]</em>

    <em>[Anyone, regardless of their status, nationality or continent, can enter the buildingmemorating King Valex.]</em>

    <em>[The buildingmemorating King Valex is built in Eto Kingdom¡¯s territory, it will receive a 60% tax.]</em>

    <em>[The expected return of profit for the building materials,bor, maintenance and building foreman is 2%.]</em>

    Minhyuk smiled in satisfaction. Although Minhyuk headed the construction and everything was shouldered by him, they built it in Eto Kingdom. Also, the Five Stars still belonged to the kingdom during the construction process, so it was only natural that they pay a 60% tax. Besides, he would still be able to get a 2% return profit for all of his efforts. That amount was already huge enough for any ordinary yer to sit back and rx for life.

    Just when everyone was wondering how marvelous the building was after seeing the kings and emperors burst into tears, Minhyuk announced that they could finally enter. Hearing that, everyone hurriedly dashed forward and lined up! The line even exceeded seven kilometers!

    However, some nobles began to protest, ¡°Do we have to stand in line with these ves?¡±

    The ones that they hired for the management and maintenance of the buildings began to p their tongues, following what Minhyuk and Jarrod told them, ¡°Count Ken, this is a building in honor of King Valex. Because you¡¯re waiting in line, His Majesty Valex will definitely reward you and turn your future around.¡±

    ¡°Ho?¡± The nobles looked at the building in contemtion as the assistant continued to speak, ¡°Count. I heard that one of the counts that visited yesterday was able to give birth to a bouncing baby boy after he came back to his territory. There was also a knight named Perle. I heard that he has been granted a title and became a bar.¡±

    ¡°Is, is that true?! Alright, I will wait. Haha!¡±

    The rumors began like that but over time, these rumors started to be a ¡®fact¡¯. The people then began to say this every time they got lucky, <em>¡®You know, it¡¯s because I waited five hours in line to visit the building in honor of His Majesty Valex. But that¡¯s not all! I also offered a tinum to honor His Majesty. And His Majesty in heaven helped me!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Are you telling the truth?¡¯</em>

    People would always get envious when someone was doing well! Just like that, word passed through one noble¡¯s mouth to another!

    <em>[Count Erthe offers 3 tinum to honor King Valex.]</em>

    <em>[Marquis Kennon offers 20 tinum to honor King Valex.]</em>

    <em>[Allod of the Royal Family offers 100 tinum to honor King Valex.]</em>

    There were also the yers and ordinary guardians that visited the building. Among them, there were those that looked sullen after being dragged by their girlfriends.

    ¡°Oppa~ I heard that this building is a hot topic these days!¡±

    ¡°Do we really have to wait this long?¡±

    But not long after, the man exited the building with tears in his eyes while saying, ¡°<em>Cough¡ª</em> I have never seen such beautiful architecture in my life. Want to line up again?¡±

    ¡°I like that! I will rmend this to my parents as a must-see travel destination!¡±

    Everyone was constantly walking to and fro. After all, just looking around the building along with its paintings and sculptures could give them a buff effect. The building garnered an outstanding 2,100 tinum as its highest profit. Calcting Minhyuk¡¯s share, he would be able to get around 40 tinum.

    Ah, such is the life of a building owner!

    ***

    The tower that attracted the most number of people in the Barras Kingdom of the past was the ¡®Fisherman¡¯s Tower¡¯. Even if all of the fishermen living in all of the other kingdoms were taken into ount, their numbers were still significantly lower than the number of fishermen residing in the Barras Kingdom.

    But now, no one wasing and going inside the Fisherman¡¯s Tower of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. This was because these fishermen sses all left when Barras Kingdom fell. The biggest reason was because of the departure of the Legendary Fisherman Eck.

    Legendary Fisherman Eck had a very lively and free personality. He often went out to sea to teach his tricks and secrets to both yers and guardians alike. Oftentimes, he would make sashimi with the rare catches that they caught on that day. Because of that, plenty of the yers liked him and followed him.

    However, the stories about Fisherman Eck were wrong. Lively and free? Kind and good-natured? Teaching others how to fish? Not at all. Those were things that Eck had nned. He deliberately went out to sea to revive the Fisherman¡¯s Tower and attract people. Eck was also one of the people that immediately left the kingdom the moment the king changed.

    Eck grinned deeply, <em>¡®The kingdoms are finally making their move.¡¯</em>

    Eck had just attended a major meeting between the kingdoms. The main topic of their meeting was the ¡®Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯. The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was a kingdom founded by the foreigners. That fact in and of itself ticked them off and all of them hoped to drag the kingdom down.

    To do so, they all made a n. They wanted to bring away the remaining personnel of the towers that were still in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. That was not the end of their ns. They also nned to take away all of the production ss yers and guardians in the kingdom. Their method was a bit barbaric, but they were certain that it would bring about the results that they wanted.

    <em>¡®The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s towers should realize how helpless they are without us, the tower masters, there, right?¡¯</em>

    That was right. All of the tower masters left the kingdom. Not only the most famous Fisherman¡¯s Tower¡¯s tower master, but even the tower masters of the Painter¡¯s Tower, the Sculpture¡¯s Tower, the cksmith¡¯s Tower, the Commander¡¯s Tower and all the other towers. These posts were only currently being supported by the deputy tower masters.

    So, what would happen if they took down those deputies and showed the foreigners what true helplessness was?

    <em>¡®Then, the remaining people in the towers can only choose to leave. After all, they only stayed because of their lingering attachments to Barras Kingdom.¡¯</em>

    It would only be a matter of time. Once the previous tower masters proved their greatness, these people would realize how weak they were as they served this king that could not show them a higher level. And once they took them away, they would create new towers and gather more people together. This would definitely force the copse of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s towers, while the towers that had moved to other kingdoms would revive and return to the way they were before.

    ¡°Long time no see, Eck.¡±

    ¡°How have you been, Gebry?¡±

    Not long after, a carriage and a parade of troops stopped and lined up in front of Eck. Inside the huge carriage rode the past tower masters. Eck greeted the central figures of each kingdom with his eyes as he entered the carriage naturally.

    ¡°It¡¯s been a long time since I¡¯ve been to Barras Kingdom¡­ no, Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s Valencia,¡± Eck said with a smile as the others nodded in agreement.

    Then, one of the kingdom nobles said, ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll all do a great job. We will definitely show those foreigners that dared to create a kingdom on their own a very scary and painful sight.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about a thing, you know?¡±

    ¡°The current tower masters of Beyond the Heavens Kingdoms are nothing but mere fools.¡±

    ¡°I heard that there are temporary tower masters that stepped up? From what I heard, they were people that the king used to take care of?¡±

    ¡°Ah. So, you haven¡¯t heard of it.¡±

    ¡°Heard of what?¡±

    The past tower masters, who were giggling to themselves and ignoring the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, turned towards the kingdom diplomats when they heard their words.

    ¡°The Beyond the Heavens Kingdoms have already appointed new tower masters. The cksmith¡¯s Tower and Commander¡¯s Tower had been abolished and reced with the Tailor¡¯s Tower and Tower of Knowledge. Not only that, they have also appointed new tower masters for the Chef¡¯s Tower, Painter¡¯s Tower, Sculptor¡¯s Tower and Fisherman¡¯s Tower.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Puhahahahahahahaha!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯spletely ridiculous. They¡¯re just filling up those seats by bringing in people with some power. They¡¯re probably in a hurry?¡±

    All of the previous tower masters justughed. The reason why they were the tower masters that all of the kingdoms and empires coveted was simple. It was because they were publicly recognized as the best in the Asgan Continent. There was no one greater than them, at least in Asgan Continent.

    Before they could burst out in another fit ofughter, Fisherman Eck, as if he had a brilliant idea, said, ¡°You might know this already but even though I¡¯m already out of the tower, I¡¯m gathering a lot of people for my new fishing ground and these people are now working their hardest to learn under me. Can I call them? I¡¯ll make it so that they know who I am and what I can do. That way, they will trust me more and follow me wholeheartedly.¡±

    The nobles reacted positively after hearing Eck¡¯s words. They all thought that it was a good idea.

    ¡°I believe that¡¯s a great idea.¡±

    ¡°We can secure their hearts and even bring the ones remaining in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s tower with us.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the best!¡±

    ¡°A very splendid idea indeed.¡±

    They stopped their procession for a moment in lieu of calling their men. Not long after, each of their kingdoms brought a variety of production sses, ranging from fishermen, sculptors, painters, tailors, cksmiths and many more. Their number totaled 2,000. They were the elites of the production sses. Then, the carriage procession set off again. However, among them, there was one particrly anxious man.

    ¡°Marquis Arna, the thing that happened in the founding ceremony won¡¯t happen again. Don¡¯t worry too much.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Yes. Worry. Haha.¡±

    During the founding ceremony, Marquis Arna, terrified after seeing Sword God Valen and Saintess Loyna, peed in his pants and was hence dubbed as Mister Bed Wetter. He was also one of the diplomats sent to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom this time.

    In a blink, the carriage procession that was ¡®packaged¡¯ as a group that was sent to ¡®celebrate and congratte¡¯ Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, entered Valencia.

    <em>¡®Nothing will happen this time.¡¯</em>

    But Marquis Arna was left unaware that today was the day that he would experience that humiliation a second time.

 Chapter 492: The New Tower Masters

    Chapter 492: The New Tower Masters

    Minhyuk, the king of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, had just returned from his long journey. He hastened his travel so he could wee the diplomats and the former tower masters. Haze was currently guiding them as they came to visit the kingdom. Minhyuk sat on his throne with a soft smile while six other people stood behind him. They did not have any time to do anything else, since they had just returned so their hair and clothes were quite dusty and unkempt.

    ¡°These are the new tower masters under my rule. I hope you don¡¯t look down at them.¡±

    ¡°Haha. Is that so? Don¡¯t they look too bad? Still, they look very healthy,¡± Eck burst out inughter, the rest immediately following after him. This was because the newly appointed tower masters looked too inferior to them with their shabby and unkempt appearance. Eck and the former tower masters were all trying their hardest to hold back theirughter at the sight.

    <em>¡®They dare to put these unknown people in front of us, the best in the Asgan Continent?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®It¡¯s obvious. They¡¯re putting anyone, someone, in those empty seats. Then, they will announce that they have already appointed new tower masters and gather people.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Even the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King looks so dirty and shabby. Since they¡¯re appointing these ipetent people as the new tower masters, everyone will definitely leave once their skills have been revealedter.¡¯</em>

    At this moment, the former tower masters firmly believed that the rumors that they have heard about Minhyuk being a smart and gracious ruler were just that, rumors.

    Then, Marquis Arna, one of the diplomats, threw the bait, ¡°The former tower masters came with us to see the disciples that they had raised in the past. That¡¯s why we¡¯re hoping that Your Majesty will understand their feelings and allow their previous disciples to join us in this banquet.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? Very well, the more the merrier,¡± upon hearing Marquis Arna¡¯s words, Minhyuk readily agreed and sent people to the towers to call for the former tower masters¡¯ disciples.

    ¡°Tower Master Eck! It¡¯s been a long time!¡±

    ¡°Tower Master Ruger! Sir, we missed you!¡±

    ¡°Hahahaha! Is that so? Yeah?¡±

    The number of people left in each of the towers was only enough to fill in around 2,000. Counting them in with the new disciples that the previous tower masters had recently raised, their number should be around 4,000. However, despite their numbers, the party hall wasrge enough that none of them felt constricted. In fact, there were also the broadcasters and reporters that Minhyuk had called in among them.

    <em>¡®From what I heard, those that aren¡¯t present here can still see what¡¯s happening here through those foreigners with the small lenses hovering around them.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®What was it? I think they called it a broadcast?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®We can certainly bring the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King to his knees!¡¯</em>

    The moment the diplomats and the former tower masters saw these people, they thought that it was a godsend. After all, it was like hitting two birds with one stone. Even the foreigners that chose to remain in Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would witness how weak and pathetic this kingdom was, with this broadcast.

    Then, the former tower masters approached the newly appointed masters and tried to gauge and ascertain the kind of people they were. The first to move was Annod, the previous tower master of the Commander¡¯s Tower.

    The Commander¡¯s Tower was different from the other production ss towers. They train those that dreamt of bing centurions and knights, and even taught them manners and etiquette. In fact, it was the tower with the lowest influence among all of the towers in existence.

    ¡°You¡¯re the tower master of the new Tower of Knowledge, right? Nice to meet you.¡±

    Even though Annod said that, he did not like the man in front of him one bit. Especially because the Commander¡¯s Tower was abolished and changed into the ¡®Tower of Knowledge¡¯.

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right,¡± Jarrod, one of the Five Stars, nodded. But just when Annod was about to ask Jarrod again, Jarrod quipped, ¡°By the way, do you know what a strawberry that was fired from the kingdom troops is called?¡±

    ¡°¡­strawberry syrup?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s wrong. Strawberries are fruits, hence they won¡¯t be fired from any job!¡±

    ¡°Ha, haha¡­ ha?¡±

    ¡°Keuhahahahahaha!¡±

    Jarrod bursted out in a rambunctiousughter the moment he saw the incredulous look on Annod¡¯s face, and said, ¡°Do you know what the fastest chicken in the world is called?¡±

    ¡°<em>Hu, hudadak¡­?</em>¡±

    ¡°Wrong! His Majesty has already eaten it! Keuhahahahahaha!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Annod was left speechless.

    <em>¡®What the hell is wrong with this f*cking bastard? How can a person like this be the master of the ¡®Tower of Knowledge¡¯?¡¯</em>

    Incredulousughter naturally bubbled out of Annod¡¯s mouth. When he looked around, he realized that the situation was not different from the others.

    Elise, the one going to be the tower master of the Painter¡¯s Tower, was pouring tea for the former tower master, Grein. Then, Grein said, ¡°Since you¡¯re appointed as the tower master of the Painter¡¯s Tower, it means that you have created and seen a lot of paintings in your life, right? Hoho. I wonder what kind of paintings you are working on these days?¡±

    Elise smiled at Grein¡¯s words and said, ¡°These days, I¡¯m busy painting food for His Majesty. Pizza, chicken, rice cakes¡­ ah! And takoyaki.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°Ah. But I¡¯m in a bit of a pinch. Every time I draw them, drool always seem to drip down my mouth¡­ <em>Sluuuuurp!</em>¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    At that moment, Grein wondered if they really ced a woman that was good at painting food as the tower master? But from what he heard about the king of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, it was a possible feat. Even Ellen, the Tailor¡¯s Tower¡¯s new tower master, seemed to be a unique person.

    At the very least, they thought that the man who was set to be the Chef¡¯s Tower¡¯s tower master was normal. s, they were wrong on both counts.

    ¡°I have already received His Majesty¡¯s orders. I¡¯m set to open a store in the market and sell a variety of dishes. It¡¯s a bit unfortunate, but the Chef¡¯s Tower already has a tower master.¡±

    ¡°Is, is that so?¡±

    ¡®<em>The man¡¯s not going to be the tower master but someone that would sell street food?¡¯</em>

    Finally, there was the previous Fisherman¡¯s Tower¡¯s tower master Eck. The most important person out of all of them. This very same Eck approached the Fisherman¡¯s Tower¡¯s newly appointed tower master.

    <em>¡®He looks very handsome up close.¡¯</em>

    Despite the new tower master¡¯s disheveled and unruly hair, his white skin, straight nose, glinting eyes, and sharp jawline gave him an unnatural beauty.

    ¡°I¡¯m Eck, the previous tower master of the Fisherman¡¯s Tower. It¡¯s a bit abrupt but do you mind telling me what you did before you came to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?¡±

    The man, Gorfido, nced at Eck then gulped the remaining alcohol in ss before spitting, ¡°Pirate.¡±

    ¡°Did, did you just say pirate¡­?¡±

    The people that remained in the Fisherman¡¯s Tower, as well as the fishermen that came with Eck, all looked at Gorfido incredulously. Then, they all guffawed.

    ¡°No, are you telling me that a pirate is going to lead the Fisherman¡¯s Tower?¡±

    ¡°The Fisherman¡¯s Tower is the most famous tower in Beyond the Heavens Kingdom but you¡¯re telling me that a pirate is now in charge of it?¡±

    ¡°You, you impudent bastard!¡±

    ¡°How dare you answer the Legendary Fisherman Eck so rudely?!¡±

    The people eitherughed mockingly or jumped up in absurdity. The same was true for those that had stayed in the Fisherman¡¯s Tower because of their lingering attachment to the previous Barras Kingdom.

    <em>¡®Do we have to serve a pirate?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®What kind of bullshit is this¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®This is ridiculous¡­¡¯</em>

    Eck, a former noble with the title of a count, looked ugly after hearing Gorfido¡¯s answer, ¡°How, how dare you?! How dare you, a pirate, be the tower master of the Fisherman¡¯s Tower?! Are you out of your mind?! And you, a criminal at sea, how dare you speak rudely to me?!¡±

    Despite his outrage, Gorfido just replied nonchntly, ¡°Yeah, idiot.¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Gorfido was an untamable beast. He was, in fact, being a tad bit polite because he was in the presence of His Majesty Minhyuk. It was as though a speech patch was suddenly applied to his character. If it was his original way of speaking, then he would have definitely said, <em>¡®Do you want me to pluck your eyes and feed them to the crows?¡¯</em> or something like that.

    In the Athenae worldview, it was still impossible to jump continents, that was why most of the NPCs did not know. Even some of the yers might still be unaware. However, almost none of them should be unaware of Gorfido¡¯s existence.

    Meanwhile, Eck, who heard the words <em>¡®Yeah, idiot.¡¯</em>, became furious.

    ¡°Hey! You goddamn pirate! Get down on your knees!!!¡±

    With Eck¡¯s words, the knights around him pointed their sword at Gorfido. At that moment, Gorfido¡¯s eyes turned fierce. Eck¡¯s breath got stuck in his throat as Gorfido said, ¡°Hey, you idiot. Can you stop making a noise in front of His Majesty?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    For a moment, everyone wondered what was up with Gorfido and his kindergarten-like curses. However, being on the receiving end of his childish curses, it was just very, <em>very</em> annoying. Even Gorfido himself was very frustrated at being civil. The knights kept their swords pointed at Gorfido. If they were at the Japanese Server, everyone would most definitely be shocked at this sight. But then¡­

    ¡°Former Tower Master Eck.¡±

    ¡°¡­Yes, Your Majesty!¡± Eck¡¯s head quickly bowed down until it reached his stomach the moment he heard Minhyuk¡¯s dignified voice. It did not matter if the king in front of them was unkempt, a king was still a king. No king would tolerate anyone pointing a sword at the neck of their retainer.

    ¡°For, forgive me. I deserve to die¡­!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Eck¡¯s mouth suddenly stopped, his body trembling in fear, after feeling the sincerity and obvious intent in the tone of Minhyuk¡¯s voice.

    ¡°I have seen everything. Tell me, what is the difference between youughing at the retainers that I brought forward, and youughing at me?¡±

    <em>Step, step, step¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk stepped forward and pointed his sword at Eck¡¯s neck, ¡°Raise your head.¡±

    The cold and sharp sword grazed Eck¡¯s neck as he raised it.

    <em>Drip, drip¡ª</em>

    Eck¡¯s blood dripped down his body as the sharp edge of the sword cut his skin from his movement.

    <em>¡®This, this crazy bastard!¡¯</em>

    Eck felt both afraid and angry. No matter who it was, most kings and emperors were desperate to recruit him. But the man in front of him was truly intent on killing him.

    Suddenly, a lifeline appeared.

    ¡°What are you doing?! Is this how you treat the Legendary Fisherman Eck? The moment you take his neck, all of the kingdoms will attack you!¡±

    It was none other than Marquis Arna. Minhyuk stared at him with a grin before drawing his sword back.

    ¡°Heok, heok!¡±

    ¡°My retainer has been a bit rude so let¡¯s stop it here. Gorfido¡¯s civil speech is still a bit wonky, after all.¡±

    Eck, who was released from Minhyuk¡¯s sword, felt shame and disgrace wrap around his body. He wanted to rip apart the pirate in front of him. At that moment, Minhyuk said, ¡°You look furious. Then, how about this?¡± He turned to look at the people around him as he proposed, ¡°Compete with my retainers. If you lose, you will wear the ¡®Shackles of Control¡¯.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The Shackles of Control was an item that has been passed down since ancient times and were used for punishing criminals. The moment they had been shackled, their most important abilities would be sealed and they would be nothing more than ordinary people for two straight years. For people with high DEX, these two years would spell the end of their livelihood.

    However, Minhyuk¡¯s words were not yet over, ¡°I have been watching andtely, I noticed that those that remained in the towers long to be with the former tower masters. If they remain unsatisfied with the newly appointed tower masters in thispetition, then they are free to go. However¡­¡± Minhyuk narrowed his eyes at Marquis Arna and the former tower masters, ¡°¡­if your new disciples express their desires to join our current towers, I hope that none of you will stop them from doing so.¡±

    After leaving those words, Minhyuk turned to look at Marquis Arna and Eck, ¡°Also, I would like Marquis Arna and Former Tower Master Eck to keep this in mind. It would not be strange for me to take your necks right here and now.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    There was no denying Minhyuk¡¯s words. If they did this in front of Eivelis Empire¡¯s Ellie, their entire bloodline would have been wiped out already.

    ¡°The diplomats represent their kings and have the authority to decide, am I right? Are you willing to partake in this?¡±

    In the first ce, they came here to show everyone how weak the current tower masters were. They did not have any reason to refuse. Besides¡­

    <em>¡®It would be utterly ridiculous if we lost against this bunch.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®We canpletely bring the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom to their ruins!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®The Shackles of Control! Keuhahahaahahaha!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He said it himself! He¡¯s telling us that it¡¯s okay for us to take away the remaining people in the towers!¡¯</em>

    All of them cheered deep inside. And these people, who were given full authority to handle the matters in this ce by their kings, nodded in agreement.

    ¡°We have to make it clear that none of us would be held ountable for whatever may happen in the future.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    And with that, all of them stood up and moved to the ce where thepetition would be held. Unbeknownst to them, Minhyuk¡¯s face was disying a very vicious smile.

    ***

    Legendary Fisherman Eck boarded a huge fishing boat and went out to sea near the borders of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, together with his new disciples and the remaining personnel in the tower.

    ¡°You should know this already but there are Dragon Fishes living in these waters.¡±

    Dragon Fishes were gigantic fishes that closely resembled dragons, with an average length of nine meters. Once every two years, ordinary fishermen would get a chance to catch them. However, these fishes also had high levels so ordinary fishermen would usually die on the spot if they tried to catch them.

    The only one that could catch the Dragon Fishes in the entire Asgan Continent was the Legendary Fisherman Eck. The moment Eck threw his line and bait¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡­the bait started to bob madly in the sea. This was Eck¡¯s specialty, fish tracking. The bait would follow and point in the direction of the fish that he wanted to catch. Around five minutester¡­

    <em>Twitch, twitch¡ª</em>

    The fishing line twitched and became taut. Eck immediately tugged the line. The fishing line flew to the skies and pulled out a Dragon Fish on its own. And finally¡­

    <em>Puhaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>[You have caught the legendary Dragon Fish!]</em>

    A huge Dragon Fish appeared in the skies. It was well over eight meters long with a beard that was as long as a dragon[1]¡¯s beard and a colorful array of scales!

    ¡°U, uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Crazy! This is crazy!!!¡±

    ¡°So crazy¡­!¡±

    Truth was, Fisherman Eck also could not catch the Dragon Fish well. This was because he still had to fight against the ferocious beast despite catching it. But the reason why he opted to catch it despite knowing that it was too much for him, was so that he could show the pirate rat how weak he was.

    Not long after, the knights pulled the Dragon Fish on board and knocked it out.

    ¡°Make it into sashimi so everyone can have a taste.¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaah! Can, can we really do that?¡±

    ¡°Of course. Ah, you know that Dragon Fishes taste different depending on their color, right? Their colors range from red, blue, green, to even ck.¡±

    ¡°Ye, yes.¡±

    The fishermen onboard were in awe and admiration. Meanwhile, the people that were still part of the Fisherman¡¯s Tower thought¡­

    <em>¡®As expected, I have to leave the Fisherman¡¯s Tower, huh?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®It¡¯s only right for us to follow Sir Eck, right?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He¡¯s really incredible¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®My goodness! This blue Dragon Fish is really priceless, right?! I can¡¯t believe he gave us a chance to taste this.¡¯</em>

    The people that stayed in the tower felt their will shake. But then, at that moment¡­

    <em>Rumbleeeeee¡ª</em>

    The sea suddenly churned as a rainstorm fell down from the skies above. Gorfido then moved towards the stern of the ship and stretched his arms forward to control the seas. The sea followed his whims, moving to where his hands were pointing at. And finally¡­

    ¡°Kieeeeeeeee!¡±

    ¡°Kkiiiiiiiiiiii!¡±

    ¡°Kiriririririri!¡±

    Dragon Fishes of varying colors suddenly popped up on the surface of the sea and jumped on board by themselves.

    ¡°Kyaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Kyaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Kyaaaaaa!¡±

    They even followed the movements of Gorfido¡¯s arms, sticking themselves to the ships. Yes, the Dragon Fishes were showing their reverence as they worshipped Great Pirate ¡®Gorfido¡¯. Then, Gorfido turned to look back at the fishermen and said, ¡°Choose whatever you like and have a taste.¡±

    His words sounded strangely like, <em>¡®I don¡¯t know what you like so I bought each of everything.¡¯</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Eck was left speechless.

    ¡®<em>How could this be?! He¡¯s just a measly pirate!</em>¡¯

    Since Minhyuk was not here, Gorfido spoke in his usual tone and manner of speaking, ¡°If you don¡¯t want to be skinned then don¡¯t even try pigging out.¡±

    This was the start of the story of the Fisherman King.

    1. The dragon they''re referring to here is the asian dragon. ?

 Chapter 493: The New Tower Masters

    Chapter 493: The New Tower Masters

    Fisherman¡¯s Tower¡¯s Eck was the best fisherman in the entire Asgan Continent. He started fishing at the young age of five and had always won an award at every fishingpetition in Asgan Continent. Although iparable to those legends of thebat sses, Eck¡¯smercial value far surpassed anyone. But right now¡­

    ¡°Is, is this a dream? Am I seeing this for real?¡±

    ¡°How in the world¡­¡±

    Those that remained in the Fisherman¡¯s Tower that felt frustration at the fact that they would have to follow a pirate, as well as the new disciples that Eck brought to unt his greatness as he smashed the proud nose of the new tower master, were all staring wide-eyed at the scene in front of them. They all could not believe it, despite witnessing everything with their own eyes.

    ¡°You¡¯re not eating? I don¡¯t know what you prefer so I just grabbed one of each kind.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Dragon Fishes of each color were pping on the deck! And these were fishes that the man in front of them brought out because he did not know what they preferred!

    <em>¡®Are you telling me that we can eat each kind of Dragon Fish if we stay with this person?!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®And that¡¯s not all! This man ispletely different from an ordinary fisherman! He¡¯s the ruler of the sea himself! I want to learn his skills!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®In front of this person, Mister Eck is but a speck of dust!¡¯</em>

    The remaining people in the current tower, as well as Eck¡¯s new disciples all looked at Gorfido with eyes filled with longing. Did his identity matter? No. They might argue with him if he was just slightly better at fishing. But he was not. His skills were not just a little better, they werepletely outstanding. His power was great enough for anyone topletely dismiss the fact that he was once a pirate.

    Eck immediately realized that something was wrong. So, he tried to show everyone his newly found powers, ¡°Actually, catching a Dragon Fish is not that special.¡±

    What happened about the fact that he was worried about the shame that woulde after catching the ¡®Dragon Fish¡¯ and getting attacked? He was spitting words that werepletely contrary to his original thoughts. Despite his shamelessness, he continued to say, ¡°This time, I¡¯m going to show our dear fishermen the new power that I have acquired.¡± Eck smiled softly as he watched everyone¡¯s attention turn back to him, ¡°It¡¯s none other than my Little Sea Creation.¡±

    Blue light glowed from Eck¡¯s hands as water started to flow in the skies above him. The water slowly gathered until it formed a little sea. Not long after, dozens of salmon appeared and jumped around, as his little sea stretched forward and turned into a ten meter long river.

    ¡°There, there¡¯s actual fish inside?!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaah¡­¡±

    ¡°If we have that ability, then we can just fish at home, right?¡±

    ¡°Ho~¡±

    As their gasps of admiration entered Eck¡¯s ears, he turned to Gorfido with a smug smile on his face. However, Gorfido was just wiping away the tears out of the corners of his eyes after a huge yawn. Then, as if finding the whole matter troublesome, hezily stretched his hands out in the direction of the sea as¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡­a tremendous amount of seawater shot out of his hand. The small sea that Eck created was instantly destroyed from the force of the seawater as it spread widely in the skies above them. It stretched to an area of about a hundred meters and made everyone feel as if they were being sandwiched by the sea below them and the sea above them. The scene of the seas above and below them was both mystical and shocking. And what was more, inside the sea above¡­

    ¡°Aren¡¯t those Dragon Fishes? There¡¯s a lot in there.¡±

    ¡°Hiiiiiik!¡±

    ¡°Crazy! Truly and utterly crazy!¡±

    At that moment, Eck finally tasted the true feeling of despair. Then, as if to nail that despair even further, his new disciples sneakily nced at each other. When they thought about it, His Majesty Minhyuk had made it easy for them. After all, he made it so that they would easily be able to switch sides and determine who they could serve. Knowing this, they all quickly made their decisions.

    ¡°Please, please take us in!!!¡±

    ¡°We want to be with you!!!¡±

    ¡°We will even swear our loyalty to you!!!¡±

    Hearing those words, Gorfido looked at the people that suddenly knelt down in front of him. Some of them were people that remained in the current tower while some of them were the new disciples that Eck had brought here. There was only one thing that Gorfido said to these people, ¡°Keep this in mind. The one that you will swear your loyalty and sacrifice your life for, is not me, but His Majesty Minhyuk.¡±

    ¡°We will keep it in mind!¡±

    ¡°We will keep it in mind!¡±

    At the same time, Minhyuk, who was sitting happily and rxed on his throne, heard a series of notifications.

    <em>[873 Fishermen have decided to migrate to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[With the fishermen¡¯s migration, the reputation of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom will spread to other fishermen.]</em>

    <em>[The Fisherman¡¯s Tower¡¯s fishermen¡¯s loyalty to you has dramatically increased.]</em>

    A rxed smile formed at the corner of Minhyuk¡¯s mouth. However, it was immediately reced with a frosty expression as he thought, <em>¡®You want to try me? I will take everything of yours and bring you down to your destruction.¡¯</em>

    Those that tried to bring down and touch the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would face frustration and helplessness soon.

    ***

    The truth was, there was no way for the Tower of Knowledge¡¯s new tower master Jarrod and the Commander¡¯s Tower¡¯s former tower master Annod topete. They were paired up mainly because Jarrod, as the new tower master, took in themanders that Annod had raised before. Annod asked sharply, ¡°I cherish and love this tower deeply. It is to the point that I can safely say that I and this tower share the same life. But you changed it to the ¡®Tower of Knowledge¡¯. This means that you are very confident enough to take that name. What strategies and tactics do you have for this tower and its future?¡±

    At Annod¡¯s questions, the people that remained in the now Tower of Knowledge also turned to Jarrod wondering about his ns. In fact, they were already wondering if they should leave this tower because it was no longer the Commander¡¯s Tower. Then, Jarrod answered, ¡°It¡¯s actually simple. I n on teaching both foreigners and guardians alike about the attack patterns and methods of whatever they wanted to deal with. Of course, they¡¯ll either have to pay or do me a favor for them to get this knowledge.¡±

    It was literally knowledge about quests. In other words, the tower would be one that solves quests. However, did they need toe to the tower for something like that? There were plenty of quests all over the continent and for this method to seed, the solutions and methods that they had to give should be excellent enough to charm people to flock to their tower.

    But then, a notification rang for the yers currently in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    <em>[The Commander¡¯s Tower has been changed into the Tower of Knowledge!]</em>

    <em>[Star Tactician Jarrod has been appointed as the Tower of Knowledge¡¯s Tower Master.]</em>

    <em>[You can acquire the method of attacking a quest, monster or dungeon that you can¡¯tplete from Jarrod in these three days for free!]</em>

    As soon as the notifications rang, the yers without any money and still had quests at hand flocked over upon hearing the words ¡®<em>free for three days¡¯</em>. Annod snorted. How could this man contribute to the country¡¯s development if he only gave advice? Annod was someone that had raisedmanders! At this point, Annod firmly believed that this new tower would definitely lose poprity soon. On the other hand, Jarrod greeted one of the yers and listened to his story.

    ¡°There¡¯s this bastard called Steel Monkey, you know? It¡¯s very hard tond an attack on it. As long as I can hunt it or pass it, I canplete my quest. But I haven¡¯t been able toplete my quest for thirty days because of that bastard. Is there any other way for me toplete my quest?¡±

    Jarrod rubbed his chin in thought while Annod looked at the two of them incredulously, <em>¡®So he¡¯s out of his mind. This guy¡¯s power is definitely not enough to finish the task. No matter what happens, it will be hard toplete that quest.¡¯</em>

    As for Jarrod, he just said, ¡°That¡¯s simple. You know about the snake called Tail Rattlesnake, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I know about them. I used to hunt them from the hunting ground that I came from before.¡±

    ¡°If you collect the 50 ¡®Tail Rattlers¡¯ from the Tail Rattlesnakes and make it into arge tail rattler and shake it in front of the Steel Monkey, it will run away. That guy is scared of loud sounds.¡±

    ¡°Re, really?!¡±

    ¡°Yes. Well then, next please.¡±

    The people continued to line up in front of Jarrod. Up until that point, Annod was still rxed. No, in fact he was denying the truth of the reality in front of him, <em>¡®Helping someone ovee their insurmountable hardships with just a few words? Is that even possible?¡¯</em>

    s, just four hourster¡­

    ¡°I, I was the person that couldn¡¯tplete the quest because of the Steel Monkey earlier. I came here to thank you. Thank you Tower Master, it¡¯s because of you that I was able toplete my quest safely!¡±

    ¡°I also got back after finishing my quest!¡±

    ¡°I was able to hunt the Swift-footed Lizard that I could not hunt until now!¡±

    ¡°The, The Tower of Knowledge is tried and tested! It¡¯s real!!!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    The reason why Jarrod was equipped with those facts was because of the tremendous knowledge and information that he had gathered during his time as a strategist. With that, rumors would start to spread among the yers and they would begin seeking him out to find ways toplete their unfinished quests, or kill those difficult boss monsters. Once the free-trial period ended, the people would have to pay a huge amount of money to receive advice from Jarrod, which would in turn reap tremendous benefits and profits for the Tower of Knowledge.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Annod, who watched everything, was aware that all of the pieces of advice that Jarrod had given, werepletely spot on.

    <em>¡®At this rate, even emperors will seek him out for advice, right?¡¯</em>

    Although Annod was still teaching his disciples, he was someone that had not yet migrated and swore his allegiance to any kingdom. He was actually still testing the waters. With this, he realized, <em>¡®I can¡¯t leave this ce. I must stay close with this man!¡¯ </em>Only then would he be able to break through his limits.

    Annod immediately abandoned his arrogant attitude as he knelt down before Jarrod, ¡°Please, please forgive my impertinence! I don¡¯t care even if it¡¯s a deputy tower master position, please, I beg you! Take me back!¡± He realized that he could grow stronger if he stayed with this man.

    ¡°You should pledge your loyalty to His Majesty Minhyuk and not me,¡± Jarrod said. He believed that it was not bad to take Annod in. This was because he would be able to bring in the ones that dreamt of bingmanders if the tower master of the Commander¡¯s tower was ced as the new tower¡¯s deputy tower master.

    Annod, together with his new disciples and the remaining members of the previous Commander¡¯s Tower, swore their allegiance, making the notifications ring in Minhyuk¡¯s ears once again.

    <em>[571 Officers of varyingmanding positions have decided to migrate to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[With themanding officers¡¯ migration, the troops of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom will be 5% stronger.]</em>

    <em>[Themanding officers¡¯ loyalty to you has dramatically increased.]</em>

    The smile on Minhyuk''s face widened even further. What about the others?

    ¡°I, I lost¡­¡± Grein, the former tower master of the Painter¡¯s Tower, said.

    Elise had decided topete by painting in front of thousands of people. As for the canvas they used? There was none. The two of them painted in the air. Elise painted the beautiful scenery of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. There was originally supposed to be a vote, but Grein fell into frustration the moment he heard the notifications.

    <em>[You have seen Elise¡¯s ¡®Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s Night¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[The ones that have witnessed the painting will gain a 15% VIT, 10% INT, 5% STR and 5% STM increase.]</em>

    Just looking at the painting would give a person a buff that would remain for the day. Elise¡¯s painting was both ridiculously beautiful and powerful. And just like the others, Grein also said, ¡°I want to learn more about painting from you. Please allow me to stay by your side!¡±

    <em>[571 Painters have decided to migrate to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[With the painters¡¯ migration, the artistic value of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom will improve by 10%.]</em>

    <em>[The painters will draw murals all over the capital every day. More people wille to visit Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and spur its tourism.]</em>

    Then, another notification rang from another ce.

    <em>[811 Sculptors have decided to migrate to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[With the sculptors¡¯ migration, the artistic value of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom will improve by 8%.]</em>

    <em>[The sculptors will create various sculptures every day and sell them all over the continent. You will be able to take in huge profits from the tax collected from the sales.]</em>

    Finally, Minhyuk looked at the terrified diplomats around him.

    <em>¡®The tower masters that came with us either went back to their towers or were defeated.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®How will I face His Majesty like this?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®We can¡¯t evenin since we made an agreement with the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King!¡¯</em>

    <em></em>¡°I already know what you were nning.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The fact that the diplomats and the former tower masters came here to steal their talents was something that Minhyuk was already aware of. That was why he instructed the Stars, <em>¡®Act like fools.¡¯</em>

    So, the Stars acted more foolish than usual and even deliberately appeared in front of them without changing their ragged clothes. The Five Stars were existences that had reached the summit not only in their own continent or the Asgan Continent, but the entire world. With their prowess, they were able to take back the talents that left, and even the treasured existences of each kingdom, turning them into assets for the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    The diplomats could only bow their heads in silence as their bodies shook fiercely from both anger and shame.

    ¡°Tell this to your kings. Every time you try to shake my Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, our kingdom will only be stronger. Every time you try to take away from my kingdom, we will only grow further. And if you keep on trying to stop us then we will keep on going ahead of you,¡± Minhyuk said, his eyes ring sharply at the diplomats.

    ¡°Ughhhhh¡­¡±

    ¡°Huh¡­¡±

    Then, Minhyuk with his dignified voice dered, ¡°We will destroy all of the enemies that try to go against us.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    His bold remarks shocked the diplomats. Those were words that a new king of a newly established kingdom should not say. However, even if they had two or ten mouths, they could not retort.

    Just as they were trying to leave, they could not help but stop in their tracks. This was because Marquis Arna did not move from where he was kowtowing. Seeing his state, the diplomats were shocked.

    ¡°He, he did it again¡­!¡±

    ¡°The Bed Wetter Arna strikes again!¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe it! He fainted¡­!¡±

    The diplomats, with Marquis Arna on their backs, rushed out of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom as if they were being chased down. Just like that, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom began to grow more exceptional as the days went by.

 Chapter 494: The New Tower Masters

    Chapter 494: The New Tower Masters

    Thepetition between the former tower masters and the new tower masters was spread through the various broadcasting stations, personal BJ broadcasts, and Know-it-all Dictionary, a BJ affiliated with Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. The people that watched the broadcast were all shocked.

    <em>[No matter how great the Five Stars are, they should not have been able to beat the former tower masters that easily, right? Is that really possible?]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s possible. The Five Stars are the greatest masters of DEX in the entire continent. Even though they are all legends, they¡¯re probably on different levels.]</em>

    <em>[Shit. I also want to go there and learn painting¡­!]</em>

    <em>[I¡¯m a yer who moved out of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom before and migrated back. The moment I migrated, I received a 15% buff increase in my DEX and DEX-rted skills. It seems like it¡¯s because of the appearance of the Five Stars.]</em>

    <em>[Did you just say that you received a 15% buff increase in DEX? OMG¡­]</em>

    Those that left the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom felt their hearts and bodies shake as they watched thepetition between the former tower masters and new tower masters. On top of that, they were informed that they would immediately receive a 15% buff increase in DEX the moment they moved to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?

    Furthermore, with the exception of Fisherman Eck, the tower masters that left before and their disciples all decided to swear their loyalty to Minhyuk.

    <em>[I¡¯ll go back to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom again.]</em>

    <em>[I think I may have to go to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡­? After all, moving to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would definitely allow us to improve on our production skills more quickly than our current state. There¡¯s no way I won¡¯t go.]</em>

    And the most important factor¡­

    <em>[Did you see how Gorfido fished? Shake, shake~]</em>

    <em>[Kyaa! If Gorfido views me in a good light, then I¡¯ll be able to eat dragon fishes, right?]</em>

    <em>[Gorfido¡¯s power is out of this world, right? Maybe we¡¯ll be able to get some hidden quest that will make us stronger if we can get close to him?]</em>

    ¡­the ones that left the tower once hailed as Barras Kingdom¡¯s representative tower, the fishermen, had started toe back to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was definitely a budding country. However, even after knowing that, the benefits and merits that they could gain from the kingdom far outweighed that. That was why they moved back again.

    In just a few days, arge number of production ss yers began to migrate to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Just like that, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom grew rapidly.

    ***

    Mercenary King Brod was an existence that had traveled through all of the continents. He was a legend among all of the mercenaries.

    The twinkling stars in the dark skies illuminated the bitter smile on Brod¡¯s face as he walked through the territory.

    <em>¡®They would definitely not let His Majesty go,¡¯</em> Brod thought, his fists clenching tightly to a fist. Minhyuk was very active as he moved forward with his ns. That was why Brod felt both terror and desire, a desire to protect him, rise in his heart.

    That meant that it was time for him to leave for a while.

    ¡°Oinky, you should remember to eat well. You too, Cluck-cluck.¡±

    ¡°<em>Hwiiiiik!</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Cluck, cluck!</em>¡±

    Brod greeted the livestock that he trained and raised before walking once again. Then, he stopped in front of arge mansion whose lights in the mansion¡¯s attic were still on. That was the ce where Best Selling Author Aruvel created his works. He then looked at the farm teeming with cats that was littered with various instruments and tools to maintain the ¡®scent of coffee¡¯ in them. There, he saw Ghost Spear Ben training, despite it beingte in the night.

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll leave His Majesty to you.¡¯</em>

    Although Ghost Spear Ben¡¯s ck hair was a source ofughter, he was the most fashionable out of everyone in the territory. He was also a warrior that would give his everything to protect His Majesty. This time, Brod passed by Conir¡¯s Ramyeon Handcart Shop and the central za where Pdin Corr gave his speech and teachings. After walking like that, he sat next to Elpis, who was humming on one of the benches with his earphones on.

    Elpis took off his earphones and asked, ¡°You¡¯re leaving?¡±

    Brod smiled as he nodded in answer.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll protect His Majesty while you¡¯re away,¡± Elpis said. His words that usually stuttered and stopped at awkward moments had already improved by a lot.

    Brod believed that Elpis would be able to protect His Majesty. He also felt that it was fortunate that Gorfido, the new tower master of the Fisherman¡¯s Tower, appeared just recently. Before he left, Brod handed three old parchments to Elpis.

    <em>[You have acquired three Demigod Training Parchments.]</em>

    Elpis looked at Brod in doubt as Brod rified, ¡°Give that to those that wish to be stronger in our territory. However, make sure that they are careful. Using that means that they¡¯re prepared to face death. After all, there¡¯s a high chance of dying the moment that parchment is used.¡±

    Truth be told, Elpis could feel the danger emitting from the items in his hands. However, there were still people in the territory that would willingly risk their lives just to get stronger. The biggest example was Ghost Spear Ben, who was training instead of sleeping at thiste hour. This was Brod¡¯s gift to them.

    ¡°Where did you get this?¡±

    ¡°I picked it up somewhere.¡±

    ¡°You stole again?¡±

    ¡°<em>Cough!</em>¡±

    This was Brod¡¯s bad habit! After all, he was someone that stealthily stole the Dragon Lord¡¯s egg, and even extorted and took away the summoner¡¯s summons during the war with Barras Kingdom! It seemed like Elpis knew Brod well. This was because the item was something that Brod had stolen from the world above them. Just when Brod stood up from the bench to leave Valencia capital¡­

    ¡°Have a safe trip, Brod.¡±

    Brod, with his lonely departing back, suddenly stopped in his tracks. When he turned around, he saw the sweaty Ghost Spear Ben, who he thought was training up until now. There was also Sword Saint Conir, who was rubbing his eyes to stay awake and stave off his fatigue.

    <em>Grrrrrrr¡ª</em>

    There was also Cerberus, who had a stronger love and hoped for his happiness, crying out for him. Right next to them was Aruvel, the author that vowed to create a wild and steamy story about the Mercenary King, and Corr that forced him to believe in Talmor by saying that hecked hair on his head.

    And in the middle of them all, stood one person. The one and only ¡®king¡¯ and ¡®friend¡¯ that he swore his loyalty to: Minhyuk.

    Brod immediately knelt down, ¡°Your Majesty! This vassal of yours, Brod, will definitelye back one day, to be by your side!!!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s more than enough for me,¡± Minhyuk said, smiling softly. He knew that it was a promise, Brod¡¯s promise, that he woulde back alive to them. In the first ce, Brod was a man that had dreams. He was meant for greater things. When Queen Iris asked Minhyuk to take care of Brod, he already guessed that Brod would leave one day. It was not the time for them to hold him back. It was the time for them to set him free and let him soar. After kneeling for a long time, Brod finally stood up and turned around.

    But what Minhyuk did not know was that Brod was leaving not for him, but for others.

    <em>¡®I will protect you, Your Majesty.¡¯</em>

    As he left the capital, his memories with Minhyuk surfaced in Brod¡¯s mind.

    <em>¡®Brod, can¡¯t I just have one of the Oinkys?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®You can¡¯t! They¡¯re my precious Oinkys¡­!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Then, let¡¯s just eat chicken with the Cluck-clucks! How about half-fried and half-seasoned?!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®How, how can you say something so barbaric¡­?!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Brod, you¡¯re so mean!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Brod, I feel so safe and secure with you here!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Our Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s Sword, Brod!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Brod?!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Brod!!!¡¯</em>

    During Brod¡¯s short stay here, he was able to gain precious memories and Minhyuk¡¯s trust and faith in him. And that was how Brod left to protect Minhyuk.

    ***

    The kings of Asgan Continent had once again gathered together. However, they were all grimacing after hearing the reports of their diplomats.

    ¡°The number of people migrating to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is increasing.¡±

    ¡°Our people started this and stood at the center of the disturbance so there¡¯s no way we could stop those foreigners from migrating.¡±

    ¡°The fishermen from all over the continent had started to migrate to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom the moment Legendary Fisherman Eck lost his fishing abilities to the Shackles of Control.¡±

    ¡°If things continued at this rate, Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would continue to grow rapidly.¡±

    Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was a nation founded by foreigners. The kings present had shown the world that they did not recognize the Beyond the Heavens kingdom, by refusing to engage in diplomatic discussions. They even sent the former tower masters and their own diplomats to take them down this time. However, the n that they thought was perfect copsed easily in front of that king.

    There were even the words that the diplomats ryed, <em>¡®We will destroy all of the enemies that try to go against us.¡¯</em>

    Hearing this, the kings had no choice but to clench their fists in anger.

    ¡°I can¡¯t stand this! We should face Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!¡±

    ¡°You want to have a confrontation with Beyond the Heavens Kingdom? Did you not see the Sword God, Saintess Loyna and Eivelis Empire and Collodis Empire¡¯s emperors that attended their founding ceremony?!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not implying that we will go to war. We don¡¯t have a justification for that. However, we can¡¯t just ignore those insults and take them lying down.¡±

    They were actually in denial. They were people that did not care whether the empires rebuked them or not. All they cared about was how they could flock like starving hyenas to bite the injured, just like how they nned to do to Barras Kingdom.

    Then, one of the kings said, ¡°Lumae Kingdom¡¯s Prince Votto, why aren¡¯t you speaking up?¡±

    Everyone¡¯s gaze focused on one ce at the king¡¯s words. Lumae Kingdom was the kingdom with the smallest poption and territory among them. However, none of the kingdoms could ignore the Lumae Kingdom. This was because they were the ¡®Warrior¡¯s Land¡¯.

    They might have the smallest poption and territory, but all of their citizens were far stronger than any of the soldiers that their kingdoms housed. Their kingdom was even teeming with talents! Baroque Kingdom might have a poption and territory that was five times higher than that of Lumae Kingdom, but this small kingdom would not lose any ground against them.

    However, Votto, the first prince of the kingdom, just shook his head, ¡°Sorry.¡±

    ¡°What a pity.¡±

    ¡°Where did the Lumae Kingdom, the kingdom that all the other kingdoms and empires in the past feared, go?¡±

    ¡°As expected, they truly need King Raldo.¡±

    The Warrior¡¯s Nation¡¯s King Raldo wasparable to Sword Emperor Ellie in strength during the time when he was leading the warriors.

    But what was happening with him now?

    He was stuck in his bed in a deep sleep. Knowing this, the kings tried to take advantage of the prince¡¯s clouded judgment to take advantage of their kingdom, but it all amounted to nothing.

    Prince Votto, who was riding in his carriage on his way back to his kingdom, thought, <em>¡®God damn! If only my father is hale and hearty¡­!¡¯</em>

    Votto¡¯s father was struck with a strange disease that made him fall into deep sleep. Because of this, his father could not continue to train which made him weaker and weaker. And he could tell that the kings intended to shake the Lumae Kingdom¡¯s foundation at this very moment.

    <em>¡®If I can do it, then I want to present Beyond the Heavens Kingdom to my father for him to recognize me.¡¯ </em>Compared to his father, Votto¡¯s reputation was at rock bottom. No, it was just that his father¡¯s reputation was just too high. But then, at that moment¡­

    ¡°Bastard!¡±

    ¡°What, what the hell?!¡±

    ¡°Keheoook! I can¡¯t move!¡±

    Screams began to ring from outside the carriage. Votto immediately pulled out his sword and went out. However, the scene that greeted him brought him into a shock. The more than a thousand knights that apanied him were all in a stunned state.

    <em>¡®This, this is crazy! This AOE magic attack is ridiculous¡­!¡¯</em>

    However, his shock grew further after seeing the presence in front of him. It was because it was none other than a dragon. On top of this dragon was a man covered in a ck robe, wearing a skull mask and holding a scythe in his hands. The man slowly descended from atop the dragon¡¯s head and said, ¡°I have seen Lumae Kingdom¡¯s Prince Votto.¡±

    Votto gulped dryly as he watched the man slowly lower his head in front of him. Someone that had a dragon under him was bowing down his head to him?

    ¡°I must apologize, I used the dragon¡¯s power so we can avoid having a huge conflict between us. It would be convenient if you would listen to my exnation in detail,¡± The man said as he nced at Votto through the skull mask, ¡°Don¡¯t you want to grab Beyond the Heavens Kingdom with your own hands?¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Did he want to grab Beyond the Heavens Kingdom with his own power? Of course. What would happen if he absorbed this newly established and weak country with a rapid growth rate? Then, Prince Votto¡¯s reputation and position would grow. And that was not all.

    ¡°Do you want to take the kingdoms of this continent under yourmand?¡±

    ¡°What¡­?¡±

    It had to be a dream. Votto believed it to be a vain and impulsive dream. But suddenly, a white and brilliant staff appeared in front of the man. Prince Votto looked at the white staff and the eyes of the man beneath his skull mask alternately in suspicion. It seemed like he was confirming something with the man¡¯s gaze.

    ¡°Ho, how¡­?!¡±

    After confirming, Prince Votto fell on his back in disbelief. The man¡¯s staff was none other than a ¡®God Artifact¡¯. That was right. There was another person that had achieved something that had almost reached God other than Minhyuk.

    This man was none other than Crazy Tyrant Akhan.

    Akhan carefully led Votto to a woody and secluded forest. Inside this forest stood countless people. No. They were not exactly people.

    <em>¡®D, Dragon¡­?¡¯</em>

    There were countless dragons inside the forest. Then, Crazy Tyrant Akhan asked, ¡°Will you join us?¡±

    Prince Votto did not hesitate to answer that question, ¡°I will join you.¡±

 Chapter 495: Demon Kimaris

    Chapter 495: Demon Kimaris

    Aftering out of his Athenae ess Capsule, Minhyuk exercised and ate his sd as usual. After emptying six tes of sd in one go, he stood up in front of the mirror and thought, <em>¡®There¡¯s definitely a lot of improvement.¡¯</em>

    He was now standing at 185 centimeters in height and 88 kilograms in weight. He had gained some weight after the Athenae: World War, but he was losing weight faster than when he used the drug that they developed for him. In fact, he was already banned from taking any more doses of the drug.

    <em>¡®The side effects are pretty severe.¡¯</em>

    The drug¡¯s side effects included extreme fatigue, arthritis, and dehydration. Lee Jinhwan, his doctor-in-charge, had also advised that there would be adverse effects if he continued to take any more doses of the drug.

    <em>¡®But I¡¯m definitely better than in the past.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk looked at his figure in the mirror as he threw jabs and punches in the air. Compared to when he started Athenae, where he could not even move his body as he wanted, he felt as light as a feather. This meant that there were many changes in his body.

    Then, Oh Changwook approached him and said, ¡°You still remember about your physical and medical examination tomorrow, right?¡±

    ¡°Yep, I know.¡±

    Minhyuk had taken his physical and medical examination in his home so far. After all, his house was equipped with equipment and instruments that wereparable to the ones in the hospitals. However, the tests that they did at home would eventually reach the limit.

    So, they all decided for him to undergo his physical and medical examination at a hospital in America. The main reason why they chose to do it in America was so they could study eating addiction and discuss even further with renowned doctors to find a cure for the disease in the future.

    Another reason was to participate in writing theses and papers about the treatment process and give hope to other patients. They could also check whether his high blood pressure, diabetes and arrhythmia had improved with this examination. However¡­

    <em>¡®I won¡¯t be able to ess Athenae for two days.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was already the king of a nation so not being able to ess the game for two straight days was a huge deal.

    <em>¡®We need to fill up the spot that Brod has left empty.¡¯</em>

    Before he went for his physical and medical examination, there was still something that Minhyuk had to do.

    <em>¡®I have to make Demon Kimaris my subordinate,¡¯ </em>Minhyuk thought as he immediately essed the game.

    ***

    Great Demon Verus and the 72 Devils were modeled after the Lesser Key of Solomon. Among these demons, Kimaris ranked 66th. He also had the title of a marquis. His ranking was on the lower side and he could even be said to be extremely weak among the demons in terms of force and power.

    Minhyuk was able to summon Kimaris thanks to the Demon Summoning Ring in his hands. In fact, he could only summon Kimaris for the rest of the summons since the Demon Summoning Ring explicitly stated that the demon that he first summoned would be fixed. It was also because of that that Minhyuk was able to check Kimaris¡¯ status window.

    <em>(<strong>Kimaris</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: Demon</em>

    <em><strong>Type</strong>: Artifact Summon</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: 699</em>

    <em><strong>Attack</strong>: 6,959</em>

    <em><strong>Defense</strong>:4,683</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Dreams of Truth</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Demonic Axe Technique</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Demonic Footwork</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Unparalleled Bravery</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: The One that Gained Enlightenment</em>

    <em><strong>Potential</strong>: 151</em>

    <em><strong>Experience Value</strong>: 55% / 100%</em>

    ording to the Lesser Key of Solomon, Kimaris was a demon known for making man courageous[1]. Kimaris was also known for being able to locate hidden and lost treasures. There were three skills in his repertoire to prove this.

    <em>(<strong>Unparalleled Bravery</strong>)</em>

    <em>Passive Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Effects:</strong></em>

    <em>?Those that fight alongside Kimaris will receive a 15% increase in all of their stats.</em>

    <em>?Those that rush fiercely and courageously in the battlefield and have forgotten the fatigue of their bodies and their fears, as if they were never there to begin with, will gain better effects.</em>

    <em>¡®This is crazy.¡¯</em>

    It was out of this world. It was just one of Kimaris¡¯ skills but it was amazing. As long as they got Kimaris on their side, they would be 15% stronger. Also¡­

    <em>¡®Those that forget their fears will be stronger.¡¯</em>

    The biggest shackle in a battle was ¡®fear¡¯. This was something that was deeply ingrained in a man¡¯s instinct when facing something that towered above them. Of course, oveing and forgetting those fears was not an absolute solution.

    But it would be a tremendous help to Minhyuk¡¯s troops and guild members if they could forget that fear as they fought, no matter how slight.

    Then, he looked at the next skill.

    <em>(<strong>The One that Gained Enlightenment</strong>)</em>

    <em>Passive Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?It would help those that wanted to protect something, those that longed to gain victory, those that realized how weak they were and many more to awaken new powers at their most desperate point. </em>

    <em>?For someone to awaken a new power, they must have enough power to grow further.</em>

    <em>¡®Isn¡¯t this skill crazier than the one before?!¡¯ </em>Minhyuk thought as he clicked his tongue. It was an overpowered skill that granted Kimaris the ability to unlock someone¡¯s hidden power upon their awakening.

    <em>¡®So it¡¯s true that none of them could ignore him, even if he¡¯s a demon of low rank.¡¯</em>

    Sometimes, lower ranked demons had greater value than higher ranked demons. But only after seeing Kimaris¡¯ abilities was Minhyuk able to cement this fact as the truth.

    <em>¡®Kimaris is a demon that will shine brightly if he is with humans.¡¯</em>

    And finally¡­

    <em>(<strong>Dreams of Truth</strong>)</em>

    <em>Active Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Mana Required</strong>: 1,000</em>

    <em><strong>Cooldown</strong>: 48 hours</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?There are times when people forget where they put their things. Kimaris can stimte that memory by putting them to sleep.</em>

    <em>?There are times when people that have made legendary achievements, in fact even gods, have forgotten where they have hid their treasures and powers. If that happened, Kimaris can give them a glimpse of the ce where they hid it, however it would be in their dreams.</em>

    <em>¡®This one¡¯s crazy too¡­¡¯</em>

    A significant number of those that had made legendary achievements or NPCs with incredible power might not remember the ce where they hid their treasures, skill books, or other items.

    The reason?

    It was simple. It was because they were devices for quests. And this power would allow them to get a glimpse of it in advance.

    <em>¡®There are only three summons left in the Demon Summoning Ring.¡¯</em>

    Once the number of summons had been used up, the Demon Summoning Ring would disintegrate. Minhyuk went to an open space somewhere in the vicinity of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Beside him were Gorfido, Ghost Spear Ben, Best Selling Author Aruvel, Elpis and Beanie. The reason why they went to an open space was because they wanted to avoid incurring huge damages in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom should Kimaris decide to run rampant and plunge the world in despair. They must sessfully win Kimaris over in this ce. To do that, they needed toe up with a n.

    ¡°What¡¯s a good method?¡±

    The first one to answer was Gorfido, ¡°I think torture is good. Tie both his arms and legs with a rope and¡­¡±

    ¡°Gorfido. Good thoughts, happy thoughts. Didn¡¯t I tell you to only say nice things?¡±

    ¡°I think we should just continuously make him feel hurt,¡± Gorfido said, which made Minhyuk shake his head. They must win Kimaris¡¯ heart for him to be their true, trusted subordinate and ally.

    This time, Beanie raised his paws. Beanie, who had climbed on Elpis'' shoulder, crossed his arms and looked at them arrogantly.

    ¡°Oink, oink, oink!¡± <em>I have a good idea, oink!</em>

    All of them turned to look at him. Then, Beanie said, ¡°Oink, oink oink, oink!¡± <em>Give him chicken then ask him to be our ally, oink!</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Almost all of them shook their heads at the arrogant baby piggy. They were all dumbfounded at his suggestion. However, there was one person that agreed, ¡°Right. That¡¯s definitely the best method. No one refuses chicken.¡±

    All of them looked at Minhyuk with gaping mouths.

    ¡°Then, our first method is seduction through cooking.¡±

    In fact, Minhyuk knew that it might be futile to seduce Kimaris to their side with just chicken. However, he had brought many people to his side with his cooking so far. After all, food was both a necessity and a source of joy for the lives of humans.

    And the second method¡­

    ¡°How about making him recognize you through strength and force, Your Majesty?¡± Ghost Spear Ben said as he handed Minhyuk a ss of freshly made iced americano.

    Minhyuk nodded as he drank the iced americano in one shot. That was also true. However, it was also a method that could create hostility. After all, it was impossible for someone that served Great Demon Verus to willingly serve Minhyuk.

    Then, Aruvel said, ¡°How about cing him in a small room with my novel. Then, we¡¯ll cut it when he¡¯s in the final volume and¡­¡±

    Aruvel¡¯s eyes twinkled. It was a very novel idea. However, the funny thing was¡­

    <em>¡®There are a lot of people who imed to be Aruvel¡¯s fans that actually moved to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, right?¡¯</em>

    Aruvel¡¯s novels were far more powerful and influential than they thought. As Minhyuk thought about that, he suddenly realized, <em>¡®We don¡¯t even know what kind of being Kimaris is, right? So what¡¯s the point of talking like this?¡¯</em>

    Nothing would change. It was necessary for them to summon Kimaris for now and see exactly what kind of being he was. With that, Minhyuk dered that he would summon Kimaris. Everyone immediately took caution. The moment he showed hostility, everyone would attack him head on. The biggest problem here would be his hostility, which would only increase the more attacks they used on him.

    ¡°Summon demon.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>[Demon Kimaris has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[You have summoned Kimaris through the Demon Summoning Ring. Kimaris is a wild and untameable demon. Keep in mind that he can attack you and yourrades.]</em>

    Tremendous amount of demonic energy appeared and swirled in the skies, shaking the trees and grass in the forest. As the demonic energy gathered in one ce, the figure of a ck soldier with a huge ax hanging on his shoulders appeared in front of them. His eyes that werepletely ck looked around. Everyone looked at him cautiously. After meeting only once, Kimaris hadbeled Minhyuk as a mere human and of course, there was great hostility towards such a measly being.

    However, their worries were unfounded. Kimaris only took a deep breath after taking a look around them, ¡°<em>Fwaaaaaaaaa.</em>¡± As he exhaled, there was a strange sense of feeling refreshed disyed on his face. Then, he trudged forward to sit on top of a small boulder and asked, ¡°Your business?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk and his vassals were all flustered. They had expected him to show anger and hostility and attack them the moment he appeared. That was the case with thest summon. However, Kimaris was a very clever demon. The fact that Minhyuk could summon him meant that he had sealed ¡®Great Demon Verus¡¯. This meant that he could not win against them here. So, he believed that there was no need to fight such a useless battle.

    Minhyuk spoke in a dignified voice, ¡°Kimaris. Swear your eternal allegiance¡­¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t want to.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk nodded at his straight up refusal. In fact, he knew that it was pure luck that winning Gorfido and Ghost Spear Ben¡¯s hearts and then swearing their allegiance to him was just pure luck. After all, it was very difficult to obtain retainers that way.

    This time, Aruvel approached Kimaris. He was a member of the demon race. So, there was a chance that he could decrease Kimaris¡¯ hostility. Then, he presented his novel, ¡°It¡¯s a steamy novel about a demon¡¯s love. Would you like to read it?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how to read.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The first n failed.

    ¡°How about something to eat¡­¡± Minhyuk asked.

    ¡°Food? I usually eat centipede brain or elven bones, do you have those?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The second n failed. After all, they could not make elven fried chicken, right?

    ¡°Then, how about I make you submit?¡±

    ¡°Too troublesome.¡±

    The third n failed.

    ¡°You bastard, I¡¯ll skin you until you swear that you will obey,¡± Gorfido threatened.

    ¡°Sure. Try it.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    It seemed like Gorfido would not be able to force him to obey. So, the fourth n also failed. If he was violent, then they could subdue him since Kimaris was the one that would attack first. But if they were the ones that attacked first to induce obedience then it would be impossible for Kimaris to give his true heart to Minhyuk and live with them. He can¡¯t cook for him and they can¡¯t even make him read Aruvel¡¯s steamy novels because he¡¯s illiterate.

    Unbeknownst to them, Kimaris was actually enjoying the scenery.

    <em>Tweet, tweet¡ª</em>

    ¡°That¡¯s nice.¡±

    The sight of Kimaris enjoying the view of birds flying in the skies waspletely contrary to the image of a ferocious and vicious demon. And when the summon time ended¡­

    ¡°I know that you have two more summons left in the Summoning Ring. Extend my summoning. I want to enjoy this scenery longer.¡±

    Kimaris¡¯ tone when he asked to extend the summons sounded strangely like, <em>¡®Boss, can I get an additional thirty minutes in the karaoke booth?¡¯</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Everyone was left speechless.

    1. This probably refers to the phrase ¡°making a man into a warrior of his own likeness¡± that used to describe Kimaris ?

 Chapter 496: Demon Kimaris

    Chapter 496: Demon Kimaris

    Kimaris was once a human. However, it was such a long time ago that it had already turned into an old story that he could not remember. It was a part of him that resembled Elpis. But unlike Elpis, who was forced to be a vessel for demonic energy, Kimaris willingly became a demon.

    He used to be a soldier fighting desperately in the battlefield. And on the battlefield, Kimaris was the only ck soldier in the entire continent, a continent that he could no longer remember the name of. His efforts in the battlefield were never recognized. Despite being a soldier, his disposition and aura werepletely different from the rest. He was also faster and stronger than anyone in the battlefield. There was even a time when he sessfully cut off the neck of the enemy¡¯smander, but his deeds were never recognized because of his status. Just because he was ck.

    Kimaris had lived a life of discrimination. He had always been ignored and trampled on, which made his anger against these people and hatred toward such an unfair world boil over. When he reached that point, Great Demon Verus appeared in front of him with his hands held out.

    That was how he became a ¡®demon¡¯.

    The demon Kimaris that everyone feared was now¡­

    <em>¡®This is nice.¡¯</em>

    ¡­enjoying his leisurely outing on earth. His hatred for the world? It had been a long time so he had mostly forgotten about it. For him, it was just so fun and enjoyable to watch the flowers, trees and grass, things that were not present in the Demon World, sway in the wind.

    <em>[The Demon Summoning Ring¡¯s summoning time has been extended.]</em>

    In the end, Kimaris was able to sessfully extend his time here by another half an hour. The reason why Minhyuk extended his summons was because, <em>¡®Even if we rack our brains right now, there¡¯s no chance that we will be able to win his heart.¡¯ </em>He knew that nothing would change even if they summoned him at another time. Everything had to be settled today.

    Hence, Minhyuk cooked a meal for Kimaris. The dish that he decided to make was none other than grilled pork belly, a dish that had an amazing scent when being prepared. He sat in front of Kimaris as he grilled the pork belly.

    <em>Sizzle¡ª</em>

    He lined up a row of pork belly on top of the hot stone grill, before adding a row of well-ripened kimchi right next to it.

    <em>Sizzle¡ª</em>

    The enticing sound of the pork and kimchi being grilled erupted as Minhyuk grabbed his scissors to cut the meat. Then, he mped a piece of pork belly, dipped it in ssamjang and ced it in his mouth.

    ¡°Kghhhk~ This is very delicious. I think it¡¯s much better than that centipede brain you¡¯re talking about~ right~?¡±

    He also chomped on a mouthful of steaming white rice, before following up with a spoonful of soybean paste stewplete with zhini and tofu. He slowly savored the dishes that he put in his mouth.

    s, Kimaris was not interested in what he was doing at all. Minhyuk recalled the people that had been seduced by his mukbang as he watched the uninterested Kimaris sadly.

    Of course, they did not stop there. They tried a variety of methods.

    <em>Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap¡ª</em>

    Beanie quickly approached Kimaris. He sat down in front of the demon and looked up at him with his big and shining eyes.

    ¡°Oiiiiiiiiink¡­¡±

    Beanie was acting cute and pretending to be pitiful! However, instead of feeling pity, Kimaris just slowly took his axe from his shoulder.

    ¡°¡­hwiiiiik!¡± Beanie squealed loudly as he ran away at the speed of light.

    The clock still continued to tick away but they still could not do anything. Even Minhyuk, who usually did not give up, could not find an answer.

    <em>¡®Is it even possible to win a demon¡¯s heart in the first ce? Also, he doesn¡¯t spend much time with either me or my vassals.¡¯</em>

    He only had his third summon left. And it was just for thirty more minutes. It was impossible to change someone¡¯s mind in that short amount of time. Just when Minhyuk and his vassals were about to give up, the most unexpected person made a move. It was Elpis.

    Elpis sat next to Kimaris as he handed him his earphones and said, ¡°Do you want to listen to it?¡±

    ¡°¡­What is this?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a tool for listening to music.¡±

    Kimaris was unfamiliar with the term so he just nodded as if he found it alright. Then, a beautiful melody flowed through his ears. The melody was not the usual ¡®Swallowtail Butterfly¡¯ that Elpis liked to listen to, but a beautiful and calm ssical music. Elpis handed the other earphone so Kimaris could listen to the music fully. Kimaris looked around as he listened to the music. With the calm ssical music, the surrounding scenery became more beautiful. It was quite a novel tool. He just put it in his ears yet it made everything around him more beautiful.

    Then, Kimaris turned to Elpis with curiosity, ¡°I want to hear your story. Diablo.¡±

    Kimaris was a demon serving under Verus. However, he did not feel as if they were betrayed by Diablo. After all, Diablo was a human and not a demon. Besides, he was forcefully dragged into the Demon World. Minhyuk looked at Elpis worriedly. After all, an unexpected situation might suddenly appear around them.

    However, Elpis just nodded at him slightly, <em>¡®Don¡¯t worry.¡¯</em>

    There was nothing for Minhyuk to worry about between Elpis and Kimaris. Because Elpis was not weak enough that he would be beaten by Kimaris. The two of them headed toward the forest.

    Kimaris asked, ¡°Why are you serving a measly human?¡±

    Elpis looked over the forest to where his friends were after hearing the question. Kimaris mostly understood Elpis. He understood why Elpis wanted to cut down the demons after they made him into a vessel for their demonic magic and turned him into a lesser demon. He also understood why Elpis was very furious at Great Demon Verus.

    But, there was one thing that he could not understand. He did not know why Elpis swore his eternal loyalty to a human. Elpis answered, ¡°Because he taught me how to be happy. And right now, I¡¯m happier than I¡¯ve ever been.¡±

    Kimaris¡¯ face was filled with doubt. So, Elpis smiled and continued, ¡°Look over there. Everyone is different.¡±

    His words reminded Kimaris of the fact that everyone over there was truly different from each other. There was an old man that looked like he was going to have a hard time holding a spear and there was also a pig. There was even a member of the demon race that loved steamy novels and a crazy pirate. And right in front of him was Diablo, the Lesser Demon.

    <em>Throb¡ª</em>

    Kimaris felt his head ache as memories of the past shed in his head.

    Because of his different skin and race, no one treated him kindly. In fact, none of them treated him like a human. That was why he ran away. The scene in front of him waspletely unfamiliar.

    ¡°Everyone is different from each other. However, everyone isughing and enjoying their time together. This is what the king that I serve made happen.¡±

    Kimaris nced at Elpis after hearing his words, <em>¡®Kings that walked down this path usually walked the path of downfall.¡¯ </em>It was only natural. A king that was not cold-hearted, or one who was obsessed with emotions could ruin everything.

    ¡°Sometimes yful, sometimes greater than everybody, sometimes like a child, and sometimes stronger than a demon.¡±

    Kimaris turned to look at Minhyuk as he listened to Elpis.

    ¡°That¡¯s the king that I serve.¡±

    Kimaris did not feel much or realize anything after hearing his words. However, it made him think that it was ¡®interesting¡¯. Then, he thought, <em>¡®If I served such a man when I was still human then perhaps¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>Would my life back then change? Would I even be a devil? </em>

    Kimaris had lived for hundreds of thousands of years now and living this long was quite burdensome.

    <em>¡®A final amusement¡­¡¯</em>

    He could still have a bit of fun while he was still living. So, Kimaris took a step forward again.

    ***

    Minhyuk and the rest of his vassals came to a final decision while Elpis and Kimaris were talking. They would put the final summon on hold. No matter what they thought, there seemed to be no way for them to get Kimaris¡¯ heart. However, they did not necessarily have to remove the opportunity to summon him like that.

    Then, Elpis and Kimaris approached them. Even though he was just walking, Kimaris, who looked like a huge ck soldier, was emitting tremendous pressure. Kimaris looked around the vassals before turning to Minhyuk and saying, ¡°I will not serve a human.¡±

    Minhyuk smiled bitterly at his words. It was something that he already expected. But then, Kimaris continued to say, ¡°But I want to enjoy the entertainment that your kingdom has for a bit longer.¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Minhyuk already realized that Kimaris¡¯ words were a precursor to a new quest. Then, the notifications rang.

    <em>[<strong>Hidden Quest</strong>: Kimaris¡¯ Loyalty]</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: SSS</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: The One bearing the Demon Summoning Ring</em>

    <em><strong>Rewards</strong>: Kimaris¡¯ loyalty.</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty for Failure</strong>: Kimaris will go berserk.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: The Demon Summoning Ring explicitly stated that you can have the demon as your subordinate as long as you subjugate or win their heart. However, Kimaris had chosen to take a new approach. He will now stay in your kingdom for a month. If you can win his heart within the month, you will be able to take him in as your vassal forever. </em>

    Minhyuk brightened up after hearing the notifications. The time that they were given during each summon was too short for them to do anything.

    But what if they were given a month?

    <em>¡®Are you telling me that I can really make a demon like that my vassal?¡¯</em>

    The thought was enough to make Minhyuk¡¯s heart pound. However, it was still dangerous to leave Kimaris alone since there was a chance that he would change his mind at any given moment. So, Elpis decided to stay with Kimaris at all times.

    Minhyuk immediately logged out, boarded their private jet and promptly fell asleep as they set off for America,pletely unaware of the impending disaster that wasing their way.

    ***

    There was a story about fifty troops from Lumae Kingdom, the Warrior¡¯s nation, assassinating and killing tens of thousands of enemy troops that circted in the continent. This story was considered as a myth by most, but it was actually true. King Raldo and his kingdom knights truly assassinated their enemies with their measly numbers.

    Warrior King Raldo was also known as Overlord Raldo. He was a living and breathing legend; even Sword Emperor Ellie could not deal with him easily. He was also one of the Absolute Supreme NPCs, just right below Ellie in terms of position.

    King Raldo was the owner of a passive skill that could break the limits of another, which was why the Lumae Kingdom was filled with countless warriors. Even the number of the legends in their kingdom wasparable to Eivelis Empire.

    Right now, the three hundred elite knights that Raldo had personally raised were now lurking outside Valencia. Their mission was simple. All they needed to do was remove the core forces of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom in Valencia before Prince Votto made his move. Most of them were guardians and since the guardians¡¯ lives were not infinite, they had to make sure that they could take away those guardian¡¯s lives andpletely remove the core of their power.

    There were five leaders that were leading these troops: legendary NPCs hailed as the Undefeated Knights. They were knights that could cut down more than a thousand enemies by themselves. Among them was Arca, the person closest to the Sword Saint in power and was this mission¡¯s generalmander.

    <em>¡®Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is full of exaggerated rumors,¡¯ </em>Arca snickered.

    There were many legendary existences in Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. However, the stories that surrounded them were too exaggerated. From what they heard, there was an old man that pierced the body of a ck dragon in one go, a young boy that taught the Knight¡¯s Tower¡¯s tower master swordsmanship, and the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s shield that even the great demon Verus coveted.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m pretty sure Beyond the Heavens Kingdom created these rumors so they could protect themselves,¡¯ </em>Arca thought as he divided his troops into five and sent them away. The Undefeated Knights would lead the knights and do five separate raids.

    Just when Arca was about to move with the fifty knights in his troops, they heard the sound of a de cutting through air. Arca immediately raised his hand to signal his troops to stop. That was when he saw an old man trying to catch his breath after practicing his spearmanship at thiste hour of the night.

    <em>¡®How can an old man like that¡­¡¯</em>

    Why was the old man so lively and energetic? In fact, the bulging muscles that were highlighted by the drops of sweat flowing on them were very attractive. Even the old man¡¯s gaze was very sharp.

    This old man was none other than Ghost Spear Ben. He had been practicing untilte into the night after realizing the limits of his power, <em>¡®The enemies that we¡¯re going to face in the future will only get stronger. However, it¡¯s very hard for me to break through my limits if I stay still. I want to get stronger, at the very least as strong as Elpis and Brod.¡¯</em>

    Ben wanted to protect Minhyuk and the kingdom that the boy built. He was aware that his strength was stillcking, that was why he was training and practicing his techniques, even at his age.

    Arca, after looking at Ghost Spear Ben, realized that the old man in front of him was the Ghost Spear of the rumors. The very same old man that was said to have pierced through the body of a ck dragon. Arca wanted to duel with the old man. But he held himself back. He knew that the element of surprise was very important in their mission. After all, a kingdom war was already on the brink of breaking out.

    <em>¡®That old man¡¯s power is just something that those rumors blew out of proportion anyway,¡¯</em> Arca thought as he tried to look back at his men to give them his secret orders.

    But just when he was about to look back¡­

    ¡°I have never allowed you to step foot in His Majesty¡¯snds.¡±

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    ¡­a member of the knight order copsed on the ground.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    And¡­

    <em>Stab, stab stab, stab¡ª</em>

    Five knights fell down one after the other. And along with that, a chilly voice rang behind Arca, the person known to be the closest to the Sword Saint.

    ¡°Die.¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The spear moved in a ghostly manner as it attacked Arca dozens of times. All Arca could do was swing his sword to block the attack.

    <em>Spurt¡ª</em>

    Blood spurted out of Arca¡¯s mouth as his body was sent flying back from the impact of one of the attacks.

    ¡°Urk!¡±

    The old man, who looked to have wielded his spear for over forty years now, did not lose his ground and was even ferocious as he fought against a knight of Arca¡¯s caliber. That was when Arca realized, <em>¡®Legend¡­? No, he¡¯s more than a legend. What in the world is that old man?¡¯</em>

    A legend above legends. That was Ghost Spear Ben, Minhyuk¡¯s first vassal and personal barista.

 Chapter 497: The Raiders

    Chapter 497: The Raiders

    Ghost Spear Ben was once the eighth-ranked Pinnacle Strong Man. He was also famous for hunting the legendary snake, Ouroboros. All of the spearmen of the continent shaped their dreams after listening to stories of him. In fact, some were still training in their spearmanship after dering that they would surpass his achievements.

    Initially, Ghost Spear Ben was just a man that held amon legendary title. Perhaps, his name was just one among the many legends whenpared to the God sses. But right now, Ghost Spear Ben had be a legend among legends. He was able to rapidly grow after spending a long time with Minhyuk. It was even safe to say that Ghost Spear Ben was now one of the Supreme NPCs.

    Arca unknowingly staggered back after feeling the fierce momentum emanating from Ben.

    Knights of the Land of Warriors, Lumae Kingdom, were distinctly different from ordinary knights. Years ago, a ¡®Knight¡¯s Great War¡¯ erupted in the continent. It was a festival that happened across the entire Asgan Continent wherein all of the empires and kingdoms would send their selected knights to fight a duel in order to select the nation with the strongest knights. All of the kingdoms believed that the knights of Eivelis Empire, the empire that housed Sword Emperor Ellie, would overwhelm the other participating knights.

    However, contrary to their expectations, the knights of Lumae Kingdom were the ones that overwhelmed the knights of Eivelis Empire. Since then, the other kingdoms were banned from making a move on the knights of Lumae. That was right. They were the knights of Lumae Kingdom, and each and every single one of them dreamt of that new realm, a realm above the realm that they had already achieved. That was the case for the elite knights that apanied Arca. Quite a few of them could even deal with three to five imperial knights by themselves.

    <em>¡®He killed six of them¡­?¡¯</em>

    Plenty of effort had been put into raising them! Each and every single one of those knights represented the majesty of Lumae Kingdom.

    ¡®<em>But they actually lost to an old man?! </em><em>Even I¡¯m</em><em> struggling?!</em>¡¯

    Arca was the man said to be closest to the Sword Saint. He wiped the blood dripping from his mouth andughed grimly and said, ¡°So it wasn¡¯t all lies.¡±

    He still did not believe that all of the rumors were true. However, all he knew was that Ghost Spear Ben would disappear into the annals of history today. This was because he was confident that he and the more than forty knights remaining would be able to deal with a single old man.

    A powerful force shot out of Arca¡¯s sword and straight toward Ghost Spear Ben. Seeing himunch an attack, the other knights also jumped toward Ben. But Ghost Spear Ben just stood still despite the knights¡¯ swords and spears aiming for his neck, waist, forehead, and chest. Then, as if the y button had been pressed to resume a paused scene, Ben first released his left hand that was resting behind him and gently redirected the huge swordlight that Arca sent out to the sides.

    <em>Baaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Then, Ben stabbed one of the knights in the neck with his spear, before turning once and mming his spear to the ground to give him momentum to reach the skies.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Using his ghost-like footwork, he moved in the air and stabbed another knight in the chest all the while dragging another one from the side toward the stabbed knight. Then, Ben threw something in the air.

    <em>Swoooosh¡ª</em>

    <em>¡®Gold?¡¯</em>

    The things that Ghost Spear Ben threw were a few pieces of gold. He used the gold as a springboard to fly even higher in the skies. And the gold that he stepped on¡­

    <em>Thwack¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuhaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Ack!¡±

    ¡°Keok!¡±

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    ¡­urately struck the eyes of four knights, who he stabbed with his spear right after. His appearance was almost like the descent of the Spear God!

    ¡°Do you think I¡¯ll leave you as you are?!¡± Arca chased the running Ghost Spear Ben. Unfortunately, it was useless.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°K, Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaack! My eyes! My eyeeeees!¡±

    ¡°Keuaack! Aaaack!¡±

    Ben¡¯s movements were ghost-like as he evaded Arca¡¯s attacks, while cutting and stabbing the necks of the knights that blocked him. His bulging muscles and beautiful spear movements made it seem like he was one with his spear. The scene was beautiful, to the point that it could bewitch anyone watching him.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    One of the knights sessfullynded a blow on Ghost Spear Ben¡¯s back. Seeing this, Arca, with a deep smile on his face, hurriedly rushed in to attack too.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s slowly starting to fall apart.¡¯</em>

    However, that was aplete miscalction on their part. As if he did not feel any pain, Ben twisted around to blow off the head of the knight behind him. A knight¡¯s sword shed at his leg while a knight¡¯s spear stabbed at his abdomen. But instead of Ben dying, the screams and deaths of Arca¡¯s allies were what greeted him.

    ¡°Hiiiiiiiik! G, ghost¡­ it¡¯s a ghost¡­!¡±

    ¡°Ugh. Aaaaaaaah! Don¡¯t, don¡¯te here! Please, I¡¯m begging you not toe here!!!¡±

    The knights stepped back as Ben continued to cut down theirrades. Their actions were even immediately followed by a ridiculous notification.

    <em>[The morale is dropping rapidly.]</em>

    <em>[Your allies are losing their will to fight.]</em>

    <em>[All of your allies¡¯ stats will decrease by 25%. Their sessful attack rate will also decrease by 35%.]</em>

    The knights that had been training since a young age to forget their fears, the very same knights that were braver than anyone else in the battlefield, were now terrified. Fear clouded their minds as Ben approached them. Some even peed their pants while some knelt down to beg for their lives. The same was true for Arca. He felt goosebumps rising on his skin as a chill crept up from the base of his spine.

    Ben was relentless. Despite bleeding all over, he continued to cut down the knights in front of him, whether they peed themselves or knelt down to beg for their lives. He even sneered at them deep within his heart.

    ¡°S, stop¡­¡± Arca finally realized that he provoked someone that he should not have. He also knew that there was a chance that they could kill the man in front of them if he and the remaining knights joined forces. However, doing so would result in plenty more casualties from their ranks.

    ¡°We, we¡¯ll retreat. We¡¯ll leave so stop!¡±

    Arca did not want to carry this disgrace on his back. However, he believed that the lives of the knights that their kingdom had raised were far more precious than any treasure or gold.

    ¡°Wh, why is someone like you staying in such a small nation like Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?!¡±

    Arca could not understand at all. If this man went to Eivelis Empire then he could easily be the Knight Commander of the Spear Knight Order under Ellie. He might even be able to be the Commander-in-chief if he went to Collodis Empire.

    So why?

    ¡®<em>Wait, perhaps he¡¯s the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s Hidden Troops¡¯mander¡­!</em>¡¯

    Themander that hid secretly to protect the territory. If it was that, then it was worthy of a man of his stature. Perhaps, it was even an opportunity for Arca¡¯s kingdom.

    ¡°Come,e to our kingdom! You¡¯re probably the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s Hidden Troops¡¯ Commander right now. If youe to our Lumae Kingdom, you can be themander-in-chief of hundreds of thousands of strong troops!¡±

    Lumae Kingdom was definitely a better choice than Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. But Ghost Spear Ben just tilted his head at him and¡­

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡­twisted the neck of one of the knights near him.

    ¡°Wh, what¡­?!¡±

    Ghost Spear Ben looked at the remaining knights with a cold expression on his face, ¡°I have no intention of sparing the lives of those that intended to bring harm to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Also¡­¡±

    Arca realized that their battle was not yet over when he saw Ben take one step closer to them. He could also tell that Ben was also about to reveal his original position in the kingdom.

    Then, Ben continued, ¡°I¡¯m His Majesty¡¯s personal barista.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Arca was shocked when the words registered in his head, <em>¡®Wh, what the hell?! How many strong people does Beyond the Heavens Kingdom have to make a man of his stature a barista?!¡¯</em>

    Arca developed a deep fear toward the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom as their ¡®barista¡¯ moved to ughter them.

    ***

    Count Forlo was themander of the tamers of the Lumae Kingdom. Since Lumae Kingdom was hailed as the warriors¡¯ nation, Count Forlo, despite being a tamer, was far stronger and better than the other tamermanders from a decent kingdom or empire. He was even able to tame the Drake Lord, a ferocious monster that no one in the continent had ever tamed before.

    This very same Count Forlo was extremely excited, <em>¡®I can¡¯t believe I¡¯ll be able to manage a dragon in my entire life¡­!¡¯</em>

    Crazy Tyrant Akhan and Prince Votto were secretly working together. They were preparing to make a move with their troops. But before their troops and the dragons joined forces, there were a few people selected to carry a secret mission. They were none other than the undefeated Knights, which included Arca, the kingdom¡¯s elite knights, and Count Forlo and the dragons as support.

    The dragon that was partnered with Count Forlo was at the bottom of the rankings of the dragons. The dragon was also someone that had received the punishment of the previous Dragon Lord for the crimes that hemitted in the past. From what he knew, the dragon could only exert 90% of his powers and abilities. On top of that¡­

    <em>¡®From what I heard, restrictions will be forced upon the dragons that crossed the continents and their power would be reduced by 30%.¡¯</em>

    ¡­the dragons had received huge penalties for crossing to a different continent. However, even if that was the case, the dragon in front of Count Forlo was still extremely powerful. The dragon was also very high-leveled.

    <em>[Cursed Dragon Arcana. Level 684.]</em>

    <em>¡®Amazing¡­¡¯</em>

    They were tasked to do two things in Valencia. One was to cut off the guardians that protected Valencia Capital. And two, was to steal the existence that hatched from the Dragon Lord¡¯s egg. During this process, Cursed Dragon Arcana would shower the capital with magic bombs to help the ones that sneaked in to escape safely. A dragon¡¯s bombardment of magic was more than enough to bring down buildings, burn all of the humans on the ground and bring the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s capital to ashes. Just when Count Forlo was vibrating with excitement¡­

    ¡°I¡¯m hungry.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Is that so? Haha. Please hang in there a bit more. Those that went to the capital will send their signal soon. Once we finish our job, we will immediately serve you a delicious meal.¡±

    Although Count Forlo was a tamer, he was actually turned into Dragon Arcana¡¯s servant. Most of Dragon Arcana¡¯s magic had been restricted after receiving his punishment so he could not polymorph into a human form. That was why he was curled up in a forest near the beaches of Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Kingdom hiding from everyone¡¯s view.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear me say that I¡¯m hungry?¡±

    Count Forlo trembled when Arcana focused his yellow eyes on him. The reason why Arcana was punished was because he ate up thousands of humans without any rhyme or reason.

    <em>Gulp¡ª</em>

    Count Forlo gulped dryly as he tried to find a solution to this problem and avoid bing Arcana¡¯s prey. That was when a solution appeared in front of them.

    A handsome man sat in front of a huge wagon. The man was wearing a pair of boots and a jacket to protect him from the cold. The jacket carried the symbol of a fork and knife at the back. The man was looking at his notebook while mumbling, ¡°This idiot. Moron. Poopy¡­ Uhm¡­ cursing should leave a savory taste in your mouth. Do I really have to do something like this?¡±

    The man was obviously a fisherman from Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. From what it looked like, the fisherman was trying to abandon the harsh and infuriating curses and actions in lieu of beautiful swear words and manners. The wagon that he was driving was filled with dragon fishes.

    <em>¡®That, that¡¯s it¡­!¡¯</em>

    Count Forlo had never seen a dragon fish in his life so he did not know that such a fish was a legendary one. All he knew was that he could just take away the things of a mere fisherman from the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    ¡°Lord Arcana. How about the fishes in that fisherman¡¯s wagon?¡±

    ¡°Ho?¡± Arcana mumbled, eyes glinting sharply as he looked at the fish. Dragon fishes were fishes native to Asgan Continent. That was why Arcana did not know what kind of fish it was. He was just feeling delighted at the thought of tasting a new variety of fish. Arcana had already moved before he could even discuss it with Count Forlo. It was a part that showed his ferocity and viciousness. Arcana spread his wings as he flew swiftly to where the fisherman was.

    Forlo silently mourned,<em> ¡®I¡¯m sorry. I know that we should never touch the lives of civilians in a war but this is for my own safety too. Consider this as offering yourself as a sacrifice, fisherman.¡¯</em>

    In the end, Count Forlo was a noble, a count that also viewed the lives ofmon people lightly. Forlo clicked his tongue as he watched Arcana send a fireball toward the man on the wagon.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Count Forlo squinted through the thickyer of dust. It seemed like Arcana was wolfing down the fish to fill his stomach as quickly as he could. It looked like he was wagging his tail in delight.

    <em>Baaaaaang¡ª</em>

    But then, the ground shook as an unexpected bang rang out.

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Count Forlo, with a cigar sandwiched in his lips, turned around stiffly. The scene in front of him once the dust settled down made him drop the cigar.

    <em>Thump¡ª</em>

    A dragon was hailed as the strongest existence on earth. Even though the dragon Arcana was the weakest among the dragons, he was still a ferocious and outstanding being. But this very same Arcana was being trampled on by the fisherman. The fisherman even stepped on Arcana¡¯s head with his boot with one of his hands in his pockets.

    The fisherman looked at Arcana as if Arcana was an insignificant existence. He spat out, ¡°B*tch. F*cking ***-sized lizard.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Count Forlo trembled at the sight.

 Chapter 498: The Raiders

    Chapter 498: The Raiders

    NPCs and yers reacted to rumors quite differently in Athenae. For Athenae yers, all they needed to do to verify any rumors was to search the person involved or watch Ztube videos rted to them.

    This was the case with the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    When they were still Legend Guild, the yers had repeatedly watched the videos of their legendary battle in the Continent Cloud. There were also videos of their battle against ck Dragon Vormon and Great Demon Verus.

    Most of the NPCs, on the other hand, could only listen to stories and they did not have any way to confirm it. They did not have a way to watch videos like the yers, which was why the other kingdoms and empiresbeled the rumors surrounding Beyond the Heavens Kingdom as fake.

    An intellectually disabled boy was the Sword Saint? A best-selling author of erotic novels was strong enough to crush legends? Also, the Great Demon had be jealous when the Lesser Demon had decided to follow the Beyond the Heavens King, so he had staged an attack?

    Just listening to any of these was enough for the NPCs tobel these news as exaggerated rumors that were created by the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom! They all assumed that the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was spreading nonsense as legends so that other kings and their subjects would not ignore the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. After all, the stories that surrounded them werepletely beyond anyone¡¯smon sense.

    But right now, Count Forlo¡¯s thoughts were about to change. A tiny human was pressing down on a mountain-sized dragon, stepping on the dragon¡¯s head with his boots. Moreover, the man was just a passing fisherman.

    ¡°How, how can this¡­¡± Forlo mumbled, his body trembling from shock.

    As for Dragon Arcana? His entire body was covered in shame and disgrace, a feeling that he had never felt in his entire life.

    ¡®<em>How dare a measly human put his muddy boots on my head?!¡¯</em>

    ¡°How dare youuuuuuuu!!!¡± Arcana roared out in anger, a series of explosions blooming around his body.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    But what happened next was even more shocking.

    ¡°Hey, f*cking pint-sized lizard¡­¡±

    The man had just called a dragon, one of thergest beings on Earth, ¡®pint-sized¡¯. Was that expression even appropriate? But seeing the man press down on Arcana with his feet, Forlo could not deny his words.

    Then, the man continued his words, spitting out coldly, ¡°¡­shut up.¡±

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    The man, who ignored the explosions that ravaged his surroundings, lifted his foot and stomped it down on Arcana¡¯s head again, causing the dragon to plunge deeper into the ground.

    ¡°Grrrrrrrrrr!¡± Arcana growled angrily, but for some reason he looked pitiful, with his head buried in the ground as he sent out another wave of explosion. However, the man just waved his arm nonchntly and summoned a huge barrier made of water. He easily fended off the explosions that appeared around him once again.

    Suddenly, another explosion, this time a thundering one, bloomed from Arcana¡¯s body.

    ¡°Ugh!¡± The man groaned as he flew back from the impact. Despite being caught unaware, the man was able to easily regain his footing in the air.

    Arcana, who pulled his face out of the ground, was extremely furious. He had been in a daze for a moment because the sight of fish had muddled his head, his eyes blinded with greed. That was why he did not care about the man and had only sent a nonchnt attack toward the man.

    In the end, Arcana was bitten by his own carelessness and was caught offguard, the man easily forcing his head into the ground. But not anymore¡ªhe was now free from the man¡¯s hold, and was cautious and vignt.

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaaa!¡± Arcana roared as hundreds of spells came to life around him and shot straight at the man. A dragon¡¯s magic could easily ignore their opponent¡¯s magical defense. That was why it was far more powerful than other magic.

    <em>¡®Yeah. If you got struck by that magic then¡­¡¯</em> Count Forlo believed that the crazy fisherman bastard would be burned to ashes and disappear from this world.

    But then, at that moment, a gigantic long chain appeared on the fisherman¡¯s left arm, while a huge curved sword appeared on his right. Fisherman Gorfido¡¯s chains were made from the world-renowned ¡®Ten-thousand-year-old Cold Iron¡¯, a material that had a ridiculously high durability and could endure anything for a long period of time. It also had an unbelievable amount of magical defense that could allow Gorfido to ignore and nullify all of the magical attacks sent his way.

    <em>Rattle¡ª</em>

    All of the magic that had appeared in the air was absorbed into Gorfido¡¯s chains the moment they made contact.

    ¡°¡­?!¡± Arcana looked at the scene in doubt.

    The reason why Great Pirate Gorfido had been able to torment Baal, the first ranked devil, in the past was all thanks to the chains in his hands. Gorfido found the name of his chains annoyingly long so he just named it ¡®Ten Thousand Chains¡¯. It was an item that had the effect of absorbing the enemy¡¯s magical attacks, special attributes, and abnormal states.

    It also had a paired item with an equally annoying name, which Gorfido had conveniently named ¡®Ten Thousand Sword¡¯. This sword had the effect of sending the absorbed power, multiplied by 1.3 times, back to the one that had sent it.

    ¡°I¡¯ll give it back to you.¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    When Gorfido, whose hands were upied with his chains and sword, sent back the attack¡­

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    ¡­a more powerful magic bombarded Aracana, which promptly sent him flying into the skies.

    ¡°Hiiiiiiiiiiik!¡± Count Forlo shrieked, his legs stepping back from the scene. However, the attack was not yet over.

    Gorfido was hailed as the Sea Demon because his swordsmanship was both cruel and vicious. However, he was veryzy, so he named his attacks with whatever came to his mind.

    ¡°Tidal Knife.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    A gigantic blue tidal wave soared and devoured Arcana, who fell down after being hit with the magic attack. More than five hundred des hidden in the depths of the tidal wave wreaked havoc and tore the scales off of Arcana¡¯s body.

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaargh! Ugh! Aaaaaaaack!¡±

    The once blue tidal wave was now dyed red. It did not matter who saw it, the scene would forever remain grotesque and gruesome.

    Gorfido approached Arcana while swinging his sword as he pressed the dragon down again.

    ¡°*Pint-sized dragon bastard. Go to hell! Go to hell! Kahahahahaha!¡±

    Count Forlo, who watched everything happen, could not endure it and vomited at the gruesome sight, ¡°Urrrk!¡±

    <em>¡®Who in the world is that fisherman?!¡¯</em>

    Of course, Arcana was not the only one that received damage. His physical damage reflection and AOE magic attacks also affected the man. But the man continued to press Arcana down as if he did not feel any pain.

    <em>¡®We¡ªwe need to get it together,¡¯</em> Forlo thought, despite the chaos brought about by the mysterious fisherman.

    From the way things were going, it was nigh impossible for them to help those that sneaked in Valencia. However, the mission would still be sessful. The fisherman in front of them was just one miscalction on their part. No matter what happened here, the Undefeated Knights and the 300 elite knights that raided the other areas would have most definitely turned the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom into waste.

    <em>¡®Even if I die here¡­ the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would copse.¡¯</em>

    At that moment, the bead in Count Forlo¡¯s hand vibrated fiercely. The bead was a ¡®War Communicator¡¯, a device that could allow troops separated by a distance to share a few words in between them. After the words were transmitted, the bead would then be destroyed. This was so no one else could hear what they were talking about.

    <em>¡®Right. Of course. We seeded¡­!¡¯</em>

    Originally, Count Forlo and Arcana would bomb the capital once they received the signal. Then, there was a buzzing sound that rang from the War Communicator.

    <em>[This is Arca. The First Elite Troops that I am leading have been wiped out. I repeat. The First Elite Troops have been wiped out. And from what it looks like, I¡¯m also going to die under the spear of Ghost Spear Ben. Glory to Lumae Kingdom¡­ hiss, hiss, hisss¡ª]</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Count Forlo was shocked.

    <em>¡®Im¡ªimpossible¡­!¡¯</em>

    The Warrior¡¯s Nation¡¯s Sir Arca might only be one among the countless talents in their kingdom but he was a rare genius that almost reached the ranks of the Sword Saint. But, he was defeated and killed by an old man by the name of Ghost Spear Ben?

    Then, another transmission came through the War Communicator¡­

    <em>[Hiss, hiss, hisss¡ª This is Bent, themander of the Third Elite Troops. The Third Elite Troops have been annihted¡­ The Third Elite Troops¡­ have been wiped out by an intellectually disabled boy¡­]</em>

    <em>[Hiss, hiss, hisss¡ª This is Armstrong, knight of the Second Elite Troops. The Second Elite Troops have been wiped out. Sir Rudel, themander of the Second Elite Troops, has been killed. I believe I will soon follow Sir Rudel. Glory to Lumae Kingdom¡­]</em>

    <em>[Hiss, hiss, hissssss¡­ wiped out. Wiped out¡­]</em>

    <em>[We¡¯ve been wiped out¡­! Retreat. The legends about Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡­ hiss¡­ they¡¯re¡­ true¡­ hisssss.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Count Forlo¡¯s expression turned ugly at the words he heard. ¡°They¡¯re¡­ all true?¡±

    <em>¡®Those ridiculous legends?¡¯</em>

    Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The loud thud of Arcana¡¯s body mming down on the ground filled the area. Then, the Ten Thousand Chains in Gorfido¡¯s arm stretched out and wrapped around the copsed dragon.

    ¡°Hmmm~ I wonder if His Majesty would like to eat dragon meat.¡±

    The fisherman literally fished Arcana. He was also aware of Count Forlo¡¯s existence, so he slowly approached Forlo.

    ¡°I¡ªI won¡¯t say anything. Just kill me!¡±

    At this moment, Count Forlo believed that he would be taken in as a prisoner of war to get as much information that they could get from him.

    ¡°Right.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    But Gorfido was someone that never took in prisoners of war. Hearing his light-hearted reply, Count Forlo felt his confidence waver. But then, at that moment, the War Communicator sent its final message.

    <em>[Hissss¡ª This is the warrior¡¯s disciple, Renzie. I have seeded in capturing the hatchling and the Food God¡¯s aide, Haze. I am now on my way to Crazy Tyrant Akhan.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    A delighted smile sprang in the count¡¯s face. Most of them have been wiped out, but Renzie, the only warrior¡¯s disciple and the one that moved alone, was able to seed. He was able to take the hatchling that had hatched from the Dragon Lord¡¯s egg. They had originally only meant to take the hatchling, but they were even able to take away the Food God¡¯s aide!

    ¡°Keuha¡­ hahahahahahaha!¡± Count Forlo burst out inughter after knowing that they had seeded in the most important part of their mission. However, hisughter slowly died down after realizing that there was a cruel ughterer standing in front of him.

    <em>Thump¡ª</em>

    Count Forlo¡¯s head rolled on the ground as Gorfido rushed back to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom with all his might.

    <em>¡®Haze and Luna have been kidnapped¡­?!¡¯</em>

    The biggest crisis since the founding of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had fallen upon them.

    ***

    Ghost Spear Ben was certainly blessed with a strong body and a strong will, but he still copsed on the ground and gasped for his breath after cutting down Arca and the rest of his troops. He literally did not have any power to move his finger, let alone his whole body, anymore.

    But then, he saw a horse rushing from across the field. On top of the horse was a woman whose face was covered in ck cloth and a wriggling bag. When the horse passed by, he was able to get a glimpse of the badge on the woman¡¯s chest. That badge represented the woman¡¯s position as an aide.

    That woman was none other than Haze. Then, the wriggling bag also cried out, ¡°Hiyeeeeee~?¡±

    The voice sounded both pure, innocent and happy. At that moment, Ben realized who the owner of the voice was. He did his best to squeeze out thest of his strength. However, out of stamina, he ended up losing consciousness for about thirty seconds.

    Even though he fainted, Ben was still able to awaken with his strong will and mental power. He immediately staggered to his feet after recalling what he had seen. The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was now in the middle of a war. All of the troops were busy and no one was aware of what happened here. Also¡­

    <em>¡®It will be toote if I go ask for help.¡¯</em>

    It would take him around three to five minutes to get support. By that time, they would have already lost them. Ghost Spear Ben staggered to his feet, grabbed a bucket of water and poured it over himself.

    ¡°Puhaaa!¡±

    The red blood that covered his body was washed away by the water. After slinging three spears behind him, he gulped down the strongest and best potion with him, before tying his Terrius-like ck hair.

    <em>¡®Another minute has passed by.¡¯</em>

    The gap between him and the kidnapper that took Luna and Haze was two minutes. He had to narrow that gap somehow.

    ¡°Hiya! Hiyaah!¡± Ghost Spear Ben, now riding on a horse, galloped across Valencia Capital in pursuit of the enemy.

    On this day, the myth about the bloody veteran soldier that fought tens of thousands of enemies alone to protect his loved ones, the story of a demigod bing a Spear God, had begun.

 Chapter 499: The Raiders

    Chapter 499: The Raiders

    Baroque Kingdom was the kingdom closest to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. It had maintained a close rtionship with the Barras Kingdom in the past, sending support to Barras Kingdom in the form of troops in exchange for the various items and products that they created.

    But that was not the case anymore.

    The Baroque Kingdom had cut off all ties and exchanges with the newly established Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Because of that, they lost the supplies that the Barras Kingdom sent as support and their kingdom was now plunged into heavy financial burdens and difficulties. The fact that they maintained a close rtionship with Barras Kingdom meant that they were only a bit better than them in terms of influence. In other words, their influence, whenpared to other empires and kingdoms, were abysmal. Thankfully, the number of territories under their kingdom¡¯s rule and the people that they governed was on the higher side so they were still able to hold out for a bit longer.

    Lance, a sentry guard stationed at Baroque Kingdom¡¯s southernmost city Erdejid, yawned loudly, ¡°<em>Fwaaaaa</em>. How about having some beer after our shift for today?¡±

    ¡°Beer sounds nice.¡±

    He chatted together with the people on duty with him. But while they were doing so¡­

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Lance felt the ground rumble and shake. The vibrations passing through the soles of his feet told him that it was definitely caused by something so he hurriedly took out his magic telescope and peered at a distance.

    What he saw made him shriek in shock, ¡°Hi, hiiiiiiiiiiik?!¡±

    There were roughly 20,000 monster corps advancing towards where they were. The problems that they were about to face did not end there. The monsters in the monster corps were all at Level 450~490. There were even masked knights riding on top of these gigantic monsters. Then, an even more shocking fact presented itself in front of the soldiers.

    ¡°Th, that¡­!¡±

    Lance¡¯s expression turned ugly after seeing the figures of creatures that were as big as mountains with the faces of a lizard and shiny scales covering their bodies. They were all flying through the skies while pping their wings strongly. Then, one of the beings sent out a huge hellfire that devoured and ughtered Lance, along with more than 200 troops stationed at Erdejid and its walls.

    <em>Vwoooooooooong¡ª</em>

    The loud re of the horn from the intelligent monsters rang loudly as the monster corps began to advance towards Erdejid.

    ***

    Notifications began to ring for the yers present in Erdejid.

    <em>[<strong>Kingdom Quest</strong>: Erdejid in Crisis.]</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: SSS</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Rewards</strong>: EXP acquisition rate and item drop rate x2. A high contribution might grant you a noble title.</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty for Failure</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: Erdejid, thergest city in the southernmost region of Baroque Kingdom, is being attacked by unidentified assants, monsters and dragons. Baroque Kingdom¡¯s greatest heroes, please lead the victory in the battle against them.</em>

    ¡°What, what the hell?!¡±

    ¡°A kingdom quest?! Wait. Erdejid is in crisis?!¡±

    ¡°Dra, dragons¡­? Is this for real?¡±

    ¡°I heard that the unknown assant is Crazy Tyrant Akhan.¡±

    ¡°That crazy bastard came to our server again?!¡±

    The yers trembled. Crazy Tyrant Akhan was originally from the American Server and was hailed as a lunatic that should never, ever be touched in Athenae. The problem was that Crazy Tyrant Akhan¡¯s power wasparable to the power of those world-renowned yers. Especially because he was a yer that showed great advantage and force when it came torge-scale battles.

    Just when the yers were plunged into great confusion¡­

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    ¡°Uaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡­screams rang loudly in the area. When they turned their heads, all they saw was the copsed walls of the fortress and monsters running rampant. In a blink, 20,000 of Erdejid¡¯s troops gathered. Then, themander cried loudly, ¡°Foreigners, please! Join us in this battle! Those that can fight! Join us!!!¡±

    For a brief moment, the yers felt terror and fear. However, they still joined the war at the behest of the 20,000 kingdom troops. Then, notifications began to spread in the entire continent. Kingdom quests were like that. They were amazing in a way that there would be no requirements and anyone could ept, whether they were from a different empire or kingdom.

    And now, the best guilds of Korea had gathered together: the Iris and Ares Guilds, together with Avalon Guild, the guild that reced Artheon Guild from the top 4, after they became subordinated to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. At the same time, countless yers and kingdom troops moved to protect Erdejid.

    s, in just three hours after the war broke out, the story of Erdejid being taken down had started to spread in the continent.

    ***

    Iris Guild Master Callian, Ares Guild Master Ares and Avalon Guild, the guild that emerged as one of the four major guilds, Master Gori Musk or GoM for short, were all riding on horseback in front of around 70,000 yer troops and waiting on the decision on who would be themander.

    ¡°Gori Musk. I can do¡­ <em>Hoo</em>¡­ Why the hell do you have to use Gori as your nickname¡­ <em>Hoo¡­</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Cough.</em> Will Athenae roll out the <em>change nickname</em> feature soon?¡±

    GoM wanted to be special. So, he set his ID like that. It was like he wanted to show off that anyone that heard his name would feel like they could smell him as if they were next to him. However, his face still could not help but turn ugly after hearing those words. Still, it was not the time for them to talk about this. The current situation that they were in was just that serious.

    ¡°This is an opportunity. With the monster corps already upying Erdejid, they would definitely make haste and aim for Baroque Kingdom¡¯s capital, Evond. If we can stop them, then not only will we be able to get the king¡¯s enormous rewards, our names will also remain in the history of Athenae forever.¡±

    Crazy Tyrant Akhan was definitely the craziest out of all the crazy bastards in the world. However, not only were their guild members present, each of their guild¡¯s high rankers were all here. There would also be 30,000 kingdom troops arriving soon, which would bring their total to 100,000.

    The guild leaders also received a new quest notification. The quest was none other than ¡®Saviors of Baroque Kingdom¡¯. Through this quest, they were able to acquire the information about the dragons. ording to the description, the dragons¡¯ power had been reduced by 30% since they forcibly came over here from the American Server. That was why they thought that it was worth a try. Also¡­

    <em>¡®From what I heard, ck Dragon is extremely powerful to the point that the power that ordinary dragons could wield are only half as powerful as his.¡¯</em>

    The guild leaders believed that they were more than enough to kill their enemies. Since the Food God did it, why couldn¡¯t they do the same?

    Then, GoM said, ¡°ording to rumors, the monster corps¡¯ main goal is the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and they only passed by the Baroque Kingdom.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡±

    Ares rubbed his chin in thought.

    ¡®<em>Why did they even have to do something that troublesome? Do they really have to do something like that?</em>¡¯

    But just when he was doubting their enemies¡¯ motives, Callian suddenly added, ¡°I heard that Valencia, Beyond the Heavens¡¯ capital, has been attacked at the same time. This info must definitely be true since I heard it from one of the yers in Beyond the Heavens Kingdom themselves.¡±

    Ares¡¯ face turned more serious when he heard Callian¡¯s words, <em>¡®Don¡¯t tell me¡­!¡¯ </em>Then, his mouth gaped open, ¡°Crazy bastard¡­!¡±

    Ares¡¯ face turned ugly. There had to be no other reason except for the fact that Crazy Tyrant Akhan was showing them that he had enough power to trample on Baroque Kingdom and head towards Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. He was underestimating the other yers, which made them feel that their pride had been trampled on. Ares hated Beyond the Heavens Kingdom but this was a separate matter altogether.

    ¡°A yer from another country came to our own country to wreak havoc. I can¡¯t wait to see how we¡¯ll trample on him.¡±

    They could see the faint shadows of the remaining monsters from the 20,000 strong monster corps appearing in their field of vision. At the same time, the 30,000 kingdom support troops also arrived.

    ¡°For victory!!!¡±

    ¡°For victory!!!¡±

    <em>Shiiiiing¡ª</em>

    <em>Shiiiing¡ª</em>

    Nearly 100,000 troops rushed towards the 20,000 monster corps and the unknown masked men.

    ***

    <em>[Breaking News. The alliance created by the allied forces of Korea¡¯s best guilds¡ªAres Guild, Iris Guild and Avalon Guild¡ªand the kingdom troops have been annihted.]</em>

    <em>[Breaking News. Around 5:00 p.m. yesterday in Baroque Kingdom¡¯s h, the allied forces that fought against Crazy Tyrant Akhan and his army were wiped out.]</em>

    <em>[Breaking News. The 20,000 strong enemy troops are currently heading towards the capital of Baroque Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[ording to rumors, the 20,000 strong enemy troops will head straight towards Beyond the Heavens Kingdom after taking over Baroque Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[This is the worst disaster that has ever hit the Asgan Continent yet Joy Co. Ltd. remains silent.]</em>

    <em>[ording to reports, Baroque Kingdom¡¯s King, Lloyd de Barread, has convened an emergency meeting.]</em>

    Although they werete, the Athenae yers hurriedly went to Ztube to watch the reruns and confirm the authenticity of the reports, once they heard the rumors. The situation waspletely horrendous. There were the knights wearing masks that were riding on the monsters. Each and every single one of them held tremendous power. They were working with the monsters seamlessly to cut down several yers in one strike. And that was not all. There were also dragons hovering in the skies above them that added to the chaos by bombarding everyone below with their magic.

    While everything was plunged into great chaos, the 20,000 troops continued to march forward. Shockingly enough, there was a huge blue shield that surrounded the bodies of every single member of the monster corps. Even their weapons, fists and feet would glow red whenever they attacked. From what it looked like, the attacks were 1.3x stronger than usual.

    However, as their HP and defense had plunged to a lower level, the yers could easily hunt them once the shields that covered them were broken. The only problem here was that the shields were very difficult to break.

    Even though high-rankers have stepped forward, everything that they did was still useless. With the masked knights cutting down the small fries, the clever dragons focused their firepower on the high-rankers. It was different from the situation with ck Dragon Vormon before. After all, ck Dragon Vormon was alone back then. Right now, several dragons were working together. There were even masked knights and an entire monster corps joining the fray.

    The viewers that watched the video were all left speechless. The only thing that they could do was use their keyboards and express what they felt about the situation.

    <em>[Everything would be over if they can¡¯t stop them¡­]</em>

    <em>[This is crazy. Is the Athenae Management doing its job?! How can they let a yer do that?! Dragons on top of a monster corps?! And what are those masked knights?!]</em>

    <em>[Athenae should exin this. ASAP.]</em>

    <em>[F*ck! At this rate, Akhan will devour the entire Asgan Continent, right?!]</em>

    Everyone was hoping that they would quickly fix this.

    ***

    Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s president, Kang Taehoon, felt an iing migraine as his head throbbed fiercely. The conference room was covered in a thickyer of silence.

    <em>¡®How did this situatione to be?¡¯</em>

    In fact, they believed that the situation was impossible. That was why none of them had expected it to be a reality. The first thing that they pulled up was the information about Akhan¡¯s staff.

    <em>(<strong>Death God¡¯s Ruler¡¯s Staff</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: God</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: Level 500 or higher, the one that received the Death God¡¯s favor.</em>

    <em><strong>Durability</strong>: ¡Þ / ¡Þ</em>

    <em><strong>Attack Power</strong>: 350</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>?All stats increase by 39%.</em>

    <em>?Commanding Abilities increases by 200%.</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: God of Death¡¯s Blessing</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Berserk Monster</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: One Man Army</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Death¡¯s One Man Army</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: The Death God, one of the Absolute Gods, has given his staff to his favored sessor and has given him the authority to manage and lead the monsters.</em>

    The Death God¡¯s Ruler¡¯s Staff was an item with ridiculous effects and skills that were overpowered. The active skill: One Man Army was a skill that could allow the staff user to manage and lead monsters that were around 50 or more levels higher than the owner. It was a skill that can support and increase a tamer¡¯s skill by ten more times.

    The issue was Crazy Tyrant Akhan¡¯s main ss. His ss was ¡®Death God¡¯s Descendant¡¯, a God ss. The Death God¡¯s skills and abilities were extremelypatible with a tamer. In the first ce, the number of monsters that Akhan could lead was already tremendous and with the Death God¡¯s Ruler¡¯s Staff in hand, this ability was amplified and made even stronger. The One Man Army skill could also fit perfectly with the higher skill Death¡¯s One Man Army. It was a skill that could allow the staff user to lead monsters thirty times their usual amount.

    Because of that, all of the operators of Athenae were very much concerned with the artifact. In fact, even the supeputer, Athenae, showed great distaste and even felt very repulsed with this artifact. However, time passed by and nothing noteworthy happened. This was mainly attributed to the fact that the God of Death¡¯s Ruler¡¯s Staff would disappear a week after the Death¡¯s One Man Army was used. It was the skill¡¯s severe penalty. After all, no yer would be stupid enough to waste one of the greatest artifacts in existence just for a short bout of pleasure and delight.

    However, the artifact fell into the hands of Crazy Tyrant Akhan. He even went so far as obtaining around ten of the parchments called ¡®Penalty Seals¡¯ from all over the continent. It was a parchment that had an effect that could ignore penalties. In fact, the Penalty Seal could help the parchment user to avoid receiving other penalties for skills with extreme penalties. In the case of an artifact skill, the artifact would be sealed for three months.

    But was that all? Of course not.

    <em>¡®He used the passive Berserk Monsters in a very efficient method.¡¯</em>

    The Berserk Monster passive attached to the Death God¡¯s Ruler¡¯s Staff was a skill that increases a monster¡¯s attack power by 25%. However, it had an extreme penalty that reduces the monsters¡¯ HP and defense by 70%.

    But Akhan had obtained the treasure, ¡®Shield¡¯s Tears¡¯, that the Shield God had left behind in the world. The Shield¡¯s Tears was an item that created a shield with extremely high defense around the one that used it. This was not a coincidence at all. All of the items in Akhan¡¯s hands were ridiculous, and made him the most absolute existence in the game.

    There was only a 0.1% probability of this happening, but Akhan made it happen.

    President Kang Taehoon sighed and got up. Team Leader Park Minggyu also got up and followed him to go to the bathroom.

    ¡°President.¡±

    Kang Taehoon looked back at Park Minggyu. Truth was, Park Minggyu had heard some rumors when he went abroad for a meeting. At first, he thought that it was just a rumor but looking at the situation that they were in, it seemed like that rumor was true.

    He looked at Kang Taehoon gravely and asked, ¡°Is it true that Crazy Tyrant Akhan was one of the early developers of Athenae?¡±

 Chapter 500: The One that Became a Demigod

    Chapter 500: The One that Became a Demigod

    Crazy Tyrant Akhan was a yer that dreamt and lived to see the copse of Athenae, a game that everyone considered to be their second world. Team Leader Park Minggyu was asking if this very same Crazy Tyrant Akhan was one of Athenae¡¯s early developers.

    President Kang Taehoon, whose expression turned bitter, washed his face with cold water and wiped it dry with a paper towel. He turned to Minghyu, nodded and said, ¡°It¡¯s only half right.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Park Minggyu asked in doubt.

    Then, Kang Taehoon started to tell his story in a somber manner, ¡°Akhan is a brilliant developer. In fact, it is safe to say that it¡¯s thanks to him that we have the Athenae of today.¡±

    Team Leader Park trembled at his words. There were many things that he could not understand from Taehoon¡¯s story.

    ¡°Honestly, Athenae was born from my friend¡¯s and my hands. However, because of an ident, he left and ended up cursing me.¡±

    ¡°How, how¡­ that¡­ then why did you not suspend him permanently?!¡±

    Park Minggyu could not understand it. Did it not mean that the yer named ¡®Akhan¡¯ knew the entirety of the Athenae worldview?

    Kang Taehoon just smiled and said, ¡°I know what you¡¯re trying to say. If someone that knows Athenaepletely were to y the game, the bnce will break.¡±

    ¡°If you know, then why¡­?!¡±

    ¡°First. Among the hundreds of thousands of employees of Joy Co. Ltd., is there anyone that does not y Athenae?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Team Leader Park Minggyu was rendered silent at the question. There were countless Athenae operators and staff that yed Athenae. Most of them knew about the scenes that would unfold in the future or what went on in what ce.

    But were there any of the yers that revealed their special circumstances?

    ¡°Second. I had already anticipated something like this would happen before Athenae¡¯sunch. That¡¯s why I only left the frame of the game. Everything else is new. Everything that Akhan knew has already changed. The Athenae of today ispletely different from the Athenae that he knew.¡±

    Park Minggyu was once again speechless. That was right. Considering Kang Taehoon¡¯s personality, doing something like that would check out. There was also one thing that he could tell after hearing the first and second points. Just because one knew about Athenae did not mean that they would awaken or anything.

    Even if they knew the mechanics, it did not necessarily mean that they could do something about it. However, there were yers that could do so. The greatest example of this was ¡®Food God¡¯ Minhyuk.

    ¡°Are you telling me that Akhan is also a genius gamer?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. His brain capacity ispletely out of this world. As a gamer, he¡¯s someone that is beyond the ones that we call geniuses. He was literally a brilliantly crazy gamer. He does not know anything about the current Athenae worldview, but he was still able to do all of that on his own. What else can I do?¡±

    Everyone was free to do whatever they wanted in the world of Athenae. And Akhan did not break the mold of such a world. However, this time, he broke the bnce. Originally, Joy Co. Ltd. would set up a meeting with the yer once the bnce copsed and negotiate with them as much as they could.

    Unfortunately, it was impossible in Akhan¡¯s case.

    Kang Taehoon stepped out and began to move.

    ¡°Team Leader Park Minggyu.¡±

    ¡°Yes, President?¡±

    ¡°This will be the first time I¡¯ve brought someone in. Let me show you Athenae.¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Park Minggyu was very surprised to hear Taehoon say those words. Athenae, the Athenae worldview¡¯s Origin God, was a supeputer in reality. Only President Kang Taehoon has ever met with Athenae. The only reason why Kang Taehoon offered this was because he trusted Team Leader Park Minggyu and his skills.

    <em>¡®If I went the wrong way, I hope that he can lead me back to the right path.¡¯</em>

    Although Park Minggyu was given the position of a team leader, he was very simr to Kang Taehoon in terms of decision making and judgement abilities. With plenty of keys in hand, Kang Taehoon opened a door and entered with Park Minggyu.

    There, inside was the gigantic supeputer, Athenae.

    ¡°Athenae.¡±

    <em>[Speak.]</em>

    A woman¡¯s voice, a voice that was neither rigid or mechanical, rang out in the room. The voice, in fact, sounded sublime and gentle to the ears. Team Leader Park Minggyu could not help but look at supeputer Athenae in excitement.

    ¡°What¡¯s the probability of Baroque Kingdom oveing this crisis?¡±

    <em>[It¡¯s estimated to be at 2%.]</em>

    Athenae did not spare President Kang Taehoon any manners or courtesy. She might be a supeputer, but she was also the god of a worldview.

    ¡°So, just 2%¡­¡± Kang Taehoon mumbled, face turning ugly at the fact presented to him. If Baroque Kingdom fell, then Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would be next. Akhan was showing them that not only Baroque Kingdom, but even Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would be pushed back by him alone. And with the addition of the dragons, was there anything that they could say to that? But then, at that moment¡­

    <em>[The probability has gone up to 8%.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    President Kang Taehoon and Team Leader Park were both shocked. The 6% increase might be small, but the probability increasing like that definitely meant that a variable was involved. So, what caused that variable?

    ¡°Please exin in a way that makes it easier for us to understand.¡±

    <em>[Right now, Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s Vice Guild Master Genie has arrived at Baroque Kingdom¡¯s conference hall.]</em>

    ¡°Show us the situation,¡± President Kang Taehoon said, his face filled with excitement. The appearance of one yer had increased the chances of a kingdom winning this dire battle, albeit only slightly. Then, a hologram popped up in front of them showing the figure of Genie passing by the murmuring kingdom troops and entering the conference hall with her noble and elegant strides.

    ***

    Baroque Kingdom¡¯s King Lloyd mmed his fist on the table.

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    ¡°Are, are you kidding me right now? We need more troops. Did you not see those dragons with them?!¡±

    ¡°King Lloyd, calm down. It¡¯s not like we¡¯re saying that we won¡¯t send you support troops, right?¡±

    ¡°Just like we promised, we will send you 10,000 support troops.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll be sending you 15,000.¡±

    ¡°What could be the problem when you already have around 50,000 troops with you?¡±

    King Lloyd trembled at the words of the other kings. The troops that they were going to send for support were not even the elites of their kingdom. In fact, most of the numbers that make up these troops were just conscripts. These support troops would not be able to ovee the dire situation that they were in.

    In other words, the other kingdoms had no intention of joining forces and helping the Baroque Kingdom ovee this crisis.

    ording to the rumors, Akhan would target Beyond the Heavens Kingdom next after dealing with Baroque Kingdom. That was why most of the kings here were rejoicing deep inside. They even went so far as to use the guise of doing their utmost for the sake of Baroque Kingdom to send conscripts that would not be able to show enough power to change the situation around.

    In truth, they were shaking with anticipation that they could not even attach a proper justification to their hideous actions.

    But then, the knights suddenly entered the conference hall and whispered something to the kings.

    ¡°What? In an hour?!¡±

    ¡°We have to leave, quick.¡±

    ¡°King Lloyd, may the tides of war turn in your favor.¡±

    ¡°May the gods bless Baroque Kingdom¡­¡±

    The kings hurriedly got up to leave. Baroque Kingdom¡¯s King Lloyd could only shake and tremble in his seat. Regardless of the situation, they were kingdoms that were connected through an alliance! Howe they were acting like this?! This was all because of the appearance of a madman that was threatening them with the downfall of Baroque Kingdom!

    Just when King Lloyd was about to erupt in anger¡­

    <em>Creaaaaaak¡ª</em>

    ¡­the door to the conference hall opened and a woman with her own entourage walked inside.

    ¡°Who the hell are you?!¡± King Lloyd¡¯s fierce re turned to the woman. Even the kings that were in a hurry to leave all turned to look at her in doubt.

    ¡°I am Marquess Genie of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.¡±

    ¡°Be¡­ Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?!¡±

    ¡°A marquess from Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?!¡±

    Her words brought shock to everyone present.

    <em>How could a foreigner from Beyond the Heavens Kingdom enter this ce so rudely?! </em>

    But Genie just sat down on one of the chairs and crossed her legs leisurely.

    ¡°It¡¯s not the Food God, but a marquess that came here?!¡±

    <em>They¡¯re a small kingdom, shouldn¡¯t their kinge here at least to show sincerity?! </em>

    Genie just smiled and said, ¡°Ah. His Majesty is quite busy, you see.¡±

    The truth was, they could not reach him anymore. Minhyuk was probably already on his private ne on his way to America for his physical and medical check-up. And since they were in the middle of a flight, their phones were definitely either turned off or in airne mode.

    ¡°What¡¯s your business here?¡± King Lloyd asked. He did not want to pay any more attention to Genie. In fact, his head was already throbbing painfully at this sudden turn of events.

    ¡°From the information that our Beyond the Heavens Kingdom has gathered, we know that more than 50,000 troops have been conscripted and are heading for Baroque Kingdom¡¯s capital. But your enemy is already right in front of your nose, right? Am I wrong to say that you need to buy some time?¡±

    King Lloyd nodded at her words. Their biggest concern as of the moment was that they would be attacked even before the support troops arrived. Even if they arrived, it would be toote.

    <em>¡®If only we can buy at least half a day then¡­¡¯</em>

    They would be able toe up with something, anything. But no matter what they did, it would still take a long time for the kingdoms and the empires to send their troops. There was no way for them to stop the rushing enemies right now.

    ¡°What if we stop them for you?¡±

    ¡°¡­What?¡±

    King Lloyd frowned.

    ¡°We can keep them entangled for more than half a day.¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Lloyd and the other kings all stopped and turned to look at Genie. The beings that they had to deal with were dragons. The biggest reason why the other kingdoms were steering clear of this matter was because they risked the chances of being attacked too. But Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, a small country, would be able to block them for half a day? And¡­

    ¡°How many troops are you leading?¡±

    ¡°Right now, we have less than a hundred.¡±

    ¡°Keuhahahahahahahahahahahaha! Kahahahahahahahaha! Wahahahahahahahaha!¡±

    ¡°Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is really funny?! Huh?! Hahaha!¡±

    ¡°Crazy b*tch?! Do you think it¡¯s the time to joke?!¡±

    The kings guffawed while King Lloyd just stared at Genie. He wanted to cut her neck off but he did his best to hold himself back.

    ¡°If you¡¯re going to spew nonsense, just leave,¡± King Lloyd spat coldly.

    Just when he was about to turn around, Genie, with her crossed legs, said, ¡°If we stopped them, then we will take 10% of Baroque¡¯s Kingdom¡¯s taxes this month and you will start your diplomatic talks with our Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. What do you think?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± King Lloyd looked at her incredulously. Ten percent of their taxes was a huge amount, especially when it included the taxes that millions of people would pay, as well as many other forms of taxes. They even wanted to start diplomatic talks? Doing so would mean that Baroque Kingdom was acknowledging the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    The other kings just watched the scene with mirth. It was as if they found the situation fun. All Lloyd could do was speak nonchntly and without any expectations, ¡°Do it if you can. But if you don''t, know that I will ask for your head to pay for your crimes.¡±

    ¡°Of course. Ah. These are the people that will stop their advance for half a day,¡± Genie said, standing up and looking at the people behind her.

    ¡°Them¡­?¡± Marquis Arna recognized the people behind Genie as the new tower masters, and uttered in shock. ¡°Ar, aren¡¯t they people with production sses?! How can they stop 20,000 troops including monsters, knights, and dragons for half a day?!¡±

    In response, Genie just said, ¡°Just watch.¡±

    The kings were curious about their ridiculous statements while King Lloyd was fuming with anger.

    ¡°Let¡¯s watch them for a moment.¡±

    ¡°We can just use mass teleport anyway.¡±

    ¡°How about taking a look?¡±

    The kings looked like they were enjoying the spectacle. King Lloyd, on the other hand, did not like whatever was happening so he busied himself by arranging their military system and giving orders to his knights and soldiers. Just a bitter, King Lloyd heard the reports of one of his knights, ¡°The 20,000 strong monster corps have reached the vicinity of the capital. They are only five kilometers away from us.¡±

    ¡°Everyone! Prepare for battle! Fortress guards, prepare your weapons, mages prepare your magic on the walls!¡± Lloyd urgently ordered his men.

    An hour has passed since his talk with Genie. He already forgot her arrogant remarks and only remembered it after moving urgently like that. He could not help but burst into an outrageousughter, ¡°She¡¯s the craziest out of all the crazy people out there. Only less than an hour had passed but the crazy bitch said that they would stop them for half a day?!¡±

    King Lloyd sneered as he continued to move to the ramparts. However, the scene that greeted him brought him into great shock. This was because¡­

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaa!!!¡±

    ¡­one existence was roaring loudly at the 20,000 strong troops in front of them. Genie, who was already standing on the ramparts, turned to look back at him and said, ¡°Baroque Kingdom¡¯s King Lloyd.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    King Lloyd felt as if he was caught in a deathmatch, as his body started to tremble. He was speechless at the greatness of the existence in front of him.

    ¡°Do you know what kind of nation Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is now?¡± Genie scoffed at him as she said so. The huge creature roaring in front of the 20,000 strong troops was none other than¡­

    ¡°B, ck Dragon Vormon¡­?!¡±

    ¡­the greatest being on earth. ck Dragon Vormon had descended!

    The 20,000 troops that were advancing suddenly stopped in their tracks. Then, suddenly, a huge force gathered at the mouth of ck Dragon Vormon high up in the sky. It was none other than his Dragon¡¯s Breath.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    A devastating disaster flew towards the 20,000 strong troops. Genie turned around and looked at the two people behind her. They were none other than the Painter Tower¡¯s Tower Master Elise and the Tower of Knowledge¡¯s Tower Master Jarrod. As it happened, Jarrod was the one that devised all of the strategies that they were enacting right now.

 Chapter 501: The One that Became a Demigod

    Chapter 501: The One that Became a Demigod

    Duke Yerett, the Sword Master of Lumae Kingdom, was the one leading the 20,000 monster corps and the knights, who were of course the elite knights of Lumae Kingdom, riding on top of the monsters. Duke Yerett might be hailed as just a Sword Master, but his level was far higher than that. His strength and abilities were more than enough to lead the 20,000 strong troops.

    He was also one of Lumae Kingdom and King Raldo¡¯s loyalists. But this time, he decided to join hands with Prince Votto. It was mainly because he knew that King Raldo¡¯s mysterious illness was very difficult to cure. This meant that their kingdom would most likely be targeted and devoured by the other kingdoms. He made the decision because he wanted to protect the kingdom that His Majesty Raldo and the people had established.

    With those thoughts in mind, Duke Yerett ordered the advance of the troops toward the Baroque Kingdom. At first, he could not believe what was in front of him, but there was no denying what he saw.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The being soaring in the skies of the capital of Baroque Kingdom was none other than ck Dragon Vormon.

    ¡°This, this¡­ what¡­?!¡±

    ¡°What the hell?!¡±

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeee!¡±

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Grrrrrrrrack!¡±

    The wyverns that dominated the skies, the drakes, and ogres running rampant on the ground and the elite knights of Lumae Kingdom were all forced to trace back their steps.

    Duke Yerett thought that this was just a lie, <em>¡®The Food God killed ck Dragon Vormon in the Continent Cloud.¡¯</em>

    ¡°This is obviously an illusion! Don¡¯t be afraid!¡± Duke Yerett, with full confidence, ordered the advance once again. But then, at that moment, a tremendous force gathered at the mouth of ck Dragon Vormon.

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    The tremendous force, which was none other than the ¡®Dragon¡¯s Breath¡¯, shot toward their troops. The dark, pitch-ck Dragon¡¯s Breath turned more than a thousand of the advancing monsters and knights into ashes. The same was true for the dragons that were with them.

    ¡°Bl, ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s Breath¡­?!¡±

    ¡°That force, that power!!! It¡¯s real¡­!¡±

    ¡°How, how could this be¡­?!¡±

    Then, words spread from one knight to another.

    ¡°Is it really true that the guardians that died in the Continent Cloud will be revived?¡±

    ¡°Are you telling me that includes the monsters?¡±

    <em>Murmur, murmur, murmur¡ª</em>

    This absurd story began to circte among the monster corps. Duke Yerett could not deny it since they were truly hit by the Dragon¡¯s Breath.

    ¡°Re, retreat!!!¡±

    ¡°Retreat! We have to retreat!!!¡±

    ¡°Retreat! Quickly!¡±

    It did not matter to them as to what reason ck Dragon Vormon helped the Baroque Kingdom. All they knew was that they could not handle any attack sent by ck Dragon Vormon. They needed strategies and tactics based on what the dragons might have said. So, they quickly began to retreat.

    Meanwhile, Genie, who was looking at everything, smiled, <em>¡®Phew. I think I lost ten years of my life there.¡¯</em>

    The guardians would not die in the Continent Cloud. Did that include the monsters too? This might be the case if they were Named NPCS. However, based on Genie¡¯s investigations, Vormon had truly fallen into an eternal rest after being killed by Minhyuk.

    That was right. The ck Dragon Vormon that was flying in the skies right now was not ¡®real¡¯. He was none other than a ¡®painting¡¯.

    The Painter¡¯s Tower¡¯s Tower Master Elise had an amazing skill called ¡®Turning Painting to Reality¡¯. The painting that she drew, just like any other artwork, artifact or dish, would be graded and the higher the grade of the painting, the more realistic and more pronounced the object would be once it materialized. Fortunately, the ¡®ck Dragon¡¯ that Elise had painted was a legendary grade painting.

    As for ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s Dragon¡¯s Breath, it was created by the ¡®Supreme Divine Beast¡¯ Beanie. Supreme Divine Beast Beanie was one of the top contributors that yed the biggest part in hunting ck Dragon Vormon. He obtained a skill named ¡®Predator¡¯s Authority¡¯, a skill that had reached MAX for a brief moment during their Vormon hunt and had turned back to ¡®Level 1¡¯.

    However, even though it might be weaker than back then, Beanie¡¯s Predator Authority¡¯s first chapter allowed him to use the skills and power of the being that he predated back in the past.

    The Turning Painting to Reality¡¯s creation followed the instructions of their painter and since it was just a painting, Beanie was able to hide within it. Beanie stationed himself in ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s head and watched the situation. He shot out a Dragon¡¯s Breath through his Predator¡¯s Authority once the head moved as if it was going to release a breath.

    They also purposely made use of some gossip mongers among the monster corps to spread words about the ¡®Continent Cloud¡¯ system and make them believe that it was real.

    Seeing everything unfold sessfully, Genie could not help but be in awe.

    <em>¡®Jarrod¡­¡¯</em>

    The one that devised these tactics and strategies was none other than Jarrod.

    ¡°Hoo~ That¡¯s amazing¡­¡±

    ¡°How¡­¡±

    Even the kings that stayed to watch a y could not help but be amazed at the situation that the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had created.

    Then, Genie, whose lips were twisting into a smirk, said, ¡°Are you satisfied now, Your Majesty Lloyd?¡±

    <em>Gulp¡ª</em>

    King Lloyd could not retort. He belittled the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom for being a small country. In fact, he had evenughed at the production ss people that Genie brought with her. But, at this moment, he realized that the only ones that could help them was this small nation, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    ¡°Shall we have a cup of coffee?¡±

    ¡°If Your Majesty agrees with us then I might think about it and have a sip with you,¡± Genie said. Her charm, an arrogance that knew no bounds, was on full disy.

    ***

    Dragon Elder Vch hoped that the new Lord that would rece the previous Dragon Lord, which had fallen into eternal rest, would not be a disaster, but a dragon that would want the best for the world.

    Akhan contacted Vch after the Dragon Lord¡¯s egg had been stolen from Dragon Bracard¡¯sir. He said that someone from Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had stolen the egg to raise the dragon and turn it into a Dragon of Destruction.

    Hearing that, the dragons were left with no choice. Even if they had to be burdened by a huge 30% decrease in power as a penalty, they decided to cross over to another continent and retrieve the stolen egg.

    Akhan, who was standing right next to Elder Vch, said, ¡°The Lord will be arriving safely soon.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a relief.¡±

    Akhan was not really that surprised to learn that most of the people that he sent to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had been wiped out. It was still within his expectations. Only those from the Lumae Kingdom had believed too much in themselves. At least there was one thing that they seeded in doing, they were able to take away the hatchling and were even able to take the Food God¡¯s aide as an added bonus.

    In this ce, 10,000 soldiers and 2,000 elite knights from Lumae Kingdom had gathered under Akhan. He was also leading around 20,000 monsters in his monster corps. Once the hatchling was taken out of the picture, Akhan, together with Elder Vch, would begin unleashing judgment on the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. The dragons were an arrogant and prideful race, they would surely not leave the ones that stole their Lord alone.

    But then, Akhan heard that ck Dragon Vormon had suddenly appeared in the capital of Baroque Kingdom and that his troops had retreated to watch the situation.

    ¡°I believe I have to go to Baroque Kingdom for a moment. It seems like something went wrong there.¡±

    <em>Swoosh¡ª</em>

    Akhan turned into smoke and disappeared.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s a man that you can¡¯t readily believe.¡¯</em>

    Vch might have followed Akhan''s words here, but he was no fool. He did not trust the words of Akhanpletely.

    Then, Renzie, the Warrior¡¯s Disciple, appeared on horseback. He was raised and taught by Lumae Kingdom¡¯s Overlord, Raldo, and was said to be the next generation right after Lumae Kingdom¡¯s King Raldo, the kingdom¡¯s absolute ruler. Renzie finally came to a halt in front of the 10,000 strong troops.

    <em>¡®Finally¡­!¡¯</em> Dragon Elder Vch¡¯s heart was pounding in excitement. The birth of their Great One would determine if the whole world would be brought into the darkness of despair or the light of hope.

    <em>¡®As long as they are not walking the path to destruction yet.¡¯</em>

    Once the Lord was born to the world, its existence and what it would grow to be would depend on the things that it would hear, see and experience. Vch wondered what existence it had be now as he slowly approached them.

    ¡°Who¡¯s the woman?¡±

    After hearing Vch¡¯s dignified voice, Renzie replied, ¡°She¡¯s the aide to the King of the Beyond the Heavens kingdom.¡±

    ¡°A person that serves the king of the kingdom that stole the Lord should be killed. I can¡¯t let any dirty blood contaminate the Lord any longer than this.¡±

    In the first ce, dragons were arrogant beings that did not take the lives of humans seriously. Renzie immediately dropped the woman from the horse.

    ¡°Kyaaaaa!¡±

    Then, Renzie peeled off the cloth that covered Haze¡¯s face. The moment the cover was removed, Haze looked at Renzie with a fierce and spiteful gaze.

    ¡°Ho?¡±

    Renzie felt curious. The woman in front of him was just shy of twenty years, yet she was not afraid and was asking them to spare her life. In fact, Haze never intended to beg them for her life. Doing so would mean that she was tarnishing the honor and interest of her king and friend, Minhyuk. Besides, she had already experienced a new life thanks to Minhyuk. She would not regret losing this life for him. It was just¡­

    ¡°Keep your hands off of Luna!¡± Haze shouted coldly,pletely ignoring the fact that her life would beid to waste here and unaware that the dragons were here to protect their Lord.

    ¡°Weren¡¯t you the ones that touched it first?¡± Renzie said as he unsheathed his sword.

    Haze red at the de of the sword that shone brightly under the rays of the sun. However, she could not hide the tremble that shook her core as she murmured, ¡°For His Majesty¡­ Minhyuk¡­¡±

    Renzie struck down his sword. Soon, Haze¡¯s head would roll on the ground and dye the ground red. But then, at that moment¡­

    <em>Piiiing¡ª</em>

    A spear suddenly flew and struck Renzie''s sword.

    <em>aaaaang!</em>

    <em>Piiing¡ª</em>

    Renzie, the Warrior¡¯s Disciple, felt his arm shake violently from the impact of the spear on his sword. Then, the red ruby ne that was hanging on the spear suddenly shone brightly.

    <em>[Red Ruby¡¯s Tear¡¯s artifact effect has been triggered.]</em>

    <em>[For ten minutes, those that had received the Red Ruby¡¯s Tear¡¯s protection effect would be unconditionally protected.]</em>

    <em>[For ten minutes, those that had received the Red Ruby¡¯s Tear¡¯s protection effect would not be able to move.]</em>

    Then, a red aura appeared and covered Haze¡¯s body.

    <em>¡®What the hell?¡¯</em>

    In the continent, those that could use aura could only be counted in one¡¯s hand. It was said that Warrior¡¯s Disciple Renzie was among the top. Although he was not as good as the Overlord, his strength and power had already reached the point where people said that he could surpass Sword Emperor Ellie in the future.

    But his sword was stopped, just like that?

    ¡°Who is it?!¡±

    ¡°Who dared to strike at Sir Renzie¡¯s sword¡­?!¡±

    ¡°Show yourself, bastard!¡±

    All of their eyes turned toward the direction where the spear came from. There, they saw a ck-haired veteran sweeping his hair back and tying it tightly before grabbing another spear. His aura and momentum as he sat on his ck horse was so fearsome that the monsters and knights that were standing in front of him stepped back unknowingly.

    ¡°Ha¡­!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just one bastard?¡±

    ¡°And it¡¯s even an old man to boot?¡±

    The tension in everyone¡¯s body dispersed as they sighed in relief. The veteran red sharply as he surveyed the thousands of enemy troops in front of him. Then, he took a bandage and wrapped it around his hands. In fact, he had already wrapped his body in bandages while he was chasing after Haze and Luna. The old man was already prepared to give his life here as he urged the horse with his shins.

    ¡°Hiyaaaa!¡±

    <em>Clop, clop, clop, clop, clop¡ª</em>

    The old man raised his spear high up in the sky as he ran with his horse. The knights and monsters immediately flocked to where he was to stop his advance.

    Seeing this scene, Renzie could not help but burst out inughter, <em>¡®He¡¯s just a single old man, what can he even do¡­?¡¯</em>

    When the thought appeared in Renzie¡¯s head¡­

    ¡°Aaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Urrrrrrrrrrk!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Screams rang loudly as the soldiers and monsters that blocked the old man¡¯s path got swept away.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    The old man quickly pierced through the hearts of his enemies as he rushed forward at a fierce momentum. This charging old man was none other than the personal barista of King Minhyuk, the legendary Ghost Spear, Ben.

 Chapter 502: The One that Became a Demigod

    Chapter 502: The One that Became a Demigod

    Ghost Spear Ben rushed toward the 40,000 strong monster corps in front of him. He thrust his spear and reaped the heads of the enemies that tried to block him with their own spears and weapons. Another sh and he was able to cut down four heads.

    <em>Thump, thump, thump, thump¡ª</em>

    <em>Thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    <em>Thump, thump¡ª</em>

    The enemy troops¡¯ heads fell down and rolled on the ground. But Ghost Spear Ben did not pay them any mind and just urged his horse to charge forward, pushing the knights and monsters that blocked their path away.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Uggghhhhh!¡±

    The soldiers that were being pushed back screamed loudly until their formation was broken and disrupted, forcing them to lose their bnce and fall down. Ben thrust his spear forward and stabbed several soldiers in one go, before pulling his spear out just as quickly.

    <em>Spurt¡ª!</em>

    Red blood spurted out and covered the skies. Even though he was witnessing it with his own eyes, Renzie still could not believe it, <em>¡®How in the world is that an old man¡­?!¡¯</em>

    The old man¡¯s spear was sharp and urate. His gaze was even far sharper and fiercer than anybody else¡¯s. His movements were also as light as a feather and as swift as a ghost. There was nothing that Renzie could say about the old man¡¯s expression either. In fact, he was genuinely impressed by how the old man was taking on 40,000 troops all by his lonesome self.

    Even though the soldiers of Lumae Kingdom were called soldiers, they were actually as strong as the knights from other kingdoms. Yet they were falling helplessly under the de of the old man¡¯s spear.

    In the end, the old man¡¯s horse, which was stabbed by several spears, had no choice but to copse.

    ¡°<em>Hihihihihing</em><em>!</em>¡± The horse screamed loudly as it fell on the ground. Ghost Spear Ben had been lowered on the ground gently. However, he did not stop; he just stood up to rush forward once again. He charged, cutting and stabbing his opponents with his spear, dying it red with blood.

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    Eventually, the spear that Ben was swinging broke apart. He did not stop his attacks, he just threw the upper part of his spear with all his might and ended up stabbing through six soldiers.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab!</em>

    ¡°Aaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    Screams rang rampant in the area as Ghost Spear Ben pulled out another spear and continued his ughter, charging forward all the while.

    ¡°U, ughhhhh¡­¡±

    ¡°Ri, ridiculous¡­¡±

    The monsters, soldiers and knights were being pushed back by Ben¡¯s momentum. Renzie truly could not believe what was happening in front of him.

    <em>¡®How, how can this be¡­¡¯</em>

    The old man was obviously an outstanding spearman. He was the type of person that would definitely not be ignored even if he went to Lumae Kingdom. But that was it. He was just that. No matter how strong he was, there was no way that he alone could deal with 40,000 troops. However, the skills that the old man was disying right now were far stronger than his usual power. This was because Ghost Spear Ben had given up on his life.

    <em>¡®Your Majesty,¡¯ </em>Ghost Spear Ben thought with a hazy smile on his face as he continued to charge forward.

    Ben had lived for a long time. He roamed the continent drunk on his power while his son died a miserable death. Back then, he thought that his life was going to end just like that.

    Then, Ben met Minhyuk. He was a very mysterious and interesting boy. The boy gave an old man like him the reason and motivation to live. Ben would always be all smiles whenever he looked at Minhyuk. Even his heart pounded with excitement whenever he did anything with the boy. If the boy was happy, Ben would feel happy too. If the boy was sad, then Ben would be sad too.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s my king, my friend, and sometimes¡­ sometimes¡­¡¯</em>

    Ben had to swallow back the words that he was about to utter.

    <em>¡®Your Majesty, I will protect everything that¡¯s precious to you.¡¯</em>

    Ghost Spear Ben had already lived a long life. It would not be a waste to lose it here to protect his king and those that are precious to him. It was both Ben¡¯s answer and his way to repay the man he held dear to his heart.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    One of the spears stabbed Ben¡¯s nks.

    ¡°I, I did it¡­! I did it¡­!¡± The knight, whose face was glowing in excitement and happiness, shouted. However, he immediately turned speechless after seeing Ghost Spear Ben¡¯s face. Ben¡¯s expression did not waver at all. He smashed the spear with his hand, and blew the head of the knight that attacked him.

    <em>Puhaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    Then, Ben continued to charge forward once again.

    <em>Fwooooooooosh¡ª</em>

    Even when an arrow stabbed at Ben¡¯s shoulder, he never screamed or changed his expression; he kept on advancing. When someone stabbed his back with a dagger, he just turned around and cut down his attacker, before moving forward once again. All of it was for His Majesty¡¯ precious ones. Ben¡¯s breath gradually became heavier and even his body started to slow down. However, he never stopped. He squeezed thest of his strength and ran as fast as he could.

    ¡°Uwooooooh!¡±

    The bandages that covered Ben¡¯s body were soon dyed red with blood. He ran faster and stabbed his enemies quicker.

    <em>Baaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    An iron mace flew from the side and mmed into Ghost Spear Ben¡¯s body.

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    Ben flew to the side and eventually lost his grip on his spear.

    <em>ng¡ª</em>

    Ben was bleeding through his head. The soldiers that rushed at him all believed, ¡®This time, he¡¯ll definitely fall.¡¯ But the old man just stood up, grabbed the dagger on his body and stabbed the knight that attacked him on the neck before moving forward once again.

    ¡°S, Stop him! Stop him!!!¡±

    ¡°Shit¡­ What in the world is that old man!?¡±

    Despite bleeding all over, the old man still continued to rush forward. As he slowly approached Haze and Luna, Ben hoped.

    ¡®<em>It¡¯s just a tiny wish¡­ God, please give me a final burst of strength.¡¯</em>

    Ben did not believe in God yet he was praying to whoever was listening, to give him more strength and let his body endure longer so that he could go further.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Ben gripped the dagger in his hands tightly as he cut down his enemies one after the other. But then, three spears stabbed at his body at the same time which forced him to stop in his tracks. In the end, his body staggered while his vision started to blur. He thought of Haze and Luna but his body was already falling to the ground.

    <em>Thuuuuud¡ª</em>

    Ghost Spear Ben might have fallen, but his mind was still clear.

    <em>¡®Not yet. I can¡¯t die yet.¡¯</em>

    Ben crawled forward and shed the legs of the knights that blocked his path.

    ¡°Aaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Euaaaaack!¡±

    Ben slowly got up on his feet. His steps were unsteady but he continued to move forward, grabbing the spear that one of the knights thrust towards him, stabbing the knight with his dagger, and yanking the spear out of his opponent¡¯s hands.

    <em>¡®Just a bit more¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    An arrow hit Ben¡¯s shoulder, but he continued to cut down his enemies.

    <em>¡®Just a bit more¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>Stab, stab¡ª</em>

    Another spear stabbed Ben¡¯s chest, but he just cut down the enemy in front of him.

    <em>¡®Just a bit mooooooore!!!¡¯</em>

    <em>Baaaaang!</em>

    Someone sent magic to devour Ben¡¯s body, but he just walked out of the fire pit as though he did not feel it, and ran forward.

    Ridiculous as it may sound, Ben eventually reached his target. He was now only a hundred meters away from Luna and Haze. He was able to reach that point after breaking through the 40,000 strong troops.

    Still, his body eventually reached its limits. However, he still pushed forward and did not allow himself to fall. From what it looked like, it was getting harder and harder for Ben to hold himself up.

    <em>¡®Please, please just give me onest burst of strength¡­¡¯</em>

    Ben recalled looking at Brod and Elpis and wanting to be stronger. He did not want to be just some named legend, he wanted to be the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ sword and shield and protect his king. Ben wanted to stay with his king for a very long time and protect everyone with his power. Perhaps it was just him being greedy, but it did not matter. Even if he would be called greedy, all he wanted to do was serve his king for a little while longer.

    Ghost Spear Ben, despite his wobbling figure, looked like he would be able to kill anyone.

    ¡°Don¡¯t, don¡¯t kill him!!! Don¡¯t kill him!¡± Renzie sputtered unconsciously. He felt like it was a waste to kill such a great veteran. But even though Renzie shouted from behind them, the soldiers and knights still continued to attack Ben. They felt like they should never let this old man in front of them go.

    ¡®<em>Give the old man a split second of reprieve and it would be our heads that would fly off.</em>¡¯

    One of the knights stabbed Ghost Spear Ben through his neck believing that it was now the end of the old man¡¯s massacre. But then¡­

    <em>[The One that Gained Enlightenment.]</em>

    <em>[Demon Kimaris¡¯ power has allowed you to ovee your final limits.]</em>

    <em>[The One that Wants to Protect. The One that Wants to Win. The One that has Realized his Own Weakness. You have awakened your final powers!]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 25%.]</em>

    <em>[Your Ghost Spearmanship has surpassed the MAX limit.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained another spearmanship on top of your Ghost Spearmanship!]</em>

    <em>[A special privilege will be given to the One that Gained Enlightenment.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP and MP has increased to 40%!]</em>

    This was one of Kimaris¡¯ special abilities that could only be triggered whenever he was nearby. It was a skill that gave him the power to draw out the final growth of his ally that had reached their limits and allow them to ovee that very same limit. The skill activating meant that Kimaris was somewhere around this area. And¡­

    <em>Blink¡ª</em>

    ¡­the closed eyes of the dying Ghost Spear Ben suddenly opened, while a few of the injuries that he sustained began to recover. Then, Ben snatched the spear lodged in his throat.

    ¡°Hiiiiiiik!¡± Before the knight could finish screaming, his neck was already bent at an unusual angle as Ben, with his Ghost Spearmanship that went beyond the max level, expressed his skill.

    ¡°Ghost¡¯s¡­¡±

    Ben¡¯s voice sounded like a death sentence to the ears of the nearby troops, his spear glowing with an unusual reddish hue.

    ¡°¡­Attacking Spear.¡±

    The skill originally could only send out dozens of attacks towards the enemies¡¯ vital points. But now, it could send out hundreds.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    The hundreds of soldiers that blocked Ben¡¯s path all copsed in that split second. Ghost Spear Ben just stepped over their bodies and continued moving forward, with his stronger spear and fiercer momentum.

    ¡°Stop him!!!¡± Renzie shouted, his entire being ovee with deep terror. He knew that he could stop the old man if he just stepped forward but he was not willing to do so.

    <em>¡®Impossible.¡¯</em>

    All Renzie could think of was how impossible of a task it was. How could a lone old veteran trample and kill that many people to get to where they were?

    ¡°Hurry! Stop him!!!¡±

    At Renzie¡¯smand, the knights hurriedly surrounded Ben to stop his advance. But Ghost Spear Ben had already be more powerful than earlier, his spear could now pierce through the knights¡¯ thicker and tougher armor and take their lives in one go.

    ¡°Grandpa Ben! Please, please stop! You¡¯ll really die at this rate. Please, I beg you¡­!¡± Haze cried hoarsely.

    But Ghost Spear Ben just looked at her with a hazy smile on his face and said, ¡°I have never learned how to back down.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Renzie felt a twinge in his heart. There weren¡¯t that many people that could bring him this much terror and no one that could make his heart feel pain like this. So, he spoke to the old man that was killing through his men with great sincerity, ¡°Stop now, Mister Veteran! I am speaking to you with utmost sincerity. Come to our Lumae Kingdom. I will give you everything! I swear on my name. You are someone that deserves so much better! You! I want you!¡±

    Renzie urged with great reference but Ghost Spear Ben was really a man that had never learned to back down. He continued to stab through the gaps of the knights¡¯ armor and killed them one after another.

    But no matter how strong Ben became, there was not much he could do against the number of his enemies. He sustained plenty more cuts and stabs to the point that his blood had already dyed the ground red. But he still continued to move forward, forward and forward and the knights kept on falling, falling, and falling.

    <em>¡®N, no¡­ Do, don¡¯te here! Please. I don¡¯t want to kill you!¡¯</em>

    Renzie felt that it was a waste that a great man like Ben would die. But Ghost Spear Ben had already reached Haze¡¯s side. In the end, Renzie had to move to stop him. He stabbed his sword straight at the rushing old man¡¯s abdomen.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­Damn it!¡± Renzie cursed. He could tell that his blow was a fatal one, it was so fatal that no one would be able to escape death. Renzie knew that his strike was enough to tear all of Ben¡¯s internal organs apart.

    <em>Drip, drip, drip¡ª</em>

    Ghost Spear Ben, with his torn abdomen, stumbled. The string that tied his hair together also broke apart, his ck hair fluttering messily with the wind and covering his disheveled face.

    <em>ng¡ª</em>

    The spear in Ben¡¯s hands nged loudly as it fell on the ground. Seeing this, everyone believed that the old veteran would finally fall down now. But then, at that moment¡­

    ¡°The only one that I will serve¡­¡±

    Ben¡¯s voice, which was still filled with vitality, rang in everyone¡¯s ears. Renzie looked down only to make eye contact with the old man through the gaps of his messy hair.

    ¡°¡­is His Majesty Minhyuk.¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Ben¡¯s fist mmed into Renzie¡¯s face.

    ¡°Keoheok!¡±

    The burning pain that red in Renzie¡¯s face forced a violent scream out of his mouth. But at that moment, Renzie felt something unusual.

    <em>¡®The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King¡­ has won this man¡¯s heartpletely¡­? I envy you¡­ I¡¯m so f*cking jealous of you¡­!¡¯</em>

    At this very moment, Renzie felt extreme envy towards the king of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. But when he looked at Ben and saw his raised fist once again, Renzie felt a deeper terror, a fear that he had never felt in his entire life.

    ¡°Hiiiiiiiik!¡±

    The Warrior¡¯s Disciple, the Overlord¡¯s Descendant, one of the absolute existences in the entire continent¡­ Renzie was now utterly terrified, his hands crossed over his face to protect himself. Everyone that witnessed the scene was extremely shocked. Then¡­

    <em>Piiiiiiiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    A spear of light suddenly pierced through Ghost Spear Ben¡¯s heart. This was Dragon Elder Vch¡¯s magic. Vch had been watching the situation with great interest and only decided to take action at this very moment.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Although Ghost Spear Ben¡¯s heart had been pierced through, his body did not shake or waver at all. Everyone believed that it was so he could protect his king¡¯s pride and honor. But slowly, ever so slowly, his body fell down.

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    Blood started to drip down from Ben¡¯s chest, his vision starting to blur. But suddenly Ghost Spear Ben thought, <em>¡®I want to see His Majesty¡¯ smile as he eats something delicious.¡¯</em>

    The thought of his king brought a wide smile to the dying Ben¡¯s lips. Despite his haggard look and bloodied appearance, the smile that he showed at this very moment was more beautiful than any of his smiles. Then, Ben muttered the word that he always wanted to say, the word that he always hid in his heart, the word that he never allowed himself to say¡­

    ¡°Son¡­¡±

    Snow began to fall and cover everything in white.

 Chapter 503: The One that Became a Demigod

    Chapter 503: The One that Became a Demigod

    Akhan had many followers from all over the world that were working actively in the dark. One of them was a Korean yer by the name of Lucio, who immediately followed Akhan¡¯s movements the moment he entered the Asgan Continent. When the NPC named Renzie appeared with Haze and the hatchling followed by Ghost Spear Ben, Lucio immediately turned on his inte broadcast. The reason?

    <em>¡®I need to show the world how weak Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is.¡¯</em>

    In the first ce, Akhan aimed to bring down the entire Athenian worldview. He also wanted to show the world how weak ordinary yers were during the process. That was why Lucio turned on his broadcast. He believed that he would be able to show the Korean yers how the old man called Ghost Spear, a person that had ovee several obstacles and adversities, would die in vain. But the result was¡­

    ¡°Ah¡­¡± Lucio let out a sigh. His heart was pounding fiercely, his breath was ragged and even his head was spinning. He felt like he was going to burst into tears. In fact, if he had not caught himself in time, he would have already apuded the old man.

    The old man, all by his lone self, desperately broke through the 40,000 strong enemy troops.

    For a moment, Lucio wondered if the old man in front of him was truly just an artificial intelligence that was created by humans. Looking at the old man invoked empathy from deep within Lucio.

    <em>¡®Get yourself together!¡¯</em>

    But he was Akhan¡¯s follower, that was why Lucio did his best to control his emotions. However, he could not stop the people watching his broadcast. Among the hundreds of thousands of viewers that watched his stream, many watched Ben with admiration, marvel, and apuse.

    <em>[It¡¯s like a movie¡­ Ghost Spear Ben is really cool¡­]</em>

    <em>[How many people can jump into the fray and fight against tens of thousands of enemies to save Haze and the hatchling?]</em>

    <em>[Don¡¯t you think the white snow falling at this time is like the skies honoring him?]</em>

    <em>[Get up! Get up, Ben! Ghost Spear Ben, stand up!!!]</em>

    <em>[Get up, Ben!!!]</em>

    <em>[Get up, Ben!!!]</em>

    Despite the people¡¯s hopes and expectations, none of them could deny the fact that Ghost Spear Ben was unable to move anymore. Ben¡¯s heart was already torn apart, blood gushing down the ground. The skies rained down white snow on Ben, turning his body colder by the second. The only sign that he was still holding on to his life was the slight twitch in his body.

    ¡°Grandpa! Grandpaaaaaa!¡± Haze screamed. The knights immediately blocked her path while turning to look at Renzie. When Renzie nodded slightly, the knights opened up a path for Haze. Haze immediately ran to Ben, checking his body all over. Ben¡¯s body was riddled with holes, his flesh already torn and falling apart. It was obvious that he would not be able to move anymore with the state of his body. But Ghost Spear Ben still moved.

    ¡°Grandpa, don¡¯t die! Please! Don¡¯t die!!!¡±

    Haze did not care about her own death. But she knew the reason why Ghost Spear Ben moved so recklessly and desperately. That was why she was both sad and torn. Renzie trudged in front of Haze, who was holding Ghost Spear Ben close to her, and raised his fist on his left chest. He was paying his respects to the true warrior in front of him.

    <em>Thump¡ª</em>

    <em>Thump¡ª</em>

    <em>Thump¡ª</em>

    <em>Thump¡ª</em>

    The tens of thousands of soldiers immediately followed right after and paid their tribute to Ben. This was a final courtesy to their enemy that showed great tenacity, will and abilities.

    <em>[F*ck¡­ Ghost Spear Ben is dead. Ah, I¡¯m crying. He¡¯s really cool¡­ ??]</em>

    <em>[Even though he was their enemy, the troops still admitted Ben¡¯s prowess. Chivalry is cool.]</em>

    Everyone stood still for a moment in honor of Ghost Spear Ben and the path that he chose. Without saying a word, Renzie turned around. He needed to do what he had to do.

    Haze just hugged Ben and sobbed. She whispered hoarsely to Ben¡¯s ears, ¡°If you go like this then¡­ If you go like this, then His Majesty will be sad. You know that you can¡¯t go like this¡­!¡±

    Renzie nodded at the knights as the knights immediately rushed to separate Haze from Ben.

    ¡°Noo! Noooo! Grandpa! Grandpaaaaaa¡­!¡±

    Then¡­

    <em>Twitch¡ª</em>

    Ben¡¯s fingers twitched.

    ***

    Ghost Spear Ben feltfortable. He was now able to put down all the weight that he carried his entire life and fall into eternal rest. As his body slowly cooled down and his consciousness started to blur, the life that he lived started to sh in his eyes. At the end of his life¡¯s story, Minhyuk stood with a bright smile on his face.

    <em>¡®Your Majesty¡­¡¯</em>

    To his sorrow, Ben copsed after seeing the bright smile on Minhyuk¡¯s face reced with tears. Minhyuk wept as he looked at him.

    <em>¡®Why are you crying like that¡­?¡¯</em>

    Haze¡¯s voice pierced through his blurring consciousness, ¡°If you go like this then¡­ If you go like this then His Majesty will be sad. You know that you can¡¯t go like this¡­!¡±

    Ben immediately tried to gather his slipping consciousness as he moved his cooling hands.

    <em>Twitch¡ª</em>

    Ben was only able to gather enough strength to move his fingers. But that was enough. Ben slowly, ever so slowly, pulled out something from his pockets. It was the thing that Elpis had handed over to him before.

    <em>¡®Grandpa Ben, you¡¯re training very hard every night because you want to be stronger, right? Here, Brod left this gift before he left the territory.¡¯</em>

    The item was none other than the ¡®Demigod Training Parchment¡¯. Elpis had told him that he could die if he used the parchment recklessly. But Ben did not want to see his king cry sadly because of him.

    <em>Riiiiip¡ª</em>

    Ben squeezed thest of his strength to grip the parchment and rip it apart. And then¡­

    <em>Thump¡ª</em>

    ¡­his arm fell down as his mind turned nk.

    ***

    <em>Riiiiiiiip¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Renzie turned to look back in shock. It was because Ghost Spear Ben squeezed thatst of his strength and tore something apart.

    <em>¡®What the hell¡­?!¡¯</em>

    The old man had brought them one shock after another. And just when they thought everything was over, the old man shocked them once again. All of them wondered why Ghost Spear Ben was that strong.

    Renzie could not figure out what the parchment that Ghost Spear Ben had torn apart. At that moment, Dragon Elder Vch, a dragon that had lived for thousands of years, said, ¡°Isn¡¯t that a Demigod Training Parchment?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°You should know that many strong people covered the continent a long time ago.¡±

    The proud Renzie had no choice but to admit it after hearing Elder Vch¡¯s words. The past and the present werepletely different. The past might mean tens of thousands of years ago, perhaps even more than that, but the present was just that, the present.

    The Continental Empress Ellie was also hailed as a slightly remarkable legend in the past.

    ¡°But among them, a small number of talented, strong people transcended the general strength and reached a higher level. They were people that despised the limits created by their human bodies and decided to challenge the harsh trials and tribtions, walking the path of a ¡®Demigod¡¯, a being among the Continental Gods that is half human and half god.¡±

    The Continental Gods¡¯ prime examples were Sword God Valen and the Food God. The Continental Gods were gods that socialized and interacted with humans on earth.

    ¡°I am aware of the existence of the Continental Gods, but I am not aware of the Demigods.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s only natural. Demigods are absolute existences. Less than hundred of them are born in tens of thousands of years. I have no idea on how many demigods have been born in the Asgan Continent. But each of the demigods in their own fields have created a path for their descendants to inherit their skills. That is the Demigod Training Parchment.¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Renzie immediately turned to look back at Ben in shock. But Ben¡¯s body was still in the process of turning cold. In fact, the snow was already piling up on his body.

    ¡°That¡¯s a relief. It seems like there¡¯s still a lot of Demigod Parchments scattered around in the continent. However, none of the challengers have ever seeded inpleting these trials. That¡¯s just how painful and difficult these trials are. That human¡¯s disposition and temperament are excellent, I admit that. However, he would not be able to inherit the Demigod¡¯s Path like that. He¡¯s just hastening his death.¡±

    ¡°¡­Does that mean that old man, who looks to be dead, is undergoing a trial?¡±

    ¡°He must be facing a demigod that fits him. The time inside the trial and the outside world is different. Perhaps ten or a hundred days have already passed inside but to us it¡¯s just a few seconds or minutes.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Renzie could tell that the old man was trying to grab atst straws. But listening to Vch, he knew that it was impossible for the man to inherit that path. Ghost Spear Ben was a truly outstanding and respectable figure. However,pared to the geniuses of the present era, his power was not enough.

    ¡°It¡¯s snowing a lot,¡± Renzie noted bitterly as he recalled the man that tried to protect his precious loved ones until the very end while watching the falling snow.

    ***

    President Kang Taehoon noticed that the meeting room was in turmoil.

    ¡°Ghost, Ghost Spear Ben¡­ he¡¯s for real. He¡¯s an existence that went beyond the limits of artificial intelligence and yers and connected them together!¡±

    ¡°Ghost Spear Ben is the prime example of someone breaking down the wall that separated the NPCs from the yers. I can feel my heart pounding just by watching this scene.¡±

    ¡°President Kang Taehoon had always hoped that the NPCs and the yers would be true friends. It seems like it¡¯s now a reality.¡±

    But President Kang Taehoon could not smile. This was because Ghost Spear Ben, the old man that Food God Minhyuk loved and cherished, was slowly turning into a cold corpse. Even the others felt sorry for Ben.

    ¡°We know for sure that there would be people strong enough to challenge the Demigod Training Parchment in two years. But right now? It¡¯s absolutely impossible.¡±

    ¡°In the end, Ghost Spear Ben is just one among the many legendary NPCs, fallen and scattered in the world.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a pity, but what he¡¯s trying to do is impossible.¡±

    ¡°This is sad.¡±

    All of them said the same thing. In fact, even President Kang Taehoon thought the same. But just in case, he still asked Athenae, who was linked to his mobile phone.

    <em>[Athenae. What¡¯s the probability of Ghost Spear Ben sessfully inheriting the power of the Demigod?]</em>

    <em>[The highest probability that he can get is 0.2%.]</em>

    The probability that Athenae calcted was dependent on Ghost Spear Ben¡¯s power and potential. The fact that the highest probability was 0.2% meant that Ben¡¯s chances of seeding were lower than that.

    Perhaps he only had less than 0.1% of chances if things did not go his way.

    President Kang Taehoon had already expected this answer, but he still could not help but rub his face in exasperation. News about the death of a Named NPC, an event that urred several times a day, would be reported to the NPC Management Team. The NPC Management Team was simr to the Special yers Management Team, but instead of managing yers, they were managing NPCs.

    ¡°What¡¯s the situation in Baroque Kingdom¡¯s capital?¡±

    No matter how sad the situation was now, Kang Taehoon did not have the leisure to feel sadness. But just when he asked that question¡­

    <em>ck¡ª</em>

    The door mmed open as the NPC Management Team Leader entered.

    ***

    The snowstorm was getting worse by the second. Finally, Elder Vch was able to see the dragon, Luna.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeee! Kihyeeeeeeeee!¡± Luna cried sadly as he looked over to where Ghost Spear Ben was.

    ¡°My King, you should not waste your tears for such an insignificant human. Now that I¡¯m here, you don¡¯t have to worry about anything.¡±

    ¡°Kihyeee! Kihyee! Kihyeeeeee!¡±

    But tears kept on falling down Luna¡¯s cheeks. Luna was growing steadily and was able topletely understand the feeling of sadness, as well as Ben¡¯s hope to protect them. She felt deep sadness in her heart. And¡­

    ¡°Kihyeeeee!!!¡± Luna cried out as she struggled out of Vch¡¯s hold. She spread her tiny wings and fluttered to where Ghost Spear Ben, who was nowpletely covered in snow, was.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeee!¡±

    Luna¡¯s tears continued to drip down. The knights and the soldiers that were concerned about Luna¡¯s movements immediately gathered around her.

    ¡°I¡¯ll do it,¡± Renzie said as he walked forward to try and separate Luna from Ghost Spear Ben. But then, at that moment¡­

    <em>Swoooooooosh¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    An iprehensible phenomena suddenly appeared in front of Renzie. The white snow that covered Ghost Spear Ben¡¯s body began to melt. As¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡­a huge pir of light fell down from the sky into Ghost Spear Ben¡¯s hands.

    ¡°Kghhhhhhk!¡±

    ¡°Keoheok?!¡±

    ¡°Ugh! Heooook?!¡±

    All of the humans present were forced to kneel down from the absolute power that fell down from the skies. None of them could go against it at all. In fact, it was so powerful that even the Dragon Elder, Vch, was reeling from the aura that surrounded them. The pir of light was extremely blinding that all of them were forced to close their eyes.

    Renzie, who gradually regained his vision, saw an unbelievably ridiculous sight in front of him. The thing that they assumed was a pir of light was in fact a spear. It was a spear made of light and it was slowly falling down from the skies to where Ghost Spear Ben was.

    Ben¡¯s left hand was gently ced on top of the crying Luna¡¯s head while his right hand stretched toward the skies, reaching for the spear of light.

    <em>Graaaaaab¡ª</em>

    The moment his hand caught the falling spear of light¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡­it burst out in another sh of blinding light. It was so bright that it wasparable to the sun that lit up the entire world. And Ghost Spear Ben, who everyone believed was already dead, opened his mouth and said, ¡°Aerdes¡¯ Spearmanship Chapter Four.¡±

    Ben¡¯s hoarse yet firm voice made Renzie, Dragon Elder Vch, and even the rest of the troops tense up from both nervousness and pressure. Then, the snow that was falling on the ground suddenly stopped mid-air.

    ¡°Spear of Destruction.¡±

 Chapter 504: The One that Became a Demigod

    Chapter 504: The One that Became a Demigod

    The snowstorm was blowing so fiercely that none of the people present could see clearly in front of them. But the thick falling of snow suddenly stopped mid-air. Some of the people smiled brightly at this phenomena, knowing that Ghost Spear Ben was once again moving.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s¡­ beautiful¡­¡¯</em>

    It was as if time had stopped in this space. Finally, Ghost Spear Ben¡¯s mouth, which paused after he uttered ¡®Aerdes¡¯ Spearmanship¡¯, opened once again, ¡°Spear of Destruction.¡±

    The moment Ben¡¯s voice fell, the knights, who were looking at the snow, turned back to him only to see the spear of light in Ben¡¯s hand shine brightly and release hundreds of spears of light. These beautiful spears of light suddenly flew out and shot through the hearts of Ben¡¯s enemies.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    It stabbed one, two, three, four, five, seven, ten people in one go. The spears of light broke through more than ten thick sheets of metal armor, reaped the lives of those soldiers, before continuing to extend forward.

    <em>Sizzle¡ª</em>

    Even Dragon Elder Vch¡¯s face was torn and dripping with blood from the attack, ¡°Ugh!¡±

    Renzie, who tried to stop the spears of light, flew back from the impact and vomited a mouthful of blood, ¡°Urk!¡± He copsed on the ground and could note back to his senses for a while. He tried so hard to clear his muddled head by shaking it hard, but the scene presented in front of him made him feel numb.

    ¡°This, this¡­ impossible¡­¡±

    More than 3,000 knights, soldiers, and monsters disappeared into ashes as the spears of light bloomed beautifully in their midst.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Ghost Spear Ben slowly rose amidst the thousands of spears that floated in the air. His ck hair, which grew long enough to reach his waist, fluttered fiercely in the wind. Along with his spectacr revival, a shocking notification rang for all of the yers present.

    <em>[yer ¡®Anonymous¡¯ has sessfully developed and raised their vassal to ovee the limits of their human body and reached the level of a Demigod.]</em>

    <em>[This is the appearance of this era¡¯s new transcendent. A Demigod has been born to the world!!!]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Everyone present was shocked. Lucio, Akhan¡¯s follower, hurriedly tried to end his broadcast. However, it was already toote.

    <em>[Ghost Spear Ben became¡­ a god¡­?]</em>

    <em>[A Demigod¡­? Did I see that correctly?]</em>

    <em>[An NPC can be a god on their own?]</em>

    <em>[Ghost Spear Ben is alive¡­ Ghost Spear Ben is back!!!]</em>

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is crazy¡­ Every time someone has done something that no one in the world has done, you can rest assured that they¡¯re from Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s f*cking awesome¡­ for real. God Ghost Spear right after our Lord Food God?]</em>

    <em>[At this rate, won¡¯t Beyond the Heavens Kingdom be a bnce breaker¡­?]</em>

    <em>[Yepyep. And another yepyep. Beyond the Heavens Kingdom haspletely thrown the bnce of the world into disarray. But even if I wanted to say something, I can¡¯t say anything after seeing how cool Ghost Spear Ben is¡­]</em>

    Lucio chewed his lips. The broadcast that he hoped would bring the downfall of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was now promoting it. In the end¡­

    <em>¡®F*ck it all.¡¯</em>

    Although Lucio followed Akhan, he only dreamt of seeing the copse of Athenae for fun. In a way, he was just one of the many yers that were broadcasting.

    <em>¡®Should I go for it and do a proper broadcast to increase my number of subscribers?!¡¯</em>

    Lucio decided to just continue his broadcast.

    <em>Vwoooooooong¡ª</em>

    Although Ghost Spear Ben was just standing there and holding his spear, there was an unapproachable aura emitting from his body. His sharp eyes immediately turned to where Luna and Haze were. Renzie hurriedly got back on his feet. He knew that the situation right now was very unusual.

    ¡°Stop hiiiiiiiiiim!!!¡±

    With Renzie¡¯s cry, the knights immediately sent out sword lights and arrows of their own toward Ben. But Ghost Spear Ben just swiped his spear in the skies as if he was cutting air. And the moment the enemies¡¯ attacks fell down¡­

    <em>Puhaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡­a strong wind blew and destroyed all of their attacks.

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Renzie¡¯s eyes turned wide as he looked at the scene in disbelief. Meanwhile, Ghost Spear Ben stepped forward and hugged Luna.

    ¡°Godly Steps.¡±

    This was a godly footwork. Despite tens of thousands of eyes focusing on Ben, none of them, with the only exception of Elder Vch, could chase after him. In a blink, Ben arrived in front of Haze, with Luna in his hands. He quickly hugged Haze and handed Luna over to her as he put them on a nearby horse.

    <em>Thwack¡ª</em>

    The horse neighed loudly as it reared its legs and ran swiftly after being smacked strongly on its behind. The knights, soldiers and monsters immediately flocked forward to block Ben¡¯s path and kill him.

    <em>aaaash¡ª</em>

    Ben¡¯s spear stretched forward, smashing plenty of metal armors and killing another five knights in one go.

    <em>Swoooosh¡ª</em>

    <em>aaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    Each swing of Ben¡¯s spear killed several knights.

    <em>Swiiiish¡ª</em>

    Sometimes, the knights¡¯ bodies would be cut in half. Ben¡¯s figure was reminiscent of that of the Spear God, as he protected the horse and swept away the troops that blocked their path.

    At that moment, Vch thought that he could not let Luna slip away like that. A tremendous force started to gather in front of Vch¡¯s mouth.

    ¡°Sh, shit¡­! Please stop that immediately! There are our allies out there!¡± Renzie cried out.

    However, dragons had never taken any human life seriously. It was just like how humans have sacrificed cattles for generations. It did not matter to them whether it was a cattle or a human, both are the same level of existence to them.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Vch, the dragon elder that had lived for thousands of years, fired a red burst of breath toward Ghost Spear Ben.

    ¡°Hihihihihihing!¡± The horse cried loudly as it tried to widen the distance between itself and the dragon. Ghost Spear Ben took this opportunity to turn around and point his spearhead toward the Dragon¡¯s Breath.

    <em>¡®He can never stop it.¡¯</em>

    Could a human even stop a dragon¡¯s breath? Impossible. Vch had never met such an existence before in his life. However, that was only ¡®before¡¯. Vch had lived for tens of thousands of years, but it was at this moment that he felt extreme shock when he saw Ghost Spear Ben¡¯s spearhead pointing against his breath.

    ¡°Aerdes¡¯ Spearmanship, Chapter Six.¡±

    The tip of Ben¡¯s spear slowly turned ck.

    ¡°Reflect.¡±

    <em>Swooooooosh¡ª</em>

    The powerful Dragon¡¯s Breath that loomed over Ghost Spear Ben was absorbed by the tip of his spear. After his spearhead devoured everything, Ben pointed it back toward Vch.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    A powerful Dragon¡¯s Breath suddenly shot out of the tip of Ben¡¯s spear, pushing his body back.

    <em>Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh¡ª</em>

    At the same time, Vch immediately created several red shields in front of him.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    But the force that flew out of Ben¡¯s spear was not something that Vch could stop so suddenly. In the end, the shield broke apart, as the attack surged forth to devour Vch¡¯s body.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!!!¡± Dragon Elder Vch roared loudly. However, Ben did not stop, immediately executing the Godly Steps.

    <em>Spuuuurt¡ª</em>

    The entire world watched in shock and disbelief as Ben¡¯s spear of light pierced through Dragon Vch¡¯s body, a dragon that was strong enough to be hailed as a Dragon Elder. Vch tried so hard to shake Ben off, he even stuck to the ground and writhed.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack! Graaaaaaaaa!¡±

    Ben, who once again used the Godly Steps, rode the horse and escorted Haze and Luna away. Without anyone realizing it, the number of bodies that Ben had cut down had already reached 15,000, the pile of corpses turning into a mountain.

    Although Haze saw everything with her own eyes, she still could not believe it, ¡°Grandpa Ben¡­! You became a god. That¡¯s so amazing! Truly, utterly amazing!!!¡±

    Haze could tell that Ben¡¯s newfound powers would be a great help to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. She could even imagine how happy Minhyuk would be to learn that Ben had grown stronger. So, she turned to look back at Ben with a wide smile on her face.

    However, the sight in front of her made her voice shake, ¡°G, grandpa¡­?¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    This was because Ghost Spear Ben¡¯s body was slowly disintegrating and turning into ck ash.

    ***

    Phone calls were pouring in Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s phones.

    ¡°We are currently in the middle of confirming this, please wait a moment and we will give you a response. Yes, hello. This is Joy. Co. Ltd. Ah, Ghost Spear Ben has broken the bnce? Not at all. Our Joy. Co. Ltd. is apany that aims to have a game with no broken bnces as much as possible¡­ Yes, yes.¡±

    Most of the phone calls were from the broadcast viewers. All of them were protesting about why a vassal, and not a yer, achieved godhood. It was apletely ridiculous feat in the history of Athenae.

    At the same time, NPC Management Team Leader Han In-Hye and President Kang Taehoon were having a discussion in the conference hall.

    ¡°How did Ghost Spear Ben be a Demigod? I¡¯m sure the probability of him achieving such a feat is only around 0.1%. You can¡¯t make excuses and say that he experienced divine intervention and got lucky.¡±

    It did not matter how Kang Taehoon felt, this obviously spelled a copse in the game. It was inexcusable.

    However, Team Leader Han In-Hye just shook her head and said, ¡°The bnce is not broken. It¡¯s because¡­¡±

    She turned to look at the monitor disying Ghost Spear Ben and his desperate fight to clear a path against tens of thousands of enemies. The old man was still doing his best and giving it his all.

    ¡°This is a miracle created from the deep bond between a yer and an NPC. And¡­¡± Han In-Hye choked up, her eyes turning misty from tears, ¡°¡­he did not achieve godhood.¡±

    Han In-Hye hurriedly wiped the tears that fell down her cheeks with her sleeves. President Kang Taehoon looked at the sobbing Han In-Hye in confusion.

    ¡®<em>What does she mean that Ghost Spear Ben did not achieve godhood?</em>¡¯

    Kang Taehoon, who was asking that question in his head, turned to the monitor and finally understood what she meant after seeing Ghost Spear Ben slowly disintegrate into a mysterious ck ash.

    <em>¡®What the hell happened?¡¯</em>

    Kang Taehoon wondered what happened when Ben met with Demigod Aerdes.

    ***

    In the distant past, five thousand years ago, Spear God Aerdes walked the path of the Demigod and took the name of Spear Transcendental. She was an absolute existence that eventually achieved godhood and became the Spear God.

    As much of an absolute existence Aerdes was, she was also a very arrogant, picky and ill-tempered person. The Demigod Training trial that she had set was extremely gruesome and horrendous. Ten thousand times. If the one that took the trial could inflict a fatal wound in Aerdes just once during that ten thousand times then they would seed. They could give up any time out of their ten thousand chances but before they gave up, Aerdes would make sure to kill her opponent in the most horrible and gruesome way.

    But right now, Aerdes was forced to take a step back from the old man in front of her. The number of tries that the man had undergone already surpassed 3,000 times. During those 3,000 times, Aerdes had pulled out the man¡¯s eyes, cut off his limbs, and sometimes even made his heart explode. The pain that she had inflicted on the man was enough for anyone, even those with the greatest mental strength and will, to fold and go crazy.

    But the old man never screamed or backed down, even when he had died countless times. He just continued to attack Aerdes. The creepiest part was¡­

    ¡°Let¡¯s do it again.¡±

    ¡­the light in the old man¡¯s eyes never flickered. Aerdes was the great and arrogant Spear God, but she eventually acknowledged the strength and tenacity of the old man in front of her.

    <em>¡®None of the legends have endured past a thousand times.¡¯</em>

    Most of the people that took her trial ended up going crazy. However, Aerdes also knew that Ghost Spear Ben would not be able to leave a nick on her body even after the ten thousand chances had been used up.

    But, in recognition of the old man¡¯s unwavering will and tenacity, Aerdes said, ¡°You need a stronger power?¡±

    The old veteran remained silent but he nodded his head in answer. Aerdes looked at the man as she thought to herself, <em>¡®You have not received my recognition and will not be able to walk the path of a Demigod. However, I can lend you my power.¡¯</em>

    That was why Aerdes felt sad. She did not want to present this method but the man in front of her desperately needed and wanted it.

    ¡°I can let you inherit my power for a while. However, even though you will only inherit some of my god¡¯s power for a while, your body will not be able to endure it. Are you okay with that?¡±

    The question that was raised implied that the old man would die. But the old man just nodded his head. However, Aerdes¡¯ words were not yet over.

    ¡°After facing death, your soul will fall into hell and be under the direct control of the God of Death. You will have to suffer for thousands of years even in death.¡±

    Aerdes listed the pain and suffering that the old man would have to endure from the moment he inherited her power.

    ¡°Once your soul falls into hell, you will be forced to walk into a mountain of knives and feel the evesting pain of being stabbed by their des. You will also feel the pain of being cooked in a hot pot, the pain of being stuck in a cold block of ice, the pain of your tongue being pulled out, the pain of vipers wrapping around your body and biting you with their poisonous fangs, the pain of your bones being cut with a jagged saw, the pain of facing the biting wind with your bare body, the pain of being stuck in the dark and feeling despair and solitude with nothing on your body. You will remain in this void and continue to do so for thousands of years. You will even lose your shot at reincarnation. Will that be alright?¡±

    Aerdes¡¯ breath got caught in her throat. This was the first time that she had experienced such a feeling in her entire life. Even she, as the Spear God, felt her teeth tter at the thought of that evesting pain. She hoped that the man in front of her would reject her offer and run away. That he would let go of what he was trying to do and think for himself.

    But for the first time since they met, the old man smiled and said, ¡°I have never learned to back down.¡±

 Chapter 505: Beyond the Heavens Kingdom versus Akhan

    Chapter 505: Beyond the Heavens Kingdom versus Akhan

    Kimaris, the 66th ranked devil, was temporarily staying at Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. He was also witness to everything that was happening and had happened to the kingdom in the meantime.

    From the sudden raid in the capital, to the kidnapping of Haze and the hatchling Luna amidst the confusion and chaos, to Ben riding a horse and chasing the kidnapper alone, Kimaris did not have any intention of joining the war since he only wanted to enjoy one final ¡®y¡¯ here. In fact, it was also only through his curiosity that Kimaris chased after Ben. He only wanted to see what Ghost Spear Ben would do after chasing the enemy by himself.

    Kimaris had a lot of abilities, and among them was ¡®Animal Transformation¡¯, an ability that allowed him to change into the figure of various animals. After turning himself into a ck crow, Kimaris followed behind Ghost Spear Ben and saw everything that happened. Kimaris already knew that the old man was fighting a reckless battle that he would not survive.

    However, the old man still shone brightly despite the recklessness of his actions.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Kimaris looked at the old man and asked him in his heart, <em>¡®Why are you doing that? What will you gain with that?¡¯</em>

    Anyone could tell that the answer was nothing. But, even though the old man knew that he would gain nothing from this battle, he still faced their enemies and fought desperately. Even when Ben¡¯s body got torn and ripped apart, even when he vomited blood and copsed on the ground, he still continued to stand up and fight.

    Kimaris, someone that once was a human, felt his heart throb with long forgotten emotions after watching Ben¡¯s desperate fight. He was already shocked to see Ben fight like that, even when he stood to gain nothing, but he could not help but be surprised once again after seeing Ben trigger the ¡®One that Gained Enlightenment¡¯. Ben overcame his limits and grew stronger which prompted him to move forward once again.

    But in the end, the old man still died.

    Kimaris might be interested in Ben but that was the end of it. He did not have any reason to help him nor did he have any intentions to do so. However, Kimaris was once again given another shock when Ben stood up once more and was named as a god.

    ¡°¡­How?¡±

    Kimaris was both a clever and knowledgeable demon. He already knew the reason why Ghost Spear Ben was able to stand up once again. In fact, he met quite a few people that chose the same path as Ben in the past. However, these people faced terrible consequences. All of them got sentenced to thousands of years in hell, receiving punishment that was more painful than death.

    However, it was an undeniable fact that Ghost Spear Ben chose this path.

    ¡°All of this for your king¡­?¡±

    <em>Throb¡ª</em>

    Kimaris¡¯ heart throbbed once again as the memories of the king that he served, back when he was still a human, came flooding in his mind.

    Kimaris was a ck soldier who had made several contributions but when he was given an audience with the king, they did not give him the recognition that he deserved and even gave his contributions to someone else.

    Back then, the king said, <em>¡®What¡¯s wrong with your skin color? Disgusting! Tidy yourself quickly!¡¯ </em>That was right. The king that he served uttered those words the moment he saw him then threw him out of the hall, as if they were throwing out garbage.

    But the king that Ghost Spear Ben served was different. There was a baby pig beside him, a Sword Saint, a demon that wrote novels, a foul-mouthed pirate, Cerberus, and many others. Their king embraced them and epted them without any discrimination.

    <em>¡®If the king that I served was¡­ you then¡­¡¯</em>

    At this moment, Kimaris felt like he understood the reason why Elpis served this king, even just for a bit. Even so, Kimaris did not intend to help Ghost Spear Ben.

    However, his hands betrayed his stoic face. They were soaked with cold sweat. Even his lips opened as he mumbled unconsciously, ¡°Run. Run as far as you can, to the ce where your king is.¡±

    ***

    Haze shook her head fiercely.

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    An excerpt from a book that she read a while ago appeared in her head.

    <em>¡®Those that desire the power of the gods but fail to reach godhood can sell their souls to the God of Death to gain their god¡¯s power. In return, their souls will suffer for thousands of years in hell, their chances at reincarnation disappearing into dust.¡¯</em>

    Haze already knew the choice that Ben had made just by looking at the ck ash that was fluttering from his body. But Ghost Spear Ben was still smiling kindly at her.

    ¡°When I first met His Majesty, he made me some Blue Crab Ramyeon. Just thinking about it is making my mouth water. I want to taste it again¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Haze could only cry. Meanwhile, the hatchling, Luna, watched everything from beginning to end. She saw Ghost Spear Ben charging forward and fighting against tens of thousands of enemies for herself and Haze. He kept on standing up everytime he fell down, and did it over and over again. She was born with the Lord¡¯s blood so she was also aware of the path that Ghost Spear Ben chose.

    ¡°Kiyeeeeeeeeee! Kiyeeeeeeeee! Kiyeeeeeeeeeeeee!¡± Luna cried loudly, eyes bursting into tears.

    But Ben¡¯s smile continued to shine radiantly as he looked at Luna, who was perched on the horse, and said, ¡°It¡¯s alright, Luna. People will die one day.¡±

    As Luna grew, she also learnt of fear. And when she learnt of death, she felt like she was about tobust from the fear and sadness at the thought of someone dying. But Ghost Spear Ben, who was on the verge of death, just smiled.

    This situation was a first for a young hatchling like her. That was why she could not understand why someone would choose to abandon themselves to protect something. Even so, Luna found Ben¡¯s smile at this moment brighter than anyone¡¯s smile.

    That was when Luna realized that living her life for someone else and making sacrifices was something that was worth the pain and effort. She also learned that it was something that one can smile about. Then, a bright light burst out of Luna¡¯s body. Luna had gained plenty of realizations and enlightenment from Beanie.

    However, this time, it was different.

    <em>[Luna has learnt a lot about the Spirit of ¡®Sacrifice¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[Sacrificing yourself for someone else is both a happy and painful thing. She realizes a new will and has grown rapidly.]</em>

    <em>[All of Luna¡¯s stats have increased by +20.]</em>

    <em>[Luna¡¯s father, Minhyuk, has acquired a +2 in all of his stats as a reward.]</em>

    <em>[Luna has made a decision at this very moment. She dreams of bing a merciful dragon that can embrace all beings in the world.]</em>

    <em>[Luna will now walk the path of a Benevolent Dragon Lord.]</em>

    Hearing that, Ghost Spear Ben looked kindly at Luna and said, ¡°That¡¯s right. Luna should be a great dragon.¡±

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeee!¡±

    And once again, Ghost Spear Ben started to break through the gaps of their enemies.

    <em>¡®I don¡¯t have much time left.¡¯</em>

    <em>aaaash¡ª</em>

    Ghost Spear Ben began to elerate. Not long after, he seeded in breaking through the waves of enemies that blocked their path. Ghost Spear Ben climbed onto the horse once again.

    ¡°Hiyaaaaa! Hiyaaaaaaa!¡±

    Over 20,000 strong troops began to chase after them. And Renzie murmured as he watched Ben rush away from them, ¡°He really¡­ seeded¡­?¡±

    The things that Ben had achieved with his sheer will and tenacity alone were extremely amazing.

    Ghost Spear Ben kept on riding the horse, heading towards one of the small drainage pipe connected to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. He was able to sessfully reach their destination by fending off the enemies that asionally outran them and sometimes turning around to block them himself. When they arrived in front of a very small passageway, Ghost Spear Ben smiled softly and said, ¡°Miss Haze, please take care of Luna.¡±

    ¡°Gr, grandpa¡­¡±

    But Haze could not step away from him. She knew that Ben would disappear from here alone and in a bitter situation, in front of a smelly and dirty drainage pipe, and not in the arms of the king that he loved and treasured.

    ¡°Please do not waste my death.¡±

    ¡°¡­Yes.¡±

    Haze had no other choice but to hug Luna tightly. It was already a miracle that they made it all the way here. Ben¡¯s sacrifice should not be wasted. Haze immediately entered the small drainage pipe.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeee!¡± Luna cried desperately for Ghost Spear Ben. She was telling him that she did not want to go.

    But Ben just continued to smile kindly at her while waving his hand and saying, ¡°Hurry. You should go now, Luna.¡±

    Luna and Haze disappeared into the darkness of the drainage pipe. Seeing this, Ghost Spear Ben turned around to face tens of thousands of enemies once again.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    Ben stabbed his spear into the ground and dered, ¡°None of you can pass through here.¡±

    Renzie gritted his teeth. They paid homage to the old veteran¡¯s will, but in the end the old man seeded in what he wanted to do, giving them a very hard time in the process. It was also because of this old man that he lost thousands of his allies.

    ¡°Attack!!!¡±

    A fierce battle began once again. Ghost Spear Ben, who inherited the power of the Spear God, was at a level that far surpassed the level of the Absolute Supreme NPC, Ellie.

    <em>Craaaaaack¡ª</em>

    One swing of Ben¡¯s spear and dozens of his enemies would die.

    <em>aaaaash¡ª</em>

    One stab of his spear and dozens more would perish. Even after ten, twenty, thirty minutes had passed, Ghost Spear Ben¡¯s momentum did not falter.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª</em>

    Dragon Elder Vch, who joined the troops, bombarded Ben with dozens of magical attacks. However, even when explosions bloomed around him, Ghost Spear Ben stood firm and blocked the drainage pipe that Haze and Luna entered. But slowly, ever so slowly¡­

    <em>[You are starting to lose Aerdes¡¯ power.]</em>

    The power that Ben inherited from Aerdes was slowly slipping away from him. The unwavering Ghost Spear Ben, an existence that the enemy troops could not win against, started to weaken and it was showing.

    ¡°So, you sold your soul to the gods.¡±

    Dragon Elder Vch could not understand why a king, who couldmand such a sentimental and loyal human, kidnapped Luna and turned her into a dragon of destruction. But that question only shed in Vch¡¯s head for a moment. It was true that they stole the egg that hatched Luna. That was why they would never stop their attack on them. And finally¡­

    <em>Thuuuuud¡ª</em>

    Ghost Spear Ben fell down on one knee.

    <em>Shwaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The ck ash that fluttered from his body also started to increase. Ben tried his hardest to not let his other knee fall but in the end¡­

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    He was forced to kneel down on both knees, his hands losing his grip on the spear of light.

    <em>ng¡ª</em>

    The spear of light that fell on the floor turned into ck ash that disappeared into the wind. Ben¡¯s borrowed time was about to end. None of the people present was interested in making a move on Ben. After all, he was already unable to fight.

    But despite all of that, Ghost Spear Ben was smiling lightly. Luna and Haze would have definitely run quite a distance now. Even if the troops in front of him entered the passage and ran after them, they would definitely reach Valencia first.

    <em>¡®I have lived a life with no regrets.¡¯</em>

    Ben was already starting to feel everything slip away from him. Darkness was already encroaching on his blurry vision. There was only one person that shed in his mind just when he was about to enter his eternal suffering.

    When they hunted ck Dragon Vormon, Ben used his ¡®Pinnacle Spear¡¯ and ended up dying. Back then, a fuming Minhyuk told him, <em>¡®Grandpa. You absolutely cannot do something so reckless next time. Every day, you keep on saying ¡®I never learnt to back down.¡¯ I don¡¯t like that line one bit! Grandpa, you should know that the elderly should live a long, happy and healthy life!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Hohoho. My son¡­ no, Your Majesty, you¡¯re such a worrywart. Are you telling this old man to live longer?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®You have to promise me grandpa. You can¡¯t do something this reckless again.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Hoho. Alright. I promise. I promise.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s smiling face appeared in front of Ben.

    <em>Tremble¡ª</em>

    Ben stretched out his trembling fingertips and reached out for him. For some reason, it felt like he was able to touch the figure in his fantasies. It seemed like his death was truly just right around the corner. After all, he could vividly see the illusion in front of him. In fact, even his hearing had already disappeared. Even so, Ben still continued to reach out to caress Minhyuk¡¯s face.

    <em>¡®Your Majesty, I don¡¯t think I can keep my promise with you.¡¯</em>

    Ben murmured to himself. But then, something warm touched the pads of his fingers. The warmth then dragged Ben¡¯s hands to what felt like a cheek. For a moment, just a very brief moment, Ben¡¯s hearing and vision cleared up.

    The scene that greeted him was the copse of all the troops present and Dragon Vch writhing in pain. And the one that took Ghost Spear Ben¡¯s hands and cradled it to a warm face was the person that he wanted to see the most.

    This very same person was sobbing loudly in front of him.

    The man sobbed as he hugged the kneeling Ben, ¡°I¡¯m sorry I¡¯mte, Grandpa.¡±

    ¡°Ho, hohoho¡­ hohoho¡­¡±

    The strong and firm Ben began to tremble as tears finally flowed down his cheeks. Ghost Spear Ben slowly pulled himself away from the hug. And even though his body was slowly disappearing, he still reached out to wipe the tears on Minhyuk¡¯s face and said, ¡°Don¡¯t cry, my king.¡±

    ***

    CC¡¯s Thoughts

    I think myptop is broken. The screen strangely looks blurry. *sob*

 Chapter 506: Beyond the Heavens Kingdom versus Akhan

    Chapter 506: Beyond the Heavens Kingdom versus Akhan

    Since Minhyuk was on a private ne bound to America, he could not receive any messages. In other words, it was only when theynded and he got off the ne that he was able to learn about the situation in Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and Baroque Kingdom. That was also when Minhyuk saw the number one topic in the real-time search words.

    <em>[<strong>1</strong>. An Undying Veteran.]</em>

    A deep sense of ominous foreboding came over Minhyuk¡¯s body the moment he saw the topic. He immediately clicked on it and learnt that the ¡®veteran¡¯ was none other than Ghost Spear Ben, a person that Minhyuk loved and cherished.

    Minhyuk dropped everything and hurriedly ran toward his Athenae capsule. He headed straight to where Ben was the moment he essed the game.

    ¡°Ah¡­¡± Minhyuk uttered in shock as he screeched to a halt.

    Ghost Spear Ben might be quite yful and mischievous, but he was a strong and very reliable person in Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Now, his once healthy and lively figure was kneeling on the ground, while his body was slowly crumbling into ck ash that scattered in the wind.

    Minhyuk felt the strings of his rationality snap when he saw Ben¡¯s miserable figure. The first thing that Minhyuk did was break down and close the passage that led to the drainage pipe that Luna and Haze entered in. Then he rampaged and swept through everyone around him.

    ¡°Th, that¡­ the Beyond the Heavens King¡­!¡± Renzie shouted in shock. He could not believe his eyes. This was because the king in front of him was much stronger than what they had heard. But Minhyuk¡¯s strength did note from his wrath at seeing Ben¡¯s situation. It was because he had gained a lot of power in Japan and came back stronger than ever.

    By the end of his rampage, he even brought down Dragon Elder Vch to his knees. As Minhyuk stood in the air, his eyes caught the sight of Ghost Spear Ben reaching out.

    Minhyuk, who suffered from eating addiction, did not have any proper friends in real life. Ever since he started ying Athenae as some sort of therapy, he was able to build a lot of connections. Among his countless connections, Ghost Spear Ben was the very first person that stayed by his side as a vassal and a retainer. Although Minhyuk imed that Ben was his personal ¡®barista¡¯, he always felt reassured whenever he saw him standing at the frontlines. The coffee that Ben made was the warmest, sometimes the coldest, and most of the time, the sweetest coffee that Minhyuk had ever tasted.

    Minhyuk had always viewed Ben like he viewed his grandfather in reality. And this very same Ben was now slowly sinking into his eternal rest after doing his damndest to protect those that were precious to Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk approached Ben slowly. He grabbed Ben¡¯s outstretched hands and wrapped it with his own warm ones. Ben¡¯s eyes, which had already lost focus, began to shine once again with vitality.

    <em>¡®His hands are cold.¡¯</em>

    They were also rough from his endless training, swinging his spear until his hands got torn, and bloody and calluses formed thickly on them. But Ben¡¯s cold and rough hands felt the warmest right now to Minhyuk as he brought it to his cheeks.

    ¡°Ho¡­ Hoho¡­ Hohoho¡­¡±

    Ghost Spear Ben¡¯s stalwart body shook violently as tears fell down his cheeks. Minhyuk fell down on his knees as he hugged Ben tightly. The two of them hugged for a moment until Ben pushed his body away to wipe the tears off of Minhyuk¡¯s face.

    ¡°Don¡¯t cry, my king,¡± Ben said, grinning widely. ¡°This old man is very d that I get to see you, Your Majesty. Please forgive my recklessness this time¡­¡±

    Ghost Spear Ben¡¯s body started to turn into ck ash and disappear from his feet upwards.

    ¡°N, no¡­¡± Minhyuk cried, tears falling nonstop. He could not let go of Ghost Spear Ben just like that. Especially not after hearing his story from Locke, who met with Haze at Valencia. He knew that Ghost Spear Ben¡¯s death here would not be a simple death.

    From what Minhyuk heard, Ghost Spear Ben would suffer pain and torment for thousands of years in hell. Even his shot at salvation, a ¡®reincarnation¡¯, had been taken away from him. Although Athenae was a game, as long as Athenae existed, they would be people that lived in this world and the pain that they would experience would be real.

    <em>¡®I need a method. Damn! I need a way to deal with this!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk felt the top of his head turn cold from the snow as he thought of a way to get Ben out of this dire situation.

    <em>¡®Ah¡­!¡¯</em>

    That was when Minhyuk recalled an item that he had obtained from one of the rewards that the ¡®Absolute Gods¡¯ bestowed upon him not too long ago. This item was none other than the ¡®Resetting Potion¡¯.

    <em>(<strong>Resetting Potion</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Potion Grade</strong>: God</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>: You can only choose one person. Upon use of potion, this person¡¯s everything will reset and return at a designated time.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: It is a very special and rare potion that only one among the Absolute Gods have. None of the other gods have it in their possession.</em>

    Without further thought, Minhyuk had chosen one person for this very amazing and outstanding potion. And that person was none other than Ghost Spear Ben. This was because Ben was always standing at the frontline. On top of that, he was someone that never backed down.

    In a way, the Resetting Potion¡¯s use should be deliberated carefully. After all, it was a miraculous potion that would return one¡¯s body¡¯s state back to its state at the designated time. However, the potion was a double-edged sword. After all, it would be a waste if the chosen person was extremely stronger than when he was in the past. But, it had not been that long since Minhyuk had chosen Ghost Spear Ben.

    Besides, Ben was already at the crossroads of death, this was the perfect time to use the potion. His lower half was already gone. In fact, even his upper body was slowly disintegrating.

    <em>Pop¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk popped the potion bottle quickly and poured it into Ghost Spear Ben¡¯s mouth.

    <em>¡®Please¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk desperately pleaded and prayed that Ghost Spear Ben would be able to remain by his side, that he would return to a time when he did not need to receive a terrible punishment.

    <em>Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp¡ª</em>

    Ben struggled to gulp down the potion that was given to him. By the time the final drop of the potion was gone, his entire body was already glowing in a brilliant light.

    <em>[You have used the Resetting Potion.]</em>

    <em>[Everything will now go back to your specified time.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk smiled brightly. He was very d to know that he did not have to separate ways with Ben.

    ¡°Grandpa! You¡¯re not going to die!!! You can stay with me¡­!¡±

    But at that moment, a shocking set of notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The effects of the Resetting Potion are temporarily suspended.]</em>

    <em>[Ben needs to receive punishment from Aerdes. Using the Resetting Potion to undo everything will break thews of causality.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s smiling face turned stiff. Fortunately, Ben¡¯s body stopped disappearing.

    <em>[Athenae and the Absolute Gods have begun a discussion with the other gods.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s heart thumped wildly in nervousness after knowing that the gods were having a discussion. They had been silent and had not given him any answer for a while.

    Then, Ghost Spear Ben¡¯s body started to disintegrate once again.

    ¡°Wh, what¡­?!¡±

    Minhyuk had definitely used the Resetting Potion but the power that Ghost Spear Ben had temporarily inherited was too much. The burden that Ben¡¯s body had to take was too much. Then, the notifications rang again.

    <em>[Ghost Spear Ben¡¯s Absolute Gods¡¯ Trial has begun.]</em>

    <em>[Your connection with Ghost Spear Ben will be cut off.]</em>

    <em>[If Ghost Spear Ben fails toplete the trial, he will receive punishment from Aerdes.]</em>

    <em>[If Ghost Spear Ben clears the trial, he will be exempted from Aerdes¡¯ punishment.]</em>

    <em>[You cannot see what type of trial Ghost Spear Ben will undergo.]</em>

    <em>[The trial¡¯s duration cannot be disclosed.]</em>

    ¡°What, what in the world¡­?!¡±

    Minhyuk was extremely flustered. His connection with Ben as a vassal had been forcefully cut off and he could not check Ben¡¯s status window. Minhyuk hurriedly reached out for Ben, who was now slowly starting to disappear.

    ¡°D, don¡¯t go! Grandpa! Please stay with me!¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty¡­¡± The disappearing Ghost Spear Ben looked at Minhyuk resolutely and said, ¡°This old man will definitely return to Your Majesty¡¯ arms.¡±

    Minhyuk gently touched Ben¡¯s disappearing cheeks as Ben¡¯s figure slowly slipped away and disappeared. The remnants of his body slipped through Minhyuk¡¯s hands and fluttered in the air.

    ¡°Surely, definitely¡­¡±

    Ghost Spear Ben had promised Minhyuk. He said that he woulde back someday. Perhaps this separation was no different from Ben¡¯s death. After all, it was a trial given by the Absolute Gods.

    However, Minhyuk firmly believed in Ben.

    ¡°Come back soon. When that timees, I will make sure to make you a nice cup of coffee.¡±

    The Ghost Spear Ben that Minhyuk knew was stronger, tougher, and greater than anyone else. He knew that he woulde back to his arms. Minhyuk stood still for a moment as he watched the ashes flutter in the skies. Only Ben¡¯s clothes remained on the ground as his body disappeared into the air.

    That was when Minhyuk found a small pouch hidden in Ben¡¯s clothes. When he squeezed the pouch, he realized that it was filled with coffee beans. Ghost Spear Ben¡¯s final words rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[These are the best coffee beans that I have collected. Hoho. My son¡­ no¡­ Your Majesty, please make sure to brew some and drink a cup.]</em>

    Minhyuk clutched the pouch tightly. For some reason, he felt like Ben¡¯s warmth was still lingering in the pouch. After hugging the pouch for quite some time, Minhyuk¡¯s face turned ugly.

    <em>Grit, grit, grit¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk was gnashing his teeth. Anyone that saw him right now would be very shocked. This was because he was radiating undisguised killing intent, something that he had never shown in Athenae, or in reality, ever.

    At this very moment, Minhyuk made a promise, <em>¡®I will do everything I can¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk vowed to return everything to Akhan, the main culprit behind this. He had no intention of granting someone like him any forgiveness. After all, Akhan took away a precious person from him. That was right. Akhan had provoked the wrong person.

    ***

    In front of Baroque Kingdom¡¯s capital.

    Up until now, arge army of more than 50,000 troops was spread out, barricading the fortress like the Great Wall of China. These troops were the troops enlisted by the Baroque Kingdom and the conscripts that the other kingdoms had sent as support. They were able to sessfully gather their troops with the help of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, who earned them more than half a day of reprieve.

    Before the battle, Genie asked King Lloyd, <em>¡®Do you need our help? But if you decide to enlist our help, you will have to pay us 40% of your task.¡¯</em>

    Genie was business-oriented. She would squeeze out everything from her opponent and never lose money. Regardless, 40% of a kingdom¡¯s task was a huge amount. That was why King Lloyd refused.

    <em>¡®What difference would it make if Beyond the Heavens Kingdom helped us?¡¯</em>

    It was already a good thing that they bought time for them. However, the number of troops that a small nation like the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had was only 1/20th of the troops that Baroque Kingdom had.

    What difference would it make if they lent them their strength?

    King Lloyd rejected Genie¡¯s offer and decided to fight the battle on their own. But the result?

    <em>¡®How, how can this be¡­?¡¯</em>

    They had around 80,000 troops in total, but this army was wiped out in just seven hours. The biggest reason for theirplete and utter defeat was the appearance of Akhan. Akhan had brought more monsters that were 30% stronger than usual, along with a translucent shield that covered their bodies.

    The worst part? They did not have anyone skillful enough to stop the bombardment of magical attacks that were pouring out from the dragons in the skies.

    In the end, Lloyd had to run to find Genie.

    To his bewilderment, Genie¡¯s expression was extremely ugly when he saw her. And it was not just her. Even the Named NPCs and the foreigners that belonged to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were all sporting the same expression. When Lloyd saw them earlier, they were either cooking ramyeon or reciting some strange words.

    But now, all of them looked like wild beasts ready to pounce on their prey.

    <em>¡®What, what the hell?¡¯</em>

    Plunged into confusion, King Lloyd had no choice but to look around somewhere. And the ce where he looked was where Akhan and the troops that he led were. The dragons, who had been resting for a moment, were suddenly flying once again tounch another attack at them.

    ¡°Hiiiiiiiiiik!¡±

    Lloyd hurriedly said to Genie, ¡°I¡¯ll, I¡¯ll do whatever you want! So do something about this! I¡¯ll do whatever you say, just do something!¡±

    Actually, Lloyd did not expect much. But, the people from the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were the only ones that he could lean on right now. Meanwhile, Genie, with her distorted expression, heard the notifications in her ears.

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s Great Hero, Ghost Spear Ben, has died in battle.]</em>

    <em>[Honor him from the depths of your hearts.]</em>

    <em>[He is a true hero that fought for Beyond the Heavens Kingdom until the very end. His achievements will remain in the history of the kingdom forever.]</em>

    <em>[You can now set up a tombstone or a statue in honor of Ghost Spear Ben, a great hero and warrior.]</em>

    For Minhyuk, Ghost Spear Ben disappeared to take the Absolute Gods¡¯ Trial, but for the rest of them, his disappearance was ryed as his death. And Ghost Spear Ben was a very precious existence to them.

    Then, the dragons flew up above the walls. Then, at that moment, Genie, whose lips were curled up in a gruesome smirk, said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. We¡¯ll kill all of those bastards. Don¡¯t leave a single one of them alive!!!¡±

    <em>Grit, grit, grit¡ª</em>

    The sound of Genie¡¯s gritting teeth was horrific to the ears.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    A huge explosion shook the entirety of Baroque Kingdom. Then, King Lloyd was presented with an incredibly unbelievable sight.

    Elpis threw one of the dragons to the ground while Gorfido, who arrived at Baroque Kingdom, grabbed one of the dragons by the neck with a huge hand made of water. Even the boy, Conir, flew up to the skies and mmed one of the dragons down.

    Akhan had unknowingly incurred the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s zing wrath. He touched someone that should never be touched.

 Chapter 507: Beyond the Heavens Kingdom versus Akhan

    Chapter 507: Beyond the Heavens Kingdom versus Akhan

    A few hours ago.

    Akhan¡¯s expression disyed interest as he wondered about ck Dragon Vormon.

    ¡®<em>Is he truly back in this world? Also, he fired a Dragon Breath that made the warriors of Lumae Kingdom and the monster corps retreat?</em>¡¯

    Akhan was fully aware that something like that waspletely impossible.

    Akhan had summoned plenty of Named NPCs, and he found out that only when ck Dragon Vormon was not killed by the yers, he fell into a very deep sleep.

    But a yer had actually dealt the finishing blow to him. In the first ce, if Akhan could summon Vormon, then he did not need to bother taking the Dragon Lord away. In the end, he realized that the being in front of them was just a ¡®painting¡¯.

    <em>¡®So, you¡¯re just employing some petty tricks. Interesting.¡¯</em>

    Akhan found the people of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom to be extremely interesting. If it went just as Akhan nned and predicted, Baroque Kingdom would have already been swept away and his troops would have already reached the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. It did not matter if the dragons were 30% weaker, the fact that they were the greatest existence on earth would not change.

    But Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was able to stop their advance with just a mere painting.

    <em>¡®Still, that¡¯s all they can do.¡¯</em>

    The fact that Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was a guild and a kingdom that exerted the greatest influence in the world was true. They were people that they should be wary about. However, that was only in terms of a yer¡¯s standard. They would eventually hit their limit since the flow of time was different inside the Athenae worldview.

    On top of that, the recent battle that they released publicly was the war against Barras Kingdom, which included their battle against Great Demon Verus. Using that time¡¯s standard, Akhan believed that the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would be no match against him.

    Akhan brought despair to the troops of Baroque Kingdom, who had gathered tens of thousands of troops to fight against him. None of them could utter a scream as the dragons swept them away with the seventh and eighth tier magic spells.

    <em>¡®The Korean Server will be thrown into great chaos.¡¯</em>

    As long as Akhan did not stop with the Baroque Kingdom and the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, and continued to wreak havoc against the other kingdoms and empires, the entire Korean Server would copse. It would not matter how hard Athenae tried to recover the situation, it would be futile. And with the copse of the Korean Server, the Japanese, Russian, Chinese, and eventually the American Servers would copse too. If all the servers copsed, Athenae would bebeled as a shitty game, and would then disappear from the world.

    ¡°Let¡¯s take down Baroque Kingdom after a bit of rest,¡± Akhan suggested to Prince Votto. With Prince Votto¡¯s nod of assent, themanders could notin.

    With how things were going, not only would Lumae Kingdom get Baroque Kingdom and Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, they would be able to get their hands on many more. It proceeded as Akhan had promised them.

    After a bit of rest and maintenance, the knights rode on top of the monsters and prepared tounch an assault once again.

    Their n would start with the bombardment of the dragons¡¯ seventh tier magical attacks. This attack would bring down the walls. Then, they would charge forward and take everything in the capital, killing everyone that stopped them in the process.

    Thementators began to describe this horrible scene.

    <em>[Baroque Kingdom¡¯s downfall is just right around the corner.]</em>

    <em>[Just like what you saw, it only took less than half a day for the elite troops of Baroque Kingdom and the tens of thousands of soldiers sent by the other kingdoms to disappear.]</em>

    <em>[With the dragon¡¯s magic, the troops disappeared as if their existences meant nothing. Even the masked knights could cut down hundreds of soldiers in one go.]</em>

    <em>[This is the end of Baroque Kingdom.]</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaack!¡±

    The dragons soared into the skies. The soldiers of Baroque Kingdom that stood on top of the walls of their fortress all shrinked in fear after seeing the huge dragons fly over them. Finally, the dragons manifested several seventh and eighth tier magic attacks.

    <em>Grrrrrrrrrr¡ª</em>

    Arger and stronger Fire Storm than those created by ordinary mages flew straight toward the ramparts.

    <em>Grrrrrrrrrrr¡ª</em>

    The skies were suddenly torn apart as dozens of gigantic meteors, meteors that seemed to be able to extinguish everything, flew swiftly toward Baroque Kingdom.

    ¡°Hii, hiiiiiiik!¡±

    ¡°Save, save me! Save me!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaa! I don¡¯t want to die!¡±

    ¡°God! Please, please help us!¡±

    The morale of the Baroque Kingdom troops was at rock bottom. There were even those that were escaping from the capital as of the moment. The same thought shed in everyone¡¯s head.

    <em>¡®This is the downfall of Baroque Kingdom.¡¯</em>

    Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>Vwooooooooong¡ª</em>

    A golden aura bursted out from the ramparts. The man that emitted this bright and dazzling aura stabbed his ck staff on the ground. Then¡­

    <em>Crack, crack¡ª</em>

    ¡­a huge force wiped out the Hell Fires that were about to fall down on them. It did not end there. Even the huge Fire Storms that were about to rampage disappeared into thin air. And the name of the man that created this miracle was called out by all of the yers present in Baroque Kingdom¡­

    ¡°Gold, Golden Mage Ali¡­!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Ali!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!!!¡±

    Amidst their cheers, tears fell from Golden Mage Ali¡¯s eyes. He was also a person from Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. This meant that he heard the notification about Ghost Spear Ben dying in action. Ghost Spear Ben usually treated others coldly and only showed tenderness to Minhyuk, being his greatest fan. However, Ben was Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s pir and their strong ally.

    ¡°Frieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeend!¡± Ali roared in the battlefield, the sadness in his voice turning into rage and fury. It waspletely different from his usual yful cry. It was a desperate cry for Ben, a cry to honor his sacrifice, and life.

    ¡°Ridiculous¡­!¡±

    The dragons were shocked. Even though 30% of their power had been shaved off, it was ridiculous for a human to make their attacks disappear into thin air just like that. That was when they noticed ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s staff in the human¡¯s hand.

    <em>¡®Don¡¯t tell me¡­ he¡¯s the one that inherited ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s mana heart?!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®How, how can this be¡­?!¡¯</em>

    Even among the dragons, ck Dragon Vormon was the object of their fear. The one that inherited Vormon¡¯s mana heart, a yer with a ¡®God ss¡¯, would have an easier time inheriting the power of a god. It was something that was extremely different for NPCs. Ali had inherited the power of the Magic God. He was now several times strongerpared to when they battled against Great Demon Verus.

    At this very moment, Ali decided to go all out.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    He immediately used the magic attacks that he saved, as dozens of gigantic Hell Fire appeared in the air and flew toward the dragons in the skies.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    <em>[C, crazy¡­]</em>

    One of thementators forgot about his own duty and identally murmured his inner thoughts.

    The dragons, which tens of thousands of kingdom troops and Baroque Kingdom troops could not do anything about, were falling down to the ground. But a dragon was a dragon. Even though they fell, it did not seem like they received any fatal wounds. However, everyone was bound to witness another shocking scene.

    ¡°¡­His Majesty must be very sad,¡± Gorfido mumbled under his breath. He came here immediately to provide support after learning that Haze and Luna had been kidnapped from Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    Gorfido was not really familiar with Ghost Spear Ben. After all, the time that they spent together was not that long. However, Gorfido knew that Minhyuk regarded Ben like he was his own grandfather, the same way he thought of Andrei as his own daughter. Because of that, Gorfido decided to take the lives of the dragons and Akhan, who took such a precious person from his king and presented them to him.

    ¡°You f*cking dragon bastards have made my king sad!!!¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Gorfido¡¯s power to control and rule over the seas exploded with a wave of his hand, creating several pirs of water from the ground that slowly turned into huge spears of water.

    ¡°How dare a measly human like¡­ Keheoook!¡± Luarc, one of the blue dragons, shouted as he hurriedly created hundreds of ovepping blue shields to stop one of the sharp pirs of water rushing toward him. These shields were absolute shields with high magical and physical defense that no human magic or swordlight could pierce through at all!

    However¡­

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    The sharp pir of water broke through the shields as it turned into a pair of gigantic hands that grabbed Blue Dragon Luarc¡¯s neck.

    ¡°I¡¯ll kill every single one of you, you arrogant lizard bastards.¡±

    ¡°Keheok!¡±

    Dragon Luarc felt terrified when he met the vicious eyes of the ¡®measly¡¯ human in front of him.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    After Gorfido used his Ten Thousand Sword to stab Blue Dragon Luarc wildly, he took out his Ten Thousand Chains.

    <em>tter, tter, tter¡ª</em>

    The tens of meters of chains wrapped around the dragon¡¯s feet tightly, digging through Luarc¡¯s scales and drawing blood.

    At the same time, a man flew to the skies with his eyes closed while recalling the figure of Ghost Spear Ben. Ghost Spear Ben had always kept others at bay and was only close with Minhyuk. However, when he was having a hard time getting along with others with his stuttered words and introverted personality, this cold old man had approached him easily.

    <em>¡®Hoho. Boy, would you like to have a cup of cat luwak coffee with me? I assure you, it tastes amazing!¡¯</em>

    Just thinking about the old man was enough to bring a smile to the man¡¯s face usually. But, it was different now.

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    ¡°I will <em>kill</em> all of you,¡± Elpis dered with sorrow. The sealed power of the Lesser Demon was being triggered as his Devil Judge¡¯s Sword¡¯s Berserk began to run wild.

    <em>[Berserk.]</em>

    <em>[All abilities will increase by 16%. All skill levels will increase by +2.]</em>

    Tremendous ck demonic energy swirled fiercely in the skies as Elpis sent a sh at one of the dragons flying over the fortress¡¯ walls. None of those present believed that Elpis¡¯ attack would be able to pierce through the dragon¡¯s tough and thick scales. But¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The dragon that was flying fiercely suddenly dropped to the ground after receiving a sword strike from a human that was hundreds of times smaller than him.

    ¡°Grandpa Ben! Grandpa Beeeeeeeen¡­!¡± The boy, Conir, cried hoarsely as he flew to the skies, his tears flowing non-stop down his cheeks. As someone with an intellectual disability, Conir had always been honest with what he was feeling.

    ¡°Conir will kill you¡­! Conir will kill you all¡­!!!¡±

    Conir moved swiftly, cutting down one dragon after the other. It was the descent of the Sword Saint.

    There was also the Pdin Corr running toward the knights of Lumae Kingdom that were moving to attack him.

    ¡°¡­I hope that wherever you are, you will be free from the curse of baldness.¡±

    The words might sound yful and mischievous, but this was Corr¡¯s own way of honoring Ben. Corr¡¯s pdin sword burst out with a bright light, a light that could drive out even the darkest darkness, and pierced through the bodies of the knights that rushed at him.

    Park, who had risen to the rank of a legionmander, stood in front of 5,000 soldiers on horseback and solemnly said, ¡°Our master, Ghost Spear Ben, has died in action.¡±

    None of the soldiers cried. However, their eyes, which could be seen through the gaps of their helmets, were all shining with unshed tears. They felt afraid up until this moment. However, Ghost Spear Ben was both a great master and a father to them.

    <em>Shiiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    Park drew his sword. He looked at his soldiers as the gates slowly opened. Then, he asked, ¡°Are you still afraid? Are you still afraid even after knowing that your master has died while trying to protect Beyond the Heavens Kingdom alone?¡±

    ¡°No, sir!!!¡±

    ¡°Do you remember everything that our master taught us?¡±

    ¡°We remember, sir!!!¡±

    ¡°Can you pierce through your enemies¡¯ hearts?!¡±

    ¡°We can, sir!!!¡±

    ¡°Ghost Spear Ben will forever be with our Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s warriors! Attack!!!¡±

    ¡°For Ben!¡±

    ¡°For Ben!¡±

    ¡°For Ben!¡±

    The fear in their bodies hadpletely disappeared. Right now, all they could think of was to get revenge on the people that took Ghost Spear Ben away from them.

    <em>Thuuuuuuuuud¡ª</em>

    The gates of Baroque Kingdom¡¯s capital finally opened.

    <em>Clop, clop, clop, clop¡ª</em>

    The 5,000 warriors of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom charged forward to fight against the tens of thousands of monster corps and unknown knights.

    <em>[Unwavering courage has been instilled in the soldiers of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[Their morale has soared to the point that it¡¯s scary.]</em>

    <em>[With their fears gone, they will be more powerful than usual.]</em>

    <em>[All of their stats have increased by more than 17%.]</em>

    With Park at the lead, the warriors of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom rode their horses and followed! Not long after, a fierce momentum erupted from their bodies. And the masked knights, the troops from Lumae Kingdom, were being pushed back!

    ¡°Ridiculous¡­¡± Akhan, who watched everything with his own eyes, murmured in disbelief. This was because the scene in front of him was truly beyond anymon sense.

    At the same time, in Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s conference hall, President Kang Taehoon said, ¡°Akhan, it seems like you forgot. Athenae is a world that can go beyond our calctions.¡±

 Chapter 508: Beyond the Heavens Kingdom versus Akhan

    Chapter 508: Beyond the Heavens Kingdom versus Akhan

    The situation between Crazy Tyrant Akhan, Baroque Kingdom and the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom in front of the capital of Baroque Kingdom was very surprising.

    In fact, the people of Korea and the rest of the world believed that Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would not be able to exert much power and would not be able to change the situation, even if they made their appearance. All of them believed that the ordinary soldiers of the kingdom would only tread the path to death the moment they joined the battle.

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is a small nation. Not only is their poption small, even their troops are small. If they lose their troops in this battle, then they would likely meet their downfall.]</em>

    <em>[As you can see, the masked knights that came with Crazy Tyrant Akhan can cut down more than a hundred of Baroque Kingdom¡¯s soldiers, but it seems like only ordinary soldiers are going to deal with them.]</em>

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens Kingdom should have never let their soldiers go to war.]</em>

    s, the scene in front of them waspletely different from what they expected. The gates of the capital of Baroque Kingdom opened, as Legion Commander Park led the charge of the soldiers of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    <em>¡®Grandpa¡­!¡¯</em>

    Park sat calmly on his horse as he watched the swarming monster corps carrying their enemies.

    <em>¡®Those Lumae Kingdom bastards!¡¯</em>

    This was the thought that everyone was secretly thinking.

    <em>Grit, grit, grit¡ª</em>

    Park did not feel any fear despite seeing their enemies¡¯ huge advantage in numbers.

    Ghost Spear Ben was a man that did not shed tears or blood. He was someone that nned fifteen hours of training for the soldiers per day and did not even show mercy to those that have injured their legs or fainted during the process.

    <em>¡®But it¡¯s because you were there¡­¡¯</em>

    The soldiers of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom could stand strong and firm because of Ben¡¯s existence. Park was also witness to Ben¡¯s rare moments of tenderness. He had seen the old man roam around the barracks after histe night training, pulling up the nkets of the soldiers that had kicked them away, and looking at the injured and fainted ones for a long time before turning around.

    ¡°I will always remember you.¡±

    It was now the time for them to repay Ben.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaah!¡± Park roared loudly, immediately discouraging the enemies. Then, he pulled the spear on his back and stabbed the knight that tried to cut him down with his sword.

    ¡°Hiyaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaaa!¡±

    The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was showing their overwhelming momentum. The soldiers hadpletely forgotten about their fear of death as they attacked their enemies.

    <em>ng¡ª ng, ng¡ª ng¡ª!</em>

    They were doing what Ghost Spear Ben had taught them.

    ¡°We never learned to back down!!!¡± Park cried as the soldiers of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom pierced through their enemies!

    All of thementators were stunned.

    <em>[The, the soldiers of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom are that strong?]</em>

    <em>[Unbelievable. Their ordinary soldiers are cutting down three to four of the enemy troops, the very same enemy knights that can cut down hundreds of soldiers in one go.]</em>

    <em>[The soldiers of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom are not losing ground! No, they are even overwhelming their opponents!]</em>

    Unlike what everyone thought, it was a given that they would be this strong. Theirmander-in-chief was Brod, the one that taught them swordsmanship was Elpis, and the one that taught them spearmanship was Ghost Spear Ben. Even their growth potential was several times higher than any kingdom soldiers. They had fought for their lives and faced the brink of death many times over, which allowed them to grow even further.

    However, the truth was that they were not really overwhelming their opponents. It just looked like they were. This was because their momentum had soared through the roofs.

    One of the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ soldiers flew back after getting hit by an iron mace.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    The soldier heard his ribs crack but he never stopped. He grabbed a handful of dirt and threw it at the face of his enemy.

    ¡°<em>Ugh! </em>Coward¡­!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaah!¡± But the soldier just shouted as he threw himself towards his enemy. The soldier toppled his enemy over and stabbed him in the neck with the dagger hanging on his waist. Some of the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ soldiers fell t on the ground with swords stuck in their abdomens.

    ¡°Kill them all¡­ huh?¡±

    The knight that stabbed the soldiers on their abdomen moved to cut down the others. However, before he could do so, he lost his bnce and fell on the ground. This was because the fallen soldier of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom grabbed his ankles and held onto him with his final strength. The shocking part here was that the soldier had already lost his breath.

    ¡°Hiiiiik!¡±

    When the knight realized the situation he was in, another soldier of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had already approached him and cut off his head. The soldiers of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom followed Ben¡¯s teachings down to the T. They were truly people that had never learnt how to back down.

    ¡°Ughhh¡­¡±

    ¡°These, these crazy bastards¡­!¡±

    ¡°M, monsters¡­!¡±

    One of the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ soldiers, who was stuck with dozens of arrows, threw himself over and protected hisrades from the iing fireballs. Even when their weapons broke they would just use stones and continue to deal with their enemies.

    <em>Step¡ª</em>

    The sound of the soldiers of Lumae Kingdom backing down rang loudly in the clearing.

    <em>Step, step, step¡ª</em>

    From dozens to hundreds, the soldiers of Lumae Kingdom staggered back when they saw the charging soldiers of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. They had assessed Beyond the Heavens Kingdom as a small and weak nation, one that they could destroy and erase its existence from the map at any moment. They truly believed that. But the performance of the Beyond the Heavens soldiers struck fear and terror into their hearts.

    ¡°Ughhh¡­¡±

    ¡°Do¡­ don¡¯te here! I told you not toe here!!!¡±

    The sight of the Lumae Kingdom troops fleeing, an army that had undergone harsh training of their own, was very spectacr. Also¡­

    <em>[Legion Commander Park has leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[Centurion Erlov has leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[Soldier Randalf has leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[Soldier Kiruo has leveled up.]</em>

    ¡­the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ troops were getting stronger the longer they fought. Their levels were actually lower than the level of the soldiers and knights of Lumae Kingdom, but the more they cut their enemies down, the faster their level and power increased.

    Prince Votto was perplexed at the soldiers and knights of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s continuous increase in power, ¡°This is ridiculous¡­!¡±

    Votto was fully aware of what kind of men the knights and soldiers of Lumae Kingdom were. They were troops that were far superior to the knights and soldiers of Eivelis Empire.

    Yet, they were being pushed back?

    In truth, Prince Votto was someone that was ignorant of the ways of the battlefield. Some of the people that followed him in this war were just forced by the circumstances. So, it was only natural for the momentum of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s soldiers to be higher than theirs.

    ¡°Attack.¡±

    ¡°Kihyeeee!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Kiyaaaaaack!¡±

    The monsters charged forward. Currently, Akhan¡¯s monsters had lost their inhibitions and forgotten their fears. On top of that, their attack power had increased by 30%. There were even many among them that were Named Monsters.

    ¡°Keuhaaaack! Bastard¡­! You won¡¯t go there¡­!¡± One of the dying soldiers, with their chest pierced by a giant mantis¡¯ sickle, mmed into the shield that protected the monster until his dying breath.

    ¡°Kghhhk!¡±

    One of the soldiers had one of his arms cut off by an ogre¡¯s ax, held his spear up with his remaining hand and red at his enemies.

    ¡°Keuaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaack! I won¡¯t let you go! Bastards!!!¡±

    ¡°For Grandpa Ben!!!¡±

    ¡°For Ben!!!¡±

    The tide of war had definitely turned. But with the soldiers¡¯ fearless attitudes, the monster corps could not push them back further. Then, a very wee set of notifications rang in the soldiers ears.

    <em>[You have received the Unparalleled Bravery¡¯s buff effects!]</em>

    <em>[Unparalleled Bravery increases all stats of those that fight on Kimaris¡¯ side by 15%!]</em>

    <em>[The soldiers with Unparalleled Bravery are fighting a battle with their lives on the line.]</em>

    <em>[The buff effect has increased.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will increase by 22%.]</em>

    <em>[The attack of the weapon that you are using and the defense of the armor you are wearing will increase by 20%.]</em>

    The power running through the veins of the soldiers suddenly surged. It seemed like they were done being pushed back, and finally began to charge forward once again, breaking through the transparent shields that protected the monsters.

    ¡°Uwooooooooo!¡±

    ¡°Dieeeeee!¡±

    They all started to charge forth again.

    Unparalleled Bravery was a skill that Kimaris possessed.

    <em>(<strong>Unparalleled Bravery</strong>)</em>

    <em>Passive Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Effects:</strong></em>

    <em>?Those that fight alongside Kimaris will receive a 15% increase in all of their stats.</em>

    <em>?Those that rush fiercely and courageously in the battlefield and have forgotten the fatigue of their bodies and their fears, as if they were never there to begin with, will gain better effects.</em>

    ording to the description, it was possible for Kimaris¡¯ allies to receive a 15% or higher increase in all of their stats if their morale had shot through the roofs and they had forgotten their fears. The soldiers of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s growth increased at an explosive rate, reaching a stage that was far higher than the stage that they were in before.

    ***

    Kimaris had witnessed Ghost Spear Ben dying in action. He also witnessed how the old man eventually protected what he wanted to protect. After that, he went to the battlefield and watched the soldiers of the kingdom fight desperately.

    <em>¡®All this, for what?¡¯ </em>Kimaris asked himself. He was once a soldier and soldiers usually fought either for honor or money. He had never seen anyone fight for someone with their lives on the line, ever. But the soldiers of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were charging forward and putting their lives on the line, just to fight for someone.

    <em>¡®Is it because of Ben?¡¯</em>

    Kimaris wanted to ask the soldiers and Ben this question, <em>¡®What kind of a king is Minhyuk, for you all to go this far?¡¯ </em>

    What kind of a king were they serving for these soldiers to willingly risk their lives to protect their kingdom and treasure it dearly?

    <em>Throb¡ª</em>

    Kimaris felt an ache in his heart. If he served this king, would he have a happy life? Would he choose not to embrace Verus and be a demon? Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡°Ugh! You arrogant lizard bastards!!!¡±

    The dragons slowly began to push back the rankers of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. This was because the humans did not have regenerative powers. There was little they could do against the dragons¡¯ immense regenerative powers.

    ¡°So, they¡¯re also fighting to protect something.¡±

    Everyone in this kingdom was different. Everyone of them was strong. And everyone served only one king. And the king that these people served, the king that they wanted to protect¡­

    Kimaris moved as he thought of their king.

    ***

    ¡°Damn bastards!!!¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Genie¡¯s whip swung violently and mmed into the dragons. However, no matter what she did, she could not break through the dragons¡¯ shields. All her attacks were reflected.

    The fight between the strong was often one of bnce. Although they were in a close fight, a slight tilt in the bnce and everything would copse. Their formation would be destroyed and they would be exterminated.

    That was exactly their situation right now. The dragons gradually pushed back the key figures of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. On top of that, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s Named NPCs and rankers were all reaching the limits of their bodies and MPs. But the dragons were different. Their MPs were close to infinite.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡°Conir!!!¡±

    A huge me mmed straight into Conir, forcing him to fly back. Another dragon also used Diss and sent it towards the running Pdin Corr. Corr shrieked the moment the Diss shot through his thighs.

    <em>[<strong>Vice Guild Master Genie</strong>: Are the supports not here yet?!]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Khan</strong>: Not yet, hang in there a bit more.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Ace</strong>: I¡¯m on my way!!!]</em>

    If some of the support troops arrived to protect this ce then the bnce might be restored to some extent. But¡­

    <em>¡®We¡¯re about to copse¡­¡¯</em>

    The number of dragons was too high. Then, Genie saw Gorfido swing his Ten Thousand Sword and Ten Thousand Chains, but there was a dragon that was waiting to pounce on him.

    <em>¡®No¡­!¡¯</em>

    There was this thing called intuition. Genie had a hunch that Gorfido¡¯s body would be torn to shreds the moment that mouth snapped shut. But then¡­

    <em>Vwoooooooooong¡ª</em>

    <em>aaaaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    A gigantic ax flew and struck the head of the dragon that was trying to devour Gorfido.

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    While everyone was shocked, the ax flew back to an outstretched hand.

    <em>Grab¡ª</em>

    The one that grabbed the ax suddenly started running. The man was tall, as tall as Elpis, and had dark skin. This man was none other than Demon Kimaris, who leapt into the skies and split another dragon¡¯s head with his ax.

    <em>aaaaaaaaaaaash¡ª!</em>

    Kimaris stood in front of the iing monster corps and dragons. His time to shine was about to begin. Then, the notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears, who was far away from them.

    <em>[You have met the conditions of the <strong>Hidden Quest</strong>: Kimaris¡¯ Loyalty.]</em>

    <em>[Kimaris has sworn his eternal allegiance to you.]</em>

 Chapter 509: Beyond the Heavens Kingdom versus Akhan

    Chapter 509: Beyond the Heavens Kingdom versus Akhan

    The dragons flying in the skies could not understand what kind of ce the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was. They were dragons, widely recognized as the greatest existence on earth. Even if their powers had decreased by 30% by crossing through continents, their powers were still something that no human could ever dare to fight against.

    But, the humans of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom worked together to fight against them. Furthermore¡­

    <em>Vwooooooooooong¡ª</em>

    Kimaris, who was holding a gigantic ax and was clearly a demon in the eyes of these dragons, was fighting alongside the humans.

    <em>¡®How can a demon fight for humans?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®What kind of kingdom is this god damned kingdom?!¡¯</em>

    Why was one of the Devils living in this kingdom? Even dragons like them that lived for thousands of years had never heard of such a precedent. However, even with the appearance of one of the Devils, the number of dragons was still above ten.

    Two of the dragons immediately rushed at Kimaris. Both of them were Dragon Knights, dragons that were stronger than ordinary dragons. Red Dragon Arfel immediately bombarded Kimaris with spells.

    <em>Grrrrrrrrrrr¡ª</em>

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    More than a dozen powerful and shocking magical attacks cut through the air and rained down on Kimaris. At that moment, a tremendous amount of demonic energy fluttered into existence around Kimaris¡¯ ax.

    <em>[Demonic Axe Art.]</em>

    <em>[A Veteran Soldier¡¯s Protection.]</em>

    <em>[The moment your ax swings a powerful wave will be created that will extinguish all magical attacks in your surroundings.]</em>

    <em>aaaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    A powerful wave stretched out of Kimaris¡¯ ax the moment he shed it. The wave destroyed all of the magical attacks that were aimed at him. However, Dragon Ford was waiting with his mouth wide open the moment Arfel sent his magic attacks.

    Unfortunately, things did not go as they nned, instead, a very shocking scene unfolded in front of them.

    <em>aaaaaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    Kimaris, who looked like he was about to be devoured by the dragon¡¯s huge maw, suddenly grabbed the dragon¡¯s fangs, bringing the dragon to a halt in mid-air. Then, using the dragon¡¯s teeth as a leverage, he stomped his feet while holding the fangs and smashed the dragon into the ground.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Red blood dripped down the Dragon Ford¡¯s mouth as the ground underneath him sank in by five meters. Then, Kimaris moved his ax once again.

    <em>[Demonic Axe Art.]</em>

    <em>[Soldier¡¯s sh.]</em>

    <em>[You can swing your ax, with an additional 2,800% attack, dozens of times in one go and rip your enemies¡¯ body to shreds.]</em>

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    Kimaris¡¯ first swing dug deep into the dragon¡¯s scales, which was then followed by dozens of strikes.

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaaaack! Graaaaaaa!¡± Dragon Ford shrieked loudly, unable to withstand the pain. Kimaris did not stop there. He approached the struggling Ford and punched him several times in a row.

    <em>Punch, punch, punch, punch, punch¡ª</em>

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    Red blood continued to drip down Ford¡¯s nose as he lost consciousness. Then, Kimaris, with his ax pointing at Ford¡¯s neck, looked at the dragons around him and said, ¡°Come.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The dragons all turned furious at Kimaris¡¯ provocations. Kimaris was a very clever demon, so he knew that dragons were considered the greatest existence on earth. That was why it was hard for them to endure and remain calm when they were forced to watch their colleague face such humiliation and death.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeee!¡±

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeee!¡±

    Several dragons flocked to Kimaris. Because of that, Gorfido and Elpis were given enough room to breathe.

    At this point, Genie noticed, <em>¡®He provoked them on purpose.¡¯ </em>She could tell that Kimaris deliberately provoked the dragons to pull them away from his allies and give them some reprieve, even if for a while. This short reprieve could then allow them to maintain their condition and breathe for a bit. Also, Kimaris was so strong that he was not losing out against the two or three dragons that flocked to him. He was able to hold the dragons back with his experience and excellent Axe Arts, as well as the demon¡¯s unique and special skills.

    ¡°If it¡¯s like this then¡­¡±

    They could drag things on for much longer.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Genie mmed her whip and kept one of the dragons in check while looking at her surroundings. The war brought about by their rage and fury over Ghost Spear Ben¡¯s death would continue further. She already expected this much. But¡­

    <em>¡®How long can west?¡¯</em>

    She could not tell. The dragons¡¯ regenerative powers were ridiculous. Even if the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were doing their best, the dragons¡¯ high HP and outrageous regenerative abilities were giving them a hard time. In fact, they were struggling to fight, let alone kill one dragon.

    <em>¡®Minhyuk, where are you?¡¯</em>

    Genie knew that Minhyuk was able to be with Ghost Spear Ben before his death. She guessed that Minhyuk was seething with rage and overflowing with sadness right now. However, she was also someone that knew Minhyuk very well. That was why she knew that Minhyuk was doing his hardest to find the best way for them to get out of this very frustrating situation right now.

    ***

    After Ghost Spear Ben disappeared, Minhyuk fought against the remaining enemy troops. As he swung his sword, his thoughts whirled rapidly. Why did the dragons cross over to the Asgan Continent and attack them? Also, it was impossible for Akhan to have the power tomand these arrogant and great beings. The conclusion came quickly to him.

    <em>¡®He must be using Luna to control the dragons.¡¯</em>

    Luna was the child of the previous Dragon Lord and was someone that was going to be their Lord. It was only natural that her existence would be precious to these dragons. One nce and Minhyuk could tell that Vch was the true key figure in this ce. As he exchanged several moves in battle with Vch, Minhyuk, who had already thought about it and came to a conclusion on his own, shouted out.

    ¡°Why are the dragons invading the human¡¯s territory?! You have all moved separately for thousands of years yet you moved together to invade our territory?!!¡±

    However, his words caused Dragon Elder Vch¡¯s anger to soar, ¡°Arrogant and impudent human! Do you think I don¡¯t know that you¡¯re trying to take over the world with the power of the Dragon Lord?! You¡¯re the one that hatched the Dragon Lord¡¯s egg and is making the new Lord walk the path of destruction!!!¡±

    <em>aaaaash¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk immediately stepped back to avoid one of the knights¡¯ swords that was aimed at him as he answered, ¡°What bullshit! Trying to take over the world with the Dragon Lord? Which part of Luna resembles a dragon that has taken the path to destruction?!¡±

    ¡°Shut up!!!¡±

    Even with Minhyuk¡¯s words, Vch still continued to bombard him with magic. However, it was also true that Dragon Elder Vch was riddled with questions. His greatest question was Luna. Just like what Minhyuk had said, Luna did not seem to be walking the path of destruction and was not on the way to bing a violent and vicious lord. In fact, Vch did not feel any evil energy in Luna¡¯s body and could only feel pure and kind energy.

    These points had made Vch suspicious already. However, it was still difficult for him to make a judgment since the battle had already taken ce.

    Still, Minhyuk made the effort to talk to him, ¡°We¡¯re only humans, do you think we¡¯re crazy enough to use the Dragon Lord?!¡±

    ¡°I know that the one that stole the Dragon Lord¡¯s egg is one of you, bastards!!! It¡¯s that bastard in your territory that uses mercenary swordsmanship!!!¡±

    At Vch¡¯s shout, Minhyuk stopped suddenly and tilted his head at him. He even blinked nkly, as if he was showing him that he truly did not know what Vch was talking about.

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Vch stopped in his tracks and doubted himself for a moment. It was because the man was blinking at him innocently. The man¡¯s expression was so on point that Vch almost believed him for a moment.

    ¡°What are you talking about? We stole the eggs? But we never did that?¡±

    ¡°Nonsense!¡± Vch shouted and stopped his attacks, making Minhyuk think that his words were finally working.

    ¡°We never stole any egg. Luna was left behind, right in front of our territory, by someone.¡±

    ¡°What crazy nonsense!!!¡± Vch shouted incredulously.

    ¡®<em>Who would dare leave the Dragon Lord¡¯s precious egg in someone else''s territory?</em>¡¯

    ¡°If you don¡¯t believe me then you should meet with Luna and check it yourself.¡±

    Truth was, Luna was really stolen by the Livestock King Brod, one of Minhyuk¡¯s vassals. However, all he needed to do was to deny it. Besides, if Dragon Elder Vch truly gave his words a chance, then the situation might change once he met with Luna. After all, Luna was not walking the path of destruction, but the path of a benevolent dragon. It was also true that cing Luna in front of Vch was a very risky and dangerous move. But at the rate things were going, the war would end only if the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was destroyed or all of the dragons were killed.

    ¡°Stop. Everyone, stop for a moment.¡±

    Dragon Elder Vch had also noticed that the people of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were very formidable people. If they continued to do things recklessly like this, the damage that they would incur would be far greater than they expected. It would be good if they could reduce that damage, so the better choice was to check it for themselves. Besides, Vch had already judged that he could steal Luna back easily. It might be mean and would leave a bad aftertaste but he wanted to take Luna away no matter what.

    The battle stopped for a moment as the soldiers of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom hurriedly brought Luna over. Then, Elder Vch looked at Luna for a very long time.

    ¡°Kiyeeeeeee! Kiyeeeeeeeee!¡±

    The moment Luna saw Dragon Elder Vch, she spewed a breath of rage.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The huge breath was enough to ughter a few humans, but it was nothing to Elder Vch. He just continued to look at Luna¡¯s status window.

    <em>(<strong>Luna</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: Legend</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: 27</em>

    <em><strong>Age</strong>: 1</em>

    <em><strong>Attack</strong>: 3,051</em>

    <em><strong>Defense</strong>: 3,001</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: King¡¯s Descendant</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Limitless Potential</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: King¡¯s Mana Heart</em>

    <em>?The One that will be a Benevolent Dragon Lord</em>

    <em><strong>Potential</strong>: ???</em>

    <strong><em>Experience Value</em></strong><em>: 0%</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Vch doubted his eyes for a moment after seeing the words ¡®The One that will be a Benevolent Dragon Lord¡¯ written in Luna¡¯s status window. He immediately checked the detailed description of the words.

    <em>(<strong>The One that will be a Benevolent Dragon Lord</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: Luna has seen, heard and experienced a lot of things in Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. She has learnt plenty of the good and upright things¡ªan honest mind, sacrifice, love and friendship¡ªand made Luna dream of bing a benevolent and kind being, just like the people in Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. If things continued at this rate, Luna would shine brightly in the continent and would be known as the greatest and most benevolent dragon in history.</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Contrary to Dragon Vch¡¯s expectations, Luna was walking the right path. Luna had alreadypletely deviated from the path of destruction. Furthermore, she was going to be the greatest and most benevolent dragon in history, thanks to the care of the people of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    Even Vch had to admit that no dragon could shape and teach Luna these wonderful values.

    <em>¡®Rather than get angry, aren¡¯t we supposed to be thanking the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?¡¯</em>

    Vch and the other dragons were also worried about how they could instill and teach good values to the hatchling that would be born from the Dragon Lord¡¯s egg. Since the dragon that would be born would be the greatest existence among them, it would definitely be more arrogant and nonchnt among all of the dragons in existence. Even the boredom that the dragon would experience would be greater than anybody else. And this boredom would only be resolved by killing.

    Vch felt his head throb. Then, as if to cement things firmly, Minhyuk suddenly eximed, <em>¡®Ah!¡¯</em> before saying, ¡°Akhan, that bastard! He clearly orchestrated everything. Did he say that we stole the egg?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. He said that a man using the mercenary swordsmanship has stolen the egg.¡±

    ¡°But that doesn¡¯t make sense? How can a human steal something from a dragon¡¯sir?¡±

    Of course, it was possible for one person, and one person alone.

    ¡°Also, a man that uses mercenary swordsmanship? Our Beyond the Heavens Kingdom does not have such a great man at all.¡±

    Well, he was there not too long ago, but he was not here right now.

    Then, Minhyuk continued to say, ¡°It¡¯s obvious that it was Akhan that stole the egg and ced it in front of our Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Then, he immediately went to you to start this nonsensical war.¡±

    Dragon Elder Vch was now confused. Akhan had dered that Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would use the Dragon Lord as their weapon. In other words, they would raise the egg in the path of evil.

    But the situation in front of Vch waspletely different. Also, what Minhyuk said was half true. After all, he was a man that would never let an opportunity slip by.

    ¡°It¡¯s about time that we stop this nonsensical war.¡±

    Vch could not deny Minhyuk¡¯s words. It was just as he said. With Luna growing in the right path, everything was their fault. Not only attacking the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, but also breaking through and entering Asgan Continent and breaking the bnce that they had maintained for thousands of years.

    But Minhyuk did not stop there. He even took things a step further, ¡°Ah. Since everything was all because of your misunderstanding, I¡¯m sure you will give us enoughpensation, right? Don¡¯t tell me that the greatest and noblest existence on earth would just keep their mouths shut about this, after attacking us with no rhyme or reason at all, right?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk even thought about peeling off ayer of skin from the dragons by shaving off a portion of the treasures that they hid in theirirs. He was the epitome of a scammer that could sell fine dust for five million gold by saying that it was good for the skin.

 Chapter 510: Beyond the Heavens Kingdom versus Akhan

    Chapter 510: Beyond the Heavens Kingdom versus Akhan

    With Kimaris¡¯ participation in the battle, Genie immediately ordered Park, the knights, and the rest of the soldiers of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom to retreat. Park and the rest of the troops were stimted with rage and could not be contained.

    However, Genie was a wisemander.

    ¡°Know that my orders are the same as His Majesty¡¯s orders, going against my orders means that you¡¯re showing insubordination to our king!¡±

    Her words left the soldiers with no choice. The only reason why she threatened the soldiers like that was to reduce the damage that they would incur. The number of the soldiers that have died during this battle had already exceeded a thousand. Of course, the remaining soldiers had also made remarkable achievements, bombing their levels up and increasing it by around 20~30.

    Besides, there was room for them to retreat since the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s reinforcement had arrived. In other words, they could still maintain the bnce that the soldiers were giving their lives for, albeit just barely. One of the best rankers of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, Khan, snatched the tail of one of the dragons that were charging at Kimaris.

    ¡°What¡­?!¡± Dragon Ford shouted in shock. Could a human bear his weight and actually drag him away?

    Then, at that moment, the muscles in Khan¡¯s arms began to bulge.

    <em>[Giant¡¯s Herculean Strength.]</em>

    <em>[Your STR will triple in a moment.]</em>

    ¡°Haaaaaaa!¡± Khan shouted, putting strength into his arms. Surprisingly enough, Ford was dragged to where he was. Then, Khan threw Ford into the skies and immediately flew after him.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Khan¡¯s fists were covered with tremendous power. Giant¡¯s Explosion was a skill that allowed Khan to strike at his enemy indiscriminately with fists that have an additional 1,800% attack. The skill¡¯s effect was excellent for one-on-one battles. However, when against a huge being like a dragon, its effect would more than double.

    <em>Baaaaang!</em>

    The first attack that mmed into Ford¡¯s body, made a dent in the shape of Khan¡¯s fist. Then, it was followed by several punches in quick sessions.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Khan¡¯s fists literally felt like bombs going off on Ford¡¯s body, forcing him to scream, ¡°Graaaaaaa! S, stop!!!¡±

    The attacks made Ford fall on the ground. However, Kaistra, the Envoy of Incarnation, was already waiting for him with his spear and wolf headgear while riding on Penrus, its pristine white fur fluttering gently with the wind, all ready to pounce at Ford.

    ¡°Light¡¯s Natural State,¡± Kaistra murmured softly.

    <em>aaaaash¡ª</em>

    Penrus turned into light as he leapt up to the skies. This was the skill that Penrus and the Envoy of Incarnation, Kaistra, had acquired just recently.

    <em>[Light¡¯s Natural State.]</em>

    <em>[The incarnation and the Envoy of Incarnations will be one and show a tremendous disy of power.]</em>

    <em>[You will receive an additional 2,400% attack for a moment, a power that would allow you to pierce through your enemy.]</em>

    <em>Staaaaaab¡ª</em>

    Penrus and Kaistra flew higher in the skies after digging through the thick scales of the dragon. The dragon¡¯s HP after being pierced through by Penrus and Kaistra¡¯s attack had already fallen down to the point that their regenerative power could not keep up anymore.

    Then, as if to put the final touch, Golden Mage Ali shouted, ¡°Diss.¡±

    <em>Fwoooooooosh¡ª</em>

    Five golden spears of light urately pierced through the dragon¡¯s vital points. The dragon fell helplessly, crashing into the ground. Even if it was a dragon, it could not survive an onught of attack like that, especially after fighting against Kimaris. Of course, it was also because three great dealers had focused their attacks on him. That was how the dragon died under their hands.

    The battle had been going on for four hours now. But now, they had finally seeded in hunting one dragon. All of the guild members received notifications.

    <em>[You have hunted Dragon Ford.]</em>

    <em>[Everyone that has participated in the dragon hunt will receive rewards based on their contributions.]</em>

    <em>[Dragon Ford¡¯s abilities had been reduced by 30% after traveling through continents.]</em>

    <em>[In ordance with this, the EXP acquisition and artifact and item drop rate will also be reduced by 30%.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 233,306,314 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained the <strong>Title</strong>: Dragon yer.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 1,811 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 6 kg of Dragon Ford¡¯s scales.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Dragon Ford¡¯s magical dictionary.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 16 Fantastic Weapon Reinforcement Stones.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 26 Fantastic Armor Reinforcement Stones.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the map to Dragon Ford¡¯s ¡®Lair¡¯.]</em>

    Indeed, a dragon was a dragon. Hunting such a beast would always be apanied by enormous risks and damages, but they would always give tremendous rewards. And people always tend to look for monsters of this caliber, even if it was dangerous, for their rewards.

    However, right now, the fact was that they were facing more than ten of such beings.

    <em>¡®The problem is that there are more than ten of them. We will definitely die.¡¯</em>

    Khan smiled bitterly as he watched the other dragons get stirred up by Dragon Ford¡¯s death. Meanwhile, the Koreans and the people from all over the world were impressed.

    <em>[The power of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is truly shocking. How many guilds from all over the world can hunt a dragon by themselves?]</em>

    <em>[From what I heard, the dragons¡¯ abilities have been reduced by 30% when they crossed through the continents. Still, the fact that yers from a distant and small country can hunt the greatest beings on earth is just like a far-fetched story. That¡¯s amazing.]</em>

    <em>[But perhaps this is an opportunity for Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. If they can hunt a lot of dragons then they can gather plenty of EXP and artifacts.]</em>

    <em>[You might say that it¡¯s a chance but I have to disagree with you. The word ¡®opportunity¡¯ is somewhat unreasonable, especially when Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is in a precarious situation right now.]</em>

    Thementators¡¯ opinions were divided. However, the viewers all had the same reaction.

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is so dope¡­]</em>

    This was the monster and dragon corps that did not use too much time to push back the four great guilds of Korea and the kingdom troops. And for the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom to stop them from advancing forward, it was only natural that their name would be elevated to a higher level and gain more poprity.

    Right now, the monster corps were being dealt with by the members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s guild members, as they let their soldiers retreat and take a rest. There were also the knights and soldiers of Lumae Kingdom mixed in with the monster corps. They snorted at the people of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom that blocked their path.

    The ones that were blocking the monster corps path consisted of Ascar, with her silver hair and dual des on her back, Locke, the Crazy Priest who was now being hailed as the Dog Cultivator, riding on top of Cerberus, and Bread Shuttle Mei Wei.

    Beyond the Heavens Kingdom only sent three people to stop the enemy troops¡¯ advance.

    ¡°Kill them!!!¡±

    The monster corps that consisted mostly of boss mobs and the high-ranking knights of Lumae Kingdom charged forward. They intended to show the people of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom what fear and terror was. But then, Love, Hope and Happiness rushed forward first while carrying Locke, who was holding two axes in his hands. The first to send out an attack was the rightmost head, sending out a burst of me toward the enemy troops.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Several monsters screamed as the translucent barrier that protected them melted from the heat of the mes. Without stopping, the leftmost head shot out a strong breath of cold energy, freezing the monsters¡¯ bodies until they were solid and turning the field into an icy cier. Once the monsters¡¯ body turned solid, Locke would then hack at them with his axes.

    <em>sh¡ª sh, sh¡ª sh¡ª</em>

    After smashing the frozen monsters into smithereens, Locke flew up to the skies, swinging his axes down and mming it to the ground. There were dozens of monsters, knights and soldiers around him.

    <em>[Jeffrit¡¯s Fury.]</em>

    <em>[A huge explosion with 1,900% additional damage will bloom within a twelve meter radius the moment you hit the ground.]</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    A huge explosion swept away the enemies that surrounded him the moment he hit the ground. Then, Locke looked at the knights and soldiers that were approaching him and spat out, ¡°Come,e! You f*ckers! Were you the ones that forced our old man like that?!!!¡±

    Locke might not be a handsome one and his head might be bigger than others, but he was someone that was very kind. He was unable to contain his anger at the death of Ghost Spear Ben as he charged forward. Then, a knight from Lumae Kingdom rushed at him fiercely. But before the knight could even reach Locke, Locke¡¯s axes had already reached his chest, breaking his armor and sending him away.

    <em>Crack¡ª! Crack¡ª! Crack, crack¡ª!</em>

    Locke continued to charge forward. At that moment, the knights of Lumae Kingdom thought¡­

    <em>¡®He must be one of the attackmanders of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Yeah. It wouldn¡¯t make sense for someone to have that kind of damage if he¡¯s not an attackmander.¡¯</em>

    But just as those thoughts shed in their heads¡­

    <em>[Jeffrit¡¯s Indolence.]</em>

    <em>[You have fallen into an extremely lethargic andzy state.]</em>

    <em>[All stats decrease by 25%, AGI will decrease by 10%.]</em>

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    Question marks popped up in the enemies¡¯ heads. It was only natural. After all, they thought that the person that they were dealing with was a melee-ss individual, but that person suddenly casted a debuff on them. And the most surprising part was¡­

    <em>¡®A debuff user is that strong?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®How can this be¡­?¡¯</em>

    On top of that, Cerberus and Locke¡¯sbo was the best of the best, with Cerberus moving to protect the rushing Locke.

    <em>¡®Grrrrrr. I have no choice but to protect this ignorant and defenseless owner bastard.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Grrrrr. I¡¯m helping the owner bastard because he looks pitiful.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Grrr. The bastards that killed the Ghost Spear Grandpa, I won¡¯t let you go!!!!¡¯</em>

    In another ce, dozens of knights surrounded Ascar. The knights thought that the person in front of them was one of the prominent swordsmen in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. As a warrior, it was only natural for them to want topete with her. Then, one of the knights rushed toward Ascar. But at that moment¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    The knights that surrounded Ascar were shocked and astounded. The knight that rushed forward died with blood spurting out of his neck without even exchanging a blow with Ascar. Ascar looked at them with gloomy and dark eyes. She was the ghost and the goddess of the battlefield. And right now, her instincts have been awakened.

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    The moment she took a step¡­

    ¡°Keuhaaaack!¡±

    ¡­one of the knights was cut down.

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    And with a swing of her sword¡­

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    ¡­another knight¡¯s head fell down and rolled on the ground. And when Ascar increased her speed¡­

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª</em>

    ¡­five more knights fell down with blood spurting out of their chests. Ascar dashed from one ce to another and showed the world the greatness of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom as she, the one that was hailed as one of the most skilled members of their kingdom, cut down the knights of Lumae Kingdom.

    Then, a light in the shape of a sword suddenly shed above Ascar and Locke¡¯s heads.

    <em>[Sword Goddess¡¯ Blessings.]</em>

    <em>[All stats increase by 18%. Weapon attack power increases by 140%.]</em>

    The moment the strongest dealer and the best buff specialist, Bread Shuttle Mei Wei, joined the fray, more knights fell down and copsed.

    <em>[This is really crazy¡­]</em>

    <em>[Are they really from the Behind the Heavens Kingdom?]</em>

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is teeming with monsters¡­]</em>

    The people from all over the world were all shocked by their performance.

    Meanwhile, Akhan, who was watching the situation unfold, finally made a judgment, <em>¡®If the king of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, the Food God, and Ellie appears here, then things will be difficult for our side.¡¯</em>

    Thus, he made a quick decision. He would sacrifice himself to bring a greater power down to this ne of existence. Besides, the requirements for this summons had already been met.

    ¡°Hell¡¯s Gate.¡±

    He was going to awaken that person that was locked up in hell, a ce that was under the rule of the God of Death, and let everyone here suffer the pain and terror of the past. Then, darkness began to cover the skies as a wide smile formed at Akhan¡¯s lips.

    <em>[Hell¡¯s Gate has been opened.]</em>

    <em>[Demigod Asura has awakened to the world.]</em>

    ***

    The kings left Baroque Kingdom swiftly as if they were fleeing. They were chatting happily as they continued on their long procession back to their kingdoms.

    ¡°Beyond the Heavens and Baroque Kingdoms will soon meet their downfall, right?¡±

    ¡°Of course. Those are dragons. Can anyone hold out against them?¡±

    Instead of worrying, they thought that it was a very good opportunity for them. After all, they believed that the dragons would return once they finished what they were set out to do. When that time came, they would definitely devour the two fallen kingdoms. But then, at that moment¡­

    ¡°Hiiiik¡­!¡±

    ¡°Heoook!¡±

    ¡°Wh, what¡¯s that?!¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s happening?!¡±

    The kings all rushed out of their carriages in confusion. However, they were met with a very shocking sight. A man was riding on the back of a gigantic red dragon and rushing to where Baroque Kingdom was.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    This was something unprecedented. No event like this has been written in history books. A knight riding on top of a dragon? It was a tremendous feat but the figure on top of the dragon was not a knight.

    ¡°The, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s king?!¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t, isn¡¯t that the Food God?!¡±

    The sight was so amazing that the kings could not help but shake.

    Minhyuk, who was riding on top of Dragon Elder Vch, was rushing straight toward the Baroque Kingdom.

 Chapter 511: God of Slaughter, Asura

    Chapter 511: God of ughter, Asura

    The sky above the gruesome battlefield that shed the blood of one, two, hundreds, thousands, ten thousand people and soaked the capital of Baroque Kingdom suddenly turned dark, enveloping everyone in a deep sense of dread.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°What the hell?¡±

    ¡°Th, that¡­¡±

    Seeing the unusual change in the battlefield, even the troops of Lumae Kingdom felt terror, while the troops of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom turned ever so vignt.

    Crazy Tyrant Akhan was floating in the skies with a deep, unsettling smile peeking from underneath his skull mask. Akhan already had a history of putting the yers of both the Chinese and Korean servers in danger by releasing the frenzied ck Dragon Vormon in the Continent Cloud. This time, he opened the Gates of Hell.

    Hell was a ce that housed beings that went beyond transcendence, over tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of years ago. Then, a huge ck gate appeared and hovered in the dark skies. There were thousands of arms made of bones that blocked the gate from opening.

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kiiiiiiiiiiiiik¡±

    ¡°Kiyeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    The skeletons shrieked. These skeletons were the ones that received the punishment of preventing the Gates of Hell from opening. Their screams and shrieks signaled danger, it meant that the Gates of Hell would soon be opened.

    <em>¡®My level has been reduced by thirty, but it doesn¡¯t matter.¡¯</em>

    Akhan smiled thickly despite the enormous penalties that he would incur for bringing a being from hell to earth. On top of his level being reduced by thirty, he would be banned from essing the game for two weeks in the case of death. And even if he was able to reconnect, his EXP value would be reduced to less than 40% for another two weeks.

    However, Akhan was literally the epitome of crazy. He was aplete and utter lunatic that did not care for those kinds of things.

    Of course, the penalties were not the only thing needed for the opening of the Gates of Hell, it also needed a sacrifice. To open the Gates of Hell, Akhan needed the blood of tens of thousands of beings, which were the knights, soldiers, and monsters, as well as the blood of a great and noble existence, the dragon that had just died.

    Hundreds of broadcasting stations immediately zoomed in on Akhan¡¯s face as he grinned wickedly and said, ¡°This will be your end.¡±

    Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>Vwooooooooooong¡ª</em>

    The gigantic Gates of Hell shook as the skeletons that held the gates shut fell down one after the other and disappeared into ashes. Then, another knock¡­

    <em>Vwoooooooong¡ª</em>

    <em>Screech¡ª</em>

    <em>Tremble, tremble, tremble¡ª</em>

    Tension and nervousness increased in everyone present with every knock that shook the Gates of Hell. And finally¡­

    <em>Vwooooooooong¡ª</em>

    The Gates of Hell opened as a thick red arm reached out from its depths.

    <em>Craaaack¡ª</em>

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kiheeeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Kikikikikiki!¡±

    The skeletons desperately grabbed the arm that popped out from the depths of hell. They tried so hard to block it froming out, but the arm was already holding the gates. In the end, the skeletons failed to hold on, allowing another arm to appear and m the Gates of Hell open.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    With the opening of the Gates of Hell, the skeletons slowly turned to ashes, disappearing into the wind. Then, a gigantic red figure slowly stepped out from the gates.

    The figure was wearing thick full-ted armor with two bloody red and huge greatswords in each hand. Then, something very shocking happened. The figure¡¯s head and arms suddenly multiplied. The man¡¯s head became three while his arms became six. However, as if it was all an illusion, the shocking figure disappeared as swiftly as it came to be while the notifications rang in everyone¡¯s ears.

    <em>[Demigod Asura has descended.]</em>

    <em>[Those that will bring Demigod Asura back and seal him with the Gates of Hell will receive the appropriate rewards.]</em>

    ¡°Demigod Asura¡­?¡±

    ¡°Did it say Asura?!¡±

    ¡°That, that Asura?!¡±

    In reality, Asura was one of the eight deities that protected the Dharma in Buddhism, also infamously associated with the ¡¯Asura Field¡¯. Any normal person would rte the Asura Field with carnage and ruins.

    But the true meaning of the Asura Field was Asura¡¯s battlefield, a field that was filled with blood.

    ¡°Did it say Asura¡­?¡±

    Even the dragons that were caught up in their battle were all left flustered after hearing the notifications.

    Asura was the demon of the battlefield that ughtered tens of millions of people more than ten thousand years ago. As he continued to ughter his enemies with his sword, he gradually left behind the human realm and reached the level of a transcendent, eventually reaching the ¡®Demigod¡¯ level.

    The problem was what he did once he became a Demigod. All he did was ¡®ughter¡¯. When the man killed tens of millions of people, the gods had no choice but to move. However, even they could not control Asura. Only after joining forces with the Continental Gods were they able to send Asura to hell. Even then, the ruler of hell, the God of Death, also had a hard time controlling Asura.

    A fact that indicated how violent, cruel and powerful he was.

    Thementators hurriedly gathered information on Athenae¡¯s Asura and ryed it to the masses.

    <em>[The blood and tears shed by the tens of millions of people that he killed flooded the world. His sword did not show any mercy and would kill anyone, even emperors and kings. In the end, even the gods feared this evil being¡­]</em>

    People began to publish articles and information about Asura.

    <em>[Demigod Asura. A man known as the God of the Battlefield and a figure that eventually achieved godhood.]</em>

    <em>[Asura is also known as the God of ughter in the Athenae worldview.]</em>

    Once they gathered the information and put two and two together, they all reached one conclusion.

    <em>[Isn¡¯t this saying that he¡¯s a god of killing?!]</em>

    <em>[Right now, there¡¯s an evil god over there¡­?]</em>

    <em>[Akhan, you¡¯re a f*cking crazy bastard!!!]</em>

    Before Asura could make his move, the dragons hurriedly told Akhan, ¡°Why did you open the Gates of Hell? Are you going to turn this continent into a sea of blood?¡±

    Yes, the dragons attacked this ce for a reason of their own, but they did not intend to attack and trample on the entire continent. Their purpose was to push Baroque Kingdom, destroy Beyond the Heavens Kingdom behind them, and take the hatchling away.

    ¡°I believe this is the best solution for the situation right now.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll step away from the battlefield for a while.¡±

    The dragons were clever. To put it in another way, they were afraid. This was because they might not be able to survive if they participated in a battlefield where Asura was present. That was just how terrifying Asura was. Asura might be a demigod, but his power far exceeded that of any other demigod.

    ¡°I see.¡±

    Akhan cackled after seeing the terror in the dragons¡¯ eyes. However, the dragons did not care and only stepped away. Then, Akhan bowed to Asura.

    ¡°Are you the one that freed me?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right. O¡¯ noble one, the great Asura, I know what you wanted to achieve in the past.¡±

    Akhan knew why Asura cut down tens of millions of people. This was because he wanted to exterminate all existences in this world.

    ¡°Even if you¡¯re only here for a moment, please feel free to fulfill your dream of that time.¡±

    Asura remained silent and only looked around nonchntly. Asura saw the soldiers and knights trembling from fear, and a huge kingdom right behind them.

    ¡°What a joy,¡± Asura smiled strangely as three heads shed and disappeared.

    <em>Gulp¡ª</em>

    Genie gulped dryly. She wondered what the hell was going on in Akhan¡¯s head. He was aplete and utter crazy bastard. Then, Asura took a step forward.

    ¡°Everyone stay on alert,¡± Genie ordered her guild members as all of them turned to look at Asura. The troops from Lumae Kingdom and the ones from Beyond the Heavens Kingdom all stopped what they were doing and looked vigntly at Asura.

    Prince Votto cried loudly, ¡°Wh, what the hell are you doing?!! Our troops will die like that¡­!!!¡±

    But before he could even finish his words, tens of thousands of skulls stretched out from Asura¡¯s bloody red greatsword. The dark sky turned red like blood as tens of thousands of skeletons popped up from the ground. After that, Asura threw his greatsword towards the ground.

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    Red buddhist beads that hung from the handle of the sword cked together.

    <em>[Asura¡¯s Realm.]</em>

    <em>[Asura¡¯s world of fighting and carnage has unfolded.]</em>

    A red stream extended from the greatsword and stretched out in a wave and devoured everyone.

    <em>Fwiiiiiiiiiish¡ª</em>

    The soldiers and knights that were first devoured by the red stream copsed on the ground with blood dripping down from their eyes, ears, mouths and noses.

    ¡°Heok?!¡±

    ¡°Hiiiiiiiik!¡±

    While everyone was terrified, the bloody wave continued to spread and devour people.

    <em>Fwiiiish¡ª</em>

    <em>Fwiiiiiiiiiiish¡ª</em>

    The troops continued to spurt out blood one after the other, copsing on the ground. It swept away the knights and soldiers of Lumae Kingdom and even crept forward to the troops of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    <em>[The Asura¡¯s Realm has unfolded.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will decrease by 20% and your movements will be restricted.]</em>

    <em>[Asura¡¯s great power has bound your body.]</em>

    <em>[Your attack sess rate as well as physical and magical defense will decrease by 30%.]</em>

    <em>[The damage that you will receive is dependent on your resistance to abnormal status and conditions.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Genie and the guild members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom all made eye contact. Amidst this gruesome war that spilt blood and dyed them red with it, all of them thought of only one thing.

    <em>¡®Protect the NPCs!¡¯</em>

    Then, as if to rece the greatsword that he threw earlier, Asura pulled out a new bloody red greatsword. And when Asura shed his two greatswords towards Baroque Kingdom¡­

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    ¡­Blood geysers exploded every eighty centimeters and rushed at the members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. On top of the tremendous force, the radius of the explosion was also around seven meters. The troops of Lumae Kingdom that were barely supporting their bodies were also swept away by the explosion, their bodies bursting gruesomely as their remains rained down from the skies.

    This was Asura¡¯s Field, a skill that triggered a tremendous force that was enough to bring down the thick walls of Baroque Kingdom and even have enough power to devour the capital that it protected.

    <em>Grrrrrrrrrr¡ª</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª</em>

    In just an instant, around 2,000 troops died. Asura was not a person that distinguished between allies and enemies. The dragons knew this part of him, that was why they backed off.

    Meanwhile, the guild members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom ran fast to protect their NPCs when they saw a force gathering at Asura¡¯s greatswords. The moment Asura brandished his greatswords, six swordlights and gigantic bloody beads fired at everyone urately as if they were homing bullets.

    In the short moment that he was here, Asura had already figured out who the core figures of his enemies were. His power was fired directly at Conir, Elpis, Aruvel, and Cerberus. Seeing this, Locke immediately opened his arms and blocked the attack for Cerberus.

    ¡°Kids, run!!!¡±

    ¡°Grrrr!¡±

    ¡°Grrrr!¡±

    ¡°Grrrrr!¡±

    Cerberus mightugh and joke around calling Locke as ¡®ugly and pitiful¡¯, but it had already recognized him as one of its owners. That was why it had to protect him, instead of being protected by Locke. So, Cerberus pushed Locke away, as the center head fired a white light that tried to extinguish the red bead.

    However, it was useless. Even the leftmost head and the rightmost head fired streams of fire and ice but to no avail. The red bead still continued to push forward. All they could do was block it with their bodies.

    ¡°Graaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Kaeng! Kaeng, kaeng, kaeng!¡±

    ¡°Kiiiiiiiiiiiing!¡±

    ¡°These, these idiots¡­!¡±

    The moment the red bead mmed and exploded in Cerberus¡¯ body, it felt a powerful damage ravaging its body and tremendous pain that it had never experienced in its entire life.

    Genie threw herself to protect Conir while Khan punched another with his fists. However, they were all shocked at the tremendous damage that the beads inflicted.

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 10%.]</em>

    <em>[More than 60% of your HP has disappeared in one go, you will lose consciousness for three seconds.]</em>

    Khan¡¯s vision immediately turned blurry. It was just as Akhan said. This was truly the end for them.

    ***

    Three secondster, Khan shook his head and finally woke up from his fainted state. His head was still dizzy and he did not have any energy in his body. He was even dripping blood all over the ce. All he could do was look around and assess the situation in front of him.

    ¡°You idiots! Why, why¡­ you¡­!¡±

    ¡°Kiiiiing¡­¡±

    ¡°Kiiing¡­ kiiiiing¡­¡±

    Locke was hugging Cerberus as tears fell down his cheeks.

    ¡°Ge, Genie noona. Sorry. Conir is sorry¡­ noona is hurting. Noona can¡¯t be hurting!¡±

    ¡°Conir¡­ Don¡¯t cry¡­¡±

    Genie, who had fallen on the ground, had lost her left arm. Even Aruvel was shocked to see Ascar and Mei Wei bleed profusely as they blocked the bead that came for him.

    ¡°Why¡­ why¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­Are you alright?¡± Ascar asked before finally losing consciousness.

    Khan bit his lips as he looked at Elpis, who was behind him. Elpis looked like he had also suffered considerable damage from the attack just now.

    ¡°Why¡­!¡±

    ¡°Hey, Elpis,¡± Khan called out as he looked at Elpis with a smile. ¡°You must survive.¡±

    Then, Asura¡¯s red beads began to soar into the skies once again. Seeing this, Khan thought that he had to stop this in one go. Contrary to his thoughts, his body could not move.

    <em>¡®Potion¡­ I don¡¯t have any potions left¡­?¡¯</em>

    There was no potion left. Khan had already used up all of the potion in his inventory. All he needed was a bottle of top-quality potion to recover 30% of his HP. If he had that, then he could block the attack one more time.

    However, the red beads did not wait for them. In the end, it still flew towards them. Khan felt his head spin. All he could do was close his eyes in frustration as he tried to think of a way to protect Elpis.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m sorry, I can¡¯t protect you.¡¯</em>

    But then¡­

    ¡°Oy,¡± Someone briefly yet loudly called out to him.

    <em>Roll, roll, roll¡ª</em>

    Then, something rolled in front of Khan. It was a bottle of top-quality potion. Khan raised his head and saw the guild master of Ares Guild, Ares, standing in front of him.

    Ares was one of the top ranking fighters in the country alongside Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s Khan. If Khan was known for his fists and punches, Ares was known for his kicks.

    ¡°Are you already sitting in frustration? That¡¯s very unbing of you as my rival,¡± Ares said, his face expressionless as he stretched his hand out to Khan.

    ¡°Why¡­¡±

    Ares looked back at the red bead with an ugly expression on his face, ¡°Just because.¡±

    When Khan looked around, he saw Iris Guild¡¯s Callian protecting Genie while Avalon Guild¡¯s GoM protected Locke. There were also Korea¡¯s top rankers making their stand all over the ce.

    Khan could not understand the situation right now. All of them were known to be hostile and antagonistic towards their own guild. But¡­

    <em>Grab¡ª</em>

    Khan grabbed Ares¡¯ big and sturdy hands as he stood up and drank his potion.

    <em>Gulp, gulp, gulp¡ª</em>

    Khan looked at the approaching red bead and said, ¡°Oy¡ª¡°

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Ares looked back at Khan.

    ¡°¡ªThanks.¡±

    Ares smirked and replied, ¡°Damn you.¡±

    Then, the two of them rushed forward and aimed for the flying red bead.

 Chapter 512: God of Slaughter, Asura

    Chapter 512: God of ughter, Asura

    Ares was one of Korea¡¯s top rankers and the master of Ares Guild, the best guild out of the country¡¯s Four Great Guilds. He and his guild had always made trouble for Legend Guild ever since their conception in Athenae. This was because Ares did not like Legend Guild. This hate was further cemented when Legend Guild went further than anyone and built a kingdom, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, on their own.

    Not too long ago the guilds, Iris, Ares and Avalon, participated in the battle at Baroque Kingdom and had beenpletely wiped out. They had been annihted. In fact, they, along with the country¡¯s top rankers, had gathered here today to redeem their honor and show everyone that they still have great potential.

    However, their thoughts began to change with Asura¡¯s appearance.

    Ares looked at the flying red bead.

    <em>Shake, shake, shake¡ª</em>

    His body shook but his thoughts began to change once again.

    <em>¡®This is a f*cked situation. A yer from another country is trampling on Korea¡¯s best guild?¡¯</em>

    Ares hated Legend. Before he started a feud with them, Ares was known as one of Korea¡¯s pride. The same was true for all of the rankers that have gathered in this ce. Most of the rankers that have gathered here were part of the top 100 domestic rankings of their respective sses.

    Ares nced at Genie who was down, and said, ¡°I will takemand in the meantime! Those who will participate in the Asura hunt, listen up!¡±

    ¡°Yeah!¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°Protect Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and subjugate the Demigod Asura! Make sure to get rid of that f*cking bastard and throw him far away from the Korean server!!!¡±

    ¡°Yes!!!¡±

    ¡°Yes!!!¡±

    ¡°Yes!!!¡±

    The 500 top rankers moved with Ares. In just a blink, the red beads appeared in front of them. A huge force gathered in the fists of Korea¡¯s strongest fist, Khan.

    ¡°Straight Punch.¡±

    It was a simple punch. However, this punch could momentarily increase Khan¡¯s attack power by 600%. Then, Ares moved his feet as a green energy surrounded his right foot.

    ¡°Dragon¡¯s Kick.¡±

    The strongest fist and the strongest kick mmed into the red bead at the same time.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The red bead broke down and fell onto the ground in a pool of blood.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect that I would be able to use this skill with you,¡± Ares said as a tremendous force rose from his body.

    <em>[Dragon and Tiger.]</em>

    <em>[The dragon and tiger fighting together and inflicting continuous damages will give you greater power.]</em>

    <em>[Additional 200% damage will be inflicted for every sessful attack made within 0.9 seconds of the previous attack.]</em>

    <em>[The dragon and tiger will be granted an invincible state for three seconds. The invincibility will extend for every sessful linked attack.]</em>

    Ares had never maintained this skill past five seconds. It was a skill that would only be able to show its greatness when working with someone. And it was not an easy task for anyone to fight alongside and keep up with Ares.

    Khan nodded after hearing the notifications.

    <em>Roaaaaar¡ª</em>

    <em>Graaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The figure of a roaring dragon appeared before getting sucked into Ares¡¯ body as a blue aura erupted from within him. On Khan¡¯s side, a roaring tiger appeared and got sucked in his body before releasing a red aura. Both of them ran out at the same time. They were immediately followed by 200 rankers. Then, Asura mmed his two greatswords on the ground, sending his attacks toward Ares and Khan.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    A huge explosion bloomed right in front of the two, but it did not affect them. After all, they were in an invincible state. The first to attack was Ares, he reached Asura¡¯s nk and kicked as hard as he could.

    <em>Kick!</em>

    Then, it was followed by Khan¡¯s fist, which hit Asura¡¯s other side.

    <em>[Sessful link! Damage will increase by 200%!]</em>

    <em>[Your invincible state will remain.]</em>

    Ares immediately spun on his toes and kicked Asura¡¯s chin.

    <em>Kick!</em>

    ¡°Ugh!¡± A light moan escaped Asura¡¯s mouth. Khan took the opportunity and immediately mmed his fist into Asura¡¯s face.

    <em>Punch!</em>

    ¡°Urk!¡±

    <em>Kick, kick, kick, kick, kick!</em>

    <em>Punch, punch, punch, punch!</em>

    Their level of teamwork was surprising. The two of them took turns hitting Asura and sessfullynded dozens of consecutive attacks.

    <em>[Sessful link! Damage will increase by 200%!]</em>

    <em>[Your invincible state will remain.]</em>

    <em>[Sessful link! Damage will increase by 200%!]</em>

    <em>[Your invincible state will remain.]</em>

    <em>[Sessful link! Damage will increase by 200%!]</em>

    <em>[Your invincible state will remain.]</em>

    <em>[Sessful link! Damage will increase by 200%!]</em>

    <em>[Your invincible state¡­]</em>

    <em>[Sessful link!¡­ 200%!]</em>

    <em>[Your invincible state¡­]</em>

    <em>[Your invincible state¡­]</em>

    <em>[Sessful link!¡­ 200%!]</em>

    <em>[Your invincible state¡­]</em>

    <em>[Your invincible state¡­]</em>

    <em>[Sessful link!¡­ 200%!]</em>

    <em>[Your invincible state¡­]</em>

    ¡°That, that¡¯s crazy¡­¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaah¡­¡±

    The rankers running behind them could not help but stop in their tracks as they watched the two work seamlessly together. They did not dare to interrupt, fearing that they would disrupt their flow.

    However, the shocking scene in front of them would remain in their minds. The two looked like they had beenrades for decades as they fought and took turns hitting Asura with perfect precision and teamwork.

    <em>[Your invincible state¡­]</em>

    <em>[Sessful link!¡­ 200%!]</em>

    <em>[Your invincible state¡­]</em>

    <em>[The linked damage has exceeded 6,000%!]</em>

    <em>[You have achieved marvelous continuous attacks.]</em>

    <em>[You will incur additional 1,000% damage!]</em>

    Gradually, a red and blue light formed and covered Khan¡¯s and Ares¡¯ hands and feet as power soared through their veins.

    <em>[This is very surprising. Ares and Khan are the two great mountains of Korea¡¯s fighter ss. Their powerbined together is ridiculously amazing.]</em>

    <em>[Only a few yers from around the world can achieve consecutive linked hits like that.]</em>

    Even the best rankers from all over the world were stunned by the marvelous disy of teamwork. In fact, even Ares was also surprised.

    <em>¡®When I used this skill with others, the best we could do was do eight linked attacks.¡¯</em>

    But Ares had already exceeded a dozen with Khan. Asura, who was momentarily stunned by Khan¡¯s and Ares¡¯ punches and kicks, began to make his move.

    <em>Baaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keheok!¡± Asura gasped when an attacknded on his throat.

    <em>Kick!</em>

    Meanwhile, Aresnded another kick on Asura¡¯s nks. The two were beating up Demigod Asura. If things went on like this, then the two of them might just be able to hunt Asura. As long as they keep on increasing their sessful linked attacks then their damage might even increase by 10,000%. However¡­

    ¡°Interesting.¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Asura, who seemed as if he was staggering back, raised his hands and prevented the kick that was aimed at his sides.

    <em>[Linked attack has failed!]</em>

    <em>[Dragon and Tiger Skill haspleted.]</em>

    Then, Asura immediately grabbed Khan¡¯s fist, which was aiming for his abdomen.

    <em>Thuuud¡ª</em>

    ¡°Kghhk?!¡±

    Only then did the two of them realize that they were able tond sessful linked attacks on Asura not because Asura could not stop them, but because Asura weed their attacks.

    ¡°So, this is the power of the current era?¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Asura sounded as if he was evaluating them and their power.

    ¡°What¡­?!¡±

    Just when Ares was about to turn around andnd another kick¡­

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    Asura shed his greatsword horizontally at him. At the same time¡­

    <em>[Your HP has decreased by 20%!]</em>

    <em>[You have received Asura¡¯s invisible attack.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has decreased by 18%!]</em>

    <em>[You have received Asura¡¯s invisible attack.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has decreased by 19%!]</em>

    <em>[You have received tremendous damage in one strike! Your body¡¯s movements have been restricted.]</em>

    ¡°This damage¡­!¡±

    Ares could not help but be terrified. It was clear that Asura only sent one attack, but there were three damage notifications that rang in his ears.

    <em>¡®Don¡¯t tell me¡­?!¡¯</em>

    Asura was said to have three heads and six arms. From what it looked like, even though the rest of his six arms were not seen, they could still inflict damage on Asura¡¯s enemies. Simply put, Asura had reduced Ares¡¯ HP by nearly 60% with just his one basic attack.

    ¡°Sh, shit¡­¡±

    Even if Ares¡¯ movements were not restricted from therge damage that he received, he was sure that he would not be able to move from the momentum and aura that Asura was emitting as of the moment. When Asura tried to swing his greatsword again, Khan immediately threw himself in front of Ares.

    ¡°Fall back.¡±

    Khan immediately dragged Ares to the rear as the 200 rankers that followed behind them rushed forward to attack Asura. The one that stood at the forefront was none other than Korea¡¯s number one in the Tanker Rankings, Golden Shield Valdar. He was famous for being able to stop ten Named Monsters¡¯ attacks all by himself.

    ¡°God¡¯s Shield!!!¡±

    <em>Thump¡ª</em>

    A transparent shield formed around the area the moment he stabbed his shield on the ground. The melee ss dealers immediately stuck close to him and prepared for an attack. Then, Asura brandished his greatsword once again.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    This time, Asura used both of the greatswords in his hands.

    <em>[God¡¯s Shield¡¯s durability has decreased by 7%.]</em>

    <em>[God¡¯s Shield has received Asura¡¯s invisible attack.]</em>

    <em>[God¡¯s Shield¡¯s durability has decreased by 6%.]</em>

    <em>[God¡¯s Shield has received Asura¡¯s invisible attack.]</em>

    <em>[God¡¯s Shield¡¯s durability has decreased by 6%.]</em>

    ¡°What, what the hell¡­?!¡±

    Asura had only mmed his greatswords on the God¡¯s Shield for a total of four times but he received twelve times the damage. The worst part was that everything happened in just one second. In that split second, God¡¯s Shield broke into pieces and Valdar, Korea¡¯s number one tanker, was cut down by Asura¡¯s greatswords.

    The rankers rushed from behind and jumped at Asura. But Asura easily jumped in their fray and swung his greatsword at them.

    ¡°Euaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!¡±

    <em>[You have been forced to log-out.]</em>

    <em>[You have been forced to log-out.]</em>

    <em>[You have been forced to log-out.]</em>

    This notification popped up in the rankers eyes. The time it took for the rankers to die? Only two seconds. It was just an instant, but more than thirty rankers died.

    ¡°That¡¯s quite boring. Is the power of the current era just this much? That¡¯s infinitely weaker than the past,¡± Asura said, looking at his surroundings, ¡°I don¡¯t have to drag it out for too long.¡±

    Asura looked infinitely bored. All of the rankers turned pale. Despite being the best rankers in Korea, they did not expect that they would not be able to do anything and would only be pushed back. Then, Asura crossed his greatswords together.

    ¡°Hell¡¯s Infernal Sword.¡±

    Hell¡¯s Infernal Sword[1] originally meant hell but Asura¡¯s Hell¡¯s Infernal Sword was referring to a sword.

    <em>[Hell¡¯s Infernal Sword.]</em>

    <em>[A vicious sword with additional 2,500% attack that could bring everyone within a twenty meter radius fall into the depths of despair.]</em>

    At that moment, Asura mmed his greatsword on the ground, turning it red.Thousands of translucent bloody greatswords popped up and brutally ughtered the rankers that fought in the frontlines.

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª</em>

    Only one second had passed and another forty rankers had already died. By the time two seconds rolled, more than a hundred had already died. When three seconds came, 180 of them died. Their blood scattered and dyed everything red.

    In the first ce, Asura¡¯s Hell¡¯s Infernal Sword was a skill that created despair and misery by spilling countless people''s blood. The blood gushed out like fountains that anyone would have a hard time looking around them.

    ¡°It¡¯s over¡­¡± Someone murmured. However, no one could deny it.

    ***

    In the meeting room.

    Everyone was speechless. All they could do was watch Asura and his cold-blooded and vicious tyranny happen on screen.

    <em>[Everything is covered in blood. We can¡¯t see much on screen.]</em>

    <em>[What the hell is happening over there?]</em>

    <em>[The power that Asura has disyed so far ispletely different from the power that Ghost Spear Ben has disyed before.]</em>

    <em>[Is that the true power of a god?]</em>

    The broadcasting stations¡¯ cameras had lost sight of what was happening in the game due to the blood that covered everything. Even the people in the meeting room could only see blood.

    Team Leader Park Minggyu looked at the monitor seriously.

    <em>¡®If Asura continues to advance and attack the kings then¡­¡¯</em>

    Asgan Continent would be destroyed, just like how Akhan wanted. If this happened, they would need to create both a new episode and a new kingdom. However, for Athenae, a worldview with a high degree of freedom, it was something that waspletely next to impossible.

    Finally, the blood that covered the screens slowly started to clear away. What greeted them was a very gruesome scene. Only half of the 500 rankers that came were left. The worst part? The ones that survived were only barely hanging on to dear life. They definitely could not wield their weapons to fight.

    As for the knights and soldiers of Lumae Kingdom? They were originally over 6,000 in number but only 2,000 of them were left. The dead that littered and surrounded Asura in this gruesome battlefield slowly started to disappear.

    Team Leader Park could only close his eyes.

    <em>[That¡¯s quite boring. Is the power of the current era just this much?]</em>

    Asuraughed.

    <em>[This ispletely ridiculous. I can onlyugh at you. Huh?]</em>

    Team Leader Park clenched his fists tightly when he heard Asura scoff at the entire Athenae worldview. The voiceughed not only at the rankers but even them, the ones that created this world.

    ¡°They¡¯re here,¡± President Kang Taehoon¡¯s voice, filled with hope, rang in everyone¡¯s ears. Minggyu opened his eyes to look at the monitor once more. Then, the cold and frosty voice of a woman rang from the monitor.

    <em>[Do you think you¡¯re someone qualified to talk about the current era?]</em>

    Then, the sound of the sword being pulled out rang loudly.

    <em>Shiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    <em>ck¡ª</em>

    It was just a brief and short sound, but by the time it was over, the sword was already sheathed again. Her movements were so fast that none of them could follow it with their own eyes. And right behind her, Asura, with his head cut off, fell down on the ground.

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    Two loud thuds apanied Asura¡¯s head and body falling on the ground as a woman with her silver hair fluttering behind her walked forward, not minding one bit that her back was against Asura.

    ¡°Sword Emperor Ellie¡­¡±

    It was the appearance of the Absolute Supreme NPC, the Continental Emperor Ellie.

    1. ???(µØªzµ¶) This should just mean Hell or Inferno but the ? (µ¶) was referring to sword/knife ?

 Chapter 513: God of Slaughter, Asura

    Chapter 513: God of ughter, Asura

    Ares felt helpless as he watched the rankers that came with him die one after another from Asura¡¯s Hell¡¯s Infernal Sword. This clearly drew a line for them. It showed how powerless human beings were in front of the gods of Athenae. There were definitely those ridiculous, out of this world, ¡®God ss¡¯ yers, but none of them had clearly climbed up to the position of a true god yet.

    <em>¡®Sorry¡­¡¯</em>

    Ares bit his lips. He was the one that led the rankers here. Just imagining the penalty and frustration that everyone would get from here was making Ares feel something that he had never felt in his entire life. He was feelingplete despair.

    Athenae was a game where one would advance towards the goal that they had set for themselves. However, one look at Asura and Ares lost his will to fight. Some of the rankers even looked dispirited as they talked about shelving Athenae for good.

    But then, at that moment¡­

    ¡°Do you think you¡¯re someone qualified to talk about the current era?¡±

    The owner of the voice was a hundred meters away from them, a beautiful woman with long, silver hair fluttering in the wind.

    <em>¡®Sword Emperor Ellie¡­!¡¯</em>

    Ares had actually never seen Ellie with his own eyes before. The only one that had a close rtionship with Sword Emperor Ellie was Food God Minhyuk. This was something that all of the Korean yers knew. Then¡­

    <em>ck¡ª</em>

    Ellie drew her sword¡­

    <em>Thump¡ª thump¡ª</em>

    ¡­and sheathed it quickly as Asura¡¯s head and body fell down on the ground.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Ares could not hide the shock when he saw the figure stand in front of him. What kind of existence was Asura? Asura was someone that ughtered half of the 500 Korean top rankers in less than thirty seconds. He was also someone that could smirk and sneer at the 5,000% damage that Ares and Khan inflicted on him.

    But Ellie was able to overpower him in just one strike.

    ¡°Un, unbelievable¡­¡±

    ¡°S, Sword Emperor Ellie¡­¡±

    ¡°Crazy¡­¡±

    ¡°This era¡¯s greatest swordsman¡­¡±

    That was right. Asura was talking about the strong of the current era but it was impossible to talk about those people without including Sword Emperor Ellie. Ellie, who was walking with her back to Asura while sporting a frosty and expressionless face, exuded the aura of a ¡®girl crush¡¯ to the women and the aura of a ¡®cool, beautiful, and sexy woman¡¯ to the men.

    ¡°That man¡­ is friends¡­ with such¡­ a person¡­?¡± Ares mumbled as respect for the Food God bloomed in his heart. It was very surprising to know that the Food God was able to win the heart of such a person.

    Ellie continued to walk to where the crowd was amidst the blood that seeped through the ground from the hell created on earth. However, her next words shocked everyone present.

    ¡°Everyone should retreat.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Everyone understood what Ellie meant. She asked them to retreat because she knew that she would have a hard time dealing with this opponent.

    ¡°Your Majesty Ellie, we can¡¯t just leave you behind,¡± Genie, who¡¯s left arm had been cut off, said.

    However, Ellie said frostily, ¡°Get out of my way.¡±

    Genie bit her lips. She already knew that Ellie would say this. If they continued to stay here then¡­

    <em>¡®Everyone might die.¡¯</em>

    It was alright for the foreigners to die, but the NPCs did not have infinite lives. Ellie did not like to see her precious little brother, Minhyuk, sad. That was why she told them to leave.

    Then, a man suddenly appeared in front of Genie.

    ¡°That¡¯s right, you¡¯ll get in the way, so leave.¡±

    There was no one in the entire Asgan Continent who did not know of this man¡¯s name. He was a man that was as famous as Sword Emperor Ellie. Ellie might have awakened, bing an Absolute Supreme NPC and left him behind, but the fact that he was one of the current era¡¯s strong people in the Asgan Continent was undeniable.

    This man was none other than Collodis Empire¡¯s Emperor, Asvon.

    Collodis Empire¡¯s Emperor Asvon was the strongest in the history of the empire and was one of the Supreme NPCs. The people not only call him ¡®God¡¯ but ¡®God of Power, Asvon¡¯.

    ¡°This is our fight.¡±

    The Eivelis and Collodis Empires were two great mountains that maintained the bnce of Asgan Continent. And these two great mountains had joined hands to protect the continent. Not long after, the more than 10,000 troops that they brought along appeared. Each and every single one of these soldiers were prepared to give their life and die on the battlefield.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. You¡¯ll just disturb us. Go away.¡±

    At that moment, a man slung his sword on his shoulder while wrapping a chain on his wrist. This man was none other than the Great and Evil Pirate, Gorfido.

    ¡°You¡¯ll probably need my help to buy some time, right?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°Great Pirate Gorfido¡­¡± Someone in the crowd murmured while Ellie and Asvon were looking at Gorfido in confusion.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Ellie and Asvon¡¯s eyes widened in shock. They might not know what he looked like, but they knew how notorious Gorfido was from the tales that they have heard from the other continents. Then¡­

    <em>Step, step¡ª</em>

    ¡°All of you should go.¡±

    Elpis stepped forward as he looked at the fallen Asura. Everyone here knew that Elpis was an existence that would not lose against Emperor Asvon or Gorfido. Asura truly did not have the qualifications to discuss the strong of this era. After all, Elpis and Gorfido have not yet vied for any position among them.

    Meanwhile, Genie could only bite her lips.

    <em>¡®Sorry.¡¯</em>

    As she looked around her, Genie finally made the inevitable decision, ¡°As His Majesty¡¯s representative, Imand you!¡±

    ¡°Yes, ma¡¯am!¡±

    ¡°Yes, ma¡¯am!¡±

    The men of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom immediately heeded Genie¡¯s orders.

    ¡°Retreat at your fastest speed!!!¡±

    ¡°Co, Conir doesn¡¯t want to go¡­ Conir wants to fight together!¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t go. Let¡¯s¡­!¡±

    ¡°Grrrrrrr!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Groooooar!¡±

    Plenty of them expressed their refusal to follow the order. However, Genie just pulled out a sword and pointed at them while saying, ¡°Refusing to ept my orders is also the same as refusing His Majesty¡¯s orders.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Everyone could see how the sword in her hand trembled. None of them could deny that this order was made for the sake of everyone, and not for herself alone.

    ¡°The advance party will follow Kimaris and retreat quickly. Elpis and Gorfido must retreat once the advance party has retreated. Do you understand?!¡±

    ¡°¡­Under¡­stood¡­¡±

    ¡°We will do so.¡±

    Genie¡¯s decision was the most rational choice. They had to leave Elpis and Gorfido while their advance party retreated to stall for time. Also¡­

    ¡°yers, stay with me.¡±

    ¡°We have received your orders!!!¡±

    ¡°We have received your orders!!!¡±

    ¡°We have received your orders!!!¡±

    As if they have been waiting for Genie¡¯s orders, the guild members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom shouted with firm resolve. Unlike the NPCS, they had unlimited lives. That was why they would fight. They would fight here until the very end.

    Meanwhile, Genie was also givingmands in their guild chat.

    <em>[<strong>Vice Guild Master Genie</strong>: Guys, we have to give our all to protect Emperors Ellie and Asvon, Elpis and Gorfido once the slightest hint of dangeres their way.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Khan</strong>: That¡¯s only natural.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Locke</strong>: No worries, no no, this tanker-like body of mine is very strong.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Ascar</strong>: Please rest assured. ^__^]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Ali</strong>: Frieeeeeeeeend!]</em>

    The orders that Genie gave them were very gruesome and harrowing. She had ordered her members to protect the NPCS at the cost of their own lives. Even so, they were all very willing to follow her orders.

    Then, four people, Elpis, Gorfido, Ellie, and Asvon, immediately stepped forward. The guild members naturally took charge of the support troops behind them.

    ¡°Interesting.¡±

    A voice rang from Asura¡¯s separated head as it rolled back to his body and stitched itself back up.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    The strange sound of bones cracking and twisting rang loudly before Asura slowly stood up. His eyes shed red.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t said that anyone could leave here alive.¡±

    Asura shed his greatsword towards the retreating troops of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The red sword light flew so fiercely and strongly that it even dug the ground that it passed through.

    <em>aaash¡ª</em>

    Ellie moved swiftly as she cut down the sword light. With another step, she was already in front of Asura. That was how great a figure Sword Emperor and Continental Emperor Ellie was.

    However, one strike from Asura¡¯s greatsword and three attacks hit Ellie.

    <em>ng, ng¡ª ng¡ª!</em>

    Surprisingly enough, Asura¡¯s crude and rough strike was blocked by a single sword strike.

    <em>aaaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª!</em>

    In fact, Ellie was even pressuring him.

    <em>[Overlord¡¯s Swordsmanship Chapter 2. Lion¡¯s Stretch.]</em>

    Ellie raised her sword.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    But Asura¡¯s greatsword was still one step faster than her. Before Ellie could finish triggering her skill, Asura had already struck her raised sword and nullified it, which he immediately followed with a strike of his own.

    <em>tter, tter, tter¡ª</em>

    Gorfido¡¯s chains immediately stretched out and bound Asura¡¯s wrists.

    ¡°This kind of trick¡­¡± Asura said in shock after realizing that his wrists could not break away from the chains that bound it.

    With that gap, Ellie triggered another skill.

    ¡°Sword of Annihtion.¡±

    More than a thousand eight-meter-long des flew out from Ellie¡¯s sword, releasing a sharp momentum that aimed to devour Asura. Then¡­

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª</em>

    ¡­the thousands of des shed Asura¡¯s bodies, riddling it with wounds.

    <em>Piiiiiing¡ª</em>

    <em>Ping¡ª</em>

    <em>Ping¡ª</em>

    Red blood dripped down Asura¡¯s body, dying it in a deeper shade of red. However, Asura was cackling, ¡°Keuhahahaha! Interesting! This is fun!!!¡±

    The cackling Asura, with his body covered in shes, looked horrifyingly grotesque. However, the red blood that dripped down his injuries suddenly turned into red beads that got sucked back inside his body.

    <em>[Asura has triggered Absorption.]</em>

    <em>[Asura¡¯s HP has been restored to 100%.]</em>

    <em>[Asura has be 2% more powerful.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Ellie was left dumbfounded. The more they attacked Asura, the stronger he became!

    ¡°What kind of dog shit¡­?!¡±

    Ellie¡¯s face turned ugly.

    ¡°Scattering Blood.¡±

    A vortex made of blood suddenly formed around Asura. This blood vortex released him from Gorfido¡¯s chain and blocked Elpis and Asvon¡¯s approach, who were trying to sneak in from behind him. Then, Asura immediately flew to the skies as he looked around and said, ¡°None of you will leave this ce alive.¡±

    <em>Vwoooooooooooooong¡ª</em>

    Just like when Crazy Tyrant Akhan summoned Asura, the gigantic Gates of Hell once again appeared in the skies.

    But the one that summoned this Gates of Hell was none other than Asura himself. When the gates opened, hundreds, no, thousands of warriors covered in mes appeared. Each and every single one of them held spears, axes, swords and many other weapons.

    <em>[The Hell Warriors from the Gates of Hell that Asura has summoned have awakened to this world!]</em>

    <em>[Hell Warrior. Level 596.]</em>

    The number of Hell Warriors that surpassed the level of any decent knight in the continent reached 4,000. Their levels were almost at 600 and they were also riding on top of gigantic ck horses.

    ¡°Kill them.¡±

    ¡°Hihihihihihing!¡±

    The ck horses neighed loudly as they stomped on the skies and chased the fleeing Beyond the Heavens troops. Asura snorted when he saw the people on the ground look at him in fear and terror. But he was not yet done.

    <em>Fwooooooooooosh¡ª</em>

    ¡°Blood Carnival.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The blood that dyed the ground red suddenly floated in the skies as shocking notifications rang in the ears of everyone present.

    <em>[Asura¡¯s Blood Carnival has been triggered!]</em>

    <em>[Asura¡¯s Blood Carnival covers a 200 meter radius and will inflict 3,200% additional damage.]</em>

    <em>[If you get directly hit by Asura¡¯s Blood Carnival, your HP will fall by 2% per second. Only a high-ranking priest¡¯s blessing magic can cancel this condition.]</em>

    ¡°Heok?!¡±

    ¡°A, a 200 meter radius?!¡±

    The knights of Eivelis and Collodis Empires realized that they would be wiped out in this ce without even fighting a proper battle. Even the retreating Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s troops were shocked. They have never heard or seen any skill that covered a 200 meter radius in their entire lives.

    Tens of thousands of blood drops spread in the skies.

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡°I can¡¯t break it¡­¡±

    ¡°Damn it!¡±

    The four people below Asura tried their best but failed to break the bloody shield that was created around them. It seemed like Asura intended to deal with them after killing all of the people present in this ce with his Blood Carnival.

    As for AOE magic skills like this, they could only be canceled or stopped if a tremendous amount of physical damage had been dealt to the user. However, it seemed like Asura already knew about it so he prepared the shield in advance. Everyone was shocked stiff at this realization.

    ¡°Uwaaaa¡­¡±

    ¡°W, we¡¯ll die¡­¡±

    Everyone trembled in fear. Only Ellie, Gorfido, Elpis, and Asvon would be spared from that terrible power. As for the injured, including Conir and Cerberus, they would not be spared. But then, at that moment¡­

    <em>[<strong>Guild Master Minhyuk</strong>: I¡¯m here. Sorry, I¡¯mte.]</em>

    Genie looked around in haste.

    <em>[<strong>Vice Guild Master Genie</strong>: Where? Where are you? The situation right now¡­]</em>

    Then, Minhyuk answered.

    <em>[<strong>Guild Master Minhyuk</strong>: The sky.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Just when Genie was doubting her eyes, a very surprising thing happened. Thousands of undead suddenly rained down from the skies. There were also two Death Knights wearing golden full te armor and holding light swords, which seemed to illuminate everything in the world, in their hands dropped in front of the Hell Warriors and confronted them. Then¡­

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Amidst the thousands of undead, a gigantic red dragon roared as one of the men riding on the dragon¡¯s back jumped down. The man¡¯s figure as he dived with the thousands of undead was very spectacr.

    And the ce where the man was aiming for with his sword? It was none other than the ce where Asura was.

    ¡°Continent Destroyer.¡±

 Chapter 514: God of Slaughter, Asura

    Chapter 514: God of ughter, Asura

    Asgan Continent was facing an unprecedented disaster. More than half of the Korean poption were ying or had yed Athenae. Everyone was paying attention to the broadcast, even those that had quitted the game. The pedestrians also stopped in their tracks to look at their mobile phones. Even the speaker of a deaf old man¡¯s smartphone was ringing loudly in the subway¡­

    <em>[Once Asura¡¯s Blood Carnival falls to the ground, we can expect the deaths of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, the knights of Eivelis Empire, the 10,000 troops of Collodis Empire and even the masked knights that Crazy Tyrant Akhan brought.]</em>

    <em>[This is an unprecedented disaster! Asgan Continent¡¯s catastrophe! Is there anyone that can stop this?]</em>

    Everyone¡¯s faces turned ugly at the voice that rang from the smartphone¡¯s speaker. The people gathered in front of arge electronic disy at the center of Seoul and watched with bated breath. Asura¡¯s Blood Carnival was about to descend. They watched as people ran away to live and survive. Then¡­

    <em>[Keuhaaaaaaaaaack!]</em>

    A rough and hoarse roar echoed out from the electronic disys and their smartphones, drawing everyone¡¯s attention. The scene of more than a thousand undead dropping from the skies together with a lone man was unbelievable.

    ¡°He¡¯s here¡­¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s finally here¡­¡±

    ¡°The protagonist finally appears at the end.¡±

    The viewers¡¯ tense faces finally started to loosen.

    ***

    Minhyuk, who was falling swiftly from the skies, was aiming for Asura¡¯s head with the tip of his sword.

    ¡°Die, you f*cking bastard!¡±

    In the end, Minhyuk¡¯s sword struck Asura, who was about to cast the Blood Carnival.

    <em>Fwoooooooooosh¡ª</em>

    <em>[Continent Destroyer]</em>

    <em>[The moment the sword gets stabbed on the ground, everyone within a 35 meter radius will incur an additional 500% damage from powerful shockwaves.]</em>

    <em>[Lava will rise five meters from the ground and cause an additional 1,600% damage to anyone that it touches and will continuously incur additional 100% damage.]</em>

    Actually, Minhyuk had never tried using the Continent Destroyer on an individual, so he was unsure as to what would happen. Not long after, a wave stretched out from Minhyuk¡¯s sword and covered an area with a 35 meter radius.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡°K, Keuhaaaaaaaaaack!!!¡±

    For the first time, a scream broke out of Asura¡¯s mouth. But the attack did not end there. Lava started to boil from within Asura¡¯s body, his body swelling up until¡­

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    ¡­it exploded into pieces and fell on the ground. Minhyuk looked up at the skies after watching Asura¡¯s body turn into pieces.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeeck!¡± Dragon Elder Vch cried out as he quickly descended and caught the falling Minhyuk, allowing him to ride on his back once again. The other man that rode on Vch¡¯s back was none other than Death, the master of the Death Kingdom and the world¡¯s greatest necromancer. One of the reasons why Minhyuk arrivedte was because he went to pick up Death, who had expressed his willingness to join Minhyuk to join in this battle. Death was a top-ranker that surpassed Minhyuk when it came to arge-scale battle.

    ¡°It¡¯s my turn now.¡±

    <em>aaaash¡ª</em>

    Death handed Luna, the hatchling, over to Minhyuk and jumped down.

    ¡°Huuuuuuuh?¡±

    Just when everyone was looking up at them in concern and doubt¡­

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡­a gigantic Bone Dragon appeared in the skies and carried Death higher.

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeee!¡±

    Thousands of undead fell down on the Hell Warriors, controlling their movements and attacking their bodies.

    <em>ck, ck, ck¡ª</em>

    Without missing a beat, the Death Knights cut down the Hell Warriors. Death, who rose above with the Bone Dragon, also joined the fray. After seeing the Hell Warriors remain, Minhyuk realized, <em>¡®It¡¯s not over yet.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk knew that they needed another method. They needed strong allies that would not be pushed back by Asura.

    <em>¡®¡­The dragons?¡¯</em>

    Yes, that was right. There were dragons. They were standing in the rear and watching the situation. If the dragons joined the fray and allied with them, they might have a good chance of winning against Asura. Also¡­

    <em>¡®Should I try feeding them?¡¯</em>

    The dragons¡¯ power has been reduced by 30% as a penalty for crossing to another continent. As for Minhyuk?

    <em>¡®I have the trailer.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had the trailer. The only problem was that he had never used it in a battle like this. And the conclusion that he came up with¡­

    <em>¡®I have to get the dragons on our side.¡¯</em>

    With that thought in mind, Minhyuk nced at the pieces of Asura¡¯s body that were already slowly gathering together.

    ¡°Vch.¡±

    ¡°Speak.¡±

    ¡°I wish to fight alongside the dragons against Asura.¡±

    ¡°That would be a bit difficult,¡± Vch said worriedly. He might be a dragon elder, but he did not have any authority to control these dragons. On top of that, the dragons were still under the misconception that Minhyuk was the ¡®dragon egg thief¡¯. Of course, that was half the truth.

    Vch had only joined Minhyuk due to a very special circumstance. It was because he witnessed how Ghost Spear Ben and Minhyuk fought and questioned himself dozens of times if they were truly people that wanted to walk the path to destruction. Simply put, these two people had moved Vch¡¯s heart. But the other dragons? They werepletely unaware of their virtues and attitudes.

    In just an instant, the other dragons had already gathered around Vch.

    ***

    Team Leader Park Minggyu was finally able to return to the Special yers Management Team. He returned only to see Employee Lee Minhwa gulp dryly while watching Minhyuk on the monitor deal with this pressing situation. As she watched the dragons flock around Minhyuk, Minhwa remembered something and hastily turned to look at Minggyu and asked, ¡°Team Leader, what rewards will they get if, by any chance, they sealed Demigod Asura?¡±

    This was a thought that one could only wonder about. After all, no one had ever hunted an existence like that of a demigod.

    ¡°A reward with an astronomical value.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Lee Minhwa pouted at the vague response. Regardless of the nd response, Team Leader Park Minggyu stared at the monitor for a very long time.

    <em>¡®Can he do it?¡¯</em>

    Minggyu wondered what yer Minhyuk was thinking, but they had no way of knowing. He also wondered if the dire situation would change with the addition of Minhyuk. Basically, it was right to think that Minhyuk was almost on par with Ellie. Of course, if theybined Minhyuk¡¯s excellent artifacts to his power, then he would be able to climb to Ellie¡¯s level of strength. Even with that power, it might still be tough for them to deal with Asura. But¡­

    <em>¡®He¡¯s a yer that has made the impossible possible.¡¯</em>

    Perhaps it was possible. As that thought crossed Minggyu¡¯s mind, he turned to look back at Lee Minhwa and said, ¡°Actually, I¡¯m not too sure about the rewards that Demigod Asura will give. However, we can actually reference it with the regr rewards that woulde out when someone hunts a demigod.¡±

    Lee Minhwa perked her ears up and listened attentively.

    ¡°First. The yer can choose the reward that they want the most.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­¡± An odd smile hung at the corners of Lee Minhwa¡¯s lips as she continued, ¡°¡­if yer Minhyuk seeds then he will be able to choose what he wants the most and eat the most delicious food?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    Team Leader Park turned to look at the monitor and said, ¡°And perhaps¡­¡±

    He looked at the monitor and watched Minhyuk start a conversation with the dragons.

    ¡°¡­perhaps he would be able to get something that could bring him closer to bing a true god.¡±

    ***

    ¡°Elder Vch, why are you with this guy?¡±

    ¡°Are you crazy?! Why did you help him?!¡±

    The dragons were furious. Vch was the one that led them here, so, they could not understand why he was with the man that stole the lord¡¯s egg. One of the elders moved to attack him.

    ¡°There are some things that you need to know. First, they did not steal the egg. They just saw the Lord¡¯s egg in front of their territory.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s ridiculous¡­¡±

    ¡°Do you think we¡¯ll believe something like that?!¡±

    The story was so ridiculous that no one would ever believe it. In fact, even Minhyuk would have said, <em>¡®Hiyaaa~ Ah. You¡¯re talking nonsense. Who would believe you if you said that you have picked chicken on the road?!¡¯ </em>if he heard it too. Besides, it was true that it was just something that Minhyuk made up.

    However, there was a way to add credibility to his words.

    ¡°If you look at the Lord then you will also be forced to swallow those words.¡±

    The dragons checked Luna¡¯s status window right away and saw that she was not going on the path of destruction.

    <em>¡®No, this is something that¡¯spletely unbelievable.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®This is ridiculous! Did someone really bring the egg to their territory?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Something that¡¯s beyondmon sense can really happen like that?¡¯</em>

    The dragons could not bring themselves to believe it. They wanted to deny the reality in front of them and look at the situation first. After all, they were the ones that misjudged things on their own and dragged the entire Asgan Continent into this mess. Did they really have to take a step back in this situation and fight alongside the Food God? To fight against <em><strong>that</strong></em> Asura?

    There was no other choice but to maintain their suspicions.

    ¡°We still can¡¯t believe this.¡±

    ¡°Can we even believe something like this when you just simply told us like that?¡±

    ¡°Vch, are you telling us that Akhan nned all of this?¡±

    Minhyuk, who was watching everything unfold, smiled widely as a trick came to mind, <em>¡®Oho? I see. There¡¯s that method too.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk thought of a way to make Akhan eat some big shit. If things went swimmingly just like he predicted, Akhan would be stepping in soon.

    ¡°Dragon Elder Vch, did you also eat the Food God¡¯s food? It seems like you got brainwashed by him?¡±

    Just like Minhyuk had expected, Akhan stepped in and turned Minhyuk into someone that could brainwash others with his food.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s truly meticulous.¡¯</em>

    Then, Akhan said, ¡°The Food God¡¯s dishes can bewitch others. He has manipted Vch with his dishes. Besides, Luna¡¯s status window can be hidden with some vile arts. What he¡¯s saying ispletely ridiculous, no? I stole the dragon egg and nned all of this to happen? Ridiculous.¡±

    ¡°Nonsense! You¡¯re trying to make me sound like someone that can be driven crazy with just food?!!!¡± Vch roared furiously. Even though Vch¡¯s condition was perfectly normal, he was turned into a crazy dragon that had been bewitched by food. These statements had brought confusion to the dragons.

    Then, Minhyuk suddenly turned to look at Luna, ¡°Oh? It seems like Luna has something to say? How about we listen to her?¡±

    Akhan and the sixteen dragons that surrounded Minhyuk focused their gazes at Luna¡¯s mouth and waited.

    ***

    Before Minhyuk logged out to ride on their private ne to go to America, Beanie had barged in Minhyuk¡¯s office and dragged him out.

    ¡°Oiiiink! Oink!¡±

    <em>Quickly, listen to this! Oink!</em>

    Beanie looked at Minhyuk in excitement as he continued to drag him to where Luna was. Then, Beanie pointed at himself and asked Luna.

    ¡°Oiiiink! Oink, oink! Oink!!!¡±

    <em>Who am I? Oink!</em>

    ¡°Kkiyeeee? Da¡­ Kiiii¡­ da.¡±

    ¡°Oiiiiiiiiiiink!¡±

    Beanie grinned, hugging Luna tightly. Even Minhyuk was looking at the two of them happily.

    ¡°She just said Daddy, right?¡±

    ¡°Oink!!!¡±

    <em>As you can see, Oink!</em>

    Beanie smiled happily. He looked like Luna had given him the world. A fatherly smile unknowingly bloomed on Minhyuk¡¯s face when he saw how happy Beanie was. At the same time, he also felt a bit disappointed. After all, Minhyuk was the one that was designated as Luna¡¯s father.

    ¡°What about me? Luna, what about me?¡±

    ¡°Da¡­ kkiiii¡­¡±

    ¡°Ahahahaha! That¡¯s right, Luna. I¡¯m your daddy!!!¡± Minhyuk said, hugging Luna happily.

    ¡°Oiiiink! Oink!!!¡±

    <em>I¡¯m daddy! Oink!</em>

    Beanie ced his paws on his hips and looked at Minhyuk grumpily. Not long after, Elpis arrived.

    ¡°How about that guy?¡±

    ¡°Da¡­ da.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Then, Minhyuk pointed at Locke.

    ¡°How about that one?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Strangely enough, Luna did not say anything when he pointed at Locke. But when Genie came¡­

    ¡°Da¡­ da.¡±

    That was right. Luna was practically calling everyone her daddy. It waspletely ridiculous but back then, Minhyuk just smiled happily and enjoyed the situation. He did not expect that Luna¡¯s words would be a great help to themter.

    ***

    The more than sixteen dragons, who were conflicted between Vch and Akhan¡¯s words, turned to look at Luna, focusing on her mouth and the words that she was about to say. Then, Minhyuk whispered to her, ¡°Luna, who¡¯s that guy over there?¡±

    The one that he pointed at with his chin was none other than Akhan.

    Luna opened her mouth and said, ¡°Kkiiiiii¡­ Da¡­ da¡­¡±

    Every dragon had been focused intently on her words, some even gulping dryly in tension. And finally¡­

    ¡°Daddy!!!¡±

    At that moment, all of the dragons turned to look at Akhan, their expressions slowly twisting into that of anger and fury. If anyone saw Akhan behind his skull mask, they would have seen cold sweat drip down his forehead.

    ¡°F*ck.¡±

 Chapter 515: God of Slaughter, Asura

    Chapter 515: God of ughter, Asura

    The dragons, who were led here by Akhan with a made-up story, became confused after hearing Elder Vch¡¯s statement and seeing Luna¡¯s status window. They grew more confused after Akhan imed that the Food God used his dishes to bewitch Dragon Elder Vch.

    But the words that Luna said to Akhan in this confusing situation¡­

    ¡°Daddy!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡­made Akhan speechless. Akhan immediately knew that he had to find a hole to crawl into and get through this situation safely, but he could not see the light anywhere.

    All of the dragons looked at Akhan furiously. This situation made it clear to the dragons that what Elder Vch and Minhyuk said about Akhan stealing the dragon egg and bringing it to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom seemed to be the truth. The huge shame and stain on their dignity was that the dragons actually sided with their enemy and confronted Vch and Minhyuk, because Akhan instigated them to do so.

    ¡°How dare you! You bastard!!!¡±

    ¡°You dare fool us?!¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t let you go!!!¡±

    To be honest, even while Vch stood on Minhyuk¡¯s side, he was still harboring a bit of doubt. However, Luna¡¯s words made him realize everything clearly. Akhan was truly the culprit behind all of this.

    ¡°F*ck¡­¡±

    ¡°Bring judgment to the bastard that dared to trick us, dragons!!!¡± Dragon Elder Vch roared as the more than sixteen dragons bombarded Akhan with their magical attacks.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª</em>

    No matter how much of a genius Akhan was, no talent or smarts could allow him to withstand the onught of attacks sent by more than sixteen dragons.

    <em>¡®Damn that Food God bastard¡­ you botched my ns?¡¯</em>

    Akhan¡¯s face turned ugly as his HP rapidly decreased from the dragons¡¯ bombardment. However, his death did not have anything to do with Asura. They werepletely irrelevant. Even if he died, they still had to deal with Asura.

    Just when Akhan was about to die, an arm suddenly appeared from the gaps of the dragons¡¯ bombardment and dragged him by the cor.

    <em>Graaaaab¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­You f*cking bastard.¡±

    The hand belonged to none other than Food God Minhyuk.

    Food God Minhyuk was one of the best yers in Athenae. He was the strongest yer that led Korea¡¯s victory in the Athenae:World War, and was the first yer to build a kingdom, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    But Akhan believed that he was just that. In fact, that thought had not changed at all, until now. This very same Food God had grabbed Akhan by the cor and said, ¡°You think it¡¯s over?¡±, his face horribly distorted from rage.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk punched Akhan on the face so hard that it swung to the other side.

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    ¡°Whether it¡¯s ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times, or ten thousand times¡­¡± Minhyuk said, his voice a degree lower. He was furious. This man in front of him was the one that tried to kill the people that he cherished and loved, and also tore Ben apart from him.

    ¡®<em>No matter what, no matter when¡­</em>¡¯

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    ¡°I will chase you until the end of the world and hunt you.¡±

    Akhan felt a chill run down his spine.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>[Chaotic yer.] </em>

    <em>[No penalty will be incurred when PKed.]</em>

    <em>[Akhan is a vicious yer criminal that resorted to PKing, tricking dragons, and opening the Gates of Hell.]</em>

    <em>[Plenty of Asgan Continent¡¯s citizens have died in his hands.]</em>

    <em>[There¡¯s a very high probability of Akhan dropping his artifacts.]</em>

    <em>[Akhan was forced to log out while still borrowing the powers of the God of Death. He will receive a higher penalty.]</em>

    Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡­the disappearing Akhan cackled, ¡°Ten times? A hundred times? Let¡¯s see you try.¡±

    What could a yer even do against him? It was extremely funny. But then, a huge number of valuable artifacts started to fall from Akhan¡¯s disappearing body. Among these artifacts was a white staff.

    ¡°This! Dam¡­!¡±

    Before Akhan could finish his words, his bodypletely disappeared. Minhyuk quickly snatched the white staff that fell down from Akhan. The staff was shining brightly with a white light. This artifact was the God-rank artifact that helped Akhan do this much chaos. When Minhyuk checked the God of Death¡¯s Staff, he saw that it was currently ¡®sealed¡¯. Akhan used some unconventional means to remove the condition that the staff would disappear from the world once the power of the staff had been used. Because of that, the staff had been ¡®sealed¡¯ for three months and would only be used after the time was up.

    ¡°Moron,¡± Minhyukughed at the ce where Akhan disappeared. However, he could not enjoy the joy of gaining victory over this crazy man. This was because Asura was already taking shape once again.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Huge explosions bloomed and swept the surrounding area. It was as if it was announcing the true descent of Asura. And the dragons? They were also afraid of Asura¡¯s existence. One of the dragons even said, ¡°Vch, aren¡¯t we done here since we have removed Akhan, the main culprit?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°Besides, the Lord is also not corrupted and has not walked the path of destruction. Our work here is done, right?¡±

    The viewers were all taken aback after hearing their conversation.

    <em>[Those rascals. Are they washing their hands now since they¡¯re done wreaking havoc?]</em>

    <em>[Bullshit. So dragons can be this cowardly, huh?]</em>

    <em>[Wow. They¡¯repletely ridiculous.]</em>

    However, it was not just the viewers that thought about how cowardly the dragons were being in this situation. It was not just them, but also one other person.

    ¡°You guys are full of bull,¡± Minhyuk said as he looked at the dragons floating in the sky coldly. Vch and the rest of the dragons¡¯ expressions turned ugly.

    ¡°Impudent. We helped you but a human king dared to show us contempt?!¡±

    ¡°How dare you, human bastard!¡±

    ¡°It would be very easy and refreshing for us to rip you to shreds.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s expression turned colder and more incredulous the more the dragons spoke.

    ¡°Even if I rip you guys to death, I would not feel refreshed. It was you, the dragons, who trusted and believed in Akhan¡¯s words, raided Asgan Continent and brought chaos to us. And it was me, not you, who found out that Akhan was the true culprit. Take a good look around you. The blood of the innocent is flowing around you and dyeing the ground red. And it¡¯s all because of you. But you all just want to leave like that?¡± Minhyuk sneered.

    The dragons could only keep their mouths shut at Minhyuk¡¯s words. They had nothing to refute him with. It was the truth. They, the dragons, the greatest existence on earth, wanted to run away and leave everything to the humans, when it was them that brought this problem to them.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think that you¡¯re all shameless?¡±

    ¡°What?! What do you want us to do?¡± Vch asked. Their power had been reduced by 30%. Even if they joined in this war, it would still be difficult to deal with Asura. In fact, there was a high chance that they would be wiped out.

    Minhyuk¡¯s cold and frosty eyes passed by all of the dragons. Everyone, including the viewers,mentators and the entire world, focused on Minhyuk. Some of the dragons gulped dryly as they waited for his words.

    ¡°We¡¯ll try after eating.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    The dragons were all left speechless. They should do what after trying what? All of them were plunged into a state of panic. They wanted to ignore Minhyuk. Gaining strength and power to rival that of their enemy was not some easy matter.

    ¡®<em>What did he mean by trying it after eating? What kind of bullshit is that?</em>¡¯

    ¡°We¡¯re already in this situation but you still think of ying jokes on us?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not joking. I¡¯m sure you have heard about the Food God. There¡¯s a high chance that I can restore your power, perhaps even make you stronger.¡±

    The dragons murmured to each other. They were also aware of the Food God¡¯s existence and what kind of a god he was. Minhyuk looked at the confused dragons, the greatest beings on earth, and decided to go for the nail in the coffin that would help them make a decision.

    ¡°You can flee from this ce and be known as the worst and most cowardly dragons in history.¡±

    Minhyuk turned to look at Asura.

    ¡°Or you can follow me and fight against Asura.¡±

    The cold glint in Minhyuk¡¯s eyes pierced through the dragons. Even though Minhyuk was speaking rudely and coldly, the dragons could not refute him. All of the dragons turned to Dragon Elder Vch. The only reason why Minhyuk said these impudent and brazen words was so the dragons would not be able to pull themselves away from this mess. If the dragons chose to retreat after Minhyuk stated these words then they would definitely be branded as the most pathetic, cowardly, and weak dragons in existence.

    ¡°Is it really possible?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s possible,¡± Minhyuk said in full confidence, his words firm, his tone convincing.

    After hearing those words, Vch realized that the ball was in their court. They were now the ones that had to make their choice. Vch looked at the other dragons and pondered for quite a while before finally making a decision, ¡°From this moment on, we will follow themand of that human king and fight Asura.¡±

    ¡°We understand.¡±

    ¡°Alright.¡±

    The dragons did not dy their answers since they had made the decision, they would follow through and listen to the human¡¯smands. At the same time, Minhyuk discussed things with Ali.

    ¡°Yeah, that can be done.¡±

    After talking with Ali, Minhyuk turned to the dragons and gave them his orders, ¡°Dragons, listen!¡±

    The dragons listened intently to Minhyuk¡¯s orders. The entire world watched as the dragons, the greatest existence on earth, perked their ears up to listen to the orders of a human and follow hismands.

    ¡°Polymorph into the figure of a human. Another thing, immediately form a defensive circle that Asura cannote out of!¡±

    Minhyuk had heard from Ali that it was possible to create a gigantic shield that could tie Asura down if he had the help of more than ten dragons. The dragons immediately polymorphed and took the form of humans. The polymorphed dragons then created shields of red, blue, silver and many more, until a huge shield that surrounded Asura.

    Asura, who was on the verge ofpleting his figure, finally opened his eyes.

    <em>Blink¡ª</em>

    ¡°Do you think these measly things can stop me?¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª</em>

    Asura¡¯s arms moved, mming the shield six times in a row. However, what Minhyuk did next surprised everyone. He stood in front of Asura from within the barrier. On the other hand, the dragons kept on receiving rming notifications one after the other.

    <em>[The shield¡¯s durability is rapidly decreasing.]</em>

    <em>[The shield¡¯s durability is rapidly decreasing.]</em>

    They could not help but be appalled. This was because their shields, the shields created by the magic¡¯s rulers and kings, were losing rapidly and pitifully. Minhyuk, who stood in front of the colorful shield, turned to the dragons and asked, ¡°How long can this shieldst?¡±

    ¡°Around an hour and a half.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded at Vch¡¯s answer as he took out the small trailer from his inventory and threw it right in front of the shield.

    <em>Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump¡ª</em>

    Apanied by loud thumps and cks, the small trailer that looked like a teeny tiny toy suddenly grew in size. This was the Food God¡¯s artifact created for the Food God himself using the Eternal mes and Great Demon Verus¡¯ All Creation Production Book. The Cooking Trailer finally made its appearance.

    <em>(<strong>Cooking Trailer</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: God</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: A DEX higher than 2,000</em>

    <em><strong>Durability</strong>: ¡Þ / ¡Þ</em>

    <em><strong>Special Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?Your cooking time will be reduced by 60%.</em>

    <em>?Your cooking time for bulk dishes will be reduced by 70%.</em>

    <em>?The vor of the dish will be preserved in bulk dishes. No deterioration will ur.</em>

    <em>?Automatic cooking function.</em>

    <em>?With the stronger firepower, stir-fried dishes will have a 10% increase in buff effects.</em>

    <em>?Dishes cooked in the trailer would have a 30% increase in buff effects and a 40% duration reduction.</em>

    <em>?The trailer can detect any danger in the vicinity. The higher the level of danger detected, the higher the chances of creating a higher-grade dish that can help you ovee the approaching crisis.</em>

    <em>?Attacks and damage will be nullified while you are cooking. However, it is only effective for an hour.</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Double Food</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: This is a cooking trailer created with an Eternal me that has stronger firepower. Cooking will be done much faster than expected when inside the trailer. Even the buffs of thepleted dishes will be greater than initially expected.</em>

    The trailer had already made its first appearance during Minhyuk¡¯s quest to make a building in honor of a king. However, the entire world was still confused.

    <em>[The trailer¡¯s power is definitely outstanding. But can yer Minhyuk truly find a way to ovee this dire situation that they are in in just two hours?]</em>

    <em>[Feeding the dragons his buffed dishes is a very ingenious n. However, dealing with Asura with the strength that they would gain from it? Still questionable.]</em>

    However, there was one thing that the world did not know. These were the words that were clearly written in the trailer¡¯s description: ¡®<em>The trailer can detect any danger in the vicinity. The higher the level of danger detected, the higher the chances of creating a higher-grade dish that can help you ovee the approaching crisis.¡¯ </em>This was the moment when the trailer could show its strongest abilities. That was why Minhyuk moved near the shield.

    ¡°Hey,¡± Minhyuk called out as he ced his hand on the shield and peered at Asura. Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Huge mes rose from the two vents attached to the trailer. This was the Eternal mes, a me that was stronger and more beautiful than any other mes in existence.

    <em>Beeeeeeeeeeeep¡ª</em>

    <em>Sizzleeeeeee¡ª</em>

    Like a rice cooker that had finished cooking, the trailer turned red, shaking roughly as white steam constantly spewed out from the chimney above it.

    <em>[The trailer has detected danger. The probability of creating higher-grade dishes has increased!]</em>

    <em>[The trailer has detected danger. The probability of creating higher-grade dishes has increased!]</em>

    <em>[The trailer has detected danger. The probability of creating higher-grade dishes has increased¡­!]</em>

    <em>[The trailer¡¯s abilities and functions have reached MAX!!!]</em>

    Minhyuk smirked as he looked at Asura.

    ¡°¡­It¡¯s showtime.¡±

 Chapter 516: God of Slaughter, Asura

    Chapter 516: God of ughter, Asura

    White smoke puffed out from the chimney of the now-red cooking trailer. After smirking at Asura, Minhyuk turned around and asked himself, <em>¡®Should I use the Create a Recipe skill for the dragons?¡¯</em>

    Dragons werepletely different from humans. This meant that their preference for food would also bepletely different. Since they were known to be the greatest and most noble race, they were definitely bound to be picky with their food.

    As an experiment, Minhyuk used his Create a Recipe skill on Vch.

    <em>¡®Grilled ogre tendon? What the¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s face crumpled after seeing just how different the taste of the dragons were.

    <em>¡®Do I really have to grill an ogre¡¯s tendon?¡¯</em>

    Cooking the dish rmended by the Create a Recipe skill would usually give a higher grade dish and give stronger effects for the being that the dish was made for. However, grilling ogre tendon was something that Minhyuk absolutely refused to do.

    <em>¡®At times like this, it¡¯s better to check with the person himself.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk turned to look at the polymorphed Vch, who had turned into a middle-aged man with long red hair, and asked, ¡°Have you ever tried human cuisine?¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t eat human food.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Do you think we dragons will stoop so low and eat the dishes created by measly humans?¡±

    <em>¡®But eating an ogre¡¯s tendon as a meal is way weirder¡­¡¯</em> was what Minhyuk wanted to say. However, he just shook his head and swallowed the words down. What each of the races wanted to eat was shaped by their long traditions. At the same time, It was not correct for someone to deny something outright without even trying it.

    ¡°Then, try some of the human¡¯s food this time. Just this once.¡±

    The Gourmet Dragon enjoyed eating the humans¡¯ food. This meant that the dragons denied eating it because they had not tasted it yet.

    ¡°¡­There¡¯s no helping it, then.¡±

    Some of the dragons looked very reluctant. However, they knew that they did not have the leisure to argue about this matter.

    ¡°I can tell that you prefer grilled meat, why is that the case?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s easy to make.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    What an easy and rxed answer. Humans had three major desires¡ªsexual desire, desire for sleep, desire for food. That was why humans tended to search for more delicious food, food that they would be in awe of and savor in their memories, even if they had to spend quite a lot of money on it.

    But the dragons were different from them. For them, cooking was a disgrace. That was why they usually made do with dishes that were fast and easy to make, most of the time opting for the raw option.

    Minhyuk nodded and thought, <em>¡®They enjoy grilled or stir-fried dishes. If that¡¯s the case, I should present them with a different type of dish. A dish that everyone in the world will surely love.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk smiled as he looked at the trailer.

    <em>¡®Fried food.¡¯</em>

    This was definitely enough for the dragons that had only tasted a single kind of dish every single day of their lives. On top of that, fried food was something that was easy to eat and could make them experience a new texture and vor.

    <em>¡®Fried food tastes good. Even if you fry shoes, it will still taste good.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk grinned as he narrowed his options down. There was a fried dish that everyone liked.

    <em>¡®Chicken.¡¯</em>

    In fact, there was this ¡®wise saying¡¯ about chicken, <em>¡®Life is divided before and after knowing chicken.¡¯ </em>It might be a joke, but Minhyukpletely agreed with such a remark.

    <em>¡®Dad has always told me that I shouted ¡®Eureka!¡¯ when I had my first taste of chicken at five years old.¡¯</em>

    Chicken was a very delicious dish that was easy to eat, cheap, and enjoyed by everyone, whether they were rich or poor. With the decision made, Minhyuk finally walked to his trailer.

    ¡°Can I go in with you?¡±

    ¡°Sure, go ahead,¡± Minhyuk nodded at Vch¡¯s question. Dragons were curious by nature, they were a race that loved to explore new things, hence, plenty of them entered the trailer with Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®Let¡¯s make a variety of chicken.¡¯</em>

    Cooking chicken did not necessarily mean that it would just be chicken. It was the same chicken meat, but depending on the brand, it would have different textures and vors. Just when Minhyuk was about to start cooking¡­

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[<strong>Unexpected Quest</strong>: Satisfy the Dragons.]</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: SSS</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: The One that will cook for the dragons.</em>

    <em><strong>Rewards</strong>: Rewards will depend on the dragons¡¯ satisfaction.</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty for Failure</strong>: Your favor with the dragons will reach an all-time low.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: These dragons have never tasted or encountered proper human food in their lives. Let these dragons learn about the wonders of human dishes. You must reach at least 50% in the satisfaction gauge. The higher the satisfaction, the more treasures and gold you will obtain from these dragons¡¯irs. However, if you don¡¯t achieve at least 50%, your favor with the dragons will reach an all-time low. What would happen in that situation will be up to your imagination.</em>

    <em>¡®Good.¡¯</em>

    If the satisfaction level was low, then Minhyuk would be put in a situation where he had to be cautious around the dragons. However, he was very confident.

    Minhyuk first took out a bunch of chicken that he had marinated in milk.

    When making this type of fried chicken, it was supposed to be marinated in milk for around thirty minutes. But Minhyuk was a true and honest foodie; he was the Food God after all. He always carried with him some perfectly marinated chicken. Then, Minhyuk prepared the batter before coating the marinated chicken.

    As he moved around busily, the temperature of the frying pan began to heat up. Right now, the trailer had reached its MAX capabilities after perceiving the dangers outside.

    <em>¡®The most delicious chicken and the greatest buff effect.¡¯</em>

    This was the perfectbination. Minhyuk stepped in front of the well-heated frying pan with the bowl of batter-coated chicken in hand as he slowly ced a chicken leg inside. Then¡­

    <em>Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle¡ª</em>

    <em>¡®Aaaah! What a nice and wonderful sound!¡¯</em>

    The dragons perked their ears up to listen to this new and amazing sound. The chicken danced around in the boiling oil as the frying batter floated around. That was when Minhyuk started putting in all of the chicken.

    <em>Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle¡ª</em>

    Despite the wonderful appearance and spectacr sounds, the dragons still shook their heads.

    ¡°Do humans waste their time eating something like this?¡±

    ¡°This is ridiculous. Living like this must definitely be ufortable.¡±

    In fact, the dragons were only forced to ept it since it was Minhyuk¡¯s words. They actually did not want to eat these measly humans¡¯ food. Not long after, the trailer¡¯s ¡®automatic cooking function¡¯ was activated, making countless well-fried dishes one after the other.

    <em>Taak¡ª! Taak¡ª!</em>

    The pieces of chicken automatically rose in the air, shaking off the golden oil beforending gently on a te with their still sizzling skin.

    <em>Gulp¡ª</em>

    <em>¡®¡­Why am I gulping?¡¯</em>

    Vch felt something that he had never felt in his life before. His mouth watered, and he was forced to gulp down his saliva. On top of that¡­

    <em>¡®This smell¡­?¡¯</em>

    The scent that wafted at Vch¡¯s nose was quite addictive. Even the other dragons were savoring the smell unknowingly. Minhyuk sprinkled some chicken seasoning sauce over the well-fried chicken as the trailer¡¯s automatic cooking function worked once again to mix everything evenly.

    ¡°What a beautiful color.¡±

    ¡°Hoo. That looks fantastic.¡±

    The way the well-fried chicken turned from golden brown to red was a very unfamiliar concept to the dragons. But that was not the end. Minhyuk also made some garlic chicken by tossing some of the garlic seasoning that he made before together with the chicken in the frying pan. He also made some Kyojachon Chicken[1]¡¯s soy chicken and red chickenbo.

    The dragons watched the process of making chicken with rapt attention. Once everything was finished, Minhyuk could not help but shout in shock after listening to the notifications.

    ¡°That¡¯s crazy¡­!¡±

    His gaze then wandered around the trailer as he looked at the buffed dishes created with the trailer that had reached the MAX level after sensing the danger outside. After ting everything, Minhyuk ced the chicken in front of the dragons. He also did not forget to ce cans of cold beer in front of them.

    ¡°Have a taste,¡± Minhyuk said, voice filled with confidence.

    ***

    Silver Dragon Anarchon had been quite unusual since he was young. His curiosity far surpassed any dragons of his age and his mind was very open and willing to learn.

    Unlike the other dragons, Anarchon had once tasted human food. He only ate some out of sheer curiosity. It was a dish that was sold in the street market. If he recalled it correctly, the name was sandwich. Anarchon¡¯s assessment after eating the sandwich was¡­

    <em>¡®It tastes gross and rotten¡­!¡¯</em>

    The cheese smelled bad, the ham was tough, and the vegetables were not fresh. The sauce was a little edible but since the ingredients used were nasty, the overall taste was trash. Ever since then, Anarchon distanced himself from human food, not knowing that the sandwich that he ate from the market was a few days old already.

    ¡°Human food is trash.¡±

    Anarchon could not help but frown at the food called chicken that was ced in front of him. Even the other dragons looked a bit reluctant once the food was served to them. Then, the person in front of them began to demonstrate. He held a huge chicken leg and took a big bite out of it¡­

    <em>Crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    The sound of the man biting on the leg was very shocking. How could it make a crunching sound when the man bit on it? It waspletely different from the sound that they knew of.

    <em>Shouldn¡¯t it sound like ¡®chew, chew¡ª¡® not ¡®crunch, crunch¡ª¡®?</em>

    Also, the man¡¯s mouth was stained with oil the more he bit on the chicken. However, the man did not stop there. This time, he dipped the huge chicken leg on some salt and¡­

    <em>Crunch, crunch¡ª Crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    ¡°Kgghk~ Fried chicken always tastes soooo good!¡±

    The man then ced the entire chicken leg in his mouth. By the time he pulled it out, only the bones were left. It was quite a marvelous stunt. Anarchon looked down at the chicken in front of him. The chicken ced in front of him was none other than Seasoned Chicken.

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡±

    Anarchon¡¯s appetite was instantly stimted. He hated human food because of the memories of the experience when he ate that sandwich a long time ago. Yet, the human in front of him was eating happily in front of him.

    <em>¡®This is so we can hunt Asura¡­¡¯</em>

    They had to eat this so they could survive.

    <em>¡®I don¡¯t like it when it¡¯s sticky.¡¯</em>

    Anarchon immediately frowned at the hot and sticky feeling when he grabbed the seasoned chicken with his fingers. Then, he took a bite of the chicken leg just like how the man did it.

    <em>Crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    The sound transmitted from his mouth to ears was art in and of itself. Behind that spectacr sound was the juicy meat, the crispy skin, and the sweet, spicy vor dancing together in harmony.

    ¡°This, this¡­ what¡¯s this¡­?¡± Anarchon muttered, eyes wide open as he took another bite.

    <em>Minhyuk-llujah~ Minhyuk-llujah~ Minhyuk-llujah~ Minhyuk-llujaaaaaaaaaah!</em>

    A heavenly harmony rang in Anarchon¡¯s ears! All of a sudden, there seemed to be a halo shining behind Minhyuk. In fact, Anarchon felt like he heard the man¡¯s voice in his ears too.

    <em>¡®Have you finally received my food?¡¯</em>

    Anarchon hurriedly stuffed another seasoned chicken in his mouth before turning to the fried chicken.

    <em>Crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    The fried chicken had a milder vor and crispier texturepared to the seasoned chicken. And just like what Minhyuk did, Anarchon also dipped it in salt before taking a bite. His eyes unknowingly closed as he savored the vor in awe and amazement.

    Then, the man in front of them moved once again. He opened the cold can of beer with one of his hands.

    <em>Fwiiiish¡ª</em>

    The man hurriedly brought the can to his mouth the moment the foam rose from the can.

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuurp. </em>Can¡¯t go missing a single drop of this.¡±

    After slurping the foam, the man began to gulp down the contents of the can. Anarchon copied the man, reaching out for the cold can of beer as he thought about the dish called chicken.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s delicious, but the oil and greasy vor that stays in the mouth is not so nice. If only this greasy vor can be washed away...¡¯</em>

    As he made his assessment, Anarchon opened the can of beer in his hands.

    <em>Fwiiish¡ª</em>

    The sound was as fantastic as the sound made when biting chicken. Anarchon lifted the can to his mouth as he gulped the contents.

    <em>Gulp, gulp¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    <em>Blink¡ª</em>

    Anarchon¡¯s eyes widened. The mysterious human drink actually washed away the greasy vor in his mouth, and even brought a pleasant tickle at the end of his throat. After inhaling half of the can, Anarchon unknowingly spat out a breath.

    ¡°Fwaa¡­!¡±

    Anarchon sounded no different from a tired human that came home from a tiring work and opened a can of cold beer to rx. As he continued to eat, Anarchon turned to look at Elder Vch, who had finished his meal.

    <em>¡®Elder must have already received his buff. But, why does his expression look a bit unusual?¡¯</em>

    Elder Vch¡¯s expression looked like it was not that good. After all, no matter how delicious the food was, they would not be able to win against Asura if the buff was not good. Based on what he looked like, Elder Vch must have already checked his buffs.

    Dragon Elder Vch approached the human menacingly and said, ¡°Can you give me some more of this food?¡±

    When Minhyuk looked at Vch in doubt, the prideful and arrogant Vch said, ¡°I¡¯m begging you, just¡­ just one more piece of chicken leg.¡±

    Vch was about to sell his soul for chicken. But the problem was¡­

    ¡°Me too¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m, I¡¯m sorry for losing my temper earlier. So¡­ can you give me one more piece¡­ please?¡±

    ¡°How about I pay 1,000 tinum per piece?¡±

    ¡­the other dragons were also acting the same way! And Anarchon? He finally finished hisst piece of chicken, while the other dragons were busy asking for more. That was when the buff notifications rang in his head one after the other.

    1. I¡¯m guessing this is a reference to KyoChon Chicken, a franchise that sells chicken ?

 Chapter 517: God of Slaughter, Asura

    Chapter 517: God of ughter, Asura

    The dragons hadpletely recognized and acknowledged the taste of the human food that Minhyuk made for them. However, there was one thing that they still needed to confirm which was the most important aspect, the buff effect. Only if the buff effect was good would they have a chance of winning against Asura.

    Then, the notifications rang for Anarchon.

    <em>[You have eaten Chicken.]</em>

    <em>[The dish is Legendary Grade.]</em>

    <em>[After detecting the danger, the Cooking Trailer has reached the MAX abilities. The dishes that it can create will have a higher grade and better buff effects.]</em>

    <em>[Your Magical Attack will increase by 1.3x.]</em>

    <em>[Your Magical Defense will increase by 1.8x.]</em>

    <em>[Your Physical Attack will increase by 1.3x.]</em>

    <em>[Your Physical Defense will increase by 1.8x.]</em>

    <em>[Your MP Volume will increase by 1.8x]</em>

    <em>[Your Magic Cooldown will decrease by 30%.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will increase by 25%.]</em>

    <em>[Your magic¡¯s tier will increase by another tier.]</em>

    <em>[The buff effect willst for two days.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Dragon Anarchon was stupefied.

    <em>¡®Did it just say that my MP Volume will increase by 1.8x¡­?¡¯</em>

    Dragons were known for their almost limitless mana. Although it was said to be near limitless, in actual fact, there was still a cap to the amount of mana that they could use. Just like human mages, they would need more mana to cast higher-tiered magic.

    On top of that, using magic of a higher tier that went beyond their current realm would gnaw and devour a huge chunk out of their mana volume. But now, with the help of the buff effect, their mana volume had increased, reaching a higher level than the mana that they had before they crossed over to the Asgan Continent when their bodies were still not yet subjected to the penalty.

    But the effects did not end there.

    There was also the part where it said that their magical attack had increased by 1.3x and their magical defense by 1.8x. Even their stats had increased sharply, while their cooldown had decreased by 30%.

    <em>¡®I¡¯ve be stronger than before I got the penalty. But the most surprising part is¡­¡¯</em>

    Anarchon, who was left reeling from the shock, could only gulp dryly as he looked around him. The most surprising part here was the fact that it was not only Anarchon that received the buff effects. Everyone here had received the same buff effects. Everyone, including¡­

    ¡°Minhyuk, your cooking is always superb.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, Noona.¡±

    ¡°It was delicious, Your Majesty.¡±

    ¡­the humans. The trailer was an artifact that helped Minhyuk make ¡®bulk¡¯ dishes taste simr to ¡®single¡¯ dishes. It could also take on the role of controlling and distributing the buff effects to the bulk dishes. Also, Minhyuk did not use Create a Recipe to make the dishes. He only made some chicken, a dish that anyone could eat and receive buff effects from.

    To think that the dishes that he made actually gave them this much power.

    <em>¡®The Food God¡¯s power is truly shocking.¡¯</em>

    At this moment, Anarchon and the rest of the dragons realized that the human king, the Food God, was an existence that they could not afford to treat recklessly. Along with that, a set of notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The Dragons¡¯ Average Satisfaction Rate has reached 98%.]</em>

    <em>[You will be able to get treasures, gold, artifacts and a variety of other items from Dragon Anarchon¡¯sir.]</em>

    <em>[¡­.a variety of other items from Dragon Vch¡¯sir.]</em>

    <em>[¡­.a variety of other items from Dragon Yvrett¡¯sir.]</em>

    <em>[You will be granted special rewards for exceeding 90% Satisfaction Rating!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained +5 in all of your stats.]</em>

    <em>[Your favor with Dragon Elder Vch has reached the highest level.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 200 REP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained +1 in all of your stats.]</em>

    <em>[Your favor with Dragon Anarchon has reached the highest level.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 200 REP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained +1 in all of your stats.]</em>

    The notifications rang non-stop in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    ***

    Prince Votto curled up and hid like a rat. No one would believe him if he told others that he was the first prince of Lumae Kingdom, the Warrior''s Nation. In fact, right now, Prince Votto was wallowing in regret.

    <em>¡®In the first ce, Akhan had no intention of giving me any of the kingdoms¡­¡¯</em>

    Votto had been so blinded by greed that he failed to recognize this fact. Because of his greed, the precious troops that the Lumae Kingdom had carefully raised and nurtured died. But even if he regretted it now, he could never undo his mistakes.

    At that moment, a woman, who was wiping the oil from the corners of her mouth, walked towards him. Prince Votto, whose face was hidden behind a mask, felt his body freeze for a moment, before trembling immensely.

    ¡°Your father, Raldo, will definitely like it once he finds out about this.¡±

    Sword Emperor Ellie liked topete in the way of the sword with Overlord Raldo. However, this and that were twopletely different things.

    ¡°I want to slit that throat of yours so badly, you bastard. But I¡¯m holding it in. After all, I shouldn¡¯t be the one to have the honor, but the king of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.¡±

    Prince Votto felt fear hearing Ellie¡¯s words but he also could not stop the scoff that came out of his mouth, ¡°¡­<em>Ha. </em>What can you even do in this situation? Everyone in this ce will eventually die. Empire¡¯s ruler, how can you leisurely eat when everything is a mess?¡±

    Votto actually found what the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King did after taking control of Asura for a while to be ridiculous. After all, what he did was to just feed the dragons. That waspletely ridiculous. Of course, Prince Votto was aware of the effects of buffed dishes. Even if they could get buff effects from these dishes, their opponent was not something that they could easily deal with.

    Not long after, Ellie, who looked at Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King Minhyuk, snorted at him, ¡°You have no right to make a judgment on this matter. This is not something that you can judge.¡±

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    The shield that surrounded Asura began to crack. The dragons, who have finished their meals, flocked around the shield and prepared for battle.

    ¡°Watch closely.¡±

    Those words made Prince Votto wonder. What was it that she wanted him to watch? How Asura would turn the entire Asgan Continent into a sea of blood?

    Then, Food God Minhyuk pointed his sword at the skies and shouted, ¡°Dragons and humans! Let¡¯s work together to drive Asura out of ournds!!!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s orders only had one meaning. That was to rescind the orders to retreat that Vice Guild Master Genie had ordered earlier. Conir rode on Elder Vch¡¯s back while Genie climbed on Anarchon. The guild members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom climbed on top of the dragons one after the other. They soared to the skies with the dragons, writing a new chapter in the annals of Asgan Continent.

    As they soared to the skies, the Food God immediately set up a new barrier to make another dish. Then¡­

    <em>aaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>Vwoooooooooooooooong¡ª</em>

    Asura¡¯s power, which was held back by the dragons¡¯ shields earlier, erupted and devoured the surrounding area. Asura rose up as a red current swept out through Asgan continent.

    ¡°Wallow in despair,¡± Asura dered. If he was ying around with them earlier, he did not have any intentions to do so anymore.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª</em>

    <em>[Blood Storm.]</em>

    <em>[Anything and everything around you will be targeted by the storm of blood with an additional 3,300% attack power!]</em>

    Dozens of bloody lights shot up towards the dragons flying in the skies the moment Asura swung his gigantic bloody greatswords. Seeing this, Prince Votto shook his head. He knew that this was the end. Asura¡¯s attack power was beyond anyone¡¯s imagination. Also, the dragons were in a weakened state. No matter how great of an existence they were, they had no way to stop this attack.

    But then, something surprising happened. One of the humans that rode on top of the dragons, Elpis, fired a powerful sword light.

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    What happened next was even more shocking. The Blood Storm was weakened by the sword light. The weakened Blood Storm was then devoured by the dozens of high-tiered magical attacks that the dragon that apanied Elpis created. Then¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡­it disappeared into nothingness. The others also did the same thing. The guild members and NPCs of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom weakened the Blood Storm, while the dragons used their magic to offset it.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Asura¡¯s power had reached the realms of a Demigod. Even though they were dragons, there was no way for them to stop Asura¡¯s attacks. It was proven by the fact that they were being pushed back just a few moments earlier.

    But now?

    <em>¡®This, this is ridiculous¡­¡¯</em>

    A sound of disbelief escaped from Votto¡¯s mouth. How could they be that strong after eating just one meal? For someone at Level 100, they would have a hard time hunting a hundred-year-old monster. However, someone at Level 130 could easily hunt ten of such monsters. Also, the stronger they became, the more powerful their force would be.

    In other words, eating one meal had increased their power by so much. It had to be around 30% or more, that they could now deal with Asura¡¯s attacks.

    At that moment, Asura also realized that something was strange. He immediately increased his speed by three times as he shot through the air and shed through the gigantic bodies of the dragons in front of him. He was so fast that he left an afterimage, finishing the attack in just three seconds.

    <em>Fwiish¡ª</em>

    <em>Fwiiiiiish¡ª</em>

    <em>Fwiiiiiiiiiish¡ª</em>

    Blood spurted out of the dragons¡¯ bodies. However¡­

    <em>¡®The dragons¡¯ defenses have increased to a ridiculous level¡­¡¯ </em>Votto thought, gulping dryly. Going by the standards of Asura¡¯s attacks, they should not only be nicked, they should have already been almost cut down. But despite the blood spurting out of the dragons¡¯ bodies, the attack did not really deal much of a damage on them.

    <em>Twitch, twitch¡ª</em>

    The main reason? This was because the dragons also had high regenerative powers.

    ¡°Unbelievable¡­¡±

    It was only then that Prince Votto realized what Ellie meant when she said ¡®watch¡¯.

    ¡°So this is the power of the Food God, the king of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.¡±

    Then, Ellie moved in an explosive manner.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Asura, who was hit by her sword, flew back from the impact.

    <em>Vwoooooooooong¡ª</em>

    Despite being sent flying back, Asura still could not understand what happened.

    <em>¡®How can they suddenly be so strong?¡¯</em>

    The weak humans and the puny dragons¡¯ power had risen dramatically in just a short amount of time. Of course, Asura was also aware of what happened during that short amount of time.

    <em>Swooosh¡ª</em>

    Asura, who was still flying back from the impact of the attack, suddenly stopped when his back touched something. This was none other than a transparent barrier, the barrier created from Minhyuk¡¯s ¡®Let¡¯s Have a Meal¡¯ skill.

    This time, Minhyuk was preparing a dish for himself with the trailer and the barrier.

    ¡°It¡¯s not over yet.¡±

    The pride and dignity that the Food God was disying was very shocking. He was a being that had the power to make dozens of people stronger. On top of that, he also possessed another power.

    <em>(<strong>Double Food</strong>)</em>

    <em>Active Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty for Use</strong>: -1 to all stats</em>

    <em><strong>Cooldown</strong>: 24 hours</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>: Activating the skill anytime within ten minutes of a dish¡¯s creation would produce a simr dish with the same effects.</em>

    <em>(<strong>Ovepping Delight</strong>)</em>

    <em>Absolute God¡¯s Secret</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Mana Required</strong>: 10,000</em>

    <em><strong>Cooldown</strong>: 24 hours</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>? You can ovep the buff effects of two different dishes. </em>

    <em>? Once the buff effects of two different dishes ovep, you will be able to see the effect of the ovepping dishes even if you consumed one foot and thought of ¡®consuming¡¯ another. </em>

    <em>? A ¡®cooking dice¡¯ will be thrown when the two dishes¡¯ buff effects ovep. The number that will be disyed on the dice will determine the duration of the buff. </em>

    <em>? The lower the number, the shorter the duration of the buff effect. The duration per number rolled is as follows: thirty seconds for number 1, one minute for number 2, two minutes for number 3, three minutes for number 4, four minutes for number 5 and seven minutes for number 6. </em>

    <em>? The EXP that you can obtain will double for as long as the special effect of the Ovepping Delight is in effect.</em>

    Right now, the power created by thebination of Double Food and Ovepping Delight was about to unfold.

    <em>¡®Dangerous¡­¡¯</em>

    Demigod¡¯s Asura¡¯s senses were sending warning signals of the danger ahead of him.

 Chapter 518: Victory

    Chapter 518: Victory

    Who was Demigod Asura? He was a powerful god that had killed millions of people in the past and forced several of the gods to make a move to stop him. But this very same Asura felt cold sweat drip down his back when he saw Minhyuk grin at him from behind the transparent barrier that separated them. It just went to show how strong the power that Minhyuk was disying was at this very moment.

    Meanwhile, dozens of spears of lights appeared around Ali, who was at the forefront, and the dragons. Ali had also eaten the chicken that Minhyuk made. Because of that, his mana volume had also increased by 1.8x, which allowed him to wield magic of a higher-tier.

    <em>[Ali, with his golden hair fluttering in the wind, stands at the vanguard and created more than ten Disses alongside the dragons.]</em>

    <em>[Adding together the Disses that the dragons behind him created, there should be around 200 of them in total.]</em>

    The golden-haired Ali coldly spat out, ¡°Diss.¡± as hundreds of spears of light lit up the world and shot toward Asura, who immediately brandished his bloody greatsword and broke the iing spears of light.

    <em>Thud¡ª thud¡ª</em>

    The bright spears of light shone even more brightly once they got broken, continuously brightening and darkening the battlefield. But no matter how fast Asura was, he would eventually reach a limit. It was extremely difficult topletely block hundreds of spears of lights.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    The spears of light pierced through Asura¡¯s shoulders, nks, and even his chest. Just like a machine gun, the Disses continuously stabbed through Asura¡¯s body, creating holes that spurted out blood.

    But Asura was still standing tall, rushing out to break the Disses sent his way. Asura then shot toward where the dragons were. Bloody wind surrounded Asura¡¯s body as he approached them while still being stabbed by Disses.

    The blood that the dragons, the humans, and Asura himself shed flew all the while showing signs of exploding. With that, Asura stopped breaking the Dissesing his way and only moved his body to evade the attacks. The guild members, the NPCs and the dragons realized that the entire area would be wiped out once this bloody wind exploded. They desperately tried to use their skills to offset the explosion. However, it seemed that they were going to be a step toote.

    ¡°We have to avoid it.¡±

    ¡°Damn¡­¡±

    ¡°How? He already got hit by so much Diss¡­!¡±

    Even the dragons failed to predict this move of Asura. Despite receiving the baptism of hundreds of powerful Disses, the man was still able to move freely and swiftly. But that was the reality they were facing. The dragons knew that they would not be able to regenerate from the damage that they would receive from this explosion.

    ¡°The joke ends here.¡±

    Asura was aware that his attack was being restricted by the transparent barrier that surrounded Minhyuk. However, that would not stop him from cleaning up the beings outside of that barrier and he would do it swiftly. Even if he could not kill everyone from this attack, Asura was sure that he would be able to deal a fatal blow to his enemies.

    Just as the thought shed in Asura¡¯s head, the golden-haired Ali, who was holding the Staff of Despair, turned to look back at the dragons and made eye contact with Dragon Elder Vch.

    <em>¡®Please watch my back.¡¯</em>

    Vch suddenly felt an unknown emotion sh in his heart. Then, Ali opened his palm and said, ¡°Compress.¡±

    <em>[Compress.]</em>

    <em>[You can gather all of the beings in one ce. However, you will be ced in a stunned state for 1.2 seconds.]</em>

    <em>[You have received the Chicken¡¯s buff effects. With the increase in magic tier, additional effects have been added to your Compress.]</em>

    <em>[You can nowpress and gather your enemies¡¯ attacks, skills, and magic.]</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The moment Ali closed his open palm, the streaks of blood that Asura created gathered together in front of him. Compress was originally a skill that was used to gather people in one ce so the skill user could attack them easily. But thanks to the buffed dish that Minhyuk created, Ali¡¯s magic tier had increased, which added an additional effect to the skill and allowed him to gather andpress his enemies¡¯ attacks and skills. As long as Ali could gather the skill in one ce and use Blink, then they could safely avoid it and offset the damage.

    But that was not what Ali did.

    With the skills and attacks momentarily pressed¡¯, the Disses that were bombarding Asura stopped for a second.

    ¡°Can you stop it?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. I can,¡± Ali answered, smiling softly at Minhyuk, who was still standing behind the barrier.

    ¡°Frieeeeeeeeeeeend!!!¡± As always, Ali raised his left arm and shouted amidst the ticking Blood Explosion before spitting out, ¡°Barrier.¡±

    ¡°What¡­?!¡±

    A huge golden shield surrounded both Ali and Asura. Barrier was a skill that boasted an absolute, invincible defense. However, as a penalty forpletely neutralizing the enemy¡¯s attack, the skill user would not be able to send any attacks.

    But what would happen if the enemy was the one that was attacking? And what would happen if the barrier was cast within 0.1 or 0.2 seconds before the attack was triggered? Then, the attack would be cast inside the barrier.

    That was right. The method that Ali chose was suicide bombing. The Blood Explosion exploded in the small space enclosed by the barrier. Up until that moment, Ali was smiling at Minhyuk, his guild members, and the dragons.

    ¡°Frieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeend!¡± Ali roared out passionately as he raised his left arm and showcased the symbol on it.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    A huge explosion bloomed inside the barrier, shaking the ground. The blood sttered and covered the golden barrier from the inside. However, none of Asura¡¯s attacks was able to break through the barrier.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Then, the blood slowly flowed down as the barrier disappeared. Everyone knew that the barrier¡¯s termination signaled Ali¡¯s death. Although this was a game, the death and forced logout of Ali, one of the top rankers, brought a huge impact to everyone. Even the dragons, who were aware that the foreigners could easilye back to life, felt some strange emotion after witnessing Ali¡¯s death.

    <em>¡®How?¡¯</em> Vch asked. How could that man smile widely when he sacrificed himself and died for them?

    <em>¡®The humans that I knew¡­¡¯</em>

    Humans, in Vch¡¯s eyes, were greedy and selfish people that only cared about their own safety. They even waged wars and killed to plunder from others. So why did this human do something like that?

    <em>¡®That old man was the same too.¡¯</em>

    The old man, Ghost Spear Ben, was a human that Vch admired and acknowledged. He admired the old man¡¯s spirit of sacrifice. Vch turned his gaze to another ce.

    <em>¡®The face of the king that these people serve.¡¯</em>

    Vch saw a different side whenever he looked at Minhyuk. A king that could be trusted, a king that they could devote themselves to, a king that they could entrust their loyalty to. The reason why these people made that choice and went through with it was all because of their king. Vch felt his heart thump wildly.

    <em>¡®The greatest lord. Now, I know why the lord is walking the right path.¡¯</em>

    Just when the thought shed in Vch¡¯s head, Asura, who was trapped in the explosion appeared. Even if it was the skill user, in Athenae, they would still receive the same damage as long as they were hit by it. That was why Asura¡¯s body was all torn and battered. Even so, Asura¡¯s mangled body was slowly regenerating.

    At that moment, ominous notifications rang.

    <em>[All of Asura¡¯s life force has been exhausted.]</em>

    <em>[Asura will no longer be summoned.]</em>

    <em>[Asura¡¯s true power has been released.]</em>

    <em>[Asura¡¯s attack has increased by 1.5x.]</em>

    <em>[Asura¡¯s defense has increased by 1.5x.]</em>

    <em>[Asura¡¯s skill cooldown has decreased by 50%.]</em>

    <em>[Asura¡¯s HP Volume has returned to that of his main body.]</em>

    Everyone present could not help but groan helplessly when they saw Asura, who was dragging his feet, emerge from the chaos. Asura¡¯s appearance right now was simr to the description of his appearance in history books. He had three heads and six arms, with each of his arms holding a bloody greatsword.

    One of the people eximed after hearing the notifications, ¡°The HP Volume of his main body¡­?!¡±

    When they thought back on it, they realized that Asura¡¯s body was easily damaged and cut downpared to what they expected after receiving strong attacks. It was to the point that they wondered if his body truly had reached the level of a demigod. In fact, it was not actually Asura who died during those three ¡®deaths¡¯, but his shell.

    Asura¡¯s three heads looked around as he spat out, ¡°What a disgrace.¡±

    Asura had only been forced to reveal his true form in the past when the Continental Gods and the Gods worked together to restrain him. The fact that these measly beings in front of him had driven him to this point was very humiliating to him. Then, Asura¡¯s three heads looked up at the dragons in the skies. Seeing this, the dragons immediately created shields one after the other. But one of Asura¡¯s greatswords had already hacked at the shields. The problem here was¡­

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡­Asura¡¯s damage. Asura might have reverted to his original appearance, but each swing of his greatsword could still inflict three damages each.

    ¡°This is crazy¡­!¡±

    ¡°This is a scam! Ridiculous!!!¡±

    If that was the case, what would happen if Asura used all six of his arms to attack them with his greatswords? The answer was simple. They would receive eighteen damages in total. Just like now, when Asura hacked at the shields that the dragons had created.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    The moment the remaining five greatswords mmed on the shield, the shield cracked under the pressure of the damage that was fifteen times that of Asura¡¯s regr attack. Then, Asura immediately bypassed the broken shields and cut down the tail of Dragon Anarchon.

    <em>Fwiiiiiish¡ª</em>

    <em>Spuuuuurt¡ª</em>

    <em>Swooooosh¡ª</em>

    <em>Spuuuuuurt¡ª</em>

    Six blood trails were carved on Anarchon¡¯s tail, each blood trail dealing two consecutive damages. The first attack¡¯s damage had torn the scales on Anarchon¡¯s tail. The second damage pierced through his flesh. By the time the third attacknded, it cut the appendage off.

    <em>Thuuuuuuuud¡ª</em>

    Anarchon¡¯s tail fell down on the ground.

    ¡°K, keuaaaaaaack! Graaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    It was just one sh.

    Then, Asura jumped in the middle of the dragons and sent an attack every 1.5 seconds, forcing the dragons to copse and fall on the ground one after the other.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Asura¡¯s six greatswords forced a total of four dragons to copse. However, his momentum and power were still going strong. With another swing, sixteen powerful forces shot up to the skies toward the dragons. The dragons desperately tried to offset the force but it was futile.

    Seeing this, the guild members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom gave their all and fired their skills to protect the dragons. But there were quite a few cases where the members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had to step forward and bear the brunt of the aftermath of the colliding skills.

    ¡°Kgghk¡­¡± Ascar groaned, her body falling helplessly on the ground.

    ¡°Why?¡± The dragon carrying Ascar asked after seeing her and the guild members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom take the hit on their behalf. As they fought this battle alongside the humans, the dragons started to learn about a new emotion.

    <em>¡®Why? Why did they throw themselves in front of us¡­?¡¯</em>

    Then, Asura¡¯s gaze turned to where Death, the undead, and the Hell Warriors were fighting a bloody battle. Death had also grown stronger after eating the chicken that Minhyuk prepared, bing more proficient in controlling the undead.

    Asura suddenly opened one of his palms, blood gathering on top of it. Then, he clenched his fist together and squeezed the blood that gathered in his hands.

    <em>Booooom¡ª</em>

    Tremendous amount of blood suddenly gushed out from the ground, seeping into the bodies of the Hell Warriors and strengthening them, while devouring the bodies of the undead and turning them into dust.

    ¡°This¡­¡± Death muttered, face turning horribly distorted as Asura instructed the Hell Warriors to deal the final blow on the dragons that fell down on the ground. With the disappearance of the undead, the Hell Warriors were now free. They immediately moved and approached the fallen dragons, while Asura moved to the skies to greet everyone with another disaster, the very same power that Minhyuk had stopped earlier.

    ¡°Blood Carnival.¡±

    <em>[Asura¡¯s Blood Carnival has been triggered!]</em>

    <em>[Asura¡¯s Blood Carnival covers a 250 meter radius and will inflict 4,900% additional damage.]</em>

    <em>[If you get directly hit by Asura¡¯s Blood Carnival, your HP will fall by 3% per second. Only a high-ranking priest¡¯s blessing magic can cancel this condition.]</em>

    The Blood Carnival that Asura had cast was much stronger after he showed his true form. With his skill cooldown reduced by 50% and most of the people copsed on the ground, no one could stop him anymore. Thousands of droplets of blood appeared in the skies and rained down on the ground.

    <em>Shwaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The Blood Carnival that covered an area with a 250 meter radius engulfed everyone present and swept everything away, giving way to a catastrophic disaster. Ellie, who was trying to stop Asura, dashed forward while evading the blood explosions. Asura just grabbed her neck with one of his arms the moment she arrived in front of him.

    ¡°Keok!¡±

    Then, Asura used another of his arms, swinging a greatsword and aiming to decapitate her.

    The cameras from the stations all over the world could not see what exactly was happening at ground zero. Everything had been covered by the blood that exploded from the Blood Carnival. No, in fact, they could see the silhouettes of the people through the haze of blood, but they could not clearly see who or what was happening exactly.

    Even though that was the case, the scene of something falling on the ground and rolling was very much clear to them.

    <em>Thump¡ª</em>

    <em>Roll, roll, roll¡ª</em>

    ***

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The entire world was terrified. Sword Emperor Ellie, the emperor of Eivelis empire and strongest and best NPC in Asgan Continent and the person hailed as the Continental Emperor, had died. This was both shocking and terrifying. Lee Minhwa, the Special yers Management Team that was watching this, suddenly covered her eyes as tears began to fall on her cheeks.

    ¡°No¡­¡±

    Ellie was a cold-hearted empress, an empress that would not bleed or cry when stabbed by someone. But Lee Minhwa had seen how Empress Ellie expressed her emotions clearly, whether through smiling or crying, whenever she met with Minhyuk. She was a woman that fought for her people, even though the decision was very foolish and undesirable. She was also both a sister and a friend to Minhyuk.

    Lee Minhwa saw a head roll on the ground from the hazy screen. She was sure that this was Ellie¡¯s head. The thought of Minhyuk¡¯s frustration and anger at her death made Minhwa feel sad both for him and the future of Asgan Continent.

    ¡°<em>Sob, sob, sob, sob¡­</em>¡±

    However, Lee Minhwa was an employee of Joy Co. Ltd. She had to gather herself together and force herself to ept this more calmly than the yers. But no matter how hard she tried, Lee Minhwa could not do so. There were also the real-timements disyed on her screen posted by the viewers.

    <em>[E, Ellie¡­ died¡­? She died just like that? She died in vain? Without doing anything?]</em>

    <em>[Shit¡­ Empress Ellie has died?]</em>

    <em>[This must be a nightmare¡­]</em>

    <em>[No¡­]</em>

    Ellie¡¯s death also came as a huge shock to the viewers. This was because Ellie was someone that wielded a huge power and was of great importance to Athenae. While Lee Minhwa wiped the tears away, Team Leader Park Minggyu continued to stare at the monitor, his hands clenched tightly into fists.

    Then, he suddenly jumped up, which made Lee Minhwa jerk back and look at him, as he shouted, ¡°It¡¯s not Ellie¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­What?¡±

    Lee Minhwa slowly turned to look back at the monitor. The blood that covered the lenses of the cameras slowly dripped down until it finally revealed the truth. The monitor disyed a man gripping Asura¡¯s hand tightly as he forced the monstrous demigod to his knees while Ellie breathed heavily, catching the breath that she almost lost.

    As for the head that fell on the ground? It was one of Asura¡¯s heads, the leftmost head.

    Team Leader Park Minggyu felt a me burn hot in his heart as he said, ¡°The Food God has made his move.¡±

 Chapter 519: Victory

    Chapter 519: Victory

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª</em>

    The only sound ringing in the battlefield was the sound of Asura¡¯s exploding Blood Carnival. Plenty chose to flee in order to survive, but they still died after being swept away by the horrendous explosion. Elpis, Conir, Cerberus, Locke, and the others focused on protecting Legion Commander Park and the troops of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, until their bodies were battered, bruised and torn.

    However, something shocking happened right at that very moment.

    <em>Grrrrrrrrrr¡ª</em>

    The dragons, wrapped in dozens of shields, moved and used their huge bodies to cover the ragged and torn bodies of the members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    ¡°Why¡­?¡± Ascar, who was already vomiting blood, asked the dragon in front of her.

    ¡°I also want to ask myself that question,¡± Dragon Genesis said as he hugged and protected Ascar with his gigantic body. Genesis then smiled and continued, ¡°This was because of our blunder. This is caused by our foolishness. This is our sin.¡±

    On the surface, it was a solid reason, but in fact, the dragons just wanted to protect these humans that fought together alongside them.

    ¡°¡­Is that so?¡± Ascar smiled bitterly. Although Genesis was speaking in a roundabout way, Ascar could tell what he truly felt. Then¡­

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª</em>

    ¡­a huge explosion bloomed and swept away the area, hitting Genesis, Dragon Elder Vch and the other dragons that protected the Beyond the Heavens guild members, NPCs, and troops. The dragons¡¯ bodies were ripped apart, blood spurting up like a fountain. However, they did not give in.

    As for Ascar, she saw through the gaps of Genesis¡¯ body how Ellie ran toward Asura to stop the explosions. But Asura just grabbed Ellie by the cor and raised one of his arms to cut off her neck, as if he expected this to happen.

    ¡°N, no¡­¡±

    <em>Twitch¡ª</em>

    Unfortunately, Ascar did not have any more power to help Ellie. All she could do was cry as she watched the gruesome scene unfold in front of her. Meanwhile, Asura looked at Ellie as if she was an annoying pest. She was just a mere human but she dared to rush at him like this. Asura decided then and there that he would remove this pesky human in front of him as quickly as possible.

    But just when he was about to swing his arm¡­

    <em>Graaaaab¡ª</em>

    Ellie grabbed Asura¡¯s arm with one hand.

    ¡°Ho?¡± Asura breathed out in surprise. But he just grabbed Ellie¡¯s hand and snapped it.

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    Asura looked at the woman in front of him in awe. Despite her neck being grabbed and her hand being cracked, Ellie remained silent. She did not let a single moan or scream escape from the seams of her mouth. In fact, even her ring eyes remained fierce and firm. Asura found it very amusing so he tried to cut her neck once again.

    But before he could do so, a golden light burst out from behind him. The golden light shone brightly, just like a beacon, amidst this dark, red and gloomy atmosphere created by the exploding blood.

    ¡°Done,¡± a cold voice rang behind Asura, bringing chills down his spine.

    The first thought that shed in Asura¡¯s mind was to quickly finish the woman in his hands. He firmly believed that it was possible for him to kill this woman before the owner of that voice could make a move. Everything was still within Asura¡¯s calctions.

    Just when he was about to swing his greatsword once again¡­

    <em>p¡ª</em>

    ¡­the owner of the voice was already standing in front of Asura. The man pped away the arm that was brandishing the greatsword toward Ellie. As¡­

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    <em>Thump¡ª</em>

    <em>Roll¡ª</em>

    ¡­Asura¡¯s leftmost head fell on the ground.

    <em>Spuuuurt¡ª</em>

    Blood spurted out from the neck where Asura¡¯s leftmost head was attached just a few moments prior. Asura¡¯s two remaining heads turned to the left at the same time, their expression turning horribly distorted and ugly.

    ¡°How dare you, measly human¡­¡±

    ¡°My head¡­¡±

    The two heads roared furiously as Asura tried to crush the hand that pped and grabbed his own. After all, his power far surpassed that of any being in the human realm. But¡­

    <em>Grab¡ª</em>

    ¡­he could not move. Asura was perplexed. How could a mere human being stop him with just one hand? Furthermore¡­

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk exerted a slight pressure in his hands, snapping Asura¡¯s wrist as he said, ¡°¡­Worship.¡±

    <em>Thuuuuuuuud¡ª</em>

    Asura¡¯s knees folded helplessly in front of everyone. At this moment, Asura felt a huge sense of shame, a feeling that he has never felt before in his life.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m¡­ kneeling in front of a human¡­?¡¯</em>

    After the Blood Carnival¡¯s explosion, Vch took a look around, while left in a helpless state as his regenerative power tried to mend the damage in his body. He could see that the other dragons were in a very simr situation to him.

    Right now all of the dragons present were staring wide-eyed at Minhyuk.

    ¡°How¡­¡±

    Then¡­

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    While everyone was stunned at the sight presented to them, Minhyuk raised his sword and cut down Asura¡¯s rightmost head.

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    <em>Roll¡ª</em>

    The entire world looked at Asura, who had lost two heads in a row, in shock.

    <em>¡®How is this possible?¡¯</em>

    The answer to that question was simple. It was all thanks to the Food God¡¯s strongest skill coboration, thebination of Double Food and Ovepping Delight. The dish that Minhyuk decided to cook under the protection of Let¡¯s Have a Meal was none other than ¡®Chicken Mayo Rice¡¯.

    It was a dish that was made with rice topped with well-fried boneless chicken, mayonnaise and another special sauce. On top of being delicious, it was very convenient to eat. The greatest advantage of this dish was that it was quick and easy to make.

    Once the decision had been made, Minhyuk immediately started to cook. After all, he knew that the longer he spent cooking, the more disadvantageous the situation was for him and his allies.

    Unfortunately, chicken mayo rice only came out as an ¡®epic¡¯ grade dish. But with the help of Double Food, Minhyuk was able to replicate another chicken mayo rice. And with Ovepping Delight, Minhyuk was able to receive the buff effects of the two dishes at the same time. Thankfully, Minhyuk was able to get ¡®5¡¯, when he threw the Ovepping Delight¡¯s die.

    <em>[The die has been cast! You have rolled a five!]</em>

    <em>[The Ovepping Delight¡¯s buff effect willst for four minutes!]</em>

    <em>[You have received the effects of the Epic Grade Chicken Mayo Rice and the Epic Grade Chicken Mayo Rice!]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will increase by 34%!]</em>

    <em>[Your sword¡¯s basic attack has increased by 300%!]</em>

    <em>[Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship¡¯s skill level has increased by +2!]</em>

    <em>[Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship¡¯s MP consumption and Cooldown has decreased by 20%!]</em>

    Even though the dish that Minhyuk made was only epic grade, the buff effects that he received was almost on par with a god grade dish, thanks to the effects of Ovepping Delight.

    <em>¡®I have to finish it quickly.¡¯</em>

    Asura, who was left with only one head, panicked for a moment.

    As for Minhyuk? He was in a hurry. All he needed to do was cut off the final head and everything would be over.

    <em>Swooooooosh¡ª</em>

    So, he swung his sword as quickly as he could. But the stunned state that covered Asura¡¯s body from Worship had already been released. Tremendous bloody energy exploded from Asura¡¯s body and covered the entire area the moment the state was released.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaam¡ª</em>

    <em>[Asura¡¯s Wrath has been triggered.]</em>

    <em>[Asura¡¯s physical and magical defenses have decreased by 60%. However, aspensation, his physical and magical attack will increase by 20%.]</em>

    <em>[Asura¡¯s AGI will increase by 30%.]</em>

    <em>[Asura has now received the effects.]</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Red streams of light began to seep out of Asura¡¯s body as he pulled back slightly and shot toward Minhyuk. The attack made Minhyuk fly back.

    <em>Dash¡ª</em>

    Asura, whose AGI had increased by 30%, was as fast as the speed of light, if not faster. His figure was almost invisible to the eye with his current speed.

    Asura aimed his six greatswords at Minhyuk. It was clear that Minhyuk would be forced to log out the moment those six greatswords made contact with his body. But just when Asura¡¯s attack was about to reach Minhyuk¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Ellie dropped from the skies andnded a kick on Asura¡¯s shoulders, forcing the trajectory of the attack to change.

    <em>Swooooosh¡ª</em>

    Asura¡¯s swords only cut through air. Minhyuk, who was still flying from the impact of the attack earlier, shouted, ¡°Mei Wei!!!¡±

    ¡°Roger! Bread Shuttle!!!¡± Bread Shuttle Mei Wei shouted as she squeezed through the gaps of the dragon that protected her. She immediately understood Minhyuk¡¯s ¡®one line¡¯ call.

    Ellie currently had a buff effect, but it was far worse than the buff effect that Minhyuk had. Minhyuk¡¯s call was an order for her to give Ellie a buff to make her stronger. The only consideration was that Ellie had the effects of a buff dish and Athenae was a game that prevented buffs from ovepping most of the time.

    <em>[Altering God¡¯s Blessings.]</em>

    <em>[A buff can ovep with another buff.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will increase by 12%.]</em>

    <em>[Your AGI will increase by 20%.]</em>

    The Altering God¡¯s Blessings was one of Mei Wei¡¯s weakest buff skills. It was still a ridiculous skill, since it could allow buff effects to ovep. The skill was so ridiculous that it devoured 20% of Mei Wei¡¯s MP in one go. However, the sacrifice was worth it since it allowed Ellie to gain a stronger power.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Ellie flew forward, blocking three of Asura¡¯s greatswords. When Asura moved to chase after Ellie, Minhyuk immediately found his bearings, dug in and restrained his movements.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª</em>

    The sound of their swords colliding was so loud that it caught everyone¡¯s attention.

    ¡°Crazy¡­¡±

    Prince Votto and the knights of the Warrior¡¯s Nation were all stunned and tongue-tied as they watched this scene unfold. Ellie was the Sword Emperor and the Absolute Supreme NPC. She was both a sister and a teacher to Minhyuk. On the other hand, Minhyuk was a swordsman that was on par with Dawoul, an Olympic Gold Medalist. Thebination of these two people was enough to bring shivers down the spine of everyone watching them.

    <em>¡®I also want to fight like them.¡¯</em>

    Sweat pooled in the hands of everyone present as they cheered for the two of them. Ellie¡¯s sword sent Asura high in the sky.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk immediately followed and mmed his sword down on Asura.

    <em>aaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Asura blocked Minhyuk¡¯s sword with one hand, as another hand immediately tried to attack Minhyuk. But Ellie flew up and helped Minhyuk out of Asura¡¯s attack range. Then, Minhyuk grabbed Ellie¡¯s ankle and threw her down, adding momentum to her downward fall and giving her more speed as she pressured Asura.

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk, who was also falling down, cut off one of Asura¡¯s arms.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Ellie took advantage of Asura¡¯s pain and cut off another one of his arms as he shrieked loudly. With two arms cut off, Asura¡¯s range of attack had narrowed even more, allowing them more time to breathe and more freedom to move.

    <em>Ping!</em>

    <em>sh!</em>

    However, Asura¡¯s HP was ridiculously high. On top of that, Asura seemed like he was not going to be reckless anymore, as he protected his remaining head.

    ¡°How long?¡±

    ¡°Two minutes!¡±

    Ellie and Minhyuk were in a very urgent situation. After all, Minhyuk¡¯s buff effect only had two minutes left. Then, Mei Wei suddenly thought of a way to shave off Asura¡¯s ridiculously high HP, ¡°How about using Dragon and Tiger?!¡±

    Dragon and Tiger was the skill that Khan and Ares used before. Mei Wei had recently acquired Skill Copy, a God¡¯s Agent¡¯s Secret Skill, that allowed Mei Wei to copy the skills of other people and bestow it upon another.

    ¡°Okay!¡±

    Then, the figure of a tiger suddenly appeared behind Minhyuk.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    While a roaring dragon appeared behind Ellie.

    <em>[Dragon and Tiger.]</em>

    <em>[The dragon and tiger fighting together and inflicting continuous damages will give you greater power.]</em>

    <em>[Additional 200% damage will be inflicted for every sessful attack made within 0.9 seconds of the previous attack.]</em>

    <em>[The dragon and tiger will be granted an invincible state for three seconds. The invincibility will extend for every sessful linked attack.]</em>

    Each sessful attack would have 200% additional damage and would even allow them invincibility as long as the link was not broken. The first to move was Ellie as she shed toward Asura.

    <em>Ping¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk immediately followed, punching Asura¡¯s back with his fists.

    <em>Punch! Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    The two people continuously sent attacks toward Asura, who was still in the air.

    <em>Swooosh¡ª</em>

    Asura swung his fists at them but as long as Minhyuk and Ellie¡¯s attacks were sessfully linked, the two would remain invincible. They sent linked attacks ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty times in a row. Only thirty seconds had passed since they started their attacks but¡­

    <em>[Sessful link! Damage will increase by 200%!]</em>

    <em>[Your invincible state will remain.]</em>

    <em>[Your invincible state¡­]</em>

    <em>[You have achieved marvelous continuous attacks.You will incur additional 2,000% damage!]</em>

    <em>[You have incurred a total of 9,000% damage!]</em>

    <em>[Your invincible state¡­]</em>

    <em>[Sessful link!]</em>

    <em>[Your invincible state¡­]</em>

    <em>[You have achieved marvelous continuous attacks. You will incur additional 2,000% damage!]</em>

    <em>[You have incurred a total of 20,000% damage!]</em>

    The entire world was left speechless at Minhyuk and Ellie¡¯s crazy disy of tacit understanding and power. Only a minute and a half had passed by but the two of them had already dealt over a hundred linked attacks on Asura. Everyone was surprised at their perfectbination which easily surpassed Khan and Ares¡¯bination.

    At first Asura only suffered minor injuries, but as time went on, the damage that he received piled on top of each other. Now, Asura would stagger from the impact of a fist or a kick. Blood would spurt out of Asura¡¯s body with every attack that he received. After all, his physical defense had been drastically reduced with the triggering of his ¡®Wrath¡¯.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaack!¡± Asura¡¯s screams echoed loudly. But, he remained helpless and could only passively receive Minhyuk and Ellie¡¯s rapid linked attacks, while moaning and groaning from the bone breaking and flesh tearing pain.

    Meanwhile, Ellie and Minhyuk were both calcting the time for¡­

    <em>¡®20, 19, 18¡­¡¯</em>

    ¡­Minhyuk¡¯s buff to end. With only a few seconds left, the two of them stood on each side of Asura and cast their skills at the same time. Minhyuk¡¯s Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship was originally Ellie¡¯s own. In other words, they were both using the same skill. And the skill that both of them used on Asura right now was the most powerful skill used when targeting an individual.

    ¡°Sword of Frenzy.¡±

    ¡°Sword of Frenzy.¡±

    The two of them cast the same skill at the same time¡­

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    Two swords stabbed at Asura¡¯s vital points as the 20,000% damage from Dragon and Tiger Skill ovepped with their skill¡¯s effects.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª</em>

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª</em>

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    Asura¡¯s body exploded from the strong force that flowed through his nks, his blood gushing out like a fountain and dyeing the world red. Then, the notification rang.

    <em>[You have sessfully hunted Demigod Asura.]</em>

 Chapter 520: Victory

    Chapter 520: Victory

    Musashi Kentaro, the best yer in Japan, was able to stand at the summit with the help of none other than Minhyuk. This very same Kentaro was currently in the Japanese Server, having a meeting with Japan¡¯s top guild masters and rankers to discuss the server consolidation that would happen in the near future.

    Apanied with some sake and light drinking, their meeting continued. However, no matter what they discussed, their eyes could not stray away from the TV screen. The screen was broadcasting the Asgan Continent¡¯s disaster. In fact, it was not only them, many people in Japan and the rest of the world that watched and paid attention to the happenings in Asgan Continent through their TVs, Ztube, or even theirputers at home.

    The screen was currently disying the superb disy of understanding and cooperation between Minhyuk and Ellie.

    ¡°C, Crazy¡­¡±

    ¡°How can they do that¡­¡±

    ¡°Ho¡­¡±

    Ellie and Minhyuk¡¯s cooperation was a never-before-seen situation. The two moved as if they were one as they put pressure on Asura until blood dripped down his body. Just one mistake and the two of them would lose the power that the skill granted them but they were making it look so easy. It was beyond shocking.

    As he watched everything unfold on the screen, he felt cold sweat pool in his palms. Then, the two stabbed Asura in his abdomen and back causing a huge wave of blood to erupt from Asura¡¯s body and dyeing the entire screen red. Only when that scene shed by did Kentaro¡¯s tightly clenched fists loosened up.

    Kentaro looked down at his sweaty palms and asked himself, <em>¡®How far will you go?¡¯</em>

    Kentaro feltplicated emotions stirring. On one hand, he felt jealous of the moves and decisions that Minhyuk had made. On the other hand, he felt happy that his friend and idol was strong and powerful.

    Meanwhile, everyone else wondered about the same thing, <em>¡®What kind of reward will he get for hunting a demigod?¡¯ </em>

    After all, humans were born with great curiosity in their bodies. The rewards for sessfully hunting a boss monster? Tremendous. Then, what kind of reward would they get for sessfully killing a being that could not be hunted in years, no, perhaps even hundreds of years, in the game? That was what they were thinking.

    Kentaro felt his lips twitch as he said, ¡°You know...¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Kentaro!¡±

    ¡°Yeah!¡±

    The top guild members and high rankers that were looking intently on the TV all turned to look at Kentaro. What would Kentaro, the best yer and the master of the strongest guild in Japan, say after witnessing such a spectacr scene like this?

    ¡°¡­I¡¯m really close with the Food God,¡± Kentaro¡¯s lips stretched into a wide smile as he said those words. Yes, that was right. Kentaro was bragging, just like those people who had celebrity friends that suddenly appeared on the TV in front of them. His words sounded strangely like, <em>¡®I¡¯m friends with them, you know~? We just had a meal a few days ago too!¡¯. </em>

    But the reaction of the people around him was also quite shocking.

    ¡°<em>Su, sugoi¡­!</em>¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard that you¡¯re close with the Food God Minhyuk but it seems like you¡¯re really good friends!¡±

    ¡°Am, amazing¡­ that¡¯s really great!!!¡±

    ¡°Kentaro, that¡¯s really amazing¡­ wow¡­¡±

    The Japanese rankers and guild masters were looking at Kentaro with utter jealousy. The look in their eyes made Kentaro feel like his shoulders had grown wider and taller as he smirked triumphantly, showcasing a cute side that no one had ever seen before.

    ***

    Asura¡¯s blood covered the entire area the moment Ellie and Minhyuk hit him with their Sword of Frenzy. As if on cue, the Hell Warriors that were still wreaking havoc on the ground slowly started to disappear. The injured and battered dragons, the people of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, the rest of the survivors, and the viewers watching the broadcast only had one thing shing in their heads¡­

    <em>¡®They won?¡¯</em>

    Then, the notifications rang in the ears of all of the yers present in the area.

    <em>[You have seeded in hunting Demigod Asura.]</em>

    <em>[The rewards for hunting a demigod will be distributed based on your contributions.]</em>

    Another set of notifications rang in the ears of the yers present.

    <em>[Common Reward. You will receive 60% EXP Buff for two weeks.]</em>

    <em>[Common Reward. You have gained +3 in all of your stats.]</em>

    <em>[Common Reward. You have gained 1 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 714,000,000 EXP as a reward for your contributions.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 20 tinum as a reward for your contributions.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 1 SP.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    All of the yers on site were shocked by the ridiculous list of rewards presented to them. These rewards were just themon rewards, but they were already shocking.

    ¡®<em>What about the rewards based on contributions?</em>¡¯

    All of them turned to look at one ce, to where Minhyuk was all sprawled out on and panting heavily.

    <em>¡®I wonder what kind of rewards Minhyuk received?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I¡¯m so curious.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He should have received the rewards now, right?¡¯</em>

    None of them felt jealous at the fact that Minhyuk had monopolized most of the good rewards. After all, Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and the Food God had taken greater risks and dangers and fought more fiercely than them in this battle. At the same time, the notifications rang in the ears of Minhyuk, who was lying down on the ground.

    <em>[You have sessfully hunted Demigod Asura.]</em>

    <em>[You have made the highest contribution. The rewards that you will receive will be better than the rewards received by the regr yers.]</em>

    <em>[You will receive a 200% EXP Buff for two weeks.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired a 1% increase in all of your stats.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1,000 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 3,000,000, 000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[¡­leveled up.]</em>

    The rewards that Minhyuk had received based on his contributions were clearly different from the other yers¡¯ rewards. But the notifications were not yet over. There were still the rewards from Asura himself left.

    <em>[You have gained 24, 112 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 45,000,000,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 3 God¡¯s SP.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Asura¡¯s Sessor¡¯s Ring.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Asura¡¯s Bloody Buddhist Beads (3).]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Aeopus¡¯ Stairway Parchment.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired ughterer¡¯s Armor.]</em>

    Then, a notification rang in the ears of everyone present.

    <em>[¡®Anonymous¡¯ has been announced to the entire continent for your achievement in obtaining an artifact closest to God.]</em>

    Amotion broke out among the crowd. It was only natural. After all, the only one that could get a God-rank artifact here was none other than Minhyuk. While everyone was directing their heated gazes at Minhyuk, the notifications began to ring in Minhyuk¡¯s ears again.

    <em>[The One that hunted Demigod Asura will be given an additional reward.]</em>

    <em>[Please choose the reward that you prefer.]</em>

    <em>[Please choose one from: <strong>1.</strong> Artifact, <strong>2. </strong>Stats, <strong>3</strong>. EXP, <strong>4.</strong> Food, <strong>5. </strong>Gold.]</em>

    Without any hesitation, Minhyuk chose, ¡°Food.¡±

    <em>[You have chosen: Food.]</em>

    <em>[Food. You can choose the dish that you want to eat. This dish will be made by the God of Cooking and will contain a special power.]</em>

    The moment he chose food, a person¡¯s face shed in Minhyuk¡¯s head. The person that he first met in the Dragon King¡¯s Sea, who had been fishing for a long time while dreaming of taking revenge for his son. WIth Minhyuk¡¯s help, this person was able to get his revenge. Ever since then, he has stayed by Minhyuk''s side. Despite the hardships, adversities and struggles, he stood firmly next to Minhyuk. And when Minhyuk was having a hard time¡­

    <em>¡®Your Majesty, here. Have some refreshing iced americano. Make sure to take a big sip. Hoho.¡¯</em>

    ¡­he wouldfort Minhyuk with his words and actions.

    But that person was no more. He was definitely gone. The thought alone caused Minhyuk¡¯s eyes to water once more, as tears threatened to drip down Minhyuk¡¯s cheeks once again. But before they could do so, Ben¡¯s voice seemed to ring in Minhyuk¡¯s head.

    <em>¡®Your Majesty. Just like always, make sure to live happily, eat all of the delicious food that you can get and eat all of the food that you want to eat. And one day, this old man will definitelye running back to your arms.¡¯</em>

    <em>Grip¡ª</em>

    That was right. Minhyuk believed in Ben. He might have left but it would only be for a moment. One day, one day he definitely would be back by Minhyuk¡¯s side.

    Minhyuk smiled. There was only one thing that he had to do while he waited for Ghost Spear Ben to return to his side, and that did not include being sad, regretful and frustrated.

    ¡°Eat delicious food. Enjoy life. Just like before.¡±

    All Minhyuk needed to do was act the same as usual. He just needed to eat happily and smile in this world, in Athenae, while waiting for him.

    ¡°Snow Crab.¡±

    Minhyuk chose the snow crab. Something that reminded him of the Blue Crab Ramyeon that he ate together with Ben during their first meeting. Just like how the two of them genuinely enjoyed and relished in the taste of that ramyeon back then, Minhyuk would also savor and relish this delicious snow crab, whether it was a snow crab bibimbap or snow crab ramyeon, he would enjoy it thoroughly. After Minhyuk chose his reward, many people looked at him in wonder. What kind of reward did he get? But the viewers already knew Minhyuk very well.

    <em>[He¡¯ll run somewhere to eat again without checking the rewards, right?]</em>

    <em>[We¡¯re talking about the Food God here. No one can take it away from him so he¡¯s going to eat it alone!!!]</em>

    Even the guild members and troops of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom thought the same thing. But the dragons and Baroque Kingdom¡¯s King Lloyd definitely did not know Minhyuk. They thought that Minhyuk would at least give them a hint of the rewards that he received.

    However, this time, both guesses were wrong. Minhyuk took out a mysterious pouch from his chest pocket, smiled and looked at it for a long time. Then, he acted very secretively, climbing alone in his trailer. The trailer also had an enormous pot that could boilrge amounts of water. What Minhyuk did was pour the coffee beans in the pouch in that pot.

    Originally, coffee beans needed to be ground finely, ced over a filter and poured water on. But Ben¡¯s coffee beans were different. They were both mysterious and amazing. All one needed to do was ce the coffee beans in the water and it would make it into the most delicious coffee.

    The moment the coffee beans were poured over the water, a bright golden light bursted out of the trailer while a notification rang for everyone present.

    <em>[The ¡®Legendary Coffee Beans¡¯ nurtured and made by the Legendary Barista for a very long time is expressing its power for the first time.]</em>

    <em>[With its first disy of power, the Legendary Coffee Beans can help you make coffee infinitely.]</em>

    <em>[However, the infinite coffee¡¯s special effects would disappear after the first 24 hours.]</em>

    The bloody and gruesome battlefield was now filled with the delicious and fragrant scent of coffee. Just like the notifications had mentioned, these coffee beans would create an infinite amount of coffee. But after the first 24 hours from the initial use, the buff effects that apanied the coffee would disappear and one could only savor its taste. What would happen if 24 hours had not yet passed?

    <em>¡®Everyone here can drink it.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk began to distribute coffee to all of the survivors. These coffee beans were a sign, a mark that he was in Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. It was a mark of who that man was. Everyone looked at the cup of coffee in their hands in confusion. Some received hot americano while others received cold americano. However, none of them took a sip of the coffee, until Minhyuk had taken his first one.

    It was a very strange sight. The ones that sustained severe injuries, the ones that lost their limbs, the ones that were still struggling, those that suffered from the terrible war earlier all stood still and held a cup of coffee in their hands.

    When Minhyuk was down to thest cup of warm americano, he carefully ced it on the ground before taking out a spear from his inventory. Those that have watched the old veteran¡¯s battle knew the identity of the spear in Minhyuk¡¯s hands. The spear with a red cloth tied near its tip was the spear that Ghost Spear Ben used. Everyone was aware that the red cloth was the gift that Ben received from his son.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    Ben, a man that never learnt how to back down.

    Minhyuk stabbed the spear next to the cup of warm americano. He stared at the spear and the red cloth that pped with the wind for a long time.

    ¡°The old veteran¡¯s spear¡­¡± Vch murmured as he looked at it with pure awe and admiration.

    Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°For everyone that has shed their blood in this ce. For everyone that has died here, never to return to the families that are waiting for them. For everyone that has died, leaving their dreams behind.¡±

    And¡­

    ¡°For my teacher. For my friend. For Ghost Spear Ben that wille back to us one day.¡±

    Minhyuk bowed, paying a silent tribute to those that they have lost in this battle.

    Vch had personally witnessed the battle of the old veteran. And now, he was witnessing how Minhyuk honored the ones that stayed with him and the ones that made sacrifices for them, instead of getting drunk on the joys of victory.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s a great king.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He¡¯s a great liege.¡¯</em>

    Vch and the other dragons also paid a silent tribute to Minhyuk¡¯s men, together with the people of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Even Baroque Kingdom¡¯s King Lloyd hurriedly jumped outside to pay his own tribute. Everyone present honored Ghost Spear Ben and those that sacrificed their lives in this battle.

    Minhyuk felt as if he heard Ghost Spear Ben whisper in his ears, <em>¡®Hoho~ Your Majesty, sluuuuurp~. Have a sip from this cup of refreshing coffee.¡¯ </em>as he gulped down the iced americano in his hands. The refreshing vor and magnificent taste of the coffee beans harvested by the Legendary Barista brought a thrill down his spine. Then, a white light surrounded Minhyuk¡¯s body and healed his wounds and injuries.

    <em>Swiiiiiish¡ª</em>

    Then, the others began to drink their own coffee too, prompting a white light to burst out in the area. It was immediately followed by a set of notifications.

    <em>[The Legendary Coffee Beans made by the Legendary Barista have the power to heal the wounded and energize the exhausted and fatigued.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has recovered and reached 100%.]</em>

    <em>[Your fatigue and exhaustion disappears as if it has been washed away.]</em>

    <em>[Your consciousness returns to rity.]</em>

    Ben had given them a present until the very end.

    In the middle of the battlefield shrouded with a pristine white light, stood Ghost Spear Ben¡¯s spear with a red cloth tied on it, fluttering in the wind.

 Chapter 521: Inside the Overlordâ€™s Dreams

    Chapter 521: Inside the Overlord¡¯s Dreams

    The war between the dragons, the Baroque Kingdom and the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was all done under the instigations of Crazy Tyrant Akhan. Right now, Baroque Kingdom¡¯s King Lloyd was unable to raise his head as the whispers of his people rang in his ears.

    ¡°The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King honored the souls of the departed first before relishing in his victory.¡±

    ¡°Have you seen his vassals and subordinates? Have you seen how desperately they fought for their king? It¡¯s because their king is great that¡¯s why they¡¯re like that.¡±

    ¡°From what I heard, Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is a weak nation. But looking at it now, aren¡¯t the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King and his men on par with that of an empire? Even if that¡¯s not the case, they¡¯re still better than our kingdom.¡±

    ¡°Actually, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom might be a small nation, but the power that they possess is out of this world.¡±

    As the voice of his subjects grew louder in his ears, King Lloyd felt that he was unable to raise his head anymore.

    <em>¡®I¡­¡¯</em>

    He, the king of his own nation, tried his hardest to stop the small kingdom from flourishing and gaining great wealth and prosperity in the future.

    But what did the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King do in response? He only fought to protect those that are precious to him, even honoring those who died, regardless of sides. In a way, they could consider the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King as foolish and naive. But his heartfelt emotions and firm belief was enough to sway and shake the hearts of King Lloyd¡¯s subjects.

    In fact, even King Lloyd himself started to reflect after witnessing the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King and his vassals showcase their power to protect what was precious to them.

    Still unable to raise his head, King Lloyd glimpsed a burst of white light. When he looked up, he saw that all of the wounded were already healed. Then, Lloyd looked down at the cup of warm americano in his hands.

    <em>¡®The scent of coffee is really pleasant.¡¯</em>

    Lloyd took the warm americano to his mouth and took a sip. The soft and smooth americano brought a gentle warmth along his body, washing away his fatigue and exhaustion. Then, King Lloyd moved toward Minhyuk.

    ***

    ¡°My, my injuries have recovered!¡±

    ¡°My goodness, such a shocking effect!¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t hurt anymore!¡±

    Everyone admired the surprising effects of the coffee beans made by Barista Ben.

    Minhyuk, who finished drinking his cold americano, moved to drink a cup of warm americano. At that moment, King Lloyd and the hundreds of nobles and knights, the core powers of Baroque Kingdom, approached him. Naturally, the key figures and executives of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom took their ce behind Minhyuk. Minhyuk just stared at Lloyd and his entourage, he did not need to bow down to him. After all, he was the king of his own kingdom. In fact, he even looked at him haughtily.

    Once King Lloyd stood in front of Minhyuk, he said, ¡°We were only able to protect Baroque Kingdom thanks to the help of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.¡±

    Amotion burst out in the scene from his words. Meanwhile, thementators interpreted his words.

    <em>[A very shocking scene is unfolding in front of us.]</em>

    <em>[The king of a nation is openly admitting that his own troops arecking and that they were only able to ovee this situation thanks to the help of another nation. Right now, Lloyd, the King of Baroque Kingdom, has given in to yer Minhyuk and has acknowledged his kingdom, Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and him as a king.]</em>

    That was right. The words of a king have the power and influence to change the situation of a kingdom. The words that King Lloyd had uttered had left a huge impact on everyone listening.

    ¡°Our Baroque Kingdom will never forget the grace given to us by Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. We hope for a smooth exchange between our kingdom and yours in the future,¡± It seemed like King Lloyd was not yet done, uttering another very shocking remark.

    The kingdoms of Asgan Continent refused to acknowledge Beyond the Heavens Kingdom as a kingdom and a nation. Because of that, no kingdom had entered any diplomatic ties and exchanges with them. No matter how excellent the goods and products the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom offered, none of them made contact with them.

    In the end, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom reached the limits and failed to gain much profit. After all, they were not able to export much of their products to the other kingdoms. But the Baroque Kingdom, a kingdom that was around eight times the size of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, actually proposed an exchange.

    King Lloyd opened his mouth once again, ¡°However, we won¡¯t be able to take arms and fight for Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. I hope you can understand us with regards to this.¡±

    Once again, thementators interpreted Lloyd¡¯s words.

    <em>[Not being able to take arms and fight for Beyond the Heavens Kingdom meant that they would only engage in diplomatic exchanges and would not move their soldiers and troops for Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[The moment they move their troops, the Baroque Kingdom will also be prey to the other kingdoms that refuse to recognize Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    Sure enough, a king was a king. King Lloyd was the king of his own nation and he would only move for the benefit of his own kingdom. Any citizen of his country would not have the right to call him a bad ruler even with a decision like this. After all, he was making sure that no risk befell them.

    King Lloyd sported a subtle and light smile on his face. An exchange with Beyond the Heavens Kingdom! This was a reward that would help Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, a proposal that would benefit each kingdom. After all, the Baroque Kingdom would be able to wipe away the financial difficulties brought about by the disappearance of the ties that they had with Barras Kingdom with this exchange. It was more than enough. This was what King Lloyd believed.

    Everyone wondered what Minhyuk¡¯s response would be.

    ¡°Baroque Kingdom¡¯s King Lloyd¡­ I never said that I would engage in diplomatic discussions and exchanges with Baroque Kingdom though?¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    King Lloyd was stunned. This scene shocked everyone watching. In fact, if they looked at it from Minhyuk¡¯s perspective, King Lloyd, who made it seem like he was being very generous, was just mocking his kingdom. After all, King Lloyd offered a proposal that would benefit his own kingdom with no regards to the benefits that Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would receive.

    King¡¯s Lloyd¡¯s face turned red as he said, ¡°I have no intention of getting support from Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s troops either, this would be purely a trade-based transaction. Both sides would benefit from this.¡±

    Baroque Kingdom did not want to take any risk. Also¡­

    ¡°So, you think that¡¯s more than enough reward for the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?¡±

    What King Lloyd was suggesting was a deal, not a reward nor a repayment. Only then did King Lloyd realize, <em>¡®He¡¯s not a pushover¡­!¡¯ </em>When he looked at Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Kingdom¡¯s Genie, he thought that she was a very business-minded individual, good at making transactions. But he realized he underestimated the king of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom as well.

    ¡°If that¡¯s what you¡¯re thinking, then I¡¯m very sorry to disappoint you. I¡¯m sure Baroque Kingdom has to use a lot of money to mend the damages that you have received in this war. Would you really be alright if we decide not to engage in diplomatic discussions and exchanges with you?¡±

    For Minhyuk, more was better, never less. He was the kind of person that would squeeze everyst bit of thing that he could take advantage of, and would absolutely not suffer from any losses. Instead of going angry, King Lloyd felt relieved.

    <em>¡®We might not be providing military support to them for the time being but I¡¯m sure that we can trust Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.¡¯</em>

    Even if they were being calctive in this way, Lloyd was sure that he and his kingdom would be guaranteed to survive in the future.

    <em>¡®They¡¯re worth considering an alliance with.¡¯</em>

    In fact, Lloyd even wanted to apud Minhyuk on how he was handling this matter.

    ¡°What do you want?¡±

    ¡°I want a 2% increase in all transactions and products that our Beyond the Heavens Kingdom will sell in your kingdom. I also want a 2% reduction in the prices of all the products and transactions that we will buy and make in your kingdom. Next, let¡¯s talk about thepensations that you have to give us for the damages that we incurred in this war.¡±

    A 2% increase in transactions and products sold, as well as a 2% reduction in transactions and products bought by Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would definitely rake in a huge profit for their kingdom. With this, the Baroque Kingdom would lose as much as 4% in every transaction they made with Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    ¡°Aspensation for the military support in this war, we will give you 20,000 tinum and 2,000 good warhorses. We will also provide fifty tons of minerals for weapon and armor production.¡±

    ¡°How about increasing that to 23,000 tinum?¡±

    <em>Ah, what a true and genuine daylight robbery. </em>

    However, King Lloyd just shook his head helplessly and said, ¡°Fine.¡±

    Everyone watched in amazement as the deal was sealed. Minhyuk was already hailed as a king, but in a way, it could be said that this was the first time a yer had seeded in making a deal with a king of another nation.

    Then, the notifications rang.

    <em>[As per Baroque Kingdom¡¯s deal with Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s Vice Guild Master, they promised to pay 45% of their kingdom¡¯s tax this month in exchange for military support.]</em>

    <em>[You will be able to receive the payment by the end of the month.]</em>

    <em>[As per King Lloyd¡¯s orders, you will be able to receive 23,000 tinum, 2,000 warhorses, and 50 tons of minerals and ores.]</em>

    <em>[You can now engage in diplomatic discussions and exchanges with Baroque Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[However, Baroque Kingdom does not promise any military support. The two kingdoms may discuss this matter again in the future.]</em>

    <em>[All transactions and products sold by Beyond the Heavens Kingdom to the Baroque Kingdom will be 2% more expensive. All transactions and products bought by Beyond the Heavens Kingdom from Baroque Kingdom will be 2% cheaper.]</em>

    These notifications signaled the satisfactory results of the deal between the two kingdoms. Also¡­

    <em>[As the king of a nation, you are the only yer that has received the recognition of the king of another nation!]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the <strong>Title</strong>: Extraordinary King.]</em>

    The effects of the title ¡®Extraordinary King¡¯ were tremendous. In fact, the title was even one of the rare growth type titles. It had the power to draw the attention of the other kingdoms¡¯ kings and would have a greater effect the more kings acknowledged Minhyuk and his kingdom. With this, Minhyuk would be able to bring various kingdoms to his side one after the other.

    However, things were not yet over. Minhyuk still had something important to do. Minhyuk turned around and walked toward Prince Votto of the Warrior¡¯s Nation, who was taking off his mask. After the battle ended, only a thousand were left from the Lumae Kingdom troops.

    <em>¡®My own greed has cost the lives of Lumae Kingdom¡¯s people and has tarnished the reputation of the Warrior¡¯s Nation.¡¯</em>

    A lot of people died, and for what? For nothing. They could only me themselves for allowing themselves to be fooled.

    ¡°Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King! Quickly bring judgment upon them!¡± The voice of King Lloyd, the biggest victim of this catastrophe, was both loud and fierce. At that, Prince Votto looked back at his troops that promised to die for him.

    ¡°Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King, I will take my own life here. However, I hope that your grace and magnanimity can be as broad as the sea and the skies, and allow my troops to live.¡±

    ¡°P, Prince!!!¡±

    ¡°N, no!!!¡±

    ¡°We, we should die together!¡±

    ¡°This is an order,¡± Prince Votto spoke firmly to his screaming troops as he pointed the tip of his sword to himself.

    Minhyuk frowned at the disy as he thought, <em>¡®Lumae Kingdom is the Warrior¡¯s Nation. Even though Prince Votto is a part of that nation, he must definitely die. But¡­¡¯</em>

    But right now, Minhyuk thought that he was standing at a crossroad of some sort. He could feel it, he could feel that something big would happen and the choices that he made at this point in time would likely bring huge changes. After quicklying to a decision, Minhyuk dashed forward, grabbing Prince Votto¡¯s hands, who was about to stab his abdomen.

    ¡°Enough.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Prince Votto looked at Minhyuk in confusion. Minhyuk had chosen not to kill Prince Votto right away.

    ¡°Since you¡¯re a prince, you bear the responsibility for your own country. If that¡¯s the case, then apologize to your subjects first beforemitting suicide.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Prince Votto¡¯s arms trembled at Minhyuk¡¯s words. He had already heard the resentment of his people. If he died like this, then he would be considered as a person that ran away by dying.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s right¡­¡¯</em>

    Prince Votto realized that Minhyuk¡¯s words were true. He had to apologize to his people first before dying. Prince Votto had alsoe to realize the implications of Minhyuk¡¯s words.

    <em>¡®He did not tell me to not die.¡¯</em>

    The man in front of Votto just told him to not die right away. Perhaps it was because he was giving him time to be ountable to his subjects. Votto felt gratitude toward the man in front of him. That was why he said, ¡°I understand. And¡­ please grant me a favor.¡±

    Minhyuk thought, <em>¡®As expected.¡¯</em> Simply put, Prince Votto¡¯s life and death were two paths at a crossroads. The path that he chose had led him to this point.

    ¡°I believe you know the reason already but Lumae Kingdom is approaching its downfall.¡±

    Of course, Minhyuk knew. The main reason for this was because their king, Overlord Raldo, had fallen into some unexinable deep sleep.

    <em>¡®I heard that he¡¯s quite strong. He¡¯s even Ellie-noona¡¯s rival.¡¯</em>

    But such a person had fallen into a deep sleep. Then, this would only mean one thing. There was something hidden here by the system.

    ¡°King of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, I heard that you are a foreigner. And foreigners have powers that we don¡¯t have. Can you please look at His Majesty¡¯s condition?¡±

    Then, a quest window popped up in front of Minhyuk.

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[<strong>Hidden Quest</strong>: The Sleeping Warrior God Raldo.]</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: SSS</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: The One that Prince Votto asked a favor from.</em>

    <em><strong>Rewards</strong>: ???</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty for Failure</strong>: Favor with Lumae Kingdom and Baroque Kingdom would decrease.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: The Warrior Nation, Lumae Kingdom¡¯s Raldo is currently in a deep sleep. Investigate the cause of his deep sleep.</em>

    King Lloyd, who could not understand the situation, immediately red up, ¡°What is the meaning of this?!¡±

    But Minhyuk only smiled lightly and said, ¡°King Lloyd, you should widen your perspective. We have been at war and have gained victory. What can we even get if we kill Prince Votto right away?¡±

    Then, they would only have a lonely victory. On the other hand? King Lloyd¡¯s thoughts turned swiftly. What would happen once Warrior God Raldo awakened? Then, they could ask King Raldopensation and rewards for the crimes that they havemitted. This was what Prince Votto had done and it would be hard to charge King Raldo with these crimes.

    But what if he awakened? Then, it would be possible.

    ¡®<em>Amazing. He can look at things so far ahead¡­¡¯ </em>King Lloyd could only clicked his tongue while looking at the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s King, the Food God, with increased admiration.

    It was at this moment that they decided the next destination that Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would go to.

 Chapter 522: Inside the Overlordâ€™s Dreams

    Chapter 522: Inside the Overlord¡¯s Dreams

    Under the guidance of Prince Votto, Minhyuk, together with Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Kingdom¡¯s executives and troops, would march towards Lumae Kingdom.

    Before they did so, they decided to spend one day resting for maintenance and recuperation. After all, it would be extremely exhausting for all of Minhyuk¡¯s executives and troops to go on such a march, right after an exhausting battle.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk entered the royal kitchen of the royal mansion prepared by King Lloyd for the Beyond the Heaven¡¯s Kingdom.

    ¡°Hiyaa~ Rascal! Look at you, you¡¯re moving energetically like that, huh? Keuhahahaha!¡±

    Having obtained the snow crab as a reward for hunting Asura, Minhyukughed, impressed at how it was still very much alive and energetic. There was another aspect that was worth his admiration. The snow crab in front of him was not just some regr snow crab.

    <em>¡®One of the Gods¡¯ Five Delicacies¡­¡¯</em>

    ording to the description, the snow crab was definitely one of the Gods¡¯ Five Delicacies. Just to be sure, Minhyuk clicked on the detailed description.

    <em>[<strong>Gods¡¯ Five Delicacies</strong>. Refers to the selection of the best dishes chosen by several gourmand gods a long time ago. Currently, only five of these kinds of delicacies exist in the world. All of them are known to have special abilities.]</em>

    Basically, they were five delicacies that had been chosen by several gods. One of these delicacies was the Deep Sea Snow Crab in front of Minhyuk. Its effects were shocking. Even its size was more than that of a decent-sized snow crab.

    ¡°Hmmmm~¡± Minhyuk hummed as he brushed away the impurities and dirt from the snow crab. Then, he used a small knife to poke at its opening, before dipping it in water and pressing its belly to expel the ck impurities within.

    <em>¡®The most important thing to do before steaming snow crabs¡­ trimming and cleaning the impurities!!!¡¯</em>

    If the impurities were not removed from the crab, the fishy taste and scent would be too much for anyone. After finishing up the cleaning and trimming, Minhyuk ced the snow crab in the steamer with its belly up.

    ¡°Oh my, oh my. You¡¯re so big that you can¡¯t fit that well in the steamer, huh?¡±

    Just a few hours ago, Minhyuk looked like a great and mighty king. But right now, in front of food, Minhyuk had turned into a child filled with excitement at the prospect of eating! One that truly loved food!

    He put the cover on the steamer, set the heat to high, and left it like that for 25 minutes. As the puffs of white clouds gently escaped the seams of the steamer and rose to the skies, Minhyuk¡¯s expectations rose too. After the 25 minutes was done, Minhyuk waited for another five minutes before finally lifting the lid.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    White steam escaped the steamer, revealing the glistening red snow crab hidden inside it! Just one look and Minhyuk¡¯s mouth was already overflowing with drool. He hurriedly took out the snow crabs, two of them to be exact, and separated their ws from the bodies. Then, he prepared some side dishes to go with it.

    Since snow crabs were quite expensive, restaurants that sold them would usually serve plenty of side dishes to go with them. Following that spirit, Minhyuk prepared some rockfish and tfish sashimi, fried shrimp, corn cheese, and scallops with cheese, as he set the table.

    ¡°Kihyaaaaa~¡±

    Eating after working hard was always a delight! Before he started, Minhyuk prepared some soy sauce and wasabi in a small bowl, mixed them gently and ced it on the table. Next, he grabbed his chopsticks and mped some fresh, mouth-watering tfish sashimi. He dipped it in the prepared sauce and ced it in his mouth.

    <em>Chew, chew¡ª</em>

    The more Minhyuk chewed, the more he could taste the savoriness and sweetness of the fish. Even its chewy texture was superb, bringing a smile to his face. After gulping down the first piece and eating another, Minhyuk turned towards the scallops with cheese.

    <em>Streeeeeeeeeetch¡ª</em>

    The cheese, covered with chojang[1], stretched as he brought the scallops to his mouth. The sourness of the vinegar and the rich, savory vor of the cheese perfectlyplemented each other, as they danced in Minhyuk¡¯s mouth. Just like that, Minhyuk quickly ate a scoop of corn cheese, adding a bit of sweetness and crunch from the corn to the mix, causing the smile on his face to widen.

    Finally, Minhyuk turned to the most-awaited snow crab. Minhyuk had used his scissors to cut and prep the snow crab legs in advance. The moment he put some pressure on the legs, they broke apart with a loud <em>¡®crack¡ª</em>¡®.

    Then, Minhyuk gently pulled on one side.

    <em>Swoosh¡ª</em>

    The crab meat was pulled out from the shell of the legs, without leaving anything behind.

    ¡°Haha! The snow crab¡¯s meat to water ratio is at 100%! 100%!!!¡±

    Most of the time, snow crabs had the worst meat to water ratio. Generally, snow crabs would only be able to retain around 30% of its weight once steaming was done. But the snow crab chosen by the gods as one of their preferred delicacies had a meat to water ratio of 100%.

    In other words, no weight had been lost.

    Minhyuk looked at the steaming and snow-white meat in admiration for a moment, before cing it in his mouth. The long strip of crab meatpletely filled his mouth; the warm and soft texture and sweet vor of the meat drawing out immense awe from him.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡±

    Was there ever a time when he ced a piece of snow crab meat in his mouth and it filled his mouth? The answer was no. But this snow crab made it possible for Minhyuk to have that experience.

    The most amazing part? There was no fishy taste at all!

    Minhyuk, who picked the crab legs clean, turned his attention to the ws. Since he had already prepped the ws and legs earlier, just adding a slight bit of pressure was enough to pull out the meat, which even retained the shape of the w.

    The moment Minhyuk ced it in his mouth, a chewier texture,pletely unlike the meat of ordinary crabs, greeted his taste buds. Although crab meat looked no different from each other, each part tasted different. After eating the legs and ws, Minhyuk made snow crab fried rice by mixing rice, sesame oil, seaweed powder, snow crab meat and snow crab guts. He even made some snow crab ramyeon to pair it with, cing a piece of kimchi on top of it.

    ¡°Kgghk~ It¡¯s like the icing to cake!¡±

    Sighs of contentment and admiration naturally flowed out of his mouth! Whenever Minhyuk felt his throat go dry, he would scoop a spoonful of the snow crab ramyeon soup and moisten his throat. It was the very same snow crab ramyeon with bean sprouts and Cheongyang chilis. Minhyuk scooped a spoonful of the soup.

    ¡°Kghhk!¡±

    Refreshing. This word was enough to express what Minhyuk was feeling at the moment. Then, Minhyuk mped and lifted some noodles along with some beansprouts, cing it in a smaller bowl. He gently blew on it before slurping a mouthful.

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuuuuuurp!</em>¡±

    The chewy noodles and crisp beansprouts resulted in a pleasant taste in Minhyuk¡¯s mouth. With a delighted smile on his face, Minhyuk poured adle of soup in his bowl before tipping it into his mouth. The spiciness of the soup created ayer of sweat on his nose and a tingle in his throat. As he savored the vor, he quickly devoured the snow crab fried rice.

    Finally, he picked some fried shrimp, dipped it in soy sauce and ced it in his mouth.

    <em>Crunch, crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    The plump shrimp was a pleasure to the mouth. The light and savory vor of the meat and the batter that coated it created a harmony that could bring a smile to anyone¡¯s face. After eating all of the fried shrimp, Minhyuk poured the cold, icy cider into a ss.

    <em>Glug, glug, glug¡ª </em>

    ¡°Kyaaaa!¡±

    The notifications rang the moment Minhyuk let out a burst of exmation.

    <em>[You have eaten the Deep Sea Snow Crab.]</em>

    <em>[Your Physical Attack and Defense, as well as your Magical Attack and Defense will increase by 10% permanently.]</em>

    <em>[With the Deep Sea Snow Crab¡¯s buff effects, your Attack and Defense will increase by 10% for a week.]</em>

    <em>[You can ovep this buff effect with other buffs.]</em>

    The Gods¡¯ Delicacies could be described as such¡­

    <em>¡®Food that is out of this world¡­¡¯</em>

    Even the taste was superior to the Dragon King¡¯s Snow Crab that he ate in the Dragon King¡¯s Sea in the past. The fact that it could permanently increase his physical and magical attack and defenses by 10% was enough for this kind of delicacy to cost around tens of billions of cash.

    Furthermore¡­

    <em>¡®It seems like it¡¯s hard to get. Am I the first to get something like this?¡¯</em>

    ¡­it was something that was gained only after hunting Demigod Asura. However, that was not the only reward that Minhyuk received from that hunt. He was able to gain another God-rank artifact in the form of the ughterer¡¯s Armor.

    <em>(<strong>ughterer¡¯s Armor</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: God</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: Level 500</em>

    <em><strong>Durability</strong>: 50,000 / 50,000</em>

    <em><strong>Defense</strong>: 2,397</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>?All stats will increase by +23%.</em>

    <em>?Magical Defense will triple.</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: ughterer¡¯s Absorption</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Asura¡¯s Shield</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: ughterer¡¯s Blessings</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: There have been rumors that the armor that Demigod Asura has worn was obtained by threatening the God of cksmiths. The merits of this armor are definitely out of this world since it allowed Asura to dye the Asgan Continent with blood.</em>

    <em>¡®No matter how you look at it, that defense is ridiculous¡­¡¯</em>

    The Monarch¡¯s Armor, an Absolute Demigod artifact, had a defense of 1,789. But the ughterer¡¯s Armor easily surpassed that by 600. That was not all; the amount of increase in all stats also surpassed it by nearly 7%. And yet, there were even more valuable aspects to the ughterer¡¯s Armor.

    <em>(<strong>ughterer¡¯s Absorption</strong>)</em>

    <em>Passive Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?Upon sessful attack, there is a 3% chance that you will be able to convert 50% of the damage that you have dealt to your opponents, into HP.</em>

    <em>?Upon sessful attack, there is a 0.7% chance of recovering a small amount of your stamina and mental power.</em>

    <em>¡®This is really out of this world¡­¡¯</em>

    There were no other words that could exin this skill aside from that. Of course, this skill might not have any great effect on incredibly strong existences like Great Demon Verus and Asura. After all, they were strong enough to cut down Minhyuk¡¯s HP in one go.

    But in a war?

    <em>¡®The effect would exceed anyone¡¯s imagination.¡¯</em>

    In a war, where Minhyuk had to deal with tens, hundreds, and even thousands of enemies, it was not strength that mattered the most, but stamina and mental power. If he could recover just a slight bit of that as he attacked his enemies, then he would be able to endure longer and fight more.

    Then, there was also Asura¡¯s Shield.

    <em>(<strong>Asura¡¯s Shield</strong>)</em>

    <em>Passive Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?When under siege, there¡¯s a 7% chance of triggering a translucent red shield that will protect the area under attack. </em>

    <em>?The defense of the translucent shield will be twice as much as the defense of the armor equipped by the skill user.</em>

    It was also a very useful and efficient skill during battle.

    <em>¡®With these out of this world effects, I can put away Monarch¡¯s Armor for the time being.¡¯</em>

    The Monarch¡¯s Armor was an excellent item, but it was no match for the ughterer¡¯s Armor.

    <em>¡®I think I can swap them and use their effects efficiently, right?¡¯</em>

    The merits of the Monarch¡¯s Armor where it could recover Minhyuk¡¯s HP and MP to 100% right away was something that was out of this world too. And finally¡­

    <em>(<strong>ughterer¡¯s Blessing</strong>)</em>

    <em>Active Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?Restores 40% of the HP of your allies.</em>

    <em>?You can sacrifice 40% of your allies physical and magical defense to increase 20% of their physical and magical attack.</em>

    <em>¡®As expected, it¡¯s also a good skill.¡¯</em>

    The ughterer¡¯s Armor was truly worth its weight in gold. It definitely lived up to the expectations of the rewards of killing Demigod Asura.

    On top of all that, Minhyuk also received three God¡¯s SP, Asura¡¯s Sessor''s Ring, Asura¡¯s Bloody Buddhist Beads and Aeopus¡¯ Stairs¡¯ Parchment. God¡¯s SP alone was an extraordinary reward, one that could even level up God-rank skills.

    But Asura¡¯s Sessor¡¯s Ring was more amazing than that.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s an item that can help someone change their ss to Asura ss.¡¯</em>

    Meanwhile, Asura¡¯s Bloody Buddhist Beads were items with shocking buff effects, while Aeopus¡¯ Stairs¡¯ Parchment was just marked with ¡®???¡¯. As he looked through his rewards, Minhyuk decided to dy the use of the God¡¯s SP that he gained.

    As for Asura¡¯s Sessor¡¯s Ring, Minhyuk knew a woman that fitted the item perfectly so he decided to give it to her.

    After settling everything, Minhyuk stepped outside and prepared to depart for Lumae Kingdom.

    ***

    Ares, the guildmaster of Ares Guild and one of the best fighter rankers in the country, stood among the rankers. He was someone that drew everyone¡¯s attention a few days ago when he used his skill Dragon and Tiger together with Khan.

    Right now, he was in the middle of a crossroads.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m also jealous of them.¡¯</em>

    Ares had always been envious of the guild members affiliated with Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. He had always denied this fact but now he did not want to do so anymore. He had alreadye to terms with himself and had epted it wholeheartedly. Also¡­

    <em>¡®The guild members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom are always given the chance to ovee their limits, climb to a higher level and be stronger. And they always live up to that opportunity.¡¯</em>

    There was no denying the fact that Khan was now much stronger than Ares.

    ¡°I also want to be with them.¡±

    s, he had the responsibility of taking care of his guild, together with the others that led the guild with him. So, with great caution, Ares tried to make a suggestion. He told them about going under the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. But his guild members naturally protested against his suggestion.

    ¡°Certainly not, Ares.¡±

    ¡°Come back to your senses. How can a tiger like you go under such a sly fox?!¡±

    His guild members wanted to make Ares the best guild. But Ares already knew that bing the best with just their power alone was nigh impossible. Ares was aware that they would only have a shot at bing the best if they went under Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    ¡°Please get your head on straight! Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is just a small nation!¡±

    His guild members shouted loudly until veins popped up in their necks. At that moment, Minhyuk, who was set to depart for Lumae Kingdom, finally went outside. Not long after, a shocking scene unfolded in front of their very eyes.

    The dozens of polymorphed dragons that were waiting for Minhyuk, together with Dragon Elder Vch, all slowly bowed in front of him and said, ¡°Foreigner King of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, fighting with you has allowed us to learn and realize a lot of things. We will now return to ourirs and prepare thepensation that we promised you.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Ares and his guild members looked at the scene in shock. The dragons bowed in front of a yer? Also¡­

    ¡°Also, we hope that you can keep on taking care of the dragon that will be our Lord.¡±

    And along with that¡­

    ¡°Please heed our earnest request!¡±

    ¡°We beg you!¡±

    ¡°We hope to entrust our Lord to you!!!¡±

    ¡°We believe that our Lord will thread the right path if she stays with you!¡±

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    The dragons immediately knelt down.

    <em>¡®Is, is the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom really the answer?!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Is what Sir Ares thinks really the right choice?!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Even, even the dragons are kneeling in front of him!!!¡¯</em>

    Then, the Ares Guild members immediately changed their tunes and said¡­

    ¡°That¡¯s right! Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is still a small nation! Since it¡¯s still a small nation, shouldn¡¯t we work together with them and make it into a prosperous and strong kingdom!?¡±

    ¡°Ares, actually, we¡¯re of the same mind. We''ve been thinking the same thing for a long time. Haha.¡±

    ¡°Hehe. Sir Ares, just like you thought, it seems like Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is the answer.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right!!!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go! Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!!!¡±

    The change in their attitude was so fast that it could beat the speed of LTE.

    1. gochujang or red chili paste with vinegar ?

 Chapter 523: Inside the Overlordâ€™s Dreams

    Chapter 523: Inside the Overlord¡¯s Dreams

    Minhyuk was about to head out for Lumae Kingdom. He looked at the dragons that begged for him to take care of Luna. It seemed like the dragons knew it well too. Luna would only be able to grow and be a better dragon if she remained in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. It was possible for Luna to truly be the greatest existence in the world if she continued to learn from the people of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    ¡°Of course, I will.¡±

    The truth was, Minhyuk was extremely nervous. What if the dragons had said that they wanted to take Luna away? But it seemed like he got nervous for nothing. Then, the notifications rang.

    <em>[You have been given full authority to raise and nurture Luna.]</em>

    <em>[The dragons are creatures that never take their words back.]</em>

    Not long after, Dragon Elder Vch said, ¡°We will not forget the sins that we havemitted. If you call for us one day, we will run to you with everything we have. Please do remember that it will only be a one-time thing.¡±

    <em>[The Dragon¡¯s Oath has been triggered.]</em>

    <em>[Dragon Elder Vch and the dragons that he leads will heed your summons if you call for them one day.]</em>

    To have the power to call for the dragons once in the future, it was an unbelievable trump card. Right after that, the polymorphed dragons soared to the skies, turned back to their original form and flew far away.

    Just when Minhyuk was about to move again¡­

    ¡°Food God.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk tilted his head in confusion especially after seeing Ares and his guild members look at him with shining eyes. After the situation had been sorted out and everything had been settled, Minhyuk had greeted and thanked Ares. But now¡­

    ¡°Please take us in! We want to be a part of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!!!¡±

    Ares was an arrogant, yet outstanding, high ranker. Right now, he, one of the strongest yers leading one of the top four guilds of the nation, was asking toe under the banner of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. In fact, when Minhyuk and Ares talked not too long ago, his guild members still looked at him with hostility as if they were saying ¡®Ares is still the best!¡¯.

    But now? For some strange reason, they were looking at Minhyuk with great respect and admiration.

    Meanwhile, Ares was a bit anxious. After all, Ares Guild had always kept on making trouble for Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Right now, the ball was in the Food God¡¯s court. The right to choose was in his hands. While Ares was plunging further into the depths of his worries, Minhyuk¡¯s voice rang, ¡°Stand up.¡±

    <em>¡®¡­As expected, it won¡¯t work. Huh?¡¯</em>

    Ares¡¯ expression stiffened. What if it was him in that position? If he was the Food God, then he would definitely kick up a fuss and go crazy on them. The enemies that were aiming for their downfall were suddenly asking him to take them in and be allies, after all.

    Ares could only sigh as he lifted himself up slowly. He could not help but look curiously at the hand that was generously stretched out in front of him. This was the hand of the Food God and the king of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    ¡°I can¡¯t allow a friend to kneel, right? Wee, Ares.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    A bright smile finally bloomed on Ares¡¯ face as he grabbed Minhyuk¡¯s outstretched hand.

    <em>Graaaab¡ª</em>

    ¡°I¡¯ll do my best for myself and Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.¡±

    Ares really could not say that he would only be ying for Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. After all, he was not close with any of them yet, and he was still unaware of the true worth of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. However, he would do his best at whatever task was given to him.

    So, Ares asked excitedly, ¡°Then, what should I do in Beyond the Heavens Kingdom? A closebat instructor? Or an attackmander?¡±

    Ares dreamt of even sitting at an executive seat! The thought was enough to make his heart flutter. It was not just a job in a guild, but a job in a kingdom!

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll be satisfied even if I¡¯m just a Legion Commander!¡¯</em>

    Ares was filled with great expectations. Then, Minhyuk smiled happily as he took something out of his inventory and held it out towards him. It seemed like it was a parchment with a form where they had to write down their personal information.

    <em>¡®As expected of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. They¡¯re taking note of each of their guild member¡¯s personal information and ssifying them based on their specialties, huh?¡¯</em>

    Just as Ares expected, they were a very systematic nation.

    However, the questions that greeted them on the form, where they had to write down their personal information, were strange.

    <em>[Are there dishes that you¡¯re good at making? For example: You can cook a tastier ramyeon with a secret recipe.]</em>

    <em>[You are eating samgyeopsal with Minhyuk but there¡¯s just onest piece left. Are you willing to concede and let him have it?]</em>

    ¡°¡­????¡±

    <em>[What is your hobby? Field work, fishing, or looking for good restaurants? Additional: It would be good if you can tell Minhyuk about all the famous restaurants with good food.]</em>

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    Question marks popped up above the heads of Ares and his guild members.

    ¡°Aah. You shouldn¡¯t feel too pressured. You know? Just write about special dishes or a secret to make another dish more yummy. Just write about things like that~¡±

    ¡°My mom¡¯s steamed egg is the best in the world. Can I write that down?¡±

    <em>p, p, p!</em>

    Minhyuk pped in awe while saying, ¡°Excellent! Very excellent!!! Yes! You have to write that down. Make sure to put an asterisk right next to it!¡±

    Then, Minhyuk approached the guild member who imed his mother cooked the best steamed egg.

    ¡°How about being friends?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Ares realized that something had gone wrong. Then, another of Ares¡¯ guild members spoke up and said, ¡°My hobby is fishing.¡±

    ¡°Excellent!!! Truly excellent!!!¡±

    ¡°Ah. I¡¯m a chef in reality.¡±

    ¡°I love you!!!¡±

    As people talked about dishes and hobbies rted to cooking, a very warm atmosphere surrounded them. As they talked, their gazes suddenly turned towards Ares, who felt a great deal of pressure when he saw the gazes focus on him.

    <em>¡®Why am I suddenly nervous about this?¡¯</em>

    Then, Ares hesitantly said, ¡°My mom has a secret recipe for soybean paste stew. It¡¯s really delicious, you can even eat two bowls of rice in one go.¡±

    ¡°¡­Kghk!!¡±

    Minhyuk immediately hugged Ares tightly.

    ¡°Amazing, Ares!!! You¡¯re really amazing!!! Hahahahaha!!! Let¡¯s be friends from now on!!!! Ah, by any chance, do you have your mother¡¯s secret recipe? Can you write that down for me?¡±

    ¡°Ha, haha¡­ Of, of course. Leave it to me!¡±

    Ares realized that something had gone really, <em>really</em> wrong here.

    This was how Ares and his guild joined Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, making the kingdom even stronger.

    ***

    Minhyuk, together with some of the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Kingdom¡¯s executives and troops, immediately set out for Lumae Kingdom. Of course, Prince Votto also apanied them on their journey. The fact that Prince Votto returned as a prisoner of war, defeated in the war that he waged alone, stirred the resentment from many of Lumae Kingdom¡¯s people, who were crying loudly.

    ¡°Prince Votto! How can you bring shame to the Warrior¡¯s Nation?!!!¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty Raldo!!! How did our Warrior¡¯s Nation fall this far?!!!¡±

    ¡°<em>Sob, sob, sob, sob, sob!</em>¡±

    The cries of the people roared loudly in the kingdom. The Lumae Kingdom, the Warrior¡¯s Nation, under the rule of an absolute strong man was a kingdom that could not be ignored in terms of power, despite it being a small nation. Unfortunately, this absolute leader had fallen into a mysterious and unexpected deep sleep.

    But no matter how hard the people cried, they could do nothing to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s King, executives and troops that brought Prince Votto as their prisoner of war.

    Prince Votto, who was tied by a rope and walking ahead, turned to look back at Minhyuk and said, ¡°I hope you won¡¯t forget the promise that you have made.¡±

    The promise between Prince Votto and Minhyuk was something that they had discussed while on the way here and involved the knights and troops that Prince Votto led to war. He had asked Minhyuk to take in his troops. Prince Votto had created his own faction in Lumae Kingdom, who had followed him in this war. Their loyalty to him was of course very high. In return, Prince Votto wanted to repay them by saving them from this predicament.

    Unfortunately, as a citizen of the Warrior¡¯s Nation, the Lumae Kingdom,ing back defeated meant that their life was already forfeit.

    ¡°I know.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded. However, a thought shed in his head, <em>¡®The question here is if I can win their hearts and loyalty.¡¯ </em>Minhyuk did not hope to have as much loyalty as they have for Prince Votto. If they continued to resent and hate him, then they would not be able to work with each other.

    <em>¡®If I win their hearts, then I will be able to raise a strong unit.¡¯</em>

    The knights and troops of Lumae Kingdom could be said to be equivalent to the elite troops of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom in power. Minhyuk continued their march, entering the pce with Prince Votto at the lead. The knights of Lumae Kingdom pointed their swords at Minhyuk and the executives and troops of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, but were forced to stand down.

    How would they dare to point their swords at them when the other party had Prince Votto in their hands? They dare not attack at all.

    Not long after, Minhyuk arrived in front of the door where Raldo was sleeping. In front of the door stood a man, guarding and protecting the ce. This man, Evan, was hailed as Lumae Kingdom¡¯s Guardian. He was an old man with a long white beard hanging on his chin and a light rapier hanging around his waist.

    However, despite the fact that the rapier was a very light weapon, the power of it was something that no one could ignore. Evan was a very skilled swordsman, whose power even exceeded some of the legends. In fact, in Minhyuk¡¯s perspective, Evan could rank among the Supreme NPCs.

    <em>¡®The NPCs¡¯ skills and abilities are far above ours.¡¯</em>

    There was no other choice but for them to acknowledge this fact. It did not matter if Minhyuk was hailed as the strongest person in the way of the sword, these NPCs would still be stronger and mightier. After all, they had held the sword since their birth. And these people wielded their swords to kill and survive. That was the main reason why NPCs, who were at the same level as the yers, were far more skilled than the yers. There were even many cases where an NPC of the same ss could deal with more than three yers by themselves.

    ¡°Prince Votto, in the end, you have led the Lumae Kingdom to its downfall, huh?¡±

    Evan was a long-time loyalist who devoted his entire life to the Lumae Kingdom and the Warrior God Raldo. After King Raldo fell into his strange deep sleep, many of the loyalists have turned away from him at Prince Votto¡¯s behest.

    However, only Evan had always stayed and guarded the room where Raldo slept in. That was why he was aplete loyalist.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s someone that even I covet,¡¯ </em>Minhyuk evaluated.

    Not long after, Prince Votto looked at him with a bitter expression, ¡°Sir Evan. I led the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King here not to bring harm to my royal father, so please don¡¯t dissuade me and tell me that it¡¯s just mere foolishness.¡±

    ¡°I do not understand. How can you say that when you have led your enemies to the ce where His Majesty is resting?¡± Evan said, releasing his overwhelming momentum.

    Evan was the master of the Overlord. Ellie even warned Minhyuk about him, saying, <em>¡®Minhyuk. Evan is a very talented individual. </em><em>Even I</em><em> dare not say that I can deal with him easily. You have to be careful around him.¡¯</em>

    Evan was showing them that his weak appearance did not mean that he was not strong.

    ¡°I personally asked the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King to look at my royal father¡¯s condition.¡±

    Evan scoffed when he heard Votto¡¯s words, ¡°Obviously, nothing would change even if a foreigner looked¡­¡±

    Minhyuk believed that a showdown with Evan was something that was simply useless. It would only be useless whether it was them that got hurt or Evan. So, what Minhyuk did was simple¡­

    ¡°Everyone, put down your weapons and show courtesy.¡±

    ¡­he hid his weapons in his inventory and ordered his men to put down their own. After removing his weapons, Minhyuk said, ¡°We have received great damage from your kingdom and we have to discuss with Raldo about it. How can we do something like that when he¡¯s not awake?¡±

    Evan just shook his head when he heard Minhyuk¡¯s words. Raldo had been sleeping for a very long time. It was obvious that there was no way for him to get better.

    ¡°There¡¯s no method that could awaken him in thisnd.¡±

    ¡°What if it¡¯s a method that does note from thisnd?¡±

    Evan¡¯s eyes shook as Minhyuk pushed one being forward after saying those words.

    ¡°How can this be¡­¡±

    This being was none other than Kimaris, a demon that had a special ability that allowed him to find things and look through memories that have long been forgotten. Evan was also aware of Devil Kimaris¡¯ existence through the records in history. Right now, Kimaris had also put down his weapon and had stayed docile beside Minhyuk. Evan closed his eyes and thought deeply.

    <em>¡®What decision should I make for His Majesty?¡¯</em>

    Evan, who closed his eyes, remained silent and lost in his thoughts for quite a while. Then, he heard a soft and gentle voice in his ears, ¡°I know your worries as a loyal subject.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s voice flowed gently, ¡°I also have a vassal that¡¯s as loyal as you. A very loyal subject that chatted,ughed and cried with me and always stayed by my side whenever I was having a hard time. I think he¡¯s around your age? You don¡¯t have to worry.¡±

    Minhyuk approached the old man as he gently and slowly ced his hand on Evan¡¯s shoulder.

    ¡°I¡¯ll do my best to wake up His Majesty, the man that you have been waiting for a very long time, from his dreams.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Evan knew that there was no lie in those words. The fact that the man in front of him had a loyal subject just like him and the fact that he was a king that did not consider his loyal subjects as someone that was trifling and useless.

    <em>¡®The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom must be an excellent kingdom. I feel like I¡¯m seeing His Majesty Raldo in this man in front of me.¡¯</em>

    The door slowly creaked open as Evan turned his body away. Then¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡­a tremendous amount of killing intent and intimidation burst out from the now-open door.

    <em>[You have seen the Sleeping Overlord!]</em>

    <em>[The Sleeping Overlord¡¯s killing intent has restricted your breathing.]</em>

    <em>[You have an invincible body that can ignore and resist all kinds of abnormal states.]</em>

    <em>[You have resisted an abnormal state.] </em>

    <em>¡®He¡¯s asleep but he¡¯s releasing this much killing intent¡­?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was terribly shocked as the sight behind the doors presented itself to him. Overlord Raldo slept while sitting on his throne and holding his greatsword with both hands. What was shocking here was the fact that the tip of his sword, which was stabbed into the ground, was supporting Raldo¡¯s entire body and not letting it fall to the ground, despite his unconscious state. Even his ck armor shone a light that stood out inside the dreary room.

    <em>Step¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk took a step towards the sleeping Overlord and Warrior God.

 Chapter 524: Inside the Overlordâ€™s Dreams

    Chapter 524: Inside the Overlord¡¯s Dreams

    Ares was well known for leading the Ares Guild, one of the four greatest guilds in Korea. The news of Ares Guild going under themand of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom sent great waves of shock through the entire country. It was not too long ago when Artheon was absorbed by Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and now there was this. The entire country was buzzing, curious at how Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was growing in terms of military power and strength by the day.

    As for Ares? He let out a huge breath as he arrived in Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    ¡°<em>Fwaaaaa</em>.¡±

    Ares recalled the incident yesterday with Guild Master Minhyuk, who finally found out about his mother¡¯s secret soybean paste stew recipe.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s right. It¡¯s only the Food God¡¯s that¡¯s unique, not the entire kingdom. There¡¯s definitely a lot of stepping stones here in Beyond the Heavens Kingdom that can allow me to grow stronger.¡¯</em>

    Beyond the Heavens Kingdom housed plenty of prominent and respectable high rankers. From what he heard, the number of high rankers in Beyond the Heavens Kingdom exceeded the total of the number of high rankers of the four major guilds in the country. Ares was also aware that the yers that had entered and migrated to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had experienced tremendous growth in a short period of time. Ares firmly believed that he would also be able to achieve such an effect. That was why¡­

    <em>¡®I¡¯m very curious about the jobs and positions of the executives and the NPCs of Beyond the Heaven Kingdoms.¡¯</em>

    They were the best rankers and NPCs in the country! Ares was sure that their jobs and posts would give an insight to how they became strong. In fact, he was most curious about the NPCs¡¯ jobs and positions. The NPCs of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were so strong to the point that one would consider them to be out of this world. Ares believed that they were the reason why Beyond the Heavens Kingdom could maintain and be even more powerful, despite their king, Minhyuk, being a little <em>¡®unique¡¯</em>.

    Right now, Minhyuk¡¯s aide, Haze, was standing beside Ares. She had received an order from Minhyuk to inform Ares and his guild members about the affairs of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. While Ares stood beside Haze and listened to her exnations¡­

    ¡°<em>Lla~</em>¡±

    ¡­a man passed by. Ares¡¯ eyes twinkled when he saw the man.

    <em>¡®Locke!!!¡¯</em>

    Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and Legend Guild¡¯s original member, Locke, who was famous for his ss as Jeffrit¡¯s Descendant. Despite his undesirable looks, Locke was an indispensable figure in the kingdom.

    <em>¡®I wonder what Locke¡¯s position is?!¡¯</em>

    Locke was both a great dealer and an extraordinary debuff master. He could even be a healer at times. It was only natural for someone with Locke¡¯s power to hold the position of ¡®Attack Commander¡¯ or ¡®Defense Commander¡¯.

    ¡°Can we follow him?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    After receiving Haze¡¯s approval, Ares quietly followed behind Locke.

    ¡°Ah, it¡¯s time to do today¡¯s mission.¡±

    Ares¡¯ expectations soared after hearing Haze¡¯s words. He was going to witness the mission that Locke always did everyday!

    <em>¡®It¡¯s definitely a mission that makes him stronger!¡¯</em>

    As they walked like that, Ares saw Locke stop in front of arge dog house. What Locke did next was simple¡­

    ¡°<em>Chu, chu, chu~ </em>Our Love, Hope and Happiness! Dear baby, it¡¯s time to have a meal with daddy~¡±

    ¡­he poured food into threerge iron bowls while shouting at the dog house with a gentle and cute expression. Then¡­

    <em>Blink¡ª</em>

    Ares could only blink. He literally blinked as the three-headed Cerberus jumped out of the huge kennel and pounced on their food.

    ¡°My dear cuties, let dad have a touch, just once¡­¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Grrrrrrrrrr¡ª!¡°

    ¡°¡­Alright. Next time then~¡±

    After making sure that there was a next time, Locke crouched down and began to clean up the enormous piles of poop around the kennel.

    ¡°Punks. You definitely poop so much and in a very pretty way too~¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    After Locke cleaned up the shit with a smile on his face, Cerberus jumped up and rushed forward to y with him. Cerberus bit and scratched at Locke.

    ¡°¡­Shouldn¡¯t we help him? Locke is being eaten by Cerberus¡­?¡±

    ¡°Get used to it. It¡¯s an everyday urrence. Also, they¡¯re just ying around.¡±

    ¡°¡­Th, that¡¯s ying around?! Locke¡¯s head is already bleeding after getting hit by Cerberus?! E, even his arm is halfway from being torn off¡­!¡±

    ¡°It happens every time. Don¡¯t worry, he¡¯ll heal himself.¡±

    ¡°Ah. What¡¯s Locke¡¯s position?¡±

    Ares was not curious about Locke feeding the dogs. He was only curious about Locke¡¯s position in the kingdom. Then, Haze looked at Ares weirdly while saying, ¡°Sir Locke is the Cerberus¡¯ Sitter. He holds a very important position in Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    For a moment, Ares¡¯ expression was colored with disbelief.

    ¡°Unbelievable¡­¡± Ares mumbled, realizing that something had gone really, <em>really </em>wrong here.

    ¡°Sir Locke is also one of the att¡­¡±

    But before Haze could even finish her words, intending to inform Area that Locke was also one of the attack captains, Ares had already spotted another guild member. This guild member was none other than Vice Guild Master Genie. Ares immediately ran after her, only to see Genie lift the tail of the cats and look at their anuses.

    ¡°Okay, nothing¡¯s wrong today either~ Stay healthy~ The Luwak coffee is really abundant. Hoho!¡±

    ¡°Ah. One of our Vice Guild Master¡¯s jobs is to take care and manufacture Luwak coffee to fill in the empty position that Ghost Spear Ben had left behind.¡±

    ¡°No way¡­!¡±

    And in another ce¡­

    Ares saw the one that he was most curious about, Elpis!

    <em>¡®That, that¡¯s right! The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s Shield!!!¡¯</em>

    Elpis had earphones stuck on his ear as he sat in front of the fountain in the za and listened to his music.

    <em>Drip, drip, drip, drip¡ª!</em>

    He was even shedding hot tears!

    ¡°Music¡­ music is the only drug His Majesty has allowed¡­!¡±

    As if he was not satisfied with that, he took things a step further by taking off his earphones, switching to speaker mode and dancing to children¡¯s songs.

    In another ce¡­

    ¡°Ah. Conir is in charge of making His Majesty¡¯ ramyeon. This is the most important position in the kingdom.¡±

    ¡°Sage Aruvel is a genius that has produced countless erotic masterpieces. I believe I don¡¯t need to exin about his position any further, right?¡±

    ¡°That guy over there that¡¯s shouting with his hands raised high up is Sir Corr. He¡¯s the one in charge of treating the baldness of the subjects of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. He has a very important position. That person over there is Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s fisher¡­ Ah, Kaistra! That guy over there is an amazing person that has reached the god level in dishwashing¡­¡±

    Then¡­

    <em>Swoooooooooosh¡ª</em>

    A woman swiftly passed by Ares. With tears in his eyes, Ares looked at Mei Wei in shock and admiration.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s right. If it¡¯s Mei Wei¡­! If it¡¯s her then¡­!¡¯</em>

    Mei Wei was the woman hailed as the global official number one ranker! That was right, she had to be normal, right? But then¡­

    ¡°Did His Majesty go to Lumae Kingdom already? Ha¡­ I even got some very delicious bread and banana milk from Aerven Vige this time but¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    Haze exined kindly after seeing Ares¡¯ face get riddled with question marks, ¡°Lady Mei Wei runs errands for His Majesty. I believe people call her ¡®Bread Shuttle¡¯.¡±

    <em>¡®Mei, Mei Wei runs errands and ims to be a Bread Shuttle¡­?¡¯</em>

    At this point, Ares realized, <em>¡®No one¡¯s normal in this ce!!!¡¯</em>

    Then, Haze smiled bitterly and said, ¡°I believe you¡¯ll experience quite a bit of confusion during your first few days here. His Majesty¡¯s kingdom is a little special, right? But please don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m one of the few normal people here.¡±

    Ares felt like he was about to cry tears of joy when he heard that. That was right. Not all of them should be abnormal, right? At first nce, Haze looked normal. But then, as if remembering something, she said, ¡°Ah. Come to think of it, Ares Guild has the Reos Fruit as your special product, right? You should give all rights and authority over that product to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. At the very least, I can make the profits from it increase by around forty times.¡±

    ¡°Forty times¡­?¡±

    Reos Fruit was a fruit that could increase the body¡¯s cold attribute resistance and bring a bit of heat in it upon consumption. The heat that the fruit could bring about was pleasant and warm, so plenty of people enjoy this delicacy.

    ¡°Since it¡¯s a fruit bestowed by the Sun God, it could create a pleasant warmth in the body. If we say that they will receive the Sun God¡¯s protection the moment they eat this fruit, then this will definitely sell fast with the nobles. Ohohohoho!¡±

    <em>¡®Th, that¡¯s a scam¡­!¡¯</em>

    The Legendary Scammer, Haze, was not normal either.

    <em>¡®I need to stay alert and watch my actions closely!¡¯</em>

    Ares promised himself that he would never be an abnormal person! However, what he did not know was that he would soon be ¡®Minhyuk-ified¡¯ too.

    ***

    Raldo had plenty of shocking achievements, to the point that the people called him the Warrior God Raldo, or even Overlord Raldo. There were even stories being passed down about how Warrior God Raldo led 5,000 troops and forced back the 20,000 strong troops of Collodis Empire in the previous war. Such an absurd thing was only made possible because of his existence. The fact that Warrior God Raldo had used the Warrior God¡¯s special powers was also something that was well-known to the continent.

    But, despite his countless shocking achievements in the past, he was stricken with this strange, unexinable deep sleep.

    <em>Step¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk looked around the ce where Overlord Raldo was sleeping and asked, ¡°Has Raldo stayed like this since he fell asleep?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Evan, who had decided to cooperate with them, nodded in answer. ¡°We haven¡¯t been able to find any sort of hint so far. Also, a powerful force would stop us whenever we tried to touch His Majesty¡¯s body.¡±

    After hearing Evan¡¯s words, Minhyuk slowly approached Raldo while carefully reaching out his hand to touch Raldo¡¯s hand.

    <em>[An unknown power is currently residing in Overlord Raldo¡¯s body.]</em>

    <em>[You cannot get close to Overlord Raldo!]</em>

    To urately find the issue in one¡¯s body, it was only right to make contact with it. But even that was made impossible by this unknown power.

    ¡°And there were no signs of attack?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Of course.¡±

    Overlord Raldo being attacked? That waspletely preposterous. As Minhyuk rubbed his chin in thought, Prince Votto and the more than 1,000 surviving knights and troops that came along looked at him with nervous looks on their faces. Raldo was like the sky and the heavens to them. Although they had chosen Prince Votto, they would definitely not make such a foolish choice if Raldo had been awake.

    <em>¡®Please. Please awaken His Majesty Raldo.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Please do not leave His Majesty Raldo alone in his sleep anymore¡­¡¯</em>

    They even went so far as to plead and ask their enemy, Minhyuk of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, to help them. Minhyuk knew better than anyone else that he would be able to gain a huge reward if he could wake up Raldo right here and now.

    ¡°Kimaris.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty,¡± Kimaris answered politely as he bowed and stood behind Minhyuk. Since he had decided to stay with Minhyuk, he would be his loyal vassal.

    ¡°Do you think I will be able to find something in his dreams?¡±

    ¡°We can find a hint as long as there¡¯s something that he wants to find. However, there¡¯s something that you have to keep in mind.¡±

    Minhyuk looked back at Kimaris when he heard him emphasize this point.

    ¡°My skill ¡®Dreams of Truth¡¯ can allow someone awake to fall into a deep sleep and find the things that they have forgotten in their sleep. I can also allow His Majesty to be the one to dream and get a glimpse of that ce in his stead.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Minhyuk nodded. He knew about the skill ¡®Dreams of Truth¡¯ too.

    ¡°I believe we should use thetter method and have Your Majesty be the one to dream instead. However, there¡¯s a risk to this. If Your Majesty fails to find anything in the dream, then you will be trapped inside it until you die. Also, the stronger the person you will dream for and the longer you stay in the dream, the more sin you will bear.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Evan, Prince Votto and the prisoners of wars, the knights and soldiers of Lumae Kingdom, that apanied them here were shocked. Actually, everyone present at the scene was shocked by Kimaris¡¯ words.

    <em>¡®The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King will die¡­?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®The King himself has to risk his own life and death for this?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®How can this be¡­¡¯</em>

    Even if he had the power toe back to life again, Minhyuk was still a king. The burden that a king himself had to carry was too much. Evan had a bitter look on his face as he said, ¡°Beyond the Heavens King, I will not forget the risk that you¡¯re bearing for us.¡±

    However, even though he believed that there was no more hope, Evan still decided to not forget the efforts of Minhyuk to try and wake up Raldo. The same was true for the others. A king risking his life to save another king was a ridiculous notion. In the end, everyone believed that he would turn around. Before they came here, Minhyuk had told them to leave any important baggage behind.

    ¡°Minhyuk¡­¡±

    Even so, Khan, who came with him, still expressed his concern. First, he did not know how much penalty Minhyuk would receive once it happened. And second, what if Raldo did not have anything that he wanted to find?

    <em>¡®He doesn¡¯t need to receive a penalty for this.¡¯</em>

    After pondering for a moment, Minhyuk turned to Evan with a kind smile on his face.

    ¡°It¡¯s alright.¡±

    Evan looked confused when he saw Minhyuk¡¯s kind smile. Minhyuk looked back and said, ¡°Evan and the rest of these people here are waiting for you to wake up.¡±

    Then, Minhyuk looked at the prisoners of war that he brought along, who were standing beyond the door.

    ¡°You also have subjects standing beyond that door crying for you. Even though I¡¯m the king of an enemy kingdom, I know all too well how they feel. Even if I die, I¡¯m still an immortal. Hence, I¡¯ll challenge it for you.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Evan, the prisoners of war, and even the subjects that would hear about this storyter on, were all in awe and admiration of Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®You¡¯re the king of another nation but you can understand the hearts of the subjects of another kingdom?!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®You can understand what the people feel even though we are from another kingdom.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King is a true and genuine person. He¡¯s¡­ as great and amazing as His Majesty Raldo, isn¡¯t he?¡¯</em>

    <em>[Your favor with Evan has reached the highest level.]</em>

    <em>[The hearts of the prisoners of war are shaking.]</em>

    <em>[The eyes that the prisoners of war are looking at you with is changing. They are now viewing you as a likable person.]</em>

    As for Minhyuk? His words were actually only half true. In any case, Minhyuk was bound to challenge this. If he could make use of the situation to win the hearts of the people here during this challenge, then it was just like hitting two birds with one stone. This just went to show how smart of a sovereign Minhyuk was. Besides, even if he died, he would still be able to win the hearts of the prisoners-of-war.

    ¡°I will now use Dreams of Truth,¡± Kimaris said as he extended each of his arms to Raldo and Minhyuk respectively. Then, a huge amount of demonic energy passed through Raldo before getting sucked into Minhyuk¡¯s body. After that¡­

    ¡°Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King, I, Lumae Kingdom¡¯s Guardian Evan, will never forget your efforts!¡±

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    Evan ced his rapier on the ground as he knelt down on one knee to show courtesy. Even the prisoners of wars knelt down all at once. However, Minhyuk was not able to witness any of this. His eyes looked vacant as his consciousness got sucked into a pitch-ck darkness.

    <em>[You are now dreaming on behalf of Raldo.]</em>

    Then, a voice rang from somewhere.

    ¡°I killed my father and even coveted his secret scroll.¡±

 Chapter 525: Inside the Overlordâ€™s Dreams

    Chapter 525: Inside the Overlord¡¯s Dreams

    Notifications swarmed Minhyuk¡¯s head the moment he tried to ess Raldo¡¯s dream.

    <em>[You are now peeking at Raldo¡¯s dreams. By doing so, you will now follow what he wants to find.]</em>

    <em>[You can now view and feel part of Raldo¡¯s life and emotions.]</em>

    <em>[With ¡®Dreams of Truth¡¯, you will receive a penalty if Raldo does not have anything that he wants to find. The penalty will depend on your opponent¡¯s stats, skills and achievements.]</em>

    <em>[Raldo is the one hailed as the Warrior God! He has left countless achievements in his wake!]</em>

    <em>[If Raldo does not have anything that he wants to find, you will be fined with death, a 2% deduction in all of your stats, as well as no game ess for 3 days.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The penalty was so damning that Minhyuk could not help but groan. The worst part here was that he was not able to know what penalty he would get unless he tried to enter the dream.

    <em>¡®Please¡­¡¯ </em>Minhyuk desperately hoped that there was something that Raldo wanted to find. Then, a man¡¯s voice rang from within the pitch-ck darkness. The voice was a low baritone and was very alluring.

    ¡°I killed my father and coveted his secret scroll.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk recognized the owner of the voice to be Raldo, the Overlord. But, he coveted his father¡¯s secret scrolls and even killed him? The words brought great shock to Minhyuk. This was because Raldo was known to be an extremely benevolent king, to the point that he was hailed as a ¡®Sacred Monarch¡¯.

    One of the main reasons why the Warrior¡¯s Nation was able to get strong was because of the people¡¯s faith. This was because Raldo graciously embraced his people and ruled with great benevolence.

    But that very same Raldo killed his own father? It was something that was not recorded in the annals of history.

    <em>¡®Did he want the throne?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk shook his head. It was too early for him to make a decision. Not long after, the darkness made way to show the first scene. A bulky middle-aged man and a young boy, both wearing shabby clothes, were panting as they stood at the peak of a steep mountain. From what it looked like, the two of them climbed the mountain. The young boy had the word ¡®Raldo¡¯ above his head.

    ¡°Father! I¡¯m definitely going to be a great knight, just like you!¡±

    ¡°Hohoho. Raldo, what are you talking about? What do you mean by that? Bing a great knight? You shouldn¡¯t be a knight.¡±

    ¡°Eeeeeeeeh?¡±

    Raldo¡¯s father smiled kindly as he ced hisrge hand on the head of the confused boy.

    ¡°Raldo, you must be the king of thisnd. And this father of yours will make sure that it will happen.¡±

    Along with that, a notification rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[Ravanberg, the fifteenth king of Lumae Kingdom, was born between a mother of lowly birth and the king. Despite being a part of the royal family, he was pushed out by the other princes from the sessor battle and had been living in the outskirts of Lumae Kingdom, while raising his son, Raldo, by himself.]</em>

    The notification was exining the scene that was currently being disyed in front of Minhyuk.

    <em>[Ravanberg was a good father to Raldo. Raldo, a person with countless dreams, was a son that respected and looked up to his father.]</em>

    The scene changed, showing Ravanberg carrying Raldo on his shoulders, the two smiling happily while descending the mountains. Then¡­

    <em>Swoosh¡ª</em>

    The two people turned into smoke and disappeared in the air.

    <em>[Ravanberg¡¯s father, the king, was a tyrant. He imposed high taxes and unfair policies on his people, just so he could feed the nobles and make sure that they lived an extravagant life. He even went so far as to wage wars against other nations, all the while using and exploiting his impoverished subjects. The other princes greatly resemble their father, both in their looks and the way they handled matters. Many cried as the death toll increased in the kingdom. In the end, rebels appeared and began to move.]</em>

    The scene changed and showed a now twelve-year-old Raldo running as fast as he could in a wide field. Finally, he arrived on the battlefield where Ravanberg was desperately fighting. There were only around 20,000 rebel troops, while the kingdom troops had around 300,000 men. No matter who looked at it, the rebel troops were inferior in terms of numbers. However, Ravanberg just raised his sword high up in the sky and shouted, ¡°Get rid of the rotten king! Save the nation!!!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    The rebels¡¯ shouts shook the grounds and pierced the skies as a powerful force appeared and surrounded Ravanberg¡¯s sword.

    ¡°It¡¯s, it¡¯s the Overlord!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Overlord Raldo!!!¡±

    <em>¡®Overlord?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk immediately focused. He believed that the power of the Overlord¡¯s secret scroll should have definitely been beyond this world. Ravanberg looked at the rushing enemy troops, his sword covered with zing ck mes. And the moment he brandished his sword¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡­an explosion bloomed, shaking the ground and devouring all of the enemies that rushed to him. Then, something surprising happened. The explosion created by the ck mes created a huge wave that devoured 30,000 of the enemy troops, turning them into ashes and extinguishing them in one go.

    <em>¡®Crazy¡­?!¡¯</em>

    Thirty thousand troops died in an instant. And the emotions of the young boy, Raldo, who was watching everything from a distance¡­

    <em>¡®Father¡­¡¯</em>

    ¡­flowed into Minhyuk. Raldo felt both respect and immense love for his father. As a young boy of twelve years, the fact that he ran to the battlefield in case his father was suddenly put in danger proved how much Raldo cared for and loved his father. The scene scattered into thin air, reced by a new one. This time, Ravanberg was wearing a bright and colorful crown while looking at the people of Lumae Kingdom below him.

    ¡°His Majesty Raldo! Long Live!!!¡±

    ¡°May you live for a thousand years, Your Majesty Raldo!!!¡±

    The people heaped praises at Ravanberg, shouting with all their might. Ravanberg just smiled as he ced the crown on his head on his son, Raldo. Raldo rubbed his nose and smiled shyly at his father. The scene stopped as Raldoughed happily while the people praised them.

    <em>[Lumae Kingdom finally regained its peace and stability. Ravanberg was a benevolent monarch who uplifted the lives and healed the wounds of his impoverished subjects. Because of that, the Lumae Kingdom grew stronger by the day. Their territory might be small, but their growth was nothing short of amazing. Other empires and kingdoms tried to aim for them and knock them down a peg but none of them won the war against Lumae Kingdom. Even Raldo¡¯s growth was tremendous.]</em>

    Ravanberg, who put the nation back on the right path, and his son Raldo.

    <em>[At the young age of sixteen, Raldo was able to surpass and reach the stage that Ravanberg had reached when he was twenty nine. By the age of twenty, no one in the kingdom could defeat Raldo. Just like his father Ravanberg, Raldo served as Lumae Kingdom¡¯s pir and worked as a benevolent ruler. However, when Ravanberg reached his fifties, he began to change.]</em>

    The scene that stopped earlier moved once again. This time, Raldo, now a young man, was rushing somewhere. However, a shockingly ridiculous scene greeted him the moment he opened the door. Ravanberg, who was sitting on his throne, looked at his bloodstained hands in disbelief, surrounded by the dead bodies of his loyal subjects that cared for him.

    ¡°Your Majesty¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­Raldo.¡±

    Minhyuk felt Raldo¡¯s feelings at this moment. He was very confused and conflicted. The sacred and benevolent monarch, the kind King Ravanberg had killed his loyal subjects with his own hands. Raldo left without looking back at his father. But as time went by, more and more people died in the hands of Ravanberg.

    One day¡­

    ¡°This¡­¡±

    Raldo was both shocked and in disbelief after seeing the knights that his father loved and cared for, dead in the garden under his balcony. Raldo rushed to meet with his father.

    ¡°My royal father, in the end, you have also been possessed by the God of Death!!!¡±

    ¡°Raldo¡­¡±

    Ravanberg was sleeping soundly despite the blood covering his hands. However, he was looking at Raldo sadly. Raldo had heard about the God of Death. Ravanberg¡¯s mother knew that he was bound to be abandoned even before he was born. So, his mother sold her soul to give Ravanberg the power of the God of Death. The power of the ¡®God of Death¡¯ was none other than the Overlord¡¯s Power. And the God of Death, one of the absolute gods, was known for his viciousness and his penchant for traps.

    ¡°Raldo¡­ I¡­ I¡­¡±

    ¡°Father, I hate you!!!¡±

    Raldo left the Royal Family. As time went by, rumors about Ravenberg going crazy ran rampant in the kingdom. In the end, the vassals loyal to the Royal Family came to Raldo and said, ¡°His Majesty Ravanberg is a tyrant. We need you, Prince Raldo. Please correct the Lumae Kingdom¡¯s straying path!¡±

    ¡°Prince Raldo. It''s time for you to take the throne.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t do that. I¡¯m sorry,¡± Raldo refused.

    The ones that came to find Raldo were the ones that were there since Ravanberg''s rule came to be. However, even these people were saying that Ravanberg had be tyrannical and crazy. Nevertheless, Raldo still refused. He had sweet and loving memories with his father and Raldo hoped that he would return to how he was in the past. But then, the next day, all of the vassals that came to find him turned into cold corpses. The people¡¯s resentment reached an all time high and Raldo¡¯s thoughts finally changed.

    <em>¡®How can he kill them¡­? Did the God of Death make him kill them?! Those are meaningless deaths!!!¡¯</em>

    Ravanberg no longer used the Overlord¡¯s Power, but the other empires and kingdoms were still afraid of his power and dared not attack the kingdom. That was how powerful Ravanberg was. However, Raldo already possessed power that far surpassed his father.

    The scene changed.

    Raldo, who was wearing a mask, walked ever so slowly to Ravenberg¡¯s bedroom. Raldo looked at his slumbering father, holding the sword that Ravenberg held before.

    <em>¡®Father, the king must die!¡¯</em>

    Raldo stabbed the sword in Ravenberg¡¯s abdomen without any hesitation.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    No sound or scream escaped from Ravanberg¡¯s mouth. All he did was slowly open his eyes, his body trembling as he called softly, ¡°Raldo.¡±

    Ravanberg raised a trembling hand. He held Raldo¡¯s cheeks and rubbed it affectionately while smiling gently at his son.

    ¡°Ah¡­¡±

    Raldo could not understand why his father, Ravanberg, could still show that gentle and fatherly smile at him, despite him stabbing him with his own sword. When Ravanberg¡¯s body slumped down, a powerful force erupted from his body, turning into a bloody current that got sucked into Raldo¡¯s body.

    <em>Swoooooooosh¡ª</em>

    <em>¡®The, the Overlord¡¯s Power?¡¯</em>

    Only when the Overlord¡¯s Power entered his body did he finally realize that he killed Ravanberg, his own father. Raldo ran, ran as far as he could, as if he was running away from this truth. A few dayster, Raldo ascended to the throne.

    <em>¡®I will protect this nation.¡¯</em>

    Despite ascending to the throne, Raldo could not bring a smile to his face. Minhyuk, who was watching everything, felt all of Raldo¡¯s raw emotions. The pain, regret, and despair brought about by the fact that he killed his own beloved father. To forget his father, Raldo strived to be a benevolent and holy monarch, and turned Lumae Kingdom into a powerful nation. He also never used the Overlord¡¯s Power.

    However, once he reached his fifties, the same timeframe when his father turned crazy, a strange voice began to ring in his head.

    <em>¡®Am I also going to be a tyrant, just like my father?¡¯</em>

    Raldo could only remember his father as a mad tyrant.

    <em>¡®If I can only find that secret scroll that grandma had talked about before¡­¡¯</em>

    If he could, then he would be able to escape the path that would turn him into a mad tyrant. But no matter how hard he tried, Raldo could not remember. After all, he was only around three or four years old when he heard about the location where it was hidden. Raldo spent the next few years searching for the location of the secret scroll madly.

    s, it was to no avail. It was said that the secret scroll could lift the curse that the ¡®God of Death¡¯ had cursed them with. In the end, all Raldo could do was sit on his throne and stab the ground with his greatsword.

    ¡°I will never be like you.¡±

    Raldo hated his father down to his very core. He never wanted to be a tyrant like him. He chose to put himself in a deep sleep that no one knew when he would wake up from.

    <em>¡®Raldo chose to fall into this deep sleep on his own¡­¡¯</em>

    Raldo¡¯s final emotion that got transmitted to Minhyuk was hatred. The hatred for a crazy tyrant. At that moment, Minhyuk witnessed how a person that someone cherished, respected and loved more than anybody else, had turned into an object of loathing and hatred. Then, the effect of Dreams of Truth, the effect that Minhyuk had been waiting for, was triggered.

    <em>[Raldo¡¯s childhood memories contain the location of the Secret Scroll.]</em>

    Then, the voice of an olddy rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    ¡°It¡¯s hidden under the boulder that looks like two heads in Mount Emerald. Ravanberg, when you be the kingter, make sure to use that Secret Scroll and free yourself from this curse.¡±

    That was the location where the secret scroll was hidden, the ce that Raldo had heard about, when he was a child while staying by Ravanberg¡¯s side.

    <em>¡®Found you.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes sparkled brightly at the information. However, he noticed something strange.

    <em>¡®Raldo was young when he heard it so it makes sense that he would have a hard time remembering it. But Ravanberg was not. He should definitely remember where the secret scroll is hidden.¡¯</em>

    No, it was not just that. Minhyuk was sure that Ravanberg¡¯s mother had told this fact to him several times so there was no way for Ravanberg to forget about this. So, why did Ravanberg not use the secret scroll? Then, another set of notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The Dreams of Truth¡¯s special ability has been triggered.]</em>

    <em>[You can view Ravanberg¡¯s past to find the truth.]</em>

    <em>[Would you like to view it?]</em>

    The moment Minhyuk nodded, the scene changed once again. But this time, it was from Ravanberg¡¯s point of view.

    ***

    Lumae Kingdom¡¯s Guardian Evan as well as the executives and troops of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom looked at Minhyuk worriedly. He had been asleep for quite a long time and there were no movements at all.

    ¡°Why is he still sleeping? A long time has already passed, hasn¡¯t it???¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s because His Majesty has started to look for another truth.¡±

    ¡°Another truth?¡±

    ¡°I actually don¡¯t know about it either.¡±

    Everyone became frustrated when they heard Kimaris¡¯ words. All of a sudden, Minhyuk, who was still sleeping, began to cry.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    All of them were shocked. They immediately turned their attention to Minhyuk as his mouth started to open slowly, ¡°Ravanberg is not crazy¡­ he did it so¡­ he could save¡­ Raldo¡­¡±

 Chapter 526: Inside the Overlordâ€™s Dreams

    Chapter 526: Inside the Overlord¡¯s Dreams

    Minhyuk, who chose to peek at the truth, was now back to the beginning of the memories that he had witnessed earlier. This time, it was not from Raldo¡¯s point of view, but Ravenberg¡¯s. There was a high chance that he would also be able to feel what Ravenberg felt before.

    The scene immediately changed into that of Ravenberg¡¯s point of view. It was during the first time Ravenberg killed his loyal subordinates. One of his loyal subordinates said, ¡°Your Majesty! Prince Raldo¡¯s growth is too frightening! At this rate, Prince Raldo will threaten you and your throne!¡±

    ¡°We have to make the first move on Prince Raldo! There are even rumors that Prince Raldo is aiming for Your Majesty¡¯s position. Please quickly convict the prince of treason and protect your throne!¡±

    Then, the exnations rang.

    <em>[The God of Death whispered about ughtering his men in Ravanberg¡¯s ears. However, Ravanberg¡¯s willpower and mental strength was so great that even the God of Death was helpless against it.]</em>

    Minhyuk was very surprised to hear the notifications.

    <em>¡®His willpower and mental strength is strong enough to make the God of Death helpless?¡¯</em>

    Ravanberg¡¯s subordinates kept on urging him.

    ¡°Your Majesty! Please quickly condemn and convict Prince Raldo!!!¡±

    ¡°You have to kill him so you can live, Your Majesty!!!¡±

    ¡°Shut up!!! No one can ever dare touch a single hair on my son¡¯s body!!!¡±

    When his subordinates pushed him to kill his own son, Ravanberg, who was fighting against the God of Death with his willpower and mental strength, ended up sumbing to the whispers in his ears and ughtering his subordinates.

    Ever since then, he continued to hear the voices of his subordinates urging him to kill Raldo, making his blood boil and forcing him to open the restrictions that he ced upon himself. One day, he even overheard that his knights nned to raid Raldo in his room and kill him without his consent. When he learned of this, Ravanberg immediately ran and fought against them. But that was not all. He killed everyone that plotted and threatened to kill Raldo.

    <em>I will kill everyone that threatens my son¡¯s life and protect him from them.</em>

    It was not too long before people started to call him a tyrant. However, even if that was not the truth, Ravanberg could not bring himself to tell Raldo. He could not tell his son that he killed those people because they were trying to kill him, just because he posed a threat to his own father. Ravanberg knew that this would bring great pains to his son. That was why he decided to carry all of the baggage himself.

    Ravanberg was also aware that his vassals had visited Raldo, who left the kingdom, and told his son to kill him. However, when Raldo refused them, it came to Ravanberg¡¯s attention that these very same vassals decided to just kill Raldo instead, since they could not convince him otherwise. Ravanberg also killed them with his sword.

    The night before Ravanberg died, he had been told that the rebels had gathered under Raldo¡¯smand. Knowing that his son woulde to him, Ravanberg stood by his window and waited. He watched as his son sneaked into the garden to enter his bedroom.

    ¡°Son, remember me as a tyrant. Don¡¯t miss me, instead, hate me and my very existence and live as a true and genuine king,¡± then, Ravanbergid in his bed, pretending to sleep as he whispered the words, ¡°I love you, my son.¡±

    Ravanberg did not even budge when he heard his son lift his sword.

    <em>¡®Raldo. I have to die so you can live.¡¯</em>

    Then, Raldo¡¯s sword stabbed into Ravanberg¡¯s abdomen.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    At that moment, relief washed over Ravanberg. With his death, Raldo¡¯s life would not be threatened anymore.

    <em>This kingdom will be even stronger and greater after my death.</em>

    However, there was onest thing that Ravanberg wanted to tell his son. The secret scroll. Ravanberg knew that the curse of the God of Death would be passed down to his son upon his death. That was why he did not use it. He wanted to leave it for Raldo¡¯s use. Ravanberg reached out a trembling hand and rubbed Raldo¡¯s cheeks as he tried to convey his words.

    ¡°Raldo¡­¡±

    s, he could not finish his words. His breath did notst that long. With that, the entire scene disintegrated and turned into dust.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was left speechless.

    <em>Ravanberg is not a tyrant.</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s emotions were agitated.

    Ravanberg was the unfortunate king that chose to die at the hands of his own son. The king chose not to use the secret scroll until the very end, so his son could be freed from the curse, which would be passed on to his son, that gued him all his life. He was a supreme king but he chose to be an ordinary father, choosing a path that would allow his son to live.

    At the same time, the pain and emotions that Ravanberg felt swept through Minhyuk¡¯s entire being. The emotions made Minhyuk mumble unconsciously, ¡°Ravanberg is not crazy¡­ he did it so¡­ he could save¡­ Raldo¡­¡±

    Then, the notifications rang.

    <em>[You will now awaken from the Dreams of Truth.]</em>

    ***

    The crying Minhyuk opened his eyes just when Evan and the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s delegation approached him out of worry.

    ¡°Hoo,¡± Minhyuk breathed out, wiping the tears in his eyes before looking at the sleeping Raldo. Everything that Ravanberg wished for had already been achieved. Raldo remembered his father, the figure that he respected and loved in the past, as a mad tyrant and loathed him down to his core.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Evan asked, his question both an inquiry to Minhyuk¡¯s well-being and the answer that they wanted to find.

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m fine. I believe I have found a way,¡± Minhyuk said. Then, he turned to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s troops and gave them his order, ¡°Go to Mount Emerald and dig under the rock that looks like two heads. There is a book there. Go and fetch it for me.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!!!¡±

    The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s executives immediately moved ording to his orders. They did not take long since Mount Emerald was in Lumae Kingdom.

    Khan, who came to Mount Emerald with the troops, stood in front of Minhyuk and handed him a decrepit box. Minhyuk slowly opened the box to see an equally decrepit secret scroll inside. A notification rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears the moment he took out the secret scroll.

    <em>[You have acquired the Secret Scroll of Liberation.]</em>

    He immediately checked the information of the item in his hands.

    <em>(<strong>Secret Scroll of Liberation</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Material Rank</strong>: God</em>

    <em><strong>Special Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?You can be liberated from any God¡¯s Curse upon usage. </em>

    <em>?You have to face great risks if the curse that you received is from a contract with a God.</em>

    There were two cases where one would receive a God¡¯s Curse. One, the person was cursed because of a God¡¯s Wrath. Or two, the person was cursed because they signed a contract with a God, hence they were shackled with the curse for a very long time to bind them to that God. ording to the secret scroll, thetter would be apanied by great risks. It was only natural.

    <em>¡®You prayed to get God¡¯s power because you wanted to obtain it but you don¡¯t want to pay the price? It¡¯s ridiculous.¡¯</em>

    That was why one had to experience great risks to remove these shackles that bound them.

    <em>¡®The biggest problem here is that we still don¡¯t know what the risks and dangers are yet.¡¯</em>

    Just as the thought shed in Minhyuk¡¯s head, another notification rang in his ears.

    <em>[You havepleted the <strong>Hidden Quest</strong>: Sleeping Warrior God Raldo.]</em>

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[<strong>Linked Quest</strong>: Warrior God¡¯s Curse]</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: SSS</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: The One that found out the reason why Raldo is asleep.</em>

    <em><strong>Rewards</strong>: Overlord¡¯s Technique</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty for Failure</strong>: The Warrior God will go berserk.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: To escape going berserk because of the God of Death, Raldo, the king of Lumae Kingdom, decided to enter a deep sleep. Free him from his curse and help him awaken.</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    There was only one reason why Minhyuk was shocked after seeing the linked quest.

    <em>¡®Did it say Overlord¡¯s Technique?!¡¯</em>

    Inside the dream, Minhyuk clearly saw the power of the Overlord¡¯s Technique. It was apletely broken attack skill that could wipe out almost 30,000 troops in one fell swoop. To think the quest said that he could acquire such a skill?

    However, it was apanied by an equally shocking penalty upon failure, the Warrior God going berserk. Of course, there was a high chance that the troops that Minhyuk brought with him could stop the berserk Warrior God. However, that meant that they had to kill him the moment he went on a rampage. If that happened, it was likely that Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and Minhyuk would be subjected to various factors and variables that would be detrimental to them and their growth.

    <em>¡®I also don¡¯t know about the Secret Scroll of Liberation¡¯s risk.¡¯</em>

    Another problem was the fact that he did not know about the risks stated in the description of the Secret Scroll of Liberation. Minhyuk would be able to gain a lot of things once he overcame everything and freed the Warrior God from his God¡¯s Curse. Even so, Minhyuk could not hastily make a decision.

    Seeing the unusual look on Minhyuk¡¯s face, Evan said, ¡°Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King, we will not resent you, whatever may happen.¡±

    ¡°¡­I¡¯d appreciate it if you really do think that way,¡± Minhyuk said, smiling softly after hearing Evan¡¯s words.

    Even the people of Lumae Kingdom that were present here seemed to sympathize with Evan¡¯s words. After all, they knew that Minhyuk was not trying to wake Raldo up for his own sake. It was all thanks to Evan and these people that Minhyuk was able to make a decision.

    ¡°I will use the Secret Scroll of Liberation. However, there are great risks involved in using this.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re unaware of the dangers involved in using the scroll?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Minhyuk nodded. Evan and the members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom immediately went on alert as Minhyuk slowly stepped towards Raldo.

    <em>[Would you like to use the Secret Scroll of Liberation on Raldo?]</em>

    Minhyuk nodded in answer to the Secret Scroll of Liberation¡¯s question.

    ¡°Use it.¡±

    Then, a bright light burst forth from the Secret Scroll of Liberation. The book then fluttered until the bright light engulfed the area before getting sucked into Raldo¡¯s body. And Raldo, who had been sleeping with his head bowed down, suddenly lifted his head and looked straight ahead.

    <em>Blink¡ª</em>

    The white of his eyes were gone, covered by pitch ck darkness.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Then, a ck stream surged out of Raldo¡¯s body.

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡± Minhyuk uttered, thinking that the worst ¡®risk¡¯ was about to befall them. The worst case scenario was them fighting against Warrior God Raldo.

    Then, the notifications rang.

    <em>[Cursed Overlord Raldo has awakened!]</em>

    <em>[With the use of the Secret Scroll of Liberation, the curse of the God of Death has taken control over Raldo.]</em>

    <em>[You will only be able to free him from his curse if you can make Raldo give in by himself.]</em>

    <em>[The only one that can make Raldo give in is the one that used the secret scroll.]</em>

    Immediately after the notifications, everyone inside the room got sucked away.

    ¡°Keuaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Heoook?¡±

    Even Evan, the Overlord¡¯s teacher, failed to resist the power and got sucked away.

    ¡°M, Minhyuk!!!¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty!!!¡±

    ¡°Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King!!!¡±

    Everyone desperately called for Minhyuk after being trapped outside of a transparent and sturdy wall. Meanwhile, cold sweat dripped down Minhyuk¡¯s forehead as he looked at the situation he was in.

    Then, another notification rang in his ears.

    <em>[If you can subdue Raldo, you will be able to get half of the Overlord¡¯s Technique and Raldo will get the other half.]</em>

    ***

    Team Leader Park Minggyu and Employee Lee Minhwa were both watching the confrontation between Minhyuk and the Warrior God Raldo inside the Special yers Management Team. Both of them had sweat in their hands.

    ¡°Team Leader, why will they be able to share the Overlord¡¯s Technique?¡±

    ¡°The logic here is simple. Overlord¡¯s Technique is a power that can only be used if you pray for God¡¯s power. If you divide the power in half, they would be able to use the Overlord¡¯s Technique without the penalty. Of course, the power of the Overlord¡¯s Technique would be weaker but the penalty would be gone, so it¡¯s a win-win.¡±

    ¡°But even just half of the Overlord¡¯s Technique can disy a tremendous power, right?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. It is still a stronger power than any other skill in a yer¡¯s repertoire.¡±

    Park Minggyu gulped dryly, an awkward smile painted on his lips. He grabbed a bottle of water, drank a sip to moisten his throat and continued, ¡°However, Minhyuk here might gain something far greater than the Overlord¡¯s Technique.¡±

    ¡°Something greater?¡± Lee Minhwa asked. She could not understand what Minggyu meant. Minhyuk would be able to gain a power that was far greater than the Overlord¡¯s Technique?

    Team Leader Park looked at Raldo on the monitor and said, ¡°What do you think will happen with Raldo, who will now be able to use the Overlord¡¯s Technique, even though it only has half of the power?¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Lee Minhwa¡¯s eyes widened. When she thought about it, Raldo had inherited the Overlord¡¯s power but he had never ever used it. Then, it only meant one thing.

    ¡°Raldo will be an Absolute Supreme NPC?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. And¡­¡±

    Lee Minhwa perked her ears up and listened intently to Park Minggyu¡¯s next words.

    ¡°¡­he might just be another of yer Minhyuk¡¯s friends.¡±

 Chapter 527: Gaining an Uncle

    Chapter 527: Gaining an Uncle

    Among the country¡¯s Athenae rankers, there were three women that could p any celebrities on their faces with their beauties. One was Genie, Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s Vice Guild Master, a woman that looked like a gentle and lovable puppy, but had a hot personality that could sear anyone with the curses that she could spit out.

    Another was the assassin Lucia, a woman that showcased her body with clothes that fit perfectly, shaking the hearts of men with her graceful and lithe movements, akin to that of a cat.

    Finally, there was the magic swordsman Alicia, a woman that had a body that was in perfectplement with her innocent face. All three of them happened to be acquaintances of the Food God. Because of this, many men in Korea had turned to calling the Food God a thief that must have saved a country in his previous life or a beauty viin.

    Meanwhile, there was a woman that could stand shoulder to shoulder with these three women, but had always gotten less of the spotlight. People did not think of her as a beauty that was on par with the trio, since her face had always been covered by her dark and gloomy hairstyle.

    But anyone that had seen her face up close would always say¡­

    <em>¡®You¡¯re a beauty that will not lose against Genie, Lucia and Alicia.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I feel like my breath stopped for a moment when I saw you up close.¡¯</em>

    This woman was none other than Ascar, the Ghost of the Battlefield. She, a yer that used two katanas, was also one of the well-known dealers, in Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. The people of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had always raised their thumbs at her brilliant swordsmanship and relentless assaults. Ascar¡¯s real name was Im Da-Sol.

    And right now, she was riding on an elevator on the way to her room. Im Da-Sol had been living in and moving around several hotels in the country. Despite her beauty, her silver hair styled in a bob-cut gave off a gloomy and dreary aura to her body.

    Once she reached the top floor, Da-Sol entered her hotel room and tied her hair up in a ponytail,pletely revealing her face. Da-Sol¡¯s blue eyes added ayer of light on her beauty. Even her straight nose, sharp jawline and striking western features were very impressive. Anyone who had seen Da-Sol¡¯s face that was hidden beneath her hair would fall in love with her half-Korean, half-American features. In fact, even those from Beyond the Heavens Kingdom have rarely seen her smile.

    But now, in her privacy, she was smiling a bit.

    ¡°Thank you¡­ for the things back then and for the things now too.¡±

    Da-Sol looked at the table where there was a picture showing a bunch of eleven year old kids in a ss. In the picture, Da-Sol was standing by herself toward the far right corner with an awkward ¡°V¡± sign on her hands.

    As a mixed-race child, she was often bullied at school. Back then, the children, despite not knowing anything, hated her for her tinum hair and western features. The worst part? She was also an introverted child. But in this photo that involved the darkest memories of her childhood, stood her light. Behind Da-Sol¡¯s awkward ¡°V¡± was a boy with the same ¡°V¡± sign raised by his side and a bright smile on his face.

    And this child¡¯s name was¡­ Minhyuk.

    However, Da-Sol knew that Minhyuk did not remember her since the boy transferred schools after just a year, barelypleting their third year in school. Even though Minhyuk was still young back then, he had talked and helped Da-Sol a lot. There was one time when Minhyuk came inside the science room where Da-Sol was hiding and saw her crying her heart out after being bullied by her own ¡®friends¡¯.

    <em>¡®Why do my friends hate me?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I don¡¯t think they hate you, I think it¡¯s more of jealousy?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Jealousy¡­?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I think the other kids are jealous of you because you¡¯re very tall and you have a pretty face. Yeah. They¡¯re jealous because you¡¯re pretty.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Me?¡¯</em>

    Da-Sol had always been called an ugly girl by her friends. But the truth was, ever since her childhood, she had boasted a doll-like appearance.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s right. So you should be confident. I think you¡¯re going to be very famous, Da-Sol.¡¯</em>

    A smile always curled at the corners of Da-Sol¡¯s lips whenever that memory shed in her mind. Just like other children, Da-Sol had written ¡®model¡¯, ¡®Miss Korea¡¯, ¡®celebrity¡¯ and even ¡®announcer¡¯ as her childhood dreams.

    The young Da-Sol had asked Minhyuk back then, <em>¡®Did you know that I wanted to be a model?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Nope~? I totally did not have an idea, you know? I just thought that you would be famous when I saw you. It¡¯s because you¡¯re pretty. I can already imagine it. Ten years from now, you will be surrounded with friends and will be a subject of everyone¡¯s envy as a very beautiful woman. You can definitely be a world-famous model. Once the timees, I will go and see your fashion show. So, don¡¯t pretend that you don¡¯t know me and make sure to give me an autograph. Okay? It¡¯s a promise!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Y¡­ yeah.¡¯</em>

    One might think that being a model was just one of many girls¡¯ dreams but right there on Da-Sol¡¯s table was a contract with Designer Crystal¡¯s Fashion Show, a contract for her participation. While she was taking her modeling sses, she took the time to send a video of her walk to one of the world-ss designers, Crystal, and won the right to participate in said designer¡¯s fashion show.

    <em>¡®You might not remember but¡­¡¯</em>

    Da-Sol remembered Minhyuk, but it seemed like the man did not remember her at all. Even if that were the case, Da-Sol just hoped that she could still protect Minhyuk silently. So, she essed the game under the name Ascar. Once she entered the game, Ascar looked down at the red ring in her hands.

    Asura¡¯s Sessor¡¯s Ring, an item that contained a shocking, amazing power, that would allow the item user to inherit Asura¡¯s powers.

    <em>¡®Ascar, I believe you¡¯re the best fit to be the owner of this ring.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had received all of their guild members¡¯ consent prior to giving her this ring. Then, he said, <em>¡®If, by any chance, Asura¡¯s Sessor¡¯s Ring imposes a ridiculous penalty, you can choose to disregard it. Make sure to not push yourself too hard.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk expressed his worries as he handed the ring to her. The price to pay to inherit such a strong power could definitely be ridiculous. However¡­

    <em>¡®I want to stay silently by your side, Minhyuk.¡¯</em>

    Ascar liked him, but she did not have the courage to be bold and appeal to him, in the ways Genie, Alicia and Lucia did and were still doing. So, she decided to just do it her own way and silently protect him.

    <em>[You will now inherit Asura¡¯s power.]</em>

    <em>[You have to undergo a trial to inherit Asura¡¯s power.]</em>

    <em>[If you fail the trial, your level will reset to Level 1.]</em>

    <em>[Even if you seed in the trial, your level will go down by half.]</em>

    <em>[However, you will be able topletely get the ughterer God¡¯s powers.]</em>

    It would be disadvantageous for Ascar in the short term, but would definitely bring her great benefits in the long run. Ascar did not hesitate.

    ¡°Start the trial.¡±

    Today was the day when someone struggled and desperately fought to gain more power, in order to protect Minhyuk.

    ***

    The Overlord. The Absolute Monarch. The One that surpassed the Sword Saint. However, no matter the words and expressions they used to describe Raldo, it was never enough. Raldo was such a king. Right now, this very same Raldo, whose eyes had turned pitch ck, was staring at Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk gulped dryly as he looked at Raldo warily.

    Then, Raldo murmured, ¡°I hate you. I hate you for sumbing to your lunacy, killing your retainers and putting the people of the kingdom in danger.¡±

    Raldo was currently not in the right state of mind. It seemed like he was not looking at Minhyuk but at his father, Ravanberg.

    ¡°That¡¯s why you should die.¡±

    <em>Vwoooooooong¡ª</em>

    Raldo dashed toward Minhyuk. They were currently stuck inside this small and narrow space which made it more unfavorable for Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®What the hell is this speed?! How can he be so fast?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was beyond shocked when he saw Raldo¡¯s speed. It was a speed that he could not avoid at all. Minhyuk quickly held his sword with both hands to block the iing attack. Then¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    A huge shock traveled from Minhyuk¡¯s arms and made him fly back and m into the transparent barrier.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaack!¡±

    The immense power that traveled in Minhyuk¡¯s body was astonishing. However, that was not the only shocking thing.

    <em>[You have received an attack from the Warrior God¡¯s Sword.]</em>

    <em>[Even if you did not receive the attack directly, the Warrior God¡¯s Sword will still be able to inflict damage on you.]</em>

    ¡°This is too ridiculous!!!¡±

    He had already stopped the sword attack but he still received damage? As if to prove the truth of the matter, Minhyuk suddenly felt the pain from the damage caused by his sword colliding with Raldo¡¯s sword, on his chest. However, Raldo did not give him any time to breathe. He immediately attacked Minhyuk once again.

    <em>¡®Let¡¯s try to avoid it this time.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk needed to test the waters with Raldo first. He immediately escaped Raldo¡¯s greatsword with a slight twist of his body but¡­

    <em>[You have received an attack from the Warrior God¡¯s Sword.]</em>

    <em>[Even if you did not receive the attack directly, the Warrior God¡¯s Sword will still be able to inflict damage on you.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was speechless. He was able to avoid Warrior God¡¯s Raldo¡¯s sword attack by ten centimeters, but still received damage? On top of that, Raldo¡¯s sword was swift and concise. Minhyuk could not even read the flow of his sword at all.

    <em>¡®What the hell?!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was obviously a figure that was on par with an Olympic Gold Medalist in terms of swordsmanship and kendo. But even though he was hailed as a genius in swordsmanship, he could not keep up with Raldo¡¯s amazing sword skills and techniques.

    <em>¡®This is the Warrior God¡­!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk immediately used ¡®Like the Wind¡¯ to escape the approaching Raldo. After widening the distance between them by a meter, Minhyuk immediately twisted his body to avoid the trajectory of the attack. But just like before¡­

    <em>[You have received an attack from the Warrior God¡¯s Sword.]</em>

    <em>[Even if you did not receive the attack directly, the Warrior God¡¯s Sword will still be able to inflict damage on you.]</em>

    His body still received damage even though he avoided the attack.

    <em>¡®I have to ignore the damage.¡¯</em>

    If Minhyuk ignored the damage, then he would probably have a chance of winning. Of course, the amount of damage that Raldo could deal was sorge that Minhyuk could not actually ignore it, but there was no other choice. After deciding to ignore the damage, Minhyuk looked at Raldo with a wide smile on his face as he stabbed his sword on the ground and sent an attack. But Raldo grabbed his sword.

    ¡°You, you¡¯ll stop it?¡±

    Based on Minhyuk¡¯s calction the attack that he sent just now was something that could not be prevented but Raldo just grabbed the sword in his hand and twisted his body away. Then, Raldo immediately cut his body horizontally with his great sword!

    <em>sh!</em>

    <em>[You have received an attack from the Warrior God¡¯s Sword.]</em>

    <em>[You have received a direct attack from the Warrior God¡¯s Sword. You will receive 300% more damage!]</em>

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Even if the attack failed, the receiver would receive 50% of the damage but if the attack seeded then the attack would deal six times more damage than that. Minhyuk¡¯s HP had fallen by 8% despite wearing a God-rank artifact, the ughterer¡¯s Armor. Minhyuk immediately cast his Sword of Absolute Death, a skill that he saved with his ¡®Save¡¯ skill, to stop Raldo from approaching.

    <em>[Sword of Absolute Death]</em>

    <em>[The first sword strike will hit your enemy with a 100% chance and an additional 700% damage as long as they are within four meters of you. The opponent that received the first sword strike will receive seven consecutive attacks with 500% additional damage and will fall into a stunned state for three seconds.]</em>

    <em>[Hundreds of des with 200% additional damage will shoot out and dance around to destroy and devour your enemies. A direct hit will cause a powerful explosion that will deal an additional 500% damage.]</em>

    The most ridiculous effect of the Sword of Absolute Death was that its first strike has a 100% chance of hitting the target.

    <em>sh!</em>

    Raldo stumbled after receiving the attack directly. He was also put into a stunned state after seven consecutive hits with additional 500% damage struck him.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    Raldo flinched from the damages caused by the seven consecutive hits. It was even apanied by a three-second stunned state. Seeing this, Minhyuk immediately fired sword lights toward Raldo, bombarding the king with hundreds, if not thousands, of sword attacks. The problem was¡­

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng, ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    Except for the first strike, none of the sword lights pierced through Raldo¡¯s defense.

    <em>¡®What the hell?! Is he a monster?¡¯</em>

    Just when Minhyuk was about to send another attack, the stunned state was lifted and Raldo drew an arc with the tip of his sword as he pulled it out of the ground.

    ¡°Wave¡¯s Rage.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Then, at that moment, a gigantic wave made of swordlights appeared in the narrow space and devoured Minhyuk.

    <em>[Your HP has decreased by 7%.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has decreased by 6%.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has decreased by 8%.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has...]</em>

    <em>[He Who Ovees.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has increased to 1. You are now invincible for 3 seconds.]</em>

    <em>[All of your abilities will increase by 30% for 3 seconds.]</em>

    Minhyuk was forced to utilize the special effect and the most ridiculous skill of Ellie¡¯s Kitchen Knife. It only took three minutes to happen. Then, Minhyuk thought, <em>¡®I can¡¯t beat him like this. What can I do against that tremendous attack damage as well as the damage thates in even if I evade or block the attack?¡¯</em>

    Then, Minhyuk saw Raldo approaching him once again.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s too fast¡­!¡¯</em>

    No matter what he tried to do, the attack would be inevitable. He originally wanted to take the trailer out but he had to stop his body from incurring any more damage so he immediately cast a skill that would help him do so.

    ¡°Let¡¯s Have a Meal!¡±

    Then, a huge barrier appeared and protected his body. Meanwhile, Evan, who saw everything unfold, could not help but frown, ¡°Let¡¯s, let¡¯s have a meal?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s one of His Majesty¡¯s ultimate skills. He bes stronger after eating something there.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Kimaris gave such a brief exnation that Evan, who heard it, wondered what nonsense he was spouting.

    ¡®<em>How could someone grow stronger after just eating something? And even if he got a bit stronger, would it make any difference?</em>¡¯

    ¡°I¡¯m helpless against His Majesty Raldo. He¡¯s so strong that even if Sword Emperor Ellie and I worked together, we would still remain helpless against him.¡±

    Raldo might not be an Absolute Supreme NPC, his skills and efforts were so fraudulent that his power could rival one. So what could Minhyuk do against His Majesty Raldo?

    <em>¡®It would already be amazing if he could block His Majesty¡¯s attacks.¡¯</em>

    Evan was very thankful that the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s King was fighting for them but to say that he would get stronger after eating something? Did they think that he was a child that could be fooled like that? In fact, the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King, who looked like he was about to die a bit earlier, was now eating happily with a bright smile on his face.

    When the Let¡¯s Have a Meal¡¯s barrier was released, Evan said, ¡°This may be rude to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s King but gaining strength after eating¡­ uhm¡­ even if he gains more strength, he would still be helpless against His Majesty Raldo¡­¡±

    Just when Evan finished his words¡­

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    A strong st of wind mmed into Raldo making him crash into the transparent wall, his body sliding down on the floor.

    ¡°Urk!¡±

    Raldo even vomitted a mouthful of blood.

    <em>¡®He, he really got stronger after having one meal?!¡¯</em>

    It was not just a bit too. He became much stronger!

 Chapter 528: Gaining an Uncle

    Chapter 528: Gaining an Uncle

    The Cooking God, one of the Absolute Gods, had bestowed his secret upon Minhyuk. This secret was none other than Ovepping Delight. A skill that was helpful, but also had plenty of disadvantages, like its short duration in arge-scale battle, and the fact that it needed two dishes for it to take effect.

    Of course, Minhyuk had to make up for these shorings and find a way to make full use of the Ovepping Delight.

    <em>¡®I have no choice but to immediately eat the dish I made for Ovepping Delight.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk could use the trailer¡¯s special ability, Double Food, and replicate the dish he made inside the trailer within ten minutes. But¡­

    <em>¡®The -1 on all stats penalty is too huge for me.¡¯</em>

    ¡­it was better for him to not use it unless he was in a very special situation. Minhyuk stats, excluding the five basic stats, amounted to ten. These stats included his DEX, CHA, Will and so on. All of these stats decreasing by one would impose a huge penalty on Minhyuk. So, to avoid that, Minhyuk thought of a trick. And this trick was very simple.

    <em>¡®Let¡¯s stock buffed dishes in my inventory and take them out when necessary.¡¯</em>

    The buff effects would be different every time. The main reason why buffed dishes had different effects was because of the ingredients used in the dishes. Depending on the ingredients used, the dish could greatly increase one¡¯s STR or STM. A dish could even increase one¡¯s skill level. That was how each buffed dish varied in effects based on the ingredients used on them. And Minhyuk stored those kinds of dishes ordingly.

    In fact, considering Minhyuk¡¯s eating addiction, the word ¡®store¡¯ was not the correct word to use, perhaps it was not even in his dictionary. But since most of the buffed dishes and ordinary dishes tasted simr, Minhyuk was able to endure by eating other dishes and wait for the day when he would be able to use them.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s also fun to wait for a while before eating. Fufu.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk summoned his trailer the moment he shouted ¡®Let¡¯s Have a Meal!¡¯. Actually, using the trailer when he was in an absolute defense was a loss. But if Minhyuk allowed Raldo to rush toward him just now, then his life right then and there would already have been forfeit. Then¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    mes erupted from the trailer¡¯s vents as white smoke rushed up from its chimney, its body slowly turning red.

    <em>[The trailer has detected danger. The probability of creating higher-grade dishes has increased!]</em>

    <em>[The trailer has detected danger. The probability of creating higher-grade dishes has increased!]</em>

    The notifications rang twice. Compared to when he was facing Asura, the dangers detected by the trailer were significantly lower. However, the fact that he could make a higher grade dish would not change. Now, Minhyuk only had to choose which of the dishes that he stored would he use for this moment.

    <em>¡®The reason why I¡¯m having a hard time against Raldo is because of his tremendous damage, his tremendous experience and amazing skills.¡¯</em>

    Actually, the reason why Minhyuk still received the damage despite avoiding Raldo¡¯s attack was all thanks to Raldo¡¯s passive skill, ¡®Warrior God¡¯s Sword¡¯. This meant that he was stuck between two difficult choices. Should Minhyuk increase his defense and HP Volume? Or should he try to increase his average damage too?

    However, it did not take too long for Minhyuk to decide between the two.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m going for thetter.¡¯</em>

    If Minhyuk chose to increase his defense, then he would still be helpless if Raldo decided to attack him consecutively. On the other hand, what would happen if his average attack and damage had increased?

    <em>¡®Raldo would also receive severe damage and would lessen the attacks that he sent out.¡¯</em>

    Since Minhyuk had chosen, then that meant that he could now take one of the dishes that he stored. There was this dish that Minhyuk made just a few days ago that made him drool. The dish was none other than ¡®bachelor kimchi¡¯. Bachelor kimchi [1] or Altari Kimchi could be eaten by mixing it with rice or just as a in side dish.

    Minhyuk, who used a ¡®side dish¡¯ to take advantage of Ovepping Delight, could be said to be a true genius when it came to eating. The bachelor kimchi could increase Minhyuk¡¯s chosen skill by +3 upon consumption. This was the only effect the bachelor kimchi had. And the skill that Minhyuk decided to buff up with this effect was none other than his ridiculous passive skill, ¡®Lightning¡¯. A passive that could randomly trigger lightning strikes upon each attack.

    <em>¡®If Raldo¡¯s passive skill is a literal scam, then I¡¯ll make this ridiculous skill into something that is far more than that.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk quickly climbed inside the trailer while thinking about the dish that could go well with Bachelor Kimchi. He thought about mixing the kimchi with the rice, but if he did that then he would not be able to see the other dish¡¯s effects. Then, that only brought him to one other thing. Thebo that could make him drool just by the thought alone.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s making me crazy.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk felt good and happy just thinking about it. The dish was none other than ¡®chapagetti¡¯. What would it taste like if he ate chapagetti with Bachelor Kimchi?

    <em>¡®It¡¯s over¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s mouth was already filled with saliva just by imagining it. Due to chapagetti¡¯s nature, the probability of getting low buff effects was high. However, Minhyuk would be able to offset such disadvantages by using the ingredients from Rocard Kingdom which were jam packed with great and amazing effects. Rocard Kingdom was a kingdom of farmers and Queen Iris, their queen, often sent gifts to Minhyuk.

    And among these gifts were ingredients with amazing attributes,

    The first thing that Minhyuk did was to put water in a pot.

    <em>Piiiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    Then, as if sensing the pot, the Eternal mes immediately increased in intensity. Minhyuk left the water on the hot fire for less than a minute before adding the noodles and the chapagetti kes. Then, he lifted the noodles quickly to let air flow through the noodles and make them chewy.

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    Raldo, who lost his prey, turned to look at Minhyuk with a nk expression on his face. He looked like he was asking Minhyuk, <em>¡®What are you doing there instead of fighting me here?¡¯ </em>But Minhyukpletely ignored him and just continued what he was doing, throwing the water out of the pot.

    Usually, the chapagetti instructions written at the back of the packet would say to ¡®leave eight spoons of water in the pot and mix it with some olive oil and the soup powder¡¯ but Minhyuk was already a master at this. He left thirteen spoons of water in the pot.

    So, what did Minhyuk do next?

    Without removing the noodles from the pot, he poured the soup powder inside and added truffle oil instead of olive oil. Truffle oil was the oil made from the best truffle grown on the ground and was the best oil to bring out the chapagetti¡¯s aroma and taste. This truffle oil was also one of the gifts that Rocard Kingdom¡¯s Queen Iris had sent to Minhyuk. It was a rare product, with only one bottle produced per year, with very amazing abilities too.

    Just like that, Minhyuk turned on the fire once again.

    <em>Sizzle¡ª</em>

    Thirteen spoons of water might sound like it was a bit too much, but in fact it was just a small amount. That was why Minhyuk had to quickly mix everything, as if he was stir-frying the noodles. Besides, mixing the noodles as if he was stir-frying it would make the soup powder stick better to the noodles, coating them and giving them a stronger vor.

    Once all of the water had boiled away, Minhyuk quickly ted the noodles while bringing out another pan and pouring ayer of oil on it and adding two eggs on it.

    <em>Sizzle¡ª</em>

    After cooking the bottom of the eggs perfectly, Minhyuk ced the eggs on top of his chapagetti before frying three dumplings on the same pan. After finishing everything, Minhyuk set the table and finally received satisfactory notifications about the buff effects.

    Minhyuk looked at his chapagetti with a satisfied smile on his face. Steam gently rose from the still warm chapagetti, while the two half-cooked fried eggs ented its colors and showed off their golden luster. Minhyuk immediately grabbed his chopsticks as he poked down on one of the yolks.

    <em>Dribble, dribble¡ª</em> went the yolk, flowing a beautiful yellow down the noodles, coating it with its colors. Minhyuk then tore a piece of the egg white before mping on the noodles and¡­

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuuuuuuurp!</em>¡±

    The noodles, the yolk and the egg whites created a perfect harmony of vors in Minhyuk¡¯s mouth. The familiar taste in his mouth was very pleasant and the same goes for the deep vor and aroma of the truffle oil. Then, he used his now clean left hand to pick up a piece of the bachelor kimchi.

    ¡°Eating kimchi with your hands is really the best.¡±

    Minhyuk took a bite of the bachelor kimchi straight from his hands and¡­

    <em>Crunch, crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    ¡­an insane crunching sound rang in his ears. Bachelor kimchi was a dish that was known for its crunchy texture and insane sounds when eaten. The spicy and pungent bachelor kimchi easily washed away the greasy aftertaste of the chapagetti. This time, Minhyuk picked a piece of the fried dumpling.

    <em>Crisp¡ª</em>

    The hot and crispy fried dumplings were the best choice of partner for chapagetti. With only half of the dumpling left from what he picked, he ced it on top of the chapagetti before mping a mouthful and cing everything in his mouth. The slightly greasy fried dumplings and the savory noodles met together and created a fantastic harmony. Of course, Minhyuk did not forget to pick some bachelor kimchi with his bare hands, making sure to suck his fingers clean of any sauce. After that, Minhyuk turned his attention to the remaining fried egg on his noodles. Without poking anything, Minhyuk scooped out the entire yolk and ced it in his mouth.

    ¡°Kghhk~¡±

    The rich taste of the yolk spread and lingered in Minhyuk¡¯s mouth as he ced the egg whites in his mouth. Then, he immediately slurped on some chapagetti noodles again.

    ¡°Kghhh.¡±

    After eating his fried eggs, fried dumplings, chapagetti and bachelor kimchi, he opened a cold and icy bottle of water and washed away the greasiness from his mouth.

    ¡°Fwaaaaa!¡±

    The moment he finished eating, the cooking die appeared in front of Minhyuk.

    <em>[Ovepping Delight.]</em>

    <em>[You can now receive the effects of two dishes.]</em>

    <em>[The duration of the buff effect will depend on the number that the die will cast.]</em>

    Minhyuk desperately wished to get a higher number. The higher the number, the more he could maximize his passive skill and the better the effects. But the die did not adhere to Minhyuk¡¯s wishes.

    <em>[The die has been cast! You have rolled a four!]</em>

    <em>[The Ovepping Delight¡¯s buff effect willst for three minutes!]</em>

    <em>[You have received the effects of the Epic Grade Bachelor Kimchi and the Epic Grade Truffle Oil.]</em>

    <em>[Your STR and AGI has increased by 14%!]</em>

    <em>[Your Physical and Magical Defense have increased by 22%!]</em>

    <em>[Your Sword¡¯s Basic Attack has increased by 100%!]</em>

    <em>[You can increase the level of your artifact passive skill or any passive skill in your possession by +3!]</em>

    <em>¡®Lightning.¡¯</em>

    <em>[The Continent Destroyer Sword¡¯s Passive Skill ¡®Lightning¡¯ has increased in level by +3.]</em>

    <em>Swooooosh¡ª</em>

    The word ¡®Crazy¡¯ appeared on the de of the Continent Destroyer Sword. In a 1:1 battle, the skill ¡®Crazy¡¯ was the skill that could exert a ridiculous strength. This was Crazy¡¯s basic information.

    <em>(<strong>Crazy</strong>)</em>

    <em>Artifact Skill</em>

    <em>Level: None</em>

    <em>Mana Required: None</em>

    <em>Cooldown: None</em>

    <em>Effects:</em>

    <em>?When using Crazy Mode, there is a 30% chance of triggering a sword wind with 1,100% additional attack that can rip through anything and everything in its path when attacking with a basic attack.</em>

    <em>?When using Crazy Mode, there is a chance of consecutively triggering Crazy Mode.</em>

    <em>?There is a 20% chance of triggering the Crazy Mode two times in a row.</em>

    <em>?There is a 5% chance of triggering the Crazy Mode three times in a row.</em>

    <em>?There is a 1% chance of triggering the Crazy Mode four times in a row.</em>

    <em>?In Crazy Mode, there is a 10% chance of bringing the opponent hit by your attack into a three-second stunned state.</em>

    <em>?In Crazy Mode, there is a 20% chance of turning the Continent Destroyer Sword¡¯s Active Skill: Armor Break into a passive skill and triggering it to destroy the opponent¡¯s sword.</em>

    The most ridiculous part of the skill was the fact that there was a high chance of triggering Crazy Mode continuously. There was even a 1% chance of triggering it four times in a row.

    <em>¡®I don¡¯t have much time.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was wondering how strong Lightning would be if the passive skill had a +3 level increase, but he knew full well that he did not have the time to contemte on this matter.

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll just have to check it while confronting Raldo.¡¯</em>

    The moment Minhyuk stepped out of his trailer and left the barrier, the barrier melted and flowed down like cascading water, before disappearing from sight. Raldo immediately jumped at Minhyuk. Raldo thought that Minhyuk cooked for himself and could not help but ridicule him.

    <em>[King¡¯s Rage]</em>

    <em>[With the triggering of King¡¯s Rage, the Warrior God¡¯s Sword¡¯s 50% damage will be increased to 100%!]</em>

    ¡°For real¡­?!¡±

    Minhyuk could only think of Raldo¡¯s existence as something simr to a scam! All he could do right now was stop Raldo¡¯s sword as the man jumped at him.

    <em>aaaaash¡ª</em>

    Even though Minhyuk blocked the sword, 100% of the damage still struck him.

    ¡°Urgh!¡±

    Raldo¡¯s damage was so ridiculous that Minhyuk¡¯s 22% increase in defense did nothing. The moment the groan escaped Minhyuk¡¯s mouth, he used Like the Wind and widened the distance between them. But Raldo immediately chased after him and shed his sword at him.

    <em>¡®My passive got stronger too!!!¡¯</em>

    When Minhyuk swung his sword at the iing sword attack¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The two swords collided, bringing in 100% damage to Minhyuk.

    ¡°Urk!¡±

    But then, a shocking notification rang just when Minhyuk was forced to take a step back.

    <em>[You have triggered Crazy eight times in a row!]</em>

    <em>[You have dealt an attack with 2,000% additional damage on your enemy.]</em>

    The force of the wind mmed into Raldo, tearing his body apart and forcing him to fly backwards and hit the transparent barrier. In the end, he could only slump down and slide down the barrier while vomiting a mouthful of blood.

    ¡°Urk!¡±

    Minhyuk looked at the Continent Destroyer Sword in a daze.

    <em>¡®Eight times in a row¡­? And 2,000% additional damage¡­?¡¯</em>

    The skill Lightning, after increasing its level by +3, could only be described as the most ridiculous skill among all of the ridiculous skills.

    1. ???? - ?? means Bachelor which originated from the ponytail hairstyle or ?? that young boys or men used in the olden days. It¡¯s made from ??? (ponytail radish), a small variety of white radish with long leafy stems. It is also called as ???? (altari radish) ?

 Chapter 529: Gaining an Uncle

    Chapter 529: Gaining an Uncle

    Evan, the Warrior God¡¯s master and the Guardian of Lumae Kingdom, was left in a state of shock, <em>¡®He really only ate a dish and was able to one-shot His Majesty Raldo¡­¡¯</em>

    The strength of Raldo, the Overlord or the Warrior God, was beyond anyone¡¯s imagination. But Minhyuk was able to take Raldo down with a single shot after eating a meal. It was nothing short of a miracle. Then, a red bead of blood floated from the body of the copsed Raldo and got absorbed into Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    <em>[ughterer¡¯s Absorption]</em>

    <em>[There is a 3% chance that you will be able to convert 50% of the damage that you have dealt to your opponents into HP.]</em>

    Around 4% of Minhyuk¡¯s HP was recovered immediately. Minhyuk looked down at his hands as he hurriedly checked the Crazy that had increased by +3 levels.

    <em>(<strong>Crazy</strong>)</em>

    <em>Artifact Skill</em>

    <em>Level: +3</em>

    <em>Mana Required: None</em>

    <em>Cooldown: None</em>

    <em>Effects:</em>

    <em>?When using Crazy Mode, there is a 50% chance of triggering a sword wind with 1,100% additional attack that can rip through anything and everything in its path when attacking with a basic attack.</em>

    <em>?When using Crazy Mode, there is a chance of consecutively triggering Crazy Mode.</em>

    <em>?There is a 40% chance of triggering the Crazy Mode two times in a row.</em>

    <em>?There is a 20% chance of triggering the Crazy Mode three times in a row.</em>

    <em>?There is a 10% chance of triggering the Crazy Mode four times in a row.</em>

    <em>?There is a 5% chance of triggering the Crazy Mode six times in a row.</em>

    <em>?There is a 2% chance of triggering the Crazy Mode eight times in a row.</em>

    <em>?In Crazy Mode, there is a 20% chance of bringing the opponent hit by your attack into a five-second stunned state.</em>

    <em>?In Crazy Mode, there is a 35% chance of turning the Continent Destroyer Sword¡¯s Active Skill: Armor Break into a passive skill and triggering it to destroy the opponent¡¯s sword.</em>

    <em><strong>Additional Exnation</strong>: Thanks to the Food God¡¯s buffed dish, ¡®Lightning¡¯ was increased by +3 levels. As a result, the effects of the skill ¡®Crazy¡¯ under Lightning has be better.</em>

    <em>¡®This is really insane¡­!¡¯</em>

    There was no other word that Minhyuk could use to express what he felt. In the first ce, Crazy was a skill that was beyond ridiculous. It had a 30% chance of triggering a sword wind just by using a basic attack. In other words, even if Minhyuk only attacked his enemy three times, he could guarantee that one of those three attacks would deal an additional 1,100% damage. But now¡­

    <em>¡®Did you say 50%?¡¯</em>

    ¡­the power of Crazy could be triggered once every two strikes. Even the probability of triggering Crazy Mode continuously had increased significantly. Minhyuk had a 40% chance of triggering it twice in a row, a 20% chance of triggering it thrice in a row, a 5% chance of triggering it six times in a row, and a 2% chance of triggering it eight times in a row. Minhyuk had been very lucky to trigger the 2% probability and hit Raldo eight times in a row, which caused huge damage to the Overlord.

    <em>¡®I really want to have it as my own.¡¯</em>

    Because it was only due to the buffed dish¡¯s effect, Minhyuk could only use the power for three minutes. Considering the fact that it was miles stronger than the artifact skill Lightning¡¯s Explosion and Destruction, it would be a lie if Minhyuk said that he did not want this in his arsenal.

    Then, a voice suddenly rang from where Raldo was, ¡°That¡¯s right. You should attack me like that too. That way, I can think of you as someone that should be killed, and not my father.¡±

    <em>Badump, badump, badump¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s heart thumped violently. He was fully aware that Raldo hated his father. But Raldo, who stood up while saying those words, looked sad despite the ckness that covered his eyes. Minhyuk, who knew about the matter¡­

    ¡°Your father was not crazy.¡±

    ¡­decided to tell Raldo the truth.

    ***

    The entire Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was suddenly thrown into an uproar after a huge tower made of blood suddenly rose in the Louvre Forest, near the vicinity of the kingdom and did not disappear, despite the days passing by.

    ¡°We need to make sure that we have control on the information. If what I think is right, then the person currently inside the blood tower is Ascar.¡±

    When the blood tower appeared, Haze already knew that it was because someone was pioneering a new path. This tower did not pose any harm to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Besides, the tower only appeared after Ascar received Asura¡¯s Sessor¡¯s Ring from Minhyuk. Also, she had not been seen in the kingdom or anywhere in Athenae from when she came back from the world of the foreigners for the past few days.

    <em>¡®Ascar.¡¯</em>

    Haze looked up at the blood tower. She knew that Ascar entered the trial to inherit the powers of Asura. For Haze, Ascar was a strong woman. Ascar might be someone that silently performed her duty and had always been a shadow amidst the people of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, but Haze knew that her heart was warmer than anybody else and that she cared for Minhyuk deeply. Haze couldn''t help but worry since days had gone by with no signs from her.

    Nevertheless, Haze knew that she could not tell her to just give up out of exhaustion. All Haze could do was mutter to herself, ¡°Climb higher, Ascar. I know you can do it.¡±

    ***

    Blood Tower.

    In order to inherit Demigod Asura¡¯s powers, one had to clear the trial that he had set and obtain the qualifications that would allow them to be recognized by Asura himself. Ascar had been trapped inside this Blood Tower for days on end, trying to climb her way up to the tenth floor.

    ¡°Urk¡­!¡± Ascar threw up a mouthful of blood as she came up to the ninth floor. As the blood dripped down her chin, Ascar recalled the words that President Kang Taehoon once said in the past.

    <em>¡®Athenae is a new world. And the character in this new world is another you.¡¯</em>

    A sudden burst ofughter escaped from her mouth as she thought, <em>¡®I¡¯m in a new world, that¡¯s why this trial feels so real.¡¯</em>

    Athenae was a virtual reality game so the yers did not feel that much pain whenpared to NPCS. However, when faced with things that the yer could not endure or hold out against, they would consume a huge amount of their mental strength and physical abilities until they reached their limits. That was what was happening to Ascar right now. Her mental strength had beenpletely drained.

    However, ughter God Asura still stood in front of her with his arms crossed while asking Ascar a question, ¡°Is that all you¡¯ve got?¡±

    Asura was very disappointed initially, when he saw the girl as the first challenger that would challenge his trial in his sessor¡¯s ring. That was mainly because this woman named Ascar, the woman trying to inherit his power, was much weaker than he expected. Asura believed that the woman would not even be able to cross the wall of his second floor.

    And yet, Ascar proved him wrong. She was able to reach the end of the seventh floor with her amazing mental strength alone. Asura acknowledged her mental strength, because while all of the trials in this tower could be challenged infinitely, there were penalties apanying each challenge if the challenger chose to undergo the trial over and over again.

    Even though Ascar kept on falling and copsing, the woman would always continue to stand up and challenge the trial in front of her.

    <em>Click¡ª</em>

    Ascar staggered, standing up with the support of her katanas. Then, she dashed forward to continue fighting the desperate battle against Asura¡¯s clone in front of her. Asura¡¯s clone might be weaker than the real Asura, but the power that he possessed was still too much for any of the yers to deal with on their own. It was the reason why Ascar had died countless times over under his hands. But through those countless deaths, Ascar was able to find a method to attack and defeat the man in front of her.

    <em>aaaaaash¡ª</em>

    Asura¡¯s clone was split in half.

    <em>Swoosh¡ª</em>

    Ascar could only take in ragged breaths as she watched Asura¡¯s clone disappear into thin air. Just like that, she reached the tenth floor once again. It was the worst level. On the tenth floor, Ascar had to fight against nearly 60,000 monsters and get Asura''s bloody greatsword stuck on the ground not too far away from her. Ascar had already died more than fifty times at this stage.

    ¡°Haa¡­ haa¡­¡±

    Ascar was breathing roughly. Her voice sounded like iron grating against each other. And just like before, Asura asked the staggering woman, ¡°Is that all you¡¯ve got?¡±

    Ascar had heard these mocking words from Asura hundreds, if not thousands, of times. Truth was, Ascar wanted to quit. She wanted to log out, lie down and sleep in her bed. But every time the thought shed in her head, she would recall the words that <em>he</em> told her before he transferred.

    <em>¡®I know that you¡¯ll be a model. Because you¡¯re someone that won¡¯t fall and even if you do, I know that you will get back up. So, I¡¯m sure that we¡¯ll meet each otherter.¡¯</em>

    Ascar was such a person. Others called her a genius. What a funny thing. She was not a genius. It was just that she was a person that did not give up and chose to work more than the others. So, Ascar stood up and pointed her two katanas at Asura.

    ¡°Hey.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Asura was an evil god that stained the continent with blood, while Ascar, with her eyes glinting sharply and viciously through the gaps of her silver hair, said to him, ¡°You f*cker. Shut your trap and just keep on watching.¡±

    Then, Ascar rushed towards the 60,000 monsters.

    ***

    ¡°Your father was not crazy.¡±

    Raldo not only needed to be freed from his curse, but to also know the truth about the object of his hatred, Ravanberg. Raldo needed to know that his father literally gave everything up for him.

    ¡°Are you even resorting to lies now?¡±

    Raldo¡¯s face was distorted with anger. Minhyuk only had two minutes and twenty seconds at most with his buff effect.

    ¡°I¡¯m not lying. Your father¡­¡±

    ¡°Shut up!!!¡± Raldo shouted fiercely as he sent another attack.

    Minhyuk immediately received damage the moment he blocked Raldo¡¯s ¡®Warrior God¡¯s Sword¡¯.

    <em>[You have triggered Crazy two times in a row!]</em>

    <em>[You have dealt an attack with 2,000% additional damage on your enemy.]</em>

    <em>Baaang!</em>

    Minhyuk ignored the damage he received as he countered Raldo¡¯s attack, forcing the man to falter in his steps from the two consecutive damages dealt to him.

    ¡°You have killed your trusted subordinates and betrayed my trust and respect in you. You¡¯re crazy! The name Ravanberg the Great is dead! Only Ravanberg the Tyrant remains!!!¡±

    The staggering Raldo immediately corrected his bnce, moving forward to pressure Minhyuk. But Minhyuk was able to use ¡®ughterer¡¯s Absorption¡¯ and ¡®Asura¡¯s Shield¡¯ appropriately, which allowed him to withstand the onught of Raldo¡¯s attacks. On the other hand, Raldo, who did not have the same power as Minhyuk¡­

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    ¡­flew back once again as Crazy was triggered four times in a row.

    ¡°Your father was not crazy!!! He fought alone to protect you. His trusted subordinates urged him to kill you, his son, who was getting stronger by the day! But Ravanberg did not do so! He chose to kill his loyal subjects in order to protect you!!!¡± Minhyuk shouted hurriedly at the still reeling Raldo.

    Tears started to flow from Raldo¡¯s pitch-ck eyes. He did not shed these tears because he believed in what Minhyuk said, but because¡­

    <em>¡®I miss my father¡­?¡¯</em>

    Raldo had always dered that he hated his father. But at this moment, he realized that he just kept the longing and love that he had for Ravanberg locked deep away inside his heart. For a moment, the white returned to his eyes.

    ¡°My father killed his subordinates to¡­ protect¡­ me¡­?¡±

    But Raldo¡¯s eyes immediately returned to ck.

    ¡°Liar!!!¡±

    <em>Crackle¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk felt his breath stop at the sight. Raldo, who was devoured by his curse, once again expressed his power, the same power that came from the God of Death, and the reason why Raldo had been cursed. The very same power that Minhyuk saw in Raldo¡¯s dreams!

    <em>¡®The Overlord¡¯s Technique¡­!¡¯</em>

    Along with that, the air in the small and narrow space turned heavy. The Overlord¡¯s Technique was a very powerful force that wiped out nearly 30,000 troops in one go.

    ¡°Damn¡­!¡±

    If the Overlord¡¯s Technique was triggered in this small and narrow space, then forget about Minhyuk, even Raldo himself would die. Minhyuk rushed to Raldo while swapping the ughterer¡¯s Armor with the Monarch¡¯s Armor. Then¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    A huge explosion engulfed the surroundings as the sword with ck mes struck out.

    ***

    ¡°Your, Your Majesty Raldo¡­! Your Majestyyy¡­!¡± Evan called out to Raldo anxiously as he peered through the barrier and the ck mes that devoured the space inside.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    The Overlord¡¯s Technique was so strong that it even left hairline cracks on the transparent barrier that separated Minhyuk and Raldo from the rest of them.

    ¡°Evan!!!¡±

    ¡°Run away!!!¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty!!!!¡±

    The guild members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom rushed to evacuate the crying Evan.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Enormous mes licked the walls as a huge explosion broke the transparent barrier and devoured the inside of the castle. After escaping the fire, Evan could only look tearily at the ce where the fire was breaking out.

    ¡°Your, Your Majesty¡­¡±

    Evan felt his knees weaken as he copsed on the ground. The king that made this kingdom stronger, the king hailed as the Sacred Monarch and was loved by his people, and the king that chose to fall into a deep sleep to protect his people and his kingdom until the very end. This king had initiated his own destruction.

    ¡°N, nooo¡­! Nooooo¡­!¡±

    Evan, who was on his knees, tried to crawl back into the fire.

    ¡°No!¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t!¡±

    The guild members of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom hurriedly stopped Evan from rushing to his own destruction.

    ¡°Your Highneeeeeeeesss!!!¡± Tears trickled down Evan¡¯s face as he wailed loudly in despair.

    But then, a warm voice suddenly rang from inside the fire, soft like the gentle and loving touch of a loved one, ¡°Your father watched you enter the garden. Until the very end, he was still worried about you. He tried to tell you about the location of the secret scroll but his life ended before he could do so.¡±

    <em>Crackle¡ª</em>

    With the smoke clearing up, the figures of two people in front of the throne, surrounded by zing mes appeared in the eyes of everyone present. Minhyuk had copsed, his entire body embracing and protecting Raldo from the mes. And Raldo, who was supporting his body to stop him from falling, could not take his eyes away from his face, tears falling down on his cheeks.

    ¡°Your father, who died at the hands of his own son while lying in bed, said¡­¡±

    Minhyuk smiled bitterly as he squeezed out thest of his energy.

    ¡°I love you, son.¡±

    In the end, Minhyuk¡¯s body turned gray and slowly disappeared from Raldo¡¯s arms. Raldo cried, hugging Minhyuk¡¯s disappearing body. Then, he smiled widely and said, ¡°Thank you¡­¡±

 Chapter 530: Gaining an Uncle

    Chapter 530: Gaining an Uncle

    Raldo was hailed as the owner of the throne of the Warrior¡¯s Nation, the Overlord, and the sessor of the Overlord¡¯s Technique.

    ¡°Thank you¡­¡±

    The words that slipped from his mouth meant a lot of things.

    Minhyuk had hurriedly swapped his current armor with the Monarch¡¯s Armor and dashed toward Raldo without any hesitation the moment the Overlord¡¯s Technique was activated.

    Why did Minhyuk do such a thing?

    It was not because he wanted to stop the Overlord¡¯s Technique from activating. It was so that he could cover Raldo with his entire body and take the damage that would befall the man. Minhyuk¡¯s HP, which had fallen to 1%, along with his MP, had immediately recovered to 100% thanks to the recovery effect and the special ability attached to the Monarch¡¯s Armor.

    However, the fire and explosion created by the Overlord¡¯s Technique was still so intense and overwhelming that it had depleted his HP in an instant.

    Raldo slowly came back to his senses amidst the burning mes. When he saw this, Minhyuk, with sincerity tinting his voice, desperately voiced the stories of the past. Raldo finally believed him, since these stories included secrets that he had only shared with Ravanberg before.

    ¡°I love you, son.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s voice was so soft and warm that Raldo saw Ravanberg¡¯s image sh on the man¡¯s face before disappearingpletely. Raldo watched the disappearing Minhyuk, while recalling his father, Ravanberg.

    <em>¡®My father.¡¯</em>

    Lumae Kingdom¡¯s hero and king had chosen to go down in history as a crazy tyrant himself because he wanted to protect his son, Raldo. Not knowing the truth, Raldo had always med his father and hated him for bing so, not even building a humble grave that could honor his father and his life.

    ¡°<em>Sob, sob, sob, sob, sob!</em>¡±

    No one said anything as Raldo sat there crying his heart out for a very long time.

    The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s prisoners of war that saw this scene were all dumbfounded. None of them had expected Raldo to awaken. And even though their king <em>had </em>awakened, they did not have any thoughts of being freed as genuine respect filled their hearts.

    <em>¡®The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King sacrificed himself¡­ for the sake of the Warrior God¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®How can he sacrifice his life just so he can tell the truth?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King deserves due respect.¡¯</em>

    The hearts of the prisoners of war shook violently.

    Meanwhile, the guild members of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were all left speechless after seeing what Minhyuk had dropped.

    ¡°The only things that Minhyuk dropped are food ingredients¡­¡±

    ¡°But I think Minhyuk must be crying right about now¡­?¡±

    That was right. By some strange luck, Minhyuk had not dropped any of his artifacts. However, he had dropped his most cherished ingredients before disappearing.

    Raldo stood up and wiped his tears. Then, confusion took over his expression when he saw the ce where Minhyuk had disappeared earlier.

    ¡°Why are there ingredients here¡­?¡±

    He had no choice but to wonder, since everything on the floor was food ingredients.

    ***

    Ending the connection and exiting his capsule, Minhyuk screamed, ¡°Noooooooooo!¡±

    Minhyuk had dropped some of the ingredients that he wanted to cook after sessfully waking up Raldo. The biggest problem here was that he had also dropped his most anticipated and most cherished chicken legs.

    ¡°Damn it¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes welled up with tears.

    <em>¡®My guild members will take care of it, right?¡¯</em>

    Minhyukforted himself with such thoughts as he stood up and appreciated his first forced logout.

    <em>¡®Is this what a forced logout feels like? I felt like I was really dying back there.¡¯</em>

    Because Minhyuk was one of the top rankers, the penalty that he would receive would be huge.

    <em>¡®I wonder what will happen to my and Raldo¡¯s rtionship in the future?¡¯</em>

    There was also no guarantee on that part either. After all, the only thing that Minhyuk had heard was the soft ¡®thank you¡¯ before everything had gone ck. But in the end, Minhyuk had been able to clear the quest. He immediately checked his character¡¯s notification window through his phone that was connected to Athenae.

    <em>[You havepleted the <strong>Linked Quest</strong>: The Warrior God¡¯s Curse.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the iplete Overlord¡¯s Technique.]</em>

    <em>[As a special privilege of acquiring the Overlord¡¯s Technique, you can use 150% of the technique¡¯s power without any of the required Overlord¡¯s Mana for a total of one time.]</em>

    Minhyuk had already experienced the full power of the Overlord¡¯s Technique, and just a few minutes ago too.

    <em>¡®The amount of damage it can deal is truly ridiculous.¡¯</em>

    Theplete Overlord¡¯s Technique had not only cut down the HP of Minhyuk, one of Athenae¡¯s top rankers, forcing out his lifesaving skill, but it had also immediately brought him to his death even after his HP had recovered to 100%. The first hit had dealt tremendous damage, while the continuous damage dealt by the fire generated after the strike was also beyond anybody¡¯s imagination.

    <em>¡®Maybe I shouldn¡¯t expect too much?¡¯</em>

    Now, the Overlord¡¯s Technique¡¯s power had been halved, which meant that it would definitely not have the same power as what Minhyuk had experienced earlier. If Minhyuk had great expectations, then he would also suffer from great disappointment. That was why he discarded his expectations and opened the Overlord¡¯s Technique¡¯s information window with a clear heart.

    <em>(<strong>Overlord¡¯s Technique</strong>)</em>

    <em>King¡¯s Authority</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: 4</em>

    <em><strong>Minimum Overlord¡¯s Mana Required</strong>: 40</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty</strong>: None.</em>

    <em><strong>Cooldown</strong>: 240 hours.</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?The Overlord¡¯s Fire with an additional 3,000~4,000% attack will attack everyone within a 40~60 meter radius.</em>

    <em>?The Overlord¡¯s Fire is a fire that cannot be easily extinguished. Once it attaches to the target, it will deal continuous damage.</em>

    <em>?You are an Overlord¡¯s Technique¡¯s user that already has another King Authority. You can just choose one of the two types of mana and set it to use to build up the mana required for the authority.</em>

    <em><strong>Conditions for Growth</strong>: You can develop the King¡¯s Authority by fighting against an enemy that is leagues stronger than you are, or fight against an overwhelming number of people in a war. You can also develop it by learning under the tutge of a strong individual. Your growth will depend on how much you learn.</em>

    ¡°OMG¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk choked from surprise from the information that he saw. The Overlord¡¯s Technique was ssified under the same category as the ¡®Worship¡¯ skill that he received from Iris. It was a skill that could not be triggered using one¡¯s ordinary MP, but instead used ¡®Overlord¡¯s Mana¡¯ the same way Worship used ¡®Authority Mana¡¯.

    However, this skill was far more astonishing than Worship. It was like the difference between a knight and a soldier. Minhyuk could deal 3,000% damage with a minimum of 30 Overlord¡¯s Mana, and even reach 4,000% damage at the highest. The radius of effect also started at 40 meters.

    <em>¡®If I can fill up the required Overlord¡¯s Mana and reach the radius of effect of 60 meters then¡­?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk gulped dryly. The Overlord¡¯s Technique was a skill that could also cause continuous damage once its fire hadtched onto the enemies. There was also something else that had to be taken into consideration with regards to the Overlord¡¯s Technique.

    <em>¡®It can grow.¡¯</em>

    Simply put, even though Minhyuk only had half of the Overlord¡¯s Technique, he could grow and develop it into itsplete version.

    <em>¡®Then, maybe I can do that too¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk still could not forget the battlefield that he had seen in Raldo¡¯s dreams. Ravanberg shed with his sword engulfed with ck mes, covering his 30,000 enemies with a huge tidal wave of mes and turning them into ashes.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s not impossible.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk smiled pleasantly. Then, he tried to ess the game, only to wake up from his daydreaming when his ess was denied.

    <em>¡®Ah. I can¡¯t ess the game right now.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk usually did things unconsciously¡ªhe was not used to being denied ess, since this was his very first forced logout. So, instead of ying, Minhyuk moved to his room to get enough rest.

    ***

    The various kings of Asgan Continent heard a very pleasing ¡®report¡¯.

    ¡°What did you say?! The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King has died under the sword of Raldo?!¡±

    ¡°Raldo did not show any mercy and killed the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s King?!¡±

    ¡°Raldo is also trying to push for the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s ostracization?!¡±

    It was truly happy news! They heard that Raldo had killed Minhyuk, the king of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. They even exaggerated the news and ended up saying that Lumae Kingdom was pushing for the ostracization of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. They did not know how Minhyuk had died; they just took this opportunity to spread wild rumors about how he died in Raldo¡¯s hands.

    ¡°This is our chance.¡±

    ¡°Summon our troops now!!!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re heading straight for Beyond the Heavens Kingdom now!¡±

    That was right. It was an opportunity. Due to the battle with Akhan a few days ago, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had lost a lot of troops and were currently still in their recovery period. In such a state, their king died under the hands of Raldo. The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ king was a foreigner, an immortal that would die ande back to life.

    However, they believed that since Minhyuk had been cut down by Raldo without even a fight, then the kingdom¡¯s morale must have definitely plummeted.

    Anyone could tell that the kings of Asgan continent were marching there to devour the kingdom when they summoned their troops. They did not spread any rumors among the troops and only moved silently to avoid Ellie¡¯s eyes and ears. The number of the troops that they have gathered reached 120,000. That was when they heard another piece of breaking news.

    ¡°Raldo is immediately making his way to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom with 1,000 elite knights?!¡±

    ¡°Hooo~! Raldo must be very angry. After all, he immediately went to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom the moment he woke up from his deep sleep!¡±

    ¡°We should also make haste!¡±

    The kings giggled and chuckled as they hurriedly moved along.

    How angry was Overlord Raldo at the Food God, for him to rush to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and their king with 1,000 elite knights?

    However, having only 1,000 elite knights apanying him did not mean that they could just ignore Raldo. These knights were of a different quality from the knights that apanied Prince Votto. They were the finest knights that lived solely for Raldo and would only move at his name andmand. Thanks to Raldo¡¯s passive skills, these knights had already surpassed their limits several times. The kingdomsbined were afraid of Raldo and his 1,000 elite knights.

    Although this was supposed to be a silent attack, there were several yers that joined among the troops. They began posting in themunity sites that Raldo was in a hurry to attack the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and that the other kingdoms were also moving to join. As the discussion began to flood themunity sites, the yers that migrated to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom felt fear, despite not knowing the truth of the matter.

    ¡°In the end, will Beyond the Heavens Kingdom copse?¡±

    ¡°How can that be¡­?¡±

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we hurry up and escape?!¡±

    ¡°Everyone, calm down. Our Beyond the Heavens Kingdom will not copse. Besides, if you choose to run away now, then you will never have another chance of stepping foot inside Beyond the Heavens Kingdom again.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Because of that, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s soldiers were able to control the panicking yers. Of course, the yers could just log out at that point in time. But the harsh words that Beyond the Heavens Kingdom uttered made them stop.

    Not long after, an unexpected situation unfolded inside the kingdom. Despite many of the yers trembling in fear, none of them logged out. They just started to gear up and prepared to greet the enemies to protect the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    Then, loud trumpet sounds rang in the open air.

    <em>Vwoooooooooong¡ª</em>

    <em>Vwoooooooooong¡ª</em>

    <em>Vwoooooooooong¡ª</em>

    The allied forces carrying the gs of four kingdoms appeared in their vicinity. Both the yers and the citizens of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were terrified at the scene. There was even someone saying that this was the end of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    At the same time, Raldo and his 1,000 elite knights stepped foot in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s territory on horseback, a step ahead of the four allied kingdoms.

    ¡°Crazy¡­ Why aren¡¯t you stopping them?!¡±

    ¡°Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s soldiers?!!! Have you lost your will to fight even before the fight started?!!!¡±

    yers could not also rashly make their move. After all, Overlord Raldo, an NPC that was only second to Ellie, was standing at the vanguard. At the same time, the yers were also watching Raldo and the dignity that was emanating from his body in awe.

    Raldo and his knights were all d in ck armor, ck horned helmets, and ck capes with the pattern of a sword on them. Even the horses that they were riding on were ck. Both the yers and the citizens of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom could only hold their breath at the awe-inspiring appearance of Overlord Raldo and his men.

    Minhyuk, whose ess restriction had finally been lifted, appeared. Wearing a bloody red armor and a silver cape on his back, Minhyuk appeared with the dignity of a king himself, as he walked in a majestic manner, with his entourage of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s executives.

    The kings, who were hiding together with their escorts, also watched the scene intently.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s right, Raldo. Quickly cut off the Food God¡¯s head!!!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Cut the bastard¡¯s neck off and signal the start of the war!!!¡¯</em>

    The kings desperately hoped and prayed for Raldo to finally make his move. Meanwhile, Raldo, who was looking at Minhyuk through the gaps of his ck horned helmet, slowly got off his horse.

    What did he do next?

    <em>Shiiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    Raldo drew his sword. Someone showed a deep smile on his face while another showed frustration. Then¡­

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    ¡­Raldo drove his sword into the ground with all his might. The yers could not understand the situation for a moment. But the NPCs and the kings understood.

    <em>¡®The meaning of the king stabbing his sword on the ground¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Means that he does not have any intention to fight¡­?¡¯</em>

    Everyone¡¯s eyes shook.

    ¡®<em>Why did Raldo reveal that he does not have any intention to fight?</em>¡¯

    But then, something more shocking happened. Raldo and the 1,000 elite knights that came with him all took off their ck horned helmets. Then, Raldo slowly knelt down on one knee.

    Overlord Raldo, the king of the Warrior¡¯s Nation, someone that even Sword Emperor Ellie was helpless against, knelt down on one knee and said, ¡°You have my gratitude. I hope you can grant us your forgiveness, my benefactor.¡±

    <em>Swoosh¡ª</em>

    <em>Swoosh¡ª</em>

    <em>Swoosh¡ª</em>

    <em>Swoosh¡ª</em>

    At the same time, the knights unmounted and knelt down on one knee in front of Minhyuk and paid their courtesy. Then, Raldo ced both of his hands on his legs and dered, ¡°You can take my head.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Everyone was shocked speechless.

 Chapter 531: Gaining an Uncle

    Chapter 531: Gaining an Uncle

    Overlord Raldo was the king of the great Lumae Kingdom. It was also through him that Minhyuk had been able to get the Overlord¡¯s Technique. The fact that Raldo could now use the Overlord¡¯s Technique without receiving any penalties meant that his power would bepletely overwhelming.

    For Minhyuk, it was just a skill, but for an NPC like Overlord Raldo, gaining the power of the Overlord¡¯s Technique meant that he had reached an entirely new level; he had now climbed the ranks of Absolute Supreme NPCs.

    And this Absolute Supreme NPC was politely asking Minhyuk to kill him.

    The kings, the yers, and even the guild members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were all shocked by this sudden turn of events. Among them, Haze looked like she knew something.

    <em>¡®No way¡­!¡¯</em>

    The kings, on the other hand, gulped dryly.

    <em>¡®No¡­!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®You can¡¯t take Raldo¡¯s head!¡¯</em>

    Even now, the name of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was resounding loudly in the continent. If the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King took Raldo¡¯s head, then his name would ring more loudly in the continent and make his kingdom stronger.

    Minhyuk looked at the kneeling Raldo in silence for quite some time and thought, <em>¡®What a mischievous guy¡¯</em> while smiling bitterly. He knew full well what Raldo was asking for. It was because he did not have any more regrets.

    Knowing the fact that his father, Ravanberg, loved him dearly was enough for Raldo. It was more than enough. However, he also regretted one fact. <em>¡®Why couldn¡¯t I be a father like that to Votto?¡¯ </em>

    After what had happened with Ravanberg, Raldo could not bring himself to regard his family as something important. He had trained and built his kingdom and his men, but had always maintained a distant attitude when it came to Votto.

    In the end, Votto had be Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s prisoner of war and even promised to take his own life in return for his men¡¯s lives.

    ¡°The fault of the people is the fault of their king. Take my head and relieve your anger.¡±

    No matter who looked at it, they could tell that Minhyuk deserved to take Raldo¡¯s life. Although he was asleep at that time, it was true that Lumae Kingdom caused great damage to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Of course, the two kingdoms did notpletely wage war against each other. That meant that Raldo could very well just dere a full-on war right here and now.

    However, Raldo chose to offer his life to his benefactor, Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk took a step toward the ce where Raldo¡¯s sword was embedded. He pulled out the sword and looked down at Raldo. Everyone turned tense as they looked at the two.

    Minhyuk then whispered, with a voice so soft that only Raldo could hear, ¡°You¡¯re a great father, just like Ravanberg.¡±

    Then, Minhyuk¡¯s soft and gentle voice continued to ring in Raldo¡¯s ears.

    ¡°You¡¯re a very cool father.¡±

    He was a father who tried to save his son by offering his own neck instead. Raldo shivered when he heard Minhyuk¡¯s words.

    <em>¡®Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King¡­¡¯</em>

    Raldo thought that there was no shame in dying by the hands of Minhyuk. Raldo had never once recognized the kings and emperors of this continent in his life. He thought that they were just a bunch of people withrge chunks ofnd and many people under them.

    However, the same was not true for Minhyuk. He was a man that was worthy of respect and the only thing that Raldo resented was the fact that he had only met this man now. Raldo slowly closed his eyes.

    <em>¡®Please, spare my son Votto.¡¯</em>

    Perhaps somewhere, his son, Votto, was crying and calling his name out. Raldo smiled at the thought.

    <em>¡®Father, was this how you felt back then? No, perhaps you felt more pain?¡¯</em>

    Raldo felt relieved. Now, he could end his life and go to his father¡¯s arms. But then¡­

    <em>ng¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk threw Raldo¡¯s sword on the ground, the impact ringing loudly in the clearing. Then, Minhyuk spoke in a tonepletely different from the one that he had used earlier.

    ¡°Lumae Kingdom¡¯s King, you are shameless!!!¡±

    Everyone looked at Minhyuk in doubt when they saw him throw Raldo¡¯s sword and shout like that.

    ¡°As the king, you dare to ask me to forgive your men¡¯s sins by offering your life? I dere here and now!¡±

    Minhyuk looked at his subordinates and the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom with a cold expression on his face. And Haze, who stood amidst them¡­

    <em>¡®No way¡­!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk, with his dignified voice, continued to speak. His voice rang loudly and spread through his subjects, the yers, and even through the broadcasting cameras.

    ¡°As a prisoner of war, Prince Votto will be held captive in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom for three years. In addition, the 1,000 elite knights that came here would be imprisoned here for three years to pay for their crimes. I dere this as the King of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.¡±

    Minhyuk looked at Raldo coldly. Although Minhyuk¡¯s voice was cold, Raldo could tell what he meant and wanted to do, tears already dripping down his cheeks.

    ¡°Our Beyond the Heavens Kingdom will not forgive the Lumae Kingdom. Lumae Kingdom has topensate more than five times the amount of damages that we have suffered in this war. I will not grant Lumae Kingdom¡¯s King Raldo¡¯s request, and I henceforth banish him from this kingdom!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The buzz among the yers and the people grew.

    ¡°He¡¯s banishing Raldo?¡±

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t that mean that the war would not end?¡±

    ¡°Does His Majesty intend to trample on the Lumae Kingdom?¡±

    ¡°Ho!¡±

    ¡°Wow. The Food God does not care about anything once he gets angry.¡±

    ¡°But, isn¡¯t he cool?¡±

    These were the thoughts of the ordinary people and the yers. However, the meaning of the words that Minhyuk uttered were fully understood by Raldo, the other kings, and the 1,000 elite knights present at the scene.

    Haze was amazed.

    <em>¡®His Majesty is truly a clever ruler.¡¯ </em>

    She was inplete awe and admiration of Minhyuk. Minhyuk might have dered that he would be Raldo¡¯s enemy by banishing him. But the truth? Bringing in Prince Votto and the 1,000 elite knights under their watch might sound like they were prisoners of war, but Minhyuk was actually using them as a shield.

    <em>¡®What would happen if another kingdom dared toy their hands on Beyond the Heavens Kingdom that housed Prince Votto?¡¯</em>

    Then¡­

    <em>¡®It¡¯s no different thanying their hands on Raldo.¡¯</em>

    That was right. Attacking Prince Votto, who despite being a prisoner of war was also a prince of Lumae Kingdom, was like provoking the Lumae Kingdom. They would be put in a situation where they had to deal with both the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and the Lumae Kingdom at once.

    <em>¡®Not only that, but 1,000 of the finest elite knights will be in the kingdom.¡¯</em>

    There was no information about Raldo¡¯s 1,000 elite knights, but it could be said that the knights that Raldo raised secretly had to be the best of the best. The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had already reached the point where their future was basically secured.

    <em>¡®Trading the life of Prince Votto and the 1,000 elite knights was worth it.¡¯</em>

    In fact, killing Prince Votto would be the signal of defeat of the Lumae Kingdom. But that fact was something that King Raldo had already acknowledged when he had knelt down on his own. Even those elite knights had already acknowledged that fact too.

    <em>¡®Did he make this choice for His Majesty Raldo?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He awakened His Majesty Raldo, taught him about the truth of his past, and even allowed us to save Prince Votto¡¯s life.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I will do my best and give my life for His Majesty Raldo and the king of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had touched the hearts of these significant people, and even won their loyalty. Then, he said, ¡°Does the King of Lumae have anything to say?¡±

    Raldo, who was still in tears, felt extremely grateful for Minhyuk¡¯s kindness and mercy.

    ¡°Nothing,¡± Raldo said as he slowly stood up. In the eyes of others, Minhyuk and Raldo had turned into bitter enemies.

    Then, Minhyuk immediately heard a set of notifications.

    <em>[Lumae Kingdom¡¯s 1,000 ¡®Shadow Knights¡¯ have sworn their eternal loyalty to you.]</em>

    <em>[The Shadow Knights are the finest knights that have hidden in the shadows and secretly protected Raldo. The power and skills of these knights far surpassed that of the Imperial Knights.]</em>

    <em>[They will show extreme loyalty to you.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 300 REP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 20 CHA.]</em>

    Finally, Raldo turned around and walked away from the kingdom. Arge crowd snickered at Raldo.

    ¡°Is that NPC the one hailed as the Overlord? If he¡¯s just that, then I can also call myself the Overlord!¡±

    ¡°No, no. It¡¯s because Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King, the Food God, is really dope, you know?¡±

    ¡°Kyaaa~ The Food God is so ssy!¡±

    Those that did not know of the truthughed and snickered at Raldo. But the ce that Raldo was headed to was the ce where the other kings were secretly watching everything unfold.

    Suddenly, immense killing intent burst out from Overlord Raldo. Then, he said, ¡°Are you telling me that this huge army is trying toy their hands on the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom? The ce where my son is currently held captive?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The kings could not say anything and could only keep their mouths shut tightly. After all, Raldo¡¯s words could also mean¡­

    <em>¡®Don¡¯t you dare touch the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.¡¯</em>

    Raldo, who was holding his sword high, finally lowered it.

    <em>Gulp¡ª</em>

    Someone in the crowd gulped dryly. The people mocked Raldo, but he was not someone that could be ridiculed that easily.

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then I can just wipe out 50,000 of your troops here.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    That was a fact. It was something that Raldo was capable of. And those 50,000 strong troops? Of course, their lives did not really matter to the kings, who didn¡¯t care even if they were threatened like that. However, the biggest problem here was that they were the ones closest to Raldo and would definitely risk losing their lives along with their troops.

    So, the kings immediately lowered their tails.

    ¡°We, we¡¯re just here to sightsee.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right! We¡¯re just here to sightsee!¡±

    ¡°We came here to express our gratitude to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s King for saving the Asgan Continent.¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes! What we¡¯re saying is that we gathered the troops here to celebrate and express our gratitude to him!¡±

    Raldo only passed by them when he saw them immediately lowering their tails between their legs. He did not leave the vicinity of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, however; instead, he waited for all the troops to leave.

    The people of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom began to move on and do their jobs once again as their kingdom once again found peace. As for Raldo? He was finally able to meet with his son, a prisoner of war.

    ¡°Royal father¡­ Why¡­ why¡­¡±

    Raldo was nothing but a scary king to Prince Votto. A harsh king that had always been cold to him and had never called out to him warmly and gently. For the first time, Raldo looked at Votto with a soft and warm smile on his face.

    ¡°Votto. Take good care of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s King.¡±

    Prince Votto copsed at the words of his father, the very same father that had put his own neck on the line to save him, as Raldo called his name for the first time in his life.

    ¡°I will keep that in mind.¡±

    Only after that did Raldo move to leave Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    <em>¡®My son will definitely learn a lot from here.¡¯</em>

    Raldo was relieved to leave his son under the care of such a king.

    At that moment, a masked man appeared in front of Raldo. The man pulled his mask down, revealing the face of the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King, Minhyuk.

    Unlike before, Minhyuk just looked at Raldo, and Raldo also did the same thing. After quite some time, Raldo asked, ¡°Why?¡±

    Minhyuk looked at Raldo in confusion.

    ¡°Why did you tell me that when you protected me?¡±

    Raldo still could not understand why Minhyuk was willing to risk his life just so he could tell him the truth about his father, Ravanberg.

    ¡°Because my father is like your father.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    That was right. One of the main reasons why Minhyuk had helped Raldo that much was precisely that. Some would say that he was too emotional, but Minhyuk felt that Ravanberg and his own father, Kang Minhoo, shared a lot of things inmon.

    As Minhyuk suffered from an eating addiction and stopped showing up during thepany¡¯s board meetings, the board members had started to speak of other sessor candidates to pressure Kang Minhoo. But his father had fought against them. Kang Minhoo had worked twice, thrice more to protect Minhyuk and to fill the vacancy that theirpany, apany without any sessor, had.

    But even while enduring such exhaustion, Kang Minhoo still came home with a bright smile on his face, because that was what a father was.

    The other reason was that Minhyuk knew that sons needed to know the burden that their fathers bore. Those were the reasons why Minhyuk told Raldo the truth.

    Raldo grinned and said, ¡°All fathers must be strong.¡±

    Minhyuk just smiled softly in response. Raldo was about to turn around, when he stopped in his tracks and asked in embarrassment, ¡°Will you be friends with me?¡±

    Minhyuk smiled awkwardly, because he did not know what to call Raldo. Raldo thought that it was a sign of refusal, so he turned around bitterly. But then, he recalled something and turned around again while taking something out.

    ¡°Ah. You dropped this.¡±

    What Raldo held out was one of the things that Minhyuk had dropped: the chicken legs.

    Minhyuk was immediately delighted the moment he saw it. He shouted, ¡°U-Uncle Raldo!!! Can I call you uncle?!¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    It was on this day that Minhyuk gained a new uncle, an uncle by the name of Overlord Raldo.

    There was a woman smiling happily as she watched Overlord Raldo hand over some chicken legs to a beaming Minhyuk. This woman was none other than Haze.

    <em>¡®His noona is Sword Emperor Ellie. His hyung is Emperor Asvon. And his uncle is Overlord Raldo. What in the world are His Majesty¡¯s personal connections¡­?¡¯</em>

    Then, she suddenly wondered, <em>¡®Then, will he have a god as his grandfather or grandmotherter?!¡¯</em>

    Haze was already smiling at the pleasant thoughts shing through her head.

 Chapter 532: Friend

    Chapter 532: Friend

    Ascar, who was challenging the tenth floor of the Blood Tower, started to feel the weight of her exhaustion.

    <em>¡®I don¡¯t see any way to clear this.¡¯</em>

    Ascar would only be able to clear the trial if she got her hand on the bloody greatsword, which was conveniently ced right behind the 60,000 monsters in front of her.

    And the number of times that she died on the tenth floor?

    <em>[Asura¡¯s Trial.]</em>

    <em>[Tenth Floor. Number of Deaths: 299.]</em>

    <em>[Upon failure in clearing Asura¡¯s Trial, the penalty would be applied based on the number of tries used.]</em>

    That was right. She had already died 299 times. When top rankers target a dungeon, they would usually hunt repeatedly, analyzing it swiftly and in a thorough manner. This was the reason why it was not that easy to break the records set by these rankers, even if it was in a regr time-attack dungeon.

    Of course, Ascar was among the top rankers. But at this point, she had already deemed it useless. She could not find any way to attack and clear this floor. She continued to break through in a head-on battle while thinking about other methods, wondering if there was a shortcut or another path that would open if she just continued to kill the monsters, but none of those happened. This meant¡­

    <em>¡®Only the strong can clear Asura¡¯s final trial¡­¡¯</em>

    Most dungeons could be cleared even if the yers did not meet the minimum requirements to clear it, as long as they knew the patterns to attack. Unfortunately, the tenth floor¡¯s trial was too brutal; only those strong enough to deal with 60,000 monsters alone could ovee and clear this trial.

    But what about Ascar? She was only ranked in the middle of the highest top rankers, and her power was definitely insufficient to deal with these monsters alone. This was something that she realized after dying for the 250th time.

    ¡°It¡¯s time for you to give up. Admit it. You are weak, far too weak to inherit my powers. Just like how the humanspared some existences to ¡®ants¡¯, you are that. You are an ¡®ant¡¯.¡±

    An ant. Humans could kill ants just by pressing on them with their fingers. Ants were infinitely weaker creaturespared to humans. But instead of rage, Ascar felt amused. That was right. She was an ant.

    ¡°It seems like you don¡¯t know the story about the ant and the grasshopper, huh?¡±

    The ants might be fools but they did their best in everything. Even in fairytales, there were times when ants were far better than humans.

    ¡°Hmm.¡±

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    Just as Ascar rushed forward once again, one of the monsters stabbed her chest with its rusty sword. Immediately after, a gigantic monster that looked simr to an ichthyosaur opened its mouth and devoured Ascar.

    <em>[You have died 299 times on Asura¡¯s Trial¡¯s tenth floor.]</em>

    <em>[You can challenge it for the 300th time.]</em>

    <em>[However, Asura¡¯s Trial¡¯s penalties will reach the maximum after the 300th try.]</em>

    Ascar bit her lips tightly. Challenging the 300th trial meant that she risked the maximum penalty for failure. Of course, it represented a great burden on her, but she did not choose to give up.

    ¡°Start the challenge.¡±

    <em>[Starting the 300th Challenge.]</em>

    <em>[You will receive the maximum penalty for challenging the trial for the 300th time.]</em>

    <em>[Something special might happen once you challenge the trial for the 300th time.]</em>

    <em>¡®Something special¡­?¡¯ </em>Ascar wondered. However, the 60,000 monsters were already rushing at her before she could even delve deeper into her thoughts. They all had varying levels, starting from Level 200, up until Level 500.

    <em>¡®Rush forward while conserving as much strength as I can, and only use my skills to break through if my life is in danger.¡¯</em>

    Ascar might not have found a way to clear the trial, but she did find a way to endure longer. She even found a few ways to cut down the monsters faster. Ascar rushed toward the monsters that blocked her path.

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    Her two katanas drew two beautiful lines as she cut down the monsters in front of her. Since her basic attack was among the top in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, it was not that difficult to cut down the monsters that blocked her path. The problem usually began when she got through the ones at the front and had delved deep among the monsters¡¯ ranks.

    Ascar continued to cut down the monsters all the while rushing deeper into their ranks. There were even times when she only needed several cuts to kill off monsters with high defenses. The monsters kept on swarming at her the deeper she dug inside.

    <em>¡®When driven into a corner, the enemies will retaliate harder.¡¯</em>

    Once that happened, her HP and defenses would not be able to keep up at all. So, she cast a skill.

    <em>[Sword Tempest.]</em>

    <em>[A storm of swords will strike all of your enemies within a ten meter radius with additional 1,200% attack.]</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Once she crossed her swords, a huge storm made of sword des appeared and swept away all of the monsters within a ten meter radius. Then, she took the opportunity to dive deeper into the monsters¡¯ ranks.

    Ascar continued to cut through the monsters'' ranks just like that. But as time went by, the damage that she incurred continued to take a toll, until she reached the point where her stamina was starting to run out. Her body was starting to reach its limits.

    ¡°Haa¡­ Haa¡­¡± Ascar drew one ragged breath after another as she cut down another enemy.

    <em>¡®But more and more appears in front of me¡­¡¯</em>

    Ever since she started this, the most challenging attempt was the current 300th try. No matter how many times she tried, she was still far from enough. She was only halfway through, but among the monsters swarming in front and behind her, the number that she had killed was only around 6,000.

    <em>aaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    ¡°Ugh!¡± Ascar fell down with a groan after blocking a three-headed ogre¡¯s ax.

    <em>¡®Is there really no other way¡­?¡¯</em>

    Was this truly something that she could not achieve, despite giving it her all? Actually, Ascar knew it well. However, she was continuously rushing forward, trying to make the impossible possible, because she made a promise with <em>him</em>.

    Ascar was already weak as she was. But if things continued as it was, then the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s Ghost of the Battlefield would disappear without doing anything at all.

    <em>Kiiick¡ª</em>

    Ascar, who was hit by one of the monsters¡¯ kicks, copsed in a heap. Even her HP was already reaching rock bottom so it was about time for her to be forced to logout. Ascar fell down on the ground, her breaths turning ragged while her consciousness began to fade.

    <em>[Your Stamina and HP have drastically dropped in a short period of time.]</em>

    <em>[You¡¯re slowly falling into a fainted state.]</em>

    But the notifications did not end there.

    <em>[You¡¯re the one that has tried to challenge Asura¡¯s Trial for the 300th time.]</em>

    <em>[You kept on challenging the trial despite knowing that it¡¯s impossible for you.]</em>

    <em>[Something special is now happening.]</em>

    <em>[You can now choose a helper. If your chosen helper answers your summons within a minute, they would be able to participate and fight with you.]</em>

    <em>[You will fall into a four-second fainted state.]</em>

    <em>¡®I can choose a helper¡­ Then, the helper that I choose is¡­¡¯</em>

    In the end, Ascar lost consciousness.

    ***

    Haze was very excited to give her report to Minhyuk.

    ¡°On average, the members of the Shadow Knight Order are at Level 570. With the passive skill ¡®Secret Knight¡¯, we could expect them to exert 1.3x their original power in the dark, a tremendous disy of power if I may say.¡±

    Haze could not help but be excited after knowing what Minhyuk received from the Lumae Kingdom.

    <em>Mumble, mumble, mumble¡ª</em>

    The moment Minhyuk¡¯s new-found Uncle Raldo returned to his kingdom, he filled carts of weapons, armors, gold, and even their specialties and sent it to them. Haze continued to report excitedly, but she ended up pausing when she saw the look on Minhyuk¡¯s face. It was because Minhyuk looked distracted as he stared at the Blood Tower that could be seen out of the windows of his office.

    Actually, it was Haze that had reported to Minhyuk that Ascar was there. She could tell from Minhyuk¡¯s expression that he was very worried about Ascar.

    ¡°Ah, sorry. Go on.¡±

    ¡°Yes. The funds that we received aspensation from Lumae Kingdom amounted to 50,000 tinum. It¡¯s more than enough to repair all of the damages that we have received in this war. In addition, many of the foreigners have started migrating to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom after having seen the war and seeing plenty of possibilities in us. The number of people that migrated today¡­¡±

    Haze suddenly stopped. It seemed like she had made a mistake and had forgotten to bring the tally of the yers that have migrated today.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Your Majesty. Please excuse me for a moment.¡±

    ¡°Alright,¡± Minhyuk answered as he turned to look at the Blood Tower again.

    Haze went out while thinking, <em>¡®Ascar is trying harder because you¡¯re that kind of king.¡¯</em>

    She smiled bitterly at the thought. After getting the report, she once again opened the door to Minhyuk¡¯s office and entered.

    ¡°Your Majesty, the number of foreigners that migrated today¡­¡±

    But Haze suddenly stopped in her tracks, head tilting in confusion. It was because Minhyuk was nowhere to be found. The only thing that appeared in the room was the wind blowing through the open windows.

    ¡°Your Majesty¡­?¡±

    A littleter¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>Rumble, rumble, rumble¡ª</em>

    Strong and powerful tremors engulfed the entire Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Haze hurriedly hid under the table at the sudden shaking and only came out to look after everything died down. What she saw outside were powerful ck mes zing on top of the Blood Tower.

    ¡°Your Majesty¡­?¡±

    ***

    Ascar¡¯s consciousness was slowly returning. She was able to choose a helper just before she fainted. And the helper that she chose was none other than Minhyuk. Perhaps it was because she was not fully conscious at the time. Ascar knew that nothing would change even if Minhyuk answered her call in that short minute and appeared here. Actually, the reason why she called Minhyuk as her helper was because she wanted to see him.

    Once her consciousness returned to her, she saw his wide back in front of her.

    Minhyuk, who was chosen as Ascar¡¯s helper, was notified about the number of times that Ascar had challenged the trials the moment he entered the tower. Minhyuk was left in awe of Ascar¡¯s perseverance, knowing that the trials were so difficult and mentally straining.

    ¡°You¡¯re really great, Ascar,¡± Minhyuk said sincerely as he looked back at her.

    But Ascar¡¯s vision was still a bit blurry so she could not see his face clearly.

    ¡°Come, wrap one of your hands around my shoulders.¡±

    Minhyuk hugged Ascar, who was now slowlying back to her senses. With one arm wrapped around Minhyuk¡¯s shoulders, Ascar mumbled groggily, ¡°There are too many monsters¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s alright.¡±

    Ascar thought that no matter how strong Minhyuk was, there was no way that he could help her against all these monsters that filled the entire floor.

    Minhyuk hugged Ascar with one hand, while holding his sword with the other and casting his ¡®saved¡¯ skill, the Sword of Absolute Death.

    <em>Ping¡ª</em>

    The attack immediately knocked down one of the tallest boss monsters that were blocking their path.

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    Then, hundreds of sword des appeared and swept away the monster corps that blocked them, creating a thirty meter long path. Minhyuk hurriedly ran while hugging Ascar.

    <em>[40 seconds, 39 seconds, 38 seconds, 37¡­]</em>

    Time continued to flow as they continued to run forward. Then, Minhyuk suddenly jumped to the skies, the sword in his hand pointing to the ground.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>[Continent Destroyer.]</em>

    The Continent Destroyer Sword¡¯s ultimate skill was triggered, sweeping the area around the two. Minhyuk continued to run while the monsters were still reeling from the sudden earthquake. He stomped on some of the flying boulders that flew from the earthquake, even going so far as to stepping on monsters that flew too.

    At this moment, Minhyuk, who was running with Ascar in his arms and the explosions ofva behind him, looked like he was the main character of an action movie.

    <em>Shwaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>[19 seconds, 18 seconds, 17 seconds¡­]</em>

    The timer continued to tick but the podium holding the bloody greatsword was still far away from them. Suddenly, tens of thousands of monsters appeared and blocked Minhyuk¡¯s path again. The problem was that there were even Named Monsters that exceeded Level 500 among the monsters that blocked their path here on the tenth floor.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s impossible¡­¡¯ </em>Ascar thought, biting her lips amidst themotion.

    But Minhyuk looked down at Ascar with a gentle smile on his face. His expression seemed to tell her that there was nothing to worry about as he said, ¡°It¡¯s alright, Ascar.¡±

    Ascar felt her heart thump like crazy when she met Minhyuk''s warm and soft gaze. Even her cheeks flushed red without her knowing it. Then, jet ck mes bloomed on Minhyuk¡¯s sword.

    <em>Crackleeee¡ª</em>

    The powerful force that erupted from his sword shook the surroundings.

    <em>Rumble, rumble, rumble¡ª</em>

    The ground shook and the skies rumbled as the air in the surroundings heated up. And Minhyuk, who flew in the skies, struck the ground with all his might.

    <em>[Overlord¡¯s Technique.]</em>

    <em>[The one that has received the Overlord¡¯s Technique will be able to trigger 150% of the power of the Overlord¡¯s Technique without using the Overlord¡¯s Mana for one time.]</em>

    <em>[The Overlord¡¯s Technique covers the entire world!]</em>

    <em>[The Overlord¡¯s Fire, with an additional 5,000%~8,000% attack, will attack everyone within a 60~80 meter radius.]</em>

    <em>[The Overlord¡¯s Fire is a fire that will not be extinguished so easily. If the fire licks and touches a body, it will continue to deal damage to that individual.]</em>

    The amount of damage that Minhyuk dealt was several times stronger than the original Overlord¡¯s Technique¡¯s power. This was because it was Minhyuk¡¯s very first use. On his very first usage of the skill, he could utilize 50% more power without the need to fill his Overlord¡¯s Mana.

    As soon as Minhyuk¡¯s sword struck down, a ck wave stretched out as the power of the Overlord¡¯s Technique was expressed to the world. The wave instantly turned the monsters that blocked their path into bones until they disappeared into ashes. The ck mes opened the path for them. In fact, the power of the Overlord¡¯s Technique was so strong that it even tore apart the walls of the tower¡¯s tenth floor as strong mes burst out. The beautiful ck mes mesmerized Ascar.

    Then, Minhyuk looked down at Ascar with a gentle gaze as he lowered her into the ground and said, ¡°It¡¯s your turn now. You¡¯re not going to give up, right?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    At that moment, Ascar felt as if the same Minhyuk that warmed her with his words in the past shed in front of her.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s right. I won¡¯t give up.¡¯</em>

    Ascar immediately ran to the unblocked path created by the ck mes with thest of her strength the moment Minhyuk lowered her into the ground. However, her HP was still at rock bottom and her stamina was going down. Still, all Ascar did was to grit her teeth and run.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeek!¡±

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    <em>[The monsters will desperately try to stop you the closer you get to Asura¡¯s greatsword.]</em>

    <em>Crackleeeeeeee¡ª</em>

    Thousands of monsters devoured by the ck mes rushed after Ascar until they disappeared into dust. Ascar continued to run forward alone without any fear as thousands chased after her.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s nothing in the world that I can¡¯t do!¡¯</em>

    Nothing was impossible. Especially after Minhyuk showed her his strength and power.

    <em>Dash, dash, dash, dash¡ª</em>

    Ascar¡¯s speed seemed to increase and be faster as time went by. Even the thousands of monsters that were chasing behind her began to throw themselves at her to stop her. Just when an ichthyosaur-like monster tried to devour her¡­

    ¡°I¡¯ll make it, no matter what!¡±

    <em>Grab¡ª</em>

    ¡­Ascar grabbed the hilt of the greatsword.

    <em>aaaaaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    Then, a bright red light illuminated everything in the world, turning all of the monsters into ashes.

    <em>[You have sessfullypleted Asura¡¯s Trial.]</em>

    <em>[With your sessfulpletion of Asura¡¯s Trial, you can now change to ¡®God ss: Asura¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[You have ovee your limit andpleted the trial.]</em>

    <em>[You have gone beyond your limits and even reached God. The powers of Asura that you will be able to inherit will be stronger.]</em>

    <em>[With your transfer to a God ss, your level will drop to Level 266.]</em>

    Ascar smiled brightly amidst the shining red light. Her eyes curved up into crescents as her white and neat teeth peeked through the gaps of her lips. The red light even highlighted her white skin, straight nose, and sharp jawline. The smile that she showed right now was beautiful enough to charm the entire world. As she smiled like that, she turned to look at <em>him.</em>

    ¡°You know¡­¡±

 Chapter 533: Friend

    Chapter 533: Friend

    Ascar was able to grab onto the hilt of the bloody greatsword and inherit Asura¡¯s power thanks to the help of her chosen helper, Minhyuk. She turned to look back at Minhyuk with a bright smile on her face. For some reason, she felt like she could tell him that she was Da-Sol, the girl that he helped in the past.

    So, she slowly opened her mouth to say, ¡°You know¡­¡±

    However, when she turned around, Minhyuk was not there anymore. She could not even hide her disappointment.

    ¡°This¡­¡±

    That was her chance. She thought that she might even be able to invite him to watch her walk in the fashion show. But it was all for naught. All she could do was stare nkly at the ce where he disappeared from, for a long time.

    ***

    A festive mood surrounded the entire Beyond the Heavens Kingdom because Ascar, the Ghost of the Battlefield, was able to sessfully transfer to ¡®God ss Asura¡¯. Everyone congratted her.

    <em>[<strong>Khan</strong>: Congrattions Ascar. It seems like the gap between us has widened again. ??]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Vice Guild Master Genie</strong>: Congrattions dear ¡®Scar~~ Your unnie loves you a lot~?]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Alicia</strong>: Ascar, congrattions.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Kaistra</strong>: Noona, congrats~ To congratte you, I will wash your dishes for you if you have any.]</em>

    Ascar remained expressionless as she read her guild members¡¯ congrattory messages on her phone as she traveled the streets of New York.

    <em>¡®Thank you, everyone.¡¯</em>

    She was definitely happy, but her face remained as expressionless as ever. It was strange, but Ascar kept on looking at her phone waiting for someone to send her a congrattory message. And although it was just a little toote, she felt extremely nervous.

    Then, the message came in.

    <em>[<strong>Guild Master Minhyuk</strong>: Congrattions Ascar!!! That was very, <strong>very</strong> cool! ^_^.]</em>

    Ascar looked at the message for a long time. It was definitely the same congrattory message, just like the same message that others sent, but strangely enough, it could bring her mood up, and even bring it down at the same time.

    <em>¡®What did I even expect?¡¯</em>

    Ascar climbed the ne and sat on her first-ss seat. Just before her ne to Paris took off, her phone rang. It was Genie.

    ¡°Hello.¡±

    <em>[¡®Scar, are you not really going to tell the guild members?]</em>

    Genie was also invited to watch Designer Crystal¡¯s Fashion Show, that was why Ascar told her in advance that she would be the one to walk the finale. Designer Crystal had always loved a very hot and secretive stage. That was the reason why the model that would walk the finale was not yet released to the media.

    ¡°It¡¯s alright, unnie. Everyone¡¯s busy.¡±

    <em>[That might be the case but¡­ is that really alright?]</em>

    This was the problem of an introvert. Although it was definitely not okay, their mouth would always say something else.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    But deep inside, Ascar disagreed. Truth was, she really wanted everyone to watch her on stage and congratte her. But she knew that everyone in Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was busy. She did not want to burden them at all. She was also afraid that they would note, even if she extended her invitation because they were busy.

    <em>[Okay, I got it. I¡¯ll see youter then.]</em>

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Ascar looked at the window of the ne after the call ended.

    <em>¡®But it¡¯s not really okay at all¡­¡¯</em>

    ***

    At Designer Crystal¡¯s Fashion Show that was held every two years.

    Crystal¡¯s fashion shows created a lot of buzz and held as much weight as those luxury fashion shows like <em>Gutti, Louis Vuittong and </em><em>Channil</em>[1]. After all, Crystal was one of the best designers that were recognized by the entire world. Those that participated in Crystal¡¯s fashion show were world-ss actors, singers, and models. Especially the finale, it was mostly done by the world¡¯s top celebrities and had always exceeded everyone¡¯s expectations.

    Thousands of reporters from all over the world gathered at the fashion show¡¯s venue. All of them were busy clicking their cameras and taking pictures of the world-ss celebrities that were getting off of their luxurious sedans.

    <em>Click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click¡ª</em>

    Countless cameras clicked away as the reporters talked among themselves.

    ¡°Do you know who will walk the finale this time?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t, but Designer Crystal¡¯s Fashion Show finale was always spectacr and beautiful. I can¡¯t wait to see it, you know?¡±

    Everyone, including the reporters, the celebrities invited to the fashion show and the viewers watching it on their screens, was curious about the person that would walk the fashion show¡¯s finale.

    ¡°Huuuh? It¡¯s, it¡¯s Genie!!!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s Vice Guild Master Genie!!!¡±

    At that moment, a huge uproar erupted among the reporters and the celebrities. The poprity of Athenae¡¯s rankers had already reached the point where they exceeded most of the actors and top models. That was why there were many cases where popr world rankers even became actors or idols.

    Among them, Genie or Im Jihye, the vice guild master of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom that was founded by a yer, had an appearance that was on par, perhaps even greater than most actresses. Because of that, her appearance had created a huge buzz in the scene.

    <em>Click, click, click, click, click, click, click¡ª</em>

    ¡°M-maybe Genie¡¯s a participant in this fashion show?¡±

    ¡°No way, are you telling me that she¡¯s the finale?¡±

    ¡°Eyyy. No way.¡±

    ¡°If Genie¡¯s here, does that then mean that the other guild members will also be here?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s crazy¡­ Isn¡¯t that going to be a huge scoop?¡±

    The reporters talked with great fanfare and excitement. The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s guild members were all very influential people, both in their country and the world. It was not just Genie, someone that was famous for being a world-ss fashionista; even the other members of the guild were well-known for their great fashion sense. In fact, most of them could create huge ripples with the items that they wore on their bodies.

    What would happen if the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ guild members gathered here?

    ¡°This will be the greatest fashion show among all of the fashion shows to have ever been held.¡±

    But that was just something that was straight out of a fantasy. After all, all of their members were so busy with their own things that gathering in this ce was almost impossible. But what if they really gathered here together?

    ¡°Can we even breathe if they are gathered here?¡±

    None of them could deny what one of the reporters said.

    ***

    Ascar, or Im Da-Sol, sat inside a special waiting room, quickly taking out some medicine from her handbag and gulping it down with some water. They were medications for the panic disorder that Da-Sol was suffering from. That was also one of the reasons why she was quiet even when in Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Because she was suffering from such a disorder, she was trying to stay out of the public¡¯s eye as much as possible. Thankfully, it was not that bad today.

    Im Da-Sol hurriedly put away her pill box inside her handbag, just in time as a staff member came inside.

    ¡°Are the members of Beyond the Heavens noting today?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Da-Sol chewed on her lips. She had already heard that question from the staff at least thirty times today.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°¡­Shit. I¡¯m in trouble. The organizers were really looking forward to it.¡±

    The staff member nced at her and hurriedly went away. At this point, Da-Sol had started to notice something.

    <em>¡®Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡¯</em>

    And in less than two minutes¡­

    <em>Knock, knock¡ª</em>

    ¡°Are the members of Beyond the Heavens noting today?¡±

    ¡­Another staff member came in and asked. Only then did Da-Sol fully realize, <em>¡®Maybe it¡¯s not because of me but it¡¯s because of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡­?¡¯</em>

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you get out of here?!¡±

    A man pulled the staff member¡¯s arm and kicked them out of Da-Sol¡¯s waiting room and entered the room himself. This man was the world-ss designer, Crystal. Crystal, a middle-aged man dressed in a fancy white tuxedo and morous make-up, huffed as he stopped in front of Da-Sol.

    ¡°Nervous?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m nervous but¡­¡±

    Crystal immediately noticed what was guing Da-Sol¡¯s mind when he saw her hesitate. So, he shook his head and said, ¡°That¡¯s not it at all, Da-Sol. I never expected them toe at all. I chose you because I saw your video. Don¡¯t even think about the nonsense that the others are saying.¡±

    Crystal truly meant it. It was not him that wanted the members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, but the organizers. Crystal had chosen Da-Sol to walk his finale with utmost sincerity because he knew that she was a jewel that had yet to shine in the world. Still, despite Crystal¡¯s rmendation, the organizers only epted it in hopes that the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would make their appearance.

    ¡°Just think about your walk and your performance. The whole world will definitely be surprised to see you on that stage.¡±

    ¡°¡­Alright,¡± Da-Sol nodded at Crystal¡¯s sincerity. But after he left, Da-Sol could not hide how miserable she was feeling inside. Da-Sol stood up and went to the bathroom, letting out a trembling breath the moment she entered.

    ¡°Hoooo¡­¡±

    While she was wiping her hands, a woman came inside apanied by the loud clicks of her heels. The woman straightened her clothes and fixed her make-up before saying, ¡°Everyone must be disappointed. After all, they set up Ascar as the finale only because of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Da-Sol looked at the woman that was speaking sarcastically in confusion. When she turned around, she finally saw the face of the woman. She was a woman around 176 centimeters tall, with long wavy hair and a beautiful face. Her looks might not be as pretty as Da-Sol, but she was pretty enough. This woman was none other than Lee Ji-Hee, a Korean actress and a global star. She was also one of Da-Sol¡¯s ssmates back in elementary.

    The most disgusting fact about her was the fact that she was the one that took the lead in bullying and isting Da-Sol.

    ¡°In the first ce, someone as unqualified as you will walk the finale? That¡¯s ridiculous, even the people that would walk the same stage and the audience would find it ridiculous. They just gave it to you because of your background.¡±

    Lee Ji-Hee¡¯s voice was very aggressive. After all, she was expecting to be the very first Korean to walk Crystal¡¯s finale. But Da-Sol? She was only known because she was Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s Ascar. Also, she was someone that Lee Ji-Hee had easily bullied before. Since she could not say anything about it, Lee Ji-Hee was very furious. So, she took this opportunity to trample on Da-Sol and her confidence.

    ¡°What¡¯s more, you¡¯re just an ugly half-blood, you know?¡±

    Half-blood. That was the word that Lee Ji-Hee used to bully Da-Sol in the past. Right now, Da-Sol¡¯s beauty was dazzling, everyone who saw her would definitely find it to be indescribable. But every so often, there were people like Lee Ji-Hee who denied this fact and acted as if that was not the case, even going so far as to attack her.

    Lee Ji-Hee caressed Da-Sol¡¯s hair, making Da-Sol tremble.

    ¡°Oh my? Are you scared? Did you remember the past? Why don¡¯t you cry like before and ask him to stop me? If you do that, then I¡¯ll stop!¡±

    Lee Ji-Hee cackled happily. She believed that she would be able to keep Da-Sol out of the stage if she could psych Da-Sol out. Then, she moved her index finger to poke Da-Sol¡¯s forehead¡­

    ***

    At the same time, at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport.

    A man in a suit led a group of thirty people, gaining the attention of everyone present.

    ¡°I, I have never seen an Asian like that before¡­ He¡¯s as tall as any European¡­ even his features are very handsome¡­¡±

    ¡°What the hell? Is he a model?!¡±

    Among them, someone looked at the rushing man and said, ¡°The, the Food God¡­?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s, It¡¯s Beyond the Heavens!!!¡±

    <em>Murmur, murmur¡ª</em>

    The entire airport was in a buzz.

    ***

    Just when Lee Ji-Hee¡¯s index finger was about to touch Da-Sol¡¯s forehead¡­

    ¡°Why are you shaking?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Lee Ji-Hee¡¯s face changed rapidly after finally witnessing the sharp re of Ascar, the woman hailed as the Ghost of the Battlefield. Her eyes were glinting sharply through the gaps of her silver hair. For a moment, chills ran down Lee Ji-Hee¡¯s spine. Only then did she realize that something was wrong. But before it could fully settle in¡­

    ¡°I¡¯m so d that I can pay you back for everything back then.¡±

    Da-Sol grabbed Ji-Hee¡¯s finger and snapped it back.

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    ¡°Kyaaaack!!!¡± Lee Ji-Hee shrieked sharply. But Da-Sol did not stop. She raised her foot and kicked Lee Ji-Hee on the abdomen.

    <em>Kick¡ª</em>

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    Da-Sol watched Lee Ji-Hee roll on the floor while clutching her belly. Then, she grabbed one of the cups used for brushing teeth on the counter.

    ¡°D-do you think you¡¯ll be fine after doing something like this?!¡±

    Da-Sol¡¯s face immediately turned cold after hearing Lee Ji-Hee¡¯s words. She said, ¡°No, not at all. In fact, I may not get out of this unscathed. But¡­ what would happen to you? What would happen if what you did in the past gets out in the open?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Lee Ji-Hee¡¯s pupils started to shake. Da-Sol was not ashamed of her past. After all, Da-Sol had survived, got through her roughest patch, and came to this ce. Then, Da-Sol tipped the filled cup in her hand over Lee Ji-Hee¡¯s head.

    <em>Fwooooosh¡ª</em>

    <em>tter¡ª</em>

    After throwing the stic cup away, Da-Sol covered her mouth and said, ¡°Oops. Sorry. It seems like you need to get your make-up done again.¡±

    After doing all of that, Da-Sol turned around to leave the bathroom. Before she could do so, Lee Ji-Hee¡¯s voice rang out, ¡°You¡¯re someone that can¡¯t do anything without Beyond the Heavens Kingdom! Everyone will definitelyugh at you!!!¡±

    ¡°They canugh all they want. I will still be the one to walk that stage.¡±

    Da-Sol will soar brilliantly. That was about to start now.

    1. With reference to luxury brands that we all know of. ?

 Chapter 534: Friend

    Chapter 534: Friend

    A limousine was moving swiftly on the roads of the beautiful city of Paris, with several ck SUV¡¯s around it, as if they were protecting the luxurious car.

    Genie actually contacted Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®What do you mean it¡¯s fine?!¡¯</em>

    Anyone would definitely want to be congratted on their debut. No one would ever want to be hidden. Minhyuk knew this too well. After all, he had always said ¡®It¡¯s fine¡¯ when he started suffering from eating addiction.

    But once he turned around and was left alone, he would oftentimes feel bitter and lonely, hiding himself under the covers of his nket.

    Da-Sol did not tell anyone in Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Despite everyone¡¯s busy schedules, they stopped what they were doing and rushed to Incheon International Airport to fly to Paris the moment they heard that Da-Sol was about to debut as a model.

    When Minhyuk turned on his tablet, he searched for the three words ¡®Beyond the Heavens¡¯. Articles immediately popped up on his screen.

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens have arrived at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport.]</em>

    <em>[Where are the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ guild members heading to?]</em>

    <em>[The only thing that¡¯s noteworthy as of now in Paris is¡­ Crystal¡¯s Fashion Show. We can assume that they¡¯re heading to Crystal¡¯s Fashion Show. If that¡¯s the case, then we can expect this year¡¯s Crystal¡¯s Fashion Show to be the best fashion show in existence.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk stopped reading the articles. He thought for a moment before saying, ¡°Mister Driver, let¡¯s arrive at Crystal¡¯s Fashion Show when it¡¯s finished.¡±

    ¡°Eh? What do you mean?¡± The driver asked in confusion.

    Minhyuk just smiled softly and said, ¡°I believe this is for the better. After all, this is our friend¡¯s fashion show. She should be the only one shining brightly on that stage.¡±

    Minhyuk looked out of the car¡¯s window with a slight smile on his face as the driver instructed the rest of the drivers through their radios. Then, the limousine began to circle the roads of Paris, heading somewhere that was not towards Crystal¡¯s Fashion Show.

    ***

    Crystal¡¯s Fashion Show finally kicked off, with world-ss celebrities sitting side by side on both sides of the stage. It was filled with brilliant lights, refreshing music, and wonderful models, highlighting Crystal¡¯s designs and making them shine brightly on the stage.

    ¡°Woah¡­¡±

    ¡°Crystal¡¯s Fashion Show is truly the best.¡±

    All of the invited celebrities were in awe. Even the officials of the broadcasting station that was broadcasting Crystal¡¯s Fashion Show could not close their mouths in shock and admiration. The fact that Crystal had given his all for this fashion show was undeniable. Meanwhile, the organizingmittee was in a buzz.

    ¡°Wha, what? Beyond the Heavens is noting?!¡±

    ¡°Yes. We have confirmed that they arrived in Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, but strangely enough, they are only roaming the streets of Paris in their limousine.¡±

    ¡°What in the world does that mean¡­?!¡±

    The reason why they epted Ascar as the finale of the fashion show was because of ¡®Beyond the Heavens¡¯. In fact, the finale was mostly done by famous celebrities. But Ascar? Even though she was also famous, they could have easily chosen someone more famous, like Genie or Alicia. Perhaps they could even choose some other rankers that were known for their world-ss beauty. Ascar was someone that had always covered her face with her silver hair and was surrounded by a gloomy atmosphere. She was far less known than most of the celebrities present here, this was a fact.

    ¡°Tell Da-Sol that if she wants to walk a fashion show that we¡¯re hosting in the future that she should contact the members of Beyond the Heavens right now, otherwise, she can dream on!!!¡±

    ¡°That¡­¡±

    One of the staff members looked embarrassed. The very same staff member spoke up after one of the members of the organizingmittee red at him, ¡°If you say ¡®Beyond the Heavens¡¯ one more time, I will kill you¡­ was what she said.¡±

    ¡°Impudent¡­!¡±

    The organizingmittee member was dumbfounded. If it were not for Designer Crystal¡¯s insistence, and that she was from the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, Da-Sol would not have been epted in this fashion show.

    <em>¡®What the hell is with those impudent words?!</em>¡¯

    Despite all of their ruckus, Crystal¡¯s fashion show continued to proceed in a very spectacr and brilliant manner.

    <em>[Crystal¡¯s fashion show is nowing to an end.]</em>

    <em>[Everyone has a high expectation for the star of the finale.]</em>

    <em>[Crystal has given his words. He said that we should look forward to the finale. That¡¯s why everyone in the world is paying attention to the finale.]</em>

    <em>[If the finale is sessful then we can expect that Crystal¡¯s fashion show would remain in the hearts of every fashionista for a very long time.]</em>

    This was ten minutes before the finale came on stage.

    ***

    Da-Sol turned to look at the clock on the wall. She was on standby after finishing her make-up and felt as if everything was very distant to her.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m very nervous¡­¡¯</em>

    She would soon step in front of the eyes of everyone in the world. Perhaps it was because of that fact that she felt as if her anxiety was growing, making her reach for her handbag once again. That was when she saw that there was not much medicine for her panic disorder left.

    <em>¡®I drank a lot of them today¡­¡¯</em>

    Da-Sol chewed her lip as she felt cold sweat drip down her back.

    ¡°Please standby,¡± One of the staff members said. Da-Sol immediately hurried to the backstage while several people approached her to check her clothes. They did it until the veryst minute before she went on stage.

    The women that approached Da-Sol all lost their words when they saw her face and ended up staring at her for quite some time.

    ¡°Excuse me?¡±

    ¡°Ah, ah¡­ yes¡­ so, sorry.¡±

    The women hurriedly checked Da-Sol and her attire for thest time. Once Da-Sol had turned around and left for the stage, they immediately looked at each other and broke out in a buzz.

    ¡°Did you see¡­?¡±

    ¡°Y-yeah¡­ I-I saw¡­¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s Ascar, right? She¡¯s really pretty¡­¡±

    ¡°I thought she was already pretty when I saw her with no make-up on¡­ but now that she¡¯s in make-up¡­¡±

    The woman did not finish her words and only looked at Da-Sol¡¯s back in a daze, as if she was possessed by something.

    ¡°The Finale¡¯s starting.¡±

    ***

    Designer Crystal often held unprecedented fashion shows and garnered a lot of attention. The clothes usually disyed in fashion shows would often make ordinary people say, <em>¡®Ack?! You¡¯re wearing something like that? I definitely can¡¯t wear something like that outside!¡¯</em>. However, such fashion statements often took away the hearts of the fashionistas.

    And Crystal¡¯s fashion show¡¯s finale? It was broadcasted all over the world with a lot of people looking forward to it and watching it attentively.

    ¡°She shouldn¡¯t make mistakes¡­¡±

    ¡°Damn.¡±

    The organizingmittee looked at where Da-Sol was supposed to be, feeling more anxious than ever. What if everyone looked at her and found her ugly? They were also very worried that she would make a mistake and ruin this perfect fashion show. Amidst everyone¡¯s concerns, the lights turned off and the round lights lined up at the edge of the stage glowed.

    Then, a woman walked on stage.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡±

    ¡°What, what the hell?¡±

    <em>Murmur, murmur¡ª</em>

    As the woman walked out on stage, the celebrities that sat on both sides of the stage eximed in admiration. The celebrities were shocked by the woman¡¯s beautiful face. Her bobbed silver hair was gently hung behind her ears, her bangsying softly in a wave on her forehead. Her beauty was not even overshadowed by the fancy and shimmering earrings hanging on her ears. In fact, it even highlighted her blue eyes, straight nose, sharp jawline, and clear skin. Even the world-ss actresses were breathless as they looked at her.

    Then, she began to walk.

    ¡°Woaaaaaaaah¡­¡±

    ¡°Wow¡­¡±

    Another burst of exmation rang in the audience. Most of the works that the models disyed in Crystal¡¯s fashion show this time had a ck tone. However, the heroine that walked the finale was wearing a pure white dress. The dress came up to her knees and was lined with sparkling jewels that highlighted her beautiful legs. The back of the dress was open, showing a peek of the soft line on her back, which invoked another sigh of admiration from the crowd. She was even holding a bouquet of flowers with both of her hands as she walked towards the front of the stage. It was reminiscent of a picturesque wedding that everyone wanted.

    Crystal¡¯s finale was practically showing everyone the most beautiful bride in existence.

    A person from the organizingmittee, who was enraptured by the scene, said, ¡°Who, who¡¯s that?¡±

    Then one of the staff members said, ¡°What do you mean who? That¡¯s Ascar.¡±

    ¡°For, for real?¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The staff member looked at the organizingmittee as if they were pathetic, while a buzz broke out among the members.

    ¡°But¡­ that¡¯s not the Ascar that I know¡­?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s that beautiful¡­?¡±

    Da-Sol did not always wear make-up. Also, whenever she was seen in Athenae¡¯s broadcasts, her face was always covered with blood. The beautiful face that had always been hidden was now revealed to the world.

    Then, someone from the organizingmittee said, ¡°Ask her if she wants to sign with us!!! We have to have her on our next stage too!!!¡±

    ¡°She probably won¡¯t, though?¡±

    ¡°Why?!!! Howe?!!!!¡±

    The organizingmittee went wild. One of the staff members answered, ¡°Because you told her earlier that if she would not call for the members of Beyond the Heavens, then you would not let her walk your stage.¡±

    ¡°¡­What?¡±

    ¡°And she said, ¡®Even if you want it to, I would not walk on the stage that you organized. Ah, I would think about it if it¡¯s Crystal¡¯s stage.¡¯¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Everyone immediately regretted the words that they uttered just a few minutes prior. They could tell at this moment that Da-Sol would be one of the world-ss models. Meanwhile, the celebrities who did not know of Ascar began to talk.

    ¡°Who in the world is that?¡±

    ¡°An Asian? A westerner? Who is she?¡±

    ¡°No way, there¡¯s such a beautiful person like that in this world?¡±

    The world-ss actresses that watched Da-Sol walk felt both envy and admiration for her. Despite the jealousy, they could not help but acknowledge her and her beauty.

    Then, one of the women that were watching the fashion show with her legs crossed said, ¡°That¡¯s our ¡®Scar.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    Everyone turned their attention to the woman. This woman was someone that no other celebrity could overwhelm in terms of beauty and momentum. No, perhaps there were even more cameras focused on her than the other actresses. She was none other than Im Jihye or¡­ Genie.

    ¡°She¡¯s the Ghost of the Battlefield, Ascar.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Countless women present shut their mouths in astonishment. The Ascar that they knew was someone that always had a frown on her face and was covered with blood while rushing towards monsters.

    But what about now?

    Ascar practically looked like an angel. Genie pped loudly as she watched Ascar walk back towards the backstage.

    <em>p, p, p, p, p¡ª</em>

    With her lead, the audience began to p as loud and as hard as they could. A long apuse rang loudly after the fashion show ended.

    ***

    After the fashion show.

    Many reporters appeared to film the stories andmentaries of the models and celebrities that attended the fashion show. But among them, the person that the reporters wanted to interview the most was Ascar, the person that walked the finale.

    But all Ascar wanted to do was get out of here as fast as she could. She wore her hat low on her face and a jumper covering her body. After all, she was someone that suffered from panic disorder and hated the lenses of cameras focused on her. She smiled bitterly as she tried to walk as fast as she could.

    <em>¡®They¡¯ll definitely know that I participated in a fashion show soon.¡¯</em>

    Ascar was still unaware that the members of Beyond the Heavens were already in Paris. Then, someone grabbed her wrists while she was sighing loudly at the number of people that surrounded her.

    ¡°¡®Scar¡±

    ¡°Ah, yes.¡±

    Genie, or Im Jihye, looked a little embarrassed as she smiled at her and said, ¡°I know that you want to get out of here as fast as you can. But¡­ I think that might be a bit hard now.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Da-Sol looked at Jihye suspiciously. She could not understand what she meant at all.

    ¡°All of the guys are in Paris. Minhyuk told me that they did not attend the fashion show on purpose since you should be the one shining the most on that stage. They did not want to see the fashion show get ruined because of their presence.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Da-Sol¡¯s eyes widened at Jihye¡¯s words.

    <em>Murmur, murmur¡ª</em>

    The fashion show venue was suddenly turned upside down as thousands of reporters, celebrities and models burst out in admiration.

    ¡°That person¡­ Isn¡¯t he the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King, the Food God¡­?¡±

    ¡°My god¡­ He looks even more amazing in person, right?¡±

    ¡°Even the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ executives look amazing. It¡¯s like we¡¯re watching another fashion show¡­¡±

    All of them looked at someone with awe and admiration. Minhyuk, who passed by countless people in the crowd, appeared with a bouquet of flowers in hand. Dozens of their guild members trailing behind him. Da-Sol quickly took off her hat as she stepped away from him subconsciously. He was someone that had always been considerate of her, be it the past, now, or even in the future.

    <em>¡®You might not remember me but¡­¡¯</em>

    But that was not the truth.

    ¡°You have to keep your promise from ten years ago and sign an autograph for me, you know?¡±

    Minhyuk did remember. And Da-Sol, who was in the middle of taking a step back away from him, suddenly ran forward and hugged him tightly.

    <em>Grab¡ª</em>

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!¡±

    <em>Click, click, click, click, click, click, click¡ª</em>

    Hundreds of cameras shed as they focused on the two of them.

 Chapter 535: Friend

    Chapter 535: Friend

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    <em>Click, click, click, click, click, click, click!</em>

    Hundreds of cameras shed brightly as they captured the scene of Da-Sol hugging a very surprised Minhyuk tightly.

    Actually, Minhyuk already knew who Ascar was when he saw her for the first time. After all, how could he forget? There was no other girl with tinum hair as beautiful as hers and eyes as deep and blue as ake. On top of that, she was someone that might be cold on the outside, but warm on the inside. She was a person that Minhyuk could never forget.

    If that was the case, why did Minhyuk pretend not to know her? At first, Minhyuk thought that she might not remember him. But not long after, he realized that that was not the case at all. He could tell that Ascar was not saying who she was for some kind of reason.

    <em>¡®Perhaps¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk thought that she might be keeping her identity a secret to keep their promise from ten years ago. Minhyuk thus became considerate of the girl¡¯s choice. If she got scared after he revealed that he knew her from the past, then she might leave the guild suddenly.

    Actually, there was also another reason why Ascar never revealed the fact that she knew Minhyuk from the past. And now¡­

    <em>Graaaaaaaaab¡ª</em>

    ¡­Da-Sol¡¯s body was trembling. She realized that she had done something that she should not have, especially in public.

    ¡°Ghost of the Battlefield Ascar hugs the Food God?!¡±

    ¡°This is a scoop!!!¡±

    ¡°By any chance, are the two of them¡­?¡±

    Da-Sol was suffering from a severe panic disorder. In fact, due to the fashion show, she had taken too much medication. Her vision blurred as the cameras continued to sh around them. At the same time, Minhyuk hugged her and blocked her eyes from the constant ring shes while members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom immediately surrounded them.

    Then, the bodyguards appeared, escorting them and opening a pathway for them through therge crowd. The limousines quickly left the scene one after the other after the guild members boarded them.

    On this day, Crystal¡¯s Fashion Show had created the greatest buzz of all time. The first issue? The fashion show created and produced a new global top model in Im Da-Sol. The second issue? The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ appearance in Crystal¡¯s Fashion Show and the hug between Food God Minhyuk and Im Da-sol.

    ***

    The entire world was turned upside down with Crystal¡¯s Fashion Show at the center of everything. Just the views of the broadcast in Ztube alone had risen rapidly to the point that it reached the top ten of the most viewed videos this year.

    But that was not all.

    The appearance of the members of Beyond the Heavens at the end of Crystal¡¯s Fashion show had created a huge impact. And Da-Sol¡¯s finale also created the same impact. Because of that, plenty of articles poured out in just less than half a day.

    <em>[Da-Sol¡¯s angelic appearance on stage was showing her desire for the world-ss designers to put her on their stages even through SNS.]</em>

    <em>[The Gutti handbag that Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Vice Guild Master Genie used during the fashion show is gaining a lot of discussion from all over the world.]</em>

    <em>[Netizens are shocked by Alicia, the former master of Artheon, and her beautiful appearance.]</em>

    <em>[The true finale of Crystal Fashion Show is the members of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?]</em>

    <em>[Which brand of suit did Food God Minhyuk wear?]</em>

    <em>[The price of the limousine that Food God Minhyuk rode? Enough to make our mouths gape.]</em>

    <em>[Food God Minhyuk and Ghost of the Battlefield Ascar¡­ are they a couple?]</em>

    <em>[There are plenty of great rumors between Food God Minhyuk and Ghost of the Battlefield Ascar. Is Ghost of the Battlefield Ascar truly the only daughter of the Jeongsang Group? Rumors continue to spread.]</em>

    <em>[Food God Minhyuk has dered a tough response against rumors¡­]</em>

    <em>[A downpour of love calls areing for everyone from Beyond the Heavens. Plenty of people had shown their interest in them, including those in Hollywood and the fashion world.]</em>

    When the members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom showed up in full attire at Crystal¡¯s Fashion Show, the entire world realized how huge the impact and the ripples that they could create.

    And these were the viewers¡¯ reactions¡­

    <em>[From Alicia to Lucia¡­ to Genie¡­ and now to Ascar¡­]</em>

    <em>[Looking at this¡­ Isn¡¯t Minhyuk a thief blessed by the gods?]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s right. He¡¯s a true and genuine thief¡­ God, I¡¯m jealous¡­]</em>

    <em>[He might not have saved a country in his past life, but he did build a country this time¡­ Haha?]</em>

    Many people expressed their jealousy toward Food God Minhyuk. However, the problem was that it was not just envy, many of them had started to spread rumors between Minhyuk and Ascar.

    <em>[I heard that the Food God was originally dating Genie but switched to Ascar. Aren¡¯t Ascar and the Food God too much?]</em>

    <em>[Ah. So that¡¯s why Genie¡¯s expression did not look good when she got caught by the camera? Hahahaha.]</em>

    <em>[The world of the rankers is as dirty as the world of the celebrities¡­ haha.]</em>

    Perhaps this was only natural. Those that were jealous of their achievements would definitely find the hug between the two as an interesting ¡®yground¡¯ where they could create a variety of stories.

    Right now, the members of Beyond the Heavens were sitting inside the most expensive suite in the Lark Hyatt Hotel[1] in Paris. All of their phones were ringing constantly. They were phone calls from various advertisements and even movie appearances.

    Only Locke¡¯s phone was silent. But then, the phone in Locke, or Jisoo¡¯s hand suddenly rang. The sulking Jisoo hurriedly answered the call.

    ¡°An, an advertisement?!¡±

    The eyes of the guild members, who were constantly receiving love calls, were bright as they looked at the once-sullen Jisoo after hearing that he finally got a love call of his own. Jisoo was also smiling smugly. It was as if he was bragging to them with that wide smile on his face.

    However, his smug expression soon turned ugly.

    ¡°An, an advertisement for dog food? No, why would a person do an advertisement for dog food¡­ N, no. I have to go! Bye!!!¡±

    The guild members chuckled at Jisoo¡¯s unfortunate incident. However, they were in a situation where they truly could notugh. It was good that Da-Sol made a sessful debut on stage and that the members of Beyond the Heavens appeared to congratte her. The problem was the rumors between Minhyuk and Da-Sol that continued to spread, despite them strongly expressing that they would give a tough response.

    These rumors were initially mostly rted to Genie and Alicia, but soon, even the other male guild members were being involved and dragged into a love triangle. Of course they did not really care that much about it.

    However, Da-Sol cared a lot about it. She looked around them and said, ¡°I¡¯ll reveal my past and my backstory with Minhyuk.¡±

    Even though they heard Da-Sol¡¯s words clearly, none of the guild members felt relieved. This was because they have heard theplete backstory back in the limousine. That was why the Beyond the Heavens members believed that they should not keep their hands off, while it was the parties involved who had the say in this matter.

    When Da-Sol¡¯s eyes turned to Minhyuk, Minhyuk opened his mouth calmly and said, ¡°If you don¡¯t want to do it, you don¡¯t have to.¡±

    Minhyuk had always lived in a way that he did not care much about what the others said about him. But Da-Sol knew that it was her rash actions that brought harm both to Minhyuk and the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    But what would happen if she revealed her past? It was clear that the image of Minhyuk and the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ member would change for the better.

    ¡°I want to reveal it.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded silently as an awkward atmosphere surrounded the two of them. Everyone was quick-witted, so they left the room one after the other, leaving Minhyuk and Da-Sol alone.

    Minhyuk stood up and walked to the balcony. Since this was the top floor of Lark Hyatt, the beautiful view of downtown Paris was spread out beautifully beneath him. Even the moon was shining beautifully down on him.

    Da-Sol, who had kept her feelings for Minhyuk hidden, thought, <em>¡®I was so happy to see his face that all of my thoughts stopped at that moment¡­¡¯</em>

    She only glossed over that fact with that. For quite a long time, the two of them just stared at the moon hanging in the skies. Then, Minhyuk opened his mouth, ¡°You¡¯ll be leaving, right?¡±

    ¡°¡­Yeah.¡±

    Da-Sol was very surprised. It sounded like Minhyuk had already seen through her mind. Da-Sol¡¯s level had been halved the moment she changed her ss to Asura. Asura¡¯s skills might be out of this world, but she would never be able to cross the walls created by the level gap with just that.

    However, once she reached her previous level, there was a high chance that she could express a strength that was several times her previous power. That was why she had to say goodbye to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom for a while, to raise her level.

    ¡°I hope you cane back soon,¡± Minhyuk said, grinning softly at her.

    Da-Sol looked at his face for a long time and made a vow, <em>¡®Definitely. As fast as I can¡­¡¯</em>

    And perhaps one day, she would also gain the courage to confess to him.

    Tonight was a night where the skies were filled with twinkling stars.

    ***

    The moment Da-Sol posted an official statement on the inte, those that spread rumors and cursed at them for half a day immediately quieted down. In fact, the viewers even cheered for Minhyuk and Da-Sol. One hugged the other without any discrimination and kept the promise that they have made when they were young, sincerely congratting the girl who finally achieved her dreams of bing a model. Although there was a slight mishap, the value of each of the members of Beyond the Heavens soared to greater heights after their appearance in Crystal¡¯s Fashion Show.

    Not long after Minhyuk returned to his mansion, a ck sedan stopped at the entrance.

    ¡°Excuse me, who are you?¡±

    The guards could not remove the shock in their eyes after seeing the person sitting on the back seat of the car when the windows rolled down.

    ¡°I came to meet with the Food God.¡±

    After stating the purpose of their visits, the guards allowed the car to pass. Minhyuk¡¯s personal health trainer Oh Changwook, immediately ran out of the mansion just as two men got out of the car. These two men were none other than Joy Co. Ltd¡¯s President Kang Taehoon and Team Leader Park Minggyu.

    ¡°Hello. You said that you want to meet with Minhyuk?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    President Kang Taehoon was as much a bigwig as Ilhwa Group¡¯s Chairman Kang Minhoo. In the past, Kang Taehoon met with the Food God inside the game, Athenae. But this was the first time that the two of them would meet face to face.

    <em>¡®He¡¯lle running once he knows that I¡¯m here,¡¯ </em>Kang Taehoon thought.

    However, Park Minggyu smiled bitterly while thinking, <em>¡®Minhyuk is not someone who cares about those </em><em>kind</em><em> of things.¡¯</em>

    The boy was polite, but after living with him for quite some time during the Athenae: Korean War, Team Leader Park Minggyu already had a grasp of Minhyuk¡¯s personality.

    Not long after, Oh Changwook said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but Minhyuk has already started his exercise.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Is that so? It¡¯s fine. We can just wait in your waiting room.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s going to take a while. From what he said, he was going to do all of the exercises that he missed yesterday and the exercises set for today.¡±

    ¡°Hahaha. It¡¯s fine. I can spend that much time for the Food God,¡± President Kang Taehoonughed. People generally exercised for around an hour and a half. If the exercise for yesterday was added, then that would take at most three hours. Including the time for washing up and getting ready, then Kang Taehoon believed that Minhyuk would be out in four hours. So, they waited for four hours while sitting in the waiting room.

    ¡°Is the Food God still not done?¡±

    ¡°Yes. He¡¯s still in the middle of exercising.¡±

    After six hours.

    ¡°He¡¯s, he¡¯s still exercising?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    After eight hours.

    ¡°He, He¡¯s still doing it?!¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­ I think he¡¯s almost done by now.¡±

    President Kang Taehoon could only click his tongue while thinking, <em>¡®Isn¡¯t it strange for a person to work out for eight hours straight?!¡¯</em>

    Once again, Kang Taehoon realized why the Food God could be a king in Athenae. Also, there was something that he found unusual.

    <em>¡®He must have heard that I was here.¡¯</em>

    In a way, Kang Taehoon¡¯s visit was unannounced. But considering the weight of his name, there were many people that would dly rush out to wee him, even if he appeared uninvited in their homes. But that was not the case with the Food God. Kang Taehoon could feel bad about this, but he only just chuckled at the thought.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s right. If you¡¯re the king of a nation then you should act like this.¡¯</em>

    But then, Taehoon felt the pangs of hunger gnawing at his stomach.

    ¡°By any chance, could I have some light meal and tea to go along with it? I¡¯ve been waiting for a long time so I¡¯ve already grown hungry. Ah, please prepare some for Team Leader Park too.¡±

    ¡°No. I¡¯m fine, you don¡¯t need to prepare a share for me.¡±

    ¡°Why? Aren¡¯t you starving?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m really alright, President!¡±

    Team Leader Park Minggyu vehemently refused the offer with a strong wave of his hands. He had lived with her for two weeks before and had eaten the meals that they have prepared.

    ¡®<em>No, thank you</em>.¡¯

    Food was immediately prepared for President Kang Taehoon. The first dish was¡­

    ¡°So, it¡¯s a sd. A sd without a sauce? You¡¯re living healthily, huh?¡±

    The second dish was¡­

    ¡°¡­Tomato steak?¡±

    The third dish was¡­

    ¡°To-tomato canap¨¦¡­?!¡±

    He was also served some tomato juice without sugar and dried tomatoes for dessert. For some reason, Kang Taehoon felt like he was in a weird country with only tomatoes.

    Oh Changwook took things a little further and asked, ¡°We have some tomato ice cream. Would you like me to bring some for you?¡±

    ¡°P-Please stop with the tomatoes¡­¡±

    ¡°Ah. Yes.¡±

    President Kang Taehoon was once again impressed with Minhyuk.

    ¡°Does the Food God always eat this kind of food?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I only ate it for a couple of days but it¡¯s too nd¡­ Now¡­ I¡¯ve grown sick and tired of seeing tomatoes.¡±

    ¡°Ho¡­¡±

    For the second time sinceing here, Kang Taehoon expressed admiration for Minhyuk. For him to only eat these kinds of dishes on top of exercising that much, that was worthy of admiration. In fact, he even felt respect for the boy.

    After admiring the boy for a long time, President Kang Taehoon finally said, ¡°It would be really good if the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom will agree to participate in the trailer for the Continent Integration.¡±

    The purpose of their visit was finally revealed.

    1. In reference to Park Hyatt Hotel, a luxurious hotel under Hyatt. ?

 Chapter 536: Continent Integrationâ€™s Trailer

    Chapter 536: Continent Integration¡¯s Trailer

    Continent Integration.

    There were more than a dozen countries ying Athenae, and every country was represented by a continent, just like how the Korean Server was in the Asgan Continent. As such, there were numerous continents in Athenae. In fact, there were even cases where countries had to start in mountainous areas or even under the sea.

    With the Continent Integration, Athenae would be connected and united. That was the difference from the other online games. However, would the servers be connected and integrated so suddenly after an update? That was nigh impossible, even for Athenae. After all, the scenarios and episodes that they had created would be destroyed if they proceeded like that. That was also the reason why everyone was already preparing for the Continent Integration at the same time Athenaeunched. Right now, the preparations were almost ready, and integration could happen soon.

    If that was the case, then what did they need now?

    Of course, they needed a spectacr deration, one that would announce the beginning of Athenae¡¯s second era! This was so the yers that had left before thisrge-scale update would choose to return and y the game again. And Kang Taehoon chose Beyond the Heavens as the vanguard, the frontrunners of this endeavor.

    After waiting for a long time, Minhyuk, who had finished washing up, finally came inside the waiting room.

    ¡°Sorry to keep you waiting.¡±

    ¡°No, no. It¡¯s my fault for not contacting you in advance.¡±

    This was the first time that President Kang Taehoon had met Minhyuk in person. He could not help but look at the man in awe, especially with his still-wet hair andrge, bright, gentle eyes. Yet, those eyes could turn sharp and fierce like that of a beast in an instant. Even the veins of his forearms were bulging, a testament to how much the man had been working out.

    After sitting down, Minhyuk said, ¡°Ah, how about having something to drink¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m good! It¡¯s alright! No! Really, it¡¯s alright!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk tilted his head in confusion. He was unaware that President Kang Taehoon was just treated to a tomato party just an hour prior.

    Meanwhile, Team Leader Park Minggyu smiled softly and said, ¡°You¡¯ve changed a bit.¡±

    ¡°Yes. It¡¯s a relief, really,¡± Minhyuk answered with a smile while Kang Taehoon looked at the two alternately in confusion.

    ¡°Can I tell him?¡±

    Only after seeing Minhyuk nod did Park Minggyu open his mouth and said, ¡°Back then, you can¡¯t even drink a cup of tea in this ce. Even though I lived here for two weeks, I didn¡¯t even drink a cup of basic tea like chamomile or something like that.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me the reason is¡­¡±

    Kang Taehoon whipped his head to look at Park Minggyu in shock. It was Minhyuk who answered.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. I can¡¯t stop myself even if it¡¯s just those simple teas. If it was back then, then I would either have probably grabbed the tea in the president¡¯s hands, or sat here sweating in anxiety.¡±

    ¡°Hoo¡­¡±

    Kang Taehoon looked at Minhyuk in surprise.

    <em>¡®Are you telling me that it¡¯s a disease where you can¡¯t even drink a cup of tea? Is eating addiction something that terrible?</em>¡¯

    Originally, people would never know the pain others were experiencing because they either have not seen it or experienced it themselves. Kang Taehoon wondered, <em>¡®What if I was in his ce?¡¯</em>. Just the thought alone made him gulp dryly.

    <em>¡®He must have felt hopeless every single day.¡¯</em>

    But Minhyuk overcame this disease and stood up with his own efforts. He was a living miracle in the medical world.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s a man that has ovee such a terrible disease with his mental power alone. He¡¯s really amazing.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk looked at Kang Taehoon, who could see from the look in Minhyuk¡¯s eyes that he wanted them to get straight to the point. So, he said, ¡°Exactly forty days from now, on August 22, all of the servers in Athenae will be integrated.¡±

    ¡°So the integration is finally happening.¡±

    Minhyuk could only groan lightly after hearing Kang Taehoon¡¯s words. Server integration meant that they would have a new opportunity to explore a new world and meet other strong people. There were definitely strong people that were on par, or perhaps even stronger than Minhyuk in Athenae. They were just working silently and hiding their existences. This fact was enough to bring both nervousness and excitement in Minhyuk.

    ¡°And so, we want the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom to be the main focus in the uing trailer.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk found Kang Taehoon¡¯s words to be shocking. The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would be the main focus for the server integration? This meant that they wanted them to be the representative of countless yers in the world and appear in their advertisements. This was something that anyone would jump at.

    However, Minhyuk¡¯s expression did not even change or shake. He only asked calmly, ¡°What are the conditions?¡±

    If the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would be the main focus of their advertisements, then many people from their kingdom would appear in these said advertisements. Of course, this trailer would be shown in every country where an Athenae Server existed.

    ¡°Payment for the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom will be¡­¡±

    President Kang Taehoon personally handed the envelope containing the contract.

    ¡°Twenty billion.¡±

    Twenty billion was an amount that was enough to make anyone moan in ecstacy. If anyone else heard it, they would have definitely let out a startled shout. Even Team Leader Park Minggyu was sweating profusely down his forehead after hearing the huge amount of money. But Minhyuk¡¯s response was even more shocking.

    ¡°It¡¯s less than I expected?¡±

    ¡°¡­Less?¡± President Kang Taehoon asked in surprise.

    Minhyuk ced the contract down on the table after looking at it thoroughly. Then, he ced his hands together and looked Kang Taehoon straight in the eyes. Minhyuk¡¯s father was Chairman Kang Minhoo; this situation was not something that they could justugh over. This was a situation where they had to talk business for the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    ¡°Are you telling me that my Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is just worth twenty billion?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Both Team Leader Park Minggyu and President Kang Taehoon were unfamiliar with the Minhyuk in front of them. He lookedpletely different from his figure when he shouted, <em>¡®Hehe. The chicken says that if you feel bad, you should go and get chicken!¡¯</em> that they saw on the monitor.

    There were even times when Park Minggyu, who watched Minhyuk through the monitor, would think, <em>¡®Is the Food God an idiot or a genius?¡¯ </em>

    But now, he finally came to a conclusion. The Food God was a man that was beyond the word genius. He was definitely hiding a tremendous talent as a businessman behind that smile on his face.

    ¡°Can you tell me the reason why you think it¡¯s low?¡±

    ¡°As of yesterday, the value of my Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had reached an all time high. In fact, I have received around 38 different advertisement proposals just yesterday alone.¡±

    But that was not the end.

    ¡°And it¡¯s not just me. Genie received 29 advertisement proposals, Khan received 20, Alicia received 19¡­¡±

    Minhyuk continued to list the number of advertisement proposals that his guild members had received just yesterday. But when he came to the final member, Minhyuk had to stop and think about it for a moment, <em>¡®Should I also mention Locke¡¯s dog foodmercial¡­?¡¯ </em>No. Minhyuk decided to skip over him.

    ¡°How much profit do you think my Beyond the Heavens will make if we invest a few days and focus on shooting thosemercials and advertisements?¡±

    Beyond the Heavens¡¯mercial value had reached the highest point in the industry. However, none of the guild members shot any kind of advertisement. After all, they were already pressed for time when it came to leveling up, how could they waste time on shootingmercials?

    At the same time, what if they all decided to shoot thosemercials and advertisements? Twenty billion would just look like it was aughable amount.

    However, it was not that Kang Taehoon had not taken this fact into consideration. He said, ¡°Wouldn¡¯t you also receive honor and reputation?¡±

    The very first kingdom in Athenae would be the main focus of an Athenae advertisement, what more honor could they ask for? Thispensation was definitely not unusual. After all, their names would remain in the history of Athenae forever even if their kingdom suddenly faced destruction one day.

    But Minhyuk, who was looking straight at Kang Taehoon, said, ¡°Our honor and reputation, we can create and establish that on our own.¡±

    The hairs on Kang Taehoon¡¯s arms stood up the moment he heard Minhyuk''s words. He literally got goosebumps, his mouth turning dry at the towering confidence that the Food God, someone that stood at the top of the world, was showing them as of this moment. Kang Taehoon did not see Minhyuk as someone that was cheeky and arrogant, but rather¡­

    ¡°Ha, hahahahahahahaha!¡±

    ¡­He found him both fun and interesting. Others hailed President Kang Taehoon as another god of Athenae. He was someone that had made several memorable and great achievements. And this very same Kang Taehoon liked the confidence that Minhyuk was exuding.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m very grateful that this kind of person is the one that became king.¡¯</em>

    That was right. Kang Taehoon believed that this should be the guy that should lead Athenae.

    ¡°Then, what are your terms and conditions?¡±

    ¡°Give us 2% of the total revenue from the advertisement and pay us fifty billion.¡±

    ¡°¡­Minhyuk!¡± Team Leader Park shouted in surprise as he turned to look back at Minhyuk.

    Taking a percent off the total revenue was already a huge deal, but he was also asking for another fifty billion on top of that. Putting everything together, the total amount would easily be more than a hundred billion.

    A hundred billion for an advertisement? Who would even be able to get something that huge?

    But Minhyuk was determined, his will unwavering. He said, ¡°A hundred billion would not amount to much once it¡¯s divided amongst a thousand guild members.¡±

    That was right, especially if they considered the Beyond the Heavens¡¯mercial value. President Kang Taehoon bowed his head before saying sharply, ¡°In that case, we¡¯ll put a condition of our own. We will give you fifty billion immediately if we achieve the expected average. Then, we will give you a % of the revenue every time we exceed a certain section from the expected average.¡±

    The conditions were not that bad, but President Kang Taehoon was still not yet done with his words.

    ¡°However, if we can¡¯t meet the average expected revenue, then we will only give you twelve billion.¡±

    Twelve billion was obviously a loss for the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. After all, they were people that could easily generate twenty billion if they set the same time to film for their own advertisements. But, the bet was worth it. After all, receiving a % of the total revenue everytime they exceeded a certain section of the average expected revenue. This meant that they could very well receive two hundred, or perhaps even three hundred billion.

    Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then I¡¯ll add yet another condition of my own. We will review the scenario that will be presented in the advertisement. If we find the scenario off, allow us to modify it. You have to ept it unconditionally if we can present a far better scenario than yours.¡±

    In an advertisement, there were a lot of important things. Both the cast and the production were equally important. There were times when talented actors would be gathered together in a cast but when the audience had watched the movie they would find it boring and say, <em>¡®Ah, they used good ingredients but made a shit soup.¡¯</em>

    President Kang Taehoon thought, <em>¡®If they can exceed and go above our expected average revenue with their revised scenario, then not only will Beyond the Heavens benefit, even we will benefit.¡¯</em>

    In other words, it was a win-win situation.

    ¡°Alright. I agree. Let¡¯s write a new contract here.¡±

    President Kang Taehoon wrote a new contract then and there.

    ¡°Please sign over here.¡±

    Minhyuk was the king of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. That might not be the case in reality but all of the guild members have given Minhyuk full authority with regard to the contracts and deals that the Beyond the Heavens would receive in reality. This went to show how much they trusted Minhyuk and his judgment. Minhyuk signed his name.

    Then, the two immediately stood up and shook hands.

    ¡°To a good cooperation.¡±

    ¡°To a good cooperation.¡±

    The contract has been signed and sealed.

    ***

    President Kang Taehoon, who was riding in their car on their way back, could not help but burst intoughter every few minutes.

    ¡°Can the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom even exceed the expected average revenue?¡±

    ¡°They might be able to exceed it. But I don¡¯t expect them to exceed several of the sections that we will determine. At most they could take 1% of the total revenue. But even that¡¯s a huge amount.¡±

    Team Leader Park Minggyu also agreed with his words.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you know it well too?¡±

    ¡°Yes. That¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°There are many people that y Athenae, but in the end there will always be a limit.¡±

    That was right. Athenae might be a game that a lot of people enjoy but there were still a lot of people that did not even want to start ying it. The reason? It was because there were people that were not interested in the game or did not like to y games in the first ce. No matter what the team did, they could not change these peoples¡¯ minds. In the end, the number of yers that the game and the advertisement could attract would still reach a limit.

    Of course, that number was already going to be great for someone that would be the main focus and attraction of an Athenae advertisement.

    ¡°Do you think the scenario will be edited?¡±

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m not too sure. But what I do know is that we¡¯ve hired the best screeny team in our country for this advertisement. Although I wish that we could have left it all to John, that nameless screenwriter that¡¯s popr in Hollywood right now. Unfortunately, he outright rejected my proposal.¡±

    ¡°Screenwriter John? Ah, I also like his movies. I¡¯m actually looking forward to his movie ¡®Heroes: The Final War¡¯ that¡¯s going to be released this year.¡±

    ¡°That writer is a genius.¡±

    Screenwriter John was actually an unnamed writer and was only given the name ¡®John¡¯ because none of them knew his name, age, or even nationality. There was only one thing that was revealed about him. It was the fact that he was an ¡®Asian¡¯. The Hero movie franchise that he released every year in Hollywood had always been a big hit.

    As the two rode the car back to their office, they excitedly talked about the Hero movie franchise that Screenwriter John had written.

    Meanwhile on the rooftop of Mount Fuji Hospital in Japan, a man was busily tapping away on hisptop. Written on the very top of the man¡¯s document that was opened on hisptop were the words: ¡®Heroes: The Returning Hero¡¯. On one side of the man¡¯s screen was a picture showing a boy receiving a baseball glove and ball from a handsome young man in a suit. The man could not help but stop typing for a moment and stare at the picture, a smile blooming on his face.

    Then, the man¡¯s phone rang. The name shing on his phone made the man¡¯s face glow bright.

    ¡°Minhyuk, what¡¯s the matter?¡±

    A bright smile bloomed on the man¡¯s face. He looked like he was very happy that he was able to talk with the caller. And over the phone, a voice, Minhyuk¡¯s voice, rang.

    <em>[Yuuta¡¯s Dad, can you spare some time to review a scenario for me?]</em>

    Minhyuk asked Yuuta¡¯s father, who answered without any hesitation, ¡°As long as it¡¯s for Minhyuk, then I¡¯m always free.¡±

 Chapter 537: Continent Integrationâ€™s Trailer

    Chapter 537: Continent Integration¡¯s Trailer

    Ares was seething in anger at the meeting held between all of the executives of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. This was because he learnt that Minhyuk had signed a huge contract without discussing it with them.

    But what made Ares more furious was the fact that everyone from Beyond the Heavens Kingdom did not react to it, nor found it strange. It was as if they were fine with it. As someone that had just joined Beyond the Heavens, Ares felt like all of them were idiots.

    <em>¡®They became a kingdom through this old-fashioned bullshit of a guild operation? Was everything that Beyond the Heavens Kingdom achieved because of their luck?¡¯</em>

    Another reason why he was furious was because of the articles that had been published. It had only been a few hours since the contract between Joy Co. Ltd. and Beyond the Heavens was signed, but articles about Joy Co. Ltd. choosing Beyond the Heavens as their main focus for the trailer for the continent integration had already been widely spread.

    And these were the viewers¡¯ reactions¡­

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens will appear in the main advertisement? Everything¡¯s fine but what¡¯s with the ¡®Beyond the Heavens is involved with reviewing and editing the scenario¡¯ part? No matter how famous they are, there are parts that they should not recklessly touch, right¡­?]</em>

    <em>[The main advertisement is already done for. Hahahaha. What¡¯s the difference between this and a famous idol that¡¯s only learning to act as the main protagonist?]</em>

    <em>[Trusting that everything goes well. Let¡¯s do a good job.]</em>

    <em>[Maybe the video is going to be cool, after all the Beyond the Heavens is a name that¡¯s worth a lot, right?]</em>

    <em>[Abovement, please think carefully about this matter. What do you think will happen if our country¡¯s best actors joined together to film an already ruined scenario? The ingredients might be good, but the soup will still stay shitty, right? Isn¡¯t there a saying like that? That¡¯s what¡¯s happening with Beyond the Heavens right now. It does not matter how famous they are, they still only need to do what they¡¯re good at. Why are they even trying to get involved in making the scenario?]</em>

    Around 10% of the viewers were excited for it and 90% were all hurling criticisms and curses. That was right, each and every person had a field that they were good at. Just as doctors could not suddenly work aswyers, most felt that the rankers should just continue to y their games. Theizens were furious that these rankers were trying to stick their noses in the production of the scenario.

    However, Ares was someone that had only recently joined Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, and he was already overreacting.

    Then, Minhyuk entered the room. Ares was prepared to pounce at the opportunity to release his anger and criticize him.

    <em>¡®If you don¡¯te up with a solution to this matter then¡­¡¯</em>

    In fact, Ares was already thinking of leaving Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    ¡°I believe everyone has already seen the details of the contract through the articles published on the inte.¡±

    All of the people that were sitting around the round table nodded. Then, Minhyuk¡¯s gaze turned to Ares.

    ¡°And Ares, I believe I owe you an apology. Our guild has already given me full authority and rights with regards to dealing and signing contracts and deals¡­ I should have told you in advance.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Ares was struck dumb, watching Minhyuk bowing at a 90 degree angle to express his apology.

    <em>¡®What? Why is he apologizing like this?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was the king of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. They might look like they were friendly to others, but the fact that they were superior would never change. That was the foundation for the kingdom to work properly and survive for a long time. But Minhyuk apologized to Ares for his rash actions.

    Seeing this, Ares¡¯ anger almost subsided. But he thought that he should not forget his duty.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve seen thements in the articles, Minhyuk. Did you sign the contract without taking that into consideration?! Everyone isparing us to idols that forcefully filmed a movie!!!¡±

    Ares stood up, his anger out in full disy. But no one stopped Ares. Genie just looked at him and thought, <em>¡®You¡¯ll soon realize why we left everything up to him.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk just looked at Ares calmly. He nodded and pondered for a moment before opening his mouth and saying, ¡°This might sound like an excuse, but I want everyone, including Ares, to listen to what I have to say.¡±

    Minhyuk looked at everyone present, his voice calm and unperturbed.

    ¡°A lot of people are criticizing our Beyond the Heavens after learning the fact that we will stick our noses into the production of the scenario. However, I believe that the views of the advertisement will increase thanks to the public¡¯s opinions.¡±

    ¡°What in the world¡­¡±

    ¡°Advertisements are free but movies aren¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Ares was very shocked after hearing Minhyuk¡¯s words. He had never considered that fact. Whenever an idol starred in a film and became a hot topic through the people¡¯s harsh criticisms, the people could cut off its movie ticket sales through word of mouth by boycotting.

    <em>¡®But what if it¡¯s free¡­?¡¯</em>

    Since they wanted to see how bad it was, more people might just turn to watch it.

    ¡°Besides, if Joy Co. Ltd. knew that releasing the fact that Beyond the Heavens would review and modify the scenario to the world would be harmful to us, was it really necessary for them to release that news?¡±

    That was also an undeniable fact. In fact, Minhyuk and President Kang Taehoon were both thinking the same thing. Advertisements could be easily criticized since it was free for viewing. However, that also meant that it could generate a high revenue and secure high viewership ratings once it was released to the world.

    ¡°Also, what if the scenario that we reviewed and edited is better than expected?¡±

    Ares gulped dryly after hearing the implication in his words. The number of views would already be high from the public¡¯s criticism, but if the release turned out to be better than expected, then the views would increase further through word of mouth. Simply put, the advertisement¡¯s total revenue would dramatically increase.

    <em>¡®This¡­¡¯</em>

    Ares blushed. Everything was contrary to what he thought, Minhyuk had already thought about everything even before he signed the contract.

    ¡°Someone very reliable is reviewing the scenario as of now, you can trust their credibility and the quality of their works. Coincidentally, we¡¯re at the phase where we have to develop our kingdom and open our doors.¡±

    Everyone nodded at Minhyuk. They had to grow and develop. In other words, they had to do their best, even to the point that they had to move and utilize all of their NPCs and yers, and use all kinds of methods to develop their kingdom.

    The reason why they had to grow their kingdom was, first and foremost, in preparation for the continents¡¯ integration. Second, they had to be a stable and unyielding kingdom for the security of their people, and to avoid another incident like that incident with Akhan.

    ¡°We¡¯re supposed to do it in the first ce anyway so we can just use this opportunity to increase the advertisement¡¯s revenue.¡±

    Ares gulped once again. Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, a kingdom that had not shown themselves to the public so far, was now going to open their doors?

    <em>¡®Not only will the number of the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ immigrants increase, the fact that they are now going to go public and participate in public activities would mean that they will draw a lot of attention to the main advertisement.¡¯</em>

    Then, Minhyuk stood up and used magic to write the number 200 billion on therge whiteboard inside the room before saying, ¡°Our goal is to get more than 200 billion from this advertisement contract.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Two hundred billion was a jaw-dropping amount. But what made Ares truly awed was the fact that it was not impossible for them to achieve that amount, as long as the scenario and video was well-shot. It was not a far-fetched dream, especially after the fact that all of the members of Beyond the Heavens would give their all in the promotional activities.

    After the meeting ended, Ares realized that they truly had a shot to get that 200 billion.

    <em>¡®What the hell¡­ is the Food God¡­¡¯</em>

    The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was now preparing to actively recruit people. This meant that they would be able to generate a huge amount of profit and also increase the number of immigrants to their kingdom. This was the epitome of hitting two birds with one stone.

    Ares smiled before grabbing Minhyuk, who was about to leave the room. He said, ¡°Sorry. You must have already thought about everything but I was too angry to realize that fact.¡±

    Ares was known for his hot and fiery temper. It was only now did he realize that he had been too prejudiced against Minhyuk.

    ¡°No, it¡¯s fine. I can understand where you¡¯reing from. However, I want you to understand this, Ares,¡± Minhyuk stared at Ares with warm and gentle eyes as he continued, ¡°I will always do my best for Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, and that includes you.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s words thrilled Ares to the bones. This was because Minhyuk¡¯s voice was so reliable.

    <em>¡®Food God¡­¡¯</em>

    Ares, who was regretting joining Beyond the Heavens Kingdom just a few hours prior, had now made up his mind.

    <em>¡®Thank you for epting me as part of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.¡¯</em>

    Then, Ares asked, ¡°Then, how are you going to promote the kingdom?¡±

    ¡°By doing what I¡¯m good at.¡±

    ***

    The guild members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom began to promote their kingdom using various methods. However, Minhyuk made sure to tell everyone that the promotional activities should not interfere with their daily lives.

    Khan chose to promote in a very unique way, a PVP battle with certain conditions. In his battles, if the other yer lost against him, then they would move to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. If Khan lost against them, then he would pay them twenty tinum.

    Genie decided to start her own beauty blog, while Alicia decided to make appearances on local TV and radio broadcasting stations. Locke even made an appearance on a broadcasting program called ¡®Ah! My Doggy!¡¯. Everyone tried to promote the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom in their own way.

    As for Minhyuk? He tried to do what he was good at. And that was none other than eating. But before doing so, he made sure to discuss it with Know-it-all Dictionary, someone that had reached the peak of the Korean BJs.

    <em>¡®Actually, you don¡¯t have to do anything shy. You only need to do what you¡¯re best at, Minhyuk. If you do a mukbang, I¡¯m sure that there will be a huge impact on the promotions.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk understood a little of what Know-it-all Dictionary said.

    ¡®<em>Do others really enjoy watching someone else eat?</em>¡¯

    He did not understand that part but he still decided to try it. Right now, Minhyuk had around eighteen kilograms[1] of samgyeopsal piled up like a mountain in front of him. He also had a special guest, Beanie, sitting right beside him.

    Since Athenae and the yer¡¯s personal broadcasting channel were linked, any yer could summon a camera to do a broadcast of what they were doing. After summoning a camera in front of him and Beanie, Minhyuk immediately decided on the ¡®title¡¯ of his broadcast.

    <em>[Minhyuk¡¯s Lonely Meal has started broadcasting.]</em>

    Minhyuk intended to do what he usually did in this broadcast and do a mukbang. However, he disyed the words <em>¡®The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is recruiting yers. 1,000 lucky immigrants will be given buffed dishes every week.¡¯</em> inrge fonts and pinned at the top of the broadcast viewers¡¯ chatting window. After doing that, Minhyuk and Beanie did not pay any heed to the camera and went all out on their mukbang.

    ¡°Kgghhk. Look at that color¡­¡±

    Minhyuk gulped at the sight of the samgyeopsal in front of him as the stone grill began to heat up. Once the grill was properly heated up, Minhyuk grabbed some samgyeopsal with his tongs and lined up four in a row on top of it.

    <em>Sizzleeeee¡ª</em>

    Smoke fluttered above the grill as the pleasant sizzle of the meat rang.

    <em>Bubble, bubble¡ª</em>

    The oil from the samgyeopsal bubbled and danced on top of the grill.

    ¡°Oiiiiink! Oink!¡± Beanie said, gesturing to Minhyuk with his cute and tiny paws to grill some kimchi.

    Minhyuk immediately ced the red and well-ripened kimchi where the samgyeopsal¡¯s oil had gathered on the grill.

    <em>Sizzleeeeee¡ª</em>

    The loud sizzle of the kimchi made both Beanie and Minhyuk lick their lips in anticipation. Of course, that was not all. They also had plenty of sides, especially the spicy ones prepared and boiling in the earthen pot right next to the grill, like the dish usually served in a set with the samgyeopsal in meat restaurants.

    <em>Sizzleeeeeee¡ª</em>

    With perfect timing, Minhyuk flipped the cooking meat. When he flipped it, the other side was perfectly golden. Once everything had been cooked, Minhyuk immediately took out his scissors and cut the meat into bite-sized pieces. Then, Minhyuk grabbed a piece, dipped it into the prepared vored oil[2] before cing it in his mouth. The juices from the meat coated Minhyuk¡¯s mouth with every chew, the oil and salt adding a savory vor to the meat and creating a pleasant vor.

    ¡°Wow¡­ Beans, it¡¯s melting. The meat is melting!¡±

    ¡°Oiiiiiiink!¡±

    Of course, Beanie was not going to lose against Minhyuk. He quickly reached out with his adorable piggy hooves, and grabbed a piece of lettuce and a piece of peri leaf. Then, he grabbed two pieces of samgyeopsal, dipped it in ssamjang, before cing it on top of the leaves. Of course, he also added some garlic, some of the grilled kimchi that Minhyuk prepared earlier, a bit of green onion and wrapped everything up. The finished wrap was almost as big as Beanie¡¯s face, but he was a bold and brave piggy. He opened his mouth wide and ced everything inside, sessfully chewing on it, while a delighted smile bloomed on his face.

    ¡°O, oiiiiink¡­¡±

    Seeing this, Minhyuk thought that he should not be outdone. So, he scooped a spoonful of sweet and warm freshly cooked rice in his mouth which was immediately followed by a spoonful of spicy soybean paste stew.

    ¡°Kghhk~ This is cooked really well.¡±

    Beanie immediately copied Minhyuk, scooping a spoonful of the soybean paste stew. Of course, his spoonful was filled with zhini and tofu. He dumped the spoonful of stew on his rice, mixing everything together before eating a huge mouthful.

    ¡°Oiiiiiiiink!¡±

    Minhyuk and Beanie were two beings that knew how to eat well and happily. They continued to eat the eighteen kilograms of samgyeopsal happily. But was that all? Of course not. Minhyuk also took out some cold noodles from his inventory and ate it with Beanie.

    ¡°O, oiiiiiink!¡±

    Beanie mixed some mustard and vinegar on his bowl. Then, he lifted his entire bowl and slurped the cold soup.

    ¡°Oink!¡±

    Beanie smiled brightly at the pleasant tingle that appeared in his head. Then, he mped a mouthful of noodles and¡­ <em>Sluuuuuuurp! </em>Then, he immediately ced a piece of samgyeopsal on top of the noodles, grabbed everything with his chopsticks, and slurped everything up.

    After finishing everything, the two looked at each other as if they were congratting each other for eating well.

    ¡°It feels a bit sad, right?¡±

    ¡°Oiiiink¡­¡±

    Originally, eating a mouthful of delicious food was said to relieve and console someone that was sad. It was absolutely not something that two beings that finished around eighteen kilograms of meat should say.

    Then, the two prepared the finale to wash their mouths clean from grease. They filled their own sses with ice cubes and poured cold and refreshing cider in it.

    <em>Fwiiiiiish¡ª</em>

    The bubbles from the drink rose as the two toasted and clinked their sses together.

    <em>Ting!</em>

    The grease and oil from the samgyeopsal was slowly getting washed away by the refreshing and cold cider.

    <em>Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp¡ª</em>

    <em>Gulp, gulp¡ª</em>

    ¡°Oink!¡±

    After eating, Minhyuk said, ¡°See you guys tomorrow. Same time, same channel.¡±

    Then, he ended the broadcast. After finishing everything, Minhyuk tilted his head, thinking, <em>¡®Will people really watch this¡­?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk and Beanie really just ate on their own. He did not even bother to check the chat window. Actually, he did not check the responses because he was a bit afraid that he would see subpar reactions to his broadcast and be disappointed.

    With those thoughts shing in his head, Minhyuk stood up and went to deal with the pile of work left for him to handle.

    ***

    The next day. The second day since Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had started their full-fledged promotional activities. Truth was, Minhyuk was already a dayter than the other guild members when doing the promotional activities. During the day when the other guild members started, they were able to attract a hundred more immigrants to the kingdom. Assuming that they only received around 150 immigrants regrly, the fact that they could increase it by a hundred more on the first day meant that they had increased the amount by a lot.

    <em>¡®Since His Majesty has started to do promotional activities, would the numbers improve a bit?¡¯ </em>Haze thought, calling for the captain of the guards with a bit of expectation.

    ¡°How many of the foreigners wanted to move to Beyond the Heavens yesterday?¡±

    To that question, the captain of the guards replied, ¡°There are 3,311 people.¡±

    ¡°I see. So there are 331 people¡­ The numbers improved a bit, just a tiny bit. Ah, it¡¯s a bit disappointing though.¡±

    ¡°¡­Miss Aide¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡± Haze asked, looking at the captain of guards with confusion.

    ¡°It¡¯s not 331, it¡¯s 3,311 people.¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Haze was very shocked.

    <em>¡®From what I heard, His Majesty only ate?!¡¯</em>

    It was something that far surpassed herprehension andmon sense.

    1. The measurement that they used here is 30?. ? is the Korean pound and is equivalent to a catty or roughly 600 grams. So 30? is around 18,000 grams or 18 kg. ?

    2. ??? (gireumjang), a sauce made with sesame oil and vored salt. ?

 Chapter 538: Continent Integrationâ€™s Trailer

    Chapter 538: Continent Integration¡¯s Trailer

    In the establishment of a kingdom in Athenae, the migration and settlement of both NPCs and yers were important. The kingdom needed funds to operate and it went without saying that the key to getting these funds were the yers and the NPCs. The NPCs would make items and products that would be taxed by the kingdom, while the yers would work and pay tax, or buy these taxed items. When this structure was maintained, the kingdom would run in an orderly manner. That was why the kingdom would always be at the risk of falling into ruin if the number of immigrants were low.

    Just yesterday alone, the number of immigrants that flocked to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom reached 3,311. Considering that they had only recorded an average migration rate of around 200 daily, the number of immigrants that entered their kingdom yesterday had jumped to more than ten times that number. And the one that made the greatest contribution to this? It was, without a doubt, Minhyuk. Strangely enough, it was not just him, there was also Beanie.

    Immediately after Minhyuk started his broadcast, ¡®Lonely Meal¡¯ topped all real-time search terms. What was funnier was that the second ce was Beanie, while the third ce was the Food God. Actually, there were quite a lot of people that were jealous and envious of Minhyuk and his achievements, thus, he had a lot of anti-fans too.

    But Beanie? He was like a global top star ever since the end of the Athenae: World War and had gained plenty of fans all over the world. It was to the point that Athenae considered if they should make Beanie the World War Mascot after seeing his poprity as the Korean War Mascot. That was how great Beanie¡¯s poprity was. That was also the reason why their mukbang was a hit. The scene where a handsome man and the global star Beanie ate eighteen kilograms of samgyeopsal happily attracted a lot of people.

    In fact, shocking articles were even published after that.

    <em>[The sales of samgyeopsal restaurants increased by 400% on the day the Food God and Beanie¡¯s Lonely Meal was broadcasted.]</em>

    <em>[Plenty of office workers flocked to samgyeopsal restaurantsst night.]</em>

    <em>[Jam-packed samgyeopsal restaurants. Is this the effect of the Food God and Beanie?]</em>

    <em>[It has several times more effect than when the famous idol group¡¯s Hha-Sa[1] in <I Do Everything Alone> in the past.]</em>

    When people watched the edited clips of the video, they could not help but drool.

    <em>[Wow. Guys, have you seen the Food God¡¯s mukbang with Beanie¡­? Ah, how can they eat samgyeopsal so happily like that?]</em>

    <em>[I started to feel like I was smiling like a mother when I watched the broadcast. Just watching them eat is making me feel at ease. And that sizzleeee¡ª, it¡¯s an enchanting melody! Kghk!]</em>

    <em>[Beanie is so cuuuuute. ?????]</em>

    <em>[I¡¯m going to ask my mom for samgyeopsal today.]</em>

    <em>[They¡¯re going to broadcast again today. I wonder what they¡¯ll eat this time?]</em>

    On top of that, Minhyuk¡¯s broadcast, which had been edited and uploaded to Ztube, had exceeded 500,000 views in just a short amount of time. In fact, even foreigners from abroad could not help but click on the video to watch Beanie and the Food God¡¯s mukbang, which created a huge ripple effect. The most surprising fact was not the huge amount of views, nor the countless yers tuning in to their broadcast.

    It was something else.

    Surprisingly enough, even those that did not y Athenae were very interested in the mukbang. That was right. Mukbangs had always been something that had been enjoyed by everyone, even those that did not y the game. It was a phenomenon that everyone enjoyed for a long time now. Because of this, more and more people were thinking of taking this opportunity to try Athenae.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk, who finally essed the game again, heard the notifications in his ears.

    <em>[There are 3,311 yers that applied to migrate to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[Once you approve the migration of the 3,311 yers, you will be able to collect kingdom taxes from them and strengthen the kingdom by suggesting jobs like soldiers, mages, and knights.]</em>

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    Minhyuk wondered if the effect would really increase this much after simply eating. Actually, he had heard from others before that they felt at ease and rxed whenever they watched him eat. However, the ripples that they created with just that broadcast alone was tremendous.

    And Minhyuk could see that the greatest contributor to this was Beanie.

    ¡°Fortunately things are going well,¡± Minhyuk said to Haze. Haze looked at him as if she truly did not know how to answer those words.

    ¡°As expected of the Food God. I can only use this expression.¡±

    ¡°Right. But it only went up this much since I only just started. Once the heat dies down, the number of immigrants will decrease again.¡±

    That was a fact. The recruitment drive would definitely not perform like that continuously. It will increase to some extent, reach a teau, before decreasing again. This was also why they needed to find a fixed method to recruit more yers, and even recruit NPCs. The effect of the main advertisement would only be greater if they could maintain the high number of immigrants each day.

    ¡°That¡¯s where the method that Your Majesty said wille into y, cooking buffed dishes for a thousand people.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    Many people have testified that the Food God¡¯s buffed dishes were out of this world. However, there were many cases where the public only thought of this as a set-up by kingdom. In fact, they had good reason to think so. After all, countless scenes where the Food God¡¯s guild members suddenly gained overwhelming power after receiving his buffed dishes, were indeed very questionable.

    After all, the detailed information of the dishes had never been revealed to the world. In other words, the viewers could not believe them since they did not see how powerful the dishes could make them, and if they were truly out of this world. The only thing they saw was the members of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom suddenly bing stronger and oveing their crisis after eating those dishes.

    ¡°The one thousand lucky foreigners would take a screenshot of the dishes¡¯ effects and post it on their SNS before eating it. If that happened, then they would create a huge ripple and would rake in plenty of people. After all, many more would be tempted to move to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom after seeing something like that.¡±

    It was just as Minhyuk said. It was just like when people flocked to a kingdom with good cksmiths to get better artifacts. However, in the case of cksmiths, they could only produce a few artifacts per day and would oftentimes need a few days to create good ones. This was the case where the demand was high but the supply was low.

    But for Minhyuk? He could easily feed many people with his buffed dishes thanks to his trailer¡¯s bulk cooking function. The people would try to do their best to move to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom once they saw the buffed dishes¡¯ effects with their very own eyes and taste its excellent vor with their mouths. Also¡­

    ¡°We¡¯ll put monster subjugation quests and other quests like that, with the ¡®Food God¡¯s Dish¡¯ as a reward.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s really¡­ genius.¡±

    yers were given the ability to create quests after they became a lord of their own territory or a king of their own kingdom. There were also quests that would naturally form on their own based on the NPCs¡¯ will. The former wasbeled as the ¡®King¡¯s Production Quest¡¯ or the ¡®Lord¡¯s Production Quest¡¯. In the future, they would not need to rely on their luck to get their hands on the Food God¡¯s dishes. They could eat the Food God¡¯s buffed dishes just by simplypleting the quests posted in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    <em>¡®There will definitely be a lot of immigrants. In fact, I believe it will not be foreigners alone but even the guardians will flock to this ce,¡¯ </em>Haze thought, admiring Minhyuk. At the same time¡­

    <em>¡®How can I clean the pockets of these new foreign immigrants?¡¯</em>

    Haze, someone that once dreamt of bing a great merchant, was currently having bad thoughts.

    ***

    Minhyuk continued to broadcast for an hour each day for an entire week, which resulted in the steady increase in Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s number of immigrants. Soon, the numbers started to decline. In other words, the initial heat had dwindled and was already on the verge of slowly dying down.

    Of course, during the first few broadcasts, the views of the Food God¡¯s mukbang had reached an unprecedented level. Among the immigrants that came from the heat of that first broadcast, 1,000 were chosen to get the chance to taste the Food God¡¯s dishes. One of them was a man named Alex.

    Alex was a reporter, and in his line of work, he had published plenty of articles, ranging from celebrity scandals to rankers scandals, even information about various guilds and plenty of other topics. There was even a saying among the people that the moment Alex dug into that person, that person would eventually be ruined. He was very lucky to be a part of the 1,000 chosen people.

    <em>¡®I wonder how many lies did the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom weave for the public?¡¯</em>

    No one has ever written an article with depth and substance when it came to Beyond the Heavens. That was how top secret their information was, especially with the help of the Food God¡¯s father, Ilhwa Group¡¯s Chairman Kang Minhoo. He kept a tight leash on their information. Aside from that, Alex could not think of anything about them. Also¡­

    <em>¡®Making a buffed dish that could satisfy these 1,000 people? Is he out of his mind?¡¯</em>

    Actually, Alex had also written an article filled with spection saying, <em>¡®The Food God¡¯s buffed dishes are just a marketing ploy, right?¡¯</em> Strangely enough, what he wrote matched reality.

    <em>Why did the Food God not reveal the detailed information of his dishes? </em>

    <em>Why does the Food God always appearte? Is it because he wants to create a dramatic scene like those in the movies to gain more poprity?</em>

    <em>If the dishes of the Food God are truly great, why are they not selling it? </em>

    Today, Alex vowed to uncover the ugly truth about the Food God and Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    <em>¡®I should hunt more¡­ Why is my leveling up speed so slow?¡¯ </em>Alex rubbed his chin in thought. He was also a yer of Athenae, it was a natural instinct to want to level up faster, especially since he was at the height of his hunts. After all, when he was in Athenae, he never thought like a reporter, but went around the game with enjoyment in mind.

    <em>¡®No way. What if they give us exorbitant amounts of money so that we will exaggerate whatever will happen today. Is he really going to do that?¡¯</em>

    This thought even swam in Alex¡¯s head, many thoughts were swimming in his head. Then, the Food God finally made his appearance.

    ¡°Hello, everyone. I¡¯m the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King, the Food God.¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    Plenty of the people present were very happy. It was as if they had finally seen the object of their admiration. But that was not the case for Alex.

    Then, the Food God said, ¡°Shall I guess the buff that everyone here wants most?¡±

    Everyone¡¯s attention focused on his next words.

    ¡°It¡¯s EXP buff, right?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°My EXP is not going up!!!¡±

    ¡°Dishes with EXP buffs are so damn expensive¡­!¡±

    That was right. Just like what they said, buffed dishes with EXP buffs were four times more expensive than regr buffed dishes. And the effects? Very disappointing. Even if they bought an EXP buffed dish, the buff would onlyst for three days and would only allow them to have a 5%~7% increase in EXP during that time period.

    ¡°We will prepare buffed dishes for those of you who decided to move to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Rest assured, the quality of our ingredients are very good. After all, most of them had been grown here in our kingdom.¡±

    The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had an amazing piece ofnd called ¡®Ingredient Heaven¡¯. With the Food God as its owner, all of the ingredients grown in thatnd had be more excellent than before.

    <em>¡®Make EXP buffed dishes for 1,000 people on the spot? What kind of bullshit are you spouting? I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve already prepared everything beforehand.¡¯</em>

    It was something that was truly impossible in reality. No chef could make dozens of EXP buffed dishes at the same time. This was because they would always face the limits of their buff volume. However, what they did not know was the fact that Minhyuk¡¯s buff volume was enormous. On top of that, his trailer had a bulk-dish cooking function.

    <em>Grrrrrrrr¡ª</em>

    At the heart of Valencia, the capital of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡­

    <em>Piiiiiiiiiiiii¡ª!</em>

    ¡­A trailer began to work. The eternal mes burned strongly, as white smoke bloomed from the chimney.

    ¡°The dish that I will make this time is braised spicy chicken. Please wait for an hour, can you do that?¡±

    Then, inside the trailer, Minhyuk began to stew huge amounts of chicken while chopping the vegetables and mixing them thoroughly with his ingredient mixing skill.

    ¡°Wow¡­ what a crazy skill¡­¡±

    ¡°As soon as his hands touched them, the potatoes began to peel and cut themselves, did you see?¡±

    The Food God¡¯s skills were specialized for cooking. Alex had acknowledged this part, <em>¡®His ss is called Food God, it¡¯s not surprising to see him cook arge amount of food.¡¯</em>

    Then, Minhyuk grabbed a huge kitchen shovel as he stirred the braised spicy chicken in the huge cauldron.

    <em>¡®Braised spicy chicken cooked in a cauldron¡­ I can¡¯t wait to taste it.¡¯</em>

    Alex had been trying his hardest to find fault with Minhyuk but so far, he was not able to find anything at all. Rather than finding faults¡­

    <em>¡®He¡¯s a king but he¡¯s actually covered in sweat while cooking.¡¯</em>

    If one thought of Minhyuk as a king, then his figure right now was unbefitting. At the same time, the sweat that was flowing down his muscr forearms and body was giving off a very manly charm.

    <em>¡®Damn.¡¯</em>

    Alex felt a strange sense of inferiority after looking at Minhyuk¡¯s figure. Because of that, he vowed to criticize and peelyers andyers out of the buffed dish that Minhyuk would present to them. Finally, the braised spicy chicken was finished. They began to distribute one to each of the yers present here.

    The one that received it first was Alex.

    <em>¡®Let¡¯s see? I wonder how much his buff volume can support.¡¯</em>

    Alex made a guess on his own. Even if the buff effect was true and genuine, he believed that it was nigh impossible for Minhyuk to supply around 900 of the people here with buffed dishes. He thought that everything here was set-up by the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Perhaps making a buffed dish for 100 people? That was Alex¡¯s rough estimate of what was possible.

    ¡°Keheoooook?!¡±

    But then, Alex let out a burst of exmation after looking at the braised spicy chicken that he received.

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?!¡±

    ¡°What? What¡¯s wrong?!¡±

    ¡°Hey, are you alright!?¡±

    Everyone hurriedly looked at Alex, who could only stare at the braised spicy chicken in his hand and Minhyuk, who was a distance away from him.

    <em>¡®This is crazy¡­!¡¯</em>

    The people around Alex realized that he had already checked the effects of the braised spicy chicken in his hands. So, they focused their attention on him instead of checking their own dishes.

    Seeing the look in their eyes, Alex said, ¡°The, the EXP will¡­ increase by 21%¡­ for ten days¡­¡±

    Alex immediately released a detailed article that very same day. The article was well thought-out and was filled with praises for Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    <em>[The detailed information about the dish that was made for the 1,000 lucky immigrants that moved to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, the braised spicy chicken, has been a very hot topic. The braised spicy chicken that Food God Minhyuk made can increase around 22% of one¡¯s EXP for ten days. On top of that, the vor and taste of the dish was superb. For those that seek to level up faster and for those that are still looking for a kingdom or an empire that they will stay in for a very long time, you have to immediately rush to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    The very next day, the notifications rang for Minhyuk, who logged back inside the game.

    <em>[There are 8,464 yers that applied to migrate to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[Once you approve the migration of the 8,464 yers, you will be able to collect kingdom taxes from them and strengthen the kingdom by suggesting jobs like soldiers, mages and knights.]</em>

    The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s poption was growing rapidly.

    1. I believe this is in reference to Hwasa when she guested in I Live Alone? ?

 Chapter 539: Continent Integrationâ€™s Trailer

    Chapter 539: Continent Integration¡¯s Trailer

    Ares recalled the incident in the previous meeting where he ran wild after learning that Minhyuk signed a huge contract without telling them. Despite himshing out in anger, Minhyuk calmly and confidently exined his points one by one. However, the most surprising fact was¡­

    <em>Buzz, buzz¡ª</em>

    ¡°What?! We can eat the dishes made by the Food God if weplete the kingdom quests?!¡±

    ¡°Are you telling me that I can also get an EXP buff from a buffed dish too?!¡±

    ¡°Kyaaa~ I¡¯m so d I moved to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!¡±

    ¡­only one week had passed since the meeting, and the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was already starting to be crowded with yers.

    <em>¡®I also want to be of help to Beyond the Heavens.¡¯</em>

    Ares began to reflect on himself.

    <em>¡®Genie checks on the cats¡¯ anus but she is the vice guild master of Beyond the Heavens. Elpis dances and cries to children¡¯s songs but he is the shield of the kingdom. Locke might be ugly but he is the one hailed as the Dog ughterer. Kaistra does the dishes but he is the owner and master of a divine beast. Aruvel writes erotic novels but he is unusually strong.¡¯</em>

    Everyone was acting strange and Ares did not know why they were acting that way. As he walked and pondered like that¡­

    ¡°Mister Ares~ These are the golden sweet potatoes that I grew myself, would you like to try some?¡±

    ¡­a woman, who was busy working on the field, rummaged through her basket and handed a piece of golden sweet potato to Ares.

    <em>¡®From what I heard, many of the citizens of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom are farmers.¡¯</em>

    They were the immigrants from Rocard Kingdom, a kingdom of farmers. These citizens of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had always tried to share their harvests to the executives, knights, and ordinary soldiers. Every time this happened, Ares would always try to refuse it in a chic and slick manner.

    ¡°It¡¯s alright¡­¡±

    But then, it suddenly hit him. He wanted to serve Beyond the Heavens Kingdom but he was ignoring the citizens of that kingdom? Minhyuk was someone that was generous and kind, someone that could embrace anyone in his kingdom, regardless of their status or race.

    Hence, Ares picked a piece of golden sweet potato that was as big as his own fist, albeit with some unwillingness.

    <em>¡®Actually, I can¡¯t understand them. Everyone from Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, from the citizens to the executives, love and enjoy the Food God¡¯s dishes. However, ordinary rankers had always chosen to eat beef jerky or bread to fill their fullness stat.¡¯</em>

    It was a fact. Ordinary rankers always believed that keeping their bellies full inside the game was just so they could maintain their characters and not copse from the fullness reaching zero. Ares could not understand but he still peeled the skin of the golden sweet potato, as the still-warm and steaming golden flesh of the sweet potato appeared in front of him.

    <em>¡®Well, it looks really delicious.¡¯</em>

    The woman looked at Ares expectantly as he took a big bite of the sweet potato in his hands. With the sweet potato still warm and steaming, Ares had no choice but to roll the still steaming bite of sweet potato. However, the unmistakable deep sweetness and the smooth texture of the sweet potato in his mouth was superb.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    He was left speechless from the unexpected taste.

    <em>¡®What¡¯s this¡­¡¯</em>

    Ares had never tasted sweet potato as delicious as this in his life.

    ¡®<em>No, could sweet potatoes really taste like this?¡¯</em>

    As the question floated in Ares¡¯ head, he took another one, two, three, four bites of the sweet potato in his hands. He ate everything so fast that he even choked.

    ¡°<em>Cough.</em> Is there something to drink?¡±

    ¡°Here, try some dongchimi.¡±

    The woman handed a bowl of cold dongchimi covered with a thinyer of ice to Ares, who immediately gulped it down. The sweet potato that got stuck in his mouth and throat was immediately washed down by the refreshing dongchimi.

    ¡°Kghhk¡­¡± Ares let out an exmation unknowingly. Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>[You have eaten a ¡®Golden Sweet Potato¡¯, a special product developed by the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[Eating a golden sweet potato will give your character a special effect. This will only be applied once.]</em>

    <em>[Your STR and STM has increased by +1.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Not only did it taste good, it could also raise two of their stats! Most of the items that permanently increased stats could only be traded with an exorbitant amount of money. However, that was not important now. What was more important was¡­

    ¡°Are there more of this sweet potato?¡±

    ¡°Ah. Of course. Here, help yourself,¡± the woman said as she handed her basket of sweet potatoes to Ares.

    <em>Munch, munch, munch, munch¡ª</em>

    Ares¡¯ eyes were opened to a new world. The sweet potatoes from Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were so delicious that it could make anyone that tasted them cry. But then, Ares¡¯ hands patted the bottom of the basket.

    <em>Pat, pat, pat¡ª</em>

    <em>¡®There¡¯s no more¡­?!¡¯</em>

    Ares ate all five of them in an instant!

    <em>¡®I want to eat more¡­!¡¯</em>

    Ares hurriedly chased after the woman, following the road that she passed through earlier. After seeing the freshly harvested sweet potatoes, Ares reached his hands toward them.

    ¡°Mister Ares! You can¡¯t touch them!¡± The woman shouted, an unusual and overwhelming energy bursting out from her body and restraining Ares¡¯ movements, ¡°There have been more than a few people that acted like Mister Ares and ate hundreds of sweet potatoes and potatoes in a day¡­¡±

    ¡°Is, Isn¡¯t there something that can be done?¡±

    Ares was the leader of Ares Guild, one of the four great guilds but he bowed his head and asked sincerely. However, the woman and the other farmers remained firm and unyielding, ¡°No. However, we can pay you with them if you help us in harvesting.¡±

    ¡°¡­Okay,¡± Ares agreed.

    ¡®<em>Do I really have to help in harvesting?</em>¡¯

    To be honest, he was a bit reluctant. But what could he do? He could not stand it, he wanted to taste more of that sweet potato. So, he used his skill.

    <em>[Self Blessing.]</em>

    <em>[Your AGI will increase by 40% and you will maintain your STM for 30 minutes.]</em>

    Ares used his skill and ran swiftly with the hoe, digging the sweet potatoes and potatoes that he passed by.

    ¡°¡­Wh, what the hell?¡±

    ¡°Who the hell is that man?¡±

    Ares was one of Korea¡¯s best fighter yers. Although his specialty was in kicking, his body was built differently from the ordinary rankers.

    <em>Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump¡ª</em>

    On top of his fast speed, Ares did not get tired of digging the sweet potatoes and potatoes. Even his yield was nearly six times that of others.

    <em>Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump¡ª</em>

    When almost thirty minutes had passed¡­

    <em>[You have acquired 1 DEX.]</em>

    <em>¡®What is this? I only worked in the field but I acquired a DEX point?¡¯</em>

    DEX was also a very important stat for a fighter. For every point they have in their DEX, they would be able to gain a +1 effect in their physical attack and defense. This was important for every closebat ss yer, as they would have an increased damage effect the more points they had in DEX.

    <em>[You have acquired 1 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 1 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[¡­acquired 1 DEX.]</em>

    Only then did Ares realize, <em>¡®The-the people of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom are not strange people after all!¡¯</em>

    This was the reason why Genie, who only looked at cats¡¯ anuses, Best Selling Author Aruvel and Elpis were strong! It was because they cultivated themselves! Ares decided to do the same thing. He spent three days working on the fields alone while munching on golden sweet potatoes and potatoes.

    In that amount of time, Ares was able to increase his DEX by 70.

    <em>¡®This is fun! This is really fun! Hahaha!¡¯</em>

    Then, Ares thought about how the members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were giving their all in promoting the kingdom. On the other hand, here he was, only doing something for himself. He felt a bit sorry for them.

    <em>¡®I hope I can help them just a bit. Maybe I should do a broadcast too?¡¯</em>

    Ares turned on his cameras and started broadcasting too while farming. He did not even turn on thements. He just silently dug up the sweet potatoes and potatoes while wearing his straw hat, eating some snacks, and drinking some makgeolli with the farmers.

    ¡°Wahahaha! Makgeolli is the best!¡±

    However, something strange happened. The number of viewers, which were initially low, that were watching his broadcast started to increase at a rapid rate.

    The viewers that were living their day-to-day life filled with exhaustion began to feel a sense offort from Ares as they watched him drink some cold and refreshing water while wiping his sweat with the towel on his neck and looking up at the skies.

    Actually, all of them thought, <em>¡®Why am I watching this?!¡¯, </em>but they still kept on watching the broadcast despite themselves. The ratings of his broadcast went up just like that and even reached a level that was almost the same as Minhyuk¡¯s mukbang.

    That was right. Ares finally found his ce in Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    Meanwhile, In Minhyuk¡¯s office.

    ¡°Today, there are a total of 13,000 foreigners that migrated to the kingdom.¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°Around 4,000 of the yers are moring to do farmwork.¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty, this is a very good thing. These people would do their best to grow better tasting crops and perhaps even develop crops with better special abilities.¡±

    ¡°Super lucky?¡±

    ***

    The release of the main advertisement was just right around the corner. As the time approached, plenty of articles had been published and released around the world.

    <em>[Athenae¡¯s second era is just right around the corner and we can expect countless major and minor updates. The main trailer is said to be two hours long. Is it like a blockbuster movie?]</em>

    <em>[The revision of the main scenario of the advertisement had been requested by the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[ording to the interview with Screenwriter Kim Pil-Soo, the person in-charge of writing the scenario, he would carry out legal actions against Joy Co. Ltd. ¡®The scenario proposed by Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is ridiculous¡­¡¯]</em>

    <em>[Netizens have high expectations for the trailer to be released tomorrow.]</em>

    In the end, the scenario waspletely edited. Because of that, many of the viewers expressed their concerns and doubts.

    <em>[Kim Pil-Soo is Korea¡¯s best screenwriter. But Beyond the Heavens Kingdom hadpletely revised his scenario¡­?]</em>

    <em>[But I don¡¯t think Screenwriter Kim Pil-Soo is a good choice? He¡¯s a writer that¡¯s an expert on romanticedy.]</em>

    <em>[But what would Beyond the Heavens know about writing a scenario? Hahaha. I¡¯ll definitely watch how the main trailer fails tomorrow and make an in-depth review!]</em>

    <em>[I heard that a lot of people have moved to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Will they leave after watching the main trailer tomorrow?]</em>

    <em>[They¡¯re doomed. GG.]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s a bit too much¡­]</em>

    <em>[Athenae¡¯s doomed¡­]</em>

    The Continent Integration would have the biggest impactpared to all of the events and updates that they had issued so far. However, countless people were already expressing their discontent and disappointment.

    The next day, three hours before the trailer aired, inside one of the conference rooms of Joy Co. Ltd¡­.

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡°You can¡¯t even tell me the name of the screenwriter?! Exin why you changed my scenario!!!!¡±

    Kim Pil-Soo, the one who was originally in charge of the scenario, was running amok.

    Kang Taehoon looked at him with a bitter smile on his face as he said, ¡°I¡¯m the only one who knows who the current screenwriter is. No one heard who he was except for me. Despite the screenwriter¡¯s high prices, he only asked for 500 million won from Joy Co. Ltd. He even promised to pay a billion won if the scenario failed. On top of that, even after we have told you that your scenario did not fit ¡®Athenae¡¯¡¯s trailer after our review, you still ignored us and continued to push through with that, right?¡±

    ¡°That¡­¡±

    ¡±Ah. Since you have demanded it so much, I have asked for Minhyuk¡¯s understanding and even asked for his phone number. How about talking to him directly?¡±

    Kang Taehoon felt his head throb. Kim Pil-Soo had kept on asking for a call with Minhyuk. Fortunately, Minhyuk was kind enough to ept his demands.

    ¡°Just know one thing,¡± Kim Pil-Soo said, ring at everyone in the meeting room, ¡°This Athenae trailer is doomed to fail.¡±

    Kim Pil-Soo angrily dialed the number on his phone after receiving it from Kang Taehoon.

    <em>ck¡ª</em>

    <em>[Hello. This is Kang Minhyuk.]</em>

    ¡°This is Screenwriter Kim Pil-Soo. Why the hell did you change the scenario?!!!¡±

    The reason why Kim Pil-Soo was seething with anger was because someone that did not even know how to write dared to touch his scenario and even changed itpletely.

    <em>[Because it doesn¡¯t go well with Athenae¡¯s main trailer. This was something that everyone from Beyond the Heavens Kingdom has agreed upon and was also approved by our screenwriter.]</em>

    ¡°Which part?!¡±

    <em>[¡­Do you really not know?]</em>

    There were plenty of stubborn writers and Kim Pil-Soo was among them, perhaps even ranking at the top.

    <em>[The continents were at war against each other and it¡¯s filled with plenty of romance in between? Of course, it doesn¡¯t matter to me, but if I watched that trailer then I would definitely not y the game.]</em>

    ¡°What the hell do you know about writing a scenario?! You f*cking bastard, you¡­!¡±

    In the end, the string of reason in Kim Pil-Soo¡¯s head broke and he crossed a line that he should not have. Then, he heard a cold voice over the phone.

    <em>[Yes, there¡¯s a contract. But Joy Co. Ltd. was not satisfied with what you presented so they terminated it and paid you the contract vition fee. So, what¡¯s your problem? On top of that¡­]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s voice turned fierce.

    <em>[¡­There was a scene like this during a war? Before Ellie and I join the war, I will look back at her and say these lines¡­]</em>

    Kim Pil-Soo had no choice but to turn silent as he listened to Minhyuk¡¯s words. Everyone in the meeting room perked their ears up as they listened to the voice from the phone.

    <em>[Noona, after this war ends I want you to look at me as a man and not as a younger brother.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    A moment of silence enveloped the room. Actually, some of the people here were not given the opportunity to read the scenario. This was so they could prevent leaks.

    But when they heard this line, all of the people present did a massive facepalm in their minds.

    <em>¡®What a nutjob¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Crazy shit. Who the hell would think of adding that kind of romance in the middle of a war? This is Athenae¡¯s main trailer, do you think this is your regr Monday-Tuesday drama?¡¯</em>

    ¡°So?! What¡¯s wrong with that line?! That nameless screenwriter of yours does not even know jackshit about the scenario! Huh?! Everyone is dying to see the romance between you and Ellie¡­!¡±

    <em>[I¡¯m hanging up. Watch the trailer then give your judgment.]</em>

    Minhyuk ended the call with that.

    Kim Pil-Soo¡¯s face blushed as he said, ¡°That line will definitely set the fire in everyone¡¯s hearts!!!¡±

    ¡°<em>Cough.</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Cough, cough¡­</em>¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡±

    Yes. It would definitely set fire¡­ to Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s headquarters.

    Kim Pil-Soo huffed as he waited for the trailer to air. Not long after, the trailer began.

    <em>¡®This trailer will definitely fail,¡¯ </em>Kim Pil-Soo was confident in his judgment as he watched the video.

    <em>¡®The visuals are good. After all, this is made in our country.¡¯</em>

    A sour and moody expression continued to persist on his face, while exmations rang from all over the room.

    ¡°Crazy¡­!¡±

    ¡°They did a really good job, right?¡±

    ¡°Especially the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ guild members, their appearance definitely yed a huge part. It¡¯s like watching a Korean version of a Hollywood blockbuster movie.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s good, right?¡±

    As time went by, Kim Pil-Soo¡¯s expression stiffened.

    <em>¡®What the hell??? Why is this so interesting?!¡¯</em>

    More time passed.

    <em>¡®What the hell?! Why am I getting goosebumps?!¡¯</em>

    And¡­

    <em>¡®The f*ck! What kind of out of this world video is this?!¡¯</em>

    When the trailer ended, President Kang Taehoon turned to Team Leader Park Minggyu and asked, ¡°What¡¯s the public¡¯s current reaction?¡±

    ¡°The response is explosive. It has reached an unprecedented level.¡±

    ¡°Based on the current reaction, how much profit will Beyond the Heavens Kingdom get?¡±

    ¡°If the momentum continues like this, Beyond the Heavens will exceed more than six of our determined sections. The expected return is¡­¡±

    Everyone gulped dryly as they focused on Team Leader Park¡¯s words. With an incredulous look on his face, Team Leader Park continued, ¡°¡­expected to be at 370 billion won.¡±

    This meant that Joy Co. Ltd would rake in a huge amount of wealth.

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s goooooooo!¡±

    ¡°Athenae¡¯s Continent Integration is already a sess! Hahahahaha!¡±

    And among them, Kim Pil-Soo bowed his head while murmuring, ¡°Where did things go wrong? Right! I understand now! I wrote the wrong lines. Minhyuk shouldn¡¯t say those lines to Ellie!!!¡±

    Kim Pil-Soo jumped up from his seat as he looked around the people present in the room. It seemed like he had only realized it. Everyone reigned in their joy for a moment as they looked at him.

    <em>¡®Thank goodness, he finally understands. Since we unterally terminated the contract, we should also be amodating and be understanding of his feelings,¡¯ </em>Kang Taehoon thought that he should be generous in his understanding.

    But then, Kim Pil-Soo said, ¡°Ellie, with a sentimental look on her face, looks beyond the walls while saying the lines: From now on, don¡¯t call me noona! I want you to see me as a woman and not as a sister! Kgghk~¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    At that moment, everyone present in the room thought the same thing: <em>Should I kill him right here and now?</em>

 Chapter 540: Continent Integrationâ€™s Trailer

    Chapter 540: Continent Integration¡¯s Trailer

    Many people were waiting curiously for the main trailer that would announce the beginning of Athenae¡¯s second era. There were people sitting in front of theirputers, together with their friends at school, at work, with their families and even with their beloved. Some were looking forward to it, some were mocking the recklessness of Beyond the Heavens in attempting something out of their depths, while others were looking forward to what the future updates held for them.

    This was how the two-hour long trailer started¡­

    The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ king looked up to the skies from the castle, only to see something shocking. The stars in the skies gathered together before spreading out into a straight line.

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Haze rushed to the shocked Minhyuk while saying, ¡°The Stars¡¯ Path has opened¡­¡±

    ¡°The Stars¡¯ Path?¡±

    ¡°This was something that was recorded a long time ago. From what I read in an ancient book, a passage to a new world will open once the Stars¡¯ Path opens.¡±

    Minhyuk listened quietly to Haze¡¯s words as he looked up at the stars that were lined up in the skies. All of the citizens of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were also looking up at the strange phenomenon. Then¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡­the stars that were spread out in the dark skies began to fall down to the ground one after the other, fascinating everyone that was watching. At the Dragon King¡¯s Sea in Asgan Continent, one of the stars that fell, flew across the waters.

    <em>Piiiiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    A huge path was created from beneath the star, creating a path that lead to the end of the northern continent and connecting them to the American Server. Dozens of these stars fell down and created several wide and long passageways that connected the continents. But the more surprising fact was the fact that trees, waterfalls, and even other features of nature began to pop up not long after the paths were created. After creating these paths, the stars gathered in one ce and¡­

    <em>Rumble, rumble, rumble¡ª</em>

    ¡­ a huge castle,rge territories, mansions and homes began to emerge, until they formed a new empire. Surprisingly enough, the size of this new empire was sorge that it could rival a continent on its own. In fact, there were even tens of millions of people that appeared inside the empire, as if they were already there to begin with. Only then did the light from the stars disappear.

    When the ring light disappeared, it revealed their figures. The stars were in fact humans. And these were the words written above their heads.

    <em>[God¡¯s Swords.]</em>

    <em>[They are the ones that serve the transcendental beings hailed as gods in the Land of the Gods.]</em>

    Dozens of them, wearing a cape holding the insignia of the sun and the moon, knelt down on one knee and paid their courtesy. Then, the clouds in the skies opened up as a staircase made of light fell down.

    <em>Step, step, step¡ª</em>

    A man descended from the stairs of light, wearing ck armor which seemed to be made from God¡¯s Ore Adamantium. His name appeared on the screen.

    <em>[Nerva Sephiroth]</em>

    <em>[The Sword of one of the Absolute Gods, the Battle God. Those that were hailed as ¡®Swords¡¯ in the Land of the Gods were those that have inherited their gods¡¯ power and lived to protect their god.</em>

    <em>Nerva Sephiroth, Sword of the Battle God, had received recognition from the Battle God and became the emperor that held absolute power and ruled over the Land of the Gods. He is the only being that can give orders to the other Swords, aside from the gods.]</em>

    Nerva Sephiroth looked ethereal as he descended. Although he seemed to be a middle-aged man, his long silver hair, white skin and golden eyes created an air of mystery thatplemented his overwhelming charisma.

    ¡°Prepare to trample on and bring all of the continents under my feet. By my God¡¯s will, those that resist shall be ughtered without mercy.¡±

    The entire scene scattered into thin air after Nerva Sephitroth¡¯s deration, giving way to the exnation on the screen.

    <em>[Nerva Sephiroth had received the orders of the Battle God to straighten out the chaotic world beneath them, bringing them under his rule. </em>

    <em>Nerva Sephiroth was the Sword that had received the power of the Battle God. Upon receiving the orders of his God, he began to put pressure on the kingdoms and empires in their surroundings with his powerful knights and troops.</em>

    <em>Nerva Sephiroth and his army¡¯s might was beyond overwhelming. They became the object of fear of the kingdoms and empires. Eventually, he began his tyrannical rule under the guise of an ¡®alliance¡¯. Only a year after the appearance of path of the stars, they had brought countless kingdoms and empires of that continent to their knees. Although the Swords were also human beings, they were different. After all, they were the ones that received the power of the gods.</em>

    <em>Finally, they began to reach their ws toward the Asgan Continent. They had only been invading for a week but around seven percent of the Asgan Continent had already died. Asgan Continent¡¯s empires and kingdoms joined forces but they were still helpless in front of Nerva Sephiroth¡¯s army. They were still pushed back. </em>

    <em>In the kingdom founded by foreigners, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, everything was in mes and the streets littered with the dead.]</em>

    ¡°Your Majesty, you have to go now!!!¡±

    ¡°Your Majeeeeeeesty!!!¡±

    Inside the burning castle, Genie and the other executives of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom rushed forward to urge Minhyuk to leave. Haze, who was bleeding from her head, hurriedly gave Minhyuk an ancient book.

    ¡°You have to go, Your Majesty!!! You must go now, quickly!!!¡±

    ¡°My people are dying as they fight to protect my kingdom! How can you tell me to run away in this situation?!!!¡±

    ¡°Only if Your Majesty survives will our Beyond the Heavens Kingdom be able to rise once again! Please gather all of the materials written in this book to create the ¡®God ughterer Sword¡¯! This kingdom will only live if you live, Your Majesty!!!¡±

    Everyone knelt down and pleaded. The king of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom looked around them and said, ¡°Survive. I will definitelye back for you.¡±

    The Beyond the Heavens King then rushed away.

    <em>[Asgan Continent Year 617. Beyond the Heavens Kingdom disappeared from the map. Unstoppable, Nerva Sephiroth and his army devoured the entire Asgan Continent, ushering an era of war filled with bloodshed and screams. Four years after Nerva Sephiroth and his armyunched their attack, the Asgan Continent finally sumbed to his tyrannical rule. </em>

    <em>At a time when countless people had died and many more were still suffering, one emperor that Nerva Sephiroth had deposed raised her sword. Her name? Sword Emperor Ellie. </em>

    <em>Continental Emperor Ellie started to gather troops from all over the continent in preparation for the final war. Many gathered under her banner. Even those that survived from Beyond the Heavens Kingdom also gathered under hermand to fight the final battle. The number of troops that gathered under Great Sword Ellie easily exceeded six million.]</em>

    Ellie, along with countless powerful men and the six million troops under her banner, stood in front of Ruvian Empire, the empire founded by Nerva Sephiroth. Vice Guild Master Genie, Locke, Khan, Ascar, Elpis, Conir, as well as the people of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, a kingdom that had long since disappeared from the map, also stood beside Ellie.

    ¡°It¡¯s been a long time since Ist tasted a meal made by him.¡±

    The members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom all nodded and agreed with Genie¡¯s words.

    ¡°Kgghk. His cooking is really the best!¡±

    ¡°Conir! Conir wants to eat hyung¡¯s dishes!¡±

    ¡°I want to see His Majesty today.¡±

    Even Sword Emperor Ellie nodded in agreement with their words.

    ¡°I also miss him.¡±

    Four years. Four long years had passed where they did not know if he was alive or dead.

    Meanwhile, countless archers and mages stood over the ramparts, watching the rebel forces as Ellie unmounted her horse and walked among the six million troops that apanied her.

    <em>[The six million troops that gathered under Ellie¡¯s banner were terrified by the Ruvian Empire¡¯s might. Although they were six million strong, they were but a drop of water in the ocean in front of Ruvian Empire who had gathered countless troops from all of the kingdoms and empires all over the world. In fact, Ruvian Empire¡¯s troops were around seven times their number.]</em>

    Ellie walked among her trembling troops before stopping in front of a sixteen year old boy and holding his trembling hands. The fear and dread that prevailed in the boy¡¯s eyes werepletely captured and transmitted to all of the viewers watching the scene. Despite his trembling body, the boy still clutched his spear tightly and stood firmly at his spot.

    Ellie asked softly, ¡°Are you afraid?¡±

    ¡°No, ma¡¯am!!!¡± The boy shouted loudly.

    But Ellie continued to speak in a soft and gentle voice, ¡°It¡¯s alright. You don¡¯t have to hide it. I am also afraid. Why did you choose to participate in this war?¡±

    ¡°The Ruvian Empire¡¯s Army has taken my family from me!!!¡±

    ¡°I have also lost plenty of people that are precious and dear to me. I¡¯m shaking from fear too. But, does that mean that we have to back down?¡±

    ¡°No, ma¡¯am!!!¡±

    ¡°Do we have to run away because of that?¡±

    ¡°No, ma¡¯am!!!¡±

    ¡°Can you fight against them?¡±

    ¡°I will fight against them!!!¡±

    Ellie tightened her hold on the boy¡¯s hands for a moment before letting go and walking again. As she walked among the six million troops, she said, ¡°We have been robbed of everything that was precious to us just a few years ago. Our friends, family, loved ones, and countless other people have died under the hands of the emperor that called himself an agent of god.¡±

    The trembling in the six million troops¡¯ bodies slowly died down. They were still afraid but the anger that was now boiling in their veins began to overpower the fear in their bodies.

    ¡°Ournds, thends that we lived in, had been taken away from us, their puppet emperors and kings ruling thends andying the entire continent into ruins. Even their army is stronger and mightier than us. But¡­ will we run away?!¡±

    ¡°No, ma¡¯am!!!¡±

    The voice of the six million troops rang loudly, shaking the battlefield to its core.

    ¡°Do you remember the dead?!!!¡±

    ¡°We remember!!!¡±

    ¡°Will you avenge them?!!!¡±

    ¡°We will!!!¡±

    Ellie mounted her horse again, riding toward the vanguard.

    ¡°Forward!!!¡±

    It marked the beginning of the war, with Ellie raising her sword high up in the skies while riding her white horse in the lead, the six million troops right behind her.

    That was how the final war began.

    <em>[The war between Ruvian Empire and the rebel forcessted for three weeks. Sword Emperor Ellie, with the help of Jarrod, former tower master of the Knowledge Tower, put pressure on the Imperial Army with their countless tactics and strategies. She and her troops ughtered eight million of the Imperial Army. However, that came at a high price. 4.2 million rebels had died and 1.5 million were injured and wounded. The war was nowing to an end.]</em>

    The scene changed, showing the harrowing scene at the battlefield. The bodies of millions of people littered the ground while 1.5 million of the wounded and injured rebels howled and screamed from despair. Ellie, whose head was already stained with blood and whose armor was already broken beyond repair, staggered, her consciousness barely supporting her body.

    The Ruvian Empire was now resorting to arrows and magical attacks to clear the rebels one after the other. Ellie looked around helplessly. Khan, who had fought by her side, had already died. Locke, who hadughed with her, had also died. Ascar, who was still rushing forward in the vanguard, was panting, one of her arms cut off. The scene was incredibly devastating.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­¡± Ellie mumbled weakly. She felt heartbroken when she saw the wounded and injured stand up time and again to fight.

    Then, amidst the rain of arrows, one of the archers aimed for the head of the very same young boy that was trembling from fear before the start of the war. Ellie squeezed thest of her strength, dashing forward to where the boy was.

    The young man stared nkly as Ellie rushed to him while murmuring, ¡°Your Majesty Ellie¡­¡±

    <em>Stab!</em>

    ¡°Ha?¡±

    The arrow pierced through the boy¡¯s head even before Ellie could reach him. All Ellie could do was hold the falling boy¡¯s body tightly in her arms. However, war was not the time to be sentimental. In just a few short moments, the Imperial Mages had already prepared a wide-range magical attack that could sweep away the remaining rebel forces. The only thing that Ellie could do was hug the boy¡¯s dead body in despair and helplessness. But then¡­

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuaack?!¡±

    ¡°Ack?!¡±

    ¡°Keok?!¡±

    Hundreds of arrows flew from somewhere and kept the mages, who were casting their magic, in check. There, on a distant hill, was a man riding on a ck horse with the hood of his ragged robe covering his face. The man immediately kicked the shins of his horse, urging it to gallop.

    <em>ck, ck, ck, ck¡ª</em>

    The horse galloped wildly, followed by four million strong troopsposed of countless elves and troops from the Dragon King¡¯s Sea. Then, the man pulled out a sword and raised it to the skies.

    <em>aaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    The sword shone brightly like a beacon in the darkness, illuminating the world shrouded with the darkness of despair. And when the man swung his sword¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The clouds in the skies parted as a thick bolt of lightning fell down and devoured the Imperial Army stationed by the ramparts. With every sh of the man¡¯s sword, a portion of the Imperial Army got ughtered. He pierced through the countless Imperial Army that were trying to wipe out the remaining rebel forces.

    As the man rushed forward, the hood that hid his face slipped off. The man¡¯s hair was long and unkempt, covering most of his face. But the eyes that peeked through their gaps were bright and clear, eyes that could captivate and enamour anyone that saw them.

    ¡°¡­You¡¯rete, Minhyuk,¡± Ellie murmured with a bright smile on her face.

    In the skies above Minhyuk¡­

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡­hundreds of dragons circled the skies to fight alongside him.

    ¡°The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King¡­¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty¡­¡±

    ¡°Minhyuk¡­¡±

    ¡°Your Majeeeeeeeeeesty!!!¡±

    ¡°Your Majeeeeeestyyyyyy!!!¡±

    The ones that had fallen squeezed out thest of their strength to stand up once again. Even the 1.5 million injured and wounded used everything and anything that they could to grab their weapons tightly. Ellie also wringed thest of her strength as she charged toward the Ruvian Empire.

    As for the Beyond the Heavens King?

    He leapt from his horse and flew toward the figure that was watching them from the ramparts of the empire, Nerva Sephiroth. Hundreds of arrows and magical attacks tried to stop Minhyuk but the sparks that surrounded his body stopped any attack that tried to harm him.

    Finally¡­ Minhyuk¡¯s sword shed toward Nerva Sephiroth¡¯s neck.

    ¡°Uwoooooooooh!¡±

    But before the de of Minhyuk¡¯s sword could touch Nerva Sephiroth, the trailer ended.

 Chapter 541: The Savior

    Chapter 541: The Savior

    The main trailer, which was mostly shot in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, was a huge hit. The result was not that unexpected. First, the advertisement¡¯s movie-like production had made people that did not y Athenae think, <em>¡®Shall I try it?¡¯</em>. Second, the numerous promotional activities that the members of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom added to the result, providing a tremendous boost to the reach of the trailer and allowed them to record higher views.

    The total profit that Beyond the Heavens received amounted to 400 billion won. If they added the profits that each of the members had gained from their individual activities and personal broadcasts, the total profit that they gained was around 440 billion won.

    ¡°It''d be good for us to donate 20% of the profits that we have gained to the poor and the terminally ill, especially to those afflicted with cancer and leukemia,¡± Minhyuk said during a meeting with all of the guild members. Everyone was shocked to hear that Minhyuk had decided to donate around 90 billion won. Minhyuk just continued calmly, ¡°If we donate such arge sum of money, our Beyond the Heavens Kingdom will create an image that money otherwise can¡¯t buy us. Besides, that amount is insignificant whenpared to the number of immigrants that wille to us. I can guarantee that we can easily earn back more than 80 billion in profits with that alone.¡±

    After everyone epted Minhyuk¡¯s proposal, Genie began her report and exined the uing updates, ¡°Everyone must have already realized it based on the content of the scenario, but I¡¯ll say it again. After the continents¡¯ integration, the key to surviving is to protect the continent from Nerva Sephiroth.¡±

    That was right. The video that they made was actually based on the events that would happen in the near future. Of course, some of the scenes from the trailer were just made up but this was Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s way of informing everyone of the direction that the future episodes would take. Well, some of the information was given to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom a few weeks earlier than the other yers.

    ¡°From this point on, many kingdoms will be built by yers.¡±

    Various guilds from America, China and other countries were already gearing up to build their own kingdoms. All of them would try to build their power and military strength to fight against the Ruvian Empire. In a way, the Ruvian Empire had be the target and direction of the yers.

    Once the continents integrate, the Stars¡¯ Path would open and the Ruvian Empire would appear to devour the surrounding kingdoms and empires, while seeking to extend their power and influence throughout the continents.

    ¡°Of course, most of these new kingdoms will try to take over ours.¡±

    Because of that, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were expecting countless invasion attempts. Minhyuk nodded in agreement.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. The worst is yet toe.¡±

    In the first ce, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was already in a precarious situation under the threat of the NPCs. But now, every kingdom in the world would also pose a danger to them. Even the kingdoms newly created by yers would try to attack them to keep them in check.

    ¡°Everyone will be busy once the servers have consolidated. But before that¡­¡± Minhyuk said, looking at the guild members around him. Since they had around 300 billion won, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would have a generous amount of funds and would have some leeway to rest and prepare before the continents¡¯ integration.

    ¡°¡­I want to fight someone.¡±

    ¡°Minhyuk, going in alone would be¡­¡±

    ¡°No. We can¡¯t just move everyone that recklessly. I¡¯ll move alone on behalf of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.¡±

    Then, Ares raised his hand and said, ¡°I believe in you. However, you are our kingdom¡¯s king as well as the person that represents everyone. If it¡¯s going to be dangerous then at the very least I want you to at least let me be the vanguard and fight first.¡±

    Minhyuk smiled after hearing Ares¡¯ words. He thought, <em>¡®Ares¡¯ Country Diaries has be a huge hit and attracted plenty of immigrants which helped the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom a lot.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk could see the genuine concern and worry in Ares, especially since he had alreadypletely integrated himself and considered himself as a member of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    ¡°No, I¡¯ll do it.¡±

    ¡°ording to our investigations, Akhan is currently hiding in the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild, the most notorious guild in the Chinese Server. It won¡¯t be easy.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded. That was right. The one that Minhyuk wanted to fight was none other than Akhan. Akhan was the one that fed false information to the dragons all the while inducing the Lumae Kingdom to push back and devour the Baroque Kingdom and the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. It was also during that time when Minhyuk¡¯s most cherished and beloved vassal, Ghost Spear Ben, had died. Of course, Minhyuk never doubted Ben, he knew that he woulde back to him one day but¡­

    <em>Grit¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk gritted his teeth. And everyone who saw that knew¡­

    <em>¡®Akhan touched someone he shouldn¡¯t have.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Minhyuk might always be all smiles but he¡¯s scarier than anyone else when he gets angry.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Akhan, you¡¯re f**cked!¡¯</em>

    ¡°When will you depart?¡±

    Minhyuk answered Ares¡¯ question, ¡°I¡¯m leaving today. Ah, don¡¯t worry too much. I said that I¡¯m the only one that will go on behalf of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, of course that does not mean that I will go by myself. Someone ising with me.¡±

    ¡°Who will that be?¡±

    At that moment, the door burst open, allowing entry to a man. The man¡¯s hand held the Death God¡¯s Ruler¡¯s Staff, an item that Akhan originally owned.

    ¡°Hi guys!¡±

    The man was none other than Death, king of the Kingdom of Death.

    ***

    Many people had watched the battle between Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and Akhan. That was why a lot of them were also looking forward to what would happen next, after they watched Minhyuk grab Akhan by the cor back then and dere war against him.

    <em>¡®Whether it¡¯s ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times, or ten thousand times, I will chase you until the end of the world and hunt you.¡¯</em>

    The confrontation between the worst yer in existence, who dreamt of the downfall and copse of Athenae, and the yer admired by everyone in Athenae had aroused great curiosity from people all over the world.

    But what did the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom do?

    <em>[The Food God had practically dered war against Akhan. But a long time has passed now, what is the Food God doing? He appeared in the main advertisement and ate a lot in his mukbang.]</em>

    <em>[He¡¯s probably still eating. Hahahahahahaha!]</em>

    <em>[But guys, Akhan is currently depending on the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild. Even if it¡¯s the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, they would not be able to break that guild apart.]</em>

    <em>[Isn¡¯t this proof that Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, a kingdom, can¡¯t do anything against a single guild because they¡¯re scared? As expected, us Chinese are the greatest.]</em>

    <em>[You¡¯re saying that they¡¯re great even after knowing what the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild has done and are still doing¡­? There must be something wrong with your head.]</em>

    Inparison with South Korea¡¯s poption, which barely reached 50 million, China¡¯s poption that exceeded 1.4 billion was around 24 times more than Korea¡¯s poption. This meant that the number of yers ying Athenae from China was ridiculouslyrge; even the number of high rankers that were in each of their guilds was enormous. Among these guilds was the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild, a guild that boasted the highest number of members. It was a murderer guild that was created by PK criminals, bandits, and looters.

    There was no guild, kingdom, or even empire in the entire Chinese Server that could do anything reckless against the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild. This was because the scale of which they were operating had already grown toorge for anyone to willingly deal with them and bear the brunt of the damage. Even ordinary yers would join them to use and benefit from the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild¡¯s wide influence, connections, controlled dungeons and hunting grounds.

    In fact, the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild was the guild that everyone had named to be the one most likely to build a kingdom in the world. But why did they not be a kingdom? The reason was simple¡­

    <em>¡®The funds needed to run a kingdom.¡¯</em>

    In the first ce, the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild was a guild that took pleasure in plundering and looting other people¡¯s money and belongings, but the people expected them to build and run a kingdom and pay instead? Ridiculous. It was better for them to just take over and plunder a territory instead. As proof, the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild opted to take over plenty of territories, dividing their guild into factions, and creating various branches to take control of these territories.

    Most of the territories that they took control over were not part of other kingdoms or empires. They only took thend of different races or those that have been abandoned and left to ruin by the kingdoms and empires of the continent. As they continued to do so, the size of all of their territoriesbined was enough to be on par, perhaps evenrger, with a single kingdom¡¯s size.

    With that, the tyranny and viciousness of the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild continued to grow. The person that led this guild was none other than Zhang Mumu.

    Zhang Mumu cackled, his hand grabbing his belly with how hard he wasughing. Actually, Akhan was sitting right in front of him, the two of them having a meeting inside Zhang Mumu¡¯s house.

    ¡°The Beyond the Heavens King, the Food God is so cute, don¡¯cha think? Ah, I want to glomp him! Hahaha!!!¡±

    Just a few days ago, Food God Minhyuk had sent a letter to Zhang Mumu asking him to hand Akhan over. So, what did Zhang Mumu do? He published the letter and his answer to the world while guffawing at the Food God¡¯s naivety.

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King, if you get on your knees and bark like a dog then I¡¯ll think about it?]</em>

    Zhang Mumu¡¯s response created a huge racket. However, the Food God had been silent since then.

    ¡°How dare that Food God try to dere a war against Akhan? So frustrating! He even did that knowing that you¡¯re under our protection!¡±

    Akhan might have suffered a defeat from Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, but it was all because Minhyuk had skillfully used the dragons and their power. He might also have lost the Death God¡¯s Ruler¡¯s Staff, but no one could recklessly move against him, especially since he was one of the strongest yers in the game.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s hiding right now but he¡¯s definitely going to be useful to us.¡¯</em>

    After the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild embraced and protected Akhan, plenty of his followers followed him and joined the guild.

    Not long after, the expressionless Akhan began tough like crazy, ¡°Fufufu, fuhahahaha, keuhahahahahaha! Ahihihihi!¡±

    Zhang Mumu was so shocked that he stoppedughing after seeing Akhan act like a madman. Akhanughed for a very long time. When hisughter died down, he said, ¡°In the first ce, the Food God is just someone insignificant.¡±

    Akhan was sure of that. He might be hiding here to recover, but he was confident that he would be able to resume his activities soon. He would definitely have the power to make Athenae fall into ruin in a lot of different ways.

    And during that process¡­

    ¡°After the servers have integrated, let¡¯s tear Beyond the Heavens Kingdom apart and split their wealth cleanly.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m always grateful for your generosity.¡±

    That was right. Akhan might be hiding right now but he was very confident in himself.

    <em>¡®A yer will surpass me? Me? Athenae¡¯s early developer? You even asked them to hand me over? Ridiculous. What kind of bullshit do you think you¡¯re spouting?¡¯</em>

    Then, the door burst open as a man rushed inside while shouting, ¡°GM! The Food God has posted a brief response on his SNS!¡±

    ¡°Ho? Really, now? What did he post? No, I¡¯ll look at it myself,¡± Zhang Mumu said as he pulled his smartphone out and searched through SNS. Then, he saw the brief post that the Food God shared.

    <em>[Then, I¡¯ll take the bastard by force.]</em>

    ¡°Pfft. Fuhahahahahahahahaha!¡±

    Zhang Mumu and Akhanughed loudly. Then, Akhan said, ¡°It seems like he¡¯s going to take some action now. I assume that you can solve it well on your own.¡±

    ¡°Yes. Don¡¯t worry. Hmm¡­¡± Zhang Mumu, who was stillughing, continued to scroll through the Food God¡¯s SNS. However, the more he scrolled, the weirder his expression became.

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Akhan asked. Zhang Mumu¡¯s expression clearly told him that he saw something unusual on his feed.

    Zhang Mumu gulped first before opening his mouth and said in shock, ¡°My god, his SNS is filled with 30,000 photos of food alone.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ***

    Somewhere on the outskirts of Cairon Continent.

    <em>Clip, clop¡ª clip, clop¡ª</em>

    Three people were riding on a wagon headed towards Venaud Territory, a territory that was taken over by the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild just three months prior. One of the men, Lu Bai, looked like he was about to cry.

    <em>¡®I was tricked¡­!¡¯</em>

    Lu Bai was one of China¡¯s unofficial rankers with a special, legendary ss: ¡®Savior¡¯. It was not a Saint or a Pdin, but a good man that lived for the sake of others. He actually received a ss Transfer Quest while investigating the evil misdeeds of the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild. The quest name was actually ¡®Savior¡¯, just like his ss name. It was a quest where he had to fight for the sake of the people that were suffering and have been robbed of their territories and return what was rightfully theirs.

    The problem was that the opponent was the ¡®ughterer¡¯s Eye¡¯ guild. Still, Lu Bai could not ignore those that were suffering from the atrocious deeds of the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild, so he did not abandon the quest and tried to find ways.

    At the same time, in the open chat ¡®The Ones Harmed by ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild¡¯, Lu Bai, as always, was talking and asking if there was a way to save people from the misdeeds of the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild. Then, a man suddenly popped up in the chat room.

    <em>[<strong>yingDead</strong>: How about letting them hear about the method that we thought abouttely?]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Hungry</strong>: It¡¯s really simple. All you have to do is take away the territories, the dungeons and the hunting grounds that the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild have monopolized.]</em>

    It sounded difficult, but it was actually the most usible and effective method. Lu Bai was thrilled to see this message in the chat room.

    <em>¡®How strong are they to answer with such confidence?!¡¯</em>

    Lu Bai did not feel any sort of pretentiousness from their message. Their wordings were oozing confidence. He immediately contacted them, really wanting to meet-up with them. Eventually, he did, but¡­

    The man, with the unique nickname yingDead, was wearing a smiling clown mask whilezily stretched out in the middle of the wagon. He even scratched his left leg with his right foot in azy manner.

    ¡°This¡­ What in the world are you doing?!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m ying dead.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Lu Bai was choked to silence when he heard the man say that he was ying dead. As for the man with the nickname Hungry, Lu Bai had not seen him before. Perhaps he was an unofficial ranker? But¡­

    ¡°Stop! Wagon uncle, stooooooop!¡±

    ¡°What, what?! Is there an ambush?! Are there people hiding?! Are the bastards waiting for us?! Oh my god, you actually noticed that?! You¡¯re really an unofficial rank¡­¡±

    ¡°There are mushrooms growing over there! You can¡¯t just pass by mushrooms growing on the side of the road without harvesting them!¡±

    The man nicknamed Hungry suddenly jumped out of the wagon to harvest mushrooms and eat them on the spot. Lu Bai was very shocked, he shouted, ¡°Heok! Those are poisonous mushrooms¡­!¡±

    The mushroom that the man picked were ¡®Ampaer Mushrooms¡¯, the most toxic and poisonous mushroom in the Cairon Continent. People were even known to die immediately after consuming this mushroom.

    ¡°Keok?!¡±

    The man, who was eating the mushrooms hurriedly, suddenly grabbed his neck with both hands before falling down. Lu Bai, with worry stered on his face, ran hurriedly to where the man fell down. The man grabbed Lu Bai¡¯s wrists and hacked, ¡°Heok, heok¡­ the, the poisonous mushroom¡­¡±

    ¡°No, no way! Are you going to be forced to log out?! How, how can this be¡­!¡±

    Was this strange man going to be forced to log out after eating poisonous mushrooms as soon as they met him?!

    Then, the man continued to chew on the mushroom in his mouth before whispering, ¡°¡­is, is very delicious.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Lu Bai flung the man far away, as he looked up at the skies with tears in his eyes.

    <em>¡®God, please¡­¡¯</em>

    Lu Bai wondered if he should just run away and leave these crazy people behind.

    ¡®<em>Maybe I should really do it?!</em>¡¯

 Chapter 542: The Savior

    Chapter 542: The Savior

    After learning that the wagon was arriving at their destination, Lu Bai felt his nervousness mounting.

    The yer with the nickname yDead was still lying on the ground like a corpse, staring at the skies and mumbling, <em>¡®Wow, it¡¯s a fly. A fly is flying.¡¯.</em> Meanwhile, the man nicknamed Hungry sat opposite of Lu Bai while eating poisonous mushrooms.

    ¡°Would you like some mushrooms?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine. No, why the hell are you eating poisonous mushrooms?¡±

    ¡°Because they¡¯re delicious. Wahahaha!¡±

    ¡°¡­Hoo,¡± Lu Bai sighed, thinking that he should get his act together. As someone with the special ss Savior, he was quite strong. In fact, he had once forced two branch managers of the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild to logout.

    Most of the branch managers of the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild were stationed as the lords of a territory. Of course, they were high rankers that would be easily amodated and recognized in other countries. On the contrary, Lu Bai was wearing armor and a sword that was only worn by novice yers. The difference between them was huge.

    <em>¡®The country also needs to get its act together. I don¡¯t know, I should probably just save these poor and pitiful people. That¡¯s right. These guys must have suffered tremendously from the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild and are now suffering from eating addiction and y dead disease.¡¯</em>

    Perhaps, in yDead and Hungry¡¯s eyes, Lu Bai was also not someone that influential either.

    <em>¡®Everything will work out.¡¯</em>

    In most novels, the protagonist always hid their power. The same was true for Lu Bai. He was acting as the hero that hid his power and saved the people in times of crisis!

    <em>¡®Fufufu!¡¯</em>

    Lu Bai smiled thinking at the thought of them being surprised. Then, he saw some flies hovering above the face of the man lying on the floor of the wagon.

    ¡°There are flies on your face¡­¡±

    ¡°Corpses¡­ don¡¯t¡­ move¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Then, the man munching on mushrooms asked, ¡°Nickname ¡®Hero¡¯, why do you want to fight against the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild? Did you get hurt by them too?¡±

    At this point, Lu Bai realized that the most normal conversation between them was about to unfold.

    ¡°I actually did not suffer much under them, but there was a time when I saw a girl who lost her parents to them. The girl was skin and bones without any means to eat and drink for a few days. Her body was even battered and bruised. On top of that, she was scared. After my investigations, it turned out that everything was a result of NPCs working together with the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild. I simply can¡¯t stomach what they¡¯re doing.¡±

    Lu Bai smiled bitterly at the memory. Since the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild was a huge guild with a lot of connections, the number of NPCs that cooperated with them had reached a significant number.

    ¡°And that¡¯s not all. They toy around with the NPCs, killing them, and taking away the homes and loved ones of many people to increase their power and grow their own wealth. Quite a few yers have been harmed by them.¡±

    Hungry, who was listening to his story, asked again, ¡°You¡¯re someone who can¡¯t just pass by when you see an old grandmother selling things on the street, huh?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Lu Bai smiled awkwardly. In fact, many people had told Lu Bai that he was foolishly nice, naive even. But he believed that he was living a decent life.

    ¡°That¡¯s a good value to live with. But there are times when you¡¯re the one to suffer more.¡±

    Lu Bai chuckled bitterly and said, ¡°It¡¯s not necessarily a bad thing to live a good and kind life. Do you know about the King of Beyond the Heavens?¡±

    The man nodded.

    ¡°I heard that he did many good deeds during his childhood and helped a lot of people. I believe that¡¯s why he was rewarded and was able to ovee his eating addiction. He¡¯s also someone that treats the NPCs as if they were real people, which in turn made his people love him and care for him genuinely. Perhaps that¡¯s the reason why he became the very first king. From what I heard he¡¯s alsoing after the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild. I hope things go well for him.¡±

    At the end of Lu Bai¡¯s words, the wagon slowly entered the territory.

    ¡°My name is Lu Bai. My character code is 513313. If you think something has gone wrong, send me a whisper immediately. We don¡¯t know what¡¯s going to happen inside.¡±

    The man, Hungry, looked at the territory. There was a long procession of ves trudging their way inside. The worst part? There were even young boys and girls among them.

    ¡°My goal might not be to take away their territories, like in your n. But I¡¯m going to kill the lord of this territory,¡± Lu Bai said, determination ring in his eyes, ¡°I¡¯m going to do it, watch me.¡±

    Lu Bai¡¯s voice was filled with confidence.

    s, fifteen minutester¡­

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    The three men were locked up together. Lu Bai red from inside the prison.

    <em>¡®Damn! They knew I wasing?!¡¯</em>

    As soon as their wagon entered and passed by the guards, a huge number of troops flocked toward them and captured all three of them. As Lu Bai had expected, the men named yDead and Hungry were both weak. In fact, the only one that resisted was Lu Bai. But his resistance did notst long. That was why they were imprisoned just like that.

    ¡°I¡¯m a corpse¡­ I was captured but¡­ corpses don¡¯t move¡­¡±

    ¡°Excuse me, Mister Prison Guard? I¡¯m hungry. When is the meal time going to start?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Lu Bai felt miserable. He usually moved by assassinating the lords of the territories under the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild and tried to increase the casualties of their guild. This time, he tried to work with someone, but what happened to them now? They were all imprisoned together.

    At that moment, following the sound of footsteps, a man appeared in front of them. This man was the lord of the territory, and one of the executives of the ughterer Eye¡¯s Guild, Borg.

    Borg was someone that was very famous and well-known for his atrocious acts. This was because he always posted on SNS about how he was riding his supercar or how he had wads of cash from the jobs that he took through the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild. He was also someone that had reached Level 567 and was a high ranker among high rankers who hadpleted his ss transfer to a high ss.

    There were actually quite arge number of people who did not opt to change sses even after reaching Level 500. Those that sessfully changed to a high ss had the power to deal with plenty of the yers that did not change sses.

    ¡°Lu Bai. You¡¯re someone who recently assassinated two of our branch managers and escaped. You also have a strange ss called ¡®Savior¡¯.¡±

    Borg rubbed his chin as he looked at Lu Bai from his head to his toe.

    ¡°From what I heard, those that have the ¡®Savior¡¯ ss would gain stats every time they save others, right? What a stupid and trashy ss.¡±

    ¡°¡­What are you going to do to me?¡±

    Lu Bai had already noticed that something was amiss. If they were going to kill him, then they would have killed him earlier.

    Hearing his words, Borg grinned and said, ¡°Public execution.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    It was a shocking statement.

    The Savior ss was a legendary ss that was amazing. Lu Bai, who had this ss, was currently undergoing a ss-change quest. Simply put, he would be able to grow into a Royal ss. However, the growth that he could achieve was still unknown. Nheless, the Savior ss was a role model for everyone. This was a fact. And if this Savior ss were to be executed in public?

    <em>¡®So cruel and atrocious! All I can do is grit my teeth in anger!¡¯</em>

    Actually, Lu Bai felt that these yers were no different from the vicious lords that carried out atrocious deeds back in the middle ages. Another yer¡¯s public execution to satisfy their thirst for blood and fill their stomachs? It was downright despicable.

    The ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild would bring Lu Bai to the execution grounds, mock him until they¡¯re satisfied, before killing him. This story would definitely spread all over the world. Then, plenty of people will scorn, ridicule and hate the Savior. But they would not stop there.

    ¡°After killing you, we will set up a bounty for your head. A ten tinum bounty.¡±

    <em>Tremble, tremble¡ª</em>

    Lu Bai¡¯s body shook. This was the harsh truth. Human nature was shit. Ten tinum was enough enticement for people to report his location to the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild, which would allow them to kill him time and time again.

    ¡°We will do it until you¡¯re back at Level 1. Keuahahahahahahaha!¡± Borg cackled. Then, he saw those that were caught in the crossfire. One was still ying dead while the other was clutching his stomach.

    ¡°I heard that the people that came with you were crazy. Tsk, tsk. Hey, what¡¯s up with that bastard who¡¯s lying down? What¡¯s with the mask?¡±

    ¡°The mask won¡¯te off.¡±

    ¡°Hmm. Well, leave them alone,¡± Borg spat out, turning around and leaving the prison cell.

    Shortly afterwards, Lu Bai was dragged out of the cell. Before he got fully dragged out, he nced at the cell onest time.

    yDead was still lying on the ground while mumbling, ¡°I¡¯m a corpse¡­ corpses¡­ don¡¯t move¡­¡±

    And Hungry¡­ ¡°When¡¯s the mealing¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Lu Bai felt both wretched and helpless.

    ***

    Lu Bai, handcuffed at the wrists, was brought to where arge crowd had gathered. The crowd wasposed entirely of members of ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild, people that would plunder, loot, and do anything and everything to take care of their own self-interest. All of them came here to mock and jeer at Lu Bai.

    ¡°<em>Uweeeeck</em><em>!</em> Is that the good-hearted bastard?! Disgusting~¡±

    ¡°Look at the punk! He looks like he ate shit.¡±

    ¡°Woooooooo! F*cking bastard!¡±

    All sorts of mockery and ridicule rained down on Lu Bai, along with a downpour of eggs.

    <em>Thump, thump, thump, thump¡ª</em>

    Covered with eggs, Lu Bai still did not give up. He was still trying to find ways to get out of this predicament. s, the handcuffs that tied his wrists did note off. It was because the handcuffs sealed off one¡¯s MP and stats, and turned prisoners into a normal and ordinary human.

    <em>¡®Damn.¡¯</em>

    All Lu Bai could do was bow his head. Amidst the mockery, a thought suddenly shed in his head, <em>¡®What will happen to those two?¡¯</em>

    Fortunately, the two were exempted from being subjected to the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild mockery. Then, a self-depreciating grin appeared on Lu Bai¡¯s lips.

    <em>¡®Ah, I¡¯m still worrying about others instead of myself.¡¯</em>

    Bitterness shed briefly on Lu Bai¡¯s face as Borg appeared and sat arrogantly at the highest seat and said, ¡°I can spare you. That is if you bark like a dog. I won¡¯t even give you any punishment or any execution. How about it? Will you bark? Huh?¡±

    Lu Bai smirked as he gathered spit in his mouth.

    ¡°<em>Ptew! </em>You look worse than my spit!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    What kind of face looked uglier than a spit? The words actually made Borg¡¯s face, a face that had gained a lot of weight, immediately turn ugly.

    ¡°S, spit¡­ This goddamn dog!¡±

    Lu Bai was quite a handsome fellow, a fact that made Borg even angrier. Borg hurriedly grabbed a bow, nocked an arrow, closed one of his eyes and aimed at Lu Bai.

    ¡°I¡¯m not originally an archer, but I can still shoot an arrow into that damned good-looking face of yours!¡±

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    Borg¡¯s arrow was lodged in Lu Bai¡¯s shoulders.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°Ugh.¡±

    <em>Stab¡ª Stab, stab¡ª</em>

    Borg, who was shooting arrows one after another, intentionally shot at the ces that were not fatal. This was a feat that was only possible because he was extremely close to Lu Bai. That just went to show how much he wanted to mock and ridicule Lu Bai.

    ¡°Tomorrow, we will bring you to another territory so they can mock and jeer at you. Then, the next day and the day after that too. We will bring you to many different ces teeming with yers and mock you. We will continue to do so. Don¡¯t worry we won¡¯t kill you for a month. Keuhahahahahaha!¡±

    But then¡­

    <em>Ring!</em>

    A notification popped up in front of Lu Bai.

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods felt sorry for you, the one that took on the Savior Quest.]</em>

    <em>[The Absolute God regrets giving you the Savior ss and is feeling sad.]</em>

    <em>¡®What¡­?¡¯</em>

    Lu Bai¡¯s eyes widened.

    <em>¡®The Savior¡­ ss¡­ is an Absolute God ss?¡¯</em>

    Absolute Gods. Lu Bai had actually only heard of them but they were beings that exerted the greatest power among all of the gods. They were not just gods, they were the absolute authorities among the gods. Then, additional notifications immediately popped out in front of him.

    <em>[If you choose to give up the ¡®Savior¡¯ ss now, the Absolute God will grant you the strength to ovee the adversities and hardships that you are experiencing now. This is a miracle created by your kindness and virtue.]</em>

    <em>[If you choose otherwise, you will remain as a ¡®Savior¡¯ ss.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Lu Bai bit his lips tightly. Would living a good life feed his empty stomach? No, that was definitely not the case at all. Those that he helped would not necessarily return the favor in his time of need. Sometimes they would even pretend that they did not know him. One person doing something good alone would not be able to change the world. After all, Lu Bai was living in a world with thousands of evil people, a number that far surpassed one good person.

    Still, Lu Bai wanted to be a ¡®savior¡¯ in such a world. This was because he knew what hunger felt like, especially since he lived a very hard life when he was a child.

    <em>Drip, drip¡ª</em>

    Tears dripped down Lu Bai¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Keu, keuhahahahahahahahaha!¡±

    ¡°Look at the bastard! He¡¯s crying!¡±

    ¡°Wahahahahahaha!¡±

    ¡°Moron! Hahahaha, Savior bastard, my ass! Go on, squirm!¡±

    The members of the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guildughed at him. Lu Bai, on the other hand, felt sad. He realized that he could not change the world with his own hands.

    <em>¡®At the very least, I was able to stop someone from having a hard time even for a brief moment.¡¯</em>

    The girl that was robbed of her everything after the NPCs worked with the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild? At the very least, Lu Bai was able to bring a light into that girl¡¯s eyes at that moment when he gave her some bread and milk. He might have be aughing stock in themunity sites when he dered, <em>¡®I will be a savior!¡¯. </em>There were even some that smirked at him thinking that there was really someone like him in this world.

    <em>¡®I can¡¯t change the world.¡¯</em>

    However, even for a moment, he could bring a smile to someone¡¯s face.

    ¡°I¡­¡±

    Tears continued to stream down Lu Bai¡¯s face.

    <em>¡®But I can change someone¡¯s life a little, in that moment.¡¯</em>

    ¡°¡­will not give up the Savior ss.¡±

    The Savior ss was a ss that meant a lot to Lu Bai. Although this ss had never given him much strength and power, he would still continue to live his life as a Savior ss, despite the hardships and adversities that he was bound to face.

    At that moment, a set of notifications came.

    <em>[The <strong>Easter Egg</strong>: Salvation ss has been triggered.]</em>

    <em>[You will be the Savior that will light up the world no matter how many hardships and adversities you face!]</em>

    <em>[The Legendary Savior ss has changed to God ss!]</em>

    <em>[This is the First Absolute God ss that has appeared in the world!]</em>

    <em>[All of your skills and stats have changed!]</em>

    <em>[The Absolute God will choose the apostles that will apany you.]</em>

    <em>[The Savior¡¯s Apostle will lend you their strength today alone.]</em>

    <em>[The Savior¡¯s Apostle will receive his blessings.]</em>

    <em>[All stats of the Savior¡¯s Apostle will increase by 25%.]</em>

    <em>[All of the Savior¡¯s Apostle¡¯s skill level will increase by +1.]</em>

    <em>[The Savior¡¯s Apostle has been marked so the Savior can always check on them at any time. You can also view their basic information.]</em>

    At that moment, two men bound by a rope were walking into the execution grounds. A string of blue words floated above the head of the man named ¡®Hungry¡¯.

    <em>[Savior¡¯s Apostle.]</em>

    ording to the notifications, the Savior could check the apostle¡¯s basic information. And just like that, the basic information of the man named Hungry began to ring in Lu Bai¡¯s head.

    <em>[Your apostle is the king who founded the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!]</em>

    <em>[Your apostle is the first yer to have cut down a Demigod!]</em>

    <em>[Your apostle is the first person to have gained an Absolute God¡¯s Secret¡­]</em>

    <em>[Your apostle is the first¡­]</em>

    <em>[Your apostle is the first¡­]</em>

    And the final notification¡­

    <em>[The Savior¡¯s Apostle¡¯s ss is Food God. His </em><em>character name</em><em> is ¡®Minhyuk¡¯.]</em>

 Chapter 543: The Savior

    Chapter 543: The Savior

    There was a yer that even a three-year-old child would know well. This yer was none other than Food God Minhyuk, a person that suffered from a disease called eating addiction and the very first yer to be king. He was a living and breathing legend in Athenae. And such a man was now¡­

    <em>¡®My apostle¡­?¡¯</em>

    That man? The guy with the nickname ¡®Hungry¡¯? Lu Bai could not understand the situation at all. The man that was walking from a distance did not have the face of the Beyond the Heavens King, the Food God. In fact, even his voice waspletely different. However, the notifications are saying that the apostle chosen by the Absolute God was the Food God?

    Borg grinned and said, ¡°Hey bastard, don¡¯t you think it¡¯s nice for your friends to watch your execution? I called for them since I thought they would be disappointed and sad if I left them alone.¡±

    yDead and Food God Minhyuk were both wearing the same handcuffs that Lu Bai had.

    Borg was rotten down to his very core. Despite not knowing the rtionship between the three people, he still tried to mock Lu Bai by bringing these two people forward. Borg wanted to drag all three of them around and let them be subjected to mocks, jeers and taunts. He would bring them along to crowded squares, hunting grounds, other territories and many other ces.

    Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°Huh? I followed you because you said you would give me a meal¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    Question marks popped up above the heads of Borg and the thousands of people present in the area.

    ¡®<em>Why does this bastard not have an ounce of nervousness in his body? And the man next to him¡­</em>¡¯

    ¡°Corpses¡­ All of you are corpses¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡­also seemed crazy. For a brief moment, sympathy welled up in Borg, making him think, <em>¡®Should I really do this to someone that¡¯s not in his right mind?¡¯</em>

    However, the thought swiftly disappeared from his head, reced by, <em>¡®We must nip everyone that opposes our guild in the bud.¡¯</em>

    In the first ce, it was necessary for Borg and his guild to prevent these people from climbing any further so they could continue a life of plundering and looting, as well as enjoying a life of wealth and prosperity. As the corners of his lips curled up in his plump face, Borg said, ¡°Well then. Hey, you! Over there! If you fight against the NPC soldier that our guild just recently acquired and win, I will let you go!¡±

    What Borg wanted to do here was to instill desperation and frustration in their bodies. He wanted to see them begging as they got beaten unterally in the guise of a fair duel. This was the most efficient way to trample someone¡¯s determination and will. After all, those that have been humiliated and beaten down in front of many people were bound to lose their rationality, even if they were just in a game.

    Also, Borg was a pathological liar. The person that he described as an NPC soldier was actually not a soldier. Recently, the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild were gathering the ten most notorious men in China, the Ten Evils. The Ten Evils referred to the NPCs thatmitted the most atrocious act in modern-day Cairon. They were not only evil and vicious, they were also strong Named NPCs.

    Borg was the first to acquire and call for such a Named NPC in his territory. The Evil Named NPC that Borg had acquired was one that had killed thousands and had a bounty on his head, in all of the kingdoms and empires in the continent.

    His name? Crazy Murderer Evernon.

    <em>(<strong>Crazy Murderer Evernon</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: Ten Evils</em>

    <em><strong>Type</strong>: Vassal</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: 571</em>

    <em><strong>Attack</strong>: 5,259</em>

    <em><strong>Defense</strong>: 2,683</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Murderer¡¯s Viciousness*</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Crazy Dance</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Murderer¡¯s Frenzy</em>

    <em><strong>Potential</strong>: 141</em>

    <em><strong>Experience Value</strong>: 13% / 100%</em>

    Truly, Evernon was a big-shot NPC. It was to the point that Borg could not control his joy when he acquired him. Even his performance was something that Borg anticipated, especially after ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild¡¯s Zhang Mumu had praised Evernon and his prowess.

    <em>¡®The only problem is that he gets paid a lot. He¡¯s devouring a huge sum from our pockets.¡¯</em>

    Evernon required a payment of 100 tinum per month. However, he was worth every penny.

    <em>¡®Crazy Murderer </em><em>Evernon</em><em> will definitely tear that bastard to shreds. We can just take the bastard away just before he dies, patch him up and repeat the process again,¡¯ </em>Borg thought. It seemed like he was well-versed in the ways of destroying a man¡¯s spirit and will.

    Not long after, Evernon, with his long disheveled hair and old and ragged clothes, approached Minhyuk with a spear in hand.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    Loud roars spread in the area. It was as if they were in a colosseum and watching a battle between diators.

    Evernon¡¯s presence alone as a 6¡¯11 tall man was already intimidating. Coupled with the loud roars and his piercing re, it was enough for someone to feel like death was already looming over them.

    One of the members of the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild released the handcuffs that tied Minhyuk¡¯s hand.

    ¡°The¡­ 5,315th¡­¡±

    Evernon¡¯s murmurs traveled to Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    ¡°The 5,315th person that¡­ I will kill.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s face turned ugly after learning that Evernon had killed more than 5,000 people. There were things that people should never do.

    ¡°Keuhahahahahahaha! Die! Die!!!¡±

    ¡°Evernon, rip that bastard to shreds!!!¡±

    ¡°Wahahahahahaha! How dare you try to go against our ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild?!!!¡±

    The sneers and mockingughter of the thousand people rang loudly in the execution grounds. But just when Evernon was about to swing his spear¡­

    <em>p¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk, whose hands were freed, pped Evernon¡¯s cheeks strongly. It was so strong that Evernon¡¯s face jerked to the side, his body staggering from the impact.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Silence enveloped the entire area for a moment as fury began to stain Evernon¡¯s face. As someone that had killed plenty of people, he was known for his viciousness and power. There was never a time that he had lost against his opponents. This was a very humiliating scene for him.

    ¡°How dare¡­¡±

    <em>p¡ª</em>

    However, Minhyuk just took a step forward and pped Evernon, who was about to swing his spear once more, on his cheeks again. Evernon¡¯s anger boiled over. He quickly took a step back and stabbed his spear strongly. But¡­

    <em>Grab¡ª</em>

    ¡­Minhyuk just grabbed Evernon¡¯s spear and pped him on his cheek once again.

    <em>p¡ª</em>

    Evernon¡¯s teeth fell out, the blood pooling in his mouth sttering onto the ground.

    <em>p¡ª</em>

    Evernon kept on staggering back until his back was to the wall.

    ¡°I¡­¡±

    <em>p¡ª</em>

    ¡°Shut up.¡±

    <em>p¡ª p, p¡ª p, p¡ª p¡ª p, p¡ª</em>

    Only the sounds of Minhyuk¡¯s hand making contact with Evernon¡¯s cheeks rang loudly in the otherwise silent execution grounds. Actually, Minhyuk had already heard the notifications even before he entered the execution grounds.

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods has suggested that you be an ¡®Apostle¡¯ and help the ¡®Savior¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[If you rescue and help the Savior, you will be able to build a strong rtionship with the Savior.]</em>

    <em>[You have chosen to be an Apostle. All of your stats will increase by 25%. All of your skill levels will increase by +1.]</em>

    Minhyuk would never have been able to subdue and overwhelm Evernon with his bare hands if it was before. But with all of his stats increasing dramatically thanks to Lu Bai¡¯s presence, it had be possible.

    <em>p¡ª</em>

    Evernon¡¯s blood continued to paint the walls, his full set of teeth gone and the blood pooling in his mouth distorting his pronunciation.

    ¡°P, please¡­ S, stop¡­ Stop!¡±

    But Minhyuk did not stop. In fact, he pped Evernon a dozen more times. Just like how Borg wanted to step on Minhyuk and break his will, Minhyuk was stepping on them and breaking their will.

    ¡°H, how¡­¡±

    ¡°What? What is happening?¡±

    The entire ce turned chaotic. Borg, who actually made this duel happen, was also flustered.

    <em>¡®How, how can he do that to Evernon with his bare hands¡­¡¯</em>

    Borg gulped dryly as he watched the groaning Evernon, who was about to faint, get pped awake. Unknowingly, all of the onlookers rubbed their cheeks as if they could also feel the pain. Borg came back to his senses not long after, he hurriedly shouted, ¡°These crazy rascals!!! What the hell are you doing?! Why aren¡¯t you stopping him?!!!¡±

    Evernon was a precious Named NPC, someone that had been very hard to acquire. But then, Minhyuk picked up Evernon¡¯s discarded spear and used it to stab him in the neck.

    ¡°Nooooooooo!!!¡± Borg screamed as Evernon¡¯s body fell down in a heap.

    <em>[One of the Ten Evils, Crazy Murderer Evernon, has met his end.]</em>

    <em>[You will not be able to call for Crazy Murderer Evernon again.]</em>

    Borg¡¯s face was distorted from fury. He had worked so hard for six months just to acquire Evernon! But in just an instant, he lost a very valuable existence.

    ¡°Quickly kill that bastard for me!!!¡±

    With Borg¡¯s cry, the 4,000 members of ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild in the territory rushed toward Minhyuk. However, before they could do anything, Minhyuk was already standing in front of Borg.

    ¡°You bastard! I won¡¯t let you go! What can you even do here, huh¡­?!¡±

    <em>p¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keheok!¡±

    Borg, who received a p on his cheek, staggered back as a very shocking notification hit him.

    <em>[Your HP has decreased by 4%.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    A mere p on the face reduced his HP by that much? That was on top of Borg being a person that hadpleted his transfer to high ss.

    <em>¡®Don¡¯t tell me?¡¯</em>

    The man in front of Borg was definitely a fighter ss whose fist had reached the pinnacle, an unofficial ranker!

    ¡°You bastard! You¡¯re definitely an unofficial fighter ranker¡­!¡±

    <em>p¡ª</em>

    ¡°Urk!¡± Borg groaned as his body got pushed back even further. Although Borg was also one of the high rankers, he could not fight back against the man that was pping him on the cheeks relentlessly. Even the members of the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild that surrounded Minhyuk and tried to attack him were all being held back without being able to do anything.

    <em>p¡ª p, p¡ª p¡ª p, p¡ª</em>

    <em>[Your HP has decreased by 3%.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has decreased by 4%.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has decreased by 4%.]</em>

    This was because Minhyuk¡¯s expression as he pped Borg was very fierce. As the ps continued to rain on Borg¡¯s cheeks, his HP also gradually reached the bottom. Along with that, the reputation of the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild was quickly plummeting. In the end, Borg could only cover his face with both of his arms to protect his cheeks from the relentless ps.

    ¡°Hiiiiiik!¡±

    Borg, with his face covered by his arms, quickly said, ¡°Why, why are you only pping one cheek?!¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    <em>p¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk pped the same cheek once again. At the same time, the members of the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild realized¡­

    <em>¡®Borg¡¯s¡­ begging after getting pped in the cheek¡­?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Is this the extent of the power of the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild¡­?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®No, perhaps it¡¯s because that guy is just that strong?¡¯</em>

    In the first ce, the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild was a guild that gathered people that solely wanted benefits. Simply put, they were working together because they could benefit from each other. Because of that, their faith in the guild could easily be broken just like that.

    Minhyuk only turned to look at the people around him after Borg had reached the point where he could not fight back anymore.

    <em>Pause¡ª</em>

    The members of ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild were flustered by Minhyuk¡¯s overwhelming presence. But then, they recalled the words that Borg uttered a few moments prior, that the bastard in front of them was a fighter ranker.

    Fighters were yers that used their body as their own weapon and built it up strongly. Because of that, their fists and kicks¡¯ basic damages were higher than other sses. However, fighting this way could consume a lot of STM. Of course, fighter sses also usually had higher STMpared to other yers. However, they would still be unable to exert much power when fighting a long-term battle.

    Right now, the number on their side exceeded 3,000.

    ¡°That bastard is a fighter.¡±

    ¡°Our numbers are enough.¡±

    ¡°Why are we even afraid of him? We have a lot of rankers on our side too, right?¡±

    The members of ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild, who had been consumed by their fear, quickly came back to their senses. Besides, there were also 20,000 troops stationed in the territory aside from them. Dozens of them charged toward Minhyuk and led the group the moment these words were uttered.

    In response, Minhyuk pulled out his sword from his inventory. The word ¡®Explosion¡¯ was engraved on the de of the sword with dozens of explosions blooming on the ground the moment he swung his sword.

    ¡°¡­Didn¡¯t, didn¡¯t you say that he¡¯s a fighter?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Everyone was put in a daze by the sudden change of situation. They could not even get their senses together which allowed Minhyuk to easily break through their ranks and wreak havoc.

    ***

    <em>¡®He¡¯s strong¡­¡¯</em>

    Lu Bai was in pure awe and admiration of the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ king. He had only heard of the man¡¯s strength, but witnessing it now, it seemed like those rumors were true. The man was able to overpower two people with just his bare hands alone. One of them was a Named NPC while the other was an executive of ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild. But¡­

    <em>¡®The territory troops will arrive here soon.¡¯</em>

    They were the countless people that were in collusion with the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild and they were the ones tasked to protect this territory. The number of troops stationed in this territory alone easily exceeded 10,000.

    <em>Rumble, rumble¡ª</em>

    The sound of footsteps made the entire execution grounds shake and rumble. It went to show just how many wereing to this ce.

    ¡°We, we have to get out of here quickly¡­!¡± Lu Bai shouted urgently. However, the huge door behind him suddenly opened as thousands of troops flocked inside.

    ¡°N, no¡­!¡±

    No matter how strong the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King was, there was no way for him to deal with these many people at once. But then¡­

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    The sound of something falling on the ground rang in Lu Bai¡¯s ears. What fell down was a clown mask. Then, a man walked by Lu Bai, his pristine white staff surrounded by a fierce wind.

    <em>Rumbleeeeeee¡ª</em>

    Lu Bai caught sight of the man¡¯s sharp and glinting eyes through his disheveled hair. The man took a step toward his enemies in a leisurely manner.

    ¡°Summon Death Knight. Endauro.¡±

    <em>Fwooosh¡ª</em>

    A ck current suddenly appeared beside the man before disappearing and revealing the figure standing next to the man. The Death Knight that was summoned beside Death disyed a powerful aura and momentum as it walked toward the enemies alone.

    <em>¡®A, a red armor¡­?¡¯</em>

    The Death Knight summoned was known as an undead knight that had powerparable to a lich, the strongest existence among all of the undead. ording to the information posted in Athenae¡¯s announcement about Death Knights, there were stronger beings among the undead. These beings wore red armor on their bodies.

    Then, the man continued to walk forward.

    ¡°Summon, Baroque.¡±

    <em>Swoosh¡ª</em>

    ¡°Summon, Vellenia. Summon, Carrod. Summon, Yddruna. Summon, Kayna. Summon, Angus. Summon, Vellod.¡±

    <em>Swoosh¡ª</em>

    <em>Swooooooosh¡ª</em>

    <em>Fwoosh¡ª</em>

    <em>Fwooooosh¡ª</em>

    Dozens of Death Knights in red armor appeared around the lone man walking forward, all of them apanying the man on his march.

    <em>Thuuud¡ª</em>

    The moment the man stabbed his white staff on the ground, a stream of ck appeared and scattered everywhere as thousands of skeleton knights rose from the ground. The man, Death, looked at the enemy troops haughtily while saying, ¡°Wipe them out.¡±

    Lu Bai shuddered with realisation. These two people, the King of the Kingdom of the Dead, Death and the King of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, Minhyuk, were apanying him.

 Chapter 544: The Savior

    Chapter 544: The Savior

    Athenae was a game that greatly valued bnce. However, even if they promoted and ced great importance on bnce, the game would inevitably reach its limits when it came to such things.

    As an example: even if a hundred Level 1 yers gathered together, there was no way that they could defeat a single Level 100 yer. In fact, a hundred Level 100 yers would also have a hard time fighting against fifty Level 200 yers. The same was true for a hundred Level 200 yers fighting against twenty Level 300 yers. This could mainly be attributed to the fact that each yer had upgraded their artifacts, and learned stronger and more sophisticated skills the higher they climbed.

    However, there was a way to ignore such restrictions for yers fighting others of the same level, or even those that were stronger than them. That was to acquire more ridiculous and broken skills, artifacts and stats.

    There was one person that had achieved all of these things, a person that could fight arge-scale battle alone. Was it Minhyuk? Not at all. It was none other than Death.

    Death was a God ss yer, as well as the idol of all the necromancers in the world. He was also the master of the Kingdom of the Dead and the summoner of countless undead. Of course, it did not matter how strong he was as a ¡®God ss¡¯, he also had his limits. Most of the Death Knights were born into existence using the bodies of legendary NPCs as their base. It was a known fact that they were infinitely weakerpared to when they were alive. That was a limit that Death had no way of oveing before.

    However, what about now? He hadpletely ovee that limitation. The method? Simple. Everything was thanks to Akhan¡¯s drop, the ¡®Death God¡¯s Ruler¡¯s Staff¡¯.

    <em>(<strong>Death God¡¯s Ruler¡¯s Staff</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: God</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: Level 500 or higher, the one that received the Death God¡¯s favor.</em>

    <em><strong>Durability</strong>: ¡Þ / ¡Þ</em>

    <em><strong>Attack</strong>: 350</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>?All stats increase by 39%.</em>

    <em>?Commanding Abilities increases by 200%.</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: God of Death¡¯s Blessing</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Berserk Monster</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: One Man Army</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Death¡¯s One Man Army</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: The Death God, one of the Absolute Gods, has given his staff to his favored sessor and has given him the authority to manage and lead the monsters.</em>

    Originally, the Death God¡¯s Ruler Staff should have already been destroyed by the artifact destruction penalty when Akhan used the Death¡¯s Army. However, Akhan had obtained a special parchment and changed the penalty. Instead of destruction, the staff would be sealed for three months.

    They already knew that Akhan was extraordinary. However, Minhyuk and Death had something that was on par with Akhan¡¯s excellence. And that was being rich. The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had gained more than 400 billion won in advertisement alone. With just a few billions off from that amount, Minhyuk was able to buy plenty of information, including a way to unseal a sealed artifact.

    That was right. It was actually because of that information that they were able to unseal the staff. With the unsealing of the staff, Death was able to gain a 200% increase in hismanding ability stat, a stat necessary for a summoner tomand his summons, and a 39% increase in all of his stats. It was literally ridiculous and out of this world.

    With the 200% increase inmanding ability, Death was able to bring his Death Knights to evolve and grow stronger. Right now, Death¡¯s Death Knights were not weaker than when they were alive, instead, they were now as strong as they were back then. The same was true for all of his undead summons. Death also gained a new power, True Death Knight.

    ¡°Is, Isn¡¯t that Death?¡±

    ¡°Kingdom of the Dead¡¯s Death¡­¡±

    ¡°Why, why is Death¡­¡±

    The sudden appearance of Death and the fiercely rushing Death Knights made both the troops and the yers scared and flustered. However, the cool-headed Legion Commander immediately shouted, ¡°The Undead are usually weaker than when they were alive. We¡¯re greater in numbers, don¡¯t be scared!!!¡±

    ¡°That, that¡¯s right! The Undead are definitely weake¡­¡±

    Before they could even finish their sentence, one of the Death Knights had blown the head of the shouting Legion Commander into smithereens.

    ¡°Hiiiik!¡±

    ¡°Keheooook!¡±

    Right after that, the undead rushed forward and swept the territory troops away.

    ¡°They¡¯re, they¡¯re not weak at all¡­¡±

    ¡°What the hell?! How can the undead use their own swordsmanship?!¡±

    ¡°Sh, shit¡­!¡±

    The troops were both confused and flustered. Death¡¯s undead were able to recall the swordsmanship, magic, and all the other techniques that they had in their lifetime. The strongest one-man corps was born to the world, and it was all thanks to Akhan.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°S, save me!!!¡±

    Screams erupted in the entire closure as Death turned to look at Lu Bai. Death¡¯s sharp, glinting eyes were enough to make anyone gulp dryly. Then, Death smiled at Lu Bai, albeit a bit awkwardly.

    <em>¡®Don¡¯t, don¡¯t smile¡­ it¡¯s scary¡­¡¯</em>

    Death¡¯s smile was awkward. After all, he listened well to what Minhyuk told him. So, he practiced ways on how to get close with others, which now made him into the owner of a killer smile.

    ¡°Heh¡­¡±

    <em>¡®Don¡¯t, don¡¯t smile¡­ You look like a murderer!!!¡¯</em>

    ¡°Hey, are you alright?¡±

    <em>Nod, nod, nod, nod, nod¡ª</em>

    Lu Bai nodded so fast it looked like he nodded a dozen times in just a short span of a second. Then, Death reached forward and removed the handcuffs that bound him.

    Meanwhile, Lu Bai turned to look at Minhyuk. He could see that Minhyuk was not being pushed back despite the thousands of members of ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild that were flocking to him. In fact, it looked like he was overwhelming thempletely. Then, Lu Bai looked behind him where the undead that Death had summoned were running rampant and sweeping away the troops that arrived.

    That was when something shed in Lu Bai¡¯s head.

    <em>[<strong>Hungry</strong>: It¡¯s really simple. All you have to do is take away the territories, the dungeons and the hunting grounds that the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild have monopolized.]</em>

    That was what the Food God said on themunity site.

    ¡°Did he really mean what he said in themunity site? With just two people¡­¡±

    Death tilted his head when he heard Lu Bai¡¯s words. He said, ¡°There¡¯s three of us, though?¡±

    Lu Bai looked down at his hands when he heard that. Was he one of them too?

    ¡°Minhyuk sent me a whisper and told me that you changed your ss to an Absolute God ss.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    That was right. Lu Bai was the very first person to change his ss to an Absolute God ss. It had been a result of his tenacious will to not give up on his Savior ss. Death turned around and said, ¡°Since you became the first Absolute God ss, there has to be a reason for that.¡±

    Lu Bai once again looked down at his hands. He was someone that never got recognized despite doing good deeds. In fact, he already admitted the fact that he was too weak to hold the Savior ss.

    But now¡­ Lu Bai drew his sword. He was the first Absolute God ss. A very special Absolute God ss that did not receive any level-down penalty, despite his ss changing from a legendary ss to a god ss.

    Lu Bai¡¯s eyes shone with surprise after confirming his new skills. A small smile curled at the corners of his lips as he took a step toward Minhyuk.

    ***

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡°I, I can¡¯t deal any damage to him!¡±

    ¡°What kind of ridiculous bastard is he!?¡±

    The members of the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild were truly flustered after realizing that none of their attacks went through at all. When they sessfullynded an attack by chance, a small, translucent red shield would pop up around Minhyuk¡¯s body and prevent the attack from going any further and dealing any damage.

    This was actually the ughterer¡¯s Armor¡¯s passive skill: ¡®Asura¡¯s Shield¡¯. On top of that, even if Minhyuk¡¯s HP fell, he could just use ¡®ughterer¡¯s Absorption¡¯ to replenish it.

    <em>¡®The ughterer¡¯s Armor is truly a ridiculous artifact especially when ites torge-scale battles.¡¯</em>

    Just when the thought shed in Minhyuk¡¯s head¡­

    <em>¡®Ah. Lu Bai is truly a good person.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk personally wanted to have Lu Bai under hismand. Lu Bai was someone that was firm in his beliefs and was genuinely good overall. On top of that, he was the first yer to change into the Absolute God ss.

    However, more reinforcements began to flock inside the execution grounds while Minhyuk was lost in his thoughts.

    ¡°Keu, keuhahahahahahaha! I asked for reinforcements from another territory! You damn bastards! This will be your end!!! You¡¯re done for!¡±

    Minhyuk zipped through the gaps of the enemy troops and punched Borg¡¯s mouth right away.

    ¡°Keooook!¡±

    Despite sessfully shutting up the man, Minhyuk¡¯s face still turned ugly.

    ¡°There are more than 10,000 troops in this small space¡­¡±

    It was extremely awkward and embarrassing to admit but if Death was not here then Minhyuk would not be able to deal with them all on his own. Then, at that moment, a notification rang in his head.

    <em>[¡®Lu Bai¡¯ has sent you a party request.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk did not take too long to decide, and epted the request.

    <em>[You have joined ¡®Lu Bai¡¯¡¯s party: ¡®Saviors¡¯.]</em>

    ¡°Those thatmitted murder, those that stole, those that sullied another¡¯s body¡­¡±

    Minhyuk turned to look at the source of the voice. It was none other than the ¡®Savior¡¯. The Savior was holding a book in one hand with a sword in the other, it was quite a good look.

    ¡°¡­Repent.¡±

    Then, a bright light burst out of the book in his hand, spreading and covering the entirety of the small and narrow execution grounds.

    <em>[The Savior¡¯s Penitence has started.]</em>

    <em>[Under the Savior¡¯s Penitence¡¯s effects, yers that are not Chaotic will deal an additional 200% in their attacks.]</em>

    <em>[Under the Savior¡¯s Penitence¡¯s effects, Chaotic yers will receive additional damages. % damage received will depend on the chaotic level that they possess.]</em>

    The bright, beautiful, and brilliant light began to burn everyone inside this small space. They looked like they were vampires exposed to the sun, their skins burning strongly.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Wherever the light passed by, an enemy would fall and disappear. Whether the yers had low chaotic levels or high chaotic levels, it did not matter. All of them fell down under the Penitence¡¯s effects. Well, in the case of those high-leveled chaotic yers, they were able to endure for a bit before sumbing to their death.

    <em>[You have been deprived of your vision in ordance with the Savior¡¯s ¡®Penitence¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[You have fallen into a stunned state in ordance with the Savior¡¯s ¡®Penitence¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP will continue to decrease in ordance with the Savior¡¯s ¡®Penitence¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[Your body will solidify and turn into stone in ordance with the Savior¡¯s ¡®Penitence¡¯.]</em>

    There were different types of abnormal states that were ced on the enemies, all of their effects beyond ridiculous. However, there was something far more surprising than that¡­

    <em>[The EXP that Party Leader ¡®Lu Bai¡¯ has received from hunting will now be distributed.]</em>

    <em>[The Savior ss is a ss that can acquire EXP by hunting chaotic figures. The amount of EXP acquired will depend on the chaotic level and the level of the opponent.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1,323,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1,644,110 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[¡­gained 3,131,117 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[¡­gained¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­gained¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[¡­leveled up.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk and Death both stopped in their tracks for a moment, their mouths gaping open at the scene that unfolded in front of them. Lu Bai¡¯s ¡®Penitence¡¯ had wiped out nearly 7,000 of the enemy troops. The other 3,000 yers fell while still in battle.

    <em>Gulp¡ª</em>

    At this moment, Minhyuk and Death were shown that the Absolute God ss was a ss that could not easily be dealt with. Of course, they had not seen all of Lu Bai¡¯s skills, but still, this one skill alone was enough to convince them about that fact.

    <em>¡®Can¡­ Can I even win against that?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I don¡¯t think I can beat that with my own power?¡¯</em>

    That was just how crazy the ss was.

    Of course, the ss¡¯ advantages were shining right now, but there mighte a time when Lu Bai would also disy poor results. After all, it was easy to disy those advantages especially with their enemies, both yers and NPCS, alling from a murderer guild and having extremely high chaotic levels. On top of that, all of them were gathered in this small, narrow space.

    Then, Lu Bai took a step forward as he pointed his sword at the shrieking troops and said, ¡°Death Sentence.¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡°Death Sentence.¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡°Death Sentence.¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The moment Lu Bai raised his sword and passed his sentence, an explosion would erupt within a seven meter radius, and extinguish anything and everything within the area, leaving no trace behind.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk and Death stood in a daze, their eyes blinking nkly as they stared at the figure a few distance away from them. Minhyuk was also very shocked to see that his level increased by four when all of the people died.

    Then, Lu Bai said, ¡°You can take the things here.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk and Death both nodded nkly at Lu Bai¡¯s words. More than 10,000 people died in this ce and they were even Chaotic. Of course, when chaotic figures died, they would receive a huge penalty, together with a drastic increase in their item drop rate. The items that dropped on the floor and the EXP that they gained in this ce alone were out of this world!

    <em>¡®This, this is the luxury bus that I¡¯ve only heard of¡­!¡¯</em>

    Lu Bai was practically a premium luxury bus that took Death, the king of the Kingdom of the Dead, and Minhyuk, the king of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, two of the world¡¯s top rankers around!

    But what was more surprising was¡­

    ¡°You see¡­¡± Lu Bai scratched his cheeks in embarrassment, ¡°¡­I¡¯m an awkward and overly nice person. Just like you said before, I¡¯m someone that can¡¯t leave an old grandma selling on the street alone.¡±

    Lu Bai talked about the things that hecked as he looked at Minhyuk and Death, ¡°I¡¯m also very timid to the point that I can¡¯t even ask the bus driver to stop, even if I passed by the stop where I should get off at. And because of my extremely introverted personality, I also can¡¯t contact others first.¡±

    <em>Mutter, mutter¡ª</em>

    The two stood still and listened quietly to Lu Bai¡¯s rambles.

    ¡°I¡¯m someone that has never been in a rtionship in my life and a fool that believes that he¡¯s an apostle of justice.¡±

    That was right. That was the kind of person Lu Bai was. Even though he would gain nothing, he would still continue to fight for others. Yet, he was the first person to change to an Absolute God ss.

    ¡°Compared to the two of you, I¡¯m still very immature but¡­¡± Lu Bai smiled brightly, showcasing his white teeth, ¡°Will you be my friend?¡±

    Today was the day when the three of them became friends. Unfortunately, they realized that the three of them had something horrible inmon. Death¡¯s eyes reddened as he said, ¡°All three of us are¡­ single since birth¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    At that moment, their friendship grew stronger.

 Chapter 545: Demolish

    Chapter 545: Demolish

    The Venaud Territory, one of the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild¡¯s territories, was taken away in a single day.

    The entire world was in a buzz after the news spread on the inte. The people of Venaud Territory, who were deprived of their own territory in the first ce, immediately banded together, upied the territory and defended the ce.

    <em>[Rumor has it that it was Food God Minhyuk and Death who took away ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild¡¯s Venaud Territory. There was also this Savior yer there too. How true is it?]</em>

    <em>[Stop spouting nonsense. No matter how strong Food God Minhyuk and Death are, there¡¯s no way that they can destroy an entire territory overnight, right?]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s right. The fact that Food God Minhyuk and Deathid Venaud Territory to waste is true. However, I¡¯m pretty sure plenty of the Beyond the Heavens guild members participated. They¡¯re a kingdom. It¡¯s an easy matter for them to push back a territory with their own power.]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s right. I think it¡¯s because it¡¯s been passed on by many people that¡¯s why the story has been exaggerated.]</em>

    However, a photo was soon posted and immediately forwarded by plenty of people on the inte. It was a photo of Death, Minhyuk, and Lu Bai taking a quick rest at what seemed to be an execution ground, after ughtering all of the troops.

    <em>[Cra, crazy. For real?!]</em>

    <em>[No. Is that even really possible?]</em>

    <em>[A brother that I know is a member of ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild. He was there on site and he told me that it was not Minhyuk nor Death, but a yer named ¡®Savior¡¯ that wiped out more than 7,000 people in one go.]</em>

    <em>[More than 7,000 people¡­? Isn¡¯t that just an exaggeration?]</em>

    <em>[I¡¯m not exaggerating. There are more than one or two photos that members of the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild leaked to the media circting on the inte right now to prove it.]</em>

    <em>[Those ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild bastards. Hahahahaha. All of them are blinded by money. Look at them trying to get money by providing information to reporters now that something happened in their guild.]</em>

    Plenty of people began to pay attention to the story about a group of merely three people destroying and demolishing one of ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild¡¯s territory. Then, the experts began to give their two cents.

    <em>[Food God Minhyuk has officially begun his full-fledged ¡®Akhan Hunt¡¯. Surprisingly enough, he started the hunt by demolishing one of the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild¡¯s territories in just a single day. Currently, his whereabouts are unknown.]</em>

    <em>[Media stations and reporters all over the world, as well as viewers ying Athenae, are paying rapt attention to the development of the situation. Let us take a special look at ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild Master Zhang Mumu¡¯s note published in SNS mocking Food God Minhyuk and telling him to bark like a dog when the Food God asked for his cooperation.]</em>

    <em>[Many experts have given their two cents saying that Akhan¡¯s Hunt would not end so fast as long as the members of ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild are aware of this fact.]</em>

    <em>[ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild and Akhan will go on defense after learning about this.]</em>

    The entire world almost boiled over from their interest in the situation.

    Meanwhile, in Cairon Continent Server, inside a vicious beast dungeon that wasmonly referred to as the ¡®Lucky Gold Mine Dungeon¡¯.

    The Lucky Gold Mine Dungeon was a dungeon that everyone wanted to hunt in. This was because the gold drop rate of the monsters inside this dungeon were twice that of the gold drop rate of other monsters of the same level, hence the name. The dungeon was also very vast and wide, allowing many yers to roam and hunt insidefortably. However, the dungeon had been taken over by the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild and yers could only enter the dungeon by paying one tinum. If the yers opted not to pay, they would then be PKed on the spot.

    Right now¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keheoooook!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    <em>Crumble¡ª</em>

    <em>Stab, stab¡ª</em>

    ¡­only harsh and ear-grating screams could be heard inside the vicious beast dungeon. In a blink of an eye, the almost-2,000 members of the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild stationed in this dungeon had been wiped out. AmbaLong, the assigned general manager of this dungeon, copsed on the ground in shock.

    ¡°Im, impossible¡­¡±

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    The moment he was forced to log out, AmbaLong sent a report to Zhang Mumu.

    <em>[<strong>AmbaLong</strong>: Zhang Mumu¡­!]</em>

    It did not end there.

    In a ruby mine, one with tremendous value known for its random probability of dropping rubies with every dig of a pickaxe¡­.

    Originally, this ruby mine was not that popr. It only gained the people¡¯s attention after a miner from a small mountain vige nearby started to dig up rubies in every mining dive that he made. This ruby mine was, of course, taken over by the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild.

    What did they do to monopolize the mine? Simple. They killed all of the people in the nearby viges and set everything on fire.

    <em>Thwaaaack¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Sa, save me!!!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°These, these crazy f*cking bastards¡­¡±

    Hector, the administrator of the mines, trembled as a sword stabbed straight through his chest. After dealing with Hector, the Savior Lu Bai consoled the vige head, who survived after great hardships, and said, ¡°Now, this mine belongs to you again.¡±

    ¡°Thank you¡­!¡±

    Not long after, the Imperial Army began to surround the ruby mine.

    ¡°Those guys¡­¡±

    ¡°Please don¡¯t worry. They¡¯re the ones that will ensure your safety.¡±

    In and where dwarves live, the ce where the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild enved and exploited the dwarves, the head of the person-in-charge was separated from the body.

    At another location, the Small Dragon Race reached 140 centimeters in height and looked exactly like dragons, except they walked on two feet. Despite their simrity to a dragon, the power that they could exert was far weaker than that of humans. However, aspensation, they were blessed with the special ability to create superb garments made of cloth. This race was also being cleanly exploited by the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild. The head of the person-in-charge of exploiting them was also cut off and sent flying.

    Arche Territory. Barco River. Ercae Field. Various other ces that the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild owned and took over suffered from the same fate as the others.

    <em>[<strong>Ebetto</strong>: Zhang Mumu¡­!]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Luca</strong>: GM!!!]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Alpaca</strong>: GM ??!!!]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Condy</strong>: Mumu!!!]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Arkhan</strong>: The, the support troops¡­!!!]</em>

    The territories, fields and dungeons that the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild owned all over the Cairon Continent got taken over one after the other. Unlike them, who got things taken away from them, Minhyuk, Death and Lu Bai continued to gain things.

    <em>[You have rescued the vigers suffering inside the Ruby Mines.]</em>

    <em>[The vigers sing praises for you.]</em>

    <em>[Their favor toward you has reached MAX.]</em>

    <em>[You and your heroic tales will start spreading all throughout the Cairon Continent.]</em>

    <em>[You are shining a light in the world together with the ¡®Savior¡¯!]</em>

    <em>[You will receive a stat reward. The stat rewards will depend on the power of the Savior, the number of people that you saved and the amount of damage that you dealt to the oppressors.]</em>

    <em>[You have received +2 on all of your stats.]</em>

    <em>[You will receive a stat reward. The stat rewards will depend on the power of the Savior, the number of people that you saved and the amount of damage that you dealt to the oppressors.]</em>

    <em>[You have received +1 on all of your stats.]</em>

    Surprisingly enough, the Savior ss upon reaching the Absolute God rank could allow the yer, together with the people that apanied him, to gain stats as rewards whenever they saved people and did good deeds. And just like that, the people of Cairon Continent¡­

    ¡°Long live the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!!! Long live the Food God!!! Long live Death, the King of the Dead!!! Long live the Savior!!!¡±

    ¡­ran around and sang praises for the three of them.

    On the zas and squares of every territory¡­

    ¡°Hey guys. Have you heard about that story? From what I heard, there are heroes, heroes from another continent and our very own Cairon Continent¡¯s Savior, traveling and saving people.¡±

    ¡°The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King, despite not being a native of this continent, is working hard for the sake of those that are unfortunate.¡±

    The bards sang and danced their stories while poets recited their tales.

    ¡°<em>Aaaaaaaah~ The story of the heroes~</em>¡±

    The entire Cairon Continent was turned upside down. And Zhang Mumu?

    ¡°I¡¯m telling you to find a way somehow!!!¡±

    He called for all of his branch managers and conducted a meeting. Zhang Mumu could barely contain his wrath. The things and territories that he plundered in Cairon Continent were being taken away from him. The losses that he received in just a few short days alone had reached more than ten billion in cash.

    ¡°How did this happen?! Why can¡¯t you stop a mere three yers?!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the problem. Because there are only three of them, we can¡¯t find out what path they¡¯re going to take, nor the destination that they¡¯re headed to. It¡¯s unpredictable. On top of that, whenever we try to gather troops in one territory, they will shake us off and go to other ces. It¡¯s as if there are ghosts helping them with intel.¡±

    ¡°In just a few days, seventeen of the ces that we manage have been taken away. The worst part is the Food God¡¯s meticulousness. He¡¯s already held hands with the empires of the continent. The empires sent their Imperial Army and protected the ces that have been taken away, effectively blocking us from getting them back again.¡±

    Zhang Mumu¡¯s head went as nk as a piece of paper. He was clever, and understood what Minhyuk was doing. The worst part? He could not contact Akhan at a time where something like this happened.

    ¡°I think it would be better for us to apologize to the Food God.¡±

    ¡°The provocation that we sent out back then is the catalyst that resulted in this situation.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Zhang Mumu gritted his teeth. He never imagined that the Food God would resort to this simple method, a frontal breakthrough. He also did not expect that the words ¡®bark like a dog¡¯ that he uttered before would result in such a situation.

    <em>¡®Should I send him a message?¡¯</em>

    No. What the Food God wanted right now was Akhan. Of course, his provocation yed a huge role in the events too. Still, Zhang Mumu knew that sending a message would not do anything.

    Then, one of their guild members rushed inside the room and shouted, ¡°GM! SNS is being flooded withments praising the Food God!!!¡±

    The positive public¡¯s response to a hero demolishing and destroying a group of evil people was only natural.

    <em>¡®What do I do? What am I supposed to do?¡¯ </em>Just when the thought shed in Zhang Mumu¡¯s head, loud sounds erupted from outside.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    The ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild¡¯s branch managers were currently gathered in Affra Territory, theirrgest territory with theirrgest troops, managed by Zhang Mumu himself. Zhang Mumu hurriedly rushed outside, only to see a very startling scene.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeee!¡±

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaaack!¡±

    Thousands of undead charged toward the territory with Food God Minhyuk at the vanguard, swinging his sword wildly. Every swing of Minhyuk¡¯s sword killed plenty of Zhang Mumu¡¯s guild members. There was also the Savior running next to Minhyuk, meting out sentences, and creating explosions that swept away the area.

    ¡°These crazy f*cking bastards!!!¡±

    Zhang Mumu was not a fool. He knew what these three, the people that destroyed several of their territories, were capable of. In fact, he already thought of running away the moment he saw them, but before he could even do so, a chain made of light appeared and wrapped around his body before disappearing from sight.

    <em>[The Savior is redeeming the wicked!]</em>

    <em>[You will not be able to log out for one hour!]</em>

    <em>[You will not be able to use a return scroll or a teleportation parchment for one hour!]</em>

    <em>[You will not be able to leave within thirty meters of where you are standing right now for one hour!]</em>

    ¡°Stop them! I¡¯m telling you to stop theeeeeeeeeem!!!¡± Zhang Mumu cried loudly. No matter how strong they were, could they really wipe out thousands of troops in just an hour? Zhang Mumu hoped that it would not be the case as he watched the battle unfold in front of him nervously.

    <em>¡®Isn¡¯t he ridiculously strong?¡¯</em>

    The Food God was so strong that Zhang Mumu wondered if that power was something that a yer could truly have.

    After thirty minutes of non-stop fighting, an unforgettable scene unfolded in front of Zhang Mumu¡¯s very eyes. Minhyuk swung his sword that was covered with ck mes and devoured more than 3,000 yers all at once, forcing them to log out and turning their bodies gray.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Zhang Mumu was honestly terrified now. He could tell that his reign over the Cairon Continent was on the brink of falling apart! All he could do was rush back inside his office and hide, waiting until the one hour restriction was lifted.

    <em>¡®One hour, yes just one hour. They can hold out for that long. After the time is up, I can just use the return scroll to escape from here and log out,¡¯ </em>Zhang Mumu thought, his body shaking as he waited nervously for the hour to pass.

    Just as only three minutes were left till the end of the restriction, a strange and eerie silence greeted Zhang Mumu¡¯s ears.

    <em>¡®What? Were, were they able to wipe out all of my guild members?!¡¯</em>

    That was right. This territory was the home of the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild. The number of troops stationed here easily exceeded 20,000. No matter how weak or subpar the troops were, could they really finish them off that fast?

    ¡®<em>No way, right?!</em>¡¯

    Zhang Mumu pressed his ears to the door. He strained his hearing, listening for any sounds from the outside. Then¡­

    <em>Bang¡ª</em>

    ¡­a hand broke through the door and grabbed Zhang Mumu by the neck. Zhang Mumu saw Food God Minhyuk¡¯s face through the gap created by the hand on the door. The Food God¡¯s expression was terribly fierce. He raised a corner of his mouth and said to Zhang Mumu, ¡°If you bark like a dog then I¡¯ll think about it.¡±

    The Food God was someone polite, he was someone that returned what he received, sometimes even more.

 Chapter 546: Demolish

    Chapter 546: Demolish

    How would people describe ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild¡¯s Zhang Mumu?

    In short, he was like a triad boss. He was someone that cleverly exploited the fact that Athenae was a game tomit any and all kinds of crimes like murder, arson, plundering, ckmail and many more. His evil methods were immeasurable and gut-wrenching.

    So far, the empires and kingdoms turned a blind eye to Zhang Mumu and his guild¡¯s actions. This was because dealing with them was not an easy feat and they were sure that they would suffer huge losses if they tried to clean up the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild.

    Because of that, Zhang Mumu¡¯s nose reached the skies. He became arrogant and conceited, reigning like a king inside Athenae and amassing great wealth, even in reality.

    But what about now? Right now, Zhang Mumu¡¯s eyes were filled with dread and terror. His entire body was trembling like a leaf being blown by the wind.

    <em>¡®Bar, barking?¡¯</em>

    Zhang Mumu¡¯s mind was muddled, he could not understand what Minhyuk just said. Who would dare to tell him to bark like that? However, everything was false bravado. Even his shaking body was telling the world that he was afraid.

    <em>Baaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Zhang Mumu flew back the moment Minhyuk¡¯s fist collided with him.

    ¡°Kghhk!¡±

    Zhang Mumu finally realized why everything had turned quiet outside. It was because the three people in front of him had truly brought everyone, his guild members and his troops, down to their knees. But Zhang Mumu was also someone that hadpleted a high ss transfer. He was also among the top fighter rankers, and was a master of Chinese martial arts. He would not easily go down like that.

    Zhang Mumu kicked off the ground as he jumped towards Minhyuk, his fists aiming for Minhyuk¡¯s neck. But then, a small red shield, Asura¡¯s Shield, appeared and protected Minhyuk¡¯s neck.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The effects of ¡®Explosion¡¯ mode engraved on Minhyuk¡¯s sword disyed its power the moment he swung his sword, forcing Zhang Mumu to fly back helplessly out of the door. That was when Zhang Mumu saw a few ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild survivors still at the scene of carnage. He heaved a sigh of relief after knowing that there were more survivors than what he expected.

    But then, he caught sight of Minhyuk cracking his fingers and warming up his wrists as he walked towards him.

    ¡°What the hell are you guys doing?!! Hurry up and kill these bastards!!!¡± Zhang Mumu shouted, believing that the remaining survivors would fight for him and buy him some time. But¡­

    ¡°¡­Why should we?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re going to die either way¡­¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t. Doing that will make me drop my weapons since I¡¯m full chaotic.¡±

    ¡°Sorry.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Zhang Mumu felt like he had been hit by a hammer on the head. These were the people that were trying to lick his toes and suck up to him just a few moments prior. But now? They were taking care of themselves and calcting the best way to receive less damage. After all, this was the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild. They were a murderer¡¯s guild that only gathered members that were after benefits and profits. Zhang Mumu had given them enough independence and freedom, to the point that their respect for their guild master had turned to dust.

    ¡°These, these f*cking bastards!!! Can¡¯t you see that I¡¯m in danger right now?!!!¡±

    Zhang Mumu was currently in a very,<em><strong></strong></em><em>very</em> dangerous state. He tried tomand his guild members but his words were useless.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!¡±

    The word engraved on the de of Minhyuk¡¯s sword changed to ¡®Crazy¡¯ as he struck Zhang Mumu once again. Already on the floor, Zhang Mumu tried to somehow get up and run away but before he could do so¡­

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    ¡­Minhyuk¡¯s sword pierced through his shoulders.

    ¡°Ugh. Aaaaaack! Uwaaaaaaack! No. These damn bastards!!!¡±

    Zhang Mumu was someone that had gained a sub-ss after bing the leader of the worst murderer guild in existence. It was none other than ¡®The King of the Wicked¡¯.

    The sub-ss had an amazing effect that allowed a 5% increase in the sales of looted items, as well as a shocking increase in the chaotic yers¡¯ abilities. The increase in abilities were only slight and would depend on the chaotic levels of the yers under him, but it was still very shocking.

    However, in return for these shocking and beneficial effects, Zhang Mumu would receive a terrible penalty. Upon death, Zhang Mumu would be subjected to 15x more severe penalties than normal yers. Not only would he lose his stats, he would also drop all of his artifacts and even his treasured gold.

    ¡°If you kill the Food God, I will reward you with 1,000 tinum!!! That¡¯s why, move¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­GM, why don¡¯t you do it yourself?¡±

    ¡°How can we even kill the Food God?¡±

    Everything was falling apart. This was how bad the situation was for the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild.

    ¡°Hey, can you really say that to the GM?¡±

    ¡°Who cares. The guild is already f*cked anyway. Besides, he doesn¡¯t even know and would probably never remember my face.¡±

    ¡°Hey, hey. Let¡¯s film this. We can make money out of this.¡±

    ¡°Kihyaaa~¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s put the title as: The Food God¡¯s True Education, teaching Zhang Mumu~¡±

    Then, they started filming, thementators quickly starting their tirade while the viewersughed and mocked. This was how the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild, a guild that was almost on par with a kingdom, copsed overnight.

    ¡°The GM looks like a moron.¡±

    ¡°He was a moron to begin with. Tsk.¡±

    ¡°Shit, you m**herf*ckers!!!¡±

    Not a single surviving guild member ran to save Zhang Mumu. Zhang Mumu could only stare wide-eyed as Minhyuk finally stood in front of him.

    <em>¡®¡­Damn bastards.¡¯</em>

    One of the recent videos about Beyond the Heavens Kingdom suddenly shed in Zhang Mumu¡¯s head. In that video, they all fought together, wept together, and shared the joy of victory together. Minhyuk¡¯s retainers fought for him, while he threw himself at the frontlines and fought for them too.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    In the end, Zhang Mumu¡¯s string of reasons snapped, ¡°Ah, ahihihihihihi. Uhihihihihihi! Do you think I¡¯ll tell you where Akhan is?! You¡¯ll never find him! I will never open my mo¡­¡±

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°Who cares?¡±

    Minhyuk stabbed Zhang Mumu¡¯s neck without any hesitation, along with that a series of notifications rang in Zhang Mumu¡¯s head.

    <em>[You have been forced to log out by Minhyuk.]</em>

    <em>[You have the King of the Wicked ss.]</em>

    <em>[You will receive fifteen times the normal amount of penalty for forced log out. ess Restriction is not applicable.]</em>

    <em>[You have been forced to log out by the Savior¡¯s Companion!]</em>

    <em>[The penalty for someone logged out by the Savior¡¯s Companion will increase!]</em>

    <em>[You will drop all of the tinum in your inventory.]</em>

    <em>[You have dropped the Aphro Earrings.]</em>

    <em>[You have dropped M¡¯bai Axe.]</em>

    <em>[You have dropped a Supreme Being¡¯s Winged Galloping Boots.]</em>

    <em>[¡­Water Spirit King¡¯s¡­]</em>

    Minhyuk frowned after watching Zhang Mumu disappear. He said, ¡°38,000 tinum¡­?¡±

    The amount wasrge enough to let a kingdom run smoothly for an entire month. This was a testament to the many lives that Zhang Mumu took away. Then, Minhyuk turned to Lu Bai and said, ¡°Lu Bai, are you really sure about this?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. I¡¯m sure. The Savior¡¯s Confinement also has the effect that restricts the opponent for an hour which would stop them from escaping. Since Zhang Mumu ispletely on the other end of my spectrum, there¡¯s an added effect where I will be able to see and monitor his position and movements for a month. The party involved is unaware of this. It¡¯s like those GPS trackers nted secretly on targets in movies.¡±

    This was the reason why Minhyuk killed Zhang Mumu easily and without any hesitation.

    At the same time.

    Zhang Mumu went out of his capsule with a lost and dazed expression, reeling from the huge penalty that he received, but at the same time he also felt relieved.

    ¡°I¡¯ll have to lie low for a while.¡±

    Since he turned Athenae into his business, there was no way for him to leave it. He had to y the game. However, he thought that he should do covert operation in the meantime and work behind the scenes.

    The next day.

    Zhang Mumu immediately transferred to Hayden Vige upon essing the game. He quickly reced the equipment on him from those that he stored in the warehouse, and also bought quality artifacts from merchants. He also packed his wallet with tinum that he stored from the warehouse again.

    Just when he was about to move to meet with the guild¡¯s branch managers and executives¡­

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    Someone stabbed him from the back, his body turning cold.

    <em>[You have been forced to log out by Minhyuk.]</em>

    <em>[You have the King of the Wicked ss.]</em>

    <em>[You will receive fifteen times the normal amount of penalty for forced log out¡­]</em>

    Zhang Mumu could not understand what had happened. Only one thing was certain, it was the Food God that killed him.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s all a coincidence. He just happened to show up where I was.¡¯</em>

    Other than that exnation, nothing else would make sense.

    The next day, Zhang Mumu was eating to fill his fullness stat that had already reached the bottom, at the same time, he also refilled his pockets with tinum and equipped himself with artifacts.

    <em>¡®Damn it. I¡¯ve received more than a hundred damage and it¡¯s all because of the Food God¡­¡¯</em>

    Just as Zhang Mumu was about to scoop another spoonful of food¡­

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    <em>[You have been forced to log out by Minhyuk.]</em>

    <em>[You have the King of the Wicked ss.]</em>

    <em>[You will receive fifteen times the normal amount of penalty for forced log out¡­]</em>

    The next day, as he ran anxiously to escape far away¡­

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    <em>[You have been forced to log out by Minhyuk.]</em>

    <em>[You have the King of the Wicked ss.]</em>

    <em>[You will receive fifteen times the normal amount of penalty for forced log out¡­]</em>

    The next day, while Zhang Mumu breathed a sigh of relief after an hour ofpleting thirty random teleports¡­

    ¡°He would not be able to chase me here¡­¡±

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    <em>[You have been forced to log out by Minhyuk.]</em>

    <em>[You have the King of the Wicked ss.]</em>

    <em>[You will receive fifteen times the normal amount of penalty for forced log out¡­]</em>

    As soon as Zhang Mumu essed the game, he died. He even had fifteen times more penalty than the others. The worst part? Since the one that killed him was the Savior¡¯s Companion, the penalty that he incurred each time reached as high as twenty times the normal penalty.

    In just a few days, Zhang Mumu¡¯s level had dropped by fifty. His anxiety began to grow to unprecedented levels after experiencing death every time he logged inside Athenae. Eventually, he lost his mind.

    With every death and ess, plenty of members of the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild left. In a span of a few short days, the once majestic and untouchable ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild began to thread the path of destruction.

    Zhang Mumu was left with no other choice but to choose the path that he would take.

    ***

    China¡¯s top game broadcasting station, A+TV, had monopolized nearly 50% of the viewership ratings of all game broadcasting stations. The fact that China boasted thergestnd and poption meant that their influence and scope was extremely vast and wide.

    A+TV¡¯s crew was currently logging in to Athenae to start filming. A+TV¡¯s PD Ni Dahong¡¯s expectations for this filming was very high.

    <em>¡®I can¡¯t believe Akhan contacted me personally.¡¯</em>

    Akhan was the one that created a huge buzz in the world after his recent invasion attempt at Asgan Continent. Akhan had contacted Ni Dahong because he had gathered the Demon Worshipper¡¯s Elders to hold a ceremony that would unseal and summon Great Demon Verus. Most of the people were quite reluctant and had evaded Akhan because of his questionable deeds but the fact that he could create a huge impact was true. Akhan even revealed his intention to gather his followers and work hard to gain power.

    The live broadcast immediately started. The reactions on the broadcast? Of course they were explosive. The problem was¡­

    ¡°What the hell is that?!¡±

    There were fifteen demon worshippers wearing ck robes. These fifteen demon worshippers were known to have reached the highest rank among all of the demon worshippers. With these people gathered together, it was only natural that it became a huge issue. However, the problem was the tens of thousands of sheeps lined up behind them.

    <em>¡®The ritual is¡­¡¯</em>

    It was clear that those lives would be sacrificed to honor Great Demon Verus. However, that did not matter. What mattered here was that they would have a chance to take a glimpse at Great Demon Verus, the demon that Food God Minhyuk had temporarily sealed, today.

    ¡°Will it really be alright¡­¡±

    ¡°PD Ni! Look behind you! There are women and children there too!¡±

    ¡°What?!¡±

    Looking closely, there were plenty of women and children bound tightly among the sheep. At that moment, PD Ni Dahong felt his head turn nk. The only thought running in his head, <em>¡®This is crazy¡­! Even if they are NPCs, no one would want to see women and children dying like that!!!¡¯</em>

    ¡°St, stop the live broadcast!!!¡±

    ¡°PD, we have reached over 30% in viewership ratings already.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡±

    <em>¡®Already?!¡¯</em>

    Was Akhan truly this powerful and influential? Then, A+TV¡¯s general director hurriedly rushed inside the room as the monitor disyed the demon worshippers sprinkling oil and gas on the sheep, the women and the children.

    The general director hurriedly cried out, ¡°Cut, cut off the live broadcast for a moment!!! Don¡¯t let the viewers see them burning!!!¡±

    ¡°B, but¡­ if we do that then it would be an unusual broadcasting ident¡­¡±

    ¡°The broadcasting ident is not the problem here!!! If you don¡¯t stop that then our heads will all roll!!!¡±

    The general director grabbed his hair tightly. Even though Akhan could give them high ratings, which was good, the rebuke and criticisms that they would receive was too much.

    Then, Akhan was shown on the screen walking towards the sheep, the women, and the children with a torch in hand.

    ¡°Cut it off, faaaaaaaaaast!!!¡±

    ¡°Quick! Move quickly!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re cutting it off now!!!¡±

    The entire broadcasting station was brought into a huge uproar. But then, at that moment, PD Ni Dahong saw something on the screen.

    ¡°Everyone, stop moviiiiiiiing!!!¡± PD Ni Dahong shouted loudly, bringing the broadcasting station to a standstill. Then, he continued, ¡°From now on, whichever bastard moves dies!!!¡±

    This was the very same PD Ni Dahong who was known for his gentle personality. Seeing PD Ni react like that, the general director turned furious. He shouted, ¡°Hey, you bastard, have you gone craz¡­!¡±

    ¡°Camera 1, Camera 4 give me a close up!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    The cameras zoomed in ording to PD Ni¡¯s instructions and showed the fifteen demon worshippers. Among them, one face looked extremely familiar.

    ¡°The, the Food God?!¡±

    ¡°Minhyuk?!!!!¡±

    ¡°What the hell?!!¡±

    ¡°General director, trust me on this one. This live broadcast¡­ will be an unprecedented sess. It will be a huge hit. Believe me.¡±

    ¡°What, what? Hey, why aren¡¯t you cutting it off!!!!¡±

    Everyone turned to look at PD Ni Dahong.

    ¡°The Food God has dered war against Akhan, and the peopleughed and mocked him. But Food God Minhyuk destroyed the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild and had now appeared in front of Akhan.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The general director¡¯s thoughts spun quickly. He could tell that this will give them the highest rating to be ever recorded in their history.

    ¡°If Food God Minhyuk does something dramatic and huge here, then this broadcast will achieve the highest rating that our station has ever recorded.¡±

    ¡°S, something dramatic?! What something huge?!¡± The general director hurriedly asked.

    Then, on the monitor, the disguised worshiper Minhyuk snatched the torch that Akhan threw in the air, approached him and¡­

    <em>aaaaaaap¡ª!</em>

    ¡­pped him on the cheek.

    <em>aaaaaaap¡ª!</em>

    And it was also a double whammy.

    ¡°Like this?¡±

    The viewership ratings of A+TV broadcasting station began to soar to new heights.

 Chapter 547: Minhyukâ€™s Revenge

    Chapter 547: Minhyuk¡¯s Revenge

    What kind of yer was Crazy Tyrant Akhan?

    He was a lunatic that did plenty of unpredictable and questionable things. He was someone that had achieved plenty of titles andpleted many hidden quests, that even Food God Minhyuk could not catch up to his records. He was also a legendary yer that induced the dragons to move and invade the Asgan Continent. People said that Akhan was the evil of Athenae, since no other person had that much influence and could do something so outrageous.

    But right now, this very same Akhan had his face turned sharply from a p on his right cheek. Actually, his face did not turn in that direction for too long, since his other cheek was soon pped too, forcing his face to return to the way it was before. The p was so loud and strong that even PD Ni Dahong, who was watching through the screen, unconsciously rubbed his cheeks.

    That was when PD Ni heard the voices of his team members behind him.

    ¡°Our viewership rating has reached 38%!¡±

    ¡°The viewership rating exceeded 40%!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve exceeded 41%!!! Our ratings are climbing at a crazy rate as of the moment!!!¡±

    ¡°Kghkkk, haaa¡­!¡±

    PD Ni Dahong was very shocked at the sudden surge in viewership ratings. No other person had as much impact as Akhan in Athenae. However, after pondering, PD Ni thought, <em>¡®But the one right next to him in terms of impact must be yer Minhyuk, right?¡¯</em>

    The battle between these two people naturally attracted the attention of many people. In fact, PD Ni expected that this broadcast could attract more attention and viewers than the ¡®Athenae: World War¡¯ episode.

    At the same time, PD Ni Dahong felt like a decade-worth of words that blocked his throat had smoothly gone down his pipes after watching Akhan get pped like that.

    ***

    What did Akhan intend to do? He wanted to awaken Great Demon Verus, the demon that Food God Minhyuk had sealed and would remain sealed for quite a long time, and let him run amok until the world was ruined.

    If that happened then Akhan might be able to show his loyalty and gain the trust of Great Demon Verus, and perhaps even acquire a shocking ss, <em>¡®Great Demon¡¯s Sessor¡¯.</em> Actually, when he was still part of the development team, during the early stages of game nning, they had made a ss with the same name. That was why he was confident in his ns and gathered the elder-level demon worshipers to perform a ritual that would summon and awaken Great Demon Verus.

    But someone suddenly appeared and grabbed the torch that he threw towards the sheep, women, and children.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The robed elders that surrounded the hexagonal magic circle were all shocked at the sudden turn of events. Especially after seeing the person, who they thought was one of the elders, approach Akhan. Even Akhan could not fathom what was happening since he could not discern the face hidden under the hood of the robe.

    But gradually, the face hidden by the robe was revealed to Akhan. Akhan had jeered andughed at him before. After all, how dare someone like him dare dere a war against him? It was something that Akhan could only snort at. Besides, he was part of the early developer team. He was someone that created most of Athenae, alongside President Kang Taehoon.

    Of course, Kang Taehoon and Supeputer Athenae had changed a lot of things inside Athenae, but Akhan was as much a genius gamer as he was a developer. For someone like him, this yer in front of him was just one among the hundreds of millions of yers in this world.

    But Minhyuk, a mere yer, walked towards Akhan with a vicious expression as he pped the surprised Akhan on the face. When he first got hit, Akhan could not understand what had happened to him. All that registered in his head was the fact that one of his cheeks was tingling. But the moment his other cheek got pped¡­

    <em>¡®M, me¡­ Me¡­?! Someone that¡¯s akin to Athenae¡¯s Gods¡­?!¡¯</em>

    Just like how the people hailed President Kang Taehoon as a god here in Athenae, Akhan believed himself to be a god here too. And someone insignificant like this person in front of him actually dared to p a god in the face?

    ¡°How dare you, you bastard¡­!¡± Akhan shouted, veins popping on his temple and his eyes turning red from fury.

    But, Minhyuk just took out a dagger, stabbed Akhan on the shoulder and¡­

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    ¡­grabbed his head while saying, ¡°I told you. I will kill you again and again.¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    <em>Sizzleeeee¡ª</em>

    The flesh on Akhan¡¯s shoulder began to burn and melt as the dagger dug deeper into his body. The notifications, as if apanying the pain he was feeling, rang in Akhan¡¯s ears while he screamed out loud.

    <em>[You have received a hit from the Judge¡¯s Dagger.]</em>

    <em>[The Judge¡¯s Dagger is a dagger that hailed from Athenae Religion; it is a dagger that judges the wicked.]</em>

    <em>[The Judge¡¯s Dagger is assessing all of your evil misdeeds and deciding on your sentence.]</em>

    <em>[You will receive the following punishments: upon death, you will receive twenty times more penalty than the normal penalty for a forced logout.]</em>

    <em>[You will not be able to log in Athenae for two straight weeks.]</em>

    <em>[The Judge¡¯s Dagger has assessed your evil misdeeds. Your movements will be bound for ten minutes.]</em>

    Minhyuk was the benefactor of Athenae Religion and its Saintess Royna. But even if that was the case, it was still not easy for him to borrow the Judge¡¯s Dagger, one of the Athenae Religion¡¯s treasures. In return for Athenae Religion allowing him to borrow their treasure, Minhyuk had promised that he woulde running to help them if they needed it.

    ¡°What the hell are you guys doing?!!! Kill this bastard!!! Quickly!!!¡±

    The elder-level Demon Worshipers were people that had settled down all over the world. One of them, ck Sorcerer Vaernon made eye contact with the others and said, ¡°Now that it hase to this, I think we can just capture that man alive and sacrifice him to Lord Verus.¡±

    ¡°He would be the perfect sacrifice for Lord Verus. After all, he¡¯s the one that sealed him.¡±

    However, there was one problem. The power and force of the guy that they would be up against was stronger than what they had expected. He was someone that had sealed the Great Demon Verus so it was only natural.

    Then, Vaernon suddenly thought of a nasty trick, ¡°I¡¯ll put some mana shackles on him.¡±

    Mana shackles was ck Sorcerer Vaernon¡¯s specialty. It was a skill that allowed him to control his opponent¡¯s mana and prevent them from using any of their skills. In other words, whether it was a magic or an active skill, it would be rendered useless as long as it required mana. ck Sorcerer Vaernon immediately shed the neck of one of the sheeps and sprinkled its blood on the ground and chanted. Then a red stream appeared and flew towards Minhyuk¡¯s body. At that moment, a set of notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You have been restricted by ck Sorcerer Vaernon¡¯s Mana Shackles.]</em>

    <em>[You can¡¯t physically break through ck Sorcerer Vaernon¡¯s Mana Shackles.]</em>

    <em>[You will not be able to use your active skills.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s expression turned ugly at the notifications.

    At the same time, the viewership ratings of A+TV had exceeded 45%. People from all over the world were busy talking on the inte.

    <em>[The Food God was able to rush to where Akhan and the Demon Worshipers are but he was subjected to a ck sorcerer¡¯s mana shackles.]</em>

    <em>[ck Sorcerer Vaernon is an NPC that has a high reputation among all of the ck sorcerers. It¡¯s safe to say that Food God Minhyuk has been very reckless in this matter.]</em>

    <em>[Food God Minhyuk¡¯s active skills has been restricted and he still has to deal with fourteen elders and Akhan.]</em>

    And the rest of the viewers¡­

    <em>[No matter how strong the Food God is, the situation that he is in right now is still bad. He¡¯s too reckless.]</em>

    <em>[GG. It¡¯s better for him to run away. Haha.]</em>

    While Minhyuk was busy trying to think of a way to get out of the situation and was vignt against his surroundings¡­

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[<strong>Hidden Quest</strong>: Punish the Elder Demon Worshipers.]</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: SSS</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: The One that received the Hidden Quest.</em>

    <em><strong>Rewards</strong>: For every elder killed, you will gain +1 level and 100 tinum. You will receive ??? for killing all of the elders.</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty for Failure</strong>: Death</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: You are ced in a dangerous predicament because of ck Sorcerer Vaernon. Despite being in this situation, punish the fourteen elders and block all of their senses and consciousness.</em>

    <em>¡®A level up and a hundred tinum per elder?¡¯</em>

    The rewards were extraordinary. But before he could even rejoice¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡­Minhyuk quickly turned around and tried to stab his sword on Akhan¡¯s neck. However, an arrow immediately flew and hit the de of his sword, changing its trajectory.

    <em>aaaaaaang!</em>

    <em>¡®They blocked my sword with an arrow?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s attack speed was several times faster than the average ranker, but his sword was still stopped by an arrow. Then, the elders slowly began to narrow the distance between them and Minhyuk. One of the elders even went and used his magical attacks on Minhyuk.

    <em>ng, ng ng ng ng, aaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    That elder¡¯s magical power was equivalent to the magical power of a great mage. One hit and Minhyuk would definitely receive tremendous damage. However, amidst the bombardment of magic, the ughterer¡¯s Armor¡¯s ¡®Asura¡¯s Shield¡¯ created a red shield around Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    <em>[Asura¡¯s Shield has been triggered.]</em>

    <em>[Asura¡¯s Shield can defend with twice the defensepared to the attack.]</em>

    ¡°Ho?¡±

    ¡°What an interesting power?¡±

    The elders giggled andughed. After all, Minhyuk, whose mana was sealed, just looked like a pitifulmb in their eyes.

    ¡°Lord Akhan, I¡¯ll quickly deal and punish this man and save you.¡±

    The bound Akhan felt relieved atst. He thought, <em>¡®Moron.¡¯</em>

    All of the elders varied in terms of their specialties and sses. There were sword masters, great mages, the head of the ck sorcerers, and even a marquis of an empire.

    ¡®<em>And that moron jumped into the fray without knowing that?</em>¡¯

    It was foolish. A full-fledged attack from the elders immediately followed.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    A gigantic arrow flew and shot Minhyuk¡¯s shoulder while several sword strikes hit his body. The moment Minhyuk tried to run, ck Sorcerer Vaernon and the other mages used their magic and stopped him in his tracks.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª</em>

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    Originally, Minhyuk could have used his ¡®Like the Wind¡¯ to escape but all of his active skills had been sealed.

    <em>¡®All of them are at the legendary level,¡¯ </em>Minhyuk immediately reached a conclusion. Of course, they were not at Ghost Spear Ben¡¯s level yet. However, the fact that they were opponents that Minhyuk could not easily ignore would remain the same.

    ¡°Keuhahahahahahahaha!¡±

    ¡°Are you watching over us, our Great Demon?! I will dedicate this guy and his life to you!¡±

    Everyone turned to mocking Minhyuk in just an instant.

    <em>Crackle¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk slowly walked through the mes created by the mages.

    <em>[Tsk, tsk. Is that what I think it is? Why is he showing that false bravado and acting all confident while looking at everyone? The Food God is really a great actor.]</em>

    <em>[The Food God is just one great m***erf**ker. Where did that figure when he pped Akhan earlier go? This just went to show that the Food God is overly dependent on his active skills.]</em>

    The entire world thought that this was the perfect time to mock Minhyuk and make fun of him. Even Akhan thought so as well, relief washing over him, <em>¡®That¡¯s right. How dare you do this to me, you f*cking bastard? But I wonder why the support troops are noting inside?¡¯</em>

    There were more than two thousand necromancers and summoners that followed Akhan. They were those that imed to be Akhan¡¯s fanatics, who followed and believed in him wholeheartedly. He had set them as support troops.

    However, as Akhan watched Minhyuk walk through the mes, he heard him say, ¡°Use 1 God SP. Level up the passive skill ¡®Lightning¡¯.¡±

    <em>¡®Did he just say God SP?!!!!¡¯</em> Akhan was shocked.

    What was a God SP?

    Akhan had gained God SP once in his life after clearing a Pinnacle Quest. God SP was an amazing point that could increase skills that had reached the limit, and could level up any and all kinds of skills, whether they were active or passive. It was something incredibly hard toe by.

    However, Akhan heard Minhyuk, who was still walking through the mes, say again, ¡°Use 1 God SP. Level up the passive skill ¡®Lightning¡¯.¡±

    At the same time, a shocking world message rang as a notification.

    <em>[Anonymous, a God ss, is the first to seed in creating a passive skill that can be hailed as a ¡®Secret¡¯!!!]</em>

    <em>[A new ¡®Secret¡¯, a power that is monopolized by the gods and NPCs, being born to the world deserves unreserved praise!!!]</em>

    Everyone present held their breaths. As Minhyuk stepped out of the mes, he looked at his enemies coldly and spat out, ¡°Level up the passive skill ¡®Lightning¡¯.¡±

    <em>[Anonymous, a God ss, is the first to seed in creating a passive skill that can be hailed as an ¡®Absolute God¡¯s Secret¡¯!!!]</em>

    Everyone present at the scene were rendered speechless.

 Chapter 548: Minhyukâ€™s Revenge

    Chapter 548: Minhyuk¡¯s Revenge

    Akhan had gathered his followers before proceeding with the ritual. They were mostly summoners and necromancers but their numbers had reached around 2,000, a fairly decent and powerful force.

    But why did they not appear to help Akhan? To be exact, where were they? It was because Death and Lu Bai blocked their path.

    Barlone, the 16th in the global swordsman rankings, was also one of Akhan¡¯s followers. Barlone thought that they had to quickly kill the two people that blocked their path and help Akhan, but the necromancers and the summoners did not move. In fact¡­

    <em>¡®What the hell?! Those crazy f*ckers! Why do their eyes look like they¡¯re twinkling?!¡¯</em>

    ¡­their eyes were shining brightly as if they were witnessing the descent of someone they respected and admired.

    ¡°Mister Death, can¡¯t you summon one of your Death Knights just once, for us?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m your fan!¡±

    ¡°Mister Death, please summon your Death Knights. Please?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Death scratched the back of his head in embarrassment as he summoned his Death Knights, ¡°Death Knight Summon, Baroque. Death Knight Summon, Ondoen.¡±

    The Death Knights appeared and surrounded Death. And when they appeared, the necromancers and summoners all reacted spectacrly.

    ¡°Oh, ooooooooooooh! So, so cool¡­!¡±

    ¡°Kihyaaa! Look! Death can summon fifteen of them at once!¡±

    ¡°OMG? They¡¯re not just any kind of Death Knights, right? They¡¯re True Death Knights!!!¡±

    ¡°Keok! As expected of Mister Death¡­!¡±

    Barlone¡¯s face turned ugly.

    <em>¡®These crazy f*</em><em>ckers</em><em> needed to kill these two and go to Akhan¡¯s aid so why are they pping while shouting praises at Death?</em>¡¯

    ¡°What the hell are you guys doing?! Akhan is in danger right now!!!¡±

    Death immediately turned vignt when he heard Barlone¡¯s cries, <em>¡®It would still be hard for us to deal with 2,000 necromancers and summoners.¡¯</em>

    Death was someone that specialized inrge-scale battles. The problem here was that everyone of their enemies was the same as him. If there were more than thirty high rankers among them that could summon a Death Knight, then they could immediately outnumber Death¡¯s summons. He could already expect a very difficult battle ahead of them. To his surprise¡­

    ¡°Mister Death, you¡¯re very handsome~!¡±

    ¡°Mister Death, what dishes do you like to eat?¡±

    ¡°Oppa, please take me!!!¡±

    ¡°Darling, please. You¡¯re already thirty-eight this year.¡±

    ¡°All handsome men are oppas! Kyaaaa!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Death, Lu Bai, Barlone and those that could not hide their embarrassment from the sudden turn of events were left speechless. That was right. Most of them imed to be Akhan¡¯s followers but they actually came to his aid because of the profits that they would gain from him. After all, it was very hard for necromancers and summoners to develop and nurture themselves. On top of that, there was less content on how to develop summoners and necromancers in the market.

    But what use would those profits be to them when the person that reached the peak of the necromancer arts was standing right in front of them?

    All necromancers had some sort of envy and jealousy toward Death. After all, he was someone that had once surprised the entire world during the ¡®Athenae: World War¡¯ with his necromancer ss and overcame a necromancer¡¯s inferiorityplex against summoners. Death had then be the idol of many necromancers and summoners in the world. His poprity was actually much higher in the Chinese Server¡¯s Cairon Continent.

    Of course, Akhan was popr too. But Death¡¯s handsome visage, which was cured of the severe burn that covered it thanks to Minhyuk¡¯s help, shook the hearts of many.

    ¡°Crazy bastards!!!¡±

    ¡°Get your grip together!!!¡±

    ¡°What a bunch of f*ckers!!!¡±

    Eventually, Akhan¡¯s true followers went crazy. That was when Death pulled a crazy stunt. He was, after all, one of Minhyuk¡¯s best friends and he learned many things from him, including how to adapt to any scenario and ovee any dire situations.

    With a fierce and vicious look on his face, Death stepped forward, making everyone turn nervous and gulp dryly from his sheer momentum. Then, he climbed on a small rock, sat down on it, and crossed his legs before bringing his thumb and index finger to the tip of his nose and smirking. The sun setting behind him created a halo that surrounded his body as he gently swept up his hair.

    <em>Moonlight is shining down~ Shl~[1]</em>

    Death, with a smile like that of Terrius, said, ¡°Oh my~ oh dear~ everyone, are you my fans?¡±

    ¡°Yes!!!¡±

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaa!!!¡±

    ¡°I like it!!!¡±

    Death swept his hair up again as he let out his ¡®killer smile¡¯ and said, ¡°I actually want to discuss the ¡®Way to Develop and Nurture a Necromancer¡¯ but there are too many people aiming for my life here. Ah, what should I do?¡±

    <em>Swish¡ª</em>

    <em>Swish¡ª</em>

    Every single person that heard Death¡¯s words immediately turned to look viciously at Barlone and Akhan¡¯s followers. All of them wanted to hear from Death about how to develop and nurture themselves as a necromancer! It was their dream!

    ¡°Shall we kill them?¡±

    ¡°Hey! Kill them!¡±

    ¡°Hey,e here!¡±

    ¡°Oppa, don¡¯t worry about a single thing. We¡¯ll take care of everything.¡±

    Thus, they began to fight amongst themselves. Death, who put on an unexpected yet good performance, touched the tip of his nose with his index finger and thumb, and ¡®Ha!¡¯ed happily.

    ¡°Oh dear~ Oh dear~ Be gentle with them. Gentle. Haha!¡± Death said as he looked up at the skies, closed his eyes and inhaled the fresh air around him, ¡°Ha~ the air tastes so sweet.¡±

    Yes, Death had changed a lot after hanging out with Minhyuk.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Barlone, who was currently being beaten, and Lu Bai, who was standing next to Death, both looked at him in disgust.

    ***

    A God¡¯s Secret. Every ss had the concept of ¡®Secret¡¯. It was safe to say that these Secrets were the strongest and most amazing thing in their arsenal. There were those that had gained their sses¡¯ Secrets, and those that failed to do so. Of course, it was very difficult for a God ss to gain a Secret, there were probably only around 20~30 of them in the entire world? At the same time, a God ss¡¯ Secret was not really that unusual whenpared to an Absolute God ss¡¯s one.

    But now, the notifications were telling everyone that someone created a Secret like that? The fact that a yer could create a Secret was akin to showing everyone about Athenae¡¯s new potential and development. Of course, everyone was also curious about this Absolute God¡¯s Secret.

    <em>[Right now, the birth of the yer that has created an Absolute God¡¯s Secret is known to the world.]</em>

    <em>[Anyone that¡¯s watching this broadcast would have already made rough guesses but it seems like that yer is Food God Minhyuk.]</em>

    <em>[The Food God has created another achievement. How far can he go?]</em>

    <em>[The rating of A+TV broadcasting station has exceeded 60% from this very unusual event. All of the yers that have heard the world message have logged out and rushed to watch A+TV¡¯s broadcast. It seems like they came here from word of mouth.]</em>

    Of course, the entire A+TV broadcasting station could not hide their joy. They were very ted to know that the entire world had turned their attention to their broadcast as of this moment.

    ¡®<em>Wasn¡¯t the Food God in danger just a few moments ago?</em>¡¯

    PD Ni Dahong, who watched Minhyuk emerge from the mes, was very curious about the power that the man had obtained.

    <em>¡®Perhaps the Food God will leave another mark in history today.¡¯</em>

    ***

    The God SPs were the rewards that Minhyuk had obtained after sealing Demigod Asura. Minhyuk was refraining from using them since he knew that it was very difficult to obtain them. But in the end, he did not have any choice. He had to use the SP to escape from this crisis and the results did not disappoint him; they were pretty jaw-dropping.

    <em>¡®Isn¡¯t this the same as when I had that +3 skill level effect from a buff?¡¯</em>

    Actually, Minhyuk could not be certain yet, since a flood of notifications rang in his ears at the same time as the world message rang for everyone.

    <em>[Lightning¡¯s level has increased.]</em>

    <em>[The skill Lightning has changed and evolved into an Absolute God¡¯s Secret.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the <strong>Title</strong>: The One that Walks the Path of God.]</em>

    Then, the people heard another set of notifications.

    <em>[The Absolute Gods are furious.]</em>

    <em>[They could not ept the fact that someone that is no more than a mere Continental God has created a skill that is equal to the level of an Absolute God¡¯s Secret.]</em>

    <em>[They have sealed the power of your Absolute God¡¯s Secret Skill.]</em>

    <em>[You can only use your Absolute God¡¯s Secret Skill for a few minutes.]</em>

    <em>[After use, your Absolute God¡¯s Secret Skill will be sealed.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk frowned, <em>¡®These bastards¡­?¡¯</em>

    In the past, the Absolute Gods had also interfered with Minhyuk and ced restrictions on him when he was in the king¡¯s building¡¯s construction site. At this moment, he finally confirmed that these Absolute Gods were beyond ridiculous.

    <em>¡®Did they have some severe inferiorityplex? What the hell? What kind of gods are like this?!¡¯ </em>But Minhyuk also noticed one thing, <em>¡®It¡¯s a trick created by the Athenae production team to maintain bnce.¡¯</em>

    Then, a notification rang in Minhyuk¡¯s head.

    <em>[The Lightning Skill is originally a permanent passive skill. However, due to restrictions, you can only use it for ten minutes.]</em>

    Minhyuk decided to throw the problem with the Absolute Gods to the back of his mind. He did not have much time left with this skill. The Elder Demon Worshipers were the best in the continent; that was why he had to deal with them first and foremost. From what it looked like, they also became nervous after realizing that something unusual had happened with Minhyuk.

    At the same time, ck Sorcerer Vaernon winked at Marquis Loumat. Marquis Loumat was a marquis from Andor Empire and was hailed as a ¡®Sword Master¡¯. In fact, only two people in the entire continent were strong enough to reach the level of swordsmanship that was worthy of being called a ¡®Sword Master¡¯.

    Sword Masters were very powerful individuals that were known to exert power that was close to, or perhaps even on par with, a Demigod. Of course, Marquis Loumat had not really reached the level of a Sword Master yet, but he was hailed as one because he was extremely strong. With Marquis Loumat at the lead, the elders began another siege.

    <em>Swooooooosh¡ª</em>

    A beautiful aura appeared and surrounded Marquis Loumat¡¯s sword, increasing his sword¡¯s cutting force by three times and giving him an additional 3,000% attack. Marquis Loumat¡¯s sword moved smoothly as it shed toward Minhyuk¡¯s body. At that moment, Asura¡¯s Shield was triggered, creating a red shield that tried to block Marquis Loumat¡¯s sword. However, it could not stop it.

    <em>aaaash¡ª</em>

    The sword cut down the red translucent shield. Although the damage was slightly weakened, the sword still sessfully shed Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    <em>Fwooooosh¡ª</em>

    The problem was Minhyuk¡¯s armor. Only a shallow wound was left on Minhyuk¡¯s body, thanks to the protection of his armor. Then¡­

    ¡°Is that it?¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Marquis Loumat¡¯s eyes widened in shock. He realized that their attempt at an attack this time was purposely allowed. Then, he saw Minhyuk¡¯s sword, which was engraved with the word ¡®Crazy¡¯, shine a bright golden light. And when his sword cut down Marquis Loumat¡­

    <em>[Crazy¡¯s ten consecutive hits have been triggered!]</em>

    <em>[An additional 3,000% attack has been added to your sword that attacked the enemy.]</em>

    The wind created by the force of Minhyuk¡¯s sh turned into a de that cut Marquis Loumat.

    ¡°Keok¡­?!¡± Marquis Loumat groaned loudly as the effect of ten consecutive damages rampaged in his body.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Marquis Loumat¡¯s body was torn apart, his blood sttering all over the ce and soaking the ground beneath him. And when Minhyuk swung his sword again¡­

    <em>[Crazy¡¯s six consecutive hits have been triggered!]</em>

    <em>[An additional 3,000% attack has been added to your sword that attacked the enemy.]</em>

    ¡­the wind from the force of Minhyuk¡¯s sh turned into des once again and tore Marquis Loumat¡¯s body even further.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk cut down Marquis Loumat, who looked like he was about to copse anytime soon, and finished him off.

    <em>[You have gotten rid of Demon Worshiper Elder, Marquis Loumat!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 100 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[Marquis Loumat lived as both a marquis of an empire and a demon worshiper.]</em>

    <em>[He has done countless evil and atrocious deeds in his life!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 644,311,110 EXP!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 311 tinum!]</em>

    After cutting down Marquis Loumat, Minhyuk wiped the traces of blood on his face and thought, <em>¡®Is this the reason why¡­ they decided to seal the skill?¡¯ </em>

    At that moment, Minhyuk understood what the Athenae Production Team were feeling as well as the reason why the Absolute Gods were furious. If this skill permanently became his passive skill, then it was a skill that would be way beyond OP, even surpassing ¡®Ovepping Delight¡¯ in terms of power. In fact, the highest consecutive hits that he could trigger with Crazy with his buff effects was eight. Even if he could reach ten, the additional damage that it could incur was only at around 1,000%.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The elders were stunned and speechless. Marquis Loumat was one of their stronger members, and him dying here was a shocking sight for them. The worst part? Minhyuk¡¯s ughterer¡¯s Absorption, another passive skill, had been triggered as a bead of blood floated from the remains of Marquis Loumat¡¯s body and got absorbed in Minhyuk¡¯s body, recovering from all the damage incurred earlier.

    Minhyuk looked at the stunned elders around him and said, ¡°Hey, you. All of you,e here.¡±

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll kill you all.¡¯</em>

    1. A reference to Starlight Shower by Bye Bye Sea. ?

 Chapter 549: Minhyukâ€™s Revenge

    Chapter 549: Minhyuk¡¯s Revenge

    The thirteen remaining elders were stunned and speechless after seeing Marquis Loumat, the most powerful out of all fourteen of them, die so easily at the hands of a yer whose active skills had been sealed. The most important thing was that they needed a minimum of fourteen people plus Akhan to start the ritual that would summon Verus.

    But now, one person had died among them, this meant that they would not be able to continue the ritual.

    They had been putting pressure on Minhyuk while adjusting the output of their magical attacks and skills to avoid damaging the hexagonal magic circle. However they no longer needed to manage and save their skills anymore.

    One of the elders, whose face was still hidden under the hood of his robes, pulled the strings of his bow with all his might. A loud <em>thwack!</em> and the arrow that he nocked on his bow was sent flying toward Minhyuk. But Minhyuk did not dodge; he chose to face it head-on.

    <em>¡®That archer. He¡¯s been bugging me since a while ago.¡¯</em>

    The archer had been keeping Minhyuk in check by sending arrows toward his body non-stop.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    When the arrow struck Minhyuk¡¯s chest, it did not sound like it got stuck on flesh. Instead, it sounded like it exploded as dust suddenly rose in the air and covered everyone¡¯s view.

    <em>[Your HP has decreased by 25%.]</em>

    It was truly a shocking amount of damage dealt. Even before the archer could revel in this aplishment, Minhyuk had already appeared in front of the archer, cutting him off all at once.

    ¡°Kghhk!¡± The archer groaned, his body staggering back. Minhyuk immediately caught up to him, his sword stabbing into the archer¡¯s abdomen.

    <em>[Crazy¡¯s six consecutive hits have been triggered!]</em>

    <em>[An additional 3,000% attack has been added to your sword that attacked the enemy.]</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª</em>

    A series of attacks from Crazy mmed into the archer¡¯s body where Minhyuk¡¯s sword was embedded, blood gurgling out of the archer¡¯s mouth. Of course, Minhyuk did not let this opportunity go, his sword quickly shing the man¡¯s throat.

    <em>[You have gotten rid of Demon Worshiper Elder, Dark Elf Emille!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 100 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[Dark Elf Emille was a warrior that led the elves during the day. But under the cover of the night, he lived as a demon worshiper and secretly used plenty of elves as his test subjects.]</em>

    <em>[He has done countless evil and atrocious deeds in his life!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 544,311,110 EXP!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 241 tinum!]</em>

    With the death of two elders, the remaining elders woke up from their daze and finally attacked Minhyuk all at once. Then, the ck Sorcerer cast his magic.

    <em>Shwaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    A gigantic Firewall made with ck mes devoured Minhyuk. However, Minhyuk, whopletely ignored the attack, just took a chocobar from his inventory and ate it.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    The elders turned mute for a moment.

    <em>¡®What? Why is he suddenly start eating in the middle of a fight? On top of that, he did it while being engulfed by mes?!¡¯</em>

    While their faces were covered with unmistakable doubt, the wounds that littered Minhyuk¡¯s body began to heal and recover at a rapid pace.

    <em>Sizzle¡ª</em>

    <em>[Absorption Conversion]</em>

    <em>[You can recover 30~40% of your HP.]</em>

    The elders were once again given another dose of shock after witnessing how Minhyuk¡¯s ridiculous skill allowed him to recover and heal his wounds just by eating. But it did not end there. The word Crazy engraved on the de of Minhyuk¡¯s sword slowly disappeared only to be reced by the word Destruction, which was also engraved with the same golden light.

    Before the reinforcement, Destruction had the effect: <em>¡®In Destruction mode, you will have a 15% chance of triggering eight bloody lightning bolts with additional 800% damage for every enemy.¡¯</em> It also had a 20% chance of forcing Minhyuk¡¯s enemies into a two-second stunned state. Simply put, Destruction was the strongest mode of the Lightning passive right next to Crazy. It was also the best mode when it came to dealing with single enemies.

    But, how much did Destruction change after getting reinforced?

    Minhyuk smoothly avoided the swing of the ax of a gigantic elder, a man standing at 250 centimeters.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    A crater was created on the ground where the attack fell. It was as if a nuclear bomb fell and exploded, with howrge the crater was. Just when Minhyuk was about to attack, a powerful explosion erupted from the elder¡¯s body.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>[Your HP has decreased by 35%.]</em>

    <em>[You have received a huge amount of damage. You will experience dizziness for a moment.]</em>

    ¡°Ugh¡­¡±

    Despite the explosion blooming from the elder¡¯s body, it was obvious that he did not receive any damage. It seemed like it was a skill that would only send damage to the elder¡¯s opponent. Even so, Minhyuk ignored the damage, opting to swing his sword and finally reveal the power of Destruction.

    <em>Ping¡ª</em>

    Unable to trigger the passive from one cut toward the elder in front of him, Minhyuk swung his sword again and aimed for another ce. And then¡­

    <em>[Destruction.]</em>

    <em>[You have triggered a downpour of bloody lightning bolts with 1,600% additional attack!]</em>

    Minhyuk began to silently count in his head.

    Despite both modes only being triggered based on luck and probabilities, Destruction was considered to be more of a cheatpared to Crazy, mainly because it would not create a random two, four, or eight consecutive strikes upon being triggered. Instead, it had a fixed number of lightning bolts that it could create. Originally, the numbers were fixed at eight but now¡­

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    <em>¡®Sixteen times¡­? Crazy¡­!¡¯ </em>Minhyuk, the one that actually used the skill, was also shocked as he watched sixteen bolts of lightning rain down on the gigantic elder, forcing a scream out of his mouth.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack! Aaaaaaaaack!¡±

    And when he swung his sword again¡­

    <em>[Destruction.]</em>

    <em>[You have triggered a downpour of bloody lightning bolts with 1,600% additional attack!]</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The gigantic elder copsed in a heap.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    This time, even Minhyuk was left speechless.

    <em>¡®Even before the reinforcement, Destruction already had a high chance of being triggered at 15% probability.¡¯ </em>

    Since the skill had been strengthened, the probability had definitely increased. Perhaps it was already at 30% probability? But that shock did not end there, there was also the bloody bead that floated out of the gigantic elder¡¯s body that healed Minhyuk¡¯s wounds.

    <em>[ughterer¡¯s Absorption.]</em>

    <em>[You have a 3% chance that you will be able to convert 50% of the damage that you have dealt to your opponents into HP.]</em>

    <em>[You have recovered 7,734 HP.]</em>

    <em>[You have triggered the 0.7% chance of recovering your mental power and stamina. Your mental power and stamina has been restored.]</em>

    <em>Sizzle¡ª</em>

    The damage and wounds that Minhyuk received from the gigantic elder were restored and healed all at once. The viewers were both very shocked and outraged at the scene.

    <em>[Is the Food God an immortal god, huh?! He can recover from attacks just by eating and that passive skill! I think he can cut down those people with just that passive skill alone?]</em>

    <em>[What the hell are those elders? Why are they so weak? Why can¡¯t they damage the Food God?]</em>

    <em>[What bullshit are you saying? The one that died just now is someone that stood at the top of the ogre race, an ¡®Ogre Knight¡¯. Ogre Knights are existences that can split a ranker in two with just two hacks of their axes.]</em>

    <em>[Then, does that mean that the Food God has a ridiculous defense?]</em>

    <em>[The armor he¡¯s wearing¡­ I think that¡¯s the same one that Asura wore before?]</em>

    <em>[OMG¡­]</em>

    <em>[I¡¯m so f*cking jealous.]</em>

    <em>[Food God, you bastard!!! Do you really have to have everything before you can be satisfied?!!!]</em>

    <em>[Well, I¡¯m sure that you¡¯ve heard the notifications earlier but even though the Food God created an Absolute God¡¯s Secret, that skill has been sealed by the Absolute Gods. Hahahaha. Let¡¯s use the fact that he won¡¯t be able to use that anymore after this one time as afort. Am I right?]</em>

    <em>[Ah¡­ that¡¯s a bit pitiful. He worked so hard to create it but Athenae is just taking it away from him¡­]</em>

    That was right. The problem was that Minhyuk could only use this splendid power today and today alone. And everyone was aware of it since all of the viewers heard the notification about it being sealed.

    However, that was not important at the moment. What was important was the ¡®now¡¯. Right now, Minhyuk was charging forward like an angry bull and¡­

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    ¡­cutting down another elder.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡±

    <em>[You have gotten rid of Demon Worshiper Elder, Orc Kingdom¡¯s Prince Oberron!]</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaaaaargh!¡±

    Minhyuk made the other surviving elders feel frustrated as he punished these demon worshipers that hid under the covers of their high-ranks and titles, reigning supreme all over the continent. Since they stood at the top, they must have sacrificed the lives of a lot of people. If that was the case, then they deserved to receive judgment and be fodder for Minhyuk¡¯s growth, turning them into a tremendous amount of EXP and helping Minhyuk unconditionally gain a level every time he killed one of them.

    <em>¡®How can this be¡­¡¯</em> Akhan was still in disbelief as he watched the Elder Demon Worshipers crumble and copse under the hands of a single yer. Furthermore, he could not deny the fact that this yer that he regarded as someone insignificant had already stood above him by creating an ¡®Absolute God¡¯s Secret¡¯.

    After all, it was something that even Akhan could not do.

    Finally¡­

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    ¡­thest elder copsed. All of the elders present in this cave died, triggering a set of notifications in Minhyuk¡¯s ears for each of the elders that he killed. Of course, the notifications did not end there, Minhyuk also received the notifications for the additional rewards for killing all of the elders.

    <em>[You got rid of all of the Demon Worshiper Elders!]</em>

    <em>[You will be awarded with a special reward for killing all of the Demon Worshiper Elders!]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[¡­leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[Whether it be abilities, artifacts, artifact materials, cooking ingredients, hidden quests with outstanding rewards, secret quests etc., you will be able to find what you desire.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was very surprised when he heard the rewards notification, <em>¡®It¡¯s telling me that I can find whatever it is that I want, right?¡¯ </em>Minhyuk looked up at the skies with a wide grin on his face the moment he understood what it meant, <em>¡®F*cking bastards, you still can¡¯t do anything even if you tried to control me, huh?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk would not choose his reward right now. However, one thing was for sure, the reward that he was aiming for was the power to release the ¡®seal¡¯ that the Absolute Gods ced on his skill. He could already picture himself shaking uncontrobly fromughter the moment those shitty gods realized what he obtained.

    First things first. Minhyuk slowly approached Akhan. From what it looked like, Akhan was already free from the effects of the Judge¡¯s Dagger. However, was he really going to face Minhyuk, who got rid of the fourteen elders easily? Of course not. It did not matter how strong Akhan was right now, it would still be hard for him to deal with Minhyuk on his own.

    <em>[Wow¡­ In the end, the Food God won?]</em>

    <em>[The Food God is crazy¡­]</em>

    <em>[He charged alone inside the madman¡¯sir. A madman who invaded and almost swept an entire continent alone¡­ There¡¯s nothing more appropriate to describe that as ¡®crazy¡¯.]</em>

    Akhan suddenly thumped his head on the ground as Minhyuk¡¯s steps continued to approach him.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk frowned when he saw the tears flowing down Akhan¡¯s cheeks while the man opened his mouth and said, ¡°I did something wrong. I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°This m**therf**ker¡­¡±

    ¡°I was one of the early developers of this game.¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Minhyuk looked surprised when he heard Akhan¡¯s words.

    ¡®<em>He was one of the early developers?</em>¡¯

    That was something that he did not know.

    Akhan continued to cry, his head bowed down on the ground as he continued, ¡°I resigned from my position as one of the early developers before Athenaeunched. It was because of that day, that day where my little girl¡­¡±

    Akhan¡¯s voice sounded so broken and sad that even the viewers watching through their screens felt like they wanted to cry too. This was the viin¡¯s backstory! Minhyuk looked down at Akhan.

    ¡°On that day¡­ My daughter came to visit theb to y but a fire broke out. Back then, it was only my daughter, who was left in theb, so I tried to run back inside to save her but Kang Taehoon stopped me. On that day, my daughter was burned to death. No matter what they do, my anger will not be appeased! That¡¯s why¡­ that¡¯s why I wanted to bring down Athenae¡­! If Kang Taehoon did not stop me that day then my daughter would have still been alive!!!¡±

    Minhyuk just stood there in front of Akhan. Meanwhile, the viewers¡­

    <em>[Ah, f*ck! I¡¯m crying¡­ I didn¡¯t know that Akhan had that kind of backstory.]</em>

    <em>[Wow¡­ Is he trying to destroy Athenae because Kang Taehoon let his daughter die just like that?]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s sad. But from what it sounded like, President Kang Taehoon only made the inevitable decision back then¡­ Well, that might not be what that person felt like.]</em>

    <em>[But why did they leave Akhan alone? If that guy is an early developer, then leaving him alone would pose a great problem in Athenae, right?]</em>

    <em>[I¡¯m telling you, we¡¯re just watching that bastard¡¯s self-made y.]</em>

    The viewers¡¯ opinions were divided.

    <em>[But won¡¯t we have a problem here? Isn¡¯t the Food God a kind person?]</em>

    <em>[The reason he became that strong is thanks to his charms and his ability to embrace everyone.]</em>

    <em>[Ha¡­ will the Food God explode here and let out his frustrations or not?]</em>

    Everyone turned to look at Minhyuk, waiting for his decision.

    ***

    Team Leader Park Minggyu looked at the monitor. He could see that the viewers¡¯ current reaction was a bit unusual. Of course, the fact that Akhan revealed his status as one of Athenae¡¯s early developers meant that they could expect a hugemotion.

    Park Minggyu turned to look at President Kang Taehoon, ¡°President, is what he said true?¡±

    Kang Taehoon simply replied, ¡°Akhan is a bachelor. He does not have a daughter.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minggyu¡¯s face was colored with both shock and disbelief. On the other hand, he also wanted to apud Akhan for his heartfelt performance.

    Kang Taehoon continued, ¡°The reason why that bastard is trying to bring down Athenae is all because of money. I kicked him out from Athenae because he wanted to release the game early on to make more money, despite the game¡¯s unfinished production and its safety not yet confirmed.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Team Leader Park Minggyu looked at the monitor nkly, ¡°What kind of choice will the Food God make here?¡±

    Kang Taehoon grinned, ¡°You already know right? The Food God that we know of is not a fool.¡±

    ***

    Akhan knew that he would receive a huge penalty if he died since he was under the effects of the Judge¡¯s Dagger. If that happened, then he would fall behind and be a target of the people that became the subject of his wicked and atrocious deeds.

    Besides, he needed to attract more people with his shocking clout. That was the only way for him to gain more money. So, he decided to act. With hot tears flowing down his cheeks, he decided to invoke the Food God¡¯s sympathy. After all, the Food God was a f*cking emotional bastard.

    <em>¡®In the end, bastards that are caught up in their emotions will mess things up.¡¯</em>

    Then, Akhan screamed, ¡°That¡¯s why I did this!!! It¡¯s because of my daughter!!! I can¡¯t hold back my anger whenever I recall my daughter¡­!!!¡±

    He raised his head, only to see¡­

    ¡°<em>Yaaaaaaaawn!!!</em>¡±

    ¡­Minhyuk wiping his tears after yawning loudly.

    ¡°Hey, bastard. You done with your act?¡±

    ¡°Wh, what¡­?¡±

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk mercilessly stabbed Akhan in the chest. He was fully aware of the position that he had to take and the decisions that he had to make more than anybody else. Also, Akhan would receive bigger repercussions since he dared to lie in front of millions of people.

    ¡°Besides, I know that you don¡¯t have any daughters. You know?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    <em>[¡­!]</em>

    <em>[¡­!]</em>

    <em>[¡­!]</em>

    <em>[That f*cking bastard?!!!]</em>

    The entire world turned furious. Minhyuk¡¯s mouth twisted into a vicious grin as he leaned down and whispered mockingly in Akhan¡¯s ears, ¡°Hey, m*th*rf*ck*r. You¡¯re f*cking done for.¡±

 Chapter 550: Minhyukâ€™s Revenge

    Chapter 550: Minhyuk¡¯s Revenge

    Articles that published the actions and behavior of public figures had a huge impact on them. Famous celebrities were usually left behind in the dust once news about their use of drugs were publicized. There were even times when high-performingpanies had seen their stock prices fall, once news about their corruption was released to the public.

    That was why one¡¯s image was very important to a public figure.

    But, who in their right mind would create the image of a lunatic in the first ce? Was there a problem with this image? No, of course not. There would definitely still be people that idolized and respected such a lunatic.

    That lunatic was none other than Akhan. As someone that held great power, Akhan aplished things that other yers could not do. Because of that, many people supported him. In fact, there were a lot of viewers that felt their heart throb after hearing Akhan¡¯s sad story earlier.

    But what would happen if that story turned out to be a lie, one that wentpletely out of line?

    <em>[He tried to get out of this situation by lying that he had a daughter that died? That bastard had gonepletely out of line. Damn lunatic¡­]</em>

    <em>[I thought Akhan wanted to destroy Athenae because of that sad story but in the end he¡¯s just a f*cking madman.]</em>

    <em>[The Food God is so cool! That was refreshing!]</em>

    Even if he could not see the discussion on the inte, Akhan could already tell that a huge number of people have witnessed the lie that he weaved and he had now truly be a ¡®lunatic¡¯. From this point on, the people would only see Akhan as a f*cking lying bastard and would never view him as an object of fear anymore.

    Akhan gnashed his teeth as the sword dug deeper in his chest, <em>¡®How did things get to this point¡­?!¡¯</em>

    What benefits would Akhan gain from Athenae¡¯s copse? The answer to that was: a lot. He was already talking with somepanies in preparation for the release of another virtual reality game. But what would happen after this? Akhan was sure that all of thepanies that he had a discussion with would abandon him.

    And the main culprit of his misfortunes?

    ¡°You bastaaaaaaaaaard!!!¡± Veins popped up Akhan¡¯s temples, his face turning red from anger. But no matter how angry he was, Minhyuk¡¯s sword was still lodged deeply into his chest. The worst part? The ck sorcerer that sealed Minhyuk¡¯s active skills had already died. This meant that Minhyuk would now be able to use his full arsenal of skills. Minhyuk¡¯s hand immediately reached and pressed on Akhan¡¯s shoulder when Akhan tried to get up.

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Akhan was originally a summoner. This meant that his HP volume and defense power were on the lower side. In fact, just a simple grip from Minhyuk¡¯s hands and his shoulder had already suffered huge damage.

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk, who forced Akhan to get down on his knees once again, looked down at him with ayer of frost in his eyes, ¡°This is the price that you have to pay for attacking my Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and taking away someone precious from me.¡±

    <em>Twist, twist¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk twisted his sword deeper into Akhan¡¯s chest under the watchful gaze of the world. Akhan¡¯s eyes rolled, his voice turning hoarse as he screamed from the pain. However, Minhyuk did not show him any mercy as he uttered, ¡°Sword of Absolute Death.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk, with his sword still lodged deeply in Akhan¡¯s chest, triggered his strongest pinnacle skill, Sword of Absolute Death. Using this skill at this distance would also damage Minhyuk. However, that did not matter. After all, Minhyuk had the ¡®Monarch¡¯s Armor¡¯ which he immediately swapped with his current armor the moment he triggered the skill.

    Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°Die, you f*cking bastard.¡±

    It was only at that moment when Akhan realized that the yer that he ignored, belittled and mocked, the very same yer that became the king of a kingdom, was someone that he should not have touched.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    A huge explosion bloomed starting from Akhan¡¯s heart, ripping his body into pieces. Then, as if to further mock him, the penalty notifications from the Judge¡¯s Dagger rang in Akhan¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You have been forced to log out while still under the effects of the Judge¡¯s Dagger.]</em>

    <em>[ording to your sentence, you will receive twenty times the normal penalty for forced log out.]</em>

    <em>[Your level has dropped.]</em>

    <em>[Your level has dropped.]</em>

    <em>[¡­has dropped.]</em>

    <em>[Lanvin¡¯s Gloves¡¯ durability has received a huge amount of damage. The item will now be destroyed!]</em>

    <em>[You have dropped Affro¡¯s Gem Ne.]</em>

    <em>[You have dropped 23,111 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have died during the Great Demon Verus¡¯ Ritual.]</em>

    <em>[You have received Great Demon Verus¡¯ Wrath.]</em>

    <em>[You have been bound by Great Demon Verus¡¯ Curse.]</em>

    <em>[Your EXP volume will fall by 10%. All of your stats will decrease by 5%.]</em>

    <em>[All of your skill levels have dropped by 1.]</em>

    If the ritual honoring Great Demon Verus was sessful, it would bring great honor to the one that initiated the ritual, to the point that they could gain the favor and trust of the great demon himself. However, if the ritual failed, the one that initiated the ritual had to bear all of the penalties and repercussions that the ritual entailed. And that person was none other than Akhan. Just the -1 in all of his skill levels was a fatal blow to him.

    But Minhyuk was not satisfied yet, he opened his mouth and said, ¡°The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom will provide the ¡®Food God¡¯s Dish¡¯ at epic grade and above as a reward to anyone that kills Akhan.¡±

    <em>[¡­!]</em>

    <em>[¡­!]</em>

    <em>[¡­!]</em>

    It was a very shocking proposal, especially since the greatness of the Food God¡¯s Dishes had already been proven through Minhyuk¡¯s broadcasts. If this was true, then the person that could kill Akhan would be given an epic grade or perhaps an even higher grade dish by Minhyuk and Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. This was no different from Minhyuk giving orders to the entire world to kill Akhan.

    Meanwhile, the viewers andmentators were very shocked to see the spoils of war that dropped from the elders and Akhan scattered on the ground around Minhyuk.

    <em>[Hey, that thing over there. Isn¡¯t that the Ogre¡¯s Tears Ne? The amazing legendary artifact that can increase one¡¯s STR by 10%?]</em>

    <em>[I can also see Aenos¡¯ Great Bow in that pile. Aenos is a legendary archer from a hundred years ago. I can¡¯t even begin to imagine how much that artifact is worth.]</em>

    <em>[The artifacts that dropped in that ce are things that no ordinary Athenae yer could get their hands on in their life.]</em>

    <em>[Food God Minhyuk has killed Akhan and taken the spoils of war. Ah, he has everything!]</em>

    Many viewers and even thementators expected Minhyuk to gather the items that dropped right away. But Minhyuk did not act ording to their expectations. The first thing that he did was to approach the women and the little boys and girls that were tied up among the flock of sheep. These people had realized how strong Minhyuk was from the battle that took ce earlier, that was why all of them turned vignt.

    But Minhyuk slowly knelt down in front of a little girl and said, ¡°You don¡¯t have to be scared anymore.¡±

    He gently swept the girl¡¯s hair as he looked her right in the eyes. The girl slowly nodded her head after seeing the soft and gentle smile on Minhyuk¡¯s lips. Then, Minhyuk stood up and dered, ¡°I promise you as the King of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, I will take responsibility for all of you here, who have been taken by Akhan, escort you safely back to your own homes and help you get back on your feet.¡±

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King Minhyuk has given his order!]</em>

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens Kingdom will take responsibility for the people that Akhan had hurt!]</em>

    Faith and trust grew in the hearts of the people present after hearing the power and dignity in Minhyuk¡¯s voice.

    ¡°Be, Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡­¡±

    ¡°Th, thank you.¡±

    ¡°Long live Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!!!¡±

    ¡°Long live Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!!!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    Even their own empires and kingdoms could note to their rescue. No, it was not that they could note but that they did note. But the king of another nation promised to help them get back on their feet? That promise was already enough to buy their loyalty and trust. Also¡­

    <em>[Wow¡­ the Food God¡­ his personality and character is on an entirely different level¡­]</em>

    <em>[He¡¯s the same Food God from earlier, right? Wow. He¡¯s strong against the strong and weak against the weak. He¡¯s really a king¡­]</em>

    <em>[If we lived in the middle ages and the Food God is the king of the kingdom where I¡¯m living, I think I would have been very, very happy¡­]</em>

    A+TV¡¯s ratings had reached an all-time high.

    The words of Minhyuk and the actions that he did had given the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom a better, greater image. The results of such actions would definitely be priceless.

    And Minhyuk? After promising the people here their safety, he gave them a cup of warm coffee made from Barista Ben¡¯s coffee beans that never ran out. This was so he could calm them down and stabilize their bodies and minds.

    As for his own drink? Minhyuk made himself some cold Iced Americano. Of course, he had also prepared some tiramisu in advance. The sweet tiramisu and the bitter iced americano were a match made in heaven! The women and the children looked at the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King strangely when they saw him sit down all of a sudden and unfold a tea table in front of him. However, they did not truly care about what the man did.

    ¡°Kyaaa~! Cake and americano after a hard day¡¯s work is the best!!!¡±

    Actually, what surprised them the most was the boy-ish smile on Minhyuk¡¯s face. Minhyukughed happily as he sat in front of his tea table before looking up at the skies, <em>¡®Are you watching me?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk looked up and recalled the face of the man that always dered that he would never back down and would always fight for him.

    <em>¡®This time, I fought for you.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk fought for <em>him,</em> just like how <em>he</em> always stood in the vanguard and fought for him. Minhyuk lost <em>him</em> and now, he finally avenged <em>him</em>. But Minhyuk believed that the man woulde back soon.

    As if to answer Minhyuk, sunlight began to pour down in this otherwise dark and dreary ce.

    ¡°It¡¯s already the morning.¡±

    ¡°The sun is up.¡±

    The pouring sunlight illuminated the fluttering leaves of the cherry blossom tree that was hidden in the dark and created a very beautifulndscape. As he looked at this picturesque scene, Minhyuk stretched his fork and took a bite of his sweet tiramisu. The sweet tiramisu slowly melted in his mouth. The sweetness healed his exhausted mind and body and instantly made him feel better.

    Then, Minhyuk took a sip of his bitter americano, and said with a smile, ¡°Ah, what nice weather.¡±

    ***

    After finishing his business inside, Minhyuk immediately went to where Death and Lu Bai were.

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    However, he had no choice but to look at the scene in doubt when he arrived. This was because Death was sitting on one of the tree¡¯s branches with his thumb and index finger tapping his nose and an expression that looked like aplete carbon copy of Terrius¡¯ expression. Right below Death was a scene of carnage.

    However, the most shocking and bizarre part was the group of people gathered around him.

    ¡°So, so cool¡­¡±

    ¡°Kghhk! Even though he¡¯s acting narcissistic, he¡¯s still cool!!!¡±

    ¡°Mister Death, please sign me an autograph¡­¡±

    ¡°Ahahahaha! It seems that I¡¯m quite popr!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was left speechless when he heard their words. Based on their discussion, it seemed like they would establish a power called ¡®DLC[1]¡¯ with all of the people present at the center. It was at this moment when the Kingdom of Death established a solid foundation.

    After everything was over, Minhyuk, Death and Lu Bai started discussing their overall settlement. An overall settlement meant that they wouldbine all of the spoils of war that they had gathered from the ughterer¡¯s Eye Guild, this battle here, and the fight against Akhan and the fourteen elders, and divide it among the three of them.

    All three of them had use for the spoils. Minhyuk, for his kingdom. Death, for his followers. And Lu Bai, for the good deeds that he would continue to do in the future.

    ¡°Shall we start calcting and settling the ounts?¡±

    ***

    Haze was deeply troubled. With their publicity stunts, the number of immigrants moving to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had increased significantly. However, as their poption increased, the need for more buildings, housing and attractions rose. Of course, it also resulted in an increase in the number of people applying for their troops, which meant that the cost for nurturing the troops and the military would also increase. There was also the cost for providing the troops with sufficient artifacts and weapons. Because of this, the huge amount of tinum that Minhyuk received not too long ago was nowcking. They did not have enough funds to expand their territory as of the moment.

    <em>¡®Where should I get the funds to fill this part up?¡¯</em>

    ording to Haze¡¯s calctions, their kingdom would need at least 100,000 tinum in funds to expand further. It was a huge sum of money, but for a kingdom this amount was not that big.

    <em>¡®His Majesty is currently outside trying to take down Akhan.¡¯</em>

    The fact that this revenge did not bring their kingdom any benefit still remained true. However, Haze immediately shook her head when that thought shed in her head, <em>¡®I have to respect His Majesty¡¯s opinion on this matter.¡¯</em>

    Haze did not think that this revenge was a mistake. After all, all of Minhyuk¡¯s choices and decisions had always been correct. However, as His Majesty¡¯ aide, she could not help but massage her throbbing head from thinking about ways to help their kingdom expand further. It was to the point that she felt like her head was going to shatter.

    <em>¡®The funds that the guild members are bringing in are still limited¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>Phew¡ª</em>

    Haze let out a deep sigh. However, the sigh was immediately reced with joy when she heard of Minhyuk¡¯s return. She immediately ran to where Minhyuk was.

    The thought of Minhyuk¡¯s safe return was enough for Haze to be grateful and so happy, that even the thoughts of financial difficulties that they were having were thrown out of her head. After running out of the room, Haze met Minhyuk.

    ¡°Haze, is everything going well?¡±

    ¡°Of course, Your Majesty. I¡¯m very d that you were able toe back safely.¡±

    Minhyuk smiled at Haze¡¯s words. Then, as if he recalled something, he shouted, <em>¡®Ah!¡¯</em> before saying, ¡°Haze, I actually got some spoils of war from this battle.¡±

    <em>¡®As expected of His Majesty,¡¯ </em>Haze thought, smiling bitterly. She could tell that Minhyuk also knew that the kingdom¡¯s finances were in dire straits. After all, he left his seat for a while and did not work for the kingdom. Just as she expected, Minhyuk could see through everything. Then, Haze thought, <em>¡®I wonder how much the value of the spoils of war that he got?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk continued, ¡°We divided it equally into three parts so the amount had decreased by a lot. Let¡¯s see. The tinum is¡­¡±

    Haze expected the value of the spoils of war to be on the lower side since it was divided into three parts. Although she did not know who the other person was, she was sure that the other part of the spoils went to Death. Still, a smaller portion was still a smaller option and she did not have great expectations.

    ¡°¡­around 156,000. There are also 15 legendary artifacts, 701 epic artifacts, 7,624 unique artifacts and around 15,311 rare artifacts?¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°Ah. There are also around 20,000 reinforcement stones, around 20 tons of ordinary ores and a ton of high-grade ores, I think?¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°I also got a lot of potions and abnormal state resistance potions. I think there are around 10,000 for the low and intermediate grade ones and around 20,000 for the top grade ones?¡±

    ¡°I love you, Your Majesty!!!¡±

    ¡°H, huh¡­? Y, yeah. But you¡¯re my subordinate and I¡¯m your king!!!¡±

    Today, Haze found another reason to admire Minhyuk.

    1. ??? - ?????? or Death¡¯s Love Club ?

 Chapter 551: Ordinary Life

    Chapter 551: Ordinary Life

    In one of the meeting rooms at the topmost floor of Ilhwa Group¡¯s Head Office, one of the branch managers was giving his report on theirpany¡¯s performance this year. Naturally, Kang Minhoo, the chairman of Ilhwa Group, sat at the head of the long table.

    ¡°Compared tost year, Ilhwa Group¡¯s sales have increased by around 20% this year. Ilhwa Electronics, Ilhwa Construction, Ilhwa Distribution, and even our affiliates that have been behind their rivalpanies in terms of performance have all recorded higher salespared to ourpetitors.¡±

    Hearing this, all of the major shareholders and board members in the room could not erase the smiles on their faces. Even Chairman Kang Minhoo had a pleased look. After all, he was well aware of the praises that he would receive soon.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure all of our board members are already aware about the reason but everything is thanks to Food God Minhyuk, who happened to be our very own Chairman Kang Minhoo¡¯s son.¡±

    Kang Minhoo was delighted, his heart thumping like crazy.

    The increase in their sales? Of course, that was a good thing. However, that was not what made him feel delighted. When Minhyuk started suffering from eating addiction and disappeared from the chaebol[1]munity, plenty of rumors about Minhoo finding someone else to fill in the position of sessor started to circte. However, Kang Minhoo did his best and endured for the sake of his son.

    And now, his son had done it.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m so proud.¡¯</em>

    Kang Minhoo was not being proud of himself nor what he did. Instead, he was proud of his son. And the board members and shareholders?

    ¡°Kang Minhyuk is like the chairman! He¡¯s already helping thepany even though he hasn¡¯t started running it yet.¡±

    ¡°Kang Minhyuk is a very talented person. He will definitely lead ourpany to a brighter future.¡±

    ¡°Hahahahahahaha!¡±

    The meeting room was filled with smiles. And Kang Minhoo, who usually never said much in these meetings, opened his mouth, ¡°You know¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes, chairman!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    ¡°My son gave me this on my birthday.¡±

    It has started again! Again! The story of how Chairman Kang Minhoo¡¯s son bought him a suit!

    ¡°I wonder where he bought it? The texture of the cloth is quite nice to the touch. Huh? I think he asked an Italian designer to make this. Ah, you know what? That rascal has a very good eye for fashion. Just look at this suit¡­¡±

    The board members and shareholders had a premonition that they would have to stay inside the meeting room for five straight hours the moment the chairman started his story about how his son bought him a suit. To prevent this, one of the board members hurriedly called out, ¡°Chairman.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°Will your son attend the first birthday party of the granddaughter of Daehan Group¡¯s chairman?¡±

    Daehan Group¡¯s Chairman Eom Jin-Woong and Kang Minhoo shed not too long ago. It was Eom Jin-Woong¡¯s side that issued the order to release news about Minhyuk¡¯s eating addiction and take that opportunity to grab ahold of Ilhwa¡¯s weakness. However, it became a blessing in disguise. Minhyuk was able to ovee that disaster by himself and turned it into his, and Ilhwa¡¯s fortune.

    However, even if they were bitter enemies, Kang Minhoo had to endure. This was the case for all chaebols. As long as there were big happenings and events, they had to attend. As such, Kang Minhoo had to attend this birthday party.

    Kang Minhoo could only smile bitterly in answer. He could not give a definite answer to that question. His son, Minhyuk, was not yetpletely cured. Although he had improved by a lot, they still did not know what would happen if Minhyuk went to a ce where a feast wasid out in front of him.

    Knowing the implication of that smile, the people in the room either coughed in embarrassment or smiled bitterly.

    ***

    Death, or Jung Ji-Hoon, was someone that lived almost his entire life with a huge burn mark on his face. But thanks to Minhyuk introducing him to a top ss burn treatment specialist, his face had been cured to the point that no one would know that it once existed if they saw him from afar.

    Aftering out of his capsule, Ji-Hoon looked at the mirror and smiled at his reflection. Because of the trauma caused by people calling him ¡®monster¡¯ after seeing his burn marks before, Ji-Hoon was still awkward around people and still had a hard time interacting with anyone in reality. It was also because of that trauma that his hair remained long and tangled. Despite his unkempt appearance, Ji-Hoon felt happy, and of course, grateful to Minhyuk.

    Ji-Hoon¡¯s phone rang just when he was about to get some breakfast. The name disyed on the phone was none other than Minhyuk.

    ¡°I, I should answer the phone, right?¡± Ji-Hoon stuttered. He still felt awkward answering phone calls.

    <em>[What are you doing?]</em>

    ¡°I was just about to eat.¡±

    <em>[What, what are you going to eat?!!!]</em>

    ¡°Uhm, I¡¯m just going to heat up some leftover spicy braised chicken and eat it together with some green onion kimchi?¡±

    <em>[Kyaaah!!!]</em>

    A smile bloomed on Ji-Hoon¡¯s face. Who would ever imagine that the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King was someone that found joy in such a small, mundane meal? At this point? Everyone. But that was Minhyuk¡¯s charm.

    <em>[Hey.]</em>

    ¡°Huh? What¡¯s the matter?¡± Ji-Hoon finally asked about Minhyuk¡¯s reason for calling. Minhyuk was his benefactor so whatever it was that he wanted to do, Ji-Hoon would do his best to fulfill it.

    <em>[Would you like to go out with me and y?]</em>

    ¡°Huh¡­?¡±

    ¡­Except for this. Just like mentioned before, Ji-Hoon still felt awkward when dealing with people. That included going outside of thefort of his own home. Even though he had already received treatment for his burn marks, he still had to hype himself out to go out once every two weeks. And that was even an outing at night too.

    ¡°Oh¡­ uhm¡­¡±

    <em>[Come on! Let¡¯s y!!!]</em>

    ¡°Don¡¯t you have other people to go with? Are they busy¡­?¡± Ji-Hoon had to wonder if Minhyuk¡¯s other friends were busy ying the game since he had to call a loner like him for an outing like this.

    But then, Minhyuk said¡­

    <em>[Others? I didn¡¯t contact them, though? I want to hang out with you. Come on, I can only go out once a month to y¡­ y with me¡­]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Ji-Hoon¡¯s smile widened at Minhyuk¡¯s words. Minhyuk could only go out once a month to y yet he chose to hang out with him on that day? There was no greater pleasure than this to a friend. Just like him, Minhyuk rarely went outside. To think that it was him that Minhyuk contacted when he was allowed to go out for the first time.

    Hence, Ji-Hoon decided to be brave for once, ¡°Alright.¡±

    <em>[Woohooo! Then, I¡¯ll meet you at your house!]</em>

    Then, the line was cut off. The moment the phone call ended, regret washed over Ji-Hoon, ¡°Wh, what should I do?! How does one hang out?!!!¡±

    Ji-Hoon had never gone outside for leisure in his entire life. If he was not panicking, then he would also realize that the same was true for Minhyuk. However, Ji-Hoon was panicking, restlessly moving around his house.

    ¡°Right, in that drama that I watched before, they dried their hair before going out!¡±

    It was something that was trivial but Ji-Hoon slowly recalled these mundane and ordinary things that people did when preparing to go out. The first thing that he did was to dry his hair. Then, he spent time pondering over the thirty colognes that he bought and never tried on before. He even called for a men¡¯s stylist to his home and finally chose a newly bought casual suit to wear. Ji-Hoon carefully left his house after receiving Minhyuk¡¯s call and hearing that he was already waiting for him outside.

    <em>¡®When was thest time I went out of my house with the sun still up?¡¯</em>

    Ji-Hoon could no longer remember. But that did not matter. The crippling fear that was threatening to devour him was what was important. What would he do if Minhyuk was disappointed after seeing his gloomy, dark, and timid appearance? What if Minhyuk decided to distance himself after this? Even though Ji-Hoon wanted to stretch his shoulders out and be confident, his head still could not help but bow down from the anxiety.

    When he finally took a step outside, Minhyuk was there to greet him, ¡°Yo! My friend!!!¡±

    ¡°Oh, yeah¡­ hi?¡±

    ¡°Oh, your outfit ys, huh?¡±

    ¡°Wh, what y? You, you can¡¯t kill people in real¡­ life?¡±

    ¡°What I mean is that your outfit is great.¡±

    ¡°A¡­ aha! So, it¡¯s a new ng? Hahaha! I, I, I, I know that! I also know that!¡± Ji-Hoon talked loudly, trying to hide how intimidated he was in this new experience. He talked so loudly that he looked like he was angry. Which, at this point, made Ji-Hoon realize that he made a mistake. However, Minhyuk did not care at all.

    ¡°It¡¯s been a long time since the two of usst went outside, huh?¡±

    ¡°That, that¡¯s right.¡±

    The two of them had simr situations. Ji-Hoon fidgeted. He felt like he wanted to go back inside. But before he could do so, Minhyuk¡¯s arms were already slung over his shoulders.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±

    ¡°Where are we going?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll roam around and y in the streets of Seoul. But before that¡­¡± Minhyuk looked at Ji-Hoon and continued, ¡°Should we get a haircut?¡±

    Ji-Hoon¡¯s hair was long enough to reach his chests, covering his facepletely. And since he did not care for it properly, the strands were tangled and the ends dry.

    ¡°O, okay¡­¡± Ji-Hoon answered, his body gripped with anxiety as the two of them headed to a salon.

    ***

    Ji-Hoon still had his head bowed down even when they arrived at the salon. He was even startled when the hair stylist touched his hair gently and carefully, ¡°Ah. I¡¯m, I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s alright,¡± The hair stylist smiled.

    This was all still strange and scary to Ji-Hoon. His mind went into overdrive, thinking that others would point fingers and whisper about him. His anxiety reached an all time high. When the hair stylist left for a moment, Minhyuk, who was sitting next to him, said, ¡°Ji-Hoon.¡±

    ¡°H, huh¡­?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re already cool enough.¡±

    ¡°Eh?¡±

    <em>¡®So suddenly?¡¯</em>

    ¡°You¡¯re a very considerate guy, someone that wille running when I ask for help. You¡¯re a very cool guy and you are not short of anything. Also¡­¡± Minhyuk sounded embarrassed which made Ji-Hoon turn his head to look at him, ¡°¡­you¡¯re a very precious friend of mine. I wish both you and I can go out confidently in the world.¡±

    This was also the reason why Minhyuk went with Ji-Hoon for his very first outing. Ji-Hoon smiled, ¡°Right¡­¡±

    Then, the hair stylist appeared and asked Ji-Hoon, ¡°How would you like me to do your hair?¡±

    ¡°Please do what looks best on me.¡±

    ¡°Hmmm. I think you will look good with brown hair and a 7:3 part, of course we will perm the part to fix it. Would you be okay with that?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    The hair stylist then began to work on Ji-Hoon¡¯s hair with his scissors. The face hidden behind a curtain of hair was now slowly being revealed the more his hair got styled and cut.

    <em>¡®Right. You and I can also live a normal and ordinary life.¡¯</em>

    Ji-Hoon did not want to live the life of a loner anymore. He wanted to change. He wanted to go to karaoke with friends, singing and drinking through the night. He also wanted to experience those struggles in one¡¯s love life and cry with those very same friends.

    Yes, a normal and ordinary life. That was what Ji-Hoon wanted to have.

    <em>Snip, snip¡ª</em>

    Just like how his hair was being cut off, Ji-Hoon also began to let go of his thoughts and shackles from his previous way of living. He kept his eyes closed and looked forward to a future that was different from before.

    As his hair, which was quite long earlier, reached the tip of his nose, the staff of the salon began to flock around Ji-Hoon. They whispered amongst themselves as they looked at Ji-Hoon, careful not to alert the man on the chair.

    ¡°¡­That¡¯s the guy from earlier, right?¡±

    ¡°Y, yes.¡±

    ¡°Amazing¡­¡±

    After finishing the haircut, the hair stylist dyed Ji-Hoon¡¯s hair and permed it. However, Ji-Hoon still did not open his eyes. Even after the perm had set in and they had to wash his hair, Ji-Hoon still did not open his eyes.

    ¡°We¡¯re going to wash your hair.¡±

    ¡°Minhyuk, please hold my hand¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk quietly held Ji-Hoon¡¯s hand and guided him to the washing area until he went back to his seat and dried his hair.

    ¡°Sir, I¡¯m very sorry¡­ but can I put a bit of make-up on your face? Your face is very easy to put make-up on.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Yes, it¡¯s alright.¡±

    ¡°Hiyaa~ The hair stylist is giving us some service~¡± Minhyuk¡¯s voice floated in Ji-Hoon¡¯s ears as he felt the hair stylist put wax on his hair and shape it with the hair dryer, his nervousness spiking. This was his very first time stepping out in the world in a very long time, but he was d and thankful that Minhyuk was apanying him.

    ¡°All done. <em>Phew~ </em>I¡¯ve never felt so happy doing hair and make-up like this.¡±

    But Ji-Hoon still did not open his eyes. Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°Wait. Don¡¯t open your eyes yet.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Okay.¡±

    Ji-Hoon felt Minhyuk guiding him to stand up and go somewhere. After taking a few steps, Minhyuk said, ¡°We¡¯re standing in front of a full-body mirror. Okay, you can open your eyes now.¡±

    Ji-Hoon¡¯s body trembled at Minhyuk¡¯s words. The surroundings turned quiet as they waited for him to open his eyes. This was Ji-Hoon¡¯s first step towards a normal and ordinary life. A new life, a change for someone that was called a ¡®monster¡¯. Then, Ji-Hoon slowly opened his eyes. Ji-Hoon was left speechless when he saw his figure reflected in the mirror.

    A tall stature standing at 180 centimeters, wearing a casual suit and stylish loafers. That was the figure that was reflected in the mirror. When he looked up, what greeted him were his soft and wavy brown hair which covered a part of his big and round eyes that were framed by his double eyelids. His white skin shone, highlighting his straight nose and sharp jawline.

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re really handsome!!!¡±

    ¡°Wow! I really had a hard time trying to hold it in!!!¡±

    ¡°Oh my god!!! You¡¯re really cool!!!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re really handsome, do you know that?¡±

    The hair stylists that were struggling to hold it in during Ji-Hoon¡¯s transformation all cheered loudly. For the first time in his life, Ji-Hoon let out a bright, wide smile, one that was not like his awkward smile from before, as a drop of tear trickled down his cheek.

    Then, Minhyuk spoke with a beaming smile, ¡°Congrattions on finally taking a step in living a new life.¡±

    1. ??, refers to business conglomerates as well as the people running said businesses. ?

 Chapter 552: Ordinary Life

    Chapter 552: Ordinary Life

    Minhyuk and Ji-Hoon both had something inmon. The two of them did not have many friends outside of the game, and were mostly cut off from the rest of the world. They were also both single since birth.

    What would two people that lived like this, wanted to do when they finally stepped out into the world? It was actually really simple: the trivial and mundane. All they wanted to do was walk around outside like normal people.

    ¡°Ugh, uuuuuuugh¡­!¡±

    ¡°Keok! Is, is this what they call¡­ the hell train¡­?!¡±

    Just like ordinary young men, the two rode the jam-packed subway and experienced the hell of being sandwiched between a lot of other people. Once the doors opened, they both ran out as if they were running away from monsters.

    ¡°Ji-Hoon, let¡¯s run! Quick!¡±

    ¡°Y, yeah!¡±

    Both Minhyuk and Ji-Hoon became the fastest people to escape the subway hell and jump on the esctor. As the two exited the subway station, they were greeted by the view of Mt. Namsan¡¯s peak reaching the skies.

    ¡°Wow. Look at those two. What amazing proportions¡­¡±

    ¡°So handsome¡­¡±

    ¡°Look at the guy with the wavy hair. Doesn¡¯t he look quite handsome?¡±

    ¡°I think the person right next to him, the one wearing the mask, is more handsome?¡±

    ¡°But why is he wearing a ck mask with a skull print?¡±

    ¡°The two men went to Namsan¡­¡±

    But it did not matter to the two men how the others viewed them.

    ¡°Let¡¯s race! Let¡¯s see who¡¯s faster between us!¡±

    ¡°Heoook! Why did you start first?!¡±

    Minhyuk and Ji-Hoon ran towards Mt. Namsan, giving their all. They would run until they were out of breath, rested for a while, and took off again, continuing that cycle until their bodies were covered with perspiration.

    They finally arrived at Mt. Namsan. The two did not even need any words as they stood at the top of Namsan Seoul Tower and took in the panoramic view of the city beneath them.

    ¡°Yahoooooooo! Freeeeeedooooooom!!!¡± Minhyuk shouted loudly, startling Ji-Hoon and the people around them.

    Ji-Hoon hesitated as he looked at the people that turned to look at Minhyuk with his sudden outburst, ¡°That¡¯s embarrassing. What, what are you doing?¡±

    ¡°Embarrassing? Doesn¡¯t matter. What matters is that the two of us are having so much fun right now!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    And Ji-Hoon, who heard Minhyuk¡¯s words, thought: <em>That¡¯s right! I decided to change. What does it matter if it¡¯s embarrassing?</em>

    ¡°I am veeeeeeeeeeery handsooooooooooome!¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    That was right. Ji-Hoon was slowly allowing his inner self to awaken, after receiving people¡¯s praises. The two screamed like crazy before drinking some water anding down from the tower. Then, they went to Hongdae, the vibrant street of youth, and watched the peoplee and go while looking at their outfits. They also went to the cinemas and watched a horror movie.

    ¡°A, aaaaaack! He, help me¡­ The, the zombies¡­ the zombies are here!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­Aren¡¯t you a summoner that summons zombies?¡±

    They also went to the arcade and stood in front of the punching machine, just like two normal teenagers.

    ¡°Make a wish! If you get a high score then it wille true!¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>Tiririri~</em>

    Theyughed and giggled at the loser before going to the karaoke to sing.

    ¡°<em>Bingsu~ Patbingsu~ I love you, I love you.</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Chicken soup~ </em><em>Oooooooooh</em><em>!!!</em>¡±

    ¡°N, no¡­ why does the song start with food and end with food?¡±

    The two also went to Myeong-dong to look at foreigners and try some street food.

    ¡°Are, are you alright?¡±

    ¡°I took this newly developed drug, the KD-11, so I¡¯m fine. But there can be severe side effects if I use it frequently, so I can only go out once a month.¡±

    ¡°Y, you said that you¡¯re alright, but why are you drooling so much?¡±

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuurp!</em>¡±

    They even greeted a few Japanese tourists as they walked around Myeong-dong.

    ¡°<em>Su, sugoi ne!!!</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Nan desu ka?</em>

    ¡°<em>Sugoi ne!!!</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>B, baka¡­???</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Sugoi!</em>¡±

    Ji-Hoon, who only knew the word <em>Sugoi</em>, kept on repeating the same word as a greeting and Minhyuk, who was beside him, kept onughing at his antics. The smiles on their faces did not fade away, as they continued to walk amidst the bustling streets.

    Minhyuk and Ji-Hoon were both very happy. For them, this ordinary life was a blessing. Even the boring and mundane things that people would repeat every single day, were considered miracles to them. They were both very thankful for this, their spirits still high as they ran to take Myeong-dong¡¯s subway and experience the subway hell again.

    ***

    There was one thing that people from the countryside always wanted to do whenever they visited Seoul. And that was none other than eating ramyeon by the Han River. In fact, this was the activity that Minhyuk was looking forward to the most.

    ¡°Oh, oooooooh¡­ the, the water ising out!!!¡± Minhyuk eximed when hot water came out of the dispenser after he ced his disposable bowl under the faucet.

    The two divided their jobs. Ji-Hoon was in charge of heating the hot bars and the frozen dumplings in the microwave, while Minhyuk was in charge of cooking the ramyeon, making sure that the noodles were cooked well by lifting the noodles up from time to time. After cooking their meals, they sat under a tent that was facing the Han River.

    Not long after, they were able to set up a very appetizing ¡®Han River Ramyeon Table¡¯. Their table was filled with steaming ramyeon in disposable bowls, piping hot dumplings and hot bars, stir-fried kimchi and convenience store kimbap, the perfect food for the slightly chilly weather and the cool breeze from Han River.

    ¡°What a great day,¡± Minhyuk said, looking at the Han River, as the wind caressed his face.

    Minhyuk was given the opportunity to eat these dishes in real life once a month. The amount of calories that he could eat on this day had to be equal to or less than 2,000 calories. This limit was given after Jinhwan, Minhyuk¡¯s personal doctor, said that his eating addiction might worsen if he ate a lot after drinking the newly developed drug.

    However, even though he could only eat a certain amount, Minhyuk was still grateful to have the chance to eat food in reality.

    As the cool breeze continued to ruffle their hair, Minhyuk lifted the bowl to his lips. He gently blew on the soup before taking a sip. The soup tasted both spicy and refreshing, a taste that would immediately make one shout, <em>¡®</em><em>Kghhk</em><em>~</em>¡¯ the moment they had a sip. With the bowl close to his lips, Minhyuk grabbed his chopsticks and lifted a mouthful of ramyeon.

    ¡°Hoo, hoo! <em>Sluuuuuuuuuuurp!</em>¡±

    A burst of exmation escaped from Minhyuk¡¯s lips the moment he bit on the chewy noodles. It was so delicious that Minhyuk felt like he was about to cry. Then, he mped a piece of stir-fried kimchi, ced it into his mouth and eximed, <em>¡®Wow~</em>¡¯. Then, he slurped another mouthful of noodles before picking up a piece of dumpling. The juices of the meat inside the thin skin of the dumpling flowed into Minhyuk¡¯s mouth the moment he bit down on it.

    <em>Ho~</em>

    Minhyuk rolled the still-steaming piece of dumpling in his mouth before gulping everything down. He slurped another mouthful of noodles, before moving on to the convenience store bulgogi kimbap. Finally, he dipped a piece of kimbap into the ramyeon soup, before cing it in his mouth.

    ¡°Super! Amazing!¡±

    The vors of the sour, crunchy pickled radish and the slightly sweet bulgogi created a perfect harmony inside his mouth. Then, with a final mouthful of noodles, Minhyuk finished his Han River Ramyeon. He took a sip of the soup before picking up a piece of hot bar. The pleasant texture and rich vor of the hot bar immediately brought a smile to his face the moment he chewed on it. After eating all of the dishes that he could eat, Minhyuk grabbed a can of refreshing <em>sprite</em>, opened it and¡­

    <em>Fwish¡ª</em>

    ¡­drank everything in one go.

    <em>Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp¡ª</em>

    ¡°Kyaa~¡±

    The exhaustion of the day seemed to be washed away by the cool and refreshing taste that lingered in Minhyuk¡¯s mouth.

    ¡°Do you want to eat some more?¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m fine.¡±

    Of course, Minhyuk wanted to eat more. Even if he took the drug for his illness, this feeling of wanting more had already be a ¡®habit¡¯ ingrained in his body. Thankfully, his strong mental power was enough for him to suppress such thoughts.

    After finishing his meal, Minhyuk stared at the Han River for a long time. Time passed by just like that. Minhyuk and Ji-Hoon finally stood up from their seats, took the subway back and arrived in front of Ji-Hoon¡¯s house again.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t have to take me back,¡± Ji-Hoon said, staring at Minhyuk for a long time, who was smiling at him. Thanks to Minhyuk, he had so much fun today. He even gained the confidence to go out on his own.

    ¡°Minhyuk,¡± Ji-Hoon called out, ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°Well.¡±

    The two of them smiled at each other for a long time until Ji-Hoon asked, ¡°Are you going home now?¡±

    Minhyuk shook his head. Ji-Hoon tilted his head, wondering if he still had some ce to be after ying around all day like they did. Then, a ck limousine suddenly stopped in front of Minhyuk as the driver got out of his seat and opened the back door for him.

    Minhyuk smiled lightly and said, ¡°There¡¯s still somewhere I have to go.¡±

    ***

    At Daehan Group¡¯s Chairman Eom Jin-Woong¡¯s granddaughter¡¯s first birthday party.

    Anyone that attended this birthday party would say that this was way over the top to be called an ordinary birthday party. After all, South Korea¡¯s most prominent figures, from politicians to businessmen, were attending.

    Of course, Chairman Kang Minhoo of Ilhwa Group was also one of the attendees.

    ¡°You already have a granddaughter. Congrattions.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Kang Minhoo shook hands with Eom Jin-Woong, someone that he had a feud with not too long ago. Eom Jin-Woong hated Kang Minhoo while Kang Minhoo just retaliated as punishment for what he did to them. However, even if they did not like each other, this was not the time nor ce to fight. It was a celebration after all.

    The moment Kang Minhoo entered the scene, plenty of political figures and business giants immediately flocked towards him. And standing right next to them were their wives and children, all dressed up for the party.

    ¡°Oh my~ So, Chairman Kang is here. Hahaha. This over here is my son.¡±

    ¡°Ah, so you¡¯re that child that recently topped the exam and entered Seoul National University?¡± Kang Minhoo smiled softly at the young man that greeted him with a bow.

    As Kang Minhoo walked forward again¡­

    ¡°Hello, Chairman.¡±

    ¡°Assemblyman Jeong.¡±

    ¡°You look younger every time we meet. Ah, this is my daughter.¡±

    ¡°Your daughter is quite beautiful. Maybe it¡¯s because she resembles your wife. What a relief that she did not take after you, huh? Hahahaha!¡±

    ¡°I know, right? Hahahaha!¡±

    Every time he tried to walk forward¡­

    ¡°Chairman, this is my wife.¡±

    ¡°Chairman Kang, this is my son.¡±

    ¡°Chairman.¡±

    ¡°Chairman.¡±

    ¡°Chairman Kang.¡±

    ¡­someone would approach Kang Minhoo and greet him with their family. They would either brag about their grandson, granddaughter, or wife, or their son that went tow school, or a daughter that became a celebrity. All of them approached him with their families.

    ¡°Damn bastards¡­¡± Eom Jin-Woong mumbled, a sigh escaping his lips as he watched Kang Minhoo¡¯s figure from afar.

    This was what always happened whenever Chairman Kang Minhoo participated in any kind of event, and Chairman Kang Minhoo participated in a lot of business gatherings and celebrations. Kang Minhoo was an upright man, yet he had always been participating alone for nearly a decade. Kang Minhoo¡¯s wife had died early and Kang Minhyuk, his son, was suffering from eating addiction.

    That was the reason why he had always been alone, despite being the object of envious gazes from the people.

    Eom Jin-Woong hated Kang Minhoo, but he could not help but feel sorry for the man after seeing him alone for so long. In the ten years that Kang Minhoo came alone, the people would always whisper among themselves, <em>¡®He came alone again?¡¯.</em> This was also the reason why Chairman Kang Minhoo felt both grateful and bitter whenever he appeared in events like this.

    Once all of the greetings were over, Kang Minhoo was left alone once again. He could sit down but he remained standing with a bitter smile on his face for quite some time.

    <em>¡®No, I¡¯m fine,¡¯</em> Kang Minhooforted himself.

    So what if he was the only one who could not attend with his son? He was very grateful that his son, who was suffering from a terrible disease in the form of eating addiction, was already slowly moving forward. He was already satisfied just by being able to see his son smile happily, cry, and make friends.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s right. I¡¯m alright.¡¯</em>

    But that was something that was far from the truth. Kang Minhoo was not alright. He was not alright being alone, amidst theseughing, chattering people and their harmonious families.

    Kang Minhoo has been doing his best for his son for the past ten years. He tried so hard to endure all the hardships, working twice, even three times harder than anyone, just so he could shut down rumors and those that voiced concerns about him needing someone else to be his sessor.

    Actually, Minhoo did not find it hard at all. He just hoped and wished that someday, one day, he would be able to sling his arms around his son¡¯s shoulders and brag to others that <em>¡®This is my son.¡¯ </em>whileughing happily.

    ¡°<em>Phew¡­</em>¡± In the end, all Kang Minhoo could do was lower his head and sigh. But then¡­

    ¡°Dad.¡±

    ¡­a familiar voice, a voice that he knew too well, rang in his ears. When Kang Minhoo turned around, he saw his beloved son greeting him with a bright smile on his face.

 Chapter 553: Ordinary Life

    Chapter 553: Ordinary Life

    Food God Minhyuk was now one of the world¡¯s prominent figures. It could be said that his poprity and impact wasrger than any of the Hollywood actors of this era.

    Back in Minhyuk¡¯s teenage years, while still suffering terribly from eating addiction, he did not attend school. Despite that, he was able to stand at the top and be the nation¡¯s academic champion. He was also good in swordsmanship and kendo, and could stand toe-to-toe with Olympic Gold Medalist Dawoul.

    Most importantly, he was the king of games, a person loved by the entire world.

    ¡°Is, Isn¡¯t that Minhyuk¡­?¡±

    ¡°My god¡­¡±

    ¡°The Food God? Wow, look at those proportions¡­¡±

    The entire venue where the birthday party was being held was shaken by Minhyuk¡¯s arrival as he stood beside his father, Chairman Kang Minhoo, with a wide smile on his face. Minhyuk was someone that they could not easily meet. To be exact, not even assemblymen, hospital directors, and business presidents could meet him.

    In just an instant, the entire venue¡¯s focus turned to Minhyuk.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk was telling Kang Minhoo about the drug and his circumstances. Minhoo smiled softly, ¡°Once a month.¡± Even though it was only once a month, his son was still allowed to go out. This was great news for both Minhoo and Minhyuk.

    ¡°Chairman? Why didn¡¯t you tell us that your son ising today?¡±

    ¡°Your son is very handsome.¡±

    ¡­people began to flock around them.

    ¡°Wow¡­ I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m seeing the Food God here¡­¡±

    The eyes of the children of those business conglomerates all shone with envy. Everyone present could not take their eyes away from Chairman Kang Minhoo and Minhyuk.

    ¡°I hope my son and the chairman¡¯s son can get along well. Haha!!!¡±

    They were all trying hard to gain a connection with the Food God, Minhyuk. Kang Minhoo¡¯s son, Minhyuk, was this kind of person, someone that could take everyone¡¯s attention away. And Kang Minhoo, as his father, was the proudest of them all for having such a wonderful son as him. Kang Minhoo wrapped his arm around his son¡¯s shoulders and proudly said, ¡°Thank you for looking at my son in a good light.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I will ever see your son in a bad light!¡±

    ¡°Hahahaha!¡±

    Kang Minhoo¡¯s long awaited dream finally came true.

    ***

    When the birthday party started, Daehan Group¡¯s Chairman Eom Jin-Woong was smiling brightly when he saw his son and daughter-inw enter the venue wearing hanbok[1].

    <em>¡®I¡¯m sorry.¡¯</em>

    Eom Jin-Woong tried to keep Ilhwa Group in check by exposing Minhyuk¡¯s eating addiction to the world. Back then, he was able to taste the bitterness of life from Chairman Kang Minhoo¡¯s hand. It was only then that Jin-Woong realized that the fact that he was pushing his son to get theirpany to the top was not necessarily a form of love.

    Perhaps it was because¡­

    <em>¡®I¡¯m getting older too.¡¯</em>

    ¡­his cold-heartedness after working as the chairman of theirpany was slowly fading as time went by. Now, all Jin-Woong wanted to do was to live a life where he could shower his son, daughter-inw and granddaughter with love. That was why he wanted to do something for his son and daughter-inw.

    For the event, he had hired Kim Seokhyun, Athenae¡¯s famed Twilight Chef ck. Kim Seokhyun was the only Korean among the top ten world ss chefs and his dishes were said to be loved by everyone.

    From what Jin-Woong had heard, his son and daughter-inw¡¯s way of enjoying their free time was to visit different restaurants. At first, Eom Jin-Woong scolded his son saying that he should look at more documents if he had the time to do something like that. But now, he thought that it was very fortunate that his son was able to find a ce where he could find sce from working at such a stressfulpany like theirs.

    Once the party ended, Kim Seokhyun would make a table of feast for Eom Jin-Woong¡¯s son and daughter-inw. Just when the party was just about to end, Jin-Woong¡¯s secretary rushed and whispered to his ears to give a report, ¡°Chairman, Chef Kim Seokhyun was said to have been caught in a traffic ident while on his way here.¡±

    ¡°Wh, what¡­?¡±

    For Eom Jin-Woong, this was a report that was enough to make everything fade into ck. It wasmon for meals to be served during a first birthday party. But this birthday party was said to be different since everyone was supposed to eat together after the formalities of the birthday party ended. The birthday party was set up this way because Chef Kim Seokhyun and his entourage of chefs were supposed to make a show and cook in front of everyone here.

    But Kim Seokhyun would not be able toe here?

    ¡°How, how about the other chefs?¡±

    ¡°All of the other chefs have arrived.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    At the very least, there was a silver-lining in this catastrophe. However, Eom Jin-Woong could not help but feel heartbroken. All he wanted was to feed his son a very special meal on this special day. The fact that giving his son a gift and his blessings was close to being ruined nearly made Eom Jin-Woong faint.

    Then, Jin-Woong¡¯s secretary said, ¡°Chairman, if you¡¯re willing¡­¡± his gaze turning to Minhyuk, ¡°¡­why don¡¯t you try asking for Mr. Minhyuk¡¯s help?¡±

    ¡°What¡­?¡±

    Chairman Eom Jin-Woong¡¯s face turned ugly at his secretary¡¯s words. It was not because he hated Food God Minhyuk, but because he was fully aware of what he did to the boy. The fact that he published the secrets of Ilhwa Group¡¯s chairman¡¯s sessor about having a rare disease, which was a terrible disease that could lead to death, was a huge deal. A normal person would have already copsed from the pressure of this secret being exposed to the world. What more for someone suffering from eating addiction, patients who were known to have contracted several mental health issues like depression and panic disorders?

    Of course, the Food God was able to turn this disaster into a blessing for him, but perhaps Eom Jin-Woong was someone that he wanted to kill. Despite all these, Eom Jin-Woong still felt greedy. As Eom Jin-Woong passed by his son and daughter-inw, he heard their conversation¡­

    <em>¡®The Food God¡¯s dishes. Ah, I want to try it once in my life.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Me too.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®But the Food God is a very busy person. Perhaps we will never be able to taste it in our lives.¡¯</em>

    Jin-Woong¡¯s son smiled bitterly when he said that.

    As a father, Eom Jin-Woong wanted to ask for his son but for some reason, the words seemed to be stuck in his throat.

    ¡°Would he even help me? A person like me?¡±

    ¡°We will only know if we ask.¡±

    Chairman Eom Jin-Woong turned silent. Even if Minhyuk made excuses, Jin-Woong would understand. After all, he was sure that the boy would never lend him a hand. Jin-Woong¡¯s secretary hurriedly rushed to talk to Minhyuk since the birthday party was about to end. For a moment, Eom Jin-Woong felt the boy¡¯s gaze lingering on his back. Eom Jin-Woong felt both embarrassed and ashamed. This would be recorded as one of his greatest embarrassments. Then, his secretary came back.

    ¡°Chairman.¡±

    ¡°Right. He probably refused, no?¡±

    ¡°No, not at all.¡±

    Chairman Eom Jin-Woong looked at his secretary in confusion.

    ¡°Mr. Minhyuk is actually worried if it was alright for someone like him to cook on such a special asion.¡±

    ¡°What¡­?¡±

    The secretary looked back at Minhyuk with a soft smile on his face as he continued to speak, ¡°He said that he might be the Food God inside the game, but in reality, he¡¯s just a patient suffering from a rare disease. He said that if you don¡¯t mind that then he would do his best to help you.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Eom Jin-Woong¡¯s face turned a bright shade of red, <em>¡®I¡¯m very embarrassed.¡¯</em>

    Jin-Woong was someone that was already well past sixty, while Minhyuk was only a young twenty one years old boy. Yet such a young man was so understanding, his mind as broad as the sea. On the other hand, what was he? Someone that tried to destroy that very man¡¯s life? At that moment, Eom Jin-Woong felt like he could not raise his face from the shame and embarrassment that washed over him.

    ***

    The politicians and businessmen that attended the first birthday party held quite a bit of expectation after hearing from Chairman Eom Jin-Woong himself that the birthday banquet was different from the ordinary banquets. When all of the formalities ended, chefs began to enter the venue. It seemed like the banquet was truly different. After all, they could order whatever they wanted to eat and the chefs would make it for them on the spot.

    Eom Tae-Woong, Chairman Eom Jin-Woong¡¯s son, smiled widely, ¡°Thank you, father.¡± Eom Tae-Woong¡¯s father, who had always been harsh towards him, took a lot of time and prepared this for him. Who would not feel moved?

    That was when the main event kicked off. Minhyuk, who was one of the first birthday party¡¯s guests at first, suddenly appeared and stood in the middle of the nearly forty chefs that arrived. He took off his coat, rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, donned an apron and washed his hands clean.

    ¡°¡­What the¡­?¡±

    ¡°The, the Food God is cooking?¡±

    ¡°Heok¡­!¡±

    Exmations burst out from all over the ce while Minhyuk looked around at the forty chefs that surrounded him. His eyes were as sharp as when he was on the battlefield. He looked like he was the main chef in charge of a hotel¡¯s kitchen with his aura alone.

    Then, Minhyuk turned to look at Eom Tae-Woong and his wife and asked, ¡°Do you have something that you want to eat?¡±

    ¡°Huh? Ah, ah¡­! Yes!¡±

    Eom Tae-Woong wanted to try and taste Minhyuk¡¯s dishes just once in his life. He was so shocked by the sudden turn of events that all he could do was turn to look at his father, Eom Jin-Woong.

    ¡°We haven¡¯t had a proper meal since this morning.¡±

    ¡°We were so busy preparing for the first birthday party.¡±

    After hearing their words, Minhyuk pondered for a moment, ¡°Will it be alright if I cook beef seaweed soup, bulgogi and japchae for your main dish? I don¡¯t think it¡¯s good for your empty stomachs to have dishes with stimting vors from the get-go.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good!¡±

    After hearing their consent, Minhyuk turned around to prepare cooking. The other chefs, who received the orders from the other personnel also began to move. All of the chefs were wearing their white cooking uniforms. On the other hand, Minhyuk, who started cooking in the center of them all, was only wearing an apron over his suit. He definitely stood out among everyone.

    <em>¡®It is also important to consider the viewer¡¯s enjoyment whenever there are many people watching you cook.¡¯</em>

    Although what Minhyuk was cooking was only a simple beef seaweed soup, it could look different depending on how he would cook it and how the people saw him do it. Minhyuk immediately pulled out the knife.

    <em>Tak, tak, tak, tak, tak¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk started chopping the carrots the moment the knife was out. When the attendees saw his skillful disy of knife skills, they were in awe. After all, Minhyuk was able to chop the carrots into nice thin pieces with just his knife alone.

    Actually, the other chefs were also doing splendid work. However, the gazes of the guests were trained on Minhyuk, who was standing in the middle. Minhyuk chopped the vegetables and stir-fried the meat for the japchae. And during the process¡­

    <em>Crackle¡ª</em>

    ¡­he made use of the oil and lit up a burst of mes in the pan.

    ¡°Wow.¡±

    <em>p, p, p, p¡ª</em>

    Initially, a lot of people voiced their concern about the Food God¡¯s cooking. He might be good at cooking inside Athenae, but would that be true in real life? Those concerns were unfounded, as it turned out. Athenae was a ¡®virtual reality¡¯ game. The feeling of moving one¡¯s hands and body inside the game felt almost the same as in reality. Minhyuk had lived as the Food God for only a short period of time in Athenae, but if all of the meals that he ate and cooked werebined, he might as well have surpassed the chefs here purely with the amount of dishes that he cooked.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Plenty of the women present looked at the Food God admiringly as he cooked.

    <em>¡®Wow¡­ a man who can cook.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Isn¡¯t he too sexy?¡¯</em>

    The muscles and veins lining Minhyuk¡¯s forearms, which moved and twitched with every move that he made, stood out from under the folded sleeves of his shirt.

    Minhyuk also stir-fried the meat for the seaweed soup, poured some water inside the same pot and added the soaked seaweed inside. He cooked the various dishes that he promised to make with quick movements and no errors at all. In just a blink, the other chefs had finished cooking and Minhyuk was the only one left.

    But as if they were possessed, everyone present just stared nkly at Minhyuk.

    Right after he finished cooking, Minhyuk quickly ted the beef seaweed soup, japchae and bulgogi neatly on their respective bowls and tes with side dishes of vegetables and egg rolls on the side.

    If someone else saw the spread of dishes that Minhyuk cooked they would probably say, <em>¡®Was that all that the Food God can make?¡¯. </em>However, most of the time cooking for someone was dependent on the other person¡¯s situation and circumstances. Just like how one had to mind their manners when going to a fancy restaurant, the chefs also had to take into ount the dishes that their clientele wanted to eat. Also, a dish was not guaranteed to be delicious just because there was caviar and foie gras added on them. Expensive and high-quality ingredients did not necessarily entail a very pleasing taste to the pte.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡±

    Eom Tae-Woong and his wife looked at each other, both of them gasping in awe. Both of them were busy people that could only grab a simple meal or some chicken breasts with the short amount of break time that they could afford. That was why they could not hold back the smiles that graced their faces at the simple, yet warm, spread of home cooked food ced in front of them.

    Eom Tae-Woong grabbed his spoon and took a sip of the seaweed soup.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    The seaweed soup had a stronger and richer vor than ordinary seaweed soup. Another spoonful and he could not help but let out a sigh of admiration.

    ¡°How can it taste this good?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve seen how I cooked longer than the other chefs, right? Personally, I prefer seaweed soup that has been boiled for a long time. I believe that its vor and taste would be better if it was done that way.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    Eom Tae-Woong could not hide the sighs of admiration that escaped his mouth with every bite of the dishes that he ate. The dishes created with the Food God¡¯s ¡®know-hows¡¯ were so delicious that his title was truly well-deserved.

    Meanwhile, Eom Jin-Woong, who was standing from a bit further away, saw how Minhyuk¡¯s arm shook slightly.

    <em>¡®He must be having a very hard time because of his illness¡­¡¯ </em>

    Eom Jin-Woong was both in shock and admiration. The young man was still fighting against this illness as he cooked.

    After the two people finished their meals, they both turned to Eom Jin-Woong and said, ¡°Thank you, father.¡±

    Chairman Eom Jin-Woong smiled softly. When the first birthday party finally ended, Eom Jin-Woong stopped Minhyuk, who was about to leave, and said, ¡°For the longest time, I was a horrible father to my son. But thanks to you, I was able to be a good father today. What do you want and need from me, I will give you anything within my power?¡±

    The possibility of Ilhwa Group and Daehan Group bing strong partners under Minhyuk¡¯s leadership was very high if he epted this offer. After all, Minhyuk was Ilhwa¡¯s sessor. If it was now, Eom Jin-Woong thought that he could do anything for the young man in front of him, as long as it did not harm hispany.

    Minhyuk smiled softly, ¡°But I don¡¯t want anything at all?¡±

    ¡°¡­What?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t do it because I was hoping for something. I was able to cook something which made this birthday party enjoyable.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s words brought Eom Jin-Woong to a daze. His gaze remained nk as he said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry and thank you.¡±

    Eom Jin-Woong, the most powerful man in Daehan Group, uttered his most sincere and heartfelt words to Minhyuk. Minhyuk just smiled at him, bidding his goodbye as he walked out of the venue with his father, Minhoo.

    ¡°Tae-Woong.¡±

    ¡°Yes, father?¡±

    Eom Jin-Woong watched Minhyuk¡¯s back until it disappeared from his sight.

    ¡°Grow with that child. That child will be the strongest in the world.¡±

    1. Traditional Korean clothing. ?

 Chapter 554: God of Cookingâ€™s Trial

    Chapter 554: God of Cooking¡¯s Trial

    The topic of conversations all over the world revolved around how the Food God knocked down Akhan. Many people were shocked and amazed by the fact that the Food God was able to obtain the title of being the first yer ever to create an ¡®Absolute God¡¯s Secret¡¯ during his time of crisis.

    <em>[No other yer would be able to hold a candle to the Food God now. He¡¯s the only king in Athenae and is an absolute existence that holds plenty of cards in his hands.]</em>

    <em>[No one can hold a candle to the Food God? That¡¯s quite an assumption. Let¡¯s all keep in mind that the Food God is, after all, also a yer. Just one wrong move and he could be wrenched out of the game rankings.]</em>

    <em>[The fact that the Food God is amazing can never be denied. However, I¡¯m sure that it¡¯s only because he obtained the title of bing the very first yer that created an Absolute God¡¯s Secret, right? Didn¡¯t the whole world witness it though? Besides, the Food God¡¯s Absolute God¡¯s Secret was sealed. Right? That was Athenae¡¯s way to maintain bnce.]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s right. You can¡¯t call the Food God the best of the best with just one Absolute God¡¯s Secret. Besides, he still lost the Absolute God¡¯s Secret that he created right away, right?]</em>

    <em>[The Food God¡¯s Absolute God¡¯s Secret has been sealed. If a yer with an unsealed Absolute God¡¯s Secret appeared in front of him then, I believe the Food God has no choice but to admit defeat.]</em>

    <em>[The Food God¡­ Haha¡­ His Absolute God¡¯s Secret got taken away as soon as he created it. So pitiful.]</em>

    Plenty of people were showing their interest in the Absolute God¡¯s Secret that Minhyuk had created. Some even wondered if the Food God would be able to dominate the world once the servers have integrated with this Absolute God¡¯s Secret. But in the end, Food God Minhyuk¡¯s Absolute God¡¯s Secret was sealed away.

    <em>[Rankers from all over the world are now gearing up to gain more power and build their own kingdoms. Their first target will definitely be the Food God¡¯s Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Will they be able to hold on to their kingdom?]</em>

    Many of them believed that the Food God would copse once the continents integrated.

    ***

    Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s Headquarters.

    Tens of thousands of calls poured down on them each and every single day after Akhan revealed to the public that he was one of Athenae¡¯s early developers. President Kang Taehoon immediately announced that the only thing that was simr to the Athenae that Akhan helped develop and the Athenae of today were their main frames. As for the rest of the game? Of course, they werepletely different.

    However, Kang Taehoon¡¯s words could not calm the public¡¯s seething anger. Rumors about Joy Co. Ltd. using Akhan to create issues and attract yers even started to circte.

    President Kang Taehoon looked out of the windows of the conference room. It seemed like he was deep in thought while each of the heads of Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s departments all tried to suggest a solution from behind him. Some of their suggestions were borderline absurd but Park Minggyu¡¯s proposal topped the cake. It was very groundbreaking, ¡°We have to cover up an issue with a newer issue. It has to have a huge impact that the entire world would be covered with articles about it.¡±

    ¡°At the level of that issue, only an issue at the scale of Athenae: World War would work, right?¡±

    ¡°We can¡¯t just suddenly hold an Athenae: World War.¡±

    President Kang Taehoon looked at Team Leader Park Minggyu, his head still deep in his thoughts, <em>¡®Cover up an issue with another issue. What is the best way for us to go about with this method?</em>¡¯

    Then, it came to him.

    ¡°How about holding a new event with double the EXP acquisition and drop rate when hunting during the continent integration event ¡®The Stars¡¯ Path¡¯?¡±

    ¡°¡­That¡¯s quite an impressive idea but the problem is that the event should have an equal, or even bigger impact than Athenae: World War.¡±

    President Kang Taehoon hurriedly sat down with a wide smile on his face, ¡°Everyone, hear me out. The Stars¡¯ Path is unimaginably wide. It¡¯s around a few continentsbined together, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°Right.¡±

    That was also why Joy Co. Ltd. had to create many NPCs and build many dungeons and hunting grounds inside the Stars¡¯ Path.

    ¡°Then, why don¡¯t we hold a ¡®Battle of the Thrones¡¯ at the same time as the servers¡¯ integration?¡±

    ¡°A Battle of the Thrones?¡±

    ¡°Battle of the Thrones?¡±

    Everyone present in the room waited for Kang Taehoon¡¯s exnation, their eyes stained with curiosity. What did President Kang Taehoon mean when he said Battle of the Thrones?

    ¡°How many kingdoms will be established in Athenae a month from now?¡±

    ¡°A safe estimate would be around three kingdoms.¡±

    ¡°And a yearter?¡±

    ¡°Around eight, give or take.¡±

    ¡°There are countless forces and groups that are consolidating their power and preparing to establish their own kingdoms. Besides, the yers are all curious about how kingdom warfare between yers of each country would go.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, each country will participate in the Battle of the Thrones. Each country can only select one ¡®king¡¯ who will be the central figure of a kingdom established inside the Stars¡¯ Path.¡±

    ¡°So, what you mean is that each of the countries that will participate in this, will be able to establish a kingdom inside the Stars¡¯ Path, and these kingdoms will fight against each other?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. If Athenae: World War is apetition where they had to use individual yers with special abilities and skills to fight against each other, then the Battle of the Thrones would use millions of people. Just because a few of the country¡¯s yers are strong does not mean that they would be able to win.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no guarantee that Beyond the Heavens Kingdom will be able to cinch the victory.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s only natural. The Battle of the Thrones is a battle between kingdoms. You can¡¯t change the tide of war just because of one outstanding individual.¡±

    ¡°However, I believe there will still be a problem,¡± Team Leader Park Minggyu interjected calmly, ¡°All of the kingdoms will most definitely form an alliance to attack the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.¡±

    Almost everyone present in the room groaned at Minggyu¡¯s wake up call. Unfortunately, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom might very well be a victim in the ¡®Battle of the Thrones¡¯. But¡­

    ¡°Then, what if the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom win the Battle of the Thrones?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    It was like a punch in the gut for everyone present. What would happen if they won? The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would definitely grow more extraordinary. As the very first nation and kingdom built by a yer in Athenae, Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would probably be in a position where they could hold out and endure against wars like that.

    ¡°You might have already guessed this, but the people will definitely turn their attention to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom the moment the continents have finished integration. But, if the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom wins against an alliance of kingdoms, they will be able to show the world that <em>¡®You can¡¯t even win against us when you¡¯re all allied?¡¯.</em> So, it¡¯s not necessarily a crisis for them, you know?¡±

    ¡±If several countries form an alliance to attack the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, then we can give Beyond the Heavens Kingdom some advantage by giving ¡®penalties¡¯ to the allied forces. That way, we can adjust everything and achieve a bnce to some extent.¡±

    <em>Snap¡ª</em>

    President Kang Taehoon snapped his fingers. Just like he expected, Team Leader Park Minggyu came in clutch. That was how they continued their meeting,pleting the outline of the Battle of the Thrones. The only thing left was¡­

    ¡°What else should we do?¡± President Kang Taehoon looked at the people around the table and continued, ¡°Production Team, start preparing a more detailed outline for the Battle of the Thrones. nning Team,e up with a story that will go along with it. Customer Center Team, prepare an announcement for the uing Battle of the Thrones.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    Everyone immediately went outside to fulfill their duties. Before Team Leader Park Minggyu stepped out of the room, he said, ¡°We¡¯ll have to monitor the yers that are most likely going to cause an unexpectedmotion before the Battle of Thrones, right?¡±

    ¡°You got it right.¡±

    Joy Co. Ltd. began preparing for the biggest event since Athenae opened.

    ***

    Minhyuk had now grown to hate the Absolute Gods. He was absolutely sick of them. They were the ones that decided to interfere with him because of their inferiorityplex back when he was tasked to build a building in honor of King Valex.

    However, the interference this time could be said to be worse than what they did back then. After all, they sealed Minhyuk¡¯s newly created Absolute God¡¯s Secret Skill Lightning, the skill that he created by using his three God SP points, right? That was why Minhyuk was furious.

    <em>¡®Let¡¯s turn this crisis into an opportunity.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk thought that perhaps this was a good thing. He knew that the many nations would aim for the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom once the continents have integrated. In fact, there were many forces that were still thinking about how they could tear up and divide the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom for themselves. And the announcement that Minhyuk could not use his Absolute God¡¯s Secret was like the final nail in the coffin, especially for those that thought of taking over Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    However, little did they know, Minhyuk had also received a very shocking quest reward when he killed and punished all of the fourteen elders and Akhan.

    <em>¡®I can get any ability, artifact, artifact material, ingredient or hidden and secret quests where I can get outstanding rewards that I want.¡¯</em>

    In fact, Minhyuk was very grateful. Somehow, without meaning to, they had done him a service. It was like helping him to hide the power that he gained from other¡¯s prying eyes. Besides he wanted to show them, as if the Absolute Gods were watching him, how wrong they were to stop him.

    ¡°Do you think doing that will really stop me?¡± Minhyuk said, quickly choosing the reward that he wanted, ¡°I want a reward that will unseal my Absolute God¡¯s Secret.¡±

    Right away, the notifications rang.

    <em>Ring¡ª</em>

    <em>[Tracking how to unseal the Absolute God¡¯s Secret: Lightning.]</em>

    <em>[Tracking¡­ 6%¡­ 14%¡­ 22%¡­ 39%¡­ Ring!]</em>

    <em>[Tracking has been sessful!]</em>

    The tracking was sessful and it brought a smile to Minhyuk''s lips. It was very important for him to know that there was a way to unseal it. Then, the notifications rang again.

    <em>[<strong>Hidden Quest</strong>: Ingredients for Arlene.]</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: ???</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: ???</em>

    <em><strong>Rewards</strong>: ???</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty for Failure</strong>: ???</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: Meet Arlene in Cairon Continent¡¯s Abyss Vige and fetch the ingredients that she requires.</em>

    <em>¡®Cairon Continent¡¯s Abyss Vige¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had little to no information about Abyss Vige. Because of that, he decided to consult with Haze or Aruvel, the Great Sage and the best selling erotica author. So, he stood up and moved.

    ***

    Abyss Vige had a hidden meaning. The word <em>Abyss</em> meant a deep and bottomless pit. But the Abyss that existed in Athenae was different. After all, it was a world that was different from the world that everyone knew.

    The name ¡®Abyss¡¯ was given to Abyss Vige because it was a vige located close to the gates that connected to another world. There were even stories about how one would be able to see the ¡®World of the Gods¡¯ if they passed through the gates of the Abyss. Some say that they wouldy witness to the world of the Great Demons while some say that they would be able to see the world where all the previous generations¡¯ Legendaries were living. There were so many stories about Abyss that the truth about it had never been confirmed.

    The cranky olddy Arlene clicked her tongue, ¡°Damn bastards! You want to make another ridiculous trial like before?!¡±

    Arlene cursed as she looked up at the skies. Arlene was the crankiest and most ill-tempered person in the entire Abyss Vige.

    ¡°But he just would not stand down!¡±

    For once, Arlene thought that she should try and help to keep him from copsing just like ¡®that person¡¯ did in the past. But there was a problem. The ingredient that she needed could only be found in the Abyss.

    Arlene watched the sunset for a long time before sighing and trying to walk back to her shabby cabin. But then, she saw a young man walking with his back towards the sunset. For a moment, Arlene was left in a daze, unable to take her eyes off of the man¡¯s gorgeous looks.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Why was the man walking while gnawing on a piece of chicken leg? That was not all.

    <em>Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp¡ª</em>

    ¡°Kyaa~ The scenery is so good!¡±

    The man gulped down the contents of an entire can of coke in one go and smiled pleasantly. Arlene felt quite a familiar feeling bubble up in her chest, the same feelings that she felt in the past.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s just like you.¡¯</em>

    Finally, the man appeared in front of Arlene.

    ¡°Hello, grandma!¡± The young man hurriedly put his chicken and coke down as he bowed and greeted Arlene politely. Arlene looked at the young man¡¯s face for a very long time, making the man turn embarrassed as he continued to open his mouth, ¡°My name is Minhyuk.¡±

    ***

    Special yers Management Team.

    Today, as usual, Lee Minhwa was digging into her cup noodles, herte-night snack, while watching the monitor. She blew on her cup and took a sip of the warm soup.

    ¡°Kggghk~ I¡¯m alive again~¡±

    Lee Minhwa looked very happy, as if she had everything in the world. But the events that unfolded on the monitor in front of her caused her mouth to drop wide open. A bright red light shed as phrases started to appear on the screen.

    ¡°Team, Team Leader!!! Team Leader!!!¡± Lee Minhwa shouted, her voice very haggard and urgent.

    Team Leader Park Minggyu hurriedly rushed to check what was happening on her monitor. But the words that appeared on the screen also brought a huge shock to Minggyu, ¡°What¡­?¡±

    And the words that appeared on the monitor¡­

    <em>[yer Minhyuk has made contact with one of the Absolute Gods.]</em>

    <em>[She was the master of the previous Food God.]</em>

    <em>[She once bewitched all of the gods with her dishes.]</em>

    <em>[She is currently in disguise and living in Abyss Vige.]</em>

    <em>[She is one of the Absolute Gods living under the name ¡®Arlene¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[She is the God of Cooking.]</em>

 Chapter 555: God of Cookingâ€™s Trial

    Chapter 555: God of Cooking¡¯s Trial

    Team Leader Park and Employee Lee Minhwa were both flustered after seeing Minhyuk meet with the God of Cooking. So far, no other yer had made contact with any of the Absolute Gods. Even Supeputer Athenae had only expected this to happen once all of the servers had integrated.

    ¡°Team Leader, what do we do¡­?¡±

    Team Leader Park stared at the monitor for a long time after hearing Lee Minhwa¡¯s question. The God of Cooking was the master of the previous Food God. In fact, the Food God¡¯s cheat-like cooking skills were the abilities that were born with the God of Cooking¡¯s god-like skills as the framework and base.

    ¡°Miss Lee Minhwa.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Team Leader.¡±

    ¡°What can the Food God gain from the God of Cooking?¡±

    Team Leader Park did not ask the question because he did not know. It was because in this situation, the Special yers Management Team had the job to report and check all of the rewards that any of the special yers might get.

    ¡°The God of Cooking¡¯s amazing tools, artifacts, even her very own cooking ingredients. Or¡­¡± Lee Minhwa¡¯s lips thinned into a straight line before continuing, ¡°¡­a buffed dish with more amazing effects.¡±

    ***

    Minhyuk actually did not have any information about the woman named Arlene. The only reason why he came to her was because he could obtain the rewards that he got from killing Akhan and the fourteen elders from her and unseal his Absolute God¡¯s Secret.

    However, Arlene only continued to stare at Minhyuk¡¯s figure, even after he bowed politely in greeting.

    <em>¡®What¡¯s wrong¡­? Why does she keep on staring at me like this?¡¯</em>

    This was the woman with the hint to unlock Minhyuk¡¯s Absolute God¡¯s Secret! Minhyuk believed that she was an extraordinary woman and would have already probably noticed who he was right away even without him introducing himself. As he watched the olddy¡¯s mouth slowly open, Minhyuk could not help but gulp dryly.

    ¡°So handsome¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re definitely my type.¡±

    <em>[You have received Arlene¡¯s favor.]</em>

    <em>[You have received Arlene¡¯s favor.]</em>

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    Minhyuk was very flustered by this very unexpected situation. The woman was aplete face-con! He was very surprised to find that her favor towards him had increased when all he did so far was to breathe in her presence. When he saw her squint, he hurriedly brought up the main reason why he came here, ¡°Th, thank you. I heard that Grandma Arlene is looking for ingredients so I came here to find out if I can help.¡±

    Arlene looked at Minhyuk in doubt. She wondered if he already knew the ingredients that she needed beforeing to her. Arlene was not someone that anyone could just find because she could not be found through the quests that foreigners received. That was why Arlene was convinced that the young man in front of her found her through some other means. Of course, Arlene knew who Food God Minhyuk was. After all, she used to watch him before. Plenty of thoughts shed in Arlene¡¯s head when she saw another Food Goding to find her.

    <em>¡®Perhaps this is fate?¡¯</em>

    Food that she made with her ingredients and someone to eat that food. Arlene could not help but smile bitterly.

    ¡®<em>Ah, fate, what a very mysterious and wonderful thing.</em>¡¯

    ¡°It would be hard for you to get the ingredients that I want. Ah, before everything, you look like you¡¯re a chef?¡±

    ¡°How did you know?¡±

    If one looked at Minhyuk¡¯s appearance, they would not think that he was a chef. After all, the stylish and cool armor, as well as the sword on his waist, would definitely steer them away from that thought.

    ¡°You have thick and rough calluses on the tip of your index finger. It¡¯s something that you¡¯ll only get if you always hold a kitchen knife.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­¡± Minhyuk looked down at his hands. Athenae was a virtual reality game and they implemented things like this very well. True to Arlene¡¯s words, the pad of Minhyuk¡¯s index finger was covered in thick and rough calluses. With this fact alone, Minhyuk could already tell that the NPC in front of him was one of the ¡®cooking-rted¡¯ NPCs. Even her desire to find ingredients was a testament to that fact.

    ¡°I can¡¯t tell you the reason why right now but I lost my power to make buffed dishes for a while.¡±

    God of Cooking Arlene was one of the Absolute Gods, but even with her identity, there were things that she could not do. Above the Absolute Gods stood Athenae, the God of Origin. When the Absolute Gods suddenly decided to go down to earth whenever they wanted, Athenae imposed sanctions on them and sealed their powers. These sanctions were imposed so that the Absolute Gods would not be able to reveal their power on earth. That was why even though Arlene was the God of Cooking, she could not use her skills and make buffed dishes.

    Right now, Arlene was nothing more than an olddy with excellent cooking skills. That was also why Arlene was going to find a talented chef and ask him to make her a buffed dish. The effect of the buffed dish made from the ingredients that she was trying to get her hands on would allow her to awaken her powers for a moment. Besides, this process was also a test, one to determine if the man in front of Arlene could take her quest.

    ¡°I want you to go to the Abyss Field, find these ingredients, and cook a dish for me.¡±

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[<strong>Linked Quest</strong>: Cooking for Arlene.]</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: ???</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: Favor with Arlene.</em>

    <em><strong>Rewards</strong>: Your Cooking Skill¡¯s proficiency will increase depending on Arlene¡¯s satisfaction. </em>

    <em><strong>Penalty for Failure</strong>: You will not be able to carry out Arlene¡¯s Ingredient Acquisition Quest.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: Arlene¡¯s powers are currently sealed. Go to the Abyss Field, gather the ingredients, and make her a meal.</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was very shocked when he saw the rewards.

    <em>¡®My skill proficiency will increase?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s cooking skill proficiency could not increase anymore since it had already reached its limits. Actually, since it had already reached its limit, Minhyuk¡¯s cooking skill was already showing tremendous power.

    However, the rewards marked in quests were usually what the yer could get. This meant that even if the level of Minhyuk¡¯s skills were at the limit, he could still increase his proficiency.

    <em>¡®Don¡¯t tell me, this person¡­¡¯ </em>Minhyuk thought. There was only one person that could give this much reward, especially when it was rted to cooking.

    ¡°Are you¡­¡±

    ¡°Even when I look at you again and again, you¡¯re still handsome¡­ Haaaa¡­¡± Arlene said strangely as she looked at Minhyuk.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk thought that perhaps that was not it.

    ¡®<em>After all, there¡¯s no way that a god would be this </em><em>perverted right</em><em>?</em>¡¯

    Instead of asking about her identity, he asked her another question, ¡°Can you tell me why you¡¯re looking for ingredients that have not been revealed yet?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s this old friend that I really want to lend a helping hand to.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded. Since Arlene was already an olddy, it was only natural that she would want to help that friend of hers.

    ¡°What kind of ce is the Abyss Field?¡±

    ¡°Well, I can¡¯t tell you that. But it¡¯s a very special field that I was managing before. But I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll find out the rest once you arrive there,¡± Arlene was not a kind and generous person. Those were the only words that she left for Minhyuk.

    Before Minhyuk left, he asked, ¡°If I pick ingredients other than what you asked me to take from the Abyss Field, can I eat or take them away?¡±

    ¡°If you can, then sure.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Then can I take it as you not minding me eating as much as I want?¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± Arlene answered confidently. With that, Minhyuk, whose eyes turned into crescents, turned around with a dark smile on his lips. Arlene just grinned, ¡°That is if you can though?¡±

    Arlene¡¯s quests were never easy. Besides, even if Minhyuk inherited the power of the Food God, Arlene did not have any reason to help him. In the first ce, Arlene was a cranky old woman. So, why would she help him?

    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t think you will even be able to get one~?¡±

    In fact, the only one capable of getting ingredients from that field was Arlene herself. This was because her DEX had exceeded 6,000! More than 6,000 DEX! If others heard about this, they would say ¡®As expected of an Absolute God!¡¯.

    s, unbeknownst to her, Minhyuk¡¯s DEX had already exceeded 5,000 and it could exert power beyond 11,000, thanks to Ellie¡¯s Kitchen Knife¡¯s special effect.

    ***

    Land of the Gods.

    The Land of the Gods was the world where all of the gods lived. Some used to call this ce heaven because of the celestials living there. And these celestials were currently gossiping.

    ¡°Did you hear? The guy that came up from earth killed the Winged Hydra.¡±

    ¡°I heard that too, but did you know? I heard that the guy also hunted the Four-Headed Gryphon.¡±

    ¡°Why in the world is he hunting those beings that even the gods from heaven can¡¯t hunt?¡±

    ¡°From what I¡¯ve heard, it was because he received a trial from the Absolute Gods.¡±

    ¡°Hoo~ Did you say the Absolute Gods?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. But do you know what¡¯s more surprising?¡±

    ¡°What? What?¡±

    The celestials that were talking suddenly turned to one person alone.

    ¡°The Absolute Gods did not expect the guy to do a good job like this so they¡¯re preparing a more difficult trial.¡±

    ¡°Hoo~ Isn¡¯t this simr to saying that the Absolute Gods are furious?¡±

    ¡°Hey, what do you mean furious? The Absolute Gods are just going back on their words, right? Since the guy is able to ovee the trials that the gods have made, they are just trying to prevent him from bing stronger. That¡¯s why they¡¯re making more difficult trials. What kind of gods are like this?¡±

    ¡°Shhh! You¡¯re going to lose your head if they hear you. Actually, I heard that the guy already went through dozens of crises and close calls with deaths but he overcame everything.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s a really great guy.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s his name again? Ah, I definitely heard his name but I just can¡¯t remember his name. I¡¯lle back and tell you when I hear his name again.¡±

    One of the celestials rushed to find out about the guy¡¯s name.

    ***

    Arlene came up to the Land of the Gods for a moment and frowned at the scene that was presented to her. Three thousand of the prisoners locked up in the Heavenly Prison were all copsed on the ground. Among the corpses that littered the ground sat a man that was bleeding all over and sat feebly. In fact, it would not be strange if that old man died on the spot right now.

    But he was a strange man. Despite bleeding profusely, his eyes were still filled with boundless vitality and sharpness. From what she heard, he had ovee countless crises.

    Then, she said, ¡°The next trial that you have to face¡­ you have to win against one of the gods. The Absolute Gods changed the scheduled trial on a whim.¡±

    The man just silently listened to Arlene¡¯s words.

    ¡°That¡¯s why I will file aint. Since they changed the rules of the trial on their whims, I will demand that I be allowed to cook a dish for you.¡±

    ¡°Urk!¡±

    Blood spurted out of the man¡¯s lips the moment he let out an unwanted cough. He just stood up with a nonchnt look on his face while saying, ¡°I have to hurry. He¡¯s waiting for me.¡±

    ¡°Are you damn crazy?! You can¡¯t move right now!!!¡±

    It would not be strange if the man died right there and then, but he kept on standing up and trying to fight. Arlene looked at the man in frustration, her lips stained with a bitter smile. Because this man was such a person she felt like she was seeing her former disciple, the Food God, in him. That was why she decided to reach her hand out and help him. And for the first time, Arlene asked the man a question, ¡°What kind of person is he for you to be this desperate to meet him again?¡±

    A small smile graced the corners of the man¡¯s lips when he heard her words, ¡°A man that is sometimes like a child, sometimes like a very dignified adult,¡± the man¡¯s eyes sparkled as he recalled his memories, ¡°He¡¯s someone that became another son to me, someone who lost his own son. He filled my hellish life with brightness, happiness, and blessings.¡±

    Arlene felt her heart clench tightly at the smile on the man¡¯s face.

    ¡°He¡¯s also someone that can make the impossible possible. He cares a lot for the people around him, that''s why there are a lot of people that pledged their loyalty to him.¡±

    The man in front of Arlene kept on moving forward for such a person. And Arlene? She could only smile silently at fate. The person that this man, this retainer, in front of her was trying to go back to, had somehow found her to find ingredients for her.

    <em>¡®Ah, fate is truly wonderful.¡¯</em>

    ***

    The celestial that rushed away to find out about the name of the guy that was suffering from the trials that the Absolute Gods were giving came back to the gossiping celestials, ¡°Guys! I found out his name!¡±

    ¡°What is it? What¡¯s his name?!¡±

    All of them had great expectations. After all, this man was charging forward in the Land of the Gods and putting all of the Absolute Gods into an embarrassing situation! He was only human but he was challenging the path to bing a Demigod.

    ¡°From what I heard, he¡¯s reached the realm of legends in the spear in the human¡¯s world! But what¡¯s shocking is the fact that he¡¯s already a gray-haired old man!¡±

    ¡°Is, is that true?!¡±

    ¡°Hoo~ He¡¯s an old man?!¡±

    Everyone was in shock. The existence that threatened even the gods was an old veteran?!

    ¡°His name is¡­¡± Everyone turned silent as they looked at the celestial in curiosity and bated breath.

    ¡°¡­Ben.¡±

 Chapter 556: God of Cookingâ€™s Trial

    Chapter 556: God of Cooking¡¯s Trial

    A long time ago, the humans referred to the Abyss Field as the Gods¡¯ Land, after a chef identally discovered this rich and abundant ce. From what the chef saw, the Abyss Field cultivated ingredients bearing special effects. These effects had never been seen on earth, and could easily surpass any of the famed medicines on earth. Rumors about the Gods¡¯ Land started to circte which fueled everyone¡¯s greed.

    The people from all over the world started to flock to the Abyss Field. However, it did not take too long for them to stop challenging the Gods¡¯ Land.

    One, no farmer, whether they were outstanding or not, had seeded in harvesting any ingredient from the Gods¡¯ Land. And two, there was a monster, which was believed to have been ced there by the God of Cooking, protecting the Gods¡¯ Land and it was really, <strong><em>really</em></strong> strong. In fact, there was a party that was able to get one ingredient from the field. However, they had to pay and sacrifice the lives of forty of the continent¡¯s strongest men to get that one ingredient. The lossespletely outweighed the profits. So, they stopped.

    However! If there was really someone that could harvest these ingredients, then the words of Jackson, an adventurer that explored the Gods¡¯ Land, ¡°This is as good as discovering a mine with a rich vein of ore.¡± would be very apt for them.

    And right now, Minhyuk has entered this very same Abyss Field.

    <em>[You have entered the Abyss Field.]</em>

    <em>[You can only get out of the Abyss Field if you harvest three ingredients.]</em>

    <em>[Otherwise, only your death will allow you to leave the premises of the Abyss Field.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk frowned at the notifications that rang in his ears. He had just entered the field but an ominous notification was already ringing in his ears? Actually, it was not that surprising since the way here was also fraught with many dangers despite Arlene pointing out the way to him. However, it was quite a given that the path would be difficult, since the only thing that Arlene pointed out to him was that he would be able to get to the Abyss Field if he entered through the small waterfall near the cabin where she lived. Furthermore, he could only get out of this ce only after harvesting three ingredients.

    ¡°Let¡¯s see,¡± Minhyuk mumbled, looking around the field. The Abyss Field was quite an unusual ce. It was dark, gloomy, and dreary, with no sunlight at all. However, the ingredients were growing abundantly in this ce.

    Then, Minhyuk suddenly eximed, ¡°What, what the hell¡­¡± his body trembling fiercely, ¡°There¡¯s, there¡¯s mango here?!¡±

    It was not just mangoes. There were also stone fruits and other fruits that did not appear in his country, or even in the Asgan Continent. Actually, Minhyuk was really, <em>really</em> fond of mangoes. A scoop of ripe mangoes with their golden yellow-y goodness would definitely bring a smile to one¡¯s face as its fresh and sweet vor spreads in one¡¯s mouth. And the fruits that Minhyuk did not and could not see in Asgan Continent? They all looked scrumptious.

    But even though he wanted to gorge himself out on these fruits, Minhyuk shook his head,<em> ¡®I need to find the ingredients for Arlene first.¡¯ </em>He must never forget his duty. First things first, he had to find and harvest the ingredients for the dish that would release Arlene¡¯s power for a moment.

    Each dish would exhibit different special abilities depending on the ingredients used on them. The first thing that Minhyuk did was to check the information of the sweet potato that was, strangely enough, hanging and growing from a tree.

    <em>(<strong>Abyss Sweet Potato</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Abyss Ingredient Grade</strong>: C</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>?You can choose between the two: giving a buff effect or giving a permanent effect.</em>

    <em>?If buff effect is chosen:</em>

    <em>?STR will increase by +9%.</em>

    <em>?Physical, Magical Attack, and Defense will increase by +16%.</em>

    <em>?If permanent effect is chosen:</em>

    <em>?STR will increase by +4%</em>

    <em>?Physical, Magical Attack, and Defense will increase by +0.3%.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: This sweet potato grown in the Abyss tastes delicious. The fact that it grew in the Abyss makes it a very special sweet potato, so special that it can even surpass any famous medicine in the world.</em>

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    For a moment, Minhyuk wondered if his eyes were ying tricks on him. ording to the description, this sweet potato has an ¡®Abyss Ingredient Grade¡¯ of C. It was a grading system that seemed to be different from the normal grading system, so there might be discrepancies with what Minhyuk was aware of. However, the fact that the sweet potato was only at C-grade with this much effect was already quite shocking.

    ¡°¡­Will, will it give you buff effects even if you don¡¯t cook them?¡±

    On top of that, it gave whoever harvested the sweet potato the choice of having a buff effect or a permanent effect. It waspletely up to the person that harvested it.

    ¡°Crazy¡­¡±

    Minhyuk continued to move forward, checking the ingredients¡¯ information along the way.

    <em>(<strong>Abyss Golden Mango</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Abyss Ingredient Grade</strong>: A</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>?You can choose between the two: giving a buff effect or giving a permanent effect.</em>

    <em>?If buff effect is chosen:</em>

    <em>?Chosen skill¡¯s level will increase by +1.</em>

    <em>?If permanent effect is chosen:</em>

    <em>?Chosen skill¡¯s proficiency will increase dramatically.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: A golden mango grown in the Abyss. It is sweeter andrger than any ordinary mangoes.</em>

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    Even the other ingredients¡­

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    Every time Minhyuk looked at an ingredient¡¯s description, question marks would pop out in his head. Even the power that they had received from the ¡®Ingredient Heaven¡¯ from the Farmer Kingdom, the Rocard Kingdom, could not rival the power that these ingredients had. These were truly overpowered ingredients. With this, Minhyuk¡¯s suspicions had been confirmed.

    <em>¡®Arlene¡­¡¯</em>

    Arlene, who was hiding herself beneath the mask of a ¡®perverted¡¯ grandma, was most definitely the ¡®God of Cooking¡¯. Minhyuk and Arlene had only met in the past through the notifications of a ¡®bet¡¯. Also, she was the master of the previous Food God.

    <em>¡®I can get a lot of things from this ce.¡¯</em>

    Of course, that was only if he could get the ingredients safely. As Minhyuk continued to roam around the ce, he saw an unusuallyrge statue of a cow in the middle of the field. Minhyuk immediately checked its description.

    <em>(<strong>God¡¯s Carefully Nurtured Abyss Cow</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: God¡¯s Five Delicacies</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>????</em>

    <em>????</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: God¡¯s Carefully Nurtured Abyss Cow is a cow that can exert buff or permanent effect with each and every cut of its meat once eaten. Cannot be obtained through force. </em>

    ¡°God¡¯s Delicacy¡­?!!!¡±

    Minhyuk recently ate one of the God¡¯s Five Delicacies, the ¡®Deep Sea Snow Crab¡¯, after he sessfully hunted Asura. The taste of that snow crab was beyond anything that he could ever dream of. It even increased Minhyuk¡¯s Physical Attack and Defense, as well as his Magical Attack and Defense permanently by 10%. On top of that, there was an additional 10% buff effect that could ovep with other buffs for a week.

    Right now, a simr delicacy with powers simr to that was now standing just a few meters away from him.

    <em>¡®And each part has a special ability?!¡¯</em>

    It could be interpreted differently. In a sense, each part could have a different special ability. Simply put, this cow with permanent and buff effects could be divided and eaten separately, which meant that several people could obtain either permanent or buff effects depending on the part that they ate.

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll definitely get that one.¡¯</em>

    Although he did not know how he would get it, Minhyuk was sure that he would be able to get a hint once he got the ingredients.

    Minhyuk had already chosen some of the ingredients that he needed earlier. One was the ¡®wild ginseng¡¯. The wild ginseng that grew here had received the Abyss¡¯ energy and was said to have the ability to release sealed powers. The others were jujube and garlic. For the jujube, it could rejuvenate and help someone gain a stronger vitality and power than before. As for the garlic, it could raise one¡¯s skill level.

    <em>¡®These ingredients are too damn OP. With these, there¡¯s nothing that I can¡¯t do.¡¯</em>

    Of course, these ingredients were all A-grade ingredients and would definitely be harder to get than other ordinary ingredients. But nothing would be done if he did not try. So, Minhyuk grabbed a hoe to dig up the wild ginseng. Just one wrong move in digging the wild ginseng and he would damage its roots, so he had to be careful. The moment he hit the ground¡­

    <em>[You are now challenging the wild ginseng.]</em>

    <em>[You cannot dig or harvest any of the Abyss¡¯ crops easily.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    However, unlike the notifications, Minhyuk¡¯s hoe gently and easily dug the ground. He was even flustered by the fact that it was easier than what he thought.

    <em>¡®Come to think of it, with Ellie¡¯s Kitchen Knife¡¯s special effect, my DEX has been doubled. Which means that I have around 11,000 in my DEX, right?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was confident that even the God of Cooking has a lower DEX than him. In the first ce, no one would be able to keep up with Minhyuk¡¯s DEX, especially with his overly high DEX acquisition rate and various special effects.

    But was there something in the world that one could get so easily? Of course not. Just when Minhyuk was about to m his hoe on the ground again¡­

    <em>Thump¡ª thump¡ª</em>

    ¡­the sound of hooves scratching the ground rang in his ears.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk felt a very unusual energy from behind him, his head turning to look at the direction of its source. That was when he saw a huge bull, around three meters in height. Its red, angry eyes stared at him as it charged forward. Shockingly enough, the bull¡¯s hooves were not touching the ground. Its feet were gliding ten centimeters above the ground as it ran towards him. As for its speed? Even Minhyuk was having a hard time following its figure with his eyes.

    ¡°Like the¡­ Keheook!¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The bull had already mmed into Minhyuk even before he could use Like the Wind to escape.

    <em>[The ughterer¡¯s Armor¡¯s durability has dropped by 30%!]</em>

    <em>[Artifacts with infinite durability will not be destroyed. The ughterer¡¯s Armor has already started to repair itself.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped by 60%.]</em>

    <em>[You have received a huge impact. You cannot move your body at will!]</em>

    <em>Swoooooooosh¡ª</em>

    The impact of the collision made Minhyuk fly tens of meters away. In fact, he only stopped when his body got embedded in a rock.

    ¡°This is crazy¡­!¡± Minhyuk shouted in shock, his body unresponsive to his will. The fact that the durability of his ughterer¡¯s Armor, a god-rank artifact, had decreased by 30% and his HP by 60% was very shocking.

    <em>¡®This is almost the same as Asura¡¯s damage, huh?!!!¡¯</em>

    No, the damage was actually higher than the damage that Asura could deal.

    ¡°Urk!¡± Minhyuk vomited a mouthful of blood as he looked at the crazy bull, its name immediately appearing above its head.

    <em>[Sealed Bull Demon King.]</em>

    <em>[Level ???]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The Bull Demon King was a close friend of Sun Wukong, the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal, and was also known as the King of Great Power. ording to his description in the <em>Journey to the West</em>, the Bull Demon King was the most powerful monster to have ever existed on earth. Of course, that was only based on the famous novel and story. He might be different here in the Athenae worldview.

    However, something bothered Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®Wait, the Bull Demon King is in the Athenae worldview?¡¯ </em>

    In fact, a hunch was already starting to form in his head.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s another worldview that we do not know of yet?¡¯ </em>

    Athenae was a world with never-ending possibilities. That was why Minhyuk believed that this theory was possible.

    Minhyuk immediately turned vignt. He was now sure of one thing. That ox head rice soup guy over there was very strong. Fortunately, he was sealed. Minhyuk stood up after finally regaining control of his body. He was very surprised to discover that the bull did not attack him again.

    There was something that he wanted to check so Minhyuk filled his HP and swapped his armor with the Monarch¡¯s Armor before carefully approaching the wild ginseng with his hoe. Even after he approached the wild ginseng, the bull did not show any adverse reactions. But the moment he raised his hoe to dig, the bastard came charging at him.

    ¡°Like the Wind!!!¡±

    Minhyuk hurriedly used Like the Wind, his body barely avoiding the bull¡¯s charge.

    <em>¡®Right. Let¡¯s try digging the ground once and avoiding the bull with Like the Wind¡­!¡¯ </em>

    Minhyuk thought that he could make do with this trick, but quickly gave up on the idea when he saw the bull turn around and charge at him again. The more the Bull Demon King charged, the bigger his body became. From the four meters, five, six, eight, ten, fifteen, twenty meters until it grewrge enough to cover almost half of the Abyss Field.

    ¡°How can I avoid this crazy bastard¡­¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaack!¡± Minhyuk screamed, his body flying away once again. This time, the HP that got shaved off of him was higher than before. The damage that the Bull Demon King dealt was tremendous. In the end, Minhyuk¡¯s HP fell to zero and he was only able to stand up after ¡®He who Ovees¡¯ got triggered.

    <em>¡®How am I even supposed to kill that guy?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk gasped as his body copsed on the ground. He hurriedly ate to refill his HP again. He could tell that the Bull Demon King¡¯s HP was also very, very high. Which meant that killing him would be very hard. Aside from that, Minhyuk also learned that digging and harvesting the ingredients were very easy after testing it with his hoe earlier. The only problem was the damned sealed Bull Demon King. As long as the cow was there, Minhyuk would not be able to harvest any ingredients. In other words, Minhyuk was presented with a situation where everything wasid out in front of him but he could not eat them.

    ¡°Why can¡¯t I eat them when they¡¯re all in front of me¡­?!!!¡±

    Then, it suddenly came to Minhyuk just when he recalled Kim Cheonji¡¯s lines from <em>A Lucky Day</em>, ¡°Do I really have to hunt him though?¡±

    The Bull Demon King was a monster that Minhyuk could not hunt at this point in time. But¡­ did he really have to?

    Soon, Minhyuk¡¯s lips were stretched into a wide and evil grin, a great idea popping in his head.

    ***

    Arlene was aplete oddball. She was showing mercy by helping Ben, yet she was also showing cruelty by forcing Minhyuk to gather ingredients for her in that ce. She could, in fact, already imagine Minhyuk being brutally trampled on and beaten by the ¡®Sealed Bull Demon King¡¯. The reason why the humans that visited the Gods¡¯ Land all gave up eventually was because of the existence of the sealed Bull Demon King. After all, no one was capable of dealing with the sealed Bull Demon King.

    <em>¡®Let¡¯s check to see how hard he¡¯s working, huh? Or¡­ maybe he¡¯s already dead? Fufufufu!¡¯</em>

    Arlene also lost a bet against Minhyuk in the past and was forced to give the boy her secret, the ¡®Ovepping Delight¡®. That was why she was over the moon with whatever bad thing that happened to Minhyuk. Although she was pretending to be a magnanimous person, Arlene was a very petty person deep inside. The incident from before made Minhyuk look hateful in her eyes. However, that feeling had abated for a bit, after seeing how handsome the boy was.

    Arlene continued on her merry way only to be appalled by the scene presented to her when she arrived at her destination, ¡±What, what the hell?!¡±

    Abyss Field was the field that Arlene took care of and nurtured for thousands of years. She knew it like the back of her hand. But now? All of the crops were gone. And in the middle of the field sat Minhyuk, who was munching happily on a mango the size of his head.

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaahm! <em>Chomp!</em> It¡¯s, it¡¯s sweet¡­!¡±

    A bright smile bloomed on Minhyuk¡¯s face.

    As for the Bull Demon King? He was sitting in front of Minhyuk, his long tail swishing left and right as he happily cried out, <em>¡®Moooo!¡¯</em>.

    At that moment, one thought shed in Arlene¡¯s head, <em>¡®My, my farm is over¡­!¡¯ </em>Of course, she would be able to get it back up and running again, but it would definitely take a lot of her time. Just when Arlene felt her heart ache and tears well up in her eyes, she heard Minhyuk say, ¡°Hey, ox head. Should I give you a name?¡±

    ¡°Moo?¡±

    Arlene watched the interaction between the two, her heart filled with confusion and shock. The Bull Demon King tilted his head, waiting for the name that Minhyuk would give him. In fact, even Arlene was waiting with a strange sense of anticipation in her body. Even though he was sealed, he was still the Bull Demon King.

    ¡®<em>He will definitely get a good name, right?</em>¡¯

    That''s what she thought.

    Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°Your name shall be Hanwoo[1]. Han. Woo.¡±

    ¡°Moooooooo!!!¡± The Bull Demon King cried happily after getting his new name, ¡®Hanwoo¡¯.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk wiped the drool dripping down his chin as he thought, <em>¡®Beef should definitely be Hanwoo, right?!! Yeah, yeah. That¡¯s what I¡¯m saying. Keuhahahahahaha!¡¯ </em>That was right. Minhyuk gave the sealed Bull Demon King the name ¡®Hanwoo¡¯ because he wanted to eat him.

    On the other side of the field, Arlene tilted her head in confusion, <em>¡®What¡¯s Hanwoo?¡¯. </em>And along with that thought, another question popped in her head¡­

    <em>¡®What the hell happened here?¡¯</em>

    1. ?? - Hanwoo or Hanu or Korean Native. A breed of small cattle(brown cattle) native to Korea, one among the four native breeds in the country. Formerly used as a draught animal but is now being raised as a meat cattle. Considered to be the most expensive meat in Korea. ?

 Chapter 557: God of Cookingâ€™s Trial

    Chapter 557: God of Cooking¡¯s Trial

    Minhyuk came to a conclusion. He would never be able to hunt the sealed Bull Demon King. However, he also realized that he did not need to hunt the Bull Demon King. His only goal ining to the Abyss Field was to gather ingredients and cook a dish to unseal Arlene¡¯s powers. Of course, it would be great if in the process, he was able to get other ingredients. Because of that, Minhyuk changed his mindset and decided to coax the Bull Demon King to his side.

    The method that Minhyuk chose to use was simple.

    <em>¡®Let¡¯s get him to eat.¡¯</em>

    It might be simple but it was the best method. Minhyuk slowly took out some hay from his inventory. One might wonder why Minhyuk had some hay in his inventory, but it was not that surprising since Minhyuk always carried anything that was edible with him.

    ¡°Cow head? <em>Coochiecoo~</em> here¡¯s some of your favorite hay~¡± Minhyuk shook the hay in his hands confidently, knowing that the sealed Bull Demon King would not attack him unless he did something to the crops in this ce.

    The Bull Demon King looked at the hay, a corner of his lips curling up into a smile.

    ¡°Mooooo~¡±

    Yes. He was smiling. To be exact, he was mocking Minhyuk. But that was not all¡­

    <em>Poooooooooot¡ª</em>

    ¡­he even farted loudly and strongly to the point that his tail swished upwards from the force.

    <em>¡®That ox head rice soup bastard¡­!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk hated anyone, even cows, that yed around with food. However, he could not get angry since his goal was to appease and coax the cow head in front of him.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s not your ordinary cow, he¡¯s the Bull Demon King.¡¯</em>

    At that point, Minhyuk realized why the Bull Demon King reacted like that to hay. There was no way someone like that would just eat hay. Thankfully, Minhyuk had a way to check what the Bull Demon King wanted to eat the most. It was none other than his ¡®Create a Recipe¡¯ skill, a skill that could show what the other wanted to eat the most.

    <em>[Creating a recipe that the other party desires.]</em>

    <em>[You can now check the recipe for Various Mixed Vegetables(?).]</em>

    <em>[The amount of buff that can be used has been decreased due to creating a recipe.]</em>

    <em>(<strong>Various Mixed Vegetables(?) Recipe for the Sealed Bull Demon King.</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Required Ingredients</strong>: ???</em>

    <em><strong>Expected Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>????</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: The Sealed Bull Demon King just wants to eat a dish filled with plenty of vegetables.</em>

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡±

    Minhyuk groaned lightly. For the first time since his acquisition of the skill, the Create a Recipe skill presented him with plenty of ¡®???¡¯. It was basically telling him that the Bull Demon King did not really know what he wanted to eat, but he knew that he wanted to eat a dish with many vegetables.

    <em>¡®A dish filled with vegetables¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk pondered deeply about a dish that matched the requirement, a dish that had a lot of vegetables in it. Minhyuk thought deeply and only came up with two dishes.

    <em>¡®Bibimbap and japchae?¡¯</em>

    Finally, he decided on what dishes to cook.

    ***

    Special yers Management Team.

    Team Leader Park Minggyu groaned as he watched the scene on the monitor, ¡°Why does this happen wherever yer Minhyuk goes¡­?¡± His words were a bit slurred but what Minggyu meant to ask was why did new and special things always happen wherever Minhyuk went? ¡°Employee Lee Minhwa. Do you know the story about the Sealed Bull Demon King?¡±

    ¡°Yes, of course. The Bull Demon King is one of the Four Great Heavenly Kings from the new world that is yet to be opened. Even though his power is currently sealed, the power that he can still wield now is powerful enough to decimate an entire territory. Once the seal has been lifted, the power that the Bull Demon King can exert will be beyond anyone¡¯s imagination.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. And what¡¯s the most important takeaway here?¡±

    Lee Minhwa looked at the monitor and said, a slight tremor in her voice, ¡°An easter egg will be triggered when someone achieves a high level of favor with the Sealed Bull Demon King.¡±

    Park Minggyu nodded as he watched Minhyuk start cooking through the screen of the monitor.

    ***

    Minhyuk started making the bibimbap and japchae.

    The good thing about bibimbap was that one could use any kind of vegetables in it and it would still match well. Spinach, Chinese bellflower, bean sprouts, cucumbers, shiitake mushrooms, zhini, sprout vegetables, any kind of vegetable would go well with it. Also, the ingredients used for bibimbap could also be used for japchae. Minhyuk nched the spinach and stir-fried the shiitake mushrooms, zhini and julienned carrots one after the other in a frying pan.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Smoke fluttered from the pan as the sizzle of the oil rang in the air. Since the vegetables were going to be used for both bibimbap and japchae, it was better for Minhyuk to stir-fry them for some time. After the vegetables had been tossed in the pan for a bit, Minhyuk moved to add a spat, no¡­ based on the Bull Demon King¡¯s size, fifty spats of hot rice in a bowl.

    <em>¡®Since I will dig the ingredients while the Bull Demon King is eating, then I should prepare a lot of food for him.¡¯</em>

    The warm white rice was made from high-quality rice that Minhyuk was sure would taste sweet the moment it entered one¡¯s mouth. Then, Minhyuk ced the stir-fried vegetables on top of the hot rice. For bibimbap, the color of the ingredients was also a very important factor. Using vegetables with the same colors would not look pretty when ted. Minhyuk gently ced the bean sprouts, the julienned carrots, the stir-fried zhini and the shiitake mushrooms around the bowl. Then, he ced the sprout vegetables on top of everything before proceeding to fry some eggs.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The eggs that Minhyuk fried were the ¡®Gryphon¡¯s Eggs¡¯, an ingredient that he acquired before. Its description said: ¡®eggs with no known use¡¯, but since the Bull Demon King was also a ¡®monster¡¯, Minhyuk thought that he might enjoy the Gryphon¡¯s Egg. The huge egg was fried perfectly, with its golden yolk sitting in the center.

    After preparing the bibimbap, Minhyuk immediately prepared the japchae. Since the basic ingredients were simr, the preparations were also simr. Minhyuk stir-fried and nched the same ingredients that he used in the bibimbap. Minhyuk hesitated when he was about to stir-fry the beef.

    <em>¡®Feeding beef to a cow¡­¡¯</em>

    Right then and there, Minhyuk decided to skip the beef and just cook japchae without it. Minhyuk quickly wore clean rubber gloves and began to mix the various vegetables and the perfectly-cooked ss noodles. Whenever he found the taste to be nd, he would sprinkle a bit of soy sauce in it before mixing it again. Once it was done, he sprinkled some sesame seeds and ted it prettily. When he finished preparing all of the dishes, Minhyuk called out to the Bull Demon King, ¡°Cow head.¡±

    ¡°Moooo?¡±

    ¡°How about this?¡±

    The Bull Demon King looked a bit interested but he still snorted and showed Minhyuk his damn rotten smile, ¡°Moooooo.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s expression turned ugly after seeing the Bull Demon King¡¯s smug grin.

    <em>¡®This is not working either?¡¯</em>

    No, things could not continue on like this. If the situation did not change, then Minhyuk would probably really have to die here. That was when Minhyuk realized that he had forgotten something, <em>¡®I forgot to add some to the japchae¡­¡¯</em>

    So, Minhyuk made a show of cing the bibimbap and japchae in front of the Bull Demon King as he popped open the bottle of his addictive sauce. A savory and mouth-watering aroma drifted in the air from the bottle in Minhyuk¡¯s hands.

    <em>Sniff, sniff¡ª</em>

    The Bull Demon King¡¯s nose twitched at the scent. The addictive sauce in Minhyuk¡¯s hands was none other than sesame oil. It was a bottle that Rocard Kingdom¡¯s Queen Iris had gifted Minhyuk. In fact, it was so amazing and hard toe by that they could only give Minhyuk one bottle of this. Minhyuk had tasted this sesame oil with his soy sauce egg rice and found the taste to be so delicious that he almost drank everyst bit of it.

    ¡°Mooooo¡­?¡± The Bull Demon King cried out in doubt and confusion. The mysterious yet savory scent floating in the air stimted his appetite. There were cases where a person would smell the savory scent of sesame oil in the air and unknowingly taste the vor in their mouth. That was what the Bull Demon King was experiencing right now. Minhyuk also poured the golden sesame oil over the bibimbap, making the scent in the air stronger and tickling the nose and the appetite of the Bull Demon King.

    ¡°Moooooo?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. That¡¯s right. Come closer.¡±

    The Bull Demon King, with his tail swishing from left to right, approached the bibimbap and saw the beautifully arranged vegetables with their bright and wonderful colors on top of the rice.

    ¡°Mooooooo!¡±

    There was also the scent of the savory sesame oil and the spicy gochujang tickling the tip of the Bull Demon King¡¯s nose.

    ¡°Ah. Wait a moment, I¡¯ll mix it for you,¡± Minhyuk said, mixing the huge bowl of bibimbap for the Bull Demon King. When Minhyuk poked the Gryphon¡¯s Egg, the golden yolk flowed gently down the rice and mixed together with the rest of the dish. With this, the scent of the sesame oil spread even further.

    <em>Drip, drip¡ª</em>

    ¡°Whoa, whoa. You¡¯ll get in trouble if you drool over your own food,¡± Minhyuk said when he saw the Bull Demon King drool, the dish in his hands turning even more appetizing the more he mixed it.

    <em>Shwa¡ª shwa, shwa¡ª</em>

    The sound of the dish getting mixed together was divine, its color turning more beautiful as it caught on a red hue. When everything was finally mixed together, the Bull Demon King immediately buried his head and took a bite of the bibimbap.

    ¡°Mooooooooooo!¡± The Bull Demon King raised his head and cried loudly.

    Minhyuk could tell that this cry was a cry of joy. Seeing that it was finally his time, Minhyuk immediately ran with his hoe.

    <em>Thump¡ª thump¡ª</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Abyss¡¯ Wild Ginseng.]</em>

    Minhyuk was in a hurry, he had to quickly gather the ingredients that he needed before the Bull Demon King finished eating. He had to move even faster after seeing the Bull Demon King eat huge amounts of food with every bite. As for the Bull Demon King¡­

    ¡°Moooooooooo!¡±

    ¡­he could feel the crunch of the vegetables with every bite. The Bull Demon King was not like any ordinary cow, he was more of an omnivore. Amazed by the savory vor of the sesame oil, the crunchy texture of the vegetables, and the spicy taste lingering in his mouth, quickly finishing bibimbap. The Bull Demon King then turned to look at the japchae filled with colorful vegetables right next to him.

    <em>Chomp, chomp¡ª</em>

    The Bull Demon King buried his head into the bowl of japchae and was once again impressed by the savory vor and chewy texture of the noodles. The Bull Demon King hurriedly finished everything. Then, he jerked his head back to look at Minhyuk. The Bull Demon King was only tasked to stop anyone from harvesting the ingredients in the Abyss Field. Thankfully, Minhyuk was already almost finished with harvesting the final ingredient.

    ¡°<em>Phew</em>¡­¡± Breathing a sigh of relief, Minhyuk turned vignt when he saw the Bull Demon King approach him.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s alright. I already got everything that I need.¡¯</em>

    There was a chance that the Bull Demon King would still charge at him and attack. If that happened, then he would surely die. But contrary to his expectations¡­

    ¡°Moooooo?¡± The Bull Demon King cried gently, his tail swishing gently to express his friendliness towards Minhyuk. Then, the notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You have acquired the <strong>Easter Egg</strong>: The One that Opened a Closed-off Heart.]</em>

    <em>[The Sealed Bull Demon King can be with you.]</em>

    <em>[Even though you can be with the Sealed Bull Demon King, you still do not have the right to summon him.]</em>

    <em>[You can now receive help from the Sealed Bull Demon King.]</em>

    ¡°Moooooo?¡±

    Minhyuk gently rubbed the head of the Bull Demon King. This was the start of the rtionship between Minhyuk and the Bull Demon King, or ¡®Hanwoo¡¯, who would rescue him from countless dangers in Athenae in the future.

    With this, Minhyuk was no longer restricted by Hanwoo the Bull Demon King and was able to harvest all of the ingredients that he could get his hands on in the Abyss Field, with his high DEX.

    Minhyuk waved to Arlene, who was still reeling from the shock of seeing the scene in front of her. The teary Arlene had no choice but to approach Minhyuk.

    ¡°You¡¯re here? Haha. I was able to get all of these. But don¡¯t worry, I still have a conscience!¡±

    This was the Abyss Field that Arlene cared for and cherished like her own child for a thousand years! Hearing Minhyuk¡¯s words, Arlene nodded, <em>¡®That¡¯s right. Since you have a conscience¡­! I¡¯m sure you left a lot for me!!!¡¯</em>

    But then, Minhyuk handed over one ingredient to her, a very, very small mango.

    ¡°I had a hard time controlling myself just to save this for you. I always thought about eating this, you know?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Arlene trembled fiercely as she looked at the mango in her hand, dumbfounded. She, the God of Cooking, felt tears start to well up in her eyes again.

 Chapter 558: God of Cookingâ€™s Trial

    Chapter 558: God of Cooking¡¯s Trial

    The entire world cheered when they saw Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s announcement.

    <em>[Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s Announcement.]</em>

    <em>On the same day as the server integration, we will be holding a ¡®Battle of the Thrones¡¯. </em>

    <em>The Battle of Thrones is open for all countries with an Athenae Server. Only one person can be chosen as king per server. Each king is given the chance to choose one ¡®agent¡¯ that will act on their behalf. Each country can only send out 1,000 NPCs and 50,000 yers to participate in the battle. In the case of death during the Battle of the Thrones, all NPCs will be revived in their respective continents. The rules and regtions that the yers should be familiar with will be exined below. Please click on the number for a more detailed description.</em><ol><li>Each server can only choose one king to participate in the Battle of the Thrones.</li><li>The chosen king will be able to exert a stronger power than usual.</li><li>The simplest method to bring down a kingdom is to destroy the king¡¯s statue located deep inside the kingdom¡¯s castle.</li><li>For kingdoms that form an alliance and cooperate to attack another kingdom, the kingdom they¡¯re attacking will receive special privileges.</li><li>A contribution system will be activated during the entirety of the event. Kingdoms with the highest contribution will receive special privileges.</li><li>Once the kings have been selected, each kingdom must create and submit their own castle¡¯s blueprint. (Athenae will automatically assign and build a castle for the kingdoms that failed to submit their blueprints.)</li><li>Kingdoms that will participate in the Battle of the Thrones will receive rewards based on their final rankings. The king of the kingdom that will rank first will receive a special reward.</li></ol>

    The notice was great enough to invoke the cheers and apuse of many. Although it was only an event inside the game, each of the participating country¡¯s governments had started to make their moves.

    <em>[China¡¯s movements are quite unusual, or so I¡¯ve heard? There are rumors that they are trying to equip their own Battle of the Thrones¡¯ participants with artifacts.]</em>

    <em>[France¡¯s movements seem to be quite extraordinary too. I don¡¯t understand why the governments are intervening just for an event in a game.]</em>

    <em>[Me, I can understand it. Athenae is already considered to be another world. It is a game that is loved by many people all over the world. The world is teeming with countries that can¡¯t wait to snap their jaws at each other and devour the weaker ones. A lot of countries want to take this opportunity to show the world what kind of country they are, an underdeveloped country or a developed country. They are trying to show the world that they have the upperhand in this match and will definitely be unmatched.]</em>

    <em>[Instead of doing it in reality, where wars and indiscriminate killings are frowned upon, they¡¯re trying to determine who has the upperhand and who is stronger inside this virtual world?]</em>

    <em>[Yep, yep. That¡¯s about right, I think? It¡¯s great enough that each of the countries¡¯ governments are paying attention to the matter. How much criticism do you think a developed country would receive if they ranked low in the Battle of the Thrones?]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s right. The developed countries would want to keep their ce while the underdeveloped ones would want to take those ces. We can expect each country to go all out and fight with all they got in this.]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s going to be aired at the same time all over the world, right? This event will definitely have a huge impact on the world.]</em>

    <em>[I already can¡¯t wait for it.]</em>

    Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s intentions were sessfully realized with this announcement. Their original intention for this event was to create a bigger issue to cover up the issue of Akhan being an early developer. And they seeded. Akhan¡¯s story was slowly buried into dust as expectations for the Battle of the Thrones soared.

    Since the Battle of the Thrones¡¯ announcement was done in a hurry, the date for the start of the battle was only four days away, on the same day the Server Integration would take ce.

    ***

    Obtain ingredients from the Abyss Field and cook a dish that would unseal Arlene¡¯s power.

    This was the trial that Arlene presented to Minhyuk. Actually, the reason why Minhyuk came here was so he could recover his Absolute God¡¯s Secret, which was sealed by those damn gods, to its original state. This was something that he had to do and for some reason, he was also tasked to gather ingredients for the dish that she had to cook for her friend. Of course, Minhyuk gained a lot during the process too.

    <em>¡®If I cook dishes with these ingredients for the people in Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, they¡¯ll be able to gain tremendous power,¡¯ </em>Minhyuk thought as he looked at the God¡¯s Carefully Nurtured Abyss Cow sitting quietly inside his inventory with a pleased smile on his face.

    Surprisingly enough, the way to obtain the God¡¯s Carefully Nurtured Abyss Cow was very simple. All Minhyuk had to do was harvest 50% of the ingredients in the Abyss Field. What¡¯s more, this was the Abyss Cow with special effects for each part.

    After Minhyuk acquired the cow, all of the parts that were marked with a ¡®???¡¯ had been revealed.

    <em>(<strong>God¡¯s Carefully Nurtured Abyss Cow</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: God¡¯s Five Delicacies</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>?Each cut of meat of God¡¯s Carefully Nurtured Abyss Cow will give you a choice of selecting between buff effects or permanent effects.</em>

    <em>?<strong>Sirloin</strong>: Permanent Effect¡ª+1 Skill Level; Buff Effect¡ªSkill Level increase will depend on the chef and the dish¡¯s grade.</em>

    <em>?<strong>Foreshank</strong>: Permanent Effect¡ª+7% increase in AGI; Buff Effect¡ª¡­will depend on the chef and the dish¡¯s grade.</em>

    <em>?<strong>Ribs</strong>: Permanent Effect¡ªRandom % increase in chosen stat¡¯s volume upon consumption; Buff Effect¡ª¡­will depend on the chef and the dish¡¯s grade.</em>

    <em>?<strong>Hindshank</strong>: Permanent Effect¡ªArtifact strengthening¡­</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong></em><em>: God¡¯s Carefully Nurtured Abyss Cow is a cow that can exert buff or permanent effect with every cut of its meat once eaten. Cannot be obtained through force. </em>

    That was why God¡¯s Carefully Nurtured Abyss Cow could be considered as an excellent and outstanding ingredient that could easily surpass any god-grade ingredient in existence.

    For the ingredient¡¯s buff effect and the permanent effect, if the permanent effect had the effect of increasing AGI by 5, then the buff effect would be able to increase the AGI by 15. It was a tremendous increase in force. However, the buff effect would disappear in a short amount of time.

    In other words, these cuts could give Minhyuk and his guild members an insane increase in power depending on the situation. Also¡­

    <em>¡®What if I cooked God''s Delicacy with the ingredients grown in the Abyss Field?¡¯</em> Minhyuk gulped dryly at the thought. To that extent, one could say that the power of the ingredients that Minhyuk ¡®obtained¡¯ from Arlene was enormous.

    Now, it was time for Minhyuk to do something better. He took out a huge cauldron filled with water together with the ingredients that he harvested from the Abyss Field; the wild ginseng, the jujube, the garlic, the onion and many more. Then, Minhyuk lit a fire under the cauldron.

    He could summon his trailer but Minhyuk felt that there was no need to do so. The reason why he took out a cauldron and not his trailer that could create bulk dishes, was so he could show the God of Cooking his own skills and show her what kind of dish the Food God could make. Also, the cauldron could bring out the most authentic vor of the dish, the ¡®chicken soup¡¯, that he would make.

    He ced the ingredients that he got as they were in the cauldron. He did not cut the wild ginseng, the garlic, the jujube and the onion. Then, he took out arge native chicken and dropped it in the cauldron.

    ¡°Why are you cooking there?¡± Arlene, the God of Cooking, asked curiously. She knew that the cauldron that Minhyuk took out was a very troublesome piece of cookware. One had to continue stoking the fire to control the heat which would produce lots of smoke that hurt the eye.

    ¡°The cauldron can take on a strong fire. Also, since it¡¯s made with a thick material, it can preserve heat for a very long time. If I cook with this, I will be able to boil the dish better and preserve the heat for a long time while eating. It also has its own unique charm and effect on the taste of the dish.¡±

    Arlene nodded in answer, opting to continue watching Minhyuk cook.

    Minhyuk continued to stoke the fire, the heat from both the fire and cauldron making him sweat profusely. He just slung a towel around his neck and used it to wipe off his sweat, while tending to the fire. He boiled the chicken soup inside the cauldron for a very long time.

    ¡°I think it¡¯s already done cooking though?¡±

    ¡°Chicken soup is known for its meat¡¯s superb and chewy texture. But in my personal opinion, just cooking the chicken soup by following the normal amount of time to boil the dish will make the chicken more ¡®rubbery¡¯ instead of ¡®chewy¡¯. If it¡¯s like that, then the meat will be tough to chew. However, if you continue to boil it like this before serving, then the meat will be softer and chewier.¡±

    Minhyuk cooked the chicken soup for a long, long time. Then, using a wet towel, he grabbed the handle of the cauldron¡¯s lid and lifted it up.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Seeing the steam rise from the depths of the cauldron, Arlene became curious. She slowly approached and peered at the contents inside. What greeted her was the boiling feast of scrumptious chicken soup. The perfectly boiled native chicken shone with its natural oils, surrounded by whole garlic and jujube, while bobbing up and down in the boiling soup.

    <em>Gulp¡ª</em>

    Arlene, the God of Cooking who found even a decent dish to be subpar, gulped unknowingly at the sight. At the same time, the notifications rang for Minhyuk.

    <em>[You havepleted the Chicken Soup.]</em>

    <em>[Arlene¡¯s dish is the only dish with the buff effect.]</em>

    <em>[Legendary Grade.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 30 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 200 REP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 5,000 AP.]</em>

    <em>[Your five basic stats have increased by +2.]</em>

    The chicken soup was a legendary grade dish! When Minhyuk checked the information and the effects of the soup, he could not help but be surprised.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s only at legendary grade but the effects that it has is far more powerful than any other legendary grade dish. Is it because of the excellent ingredients?¡¯</em>

    Either way, Arlene would be able to check it herself when she ate it. So, Minhyuk just brought out a tray and ted the chicken soup on it. He also prepared and mixed salt and pepper in a saucer and ced some well-ripened kimchi as a side dish. Right after finishing everything, Minhyuk triggered his ¡®Joy of Eating Together¡¯ skill and created the same set of dishes in front of him.

    ¡°¡­What¡¯s that skill? I kind of want it,¡± Arlene said, eyes sparkling with desire as she looked at Minhyuk¡¯s skill. This was proof that the ¡®Joy of Eating Together¡¯, the Food God¡¯s Innate Skill, was a truly special skill.

    <em>¡®Goodness! You can cook for others and eat the same dishes that you served them!¡¯</em>

    Of course, the dishes would not have any buff effects. But for Arlene, tasting her own dishes was enough. When it was time to taste the chicken soup, Arlene turned to observe Minhyuk first. She has not actually eaten a chicken soup like this so she wanted to know what to do first. Arlene watched as Minhyuk grabbed a piece of leg from the still piping hot chicken soup and¡­

    ¡°Fwoo! Fwoo!¡±

    ¡­immediately ced it in his own bowl. Minhyuk had to blow on the tips of his fingers to alleviate the heat that lingered in them after taking out the steaming chicken leg. Of course, the first step to this was eating the dish as it was. The heat of the chicken spread in his mouth the moment he took a bite out of the chicken leg.

    ¡°Hooo~¡± Minhyuk exhaled a breath full of steam from the heat as he chewed on the chicken. The meat of the chicken after being boiled for a long time was soft and tender, even its natural oils would spread inside his mouth in every bite. This was one of the charms of chicken soup.

    Next, Minhyuk dipped it in salt. The salt perfectlyplemented the greasy vor of the chicken in Minhyuk¡¯s mouth, bringing him endless delight. But did Minhyuk stop there? Of course not. He ripped some kimchi with his hands and ced it on top of the chicken meat. The spicy and sour kimchi could wash away the chicken soup¡¯s greasy aftertaste that would linger in one¡¯s mouth and bring out a shout of admiration. The moment Minhyuk ced everything in his mouth¡­

    <em>Crunch, crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    ¡­a delightful crunch rang loudly in the area.

    ¡°Kghhhk~¡± Minhyuk shouted in admiration, his fingerspletely covered with oil.

    Meanwhile, Arlene¡¯s eyes widened in surprise when the meat of the chicken easily separated from the bones the moment she took a bite out of it. Of course, as the God of Cooking, Arlene was very aware that this was the natural result after boiling something for a long time. But even so, she could not stop herself from admiring the soft and tender texture of the meat that was easily pulled out from the bone. She also copied what Minhyuk did, cing a piece of kimchi on top of the meat and eating everything in one go.

    <em>Crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    ¡°Amazing¡­¡±

    She felt like every bite of thebination in her mouth was washing away the grease left behind by the meat. It was very surprising to witness Arlene, the God of Cooking, use her bare hands to rip the chicken apart and enjoy the taste of the chicken soup in front of her. While she was busy eating like someone was chasing her, Minhyuk stood up from his seat and walked to the cauldron. The boy added some well-soaked glutinous rice, chopped carrots, and green onions inside the cauldron before stirring everything.

    ¡°¡­Huh? When did you finish eating?¡± Arlene was only almost halfway through her own meal but Minhyuk had already finished everything.

    Minhyuk continued to stir the contents of the cauldron, making sure that none of the ingredients stuck to the bottom. By the time Arlene finished eating her meal, Minhyuk had already finished the chicken porridge,plete with beautiful colors from the chopped carrots and green onions. Minhyuk scooped two bowls of the hot chicken porridge and ced it in front of him and Arlene.

    Then, he began to eat the still steaming chicken porridge.

    ¡°Ugh. Hot.¡±

    The heat of the chicken porridge felt pleasant in Minhyuk¡¯s mouth. His throat was also warmed when he gulped down the food in his mouth.

    ¡°Hoo! Hoo!¡± Minhyuk blew gently on it before scooping another mouthful. That was when the salty and savory vor of the chicken porridge registered in Minhyuk¡¯s taste buds. Just like before, Minhyuk ced a piece of ripe kimchi in his porridge.

    <em>¡®I knew it! Sour kimchi is a better match with chicken porridge than chicken soup.¡¯</em>

    The moment he scooped a spoonful of the porridge and the kimchi and ced it into his mouth¡­

    <em>Crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    The crunchy texture of the kimchi and the soft texture of the porridge met and created a great harmony inside his mouth, his lips curling into a smile.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡±

    ¡°Wow¡­¡±

    The two people eximed in admiration at the same time. Finally, the two finished thest spoonful of their dishes.

    ¡°Fwaaa¡­¡±

    ¡°Fwaa¡­.¡±

    They both let out a sigh of satisfaction after eating a very scrumptious meal. Only after she finished her meal did Arlene realize her uncouth behavior, her face turning a shade of red from embarrassment.

    <em>¡®I am the God of Cooking! How can I act like that?¡¯</em>

    While she was reprimanding herself, the notifications rang in her ears.

    <em>[You have eaten the Chicken Soup.]</em>

    <em>[You can now use your sealed power.]</em>

    <em>[You will only be able to use your sealed power for a total of three times.]</em>

    <em>[With the Chicken Soup¡¯s buff effects, your cooking skills power will increase by 10%.]</em>

    <em>[The buff effect willst for twenty days.]</em>

    Arlene¡¯s cooking skills, her cooking skills before her powers were sealed, would actually be 10% stronger.

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    Arlene was dumbfounded. All she could do was stare at Minhyuk nkly for a very long time.

 Chapter 559: For Ben

    Chapter 559: For Ben

    The official announcement for the Battle of the Thrones was made four days before the server integration. This was a move that waspletely different from what Joy Co. Ltd. usually did. Thepany would usually make an announcement for an event two weeks prior, to give ample time for yers to prepare.

    Due to the sudden and unexpected announcement, all of the yers were now in a hurry. Guilds from all over the world started electing participants for the Battle of the Thrones and running around to choose which one would be their king. But, the same could not be applied to South Korea. After all, their king had already been confirmed.

    That was not the only reason everyone was in a mad rush. The other factor was the ¡®castle¡¯ blueprint. Everyone was only given a four-day time limit to pass their ns. The governments of each of the participating countries even started contacting and hiring world-ss architects.

    Unfortunately, they were forgetting one thing. The castle that they had to build was going to be used for war. In reality, most fancy and morous architecture expressed the soul of the architect and the beauty they envisioned. Of course, outstanding and world-ss architects would be able to produce better buildingspared to others. However, the fact that this castle would be used for war meant that they had to create something that would be able to support the people that would stay in it.

    Just like the castle that Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had created under the coboration of their own geniuses and talents.

    Golden Hammer Dwarf Lant¡¯s best disciple, Olger! He was a genius dwarf that Lant, an existence that was hailed as the king of the dwarves in the entire continent, cherished the most. They also had Athenae¡¯s Roadol, the president of Ilhwa Constructions and a legend of the Korean construction industry, who had watched countless war movies and had designed many medieval architecture. There was also Hyemin¡¯sDaddy, the descendant of the God of the cksmiths, and Knowledge Star, Tactician Jarod. These four people participated and designed the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s castle. The four of them spent days and nights, opting to forego sleep to finish the design that was due in four days.

    ¡°Everyone will be our enemy. All of them will target us,¡± Knowledge Star Jarod said while everyone nodded in agreement with his predictions. The four of them knew that the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would be the target of all of the kingdoms participating in the Battle of the Thrones.

    ¡°I think a huge river surrounding the castle is a good idea. We can drop our enemies in the river and deal more damage at the same time.¡±

    ¡°If we¡¯re going to have a huge river, then we have to build a nice and sturdy bridge that will serve as our passage into the castle.¡±

    ¡°The long bridge will also be able to stop the enemies¡¯ mindless charge and limit the number that we have to deal with at the same time.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s also add a system that will allow us to control the bridge freely from the safety of the castle walls.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a limit to how many magical abilities we can add to the castle. In the first ce, it is already impossible for such an ability to be infinite. However, even if we can do it, it will just hold us back.¡±

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then let¡¯s just ce a huge shield and cover the king¡¯s statue. Let¡¯s also add an attack reflection magic on it.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll have to be prepared for aerial warfare too.¡±

    The castle that the four of them were creating was focused only on defense.

    The castle was important to keep the enemies at bay, but more than that, Athenae promised great rewards for the kingdom that would create the best blueprint. The country¡¯s server that would present the most outstanding blueprint within four days would be given a special siege weapon in secret. On top of that, their own territory would be avable in front of their country¡¯s kingdom for two hours.

    Simply put, Athenae would not inform anyone which castle was chosen as the best castle and would just give these privileges to the country privately.

    On the third day, Genie looked at the blueprint that was worked on by the brilliant minds, and said, ¡°This is truly the best.¡±

    She waspletely fascinated by the building design, immediately sending a report to Minhyuk before submitting the design to Joy Co. Ltd.

    Meanwhile, countless famous architects had gathered in Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s Event Hosting Team to review the blueprints and building designs that the participating countries had sent. Of course, Kang Taehoon was among them.

    ¡±The design that China submitted isrger and more beautiful than the Great Wall. But at the same time, it also poses a problem. Because they wanted to make it look cool and big, the practical effects of the castle have been greatly diminished.¡±

    ¡°America¡¯s blueprint is definitely excellent. However, they are overestimating themselves far too much. Their castle ispletely focused on attacking. They would have a hard time defending it. This is probably because of their pride.¡±

    ¡°Japan¡¯s castle¡­¡±

    Surprisingly enough, quite a few countries had decided to rely on the ¡®Athenae Produced Castles¡¯. These countries believed that only three to four days of time to create a blueprint was not enough and had decided that it would be better to just rely on the castles created by Athenae. Just one look at the blueprint that China presented and one would understand. The castle might look beautiful, but it wasckingpared to the castles in Athenae.

    ¡°Who should we award the Noble Castle Blueprint Award to?¡± President Kang Taehoon rubbed his chin in thought.

    Of course, they had sent the announcement in a hurry but considering that they were true rankers, they believed that they would be able toe up with a genuine and solid blueprint in that short amount of time. Besides they only asked for a blueprint, and not for them to build the castle.

    Then, at that moment¡­

    ¡°South Korea¡¯s blueprint hase in!¡±

    All of the architects rushed to check the blueprint. They looked at it solemnly and silently for quite a long time.

    ¡°How is it?¡±

    Kang Taehoon was a game developer, not an architect. As someone with only a superficial knowledge on architectures and buildings, the blueprint that Korea sent in was no different than the blueprint for America¡¯s castle to his eyes. But¡­

    ¡°This is very amazing. It¡¯s to the point where I have to wonder if this is a design that one could trulye up with in just three days.¡±

    ¡°The ways they¡¯ve utilized the terrain and their arrangement of the siege weapons in their castle walls¡­ truly meticulous and outstanding. It¡¯s like we¡¯re looking at a blueprint of a castle made by genuine medieval architects.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s very hard to find any cons to this design. I believe no other castle can catch up to this at all.¡±

    President Kang Taehoon felt proud of the castle created by the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. This was a fair judgment for all of the servers; there was no discrimination at all. And the fact that South Korea hadpletely taken the lead in terms of architectural design was enough to make him feel proud.

    ¡°Then, the Noble Castle Blueprint Award will be awarded to South Korea.¡±

    It seemed like South Korea was fully prepared.

    Just then, Team Leader Park Minggyu suddenly entered the room, ¡°President, the problem that we were worried about has happened.¡±

    ¡°Is it what I think it is?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Team Leader Park¡¯s expression was very solemn, ¡°The kings elected by three countries have expressed their intentions to participate in the middle of the Battle of the Thrones.¡±

    ¡°Which countries?¡±

    ¡°France, Japan and¡­¡± Team Leader Park Minggyu, with a bitter smile on his face, finished his words, ¡°¡­our very own, South Korea.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The Battle of the Thrones was expected to begin in a few days. In fact, the formal announcement was made just three days ago. Of course, yers that were currently engaged in important quests, hunts, and important tasks had no choice but to give up and decline participation, especially if one was in the middle of a quest. After all, they risked failing the quest if they suddenly left midway.

    One might then wonder, would everything work out if they could just extract the yer from the quest? Yes. But that was impossible. If they did that, then Athenae¡¯s flow might copse. This was a loophole that they could not do anything about since they prepared the Battle of the Thrones in a hurry.

    All they could do was do the next best thing, allow them to participate midway.

    ¡°Kings that participateter will be less exhausted and would not need to worry about their skill cooldown. We can expect a lot of bacsh from other yers if we allow this.¡±

    ¡°Then, are they supposed to elect a new king to rece their initially chosen king?¡±

    That would also be very difficult to do. The kings that were currently chosen and elected by their countries had symbolic meanings, doing so would reject this in the first ce.

    ¡°Just like what I said before, for kings that will participate in the middle of the event, they will receive less privileges than the kings that participated from the start.¡±

    Kings would, of course, actively seek more power than usual. And for kings that would participate in the middle, they were bound to get less benefits. In other words, Minhyuk, Asgan Continent¡¯s chosen king, will receive lesser benefitspared to other kings. In fact, it would definitely be considered a loss for them. Still, doing so appeases those that might mor about why some kings participated in the middle. But¡­

    ¡°It would be a different story if they would be strong enough to ignore the penalty of participating in the middle.¡±

    ***

    Thanks to the chicken soup that Minhyuk cooked for her, Arlene¡¯s power had been unsealed. And just like she said before, all of this was so she could cook for someone. Arlene then instructed Minhyuk to gather the ingredients on her behalf. Minhyuk had been climbing cliffs and fighting monsters for days on end to collect and harvest the ingredients that she needed.

    <em>¡®This cranky old hag¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk thought that Arlene was just making things hard for him. But even if he thought that way, Arlene was the only solution that he had to unseal his Absolute God¡¯s Secret.

    What if she suddenly decided not to unseal it?

    So, he had no choice but to continue to collect the ingredients and of course, and it took quite a lot of time. On top of that, the Battle of the Thrones was set to start tomorrow. Of course, Minhyuk had already expressed his intentions to participate in the middle to Joy Co. Ltd. Still, he had to immediately go there the moment he unsealed his Absolute God¡¯s Secret.

    ¡°Thank you for your hard work. Ah, now all you have to do is cook this dish and give it to him and you¡¯ll unseal the secret that those bastards sealed, right?¡±

    Arlene was aware of everything including the reason why Minhyuk found her.

    ¡°I should probably start cooking now, then.¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± Minhyuk nodded, his expectations soaring.

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll be able to personally witness the God of Cooking cooking?¡¯</em>

    This was a very emotional moment for a Food God like him. And not only that, she was also the previous Food God¡¯s master.

    ¡°But you know what?¡± Arlene said, her lips curling up into a smirk. She was a very ill-tempered and mischievous woman. However, this time, the prank that she was going to y was a well-meaning one, ¡°I believe this dish is something that you should cook, not me.¡±

    Minhyuk looked at her, bewildered. When cooking, the chef would pour their heart out on the dish that they were making. Simply put, it was more meaningful if the chef cooked for someone precious to them. But Arlene suddenly said that she would not cook for ¡®<em>him¡¯</em> and even asked Minhyuk to cook instead?

    ¡°Why? Isn¡¯t he your precious person? Why are you asking me to cook instead?¡±

    Also, Arlene¡¯s seal had been truly hard to unravel. But shepletely ignored that fact and even asked him to cook in her stead?

    ¡°You¡¯re the one that has to do it. He¡¯s more precious to you than me,¡± Arlene said, waving her hand in the air. Suddenly, the translucent figure of an old man and a woman appeared right next to Arlene.

    Minhyuk felt his heart stop when he saw the old man¡¯s figure. Oh, how much he missed this man, how much he missed hearing his voice. Minhyuk recalled how the old man gently patted his shoulders with his rough hands and said, <em>¡®Your Majesty, I¡¯m with you. Please don¡¯t worry. Hohoho!¡¯ </em>This person had been a huge part of Minhyuk¡¯s life, someone that sacrificed his own life and even went so far as to sell his soul to the God of Death just so he could protect the people precious to Minhyuk.

    Then, the notifications rang.

    <em>[The God of Cooking, one of the Absolute Gods, is narrating the story of a king and his retainer.]</em>

    <em>[The retainer fought hard to return to his king¡¯s arms to the point that even the gods grew afraid of him.]</em>

    <em>[The retainer copsed thousands of times but every time he would stand up and hold on to his spear to protect his king and his promise.]</em>

    <em>[The retainer longs for his king, looking forward to the day when he would return to his side.]</em>

    <em>[Despite the countless wounds and injuries littering the retainer¡¯s body, he always dered that he would never back down.]</em>

    Arlene said, ¡°Cook using my unsealed powers.¡±

    Then, another set of notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[God of Cooking Arlene is lending you her powers!]</em>

    <em>[With God of Cooking Arlene lending you her powers, you will be able to use some of the God of Cooking¡¯s power when you cook.]</em>

    <em>[Caution! If you use a portion of the power of the God of Cooking, you will receive a five times higher penalty and be forced to log out if you can¡¯t get a ¡®God Grade¡¯ dish!]</em>

    After the retainer¡¯s story ended, the king¡¯s story began.

    <em>[There was not a single day that the king did not remember his retainer.]</em>

    <em>[The wheels of fate turned and the king unknowingly chased after his retainer.]</em>

    <em>[The king misses the coffee that his retainer makes.]</em>

    <em>[The king¡­ his retainer¡­]</em>

    <em>[The king¡­ his retainer¡­]</em>

    The notifications continued to ring but Minhyuk¡¯s eyes were only trained on Ben¡¯s figure. He watched as Ben was pushed back by a woman holding an unidentified spear, as Ben hacked and vomited a mouthful of blood and tried to get up once again. He looked like he was about to copse but he held on to his spear and stood up with all his might.

    Minhyuk gritted his teeth, his hands clenched tightly into fists. He did not care about the five-fold penalty. All he wanted to do was fight for Ghost Spear Ben.

    So, he said, ¡°I ept. I will use Arlene¡¯s power to cook a dish for Ben.¡±

    At that moment, Arlene began to narrate a new chapter of the story of the king and his retainer.

    <em>[The king dered that he would fight for his retainer.]</em>

 Chapter 560: Battle of the Thrones (1)

    Chapter 560: Battle of the Thrones (1)

    Minhyuk, having witnessed how Ben fought fiercely and desperately during the Absolute Gods¡¯ trial, did not even care about the five-fold penalty. Even if it was a ten-fold penalty, Minhyuk would still choose to receive a portion of Arlene¡¯s power, just so he could cook a dish for Ben.

    Now, the challenge that Minhyuk was presented with was to make a God-grade dish in one try. Making a legendary grade dish at one go was already a difficult feat. But Minhyuk was tasked to make a God grade dish, a dish that he had only made once or twice himself.

    Nevertheless, Minhyuk still took on the challenge.

    Notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears the moment a portion of Arlene¡¯s power entered his body.

    <em>[Your chances of getting a Legendary Grade dish has been increased by thirty times! Your chances of getting a God Grade dish has been increased by ten times!]</em>

    <em>[The effects of your buffed dishes will be 1.3x stronger than usual!]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Even though Minhyuk was not able to borrow Arlene¡¯s full power and was only able to inherit a portion of them for the time being, just these two notifications alone were enough to take away his breath.

    <em>¡®My chances of getting a legendary grade dish increased by thirty times¡­?¡¯</em>

    The only word that Minhyuk could use to describe this situation was crazy. Of course, his probability of creating a God grade dish also increased by ten times. However, he only had less than a percent chance of getting that dish. This meant that his odds of sessfully clearing this challenge was still abysmally low.

    Having personally obtained the ingredients ording to Arlene¡¯s directions, he checked the chicken, which was the main ingredient.

    <em>(<strong>Legendary Giant Chicken¡¯s Leg Meat</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Ingredient Grade</strong>: Five Legends</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>?Can allow one to ovee their limits.</em>

    <em>?All stats and skills will increase.</em>

    <em>?If you seed in making a dish out of this chicken, you will be able to create a vor that is out of this world.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: The Legendary Giant Chickens are not really as big as a cattle. In fact, they are only asrge as an ordinary native chicken. However, it gained its moniker because it would feel extremely heavy the moment one started cooking it, as if it was a giant. The Legendary Giant Chicken is also known to spew zing mes from its entire body. The mes that it could emit are hotter than the mes of a dying Phoenix. It¡¯s a really difficult ingredient to cook. One small mistake and the ingredient will be turned to waste.</em>

    <em>¡®I thought that it wouldn¡¯t matter since Arlene will be the one cooking, but¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had used an ingredient like this before, the Legendary Giant Cow¡¯s Bone Marrow. Back then, he made an ¡®Ox Bone Soup¡¯ for Ellie and allowed her toe back to life, despite being at death¡¯s door. Since legendary and God-grade ingredients contained so much power, it was very hard to cook them. On top of that, the probability of God-grade dishes appearing was so low that even if Minhyuk used several higher grade ingredients, it would not matter at all.

    <em>¡®Nevertheless, I will still do my best to fight for him.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk slowly closed his eyes, hoping that his voice would reach Ben as he pondered about how he should go about cooking the chicken.

    <em>¡®It should be spicy stir-fried chicken.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk recalled that one of Ben¡¯s favorite dishes was spicy stir-fried chicken. Ben disliked eating dishes with quite a lot of bones in it, but he was quite fond of the slightly spicy vor that lingered in his mouth. With this, Minhyuk finally started cooking.

    The first thing that Minhyuk tried to do was to remove the impurities in the Legendary Giant Chicken¡¯s leg meat by putting it in a bowl filled with water but¡­

    <em>Rumble, rumble, rumble¡ª</em>

    ¡­something rumbled loudly, as if an earthquake was happening.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s gaze immediately turned to the chicken, only to see one of the table¡¯s legs, which was made of iron, bending at an unusual angle.

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk immediately hugged the meat to his chest as¡­

    ¡°Ugggggggh!¡±

    ¡­a tremendous amount of weight began to bear down on him. However, Minhyuk just gritted his teeth and endured it. The weight was so heavy that even the ground that he was standing on was already a few inches deeper than the surrounding area. In fact, his descent was only stopped when he was ankle deep in the ground.

    ¡°Haaa¡­ Haaa¡­¡± Minhyuk gasped, his breathing turning rough with the heavy weight on his arms. The description of the Legendary Giant Chicken appeared in his head.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s because it would feel extremely heavy the moment one started cooking it like it¡¯s a giant.¡¯</em>

    It was at this moment that Minhyuk realized what the description truly meant. Even though he had no idea how he should go about cooking a meat like this, he continued to do so. Minhyuk quickly cleaned the chicken meat. He was lifting just a small piece of chicken yet it felt like he was lifting a dumbbell that was as heavy as ten kilograms. Thankfully, Minhyuk¡¯s STR was also very high. After he washed the chicken, he ced the trimmed and cleaned chicken, the cabbages, the gochujang, the sweet potatoes and the rice cakes in the pan.

    <em>Rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble¡ª</em>

    Of course, another rumble rang loudly in the area. Fortunately, the pan that Minhyuk was using was his legendary frying pan, which, despite the crushing weight, was able to endure it and hold on. Then, Minhyuk turned on the fire and began to cook. Minhyuk felt as if he was turning a very heavy millstone as he flipped the sizzling chicken over to cook everything evenly.

    ¡°Uggggggggh¡­¡± A groan escaped through the seams of Minhyuk¡¯s mouth as his arms trembled from the crushing weight of the meat. However, the worst had yet toe.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>[The Giant Chicken has started to spew zing mes.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has been reduced by 1%.]</em>

    A huge pir of me engulfed Minhyuk¡¯s entire body. Its strength was so strong that it made Minhyuk suffer even more. For a brief moment, Minhyuk¡¯s hand, which was holding the spat, stopped.

    Arlene, who was watching Minhyuk, rubbed her chin in thought, <em>¡®From what I know, that ingredient is the hardest ingredient to cook among the Five Legendary Ingredients. Actually, it¡¯s really impossible for someone to cook it. Well, except for me.¡¯ </em>Arlene smiled bitterly. She knew that one had to suffer and sacrifice that much to produce a dish with strong powers.

    <em>¡®Minhyuk. Will he give up in the end?¡¯</em>

    The crushing weight of almost a thousand catty[1] and the burning mes would be too much for anyone. However, Minhyuk continued to move, despite the mes engulfing his body.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The chicken was flipped over in the pan, the gochujang and other seasonings coating it evenly and mixing together.

    <em>[You have triggered the Skill: Will.]</em>

    <em>[Everything rted to DEX will temporarily increase by 24%.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1 DEX.]</em>

    Although cooking the Legendary Giant Chicken only took a short time, it would take a tremendous amount of mental strength and skills to cook the meat. That was why it triggered Will and why Minhyuk¡¯s DEX was increasing at a rapid pace. Fortunately, Will was able to soothe Minhyuk¡¯s burning body slightly.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    With another flip, the Giant Chicken waspletely covered with gochujang and the rest of the seasonings. At this point, Minhyuk¡¯s HP only had 30% left after the zing mes¡¯ continuous gnawing. This was also after he had triggered the Monarch¡¯s Armor¡¯s 100% HP and MP recovery, as well as the skill: He Who Ovees. Still, Minhyuk continued to cook. He used his spat and pressed down to cut the chicken.

    <em>Sizzleeeee¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk continued to cut down on the chicken while the sweet potatoes and rice cakes were being cooked together. Now, all he needed to do was to lower the heat and flip the chicken a few more times and he would be done.

    Arlene thought that Minhyuk would end his cooking here. After all, the sweat that covered his entire body was enough proof that he was already overwhelmed by the situation. But¡­ Minhyuk poured udon noodles on the side of the frying pan.

    ¡°Crazy¡­ Stop!!!¡± Arlene shouted in shock. Minhyuk had to stir more if he wanted to soak the noodles in the sauce. Since Minhyuk also had to bear the weight of a thousand catty, moving the spat so the dish would not stick to the pan and burn would be one hell of a feat for him.

    ¡°Do you want to die without finishing your dish?!!!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s HP was definitely dropping at a rapid pace. But Minhyuk just smiled at her and said, ¡°Grandpa likes it...¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°This udon, he likes it.¡±

    Arlene was speechless. The boy¡¯s words only meant one thing.

    <em>¡®He likes it, so I will do it even if I suffer.¡¯</em>

    This was something that Arlene had never seen before; a close friendship between a king and his retainer.

    <em>¡®You can do it.¡¯</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk began to move, stir-frying the udon noodles with his spat so it would be evenly coated with the sauce.

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 15%!]</em>

    <em>[You have be light-headed.]</em>

    <em>[Your stamina has once again reached its limits!]</em>

    <em>[Signs of exhaustion have been observed! Rest is highly rmended!]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s body felt as heavy as a millstone. As his arms shook and trembled, his mind kept on telling him to fall down and copse. But he never stopped moving his arms.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    For Minhyuk, it did not matter if Ben did not know that he was cooking for him. All he wanted to do was to feed Ben, who was fighting silently by himself, a tasty and fulfilling meal. After all, even though he was a king, the one thing that he was very good at was cooking.

    So, he squeezed thest bit of his strength to cook this dish with all his might.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Anyone that saw Minhyuk¡¯s state right now would look at him incredulously. He was risking his life just to cook? Some would ask him: <em>Do you think this is a battlefield?</em> If Minhyuk heard that, he would answer: <em>Sometimes, cooking is harsher and crueler than a battlefield.</em> For Minhyuk, who almost let go of thest string of consciousness in his body, the thought that Ben wanted to eat this dish was the only thing that spurred him on. For him, this was his battlefield.

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 5%!]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s forehead was covered with ayer of sweat, his muscles already screaming in protest. But he persisted. He mixed the udon noodles well and parted the middle with his spat.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Then, Minhyuk spread a heaping of mozzare cheese in the middle of the spicy stir-fried chicken.

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 3%!]</em>

    The strength in Minhyuk¡¯s body was so sparse that he could barely move. But Minhyuk clenched his teeth and used thest bit of his strength left to quickly press on the cheese with his spat.

    <em>Tak, tak, tak, tak, tak, tak¡ª</em>

    The cheese began to melt rapidly along with Minhyuk¡¯s movements.

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 2%!]</em>

    With a final press, Minhyuk felt his consciousness begin to fade. All of the strength left his body as he copsed on the ground. Arlene hurriedly rushed forward to catch Minhyuk¡¯s falling body. As she slowlyid Minhyuk down on the floor, a notification rang in her ears and the rest of the world. Then, a huge pir of light fell down on the spicy stir-fried chicken.

    <em>¡®Unbelievable¡­¡¯</em>

    Arlene was very shocked to see a light, brighter and more beautiful than any of the other gods¡¯, born in the world at this very moment.

    <em>¡®I have only created something like this thrice in my life¡­¡¯</em>

    But the young man in front of her was able to do it. Arlene immediately raised her hands towards the spicy stir-fried chicken.

    <em>[You have saved and maintained the Spicy Stir-fried Chicken at its condition when it was freshly cooked.]</em>

    After preserving the condition of the dish, Arlene looked at Minhyuk for a very long time. She watched the man, who was now in a deep sleep, mumble, ¡°Grandpa, is it delicious?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Arleneughed bitterly when she saw how Minhyuk still thought of Ben even when he had fallen unconscious.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure it will be delicious.¡±

    ***

    His eyes and body felt so heavy and sluggish. However, the smell that was teasing his nose had Minhyuk instinctively opening his eyes. Through his blurred vision, Minhyuk was able to see a woman moving around busily in the kitchen and cooking something that smelled very nice.

    The woman¡¯s way of cooking was very different from an ordinary person¡¯s way of cooking. One snap of her fingers and what seemed to be salt, which was engulfed in light, appeared and got sucked inside the dish that she was making. Although she was cooking a dish, one could only describe this scene as beautiful.

    But before everything¡­

    <em>Creak¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk, who raised his body, said, ¡°Wh, what happened to the spicy stir-fried chicken? Did, did a God-grade spicy stir-fried chickene out?¡±

    ¡°Hush,¡± Arlene said, a meaningful smile on her face, adding the final touches to the dish that she was cooking. She ced the dish in an earthen pot, before bringing it in front of Minhyuk. The dish ced in front of Minhyuk was none other than bean sprout rice soup.

    ¡°It¡¯s time to eat¡­ Ah, looks yummy¡­¡±

    Actually, Minhyuk¡¯s mouth was already watering even before.

    Then, Arlene said, ¡°The reason you came to find me...¡±

    ¡°Yes, what?¡± Minhyuk tilted his head.

    Arlene continued, ¡°¡­is to obtain a dish that will unseal your Absolute God¡¯s Secret. That¡¯s the dish that you¡¯ve been looking for.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s sealed power would awaken once again to the world eight hours before the Battle of the Thrones started.

    1. The unit of measure used here is ?, a Korean catty which weighs around 600 grams. So, a thousand is around 6000 grams or 600 kilograms ?

 Chapter 561: Battle of the Thrones (1)

    Chapter 561: Battle of the Thrones (1)

    Minhyuk had actually reached the limits of his stamina when he was cooking the Legendary Giant Chicken. In fact, he even went past that limit several times over the course of the cooking process.

    ¡°Ben is important, but you are also important.¡±

    Minhyuk stared at the bean sprout rice soup ced in front of him. Since Arlene was the ¡®God of Cooking¡¯, she definitely knew about all of the dishes in the world. It seemed like she deliberately prepared a dish like this for him, someone who was from Asgan Continent. But it was not just a simple bean sprout rice soup, it was a dish that contained tremendous power that would unseal Minhyuk¡¯s Absolute God¡¯s Secret.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk watched the steaming out of the earthen pot for a moment. Since the dish was ced in an earthen pot, it was still boiling even after it had left the fire. He looked at the bean sprouts, the sliced Cheongyang chili peppers, and the chopped squid ced on top of the dish.

    ¡°¡­Thank you for the meal.¡±

    It had been quite a while since Minhyuk had eaten a dish made for him by others. The first thing that he reached out for was the steel bowl right next to the earthen pot. He ced one of the two poached eggs served to him inside the bowl and poured a bit of sesame oil on it. Then, he scooped a couple of spoonfuls of the bean sprout rice soup¡¯s soup and sprinkled it on top of the poached egg. He then took his chopsticks and mixed everything together. After that, he lifted the entire bowl and tipped its content in his mouth, as if he was drinking the soup and the poached egg.

    ¡°Kghhk¡­¡±

    The rich vor of the poached egg and the bean sprout rice soup¡¯s soup mixed together tasted divine in his mouth. The soup wrapped his stomach and his entire being in warmth. This time, he used his chopsticks to stir the remaining poached egg before pouring it over the still steaming bean sprout rice soup. The poached egg was slowly cooked inside the bean sprout rice soup.

    Minhyuk picked a piece of the seaweed served to the side. Of course, just like how he usually ate, he tasted the seaweed first.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s good, right?¡±

    Minhyuk was very impressed with the crispy texture and the slightly salty vor of the seaweed. From what it looked like, the seaweed was something that Arlene personally obtained. Then, Minhyuk broke the seaweed into pieces before sprinkling it over the bean sprout rice soup. After mixing everything, he scooped a spoonful of the soup and took a sip.

    ¡°Hoo. That¡¯s refreshing,¡± There was no other expression more befitting for this situation.

    This time, Minhyuk scooped a bit of everything, some rice, some bean sprouts and some squid, in his spoon before cing it in his mouth. The heat of the dish immediately spread in his mouth which was enough to scald him, but instead of a grimace, a wide smile appeared on his face as the rice, the crunchy bean sprouts, and the chewy squid¡¯s vor and texture blended perfectly well with the hot soup in his mouth.

    Of course, Minhyuk could not leave out something very important. He stretched his chopsticks towards the side dishes that Arlene prepared. They were the perfectbination! There were some thinly sliced soy braised beef, some salted squid, some stir-fried fish cake in soy sauce, radish kimchi, and kimchi.

    A slightly salty vor permeated Minhyuk¡¯s mouth when he took a bite of the thinly sliced soy braised beef. Of course, to achieve a divinebination, Minhyuk immediately followed it with a spoonful of the bean sprout rice soup. Next, he scooped a spoonful of the bean sprout rice soup, before adding some of the salted squid on top of it. The spicy and salty squid was the perfect match for the nd vor of the bean sprout soup.

    After eating for a while, Minhyuk then lifted the entire earthen pot, blew a bit on it before drinking its content. A <em>¡®Ho.¡¯</em> instantly escaped from his mouth, from the refreshing feeling that the warm soup brought him. He ate everything in the earthen pot, down to its veryst grain. Perspiration gathered at the tip of Minhyuk¡¯s nose once he was done eating. He quickly took out some tissue and blew his nose loudly, a wide and satisfied smile on his face.

    Then, the notifications began to ring.

    ***

    With only a few hours left before the start of the Battle of the Thrones, the entire world was busy discussing which country¡¯s king would sit on the Supreme King¡¯s Throne.

    At the same time, the kings that would participate in the middle of the event were also confirmed. France, Japan and South Korea. Each of the countries would be able to change it eight hours before the start of the Battle of the Thrones. However, their status eventually got confirmed.

    For the kings that would participate in the middle of the event, they would receive a penalty of 5% decrease in all stats and skill damage. A huge decreasepared to the kings that would participate since the beginning.

    What if they participated a day after? The kings would receive a penalty of 10% decrease in all stats and skill damage, as well as a 10% increase in skill cooldown.

    What about two days after? A penalty of 15% decrease in all stats and skill damage, as well as a 15% increase in skill cooldown.

    After three days, there would be an additional 5% increase in all penalties, which would weaken the kings by as much as 20%.

    Because of this announcement, plenty of experts and global rankers began to express their opinions.

    <em>[The penalties of the kings of the countries that would participate in the middle of the event is not just limited to the skill and stat decrease. From the very beginning, their country and their kingdom would lose their absolute ruler.]</em>

    <em>[And the kings selected by those countries are most likely their country¡¯s strongest yers. The country¡¯s strongest yer could easily overpower hundreds of rankers. The absence of such an existence, their king, would result in their own destruction.]</em>

    <em>[This is especially the case for South Korea. South Korea is the only country that has created a kingdom, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. They are more systematic and organizedpared to the other countries, which are only temporarily governing their kingdoms. Because of that, plenty of countries will most definitely form an alliance and attack the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, without its king, will notst long.]</em>

    <em>[The Food God is in the middle of a very important quest right now. We don¡¯t know for sure but there¡¯s a chance that it¡¯s rted to the main scenario. But even if he gets a stronger power, nothing will change even if he makes an appearance, unless it is at the level of an ¡®Absolute God¡¯s Secret¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[To top it off, the weakened Food God has his Absolute God¡¯s Secret sealed. Actually, just thinking about the Absolute God¡¯s Secret that the Food God used when he killed Akhan and the Demon Worshippers still gives me the chills.]</em>

    <em>[I think it¡¯s only possible because of Asura¡¯s Armor that restores his HP, the massive damage that he dealt with using his passive skill, and the Food God¡¯s tremendous defense, right?]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s absolutely right. If the Food God¡¯s Absolute God¡¯s Secret hadn¡¯t been sealed then he would have shown incredible power in the Battle of the Thrones. He could recover his HP indefinitely and crush his enemies with the huge damage from his basic attacks. Unfortunately¡­ Hahahahahahahahahahahaha¡­ the Food God¡¯s Absolute God¡¯s Secret was sealed.]</em>

    <em>[Kahahahahahahaha! If the Food Godes in three or four dayster then he will be 20% weaker than the other kings, right?]</em>

    <em>[The other kings might even gang up on him. Compared to other countries like America, China and Indonesia, South Korea¡¯snd is small, which also means that the levels of their rankers are particrly lower than the other yers from the other countries. Of course, they also have a lot of top rankers, but the other countries have a lot more than them.]</em>

    In just an instant, public opinion had turned around. Especially when Minhyuk expressed his intentions to participate in the middle of the event. Many Koreans, who had high hopes for him, began to criticize him severely. Those that were very jealous and envious of him began to type fiercely on their keyboards.

    <em>[What the hell are they on for them to be so crazy about the Food God? Participate in the middle of the Battle of the Thrones? What is he, a moron?]</em>

    <em>[No, it¡¯smon sense that winning the Battle of the Thrones will give you better rewards but¡­ Kahahahahahahahahahaha¡­ f*cking bullshit.]</em>

    <em>[No, no. Guys, I think he¡¯s gone crazy after his Absolute God¡¯s Secret was sealed. Hahahaha. And with dozens of countries ganging up on him, he will definitely stand out. Then,ter he will say ¡®It¡¯s because I got a penalty¡¯ and use it as an excuse for losing.]</em>

    <em>[Oh. That¡¯s quite a reasonable guess. He¡¯s purposely dying his participation to have an excuse.]</em>

    There was also oneizen that openly mocked the Food God.

    <em>[What a damn pity, the Food God¡¯s Absolute God¡¯s Secret has been sealed~~~ You¡¯re being bullied by the gods. Yep! You¡¯ll never be able to get an Absolute God¡¯s Secret in your entire life~~~]</em>

    ***

    Everyone was wrong. At this moment, Minhyuk had already solved his problem with his Absolute God¡¯s Secret.

    <em>[You have eaten the Bean Sprout Rice Soup made by the God of Cooking!]</em>

    <em>[The Bean Sprout Rice Soup containing an Absolute God¡¯s power has awakened the power sealed within you!]</em>

    <em>[The seal of the Absolute God¡¯s Secret: Lightning will now be released!!!]</em>

    <em>[The God of Cooking has used one drop of ¡®Athenae¡¯s Tears¡¯!]</em>

    <em>[Athenae¡¯s Tears has the power to strengthen any power, including an Absolute God¡¯s power!]</em>

    <em>[A special power has been added to Lightning!]</em>

    What was more, Lightning had be much stronger.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk looked at Arlene.

    Of course, the cranky grandma Arlene had made him suffer tremendously by subjecting him through several hardships and troubles. But this very same Arlene was now smiling with embarrassment at Minhyuk as she said, ¡°It¡¯s your reward for entertaining me.¡±

    For entertaining her? It was because Arlene felt quite pleased at witnessing a very close rtionship between a king and his retainer. It seemed like there were still people like this was what she thought. Minhyuk turned to check his unsealed Lightning.

    <em>(<strong>Lightning</strong>)</em>

    <em>Absolute God¡¯s Secret</em>

    <em>Level: None</em>

    <em>Mana Required: None</em>

    <em>Cooldown: None</em>

    <em>Effects: </em>

    <em>? You can choose between the three modes: Explosion, Destruction and Crazy.</em>

    <em>? A new mode Gather has been added thanks to Athenae¡¯s Tears.</em>

    <em>? In Explosion mode, you will have a 40% chance of triggering bolts of lightning with 2,500% additional attack and 1,400% additional damage in a ten meter radius for every basic attack youunch.</em>

    <em>? There is a 15% chance of your enemy falling into a four second stunned state after getting struck by Explosion.</em>

    <em>? In Destruction mode, you will have a 35% chance of triggering sixteen bloody lightning bolts with additional 1,600% damage for every enemy.</em>

    <em>? There is a 40% chance of your enemy falling into a three second stunned state after getting struck by Destruction.</em>

    <em>? In Crazy mode, you will have a 55% chance of triggering a sword wind with 3,300% additional attack power that can rip through anything and everything in its path when attacking with a basic attack.</em>

    <em>? In Crazy Mode, you will have a chance of consecutively triggering Crazy Mode.</em>

    <em>? There is a 55% chance of triggering the Crazy Mode two times in a row.</em>

    <em>? There is a 35% chance of triggering the Crazy Mode four times in a row.</em>

    <em>? There is a 20% chance of triggering the Crazy Mode six times in a row.</em>

    <em>? There is a 10% chance of triggering the Crazy Mode eight times in a row.</em>

    <em>? There is a 5% chance of triggering the Crazy Mode ten times in a row.</em>

    <em>? There is a 30% chance of your enemy falling into a four second stunned state after getting struck by Crazy.</em>

    <em>? In Crazy Mode, there is a 20% chance of turning the Continent Destroyer Sword¡¯s Active Skill: Armor Break into a passive skill and triggering it to destroy the opponent¡¯s sword.</em>

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    Minhyuk looked at the skill window and Arlene alternately.

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    Then, he looked at Arlene again. Everytime he did that, a question mark would pop up in his head.

    <em>¡®I think this is something that really deserves the Absolute God¡¯s restriction.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was very flustered. If he were one of the Absolute Gods, he would definitely stop himself from having this power. That was how amazing it was. But what was more surprising was the fact that Minhyuk had not checked the Gather Mode yet, the mode added through Athenae¡¯s Tears. Of course, Minhyuk immediately checked it after realizing his folly.

    <em>(<strong>Gather</strong>)</em>

    <em>Absolute God¡¯s Secret</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Mana Required</strong>: 5,000</em>

    <em><strong>Cooldown</strong>: 1 hour</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>? Gather Mode is the mode that brings together all of the advantages of Explosion, Destruction and Crazy.</em>

    <em>? Compared to the other modes in Lightning, Gather mode acts as an active skill. Upon usage, all the effects of Lightning will be unavable for an hour.</em>

    <em>? Gather mode has a duration of four minutes.</em>

    <em>? Upon sessful attack, you will have a 100% chance of having an additional 4,000% attack power.</em>

    <em>? There¡¯s a 40% chance of triggering around four to eight times of bloody lightning rain with 2,000% attack power that will indiscriminately attack anyone within a 30 meter radius of your target.</em>

    <em>? There¡¯s a 10% chance of the bloody lightning rain exploding with an additional 2,000% attack power.</em>

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    Minhyuk could not help but look at Arlene and the information alternately once again. Gather mode had apletely different effect from the three other modes. First, it acted as an active skill. Second, with just one literal strike, Minhyuk would be able to wreak havoc with the effects of Explosion and Destruction at the same time.

    But there was something far more surprising than that. It was none other than the 100% chance mentioned in the description. Minhyuk had a 100% chance of dealing a 4,000% damage within a thirty meter radius.

    Seeing all these, Minhyuk only had two words to describe the skill.

    ¡°F*cking OP¡­¡±

 Chapter 562: Battle of the Thrones (1)

    Chapter 562: Battle of the Thrones (1)

    While Minhyuk was busy admiring his unsealed Absolute God¡¯s Secret, the entire world was struck with the same message.

    <em>[There will be an update in 30 minutes. yers are advised to log out in a safe ce.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk felt his heart tremble. Being asked to log out for an update only meant one thing: Athenae was going to usher in their second era with the integration of dozens of servers all over the world. Along with that, the ¡®Battle of the Thrones¡¯ would begin.

    <em>¡®I¡¯ve already received a penalty for expressing my will to participate in the middle of the event. Fortunately, it¡¯s not that big.¡¯</em>

    Since Minhyuk had unsealed his Absolute God¡¯s Secret on time, it was still possible for him to join everyone in the beginning of the event. But before he was about to return to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡­

    ¡°Food God.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡­Arlene called out to him, stopping him in his tracks. Minhyuk could feel Arlene¡¯s gaze fixed on his back.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you curious about the Abyss?¡±

    If she was asking if Minhyuk was curious about the Abyss, then the answer to that was without a doubt, yes. Ordinary yers might not know anything about the Abyss, but Arlene would probably know a lot about it.

    ¡°I¡¯m probably the only one that can open the path to the Abyss as of the moment.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    What was more, Arlene mentioned that she was the only one who can open the path to the Abyss. This meant that if Minhyuk left now and broke contact with Arlene, he would never be able to get a chance to enter the Abyss again.

    ¡°You will face several trials when you enter the Abyss. But each time you clear a trial, you will receive a special reward.¡±

    ¡°What kind of rewards are we talking about here?¡±

    Minhyuk needed to know so he could weigh his options and make an urate judgment. Would the rewards be good enough for him to dy his participation in the Battle of the Thrones for a few more days, or not?

    ¡°The lowest rewards are legendary grade ingredients. And you will also be able to obtain another of the Food God¡¯s hidden power.¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    As expected of a God ss, they were truly on another level. To think the Food God had a hidden power stowed away somewhere¡­

    <em>¡®Usually, for several trials, it would take at least around one Athenae game day for one toplete and proceed to the next day.¡¯</em>

    This was the reason why it was possible for some people to clear all of their trials within a single day in reality, and obtain several legendary grade materials and artifacts. On top of that, Minhyuk also had the chance to gain the Food God¡¯s hidden power.

    ¡°Every time you clear an Abyss Trial, you will receive astronomical rewards. Ah, right! If you clear one of the trials, you will be allowed to leave once and enter again.¡±

    <em>You will be allowed to leave once and enter again.</em> These words meant that Minhyuk would be able to participate in the Battle of the Thrones while still undergoing the trials.

    ¡°So, what would I get if I clear all of the Abyss Trials?¡±

    ¡°Honor.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s it. I can¡¯t tell you any more than this.¡±

    Minhyuk would receive honor? No matter how hard he thought about it, he just could not understand why he would receive honor for clearing the Abyss Trials.

    ¡°Are you going?¡±

    The thoughts in Minhyuk¡¯s head quickly churned. Anyway, he had already received a penalty for dying his participation for the Battle of the Thrones for a day. If he clears one trial then he would be able to participate in the Battle of the Thrones before returning to take the other trials.

    ¡°I¡¯ll do it.¡±

    Then, a bright light surrounded Minhyuk¡¯s body. However, this light was not the light that would bring him to the Abyss.

    <em>[You have five seconds to log out.]</em>

    <em>[4¡­ 3¡­ 2¡­ 1¡­]</em>

    Minhyuk disappeared along with the light.

    ¡°A new world is beginning.¡±

    Arlene looked at the path to the Abyss, where Minhyuk would head to once he returned. The gods called the Abyss by a different name: the Tomb of the Gods.

    ***

    The entire world was in an uproar especially with Athenae¡¯s second era just right around the corner. Many people felt their hearts thump wildly as the countdown of five minutes for the servers¡¯ opening began. Some were thinking of ying inside the new Athenae, while some were thinking of watching the Battle of the Thrones. Those that would participate in the Battle of the Thrones felt nervous about the fierce battlefield.

    At the end of the five minute countdown, a sentence marked in bold dominated the entire Athenae Official Homepage: <em>¡®Athenae. The Beginning of the Second Era. Experience it, now!¡¯</em>

    But, many people opted not to ess the game and just sat in front of their televisions. All of them knew that it would be nice to experience the second era of Athenae, but it was also the start of the Battle of the Thrones; hence they had to gather together like this.

    They watched as the stars fell down and created the ¡®Stars¡¯ Path¡¯ inside their TV screens, just like what they saw in the trailer in the past. Everywhere the stars passed by, kingdoms and castles began to appear.

    America¡¯s Ariot Kingdom.

    Japan¡¯s Mt. Fuji Kingdom.

    France¡¯s Louvart Kingdom.

    China¡¯s Verrado Kingdom.

    The cameras that lined up the Stars¡¯ Path showed the castles that were created on it. These castles appeared one after the other until finally¡­

    South Korea¡¯s Beyond the Heavens Kingdom Castle.

    The final castle, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s castle, appeared in a grand and imposing manner.

    With the appearance of the castles, a bright light suddenly appeared and covered each of their peaks that housed the castle¡¯s throne. When the light disappeared, the kings that each country selected were shown sitting on their own thrones.

    Alexander, one of the Five Summits.

    Xu Jiaqi, one of the members of ck Dragon Order that learned the Pinnacle.

    Vietnam¡¯s Master Archer Mi¨¢o, the God of Archery¡¯s descendant.

    Greece¡¯s Demetrys, the Disaster Qigong Master.

    Germany¡¯s Anton, the Infighter[1].

    And many more. There were actually a total of 28 countries that participated in the Battle of the Thrones. There were three empty thrones among them. These thrones were none other than Korea¡¯s Food God¡¯s throne, Japan¡¯s Musashi Kentaro¡¯s throne, and France¡¯s Cuhel¡¯s throne. Instead of their kings, there were other people standing right behind their thrones.

    South Korea¡¯s representative standing behind the throne was none other than Genie. At the same time, more than 50,000 yers appeared and gathered in front of each of their country¡¯s castles. There were also a thousand NPCs gathered in a neat row right in front of the yers.

    Each of the countries had prepared their own performance.

    First, Alexander, America¡¯s Ghost of the Battlefield, stepped forward and raised his sword to the skies. Following his lead, all of the men that gathered below him pulled their swords out and raised them to the skies.

    ¡°For victory!¡±

    ¡°Victory!¡±

    Then, a bright light appeared from their swords, illuminating the world. Meanwhile, thementators began to speak.

    <em>[The performance that America is giving us is quite normal.]</em>

    <em>[They are showing us their military force. That¡¯s about it.]</em>

    Next was China, the nation of martial artists. All of them punched their fists in the air. The moment their fists stretched towards the skies, fireworks shot out and decorated the skies beautifully.

    Russia, the country of tankers, created a spectacr performance with their square shields and mimicked the shell of a golden turtle. These performances were held solely to please the eyes and the ears of the viewers from all over the world, with each of the countries showing their performances in turn.

    Finally, the final performance, South Korea¡¯s performance, had started.

    <em>[Since this is the final performance, it should be shier and grander than any other performances.]</em>

    <em>[Many people had expressed their great anticipation and excitement for South Korea¡¯s performance as the finale.]</em>

    But even after a short, pregnant pause, none of the yers and the NPCs moved. Just when the viewers were about to voice out their doubts, a rough and loud cry echoed in the skies.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeek!¡±

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    All four of the legendary dragons, with a cintamani stone in each of their mouths, appeared in the skies. Flying right in front of them was Supreme Divine Beast Beanie wearing his golden crown, golden armor and glittering golden sword. As Beanie descended, the dragons immediately escorted him down. Then, a bright light burst out to their left, revealing another presence. The being that appeared was none other than a noble and lofty white wolf, Penrus. Penrus was as beautiful as he was cool. Another bright light burst out, revealing the figure of the Cerberus, Love, Hope and Happiness, which was immediately followed by the space above them tearing apart and revealing the presence of the gigantic Predatory Snake. All of them roared loudly.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Groaaaaaaaar!¡±

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Grrrrrraaaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Oiiiiiiiiink!!!¡±

    With that, South Korea¡¯s performance has ended. It was a very short, yet intense, disy. South Korea had shown the world their strength through their divine beasts and named monsters. Everyone that watched the video expressed their envy towards the yers that had obtained such powerful divine beasts. At the same time, they could not help but peel their eyes open and admire the shocking scene. Then, thementary began.

    <em>[A fierce battle over thrones.]</em>

    <em>[Who among them will take the Supreme King¡¯s Throne?]</em>

    ***

    Immediately after the Battle of the Thrones started, notifications suddenly appeared on the screens of everyone watching, which brought the viewers great shock.

    <em>[Louvart Kingdom, Verrado Kingdom, Albedo Kingdom, Rolds Kingdom, Cardin Kingdom¡­ has formed an alliance!]</em>

    <em>[By signing a temporary alliance, these fifteen kingdoms will receive a penalty during the duration of their alliance. All troops will receive a 10% decrease in all of their stats and skill attack power as well as a 10% increase in skill cooldown!]</em>

    <em>[The system will recognize if a country has received the attacks from this alliance and will give out special privileges to the said country¡¯s kingdom.]</em>

    Fifteen countries including China, Indonesia, Russia, France, Germany, Greece, Vietnam, Thand and many more had signed a temporary alliance. With this alliance, they would be able to monitor the movements of their allies¡¯ troops on their maps. The fifteen kingdoms¡¯ alliance was created to keep America and South Korea in check.

    China¡¯s Hu Yitian, a member of ck Dragon Order, was the one that massacred the South Korean rankers in the Continent Cloud during the Continental War between the Asgan Continent and the Cairon Continent. And now, he was receiving orders.

    <em>[Listen to your King¡¯smand!]</em>

    <em>[Everyone who has gathered and heard the King¡¯s Command must head to the ce appointed by the king!]</em>

    Hu Yitian led 900 yers and 100 NPCs to the appointed gathering ce in the Stars¡¯ Path. When they arrived there, the troops from the 14 other countries were already lined up there.

    Thementators were very quick to describe and announce what they were trying to do.

    <em>[The fifteen countries that have signed an alliance at the beginning already divided their troops and have gathered them in different ces.]</em>

    <em>[Although they have split their troops, there will still be a lot gathered. After all, each of the fifteen countries have sent 1,000 of their troops.]</em>

    <em>[Their total number is 15,000.]</em>

    ¡°Depart!!!¡±

    ¡°Depaaaaaart!¡±

    The ce where more than 10,000 allied troops were headed to was none other than Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. In order to prevent the other countries that did not join their alliance from attacking them, they sent only 1,000 of their own troops. But even if they only sent a few, the total still reached 15,000.

    The 15,000 strong army was tasked to attack Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. If they sessfully finished this task, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would lose their strength and military force. After this first scouting battle, the allied countries would then each send 5,000 troops which would increase their total by around 70,000.

    ¡°South Korea, without the Food God, is nothing more than a bunch of people gathered together.¡±

    ¡°This is our best opportunity.¡±

    ¡°Keuhahahahahahahahaha! What a good opportunity. We will be able to see the downfall of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom the moment we start!¡±

    Everyone in the world believed that South Korea would not amount to anything without the Food God. Of course, they were aware that the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom housed several powerful NPCs, but these NPCs would eventually get exhausted. They were confident that the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would copse even before the Food God could participate. Because of this, the people of South Korea were all very disappointed.

    <em>[What does it matter if they were active during the Athenae: World War? We will still be the country that¡¯s the fastest to copse during the Battle of the Thrones.]</em>

    <em>[Wow¡­ We¡¯re really weak.]</em>

    <em>[There¡¯s nothing weak in winning or losing.]</em>

    Just when the troops were advancing through the forest¡­

    <em>Rustle¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Hu Yitian and the other rankers immediately turned their heads to the direction where the sound came from.

    ¡°Oiiiiiiiiiiiiink!¡±

    What appeared in front of him was a cute baby piggy with a shiny golden crown on his head.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    That was when the allied troops realized that there was something strange. But it was toote, the members of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had already appeared all from all over the ce. Two tall and bulky men, Elpis and Kimaris, appeared from behind the bushes. There were also members standing up on the trees: Penrus, the Envoy of Incarnation Kaistra, and the Sword Saint Conir. Cerberus and Dog ughterer Locke also appeared on one side. Vice Guild Master Genie, Khan, and Emperor of the Sword Carr on another side. There was also Best Selling Erotica Author Aruvel, Talmor Leader Corr, Assassin of the Moon Lucia, and the former Artheon Guild Master Alicia on another side. Of course, ck Dragon and the four legendary dragons were hovering in the skies above them too. The allied troops turned vignt as more members appeared.

    <em>¡®What can they even do with just this number?¡¯</em>

    There were only thirty people at most. But three minutester, everyone tuned in to the broadcast froze in ce after seeing these words on their screens:

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens Kingdom has wiped out the 15,000 troops sent by the fifteen allied countries!]</em>

    An unbelievable announcement popped up on their screens. Yes. That was right. It only took three minutes for the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom to wipe out the 15,000 strong allied troops. Everyone was both shocked and terrified by the result presented.

    1. A type of close-range fighting technique. ?

 Chapter 563: Battle of the Thrones (1)

    Chapter 563: Battle of the Thrones (1)

    Three minutes ago.

    Hu Yitian, during the Continental War held at the Continent Cloud in the past, had only learned a half-pinnacle skill. But as time went by, he was able to awaken that skill to full pinnacle, which allowed him to gain a strength to kill even yers that had transferred to high ss in just a single strike. In other words, he was much stronger.

    But then, the members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom started to appear one after the other. In fact, there were only less than thirty people that appeared. When thementators saw the members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom appear, they immediately voiced their inability to understand the situation.

    <em>[All of the guild members and key personnel of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom have appeared!]</em>

    <em>[I don¡¯t understand what in the hell the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is thinking.]</em>

    <em>[Why are they all here? Aren¡¯t they supposed to protect the castle?]</em>

    Thementators thought that the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was crazy. It was not just them. Even the fifteen countries¡¯ allied troopsughed when they saw just around thirty members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom appear in front of them.

    ¡°What the hell? Did you all give up already?¡±

    ¡°What? The Food God is not here, so you¡¯re all tucking your tail quickly?¡±

    ¡°Pffft¡­! Are you here to ask toe inside and eat?¡±

    ¡°Bwahahahahahaha! Hey, stop that! Don¡¯t go overboard. They might get too scared and pee themselves!¡±

    The ones that were feeling the greatest disappointment were the people of Korea.

    <em>[They¡¯re not really going to kill themselves just because the Food God is not here, right¡­?]</em>

    <em>[They shouldn¡¯t give up like this. The members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom are the core members of Korea¡¯s Battle of the Thrones team. What are they doing appearing here all at once?]</em>

    <em>[This is really disappointing. Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Are they telling us that they will not fight a losing battle?]</em>

    Everyone was fully aware that the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had to bear the burden of fighting against fifteen or more countries from the very beginning. It was because their kingdom was built first, which became their greatest challenge. One of thementators pointed this problem out.

    <em>[In the first ce, I don¡¯t know if it would work at all. Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s side would have already predicted that this would happen. They should have put a limit on the number of countries that can form an alliance that can attack another kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s right. Things are a bit insufficient since they prepared this Battle of Thrones in a hurry.]</em>

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and America will suffer from this.]</em>

    ¡°Keuhahahahahahahahaha!¡±

    ¡°Bwahahahahahahahahaha!¡±

    ¡°Fufufufufufufufufufufu!¡±

    ¡°M*th*rf*ckers! As expected of the chousennjinn[1]s!!!¡±

    The fifteen thousand troops mocked them loudly. All of the yers selected to participate in the Battle of the Thrones were rankers. It did not matter how strong the members of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were, what could they do with just a small number? Just when theirughter dominated the field and the Koreans began to sigh, Genie, Khan, and Locke all made way for the person behind them.

    At that moment, all of the 15,000 enemy troops saw the man with his knees bent, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword and a red aura exploding from the de of his sword. The man was none other than Emperor of the Swords, Carr.

    ¡°Quick Draw.¡±

    Carr¡¯s sword was quickly drawn from its sheath, creating des within a forty meter radius and cutting down around a hundred yers in one go.

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keheooooooook!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°P, prepare for battle!¡±

    But Hu Yitian¡¯s orders were already toote.

    A man with golden hair fluttering behind him and a golden staff in his hands appeared in front of them from the ck ashes. This great being was none other than Golden Mage Ali.

    ¡°Compress.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The moment Ali¡¯s open palm clenched into fists, an unbelievable thing unfolded in front of them. Almost 5,000 people were gathered as if they had been sucked in the middle of the field.

    ¡°This, this is ridiculous¡­!¡±

    ¡°Crazy¡­! This can¡¯t be happening!!!¡±

    Plenty of the mages all over the world had denied Ali¡¯s strength. Rumor had it that he was a very talented person that even Alex, the number one in the mage¡¯s global rankings, could not match up to. And of course, it was proven in the World War. But at the end of the day, it was just what they had seen on the TV. Since they had not experienced and seen it for themselves, they could still deny the truth.

    The mages that had denied Ali¡¯s prowess and existence so far could not help but be flustered by the ridiculous, wide-area Compress magic that he disyed. Even top ranking mages could onlypress 300 people at most and that was already impressive. Of course, Ali had consumed a huge amount of his MP, but he¡¯s someone that inherited ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s mana heart. This meant that his MP was on a different scale than what these mages thought.

    ¡°Firewall. Firewall. Firewall. Firewall. Firewall. Firewall. Firewall. Firewall.¡±

    Ali released more than ten of the Firewalls that he ¡®stored¡¯ on the allied troops. And for the finale¡­

    ¡°Meteor.¡±

    ¡­the sky was torn apart as a huge meteor descended on the ground.

    ¡°Mages, Dispel!!!¡±

    ¡°Is there even a mage that can dispel that?!!!¡±

    ¡°Can, can someone even dispel Ali¡¯s magic?!¡±

    ¡°We, we can¡¯t!!!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible!!!¡±

    ¡°How do we even dispel Ali¡¯s magic?!!¡±

    The strength and power of their characters werepletely different from their strength and power in reality. Even if dozens or hundreds of low-leveled yers gathered together, they would not be able to deal with one or two high rankers. It was the best example for the gap in strength between them and Ali.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    More than 3,000 yers that had been gathered together were hit and left in a critical state the moment Meteor fell on the ground.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Someone was crushed to their death, while another was burned to their death. But since they were all rankers, they were quick to get back on their feet, their attacks immediately aiming for Ali. But then¡­

    ¡°Great Shield.¡±

    <em>[Great Shield.]</em>

    <em>[A shield will be created depending on your magic¡¯s tier and magical defense.]</em>

    A Great Shield, which only the highest tiered mage could express, appeared in front of Ali. And it was even as high and as thick as the walls of a fortress.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The magical attacks sent by the mages and the skills used by the closebat yers to counter-attack were easily blocked.

    ¡°¡­I can¡¯t use any attack magic now.¡±

    That was right. The battle had just started but Ali¡¯s MP had already run out. Even the skills that he stored had eventually reached their limit. But just like Ali, all of the members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom used everything that they got. While everyone was busyughing and mocking at them, the members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were all preparing their strongest AOE attack skills.

    Elpis, the one hailed as the lesser demon, was known as the strongest NPC in the world. Although he was not one of the Supreme NPCs, his power was definitely on par with them. With the figure of the demon appearing above his head and getting sucked into his body, the power that he could express was something that even Sword Emperor Ellie could not contend against.

    ¡°Berserk.¡±

    <em>Vwooooooooooong¡ª</em>

    <em>[Berserk.]</em>

    <em>[All abilities will be increased by 16% and all stats would have a +2 increase.]</em>

    <em>[Berserk willst for 5 minutes.]</em>

    Elpis used his strongest AOE attack skill, the same skill that split even the head of Great Demon Verus in the past.

    ¡°Splitting the Great Demon.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Plenty of magical attacks soared towards Elpis. However, Elpis¡¯ defense was beyond anyone¡¯s imagination. He simply ignored all of the attacks sent his way as the de of his sword increased in size, reaching around ten meters in length. On top of that the skill Splitting the Great Demon was an amazing skill that added an additional 3,000% attack power on his attacks. If Elpis¡¯ attack power, which was far higher than Minhyuk¡¯s attack power, had an additional 3,000% added on it, he would be able to cut down plenty of dragons if he wished to. This disaster befell the allied troops.

    <em>Fwooooooooosh¡ª</em>

    <em>Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr¡ª</em>

    The ground split in half. As for the people on it? They all turned into ashes and disappeared with the wind.

    Then, immediately after that, Great Pirate Gorfido, the legend of the Japanese Server that did notg behind Elpis in terms of power, made his move with his ten-thousand-year sword and ten-thousand-year chain in his hands.

    ¡°Tidal Knife.¡±

    The moment his ten-thousand-year sword struck the ground, a fourteen meter tidal wave filled with hundreds of des rose from the ground and swept away their enemies.

    ¡°Keuheooooooook!¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaack! Urkkkk!¡±

    Great Pirate Gorfido¡¯s attack power was also beyond anyone¡¯s imagination. On top of that, the Tidal Knife was his strongest AOE attack skill. The enemies that stood in front of him were all swept away.

    And Hu Yitian? He could not believe what was happening in front of his eyes, <em>¡®N, no. Does this even make sense?!¡¯</em>

    It waspletely ridiculous. They came at a time when all of the members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were waiting for them with all of their AOE attack skills ready. On top of that, each of them had high defense that could easily withstand several attacks from decent rankers. Unbeknownst to them, there were also several notifications that rang for the members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom the moment the troops sent by the fifteen kingdoms attacked them.

    <em>[You are being attacked by fifteen kingdoms.]</em>

    <em>[The system has recognized this to be a concentrated attack towards South Korea¡¯s Kingdom, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, and is now giving you special rewards!]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will increase by 5%!]</em>

    <em>[Your skill cooldown will decrease by 5%!]</em>

    <em>[All of your attack and defense will increase by 10%!]</em>

    But that was not all. They also had a walking buff in the form of the great being, Kimaris.

    <em>[You have received Unparalleled Bravery¡¯s buff effect!]</em>

    <em>[Unparalleled Bravery will increase more than 15% of the stats of the people that fight alongside Kimaris!]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 16%!]</em>

    That was right. With their walking buff Kimaris, they would be able to express even more power when fighting in arge-scale battle. But of course, their attacks were not yet over. ck Dragon, who was wearing a ck armor on his body and riding on top of his red dragon, descended with all four of his dragons andmanded, ¡°Breath.¡±

    <em>Fwaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>Fwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>Fwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>Fwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The four legendary dragons used all of their mana and fired their Breath at the allied troops. The troops could only suffer and disappear without being able to do anything. Then, Kaistra and Penrus, who were also flying in the skies, sent a breath of light and destroyed hundreds of people. And¡­

    ¡°Bellowing Child!!!¡±

    ¡°Lightning Sword!!!¡±

    ¡°Giant¡¯s Consecutive Hits!!!¡±

    ¡°Jeffrit¡¯s Wrath!!!¡±

    ¡°God Athenae¡¯s Swordsmanship, Chapter 7. Judge¡¯s Sword!!!¡±

    ¡°Moon¡¯s Explosion!!!¡±

    Dozens of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s executives, the rankers among rankers and those that were considered to be the best in the world, had used their AOE attack skills. Their enemies disappeared in the thousands. At the same time, simr notifications rang in each of their ears.

    <em>[You have used up all of your MP!]</em>

    <em>[You will not be able to use any of your active skills!]</em>

    <em>[Your Stamina is running out!!!]</em>

    <em>[¡­all of your MP!]</em>

    <em>[¡­active skills!]</em>

    <em>[Your Stamina¡­]</em>

    Most of the members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom used up all of their skills and MP in just under two minutes. The same was true for Elpis and Gorfido, NPCs that were on par with Supreme NPCs. It was impossible for these strong people to use up all of their MP and skills. Existences like them would fight efficiently during hunts and wars and manage their MP usage by choosing the most appropriate skill in battle. That was actually what set them off from ordinary yers.

    But that was also a loophole that they could take advantage of.

    Most of the members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom staggered and faltered after hearing their MP being depleted and their stamina reaching their limits.

    Hu Yitian and almost a hundred surviving rankers gulped dryly at the sight in front of them.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    All of them were left speechless. Of course, they were only the lowest of the selected rankers and were only sent as the scouting party. However¡­

    <em>¡®Their power is at this level¡­?¡¯</em>

    Great Demon Verus was an existence that could ughter tens of thousands of high rankers all by himself. To the allied troops, the members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were like Great Demon Verus. And as if to hammer the nail in the head, a pig¡¯s cry rang loudly in the ears of the survivors that hadpletely lost their will to fight.

    ¡°Oiiiiiiiiiiiiink!!!¡±

    Predator¡¯s Authority was baby piggy Beanie¡¯s most OP skill. And he used this skill to copy Great Pirate Gorfido¡¯s strongest AOE attack skill, the Tidal Knife, in order to sweep away the remaining enemies.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Beanie made a beautiful turn as the Tidal Knife wreaked havoc among the surviving enemy troops behind him.

    ¡°Oink!!!¡±

    Beanie¡¯s lips curled up in a cute smile. And¡­

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    Thementators and the viewers that watched the scene were all left speechless. The members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were all on the verge of copse, their bodies ovee with exhaustion. However, their eyes were filled with a sharp glint.

    The members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had a message for those that believed that Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was nothing without Food God Minhyuk, and those that believed that South Korea was the weakest country in Athenae without the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom; that it was not the case at all.

    And Genie? She looked at the camera and smirked, ¡°Is this all that you got? Allied troops?¡±

    She was from a small country in Asia, a country that only had 1/20th of China¡¯s poption. Yet no one could say otherwise. None of them could even use her of being arrogant. And although they might not hear it, everyone was pping for them. And South Korea?

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Woaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Woooooooooooow!¡±

    The entire nation cheered loudly.

    1. ??? - a way to refer to Koreans during the Joseon Dynasty, a dynasty where the country suffered from the rule of China and Japan. Being referred with this word is a reminder to the Koreans of the time when they were basically a ve to the rule of others and is considered to be a derogatory and insulting term. ?

 Chapter 564: Battle of the Thrones (1)

    Chapter 564: Battle of the Thrones (1)

    A wide, deepke surrounded a huge, majestic castle. There was only one way to enter the castle, and that was through a two hundred meter long bridge. As they returned to their castle, Genie felt her heart thumping wildly, <em>¡®The enemies will being soon.¡¯</em>

    The battle that would ensue would be different from what happened earlier. The battle earlier was a strategy that Genie, Knowledge Star Jarod, Minhyuk and Haze had devised. They had known that their enemies woulde and hit them anyway, so since they could not avoid it, they thought: ¡®<em>Why not enjoy and have fun during the process, right?¡¯</em>

    Genie immediately took out a top grade mana potion.

    <em>[You have recovered 30% of your MP.]</em>

    ording to the announcement made by Joy Co. Ltd., kingdoms that would be ahead of theirpetitors would receive special privileges during the Battle of Thrones. Since they destroyed the 15,000 enemy troops, the members had received quite a lot of special items.

    <em>[You have acquired a Top Grade Mana Potion.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP volume will temporarily increase by 3%.]</em>

    <em>[As the King¡¯s Agent, you will receive special rewards.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the <strong>Special Power</strong>: ¡®King¡¯s Staff Sergeant¡¯.]</em>

    <em>What is a King¡¯s Staff Sergeant?</em>

    After checking the information of the power, Genie could not help but be amazed. ording to the King¡¯s Staff Sergeant''s detailed description, she would be able to borrow her King¡¯s Power once for a few minutes, depending on whatever circumstances they were in.

    <em>¡®I guess this is a reward for those whose kings are participating in the middle of the event?¡¯</em>

    Being able to take out and use one of Minhyuk¡¯s powers was not a bad reward. However, there was also a problem.

    <em>¡®Even if we can bring one of Minhyuk¡¯s attack skills into the open, there would not be that much impact in this war.¡¯</em>

    What if she brought out Minhyuk¡¯s cooking skills? Well, even if they brought it out, no one would be able to express that since none of them could express that much cooking ability.

    <em>¡®Then, what should I bring out?¡¯</em>

    Left without any solution even after thinking hard, Genie opted to send a whisper to Minhyuk.

    <em>[<strong>Genie</strong>: About the King¡¯s Staff Sergeant¡­ What do you think is the best way to use it?]</em>

    A long pause ensued. It seemed like Minhyuk thought long and hard before giving Genie his instructions.

    ¡°What¡­?¡± Genie mumbled in doubt after hearing Minhyuk¡¯s answer. No matter how hard she thought about it, it was still a very ridiculous solution, right? In fact, what Minhyuk said waspletely ridiculous.

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: Having Hanwoo is more than enough. Trust me, Genie.]</em>

    <em>¡®Why is he suddenly talking about Hanwoo[1]?]</em>

    But after hearing the words ¡®Trust me.¡¯ from Minhyuk, Genie recalled the past. Although the way he talked about his methods was unreliable at times, they never really lost money whenever they trusted Minhyuk.

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: Summon Hanwoo on the bridge¡­]</em>

    <em>[Minhyuk has entered an area where whispers are restricted.]</em>

    Genie bit her lips as she looked at the wide Stars¡¯ Path. Hundreds of thousands of enemy troops that would attack Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would soon fill that area.

    ¡°Let¡¯s try it.¡±

    ***

    Cuhel was one of the kings that had chosen to participate in the middle of the event. He actually participated in the Battle of the Thrones just a few hours after it started.

    He had umted a huge amount of funds for the Battle of Thrones and equipped all of the participating French rankers with outstanding artifacts. Because of this, he received a made-up title, ¡®God of Wealth¡¯, among the Frenchmunity.

    And this very same Cuhel gave orders to the French rankers that believed in him.

    ¡°Five thousand of our troops will advance toward Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.¡±

    But that was not all. From the original fifteen countries that formed an alliance, another two countries joined in. And all of these allied countries were sending five thousand of their troops to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    The ground shook and trembled from the steps of the huge army. At the vanguard stood America¡¯s Alex, the official number one mage in the global rankings. America did not join the alliance but to appease them, they sent Alex. Even though Alex was the only one sent to battle, he could easily deal with dozens of rankers all by himself. On top of that, Alex was a master tactician.

    As 5,000 troops of each country joined in, there were easily more than 70,000 troops gathered. Alex looked at the castle in the distance and said, ¡°Tankers advance on the bridge with their huge square shield. Closebat yers will move behind the tankers, followed by the archers and mages. The advancing mages will form a huge shield on top of the tankers¡¯ shields.¡±

    Although it was the easiest strategy, it was a sure-fire one.

    ¡°The core members of Beyond the Heavens are morons. They used up all of their power. Which means that our tankers here will be able to withstand their attacks.¡±

    That was right. Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, without the power of their core members, was only a 50,000-strong army. Also¡­

    ¡°The fact that they only have one bridge means that it is impossible for them to retreat. They have already ¡®isted¡¯ themselves and dug their own grave.¡±

    Indeed, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom having only one bridge was a very effective method for having a good defense. However, it could also pose a weakness to them.

    ¡°Forward!!!¡±

    ¡°Charge!!!¡±

    ¡°Tankers! Forward!¡±

    The 70,000 strong troops began to advance toward Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    ***

    <em>[Over 70,000 troops are gathered in front of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[The Korean rankers standing on the walls of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom look nervous as they face the 70,000 strong enemy troops.]</em>

    <em>[However, I¡¯m sure Beyond the Heavens Kingdom knows this well too. Even if they stop this 70,000 strong troops, the allied countries will immediately send more than 70,000 troops again.]</em>

    <em>[We can expect a more systematic attack here. It seems like there will be no more surprises from the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom anymore.]</em>

    The 70,000-strong troops, mostly consisting of tankers, began to go into formation. The tankers, with their gigantic square shields, began to line up and form arge mobile wall. It was quite a spectacr view. On top of that, the tankers used their skill ¡®Sky Guardian¡¯ and cast a transparent shield over their heads. With tens of thousands of tankers gathered together, the size of the shield was enormous, even on par with the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s walls. Of course, they were also followed by tens of thousands of troops.

    ¡°Charge!!!¡±

    At the cry, the tankers took the lead and charged toward the bridge. Magical attacks and arrows immediately rained down from the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s walls.

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng, ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Explosions erupted as the shields and the long-range attacks collided. However, something very shocking happened.

    <em>[Did you see that? With tens of thousands of tankers gathered together, even if the magic bomb mmed on them, it didn¡¯t leave a scratch on their shields.]</em>

    <em>[If Elpis or Gorfido did not use their AOE skills, then they might have been able to deal with those tankers.]</em>

    <em>[The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s foolishness is now ending in a catastrophe.]</em>

    The tankers were as much a ranker as the others. This meant that they were in perfect coordination and order. Then, a gap opened between the walls created by their gigantic shields. Plenty of rankers sent a tremendous amount of AOE attack skills toward the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Ack, aaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keoheooook!¡±

    ¡°Urkkkk!¡±

    The people stationed on the walls screamed as they fell down under the onught of magical bombings. At the same time, the walls began to receive massive damage.

    ¡°Attack!!!¡± Genie, who was standing on top of the wall, shouted loudly. But despite fighting back, the enemy troops just shut the gap that they created and¡­

    <em>Shwa, shwa, shwa, shwaa¡ª</em>

    ¡­continued to advance.

    <em>[They won¡¯t be able to do anything. They can¡¯t stop the charging shield and the enemy troops.]</em>

    <em>[The war will basically be over the moment the allied troops enter the castle.]</em>

    The enemy troops had already charged fifty meters of the 200 meter long bridge. Meanwhile, inside the walls of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s castle stood Twilight Chef ck and Iris Guild Master Callian. They hid behind the safety of the walls, gnashing their teeth in anger.

    ¡°Genie!!! What the hell?!!! Why are you allowing the enemy troops to charge forward?!!!¡±

    ¡°Order our elite troops to charge forward now!!! If things continue at this rate then the castle will fall!!!¡±

    ¡°Wait.¡±

    ¡°Hiiiiiiiik¡­!¡±

    But, reality was different from what they thought. Genie deliberately ced the lowest level rankers in the vanguard and allowed the tankers to charge forward. That was the main reason why they could not breach through the shield. And now, the enemy troops were just forty meters away from the walls.

    At that moment, Callian finally made a decision, ¡°Iris Guild members! Prepare to attack!!!¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    Callian ignored the orders given by Genie, the King¡¯s Agent, and tried to make the troops charge forward. Following him, the tens of thousands of Korean rankers stationed inside also tried to move. But then, the members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom immediately pointed their weapons at Callian.

    ¡°What the¡­?¡±

    ¡°Are you crazy?!¡±

    ¡°Genie, what the hell are you doing?!!!¡±

    The South Korean rankers turned furious. Even Callian¡¯s face turned red in anger, ¡°I am a citizen of South Korea. I can¡¯t just look on and let our country be stepped on so easily. Many of the rankers here will receive harsh criticism from the people that believe in us just because of your foolish and moronic tactics!!!¡±

    Many of the Korean rankers present agreed with Callian the moment he shouted loudly. They just could not understand why they were allowing the enemy troops to advance, especially since they had enough power to stop or slow down their advance.

    ¡°No matter how strong the members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom are, this just would not work!¡±

    ¡°Genie! Hand over themand to Callian!!!¡±

    ¡°If you don¡¯t put away the weapons you¡¯re using to point at Callian, then we will attack you without any hesitation!¡±

    A rift had been created. An unmendable rift was happening among the participants of South Korea. But then, Ares suddenly stepped forward, ¡°Callian and the rest of the rankers. Please believe us, just this once.¡±

    Ares was a great ranker, albeit a bit arrogant. And although he was the master of Ares Guild, he still willingly came under themand of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. He was someone that could not understand and could not bring himself to believe the actions that Beyond the Heavens Kingdom took once or twice before, but now, they had hisplete trust. Everyone also knew that Ares and Callian had a close rtionship.

    ¡°Ares, why are you siding with these f*ckers¡­¡± Callian asked. He truly could not understand. He was fully aware of how stubborn and how distrustful of a yer Ares was.

    ¡°Please wait just a bit more. Please,¡± Genie said, bowing to all of the rankers present. The moring crowd turned quiet for a moment. Right after Food God Minhyuk, Genie was the next most powerful figure in the Korean Server. And this person was bowing her head to them as she continued to plead, ¡°Within twenty meters. If the enemies enter the twenty meter range, the game will change.¡±

    Although Genie was saying this, even she could not understand what Minhyuk meant. In the end, Callian turned around and yielded.

    ¡°If we fall here, then our entire country will me you for the rest of your lives.¡±

    The members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom immediately withdrew their weapons. At the same time¡­

    ¡°Thirty meters!!! The enemies have entered the thirty meter mark!!!¡±

    Genie immediately ran forward. The Korean rankers immediately followed right behind her.

    ¡°Twenty five meters!!!¡±

    And Callian, who turned around and yielded, rushed to the walls once again. Even if their castle was captured, they would fight until the bitter end. And¡­

    ¡°Twenty meters!!!¡±

    Genie immediately used the ¡®King¡¯s Staff Sergeant¡¯, the special power that she received before.

    <em>[You have cast the King¡¯s Staff Sergeant!]</em>

    <em>[You can now use one of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s King Minhyuk¡¯s power!]</em>

    Genie looked around for a moment before spitting out the word that Minhyuk told her.

    <em>¡®Why does the name¡­ have to be¡­¡¯ </em>Embarrassed, she mumbled very quietly, ¡°Hanwoo¡­¡±

    <em>[You will be able to borrow the power of ¡®Hanwoo¡¯, someone under Food God Minhyuk¡¯smand, for five minutes.]</em>

    <em>Blink!</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    With her words, a lightning bolt fell down from the sky as a cow appeared on the bridge.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    The tankers, who were only twenty meters away from the wall, could not hide their confusion as they watched an unidentified cow kick the ground with its hind legs. And above the cow appeared the name ¡®Hanwoo¡¯.

    ¡°Hanwoo¡­?¡±

    ¡°What does Hanwoo mean?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the name of a cow native to Korea.¡±

    ¡°Sounds delicious¡­¡±

    Then, Hanwoo immediately dashed across the bridge.

    ¡°Minhyuk, what in the world¡­¡±

    Even until now, Genie still could not understand what Minhyuk intended to do. At that moment, she saw Hanwoo dash forward.

    ¡°Moooooooooooo!!!¡±

    Hanwoo¡¯s loud cry immediately suppressed the power of the tankers charging on the bridge as his body started to grow from five meters, to seven, then to eight, then to ten, then to fifteen, until it reached twenty meters in size. Hanwoo turned bigger than the walls and immediately covered the entire width of the bridge with his body. The cow, to be exact, the sealed Bull Demon King, had grown to the size of a mountain, as it charged toward the tankers that blocked his path. It had to be known that the Bull Demon King had a ridiculous charging power that could even bring Food God Minhyuk¡¯s HP to zero instantly. And finally¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡­Hanwoo collided with the tankers¡¯ wall-like shield. Shockingly enough, the huge cow was able to crush the tankers¡¯ shields and even trample on the rankers that were stationed behind them.

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaarghhhhh!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°S, stop iiiiit!!!¡±

    ¡°Urrrrghhhhhh!¡±

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    The rankers that marched on the bridge fell down and disappeared under the depths of theke. Those that remained on the bridge were trampled to their deaths. It was just an instant. But Hanwoo, who just charged once, took out 40,000 out of the 70,000 troops that were advancing on the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    After running to the end of the bridge, Hanwoo immediately turned around and charged forward once again. This time, another 20,000 of the enemy troops were crushed. No amount of bombing from magical attacks, or arrows, grazed or even nicked Hanwoo¡¯s hide.

    Callian, who watched everything unfold, was left speechless.

    ¡°¡­.¡±

    Then, he thought, <em>¡®As expected, beef should really be Hanwoo.¡¯</em>

    At that moment, the word ¡®Hanwoo¡¯ was stered all over the portal andmunity sites all over the world. It was a very unexpected, but wee, promotion for Hanwoo.

    1. As mentioned before, Hanwoo is a type of cow native to SKr and is now used for meat, hence the confusion. ?

 Chapter 565: Battle of the Thrones (2)

    Chapter 565: Battle of the Thrones (2)

    Breaking news.

    <em>[The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom has eliminated the 15,000 allied troops in just three minutes.]</em>

    <em>[The 70,000-strong, tanker-focused troops advanced to destroy the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, but werepletely destroyed by ¡®Hanwoo¡¯ even before they could do so.]</em>

    <em>[The entire world is watching Beyond the Heavens Kingdom in shock.]</em>

    <em>[We can expect more countries to join the alliance to keep the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s path to the Supreme King¡¯s Throne in check.]</em>

    Breaking news of the same caliber began to pour out all over the world. The people from all over the world could only cheer for South Korea after witnessing how they ughtered 15,000 enemy troops and pushed back the 70,000 troops that tried to capture their castle at the very beginning of the Battle of the Thrones. Even within South Korea, there was no ce in the country that was not filled with cheers.

    Meanwhile, at the Blue House[1].

    One person trembled, his palms clenched tightly into fists. This person was none other than Kim Yeong-Soo, the current South Korean president.

    <em>¡®Thank you. Thank you.¡¯</em>

    Kim Yeong-Soo looked at the screen and watched as Genie raised her sword to the skies while the members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom shouted in celebration of their victory. Right now, the entire nation was celebrating. He could see that the rankers of a game were doing what he, the president, could not do.

    Of course, Kim Yeong-Soo had also invited several Athenae experts to stay with him and analyze the situation.

    ¡°What do you think about the situation that they will experience in the future?¡±

    But unlike the fiery atmosphere that surrounded him and the entire nation, the expressions of the experts were cold.

    ¡°The battle that the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s members had fought was definitely good propaganda to raise everyone¡¯s expectations. But the problem now is that there are more than fifteen countries that have formed an alliance.¡±

    ¡°The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is the very first kingdom in the game. And now, the other countries are given a chance to build a kingdom and a castle through this event. And since Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was built first, everyone would try their hardest to break down their systematic kingdom, before proceeding to fight amongst themselves in this Battle of Thrones. On top of that, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had just finished pushing back and eliminating 70,000 enemy rankers in one go. This meant that they are the very first in the contribution rankings and would definitely be the target of all the participating countries.¡±

    ¡°If the allied countries deploy 10,000 of their troops, there will be around 200,000 enemy troops that will attack the kingless Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. The worst part is the fact that this 200,000 strong troops is likely made up of Named NPCs and high-rankers.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The report was tragic and disastrous.

    ¡°More countries will join the alliance. This time, they will not send a scouting troop but an entire army that will attack them. There is a huge difference between the top 10,000 yers and the top 100 rankers. Top 100 rankers could easily face dozens of the top 10,000 yers.¡±

    ¡°Although I do not want to admit it, our South Korea will be wiped out in today¡¯s Battle of Thrones, Mr. President.¡±

    Kim Yeong-Soo looked at the experts before shaking his head, ¡°Nothing in this world can bepletely predicted and calcted.¡±

    None of the experts spoke even though they wanted to tell Kim Yeong-Soo that his desire and hope would notst long. Kim Yeong-Soo then made a phone call to none other than President Kang Taehoon. The moment the call connected, Kang Taehoon said¡­

    <em>[Mr. President, I sincerely ask for your understanding. I cannot and will not be able to tell you anything about how the Battle of Thrones will proceed.]</em>

    Kang Taehoon and Kim Yeong-Soo were quite close, but Kang Taehoon was someone with a firm and stubborn personality. No matter how close they were, he had no intention of informing Kim Yeong-Soo about any of the future trends that would happen in the Battle of Thrones.

    ¡°I know, I know. Just¡­ I just want to know why the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom did something so reckless? Why does it seem like they are purposely attracting attention to themselves?¡±

    As the real god of Athenae, Kang Taehoon¡¯s view of the game and the ys inside of it was definitely superior to that of the experts that Kim Yeong-Soo had invited. All he wanted to know was why the members of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom used up all of their powers like that? But Kang Taehoon did not answer his question.

    ¡°Do we really have no hope anymore?¡±

    Then, Kang Taehoon spoke quietly over the phone.

    <em>[In the Battle of Thrones, the country that acquires the highest contribution will receive special privileges.]</em>

    This meant that the more they hunt and kill, the stronger they would get, and maybe the better the rewards.

    <em>[Even if tens of thousands of flies swarm together, they will never be able to beat a lion.]</em>

    Kim Yeong-Soo¡¯s eyes widened when he realized what Kang Taehoon meant.

    <em>¡®Don¡¯t tell me¡­!¡¯</em>

    That was right. The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom started the Battle of Thrones by fighting against the other countries¡¯ ¡®bugs¡¯. Right after that, 70,000 troops headed to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and increased their contributions once more. In other words, they were now stronger and there was a chance that the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would be ¡®lions¡¯.

    <em>¡®Are you telling me that they are allowing themselves to be attacked?!¡¯</em>

    It was a strategy that no one would even dare to think about nor even use it so easily like that.

    ¡°Is this what I think it is?¡±

    <em>[Who knows?]</em>

    A smile bloomed on Kim Yeong-Soo¡¯s face. After he ended the call, what he did next was simple. He looked at the experts solemnly and said, ¡°You guys can go.¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ***

    As of this moment, the only thing that was a sore sight in the eyes of the global top rankers was the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. They were from a small country in Asia and a small continent in Athenae, yet they destroyed their alliance¡¯s army twice. Of course, even if they did lose, the number of troops that they have lost only amounted to a few thousands at most. But because of that, the temporary alliance was still required and could not be broken. This meant that they could not attack each other and all they could do was stomp their feet in their own castles.

    While they were busy doing that, America was busy attacking the other countries that did not join the alliance and increased their contribution.

    <em>[Each country should send 3,000 more troops and one top ranker.]</em>

    The kings, who were sitting on their thrones, were spread out through a hologram projection and talked through their ¡®alliance chat¡¯. The one that made the suggestion was China¡¯s King, Xu Jiaqi.

    <em>[If a top ranker dies, then it will be a greater loss than losing a thousand troops.]</em>

    Greece¡¯s King shot back, while Cuhel piped up.

    <em>[However, no one from our enemy¡¯s troops has the power to kill our top rankers and NPCs. Even their Named NPCs, Elpis and Gorfido, are probably on cooldown. On the other hand, our top rankers have yet to utilize their skills.]</em>

    <em>[But the top rankers are also rankers. They will also lose their power little by little, right?]</em>

    <em>[Then, how about this?]</em>

    Vietnam¡¯s King, God of Archery and ady, to be exact, Mi¨¢o spoke up.

    <em>[Let¡¯s try to take them down with summoners and necromancers and have France¡¯s Bastien lead?]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s not a bad n. It can also reduce the damage that our troops will receive.]</em>

    <em>[Besides, France also has the ¡®Lion King¡¯ right?]</em>

    The Lion King was the master of Bastien, the number one ranker in the official global summoner rankings. Surprisingly enough, he was one of the Absolute Supreme NPCs that could stand toe to toe against Overlord Raldo and Continental Emperor Ellie.

    <em>[Then, everything¡¯s decided. Each country will send a force with top rankers, summoners and necromancers. If we assess that there¡¯s a chance that they will fall, we will send an additional 5,000 more troops.]</em>

    Their discussion ended there. It was decided that they would send their country¡¯s strongest summoners and necromancers. Of course, a huge number of the troops that they will send out were NPCs. When they gathered, the total number of summoners and necromancers exceeded 60,000. But since they were summoners and necromancers, they could summon hundreds of monsters and increase their numbers even further.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaa!¡±

    Nearly 200,000 monsters and undead roared. Dozens of bone dragons and wyverns took to the skies. There were also rankers riding on top of the wyverns, ready to jump down on the walls.

    At the vanguard stood a middle-aged man sporting a long beard. The man also had a lion head as his helmet. This man was Lion King Benrod. Benrod was different from the ordinary summoner. Even those that call themselves Absolute Gods would pale inparison in front of the God of Beasts under hismand. There were even legends about how one of his beasts destroyed several territories.

    ¡°The man that humiliated you is over there?¡±

    Standing right next to Lion King Benrod was the global number one summoner Bastien.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Then, hundreds of thousands of monsters and undead roared, as they charged toward Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    ***

    The skies above the walls of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were covered with ck. This was because a huge number of monsters were charging toward them and covering thend and the skies.

    Many of the Korean rankers that saw this scene on top of the walls choked on their breath as the air around them turned somber. Among them stood a woman by the name of Allein. The power that she could wield was on par with the rankers, but she was actually the lowest ranked among them. Allein was a Spear Knight and a rising star in Korea. However, she was left speechless at the momentum of the monsters. She could feel her legs shake. In fact, she badly wanted to run away. She was obviously one of the rankers to be envied. But the enemies were also rankers and standing in front of them, her side looked infinitely shabby.

    ¡°How¡­¡±

    Why did the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom have to provoke them? Why were the members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom not shaking and releasing a trembling breath as they looked at the hundreds of thousands of monsters rushing toward them? Then, someone ced their hands on Allein¡¯s shoulder.

    ¡°Everything¡¯s going to be alright.¡±

    That someone was none other than Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s vice guild master, Genie. She was a woman that reigned over Korea¡¯s top rankers and received the love of many people.

    But even with herfort, Allein¡¯s body did not stop shaking. Their rankers no longer had their sure-kill skills and they no longer had a gigantic weapon in the form of Hanwoo. Of course, the Korean rankers were also able to gain benefits after sweeping away the 70,000 troops. They had received a 5% increase in all stats, a bottle of top grade mana potion, and top grade HP potion. But still¡­

    ¡°The number of enemies is too¡­¡±

    ¡°It has always been like this.¡±

    ¡°¡­!!!¡±

    After hearing Genie¡¯s words, Allein realized that, yes, this has always been the case for the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. This was the case when they fought against Demigod Asura and when they sealed Great Demon Verus. This was also the case when they cinched a very shocking victory against China during the Continental War. The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was always presented with a losing battle, but they always came out on top.

    Genie was a ranker that was loved and idolized by many. And she had always endured the weight that apanied being an idol.

    ¡°There are a lot of enemies, right?¡± Genie asked the Korean rankers.

    Cold sweat dripped down from everyone¡¯s foreheads.

    ¡°Everyone believes that we¡¯re going to fall and copse.¡±

    Indeed, even they, the Korean rankers, thought the same. They had the confidence but they were just ordinary rankers. No matter how hard they thought, the number of enemies in front of them was just too much.

    ¡°But what if we take them down and im the Supreme King¡¯s Throne?¡±

    At Genie¡¯s words, one of the male rankers spat out shakily, <em>¡®They will be shocked.¡¯</em>

    Everyone at the scene shuddered.

    ¡°We can do it. Right now, we can break that damn alliance down, im the Supreme King¡¯s Throne and soar even higher.¡±

    All of them spat out trembling breaths, their bodies shaking as goosebumps rose on the skin on their backs.

    Then, Genie, who looked at the charging monster corps beyond their walls, the bone dragon corps, the wyvern corps and the gryphon corps flying above them, said, ¡°Prepare for battle.¡±

    <em>Shwaa¡ª</em>

    <em>Shwaa¡ª</em>

    <em>Shwaa¡ª</em>

    <em>Shwaa¡ª</em>

    The Korean rankers and NPCs, who unsheathed their weapons, looked very cool. And Allein stood by them and said, ¡°It¡¯s an honor to fight with you.¡±

    At the same time, a huge bone dragon flew toward Genie, its mouth wide open and ready to bite her. Then, Genie¡¯s whip wrapped around the Bone Dragon as if she was waiting for it to reach near her. And when she mmed her hand down, the Bone Dragon¡¯s body got embedded on the ground.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    As the dust rose behind her, Genie ordered, ¡°All troops, attack!¡±

    1. The Korean presidential residence. ?

 Chapter 566: Battle of the Thrones (2)

    Chapter 566: Battle of the Thrones (2)

    Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s Vice Guild Master Genie showed everyone a spectacr sight, when she mmed a bone dragon that was several tens of times the size of her own body, on the ground with a swish of her whip.

    Unfortunately, as if that bone dragon was the signal, ten more bone dragons, as well as the thousands of wyverns and gryphons, dived down and attacked the walls.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    There were even fifth to sixth tier magic raining down on them from the mages that rode on the gryphons. However, the Korean Mage Unit, a group of golden robed mages led by Golden Mage Ali, was prepared for this kind of attack, immediately casting Dispel together to ward off the magic.

    ¡°Dispel! Dispel! Dispel! Dispel! Dispel!¡±

    After dispelling all of the magic aimed at their own troops and not the magic that was going to rain down at their walls, Ali aimed and sent attack magic toward the gryphons and wyverns hovering in the skies. Standing side by side with him was Root, Korea¡¯s strongest archer. Root shot down one gryphon and wyvern after another while counting them down one by one, ¡°Ten, thirteen, sixteen, twenty.¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Meanwhile, on the ground, thousands of giant bone mamboths and turtle dragons started their advance on the bridge. Bone mamboths were monsters made of bones that looked quite simr to elephants. Although gigantic in size, they were quite quick on their feet and had shocking charging power.

    ¡°Grraaaaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    The turtle dragons, which started to upy the bridge together with the bone mamboths, were monsters that hadrge, solid and thick shells on their backs. Their shells were so tough that it made them immune to the arrows and magical attacks sent their way.

    The charge did not end there. The other ss rankers also joined the summoners and necromancers and sent their own AOE attack skills.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keoooooooook!¡±

    The Korean rankers¡¯ screams rang constantly on the field. With the bone mamboths and the turtle dragons¡¯ continued charge, it only took a moment for them to fill the bridge and reach the gates.

    <em>Thuuuuuuud¡ª</em>

    The castle walls shook greatly as the giant bone mamboths mmed their bodies on the gates. The Korean archers and mages standing on top of the wall tried to shoot their arrows and magic attacks toward the bone mamboths but failed to do so, only being able to screech and scream.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaack!¡±

    The reason for their screams was a spear-like arrow that pierced through their bodies the moment they tried to raise their heads to shoot their own arrows and magic.

    Shockingly, among the allied troops was Master Archer Mi¨¢o, Vietnam¡¯s king. There were many yers called Master Archer; a prime example of this was South Korea¡¯s Root.

    But! Master Archer Mi¨¢o was different. She was a God ss yer that had inherited the power of the ¡®God of Archery¡¯. The more surprising thing here was the fact that Mi¨¢o was sitting on her throne. This was the effect of one of her skills, ¡®Arrow Clone¡¯, an effect that would only be expressed if she was with her allies. The Arrow Clone was a skill that could create a clone that was very simr to her but with a 30% reduction in attack and skill damage.

    But even that was devastating enough. After all, her hit rate and uracy did not decrease at all. The arrows that her clone sent out pierced through and kept the rankers that tried to deal with the bone mamboths in check. Root also tried to keep Mi¨¢o in check, but the moment he shot his arrow, Mi¨¢o¡¯s arrows split it in half.

    <em>¡®Crazy¡­!¡¯</em>

    The Korean rankers were left dumbfounded by the scene.

    ¡°We, we can¡¯t defend the walls!¡±

    ¡°Master Archer Mi¨¢o is too strong!¡±

    ¡°Twenty of our own rankers have already received fatal wounds from her arrows!!!¡±

    There was arge number of troops aiming for them from the skies, while an army of bone mamboths and turtle dragons rushed to break their walls and threaten their safety.

    Inside, Spear Knight Allein was gnawing on her lips and thinking, <em>¡®What do I do? What am I supposed to do in this situation?!¡¯</em>

    Allein was a ranker. She was ranked third in the rookie yers¡¯ Spear Knight rankings and was loved by many. However, she waspletely at a loss with the situation that was presented to her right now.

    At that moment, Emperor of the Sword Carr¡¯s voice rang loudly and calmly, ¡°Who wants to go hunt some elephants and turtles with me outside the walls?¡±

    ¡°Me.¡±

    ¡°Me too. Me too.¡±

    ¡°Conir! Conir goes too.¡±

    Khan and Locke raised their hands and answered nonchntly. But what shocked Allein was when she heard the young boy, Conir, volunteer himself.

    ¡°Wh, what¡­ only the four of you will go out there?!¡±

    All hell had broken loose outside of the gates. Even if they were among the top rankers and were the strongest in the country, they would notst long out there.

    Carr looked at Allein, his calm expression turning fierce as he said, ¡°What the f*ck? Are we supposed to hide here and wait to be crushed? Why did you even participate in the Battle of Thrones if that¡¯s all that you¡¯re going to do?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Allein trembled at Carr¡¯s harsh rebuttal. However, his words made sense. Why did she really participate in the Battle of Thrones?

    <em>¡®Because I want to fight alongside them¡­¡¯</em>

    That was the reason why Allein participated. She should not be afraid to fight.

    ¡°Are you just going to hide in here or are you going out with us?¡± Carr asked, testing her guts.

    Allein gripped her spear tightly and said, ¡°I, I will go out too. Don¡¯t look down on me.¡±

    ¡°So, you weren¡¯tpletely stupid. I see.¡±

    With Carr¡¯s words, the gates began to open. Only five people went outside, Conir, Khan, Locke, Carr and Allein, apanied by the voices of the Korean rankers that were left inside.

    ¡°Only five of them will go out there¡­?¡±

    ¡°Are they crazy?¡±

    ¡°The shells of the turtle dragons and the bones of the bone mamboths cannot be cut down by mere swords.¡±

    <em>Creaaaaaaaaaaak¡ª</em>

    As he looked at the opening gates, Carr said, ¡°Listen.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°Follow us closely and don¡¯t get lost.¡±

    There was a strange sense of kindnessced in his voice that was teeming with ego and pride. The moment the Emperor of the Sword and Korea¡¯s official number one ranker, Carr, stepped forward¡­

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    The bone mamboth, that was blocking their path, copsed and turned into fragments. Next¡­

    ¡°Wailing Child!¡±

    The boy, Sword Saint Conir, shed and broke the shells of three turtle dragons. But that was not all¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Locke mmed his ax on the roaring turtle dragon¡¯s face and blew it five meters away from them.

    <em>Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!</em>

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!!!</em>

    Only four people made their move. But these four people were destroying the bone mamboths and turtle dragons flocking on the bridge.

    <em>Thuuuuuuuuuuud¡ª</em>

    <em>Thump, thump, thump¡ª</em>

    Allein was shocked as she witnessed the bone mamboths and turtle dragons exploding in front of her eyes.

    <em>¡®So these are the Rankers Above Rankers¡­¡¯</em>

    ¡®Rankers Above Rankers¡¯ was the title given to the rankers in the top ten of each country.

    ¡°Sword Explosion.¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Carr¡¯s sword pushed dozens of bone mamboths back in one go. But the monsters immediately flocked and covered the gap as soon as a path opened. Seeing this, Allein clenched her fists tightly.

    <em>¡®Me too¡­ Me too¡­¡¯</em>

    Allein also wanted to be a ranker like that. She also wanted to shock the other Korean rankers with her disy of power like how the Korean rankers behind them were reacting to the four people that went out with her. So, Allein, the Spear Knight, finally plucked up the courage.

    A bright light burst out of Allein¡¯s spear the moment she swung it in the air. Then, a white horse with a beautiful mane appeared in front of her. Allein climbed on top of the horse as she ced a white helmet decorated with golden horns on her head.

    Even if the four members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom cut down the monsters in front of them, the monsters still continued to fill in the path that they opened up. At that moment, Allein, who rode on her white horse, shouted, ¡°Everyone, out of the way!!!¡±

    The four people turned their bodies away in reflex at Allein¡¯s shout. Then¡­

    <em>[shing Spear.]</em>

    <em>[You will charge for forty meters. Everyone that crashes into you, who¡¯s riding on top of your white horse, will suffer from an additional 4,000% damage.]</em>

    <em>[After traveling for forty meters, you will return to your original position in a blink.]</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    A golden light engulfed Allein¡¯s body. And just like a sh, she charged through the bridge filled with bone mamboths and turtle dragons. It only took three seconds. But in those three seconds, all the bone mamboths and turtle dragons that she passed by copsed on the ground. Once the skill ended, Allein returned to her original position.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Khan, Locke and Carr were all left speechless. Allein¡¯s skill¡¯s disadvantage was that it could only move in a forty-meter straight line. But other than that, it was a tremendous AOE attack skill that could leave anyone speechless.

    Striking while the iron was hot, Locke asked, ¡°Would you like to join the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    This was the birth of another talented and skilled person that would lead the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    But then, the undead began to push their way in.

    The Lion King looked at the situation of the entire battlefield before giving his orders, ¡°Let¡¯s go for an all-out attack.¡±

    Hundreds of Death Knights and dozens of Liches that were stationed at the rear together with thousands of undead began to charge forward. The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom looked infinitely smaller after as the undead began to flock unto them.

    <em>[The Undead Corps has begun an all-out attack.]</em>

    <em>[We can expect the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom to receive considerable damage from the Undead Corps¡¯ all-out attack.]</em>

    <em>[The allied forces have around 80,000 troops in the skies and around 100,000 troops on the ground.]</em>

    <em>[The undead are swimming through theke and clinging to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s walls.]</em>

    <em>[It seems like the downfall of the castle is not that far away now.]</em>

    Defending against hundreds of thousands of undead was an extremely daunting task. No matter how strong or how many the members of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and the rankers were, they would still face limits.

    ¡°Retreat. Retreat!¡±

    Carr and the other people guarding the gates immediately rushed to escape.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The walls continued to shake and tremble.

    <em>[There is only 77% left in the castle wall¡¯s durability.]</em>

    <em>[There is only 64% left in the castle wall¡¯s durability.]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s quite a pity but thebined forces of the allied forces¡¯ summoners and necromancers is making Beyond the Heavens Kingdom lose control.]</em>

    <em>[No matter how strong one is, there¡¯s nothing scarier than fighting against an army of undead.]</em>

    <em>[On top of that, those Death Knights, all three hundred of them, were previous legendaries.]</em>

    The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was obviously in a crisis. The gates¡¯ lights had faded as the Death Knights broke them apart.

    Meanwhile, Lion King, who was watching everything unfold, evaluated the situation, <em>¡®Boring.¡¯</em>

    The Lion King had not even summoned his monsters nor the God of Beasts. The battle was nder than what he expected, <em>¡®Ah. As expected of foreigners.¡¯</em>

    As an Absolute Supreme NPC, the foreigners looked simr to bugs in the Lion King¡¯s eyes. They were nothing but mere insects. But then, Bastien, his student who was standing next to him, said, ¡°This is strange.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°Death, the king of the Kingdom of the Dead, the one I mentioned to you before¡­ I can¡¯t see him.¡±

    ¡°¡­Do you think the tides of this war will turn just because of the appearance of one insignificant being?¡±

    ¡°That¡­¡± Bastien mumbled cautiously. Death, despite only being one single person, could summon an undead army of ten thousand and dozens of Death Knights. And ording to rumors, Death¡¯s Death Knights and troops of the Undead Legion had be stronger.

    So, one question arose in Bastien¡¯s head, ¡®<em>Why isn¡¯t he showing up?</em>¡¯

    ¡°This shoddy kingdom is already over. Even if hees¡­¡±

    But before the Lion King¡¯s words ended, the skies above him and Bastien darkened. The Lion King felt an unusual energy in the air. Perhaps it was magic that caused the skies to darken? However, his eyes turned wide from shock when he looked up. What greeted him in the skies was not a cloud nor some sort of magic. It was the gigantic bottom of a territory. This was none other than As, Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s ¡®City in the Skies¡¯.

    ¡°Wh, what¡­¡±

    And inside As the City of the Skies stood a man wearing a ck robe. The man was looking at thend below him while standing in front of an unknown button. The moment the man pressed on the button¡­

    <em>Whiiiiiiiiir¡ª</em>

    <em>Whiiiiiiiiiir¡ª</em>

    <em>Whiiiiiiiiiir¡ª</em>

    <em>Whiiiiiiiir¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Thousands of cannons as well as tens of thousands of unidentified openings appeared all over the City in the Skies. And then¡­

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeek!¡±

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeek!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    The undead summoned by Death, the king of the Kingdom of the Dead, began to fall down from As. Among them were dozens of Death Knights wearing red armor. At the same time¡­

    <em>Vwoong, vwoong, vwooong¡ª</em>

    <em>Vwoong, vwoong, vwooong¡ª</em>

    The tens of thousands of unidentified openings and the thousands of cannons that covered As began to glow with an eerie white light and¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡­the cannons fired shots that devoured the tens of thousands of enemy monster corps on the ground.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    At the same time, the tens of thousands of unidentified openings were filled with ¡®arrows¡¯. Just like a machine gun, these arrows fired simultaneously and devoured the undead trying to climb the castle walls. The arrows also destroyed the bone dragons, wyverns and gryphons controlling the skies.

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    ¡°Kiyeeeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Out of the 200,000 strong monster corps that filled the skies and the ground, 150,000 turned gray.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Everyone was presented with the jaw-dropping scene of 150,000 monsters turning into ashes and disappearing into the wind, in an instant.

    The eyes of the Lion King, who was looking at the scene in front of him in disbelief, wandered and made eye contact with Death.

    ¡°What¡¯cha looking at, you f*cking bastard?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The Lion King was left speechless after being served a dish of strong and unreserved Korean curses.

 Chapter 567: Battle of the Thrones (2)

    Chapter 567: Battle of the Thrones (2)

    As, the City in the Skies, was a territory written in legends and passed down to others. It was a famous architecture that represented Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, a city that flew in the skies! Anyone would feel the desire to own such a ce once in their lives.

    However, everyone was very suspicious. Why did As, a territory under Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, appear in this ce? That was right. The Battle of Thrones was not apetition where they had to battle using their own territories. It was one where they were required to create and build a castle solely for the Battle of Thrones and wage war against each other.

    So, how was the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom able to use their own territory?

    The secret to this was none other than creating the ¡®best castle¡¯. Joy Co. Ltd. had dered that they would give a special privilege to the ones that could create the best castle. Up until this point, nothing had been revealed about which country had created the best castle and won the special privilege.

    It turned out to be Korea.

    <em>[Everything is clear now. The reason why Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is able to use As Territory is because they have created the best castle out of all the 28 participating countries.]</em>

    <em>[The weapons attached to As must be one of the rewards that they have received.]</em>

    <em>[What amazing firepower. It¡¯s like we¡¯re looking at the modern machine gun and K9 Thunder[1].]</em>

    <em>[The undead and monster corps that showed great momentum earlier only have 50,000 left in their troops.]</em>

    Meanwhile, Lion King, who received verbal abuse from Death, was now witness to how the Death Knights wearing red armor attacked andid the enemy Death Knights to waste, the moment theynded on the ground.

    <em>Craaaaaack¡ª</em>

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    Surprisingly, the Death Knights in red armor were dealing with the other Death Knights easily, as if they were fighting against toddlers. Just one of the Death Knights wearing red armor was enough to deal with dozens of ordinary Death Knights. In fact, they were not being pushed back at all.

    <em>¡®Is this the Death King mentioned in the legends?¡¯</em>

    The Lion King had ignored the people that they were fighting against just a few moments ago. But now, he realized that he should not have done that. The space around the Lion King then tore apart, as dozens of lions appeared prowling behind him, while he took a step forward.

    The lions that appeared were enormous, around fifteen meters in height alone. And standing right next to the Lion King was the 25-meter-tall God of Beasts, that was releasing an enormous momentum. The God of Beasts also looked like a lion. The only difference was that he was wearing a full te of golden armor.

    ¡°Roaaaaaaaaar!¡±

    The ground and the skies surrounding the Beyond the Heavens shook from the violent roar of the God of Beasts. Then, the effects of this roar struck everyone inside the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    <em>[You have heard the Fearless Beast¡¯s Roar.]</em>

    <em>[Your physical and magical defenses have decreased by 20%.]</em>

    <em>[Your AGI has decreased by 15%.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    It was a huge debuff! Everyone that the God of Beasts perceived as the enemy suffered from this debuff. There was no limit to the number, as long as they heard the Fearless Beast¡¯s Roar, they would receive the debuff.

    <em>¡®They had cast a debuff on 50,000 people in one go¡­?¡¯</em>

    Then, dozens of lions charged forward.

    <em>Thump, thump, thump, thump¡ª</em>

    The lions¡¯ speed waspletely different from that of the bone mamboths and the turtle dragons.

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng, ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    Hundreds of arrows flew towards the lions but none of them pierced through. They just snapped and cracked without even being able to leave a scratch on the lions¡¯ bodies. One of the lions leapt up, its leaping power so high that it was able to reach the top of the walls in one go.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The startled Genie took a few steps back from the sudden change in events as the lion opened its giant maw and bit one of the Korean rankers, and the unfortunate ranker copsed into a heap.

    <em>Crunch¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaack!¡±

    One single bite from the lion and the ranker was forced to log out. Then, another lion leapt onto the walls.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Stop them!¡±

    ¡°Attack!¡±

    The lion jumped in the middle of the troops and went on a rampage, biting one ranker after another and forcing them to log out. But it was very hard to stop them. The spearmen rankers were only able to graze the lion¡¯s hide lightly despite stabbing strongly with their spears. In fact, their bodies were stillpletely intact even though they received the baptism of magic bombs and magical attacks.

    What would happen if all of the lions prowling beneath them jumped on the walls?

    <em>¡®We¡¯ll probably suffer and fall under the enemies¡¯ hands.¡¯</em>

    Everyone thought of the same thing.

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    Elpis was only barely able to knock one of the lions down and he was already gasping loudly.

    ¡°They, they¡¯reing again!¡±

    ¡°Hiiiiik!¡±

    The South Korean rankers were all struck dumb.

    Meanwhile, the Lion King was having a conversation with the allied kings through a hologram, ¡°Bring in the three top-rankers that I have told you to stay on standby immediately.¡±

    <em>[They¡¯ll arrive there in a minute.]</em>

    <em>[I understand.]</em>

    <em>[Yes.]</em>

    <em>[May the tides of war be in your favor.]</em>

    The allied troops were expecting the arrival of the top-leveled rankers any minute now. If things continued at this rate, then the copse of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would just be right around the corner. In fact, the lions were even able to push away the undead corps that Death had summoned.

    ¡°Genie!!! Give your orders!!!¡±

    ¡°Noona?!!!¡±

    But Genie¡¯s expression was nk as she stared at the space in front of her.

    ¡°Genie?!!!!¡±

    Despite the loud shouts around her, her expression remained nk as she continued to look at the window floating in front of her.

    Earlier, when the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom pushed back the 150,000 undead troops and killed thousands of summoners and necromancers they were able to reach the top of the contributions list. This meant that they were able to receive rewards once again.

    <em>[You will be able to summon one of the NPCs under themand of the participating guilds in the Battle of Thrones. This reward ignores the 1,000 participating NPC restriction.]</em>

    Based on the notification, Genie would be able to summon one of the NPCs that failed to participate in the Battle of Thrones because of the restriction on the number of participants. But among the list of the names of NPCs that she could summon, there was a very, very familiar name.

    <em>[<strong>Spear God Ben</strong>]</em>

    ¡°¡­How?¡±

    Ben had died, he turned to ashes and disappeared in front of Minhyuk. But all of the NPCs listed here were marked as ¡®living¡¯. And another surprising thing was¡­

    <em>¡®It¡¯s not Ghost Spear Ben¡­ but Spear God Ben?¡¯</em>

    Genie felt her heart thump wildly. The voices and the sounds ringing around her turned into white noise. In this harrowing and bloody battlefield, a bright smile appeared on her face.

    At that moment, the ¡®Rankers Above Rankers¡¯ that each country chose arrived. Each country sent three of their strongest rankers. Each one of them could face a thousand of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s troops. At the same time, the God of Beasts made a move. A deep trench was dug on the ground as the 25-meter-tall God of Beasts stomped on the ground before dashing forward on the 200 meter long bridge.

    <em>Dash, dash, dash, dash, dash¡ª</em>

    The monsters and the undead all copsed just by identally making contact with the God of Beasts¡¯ body. Even the Korean rankers were all left flustered and stunned at the majestic and imposing momentum of the wall-like God of Beasts.

    ¡°We, we¡¯re done for¡­!¡±

    ¡°Just one hit from his body and the walls of the castle will copse!!!¡±

    In fact, under themand of the Lion King, the God of Beasts truly had a history of destroying a territory in under two hours, all on his own. The God of Beasts destroyed everything and turned that territory into a sea of blood.

    ¡°Roaaaaaaaaaar!¡±

    As the God of Beasts roared, Genie said, ¡°Summon Spear God Ben.¡±

    At that moment¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    A bolt of lightning fell down from the skies.

    <em>Rumble, rumble¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    At the ce where the lightning struck, an old man stepped forward and faced the charging God of Beasts.

    ¡°I¡­¡± the old man mumbled silently, ¡°have never learnt how to back down.¡±

    ***

    Ghost Spear Ben was undergoing the trials set by the Absolute Gods. However, one of those trials had been changed because of the changing whims of the Absolute Gods. They even said nonsense here and there to justify their actions.

    <em>¡®If you ovee this trial, you will gain more strength and power,¡¯ </em>the gods said as they gave Ben a trial that they were sure he was not able to clear.

    Humans were helpless under the gods¡¯ tricks. In the end, Ghost Spear Ben¡¯s trial was changed. He was now required to win against one of the gods. And the god that he was supposed to face was Spear God Aerdes, the god that he had met in the past.

    Ghost Spear Ben fought with Spear God Aerdes for days on end. No, to be exact, Ben attacked Aerdes continuously for days but he was never able to nick, let alone graze, Aerdes¡¯ body. But even so, Ben still continued to stand up.

    ¡°His Majesty is still waiting for me.¡±

    ¡°This crazy gramps¡­¡±

    The great and arrogant Spear God Aerdes could not kill Ben. This was because Ben¡¯s strong mentality and reason for fighting broke her heart.

    Then, one day, the God of Cooking appeared. The God of Cooking dered that she would give Ghost Spear Ben a special privilege, since the Absolute Gods dared to change the contents of the trial on their whims. She brought a dish called braised spicy chicken. The God of Cooking also ced a crystal ball in front of Ben as she handed over the dish. Minhyuk¡¯s figure as he cooked was disyed on the crystal ball.

    ¡°He risked his life to cook for you. What a wonderfulbination you two are; both the king and his retainer are quite cool, huh?¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty¡­¡±

    Old Man Ben¡¯s tears fell down his cheeks as he stared at the crystal ball. He deeply missed Minhyuk. That was why he wanted to go back to his arms once again. Ben sat down in front of the braised spicy chicken that Minhyuk made for him at the risk of his own life.

    ¡°¡­A dish? So suddenly?¡± Spear God Aerdes cried in shock, shaking her head as she looked at Ghost Spear Ben, who smiled brightly in front of the dish.

    <em>¡®The power of the God of Cooking¡¯s dishes is very outstanding. But do you think a mere dish can give you the power to defeat me?¡¯</em>

    Aerdes could not understand but Ghost Spear Ben knew what he had to do. All he needed to do at this very moment was to savor the dish that His Majesty made for him.

    ¡°I will eat well, Your Majesty.¡±

    With the power of the God of Cooking, the dish did not cool down, even though a lot of time had already passed. Ghost Spear Ben looked at the cheese ced in the middle of the huge pan and the braised spicy chicken on both sides. The first thing that he did was to mp a piece of the chicken and eat it as it was. The spicy vor and the soft texture of the chicken immediately brought a smile on Ben¡¯s face. This time, Ghost Spear Ben ced a piece of the braised spicy chicken on top of a lettuce, added some garlic and ssamjang, before cing everything in his mouth. Next, he tasted some udon. Ben really, really liked udon.

    <em>¡®The seasoned udon is really delicious.¡¯</em>

    Ben savored the spicy and salty vor that wrapped around the noodles in his mouth. He would also dip some of the chicken in the cheese for the rich and creamy vor. He ate everything in a rush, as if someone would take it away from him. Although they were apart, Benpletely felt Minhyuk¡¯s heart and sincerity through the food.

    Aerdes suddenly felt the air around Ben vibrate after he finished eating his meal.

    <em>¡®What?¡¯</em>

    Aerdes felt flustered. Ben had only eaten one dish but the air surrounding him started vibrating. At the same time, the notifications rang in Ben¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You have eaten an Absolute God Grade Dish.]</em>

    <em>[You have received the buff effects.]</em>

    <em>[You have transcended the limits of a human!]</em>

    <em>[You have transcended the limits of a human for a second time!]</em>

    <em>[¡­human!]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will increase by 71% and all of your skill levels will increase by +4 for one whole week!!!]</em>

    An hourter, Spear God Aerdes was seen lying in a heap in front of Ghost Spear Ben.

    ***

    The sparks that covered the old man, who appeared after the lightning struck, slowly disappeared.

    <em>Crackle, crackle, crackle¡ª</em>

    The 25-meter-tall God of Beasts continued to charge at the old man. The Lion King, who watched everything happen, believed that the old man would be torn to pieces under the sharp teeth of the God of Beasts, disappearing without a trace.

    Meanwhile, the old man raised his spear and¡­

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡­the charging God of Beasts suddenly stopped. Everyone could not understand the situation. The old man just raised his spear and this happened? But then¡­

    <em>Step, step, step, step¡ª</em>

    When the old man walked past the God of Beasts¡­

    <em>Swiiiiiish¡ª</em>

    Starting with the head, the God of Beasts slowly split in two. The God of Beasts died with his body split in half.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Ghost Spear Ben had finally returned, as the Spear God.

    1. A SKr 155mm self-propelled howitzer. ?

 Chapter 568: Battle of the Thrones (2)

    Chapter 568: Battle of the Thrones (2)

    Lion King Benrod was left speechless after witnessing the ridiculous scene in front of him. He could not even return to his senses after receiving such a huge shock. With the notification that rang in his ears, he finally realized that the scene that he witnessed was true.

    <em>[The God of Beasts has died.]</em>

    <em>[You can summon the God of Beasts again only after the Battle of Thrones has ended.]</em>

    It was not only Lion King Benrod who reacted this way. For a moment, everyone was speechless. They all silently watched the old man walk on the bridge and pass through the God of Beasts. The viewers from all over the world watched the scene through the hundreds of cameras filming the scene. The summoners, the necromancers and the Rankers Above Rankers that just arrived. Even the Korean rankers that saw this on the walls of the castles.

    All of them remained silent as another question popped in their heads: ¡®<em>Who is he?¡¯</em>

    While everyone was busy trying to see the old man¡¯s face, Genie, who was being shown at a close-up on one of the screens, mumbled, ¡°Grandpa Ben¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Ben was the closest retainer to Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King Minhyuk. Despite his strength, he worked as a barista in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Ghost Spear Ben had be famous after he created the legend of breaking through hundreds of thousands of troops during the war between the Lumae Kingdom and the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. There was even that one video that shook the hearts of many people all over the world, the video where he died and turned into ck ashes that disappeared in the wind.

    So, why was Ben here? And how did the God of Beasts die?

    <em>[Isn¡¯t the God of Beasts too weak? He did not seem as mighty as how he looked.]</em>

    One of the viewers tried to deny the truth. But someone else quickly made a rebuttal.

    <em>[You won¡¯t be able to say that at all if you have watched the video of the fight between the God of Beasts and an American PK guild.]</em>

    yer-Kill guilds existed in each and every country. And the PK guild in America had a huge influence in their country. In fact, they even have several unofficial Rankers Above Rankers in their ranks.

    <em>[If you watched that video, you will be able to see how the God of Beasts devoured and killed five Rankers Above Rankers and hundreds of rankers.]</em>

    <em>[Then, how in the world are you going to exin the situation right now?]</em>

    Only a few of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s executives, including Minhyuk, knew that Ghost Spear Ben was undergoing the Absolute Gods¡¯ trial. That was why everyone found the situation to be iprehensible. Especially because this happened long before the Battle of Thrones started.

    The Rankers Above Rankers that arrived at the scene saw how everyone was left speechless.

    ¡°Mi¨¢o, what in the world happened here?¡± One of the Greek yers asked Mi¨¢o, who witnessed everything. But Mi¨¢o could not say anything.

    ¡°Mi¨¢o! Mi¨¢o!!!¡±

    ¡°Ah. Yes¡­¡±

    Mi¨¢o was the only one that sat on the throne in this ce. However, even she was left speechless at Spear God Ben¡¯s overwhelming aura and momentum. Still, they held some hope.

    ¡°That attack was a lethal skill, right?¡±

    ¡°Y, yes. That might be the case.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a possibility.¡±

    Of course, that rhetoric was truly possible. It was probably a lethal skill, a trick by the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. He was most likely trying to make the enemies confused and forced them to retreat by showing his power with a light swing of his spear.

    ¡°That¡¯s most likely the case.¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s true.¡±

    The rankers nodded in agreement. After all, this was the most credible exnation. But then, Mi¨¢o, with a somber look on her face, said, ¡°But, if that¡¯s not the case, then¡­¡± Her face turned pale as she continued, ¡°The winds will change in the Battle of Thrones.¡±

    <em>Gulp¡ª</em>

    Someone gulped loudly. A single NPC would be able to change the flow of the Battle of Thrones? It would be something that was practically impossible. No one would believe that to be a possibility.

    In just an instant, they began to flock to the bridge again. The monsters, the undead, and the rankers that flocked to the bridge were almost at 30,000. But Spear God Ben just walked forward silently.

    <em>¡®Your Majesty.¡¯</em>

    Spear God Ben continued to walk forward, a small smile on his lips. He could onlye back because of <em>him</em>. He was able to endure everything because of <em>him</em>. And now that he was here, he would make a stronger kingdom for <em>him</em>. That was right. That was what Ben intended to do.

    ¡°Kill him!!!¡±

    Meanwhile, the Absolute Supreme NPC, the strongest NPC in the world, the Lion King was furious. As his anger rose, dozens of named monsters appeared. The Death Knights that blocked Ghost Spear Ben¡¯s path all flew out.

    <em>Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh¡ª</em>

    The Death Knights¡¯ bodies were split in half, turning into ashes and disappearing into the wind. This was the first shot of the fierce battle ahead of them. To be exact, this was the beginning of a ughter.

    <em>Shwaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!</em>

    With every step that Ben took, the enemies would turn to ash. Dozens of Death Knights and monsters threw themselves in his path but none of them was able to even reach his vicinity. All of them disappeared into ash with the swing of Ben¡¯s spear.

    The spear arts that Ben used was none other than ¡®Shadowless Spear¡¯. In the past, Spear God Ben had borrowed the power of Aerdes. But it was just that, borrowing. Now, Spear God Ben had defeated Aerdes. This meant that all of Ben¡¯s powers and skills had reached the level of the gods. Hundreds of monsters and undead disappeared with every step that Spear God Ben took. One of the gigantic bone dragons tried to take advantage of a gap and dived down to bite off Spear God Ben.

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    But Spear God Ben ignored the attack as he continued to knock down the enemies in front of him silently. All he did was raise one of his hands and grab the maw of the gigantic bone dragon, stopping it easily.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The scene where Ben blocked a bone dragon, which was several tens of timesrger than himself, with just one of his hands was already shocking. But then, he suddenly put some strength in that hand and¡­

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    The bone dragon, starting with its maw, cracked. Its hard and thick bones started to crack, until its entire body copsed into pieces. Spear God Ben looked at it for a while before finally moving in earnest. He put some strength in his legs and started running.

    ¡°Uwooooooooh!¡±

    More monsters and undead turned to ashes that scattered in the wind as Ben swung his spear fiercely.

    <em>aaaaaash¡ª</em>

    With his spear shrouded in a ck light, Spear God Ben jumped to the skies and cast a skill. There was a skill named ¡®Exploding Spear¡¯ in the chapters of the Ghost Spearmanship. This skill was an AOE attack skill that could pierce through and make tens and hundreds of enemies explode with a single stab. And now, this strengthened skill, the Spear God¡¯s Exploding Spear, descended upon thousands of the enemy troops.

    <em>aaaaash¡ª</em>

    When Ben¡¯s spear pierced through one of the monsters¡¯ heads, the ck light that covered it began to flow to the ground. Then¡­

    <em>Rumble, rumble, rumble¡ª</em>

    ¡­an explosion so loud, as if a nuclear bomb had exploded, urred on the bridge, devouring the monsters on the bridge and turning them to ashes. With just this Exploding Spear, the 10,000 monsters that filled the bridge disappeared without a trace. Everyone felt their breath stop, their bodies trembling. All would be equal in the face of the descending Spear God. It was like he was telling them: <em>I am the lion, you are the ants.</em>

    ¡°Kill him!!!¡±

    The Rankers Above Rankers, whosebined numbers reached around fifty after all eighteen countries sent them, were looking for an opportunity. Although smaller in numberpared to the entirety of their troops, their numbers could already support an entire kingdom.

    First was America¡¯s Spear Saint, Arendor. He was second in the official global spearmen rankings. He was also the one that could invoke ¡®The One like Light¡¯, a power that could instantly double his movement speed and attack speed. Arendor used that power and charged at Ben with fierce momentum. Ben took a step back, easily blocking Arendor¡¯s spear with one hand.

    <em>¡®We can do it¡­!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He¡¯s not necessarily the strongest yet¡­!¡¯</em>

    With Arendor at the lead, the Rankers Above Rankers began to attack Ben.

    ¡°Sword¡¯s Cry!!!¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    A sword fell from the skies and exploded on Ben.

    ¡°Death Dagger!!!¡±

    This was a one-shot kill skill that added 6,000% additional attack to the world¡¯s top assassin¡¯s dagger, which was aimed towards Ben¡¯s abdomen.

    ¡°Magic Explosion!!!¡±

    The ¡®Theoretical Mage¡¯, a mage that specialized in ¡®stored¡¯ magic, sent his magic explosion in one ce and let it explode.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    One of the tanker rankers mmed his square shield on Ben¡¯s body. All fifty rankers gave it their all, as if they were raiding a monster that was above their power and strength. They went one step, two steps closer to where Ben was.

    Even the Lion King jumped in and joined the fray with his dozens of named monsters, believing that this was their opportunity. The thin cloth that covered the Lion King¡¯s body was torn to shreds as his body grew bigger. The reason why the Lion King was given his namesake was because he could turn into a lion. Upon transformation, all of the Lion King¡¯s stats would increase by 50%, while his attack would increase by 2,000%.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The Lion King transformed and turned into a lion and mmed into Ben with all his might.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Ben¡¯s feet dug fifty centimeters deeper into the ground the moment he raised his spear and blocked the Lion King¡¯s attack.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The Lion King kept on mming into Ben, just like a hammer pounding on a nail. When Ben¡¯s feet dug deeper by another twenty centimeters, another round of attacks rained down on him. The enemies surrounded him but they really could not see him clearly because of the dust that flew up from the onught of their attacks.

    ¡°Haaa¡­ Haaa¡­¡±

    ¡°Heok¡­ Heok¡­¡±

    Their ragged breaths rang loudly in the area. But just when all of them thought, <em>¡®Is it finally over?¡¯</em> while squinting at the ce in front of them, something moved from the right side behind them.

    ¡°Foolish. You can¡¯t even see me when I¡¯m already in front of you.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    This was Spear God Ben¡¯s new power. The Ghost Steps, a skill that he had in the past, was a skill that allowed him to do instantaneous movements. But now, this skill has been divided into two parts. One was ¡®Ghostly Movements¡¯ and the other was ¡®Ghostly Apparition¡¯. And what he used just now was ¡®Ghostly Apparition¡¯.

    As he looked at the terrified rankers, Ben coldly spat, ¡°Absolute Pinnacle Spear.¡±

    The Absolute Pinnacle Spear was Ben¡¯s strongest lethal skill. It was a skill that he could only use at the expense of his life. But after bing the Spear God, his Absolute Pinnacle Spear hadpletely changed. In the skies above them, a spear of light, one that could deal the damage of the Absolute Pinnacle Spear, fell down like a lightning bolt and pierced through the head of the Lion King before stabbing deep into the ground.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Then, it exploded.

    Spear Master Arendor cried out in shock as he watched the Lion King explode, ¡°It¡¯s, it¡¯s a trap¡­!¡±

    That was right. It was a trap. They all thought that Ben was not as strong as they thought him to be. Well, to be exact, Ben deliberately showed them gaps in his movements and allowed them to attack him. Like moths to a me, all of them flocked to him. And it had to be known that the Absolute Pinnacle Spear was a skill that showed greater power when the distance between Ben and his opponents was shortened. A perfect example was the situation that they were in now.

    Before Arendor could finish his words, a spear of light had already pierced through his head. Immediately after, dozens of spears of lights fell down from the skies.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab!</em>

    The Rankers Above Rankers exploded one after the other and disappeared into ashes! There were only dozens of spears but the damage that it could deal against Ben¡¯s enemies was far higher than the Absolute Pinnacle Spear of the past.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Around fifty rankers disappeared without a trace. And while he was there, Spear God Ben also made sure to cut down the monsters and enemies that were near him.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The entire world held its breath. Even thementators felt like they would be killed if they so much as dared to breathe.

    Then, Spear God Ben walked towards the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s castle, dozens of drones trailing after him. Countless cameras zoomed in on Ben¡¯s face and broadcasted each and every single one of his movements.

    The one that became a Spear God. The very same one that killed his enemies with just a single spear. He had created a legend. What would he do after such a feat?

    <em>Creaaaaaaaaaak¡ª</em>

    The gates of the castles opened and weed the arrival of Spear God Ben. Ben continued to walk forward, stopping only in front of the statue of his king.

    In the Battle of Thrones, once the king¡¯s statue was destroyed or the king had died, all contributions would be disregarded and they would be marked as the defeated.

    As he stood in front of the king¡¯s statue, Spear God Ben stabbed his spear on the ground and looked up. The one that became the Spear God had tears trickling down his cheeks as he said, ¡°Your Majesty, this lowly servant of yours has returned.¡±

    Ben lowered his head, tears still trickling down his cheeks.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m finally back. I missed you. I missed you so much, my king.¡¯</em>

    At that moment, the notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[The Absolute Gods are in awe after hearing the story of the king and his retainer!]</em>

    <em>[The Absolute Gods are very ashamed of themselves after tricking and ying around with Ben.]</em>

    <em>[The Absolute Gods are giving you their blessings now.]</em>

    Then, a bright light burst out and showed the translucent figure of a man. The man looked like he could not understand what was happening for a moment. But when he saw the crying Ben, the man stepped back and slowly knelt down in front of Ben. He reached his hand out and wiped the tears on Ben¡¯s face, saying, ¡°Thank you foring back, Grandpa.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­ Ah¡­ Ah¡­!!!¡±

    The man that appeared was none other than Minhyuk. The Absolute Gods¡¯ blessingssted for a short while, and Minhyuk¡¯s figure once again turned into light, disappearing as quickly as it appeared.

 Chapter 569: Battle of the Thrones (2)

    Chapter 569: Battle of the Thrones (2)

    Minhyuk stared nkly at the water that condensed at the tip of his thumb. This was his long-awaited reunion with Ben and he was delighted that the old man finally returned to his side.

    <em>¡®My guild members are holding up well.¡¯</em>

    During his reunion with Ben, Minhyuk was also able to take a glimpse at the current situation in the Battle of Thrones.

    <em>¡®They¡¯re not going to win without me, right?¡¯</em>

    In fact, the guild members were doing so well that it even caused Minhyuk to be nervous. But then, Minhyuk recalled the additional announcement that Athenae had made a day before the servers had integrated. Based on the announcement, a defense-type event was prepared and would be implemented in the middle of the Battle of Thrones. Although Minhyuk was not clear on what kind of defense-type event it was, he knew that it would have a huge influence on the overall flow of the Battle of Thrones.

    After he reunited with Ben, Minhyuk was finally preparing to enter the Abyss in earnest. He had not entered the Abyss at all since he had to deal with countless traps and hunt plenty of monsters that blocked his path from the true entrance.

    <em>¡®I did not expect that it would take me this long just to enter the Abyss.¡¯</em>

    Arlene had told him that he would be able to travel freely between the Abyss and the outside world as long as he cleared the first trial. Minhyuk stood in front of the ck hole and stared at the space in front of him. When he logged back inside the game, Arlene had given him the ¡®Abyss Stone¡¯.

    <em>Craaaack¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk tightened his grip on the stone in his hand, the stone turning into dust. The dust escaped from the gaps in his fist and flew toward the ck hole. Not long after, a ck light appeared and swallowed Minhyuk.

    <em>[You have entered the Abyss.]</em>

    <em>[The Abyss contains thirteen trials.]</em>

    <em>[Every time you break the Abyss¡¯ trial, you will receive an amazing reward.]</em>

    <em>[The power of thirteen gods resides in the Abyss.]</em>

    <em>[The first trial will nowmence.]</em>

    Minhyuk was greeted with a shocking view the moment he opened his eyes. Right in front of him was a line of tombs, thirteen huge tombs with various items emitting a bright light hovering above them. There was a book, a hoe, a frying pan, a sword, a bow, an axe, a hammer, and many more. These items were emitting a bright light and illuminating the surrounding area. That was when Minhyuk saw the words engraved on the tombstone, which were also shining a faint light.

    <em>God of Farming Arma.</em>

    <em>God of Archery Follua.</em>

    <em>God of cksmiths Hepas.</em>

    <em>God of Magic Archipelo.</em>

    <em>God of Animals Ideo.</em>

    <em>God of Alchemy Karma.</em>

    <em>God of Shield Aurod.</em>

    <em>God of Life Arjya.</em>

    <em>God of Time Card.</em>

    <em>God of Immortality Roikan.</em>

    <em>God of Creation Gerken.</em>

    Each tomb was marked like this to show which god wasid to rest underneath. When he reached the final tomb, Minhyuk could not help but look at it in doubt. Because the object floating above it was a fork. And the name written on the tomb of the final god was¡­

    <em>Food God Allen.</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk took a step back in shock. In fact, he already knew that the Food God was dead. However, he did not know the reason why he died. At the same time, he understood the meaning of the tombs and the items floating above them.

    ¡°Tomb of the Gods¡­¡± Minhyuk mumbled as he found one more thing that these tombs had inmon.

    He realized that most of the gods entombed in this ce were those that had bequeathed their powers. For example, the God of cksmith Hepas had given his power to Hyemin¡¯sDaddy, the God of Magic Archipelo had given his power to Golden Mage Al, and the God of Archery Follua had given his powers to Vietnam¡¯s Mi¨¢o.

    There was also one more thing that he found inmon among these gods.

    ¡°They¡¯re all Continental Gods?¡±

    That was right. The tombs here were the tombs of the ¡®Continental Gods¡¯, the gods that were active in the continent. However, it was still unknown why their tombs were gathered here, in this ce.

    Then, the notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[Food God Allen failed to go past this stage.]</em>

    <em>[Food God Allen challenged this ¡®trial¡¯. However he failed and ended up dying here.]</em>

    <em>[Descendant of the great Allen, honor him by aplishing what he failed to aplish.]</em>

    <em>[The first trial has been decided.]</em>

    The world in front of Minhyuk immediately changed. What unfolded in front of his eyes were hundreds of thousands of people with their stomachs caving in from hunger. They were all skin and bones, and looked like they were about to keel over. The weaker ones, especially the children, had already started to copse and die.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was left speechless. The scene that unfolded in front of him was hell on earth. One of the most painful ways a person could die was to die of starvation. From what Minhyuk had heard, the pain of someone starving as they slowly lost the energy in their bodies while still remaining conscious was indescribable. Knowing that they were already in the process of dying as their stomachs continued to cramp waspletely terrible.

    <em>[You can borrow the power of three gods.]</em>

    <em>[The first trial requires you to free all 500,000 people here from hunger.]</em>

    <em>[You only have one chance.]</em>

    <em>[The Food God had challenged this trial, failed and died here. If you fail here, you will be forced to log out.]</em>

    Immediately afterwards, a book opened in front of Minhyuk. The book contained information about the Food God.

    <em>[The Food God was ovee with guilt and remorse toward those that he could not save. So, he created a new secret that would be passed down and born to the world.]</em>

    <em>[The new secret that he created at the cost of his life was said to be at the level of an ¡®Absolute God¡¯s Secret¡¯. However, the truth of the matter was yet to be revealed since he had already left the world.]</em>

    <em>[Uponpletion of the trial, you will be able to acquire the Food God¡¯s Absolute God¡¯s Secret: ¡®Everyone¡¯s Happiness¡¯.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Just like Minhyuk, the previous Food God was able to create an Absolute God¡¯s Secret. And that was the reward that Minhyuk would obtain once he cleared the trial.

    ***

    The entire world was astonished after witnessing Spear God Ben annihte the summoner and necromancer army that the allied countries had sent! Meanwhile, the desire of the allied countries to keep the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom in check became stronger. However, even if they wanted to do that so badly, they could not send any more troops right away. This was all because of the defense event that Joy Co. Ltd. had announced before, which was about to begin.

    The Battle of Thrones was held in the Stars¡¯ Path. A huge video suddenly appeared in the middle of the path. It was in that ce that the Gods¡¯ Empire was created and established. In other words, Nerva Sephiroth, the emperor of the Luvien Empire, was there.

    Nerva Sephiroth gazed at the world outside the walls of the Luvien Empire and said, ¡°The kings from all over the world are fighting for power? And in the Stars¡¯ Path to boot?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, Your Majesty.¡±

    Nerva Sephiroth, with his long silver hair cascading on his back, looked so ethereal that the only word that was perfect to describe him was ¡®beautiful¡¯. He smirked, finding the situation funny, and said, ¡°Stars that have lost their light will eventually fall on the Stars¡¯ Path. By then, they will feel great frustration at theirck of support.¡±

    At Nerva Sephiroth¡¯s words, the video ended and scattered. At the same time, notifications rang for everyone that participated in the Battle of Thrones.

    <em>[Defense Against the God¡¯s Swords have started!]</em>

    <em>[A God¡¯s Sword of the past will appear in front of each of the participating 28 countries!]</em>

    <em>[The God¡¯s Sword will descend in thirty minutes.]</em>

    <em>[The God¡¯s Sword will descend in order!]</em>

    ording to the trailer released before, the viewers have confirmed that the God¡¯s Swords were the ones that have inherited the power of the gods, or were gods themselves. In other words, the God¡¯s Swords, beings that boasted enormous powers, would appear to attack each kingdom.

    Meanwhile, in the Japanese Server, Kentaro had finally finished his important quest and joined the Battle of Thrones just less than a few hours ago. Japan¡¯s castle was very solid and sturdy and was able to maintain its current ranking.

    Following a huge ssh of sparks, a man carrying a sword made of lightning appeared and walked toward Japan¡¯s castle. The man looked like Zeus of Roman mythology.

    <em>[Lightning Sword.]</em>

    <em>[He is the 28th God¡¯s Sword out of all the 28 Swords!]</em>

    <em>[His lightning is known to split the ground and make the world shake!]</em>

    The moment he swung his sword, a huge lightning bolt fell down and struck the castle.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Then, dozens of lightning bolts rained down, like a huge thunderstorm had arrived, destroying the castle walls and devouring hundreds of troops stationed inside.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    <em>[¡­!]</em>

    <em>[,,,!]</em>

    The aftermath of one single strike was so great that Kentaro could only jump up from his throne in shock, ¡°Crazy¡­!¡± The notifications had informed him that the man in front of them was ranked the lowest out of all the 28 God¡¯s Swords. Kentaro hurriedly gave out his orders, ¡°Stop him!!!¡±

    America was chosen as the next country for this defense event. Among them stood Alexander, a person that was hailed as the best of the best in the world, and was one of the Summit Five. However, he was speechless when he saw the being in front of them.

    ¡°This¡­ this is the power of the man under Nerva Sephiroth¡¯smand¡­?¡±

    Thousands of gigantic magical attacks and missiles rained down on America¡¯s castle.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The castle trembled and shook greatly. Nerva Sephiroth was the central figure of Athenae¡¯s second era, the era that was about to arrive. There was a high chance that the rankers would have to fight against him in the near future. Simply put, this was like a preview.

    As the castle shook greatly, Alexander drew his sword and leapt on the walls, the other American rankers following right behind him. Then, the notifications rang.

    <em>[Magic Sword.]</em>

    <em>[He is the 15th God¡¯s Sword out of all the 28 Swords!]</em>

    <em>[His magic is known to burn even the dragons.]</em>

    In Vietnam.

    <em>[Archery Sword.]</em>

    <em>[She is the 9th¡­ out of all the 28 Swords!]</em>

    <em>[Her arrows are known to scare even the God of Archery.]</em>

    God of Archery Mi¨¢o pulled her bow and shot an arrow at the woman walking from afar. But at that moment¡­

    <em>Fwoooosh¡ª</em>

    An arrow flew and stabbed straight through God of Archery Mi¨¢o¡¯s shoulders.

    ¡°¡­I got hit by an arrow?¡±

    For Mi¨¢o, the God of Archery, this was something that waspletely impossible.

    The same thing happened all over the ce where the Battle of Thrones was being held, throwing the entire world into confusion. They finally realized that these beings called the God¡¯s Swords were extremely strong.

    On the other hand, the viewers were very curious. They could see that the power and force of each of the God¡¯s Swords varied greatly depending on their ranking. The highest God¡¯s Sword that appeared was the God¡¯s Sword that appeared in China, the fifth Sword.

    <em>[Immortality Sword.]</em>

    <em>[He is the 5th God¡¯s Sword out of all the 28 Swords!]</em>

    <em>[Blessed with an immortal body, he is someone that does not die.]</em>

    The Sword that appeared in China was just as the notifications said. He simply could not die despite the thousands of magic attacks and arrows sent his way. The same was true even if they bombarded him all over with physical attacks.

    China¡¯s King, Xu Jiaqi could not understand the situation at all, <em>¡®Howe¡­ why isn¡¯t he doing anything¡­¡¯</em>

    But not long after, she was able to realize the answer to her own question. The Immortality Sword strode forward and sted through their castle walls, receiving all of the attacks that they had sent without retaliating with an attack of his own. But then, his body suddenly turned red and¡­

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª</em>

    The Immortal Sword, who received all of their attacks, fired back the same attacks that he had received earlier. Only then did they realize that the Immortal Sword had the skill that could ¡®absorb any abilities¡¯. In a split second, more than 3,000 rankers died.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    That was when they realized that the God¡¯s Sword from the first to the fifth rank all had tremendous powers.

    The people from all over the world cheered and enjoyed this defense-type event. But for the participants of the Battle of Thrones, all they could do was bite their lips tightly. The countries where the weaker Swords appeared heaved a sigh of relief, while the countries where the Swords in the top ten rankings appeared pulled their hair in despair. Although this defense type event would onlyst for thirty minutes, their casualties would differ depending on the rank of the Sword that appeared in front of them.

    Meanwhile, Genie was shaking in nervousness since the Sword that they would defend against had not yet appeared, <em>¡®Shit, what do I do? Ah. Why are we in the finale?¡¯</em>

    The remaining Swords were ranked 1st, 2nd, 14th, 17th, and 21st. Genie did not know which one would appear in front of them. The only thing that she knew was that Grandpa Ben, who only just returned, was the strongest among them.

    ¡°Grandpa Ben, by any chance, can you still continue to fight?¡±

    ¡°Hoho. Lady Genie, unfortunately¡­ I don¡¯t think I can fight for too long. My body has transcended the limits of the human body several times and I even ate His Majesty¡¯s buffed dish in that state. Since I gained power that¡¯s beyond what my body can contain, I alreadyck the strength to move. And with my vision starting to blur, I feel like I¡¯m going to lose consciousness soon.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Genie understood what Ben said. Although Spear God Ben had a ¡®God¡¯ in his title, he did not really be a ¡®god¡¯; he was only a ¡®demigod¡¯. However, he was able to wield a powerparable to gods because he consumed Minhyuk¡¯s buffed dish. Just how ants could not fight against an elephant, Spear God Ben¡¯s stamina was rapidly draining from his body.

    <em>¡®We¡¯re in trouble¡­¡¯ </em>Genie thought, her stomach churning from her nerves.

    Then, it was France¡¯s turn.

    ¡°Ow. France has the 21st ranked Sword.¡±

    ¡°No¡­ then, we will likely face the lower numbered Swords¡­!¡±

    The defense proceeded in order until only two countries remained. Only Greece and South Korea remained, while the 1st and the 17th ranked Swords were left.

    <em>¡®Please, God, Father, Buddha¡­¡¯</em>

    Genie and the Korean rankers had endured until this point. However, there was a high chance that they would copse here. Then, they heard another notification.

    <em>[The God¡¯s Sword has descended in Greece.]</em>

    <em>[The Sun Sword, ranked 17th out of all the 28 God¡¯s Swords, has descended upon Greece.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The Korean rankers were all left speechless. Now, all that was left was the 1st ranked God¡¯s Sword.

    ¡°We¡¯re f*cked¡­¡± Genie freely cursed their damn luck in this damn game.

    ***

    Meanwhile, President Kang Taehoon hurriedly rushed inside Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s Event Hosting Team, ¡°Wh, why¡­?! Are you telling me that they¡¯ll copse during the defense and way before the Battle of Thrones truly begins?!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. But everything has been set by the system. We also did not expect that they would get the 1st ranked and the existence hailed as the Absolute God¡¯s Sword¡­ Everything in the defense was set at random.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    President Kang Taehoon¡¯s face turned ugly at those words. As for Team Leader Park Minggyu? He looked at the monitor and saw a man wearing ck armor and a sword hanging on his waist along with a ¡®wolf¡¯. He had a cape that was fluttering beautifully behind him, and on it, the symbol of a ¡®fork and knife¡¯ crossed together.

 Chapter 570: Battle of the Thrones (2)

    Chapter 570: Battle of the Thrones (2)

    Food God Minhyuk believed that he had a lot inmon with the former Food God, Allen. Well, except for their reason for eating. However, just like him, Food God Allen also dreamt of creating a world where there were no hungry people. Food God Allen also had a lot of friends andrades in the continent. Just like how Minhyuk forged a strong sibling bond with Continental Emperor Ellie, Food God Allen had also created a strong friendship with the continental emperor of his time. Just as Allen had the Dragon Lord as his subordinate, Minhyuk also had Luna, someone that would be the next Dragon Lord. The two of them truly shared a lot of things inmon.

    And regarding the Secret that the Food God had made that wasparable to an ¡®Absolute God¡¯s Secret¡¯, ¡®Everyone¡¯s Happiness¡¯, Minhyuk already predicted what it was about.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s definitely an AOE buff skill.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk could tell with absolute certainty. ¡®Everyone¡¯s Happiness¡¯ was most definitely an AOE buff skill, which would be very useful in wars. Before the trial had started, a notification popped up in front of Minhyuk¡­

    <em>[You can view how the Food God failed the trial once.]</em>

    Minhyuk was given only one chance for this trial and could also request the assistance of three gods. However, he believed that he could find the answer if he took a peek at how the Food God failed the trial.

    ¡°I would like to watch how the Food God failed.¡±

    Then, the space in front of Minhyuk changed, showing the figure of the Food God and the 500,000 starving people. Food God Allen¡¯s expression was covered with worry and concern as he looked around him, ¡°How can this be? Why are so many people starving here? And I will be an Absolute God once I free them from hunger?¡±

    Then, the notifications rang.

    <em>[Food God Allen has saved many hungry people in the continent. However, he has received several interference and restrictions from the Absolute Gods.]</em>

    Minhyuk could not understand what the notification meant. What did Food God Allen feeding the hungry had to do with the Absolute Gods and their restrictions?

    <em>[That was why Allen, a Continental God, wanted to raise his status, prove his power and be an Absolute God himself. The Abyss was his final hurdle in bing one.]</em>

    <em>¡®The Abyss is the final hurdle in bing an Absolute God.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk pondered over the words for quite a long time. The Absolute Gods had ced several restrictions on the Food God. In the end, the Food God chose to climb to the position and be an Absolute God to free himself from them. Minhyuk continued to watch the video in front of him.

    To feed the half a million starving people, Food God Allen cooked hundreds of meals for days on end, foregoing sleep and rest. Allen was delighted to see the people enjoying the meals that he made and gaining more energy. However, the trial seemed almost impossible to clear alone. There were people that were able to eat the Food God¡¯s dishes, while there were those that died while waiting for the food.

    However, another problem, and a huge one at that, presented itself. Those that had eaten Food God Allen¡¯s dishes came back for more.

    ¡°Food God, I wish to taste your dishes again.¡±

    ¡°Show mercy, give us another of your dishes!¡±

    But the Food God shook his head firmly, ¡°The dish I fed you is a buffed dish that will give you the strength to endure for thirty days with an empty stomach. So, I cannot. I¡¯m going to cook for those that haven¡¯t eaten yet.¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaah! How can you abandon us!!!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re too much!!!¡±

    ¡°I hate you!!!¡±

    This was the case for most of the men. Those that had first tasted food and regained their energy turned their backs away from the dying children and elderly. But even when that happened, Allen did not give in to their wishes. He remained silent and cooked for the hungry.

    And one day, without realizing it, Allen had fallen asleep. It was just for a brief moment, but when he opened his eyes again, the view in front of him brought terror to Allen.

    <em>[It was hell on earth. Those who had eaten the food killed the ones that had lost their energy and strength and copsed to eat food once again. Tens of thousands of people had died while he was asleep.]</em>

    Allen was shocked. The people came up to him, with blood sttered on their bodies and said, ¡°Hehe, Allen. Since the number that you have to feed has decreased, then my turn to eat again wille faster, right?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Allen was left speechless at the shocking scene in front of him.

    <em>[Allen felt a stinging pain in his chest upon witnessing the ugly side of humans. As time went on, they resorted to killing their kin, the same people that lived alongside them. The owners of the twelve tombs that witnessed this scene had told him to ask help from three of the gods. However, this help, something that they had offered from the beginning of the trial, was firmly refused by the Food God.]</em>

    ¡°Food God, us gods will lend you our strength.¡±

    ¡°Choose from the three of us and borrow our strength.¡±

    But Allen refused once again, ¡°I do not trust the gods.¡±

    <em>[Allen had been deprived and restricted by the Absolute Gods one too many times. And even though he was also the same Continental God as them, he could not bring himself to trust them at all.]</em>

    It was clear that the gods that owned the tombs felt sorry for Allen. He was a man that dared to challenge the realm of the Absolute Gods so that no one would be hungry. However, he was already exhausted and his mentality had already been broken. And from what it looked like, he had failed in making the right decision.

    ¡°Only my cooking can save them.¡±

    Food God Allen believed so and cooked for these people as best as he could. During the process, the people continued to kill each other, causing Allen¡¯s mind to copse. Allen might have forgotten but his challenge for the trial had already failed when the people started to kill each other. He was already approaching his death. But he still said the same thing over and over again.

    ¡°Only, only my cooking can save the world.¡±

    Allen continued to cook, his exhaustion piling. Now, all that was left was a madman of a shell. But even though he continued to cook like that, the amount of people that he fed only reached around 100,000. Allen¡¯s frustrations and exhaustion reached his limits. In the end, he fainted. When he opened his eyes again, the people had once again killed each other, leaving only a few of them behind. Only then did the Food God realize that it was his own folly that brought death to these people.

    <em>¡®If only I had borrowed the power of the gods.¡¯</em>

    If Allen had chosen to borrow the power of the gods from the very beginning, then he might have a chance of clearing the trial. If he had abandoned his pride and arrogance, then those people might not have died. So, for thest time, Allen asked them, ¡°God of Life, lend me your power and let me live for ten more days. God of Creation, lend me your strength and allow me to create a special power. God of Immortality, lend me the strength that will allow me to use all of my power for the remaining ten days of my life. God of Time, turn back the time once I make this special power and allow them to live their lives again.¡±

    But the gods shook their heads.

    ¡°The trial is already over. On top of that, you can only borrow the power of three gods.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m asking you because I already know that I¡¯m going to die. I know that I have already copsed and failed this Abyss Trial.¡±

    The gods felt pity for Food God Allen and allowed the four gods to lend him their powers. The trial had already failed anyway, so it would not matter what they did here. The me of life burned inside Allen¡¯s body as he used all of his stats, skills and strength to create a skill.

    ¡°Urk!¡±

    Allen ignored the blood that dripped out of his mouth as he continued to put thest of his strength into the creation of this skill. Even though he was dying, he still continued to burn the rest of his power and strength using the power of the God of Immortality. Once the ten days had ended, a sh of blinding light appeared and surrounded the dish that Allen was making. The light was so dazzling and beautiful that even the gods swore that they have not seen something as beautiful as that in their lives. With the appearance of this dish, the God of Time turned back time to when Allen first came here.

    The 500,000 starving people once again appeared in front of Allen. Seeing this, he finally closed his eyes andid in eternal rest. Then, the dish that he made for the hungry, which was floating in the skies, slowly descended. It was just a bowl of gruel, but when the light faded and it stopped descending, the same bowl of gruel appeared in front of all 500,000 hungry people.

    <em>¡®Crazy¡­!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was shocked. After all, seeing one dish be 500,000 dishes was astonishing.

    <em>¡®Cloning dishes?¡¯</em>

    The power was truly spectacr. Then, the notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears once again.

    <em>[On that day, the Food God used thest of his powers to save the 500,000 hungry people. And when he took his final breath inside the Abyss, he became one of the gods that protected it.]</em>

    <em>[On that day, the Food God, as a Continental God, became the first ever in history to create an Absolute God¡¯s Secret.]</em>

    <em>[The Secret¡¯s name¡­ ¡®Everyone¡¯s Happiness¡¯]</em>

    The 500,000 people that regained some of their energy from the gruel that the Food God made, surrounded his cold body and honored him. When these people, whose hunger had abated for a moment, honored him, it looked like the world that the Food God had dreamt of. A world where no one was hungry.

    With the end of the video, Minhyuk returned to the Abyss where the 500,000 hungry people were waiting for him. Rejecting the help of the three gods and believing that his own cooking was the only thing that could save these people, just like what the previous Food God did, was something that Minhyuk believed to be foolish. However, the previous Food God was still able to look back at his true self and eventually feed all 500,000 of these hungry people. But Minhyuk knew that he could not do something like that. He had to feed all 500,000 of them in apletely different way than what Food God Allen did.

    <em>¡®I don¡¯t have the power of Everyone¡¯s Happiness.¡¯</em>

    But even if he had that, was it possible? Minhyuk witnessed how the people that Allen fed turned vicious and killed each other just to eat another of his dishes. If he fed them one by one, then the results would be no different from what Allen did.

    Not long after, Minhyuk shook his head, a smile hanging on his face, <em>¡®I know how I can clear this trial easily.¡¯</em>

    ***

    Among the viewers watching the Defense Against the God¡¯s Swords that took ce in the middle of the Battle of Thrones, the Koreansmented. This was because South Korea, who was leading in terms of contributions and showed a spectacr performance so far, got the short end of the stick. They actually had to face the strongest God¡¯s Sword in the defense-type event of the Battle of Thrones.

    The God¡¯s Sword that appeared ranked from 1~28 and the difference in the power of the 1st to 5th ranked God¡¯s Swords was said to be the difference between heaven and earth. But now, the strongest God¡¯s Sword was going to attack South Korea?

    <em>[No, what¡¯s the point of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and the Korean rankers working hard if they¡¯ll just be a sacrifice in this shitty luck game?]</em>

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s luck is so shitty. Hahahahahahaha. Among the 28 God¡¯s Swords, they actually have to face the strongest. Bwahahahahahaha!]</em>

    The other kings, who were busy defending against their own God¡¯s Sword opponent, gave orders that would bring Beyond the Heavens Kingdom deeper into the mire.

    ¡°Send 5,000 troops straight to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom now.¡±

    ¡°Send all of the troops that we can spare to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom now!¡±

    The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, which would be under the siege of the first God¡¯s Sword, would be nothing more than a piece of delicious cake that they could feast on. Under the attack of the strongest God¡¯s Sword, an enemy that was equivalent to tens of thousands of troops in terms of power, and the addition of almost a hundred thousand troops sent by the allied forces, the fall of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom seemed to be set in stone.

    Because of their constant battles, Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had already lost 7,000 of their troops. They were now faced with a situation where they had to stop the God¡¯s Sword, along with double the number of troops that they faced before.

    ¡°Our fight in the Battle of Thrones is over.¡±

    ¡°F*ck. What kind of shitty luck game is this?!¡±

    ¡°Ge, Genie. What do we do?¡±

    The South Korean rankers were a mess. They had done their best but now, they had to face around 100,000 enemy troops, and fight against the number one God¡¯s Sword.

    <em>[The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is facing yet another crisis.]</em>

    <em>[The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s luck is unbelievably horrible in the middle of the Battle of Thrones.]</em>

    <em>[We can now expect the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom to fall even before Food God Minhyuk participates in the ¡®middle of the event¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[What a pity.]</em>

    Meanwhile, the 100,000 troops had already gathered around the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and stationed themselves there as if they were watching the situation.

    ¡°Why is the First God¡¯s Sword taking so long?¡±

    ¡°I know, right?¡±

    ¡°Maybe it¡¯s because he¡¯s the strongest God¡¯s Sword that¡¯s why he¡¯sing outte, for a better effect, you know?¡±

    The troopsughed and mocked the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Standing at the vanguard was France¡¯s King Cuhel, who surprisingly took part in this attack.

    Cuhel had suffered greatly under the hands of the Beyond the Heavens King, the Food God. In other words, his resentment and hatred toward Food God Minhyuk could already reach the skies. That was why he wanted to take the lead in destroying the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Thanks to the ¡®King¡¯s¡¯ special privilege, Cuhel was now 1.5x stronger than usual.

    On top of that, he had confidence that France would be able to endure the fight against their God¡¯s Sword, since a rtively weaker one appeared in front of them. So, even if he was here, nothing would happen.

    <em>¡®When will hee out?¡¯</em>

    Cuhel¡¯s body was itching to fight. He wanted to sweep away the people that Food God Minhyuk cherished and loved as fast as he could. Then, the notifications rang.

    <em>[The final God¡¯s Sword is about to make his appearance to the world.]</em>

    The notification about the first Sword waspletely different from the other God¡¯s Sword.

    <em>[The Absolute God¡¯s Sword, as the strongest sword, once crossed des with Nerva Sephiroth to vye for the position of the ¡®Battle God¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[Even Emperor Nerva Sephiroth is afraid of the Absolute God¡¯s Sword!]</em>

    <em>[Absolute God¡¯s¡­]</em>

    <em>[Absolute God¡¯s¡­]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The entire world was shocked by the notifications. Nerva Sephiroth was the central figure and the leading force that would lead Athenae¡¯s second era, and the being that would appear in front of everyone now, the Absolute God¡¯s Sword, was someoneparable to him.

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaah! Shit¡­!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re done for¡­!¡±

    The South Korean rankers fell into a deeper state of despair while the 100,000 troops cheered in delight. And along with that¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Something akin to a meteor fell down on the ground and created a thick cloud of dust. Only the silhouette of the man could be seen through the dust. Cuhel felt delighted.

    <em>¡®Quick! Destroy Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!¡¯</em>

    The South Korean rankers groaned in despair while the allied troops cheered loudly. Then, at that moment, a voice pierced through the thickyer of dust, ¡°Mercenary¡¯s Pinnacle Swordsmanship.¡±

    The 100,000-strong troops were confident that the strong walls that protected Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would copse now. But then, the Absolute God¡¯s Sword said, ¡°Final Chapter.¡±

    Then, hundreds of long and sharp des appeared and rained down from the skies.

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    To everyone¡¯s shock, the attack did not rain down on Beyond the Heavens Kingdom; instead, it rained down on the 100,000 allied troops. The des cut down the armor, whether it was epic-ranked or legendary ranked, of the troops that stood at the vanguard and killed them. In just a single swing, more than 7,000 rankers disappeared. Then, the notifications rang.

    <em>[The Absolute God¡¯s Sword.]</em>

    <em>[He¡¯s the one that challenged the position of the Battle God¡¯s Sword and is someone that stands toe to toe with Nerva Sephiroth.]</em>

    <em>[His name is¡­ Brod!!!]</em>

    And Genie, who was looking at the figure from above the walls, saw a man wearing a cape with the symbol of a fork and knife crossed together. If one removed the dirt covering it, one would clearly see that it was the symbol of ¡®Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯.

    The person that appeared in front of them was the one in charge of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s livestock: the Mercenary King, also known as the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Sword.

    Upon witnessing his return, Genie shouted in delight, ¡°Brod!!!¡±

 Chapter 571: Battle of the Thrones (2)

    Chapter 571: Battle of the Thrones (2)

    Who was the strongest person in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom? There was a lot of discussion about this. Lesser Demon Diablo, who was now called Elpis, and Food God Minhyuk, the holder of a god ss and the Beyond the Heavens King, would be the strongest. Most of the debates went on like that.

    However, for those in Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, there was nothing to discuss about. If you asked the members of the kingdom, all of them would answer one person and one person alone with great confidence and certainty.

    The Mercenary King, previous escort of Rocard Kingdom¡¯s Queen Iris, and the only livestock farmer in the kingdom: Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Sword Brod.

    The members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were confident that he was the strongest in their kingdom. In fact, even though Ghost Spear Ben had be a Spear God now, there was no certainty that he would win against Brod in a fight.

    Many of the members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were curious about Brod¡¯s identity. This was because Brod was dered as the Mercenary King that roamed the continent but none of his past deeds and records were known to the world. But now, it was finally revealed. He was someone that stood toe to toe with the emperor, Nerva Sephiroth, of the Luvien Empire, that would lead Athenae¡¯s second era.

    Although he did not take the position of the ¡®Battle God¡¯s Sword¡¯ and rose to the throne to be the Emperor, he was still the most powerful God¡¯s Sword that could exert tremendous power. Of course he was the ¡®God¡¯s Sword¡¯ of the past but the fact that he was the strongest and most powerful Sword among all of the God¡¯s Swords present in the Battle of Thrones remained unchanged.

    Brod had left Minhyuk and Beyond the Heavens Kingdom on his own for everyone¡¯s sake. But an unknown force suddenly dragged him here. Brod was able to analyze the situation quickly the moment he arrived.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Brod¡¯s figure finally appeared once the thick cloud of dust settled down. He was still as tall as ever, with his height of two meters, and his piercing re was still enough to make everyone that tried to approach him falter in their steps.

    <em>[B, Brod¡­ hase back!]</em>

    <em>[Absolute God¡¯s Sword Brod! His identity as Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s livestock farmer has been revealed!]</em>

    <em>[I have heard rumors about Brod being ¡®dead¡¯. But surprisingly enough, he¡¯s very much alive and not a tad bit dead!]</em>

    Indeed, Brod¡¯s figure had not been seen in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom recently. Rumors about Brod not being able to withstand the power coursing through his veins and ended up dying because of it started to spread in public. And because Beyond the Heavens Kingdom never took a solid stance and exined this matter, everyone believed this to be the truth.

    But then, Brod returned as the ¡®Absolute God¡¯s Sword¡¯.

    Then, the gates of the kingdom opened as the members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and Korea¡¯s top rankers rushed out. Brod was, in fact, Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s Commander-in-chief. Elpis was temporarily holding this position but Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Sword Brod¡¯s teachings and influence were so great that all of the members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom still remembered them. On top of that, Brod had a force that was equal to ten thousand forces. No one would be afraid as long as he was on the battlefield with them. The members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, a mere 1,000-strong force, stood in a line behind Brod and forced the 100,000-strong troops to take a step back.

    Then, Cuhel shouted, ¡°Morons!!! All of you are rankers, prominent rankers from all over the world! Yet you¡¯re afraid of just those numbers?¡±

    The rankers immediately came back to their senses. They were not a hundred thousand ordinary troops fighting in this war; they were like a hundred thousand top-ranking knights. It did not matter how strong a person was, as long as enough numbers ganged up on him, they would still win.

    However, there was something that they had overlooked. As of the moment, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s rankers¡¯ stats and skill damage had dramatically increased from their continuous victories. On top of that, they received the effects of Kimaris¡¯ ¡®Unparalleled Bravery¡¯. They had also received a ¡®special privilege¡¯ after the system recognized that they were being attacked by an alliance, which allowed them to receive special rewards in the form of stat increases, potions, or ¡®skill cooldown reset parchments¡¯ every time they won.

    Brod took a deep breath as he looked at the people lined up on both of his sides. He had missed all of them dearly as he continued to fight his lonely battle to protect Minhyuk and his kingdom. It was a pity that he could not see His Majesty right now.

    Still, ¡®Commander-in-chief¡¯ Brod uttered the words that Minhyuk always said whenever they were faced with many enemies, ¡°Wipe them out.¡±

    <em>nk, nk, nk, nk, nk¡ª</em>

    The moment Brod gave his orders, Great Pirate Gorfido¡¯s Ten Thousand Chain immediately lengthened and stretched out. The elongated Ten Thousand Chain formed a loop and captured around 1,000 of the rankers at the vanguard.

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    The moment Gorfido clenched his fists, the chains tightened and cracked the enemies¡¯ bones. Then, Brod and Elpis immediately took the vanguard and stepped forward. Brod and Elpis, the Sword and Shield of Beyond the Heavens; thebination of these two people were so overpowered that no ordinary ranker could match against them. The Devil Judge¡¯s Sword ughtered several enemies in one sh, as hundreds of wolves jumped out from Brod¡¯s sword and tore several more apart.

    Then, there was Kimaris¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡­whose gigantic axe split his enemies heads with every swing. Following their lead, the rankers of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom cast their skills one after the other.

    ¡°Hell¡¯s ming Red Carriage!!!¡±

    When Ace, who beat Dongsan Elementary School¡¯s Shanks, punched out, as a gigantic carriage covered with zing mes suddenly shot out. However, despite the shocking disy of attack, the enemy troops just snickered at him.

    ¡°We¡¯re also rankers.¡±

    ¡°We can easily defend against an attack like that.¡±

    But things went differently from what they thought.

    <em>Craaaaackle¡ª</em>

    The carriage covered in zing mes charged on and received plenty of attacks from the enemies, but the attack itself was not offset. After all, all of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s guild members and the South Korean rankers temporarily had higher stats and skill damage than their enemies.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Just like that, Hell¡¯s ming Red Carriage exploded in the midst of the enemy troops. Meanwhile, two men jumped high above the enemy troops. These two were the strongest fighters in the South Korean ranking board. These two were none other than Master of Kicks Ares and Master of Fists Khan. Khan used his ¡®Giant¡¯s Punch¡¯ and punched down toward the ground.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    At the same time, several attacks bombarded Khan¡¯s body.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    ¡°Ughh!¡±

    It did not matter how much stronger they becamepared to their enemies, the moment they got hit by a one-shot kill attack, their HP would eventually fall. At the same time, a kick from Ares, who jumped together with Khan, came mming into the ground.

    ¡°Dragon¡¯s Dive.¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The strike was like a death sentence to the people below. The Dragon¡¯s Dive struck the same ce where Khan¡¯s Giant¡¯s Punch fell down, causing a short earthquake and a fissure to spread out. Hundreds of their enemies died with theirbo. Then, Genie¡¯s whip extended and wrapped around the two people, who were still in the air under the constant attacks of the enemies, and dragged them back.

    ¡°<em>Haaa</em><em>¡­</em> Why do the two of you always like to show off?¡± Genie clicked her tongue as she swung her whip around. With a swing of her whip, all of the attacks that came toward the members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were all offset. Of course, the members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom did not stop and quickly cast the skills that they used before once again.

    ¡°Dragon¡¯s Dive!!!¡±

    ¡°Giant¡¯s Punch!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    The yers could not understand the situation. This was because they did not know about the items that the members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had received as a special privilege. Yes, what Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was aiming for was now clearly revealed here. The risks in facing countless enemies would increase as time went by, but the more they fought, the stronger they got and the better privileges they would receive. This would then allow them to widen the gap between them and the other yers. In the end, a ranker at Level 500 would be no match against rankers at Level 600 or Level 700.

    The guild members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom continued to fight like that. On top of that, they also had Mercenary King Brod, Lesser Demon Elpis, Great Pirate Gorfido, Demon Kimaris, and even Spear God Ben. Each and every single one of them were stronger than a named boss-rank existence. Eventually, the 100,000-strong troops started to lose their momentum.

    ¡°This is impossible¡­¡± Cuhel muttered, his face twisting into an ugly expression after witnessing apletely ridiculous scene in front of him. Over 40,000 rankers that had died under their hands.

    In the midst of all this, notifications still kept on ringing in Genie¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You have hunted 5,000 rankers.]</em>

    <em>[You have achieved an astounding record during the Battle of Thrones.]</em>

    <em>[Additional items have been added to your special rewards.]</em>

    <em>[You can now use the consumable items in your possession.]</em>

    <em>[¡­10,000 rankers.]</em>

    Genie¡¯s face turned brighter at the continuous notifications that rang in her ears. The more enemies came at them, the more things they gained, which would allow them to be stronger and finally prepare for a counter attack. The moment that happened, they would immediately strike another kingdom and take away their throne.

    But then, notifications suddenly started to pop up one after the other.

    <em>[Japan¡¯s Defense has ended.]</em>

    The defense event was slowlying to an end. This meant that Brod would also disappear soon. And Brod was also aware that he would soon be whisked away from this ce too. So, he began doing his final spurt. At the same time, a shocking notification rang for the rest of the world.

    <em>[America has been the first to sessfully hunt a God¡¯s Sword!]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    It was very shocking. Even Joy Co. Ltd. found it shocking and unexpected that a country that could hunt a God¡¯s Sword would appear at this point. Of course, amazing special rewards would be bestowed to the country that seeded in hunting a God¡¯s Sword.

    Finally, Brod began to disappear. He said, ¡°Please tell His Majesty that I wille back soon.¡±

    The huge alliance army was relieved to see Brod finally disappear. Things would improve now with his absence. However, Brod had also received several special privileges after hunting so many of them.

    ¡°Final Chapter,¡± Brod uttered, killing 5,000 rankers in one go with the Mercenary¡¯s Pinnacle Swordsmanship¡¯s final chapter, ¡°Wolf¡¯s Death.¡±

    In that instant, a thousand wolves, not a hundred, shot out from Brod¡¯s sword and devoured the enemies.

    ¡°Mercenary¡¯s Massacre.¡±

    ¡°Wolf¡¯s Howl.¡±

    ¡°ughtering Wolf.¡±

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª</em>

    The ughtering Wolf was a skill with a system that could immediately recognize the twelve strongest and most threatening people from the bunch and target them, devouring and ughtering them all in one go. When Brod finally disappeared, only 20,000 people were left in the allied troops.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Everyone turned silent at the intense and lingering fear and emotions that Brod left them before he disappeared. Meanwhile, the members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom slowly started to retreat, trying to get back inside the safety of their castle once again. But then, Cuhel, who only had 40% of his HP left after being hit by Brod¡¯s ughterer Wolf, heard a surprising, but wee, notification.

    <em>[Ariot Kingdom has joined the alliance!]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Ariot Kingdom was none other than ¡®America¡¯. That was not all.

    <em>[Mt. Fuji Kingdom has joined the alliance!]</em>

    <em>[Velveno Kingdom has joined the alliance!]</em>

    <em>[Kaynon Kingdom has joined¡­!]</em>

    All of the countries that have not joined the alliance yet immediately joined them. This was to capture and defeat the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom because the contributions that they had umted had reached an unprecedented level to the point that they could not chase after them anymore. With America¡¯s initiative, everyone immediately united. And¡­

    ¡°F*ck.¡±

    ¡­Genie¡¯s face turned ugly. Far in the distance, 26 kings rode on horseback and charged toward where they were. At the vanguard was ¡®America¡¯s Strongest¡¯, Alexander.

    Everyone wondered who would win if the Food God and Alexander did a 1:1 PVP. None of them was sure. Alexander¡¯s fame and greatness in Athenae was true in name and in reality. He was actually the most favored ¡®King¡¯ in this event. Also, he was 1.5x stronger than usual. And the same went for the other kings.

    The kings immediately made a decision, they would begin the second round today. And Alexander, who was riding upfront on his horse, shouted, ¡°Cataclysm.¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Everyone watched in surprise as Alexander¡¯s sword became hundreds of timesrger than normal, hacking down at the huge walls and devouring the Korean rankers that were trying to retreat. The walls began to crack. However, the most important fact here was¡­

    ¡°America has received a special privilege after hunting the God¡¯s Sword¡­¡± Genie murmured.

    ¡°Retreat! Hurry¡­!¡±

    The Korean rankers dashed at full speed and retreated away from the bridge. But Alexander, still sitting atop his horse, muttered again, ¡°Cataclysm.¡±

    Once again, the walls were hit by Alexander¡¯s ridiculously OP skill, Cataclysm. This was the strongest skill in Alexander¡¯s arsenal, a skill that he had obtained after oveing the humiliation that he received from Athenae: World War. It was an unknown Absolute God¡¯s Secret. With its power, the walls of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were split in half. And¡­

    <em>Thud, thud¡ª</em>

    Even the castle seemed to have been split in half. A thick cloud of dust rose and obscured everything from view, even the current status of the retreating Korean rankers.

    The entire world was brought into a turmoil. And Alexander? He smiled wryly and thought, <em>¡®In the end, Beyond the Heavens Kingdom will be defeated, Minhyuk.¡¯</em>

    ***

    The entire world was in a buzz. Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was the strongest and most prominent kingdom in the world. But it took just two strikes from Alexander¡¯s sword and the castle seemed to be split in half. While everyone watched with anticipation, Joy Co. Ltd. sighed andmented.

    ¡°In the end, our country still can¡¯t fight against America.¡±

    ¡°Alexander is truly a ranker standing at the summit. He just received a King¡¯s Special Privilege yet he was able to split the walls in half with his sword alone?¡±

    Sitting among them was President Kang Taehoon with a grin stered on his face.

    ¡°President?¡±

    At the call of one of the board members, Kang Taehoon gestured and said, ¡°It¡¯s not over yet.¡±

    The board members sitting with him right now were only responsible for the management and operation of Joy Co. Ltd. That was why they did not know about the details inside the game. However, there was something that they did know.

    ¡°Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had received a special privilege for creating the best castle.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°I bet you¡¯re all thinking that the castle has already copsed, right?¡±

    All of them wondered why Kang Taehoon suddenly asked this. But then, the thick cloud of dust finally settled down. Suddenly, one of the board members jumped up from their seat and shouted, ¡°Im, impossible¡­!¡±

    And what appeared in front of everyone was another wall behind the wall.

    ¡°A, a double rampart?!!!¡±

    That was right. Amidst the settling dust, the broken and copsed wall fell down, only to reveal another thick and sturdy wall.

 Chapter 572: Battle of the Thrones (2)

    Chapter 572: Battle of the Thrones (2)

    Alexander was the strongest ranker in Athenae, famous and well-loved by everyone both in the game and in reality. There were even rumors that Alexander had changed from his legendary ss: Ghost of the Battlefield, to the God ss: God of the Battlefield¡¯s Descendant. This was actually the truth.

    At first, America intended to upy one country after another, unlike what the other countries had nned. However, they changed their minds. America had to win the Battle of the Thrones. They had no need for the honor of second ce. If things continued at this rate, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would sit on the Supreme Throne. So, America decided to join the alliance. Was it cowardly?

    <em>¡®In the face of life and death, cowardice is just an excuse that the weak use.¡¯</em>

    That was right. To many, fighting inside Athenae was a matter of life and death. using someone of being cowardly when they were fighting for their survival was just in foolish.

    Alexander used his ultimate skill to put a crack on the walls of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Just like its name, a cataclysm had fallen upon the walls when Alexander swung his sword. After creating the first crack, Alexander used ¡®Cataclysm¡¯ once again and finally split the walls in half.

    There was no such thing as a castle with indestructible walls. This was especially true when the strongest ¡®kings¡¯ of each country had gathered together. All of the kings watched in rapt attention as the dust settled down, waiting for the right moment to ughter the enemies that were definitely ovee with fear.

    But when the dust cleared out, what appeared in front of them was a wall that looked more solid and sturdier than the one before.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The kings present were all shocked. And it was not just them, even the viewers andmentators from all over the world were also shocked.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°H, how¡­¡±

    ¡°A wall behind a wall?¡±

    They might not know this, but Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had already predicted all of the situations that they would most likely face. The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was aware that they would be receiving intense attacks from most, if not all, of the participating countries, so they designed a castle withplete defense in mind. The construction of the castle had been led by Olger, Golden Hammer Dwarf Lant¡¯s disciple and one of the best architects in Athenae.

    Immediately after the reveal of another wall¡­

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    As, the City in the Skies, began to descend to the castle. Once the territory settled down, there was only a small gap left on the upper part of the castle walls. The City in the Skies descended to protect the inside of the castle.

    ¡°What an extremely grand view.¡±

    ¡°As expected, we should definitely nip Beyond the Heavens Kingdom in the bud before it could even sprout.¡±

    ¡°¡­So, they knew all along?¡±

    Among the shocked and amazed yers, a man was looking around the kings with his mouth twitching. When the kings looked back at him, he said, ¡°I¡¯m close with the Food God.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    <em>¡®What the hell is wrong with this f*cking bastard¡­?¡¯</em>

    The man¡¯s name was Kentaro. And although Kentaro was smiling, his hands were already soaked with sweat.

    <em>¡®As expected, your kingdom is strong.¡¯ </em>

    Kentaro actually did not have any ill feelings toward Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. He simply joined the alliance to win.

    Despite the steadfastness that the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had disyed, the kings did not show a hint of agitation. After all, they were the best rankers in the world and the leaders of their own country.

    ¡°All we have to do is take that down, right?¡±

    A Qigong Master used the ¡®qi¡¯ or the energy in their body to attack. Not many people chose to be a Qigong Master, since it was very difficult to control and use. However, there was one person that chose to use his ¡®qi¡¯ as if he was ¡®one with his body¡¯. This person was none other than Greece¡¯s King, Disaster Qigong Master Demetrys.

    <em>Rumbleeeeeeee¡ª</em>

    The kings were 1.5x stronger than usual. Their skill levels increased too. Just like that, the best Qigong Master, Demetrys, began to gather the qi in the surroundings. The air vibrated fiercely as small debris and stone began to float. The tremendous amount of qi¡­

    ¡°Thunder¡¯s Roar.¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡­mmed straight into the walls of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, shaking the castle and everything within it.

    <em>[Cr, crazy.]</em>

    <em>[As expected of Demetrys, the number one in the Qigong Master Rankings.]</em>

    On top of that, many of the rankers inside the castle suffered from bleeding ears. But Qigong Master Demetrys did not stop there; he drew the water from theke surrounding the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and created a tsunami.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    Then, some of the kings stepped forward too.

    ¡°Since they¡¯re not going toe out on their own, then let¡¯s just destroy them all together.¡±

    The kings that stepped forward included Vietnam¡¯s King, Master Archer Mi¨¤o. This time, it was the real body and not the clone. There was also Germany¡¯s Infighter Anton, the strongest in the Global Fighter Rankings. Alexander, who transferred and became the God of the Battlefield. Kentaro, Japan¡¯s Musashi. There was also China¡¯s Master Reflector Xu Jiaqi and other kings from all over the world.

    Mi¨¤o stood at the edge of the bridge and drew the strings of her bow. The moment she released the strings of the bow that were almost the size of her body¡­

    <em>[Great Shot.]</em>

    <em>[Hundreds of arrows target the enemies¡¯ vital points with an additional 3,500% attack.]</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Loud bangs apanied the hundreds of arrows as they shot at the gaps in the walls. Anyone would be shocked if they were told that this was not the sound of a spear hitting its target. Immediately after, Musashi Kentaro, God of Battlefield Alexander, and Infighter Anton dashed on the bridge. This bridge was not a hindrance to these kings. Hundreds of arrows and magic attacks poured out of the small gaps, so small that not even a head could stick through, on the walls. With a ¡®poof!¡¯, Kentaro disappeared and emerged somewhere else,pletely escaping the onught of attacks. Alexander used eleration and gained a speed four times faster than usual and broke through the siege of attacks. On the other hand, Infighter Anton, whose defense was four times higher than ordinary yers, just dashed straight ahead, as if the damage on his body was nothing at all.

    Then, a white light formed on Infighter Anton¡¯s fists. Not long after, Anton twisted his waist as he punched the wall.

    <em>[Breaking the Mountains.]</em>

    <em>[A 5,500% attack will be added to your base attack, allowing you to break anything on your way.]</em>

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    Just one punch and the towering walls shook. On top of that, a crater was formed on the wall where Anton punched. It was as if a meteor had crashed into it, with how deep the crater was.

    ¡°Stop them!!!¡±

    ¡°Stop them all!!!¡±

    Not long after, God of Battlefield Alexander stepped on the walls and rushed toward the skies. Despite the countless arrows and magical attacks raining down from above, none of them touched his body. Even Ali¡¯s Diss was cut in half as Alexander sat on the railings of the walls.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Ali and Alexander¡¯s eyes met. Then¡­

    <em>[Ghost of the Battlefield.]</em>

    <em>[Inside your designated battlefield, you will have a 4x increase in AGI and a 1.5x attack for three minutes.]</em>

    ¡­the top of the walls turned into Alexander¡¯s battlefield. Alexander passed by Elpis, Gorfido, and Kimaris, who were trying to restrain him, and only left an afterimage.

    ¡°Too, too fast¡­¡± Genie mumbled in shock.

    Even the Named NPCs could not chase after Alexander as he flitted through the rankers. Although they could not see him there, the rankers were falling one after the other. After cutting down 200 rankers in one go, Alexander jumped down the walls,nded gently on the floor and began to climb up the other end of the walls.

    Meanwhile, Kentaro had already sneaked inside the castle.

    <em>Fall¡ª</em>

    The rankers began to fall and copse silently.

    ¡°What the hell? Keok!¡±

    One of the rankers copsed, blood spurting out of his neck. Although they tried to roam around and looked for the culprit, they could not find a trace of any intruder at all. Instead of finding the intruder, another of theirrades fell down covered in blood again.

    Kentaro silently pulled his katanas from behind him and cast his skill, ¡°Cutting Hay.¡±

    The skill was very simple, yet the effect was beyond imagination.

    <em>Piiiiiing¡ª</em>

    All of the rankers within twenty meters of Kentaro were cut down by his de, his movements as swift as light.

    ¡°What, what should we do?!!¡±

    ¡°Give us your orders!!!¡±

    ¡°All of the rankers are dying!!!¡±

    ¡°Beyond the Heavens!!!¡±

    ¡°What are we going to do?!!!¡±

    Genie was thrown into confusion. There were only 27 people, yet once these kings stepped forward and attacked the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom in earnest, the entire kingdom was left in chaos. The situation right now was something thatpletely proved how strength was rtive and how, despite thousands of members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom attacking their small number, they could not fight back.

    <em>[389 South Korean Rankers have expired.]</em>

    <em>[556 South Korean Rankers have expired.]</em>

    <em>[South Korea¡¯s NPC Corr has expired.]</em>

    <em>[861 South Korean Rankers have expired.]</em>

    What was more, Infighter Anton had already broken through the walls and was already starting a mass ughter of the South Korean rankers, while Master Archer Mi¨¤o shot down the archers and the mages standing on top of the walls. It was literally a massacre. From what it looked like, the 27 kings were moving around and trampling on ants.

    But then, Genie¡¯s gaze turned toward Ares and Khan.

    ¡°Uwooooooooo!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    The two of them charged forward at the same time, Khan going for Infighter Anton and grabbing both of the man¡¯s fists. Meanwhile, Ares grabbed Anton by the waist and dragged him down the walls. Khan immediately jumped down and followed after them.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Then, another bang resounded from somewhere near. When Genie turned around, she saw Elpis stabbing God of the Battlefield Alexander, grabbing him by the cor, then mming him down on the ground. On the other side, Gorfido had been stabbed by Kentaro¡¯s sword. But instead of a groan, a smile adorned his lips. Gorfido tied himself and Kentaro together with his chain and pushed themselves onto the ground. One by one, the thousands of members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom hugged and grabbed their opponents and dragged them on the ground. The South Korean rankers all gnawed their lips.

    ¡°They dragged them down to minimize the damage¡­?¡±

    ¡°Why¡­¡±

    ¡°Wh, why¡­¡±

    All of them could not understand. The most natural course of action was to survive longer to get more rewards. At the very least, they had to try their best to stay away from the enemies and lengthen the time that they could stay on the battlefield. But instead of doing that, the members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom all dragged their enemies down to the ground.

    Meanwhile, on the ground beneath the walls, Khan and Ares were fighting against Infighter Anton after separating from him.

    ¡°Giant¡¯s Pun¡­¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Khan aimed his fist and punched strongly toward Infighter Anton but Anton struck against Khan¡¯s fist.

    <em>Craaack¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!¡± Khan screamed, his other hand immediately holding his now broken wrist.

    ¡°Khan¡­!¡± Ares shouted, flying up as hard as he could to kick Anton on the face. But Anton immediately grabbed Ares¡¯ feet and mmed his back on his knees.

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keeeeooooook!¡±

    <em>[Your spine has received damage. You will not be able to move.]</em>

    Ares, whose back had been cracked and bent, tried to move but to no avail. Realizing that his attempts were futile, he turned to look at God of Battlefield Alexander, who was pressuring Elpis. NPCs were generally stronger than yers and Elpis was the strongest. However, the strongest of all the yers, Alexander, was now 1.5x stronger than usual. On top of that, Elpis was already exhausted from the long battle from before. Every time Alexander grazed Elpis¡¯ body, he would leave an afterimage and a trail of blood.

    ¡°Urghh!¡±

    As for Gorfido, he was under the attack of three kings. His body had been trapped on the ground by the arrows that Mi¨¤o shot, while Qigong Master Demetrys had immobilized his Ten Thousand Chains and Ten Thousand Sword by manipting the qigong in the air as Kentaro¡¯s sword stabbed his abdomen.

    ¡°Keuhaaaack!¡±

    The members of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were being thoroughly trampled on the ground below the walls.

    <em>¡®This is the difference in levels¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Impossible¡­¡¯</em>

    The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was the pride of South Korean rankers. They had shown their might and dignity by stopping countless invasions and attacks fromrge armies. But now, they were iling around, helpless like children.

    Khan punched the ground near Ares, who could only twitch his fingers, in frustration, ¡°Damn it! Damn it!¡± He wanted to believe that they were the best. But with the server integration, they were shown the reality that many people all over the world were far stronger than them. Just like what they were seeing in front of them. The only thought shing in their minds was, ¡®<em>I want to get stronger. I want to protect the kingdom. I want to trample on those arrogant and strong bastards.¡¯</em>

    But before that, Khan could only turn to Genie and say, ¡°Genie. Close the gates¡­ Urk!¡±

    Genie, who was standing on top of the walls, made eye contact with Khan. This castle was a defensive castle and it had a special ability. In case of an emergency, the entire castle would be covered with a thick, huge iron armor, and form a perfect defense. Of course, seeing the might of the opponents, there was no chance that it wouldst long. Genie turned to look at the Korean rankers. The Korean rankers looked at her and nodded, a firm determination shing in their eyes. Then, she gave her orders, ¡°Open the gates!!!¡±

    ¡°Yes!!!¡±

    <em>Creak, creak, creak, creak¡ª!</em>

    Contrary to Khan¡¯s wishes, the closed gates slowly began to open. And when the gates opened, they saw Genie standing in front of tens of thousands of rankers.

    ¡°Save the injured and the wounded and crush those damn kings!!!¡±

    Everyone knew that going to the battlefield was tantamount to suicide. But Genie and the Korean rankers already decided. Since it was a losing battle, they should at least fight fiercely and trample their enemies as much as they could. The surviving 35,000 Korean rankers charged forward.

    ¡°Wh, what¡­¡±

    Alexander took a few steps back. They never expected that the Koreans would make such a move. Even Kentaro could not hide his surprise. The 27 kings began to step back from the bridge and pull away from the frontlines.

    Even in the past, the unity of the small nation of Korea was strong beyond anyone¡¯s imagination. Finally, the 27 kings and the 35,000 Korean rankers collided.

 Chapter 573: Battle of the Thrones (2)

    Chapter 573: Battle of the Thrones (2)

    The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and the South Korean rankers shed with the 27 kings. They already knew that this battle would be their final battle to determine their position in the Battle of Thrones event.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaah!!!¡±

    ¡°Save Khan and Ares!!!¡±

    ¡°Save Beyond the Heavens!!!¡±

    Plenty of people from the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had taken the lead and grabbed their enemies wreaking havoc on the walls and dragged them down to protect South Korea. So, this time, they wanted to be the ones to save the fallen members of Beyond the Heavens.

    They began a war with numbers, pushing the enemy back with their overwhelming number of munitions and supplies. At the vanguard stood the Emperor of the Sword Carr, shouting, ¡°Ready!¡±

    Hundreds of swordsman-ss yers followed behind Carr, all of them rankers that dominated the Korean ranking boards. They held the hilt of the swords on their waists in unison and¡­

    ¡°Quick Draw.¡±

    ¡°Quick Draw.¡±

    ¡­used their AOE skill that allowed them to quickly draw their swords at the speed of light to sweep away the enemies in front of them. Hundreds of troops charged forward and blocked the kings, breaking their formation. Master Archer Root was also seen charging toward Vietnam¡¯s Mi¨¢o with hundreds of archers behind him.

    <em>Thuuuuump¡ª</em>

    Whenever Master Archer Root shot an arrow, Mi¨¢o would split it in half mid-air.

    <em>Dash, dash, dash, dash¡ª</em>

    They both charged forward while firing arrows at each other. Immediately after that, the hundreds of archers behind Root used their skills and fired them toward Mi¨¢o.

    ¡°Triple Shot!!!¡±

    ¡°Random Shot!!!¡±

    ¡°Fire Arrow!!!¡±

    ¡°Energy Arrow!!!¡±

    <em>Thwack, thwack, thwack!</em>

    However, a mysterious golden shield was formed right in front of Mi¨¢o. This shield was created by the number one in the Global Tanker Rankings, the one hailed as the God of Shield, Italy¡¯s Valentino. It was a skill named ¡®King¡¯s Shield¡¯, and it could protect up to thirty of Valentino¡¯s recognized allies. On top of that, Valentino¡¯s defense was beyond anyone¡¯s imagination. Despite the baptism of the archers¡¯ skills, the shield still stood tall and strong. And then¡­

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª</em>

    ¡°Euaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keok!¡±

    The archers running behind Root died one after another, from Mi¨¢o¡¯s arrows.

    ¡°Damn it!¡±

    This was the difference in strength. Now, they knew what the ordinary yers felt whenever they saw them get hit by Root¡¯s arrows.

    They already expected that a huge army would soon arrive here. At the very least, they wanted to choke these damn kings and hit them hard before the army arrived. But even that was considered difficult.

    ¡°Haa¡­ Haa¡­¡±

    ¡°Heok¡­ Heok¡­¡±

    Khan and Ares were barely able to support themselves after drinking a bottle of potion each. This was a gruesome battlefield. Tens of thousands of rankers had charged at them, but the 27 kings were not even fazed by their might at all. Thankfully, Elpis and Gorfido were able to keep Alexander tied. But even that seemed like it was very difficult.

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª</em>

    Kentaro swiftly dashed around and stabbed the rankers in their necks one after the other. Master Archer Mi¨¢o had almost wiped out the archers. On top of that, Valentino¡¯s shield had made it hard for them to attack the kings. Just one sh had forced 3,000 of the 35,000 rankers to log out.

    <em>aaaash¡ª</em>

    As Genie continued to charge toward the kings, she watched one ranker after another fall down with blood spurting out of their necks as Kentaro killed them. In front of her, there were rankers whose bodies had exploded under Qigong Master Demetrys¡¯s attacks. Tens of thousands of people were left at a loss in front of a few dozens of kings. This was a gap that they could not close. The sense of frustration, coupled with the overwhelming loss, was devouring Genie. In the world outside of Korea, there were beings like them that were far stronger than them, people that they were helpless against.

    Everything seemed to slow down in Genie¡¯s eyes. Even her breathing sounded loud in her ears, ¡°Haa¡­ Haa¡­¡±

    She felt the nausea creeping up on her as she heaved dryly, ¡°Uuuuuuuuurk!¡±

    Genie knew that things were now over. She wanted to show Minhyuk what they could do. Especially after he said this to her before, <em>¡®Genie, I trust you. Although I hope it doesn¡¯t happen, if things go wrong someday with my illness, I feel relieved that you¡¯re here.¡¯</em>

    As his friend, all she could do wasugh bitterly at Minhyuk¡¯s words. Because of that, Genie wanted to show Minhyuk their power so he could be at ease, even when he was not with them, so that they could relieve him of his worries. But the enemies were too strong. They were like a few humans against the great demon.

    Genie fell on the floor, gasping as she tried to catch her breath. Her face turned white as a sheet as she watched the guild members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom die one after the other.

    <em>Will things end here for us?</em>

    But then¡­

    <em>Grab¡ª</em>

    ¡­a callused yet warm hand, warmer than anybody else, grabbed her own and brought her back to her feet. Spear God Ben stood in front of her with a kind smile on his face.

    One would wonder why Spear God Ben did not move to stop the kings, right? The answer to that was because he could not do so. He had fallen into a deep sleep since he had exhausted all of his stamina after fighting so many battles. His body might have be stronger after he had reached the demigod level, but the power that he could wield as of the moment was at the level of a god. Because of that, every move gnawed at arge chunk of his stamina, which made his body unable to withstand it.

    ¡°Genie,¡± Ben called her name, something that he never did often since he always called her as ¡®Vice Guild Master¡¯, softly, ¡°We never learnt to back down.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Ben¡¯s words struck a chord deep within Genie¡¯s heart. That was right. They had to fight until the very end before they could afford to wallow in this frustration. It was something simple, but Spear God Ben had to speak up for her to realize that. Then, Spear God Ben disappeared like a ghost only to appear¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>Crack!</em>

    ¡°Wh, what¡­!¡±

    ¡­where Alexander was, who was horrified to see that his sword, which he raised at the sudden attack, was now gone. The skill that Spear God Ben used was Dancing Spear, a skill that he could only use.

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Alexander¡¯s entire arm trembled from the impact of the attack. It had to be known that the kings were currently 1.5x stronger than usual, but the attack still had that much impact on him.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    In the end, Alexander was sent flying back. The kings all turned toward Spear God Ben after realizing the direness of the situation. With a ¡®poof!¡¯ Kentaro disappeared as dozens of people charged at Ben.

    Master Archer Mi¨¢o nocked four arrows at once and shot at Ben. Cuhel swung his sword and fired sword lights. However, none of them could stop Spear God Ben. Ben alone could cross des with 27 kings.

    ¡°How¡­¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s alone.¡±

    ¡°But he won¡¯tst for long.¡±

    One of the rankers got it right. Spear God Ben¡¯s stamina consumption was high and his enemies were 27 people. If he continued to use his overwhelming power to stop them, then it would be Ben who would copse in the end.

    At that moment, they saw more than 200,000 rankers starting to gather where the kings were and close in on them.

    ¡°F*ck¡­¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re done for.¡±

    ¡°We lost.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll all be swept away here.¡±

    They could see the archer and mage rankers preparing for an attack at the vanguard of the 200,000 troops. They would be able to send more than tens of thousands of arrows and thousands of magical attacks. None of the Korean rankers had the confidence to endure and withstand that attack. Besides, even if they survived that, they would still be trampled on by the 200,000-strong troops. But¡­

    ¡°So, are you just going to offer your neck to them to die?¡±

    ¡­a woman stood in front of them. The woman was Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s vice guild master and the object of envy of all the Korean rankers. She was none other than Genie.

    ¡°Or are you going to die fighting?¡±

    Genie¡¯s voice had a mocking tone to it. That was right. It was just as she said. Would they just stand there dumbly and wait for their deaths?

    ¡°The moment we left those gates, we were already prepared for this to happen, right?¡±

    Yes. They were already prepared for whatever it was that woulde at them. They were frustrated by the difference in power that they had forgotten their resolve for a moment.

    The sun hanging high up in the sky gradually began to set, dyeing the battlefield with a beautiful hue.

    ¡°Let¡¯s exit beautifully.¡±

    Genie and the surviving rankers charged at the 200,000-strong troops.

    Meanwhile, in front of the 200,000 troops, a man ordered, ¡°Fire.¡± as tens of thousands of arrows rained down on the Korean rankers. But the Korean rankers continued to charge forward.

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    ***

    South Korea.

    Everyone turned mute as they watched the scene on their screens. Even the ones sitting around therge screen of the television in the sauna were left speechless as they watched aplete massacre in front of their very eyes.

    <em>[Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª]</em>

    <em>[Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!]</em>

    Tens of thousands of arrows and thousands of magical attacks were sweeping away the Korean rankers. But the rankers that fell down continued to stand up and charge forward. One of the rankers was doing so despite the arrows stuck deeply in his back.

    There were countless people watching this scene on their smartphones as they walked on the streets.

    <em>[Ah. Korea¡¯s copse is just right around the corner!]</em>

    <em>[The Korean rankers arepletely helpless, they are the only ones dying. The Beyond the Heavens King, the Food God has not even joined yet. It seems like their castle will fall before he evenes.]</em>

    <em>[They¡¯re literally being ughtered. What a pity¡­ what a real pity¡­]</em>

    One of thementators could not even finish his words, choked by the overwhelming emotions that he was feeling.

    On the TV, the rankers continued to struggle, standing up despite theirrades dying one after another. They stood up whenever they fell and continued on the cycle until they could not do so anymore. Somehow, they were able to reach the enemy troops and cut down those standing at the vanguard.

    For those watching, they could not understand why they found these people cool, pride welling up in them, despite their helplessness. Perhaps, it was because the rankers made them think, <em>¡®Can I be a ranker like that too?¡¯</em>

    The viewers¡¯ passion burned as they continued to watch the ughter. Although most of the rankers have died, with only 11,000 of them left, the fire burning in their eyes was still alive and well.

    And not long after, a notification rang for the entire world that made all of the Koreans cheer¡­

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King Minhyuk has entered the ¡®Battle of Thrones¡¯!]</em>

    ***

    It was hell on earth. Of the 30,000 surviving troops that charged at the 200,000 enemy troops, 20,000 had been ughtered. However, they died heroes. Despite being surrounded by 200,000 enemy troops, the Korean rankers put their backs against each other and red at their enemies, prepared to fight until the very end.

    Still, many of the Korean rankers had sustained heavy injuries. If these 200,000-strong troops were to go on a rampage, they would bepletely wiped out. Genie, Khan, Locke, Elpis, and Gorfido were barely able to stand now, their breathing ragged. All of the potions that they had received as a special privilege before had been used up, and they only had a bit of their HP left. Even Spear God Ben was fighting a precarious battle with his stamina that was almost running out. Even though everyone could see that they would be wiped out any moment now, Genie still smiled, ¡°We did our best. Do you have any regrets?¡±

    Everyone finally felt relieved after hearing Genie¡¯s words. The only thing that they found a pity was the fact that they were so weak that they could not even reach the toes of their enemies. All they wanted to do was feed these kings some big shit.

    Then, the enemy troops¡¯mander slowly raised his hand to signal the final attack. But then, at that moment¡­

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King Minhyuk has entered the ¡®Battle of Thrones¡¯!]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    All of the kings held their breath. The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King was such a powerhouse that it caused them to be tense and nervous at the mere mention of his appearance. All of them were on edge.

    But then, Mi¨¢o said, ¡°He¡¯s alone.¡±

    ¡°He should not havee.¡±

    ¡°No matter how strong he is, he cannot do anything against us by himself.¡±

    Only then did the kings feel relieved. In the end, even if ¡®he¡¯ appeared, he was still alone. But while their words were such, they still did not rx.

    ¡°Over there¡­¡± Master Archer Mi¨¢o, who was standing on the top of the walls, pointed at Minhyuk as he appeared on his throne with a sh of light.

    All eyes turned to Minhyuk. And Minhyuk, who was sitting on his throne, turned to the kings and said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry but¡­¡±

    Minhyuk looked at the crowd arrogantly. The arrogant glint in his eyes made some people snort, some tensed up, while othersughed. But then, a dish suddenly appeared in front of Spear God Ben, who was standing right in front of the kings.

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°A dish?¡±

    ¡°A dish in this situation? What¡­¡±

    The Food God¡¯s dishes were known for their outstanding effects and vor. That was a fact. However, what could one dish do? Not long after, the same dish that appeared in front of Spear God Ben suddenly appeared in front of Khan with another sh of light. The same dish appeared in front of Genie, Elpis, Conir, Ares, Locke, and all of Minhyuk¡¯s guild members.

    <em>sh¡ª!</em>

    <em>sh¡ª!</em>

    One after another, the same dish appeared in front of all of the Korean rankers. The total number of dishes that appeared exceeded 10,000. It was apletely ridiculous power that no one had ever heard of. The light emitted by the more than 10,000 dishes shone brightly on the battlefield.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyukughed arrogantly, showing his greatness and majesty like a true and genuine king, as he finally finished his words, ¡°¡­I¡¯m not alone.¡±

 Chapter 574: Battle of the Thrones (2)

    Chapter 574: Battle of the Thrones (2)

    Inside the Abyss, the Tomb of the Gods, was where Food God Allen created the power of ¡®Everyone¡¯s Happiness¡¯ to save the 500,000 hungry people. However, the price that he had to pay was his life.

    In this very same Abyss, Minhyuk was faced with the same trial. Minhyuk did not have the power of ¡®Everyone¡¯s Happiness¡¯ like the previous Food God. And if he cooked for these hungry people one by one like what the previous Food God did, then the people here would start to kill each other and self-destruct.

    <em>¡®That was the result of Food God Allen¡¯s arrogance and the constant betrayal that he experienced from the gods.¡¯</em>

    After watching how Food God Allen failed, Minhyuk found the easiest way to clear this trial.

    <em>[You can borrow the power of three gods.]</em>

    The answer was in this notification.

    <em>¡®This was the simplest answer but he did not choose it.¡¯</em>

    The Food God was someone that did not want anyone to be hungry. Minhyuk could not really say that he was stupid. Perhaps he chose that path because he felt so alone. After all, the Absolute Gods kept him from moving forward with his ideals, while those that he helped relieve the hunger they were experiencing craved and coveted his dishes and expertise more.

    ¡°I¡¯m hungry¡­¡± a young boy said as he approached Minhyuk.

    A bitter smile hung at the corners of Minhyuk¡¯s lips as he looked at the people around him that were staring at him with nk and empty eyes. Then, he made the easiest choice that he had ever made in his life, ¡°I will borrow the powers of the God of Creation, the God of Farming, and the God of Life.¡±

    <em>[You have borrowed the power of the gods.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Farming asks you what kind of power you need.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Life asks you to make a different choice from what the previous Food God chose.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Life looks at you with eyes full of anticipation.]</em>

    Minhyuk looked around him. Why were 500,000 people starving in this kind of ce? The answer to that question was quite easy to predict. They probably lost in a war and had to run here and hide as refugees. The problem was that thend that they chose to hide in had soil that was dry and cracked, and there was no sunshine shining from above. The ce was literally a wastnd where no tree or grass could grow.

    ¡°God of Life, please turn this ce into a ce where nature can live and thrive.¡±

    Then, the ground began to shake.

    <em>Rumbleeee¡ª</em>

    As the ground shook, the dry and crackednd turned fertile and green. Roots began to spring up on the ground, turning into tens of thousands of trees. Then, the sunlight finally made an appearance in thisnd where no light has shone for so long.

    ¡°Sun, sunlight!¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s sunlight!!!¡±

    The people, who had not seen the light of the day for a long time, frowned at the ring light, before their expressions slowly turned into bright and wide smiles. But that was not the end.

    ¡°God of Creation, please give me many seeds to grow various ingredients.¡±

    With his words, huge bags appeared behind him. The bags were marked with ¡®Wheat¡¯, ¡®Rice¡¯, ¡®Barley¡¯, ¡®Potatoes¡¯, and many more.

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaah¡­¡±

    ¡°Amazing.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s so mysterious.¡±

    Minhyuk then grabbed one of the bags and began to sprinkle the seeds on the ground.

    ¡°Let¡¯s follow him.¡±

    ¡°He must be a god!¡±

    ¡°Aaah. What a great man!!!¡±

    The people followed behind Minhyuk, copying how he sprinkled the seeds from the bag on the ground and began to sprinkle them in every direction. Minhyuk looked just like the Pied Piper, with the people following behind him.

    After sowing all of the seeds everywhere in the vige, Minhyuk looked at the ground and said, ¡°God of Farming, please let these seeds grow well.¡±

    Immediately after, the seeds that Minhyuk and the people had sown began to sprout and grow at a rapid pace. In the vastnd that had nothing on it before, long stalks of wheat, rice and barley began to sway in the wind as tens of thousands of potatoes formed under the once drynd. In another ce, ripe apples that were ready for the picking appeared on the branches of the trees.

    ¡°W, wooaaaaaaah¡­¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaaah¡­!¡±

    Everyone cheered loudly at the sight of the fruit. Those that had eaten the fruit and had regained their energy began to grab their farming tools and run toward the field. Sometimes, people just could not do things alone. There would definitely be some things that one had to do with someone else.

    Just like that, Minhyuk created an environment where the hungry people could eat their fill. All that was left for them to do was to harvest the crops, cook and fill their stomachs by themselves. This was the answer that Minhyuk had thought of to solve this trial. This was the easiest path.

    <em>[You have cleared the trial that the Food God could not clear.]</em>

    <em>[The gods are amazed at what you have achieved.]</em>

    <em>[Some of the gods are praising your methods.]</em>

    <em>[With the God of Life¡¯s praise, your HP has risen by 1% permanently.]</em>

    <em>[With the God of Farming¡¯s praise, your HP has risen by 1% permanently.]</em>

    <em>[With the God of cksmith¡¯s praise, your DEX¡­]</em>

    Countless gods praised Minhyuk. They were gods that had met their demise, but it seemed like they could still live as long as they were within the ¡®Abyss¡¯. And then, thest god¡­

    <em>[You have acquired the Food God¡¯s Absolute God¡¯s Secret: ¡®Everyone¡¯s Happiness¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[With the Food God¡¯s praise, you will be able to use the Absolute God¡¯s Secret: ¡®Everyone¡¯s Happiness¡¯ once at Level 9.]</em>

    <em>[The Food God is smiling at you.]</em>

    ¡­was also looking at Minhyuk, who had inherited his powers. And without any hesitation, Minhyuk checked the Absolute God¡¯s Secret that the Food God had created, ¡®Everyone¡¯s Happiness¡¯.

    <em>(<strong>Everyone¡¯s Happiness</strong>)</em>

    <em>Absolute God¡¯s Secret</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: 1</em>

    <em><strong>Mana Required</strong>: 5,000</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty for Use</strong>: All stats will decrease by 0.5%.</em>

    <em><strong>Cooldown</strong>: 144 hours.</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?If you use Everyone¡¯s Happiness before cooking, the same dish will appear in front of ten people after you finish cooking.</em>

    <em>?The effect of the dish would be the same for everyone.</em>

    <em>?Your skill proficiency will increase whenever you create epic-grade, legend-grade or god-grade dishes or whenever the person that you cooked for is satisfied with the dish.</em>

    Everyone¡¯s Happiness at Level 1 was already an amazing skill. However, there were parts where it fell short of Minhyuk¡¯s expectations.

    <em>¡®The penalty for use is too high.¡¯</em>

    The fact that the same dish with the same effects would be created for ten people at the same time was amazing, but the 0.5% decrease in all stats was just too much. This meant that the higher the skill user¡¯s stats were, the greater the penalty that they would receive. Because of that, Minhyuk had to weigh the pros and cons of using the skill. Would losing his stats and feeding ten people be worth it, or would it be much better if he preserved his stats? But with the Food God¡¯s ¡®praise¡¯, Minhyuk would be able to use Everyone¡¯s Happiness at Level 9 once. After checking the skill at Level 9¡­

    ¡°Keok!!!¡±

    Minhyuk choked on his spit in shock.

    <em>¡®I take back my words about the penalty being too high.¡¯</em>

    What were the effects of Everyone¡¯s Happiness at Level 9? It was the same 0.5% decrease in all stats as a penalty. However, the number of people had changed to infinite.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    <em>¡®Is there really such a ridiculously OP skill like this?¡¯</em>

    Of course, this was just a special privilege that he could only use once. But even though the skill level would be hard to increase, Minhyuk had confirmed that the number of people that it could feed would increase as the level increased.

    At that moment, a whisper arrived.

    <em>[<strong>Genie</strong>: Minhyuk, we will open the gates and fight against the kings. I¡¯m sorry. I think this is the right choice.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: If you say that it¡¯s right, then it must be right. Just wait a bit more, I¡¯ll be there soon.]</em>

    Genie was a smart woman. So, if she said it was right, then Minhyuk knew that her decision was right. At this moment, he realized that he had no more time to spare. Minhyuk quickly chose the parts that he needed from God¡¯s Carefully Nurtured Abyss Cow. It had to be known that each part of this cow had different special abilities. And Minhyuk needed to choose the most fitting special abilities that would help the people that were still fighting and struggling in the Battle of Thrones after eating his buffed dish.

    The part that Minhyuk chose was none other than the beef¡¯s fan meat[1]. The special effect of God¡¯s Carefully Nurtured Abyss Cow¡¯s t iron was¡­

    <em>[<strong>Fan Meat</strong>: Permanent Effect¡ªStats will increase by +6 along with an increase in skill proficiency; Buff Effect¡ªStats and skill level increase will depend on the chef and the dish¡¯s grade.]</em>

    Each part of the cow could produce apletely different effect; it could also allow Minhyuk to choose whether he would have a permanent effect or a buff effect. The permanent effect literally meant that the strengthening would remain with them forever. On the other hand, the buff effect would only be a temporary addition to their strength. This was the reason why permanent effects had a lower increase in power, while buff effects could produce tens of times of effectpared to the permanent one.

    After choosing the beef¡¯s fan meat as his main ingredient, Minhyuk proceeded to choose his other ingredients from the ones that he had obtained from Arlene¡¯s Abyss Field.

    Onion. The effect of the onion grown in the Abyss Field could recover a certain amount of the individual¡¯s MP.

    Potatoes. It could recover a part of an individual¡¯s HP.

    Garlic. It had the effect of increasing all of the individual¡¯s defense.

    King Oyster Mushroom. It could increase the individual¡¯s attack by a small amount.

    After choosing various ingredients like that, Minhyuk began to cook.

    <em>¡®I don¡¯t have time. I have to make a simple yet delicious meal.¡¯</em>

    The beef¡¯s fan meat was named as such because it resembled the fans spread out and held by the king¡¯s maids of the past, as they fanned the king on both sides. This part was also used for bulgogi, or could also be used for a simple grill, or steak.

    After a brief pause, Minhyuk decided on what to cook.

    <em>¡®Cube steak.¡¯</em>

    Cube steak literally meant a steak cut into cubes. They were very easy to eat and tasted good. Before he started cooking, Minhyuk triggered his skill first, ¡°Use Everyone¡¯s Happiness.¡±

    <em>[Everyone¡¯s Happiness will be applied to the dish that you will make.]</em>

    <em>[With the Food God¡¯s praise, Everyone¡¯s Happiness has reached Level 9.]</em>

    The first thing that Minhyuk did was to pat the beef fan meat with some kitchen towel to remove the blood. Then, he sprinkled it with some salt, pepper, and oil, enough to make one think that he had sprinkled too much. Then, he chopped the vegetables that he would grill together with the meat.

    <em>Tic, tic, tic, tic, tic¡ª</em>

    After turning the stove on, Minhyuk ced the frying pan on top and spread some olive oil on it when it started to smoke. After everything was evenly heated, Minhyuk carefully ced the thick beef fan meat on the pan.

    <em>Sizzleeee¡ª</em>

    White steam rose from the pan as a delightful aroma wafted in the air. After exactly one minute, Minhyuk flipped the meat over.

    <em>Sizzleeeee¡ª</em>

    It looked like the other side had been burnt but that was not the case at all. It was still a tad bit red than what was usually preferred. And after another minute, Minhyuk flipped the meat again. As he grilled the meat, Minhyuk grabbed his tongs and scissors and cut the meat into cubes. Now, the meat has turned into an easy-to-eat cube steak. When Minhyuk poured another drizzle of olive oil on the pan, a burst of me rose up.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk cooked all of the steak in the fire together with the garlic, onion and mushroom. Finally, he made a potato sd by mashing some boiled potatoes and adding some mayonnaise and sugar into the mix.

    Minhyuk poured the cube steak on one side of the te. Then, he added the well-grilled garlic, onion, and mushrooms on another side, and the potato sd on the other. After finishing everything, Minhyuk did not dy further.

    ¡°Arlene. You¡¯re watching, right? Let me out.¡±

    Then, Minhyuk disappeared in a sh of light.

    ***

    A beautiful scene unfolded when the first dish appeared in a sh of light. Then, the same dish appeared in front of all the South Korean rankers.

    ¡°What¡¯s this¡­?¡±

    ¡°The Food God¡¯s dish?¡±

    ¡°He prepared a dish for 10,000 people¡­?¡±

    The 10,000 surviving Korean rankers were all shocked to see the same dish appear in front of them. Even the 27 kings were shaking their heads in disbelief.

    ¡°This is ridiculous. How can he make 10,000 buffed dishes? That¡¯spletely impossible.¡±

    ¡°This is definitely a bug!¡±

    ¡°This is uneptable!¡±

    The kings¡¯ words werepletely reasonable. The Battle of Thrones was a ce where all consumables could not be used. Restrictions like this would only be lifted with a special privilege. The 10,000 buffed dishes should obviously have been under restriction.

    Even the entire world was calling this a ¡®hack¡¯. A game hack was an illegal maniption of the game that could enable an abnormal behavior of one¡¯s character. For example, a single yer that could use a power equivalent to a billion¡¯s power. However, a notification soon rang for everyone present.

    <em>[This is Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s announcement. South Korea¡¯s King, yer Minhyuk, is not using a ¡®hack¡¯.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Both the kings and the world were shocked. If that was not a hack, then was it a skill that the Food God possessed? However, one thing was for sure. If all the surviving 10,000 Korean troops ate those dishes, then the force that they could exert would increase by a ridiculous degree.

    ¡°Prepare to fire!¡±

    The kings hurriedly raised their hands in signal. Tens of thousands of archers and mages prepared tounch another volley of attacks. But, at that moment, Ali, who received Minhyuk¡¯s whisper in advance, jumped amidst the 10,000 surviving Korean rankers.

    Ali and Minhyuk made eye contact.

    <em>¡®Sorry, Ali.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®It¡¯s alright.¡¯</em>

    Then, a huge light exploded from within Ali¡¯s body, engulfing the Korean rankers and dragging them up above the walls. This was a massive ¡®Mass Teleport¡¯, something that no yer had ever seen before.

    ¡°He¡¯s mass teleporting 10,000 people?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The kings were all left speechless. The move was very shocking but the price to pay was too high. To do one of these massive Mass Teleports, Ali had to maximize and exhaust all of the power stored in Vormon¡¯s Mana Heart. In other words, the price was Ali¡¯s death.

    ¡°I leave everything to you.¡±

    The rankers looked at the cube steak in their hands as Ali disappeared from sight. Then, the kings began to dash to where they were.

    ¡°Stop them!!!¡±

    ¡°No matter what happens, don¡¯t let them eat that!!!¡±

    ¡°Everyone, attack!!!¡±

    Tens of thousands of arrows and magical attacks rained down on the Korean rankers.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk left his throne and stood atop the walls, his red cape carrying the symbol of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom fluttering behind him.

    ¡°Steel Armor Mode.¡±

    <em>[The castle walls¡¯ Steel Armor Mode has been activated.]</em>

    <em>[The walls¡¯ defenses have quadrupled.]</em>

    <em>nk, nk, nk, nk, nk¡ª</em>

    Steel armor began to rise from the ground and cover the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s castle. Inside the castle that was slowly being covered by the steel armor sat many Korean rankers, who were looking at Minhyuk in worry. Minhyuk just looked at them with a smile on his face before jumping off of the walls.

    <em>Dash¡ª</em>

    The entire castle was now covered with steel armor, but the 27 kings and the 200,000-strong troops still charged forward. Meanwhile, South Korea¡¯s chosen King, with his red cape carrying the symbol of a fork and a knife crossed together on his back, took a step toward them and said, ¡°Try to get past me. That is if you can.¡±

    1. This is the beef¡¯s t iron. ?

 Chapter 575: Battle of the Thrones (3)

    Chapter 575: Battle of the Thrones (3)

    <em>[You have participated in the Battle of the Thrones!]</em>

    <em>[Each country¡¯s king would have 1.5x more power than usual.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats and skill damage will increase by 50%. Your skill cooldown will decrease by 50%.]</em>

    <em>[You participated three days after the start of the Battle of the Thrones. You will receive a penalty. All of your stats and skill damage will decrease by 15%.]</em>

    <em>[You have received a penalty! Your skill cooldown will increase by 15%!]</em>

    These were the penalty notifications that rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears the moment he joined the Battle of the Thrones. He was definitely stronger than usual, but he also received a little less special privilegepared to the other kings. For top rankers, a 15% debuff was a huge penalty. For yers that had maintained their original stats, they might even be able to deal with two or three yers whose powers had decreased by 15%. Because of that, everyone firmly believed that any percentage decrease in a top ranker¡¯s stats would be a huge blow to their power.

    The sight of Minhyuk walking toward the enemies as the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom got covered in steel armor was like a scene from the movies. However, everyone thought that it was a reckless and foolish move.

    <em>[Right now, the Food God has received a 15% decrease in power as a penalty. On the other hand, the other kings have received the full extent of the special privilege. No matter how strong the Food God is, it¡¯s absolutely ridiculous for him to think that he can fight against 27 kings who are 15% more powerful than him.]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s not all. There are also 200,000 strong troops behind those kings. He definitely will notst long.]</em>

    Food God Minhyuk mightst a tad bit longerpared to other rankers since he had his amazing passive reflection and his ughterer¡¯s Armor. But the problem was the number of enemies. The kings were also aware of this. They just clicked their tongues at how stupid Minhyuk¡¯s decision was.

    <em>¡®He shouldn¡¯t havee.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Right here and now, the Food God will record the most disastrous death and defeat in the history of Athenae.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®If we defeat him, someone that stood at the peak, today, it will be the first shot that will signal the destruction of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk slowly stepped on the bridge and walked toward his enemies. As he continued to move forward, his pace began to increase.

    ¡°Don¡¯t think of cking off!¡±

    ¡°Prepare to attack!!!¡±

    However, no matter how ridiculously overpowered the Food God was, he was just one single existence. Minhyuk, seeing the vignce in his enemies¡¯ eyes, stomped on the bridge as hard as he could and triggered ¡®Like the Wind¡¯ to quickly narrow the distance between him and the enemies. Then, he jumped in the skies and used ¡®Like the Wind¡¯ once again.

    <em>Dash, dash, dash, dash, dash¡ª</em>

    In just a blink, Minhyuk arrived above the kings as he promptly used ¡®Like the Wind¡¯ once more. As he passed above them, one of Master Archer Miao¡¯s arrows flew after him. However, before the arrow could make contact, a red and translucent shield was created by the ughterer¡¯s Armor and blocked it.

    <em>ng¡ª</em>

    The kings looked at the ce where Minhyuk was running to. It was where the 200,000 troops were located.

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    The kings were shocked. What was he doing? Was he a moth to a me? Was he running there to jump in the pit on his own? No. Of course not. Alexander thought that it was not the case at all.

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡±

    Alexander frowned at the sight. The moment Minhyuk jumped in the middle of the 200,000 troops, the kings received a restriction. They were not allowed to use their AOE skills anymore. This was because Athenae¡¯s AOE skills did not distinguish between friend or foe, so it was something that should be used away from allies. An AOE skill would kill plenty of yers.

    And Minhyuk, who jumped in the middle of therge army, was subjected to countless amounts of damage.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    yers with various sses bombarded him with their strongest attack skill and put heavy pressure on him. Just like that, Minhyuk¡¯s HP dropped at a rapid pace. Asura¡¯s Shield popped out to protect him but there was obviously a limit to how much the shield could stop.

    Minhyuk looked at his rapidly falling HP, as characters began to appear on the de of his Continent Destroyer¡¯s Sword. The word that appeared on the de of his sword was none other than ¡®Explosion¡¯.

    <em>[You have activated Explosion Mode.]</em>

    <em>[In Explosion mode, you will have a 40% chance of triggering bolts of lightning with 2,500% additional attack and 1,400% additional damage in a ten meter radius for every basic attack youunch.]</em>

    <em>[There is a 15% chance of your enemy falling into a four second stunned state after getting struck by Explosion.]</em>

    Along with that, another notification rang.

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 30%!]</em>

    Unlike his overwhelming momentum earlier, he looked quite a bit ragged as it got harder and harder to endure the onught of attacks from countless rankers. However, when Minhyuk struck at one of the yers that tried to block his path¡­

    <em>Rumbleeeeeee¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang!</em>

    A bloody lightning bolt fell down from the sky and inflicted 2,500% damage to the yer. But it did not end there. The lightning bolt extended to a radius of ten meters and struck more than a hundred yers in one go.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kghk, aaaaaaack!¡±

    Then, beads of blood floated from their bodies that flew and got absorbed into Minhyuk¡¯s own.

    <em>[ughterer¡¯s Absorption.]</em>

    <em>[You have a 3% chance that you will be able to convert 50% of the damage that you have dealt to your opponents into HP.]</em>

    <em>[You have recovered 3,734 HP.]</em>

    <em>[You have triggered the 0.7% chance of recovering your mental power and stamina. Your mental power and stamina has been restored.]</em>

    <em>[You have a 3% chance that you will be¡­]</em>

    Since Minhyuk was able to inflict damage to dozens of his enemies, the amount of HP that he recovered had increased. In an instant, his HP had recovered to 60%.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Another activation of the skill and his HP had returned to 100%. Meanwhile, the kings, who were watching Minhyuk trigger his skill as he dug deeper into their army, were all shocked.

    ¡°What, what the hell¡­¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t, isn¡¯t that the Absolute God¡¯s Secret¡­?¡±

    The sealing of Minhyuk¡¯s Absolute God¡¯s Secret was known to the world through a live broadcast. The kings felt relieved to know that the skill had been sealed. Especially after witnessing how the Secret was aplete and utter cheat in that video. But now, Minhyuk¡¯s Absolute God¡¯s Secret was actually unsealed and wreaking havoc amongst their troops.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The yers around Minhyuk did not die so easily with just one swing of his sword. This was because they were rankers. But Food God Minhyuk¡¯s AGI was very high. He could wield his sword ten times in just two seconds. And in every four swings out of the ten swings, an explosion would be triggered. In every two seconds, dozens of yers would turn to ash and disappear. And¡­

    <em>[Your Overlord¡¯s Mana has increased by 0.8%.]</em>

    <em>[Your Overlord¡¯s Mana has increased by 1.2%.]</em>

    <em>[Your Overlord¡¯s Mana has increased by 1.4%.]</em>

    ¡­there was still this. Simply put, the more Minhyuk fought against powerful enemies, or even againstrge numbers of enemies, his Overlord¡¯s Mana would increase.

    In just a few minutes, Minhyuk was able to dig deep into therge army, killing almost 1,300 rankers at the same time. The kings immediately chased after Minhyuk. Then¡­

    ¡°Sword Catastrophe.¡±

    Alexander, the one known as the strongest ranker in the world, swung his sword loaded with tremendous power toward Minhyuk. The moment Minhyuk raised his sword to block the attack, the Sword Catastrophe with an 8,000% additional damage struck him.

    ¡°Kghhhhhk!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s body flew back from the impact of the attack. Seeing this, the kings hurriedly prepared their attacks to inflict more damage. Unbeknownst to them, there was another reason why Minhyuk dared to lead them into this. And he was about to show them that right now.

    ¡°Summon Hanwoo.¡±

    ¡°Mooooooooooooo!¡±

    A cow suddenly appeared in front of Minhyuk, who was now rolling back after flying back a few meters. At the same time, the single attacks that the kings prepared earlier had been shot toward Minhyuk while Hanwoo grew bigger from five, to ten, to twenty, to twenty-five, to thirty until he reached forty meters.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The attacks that the kings shot out were all blocked by Hanwoo¡¯s colossal body. The more shocking part here was the fact that Hanwoo did not really receive much damage despite taking all their attack skills. But they had to remember that Hanwoo was a monster that had single-handedly trampled on 80,000 tankers in an instant.

    ¡°Everyone, dod¡­!¡±

    But before those words could end, Minhyuk, who was barely able to stop himself from rolling further, called out, ¡°Hanwoo.¡±

    ¡°Moooooooooo!!!¡±

    The Bull Demon King looked at his master. He was very furious to see those people make his master copse like that. Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°Charge.¡±

    <em>[Charge.]</em>

    <em>[Hanwoo¡¯s speed will double the moment he charges in a straight line. Everything that collided with him in his charge would receive double the damage.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    It was literally a disaster. The forty-meter-tall Hanwoo easily trampled on the countless rankers beneath him with his gigantic hooves. From the moment he started his charge, all of the rankers blocking his path got swept away, flying back from the impact of the collision. On top of that, Hanwoo¡¯s speed in this long and straight bridge had doubled. The 200,000-strong troops and rankers that blocked the bridge were all swept away, akin to Moses¡¯ miracle when he opened a path in the Red Sea.

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Dodge! Come on, dodge!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s too fast! Ugh!¡±

    Hanwoo¡¯s basic speed was already fast enough to catch up with Minhyuk, who was at his fastest. What more if his speed was doubled? In a blink, more than 40,000 rankers had died and turned to ashes.

    Minhyuk smiled silently, his body shaking slightly as he stood up from the ground. Then, Hanwoo was sucked back inside the Summoning Room. Hanwoo originally could grow only up to thirty meters using his skill ¡®Body Ergement¡¯. It was possible for him to grow up to 50 meters. However, once his body grew 50 meters, his summoning would be released after one minute.

    The kings, who were now boiling in anger, charged at Minhyuk. But Minhyuk dug into the army once again. While running as if he was escaping from his pursuers, Minhyuk killed more than 1,000 rankers once again. The kings did not give up their chase and were slowly creeping up from behind him.

    ¡°Exploding Shot.¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Master Archer Miao sent an arrow toward Minhyuk¡¯s back that exploded with an additional 4,000% attack. Kentaro dashed forward and cut down Minhyuk with his Cutting Hay skill.

    <em>Fwooosh¡ª</em>

    Blood spurted out of Minhyuk¡¯s body as his HP fell below 50%. Then, Alexander¡¯s sword fell down like a meteorite and struck Minhyuk.

    ¡°Sword of Destruction.¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk vomited a mouthful of blood as his body got embedded deep into the ground. But just when the other rankers were about to attack him¡­

    <em>Like the Wind. </em>

    Minhyuk stumbled forward, triggering his skill to evade their attacks. As Cuhel watched Minhyuk stagger forward, he shouted furiously, ¡°You will face your defeat here! South Korea will be trampled by us!¡±

    That seemed to be an undeniable reality soon.

    ¡°A prideful and moronic bastard! Do you think you can sit on the Supreme Throne by doing this?!!!¡±

    Yes. The kings apuded South Korea and Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s tactics here. However, they still had a lot of hidden trump cards under their sleeves. No matter what happened, South Korea¡¯s fall here would be inevitable.

    Sadly, this was a fact that both Minhyuk and the other Korean rankers knew. They knew that they would never be able to sit on the Supreme Throne. But did that mean that they have to give up that quickly? No. That was absolutely impossible.

    A 200,000-strong army? Yes, the enemies had not called in all of their troops yet. If they truly called in for all of their troops, then their total would reach almost a million. If the enemies reallyunched an all-out attack, then the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and the entire South Korean troops would disappear without a trace.

    However, for someone that already knew that they would lose, it would be more stupid to just give up and stop trying. This was Minhyuk¡¯s reason. This was his motivation and driving force.

    Then, Minhyuk took out a parchment and tore it apart. This parchment was one of the items that he had received in the ¡®Battle of the Thrones¡¯ as a special privilege and it could increase the skill abilities by 1.5x. It was a very valuable item and only one parchment had been released. It even made Minhyuk wonder if he would be able to get more in the future.

    <em>[The Overlord¡¯s Mana has reached 100%!]</em>

    ¡°Summon Beanie.¡±

    ¡°Oiiiiiiiink!¡±

    ¡°Overlord¡¯s Technique.¡±

    <em>[The Overlord¡¯s Fire, with an additional 3,000%~4,000% attack, will attack everyone within a 40~60 meter radius.]</em>

    <em>[The Overlord¡¯s Fire is a fire that will not be extinguished so easily. If the fire licks and touches a body, it will continue to deal damage to that individual.]</em>

    <em>[The power of the parchment is now in effect. The skill¡¯s effect has be 1.5x stronger.]</em>

    A huge wave of fire appeared, crackling fiercely and licking the ground to devour the huge army and the kings in Minhyuk¡¯s path. Right after Minhyuk cast the skill, another Overlord¡¯s Technique was unleashed from Beanie¡¯s small kitchen knife, moving to devour the world.

    <em>Just like they said, our South Korea will be defeated. However, even if we are going to be defeated, those that fought together with me today will be legends.</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª!!!</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª!!!</em>

 Chapter 576: Battle of the Thrones (3)

    Chapter 576: Battle of the Thrones (3)

    It did not matter to everyone inside the walls of the castle, which was now covered by a thick steel armor, how Minhyuk obtained the Food God¡¯s Absolute God¡¯s Secret: Everyone¡¯s Happiness. What mattered to them right now was the fact that he charged forward alone.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    <em>Thud, thud, thud!</em>

    Everyone could hear explosions going off outside constantly.

    ¡°¡­Thank you.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s my honor to fight with you.¡±

    ¡°You have my respect.¡±

    Whenever an explosion rang loudly, the rankers would think of <em>him</em>, who was fighting alone outside the walls. Even if this was a game, it was still scary to think that one would face more than 200,000 enemies by themselves, right? But after using this unbelievably OP AOE skill, Minhyuk still chose to jump alone and fight against the enemy.

    Many of the rankers present here had either ridiculed, mocked, rebuked or condemned the Food God before. That was how people were. If they thought someone was better than them, they would definitely scrutinize and mock that person. However, today, these rankers came to realize why the Food God became a king and why he was hailed as the best ranker in the world.

    Genie said, ¡°He¡¯s cool, right?¡±

    ¡°¡­He¡¯s cool.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s amazing.¡±

    Genie smiled softly. The rankers all turned to focus on her as she opened her mouth. Whatever she said right now would definitely leave a huge imprint in their hearts forever. She said, ¡°Do you want to join Beyond the Heavens?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    <em>¡®No. Why did you suddenly destroy this touching moment? Is this how you recruit people into your guild? But¡­ why do I feel the strong desire to join you?!¡¯</em>

    Genie¡¯s eyes sparkled. She could tell that many rankers would flock to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom from this point on! Then, she turned to look at the still warm steak in her hands. Everyone was busy trying to gobble up the food in their hands. Just like them, she ced a piece of cube steak in her mouth.

    A gentle smile curled up at the corner of Genie¡¯s lips the moment the cube steak entered her mouth. The rich and savory vor of the steak was evident in just one bite; the more she chewed, the more juices came out of the steak. Then, Genie took out a can of cider from her inventory and gulped it down.

    After seeing her, many of the rankers suddenly started asking¡­

    ¡°Do any of you have some cans of cider?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have one either?¡±

    ¡°Why do all of the members of Beyond the Heavens have cans of cider with them? Huh, someone also has a c with them.¡±

    ¡°Why is Locke suddenly drinking alcohol on his own¡­?¡±

    ¡°Strangely enough, Locke¡¯s back looks simr to my dad whenever he drinks soju while eating dried anchovies¡­¡±

    This was the influence of the Food God! Because of Minhyuk, the members of Beyond the Heavens started to carry cans of cider and canned beers with them at all times. This way, they would be able to enjoy Minhyuk¡¯s delicious dishes better, anywhere, anytime.

    ¡°Kgghk¡­¡± Genie let out a sigh of admiration after drinking her cider. This time, she stretched her fork toward the well-grilled King Oyster Mushrooms, which was immediately followed by the well-mixed potato sd. Just as she had expected, Minhyuk¡¯s cooking was still the best of the best.

    However, both Genie and the Korean rankers thought that it was virtually impossible for all of the dishes that Minhyuk gave to all the rankers here to eat would be excellent.

    ¡°Eyy. No matter what happens, this is the Food God¡¯s dish. It probably has a buff that can increase our powers by 10%.¡±

    ¡°Right, yeah.¡±

    The dish created by ¡®Everyone¡¯s Happiness¡¯ did not have an exnation. It seemed like they would only be able to confirm the effects after eating the dish themselves.

    But then, Twilight Chef ck suddenly retorted, ¡°You¡¯re talking nonsense.¡±

    Twilight Chef ck was Korea¡¯s best chef and was ranked third in Athenae¡¯s global chef rankings.

    ¡°The higher the level the chef has, the more cooking skills they will learn. A typical example of a skill that they could learn is the skill ¡®Cooking Together¡¯.¡±

    Cooking Together was a skill that chefs over Level 400 were able to learn. Just like Everyone¡¯s Happiness, Cooking Together was a skill that would allow many people to get the buff effects of a single dish.

    ¡°The problem is that the more the number of people eating the dish increases, the less the buff effect in the dish. If you feed three people together, you will get a 20% decrease in the effects. If you feed ten people, you will get a 40% decrease in the effects. If you feed twenty people, the buff effect that one will be able to receive will only be at 50%. So, what do you think will happen in our situation?¡± Twilight Chef ck said, his eyes looking at the people around him. There were around 10,000 surviving rankers present. Then, he continued, ¡°It would be a miracle if our stats go up by even 3% at this point.¡±

    ¡°The Food God¡¯s dishes always exceeded our expectations,¡± Genie said, a wry smile on her face. She knew that ck was one of the few people that loathed Minhyuk. He was also a very horrible realist.

    ¡°The 10,000 dishes that appeared is nothing more than an outstanding performance. Do you think it¡¯s reasonable to get the same buff effect for 10,000 people with just a single dish?¡±

    Twilight Chef ck was obviously speaking up because he hated Minhyuk to the bone. However, the rankers that came to respect Minhyuk also had to admit that it was truly something impossible.

    ¡°There are things in this world that can easily defymon sense.¡±

    However, Genie thought differently. In the first ce, she was aware that the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had never nned for such a performance. Also, she could tell that there was a reason why Food God Minhyuk decided to make them eat this dish.

    But Twilight Chef ck just snorted at her, ¡°Don¡¯t try to protect your king. These facts will be proven soon.¡±

    ¡°Then, what if the buff effect exceeds 10%?¡±

    ¡°Hahahahahahahahahaha!¡± ck¡¯sughter rang loudly in the area. That was virtually impossible. No, it was something that definitely did not make any sense. That was why he confidently said, ¡°Then, I¡¯ll join Beyond the Heavens. Of course, that won¡¯t happen even if I die at this moment and wake up outside. Well then, shall we? I only have one piece left after all.¡±

    ck stabbed his fork on the final piece of cube steak on his te. Genie¡¯s eyes narrowed into slits, her expression turning into that of someone that found the situation to be fun, ¡°Out of all the 10,000 people here, you are the one that ate the fastest. Strange, even though you vehemently denied this dish. Huh?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Yes. He could not deny that. The cube steak was so delicious that ck could not find any faults with it. As a chef, he had no choice but to acknowledge the vor of this dish, and unknowingly ate everything in a hurry. To save himself from further embarrassment, ck ced thest piece in his mouth and savored it mockingly, ¡°Mmhmm~~ The taste is definitely eptable. But, what about the buffs, huh?¡±

    Then, the notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[Everyone¡¯s Happiness.]</em>

    <em>[You have eaten the Cube Steak. Everyone will be able to experience the same effects and vor of this one single dish.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has recovered by 45%.]</em>

    <em>[Your MP has recovered by 51%.]</em>

    <em>[Your Stamina has recovered by a considerable amount.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will increase by 19%.]</em>

    <em>[Your physical and magical attack will increase by 18%.]</em>

    <em>[Your physical and magical defense will increase by 17%.]</em>

    <em>[All of your skill¡¯s level will increase by +1.]</em>

    <em>tter¡ª</em>

    Twilight Chef ck¡¯s fork ttered on the ground. At the same time, Genie ced thest piece of her cube steak in her mouth, smiled and said, ¡°You have to join Beyond the Heavens, no? Ah. I don¡¯t know if Minhyuk will ept you, though?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Genie, with a satisfied smile on her face, emphasized, ¡°Take. Good. Care. Of. Us. Once. Again.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    A new member had been recruited in Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!

    ***

    ¡°Overlord¡¯s Technique.¡±

    Alexander, the strongest ranker in the world, sensed an unusual energying from the mes that shot out from Minhyuk¡¯s sword and licked the ground as they stretched toward the kings.

    Beanie, the baby piggy, appeared behind Minhyuk. He immediately sent a huge wave of mes toward therge army and the kings upon his summoning.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The kings watched in terror as the rankers, which were only barely grazed by the mes, turned to ash that scattered in the wind. They felt like they had witnessed the drop of a nuclear bomb after seeing the shocking scene. Only 0.1 seconds had passed yet thousands of rankers had already turned to ashes.

    While Alexander was brought into a daze by the horrifying scene in front of him, Italy¡¯s Valentino, the global number one tanker, swiftly mmed his square shield on the ground and shouted, ¡°God of Shield¡¯s Wall!!!¡±

    <em>Rumbleee¡ª</em>

    A twenty meter transparent shield appeared in front of them in an instant.

    <em>Crackle¡ª</em>

    Not long after, the wave of mes collided with the God of Shield¡¯s Wall. Hell on earth was unfolding from behind that transparent wall. But after a few seconds, the God of Shield¡¯s Wall¡­

    <em>Crackle, rumble¡ª</em>

    ¡­began to melt. The fire devoured and melted the walls and finally stretched its ws toward the kings.

    ¡°Keuhooooook!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Urghhhhhh!¡±

    Alexander stood among them in abject terror as the scales of a dragon popped out from his full-te armor and covered his entire body. This was Alexander¡¯s armor¡¯s function, a function that could triple his defense in a moment¡¯s notice. But Alexander was unable to get back to his senses and pull himself out of the mes.

    <em>[Your HP has fallen below 60%!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has fallen below 55%!]</em>

    Only after hearing the notifications did Alexander hurriedly take out a bottle of potion and drank its contents. But the shock did not end there. When the mes finally died down, they saw baby piggy Beanie step forward from behind Minhyuk. Then, Beanie unleashed another wave of mes.

    ¡°This is a catastrophe¡­¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The kings found it hard to withstand the zing mes as it stretched forward and devoured them once again. Beanie¡¯s Predator¡¯s Authority did not copy a skill as it was. It was a skill that copied the power of the skill that had been cast. In other words, another Overlord¡¯s Technique, with 100% Overlord¡¯s Mana and a 1.5x stronger power, was cast once again.

    Only after Alexander had struggled to stand up after stumbling on his feet did he see the state of their troops. In just that short instant, 60,000 of their troops disappeared without a trace. The worst part? The mes were still continuously gnawing at their troops. Alexander looked to his side and saw Master Archer Miao slowly getting on her feet, her body covered in different degrees of burns. Some distance away, he saw Cuhel, with one arm missing, struggling to stand up. The mask that hid Kentaro¡¯s face had been melted by the fire, even his armor had been burnt to a crisp and exposed his skin. All of the kings looked horrible as they tried to prop up their battered bodies.

    Just when Minhyuk was about to move¡­

    ¡°Guided Explosion.¡±

    Miao, who hurriedly nocked a white arrow on her bow with her trembling hands, fired a shot toward Minhyuk.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    ¡°Ughh!¡±

    Minhyuk staggered back.

    Everyone was aware that they had to kill this man in front of them before he could even utter a word or wield his sword. This man in front of them was like a ¡®monster¡¯, a ¡®god¡¯. For the first time, they felt fear creeping up on their spine as they looked at the man in front of them. Before this crippling fear could consume them, they had to stop him now. They could not let him do anything. They have to give it their all to kill this man.

    Kentaro¡¯s katanas shed, ¡°Splitting Tempest.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    A tremendous force stretched out to cut down Minhyuk.

    ¡°Sword¡¯s Tomb.¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Eight sword des fell down on Minhyuk as Cuhel unleashed his attack.

    ¡°Shield Explosion.¡±

    Dozens of square shields flew toward Minhyuk and triggered a series of explosions. All of the kings looked like they were possessed by something as they hurriedly attacked Minhyuk. This was because of ¡®fear¡¯.

    Despite a thick cloud of dust covering their sight, the kings continued to unleash their attacks until they finally saw Minhyuk¡¯s silhouette fall down. But at that moment, an unknown silhouette appeared and gently hugged Minhyuk¡¯s own silhouette. With the appearance of the unknown silhouette, a series of notifications rang in everyone¡¯s ears.

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods is writing the final arc to the story of the king and his retainer.]</em>

    Golden characters appeared in the air, retelling the story of the king and his retainer.

    <em>[The king gave it his all to make a dish that will be delivered to his retainer.]</em>

    <em>[The retainer cut down everything blocking his path, even the gods, to rush back to his king¡¯s arms.]</em>

    <em>[The king and his retainer, both men that always remembered each other in their hearts, finally met again on the battlefield.]</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The thick cloud of dust finally settled. And in front of the kings stood Minhyuk supported by an old man, who was smiling gently at his king. And despite the blood covering his entire body, Minhyuk was also smiling gently at the old man.

    <em>[The king and his retainer looked at each other with fond and bright smiles on each other¡¯s faces.]</em>

    <em>[The story of the king and his retainer¡¯s separation and reunion finally ends here.]</em>

    <em>[And...]</em>

    On the skies, the huge golden characters, bigger than the ones before, appeared. Even the kings could not take their eyes off of the sheer beauty of the golden characters floating in the skies.

    <em>[The new legend of the king and his retainer has now begun.]</em>

 Chapter 577: Battle of the Thrones (3)

    Chapter 577: Battle of the Thrones (3)

    The NPCs in the virtual reality game were artificial intelligences created by Supeputer Athenae and thepany¡¯s production team. In fact, most people think that they were just simple artificial intelligence, while some think and treat these artificial intelligences as if they were people too.

    But no matter their stance, one incident had greatly changed their views on NPCs. It was none other than the incident that happened during a live broadcast, where Ghost Spear Ben charged through tens of thousands of enemy troops just to save Luna and Haze. Many people were also impressed when Minhyuk honored Ghost Spear Ben, instead of rejoicing and enjoying their victory after the war with Lumae Kingdom, the Warrior¡¯s Nation, and the dragons. In the end, Ghost Spear Ben still died.

    However, no one could deny that it was a glorious death.

    After witnessing Ben¡¯s death, some felt bitter while some lost sleep. They went through the same grief as if they had lost someone very, <em>very</em> precious to them. Some with stronger emotions and sympathy even ended up crying while they watched the broadcast.

    And now, a shocking notification rang in the entire world.

    <em>[The new legend of the king and his retainer has now begun.]</em>

    Many of the viewers from all over the world trembled, their hearts thumping loudly in their chests.

    The one that returned to protect his king.

    The one that remembered and waited for his retainer.

    The retainer supported his king with a gentle smile on his face. While the king looked at him and smiled brightly, his expression filled with his overwhelming faith in his retainer.

    <em>¡®I also want to have a king and a retainer like that.¡¯</em>

    A new dream unfolded for many of those that watched the scene. And Minhyuk and Ben? Both men were very delighted. For Minhyuk, Ben was like a grandfather, an old friend, and a reliablerade in the battlefield. For Ben, Minhyuk was like his son, a childish and innocent king, a true and genuine saint, and a person that he had to protect. The two of them smiled at each other. Minhyuk looked quite haggard now, but no one would say that he looked terrible like that. In fact, the scene was beautiful and cool, to the point that the kings had forgotten what they intended to do and stopped attacking them.

    Ben, who supported Minhyuk¡¯s trembling arm that was slung over his shoulder, said, ¡°Your Majesty, please hold on tight,¡± as he immediately used ¡®Ghost Steps¡¯. In just a blink, the two people disappeared in front of the kings.

    ¡°Over there!!!¡±

    The two of them appeared in the skies above them. Ben used his Ghost Steps one after the other, blinking away from the crowd of enemies and heading toward the other side of the bridge. The image of the retainer supporting his king as they escaped was both a beautiful and spectacr sight!

    However, for some, this sight invoked somethingpletely different.

    ¡°Aaaaaaaah¡­! A beautiful love story between the king and his retainer! I¡¯m overflowing with inspiration! An old man! A muscr, sweaty old man, and a young king!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The dry well of inspiration finally filled up and overflowed again after a long time for the Best Selling Author Aruvel. Leaving that behind, Minhyuk and Ben were able to safely arrive inside the gates. Meanwhile, the kings and the enemy troops were charging fiercely on the bridge as they tried to catch up to them.

    <em>Fwiiiiiiiish¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk hurriedly took out a chocobar and ate it with relish. Thanks to his ¡®Absorption Conversion¡¯ skill, he was able to recover around 32% of his HP. However, his body was still weak and shaking.

    The kings had received tremendous damage from the Overlord¡¯s Technique earlier, but all of them still believed that it would not be too hard to deal with Minhyuk, before and now. As long as they used more of their skills, then Minhyuk would finally die.

    <em>Thump¡ª</em>

    But then, Spear God Ben stood beside Minhyuk. The spear tied with a red cloth finally returned to ¡®him¡¯. After receiving his spear, Spear God Ben mmed it on the ground.

    <em>nk¡ª</em>

    The kings believed that it would be easy to kill Minhyuk. However, Spear God Ben, who was standing next to him, was a problem. And¡­

    <em>¡®For some reason, it¡¯s making me feel like I¡¯m facing a huge mountain.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®They¡¯re just two people but why am I feeling scared?¡¯</em>

    The kings felt a huge pressure on them just from the two men alone, who were standing with their backs toward the castle covered with thick steel armor. When the kings were just thirty meters away from them¡­

    <em>Rumbleeeeeee¡ª</em>

    The steel armor slowly unfurled, the huge gates opening with a loud rumble. As if on cue, the members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, who had recovered from their injuries, began to step out from deep inside the castle.

    Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Vice Guild Master Genie.

    Master of the Fist Khan and Master of Kicks Ares.

    Divine Beast Master Kaistra and self-proimed Fire Fist Ace.

    The tall, gigantic Elpis and Kimaris.

    Sword Saint Conir and Bestselling Author Aruvel.

    Informant Abel and Moon Assassin Lucia.

    Knight of Agony Alicia, and Great Pirate Gorfido with his Ten Thousand Chain in one hand and Ten Thousand Sword in the other.

    And up in the skies flew the four legendary dragons and Dragon Monarch ck Dragon.

    As well as the 10,000 surviving Korean rankers.

    <em>¡®All of them were on the brink of death just a few moments ago¡­¡¯</em>

    Alexander could not understand what was happening. These people had obviously lost their will to fight and were already on the brink of death before. But now, their eyes were glinting sharply, and a strange sense of confidence was oozing from their bodies. More than 10,000 dishes appeared together with the Food God; each and every single one of those dishes were supposed to have buff effects. But that was something impossible. So, all of the kings denied it. Just like how Twilight Chef ck had denied it earlier, they were also denying it. After all, it just did not make sense.

    Alexander remained at the vanguard as they charged forward, inching ever so closely to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. On the other side, Minhyuk grabbed the hilt of his sword with both of his hands and slowly moved forward, his speed gradually increasing until he was at a full run.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go!!!¡±

    ¡°Uwooooooooo!!!¡±

    ¡°Woooooaaaaaaah!!!¡±

    Minhyuk was at the forefront with Spear God Ben following right behind him, as a new word appeared right on the de of his sword.

    ¡°Gather.¡±

    This was the Absolute God¡¯s Secret: Lightning¡¯s active skill thatbined all of the advantages of Explosion, Destruction and Crazy!

    <em>[Gather.]</em>

    <em>[The skill will be triggered with a 100% chance of gaining an additional 4,000% attack.]</em>

    <em>[You have a 40% chance of triggering four to eight times of bloody lightning rain with 2,000% attack that will indiscriminately attack anyone within a 30 meter radius of your target.]</em>

    <em>[There¡¯s a 10% chance of the bloody lightning rain exploding with an additional 2,000% attack.]</em>

    <em>[The skill willst for four minutes.]</em>

    At that moment, a bright golden aura appeared and covered not only Minhyuk¡¯s sword, but also his body. Of course, Minhyuk did not cast Gather alone, he also used another buff skill. This buff skill was none other than ¡®Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship¡¯.

    Minhyuk jumped up in the skies, causing the kings to be in a momentary daze after seeing his fluttering red cape and gold aura. But Alexander was different. As the one in the vanguard, he immediately raised his sword to block whatever attack wasing his way. At the same time, Minhyuk fell, unleashing a catastrophe not on Alexander, but on the rankers that were running beside him.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The moment Minhyuknded, a disaster in the form of a sword attack with 100% probability of hitting with a 4,000% attack swept away his enemies.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    It was immediately followed by lightning strikes that covered an entire thirty meter radius and indiscriminately attacked everyone within range, causing 2,000% damage.

    <em>Rumble¡ª</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Just one swing of Minhyuk¡¯s sword and the impact was already enough to sweep away the kings. On top of that, Minhyuk also had a 40% chance of triggering the lightning strikes four to eight times in a row.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    <em>Rumbleeeeee¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keheoooook!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaack!¡±

    In just an instant, the kings that ran with Alexander were all forced to take a step back, their bodies staggering from the impact of the attack. As for those that were not kings? The ordinary rankers died without leaving a trace.

    ¡°¡­What the hell? How far have you gone?!!!¡±

    ¡°Minhyuuuuuk!¡±

    Alexander and Kentaro were both furious after witnessing how Minhyuk could overturn the heavens and the earth and make the ground cry and shake with just one swing of his sword. Feelings of shock and anger flowed through their veins, together with a hint of pure admiration.

    The moment Minhyuk passed by them, a rain of lightning bolts fell down from the skies.

    <em>Rumbleeeee¡ª</em>

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack, crack!</em>

    <em>Rumbleeee¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk decided to deal with the rankers and not the kings. This was because Gather mode would be able to disy its effects best when fighting against a huge number of people.

    <em>Rumbleeee¡ª</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Hundreds of rankers died with every swing of Minhyuk¡¯s sword. On top of that¡­

    <em>¡®Like the Wind.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk used his skills expertly, as he weaved through therge army and dug through their gaps. On top of that, Minhyuk could swing his sword more than five times in a few seconds. In that short amount of time, more than 500 rankers turned into ashes and disappeared.

    <em>¡®Minhyuk is definitely strong. But I can deal with the people in front of me. Some of the kings should go and stop the rankers, while the other kings should go and keep Minhyuk in check.¡¯</em>

    This was what Alexander decided, and the same was true for the others. But just when Alexander was about to step forward to restrain Minhyuk¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    A Shadowless Spear fell down from the skies and attacked Alexander, forcing a groan out of his mouth, ¡°Ughhh!¡±

    The one that attacked Alexander was none other than Spear God Ben.

    ¡°Your opponent will be me, boy.¡±

    ¡°¡­Your power has weakened.¡±

    Alexander smiled silently. He could tell from the blow that Spear God Ben¡¯s power had weakened. Spear God Ben had received the buff effect from the Absolute God grade ¡®spicy braised chicken¡¯ that Minhyuk made for him when he first appeared. During the entire duration of the buff, Ben was able to exert a stronger power. However, his stamina was consumed greatly. On the other hand, although the cube steak¡¯s buff effects had significantly lowered his power, his stamina would be able to be maintained longer.

    ¡°I may be old but do you really think you can block me?¡±

    ¡°...Urk!¡±

    Alexander¡¯s expression turned ugly. The old man was saying that he would only be able to block him? Alexander was indignant, the old man was an opponent that he should be able to disregard at will. However, he still took a step back and decided to wait for the other kings to join him. After all, the members of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were no match against the kings. But¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    Alexander blinked nkly as someone rolled over to him after being sent flying from an attack. It was none other than ¡®Infighter Anton¡¯.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Alexander turned to look at the direction where Anton came from, only to see Khan and Ares cracking and loosening their joints. The people that Anton was trampling on earlier were now looking down at him haughtily.

    <em>¡®What¡¯s this? Is Anton growing tired¡­¡¯</em>

    But before he could even finish his thoughts, a scream rang loudly somewhere.

    ¡°Kyaaaack!¡±

    Alexander hurriedly turned to look at the direction of the sound. What greeted him was the sight of an arrow piercing through Master Archer Miao¡¯s chest. When he followed the direction where the arrow came from, he saw the figure of South Korea¡¯s Master Archer, Root.

    Spear God Ben looked at him with a smirk on his face and said, ¡°You know, His Majesty¡¯s dishes are delicious.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Only then did Alexander realize something, <em>¡®No way¡­!¡¯</em>

    Did all of them be stronger? Alexander wanted to deny the truth. That was something impossible! It did not make sense at all. However, the charging Korean rankers were clearly different from before. From what it looked like, they were at least 20% stronger.

    Now, the rankers of the great army were being mercilessly ughtered because they could not handle the 10,000 Korean rankers. Just an additional 20% in power when it came to rankers could bring about such ridiculous results and turn the tide.

    Seeing this, Alexander immediately made a decision, ¡°Call half of the troops from the castle right now!¡±

    The things that Alexander thought of, the other kings also thought of. All of them immediately called for their troops.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s a fight that we will inevitably win but¡­¡¯ </em>Alexander thought as he bit his lips tightly.

    Their enemies were greatly outnumbered. Even if each of them just sent half of their troops over, they would probably reach more than 500,000 in numbers. It was a number that a mere 10,000 could not fight against.

    Alexander continued to struggle against Ben. When he got knocked back by one of Ben¡¯s spears, he turned to look back and¡­

    ¡°Crazy¡­!¡±

    ¡­saw a man standing among the ashes of their tens of thousands of troops. His figure, coupled with his red cape fluttering behind him that bore the symbol of a fork and knife crossed together, looked noble and mighty. Seeing this, Alexander could hardly deny the desire to be by this man¡¯s side that sprouted in his head at this very moment.

    ***

    After wiping out the rest of the troops, Minhyuk immediately turned around to join his army and face the kings.

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    However, one of the rankers, who was still alive after the onught of attacks that Minhyuk unleashed, sent a fire-attribute magical attack toward his back.

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    As Minhyuk stumbled, one of the people that saw his predicament rushed forward and helped him up.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    Minhyuk looked up at the man in confusion. The smile on his face was obviously different from the look that he usually gave Minhyuk. This man¡¯s name was none other than Twilight Chef ck. From what it looked like, ck was just fighting against his opponent with a trident earlier. However, he hurriedly rushed to Minhyuk¡¯s aid, helping him stand up and even patting the dust on Minhyuk¡¯s back and butt.

    ¡°You have to be careful,¡± Twilight Chef ck continued, ¡°Please let me join Beyond the Heavens. Haha!¡±

    Twilight Chef ck had often made trouble for Minhyuk. Even Minhyuk was aware of this fact. So, in response to his words, Minhyuk¡¯s expression turned ugly. It was that expression! The expression that one would make whenever they saw the person that they really hated! Minhyuk¡¯s expression twisted into that expression.

    Meanwhile, ck believed that the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King would definitely ept him. After all, who would turn down the request of a talent like him, right?

    ¡°You¡¯ll ept me, right?¡±

    Minhyuk, whose expression was filled with disgust, replied with a short but firm answer, ¡°It¡¯s on hold.¡±

    ck¡¯s face turned ugly. Who was he? He was one of the top ten chefs in the world!

    ¡°Why¡­? Take me in! Food God!!! Take me¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk, who turned around, thought, <em>¡®Has he gone nuts¡­?¡¯</em>

    That was right. As someone that was unaware of the bet between ck and Genie, Minhyuk could only think of the man as ¡®crazy¡¯.

 Chapter 578: Battle of the Thrones (3)

    Chapter 578: Battle of the Thrones (3)

    The kings that wanted to sweep Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and the South Korean rankers first before they proceeded with the Battle of the Thrones were all left flustered.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Infighter Anton was sent flying up in the air after receiving an attack from Ares, which was immediately followed by Khan, who punched him down to the ground.

    ¡°Giant¡¯s Downward Strike!!!¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaam¡ª</em>

    Right next to Khan and Ares was Elpis, one of the strongest, charging toward their enemies. The only reason why Lesser Demon Elpis was having a hard time fighting against the other kings was because the kings¡¯ powers had be 1.5x stronger. Assuming the kings were initially at Level 600, with the special privilege of 1.5x strength, they were able to exert the power of someone at Level 900 during the entire duration of the Battle of the Thrones.

    But thanks to the buff effects of the dish that Minhyuk made for them, Elpis had now be 30% stronger.

    <em>Thuuuud¡ª</em>

    Elpis grabbed Kentaro, who was trying to escape with a <em>poof¡ª</em>, by the cor and mmed him on the ground.

    ¡°Urk!¡±

    On the other side, a tremendous vibration shook the ground beneath Disaster Qigong Master Demetrys, as the young boy Conir and the Divine Beast Owner Kaistra pushed him back with their fierce attack and momentum.

    <em>Boooooooom¡ª</em>

    Demetrys tried to manipte the energy in the air and restrain them, but it was useless. Kaistra and Penrus charged forward, with Kaistra swinging his spear and Penrus snapping his huge teeth and swiping his sharp ws at Demetrys. Of course, the young boy, Conir, was not to be outdone, as he swung his sword and disyed his outstanding swordsmanship.

    But the bigger problem that the kings faced was the 10,000 rankers running behind them.

    ¡°Fire Sword!¡±

    ¡°Summon Spirit! Undine!!!¡±

    ¡°Great Shield!¡±

    ¡°Fire Wall!!!¡±

    After bing 30% stronger, the rankers were now able to exert the power of someone at around the Level 700 range. Normally, this would not be a problem for them since they were stronger, but the problem here was that there were around 10,000 of such rankers. On top of that¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡°Urghhh!¡±

    ¡­Minhyuk joined the battle against them after wiping out the rest of therge army. He sent Cuhel flying back with one of his attacks as he dashed forward and cast his ¡®Sword of Frenzy¡¯ toward Master Archer Miao, who was under the onught of Root¡¯s arrows. A tremendous force erupted within Miao¡¯s body the moment Minhyuk¡¯s sword stabbed one of her vital points.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaack!¡± Miao screamed, her body copsing in a heap.

    Minhyuk also took advantage of the ¡®Reflector Master¡¯, attacking Xu Jiaqi in her nks while she was busy reflecting the attacks of the rankers in front of her.

    ¡°Food God¡­!¡±

    Xu Jiaqi and Minhyuk had already shed once when she drove Ellie to her ¡®death¡¯ before. When Xu Jiaqi saw Minhyuk gearing up for another attack, she hurriedly cast her ¡®Miracle Reflection¡¯ to ward it off.

    Miracle Reflection was a skill that Xu Jiaqi recently gained. With this skill, she would be able to reflect 100% of the attacks with 100% of their damage in one minute. However, in return, the skill user would also receive damage. However, that did not matter, especially since Xu Jiaqi was considered to be the strongest ranker and China¡¯s king. Furthermore, Xu Jiaqi¡¯s HP was high.

    Minhyuk used Sword of Tempest against Xu Jiaqi.

    <em>Rumbleeeeeee¡ª</em>

    Sword of Tempest was a skill that could unleash hundreds of des with 250% speed and indiscriminately ughter everyone within the radius of attack for six straight seconds! In just a few short seconds, Minhyuk would be able to deal dozens, if not hundreds, of attacks to his enemies.

    ¡°Moron! If you use that skill, then you will also¡­ Kyaaaaaack!¡±

    <em>Rumbleeeeeee¡ª</em>

    Hundreds of des shed China¡¯s King, Xu Jiaqi, blood spurting out from each and every cut. The same wounds and injuries appeared on Minhyuk¡¯s body. However, Minhyuk just ignored them.

    <em>¡®What¡­?!¡¯ </em>Xu Jiaqi could not understand the situation.

    In the end, the one whose HP reached zero was Xu Jiaqi; she was the one that died. Yes, Xu Jiaqi had a high HP volume. However, Minhyuk¡¯s stats were far higher than any of the ordinary rankers¡¯ stats. No matter how high Reflector Master Xu Jiaqi¡¯s HP was, it was only slightly higher than a mage or an assassin. Minhyuk was just a ¡®chef¡¯, but his HP had improved tremendously thanks to the skill that he had in the past where he could increase his stats just by eating alone.

    <em>Swoooooosh¡ª</em>

    Finally, one of the kings had disappeared, triggering the notifications that signaled Xu Jiaqi¡¯s death.

    <em>[Verrado Kingdom¡¯s King has perished!]</em>

    <em>[Verrado Kingdom has started to shake!]</em>

    <em>[The kingdom that hunted Verrado Kingdom¡¯s King has earned a high amount of contribution.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The notifications came as a huge shock to the kings especially because they never expected that any of the participating people that wanted to push out South Korea and Beyond the Heavens Kingdom first would die. But not long after¡­

    <em>[Alveir Kingdom¡¯s King has perished!]</em>

    <em>[Alveir Kingdom has started to shake!]</em>

    <em>[The kingdom that hunted Alveir Kingdom¡¯s King has earned a high amount of contribution.]</em>

    ¡­Cuhel perished.

    <em>¡®This¡­¡¯</em>

    Alexander¡¯s face turned ugly. At the same time, Spear God Ben¡¯s fierce and unrelenting spear continued to thrust at his body and aim at his weak spots.

    <em>¡®If things continue at this rate, then we will all be in danger.¡¯</em>

    Alexander looked around. Their enemy was just one country, one out of the 28 participating countries. And these people were facing 27 of the top ranking kings in the world. However, this small country managed to kill two of the kings as they continued to struggle against them.

    In the end, Alexander was forced to give an order that would shock the entire world, ¡°Retreat.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°What¡­?!¡±

    ¡°Alexander!¡±

    All of the kings protested. This would be a smear in their names, a disgrace that they should never had to carry! Especially since they had received the support of their country¡¯s government in this Battle of the Thrones. But Alexander was telling them, the pride of their own countries, to retreat right now.

    ¡°We have to retreat,¡± Kentaro nodded and agreed, ¡°More kings will die at this rate if we continue to stay here. Ah, but if you want to stay, then feel free to do so.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The kings had to choose. Should they escape or should they remain here, let their ranks copse and suffer more casualties? It was a matter of choosing whether they should die, or protect their lives but swallow their pride.

    But then, Alexander drove his point deeper home, ¡°Our 500,000-strong troops are already advancing here. Our job here is done. We have been defeated by Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    No, the truth was Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would be wiped out soon. However, none of the kings present could deny Alexander¡¯s deration of their defeat. The fact that they were struggling so much against these few people was already a mark in the book of defeat. In the end, they chose to retreat, rushing out as they left behind the 10,000 Korean rankers.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    The members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and the surviving Korean rankers all shouted loudly, their voices ringing clearly in the ears of everyone watching from all over the world. Even thementators could not believe the sudden turn of events.

    <em>[This is very surprising. The 25 surviving kings are fleeing.]</em>

    <em>[This is something that none of us expected. The strongest and greatest people in the world are running away from one small country.]</em>

    <em>[This will forever be a humiliation to the kings from all over the world. Once all of the servers have been integrated, no country will think that Asgan Continent is easy to deal with.]</em>

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    The shouting and screaming Korean rankers had a lot of thoughts flying in their heads during this battle.

    <em>¡®I thought that it was impossible to survive throughout this day.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I thought that South Korea would easily copse.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®We did it.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®It was only possible because of Genie, Khan, Locke, Carr and the Beyond the Heavens King¡¯ Food God.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I want to go to Beyond the Heavens too.¡¯</em>

    Many had started to dream of joining Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    <em>Boom, boom, boom, booom¡ª</em>

    Not long after, a steady and loud beating of the drum resounded in the area. In front of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s castle stood the 25 kings that fled, followed by their 500,000 strong troops. All of the kings were seen gritting their teeth. It seemed like they were trying hard to erase the disgrace that they suffered just a few moments prior, with the majesty of their 500,000-strong troops.

    However, none of the South Korean rankers nor the members of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were afraid of them.

    ¡°Fight until the very end.¡±

    <em>Shiiiiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    <em>Shiiiiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    <em>Shiiiiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    <em>Shiiiiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk announced the start of their final battle by pulling his sword out of its sheath. Among them stood Allein, the Spear Knight that willingly became a new member of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. She thought, <em>¡®I¡¯m not afraid because I am fighting with you,¡¯</em> as she ran together with the guild members of Beyond the Heavens and charged toward the 500,000 enemy troops.

    And on this day¡­

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s King has perished.]</em>

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s King Statue has copsed!]</em>

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s troops have been wiped out.]</em>

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is recorded as the first country to be destroyed.]</em>

    South Korea rankedst in the actual rankings of the Battle of the Thrones. However, the 10,000 of them were able to kill 230,000 of the 500,000 troops that came to wipe them out. And in terms of the contribution rankings¡­

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens Kingdom (<strong>South Korea</strong>) : 97, 113, 311.]</em>

    <em>[Ariot Kingdom (<strong>United States of America</strong>) : 31, 001, 100.]</em>

    ¡­they hadpletely crushed America, the country that took the Supreme Throne. But the Battle of the Thrones was not yet over. President Kang Taehoon announced¡­

    <em>[Dear yers, if you ess Athenae right now, you will be able to enter the ¡®King¡¯s Banquet¡¯ server. This server will allow you to ess the castle of the king that you wish to meet. You are free to meet the kings and congratte them in person.]</em>

    Anyone, no matter their country or nationality, would be able to congratte the king that they wanted to congratte by essing the ceremonial hall where the kings that participated in the Battle of the Thrones are currently located. Just like that, hundreds of millions of yers immediately moved to ess the game.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk left his capsule after terminating his ess to Athenae, a bitter smile on his face as he said, ¡°I lost in the end, Dad.¡±

    ¡°Sometimes experiencing defeat is more meaningful than gaining victory,¡± Minhyuk¡¯s father, Kang Minhoo, smiled softly at him.

    Minhyuk sighed. After his participation in the Battle of the Thrones had ended, he went for a meeting with Joy Co. Ltd. to talk about the ¡®King¡¯s Banquet¡¯ and meet with the ordinary yers. Minhyuk already predicted that more than 90% of the people would go to see Alexander, the one sitting on the Supreme Throne.

    After he freshened himself up in the bathroom, Minhyuk essed the game again. He thought, <em>¡®Let¡¯s not look so dispirited! I have to do my best for the people that will being to see me.¡¯</em>

    Although Alexander would receive most of the spotlight, Minhyuk believed that he did well himself. There was nothing he could do about that. Even though his shoulders were drooping from the thought, Minhyuk still tried tofort himself as he went back inside his capsule.

    ***

    Alexander sat on the ¡®Supreme Throne¡¯, a throne shining with a golden light. However, there was a bitter smile hanging on his face as he looked at the tens of millions of people that were cheering for his victory.

    The reason for his bitter smile? It was all because of the call that he received from Joy Co. Ltd. before he essed the game again. From what he heard, more than 500 million people had essed the King¡¯s Banquet Server. However, only tens of millions of people came to see him.

    <em>¡®I won¡¯t lose next time, Minhyuk,¡¯ </em>Alexander smiled bitterly.

    ***

    A person¡¯s heart was veryplicated.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s alright, I¡¯m proud of myself for doing well enough in this event.¡¯ </em>

    That was the thought that shed in Minhyuk¡¯s head. However, he still could not help but feel sorry for himself as envy toward Alexander red up in his heart. Minhyuk wondered if he was already listening to the people¡¯s enthusiastic cheers, a crowd that wasrger than any of the crowd¡¯s present in the kings of the other countries.

    After essing Athenae once again, Minhyuk reappeared in the castle that he was in earlier. The castle and all of its facilities had already been repaired. The bitter smile continued to hang on the corners of Minhyuk¡¯s lips as he thought, <em>¡®Just like expected, huh?¡¯ </em>

    Minhyuk could not hear any shouts or even voices from where he was. At this moment, he was already sure that most of the people came to see the Supreme Throne.

    Then, Genie, who had essed the game much earlier than him, appeared and said, ¡°Minhyuk, let¡¯s go?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°Why do you look a bit disappointed?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean by disappointed? I¡¯m not. I just think that it¡¯s a bit of a pity,¡± Minhyuk said bitterly.

    Genie walked by his side and consoled him, ¡°You did well enough, Minhyuk.¡±

    ¡°We did great but we still came inst ce~¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡±

    Genie knew that Minhyuk was saying this as a joke but she could tell that there was a huge weight on the man¡¯s shoulders. He looked like he was very sad to have disappointed the people¡¯s expectations of him. The two people walked together, their steps bringing them closer and closer to the walls.

    ¡°Minhyuk.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°You are the best king. And many people believe this to be the case.¡±

    ¡°¡­Right. It would be nice if they think so,¡± Minhyuk said, the bitter smile on his face getting deeper by the second.

    The corners of Genie¡¯s lips curled up into a bright smile as she grabbed the handle of the door and said, ¡°Ready?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°Are you ready to sit on the true ¡®Supreme Throne¡¯, the throne that the entire world is cheering for?¡±

    At that moment¡­

    <em>Creaaaaaaaak¡ª</em>

    ¡­Genie twisted the handle and opened the door wide to present to Minhyuk the view outside of the walls of the castle.

    What greeted Minhyuk was a huge crowd, huge enough to cover the entire area. There were so many people present that not a hint of the ground that they were standing on could be seen from above. ording to Joy Co. Ltd., the total number of yers that appeared in Minhyuk¡¯s castle have reached an astounding 340 million.

    Minhyuk stepped forward, confusion evident on his face.

    ¡°Woaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Beyond the Heavens! Beyond the Heavens! Beyond the Heavens! Beyond the Heavens!¡±

    ¡°Food God! Food God! Food God! Food God! Food God!¡±

    More than 300 million people cheered and shouted enthusiastically, calling for Beyond the Heavens and his character name. Actually, Genie asked these people¡¯s cooperation to stage a ¡®surprise¡¯ and surprise Minhyuk. She said, ¡°This is proof that you are a great king.¡±

    Minhyuk felt a shiver run down his spine at those words. At that moment, he realized what he had to do. Minhyuk walked slowly and looked at the people around him. There, in front of him, was an old, shabby throne. The very same throne that was given to the lowest ranking king on the Battle of the Thrones. He slowly sat down on his throne.

    This felt new to him. As someone that lived with a rare disease called eating addiction, Minhyuk lived every single day of his life thinking that he would die anytime. He had lived alone in his dark room as if the world had abandoned him.

    But he was able to experience the game called Athenae, became the Food God, and made friends in the Legend Guild. Then, he became the king of Beyond the Heavens and came to enjoy thepany of many people. Minhyuk was once a loner that suffered from eating addiction. But now, hundreds of millions of people came here to see him and celebrate with him. That was right. Everything that Minhyuk did was enough. It was enough for him to take pride in himself.

    Minhyuk looked at the crowd of people, the hundreds of millions of Athenae yers, that came to see him and said with a dignified voice, ¡°I am the king of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    A loud roar shook the world as Minhyuk sat on the true and genuine ¡®Supreme Throne¡¯.

 Chapter 579: Louvert Guild

    Chapter 579: Louvert Guild

    After the Battle of the Thrones, breaking news kept on pouring out.

    <em>[The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom ranked the lowest in the Battle of Thrones but is the true number one?]</em>

    <em>[The true potential of Beyond the Heavens and the Koreans that fought against twenty seven countries.]</em>

    <em>[Vietnam¡¯s Master Archer Miao has expressed her desire to establish friendly rtions with Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡­]</em>

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is the most searched word in global portal sites.]</em>

    <em>[Experts have predicted that many yers will traverse the Stars¡¯ Path and knock on the doors of Beyond the Heavens.]</em>

    <em>[The membership of Food God Minhyuk¡¯s fancafe ¡®Eat ¡®til We Die¡¯ is expected to increase by around three million. His influence has such a great impact that even children dream of joining Beyond the Heavens.]</em>

    <em>[Ilhwa Group¡¯s sales have dramatically increased due to their sessor, Kang Minhyuk¡¯s move.]</em>

    <em>[Ztube. The highlights of the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ battle during the Battle of the Thrones have swept Ztube¡¯s 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th rankings. The 1st ce in the rankings is the ¡®King¡¯s Banquet¡¯, where the Food God sat on his throne in front of 300 million yers.]</em>

    Many articles praised the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and the outstanding potential that they had shown during the Battle of the Thrones. Meanwhile, a lot of people were paying attention to the rewards of the one that sat on the Supreme Throne.

    <em>[Alexander sat on the Supreme Throne. What are the rewards that the American rankers had received?]</em>

    <em>[Alexander and America have be even stronger.]</em>

    <em>[For the American rankers, the rewards that they will receive will depend on their contributions. They will be able to receive artifacts from epic~legendary and an additional 50 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[What rewards will the Beyond the Heavens and the Korean rankers receive?]</em>

    <em>[The Food God, as the lowest ranking king, will receive the basic reward of 50 tinum and some EXP buff potions.]</em>

    <em>[The participating Korean rankers will receive 3 tinum each.]</em>

    <em>[The rewards will not end there.]</em>

    <em>[Two dayster, the MVP will be selected from the participating countries. The MVP country will be chosen through voting. 10% wille from the global experts¡¯ votes and 90% will be from the viewers¡¯ votes.]</em>

    <em>[The rewards for the MVP country have not yet been revealed.]</em>

    That was right. Beyond the Heavens Kingdom received the lowest rewards. In all honesty, the rewards that they received were not enough for the effort that they had put into participating. Because of that, Haze, Minhyuk¡¯s aid and the one in charge of the kingdom¡¯s finances and many more things, felt her head ache as she looked at Minhyuk and Grandpa Ben sitting together.

    <em>¡®Haa¡­¡¯</em>

    Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was not able to generate enough profits for a few days because of their participation in the ¡®Battle of the Thrones¡¯, an event that God Athenae and Joy Co. had implemented. On top of that, the rewards that they received were also pitiful.

    Of course, Haze heard that the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom did a great job during that event. They even gained high honor and reputation. However¡­

    <em>¡®I¡¯m the one in charge of the kingdom¡¯s finances, Your Majesty.¡¯</em>

    Haze smiled bitterly. Indeed, she was in charge of an important task: managing the finances of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. This was a very important task. After all, they could not afford to be the kingdom that was destroyed because theyck money, right? So, even though the entire Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was in a festive mood as if they had won a victory, she was not.

    And Minhyuk¡­

    ¡°Hehe, grandpa. Ah~¡±

    ¡°Ah~ <em>munch, munch.</em> Mhmm~ Everything that Your Majesty feeds me is very delicious. Here, Your Majesty, have a sip.¡±

    ¡°Kihyaa~ Grandpa¡¯s coffee is the best!¡±

    ¡­and Ben were looking at each other happily. Despite her troubles, Haze could not help but smile andugh together with them. They looked very happy after meeting each other again. In fact, the two of them could not be separated at all. They had been like that for hours.

    But then, a dark and gloomy voice rang from another side.

    ¡°The young king and the old, muscr veteran ate andughed happily after meeting each other again¡­ but Vellenia, the God of Love, felt jealous of their bond and separated them once again¡­ This is the struggle of the young king as he marched to save the old veteran from the hands of God of Love Vellenia¡­!¡±

    Aruvel, with his fierce and unrelenting momentum, was busy writing his new work, <em>¡®His Majesty¡¯s Escort Knight¡¯</em>. For some reason, Haze thought that she should not be here. So, she left the room and headed to the walls to look out at the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    However, Minhyuk followed after her and said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I did not meet your expectations, Haze.¡±

    Haze smiled bitterly at his words. Just like she expected, Minhyuk could see through even the smallest of worries. Even though he was very happy to reunite with Ben, he still went out of his way to try and understand what she was feeling.

    ¡°Not at all, Your Majesty. You know, this is the reason why I can¡¯t seem to have an ounce of dislike toward you.¡±

    ¡°Ah, I¡¯m not too sure but keep this in mind just in case. We might be getting another set of rewards in two days'' time.¡±

    ¡°Another reward?¡±

    Haze tilted her head in confusion.

    The other reward that Minhyuk was talking about was the MVP rewards. However, nothing had been confirmed yet. On top of that, many of the viewers were moring that taking 90% of the decision from viewers was not the right choice, since China had the greatest poption among them. That was why Minhyuk could not confirm if Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would be the MVP.

    ¡°Ah, let me tell you this,¡± Minhyuk said as he looked at the other side of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s walls where the Stars¡¯ Path ended, ¡°We might not have received the material rewards, but we will be able to get far bigger rewards than that.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    Haze could not understand at all but Minhyuk did not answer her, opting to just pat her on the shoulder and leave her be.

    <em>¡®A bigger reward?¡¯</em> Haze thought, looking curiously at the Stars¡¯ Path, the very same direction where Minhyuk was looking at earlier.

    ***

    What was the best chefs¡¯ guild in South Korea¡¯s Athenae? Anyone that was asked this question would answer ¡®Louvert Guild¡¯ without any hesitation. Louvert Guild was also one of the top three most influential guilds among all of the chefs¡¯ guild in the Athenae worldview. Their guild master was none other than Twilight Chef ck, one of the top ten chefs in the world.

    Guild Master ck and the Louvert Guild executives were having a meeting. All of the executive members of Louvert Guild were known as Korea¡¯s best chefs. And right now, all of them were kicking up a fuss.

    ¡°Mr. ck, you said you¡¯re going to Beyond the Heavens? What kind of nonsense is that?!¡±

    ¡°What do you mean by mentioning Beyond the Heavens?! Have you forgotten your dream to make Louvert Guild the best chefs¡¯ guild in the world?!¡±

    Everything had started when ck made a bet with Genie. If the situation was not like that, ck could just go and say, <em>¡®Eyyy, ptew, ptew, ptew! I revoke this bet!¡¯</em> even if he would get cursed at by Genie. However, tens of thousands of Korean rankers as well as dozens of cameras were present back then.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I can go back on my word.¡±

    ¡°Then, are you really going to Beyond the Heavens, ck?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have anything to say to you even if I have ten mouths. I leave Louvert Guild in your care, please lead it on my behalf.¡±

    ¡°Ho~¡±

    ¡°How could you join Beyond the Heavens¡­¡±

    Of course, Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was a guild that the entire world recognized. But what the executives were concerned about was the ¡®cooking¡¯ aspect of things. All of the people present here were Korean chefs that had studied diligently abroad. They were very proud of their cooking and they did not like how Beyond the Heavens and the Food God Minhyuk were promoting themselves through simple dishes that could be eaten every day.

    On top of that, Louvert Guild should have been the only thing that was mentioned when it came to the topic of chefs¡¯ guilds in Korea. However, many yers ced Beyond the Heavens Kingdom on a higher pedestal than them. For a chefs¡¯ guild like them, they did not like Beyond the Heavens at all. That was what every single one of them thought.

    Then, Avetto, one of the guild executives, said, ¡°How about this?¡±

    All of the executives present had judged that their guild did not have someone talented enough to lead Louvert Guild other than ck. So, everyone turned to focus on what Avetto had to say.

    ¡°Louvert Guild¡¯s executives should visit Beyond the Heavens to try and evaluate all of the dishes that they offer personally. Then, we will show them our cooking and show them that they do not have the qualifications to covet ck!¡±

    ¡°If the Food God has shame, then he will realize that the cooking and the dishes that their kingdom offers arepletelycking whenpared to the dishes and the cooking that ck and the members of Louvert Kingdom make.¡±

    ¡°The dishes and food culture in Athenae is focused solely on ¡®buffs¡¯. What else can the Food God¡¯s dishes boast other than buffs? On top of that, the dishes that he offers are those things that anyone can eat every day; instant food, hamburgers¡­ and this time he even presented cube steak~¡±

    ¡°Hoo~ Those same cube steaks that they sell on food trucks on the street? There are people that enjoy those kinds of things?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ck immediately turned mute. He was actually the one that ate those cube steaks the fastest out of the 10,000 people that were given that dish. Also¡­

    <em>¡®I really want to join them.¡¯</em>

    ck was able to experience what it was like to be with Beyond the Heavens firsthand. None of his guild members had been able to participate in the Battle of the Thrones. It was because chefs would not prove to be useful in that battle at all. It was only thanks to the ck¡¯s buff skills as a chef that he was able to participate in the war. And it was only because he participated that he was able to taste the dish that the Food God had made himself. Despite the simple and easy recipe, the dish tasted divine. It was something that he wanted to achieve so badly.

    ¡°Beyond the Heavens is promoting the sales of street food. We will taste them ourselves and give our own evaluation. And we can also do business once we pay taxes, so we can show them what true cooking is!!!¡±

    <em>¡®But¡­ but I really want to go to Beyond the Heavens?¡¯</em>

    ¡°That¡¯s right!!! Let¡¯s smash the Food God¡¯s upturned nose down and bring all their chefs to Louvert Guild!!!¡±

    ¡°Since the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is trying to take away our great ck, let¡¯s make an example out of them!!!¡±

    ck looked at them and thought, <em>¡®Please don¡¯t do this to me¡­¡¯</em>

    ***

    The eight Louvert Guild executives were hailed as ¡®Great Chefs¡¯. This was because each and every single one of them were very influential chefs in South Korea. Some of them were hailed as the masters of Japanese cuisine, while some were hailed as the masters of Korean cuisine. Some were adept at Western cuisine and others at Chinese cuisine. Most of them were well-known chefs.

    The youngest among these eight chefs, Bok-Gyeong[1], clicked his tongue after seeing the state of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    <em>¡®I can¡¯t believe people are being enticed by street food like that¡­!¡±</em>

    What these masters intended to do was to eat and evaluate the dishes that Beyond the Heavens Kingdom called their specialties, point out their problems, and do business for a few days in their kingdom to show them how things should be. Bok-Gyeong was one of the people tasked with this mission. Right now, he was queuing in a very long line.

    ¡°The fried chicken skewers here are amazing~¡±

    ¡°I heard that these are the most delicious fried chicken skewers in the world!¡±

    ¡°Kyaaa~! I¡¯m so excited.¡±

    He had been waiting for more than an hour now! In fact, Bok-Gyeong did not really like the taste of street food, <em>¡®The seasonings are too stimting, the hygiene is bad, and to top it all off, most of the vendors that sell on the streets do not have an ounce of knowledge in cooking.¡¯</em>

    But they had the audacity to name the fried chicken skewers stall as ¡®Emperor¡¯s Skewers¡¯. The person selling the fried chicken skewers was quite bulky and from what it looked like, he was selling fried chicken skewers that were heavily seasoned with chicken sauce.

    <em>¡®The vor should be ordinary. It¡¯s obvious that they¡¯re selling these by exaggerating the vor,¡¯ </em>Bok-Gyeong concluded as his thoughts continued, <em>¡®By the way, I wonder where the Chef of Delight is?¡¯</em>

    The Chef of Delight was a chef with out-of-this-world skills that shook the entire Asgan Continent before. From what Bok-Gyeong had heard, the dishes made by the Chef of Delight were, at the very least,parable to ck¡¯s own dishes. It was also said that each of the dishes that he made were as special as they were delicious. Bok-Gyeong believed that he deserved to be hailed as a true, genuine chef, especially after he saved many people with his single dish.

    However, the reason why Bok-Gyeong was particrly interested in the Chef of Delight was because he was the NPC that could help a yer change into the legendary ss: Chinese Cuisine¡¯s Legend. Eating his dish for the first time would allow one to gain enlightenment. Also, learning to cook from him would allow them to change their job ss.

    Bok-Gyeong, who was busy thinking about many things, finally stood at the front of the line. From up close, the chef looked a bit old. Bok-Gyeong looked at the chef and sarcastically said, ¡°Why is this skewer called Emperor¡¯s Skewer?¡±

    ¡°Hoho. Believe it or not, I used to be the head chef of Her Majesty Ellie.¡±

    Bok-Gyeong thought that the man selling the skewers was trying to make himugh!

    <em>¡®What? This bastard was Ellie¡¯s chef?¡¯</em>

    Bok-Gyeong almost snorted. Fried chicken skewers were something that even a ten-year-old could easily do after being taught! Then, the NPC¡¯s name appeared above the man¡¯s head.

    <em>¡®Len.¡¯</em>

    The man selling fried chicken skewers was the same man that worked as Empress Ellie¡¯s main chef, the very same man that taught Food God Minhyuk how to cook, and the one that saved the world through cooking. He was Asgan Continent¡¯s legend, the Chef of Delight.

    1. ??(Bok-Gyeong) is Beijing or Peking. ?

 Chapter 580: Louvert Guild

    Chapter 580: Louvert Guild

    After a long wait, Bok-Gyeong finally received his fried chicken skewers, the embarrassment and disgust evident on his face, <em>¡®I¡¯m a master of Chinese cuisine¡­ to think I waited in line to try and eat something like this¡­¡¯</em>

    He held the fried chicken skewer that could easily be bought with 2,000 won in reality. He could feel the careful consideration of the ¡®fried chicken seller¡¯, from the tissue that wrapped the long stick of the fried chicken skewer and the thick coat of seasoning that covered the chicken.

    <em>¡®I don¡¯t think my appetite will grow after eating such trashy food.¡¯ </em>

    Bok-Gyeong trembled at the thought of eating the food in his hand. However, he had to eat it so that Beyond the Heavens would not be able to take away the great Louvert Guild¡¯s master, Twilight Chef ck. Bok-Gyeong could only grit his teeth and take a little bite of the fried chicken skewers. The moment his teeth closed in on the meat¡­

    <em>Crunch¡ª</em>

    A pleasant sound rang out. The more he chewed, the more he could taste the charms of the fried skewer.

    <em>¡®Huh?¡¯</em>

    Bok-Gyeong looked confused. There was not much he could tell after tasting something so small, so this time, he took a big bite of the red, glossy, fried chicken skewer.

    <em>Crunch¡ª</em>

    Another pleasant crunch greeted Bok-Gyeong¡¯s ears. The savory and rich vor of the seasoned sauce, the juicy chicken, and the crunchy, perfectly fried batter spread out in his mouth, creating a perfect harmony.

    <em>¡®Deli¡­cious¡­!¡¯</em>

    It was different from the greasy vor that Bok-Gyeong knew of and expected. That was when Bok-Gyeong saw the ¡®fried chicken seller¡¯ rece the oil inside the frying pot. He could not help but ask, ¡°Why are you throwing away the oil?¡±

    ¡°The more you fry something in the same batch of oil, the more the vor changes. Also, it¡¯s not good for the body.¡±

    It was at that moment that Bok-Gyeong realized that the fried chicken seller was in full attire.

    <em>¡®What the¡­?¡¯</em>

    The man was wearing a cooking cap and an apron, with gloves on his hands. The man was diligent with hygiene as well, and Bok-Gyeong could not differentiate him from the chef of a five star hotel. Not long after that, Bok-Gyeong ate up all of his fried chicken skewers in a hurry.

    <em>¡®Oh my god! I have never tasted a fried chicken skewer quite like this!¡¯</em>

    Bok-Gyeong was not only an Athenae chef ranker, but also a renowned chef in reality. Right now, he was filled with genuine admiration toward the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s Emperor Skewers. But that was not the end. Bok-Gyeong was given another shock after he finished everything up.

    <em>[You have eaten a dish made by the Chef of Delight and have fulfilled the conditions to change to the legendary ss: Chinese Cuisine¡¯s Legend.]</em>

    <em>[You have be the Chinese Cuisine¡¯s Legend.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1000 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired The Pleasure of Chinese Cuisine.]</em>

    <em>[Len is a chef that has gained various achievements after oveing many harsh difficulties and trials. If you learn how to cook under Len¡¯s tutge, you will be able to increase your proficiency in Chinese Cuisine at a rapid pace.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Bok-Gyeong was shocked.

    <em>¡®The old and shabby man in front is the Chef of Delight? The very same chef that shook the entire Asgan Continent?¡¯</em>

    On top of that, the man¡¯s job in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was to sell ¡®Emperor¡¯s Skewers¡¯. It waspletely unbelievable. However, the taste of the man¡¯s dish was proof enough. Bok-Gyeong was a chef that specialized in cooking Chinese dishes in reality so he could tell that the man was the real deal. As a chef, he had a lot of things that he was curious about so he asked, ¡°Why, why did you choose Chinese cuisine?¡±

    Bok-Gyeong wanted to know the reason why Asgan Continent¡¯s legendary chef chose Chinese cuisine. After all, it was a subject that he was adept in.

    ¡°His Majesty cooked Chinese food for me once. It was so delicious that it made me want to specialize in Chinese cuisine.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Bok-Gyeong was astonished after hearing the man¡¯s words.<em></em>

    <em>¡®Are you telling me that the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King¡¯s cooking is at that level?!¡¯</em>

    Anyone that heard that would wonder if it truly made sense. Just from tasting one dish, the Chef of Delight learned the pleasure and greatness of Chinese cuisine, and eventually reached a level where he became a legend in Chinese cuisine.

    <em>¡®Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King¡­ The Food God¡­! He, he¡¯s a very respectable person¡­! Also, wasn¡¯t the Food God¡¯s teacher the legend of Chinese cuisine?¡¯</em>

    Actually, what Len told Bok-Gyeong was only half true. Len was born without a sense of taste. It was only after eating the sweet and sour pork, jjajang, and jjampong that Minhyuk prepared for him, that he started on the path of Chinese cuisine. He chose that purely because of his admiration toward the food.

    Of course, Bok-Gyeong was unaware of the exact details of the events back then. His eyes sparkled brightly as he thought, <em>¡®I will go to Beyond the Heavens too!¡¯</em>

    Bok-Gyeong, who had gone to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom to prevent ck from moving, made a shocking decision right there and then.

    At the same time.

    Bully, the chef second to ck in Louvert Guild and a master of Korean cuisine, was someone that had a rough childhood. He had be sessful through hard work and diligence. Bully also had a brother with an intellectual disability, and could not help but cry after tasting the ramyeon at ¡®Conir¡¯s Ramyeon Shop¡¯.

    ¡°I, I have never tasted ramyeon this delicious¡­!¡±

    It was only ramyeon using ordinary andmon ingredients, but it had the best vor! Bully believed that this was something that he had to learn as a chef. It was also shocking to him to see that a boy with a condition simr to his younger brother, was able to cook such delicious ramyeon.

    ¡°Hey kid, why did you choose to cook ramyeon?¡±

    ¡°His Majesty told Conir that Conir would be the one in charge of ramyeon. Conir is d that he cooked ramyeon!!!¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­!¡±

    At that moment, Bully felt his heart throb, as if it was embraced by a warm breeze. He thought, <em>¡®Even intellectually disabled young boys can easily cook ramyeon¡­!¡¯</em>

    Bully wondered if it was because the Food God wanted to boost the child¡¯s self-esteem and independence, and asked an intellectually disabled boy to perform an easy task.

    ¡®<em>That was it, right?!!</em>¡¯

    Of course, the truth was that the Food God only needed someone in charge of making ramyeon for him. But Bully was unaware of that, his emotions already getting the better of him as tears began to well up in his eyes.

    <em>¡®The Beyond the Heavens King is a great man! He is a kind man!!! Aaah! I can¡¯t help but recall my past!!!¡¯ </em>Bully was moved and thrilled beyond words.

    At another ce.

    Rouwad, the master of Japanese cuisine, was a man that suffered from baldness at a young age of thirty. The middle of his head was a vast and clear nd¡¯, free of any ¡®grass¡¯.

    ¡°Everyone, you can grow yours too!!! Do you believe it?!!!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaah!!! We believe it!!!¡±

    ¡°We believe!!!¡±

    As Rouwad stood among the countless fanatics, he felt the center of his head heat up and ¡®grass¡¯ beginning to grow on his otherwise clear nd¡¯.

    <em>¡®T, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is a very amazing ce¡­!¡¯</em>

    Rouwad was moved by the greatness of this ce.

    At another location.

    One of the chefs sat beside Spear God Ben and drank a cup of coffee while thinking, <em>¡®I have never tasted coffee better than this¡­¡¯</em>

    The chef was in awe. But what made things better were the stories that Spear God Ben told as they drank their coffee.

    ¡°I lost my son and went to the Dragon King¡¯s Sea to avenge him.¡±

    The reason why Spear God Ben was telling this story was because he had learned a lot of things when it came to attracting people during his time serving Minhyuk. Through this, Spear God Ben was able to shake the hearts of the people and make them look favorably upon the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    ¡°I was able to see His Majesty again after fighting countless battles with Aerdes.¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaah! What a very touching story!¡± The chef eximed, tears trickling down his cheeks after listening to Ben. It was a beautiful story, a story that no one could listen to without shedding a few tears along the way!

    Then, he asked, ¡°Ah, I wonder what coffee bean you used in this coffee? It tastes quite sweet.¡±

    ¡°Ah. I added some honey.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    The honey that Ben used was ¡®Sea Honey¡¯, something that Minhyuk used before. The words ¡®like king, like retainer¡¯ were truly apt for the situation.

    ***

    Louvert Guild¡¯s Master ck could not help his embarrassment. Just like what he told his eight executives, he wanted to go to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, because he wanted to gain more insights into cooking, at that ce where they could make dishes with amazing vors by using ordinary ingredients. ck¡¯s words and actions might have been shitty, but his desire to learn and to cook better was genuine.

    <em>¡®Right, it¡¯s better for me to tell them what¡¯s really on my mind.¡¯</em>

    ck thought that he should tell his executives the reason why he truly wanted to go to Beyond the Heavens. But when he met with them again¡­

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡­he was left unable to open his mouth. It was because the expressions on the faces of all eight of his executives were grim and solemn.

    <em>¡®What in the world happened to them in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?¡¯</em>

    ck had no idea about the events that transpired when they went to visit Beyond the Heavens.

    Then, their youngest, Bok-Gyeong, said, ¡°GM¡­ and seniors¡­ I want to go and find the Food God right away.¡±

    ¡°Right!!!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go and find him right away!!!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go now!!!¡±

    At that moment, ck realized that it was hard to bring up anything after seeing the sharp glint in their eyes. There was a high chance that these people would find trouble with the Food God, and discuss his qualifications, as well as talk about what true ¡®cooking¡¯ was. ck thought that it might be impossible for him to join the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom if they said those things and made things worse for him.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m done for.¡¯</em>

    ck sighed lightly. Not long after, the top brass of the Louvert Guild was able to sessfully hold a meeting with Food God Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk could not hide the doubt on his face when he heard that Louvert Guild¡¯s GM and executives came to find him. He thought, <em>¡®Don¡¯t tell me¡­?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk frowned. He was aware that many chefs were pointing their fingers at him and mocking his cooking, saying that it was nothing more than ying house. As for Minhyuk? He actually acknowledged some of their words. True, Minhyuk had never learned cooking professionally. But was that reason enough for them to discuss ¡®qualifications¡¯ with him? That wasughable. Minhyuk looked at the people with vignce in his eyes. He was prepared to counter them strongly the moment they tried to discuss his qualifications in cooking.

    At that moment, the youngest out of them, Bok-Gyeong, stepped forward grimly and¡­ ¡°Food God!!!¡± called out to him loudly. It was so loud and powerful that even Minhyuk was left flustered. Then¡­

    ¡°Your Majesty!!! Please ept me in Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!!!¡±

    <em>Thuuuud¡ª</em>

    ¡­he went down on both knees and begged Minhyuk earnestly.

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    Minhyuk could not help but tilt his head in confusion. Then, another man ran toward a position that was far more forward than Bok-Gyeong¡¯s position! The chef, whose head was originally empty of hair, knelt down and bowed his head that was now covered with luscious hair, and shouted, ¡°Me too!!! Please ept me too!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    One by one, the executives of Louvert Guild knelt down and asked Minhyuk to ept them.

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    Question marks popped up in Minhyuk¡¯s head at the sight in front of him. Meanwhile, ck had turned red after seeing all of his guild members kneel down and asked to join the Beyond the Heavens, leaving him behind.

    In fact, Minhyuk could empathize with what was going through ck¡¯s head.

    <em>¡®What in the world happened to these people to make them do something like that?¡¯</em>

    Louvert Guild was a chef¡¯s guild that ck worked hard to raise and nurture. Minhyuk actually acknowledged ck¡¯s pride as someone that built a guild aimed at bing the best chef¡¯s guild in the world. At that moment, Minhyuk wondered what ck would feel when he was about to lose all of his guild executives?

    ck strode forward with a red face. Minhyuk, for a moment, thought, <em>¡®Am I going to get pped¡­?¡¯</em>

    But then, ck eximed, ¡°Food God! I hope you did not forget that I was the one that asked to join your Beyond the Heavens Kingdom first!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°Just take this opportunity to annex and take the Louvert Guild under the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!!!¡±

    ¡°Oh. That¡¯s a great idea. Take all of us under your wing!!!¡±

    ¡°Yes!!! Take Louvert!!!¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty, please ept us!!!¡±

    ¡°Then, Louvert Guild now belongs to Beyond the Heavens?¡±

    ¡°<em>Ahem!</em>¡±

    ¡°Good. Food God, please take Louvert Guild!!!¡±

    Minhyuk watched as the members of Louvert Guild ¡®yed the drums and beat the janggu¡¯[1]. They even changed their words from ¡®please ept us¡¯ to ¡®take us¡¯ as if it was only right for him to ept them. The situation waspletely ridiculous but Minhyuk thought, <em>¡®So lucky?¡¯</em>

    Just like that, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom absorbed Louvert Guild into their ranks. They had now secured a firm and huge foothold that would allow their kingdom to be a true andplete cooking nation.

    1. a saying about how they did everything themselves. ?

 Chapter 581: Louvert Guild

    Chapter 581: Louvert Guild

    <em>[Louvert Guild goes under themand of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[Louvert Guild has a total of 3,211 guild members.]</em>

    <em>[Louvert Guild is the best Chef¡¯s Guild in Asgan Continent, an achievement only obtained by them.]</em>

    <em>[People wille to visit the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom to taste the delicious food that the kingdom has to offer.]</em>

    Minhyuk, who was still sitting on his throne, absorbed the Louvert Guild with a wide and happy smile on his face. Based on Minhyuk¡¯s standards, the Louvert Guild was a great guild. While ck was said to be egoistic and terrible at business, if one looked at his attitude in the perspective of a ¡®guild master¡¯, his business ethics were actually correct.

    <em>¡®Turning Louvert Guild into the best Chef¡¯s Guild is something that he should be proud about. He definitely spent a lot of money during the process.¡¯</em>

    Meanwhile, ck was very curious as to what kind of role he would be given in Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. After all, he used to be the head of Louvert Guild, the best chef in Asgan Continent, and one of the top ten chefs in the world.

    ¡°What jobs should we take?¡±

    <em>¡®Let¡¯s see¡­¡¯ </em>Minhyuk rubbed his chin in thought. He had already thought of the perfect job for them.

    On the other hand, ck and the Louvert Guild executives had no doubts whatsoever that talented people like them would be given important roles in Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    <em>¡®For sure¡­!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll be given an extremely important task!!!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®We¡¯ll definitely be given a position in Beyond the Heavens Kingdom that will gain the attention of everyone in the world!!!¡¯</em>

    ***

    Thirty minutester.

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°Wash this part over here.¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°No, why are you so bad at washing the dishes?¡±

    ¡°S, sorry¡­¡±

    The eight executives and Twilight Chef ck were all standing in line in front of Kaistra, the young African boy, master of the Divine Beast, and the ¡®God of Dishwashing¡¯, learning how to wash dishes under his supervision.

    With the increase in the number of migrants and tourists visiting the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom to taste their dishes and specialties, it became hard even for Kaistra, the ¡®God of Dishwashing¡¯, to handle the influx of dishes that he needed to wash in a single day.

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    Even as he continued to wipe the dishes clean, ck still could not understand what was happening, <em>¡®Me¡­ the great me is washing the dishes?¡¯</em>

    Back when he was sixteen years old, ck started from the bottom in America by washing dishes and ended up reaching his position.

    ¡®<em>But that should not be the case now, right?</em>¡¯

    Then, Kaistra cast his ¡®God of Dishwashing¡¯ skill, washing hundreds of dishes all at once without even using water.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡±

    ¡°Wow¡­¡±

    ¡°Wow¡­¡±

    ck and the executives looked at Kaistra in awe. But ck immediately came to his senses, thinking, <em>¡®Why are you making the great me do the dishes¡­!¡¯ </em>while trying to take off his rubber gloves. Just when he was about to slip them off and throw them away¡­

    <em>[You have gained 1 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[As a chef, who has reached a high level, you have taken the initiative and set an example to others by going back to your roots.]</em>

    <em>[Your cooking skill proficiency has slightly increased.]</em>

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ck, who was already halfway through removing his gloves, slipped the rubber gloves back on and started washing the dishes again, apanied by the loud ttering of tes. The same notifications rang in the ears of the executives. After all, they were also chefs that had reached a high level!

    The notifications that rang in their ears made both ck and the executives shocked. For chefs that had risen to a high level, just like them, they would only be able to increase their cooking skill proficiency by 3% after working for ten straight days. That was already considered to be a tremendous increase. However, they had only been washing dishes for about an hour and already, their cooking skill proficiency had increased by 2%.

    In fact, for sses like cksmiths and chefs, those that had reached a high enough level would rarely be seen doing odd jobs like this. Hence, Athenae¡¯s system that was revealed to them now came as a huge shock.

    <em>¡®Oh my god! What incredible foresight¡­!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®The Food God must have known that this would happen, that''s why he asked us to wash the dishes!!!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He wanted us to increase our cooking skill proficiency! What a considerate man¡­!¡¯</em>

    As they washed the dishes, ck suddenly asked, ¡°What did the Food God tell us to do after washing the dishes?¡±

    ¡°He told us to go to Ares and help him with the field work.¡±

    They did not shake and tremble like they did before after hearing what they had to do. After all, they finally realized that something amazing was waiting for them there.

    ***

    When ck and the executives arrived at the field, they were able to taste the ¡®golden sweet potato¡¯, an ingredient developed by the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    <em>¡®Th, this¡­ What a surprising vor¡­!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®D, delicious¡­! It¡¯s so delicious that I can¡¯t stop myself from crying¡­!¡¯</em>

    Then, the farmer managing the field approached them and threw hoes on the ground in front of them. The farmer was none other than Ares, who made a name for himself by broadcasting live in his ¡®Ares¡¯ Country Diaries¡¯.

    ¡°If you want to eat the golden sweet potatoes, then you have to dig it yourself.¡±

    ck and his executives began digging for sweet potatoes without even saying anything. It was because despite being a simple ingredient, the sweet potato tasted divine.

    <em>Thump!</em>

    <em>Thump!</em>

    <em>Thump!</em>

    ¡°I will eat¡­ sweet potatoes¡­!¡±

    ¡°Golden¡­ sweet potatoes!¡±

    Their eyes seemed to be covered withser-sharp focus as they continued digging. Then, additional notifications began to ring in their ears.

    <em>[You have gained 1 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[As a chef, who has reached a high level, you have taken the initiative and set an example to others by going back to your roots.]</em>

    <em>[Your cooking skill proficiency has slightly increased.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    They were still very much surprised. After digging up enough sweet potatoes to fill their quota, they were given their own rations. After some rest, they began eating their golden sweet potatoes, sweet potatoes that were not cooked, only steamed.

    As for ck, he finally realized what the Food God wanted to tell them, <em>¡®Yeah. All this time I believed that high-quality and priceless ingredients were more important¡­!¡¯</em>

    Excellent dishes were usually a result of high-quality ingredients. But these sweet potatoes were just in and ordinary ingredients. As a true, genuine chef, he should have known the importance of ingredients and learnt how to make the best dishes out of the ordinary. The Food God was obviously trying to enlighten them on this matter.

    Of course, the truth was that Minhyuk only gave them those instructions because he was trying to increase the production of the ¡®golden sweet potato¡¯ so he could eat more. But they¡­

    <em>Gulp, gulp¡ª</em>

    ¡°Food, Food God¡­ Thank you¡­¡±

    ¡°D, delicious¡­¡±

    ¡­all crouched down and ate the golden sweet potato bit by bit in one corner. Seeing them, Ares could not help but whistle. Their backs lookedpletely familiar to him. That was how people would look most of the time after tasting the golden sweet potato and getting addicted to its vor.

    ck could not wash off the smile of his face as he went to sleep after logging out of the game. The excitement that he was feeling was simr to when he first got a job at a hotel.

    <em>¡®Fufu. I¡¯ll work hard in washing the dishes and digging in the field tomorrow too. Can¡¯t wait~!¡¯</em>

    An exciting night passed by just like that. The next day, a set of notifications greeted Minhyuk when he entered the game.

    <em>[Louvert Guild has expressed their loyalty toward the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[Louvert Guild, despite only recentlying under themand of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, has only praises toward the kingdom.]</em>

    There was a ¡®How is Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?¡¯ survey stered in the central za, where the guilds under themand of the kingdom could cast their votes and leavements. In there, Louvert Guild¡¯s master ck and the guild executives all gave a perfect score.

    <em>[You have been recognized as an outstanding monarch.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 20 CHA.]</em>

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    Recently, Minhyuk¡¯s head was always filled with question marks.

    ***

    Stars¡¯ Path.

    After all of the servers all over the world had integrated, the yers could now traverse the Stars¡¯ Path and travel to another continent. Prior to that, various special events, dungeons, and fields usually came together with the appearance of various races and tribes when the Stars¡¯ Path opened. As an example, upon clearing a dungeon for the first time, the yers would be able to receive double the rewards, EXP, or drop rate. That was why even though they could immediately go to another continent, quite a few people decided to linger in the Stars¡¯ Path to explore and get the maximum benefits before the special events ended.

    However, a strange phenomenon happened when the Stars¡¯ Path opened. A number of yers from China¡¯s Cairon Continent started running somewhere and did not even hunt inside the Stars¡¯ Path. The same was true for the yers of America. Then, it happened for the yers of Japan, Russia, France, Italy, Germany, Vietnam as well. This strange phenomenon happened in all of the continents. All of them ran and ignored the monsters prowling in the hunting grounds in the Stars¡¯ Path.

    <em>[The yers, as if possessed, gathered as quickly as possible and headed somewhere.]</em>

    <em>[Many yers have questioned this mysterious phenomenon.]</em>

    <em>[They look like they are running a marathon, each country speeding up as if they are saying that they will reach there first.]</em>

    <em>[Surprisingly enough, these yers are all headed to Asgan Continent.]</em>

    <em>[A lot of rumors are spreading wildly right now. There are rumors being spread, about how there is a parchment that would tell the yers how to obtain a ¡®god rank artifact¡¯ located at the Asgan Continent¡¯s entrance to the Stars¡¯ Path. Some even say that all the countries are secretly plotting together and forming an alliance to fight against the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[The rumors about how they are forming an alliance to strike Beyond the Heavens Kingdom sound more usible.]</em>

    <em>[Since they have formed an alliance to keep the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom in check during the Battle of the Thrones, it¡¯s highly likely that these countries will cooperate to remove the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom from the annals of history.]</em>

    <em>[In fact, we can¡¯t deny that each country is feeling hostility as much as they are yearning to be a part of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    These wild and groundless rumors kept on circting. And amidst the yers heading toward Asgan Continents, many BJs and broadcasting stations blended into the mix, with the thought of broadcasting and filming how these countries tried to pick a fight with the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    ***

    Haze still could not understand what His Majesty had told her a few days ago.

    <em>¡®We might not have received the material rewards but we will be able to get far bigger rewards than that.¡¯</em>

    She still could not understand the meaning of those words. But then¡­

    <em>Vwooooooooooong¡ª</em>

    The loud re of the horns resounded all over the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Haze immediately rushed to check what was happening.

    ¡°We¡¯re in a state of emergency!!!¡±

    ¡°Prepare for war!!!¡±

    ¡°All troops assemble!!!¡±

    <em>¡®A state of emergency?!!¡¯</em>

    Haze could not hide the shock on her face. In just a moment, all of the troops had gathered in perfect order. Haze quickly followed along to listen to what happened.

    ¡°From what I heard, in the foreigner¡¯s world, many of the foreigners were talking about an alliance to fight against Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?¡±

    Haze could see the truth of the matter. She could tell that these rumors were circting in the world where the foreigners live. So, they quickly prepared for war.

    <em>¡®Damn it. Are we going to take damage again?¡¯</em>

    Haze was a merchant, as well as the kingdom¡¯s financial manager. Her mind had already drifted far beyond how they would ovee the war and was already lingering on the damages that they would sustain during the process.

    Then, Minhyuk, who just logged in, showed up. He climbed on the walls and looked at Haze and the executives all lined up together there. As the sun began to set, the silhouette of millions of troops appeared in front of their eyes.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    This was a huge army never before seen. Such a number did not even appear during the Battle of the Thrones. They were holding gs representing each of their countries. America, United Kingdom, France, Russia, Japan, China, Taiwan¡­ millions of troops that gathered from each nation marched toward Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. But Minhyuk did not issue any orders to attack.

    ¡°Your, Your Majesty¡­! Why are you not issuing an order to attack?!!!¡±

    Haze could not hide her doubts and confusions. Even thementators were looking at the scene in shock.

    <em>[Why is the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom not stopping the troops¡¯ advance?]</em>

    Then, Minhyuk smiled, ¡°Haze, look closely.¡±

    Haze turned to look at Minhyuk in confusion. All she could see was millions of troops marching toward them, their shadows turning the ground ck, blocking the light of the setting sun! The troops immediately gathered in front of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s walls.

    ¡°This is our bigger reward.¡±

    Then, people from the troops began to step forward and shout¡­

    ¡°I am America¡¯s Cenrich! Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King!!! Please ept us!!!¡±

    ¡°I am Japan¡¯s Mandra! Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King!!! Please allow us to enter and go under themand of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!!!¡±

    ¡°Beyond the Heavens King!!! The Battle of the Thrones had a huge impact on me. Please let me join you!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Their loud and boisterous voices shook the walls of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    Meanwhile, the BJs and broadcasting stations that thought that these people came here to fight Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were all left flustered. In fact, all of this had been discussed during the King¡¯s Banquet. Although it seemed like most of the things that happened during the King¡¯s Banquet had been made public, everything that had been discussed, except for those posted in Ztube, during the banquet remained private. Millions of troops were actually asking to join Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    Haze, who watched this scene, felt her heart thump wildly.

    <em>¡®This huge army wants to enter Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡­ Goodness, will His Majesty really go beyond a kingdom and establish an empire? Or maybe he would go for a title with a power that¡¯s beyond that of an emperor, a power that can rival a god¡¯s?!¡¯</em>

    Just as Haze was still reeling from the shock, Minhyuk uttered words that would bring far bigger shock to her and the rest of the world, ¡°Your request is pending.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The whole world felt choked when they realized that the Food God was in a different ss. After all, he had just put on hold the request of millions of people.

 Chapter 582: Louvert Guild

    Chapter 582: Louvert Guild

    Hundreds of millions of people gathered to see Food God Minhyuk during the King¡¯s Banquet. There were actually two reasons for it.

    First, it was because the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was able to endure plenty of attacks from the allied kingdoms and ughtered many enemies, despite finishingst in the Battle of the Thrones. In fact, a fan base for Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had been created right after that. After all, even though they were enemies, what the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had achieved was worthy of apuse and admiration.

    Second, it was because a dream had sprouted in the hearts of these people when they watched the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. They wanted to be a member of the Kingdom! As the server integration was released, everyone¡¯s desire and longing to be a part of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom grew hotter and hotter.

    Many had asked Minhyuk during the King¡¯s Banquet¡­

    <em>¡®How can we join Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Will you ept someone at Level 180?!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®What benefits will we receive if we go to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Please answer us, Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King!¡¯</em>

    Hundreds of millions of people spoke out in a fluster, resulting in a chaotic situation. However, Minhyuk did not look hurried or flustered at all. Perhaps it was because Chairman Kang Minhoo was standing right next to him? Regardless, a true king would not change or falter in front of any situation.

    Minhyuk spoke briefly, <em>¡®Anyone can join the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom as long as they have the will. However, there¡¯s no assurance that our Beyond the Heavens Kingdom can amodate all of you.¡¯</em>

    That was the end of Minhyuk¡¯s words. He did not say anything anymore. But the yers that heard his words got the idea¡­

    <em>¡®That¡¯s right. Beyond the Heavens Kingdom cannot amodate all of us.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Then, I¡¯ll be the first to join Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I have to get in position before anybody else!¡¯</em>

    The people began to prepare to run to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. They did not even have the time to do an interview about <em>¡®Why are you going to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?¡¯</em>. Of course, some of them were able to do an interview, but the rumors about how they had gathered to ¡®strike¡¯ at Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had be bigger than the story about how they wanted to ¡®join¡¯.

    Still, they did not care. They just ran to this ce without a wink of sleep, only to find out that yers of different nationalities were also running with the same goal in mind. All they could do was grit their teeth and run faster.

    Among these yers was Chinese yer Veyron, a top ranker that was recognized for his prowess in China. His heart thumped wildly as he thought,<em> ¡®I¡­ will be a member of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡­!¡¯</em>

    As one of the few that ran the fastest, Veyron could not hide the confusion on his face as he watched the Beyond the Heavens King stand atop the walls and wait for everyone to gather.

    <em>¡®Shit. If things continue like this, there will be no space left for me in Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. He should have epted me quickly¡­!¡¯</em>

    The reason why Veyron ran as fast as he could was because he knew that there would be no spot for him if he arrived a stepter than the others. After all, the number of yers that Beyond the Heavens Kingdom could amodate was only limited.

    As everyone waited, the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King finally took a step forward. Seeing this, countless people began to mor for their eptance to the kingdom. But the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King looked at them gently and said, ¡°Your request is pending.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°W, What¡­?!¡±

    ¡°What kind of ridiculous nonsense is that¡­?!¡±

    ¡°What did you say?!¡±

    <em>Murmur, murmur¡ª</em>

    Amotion began to spread widely, like a tidal wave in the ocean. Even the viewers and thementators that were watching the broadcast were left in shock.

    <em>[The millions of yers present are all shocked after hearing the words uttered by the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King.]</em>

    <em>[These millions of people came to join the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. If they are able to recruit each and every single person present here, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom will be able to wield a great power and even be an empire.]</em>

    <em>[But the Food God just told them that their request is pending.]</em>

    ¡°Are you kidding me?!¡±

    ¡°Do you know who we ran for like that?!!!¡±

    ¡°Food God!!! Are you trying to mock us?!!!¡±

    ¡°You have disappointed us!!! Do you want us to gang up on you, huh?!¡±

    It was not that strange if these moring yers ran wild and turned to attack Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. In a way, their reactions were understandable. Some of them gave up on the new content in the Stars¡¯ Path, while some used theirpany vacation leave to run here.

    But what were the words of the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King?!

    ¡°You told us that you will ept us as long as wee here!!!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s it. From this day onwards, Beyond the Heavens Kingdom will be destroyed!¡±

    It would only take a moment for the public¡¯s sentiments to change.

    And Haze, who watched everything unfold, had been jumping for joy up until a few moments ago. After all, this was the bigger reward that His Majesty had mentioned to her a few days ago. But now, everything was about to turn to ruin. The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom could not afford to fight against millions of people.

    <em>¡®What on earth are we going to do, Your Majesty¡­!¡¯</em>

    Haze was at a loss as she watched the yers prepare to attack. At that moment, Haze thought that Minhyuk would have probably realized that he did something wrong, so she turned to look back at him. But he was still smiling!

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    That was when Haze finally understood something, <em>¡®Th, that¡¯s right¡­! We can¡¯t just ept all of them!¡¯</em>

    She was shocked at Minhyuk¡¯s foresight. If they epted all of the people here now, then it would only spell their destruction. If they recklessly epted these people, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would be filled with countless spies.

    That was not all. Assuming that the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was around 30 square meters, such a small piece ofnd could not amodate hundreds of people. If all of these people entered Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, the kingdom would literally be oversaturated.

    The inns and restaurants, as well as the security of the kingdom, would becking. Having a sudden influx of yers was not necessarily a good thing. In the first ce, the kingdom¡¯s territory andnd area had to be able to support it.

    However, another question arose in Haze¡¯s head, <em>¡®If he knew that already, why did he let theme here?¡¯ </em>That was the reason why the foreigners were very angry. Why did he give them hope when he would just leave their request on hold?

    Then, Minhyuk opened his mouth, ¡°I have already told you that there¡¯s no assurance that my kingdom would be able to amodate you.¡±

    ¡°Then you shouldn¡¯t have allowed us toe here in the first ce!!!¡±

    ¡°Boooooo!!!¡±

    No, Minhyuk had clearly told them, <em>¡®There¡¯s no assurance that our Beyond the Heavens Kingdom can amodate all of you.¡¯</em> However, they made the decision themselves and chose toe here on their own. Minhyuk just opened a ¡®path¡¯, a possibility, for them. However, the angry public could not be appeased with just those words alone. Then, Minhyuk turned around as Golden Mage Ali stepped forward.

    <em>[You have activated the Voice Amplification Magic.]</em>

    <em>[You have activated the Translucent Gigantification Magic.]</em>

    At the same time, a 20-meter translucent figure of Minhyuk appeared on top of the walls of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. The translucent figure wore the same golden crown on his head and acted just like how Minhyuk was acting below. In other words, the magic was cast to make it easy for everyone to see Minhyuk.

    ¡°Silence!!!¡± Minhyuk said, his voice spreading via the amplification magic toward the angry yers. For a moment, everyone turned silent. Minhyuk looked at them, his voice filled with dignity as he continued, ¡°What kind of nation is the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom in your eyes?!!!¡±

    Everyone that heard Minhyuk¡¯s question, suppressed their anger and began to ponder deeply. What was the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom to them?

    <em>¡®The best kingdom.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®An indomitable kingdom. A kingdom that will never copse.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®A kingdom worthy of adoration and respect.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®The very first kingdom created by a yer.¡¯</em>

    Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had many titles under their belt.

    Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°Are you telling me to open the doors to you and ept all of you with no rhyme or reason?¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    <em>[¡­!]</em>

    <em>[¡­!]</em>

    The moment those words registered in their ears, everyone present felt as if a huge hammer had struck them in the head. The yers that requested to join them varied in level, their levels ranging from Level 100~500. Of course, the yers that were around Level 400~500 were only less than 1% of the total number of people here. Most of the yers present here were either novice or mid-level yers.

    So, why did theye here to join Beyond the Heavens Kingdom? Why did arge number of Level 100~300 yerse here? If they allowed all of them to join, then Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would lose their worth. Obviously, they were the ones that came here on their own. If Beyond the Heavens Kingdom allowed everybody to join, then they would be a guild where no one would want to join.

    ¡°B, But shouldn¡¯t you have told this to us in advance?!¡±

    ¡°In the first ce, you shouldn¡¯t have given us hope!!!¡±

    The yers around Level 100~300 still continued toin about his words. That was right. If they were only going to ept rankers at around Level 400~500, then they should not have given them hope and allowed them toe here in the first ce! Meanwhile, smiles appeared on the faces of the yers at Level 400~500.

    <em>¡®Right, our qualifications are sufficient.¡¯</em>

    However, even among the yers at Level 100~300, there would still be some people that were ahead of everyone and had the greatest potential to be rankers.

    <em>¡®Your Majesty, you need to give them an answer.¡¯</em>

    Cold sweat dripped down Haze¡¯s back. The few words that Minhyuk would utter from now on would determine the fate of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. One wrong move and the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom might be destroyed from their attacks. If that happened, and they were able to fend off the attack, their kingdom would not be entertained and visited by foreigners in the future.

    Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°I also want to see you in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. I¡¯m sure that¡¯s what everyone wishes to do too. The people next to me are strong, I am strong. So, even if we are faced with tens of thousands of enemies, we will never falter and feel fear. I¡¯m sure you want to be like that too.¡±

    The notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[Brightest Sun]</em>

    <em>[King¡¯s Voice has been activated.]</em>

    <em>[Your voice will sound more powerful and majestic to everyone hearing the King¡¯s Voice.]</em>

    Then, he told everyone his key qualification requirement, ¡°I¡¯m sure everyone present knows about the Stars¡¯ Path¡¯s ¡®Star Coin¡¯.¡±

    The Star Coin was a coin that appeared as part of the opening of the Stars¡¯ Path. It was a gold coin shaped like a star and could be obtained as a special reward during hunts, for example: someone hunting a ¡®boss monster¡¯.

    Boss monsters were not necessarily called boss monsters because they were high-leveled. They were called boss monsters because they were the strongest at the hunting ground¡¯s level. As for the Star Coins, there was a small chance that they would drop when hunting a boss monster. However, one would be able to gain 25 tinum if they sold their Star Coin to the store. This was what made the event huge.

    However, the most important part here was, yers between Level 100~500 all had a chance of being able to get Star Coins in a fair manner. ording to the system, they would prevent someone who was at Level 200 from getting a Star Coin upon the sessful hunt of a Level 100 monster. Also, it was impossible for those doing a party hunt to obtain a Star Coin as a drop. In other words, only those that were stronger at the same level and had better control than their peers would be able to obtain a Star Coin.

    ¡°Only those that can collect Star Coins will be entertained among those that want to enter the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.¡±

    Then, the notification rang for everyone present.

    <em>[The Kingdom Quest has started.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Kingdom Quest</strong>: Collect Two (2) Star Coins for your first qualification test.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    All of the yers present felt their heart throb. This was because anyone of them could have the chance to join the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom as long as they were stronger than others on the same level as them. Even Level 100 yers could join the kingdom as long as they were stronger than their peers. The same was true for those at Level 500. In other words, only 0.01% of them would have the qualifications to enter the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    Who wouldin about this?

    ¡°I have given everyone of you an equal opportunity.¡±

    This was the truth. On top of that, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was also given room to breathe, to only ept hundreds out of the millions of people present here. If the 0.01% of the millions of Level 100 yers that joined them grew, they would definitely be great rankers. If the 0.01% of the Level 500 yers were recruited, then they would be the pirs of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    <em>¡®Your Majesty¡­!¡¯</em>

    Haze trembled, goosebumps rising on her skin. And the same was true for everyone that wanted to join Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    <em>¡®I will be a part of that 0.01% and join the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡­!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom will be able to retain its name as the best nation.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I will be one of the best!!!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk even threw in a great finishing line, ¡°The future owner of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is you.¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Long live Beyond the Heavens Kingdom! Long live!!!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go! Let¡¯s collect Star Coins!!!¡±

    ¡°Run!!!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    Millions of cheering yers rushed to the Stars¡¯ Path. After dealing with everything Minhyuk smiled softly. And Haze? She approached him and said, ¡°That, that¡¯s amazing. Your Majesty¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    But Minhyuk¡¯s smiling expression did not change.

    ¡°Your, Your Majesty¡­?¡±

    ¡°<em>Fwaaaaaa¡­! </em>Ha, Haze¡­ I almost got in trouble, right?!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Only then did Haze realize that Minhyuk had taken a risk and won this dangerous game of tug-of-war. As Minhyuk looked at the running yers, he said, ¡°Haze, can you see?¡±

    Haze looked at them as he listened to Minhyuk¡¯s voice. They were the ones running forward to try and join Beyond the Heavens Kingdom! She felt her heart throb, a zing me alighting from within!

    <em>Aaaaaah! I¡¯m so moved! Perhaps, His Majesty is also feeling the same way?</em>

    But the truth of the matter was different.

    ¡°Can¡¯t you see my bundles of cash running swiftly¡­?!¡±

    ¡°Eh?¡±

    The words of Minhyuk destroyed the feelings that bubbled up in Haze¡¯s chest in an instant. The smile on Minhyuk¡¯s face was quite vicious when he turned to look back at Haze. He said, ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you that we will get something bigger than the material rewards? But we got them both. Both the material rewards and the people.¡±

    ¡°¡­Ah!¡±

    Haze finally understood the reason why Minhyuk asked them to pay two ¡®Star Coins¡¯ to gain the qualification to join Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Each Star Coin was worth 25 tinum, two of them would amount to 50 tinum. In other words¡­

    <em>¡®My god¡­ they will actually pay 50 tinum just so they can join us?!¡¯</em>

    That was right. Each person would pay 50 tinum. So, if 1,000 people joined, they would receive 50,000 tinum. Simply put, they would be able to quickly fill the losses that they had suffered during the duration of the Battle of the Thrones.

    ¡°And do you think they¡¯ll just bring coins from the Stars¡¯ Path? <em>Your Majesty, I got this in the Stars¡¯ Path, please try this. I hunted this, would you like to try some? </em>They¡¯ll definitely say that and bring me food, right? Wahahahahaha!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Haze was someone that was aiming for the title of the Legendary Swindler. As for Minhyuk?

    <em>¡®The God of Swindling¡­?¡¯</em>

    Without knowing the true purpose of their quests, the yers ran swiftly with bright smiles on their faces.

    ¡°I will also have the chance to join the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!!!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s collect Star Coins! Let¡¯s goooooo!!!¡±

    ¡°Long live the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    <em>Ah. What a beautiful world.</em>

 Chapter 583: A True Comrade

    Chapter 583: A True Comrade

    There were once talks about how Koreans were good at gaming. These stories were told a long time ago and were proven to be true.

    In the past, before the release of RPG Game 3, a game loved by many, the producers dered that even they did not know how long it would take for anyone to clear the game¡¯s final boss. Because of the time difference, the Koreans were able to get to this game faster than the yers from other countries. It was also one of the Koreans that cleared the game¡¯s final boss, in two days no less.

    Back then, everyone could imagine the expression stered on the faces of the producers, it must have been like this: ?0?

    They must have felt that it was impossible and ridiculous back then. Since then, the Koreans had broken many records.

    Perhaps it was because of that, but just two hours after Minhyuk dered that their request to join the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would be entertained only if they brought two Star Coins, a Korean had alreadye to visit him. After that, the next ones that came were still a Korean, then another Korean, and yet another Korean. People from the same country as Minhyuk came to visit him one after the other, requesting that they be allowed to join the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. It could be said that half of the members that requested to join Beyond the Heavens Kingdom on the same day were Koreans.

    <em>[There are 411 yers that have applied to join Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    Most of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s affairs were already systematic. They conducted a 1:1 interview with the people that wanted to join and collected their information just to be sure. Some might say that they were being too picky, but Athenae was a world that could very well be their asset and property. This meant that everyone that wanted to join them had to go through a strict and rigorous process.

    Just like that, Beyond the Heavens Kingdom became stronger by getting both money and talent.

    ***

    There were a lot of talks in public about the selection of the Battle of the Thrones¡¯ MVP.

    <em>[The viewers¡¯ votes ount for 90%? Isn¡¯t that crazy? If China or India decide to choose their own country, then they would be the MVP, right?]</em>

    <em>[Aren¡¯t there plenty of loose ends in the Battle of the Thrones? Everyone can just choose their own country.]</em>

    <em>[Joy Co. Ltd. needs to do a reflection on this matter. This is toocking. Even I will be able to do it better if I¡¯m the one that made it.]</em>

    <em>[In fact, doesn¡¯t this look like Joy Co. Ltd. is just fucking with the Beyond the Heavens? Hahahahahaha!]</em>

    While people''s opinions were divided, President Kang Taehoon posted on SNS ahead of the announcement of the MVP. Many of them were very thrilled to see what President Kang Taehoon had posted. The first part of his post exined the controversy over the Battle of the Thrones¡¯ MVP.

    <em>[Because this is the very first time that we held the Battle of the Thrones, I admit that weck in many ways. I sincerely apologize for this¡­]</em>

    Toward the end though , President Kang Taehoon left a cryptic, yet meaningful, sentence.

    <em>[However, I¡¯m sure everyone here knows who the real MVP is.]</em>

    The impact of his words were very huge. His words meant that even if that country did not be the MVP, the viewers would know the truth.

    And an hourter, a world message hit the whole of Athenae.

    <em>[The MVP of the Battle of the Thrones has been selected.]</em>

    <em>[The MVP was selected with 10% from the experts¡¯ votes and 90% from the viewers¡¯ votes.]</em>

    The notifications spread all over the world, making everyone pause in their tracks and stop what they were doing. Just when the people were wondering when they would announce it¡­

    <em>[The MVP country has received 22% approval rating from the experts and 37% approval rating from the viewers.]</em>

    All of the yers sighed at the same time. They were cursing how the people of Joy Co. Ltd. were very adept at raising the tension. Then, another notification followed.

    <em>[The country with the second highest approval rating had received 10% approval rating from the experts and 14% approval rating from the viewers.]</em>

    The difference between the first and second country was very clear. Everyone was curious whether the results were really true. Then, letters started to appear in the skies for everyone to see.

    <em>[The MVP country is <strong>South Korea</strong>.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The entire world was left in shock. However, the following announcement left them reeling even more. The country with the second highest approval rating was none other than China. This meant that there was a huge difference between the approval rating of Korea and China. Simply put, there was only one thing that could make this much difference.

    <em>[The Chinese also voted for South Korea?]</em>

    <em>[OMG¡­]</em>

    <em>[Amazing¡­ This is the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ ss, they can even turn the hearts of the Chinese people over to their side¡­]</em>

    <em>[But to be honest, there¡¯s no other country that has performed better than South Korea.]</em>

    <em>[They¡¯re a godly country¡­ in and of itself¡­]</em>

    At the same time, the people all over the world grew curious about the rewards that the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would receive.

    ***

    South Korea.

    All of the Koreans that yed Athenae cheered loudly.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    Their cheers were as loud and as energetic as the cheers that they roared when Korea advanced to the semifinals in the 2002 World Cup. It was only natural since Korea was able to do an overwhelming turnaround during a time when the other countries ignored them.

    ¡°Long live the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!¡±

    ¡°Long live the Beyond the Heavens!!!¡±

    ¡°Three cheers for Our Lord, the Food God!!!¡±

    There were even some that shouted three cheers. Then, the additional notifications began to ring along with their cheers.

    <em>[South Korea has been chosen as the MVP country in the Battle of the Thrones, as such a buff of 5% increase in EXP and drop rate would be given to everyone.]</em>

    <em>[For the yers that participated in the Battle of the Thrones, you will be given a buff of 10% increase in EXP and drop rate.]</em>

    <em>[The MVP¡¯s rewards will be given to the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King.]</em>

    Minhyuk was in the middle of interviewing the yers that wanted to join Beyond the Heavens Kingdom when the notifications hit. Just like everyone, he ended up stopping in his tracks to look at the notifications. Then, the additional notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[The MVP Shop has opened.]</em>

    <em>[The MVP Shop will only be open for a week. The cash that can be used in the shop can only be acquired inside the ¡®Stars¡¯ Path¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[Click on the detailed exnation to find out more about how you can acquire the cash.]</em>

    <em>[The restriction on the items in the shop will be lifted based on the amount of cash that you obtained.]</em>

    <em>¡®MVP Shop?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was the Battle of the Thrones¡¯ MVP. In Alexander¡¯s case, he was able to receive an extremely OP reward in the form of a ¡®God-rank artifact¡¯ for being the one to sit on the Supreme King¡¯s Throne. But the MVP Shop, the reward that the MVP had received, waspletely different from that. It was a system that would only reward the MVP.

    To understand more about the shop, Minhyuk quickly clicked on the detailed exnation.

    <em>[The MVP Shop is only opened to the king of the country that became the MVP in the Battle of the Thrones.]</em>

    <em>[You can earn cash by gaining the ¡®approval¡¯ of your kingdom¡¯s forces and showing them that you are their king. You can get cash through a dozen ways like ¡®teaching¡¯, ¡®helping¡¯ or ¡®showing them new hunting methods¡¯ inside the Stars¡¯ Path.]</em>

    <em>[You can also gain cash by going on a party hunt and hunting a boss monster. The cash that will be umted will also be dependent on the guild members or NPCs that apany you in the Stars¡¯ Path to a raid or in a boss hunt.]</em>

    <em>[Acquiring cash is not limited to the yers and NPCs of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. You can also gain cash from yers from other countries and kingdoms as long as you gain their approval and admiration.]</em>

    Simply put, Minhyuk would be able to earn the MVP Shop¡¯s cash as long as he showed his might and greatness as a king. On top of that¡­

    <em>¡®Right now, almost every guild has led their guild members in a party hunt to explore the Stars¡¯ Path.¡¯</em>

    The Stars¡¯ Path was far more difficult than what most imagined. That was why everyone was hunting in groups of ten, some even in the hundreds. Of course, a guild would be divided into several different groups. If one guild gathered all of their members in a single group, then they would number in the thousands.

    <em>¡®There must be a lot of delicious food inside the MVP Shop, right? Hnghh¡­¡¯</em>

    The thought alone made Minhyuk¡¯s mouth water. As he continued to ponder, he realized, <em>¡®If I lead the new guild members, then the effects will be greater. Right?¡¯</em>

    Athenae was an extremely high-quality virtual reality game that could measure a person¡¯s brain waves and gauge someone¡¯s current mood. So, if Minhyuk led the new guild members, and not the members of Beyond the Heavens that had always seen Minhyuk and what he always did, the effect would be maximized. Also¡­

    <em>¡®I also have to show the newbies my might as a king.¡¯</em>

    This was something that Minhyuk had already discussed with Haze. Many of their new guild members came from other countries. This meant that their situation was nowpletely different from before. They needed to make sure that these people were aware of the fact that, <em>¡®Our king is really amazing!¡¯ </em>or something along those lines. Otherwise, these people would start looking for the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ shorings and leave the kingdom.

    However, Minhyuk was an upright king, as much as he was pragmatic.

    <em>¡®I like to eat.¡¯</em>

    Even if he had to go out with the new guild members, he wanted to receive and maximize the benefits that he would receive during the process. Minhyuk immediately opened the MVP Shop.

    <em>[Ochris¡¯ Gloves. 1,000 cash.]</em>

    <em>[Beynon¡¯s Longsword. 2,000 cash.]</em>

    <em>[Wicked Witch¡¯s Wand. 4,000 cash.]</em>

    <em>[Wild Ogre¡¯s¡­]</em>

    <em>[Slim Mermaid Scales¡¯¡­]</em>

    As he scrolled down through the translucent cash window, he reached the part where the items were sealed with an <strong>X</strong> mark. Among those items were cooking ingredients with a 2,000 written as the quantity in small notation.

    ¡°Two thousand?¡±

    Even if the items were sealed, its details were not. Some of it could still be checked at this moment.

    <em>[This is an ingredient that can permanently raise one¡¯s stats.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    It seemed like it was a system where both Minhyuk and his retainers would be able to benefit. After all, not only could his subjects eat, he could also eat with them! However, the ingredient needed quite a lot of cash. One cost around 50,000 cash! But Minhyuk believed that this was enough for them to give it a try.

    After making a decision, Minhyuk finally focused on the interview once again, ¡°Why do you want to join Beyond the Heavens?¡±

    ¡°Because I want to be with you, Minhyuk. Hoho~¡±

    The person that Minhyuk was interviewing was looking at him with sparkling eyes. To be exact, the person¡¯s eyes were filled with love.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk turned to look at the man¡¯s resume briefly, <em>¡®Lee Chun-Ja. Age</em><em>, 75</em><em> years old.¡¯</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was well and truly loved by everyone. Of course, Minhyuk was very grateful for that¡­

    ¡°P, pass¡­!¡±

    ***

    Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s meeting room.

    The executives, who were busy talking about server integration, suddenly changed topics.

    ¡°It seems like the one that received the MVP rewards, yer Minhyuk, is leading his new guild members in the Stars¡¯ Path today.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? Quite interesting. Show it on the monitor.¡±

    Team Leader Park Minggyu hurriedly pulled up the screen after hearing President Kang Taehoon¡¯s words. On the screen, they could see around 1,000 people,posed of new guild members and Beyond the Heavens¡¯ soldiers.

    ¡°Food God Minhyuk has created a force with his new guild members to go and hunt so he can umte the MVP Shop¡¯s cash.¡±

    ¡°Is it the cash that can be umted via the guild members¡¯ faith and belief in their king?¡±

    Of course, the new members would show greater awe and admiration toward himpared to the members that had been with him for a long time.

    ¡°Yes. But I think that¡¯s a ridiculous and foolish decision.¡±

    ¡°Ridiculous and foolish?¡±

    The one that spoke up was the team leader of the Event nning Team, Park Yi-Hyeon. Park Yi-Hyeon was appointed as the new team leader after the former team leader of the Event Management Team was promoted and sent overseas.

    ¡°The new guild members that Beyond the Heavens epted are all yers that are far stronger than other yers at their level.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why it would not be easy to surprise them and gain their faith and admiration.¡±

    Park Yi-Hyeon¡¯s words made enough sense. This was something that came out of the mouth of the person behind most of the content of the MVP reward and the Stars¡¯ Path.

    ¡°Since we¡¯re on this topic, can we assume that yer Minhyuk will be able to get a much better reward than the one sitting in the Supreme Throne if he does well in making use of his MVP reward?¡±

    umting cash would release the seals of the restricted slots. There was no end to how many Minhyuk could release. Since there was no end to the possibilities, the rewards could be said to be amazing. However, the system also had its drawbacks.

    ¡°It will be difficult. If he can do well, then it would be just like what the president said. But personally, I don¡¯t think he will be able to release a lot of the restricted slots.¡±

    At the same time, Minhyuk appeared on the TV screen, standing in front of his gathered troops.

    Then, President Kang Taehoon asked, ¡°Your reason?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s because it¡¯s harder to umte cash than what you think. No matter how amazing he is, the people¡¯s faith and the things that surprise them¡­¡±

    But before Park Yi-Hyeon could even finish his sentence, the scene on the monitor changed. Minhyuk, riding on a white warhorse, appeared in front of the new guild members of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Everyone looked at him in anticipation. After all, this was the guild¡¯s very first group hunt.

    Minhyuk, who appeared in front of them, did not praise them, or even congratte them. He just looked at each and every single one of them with a stern andmanding look. Minhyuk¡¯s eyes were solemn, as if he was looking at hisrades going to war with him. As he looked at his guild members like that, Minhyuk, in a manner befitting a king, spoke loudly and briefly¡­

    <em>[Move out.]</em>

    Then, with his cape fluttering behind him, he turned around and took the lead. All of the new guild members'' eyes were trained on his back. He just nced at them and gave them a brief word, but his charisma was overflowing, leaving the new guild members in an uproar.

    <em>[Wow¡­]</em>

    <em>[Did you see his eyes¡­?]</em>

    <em>[Amazing.]</em>

    With those words, several notifications appeared on the monitor.

    <em>[yer Minhyuk has umted 59 cash.]</em>

    <em>[yer Minhyuk has umted 31 cash.]</em>

    <em>[yer Minhyuk has umted 21 cash.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Park Yi-Hyeon, who was just spitting about how it was hard to umte cash, shut his mouth and stopped talking.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Team Leader Park and President Kang looked at him silently for a while. After a short while, President Kang said, ¡°It seems like the rewards that yer Minhyuk will get will be entirely up to him.¡±

    Kang Taehoon looked at Minhyuk through the monitor with eyes filled with great anticipation and excitement.

 Chapter 584: A True Comrade

    Chapter 584: A True Comrade

    Minhyuk, riding atop his white horse, silently took the lead as they entered the Stars¡¯ Path.

    As they continued to walk like that, Park, the centurion of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s legion, said, ¡°Please listen to the instructions of the soldier right next to you. They will save you if you¡¯re in danger.¡±

    The new guild members all nodded at Park¡¯s words. However, none of them could hide the disappointment that shed across their faces.

    <em>¡®So, Spear God Ben will not participate in this expedition?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®How about Lesser Demon Elpis?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Ramyeon Boy Conir¡¯s not here too?¡¯</em>

    Not a single one of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s prominent NPC was present. The disappointment that they felt was not to be underestimated when they realized this matter. Especially when Park spoke. A part of his words even rubbed them the wrong way.

    <em>¡®They will save you if you¡¯re in danger.¡¯</em>

    The new guild members that were participating in this expedition were all yers that were stronger than their peers on the same level. Many of them were well-versed in control and had been unrivaled in the game so far. How would people like them receive help from ordinary soldiers? And not even from Spear God Ben, Lesser Demon Elpis or even Great Pirate Gorfido? They could only snort arrogantly at Park¡¯s remarks. What was even funnier to them was the fact that the soldiers were all marching in a well-disciplined manner.

    <em>¡®Why are they being so upright?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®This is the problem with NPCs.¡¯</em>

    The soldiers were looking around vigntly, their helmets pulled down and their hands gripping the hilt of their weapons tightly. It was as if they were going into a battlefield. In the end, the new guild members were yers. Even if the air around them screamed for battle, they would eventually think that this was just a game.

    ¡°Hey, aren¡¯t you hot like that?¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you take off your helmet?¡±

    ¡°Are you going to war, huh?¡±

    ¡°Please keep quiet.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re pioneering a new ce, the ce called the Stars¡¯ Path. Don¡¯t let your guard down.¡±

    The soldiers maintained their discipline and spoke sinctly and bluntly. The difference between the yers and the soldiers was like when the reserve and active forces came together.

    Minhyuk turned his head toward them when he heard themotion. Seeing his gaze pass by them made the new guild members flinch. Then, Minhyuk spoke in his dignified voice, ¡°Heed my orders. The troops of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom will not participate in the hunt to gauge the skills of our new members, wait for my orders again before you move.¡±

    ¡°Sir, yes, sir!¡±

    ¡°Sir, yes, sir!¡±

    ¡°Sir, yes, sir!¡±

    The soldiers saluted after hearing Minhyuk¡¯s orders. Minhyuk judged that he did not need to dig deeper and delve into the conflicts between the yers and the NPCs, <em>¡®To see is to believe.¡¯</em> Just like that, Minhyuk and his troops entered the Stars¡¯ Path.

    <em>[You have entered the Stars¡¯ Path.]</em>

    <em>[A 2x EXP acquisition rate and item drop rate will be applied inside the Stars¡¯ Path.]</em>

    The Stars¡¯ Path was as big as several Athenae continentsbined. Because of that, there were several hunting grounds and dungeons located inside it. And just like every new ce, people from all over the world had already started to find hunting grounds and dungeons all on their own. These hunting grounds and dungeons were open to everyone, but it had to be known that each level had appropriate hunting grounds for them.

    The people that joined the expedition this time were quite high-leveled. So, they went deeper into the Stars¡¯ Path, until the ¡®Wolves¡¯ Sacred Land¡¯ appeared in front of them. Werewolves were monsters that could be seen in almost any hunting grounds. However, these monsters in the Stars¡¯ Path were different. It was a ce with a ¡®scenario¡¯. Most of the monsters that existed inside the Star¡¯s Path were rted to the ¡®Six Monster Gods¡¯.

    So, what were the Six Monster Gods?

    Athenae, the God of Origin, bore several gods and monsters. Back then, these gods and monsters were equal in position. However, as time went by, the gods drove the monsters that Athenae bore down to earth. After being driven out, they eventually settled down on the Stars¡¯ Path. In other words, these monsters could be said to be Monster Gods. And there were six of them in the Stars¡¯ Path.

    One of them was the Wolf King Loraudi, and the werewolves here were all descendants of him. Their aspects were on a different level from typical werewolves.

    It was definitely still in the middle of the day but the moment they entered the Wolves¡¯ Sacred Land, a darkness that enveloped everything fell upon them. This hunting ground, which was a dark forest, was rarely visited by yers because the monsters in here were different from typical monsters. The monsters in this hunting ground usually appeared in groups. This hunting ground was also divided into several areas and the deeper one went, the more dangerous it became.

    ¡°Awoooooooooooo!¡±

    ¡°Awoooooooooooo!¡±

    They finally appeared.

    <em>¡®The ck werewolves, the weakest among the monsters in the Wolves¡¯ Holy Land, appear at the entrance of the hunting ground.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Unlike ordinary werewolves, they are extremely fast and even a single scratch from their ws can be fatal.¡¯</em>

    The werewolves¡¯ glowing eyes stared at them from the darkness of the forest. There were a total of 500 new guild members and 500 Beyond the Heavens¡¯ soldiers. The level of the soldiers and the new guild members were roughly the same.

    ¡°Did you guys hear His Majesty¡¯s words? Just sit back and watch.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t even try to cut us off and stay in the frontlines, NPC soldiers.¡±

    However, the new guild members knew that they were stronger than others at the same level as them. Their arrogance knew no bounds.

    Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°I have a very important job to do so I will leave the hunting to you. Do you have any objections?¡±

    ¡°No, sir!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll be fine!¡±

    The soldiers answered briefly. However, the new guild members were very disappointed.

    <em>¡®What? I thought I would be able to see the Food God in action in front of me?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Why?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Why is he noting to the frontlines?¡¯</em>

    Just as these questions shed in their heads, the sword in Minhyuk¡¯s hand was wrapped in a bright light. Everyone turned to look at it, their eyes sparkling. But the shape that appeared in front of them was none other than a ¡®hoe¡¯.

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    Then, Minhyuk began to collect root crops and wild vegetables on the ground not too far away from them. This was the first time that they had seen a king squatting on the ground and digging for crops!!!

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    The new guild members were dumbfounded and somewhat disappointed. Then, hundreds of werewolves began to show themselves throughout the forest.

    ¡°Better hide behind me, soldier.¡±

    ¡°Just watch how we perform.¡±

    ¡°Grrrrrrrrrrrr!¡±

    ¡°Grrrrrrrrrrrr!¡±

    Not long after, the hundreds of werewolves leapt out from the cover of the trees and sped toward the guild members. They were extremely fast. If the yers that were facing them only had ordinary senses, they would have already been hit by a fatal strike. But¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    With their amazing reflexes, one of the yers mmed one of the leaping werewolves to the ground. As if it was a signal, the new guild members began to step forward.

    <em>sh, sh, sh!</em>

    <em>Crack, crack, crack!</em>

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª</em>

    Their swords were swift, their axes were tough, and their arrows were urate. It was obvious that they were a league above their peers. Just like how there were Rankers Above Rankers, there were yers above yers. These people had amazing control, that they could even deal with at least two yers of the same level as them.

    Of course, the new guild members were not without damage either. Even so, it was small enough for them to continue the hunt. The number of werewolves present was so high that the same number of yers who were on the same level as them would have already been wiped out at this point.

    ¡°Grrrrrrroaaaar!¡±

    The werewolves kept on being cut down. As beads of sweat covered their foreheads, the new guild members looked around proudly and arrogantly.

    ¡°Did you see that, soldier? This is who we are.¡±

    ¡°Have soldiers like you ever seen anything like this?¡±

    Their arrogance knew no bounds. Perhaps dealing with hundreds of ck werewolves without much effort was truly worthy of praise. So, after finishing their first hunt, they continued to delve deeper into the area.

    And Minhyuk¡­?

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Sacred Land¡¯s Mushroom.]</em>

    <em>¡®Yeah! I got mushrooms!!!¡¯</em>

    ¡­he was working hard to eat happily once again today. Crouching down and harvesting new crops in the Stars¡¯ Path was fun and interesting.

    Then, Park approached Minhyuk and reported, ¡°The fifth hunt is over. They are showing amazing skills, just as expected.¡±

    After hearing the report, Minhyuk paused what he was doing and turned to look at Park, ¡°Is that so? Who has the best performance?¡±

    ¡°The man named Orleed. He¡¯s the one that cut down the most werewolves. He could easily cut down three by himself.¡±

    Minhyuk just nodded before saying to Park, ¡°It seems like the new guild members are getting more and more arrogant and ignoring our soldiers.¡±

    Minhyuk nced briefly at the new guild members before turning back to digging his crops once again.

    ¡°Are we just going to leave them alone?¡±

    ¡°¡­Well, isn¡¯t it better for them to see it for themselves?¡± Minhyuk said, smiling bitterly. Park just looked at him with eyes filled with trust before bowing his head and turning around.

    In just one nce, Minhyuk saw how the new guild members were giggling about and mocking the soldiers.

    <em>¡®Arrogance brings about aggressiveness.¡¯</em>

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk chuckled as he continued to dig for his crops.

    ***

    The eighth hunt ended just like that. As time went by, the new guild members grew increasingly disappointed with Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    <em>¡®What the hell? There are no outstanding orders, no outstanding NPCs, nor any fancy swordsmanship from the Food God?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Does the Food God not have anything to teach us?¡¯</em>

    Their arrogance, after continuously winning battle after battle without suffering any casualties, had already reached the skies. Among them was Orleed. He was the one that cut the most werewolves and was the one leading the new guild members. Park and the other soldiers were just silently watching them and not even going to the frontlines at all.

    Orleed, who was taking the lead, thought, <em>¡®The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡­ their assessment, the worst.¡¯</em>

    Orleed was actually a spy. The person that he truly served was Richard, the one that had the ss ¡®Monarch¡¯ and would be the second king to be crowned. Richard was an unofficial ranker that was gaining power at the same time as the server integration. It would not be too long before he could establish a kingdom of his own. Richard was someone that had received the Monarch ss and would be an amazing ss.

    But what about the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?

    <em>¡®Trash.¡¯</em>

    This was what Orleed thought. The NPCs that were said to be outstanding? Except for the Named NPCs, Orleed did not know about the others. As for the Food God being a smart and genuine king? All he did was look at them while digging the ground. As to why he would just sit back and watch them?

    <em>¡®He probably doesn¡¯t have the confidence to order us around with our skills.¡¯</em>

    Would his militarymand be better than Richard? Probably not. Richard was a former colonel in the American army. The army that he had built was disciplined, systematic and powerful to the point that they could rival the empires¡¯ armies. His army was obviously on an entirely different level from the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s troops that only knew how to quarrel at most.

    After ending his thoughts there, Orleed thought that he should just enjoy the process and use this as a content for his report.

    ¡°Orleed, don¡¯t you think things are a bit too boring now?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s what I was thinking too.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. With all of us here, I think it¡¯s possible for us to increase the level of difficulty and raise our EXP at a faster rate. Besides, the king over there is not even interested in us.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is disappointing. It¡¯spletely different from what I thought.¡±

    ¡°Well, let¡¯s just continue to hunt. Even the centurion over there told us that everything would be up to us.¡±

    The new guild members immediately decided to aggro more werewolves and hunt them together. They even decided to send forward a scouting party to lure the werewolves their way.

    But just five minutester¡­

    ¡°Shit¡­¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re f*cked.¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    Orleed and the hundreds of new guild members looked confused when they saw the scouting party rushing toward them from afar. Not long after, Orleed¡¯s face turned ugly.

    ¡°Silver werewolves¡­?¡±

    Silver werewolves were only one level stronger than ck werewolves. However, the issue for the new members was that the number that appeared in front of them was easily three times more than the number that they hunted before.

    <em>¡®From what I heard, nothing has been known about the silver werewolves yet. No one knew if they came out in packs or not¡­¡¯</em>

    Today was the day that they knew that silver werewolves came in a pack of a thousand. Some of them were leaping from one tree to another, some were running on the ground, while some were jumping high up in the skies. Nearly 1,500 of the silver werewolves were swiftly running toward the new guild members.

    <em>¡®We¡¯re in danger¡­!¡¯</em>

    Orleed could already predict the difficult and dangerous situation that was waiting for them. However, unlike their worried voices, none of the new guild members sported looks of concern.

    <em>¡®We have the Food God!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®The Food God will save us!¡¯</em>

    That was right. The Food God was at a much higher level than the new guild members. He even had an amazing skill that could sweep away a lot of enemies in one go.

    Orleed saw Minhyuk receive the report from one of the soldiers. Minhyuk nced at the charging pack of werewolves and gave his order to Park, ¡°Soldiers, stand by.¡± Then, he returned to his digging.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Orleed was shocked.

    <em>¡®Is he f*cking crazy?! Is he going to allow all of his new guild members to die?!¡¯ </em>

    Orleed had never seen a more foolish king than him.

    ¡°F*cking bastard!!! That king has no intention of helping us!!! Prepare for battle!¡±

    The new guild members were all shocked after hearing Orleed¡¯s cry. Then, they met the onught of more than a thousand silver werewolves.

    ¡°Keuhoooook!¡±

    Those that shed first had no choice but to scream.

    <em>¡®They are 1.5x stronger than the ck werewolves?!!¡¯</em>

    All of them were appalled by this discovery.

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡±

    Scratches appeared on their bodies as their enemies'' swift feet and sharp ws shed at them.

    ¡°Grrrrrrrrrrr!¡±

    The silver wolves leapt and opened their jaws to sink their sharp teeth into the necks of the new guild members. Meanwhile, the soldiers, who were left on standby, stood perfectly still as they waited for their orders.

    ¡°Aaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Urrghhhhh!¡±

    It was just a split second, but in that instant, the entire battlefield was turned into a mess. The new guild members were starting to get pushed back. These people, who thought that they were above these werewolves, began to fall one after the other.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!¡±

    Even Orleed had allowed several of the silver werewolves to attack his body. Just when he was about to be bitten on the neck.

    <em>ash¡ª</em>

    Orleed pulled the dagger on his waist and stabbed the werewolf on the neck before quickly stepping back.

    <em>¡®We won¡¯t be able tost for ten minutes. They¡¯re too strong. We will all be wiped out.¡¯</em>

    There were no casualties yet. But it was only a matter of time. Amidst their screams and falls, Minhyuk, who was digging the ground, rose from his position.

    <em>¡®Right, if it¡¯s that f*cking king then¡­¡¯</em>

    If that king made a move, then all of these monsters would be wiped out at once. All of the new guild members recognized this fact and expected Minhyuk to make a move.

    <em>¡®Finally, the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King will make his move!!!¡¯</em>

    However, contrary to their expectations, Minhyuk approached his troops and said, ¡°Soldiers, prepare for battle.¡±

    <em>Swoosh¡ª</em>

    <em>Swoosh¡ª</em>

    <em>Swoosh¡ª</em>

    <em>Swoosh¡ª</em>

    <em>Swoosh¡ª</em>

    The soldiers, who were on standby, all stood up in perfect attention. All of them were ready to battle.

    Orleed¡¯s face turned ugly when he saw this scene,<em> ¡®What can you even do with those f*cking stupid soldiers?!¡¯</em>

    There were only 500 soldiers. Nothing would change even if they joined the battle, especially since they could not do anything at all before. At that moment, Orleed saw the sharp glint of a werewolf¡¯s teeth shing in front of him, ready to sink into his neck.

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll die¡­¡¯</em>

    Just when the thought shed in Orleed¡¯s head, Minhyuk finally uttered his order. Just like the usual, he said, ¡°Wipe them out.¡±

    Then¡­

    <em>Fwooosh¡ª</em>

    The werewolf fell down on the ground, dead with an arrow piercing through its neck.

    <em>¡®The shot is neat and precise.¡¯</em>

    There was not even a millimeter of deviation. The arrow pierced through the werewolf¡¯s airway and instantly brought it to its death. When Orleed turned to look at the direction of the arrow, he saw Centurion Park. And along with that¡­

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª</em>

    All five hundred soldiers took out their bows and arrows and began to shoot at the same time, creating a shocking, yet spectacr, scene. All of their arrows pierced through vital points, the neck or the forehead, and brought death to the werewolves closing in on the new guild members.

    ¡°¡­An archer unit?!¡±

    That was what Orleed thought. But, that was wrong. Minhyuk looked at Orleed and thought, <em>¡®Our Beyond the Heavens¡¯ soldiers are actually the worst at archery.¡¯</em>

    The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s soldiers had trained and mastered the way of the sword, the axe, the spear, the bow, and even the shield.

 Chapter 585: A True Comrade

    Chapter 585: A True Comrade

    For Orleed, the standard of a true and genuine king was Monarch Richard. He was someone with excellent foresight and a high ability to develop his military forces. In fact, the army that Richard had built was stronger than any other kingdom¡¯s army. If Richard had an archer unit, perhaps they would be as powerful as the Beyond the Heaven¡¯s forces.

    Orleed thought, <em>¡®So you weren¡¯t entirely stupid. It seems like you intended to help us from the rear using the soldiers of your archer unit.¡¯</em>

    That was right. If the troops were made up of outstanding archers, then their odds would increase. However, the new guild members were still a mess.

    ¡°Euaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Someone, someone please help me!¡±

    Amidst their screams, Orleed shouted, ¡°The soldiers are all specialized in archery! With their support from the rear, we will be able to pull ourselves together!!!¡±

    Hope was reignited on the faces of the new guild members.

    <em>¡®An archer unit?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Ah,e to think of it, their arrows werepletely urate!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Their uracy must be very high!¡¯</em>

    That was what they thought. Not much was known about the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ soldiers since they were not that famous. For most kingdoms, whether they were run by a yer or an NPC, there were generally outstanding units among their army. And from what it looked like, the Beyond the Heavens had secretly raised an archer unit.

    However, this line of thinking was wrong.

    As if on cue, all of the soldiers of Beyond the Heavens slung their bows on their backs. Then, Centurion Park drew the sword on his waist and said, ¡°Draw your swords!!!¡±

    <em>Fwoosh!</em>

    <em>Fwoosh!</em>

    <em>Fwoosh!</em>

    <em>Fwoosh!</em>

    The soldiers all drew their swords and jumped into the fray. At the same time, Orleed witnessed how Centurion Park jumped in the middle of the battle and cut down three silver werewolves at once.

    <em>¡®Heooook!¡¯</em>

    Orleed was shocked. However, a startling scene was unfolding in front of him. The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ soldiers skillfully moved around the battlefield, cutting down their enemies and rescuing the new guild members that were facing a crisis. Their sword strikes were precise, none of their movements wasted. Their spears urately pierced through their enemies¡¯ vital points. Even their axes easily split their enemies heads in one go.

    The soldier named Hans, who they had ignored before, reached his hand out to one of the fallen new guild members and asked, ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The new guild members were all ashamed. They knew that they were better than the average yers which boosted their ego and made them ignore these soldiers. But when they were facing a crisis, the one that held their hand out to help them were the very same people that they had ignored.

    The new guild member held Hans¡¯ hand tightly as he stood up. However, he could not bring himself to look up from the shame that he was feeling. At the same time, he was in awe.

    <em>¡®They are strong but they are not arrogant!¡¯</em>

    But the most surprising part here was¡­

    <em>¡®How were they able to nurture and raise soldiers like that?¡¯</em>

    Everyone was shocked. Even if they were already part of the guild, they still had no way to check the actual skills or power of the kingdom¡¯s soldiers. That was a feat that was only possible for executives. The only thing that they could check was the soldiers¡¯ level. The new guild member was sure that Hans was only at the same level as him. But the truth was Hans¡¯ level was lower than the guild member¡¯s level.

    As the new guild members were left reeling in shock, a series of notifications began to ring in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You have earned 101 cash.]</em>

    <em>[You have earned 109 cash.]</em>

    <em>[You have earned 67 cash.]</em>

    <em>[¡­earned 51 cash.]</em>

    <em>[You have umted a total of 18,144 cash.]</em>

    Who was the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯smander-in-chief? It was none other than Brod, who turned out to be the Absolute God¡¯s Sword. Brod, together with Elpis and the Sword Saint of the past, Conir, taught these soldiers their swordsmanship. Then, who taught them archery? The man that taught them to shoot their arrows was Korea¡¯s own Master Archer, Root. And that was not all. Their spearmanship was also personally taught by none other than ¡®Spear God¡¯ Ben himself.

    Thebination of the best instructors and the best soldiers would result in the strongest army. Minhyuk was very confident that the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ soldiers would not lose out against any of the empire¡¯s army in the world on the same level as them.

    <em>¡®Except for one ce. The Luvien Empire.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk could not gauge how they would fare against them, since there was no information avable about the forces of the Luvien Empire.

    And now, things went in the direction that Minhyuk wanted. The new guild members finally abandoned their arrogant thinking and began to respect the soldiers and fight alongside them.

    ¡°That¡¯s dangerous!!!¡±

    Some threw themselves in front of the soldiers that were met with danger. Some even helped the soldiers that were in danger of getting bitten on the neck by the werewolves. Minhyuk watched them with a small smile on his face. Surprisingly enough, they were able to kill all 1,500 silver werewolves, with only two casualties among the new guild members.

    <em>[Your retainers have gained an amazing achievement bypletely destroying the enemies.]</em>

    <em>[You have earned 5,000 cash.]</em>

    Minhyuk was able to gain 20,000 cash in one go. But then, Orleed, who was being supported by Centurion Park, burst out in anger. He approached Minhyuk and shouted, ¡°What kind of king are you! Why did you just keep on watching us?! You should have helped us when you saw that we were in danger!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right!!!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m so disappointed in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!!!¡±

    Some other new guild members immediately joined in the tirade, with veins protruding from their necks, after Orleed protested. From their perspective, it was unfair that they had to struggle like that when Food God Minhyuk could just swing his sword a few times and kill the werewolves in one go.

    ¡°Your Majesty, what¡­!¡± Park shouted when he saw Minhyuk raise his hand to let the soldiers stand back and stop restraining the new guild members.

    Minhyuk looked at the new guild members, his eyes sporting a sharp re and his expression vicious, as he said, ¡°What kind of bullshit are you all spouting, huh?¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The faces of the new guild members turned ugly when they heard his words. He was the king but he did not mean to help them? Minhyuk continued, ¡°You have never trusted this king, let alone my men, yet you¡¯re all spouting nonsense like this?¡±

    Everyone turned silent at Minhyuk¡¯s words. Minhyuk held his breath for a moment to maintain the coldness in his voice. Then, his voice turned a tad bit rougher as he said, ¡°You wanted this king to save you when you never even ced an ounce of trust in me and my men? Did you think that I would not see youughing at my men as you looked down at them?!!!¡±

    Shame colored the new guild members¡¯ faces when they heard Minhyuk¡¯s words. There was no denying it. It was them that turned a blind eye to therades that were with them, the very samerades that would fight together with them, just because they thought they were a bit better than them.

    ¡°Do you know how my soldiers got stronger? They grew stronger because they rely on each other, help each other, and trust each other.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    They all remained silent as they listened to how Minhyuk admonished them, ¡°Fortunately, you¡¯re all able to realize this fact early on.¡±

    The new guild members turned to look at each other. The look in their eyes had changed as they looked at the soldiers that they had ignored before. Some of them supported a wounded soldier while some were looking at them in worry. Although this was just a game, they finally realized that this was what camaraderie was. In that short amount of time¡­

    <em>¡®The Food God wanted to make us realize this fact¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®So the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was able to be such a strong nation because of </em>camaraderie<em>?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I will also haverades that will run to my aid and protect me. What a wonderful thing¡­¡¯</em>

    And Minhyuk? His eyes, which were filled with grace, nobility and greatness, looked at each and every single one of them as he said, ¡°This is the ¡®Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯, the ce where you are a part of.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The moment they heard that, goosebumps rose on their backs. Even though this was just a game to them, this kingdom would be able to make them feel like they were truly living here, and feel true, genuine camaraderie. This was the ce where only the strong live! And this is the ce where they were now a part of. The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!

    Orleed, who watched everything unfold, could not close his mouth after seeing how handsome and cool Minhyuk was. Suddenly, a crack resounded in his ears.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack!</em>

    That was the sound of a new king appearing in Orleed¡¯s heart, someone who had only known and recognized Richard as his king. And the name of that king was none other than ¡®Minhyuk¡¯.

    ***

    Event nning Team.

    Park Yi-Hyeon, the newly appointed event nning team leader, was the one that nned all of the events in the Stars¡¯ Path. Right now, he was appalled to see the notifications that appeared on the screen of his monitor.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s, that¡¯s impossible!¡¯</em>

    Just like what he said in the meeting room, Park Yi-Hyeon was very confident that gaining MVP cash was a very difficult feat. After all, he was the one that nned the event. But now, yer Minhyuk had acquired more than 20,000 cash in one go.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s, it¡¯s just mere luck. That¡¯s impossible¡­¡¯</em>

    Yi-Hyeon shook his head. But then, he suddenly remembered the conversation that he had with Team Leader Park Minggyu before he left the meeting room.

    <em>¡®Team Leader Park Yi-Hyeon, you¡¯re still new so you might not know this yet but the yers in Athenae cannot be determined through mere calctions.¡¯</em>

    Park Yi-Hyeon was a realist through and through. That was why he denied the words that Park Minggyu told him.

    <em>¡®Right, it¡¯s just a coincidence. This is the only time.¡¯</em>

    But Yi-Hyeon suddenly felt uneasy.

    <em>¡®But if he can truly earn 200,000 cash then¡­¡¯</em>

    Just the thought alone was enough to make Yi-Hyeon dizzy. He closed his eyes and mumbled unknowingly, ¡°He will be able to receive a far better reward than the god-rank artifact that Alexander received.

    ***

    Additional notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears after he told the new guild members that this was the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, the ce where they would be a part of.

    <em>[The confidence and trust of the new guild members in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom have increased significantly.]</em>

    <em>[You have won all of the hearts of your new guild members in a short amount of time.]</em>

    <em>[You have earned 5,000 cash.]</em>

    Minhyuk earned additional cash.

    <em>¡®I need to put in some more effort to earn more cash.¡¯</em>

    Of course, everything that happened earlier was also a ploy to get more cash. However, Minhyuk did not help them earlier because he truly wanted the new guild members to realize some things.

    And the way that Minhyuk chose to gain cash?

    Well, there were actually many ways to earn cash. One was like before, where his men had to take care of a difficult opponent. Or when the people present here showed admiration toward him as a king. He could also earn cash if he showed his majesty and dignity as a king. There were many ways. In fact, there were methods that would only be revealed during an appropriate moment.

    But what was the easiest way among all of these methods?

    Minhyuk stood in front of Orleed, the new guild member that had been most active in all the battles so far, and said, ¡°Orleed, I will give you a reward for getting the highest contribution.¡±

    Amotion broke out among the new guild members after hearing Minhyuk¡¯s words. What kind of reward was it?

    ¡°I¡¯ll cook a dish for you. If there¡¯s something you want to eat, then do tell me.¡±

    Orleed was a spy sent by Richard, the one that would be the newly crowned king. So, why was he feeling excited when he heard that Minhyuk would cook for him?

    <em>¡®I still haven¡¯t rid myself of the lingering emotions from earlier. But the only liege that I will serve is you, Your Majesty, Richard!!!¡¯</em>

    Orleed once again made a vow silently, as if he wanted to show off his firm will. The only person that he would serve was Richard, and Richard alone!!!

    ¡°What dish would you like to taste?¡±

    ¡°I have always been curious about the taste of Korea¡¯s braised spicy chicken.¡±

    Orleed was American. His friends had always told him that he should try a taste of the braised spicy chicken if he ever went to visit Korea! Minhyuk smiled kindly at him as he started cooking.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s a king but he¡¯s going to cook for guild members like us?¡±

    During the process, Minhyuk was able to gain the admiration of his new guild members. After all, Minhyuk was a very important and valuable figure but here he was, cooking for his guild members.

    <em>[You have earned 131 cash.]</em>

    <em>[You have earned 111 cash.]</em>

    <em>[¡­earned 104 cash.]</em>

    Of course, the cash notifications rang ordingly.

    When the braised spicy chicken was finished, Orleed thought, <em>¡®The Food God¡¯s dishes are amazing but the only person that I will serve is you, Your Majesty Richard!!!¡¯</em>

    He kept on chanting his own promise as if he was showing that his will would never break nor falter. Then, he took a bite of the braised spicy chicken.

    ***

    Richard was the one that would soon be crowned as the new king. He had been working actively as an unofficial yer so far, but there were quite a lot of people that knew him. He also had a lot of rankers by his side. There were also rumors that his forces were on par with the forces of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. This was a fact. No, perhaps they were well on their way to bing the better kingdom.

    Richard finally reached the end of his quest. The red crown that the Absolute Monarch, the same monarch that plunged the continents into despair, slowlynded on Richard¡¯s head. Then, a world message rang in everyone¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You will be a king that can fight against the Battle God!]</em>

    <em>[Your legendary ss: Monarch has changed to a god ss!]</em>

    <em>[The second Absolute God ss has appeared in the world!]</em>

    <em>[Your ss name is ¡®Absolute Monarch¡¯!]</em>

    <em>[All of your skills and stats will change ordingly!]</em>

    Richard felt a thrill run down his spine after knowing that he was the second Absolute God ss to appear in the world. All of this was because he became the Absolute Monarch.

    <em>¡®Everything is going smoothly.¡¯</em>

    Richard smirked. At that moment, he remembered Orleed. Orleed did not have much time to y games so his level was not that high. However, he had been Richard¡¯srade in Athenae for a very long time. Orleed willingly became a spy and entered the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom for him. With his help, Richard would be able to dig up Beyond the Heavens¡¯ weaknesses, break them apart and make a splendid debut.

    So, he sent a whisper to Orleed, believing that the man would be very pleased that he contacted him.

    <em>[The other party has blocked you.]</em>

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    Richard tried again, wondering if there was an error in the system.

    <em>[The other party has blocked you.]</em>

    <em>[The other party has blocked you.]</em>

    <em>[¡­has blocked you.]</em>

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    Rumor had it that the block was never lifted since that day.

 Chapter 586: A True Comrade

    Chapter 586: A True Comrade

    Orleed lifted a piece of the glistening red chicken leg to his mouth and took a huge bite out of it. The chewy texture of the meat, as well as the harmonious sweet, spicy vor wrapped around his tongue the moment he took a bite.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s, it¡¯s spicy¡­ but it¡¯s delicious¡­¡¯</em>

    For Orleed, a dish like braised spicy chicken was truly on the spicy side. However, it tasted so divine that he could not stop himself from eating.

    All of the new guild members stared at Orleed. Their king, Minhyuk, used his ¡®Joy of Eating Together¡¯ skill and ate a te of braised spicy chicken by himself while sitting in front of Orleed. However, the new guild members were all focused on Orleed.

    ¡°How does it taste?¡±

    ¡°Is, is it spicy?¡±

    ¡°Just say something Orleed. Please.¡±

    But Orleed did not answer them. He had lost his voice in front of the braised spicy chicken. All he did was look at Minhyuk, who was sitting in front of him, and follow what he was doing. Orleed scooped a mouthful of warm white rice and thought, <em>¡®Korean-grown rice is more glossy and more vorful than any other rice.¡¯</em>

    Orleed continued to copy what Minhyuk did, getting some of the well-seasoned potatoes and sprinkling some of the braised spicy chicken¡¯s red sauce on it, then mashing it well before adding it to his rice and cing everything in his mouth.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Orleed felt like tears were about to flow out of his eyes.

    <em>¡®So, Korean food is this delicious?¡¯</em>

    However, Orleed shook his head not long after. He thought that it must be delicious because His Majesty personally made it for him.

    <em>¡®I think I will be able to live happily for the rest of my life after eating something delicious like this just once.¡¯</em>

    What could bring happiness in one¡¯s life? Wasn¡¯t it eating delicious food like this? Would there be something else that would make him happy and delighted like this? Orleed scraped up the rest of the braised spicy chicken with a huge smile on his face. Then¡­

    <em>[You ate a dish from a recipe specially made for you.]</em>

    <em>[You won¡¯t be able to eat another dish from a recipe specially made for you for a month.]</em>

    <em>[You can¡¯t receive any duplicate buffs during the duration of the buff retention period.]</em>

    <em>[Braised Spicy Chicken.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will increase by 17%, your Affor Swordsmanship¡¯s skill level will increase by +1 for 22 days.]</em>

    <em>[You will have an additional 22% increase in your EXP acquisition rate for 22 days.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Orleed was left speechless. Truth was, he also thought that Food God Minhyuk¡¯s dishes were over exaggerated by the people that tasted it. After all, how could someone be 1.3x stronger just by eating something? Based onmon sense, that was something that waspletely impossible. If it was really that much, then a yer with a normal rank artifact would be able to exert the same power as a yer with a legendary rank artifact.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s actually true?¡¯</em>

    Orleed thought that it was crazy. It was jaw-droppingly OP. The food not only tasted delicious, it also had excellent buff effects. Then, Orleed saw Minhyuk, with a soft smile on his face after finishing his own dish. For some reason, he thought he saw a halo shining brightly behind the man.

    As for why Orleed thought that buffed dishes were overpowered? A single dish like this could give anyone an opportunity to hunt opponents that they could not originally hunt on their own.

    <em>¡®With this, it will be possible for a Level 300 yer to hunt a Level 330 boss monster all by themselves.¡¯</em>

    For yers, hunting monsters that were lower in level than them would give them lower EXP. As for monsters with a higher level than them? Of course it would give them tremendous EXP and high rewards. But what if they were able to eat Minhyuk¡¯s dishes?

    <em>¡®I will be able to hunt boss monsters that I couldn¡¯t reach before. This is far more surprising than getting a better artifact.¡¯</em>

    After all, artifacts were limited by the yers¡¯ slots. Earrings, nes, gloves, boots, armor, helmets and even weapons. If these were excluded, then the only way a yer could strengthen themselves was through their stats. And one of the ways for them to raise their stats tremendously was¡­

    <em>¡®The Food God¡¯s dishes.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk approached Orleed and said, ¡°I hope you¡¯ll continue to work hard, Orleed.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    It shocked Orleed, ¡°You, you know my name?¡±

    He was surprised because he knew that a king was the monarch of thousands, tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of people. That was why in most cases, people like them would not remember or even know the names of their subjects. This was the case with Richard. Richard did not know the names of his men except for his key executives and the people that had been with him for the longest time possible. And in Athenae, it was impossible for someone to confirm their nickname because it did not appear above the yers¡¯ heads.

    In response to Orleed¡¯s question, Minhyuk answered casually, ¡°Of course. It¡¯s not just you. That friend over there is called William, he specializes in the bow. That one over there is Rolles, he¡¯s good with the spear. Over there is¡­¡±

    Minhyuk named the new guild members one after the other. That was when Orleed realized that Minhyuk took the time to memorize their names before they went on this expedition. It might seem small but it was a form of consideration for them. A way to show that he cared for them.

    <em>¡®A king like him is going to such an extent like this¡­¡¯</em>

    Orleed was both in awe and admiration of Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®This is¡­ the king that I should truly serve¡­¡¯</em>

    Orleed knew that he would not be afraid of anything if he was with a king like Minhyuk.

    ¡°Thank you, Your Majesty.¡±

    ¡°¡­Alright,¡± Minhyuk answered, thinking that Orleed was thankful because he cooked for him.

    However, it was for apletely different matter. Orleed thanked him for bing his ¡®new king¡¯. He had sneaked into the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom as a spy but he found a new king to serve wholeheartedly.

    <em>[Would you like to block Richard?]</em>

    <em>¡®Yes.¡¯</em>

    <em>[You have blocked Richard.]</em>

    Orleed looked at Minhyuk as he climbed on top of his white horse.

    <em>¡®My loyalty will remain with you forever.¡¯</em>

    At the same time, a notification rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You have gained Orleed¡¯s loyalty.]</em>

    <em>[You have earned 2,000 cash.]</em>

    ***

    Time attack dungeons were dungeons that could be repeatedly challenged and broken through. It was a dungeon where one had to clear it either in a set time, or a shorter time and break a record. Time attack dungeons had appeared as events in Athenae for a long time now. The way they held the event was simple, the one that cleared the dungeon the fastest would be the event¡¯s winner.

    Back when the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was still Legend Guild, they were able to gain fame with Minhyuk¡¯s help by beating America in a time attack dungeon. And now, time attack dungeons, a challenge loved by many, had appeared one after the other in the Stars¡¯ Path.

    Time attack dungeons were dungeons that fit the level of the yers. It also had a system where yers of all levels couldpete equally. Because of that yers at around Level 50~100, Level 100, Level 200, Level 300 could participate. As for those at Level 400~500, there were many events and contents that they could participate in so they were excluded in the time attack dungeons this time.

    And now, the name Maserrati was dominating all of the time attack dungeons in the Stars¡¯ Path.

    <em>[Mncholic Undead¡¯s Dungeon. <strong>1st</strong>: Maserrati Guild. 15 minutes 11 seconds.]</em>

    <em>[Lich¡¯s Refuge. <strong>1st</strong>: Maserrati Guild. 13 minutes 40 seconds.]</em>

    <em>[Abyss¡¯ Dungeon. <strong>1st</strong>: Maserrati Guild. 15 minutes 59 seconds.]</em>

    Of course, the level of the time attack dungeons were varying, which made it more surprising. On top of that, those that participated in the Stars¡¯ Path¡¯s time attack dungeons and failed would not be allowed to participate again. Because of that, the consequences of their actions became greater, which made the entire world focus more on this matter.

    <em>[What kind of guild is the Maserrati Guild?]</em>

    <em>[Wow¡­ They broke the records of America and Japan in the time attack dungeons and took control of all of them.]</em>

    <em>[The American and Japanese yers are struggling to regain first ce but they can¡¯t do anything because the record is too out of this world.]</em>

    <em>[The name ¡®Maserrati Guild¡¯ has been ced on almost 40% of all the time attack dungeons in the Stars¡¯ Path.]</em>

    <em>[Are they a new powerhouse?]</em>

    <em>[Maserrati. From what I heard the one leading the guild is Richard, the person that recently obtained the Absolute God ss.]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s right. It¡¯s the guild led by Richard. It¡¯s well-known among my peers.]</em>

    Anyone, as long as they were not stupid, would know who Richard was. He was the person that changed his ss into the Absolute Monarch, the Absolute God ss. They could also tell his intentions through this. He was informing the world that he and his guild would start engaging in full-fledged external activities. This act would also increase the attention and curiosity of people toward Maserrati Guild, and would allow them to increase their guild¡¯s size tremendously.

    At the same time¡­

    ¡°Actually, Richard already has enough military forces and arge enough territory to build a kingdom of his own and ascend to the throne. However, he¡¯s saving the opportunity to make a splendid debut. If he can make a jaw-dropping debut, then he will be able to attract more talents,¡± Orleed reported to Minhyuk.

    Orleed had immediately changed sides and supported Minhyuk. Minhyuk was not too surprised to know that Orleed was a spy. This was because he was already assuming that someone had nted a spy in their midst.

    <em>¡®Even if we get their personal information, those that want to hide what they want to hide will still be able to conceal things from us.¡¯</em>

    However, this also gave them a cause, a justification of sorts.

    Since the Beyond the Heavens was the kingdom that was built the fastest, countless people were targeting them. Besides, if they were able to devour Beyond the Heavens, then they would be able to gain greater wealth and honor. But the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom did not have any cause and justification to attack them first.

    If they did that without any cause, the entire world would say, <em>¡®The Beyond the Heavens is no different from a PK guild.¡¯</em>

    It was truly a strange thing. The one that challenged them would not be criticized but if Beyond the Heavens, a kingdom that had already climbed at a higher ce, tried to deal with their enemies, the people would point fingers at them and tell them that they were just ughtering innocents.

    But now, Beyond the Heavens was given a very good reason. The enemy had nted a spy in their country. This single justification was more than enough.

    ¡°What kind of person is Richard?¡±

    ¡°¡­I don¡¯t dare to say anything recklessly. The one that climbed and became the Absolute Monarch. That¡¯s who Richard is.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk groaned lightly. Another Absolute God ss had appeared in the world. Minhyuk had personally experienced the power of an Absolute God ss in the form of Lu Bai, the ¡®Savior¡¯. Lu Bai had shown tremendous power that no ordinary yer could keep up with. In fact, the scene where Lu Bai used his ¡®Judgment¡¯ skill and melted nearly 40,000 of the members of a PK guild in an instant was still fresh and vivid in Minhyuk¡¯s mind.

    ¡°Richard¡¯s ss was originally Swordsman, and not Monarch.¡±

    ¡°He was a Swordsman?¡±

    ¡°Yes. He originally had the Swordsman ss. However, he had an amazing talent for attracting people to his side. He used this talent to gather and create a strong army and started taking control of a territory. Because of that, he was able to gain the ¡®Monarch¡¯ ss as his sub-ss. It has now changed into the Absolute Monarch, an Absolute God ss.¡±

    ¡°How was Richard able to nurture a strong army filled with great talents?¡±

    ¡°Richard is a former colonel in the United States¡¯ Special Forces. He knows a few tricks in raising and training people. On top of that, the Monarch ss that he received works incredibly well when nurturing soldiers. Just by being a part of his own territory and kingdom, they would be able to grow stronger several times faster than others. That¡¯s why there are a lot of strong people gathered around him.¡±

    The fact that being Richard¡¯s subordinate alone would make them grow stronger was something that Minhyuk found to be grave.

    ¡°What¡¯s the difference between their forces and the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ forces?¡±

    ¡°¡­I can¡¯t guarantee who will win.¡±

    Orleed used to be one of Richard¡¯s trusted aides, so his words were close to, if not the truth.

    ¡°Actually, me saying that there¡¯s no guarantee on who will win is based on what I know and the info from a few days ago. He became the Absolute God ss, Absolute Monarch recently. I can tell with great certainty that it would not be possible for them to dominate the time attack dungeons like they do now if Richard still had the power that he had before, even if he could nurture soldiers well. After all, these time attack dungeons are being challenged by powerhouses from all over the world. But they made it possible now.¡±

    ¡°Can you figure out how they made it possible?¡± Minhyuk asked, but he shook his head not long after. There was no way for Orleed to know about it, right? But then¡­

    ¡°Can you please wait for a moment?¡±

    ¡­Orleed began to send whispers to the yers that he was close with in the Maserrati Guild.

    <em>[<strong>Orleed</strong>: Connector?]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Connector</strong>: Hi. Ah, Orleed, GM is looking¡­]</em>

    ¡°Block.¡±

    <em>[You have blocked Connector.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Orleed</strong>: Rucko?]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Rucko</strong>: Orleed! GM is¡­!]</em>

    ¡°Block.¡±

    <em>[You have blocked Rucko.]</em>

    ¡°Block.¡±

    ¡°Block.¡±

    ¡°Block.¡±

    ¡°Block.¡±

    Orleed continued to block people.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk could only stare nkly at Orleed. Then, finally¡­

    <em>[<strong>Orleed</strong>: Gaide?]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Gaide</strong>: Hi, Orleed. What¡¯s up?]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Orleed</strong>: I was just shocked to see how our Maserrati Guild has taken control over all of the time attack dungeons. As expected of GM, huh? Do you know what kind of power Richard gained from bing an Absolute God ss, Absolute Monarch, to make this possible?]</em>

    Orleed thought that there were quite a lot of people that would know about this in the Maserrati Guild. After all, it would be stranger for them not to know, since the guild had already taken over all of the time attack dungeons.

    After gathering information, Orleed reported, ¡°Richard has gained the power ¡®Absolute Monarch¡¯s Stigma¡¯, the person that will receive this stigma will gain 20% more power. Of course, the skill can¡¯t be used indiscriminately.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Oh¡­ R, right.¡±

    Minhyuk, who watched Orleed block people more than thirty times in a row, thought, <em>¡®Is he going to block me too?¡¯</em>

    However, the thing that he was worried about would never happen. Orleed could only do this because he had seen how Minhyuk was a better king than Richard. Besides, he had already sworn his allegiance to Minhyuk. And Orleed was someone that would strive to remain loyal to the person that he swore his allegiance to, trusting them from the bottom of his heart and following them to the end of the world. At the very least, Orleed would not turn his back on Minhyuk. Well, unless he could find someone that would walk a more reliable, stable and greater path than Minhyuk. That was the reason why Orleed would do all this.

    As for the person that Orleed got the information from¡­

    ¡°Block.¡±

    <em>[You have blocked Gaide.]</em>

    <em>¡®Orleed would be known in the future as the professional blocker.¡¯ </em>

    This thought shed in Minhyuk¡¯s head as he said, ¡°Then, all we have to do is take over the first ce in all of the time attack dungeons.¡±

 Chapter 587: A True Comrade

    Chapter 587: A True Comrade

    The appearance of the Maserrati Guild was obviously a threat to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Through Orleed, Minhyuk discovered that the ¡®Absolute Monarch¡¯ was an Absolute God ss that appeared to counter Nerva Sephiroth.

    Considering the fact that Nerva Sephiroth would take control of all of the continents in the future, then there would be many people that woulde to knock on the doors of the Maserrati Guild. If that happened, then the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s position would naturally decrease. That was why Minhyuk had judged that it was necessary for them to take over the rankings of the time attack dungeons.

    ¡°We¡¯re going to take over the rankings?¡±

    Orleed could not understand what Minhyuk meant. There were no time attack dungeons avable for Level 400~500 yers. Because of that, no executives from Beyond the Heavens could go and clear the time attack dungeons.

    ¡°Who¡¯s going to take over the rankings?¡±

    At Orleed¡¯s question, Minhyuk looked at the new guild members and said, ¡°Of course, it¡¯s you guys.¡±

    ¡°¡­Yes?¡±

    ¡°Us?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The new guild members looked at Minhyuk in shock. They were the ones that were going to take over the rankings of the time attack dungeon and snatch it from Maserrati Guild? The new guild members were obviously stronger than yers at the same level as them. However,pared to the monsters that swept the top spots in the world? They were mere rookies.

    ¡°No way¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes. Exactly.¡±

    Minhyuk chuckled. Orleed spoke up as if he remembered something, ¡°You want us to clear those time attack dungeons with buffed dishes?¡±

    ¡°Dishes?¡±

    ¡°No matter how amazing those dishes are¡­ Is that even possible?¡±

    <em>Murmur, murmur¡ª</em>

    Amotion broke out among the new guild members.

    From what Orleed said, those that had received the Absolute Monarch¡¯s Stigma were the ones that were dominating the top spot in the time attack dungeons. So, what did that mean? It meant that all of the currently active time attack dungeons allowed ¡®buffs¡¯ inside.

    If that was the case, all Minhyuk needed to do was to fight a buff with a buff. The effects of Absolute Monarch Richard¡¯s ¡®stigma¡¯ was OP, even though they did not know the exact penalty for it.

    <em>¡®However, my dishes are also like a cheat.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had already nned to cook for the new guild members to build favor and good feelings with them so he could earn ¡®cash¡¯. But doing that for the dungeons seemed like it would give him a better effect. Also¡­

    <em>¡®For the time attack dungeon, one Star Coin will be given to the challenger if they achieved a certain record. Furthermore, once the time attack dungeon event ends and they maintain the top spot, all of the dungeon participants that took the spot would be given five Star Coins and a dungeon master ring.¡¯</em>

    One coin was worth 25 tinum. A reward of five coins meant that they would gain 125 tinum. And there was also the dungeon master ring. From what Minhyuk heard, it was an event ring that had legendary effects tailored to the level of the item user. All of the Star Coins that they would gain in this venture would be given to Minhyuk while the dungeon master ring would remain in their possession.

    How would it be considered unfair?

    ¡°We, we¡¯ll stand at the center of the world¡¯s attention¡­?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll get the title of¡­ getting the time attack dungeon¡¯s first ce¡­?¡±

    ¡°Woaaaaah¡­¡±

    Based on the new guild members¡¯ reactions, they obviously did not think so. After all, Minhyuk was someone that could make the impossible possible. Besides, they had to use Minhyuk¡¯s buffed dishes to achieve this. The words that could perfectly fit their situation was, <em>¡®What¡¯s good for the goose is good for the gander.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®And in the process, I will be able to gain an astronomical amount of cash. After all, they will definitely feel grateful to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk grinned as he looked around the new guild members and said, ¡°All of the new guild members will participate in the time attack dungeon from now on. Make sure to create groups of four. And when youe back¡­¡±

    He threw his trailer on the ground, the trailer immediately growing in size.

    <em>Rumbleeeeee¡ª</em>

    <em>Fweeeeeeeeeeeet¡ª</em>

    The cooking trailer that was specialized in making bulk dishes started to operate in the middle of the Stars¡¯ Path. The zing mes of the eternal mes burst out from the stove as white smoke billowed from the chimney.

    ¡°¡­the best banquet will be waiting for you.¡±

    ***

    The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s new guild members, including Reese, were divided into groups of four and were currently headed straight toward the time attack dungeons. Reese was one of the executives of Minhyuk¡¯s fan cafe: ¡®Eat ¡®til We Die¡¯.

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll be eating with Minhyuk?¡¯</em>

    Just the thought alone brought excitement to Reese. At the same time, the new guild members, including Reese, were gued with concerns.

    ¡°Can we really do it?¡±

    ¡°In a way, you can say that they¡¯re the world¡¯s number one¡­¡±

    That was right. The members of Maserrati Guild could be said to be the ones on top of the world since they ranked the first in the time attack dungeons. Guilds from America, Japan, China, and many more countries were struggling to take over the number one spot in these time attack dungeons. However, the gap with the current number one was too wide that they could not do anything against it.

    ¡°We have no other choice but to trust His Majesty,¡± Reese said, his expression that of unswerving faith and trust. Inwardly, he was still concerned. The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom against a newly established nation. As new guild members, would they really be able to do something like that with just their power?

    Before they knew it, they had already arrived at the time attack dungeon, the ¡®Abyss¡¯ Dungeon¡¯. They chose this dungeon because Reese and the rest of his four-member group were yers in the Level 300 range. From what they heard, the Abyss¡¯ Dungeon was a time attack dungeon that had monsters simr to the monsters living deep in the sea or ancient monsters that had degenerated.

    The entrance to the time attack dungeon was crowded with people. However, the faces of those that have just challenged it were ugly and distorted. Reese and the rest of his group looked at the record of the time attack dungeon¡¯s top ranker.

    <em>[Abyss¡¯ Dungeon. <strong>1st ce. </strong>Maserrati Guild. 15 minutes 59 seconds.]</em>

    <em>[Abyss¡¯ Dungeon. <strong>2nd ce</strong>. Albertine Guild. 24 minutes 31 seconds.]</em>

    Reese and his group were all shocked.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s an entire 10 minute difference between first and second ce?!¡¯</em>

    Usually, in time attack dungeons, the time difference between first and second ces was around ten seconds. It was already considered a lot to have a 30 seconds time difference between the two ces. This gap just went to show how superior the Maserrati Guild was.

    Right in front of the dungeon stood people wearing armor and robes with the symbol of a trident on it. One of them said, ¡°Are you trying to challenge this dungeon? Don¡¯t waste your time. Just go back.¡±

    Reese and the others could immediately tell that they were the members of the Maserrati Guild.

    ¡°The country that just tried earlier was America. As you can see, they¡¯re still ten minutes apart from us. I don¡¯t know where you¡¯re from but you better give up and book it. Don¡¯t bother wasting your time here. Hahahaha!!!¡±

    ¡°Hey, hey. Don¡¯t be like that, let them try.¡±

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t they have a 20 minute time difference with us?¡±

    These people had been intoxicated by the ¡®Absolute Monarch¡¯s Stigma¡¯ that had increased their power by 20%. They had even mistaken themselves to be someone that had reached the skies.

    ¡°Now, now. Turn around and go back.¡±

    Reese, who was an introvert and rarely talked with his party members, blinked at them and said, ¡°But why are you talking informally to me? Are we friends?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m from the Beyond the Heavens, you m*therf*cking bastards.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk had told them these before they went out, <em>¡®Keep in mind that you¡¯re the face of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. If anyone dares to ignore you and mock you, return it to them full hand. I will take full responsibility over your actions.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was a great and cool king like that.

    Everyone looked at them in confusion.

    ¡°You¡­ this f*cking bastard¡­!¡±

    ¡°Just let him try.¡±

    ¡°Ridiculous.¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t believe there¡¯s someone this foolish in Beyond the Heavens.¡±

    The Maserrati Guild members mocked them. They looked like they would not deal with the f*ckers in front of them. Reese and his group passed by them and entered the dungeon.

    <em>[You have entered the Abyss¡¯ Dungeon.]</em>

    <em>[The Abyss¡¯ Dungeon is a Time Attack Dungeon.]</em>

    <em>[If you don¡¯t finish the Abyss¡¯ Dungeon within 30 minutes, you will be automatically evicted from the dungeon. Your challenge would be considered a failure.]</em>

    <em>[The current <strong>1st ce</strong> is the Maserrati Guild with the record of 15 minutes and 59 seconds.]</em>

    <em>[Each person can only attack the time attack dungeon thrice.]</em>

    ¡°But Reese¡­ it would be very embarrassing if our record has a huge difference from them¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Reese did not think of that. For him, it was alright to bear the ¡®shame¡¯ and carry it himself. However, he had used the name of ¡®Beyond the Heavens¡¯. That was what he was worried about.

    ¡°All we can do is do our best to clear the dungeon.¡±

    In fact, their first try was meant to be a trial, an experiment of some sorts. How long would it take them to clear the dungeon with their own power? Reese and his group had no time to lose. They could not waste even a single second here and began to run as fast as they could.

    This was the third day since the time attack dungeons had opened. Attack information? Not much was known. Why? The entire world waspeting over these time attack dungeons. They were not sharing information mostly because they wanted to maintain their ranking.

    A gigantic catfish suddenly appeared in front of the running group. It wasrge, seemingly exceeding 15 meters in length alone. The group assumed that this was an ancient monster that had degenerated over time.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Reese was the first to jump and drew blood from the gigantic catfish.

    <em>¡®I didn¡¯t strike it well.¡¯</em>

    He was able to inflict a wound but it was not deep enough to be called fatal. This meant that the catfish¡¯s defense was very high.

    ¡°Lightning.¡±

    <em>Crackle, crackle, crackle, crackle¡ª</em>

    The mage yer released a powerful magical attack that devoured the catfish. Despite trembling from the shock of the attack, the catfish was still able to charge toward them.

    ¡°Tanker!¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The tanker immediately stepped forward, raising his round shield and increasing its size to block the charging monster. The catfish opened its mouth to reveal gruesome and sharp teeth.

    <em>aaaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    Reese took the opportunity to attack its open mouth with his sword and rip them apart.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    It was a good start. It was not that difficult to tear the mouth of the catfish, which was a part that had a significantly lower defense than the rest of its body, causing it tremendous pain and making it struggle profusely. After that, the hunt was easy.

    The group immediately moved past the catfish and went to the second section. This time, hundreds of undead mermaids and merknights were swimming in the air and getting ready to charge at them.

    <em>¡®The second section deals with arge number of monsters.¡¯</em>

    The tanker immediately blocked the monsters¡¯ charge, effectively pulling all the aggro while the mage cast an AOE attack magic.

    ¡°Fire Field.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    A burst of zing mes rose from the ground and stopped the mindless charge of the mob. Reese immediately dug into their gaps and went on a rampage with his sword.

    <em>¡®What a breath-taking scene.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®As expected of yers above yers.¡¯</em>

    Since most of the new guild members were stronger than their peers at the same level, they boasted excellent control.

    Finally, thest section.

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    A deafening roar resounded and broke down the walls of the Abyss¡¯ Dungeon. Everyone turned tense at the sound. Then, a figure resembling that of a dragon suddenly fell down from the stctites above them. To be exact¡­

    <em>[Ancient Imoogi[1]]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Imoogis could basically be described as undeveloped dragons. However, it was very clear to them that this boss mob was very strong.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    A mind-searing pain tormented them as the Breath that the imoogi shot at them mmed into their bodies.

    ¡°Tanker!!!¡±

    ¡°Haaaa!!!¡±

    The tanker had stepped forward but it still looked like he was having a hard time. Reese, with his sword, flew up and stabbed the imoogi on its forehead. However, the attack did not go through.

    <em>¡®What the hell?! What kind of defense is this¡­?!¡¯</em>

    It was on apletely different level from the catfish from before. Reese and his group struggled fiercely against the imoogi. The reason for their struggle was mainly because of the imugi¡¯s high defense and its considerable damage. Of course, it was still at a level that they could hunt it. However, the problem was that this dungeon was a ¡®time attack dungeon¡¯.

    <em>¡®We need to find a way for us to hunt faster!¡¯</em>

    But in the end, Reese and his group could not find a way. All they could do was attack the imoogi as a group and nibble away at its tremendous defense until it fell down. And their record¡­

    <em>[Abyss¡¯ Dungeon.]</em>

    <em>[You have cleared the time attack dungeon.]</em>

    <em>[Your record is 25 minutes 49 seconds.]</em>

    <em>[You¡¯re currently at <strong>71st ce</strong>.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The faces of Reese and his group turned ugly.

    ***

    The four people that cleared the Abyss¡¯ Dungeon in the first ce could not help but guffaw when they saw the people that imed to be from the ¡®Beyond the Heavens¡¯ rank at the 71st ce. Theyughed even harder when they saw theming out of the dungeon.

    ¡°Wahahahahahahahaha!¡±

    ¡°Kahahahahahahahahahaha!¡±

    ¡°Bwahahahahahahahahaha!¡±

    ¡°Hey, foolish bastards, where are you going, huh?!¡±

    ¡°As expected! The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is truly insignificant whenpared to our guild!!!¡±

    The energetic people from Beyond the Heavens left dispiritedly, their heads bowed down. The members of Maserrati Guild were very pleased.

    Richard was able to give the Absolute Monarch¡¯s Stigma to around 20 people per day. He could also give it to around 100 people with a 1% reduction in all stats. Richard deliberately gave the stigma to all of the members of Maserrati Guild that would challenge the time attack dungeon, despite the 1% stat reduction penalty.

    Having received the stigma, the members of Maserrati Guild felt like they were the ¡®greatest¡¯. This just went to show how amazing the ability of Absolute Monarch Richard was. There were even mentions of ¡®Is this the end of Beyond the Heavens¡¯ era?¡¯ in somemunity sites. It seemed like this was now the era of the Maserrati Guild, no, Maserrati Kingdom.

    But only an hourter, the four members of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom that had left with drooping heads came back. For some reason, a strange sense of confidence was oozing from their bodies.

    ¡°What the hell, those f*ckers again?¡±

    ¡°Do you think things will change if you try again?¡±

    The members of Maserrati Guildughed and mocked them as if they were morons. But not long after then entered¡­

    <em>[Abyss¡¯ Dungeon]</em>

    <em>[The Time Attack Dungeon¡¯s records have been refreshed!]</em>

    <em>[Abyss¡¯ Dungeon. <strong>1st ce.</strong> Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. 13 minutes and 30 seconds.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The members of Maserrati Guild could not believe their eyes. The four people that entered earlier were obviously ten minutes behind them but they were able to get first ce just like that? But what was more shocking was¡­

    <em>¡®We have received the Absolute Monarch¡¯s Stigma¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®They¡¯re around the same level as us too.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®What the hell?!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡­</em>the fact that Maserrati Guild lost the 1st ce to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. This was their biggest problem.

    Then, the four people came out with proud looks on their faces. At the same time, the Maserrati Guild¡¯s chat window began to explode.

    <em>[<strong>Guild Chat | Arvan</strong>: Our record in Aultina¡¯s Dungeon has been broken!!!]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Guild Chat | Forno</strong>: Our record in the Temple of Babel Thiernon has been broken!!!]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Guild Chat | </strong><strong>Bavon</strong>: The new record that we have just set has been broken!!!]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The members of Maserrati Guild were appalled. Then, the yer, Reese, who asked them earlier why they were speaking informally to him approached them.

    The person that Reese admired most next to Minhyuk was none other than Ali. That was because he was also an otaku and aspired to be an otaku that followed in Ali¡¯s footsteps.

    Reese raised his head sharply and looked down at the members of the Maserrati Guild, with a proud look on his face. Then, he spat out a line that he had seen from an animation, ¡°Don¡¯t ever look down on Beyond the Heavens again.[2]¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    1. ???- ording to Korean folklore, imoogis are serpent-like creatures that could be a full-fledged and true dragon. They could be considered as lesser dragons. ?

    2. ¡°??? ~~~ ???? ??.¡± is a line that¡¯s been mentioned in ¡¶? ??¡· by Shinwa¡¯s Andy. It¡¯s a line that parodied/paid homage to the lines that Hugh Grant said in Love Actually and has been used ever since to refer to sarcastic patriotism and nationalism. It has also been parodied in a lot of shows. ?

 Chapter 588: Lady of the Snakes, Leona

    Chapter 588: Lady of the Snakes, Leona

    After summoning the trailer, Minhyuk was left to ponder on what dish he should make. The fact that this dish would not be easy to make crossed his mind.

    <em>¡®I don¡¯t know the exact details about the Absolute Monarch¡¯s Stigma but I do know that it can raise someone¡¯s power by 20%.¡¯</em>

    On top of that, the troops that Absolute Monarch Richard had nurtured werepletely different from the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ new guild members. The new guild members were stronger in terms of control among yers of the same level and simr stats. As for the members of Maserrati Guild led by the ¡®Monarch¡¯ ss Richard, they probably grew stronger by umting additional stats. The difference was probably further amplified after they grew 20% stronger.

    Of course, there had been cases where Minhyuk¡¯s dishes could also allow those who ate them to have an increase of 20% in their stats. However, it was not really something that he could achieve easily.

    <em>¡®Furthermore, I have to make bulk dishes.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk could not really cook each and every single one of the new guild members'' dishes tailored for them since there were too many dungeons that the Maserrati Guild had taken over. So, he judged that they would only have a chance of winning if he could make bulk dishes with a buff effect that could increase 20% of all of the yers¡¯ stats.

    Then, Minhyuk immediately thought of the MVP Shop¡¯s slot. The only way for him to unlock the next slot in the MVP Shop was to collect a certain amount of cash. There were also special slots that could only be opened by purchasing it with ¡®cash¡¯. These special slots were none other than ¡®ss specific slots¡¯. Of course, this was most likely a slot for the ¡®Food God¡¯ ss.

    The problem was that it needed 5,000 cash before it could be unlocked. A considerable amount of cash would be consumed just by simply opening a slot? It was definitely an issue. Still, Minhyuk unlocked the slot, thinking that he would be able to get good ingredients.

    <em>[Would you like to use 5,000 cash to open the ss Specific Slot?]</em>

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    <em>[You have opened the Food God ss Slot.]</em>

    Minhyuk had seen before that there were a lot of cooking ingredients that could increase stats permanently in the MVP Shop. However, he had to pay a very high price of 50,000 cash for each of them. They were so expensive that it was impossible for Minhyuk to buy just one of them, even if hebined all of the cash that he had earned so far.

    <em>¡®It would be a lot cheaper if they had ingredients that only had buff effects.¡¯</em>

    The value of an ingredient would be significantly different depending on what kind of effect it could give, whether it could only give buffs or permanent effects. Although ingredients with buffs could provide a better advantage immediately, the fact that it could only be used for a short period of time and could not remain permanently drastically reduced its pros, hence its worth decreased. If there were ingredients like that, then there was a chance that it was within Minhyuk¡¯s eptable price range.

    <em>¡®There is¡­!¡¯ </em>Minhyuk thought as he saw ingredients with only buff effects in the ss specific slot in the shop.

    <em>[Chicken with the Blood of a Water Dragon, buff effect ingredient. 35,000 cash. Quantity: 1,000.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    However, Minhyuk¡¯s face turned ugly. Minhyuk had to feed 500 new guild members. The amount of Chicken with the Blood of a Water Dragon avable was 1,000, which perfectly suited the number that he had to feed. The problem was that Minhyuk only had around 22,000 cash left. In other words, his cash was far from enough.

    <em>¡®The effects are good too.¡¯</em>

    The effects of the ingredient were obviously outstanding. It could unconditionally raise all stats by 10% or more and also increase one¡¯s skill level.

    <em>¡®However, considering the infinite potential of the MVP Shop, this is still quite expensive.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk shook off his disappointment and continued to browse through the MVP Shop. He was able to find some ingredients with only buff effects, but most of the things that he found were worth at least 30,000 cash. It was still expensive despite the quantity being over 500.

    <em>¡®If things continued like this then, opening the ss specific slot is a waste¡­ huh?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s finger, which was scrolling through the slot, suddenly stopped.

    <em>[Grumpy Gochujang that Does What it Pleases. 20,000 cash. Quantity: Can make something for 500 people.]</em>

    <em>¡®Why is the name like this?¡¯ </em>Minhyuk thought, his expression filled with doubt and confusion. For some reason the name was giving off apletely ominous vibe. Nevertheless, he still checked the ingredient¡¯s information.

    <em>(<strong>Grumpy Gochujang that Does What it Pleases</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: ???</em>

    <em><strong>Price</strong>: 20,000</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>?Possesses an ego.</em>

    <em>?The dish made from this ingredient will have an epic~legendary grade. However, the Grumpy Gochujang will judge what grade the dish will have. The opinion of the Grumpy Gochujang will ount for 50% of the dish¡¯s grade determination.</em>

    <em>?The Grumpy Gochujang can make things worse and cause a disaster for the one cooking the dish.</em>

    <em>?The Grumpy Gochujang can control the level of spiciness on its own. <strong>Caution</strong>: There is a chance of getting a deadly level of spiciness once you put it in your mouth.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: It is unknown why the Grumpy Gochujang is ced inside the MVP Shop. The use of this ingredient is rmended if you want to present a spicy vor akin to that of a nuclear bomb to your enemies, any use otherwise is not rmended.</em>

    <em>¡®What kind of bullshit is this¡­?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s face was colored in disbelief. The absurd content of the ingredient information was something that he had never encountered before. It was already ridiculous that the gochujang had an ego but it could even determine the dish¡¯s grade? On top of that, it could also change the level of spiciness of the dish. In other words, even if Minhyuk was able to make a good dish, if it was spicy enough to the point that a human could not take it then, the dish would be inedible.

    <em>¡®Is it ced there truly just for theughs?¡¯</em>

    What if that was not the case? The Grumpy Gochujang was worth 20,000 cash so there had to be a chance that it would be nicer than what he thought.

    <em>¡®We need a strong buff dish to counter and ovee Richard¡¯s Absolute Monarch¡¯s Stigma.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡­</em>Minhyuk neededrge amounts of ingredients with special buffs. But he only had around 20,000 cash.

    <em>¡®Is there really nothing I can do?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk decided to take a gamble. Since he had already determined the buff ingredient that would give him a great boost(?) in strength, he had to choose his main dish. In a way, gochujang, an ingredient that always served as a seasoning, had now turned into the main ingredient. Depending on the Grumpy Gochujang¡¯s mood, the dish that Minhyuk made would either turn into the most delicious gochujang dish, or the most terrible gochujang dish in the world.

    <em>¡®What¡¯s the dish that will bring out the natural vor of gochujang? It should also be a dish that foreigners will be able to enjoy.¡¯</em>

    There were foreigners among the new guild members of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Because of that, Minhyuk had to put in more thought about the dish that he would make.

    Minhyuk thought for quite a while until, <em>¡®Bizarre Tteokbokki?¡¯ </em>he finally made a decision. Bizarre tteokbokki was a dish that was loved by people of all ages, despite its spicy and hot vor. Just thinking about how he would dip some tteokbokki in a bowl of bizarre tteokbokki sauce was enough to make Minhyuk¡¯s mouth water.

    <em>¡®Its spiciness should be mild.¡¯</em>

    The dish should not be too spicy since there were foreigners among their group. Also¡­

    <em>¡®Everything will depend on how he will react.¡¯</em>

    In the end, the grumpy guy would be the one to decide whether the dish would be spicy or not. The description, which ended abruptly, implied that it could even set a spiciness level that was akin to a nuclear bomb and could kill.

    After deciding on what to cook, Minhyuk brought out the Grumpy Gochujang.

    <em>[You have used 20,000 cash to purchase the Grumpy Gochujang.]</em>

    The Grumpy Gochujang entered Minhyuk¡¯s inventory. And as he entered his trailer, he said, ¡°Let¡¯s do our best, Gochujang.¡±

    Minhyuk assumed that Gochujang was listening since it was stated it has an ego.

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    But no answer came out from the gochujang. Minhyuk looked at it curiously before starting to cook.

    <em>¡®I think it¡¯s better to mix cheese rice cakes and normal rice cakes.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk prepared the two rice cakes while using the ¡®ingredient chopping¡¯ skill to chop the vienna sausages and fish cakes into bite sized pieces. Then, he mixed the Grumpy Gochujang, some sugar, starch syrup, and a bit of curry powder for the sauce.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s quieter than expected?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had finally used the gochujang. From this point on, the condition of Minhyuk¡¯s dish, whether it would be the best or a disaster, would depend on the gochujang. However, the gochujang remained silent. Minhyuk could not help but smile softly, thinking that things were going smoothly.

    The eternal mes burst out and began to heat up the cauldron, causing the water inside to boil. Seeing that, Minhyuk immediately poured the sauce that he prepared inside. When cooking bulk dishes, one had to be careful not to pour all of the sauce all at once. This was because the sauce was heavier than the water and it would fall to the bottom of the pot and might burn. That was why it was important to gently dissolve the sauce in the boiling water.

    When Minhyuk was trying to gently dissolve the gochujang-based sauce with hisdle¡­

    <em>[¡­But I don¡¯t want to?]</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    A foreboding and ominous feeling crept up the base of Minhyuk¡¯s spine when he heard the voice ring in his head. It seemed like the gochujang finally answered Minhyuk when he said, ¡®Let¡¯s do our best.¡¯ earlier, albeit a bitter. Then¡­

    <em>[The Grumpy Gochujang has started to bother you.]</em>

    <em>Rumble, rumble¡ª</em>

    ¡°This, this is crazy¡­!!!¡±

    Minhyuk was appalled. The entire trailer began to shake and tremble, like an airne that met with turbulence. As Minhyuk continued to dissolve the gochujang-based sauce in the pot, mes burst out on the floor beneath his feet.

    <em>Crackle, crackle¡ª</em>

    The mes immediately heated up the air inside the trailer.

    ¡°S, stop¡­!¡±

    <em>[I don¡¯t want to?]</em>

    Minhyuk was able to maintain his bnce and dissolve all of the gochujang-based sauce in the cauldron. However, he did not stop there. He immediately added the regr rice cakes, the cheese rice cakes, the vienna sausages and the fishcakes inside. Then, what did he need to do next? The answer to that was mixing and stirring. At that moment¡­

    <em>Rumble, rumble¡ª</em>

    ¡­the trailer began to shake and tremble once again. No, to be exact¡­

    <em>¡®Even something like this is possible¡­?¡¯</em>

    The trailer rose a meter off of the ground and began to rotate fiercely. Of course, it became difficult for Minhyuk to maintain his bnce. On top of that¡­

    <em>[<strong>Abnormal Status</strong>. You have started to be dizzy.]</em>

    <em>[You have an invincible body that can ignore and resist all kinds of abnormal states.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s invincible body that allowed him to avoid abnormal conditions was like a silver lining, a power that he could rely on. However¡­

    ¡°Stopppppp!!!¡±

    It was very difficult to cook in a rotating trailer. Then, suddenly¡­

    <em>ck¡ª</em>

    A strange sense suddenly washed over Minhyuk¡¯s body. The very same feeling when a flying ne¡¯s engine was suddenly cut off. Then, the trailer crashed on the ground.

    <em>Thuuuuuuuud¡ª</em>

    ¡°Urrrrk!!!!¡±

    Still, Minhyuk did not stop stirring his tteokbokki.

    The eternal mes made it possible for Minhyuk to cook delicious dishes with its strong firepower. However, it could also easily burn the bottom of the cauldron. And this was especially true when cooking rice cakes.

    <em>Sizzleeee¡ª</em>

    ¡°Aaaaaaaack!¡±

    Minhyuk grabbed the handle of the cauldron with his left hand to keep his bnce. Since Minhyuk was cooking, the cauldron¡¯s body was in an extremely hot state.

    <em>[You have received a terrible burn on your left hand.]</em>

    <em>[If the damage on your left hand continues to umte, the movements of your left hand will be restricted.]</em>

    But Minhyuk kept on holding on to the cauldron.

    ¡°Let¡¯s talk this out! Why are you being so mean!!!¡±

    <em>[Because I¡¯m the Grumpy Gochujang. Kyahahahahaha!]</em>

    The Grumpy Gochujang roared loudly, making the trailer shake terribly. Still, Minhyuk continued to cook. Then¡­

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    The air suddenly felt heavy. Simply put, the gravity was suddenly amplified, which pressed down on Minhyuk severely. This, too, was obviously a prank yed by Grumpy Gochujang.

    <em>[Give up. It will be morefortable for you if you give up. Do you want to be a tomato? Or do you want to be like that tteokbokki that¡¯s cooking in the cauldron?]</em>

    <em>Crackle, crackle¡ª</em>

    The zing mes climbed up on the cauldron and licked Minhyuk¡¯s arms.

    <em>[If you don¡¯t let go of your left hand¡¯s hold on the cauldron, you may lose the use of your left arm.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP is dropping at a rapid rate.]</em>

    The bastard was truly outrageous. Minhyuk was having a harder time than when he cooked the giant cow¡¯s marrow bone or the giant chicken.

    <em>[Why don¡¯t you give up? What are you cooking this for? Huh? Kyahahahahahaha!]</em>

    ¡°Because there are people who want to eat my food!¡±

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s words silenced the Grumpy Gochujang for a moment. Perhaps the bastard realized something from his words? Maybe the owner of the gochujang¡¯s ego was also once a chef?

    <em>[¡­Is that so? Then, I should stop. I am in awe of your heart and passion. You¡¯re really cool.]</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Then, a huge thunderstorm mmed on the trailer from the skies above. The trailer shook greatly, throwing Minhyuk back swiftly.

    ¡°Did, didn¡¯t you just say that you would stop?!!!¡±

    <em>[You believed that? What a moron.]</em>

    ¡°¡­Hey, m*therf*cker! F-machinegun[1] #%#$%%@$#¡± Minhyuk cursed as he crawled through the trailer and fought against gravity to get back to the cauldron.

    <em>[Give up. What¡¯s the use of doing something for others? Do you want to be like me? Kyahahahaha! Now, typhoon! Blow fiercely!!!]</em>

    Then, a typhoon engulfed the entire trailer.

    The trailer, which was devoured by the typhoon, rose from the ground and spun around and around from the fierce winds blowing over it. Fortunately the cauldron was deep enough that its contents would not spill despite the tumultuous surroundings. However, Minhyuk held on tightly to the cauldron just to make sure. Of course, he never stopped cooking. Huge beads of sweat formed on his forehead and dripped down his face. Even the veins on his neck and arms bulged from overexertion.

    ¡°Just a bit more¡­¡±

    <em>[Bastard! Even if you cook desperately like that, the dish that you will create will be trash that cannot be eaten!!!]</em>

    But Minhyuk had already fallen into a trance and could not hear the words of the Grumpy Gochujang at all. The Grumpy Gochujang stared at Minhyuk, who was still cooking despite the pressure that was overwhelming him.

    <em>[You look just like me in the past. A moron that lived for others but disappeared from their hands. An unfortunate fool.]</em>

    Minhyuk did not hear those words either. He just continued to cook with everything that he had. And finally, he sprinkled plenty of mozzare cheese on the tteokbokki cooking in the cauldron.

    Minhyuk seemed to know the reason why the Grumpy Gochujang was acting like this. He continued to sprinkle the cheese while saying, ¡°Stop ming yourself. You did your best.¡±

    <em>[¡­???]</em>

    ¡°Even if all of the people that you helped cursed you and betrayed you, the fact that you¡¯re the best would still remain.¡±

    The Grumpy Gochujang¡¯s reaction was only natural from Minhyuk¡¯s perspective. After all, gochujang was a ¡®one-time consumable item¡¯. Once it was cooked and eaten, then the gochujang was done for. Basically, the Grumpy Gochujang would disappear once this was over.

    How scary would that be?

    How lonely would he be?

    How painful and sad would it be?

    That was why Minhyuk said, ¡°The fact that I can use you as an ingredient¡­¡±

    The mozzare cheese that was being sprinkled over the tteokbokki looked like white snow melting atop the blooming red flowers.

    ¡°¡­Thank you.¡±

    Silence enveloped the surrounding for a moment. And amidst that silence.

    <em>[Fufu¡ª]</em>

    A smallughter rang. Then, the notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You have made a Legendary Bizarre Tteokbokki!]</em>

    <em>[The mysterious existence with power that surpassed the gods has granted a special power to your dish!!!]</em>

    <em>[The Legendary Bizarre Tteokbokki will have the most delicious spicy vor depending on the person eating.]</em>

    <em>[The mysterious existence with power that surpassed the gods has granted a special power to you!]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 2%!]</em>

    <em>[Your cooking skill proficiency has increased dramatically!]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Puzzling Seasoning Jar.]</em>

    This day marked the first meeting of Minhyuk and his second teacher right after Sword Emperor Ellie.

    1. ??? the name of the fan club Jung Kyung-Ho¡¯s character ??? in Roller Coaster/Fasten Your Seatbealt, a character who became famous for cursing. ?

 Chapter 589: Lady of the Snakes, Leona

    Chapter 589: Lady of the Snakes, Leona

    Did Joy Co. Ltd. create the Grumpy Gochujang for no reason at all? Everything in Athenae was rted to ¡®scenarios¡¯, ¡®quests¡¯ or other events, so would they create a gochujang with an ego just forughs? Minhyuk believed that it was unlikely.

    As it turned out, it was a mysterious existence with a power that surpassed even the gods. It even blessed Minhyuk with a +2% increase in all of his stats. On top of that, the spiciness of the dish would vary depending on who would eat the gochujang-based dish.

    <em>¡®What an amazing ability.¡¯</em>

    The dish would set the most delicious spiciness level depending on the person that would consume the dish. Minhyuk had never heard of an ability like this. However, one thing was for sure. This was an ability that all of the chefs in the world would covet.

    As for the Puzzling Seasoning Jar that Minhyuk obtained¡­

    <em>¡®If it¡¯s a seasoning jar that has the ability that I¡¯m thinking of then¡­¡¯</em>

    If it was as Minhyuk guessed, then its power was likely to be astronomical. In fact, the seasoning jar¡¯s ability that Minhyuk was thinking of was simple. Just as the gochujang adjusted its vor to suit the taste of the one that would eat it, what if the salt that he would get from the seasoning jar would also make the dish its most delicious version based on the person eating it?

    <em>¡®That would be insane¡­¡¯</em>

    Any kind of dish served to others all over the world would be seasoned by the chef that made it. However, everyone¡¯s taste buds and ptes were different. Some preferred it salty, some preferred it to be in and simple, while some preferred it nd.

    The first thing that Minhyuk did was to check the Puzzling Seasoning Jar.

    <em>(<strong>Puzzling Seasoning Jar</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: ???</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>????</em>

    <em>????</em>

    <em>????</em>

    <em>?Something that possesses an ego is slumbering inside. It might wake up at unexpected times.</em>

    <em>¡®It really is a puzzling seasoning jar¡­¡¯</em>

    It was exactly as its name suggested. The seasoning jar was truly puzzling and confusing. However, one particr thing stood out to Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®That guy is slumbering inside this?¡¯</em>

    It seemed like the ego of the Grumpy Gochujang was sleeping inside the Puzzling Seasoning Jar. Minhyuk did not know if its power that went beyond the gods was something temporary or not. However, he was sure that it was a noteworthy existence and it was now sleeping inside the seasoning jar that he acquired.

    After he finished cooking and checking everything, Minhyuk finally saw the sad figures of his new guild members approaching his trailer. One look at their sullen figures and Minhyuk began to rush. He quickly prepared various fried fritters and even some rice balls to go with the Bizarre Tteokbokki.

    ¡°We¡¯ve been smashed.¡±

    ¡°What kind of record did those guys make in the time attack dungeon?¡±

    ¡°Richard¡¯s power is too strong¡­¡±

    Most of the guild members that had returned were feeling lost and dispirited. It seemed like the wall that was blocking their path was a tad bit too high for them. From what it looked like they were under great pressure. Minhyuk hoped that his new guild members would forget the stress once they ate this Bizarre Tteokbokki. Of course, the same was true for Minhyuk. He had been very busy these past few days. Because of that, his stress had umted. After confirming that everyone had returned, Minhyuk began to distribute the Bizarre Tteokbokki.

    Among them was the group that Orleed belonged to. They had experienced a level that they could not reach. All of them were at most only at rank 70.

    ¡°So, this is who Richard is¡­¡± Orleed said. He had decided to serve Minhyuk in the heat of the moment after seeing countless possibilities with him. However, he still could not hide the bitterness after witnessing how great Richard¡¯s underlings were.

    At that moment, Minhyuk gave them a portion of Bizarre Tteokbokki, some fried fritters, rice balls and a can of julpis. Minhyuk said, ¡°This dish will definitely make you feel a whole lot better.¡±

    After distributing all of the new guild members¡¯ shares, Minhyuk settled down and began to eat himself. Orleed looked down at the white stretch of cheese on top of the zing red tteokbokki.

    ¡°Is this the dish that you call tteokbokki?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t this super spicy?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s spicy but it¡¯s also very delicious.¡±

    There were Koreans among Orleed¡¯s group and that was what they said about the dish. Then, Orleed looked at Minhyuk. Minhyuk was smiling happily despite the beads of perspiration dripping down from his forehead as he ate the Bizarre Tteokbokki.

    <em>¡®This is not the time to eat like that, Your Majesty,¡¯</em> Orleed thought bitterly, <em>¡®I can¡¯t eat something overly spicy.¡¯</em>

    Then, Orleed picked up his chopsticks and mped a piece of rice cake. Foreigners often had to smell their food first before putting it into their mouths whenever they tried food from other countries. Orleed did just that. When he finally ced it in his mouth, the spicy vor spread in his mouth as the chewy texture of the rice cake greeted him.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s spicy¡­ but¡­¡¯</em>

    It was delicious as well. Orleed picked up another rice cake; this time, it was the slightly chubbier one. The rice cake that he picked up was none other than the cheese rice cake. The moment he bit on it, the rich, savory vor of the cheese burst in his mouth and perfectlyplemented the spicy vor, washing away a bit of its edge.

    ¡°¡­Delicious.¡±

    ¡°Wow. This is really delicious.¡±

    Even the Koreans that were eating together with Orleed were impressed by the taste. Next, Orleed tasted the fishcake that had been soaked with the gochujang-based sauce.

    ¡°This fishcake is the best.¡±

    It seemed like Orleed preferred fishcakes over rice cakes in the Bizarre Tteokbokki. This time, he tried the vienna sausage.

    ¡°Mhmm~ Yummy!¡± Orleed shouted in admiration. His mouth felt hot as if a me had been lit in his mouth and his forehead was covered in sweat. He quickly pulled out a handkerchief and wiped off the sweat on his forehead. That was when Orleed saw Minhyuk gulp down the drink called julpis.

    Orleed immediately copied Minhyuk, pouring out the peach-vored julpis in a cup. The cold temperature of the julpis seeped through the cup and was transmitted through his hand. Then, he immediately gulped the cold julpis.

    ¡°<em>Kghhk</em>~ What the hell? This drink tastes so good!¡±

    The drink washed away the lingering spiciness in his mouth. This time, Orleed turned his attention toward the rice balls. The rice balls had some chopped pickled radish, tobiko, seaweed powder, sesame seeds, and the like. When he ced the rice ball in his mouth¡­

    ¡°Wow¡­¡±

    Orleed wondered how a rice ball made up of the most ordinary ingredients could taste so divine.

    ¡°It will taste even better if you eat it like this.¡±

    Orleed watched as the Koreans dipped their rice balls in the tteokbokki sauce before putting it in their mouths. He copied what they were doing and could only stare wide-eyed at the dish in front of him. This time, he tried the fried seaweed roll. Of course, he also dipped the fried seaweed roll in the tteokbokki sauce. And the moment he ced it in his mouth¡­

    <em>Crunch¡ª</em>

    The tteokbokki sauce added a dash of vor in the fried seaweed roll¡¯s crunchy texture.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡±

    Orleed continued to eat, admiration stered all over his face. From the moment he ate, his mind had beenpletely empty. He did not realize this fact until he was full and satiated.

    <em>¡®Is this the reason why Koreans like to eat spicy food when they¡¯re stressed?¡¯</em>

    Sweat might have soaked their clothes but the stress that they were feeling was swept away. After eating almost everything on his te, Orleed gulped all of the julpis in his cup in one go.

    ¡°<em>Kghhk</em>~¡±

    Then, the notifications rang.

    <em>[You have eaten the Bizarre Tteokbokki.]</em>

    <em>[Legendary Grade.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will increase by 28%. Your ss specific skill¡¯s level will increase by +2!]</em>

    <em>[All of your attacks will have a fire-attribute attached to it!]</em>

    <em>[The buff willst for 12 days.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­??¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    Everyone in Orleed¡¯s group was dumbfounded after they finished eating their tteokbokki. The Food God¡¯s dishes were well known for being overpowered, on top of their exquisite vor. However, some people, who were jealous of the Food God and wanted to undermine him, spread false rumors about his dishes. However, today, they found out the truth. Those testaments were not exaggerated at all. No, to be exact¡­

    <em>¡®Crazy! He made buffed dishes with this kind of effect for all 500 people?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Are you joking with me¡­?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®All hail¡­ Our Lord the Food God¡­¡¯</em>

    Orleed gulped dryly. Absolute Monarch Richard had the OP skill Absolute Monarch¡¯s Stigma. The Absolute Monarch¡¯s Stigma could increase the power of around ten people free of penalty, anything more than that, say for a hundred people, Richard had to sacrifice a percent of all his stats to make them grow stronger.

    But what about Minhyuk¡¯s dishes? It did not have any penalty. On top of that, they estimated that the Absolute Monarch¡¯s Stigma¡¯s duration would onlyst for around a day or two. As for the worth of Minhyuk¡¯s dishes¡­

    <em>¡®For 12 days, we will be able to hunt boss monsters that we dare not even imagine hunting before.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®If we have this much power, then we will be able toplete the quests that we weren¡¯t able toplete before.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®We can also get first ce in the time attack dungeon.¡¯</em>

    Richard¡¯s guild members had higher statspared to the yers at the same level as them. If their stats were made equal, then the ones that would have the upperhand would be the members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    <em>¡®What a freaking cool king¡­¡¯ </em>Orleed thought in admiration. Of course, it was not just him, everyone present here were looking at Minhyuk in awe and admiration. Also¡­

    <em>¡®I will not be afraid of anything as long as I¡¯m with him.¡¯</em>

    All of them had lost their fighting spirit earlier. But now, it was reignited, zing in their hearts. They wanted to show the world their, and their king¡¯s, outstanding move!

    At the same time, a set of notifications began to ring in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The guild members that have tasted your food dream of staying by your side forever.]</em>

    <em>[The loyalty of the guild members that have tasted your food has soared to the skies, they will walk through fire if you say so.]</em>

    <em>[You have earned 503 cash.]</em>

    <em>[You have earned 601 cash.]</em>

    <em>[You have earned 731 cash.]</em>

    <em>[¡­earned 511 cash.]</em>

    <em>[Additional cash slots have been opened.]</em>

    <em>[You have earned 724 cash.]</em>

    <em>[¡­earned 621 cash.]</em>

    Minhyuk earned 50,000 cash all in one go. After checking the newly opened cash slots, Minhyuk thought, <em>¡®This slot has legendary-rank artifacts. The ingredients are also of a better quality.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk suddenly grew curious about the items that he would see once he opened another slot. Then, Minhyuk looked at the guild members, whose morale was almost boiling over, and said, ¡°What are you guys doing?¡±

    Everyone turned to look at him at the sound of his voice.

    ¡°Go and take the throne.¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    The members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, with their overwhelming momentum and majestic aura, rushed back to take the throne in the time attack dungeons, the very same time attack dungeons that they struggled clearing earlier.

    ***

    When one clicked on the ¡®event¡¯ section located on one side of the Athenae official homepage, everything rted to events would appear on the screen. Among these were the Stars¡¯ Path Time Attack Dungeons.

    Most of the time attack dungeons located in the Stars¡¯ Path had been dominated by the Maserrati Guild. On top of that, these time attack dungeons would end in two hours. Manyizens and experts had shared their opinion about this matter.

    <em>[Maserrati Guild¡¯s domination is a threat to the world. Someone has to stop them.]</em>

    <em>[They might be outstanding people, but don¡¯t you think it¡¯s a bit too much to say that they¡¯re a threat to the world? The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is superior and outstanding but you don¡¯t say that they are a threat to the world.]</em>

    <em>[No. This and that arepletely different matters. The Maserrati Guild has currently taken over the ranking boards. The problem is that many people will be interested in them and knock on their doors. The reason why they are able to dominate the time attack dungeons is because of Richard, the one that recently got promoted to the Absolute Monarch ss. In fact, they are even actively promoting that you will be able to gain a stronger power if youe to their guild. It¡¯s a statement that will definitely have a huge impact. Perhaps, their poption will even exceed that of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom in two weeks¡¯ time.]</em>

    <em>[Then, why are the other guilds just staying still?]</em>

    <em>[They are not staying still. Hey, have you really searched things properly? Right now, each and every country in the world is struggling to break and create a new record in the time attack dungeons. But each time, they¡¯re only able to get around a 5~10 minute gap. In other words, they can¡¯t break through.]</em>

    <em>[To put it simply, they¡¯re f*cked? But why does it seem like the Beyond the Heavens is not moving?]</em>

    <em>[Even if they¡¯re the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, it will still be hard for them to make a difference. Beyond the Heavens have a lot of outstanding Named NPCs and Level 400~500 rankers but most of the time attack dungeons are only for those at Level 300 and below.]</em>

    <em>[The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is the best but there¡¯s no such thing as the best in every facet. Their mid-level yers would not be able to reach the Maserrati Guild¡¯s level.]</em>

    But then, at that moment¡­

    <em>[Abyss¡¯ Dungeon¡¯s records have been refreshed!]</em>

    <em>[Abyss¡¯ Dungeon. <strong>1st ce.</strong> Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. 13 minutes and 30 seconds.]</em>

    <em>[¡­Oh? Beyond the Heavens is doing well, though?]</em>

    <em>[Wow¡­ 13 minutes and 30 seconds¡­ that¡¯s dope¡­]</em>

    <em>[As expected, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is the best. They can¡¯t stand the thought of the Maserrati Guild dominating the entire event.]</em>

    <em>[Baroque¡¯s Dungeon¡¯s records have been refreshed!]</em>

    <em>[Baroque¡¯s Dungeon. <strong>1st ce.</strong> Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. 11 minutes and 56 seconds.]</em>

    <em>[¡­???]</em>

    <em>[¡­???]</em>

    <em>[¡­???]</em>

    <em>[¡­???]</em>

    <em>[Blue Mermaid¡¯s Dungeon¡¯s records¡­!]</em>

    <em>[Blue Mermaid¡¯s Dungeon. <strong>1st ce.</strong> Beyond the Heavens Kingdom...]</em>

    <em>[Gleaming in¡¯s Dungeon¡¯s records¡­!]</em>

    <em>[Gleaming in¡¯s Dungeon. <strong>1st ce.</strong> Beyond the Heavens Kingdom...]</em>

    <em>[¡­records¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­records have been refreshed¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡­]</em>

    It all happened in an instant. In just a short fifteen minutes, all of the records in all of the listed time attack dungeons, from one to fifty, had the name ¡®Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯ written on them. Everyone that saw this just stared nkly at their screens.

    <em>[Hey¡­ Isn¡¯t this a bug?]</em>

    <em>[I also think it¡¯s a bug¡­?]</em>

    <em>[Hey, operators! Why aren¡¯t you doing your job properly?! You bastards!!!]</em>

    However, an announcement was posted immediately after this had happened.

    <em>[Joy Co. Ltd. has immediately reviewed the reports about a bug found on the homepage. However, we have confirmed that there are no bugs. We will continue to work hard to provide a smooth experience for the public. Thank you.]</em>

    <em>[Hey, it¡¯s not a bug!!!]</em>

    <em>[OMG! Then, it¡¯s true?!!!]</em>

    In just half an hour, the entire game was turned upside down. At the same time, words that were erged and in bold appeared above the screen where the time attack dungeon records were shown.

    <em>[The Time Attack Dungeon event is about to end!]</em>

    <em>[Star Coins and Dungeon Master Rings will be distributed to the ones that won first ce in the time attack dungeons.]</em>

    In the end, the one that got thestugh was the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    ***

    Stars¡¯ Path.

    Absolute Monarch Richard was in disbelief after seeing the sudden reversal in the time attack dungeons.

    <em>¡®How in the world¡­?¡¯</em>

    Obviously, when he had just checked an hour ago, the Maserrati Guild was still dominating and monopolizing the top spot in the rankings. But everything suddenly turned around.

    <em>¡®As expected, it¡¯s not easy to get one over them, huh?¡¯</em>

    Richard did not underestimate the Food God. Richard was a careful, meticulous man and was not someone that would grow upset or angry because he found out that he still underestimated someone. All Richard could do wasugh bitterly.

    ¡°What are we going to do?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. We¡¯ll just make our name known by hunting one of the Six Monster Gods¡¯ children, Elizabeth¡¯s child, the one called the Lady of the Snakes.¡±

    The Six Monster Gods were the key roles in all of the quests and monster scenarios in the Stars¡¯ Path. Just like what was mentioned before, the Six Monster Gods were Athenae¡¯s children that were driven away and eventually settled down in the Stars¡¯ Path. The weakest among them was Elizabeth, the God of Snakes. But even if she was the weakest, no human could fight against her.

    But this was not the case for Elizabeth¡¯s children.

    The Six Monster Gods all gave birth to children of their own. Their children¡¯s strength was divided ording to their ¡®ss¡¯. Their ss followed the same ss system in the demon world where they were divided into marquises, counts, barons, and the likes.

    The one that the Maserrati Guild was about to awaken was the count-level ¡®Snake¡¯s Child¡¯. Even if the child was only at the count-level, one could not ignore its power. In the first ce, the Six Monster Gods were beings that had the power to confront the Absolute Gods. Of course, their children would also be born with a strong power. As for those at the count-level, they were beings that even a decent kingdom could not stop. However, the Maserrati Guild was determined to stop such a being.

    And the one that would awaken the count-level being was none other than ¡®Lion King Benrod¡¯. Lion King Benrod was one of the active figures during the Battle of the Thrones and was a legend among all of the summoners. He was here to awaken the count-level monster. Then, the Maserrati Guild would immediately hunt the monster and dere the creation of their own kingdom.

    ¡°From what I heard, the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King is also here.¡±

    ¡°Are you worried that he will be able to raid the monster before we can even do so?¡±

    ¡°¡­Yes.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have anything to worry about. The count-level monster will already die under our hands even before hees.¡±

    But then, at that moment, the sky covering the Stars¡¯ Path suddenly turned bloody red.

    ¡°Hiiiiisssss¡ª¡°

    ¡°Hiiiisss¡ª¡°

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    They were shocked to see thousands of snakes suddenly appearing from the trees, bushes, rocks and all over the ce. At the same time, a horrifying notification hit them.

    <em>[God of Snakes¡¯ Elizabeth First Child.]</em>

    <em>[Marquess Leona has awakened to the world.]</em>

    A great catastrophe was about to befall the Stars¡¯ Path.

 Chapter 590: Lady of the Snakes, Leona

    Chapter 590: Lady of the Snakes, Leona

    God of Snakes Elizabeth was said to be the weakest among the Six Monster Gods. However, there were cases where some of the Six Monster Gods possessed a stronger power than the Absolute Gods.

    God of Snakes Elizabeth had a total of fifteen children. There was one talented child that had inherited Elizabeth¡¯s abilities and that child was none other than Marquess Leona. In fact, Marquess Leona could be considered God of Snakes¡¯ Elizabeth¡¯s heir. Her powers might be less than Elizabeth¡¯s power right now, but in time, she would be able to surpass her mother. Elizabeth wanted Leona to protect her other children. That was why there was a system where Leona would be the one to awaken first when someone tried to awaken one of Elizabeth¡¯s baron-level or count-level children.

    ¡°Damn it¡­¡± Lion King Benrod cursed, his face filled with urgency and embarrassment. He was currently conducting the ceremony to awaken the count-level monster Benz inside the Snake Temple. However, instead of awakening Benz, the one that awakened was Marquess Leona.

    Although Lion King Benrod was someone that had reached the realms of the Absolute Supreme NPC, he was still not confident enough to deal with the marquis-level Leona right here and now. That just went to show how dangerous a marquis-level being was.

    <em>Vwoooooooooooooong¡ª</em>

    Benrod swiftly summoned the God of Beasts. The gigantic lion appeared and was immediately on alert, its eyes watching the unusuallyrge red egg as its shell cracked.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    Some of the shells began to fall down on the ground. At the same time¡­

    <em>[Snakes¡¯ Fetters have been triggered!]</em>

    <em>[All of your skills will be temporarily unavable.]</em>

    <em>[All of your parchments and potions will be temporarily unavable.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    This was reality. Both God of Snakes Elizabeth and her first child, Marquess Leona, were said to have the power to control the system. NPCs viewed the system as Athenae¡¯s absolute power, that was why they could not imagine somebody else being able to control it.

    But now, something so unbelievable had happened.

    ¡°Kiyaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    A horrifying cry rang from deep within the egg. Lion King Benrod immediately climbed on the back of the God of the Beasts. His original purpose was to awaken Elizabeth¡¯s count-level child and lure it toward the members of the Maserrati Guild. Once they hunted the being, they would be able to swiftly end the situation. But now the situation had suddenly turned for the worse.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s absolutely no way that I will be able to lure her.¡¯</em>

    Benrod would be devoured before he could even do that. And Benrod was someone that never engaged in a reckless and meaningless fight. The only answer to this predicament was to join the Maserrati Guild and hunt Leona.

    <em>Dash, dash, dash¡ª</em>

    The God of Beasts ran furiously while Leona¡¯s feminine figure, which finally broke free from the egg, stretched to remove the transparent and sticky mucus that clung to her. As she made her appearance, another series of notifications rang in Benrod¡¯s ears and the rest of the world.

    <em>[Snakes¡¯ World.]</em>

    <em>[Leona¡¯s power has covered the entire Stars¡¯ Path.]</em>

    <em>[The yers¡¯ entrance has been restricted.]</em>

    <em>[yers that are already inside the Stars¡¯ Path will only be able to leave the Stars¡¯ Path after 24 hours.]</em>

    Immediately after¡­

    <em>[The God of Snakes¡¯ Army has awakened.]</em>

    Around fifty snakes appeared around Leona. The snakes writhed in ce until their figures grew in size. The snakes of Elizabeth¡¯s Army grew until they were two meters tall, their faces like that of a dragon, with smooth scales covering their bodies. With fair skin and a hair of poisonous vipers, Leona walked out of the Snakes¡¯ Army.

    ¡°Since you tried to kill my sibling,¡± Leona said as she looked out at the Stars¡¯ Path, ¡°then all of you shall die.¡±

    ***

    After taking over all of the time attack dungeons, Minhyuk went out to hunt with the new guild members and was now thinking about returning.

    <em>¡®What a shame, I couldn¡¯t open all of the slots in the MVP Shop.¡¯</em>

    However, there was nothing he could do. After all, collecting and earning cash was harder than what he thought. Besides, they had already been hunting for several days. The exhaustion of the soldiers and the new guild members would definitely start to pile up if they continued to linger in the Stars¡¯ Path.

    Also, Minhyuk had already achieved what he needed to. All of the new guild members handed over the Star Coins that they have gained as a reward to him, the total value easily exceeding 100,000 tinum.

    Leaving behind his only regret, Minhyuk tried to order their return when thousands of poisonous snakes appeared on the trees, under the rocks, and all over the ground.

    ¡°Hiiisssss¡ª¡°

    ¡°Hiiiiiiiiiiiissss¡ª¡°

    ¡°A, aaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°What, what the hell?!¡±

    ¡°Why did snakes appear all of a sudden?¡±

    At the same time, the sky above them turned red.

    <em>[God of Snakes¡¯ Elizabeth First Child.]</em>

    <em>[Marquess Leona has awakened to the world.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s face turned ugly. He had already investigated the Six Monster Gods and their children before entering the Stars¡¯ Path.

    <em>¡®Why did she suddenly awaken?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk could not understand. If nobody touched them, then these beings should not have awakened yet.

    <em>¡®No way. Did someone deliberately awaken her?¡¯</em>

    As the question floated in Minhyuk¡¯s head¡­

    <em>[Snakes¡¯ World.]</em>

    <em>[Leona¡¯s power has covered the entire Stars¡¯ Path.]</em>

    <em>[The yers¡¯ entrance has been restricted.]</em>

    <em>[yers that are already inside the Stars¡¯ Path will only be able to leave the Stars¡¯ Path after 24 hours.]</em>

    ¡­a series of notifications rang.

    <em>¡®The situation has turned serious.¡¯</em>

    Leona had the power to control the system. And she had now started to control the entire Stars¡¯ Path. What did that mean? It meant that she intended to lock them up and kill them all.

    <em>¡®Does this mean that we can¡¯t log out?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk immediately tried it.

    <em>[You can log out in four hours.]</em>

    Fortunately, although they were blocked from leaving the Stars¡¯ Path for 24 hours, they were allowed to log out in four hours. But even if that was the case, Minhyuk still could not afford to log out.

    <em>¡®If it¡¯s just the guild members, then it¡¯s fine. But the soldiers are NPCs, if I leave, they will be left in a dangerous situation.¡¯</em>

    ¡°Uaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Die!!!¡±

    The snakes began to leap through the air and bite the soldiers and the guild members. If they were spread like this throughout the entire Stars¡¯ Path, then the snakes had to number over tens of millions.

    ¡°Keok?! I¡¯m paralyzed. I did not even realize that I got bitten by a snake?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m poisoned¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m in a stunned state.¡±

    The worst part? The snakes that Leona released were giving different abnormal status to the people that they had bitten.

    Centurion Park immediately approached Minhyuk, ¡°Your Majesty, your orders?¡±

    ¡°We will watch the situation.¡±

    The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom did not need to step up in this situation. If they stepped up, there was a possibility that they would lose their troops. Their main goal right now was to hide in a safe ce and exit the Stars¡¯ Path after 24 hours.

    Minhyuk looked at the Stars¡¯ Path that was now dyed with the red color being reflected by the skies. Beyond that horizon, a blood festival was unfolding.

    ***

    Vietnam, Thand, and China had formed an alliance and were currently hunting together in the Stars¡¯ Path. This was an event that the three countries jointly held to promote their good rtionship and do well together after the servers had integrated. There were 8,000 yers participating from China, while Vietnam and Thand had 4,000 each. There were ces in the Stars¡¯ Path where monsters appeared on arge scale. The three countries were strengthening their friendship and unity by hunting in such ces.

    Each of these countries¡¯ leading figures stood at the vanguard so as not to fall behind from each other in this alliance. Vietnam had Master Archer Miao, while China had Xu Jiaqi and the members of ck Dragon Order, who participated in the Battle of the Thrones. The guild master and members of the Tiger Guild, the best guild in Thand, also participated.

    They were in the middle of an easy hunt when they heard the notifications about Leona. But their numbers were huge. They even had Supreme NPC-ss figures among them. Because of that, none of them really felt fear. Besides, their numbers were toorge for them to hide just because of a mere fear.

    At that moment, Master Archer Miao, with her eyes that could see through a thousand li, saw Leona and her snake armying their way.

    ¡°¡­That¡¯s quite unusual,¡± Miao mumbled, her face turning ugly.

    The ground that they were passing through was being razed and devastated. Everyone, whether they were yers or NPCs, was being swept away.

    ¡°This¡­ we can¡¯t avoid them.¡±

    ¡°¡­That seems to be the case.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s also an opportunity for us.¡±

    Miao could see with her eyes how everyone that they passed through got ughtered. If arge army like theirs avoided this and escaped, then they might receive countless criticisms for a very long time. The disaster that was unfolding on the Stars¡¯ Path¡­

    ¡°We have to do something about it.¡±

    <em>Stretch¡ª</em>

    Master Archer Miao pulled the strings of her bow. As the world''s best archer, Miao¡¯s arrows were very powerful. Although the name was childish, it was powerful enough to wipe out thousands of her enemies.

    ¡°Nuclear bomb.¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The arrow created a shocking soundwave as it flew toward Leona¡¯s forehead, who was still quite a distance away from Miao. If the arrow hit its target sessfully, it would create a huge explosion that would cover a 50 meter radius and devastate everything within, as if a nuclear bomb had fallen upon them.

    However, something unexpected happened. The arrow that was flying fiercely in the air slowly hardened and turned to stone. In the end, the arrow, which hadpletely turned to stone, fell down on the ground, as its weight killed off its momentum.

    <em>Drop¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Miao looked at the scene in horror.

    <em>¡®Leona has the ability topletely nullify others¡¯ abilities?!¡¯</em>

    Then, Leona¡¯s hair-raising eyes met with Miao¡¯s own eyes. Leona¡¯s eyes were yellow and had long slits of ck as its pupils, a truly terrifying sight.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Goosebumps rose on Miao¡¯s back.

    <em>¡®She can see me from that distance?¡¯</em>

    Miao could see through that distance since she was a Master Archer, but Leona was not one. Immediately after that, Leona and her army advanced swiftly to where the alliance was. Their speed was so fast that they seemed to have been flying over the ground.

    ¡°P, prepare for battle!¡±

    Miao finally realized the seriousness of the situation. The snake army arrived where they were in just one minute. Then, the sh began which horrified the entire world.

    ***

    Breaking news poured out nonstop.

    <em>[The 16,000-strong allied forces from China, Vietnam and Thand have beenpletely wiped out by Leona.]</em>

    <em>[The allied forces were annihted, just 30 minutes after the battle began.]</em>

    <em>[Leona wiped out the entire allied forces, with her shocking power to render all skills impossible to use and her ability to summon tens of thousands of snakes that can inflict countless abnormal statuses.]</em>

    <em>[Leona¡¯s ability to turn anything into stone by making eye contact with her has made even Master Archer Miao helpless.]</em>

    <em>[It seems like Leona¡¯s ability to turn everything into stone can be used with a timeg. That¡¯s the most pressing problem right now.]</em>

    <em>[Experts are now making absurd suggestions. They are saying that it¡¯s best to fight Leona with their eyes closed.]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s not entirely impossible. There are Absolute Supreme NPCs in the world. If it were them, then it¡¯s not that impossible to fight with their eyes closed.]</em>

    <em>[ording to our estimates, more than 200,000 have already died at the hands of Leona since she appeared in the Stars¡¯ Path.]</em>

    <em>[The worst disaster is now unfolding in the Stars¡¯ Path. This has brought both frustration and confusion to the yers that entered the Stars¡¯ Path to enjoy the new content.]</em>

    <em>[The yers that went there to hunt with their NPC friends have now lost their friends forever. Some of the yers even died with their families during a party hunt.]</em>

    <em>[Joy Co. Ltd. seems to be avoiding the situation by saying that it¡¯s also a yer¡¯s responsibility to solve their own difficulties.]</em>

    <em>[Is there anyone that can deal with such an unprecedented disaster?]</em>

    Richard also saw the breaking news.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s like I killed those 200,000 yers.¡¯</em>

    Richard was not a trashy monarch. He dutifully broke the time attack dungeon¡¯s records with his guild members and tried to awaken only the count-level being and hunt it as fast as he could to avoid harming someone else. However, his actions had inadvertently hurt many yers and NPCs.

    It was because of Richard¡¯s personality that many people chose to follow him. In front of him stood 1,000 of the Maserrati Guild¡¯s strongest. They were the ones that came here to hunt the count-level being in the first ce. Twenty of them were Rankers Above Rankers, some of the powerhouses that were talked about in the world. Two of them were unofficial rankers, whose powers could rival the kings that participated in the Battle of the Thrones. Of course, that was only the case when the kings had not yet received an additional 50% increase in their powers.

    ¡°From now on, we will lure Leona and her army and ughter her here so that others will no longer suffer.¡±

    ¡°But My Lord, if we make one wrong move then everyone here will¡­¡±

    ¡°Everything happened because of my carelessness. We should not let any more innocent people suffer and get harmed. You can choose to join me or leave. Even if you leave, I will not hold it against you even if you choose to leave the guild.¡±

    Richard¡¯s words were an indication of the weight that was ced on his shoulders. His words meant that he would pay for the crime that hemitted. However, this was the monarch that they all chose to believe and follow.

    ¡°We will stay with you.¡±

    ¡°Please give us your order.¡±

    ¡°Salute!!!¡±

    ¡°Salute!!!¡±

    Their hearts were filled with the zing mes of their fighting spirit.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s a good monarch,¡¯ </em>Someone thought.

    That someone was actually Minhyuk, who was hiding with his guild members and soldiers in a cave near the ce where the members of Maserrati Guild had gathered.

    <em>¡®Of all ces, why here¡­?¡¯</em>

    There was only a hundred meter distance between the cave hidden by the vines where Minhyuk and his men were hiding, and the wall where the members of Maserrati Guild were gathered in front of.

    Cold sweat began to drip down Minhyuk¡¯s forehead.

 Chapter 591: Lady of the Snakes, Leona

    Chapter 591: Lady of the Snakes, Leona

    Joy Co. Ltd. had turned the Stars¡¯ Path into a field filled with events, as well as the path that connected other continents during the server integration. Now, this Stars¡¯ Path was being called ¡®Disaster¡¯s Path¡¯ by the yers. In just a few short hours, more than 200,000 yers had died. Leona and her 50 Snake Soldiers wielded an overwhelming power.

    ¡°Ugh¡­ This is scary¡­¡±

    ¡°What kind of game is this? Why am I feeling so tense and nervous?¡±

    ¡°I want to live!!! Mom! I miss you!!!¡±

    ¡°Hey, this is just a game. Don¡¯t do that, it makes it look like everything is real.¡±

    ¡°How about you go and try it once yourself?¡±

    The yers were hiding all over the ce. Someone was holding their breath as they clung onto a tree, while another hid behind a rock. There was even someone from the army that dug the ground and covered himself with fallen leaves.

    Meanwhile, there was someone in the Stars¡¯ Path that was very worried about the NPCs.

    ¡°Ren¨¦, don¡¯t worry. We¡¯ll be able toe out of here alive.¡±

    ¡°Y, yeah¡­¡±

    Athenae was a virtual reality game and it was not impossible for yers to date NPCs and hold virtual weddings in the game. The yer named Panno looked at Ren¨¦, who was trembling in fear. Although the Stars¡¯ Path was filled with plenty of hunting grounds, there were also fishing grounds and ces where one could view flowers and the beauty of nature. In fact, no danger woulde to the people that visited the Stars¡¯ Path, unless they entered a field or a hunting ground so many people came to see a spectacr view that they could not see in reality. And that was exactly what Panno and Ren¨¦ did.

    <em>¡®Ren¨¦¡­ someone like you¡­¡¯</em>

    A yer and an NPC could develop real feelings with each other and form a rtionship. Of course, that also included love and making love. Unfortunately, NPCs'' death would also mean an eternal goodbye, just like death in reality. Although Panno was only a Level 350 yer, he vowed to protect Ren¨¦.

    The couple were hiding behind a rock, both holding their breaths to hide their presence. Leona and her army were passing by in the distance. But then¡­ Leona¡¯s head turned toward their direction and said, ¡°Kill those rats.¡±

    ¡°Hisssssssss¡ª¡°

    ¡°Hisssssssssss¡ª¡°

    The God of Snakes¡¯ army that was led by Leona was only a small force. But they possessed a strength that even Master Archer Mi¨¤o could only hunt one or two of them at most. And these beings were now charging toward the forest.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°No! If I die then my level¡­! Keok!¡±

    ¡°Keuhoooooook!¡±

    Screams ran rampant as the people that were hiding died one after another. Seeing this, Panno could not help but gulp dryly while saying, ¡°The moment I give the signal, run as fast as you can toward the other side.¡±

    ¡°But, but¡­ Panno¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll be fine. Even if I die, I will still be able toe back to life. But that¡¯s not the case for you.¡±

    Ren¨¦ was a young NPC. She was a girl of 20 years old. All she could do was look at Panno in tears while nodding her head. Then¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    A man with the face of a snake appeared behind Panno and aimed for his head.

    ¡°Sword Attack!!!¡±

    <em>Baaaaang!!!</em>

    ¡°Dancing Sword!!!¡±

    <em>Crackle, crackle¡ª</em>

    ¡°Billowing Wind!!!¡±

    Panno used all of his skills in that short moment, but none of his attacks left a scratch on the snake man¡¯s body. Rather¡­

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    ¡­it was Panno that fell down from a single attack of the enemy.

    <em>¡®Ren¨¦? What about Ren¨¦¡­?¡¯</em>

    Even as he flew back and rolled on the ground, his eyes still followed Ren¨¦¡¯s figure. He saw her running on the other side. However, the bastard that attacked him moved swiftly and aimed for Ren¨¦¡¯s neck. Panno thought that he would be witness to how the love of his life got beheaded. Just the horrible thought alone was suffocating Panno.

    ¡°Ren¨¦eeeeeeee!!!¡± Panno cried out as he shut his eyes tightly. But then¡­

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    A harpoon from who knew where stabbed through the Snake Soldier¡¯s abdomen.

    ¡°<em>Hihihihihing</em><em>!</em>¡± A ck horse neighed loudly as the man riding on top of it tugged on the rope connected to the harpoon before dashing away.

    ¡°Hiiiiiiiisssssss!¡±

    The Snake Soldier was dragged away by the rope. There were 1,000 yers that ran after the man, all of them keeping their distance and maintaining their battle lines.

    ¡°From now on, we will run as fast as we can toward our destination!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    The yers ran in their battle formation. Their cloaks, with the cross symbol, fluttered behind them.

    ¡°The Maserrati Guild¡­?¡± Panno murmured as he recognized the symbol and the identity of the charging people. He quickly hugged Ren¨¦ and both took refuge in a safe ce.

    Leona turned furious after seeing one of her soldiers get dragged away, ¡°It seems like these insignificant humans are truly daring. To dare to touch my child like that?¡±

    Leona and her army turned to chase after them. Even though they were just running, they were still able to catch up with the people that were riding on horses. But¡­

    ¡°Ricando!!!¡±

    <em>Rumble, rumble, rumble!!!</em>

    A magical explosion shook the ground and stopped Leona and her troops¡¯ advance.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    However, some of her men were able to break through the mes and caught up with their horses. Thankfully, the archer yers that were dashing on top of the trees stopped them by shooting their arrows.

    ¡°Hiyaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Hiyaaaah!¡±

    The thousand yers turned around and began to surround Leona and her army. For those that saw the Maserrati guild¡¯s force, this was an amazing sight. Then, another of Absolute Monarch Richard¡¯s skills made its appearance in the Stars¡¯ Path.

    <em>[You have activated the Absolute Monarch¡¯s Voice.]</em>

    <em>[Those that wish to join the hunt to kill Leona, pleasee to Area A-41. It¡¯s better for Level 450~500 yers toe.]</em>

    As if Richard was speaking through a giant speaker, his voice rang loudly in the entire Stars¡¯ Path. Richard felt bitter after witnessing the death of 200,000 yers. However, if the yers gather together, the damage that they could deal with would be greater. yers who volunteered and gathered willingly were different from those that had been sacrificed. For yers that volunteered, it was their choice to gather because they wanted to get a share of the rewards and EXP.

    <em>¡®We need their power to kill Leona.¡¯</em>

    Richard continued to run forward as the blood of the rankers that were hiding all over the ce began to boil in excitement.

    ¡°What are the rewards for hunting Leona?¡±

    For the likes of Leona, Great Demon Verus, or Demigod Asura, hunting them would need arge-scale raiding party. Because of that, even those that had only a small amount of contribution would be able to receive rewards as long as they were participants of the hunt. Of course, the chances of getting better rewards would increase if their contributions were high.

    On top of that, all yers had a dream, which was to participate and be able to hunt a beingparable to a god one day. Perhaps that being was Leona.

    ¡°Let¡¯s gooooooo!!!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaah!!!¡±

    ¡°He said Area A-41, right? Kill them all!!!¡±

    ¡°But you¡¯re Level 92?¡±

    ¡°¡­Sh, shut up!!!¡±

    Maserrati Guild¡¯s Richard was someone that knew how to use the crowd well. It was all because of him that the people hiding all over the Stars¡¯ Path began to gather at Area A-41.

    ***

    Henry was the Maserrati Guild¡¯s mage. ck Mage Henry was a talented figure that would not necessarily lose against Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Golden Mage Ali. He was also the one that inherited the powers of the God of ck Magic, Veylon, a god whose magic could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the God of Magic Archipelo.

    Henry¡¯s lips turned into a thin line, tension evident in his body.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    The sound of footsteps reverberated loudly in the area.

    <em>¡®Did Richard¡¯s Royal Decree work?¡¯</em>

    Richard had decided that they needed the power of the people to gain more force. Besides, if they could sessfullyplete thisrge-scale raid with these people, it would also help them promote the Maserrati Guild. And the ones that appeared as the sound of footsteps grew closer¡­

    ¡°This is where Leona¡¯s Raid would be, right?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Henry gulped dryly at the sight of the people that were in the Stars¡¯ Path. Over 100,000 yers had gathered in this ce. Of course, only 9,700 of them were yers at Level 450~500 and only around 200 were yers above Level 500. The rest, around 90,000, were yers that were below that. However, no one could deny that the number that had gathered was enormous.

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right. They will be here soon. The mages will prepare for a magic bombing with me while the archers will prepare to use their strongest pinnacle skill. The summoners have to summon all of their monsters and block the frontlines. The tankers have to form a unit and form a huge wall of shields behind the monster troops. The spearmen will be using their ¡®throw¡¯ and ¡®retrieve¡¯ skills to put pressure on the enemies¡­¡±

    ¡°Wait. Why should we listen to your orders?¡±

    Of course, there were many proud rankers among them. The Maserrati Guild might be the hottest guild these days, but these rankers could not understand why they had to follow Henry¡¯s words. Then¡­

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaaaaack!!!¡±

    Leona¡¯s bone-chilling cry rang loudly and hit everyone¡¯s eardrums.

    ¡°Urkkkkk!¡±

    ¡°What, what the hell?!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The pain ringing in their heads stopped only after Henry brandished his ck wand.

    ¡°¡­Let¡¯s do as he says.¡±

    The rankers ended up epting the orders obediently. They could tell that Henry was a very high-tiered mage. On top of that, the enemies were already near them. In other words, they did not have any time to lose to argue over who was in charge.

    The yers quickly blended among the troops and fell in line. The trap masters helped set up a trap between tworge trees that were facing each other. The others? They moved just like what Henry instructed them to do earlier. Then¡­

    <em>Clip, clop, clip, clop¡ª</em>

    The sound of horse hooves running rang loudly in the area. Richard ran at the forefront with the members of the Maserrati Guild following right behind him.

    <em>¡®All of them are the elites of the guild.¡¯</em>

    It was possible with them. No one would be afraid to confront Marquess Leone, when they were with these elites and 100,000-strong troops! This was what Henry believed.

    Henry slowly raised his hand. The God of Snakes¡¯ Army and Leona would be engulfed in a series of explosions the moment Henry pushed the button and released the traps that they hadid out in the middle of those trees. Richard and his troops were about to pass by the trees. Just when he tried to stop Richard from stepping on the ground, something unexpected happened.

    ¡°Let there be chaos,¡± Leona said, her hair-raising voice ringing in the surrounding.

    ¡°N, no¡­¡±

    Henry immediately realized that something was wrong. He hurriedly cast a ck shield on the ground! At the same time¡­

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The traps exploded beneath Richard and the 1,000 Maserrati guild members, devouring their figures.

    A trap master was a ss that had little to no merit. They were not as fast as closebat sses and could not use magic like the mages. So, why did people still choose it? This was because as long as they installed the traps and set it off, it could devour both closebat and mage yers alike. The power of their traps was beyond anyone¡¯s imagination.

    Henry¡¯s ck shield crumbled under the explosion, the aftermath sweeping away the thousand guild members. The worst part? The 50 Snake Soldiers and Leona began to unleash their attacks.

    ¡°A, attack!!!¡± Richard, despite being devoured by the explosion, gave his order urgently.

    Henry immediately pointed forward and shouted, ¡°Fire!!!¡±

    <em>Crackleeee!</em>

    <em>Rumbleeee¡ª</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    ¡°Phoenix Arrow!!!¡±

    ¡°Continuous Shot!!!¡±

    ¡°Rampant Arrows!!!¡±

    ¡°Homing Missile!!!¡±

    Nearly 10,000 arrows covered the skies. However, Leona¡¯s yellow eyes turned red and¡­

    <em>[Elizabeth¡¯s Breath.]</em>

    <em>[Elizabeth¡¯s Breath protects her child, Leona!]</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Like someone breathing out, a stream of red air spread out and covered Leona¡¯s entire body. And the magic attacks and arrows that covered the skies¡­

    <em>[The magic¡¯s force has weakened!]</em>

    <em>[The magic¡¯s force has weakened!]</em>

    <em>[The magic¡¯s force¡­!]</em>

    <em>[The magic¡¯s force has weak¡­!]</em>

    The magical attacks gradually lost their power until they disappeared into thin air, while the arrows speed lost their momentum until they fell down on the ground and snapped.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    That was how monstrous Leona was. That was not even the end of it.

    <em>[Leona¡¯s Eyes.]</em>

    <em>[Your body will harden and turn to stones once you make eye contact with Leona!]</em>

    ¡°E, eye contact¡­?!¡±

    ¡°Close your eyes¡­!!!¡±

    The rankers hurriedly shouted. However, it was already toote. Surprisingly enough, Leona¡¯s eyes began to appear everywhere. Thousands of eyes appeared both in thend and in the air. Even the rankers¡¯ weapons and armor were covered with Leona¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Hiiiik!!!¡±

    <em>Crack, crack, crack!</em>

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaah!¡±

    <em>Crack, crack, crack!</em>

    ¡°What, what the hell!!!¡±

    <em>Crack, crack, crack!</em>

    The scene waspletely like a page out of the horror books. The ones that identally made eye contact with Leona slowly hardened until they turned into stones. In just an instant, 30,000 yers had hardened and turned to stone out of the 100,000 strong troops.

    Henry took a step back in horror, he mumbled, ¡°How, how can we kill someone like that¡­¡±

    Henry could tell that the Maserrati Guild and the rest of the people that gathered here today would bepletely wiped out.

 Chapter 592: Lady of the Snakes, Leona

    Chapter 592: Lady of the Snakes, Leona

    The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had won many battles that others had deemed impossible to win. Their first battle was with ck Dragon Vormon. Then, they sealed Great Demon Verus, before proceeding to fight and win against Demigod Asura. Everyone had divided opinions back then, some believing that the yers¡¯ powers were not enough and it would be ¡®impossible to hunt¡¯ such beings, while some believed that they could.

    As for the Maserrati Guild? They also firmly believed that they would be able to kill Leona. After all, Leona was not one of the Six Monster Gods, she was just Elizabeth¡¯s child. But the power disyed by the marquess right now was beyond their imagination.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    ¡°Hiiiiiiik!¡±

    ¡°Aaah, aaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°This is ridiculous!!!¡±

    ¡°Vance!!!¡±

    Therades that had just been advancing with them a few moments prior had now turned into stones. Everyone was shocked by the sudden turn of events. They ended up falling on their butts and crawling back from fear. However, the path behind them was blocked. Behind them was another person that had turned to stone.

    Leona inhaled with relish the chaos-tainted air filled with confusion and fear, as if she was breathing the freshest air, ¡°Hmmmmmmm~ Haaaaaaaa~¡±

    Her beautiful figure caused the yers to tremble in fear and terror as she elegantly raised her hand and savored the atmosphere around her.

    ¡°Break,¡± Leona said, her beautiful voice ringing in the area.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    Cracks started to appear on the yers that had turned into stone. Even the summons, which did not have a high level of intelligence, failed to protect themselves and turned into stone. Including the summoners, their monsters, and the yers, around 80,000 fighters had turned into stone. The cracks spread throughout their hardened bodies, and in a mere moment, they crumbled into pieces.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    In just an instant, 30,000 of their gathered troops had disappeared. Richard, who was gravely injured from the aftermath of the explosion, looked at the scene incredulously. Right after that, the 50 Snake Soldiers jumped into the yers¡¯ midst, as poisons of various colors shot out of their mouths.

    <em>[You have been hit by a bleeding poison.]</em>

    <em>[If you don¡¯t detoxify the poison, your body will begin to bleed all over!]</em>

    Some of the yers identally ingested the poison and started to bleed through their eyes, ears and nose.

    <em>[You have been paralyzed.]</em>

    <em>[Your body has started to harden and turn into a stone.]</em>

    Some yers turned into stone, just like when Leona cast her AOE skill earlier.

    <em>[You have been hit by an exploding poison.]</em>

    <em>[One touch from the exploding poison will trigger a powerful explosion on your body.]</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    It was a simple poison skill, but explosions urred all over the ce.

    ¡°Rankers!!!¡±

    ¡°Just you wait!!!¡±

    ¡°Go!!!¡±

    Some of the yers were top rankers at Level 500 or higher. These yers had high abnormal status resistance, incredible stats, and excellent skills.

    <em>Baaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    A swordsman tried to cut down a Snake Soldier.

    ¡°Wh, what¡­?¡±

    The yer used an ability that could instantly double his attack power and cutting force. However, only a scratch was inflicted on the Snake Soldier¡¯s glossy and shiny scales.

    <em>Punch¡ª</em>

    The Snake Soldier, who had the head of a dragon, punched through the ranker¡¯s chest and pierced his heart.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°F*cking bastards! Why are they so strong?!!!¡±

    ¡°Let go of him!!!¡±

    The other rankers rushed at the Snake Soldier. However, they were only able to inflict damage after using their pinnacle skills. These beings all had high HP. The God of Snake¡¯s Army of 50 continued to dig through the gaps of the remaining 70,000 yers.

    ¡°Kyahahahahaha!¡± Leona covered her mouth, cackling at the state of the humans in front of her.

    The most important thing here was the fact that Leona had not even made a move yet. Yet, in an instant, more than 3,000 yers had died.

    At that moment, Richard gave his orders to the members of the Maserrati Guild. ¡°ughter them.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    The Maserrati guild members immediately recovered from the injuries that they had sustained from the explosion earlier, and charged forward. At the same time, several Snake Soldiers that were being subjected to the rankers¡¯ attacks suddenly took to the skies. The one that made them fly was none other than ck Mage Henry.

    ¡°F*ck. These sons of b*tches are pretty strong.¡±

    Henry immediately raised his ck wand.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª</em>

    ck explosions burst out from deep within the bodies of the Snake Soldiers.

    <em>Daaaaash¡ª</em>

    Then, a man leapt up with a greatsword in hand. The man was middle-aged, with a body so big that it could rival Elpis or even Brod¡¯s stature. If the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had the best closebat fighters in the form of Ares and Khan, then the Maserrati Guild had the ¡®Greatsword Master¡¯ Ruvago, a Ranker Among Rankers. No, in fact, he was more than that.

    <em>aaaaash¡ª</em>

    Ruvago¡¯s greatsword split a Snake Soldier in half in one swift movement. At that moment, another man appeared behind another Snake Soldier.

    At one point in time, an assassin guild by the name of ¡®Hitman¡¯ had dominated the Japanese server. Just like its name suggested, it was a guildposed of assassins. However, this very guild had been annihted by a single man in one night. The man¡¯s identity was not known to the public. However, his visage was revealed today. He was none other than Japan¡¯s Assassin King, Rui.

    <em>Fwooooooooosh¡ª</em>

    One attack dealt 6,000% damage. But it did not end there. A dagger was thrust into the shrieking Snake Soldier dozens of times in a single second.

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª</em>

    After taking down one Snake Soldier, Rui moved like a ghost to hunt the other Snake Soldiers.

    ¡°This, this is the Maserrati Guild¡­?¡±

    ¡°Crazy¡­¡±

    All of the yers knew that the Beyond the Heavens was the best guild in existence. But it seemed like the performance of the rankers present here was about to change their minds. Assassin Rui was far superior in terms of power to Informant Abel, while the damage dealt by Greatsword Master Ruvago¡¯s greatsword was far greater than Alexander¡¯s damage.

    At the center of them all was Absolute Monarch Richard.

    Richard shouted, ¡°Don¡¯t be scared! You have a spirit that can help you stand back again even after falling down and a strong body that will not let you back down. Roar bravely! I, the Absolute Monarch, will protect you!!!¡±

    <em>[The Absolute Monarch¡¯s Royal Decree has been triggered!]</em>

    <em>[Everyone that hears the ¡®Tenacious Royal Decree¡¯ will receive an 11% increase in all stats and a 15% increase in abnormal status resistance!]</em>

    <em>[You have forgotten your fears.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    It was crazy. He was able to give buffs to all 70,000 yers here? That was something that even Valkyrie Mei Wei could not do. In fact, even Food God Minhyuk could not achieve something like that. It was because Food God Minhyuk had to cook before he could give a buff.

    Then, golden letters appeared in the skies and swiftly flew to their targets: Assassin King Rui, God of ck Magic Henry, and Greatsword Master Ruvago.

    <em>[The ¡®Absolute Monarch¡¯s¡¯ Divine Stigma has been imprinted!]</em>

    <em>[A 0.5% reduction in all stats will be imposed upon you as a penalty for every person that you imprint the Divine Stigma on!]</em>

    <em>[For the ones that received the Divine Stigma, they will be able to receive a +24% increase in all stats and a +2 increase in their skill levels.]</em>

    The key members of Maserrati Guild could see what Absolute Monarch Richard was putting at stake here. They knew that the Divine Stigma would impose a 0.5% all-stat reduction per person that it was imprinted on. In other words, all of Richard¡¯s stats and abilities had received a 1.5% reduction. However, the fact that he could raise someone¡¯s power in an instant still made it a very powerful ability, especially if their targets were Rui, Henry and Ruvago.

    ¡°Wooooooooooooh!¡±

    Ruvago split apart the head of one of the Snake Soldiers in one strike, while ck Mage Henry cast various debuffs on the enemy.

    ¡°Wow. That¡¯s crazy¡­!¡±

    ¡°We couldn¡¯t even do anything with our numbers!¡±

    ¡°Crazy!¡±

    The yers were watching the Maserrati Guild in awe.

    ¡°If things continue at this rate, then taking down Leona is not just a pipe dream for us!!!¡±

    The yers were actually getting stronger. However, in contrast to their burning enthusiasm, cold sweat was already dripping down Richard¡¯s back.

    <em>¡®No, it will be difficult.¡¯</em>

    Leona was still watching everything on the sidelines while stroking her ¡®viper hair¡¯nguidly. This meant that Leona was not feeling any sense of crisis at all. The number of Snake Soldiers had already halved from the initial fifty. That just went to show how high the damage on the yers¡¯ side was. After all, more than 10,000 yers had died to just kill that many.

    Leona continued to stroke her hair, a bored look on her face as she said, ¡°Is that all?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    She grinned, ¡°You¡¯re weak.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Leona evaluated Richard¡¯s majesty and dignity to be something weak. As if to prove it to him, the dozens of vipers resting on her head and acting as her hair began to move, writhing fiercely.

    ¡°We should end all the killing now.¡±

    The vipers turned into light and stretched out. The ce where one particr viper was aiming for was none other than the ce where Rui was.

    As an assassin ss yer, Rui was very quick on his feet. His speed should have been more than enough to avoid the vipers. However, at that moment, he made eye contact with the viper.

    <em>[You have fallen into a powerful stunned state.]</em>

    ¡°W, what¡­?!¡±

    Leona¡¯s abilities left him utterly defenseless and unable to move, with the viper free to bite him on the neck with its poisonous fangs.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    <em>[All of your stats will fall by 50% for five minutes.]</em>

    <em>[All of your skill levels will be halved for five minutes.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP will rapidly decrease for five minutes.]</em>

    The strength in Rui¡¯s body was drained away in an instant. And it was not just him. Dozens of vipers stretched out and targeted all of the key members of the Maserrati Guild. It was difficult to avoid them as they were thin, long, and fast. None of them could manage it. On top of that, just one look at them and they would fall into a ¡®stunned¡¯ state.

    <em>[All of your stats will fall by 50% for five minutes.]</em>

    <em>[All of your skill levels will be halved for five minutes...]</em>

    These notifications constantly rang in the ears of the members of the Maserrati Guild. Ruvago, who had been showing great momentum earlier, fell down after being hit by one of the Snake Soldiers. A 50% drop in all stats and skill levels was that catastrophic.

    Leona approached them one slow step at a time.

    <em>Swoooooosh¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Reaching out with her hand, she easily lifted the tall and bulky Ruvago and started strangling him. Ruvago struggled fiercely in her hold, but Leona just looked at him as if it was funny. Slowly, ever so slowly, Ruvago fell into a petrified state.

    ¡°¡­Ruvago!!!¡±

    Ruvago was Richard¡¯s preciousrade, and Richard dashed toward the two of them to save him. However, everyone knew that he was already toote.

    Still, Ruvago was a Ranker Among Rankers; he was the strongest among everyone in the guild and was Maserrati¡¯s pride and joy.

    <em>Grab¡ª</em>

    Even while his own neck was being gripped tight, Ruvago was still able to grab Leona¡¯s neck with both of his hands.

    ¡°Ho?¡±

    Then, Ruvago squeezed out thest of his strength.

    ¡°Warrior¡¯s Sacrifice!!!¡±

    For three seconds, just three short seconds, Ruvago¡¯s stats increased by 70%. However, the price for it was death. Then, Ruvago rushed toward the huge wall with Leona¡¯s neck in his hands.

    ¡°Ho?¡±

    Even though she was being choked like that, Leona still looked as if she was watching something interesting. Just like that, Ruvago mmed her with all his might against the wall.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Leona giggled, her body embedded deep into the wall. Finally, Ruvago grabbed her by the neck once more and jumped up.

    When using Warrior¡¯s Sacrifice, a powerful explosion would ur upon the warrior¡¯s death. The explosion was powerful enough to sweep the entire area away. That was why Ruvago jumped¡ªhe wanted to reduce the damage to the others as much as he could.

    ¡°Ah¡­¡±

    ¡°Crazy¡­¡±

    An unknown feeling swept over the yers at the sight of one yer¡¯s sacrifice. As for the person that had jumped to the skies? He finally exploded.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    As if a nuclear bomb had exploded, all of the vines and the trees that grew on the crevices of the stone wall were swept away and destroyed. The remains of Ruvago¡¯s body turned into ashes and disappeared with the wind.

    As the vines disappeared, the entrance to a cave appeared. Leona fell down in front of the entrance without a scratch on her body.

    Leona was getting increasingly bored. She was interested in these daring people, but her disappointment in them was growing by the second. So, she wanted to ease her boredom by seeing their fear and terror.

    ¡°My mother, Elizabeth, fell asleep here after being kicked out by the gods. Why was my mother kicked out? Simple. Because she is a monster,¡± Leona said, giggling at the yers as she looked around at them. Then, as if on cue, thousands of snakes began to rain down on them.

    ¡°H-hiiiiiiiiik!¡±

    ¡°What, what the hell is this?!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaack!¡±

    The yers were horrified to see the snakes fall down and cling to their bodies. As the snakes fell down, they writhed until they grew in size.

    ¡°N, no way¡­¡±

    Richard had a terrifying hunch. The snakes that were falling to the ground were Snake Soldiers.

    <em>¡®She can do something like this?!¡¯</em>

    Leona had this strong army under hermand?! And as if she enjoyed the increasing fear and panic, Leona said, ¡°I will kill the gods that drove us and my mother here. Even the God of Origin, Athenae. Kyahahahahaha!¡±

    Leona¡¯s expression was distorted with how loud she wasughing, the dozens of vipers on her head writhing like crazy. Finally, the hundreds of snakes took on their original form.

    <em>¡®The hair¡­ that¡¯s how she¡¯smanding them¡­!¡¯</em>

    Richard realized this fact. However, there was no way to stop her. With a horrifying look on her face, she said, ¡°I will take that seat and seat on the throne of the God of Origin. Fear me, all shall fall into despair¡­¡±

    Leona cackled as she looked at the shocked faces of everyone around her.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s right. I will be the one to do that. I will kill Athenae, the God of Origin, and be the true owner of that title.¡¯</em>

    However, she was wrong. The people were shocked not because of her deration, but because of something else.

    <em>Ping¡ª</em>

    An unidentified sword swung through Leona¡¯s hair, cutting off dozens of vipers in one go.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    The vipers that were cut off of her head fell down on the ground and writhed like crazy before disappearing with a hiss. Blood spilled from her hair, dyeing Leona¡¯s face with green blood.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Leona could not understand why there was blood flowing on her face. When she turned around, she saw a man moving to thrust his sword, which was exploding with power, toward her heart.

    ¡°Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King¡­?¡± Richard mumbled in shock as he watched the man stab Leona in the heart.

    <em>Thud</em><em>¡ª!</em>

 Chapter 593: Minhyukâ€™s Connections

    Chapter 593: Minhyuk¡¯s Connections

    The hunt for Leona was being broadcasted live all over the world. Countless BJs and broadcasting stations had their cameras rolling to show the entire world how the Maserrati Guild and the 100,000 gathered troops died a gruesome death.

    Everyone was witness to how monstrous Leona was. From what they saw, she was even more powerful than Demigod Asura. She could cast plenty of debuffs on her enemies and even control the system. Even the yers who were not present andmentators felt devastated, having watched the copse of the 100,000 troops and Maserrati Guild in person.

    <em>[If things continue at this rate, then everyone in the Stars¡¯ Path will die.]</em>

    <em>[Leona will kill them before killing all of the beings in the Stars¡¯ Path.]</em>

    <em>[Just like what the yers are saying, the Stars¡¯ Path has now be the Path of Disasters.]</em>

    The viewers andmentators were all appalled to see Leonand in front of an unknown cave entrance, unscathed and free to summon her hundreds of thousands of Snake Soldiers.

    <em>[We don¡¯t even know the extent of Leona¡¯s power.]</em>

    <em>[From what I heard, this shocking, powerful army is something that Elizabeth has. It seems like Leona has also inherited the power tomand them.]</em>

    <em>[Everyone will be wiped out. With that number of Snake Soldiers, it¡¯s already a given that the entire Stars¡¯ Path will be a sea of blood and a field.]</em>

    <em>[The Maserrati Guild and the army of yers were able to get Leona¡¯s attention and drag the time. This means that the yers will be able to log out soon. We rmend all of the yers watching this to log out as soon as you can.]</em>

    They could not deny how terrible the situation was. However, deep inside a cave, an unknown figure slowly crept behind Leona, who was drunk on her own power.

    <em>[¡­?]</em>

    <em>[¡­?]</em>

    The figure cut off Leona¡¯s viper hair and he did not even stop there, stabbing straight towards Leona¡¯s heart with his sword. The sword attack was none other than Sword of Frenzy.

    <em>Staaaaaab¡ª!</em>

    Sword of Frenzy was a skill that could best disy its might when used against an individual, triggering an additional 400% damage upon sessful attack on a vital point. It also would deal six additional attacks in a row, with an additional 100% damage. In other words¡­

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª!</em>

    <em>¡­</em>Leona¡¯s heart received six more brutal attacks.

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaaack!¡±

    As the sword went through her heart, Leona uttered her very first scream. However, it was not over. Minhyuk¡¯s Continent Destroyer Sword was currently engraved with the golden word ¡®Destruction¡¯.

    While Sword of Frenzy was strong, Minhyuk could not deny the fact that it was the weakest among the skills that he had. The only reason why he used Sword of Frenzy was because Destruction would give 700% additional damage to sixteen consecutive attacks.

    At that moment, Destruction¡¯s lightning fell down from the skies and devoured Leona.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Leona waspletely defenseless. Her overwhelming power made her arrogant, which was the main reason why she failed to realize that someone was creeping up behind her. On top of that, the one that gave her such a strong blow was the King of Beyond the Heavens, Minhyuk.

    Leona staggered back from the pain. Minhyuk immediately took a step forward and¡­

    ¡°Sword of Absolute Death.¡±

    <em>Stab¡ª!</em>

    A powerful strike that hit the enemy unconditionally brought pain to Leona all at once. And to the one that received the first blow, there would be seven more hits, with an additional 500% attack power would be inflicted on them.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°Kiyaaaaaaaaaaaaaack! S, stoooooop!!! How, how dare you! Do you know who I am¡­?!¡±

    Leona was suddenly thrown into shock.

    <em>[You have fallen into a three second stunned state.]</em>

    The Sword of Absolute Death, aside from its 100% sess rate, would also bring the target into a three-second stunned state. Right after that, hundreds of des appeared and danced around her, striking her with another 200% damage. On top of that, the attack also exploded, with an additional 500% damage upon contact with her body.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Everyone present on the scene watched incredulously.

    <em>¡®That powerful Leona is¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®She wasn¡¯t even able to make a move¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®What the hell?! Is he some kind of monster?!¡¯</em>

    Leona¡¯s shrieks caused everyone to be in awe. Her figure waspletely covered in green blood.

    ¡°Bastaaaaaaaaard!¡± Leona screamed, her anger boiling over as poison spewed out from her body. She was literally about to explode. After all, she had never felt so humiliated in her life.

    <em>I will tear that man to pieces! I am the great snake queen! I will be the woman that will be the God of Beginning! </em>

    Leona¡¯s eyes shed open. She wanted to turn Minhyuk into stone as their eyes made eye contact. However¡­

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Nothing changed.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°Sword of Absolute Death.¡±

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­Urk?¡±

    Once again, Leona¡¯s body received the full brunt of the attack. The reason? It was because Minhyuk had a body with a ¡®thousand-poison resistance¡¯ and was invincible against abnormal statuses. Bone-numbing pain once again washed over Leona¡¯s body. Everyone watching the scene was in awe. At the same time, the notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s head.

    <em>[The entire world is in admiration of your majesty as a king.]</em>

    <em>[The guild members and everyone present were left speechless after seeing you do something that no one has ever done before.]</em>

    <em>[You have earned 1,004 cash.]</em>

    <em>[You have earned 1,310 cash.]</em>

    <em>[You have earned 1,681 cash¡­]</em>

    <em>¡®Oh?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk saw that he gained 40,000 cash in one go.

    <em>¡®If I do this well, then¡­¡¯</em>

    A small smile curled at the corner of Minhyuk¡¯s lips. He immediately left Leona behind, who was writhing in pain, and rushed his guild members and troops that were hiding in the cave, ¡°Let¡¯s get out of here as fast as we can.¡±

    ¡°What¡­?¡±

    ¡°Why¡­? How¡­? Beyond the Heavens King, why are you doing this?!!¡±

    ¡°You should kill Leona with us!!!¡±

    Seeing Minhyuk and his men running away swiftly made everyone anxious. They felt like they would be able to hunt Leona if the Food God was with them. Instead, the Food God was hurriedly trying to leave with his men.

    Everyone was thinking ¡®Why?¡¯. However, ¡®That¡¯s only natural.¡¯ also floated in their heads. Who were they? They came here to hunt Leona so they could earn the rewards in the form of artifacts and gold, as well as gain fame and honor. That was their choice.

    And Food God Minhyuk had decided that he did not want to fight alongside them.

    Did he have to fight because it was an unprecedented disaster? That was bullshit. The Beyond the Heavens King had no reason to face such a disaster. He did not need to sacrifice himself and his men for something like that. Considering the level of the guild members that he was leading as well as his troops, nine out of ten would die if they joined this battle. This was the natural choice that a king should make.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s true. But¡­¡¯</em>

    Richard wanted to get the help of the Food God. He believed that the situation would change if Minhyuk was with them. In fact, Richard¡¯s body was shaking after witnessing the shocking sword dance that Minhyuk disyed earlier. Richard knew that it was only a sneak peek of the true powers of the Food God.

    ¡°W, wait.¡±

    Minhyuk did not turn to look back at Richard despite his call. He looked busy taking care of his men. However, he was really just waiting for this call.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m the only one that is sitting on that throne.¡¯ </em>Minhyuk was actually trying to create this situation. After all, ¡®I will help you!¡¯ and ¡®Please help us!¡¯ were two entirely different situations when it came to fighting together. Besides, Minhyuk found a new way to earn some cash and he needed to act this out.

    Richard called out to him once again, ¡°Wait a minute. Food God! Help us!¡±

    <em>Nice!</em>

    Minhyuk stopped in his tracks, then turned to give his order to Centurion Park, ¡°Centurion Park, bring our troops to safety. Full speed.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty!¡±

    Minhyuk believed that this was the best decision. The new guild members and the troops were all too weak to fight against Leona.

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Minhyuk asked, looking back at Richard.

    All of the broadcasting station cameras and the viewers had focused their attention on them.

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: Orleed, please give me Richard¡¯s nickname code.]</em>

    After sending the whisper, Minhyuk immediately received the code from Orleed. Meanwhile, Richard actually did not know what to say to Minhyuk when he called out to him.

    <em>¡®The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King knows that I¡¯m the culprit behind this mess.¡¯</em>

    That was something that was both embarrassing and shameful. However, if they could hunt down Leona with him, they might receive damage but definitely not that much. If they could kill her, at least those that died would be able to receive rewards and the only person that would be disappointed and disgraced would be Richard. However, he was also someone that would be king.

    ¡°Join us in Leona¡¯s hunt. You¡¯ll definitely be able to get a lot of spoils.¡±

    ¡°Why should I?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Richard was left speechless. After all, why should Minhyuk do so? At this moment, Richard was already thinking of the worst case scenario. Minhyuk was a king and it was necessary for him to put an emerging king in check. He might say those words here.

    <em>¡®All I can do is lower my head.¡¯</em>

    Then, all of the viewers would be witness to his disgrace and shame. But at that moment¡­

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: Act natural.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Richard was shocked by the sudden whisper. However, he immediately rxed after looking at Minhyuk and continued to talk naturally, ¡°Then, are you telling me that you¡¯ll willingly leave all these people behind?¡±

    ¡°The only ones important to me are my people and my men. Why would I care for someone that made their choice toe here?¡±

    But their real conversation was in their whispers.

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: I am the Beyond the Heavens King and Maserrati Guild is an emerging kingdom. You were the ones that created this shitshow up and you want me to help you clean up your mess? Then what about me? What would my Beyond the Heavens Kingdom get out of this?]</em>

    Just like Richard had expected, Minhyuk was very much aware of everything. The Maserrati Guild had no other choice but to give in and fold. However, it was now a lot easier since they were doing it through whispers.

    <em>[<strong>Richard</strong>: 30,000 tinum. And a ¡®Military Nurturing Parchment¡¯ made with the power of the Absolute Monarch.]</em>

    It was not a bad proposal. It had to be known that the Military Nurturing Parchment was an item that the Absolute Monarch could make only once per year. It was a parchment that would help boost the development of the army by tripling the soldiers¡¯ growth rate for an entire month. Simply put, it was a very valuable parchment. However¡­

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: We will take all of the spoils of Leona¡¯s hunt.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Richard was very shocked. Minhyuk wanted to hog all of the spoils of war? This was a highway robbery!

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: There¡¯s nothing I can do if you don¡¯t like my terms. But if we¡¯re talking about the hunting spoils, there would definitely be rewards that are ¡®attributed¡¯. I will noty im on those items. That alone will be able to give Maserrati Guild enough profit, am I right? Of course, my side will still get the most pick. Is that why you don¡¯t like it?</em>

    To Richard, Minhyuk was practicallymitting daylight robbery. He felt cold sweat start to drip down from his forehead. Ironic as it might seem, it was hard to reject Minhyuk¡¯s counter offer. After all, it was much better than getting wiped out, receiving penalties, and gaining no EXP.

    <em>[<strong>Richard</strong>: Fine. I¡¯ll take you up on that offer. However, do you think there¡¯s a way?]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: There is. I have already calcted everything. Do you know what kind of cheat power we can have if webined the power of the Absolute Monarch and the power of the Food God?]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Richard looked at Minhyuk in doubt. Thebination of the power of the Absolute Monarch and the power of the Food God? Richard could not understand what Minhyuk meant. The Food God and Richard would not actually shout ¡®Fusiooooooon!¡¯ right?

    <em>[<strong>Richard</strong>: I¡¯m giving you my consent.]</em>

    Once Richard signed the contract, Minhyuk said¡­

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: Then, bow your head and ask me to help you. Do it as if you¡¯re asking me to fight for the people.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Richard¡¯s eyes widened. It seemed like Minhyuk did not send him a whisper because he was being considerate!

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: The situation created by the conversation that we had in front of the people is that ¡®I have absolutely¡¯ no obligation to help you. And you want me to say that I¡¯ll help you right away after that?]</em>

    That was true. However, after their short conversation, Richard could tell that Minhyuk had induced this situation. Then, what was going to happen now? Although Richard was very reluctant, he had no choice but to do as Minhyuk said and speak up in front of the world.

    ¡°Please help us, not because of me but because of all the yers here. We¡¯re in a situation where all of them risked getting wiped out. Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King, you¡¯re strong, aren¡¯t you? Help them. Please.¡±

    Richard also bowed his head just like what Minhyuk instructed.

    All of the yers were looking at the two of them in eager anticipation. They all felt that Minhyuk had no obligation nor reason to help. This was because they were unaware of the secrets shared through the whispers.

    Minhyuk looked at them. His eyes looked like the epitome of the eyes of a king that was feeling sorry for his wounded and injured people.

    <em>¡®No. That guy is a thief¡­¡¯</em>

    Richard was left dumbfounded as he watched Minhyuk look at them as if he was in deep agony.

    ¡°Hoo¡­¡±

    Even his sigh seemed to contain his woes as he pondered for quite some time. Then, Minhyuk said to all of the yers that were looking at him eagerly, ¡°Fine. I can¡¯t really turn my back on you. Alright. I will fight alongside you.¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Beyond the Heavens! Beyond the Heavens! Beyond the Heavens! Beyond the Heavens!¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s really cool¡­¡±

    ¡°Wow¡­¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re going to fight alongside us? Wow!!!¡±

    ¡°So amazing¡­ The Beyond the Heavens King is truly a wise king!!!¡±

    That was right. This was how things turned out. And all Richard could do was watch them with a nk and despondent look on his face. Then, Minhyuk raised his hand and prompted everyone to get silent.

    ¡°And Richard, you will be a great king. I never expected that you would bow your head for them. I respect that.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    At that moment, goosebumps covered Richard¡¯s entire body.

    <em>¡®This rascal?¡¯</em>

    Then, everyone turned to look at Richard. With Minhyuk¡¯s simple words, the gazes of everybody had changed.

    Richard was a new and emerging king, yet he bowed his head to the king that was defending his own throne. However, something else was added to that and that was ¡®to protect them¡¯. But if Minhyuk did not explicitly mention that, then no one would notice.

    <em>¡®Just now¡­¡¯</em>

    What Minhyuk just did was to establish his own status, as well as elevate Richard¡¯s own. What did that mean?

    <em>¡®It means that we are not enemies yet.¡¯</em>

    In other words, even if Minhyuk had stolen a lot of things from Maserrati Guild, he was still able to forge a friendly rtion with them. However, the most surprising part here was¡­

    <em>¡®He just used words but he was able to achieve this much?¡¯</em>

    It was terrifying. Indeed, that was¡­

    <em>¡®Beyond the Heavens King.¡¯</em>

    ¡­Minhyuk.

 Chapter 594: Minhyukâ€™s Connections

    Chapter 594: Minhyuk¡¯s Connections

    <em>[Many people consider you as a true and genuine wise king.]</em>

    <em>[You have earned 1,231 cash.]</em>

    <em>[You have earned 1,131 cash.]</em>

    <em>[You have earned 1,011 cash.]</em>

    The notifications of his cash acquisition for the MVP Shop rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears. He had already decided to fight Leona in the first ce, but he was still able to earn a lot with just a few words.

    First, Minhyuk was able to secure the loot from the Maserrati Guild. Second, by showing his majesty as a true king, he was able to gain both cash and respect from the people present. And third, by saying those words to Richard, he was able to create a situation where the Maserrati Guild was not their enemy, but an ally. Minhyuk had judged that it was not necessary for Beyond the Heavens Kingdom to recognize them as their enemy, just because they were an emerging kingdom.

    Richard, who was looking at Leona¡¯s slowly moving figure, asked, ¡°What did you mean when you said that the Absolute Monarch¡¯s power and the Food God¡¯s power willbine?¡±

    ¡°What is your Absolute Monarch¡¯s Stigma¡¯s current level?¡±

    Richard grimaced. Talking about one¡¯s own ss and special skills, especially since he was an Absolute God ss, was a very sensitive topic. However, Richard was also very much aware that this was not the time for him to care about such matters.

    ¡°It¡¯s Level 1.¡±

    It was to be expected. After all, only a few days had passed since he changed his ss to the Absolute God¡¯s ss, Absolute Monarch. However, the mere existence of a ¡®level¡¯ meant that growth was still possible for Richard.

    ¡°As expected,¡± Minhyuk said as he looked at Richard, barely containing the smile that was about to show on his lips.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s possible. It¡¯s already crazy enough that it¡¯s possible.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk, who saw Richard¡¯s look that was begging him for an answer, said, ¡°Will your Absolute Monarch¡¯s Stigma increase the number of buff targets or will the buff be stronger if it levels up?¡±

    Clever rankers would be able to predict the direction in which their skill would grow in the future. The way to predict it was simple. All they had to do was consider the bnce of the game and think about what special privileges the operators of Joy Co. Ltd. would give them.

    ¡°I believe the number of people that will be able to receive the stigma will increase. There¡¯s also around 3%~7% expected increase in the buff effect.¡±

    That was right. That was the answer, the extent of what a yer could predict.

    Then, Minhyuk asked, ¡°What are the conditions to level up the Absolute Monarch¡¯s Stigma?¡±

    Of course, Richard could not tell Minhyuk. For special skills, the concept of leveling up skills using ¡®skill proficiency¡¯ would often disappear. However, it would be possible to increase the level of these skills if they could satisfy the conditions that they needed to meet.

    A prime example of this was Absolute Monarch¡¯s Stigma. First, he had to have 30,000 guild members or more. Second, he had to have at least dozens of territories under their kingdom¡¯smand. Third, he has to gain victory in a war against another kingdom. And fourth, building an empire. The conditions werepletely ridiculous. Although the skill could really be leveled up, it was almost impossible to make it happen. But still, it was Richard¡¯s skill.

    ¡°Well, you don¡¯t have to tell me. I can already guess what it is.¡±

    That was right. Minhyuk could already guess that those conditions werepletely ridiculous.

    ¡°But answer me this, what if your ¡®Absolute Monarch¡¯s Stigma¡¯ could temporarily increase by 3~5 levels?¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Richard felt his breath stagnate at the words. He could already tell that the effects of the skill would be strong enough that only the word ¡®crazy¡¯ could be used to describe it. Increasing the Absolute Monarch¡¯s Stigma by 3~5 levels? Richard could already expect the effects to be at least 35% stronger than before.

    <em>¡®If we¡¯re being realistic then¡­¡¯</em>

    Richard believed this to be impossible. However, he was still shocked. Who was the person in front of him? The person in front of him was the yer that could make the best buff dishes in Athenae. Just the thought alone was enough to take his breath away.

    In a blink of an eye, Leona had already recovered.

    ¡°I see what you mean.¡±

    ¡°Yes. Ah, do you have a lot of NPC friends? They have to be strong.¡±

    A small smile curled at the corners of Richard¡¯s lips at the question. One of Richard¡¯s strengths was the fact that he had built a strong rtionship with NPCs. In fact, Richard had been pushed back by Food God Minhyuk since earlier. However, this question had definitely brought back his lost pride.

    ¡°Of course. If I make the call now, a truck full of people will definitelye. But, why are you asking that?¡±

    ¡°I believe we need the support of the NPCs.¡±

    ¡°Do you want to use the Absolute Monarch Stigma on the NPCs?¡±

    Minhyuk nodded. Because of Leona¡¯s control over the system, the yers had been temporarily banned from entering the Stars¡¯ Path. Fortunately, that was not the case for NPCs. Also¡­

    ¡°Leona¡¯s strongest weapon is turning whoever she made eye contact with into stone. Do you think it¡¯s possible for ordinary yers to keep their eyes closed while fighting?¡±

    ¡°That would be impossible. However, NPCs that have fought battles since they were young are different. Ah, you want to get the help of Named NPCs at the very least?¡±

    Minhyuk nodded once again. The reason why he wanted to enlist the help of the NPCs? It was because he had seen Ellie fight before. Ellie was a genius that could beat her enemies even with her eyes closed. If genius NPCs of her caliber could gather, then killing Leona would not be difficult. What more if they received the Absolute Monarch¡¯s Stigma?

    Richard dered confidently, ¡°So, Named NPCs at the very least? Don¡¯t worry, a huge number of those NPCs wille to my aid. Ah, you, the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King, will also call for them, right?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    Richard finally felt better. Why? Although Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King Minhyuk had helped him save his energy and power, it was still true that he suffered a huge humiliation today. However, he was now given the chance to make up for that humiliation. At the very least, Richard was confident that each of the empires, kingdoms and territories that he had connections with would send at least one of their lowest-leveled Named NPCs as reinforcements for him.

    <em>¡®They will all be amazed.¡¯</em>

    After all, dozens of Named NPCs would run to help a yer. Richard was sure that the entire world would be in awe and admiration. Of course, he also knew that Minhyuk, as the king of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, would be able to call for a lot of reinforcements. However, Richard had been working hard to promote friendly rtionships with the other empires and kingdoms, even resorting to bribing some of them. From what Richard knew, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom rarely resorted to such acts. This made Richard confident that he would receive far more support than them.

    ¡°I will kill you all. Especially you,¡± Leona growled, ring at Minhyuk after she finished restoring her body and recovering from her wounds.

    So, what did Minhyuk do?

    ¡°Let¡¯s Have a Meal!¡±

    He created a transparent barrier.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Well, Minhyuk had to cook, just like what he told Richard earlier, right? And the one that had to hold Leona back while they were waiting for reinforcements and for Minhyuk to cook, would be Richard.

    ¡°Fighting,¡± Minhyuk said, raising his fist at Richard in encouragement.

    Richard trembled as he sent a whisper to his guild members still in the American Server.

    <em>[<strong>Richard</strong>: Kyle. Contact all of the kingdoms and empires, as well as the nobles that we have a close rtionship with. Ask them for reinforcements at the Named NPC level.]</em>

    It was time for them to show the majesty of the Maserrati Guild.

    ***

    Minhyuk, who was nestled safely inside his ¡®Let¡¯s Have a Meal¡¯ barrier, did not intend to show off when he asked Richard to get the help of NPCs. In fact, it was contrary to what Richard was thinking. In fact, he truly wanted their help to win. After all, NPCs truly had stronger powers than them.

    <em>¡®Come to think of it, there¡¯s that item in the MVP Shop, right?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk saw a very unique item in the MVP Shop.

    <em>[A Mythical Bird that Cries Sadly For You. 30,000 cash.]</em>

    The price of the item was quite expensive. However, the Mythical Bird that Cries Sadly for You had a very unusual effect.

    <em>¡®This bird will fly to the NPCs that have been recognized by the system to have a high degree of favor with me or to those that care about me deeply and will cry for their help.¡¯</em>

    Of course, it was possible that some of those NPCs were busy or were in the middle of doing something very important. However, there would also be some that were resting and would choose toe. And Minhyuk did not want everyone that he knew toe. After all, they had their work too.

    <em>¡®It would be nice if it also had a memo function. What a pity.¡¯</em>

    There was also one more thing that Minhyuk found unusual.

    <em>¡®Cry sadly? What does that mean?¡¯</em>

    Nothing was written about that part. Minhyuk saw that the battle between Leona and the Maserrati Guild was about to start again. As he watched the yers begin another round of battle, the ¡®Mythical Bird that Cries Sadly For You¡¯ flew into the skies.

    <em>Kihyeeeeeeeeeeeek¡ª</em>

    A bird, enveloped in blinding light, soared in the skies and disappeared in a blink.

    <em>¡®It would be nice if at least five of them came to help me.¡¯</em>

    At that moment, Minhyuk was still unaware of the impact that the Mythical Bird that Cries Sadly For You would have.

    ***

    Cali was the one in charge of the Maserrati Guild¡¯s diplomatic rtions. Although the Maserrati Guild has not yet been crowned a kingdom, he was already working hard on forging rtionships and improving their friendly ties with other empires and kingdoms. He even spent a lot of money to achieve it.

    Estio Empire¡¯s emperor listened silently to Cali¡¯s request for a reinforcement of their strongest NPC and soldiers. Richard had met a few times with this very same emperor, and even toasted quite a few sses of wine together.

    ¡°I believe this is an ordeal that the Maserrati Guild must ovee to be a kingdom.¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Cali immediately understood what the emperor meant.

    <em>¡®I am not willing to sacrifice the lives of my precious soldiers just for you.¡¯</em>

    Anger soared in Cali¡¯s head. He had spent a ton of money on them for this?! The emperor evenughed with them and toasted them?! But everything was for naught. After that, Cali went on to several empires and kingdoms.

    Airede Empire.

    ¡°But my soldiers are on vacation?¡±

    Caina Kingdom.

    ¡°Leave! How dare you ask for my help already?!¡±

    Vleid Kingdom.

    ¡°Our Archer of Light Riel suffered an injury on his index finger yesterday¡­¡±

    Many kingdoms and empires turned a blind eye to Maserrati Guild¡¯s plight. Cali¡¯s anger grew with each rejection. He was sure that each empire would have at least fifty Named NPCs. For kingdoms? At least five. However, they did not even offer any support, even if they had that many men under theirmand?

    Cali realized, <em>¡®No matter what we do, in the end, the NPCs will not recognize foreigners like us¡­¡¯</em>

    This was the reality of the matter. Just when Cali¡¯s shoulders started to droop in disappointment, a thick and callused hand patted him on the shoulder. The man was none other than Sword Master Verr.

    In the entire world, only two people could be called Sword Masters. One was Marquis Loumat, the one that tried to hold a ritual to summon Great Demon Verus with Crazy Tyrant Akhan. Marquis Loumat died under Minhyuk¡¯s hands. The other one was none other than Verr. Of course, they were not true andplete Sword Masters. However, they were given that title because they have reached the highest level of the sword.

    Verr might have the same title as Marquis Loumat but he was much stronger; a true master hiding in seclusion. He was going to be the next Absolute Supreme NPC to appear.

    <em>¡®However, Richard won their hearts.¡¯</em>

    Even though many kingdoms and empires turned their backs on Richard, he still had Verr on his side. Besides, not all of the kingdoms turned their backs on them. Behind Verr stood the Absolute NPCs that Richard had secretly met over the course of the year and made connections with. They had around 13 Named NPCs and one NPC that was set to be an Absolute Supreme NPC. There were also around 200,000 troops that had decided to help Maserrati Guild.

    ¡°Let¡¯s depart.¡±

    At Verr¡¯s words, everyone kicked their horses and started running at high speed.

    Cali thought, <em>¡®The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King¡¯s eyes will grow so wide that they would fall out.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I believe Richard will be able to raise his head proudly.¡¯</em>

    ***

    At the same time, in the Demon World.

    After Great Demon Verus had been sealed, another Great Demon made their appearance and started to take control over the entirety of the Demon World. This Great Demon¡¯s name was none other than ¡®Gremory¡¯.

    Gremory had forged a connection with Minhyuk in the past. She had been in awe of the jjajangmyeon that he made for her back then. And this very same Gremory was now in control of half of the entire Demon World. She had be the master of more than tens of millions of Demon World Corps. And all of this¡­

    <em>¡®It¡¯s all because of that child, Minhyuk. It¡¯s because he sealed the Great Demon Verus.¡¯</em>

    Gremory had a huge crush, no gratitude, on Minhyuk. She wanted to repay him, but how could she ever do so? But then, at that moment, inside the dark and dull Demon World, a space suddenly opened up and a beautiful bird emitting a white light flew out of it.

    ¡°¡­What the hell?¡±

    Gremory was flustered. How did a bird enter the Demon World? It was even a beautiful one to boot. But, the bird cried mournfully the moment it arrived.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeee! Kihyeeeeee!!!¡±

    Then, a notification rang in Gremory¡¯s ears.

    <em>[Minhyuk is requesting your help.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Requesting her help? Gremory¡¯s answer to that was of course a resounding yes. However, she had a lot of work to do right now.

    ¡°Kihyeeeee! Kihyeeeeee! Kihyeeeeeee!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The bird enveloped in light cried loudly as it flew vigorously around beforending on the ground in front of Gremory and shaking its head sadly. Seeing the bird¡¯s gestures and tears, Gremory realized, ¡°He¡¯s, he¡¯s in great danger?!¡±

    She could even see the urgency of the matter as the bird continued to cry. From what it looked like, the bird had been crying for a long time and would faint at any moment. It was showing her how dangerous the situation was on Minhyuk¡¯s side since he sent this bird.

    Then, at that moment, Great Demon Gremory rose from her throne and stood in front of the 150,000 Demon World Corps that were on standby. She ordered, ¡°Prepare for war!!!¡±

    The demon race were born with stronger physiquespared to humans. So, if one had to base them on the humans¡¯ standard of Named NPCs, the number of Named NPCs that Gremory was leading was around 1,000. At this moment, the Demon World Corps was about to make their debut in the human world.

    As for the Mythical Bird that Cries Sadly For You¡­

    <em>Grin¡ª</em>

    There was a cunning twinkle in its eyes, as it disappeared in a sh of light and headed to another ce.

 Chapter 595: Minhyukâ€™s Connections

    Chapter 595: Minhyuk¡¯s Connections

    Isbin Vige was the very first vige that the yers who just started ying Athenae could visit, right after they finished their scarecrow training and basic hunting training. The vige was literally filled with beginners. However, there was a ¡®hidden master¡¯ living in this vige, under the guise of an ¡®instructor¡¯. A man, who was looking at his sleeping four year old daughter, smiled happily. This man was none other than ¡®Valen¡¯. Valen patted his daughter¡¯s head and came out to the living room and saw Roina pouring warm tea in a cup.

    <em>¡®What a happy life.¡¯</em>

    For arge part of his life, Valen lived under the name of the Sword God. After that exhausting life, he came to settle down in Isbin Vige and had led a lonely life since then. However, a child named Minhyuk appeared in front of him, visited his house, and even made delicious food for him. And that was not all. The child even connected him and Roina.

    ¡°Why are you smiling like that?¡±

    ¡°I just¡­ I just thought of Minhyuk. I haven¡¯t seen him in quite a long time.¡±

    A small smile also hung at the corner of Roina¡¯s lips at the thought of the boy. But then, at that moment¡­

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeee!¡±

    A loud and mysterious cry suddenly rang from outside their house. The two immediately hurried out, only to see a restless and weeping bird.

    ¡°This bird¡­¡±

    It was obvious that the bird in front of them was a mythical creature that only appeared in the myths. But, why was the bird here?

    <em>[Minhyuk is requesting your help.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The couple looked at each other after hearing the same notifications. On top of that, the bird looked as if it would faint any moment after flying urgently for so long.

    ¡°Minhyuk must be in great danger.¡±

    ¡°We must prepare quickly,¡± Valen said as he turned around and prepared as quickly as he could.

    Valen was once known as the Sword God. He came out wearing stylish full-te armor and a sharp sword on his waist. As for Roina? She was a rare genius that fought on the battlefield alongside Sword God Valen. She came out wearing red leather armor and a weapon in her hand, all ready to leave. The couple mounted their horses together, then rode off as fast as they could.

    ***

    Warrior¡¯s Nation, Lumae Kingdom.

    Back when Overlord Raldo was still under a deep sleep, Prince Votto raised a military force in Lumae Kingdom and fought a war against the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. The result? It was aplete and utter defeat for the Lumae Kingdom. Of course, that was because Overlord Raldo did not participate.

    Now, Prince Votto was held captive in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. However, the reality was different. It was just a disguise that Minhyuk devised to protect Prince Votto and promote a friendly rtionship between the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and Lumae Kingdom.

    ¡°One.¡±

    ¡°Haaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Two.¡±

    ¡°Yaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Three.¡±

    ¡°Haaaaaaa!¡±

    King Raldo was training the elite knights of Lumae Kingdom. King Raldo was able to realize a lot of things during the war back then. He wanted to create a stronger nation. That was why he was still training the soldiers and the knights, even though he was already well over fifty and was already ready to settle down. The result of that decision was very shocking. A huge number of Named NPC was thus born in their kingdom.

    Lumae Kingdom was actually the smallest kingdom in the entire Asgan Continent. However, the number of Named NPC in their troops could rival that of the Eivelis Empire. On top of that, the soldiers that Raldo nurtured were true powerhouses. The forces of the other empires and kingdoms could notpare at all.

    Also, Overlord Raldo was able to split the Overlord Technique with Minhyuk. This meant that he only had half of the skill. However,pared to when he had theplete Overlord Technique, Raldo was able to be an ¡®Absolute Supreme NPC¡¯ and was now standing shoulder to shoulder with Ellie.

    After Raldo finished the military training, he headed straight to Votto¡¯s room in Lumae Kingdom. Votto was obviously detained in Beyond the Heavens Kingdom as a prisoner of war. However, Minhyuk was considerate of their circumstances and decided to secretly send Votto home once or twice a month.

    Raldo immediately hugged Votto when he saw him, ¡°Son.¡±

    ¡°Father.¡±

    Originally, the rtionship between Raldo and Votto was very strained. Back then, Raldo was very obsessed with polishing himself and grinding his skills. On the other hand, Votto just wanted to win the admiration and respect of the kingdom. But after the war, and with Minhyuk¡¯s help, the two were able to reflect on their rtionship and be closer.

    The two dined together, Votto¡¯s eyes sparkling as he spoke excitedly, ¡°Spear God Ben is incredibly strong. Even the coffee that he brews is superb. I really want to share a cup with my father sometime in the future.¡±

    ¡°Hahaha. You brat. Is the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King alright with you telling this father of yours the secret of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s going to be fine. After all, father is father. Ah, they also have a cure for baldness over there¡­¡±

    Raldo felt like he would not have any regrets even if he died now. He was now living a very happy life. All Raldo wanted was to continue living like this,pletely abandoning his obsession on bing strong and spending time with his son, while having fun and eating delicious food together.

    <em>¡®Thank you.¡¯</em>

    It was a silent thanksgiving to Minhyuk. Just then, at that moment, a bird engulfed with a bright light flew inside the room.

    <em>[Minhyuk is requesting your help.]</em>

    Raldo and Prince Votto looked at the bird. The bird was rolling on the ground while weeping bitterly. Seeing the bird act like that, Raldo realized that something strange had happened. The two stood up from their seats silently.

    Raldo immediately grabbed the sword that he had used for decades and hung it on his waist. He also draped his ck cloak bearing the pattern of a sword and a spear crossed together, a pattern that symbolized Lumae Kingdom, on his back.

    An hourter, around fifty elite Lumae Kingdom knights wearing ck armor and horned helmets appeared silently. All fifty of them were Named NPCs that had the power of the legends. The next moment, 50,000 of Lumae Kingdom¡¯s troops appeared, with their breaths fanning hotly in front of their faces.

    Raldo, with his golden full-te armor and ck cloak, stood beside his son, Votto. Then, a loud horn red as he gave the order, ¡°Depart.¡±

    ***

    Saintess Loyna was someone that God of Origin Athenae had sent to the world. She was the most iconic figure in the entire Athenae worldview. Even her beauty was known to beparable to that of the Goddess of Beauty, Ipel¨¦.

    This very same Loyna almost died at the hands of a demon worshipper, and the one that saved her was none other than ¡®Minhyuk¡¯. Back then, Loyna¡¯s position was weak and had no power at all. Several popes from all over the world did not even recognize her existence.

    But everything was different now. After going through that near-death experience, she had be stronger and more firm in her decision. She personally met with the popes from all over the world and won their hearts. Then, as a reward for her hard work, she obtained one of the ¡®Saintess¡¯¡¯ authority, Pdin Sovereign.

    What was the Pdin Sovereign? It was an authority that would give her the power to call for andmand all of the pdins from all over the world.

    Loyna, who was praying earnestly in front of Athenae¡¯s statue, saw the urgency and distress of the weeping bird that flew in front of her. It seemed like Minhyuk was in very great danger right now. Loyna immediately prayed. But the prayer was not a regr prayer.

    ¡°God of Origin Athenae, your child that has inherited your power and her friend are in grave danger. I, Saintess Loyna, earnestly pray that all of the pdins that can fight gather for me and my dear friend.¡±

    Loyna, wearing her white priestly robe, continued to pray for a very long time. After two hours, she walked out of the prayer room. When she ced both of her hands together, a bright light burst out. From within that bright light, a man walked out.

    The man was known as the pdin that was always ready for battle, ¡®Sword Saint Ruido¡¯. He was the representative knight of all of the pdins and was known for having a power that was far higher than any of the Absolute NPCs.

    At the same time, hundreds of thousands of lights appeared in front of Loyna, with pdinsing out of them to gather at her call. There were around 1,000 Named NPCs among the pdins present. The number was not that surprising; in the first ce, one had to be stronger than a knight to be a ¡®Pdin¡¯. On top of that, they were required to have a mastery over holy power. Simply put, the qualifications to be a pdin were high.

    And that was not all. There were also pdins that were already rushing straight towards their destination. Today, the power of Athenae Religion¡¯s Saintess Loyna was going to make its debut in the world.

    ***

    Beyond the Heavens Vice Guild Master Genie saw the message that Minhyuk wrote in the guild chat.

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: Right now, I¡¯m going to fight against the child of God of Snakes Elizabeth, Marquess Leona. I asked the NPCs for help. For the members of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, make sure that only threee, the rest should continue their work.]</em>

    Along with that, a separate whisper arrived in Genie¡¯s inbox.

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: Genie, I sent a bird to ask for the NPCs help, make sure to just pick three to send to the Stars¡¯ Path. Too many peopleing here would interfere with your work over there. Ah, they should be NPCs that have great favor towards me.]</em>

    Genie understood what Minhyuk meant. Each and every single individual in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had a job to do. They just could not afford to have them leave their posts arbitrarily. That was why Minhyuk ordered her to send only the minimum number of NPCs.

    Genie hurriedly ran out to inform the NPCs about this. However¡­

    <em>Fwoooooooooooosh¡ª</em>

    ¡­someone suddenly shot by her. The man was carrying a single spear on his body and was running so fast that Genie could not follow him with her eyes.

    ¡°Your Majeeeeeeeeeeeeesty!!! This servant of yours wille and save you!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Then, he disappeared.

    <em>¡®Let¡¯s, let¡¯s have Grandpa Ben be the first person. I should quickly let the others know.¡¯</em>

    But just when the thought passed through Genie¡¯s head¡­

    <em>Fwoosh¡ª</em>

    <em>Fwooooosh¡ª</em>

    <em>Fwooooosh¡ª</em>

    Someone passed by her once again. Leading them was¡­

    ¡°Daring to touch¡­ His Majesty¡­ Bastard¡­ I won¡¯t let you go¡­!¡±

    ¡­the one hailed as Lesser Demon Diablo before. He was currently serving as Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s Shield. The usual innocent expression on Elpis¡¯ face had disappeared and exchanged with a vicious and devilish expression. And right behind him¡­

    ¡°Some f*cking bastard dared to touch His Majesty¡­!¡±

    ¡­was the man hailed as the Great Pirate. Gorfido, the great fisherman, was hot behind Elpis. But was that all?

    ¡°Conir!!! Your Majesty!!! Save!!!¡±

    Conir was also following right behind them.

    ¡°All of you, stop!!! This is an order!!!¡±

    But Genie¡¯s voice did not register in their ears.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    However, something even more surprising happened next.

    ¡°How dare that bastardy their hands on His Majesty?!¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t let you go¡­!¡±

    ¡°All of us are living a happy life because of His Majesty!!!¡±

    ¡°How dare that bastard!!!¡±

    Even the citizens and the soldiers began to stir.

    The Mythical Bird that Cries Sadly For You, flew and appealed to every single NPC that truly cared for Minhyuk. And Minhyuk¡¯s citizens absolutely adored him, so this reaction was eptable. Besides, Minhyuk would cook delicious food for his people every once in a while. He was also the one that allowed them to live a happy and carefree life.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s gooooooo!!!¡±

    The citizens immediately armed themselves with their farming tools, while the soldiers began to strap their weapons. It was as if they were truly going to war.

    ¡°Stop!!! All of you are banned from going to war!!!¡±

    A terrible headache washed over Genie¡¯s head as she called for the kingdom¡¯s citizens and told them the words that Minhyuk told her. But the citizens?

    ¡°That bird told us just now that His Majesty is in danger!!!¡±

    ¡°Why did the bird cry so sadly and bitterly if His Majesty is not in grave danger then?!!¡±

    ¡°Marquess Genie!!! Please allow us to go to war!!!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me¡­? Did His Majesty tell that to Marquess Genie because he¡¯s afraid that we would be in danger?¡±

    ¡°Huhuhuhuhuhu!¡±

    ¡°¡­That¡¯s, that¡¯s not it at all!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go save his Majesty!!!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Prepare for waaaaaaaaar!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Genie thought that Minhyuk was truly a good king. Despite knowing this fact, she heaved a great sigh of exasperation.

    ¡°You¡¯re all driving me crazy¡­¡±

 Chapter 596: Minhyukâ€™s Connections

    Chapter 596: Minhyuk¡¯s Connections

    Elven Forest.

    A new king had been crowned among the elves after the previous elven king Gorn stepped down and passed his mantle to Argon. Once he had received the crown, Argon thought that they could not continue living like this. If the elves continued to live a secluded life, cut off from allmunications and interactions with other races, they would not be able to receive help if their elven forest were to experience danger again. That was mainly the reason why he was now enjoying a cup of tea together with the Dragon King.

    Behind each king stood a hundred thousand of their troops. They were the troops that went to help Minhyuk before and fought together. And now, the creatures of the deep sea and the elves were meeting and socializing frequently.

    ¡°This tea tastes divine. What¡¯s this tea called?¡±

    Argon¡¯s lips curled a bit as he answered the Dragon King¡¯s question, who was taking another sip of the tea, ¡°Cow dung tea.¡±

    ¡°Why did you name the tea cow dung tea?¡±

    ¡°Because it¡¯s made by drying cow dung and turning it into tea.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The Dragon King could not help but ce down his cup swiftly. He already knew that the elves loved nature.

    The two were also visited by the Mythical Bird that Cries Sadly For You. The two kings did not dy after hearing the bird¡¯s sad and mournful cry.

    ¡°Gather all of the high elves.¡±

    ¡°Kiari, Jevis. Gather the troops.¡±

    The kings of two races began to call for their troops.

    The high elves were outstanding elves that were on the Named NPC level. The number of high elves under Argon¡¯smand were at a hundred. The creatures of the sea had about the same number as them. Especially the werebeasts, Kiari and Jevis, they were beings at the level of an Absolute NPC. Then, what about Argon and the Dragon King? The two were beings that had strength close to an Absolute Supreme NPC.

    There were eight beings in the continent that could be hailed as the Absolute Supreme NPCs. ¡®Force¡¯ was not the only thing that was considered when determining who was on that level. Those beings should also have a huge influence and impact on the vast Athenae worldview in the future toe. Those were the Absolute Supreme NPCs.

    And now, the troops of the two races stood under a united front and began their march toward the Stars¡¯ Path.

    ***

    With the birth of the Stars¡¯ Path, every kingdom and empire from all over the world were on high alert. Now that everyone could move easily to other continents, staging a war between continents was no longer impossible.

    Sword Emperor Ellie, the empress of Eivelis Empire, had received a huge tip from Minhyuk, <em>¡®A man named Nerva Sephiroth will forcefully take the entire continent under his rule andmand everyone through fear.¡¯</em>

    Ellie took Minhyuk¡¯s tip to heart and had already started preparing and nurturing her army so that they could be stronger. Right now, she was sitting on her throne while cradling her sword in her arms. Of course, the Mythical Bird that Cries Sadly For You also visited her.

    Seeing the bird, Ellie slowly rose from her throne. An immense pressure bore down on the surroundings with every step that she took. Finally, she opened the doors and walked out of the ramparts. There, she saw millions of troops lined up in a neat order.

    ¡°Depart for battle.¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    Eivelis Empire had begun their march to war.

    ***

    Orodith Kingdom was one of the kingdoms located in Asgan Continent. Among the several kingdoms established in the Asgan Continent, the kingdom¡¯s influence and position was very small. In this kingdom existed a noble with an infamous nickname: Bed Wetter. This man was none other than Marquis Arna, the man that felt the majesty of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and peed himself, twice.

    Marquis Arna sought an audience with his king, Eren, and asked him, ¡°Your Majesty! We have to send our troops to war!!!¡±

    King Eren was in trouble. The reason why Marquis Arna was being like this was because he had heard rumors that the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s King was on the verge of death. After hearing this, without even wearing any shoes, Marquis Arna immediately ran out to meet with the king.

    Marquis Arna was the one that had personally experienced the might and majesty of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. That was why he was fully aware of the importance of forging a friendly rtionship with Beyond the Heavens.

    ¡°Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is enjoying rapid growth thanks to the various specialties that they are offering. If our Orodith Kingdom starts to interact with them and forge a friendly rtionship, our kingdom can also develop rapidly!!!¡±

    King Eren pondered deeply before slowly nodding, ¡°That must certainly be the case, Marquis Arna. Especially since you ended up peeing whenever you went there.¡±

    <em>Screech!</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the one with the firmest will and toughest heart in our kingdom yet you¡¯ve faced humiliation and defeat twice in that ce.¡±

    <em>Screech!</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°And now that you¡¯ve realized a lot of things, you understand how important it is to make friends with the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.¡±

    <em>Screech!</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°Very well, we¡¯ll send our troops there.¡±

    ¡°Th, thank you for your grace, Your Majesty!!!!¡±

    Marquis Arna, who was bowing his head in gratitude, felt heartbroken deep inside, <em>¡®There¡¯s no way I¡¯ll wet my pants today!¡¯</em>

    ***

    Richard was currently contemting. Around 20,000 of the remaining 70,000 troops were annihted in the hands of Leona, the God of Snakes Elizabeth¡¯s child.

    ¡°Until when do I have to wait?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s only been fifteen minutes.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Richard¡¯s face turned ugly after hearing Minhyuk¡¯s words. Even a second felt like an hour. And he was even made aware of the direness of their situation after hearing Minhyuk, who was inside his Let¡¯s Have a Meal barrier, say that only fifteen minutes had passed. This was because 20,000 of their troops had been massacred in just that short amount of time.

    ¡°F*ck.¡±

    Then¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaang!</em>

    One of the vipers hanging on Leona¡¯s head moved, stretching through thousands of meters ofnd to bite at Richard¡¯s neck. Richard saw thousands of yers being pierced through by this single attack and disappearing into shes of gray as he struggled against it.

    <em>¡®When will the reinforcementse?!¡¯</em>

    Richard heard from Cali that the reinforcements were already on their way here. Then, another of Leona¡¯s special skills was cast. Tens of thousands of eyes once again appeared in all directions!

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    The yers began to harden and turn to stones. As for the yers that did not turn to stones, vipers stretched out and pierced through their bodies. They were helpless. Then, an ominous sound rang in Richard¡¯s ears. He could not see anything since he closed his eyes tightly to avoid looking at Leona¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Hiiiiiiiiiiisss¡ª¡°

    It was the sound of a snake hissing. Richard knew that the viper was fast approaching, ready to pierce through his heart. However, he could not avoid it even with his eyes wide open.

    <em>¡®Damn!¡¯</em>

    At that moment¡­

    <em>Saaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    The viper¡¯s blood sshed on his face. Then¡­

    ¡°Sword¡¯s Judgment.¡±

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    Six sword lights flew and struck Leona¡¯s body.

    ¡°Ugh!¡± Leona groaned as the tens of thousands of eyes disappeared.

    Richard smiled pleasantly. When he opened his eyes, Verr, a being close to bing a Sword Master and an Absolute Supreme NPC, was there. There were also several Named NPCs standing right next to him along with arge army that was almost 200,000 in number. Their eyes were showing a fierce and vicious glint through the gaps of their helmets.

    ¡°Sir Verr¡­!¡±

    ¡°I hope I wasn¡¯t toote.¡±

    Richard was deeply moved. At this moment, he felt as if he did not live his life in vain. The troops that came looked very formidable. However, the most important ones were the Named NPCs and Verr.

    The whole world must be watching them now. They would see how a single yer was able to gather nearly 200,000 NPC troops, more than ten Named NPCs and a being closest to bing an Absolute Supreme NPC. What was more, the NPCs of the Maserrati Guild have not yet arrived. They had around five Named NPCs under theirmand.

    The entire world was shocked.

    <em>[Amazing. A yer has actually gathered those NPCs even though they aren¡¯t NPCs associated with their guild.]</em>

    <em>[It seems like the soldiers came from different nations based on the patterns on their armor. There are even some that are wearing ordinary and in clothes. It seems like those ones do not belong to any nation or empire.]</em>

    <em>[The most important one there is Verr. He is a strong NPC, and almost everyone in the world knows of his name. Given that he came running after the Maserrati Guild asked for help, we can already see the influence that the guild has.]</em>

    <em>[The fact that a yer could win the hearts of NPCs¡­ This is something that¡¯s worthy of our admiration.]</em>

    Then¡­

    ¡°We¡¯rete.¡±

    ¡°Sorry.¡±

    Another five people, carrying incredible momentum, appeared. They were none other than the pirs of the Maserrati Guild, the five Named NPCs under theirmand.

    ¡°Ha, hahaha!¡±

    Richardughed loudly at the sight of hisrades, his eyes automatically turning to where Minhyuk was, <em>¡®Are you seeing this, Food God? This is my strength, my power!¡¯</em>

    Richard was not an arrogant man by nature. He was someone that dreamt of bing a king that was partial toward the weak and strong against the strong. But today, he was very proud after gaining an upper hand over the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King.

    <em>¡®I will be the one and true king!¡¯</em>

    He would win all of the NPCs'' hearts in every continent, make friends with them, and be their emperor!

    Leona pulled out the six sword lights that were stuck in her body. Richard seemed to have forgotten his fear for a moment. But he should not have. Even if he had close to twenty Named NPCs behind him, the woman in front of him could not be underestimated. After all, she was Elizabeth¡¯s child.

    ***

    Leona looked at the people in front of her in interest. She could feel a strong force emanating from those that were standing in the vanguard.

    <em>¡®Are they the ones that the humans called legends?¡¯</em>

    This was a world where humans could be legends and even be gods. Leona¡¯s gaze drifted toward Minhyuk, who was inside a transparent barrier.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s the one I have to keep my eye on the most.¡¯</em>

    Leona did not know what the man was preparing but she knew that it was dangerous. In the end, Leona made her decision.

    ¡°Do you know my mother¡¯s name?¡± She stood in front of the 200,000 troops that blocked her path and asked. Of course, the 200,000 troops were stationed very far, and only the almost 20 Named NPCs were standing directly in front of her. ¡°It¡¯s Elizabeth. Do you know what god she is?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Everyone silently prepared for whatever attack wasing their way, wary of every single muscle. And Leona? She giggled at them.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk, who was cooking inside the barrier, looked up with an ugly expression on his face.

    ¡°Wait, don¡¯t tell me¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk had cut off the vipers acting as Leona¡¯s hair that allowed her tomand the Snake Soldiers. Everyone believed that it was the one that gave her the power to summon the soldiers. In fact, her hair had not regenerated even now. But it seemed like it was nothing but a shell, a disguise.

    ¡°My mother is the God of Snakes,¡± Leona said as she gracefully raised her slender arms. Then¡­

    <em>Rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble¡ª</em>

    The surroundings began to shake as Leona received Elizabeth¡¯s power to take over the system and rule over all of the snakes.

    ¡°We have to stop her,¡± Verr said, his feet trying to move as fast as he could. However¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>Booooooooooooooom¡ª</em>

    <em>Thuuuuuuuuuuud¡ª</em>

    A tornado formed as something huge rose from the ground. Whatever it was surrounded Leona and blocked Verr and the Named NPCs'' way to approach her.

    ¡°Snake¡­?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re all snakes, right?¡±

    That was right. They were all poisonous snakes clustered together rising to a height of forty meters and a width of ten meters. Thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of them appeared and spun fiercely like a tornado. Then, Leona gracefully pointed her arms down toward the ground.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>Thuuuuuuuuuuuud¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaam¡ª</em>

    The millions of snakes that made up the surging tornado dived down and upied the ground.

    ¡°Step back!!!¡±

    ¡°Move!!! Quick!!!¡±

    ¡°Hiiiiiiik!¡±

    ¡°A, aaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Hisssssssss¡ª¡°

    ¡°Hissssssss¡ª¡°

    The snakes fell down on the heads of the yers and NPCs, leaving them in a mess. A total of 1.2 million snakes fell down and slithered on the ground beneath their feet.

    At the same time, Verr murmured, ¡°The true power of the God of Snakes is not her force. Her true power was the fact that she is the mother of snakes¡­¡±

    Verr¡¯s face was ugly as he mumbled those words. His breathing turned rough and haggard the moment he saw the shocking disy in front of him. A 1.2 million strong army with the head of a dragon and the scales of the snake appeared in front of them. Considering that a Snake Soldier could easily deal with at least one decent ranker the other day, it could be said that their current situation was truly a terrible one.

    ¡°Do you know this great one¡¯s name?¡± Leona asked arrogantly as the 1.2 million Snake Soldiers lined up behind her.

    Richard shook his head, <em>¡®I shouldn¡¯t have called them here¡­¡¯</em>

    He could tell that everyone here would die. Even the Named NPCs that came here for his sake would die. He and the other yers might be able toe back to life, but that was not the case for the NPCs.

    Richard immediately made a decision, ¡°Sir Verr, please run away!!! We, we will stop them!!! yers, please help me buy them some time! We have to stop them!!!¡±

    Richard cried desperately to protect the NPCs. Hearing his cry, Leona grinned viciously and said, ¡°This great one is Elizabeth¡¯s child, the one that will be the God of Origin, Leona.¡±

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    The 1.2 million strong troops began to move, a bloody energy surging all over the ce and surrounding Leona. Everyone fell in despair. They knew that this army would kill everyone.

    Richard felt extremely frustrated, the yers were crying in despair and even Verr could not hide his embarrassment. But then¡­

    ¡°Do you know this great one¡¯s name?¡±

    ¡­they heard an unfamiliar voice ring. The voice that faded away into nothingness sounded so beautiful and charming.

    Not long after, a tremendous amount of ck demonic energy fell from somewhere and devoured the bloody energy that surged and surrounded Leona¡¯s body. Then, the space right in front of Leona split apart, an explosion of demonic energy apanying it.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>[Caution!]</em>

    <em>[Danger!]</em>

    <em>[Caution!]</em>

    <em>[Danger!]</em>

    <em>[Caution!]</em>

    <em>[Danger¡­]</em>

    <em>[A great presence that can epass the world is descending!]</em>

    A woman wearing red leather armor with a red whip hanging on her waist walked out of the space. The moment the woman raised her arm, a huge amount of demonic energy appeared and turned into the form of a hand that grabbed Leona¡¯s neck.

    <em>Grab!</em>

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Leona shrieked, her expression clearly showing how flustered she was. At the same time, tens of thousands of demons and demonic beasts appeared behind the woman.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    The lips of the ck beauty curled beautifully as she said, ¡°This great one is Great Demon Gremory.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

 Chapter 597: Minhyukâ€™s Connections

    Chapter 597: Minhyuk¡¯s Connections

    Richard was very frustrated. He worked hard to be close with these NPCs. To be exact, he considered them as his ¡®friends¡¯ in this virtual reality game. But his friends were now going to die because of his stupid mistake. Once the NPCs in Athenae die, they would never be able to revive. It was simr to death in reality. That was why their death meant eternal farewell.

    Richard knew that he had to stop and prevent their deaths no matter the cost. But no matter what he did, he could not think of a way to do so. All they could do was to watch the 1.2 million Snake Soldiers charge forward to annihte them.

    But before the enemies could approach, the space in front of them was torn apart as a ck beauty appeared and said, ¡°This great one is Great Demon Gremory.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Richard¡¯s eyes widened in shock.

    Great Demon Gremory!!! That was a name that he heard a lot about. After Great Demon Verus had been sealed by the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, the power and influence of the 72 Devils had weakened. During that time, a demon led her own demon tribe and upied more than half of the Demon World, aiming for the seat of the Demon King.

    That great being¡¯s name was none other than Great Demon Gremory.

    ¡°H, how¡­?¡±

    This was the question that floated in everyone¡¯s head. Everyone saw Great Demon Gremory as a great disaster. No one present believed that Great Demon Gremory was their ally.

    <em>¡®Is it because she has to take over middle earth and not Leona?¡¯</em>

    That was right. This was the more realistic thinking. It was more believable to think that Gremory decided that it was better for her to absorb the Stars¡¯ Path than Leona, right?

    Then, Gremory turned to look where Minhyuk was. Her eyes looked both terrifying and breath-taking. However, there was an unmistakable gentleness in those eyes. Gremory had eaten a dish called ¡®ganjjajang¡¯ that Minhyuk made for her in the past, andpletely fell in love with the taste of the dish.

    <em>¡®Just one look at this guy and my mouth is already watering.¡¯</em>

    But she had not seen Minhyuk for a while. In other words, she had not eaten his food for so long. However, she had suddenly appeared. It would be weird if she immediately said, <em>¡®I want to eat your food¡­¡¯</em> right away. She would definitely be aughing stock.

    So, Gremory smiled as brightly as she could and said the words that the humans often said when they wanted to get closer to each other, ¡°Minhyuk, how have you been? I came running because you called.¡±

    The impact of her words was tremendous.

    ¡°Keok¡­!¡±

    ¡°Wh, what¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­You¡¯re lying, right?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The surviving yers, the members of the Maserrati Guild, and even the Named NPCs were all stunned speechless. Great Demon Gremory came running at the call of a human? It was unbelievable since it was something that had never happened at all.

    And Richard? He was vehemently denying the impact Gremory has. After all, the truth of the situation in front of them was far too shocking.

    <em>¡®The NPC that the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King had called is Gremory? R, right. That¡¯s possible. But he¡¯s only able to call one being. I called 20 Named NPCs, you know? Haha¡­¡¯ </em>Richard tried to console himself.

    If it was enough to surprise them, what more thementators and viewers that were tuned in to the scene?

    <em>[The great demon that is a candidate to be demon king is close to the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King¡­?]</em>

    <em>[Did you see her smile? That¡¯s the expression of someone that wants to be close with the other¡­]</em>

    <em>[Crazy¡­]</em>

    <em>[But who do you think will win if Leona and Gremory fought?]</em>

    <em>[¡®Course, the Great Demon. Keke.]</em>

    That was right. Just like the viewers said, in a fight between Great Demon Gremory and the child of the God of Snakes Elizabeth, one of the Six God Monsters, Leona, the one that woulde on top would definitely be Gremory.

    However, that was only possible if it was in the ¡®Demon World¡¯.

    ¡°How dare a demon like you¡­ humiliate me when we¡¯re on earth!¡± Leona shouted as she lifted both of her hands and canceled the demonic energy in the surroundings.

    Indeed, demons and demonic beasts could not exert their full strength when they were in thend above. Just like with Great Demon Verus. He fought against the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom with 50% of his powers sealed. Simply put, great demons were unable to disy the true extent of their powers in the human realm. The same was true for Great Demon Gremory and her grand army.

    ¡°Kill those damn demon trash!!!¡± Leona ordered, her eyes shing red.

    ¡°As expected¡­ She¡¯s dangerous,¡± Great Demon Gremory murmured bitterly.

    ¡°Hiiiiiisss!!!¡±

    ¡°Hiiiiiiisss!¡±

    ¡°Hiiiisss!¡±

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaaaa!¡±

    Nearly 1.2 million Snake Soldiers and more than 100,000 demon soldiers hissed and roared at each other. The fierce battle began when one of the demons charged and attacked one of the Snake Soldiers on the head.

    Immediately after, Leona¡¯s shining eyes shed and extended toward the Demon World Corps. The moment the red light touched the demons¡­

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    ¡­they began to harden and turn into stones.

    ¡°¡­She could have turned us into stones even if we don¡¯t look her in the eyes.¡±

    Of course, it was an AOE skill. Once cast, it could only be used again after a long period of time. But what would happen if the entire Demon World Corps turned into stones? It would be a page in history that would mark the greatest humiliation that Great Demon Gremory suffered. It would mean that she lost to Leona on the grounds above. But¡­

    ¡°I am not someone that a mere snake¡¯s daughter can deal with.¡±

    And when Gremory swung her whip¡­

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    ck demonic energy surged up and devoured the red light that Leona released.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Leona¡¯s eyes widened in shock. The demon in front of her could still devour her abilities even when she was weakened? But not long after, Leona smirked at her. Even if Gremory was strong, she would not be able to stop the 1.2 million Snake Soldiers that were creeping up and ughtering her Demon World Corps. After all, there was no way for them to fight against the Snake Soldiers with their 50% handicap.

    ¡°Your army will be devoured by my children.¡±

    ¡°Well, that might be possible,¡± Gremory said, shrugging her shoulders. It was something that anyone present could see. Then, she turned to look back at Minhyuk.

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    Minhyuk, who was busy cooking, looked at Gremory in confusion when he saw her suddenly look back at him. Then, Gremory chuckled softly and said, ¡°However, you did something that you should never have done.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°You brought that human child to the brink of death.¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    Leona could not understand what Gremory meant.

    ¡®<em>What kind of bullshit is that?</em>¡¯

    She had never attacked the human. In fact, it was Minhyuk, who cut off her hair of vipers and stabbed her with ¡®Sword of Frenzy¡¯ and ¡®Sword of Absolute Death¡¯, before hiding away inside a barrier. It was as if he came here to tease her and annoy her. In other words, the one that was almost beaten to the brink of death was Leona.

    ¡°I¡­ to that human¡­¡±

    ¡°Did you know? Something terrible will happen to you if you touch a single hair of that human child?¡±

    ¡°No. I have never even touched¡­¡±

    ¡°Now, keep your eyes wide open and look.¡±

    ¡°No, that¡¯s why I¡¯m telling you¡­¡±

    Leona felt extremely wronged.

    <em>¡®No! I was not even able to touch a single hair on that guy! In fact, I was the one that got hit and beaten!¡¯</em>

    But then, Gremory looked up at the skies with a wide smile on her face and said, ¡°The first disaster has arrived.¡±

    Everything happened so suddenly. The once blue skies had suddenly turned white. When Leona lifted her head and looked up, she saw a forty meter long sword falling down from the skies.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    At the same time, a man and a woman appeared in a sh behind Gremory. The man had one arm raised to the skies while the woman beside him was ring fiercely at Leona, a fierce momentum covering her body.

    Then, the man said, ¡°Do you know this great one¡¯s name?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Leona was left dumbfounded. Were they waiting for their turn to appear?!

    <em>¡®I¡¯m sure of it! After all, these bastards are saying the same words that I said earlier¡­!¡¯</em>

    But after the daze, Leona realized that a disaster was about to fall on her.

    ¡°This great one is the Sword God!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Everyone was shocked. Then, the forty meter long sword fell amidst the Snake Soldier army. It was like a nuclear bomb. Anything and everything within a fifty meter radius, including all of the Snake Soldiers, were annihted the moment the sword struck down on the ground.

    The entire world was shocked. This was the advent of a true ¡®god¡¯, an event that no yer had ever witnessed before. As the sword fell down, the man said, ¡°I heard that you were trying to kill that young man over there?¡±

    ¡°N, no. I¡­¡±

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    In just one second, the Sword God stabbed his sword six times. Leona, who was caught defenseless, felt the green blood spurt out from her body, her knees touching the ground as her body copsed.

    Valen and Roina immediately turned around and attacked the Snake Soldier army. With every brandish of Roina and Valen¡¯s swords, tens of Snake Soldiers would fall. However, there were just too many of them. In fact, it was still hard even for the Demon World Corps to get the upperhand in this battle.

    Meanwhile, Leona, whose body was covered in green blood as she regenerated and recovered her wounds, felt really, <em>really</em> wronged. At the same time, she felt humiliated and disgraced.

    ¡°How dare¡­!¡±

    But then¡­

    ¡°Do you know this great one¡¯s name?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°This great one is Spear God Ben.¡±

    Then, the man turned toward the Snake Soldier army and cast an attack with tremendous power.

    ¡°Absolute Pinnacle Spear.¡±

    A spear made of light fell down from the skies at the speed of light and dropped in the middle of the Snake Soldier army.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    The single attack devoured thousands of the Snake Soldiers. At the same time, the man¡¯s spear stabbed through the heart of the kneeling Leona.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keoheok!¡±

    ¡°Did you just try to kill His Majesty?¡±

    ¡°Urk¡­ I¡­ his hair¡­¡±

    ¡°Shut up,¡± Old Man Ben spat coldly as he roughly pulled the spear from Leona¡¯s chest. Then, he immediately turned around and jumped into the fray of the Snake Soldier army.

    Tears were now welling up in Leona¡¯s eyes.

    <em>¡®I¡­ I¡­ really¡­ did not touch him¡­!¡¯</em>

    Why wouldn¡¯t they believe her? She was the one that got hit by Minhyuk!

    <em>¡®Anyway, from now on¡­¡¯</em>

    Leona believed that there would not be anyone elseing, right? There was also one thing that she found strange.

    <em>¡®Why are they giving me enough time to recover?¡¯</em>

    That was right. After inflicting tremendous damage on Leona¡¯s body, they would immediately turn around and attack the Snake Soldier army.

    <em>¡®Right, it¡¯s just a coincidence.¡¯</em>

    The thought shed in Leona¡¯s head as her body gradually recovered. But then¡­

    ¡°Do you know this great one¡¯s name?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Leona was left speechless once again. When she looked up, she saw a two-meter tall and dark-skinned man towering over her. This man was the one hailed as Lesser Demon Diablo.

    ¡°Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Shield. Elpis.¡±

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°Did you just try to kill His Majesty?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    One by one¡­

    ¡°Do you know who I am?!!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m Conir!!! Conir heard that you bullied His Majesty!!! Wailing Child!!!¡±

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    ¡­they came out and struck Leona.

    At the same time, in a ce near where the battle against Leona was taking ce.

    Several people gathered together, emitting a tremendous amount of pressure. Among these people were Sword Emperor Ellie, Overlord Raldo, Dragon King, Saintess Loyna, Elf King Argon and many more. All of them were waiting with their troops lined up behind them. The troops¡¯ total? They numbered over a million.

    Marquis Arna stood among the troops of Orodith Empire. He looked at the people around him who were giving off a fierce, vicious momentum as they waited for their turn. However, there was only one thought running through their heads¡­

    <em>¡®What should I do to make my appearance look better?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Gremory¡¯s appearance had too great of an impact. I have to make a better appearance than her.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll make sure to have the best appearance out of everyone here.¡¯</em>

    Marquis Arna looked at them. He was obviously a noble recognized by his kingdom. But now¡­

    ¡°Next. Sword Emperor Ellie.¡±

    That was right. He was now calling out who was next in line. What Leona thought was ¡®impossible¡¯ had nowe true. Minhyuk¡¯s allies were literally ¡®drawing lots¡¯ and taking turns jumping into the battlefield.

    As for Sword Emperor Ellie? She was now charging toward the battlefield with a subtle smile on her face, <em>¡®I¡¯m going to be the one with the best appearance.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk, whoter learned of this fact, had called them, <em>¡®Gremory and the Attention Seekers¡¯.</em>

 Chapter 598: Minhyukâ€™s Connections

    Chapter 598: Minhyuk¡¯s Connections

    <em>[The entire world is looking at you in shock.]</em>

    <em>[You have earned 3,151 cash.]</em>

    <em>[You have earned 4,188 cash.]</em>

    <em>[You have earned 4,300 cash.]</em>

    Minhyuk heard these notifications every time someone new appeared. The MVP Shop had a system that allowed Minhyuk to gain cash every time someone was in awe of Minhyuk¡¯s majesty and dignity as a king.

    <em>¡®I already have 170,000 cash in total.¡¯</em>

    It was one hell of a job! Each time a new NPC appeared, cash would flow and line his pockets. And just in time¡­

    <em>[You havepleted a Homemade Burger.]</em>

    <em>[Unique Grade.]</em>

    The dish that Minhyuk made for Richard waspleted. However, the grade that came out was quite poor. On top of that, it only had a ¡®one-level¡¯ increase as a buff effect, something that waspletely lower than the ¡®3~5 level¡¯ increase that he said to Richard earlier.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Well, Minhyuk was not perfect. There was no way that he could produce excellent dishes all the time.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s a relief that the situation right now is¡­ Do I still really need to cook?¡¯</em>

    The situation made him think like that. As he watched Leona get beaten to a pulp, he saw Ellie walking from afar.

    <em>¡®... Why is noona walking so fast?¡¯</em>

    ¡°Do you know this great one¡¯s name?¡±

    But what was more shocking was the fact that Ellie was wearing a blindfold over her eyes. She looked like she came out of a movie as she walked like that.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Yes, they hoped that whoever was participating in Leona¡¯s hunt would be able to fight without making eye contact with Leona. But now, Ellie did not have any reason to fight with a ¡®blindfold¡¯.

    But the yers,mentators and viewers that saw her appear like that were all shocked.

    <em>[Crazy¡­! Is she going to fight with her eyes closed?!]</em>

    <em>[Wow. Shit, that¡¯s crazy¡­! The Sword Emperor will fight with her eyes closed¡­!]</em>

    <em>[Isn¡¯t she so damn cool?!]</em>

    <em>[Ellie-unnie! Please take me!!! Huhu!!!]</em>

    ¡°Crazy¡­¡±

    ¡°Wow¡­¡±

    Then, Ellie began to run with her eyes covered. And the moment she sped up¡­

    <em>[Everyone is in awe at your friend¡¯s performance.]</em>

    <em>[You have earned 3,111 cash.]</em>

    <em>[You have earned 2,680 cash.]</em>

    <em>[You have earned 3,111 cash.]</em>

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    The hundreds of vipers that surrounded Leona¡¯s body rushed at Ellie¡¯s running figure. However, even with her eyes covered like that, Ellie was still able to gracefully maneuver and evade the snakes¡¯ attacks. until she arrived in front of Leona with a gracefulnding.

    ¡°This great one is¡­¡±

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    <em>Stabbbb!</em>

    Then, she stabbed her sword in Leona¡¯s chest and said, ¡°¡­the Continental Emperor and the Sword Emperor, Ellie.¡±

    As her words ended, hundreds of thousands of soldiers appeared from the hill behind her, waving gs bearing the symbol of Eivelis Empire.

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!¡±

    ¡°Wooooooooaaaaaaah!!!¡±

    Then, she gave her order, ¡°Annihte all the enemies.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    After that, Ellie pulled out her sword from Leona¡¯s chest before turning around gracefully and started attacking the Snake Soldier army. With that, the hundreds of thousands of troops behind her charged forward.

    Meanwhile, Ellie thought, <em>¡®This should have the greatest impact among everyone.¡¯</em>

    <em>[You have earned 4,900 cash.]</em>

    <em>[You have earned 4,300 cash.]</em>

    <em>[You have earned 4,631 cash.]</em>

    Minhyuk did not know why they were trying to attract attention like this. However, he would not really stop them since it was also beneficial to him. After all, Minhyuk was quickly gaining cash with every splendid appearance that they made! On top of that¡­

    <em>[The total amount of umted cash has exceeded 200,000.]</em>

    <em>[A new slot has been opened!]</em>

    <em>[As a reward for obtaining 200,000 cash, you can choose a reward from God-rank artifacts, God-grade ingredients, and even God¡¯s Elixir.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Minhyuk was very shocked. He was shocked not because he would be able to receive a god-rank reward from the MVP Shop, but because he would be able to choose whatever god-rank reward he wanted due to the 200,000 cash collected.

    <em>¡®It should be very difficult¡­¡¯</em>

    Indeed. After thinking about it, Minhyuk knew that it was difficult. In fact, he had been having a hard time collecting cash just before. He was sure that he would not be able to collect 200,000 cash if Ellie or Valen did not make an appearance.

    Minhyuk immediately looked at the newly opened slots in the MVP Shop.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    After checking the MVP Shop, Minhyuk could onlyugh nkly at what he saw.

    <em>¡®This is crazy¡­¡¯</em>

    The thing that Minhyuk paid attention to the most was the ¡®Unconditionally Create God-Grade from these Ingredients¡¯ slot that appeared in the MVP Shop. When he clicked on the detailed description, it said that Minhyuk would most definitely receive a God-grade dish if he cooked with the corresponding ingredients in the slot.

    <em>¡®¡­F*cking awesome.¡¯</em>

    Those words seemed to be the most appropriate to describe the amazing rewards listed in the MVP Shop.

    ***

    Snake Temple was a temple dedicated to God of Snakes Elizabeth, and the ce where all of her children were slumbering. In the middle of the temple stood the statue of a beautiful woman with the lower body of a snake.

    Right now, there was a man standing in front of this very statue. The man, who was wearing a ragged and worn out robe, looked up at the enchanting statue of the woman. The man pulled his hood down to reveal a beautiful set of golden eyes and shiny silver hair. He looked so beautiful that the word itself was not enough to describe him. This man was none other than Nerva Sephiroth. Nerva Sephiroth was the key figure of Athenae¡¯s second era. And as the heir to the Battle God, one of the Absolute Gods, he was privy to a lot of information about Athenae.

    ¡°From what I heard, the world¡¯s strongest had gathered because of your daughter.¡± Nerva Sephiroth sneered as he caressed the arm of Elizabeth¡¯s statue, ¡°Many would fight back and many would protect.¡±

    This was the perfect opportunity to wreak more havoc. Nerva Sephiroth took out a golden goblet from his robe. He was Nerva Sephiroth, it was a given that he knew how to awaken God of Snakes Elizabeth.

    ¡°What a pitiful woman.¡±

    The Six Monsters Gods were kicked out just because they were born as ¡®monsters¡¯. But among them, this woman admired and loved Athenae the most.

    Then, Nerva Sephiroth poked the tip of his finger with a dagger¡­

    <em>Drip¡ª Drip, drip, drip¡ª</em>

    His red blood dripped down on the goblet. Then, he poked the tip of the finger of Elizabeth¡¯s statue. Something surprising happened. Green blood started to drip down from the finger! Nerva Sephiroth held the golden goblet under her finger and collected the green blood dripping down from it.

    <em>Drip¡ª</em>

    Then¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    A burst of green energy spread out and enveloped the entire temple.

    ¡°Go and kill everyone.¡±

    With a <em>swoosh¡ª</em>, Nerva Sephiroth disappeared.

    ***

    Leona had already given up at this point.

    ¡°Do you know this great one¡¯s name?¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°This great one is Elf King Aragon.¡±

    ¡°Just hurry up and hit me.¡±

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª</em>

    ¡°Do you know this great one¡¯s name?¡±

    ¡°Shut up.¡±

    ¡°This great one is the ruler of the seas, the Dragon King.¡±

    ¡°Wow, so great.¡±

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª</em>

    ¡°Do you know this great one¡¯s name?¡±

    ¡°Who?¡±

    ¡°This great one is Great Pirate Gorfido.¡±

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°I heard that you wanted to kill His Majesty?¡±

    She had grown tired of this line now. Even if Leona vehemently denied it, she knew that no one would believe it.

    ¡°That¡¯s right! I tried to kill him! So, what?! What are you going to do? Keok!¡±

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The amount of times those lines had been uttered were the same amount of times that Leona had been beaten. At this point, Leona could not figure out what the identity of that human was. Leona was already at the point where she thought she lost her mind, with every appearance of another strong friend of the human. After getting beaten twenty times just like that, a tremendous amount of pressure began to weigh down on everyone present.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°What¡­?¡±

    Then, a shocking notification rang for everyone present.

    <em>[A sealed monster has awakened to the world.]</em>

    <em>[Caution!]</em>

    <em>[Danger!]</em>

    <em>[Caution!]</em>

    <em>[Danger!]</em>

    <em>[God of Snakes Elizabeth has made her appearance!]</em>

    <em>[The one that will be able to hunt God of Snakes Elizabeth will be able to get rewards.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The expressions on the faces of both yers and NPCs alike turned ugly while happiness bloomed on Leona¡¯s face.

    <em>¡®Mother!¡¯</em>

    Leona¡¯s mother, Elizabeth, was a pitiful woman that had been abandoned by the God of Origin Athenae. Her mother lived quietly and no differently from the snakes and the other ordinary gods. All she wanted to do was to win the heart of Athenae. However, the other gods kicked her out and sealed her in the Stars¡¯ Path, just because she was born a ¡®monster¡¯.

    <em>¡®My poor, unfortunate mother, who is great and strong.¡¯</em>

    <em>Swish, swish, swish¡ª</em>

    Green air currents swarmed and covered the surrounding air. That was when ¡®she¡¯ appeared, a woman that looked exactly like Leona. However, the pressure that she was exerting was on apletely different level from Leona. Leona was able to receive the title of a marquis because the powers that she had was the one that was most simr to Elizabeth¡¯s own power. Of course, the awakened God of Snakes Elizabeth was several times stronger than Leona.

    <em>Tingle, tingle¡ª</em>

    Even the Named NPCs felt a tingle run down their spines when they felt the pressure weighing down on them. Then, Elizabeth said, ¡°Catch these impudent bastards.¡±

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    Heaven and earth began to shake, the pressure in the air getting heavier by the second and weighing down on both yers and NPCs alike. And then¡­

    <em>[God of Snakes¡¯ Curse.]</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    A huge tidal wave made of poison appeared and devoured the yers, who were trying to escape.

    <em>Swiiiiiiish¡ª</em>

    <em>Swiiiiiiiiiiiish¡ª</em>

    <em>[Your HP has reached zero. You will be forced to log-out!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has reached zero. You will be forced to log-out!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has reached zero¡­]</em>

    The scene was horrifying. The yers that had been swept away by the poisonous tidal wave turned into dried up, twisted mummies that fell on the ground. Although the yers tried to flee in the opposite direction of the tidal wave, it was still faster than them. The poisonous tidal wave devoured around ten meters ofnd area in just a mere 0.2 seconds.

    ¡°Shit, f*ck. Log out!!!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s freaking strong!!!¡±

    ¡°Rankers, do something!!!¡±

    The fleeing yers were appalled. As they continued to scream, a more horrifying scenario started to unfold in front of them.

    <em>[The God of Snakes has started to control the system!]</em>

    <em>[You will not be able to log-out whenever, wherever you want!]</em>

    <em>[You need to be five kilometers away from the God of Snakes before you can log out.]</em>

    <em>[The only way for you to log out is to get five kilometers away from the God of Snakes!!!]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The yers were all left speechless. One of the yers, who was running away from the tidal wave, looked back but¡­

    ¡°F*ck¡­¡±

    <em>Swoosh¡ª</em>

    ¡­he turned into a mummy and fell t on the ground.

    Meanwhile, Leona was feeling delighted.

    ¡°Uncivilized and foolish ones! Receive your judgment and die in front of my eyes!!!¡±

    She was extremely excited and happy.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    The ground shook once again, sending the yers into another wave of shock and fear.

    <em>[The God of Snakes¡¯ Wrath has covered the world!]</em>

    <em>[The God of Snakes¡¯ Deadly Poison has started to circte in the air. The range that it covers has reached thirty kilometers!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP is falling at a rapid rate!]</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The poisonous green gas overturned the entire world.

    ¡°Uuuuuuurrrrk!¡±

    The first yer that inhaled the poisonous gas fell down, blood spilling from his mouth. Since it was airborne, it could travel swiftly and freely. Just a weak breeze and the entire surrounding was covered with the poisonous green gas, covering the entire view of the situation.

    Minhyuk, who was inside the barrier, saw Ellie identally breathe in the poison.

    ¡°Urk!¡±

    His strong noona whose mental strength was incredible, easily fell on one knee and vomited a mouthful of blood. Even Sword God Valen and Elpis were brought down to their knees. The elves and the seafolk also brandished their weapons and protected the Dragon King and Elf King Argon from the poison with their bodies. But everything was useless.

    ¡°Uweeeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Urrrrrrrrrk!¡±

    Their throats started to constrict, their trembling bodies falling down to their knees. Among them¡­

    <em>Thuuud¡ª</em>

    Spear God Ben stabbed his spear on the ground in front of Minhyuk¡¯s transparent barrier. Then, Ben looked back at Minhyuk¡­

    <em>Drip, drip, drip, drip¡ª</em>

    Blood was already dripping from the corners of Ben¡¯s mouth as he said, ¡°Your Majesty, don¡¯t even think of taking one step forward from where you are.¡±

    ¡°No¡­¡±

    Minhyuk felt frustrated and helpless. He could tell that he would lose everyone that he cherished and loved in this ce. And everything was his fault. Minhyuk¡¯s body began to tremble and shake. If he had not used the Mythical Bird that Cries Sadly For You, then everyone here would not be in danger.

    To be honest, it was not really Minhyuk¡¯s fault. No one expected that this would happen. Besides, it was their choice toe here. But Minhyuk still med himself. Weak. In the end, humans were weak. Even those that looked strong would eventually show their true nature once they witnessed their loved ones die.

    However, there was still one woman that had not made her appearance yet.

    <em>Diiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    The toll of a mysterious bell spread all over the world. Then, a bright light burst out from the tolling bell, expelling the poisonous green gas that covered the entire world.

    ¡°I ask in the name of Athenae...¡±

    <em>Diiiiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    With every ring of the bell, a light would burst out. And every time the poisonous green gas met with the light, they would start to dissipate and disappear into nothingness.

    ¡°God of Snakes, why are you here?¡±

    <em>Diiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    Then, a bright light burst out and engulfed anything and everything in sight. At the same time, people wearing a silver cloak and silver armor bearing the symbol of ¡®Athenae Religion¡¯ began to appear one after another. Tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, no, millions of them appeared. When all of these people raised their swords to the skies, a notification rang in everyone¡¯s ears.

    <em>[Athenae¡¯s Great Child is about going to bring judgment to those that are ¡®evil¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[Millions of pdins aim their sword toward those that are ¡®evil¡¯.]</em>

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    <em>aaaaash¡ª</em>

    <em>aaaash¡ª</em>

    Bright light burst out from each and every single one of the swords in the hands of the millions of pdins. This lightpletely engulfed the world. Among them, a woman wearing white priestly robes walked out with ¡®God Athenae¡¯s Bell¡¯ on her hand.

    Elizabeth looked a bit perplexed and confused at first. But not long after, her lips twisted into a gruesome smirk, ¡°Filthy followers of Athenae, she was the one that abandoned me.¡±

    Her voice sounded gloomy and wicked. And the woman wearing the white priestly robe?

    <em>Shiiiiing¡ª</em>

    She walked with the bell in one hand and a sword in the other while saying, ¡°Fury. Despair. Sadness¡­ and lust. You are someone stained with those things.¡±

    <em>[Athenae¡¯s Saintess Loyna aims her sword at God of Snakes Elizabeth!]</em>

    <em>[She is following Athenae¡¯smands and is wielding her sword to punish the foolish ¡®evil¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[Saintess¡¯ Authority has been triggered.]</em>

    The swords in the hands of the pdins glowed brighter. Then, a sword made of light flew out of their des and soared to the skies. Millions of swords made of light floated in the skies, like stars on a dark night.

    ¡°Disappear.¡±

    <em>Fwooooooooom¡ª</em>

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    Loyna¡¯s sword was the first to move. It flew swiftly and pierced through Elizabeth¡¯s heart. Right after that, the millions of swords in the skies began to rain down on Elizabeth. The falling swords looked quite simr to a ¡®meteor rain¡¯. And this meteor rain of swords were falling down to judge the God of Snakes.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

 Chapter 599: First Teacher, First Friend

    Chapter 599: First Teacher, First Friend

    The mission of the great Athenae Religion¡¯s Saintess was to bring judgement to those that had been stained with evil. The typical examples of this were the demons and the undead. The saintess was also given the mission to stop the ¡®Six God Monsters¡¯, existences that even the Absolute Gods feared. Each and every single one of them had their own personalities, attributes, and abilities, and they were extremely strong.

    Millions of sword lights fell down like a meteor and pierced through Elizabeth¡¯s body in one go. The swords, which received the saintess¡¯ blessings, exerted stronger power than before. After all, the pdins¡¯ powers would only show its true colors when exorcising ¡®evil¡¯.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    A scream burst out of Elizabeth¡¯s mouth at the first sword light that pierced through her body.

    ¡°¡­Mother?¡±

    Leona could not hide how flustered she was. Was her great mother going to be sent to eternal rest just two minutes after her appearance?

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Thementators and viewers alike were mesmerized by the beautiful woman that appeared. The same was true for Richard and the members of the Maserrati Guild.

    <em>¡®Crazy¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He¡¯s even friends with the Saintess?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®At this rate, are you telling me that he¡¯s also close with Athenae¡¯s President Kang Taehoon?¡¯</em>

    However, unknown to everyone, Saintess Loyna was currently under a great deal of pressure.

    <em>¡®Among the Six Monster Gods, their youngest, Elizabeth, is known to have the strongest six monster power.¡¯</em>

    Of course, that ability had been weakened. However, that was the problem. Elizabeth¡¯s abilities were so ridiculous that it was still overwhelming, even after it had been weakened.

    Loyna hurriedly prayed to God Athenae, <em>¡®Saintess¡¯ Prayers.¡¯</em>

    A bright light burst out from Loyna¡¯s hands, healing those that had been hit by Elizabeth¡¯s attack and were suffering from severe internal injuries.

    <em>[Elizabeth¡¯s Poison has left your body.]</em>

    <em>[Your internal injuries are healing rapidly.]</em>

    The ones that were brought to the brink of death had regained their rosyplexions as their internal injuries were healedpletely.

    ¡°So, this is the power of a true saintess¡­¡±

    Even Sword Emperor Ellie was in awe of Loyna¡¯s power. After all, who would believe that a single woman possessed the power to heal everyone here? But unbeknownst to everyone, sweat was already dripping down Loyna¡¯s forehead.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s worth a try if we¡¯re with Saintess Loyna.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®If we have Saintess Loyna¡¯s buff then¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®We have the chance to wipe out one of the Six Monster Gods from the world.¡¯</em>

    The Named NPCs that gathered at Minhyuk¡¯s call thought the same thing. All of them thought that Loyna healed them so that they could fight. However, it was theplete opposite.

    ¡°All of the troops have to return! Run as far and as fast as you can!¡±

    ¡°¡­Why?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s beyond what we can handle. Hurry, before shees back to her senses!¡±

    Everyone could not understand Loyna¡¯s words for a moment. The number of troops gathered here almost reached five million. On top of that, the saintess was with them. They could not understand why she was telling them that their enemy was beyond their ability to deal with.

    ¡°Hurry, there¡¯s not much time¡­¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re weaker than what I thought.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Then, Elizabeth¡¯s gloomy and creepy voice rang in Loyna¡¯s ears. Elizabeth was smiling wickedly despite the sword des piercing through her body.

    <em>Swiiiish¡ª</em>

    The swords made of light slowly slipped out of her body as her injuries regenerated at a rapid rate. Then, Elizabeth spread her arms and¡­

    ¡°Damn it!¡± Loyna shouted, her face turning white.

    <em>[Elizabeth has borrowed the power of Wolf King Loraudi.]</em>

    <em>[Wolf¡¯s Fang has been activated.]</em>

    Wolf King Loraudi was known for having the strongest physical ability among the Six Monster Gods. Immediately after that¡­

    <em>aaaaaash¡ª</em>

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud!</em>

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡­a gigantic wolf appeared and bit Loyna¡¯s leg, staining her white priestly robes with blood. Then, the same set of fangs appeared on the bodies of everyone present.

    ¡°Keooooook!¡±

    Some copsed and died instantly, bleeding from the bite that appeared on their necks.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!¡±

    Some sank to their knees, their weapons falling on the ground as bite marks appeared on their arms.

    ¡°Urghhhh!¡± Ellie groaned as she dropped her sword, suffering a bite mark on her wrists. The ability was unbelievable. It inflicted massive damage on everyone present without even attacking them directly. Everyone received damage except for one. Minhyuk, who was inside the Let¡¯s Have a Meal barrier, was safe and sound.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was left speechless at the sight that unfolded in front of him.

    <em>¡®ck Dragon Vormon¡­ Demigod Asura, and even Great Demon Verus are no match for this¡­¡¯</em>

    Back then, 50% of Great Demon Verus¡¯ power had been sealed. However, Minhyuk thought that he would still be no match against Elizabeth even if he had his full power.

    <em>¡®Everyone¡­ will die¡­¡¯</em>

    Just when the thought shed in Minhyuk¡¯s head, he saw Sword Emperor Ellie hold her sword with her left hand. Elf King Argon, who was limping on one leg, picked up his bow and aimed an arrow at Elizabeth. Yes. For Minhyuk, ¡®giving up¡¯ meant logging out. But for them, it was different. And it was also because of that reason¡­

    <em>[Would you like to purchase Ingredient that can Unconditionally Make God-Grade Dishes?]</em>

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    <em>[You have used 200,000 cash to purchase Ingredient that can Unconditionally Make God-Grade Dishes.]</em>

    Minhyuk immediately checked the detailed description of the ingredient.

    <em>[The Ingredient that can Unconditionally Make God-Grade Dishes has a 100% chance of making a God-grade dish. However, even in the same grade, there are dishes that are excellent and dishes that have lesser effects than others.</em>

    <em>You have a chance of making Absolute God-Grade Dish or ordinary God-Grade Dishes.</em>

    <em>The grading of the dish that you will make will be divided into <strong>Weak</strong>, <strong>Ordinary</strong>, <strong>Fantastic</strong> and <strong>Absolute God</strong>.]</em>

    Minhyuk tried to cook. But that also became a problem. Elizabeth¡¯s gaze turned to Minhyuk. It seemed like she noticed the powerful force emanating from deep within him.

    <em>¡®The power of a god?¡¯</em>

    Elizabeth could tell that the man had the power of a god and that he was trying to do something. It was clear that it was not an ordinary power of a god. Also, the man annoyed Elizabeth. Why was the man unaffected by the ability that she expressed earlier?

    Actually, it was working. The moment Elizabeth pointed her hand toward Minhyuk¡­

    <em>[Let¡¯s Have a Meal¡¯s barrier has started to sustain damage!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!!! Nothing is ¡®Absolute¡¯ in front of Elizabeth¡¯s overwhelming power!]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk made eye contact with Elizabeth. At that moment, everyone knew¡­

    ¡°All troops, retreat as far back as possible!¡±

    ¡°Retreat at full speed!!!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t look back, just run!!!¡±

    The kings of other races, the empress of Eivelis Empire, and even Great Demon Gremory immediately ordered their army¡¯s retreat. As the troops immediately stepped back, their eyes remained on Elizabeth who was taking a step forward in the air. The leaders of the various groups all chose to remain and not retreat.

    Why? Because Minhyuk was in danger.

    ¡°Shit¡­! All of you should run and escape!!!¡± Minhyuk shouted but it was useless. Spear God Ben and Sword Emperor Ellie had already leapt to the skies.

    ¡°Sky Ripper¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­Frenzy.¡±

    Just when the two cast their skills to attack Elizabeth¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Gigantic anacondas appeared on Elizabeth¡¯s body, shooting straight toward Ellie and Ben and restricting their movements. Not long after¡­

    <em>Shwaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Hundreds of anacondas appeared and wrapped around all of the people that surrounded and protected Minhyuk, restricting their movements and stopping them from moving.

    ¡°Ughhhh¡­!¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty!!!¡±

    ¡°Minhyuk!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk bit his lips as he watched the barrier slowly melt away.

    <em>¡®Right now, who are you worrying about?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was a foreigner that would be able toe back to life, yet the people around him threw themselves forward to try and save him. In just a blink, the Let¡¯s Have a Meal Barrier started to melt away.

    Loyna broke free from the anacondas¡¯ hold with Athenae¡¯s power. She was the only one that could use ¡®Athenae¡¯s Barrier¡¯. If she could cast the barrier, Elizabeth would not be able to pierce through Minhyuk. However¡­

    ¡°Hmmmph, hmmmph!¡±

    Elizabeth flicked her fingers and Loyna¡¯s mouth turned shut, it was as if they had been sewed tight.

    ¡°Is he the person that you care about and treasure the most?¡±

    Elizabeth found it interesting that a single person was able to gather all these high-profile NPCs. On top of that, he was a human. Everyone turned desperate. And in that desperation, Elizabeth hoped that they would feel frustration and helplessness. After all, everyone would feel despair and frustration upon Minhyuk¡¯s death. Then, Elizabeth arrived in front of the disappearing barrier.

    <em>Shwaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    However, Minhyuk was secretly preparing an attack and waiting for her to approach. The attack was none other than the ¡®Overlord Technique¡¯. Minhyuk had already judged that Elizabeth was an overwhelming opponent the moment she appeared, so he decided to use Overlord¡¯s Technique right away. Even though he did not fight, his Overlord¡¯s Mana had been constantly increasing.

    ¡°Overlord¡¯s¡­¡±

    Just when the strong power started to surge from within Minhyuk¡¯s body, Elizabeth waved her hand and¡­

    <em>[Your casting of Overlord¡¯s Technique has been stopped.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    What kind of overpowered existence was she? In the end, Elizabeth appeared right in front of Minhyuk, her yellow eyes glinting sharply as she said, ¡°I¡¯ll make you suffer tremendously and make your death as painful as possible.¡±

    While everyone was looking at Elizabeth¡¯s cruelty and viciousness in abject terror, an unidentified voice rang, ¡°God¡¯s Sacrifice.¡±

    ¡°¡­?!!!¡±

    God¡¯s Sacrifice. Perhaps Elizabeth was the only one that knew about it. There were only a few of the Continental Gods that had this power. It was a power that granted the Continental Gods a force close to an Absolute God¡¯s power, in exchange for all of the divine power in their body. The price for using this power was death.

    <em>aaaaaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    A bright golden light burst out as a man appeared in front of Elizabeth.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The man was someone that Minhyuk knew very well.

    ***

    This was a story that happened a long time ago, back when Minhyuk had just started ying Athenae and had connected Instructor Valen with Instructor Roina.

    Instructor Valen had been living a lonely life, a life without interaction, having left behind his glorious days as the Sword God. However, a young man suddenly appeared in front of him, came to his house, and served him a delicious and warm meal.

    <em>¡®Hehe, Instructor!¡¯</em>

    Valen treated the young man with a bright smile kindly. He spent most of his time with the young man. When the young man received his god ss, ¡®Food God¡¯, Valen was near the dungeon.

    <em>¡®Good going.¡¯</em>

    When the young man first met the members of Legend Guild¡­

    <em>¡®It¡¯s good that you made good friends.¡¯</em>

    When the young man became king¡­

    <em>¡®You look cool.¡¯</em>

    When the young man was in danger¡­

    <em>¡®You can get over it.¡¯</em>

    Valen watched over the young man all the time. It was to the point that his wife said, <em>¡®Why don¡¯t you just go and meet him instead?¡¯</em>

    But Valen just smiled and shook his head while saying, <em>¡®This much is enough.¡¯</em>

    He had always remained invisible as he supported and cheered the young man from afar. So, the question was¡­ Who was Minhyuk to him? At one point, Valen started to keep a diary. Perhaps the diary was some sort of will? It was made just in case the boy was ced in danger some day.

    As he wrote his diary, he prayed and begged Athenae, <em>¡®God of Origin, I beg you. Please give me the strength to save that child if he everes across danger.¡¯</em>

    God of Origin Athenae heard the prayers that he made every time and she was both pleased and sad at the same time. Here, she was witnessing the friendship of the guardians and the foreigners. One day, Athenae decided to listen to Valen¡¯s prayers and grant him his wish.

    On the day that Athenae gave Valen his wish, Valen wrote thest chapter in his diary.

    ***

    A bright golden light burst out as a man approached Elizabeth and Minhyuk. Elizabeth vehemently denied the man¡¯s power, <em>¡®There¡¯s no way that Athenae will listen to that man¡¯s prayers!!!¡¯</em>

    God¡¯s Sacrifice was a power that not anyone could invoke. It was a deadly skill that could only be triggered if one gained Athenae¡¯s approval and recognition. But not long after, something surprising happened.

    <em>[God of Origin Athenae grants a final power to the one that wants to protect.]</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The moment Valen swung his sword, hundreds of des shed Elizabeth¡¯s body.

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Valen immediately approached Elizabeth and brought his sword down.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaam¡ª</em>

    ¡°In¡­ Instructor¡­¡±

    Valen¡¯s figure was slowly fading. However, he just smiled slightly at Minhyuk. He did not want to say anything to Minhyuk because he knew that the boy would be sad if he did so. But there was one thing that he wanted to tell the boy.

    <em>¡®Don¡¯t ever stop. Keep on moving forward.¡¯</em>

    As time went by, Valen¡¯s figure grew more and more transparent. At the same time, the power that Valen did not wish for but Athenae granted to him was suddenly triggered and made its appearance.

    <em>[Athenae has handed Valen¡¯s Diary to you.]</em>

    The diary hidden in Valen¡¯s body flew out and flipped its pages on its own. The letters appeared in front of Minhyuk. He was the only one that saw the letters and the words that they formed.

    <em>[Everything is still vivid to me. The day he first visited my cabin and the warmth that he left afterwards.]</em>

    <em>[He became the Food God. I¡¯ll continue to cheer him on and watch him from afar.]</em>

    <em>[Ah, he met new friends. Were they the Legend Guild? I¡¯m d that he has met good friends.]</em>

    <em>[He became a king. He¡­]</em>

    <em>[He did¡­]</em>

    <em>[He¡­]</em>

    <em>[He¡¯s¡­]</em>

    <em>[He was the first person to cook for me.]</em>

    <em>[He was the only child that smiled sincerely at me, who has been alone all my life.]</em>

    <em>[He was the only one that made meugh after a long time.]</em>

    Then, he read thest words written in the diary.

    <em>[He¡¯s my first andst friend.]</em>

    <em>[He¡¯s my first andst disciple.]</em>

    After that sentence, there were traces of words that had been erased. Minhyuk desperately tried to read the words but there was a limit to how much he could read from the erased characters.

    <em>[B t l t m s th s to s t fy m ow g. Y a my f st s.]</em>

    At that moment, Athenae¡¯s powers were triggered and made the erased and blurred characters turn clear. At the same time, Valen soared to the skies. As he rose to the skies, to deal with Elizabeth, Valen¡¯s gaze remained on only one person and one person alone, Minhyuk. That was when the erased letters were restored, appearing in front of Minhyuk clearly.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Then, an explosion of light devoured Valen and Elizabeth. Minhyuk called for Valen desperately, ¡°Instructooooooooooor!!!¡±

    Amidst the tumultuous skies and the shaking earth, the letters finally turnedpletely clear and arranged themselves toplete thest chapter of Valen¡¯s diary.

    <em>[I know that I shouldn¡¯t say these words. Still, it wouldn¡¯t hurt since everything will remain in my imagination, right?]</em>

    <em>[I¡¯m being too greedy, I know. Yet I can¡¯t stop imagining how it feels like to watch him grow up. Watch him go to a Swordsmanship Academy. Watch him be a soldier. Watch him turn into a knight.]</em>

    <em>[This is just me being greedy. That¡¯s why I¡¯m going to erase thisst chapter of my diary.]</em>

    <em>[But let me just say this to satisfy my own greed. You¡­]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes followed the words and read thest sentence of the diary.

    <em>[¡­are my first son.]</em>

 Chapter 600: First Teacher, First Friend

    Chapter 600: First Teacher, First Friend

    Everyone turned silent. Even thementators that had been yapping about how it was a disaster and that they could not do it turned mute.

    All the troops that were rushing to escape, the Named NPCs that had gathered for Minhyuk¡¯s sake and even Minhyuk were all staring at the ce where the light exploded and devoured Elizabeth and Valen.

    Minhyuk turned to look back at thest sentence on Valen¡¯s final diary entry, <em>¡®Instructor¡­¡¯</em>

    Instructor Valen was both a teacher and a friend. He was the very first person that Minhyuk met and interacted with in Athenae. Minhyuk, who had suffered from eating addiction, was facing depression and social phobia, refusing to meet people and having no friends. In fact, he had already started to lose his will to live. During the darkest time of his life, Valen appeared. Valen was like the oasis that Minhyuk found in the middle of the desert. A man that cared for and treasured Minhyuk as if he was his own son.

    <em>Vwoooooooooong¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Then, a figure slowly fell from the skies. Minhyuk immediately dashed forward to catch the figure. The figure was none other than Valen. He lookedpletely miserable, his entire body burned to a crisp.

    ¡°Ugh¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk felt immense relief. Valen was not yet dead! He was still breathing and living! However, his breath was so weak that Minhyuk felt that the man would die soon. At the same time¡­

    ¡°That was dangerous,¡± a bone-chilling voice rang out.

    Everyone present raised their heads and turned toward the direction of the sound. There, they saw Elizabeth, who had already regenerated half of her body that had been blown away.

    ¡°He should know. He should know that something like this could not kill me,¡± Elizabeth said,pletely happy at the turn of events, ¡°I temporarily stopped the draining process of his divine power so he would not die.¡±

    Would Elizabeth do something like that for someone else? Ordinarily, the answer would of course be a resounding no. She smiled creepily and said, ¡°This way, you will be able to see everything that you tried to protect fall apart and die, you know? Kyahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!¡±

    Minhyuk gritted his teeth. She had only kept Valen alive so she could see him fall into despair until his death. Minhyuk could tell that if Valen continued to remain in this state, he would truly die.

    At that moment, Richard hugged Minhyuk, who was holding on to Valen, tightly.

    ¡°Athenae¡¯s Barrier!¡± Loyna shouted as her power surged out and created a huge barrier that enveloped them.

    ¡°Minhyuk, don¡¯t forget what you have to do right now!¡± Richard shouted but the words did not register in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    If somebody else was in his position, it would also be difficult for them to find any semnce of reason. Minhyuk¡¯s job was obviously to cook for Richard so that his Absolute Monarch¡¯s Stigma could show its full potential.

    <em>¡®Maybe I can make something to save Instructor Valen.¡¯</em>

    But Minhyuk¡¯s head was currently only filled with thoughts of Valen. Yes, Minhyuk believed that he should cook for Valen.

    At that moment, Valen, whose breathing was growing weaker by the second, touched Minhyuk¡¯s hand. Tears immediately gushed out of Minhyuk¡¯s eyes when he saw Valen smiling weakly and shaking his head. Minhyuk hugged Valen tightly as the man called out his name, ¡°Minhyuk¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes, Instructor?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t lose your majesty as the king.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk actually did not care for that title right now. He would rather give up that title and choose to save Valen right here and now. But Valen squeezed thest of his strength and stroked Minhyuk¡¯s head while saying, ¡°I¡¯ll give you a present.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    At the same time, Valen¡¯s soul left his body and flew rapidly to somece else.

    ***

    Elizabeth realized that her enemies¡¯ were far more formidable than she initially thought. But ytime was over. Elizabeth breathed deeply as her form started to change.

    <em>[Elizabeth is transforming into her original body!]</em>

    <em>[Elizabeth, who has transformed into her original body, will be 1.4x stronger than normal!]</em>

    The process of Elizabeth¡¯s transformation into her original body was gruesome. Her tongue split apart as she hissed while her bottom half turnedpletely into that of a snake.

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    <em>[Elizabeth has started to take control of the system!]</em>

    <em>[All of your skills will not be avable for five minutes!]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The closebat fighters immediately took advantage of the gap that the transformation had given them. Overlord Raldo, Sword Emperor Ellie, Spear God Ben and Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Shield Elpis all leapt to the skies and surrounded Elizabeth. They certainly looked awe-inspiring.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    But then, hundreds of gigantic snakes stretched out and attacked them. Spear God Ben pierced through several snakes at once.

    <em>aaaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    A snake, which tried to take advantage of Spear God Ben¡¯s inattentiveness, was split in two with Sword Emperor Ellie¡¯s skillful disy of swordsmanship.

    ¡°Weak humans,¡± Elizabeth sneered at them as the gigantic snakes writhed more fiercely and attacked them more violently.

    Elli stepped on one of the snakes and leapt toward Elizabeth, her sword stabbing the middle of Elizabeth¡¯s forehead with precise movements.

    <em>Staaaaaab¡ª</em>

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    <em>[The world¡¯s best NPCs have started a pincer attack and closed in on Elizabeth.]</em>

    <em>[Did you see that? Theirbined force ispletely out of this world. Look at their movements? Their control is superb even in a situation where all of their skills have been disabled.]</em>

    After stabbing Elizabeth¡¯s forehead, Ellie once again leapt to the skies. Elizabeth¡¯s gaze immediately followed the figure of the daring human that stabbed her forehead. However, Spear God Ben did not give her any room to breathe. He immediately stabbed her chest with his spear.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    As Elizabeth tried to grab the spear stuck in her chest, Raldo moved forward and stabbed her nks dozens of times in a row.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°Kiyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Elpis¡¯ sword struck Elizabeth¡¯s head consecutively.

    <em>aaaaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    A sword stuck through half of her head, the Spear God¡¯s spear was stuck in her chest, the Overlord stabbing her sides, and even Elpis was about to split her head in half with his sword. The sight was grotesque. But despite the gruesome attacks thatnded on her body¡­

    ¡°Kyahahahahahahahahaha!¡±

    Elizabeth was stillughing. Immediately after that¡­

    ¡°¡­Don¡¯t tell me!¡± Raldo shouted, his senses screaming that there was danger.

    Elizabeth¡¯s head momentarily turned huge as she bit Raldo¡¯s left shoulder.

    <em>Cruuuuuuuuunch¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    It was so easy. It was as if Elizabeth bit on something soft and easy to bite.

    <em>Drip¡ª drip, drip¡ª</em>

    Raldo¡¯s left arm fell down, blood dripping on the ground. Raldo, the one hailed as the Overlord, slowly fell to the ground. But something far more shocking happened.

    <em>[Elizabeth¡¯s innate ability has been triggered.]</em>

    ¡°So, this is your power?¡± Elizabeth mumbled, a smile lingering on her face. Then, she spat out, ¡°Overlord.¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    zing mes burst out of her body and swept the area around her. That was right. Each of the Six Monster Gods had their own special characteristics. Elizabeth was granted the power to control the system, but that was not the ability that represented her.

    As long as she took a bite of her opponent, she would be able to use her opponent¡¯s ability once. On top of that, the power would be at MAX level. Yes, it was an overpowered ability.

    They were copsing. The greatest existences of Athenae were copsing in front of Elizabeth one after the other.

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    ¡°Your Majesty¡­¡± Elpis, Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Shield, cried out as he reached his hands toward Minhyuk. Elpis grinned softly at his king.

    <em>Splurt¡ª</em>

    Elizabeth¡¯s hand pierced through Elpis¡¯ heart while he was on the ground. Taking advantage of this, Ellie, whose entire body had been charred by the mes earlier, raised her sword and stabbed Elizabeth in the neck.

    <em>aaaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    However, only a small portion of her sword pierced through Elizabeth¡¯s neck. Elizabeth turned to look back at Ellie, her mouth forming a vicious and crazed grin, ¡°Die.¡±

    <em>Splurt¡ª</em>

    Elizabeth¡¯s hand pierced through Ellie¡¯s heart.

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    The Absolute Supreme NPC was slowly turning into a cold corpse.

    ¡°Elpis¡­ Noona¡­¡±

    Not yet satisfied, Elizabeth ran after the Dragon King, Elf King Argon, the beastfolk Jevis and Kiari and everyone else. In the end, everyone died.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk stopped trying to cook. All of the people that he treasured and loved were copsing. He did not have the time to process anything.

    ***

    Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s meeting room.

    <em>[Sword Emperor Ellie has died.]</em>

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Elpis has died.]</em>

    <em>[Sword Saint Conir has died.]</em>

    <em>[Great Demon Gremory has died.]</em>

    President Kang Taehoon was shaking all over. All of the people present could not even breathe at the horrendous sight that was being broadcasted on their screens.

    Elizabeth¡¯s awakening was not supposed to happen at this point in time. None of them could handle her. Even if it was the Absolute Supreme NPC or Demigod Ben. After all, Elizabeth was an existence that had power at the ¡®Absolute God Level¡¯. Her level? It was around Level 1,200.

    But Nerva Sephiroth had awakened her.

    Kang Taehoon jumped from his seat. His steps were unstable but he still ran somewhere. Team Leader Park Minggyu chased after him, ¡°President!!! President!!!¡±

    Although Team Leader Park got a hold of him, Kang Taehoon ignored him and shook off his hands.

    <em>¡®The steadfast and firm president¡­¡¯</em>

    Indeed, Kang Taehoon was no longer calm, he was falling apart. Not long after, Kang Taehoon arrived at the ce where Supeputer Athenae was located. He was gasping for breath as he shouted anxiously, ¡°Athenae, stop Elizabeth right this moment!!!¡±

    ¡°President.¡±

    President Kang Taehoon had told his employees time and again that they should not intervene in the Athenae worldview. He had always told them that it was a world that the NPCs had to lead and that their intervention would cause a copse. But now, the very same President Kang Taehoon was shouting at Athenae to stop Elizabeth.

    <em>[I cannot do that.]</em>

    ¡°Athenae, do not make me say it twice! Do it right now¡­!¡±

    <em>[As of this moment¡­]</em>

    Athenae¡¯s voice stopped Kang Taehoon from his tracks.

    <em>[¡­the stars that have lost their light have awakened.]</em>

    ¡°What?¡±

    Both Kang Taehoon and Park Minggyu could not understand what Athenae meant. But it seemed like Park Minggyu thought of something as he rushed back to the meeting room.

    ¡°¡­No way,¡± Team Leader Park Minggyu gasped as he tried to catch his breath. He was aware that Valen¡¯s soul left to go somewhere else. And the ce that he headed to was revealed the moment Park Minggyu entered the meeting room once again.

    Every single person inside the meeting room jumped to their feet and looked at the screen with bated breath. At that moment, a world message appeared on the screen and was disyed to the entire world.

    <em>[The Gods of the Abyss have awakened and opened their eyes to the world once again.]</em>

    ***

    Hell on earth unfolded in front of Minhyuk. The body of the powerful Sword Emperor Ellie, with her heart pierced through, was slowly turning cold. Elpis, ever so reliable, smiled gently at Minhyuk even until his death. Conir, the boy that liked to cook ramyeon, died with his neck snapped into two. The Dragon King and Elf King Argon, who ran for his sake, fell down and died on their knees. Spear God Ben, who returned for him, had died in front of the barrier that protected him with his spear stabbed on the ground and his heart burst into pieces. Almost everyone that came here for his sake had died. Even those that tried to escape were killed under the hands of Elizabeth, a mountain of corpses appearing in front of Minhyuk¡¯s eyes.

    Richard had lost all sense of reason after witnessing the pandemonium in front of him, ¡°Uuuuuurk!¡±

    On the other hand, Minhyuk gnashed his teeth and red at Elizabeth.

    <em>Grit, grit, grit¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk himself had almost lost all sense of reason, but¡­

    <em>¡®You guys don¡¯t want me to give up until the very end, right?¡¯ </em>Minhyuk asked everyone.

    <em>I am a king. I am the Food God. I am your friend.</em>

    He would fight until the very end.

    <em>Swoooooosh¡ª</em>

    Athenae¡¯s Barrier slowly disappeared upon Loyna¡¯s death. Minhyuk prepared for his final battle as the barrier slowly melted and disappeared.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    In the battlefield covered with corpses, a soul appeared right in front of Minhyuk, carrying a sword to the best of its abilities. The soul looked at Minhyuk gently and stroked his head with a grin on its face.

    ¡°You¡¯re amazing.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk just looked at Valen. And Valen? He looked up at the sky and said, ¡°Minhyuk.¡±

    Minhyuk had always called Valen ¡®Instructor¡¯. But this time, he called him differently, ¡°Yes, Master.¡±

    ¡°Be a true god today.¡±

    Then, Valen entered Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    <em>[You have inherited the power of the Sword God!]</em>

    <em>[All of your swordsmanship skills have transcended the human realm and reached the level of the gods!]</em>

    <em>[You will only be able to use the Sword God¡¯s power temporarily!]</em>

    Then, Minhyuk followed Valen¡¯s gaze and also looked up at the skies. There, he saw twelve floating stars. The twelve stars fell down like meteors and circled around Minhyuk. There was a very familiar man among the stars.

    ¡°Food God?¡±

    <em>[The Twelve Gods look at you and the Sword God.]</em>

    <em>[You have inherited the powers of the owners of the Abyss!]</em>

    Immediately after the notifications rang, the twelve stars entered Minhyuk¡¯s body. At the same time, Minhyuk¡¯s hair turned golden while his eyes turned a beautiful shade of silver. Then, thirteen swords appeared right in front of Minhyuk. Written on the des of each sword were the names of the gods that owned them.

    <em>[God of Life, Arjya.]</em>

    <em>[God of Magic, Archipelo.]</em>

    <em>[God of Animals, Ideo.]</em>

    <em>[God of Alchemy, Karma.]</em>

    <em>[God of Shield, Aurod.]</em>

    <em>[God of Time, Card.]</em>

    <em>[¡­Creation¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­cksmiths¡­]</em>

    And finally¡­

    <em>[Sword God, Valen.]</em>

    Minhyuk held one of the swords in his hand. The owner of the sword? God of Life. Arjya. Under Elizabeth¡¯s shocked gaze, Minhyuk¡¯s voice rang and resonated with the sacred voices of the thirteen gods. The words got transmitted to everyone, including the viewers andmentators that were watching the broadcast.

    <em>[The One that Connects the Power of the Gods has wielded the Sword of Life.]</em>

    <em>Fwoooooooooooooooosh¡ª</em>

    Then, Minhyuk swung the ¡®first sword¡¯.

    <em>[The tree that was once dead, has found life, growing leaves and bearing fruits again.]</em>

 Chapter 601: First Teacher, First Friend

    Chapter 601: First Teacher, First Friend

    The notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears after he temporarily inherited the powers of the twelve Gods of the Abyss.

    <em>[Wielding the Sword of Life will bring the dead back to life without any scratch or injuries on their bodies.]</em>

    <em>[Wielding the Sword of Magic will allow you to use Tier 1~Tier 5 magic. The sword contains the power of Archipelo, bringing its attack power to a ridiculously high level.]</em>

    <em>[Wielding the Sword of Animals¡­]</em>

    <em>[Wielding the Sword of the Food God¡­]</em>

    <em>[Wielding the Sword of cksmiths¡­]</em>

    All of these powers could only be used once.

    Meanwhile, everyone wasmenting the fact that the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, the kings of other races, and millions of troops had fallen and copsed at this ce.

    <em>[This is a lesson to us all. No matter how strong we think we are, yers are still infinitely weaker than other beings living in Athenae.]</em>

    <em>[The legends have all died. Even millions of troops were killed.]</em>

    <em>[Perhaps this is also Food God Minhyuk¡¯s final battle.]</em>

    That was right. Minhyuk had lost everyone that he cherished and loved in this battle. There was a chance that his mentality would copse right there and then. After all, this was definitely something that could inflict great trauma to anyone that experienced it. Perhaps, he might no longer wish to ess Athenae any more. However, no one dared to mock or curse him after seeing what happened. Because all of them knew that the trials and difficulties that the Food God had faced were so unbearable that even ordinary people would balk at the thought.

    Everyone watched as Minhyuk held his sword and prepared for battle.

    <em>[Hold on, you can do it. Food God¡­]</em>

    <em>[Fight until the very end!!!]</em>

    <em>[Show us why you¡¯re the best in Athenae!!!]</em>

    <em>[Don¡¯t back down!!!]</em>

    They longed to be like the Food God, yet at the same time, they felt both jealousy and envy toward him. This person that they chased after, the person that they dreamt of fighting with, was now going to fight until the very end.

    While everyone shouted and cheered for the Food God, a strange phenomenon suddenly urred. Twelve stars fell down like a meteor and entered Minhyuk¡¯s body. Then, Minhyuk, with his cloak bearing the symbol of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, the ¡®Fork and Knife¡¯, stepped forward as his hair turned golden and eyes turned silver.

    The divine voice of all the gods rang loudly.

    <em>[The tree that was once dead, has found life, growing leaves and bearing fruits again.]</em>

    A blinding light spread out from the first sword and engulfed the cooling bodies of everyone present as Minhyuk wielded it.

    <em>My beloved noona.</em>

    <em>[Sword Emperor Ellie has awakened and received a new life.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s noona opened her eyes and stood right next to him.

    <em>[Overlord Raldo has awakened and received a new life.]</em>

    The amiable Raldo, the one Minhyuk called uncle, once again opened his eyes after having lost his left arm and dying.

    <em>[Sword Saint Conir has awakened and received a new life.]</em>

    <em>[Elpis has awakened and received a new life.]</em>

    <em>[Spear God Ben has awakened and received a new life.]</em>

    Conir, who was sometimes like a dear younger brother to Minhyuk, who acted like a friend, sometimes like a fool and sometimes like a genius, once again stood up next to him. The sturdy and powerful shield, Elpis, also stood next to him. As always, Spear God Ben mmed his spear down into the ground and red at Elizabeth while dering that ¡®he would never back down¡¯.

    <em>[Elf King Argon has awakened and received a new life.]</em>

    <em>[Dragon King has awakened and received a new life.]</em>

    <em>[Roves¡¯ Child Jevis has awakened and received a new life.]</em>

    <em>[Roves¡¯ Child Kiari has awakened and received a new life.]</em>

    Although they were of different races, the people that have been with Minhyuk for a long time smiled and looked at him, they nodded lightly to express their trust and faith in him as they stood next to him.

    The viewers andmentators held their breaths as they watched the scene on their screens. The same was true for the executives and operators of Joy Co. Ltd.

    In this world created by yers¡­ No. In this world created by both yers and NPCs, a blinding light shone behind Minhyuk. Then, the troop that came from Eivelis Empire, as well as the seafolk and elves led by the Dragon King and Elf King Argon appeared once again, each of their groups exceeding a million in numbers.

    <em>[Saintess Loyna has awakened and received a new life.]</em>

    Loyna appeared next to Minhyuk, while almost a million pdins appeared behind her in a sh of light. The army behind Minhyuk was now close to five million.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!¡±

    The Food God stood at the vanguard of the millions of troops that howled and screamed. Minhyuk looked back at them and chuckled softly. Ellie, Elpis, Dragon King, Conir, Loyna, Gremory. They were beings from various races, yet they all stood behind him and nodded at him in unison.

    At that moment, the Sword of Life slowly disappeared into nothingness.

    <em>[I forgot how to breathe for a moment there.]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s truly a breath-taking scene. God, my entire body is even covered with goosebumps.]</em>

    <em>[The greatest and most beautiful battle in the history of Athenae is now about to unfold!!!]</em>

    The Food God was creating another legend in front of all of the viewers andmentators all over the world. And in front of Minhyuk¡­

    ¡°Impudent¡­!!!¡± Elizabeth, who unknowingly took a step back from the momentum of the five million-strong troops, came back to her senses. She opened her arms gracefully and dered, ¡°Die!¡±

    <em>[God of Snakes¡¯ Wrath.]</em>

    <em>[A deadly poison covers a fifty kilometer radius and will kill anything and everything within it.]</em>

    <em>[Warning! This is a power that cannot be blocked by ordinary Abnormal Status Resistance Ability!]</em>

    <em>[The poison will ruin your entire respiratory system once it enters your system.]</em>

    Minhyuk held the second sword with both of his hands tightly as he looked back at the five million strong troops and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    <em>Dash, dash, dash, dash, dash¡ª</em>

    With Minhyuk at the lead, the troops charged at Elizabeth. As for Elizabeth, her arms gracefully swayed as an eighteen-meter-tall wave of deadly poison appeared. At the same time, Minhyuk swung the second sword.

    <em>Fwooooooooosh¡ª</em>

    The voices of the Gods of the Abyss echoed once again.

    <em>[The One that Connects the Power of the Gods has wielded the Sword of Immortality.]</em>

    A red aura exploded from the bodies of the five million charging troops.

    ¡°Wooooooooaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Haaaaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Hiyaaaaaaaa!¡±

    The army yelled to expel the fear from their bodies. They were in that state when the voices of the gods rang.

    <em>[Never fear, the world will tremble at the majesty of your immortal body.]</em>

    <em>[You will not receive any damage from all kinds of abnormal status or attacks for three minutes!]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will increase by 10% for three minutes!]</em>

    The army jumped in the tidal wave made of poison. Minhyuk, who continued to run at the vanguard, brandished the third sword.

    <em>[The One that Connects the Power of the Gods has wielded the Food God¡¯s Sword.]</em>

    <em>[Even if you don¡¯t make it, it will be created. Even if you don¡¯t eat it, the vor will still linger in your mouth and it will make you feel full.]</em>

    Then, the Ingredients that can Unconditionally Make God-Grade Dishes that Minhyuk purchased shed brightly and floated in the air. Following Minhyuk¡¯s instructions, the ingredients moved and created a dish. And the dish that he was making?

    It was none other than hamburger, a dish that an American like Richard could easily eat.

    <em>[You have created a God-grade Hamburger.]</em>

    <em>[¡®Anonymous¡¯ has been announced to the entire continent for your achievement in creating a food closest to God.]</em>

    <em>[God¡¯s Cooking Skill¡¯s EXP has increased dramatically.]</em>

    <em>[This is the birth of a Fantastic God Grade Dish!]</em>

    And¡­

    <em>Gulp¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Richard was very shocked. The hamburger was sucked into his body. And even though he obviously did not eat it, the amazing vor of the hamburger still lingered in his mouth.

    ¡°De, delicious¡­¡±

    Richard did not eat it and Minhyuk did not make it personally, but there was a shocking notification that rang in Richard¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You have consumed a hamburger.]</em>

    <em>[You can increase the level of one chosen skill by +5!]</em>

    <em>[You can increase whatever skill you want to increase!]</em>

    <em>[The buff duration is two days.]</em>

    Richard did not hesitate.

    <em>[Absolute Monarch¡¯s Stigma¡¯s level has increased by +5!]</em>

    <em>[You can now engrave the Absolute Monarch¡¯s Stigma to forty people!]</em>

    <em>[Those that will receive the Absolute Monarch¡¯s Stigma will receive a 43% increase in all stats!]</em>

    <em>[Those that will receive the Absolute Monarch¡¯s Stigma will receive a +2 increase in all skill levels!]</em>

    <em>[Those that will receive the Absolute Monarch¡¯s Stigma will receive a 40% increase in EXP Acquisition Rate!]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    And the first person that Richard pointed to was¡­

    <em>¡®It is an honor to fight alongside you, Food God.¡¯</em>

    Richard was inplete awe and admiration of Minhyuk. Minhyuk was someone that Richard feared the most as an enemy. However, he also discovered that the man was a very reliable ally.

    <em>[Minhyuk has received the Absolute Monarch¡¯s Stigma!]</em>

    ck characters fell and got engraved on Minhyuk¡¯s body. Immediately after, a ck aura soared from Minhyuk¡¯s body. Minhyuk, who already had golden hair and silver eyes, now had an additional red and ck aura swirling around him. The colors showed a stark contrast to his white and fair skin, which made him look both beautiful and cool as he continued to run forward.

    Then, immediately after¡­

    <em>[Ellie has received the Absolute Monarch¡¯s Stigma!]</em>

    <em>[Ben has received the Absolute Monarch¡¯s Stigma!]</em>

    <em>[Conir has received the Absolute Monarch¡¯s Stigma!]</em>

    <em>[Raldo has received the Absolute Monarch¡¯s Stigma!]</em>

    ck aura swirled around the bodies of the people that ran with Minhyuk. It was a spectacr sight. They looked like they werenterns guiding the huge army in the thick fog of the green poison. And the man that shone the brightest, the one that acted as a lighthouse in the dark, continued to run at the vanguard.

    Elizabeth could not hide how flustered she was by the people that were running toward her. She immediately used another of her powers.

    <em>[Elizabeth has borrowed the power of Monster God Beleg.]</em>

    <em>[Beleg¡¯s Army has been activated.]</em>

    Among the Six Monster Gods, Beleg was considered as the god of all monsters. And the power that has been triggered was the power of the Father Creator. An army of seven million appeared in front of Elizabeth.

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    Each and every single one of the members of the army were gigantic Named Monsters with levels ranging from Level 400~500. Meanwhile, Minhyuk, who was still running toward Elizabeth, held the fourth sword in his right hand and the fifth sword in his left.

    <em>[The One that Connects the Power of the Gods has wielded the Sword of Animal.]</em>

    <em>[The fierce beasts will bare their fangs and fight for you.]</em>

    ¡°Roooooooaaaaaaaar!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Almost ten million predators appeared in front of Minhyuk. They were not just any ordinary beasts. They were ¡®mythological¡¯ beasts and predators that were raised by the God of animals himself, known for biting off thousands of soldiers; they were God of Animals Ideo¡¯s Beasts! Millions of lions, tigers, leopards and bears appeared on the ground, while three-meter long eagles upied the skies. The almost ten million predators that dominated thend and air made their way toward the millions of monsters, together with the army led by Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk jumped and bnced himself on the back of one of the giant lions. When the lion leapt to the skies, Minhyuk also jumped up while brandishing the other sword in his hand.

    <em>[The One that Connects the Power of the Gods has wielded the Sword of Alchemy.]</em>

    <em>[Witness the Alchemy Carnival.]</em>

    Tens of thousands of purple potion bottles popped up in the skies and started to fall down like rain.

    <em>aaaang¡ª</em>

    And once the bottles made contact with the ground¡­.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    They exploded and engulfed the monsters within a ten meter radius.

    <em>Baaaaaang! Baaaaaaaang! Baaaaaaaaang!</em>

    <em>Boooom! Booooooom! Booooooom!</em>

    Elizabeth stepped back from the sudden and continuous explosions.

    <em>¡®Impossible¡­!¡¯</em>

    The powers that were being used in front of her were something that a human could never hope to use. Indeed, the man in front of him was close to an ¡®Absolute God¡¯ right now. Elizabeth immediately flew to the skies and turned around. She knew that the man in front of her was obviously using the power of the gods, albeit temporarily. This meant that she had to avoid him for now.

    But in the cover of the cloud of dust that rose from the explosion, another sword released a bright light in Minhyuk¡¯s hand. Minhyuk charged toward Elizabeth while the gods said¡­

    <em>[The One that Connects the Power of the Gods has wielded the Sword of Creation.]</em>

    <em>Vwooooooooooong¡ª</em>

    The sword in Minhyuk¡¯s hand disappeared as he swung it down. Then, he immediately pulled out the Continent Destroyer Sword.

    <em>[You havebined the skill Overlord Technique and the skill Lightning!]</em>

    <em>[Additional damage has been added to all of the skills that you will create!]</em>

    <em>[Overlord¡¯s Lightning has been created!!!]</em>

    <em>[All active skills will be on cooldown upon usage of Overlord¡¯s Lightning!]</em>

    <em>[Each strike of the Overlord¡¯s Lightning will have 14,000% additional attack power. The skill will inflict 200~300 strikes!]</em>

    The skies started to darken as heaven and earth turned upside down.

    <em>Rumbleeeee¡ª</em>

    The sky roared as Minhyuk flew up and brandished his Continent Destroyer Sword, aiming for the fleeing Elizabeth. Elizabeth¡¯s gaze drifted to the skies.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Hundreds of lightning bolts from the Overlord¡¯s Lightning struck down and devoured everything in sight.

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Amidst Elizabeth¡¯s ear-piercing shrieks, the voices of the gods rang out¡­

    <em>[He, who has created a new power, will be the god of the new world.]</em>

 Chapter 602: First Teacher, First Friend

    Chapter 602: First Teacher, First Friend

    ATV Broadcasting Station¡¯s PD Kim Daeguk, along with the other directors and station operators, were all trembling, their chests thumping wildly, as they looked at the screen of their monitors.

    <em>Thump, thump, thump¡ª</em>

    A dark and ominous cloud appeared above Elizabeth, as thick bolts of lightning covered with ck mes rained down.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The lightning bolt covered with mes did not stop even after hitting Elizabeth. They continued, hitting the ground and exploding, causing a huge crater behind her. It was as if a meteor had struck, with how deep and wide the crater was. Then, bolts of lightning continued to appear, striking Elizabeth one after the other.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The hundreds of lightning bolts that fell down from the skies illuminated the entire Stars¡¯ Path.

    ¡°¡­This is the power of a true God.¡±

    Joy Co. Ltd. had repeatedly said that God sses were not beings that reached the realms of the Gods. They even said that there was a high chance that they would be deprived of their ¡®God ss¡¯ in the process of obtaining their godhood and bing a true God. Only when one could use the power of a true god would they be a true supreme and absolute being. The operators initially expected this to happen a few years in the future.

    ¡°The viewership ratings have¡­ exceeded 21%¡­¡± one of the employees murmured, their voice trembling.

    ATV Broadcasting Station was not the only station broadcasting this video. If they included the viewership ratings of the other broadcasting stations, then they could confidently say that more than 50% of the South Korean poption was tuned in and watching this scene. There were also people from the rest of the world watching this scene, thrilled beyond belief.

    The scene where Minhyuk nced coldly and nonchntly at the shrieking Elizabeth with his silver eyes and golden hair fluttering behind him while the lightning bolts rained down was so breathtaking that everyone watching the scene from all over the world would be ovee with excitement.

    In fact, the entire world was looking at the screens of their TVs with rapt attention.

    ¡°It¡¯s like a scene in the movies¡­¡±

    In America, plenty of people were humming in admiration as they watched the scene from an electronic disy on one of the tall buildings in the city. The people of Vietnam could not tear their eyes away from their smartphones as they looked at the spectacr scene. Even tens of thousands of people in China could not help but be speechless as they watched the scene being broadcasted in one of the squares. This scene was ying and was being viewed by millions of people all over the world. And in the streets of Tokyo, Kentaro, who was about to go to a meeting with his guild members, stopped in his tracks, his body shivering at the shocking scene.

    Then¡­

    <em>Rumbleeeeeee¡ª</em>

    <em>[God of Snakes¡¯ Nullification.]</em>

    The shrieking Elizabeth hurriedly cast her skill toward the skies. She was the one that could control the system. And with hermand, the remaining lightning bolts that fell down receded until they went back into the dark cloud.

    <em>[Haa¡­ haa¡­]</em>

    Elizabeth gasped as she soared below the dark clouds. Her body was covered in burnt marks. However, the most important thing was the fact that she was still alive.

    <em>[Kyahahahahahahahahahahahaha! I won! This is my victory!!!]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­Please.¡±

    ¡°Food God, you can do it.¡±

    ¡°Show that snake b*tch what hell is like.¡±

    Everyone prayed desperately. And Kentaro? He murmured, ¡°You can do it, Minhyuk.¡±

    Back at ATV Broadcasting Station, PD Kim Daeguk was watching the scene, his heart almost beating right out of his chest. The screen showed Minhyuk holding the seventh sword made of light as he dered with his kingly and majestic voice¡­

    <em>[You¡¯re wrong.]</em>

    <em>Vwoooooooooong¡ª</em>

    As Minhyuk wielded the seventh sword, the divine voices of the Gods rang loudly in the ears of the people watching all over the world.

    <em>[The One that Connects the Power of the Gods has wielded the Sword of Time.]</em>

    <em>[Everything will rewind, just like it does.]</em>

    <em>Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock¡ª</em>

    Everyone watching the scene felt the hairs on the back of their hands stand as a clock appeared behind Elizabeth, who was standing on the skies above the army, its hands rewinding.

    The entire world cheered. And Kentaro, who listened to the cheers of the people around him, silently said to Minhyuk, ¡°Kill her, Minhyuk.¡±

    With every tick of the rewinding clock, the lightning strikes that Minhyuk sent out ¡®rewound¡¯. But there were some things that did not return and that included the ¡®God of Snakes¡¯ Nullification¡¯. Simply put, Elizabeth was also bound by a skill¡¯s cooldown. This meant that she would not be able to use that power again.

    <em>Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock¡ª</em>

    The rewinding second hand started to slow down until it finally stopped.

    <em>Tick, tock!</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Then, another round of Overlord¡¯s Lightning devoured Elizabeth. Amidst the downpour of lightning bolts and the cheers from countless people all over the world, Minhyuk looked down at Elizabeth with a lofty, nonchnt gaze.

    ***

    Those that had been resurrected were busy fighting a fierce battle against therge army of monsters summoned by the God of Snakes. However, it definitely caused people to wonder why they were not attacking Elizabeth alongside Minhyuk. The reason was simple.

    ¡°It¡¯s not a fight that we can join in,¡± the Dragon King mumbled, a despondent smile on his face.

    Indeed, it was a fight that they could not join. They would just be a hindrance to Minhyuk if they tried to join in. Even they were left speechless when they saw another downpour of lightning bolts from the skies after a clock that rewound time appeared.

    At the same time, everyone thought, <em>¡®Did he manage to kill her?¡¯</em> However, there were no notifications that rang in their ears. Then¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>[God of Snakes¡¯ Elizabeth¡¯s body has returned to perfection.]</em>

    <em>[Her defensive power has increased by more than 40%!]</em>

    A gigantic snake soared to the skies. It was so long and huge that no one could even begin to fathom its size.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s her perfect body?¡¯</em>

    Her earlier appearance with the face of a woman and the lower body of the snake was gone and was probably hidden away. Elizabeth was now literally a giant snake. With her size alone, she could easily devour the more than ten million troops on ground.

    There was one particr species of snake in Athenae, the ¡®Ouroboros¡¯, which was said to have the figure that could surround and curl around the entire world. It seemed like Elizabeth also had the power of the Ouroboros.

    Elizabethughed maniacally at them and said, ¡°Let¡¯s all go to hell together.¡±

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    Cracks started to spread on the ground until they covered the entire Stars¡¯ Path.

    <em>[The God of Snakes¡¯ Final Act.]</em>

    <em>[She will use thest of her powers to extinguish anything and everything within a 100 kilometer radius.]</em>

    <em>[There is only one minute left before the Final Act starts! You have to kill her before the timer ends!]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Everyone was horrified. Now, they did not have a choice but to attack Elizabeth together. But there was no way for them to deal enough damage to her.

    <em>[Elizabeth¡¯s Final Struggle.]</em>

    <em>[All weapons will be unavable for use for three minutes!]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Except for fighter sses, it was now impossible for everybody else to deal damage to Elizabeth. The same was true for Minhyuk. The Continent Destroyer Sword in his hands disappeared into his inventory by itself. At the same time¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Elizabeth charged at Minhyuk with her gigantic body, the timer starting to tick.

    <em>[56 seconds. 55 seconds. 54 seconds.]</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Elizabeth¡¯s huge face mmed into Minhyuk¡¯s body and sent him flying into the walls of a cliff.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The walls of the cliff began to copse as consecutive attacksnded on Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    <em>[50 seconds. 49 seconds. 48 seconds.]</em>

    Then, Minhyuk grabbed the eighth sword and swung it as hard as he could.

    <em>[The One that Connects the Power of the Gods has wielded the Sword of Shield.]</em>

    <em>[Feast your eyes for nothing can touch those that wield the power of the God of Shields!]</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaam¡ª</em>

    It was an astonishing sight. A shield made of light appeared and covered a height of 100 meters and protected Minhyuk.

    <em>Thuuuuuuuuuuuud¡ª</em>

    But Elizabeth kept on mming into the shield. And though it was the power of the God of Shields, cracks still spread on its surface the more Elizabeth mmed her body on it. Everyone turned tense as the cracks continued to spread.

    ¡°Minhyuk¡­¡± Ellie murmured, her eyes gazing up at Minhyuk. Overlord Raldo, the rest, in fact, everyone present was doing the same thing.

    Then, Minhyuk held two swords at the same time and swung it as hard as he could.

    <em>[The One that Connects the Power of the Gods has wielded the Sword of Farmers.]</em>

    <em>[The One that Connects the Power of the Gods has wielded the Sword of Magic.]</em>

    <em>[Nature has awakened and will heed your call.]</em>

    <em>[Be the God of Magic, who will rule over the all-epassing power.]</em>

    Large, thick roots and vines rose from the ground and bound Elizabeth¡¯s body tightly. Immediately after, the mes of the God of Magic appeared and covered the roots and began to burn Elizabeth.

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    <em>[30 seconds. 29 seconds. 28 seconds.]</em>

    Not long after, Minhyuk swung another sword.

    <em>[The One that Connects the Power of the Gods has wielded the Sword of Archery.]</em>

    <em>[Watch. A torrential rain will now cover the ground you walk on.]</em>

    Tens of thousands of arrows fell down in a downpour and sunk deeply into the shrieking Elizabeth¡¯s body.

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaaack!¡±

    Elizabeth struggled fiercely from the pain, but the roots and vines restricted her movements. And¡­

    <em>[17 seconds. 16 seconds.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk did not move. Everyone watched him as he stared at the two swords that were floating in front of him, one of the two swords had the words ¡®Sword God¡¯ engraved on its de.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Everyone knew that Minhyuk might not be able to see Valen anymore if he wielded that sword. Perhaps it would spell theplete death of the man hailed as the Sword God. Tears flowed down Minhyuk¡¯s cheeks, his hands trembling as he tried to wield one of the swords with great difficulty.

    <em>[The One that Connects the Power of the Gods has wielded the Sword of cksmiths.]</em>

    <em>[The sword that you will wield will have a stronger blessing.]</em>

    <em>[The sword that you will wield will instantly gain an additional 500% attack power.]</em>

    Only the final sword was left.

    <em>[Caution!!!]</em>

    <em>[Elizabeth will explode in ten seconds!!!]</em>

    <em>[Caution!!!]</em>

    <em>[Elizabeth will explode in nine seconds!!!]</em>

    Minhyuk hesitated. But none of the people present med him, they just stared at Minhyuk as he cried. Minhyuk bit his lips tightly and tried to raise his hand to grab thest sword, but he could not do so. But then, at that moment, a warm,rge and callused hand grabbed his hand. Then¡­

    <em>¡®My teacher, my master, the first person that I cooked for, the first person that treated me like a friend, and the first person that treated me like a son within this world.¡¯</em>

    That very same person chuckled and smiled softly at Minhyuk as he raised the boy¡¯s hand and ced it on the hilt of the final sword. It was then that the memories started to sh in Minhyuk¡¯s head. When Minhyuk first started Athenae and met him. When the man gifted him the Sword of Rebellion, Vn. When he met him in a dungeon. When the man visited him to brag about the daughter that he and Loyna birthed.

    Then, the man said, ¡°My first andst disciple.¡±

    Valen, who was in his soul form and looked translucent, slowly brought the hilt of the sword near his waist. Following his first teacher Valen, Minhyuk also brought the hilt of the sword in his hands near his waist. The two of them stood side by side and looked at Elizabeth¡¯s gigantic form.

    As the notifications rang, the twelve Gods also conveyed their feelings and sentiments toward the two people.

    <em>[The One that Connects the Power of the Gods has wielded the Sword God¡¯s Sword.]</em>

    <em>[He was like a father to his disciple.]</em>

    <em>[He was like a son to his master.]</em>

    <em>[He was the disciple¡¯s first teacher.]</em>

    <em>[He was the teacher¡¯s first student.]</em>

    <em>[The two swung their swords, the swords that had reached the level of a True God, against the evil in front of them. They have be the God¡¯s Sword that can cut down anything and everything.]</em>

    <em>[Caution! Elizabeth will explode in two seconds!]</em>

    Valen looked at Minhyuk while Minhyuk turned to look at him. Valen¡¯s figure looked more dashing and inspiring than ever as he said, ¡°This is the ¡®Divine Sword¡¯.¡±

    The two of them settled on the same posture as they drew the sword and swung it down. The sword was not visible to the eye but¡­

    <em>aaaaaaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    Heaven and earth was split in two and Elizabeth¡¯s gigantic body was cut in two.

    <em>[You have sessfully killed the God of Snakes Elizabeth.]</em>

    The first friend that Minhyuk made in Athenae and the first teacher that taught him swordsmanship. Valen, who was like a father to him, started to disappear.

 Chapter 603: First Teacher, First Friend

    Chapter 603: First Teacher, First Friend

    God of Snakes Elizabeth waspletely different from all of the other beings that Minhyuk had faced before. She was several levels higher than ck Dragon Vormon, and unlike Demigod Asura, she was a true,plete Absolute God. She was also unsealed, unlike the case with Great Demon Verus.

    Killing Elizabeth was practically impossible and unbelievable. After all, was there an existence in the entire world of Athenae that had killed a God? No. Such an existence did not exist.

    <em>[The Beyond the Heavens King, the Food God, has made a new achievement! He has in a God!]</em>

    <em>[Your name will be ced in the Hall of Gods and a statue will be made in your name!]</em>

    <em>[You can decide the design of the statue yourself.]</em>

    <em>[You can choose the location where the statue will be built yourself.]</em>

    <em>[Those that willy their eyes on the statue will receive buff effects depending on the meaning of the statue itself!]</em>

    The entire world was made aware that Food God Minhyuk had in a God. At the same time, Minhyuk was able to gain a lot of cash for his MVP Shop. Actually, the notifications had been ringing constantly in his ears during his fight against Marquess Leona and God of Snakes Elizabeth.

    The cash that he earned during this battle? A whopping 440,000 cash. It was a shocking amount. This was mainly because there were a lot of people present here that had witnessed the breath-taking scene of the hunt. Also, Minhyuk was able to gain additional cash after sessfully killing Elizabeth.

    <em>[Many are in awe and admiration of your achievement: Cutting Down Even a God.]</em>

    <em>[The scene of you wielding the thirteen Swords of Gods will be remembered as a legend!]</em>

    <em>[You have earned 330,000 cash!]</em>

    <em>[The Gods are very surprised at this moment!]</em>

    <em>[You have earned 100,000 cash!]</em>

    <em>[Those that are on the level of Absolute Gods are very surprised at this moment!]</em>

    <em>[You have earned 300,000 cash!]</em>

    <em>[The Unknown Being that Caused Everything is very surprised at this moment.]</em>

    <em>[You have earned 100,000 cash!]</em>

    The unknown being, the main culprit of this disaster, was taken aback at the sudden turn of events. But Minhyuk still did not have a clue as to who he was. But the notifications did not end there.

    <em>[You have gained 126,311 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 99,000,000,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[¡­leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Six God Monsters¡¯ Authority Chest.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the God of Snakes¡¯ Ring.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Absolute God¡¯s Treasure Box(13).]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired God of Snakes Elizabeth¡¯s Egg.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Aepazzi¡¯s Longsword.]</em>

    <em>[¡­acquired Kordo¡¯s Winged Boots.]</em>

    <em>[¡­acquired Vormi¡¯s Longsword.]</em>

    These were Minhyuk¡¯s personal notifications. Of course, Elizabeth was someone that everyone here had hunted together. Even though the surviving members of the Maserrati Guild and other yers were only a small number, the NPCs were still there. This meant that all of them also received plenty of rewards.

    <em>[Sword Emperor Ellie¡¯s potential has dramatically increased after sessfully hunting God of Snakes Elizabeth.]</em>

    <em>[Spear God Ben¡¯s potential has dramatically¡­after¡­hunting God of Snakes Elizabeth.]</em>

    <em>[Elpis¡¯¡­hunting God of Snakes Elizabeth.]</em>

    The notifications rang continuously. But no one was cheering enthusiastically, especially Minhyuk, who had remained silent since the hunt ended. This was because Valen, who wielded the final sword with him, was slowly disappearing.

    Minhyuk did not want to lose anyone anymore. He did not want to go through the same sorrow that he felt when he lost Ben back then. But they were always fighting a battle in Athenae and things would not work the way he wanted them to work.

    <em>Swooosh¡ª </em>

    Valen started to disappear. He ced a gentle hand on Minhyuk¡¯s cheeks and smiled softly at the boy. Minhyuk hurriedly sped Valen¡¯s hand with both of his hands. Valen¡¯s hand was rough yet big, warm, andfortable.

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    With those words, Valen¡¯s body turnedpletely into light. Then, he slowly soared into the skies. However, something unexpected happened.

    <em>[The God of Origin is very surprised by the achievements that the first master and first disciple had made.]</em>

    <em>[God of Origin Athenae is bestowing a gift to the two people.]</em>

    At that moment, Sword God Valen, who soared to the skies, suddenly turned into the shape of a sword. The sword was so beautiful and spectacr that everyone could not take their eyes off of it.

    <em>[The God that has be a Sword bids his goodbye to you.]</em>

    <em>[The God that has be a Sword tells you that you will meet again.]</em>

    <em>[The God that has be a Sword tells you to be a True God.]</em>

    ¡°¡­I will, without a doubt, find you again, Instructor.¡±

    <em>Vwooooooooooooong¡ª</em>

    The sword made of light resonated loudly before flying away swiftly. Not long after, the sword dug deep and buried itself in the ground somewhere, waiting for Minhyuk toe and meet it.

    Those who meet must part and those who part shall meet again[1]. In other words, the people that meet must break up at some point and those that left would always return.

    ***

    Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s Event Management Team Leader Park Yi-Hyeon could not hide how flustered he was.

    <em>¡®He earned over a million cash¡­?¡¯</em>

    That was ridiculous! Common sense would dictate that it was an impossible feat. But no matter how much he wanted to deny it, Park Yi-Hyeon had witnessed how it happened with his very own eyes. He saw how Minhyuk made the impossible possible, with the power of the thirteen Gods.

    <em>¡®What rewards would he get for earning over a million in cash?!¡¯</em>

    Even Management Team Leader Park Yi-Hyeon did not know that. This was because the event management team leader was allowed to set the rewards for only up to 200,000 cash. If the range of cash earned exceeded 500,000, the MVP Shop itself would generate the range of rewards that it could give.

    Team Leader Park¡¯s hands trembled as he took the cup of coffee from the vending machine and took a sip, <em>¡®What kind of rewards will he choose? What statue will he make?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had umted more than a million cash. On top of that, he also made a new achievement by cutting down a god and was given the chance to build a statue with special effects by himself.

    At that moment, Team Leader Park Minggyu, who just got out of the bathroom, approached Yi-Hyeon and ced his hand on his shoulders.

    ¡°Team Leader Park.¡±

    ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine. Ah, Team Leader Park Minggyu, what do you think would the Food God choose for the rewards? Also, what kind of statue do you think he would make?¡± Park Yi-Hyeon asked, his heart shaking from trepidation.

    Yi-Hyeon thought that he would already be shaking from excitement to the point that he would have gone crazy if he was the one in Minhyuk¡¯s shoes. After all, the worth of the MVP Shop and the things that he could take from there were astronomical in value. And, if he could make a cool statue, there would obviously be a tremendous impact on him and his guild.

    ¡°He¡¯s going to choose something amazing, right?¡±

    But Park Minggyu shook his head when he heard those words.

    ¡°¡­Eh? Are you telling me that he¡¯s not going to choose something like that?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll know it when you see it,¡± Team Leader Park Minggyu said, a meaningful smile on his face as he entered the meeting room.

    Park Yi-Hyeon immediately followed and took a seat inside. He thought, <em>¡®What¡¯s with that look? Why does he look like he¡¯s sure that the Food God will not choose something amazing?¡¯</em>

    Park Yi-Hyeon was a realist. For him, it was only natural for yers to want good artifacts and higher stats.

    Then, President Kang Taehoon said, ¡°As far as I know¡­¡± a smile hanging on the corner of his lips. Even the other board members and executives all had small smiles on their faces.

    At the same time, Minhyuk, who finally returned to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, chose the first item from the MVP Shop. And the item was none other than¡­

    <em>[yer Minhyuk has purchased the ¡®<strong>A Dish that will Reach My Precious Person</strong>¡¯ from the MVP Shop.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!?¡±

    Park Yi-Hyeon could not understand what was happening.

    <em>¡®Yes, he was obviously close with the man called Sword God Valen. But wasn¡¯t he just an NPC¡­?¡¯ </em>Yi-Hyeon thought.

    But it did not end there. Minhyuk also set up a gigantic statue in the center of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s za. When Park Yi-Hyeon saw the statue, his heart could not help but throb. The statue was neither gorgeous nor charismatic. However, the meaning of the statue was so deep and beautiful that he could only sigh at the sight.

    ¡°So, this¡­ is the world that the Food God wants to create¡­¡±

    Kang Taehoon, who heard Yi-Hyeon¡¯s murmur, said, ¡°That¡¯s the reason why everyone loves him.¡±

    ***

    Minhyuk thanked everyone that came and fought with him. He also shook hands with Richard before parting ways with the Maserrati Guild.

    <em>¡®It was a glorious and honorable battle.¡¯</em>

    With those words, everyone dispersed, waiting excitedly for the day that they would all meet again. Before Minhyuk returned, Gremory told him, <em>¡®Always remember. Sword God Valen has always thought of you. He never stopped worrying about you.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk actually did not see Roina anywhere. At some point in time, she went missing. However, no matter what happened, Minhyuk would always remember Valen. And he vowed that he would definitely meet him again, even when he was in the form of a sword.

    Gremory also told him quite a few more things, <em>¡®You know, I always wondered what in the world did you cook for him? He always kept on yapping about wanting to eat that dish that you cooked for him again.¡¯</em>

    <em>Grin¡ª</em>

    A small smile curled at the corners of Minhyuk¡¯s lips. The dish that he made for him when they first met was also the first dish that Minhyuk cooked for someone.

    Minhyuk looked through the MVP Shop, which was filled with rare and special rewards. There was one thing that Minhyuk wanted from among these spectacr rewards.

    <em>[<strong>A Dish that will Reach My Precious Person</strong>. 30,000 cash.]</em>

    Minhyuk bought it without any hesitation. After all, this item would allow whatever dish he cooked to reach Valen.

    He recalled the memories that he spent with the man as he cooked. Minhyuk grilled and baked the garlic bread that he enjoyed with him. He also cooked the instant soup that he had with him while they sat together in front of a small table. Minhyuk had always wanted to make this meal again for him if they met again, since he was not able to make theplete meal before.

    This time, he made sure to include the carbonara.

    After he finished cooking everything, Minhyuk triggered the ¡®Joy of Eating Together¡¯ to create the same dishes in front of him. Then, he used the <em>A Dish that will Reach My Precious Person, </em>the dishes disappearing on their own.

    ¡°Please enjoy your meal, Instructor,¡± Minhyuk said, a soft smile on his face. Then, he took a spoonful of the hot instant soup and took a sip. The savory vor and smooth texture of the soup lingered in his mouth. After sipping a few spoonfuls of the soup, Minhyuk turned his attention to the garlic bread and took a bite.

    <em>Crunch¡ª</em>

    The garlic bread was freshly made, so it was still crispy on the outside yet soft and warm on the inside. Even the savory and sweet vor created a shocking harmony in his mouth. Next, he dipped the garlic bread in the soup before cing it in his mouth. A smile slowly curled at the corner of his lips the moment the smooth texture of the soup met with the soft, yet crispy, garlic bread.

    Then, Minhyuk held the fork with his right hand as he gently rolled a mouthful of carbonara on top of a spoon. The soft and creamy vor of the well-cooked carbonara danced freely in his mouth. After eating a few mouthfuls of the pasta, Minhyuk grabbed some crunchy pickled cucumbers.

    <em>Crunch, crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    The sourness mingled with a hint of sweetness from the pickled cucumbers immediately washed away the greasiness that lingered in his mouth. Minhyuk¡¯s smile widened at the taste.

    Minhyuk smiled happily as he looked at the horizon and asked, ¡°Is it delicious, Instructor?¡±

    He asked as if he was going to get an answer. After eating thest mouthful of carbonara, Minhyuk stared into the empty horizon for a very long time. Then, he smiled softly and said, ¡°Thank you.¡±

    At the same time, a sword engulfed in light that was embedded somewhere unknown, resonated and emitted a more dazzling and brilliant light. It was as if the sword was answering: ¡°Yes, that was very amazing.¡±

    ***

    Instructor Roina was one of the novice vige¡¯s hunting instructors. She was also the wife of Sword God Valen. Right now, she was walking slowly toward the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    Roina immediately left after the hunt for Elizabeth ended. Of course, she had cried with anguish. Her beloved died after all. That was also the reason why she left as fast as she could. She could not guarantee that she would notsh out at Minhyuk and release her anger toward the boy.

    However, Roina, with her hands tightly holding her four-year-old daughter¡¯s hand, still walked slowly toward the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    <em>¡®He did what he wanted to do¡­¡¯</em>

    But as his wife, she still could not bring herself to understand. She was not convinced by the choice that he made. And she was still very sad. Roina tried so hard to suppress her sorrow and anger but she felt like they were about to burst again the moment she arrived. Roina stood motionless and cried her heart out.

    <em>¡®My husband is aplete fool. What am I supposed to do? Why did you leave me alone with our child?¡¯</em>

    As she continued to cry with those thoughts shing in her head¡­

    ¡°Woaaaaaaaah! It¡¯s daddy!!!¡±

    ¡­her daughter¡¯s voice rang in her ears. Roina raised her head and looked at the direction where her child was pointing at. Roina copsed on her feet the moment she saw the statue.

    ¡°Fools¡­¡±

    At the same time, a wide smile appeared on her face. There, in front of her were two gigantic and imposing statues. One of the statues looked like Minhyuk when he first started Athenae, holding a wooden sword and shing at a scarecrow. Behind him stood Instructor Valen with his arms crossed, watching him closely with a happy smile on his face. It was their first meeting.

    Minhyuk was allowed to create a statue to his own liking as a reward for the achievement of cutting down a God. And the statue that he chose to create was of his and Valen¡¯s first meeting.

    And the words written in front of the statue were¡­

    <em>[My Precious Friend and Honorable Teacher.]</em>

    <em>[You Are Always By My Side Forever.]</em>

    1. ????????(•þÕß¶¨ëxÈ¥Õß±Ø·µ). The ideaes from Buddhism. It says that all human rtionships would end at some point because of the transient nature of life. ?

 Chapter 604: First Teacher, First Friend

    Chapter 604: First Teacher, First Friend

    The yers were interested in a lot of things regarding the aftermath of Elizabeth¡¯s hunt. The first was the statue erected in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. The yers, who saw Valen¡¯s sacrifice through the broadcasted video, rushed to see the said statue.

    ¡°Wow¡­ the statue looks in and average, but it¡¯s still cool and wonderful.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m actually crying right now¡­¡±

    ¡°Have you read the words written on the stone table in front of the statue? Isn¡¯t the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King so cool?¡±

    The people were in awe and admiration. It was just a simple statue depicting the first meeting between the two, but the meaning was so beautiful that they could not help but appreciate the emotions behind it. Then, the notifications rang in the ears of the throngs of people that saw the statue.

    <em>[You have seen the statue: <strong>My Precious Friend and Honorable Teacher</strong>.]</em>

    <em>[When ying with a party, you will be able to receive a 15% increase in item drop rate and EXP acquisition rate and a 9% increase in all stats.]</em>

    <em>[The buff duration is two hours.]</em>

    ¡°Woaaaaah!!!¡±

    ¡°Did you see that?!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s freaking amazing!¡±

    Countless people from all over the world crowded in the za to get a glimpse of the statue that would give anyone that saw it a buff effect.

    As for the second thing that the yers were paying attention to, it was none other than¡­

    <em>[Abyss, the tomb of the twelve Gods. What kind of ce is this and what is it for?]</em>

    <em>[Is there someone who knows who exactly the twelve Gods that appeared before are?]</em>

    The people could not help but be curious about the identity of the twelve Gods that suddenly appeared to help Minhyuk defeat Elizabeth. Because of that, plenty of people began to dig and delve deeper into information regarding the Abyss.

    The global number one dungeon explorer, Ian, announced the results of his research.

    <em>[Abyss. The Tomb of the Gods. All of the Gods thatid to rest there are known as Continental Gods. Continental Gods were beings that were once human and had ascended and reached godhood. </em>

    <em>The Gods thatid to rest in the Abyss were beings that tried so hard to protect the world by trying to rise to the realm of the Absolute Gods. But they eventually failed and breathed theirst, taking their eternal rest in the Abyss. </em>

    <em>ording to the records in the ancient books, the Abyss is riddled with trials. For each trial that you clear, you will be able to get a special reward.]</em>

    <em>[The twelve Gods did their best to protect the world? Did they lend their powers before to protect the world?]</em>

    <em>[They¡¯re really cool and wonderful Gods.]</em>

    With that information at hand, the people began to guess at the Abyss¡¯ true purpose. The twelve Gods thatid to rest in the Abyss struggled to reach the realm of the Absolute Gods. But in the end, they failed andid in eternal rest.

    <em>[Is the Abyss the path to be an Absolute God¡­?]</em>

    Indeed. Based on all of the facts and information at hand, the Abyss might be the only path and clue that they had to reaching the realm of the Absolute Gods.

    With that, the world¡¯s leading God ss yers began on a global chase to search for the whereabouts of the Abyss.

    ***

    Minhyuk felt a heavy weight settle down on his chest.

    ¡°It¡¯s the uncle that was with Daddy!¡± Valen¡¯s daughter chirped after recalling the statue that Minhyuk created.

    Roina, who held the girl tightly, said, ¡°Don¡¯t me yourself. He did what he wanted to do.¡±

    But no matter what they said, Minhyuk still felt a heavy weight pressing down on him. He felt guilty toward Valen¡¯s wife and daughter. After all, Roina had to live without her husband and their daughter had to live without their father.

    ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±

    ¡°Ronnie!¡±

    Minhyuk could only smile bitterly as he patted the girl on her head. Then, Roina said, ¡°He was always thinking about you. Whenever he turned silent while pondering by himself, he would always look at the direction that you left in.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. He doesn¡¯t want you to be sad.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded at Roina. It seemed like those that needed to beforted were the onesforting him instead. It was something that Minhyuk was very grateful for.

    ¡°Instead of wallowing in my sadness, I¡¯ll just put my energy into trying to find him.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    Only then did Roina smile at him. Roina and her daughter, Ronnie, decided to stay in Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Minhyuk had decided to let the two live freely and without any inconvenience. He would also try to be a father-figure to Ronnie.

    After the two stepped out of the room, Minhyuk looked somewhere, <em>¡®Perhaps, you¡¯re in¡­¡¯</em>

    There was a chance that he was there, in the ¡®Abyss¡¯.

    The twelve Gods of the Abyss were all Continental Gods that challenged the realms of the Absolute Gods to gain power at a higher level and to protect the world from outer threats. They eventuallyid to rest there. Perhaps, Valen, who had turned into a sword, was also sleeping in the ¡®Abyss¡¯.

    <em>¡®Just wait for me, Instructor.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had already nned on going to the Abyss. However, there were a lot of things that he needed to do before he could go. He finally started to look through and check the rewards that he received from Elizabeth.

    <em>¡®I¡¯ve gained almost 130,000 tinum¡­¡¯</em>

    Considering that one tinum is equivalent to a hundred million gold, the sum of money that he gained could only be described as one hell of an amount.

    <em>¡®It will definitely help with the kingdom¡¯s expansion.¡¯</em>

    There was also a remarkable selection of rewards. The Six Monster Gods¡¯ Power Chest, the God of Snakes¡¯ Ring, the Absolute Gods¡¯ Treasure Chest, God of Snakes Elizabeth¡¯s Egg and many more. The first thing that Minhyuk checked was the Absolute Gods¡¯ Treasure Chest.

    <em>(<strong>Absolute Gods¡¯ Treasure Chest</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: God</em>

    <em><strong>Special Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?One of the items in the hands of the Absolute Gods will randomly appear every time you open the treasure chest.</em>

    <em>?There¡¯s a high chance of getting gold.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: This is a treasure chest that can allow you to steal(?) a lot of things in the Absolute Gods¡¯ possession. </em>

    <em>¡®It¡¯s remarkably unique.¡¯</em>

    There was bound to be something special if he could take one of the things in the Absolute Gods¡¯ possessions. The amount of this item he gained as a reward was a whopping thirteen treasure chests, a very generous amount if he would say so.

    Next was the Six Monster Gods¡¯ Power Chest.

    <em>(<strong>Six Monster Gods¡¯ Power Chest</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: God</em>

    <em><strong>Special Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?Each of the Six Monster Gods has one special, shocking power. </em>

    <em>?You can randomly acquire one of the Six Monster Gods¡¯ powers. </em>

    Minhyuk could tell that this was also a remarkable item. He had been a witness to the shocking power and innate ability of the other Monster Gods through Elizabeth.

    Wolf King Loraudi¡¯s ¡®Wolf Fangs¡¯ was able to inflict and leave behind bite marks on the bodies of each and every single one of the thousands of troops that they had without even directly attacking them.

    Monster God Beleg¡¯s power allowed Elizabeth tomand around seven million monster corps. These were just examples, but one could tell how special and powerful the Six Monster Gods¡¯ powers were.

    The God of Snakes¡¯ Ring also had a special effect. Elizabeth had the power to control the system. It was possible for her to give penalties like the inability to use skills by controlling the system. This ring was able to allow the user to control the system like Elizabeth once per day. The item user could choose to disable the use of skills for a few minutes, turn their opponents to stone, or even disable the use of return scrolls and potions.

    In short, it was a very, <em>very</em> useful item.

    As for Elizabeth¡¯s Egg¡­ Minhyuk gulped nervously.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s going to hatch soon.¡¯</em>

    ording to the description, once Elizabeth¡¯s Egg hatched, she would be given the form of a young girl. The problem was that she would awaken with the memories of ¡®Elizabeth¡¯. In other words, there was a high chance that having this in their possession was going to bring them a disaster.

    If that was the case, then did Minhyuk have to bury the egg somewhere deep and unknown?

    <em>¡®Then, Elizabeth will just regain her powers ande looking for meter.¡¯</em>

    That was right. Elizabeth had her memories. This meant that even if Minhyuk decided to abandon her somewhere, she would still seek him out for revenge, after she had sharpened her de.

    In other words¡­

    ¡°I have to kill her here.¡±

    It was said that Elizabeth was much weaker than before with her in the form of a young girl. Of course, she would still be able to exert a tremendous force even if she was weakened. So if he let the egg to hatch in Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, then he could ask everyone to help out and lynch her.

    But then¡­

    <em>[You really know only one thing but not the other. Hey, are you a f*cking m*r*n?]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    It was the first time in a long time that Minhyuk had heard this voice. The owner of this voice was someone that Minhyuk still remembered. He was none other than the ego of the ¡®Grumpy Gochujang¡¯, who fell asleep inside the ¡®Puzzling Seasoning Jar¡¯. Based on the Puzzling Seasoning Jar¡¯s description, it would not be strange for him to hear the ego¡¯s voice since it would awaken randomly. However, there was one thing that Minhyuk was sure of.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s not an ordinary guy¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>[Of course, of course. I¡¯m a great and noble being. So, you better kneel down and worship me.]</em>

    It was also clear that the ego was a very narcissistic and self-absorbed being.

    ¡°What did you mean when you said that I only know one thing and not the other?¡±

    At Minhyuk¡¯s question, the Seasoning Jar¡¯s lid opened and¡­

    <em>[Tch, tch.]</em>

    This was unbelievable! A mere seasoning jar was clicking its tongue at Minhyuk, the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King!!!

    <em>¡®I should definitely disinfect it in some boiling waterter.¡¯</em>

    After Minhyuk vowed to retaliate, the Seasoning Jar¡¯s voice turned solemn.

    <em>[Elizabeth is a very pitiful woman. Of the Six Monster Gods and the noble Gods that Athenae gave birth to, Elizabeth was the one that loved Athenae the most.]</em>

    It was a very shocking story. From what Minhyuk had seen, Elizabeth was just a violent woman that loved ughter. But she was the one that loved Athenae the most?

    <em>[She did anything and everything to win Athenae¡¯s heart. But the Gods said that Elizabeth and the rest of the Six Monster Gods should be banished. And the one that Athenae banished first was ¡®Elizabeth¡¯.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    There was no way for Minhyuk to guess what went on in Athenae¡¯s mind for her to banish the woman that loved her the most.

    <em>[Elizabeth was not born as the God of Snakes. In fact, she was born perfect for the role of the God of ¡®Love and Faith¡¯. But after being abandoned, her tears flowed in the Stars¡¯ Path for a day, then two days, then a hundred days. In the end, she changed. That¡¯s why she¡¯s a woman of misfortune. A very pitiful woman.]</em>

    The Puzzling Seasoning Jar¡¯s tone as he narrated the events back then was very bitter. And¡­

    ¡°How the hell do you know that?¡±

    <em>[Didn¡¯t I tell you? I¡¯m a great and noble being. Kyahahahahahahahahahaha!]</em>

    ¡°You¡¯re full of hot air¡­¡±

    <em>[What does full of hot air mean?]</em>

    ¡°It¡¯s you, or something like that.¡±

    <em>[Huh? Why do I feel like it means something bad?]</em>

    It was clear that the Puzzling Seasoning Jar was greater than what Minhyuk initially thought. Furthermore¡­

    ¡°I knew one thing but I don¡¯t know the other. What did you mean by that?¡±

    <em>[You still don¡¯t get it? Elizabeth is a pitiful woman.]</em>

    ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m asking you, what does that have¡­ huh?¡±

    That was when Minhyuk realized it. That was right. Elizabeth was said to be a God that suited the God of Love and Faith.

    <em>[Why are you trying to kill her?]</em>

    The Puzzling Seasoning Jar continued to drive in his point.

    <em>[You can bring her to your side, right?]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Yes, Elizabeth could truly be on his side. But how?

    <em>¡®Let me think.¡¯</em>

    As of the moment, Minhyuk was her enemy. Elizabeth might try to slit his throat the moment he appeared in front of her. She could also be considered as the one to have caused Valen¡¯s death. How would he coax her toe over to his side? Also, what if she did not join?

    <em>¡®I have the special items in the MVP Shop.¡¯</em>

    Indeed, there were many special and unique items inside the MVP Shop. Perhaps there was something in there that could appease her anger. Besides, Minhyuk still had some time before she hatched and awakened.

    <em>¡®Before everything else, I have to open and look at the Absolute Gods¡¯ Treasure Chests.¡¯</em>

    Throwing all thoughts aside, Minhyuk decided to open the treasure chests first, since he wanted to know what he could get out of them.

    <em>[Hurry and open it. It¡¯s been a long time since Ist opened an Absolute Gods¡¯ Treasure Chest.]</em>

    Was there anything that this guy did not know? Anyway, Minhyuk looked at the treasure chests with great anticipation. Then, a golden treasure chest popped up and rattled fiercely in front of Minhyuk.

    <em>[You are opening the first Absolute Gods¡¯ Treasure Chest.]</em>

    Then, a notification immediately followed.

    <em>[You have acquired 513 gold.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    The two of them were speechless. But Minhyuk was undeterred. He opened another one.

    <em>[¡­the second Absolute God¡¯s¡­]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 420 gold.]</em>

    <em>[¡­the third Absolute God¡¯s¡­]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 333 gold.]</em>

    <em>[¡­the sixth Absolute God¡¯s¡­]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 100 gold.]</em>

    <em>[Hey, why does the amount keep on decreasing?]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Then¡­

    <em>[You are opening the seventh Absolute God¡¯s Treasure Chest.]</em>

    <em>[Congrattions. You have acquired one of the Absolute God¡¯s most cherished books, the ¡®Book Owned by God¡¯.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk could not help but tremble. He had acquired one of the most cherished books owned by God! Perhaps¡­

    <em>¡®Maybe there¡¯s a clue about another Absolute God¡¯s Secret. Or maybe it will create a foothold for another growth. Maybe it¡¯s a method for creating an artifact? If not that, then maybe it¡¯s a record of the location where I can get great and awesome ingredients?¡¯</em>

    The thought alone made Minhyuk¡¯s mouth water. Then, the book appeared in Minhyuk¡¯s eyes. He immediately checked the ¡®title¡¯ of the book.

    <em>[Why Did the Prince Go Out Tonight?]</em>

    <em>[Author: Aruvel]</em>

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s body shook. Then, at that moment, the Puzzling Seasoning Jar spoke in a voice that sounded more serious than ever¡­

    <em>[Can I rent it from you?]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

 Chapter 605: God and Knight

    Chapter 605: God and Knight

    When the Luvien Empire appeared in the Stars¡¯ Path, several kingdoms and empires in the American Server formed an alliance to keep them in check. The alliance gathered a total of a million troops and immediately advanced toward the Luvien Empire.

    <em>¡®The Luvien Empire must be nipped in the bud. We must destroy them before they cany down a solid foothold and expand.¡¯</em>

    However, the one million strong troops copsed in just four days. This was mainly because the God¡¯s Swords that were standing at the forefront of the Luvien Empire were extremely powerful beings. Each and every single one of them were so strong that they could, in fact, be considered on the same level as the Absolute Supreme NPCs.

    Not long after that, Luvien Empire¡¯s Nerva Sephiroth sent the God¡¯s Swords out to suppress the kingdoms and empires that dared to attack them. The first to fall was the Rofian Kingdom, which was the ¡®ruler andmander¡¯ of the ¡®alliance¡¯. Next was the Asphero Kingdom. Third was the Nevar Kingdom. The Luvien Empire rapidly took control of the American Server.

    And Nerva Sephiroth? He was aplishing all the things that he hoped and wished for. Except for one thing.

    <em>¡®I didn¡¯t expect that they would be able to hunt Elizabeth. And those bastards, the Gods of the Abyss, crawling their way out of their graves¡­¡¯</em>

    Elizabeth¡¯s fall in the Stars¡¯ Path was not within Nerva Sephiroth¡¯s expectations. Because of that, the Food God, King of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, had left a deep impression in his mind.

    <em>¡®What an interesting fellow,¡¯</em> Nerva Sephiroth thought, a smirk on his lips. Then, he stood up and went somewhere. It was none other than the ce where the statue of one of the three strongest and most powerful Absolute Gods was.

    Nerva Sephiroth stood in front of the statue of the Battle God. He might be an NPC, but just like the yers, he also received his ¡®missions¡¯ from the Battle God in the form of a quest. And every time hepleted those ¡®missions¡¯, the Battle God would give him more power. Also¡­

    <em>¡®I can get the Battle God¡¯s Origin Authority.¡¯</em>

    The Origin Authority was the power that God of Origin Athenae bestowed to the three most powerful Absolute Gods. The Origin Authority of these three Absolute Gods was said to sometimes exceed and surpass the power of the Absolute God¡¯s Secret.

    From what Nerva Sephiroth heard, the Origin Authority that the Battle God possessed was the power that he needed to take over and govern the entire world. And the condition for gaining this power was for the Luvien Empire and Nerva Sephiroth to sign an alliance with several kingdoms and empires. In other words, it was a mission that was giving Nerva Sephiroth the power to take over the entire world at a faster rate.

    Then, a ck air current surged out and covered the entire area.

    <em>Swooooooooosh¡ª</em>

    Nerva Sephiroth, with his golden hair fluttering behind him, smiled through the gaps of the surging ck air currents.

    ¡°Hahahahahahahahahahaha! Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!¡±

    He was looking forward to the Origin Authority¡¯s great power surging in his veins.

    <em>¡®Hurry and give me the Origin Authority!¡¯</em>

    However¡­

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    The Battle God did not bestow him anything. After a very, <em>very</em> short pause, another surge of ck air current covered the entire area. And again¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The power ck air current soared as if it was going to overflow and explode. And just like earlier, Nerva Sephirothughed madly again.

    ¡°Hahahahahahahahahahaha!¡±

    But the ck air current disappeared once again.

    ¡°Why?¡±

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods, the Battle God, could not hide his embarrassment.]</em>

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods, the Battle God, said, ¡®Ah, I definitely left it here¡­¡¯, the end of his sentence turning into an unrecognizable murmur.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Nerva Sephiroth was confused. And finally¡­

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods, the Battle God, is very embarrassed. He had ¡®lost¡¯ the book containing the Origin Authority.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    This had never happened before with the Battle God. But one thing was for sure.

    <em>¡®What is this m***erf**cker saying right now?¡¯</em>

    The Origin Authority had disappeared.

    ***

    <em>[You are opening the ninth Absolute God¡¯s Treasure Chest.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 75 gold.]</em>

    <em>[You are opening the tenth Absolute God¡¯s Treasure Chest.]</em>

    <em>[Congrattions. You have acquired the ¡®facial tissue¡¯ that one of the Absolute Gods¡¯ has in their possession.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was left speechless. For some reason he could tell that this tissue was owned by the same God that owned the ¡®Why Did the Prince Go Out Tonight?¡¯ written by Author Aruvel.

    ¡°It¡¯s making me feel sick.¡±

    <em>[Why?]</em>

    ¡°I just feel sick,¡± Minhyuk said as he threw the tissue away. He had already opened ten of the Absolute Gods¡¯ Treasure Chests. But aside from the 2,000 gold, a volume of Aruvel¡¯s erotic novel, and some facial tissue, Minhyuk failed to get anything substantial. To make things worse¡­

    <em>[Wow¡­ How did hee up with this¡­?! This author is a genius!!!]</em>

    The Puzzling Seasoning Jar had be Aruvel¡¯s fan. It was surprising, but even if he was a seasoning jar, he could still move. And right now, the Puzzling Seasoning Jar was parked right in front of the book, ¡®Why Did the Prince Go Out Tonight?¡¯, his breath suspiciously ragged as he turned the pages of the book.

    For some reason, sadness suddenly washed over Minhyuk¡¯s entire body. Then, he opened the eleventh treasure chest.

    <em>[You are opening the eleventh Absolute God¡¯s Treasure Chest.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 1 gold.]</em>

    ¡°This is really f*cking¡­ <em>beeeeep¡ª beeeeeeeeep¡ª</em>¡°

    Curses constantly flowed out of Minhyuk¡¯s mouth. He only had two chances left.

    ¡°Something delicious! Please give me something delicious!!!¡± Minhyuk prayed desperately. In fact, he was not wishing for anything good anymore. All he was hoping was to get something that he could pad his stomach with. There had to be something like that!

    ¡°Hoo¡­¡± Minhyuk took a deep breath. This time, he was going to open two treasure chests at the same time.

    <em>[You are opening the twelfth Absolute God¡¯s Treasure Chest.]</em>

    <em>[You are opening the thirteenth Absolute God¡¯s Treasure Chest.]</em>

    The two golden treasure chests rattled in front of Minhyuk before opening at the same time.

    <em>[Congrattions. You have acquired the ¡®Ancient Gods¡¯ Recipe Book¡¯ that one of the Absolute Gods have in their possession!]</em>

    <em>[Congrattions. You have acquired the ¡®Origin Authority. God and Knight¡¯ that one of the Absolute Gods have in their possession!]</em>

    <em>[An astonishing event has happened!]</em>

    <em>[You became the first yer to acquire an Origin Authority!]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired a 1% increase in all of your stats.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 500 CHA.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 500 REP.]</em>

    <em>[As the first person to acquire the Origin Authority in the world, you can choose to publish your nickname or remain ¡®anonymous¡¯!]</em>

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[World Messages regarding items obtained from the Absolute Gods¡¯ Treasure Chests are restricted!]</em>

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[Most of the power of the Origin Authority has been sealed!]</em>

    <em>[You can only use the Origin Authority once every three months.]</em>

    <em>[The Origin Authority will be triggered randomly.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    <em>[Keok¡­!]</em>

    A voice filled with shock and astonishment rang from the Puzzling Seasoning Jar while Minhyuk was tilting his head in confusion. The Puzzling Seasoning Jar started to exin while Minhyuk¡¯s lips twitched in joy.

    <em>[Only the three strongest Gods among all of the Absolute Gods can have the Origin Authority¡­]</em>

    <em>[The three Origin Authorities are so powerful that they can have a huge influence and impact on the entire world.]</em>

    In fact, the Seasoning Jar was shivering when he exined it. And Minhyuk was also shaking.

    <em>[Right, that¡¯s really great. My goodness! I can¡¯t believe you got the Origin Authority. If I were you, I would have already taken off my underwear and¡­]</em>

    ¡°¡­Amazing. This is really dope! Wow! The Ancient Gods¡¯ Recipe Book! Wow, wow, wow, wow!¡±

    <em>[N, no. You crazy bastard. Having the Origin Authority means that you have the power to rule the world and bring them under your control¡­]</em>

    ¡°Kyahaha! President Kang Taehoon, thank you very much! May you receive all the good blessings! May you live a long and healthy life! I can¡¯t believe you gave me the Ancient Gods¡¯ Recipe Book!!!¡±

    <em>[Look over here, the Origin Authority¡­]</em>

    ¡°Wahahahahahahaha!¡±

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    <em>Is he crazy?</em> For a moment, this thought shed in the Puzzling Seasoning Jar¡¯s ego¡¯s mind.

    <em>[Do you really like the Ancient Gods¡¯ Recipe better?]</em>

    ¡°You can¡¯t eat the Origin Authority, right?¡±

    <em>[Y, yes?]</em>

    ¡°Don¡¯t we all have to eat to survive?¡±

    <em>[That, that¡¯s also true?]</em>

    ¡°Then, will the Origin Authority feed me to survive?¡±

    <em>[That¡¯s right. The Ancient Gods¡¯ Recipe is much bet¡­ You, crazy bastard! That¡¯s not it!!!]</em>

    The Seasoning Jar thought that Minhyuk was dangerous. After all, he almost got influenced by his words.

    Minhyuk checked the Ancient Gods¡¯ Recipe Book and saw how amazing it was. The Ancient Gods¡¯ Recipe Book contained a variety of recipes. It also had aplete list of ingredients. On top of that, the book described that there was a chance that he could acquire better vor, additional stats, and even new skills, as long as he found the ingredients and cooked them.

    Just like what Minhyuk expected, the Ancient Gods¡¯ Recipe Book was a cheat-like item.

    <em>[Then, how about checking it for a bit¡­]</em>

    ¡°Ah! For real! You¡¯re really annoying! It¡¯s something that I can¡¯t eat!!!¡±

    <em>[¡­Sorry.]</em>

    Minhyuk checked the Origin Authority. God and Knight, something he could not eat, with an annoyed look on his face.

    <em>(<strong>God and Knight</strong>)</em>

    <em>Origin Authority</em>

    <em><strong>Current Status</strong>: Sealed</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?Sealed.</em>

    <em>?Sealed.</em>

    <em>?Sealed.</em>

    <em>?If you are ced in ¡®that situation¡¯, this power will be triggered randomly and without your knowledge. This can only happen once in three months.</em>

    <em>?There¡¯s a chance that you will be able to control God and Knight once the seal has been lifted.</em>

    <em>?You can have more than five God level NPCs once the seal has been lifted.</em>

    <em>?You can have more than twenty Legendary level NPCs once the seal has been lifted.</em>

    <em>[What¡¯s the name of the authority?]</em>

    ¡°God and Knight,¡± Minhyuk nonchntly said after looking over the information once.

    But the Seasoning Jar was shocked. At the same time, Minhyuk¡¯s body began to tremble once again.

    <em>[F*ck?!!! God and Knight is the name of the greatest and the strongest Origin Authority in existence¡­!]</em>

    ¡°It¡¯s trash.¡±

    <em>[It¡¯s trash?!!!!]</em>

    The reason why Minhyuk¡¯s body was trembling was because the power was worse than what he expected. Why? Because everything has been sealed and there was no effect that he could use immediately. Considering Minhyuk¡¯s current situation, it was truly worse than the Ancient Gods¡¯ Recipe Book.

    The Seasoning Jar was left speechless as he watched Minhyuk hug the Ancient Gods¡¯ Recipe Book whileughing and mumbling, <em>¡®Hehe, something delicious. Get~¡¯</em>

    Now, Minhyuk had to prepare for ¡®Elizabeth¡¯.

    <em>[Hey. You did not believe what I told you earlier, right?]</em>

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    <em>[Although I said it myself, it¡¯s impossible to bring one of the Six Monster Gods to your side. Did you really believe that?]</em>

    The Seasoning Jar¡¯s original name was ¡®Grumpy Gochujang that Does What it Pleases¡¯. It just went to show how mischievous he was.

    ¡°But I still think that I should give it a try.¡±

    <em>[That¡¯s reckless. The people around you will get hurt.]</em>

    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Minhyuk said bitterly. At this point, he realized that the Puzzling Seasoning Jar was not simply asleep. Although his ego seemed to be asleep, it seemed like he could still see the world through Minhyuk¡¯s eyes.

    However, the reason why Minhyuk was going to give it a try was, <em>¡®We really need a strong and powerful ally.¡¯ </em>This fact hit Minhyuk hard during the fight with Elizabeth. He needed more strong allies. Only by having more powerful people by his side would be able to protect those that are precious to him.

    To do that, Minhyuk would brainstorm all the possible methods that he could use until before Elizabeth hatched.

    <em>[You shouldn¡¯t do that though? That¡¯s absolutely impossible¡­ Zzzzz¡­]</em>

    Just like that, the Seasoning Jar fell into another slumber.

    ***

    The Seasoning Jar fell asleep. In fact, he was not really asleep. He just went into a space that only he could enter. In this space, the Seasoning Jar could view the world through Minhyuk¡¯s eyes. However, he could only do it once. Most of the time, he was trapped alone in this space.

    ¡°It¡¯s impossible,¡± he mumbled worriedly. He was just trying to joke around with the boy, but his mischief might now bring the fire toward the people surrounding the boy.

    ¡°I have to get out of here quickly and stop him.¡±

    But his freedom was not up to his own will. The time that he would awaken was set at random and even seeing the world through the boy¡¯s eyes was not something that he could control. Time continued to pass by.

    ¡°It¡¯s absolutely impossible. So, please think about it again! Don¡¯t do it!!!¡±

    The Seasoning Jar was now on the verge of dying from frustration. He did not expect that his mischievous attitude and behavior would bring this kind of danger upon others.

    <em>¡®That crazy guy that loves to eat food is the first person that I¡¯m fond of in a long while¡­¡¯</em>

    But the boy would be in danger if things continued at this rate. However, there was one thing that he was sure of. It was impossible to bring Elizabeth, an absolute being that dominated an entire era, to their side. Common sense said that it should be absolutely impossible.

    Then, for a very short moment, a crack opened and the Seasoning Jar was able to see through Minhyuk¡¯s eyes. And through that small crack, he was able to see some unknown phrases.

    <em>[The God and Knight has been triggered randomly!]</em>

    <em>[The God and Knight has exerted its power over Minhyuk and Elizabeth!]</em>

    The Origin Authority had been randomly triggered? At this point in time? It had to be known that both Minhyuk and the Seasoning Jar did not know the extent of the power of the God and Knight. But the Seasoning Jar could tell one thing.

    <em>¡®He must be trying to appease Elizabeth and bring her to his side¡­!¡¯</em>

    This was a big problem! If things continued at this rate, then they would be met with a huge disaster. The Seasoning Jar tried to correct the mistake that he made by trying to muster what little of his power was left to stop the boy at this moment.

    ¡°Open, you damn eyes¡­!¡±

    Slowly, ever so slowly, the world began to unfold in front of the Seasoning Jar. It was as if his eyelids had been opened for the first time. And the scene that unfolded in front of him left him speechless.

    The Seasoning Jar could see dozens of the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Named NPCs in the area. All of them looked like they were ready for battle just a few moments prior, but now they were just sporting dumbfounded expressions on their faces.

    In front of Minhyuk knelt Elizabeth, in the form of a young girl.

    ¡°¡­I will live for you, Your Majesty,¡± Elizabeth dered, her eyes brimming with tears.

    Then, the notifications rang in the ears of the Seasoning Jar.

    <em>[The God and Knight has seeded!]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired God¡¯s First Knight.]</em>

    <em>[God¡¯s First Knight ¡®Elizabeth¡¯ is one of the Six Monster Gods that has the power to control the system!]</em>

    <em>[God¡¯s First Knight would not hesitate to sacrifice their life for their ¡®God¡¯.]</em>

    <em>¡®¡­How did this happen?¡¯</em>

    The Seasoning Jar could not hide the shock that he was feeling right at this very moment.

 Chapter 606: God and Knight

    Chapter 606: God and Knight

    After the Seasoning Jar fell asleep once more, Minhyuk went to meet the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Named NPCs and executives. He told them that he wanted to try and coax Elizabeth to join them and be their ally. However, their reactions were mixed.

    ¡°I know what Your Majesty wants. You want to take this risk so that the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom will be stronger.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m Conir!!! Conir will help hyung!!!¡±

    ¡°If a strong person like Elizabeth chooses to be our ally, then Beyond the Heavens will be more stable and stronger.¡±

    This opinion was mostly made by the NPCs and plenty of the guild members agreed with them. After all, the God of Snakes Elizabeth had control over the system. She could be a strong pir of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    However, there were also plenty of opposing opinions and objections.

    ¡°What nonsense are you talking about? What if you fail? You¡¯re going to put the NPCs in danger!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s too reckless.¡±

    ¡°Minhyuk, I don¡¯t think this is the right decision.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. I think so too.¡±

    Minhyuk looked at all of the people gathered in the room together. He was fully aware of that fact. After all, Elizabeth was the one that killed Valen. Still, he pressed on.

    ¡°However, based on the information that I received, she has the capacity to change. We need to have a strong ally to prevent another situation like the one that happened with Instructor Valen.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s will was firm. After that, he purchased a ¡®Weak God¡¯s Parchment¡¯ from the MVP Shop. From what he saw, the Weak God¡¯s Parchment could unconditionally cast a debuff on any kind of target. Minhyuk had to use 100,000 cash to purchase it, an extremely expensive price for one item, but its effects were shocking. It could bring down all of the target¡¯s stats by 40% and decrease their skill level by -3 for around three minutes.

    Aside from that, Minhyuk also prepared two other things; ¡®The Mournful One¡¯s Tearful Story¡¯, and ¡®The Sovereign¡¯s Voice¡¯.

    The Mournful One¡¯s Tearful Story could allow Minhyuk to catch a glimpse of the target¡¯s saddest past. If there was a lie in the other person¡¯s story, it would reveal the truth. As for the Sovereign¡¯s Voice, it would make it possible for him to convey his sincerity better to the other person. It was also an item that would give a motherly feel to his voice, which could allow him to stir the other person¡¯s heart and make them waver.

    All of these items were purchased in the MVP Shop.

    <em>¡®The things that I prepared to win Elizabeth¡¯s heart are much less than what I initially thought.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk thought that he would be able to find something in the MVP Shop that could greatly shake Elizabeth¡¯s heart. However, that was not the case at all.

    <em>[Elizabeth¡¯s Egg will hatch in an hour!]</em>

    Minhyuk immediately used ¡®The Mournful One¡¯s Tearful Story¡¯ while everyone stood vigntly to the sides. If he knew her exact story, then he would be able to find a way to coax and appease her.

    <em>[The Mournful One¡¯s Tearful Story has been triggered!]</em>

    ***

    <em>[Elizabeth¡¯s story has started.]</em>

    When Elizabeth first awakened to the world, the first thing that she saw was the kindest and most beautiful woman in the world. She was simply sitting there, but she was shrouded by a beautiful haze.

    ¡°You will be the God of Snakes.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Mother.¡±

    ¡°How dare you call the God of Origin as mother!¡±

    ¡°That impudent¡­!¡±

    Several gods were outraged after hearing her call Athenae ¡®Mother¡¯ the moment she woke up. Even though she could not see Athenae¡¯s face, Elizabeth was guessing the expression that she was sporting. She should have a look of interest on her face.

    To Elizabeth, Athenae was a woman. She was the God of Origin and the being that created Elizabeth¡¯s existence. The moment Elizabeth was born to the world, she had already made up her mind.

    <em>¡®I will live for my mother. I will live to gain mother¡¯s recognition and love,¡¯</em> Elizabeth vowed as she looked at Athenae with joy, looking forward to the future with her mother.

    Unfortunately, her path was not smooth. The God of Origin was always surrounded by various gods in this world.

    ¡°Elizabeth. Get rid of that ugly hair of yours.¡±

    ¡°Disgusting hybrid. Get out of my way!¡±

    ¡°How can a God have those snake-like eyes of yours?¡±

    That was right. Despite the God of Origin giving birth to them all, there was tant discrimination between the Six Monster Gods and the Absolute Gods. While many of the Absolute Gods were given the absolute power to rule the other gods and help the God of Origin Athenae, the Six Monster Gods were shunned. The same was true for Elizabeth.

    One day, Elizabeth picked some flowers from the side of the road and ran to give them to Athenae. She thought, <em>¡®A beautiful flower, just like my mother! I will give this to my mother as a present!¡¯</em>

    But then, several Gods stopped her.

    ¡°Hey, are you thinking of giving flowers to the God of Origin with your grubby little hands, huh? Ugly hybrid.¡±

    ¡°You should know your ce well.¡±

    ¡°The God of Origin despises you.¡±

    The other Gods had always bullied Elizabeth. After all, she was the kindest among all of the Six Monster Gods and was the easiest to harass. What was worse was the fact that they were just ordinary Gods and not the Absolute Gods. the very same Gods that could notpare against the Six Monster Gods and the Absolute Gods in terms of power.

    These Gods grabbed the flowers from Elizabeth¡¯s hands and trampled on them.

    ¡°The God of Origin despises you. She regrets giving birth to someone like you.¡±

    Elizabeth looked at the flowers that were being trampled on.

    ¡°You¡¯re the worst among all of the beings that our mother has given birth to. You¡¯re trash. Mother absolutely loathes and despises your existence. Don¡¯t you know this?¡±

    ¡°¡­That¡¯s not true.¡±

    It happened on that day.

    ¡°That¡¯s not true!¡±

    Elizabeth was one of the Six Monster Gods. She had a power that transcended even the power of the Absolute Gods. And just like that, the four Gods that blocked her path turned into stones. Then, the Trial of Gods was opened. The other Gods hoped to punish Elizabeth, thinking that this was the best opportunity to get rid of her.

    <em>¡®Mother, that¡¯s not true. It happened only because I was trying to tell them that I knew that their words about my mother hating me were not true.¡¯</em>

    Elizabeth looked down to where Athenae was. But Athenae just gave her sentence coldly, ¡°Elizabeth, you shall be locked up in the Fires of Hell for fifty years. Your punishment will start tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°M, Mother¡­?¡±

    ¡°Do not call me mother, Elizabeth.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Elizabeth felt her heart break. The next day, she was thrown into the Fires of Hell, a ce where she was subjected to a burning pain in every single waking hour. It was very, <em>very </em>painful but Elizabeth did not resent Athenae.

    <em>¡®Mother, I promise I will be a better version of myself!¡¯</em>

    Despite being locked up in this hellhole, Elizabeth still expressed her love for Athenae.

    Just like that, fifty years, a hundred years had passed. Elizabeth had bloomed into aplete woman and aplete God of Snakes. Of course, she always picked beautiful flowers and presented them to Athenae.

    ¡°God of Origin, the flowers are beautiful today too.¡±

    Athenae had told her not to bring her any flowers. But Elizabeth still picked flowers and gave it to Athenae each and every single day. She loved Athenae with her entire being, but Athenae always turned away from her.

    In the end, the Absolute Gods and the other gods protested.

    ¡°The Six Monster Gods should be banished.¡±

    ¡°Their existence is a threat to all of the Gods.¡±

    ¡°There wille a time when they will threaten even the God of Origin¡¯s existence.¡±

    Elizabeth, who was picking flowers, heard their words but she denied it.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s no way the God of Origin will abandon us.¡¯</em>

    But the very next day, she suddenly fell into a deep slumber. Although her body was asleep, her mind was still very much active. Elizabeth realized that she was in a strange ce, dark and silent, where no echo or sound could be heard. Elizabeth felt terrified. That was when she saw Athenae looking at her before turningpletely away.

    <em>¡®Don¡¯t abandon me, God of Origin!¡¯</em>

    But Elizabeth had been left and abandoned in that ce for hundreds of years. The solitude and darkness began to change her. She started to hate and despise Athenae. Shepletely regretted the fact that she ced her love, trust and faith in the God of Origin. Elizabeth vowed that she would drag Athenae down herself. At some point in time, Nerva Sephiroth came and awakened her.

    And Minhyuk¡­

    <em>[Revealing the lies in the story that Elizabeth knows!]</em>

    ¡­he witnessed the time when Elizabeth was sentenced to fifty years in the Fires of Hell during her childhood and saw how Athenae watched Elizabeth¡¯s disappearing back with a sad look on her face as she got dragged away.

    He witnessed how Athenae turned around and murmured softly while smelling the scent of the flowers every time Elizabeth gave them to her, ¡°Thank you, Elizabeth.¡±

    He saw how Athenae looked at Elizabeth¡¯s sleeping form and murmured before she got banished to the Stars¡¯ Path, ¡°If I don¡¯t let you go, the other Gods will try to kill you. My most beloved child, Elizabeth.¡±

    Athenae murmured the truth, the truth that she could never tell Elizabeth when she was awake, ¡°I hope that you can meet a true and genuine mother that will care for you with all her heart, smiling and crying with you. It would be nice if you could live happily like that.¡±

    That was when the Mournful One¡¯s Tearful Story ended for Minhyuk.

    ***

    <em>[Elizabeth is hatching!]</em>

    Now, it was time for Elizabeth to hatch. The gigantic egg started to crack, a girl¡¯s arm covered in mucus popping out of it. Then¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    A st of red air surged out.

    <em>[Elizabeth is going into a frenzy!]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    She was going into a frenzy the moment she hatched?! Minhyuk immediately used Weak God¡¯s Parchment on her.

    <em>[Weak God¡¯s Parchment.]</em>

    <em>[All of Elizabeth¡¯s stats will decrease by 40%. All of her skill levels will decrease by -3. The duration of the debuff will be three minutes.]</em>

    Nevertheless, the air still got charged with overwhelming heat.

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Minhyuk hurriedly used the Sovereign¡¯s Voice after hearing Elizabeth¡¯s roar that was filled with her wrath.

    <em>[You have activated the Sovereign¡¯s Voice.]</em>

    ¡°We have no intention of hurting you, Elizabeth. I know that you¡¯re suffering from the memories of your past but¡­¡±

    ¡°Shut up,¡± Elizabeth snapped, her voice gravelly and gloomy, just like that of a demon.

    <em>[Elizabeth¡¯s Wrath has suppressed the effects of the Sovereign¡¯s Voice.]</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Elizabeth¡¯s power started to go out of control, a tremendous amount of poison slowly encroaching upon the surroundings. Even if 40% of her powers had been sealed, she was still Elizabeth, the God of Snakes.

    ¡°¡­Your Majesty, it won¡¯t be easy.¡±

    All of the Named NPCs shook their heads. Appeasing and coaxing Elizabeth to their side was obviously a failure.

    While they were busy shaking their heads, Elizabeth finally broke free from the egg, walking out with the body of a small girl, and yet, the tiny body was filled with hatred.

    <em>Clench¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s hold on the hilt of his sword tightened. However, Minhyuk had seen Elizabeth¡¯s past and it made him hesitate. Still, his priority was his people. He had to cut her down so that they would not suffer any damage. He slowly walked in front of her.

    ¡°I, I will kill all of you!!!¡± Elizabeth roared, her power on the verge of going into a frenzy once again. But just when Minhyuk was about to unsheathe his sword and kill her¡­

    <em>[A great being has randomly triggered the activation of Origin Authority: ¡®God and Knight¡¯!]</em>

    <em>[Origin Authority: God and Knight will help you to win the loyalty of God¡¯s chosen Knight using whatever method is possible.]</em>

    <em>[You and your subjects¡¯ story is being ryed to the hateful and vicious Elizabeth right now.]</em>

    Elizabeth had been abandoned. She did not have a mother-figure in this world and was left to believe that she was an ugly and hideous existence.

    The story of an old man was ryed to such a being. The story of Ghost Spear Ben, who wandered around lifelessly after losing his child, and how he met a young man. Elizabeth watched as both the old and young cried andughed together while oveing their trials and tribtions. She was also witness to how the young man wept and despaired upon the death of the Ghost Spear.

    Next was the story of the Lesser Demon. The story of a little boy that was taken away by Great Demon Verus until he became a demon himself. Elizabeth saw how the boy learnt that his mother had already died after finallying back to the human world. But the young man that stood by his side made a tomb for his mother and showed him what happiness was like.

    This time, she was told of the story of a pirate, the pirate who found joy and pleasure in ¡®killing¡¯. Elizabeth saw how the pirate met a young man and saw the world through a different light, learning about new things through the boy. She watched as the pirate vowed to stay with the young man forever.

    There was also the story of the intellectually disabled boy, Conir. Even the story of Demon Kimaris was ryed to her. By the time the story approached its end, Elizabeth saw the figure of the young man smiling as he ate andughed with everyone.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Elizabeth felt extremely jealous of them. She could see that the young man cared for and loved them, while in turn, his subordinates trusted and followed him wholeheartedly.

    ¡°Mother¡­¡±

    How nice would it be, if her mother loved her like that too. What if she also had that king as her mother-figure?

    <em>[The activated power, God and Knight, has started to erase Elizabeth¡¯s memories of Athenae.]</em>

    Elizabeth¡¯s mind turned hazy as the memories started to fade away. That was when she saw the young man standing in front of her and asking, ¡°Elizabeth, I¡¯m someone insignificant and have no power to control you. But even so, will you join me? Join us?¡±

    ¡°¡­I will live for you, Your Majesty,¡± Elizabeth answered, delight blooming in her chest.

    <em>My mother. No! His Majesty, who will love and treasure me! </em>

    With that, all of Elizabeth¡¯s memories of Athenae were wiped out from her head. And Minhyuk? He knew.

    <em>¡®Athenae, you¡­¡¯</em>

    He knew that it was Athenae that triggered the activation of his power. It seemed like she wanted Elizabeth to join Minhyuk and remain by his side. And¡­

    <em>[A great being is bestowing a gift upon the child that is as beautiful as a flower.]</em>

    Elizabeth had picked flowers for Athenae for hundreds of years. This time, it was Athenae¡¯s turn. Tens of thousands of beautiful flowers began to fall down from the skies gracefully. A smile bloomed on Elizabeth¡¯s face as she looked up at the skies and said, ¡°They¡¯re very beautiful, Your Majesty.¡±

    In fact, Minhyuk thought that it was her and her words that were ¡®beautiful¡¯ as he said, ¡°Right. They¡¯re beautiful.¡±

    Elizabeth smiled innocently, just like a child, as she watched the tens of thousands of falling flowers. Then¡­

    ¡°Ah, since you¡¯re going to be with us, you have to take this position.¡±

    ¡°Please let me know, I will do anything.¡±

    <em>[The great being is looking at both you and Elizabeth with great anticipation.]</em>

    At this moment, the God of Origin, the awakened Seasoning Jar, and the NPCs present in the area all looked at him in excitement and anticipation. Especially Elizabeth, her eyes were sparkling the most.

    While everyone was watching in anticipation, Minhyuk asked, ¡°The ones that you can summon are not only snakes, right? You can also summon many other animals?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°By any chance, have you heard about duck farming?¡±

    ¡°Duck farming?¡±

    Duck farming was a method of farming where they release ducks in paddy fields to let them eat pests and remove ¡®weedy rice¡¯, a type of weed that looked simr to rice.

    ¡°Well, you can learn about it from now on! Your task is to be a ¡®farming method researcher¡¯ and develop duck farming and the likes! How about it? It sounds cool, right?!¡±

    ¡°Wow, wow, wow! I¡¯m so happy, Your Majesty!!!¡± Elizabeth pped happily, rejoicing like a little girl that was given a candy.

    Today, Elizabeth, one of the Six Monster Gods, became a ¡®farming methods researcher¡¯. And¡­

    <em>[A great being is ring at you. They look like they want to kill you.]</em>

    <em>¡®Huh? Why is she suddenly ring at me?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk looked confused. He wondered why Athenae was ring at him, as cold sweat dripped down his back.

 Chapter 607: Is it Bichor or is it Bichon?

    Chapter 607: Is it Bichor or is it Bichon?

    Abyss, the Tomb of the Gods, caused a huge wave when the Gods that rested in this ce made a sudden appearance during the showdown between Minhyuk and Elizabeth.

    Since then, Ian, the global number one dungeon explorer, had shared plenty of information about the Abyss. There was also this key information that Ian had mentioned to the public, something that he had found in an ancient book:

    <em>[If you want to be a God, challenge it.]</em>

    <em>[If you want to be a True God, challenge it.]</em>

    The entire world went wild. However, the craze over the Abyss soon died down in just a few days.

    Why?

    Firstly, the Abyss was not an easy ce to find for most yers. More than tens of millions of yers from all over the world set out to find the Abyss, but only around 400~500 of them were able to reach it.

    Secondly, of the 400~500 people that found the Abyss, only thirty were able to pass through the first gate. And out of those thirty, only one person was able to pass through the second gate. On top of that, no information about the person that passed the gates of the Abyss had been shared.

    Currently, God¡¯s Child Ross was the only one that was going through the Gates of the Gods inside the Abyss. God¡¯s Children were not Absolute Gods, they were only a special minority that had inherited the power of the said Gods. Ross smirked as he crossed the fourth gate while mumbling to himself, ¡°In the end, no one can cross through the second gate.¡±

    From what he heard, even Alexander could not pass through the second gate. This fact alone made Ross feel arrogant, his nose pointing high up in the skies.

    At the same time¡­

    There were almost a hundred yers gathered in the vicinity of the Abyss. These yers were those that failed to pass through the gates, but were unable to return because of regret.

    Just then, another man arrived while munching on some mouth-watering chicken skewers. The man was even holding a can of c in one hand, while his other hand tightly held several skewers of chicken.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­??¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    It was only natural that the yers present in the area could not recognize the man. After all, Minhyuk had changed his face through the help of Great Demon Verus¡¯ Mask. However, the smile painted on Minhyuk¡¯s face was infectious as he tasted the sauce that covered the chicken skewers. And when he took a bite¡­

    <em>Crunch, crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    A pleasant sound rang in his ears. Thebination of the sweet and spicy sauce and the crunchy fried chicken was a dream in and of itself. Not long after¡­

    <em>Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp¡ª</em>

    <em>¡­</em>Minhyuk gulped down the contents of the cold, icy can of c in his hands. He could not help but burst out in admiration at the refreshing and sweet vor that passed through his mouth and made his throat tingle.

    ¡°Kyaha!¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    The yers gathered in the area looked at Minhyuk in confusion. All of them wondered if there truly was a yer like that. On top of that¡­

    ¡°Ah. I only made 400 chicken skewers. What a shame¡­ <em>Huhu¡­ </em>My 367th fried chicken skewer, goodbye¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    Then, Minhyuk slipped through them, entered the Abyss and promptly disappeared from their sights. The people gathered outside were left staring nkly at the direction where he disappeared.

    ***

    <em>[You have re-entered the Abyss.]</em>

    <em>[You are the yer that passed through the first gate, the ¡®Food God¡¯s¡¯ Gate.]</em>

    <em>[You can now move on to the second trial.]</em>

    <em>¡®Some of the ingredients from the Ancient Gods¡¯ Recipe Book are here.¡¯</em>

    The Ancient Gods¡¯ Recipe Book was one of the items that Minhyuk had obtained by opening the Absolute Gods¡¯ Treasure Chest.

    <em>(<strong>Ancient Gods¡¯ Recipe Book</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: ???</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?If you make a dish from the Ancient Gods¡¯ Recipe Book with the ¡®ingredients¡¯ listed in the recipe, it will give you a permanent increase in stats, skills or other powers. The power that will be increased will depend on the ingredients used.</em>

    <em>?If you make a dish from the Ancient Gods¡¯ Recipe Book with the ¡®ingredients¡¯ listed in the recipe and transcend what the Ancient Gods have made, something special might happen.</em>

    <em><strong>List of Dishes</strong>:</em>

    <em>?Vietnamese Rice Noodles and B¨¢nh x¨¨o.</em>

    <em>?Pizza and Carbonara.</em>

    <em>?Ni¨² R¨°u Mi¨¤n.</em>

    <em>?Kimchi Jjigae Meal Set.</em>

    <em>?Nagasaki Jjampong and Sushi.</em>

    <em>?Etc¡­</em>

    ¡°It¡¯s global. That¡¯s good, very good.¡±

    One of the reasons why Minhyuk was in awe and admiration of the Ancient Gods¡¯ Recipe Book was because of the diversity of the dishes. Most of the dishes were representative dishes of each country.

    In other words, Minhyuk would be able to enjoy a variety of dishes from different countries all over the world. Just the thought alone was enough to make Minhyuk¡¯s mouth water.

    ¡°<em>Sluuuurp!</em>¡±

    Also, God of Cooking Arlene had said it herself, <em>¡®You will receive astronomical rewards every time you clear a trial. You can also obtain at least legendary-grade ingredients.¡¯</em>

    Of course, the main reason why Minhyuk came here was because of Valen. This was because there was a chance that Valen, who had be a ¡®sword¡¯, was sleeping in the Abyss.

    <em>¡®Just wait a bit more, Instructor.¡¯</em>

    Finally, Minhyuk headed to the second gate.

    <em>[Abyss.]</em>

    <em>[The Second Trial will now begin.]</em>

    <em>[Starting from the Second Trial, the rewards that you will receive will depend on your attackpletion rate!]</em>

    <em>[The attackpletion rate will be decided by thebination of the attackpletion time, attack score, creativity and ingenuity score, and many more!]</em>

    <em>[There¡¯s currently one more person that has passed the challenge of the second trial!]</em>

    <em>[The person that has passed the challenge of the second trialpleted the trial in 8 minutes and 45 seconds with an attackpletion rate of 58%!]</em>

    <em>[The Second Gate is the trial of the ¡®God of Shield¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[The ¡®Tomb Administrator¡¯ will make their appearance starting from the Second Trial!]</em>

    <em>¡®Tomb Administrator?¡¯ </em>

    This was something that Minhyuk had never heard of from Arlene. In the darkness of the Second Gate, a gloomy and dark voice rang, ¡°Fufufufufufu. Weak one, you havee to a forbidden ce.¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s face was filled with doubt as he munched on one of his fried chicken skewers, ¡°<em>Chomp?</em>¡±

    ¡°I am Bichor, the Abyss¡¯ Administrator, and I will show your foolish self what despair is.¡±

    Minhyuk looked at the being that was covered in darkness, who was spewing things that Minhyuk¡¯s own father, ck Dragon, would definitely say. The being slowly walked out of the curtain of darkness, his entire being covered with a robe. However, the being was so small that he could not even reach the height of 140 centimeters. And despite the robe covering the being¡¯s entire body, the white fur, ck shiny nose, and big eyes could not be hidden at all.

    ¡°Bichon[1]?¡±

    ¡°Foolish one, I am not Bichon, I am Bichor¡­¡±

    ¡°I know. But you¡¯re definitely a bichon.¡±

    ¡°N, no¡­ I¡¯m Bichor¡­¡±

    ¡°Puppy bichon, your fur is done prettily. Which pet shop did you go to? <em>Chomp!</em>¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    That was right. ¡®Bichon¡¯, the tomb¡¯s administrator, literally appeared in the form of a bichon. He had thick white fur, big bright eyes, and a tiny yet shiny nose. He was basically a bichon. However, there was one thing that set this bichon apart from the others, he had a severe case of trying to ¡®be cool¡¯.

    ¡°Foolish one. You can¡¯t even recognize greatness when he¡¯s right in front of you,¡± Bichor said, an air of arrogance and viciousness wrapping around his body, a mean smile curling at the corner of his ¡®bichon¡¯ face.

    ¡°I, I will bring despair upon you with the trials that I have made!!!¡±

    ¡°Fetch, Bichon!¡± Minhyuk said while pulling something out of his chest. This something was none other than a dog toy for Love, Hope and Happiness, the Cerberus.

    Bichor was very shocked to see a duck-shaped toy appear on the floor in front of him. He shouted, ¡°Impudent! How dare you mock¡­!¡±

    ¡°Here, I¡¯ll give you snacks.¡±

    <em>Thump¡ª</em>

    At the word ¡®snack¡¯, Bichor bit the toy without a second of hesitation.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°So, you¡¯re really a bichon.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The moment Minhyuk threw a dog snack in the air, Bichor let go of the toy and jumped in the air to snatch it. Bichor chewed on the snack while grumbling, ¡°I will never forget this humiliation. Damn it. All of this is because of that damn curse!¡±

    As Bichor continued to chew on the snack, he suddenly thought of something, ¡°But¡­ why do you have dog snacks with you?¡±

    ¡°Because I was curious about its taste?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    He was carrying dog snacks with him because he was curious about its taste? Bichor could not begin to fathom the man in front of him.

    ***

    Tomb Administrator Bichor was the one in charge of managing and creating the trials in the Abyss. He produced all of the trials in this ce, using the unique power of each of the Gods thatid in eternal rest within this ce. This fact alone showed how great Bichor was.

    The one that created and managed the Tomb of the Gods! Yes! That was Bichor. He was also the being closest to bing the ¡®God of Traps¡¯. This very same Bichor could not hide his embarrassment and anger when he saw a human carry a ¡®dog snack¡¯ with him.

    <em>¡®Impudent human! How dare you look down on me!!!¡¯</em> Bichor thought as he stroked his voluminous hair angrily.

    Every stroke of his paw made the white hair sway and gently fall down into ce.

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll definitely make sure that you will regret this!!!¡¯</em>

    The second trial was the God of Shield¡¯s trial. Currently, there was already a very powerful human that had passed through the third gate and was challenging the fourth gate. That human truly had an amazing strength. However, that power was only possible because that human was a part of the special minority.

    So, Bichor believed that there was no way that the man in front of him, who was munching on fried chicken skewers, would be able to break through the walls created by the God of Shields.

    That great human from before only took eight minutes and forty five seconds to break through the walls created by the God of Shields, with an attackpletion rate of 56%. The human in front him now? Bichor was absolutely sure that he would be met with failure.

    ¡°Fufufufu. Foolish human. You will never be able to clear this trial. Can you see that? That is the God of Shield¡¯s wall maze. It is a maze lined up with tens of thousands of traps. On top of that, the God of Shield¡¯s walls, which are ten meters in height, are extremely sturdy and durable! You can never break them!!!¡± Bichor shouted furiously.

    However, the man in front of him seemed to not feel any tension at all. Minhyuk, who was still munching on his fried chicken skewers, looked at the hundreds of tall and sturdy walls in front of him. The wall was literally the ¡®maze¡¯.

    Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°You¡¯re thinking that I¡¯ll fail, right? Bichon? Then, if I seed, can you do what I ask you to do for thirty seconds?¡±

    ¡°Kwahahahahahahahaha! Seed? You? An uncivilized human like you? That¡¯s absolutely impossible. Alright. Then, if you fail, I will apply twice the penalty for failure. Are you still willing to bet, human?¡±

    ¡°Alright. Bet.¡±

    Then, the notifications rang.

    <em>[The Tomb Administrator has activated his power.]</em>

    <em>[You will receive twice the penalty if you fail.]</em>

    <em>[Bichor will follow yourmands for thirty seconds if you seed.]</em>

    ¡°Keuhahahahahaha! Foolish human bastard!!!¡±

    After that, Minhyuk walked in front of one of the walls. The wall was so high that Minhyuk had to raise his head to see the top.

    And Bichor? He was going wild.

    <em>¡®Foolish and arrogant human bastard!!! You will experience far greater despair and frustration because of that useless pride and arrogance of yours!¡¯</em>

    But then¡­

    ¡°Summon Hanwoo.¡±

    <em>Thud!!!</em>

    ¡°Mooooooooo!¡± A cow suddenly appeared, mooing loudly as Minhyuk rode on its back. Then, the cow started to grow in size until it reached forty meters.

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    Minhyuk said, ¡°Hanwoo, charge.¡±

    <em>[Charge.]</em>

    <em>[Hanwoo¡¯s speed will double the moment he charges forward. Everything that collided with him in his charge would receive double the damage.]</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The God of Shield¡¯s walls began to crumble and break apart the moment Hanwoo, the forty meter tall cow, charged at them. Minhyuk got off Hanwoo¡¯s back once he arrived at the end, his hands still full with his fried chicken skewers.

    <em>[Abyss.]</em>

    <em>[You have sessfully cleared the Second Trial of the God of Shields with shocking results!]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired a +5 increase in all five of your basic stats!]</em>

    <em>[You have achieved a 95% attackpletion rate!]</em>

    At the same time, a notification rang in Bichor¡¯s head.

    <em>[As per the contract that you made as the tomb administrator, you will be forced to obey hismands for thirty seconds.]</em>

    Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°Bichon, sit.¡±

    <em>Swoosh¡ª</em>

    Bichor sat.

    ¡°Bichon, paw.¡±

    <em>Tap¡ª</em>

    ¡°Bichon, bang!¡±

    <em>Copse¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk then proceeded to rub ¡®Bichon¡¯, no, Bichor¡¯s tummy, ¡°Oh my, you did a good job! My baby. <em>Achuchuchu</em><em>~</em> My dear Bichon is a very obedient and good listener~¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Bichor unknowingly gasped, <em>¡®Haa¡­ haa¡­¡¯</em>, a happy smile on his face.

    ¡°You¡¯re obviously a bichon but you keep on saying no.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    That was when Bichor realized what he had done, an overwhelming sense of shame washed over him. At the same time, he was shocked, <em>¡®Crazy¡­ his attack time¡­ is just 12 seconds¡­?¡¯</em>

    Suddenly, Bichor unknowingly let out a whine, ¡°<em>Hiiiiiing¡­</em>¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Yes. He was definitely a dog.

    1. Refers to the Bichon Fris¨¦, a type of toy dog andpanion pet that is considered to be a great all-around pet. ?

 Chapter 608: Is it Bichor or is it Bichon?

    Chapter 608: Is it Bichor or is it Bichon?

    The entire world was left reeling in shock. The yers were left speechless as they watched the Argaon Continent, the Taiwanese Server, turn into tens of thousands of kilometers of wastnd. Life for most people came to a halt, as countless kingdoms and empires copsed. Everything then fell under the control of the Luvien Empire, and it was all done under the name of ¡®alliance¡¯ and ¡®protection¡¯.

    Of course, this was mostly the case for NPCs. As for yers, they did not suffer any damage even after the other kingdoms and empires allied with the Luvien Empire. In fact, it might have been for the better for them since the yers could freely enter the ¡®Luvien Empire¡¯ under the banner of an alliance.

    In any case, Nerva Sephiroth had sent diplomats to each of the kings and emperors in the Argaon Continent. However, the Argaon Continent¡¯s emperors and kings denied Nerva Sephiroth¡¯s diplomats and their call for an alliance.

    The current situation was the result of that.

    <em>[Eventually, the two empires and five kingdoms of Argaon Continent ended up being allied with the Luvien Empire.]</em>

    <em>[The NPC casualties alone are said to have reached around 25 million.]</em>

    <em>[Nerva Sephiroth is an unstoppable tyrant.]</em>

    <em>[This is like the tale of the 2nd Athenae. Will the yers be able to fight against Nerva Sephiroth?]</em>

    Many trembled at the might that Nerva Sephiroth had shown. At the same time, their interest and attention were pointed to one specific topic.

    <em>[Which continent will Nerva Sephiroth invade next?]</em>

    <em>[I think it will be China¡¯s Cairon Continent, right? Cairon Continent is muchrger than thebined servers of America, Japan and Taiwan.]</em>

    <em>[It should definitely be Cairon Continent. It¡¯s the continent with thergest poption of NPCs and would pose a great threat to Nerva. If he invades Cairon, he will be able to gain a lot.]</em>

    A lot of them mentioned the Cairon Continent. However, they were wrong. Right now, several diplomats had been sent to the two emperors and several kings of Asgan Continent.

    The diplomats of the Luvien Empire came bearing gifts containing a tremendous amount of jewelry, gold and silver. However, the letter from Nerva Sephiroth that the diplomats brought was close to an ¡®Imperial Edict¡¯. In other words, while Nerva Sephiroth was promoting friendship on the surface, he was practically admonishing Empress Ellie and Emperor Asvon.

    Ellie read the bullshit that was sent to her while Marquis Rand, the diplomat sent by the Luvien Empire, was prostrating on the ground. Marquis Rand thought, <em>¡®His Majesty sees Ellie as the biggest obstacle to his quest of unifying the continents.¡¯</em>

    She was the person considered to be the closest in bing the ¡®Continental Emperor¡¯. In fact, even the operators of Joy Co. Ltd. consider her to be the one that would be the Continental Emperor. That was why she was the Absolute Supreme NPC, Continental Emperor Ellie.

    <em>¡®However. Ellie will eventually be forced to kneel in front of His Majesty. Her army is no match for His Majesty¡¯s army.¡¯</em>

    ¡°Listen here, diplomat.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty!¡±

    Ellie squinted at the letter in her hands, as if she had not read what was written inside properly, ¡°I can¡¯t tell if I¡¯m getting old or your emperor just has a bad handwriting.¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Marquis Rand felt fury and anger wash over him when he heard Ellie¡¯s words. How dare the woman in front of her speak ill of his emperor, right?

    ¡°How impertinent! How dare you say that to the one bestowed by the blessings of the Battle God, His Majesty Nerva Sephiroth¡­!¡±

    ¡°Hey.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°Do you want to get a beating, huh?¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Marquis Rand could not hide how flustered he was when he heard those words. There was a noble and majestic aura flowing around her. Her figure, as she sat there with a sword in her embrace and looked down at Rand, was emitting a beautiful yet mysterious air. The words that she said were vulgar and coarse. However¡­

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡­sweat had already started to drip down from Marquis Rand¡¯s forehead.

    ¡°Do you think anyone will say anything if I kill you now?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°Hey. Kill that bastard.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Marquis Rand was fully aware of the greatness and majesty of Nerva Sephiroth, who descended to this ce under themand of the Battle God, but now¡­

    ¡°I deserve to die! Your Majesty, I made a mistake¡­¡±

    ¡°You deserve to die?¡±

    ¡°¡­Spare me! Your Majesty, spare me! I have made a mistake!!!¡±

    Right now, Luvien¡¯s diplomat, a person that no other king or emperor dared to treat carelessly, was at aplete loss.

    Ellie rose from her seat. She looked at him coldly and said, ¡°Tell this to your emperor.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty!¡±

    ¡°The Eivelis Empire has no intention of listening to your bullshit. From what I could barely decipher from his worm-like handwriting, it seems that there¡¯s a part that said, ¡®If you don¡¯t fulfill this then¡¯¡­ Ah, whatever. Tell him to send his dogs to bark this bullshit in someone else¡¯s house.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s all I have to say. Go now.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Marquis Rand fled the Eivelis Empire like a fugitive. After Rand ran out, Ellie went out to the ramparts and looked down at the entirety of Eivelis Empire. She knew that many people would suffer if she epted the things written in that letter. Her people would be forced into very while their young would be shamed and disgraced, pointed at by the children of the Luvien Empire.

    Nerva Sephiroth was not yetpletely done with his preparations.

    ¡°Ruth.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty.¡±

    ¡°I believe we should meet with the Collodis Empire¡¯s Asvon and the kings of each kingdom right now.¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡±

    Now, the Absolute Supreme NPC, Continental Emperor Ellie was about to make her full andplete appearance.

    At the same time, in Joy Co. Ltd.

    Everyone was watching the scene while President Kang Taehoon felt a zing heat light up in his heart.

    ¡°The only person that can borrow and utilize the power of all of the kings and emperors of Asgan Continent.¡±

    She was also the person that would unite all of the continents in the world in the future. ¡®Absolute Monarch¡¯ Richard was just a yer. So, the only one that could possibly stop Nerva Sephiroth was Continental Emperor Ellie.

    However, ording to the scenario that Joy Co. Ltd. and Supeputer Athenae had expected¡­

    ¡°Eivelis Empire will be destroyed in two weeks.¡±

    That was right. Ellie would unite the world only after the fall of Eivelis Empire.

    ***

    Minhyuk summoned Hanwoo and cleared the God of Shield¡¯s Gate in just twelve seconds.

    <em>[Rewards will be given based on your phenomenal attackpletion rate.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 1,000 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[Because of your phenomenal attackpletion rate, you will be able to acquire an additional 1,000 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the God of Shield¡¯s ¡®God of Shield¡¯s Wall¡¯ parchment.]</em>

    <em>[You can acquire the God of Shield¡¯s ¡®Sealed God of Shields¡¯.]</em>

    <em>¡®Can acquire?¡¯ </em>Minhyuk thought, tilting his head in confusion. ¡®Can acquire¡¯ and ¡®have acquired¡¯ were twopletely different concepts. Then, immediately after that¡­

    <em>[You will receive special benefits if you achieve another phenomenal attackpletion rate in your next Gate¡¯s Trial.]</em>

    <em>[If you achieve an attackpletion rate of 80% or higher for three consecutive Gates, your ¡®wish¡¯ will be granted by the three Gods wholeheartedly.]</em>

    <em>[However, if you seed in challenging the three Gates, you will not receive any other rewards.]</em>

    ¡°¡­Hmm.¡±

    This was a gamble. Fortunately, the detailed information of the Sealed God of Shields was avable for Minhyuk to peruse. After checking the details, Minhyuk rubbed his chin in thought. As expected, the shield was amazing. Although it was sealed, the moment that seal got lifted, the shield would be able to produce God-ss power, perhaps even more.

    However, there was just one thing. None of the executives of Beyond the Heavens used the shield as their main weapon.

    At that moment, Bichor, who was sniffing his dog paws, said, ¡°You can either choose to get the reward, or choose to challenge yourself and gain even better rewards.¡± Then, he licked his paws and continued, ¡°Fufufufufufu. What choice will you make, you uncivilized human?¡±

    Bichor kept on licking his paws, not feeling any kind of pressure at all. Minhyuk just looked at Bichor softly and thought, <em>¡®Perhaps the best reward in the Abyss is¡­¡¯</em>

    Perhaps it was something that was close by. Also¡­

    <em>[ording to the quest given by Arlene, you have acquired the ¡®foreleg¡¯ and the ¡®hindleg¡¯ of the pig that Arlene carefully raised herself.]</em>

    Arlene had decided that she would give Minhyuk cooking ingredients whenever he cleared a gate in the Abyss. After receiving the ingredients, Minhyuk smiled happily and thought, <em>¡®Let¡¯s see, the dish for this will be¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk decided to make a Jokbal Set.

    Forty minutester, Minhyuk finished making his spicy and fiery jokbal and ordinary jokbal set, the dishes perfectly arranged on a table. The setup wasplete with some ssamjang, garlic, Cheongyang peppers, lettuce, peri leaves, white kimchi and dried radish leaves and many more side dishes.

    ¡°Fufufufu. Savage and weak human,¡± Bichor, who was gasping at the food that was set in front of Minhyuk, called out gloomily to Minhyuk, ¡°give me a bit of the bones¡­¡±

    ¡°Alright. I will give you the bones, Bichor. However, in exchange, you have to tell me your story.¡±

    Anyway, Minhyuk would eat all of the meat off the bone anyway.

    ¡°Fufufufu. You want to hear this great one¡¯s story in exchange for the bones? Good. Let¡¯s do it like that.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Bichor started talking while Minhyuk ate his jokbal, ¡°So, I¡¯m telling you¡­ <em>woof woof, arf arf, whine, whine.</em>¡±

    Minhyuk smiled happily as he listened to the story. Then, he started mixing the tray noodles. The red sauce of the tray noodles perfectly covered the finely chopped cabbage and lettuce, creating a delicious cacophony of vors.

    Only after mixing did he ce a piece of the thinly sliced jokbal in his mouth. The chewy texture and the slightly nd vor of the jokbal lingered in Minhyuk¡¯s mouth. The more he chewed, the wider his smile became. Then, Minhyuk dipped a piece in ssamjang before cing it in his mouth. The saltiness of the ssamjang meshed perfectly with the jokbal and danced around in his mouth.

    This time, he gently ced a peri leaf on the palm of his hand before cing two pieces of jokbal on top of it. Then, he added some dried radish, white kimchi, some garlic dipped in ssamjang, and some spicy pepper.

    ¡°Fufufufufufu, human. You really know how to eat¡­ <em>gulp¡­</em>¡±

    Minhyuk wrapped everything and pushed everything into his mouth. The scent of the peri leaves tickled his nose as the various vors of the ingredients danced around in his mouth. After that, he took a sip of the dongchimi that was covered with a thinyer of ice, allowing the clean and refreshing vor to wash his taste buds.

    ¡°Kghhk¡­¡±

    A sigh of admiration immediately flowed out from Minhyuk¡¯s mouth. This time, Minhyuk¡¯s attention turned towards the tray noodles that was right beside the jokbal. Holding his chopstick, Minhyuk mped a piece of jokbal meat together with a mouthful of tray noodles, and ced them in his mouth.

    <em>¡®Aaaaaah. This tastes just like thebination of bibimmyeon and samgyeopsal.¡¯</em>

    The chewy texture of jokbal added a splendid charm to the spicy and sour vor of the tray noodles. Then, Minhyuk turned to the spicy jokbal. He mped a piece and immediately ced it in his mouth.

    ¡°Ho~¡±

    Minhyuk hurriedly huffed and puffed as he tried to breathe the heat out of his mouth. Then, he grabbed a can of cold cider and gulped it down.

    ¡°Kghhk¡­ Amazing.¡±

    ¡°¡­<em>Hiiing</em><em>, hiiiiing¡­</em>¡±

    ¡°Continue with your story¡­¡±

    ¡°A, anyway¡­¡±

    Next, Minhyuk made a lettuce wrap. He ced two pieces of jokbal, some garlic dipped in ssamjang, some Cheongyang peppers, white kimchi and dried radish on top of the lettuce, wrapped everything together and ced it in his mouth. The crunchy and fresh texture of the lettuce greeted his mouth which was immediately followed by a festival of vors. After eating his jokbal set just like that, Minhyuk grabbed the jokbal bones and cleaned the meat off of it, leaving no trace of it behind.

    ¡°<em>Chew, chew, chew</em>.¡±

    ¡°Haa¡­ haa¡­ haa¡­¡± Bichor panted, his round and well-groomed tail shaking vigorously.

    To cap off his meal, Minhyuk gulped a can of cool, refreshing cider once again.

    ¡°<em>Gulp, gulp, gulp. </em>Kyahaaa!!!¡±

    After that, Minhyuk threw the big jokbal bone to Bichor. As for Bichor? He immediately jumped on the bone and chomped on it, his rounded tail shaking left and right from delight.

    Minhyuk, who had listened to Bichor¡¯s story while eating his jokbal set, thought, <em>¡®Yeah. That¡¯s what I thought.¡¯, </em>his mind waspletely made up.

    <em>[You have chosen to give up the Sealed God of Shields and try to achieve an attackpletion rate of more than 80% on three consecutive Gates!]</em>

    Another set of notifications rang with that.

    <em>[You have eaten Jokbal.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired a 0.5% permanent increase in all of your stats.]</em>

    As expected of an ingredient from Arlene, Minhyuk had received a shocking permanent increase in his stats just by eating it.

    Minhyuk looked at Bichor, who looked crazy as he chomped on therge pig¡¯s feet bones, and thought, <em>¡®If I¡¯m going to choose, I think the best reward in the Abyss is you, Bichon. It¡¯s you.¡¯</em>

    Bichor tilted his head when he saw Minhyuk looking at him. He said, ¡°Fufu, weak human. Is this your first time seeing someone eat a pig¡¯s foot?¡±

    Minhyuk did not answer him and chose to ask the question that he was most curious about, ¡°I have a question. Who¡¯s grooming your hair?¡±

    ¡°Fufufufufufufu. It¡¯s because I¡¯m a great being,¡± Bichor said, jumping to his feet and taking something out. And the thing that he took out? It was none other than a dog brush. Then, using the brush, Bichor brushed his thick and tangled fur. He even brushed his round white tail carefully.

    ¡°Amazing¡­ I have never seen a dog groom himself¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk looked at Bichor and thought that he was truly a very amazing bichon.

 Chapter 609: Is it Bichor or is it Bichon?

    Chapter 609: Is it Bichor or is it Bichon?

    Bichor was a trap specialist that all of the kingdoms and empires coveted in the past. Countless legends about him had spread all over the world. There was a story about how a mere 500 soldiers were able to defeat 20,000 soldiers, with the help of his traps. There was also a story about how Bichor was able to sink 500 enemy ships at sea.

    All of these stories were true. Bichor was truly one of the greatest geniuses in trap production.

    <em>¡®But it¡¯s already been hundreds of years.¡¯</em>

    Bichor recalled his past as he watched Minhyuk move to clear another trial.

    <em>¡®I don¡¯t even remember them now.¡¯</em>

    Bichor could not even remember when he made a name for himself in the continent. His arrogance, which banked on his genius, knew no bounds. It was to the point that he even challenged the ¡®God of Creation¡¯ to make the strongest and greatest trap in existence.

    But that was a mistake. Bichor¡¯s trap had not been pushed back even when ced against the God of Creation¡¯s trap. Instead, the trap that the God of Creation had made had something that was distinctly different from his trap.

    The reason why Bichor challenged the God of Creation was so he could be a ¡®Continental God¡¯. He wanted to gain the name of ¡®God of Traps¡¯. So, the question was, why did Bichor lose, even though he produced results that were simr to the God of Creation? After the bet was over, the Gods bitterly imparted these words to him¡­

    <em>¡®Foolish human, your trap is a tool made only for killing.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®From what we have heard, your traps have killed millions. You do not deserve to be a God.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®We cannot recognize someone that talks proudly about a tool that kills others.¡¯</em>

    That was right. Bichor had overlooked one thing. A trap was a ¡®weapon¡¯.

    The trap that the God of Creation made was not for killing, but for ¡®protecting¡¯. That was not the case for Bichor¡¯s trap; his traps were made only to kill. If someone fell into his traps, they would either die from being stabbed with spears all over their body, or their lungs rotting.

    On the other hand, the traps created by the God of Creation would only neutralize the opponents and send them back. Yes. Even though Bichor was considered as a legendary figure, he was also seen as the devil that took away the lives of countless people, and broke apart many families.

    After losing the bet, Bichor received his punishment from the God of Creation. He turned Bichor into a puppy and made him the administrator of the Abyss. It was a punishment that Bichor could not escape from. To be exact¡­

    <em>¡®I have to cut my own life to get out of this punishment.¡¯</em>

    Bichor brushed his fur as he watched Minhyuk start the next trial, <em>¡®I deserve this punishment.¡¯</em>

    In this ce, Bichor created trials, traps and various things that were rted to the Gods of the Abyss. He only realized after a hundred or two hundred years had passed that his arrogance had cost the lives of many. He regretted this fact. But no matter what he did, there was no way for the dead toe back to life.

    After realizing that fact, Bichor was left in so much pain to the point that he wished that he could die. He cried for days on end, wallowing in regret as he recalled everything that he did in the past. And yet¡­

    <em>¡®I have been too foolish¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡­</em>he could not bring himself to end his own life. He lived this hideous life as a ¡®bichon¡¯ that walked on two legs. Just like that hundreds of years passed and here he was now.

    <em>¡®I have to repent for my sins here forever,¡¯ </em>Bichor thought, smiling bitterly. At the very least, today had been a very fun day. It had been hundreds of years since Bichorst talked to an interesting human.

    ¡°Fufufufufufu. Human, that jokbal was really delicious. It felt like I had a meal that was prepared by the God of Cooking herself. Every time my beautiful tongue and the jokbal touched, it felt like I was being kissed by the Goddess of Beauty. It gives an ecstatic feeling.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk sighed loudly as he looked at Bichor, who was sporting a ¡®disgusting¡¯ look on his face, ¡°<em>Phew¡­</em>¡±

    The sigh was very telling. One could definitely feel all of the thoughts that were running through his head from that sigh. Bichor looked at Minhyuk in doubt.

    Minhyuk, who had heard Bichor¡¯s entire story, thought, <em>¡®Maybe the reason why they made him into a bichon was because of the way he talks?¡¯</em>

    It was usible.

    Finally, the Third Gate¡¯s challenge began. Minhyuk had to achieve an 80% or higher attackpletion rate in this trial.

    <em>[Abyss.]</em>

    <em>[You have challenged the Third Gate.]</em>

    <em>[You need to achieve 80% or higher attackpletion rate in the Third Gate.]</em>

    ¡°Fufufufufufu. Weak human. The Third Gate¡¯s trial is to destroy the God of Farming¡¯s ingredients.¡±

    At the same time, a grand spectacle unfolded in front of Minhyuk and Bichor¡¯s eyes. The ce was magnificently filled with countless unique crops. There was a radish that was around two meters in height, shining like a diamond. The green onions were so long and thick that they looked like rebars. There were even countless ingredients that dug deep into the earth.

    ¡°Many humans have challenged the God of Farming Arma¡¯s ingredients. However, most of them failed to acquire even one of Arma¡¯s ingredients. Do you know the reason? It¡¯s because they did not qualify in the first ce. Fufufufufu¡­¡± Bichorughed deeply. He felt that Minhyuk should not have challenged the 80% or more attackpletion rate.

    <em>¡®God of Farming Arma could only collect those rare and unique ingredients because of high DEX.¡¯</em>

    Bichor was aware of how ridiculously high God of Farming Arma¡¯s DEX was. In fact, there was a high chance that Arma had an even higher DEX than the God of cksmiths.

    ¡°Because of that, your task is to destroy them and not harvest them. But even so, it is still hard to break those ingredients.¡±

    These ingredients were original and unique, and it would be almost impossible for ordinary beings to break them. But the Third Gate could only bepleted if those ingredients were destroyed.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk¡¯s body started trembling, ¡°¡­What? Destroy the ingredients? What kind of sphemy is that?¡±

    Of course, it was a feat that did not exist in Minhyuk¡¯s reality. But Bichor did not know that and could only shake his head at Minhyuk.

    ¡°These are ingredients that even the other Gods could not harvest. The only way for you toplete this Gate is to destroy five ingredients,¡± Bichor said, chuckling deeply. Then, a timer appeared in the air as he pushed the button to start the time, ¡°You only have three minutes at most. Fufufufufu. But in those three minutes, you will only be able to get one¡­?¡±

    Bichor suddenly stopped talking, his head tilting to the side in confusion. This was because Minhyuk just walked up to the green onion, grabbed it and pulled it out easily.

    <em>[You have acquired the God of Farming¡¯s Sword-like Green Onions.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 2 DEX.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Bichor was very astonished. To be honest, Minhyuk looked like he had just pulled out the Excalibur, and was the rightful owner of the green onion.

    <em>¡®What? Is it a coincidence? No. It¡¯s not a coincidence¡­¡¯</em>

    With that as the catalyst, Minhyuk began to harvest one ingredient after the other.

    ¡°<em>Hiiiiiing¡­?</em>¡±

    And the ingredients that he harvested?

    <em>[You have acquired the God of Farming¡¯s Diamond Radish.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the God of Farming¡¯s Steel-like Lotus Roots.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 2 DEX.]</em>

    ¡°Instead of destroying them, we should just go and harvest these ingredients. Let¡¯s go!!! Oh¡­! My STR stat will increase by +2 just by eating this lotus roots? Ah! Eating this carrot will permanently increase my STM by +2!!!¡±

    Bichor felt his tail shrink as he watched Minhyuk pull the ingredients one after the other. The moment Minhyuk harvested the final ingredient, the notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[Abyss.]</em>

    <em>[You have sessfully cleared the Third Trial of the God of Farming with shocking results!]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired a +5 increase in all five of your basic stats!]</em>

    <em>[You have achieved a 95% attackpletion rate!]</em>

    <em>[Rewards will be given based on your phenomenal attackpletion rate.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 1,000 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[Because of your phenomenal attackpletion rate, you will be able to acquire an additional 1,000 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the God of Farming¡¯s ¡®Power of a Benevolent Farmer¡¯ Parchment.]</em>

    ¡°Wahahahahahaha!¡± Minhyukughed loudly, just like a pure and naive child.

    Bichor, who was still reeling from shock, looked at Minhyuk and thought differently, <em>¡®I had fun creating traps that would kill others. But this man feels happiness with just food and ingredients.¡¯</em>

    On top of that, the man in front of Bichor was also someone with considerable power.

    <em>¡®How can I feel this happy and good just by looking at him?¡¯</em>

    Only then did Bichor realize that he was wagging his white and round tail vigorously! He immediately stopped his tail from moving.

    Minhyuk immediately moved to the next trial.

    ¡°Fufufu. The Fourth Gate¡¯s Trial is to reach the door and pass through God of Animals Ideo¡¯s beasts.¡±

    Minhyuk was truly a shocking person to those who did not know him. He had already reached the Fourth Gate in such a short amount of time. In front of him, hundreds of Ideo¡¯s predators appeared.

    Minhyuk was fully aware of how strong Ideo¡¯s beasts were. After all, he witnessed how they fought against God of Snakes Elizabeth¡¯s army. What did he do? He started cooking for these beasts.

    ¡°You might have been able to seduce humans with food but you¡¯re doing the same with beasts?¡± Bichor mocked Minhyuk but he could not even take his eyes off of him.

    A happy smile would always appear on Minhyuk¡¯s face whenever he started cooking. Even as the veins on his thick forearms would bulge from exertion, and sweat would drip down his body, a delighted smile would always appear on his face whenever he cooked.

    <em>¡®If I was someone like him then¡­¡¯</em>

    Bichor found himself thinking. Would he be a person that would truly be recorded in history? If he had made traps for the sake of others, instead of traps made to kill, then would a statue of him have been already made somewhere?

    Tears suddenly started to well up in Bichor¡¯s eyes as the memories of the past shed in his head.

    <em>¡®Perhaps he¡¯s that strong because he¡¯s on apletely different path from mine?¡¯</em>

    The tears started to drip down his cheeks. Bichor truly wanted to get out of this god-awful ce. As long as he could get a chance. No, if the Gods just give him one more chance, then he would live his life with different values and beliefs.

    However, that was impossible. That was why Bichor was crying. He cried because he met a very ¡®cool¡¯ human that made him feel happy and delighted just by looking at him.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk began to haphazardly throw the dishes that he made among the beasts.

    ¡°Grrrrrrrr!¡±

    ¡°Roaaaaaaar!¡±

    The scent of the meat enticed the beasts, their feet bringing them to the source. And Minhyuk? He continued to throw the meat as he walked among them.

    Minhyuk¡¯s voice rang in the ears of the crying Bichor, ¡°Bichon. I heard your story earlier.¡±

    Bichor turned to look at Minhyuk¡¯s back. In Bichor¡¯s eyes, Minhyuk looked very cool as he walked through the gaps of the beasts, his mouth opening slightly as tears continued to drip down his face.

    ¡°You told me just now that you wanted to be a trap specialist that makes traps to protect others and not make traps to kill, right?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Bichor did not answer Minhyuk. Why did he ask that?

    Minhyuk continued to say, ¡°Why do you think I took the challenge of getting more than 80% attackpletion rate for three consecutive gates?¡±

    Of course, Bichor did not know. Why did the human take on such a challenge?

    Minhyuk reached the vicinity of the door in no time at all. As he took one step after another, gentleness and warmth in his voice as he said, ¡°Bichon, I will be able to make a wish to the Gods once I achieve more than 80% attackpletion rate in three gates.¡±

    Finally, Minhyuk''s feet reached the door. Once he arrived, he turned to look at Bichor with a gentle smile on his face and said, ¡°My wish is for Bichor, who has fully repented for the sins that hemitted, to be able to escape from the Abyss.¡±

    At that moment¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    A bright and blinding light fell on Bichor¡¯s body.

    <em>[The Gods of the Abyss has fulfilled Minhyuk¡¯s wish after he achieved at least 80% of the attackpletion rate in three consecutive gates!]</em>

    <em>[You will now be able to leave the Abyss and go anywhere that you want to go to.]</em>

    Minhyuk called out, ¡°Bichor.¡±

    Meanwhile, Bichor just looked at Minhyuk inplete disbelief as tears continued to gush out of his eyes. In the end, the strength in Bichor¡¯s legs left him and his entire body copsed to the ground.

    ¡°Will youe with me?¡±

    Bichor looked at Minhyuk for a long time before answering, ¡°For you and for the people that are precious to you¡­¡±

    Bichor grinned, revealing his white canines. However, tears were still dripping down his face.

    ¡°I vow to make traps that will protect you.¡±

    <em>[Bichor swears his eternal loyalty to you!]</em>

    It was at this moment that the greatest trap specialist vowed to follow Minhyuk.

 Chapter 610: Is it Bichor or is it Bichon?

    Chapter 610: Is it Bichor or is it Bichon?

    <em>(<strong>Bichor</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: The One that Challenged the Gods</em>

    <em><strong>Type</strong>: Vassal</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: 584</em>

    <em><strong>Attack</strong>: 1,031</em>

    <em><strong>Defense</strong>: 2,100</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>: </em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: The God-like Trap Specialist</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Trap Creation</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Trap Explosion</em>

    <em><strong>Potential</strong>: 157</em>

    <em><strong>Experience Value</strong>: 19% / 100%</em>

    Minhyuk stared at Bichor, who was covered in a bright light. He thought that perhaps Bichor would return to his true self once the light faded away. It seemed like Bichor also believed that he would return to his human form after swearing his eternal loyalty to Minhyuk. So, Bichor closed his teary eyes and epted the light wholeheartedly.

    ¡°Fufufu. Even the Gods will fear the greatness and majesty that I will show to the world after this chaotic time¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk thought that his father, Bichor, Ali, and Death would have a grand time together if they all went on a party hunt. Of course, Minhyuk did not forget to closely examine Bichor¡¯s stats window.

    <em>¡®His attack and defense are on the lower side.¡¯</em>

    However, it had to be known that Bichor did not have abat ss. He was someone that created various things like traps and the like.

    <em>¡®The reason I chose Bichor was¡­¡¯</em>

    After Minhyuk had put the puzzle pieces of Bichor¡¯s stories together, he realized that the possibilities were endless. Also¡­

    <em>¡®When ites to fighting to protect those that are dear to us, no one will have a more shocking power than Bichor.¡¯</em>

    Then, Minhyuk moved to check the detailed descriptions of Bichor¡¯s skills.

    <em>(<strong>The God-like Trap Specialist</strong>)</em>

    <em>Passive Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?Any trap that he produces will be at least at the Epic rank.</em>

    <em>?Any trap that he produces will exert three to six times stronger power than traps created by ordinary trap specialists.</em>

    <em>?There will be no major restrictions on the number of traps that he can create, no matter the kind.</em>

    <em>?His speed at creating any kind of trap will be several times faster than the speed of ordinary trap specialists.</em>

    <em>?Bichor has created a total of 1,574 Legendary rank traps so far.</em>

    <em>?Bichor has created a total of 54 God rank traps so far.</em>

    <em>¡®Keok?!!!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was shocked. Why? It was because Bichor¡¯s passive skill ¡®The God-like Trap Specialist¡¯ was just ridiculous. Traps created by trap specialists followed the same ranking as the equipment and dishes created by cksmiths and chefs.

    <em>¡®From what I heard, the highest ranking trap that Alborr, the most famous trap specialist among all of the trap specialists, was only at the Legendary rank.¡¯</em>

    Aside from that, the traps that Minhyuk was aware of were only at the Epic or Unique ranks. But what about Bichor?

    <em>¡®All of the traps that he will create would at least have the Epic rank?¡¯</em>

    However, what was more surprising was¡­

    <em>¡®There¡¯s no restrictions on the number of traps that he can make?!¡¯</em>

    This was a truly overpowered advantage. In fact, the trap specialist Alborr could only make around 100 traps per day. But Bichor could make tens of thousands each day if he so wanted to. On top of that, his speed was said to be several times faster than ordinary trap specialists and even the power of his traps were several times stronger than their traps.

    ¡°Fufufufu! Look! Witness my greatness!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk stared at Bichor, wondering when the bright light would fade out. However, regardless of his looks and personality, there was no denying the fact that Bichor was an amazing existence. While waiting for the light to fade, Minhyuk decided to check Bichor¡¯s other skills.

    <em>(<strong>Trap Creation</strong>)</em>

    <em>Active Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: 9</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?Bichor can instantly make traps that he had created in the past.</em>

    <em>?Number of possible Normal rank traps that can be recreated: 1,000</em>

    <em>?Number of possible Unique rank traps that can be recreated: 500</em>

    <em>?Number of possible Epic rank traps that can be recreated: 50</em>

    <em>?Number of possible Legendary rank traps that can be recreated: 2</em>

    <em>?Number of possible God rank traps that can be recreated: 1</em>

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    <em>¡®Wait a minute.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk doubted his eyes for a moment. Bichor could instantly make the traps that he created in the past? It was like saying that any of the dishes that Minhyuk had eaten in the past could appear immediately in front of him at the flick of a finger. What was more surprising was the fact that those traps also included Legendary-grade and God-grade ones.

    ¡°Hoo¡­ Hoo¡­¡±

    Minhyuk had to take deep breaths to calm himself down. The skill was just too overpowered. There was one thing that he had confirmed from this. Making two Legendary ranked traps would render Bichor¡¯s skills to instantly create traps useless for three entire months. As for the God ranked trap, once it was installed, he would not be able to use the skill for an entire year.

    <em>¡®But if we install 500 Unique rank traps and 50 Epic rank traps right this instant then¡­¡¯</em>

    Thebination of these traps disyed would likely be already close to the God-rank level. Minhyuk checked the remaining skill right away.

    <em>(<strong>Trap Explosion</strong>)</em>

    <em>Active Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: 9</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?All of the traps that are currently installed will simultaneously explode.</em>

    <em>?When all traps were set to explode at the same time, the damage from the explosive power of the explosion is expected to be doubled.</em>

    Trap Explosion was a skill that seemed somewhat disappointing. After all, it was a waste of the traps that Bichor had installed to explode all at once. On top of that, it was not just one trap, but all of them. However, if the enemies were all within the range of the traps, then it would bring about an unimaginable destructive power upon them.

    After checking everything, Minhyuk turned to look back at Bichor. Gradually, the bright and blinding light started to fade. Bichor, who was ovee with emotion and still had his eyes closed, said, ¡°Finally, I have found my true self once again. My beautiful, elegant and cool figure¡­ Fufu. Fufufufufu!¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    Bichor slowly opened his eyes and looked down at his hands, ¡°That¡¯s right. My hands look like this. Fluffy and pink and covered with white fur¡­ huh?¡±

    Bichor¡¯s figure did not change.

    That was right. Minhyuk could only make one wish, which was to help ¡®Bichor¡¯ escape from the Abyss, the Tomb of the Gods. The wish for him to return from a ¡®dog¡¯ to a ¡®person¡¯ could not be fulfilled.

    As for Bichor? All he could do was howl, ¡°<em>Woof, woof! Arf, arf! Grrrrrrr!</em>¡±

    This was the story of how Minhyuk got a bichon.

    ***

    The entire South Korea was left in shock after a notification rang for all of the yers that were ying Athenae.

    <em>[<strong>Continental Quest</strong>: Unlucky Sword Emperor Ellie.]</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: ???</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: yers of the Asgan Continent</em>

    <em><strong>Rewards</strong>: Depends on the contribution.</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty for Failure</strong>: Favor with the people of the Luvien Empire will be the lowest.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: Sword Emperor Ellie has received an edict from Luvien¡¯s Nerva Sephiroth. The edict dictates that the continent will go under the rule of the Luvien Empire under the pretext of an ¡®alliance¡¯. </em>

    <em>Ellie had decided to tear the edict apart. This action will result in the sessive raids and invasions on the Asgan Continent, by the Luvien Empire. Once they breach the Asgan Continent¡¯s defensive lines, they would immediately head to Eivelis Empire and depose Ellie. </em>

    <em>Save Ellie and be the heroes of Asgan Continent, the continent that is on the verge of copse!</em>

    All of the yers were already expecting something like this to happen.

    <em>[Based on the second era¡¯s trailer, Ellie would be deposed from Eivelis Empire by the Luvien Empire¡¯s forces. This is the beginning of her true journey to bing the Continental Emperor. Now, Eliie would be deposed and start to wander aimlessly all over the continent.]</em>

    <em>[I know that this is just a story but as a yer of Asgan Continent it hurts my heart just by knowing that I will witness how Ellie will fall ??. Can a yer change the story?]</em>

    <em>[Hey, person above me, aren¡¯t you being too immature with your words? Haha. Didn¡¯t you see how the Luvien Empire trampled on Argaon Continent? This is not a situation that you can change just because the yers will gather together.]</em>

    <em>[It would already be a relief if the yers of Asgan Continent helped defend the continent.]</em>

    It was only natural for Asgan Continent yers to fight for the continent. So, why did someone say that it would be a relief if they did something like that? The reason was simple. It was because another set of notification rang in their ears the moment the Unlucky Sword Emperor quest appeared.

    <em>[<strong>Empire Quest</strong>: For the Luvien Empire.]</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: ???</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: yers of the Asgan Continent.</em>

    <em><strong>Rewards</strong>: Depends on the contribution.</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty for Failure</strong>: Expulsion from the Asgan Continent.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: Battle God¡¯s Sword Nerva Sephiroth is trying to bring the entire world under his rule. To do so, he wants to try and borrow the power of the Asgan Continent yers. You might be able to win both riches and glory if you fight together with him and his newly emerging Luvien Empire.</em>

    That was right. Two quests had beenunched at the same time. And now¡­

    <em>[Poor Ellie¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­what will Ellie do?]</em>

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    Some of the BJs were filming Ellie and they broadcasted how Ellie asked for troops from all of the empires and kingdoms in the continent.

    However, as she stood on top of the ramparts, Ellie saw that no one hade. No kingdom, no empire and no foreigner guilds came at her call. Her face waspletely expressionless as she looked around.

    ¡°Your Majesty¡­¡±

    Ellie did not answer Ruth. She was fully aware that the Luvien Empire had intervened. Just like how they issued a quest, the Luvien Empire also issued one, promising various rewards,pensations and troops if they remained silent in their own kingdoms and empires.

    Did she resent them? No. Because this was what she had expected from humans and their greed. All she did was stare nkly at the empty grounds beyond the ramparts.

    ¡°Aide Ruth.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty.¡±

    ¡°I miss Minhyuk.¡±

    Because unlike these people that turned their back on her, this boy woulde running for her no matter what. And that thought alone made Ellie smile.

    ***

    At the same time, in Iris Guild.

    Marquis Khan, an executive of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, secretly arrived at Iris Guild¡¯s territory. Iris Guild¡¯s Callian had already decided to side with the ¡®Luvien Empire¡¯.

    ¡°Go back, Khan. We will not fight for Eivelis Empire. They will ultimately face their defeat.¡±

    They would not fight for Asgan Continent, instead, they would side with Luvien Empire andy the entire continent to waste. However, Khan still came and delivered Minhyuk¡¯s words to him. After hearing him out, Iris Guild Master Callian pondered for a moment.

    ¡°The story is something that we change¡­ Interesting.¡±

    Callian looked back at the guild members that he had chosen to send to the Luvien Empire and said, ¡°The ns have changed. We¡¯re going to war to help the Eivelis Empire!!!¡±

    In another ce. Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Vice Guild Master Genie delivered Minhyuk¡¯s words to Orodith Kingdom¡¯s King Eren. Eren smiled in amusement after hearing the words, ¡°A new history will be written in the Asgan Continent¡­¡± King Eren finally made his decision, ¡°Send support troops to Eivelis Empire!!!¡±

    The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ executives started to arrive in each and every nation in the continent.

    In another ce, Chairman Kang Minhoo, who attended the meeting with the directors, looked sad for no reason at all.

    ¡°¡­Is there something wrong, Chairman?¡±

    ¡°No. It¡¯s nothing.¡±

    ¡°But you look very sad?¡±

    ¡°¡­The truth is,¡± Chairman Kang Minhoo began to spill the beans, ¡°Not too long ago, I went to another continent. However, the Luvien Empire¡¯s army treated me horribly, suppressing me, mocking me and trampling on me.¡±

    This was an outright lie. Chairman Kang Minhoo was lying. However, there were tears in his eyes!!! Everyone felt like tears would start to drip down his cheeks at any moment! And the moment everyone heard his words¡­

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    <em>Crash!</em>

    ¡°How dare they do that to the Chairman¡­!¡±

    ¡°Who are those bastards?!¡±

    ¡°Those bastards!!!¡±

    ¡­the board members jumped up in fury. But Kang Minhoo shook his head and said, ¡°No, this is my business. All of you should stay out of it. It¡¯s alright, I just feel a bit sad over this matter. Everyone experiences something like this, right? Of course, the thought of quitting this game because of that crossed my mind¡­ But you guys should never get involved!!! Ah. But from what I heard Luvien Empire is going to war with Eivelis Empire. Which side are you going to choose?¡±

    The ones that were quick-witted immediately understood. They quickly whipped their mobile phones out the moment they left the conference room and¡­

    ¡°Tell the members of the legal team that the chairman has been attacked by the Luvien Empire¡¯s Army! What? Why am I calling about that?! Of course it¡¯s because I¡¯m going to the Eivelis Empire!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s gather in Eivelis Empire!!!¡±

    ¡°All members of Uncle Legend Guild, gather at Eivelis Empire!!!¡±

    Ilhwa Group was a globalpany and rumors spread fast.

    China.

    Russia.

    Japan.

    Vietnam.

    Thand.

    There were people that respected and loved Chairman Kang Minhoo in all of these ces.

    ***

    Ellie remained standing on the same spot. Before she knew it, the sun had begun to set.

    ¡°We should stop now and go back inside.¡±

    Ellie remained silent despite Ruth¡¯s words. But then, at that moment¡­

    <em>Vwooooooooooong¡ª</em>

    The loud re of a horn resounded in the area. Ellie¡¯s eyes immediately turned to the direction where the sound came from. There, she saw dozens of allied guilds from Asgan Continent marching toward Eivelis Empire. Their numbers almost reached 500,000, a truly shocking number. Standing in front of them was Iris Guild Master Callian, wearing an unknown ck mask on his face.

    Then, all over the ce¡­

    <em>Vwoooooooooong¡ª</em>

    <em>Vwoooooooooooooong¡ª</em>

    The horns¡¯ loud res rang loudly and engulfed the entire Eivelis Empire. Large troops began to pour out from the east, the west, the north, the south, everywhere. Sword Emperor Ellie looked at them and estimated that there were roughly 3.5 million troops that were marching toward where they were.

    At the same time.

    President Kang Taehoon was currently standing beside Supeputer Athenae.

    Just the other day, Kang Taehoon asked Athenae what Ellie¡¯s chances were in oveing this story. And she answered¡­

    <em>[0%. There¡¯s absolutely no chance of that happening.]</em>

    Athenae answered coldly. But now¡­

    <em>[4%. The chances have increased to 4%.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Kang Taehoon felt the mes of passion start to burn deep in his heart.

    ¡°The world that the yers have created¡­¡±

    That world was Athenae.

 Chapter 611: Is it Bichor or is it Bichon?

    Chapter 611: Is it Bichor or is it Bichon?

    Most of the guilds and kingdoms of Asgan Continent had initially decided to side with the Luvien Empire in this war. This was because of the endless possibilities that they would have, as well as the grand majesty of the Luvien Empire.

    However, these yers changed their mind after they received a visit from Minhyuk¡¯s executives. Was the reason solely because of Minhyuk¡¯s words that the executives delivered? The answer was no. It was also because Minhyuk promised thempensation. Compensation that would depend on how many troops of the Luvien Empire they killed and how much contribution they made once they epted the Unlucky Sword Emperor Ellie quest.

    Of course, variousmunity sites had been notified about this and the same thing had been sent to each of the kingdoms and guilds in the continent.

    <em>[The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom promisespensation to those thate to the aid of Eivelis Empire.]</em>

    <em>[First. Upon epting the ¡®Unlucky Sword Emperor Ellie¡¯ quest and joining the ¡®Luvien Eradication Alliance¡¯, you will immediately receive 50 million gold.]</em>

    <em>[Second. You will receive various rewards depending on the number of soldiers of the Luvien Empire that you kill. You will also receive the ¡®Food God¡¯s Dishes¡¯ depending on your contributions.]</em>

    <em>[Third. Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King Minhyuk will personally cook and provide at least Unique grade dishes for those that kill Centurion-level enemies.]</em>

    <em>[Fourth. Various sses, including swordsmen, spear masters, tamers, necromancers and the like, that achieve a high contribution will be able to receive teachings for one day from ¡®Death¡¯, ¡®Elpis¡¯, ¡®Kaistra¡¯, ¡®Konir¡¯, ¡®Cerberus¡¯ and many more instructors.]</em>

    <em>[Those that wish to join and fulfill the above requirements have to go about it in ¡®secrecy¡¯. If you be Luvien Empire¡¯s target, you will not be able to avoid incurring tremendous damages.]</em>

    <em>[On top of that, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom will also fight in secrecy for the Eivelis Empire. May the tides of war be always in your favor.]</em>

    That was right. The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom promised hugepensation. Since this would apply to all of the Korean yers, everyone believed that this would be a huge loss for the Beyond the Heavens. However, there was something that they got wrong. Minhyuk was not an idiot.

    ¡°No one has stopped the Luvien Empire¡¯s advance.¡±

    But in the process, the yers that fought to protect their continent would be able to earn great rewards. They were generous rewards given by Joy Co. Ltd. for the yers that had to suffer unconditionally from the invasions.

    And just like Minhyuk had dered before, they would be the ones to create a guild alliance, the Luvien Eradication Alliance, and lead these people that would join them ordingly.

    <em>¡®We will monopolize a significant amount of contributions. On top of that, the rewards that we will receive from this will be far more amazing and greater than the rewards that we willingly gave away.¡¯</em>

    However, there was just one thing. And that was¡­

    ¡°Everything is under the assumption that we will be able to stop the Luvien Empire.¡±

    Minhyuk had watched the videos of Argaon Continent and Luvien Empire several times. From what he saw, he could tell that their odds were slim. But at the very least, they still had some hope in seeding.

    The Luvien Empire was divided into several armies. Their situation right now was like a defense game. Once they stopped them and a certain amount of supply came in, they would eventually leave. And Minhyuk had the best ¡®hero¡¯ in this defense game, which was none other than Bichor. There was a high chance that the world would witness Bichor''s performance in this war against the Luvien Empire.

    But before that¡­

    ¡°Bichor. If I challenge the attackpletion rate of at least 80% again, is it possible to ask the God of cksmiths to produce an artifact for me?¡±

    ¡°Fufufufu. Of course, Your Majesty. It is said that the sword created personally by the God of cksmiths can even cut down the sun that gives off light.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk wondered if Bichor truly needed to say it in that way. He then looked at the gate, the ce that he was headed to next.

    <em>¡®Noona.¡¯</em>

    Ellie was a very important figure to Minhyuk. In this war scenario, she was destined to be deposed. But even if the scenario was expected to proceed like that, Minhyuk would find a way to twist it into something else. Also¡­

    <em>¡®This time we¡¯ll go for overgeared and overdished. We¡¯ll bring both.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk would make a sword for Ellie in this ce, as well as a buffed dish.

    ***

    The entire world turned their attention to South Korea after hearing that the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom decided to participate in the Luvien Empire¡¯s invasion and moved to unite all of the Korean yers. Of course, their decision to participate was because of the Beyond the Heavens, but most of them had other reasons.

    <em>¡®We will stop what the entire Argaon Continent could not stop.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®If the Eivelis Empire does not fall here, then we will receive astronomical rewards.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®We have been in the Eivelis Empire for too long for us to let it copse on its own.¡¯</em>

    That was right. The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s intervention was already enough to sway the hearts of all of the people that fostered good and warm feelings with Eivelis Empire. Most of them were fighting for the rewards, but deep inside, they held the memories that they spent in Eivelis Empire tightly and dearly. There was not a single Asgan Continent ranker that had not been to Eivelis Empire. On top of that, Eivelis Empire, led by Sword Emperor Ellie, was strong.

    As for Joy Co. Ltd., they also decided to prepare something special this time, unlike the situation with Argaon Continent. Currently, an epic story about a grand and holy battle to protect the Asgan Continent was unfolding.

    Only one video was ying in the electronic disys all over the world, even in Ztube, Facebook, Instagram and many other socialworking sites. Everyone¡¯s eyes were trained on the video.

    The video showed a thousand ships, bearing the praying symbol that represented the Luvien Empire, crossing the seas of the Dragon King. It also showed around three million troops wearing helmets and releasing an overwhelming momentum as they marched the road of the Stars¡¯ Path.

    Then, the video shed past the marching Luvien Imperial Army and panned to where Nerva Sephiroth, the Luvien Empire¡¯s emperor, was. With a ss of wine in his hands, Nerva Sephiroth said, ¡°The Continental Emperor will disappear from the records of history today.¡±

    Just as the video shed and panned to where he was, the scene moved back the way it came and showed the Asgan Continent¡¯s entrance to the Stars¡¯ Path. It also showed the huge army that filled the Dragon King¡¯s Sea. There, Sword Emperor Ellie stood wearing a ck horned helmet and leading an army of five million. Dozens of enemy ships appeared on the horizon behind her.

    Ellie did not say much today. She just looked at the young boys that took arms and came here to protect Eivelis Empire, holding their weapons tightly as they trembled in fear. These were the people that had been with her all their lives. Standing with them were the powerful army that Eivelis Empire fostered and nurtured. Then¡­

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Hundreds of cannonballs appeared in the skies.

    ¡°Ughhhhhhh¡­¡±

    ¡°We, we¡¯re going to die! All of us are going to die!!!¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaah. I want to go home!!!¡±

    Ellie leapt to the skies and swung her sword, creating a beautiful line in the air above them. Following the movement of that line¡­

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The hundreds of cannonballs failed to reach the troops on the ground and disappeared into nothingness. The moment Elliended on the ground, she looked at the enemy line and said, ¡°For Eivelis Empire!!!¡±

    ¡°For the empire!!!¡±

    ¡°For the empire!!!¡±

    ¡°For the empire!!!¡±

    Millions of troops prepared for battle with Ellie at the lead.

    At the same time, the phrase that Joy Co. Ltd. had prepared started to appear on everyone¡¯s screens.

    <em>[The Descendants of the Asgan Continent, will they be deprived of theirnd or will they be able to protect it?]</em>

    This phrase caused the hearts of many Korean yers to burn with a zing desire, as they started to connect to the game.

    ***

    Commentators from all over the world were paying attention to Asgan Continent¡¯s current situation as they began their spiel.

    <em>[Advertisements are just advertisements. In fact, the Eivelis Empire and the Luvien Empire have not yet collided.]</em>

    <em>[Just like what you have seen in the video, there arerge armies that are advancing both in the sea and the Stars¡¯ Path.]</em>

    <em>[We can expect the Luvien Empire to reach the Asgan Continent in a few hours.]</em>

    <em>[How do you think Ellie will go about stopping the Luvien Empire?]</em>

    <em>[There are several routes that lead to the Asgan Continent and in turn, the Eivelis Empire. Of course, there are several fortresses built in those ces. The key would be to protect these four fortresses: Lumatri Fortress, Embrou Attack Station, Paido¡¯s Ramparts, and Belbour Fortress.]</em>

    <em>[Ellie is deploying troops to each of the fortresses with the support of the guild alliance and the kingdoms, as well as the Eivelis Empire troops.]</em>

    <em>[But will they be able to withstand the Luvien Empire? Argaon Continent had ten fortresses. But it only took a few days for these fortresses to fall. That¡¯s the main reason why the emperors and kings knelt down with their faces t on the ground in front of Nerva Sephiroth.]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s what makes Empress Ellie so cool, right? She¡¯s the Continental Emperor that never gives in.]</em>

    <em>[But despite the situation, most of the guilds and kingdoms in Asgan Continent are operating as usual.]</em>

    <em>[And if you look closely, the support troops that came to help Eivelis Empire did not carry any gs or wear armor and weapons that bear their ¡®symbols¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[This is so that the kingdoms and the guild alliance can hide themselves among the troops of Eivelis Empire.]</em>

    <em>[If they went to war against the Luvien Empire and they lost, they would risk losing their favor. However, this is only something that applied to ¡®individuals¡¯. If the Luvien Empire recognized their group, their guilds and kingdoms would most definitely be wiped from the face of the earth.]</em>

    <em>[Everyone has their own way. And they have their own smart tactics. In other words, Luvien Empire might have a suspicion but they would have no hard evidence to prove those suspicions.]</em>

    <em>[From what I heard, the person that nned all of this was the ¡®Food God¡¯?]</em>

    <em>[Those that know will recognize him, right? Of course, that is only if you believe it.]</em>

    <em>[Come to think of it, we haven¡¯t seen anyone from the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, right?]</em>

    One of thementators mentioned that.

    <em>[Who knows? Maybe Beyond the Heavens is really not there?]</em>

    ***

    Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s Haze, who was wearing red armor and a cape bearing the symbol of Eivelis Empire, looked at the ce where the members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had disappeared to.

    If it was just something ordinary, she would definitely have said no. However, Haze was fully convinced of the cause. She was fully aware how important Ellie was to Minhyuk. Besides, she was confident that they would be able to gain more and recover all of the losses that they have incurred this time if they could block this.

    The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would also hide their identities and fight for Eivelis Empire. Of course, the Luvien Empire would definitely suspect them, but they would have no evidence to prove their ims. What they decided to do was to camouge themselves and blend in with the elite troops that Eivelis Empire had nurtured.

    The problem however was the fact that it was ck Dragon that was leading them. The words of ck Dragon, the appointed leader that was going tomand the guild members of Beyond the Heavens, shed in Haze¡¯s head. Just like a true and honest chairman, he pondered deeply about this one matter and said, ¡°Since we¡¯re going to be a part of the Eivelis Empire¡¯s elite team, I came up with a name for us.¡±

    Everyone present felt terrified. It was because they were fully aware of how bad ck Dragon¡¯s naming sense was!!!

    ¡°It¡¯s <em>Power Infinity Great King God General Magister Dark Breaker Team</em>.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Everyone was speechless. That was when they heard Locke ask, ¡°Father, the temporary name that we will use is <em>Power Infinity Great King God General Magister Dark Breaker Team?</em>¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Fufufufufu. I¡¯m already looking forward to seeing how our enemies will shiver in fear once they hear our name.¡±

    <em>¡®No, I think we¡¯re going to get stabbed before we even finish saying that name¡­?¡¯</em>

    Seeing ck Dragonugh happily while saying the name, Haze reminded him, her face turning red from shame, ¡°Why is our name <em>Power Infinity Great King God General¡­</em> Ah¡­ It¡¯s too long¡­¡±

    Since it was too long, they decided to just use a shortened version and go with Dark Breaker Team.

    That was how they moved out and went into action.

 Chapter 612: Is it Bichor or is it Bichon?

    Chapter 612: Is it Bichor or is it Bichon?

    Everyone that yed Athenae had watched the scene of Argaon Continent being swept away in just a few days at least once.

    All of the kings and emperors of Argaon Continent had rejected Luvien Empire¡¯s proposition and had gathered together to rebel. The Asgan Continent¡¯s situation waspletely different, where only the Eivelis Empire stood against the Luvien Empire.

    The number of yers that fought for the Argaon Continent had reached almost seven million. They also had around fourteen million NPCs. However, they were still no match for Luvien Empire¡¯s power. Luvien Empire was so strong to the point that the yers said that this was the beginning of Luvien Empire¡¯s continental unification.

    And right now¡­

    <em>[Finally, the Luvien Empire¡¯s Army that is marching through the Stars¡¯ Path has appeared!!!]</em>

    <em>[Ah, I feel like my breath is stuck. The majesty that their millions of soldiers are exuding is just too much!]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s like we¡¯re watching a medieval movie. Look, the soldiers'' breath has turned white as they escaped through the gaps of their helmets under the cover of the white snow.]</em>

    <em>[Ellie is currently guarding Lumatri Fortress, the fortress located at the rearmost area and is the one nearest to the entrance to Eivelis Empire.]</em>

    <em>[Lumatri Fortress is a very strategic area. To enter Eivelis Empire, one has to pass through Lumatri Fortress.]</em>

    <em>[The Eivelis Imperial Army, together with the support troops sent by the other empires and kingdoms, as well as the guild alliance, are stationed at the other three fortresses, in the entrance to the Stars¡¯ Path and the shores of the Dragon King¡¯s Sea. The Eivelis Imperial Army and the guild alliance are waiting for the enemy¡¯s arrival with bated breaths.]</em>

    <em>[Powerful and strong men are stationed in each and every fortress, including themander of the Eivelis Imperial Army and the Phoenix Knight Order¡¯s knightmander.]</em>

    <em>[How long was Argaon Continent able to defend their continent before their defenses were pierced through?]</em>

    <em>[Half a day. The enemy, the Luvien Empire, fired cannonballs from their ships and used siege weapons to sweep away their forces.]</em>

    It was only natural for thementators to mention the Argaon Continent in this situation. They wanted to know if Eivelis Empire would be able to oust them, or if they would copse faster. In fact¡­

    <em>[It¡¯s more likely that the Eivelis Empire will copse faster than Argaon Continent. Each continent has a field that they are the best in. Argaon Continent was a continent that was known to have received the blessings and protections of the ¡®God of Shields¡¯. They have so many high-ranking and top-quality tankers, as well as NPC mages that learned defensive magic. However, they were all rendered useless by Luvien Empire¡¯s ridiculously overpowered attacks.]</em>

    Thementators'' words were very pessimistic. However, no one could deny the truth of their words either.

    Now, at Eivelis Empire¡¯s entrance to the Stars¡¯ Path and the vicinity of the Dragon King¡¯s Sea, enemy soldiers were advancing. Airen, a thirty year old woman wearing red armor and sitting on top of a ck horse, stood in front of the entrance to the Stars¡¯ Path. She was considered the sword prodigy of the Eivelis Empire.

    ¡°Your Majesty,¡± Airen mumbled bitterly as she watched the enemies charging toward them at a rapid pace. At the same time, the notifications began to ring in the yers¡¯ ears.

    <em>[The war against the Luvien Empire has begun!]</em>

    <em>[The First Army¡¯s invasion has begun!]</em>

    <em>[The First Army has a total of 500,000 soldiers!]</em>

    <em>[Protect the Asgan Continent¡¯s entrances and defeat the enemies!]</em>

    <em>[After three hours, the Second Army will move to join the First Army!]</em>

    That was right. Luvien Empire¡¯s invasion used several waves of armies. They would invade in batches. Of course, this was done to give both the yers and NPCs room to breathe and fight and give them hope that they would be able to protect their continent.

    However, what would happen if their current enemies remained alive even after three hours had passed? Then, the enemy would be able to exert more momentum and have more power, since they would be joined by the Second Army.

    Airen knew, <em>¡®We have too many enemies, Your Majesty.¡¯</em>

    The total number of troops that Eivelis Empire had reached only four million. More than 400,000 of them were young soldiers, soldiers that had no experience fighting and had only ever held farming tools and lived a normal life. However, they still came here to protect Eivelis Empire.

    <em>Clench¡ª</em>

    Airen held her sword tightly and said, ¡°I¡¯m fully aware that we¡¯ll die here today.¡±

    Indeed, Airen believed that she would die here today. But even so, she still did not have any regrets. Ellie was like a mother to her, and Airen would do anything for her.

    Airen was someone that had wanted to hold a sword for the longest time. However, she could not do so because she was a woman. When she met Ellie, she got a new lease in life. With her title as the Sword Prodigy, she became the second most influential person in the Asgan Continent when it came to the sword, second only to Sword Emperor Ellie.

    The duty that she was entrusted with today was very important. Airen would do anything to fulfill it, even if it meant that she would die.

    ¡°For Eivelis Empire.¡±

    ¡°For the empire!!!¡±

    She would dedicate her heart and soul to Eivelis Empire.

    ¡°Butterfly~¡±

    Meanwhile, as the army¡¯s tension reached an all-time high, a small child appeared. The small child smiled from underneath the red helmet and looked at the butterfly that was fluttering around.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Airen looked at the child. She then did a double take and wondered why such a young child was wearing the red armor that carried the symbol of the Phoenix Knights. However, upon looking closely¡­

    <em>¡®The symbol seems to be slightly off¡­?¡¯</em>

    The Phoenix Knight¡¯s symbol should have the sword on the right and the shield on the left. However, the symbol on the girl¡¯s armor had the sword on the left and the shield on the right. Yes, that was because Hyemin¡¯sDaddy, the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ cksmith, had made a mistake.

    ¡°Who are you? No, where are you from?¡±

    The little girl turned to look at Airen at her question. The girl might be wearing a helmet that covered her face, but her beauty could not be hidden by such an item. The girl¡¯s eyes were bright, her lips thick, her nose smooth and straight, and her skin so clear that it overshadowed her nk expression.

    Airen was the one that answered her own question in her head, <em>¡®She came from another empire or kingdom.¡¯</em>

    It was clear that the girl was hiding her identity. Nheless, Airen was very grateful for these people.

    Then, the girl opened her mouth and said, ¡°I¡­¡±

    Airen immediately focused on the girl¡¯s words.

    ¡°¡­am from the Power Infinity Great King God General Magister Dark Breaker Team.¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°I am the youngest with the sealed powers, Elizabeth.¡±

    ¡°¡­Elizabeth?¡±

    Airen looked at the girl for a long time. And for some reason she felt the need to protect her, ¡°Stay, stay behind me. It¡¯s dangerous.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Airen felt very sorry for her. She vowed that she must protect this poor and pitiful girl at all cost!

    Meanwhile, there was someone that was watching this scene from a distance and thinking, <em>¡®Waaaah, Youngest! What do you mean by your name is Elizabeth, Elizabeth?! If you¡¯re going to trick her then you have to make sure that you trick her properly!!!¡¯</em>

    Then, one of the knights asked the boy, ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve seen you before, what¡¯s your name?¡±

    The boy, thinking that he had deceived the knight properly, proudly said, ¡°I am Conir!!! Conir is in charge of jjapaguri!!! Conir does not make ramyeon!!! Conir is only in charge of the jjapaguri!!! Conir is definitely not Conir!!! Not Conir!¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    The knight thought,<em> ¡®This guy is Sword Saint Conir¡­?¡¯</em>

    <em>Sigh¡­</em>

    Sighs escaped the mouths of the people all over the ce.

    They felt like their future was just a tad bit too bleak and dark. That was how the war began.

    ***

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Nearly 200,000 troops began to send magical attacks and arrows in the Asgan Continent¡¯s entrance to the Stars¡¯ Path.

    The Luvien Empire¡¯s ordinary soldiers were strong enough to deal with five soldiers from an ordinary empire or kingdom. They had inherited the power of the Battle God and were able to show power that transcended a human¡¯s understanding. Their mages could all cast 5th Tier magic and even their knights were all aura users. Just a mere 5,000 of them could easily wipe out 20,000 of an ordinary kingdom¡¯s troops.

    The tens of thousands of magical attacks and arrows started to fall down from the skies.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The mage unit led by Airen hurriedly cast thousands of shields above them to defend themselves. However, Luvien Empire did not want them to have a breather, so their First Army immediatelyunched another attack.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    This time, the mighty shields that they set up could not withstand the attack and began to crack.

    ¡°Ellie¡¯s f*cking bastards! Watch. This is the might of Nerva¡¯s army!¡±

    With those words, the shield, which was already in a miserable state, began to break down. Seeing this, the Eivelis Imperial Army hurriedly raised their square shields above their heads and formed a defensive formation.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The Luvien Imperial Army were confident about their victory again. After all, the enemies were being thoroughly beaten without getting any chance to attack.

    ¡°Keuhahahahahahahaha!¡±

    The one that had cussed the Eivelis soldiers as Ellie¡¯s f*cking bastards was none other than Luvien Empire¡¯s Count Loki.

    Loki was originally someone from a different empire. He was someone that treated others as if they were flies and was someone that waspletely blinded by silver, gold and treasures. He was the trashiest and most shitty noble during the Argaon Continent invasion. Why? Because he came running to Nerva Sephiroth to report the 100,000-strong allied troops that were about tounch a surprise attack. Simply put, Loki was a true and genuine traitor, a bastard.

    This very same Loki took something out of his pockets. This was none other than the parchment that contained the power of ¡®Nerva Sephiroth¡¯. Nerva Sephiroth had told Loki, <em>¡®Ellie and the Eivelis Empire are our biggest threat. We will bring them the greatest humiliation, something that¡¯s unlike what we did in the Argaon Continent.¡¯</em>

    During the battle in Argaon Continent, Nerva Sephiroth only handed out twenty of this kind of parchment. However, in this war, he easily handed out hundreds of them to the armies¡¯manders. And right now, one of them was being torn apart.

    At that moment, a shocking notification rang in the ears of the Asgan Continent yers.

    <em>[Battle God¡¯s Shackles.]</em>

    <em>[Nerva Sephiroth¡¯s Shackles will fetter your ankles down for one second.]</em>

    <em>[You have fallen into a stunned state. You will not be able to do anything for one second.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    A ck chain suddenly appeared and shackled the ankles of the entire Eivelis Imperial Army. Once could not underestimate the effects even if it was only for a second. No. A second in a fierce battlefield could spell the life and death of someone. In just an instant, the wall of shields that they have created had copsed.

    <em>Rumbleeeeee¡ª</em>

    The tens of thousands of magical attacks and arrows pierced through the soldiers¡¯ defenses after they had been rendered immobile.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keheoooooook!¡±

    ¡°For, For Her Majesty, Ellie!!!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Screams rang throughout the area. With their screams as their apaniment, Loki ran to the vanguard. The enemies were in a disarray after they were dealt that much damage. During this gap, the knights would ughter them one after another and then continue on to the next point of their defenses.

    Before he reached the first line of defense, Loki took out another parchment, ¡°This time, let¡¯s strengthen our forces.¡±

    <em>[Battle God¡¯s Strengthening]</em>

    <em>[Long-range attack¡¯s strength, like magical attack and arrows¡¯ attack, will increase by 1.3x!]</em>

    It was just 1.3x but it was still enough to devastate the enemies in front of them. Another baptism of magical attacks and arrows, attacks that had be 1.3x stronger than before, rained down on the enemies of the Luvien Empire that blocked their path. This time, the amount was higher. There were around 40,000 magical attacks and 100,000 arrows that caused the skies to turn dark above the Eivelis Imperial Army.

    ¡°You¡¯re done for!¡±

    ***

    ck Dragon was overwhelmed with emotions.

    <em>¡®Aaaaaah! Just listen to the wonderful name that I gave to the guild members! Power Infinity Great King God General Magister Dark Breaker Team!!! Doesn¡¯t your heart pound just at the sound of it?!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk asked his father, ck Dragon, to look after Elizabeth. After her memories of the past had been erased and she became Minhyuk¡¯s retainer, Elizabeth had be a pure and innocent girl. But even if that was the case, the power that she could wield was still out of this world. Because of that, Minhyuk had to ask Elizabeth not to use her powers, unless she was given the order to do so.

    ck Dragon had given Elizabeth a simple signal. He told her, <em>¡®Elizabeth, if I say </em><em><strong>sealed</strong></em><em>, that means that you cannot use your powers. You can use your powers if I say </em><strong><em>unsealed</em></strong><em>.¡¯</em>

    ck Dragon made his dreams fullye true with the help of a pure and innocent girl.

    <em>¡®There were things like that when watching cool movies and animations, right?! Someone, who was hiding their powers, will surprise the world with their words, ¡®I am lifting the seals to my power¡¯!!!¡¯</em>

    ck Dragon made Elizabeth do this ¡®<em>seal¡¯</em> kind of thing. Of course, this was all for the sake of Minhyuk and Elizabeth. Well, perhaps also for ck Dragon, ¡°Fufufufu. Elizabeth, you must absolutely say those lines.¡±

    ck Dragon had also told Elizabeth some lines that she should say when the seal was released! And the innocent Elizabeth just nodded vigorously at ck Dragon¡¯s words.

    And now, ck Dragon, who was watching the baptism of magical attacks and arrows that clouded the skies above them, said to Elizabeth, ¡°Elizabeth. Let your power run rampant. Fufufufu.¡±

    ***

    Under the imminent downfall of the baptism of magical attacks and arrows, Airen looked at the army that had turned into a mess from the Battle God¡¯s powers. However, the bombing of magical attacks and arrows, which had be almost 1.5x stronger than before, was already at the tip of their noses.

    <em>¡®We can¡¯t stop this¡­¡¯</em>

    Airen could tell that almost 1/10th of their troops would die from this. At that moment, she remembered the girl that was standing behind her.

    <em>¡®The slightlycking child,¡¯ </em>Airen thought, wanting to protect the child behind her. She immediately turned around and stood in front of the girl to protect her from the magical attacks and arrows that would soon pour down on them.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be scared. This Unnie will protect you.¡±

    At the same time, thementators from all over the world sighed ruefully as they watched the rain of magical attacks and arrows.

    <em>[I can already say that it would be very easy for the first army to pass through them.]</em>

    <em>[We can tell how much Nerva Sephiroth wanted to keep Eivelis Empire in check. His parchments had already made an appearance twice from the get-go.]</em>

    <em>[What unbelievable power. We can expect the First Army to destroy the entrance defense army in less than two hours.]</em>

    At that moment, the attack started to fall down on the ground. In other words, it was time for Airen to cut at least some of them down.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    However, everything suddenly stopped. To be exact, the baptism of magical attacks and arrows stopped their descent from the skies above them. Airen hurriedly turned to look back the moment she felt a powerful surge of mana appear behind her. That was when she saw the beautiful girl, Elizabeth, glowing with a bloody red energy behind her.

    ¡°I¡¯m Elizabeth. In the name of ck Dragon, I have awakened the great power that is slumbering in my body.¡±

    Hundreds of cameras zoomed in on Elizabeth¡¯s face as she walked forward.

    Meanwhile, ck Dragon, who was watching everything from afar, trembled in excitement. At the same time, Elizabeth said, ¡°I am Elizabeth, the youngest member of the Power Infinity Great King God General Magister Dark Breaker Team.¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    <em>[¡­???]</em>

    Elizabeth dutifully uttered the lines that ck Dragon told her to say. ording to ck Dragon, everyone would adore her and love her more if she said those words. And it was the truth. No matter how chuuni the line was, the charm would totally depend on who was spitting the line.

    Of course, the yers from all over the world that heard the team name panicked for a moment. It was especially after seeing the hundreds of thousands of magical attacks and arrows that the Luvien Empire sent out being returned to them.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    <em>¡­</em>The attack devoured them, burning everything in their ranks down to the ground.

    Elizabeth did not forget to utter the words that ck Dragon told her to. The final line that would embellish her shocking act, ¡°All of you, kneel down.¡±

 Chapter 613: Defensive War (1)

    Chapter 613: Defensive War (1)

    The small girl, whose helmet did not even fit her head, with an armor that almost fell down from her shoulders, stood at the forefront of the army and spat coldly, ¡°All of you, kneel down.¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The people that were watching the broadcast from all over the world held their breaths.

    When Loki tore one of the ¡®Battle God¡¯s Parchments¡¯, the Strengthening Parchment, the magical attacks and arrows that the Luvien Empire sent forward became 1.3x stronger than ordinary. That was on top of Nerva Sephiroth¡¯s army already possessing some strength, with mages that could release at least 5th Tier magic against their enemies. That tremendous attack that had been raining down upon their enemies barely a moment ago now fell upon them.

    <em>Swiiiiiiiiiiish¡ª</em>

    The wind swept away the thick cloud of dust that was created from the aftermath of the attacks. The mages, even until death, cast their shield magic as best as they could. Thanks to that, Count Loki was able to escape death, and was still safe and sound.

    Loki could not help but gulp dryly at the sight that was presented to him when he looked back. Around 40,000 of their troops had received damage from that attack reversal. Some had been swept away by the downpour of magic and disappeared without a trace, while some shrieked from the pain of their limbs being torn apart.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Count Loki was rendered speechless for a long moment.

    <em>¡®Who the hell is that girl?¡¯</em>

    It was not just the Luvien Imperial Army that was thinking this way.

    ¡°¡­Was your power truly sealed?¡± Airen asked, her facepletely showing how flustered she was.

    At the same time, notifications rang for the yers of Eivelis Empire.

    <em>[Luvien Imperial Army¡¯s First Army¡¯s morale has fallen!]</em>

    <em>[All of their stats will decrease by 5%!]</em>

    Count Loki was furious. He decided that they had to gain victory as quickly as possible. So, he tore another parchment.

    <em>[Battle God¡¯s Fury.]</em>

    <em>[Tens of thousands of sword des will fall down from the skies. Anyone that this sword touches will receive a 15% decrease in all of their stats!]</em>

    Tens of thousands of swords appeared in the skies above them, falling rapidly toward the army that blocked their path in the Stars¡¯ Path. Since it was a debuff skill, there would be no damage or HP lost. However, the majesty of the downpour of swords was so much that it could make anyone falter. However, at that moment¡­

    <em>ck¡ª</em>

    The moment Elizabeth opened her palms, the swords that were free-falling from the sky disappeared without a trace.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Elizabeth, the God of Snakes, was a woman that had the power to control the system. Using a debuff on someone like her was like a mantis trying to stop a carriage.

    Then, Elizabeth¡¯s eyes started to turn yellow, as a strong wind appeared and made her beautiful and shiny hair flutter around. As she raised her arms in a graceful manner¡­

    <em>Rumble, rumble, rumble¡ª</em>

    ¡­the ground beneath the enemy army began to shake and crack. At the same time, a bloody red energy erupted from those cracks and devoured the enemy camp.

    <em>[Elizabeth¡¯s Wrath]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will decrease by 20%!]</em>

    <em>[Your Physical and Magical Defensive will be reduced by 40%!]</em>

    <em>[Your Attack Hit Rate will decrease by 40%!]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The Luvien Imperial Army was rendered speechless. The same went for all of the viewers that were tuned in to the broadcast. It had to be known that there were many yers that had decided to join the Luvien Empire¡¯s side, and among them were countless BJs. Since the BJs were doing a live broadcast, the notification window also popped out for all of the viewers to see. And thementators were immediately made aware of this fact.

    <em>[From the screenshot that I have seen, the notifications clearly said ¡®Elizabeth¡¯s Wrath¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[How did Elizabeth appear here?]</em>

    <em>[And why does she have the appearance of a little girl?]</em>

    <em>[Why is Elizabeth, someone that the Food God had killed before, here? And why is she fighting for the Asgan Continent?]</em>

    Everyone was in doubt.

    However, Airen and the defending army could tell that¡­

    ¡°Everyone, charge!!!¡±

    ¡­this was their opportunity. Airen dashed forward, with Elizabeth running next to her. The two were immediately followed by the troops of the Eivelis army.

    The Luvien Imperial Army¡¯s stats had decreased by 20%. Even their physical and magical defenses, as well as their attack hit rate, had decreased by 40%. With these conditions, it did not matter how strong the Luvien army was before. They would not be able to endure the attacks from the Eivelis army.

    Then, Elizabeth, who was running with the troops, leapt to the skies. She looked down coldly at the enemies. Her cold, yellow eyes startled everyone that made eye contact with her. But what was even more startling was her words, ¡°I am the youngest member of the noble Dark Breaker Team! Witness my power as it goes berserk!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Everyone turned silent. How could such cheesy and goosebump-inducing wordse out of the mouth of such a beautiful and elegant youngdy?

    Tens of thousands of snakes suddenly appeared from Elizabeth¡¯s body, stretching out and piercing through the enemies. At this moment, Elizabeth thought that she could now use the ¡®lines¡¯ that ck Dragon taught her before.

    As her snakes pierced through thousands of her enemies, she proudly said, ¡°Haaaaa~ I can get drunk on this blood fest.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ck Dragon, who was watching everything from afar, felt incredibly moved. He felt so proud of Elizabeth. After all, Elizabeth wholeheartedly delivered the lines that he taught her and even coupled it with the perfect set of emotions!

    ¡°Splendid¡­ Elizabeth. That was splendid.¡±

    After watching that, ck Dragon began to move to look for his next ¡®prey¡¯. Not long after, he was able to locate his next target. The man was as tall as Elpis and Brod, and was standing there with overwhelming momentum. This man was none other than the one that they call ¡®Overlord Raldo¡¯.

    ***

    Overlord Raldo was someone that was able to gain a new lease on life, thanks to Minhyuk. He was a living and breathing legend in the Asgan Continent. Even the kings and emperors would tremble at his might and the majesty of his nation, even though it was small.

    He had recently joined the hunt for Elizabeth with Sword Emperor Ellie. All of the NPCs that yed a role during Elizabeth¡¯s hunt received tremendous rewards. Their potentials had skyrocketed, and reached an unimaginable level. Simply put, Overlord Raldo was able to grow once again.

    As someone that had a rtionship with Minhyuk, Raldo was also aware that the Eivelis Empire¡¯s Empress, Ellie, and Minhyuk had a very close rtionship. Because of that, he personally visited the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and had a discussion with their prime chancellor, Haze. After the discussion, he came out wearing the red armor of the Eivelis Empire¡¯s knights.

    Overlord Raldo was not stationed in the Stars¡¯ Path, but on the shores of the Dragon King¡¯s Sea, the ce where the enemy ships were expected to dock. As he waited for the enemies, a man approached him. The man was a foreigner and had introduced himself as Minhyuk¡¯s real father. After hearing that, Raldo¡¯s goodwill toward the man had increased tremendously.

    ¡°King Raldo, do you want to live with a new name from this day onwards?¡± The man, who was wearing a ck dragon armor and a dragon helmet had asked, his eyes shining brightly.

    In fact, Raldo had been very worried about this. His power was not something that he could hide just by disguising himself. So, in this battle, he was wondering if he should just im to be a ¡®hidden master¡¯ or disguise himself by using someone else¡¯s name.

    ck Dragon¡¯s lips twitched happily, a chuckle escaping his lips, ¡°Fufufufufufufufu. There¡¯s a name that really, <em>really</em> suits you.¡±

    ¡°Really? I''m looking forward to it.¡±

    In fact, whenever Raldo recalled Kang Minhoo¡¯s, Minhyuk¡¯s father¡¯s, nickname he thought, <em>¡®That¡¯s a really, really cool name. How did hee up with such a great name?!!!¡¯</em>

    He believed that it was such a great name, to the point that it couldpletely overshadow his own moniker, Overlord Raldo. And what did that name mean?

    ¡°A ck dragon slumbering in your body. That¡¯s a truly admirable name. Are you saying that you¡¯ll give me a name like that to use for a while?¡±

    ¡°Of course. But you have to join our team for me to give you a name like that.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the name of your team?¡±

    ¡°Power Infinity¡­<em>omitted¡­</em>Dark Breaker Team.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Raldo felt the goosebumps rise all over his body. The coolness of the name was just overflowing!

    <em>¡®My goodness! There was such a cool team name?!!!¡¯</em>

    ¡°Would it be alright for me to give you a name?¡±

    ¡°Of, of course! It would be my honor. Please tell me, Mister ck Dragon!!!¡± Raldo, whose body was trembling from excitement, urged ck Dragon for his new name.

    The Eivelis Imperial Army that heard their conversation could not help but click their tongues. This was especially the case for Lumae Kingdom¡¯s Prince Votto, who joined the battle with his father.

    <em>¡®Fa, father¡­ you think that¡¯s a cool name??¡¯</em>

    Still, even if he thought that way, Prince Votto could not really bear to stop his father. It was because there had been a very pure, innocent, and bright smile on his father¡¯s face. It was as if his father had encountered a new sword with how he was acting!!!

    As for ck Dragon, he even gave Raldo some good tips to make it sound cooler, ¡°If you say it like this¡­ and say it like that¡­ everyone will think that you¡¯re greater and more majestic.¡±

    ¡°Hahahahahahahaha! I¡¯ll keep that in mind! Thank you so much!!!¡±

    ¡°With this, you are now a part of our Power Infinity¡­<em>omitted¡­</em>Dark Breaker Team.¡±

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Raldo said, the bright smile on his face getting wider. After all, he was now a member of the Dark Breaker Team, and even had a killer name!

    After doing that, ck Dragon went somewhere else. Then, at that moment, Raldo saw some people swimming in the sea. They did note from the enemy warships, and seemed to be approaching the shores silently.

    ***

    The ones that were called the ¡®Swords of the Gods¡¯ were inheritors of the power of the Gods. Among these gods was Embeio, the God of Assassins. Embeio was known to be capable of assassinating the other Gods. There was even a group of people that worshiped Embeio, a group called the Divine Dragon Squad.

    The Divine Dragon Squad was scattered all over the world and had only gathered in the Luvien Empire just recently. Why? Because God of Assassins¡¯ Envoy, Rumano, the one that inherited the power of God of Assassins Embeio, appeared there.

    Rumano, one of the Swords, did not directly participate in the war between the Luvien Empire and the Asgan Continent. However, the members of the Divine Dragon Squad still decided to swear their loyalty to him. Hence, they went to war to help Rumano.

    Shockingly enough, the people under Rumano had power that wasparable to Legendary NPCs. And from what was going around the grapevine, Sword of the God Rumano had a power that was close to the Gods. In fact, he was ranked 13th among the Swords of the Gods. Even Leville, the one that was assigned to lead the Divine Dragon Squad, was a Supreme NPC with power that could rival that of an Absolute Supreme NPC.

    The Divine Dragon Squad¡¯s mission was simple. They needed to assassinate the centurion-levelmanders, legion-levelmanders, elite knights and nobles among the troops of Asgan Continent. After all, doing so would hasten the copse of the Asgan Continent troops.

    Originally, they had to be in armies before they could attack. However, Joy Co. Ltd. had allowed each camp to attack each other, even though they were not in an army with 10,000 troops. This was so they could simte a true atmosphere of war.

    The Divine Dragon Squad silently swam in the sea and finallynded ashore.

    <em>¡®We need to hurry up and wipe out the core members of the troops that are stationed in the entrance.¡¯</em>

    In a few minutes, the warships would appear in everyone¡¯s sights and they had to assassinate the key figures of the Eivelis Empire, before they couldunch an attack on their warships.

    From what it looked like, the enemies still had not recognized them as part of the hostile camp yet. Not long after, they were able to recognize dozens ofmanders among the troops.

    <em>¡®God¡¯s Covert Steps.¡¯</em>

    The Divine Dragon Squad cast the shocking skill ¡®God¡¯s Covert Steps¡¯ and hid themselves while moving around silently.

    <em>Shwaa¡ª shwaa¡ª shwaa¡ª</em>

    As they continued to pass by the troops, the voice of the man with a huge body rang in their ears, ¡°Fufufufufu. I am a member of the great and noble Power Infinity¡­<em>omitted¡­</em>Dark Breaker Team. Fufufufufu.¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    Divine Dragon Squad¡¯smander Leville tilted his head in confusion. However, he thought that it was not that strange to hear something like that. This was war. Many people had gone crazy after sustaining heavy and traumatic injuries to their heads, or experienced mental damage after witnessing the death of their loved ones.

    Leville pulled a huge and long needle out when he passed by the man. It was a weapon that could easily killmander-level figures without a sound. Just as he was about to throw the needle¡­

    <em>sp¡ª</em>

    Arge and callused hand grabbed Leville¡¯s wrist.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Leville was shocked. It was because he was using God¡¯s Covert Steps, a skill that some of the Named NPCs could not even recognize, yet this man was able to grab him by the wrist. The worst part? The man¡¯s hold on his wrist was so strong that he was forced to let out a groan.

    <em>Thwack¡ª</em>

    Leville hurriedly threw a dagger toward the man, forcing the man to loosen his grip and allowing him to widen the distance between them. The other members of the Divine Dragon Squad, who were in stealth, quickly surrounded the man.

    However, Leville was once again shocked, <em>¡®This bastard¡­¡¯</em>

    It was because the one that grabbed his wrist was the crazy and burly guy from earlier. The crazy man chuckled darkly and said, ¡°I have been born anew today. He has bestowed upon me a great and noble name.¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    <em>¡®No, he¡¯s really crazy.¡¯</em>

    But¡­

    <em>¡®What is this overwhelming pressure?¡¯</em>

    Leville felt his scalp turn numb.

    The warships would arrive soon, yet they had not dealt with themander-level figures yet. Even so, Leville still had the confidence to cut down this lunatic in one stroke. He had decided to deal with this bastard in front of him quickly and immediately move on to themander-level figures.

    However, Leville was also curious, <em>¡®What did this bastard do before he turned crazy?¡¯</em>

    So, Leville asked, ¡°Bastard, who the hell are you?!¡±

    The man¡¯sugh was booming. There was an air of arrogance that surrounded him. After all, he had learnt what to say in situations like this.

    ¡°Fufufufufu. I am a member of the Power Infinity Great¡­<em>omitted¡­</em>Dark Breaker Team.¡±

    The man moved swiftly. Then, something amazing happened.

    <em>Crackle¡ª</em>

    The man passed by all of the members of the Divine Dragon Squad, his sword covered with intense ck mes, as it swung down swiftly. The moment the mes fell down, the dozens of warships that had slowly appeared in the sea¡¯s horizon werepletely devoured by mes.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°I am the absolute strongest uncle, the one that can cut down even the skies, Red Dragon!!!¡±

    To be clear, he was the Power Infinity Great King God General Magister Dark Breaker Team¡¯s Absolute Strongest Uncle that could cut down even the skies, Red Dragon!

    Meanwhile, Prince Votto, who watched everything unfold from afar, mumbled, ¡°D, dad¡­ Please¡­¡±

    Goosebumps rose all over Prince Votto¡¯s skin from second-hand embarrassment.

 Chapter 614: Defensive War (1)

    Chapter 614: Defensive War (1)

    Divine Dragon Squad¡¯s Leville was shocked at the sight presented in front of him. Half of the Luvien Empire¡¯s fleet of great warships were now sinking into the depths of the seas. It had to be known that the warships that Luvien Empire deployed were built by the most powerful and most skilled cksmiths in the empire. They were supposed to be leagues beyond any ordinary warship.

    But [Power Infinity¡­Dark Breaker Team¡¯s Absolute Strongest Uncle that could cut down even the skies] Red Dragon was so beyondmon sense that he was able to sink dozens of ships with just one strike.

    Overlord Raldo, unlike Minhyuk, did not have the requirement of gathering ¡®Overlord Mana¡¯ before he could use the Overlord¡¯s Technique. On top of that, most of the damage that skills usually dealt to opponents was dependent on one¡¯s attack. Raldo¡¯s attack far surpassed Minhyuk¡¯s own.

    Leville felt nervous, immediately making eye contact with the members of Divine Dragon Squad while thinking, <em>¡®We have to kill this guy.¡¯ </em>There was this firm determination to risk his life shing in Leville¡¯s eyes. This was because they felt like even the dead would turn in their graves from shame the moment they heard the words: <em>¡®The absolute strongest uncle that can cut even the skies¡¯. </em>

    Leville immediately cast his ¡®Assassin¡¯s Surprise Attack¡¯ skill as he charged toward Raldo. The members of the Divine Dragon Squad quickly followed his example and narrowed the distance between them and Raldo.

    <em>¡®Dagger of Deception.¡¯</em>

    Then, Leville used his special skill. The Dagger of Deception was a skill that would instantly create an illusion of Leville¡¯s arm. Although the skill seemed to attack the enemy¡¯s lower body, it was actually very useful for attacking the upper parts of the body, like the neck and the pit of the stomach. Leville quickly stabbed Raldo on the thigh.

    However, after Minhyuk had helped him to deal with the half of the Overlord Technique, Raldo was since able topletely reach the realms of the Absolute Supreme NPCs. And although it was a fact that not many men in the world could rival the Sword of the Gods, there were still some that could fight against them.

    <em>aaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Raldo raised his sword leisurely, easily seeing through Leville¡¯s skill, and blocking the y of his hands. Immediately after¡­

    <em>Stab, stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Leville was left horrified after seeing two assassins of the Divine Dragon Squad get pierced by Raldo¡¯s sword in one strike.

    <em>¡®This, this is impossible¡­¡¯</em>

    Most of the members of the Divine Dragon Squad had been trained since young. After enduring countless years of hellish training, they were able to develop a mental power and physical strength that could transcend the limits of an average human being. However¡­

    <em>aaaash¡ª</em>

    Another member of the Divine Dragon Squad had been cut down. If the members of the Divine Dragon Squad lived and trained in the way of the assassin since they were young, then Raldo was a genius that walked the path of the sword since young. He was also someone that had made a mark in history since a long time ago as ¡®Overlord Raldo¡¯.

    <em>sh! aaaaash!</em>

    Raldo moved swiftly like a ghost and cut down the members of the Divine Dragon Squad, one after another. During the war with Argaon Continent, the Divine Dragon Squad was able to assassinate almost 1,054mander-level figures. But now, they were dying without even being able to exert and disy their force on the battlefield.

    Leville, who was dying after getting stabbed in the abdomen with the sword, thought, <em>¡®Your Majesty, Nerva. The fall </em><em>of Asgan</em><em> Continent is most likely going to be a difficult feat to achieve¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>Copse¡ª</em>

    Before Leville finally sumbed, one final thought passed through his head, <em>¡®This is very shameful¡­¡¯ </em>The Divine Dragon Squad that made a name for themselves in the world waspletely destroyed by the ¡®Absolute Strongest Uncle, Red Dragon¡¯.

    At the same time, a shocking set of notifications hit the entire world.

    <em>[The Eivelis Empire and its allies have destroyed more than half of the First Army!]</em>

    <em>[There are only 220,000 soldiers that survived in the First Army!]</em>

    <em>[The 220,000 survivors will advance with the Luvien Empire¡¯s Second Army!]</em>

    The Argaon Continent could not withstand the might of the First Army and copsed under their assault in just half a day. However, Asgan Continent was able to achieve a remarkable result in just two hours. They killed 280,000 of enemy troops and forced the survivors to retreat. A huge part of it was thanks to the Dark Breaker Team, who was moving in ¡®secret¡¯ and helping them in disguise.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    The Asgan Continent¡¯s army began to cheer loudly. Of course this was not aplete victory. However, they were cheering loudly and congratting themselves for defending against them in the first bout.

    Among the cheering troops was a young boy named Rend, a volunteer of the Eivelis Empire. He looked at the two men wearing red armor in front of him and thought, <em>¡®One day, I will also be one of the Eivelis Empire¡¯s knights.¡¯</em>

    But then, at that moment, a round and white tail suddenly popped out from the butt area of one of the two knights. It looked simr to a bichon¡¯s tail. But then, the other man suddenly patted the butt area and put the tail back inside, while whistling as if there was nothing there.

    <em>¡®My eyes must have been ying tricks on me, right?¡¯ </em>Rend thought, thinking that he must have been seeing things since he was exhausted. After all, there was no way that a ¡®bichon¡¯ could be on the battlefield.

    Then, a voice rang in front of him, ¡°Fufufufufufu. You poor and pitiful people,e and witness my greatness and majesty today.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Such a lunatic would definitely not be a bichon. Rend was sure of it.

    ***

    Broadcasting stations from all over the world had been turned upside down because of a ¡®note¡¯ that was sent by one man. Broadcasting stations received tens of thousands of notes like this per day. However, this time, the note was on an entirely different level. Why? Because the one that sent the note was the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King, the ¡®Food God¡¯. The contents of the note were simple¡­

    <em>[Area BK-75. Expect a scoop.]</em>

    The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King, the Food God, personally divulged a scoop to them?! As far as they were concerned, the Food God had never directly initiated contact with any broadcasting stations before. He was also one of the big shots that would causemotions whenever he appeared on screen. And now, all of the broadcasting stations from all over the world rushed to find where Area BK-75 was.

    South Korea¡¯s ATV Broadcasting Station.

    PD Kim Daeguk had printed a map connecting the Luvien Empire and the Asgan Continent. After looking at the map for quite some time, he circled an area with his finger and said, ¡°This is it! This is it!¡±

    ¡°Wait¡­ This¡­¡±

    ¡°Keok¡­¡±

    Even ATV¡¯s director could not help but groan at what he saw. No, no one would believe it. There was no way that the ce that the Food God told them was here, right?

    But then, the ATV director¡¯s voice rang loudly. It sounded strangely excited as he said, ¡°If this seeds, then the entire world will be shocked¡­ This is enough to overturn the entire Joy Co. Ltd.¡±

    PD Kim Daeguk smiled in agreement. However, there were still many problems.

    ¡°However, we still don¡¯t know if it¡¯s possible.¡±

    That was right. Everyone believed that it was impossible.

    ***

    Luvien Empire.

    Emperor Nerva Sephiroth received a very shocking report.

    ¡°The First Army was forced to retreat and join the Second Army.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± Nerva Sephiroth shouted in shock. Of course, he would be taken aback. The First Army had around 500,000 troops and as far as he knew, only two hours had passed since theymenced their attack. But after just that short amount of time, there were only 220,000 soldiers left. And these soldiers were even forced to retreat, despite fighting under the banner of the great Luvien Empire.

    ¡°The power of the members of the Dark Breaker Team is stronger than what we initially thought.¡±

    Dark Breaker Team? Nerva Sephiroth was quite unfamiliar with the name. However¡­

    <em>¡®The name sounds cool.¡¯</em>

    The name sounded cool and grand. However, it did not take away the dirty feeling of being bitten by mere ants from Nerva Sephiroth. Even so, it was still impossible for him to send all of his troops all at once. He also could not call for his own men topletely destroy and annihte Eivelis Empire. In fact, if Nerva Sephiroth could send his entire troops and the Sword of the Gods under hismand, then the entire Asgan Continent would be devastated in just a few hours.

    However, Nerva Sephiroth was not the ¡®Battle God¡¯. He was just the ¡®Battle God¡¯s Sword¡¯. To be able tomand the entire army, Nerva Sephiroth had to receive the recognition of the Battle God. But he had yet to inherit the authority and power to call for the entire army.

    Nevertheless, Nerva Sephiroth could still call for the Gods¡¯ Swords that ranked 11th~20th to fight for him. Also, he had the Sun Knights with him, knights that were on apletely different level from ordinary soldiers.

    The Sun Knights were knights that were personally raised and nurtured by the Gods¡¯ Swords. Their number reached around 3,000, all of them legendary.

    Nerva Sephiroth wanted the arrogant troops of Asgan Continent to taste the bitterness of defeat after they had forced his army to retreat, ¡°Let Gods¡¯ Sword Ruven join the Second Army. Also, send 300 Sun Knights with him.¡±

    ¡°Sir Ruven and the Sun Knights?¡±

    Even the person reporting was shocked at Nerva Sephiroth¡¯s orders. No matter how strong or great Nerva Sephiroth was, there was no way that he could foster a powerful army from the get go. However, one should not underestimate the fact that there was only one Gods¡¯ Sword and 300 Sun Knights present in the army. Just releasing them on the battlefield right now would meanplete domination of the war.

    ¡°I understand.¡±

    Nerva Sephiroth smirked as he watched the man that gave him a report leave the hall, <em>¡®Two days. Two days should be enough.¡¯</em>

    He believed that this was enough time to make Eivelis Empire and Sword Emperor Ellie kneel down at his feet.

    ***

    Where exactly was Area BK-75? It was an area located in the American Server where the Luvien Empire was located, and was closest to the Stars¡¯ Path. It was also close to the sea and was set as the area where the Luvien Imperial Army gathered for a final check and maintenance.

    ¡°Haaaaaa! I barely survived there!¡±

    ¡°Eivelis Empire is much stronger than what we thought.¡±

    The troops of the Luvien Imperial Army that failed to destroy the defending army at the entrance to the Asgan Continent breathed a sigh of relief. Among these troops were plenty of yers. They were the ones that decided to side with the Luvien Empire.

    Before they knew it, the retreating army had already reached the vicinity where the Second Army was gathered and was doing their maintenance and preparing for war.

    <em>¡®If we go with the Second Army then we¡¯ll definitely be able to break throu¡­¡¯</em>

    The yers believed that the Luvien Empire would wee them with open arms after they survived and came back from the battlefield. But before they could even finish their thoughts¡­

    <em>Thump¡ª</em>

    They received the notifications for a forced log out as their heads rolled on the ground.

    <em>[You have been forced to log out.]</em>

    <em>[Your favor with the Luvien Empire has decreased.]</em>

    <em>[The Luvien Empire does not show mercy to those that have chosen to retreat.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Starting with that person, the Second Army began to ughter the retreating army, using their spears to stab them without mercy.

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaack¡­!¡±

    ¡°Why the hell¡­?!¡±

    ¡°No mercy for the defeated!¡± A man, who was standing at the vanguard, shouted. This man was none other than Ruven, the Gods¡¯ Sword that Nerva Sephiroth had tasked to lead the Second Army.

    Ruven was ranked 20th among the Sword of the Gods. He might be the weakest among them, but just like what everyone had witnessed during the Battle of the Thrones, each and every single Gods¡¯ Sword could deal with tens of thousands of troops, regardless of their rank.

    The Gods¡¯ Swords were literally people that had received the Gods¡¯ power. Spear God Ben? If he fought against the 20th ranked Ruven right here and now, he would find the task overwhelming and daunting. How about Athenae¡¯s top rankers? They also would not have any guarantee in winning against him.

    ¡°Kill them all! Show no mercy to those that chose to run away!!!¡± Ruven ordered as he looked back at the Sun Knights that were standing behind him.

    The massacre only stopped after around 20% of the First Army had turned into corpses. Around 200,000 of the First Army troops survived the ughter of the 500,000-strong Second Army, before joining their ranks.

    Ruven thus led a huge army of around 700,000 soldiers. This army, together with the Sun Knights, under his lead set out to dye Asgan Continent in a sea of blood and bring glory to Nerva Sephiroth.

    ¡°Advance!!!¡±

    The 700,000-strong troops advanced with apletely overwhelming momentum flowing from their bodies!!!

    Thanks to the ¡®Food God¡¯s note, the entire world had focused their cameras on this scene. All of them were using their transparent drones and watching the situation silently. However, the cameras failed to find anything special in the area. They wondered if the ¡®Food God¡¯ would appear and say, <em>¡®I¡¯m going to sweep away all of the enemies.¡¯</em> But that was impossible.

    <em>[The Food God¡¯s deration of war is just propaganda.]</em>

    <em>[Where is the Food God? Did he run away after seeing the Gods¡¯ Sword?]</em>

    <em>[Perhaps he did not expect that the Luvien Empire would send the Gods¡¯ Sword and the Sun Knights.]</em>

    <em>[The majesty and greatness of Ruven, Sword of the Gods, had been demonstrated during the Battle of the Thrones. It wouldn¡¯t be too strange for the Food God to run away.]</em>

    Thementators thought that the Food God had fled. After all, all of them expected that Minhyuk would stage a counterattack and fight against the enemy army after they had received the coordinates that he sent.

    However, no such miracle happened. The Luvien Empire began their advance while showing off their overwhelming momentum.

    Suddenly, Ruven¡¯s shin snagged on some sort of strange wire.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Ruven looked down at his shins.

    ***

    Team Leader Park Minggyu was drinking a cup of coffee that he got from the vending machine in front of him with Lee Minhwa.

    Lee Minhwa smiled bitterly at the message that she received, ¡°ording to this, the Food God did not appear in the coordinates that he had specifically mentioned.¡±

    Team Leader Park nodded, his heart thumping wildly for some strange reason. A yer dared tounch a direct attack during a defense event that Joy Co. Ltd. had set up? It was a novel and fresh idea. However, after thinking about it, nothing would change even if he appeared there all by himself.

    ¡°As expected, huh?¡± Lee Minhwa said, thinking that Minhyuk had deceived everyone. It was a highly likely oue.

    ¡°As expected,¡± Park Minggyu nodded bitterly. Even if the Food God had this novel idea, there was no way that he would be able to deal with such a huge army alone.

    After emptying his cup of coffee, Team Leader Park crushed the paper cup and threw it in the bin. However, he suddenly stopped in his tracks, ¡°Who dropped a thumbtack in here?¡±

    There was a thumbtack lying on the ground. As if realizing something, Team Leader Park¡¯s eyes widened, ¡°A thumbtack¡­?¡±

    That was when he remembered, <em>¡®Bichor, a God-like Trap Specialist, and the Food God, someone that can make God-ranked dishes.¡¯</em>

    As for Bichor, he was someone that had created traps that could rival that of a God¡¯s trap.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Park Minggyu suddenly started running. His destination? The huge TV that was set up inside Joy Co. Ltd. When he arrived there he saw that the screen was showing a broadcast from ATV Broadcasting Station.

    There, on the screen, was BK-75. However, it waspletely devastated. It looked like a nuclear bomb had gone off in the area. And the survivors of the 700,000 strong troops? Only 100,000 had survived the st.

    ¡°This is crazy¡­¡±

    ¡°Wow¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The employees, who had been present and were able to witness the devastating scene from the beginning until the end, were all rendered speechless.

    ¡°What the hell is that? What kind of trap would give that result after being triggered¡­?¡±

    Even Team Leader Park was speechless.

    As for the rest of the world? They werepletely horrified.

 Chapter 615: Defensive War (1)

    Chapter 615: Defensive War (1)

    No one would deny that the bestpany in South Korea was the Ilhwa Group. Whether it was in construction, distribution, home appliances, cars, or many others, Ilhwa Group had always been ahead of others.

    However, only the food sector ranked the lowest during the first half of the year. It was because of Food God Minhyuk, Chairman Kang Minhoo¡¯s sessor.

    Why? Simple. Because even though Food God Minhyuk was good at mukbang, the products that they could sell was apletely different story. On top of that, despite Minhyuk¡¯s fame, rumors still circted. Rumors about eating food from Ilhwa Group would lead to an ¡®eating addiction¡¯.

    It was apletely ridiculous story but there were still some people that believed in such superstitions. Using this ludicrous story as an excuse, the otherpanies used this to attack Ilhwa Group. They said that there were foreign substances found in the food that they sold and were quickly covered up by sending a box of snacks to others, that they sent hush money to cover up the ugly response. They were unfounded rumors, but theizens believed them.

    And three weeks ago¡­

    ¡°I know that the chairman already knows about this, but we believe that Minhyuk should already start running his own business, right?¡±

    Ilhwa Group was a hugepany and most of the employees and members of the board respected Chairman Kang Minhoo, but there were also some of them that coveted the position of the chairman and wanted to keep Kang Minhoo and his son, Minhyuk, in check. The prime example of this was Kim Deok-Hwa, Ilhwa Group¡¯s vice chairman.

    When Kim Deok-Hwa received the position of the vice chairman, he felt so moved, wondering if he was truly suitable for this position. However, his greed grew as time went by.

    <em>¡®I want to be the chairman.¡¯</em>

    This greed reached the peak when news about Minhyuk¡¯s eating addiction was released to the world.

    <em>¡®Are you telling me that a man with a rare disease will be the master and the owner of Ilhwa Group?!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®A person that might kick the bucket anytime is going to be the one leading Ilhwa?! After I have sacrificed so much for thispany?!</em>

    Kim Deok-Hwa wanted to bring Minhyuk down. The perfect way to do that was to entrust the operation of the food sector to him.

    ¡°You¡¯re absolutely right. Minhyuk should gradually start to participate in thepany¡¯s management.¡±

    Kang Minhoo was positive that Minhyuk was born with the blood of a king. He had tried to groom him when he was a child to manage argepany and from what Minhoo had seen, Minhyuk had the qualities of bing a good chairman. Besides, Chairman Kang Minhoo was getting on with age. He had to start teaching Minhyuk the ways to run apany while he still could.

    ¡°Then, how about leaving the ¡®Food Sector¡¯ to Minhyuk?¡±

    ¡°The Food Sector, huh¡­¡± Kang Minhoo nodded lightly. However, he was fully aware of what Kim Deok-Hwa intended to do.

    <em>¡®The Food Sector has never seen an increase in sales in years. This means that he will use this as a pretext to raise his voice and ask for the deprivation of Minhyuk¡¯s rights to being a sessor¡­¡¯</em>

    Unfortunately, the problem was¡­

    <em>¡®There¡¯s no other way.¡¯</em>

    The chairman could not control everything in apany. Of course, he could force things through if he wanted, and postpone it to ater date. But Kang Minhoo was sure that Minhyuk was already ready.

    ¡°Hmmm. If we¡¯re talking about the Food Sector, then it¡¯s our section that has been in a slump for years, even though we have ced overseas advertising experts in them, right?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re sure that Kang Minhyuk, the chairman¡¯s son, will be different! Besides, his ss in Athenae is the Food God. Haha!¡±

    ¡°Well then, let¡¯s do it this way,¡± Chairman Kang Minhoo said, as he proposed a deal, ¡°I don¡¯t think my son¡¯s eating addiction is cured to the point that he can handle and manage the entire Food Sector yet.¡±

    Kim Deok-Hwa was delighted. He knew that Kang Minhoo would have no choice but to fold. And from that point on, he was certain that he already had victory in his hands.

    ¡°So, let¡¯s choose one thing that has the lowest performance and make him increase its sales.¡±

    There were many kinds of food, from liquor to ramyeon to snacks or even franchises. But there is something in the food sector, the one with the lowest turnover, that Kim Deok-Hwa was certain that the Food God would not be able to increase the sales, even if he did a mukbang.

    ¡°How about increasing the sales of our new line, Royal Woof Woof?¡±

    ¡°Royal Woof Woof¡­¡±

    Minhoo thought that Kim Deok-Hwa was too easy to see through. However, he knew that Kim Deok-Hwa¡¯s followers would make a fuss and question Minhyuk¡¯s qualifications to be a sessor if Minhoo were to decline this. After much consideration, Kang Minhoo agreed.

    Kang Minhoo stared out of the window once Kim Deok-Hwa went out. In the Food Sector, Ilhwa¡¯s dog food was also ranked the lowest. The worst part? Minhyuk¡¯s charm at the mukbang would not work out at all. The fact that Royal Woof Woof was a new product would also ce a great burden on him. However, there was a smile painted on Kang Minhoo¡¯s face as he continued to look out the window.

    <em>¡®I believe in you.¡¯</em>

    Kang Minhoo hadplete trust in Minhyuk. After all, his son had the blood of a king. No, perhaps he had the blood of an emperor running through his veins, and he would be able to ovee this situation.

    ***

    Minhyuk was given free ess to the Abyss after clearing the trials of several of its gates. Right now, Eivelis Empire was embroiled in a fierce war against Luvien Empire, who dered that it was the end for the Eivelis Empire.

    Ellie and Minhyuk¡¯s friendship dated back to his early days in Athenae. For him, Ellie was a great noona, one that he was very grateful for and was someone that he could not see living without. Because of that, Minhyuk decided to help her by sending the members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom under a secret ¡®disguise¡¯.

    Minhyuk was currently with Bichor. He looked at the dog and thought, <em>¡®I think it would be great if Bichor became the face of Royal Woof Woof.¡¯</em>

    He was now thinking about the management task of thepany that his father had given him three weeks ago. Of course, the thought was born because of Minhyuk¡¯s greed. It might be outside of the game, but he truly wanted to make Bichor the face of Royal Woof Woof.

    If Minhyuk wanted this to happen, then he would like to have a conversation with Joy Co. Ltd. and discuss copyrights. Of course, he also felt a bit sorry to Bichor since his face would be imprinted and be a part of the brand, and would be sold to people that he did not know of. So, to be safe, Minhyuk decided to ask Bichor himself.

    And what was Bichor¡¯s reaction to that?

    ¡°Fufufufufufu. As expected. Your Majesty must have been amazed by my great and handsome face, right? How is it? I¡¯m pretty amazing, right? I¡¯m very handsome too. Just look at my fluffy and abundant hair, my ck nose, and my big eyes. Fufufufu. I¡¯m already quite used to the fame. After all, there was a long line of people that wanted to follow me in the past. Make sure to write that down! Keuhahahahahahahaha!¡±

    For some reason, Minhyuk suddenly did not feel sorry for Bichor anymore. Instead of feeling anxious, Bichor weed the opportunity with open arms.

    Bichor nced at Minhyuk sideways and said, ¡°I like the fact that Your Majesty desperately wants to use my face for your brand. Tell you what, give me two jokbal and we have a deal. Fufufufu. Know that this is an honor for you.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°Ah, ahhhh¡­! What are you still thinking about it? Fine. Just one jokbal. One jokbal and we have a deal. Do not refuse this deal anymore Your Majesty, just make sure to write that down!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    As the terms of the deal slowly decreased, Minhyuk was convinced, <em>¡®There¡¯s no doubt about it. Bichor is definitely an attention seeker.¡¯</em>

    Since Bichor weed the opportunity with open arms, Minhyuk believed that he could use his face. But before that, Minhyuk asked Bichor, ¡°Bichor, do me a favor.¡±

    ¡°Fufu. What is it? It seems like Your Majesty always keeps on asking me favors, huh? Why? Am I really that great?¡± Bichor said, an arrogant expression stered on his face as hebed his pretty white fur.

    Minhyuk, who was taking a bit of a break, said, ¡°Bichor, I want you to install your God-rank Trap.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Bichor¡¯s face hardened at Minhyuk¡¯s words. The arrogant expression on his face disappeared as he turned speechless. Bichor was the owner of an overpowered skill ¡®Trap Creation¡¯.

    <em>(<strong>Trap Creation</strong>)</em>

    <em>Active Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: 9</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?Bichor can instantly make traps that he had created in the past.</em>

    <em>?Number of possible Normal rank traps that can be recreated: 1,000</em>

    <em>?Number of possible Unique rank traps that can be recreated: 500</em>

    <em>?Number of possible Epic rank traps that can be recreated: 50</em>

    <em>?Number of possible Legendary rank traps that can be recreated: 2</em>

    <em>?Number of possible God rank traps that can be recreated: 1</em>

    No one would be able to wrap it around their heads if they saw how OP this skill was. Of course, it had to be known that the skill had a very long cooldown time once Bichor set a God rank or even a Legendary rank trap. However, the fact that the trap could be created instantly was what made it so broken.

    However, Bichor was still wallowing in deep regret, over the lives that he had killed with his traps and explosives. After all, many had died under the explosions that he had set up. That was especially the case if it was a God-rank trap.

    The question triggered a memory from Bichor¡¯s past. Back then, Apiroth Empire promised Bichor countless amounts of gold and silver to set up a trap during their war against Fylou Empire. The number of people that lost their lives with his traps? It reached around 400,000.

    Bichor went crazy back then. He was so drunk on the thought that he created an amazing trap that was able to kill almost 400,000 people all at once. Not once did he think about the people that died from the weapons that he created.

    But now, after looking back, he realized that he willingly killed 400,000 people for ¡®money¡¯ and ¡®fame¡¯.

    ¡°Your Majesty¡­¡± Bichor mumbled, his eyes looking at the ground. The truth was, he did not want to set up traps anymore. All he wanted to do was get out of the Abyss and live for the people, while staying by Minhyuk¡¯s side.

    In fact, Minhyuk also found it very hard to request this of Bichor. But¡­

    ¡°Bichor. I am asking you this so we can protect people.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Indeed. Minhyuk was asking this so he could protect others. One could not me them for killing their opponents when they were in the middle of a war. He wanted to do this to protect himself, his family and his friends.

    ¡°From now on, the traps that you will set up will be to protect others.¡±

    Bichor looked up at Minhyuk and thought, <em>¡®People will get killed but we¡¯re still protecting?¡¯</em>

    ¡°The Luvien Empire has devoured several empires and kingdoms in another continent. The casualties reached ten million alone. As they continue to spread their influence, more and more casualties will be recorded.¡±

    Yes. This was a fact.

    ¡°In a year, they will most definitely kill tens of millions. In two years, hundreds of millions. In a few years, billions.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Bichor¡¯s eyes continued to stare at Minhyuk.

    ¡°We have to stop their advance. And protect our loved ones with our own hands. Eivelis Empire¡¯s Ellie noona. Our kingdom. The people that ced their trust in me. Protect them. Protect your own family.¡±

    A trap that was meant to protect. A trap that was not created for fame or money. However, Bichor was afraid of one thing.

    ¡°What will the people that I protect think of me?¡±

    Would they be afraid of him? After all, Bichor was someone that created weapons that killed hundreds of thousands of people.

    Minhyuk looked down at Bichor with a bright smile on his face and said, ¡°Arade.¡±

    Those words made Bichor¡¯s heart thump wildly. When he thought about it, he never had arade nor a friend in the past, when he was at the peak of his life.

    ¡°A cool and wonderful friend that they could trust with their backs in the battlefield.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    If one thought about it, a trap was indeed a weapon that was set up to protect those that were precious to the trap setter. And today¡­

    ¡°I¡¯ll do it.¡±

    The man that created a God-rank trap was born anew today. And this time, he would use his powers to protect others.

    And¡­

    ¡°Let me cook something delicious for you.¡±

    ¡­his traps were also going to be more powerful.

    ***

    Once Minhyuk and Bichor were done with their preparations, Minhyuk immediately sent notes to all of the broadcasting stations. Now, in a ce that was not too far from Area BK-75, Bichor began to stealthily set up his trap.

    What was surprising about Bichor was the fact that he was several times faster than ordinary trap specialists when it came to setting up traps. It also had to be known that when it came to traps, Bichor could rival a God.

    Bichor waspletely different from ordinary trap specialists. He only needed to tap on a few things on the hologram that appeared in front of him to set up his traps. Of course, God-rank traps were a bit different. Although he was using his skill to set up the God-rank trap, it was still very difficult. Also¡­

    <em>¡®With this, Bichor will not be able to create another God-rank trap using his Trap Creation skill for one whole year.¡¯</em>

    But even if Bichor could not make another trap like this due to the long cooldown, he was still a great talent to have with them.

    Bichor¡¯s traps were truly discreet. In fact, even Minhyuk, who knew of their existences, could not feel that there was a trap beingid out. On top of that, the traps could be made transparent so that no one would be able to see them. It waspletely invisible. They were in a ce not far from BK-75, yet none of the troops from the Luvien Empire realized that Minhyuk and Bichor were there and setting up traps.

    Bichor, with a ck robe covering his body and standing not too far away from Minhyuk, finally finished setting up the trap. Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°Bichor, you know it right? It would really be awesome if you could say that line.¡±

    ¡°Fufufufufu. Don¡¯t worry, Your Majesty.¡±

    Minhyuk had prepared some very important lines for Bichor.

    Minhyuk, along with the rest of the world, watched the Luvien Imperial Army. There, he saw one of the Sword of the Gods, Ruven. As he looked at Ruven, Minhyuk wondered if he could win against him. After all, a Gods¡¯ Sword was a being that could exert tremendous power. Just the thought of ¡®Brod¡¯, the first ranked Gods¡¯ Sword, not being on their side during the Battle of the Thrones was horrifying.

    Then, at that moment, Ruven¡¯s shin touched the wire that Bichor had set up as the ¡®trap trigger¡¯.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Ruven looked down at the ground.

    It was a fact that Bichor could create 1,000 Normal rank traps, 500 Unique rank traps, 50 Epic rank traps, two Legendary rank traps, and one God rank trap. But what would be even more shocking than that?

    <em>¡®After eating my dish, his Trap Creation skill¡¯s level has increased by +2.¡¯</em>

    Because of that, Bichor was able to instantly install 2,000 Normal rank traps, 700 Unique rank traps, 70 Epic rank traps, 5 Legendary rank traps and two God rank traps. In other words, two God rank traps, along with several others, were going to be triggered right this instant.

    ¡°¡­T, trap!!!¡±

    Before Ruven could even finish his shout¡­

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Tens of thousands of spears that could deal 2,000% damage popped out from the ground and exploded after piercing through the bodies of the enemies. Immediately after that, almost 100,000 arrows that were hidden in transparent mode rained down on them and stabbed their bodies.

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª</em>

    Then, the arrows exploded. Just as Ruven and some quick-thinking soldiers jumped up to the skies to avoid all of the attacks¡­

    <em>Vwoooooooooooooong¡ª</em>

    A huge meteorite that was hidden in the sky appeared and fell down on the ground. This meteorite was the God rank trap that Bichor had created and was called <em>Meteorite Cmity. </em>Just like that, dozens of Meteorite Cmities plummeted down the ground.

    <em>Thuuuuuuuuuuuuuuud¡ª</em>

    Even Ruven could not withstand the tremendous power within each meteorite and was mmed down to the ground by the attack. As for the aftermath of the meteorite? It extinguished anything and everything that surrounded it. The traps had been set to kill them all and had forced the Luvien Empire to flee. Then¡­

    <em>Step, step¡ª</em>

    Amidst the explosion, Bichor, with an arrogant and proud look on his face, stepped on the path that was left untouched by the aftermath of his trap.

    The cameras from broadcasting stations all over the world zoomed in on the bichon with an arrogant smile on its face!

    <em>[Oh my god¡­ A bichon with a vicious smile on its face.]</em>

    <em>[I think it¡¯s this bichon that set up this trap.]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s amazing¡­ I have never seen a trap like that in my life before.]</em>

    <em>[It looks like a nuclear bomb fell down on the ground if you look at the aftermath.]</em>

    Then, the bichonughed meanly, ¡°Fufufufufu.¡±

    Bichor¡¯s tail wiggled from under his robes from the attention that the dozens of cameras had ced upon him. Then, he dutifully recited the lines that Minhyuk had asked him to say.

    ¡°Fufufufu. I have been eating Royal Woof Woof since I was young. And it gave me so much power. Why do you think so? Because Royal Woof Woof contains a lot of salmon, an ingredient that¡¯s good for dogs. But is that all? Of course not. Royal Woof Woof is a brand that makes sure to lessen the artificial additives in your dog food as much as possible. On top of that, its taste is excellent. I was able to be this strong because of Royal Woof Woof. You uncivilized things, what do you feed your dogs? With Royal Woof Woof, your dogs can be like me.¡±

    Within seconds, the dog lovers were able to clinch the top spot in the global portal site.

    <em>[<strong>Top 1.</strong> Royal Woof Woof.]</em>

    However, all of the viewers and thementators had the same thoughts in their heads: ¡®<em>Promoting dog food? All of a sudden? In this situation?¡¯</em>

 Chapter 616: Defensive War (1)

    Chapter 616: Defensive War (1)

    The entire Joy Co. Ltd. was turned upside down.

    The Luvien Empire¡¯s invasion was set to unify the continents and it was a very difficult scenario to monitor. That was why they created the War Management Team.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have a clue on what kind of rewards we should give!¡±

    ¡°How many of the Luvien Imperial Army have survived?¡±

    ¡°90,000¡­ no. 88,000. W, wait¡­ 70,000¡­ The numbers are hard to estimate. The trap¡¯s aftermath is still devouring the surviving troops!¡±

    ¡°Team leader! What kind of rewards should we give?!¡±

    Who was the War Management Team¡¯s Leader? It was none other than Park Yi-Hyeon, the one that was in the Event Management Team just recently. And right now, Park Yi-Hyeon¡¯s head had turned as nk as a white sheet of paper.

    <em>¡®What kind of rewards should we give if he killed that many enemies?¡¯</em>

    No, more than that¡­

    <em>¡®Isn¡¯t this considered to be a bug?!¡¯</em>

    Even Park Yi-Hyeon, someone that had reached the position of a team leader in Joy Co. Ltd., could not understand this strange phenomenon. A trap suddenly exploded and devoured more than 600,000 troops? It was simply ridiculous.

    <em>Ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, ring¡ª</em>

    <em>Ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, ring¡ª</em>

    A series of phone calls poured into the War Management Team.

    From the Customer Center Team.

    ¡°yers are constantlyining about bugs! Team Leader Park Yi-Hyeon, is it a bug?¡±

    ¡°Well, even we¡­¡±

    From the Scenario Progression Team.

    ¡°What are we supposed to do with the scenario where Sword Emperor Ellie leaves to be the Continental Emperor after the fall of Eivelis Empire?! Isn¡¯t this a scenario copse?!¡±

    Park Yi-Hyeon was literally going crazy,<em> ¡®Whenever this yer appears¡­¡¯ </em>The Food God always gave Team Leader Park Yi-Hyeon anxiety and put him in a panic.

    Then, President Kang Taehoon appeared in the War Management Team. They were in a situation where most of the troops of the Second Army, which was about to be deployed, had been wiped out.

    ¡°President, is this a bug?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not a bug.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    Park Yi-Hyeon could not believe that it was not a bug.

    ¡°This is all because yer Minhyuk fed a Legendary grade dish to the trap specialist named Bichor.¡±

    ¡°No, is that really even possible?¡±

    No matter how strong a yer was, could a single yer truly do something like this? But Kang Taehoon nodded to answer his question. Common sense would dictate that it was not possible. That was why¡­

    ¡°Hahahahahahaha!¡±

    All Kang Taehoon could do wasugh, right inside the chaotic office of the War Management Team. After all, this was the world that he wanted. A yer that was not swayed by the scenario that Joy Co. Ltd. had created and set up. Once hisughter died down, Taehoon was able to regain hisposure.

    ¡°Reward all of the participants of the war from Asgan Continent with one tinum. Prepare the deployment of the Third Army as soon as possible. Also, reward yer Minhyuk with 1,000 tinum since he killed almost 600,000 enemy troops.¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡±

    ¡°And make sure that the Customer Center Team knows that this is not a bug.¡±

    After leaving those words behind, President Kang Taehoon promptly disappeared. The ce where he was headed? It was none other than the ce where supeputer Athenae was.

    ¡°Athenae. You have seen the situation, right?¡±

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    Even Athenae, the God of Origin inside the game, was speechless. Though he did not see her expression, Kang Taehoon seemed to know what she was feeling. It was definitely no different from what he was feeling.

    <em>[I saw it.]</em>

    ¡°What are the odds of Eivelis Empire winning this war now?¡±

    <em>[17%]</em>

    The chances were still extremely small. However, Kang Taehoon was looking forward to what would happen. Would everything work out within the framework that Joy Co. Ltd. had created, or would the yers be able to ovee the situation and create a new scenario?

    At the same time.

    Team Leader Park Yi-Hyeon, who was organizing and following the instructions of President Kang Taehoon in the War Management Team, had left the TV on.

    ¡°Huuuh? Who¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°Wow. Look at how cool he is¡­¡±

    The scene on the TV showed the area that had disappeared after the explosions. And in there was the mysterious bichon named Bichor.

    On the screen, a man could be seen walking among the screaming troops of the Luvien Empire that had copsed from the attack.The man was wearing the red cloak bearing the sword and the shield, Eivelis Empire¡¯s symbol, with a horned helmet covering his face. The man¡¯s sword shone beautifully under the re of the sun as he walked alone toward the enemy camp.

    <em>Step, step, step¡ª</em>

    All of the viewers that were watching the broadcast held their breaths. Unless they were a fool, there was no way that they would not know who this man was.

    Team Leader Park Yi-Hyeon felt his lips twitch. The man¡¯s appearance obviously brought chaos to Joy Co. Ltd., yet strangely enough his cool appearance made his heart pound. Then, the man went up to the Gods¡¯ Sword Ruven. No one had officially killed any Sword of the Gods yet.

    Ruven, who survived the aftermath of the trap, slowly stood up while grinding his teeth in fury. Of course, he had to express his doubts.

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens. You¡¯re the bastard that¡¯s hiding behind that weird name, huh?]</em>

    The Luvien Empire was also aware that the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would not show their true faces in this war. Even the world had expected this to happen. But why did he show up?

    The man opened his mouth. The words that he uttered brought chills down the spines of all the viewers.

    <em>[That¡¯s alright. Before the Third Army arrives¡­]</em>

    Minhyuk looked at Ruven and all of the Sun Knights.

    <em>[All of you will already be dead.]</em>

    ¡°F*ck this¡­ He¡¯s so cool¡­¡±

    Team Leader Park Yi-Hyeon and the entire world was very impressed.

    ***

    In Area BK-75, the area where the remnants of the trap explosions remained, an undying me devoured and killed the remaining troops of the Luvien Empire.

    ¡°Aaaaaaaargh¡­¡±

    ¡°Ri¡­ Rishelle¡­ I don¡¯t think I can keep my promise. I won¡¯t be able to go back.¡±

    ¡°My, my arm¡­! My aaaaaarm!!!¡±

    A man wearing the armor of Eivelis Empire walked across the battlefield that was rife with the shrieks and screams of the enemy troops. Ruven already knew who the man was, watching him walk past all of the corpses and ignoring the wounded. In fact, Ruven was delighted when he heard the answer that the man gave to his question.

    ¡°Before the Third Army arrives, all of you will already be dead.¡±

    The overwhelming momentum and pressure that the man was releasing was eating away at Ruven. Thankfully, Ruven was able to protect most of his body from the explosion. He only lost one arm at most and was able to preserve his hand that held his sword.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s the king of a nation?¡¯</em>

    However, he was just a human king. The Gods¡¯ Swords would be able to exert tremendous power when facing a king. After all, a king could never be legendary, and was not someone that inherited the power of a God. Although they were both humans, it was the Gods¡¯ Sword that had a legendary body, and had inherited the power of a God, not a mere human king.

    Ruven slowly lifted himself up. The aura from his sword spread out in a wave and cut short the lives of his allies that were screaming for help.

    ¡°Kghhhhk¡­¡±

    ¡°Ugh¡­¡±

    <em>Copse¡ª</em>

    Ruven looked coldly at their falling bodies as he stood straight, ¡°All the troops of the Luvien Empire that can fight, stand up.¡±

    The soldiers of the Luvien Empire that had strong mental powers stood up. The Sun Knights, people that had power simr to that of legends, also mustered thest of their strength and stood up.

    Of course, each and every single one of them were in a terrible state whenpared to Ruven. Some had lost their entire arm, some had lost a leg, there were even some that hadpletely lost the lower half of their bodies. The majority of those were unable to fight.

    As for the surviving troops, only 30,000 of them had not died. Though, everyone that saw them could tell that they were all on the brink of death. However, no matter their condition, they were still the soldiers of the great Luvien Empire. Besides, Gods¡¯ Sword Ruven was also given some of the Battle God¡¯s parchments.

    ¡°Die a heroic death.¡±

    The moment Ruven tore the parchment, a powerful force enveloped the bodies of the surviving troops.

    <em>[Battle God¡¯s Final Blessings.]</em>

    <em>[You will gain courage that will allow you to numb the pain and forget your nearing death.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will temporarily increase by 11%!]</em>

    <em>[You will not feel pain nor fear.]</em>

    The scariest enemies were those that had no fear. This was because they were the ones that could charge head on and would not mind whether they got cut down or not. As for Ruven, even though he had lost one arm, he never thought that he would lose to a mere human king. Immediately after, the 30,000 surviving troops charged forward as if they had gone crazy. The ones running in the lead were, of course, the Sun Knights.

    Hundreds of transparent drones broadcasted this scene, where 30,000 troops charged at a single man, all over the world. And Minhyuk? He also ran toward them as if he had lost all sense of reason himself. Then¡­

    <em>[Sword of Tempest.]</em>

    <em>[Hundreds of sword des with 250% additional attack power will be created around your body that will indiscriminately ughter your enemies within six seconds. During the duration of the skill, your movement speed will increase by 200%.]</em>

    <em>¡­</em>hundreds of des began to dance around and dig through the gaps of the defenses of Minhyuk¡¯s enemies. But even after Minhyuk had cut down 300 of his enemies in one go, the enemy troops still continued to charge forward like crazy.

    Minhyuk immediately used his Absolute God¡¯s Secret, the word ¡®Gather¡¯ appearing on the de of his sword. It was a skill that would be activated with a 100% probability and would deal 4,000% damage to his enemies. It would even release bloody lightning bolts that could cover an entire thirty meter radius and hit all of the enemies unconditionally.

    The worst part? The skill could even trigger 4~8 consecutive strikes of the bloody lightning bolts. True to its nature, Gather was an overpowered skill that worked best when it came torge-scale battles.

    The moment Minhyuk¡¯s sword struck one of the Sun Knights¡­

    <em>Boooooooooooom¡ª</em>

    Arge explosion erupted, which was immediately followed by hundreds of bloody lightning bolts.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Ruven was shocked. A single swing of Minhyuk¡¯s sword was able to kill 200 of their troops. Ruven firmly believed that Minhyuk was a mere human king. But the intensity of the power that Minhyuk wielded was¡­

    <em>¡®An Absolute God¡¯s Secret?¡¯</em>

    At that moment, Ruven realized that the man in front of him was not just some mere human.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Minhyuk began his horrifying dance on the battlefield. He swept away his enemies with every swing of his sword. The duration of the skill was four minutes. Minhyuk was able to kill at least 3,000 in a single minute. However, no matter how many he cut down, there were still too many enemies in front of him.

    Seeing the gruesome scene unfold in front of him, Ruven immediately charged forward and joined the battle. Ruven was a Gods¡¯ Sword that could use various forms of aura.

    ¡°Aura Mace.¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaam¡ª</em>

    Ruven¡¯s aura changed into the shape of a mace and mmed down on Minhyuk, who was running around like some kind of wildhorse. At that moment, Minhyuk received a tremendous shock from the powerful blow.

    ¡°Kghhhhk!¡±

    <em>[Your HP has gone below 84%!]</em>

    The attack was horrendous. Just one hit and Minhyuk¡¯s max HP had gone down by 16%. But it did not end there.

    ¡°Aura Dagger.¡±

    Ruven manipted his aura and created hundreds of daggers in the skies.

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª</em>

    Indeed, Ruven was the kind of person that no other yer dared to touch. He was able to find out the biggest drawback of the lightning strikes that Minhyuk had released. It was the fact that the attack had to be sessful before it could be triggered. All he had to do was stop the attack from being sessful if he wanted to stop Minhyuk.

    In just an instant, Minhyuk¡¯s HP dropped below 50%. In that short moment, he was overwhelmed by Ruven and the surviving 30,000 troops¡¯ momentum.

    <em>¡®If the attack is not sessful, ughterer Armor¡¯s absorption will not work.¡¯</em>

    In other words, he would not be able to recover.

    Ruven smirked and said, ¡°Are you struggling against me? Someone with just one arm?¡±

    However, Minhyuk did not answer. Ruven clicked his tongue and continued, ¡°Only a human bastard would be proud after gaining a bit of the Gods¡¯ power. However, today, the entire world will witness the beheading of the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King.¡±

    He was sure of his victory. The Luvien Empire continued to put pressure on Minhyuk.

    At the same time, thementators said¡­

    <em>[I don¡¯t know where Food God Minhyuk¡¯s momentum went. He looked infinitely weaker against the Gods¡¯ Sword.]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s only natural for the Food God to be helpless in front of Luvien Empire¡¯s 30,000 troops and a Sword of the Gods.]</em>

    <em>[Still, I believe he already did well. After all, he already blew up almost the entire Second Army.]</em>

    That was right. The Food God fully deserved a round of apuse. He had wiped away almost the entire Second Army.

    As for Ruven? He had made a quick decision, <em>¡®It won¡¯t take too long.¡¯</em>

    He decided to quickly finish off the Beyond the Heavens King, join with the Third Army, and charge toward Eivelis Empire.

    <em>¡®You¡¯ll kill everyone before the Third Army arrives? What bullshit.¡¯</em>

    Then, Ruven triggered his special skill.

    ¡°Aura Festival.¡±

    <em>Rumbleeeeeee¡ª</em>

    Hundreds of weapons created from Aura appeared in the skies and aimed to strike Minhyuk all at once. With this, and the tens of thousands of their troops surrounding the Beyond the Heavens King, Ruven was sure of the man¡¯s death. But then, at that moment¡­

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Ruven saw a huge shadow cast over him. He could not understand why such a shadow appeared.

    <em>¡®This is¡­?¡¯</em>

    It was definitely a cow.

    ¡®<em>Why is a giant cow on this battlefield?</em>¡¯

    Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°Hanwoo, charge.¡±

    ¡°Mooooooooooo!!!¡±

    At that moment, the Aura Festival was finally released. However, all of it struck the gigantic cow¡¯s body and disappeared without a trace. It did not even give a huge blow to the target. And then¡­

    <em>Thuuuuuump¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Ruven was not given time to get his senses together. All he knew was that his body was kicked by the giant cow. Then, the cow began to sweep away the 30,000 surviving troops.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaam¡ª</em>

    <em>Thuuuuuuuud¡ª</em>

    The twenty-meter-tall Hanwoo began to brutally crush the enemies. In just a few minutes, most of the surviving troops of the Luvien Empire died. As for Gods¡¯ Sword Ruven? His body was twisted in some strange manner, rendering himpletely unfit forbat.

    ¡°Ughhhhh¡­¡±

    The strange groan that came out of Ruven¡¯s mouth brought shock to the entire world.

 Chapter 617: Defensive War (2)

    Chapter 617: Defensive War (2)

    Mob luring was one of the most clever hunting methods developed by yers that existed since the era of ssic RPGs. It basically meant that one would lure a group of mobs, run away from them and finish them off by using an AOE magic skill or AOE attack skill.

    It was a hunting method that would give the yer the pleasure of killing many monsters in one go and gaining high EXP. Because of that, many yers had used this method. In fact, this was also one of the most used hunting methods in the present day Athenae.

    ¡°Ughhhh¡­¡± A strange groan flowed out of Gods¡¯ Sword Ruven¡¯s mouth, shocking the entire world.

    Minhyuk clearly said, <em>¡®Before the Third Army arrives, all of you will be dead.¡¯ </em>He had truly kept his words. Even Minhyuk would receive serious damage if Hanwoo grazed him just a tiny little bit. No matter how strong Ruven was, he would not be able to stand if he received a direct attack from Hanwoo. After killing all of the remaining troops, Minhyuk stood in front of Ruven.

    Ruven was a genius that dominated his own era. He was chosen and given the title ¡®Sword of the Gods¡¯ and lived in the world of the Gods. As for the being that trampled on him? It was none other than a cow.

    Minhyuk stabbed Ruven¡¯s neck with his sword without a shred of hesitation.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    None of the Gods¡¯ Swords had been hunted before. That was why everyone was interested in what rewards one would get.

    <em>[You have killed one of the Sword of the Gods, Ruven.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the <strong>Title</strong>: The Luvien Empire¡¯s Enemy.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 2,000 REP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1,000 CHA.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 2,516 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Ruven¡¯s Unrepaired Sword.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the right to use Ruven¡¯s Treasure House twice.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the skill book: ¡®Aura Operator¡¯.]</em>

    Minhyuk quickly checked the items that he acquired before the Third Army came. For the title ¡®The Luvie Empire¡¯s Enemy¡¯, he would receive a 7% increase in all stats when fighting against the people of the Luvien Empire. However, anyone from the Luvien Empire would show great hostility toward Minhyuk. As for Ruven¡¯s Unrepaired Sword¡­

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Minhyuk was shocked after seeing the details of the sword.

    <em>¡®A God-rank sword?!¡¯</em>

    This was the second God-rank sword that he received after the Continent Destroyer Sword. However, no notification rang despite obtaining the ¡®God-rank¡¯ Ruven¡¯s Unrepaired Sword. Why? Anyone would understand after they have read the description of the sword.

    <em>(<strong>Ruven¡¯s Unrepaired Sword</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: God</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: Level 500 or higher. Sword Saint or higher.</em>

    <em><strong>Durability</strong>: 50 / 20,000</em>

    <em><strong>Attack Power</strong>: ???</em>

    <em><strong>Special Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>????</em>

    <em>????</em>

    <em>????</em>

    <em>????</em>

    <em>?This is a sword that has been left unrepaired for a long time yet still kept carefully by Ruven.</em>

    <em>?It can be said that the sword has basically lost all of its function.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: Ruven was once ranked 10th among the Sword of the Gods. But because this ¡®sword¡¯ was no longer avable for his use, his rank dropped to the 20th.</em>

    Although God of cksmiths Hepas used a variety of outstanding metals in this sword, there was a coercive pressure ced upon him during production. But God of cksmiths Hepas was a very clever man. They might have forced him to create a God-rank sword, but he made it so no one would be able to repair the sword easily. Hepas made it so this sword would never be able to be used again if it was repaired recklessly. A true waste of good materials.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The item obviously looked like trash. However, that was not the case at all for Minhyuk. First, Minhyuk was someone that could meet God of cksmiths Hepas in the Abyss. Second, he could use this sword¡¯s ¡®materials¡¯.

    When it came to cooking, God-grade dishes would onlye out if at least one God-grade ingredient was used. As for artifacts, how many materials were needed to create one? On top of that, the most important material when making a sword was used for making the ¡®sword de¡¯. If Minhyuk could salvage the materials used for the de, then the artifact that he would obtain would be able to exert a tremendous amount of power.

    <em>¡®I have to go back to the Abyss.¡¯</em>

    What Minhyuk did was already enough. Besides, this was Eivelis Empire¡¯s war and Ellie would definitely not want Minhyuk risking his own life to cut down any more of their enemies. Instead of that, Minhyuk thought of helping Ellie in another way.

    Before returning to the Abyss, Minhyuk thought of the hundreds or thousands, perhaps even more, of transparent drones hovering above him and filming the scene. Then, he looked at Hanwoo, who he was about to send to the summoning room, and thought of a brilliant idea.

    Minhyuk was the heir and sessor of Ilhwa Group. If he could increase the sales of not only the dog food but of other food items too, then it would have a good influence on his standing, and he would be able to present a better image to the board members of thepany.

    ¡°As expected of our country¡¯s native cow breed, Hanwoo. Its power is truly amazing.¡±

    As if to prove his words, the name ¡®Hanwoo¡¯ appeared on top of the head of the sealed Bull Demon King. Then, Minhyuk turned his body and said, ¡°Hanwoo has the most excellent vor, on top of being good for your health. To celebrate today¡¯s victory, I will purchase and eat Ilhwa Group¡¯s Ilhwa Hanwoo. A green tea-fed A+++ beef that melts in your mouth, whether it¡¯s stir-fried, boiled, or grilled. One bite and you will definitely recover the energy that you¡¯ve lost!¡±

    By the time the Third Army arrived, the culprit had already disappeared.

    ***

    Ilhwa Group¡¯s vice chairman, Kim Deok-Hwa, had been drinking with all of the board members that chose his side and believed in him.

    After having a discussion with Chairman Kang Minhoo three weeks ago, they were able to force his sessor, Kang Minhyuk, into a situation where he had to boost the sales of Royal Woof Woof. And Royal Woof Woof had beenunched two weeks ago. But what was the response? They were indifferent.

    In the first ce, the dog food market was already over-saturated by several brands that were promoting their products saying that they were filled with good and healthy ingredients. Because of that, most of these dog owners did not feel the need to try and test new brands, especially when they were already using a proven and tested brand. And so far, Royal Woof Woof¡¯s sales did not show any signs of increase.

    ¡°Keuhahahahahahaha! Drink up! Drink up!¡±

    ¡°Congrattions, vice chairman! Ah, should I call you the next chairman now?¡±

    The board members tried their hardest to tter Kim Deok-Hwa. Kim Deok-Hwa looked at them with a straight face and said, ¡°No, this guy. You should watch what you say. What do you mean by saying the next chairman?¡±

    ¡°¡­Yes?¡±

    The board members looked at him in confusion. Why did he suddenly get so serious while they were singing to his tune and calling him the next chairman?

    ¡°I¡¯m not the next chairman. It¡¯s safe to say that I will almost be the chairman now!¡±

    ¡°Ah? Ahahahahahaha! That¡¯s right!!!¡±

    ¡°Chairman Kim Deok-Hwa! Here, have one more drink!!!¡±

    ¡°Wahahahahaha!¡±

    Kim Deok-Hwa was in a very good mood. This was his first shot.

    Actually, the Royal Woof Woof truly could be considered the best dog food in the market. However, it would disappear into nothingness if it failed to attract the public¡¯s attention. If things continued at this rate, then Royal Woof Woof would soon be out of business. And who would be responsible for this?

    Of course, it would be Minhyuk. He would be the one to take responsibility and swallow this loss. Kim Deok-Hwa would use this as an excuse and talk about Minhyuk¡¯s qualifications as the next chairman. He would make sure that it was just the right amount of heart wrenching.

    But then¡­

    <em>Ring, ring, ring, ring, ring¡ª</em>

    One of the board members¡¯ mobile phone rang. Kim Deok-Hwa chuckled and nodded generously at the man, ¡°You have your mobile phone on? On a day like this?¡±

    ¡°No, sir! How dare I do that?¡±

    All of the board members present immediately turned their phone off and began to chug down their drinks.

    Unbeknownst to them, Minhyuk had promoted Royal Woof Woof through Bichor at that very moment, and even promoted ¡®Ilhwa Hanwoo¡¯ an hourter.

    They drank until the wee hours of the morning, stopping only after they passed out. Kim Deok-Hwa greeted the new day at the bar on the top floor of the building.

    Kim Deok-Hwa pulled the curtains open and looked out of the window and thought, <em>¡®I have lived a hard life.¡¯</em>

    The one that saved him from that life was none other than Chairman Kang Minhoo. However, over the years, he hoped to be a true king.

    <em>¡®I feel sorry for the chairman, but what did he mean by passing on thepany to Minhyuk? A child that has a rare disease and could kick the bucket at any given moment?¡¯</em>

    He thought that it was truly a pity. However, that was not all. Kim Deok-Hwa coveted the position of chairman, to the point that he was greedy for it.

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll make sure to leave a seat for you on the board.¡¯</em>

    After admiring his own gracious generosity, Km Deok-Hwa turned on his phone. That was when he noticed the hundreds of missed calls. A sh of doubt appeared on his face as he quickly contacted his secretary.

    Kim Deok-Hwa¡¯s secretary has been waiting in the car because he had explicitly told him to not interfere with their fun, no matter what. After receiving Kim Deok-Hwa¡¯s call, the secretary hurriedly came to his room.

    ¡°I got a lot of calls from youst night. Is something the matter?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s because of Royal Woof Woof, vice chairman.¡±

    ¡°Royal Woof Woof?¡±

    The board members woke up one after the other after hearing the secretary¡¯s voice. It seemed like the words Royal Woof Woof caught their attention.

    ¡°Did something bad happen in the two weeks after its release?¡± Kim Deok-Hwa sounded worried, but deep inside he was hoping for its downfall. If their sales dropped even lower, Minhyuk would copse faster.

    ¡°No, that¡¯s not it.¡±

    ¡°Huh? That¡¯s not it? Then, why are there so many calls about Royal Woof Woof¡­?¡±

    ¡°Royal Woof Woof¡¯s sales have dramatically changed overnight.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°Young master Minhyuk had used an ingenious method of promotion in Athenae which increased the sales of the dog food in a single day¡­¡±

    This was an era of smartphones. Since most of the people could pay via the inte or their mobile phones, it was easier to check the sales of an item. Another advantage of this era was the fact that anyone could purchase whatever items they wanted from anywhere in the world.

    ¡°It increased by about 8,000 times.¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    For a moment, all of the board members present were jolted awake and left dumbfounded. And that was not all, even Kim Deok-Hwa was tongue-tied. He blinked nkly beforeughing crazily, ¡°Hahahahahaha. My dear secretary, you got me there. That was a good joke!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The secretary was speechless.

    The board members hurriedly turned on their phones and saw the words Royal Woof Woof stered all over global portal sites.

    <em>[Royal Woof Woof. The dog food that Food God Minhyuk has promoted is quickly being rmended by SNS stars.]</em>

    <em>[Ilhwa Group¡¯s Sessor¡¯s Kang Minhyuk pre-arranged promotion. All of the Ztubers and BJs that received the dog food in advance have poured out positive reviews¡­]</em>

    <em>[People from all over the world are ordering Royal Woof Woof. Royal Woof Woof¡¯s site, paralyzed¡­]</em>

    <em>[Royal Woof Woof¡¯s syndrome,rger than the Homey Butter Chip Syndrome.]</em>

    <em>[All of Ilhwa Food¡¯s sales have increased.]</em>

    ¡°And that¡¯s not all. Currently, the sales of Ilhwa Food has significantly increased. Just to inform you, this is just the first day. They expect the sales to reach their peak in a week.¡±

    If it would reach the peak in a week when the sales had already increased by 8,000 times currently, then the expected sales would be at around 15,000 times. Was that possible? Yes, it was possible.

    In the first ce, Royal Woof Woof¡¯s sales were extremely low. But with this ingenious method by Minhyuk, it had increased. In fact, all of the entire Ilhwa Food¡¯s sales had increased.

    ¡°The sales of Ilhwa Hanwoo have also increased significantly. It has increased by about eight times more than usual.¡±

    The product with the highest sales among Ilhwa Food was Ilhwa Hanwoo. Unlike dog food, Hanwoo was very popr. That was why the sales were high. An eight time increase in sales was no joke.

    Suddenly, the board members began to pack their things and stepped out while calling people on their phones.

    ¡°Oh my, this is Director Lee Taemin. I was just wondering if young master Minhyuk is doing well? Oh, that¡¯s not it. I¡¯m just wondering how the young master is doing these days.¡±

    ¡°Director Lee, I¡¯ll call after you.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll call next, then.¡±

    The board members immediately changed their tune. At this moment, all of them must have recognized Minhyuk as the sessor. There was only one board member that was left looking around.

    At that moment, Kim Deok-Hwa¡¯s phone rang. The caller? It was none other than Kang Minhoo.

    <em>[What do you think? Do you think he¡¯s still not fit to be a sessor?]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Kim Deok-Hwa did not have ten, nor a hundred mouths, to say anything about the matter. Unfortunately, it did not end there. Kang Minhoo made sure to take things a step further.

    <em>[Isn¡¯t there a new project that you were working on? From what I saw, there are a lot of problems that cropped up from that project. You should know that the responsibility will fall upon you, right?]</em>

    ¡°¡­You¡¯re absolutely right, chairman.¡±

    The chairman ended his call with Kim Deok-Hwa. The only board member that was at a loss with what to say, summarized their current situation.

    ¡°Vice chairman¡­¡±

    ¡°Yeah¡­¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re fXXXd, aren¡¯t we?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

 Chapter 618: Defensive War (2)

    Chapter 618: Defensive War (2)

    The Luvien Empire¡¯s Third Army contained many of the talents from the other kingdoms and empires that the Luvien Empire had subjugated.

    The nations that the Luvien Empire had overwhelmed and taken control of had realized that their empire would eventually be the master of the continents after experiencing their power firsthand. As a show of subservience, many of those nations¡¯ legends, that had made a name for themselves in their own kingdoms and empires, were included in the Third Army.

    Unlike the first armies, the number of troops in the Third Army were significantly higher. There were around 700,000 troops in the Third Army that were going to be deployed. There was also less time before the next army would advance. In other words, the real game would begin starting from the Third Army.

    Of course, the Argaon Continent had beenpletely devastated by the might and power of the First and Second Armies alone. This was because the Luvien Empire was so overwhelmingly powerful.

    <em>¡®I did not expect that the Third Army would be sent out to catch some mere flies¡­¡¯</em>

    During the battle in the Argaon Continent, the Second Army was the one that swept away the continent and the Third Army only came in to clean up. However, in the war this time, they were faced with many variables.

    <em>¡®How on earth were they able to exterminate almost 700,000 strong troops all at once?¡¯</em>

    This was an unusual surprise for them. Did a God intervene in this war? No,mon sense would dictate that to be impossible.

    The Third Army¡¯s Commander-in-chief, Ambose, was not one of the God¡¯s Swords. However, he was someone that the Battle God cherished and favored. This was because he was very talented in reading the flow of the battlefield. However, Ambose was a marquis of the very first kingdom that the Luvien Empire hadunched a surprise attack on.

    Why was Ambose, the one hailed as the ¡®God of Tactics¡¯, on the side of the Luvien Empire?

    <em>¡®I¡¯lle back safely so all of you don¡¯t have to worry about me.¡¯</em>

    It was precisely because the Luvien Empire had his family held hostage. To make sure that his family, people that were now prisoners of war, regain their freedom and be happy once again, Ambose had to make the biggest contribution today.

    <em>¡®Nerva, that damn bastard emperor.¡¯</em>

    Even if he was seething with rage against such an individual, he had to keep it in him. Ambose calmly pondered over the matters of this war, <em>¡®The God of Origin does not want to lose so many lives in this war. That¡¯s why she stopped them from sending all of their troops in one go.¡¯</em>

    Of course, that was how the NPCs would think. However, some of the restrictions ced by the God of Origin could be bypassed by using expedient methods.

    ¡°Select the tankers and the Luvien Empire¡¯s Shield Knights, and ce thirty thousand of them at each entrance.¡±

    ¡°What are you going to do with such a small number of people?¡±

    All of themanding officers asked the same question. Most of the people here were either legendaries or people that had the power to rival that of a legend. But was that all? Of course not. They were all people that were capable ofmanding as well, and those that disapproved of Ambose had formed a group.

    Along with the title of God of Tactics, Ambose was also hailed as the ¡®Sky Spear¡¯. He was a legend of the spear in his kingdom. Since there were many continents in the world, the myths and legends that circted in each continent were very different. On top of that, the current era had given rise to many strong men. That was why there were plenty of them that carried simr titles.

    ¡°Are you telling me that you really don¡¯t know the reason?¡±

    There were nk looks on themanding officers¡¯ faces. They were tantly ignoring Ambose. But then, at that moment, an old and rough voice rang, ¡°Excuse me, I am but a humble servant, will you allow me to speak?¡±

    Ambose turned his head with a curious look on his face. There, he saw an old man with Terrius-like ck hair, and a wooden spear hanging on his back. His clothes were slightly shabby and worn out, and there was a wagon attached to the horse that he was riding on. The old man was amoner porter, who transported the nobles¡¯ weapons and armor.

    ¡°How dare a porter like you express his opinions?!¡±

    ¡°Bastard! How about I cut off your head and throw it to the Aphro River?!¡±

    The prideful and arrogant nobles raised their voices. There was even someone that pulled out his sword and stepped forward, fully intending to cut off the head of the old man. But Ambose appreciated such a man, someone that could express their opinion regardless of their status.

    ¡°Shut up.¡±

    ¡°H, hiiik¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Themanding officers trembled at Ambose words, their eyes shifting to look into him. Ambose snorted at their cowardly reactions andpletely ignored them. Then, he gestured at the old man with his chin while saying, ¡°Go on, speak.¡±

    ¡°The God of Origin has ced a restriction upon the Luvien Imperial Army and only allowed them to advance with certain time constraints. The Second Army will only be deployed after a certain time has passed after the First Army¡¯s deployment. The same is true for the Third Army.¡±

    Ambose nodded at this.

    ¡°cing the Third Army¡¯s Shield Knights and the tankers at the entrances would allow us to drag the time. Since they are skilled in defending and in preserving their strength, they will be able to survive for longer and hence, be able to drag the time out for us.¡±

    Ambose nodded again.

    ¡°By then, the Fourth Army will arrive. Once the Third and Fourth Army join forces, our troops will be able to reach a staggering number of around 1.5 million. If we have 1.5 million troops, the Asgan Continent will not be able to stand against us. Then, we will be able to continue straight towards their fortresses. Also, having many allies means that we will be able to incur less damage to our troops.¡±

    Ambose¡¯s interest in the old man grew after hearing his urate analysis. As for the other strong men, many of them actually knew the reason why. Even so, they pretended not to know. Why? Because they just did not like Ambose.

    <em>¡®That measly porter¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I will definitely take that old man¡¯s head.¡¯</em>

    Amboseughed loudly, ¡°Hahahahahaha! That¡¯s correct! Rather than engage in a continuous tug-of-war and turn this war into a battle of attrition, I believe it¡¯s better for us to charge in and break through all of the entrances. Then, what should we do next?¡±

    ¡°That means that we can just advance without dividing the army. The enemy is currently hiding inside several fortresses. If we can break down one fortress first, then they will be left driven into a corner. By that time, we can just wait and sweep them away.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s amazing.¡±

    Ambose was in awe. Of course, it was easy formander-level figures like them to think of this method. Yet, the old man was supposed to be a porter at best.

    ¡°How did you know?¡±

    ¡°Hoho. I have been making a living on the battlefield for more than forty years now.¡±

    An old man that had been living and fighting in the battlefield for more than forty years must have already seen and experienced a lot. At that moment, Ambose¡¯s mood turned better.

    ¡°Can you carry my luggage for me?¡±

    ¡°Hoho. It is my honor.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    All of the other strong men trembled. But Ambose did not care. The old man quickly left behind the other luggages that he was carrying and only took on Ambose¡¯s luggage before sitting next to him.

    ¡°Stay by my side. I think I can only endure this lonely battlefield with you here.¡±

    The old man nodded at Ambose¡¯s words, ¡°We are fighting this war to protect.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    Ambose¡¯s smile turned bitter at the old man¡¯s piercing gaze. Then, the old man handed him a cup of coffee and said, ¡°When I¡¯m not traveling across the country to fight a battle, I usually indulge in my hobby of making coffee. Here, have a drink.¡±

    ¡°Thanks¡­¡±

    Ambose felt a bit drowsy after listening to the old man¡¯s soft and gentle voice. Then, Ambose took a sip of coffee from the rough and unsophisticated iron cup, and found out that the tension that was building up in his body slowly melting away. That was not all, the scent that wafted through his nose and the vor that danced in his mouth were things that he had never experienced before. He had never tasted a coffee like this before in his life.

    ¡°H, how can coffee taste like this¡­ this is really delicious¡­¡±

    At that moment, Ambose felt a bit strange. It was as if he was falling for the old man. The old man¡¯s gracious smile suddenly felt warm, just like a father¡¯s smile. After savoring the best coffee he had ever tasted, emptying the contents of his cup and finally standing up to go to war, he asked the old man, ¡°Ah. What¡¯s your name?¡±

    The old man grinned and answered, ¡°Ban. People call me Coffee Maker Baggage God Ban.¡±

    ¡°Coffee Maker Baggage God?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I think they called me Baggage God because I¡¯m good at carrying things?¡±

    ¡°Hahahahahaha. That¡¯s very funny.¡±

    Ambose grew to like the old man more and more. No, perhaps he was truly falling for him. And that was true. Baggage God ¡®Ban¡¯¡¯s coffee was made by a legendary barista. Because of that, he was able to mix various effects into his coffee.

    Currently, the coffee that he made was the ¡®coffee of favorability¡¯. With this coffee, Ambose would have great affinity with the old man ¡®Ban¡¯, viewing him in a very favorable light.

    Of course, the identity of Old Man Ban was none other than Spear God Ben. Spear God Ben¡¯s task was to create chaos within the Third Army. Well, ording to Ambose¡¯s words, it would be the Third and the Fourth Armies.

    As Ben continued to talk to Ambose, he could tell that the man did not really want to be here. However, he was still going to war. Ben stared at Ambose and thought,<em> ¡®If I do this well, then¡­¡¯</em>

    Ben thought that he would be able to solve this problem with a much better method. At that thought, a soft smile bloomed on Spear God Ben¡¯s face.

    ***

    Most of themanding officers of the Third Army were powerful individuals that had made a name for themselves in the Luvien Empire, or were ones that supported the empire from other nations. Some of them were called sword masters, some were spear masters, while some were called great mages. These people did not like Ambose, to the point that their bodies would shiver in disgust. And there was also the old porter that was standing beside him!

    One such officer was Count Ramatley.

    <em>¡®That measly old man¡­!¡¯</em>

    In fact, many of them were rebelling against Ambose¡¯s strategy and wanted to use this method to force him to step down by himself from his position as Commander-in-chief of the Third Army. But everything fell through because of that old man. However, they could also use this as an opportunity.

    ¡°So, Count Ramatley is saying that we should corner the old man once hees out of the bathroom and threaten Ambose with him until he¡¯s driven into the corner?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. I think that would work with Ambose. After all, he had built a good rtionship with the old man. Once that happens, we will kill him and the old man together.¡±

    If the life of the trivial porter was threatened, they were sure that Ambose would make a move. Then, they would take that opportunity to kill both Ambose and the old porter. Besides, Emperor Nerva Sephiroth would likely not pursue the matter, since Ambose would be dered dead during war. After all, death was only natural during a fierce war.

    There were a total of five legendarymanding officers who were looking for opportunities to make their nse to fruition. Before they knew it, The Third Army¡¯s Shield Unit had already started to endure and hold out against the Eivelis Empire.

    Meanwhile, the old man left to go to the bathroom. The fivemanding officers secretly followed behind him. Count Ramatley, who was among those that followed the old man, raised his sword and said, ¡°Bastard, if you want to live then bring Commander Ambose here!¡±

    ¡°If you don¡¯t bring him right away, I will make sure to kill every single one of your family!¡±

    It was definitely not that hard to threaten a porter. But then, Old Man Ban nodded and chuckled, ¡°Hohoho. You truly delivered yourselves to me with your own two feet, just like His Majesty told me. This is really ¡®f*cking good luck¡¯.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­??¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    What in the world did ¡®f*cking good luck¡¯ meant? All of them looked at the old man in doubt. A minuteter, Old Man Ban finished peeing and came out of the bathroom.

    Some timeter, one of the soldiers went to the bathroom, and was horrified by the scene that he saw inside.

    ¡°Th, the fivemanding officers have been assassinated!!!¡±

    ¡°Wh, what do you mean?! Are you talking about the five legendaries?!!!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    ¡°Th, there seems to be a powerful assassin hiding amongst us!!!¡±

    Amidst the loud ruckus, Ban stood next to Ambose calmly while watching themotion that was unfolding in front of them.

    The deaths of themanding officers ced a heavy toll on the soldiers fighting on the battlefield. And Ben? He would continue to strike the enemies like this. After all, he was a very good spy and he would do his job well.

 Chapter 619: Defensive War (2)

    Chapter 619: Defensive War (2)

    A day had passed since the Third Army led by Ambose joined the Fourth Army and broke through the Eivelis Empire¡¯s defenses at the entrances. Along with that, countless breaking news had started to pour in.

    <em>[Breaking News. Asgan Continent¡¯s Embrou Attack Station lost helplessly¡­]</em>

    <em>[The enemies that defeated Embrou Attack Station have taken over and started to gather in the attack station to form a defense line.]</em>

    <em>[Asgan Continent has reported two million casualties,prising of NPCs and yers, in just two days.]</em>

    <em>[As time goes by, the Luvien Empire¡¯s Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Army will be able to join forces with the advance party. There is an estimated 2.5 million number of soldiers that would gather and advance toward Lumatri Fortress to attack Ellie.]</em>

    <em>[Eivelis Empire¡¯s Empress Ellie has ordered her troops to gather in Lumatri Fortress, leaving only the bare minimum number of troops in Eivelis Empire and the rest of the fortresses and attack stations.]</em>

    <em>[Eivelis Imperial Army is obviously waiting nervously for the Luvien Imperial Army¡¯s move.]</em>

    <em>[The casualties from Eivelis Empire are expected to reach 800,000 after half a day.]</em>

    <em>[Luvien Empire¡¯s raging fury. Will Eivelis Empire truly meet its end?]</em>

    <em>[Will today be the day that Sword Emperor Ellie is deposed?]</em>

    Articles like that kept on pouring out. As for the scenario, it was flowing just like how Joy Co. Ltd. had nned it.

    ***

    Lumatri Fortress was built in a round shape, just like a colosseum, and was the most appropriate fortress for ¡®defense¡¯. Archers and mages could stand on the ramparts and keep the iing enemies in check and stop their advance, by casting magic or using their siege weapons through the gaps in the walls. On top of that, Lumatri Fortress was a legendary fortress that had endured and survived with its solid walls in the Asgan Continent for hundreds of years. Right now, this very same Lumatri Fortress was being shaken by the might of the Luvien Imperial Army¡¯s millions of troops.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Amidst the downpour of magical attacks and baptism of arrows, Ellie cried loudly, ¡°Mages!!!¡±

    The mages immediately cast shields to defend them from the magical attacks and arrows that were pouring down on them.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keook!!!¡±

    However, some of them were still able to pierce through the gaps of the shields and through their allies.

    Ellie looked at the battlefield. The scene in front of her was a very fierce and cruel one. The Luvien Empire¡¯s troops kept on advancing and pushing them back. If they were not able to stop them, then the Lumatri Fortress would copse and thisrge army would advance toward Eivelis Empire.

    ¡°Endure! You have to hold out somehow!¡±

    The troops struggled hard to endure after hearing Ellie''s cries. However,rge Meteors, one of the highest tier of magical attacks, suddenly appeared in the skies and began their descent.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaam¡ª</em>

    The mages tried their best to stop the descent of the Meteors. Among them stood Ali, who was shouting, ¡°Diss! Diss! Diss! Diss!¡± shooting down the Meteors in the skies with Diss. However, the problem was the number of Meteors. There were around twenty meteors falling from the skies. Ten of them were able to reach their targets, breaking down the walls of Lumatri Fortress.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>Booooooooooooom¡ª</em>

    ¡°Euaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaacak!¡±

    ¡°For Eivelis Empire!¡±

    ¡°Protect the broken parts of the walls, one way or the other!!!¡±

    The enemies tried to push through and enter through the broken parts of the walls. The troops quickly fill the gaps. Of course, among them were many members of the Dark Breaker Team.

    ¡°<em>Gasp, gasp¡­</em> Stop them froming in!¡±

    ¡°Damn bastards!!!¡±

    There were many prominent and strong people from the Dark Breaker Team, who were actually the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. However, the problem was the number of their enemies and their strength.

    The Luvien Imperial Army was originally much more powerful and more systematic than the Eivelis Imperial Army. Even now, their numbers were muchrger than the Eivelis Imperial Army and the allied forcesbined. Their war looked like a fight between an elephant and an ant.

    Genie bit her lips tightly, <em>¡®This is a fight that we can¡¯t do anything about.¡¯</em>

    She could tell that it was a battle that they could never win, even though they were able to create a remarkable feat by sweeping away the First and Second Army. These feats shocked the entire world and made them recognize the Eivelis Empire. But that was all.

    <em>¡®The Eivelis Empire¡­¡¯</em>

    Today would be the day they meet their end.

    <em>¡®No</em>.¡¯

    Genie shook her head fiercely. She could not think like that. Genie saw the veins on Ellie¡¯s neck pop out. Everyone from Beyond the Heavens knew that Ellie was one of Minhyuk¡¯s most beloved and cherished people. That was why¡­

    <em>¡®What in the world are you doing?!¡¯</em>

    Genie could not understand Minhyuk. After blowing up the remnants of the First and Second Army, Minhyuk went back to the Abyss while leaving this message behind¡­

    <em>[Ellie noona has to win this war. That¡¯s why I¡¯m going to make a weapon for noona.]</em>

    Making a weapon for Ellie? Did he think that a single sword would be able to change their odds in this war?

    At that moment, a huge number of enemies charged through the cracks in the broken walls. Most of them were legends from their own nations.

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Ughhhh!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaack!¡±

    The Eivelis Empire was helplessly pushed back by the overwhelming force. Not only that, the powerhouses of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were all tired from engaging in long battles. That was on top of the legends not being easy to deal with. Of course, they had Kimaris and Gorfido, who were Absolute Supreme rank individuals, but even if they were that strong, it was still too much for them to fight against that many troops.

    As time went by, the injuries that the members of the Dark Breaker Team incurred kept on increasing. In the end, Genie had no other choice but to make a decision for Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    ¡°Dark Breaker Team. Stand back and reorganize!¡±

    ¡°Genie, if we do that, then¡­!¡±

    ¡°I know. But you have to keep in mind that our people are important too.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Genie¡¯s judgment was cold-hearted. However, it was also the correct judgment. In the end, the Eivelis Empire and the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were two separate entities. If they were to lose one of their Named NPCs while fighting here, then they would suffer a negative impact in their kingdom, a huge effect.

    ¡°Your Majesty Raldo, please step down.¡±

    ¡°Alright.¡±

    The Dark Breaker Team began to fall back to reorganize. Hence, the bnce, which was being maintained tightly in this tug-of-war situation,pletely copsed.

    Genie looked at the scene sadly. But there was nothing else that they could do. If the members of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were there, someone might have died. Although she had made that cold-hearted decision, she hesitated. Genie just could not move her steps away.

    That was when she felt a soft touch on her shoulders. When Genie turned around, she saw Sword Emperor Ellie behind her.

    ¡°Your Majesty, why are you here?¡± Genie¡¯s voice trembled. Ellie was not supposed to be here.

    Ellie smiled softly at her, ¡°Genie. Every time I see you, I feel like I¡¯m looking at myself.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Genie bit her lips tightly. This was the first time that Ellie called her by her name. The love and the hatred that was staining her voice made Genie feel tense and nervous.

    ¡°I want to ask you for a favor. When this war is over, I hope that you can take care of my people. Please take some to the Dragon King, some to Lumae Kingdom, and some to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.¡±

    Ellie had seen these people desperately try to fight and protect Eivelis Empire. And these people were crying out her name, ¡®For Her Majesty Ellie!¡¯ as they fight and die on that battlefield. Boys that were only sixteen or seventeen were dying on the battlefield for her. But this war was not meant to protect her, but to protect her people. She was trying to carry too much on her own.

    <em>¡®This is¡­¡¯</em>

    Sword Emperor Ellie was the most beloved NPC in Athenae. Who was hailed as the NPC with the highest potential? That was her. Sword Emperor Ellie. She was empress and now she would be the Continental Emperor. The very same ruler that ruled her people, but now she would be ruling the entire continent.

    ¡°¡­I ept¡­ yourmands¡­ Your Majesty,¡± Genie said, bowing her head.

    Ellie slowly walked forward, a gentle smile on her face while giving her orders, ¡°Everyone, fall back. From now on, all of you will retreat under themand of the Dark Breaker Team. This is an order, and those that vite this order will face immediate judgment.¡±

    ¡±¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Everyone was shocked at Ellie¡¯s orders. Then Ellie ran toward the gaps of the broken walls. There were many Supreme existences that stood beyond that wall that saw Ellie running toward them.

    ¡°No way. Is she trying to do what I think she¡¯s trying to do?!¡±

    ¡°Keuhahahahahahaha! This is very interesting!!!¡±

    ¡°Sword Emperor Ellie. You¡¯ll taste this sword!!!¡±

    Unlike the retreating troops, Ellie was charging forward. And among those that were called the Supremes, there was someone who was called the Supreme of the Bow.

    <em>Thump¡ª</em>

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    That guy¡¯s head was instantly cut off and hisst vision was that of the ground. And someone called the Great Mage¡­

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°Urk¡­?¡±

    <em>¡­</em>got stabbed in the abdomen before he could even cast a barrier.

    She was flying. Ellie was flying around beautifully like a butterfly and swinging around her sword like a viper.

    ¡°Heaven Tearing Sword.¡±

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    Hundreds of red sword beams flew out of Ellie¡¯s sword and tore the entire area apart. She stood there, blocking the area in front of the broken walls. With her standing in that area, the charging Luvien Imperial Army started to falter. They numbered around two million, but they were backing away because of Ellie¡¯s fierce momentum.

    Thementators were shocked to see the Eivelis Imperial Army begin to retreat.

    <em>[It seems like Ellie is prepared for death.]</em>

    <em>[I think she has decided that any more sacrifice would be meaningless. It¡¯s stupid but I feel a bit strange.]</em>

    <em>[Protecting her people at the risk of her own life and fighting against her enemies all by herself until the very end, without losing her pride as a swordsman. That¡¯s a sword master.]</em>

    <em>[Sword of Emperor Ellie. She is truly the star of Athenae.]</em>

    The entire world trembled at Ellie¡¯s might.

    The retreating troops would be spread out through different kingdoms with the help of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Now, the Eivelis Empire would be empty. But she believed that this was the right decision.

    Thementators started to make their predictions.

    <em>[Arge number of Legendary NPCs will being soon.]</em>

    <em>[The number, I believe, will be able to easily exceed 200.]</em>

    <em>[Will Ellie be able to win against them?]</em>

    But contrary to their expectations¡­

    <em>[¡­?]</em>

    <em>[¡­?]</em>

    <em>[Why aren¡¯t theying?]</em>

    The Legendary NPCs were noting despite the golden opportunity that was presented in front of her.

    Meanwhile, in the Luvien Imperial Army¡¯s camp, all of the Legendary NPCs were delighted. They now had the opportunity to take the neck of Sword Emperor Ellie.

    Count Kraka was born from a prestigious swordsman family. He dreamt of bing a sword master. but his skills werecking. However, he was much stronger than any of those people that have mastered the sword. He was also one of the few people that hurriedly joined the hunt for Ellie.

    But then, suddenly the horse fell with a scream.

    ¡°Hihihihihiiiiing!¡±

    ¡°Urkkkk!¡±

    Count Kraka, who was able to safelynd away from the horse, could not understand what just happened. When he checked the horse, he saw that all of its legs were cut off.

    ¡°¡­What is this?¡±

    Doubt was evident from his face.

    ¡°Get out of the way, porter!¡±

    At that moment, the soldiers that rushed out in a panic shoved an old porter aside. The vessels on Count Kraka¡¯s neck popped up, ¡°Who in the world did¡­?!¡±

    Just when he was shouting, something suddenly pierced through his heart, blood soaking through his armor.

    ¡°¡­this?¡±

    <em>Fall¡ª</em>

    Count Kraka fell down. And all over the ce¡­

    ¡°Marquis Aevrine has died in battle!!!¡±

    ¡°Crazy Demon Febnir has also died in battle!!!¡±

    ¡°The Imperial Mage Commander Echei¡­!¡±

    Sounds of disbelief rang loudly. Wherever people died, a mysterious ¡®old porter¡¯ would appear and disappear.

    And the Third Army Commander Ambose? He looked at Ellie with clenched fists and bit his lips tightly to the point that blood started to drip down his chin. This was because what was happening in front of him was just like the downfall of his kingdom. Just like them, the Luvien Empire pushed their kingdom until they perished.

    But it was different. His king had surrendered. He surrendered and allowed them to be ves. But Ellie was determined to fight until the veryst moment. As he watched this scene, Ambose felt a me zing in his heart.

    However, at that moment, Ambose was reminded of his family that was being held hostage by the Luvien Empire. But then, Porter Ban held a spear out to him and said, ¡°Commander, You¡¯re a spearmaster, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    Ambose was also a geniusmander, amander that fought to protect his kingdom.

    ¡°Are you going to keep fighting for the people that took away the lives of yourrades?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Ambose hated it. However, he was in no position to stop fighting. All he could do was to fight for them. Why was the old man asking him this? Ambose looked back at Porter Ban.

    ¡°But they are holding my family hostage.¡±

    ¡°They have been rescued.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Ambose was shocked.

    ¡°Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Informant Abel has rescued them.¡±

    ¡°¡­Beyond the Heavens?¡±

    Ambose was not an idiot. His thoughts started to churn. The old man with a spear. An old man that was good at making coffee. And the old porter with ck hair on his head.

    ¡°You¡­¡±

    ¡°Ayaaa.¡±

    Old Man Ben grinned softly. Spear God Ben was the father of all of the spearmen in the Asgan Continent. But after he broke through the chains of humanity and reached the realms of the Spear God, Spear God Ben became the father of all spear masters.

    ¡°Are you going to take a step back?¡±

    ¡°¡­Spear God. What choice can I make?¡±

    ¡°Follow your heart.¡±

    <em>Graaab¡ª</em>

    Ambose grabbed the spear tightly.

    ¡°I have a n. We have to assassinate all of themanding officers here.¡±

    ¡°How should we do it?¡±

    ¡°Simple,¡± Spear God Ben said, a small smile on his face.

    ***

    One of the soldiers rushed to the ce where all of Luvien Empire¡¯s strong men had gathered.

    ¡°Commander Ambose is asking you toe discreetly to the back. He said that you will strike Ellie from the rear!¡±

    ¡°Commander Ambose?¡±

    ¡°Alright.¡±

    They were people that also hated Ambose. That was why they were ¡®secretly¡¯ gathering to make a n that would kill both Ellie and Ambose. When they moved to the rear, they were shocked.

    What they saw there was an old man with his spear hanging on his shoulder at a steep angle. Behind that old man was a mountain of corpses. The corpses of all of the ¡®legends¡¯ of the Luvien Empire.

    And in front of Spear God Ben was his first disciple since gaining his new mantle. He was the Sky Spear, and the God of Tactics, who was now going to move to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, Ambose.

 Chapter 620: Defensive War (2)

    Chapter 620: Defensive War (2)

    The entire world held its breath as they watched a single woman, who looked thin and fragile, stand there and control the battlefield. The first swing of her sword easily reaped the lives of dozens of her enemies.

    ¡°Euaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keheeeeeeeeok!¡±

    The second swing of her sword caused the ground to be dyed red with blood.

    ¡°Aaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Stop heeeeeeeer!!!¡±

    The third swing of her sword pushed back her enemies.

    ¡°Ughhhh¡­!¡±

    ¡°M, monster¡­¡±

    Ellie, who was covered in blood from head to toe, continued to move forward and cut down her enemies one after the other. A tempest of sword lights flew out of her sword and swept away the enemies in front of her. Creating a gap, Ellie charged towards the two million strong troops fighting against her.

    <em>[The entire world is holding their breath in front of Ellie¡¯s majesty and dignity.]</em>

    <em>[Strong. Ellie is incredibly strong. I believe this proves why Ellie is called the Sword Emperor.]</em>

    <em>[The elegant swan has turned into an eagle that bites and ws its prey.]</em>

    <em>[However, we already know the problem here. She will definitely fall from exhaustion before even being able to deal with 100,000 troops.]</em>

    This was a fact that everyone was certain about. Everyone was aware that Ellie would be deposed today. But how would that story unfold? That was when words started to appear above Ellie¡¯s head. Then, a beautiful and divine voice spread in the area.

    <em>[The woman wanted to be an emperor that protects her people.]</em>

    The yers could tell. Only when Ellie was supposed to face a new change would her story appear. The full-fledged story of the Continental Emperor Ellie was about to begin.

    <em>Swooooooooosh¡ª</em>

    Letters and words continued to appear above Ellie¡¯s head as the divine voice spread out, while she charged and stabbed three of her enemies in one go.

    <em>[The woman has never let go of her sword ever since she was a child.]</em>

    <em>[Someone said to the woman¡­]</em>

    <em>[You are not fit to be an emperor.]</em>

    <em>[You will not be able to be this nation¡¯s pir.]</em>

    <em>[But the woman held onto her sword tightly. Even when her hands bled and got torn. She could not and did not stop.]</em>

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    Huge sword lights broke apart the Luvien Imperial Army¡¯s armors and pierced through their chests. All of the enemies were appalled at the horrifying look in Ellie¡¯s eyes.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Ellie raised her sword and flew towards her enemies, her sword ripping the skies.

    <em>[Finally, her father recognized her and bestowed upon her the ¡®Phoenix¡¯s Sword¡¯ as she became emperor.]</em>

    The phoenix was the symbol of Eivelis Empire, it stood for a burning and passionate emperor that would never go down. As for the Phoenix Sword, it was a legendary sword that had been passed down through several generations and went through the hands of several emperors. It was the symbol of Eivelis Empire¡¯s emperor.

    <em>[Many were after her life to the point that she had to stay awake every single night.]</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡°Uwooooooooooooh!¡±

    Ellie pierced through one of the soldier¡¯s chest with her sword. Then, she grabbed him and dug in deeper, allowing her to go faster.

    <em>Ping¡ª</em>

    <em>Spurt¡ª</em>

    The small cuts and injuries that she incurred all over her body stretched out and widened.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    <em>[She survived as an emperor and kept many by her side.]</em>

    Ellie flew back after being hit by the mages¡¯ explosive magic. After vomiting a mouthful of blood and staggering back¡­

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    <em>Crack, crack¡ª</em>

    <em>sh, sh, sh! </em>

    ¡­the Eivelis Empire¡¯s Phoenix Knights ran through the gaps of the enemies and surrounded her, guarding her and protecting her.

    ¡°¡­I told you that those that do not retreat would be given an immediate judgment.¡±

    ¡°¡­We will dly ept punishment for our crimes.¡±

    ¡°We will apany you even to the depths of hell.¡±

    ¡°It was an honor to serve you, mydy Ellie.¡±

    <em>[She was a cold-hearted ruler.]</em>

    <em>[But behind that cold-heartedness, somewhere far away from the public¡¯s eye, she had always lived for them.]</em>

    <em>[Ellie took in the son of a poor farmer, Luvarc, and made him into the Phoenix Knight Commander of the Eivelis Empire.]</em>

    ¡°For Her Majesty!!!¡±

    <em>[A war orphan became a knight and found a new family by her side.]</em>

    ¡°Don¡¯t let a single one of their fingers touch Her Majesty!!!¡±

    <em>[Many people gathered around her. She continued to make policies for her people. Because of that, the number of poor decreased and many dream of bing knights under her rule.]</em>

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    The Phoenix Knights rode their horses towards the enemies and charged in, even if they knew they were to die an honorable death. Knowing that made Ellie¡¯s heart turn heavy. But they were strong. They were desperate to protect Ellie and would never back down.

    <em>[She was their pir.]</em>

    <em>[She was their idol.]</em>

    <em>[She was their emperor.]</em>

    ¡°Kghhhhk! Don¡¯t let them take a step towards Her Majesty!!!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡±

    The pride and stubbornness to pierce their swords through the hearts of their enemies, even at the risk of their own lives, was something that they had learned from her.

    However, everyone knew that the fact that her life story being told here meant that this chapter was about to end.

    <em>[But she was lonely.]</em>

    <em>[She was able to experience a passionate love with her Imperial Chef, but that love soon left her too.]</em>

    <em>[Perhaps it has always been the ¡®Phoenix¡¯s Sword¡¯ and the ¡®People¡¯ for her.]</em>

    Words did not appear for a long time after those phrases shed.

    Everyone held their breaths. Their eyes followed Ellie as she continued to charge towards her enemies. Half a day passed by just like that. And in that time, many yers and NPCs tried to break in through the gaps of the enemies to save Ellie.

    However¡­

    <em>[The Main Episode is about to begin.]</em>

    <em>[Someone has essed control of the systems!]</em>

    Many people, including Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Genie, were shocked. She thought, <em>¡®The system is being controlled when the main episode is about to start¡­?¡¯</em>

    In the first ce, Ellie¡¯s deposition might have already gone underway the moment those ¡®texts¡¯ appeared.

    ¡°Minhyuk, it¡¯s already toote,¡± Genie bit her lips tightly.

    Someday, Minhyuk and Ellie might meet again. Ellie would wander aimlessly and unite the continents. But the workings of the world were uncertain. Perhaps, by that time, Minhyuk was already a chairman and could not y Athenae as freely as he did now. Or perhaps his eating addiction might cause him suffering and prevent him from essing Athenae.

    That was right. Now might be thest time that Minhyuk and Ellie could see each other. But then, at that moment¡­

    ¡°It¡¯s not toote yet, Unnie.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡­a girl¡¯s beautiful voice rang loudly. That girl was looking at a huge blue barrier that arose from the moment she took control of the system. Her name? Elizabeth, the God of Snakes that had the power to control the system.

    ***

    Joy Co. Ltd. had suddenly be busy.

    ¡°We can expect Continental Emperor Ellie¡¯s episode to begin soon!¡±

    ¡°Just like we expected! The scenario is proceeding normally!¡±

    ¡°The signs?¡±

    ¡°Not yet.¡±

    The ¡®signs¡¯ that Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s President Kang Taehoon were the signs of the beginning of thepleted episode. The sign was the final phrase that would appear when Ellie¡¯s ¡®Phoenix¡¯s Sword¡¯ broke apart into pieces.

    President Kang Taehoon looked at Ellie with a bitter expression on her face. Simply put, Ellie¡¯s deposition had already started the moment those words appeared above her head. Soon, she would fall with a sword piercing through her chest, after which, one of the Gods would save her out of pity. ording to the story, she was supposed to wander around after being saved by the god.

    At that moment, President Kang Taehoon was itching for a cigarette. However, he was able to withstand the urge until he finally arrived in front of Athenae. With a bitter look still hanging on his face, Kang Taehooon asked Athenae, ¡°Is there a chance that the episode will be interrupted?¡±

    He already knew the answer but he still asked. The episode had already begun. In fact, the yers and the NPCs¡¯ positions were already being arranged. Asking the probability of things changing when they were already in this situation was truly hope against hope.

    <em>[0%]</em>

    Athenae replied firmly.

    But then, at that moment¡­

    ¡°What, what the hell?!!!¡±

    ¡°What is this notification?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    A mor broke out from the outside. Kang Taehoon¡¯s expression turned puzzled. Then, at that moment, the door burst open and Team Leader Park Minggyu came inside.

    ¡°President.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s going¡­¡±

    Before Kang Taehoon could turn around and finish his question, Athenae said¡­

    <em>[30%. The chances have increased by 30%.]</em>

    ¡°What¡­?¡± President Kang Taehoon blurted out, disbelief coloring his face.

    Then, Athenae said¡­

    <em>[The system is being taken under control.]</em>

    ¡°What do you mean? Who in the world¡­¡±

    <em>[God of Snakes. Elizabeth.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The episode was about to change.

    ***

    Half a day. Ellie had fought the enemies for half a day. None of the Phoenix Knights that charged in to protect her were alive. The Phoenix Knight Commander Luvarc looked at Ellie worriedly until the very end.

    Ellie fought until the very end so that their sacrifice would not go to waste. She wanted their deaths to be meaningful, glorious, and honorable. The number of enemies that she cut down?

    <em>[Sword Emperor Ellie has created a new legend. Her story of cutting down 600,000 enemies in one go will go down in history and will be sung in tales for a long time toe.]</em>

    The phrases, which became dormant for a long time, began to appear above her head again. And the moment she wielded her sword against her enemies¡­

    <em>ng!!!</em>

    The Phoenix¡¯s Sword in her hand broke into pieces. Just like a scene in the movie, everything slowed down in front of Ellie. It could be seen how Joy Co. Ltd. prepared for this with this movie-like scene.

    The Phoenix¡¯s Sword symbolized the Eivelis Empire and its emperor. As it shattered, beautiful patterned snow kes began to fall on the ground, as a pike pierced through the left side of Ellie¡¯s chest.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°Urk¡­!¡±

    Ellie immediately took a step back and twisted the enemy¡¯s neck.

    <em>Copse¡ª</em>

    The entire world was filled with countless thoughts as they watched her fall to her knees. The things that she would show them in the near future. When she would show up as the Continental Emperor. Would the Eivelis Empire, the pir of Asgan Continent, turn into a wastnd after its copse?

    The same thoughts filled Ellie¡¯s mind, a bitterugh escaping her lips as she thought, <em>¡®I have been swinging a useless sword for the longest time, Father.¡¯</em>

    That was right. The Phoenix¡¯s Sword had long lost its power. Was there a sword that could be around for a very long time? Of course there was none. A sword that has been bathed in blood over and over again and kept on being repaired would eventually weaken and lose power.

    The Phoenix¡¯s Sword was a sword that has been passed down from one emperor¡¯s hand to another for 500 years. It was a symbol, and a heirloom for the generations of emperors. Still, she did not have any regrets. The people that Ellie cherished dearly would forever live in her heart. Well, there was actually one thing that she found disappointing.

    <em>¡®That rascal¡­¡¯</em>

    Ellie wanted to see that guy¡¯s face once more, while he was looking or eating delicious food.

    One thing that everyone could see here was the fact that Ellie was much stronger than most people think. Would anyone believe that someone like her was wielding only the power that had the strength simr to that of a Unique-ranked sword? Ellie had been able to cut down 600,000 enemy troops with just that sword. Even after it shattered, she continued to swing it because it was thest strand of her pride, and the Eivelis Empire¡¯s pride.

    ¡°Hooo¡­¡±

    It was as cold as winter. Her breath gushed out and bloomed into white smoke in front of her. And right now, one and a half million enemies were pointing their weapons at her. Some of them showed her courtesy by just standing there silently and just observing her. There were some that felt relieved that a monster like her, a fierce beast, had finally copsed. Each and every single one of them were sportingplex expressions on their faces.

    However, there was one thing that was for sure. There were millions of weapons pointing at her. There were 200,000 archers standing as they took aim.

    <em>Swooooooosh¡ª</em>

    As their bowstrings got pulled tightly, the final chapter of Eivelis Empire¡¯s Empress Ellie began to unfold.

    <em>[She broke up with her beloved and ended up being alone.]</em>

    <em>[She continued to fight for her empire and her people alone.]</em>

    <em>[She took on a lot of things alone.]</em>

    <em>[And she remained alone even until the moment she died.]</em>

    The words that shed above her heads made everyone¡¯s hearts pound.

    ¡°Fir¡­!¡±

    Just as a man was about to give the order, the final phrases that would decorate the final moments of Ellie¡¯s life appeared.

    <em>[But even though she was alone, she would wander every corner of the world to be the Continental Emperor¡­]</em>

    <em>[Something unexpected has happened!]</em>

    <em>[The system is being controlled!]</em>

    <em>[The system is being controlled!]</em>

    <em>[The system¡­!]</em>

    <em>[The great being that can take control of the system is involved!]</em>

    Then, a strange thing happened. The phrases that appeared above Ellie¡¯s head started to disappear and scatter away like sand in the wind as new words appeared above her. That was when a blue barrier was erected around Ellie, and the voice of a man spread out in the area. The voice was something that was easily recognized by everyone. It was the voice of none other than the ¡®Food God¡¯.

    <em>[But she was not alone.]</em>

    <em>[There was always a young man that stood by her side who cared for her, respected her, and loved her dearly.]</em>

    <em>[The young man grew up and matured with Ellie¡¯s teachings.]</em>

    <em>[The young man became a king with Ellie¡¯s teachings.]</em>

    <em>[The young man was the only one that called Ellie his ¡®noona¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[And the young man cared for her more than anybody else.]</em>

    <em>Swooooooosh¡ª</em>

    The one and a half million troops were in a buzz. And thementators from all over the globe were very excited by the sudden changes in the system. Then, the blue barrier that protected Ellie from the one and half a million troops started to melt away. And along with that¡­

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Kyahaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeee!¡±

    Hundreds of dragons appeared and covered the skies. Amidst those dragons was Elder Vch, who was descending rapidly. And on his back stood a man, pulling something that was hanging behind his back and wrapped tightly with a cloth. Then¡­

    ¡°Noonaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!¡±

    ¡­he threw it at Ellie with everything he had. As the item flew to her, the cloth that wrapped around it unraveled. The cloth pped in the wind as Ellie snatched the item with her hands. It turned out to be a sword.

    <em>Grab¡ª!</em>

    The moment Ellie grabbed that sword¡­

    <em>[The Main Episode¡¯s direction is being changed!]</em>

    <em>[Continental Emperor Ellie¡¯s story might be rewritten right here, on this day!]</em>

    Ellie just grabbed the sword and¡­

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    ¡­a st of red energy exploded and devoured 200,000 of the troops that surrounded her.

    <em>[Another Continental God, a different Sword God from Sword God Valen, has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[Her new name, the name that was being rewritten right at this moment, is Sword God Ellie!]</em>

    A new God had descended to the world.

 Chapter 621: Defensive War (2)

    Chapter 621: Defensive War (2)

    Ellie and Minhyuk were extremely close. Ellie could risk her life to fight for Minhyuk, while Minhyuk would do the same. However, in the face of a ¡®war¡¯, the two of them had to be careful.

    Minhyuk could not just fight for Ellie with everything that he got against Luvien Empire¡¯s invasion. This was because¡­

    <em>¡®If I get too involved, the people will not recognize Noona and Eivelis Empire, even if they win.¡¯</em>

    That was right. Minhyuk was sure that words like that would continue to be heard over and over again. It was also for this reason that Minhyuk decided to hide the members of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom under the name of ¡®Dark Breaker Team¡¯, before sending them out as support.

    Of course, Minhyuk had thought of a way to help Ellie. He recalled a conversation that he had in the past with her.

    <em>¡®This sword has been passed down for 500 years and is a symbol of the Eivelis Empire¡¯s emperor.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Wow. Then, that must be a very great and notable sword, right?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®A notable sword? No. This sword has lost most of its power. The only reason I¡¯m still carrying this sword is to honor the previous emperors and my useless pride, you know?¡¯</em>

    Based on the conversation that they had, Minhyuk could tell that Ellie was carrying, and using, a sword that would break at any moment. That was when he figured out a way to help her.

    ¡°I will make a wish.¡±

    The moment Minhyuk came back to the Abyss with Bichor, he cleared three of the gates as fast as he could, with an attackpletion rate of at least 80%. ording to their proposals, the Gods of the Abyss would have to grant one of Minhyuk¡¯s wishes to the best of their abilities if he could clear three consecutive gates with an 80% attackpletion rate or more.

    ¡°I want to borrow the powers of the God of cksmiths Hepas, to make a weapon.¡±

    <em>[The Gods of the Abyss has fulfilled Minhyuk¡¯s wish after he achieved at least 80% of the attackpletion rate in three consecutive gates!]</em>

    <em>[You have inherited the power of the God of cksmiths Hepas.]</em>

    <em>[You can temporarily use the God of cksmiths¡¯ skills!]</em>

    <em>[You can temporarily use the God of cksmiths¡¯ repair skills!]</em>

    <em>[You can temporarily use the God of cksmiths¡¯ recreation skills!]</em>

    <em>[Hepas has borrowed your body and will now make a weapon for you!]</em>

    ording to the legends of the God of cksmiths Hepas, he was someone that had created more than twenty six God-rank weapons in the past. In fact, it would not be an exaggeration to say that all of the God-rank weapons that currently existed on all of the continents were born under Hepas¡¯ hands. Indeed, the only person that could turn Ruven¡¯s Unrepaired Sword into a new one was Hepas, and only Hepas.

    Minhyuk was actually looking forward to this. He obviously already owned a ridiculously overpowered God-rank weapon, in the form of the ¡®Continent Destroyer Sword¡¯. However, there was a high chance that the sword, reborn from ¡®Ruven¡¯s Unrepaired Sword¡¯ under the God of cksmiths Hepas¡¯ hands, could produce more power than his own sword.

    <em>¡®What kind of weapon do you want? What materials do you have with you?¡¯ </em>God of cksmiths Hepas had asked.

    Minhyuk had told Hepas about ¡®Ruven¡¯s Unrepaired Sword¡¯ in answer to his questions. Minhyuk had then taken out Ruven¡¯s Unrepaired Sword and disassembled it. To be exact, it was Hepas that disassembled the sword.

    <em>¡®So, this is a sword that I had created.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk smiled lightly at Hepas¡¯ words.

    Indeed, it was a sword that Hepas originally created under fierce pressure and coercion from the Gods. That was why Minhyuk thought that it would be much easier for Hepas to produce a new weapon with this.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s impossible.¡¯</em>

    ¡°¡­Howe?¡±

    However, the bolt out of the blue had brought a confused and doubtful look on Minhyuk¡¯s face.

    <em>¡®This sword was made with the coercion and oppression from the other Gods. That¡¯s why I made it impossible to repair this sword. The materials that I used were mainly materials that are very hard to melt again. It¡¯s impossible with my current level of recreation.¡¯</em>

    It was impossible even with God¡¯s level of recreation? No. Nothing was impossible.

    ¡°Then, what if your recreation skill level increased?¡±

    <em>¡®It might be possible. However, it¡¯s not like I can increase my recreation skill here¡­¡¯</em>

    ¡°Let¡¯s have a meal first.¡±

    <em>¡®¡­???¡¯</em>

    It was only after a while did the God of cksmiths realize what Minhyuk¡¯s words meant. When Hepas finally thought about it, he realized that the man in front of him was the sessor of the Food God.

    Hepas was currently inside Minhyuk¡¯s body to help him create a weapon. Because of that, Minhyuk only needed to eat a dish to temporarily increase his recreation skill. Simply put, it has be a coboration between the Food God and the God of cksmiths.

    Minhyuk made some spicy stir-fried pork and steamed eggs.

    <em>¡®¡­I¡¯m getting hungry,¡¯</em> Hepas said, an unknown feeling of emptiness hitting him after seeing Minhyuk eat.

    And after eating everything¡­

    <em>[You have eaten Spicy Stir-Fried Pork.]</em>

    <em>[You can increase a chosen skill¡¯s level by +2.]</em>

    <em>[The buff will remain for two days.]</em>

    Depending on the ingredients used on the dish, one could choose a skill and increase that chosen skill¡¯s level. And the ingredients that Minhyuk used were the ingredients that he got when he cleared Arlene¡¯s Abyss Gate.

    ¡°Is it possible now?¡±

    <em>¡®It¡¯s possible.¡¯</em>

    For a moment, Hepas wondered what kind of guy Minhyuk was. But he shook the thought away and immediately began to take apart Ruven¡¯s Unrepaired Sword. As he took apart and melted the sword, he asked, <em>¡®What weapon should I remake it into?¡¯</em>

    ¡°A sword.¡±

    <em>¡®There will be one requirement.¡¯</em>

    ¡°What do you mean by requirement?¡±

    Minhyuk could not help but think that Ruven¡¯s Unrepaired Sword was much moreplicated than what he initially thought.

    <em>¡®I made this sword for Ruven against my will. During the production of this sword, my negative feelings and thoughts were embedded deep in this sword. That¡¯s why if I remake this into a sword, the newly created sword will not be able to exert its full power unless the person that will wield it is ¡®recognized¡¯ by this sword. And even if that person ispletely recognized by the sword, they will not be able to properly use its power.¡¯</em>

    ¡°I don¡¯t think you have to worry about that,¡± Minhyuk said, smiling lightly as he started to make the sword with Hepas.

    Minhyuk was currently feeling so excited. In fact, Minhyuk knew that he had not done much for his Ellie noona. Instead, he had been the one that was always receiving a lot of help from her.

    <em>aaaaaaang¡ª ng¡ª aaaaaang¡ª</em>

    A delighted smile appeared on Minhyuk¡¯s face, as the sound of the bellows continuously being pumped spread in the area as his powerful hammering rang loudly.

    <em>¡®Manning the bellows requires a very high DEX. Even if you have inherited my skills, you will probably not have an easy¡­¡¯ </em>Hepas trailed off, amazed with how refined Minhyuk¡¯s movements were when he manned the bellows.

    Minhyuk, who was manning the bellows, had an extremely high DEX. It was to the point that it could be described as beyond someone¡¯s imagination. Just like that, Minhyuk continued to hammer and work on the weapon that he was making.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s quite an impressive concentration,¡¯ </em>Hepas mumbled unknowingly.

    In fact, the slightest distraction when making a weapon would result in ws. But Minhyuk was so focused that he did not even hear Hepas¡¯ murmurs. When the sword was finallypleted, both Minhyuk and Hepas were delighted.

    <em>¡®This sword will either be a Normal-rank sword or a God-rank sword, depending on who uses it.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk agreed with Hepas¡¯ words. However, Minhyuk still had one more favor to ask of him.

    ¡°Since it¡¯s going to be for her, it would be nice to add some cool and chic effect on the sword.¡±

    <em>¡®Effect?¡¯</em>

    ¡°Yes. For my noona.¡±

    Minhyuk recalled the battle with Marquess Leona. Back then, Ellie demonstrated a very unexpected facet of herself.

    ¡°She likes getting everyone¡¯s attention.¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    The fact that Ellie, like Gremory and the rest, was an attention seeker was undeniable. Just like that, the effect that Minhyuk wanted to include on the newly born God-rank sword was added.

    ***

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¡ª!</em>

    Ellie, who was still kneeling, groaned from the powerful force that flowed through her palms the moment she grabbed the sword that flew toward her. It was like the sword was struggling so that it would not belong to anybody. However, not long after, that powerful force began to recognize Ellie, epting herpletely. At that moment, she felt like she was hallucinating and hearing things.

    <em>¡®You deserve my recognition.¡¯</em>

    <em>Hoooo¡ª</em>

    Ellie breathed out lightly, the power fluctuating in her body slowly getting mixed together and healing all of her injuriespletely. Immediately after¡­

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    A red energy burst out from Ellie¡¯s sword and devoured 200,000 of the enemy troops in an instant, shaking the heavens and earth. At that moment, all 200,000 enemy troops disappeared without a trace.

    Meanwhile, Ellie received a new set of notifications.

    <em>[You will now be able to walk the path of one of the Continental Gods: Sword God.]</em>

    <em>[The previous Sword God Valen has recognized you!]</em>

    <em>[If you choose to ascend and be the Sword God, you will be able to obtain divinity!]</em>

    <em>[All of your skills and stats will dramatically increase once you ascend and be the Sword God!]</em>

    Since a long time ago, only people that transcended the limits of a human being would be able to ascend and be a Continental God. At this very moment, that great title would also belong to Ellie.

    As for the sword that Ellie held¡­

    <em>[You have received 100% recognition from the Great Sovereign¡¯s Sword!]</em>

    <em>[You can wield the power of the Great Sovereign¡¯s Sword!]</em>

    <em>(<strong>Great Sovereign¡¯s Sword</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: God</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: Level 500 or higher. Sword Saint or higher.</em>

    <em><strong>Durability</strong>: ¡Þ/¡Þ</em>

    <em><strong>Attack</strong>: 2,201</em>

    <em><strong>Special Effects</strong>: </em>

    <em>?STR, AGI and STM will increase by 44%.</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Sword Expert Level Mastery will increase to Level 9.</em>

    <em>?Cutting Power will increase by 70%, Stabbing Power will increase by 60%.</em>

    <em>?Critical Attack Hit Rate will increase by 60%.</em>

    <em>?All Swordsmanship Skill Level will increase by +3.</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Torrential Sword</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: 1.8x Unconditional Basic Attack.</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: 4x Critical Hit</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Sovereign¡¯s Majesty.</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Cool and Chic Effect for Ellie.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: Only those that have been recognized as a true and genuine monarch and sovereign would be able to wield this sword. The one that holds this sword, even if they are the God of Battle, will need the recognition of the sword.</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Ellie took note of thest effect listed just above the description, <em>¡®Cool and Chic Effect for Ellie?¡¯ </em>It was obvious that it was an effect that Minhyuk had specially prepared for her.

    The de of the sword was smooth and beautiful. There was even the word ¡®Ellie¡¯ engraved on one side of the de. And with that¡­

    <em>[All of the Continental Gods are looking at you with anticipation.]</em>

    <em>[All of the Continental Gods are looking forward to the birth of the new Sword God.]</em>

    Many of the Gods were watching Ellie with rapt attention.

    Above her were hundreds of dragons. And the one that was leading them? He was the one that stood out to Ellie the most. Ellie looked up at the skies for a moment, a bitter smile hanging on her face as she made eye contact with Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk could tell what she wanted, even if he did not hear her say it. So, Minhyuk began to tweak the system for his noona that loved attention(?). He used Elizabeth¡¯s power to write a new set of words above Ellie¡¯s head.

    ***

    Ellie, who was forced to her knees, slowly stood up. The entire world watched and followed each and every single one of her moves with bated breaths.

    Just now, the unidentified sword that was held tightly in her arms shot out a red energy that swept away and devoured 200,000 enemy troops. Everyone even heard the fact that Ellie was chosen and recognized to be one of the Continental Gods. All of them were very moved and grateful that they were able to witness this historic moment.

    Then, a ck energy slowly seeped out from Ellie¡¯s sword and encroached upon the surrounding area. This was none other than the ¡®Cool and Chic Effect for Ellie¡¯. This ck energy engulfed the entire 1.5 million Luvien Imperial Army.

    The moment Ellie took a step forward, the new words that Minhyuk had written began to appear above her head.

    <em>[Sword Emperor Ellie has been chosen to be one of the Continental Gods, the Sword God.]</em>

    The 1.5 million enemy troops flinched with every step that Ellie took. Then, Ellie looked back.

    <em>[She was an empress before she was a sword master.]</em>

    <em>[She loved her people.]</em>

    <em>[She treasured and cared for her subordinates.]</em>

    <em>[And she¡­]</em>

    ¡°I refuse to be the Sword God.¡±

    <em>[¡­has turned down the opportunity to be a Sword God for her people and the Eivelis Empire.]</em>

    ¡°I am my people¡¯s pir.¡±

    <em>[Of her people.]</em>

    ¡°I am my people¡¯s shield.¡±

    <em>[By her people.]</em>

    ¡°I am my people¡¯s sword.¡±

    <em>[For her people. She was simply their emperor.]</em>

    ¡°That¡¯s why¡­¡± Ellie uttered, her gaze cold and frigid as she looked at the Luvien Imperial Army.

    <em>[And the Eivelis Empire¡¯s Emperor will write a new chapter today.]</em>

    ¡°¡­kneel.¡±

    <em>[You have triggered the Sovereign¡¯s Majesty!]</em>

    <em>Vwooooooong¡ª</em>

    <em>Vwooooooong¡ª</em>

    <em>Vwooooooong¡ª</em>

    <em>Vwooooooong¡ª</em>

    In front of the entire world, the 1.5 million Luvien Empire troops were forced to kneel down in front of Ellie.

    <em>[This day will be recorded in history as the day the Luvien Empire was defeated by Continental Emperor Ellie.]</em>

 Chapter 622: Defensive War (2)

    Chapter 622: Defensive War (2)

    The God-rank artifact Great Sovereign¡¯s Sword could exert a much stronger power than Minhyuk¡¯s Continent Destroyer Sword, especially when a great monarch and sovereign was wielding it.

    The ¡®Sovereign¡¯s Majesty¡¯ was an active skill attached to the Great Sovereign¡¯s Sword. The effects of this skill would be maximized the more enemies stood in front of the great sovereign. It was a skill that was simr to Minhyuk¡¯s ¡®Earth King¡¯s Authority: Worship¡¯, with certain differences.

    For one, the more enemies there were, the more the Sovereign¡¯s Majesty would be recognized, which would force all of those against the skill user to kneel. It was also a skill that could give the enemies an abnormal state upon witnessing the monarch¡¯s majesty in front of them.

    <em>[The Great Sovereign will bring punishment upon you!]</em>

    <em>[You will not be able toe back to your senses under the majesty of the Great Sovereign!]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will decrease by 20%. Your physical and magical defenses will decrease by 30%!]</em>

    The entire world cheered.

    <em>[Ellie refused to take the position of the Sword God and chose to be the emperor of the people, by the people, and for the people!]</em>

    <em>[The great Luvien Imperial Army is kneeling in front of her majesty!]</em>

    Thementators could not hide their excitement. However, themanding officers of the Luvien Empire thought that it was just one sword that was in Ellie¡¯s hand. It was merely a sword. Besides, what could she do after refusing the position of the Sword God? All they could tell from this was that Ellie was a fool.

    But then, something very unexpected happened. The space in the skies above them was torn apart, as a staircase made of clouds appeared and a man slowly descended. This great man¡¯s name was Nerva Sephiroth.

    Nerva Sephiroth could no longer sit and wait to know what was going on with this war. Of course, it had to be known that it was not his main body that appeared on the battlefield. He was actually using the power ¡®Remote Monarch¡¯. Nerva Sephiroth would not be able to use any of his powers here. However, his body would still be safe even if he died here.

    As he appeared on the battlefield, Nerva Sephiroth could not help but sigh, <em>¡®How did this happen¡­¡¯</em>

    He could not believe what was in front of him. What kind of existences were dragons? Dragons were the greatest beings on earth. They were arrogant and majestic beings. And these very same dragons were roaring in the skies above, ready to fight for Ellie. However, the fact that Ellie refused to be the Sword God would be the most decisive reason for Eivelis Empire¡¯s downfall today.

    Nerva Sephiroth sat on his ¡®throne¡¯ in the skies as he pondered over everything. Then, he dered, ¡°Those that would retreat will be met with death. Show them the greatness and majesty of the great Luvien Empire.¡±

    With Nerva Sephiroth¡¯s words, the strong men among the 1.5-million troops began to step forward. They were people that even a child from any nation would stop crying at the mere mention of their names.

    There were also many yers among them. yers could only receive quest rewards if they were a citizen of Asgan Continent, or a part of the Luvien Empire. However, yers from the other parts of the world could obtain ¡®EXP¡¯, ¡®honor¡¯, and ¡®gold¡¯, simply by participating in the war. On top of that, there were many yers that wanted to see the downfall of the Asgan Continent.

    There were quite a few global top rankers that had stepped forward this time. These rankers were able to break away from the ¡®Sovereign¡¯s Majesty¡¯ faster than the rest of the troops. Because of that, they were able to charge towards Ellie. However, the hundreds of dragons, the ordinary soldiers of the Luvien Empire, Minhyuk, and the Eivelis Imperial Army did not move. Just like that, a hundred strong men and rankers charged towards Ellie.

    Nerva Sephiroth jeered, <em>¡®A trivial emperor like you will not be able to change anything just by having a different sword.¡¯</em>

    It was simr to everyone¡¯s circumstances during birth. Just like how Ellie and Nerva Sephiroth were both emperors, but Nerva was the one that inherited the powers of the Battle God. That was the difference between them. If Nerva used his real ¡®power¡¯ here, then Ellie would be helpless against him. It had to be known that Nerva Sephiroth was a warrior first, before an emperor. However, he was currently under restriction of the world and was not allowed to meddle in this story.

    There were some global rankers that were very familiar with taking the lead for the Luvien Empire. Their reason for taking the vanguard?

    <em>¡®If we show our good side to Nerva Sephiroth, then we might be able to find a new path for ourselves.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Perhaps we can also be a noble in the Luvien Empire.¡¯</em>

    Bing a noble of the Luvien Empire, the empire that would lead Athenae¡¯s second era, would be worth an astronomical amount. In other words, they would be rich. Yes. They were rankers that were blinded by greed.

    Among these rankers standing in the vanguard was Korea¡¯s number one tanker in the Tanker Rankings, Golden Shield Valdar. Golden Shield Valdar was a strong yer with a very scandalous personality. He was originally a member of one of the guilds, but he left his guild to participate in this war and tter his way up in the Luvien Empire. It could be said that Golden Shield Valdar¡¯s shield could easily block a dragon¡¯s breath. And¡­

    ¡°God of Shields.¡±

    ¡­he had a skill that could easily multiply his defensive power by several times. On top of that, Valdar was very confident with this skill, especially after he had increased God of Shields¡¯ level just recently. As the level of the skill increased, more special effects were attached to it. If he defended against an enemy¡¯s attack, the shield¡¯s durability would not decrease and even his enemy¡¯s weapon would be forced to stick on his shield.

    In other words, Valdar would be able to fluster Ellie the moment her sword got stuck on his shield.

    Of course, Ellie shed towards Valdar¡¯s shield first.

    ¡°The moment my shield holds on to Ellie¡¯s sword, go in all at once¡­!¡±

    But the moment the sword struck the middle of Valdar¡¯s square shield¡­

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keheooook?!¡±

    Valdar was horrified. Ellie¡¯s sword pierced through the center of Valdar¡¯s square shield and stabbed through his chest. However, the most surprising part was¡­

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 80%.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡®<em>What kind of bullshit is this?!</em>¡¯

    Ellie did not even trigger her skill. She just stabbed Valdar with her sword that had an effect which released ck energy in her surroundings. Yet, Korea¡¯s number one tanker ranker Valdar¡¯s HP was reduced by 20%. Valdar¡¯s HP was three times higher than most ordinary warriors, knights, or any other closebat sses. Even his shield was pierced through.

    ¡°What kind of¡­¡±

    Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Ellie cut through Valdar with her sword, as a pleasant notification rang in her ears.

    <em>[Critical Strike x4!]</em>

    On the other hand, a notification that made Valdar lose all hope rang in his ears.

    <em>[Your HP has reached zero.]</em>

    <em>[You have been forced to log out.]</em>

    <em>[You, someone that has gone to Luvien¡¯s Empire¡¯s side, died without much contribution.]</em>

    <em>[You are a disgrace to the Luvien Empire!]</em>

    <em>[You will receive harsh criticisms from the citizens of the Luvien Empire!]</em>

    <em>[Twice the normal penalty for forced logout will be applied!]</em>

    That was right. Since these yers dared to betray their own continent, the Asgan Continent, they were bound to suffer penalties that were more severe.

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    Ellie used another basic attack to cut down another one of the yers.

    Among these troops was a young swordswoman that had made a name for herself in the Luvien Empire, Guinness. Guinness did not even have the chance to cross swords with Ellie, dying easily after getting stabbed in her abdomen.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Ellie threw a spear master, who was hailed as his own kingdom¡¯s ¡®best¡¯, high into the sky. The spear master died high up in the skies, his hands losing its grip on the spear in his hands.

    It was a short disy of overwhelming strength. But in that time, 100 strong NPCs and yers died under Ellie¡¯s hands. How long did it take?

    One of the yers muttered, ¡°Two minutes¡­¡±

    Neva Sephiroth, who sat on his throne, felt his hands get soaked with cold sweat.

    Then, Ellie pointed her sword at him and said, ¡°Hey, Nerva.¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    Nerva Sephiroth could not help but feel flustered. No matter how much of an enemy they were, it was too much to say ¡®Hey, Nerva¡¯ to another emperor, right? However, the grace and elegance that was overflowing from her body made even her vulgar tone of speech somehow beautiful.

    ¡°Are you ready to get beaten up?¡±

    Fury colored Nerva¡¯s face. How dare a mere emperor like her try to fight against someone like him, someone that had inherited the power of the Battle God?!

    Ellie took an elegant step forward, her fiery red hair fluttering behind her while her sword shone brightly under the re of the sun. Ellie¡¯s dark eyes red in front of her, as she started to run towards Nerva.

    ¡°Make that impertinent and rude b*tch kneel in front of me!!!¡±

    At Nerva¡¯s orders, the 1.5 million Luvien Imperial troops began to charge towards Ellie. Even though Ellie was still running, the dragons and the Eivelis Imperial Army still did not move. Nerva thought that they were all foolish and arrogant.

    <em>¡®How dare this lowly emperor¡­¡¯</em>

    Did she think that she would be able to reach Nerva with the 1.5 million troops that were standing in between them? But she was not alone. The man standing on Dragon Elder Vch¡¯s back suddenly tore a parchment.

    This parchment was something that Minhyuk had received each time he cleared a God¡¯s trial in the Abyss. The power that each of this parchment possessed was equivalent to the one that Minhyuk had shown when he wielded the Swords of the Gods of the Abyss before.

    The parchment that Minhyuk just tore was none other than the Parchment of the God of Life. And the moment it got torn apart, a man appeared next to the running Ellie. The man was the very same man that risked his life just a few hours ago for Ellie. He was Luvarc, the son of a poor farmer who became the Knight Commander of the Phoenix Knights, the Eivelis Empire¡¯s Imperial Knights.

    Then, another knight appeared on Ellie¡¯s left side. Not long after, all of the troops of the Eivelis Imperial Army that died a few hours prior appeared, charging towards their enemies once again.

    ¡°Uwooooooooooo!!!¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°For Eivelis Empireeeeee!!!¡±

    ¡°For Her Majesty Ellieeeeeee!!!¡±

    The number of Eivelis Empire¡¯s troops that have been revived reached around 700,000. Ellie, who was running at the vanguard, looked at Minhyuk with a small smile on her face.

    Minhyuk smiled at her and said, ¡°Noona, run.¡±

    Then, he tore another parchment. At the same time¡­

    <em>[You have eaten Spam and Warm Rice.]</em>

    <em>[Legendary Grade.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will increase by 22%.]</em>

    <em>[All of your skills¡¯ level will increase by +1.]</em>

    <em>[Your physical attack and skill attack will increase by 7%.]</em>

    <em>[You can increase one of your skill¡¯s level by +4. The chosen skill can only be used once.]</em>

    <em>[The buff duration is three days.]</em>

    Just like when the Food God¡¯s Sword was wielded, Minhyuk was able to make a food even though he did not cook it, and Ellie was able to eat it without really having to eat it.

    Ellie knew this dish very well. It was the dish that Minhyuk cooked for her the first time they met. Ellie knew that the child trusted herpletely and that the child woulde for her sake no matter what.

    At the same time, Ellie¡¯s sword flew to the skies. The effects of the dish that she consumed had mentioned that she could increase one of her skills¡¯ level by +4. The skill that she chose to increase was none other than the Torrential Sword.

    What were the original effects of the Great Sovereign¡¯s Sword¡¯s Torrential Sword?

    <em>[More than 10,000 swords would appear and create a torrential downpour, dealing 4,000% damage, while ignoring the enemies¡¯ defenses!]</em>

    Right now, the skill¡¯s level was temporarily increased by +4.

    <em>[More than 100,000 swords would appear and create a torrential downpour, dealing 7,000% damage while ignoring the enemies¡¯ defenses!]</em>

    <em>[Dozens of violent and powerful swords will follow your orders!]</em>

    <em>Rumbleeee!!!</em>

    The skies above them roared. And the sword that rose high up in the skies fell on the head of the knight that blocked Ellie¡¯s path.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    Then, the knight turned into ck ash that disappeared into nothingness.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Then, hundreds of thousands of swords rained down and covered the ground. Amidst this torrential rain of swords, dozens of swords flew forward, following the movements of Ellie¡¯s arms.

    <em>¡®Sword Maniption.¡¯</em>

    Sword Maniption was something that could only be used by those that had reached the highest level of swordsmanship. And the dozens of swords that pierced through Ellie¡¯s enemies amidst the torrential rain of des was a higher level version of that.

    In just an instant, almost 80,000 of the Luvien Imperial Army had been swept away. With Ellie creating a gap in their ranks, herrades were able to charge forward and open a path for her.

    Ellie cut down one of the enemy soldiers, using his shoulder as a springboard to leap up to the skies. Her destination? The ce where Nerva was sitting proudly and arrogantly on his throne.

    Nerva felt cold sweat drip down his back. He was a great emperor, and someone that inherited the power of the Battle God. He was the creme de creme, and the one that would devour the entire world in the future. But this very same Nerva was¡­

    <em>Gulp¡ª</em>

    ¡­gulping dryly from nervousness. At that moment, tens of thousands of soldiers and knights leapt forward and charged towards Ellie. Seeing that, Nerva Sephiroth felt delighted. The reason why his army existed was so they could protect him. These soldiers would not let Ellie reach him easily. But then¡­

    <em>Rumbleeeeeee¡ª</em>

    <em>Rumbleeeeee¡ª</em>

    A huge meteor started to fall from the skies. It seemed like the dragons were finally making their move. Ellie flew forward, the meteors decorating the scenery behind her. However, the meteors descended faster than she, or her enemies, could fly.

    <em>Baaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The highest tiered magic, Meteor, fell down from the skies and devoured the soldiers that leapt to stop Ellie¡¯s advance!

    Leaving the Meteors behind her, Ellie once again moved to approach Nerva. This time, tens of thousands of arrows were fired towards her, and her alone.

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    Nerva cackled in delight at the sight of tens of thousands of arrows covering the skies, ¡°Keuhahahahahahahahahaha! This is a ce that an uncivilized mongrel like you can never reach¡­!¡±

    However, Nerva¡¯s voice soon trailed off. A man appeared in front of Ellie. The man¡¯s face lookedpletely different from the face that Ellie was used to, but those eyes and that soft smile caused Ellie to be sure that the man in front of him was her younger brother, Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk grabbed a hold of Ellie, flying to the skies with his cape carrying the symbol of the Eivelis Empire fluttering behind him. Immediately after that, he took an artifact out.

    <em>¡®A frying pan¡­?¡¯ </em>Nerva thought, confusion evident on his face.

    Minhyuk had not used his frying pan for a very long time. This was because using his frying pan with his current level in the game would be less useful than his other artifacts. However, at this moment, his frying pan was the best artifact, and the most suitable weapon to use. Besides, this would be thest time that he would use this frying pan in front of Nerva Sephiroth.

    ¡°Frying Pan Gigantification.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The frying pan grew, creating a huge shadow that covered the ground beneath them.

    ¡°Heuuuuuuuup!¡± Minhyuk groaned as he turned around and rotated Hepas¡¯ Legendary Frying Pan, which immediately collided with the tens of thousands of arrows that were aiming for Ellie.

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    The veins on Minhyuk¡¯s forearms bulged at the pressure.

    ¡°Euaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    The archers on the ground shrieked and screamed from the damage that they received from the frying pan¡¯s damage reflection. Ellie smiled softly at Minhyuk, who looked back at her.

    Minhyuk was Ellie¡¯s beloved younger brother, her friend, a child that sometimesmanded respect from the people around him, and a man that sometimes acted more childish than a child. The child in front of her reached his hand out to her. It was with his help that allowed her to protect Eivelis Empire.

    <em>Grab¡ª</em>

    Ellie held the big and warm hand that reached out to her.

    ¡°Noona.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°Thanks.¡±

    ¡°That should be my line.¡±

    The two looked at each other with bright smiles on their faces. Then, Minhyuk gathered the strength in his arms as he¡­

    ¡°Go and take him down.¡±

    <em>Boooooom</em><em>¡ª</em>

    ¡­threw Ellie forward with all his might. Ellie shot through the air, toward Nerva Sephiroth like a bullet. For the first time, Nerva Sephiroth got up from his seat in a startle. With fear evident in his gaze, he looked at the ¡®measly¡¯ emperor of the empire that was supposed to fall and copse today.

    <em>Staaaaaaab¡ª</em>

    Ellie stabbed Nerva¡¯s heart with her sword.

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    She looked at this great and aloof being and spat coldly, ¡°Get lost, you f*cking bastard.¡±

 Chapter 623: Defensive War (2)

    Chapter 623: Defensive War (2)

    Ellie¡¯s sword pierced through Nerva Sephiroth¡¯s heart.

    The prideful and arrogant emperor, Nerva Sephiroth, the very same figure that was due to lead Athenae¡¯s second era, looked at Ellie with terror, while both of his hands held onto the sword in his chest tightly.

    The people watching the broadcast held their breaths.

    At Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s headquarters, President Kang Taehoon clenched his sweaty fists tightly. Even Special yers Management Team Leader Park Minggyu and Lee Minhwa were looking at the monitor with incredulous expressions.

    In another corner of the world, Alexander, who was watching the TV broadcast in his penthouse, gulped dryly. ¡°yers and NPCs changed the main episode¡­?¡±

    It was not only that. This scene caused a hugemotion all over the world. ording to the notifications that first appeared on top of Ellie¡¯s head, she was supposed toy low for a while. They did not know how she would be the Continental Emperor, but this was the ¡®framework¡¯ that Joy Co. Ltd. had set for her. Somehow, right at this very moment, that framework was crumbling.

    The entire world began to think of the same thing: perhaps <em>they</em> could also change Athenae¡¯s storylines.

    The ones that made this possible were Minhyuk and Ellie.

    ¡°Beyond the Heavens is so cool.¡±

    ¡°Amazing! Eivelis Empire! Thank you, Ellie!!!¡±

    The entire world cheered for them.

    At the same time, in the Athenae world, Nerva Sephiroth¡¯s dragon blood dripped down the sword, as he looked at Ellie with disbelief.

    <em>Drip¡ª drip, drip¡ª drip¡ª</em>

    On top of that, the shock of the words that Ellie told him still lingered in his ears.

    <em>¡®Get lost, you f*cking bastard!¡¯</em>

    This was the first time that someone dared to say something like that to him, a great emperor. And for the first time, Nerva felt afraid.

    ¡°Urk¡­!¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Blood spurted out of Nerva¡¯s chest the moment Ellie pulled her sword out with a rough motion.

    The body created by the Remote Monarch skill was nothing more than a puppet. Because of that, Nerva Sephiroth could not use any kind of force, nor utilize his strong and oppressive power. However, the fact that he could show up in the middle of a fierce battlefield was symbolic in and of itself.

    Just like that, blood continued to flow down Nerva¡¯s chest.

    ¡°Your Majesty¡­!¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty Nerva¡­!¡±

    ¡°How, how can this be?¡±

    Nerva was akin to a god for the troops of the Luvien Imperial Army. Seeing him like this made them feel despair and frustration. On the other hand, the Eivelis Imperial Army cheered loudly.

    <em>[The Luvien Imperial Army¡¯s morale has decreased sharply!]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will decrease by 10%!]</em>

    <em>[Your Physical and Magical Defenses will decrease by 5%.]</em>

    Ellie pushed the staggering Nerva Sephiroth without any hesitation.

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaaack¡­!¡±

    ¡°Your Majestyyyyy! Your Majesty!!!!!¡±

    The Luvien Imperial Army immediately rushed forward to receive their falling dragon.

    <em>Fall¡ª</em>

    In the end, Nerva Sephiroth¡¯s body fell safely in the arms of his troops. Nevertheless, this was a disgrace for him. A stain on his record and something that would remain in history forever. Gradually, Nerva¡¯s eyes closed.

    <em>[Eivelis Empire¡¯s Empress Ellie has killed Nerva Sephiroth¡¯s clone.]</em>

    <em>[The rewards for those that fought for Ellie and the Eivelis Empire will be distributed based on their contributions.]</em>

    However, although it looked like it was over, the war was still ongoing. In fact, Nerva had not truly died and there were still 1.5 million troops remaining. Now, the Eivelis Imperial Army and those that took arms for them had to force the Luvian Army to retreat.

    ¡°For His Majesty Nerva!!!¡±

    ¡°Do not show mercy to the b*tch that dared touch His Majesty!!!¡±

    Although the system had dered that their morale had dropped, the momentum that the Luvien soldiers were showing became more ferocious than before. However, the morale and momentum of the yers that sided with the Luvien Imperial Army dropped significantly.

    <em>¡®No. Are you telling me that the Luvien Empire can be defeated?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®If the Luvien Empire loses then¡­ the penalty that we will receive will be¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Those that chose to fight for Eivelis Empire will enjoy greater prosperity and wealth.¡¯</em>

    That was right. If the Eivelis Empire won this war against the Luvien Empire, they would serve as a model and an idol for the other nations. With this, Ellie¡¯s story would spread throughout the continent. Various empires and kingdoms would then strive to forge friendship and ties with the Eivelis Empire. Of course, this was based on the assumption that the war ended with theirplete victory.

    If the Luvien Empire was the dragon, then the Eivelis Empire was a tiger.

    ¡°Don¡¯t leave a single one of them behind. Wipe them all out,¡± Ellie ordered, frost evident in her voice.

    With Nerva¡¯s clone¡¯s death, the morale of the Eivelis Imperial Army soared through the skies.

    <em>[The Eivelis Imperial Army¡¯s morale has reached an all time high.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will increase by 10%. Your skill damage will increase by 20%.]</em>

    <em>[The troops have forgotten their fear, they have gained the strength of a thousand soldiers.]</em>

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    The Eivelis Imperial Army began their final battle against the Luvien Imperial Army.

    ¡°Overlord¡¯s Technique.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Among them was the strongest uncle, Overlord Raldo. The zing mes that shot out from his sword devoured thousands of the Luvien Imperial Troops around him. And right next to him were Khan and Ares. The two men, who were wearing capes carrying the symbol of the Eivelis Empire while hiding their faces, beat up all of the enemies in front of them. And that was not all.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡°Splitting Heaven and Earth.¡±

    Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Vice Guild Master and one of Korea¡¯s top rankers, Genie, swung her whip. Her whip stretched out in a straight line and mmed down strongly like an iron mace falling down from the skies.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The attack killed around 200 soldiers of the Luvien Empire.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    In the skies above, there were hundreds of roaring and growling dragons.

    Dragon Elder Vch had promised Minhyuk that he and his kin woulde to the aid of the humans once, should the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King Minhyuk call for them. And this was the time for them to fulfill that promise. Riding on the backs of these dragons, who were casting their magic, were the executives of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    <em>Rumbleeeee¡ª</em>

    <em>Rumbleeeeeee¡ª</em>

    The sky was torn apart as dozens of meteors covered in mes fell down. <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Although the Luvien Empire¡¯s imperial mages hurriedly cast their shields and barriers, the dragons were the creators of magic. Their power was not at a level where humans could stop them.

    ¡°Comraaaaaaaade!!!¡±

    Ali, who usually cried ¡®Frieeeend!!!¡¯ changed his words and cried out ¡®Comrade!!!¡¯ Today, he was with them. And on the dragon right next to the one Ali was riding stood a man wearing a ck robe covering his body and a clown mask on his face.

    In the sky above them, a great army slowly appeared. The robed man stood on the dragon¡¯s back and watched the hundreds of thousands of his summoned undead troops fall down.

    ¡°Wipe them out.¡±

    Led by the dozens of red-armored Death Knights, the army of undead charged forward and joined the battlefield.

    <em>Vwiiiiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    Then, another dragon passed by the dragon that Death was riding on. On that dragon stood Root.

    ¡°99, 103, 106, 109,¡± Root counted his kills as his arrows pierced through his enemies¡¯ vital points.

    However, everyone¡¯s attention was focused on the man standing on the back of Dragon Elder Vch, who towered over all of the dragons present. For the viewers all over the world, Minhyuk was living the best dream that they could only dream of, as hemanded hundreds of dragons while standing above them with his stylish armor and cape.

    That was until now¡­

    <em>Chew, chew, chew¡ª</em>

    Everyone saw Minhyuk eating something. In fact, Minhyuk had started eating the moment Ellie stabbed Nerva¡¯s chest with her sword. The dishes were something that he had made in advance so he could use two of his most overpowered skills together.

    The first skill that he used was none other than ¡®Double Food¡¯.

    <em>(<strong>Double Food</strong>)</em>

    <em>Active Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty for Use</strong>: -1 to all stats</em>

    <em><strong>Cooldown</strong>: 24 hours</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>: Activating the skill anytime within ten minutes of a dish¡¯s creation would produce a simr dish with the same effects.</em>

    And the next one was Minhyuk¡¯s Absolute God¡¯s Secret.

    <em>(<strong>Ovepping Delight</strong>)</em>

    <em>Absolute God¡¯s Secret</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Mana Required</strong>: 10,000</em>

    <em><strong>Cooldown</strong>: 24 hours</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>? You can ovep the buff effects of two different dishes.</em>

    <em>? Once the buff effects of two different dishes ovep, you will be able to see the effects by eating one dish and then thinking about eating the other one. </em>

    <em>? A ¡®cooking die¡¯ will be cast when the two dishes¡¯ buff effects ovep. The number disyed on the die will determine the duration of the buff. </em>

    <em>? The lower the number, the shorter the duration of the buff effect. The duration per number rolled is as follows: thirty seconds for number 1, one minute for number 2, two minutes for number 3, three minutes for number 4, four minutes for number 5, and seven minutes for number 6. </em>

    <em>? The EXP you gain will double as long as Ovepping Delight is in effect.</em>

    The information about Ovepping Delight shed in front of Minhyuk.

    <em>Jump¡ª</em>

    The moment he finished eating, a golden die rolled in front of Minhyuk, who jumped down from Vch¡¯s back.

    <em>[Ovepping Delight.]</em>

    <em>[You can now receive the effects of two dishes.]</em>

    <em>[The duration of the buff effect will depend on the number that the die will cast.]</em>

    Then, when the die stopped, the number six appeared.

    <em>[The die has been cast! You have rolled a six!]</em>

    <em>[The Ovepping Delight¡¯s buff effect willst for seven minutes!]</em>

    <em>[You have eaten a Legendary grade Blood Sausage Soup with Rice!]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 34%!]</em>

    <em>[Your physical and magical defenses have increased by 40%!]</em>

    <em>[Your sword¡¯s basic attack has increased by 200%!]</em>

    <em>[Your skill damage has increased by 200%!]</em>

    <em>[A double EXP Acquisition Rate has been applied!]</em>

    It seemed like Minhyuk¡¯s luck was quite good. He was able to roll a six, which allowed him to be 1.7x stronger for a total of seven minutes.

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    One step and Spear God Ben appeared right beside Minhyuk.

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    Another step and the executives and key members of Beyond the Heavens appeared by his side. Sword Saint Conir, God of Snakes Elizabeth, Best Selling Author Aruvel, Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Shield Elpis, Great Fisherman Gorfido and the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ high rankers. All of them stood together as they looked at the back of Sword Emperor Ellie. With Minhyuk and Ellie at the lead, all of them jumped on the battlefield.

    One swing of Spear God Ben¡¯s spear and nearly a thousand Luvien Imperial Soldiers were killed. Ellie, who held a new sword in her hand, killed hundreds of her enemies with every swing. She possessed power that seemed to be on par, or perhaps even greater than that, of Spear God Ben. As for Minhyuk, the word ¡®Gather¡¯ was engraved on the de of his sword as he began to ughter the enemies that blocked his path.

    <em>Rumbleeeeee¡ª</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    In a matter of minutes, the Luvien Imperial Army had no choice but to take a step back¡­ and then another.

    The entire world was witness to the growth of Eivelis Empire.

    ***

    Blood flowed from Nerva Sephiroth¡¯s clenched fists. He was furious to the point that his eyes had turned bloodshot.

    ¡°Your Majesty. 400,000 of our Imperial Army have died in less than an hour.¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty, our allies are raising amotion.¡±

    ¡°The entire world is cheering and calling Ellie¡¯s name.¡±

    ¡°There are rumors that several empires and kingdoms are trying to move to promote peace between their nation and Eivelis Empire.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Nerva Sephiroth could hardly contain his anger. His actual power was several times more than the power that he could wield right now. However, the Battle God had reduced his power when he had descended.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s all because of that bastard, Brod!¡¯</em>

    It was all because of Brod¡ªthe very same Brod that he had fought against for the position of the emperor. Not long after, another report came in.

    ¡°Your Majesty!!! Almost a million of our troops have died!!!¡±

    Nerva Sephiroth immediately quelled the anger in his heart. This was not the time to be angry, it was time for him to be cold-hearted. It might bring shame upon himself, but there was nothing that he could do.

    ¡°Retreat¡­ tell them to retreat.¡±

    Nerva Sephiroth¡¯s eyes looked dejected, but his teeth were grinding against each other fiercely. He would remember Ellie and the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. And he would never forget how Ellie brought humiliation upon him.

    ***

    On the battlefield.

    The great and majestic Luvien Imperial Army were forced to retreat, their feet bringing them away from the battlefield.

    ¡°Retreat!!!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s an imperial decree!!! Step back and retreat!!!¡±

    The entire world watched in disbelief as the soldiers of the Luvien Empire began to retreat. The Eivelis Imperial Army did not only defend, but even destroyed many of the Luvien Imperial Army¡¯s troops. The people of Korea also cheered loudly as they watched the Luvien Empire¡¯s troops flee.

    At that moment, the notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The Eivelis Empire has won the battle against the Luvien Imperial Army.]</em>

    <em>[You have be the number one contributor in protecting the Eivelis Empire.]</em>

    <em>[The story of your heroic deeds will be sung in Eivelis Empire.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Title: Eivelis Empire¡¯s Noble.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 500 CHA.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 300 REP.]</em>

    Before the notifications for the rewards that he acquired rang, another set of notifications rang first.

    <em>[Plenty of Gods are showing their interest in you.]</em>

    <em>[You have met the qualifications for bing the first true God.]</em>

 Chapter 624: Defensive War (2)

    Chapter 624: Defensive War (2)

    Athenae was the greatest God in existence, the one that ruled the world of Athenae, the master of all creations, and the God of Origin.

    There were thousands of Gods that helped Athenae and these very same Gods were looking for their sessors. Since then, more than 95% of their sessors had been yers with God sses.

    However, there was one thing that everyone was fully aware of. The God ss yers were currently just half-God sses. In fact, some of the God sses could not even be qualified to inherit the Gods¡¯ power.

    If that was the case, what could they do in order to be a true God?

    Kang Taehoon had said, ¡°It¡¯s simple. All one needs to do is to meet the Gods¡¯ requirements and satisfy them. Only then will they reach the realms of a true God.¡±

    At that time, one of the reporters had asked, ¡°What would change once a yer bes a True God ss?¡±

    It was something that everyone was curious about. Everyone was looking forward to the answer. President Kang Taehoon had replied with a smile, ¡°Of course, your skills and abilities will increase and you will also be able to build a temple.¡±

    They could build a temple? Although it might just sound like it was symbolic, that was not the case at all. Most of the temples that had been built all over the world required entrance fees. Where would part of the entrance fee go? Of course, it would go straight to the God the temple was built for.

    But was that all? Of course not. They could also take in priests, priests that served that God. Simply put, bing a True God would bring about enormous benefits for that person. But the most important thing was¡­

    ¡°And as a God, they will be able to interact and live with the other Gods.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The words that Kang Taehoon left them were very shocking and thrilling. The fact that yers that became True Gods would be able to interact and live with the other Gods, meant that one could have a cup of tea or have a conversation with the very same Gods that were in charge of the Athenae world. That was a position that was literally above the position of a ¡®king¡¯. That was the True ¡®God¡¯ ss.

    <em>[Plenty of Gods are showing their interest in you.]</em>

    <em>[You have met the qualifications for bing the first True God.]</em>

    <em>[Something special might happen any time soon.]</em>

    Minhyuk had taken a step towards this God ss.

    <em>¡®Something special might happen anytime soon? I can¡¯t wait.¡¯</em>

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!¡±

    ¡°Long live the Eivelis Empire!!!¡±

    ¡°Long live Her Majesty Ellie!!!¡±

    ¡°We wooooooooooon!!!¡±

    Minhyuk smiled lightly, while the yers that fought for Eivelis Empire and the Asgan Continent cheered loudly. In fact everything felt like a dream to these yers.

    <em>¡®We yed a key role in changing an episode!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I helped save Eivelis Empire, the ce where I started in the game¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®It was an honor to fight with these people today. The image of Ellie and the Food God fighting in front of us is something that I will never forget.¡¯</em>

    Just as they expected, those that participated in the war received the ¡®charm¡¯ of the battle, which were the rewards. The more enemies they cut down and the stronger they were, the greater their contributions. Which meant that they would have more rewards. With that, the notifications rang for all of the participating yers.

    <em>[Since the Eivelis Empire has gained victory, the victory rewards would be better.]</em>

    <em>[The Great and Strong warriors of Asgan Continent, they have dedicated themselves for the continent and have won a battle that everyone had believed was already a lost battle.]</em>

    <em>[Those that participated in the war will earn an additional 50% EXP Acquisition Rate and 50% Item Drop Rate for two weeks.]</em>

    <em>[Gold will be distributed based on your contributions.]</em>

    <em>[The Eivelis Empire will distribute the spoils of wars and the rewards.]</em>

    ¡°Wow¡­ Crazy¡­!¡±

    ¡°The spoils of war are really amazing, you know?!¡±

    ¡°Are they going to give us legendary artifacts? They¡¯re going to give us the legendary artifacts from the spoils of war?!¡±

    High risk, high return. The more dangerous and risky the endeavor was, the better the rewards. Since the Eivelis Empire¡¯s odds for obtaining victory was almost close to nil, the rewards that the yers would receive would be astronomical.

    It was also the reason why everyone was focused on Minhyuk. Minhyuk¡¯s contribution was definitely the highest. After all, he was the one that yed the key role in gathering the alliance and the yers together.

    On top of that, there were many members of Beyond the Heavens, as well as dragons, that participated in this war. The contributions made by the vassals would be credited to their king. Minhyuk¡¯s men had aplished countless things during this war. On top of all that, Minhyuk was also the one that presented the ¡®Great Sovereign¡¯s Sword¡¯ to Ellie, the sword that led the direction of the new episode.

    Just like that, another set of notifications rang.

    <em>[You have led the Eivelis Empire to victory.]</em>

    <em>[Calcting your performance and contribution in this war.]</em>

    <em>[You have participated in this war with your qualifications as a king and fought with your vassals.]</em>

    <em>[Your and your vassals have made a lot of contributions.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 2,000 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Lubanon¡¯s Guardian¡¯s Shield.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Koroni¡¯s Fierce Dual Katanas.]</em>

    <em>[¡­Gendar¡¯s¡­]</em>

    <em>[You will be able to use Luvien Empire¡¯s Emperor Nerva Sephiroth¡¯s Treasure House once.]</em>

    <em>¡®Wow¡­ there¡¯s a lot.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk could not help but be amazed. There were at least three legendary artifacts among the items that he acquired. As for the 2,000 tinum, Minhyuk would use it to develop the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. But the most noteworthy reward was the ess to Nerva Sephiroth¡¯s treasure house.

    Nerva Sephiroth was a God ss Battle God NPC. He was someone that inherited the powers of the Battle God, and could easily use it whenever he wanted. Since he was the emperor of a huge empire, his treasure house would definitely be filled with a lot of valuable items. On top of that, Minhyuk also obtained the chance to use the treasure house of Ruven, one of the Sword of the Gods, twice.

    <em>¡®I hope they have a lot of delicious things there. Fufu¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk felt delighted deep inside. However, the war was not yetpletely over.

    Then, all eyes turned to Ellie as thementators said¡­

    <em>[Many yers are interested in what kind of episodes will appear since the Continental Emperor¡¯s episode has changed.]</em>

    <em>[The Continental Emperor Ellie¡¯s episode will affect a lot of episodes from all around the world. That is why everyone is wondering how Joy Co. Ltd. will respond to these changes.]</em>

    That was right. What would happen to Ellie, the Continental Emperor? Many were asking this question. Then, at that moment, a set of notifications rang for all yers to hear.

    <em>[The system has begun to take control of the yers.]</em>

    <em>[The yers will move and speak ording to the AI¡¯s direction.]</em>

    <em>[A new episode is beginning.]</em>

    After hearing the notifications, Minhyuk¡¯s body stopped. He tried to move but he could not even lift a single finger. And just like that, everyone began to move ording to the situation that the AI had set up for the beginning of the new episode.

    ***

    All of the viewers that were tuned in to the broadcast were all left in doubt after seeing that everything and everyone in the battlefield were being controlled by the system.

    However, this was not necessarily something surprising. After all, there were quite a few RPG games that controlled yers like this so that the yers could move on to the next quest after finishing an important quest during the game.

    Then, Joy Co. Ltd. quickly controlled the hundreds of cameras floating in the air, changing the scene on the screen that was focused on the center of the battlefield. Under the directive of Joy Co. Ltd., these cameras began to spread around and show the entire area.

    At the location where the fierce battle had just finished, Ellie stood still while looking around the delighted soldiers of the Eivelis Imperial Army and the allied forces of Asgan Continent.

    Amidst their cheers, Ellie took a step towards one of the dead soldiers. He was a boy that looked to be around fifteen, who had died without even being able to close his eyes. Ellie slowly knelt down and hugged the boy to her chest.

    ¡°Thank you. I will never forget you.¡±

    The cheering crowd turned silent. The joy of victory seeped away as they looked at theirrades that died a horrible death. Ellie looked at the people that fought together with her and said, ¡°Let us make a grave for all of the people that fought with us, with me today.¡±

    ¡°I have received your orders, Your Majesty.¡±

    Ellie nodded slowly before moving away and standing at the highest point to look at everyone and say, ¡°We might have won today but we have lost a lot. Some of us have lost our elder brothers, while some of us have lost our fathers and mothers.¡±

    Sobs started to ring out across the battlefield. They might have been victorious but the families that had been left behind would hug theirrades¡¯ bodies and weep.

    ¡°There will be more battles ahead of us. The Luvien Empire will try to squeeze us until the very end, until they make us kneel down.¡±

    If they allowed the Luvien Empire to get past them and enter the Eivelis Empire, then a lot more lives would be lost. Perhaps they would truly face destruction by then.

    ¡°And we will have to live with sorrow for a very long time because of the damage that we suffered from this war.¡±

    Everyone agreed with Ellie¡¯s words.

    ¡°This empress iscking. But even if I¡¯mcking, would you still believe in me and continue to fight alongside me?¡±

    A moment of silence passed by at those words. This was a moment where they could not really say ¡®We will!¡¯ without any hesitation. The Luvien Empire was too strong and some of them would most definitely die and be cold corpses, just like that boy from before.

    But then, at that moment, Minhyuk started to move, despite not being in control of his own body. He said, ¡°Your Majesty Ellie.¡±

    Minhyuk strode towards Ellie with a soft smile on his face and said, ¡°You are not acking emperor. It was thanks to you that we were able to protect the Eivelis Empire, and even the entire Asgan Continent.¡±

    Ellie did not say anything. Then, above her head, words started to appear once again.

    <em>[In this horrible battlefield, a ce where the sadness of losing theirrades was greater than the joy of victory, Ellie was being devoured by her conflicting emotions.]</em>

    <em>[She was aware that in the future the attacksing from the Luvien Empire would grow stronger, which means that there would be even more deaths.]</em>

    <em>[Ellie won, but she was still frustrated.]</em>

    Darkness clouded Ellie¡¯s expression. A drop of tear seemed to have streaked down the cheeks of the strong and stoic Ellie.

    ¡°I¡­¡±

    What choice should she make?

    <em>[Ellie med herself for being helpless. However, her story was just beginning¡­]</em>

    <em>Booom! Boom! Boooom! Booom!</em>

    Then, at that moment, the loud sound of drums rang from the direction of the sea. The eyes of the Eivelis Imperial Army followed the direction of the drums. Did the Luvien Empire send another powerful army? Terror shed across everyone¡¯s faces. There were nearly a thousand ships approaching from the sea.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    In the Stars¡¯ Path, the sound of the footsteps of what seemed to be millions of troops resounded and made everyone turn nervous. Not long after, therge army began to show itself to them. However, the army did not attack the Eivelis Empire and the Asgan Allied Forces.

    At that moment, a man stepped forward and said, ¡°Your Majesty Ellie! This humble one is Duke Rophy of Icasu Empire from Abbron Continent. I came here on behalf of His Majesty Emkoron of the Icasu Empire to offer our congrattions on the victory of the Eivelis Empire!¡±

    Along with that deration, the thousands of troops standing behind him began to salute.

    ¡°Your Majesty! I am Prince Code of Frod Continent¡¯s Akkro Kingdom¡­¡±

    ¡°Sword Emperor! This humble¡­¡±

    ¡°Ellie! This¡­¡±

    Even the millions of troops that descended from the ship also showed their courtesy.

    Right now, more than tens of millions of troops and subjects personally sent by their own kings and emperors bowed their heads and showed their respect and courtesy towards Ellie. It was a remarkable event that would forever be marked in the history of the continent.

    Once again, the words appeared above Ellie¡¯s head.

    <em>[Even emperors and kings used to listen to Ellie¡¯s stories and feats in shock and awe.]</em>

    <em>[And now, all of the continents were made aware that Ellie was the only one that stood against the Luvien Empire.]</em>

    <em>[Everyone was now made aware of the fact that it was only Ellie that could unite the entire continent¡¯s troops and rally an army to fight and protect their own, something that has never happened before in history.]</em>

    Ellie looked at the people in front of her. The subjects sent by the emperors and kings from several continents shouted loudly in unison.

    ¡°Congrattions on your victory, Continental Emperor!!!¡±

    ¡°Congrattions on your victory, Continental Emperor!!!¡±

    ¡°Congrattions on your victory, Continental Emperor!!!¡±

    Ellie stood in the middle of tens of millions of troops, as a me started to burn brighter in her heart. She looked around them silently and just drew her sword and raised it high up in the skies. Then, another set of words appeared above her head.

    <em>[The Greatest Continental Emperor in History¡¯s episode will now begin!]</em>

    A new story had begun.

 Chapter 625: That Manâ€™s Day

    Chapter 625: That Man¡¯s Day

    No one had believed that Eivelis Empire would pull through and gain victory against the Luvien in the war between these two empires. That was why many people began talking about it.

    <em>[The Eivelis Empire was only able to win this war because of the Food God, right?]</em>

    <em>[I agree. We can¡¯t deny that it was all because Food God Minhyuk gave Ellie a God-rank artifact that allowed them to win. After all, it was the main reason why Ellie gained a new power which allowed her to defeat the Luvien Imperial Army.]</em>

    <em>[As far as I know, the executives of Beyond the Heavens also yed a big role in this war.]</em>

    <em>[The Food God is truly an amazing yer.]</em>

    <em>[Mad respect¡­ haha.]</em>

    The people talked about how great and amazing Minhyuk was and how they admired him. Minhyuk¡¯s feats and fame were enough for many people to regard him as their model and idol. Perhaps that was also the reason why people also began to discuss other things regarding his life.

    <em>[But is the Food God dating Genie or Ascar?]</em>

    <em>[¡®Course, it should be Genie, right? Hehehe. Genie is very pretty.]</em>

    <em>[No, no, no. Have you seen Crystal¡¯s fashion show? Ascar really looked like an angel when she walked that runway.]</em>

    <em>[No, dear gentlemen¡­]</em>

    But then, one yer fired a very painful shot.

    <em>[It doesn¡¯t matter who he¡¯s dating. Whoever it is, we will still feel jealous so¡­ stop it¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­Yeah.]</em>

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    That was right. Everyone believed that Minhyuk was dating one of the world¡¯s most famous beauties. However, there was still no scandal about him that has erupted in media sources. There was that hug with Ascar after Crystal¡¯s Fashion Show, an event that created issues. However, the issues quickly died down.

    Then, another yer piped in.

    <em>[He could be dating them both¡­]</em>

    <em>[Stop. I¡¯m already jealous enough.]</em>

    <em>[Shit. I¡¯m so freaking jealous¡­]</em>

    <em>[The bastard¡¯s really a thief¡­]</em>

    As always, Food God Minhyuk¡¯s luck was still being hated by everyone.

    Amidst all of these discussions, there was one middle-aged man that looked at all of theirments. The man¡¯s name was Jung Jong-Seok, an entertainment reporter for Despatch. Jung Jong-Seok had exposed numerous celebrities and rankers and revealed their corruption and scandals to the world.

    There was a time when celebrities and public figures were able to sessfully cover up their scandals, even when they involved drug-dealing and the likes. However, there was no news that could be hidden, and Jung Jong-Seok exposing those scandals caused a huge stir in Korea. In fact, he was known for being able to dig up even the dirtiest and ugliest corner of a celebrity¡¯s life. It was to the point that even political and business figures feared him.

    Jung Jong-Seok was known by the nickname: <em>¡®Scoop Manufacturer¡¯</em>. That was because he was someone that looked for famous people¡¯s secret scandals; basically everything that was the exact opposite of the life that they were showing to the public. How many celebrities, political and business figures had he ruined? In any case, he had ripped off a considerable amount of masks that these public figures used to wear on TV.

    One of his fellow reporters asked him, ¡°I heard that you and Reporter Kim Ji-Hyeon are going to follow the Food God around today?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. This is so I can make Reporter Kim, who is a big fan of the Food God, wake up to reality.¡±

    Reporter Kim Ji-Hyeon was the newest rookie that joined the entertainment department a few days ago.

    Jong-Seok grinned as he looked back at her and said, ¡°Reporter Kim, you will be witness to the Food God¡¯s ugly side, a side that you weren¡¯t aware of.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Reporter Kim opted to remain silent. Food God Minhyuk was someone that many people adored and loved. Was it simply because of Athenae? That was not the case at all. It was also because he did admirable deeds and was living the life of a protagonist in his novel-like story by oveing his rare disease, eating addiction.

    Reporter Kim wanted to firmly believe that. However, just two days of working and she was already being forced to face the reality that celebrities, politicians, and even businessmen that looked nice and kind had their dirty little secrets, secrets that they were uncovering each and every single day.

    ¡°Today¡¯s the day, the day Food God Minhyuk can go out on his once-a-month outing,¡± Jong-Seok grinned.

    That was right. Jong-Seok was able to get information about Minhyuk¡¯s outing once a month. And from what he heard, Minhyuk always moved alone without any bodyguards or secretaries on that day. If that was the case, then Jong-Seok believed that he was only doing one thing.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s definitely meeting a woman.¡¯</em>

    Jong-Seok was 100% sure of this. Perhaps this was the day that he would be able to tear off that mask on Minhyuk¡¯s face and show the world his ugly side.

    ¡°You should look forward to it, Reporter Kim. Today¡¯s the day that we will be able to expose everything to the world.¡±

    ***

    A ck SUV was parked near the ce where Food God Minhyuk lived, just as an unidentified bongo car drove out of the mansion. Entertainment Reporter Jung Jong-Seok looked at the driver¡¯s seat on instinct. He could see Minhyuk driving the bongo car with the windows down toward the dark of the night, even through the dark tint of the SUV.

    ¡°A bongo car? A second generation chaebol is driving a bongo car?¡±Jong-Seok said, a smile on his face. ¡°Perhaps he wanted to hide himself? If not, then¡­ is he going to make a deal?¡±

    Drug dealing was an issue that always cropped up whenever there were talks about second generation chaebols. However, issues like these were often silenced using the resources of the chaebol¡¯spany. Still, just one photo of them dealing on the spot and theirpany would not even be able to silence it, no matter how much they wanted to.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you, Reporter Kim? That¡¯s extremely suspicious, no?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Reporter Kim Ji-Hyeon was a long-time fan of Food God Minhyuk. But just as Jong-Seok said, the current situation that they were witnessing was truly suspicious.

    <em>¡®In the end, even Minhyuk¡­¡¯</em>

    Reporter Kim sighed.

    ¡°Look. It¡¯s almost dawn. He¡¯s probably going to a club or something to make a deal,¡± Jong-Seokughed gleefully as he watched the scene which was proving to be a scene simr to that in the movies. Jong-Seok began to drive while saying, ¡°See, where do people go with a bongo car, huh? I¡¯m sure he¡¯s going to a room or probably a hotel to call girls and y around. I¡¯m a hundred percent sure of this.¡±

    But twenty minutester¡­

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    Jong-Seok and Ji-Hyeon looked nkly at the sign above them. The ce where Food God Minhyuk parked his bongo car and ran excitedly inside was a ce with a sign that said ¡®Eat and y PC Room¡¯.

    ¡°¡­Is the Food God a game addict?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s a ranker so it¡¯s safe to say that he¡¯s pretty much an addict, right?¡±

    ¡°Even with ordinary PC games?¡±

    ¡°Who knows? That¡­¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­ As expected!¡± Jong-Seok eximed.

    Drug dealing and trafficking were done secretly these days and could be traded using various methods. Jong-Seok thought that perhaps Minhyuk was meeting with the other chaebols here. It had to be that case! However, it was still a ridiculous thing to imagine.

    <em>¡®It doesn¡¯t make sense¡­ but it also makes sense.¡¯</em>

    Most of the celebrities that he had seen and exposed so far had done many nonsensical things. Just like that, the two of them sneaked into the PC room. The moment they went inside they were greeted with a very ordinary PC room. Still¡­

    ¡°Just in case, but he might have left a message on the counter to get in touch with them.¡±

    <em>¡®Is this some sort of intelligence¡­?¡¯</em>

    For a moment, Kim Ji-Hyeon doubted Jong-Seok¡¯s words. She wondered if they were truly on the same page.

    ¡°Check the counter and its surroundings carefully, Reporter Kim.¡±

    ¡°Yes, senior.¡±

    Reporter Kim began to snoop around the counter.

    The PC room was very free and spacious at dawn, especially because it was a Monday the next day.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s really quite suspicious,¡¯ </em>this thought shed in both Reporter Kim and Jong-Seok¡¯s heads. Why would he otherwisee to an almost empty PC Room at thiste hour on his once-a-month outing?

    When Jong-Seok reached the ce near Minhyuk, he saw Reporter Kim panting to catch up with him.

    ¡°Se, senior!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Jong-Seok asked, eyes glowing in anticipation. Was it truly just like he expected? Perhaps he truly was meeting his girlfriend here?

    Then, Kim Ji-Hyeon said, ¡°Is this, is this really possible?¡±

    ¡°Reporter Kim, don¡¯t get too excited. Calm down and breathe. What in the world is wrong with you? Did Ascar or Geniee?¡± Jong-Seok asked, sneaking a nce at the part-timer that was manning the counter. The part-timer¡¯s eyes widened when they made eye contact before shifting away and moving around trying to make himself look busy.

    ¡°On Minhyuk¡¯s counter¡­¡±

    ¡°Right, his counter¡­!¡±

    ¡°He ordered 250,000 won worth of food¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Jong-Seok was left speechless at that moment. A ramyeon sold in the PC room would cost between 3,000~4,000 won. From what he heard, the quality of the food that they serve here was so good that people woulde just to eat. Their menu included ramyeon, hot bars, dumplings, homemade burgers, french fries, chicken, rice bowls and even kimchi fried rice. However, their price range was usually no more than 5,000 won.

    ¡°¡­Is he a person?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The two looked nkly at Minhyuk, who was grinning widely at his table. The smile was so innocent and delighted that the two could not bring themselves to say anything.

    ***

    Minhyuk was allowed to go out once a month. During these outings, he usually refrained from eating. However, after a brief discussion with his doctor, Jinhwan, he learned that restraining himself from eating during those outings might have negative effects on his body. Because of that, Minhyuk was allowed to eat as much as he wanted at least once every three months. However, Minhyuk had to do a higher-intensity work out for a few days after doing that.

    Right now, Minhyuk was very excited. He had been curious about the PC rooms these days. He had heard quite a lot about these PC rooms. And from what he had gathered, the food that they served was as good as the food in <em>Kimbap Heaven</em>.

    Also, when talking about PC rooms, the taste of the ramyeon that he ate whenever he yed games with his friends in the past always surfaced in his memories. The ramyeon would cool down while they were focusing on the game and would be at the perfect temperature to slurp once the game was over. The thought alone brought a smile on Minhyuk¡¯s face.

    Yes. Today was a very meaningful day for Minhyuk. Today was the day that Minhyuk would do his very own mukbang and enjoy the food served in the PC room. After ordering his food, he turned on a movie, put a headset on his ears and waited for the food to be served. The first dishes to be served were some chapagetti, microwaved dumplings, and a cool can of soda together with a cup filled with ice.

    ¡°Well then, shall we get started?¡± Minhyuk said, a serious expression on his face. He looked so grave, as if he was going to war.

    The first thing that he did was to pour the cold and refreshing <em>Sprite</em> into the cup of ice.

    <em>Fwiiiiiiiish¡ª</em>

    The carbon trapped inside the can burst out and created a loud, yet very pleasant, sound. Then, he gulped down the <em>Sprite</em>.

    ¡°Kghhk~¡± Minhyuk gasped in admiration as he separated the chopsticks in front of him. Then, he looked down at the chapagetti in front of him. There was a fried egg, an add-on which he paid 500 won for, on top of the noodles.

    <em>¡®The food they serve in PC rooms is truly well done,¡¯ </em>Minhyuk thought in awe as he poked the yolk. Just like that, the golden yolk slowly dripped down and covered the noodles beneath it. Then, he mped a mouthful and put it in his mouth.

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuuuuuurp!</em>¡±

    <em>¡®Ah, this PC room is awesome.¡¯</em>

    This thought shed in Minhyuk¡¯s head. He could tell that whoever prepared this was able to properly boil the noodles and even lifted it up to maintain its texture. Next, he added a piece of pickled radish in his mouth.

    <em>Crunch, crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    The crunch from the well-ripened pickled radish rang out loudly. This time, Minhyuk grabbed a piece of the egg and some chapagetti before cing everything in his mouth.

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuuuurp!</em>¡±

    <em>¡®Aaah. This is paradise.¡¯ </em>

    Of course, it was practically heaven. There wasedy ying in front of him and a table full of dinner! Next, Minhyuk picked up some dumplings. The dumplings were ced in the microwave as they were and served just like that. The moment he ced them in his mouth, the juices trapped in the skin spread in his mouth. The vor was indescribable, and all Minhyuk could do was shout in admiration.

    ¡°Wow¡­ wow¡­ woaaaaah¡­¡±

    As he shouted in awe like that, another set of dishes were served in front of him. The new dishes ced in front of him were warm hot bar, ramyeon, stir-fried kimchi, and cold rice.

    ¡°Please take these away.¡±

    Minhyuk finished a tray of dishes in no time at all. This time, he started on some ¡®Jjin Ramyeon¡¯.

    ¡°It¡¯s still firm and bouncy. They truly cooked it well,¡± Minhyuk praised, as he stabbed his chopsticks in the bowl and loosened the noodles inside before grabbing a huge mouthful.

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuuuuuurp!</em>¡±

    The chewy texture of the noodles instantly brought a smile to his face. Even the tingling sensation left behind by the spiciness was enough to make him happy.

    ¡°Fwaaaa¡­¡± Minhyuk breathed out, his smile growing wider as he picked up a piece of the ripe and delicious kimchi.

    <em>Crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    <em>¡®Ah. I¡¯m so happy. I¡¯m very happy!¡¯</em>

    For Minhyuk, today was one of the happiest days on earth. Then, he picked up the hot bar.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was rendered speechless at the sight of the hot bar. One nce and he could tell that it would be delicious. The chewy texture and the rich vor of the hot bar was deserving of admiration.

    After tasting the hot bar, Minhyuk added the leftover dumplings on top of the ramyeon before picking a piece with some noodles and ced everything in his mouth. The dumpling and ramyeonbination was just like Yooksam Naengmyeon[1].

    At a table not too far from Minhyuk, a middle-aged man and a young woman finished ordering some ramyeon, dumplings and some drinks, just as Minhyuk finished his second tray of food. Seeing them, Minhyuk thought, <em>¡®Oh, they know how to eat well too, huh?¡¯</em>

    When Minhyuk made eye contact with them, he gave a thumbs-up and showed them his brightest smile. The smile that he showed them was very beautiful.

    ***

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Both Kim Ji-Hyeon and Jung Jong-Seok were left speechless after they saw Minhyuk giving them a thumbs up while smiling so brightly.

    Jong-Seok was someone that had a strong and steadfast spirit as a journalist. However, after seeing Minhyuk eat so happily like that¡­ he could not help but order the same dish. Besides, the smell of ramyeon that wafted throughout the PC room was too tantalizing and appetizing. They just could not resist.

    ¡°Ha, haha¡­¡±

    Jong-Seok and Ji-Hyeon looked back at Minhyuk and gave him a thumbs up of their own. For some reason, they felt like something strange woulde out for today¡¯s cover story.

    1. Abination of cold buckwheat noodles and grilled meat. Can also be the restaurant. ?

 Chapter 626: That Manâ€™s Day

    Chapter 626: That Man¡¯s Day

    After Minhyuk finished the dishes on the second tray, a third tray was immediately set down in front of him. This time, the food served consisted of a homemade bulgogi burger set, with a toothpick poking out from deep within the buns,plete with french fries and another cup filled with ice.

    After pouring the refreshing c in the cup of ice, Minhyuk grabbed the burger with both of his hands. The moment he gripped the burger, dollops of the dark and sweet sauce started to drip down. Minhyuk quickly chomped on the burger, his one bite almost taking off half the burger.

    The crunchy lettuce, coupled with the sweet and sour pickles, spread right after the soft texture of the bread. The patty also had a light and clean vor that harmonized all of the vor in the burger. Then, just like that, Minhyuk sipped some of his c through a straw. The refreshing and tickling feeling in his throat brought a smile to his face.

    This time, Minhyuk grabbed three thick fries, dipped them in the ketchup and mayonnaise sauce, and ced everything in his mouth.

    <em>Munch, munch¡ª</em>

    The smile of delight on Minhyuk¡¯s face became even wider.

    Meanwhile, Reporter Kim Ji-Hyeon and PD Jong-Seok, who were watching him closely, were both speechless. ced right in front of them was a fantasticbination of ramyeon and cold rice. This was actually the bestbination in PC rooms.

    <em>¡®But why do I suddenly have the urge to eat burgers?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Wait, can you really eat half a burger in just two bites?¡¯</em>

    The two felt like they were watching a mukbang live. In fact, seeing Minhyuk chuckle in delight made them forget their duty, opting to watch him with fond smiles on their faces. However, Jong-Seok and Ji-Hyeon quickly snapped out of it, shaking their heads so they could fullye back to their senses.

    Just like that, Minhyuk cleared his third tray, before digging immediately into the fourth tray. He rubbed his palms together in excitement at the sight of the fourth tray. The set meal that was being served was loved by everyone. It was none other than tteokbokki, sundae, fried fritters, kimbap, and fish cake soup.

    ¡°Ah. I really like PC rooms¡­¡±

    For Minhyuk, this situation was a special and happy one. Those that lived normally would oftene to PC rooms, with only their wallets with them on their day offs to y some games and enjoy the food that they served here. However, Minhyuk usually could not do that. That was why he felt blessed to be able to do it even once.

    The first thing that Minhyuk grabbed was the tuna kimbap. The scent of the fragrant peri leaf and the taste of the sour pickled radish tickled his mouth the moment he took a bit out of it. Minhyuk personally liked the fragrant scent of the peri leaf on this tuna kimbap; the scent perfectlyplemented the texture of the tuna and the mayonnaise.

    After chewing and savoring the in tuna kimbap, Minhyuk grabbed another piece and dipped it in the tteokbokki¡¯s sauce. The vor that spread in his mouth the moment he ate the piece was admirable.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡±

    Then, when his throat felt dry, he grabbed the fish cake soup that was served in a disposable paper container and took a sip of the still warm soup. The warm, light fish cake soup seemed to wrap everything and wash it down his throat seamlessly.

    This time, Minhyuk picked a piece of sundae. It was a little unfortunate that there was no liver or lungs present in the dish due to the nature of PC rooms, but there was nothing he could do about the fact. Even if it was notplete, the easy-to-eat sundae and its chewy texture was still enough to make Minhyuk¡¯s mouth water.

    Minhyuk first dipped a piece of sundae in salt and ced it in his mouth. The salt went well with the clean taste of the sundae, bringing a smile of delight on Minhyuk¡¯s face. His chopsticks stretched out towards the fried fritters, the first he picked being fried squid.

    <em>Crunch¡ª crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    With every bite, a crunch that was characteristic to well-fried dishes rang loudly in his ears. After the crunchyyer, the chewy squid greeted Minhyuk¡¯s mouth.

    This time, he turned his attention towards the gimmari. As always, the gimmari, which was ss noodles wrapped in seaweed and deep fried, should always be dipped in the tteokbokki¡¯s sauce.

    <em>Crunch¡ª crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    After eating the entire gimmari in one bite, Minhyuk began to munch on the fried vegetables. The fried vegetables were covered in oil, yet Minhyuk was still able to taste the underlying vor of the various vegetables. However, the one that tasted the strongest among the vegetables was the sweet potato.

    Then, it was time for the long-awaited tteokbokki. The tteokbokki that was served to him was topped with a piece of boiled egg. This fact alone proved to Minhyuk that the owner of this ce was someone that knew how to eat.

    Minhyuk used his spoon as he divided the egg in half. He crushed one half of the egg and mixed it with the tteokbokki¡¯s spicy sauce. Then, he scooped a mouthful and ced it in his mouth. The egg yolk, which should feel dry to the mouth, tasted sweet and soft. Next, Minhyuk picked up a piece of rice cake and ced it in his mouth, savoring its chewy texture. After that, he picked some fish cake. Minhyuk personally liked the fish cake more than the rice cake in tteokbokki.

    Just like that, Minhyuk¡¯s mukbang continued as he wiped off the contents of his fourth tray. The fourth tray was then followed by the fifth tray, and it continued all the way until the eight tray.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Jong-Seok and Ji-Hyeon were both rendered dumbstruck at the sight of Minhyuk eating continuously like that.

    After a few hours of non-stop eating, Minhyuk finally moved with his van again.

    ¡°Right, the Food God has an eating addiction, that¡¯s why he could not stop eating earlier. But Reporter Kim, I¡¯m sure that this time it¡¯s the real deal.¡±

    <em>¡®He definitely had to have secrets, just like those celebrities! If not that, then the ugly and bare face that was hidden beneath his mask!¡¯</em>

    Jung Jong-Seok was certain that he would be able to rip off Minhyuk¡¯s mask and show the world his true, ugly self!

    Their car continued to follow behind Minhyuk, until they reached a dark and hidden alleyway. The sun was already setting by the time they arrived there. What they saw was Minhyuk moving a box from his bongo car and leaving it in front of the house along with a sack of rice.

    ¡°A sack of rice and a box¡­? What in the world?¡±

    Han Jeong-Seok and Kim Ji-Hyeon looked at each other in doubt. What? Was he doing some kind of voluntary service or something? No, that did not make sense at all.

    <em>¡®Why does the son of the chairman have to do something like that personally?¡¯</em>

    They found it hard to believe. It just did not make sense. Also, many who donated usually found some way to publish articles like <em>¡®Donating 100 million won to someone¡¯, </em>or <em>¡®Donating 100 million won to earthquake victims¡¯</em> to the world, whenever they gave something out. There were even pictures of the victims standing next to the people that received their donations with awkward smiles on their faces. These people usually made it into a show and tell, a business. They were spending 100 million won to buy a good image.

    So, why was Minhyuk doing something like that over there? He was even doing it secretly when the sun was about to set.

    Minhyuk¡¯s bongo car continued to move. Some ces that he went to were so underdeveloped that he even groaned as he carried the sack of rice on his shoulders. Despite the perspiration soaking his body, Minhyuk continued to carry the sacks of rice and boxes without stopping.

    ¡°What in the world is he doing?¡±

    ¡°Did he hide something there and he¡¯s selling them like that?¡±

    Han Jeong-Seok looked at Minhyuk, plenty of doubt shing in his head. Perhaps, it was because he had been witnessing the dirty side of the entertainment industry for a very long time, that his thinking and personality had be cynical.

    The two continued to watch Minhyuk carry the boxes dozens of times. In the end, they could not contain their curiosity and ended up approaching one of the boxes that was ced in front of a rusty gate. Then, the gate suddenly opened as a girl, who seemed to be still in middle school, appeared.

    Shocked by the sudden appearance of the girl, the two stopped in their tracks. They watched as the girl looked at the box and the note left on it and smiled. Jong-Seok hurriedly stepped forward when he saw the girl turn around and called out, ¡°Student!¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡± The middle school girl asked, looking at the two of them curiously.

    ¡°We¡¯re observing the person that left that box behind. Can we see what¡¯s inside?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re observing oppa? This box? Aaaaah¡­¡±

    The girl, Chae-Min, was a quick-witted person. She opened the box and showed its contents to Kim Ji-Hyeon alone.

    <em>¡®¡­Aren¡¯t those sanitary pads?¡¯</em>

    The box was filled with daily necessities, along with a few sanitary pads. Ji-Hyeon shook her head, the contents of the box was not what her senior, Jong-Seok, thought it to be.

    ¡°Why did he leave this in front of your door? And why did he do it by himself?¡±

    As mentioned before, Chae-Min was a quick-witted girl. Because of that, she could tell that this was her chance to help that person the moment she heard Jong-Seok¡¯s question. She said, ¡°Actually, I know who oppa is. However, I¡¯m pretending not to know. It¡¯s because this is what he wants.¡±

    ¡°He does not want anyone to know?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°When did he start doing this?¡±

    ¡°Around four months ago?¡±

    When Jong-Seok heard Chae-Min¡¯s words, a piece of information shed in his head. He knew that Minhyuk started going on his once-a-month outing four months ago.

    ¡°The first time I met oppa was during the ¡®Sponsor¡¯s Party Day¡¯.¡±

    That was when Chae-Min¡¯s story began.

    ***

    <em>Click, click, click, click¡ª</em>

    Sponsor¡¯s Party Day was an event where the sponsors of orphanages, nursing homes, and disaster victims gathered to receive a que of appreciation. CEOs and representatives of small and medium-sized enterprises, and even famous and public figures, often attended this event.

    However, it was not just these public figures that came to this event. The middle-school, high-school, and college students that they sponsored also came to this event. Why were they asked to participate in this event?

    Simple. The sponsors wanted to take pictures with them to show how they were helping them live in this beautiful world. Of course, they also wanted to show off their ¡®good deeds¡¯ during the que-awarding ceremony.

    However, for the sponsored students, it was hard to endure.

    <em>¡®What if my friends at school see this picture?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®What if someone knows that I¡¯m an abandoned child?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I feel so ufortable. I want to run away.¡¯</em>

    Of course, there were many people that did ¡®good deeds¡¯ in this world. However, the children were afraid that someone would find out about their unfortunate situation once their pictures were taken. But what would happen if they refused? Their sponsorship would be cut off. This was the cold and ruthless reality for them.

    On this day, Chae-Min came, albeit ufortable, to take pictures with her sponsors. After taking pictures, they were brought for a meal. They came to a restaurant that served grilled meat. The restaurant was sorge that all of the people that came to attend the Sponsor¡¯s Party Day were able to mingle inside. Chae-Min had just sat at her table to eat meat when she heard the CEO of Green and Healthy Co. Ltd., thepany that was actively sponsoring her, call for her.

    At that table, only Green and Healthy Co. Ltd.¡¯s CEO Yang In-Sik and Chae-Min were present. Yang In-Sik was a man in his mid-50s whose small and mid-sized enterprises started to develop recently. Because of that, he became arrogant and snobbish. He was also very greedy, and his bulging belly was testament to that fact.

    ¡°Chae-Min, you don¡¯t have to worry. This uncle will solve everything for you until you study in university. You know that, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I know,¡± Chae-Min nodded, a bit ufortable with the man.

    The loaded question meant that she would have to take pictures with him, even until she entered university and take the lead in promoting theirpany. Simply put, once Chae-Min entered university, an article with the title ¡®A Respectable Lady, Chae-Min, Grew Up with the Support of Green and Healthy Co. Ltd.¡¯ would be published.

    Was this actually considered a good deed? Chae-Min was no fool. This was not a good deed; it was a deal, a transaction. They were taking advantage of the fact that the children could not work and that the poor could not go hungry.

    ¡°Chae-Min, this old man likes you. You are like a daughter to me~¡±

    It started again. <em>Again</em>. At the same time, Yang In-Sik ced his hand on Chae-Min¡¯s shoulder and applied a bit of pressure. Chae-Min gently lowered the hand on her shoulder and stood up with an awkward smile on her face, ¡°I will always keep that in mind.¡±

    Then, she hurriedly left the seat. All Chae-Min could do was sigh. She did not even have the money to buy her daily necessities and sanitary pads right away. She also could not afford to lose the support, since she needed the money for her grandmother¡¯s hospital expenses. Poor teenagers like her were made aware of the harsh reality at a tender age and were forced to grow up quickly.

    Sporting a nk look, she sat alone on a chair in the hallway of the restaurant, somewhere near the restroom while thinking, <em>¡®There really are no good adults.¡¯</em>

    The adults only wanted to take advantage of them. That was when she heard the sound of footstepsing from within the restroom. Chae-Min quickly crouched down as much as she could to shield her body. That was when she heard the voice of Yang In-Sik.

    ¡°Our children will definitely grow up to be cool and lovely, right? Haha!¡±

    ¡°You are absolutely right, Sir. Haha!¡±

    ¡°Right. Among them, our Chae-Min is the prettiest. She¡¯ll definitely grow up to be a beauty.¡±

    Those were the words that were spoken. However, the implications of their words and the thought of Yang In-Sik¡¯s disgusting expression as he imagined those horrible thoughts waspletely revolting and disgusting.

    ¡°Ah, I feel like Chae-Min¡¯s growing to look more and more like my daughter every time I see her.¡±

    The words were so disgusting that Chae-Min felt nauseous. But then, apletely different voice, the voice of a young man rang from within the men¡¯s restroom.

    ¡°I¡¯m telling you this because you look to be my dad¡¯s age.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Question marks began to float in Chae-Min¡¯s head. Even if she did not see them, she could tell that Yang In-Sik and his secretary were flustered. Then, the voice of the young man said, ¡°You¡¯re quite the big asshole for your age, you f*cking bastard.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The restroom turned silent at the sudden curse that rang loudly inside.

 Chapter 627: That Manâ€™s Day

    Chapter 627: That Man¡¯s Day

    Yang In-Sik was a man that had done anything and everything when he was young. In fact, he hadmitted many dirty offences that were often only talked about in the secrecy of one¡¯s home.

    He had started a business with the money that he saved up. At first, business was sluggish. However, because of his efforts to make connections and the countless expedient means that he resorted to, his business finally began to grow at a rapid pace.

    As time went by, Yang In-Sik became arrogant. After all, people would be insignificant in front of ¡®money¡¯. But now¡­

    ¡°I¡¯m telling you this because you look to be my dad¡¯s age.¡±

    A young man, who seemed to have just turned twenty, washed his hands under the sink before pulling out some disposable tissues and wiping them dry.

    ¡°You¡¯re quite the big asshole for your age, you f*cking bastard.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Yang In-Sik¡¯s expression turned red from anger. It could be attributed to the fact that he had drank a bit today but his temper red easily. However, it was also true that he could not take the insult lying down, especially since he was someone that had done things on the other side of thew before.

    To be exact, Yang In-Sik was someone that was involved with the mafia. Just like that, he revealed the true nature that he hid behind the title of a representative.

    ¡°Hey, you rascal. Do you think a kid like you can just say anything that you want, huh?¡±

    ¡°What are you going to do to me, you grown up bastard?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡®<em>What kind of bastard is this?</em>¡¯

    Yang In-Sik wondered how a brat like that could talk like that in front of his towering figure that stood at 190 centimeters.

    ¡°This bastard¡­!¡± Yang In-Sik shouted as he charged at the young man.

    However, In-Sik¡¯s secretary¡¯s eyes were shaking, <em>¡®That person¡­ Don¡¯t tell me¡­!¡¯</em>

    Yang In-Sik thought that he would be able to grab the young man by the cor. However, contrary to his thoughts, a wall greeted his face. The young man easily evaded Yang In-Sik¡¯s charge and even pushed him to the wall. Yang In-Sik turned around from the wall and tried to swing his fist at the young man. But the young man was faster, sending a chop at Yang In-Sik¡¯s neck with the side of his hand.

    ¡°Keheoook!¡± Yang In-Sik, who was known for his huge build, grabbed his neck and copsed on the ground. An ugly grin settled around on Yang In-Sik¡¯s face as he hacked on the ground and struggled to say, ¡°Crazy bastard. You dare to assault someone in broad daylight like this? You¡¯re going to be f*cked. Secretary Lee, call the police.¡±

    ¡°¡­That.¡±

    But Secretary Lee hesitated.

    Meanwhile, Yang In-Sik¡¯s anger red up again, ¡°Whose son are you, huh?! How dare you beat people up!¡±

    ¡°Do you really treat those children like your daughter? You¡¯re really going to act like that?¡±

    Yang In-Sik was very agitated, ¡°I give them money to make our corporation¡¯s image better. Rascal, you should know that there¡¯s nothing free in this world. And in this dark and scary world, the rich are the kings and gods. You¡¯ll regret doing that to me once the policee.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­ so the rich are the kings and gods?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, you moth*rf*cker.¡±

    ¡°That¡­ Sir.¡±

    ¡°Secretary Lee! What are you doing?! Why haven¡¯t you called them yet?!¡± Yang In-Sik roared. He was very confident as he continued, ¡°Do you know how many police officers are acquainted with me? And do you know how many doctors I have as friends? Those doctors will willingly give me a longer medical certificate, while those cops will make sure to put you behind bars. F*cker! The scariest thing in this world is money. Ha! Bastard! Secretary Lee! Hurry up and call them!¡±

    Simply put, Yang In-Sik was sure that the bastard in front of him would be f*cked. However¡­

    ¡°The person that overpowered and hit the CEO just now is¡­¡±

    ¡°That person? What person? That¡¯s a f*cking rascal!!!¡±

    ¡°The person that you¡¯re calling a f*cking rascal is Ilhwa Group¡¯s Young Master Minhyuk.¡±

    ¡°Ilhwa Group¡¯s young master¡­ huh?¡±

    Yang In-Sik was someone with a very brash and stubborn personality and always opted to deal with matters using his fist. That was why he did not watch TV nor surf the inte. As for Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s Athenae? He did not y that either.

    However, he knew that Ilhwa Group¡¯s chairman was named Kang Minhoo. Not too long ago, hispany was having talks with Ilhwa Group, where they were going to bemissioned to deliver parts for the biggerpany. If this deal fell through, then hispany would definitely be hit hard.

    ¡°Then, I should also make a call. Should I call the president?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The ss and level of the person in front of him waspletely different. After all, Yang In-Sik could only call for a few cops and some people from the underworld.

    ¡°The rich are the kings and gods, huh?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Yang In-Sik was rendered mute. Ilhwa Group was thepany that stood at the peak of South Korea¡¯s business industry. If they followed Yang In-Sik¡¯s logic, then Minhyuk was not only the king, but also the god, and the progenitor. With just one of his phone calls¡­

    ¡°Uncle Munsoo. Do you know Green and Healthy Co. Ltd.¡¯s CEO Yang In-Sik?¡± Minhyuk asked. After listening to the other end of the line, he continued, ¡°Please reconsider that contract and put it under evaluation again. After personally checking out his personality, there¡¯s a high chance that this CEO will cause amotion and create a social stir.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    That was right. One phone call from Minhyuk and he could easily knock down everything that a person had built. He was a god in this world.

    And Yang In-Sik? He was very angry.

    ¡°H, how¡­ You bastard! Everything¡¯s different because it¡¯s you? Why?! Is Ilhwa Group different from us, huh?!¡±

    ¡°Yes. We¡¯re different.¡±

    Indeed. Ilhwa Group was very different from them. Ilhwa Group never called for the ones that they sponsored during Sponsor¡¯s Party Day. Even most of the donations that they made were done silently. They did not intend to make a lot of ssh on TV. This was Chairman Kang Minhoo¡¯s principle, a principle that his son, Kang Minhyuk, had learnt and continued to uphold. That was why he could say those words.

    ¡°I¡¯ll say this again for you.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°Grow up. Do things that are appropriate for your age.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Yang In-Sik could not say anything.

    And Chae-Min, who listened to everything, had one thought shing through her head, <em>¡®What if they stop my sponsorship¡­?¡¯</em>

    That was when she heard the voice of the young man as he left the restroom, ¡°You don¡¯t have to feel ufortable anymore.¡± and finally disappeared from her sight.

    ***

    Kim Ji-Hyeon, who listened to Chae-Min¡¯s story, could not help but wipe away a stray tear that dripped down her cheek. On the other hand, Jung Jong-Seok was left in a daze, his mouth hanging open.

    ¡°After that, I received a call from them. Ilhwa Group will sponsor me until I finish university. However, there were some conditions.¡±

    ¡°Conditions?¡±

    ¡°Yes. They required me to study hard, go to a good university, and apply to work for Ilhwa Groupter.¡±

    ¡°Is there anything else aside from that?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing else. On top of that, oppa alwayses personally to give that box once a month.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Jung Jong-Seok was once again taken aback. Who could have imagined this? A reporter stalked a celebrity to uncover corruption and scandals, only to witness them doing a good deed? After ending the talk with Chae-Min, Jong-Seok turned to look at Ji-Hyeon.

    ¡°Senior, where should we go next?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go back.¡±

    After returning back to theirpany, Jung Jong-Seok began to write his article.

    <em>[Minhyuk, the Food God and the heir to Ilhwa Group, and his silent and invisible good deeds.]</em>

    This was the title of the article that he was writing. Once this article got published and got shared by those that they had sponsored, the Food God¡¯s image would receive a huge boost. However, after Jung Jong-Seok finished writing the article, all he did was save it. He did not publish it.

    Jong-Seok smiled bitterly as he entered an inte cafe. After a while, these words popped up on the monitor in front of him.

    <em>[Reporter Passion has joined the Food God¡¯s fan cafe ¡®Eat ¡®till you Die¡¯.]</em>

    Only then did a small, yet genuine, smile appear on his face.

    On this day, the number of Minhyuk¡¯s fans had increased once again.

    ***

    Valen was the instructor at a novice vige, the Isbin Vige, and had lived as the Sword God in the past. He was the very first person that Minhyuk had met when he opened his eyes in Athenae. Valen had lived as a loner back then. However, Minhyuk broke through his walls and made a meal for him. In return, he gave his sword to Minhyuk. Valen was one of the many people that truly cared for and loved Minhyuk.

    Because of that, Minhyuk immediately went back to the Abyss and continued challenging it right after getting back from his day off in reality.

    ¡°I will challenge the twelfth gate.¡±

    ¡°Fufufufufu. Your Majesty, I know how you¡¯re feeling. But, shouldn¡¯t you take a bit of rest before you continue the challenge?¡± Bichor asked, worry evident on his face.

    Why was Bichor worried? Because Minhyuk did not stop after challenging three gates in a row and was still continuing his challenge. Even if Athenae was a game, there was still a chance that Minhyuk would suffer mental exhaustion. A normal person would have already copsed from exhaustion at the rate that Minhyuk was going through these gates. Even so¡­

    ¡°He must be waiting for me.¡±

    <em>¡®Fufu. Is that so? Your Majesty, I really like the way you carry yourself. Fufu,¡¯ </em>Bichor thought, a bitter smile shing on his bichon¡¯s face.

    Bichor had heard about what kind of person Valen was. And he was aware that Minhyuk was the kind of king that cherished his people dearly. He was someone that cared a lot about the people that had shown him kindness and grace, and those that stayed with him.

    ¡°<em>Cough¡­</em>¡±

    <em>[You have cleared the Twelfth Gate. Your rewards for sessfulpletion will now be distributed.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1,000 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the God of Beast¡¯s ¡®Outstanding Beasts¡¯ Parchment.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the God of Beast¡¯s ¡®Tiger Helmet¡¯.]</em>

    Minhyuk had to challenge fifty of God of Beasts¡¯ Ideo¡¯s beasts all by himself to clear the Twelfth Gate. All of God of Beasts¡¯ Ideo¡¯s beasts were at least at Level 450. Taking on one was already very difficult for Minhyuk. Also, ever since he made the sword for Ellie, the attackpletion rate of the gates that he challenged had never gone beyond 80% anymore.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s getting harder and harder.¡¯</em>

    That was right. The gates were getting harder and harder. However, Minhyuk believed that there would be better and more special rewards once he broke through them. Even if there were not any special rewards, Minhyuk was also fine with it. After all, there was a chance that Instructor Valen, his teacher, his friend and a father-figure to him, would be waiting for him at the end.

    ¡°Fufufufu. Your Highness, this will be the final gate. Would you like to challenge it right away?¡±

    Once the Abyss Gate had been cleared, all of the challenger¡¯s HP and MP would be recovered. That was why Minhyuk could continuously challenge the gates. But this time¡­

    ¡°I¡¯ll take a break.¡±

    Minhyuk was quite sensible. So far, he had never seen even a glimpse of Instructor Valen in any of the trials that he had taken. Perhaps, the gate that would lead Minhyuk to where he Valen was was the most difficult gate.

    Even if Minhyuk met with Instructor Valen, he believed that it would not be the end. Perhaps he would only reunite with Valen once he finished all of the trials in the Abyss. However, the worst case scenario was¡­

    <em>¡®What if the Instructor is not in the Abyss¡¯ final gate?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk sincerely hoped that it was not the case. Still, all he could do was wait and rest. When Minhyuk closed his eyes to rest, he felt like he could hear Valen¡¯s voice again.

    <em>¡®Hoho~ Are you going to strike the scarecrows and eat bread again today?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Of course, Instructor!¡¯</em>

    Those were fun times. Minhyuk recalled the bread that he tasted for the very first time and the first friend that he made, and got close to, Instructor Valen. Then, a drop of tear rolled down Minhyuk¡¯s cheek.

    <em>¡®Please, I hope that I can meet him.¡¯</em>

    <em>[You are challenging the final gate!]</em>

    Minhyuk wished as he held his sword tightly, before walking toward the end of the Abyss. A huge iron gate appeared in front of him as he continued on his way. Then, the iron gate creaked loudly, opening to reveal a beautiful sword that was shining brightly at the end of the road where the gate was leading to.

    ¡°Ah¡­! Aaaaaah¡­!¡± Minhyuk cried out.

    That was the sword, the very same sword that shot up to the skies and disappeared to who knew where back then. The same sword that he thought would spell his parting with his instructor. And now, this sword appeared in front of him. Then, at that moment, the sword vibrated fiercely as if it was resonating with his cry.

    <em>[The slumbering Sword God is resonating with you.]</em>

    <em>[You have triggered a reaction from the slumbering Sword God.]</em>

    <em>[The slumbering Sword God is¡­]</em>

    The notifications kept on repeating. It was like the sword was saying hello to Minhyuk. As for the sword in front of Minhyuk¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaa¡ª</em>

    A beautiful light shed as the figure that he admired, loved and missed so much appeared in front of him. Slowly, very slowly, Minhyuk approached the man with a very familiar face.

    <em>¡®The Instructor that I¡¯ve missed so much.¡¯</em>

    ¡°Instructoooooooor!¡± Minhyuk called out as he dashed with his open arms.

    At the same time, in the Special yers Management Team.

    Team Leader Park Minggyu and Lee Minhwa were watching Minhyuk on the monitor with a dark expression on their faces.

    ¡°The most beautiful gate¡­¡±

    Lee Minhwa began to gnaw at her lips at Team Leader Park¡¯s murmurs.

    ¡°¡­and the saddest gate.¡±

    ***

    Minhyuk cried for Valen, his arms open wide in preparation for a hug. He thought that he would feel Valen¡¯s reliable and warm chest in response. However, what greeted Minhyuk was the sharp de of Valen¡¯s sword. Blood spurted out from Minhyuk¡¯s body as Valen¡¯s sword shed at him.

    <em>Spuuuuuuurt!</em>

    ¡°Ins¡­ tructor?¡±

    Then, the notifications rang.

    <em>[The Thirteenth Gate¡¯s Trial is now beginning!]</em>

    <em>[You have to win against Valen, the one hailed as the Sword God, to clear the Thirteenth Gate¡¯s Trial!]</em>

    <em>[If you clear the Thirteenth Gate¡¯s Trial, you might be able to acquire the ¡®Sword that Contains the Sword God¡¯s Will¡¯.]</em>

    The most beautiful and the saddest gate¡¯s trial had finally begun.

 Chapter 628: The Sword Godâ€™s Inheritance

    Chapter 628: The Sword God¡¯s Inheritance

    Minhyuk choked on a mouthful of blood after Valen shed his chest with his sword.

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 92%.]</em>

    With just one attack, Valen shaved off 8% of Minhyuk¡¯s HP. That was shocking, considering that Minhyuk was one of the top rankers of Athenae. What if Valen had used an attack skill? Or a linked attack? That much power meant that he could easily kill Minhyuk in just a few short seconds.

    However, Minhyuk¡¯s confusion was far stronger than his fear of the damage inflicted upon him.

    ¡°Why¡­¡± Minhyuk mumbled, staggering back as he looked at Valen in disbelief.

    Upon looking closely at Valen, Minhyuk realized that Valen looked different. He seemed much younger, his eyes were extremely fierce, and the gentleness that Minhyuk was so used to seeing was nowhere to be found.

    ¡°You¡¯re Great Demon Gorac¡¯s subordinate.¡±

    The words that the younger version of Valen uttered helped Minhyuk infer as to what kind of situation he was currently in.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s Instructor but much younger¡­¡¯</em>

    That was right. The person standing in front of Minhyuk was obviously Instructor Valen, when he was younger. From what Minhyuk had heard, Sword God Valen inherited Gremory¡¯s power, took over it and became a Continental God. Furthermore, he was at his strongest during that time.

    <em>¡®That time was when I was at my strongest. My divine powers have been gradually decreasing since that time. However, I can safely say that I have not brought shame upon the name Sword God.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk mulled over the words that Valen had told him before.

    Then, Valen said, ¡°How dare you descend to this world to harm humans?!¡±

    <em>Fwoosh¡ª</em>

    Valen pointed his sword at Minhyuk¡¯s neck. It was another clue that helped Minhyuk guess what was currently happening.

    <em>¡®It seems like the current Instructor Valen only has memories of the past now. On top of that, Instructor only sees me as the Great Demon Gorac¡¯s subordinate.¡¯</em>

    Then, Minhyuk turned to look at the sword that was behind the young Valen. If everything that he guessed was right, the ¡®real¡¯ Valen should still be sleeping in that sword. However, even after figuring that out, there was still a deep pain in his chest.

    <em>¡®What should I do at this gate?¡¯</em>

    The moment he entered the gate, Minhyuk heard the notification about the possibility of acquiring the ¡®Sword that Contains the Sword God¡¯s Will¡¯. This meant that there was also a chance that the Sword God that was slumbering in that sword would disappearpletely once Minhyuk defeated the young version of Instructor Valen in front of him.

    <em>¡®We are able to meet somehow, yet we can¡¯t even greet each other properly.¡¯</em>

    For the first time, Minhyuk felt how cruel Athenae and Joy Co. Ltd. was. After all, the game had turned Minhyuk into Great Demon Gorac¡¯s subordinate in Sword God Valen¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Go to hell,¡± Valen spat out, frost evident in his voice. He was only holding a sword in his hand, but the momentum and energy that was flowing out of his body was enough to make Minhyuk breathless.

    <em>Bang, bang!</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Valen just swung his sword lightly, but the impact that Minhyuk received was very powerful.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 69%!]</em>

    Minhyuk immediately suffered a huge drop in his HP. Sword God Valen in his prime was definitely a man that never wasted his time with words.

    ¡°Ho. You¡¯re quite tough, huh?¡± Valen murmured, interest shing in his eyes as he sent consecutive attacks toward Minhyuk. Every move of Valen¡¯s sword was fierce, relentless, swift, and packed with heavy power.

    <em>Boooooom¡ª</em>

    Valen followed Minhyuk¡¯s every movement, and swung his sword to attack his nk. The attack was so fast that Minhyuk was barely able to twist away from the de. In the midst of spinning away, Minhyuk tried to use the recoil to cast his skill ¡®Sword of Frenzy¡¯. However, he came to a halt.<em></em>He hated the idea of thrusting a sword through Valen¡¯s chest.

    At the same time, it was also scary. If Minhyuk killed him here, there was the possibility that the lingering will slumbering in the sword would disappearpletely. In other words, Valen would die a true death.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    Seeing Minhyuk hesitate, Valen easily stabbed through the right side of his chest.

    ¡°In, Instructor.¡±

    ¡°¡­I don¡¯t know who or what you¡¯re talking about,¡± Valen frowned, doubt shing in his eyes. Minhyuk¡¯s expression turned deste and sad. His tears were about to burst out at any moment.

    <em>Spurt¡ª</em>

    Valen pulled the sword out of Minhyuk¡¯s chest roughly, causing him to stagger back. In response, Minhyuk hurriedly took out a bar of chocte and ced everything in his mouth.

    <em>Sizzle¡ª</em>

    His HP recovered by 36% in an instant, his wounds recoveringpletely.

    ¡°As expected of Gorac¡¯s subordinate, you¡¯re using quite an entric technique,¡± Valen said, his expression cold. He looked like he never had much sympathy nor mercy for others.

    ¡°Instructor? Are you trying to mislead me by calling me with those weird words? I¡¯ll definitely kill you before you even notice it.¡±

    At that moment, Minhyuk felt the air around him begin to vibrate.

    <em>¡®Is this true divine power?¡¯</em>

    Spear God Ben was not yet aplete God. On top of that, the Instructor Valen that Minhyuk knew was someone that had lost most of his divine power already. The Valen that he was facing now was in his prime. He had enough power to make the air around him vibrate fiercely just with his momentum alone.

    Then, Valen said, ¡°Divine Sword.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk felt a huge sense of crisis. He had already personally seen and experienced Valen¡¯s Divine Sword. In fact, he was only able to cut down the gigantic figure of God of Snakes Elizabeth with that sword.

    Then, Valen spat out, ¡°Hundred Swords.¡±

    At that moment, a wave of hundred sword des appeared right in front of Minhyuk.

    <em>[Hundreds of swords stretch out and form an overwhelminglyrge wave.]</em>

    <em>[If you get caught up in the wave, you will receive 7,000% attack damage per second.]</em>

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    The wave created from sword des devoured everything that it passed through. At the same time, Minhyuk¡¯s ¡®Overlord¡¯s Mana¡¯ continued to increase rapidly after recognizing the powerful enemy in front of him. Amidst the wave of swords, a me appeared and covered Minhyuk¡¯s sword.

    ¡°Overlord¡¯s Technique.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Although Minhyuk used the skill when the Overlord¡¯s Mana was still increasing, the power that it exerted was still enormous.

    <em>Booooooooom!</em>

    <em>¡®Crazy¡­!¡¯</em>

    The two forces collided, but the wave of swords was still stronger. Itpletely overpowered Minhyuk¡¯s mes and struck his body.

    ¡°Ughhh!¡±

    Minhyuk hurriedly gulped some potions to recover his HP. The Divine Sword: Hundred Swords was an unstoppable and unavoidable power. The skill ripped Minhyuk¡¯s body to the point that it looked like some ragged cloth.

    Valen unleashed an onught of attacks toward Minhyuk. However, Minhyuk was still able to hold out, barely enduring by using all kinds of skills, or evading Valen¡¯s attack as much as he could. Still, as time went by, Minhyuk began to feel desperate.

    ¡°Ugh!¡± Minhyuk groaned as he flew back after being kicked in the abdomen. He then stood up quickly. Despite sustaining a stab on his nk, Minhyuk withdrew and did not even think about staging a counterattack.

    Using Like the Wind, a skill that could allow him to narrow or widen the distance between him and his opponent, he tried to get as far away as possible from Valen.

    ¡°¡­What a baffling rascal.¡±

    Then¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Valen hit Minhyuk¡¯s hand, which forced the boy to lose his grip on his sword. In the end, he was unable to stand up. Even his head had started to grow heavy. At the same time, sadness and despair began to ovee his body. His mind raced, thinking about how he should go about dealing with this gate.

    <em>¡®Maybe I should not awaken Instructor Valen?¡¯</em>

    Then, in Minhyuk¡¯s blurred vision, the sword where the real Valen was slumbering began to tremble and shake. Well, to be exact, it was not shaking. It just looked like it was vibrating in Minhyuk¡¯s eyes. Perhaps it was because of the severe pain that he was suffering from, Minhyuk began to hallucinate about having the normal Valen beside him.

    <em>[The Slumbering Sword God is telling you to fight to the best of your abilities.]</em>

    <em>[The Slumbering Sword God is telling you to hold your sword.]</em>

    <em>[The Slumbering Sword God is telling you to do your best.]</em>

    ¡°¡­I know.¡±

    From the words that he heard in his hallucination, Minhyuk slowly started to get up. He wiped the blood that was dripping down his head as he grabbed his sword tightly.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    At the same time, Valen leapt up and tried to deliver the final blow to Minhyuk. But before he could even do so, a transparent barrier appeared around Minhyuk.

    ¡°Let¡¯s Have a Meal.¡±

    Minhyuk began to speak softly and gently, ¡°Instructor, do you remember?¡±

    When he met Valen for the first time and had a meal with him, Valen said to him, who was about to step out of the shabby house, <em>¡®Grow stronger. Later, when you have grown strong enough to cross swords with me, let¡¯s have a spar.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk intended to keep that promise, ¡°I will show you how strong I have be now.¡±

    What Minhyuk did inside the Let¡¯s Have a Meal barrier was to create a high grade dish. Once he created a dish, he used ¡®Ovepping Delight¡¯ and received its effects which allowed him to grow several times stronger than usual.

    ¡°I will definitely defeat you, Instructor.¡±

    At that moment, fierce determination shed in Minhyuk¡¯s eyes.

    ***

    The most beautiful and saddest gate was a cause of concern even for the operators of Joy Co. Ltd. Various teams and departments began to gather in the Special yers Management Team to witness this moment.

    Then, someone asked, ¡°Who would win between Valen, who is in his prime, and the current Food God if they fought with all their might?¡±

    ¡°It should be Valen,¡± a man¡¯s voice rang from behind the person that asked. The voice belonged to none other than President Kang Taehoon.

    Food God Minhyuk might have made plenty of achievements, but was enough for them to be convinced that he would be able to win against Valen in his prime?

    ¡°Valen was a God. The most outstanding and the strongest out of all the Continental Gods. Back in his heyday, he was considered as the continent¡¯s guardian, the guardian that even demons could not win against.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­¡±

    What was Valen¡¯s level back when he was still living? It was estimated to be at around Level 640. How about in his prime? It was estimated to be at around Level 800, perhaps even higher.

    Even President Kang Taehoon actually could not measure the exact level of Valen¡¯s powers. It was because Valen¡¯s powers were not dependent on his level alone. After all, he was in possession of the best swordsmanship, a swordsmanship that was befitting his title of Sword God.

    ¡°As expected of a God¡­¡± One of the Customer Center Team¡¯s staff muttered.

    But then, Team Leader Park Minggyu said, ¡°However, Food God Minhyuk is not abat ss yer.¡±

    The Sword God was abat ss while the Food God was a nonbat ss.

    ¡°We won¡¯t know who has the advantage between the two once he uses the Food God¡¯s power.¡±

    The Customer Center staff asked after thinking about something, ¡°But what kind of reward will he receive if he wins against Instructor Valen?¡±

    President Kang Taehoon remained silent, opting not to answer that question. Of course, he knew a bit about what kind of rewards Minhyuk would get if he wins.

    <em>¡®The Divine Sword.¡¯</em>

    As Valen grew older, it became almost impossible for him to wield the ¡®Divine Sword¡¯. That was also one of the reasons why he chose to live the rest of his life as an instructor. But after borrowing Minhyuk¡¯s power, he was able to use the Divine Sword¡¯s First Chapter. Therefore, Minhyuk might just possibly be the owner of the greatest swordsmanship, the Divine Sword.

    Meanwhile, the busy Story Team Leader finally arrived.

    ¡°Team Leader, this story is just too sad.¡±

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s sad. But if it was not yer Minhyuk that arrived there then it wouldn¡¯t be sad, you know?¡±

    That was right. For other yers, cutting down Valen would just be something rewarding.

    Then, Employee Lee Minhwa said, ¡°But it¡¯s very heartbreaking for yer Minhyuk. After all, the current Instructor Valen does not have any of the memories that they spent together.¡±

    ¡°Huh? What do you mean by that?¡± The Story Team Leader frowned, ¡°Valen might have returned to his younger body, the body that is at its prime, but he has retained hisplete memory.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Everyone present was not stupid, and they immediately understood the words of the Story Team Leader. Valen was acting for Minhyuk¡¯s sake.

 Chapter 629: The Sword Godâ€™s Inheritance

    Chapter 629: The Sword God¡¯s Inheritance

    Valen, in his prime, might just be a Continental God. However, he was so powerful that even those that were born as Gods would not be able to do anything against him.

    There were originally only twelve Gods that were slumbering in the Abyss, the Tomb of the Gods. When Valen fell into his slumber, the total increased to thirteen, with Valen taking root in the thirteenth gate.

    Why was Valen slumbering in the thirteenth gate? Was it because he was thest one to fall into eternal rest? No. It was because the Sword God Valen was a God of a higher rank than the God of Creation, God of Immortality, God of Animals, or even the Food God. The sword was a well-loved and favored weapon. The power of Valen, the God of Swords, was of course beyond imagination.

    <em>¡®Minhyuk, cut me down,¡¯ </em>Valen thought, joy hidden deep in his heart as he watched Minhyuk use ¡®Let¡¯s Have a Meal¡¯ and stay behind the barrier. He wanted to pat the boy on his head after seeing lifee to his eyes once again.

    It was pride. Valen was so proud of Minhyuk. The Gates of the Abyss were so difficult that ordinary people could not even dream of clearing one, let alone two of them. This only meant one thing. The child that smiled broadly as he shed at the scarecrow back when they first met had finally grown strong enough to be a ¡®True God¡¯.

    <em>¡®Once you cut me down, you will be able to walk and follow the path of a True God.¡¯</em>

    Valen knew that the two of them had no other choice. Either Minhyuk or he had to die here. It was a cruel and unfortunate fate. However, Valen was happy since he could die at the hands of his disciple.

    <em>¡®You won¡¯t be able to beat me.¡¯</em>

    Although it sounded arrogant, that was what Valen truly thought. Minhyuk¡¯s growth was definitely shocking. However, in his prime, even Spear God Ben would not be able to win against Valen.

    ¡°Do you think your situation will change by ying tricks on me?¡± Valen continued his performance. Most enemies would not do something like this, but Valen was different, ¡°Even if you y tricks, you will not be able to deal with me. Measly subordinate¡­¡±

    ¡°Shit. Shut up for a bit, ¡®Past¡¯ Instructor.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re very loud. <em>Yada-yada.</em> Were you really this chatty in the past?¡±

    Right now, the current Valen was just like a stranger to Minhyuk. His figure was that of the past and he even put on the concept to match the figure, one wherein he did not have hisplete memories. Because of that, Valen could not say anything. Still, those words stung a little and made him sad.

    <em>¡®It, it hurts a bit. Mi, Minhyuk¡­¡¯</em>

    ***

    Minhyuk had exchanged whispers with Genie before he started cooking. He exined the situation to Genie and asked her to ry it to God of Snakes Elizabeth, who was standing right next to her.

    God of Snakes Elizabeth¡¯s powers and abilities had declined significantly. However, among the NPCs of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, her powers were still on par with Spear God Ben. Fortunately, God of Snakes Elizabeth could use the full extent of her ability to control the system once.

    <em>[<strong>Genie</strong>: So, what you¡¯re trying to say is that you want to change the gate¡¯s ending where only one of the two people had to survive?]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: That¡¯s right.]</em>

    Genie did not answer after a long time. It seemed like she was talking with Elizabeth. Then, an answer finally came.

    <em>[<strong>Genie</strong>: It¡¯s both possible and not possible.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: What does it mean?]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Genie</strong>: We can get involved with the system. However, we don¡¯t know if we can change it to the way we want it to.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: The reason?]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Genie</strong>: The Abyss is the Tomb of the Gods. That means that there are a lot of Gods¡¯ powers that are in there. Even if Elizabeth is the God of Snakes, it would be impossible for her to control the system in a ce like thatpletely.]</em>

    Minhyuk understood. After all, God of Snakes Elizabeth was not Athenae. Although she had the power to control the system, the fact that she was far away and had to control the system through a set of coordinates would make it even harder.

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: Please do it immediately. How long do you think it will take?]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Genie</strong>: We won¡¯t be able to do it quickly. You have no other choice but to endure and hold on to Instructor Valen.]</em>

    They needed to be able to control the system so that Minhyuk and Valen would not need to kill each other. To do that, Minhyuk needed buffed dishes.

    <em>¡®The Food God belongs to the lower ranked Gods among the thirteen Gods,¡¯ </em>Minhyuk judged. However, that was only the story if he used the Food God¡¯s power by itself. Minhyuk was a very strong yer. He was someone that could exert far more power than other sses, whether they werebat or nonbat sses. If Minhyukbined the Food God¡¯s power and his own strength, the Food God would be the strongest God among the thirteen. But¡­

    <em>¡®It¡¯s not just about being strong.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had already reached the point where he could freely control the effects of the buffed dishes that he would make through the cooking ingredients that he was using.

    Should Minhyuk increase his skills to the max? Or should he go with a more efficient method and raise all of his stats and create a bnce? While Minhyuk was pondering about what he should do, the voice of the guy that had been sleeping for a while suddenly rang in his ears.

    <em>[Are you an idiot? Your opponent is the Sword God. He¡¯s not just your ordinary genius.]</em>

    <em>¡®What?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was actually d to hear his voice. This was because although his words sounded crooked, he was always saying the appropriate things at the right time.

    <em>[But you¡¯re also not just an ordinary genius of the sword.]</em>

    That was right. Minhyuk could be considered to be the strongest when it came to swordsmanship. After all, he was someone that was on par, perhaps even stronger, than Olympic Gold Medalist Carr in terms of kendo. Also¡­

    <em>[You have the ughterer¡¯s Armor.]</em>

    That was a fact. Right now, Minhyuk not only needed to think of a way to beat Valen, but also a way to drag out the time in a battle against him. As it turned out, Minhyuk was the owner of the ughterer¡¯s Armor.

    Of course, the power that the ughterer¡¯s Armor could exert would differ depending on the opponent. For existences like Valen, who had a high resistance toward the ¡®reflection skill¡¯, the armor could not exert the full extent of its power. That was why.

    <em>¡®If I increase my basic damage, then I can give an additional boost to one more ability.¡¯</em>

    Indeed, it was not that difficult for Minhyuk to increase his basic damage. If he could just increase his ability to ignore the opponent¡¯s resistance against damage, then he might be able to do this.

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll start.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk started cooking. The dish that he was going to cook was bizarre tteokbokki. But was he going to eat just that? Of course not. This time, he was going to add a special dish. The special dish was none other than the ¡®Myungrang Sweet Potato Hotdog[1]¡¯.

    This was abination that Minhyuk had wanted to try for the longest time. In fact, the craving always appeared whenever he saw contents with the title ¡®Freaking Amazing Combi¡¯ while surfing his SNS. The sweet potato hot dog, with its sweet and sugary taste, and the spicy tteokbokki that could make one tingle, seemed like the perfectbination. And this was thebination that Minhyuk started cooking.

    ¡°We can¡¯t go our separate ways like this.¡±

    How could they go their separate ways like this when they have only just met again? Of course, his Instructor Valen, who had ¡®lost his memories¡¯, would not understand this pain.

    ¡°That¡¯s why I won¡¯t lose to you, Instructor.¡±

    <em>¡®I see. Of course,¡¯ </em>Valen thought, bitterness surging within him after hearing Minhyuk¡¯s words. At the same time¡­

    <em>¡®Although his voice is solemn, excitement is evident on his face.¡¯</em>

    Valen could not help butugh. He was sure that the rascal was excited at the prospect of eating something delicious. As he watched Minhyuk cook, Valen did not stop his act and kept on mumbling, ¡°This lousy subordinate. Quickly stop this cowardly¡­¡±

    ¡°Shut up, Past Instructor.¡±

    ¡°How dare you call me, a great being, Past Instructor¡­¡±

    ¡°No, why can¡¯t you just shut up?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Basically, what was happening right now was simr to someone cursing their boss. Valen was already about to turn red from holding in his tears. But, he still did his best to endure it.

    Minhyuk finished cooking his bizarre tteokbokki. Then, he immediately began frying his sweet potato hotdog.

    <em>Sizzle¡ª</em>

    The hotdog slowly turned a beautiful gold as it floated inside the golden oil. After around three to four minutes, Minhyuk pulled the hotdog out, the oil still sizzling on its surface. Then, with a <em>tak! tak!</em>, Minhyuk shook off the excess oil.

    What did Minhyuk do next? Of course, he sprinkled some sugar on the hotdog, the sugar falling down like snow and covering its surface.

    ¡°Hehe¡­¡± Minhyuk chuckled. He was smiling so broadly that one would wonder if he was the same person that had said <em>¡®We can¡¯t go our separate ways like this¡¯</em> earlier.

    Even so, Valen did not hate this side of him.

    <em>¡®Keep living like that, even without me by your side,¡¯</em> Valen thought, sincerely hoping that this would be the case once he was gone.

    As for Minhyuk, he was looking at the dishes in front of him with awe. This was because the buff effect of the bizarre tteokbokki and sweet potato hotdog was considerable.

    The first thing that Minhyuk did was to lift the lid of the bizarre tteokbokki. Why did he open the lid of the container when he was the one that made the dish himself? Well, it was so he could feel like he was eating from the real store.

    The moment he opened the lid, the white melted cheese, just like snow on a winter day, greeted him. Right below it was the spicy red tteokbokki sauce, that looked just like boilingva. When he picked up a piece of rice cake, the white cheese stretched out all the way to his mouth.

    The sweet and spicy vor burst out, as the chewy texture of the still hot rice cake lingered in Minhyuk¡¯s mouth. After chewing on a single piece, Minhyuk picked another piece of rice cake. This time, he ate it together with a piece of Vienna sausage. Minhyuk personally liked the Vienna sausage added in the bizarre tteokbokki.

    How would one put it? It could be considered less spicy? However, as Minhyuk continued to chew, the spiciness slowly started to fill his mouth. A <em>¡®Ho~¡¯</em> automatically came out of his mouth when he ced another piece of rice cake in his mouth, as beads of sweat started to dot his forehead. Minhyuk quickly took out a handkerchief and wiped off his perspiration, before picking up a piece of red fish cake and ced it in his mouth.

    <em>Chew, chew, chew¡ª</em>

    ¡°Haaa. Spicy,¡± Minhyuk said as he unknowingly fanned his tongue from the spiciness that lingered.

    This time, he picked up the sweet potato hotdog that was sprinkled with sugar. The sweet potato hotdog was actually filled with an entire stick of mozzare cheese inside.

    <em>Crunch, crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    As he took a bite, the crunch of the outer skin rang loudly in Minhyuk¡¯s ears. When he reached the cheesy inneryer, the mozzare stretched out and followed the movement of his mouth. Minhyuk slurped the white cheese in his mouth. This time, Minhyuk dipped the mozzare sweet potato hotdog in the tteokbokki sauce and ced it in his mouth.

    <em>Crunch, crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    <em>¡®Aaaaaaah! Thebination of the sweet and salty vors is the best! Delicious!¡¯</em>

    A smile of delight appeared at the corners of Minhyuk¡¯s mouth. He quickly ate the tteokbokki and the hotdog. Then, he chugged down the cool and refreshing peach-vored Julpis. The cold Julpis washed away the greasiness in his throat and made his smile grow wider.

    Then, the notifications came in. Minhyuk wiped his chin, a small smile on his face as he watched the barrier slowly disappear.

    ***

    Valen felt a bit nervous after watching Minhyuk finish his food. However, it was just a little anxiety on his part. Although he cherished and loved Minhyuk more than anybody else, he still had a firm grasp on reality. He was fully aware that Minhyuk was still not strong enough to fight against him, who was at his prime.

    <em>[Sword God¡¯s Blessing.]</em>

    <em>[Your Physical and Magical Defenses have increased by 45%.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP volume has increased by 1.5x.]</em>

    <em>[You can calcte the damage that your opponent will incur upon you.]</em>

    The Sword God¡¯s Blessing is Sword God Valen¡¯s inherent skill. The best part of this skill was the fact that he could calcte the damage that he would incur. The calction was simple. It wouldpare the damage to that of opponents that Sword God Valen had fought before, whether they be monsters, people, demons, or the like. To put it into perspective, this is what would happen if an ordinary child hit Valen.

    <em>[A normal blow has inflicted 313 damage upon you.]</em>

    <em>[The damage incurred is simr to a goblin¡¯s damage.]</em>

    These data would appear in his head. Would this information matter? Yes it would. With this data, Sword God Valen could take proper countermeasures. If he could understand his enemy and himself, then he would be able to win every battle.

    The strongest opponent that Valen had faced was Gorac. Of course, it had been just his clone. However, Gorac¡¯s clone could be said to have the same power as Great Demon Verus when he descended on earth.

    Minhyuk immediately triggered his skill, ¡°Sword of Tempest.¡±

    Hundreds of sword des appeared in the air and shot toward Valen. Valen¡¯s sword glided smoothly in front of him as it deflected the hundreds of sword des that were rushing toward him. None of the attacks reached him.

    At the same time, Minhyuk took the opportunity to charge at him. As Valen saw it, he did not intend to avoid this attack. But he also did not intend to die without putting on a fight. Of course, he would still create a situation where he would end up losing, but as Minhyuk¡¯s teacher, he wanted to see if Minhyuk already had the qualifications and the power for the next step. At that moment, Minhyuk¡¯s sword shed toward Valen.

    <em>Spurt¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    However, a strange sound rang in Valen¡¯s ears despite the attack just being a simple sh. It was the sound of something getting shed and then exploding. When Valen looked down, he saw that his armor had a dent.

    ¡°Urk¡­?¡±

    Then, Valen was forced to fly back from the impact of the attack.

    <em>¡®What¡¯s this¡­?¡¯</em>

    Then, the notifications rang in Valen¡¯s ears.

    <em>[A normal blow has inflicted 19,676 damage upon you.]</em>

    <em>[The damage incurred upon you is simr to Gorac¡¯s Clone¡¯s damage.]</em>

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[Your opponent is exerting the same amount of power as the strongest opponent you have faced.]</em>

    Minhyuk used Like the Wind and chased after Valen.

    <em>Baaaaaaaam¡ª</em>

    Valen immediately raised his sword and deflected Minhyuk¡¯s downward sh.

    <em>Booooooooom¡ª</em>

    <em>[A normal blow has inflicted 19,376 damage upon you.]</em>

    <em>[The damage incurred¡­Gorac¡¯s Clone¡¯s damage.]</em>

    The notifications did not stop.

    <em>[A normal blow has inflicted 19,676 damage upon you.]</em>

    <em>[The damage incurred upon you is simr to Gorac¡¯s Clone¡¯s damage.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s basic attack was simr to Gorac¡¯s basic attack.

    ¡°Kghk! Ugh! Argh! Ack!¡±

    Currently, Minhyuk¡¯s teacher, Valen, was unterally being beaten up.

    ¡°W, wait!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll just knock you out.¡±

    Valen was flustered, <em>¡®No, Minhyuk¡­¡¯</em>

    Where did the Minhyuk who was crying so much earlier go? All that remained in front of Valen was Minhyuk beating up his teacher. Didn¡¯t he just say that he missed him?!

    ¡°Kghk! Urk! Aack! Keok!!!¡±

    For some reason, Valen suddenly felt at a loss.

    1. A type of corn dog with sweet potatoes in the batter. The flour used in the batter is rice flour and is chewier than normal corn dogs. ?

 Chapter 630: The Sword Godâ€™s Inheritance

    Chapter 630: The Sword God¡¯s Inheritance

    Great Demon Gorac was an entric demon that had been sealed a very long time ago. Although he was dead, he still had plenty of remnants and relics scattered all over the world.

    Right now, Valen was suffering damage that was simr to that of Gorac¡¯s clone. Even if it was Gorac''s clone, the basic damage was beyond an ordinary person¡¯s imagination. Now¡­

    ¡°Kghhhhhk!¡± Valen groaned as he flew back after deflecting Minhyuk¡¯s basic attack.

    <em>[Critical Strike!]</em>

    <em>[A critical strike has inflicted 34,156 damage upon you.]</em>

    <em>[The damage incurred upon you is simr to Gorac¡¯s Clone¡¯s critical damage.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Valen was rendered speechless. He had lived as the Sword God for a very long time. His calctions had always been fairly urate. So, what was with this sudden unpredictable and unbelievable basic damage?

    At the same time, these notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears the moment he charged forward.

    <em>[Your basic damage has transcended the human realm.]</em>

    <em>[This is very shocking. You will receive a reward for achieving a record of having a phenomenal basic damage.]</em>

    <em>[Your basic damage will increase by 20%.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the <strong>Title</strong>: Basic God.]</em>

    <em>(<strong>Basic God</strong>)</em>

    <em>Unique Title</em>

    <em><strong>Title Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?You will receive a 1% increase in all five of your basic stats.</em>

    <em>?Your enemies will receive a 10% reduction in their basic attack damage.</em>

    <em>?Your basic attack damage will increase by 10%.</em>

    Unexpectedly, Minhyuk received a title with huge effects.

    <em>¡®Basic damage is ultimately rted to skill damage,¡¯ </em>Minhyuk thought as he red sharply at Valen. Then, he recalled the notifications that he heard after he finished eating the bizarre tteokbokki and the mozzare sweet potato hotdog.

    <em>[You have eaten Bizarre Tteokbokki and Mozzare Sweet Potato Hotdog.]</em>

    <em>[It is a mysterious and freshbination.]</em>

    <em>[You have received additional buff effects.]</em>

    <em>[Your basic damage will increase by 1,100%. Your chances of ignoring your opponent¡¯s resistance will increase by 40%.]</em>

    <em>[The buff duration is 24 hours.]</em>

    Minhyuk did not bother using Ovepping Delight and Double Food together. It was because there was a high chance that Minhyuk would get a shorter buff duration if he used Ovepping Delight. There was also the risk of not being able to control the buff to obtain more damage. Because of that choice, Minhyuk was able to increase his damage beyond his expectations.

    <em>aaaaaash¡ª</em>

    Valen was once again sent reeling after receiving Minhyuk¡¯s basic attack damage.

    <em>[A normal blow has inflicted 31,476 damage upon you.]</em>

    <em>[The damage incurred upon you is simr to Gorac¡¯s Clone¡¯s damage.]</em>

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[Your opponent is exerting the same amount of power as the strongest opponent you have faced.]</em>

    <em>Twitch, twitch¡ª</em>

    Valen¡¯s arm that was holding his sword twitched and trembled. Even his HP had decreased by a lot. Sword God Valen was supposed to be the ¡®boss¡¯ mob inside the Abyss. In most RPG games, the difference in HP between an ordinary mob and a boss mob could be several tens of times. However, even though Sword God Valen¡¯s HP had doubled as an effect of being in his prime, it was still hard for him to endure the onught of Minhyuk¡¯s attacks.

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Valen, who was forced to take another step back, groaned. For a moment, he felt his vision turn white as his body slowly started to fall.

    Minhyuk continued to attack with a bitter smile on his face. He had no choice but to knock Instructor Valen out right now. Only through this way, he would have a proper reunion with his beloved instructor.

    <em>Copse¡ª</em>

    At that moment, Valen fell to the ground.

    ***

    Genie and God of Snakes Elizabeth moved in a hurry. The two were fully aware of how important Valen was to Minhyuk. Because of that, the two of them tried their best to reach the vicinity of the Abyss as fast as they could. However, they were not allowed to enter the Abyss together.

    ¡°The Gods of the Abyss will not allow me, one of the Six Monster Gods, to enter the Abyss.¡±

    ¡°Then, what are we supposed to do?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll have to do it here.¡±

    ¡°Is it possible?¡±

    ¡°I will do my best.¡±

    God of Snakes Elizabeth, one of the Six Monster Gods, was still someone that could exert the power of an Absolute God, despite the significant drop in her powers.

    <em>[God of Snakes¡¯ System Tracking.]</em>

    <em>[Beginning to check and understand the system for control!]</em>

    A bloody red energy burst out from Elizabeth¡¯s body. The energy crawled and seeped through the depths of the Abyss. As her power continued to navigate the system, cold sweat began to drip down her forehead as a light groan flowed out of her mouth, ¡°Ugh¡­¡±

    Utilizing her skill was very difficult because of the power of the slumbering Gods inside the Abyss. However, Elizabeth persevered. She closed her eyes and began feeling the system. Like a beacon in the dark, she was able to find the system that Minhyuk was talking about. The moment she found it, the notifications rang.

    <em>[You have sessfully tracked the system.]</em>

    <em>[ording to the thirteenth system, the gate will only be cleared if one of the two, the gate challenger or the Sword God, dies in battle.]</em>

    ¡°Found it,¡± Elizabeth cheered. However, the question of whether she could change the system from this distance still remained. On top of that, Elizabeth had to take on a lot of penalties to be able to do this.

    ¡°Heok¡­ heok¡­!¡± Elizabeth gasped, using her entire power to try and control the system. She fell on one knee from the overwhelming pressure, until she eventually fell on both knees.

    ¡°Elizabeth, are you alright?¡±

    ¡°Just a bit¡­ just a bit more.¡±

    The power of the Abyss was too strong for her to control. It was not that easy for her to control that system with her power alone. Not long after, Elizabeth¡¯s eyes began to turn yellow as she started to chase after the being that governed the system.

    As it turned out, the one that governed the system turned to look back at Elizabeth.

    <em>¡®God of Origin¡­?¡¯</em>

    That was right. The being that created the system in the Abyss was none other than the God of Origin. However, even though the one that created it was the God of Origin, it did not mean that everything was excellent. Elizabeth was able to find a gap to intervene and change the system.

    <em>[You have changed the system!]</em>

    <em>[Even if you kill Sword God Valen in his prime, the will of the Sword God slumbering in the sword will not disappear.]</em>

    Elizabeth was delighted. However, a scream was ripped out of her throat as she looked at the world around her through her yellow eyes. This was because God of Origin Athenae was staring at her.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Elizabeth was rendered speechless. Although she used to love Athenae more than anybody else, she had already lost her memories. It was all because of Athenae¡¯s mercy.

    Athenae stared at Elizabeth for a while. Then, she shook her head as a soft smile curled at the corners of her lips, ¡°So, it¡¯s the snake child.¡±

    Elizabeth heard Athenae¡¯s voice ringing in her ears.

    ¡°It¡¯s alright since your power allows you to get involved with my system and change it at your will. However¡­¡± Athenae smiled sadly, ¡°The Sword God does not wish for it to be changed.¡±

    Immediately after leaving those words, Athenae disappeared from her sight. At the same time, an unexpected notification rang in Genie and Elizabeth¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The system has been changed once again!]</em>

    <em>[The Abyss is being controlled by the God of Origin!]</em>

    <em>[The Whisper function will be unavable to all of those inside the Abyss for an hour.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Genie was aghast, ¡°Did, did we fail?¡±

    Elizabeth, with a stunned look on her face, shook her head and slowly said, ¡°No. We seeded. We definitely did.¡±

    Genie listened intently to Elizabeth¡¯s voice, ¡°We seeded. But the God of Origin intervened. The God of Origin said that there was nothing she could do.¡±

    That was right. Even if Athenae was the God of Origin, she could not just do anything that she wanted. The only reason why this was possible was because¡­

    ¡°Valen, who is in the system, rejected the changes.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡±

    ¡°The bigger problem here is the fact that His Highness Minhyuk will not be made aware of this at all.¡±

    ¡°Howe Minhyuk cannot know about it?! Ah¡­ No way¡­!¡±

    That was right. Minhyuk must have been notified immediately that the system has changed. And shortly thereafter, he must have heard the notification about the whisper being restricted and unavable. There was a high chance that Minhyuk believed that this anomaly had been caused by the changes that ¡®Elizabeth¡¯ had made to the system.

    Genie looked at the Abyss and murmured, ¡°Instructor Valen, why¡­¡±

    She just could not understand why.

    ***

    Minhyuk looked at the unconscious Valen. Then¡­

    <em>[The system has been changed by a great force.]</em>

    <em>[The Sword containing the will of the Sword God will be changed to the ¡®Sword God and the Sword¡¯.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk was delighted. He was actually not worried about killing Valen in his prime. What he was afraid of was the disappearance of the Instructor that he knew, the instructor that was sleeping in the sword behind him, forever. But that was not the case now. He would be able to meet with the instructor that was sleeping in the sword. Then, immediately after¡­

    <em>[The Whisper function will be unavable for an hour.]</em>

    Minhyuk judged that Elizabeth¡¯s control on the system was unstable.

    <em>¡®Well, she said that she did not know if she could even change the system.¡¯</em>

    But for now, Minhyuk was satisfied that they were able to make an important change in the system like this.

    Now that Minhyuk did not know the changes that had been made, he would be able to take Valen out, who was in his prime. Of course, it would not be easy. After all, Valen was still Valen. However, his longing for Minhyuk was too great. Perhaps, Minhyuk was not even aware of how much he missed him and also about the fact that he was not happy to slumber in the sword at all.

    Valen smiled softly and thought, <em>¡®Now, you can do your best.¡¯</em>

    Valen was able to hold a short conversation with Athenae in the short moment that he passed out. His first disciple, Minhyuk, was much stronger than he thought. It was something that he was very proud of. That was why he was now going to fight with him as a real god.

    <em>[The Sword God¡¯s power has beenpletely released!]</em>

    <em>[Your attack and defense will increase dramatically.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will increase sharply.]</em>

    <em>[You will be able to use the Divine Sword until itsst chapter.]</em>

    As the notification rang, Valen recalled the conversation that he had with Athenae.

    ***

    When Valen lost consciousness for a moment, he was very shocked to see Athenae appear in front of him.

    <em>[The God of Snakes is starting to change the system.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Valen was shocked when he heard those words. Then, he listened to the entire story from Athenae. From what he could gather, Minhyuk had sent a whisper to ask the God of Snakes to control the system when he used his skill ¡®Let¡¯s Have a Meal¡¯.

    <em>¡®You want to meet me again this much?¡¯</em>

    Of course, Valen was delighted. However, he still shook his head. He was a God that had lived for too long. He sometimes lived as the Sword God, and sometimes lived as an instructor. He had already long weed his death.

    Did he want to live longer? Yes, of course, he wanted to live longer. He still wanted to see his child grow into a decentdy while walking hand in hand with Roina. There were still many things that Valen wanted to do.

    However, Sword God Valen knew that he had already fulfilled his destiny. He did not want to drag his life any longer and live in that sword.

    <em>¡®Ipletely understand.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was already an adult and a king. However, at this very moment, the only thought that was going through his head was to find a way to reunite with Valen. It was not a bad thing. However, Valen did not agree with Minhyuk¡¯s choice.

    ¡°Athenae. If my will continues to live in that sword, he will not be able to inherit my powers.¡±

    That was right. If the system truly changed to how Minhyuk wanted it to be, where the Sword God would continue to live within the sword, he would not be able to inherit Valen¡¯s powers. Also, Valen has already fulfilled his destiny, and he was already exhausted.

    On the other hand, his first disciple still had a long time to live.

    <em>[If you want, I can let you live and stay next to him as a human.]</em>

    Athenae truly cared for and cherished Sword God Valen. Besides, for her, this was just a trivial thing to do.

    <em>¡®I can continue to live next to Minhyuk?¡¯ </em>

    It was tempting. But he still shook his head, ¡°If I be a human being once again and live next to him until I grow old, I would just be an obstacle to that child, you know? That child needs to develop and grow. Hoho.¡±

    Valen chuckled. Athenae felt that it was a pity. She knew that the reason why Valen made this choice was all because of Minhyuk.

    <em>[Sword¡¯s Child, are you going to choose eternal and permanent death for that child?]</em>

    The system had obviously changed now. But Valen was rejecting the changes himself.

    ¡°That child will continue to face plenty of setbacks and trials in the future. It would be more beneficial for him to inherit my powers, than to acquire the sword that contains my consciousness, a sword that has already lost most of its power.¡±

    <em>[You will not be able to hug your daughter to sleep anymore.]</em>

    <em>[You will not be able to see your beloved Roina anymore.]</em>

    Athenae asked him a final question.

    <em>[You will not be able to watch Minhyuk from afar anymore. Will you be alright with that?]</em>

    It was a very sad story, and a truly heartbreaking situation. Athenae¡¯s questions brought frustration to Valen. Even more so because he believed it to be the right decision. He had to forget about living and surviving himself because that child had to be a true ¡®god¡¯. He would continue to stand by this decision.

    ¡°I want to die at the hands of that child today.¡±

    ***

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    And now, at the present time, Minhyuk, who believed that Valen in his prime did not have the memories of the time they spent together, stabbed him in the heart. A mouthful of blood gurgled out of Valen¡¯s mouth.

    ¡°Urk¡­!¡±

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk was left dumbfounded. He could not understand why Valen deliberately left his chest wide open after they fought tooth and nail against each other.

    As for Valen, he did not think that this was a tragic fate. It was simply just a story of those that had to leave and those that had to remain. Also, this would be hisst teaching, the final lesson that he would teach his disciple.

    <em>¡®You are still young, Minhyuk.¡¯</em>

    It was because he was young that was why he never thought of Valen and the things that he would suffer. The pain of remaining in the sword forever, the pain of living for too long, and the pain of not being able to see those that he wanted to see as he continued to slumber in the sword.

    Minhyuk had not considered these sufferings and pain.

    ¡°Why¡­¡± Minhyuk asked. Why did the younger Valen allow Minhyuk to hit him in the chest?

    Valen wanted to go quietly. He wanted to leave without saying anything to Minhyuk and leaving behind the power of a God for him. However, there was no way that everything would go the way they wanted it to. That was the case for Valen.

    Valen gently grabbed Minhyuk¡¯s hand that was holding the sword. He smiled at him with the gentle and beautiful smile that he always showed the boy and said, ¡°Thank you, Minhyuk. I can rest easy now.¡±

    As the entire truth of the matter dawned upon Minhyuk, he instantly lost the strength in his legs. He copsed to the ground and began to cry as the notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[The One who cut down the Sword God.]</em>

    <em>[You will be able to inherit some of the powers of the Sword God!]</em>

    <em>[You will now be able to challenge the realms of the True God!]</em>

    The teacher had left his final gift to his disciple, as tears flowed down the disciple¡¯s cheeks.

 Chapter 631: The Sword Godâ€™s Inheritance

    Chapter 631: The Sword God¡¯s Inheritance

    Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s Special yers Management Team.

    Employee Lee Minhwa choked back her tears watching the heartbreaking reunion between Valen and Minhyuk. While she was trying to hold back tears, some of her colleagues were busy trying to calcte the current situation. Among these people were President Kang Taehoon and Team Leader Park Minggyu.

    This was part of the notifications that rang for yer Minhyuk.

    <em>[You will now be able to challenge the realms of the True God!]</em>

    This notification was something that President Kang Taehoon and Athenae had expected to appear around half a yearter. Simply put, the yers that were eligible to challenge the True God ss could now challenge it half a year earlier.

    ¡°All of the God sses in the world would pay attention to this matter,¡± President Kang Taehoon could already guess what would happen next.

    Right now, all of the qualified God sses, whether they were doing unofficial work globally or were out in the open, must have heard the same notification at the same time. And that notification was:

    <em>[A challenger taking on the realms of a True God has been born to the world!]</em>

    <em>[You might be able to take away their chance to challenge.]</em>

    <em>[In a few days, the ¡®Battlefield of the Gods¡¯ will open. This will only be avable to God ss yers!]</em>

    The Battlefield of the Gods was a battlefield that only God ss yers could challenge.

    There were around 1,000 God ss yers all over the world. Some of them had been disqualified from their God sses, while others were steadily working their way to the realms of a True God with their ster performances. The one in the lead was none other than Minhyuk.

    Why was Minhyuk able to receive such a notification six months earlier? The power of the Food God was still far from being able to challenge the True God ss. However, the moment he stabbed Valen¡¯s chest with his sword, he met the conditions needed to challenge it. This was because he would now inherit and take over the power of the ¡®Sword God¡¯.

    ***

    The moment the notifications rang, Minhyuk realized the truth of the matter.

    <em>[Athenae has ced the system in a secret state.]</em>

    <em>[The system has been initially changed from Sword containing the will of the Sword God to the Master of the Sword. However, ¡®Valen¡¯ refused the change in the system and has requested that it be returned to the original system.]</em>

    Perhaps, Minhyuk might have already been aware of it. Sword God Valen was a God that had already existed for a long time. In fact, Minhyuk did not even know exactly how old Valen was. All he thought about was how Valen would continue to live inside the sword and smile at him. About how Valen would continue to give him advice, protect him, and be his teacher forever.

    <em>ng¡ª</em>

    Unfortunately, these dreams were dashed. This was Minhyuk¡¯s wishful thinking, only something that he wanted. He failed to consider that there was the possibility that Valen would not want what Minhyuk wanted. Minhyuk did not consider how Valen would have to suffer and live inside the sword for a long time, just so they could have their own heartfelt reunion and future.

    <em>Drip, drip¡ª</em>

    Valen gently held the hand that Minhyuk used to hold his sword, as Valen¡¯s blood dyed the ground beneath them. Minhyuk had already copsed on the ground, his strengthpletely leaving his legs.

    Minhyuk had also suffered plenty of injuries, bothrge and small. Sword God Valen had been difficult to deal with. In fact, if Valen had gone all out, then Minhyuk, even after receiving plenty of buffs from his dishes, would definitely lose. However, Valen deliberately showed him a gap so he could finish him with a stab to the chest.

    ording to the original system, Valen would only be able to remain in the sword for a while, before dying a permanent and eternal death. Now, he would disappear as a god and a myth. Even with a sword pierced through his chest, Valen was still able to raise his warm and gentle hand to cup Minhyuk¡¯s cheek.

    ¡°This is my final lesson to you.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    More tears flowed from Minhyuk¡¯s eyes as another set of notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[You are receiving the Sword God¡¯s final will and teachings.]</em>

    <em>[You, the Food God and the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King, have realized and learned something new.]</em>

    <em>[You will now grow even further.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will increase by 2%.]</em>

    <em>[Your physical and magical attack and defense will increase by 3%.]</em>

    Minhyuk was able to gain enlightenment and develop even further in terms of mentality. He was just a 21-year-old man, no, perhaps he was just a kid pretending to be a grown-up. Twenty one years old. It might seem old to some, but that was an age that was still infinitely younger than many once they stepped foot in society. Seeing Minhyuk grow further brought a soft smile to Valen¡¯s face.

    Minhyuk wrapped both of his hands around Valen¡¯s still warm and big hand, ¡°Instructor¡­ I¡¯m sorry. I only thought about myself.¡±

    Valen smiled softly, blood still flowing down his chest. Even so, he was still delighted, ¡°Do not forget the final spar that I had with you.¡±

    Valen was fully aware that he was dying. He had been a God, and now it was time for him to return to nature. Despite his body slowly turning into light and disappearing into nothingness, Valen still could not take his eyes off of the boy in front of him. Then, Valen said, ¡°Thank you. Thank you for being you.¡±

    <em>[You have fulfilled the conditions to inherit some of the power of Sword God Valen.]</em>

    <em>[Sword God ss.]</em>

    <em>[You already have the God ss: ¡®Food God¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[You already have the subss: ¡®entric Gourmand¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[You cannot change your ss to Sword God.]</em>

    <em>[Although you cannot change your ss to Sword God, you will be able to inherit some of the power of Sword God Valen after receiving the recognition of Valen and the permission of the God of Origin.]</em>

    ¡°Remember,¡± the disappearing Valen opened his mouth to impart his final lesson, ¡°Remember the Hundred Swords that you saw.¡±

    <em>[You have acquired one of the chapters of Divine Sword, the Hundred Swords.]</em>

    Minhyuk would always remember the strongest sword skill that he had witnessed, the sword skill that created hundreds of des that turned into a wave and engulfed the enemies.

    ¡°The Thousand Swords.¡±

    <em>[You have acquired one of the chapters of Divine Sword, the Thousand Swords.]</em>

    <em>[The Thousand Swords is still in a realm that you haven¡¯t reached. You cannot use this skill yet!]</em>

    <em>[The Thousand Swords has been sealed!]</em>

    The Thousand Swords was a power that Minhyuk had not yet seen. However, Valen was not yet done.

    ¡°The Ten Thousand Swords.

    <em>[You have acquired one of the chapters of Divine Sword, the Ten Thousand Swords.]</em>

    <em>[The Ten Thousand Swords is still in a realm that you haven¡¯t reached. You cannot use this skill yet!]</em>

    <em>[The Ten Thousand Swords </em><em>has</em><em> been sealed!]</em>

    ¡°And the Million Swords.¡±

    <em>[You have acquired one of the chapters of Divine Sword, the Million Swords.]</em>

    <em>[The Million Swords is still in a realm... You cannot use this skill yet!]</em>

    <em>[The Million Swords </em><em>has</em><em> been sealed!]</em>

    Finally, Valen left his inheritance to Minhyuk. It was none other than the inherent skill that only ¡®Sword God Valen¡¯ had.

    <em>[You have acquired the Passive Skill: Sword God¡¯s Blessings.]</em>

    The Sword God¡¯s Blessings was the power that Valen used to increase his stats earlier. However, the content that was disyed in front of Minhyuk was different. It had turned into a passive skill. Simply put, the power was just a fraction of the true power that Valen had. In fact, the buff effect was not included in the skill that had been passed down to Minhyuk.

    However, just as Valen was able to calcte the damage after being hit, Minhyuk would also be able to calcte andpare the damage that he received in the future. Yes, Minhyuk had now be a stronger King, and a more powerful God.

    ¡°Just once.¡±

    Valen grabbed Minhyuk¡¯s hands and pulled him up. He was looking at the crying Minhyuk with a gentle smile on his face. His smile turned soft once again as he ced a gentle hand on Minhyuk¡¯s head.

    ¡°Let me meet them through you.¡±

    <em>[You will be able to use the Sword God¡¯s full power once for ten minutes!]</em>

    <em>[Use this power carefully.]</em>

    Valen patted Minhyuk¡¯s head and said, ¡°Swing hard today too.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk clearly remembered that day. It was just a few days after he met Valen for the first time. Back then, Minhyuk was at the scarecrow training grounds and diligently shing at the scarecrows, just so he could eat some hard bread. Every time he went there, Instructor Valen would approach him and say those words. And every time, Minhyuk would give the same answer.

    Minhyuk grinned softly, showing all of his pearly whites as he said, ¡°I will, so I can enjoy my meal.¡±

    ¡°¡­Good.¡±

    Sword God Valen had lived for a long time. In his long years of life, he only considered a few of them to be precious and meaningful.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s because I was able to meet you. Because I could watch you grow.¡¯</em>

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    <em>¡®Because of you, I can go with a smile on my face.¡¯</em>

    With a sh of light, Valen started to disappearpletely. Minhyuk kept his eyes open, not daring to miss a single moment until Valen disappeared. At the same time¡­

    <em>Rumble¡ª</em>

    The Abyss began to shake and tremble. The Abyss was the Tomb of the Gods. It was the tomb for the people that were originally human, who became Continental Gods, that worked hard and protected the continent.

    Minhyuk stood in the middle of the copsing Abyss. However, strangely enough, none of the broken ceilings or walls reached him. That was when another set of notifications came in.

    <em>[The Gods that are slumbering in the Abyss are showing you their gratitude.]</em>

    <em>[The Gods that are slumbering in the Abyss are able to be free from the shackles of the Abyss, thanks to you.]</em>

    <em>[The God that likes to eat is bestowing upon you 100 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[The God that likes animals is bestowing upon you 100 Animal Affinity.]</em>

    <em>[The God that is well-versed in the hammer is bestowing¡­]</em>

    <em>[The God that cherishes life is bestowing¡­]</em>

    <em>[The immortal God is bestowing¡­]</em>

    The notifications rang non-stop. Despite the copsing Abyss, Minhyuk still stood there, his eyes never straying from the disappearing light in front of him.

    At the same time, countless rewards began to pour in. Among them were¡­

    <em>[You have gained 10,000 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the <strong>Title</strong>: Savior of the Abyss.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 500 CHA.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1 Origin Authority Skill Point (SP).]</em>

    <em>[Your heroic tale will be known to the entire world.]</em>

    At the same time, oracles began to descend to the various temples that honored the Thirteen Gods all over the world.

    ¡°A man has saved the Gods that were trapped in the ce called the Abyss.¡±

    ¡°Ahhhhh~ A great hero!¡±

    ¡°A man that has aplished something that even the Gods could not do!!!¡±

    Starting from the priests, Minhyuk¡¯s heroic tale began to spread far and wide.

    Of course, the world message also rang loudly in everyone¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The True One has been born to the world! He has broken through all of the gates of the Abyss and destroyed the Tomb of the Gods!]</em>

    <em>[He is originally a God ss.]</em>

    <em>[He will now be able to challenge the realms of the True God ss.]</em>

    <em>[Information about the Battlefield of the Gods will be announced soon.]</em>

    Everyone¡¯s attention was now focusing on this.

    ***

    Many yers have tried to challenge the first gate of the Abyss. However, their hopes were dashed because of the extreme difficulty and the near nigh probability of getting through even a single gate.

    There were still dozens of people trying their luck at it. Among them was a yer that wanted to be a God of Merchants. Abyss was known as a ce where one could acquire a God ss if they were able to ovee their challenges. As for those that already had God sses, the Abyss was their ticket to bing a True God.

    That was the reason why Merchant Rowling came here. As the yers fled the copsing Abyss, Rowling looked at the notifications that popped up in front of him.

    <em>¡®Battlefield of the Gods? What kind of event is that? Although I don¡¯t know anything yet, I¡¯m sure of one thing. This is going to be as entertaining and as interesting as the Battle of the Thrones.¡¯</em>

    Rowling was just thinking about it, but he could already tell that it was going to be thrilling and enjoyable. He stood silently among the fleeing yers, staying in the Abyss to see who in the world cleared it.

    In the end, all of the other yers have fled. Only Rowling was left standing inside the Abyss, which had almost copsedpletely. That was when Rowling saw him, the man that stood at the center of the copsing Abyss.

    Rowling could not take his eyes off of the man that was shrouded with a bright light, <em>¡®Is that the person that has acquired the qualifications to be a True God?¡¯</em>

    Who was he? Rowling did not know. What was the man feeling? Rowling did not know either. Rowling watched as the man stared at the sword that was stuck on the ground in front of him. He watched as the man bowed deeply at the sword.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    <em>Thump, thump, thump¡ª</em>

    Rowling felt his heart thump wildly in his chest. He felt something deep and sacred as he watched the man bow deeply and kowtow toward the sword. Then, the man pulled the sword out of the ground.

    Rowling squinted his eyes the moment the man turned to look back at him. However, he did not recognize the man¡¯s face. The man stared at Rowling for a moment, before turning around once again and walking away.

    <em>¡®The very first Athenae yer to challenge the realm of the True Gods. Who is it?¡¯</em>

    More than that, the image of the man walking silently, as he swung the sword that he just pulled out from the ground and hung it on his back as if he was carrying something heavy, looked so cool.

    Rowling thought that he would never be able to forget this scene that he saw today for the rest of his life.

 Chapter 632: The Sword Godâ€™s Inheritance

    Chapter 632: The Sword God¡¯s Inheritance

    It was just like when the first Athenae: World War and the Battle of the Thrones wereunched; the entire world was starting to heat up in excitement once again. Everyone was solely focused on Athenae. All of this was because of the notifications that rang about the Battlefield of the Gods.

    <em>[He is originally a God ss.]</em>

    <em>[He will now be able to challenge the realms of the True God ss.]</em>

    <em>[Information about the Battlefield of the Gods will be announced soon.]</em>

    These notifications rang for all of the God ss yers.

    <em>[The very first yer that has reached the qualifications to be a True God ss, has been born to the world!]</em>

    <em>[You will be given the chance to take on the challenge.]</em>

    The Battlefield of the Gods was expected to be an event that was only essible to God ss yers. The reason why many people were paying attention to the Battlefield of the Gods was the God ss yers. These yers were literally god-like existences in their own fields. It was the case with Hyemin¡¯sDaddy, the descendant of the God of cksmiths Hepas and the cksmith hailed as the best among all of the yers in the world.

    At the same time, the entire world had some doubts.

    <em>[What does it mean, that they can challenge the yer that has received the qualifications to be a True God ss?]</em>

    <em>[There¡¯s no way that he¡¯s going to fight all of the God sses in the world alone, right?]</em>

    <em>[Ey. Fat chance.]</em>

    <em>[Would that even bnce out? Well, there¡¯s a chance if it¡¯s 1:1.]</em>

    Guesses and spections became rampant. All of the God ss yers all over the world could take on the challenge. It was the opportunity to challenge the yer with the qualifications. In other words, all of the God ss yers were now viable challengers.

    Currently, in Joy Co. Ltd., President Kang Taehoon was looking at the members of the board and department heads, a serious expression on his face. He asked, ¡°Production Team, is it truly impossible to change the content? If not, how will it then proceed?¡±

    The Production Team began their briefing, ¡°The one that is qualified to be a True God will be a God in the Battlefield of the Gods. They would thenpete with the God ss challengers in a variety of ways. Once the challenge begins, the one that is qualified to be a True God can sessfully transcend, if he can achieve a total score that is 30% more than the total score of the challengers. However, if he falls short of that score, the one with the highest score among the God ss challengers will then be entrusted with the qualifications to be a True God.¡±

    President Kang Taehoon and everyone at Joy Co. Ltd. nodded at those words. However, it was likely that this would still bring a huge shock to the yers. Was there even a chance that the one that received the qualifications could win with this? However, Joy Co. Ltd. was not stupid.

    ¡°Instead, the one that is qualified to be a True God will receive various privileges. Just like how the kings in the Battle of the Thrones received privileges.¡±

    ¡°Continue.¡±

    ¡°One of those special privileges is the yer bing a True God. Simply put, he would be a ¡®God¡¯ inside that battlefield.¡±

    Kang Taehoon and the board members nodded.

    ¡°His abilities will be doubled in strength, while his skills will increase by 1.5x and his HP by 5x.¡±

    Kang Taehoon continued to nod. That yer would be a True God, albeit temporarily, with this much power. It would be the only way for that yer topete against the God ss yers in the world. However¡­

    ¡°Can the yer that is qualified to be a True God really be able topete with almost 500 God ss challengers with just this?¡± One of the board members asked.

    Five hundred God ss yers were no joke; once they gathered, it would be very easy for them to sweep away an entire kingdom. A battlefield where they could unite and fight together should not be allowed to exist in the first ce.

    God ss yers were all strong individuals that had reached the peak of Athenae. Even if the one that qualified to be a True God became a God at that point, could he truly endure the onught of attacks of these monstrous beings?

    Kang Taehoon also agreed with this sentiment. Unfortunately, tripling all of his abilities temporarily would not work either.

    <em>¡®That would make hunting him impossible.¡¯</em>

    Assuming that the God yer was Level 600, tripling his abilities would make him reach Level 1,800. Once he reached that level, no one would be able to take him on, even if many God ss yers had gathered together to fight him.

    Then, Team Leader Park Minggyu opened his mouth and said, ¡°Gods have envoys that serve them.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The impact of Minggyu¡¯s words was very huge. Gods had priests and envoys that acted on their behalf and used some of their powers.

    ¡°The God yer will receive rewards every time they endure attacks from several yers or they win a battle against an iplete God. What if that reward gives him the power to summon an envoy¡¯? Or we can also do it differently by allowing the God yer to ce all of the envoys that he has in between him and the challengers.¡±

    ¡°¡­That would be the best.¡±

    ¡°That sounds really interesting.¡±

    It was a suggestion that drew a positive response. However, some of the board members still had questions.

    ¡°But what if the God yer doesn¡¯t have any envoys?¡± Department Head Kim Dae-Il asked. Actually, he was one of the few people that did not go to the Special yers Management Team. In other words, he did not see who the yer that met with Sword God Valen in the Abyss was.

    In fact, almost all of the board members did not witness that scene. On top of that, the moment Minhyuk cleared all thirteen gates of the Abyss, President Kang Taehoon sent a confidentiality agreement to all of the people that were present in the Special yers Management Team that day. He immediately made thorough preparations to hide who the yer was, even within Joy Co. Ltd.

    ¡°That¡¯s a needless worry.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡± Kim Dae-Il said. However, he still could not trust their words.

    <em>¡®No matter how many Named NPCse out, they won¡¯t be able to deal with hundreds of God ss yers. It doesn¡¯t make sense, you know?¡¯</em>

    On top of that, these were God-like yers they were talking about. Seeing the doubt on Kim Dae-Il¡¯s face, Kang Taehoon thought, <em>¡®It¡¯s possible. After all, his envoys are the Spear God, one of the Six Monster Gods, a demon, a great pirate, and the supreme divine beast.¡¯</em>

    ***

    Haze had a meeting with Minhyuk, who had met with Valen. The truth was, Haze was really worried about Minhyuk. But contrary to her expectations, Minhyuk was calm and relieved.

    <em>¡®Your final teachings. Thank you, Instructor.¡¯</em>

    Now, Minhyuk had to go back to his daily life. Before returning back to that life, Minhyuk handed over a ticket that he had filled out to Haze.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    However, Haze was rendered speechless when she saw the ticket that Minhyuk handed over to her.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s around 50,000 tinum. How many legendary rank artifacts and other valuable things did he get from there?¡¯</em>

    If they appraised all of the items, they probably would reach around 200,000 tinum. They were all of the things that Minhyuk had gotten from the Abyss.

    It was only at this moment that Minhyuk had the time to check the inheritance and legacy that Valen had left for him. The first thing that he checked was the ¡®Divine Sword¡¯s Hundred Swords.

    <em>(<strong>Hundred Swords</strong>)</em>

    <em>Active Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Mana Required</strong>: 4,000</em>

    <em><strong>Cooldown</strong>: 30 minutes.</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>¡±</em>

    <em>?A wave containing hundreds of swords would appear and extend to a radius of thirty meters. Once the wave falls, the hundred swords would deal an additional 4,000% damage per second.</em>

    <em>?Can trigger the abnormal state: difficulty in breathing.</em>

    <em>?Hundred Swords can be casted simultaneously with other skills.</em>

    <em>?Increasing the level of the Divine Sword has special requirements.</em>

    <em>?The skill will only increase in level if you receive Gods¡¯ praises or a message from the Gods.</em>

    The Hundred Swords was definitely overwhelming. Of course, it was true that the level of the skill was lower than when Valen attacked Minhyuk. Back when Valen attacked him, the skill dealt around 7,000% additional damage per second. It was a power that could wipe out Named NPCs.

    In fact, the damage had been lowered to 4,000%, but even that level was still extremely overpowered. There was actually a part that was better than Overlord¡¯s Technique.

    <em>¡®I don¡¯t need to collect and consume anything like Overlord¡¯s Mana or something.¡¯</em>

    That was right. The Hundred Swords did not need to consume anything else and only needed to consume MP. Considering that most of these outrageous skills get huge penalties, it could be said to still be a very powerful skill. What was even more noteworthy was its cooldown. Other pinnacle skills had cooldown that would take a few hours at the very least. However, the Hundred Swords could be used once every thirty minutes.

    Then, Minhyuk checked the skills that followed.

    <em>(<strong>Thousand Swords</strong>)</em>

    <em>Active Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Mana Required</strong>: ???</em>

    <em><strong>Cooldown</strong>: ???</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>????</em>

    <em>????</em>

    <em>????</em>

    <em>?The evolved form of Hundred Swords.</em>

    Even the Ten Thousand Swords and the Million Swords had been sealed.

    <em>¡®Considering that Hundred Swords is already this overpowered then¡­¡¯</em>

    What kind of power would a Million Swords exert? Minhyuk was looking forward to it. Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>[You have been given the right to participate in the Battlefield of the Gods as a ¡®God¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[You, the one that has been given the right to participate in the Battlefield of the Gods, will be a True God ss if you win.]</em>

    <em>[You, the one that has been given the right to participate in the Battlefield of the Gods, can summon your ¡®Envoys¡¯ depending on the contribution that you have umted.]</em>

    <em>[You will participate in the Battlefield of the Gods as a ¡®God¡¯ and fight against the ¡®challengers¡¯ in various ways.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk shuddered at the notifications. This was a chance for him to finally be a True God. Then, he looked carefully at the detailed description of the ¡®Envoys¡¯. Basically, the envoys referred to all of the Named NPCs under hismand.

    <em>¡®I have to bestow artifacts to them.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was left lost in thought. He knew that he had to bestow artifacts so that his envoys would be able to use more power. He realized the ¡®importance of artifacts¡¯ just recently. In Athenae, NPCs were also greatly affected by artifacts, the same way they could receive buffs from Minhyuk¡¯s buffed dishes. Just one ¡®God-rank¡¯ sword, one sword alone, and Ellie was able to reach the level of a ¡®Sword God¡¯

    <em>¡®Come to think of it¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was not a cksmith so it would be too much for him to prepare the artifacts that his Named NPCs would use. Of course, God of cksmiths Hepas¡¯ descendant, Hyemin¡¯sDaddy, was taking care of the artifacts but the fact that their weapons were still somewhatcking was still true.

    <em>¡®What if Ibine my power with Hyemin¡¯sDaddy¡¯s power¡­?¡¯ </em>Minhyuk thought, a small grin curling at the corners of his lips.

    However, there was also a problem.

    ¡°How many materials do we have in the territory that can make at least a legendary artifact?¡±

    ¡°We have around 28 of them. If you count the materials that each of the individuals have then we probably have more. However, that¡¯s their own items.¡±

    Minhyuk shook his head. Based on his calctions, there was an 80% chance of defeat the moment he heard the notifications of his participation in the Battlefield of the Gods. Of course, there was a way to increase that probability. The problem was¡­

    <em>¡®The number of materials on hand is a problem.¡¯</em>

    It also did not mean that Hyemin¡¯sDaddy would be able to make 28 legendary artifacts just because he had 28 materials on hand. It was already a good thing if he could make one or two of them. Just like how it was difficult to produce higher grade dishes, it was also hard to produce higher grade artifacts.

    Then¡­

    <em>¡®Should I try to use that?¡¯</em>

    There was a special reward that Minhyuk has not used yet.

    <em>[Would you like to use your one time chance to use Nerva Sephiroth¡¯s Treasure House?]</em>

    And that reward was none other than a special pass that would allow him to rob Nerva Sephiroth¡¯s Treasure House, a ce that seemed to have the most treasure in Athenae.

    ***

    Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s President Kang Taehoon thought, <em>¡®To be honest, Minhyuk¡¯s chances of winning are probably less than 10%.¡¯</em>

    No matter how many envoys he had, Minhyuk was, in the end, still an individual. It would be very difficult for him to deal with plenty of God-ss yers that had their own distinct personalities and abilities that set them off from the rest.

    Nevertheless, the reason why the Battlefield of the Gods was opening was that Minhyuk had reached the qualifications to be a True God six months earlier than intended. Unfortunately, Minhyuk was not strong enough to be a God. The main reason why he was qualified was because of his battle with Valen. But the victory was not entirely through his own efforts. It was Valen¡¯s sacrifice for him.

    Still, in the end, it was inevitable. They had to proceed with the n they had for the Battlefield of the Gods.

    <em>¡®I feel sorry for yer Minhyuk, but sometimes getting too far ahead of others will cause more problems instead of having advantages.¡¯</em>

    As the thought shed in Kang Taehoon¡¯s head, he looked at the notification that had been sent out to the one that would be a ¡®God¡¯ and the God¡¯s ¡®Challengers¡¯. These notifications being sent out meant that the Battlefield of the Gods had beenpletely opened and it would be hard to modify anything anymore.

    Then, at that moment, Kang Taehoon¡¯s phone rang. The one that was calling was the head of the Production Team.

    ¡°What¡¯s the problem?¡±

    <em>[President, we¡¯re in trouble. yer Minhyuk¡­ in Nerva Sephiroth¡¯s Treasure House¡­]</em>

    ¡°In the treasure house¡­?¡±

    <em>[He took Hepas and Arlene¡¯s All Creation Bundle.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Kang Taehoon immediately ran to the production team after he hung up his phone.

    There were not many artifacts that he remembered. After all, there were tens of millions of artifacts in Athenae. How could he remember them all, right? But among them, Kang Taehoon clearly remembered ¡®Hepas and Arlene¡¯s All Creation Bundle¡¯. This was because Hepas and Arlene¡¯s All Creation Bundle was an ¡®event¡¯ item. After rushing to the production team, Kang Taehoon quickly checked Hepas and Arlene¡¯s All Creation Bundle once again.

    <em>(<strong>Hepas and Arlene¡¯s All Creation Bundle</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: God</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>?There are 300 God-grade artifact materials and cooking ingredients that you can use.</em>

    <em>?Artifacts made from materials taken from Hepas and Arlene¡¯s All Creation Bundle will disappear after an hour of use. </em>

    <em>?Artifacts made from materials taken from Hepas and Arlene¡¯s All Creation Bundle will have a +5 strengthening effect if they reach the legendary rank.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: Hepas and Arlene¡¯s All Creation Bundle is an event item. Even if you produce a God-rank artifact or a God-grade dish, they will be consumable artifacts that disappear an hour after they have been used. Battle God Nerva Sephiroth nned to use it to distribute artifacts to the yers that sided with the empire as an event.</em>

    President Kang Taehoon gnawed at his lips.

    Hepas and Arlene¡¯s All Creation Bundle was an event item that was designed to give the yers the best weapon that they could use for an hour. But now, it had fallen into yer Minhyuk¡¯s hands. Also¡­

    <em>¡®We cannot ce a restriction on the envoys¡¯ artifacts since we have already made an announcement on them.¡¯</em>

    What if ten God-rank artifacts appeared?

    <em>¡®Spear God Ben equipped with a God-rank weapon, Lesser Demon equipped with a God-rank weapon, and the Great Pirate equipped with a God-rank defensive item¡­?¡¯</em>

    Kang Taehoon was sure that there would be many unimaginable things that would unfold.

 Chapter 633: The Sword Godâ€™s Inheritance

    Chapter 633: The Sword God¡¯s Inheritance

    In RPG events, announcements like this would often pop out:

    <em>[One time chance! Get your hands on the best weapon in the world today!]</em>

    Just once, only for today, or for an hour only. Events like this allowed the yers to grab and wield the ¡®best¡¯ weapons in existence, weapons that they otherwise could never hold in their lives. These were verymonce in RPG games. yers trembled at the thought of getting their hands on the best weapon in the world even just for thirty minutes, moring to collect materials or parchments that they could exchange with the event NPC merchant.

    After that, it would then be too easy to deal with the monsters that were far too strong for them before. Even the monsters¡¯ attacks, which could cut down almost half of their HP from before, only dealt a bit of damage. This was the effect of these weapons and the reason why the yers were very eager for events that allowed them to use them, even if for only a very short period of time.

    And now, something unbelievable had happened. Minhyuk could not believe that he had gotten his hands on an event item.

    <em>(<strong>Hepas and Arlene¡¯s All Creation Bundle</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: God</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>?There are 300 God-grade artifact materials and cooking ingredients that you can use.</em>

    <em>?Artifacts made from materials taken from Hepas and Arlene¡¯s All Creation Bundle will disappear after an hour of use. </em>

    <em>?Artifacts made from materials taken from Hepas and Arlene¡¯s All Creation Bundle will have a +5 strengthening effect if they reach the legendary rank.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong></em><em>: Hepas and Arlene¡¯s All Creation Bundle is an event item. Even if you produce a God-rank artifact or a God-grade dish, they will be consumable artifacts that disappear an hour after they have been used. Battle God Nerva Sephiroth nned to use it to distribute artifacts to the yers that sided with the empire as an event.</em>

    Minhyuk could only blink nkly at the description. No matter how much he looked at it, it was still very amazing. Three hundred God rank materials. The only downside was the fact that the artifact would disappear after an hour, even if they made a ¡®God-rank¡¯ item. But, what if thirty people were equipped with these God-rank artifacts?

    <em>¡®We can probably attack Nerva too, right?¡¯</em>

    It was not impossible. However, once an hour passed and the artifacts disappeared, they would be unterally pushed back and swept away. Minhyuk smiled happily at the very unexpected harvest. Then, he sent a whisper to Hyemin¡¯sDaddy.

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: Hyemin¡¯sDaddy, are you in the cksmith¡¯s workshop?]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Hyemin¡¯sDaddy</strong>: Yes. I¡¯ll be waiting here~ ^^]</em>

    Hyemin¡¯sDaddy was the descendant or sessor of God of cksmiths Hepas, and was probably the only person in Athenae that could create a ¡®God-rank artifact¡¯. But before meeting up with him, Minhyuk recalled another treasure house he had ess to. It was none other than Ruven¡¯s Treasure House. Ruven was the 20th Sword of the Gods and was someone that died because of Hanwoo and Minhyuk¡¯s extraordinary performance.

    <em>[Would you like to use your two chances to use Ruven¡¯s Treasure House?]</em>

    ¡°Yes,¡± Minhyuk answered as he closed his eyes. When he opened his eyes again, he was already inside Ruven¡¯s Treasure House.

    In front of Minhyuk was all of the silver and gold that Ruven had umted his entire life, piled up like a mountain. That was not all. Ruven had also umted plenty of spoils of war from killing his enemies.

    <em>¡®As expected, there are many artifacts here.¡¯</em>

    When Minhyuk entered Nerva Sephiroth¡¯s treasure house, he was able to see plenty of legendary-rank artifacts. He was sure that he would be able to see plenty of God-rank artifacts among them if he looked closely. It was to be expected of Nerva Sephiroth¡¯s Treasure House, a ce filled with countless treasures.

    In fact, if Minhyuk had chosen gold, then he would immediately be able to get 500,000 tinum right away. This just went to show how powerful and influential Nerva Sephiroth was. After all, they only killed a clone, but they were able to enter such a vast treasure house like this.

    So what about Ruven¡¯s Treasure House? The moment Minhyuk reached the ce where the gold coins were piled up, this notification rang¡­

    <em>[You can acquire 50,000 tinum.]</em>

    Fifty thousand tinum was a huge amount that an ordinary person could not even dare to dream of having in their life. However, it was different for Minhyuk. He had to find something far more valuable than the 50,000 tinum. It would be even better if he could find something that could be a game changer in the Battlefield of the Gods.

    Having walked for quite some time, Minhyuk was even able to find a God-rank ne among the items inside the treasure house. It was obviously a great item, but Minhyuk still put it on hold for now.

    <em>¡®I have to look further. I can¡¯t just focus on immediate gains.¡¯</em>

    There was a chance that God-rank artifacts would be avable to him easily sometime in the future. However, if he lost in the Battlefield of the Gods, then he might lose his qualifications forever. That was why Minhyuk had to be very careful with his choice here.

    Just as the thought shed in his head, a very wee voice, one that he had not heard in a long time, rang in his ears.

    <em>[I can feel Kronad¡¯s energy¡­]</em>

    That owner of the voice was none other than the entity sleeping inside the Puzzling Seasoning Jar.

    ¡°Kronad?¡±

    <em>[He¡¯s the first and greatest pope of Athenae Religion.]</em>

    ¡°Hmmm?¡±

    Minhyuk always thought that it was good to at least carry around the Puzzling Seasoning Jar around. It was because he was sure that his curiosity and doubt would always be resolved as long as he had it. After all, just like how there was information that only the yers knew, there was also information that only the NPCs knew. That was when Minhyuk found a very old ne with a worn-out cross pendant.

    ¡°Is it this ne?¡± Minhyuk asked, immediately checking the details.

    <em>(<strong>Kronad¡¯s Sealed Ne</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: ???</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: ???</em>

    <em><strong>Durability</strong>: ???</em>

    <em><strong>Attack Power</strong>: ???</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>????</em>

    <em>????</em>

    <em>?You can only use the power of Kronad¡¯s Sealed Ne once.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: This is an old and worn out ne that has been asleep for hundreds of years.</em>

    <em>¡®This is no good.¡¯</em>

    In the end, it was a sealed artifact. Even if Kronad was the first and greatest pope of Athenae Religion, if there was no way to unseal the ne, it made it worthless to Minhyuk. The biggest downside of this ne was the fact that itcked information.

    ¡°I see,¡± Minhyuk ced the ne down. Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>[That ne¡­ It''s something that I need. Can¡¯t you choose it for me?]</em>

    ¡°You need it?¡±

    <em>[That¡¯s right. I was originally $@$%@#%$$¡­ by Kronad. Also, the power hidden in Kronad¡¯s ne is $%#%#$%#%#.]</em>

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    A sh of confusion appeared in Minhyuk¡¯s face. It was because all of the important parts had been <em>beeped¡ª</em> out. He could not even hear anything. Which gave Minhyuk the idea that this was probably a precursor to an unopened story.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m not too sure but it might be pretty important information.¡¯</em>

    It sounded interesting.

    ¡°Who in the world are you?¡±

    Who was inside the jar and how was he rted to the story? Still, Minhyuk hesitated. He only had the words that the Grumpy Gochujang said and was still uncertain if he should choose Kronad¡¯s ne. Just as he was hesitating¡­

    <em>[I understand. You can just pick whatever you want. That¡¯s something that I need to solve anyway.]</em>

    ¡°Hmm.¡±

    The voiceing from the Puzzling Seasoning Jar turned sullen and downcast. Strangely enough, Minhyuk had already grown attached to him after all the conversations that they shared. Still, was choosing something like this when he needed to find a way to win the Battlefield of the Gods the wisest decision? After pondering for a while, Minhyuk picked up the ne again.

    ¡°Let¡¯s choose Kronad¡¯s ne then.¡±

    <em>[Would you like to choose Kronad¡¯s Ne?]</em>

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    <em>[You have acquired Kronad¡¯s Ne.]</em>

    The Puzzling Seasoning Jar, confused by Minhyuk¡¯s choice, turned silent for a moment. He then spoke up.

    <em>[Thanks. This grace¡­ I¡¯ll make sure to pay you back some day.]</em>

    ¡°Make sure to pay it back. If you go back on your words, then I¡¯ll make sure that I¡¯ll tip you over until you die.¡±

    <em>[¡­Right.]</em>

    The voice of the Puzzling Seasoning Jar was quite somber today. Minhyuk did not know yet, but the fact that he chose Kronad¡¯s Ne would be aplete game changer in the ¡®Battlefield of the Gods¡¯.

    After that, Minhyuk continued to look around for things that would be useful in the Battlefield of the Gods.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk stopped in front of an artifact.

    ¡°This¡­¡±

    The reason why he stopped¡­ Perhaps no one would choose such an artifact among all of those that would participate in the Battlefield of the Gods. But Minhyuk was sure that he would receive a huge boost in power with this artifact.

    <em>(<strong>Ring Connecting the King and his Vassals</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: Legendary</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: The One that has Vassals.</em>

    <em><strong>Durability</strong>: 2,000 / 2,000</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>?No matter where your vassal is or what your vassal is doing, you will be able to summon them unconditionally. Can only be used once a month.</em>

    <em>?To summon your vassal, you need to say the trigger words: ¡®If I¡¯m with you then¡­¡¯</em>

    Why did Minhyuk need such an artifact? It was because of the chance to summon Brod in the Battlefield of the Gods. Brod was one of the Swords of the Absolute Gods and was hailed as the 1st Sword of the Gods. He had left to fight for Minhyuk but there was one thing that Minhyuk was sure of. Brod was the strongest. In fact, he was sure that even God of Snakes Elizabeth or Spear God Ben would not be able to do anything against him.

    ¡°Then, I will choose the Ring Connecting the King and his Vassals.¡±

    And with that, Minhyuk finally left Ruven¡¯s Treasure House.

    ***

    Hyemin¡¯sDaddy was actually very worried.

    <em>¡®Producing God-rank artifacts¡­¡¯</em>

    He was obviously God of cksmiths Hepas¡¯ descendant. Although he was given that title, Hyemin¡¯sDaddy had never produced a God-rank artifact, despite producing around 48 legendary-rank artifacts already. That was how difficult the production of a God-rank artifact was. After all, they were something that could only be produced with a power that could transcend the limits, coupled with infinite luck.

    However, Minhyuk told him, <em>¡®Hyemin¡¯sDaddy, let¡¯s show the world the power of our Named NPCs equipped with God-rank artifacts.¡¯</em>

    ¡°Ha¡­¡±

    A sigh naturally came out of Hyemin¡¯sDaddy¡¯s mouth. For some reason, he felt like he wascking. On the other hand, <em>¡®Even if I want to make it, we don¡¯t have that many materials.¡¯</em>

    That was right. Aside from hiscking qualities, they also did not have any materials. After finishing all of the business that he had to do, Minhyuk came to the cksmith¡¯s workshop. Inside the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ cksmith¡¯s workshop, famous and well-known cksmiths, including Hyemin¡¯sDaddy, had gathered.

    Hyemin¡¯sDaddy tried to tell Minhyuk, who looked to be filled with expectations, that what he wanted to do was practically impossible. It was possible for him to make legendary rank artifacts, but it was impossible for him to make God-rank ones.

    ¡°Minhyuk, I think it will be difficult to produce God-rank artifacts with my power. My skills beingcking aside, we don¡¯t have much materials too, right? It¡¯s almost impossible to make a God-rank artifact out of legendary grade materials.¡±

    The other cksmiths also agreed with that sentiment. In fact, the other cksmiths here had never even seen a God-rank artifact in their lives at all.

    However, Minhyuk took out what seemed to be a huge bundle and said, ¡°Please check this.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡± Hyemin¡¯sDaddy said, taking the bundle into his hands with an expression filled with curiosity.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    After checking the details, he could not help but rub his eyes. It seemed like he could not believe what he saw. He could not help but look again.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Hyemin¡¯sDaddy voiced out his doubts, ¡°Is, isn¡¯t this an event item? Can, can we even have so many event items?¡±

    ¡°I got it by chance.¡±

    Hyemin¡¯sDaddy was delighted. As a cksmith, it was an honor for him to deal with so many God-rank artifact materials. However, his expression turned stiff as he said, ¡°But I don¡¯t think there¡¯s a way for me to make God-rank artifacts¡­¡±

    ¡°What if¡­¡± Minhyuk said, looking back at Hyemin¡¯sDaddy and the other cksmiths. ¡°What if I make a God-grade dish, from the ingredients in Hepas and Arlene¡¯s All Creation Bundle, specifically for you, Hyemin¡¯sDaddy?¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Hyemin¡¯sDaddy felt his body shake and tremble. He would be able to eat a God-grade dish? On top of that, Minhyuk¡¯s buffed dish waspletely overpowered. He was sure that he would be able to increase the level of hiscking skills significantly.

    ¡°It¡¯s definitely worth a try,¡± Hyemin¡¯sDaddy said as he rolled up his sleeves.

    ***

    Joy Co. Ltd.

    President Kang Taehoon, who stopped by the Special yers Management Team for a while, could not hide the anxiety that shed on his face. Team Leader Park Minggyu sat with him and took a sip of his coffee. He actually understood why Kang Taehoon was feeling that way.

    ¡°It¡¯s because of Hepas and Arlene¡¯s All Creation Bundle, right?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Since he brought it out, it means that he will use it in the Battlefield of the Gods.¡±

    Team Leader Park Minggyu could only smile bitterly at those words. He said, ¡°Is there really a need for us to worry?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°yer Minhyuk has created God-grade dishes a few times, but he has not produced any God-rank artifacts. Wasn¡¯t it only possible previously because he wished for the power of the God of cksmiths Hepas?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s also true. Hoo¡­ Is that so? Perhaps I¡¯m really worrying needlessly?¡±

    Originally, the True God should have only appeared six monthster. However, just the thought of Minhyuk having the chance to sit on the seat of a True God brought a lot of anxiety to Kang Taehoon.

    At that moment.

    <em>[Food God Minhyuk has seeded in making a ¡®God-grade¡¯ dish!]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Team Leader Park and President Kang looked at each other, shocked.

    <em>[Hepas¡¯ Descendant Hyemin¡¯sDaddy has created a ¡®God-rank¡¯ artifact for the first time!]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Their eyes grew wide at the notification that struck them a few hourster.

    On the other side of the world, Alexander, who was looking forward to the Battlefield of the Gods, heard a simr notification.

    <em>[Anonymous has sessfully created a ¡®God-grade¡¯ dish!]</em>

    ¡°¡­Is it Minhyuk? What did he make this time?¡± Alexander said, smiling.

    After a few hours of hunting.

    <em>[Anonymous has sessfully created a ¡®God-rank¡¯ artifact for the first time!]</em>

    And after another few hours.

    <em>[Anonymous has sessfully created a ¡®God-rank¡¯ artifact!]</em>

    ¡°¡­What in the world is happening?¡± Alexander mumbled out loud, doubt shing on his face.

    Japan¡¯s Kentaro also heard these two notifications in a row.

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±

    And again.

    <em>[Anonymous has sessfully created a ¡®God-rank¡¯ artifact!]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    For two days in a row, people from all over the world paid attention to the World Message. The notifications rang out at regr intervals.

    <em>[Anonymous has sessfully¡­¡®God-rank¡¯ artifact!]</em>

    <em>[Anonymous has sessfully¡­¡®God-rank¡¯ artifact!]</em>

    <em>[Anonymous has sessfully¡­¡®God-rank¡¯ artifact!]</em>

    Everyone that yed Athenae were all forced to stop from the shock that they received from the notifications.

    <em>[Anonymous has created five God-rank artifacts in a row!]</em>

    The final notification was the nail in the coffin, and the entire world was turned upside down.

 Chapter 634: The Sword Godâ€™s Inheritance

    Chapter 634: The Sword God¡¯s Inheritance

    Athenae¡¯s Great Saintess Loyna was currently having a meeting with the Athenae Religion¡¯s elders and popes.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s bad either. It seems like we can obtain a lot of benefits by forging a connection with the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and engaging in some exchange,¡± One of the popes said.

    The agenda that Saintess Loyna had presented this time was about constructing a temple in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, forging rtions, and an exchange with them.

    The Athenae Religion was known for not building a temple in other kingdoms or empires. However, Food God Minhyuk had made so many achievements that they were willing to overlook that.

    Great Demon Verus and God of Snakes Elizabeth were enemies that the Athenae Religion were tasked to kill and get rid of. It was Minhyuk that took the lead in dealing with them. He had also saved the lives of the Pope and Saintess Loyna in the past. Also, Saintess Loyna¡¯s position in the Athenae Religion had already grown to the point that more people believed in her than the popes.

    ¡°Shall we go to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, then?¡± Loyna asked.

    The pride of the elders and the popes had reached the skies. For them to go to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom to talk about the construction of the Athenae Religion¡¯s temple? That would mean that they would be the one losing their faces. Still, the elders and the popes were also humans.

    <em>¡®I heard that the Food God¡¯s dishes are so wonderful that you will be able to hear Athenae¡¯s voice once you have a taste.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®The members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect that have tasted his dishes are all full of praises.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®The members of Let¡¯s Eat Sect said that you would not be able to forget about it once you get a taste of it.¡¯</em>

    They were very curious. However, they were reluctant to be the one to make the first step. Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>Knock, knock¡ª</em>

    Someone knocked on the door. Once given permission to enter, a priest bowed politely and said, ¡°The Beyond the Heavens King, the Food God, is asking the Athenae Religion for support from our priests.¡±

    ¡°Support from our priests?¡±

    ¡°Yes. He asked for support from high-leveled priests that specialize in healing.¡±

    When the elders heard that, they thought that this was a chance.

    ¡°Ho, a priest specialized in healing? It seems like something urgent hase up. Since ¡®he¡¯ was the one that made the request first, how about we go and help him then?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not so bad. ¡®He¡¯s¡¯ the one that asked for support first after all.¡±

    ¡°Hahaha. Let¡¯s go and help him for ¡®one meal¡¯ each.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡± Loyna tilted her head in confusion after seeing their behavior. However, the pope took it a step further.

    ¡°He asked for high-leveled priests. Since he requested it first, then it¡¯s better if I go too. After all, this is the request that was ced by the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King.¡±

    ¡°There must be a patient in a critical situation. If I, a pope, go there personally, then the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom will owe me a favor.¡±

    In the meantime, the elders and popes continued to talk amongst themselves.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t we take this opportunity to treat all of the sick and ailing in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not bad either. Ah, why don¡¯t we also gather the priests that want to go to Beyond the Heavens?¡±

    Three hours after that talk¡­

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    Loyna could not help but look at them in doubt. There were around 500 high-leveled Athenae Religion priests. They were priests that could exert tremendous power and could be considered to be as powerful as the legends in the world. But that was not all; there were also nearly 10,000 priests that had gathered and were preparing to leave.

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    Loyna was confused. How many high-leveled priests did Food God Minhyuk actually ask for?

    <em>¡®No, more than that, what is Minhyuk asking the priests¡¯ help for?¡¯ </em>Loyna thought, thinking that it was a very serious matter.

    ***

    Before Minhyuk started cooking, he recalled his experience dealing with God-grade ingredients. It did not matter if it was an ingredient or material, as long as they were God-grade, they would have trials and adversities added to them. Even if Minhyuk was just cooking, there were times when he felt like his body was burning. There was even a time when he felt like he was digging through hundreds of kilograms of food with a tiny shovel.

    One thing was for sure. God-grade ingredients were not easy to use. Knowing this, Minhyuk thought that his HP would be insufficient for this, so he called for some priests toe to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    <em>¡®Hmm. I definitely need a heal shuttle.¡¯</em>

    This was especially the case for Hyemin¡¯sDaddy. Hyemin¡¯sDaddy was the descendant of God of cksmiths Hepas, and not a unique case like Minhyuk. This meant that Hyemin¡¯sDaddy¡¯s HP volume, defenses, and resistance to abnormal status were very low. Unlike Minhyuk, there was a high chance that he could die when producing the artifact. So, Minhyuk sent someone to the Athenae Religion to ask Saintess Loyna for this favor.

    <em>¡®Since they are busy people with high pride and egos, let¡¯s just ask for the support of three or four high-leveled priests.¡¯</em>

    This was how Minhyuk asked his letter of request to be delivered.

    That was right. Minhyuk had sent a letter of request to Athenae Religion¡¯s Great Saintess Loyna, not because there was a serious matter that they had to attend to, but because he simply needed a heal ¡®shuttle¡¯. However, Minhyuk certainly specified that three or four high-leveled priests were sufficient.

    High-leveled priests also had the power to increase a buff¡¯s duration. This was something that they needed. After all, the buff duration that they could get from Hepas and Arlene¡¯s All Creation Bundle was very short. With the high-leveled priests'' help, they could extend the buff duration, even if for a bit.

    <em>¡®From what I know, high-leveled priests can only increase the buff duration once a day. To make up for that, he¡¯ll just have to receive it over and over again.¡¯</em>

    However, there was no way that the Athenae Religion would send arge number of high-leveled priests to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Minhyuk sighed in disappointment. Then, he used his Create-a-Recipe skill on Hyemin¡¯sDaddy.

    <em>[Creating a recipe that the other party desires.]</em>

    <em>[You can now check the recipe for Pork Backbone Stew (Gamjatang).]</em>

    <em>[The amount of buff that can be used has been decreased due to creating a recipe.]</em>

    <em>(<strong>Gamjatang Recipe for Hyemin¡¯sDaddy</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Required Ingredients</strong>: Incarnation of Fire¡¯s Backbone, Arlene¡¯s Peri Powder, Peri Leaves Personally Grown by the God of Farming¡­(omitted)</em>

    <em><strong>Expected Dish Grade</strong>: Legendary ~ God</em>

    <em><strong>Expected Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?A +5 increase in the God of cksmith¡¯s Production and Crafting Skill.</em>

    <em>?A 250% increase in DEX.</em>

    <em>?A 70% decrease in production and crafting speed.</em>

    <em>?Probability of getting higher rank artifacts will increase significantly.</em>

    <em>?A +3 increase in all cksmith¡¯s skills.</em>

    <em>?Upon creation of a higher rank artifact, the probability of creating another artifact of the same ranking will increase by 200% within three days. Probability can be duplicated.</em>

    The effects were worthy of admiration. Also, Minhyuk was able to rece most of the required ingredients with ¡®God-rank¡¯ ingredients.

    <em>¡®Let¡¯s see. The Incarnation of Fire¡¯s Backbone can be reced by the Lava Pig¡¯s Backbone. The Peri Leaves Personally Grown by the God of Farming can be reced by Peri Leaves Grown on Dewdrops¡­¡¯</em>

    There was one fact that one could not overlook. Minhyuk was now recing all of the ingredients with ¡®God-grade¡¯ ingredients. While they were just one-time use of God-grade ingredients, their effects were still shocking.

    <em>¡®The moment I boil the Lava Pig¡¯s Backbone, I will receive a tremendous amount of me damage?! And what¡¯s with this peri leaf? Did they just ce anything and everything in the abnormal status?!¡¯ </em>Minhyuk thought, frowning, <em>¡®No, the Athenae production people put in things that people would not dare to try cooking anyway.¡¯</em>

    That was right. Although they were God-grade ingredients from Hepas and Arlene¡¯s All Creation Bundle, they seemed to be no different from the ingredients that Minhyuk had cooked before. If that was the case, he would likely suffer huge penalties the moment he started cooking.

    Just like Minhyuk had expected, the bigger problemid with Hyemin¡¯sDaddy. After all, he had to produce artifacts while suffering enormous damage, just like what Minhyuk had done, and would also experience. However, the probability of Hyemin¡¯sDaddy not holding out was very high.

    <em>¡®Perhaps it¡¯s really too much to ask him to make plenty of God-rank artifacts?¡¯</em>

    Still, Minhyuk looked forward to getting at least two or three.

    Just like that, Minhyuk began cooking. He soaked the gamjatang¡¯s backbone in cold water to drain the blood. Then, he started boiling it. And the moment he started boiling it¡­

    <em>Crackle!</em>

    mes soared from the pot where the pork backbone was boiling and engulfed Minhyuk.

    <em>Sizzlee¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­Minhyuk?¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty Minhyuk!!!¡±

    Hyemin¡¯sDaddy and the other cksmiths were appalled by what they saw. They were people that had rarely, perhaps even never, seen a God-grade ingredient being used.

    Minhyuk¡¯s HP rapidly decreased but he still kept on boiling the pork backbone. The only reason that he was able tost longer was because of potions and the priests¡¯ heal.

    Then, Minhyuk reached the point where he added the peri powder. The name of the peri powder was ¡®God of Explosion¡¯s Peri Powder¡¯.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Just like its name, the tiny powders of the peri powder exploded around Minhyuk, piling even more damage on him.

    ¡°Keheok!!!¡±

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 20%!]</em>

    <em>¡®That¡¯s how he made a God-grade dish¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®That¡¯s crazy.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Is this the weight that one has to bear if they dare to challenge the Gods?¡¯</em>

    As the explosions continued, Minhyuk tried to add peri leaves. At that moment, Haze rushed inside to give her report, ¡°Your Majesty, Saintess Loyna has just arrived but¡­¡±

    ¡°Loyna? Then, hurry up and ask for her help!¡±

    ¡°But¡­¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaargh! Haze, hurry!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!!!¡± Haze answered as she rushed back out.

    Then, Minhyuk was attacked by the peri leaves.

    <em>[The Venomous Witch¡¯s Peri Leaves are casting an abnormal status upon you.]</em>

    <em>[It has a powerful power that can ignore your Thousand Poison Immune Body.]</em>

    <em>[Your movements will be 60% slower.]</em>

    <em>[You will not be able to use potions.]</em>

    <em>[Your vision will turn white.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes started to spin as Hyemin¡¯sDaddy and the other cksmiths watched him in horror.

    <em>¡®Even if it¡¯s His Majesty Minhyuk, what can he even do against those overpowered, God-grade ingredients alone?¡¯</em>

    In fact, Minhyuk was also thinking, <em>¡®Did I underestimate the difficulty?¡¯</em> as his vision began to shake and tremble.

    ***

    Beyond the Heavens¡¯ cksmith Helm smiled bitterly as he looked at Minhyuk, who was about to copse. He thought, <em>¡®Is this person truly the king of a nation?¡¯</em>

    From what Helm could see, Minhyuk was just too reckless and foolish. Minhyuk had made several God-grade dishes. But this time, it was different. He was trying to make a dish by using several God-grade dishes together. Because of that, he was ced in a situation where he had to endure a huge disaster with his body alone.

    The surroundings were already in chaos as the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ priests shouted loudly.

    ¡°Save His Majesty!!!¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty Minhyuk!!!¡±

    ¡°Priests! Heal! Use Heal!!!¡±

    ¡°Our heals can¡¯t keep up!!!¡±

    ¡°We can¡¯t offset the abnormal status. It¡¯s too strong!!!¡±

    Helm had only been here for a week. He had high expectations for Beyond the Heavens. Helm clicked his tongue, thinking that he could at least see that man die while cooking. It would at least be worth his time.

    But then, at that moment, hundreds of voices rang loudly.

    ¡°Great Heal!¡±

    ¡°Great Heal!¡±

    ¡°Great Heal!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Although Helm was a cksmith, he was aware that Great Heal was something that only select high-leveled priests could use. On top of that, Great Heal was a skill that could easily exert three times the power of ordinary heal, and even had the effect that could help one increase their abnormal status¡¯ resistance.

    In an instant, hundreds of crosses made with light appeared in the air above them before falling down and wrapping around Minhyuk¡¯s body. A bright light burst out and healed the burnt flesh on Minhyuk¡¯s body, as well as the injuries that he suffered from the explosions before.

    <em>Swish¡ª</em>

    <em>Swish, swish¡ª</em>

    Four men wearing the stylish, golden papal uniform stepped forward. Leading them was Saintess Loyna, dressed in her pristine priest¡¯s robe. Behind them stood around 10,000 Athenae Religion priests. All of them stepped forward and said¡­

    ¡°Heal.¡±

    ¡°Heal.¡±

    ¡°Heal.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Helm¡¯s breath got caught in his throat. He was also aware that Minhyuk had asked for help from Athenae Religion just in case something happened. He thought that perhaps Minhyuk, as the king, asked for help like this, <em>¡®Send all the people that are free, something important has happened!!!¡¯</em>

    From what he could see, the Athenae Religion¡¯s popes, Saintess and priests had alle running at Minhyuk¡¯s beck and call. This was certainly very shocking. Were they telling Helm that the Athenae Religion¡¯s Saintess and popes were actually afraid of Minhyuk?!

    <em>¡®Crazy¡­!¡¯</em>

    Helm immediately threw out all mocking thoughts toward the Food God. Goodness, how could he not?! After all, Minhyuk just called for them once, but the four popes, the Saintess, and even ten thousand priests came here to be his heal shuttle!

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk, whose entire body had healed, thought, <em>¡®Why did those </em><em>hyungs</em><em> and Loyna suddenlye here¡­?¡¯</em>

    In fact, Minhyuk was the one that was most curious about why they came here. After all, he only asked for the support of three to four high-leveled priests.

 Chapter 635: The Sword Godâ€™s Inheritance

    Chapter 635: The Sword God¡¯s Inheritance

    Minhyuk almost faced the humiliation of being forced to log out from cooking gamjatang. Fortunately, with the help of Saintess Loyna, the four popes, and 10,000 priests of the Athenae Religion, he was able to continue cooking.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Still, the peri powder¡¯s strong explosion continued to engulf Minhyuk.

    <em>[The God of Explosions¡¯ Peri Powder¡¯s resistance has increased!!!]</em>

    <em>[The Peri Powder¡¯s explosion damage will triple!!!]</em>

    In just a single explosion, Minhyuk¡¯s HP had been cut down by 5%. However¡­

    ¡°Heal.¡±

    ¡°Heal.¡±

    ¡°Heal.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s HP immediately filled up after receiving heals from hundreds of priests. At first, the priests showed off their power all together. But after a while, they began to form a system when healing Minhyuk. Actually, they did not really know why they were giving heals to Minhyuk.

    Pope Carunu was the greatest among all of the living popes. Even he was wondering why he suddenly became Minhyuk¡¯s heal shuttle. He only ran after hearing that Minhyuk was in danger because he was curious about Minhyuk¡¯s dishes. But Minhyuk looked so busy that he did not dare to ask.

    ¡°Heal.¡±

    He just continued to use Heal.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack! The abnormal status casted by the Venomous Witch has be stronger!!!¡±

    As Minhyuk faltered, the priests tried to offset the abnormal status that was inflicted upon him. ¡°This abnormal status is beyond what we can handle.¡± The priests called out urgently.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Pope Carunu and the other popes used their ¡®Papal Authority¡¯ to release Minhyuk from the abnormal status. With that, Minhyuk¡¯s abnormal status was lifted.

    ¡°<em>Phew.</em> I¡¯m saved. Thank you. Mr. Popes, please keep on doing your heal shuttle¡­ No, I would be grateful if you continue on helping me.¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    Question marks began to pop up over the popes¡¯ heads. Why were they even healing him like this? As they continued with this system, Minhyuk was able to reach the end of his cooking. That was when Minhyuk recalled something.

    <em>¡®Come to think of it, high-leveled priests have the Goddess of Luck¡¯s Blessings, right? The skill that can increase the probability of sessfully making artifacts or dishes?¡¯</em>

    What was more, the Goddess of Luck¡¯s Blessings was something that could be ovepped. Of course, the increase in probability was very low.

    ¡°Guys, please give me the Goddess of Luck¡¯s Blessings!¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    The popes had not used the Goddess of Luck¡¯s Blessings for the longest time. It was because there was no reason for someone as great as them to use this power for anyone. However, they were now in a situation where they had already started to help. The first to cast the Goddess of Luck¡¯s Blessings was Saintess Loyna.

    <em>[You have received the Goddess of Luck¡¯s Blessings.]</em>

    <em>[Saintess Loyna¡¯s Blessings is very special!]</em>

    <em>[The probability of creating a sessful dish has be 10% higher than normal!]</em>

    Immediately after that¡­

    <em>[You have received the Goddess of Luck¡¯s Blessings.]</em>

    <em>[Pope Carunu¡¯s Blessings is special!]</em>

    <em>[The probability of creating a sessful dish has be 6% higher than normal!]</em>

    <em>[¡­Goddess of Luck¡¯s Blessings.]</em>

    Popes could usually increase the probability by 6%. With the two as the catalyst, the other high-leveled priests also began to use their own Goddess of Luck¡¯s Blessings.

    <em>[You have received the Goddess of Luck¡¯s Blessings.]</em>

    <em>[The probability of creating a sessful dish has be 0.8% higher than normal!]</em>

    As expected, the increase of probability that Saintess Loyna and the popes¡¯ had given to Minhyuk waspletely different from that of the ordinary priests. However, there were around 500 high-leveled priests that cast the Goddess of Luck¡¯s Blessings.

    <em>[¡­Goddess of Luck¡¯s Blessings.]</em>

    <em>[¡­Goddess of Luck¡¯s Blessings.]</em>

    <em>[¡­Goddess of Luck¡¯s Blessings.]</em>

    <em>[The probability of getting a higher-grade dish has increased to more than 80%!]</em>

    The corners of Minhyuk¡¯s lips started to curl. This gamjatang had three God-grade ingredients in it. Up until this point, Minhyuk had only ever made God-grade dishes with only one God-grade ingredient. The first reason was, it was a waste to use more than one. The second reason was, he could not do so even if he wanted to, since he did not have enough ingredients.

    Of course, it was only natural that the probability would increase the more God-grade ingredients were used in the dish. Especially when it came to the damage that he received from them. It was far more than usual. Finally, Minhyuk sprinkled green onions on top of the dish, marking itspletion.

    <em>[You havepleted a Gamjatang.]</em>

    <em>[Hyemin¡¯sDaddy¡¯s dish is the only dish with the buff effect.]</em>

    <em>[The Create a Recipe Skill Effect can only be tasted by the same person once per month.]</em>

    <em>[Trance. It¡¯s a dish that has your ¡®Pain¡¯, ¡®Spirit of Challenge¡¯, ¡®Unwavering Will¡¯ and ¡®Strong Stamina¡¯ poured into it.]</em>

    <em>[Due to the effects of Trance, the buff effect has be better.]</em>

    <em>[There are three God-grade ingredients inside this dish.]</em>

    <em>[The probability of getting a God-grade dish has increased significantly.]</em>

    <em>[You have made a dish that has reached a realm that no human has ever dared to touch.]</em>

    Along with that, a pir of light fell from the sky and engulfed the gamjatang.

    <em>[You have made a God-grade Gamjatang.]</em>

    <em>[¡®Anonymous¡¯ has been announced to the entire continent for your achievement in creating a food closest to God.]</em>

    <em>[The Food God¡¯s Cooking Skill has leveled up!]</em>

    <em>[You will now be able to make better dishes.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 100 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 200 REP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 10,000 AP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 300,000,000 EXP as a special reward.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    The popes, the Saintess and the priests panicked for a moment after seeing the bright light that fell down from the skies. In fact, this was a first for them. After all, they have never seen a foreigner create a God-grade dish before. On top of that, the divinity that appeared in front of them was like that of Athenae herself. Because of that, all of them knelt down.

    With that, all of the cksmiths and the residents of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom could not help but cheer loudly!

    ¡°Long live His Majesty Minhyuk!!!¡±

    ¡°Long live Beyond the Heavens!!!¡±

    As for the popes, they were all in awe.

    <em>¡®We must definitely forge a friendship with the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®We have to get closer with Beyond the Heavens.¡¯</em>

    Then, Minhyuk handed the God-grade gamjatang to Hyemin¡¯sDaddy. Of course, he immediately triggered his Joy of Eating Together skill. Then, at that moment, the four popes and Loyna approached Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk immediately stood up and shook hands with Saintess Loyna and the popes. And the popes all began to speak.

    ¡°I came running here because I heard that you needed the support of the Athenae Religion.¡±

    ¡°What kind of help do you need?¡±

    ¡°By any chance, did you see any signs of the Great Demon descending?¡±

    Minhyuk looked at the popes in doubt after hearing their words, ¡°Eh? I just needed someone to heal me. That¡¯s why I asked for three or four high-leveled priests for support.¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    Only then did they realize that the role that they, the popes and Saintess Loyna, came here to y: heal shuttles. However, none of them could say anything even if they had ten mouths. After all, Minhyuk did not even ask the popes and Loyna toe here. They were the ones that came running here on their own, having been caught up in their own thoughts.

    <em>¡®Maybe we can also eat that God-given food?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I was able to witness the creation of a great dish.¡¯</em>

    ¡°Then, then our job as a heal shuttle¡­ no, do you still need our help?¡±

    ¡°No, not at all. I think it¡¯s time for you to give heals to the cksmiths over there.¡±

    ¡°I, I see¡­¡±

    ¡°<em>Cough!</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Cough, cough!</em>¡±

    The popes felt like the tips of their noses had turned itchy and red. After seeing their expressions, Minhyuk could not help but chuckle deep inside.

    ¡°Ah, I¡¯ll treat everyone to a meal after everything here is done.¡±

    At that moment, a sparkle appeared in the eyes of the four popes and Saintess Loyna.

    ¡°Hahahahahaha!!! Leave these small things to us popes!!!¡±

    Pope Carunu pped the shoulders of the pope next to him and said, ¡°That¡¯s right!!! Absolutely right! Hahahaha. We¡¯ll do our best to help.¡±

    With just one word, Minhyuk was able to make the four popes, Saintess Loyna, and the ten thousand priests into his very own heal shuttle.

    ***

    Hyemin¡¯sDaddy looked at Minhyuk, who was having a conversation with the popes, with a smile on his face while thinking, <em>¡®As usual, you¡¯re amazing, Minhyuk.¡¯</em>

    Then, he looked at the gamjatang ced in front of him. He did not check the information of the dish on purpose. The gamjatang was still boiling and was filled with his favorite cabbage and peri leaves. Then, he scooped a spoonful of the soup and took a sip.

    ¡°<em>Sluuuurp.</em>¡±

    The deep vor of the soybean paste and various vegetables in the soup made him naturally go <em>¡®</em><em>Kghkk</em><em>¡­.¡¯.</em> Despite trying to remainposed, he unknowingly pped his hands. The taste made him crave for some soju.

    This time, he picked therge backbone and ced it on his te. The bottom of the te was instantly covered by the red sauce, as steam rose from the back bone. Surprisingly, the meat came off the bone with ease, when Hyemin¡¯sDaddy just softly touched it with his chopsticks.

    <em>¡®Restaurants serving gamjatang often serve backbones with tough meat. They also have a fishy smell too.¡¯</em>

    But Minhyuk¡¯s version was very soft and tender. When he ced the meat in his mouth, an even softer texture greeted him. It felt like the meat melted in his mouth.

    This time, he used his hand to pick up the big backbone after mixing some soy sauce and wasabi. Then, he dipped the backbone in the sauce with a slight green tinge and took a bite. It tasted sour, spicy, and sweet at the same time, which brought a smile to his face as he ced the backbone down for a moment.

    Then, Hyemin¡¯sDaddy ced a spoonful of the gamjatang soup on his rice, before cing some peri leaves and cabbage while thinking to himself, <em>¡®The softness of the cabbage in the gamjatang is just right, and it is also thoroughly covered in the soup.¡¯</em>

    Hyemin¡¯sDaddy scooped a mouthful of rice and ced everything in his mouth. The soft texture of the cabbage caused the smile on his face to grow wider. Then, he used adle to scoop some soup onto his own te. After that, he lifted the te and slurped everything in it.

    ¡°Ho¡­¡±

    The dish had a vor that one could not help but admire. After that, Hyemin¡¯sDaddy and Minhyuk enjoyed some fried rice together. Then, after finishing everything, Hyemin¡¯sDaddy closed his eyes and listened to the notifications that rang in his ears.

    <em>[You ate a dish from a recipe specially made for you.]</em>

    <em>[You won¡¯t be able to eat another dish from a recipe specially made for you for a month.]</em>

    <em>[You can¡¯t receive any duplicate buffs during the duration of the buff retention period.]</em>

    <em>[Gamjatang.]</em>

    <em>[Your God of cksmith¡¯s Crafting Skill will increase by +6 for one hour.]</em>

    <em>[You will be able to transcend the human realm and reach the level of the Gods!]</em>

    <em>[All of your cksmithing skills will increase by +4 levels!]</em>

    <em>[Your artifact production speed will decrease by 80%!]</em>

    <em>[Your DEX will increase by 300%!]</em>

    <em>[You are probably on par, or perhaps even greater than the God of cksmiths Hepas right now.]</em>

    <em>[You will temporarily receive a special privilege for transcending the human realm!]</em>

    <em>[All of your skills and abilities will temporarily increase by 1.4x!]</em>

    Hyemin¡¯sDaddy¡¯s body gave an involuntary shudder. He was given the power that could surpass even the God of cksmiths Hepas as of this moment.

    <em>¡®I might beparable to Hepas in terms of skills and power.¡¯</em>

    Those words meant that Hyemin¡¯sDaddy could be equal or be stronger than Hepas. He was also in a state where he transcended the limits of the human realm, and had be 1.4x stronger than before.

    <em>¡®This state will only remain for an hour¡­¡¯</em>

    Unfortunately, the time limit was just one hour. What could he even do in just an hour?

    ¡°Shuttles¡­ no¡­ Popes, Saintess Loyna and dear priests, please use the Prayer of Maintenance~¡±

    At that moment, Minhyuk spoke out, and the Saintess, the popes and high-leveled priests began to cast a prayer that only they could use. At the same time, Loyna¡¯s prayer fell upon Hyemin¡¯sDaddy¡­

    <em>[Prayer of Maintenance.]</em>

    <em>[With Loyna¡¯s prayer of maintenance, the buffed dish¡¯s duration willst 21 minutes longer.]</em>

    ¡°Haaa¡­ Haaa¡­¡± Loyna gasped for breath. It seemed like the Prayer of Maintenance used a lot more power than what others think.

    Immediately after that¡­

    <em>[Prayer of Maintenance.]</em>

    <em>[With Carunu¡¯s prayer of maintenance, the buffed dish¡¯s duration willst 13 minutes longer.]</em>

    <em>[Prayer of Maintenance.]</em>

    <em>[With Endo¡¯s prayer of maintenance...]</em>

    Those that had reached the peak of priesthood could only increase the buff duration by at least ten to at most twenty-five minutes. However, the number of high-leveled priests present here reached the hundreds. Because of that, Hyemin¡¯sDaddy¡¯s buff duration was constantly being increased. In the end, the total buff duration was¡­

    <em>[Your buffed dish¡¯s duration willst for 41 hours and 56 seconds!]</em>

    Hyemin¡¯sDaddy was delighted. Now filled with confidence, he looked back at Minhyuk.

    When he looked back, he saw the figure of an old man standing right next to the boy. That old man was Spear God Ben, and he was still using the spear that his son had given him a long time ago. But that spear was only a normal-rank spear with no other powers.

    ¡°I will make a great divine spear for Spear God Ben.¡±

    The chances of the half-God Spear God Ben bing a true and genuine God today was very, <em>very</em> high.

 Chapter 636: The Sword Godâ€™s Inheritance

    Chapter 636: The Sword God¡¯s Inheritance

    <em>(<strong>Spear Filled with Bennid¡¯s Love</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: Epic</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: Only Ben can use this spear.</em>

    <em><strong>Durability</strong>: 846 / 1,000</em>

    <em><strong>Attack</strong>: 679</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>?A +5 increase in STR, +4 increase in AGI</em>

    <em>?A 10% increase in spear mastery</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: This is a spear that is filled with love and care for his father, created by Bennid for Ben. His love is carefully engraved on the spear with the word ¡®Ben¡¯.</em>

    It might seem like an insignificant spear. However, Ben had kept and used this spear for decades.

    Hyemin¡¯sDaddy looked at this spear and grabbed it tightly with his hands. He had a daughter named Hyemin, who had leukemia. Hyemin was the apple of Hyemin¡¯sDaddy¡¯s eyes. He felt his heart break every time he saw the child get weaker by the day.

    <em>¡®God, why did you give me such an ordeal? Do not take this poor child, take me instead.¡¯</em>

    Every day, he prayed to God like this. That was just how parents were. That was why Hyemin¡¯sDaddy could understand how important this spear was to Ben.

    <em>¡®And that¡¯s how important His Majesty is to him too.¡¯</em>

    After all, Ben was willing to put down this spear for Minhyuk. Hyemin¡¯sDaddy could understand that too. After all, it was also thanks to Minhyuk that he could see Hyemin live a healthy and happy life.

    Hyemin¡¯sDaddy wanted to repay Minhyuk. He would do anything for Minhyuk, even helping the boy rise and be a God. He also wanted to make a wonderful spear for Ben, so that he would not regret putting down the spear that his son gave him, for Minhyuk.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!</em>

    <em>[God of cksmiths¡¯ Skill has been triggered!]</em>

    The God of cksmiths¡¯ Skill¡¯s level was increased by +6. With the triggering of this skill, a red current of energy appeared inside the smithy and surrounded Hyemin¡¯sDaddy¡¯s body.

    The items that Hyemin¡¯sDaddy intended to utilize for this spear was none other than ¡®God¡¯s Tree¡¯ and ¡®God¡¯s Ore Everedium¡¯. Of course, both were ¡®God-grade¡¯ artifact materials that Hyemin¡¯sDaddy had never dealt with in his life.

    Hyemin¡¯sDaddy began to hammer out the impurities from the ore.

    <em>aaaang¡ª! aaaaaang¡ª!</em>

    The ngs of metal resounded in the area as a loud roar erupted from deep within the ore.

    <em>¡°Graaaaaaaaaaaa!¡±</em>

    ording to the description of God¡¯s Ore Everedium, the ore contained the soul of a monster that once terrorized the world. The roar belonging to this monster, caused blood to flow from Hyemin¡¯sDaddy¡¯s eyes, ears and nose.

    <em>[Your HP is decreasing rapidly!]</em>

    However, it was manageable.

    ¡°Great Heal.¡±

    ¡°Great Heal.¡±

    ¡°Great Heal.¡±

    Because the priests that Minhyuk had kept on standby were all surrounding Hyemin¡¯sDaddy.

    <em>¡®I will make sure to repay you.¡¯</em>

    For the one that saved his beloved daughter, who was the apple of his eye, and for those that believed in that person and followed him, Hyemin¡¯sDaddy would give it his all and beat the ore as hard as he could.

    <em>aaaaaang¡ª! aaaaaaaaang¡ª!</em>

    ¡°Wow¡­¡±

    ¡°Crazy¡­¡±

    ¡°So, that¡¯s Hepas¡¯ descendant¡­¡±

    Each time Hyemin¡¯sDaddy beat the anvil with his hammer, a white light would sh and make his HP fall. Blood also continued to flow from his eyes, nose, and ears. Even the veins on his arms bulged and turned red from the roars of the monster that slumbered in the ore.

    <em>Blink¡ª</em>

    By now, Hyemin¡¯sDaddy¡¯s gaze had turned into a re. Even if his body recovered from a heal, his mental strength did not. It was already taking a toll on him. However, his ears were deaf to the sounds of the world. His now bloodied and red vision was solely focused on the ore that he was handling.

    ¡°Ha! Ha!¡±

    <em>aang¡ª! aaaang¡ª!</em>

    Everyone was transfixed by Hyemin¡¯sDaddy and what he was doing. Even Saintess Loyna, the popes and the priests around him could not take their eyes off of him.

    <em>Rumbleeee!</em>

    The ground shook and the skies roared.

    <em>¡®What is he?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He can even make the ground and the sky roar and tremble.¡¯</em>

    Then Loyna realized. She turned to look at one person, only to see that he was looking at Hyemin¡¯sDaddy with a soft and gentle smile on his face. He was none other than Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King, Minhyuk. Minhyuk was looking at Hyemin¡¯sDaddy, truly believing that he would be able to make it.

    ¡°<em>Roaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar</em><em>!!!</em>¡±

    A loud roar erupted and sent Hyemin¡¯sDaddy flying back, his back mming into the wall behind him.

    ¡°Urk¡­!¡±

    The priests immediately healed and cured his injuries, though when Hyemin¡¯sDaddy stood up, he was bent over from the impact before. That was when his eyes met Minhyuk¡¯s own.

    <em>¡®Don¡¯t worry.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I trust you.¡¯</em>

    The two trusted each other. The popes¡¯ mouths dropped open in awe. Even Pope Carunu could not help but smile softly at the scene, <em>¡®It¡¯s a good thing that I came to Beyond the Heavens.¡¯</em>

    Why was Beyond the Heavens Kingdom developing day by day? It was because of the deep bond between the king and his vassals. At that moment, Pope Carunu thought that he finally understood why Saintess Loyna cared for and treasured Food God Minhyuk dearly.

    <em>Vwoooooooooong¡ª</em>

    A st of red energy appeared in the air and began to spin fiercely. As Hyemin¡¯sDaddy continued to endure and work hard despite the never-ending pain that was wreaking havoc throughout his body, the notifications rang in his head.

    <em>[Your concentration has reached the pinnacle!]</em>

    <em>[Even the Gods are surprised by your concentration!]</em>

    <em>[God of cksmiths Hepas is in awe of your amazing concentration!]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will increase by +5!]</em>

    <em>[You have activated the skill: Unwavering and Resolute cksmith!]</em>

    <em>[Your mental fatigue has disappeared. All of your stats have increased by 24%. Your DEX has increased by 28%. Your skills¡¯ levels have increased by a small amount!]</em>

    With those notifications, Hyemin¡¯sDaddy¡¯s movements grew more sophisticated and faster. Hyemin¡¯sDaddy¡¯s muscles bulged and moved with every hammering until he finally finished the tip of the spear. Even then, he did not stop, immediately moving to make the body of the spear. As if on cue, sharp branches stretched out and stabbed Hyemin¡¯sDaddy all over the moment he touched God¡¯s Tree.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡±

    <em>[Your HP is decreasing rapidly!]</em>

    <em>[Your body has be rigid and stiff!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 10%!]</em>

    Even if he had the support of the priests and the popes, they would not be able to do anything if Hyemin¡¯sDaddy¡¯s HP turned zero.

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    The hammer in Hyemin¡¯sDaddy¡¯s hand fell down as his body turned rigid in an instant. Everyone that watched him gulped dryly in nervousness. Then, they watched as Hyemin¡¯sDaddy picked up his hammer with trembling hands. There was no turning back, all that was left for him was to continue moving forward.

    Suddenly, a thick branch appeared from the God¡¯s Tree and wrapped around his body. The branch tightened its grip on his body and tried to squeeze his neck. Seeing that, the popes and Saintess Loyna became flustered.

    ¡°Our powers can¡¯t release him¡­?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s the only one that can cut down that branch.¡±

    Hyemin¡¯sDaddy, who was being squeezed by the branch, moved and exerted his powers.

    <em>[You have activated the skill: Clueless cksmith!]</em>

    <em>[Nothing will be able to interfere with your production for an entire minute!]</em>

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    The branches that were wrapped around his body tightly, suddenly disappeared as his skill cut them down. Hyemin¡¯sDaddy¡¯s eyes glinted sharply as he used God¡¯s Tree to create the body of the spear. God¡¯s Tree was a material that was incredibly white and pristine.This white wood was now being made into the body of the spear.

    The production process might seem to be long. However, it was a process that had already been reduced by 80%, thanks to the increase in Hyemin¡¯sDaddy¡¯s crafting speed. And since 80% of the time had been reduced, the gluing process had been significantly reduced. Hyemin¡¯sDaddy was able to connect the de and the body of the spear in an instant. Then, he added the red cloth that Spear God Ben had always tied around the tip of his spear toplete the artifact. Then¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    A huge pir of light appeared and struck down from the sky above them. At the same time, notifications rang loudly and continuously in Hyemin¡¯sDaddy¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You have made the God Piercing Spear.]</em>

    <em>[The God Piercing Spear is God-rank.]</em>

    <em>[¡®Anonymous¡¯ has been announced to the entire continent for your achievement in creating a spear closest to God.]</em>

    <em>[The God of cksmiths¡¯ Skill has leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You will now be able to make better artifacts.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 100 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 200 REP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 10,000 AP.]</em>

    <em>[You have received 300,000,000 EXP as a special reward.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[¡­leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[Your ¡®passion¡¯, ¡®love¡¯ for crafting, and your ¡®dedication¡¯ to your king has been poured into the spear that was created solely for Spear God Ben.]</em>

    <em>[You are God of cksmiths Hepas¡¯ descendant.]</em>

    <em>[You overcame your limits and reached a new level.]</em>

    <em>[Your probability of creating God-rank artifacts has increased by 40%!]</em>

    <em>[Your probability of producing God-rank artifacts has increased to 50%. This willst for a week.]</em>

    <em>[Thanks to the effects of the gamjatang, your probability of producing a God-rank artifact has increased to 200%!]</em>

    <em>[The effects have ovepped!]</em>

    <em>[The God of cksmiths is looking at you with a pleased smile.]</em>

    <em>[The God of cksmiths increases your probability of creating God-rank artifacts by 200%!]</em>

    <em>[Plenty of Gods have started to pay attention to you.]</em>

    <em>[Something surprising has happened!]</em>

    <em>[The Absolute Gods have started to pay attention to you!]</em>

    Plenty of the Gods that ruled the world were watching Hyemin¡¯sDaddy. The reason?

    <em>[The Gods are curious about you, who overcame his own limits and created a God-rank artifact!]</em>

    That was right. The truth was, by his own strength, Hyemin¡¯sDaddy was truly incapable of producing God-rank artifacts. However, Minhyuk¡¯s dish, the popes, the priests, the Saintess, and Hyemin¡¯sDaddy¡¯s firm determination to somehow repay Minhyuk, had all contributed and created this result.

    <em>[Something special might happen to you.]</em>

    Those notifications rang in Hyemin¡¯sDaddy¡¯s ears.

    Meanwhile, the popes, the Saintess and the priests could not take their eyes off of him and the spear in his hand. The spear was made with a beautifully crafted de and a body made with pristine white wood that was engraved with the word ¡®Ben¡¯. Hyemin¡¯sDaddy gasped, the muscles in his arms bulging as he grabbed the beautiful spear tightly.

    Even the hundreds of thousands of people, including the executives and Named NPCs of Beyond the Heavens that rushed to the source of the pir of light, could not take their eyes off of Hyemin¡¯sDaddy¡¯s cool figure. In fact, the Absolute Gods were still watching Hyemin¡¯sDaddy, who took one step at a time as he moved to do what he needed to do next.

    Now, Hyemin¡¯sDaddy had gained the title of someone that had made a ¡®God-rank¡¯ artifact and the very first cksmith at that too. What he did next was simple. He approached the young man in front of him, knelt down on one knee, and presented the spear that he made, to his benefactor and his king, Minhyuk.

    ¡°This humble servant dedicates this spear to you, Your Majesty!!!¡±

    Hyemin¡¯sDaddy was very clever and quick-witted. He was aware that the popes, the priests, the Saintess, and hundreds of thousands of people and Named NPCs were watching his every move. What he wanted to do here was to show his eternal loyalty and promote his king¡¯s greatness and majesty.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The impact of his actions was huge. It was showing them that the God of cksmiths made this spear for Minhyuk, and Minhyuk alone.

    Minhyuk looked down at Hyemin¡¯sDaddy.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Minhyuk¡¯s soft and gentle voice rang in everyone¡¯s ears.

    He made a God-rank spear just for his king?! This was something that they showed at a time when many of the Gods were watching. Then, a petal suddenly fell from the sky andnded on the spear.

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods, the one that loves cooking, praises the bond between the king and his vassal.]</em>

    <em>[The consumable artifact God Piercing Spear¡¯s maintenance time has increased by ten minutes!]</em>

    Immediately after that, dozens of petals fell down from the sky andnded on the spear.

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods, the one that loves helping others, praises¡­king and his vassal.]</em>

    <em>[The consumable artifact God Piercing Spear¡¯s maintenance time has increased by ten minutes!]</em>

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods, the one that rules over the dead, praises¡­king and his vassal.]</em>

    <em>[The consumable artifact God Piercing Spear¡­]</em>

    The popes, Saintess Loyna, and the priests knelt down in reverence as they watched the Gods¡¯ praisesnd on the spear. Even the citizens, troops, and yers of Beyond the Heavens that saw this scene all knelt down on one knee.

    The sight of hundreds of thousands of people kneeling down in front of the two was a magnificent and spectacr sight to behold. They all watched as the man that created the God-rank artifact politely and carefully dedicated the weapon that he created to his king, who was smiling softly at him.

    At the same time, the greatest and most beautiful flower fell down from the sky andnded gently on the spear.

    <em>[The greatest God, the God that rules over all creations, praises the bond between the king and his vassal.]</em>

    <em>[The praises of the Absolute God and the Greatest God dwell in the God Piercing Spear!]</em>

    <em>[A change has urred in the God Piercing Spear at the appearance of the Greatest God¡¯s praise!]</em>

    <em>[The God Piercing Spear has changed into a semi-permanent weapon!]</em>

    Minhyuk, who was looking at Hyemin¡¯sDaddy, epted and checked the details of the God Piercing Spear.

 Chapter 637: The Sword Godâ€™s Inheritance

    Chapter 637: The Sword God¡¯s Inheritance

    <em>(<strong>God Piercing Spear</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: God</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: Level 600 or higher, Spear Master or higher.</em>

    <em><strong>Durability</strong>: ¡Þ / ¡Þ</em>

    <em><strong>Attack</strong>: 2,308</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>?A 38% increase in STR, AGI and STM.</em>

    <em>?A 50% increase in basic attack power.</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Spear High Level Mastery increases to Level 9.</em>

    <em>?An 80% increase in stabbing power.</em>

    <em>?Probability of dealing a critical hit increases by 70%.</em>

    <em>?All spearmanship skills¡¯ levels will increase by +2.</em>

    <em>?Spearmanship skills¡¯ damage will increase by 1.4x.</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Double Attack</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Spear God¡¯s Wind</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Spear God¡¯s Authority</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Spear God¡¯s Bull</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Spear God¡¯s Descent</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: This is a spear created by God of cksmiths¡¯ Hepas¡¯ descendant, Hyemin¡¯sDaddy, for Spear God Ben. Surprisingly, it is a spear that received the praises of several Gods, including the God of Origin that ruled all of creation. As a result, the spear, which was once a consumable item, has turned into a semi-permanent item. It can now be used for thirty minutes a day before being sealed again.</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk felt his hand shake as he looked at the description. Initially, sine he knew that it would be a consumable item, he felt that it was truly a pity. However, it had now changed into a semi-permanent one.

    <em>¡®It can be used for thirty minutes per day.¡¯</em>

    The merit of this item had be huge. Why? Because an ordinary battle would notst for more than an hour. On top of that, the God Piercing Spear was also filled with extremely OP skills and effects.

    The spear had a 1.4x increase in spearmanship skill damage. There was also the passive skill: Double Attack. It was a skill that gives the one that used the spear an 80% chance of triggering another attack with the same damage. Simply put, it was a cheat-like skill.

    There was also the Spear God¡¯s Wind, a skill that had a 50% chance of triggering a 70% increase in attack speed and movement speed for ten seconds upon a sessful stab or m on an enemy.

    What about the passive skill: Spear God¡¯s Authority? It was a skill with the power that could attract and charm other spearmen and could allow the one that possessed this skill to rule them all.

    <em>¡®This is freaking crazy¡­¡¯</em>

    If Minhyuk was someone that used a spear, this was definitely an item that he would covet.

    As for the Spear God¡¯s Bull? It was a skill that could leave one¡¯s mouth hanging open. Why? Once the spear was used to stab, the spear light that would extend from it would transform into a bull and charge forward, dealing at least 6,800% additional damage to the enemies.

    That was not all, it even had a 100 meter radius of effect. Assuming that the enemies were ced at two meter intervals, then the effect would be tremendous. On top of that, the Spear God¡¯s Bull would also inflict a random abnormal status on the opponent upon contact.

    What about the Spear God¡¯s Descent? It was a skill that had a -1 in all stats as a penalty, in exchange for a 1.5x increase in skills and stats for five minutes. The effect of the skill was powerful enough that it could easily allow them to ignore the penalty. After all, how devastating would it be if Spear God Ben grew 1.5x stronger while wielding a divine spear like that?

    Just then, a thought shed in Minhyuk¡¯s head, <em>¡®Right now, Ben¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk wondered what would happen if Ben fought against Brod right now. It was a fight that he could not really predict the oue. Brod was the 1st ranked God''s Sword in the past. As for Ben? He had be a Spear God that just gained a divine spear, which would give him a tremendous boost in strength.

    Minhyuk held the spear tightly in his hand as he turned to Ben and said, ¡°I bestow this spear upon Knight Ben.¡±

    ¡°I am very grateful for your benevolence, Your Majesty!!!¡± Spear God Ben said as he knelt down on one knee and respectfully received the God Piercing Spear.

    Everyone could see how Ben¡¯s eyes grew wide after he took a step back and checked the spear¡¯s information. Ben had decided to ept this new spear, even to the point of putting away the spear that his own beloved son has gifted to him. The reason? It was all for Minhyuk. Only if Ben became stronger would he be able to protect Minhyuk and allow him to be a True God. Ben could not help but shudder in excitement as he looked at the spear that was just born, that he was currently holding in his hands. The joy he felt was solely because he would be able to protect Minhyuk with this.

    As for the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Named NPCs, all of them gulped dryly at the sight of Ben holding his new spear. It was only natural. Every living being had a thirst for bing strong. And, the best and fastest way for someone that had faced their limits to be stronger was to gain a new and better artifact.

    Then, at that moment, Hyemin¡¯sDaddy started hammering once again.

    ¡°Please rest a bit¡­¡±

    ¡°No. It has to be now. Right now, I have the highest probability of creating another God-rank artifact. The Gods¡¯ benevolence and praise has increased my probability of creating a God-rank artifact by around 250%.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­¡±

    In fact, Saintess Loyna and the priests had also increased his probability of producing God-rank artifacts. That was why Hyemin¡¯sDaddy firmly believed that this was the best opportunity for him to create several God-rank artifacts in a row.

    Besides, the effects of gamjatang had also increased his probability by another 200%. This is where the words ¡®this can be ovepped¡¯ woulde into y. If Hyemin¡¯sDaddy was able to produce a second God-rank artifact, the probability would then increase to 400%. And if he could produce a third, it would increase to 600%. Once it added up with the other % increases, the effects would be huge.

    Hyemin¡¯sDaddy stood in front of the anvil to produce another artifact for another person. The reason for this person was because of Minhyuk¡¯s words. The second person to receive the second artifact would be none other than Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Shield, Elpis.

    ***

    Many people were looking forward to the opening of the Battlefield of the Gods. All of them were curious as to who would be God for a moment and who the challengers that would stand up against him. Just the thought of the face-off was enough to bring thrill and excitement.

    Above all, everyone was curious about who was the one that actually cleared the Abyss and qualified to be a God.

    <em>[Maybe it¡¯s Food God Minhyuk?]</em>

    There was never a time that Minhyuk entered the Abyss with his face, he always made sure to use the Great Demon Verus¡¯ Mask and entered with the face of an ordinary person. Because of that, there had been no rumors nor posts about seeing Minhyuk enter the Abyss. However, Minhyuk was hailed as the current best ranker in the world so his name was mentioned.

    <em>[There are enough grounds for us to consider Food God Minhyuk. However, I think it¡¯s either Absolute Monarch Richard or Lu Bai, the one that climbed to the Savior ss.]</em>

    It did not mean that one would be a True God just because they climbed the ranks of an Absolute God ss, that was why it was still possible that Minhyuk was the one that did it.

    <em>[How about Gods¡¯ Children?]</em>

    <em>[We also can¡¯t rule out the possibility that it¡¯s them.]</em>

    A lot of guesses and spections were being thrown around. Who would be God? Who would be the challengers? By any chance, were they the unofficial rankers that were working in secret?

    <em>[Wasn¡¯t Crazy Tyrant Akhan a God ss too?]</em>

    It had been a long time since that name was mentioned. But just like Food God Minhyuk, Akhan was also one of the most talked about figures. After all, he was the biggest viin and one of the most influential figures in Athenae.

    As people wondered about who would be God, they eventually began specte about what would happen.

    <em>[Akhan canmand a huge number of named monsters. If it¡¯s him, then the Battlefield of the Gods would probably be the most spectacr one. Just think about it. Akhan could lead millions of named monsters. There must be mythical monsters among them, right?]</em>

    <em>[Kghhk¡­ but he¡¯s a freaking bad guy¡­]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s going to be cool, but¡­]</em>

    <em>[Then, what if it¡¯s the Food God?]</em>

    <em>[The Food God¡­ hmmm¡­]</em>

    The people began to ponder. What could the Food God show in the Battlefield of the Gods? If the Food God ate his own buffed dish, he could easily ughter dozens of challengers in one go. Also¡­

    <em>[Each and every single one of his envoys are the best NPCs. Unfortunately, Ellie, the Dragon King, Loyna, Gremory, and many others are not his vassals.]</em>

    <em>[Compared to Akhan, I think he will perform less as a God?]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s right. The biggest problem for him is that even though he can summon his ¡®envoys¡¯, the envoys will not experience any ¡®adjustment¡¯ effect.]</em>

    That was right. The God would be able to summon an envoy, but the envoys would not be stronger, like their God. As usual, everything was about having power and strength.

    If the envoys could receive an adjustment effect, like their God, then the story would be different. However, no matter how strong the Named NPCs of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were, they would have a hard time dealing with the God sses that had reached the pinnacle of their own fields without the adjustment effect.

    <em>[Instead of that, the Food God can make them stronger with his buffed dishes. If that¡¯s the case, then they would not perform too badly either.]</em>

    Yes. It would not be too bad either if Food God Minhyuk was the God. However, the people did not think that any of the God sses that they have mentioned would be a True God. The reason?

    <em>[No matter how strong they could be, they would still be up against hundreds of God ss challengers. They might have OP skills, but these are skills that incur penalties. In the first ce, this is what Joy Co. Ltd. wanted to show everyone. Any challenger that takes the ce of the God will also run into this same wall. </em>

    Many people firmly believed that Joy Co. Ltd. had no intentions of producing a True God ss yet. On top of that, it was a situation where they were having a discussion that was supported with realistic takes and opinions.

    <em>[Then, what would the person qualified to be a True God need to win?]</em>

    Then, one of the yers said¡­

    <em>[Hmm¡­ I think it would be possible if Crazy Tyrant Akhan and Food God Minhyuk worked together?]</em>

    Indeed, it would probably only be possible if it was that much. However, everyone clicked their tongues saying that it was pure and utter nonsense.

    ***

    If the Food God and Akhanbined their powers, then they might be able to deal with the several God sses that would challenge the Battlefield of the Gods. That was actually apletely absurd and impossible story. However, something simr was currently happening.

    What would happen if Minhyuk¡¯s vassals had eaten his buffed dishes and were equipped with Legendary and God-rank artifacts in the Battlefield of the Gods? Then, they would be able to exert power simr to Minhyuk and Akhan working together.

    Hyemin¡¯sDaddy was, in fact, still working hard on producing artifacts. His speed in creating artifacts was actually several times faster than his normal speed. In fact, he had produced as many as three artifacts in just the span of an hour. In fact, the artifacts that he was producing now were for God of Snakes Elizabeth. However, there was a problem.

    <em>[You have made a Ne that Sparkles For You!]</em>

    <em>[The artifact is Epic-rank!]</em>

    <em>[You have made Fappro¡¯s Sword!]</em>

    <em>[The artifact is Unique-rank!]</em>

    The first and second were failures. Then came the third.

    <em>[You have made the Divine Demon¡¯s Sword!]</em>

    <em>[The artifact is God-rank!]</em>

    <em>[You have made two God-rank artifacts in a row! The additional 200% chance of creating another God-rank artifact has been ovepped!]</em>

    <em>[Plenty of Gods are watching you with interest.]</em>

    <em>[Plenty of Gods are praising you and your achievements.]</em>

    <em>[Your chances of producing a God-rank artifact has increased by 300% thanks to the Gods¡¯ praises!]</em>

    It seemed like the Gods were also enjoying what they were watching. Since the artifacts that Hyemin¡¯sDaddy was making were consumable, they did not spare anything and gave him their unlimited support.

    Ever since he started, Hyemin¡¯sDaddy had gained a considerable amount of power. As for those that were looking forward to whatever he would produce, they were the ones that had never seen Hyemin¡¯sDaddy contribute much in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Because of that, this spectacle left them in awe. After another few hours of crafting and production¡­

    <em>[You have made ¡°For Elizabeth¡±!]</em>

    <em>[The artifact is God-rank!]</em>

    <em>[You have made three God-rank artifacts in a row! The additional 200% chance of creating another God-rank artifact has been ovepped!]</em>

    <em>[Something special might happen if you produce five God-rank artifacts in a row!]</em>

    Hyemin¡¯sDaddy became very curious about what would happen if he created five God-rank artifacts in a row.

    <em>[The Great God that controls all of creation gulps their saliva as they watch you.]</em>

    Hyemin¡¯sDaddy continued to hammer away at the anvil. And one after another¡­

    <em>[You have made a Sword for the Mercenary that Left!]</em>

    <em>[The artifact is God-rank!]</em>

    <em>[¡­in a row¡­]</em>

    Minhyuk had requested an additional artifact for him, someone that Minhyuk also wanted to see so much, and someone that he might possibly see in the Battlefield of the Gods.

    As for the fifth sword, it was made for Great Pirate Gorfido, who had now be Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Great Fisher King. This sword was made for him, and him alone.

    <em>[You have made a Sword for the Greatest Fisher King!]</em>

    <em>[The artifact is God-rank!]</em>

    <em>[Fifth¡­]</em>

    <em>[Something special will happen!]</em>

    ¡°Fwaaaa¡­¡±

    At that point, Hyemin¡¯sDaddy finally lost his grip on his hammer.<em></em>His body that was soaked in sweat heaved as his breath turned rough and ragged. Then, it happened.

    <em>[The easter egg for Hepas¡¯ Descendant¡¯s ss has been triggered!]</em>

    <em>[You will now be a father figure to all of the cksmiths in the world. You will be their role model and example!]</em>

    <em>[The Hepas¡¯ Descendant¡¯s ss will now change from a God ss to an Absolute God ss!]</em>

    <em>[You are the fourth Absolute God ss that has appeared in the world!]</em>

    <em>[All of your skills and stats will change!]</em>

    <em>[You are now given the opportunity to unconditionally create a God-rank artifact!]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Everyone in the area heard the notifications. Minhyuk, who was among them, stared at Hyemin¡¯sDaddy in shock, a small smile curling at the corner of his lips.

    Hyemin¡¯sDaddy wanted to tell the boy that he had now be an Absolute God ss.

    <em>¡®I am someone that will live for you.¡¯</em>

    That was right. Minhyuk was someone that deserved to have an Absolute God ss by his side. He was that kind of man.

    Hyemin¡¯sDaddy said, ¡°We don¡¯t have much time.¡±

    Minhyuk looked at him and gulped dryly as he continued, ¡°I will make a God-rank artifact for you, Minhyuk.¡±

    Minhyuk shuddered at those words. Someone was willing to make a God-rank artifact for him. It was very thrilling. In fact, it made him unconsciously utter words of exmation, ¡°Freaking, freaking amazing¡­¡±

    That was right. It was freaking amazing.

 Chapter 638: The Battlefield of the Gods

    Chapter 638: The Battlefield of the Gods

    The announcement about the participation for the Battlefield of the Gods, something that the entire world had been waiting for, was finally released. Manymentators from all over the world began to discuss the announcement.

    <em>[Joy Co. Ltd. has finally revealed how to participate in the Battlefield of the Gods.]</em>

    <em>[The Battlefield of the Gods will be divided into two portions.]</em>

    <em>[The first part is the ¡®Siege Battle¡¯. During this siege battle, ¡®God¡¯ will be protecting his temple. It is also said that God can call for his ¡®Divine Army¡¯. </em>

    <em>[ording to the announcement, God canmand a total of 100,000 Divine Army troops. If God is the lord or a king of a territory then, they will be able to call for their own troops as long as they are equivalent to the 100,000 Divine Army troops.]</em>

    <em>[There¡¯s also the ¡®Envoy Summoning¡¯, something that God can use to call for their Named NPCs. However, this is something that can only be done using contributions. Also, if God does not have any Named NPCs, they will be only able to summon the Named NPCs that Joy Co. Ltd. has prepared for them.]</em>

    <em>[The rules are simple. The challengers only need to drive out the Divine Army that blocks their way and make their way to ¡®God¡¯s Temple¡¯ and cut down God.]</em>

    <em>[However, if God ughters his enemies, then he will receive very high contributions. So, if they get killed here, then all the challengers could do is to wait for the next trial.]</em>

    <em>[The challengers are also able to call for an army called ¡®God¡¯s Antagonists¡¯. The Divine Army troops¡¯ level will be around Level 400~500, which means that God¡¯s Antagonists level will also be around the same level. However, they will be a little special.]</em>

    <em>[A little special? What¡¯s special about them?]</em>

    <em>[God¡¯s Antagonists arepletely different from the challengers. They are the ¡®soldiers¡¯ that will fight alongside them in the battlefield. Surprisingly, these soldiers are yers.]</em>

    The yers that listened to thementators¡¯ exnation cheered in delight.

    <em>[That¡¯s very interesting. God¡¯s Antagonists are yers?]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s right. yers at Level 400 to Level 500 will be able to join the Battlefield of the Gods. Of course, the number of yers at Level 500 are small. However, the lower their numbers, the more yers will be able to participate.]</em>

    <em>[A total of 500,000 God¡¯s Antagonists can be deployed. For those that applied, they will be randomly selected. Also, there¡¯s a far more interesting fact.]</em>

    <em>[An interesting fact?]</em>

    <em>[Yes. If the yers are able to join God¡¯s Antagonists and participate in the Battlefield of the Gods, they will have the opportunity to change into a God-ss yer. It doesn¡¯t matter if they are normal, secret, legend or hidden sses, they will all have equal chances of getting this opportunity.]</em>

    <em>[Wow. That¡¯s a really great opportunity.]</em>

    <em>[Yes. Perhaps, the God-ss yers will even have to be afraid of normal sses. This time, everyone would have a chance to get stronger.]</em>

    <em>[The greatest example of this kind of yers are Khan the Master of Fists and Carr the Emperor of the Swords.]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s right. Khan is a legend ss yer while Carr is a normal ss yer.]</em>

    <em>[They¡¯re not God-ss yers, but they are one of the global leading rankers. I already can¡¯t imagine how powerful they will be with this opportunity.]</em>

    <em>[The first portion of the Battlefield of the Gods can be exined simply like that. Now, let¡¯s move on to the second portion.]</em>

    <em>[The second portion of the Battlefield of the Gods is hunting the ¡®Corrupted Twin Gods¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[The Corrupted Twin Gods? Can you exin about that in more detail?]</em>

    <em>[Yes. The Corrupted Twin Gods are the children of one of the Six Monster Gods, Obren. From what I have heard, Obren is the strongest among all of the Six Monster Gods. However, information about him is still hidden behind a thick veil.]</em>

    <em>[Obren¡¯s children, the Corrupted Twin Gods, was originally a single entity upon birth. It was said that this God loved ughter and destruction and that the power that they could release was in fact above that of the Absolute Gods. Because of that, the Absolute Gods and Athenae divided them into two and turned them into twins.]</em>

    <em>[Ho? So, if they were a single entity, then it would have been impossible to hunt them. But separated and turned into twins, the power that they could exert is most definitely around the same as ordinary Gods.]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s right. They are divided in two under the name of twins. They¡¯ll only be able to exert around 60% of their powerpared to when they were still a single entity.]</em>

    <em>[I see. As long as you¡¯re not a fool, then you will be able to tell what will happen to the hunt of the Corrupted Twin Gods.]</em>

    <em>[Yes. The Corrupted Twin Gods both possess simr power. Either the God contender or the challengers will kill the Corrupted Twin Gods. Also, the contribution will vary depending on the amount of damage dealt and shocking hunting methods andpletion time.]</em>

    <em>[The hunt for the Corrupted Twin Gods will be a fun and interesting content. Of course, you will receive generous tremendous rewards once they kill the Corrupted Twin God, right?]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s right. Joy Co. Ltd. has basically announced that the Corrupted Twin Gods are literally ¡®Gods¡¯. This meant that they would be able to get rewards for hunting Gods.</em>

    <em>As for the yer that will participate as God, they will be able to monopolize the rewards. Assuming that they win.</em>

    <em>On the other hand, even if the challengers do not win the Battlefield of the Gods, they will still be able to receive rewards for hunting the Corrupted Twin Gods.]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s a pity but if the yer that participates as God loses, they will not be able to receive the rewards for hunting. On top of that, they will also lose their qualifications to be a True God.]</em>

    <em>[That is the ¡®penalty¡¯ for those that challenge God first. Those that challenge the throne must bear the weight that apanies it.]</em>

    <em>[The Battlefield of the Gods will open at 18:00, two dayster.]</em>

    <em>[We hope that many yers will be delighted and honored to fight against or alongside the world¡¯s best God-ss yers in the Battlefield of the Gods.]</em>

    ***

    Minhyuk was now fully prepared. Hepas¡¯ Descendant Hyemin¡¯sDaddy had continuously produced artifacts for him, many of which were legendary-rank. That was why only five Named NPCs were equipped with God-rank artifacts, but there were at least 20 NPCs equipped with legendary-rank artifacts.

    In the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, only the top executives were aware that Minhyuk was the one participating as God. There was a weird feeling that surrounded Minhyuk and a few of the executives. This was none other than the tension that one would feel at the eve of a fight.

    That was only natural. After all, there were several high rankers in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom that had reached this point, after oveing limitations that even God-ss yers could not go against. Among them were Carr, Khan, Ares and many more. They were the unchosen ones. They rose to their position solely by their own talents and efforts. All of them were thinking that perhaps this was their chance to walk the path of the ¡®chosen¡¯. Even if Minhyuk was their friend andrade, this was a separate matter altogether.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s also a possibility,¡¯ </em>Minhyuk thought, with no signs of disappointment on his face. In fact, he was already very grateful that these people did not disclose the fact that he was the ¡®God¡¯ to the public.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s only fifteen minutes left.¡¯</em>

    In fifteen minutes, the Battlefield of the Gods would finally open. Once it opened, Minhyuk would automatically ess the event as a God, and the other God-ss yers would automatically ess it as the challengers. There were quite a few people from the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom that had been selected as his opponents and antagonists. Out of all the opponents that Minhyuk would face, he was most wary of them. Minhyuk¡¯s eyes met Carr''s, who seemed to be very nervous.

    <em>Smile¡ª</em>

    The two smiled at each other. While they were meeting each other as enemies in this event that had to win over the other, that would not change the fact that they were friends. Everything was fair game.

    Besides, Minhyuk also knew, <em>¡®Carr, you wanted to be a God, right?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Minhyuk, I will be God today.¡¯</em>

    Because of that, Carr would do his best and likewise, Minhyuk would not let anything slide past him. Minhyuk was sure that Carr would be at least in the top three in contributions.

    Besides, Carr was the Emperor of the Swords. Ellie had refused the position of Sword God and Minhyuk only inherited part of the power of the Sword God. This meant that Carr had the highest probability of bing the Sword God.

    After looking at Carr, Minhyuk turned to look at the Named NPCs under him. They would be his strongest allies in this war. Of course, Minhyuk had to gain contributions for him to be able to summon his Envoys.

    In just a blink, the event was already about to start.

    <em>[There are ten seconds left before you enter the Battlefield of the Gods!]</em>

    <em>[There are a total of 500 God-ss yers participating in the Battlefield of the Gods!]</em>

    <em>[The God will start the game in the ¡®temple¡¯!]</em>

    <em>[God can oversee all of the areas in the battlefield.]</em>

    <em>[God can use ¡®God¡¯s Voice¡¯!]</em>

    <em>[You are entering the Battlefield of the Gods!]</em>

    ***

    Carr heard notifications ringing in his ears continuously.

    <em>[You have entered the Battlefield of the Gods!]</em>

    <em>[Everything that is happening inside the Battlefield of the Gods will be broadcasted live all over the world!]</em>

    <em>[You have entered the game as an antagonist.]</em>

    <em>[If you hunt God or his envoys, you will be able to earn gold, artifacts, and even EXP as rewards.]</em>

    Carr trembled as he released a breath while looking at his surroundings. One after the other, the God-ss yers from all over the world began to appear one after another.

    ¡°It¡¯s Master Archer Miao.¡±

    ¡°The God of Archery¡­!¡±

    Of course, there were some of them that stood out among the other God-ss yers. Just like that, the God-ss challengers and the almost-500,000 yers began to gather in the name of God¡¯s Antagonists. Carr¡¯s position was not that low among them. Also, the 500 God-ss yers and some of the antagonists had already talked inmunity sites.

    <em>¡®Minhyuk, it won¡¯t be easy. There are 500 God-ss yers here.¡¯</em>

    Meanwhile, some of the God-ss yers said¡­

    ¡°It¡¯s good to have a head start, right?¡±

    ¡°We need to kill his momentum early on.¡±

    For all of the God-ss yers that entered, they were given the power to use ¡®God¡¯s Message¡¯. The God¡¯s Message allowed them to do something like: <em>¡®The God that is good at something smiles at you¡¯. </em>Furthermore, the God-ss yers could only use it once. Immediately after that, one of the God-ss yers smirked at ¡®God¡¯.

    <em>[The God-ss yer who is good at buffs looks at God with a mean and vicious smirk on his face.]</em>

    That kicked off a whole wave of notifications.

    <em>[The God-ss yer who is good at alchemy says that she will give God a potion that tastes like shit.]</em>

    <em>[The God-ss yer who is good at making parchment clicks his tongue at God.]</em>

    Notifications like these kept on ringing.

    <em>[The God-ss yer who is good at creating maps¡­]</em>

    <em>[The God-ss yer who is good at running¡­]</em>

    <em>[The God-ss yer who is good at building construction¡­]</em>

    ¡°Hahahahaha!¡±

    ¡°This¡­ this message function is very interesting in its own way!¡±

    ¡°We can¡¯t use curses? I¡¯d like to spit out a bit of curses.¡±

    Someone among them was convinced that they would be able to defeat God in the end. In fact, all of this confidence was because they did not know who God was, and the fact that their numbers were overwhelming. That was why they felt they could easily mock him. However, there were also quite a few people that frowned at the mockery.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s pathetic¡­¡¯</em>

    Carr was one of them. However, he did not bother to interfere with what they were doing. This was because he also thought that such a head start was necessary.

    Just when the notifications of the God-ss yers¡¯ mockery continued to ring¡­

    <em>[God has invoked ¡®God¡¯s Voice¡¯!]</em>

    <em>[You cannot use God¡¯s Message in the presence of a Great God!]</em>

    Everyone, all 500 of the God-ss yers and 500,000 yers, suddenly turned quiet. Above them, a video appeared, showing the figure of God sitting arrogantly on his throne in the temple while crossing his leg and leaning back nonchntly. They could not see God¡¯s face but they heard the notifications.

    <em>[God looks at you in sympathy. In his eyes, you all look pathetic and pitiful.]</em>

    <em>[God is using God¡¯s Voice to try and speak to you.]</em>

    Everyone¡¯s attention focused on the notifications. How would God react to their mockery and provocation? Did it work? Soon, they got the answer to those questions.

    <em>[A sigh leaves God¡¯s mouth.]</em>

    <em>[You f*cking god bastards¡­ Haaa.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The words were short yet powerful, and it made all of their faces turn hot and red.

 Chapter 639: The Battlefield of the Gods

    Chapter 639: The Battlefield of the Gods

    A man that had everything. One that was stronger than everybody else by Athenae¡¯s standards, had more artifacts than others, and had risen to the throne. If someone had told that man, ¡®Idiot! Moron!¡¯, would those words hurt him? Of course, the answer was no. In fact, he would not even be interested at all. That was what being superior to everyone was like.

    Someone was cursing at him? For some reason, it felt good. They were cursing at him because he stood above them. He was superior to them. That was also the reason why Minhyuk looked at them as if they were pathetic and pitiful. Hence, the only thing that he said to them were the short words that boiled in his chest.

    ¡°This f*cking God bastards¡­ Haaa¡­¡±

    The impact created by his words was tremendous. The faces of all of the God-ss yers and the antagonists were all hot, as if they had been pped. That was not all.

    The viewers watching this broadcast from all over the world realized that God would not fall for the provocation and mockery of uncivilized heathens. In fact, it would make the cries of the uncivilized heathen seem pitiful.

    ¡°Damn bastard!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re still not yet a God! I will make sure to drag you out of that damn temple!¡±

    ¡°Ridiculous.¡±

    The God-ss yers were arrogant. After all, they were the ones that had reached the pinnacle of their own fields. For those that had always stood above others and enjoyed the thrill of outperforming others, this tant disregard was enough to ignite the spark of anger and indignance.

    ¡°Calm down. Don¡¯t fall for his provocation.¡±

    ¡°Provocation? Do you think we¡¯re falling for a provocation? We just want to drag down that damn bastard!¡±

    ¡°How about we advance now? There¡¯s nothing he can do, the bastard¡¯s all alone!¡±

    That was right. All of them fell for the provocation. Some of the more clever ones tried to control the situation, but ended up failing. Those that were also trying to calm them down and stop them from raging eventually sighed in resignation and just changed their tactics.

    <em>¡®Dragging God down in one go.¡¯</em>

    Immediately after that, several God-ss yers, including the God of Parchment, the God of Buffs, the God of Alchemy, the God of Enchantment, and so on, began to make their move.

    The God of Parchment and Alchemy handed over their parchments and potions to Rogal, the God of Buffs. Rogal was known as the number one ranker in the global buff specialist rankings. Mei Wei was a bit different from him, since she could fight and send buffs. As for Rogal, he was solely specializing in buffs. That was how cheat-like his skills were.

    ¡°I¡¯ll give that damn God the shock of his life,¡± Rogal said as he tore the parchment that was handed to him.

    <em>[You have ripped the Parchment of Power.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 24%!]</em>

    <em>[Your MP Volume has increased by 36%!]</em>

    <em>[All of your skill levels have increased by +1!]</em>

    <em>[You can send 1.4x stronger buffs!]</em>

    Then, he grabbed the bottle of potion that was filled with sloshing golden liquid.

    <em>Pop¡ª</em>

    <em>[You have drunk the Golden Potion.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 15%!]</em>

    <em>[Your MP Volume has increased by 24%!]</em>

    <em>[You can send 1.8x stronger buffs!]</em>

    One of Rogal¡¯s cheat-like powers was ¡®buff ovep¡¯, a power that could allow him to ovep up to five buffs.

    <em>[God of Enchantment¡¯s Blessings.]</em>

    <em>[Purna¡¯s Book that you carry in your person shines brightly!]</em>

    <em>[Purna¡¯s Book has been strengthened by +5!]</em>

    Once an artifact received strengthening, the effects attached to the artifact would also be more outstanding. With Purne¡¯s Book¡¯s strengthening, Rogal¡¯s skill level rose again, and even his MP Volume increased.

    Just like that, those that were capable of sending buffs gave Rogal their buffs and increased his power.

    ¡°Purna¡¯s Praise!¡±

    Purna was the God of Buffs. The skill Purna¡¯s Praise created a pair of wings made of light behind Rogal that shone brightly and engulfed almost 100,000 of the antagonists.

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 24%!]</em>

    <em>[Your skill levels have increased by +1!]</em>

    <em>[Your physical attack and defense have increased by 25%!]</em>

    <em>[Your magical attack and defense have increased by 25%!]</em>

    <em>[Your resistance to abnormal status has increased by 30%!]</em>

    This was what they were trying to do. They all wanted the God of Buffs to bestow buffs upon them and make them several times stronger before they start the war.

    ¡°Crazy¡­¡±

    ¡°So, these are God-ss yers.¡±

    ¡°This is on an entirely different level from an ordinary war.¡±

    In fact, even the God-ss yers themselves were very surprised after seeing Rogal send buffs to almost 100,000 people.

    <em>[That¡¯s outstanding.]</em>

    <em>[This is very interesting. We will be able to see the true worth of the God-ss yers, something that we haven¡¯t witnessed before.]</em>

    That was not the end. Everyone opened up a path as one man walked forward. The man¡¯s face was covered by the hood of his dark robe. Even the God-ss yers were breathless as they watched him step forward. When the man pulled off his hood, everyone was greeted by the sight of a good-looking Asian, who had discarded his long and gloomy hair for a dandy cut[1].

    Then, the man dered, ¡°Kingdom of Death.¡±

    <em>Creak, creak, creak, creak, creak¡ª</em>

    The ground trembled and shook as hundreds of thousands of undead appeared. Then, the Death Knights and Liches appeared in front of the man, as he climbed on top of a bone dragon.

    ¡°D, Death¡­!¡±

    ¡°The King of Death¡­ N, no. The God of Death!!!¡±

    Death was also one of the God-ss yers. It was thanks to the buff effects that he was able to summon stronger undead than usual.

    <em>¡®We have to charge at the beginning. It won¡¯t be easy, Minhyuk,¡¯ </em>Death thought.

    Then, right behind him¡­

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!¡± A wolf roared fiercely and loudly. When the people turned to look, they saw a young African boy sitting on top of the said wolf.

    ¡°K, Kaistra¡­!¡±

    And that was not all. A bright light shed as a man appeared ahead of Death and Kaistra. The man had golden hair, golden eyes and a golden staff in his hands. Not long after, the man stood above a giant snake.

    ¡°Go, Golden Mage Ali!!!¡±

    ¡°Woaaaaaaaah!!!¡±

    Not everyone was strong just because they were God-ss yers. This was why rankings existed. In fact, the number of God-ss yers that had reached the global rankings was not that high. There were quite a lot of people that took their spot in the rankings solely through their control, skills and attack rate. But above them were God-ss yers with their godly control, the ones that ended up bing the role model and idol of these God-ss yers. Death and Golden Mage Ali were such people.

    ¡°F*ck! What are we afraid of if we have them here?!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go!!!¡±

    Their morale was sky high, especially after they received their buffs. Then, the notifications rang.

    <em>[God¡¯s Temple is located at the peak of Mt. Evero.]</em>

    <em>[You have to trek through various ravines, cliffs and valleys to reach God¡¯s Temple.]</em>

    <em>[There are three paths that will lead to God¡¯s Temple.]</em>

    <em>[You can only head to God¡¯s Temple using one of the three paths, the Canyon of Death, for the first five hours of the game.]</em>

    <em>Boom! Boom! Boom!</em>

    The sounds of drumming signaled the beginning of the war. Only after five hours had passed would the second path be opened. And only five hours after the opening of the second path would the third path be opened. The momentum of the God-ss yers and the antagonists were at an all time high. They began to charge forward and advance at a shocking speed.

    The God-ss yers were aware that there would be an ambush waiting for them in the Canyon of Death. They were sure that those that would ambush them would be standing on the cliffs above them and waiting to attack them.

    However, none of them felt fear. After all, the God of the Shield, the God of Heroes, and the God of Magic were with them. On top of that, none of them thought that soldiers at Level 400-500 would be able to do anything to them. At the vanguard stood the God of Animals, the God of Death, and the God of Summoners, with their summons numbering a million.

    Not long after, a canyon appeared in front of them. Just as they expected, there were around 10,000 of the Divine Army¡¯s Troops waiting for them at the entrance of the canyon.

    <em>¡®Minhyuk, what are you nning to do here?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®10,000 alone will not be able to stop these God-ss yers here.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Not to mention everyone here is around 1.3x stronger than normal.¡¯</em>

    Those who were aware of Minhyuk¡¯s identity wondered what kind of strategy he was going for here. Immediately after that¡­

    ¡°Firewall! Firewall!¡±

    Huge firewalls burst out all over the ce. They were the magic that Golden Mage Ali had cast. The Divine Army quickly moved to block the magic with their shield and barrier magic, and even resorted to using their own shields. However, Ali¡¯s magic broke through them all.

    ¡°Wipe them out,¡± Death ordered as almost millions of undead charged forward.

    Of course, the antagonists also used that opportunity to charge forward.

    ¡°Of course, we already knew that there would be enemies ambushing us in the canyon. However, it seems like their numbers are too few.¡±

    The one that tookmand of all the God-ss yers was none other than Alexander. He had participated as an antagonist, not as a God-ss yer. However, all of the yers were following hismand.

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    The Divine Army that blocked their path were being wiped away. <em>¡®Was it going to be this easy?¡¯ </em>This thought shed in everyone¡¯s mind but it was only natural. After all, the level of the Divine Army troops were simr to their level. Even the number of attackers was far too overwhelming. That was on top of their power bing 1.3x stronger than usual. God was at an absolute disadvantage here.

    <em>¡®Is this a scouting? I¡¯m sure he¡¯s watching this scene from his temple,¡¯ </em>Alexander thought as the enemies in front of them copsed.

    ¡°¡­That¡¯s not what I¡¯m thinking, right?¡± Ali suddenly spoke up mysteriously.

    A sh of doubt appeared in Alexander¡¯s face. Ali¡¯s tone of voice sounded as if he knew who it was, <em>¡®What?¡¯</em>

    Immediately after, Alexander saw a sword falling from the sky. The sword fell down the Divine Army troops and floated in front of one of the characters with the name ¡®Legion Commander Park¡¯ shing on his head. The sword, which was made of light, floated in front of Park. And¡­

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The same sword made of light appeared in front of all of the Divine Army troops at the same time.

    ¡°What, what the hell?!¡±

    That was not all. A sh of light appeared at the top of the cliffs. Swords made of light appeared on top of the cliffs too. This only meant one thing.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s also an ambush waiting for us above the cliffs. What the hell are those swords made of lights¡­?!¡¯</em>

    As if to mock them, a set of rming notifications rang in their ears.

    <em>[God has bestowed Buff Praises to the Divine Army!]</em>

    <em>[All of the Divine Army¡¯s abilities will increase by 51%!]</em>

    <em>[All of the Divine Army¡¯s skills will increase by +3!]</em>

    <em>[The Divine Army¡¯s physical and magical attack and defenses will increase by 60%!]</em>

    <em>[The Divine Army¡¯s resistance to abnormal status will increase by 50%!]</em>

    <em>[The Divine Army¡¯s¡­]</em>

    <em>[The Divine Army¡¯s¡­]</em>

    ¡°¡­He can send buffs?!!¡±

    ¡°Go, God has the ability to send buffs?!!¡±

    However, the most surprising fact here was the fact that the buff that God had sent out waspletely unbelievable. It could evenpare to the buff created by thebined powers of the God of Buffs and God of Enchantments. In a way, they felt that it was natural. After all, God was 1.7x stronger than usual.

    In front of them, the Divine Army troops that blocked the entrance to the canyon began to crush the millions of undead that charged at them with ease. The Divine Army was now 1.7x stronger than normal. For those advance troops, who only became 1.3x stronger than usual, the defending side had be monsters that they could not handle.

    ¡°This damn bastard!!!¡±

    ¡°What the hell?!¡±

    ¡°God of Priests!!! Hurry and send out heals!!!¡±

    Just when everyone was moring¡­

    <em>[The Holy and Great God faces the foolish beings.]</em>

    <em>[The Holy and Great God looks down upon you!]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    For a moment, Alexander and Ali¡¯s eyes met before turning to look at the top of the cliffs that surrounded the canyon. There, they saw God, whose body was covered with a bright and holy light, looking down upon them. And standing above them on the very same cliffs were 90,000 Divine Army troops shouting loudly with swords made of light in their hands.

    ¡°Wooooooooaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    It was at that moment that they realized something.

    ¡°God does not have any intention of protecting his temple?!¡±

    ¡°Is he thinking of ending things here?!¡±

    ¡°This, this is ridiculous¡­!¡±

    Then, the man above them said, ¡°Summon Hanwoo.¡± However, to the God-ss yers and his antagonists, his words were interpreted differently.

    <em>[God¡¯s Protector]</em>

    At that moment¡­

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    A 40-meter-long pir of light, not the figure of Hanwoo, appeared. The appearance of the pir of light caused the ground to sink deeply, as tens of thousands of undead in the vicinity died without fighting back.

    Then, God dered, ¡°Hanwoo, charge,¡± which was tranted to the ears of his opponents as¡­

    <em>[God¡¯s Judgment.]</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The gigantic pir of light began to charge forward, bulldozing 500,000 enemy troops and crushing them out of existence. The God of Magic Ali and the God of Shields hurriedly tried to cast their shields, but it was futile.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The shields that they put up were just like useless paper, as the force behind the attack easily crushed it down and trampled on it.

    Not long after, Alexander, Ali, Carr, Kaistra, and the countless yers that stood against God saw the corners of God¡¯s mouth curl up into a sneer. The ones that knew Minhyuk¡¯s identity realized what he intended to do.

    <em>¡®No way¡­!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Already?!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®This, this early¡­?!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®That¡¯s crazy¡­!¡¯</em>

    Then, they heard it.

    <em>[God has summoned his first Envoy.]</em>

    <em>[God¡¯s Envoy will trample and destroy the wicked on God¡¯s behalf!]</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The envoy, covered with bright light, shot down from the sky. The envoy was wearing a golden full-te armor and a helmet that covered his entire face. However, there was one thing that they were sure of after seeing the white spear in the hands of the envoy. Then, his name appeared in front of all of the viewers, the wary God-ss yers, and antagonists.

    <em>¡®The Envoy of Spear.¡¯</em>

    As for the people from the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom who knew of the man¡¯s existence? All of their backs were dripping with cold sweat.

    1. A popr cut for Korean men with the back short and a long bangs that reached the eyebrows. ?

 Chapter 640: The Battlefield of the Gods

    Chapter 640: The Battlefield of the Gods

    Whatever the challengers did, they did it ording to their ns. The same was true for Minhyuk. He had pondered deeply before he participated in the Battlefield of the Gods.

    <em>¡®Should I take as much time as possible, defeat my enemies, collect enough contributions and summon my envoys one by one?¡¯</em>

    It was not the first time that Minhyuk had thought about this. However, he soon realized, <em>¡®A long and drawn-out battle with the God-ss yers would be like poison to me.¡¯</em>

    God-ss yers were all people that had reached the pinnacle of their own fields. There would even be antagonists joining them. Among these antagonists were top rankers that had reached their position through their skills and control. So, what would happen if Minhyuk aimed for a drawn-out battle with them?

    <em>¡®Their vision is on a different level from ordinary yers. They will definitely find a gap, attack me, and break through my defenses.¡¯</em>

    If an average yer could clear a time-attack dungeon in ten minutes, a ranker at the same level and stats would be able to clear that very same dungeon in just eight minutes. That was how sharp they were and how unpredictable they would be as an opponent.

    After taking the matter into consideration, Minhyuk finally decided, <em>¡®A quick and decisive battle.¡¯</em>

    The vicinity of the temple was lined with defensive weapons that could easily stop the enemies¡¯ advance. But Minhyuk had decided to give up on that, opting for a quick and decisive battle.

    Minhyuk was, in fact, already preparing his buffed dish when the enemies started to use their God¡¯s Message. Inside the Battlefield of the Gods, he could choose three of whatever God-ranked item he wanted, whether it was a God¡¯s ingredient, God¡¯s potion, God¡¯s parchment, or whatever else.

    After he had be stronger, he quickly made a dish and immediately cast ¡®Everyone¡¯s Happiness.¡¯ Since Minhyuk had grown stronger, his OP and cheat-like skills had also naturally increased in strength. The level of his skill ¡®Everyone¡¯s Happiness¡¯ had risen sharply, allowing Minhyuk to give buffs to 100,000 allies.

    The skill also made it possible for Minhyuk to deploy his entire army in the canyon and put pressure on his enemies right at the start of their siege. This meant that Minhyuk would be able to gain a high contribution from the very beginning.

    With a single charge from Hanwoo, Minhyuk¡¯s points rolled in.

    <em>[Your contribution has increased by 261,410!]</em>

    <em>[You have forced 31 God sses and 2,403 antagonists to log out!]</em>

    Minhyuk needed at least 800,000 contribution points to summon one envoy. Following Hanwoo¡¯s charge, Minhyuk¡¯s army, which were strengthened by Everyone¡¯s Happiness, began to speed up their advance, which of course resulted in the non-stop ringing of notifications in his ears.

    <em>[Your contribution has increased by 346,480!]</em>

    <em>[You have forced 48 God sses and 4,561 antagonists to log out!]</em>

    <em>[Your contribution¡­]</em>

    Finally, the notification that he was waiting for rang in his ears.

    <em>[Your contribution¡­ 231,517!]</em>

    <em>[You have met the requirement for summoning an envoy.]</em>

    In this battlefield that had turned into hell on earth, the Divine Army troops that numbered less than 10,000 struggled at the entrance of the canyon. They were trying not to be pushed back and trampled on by their enemies. However, the God sses had already started to take hold of their ranks and push them back systematically.

    But then, at that moment, the great and holy God, Minhyuk, looked down at them and said, ¡°Summon Envoy.¡±

    The envoy covered in bright light shot down from the sky.

    <em>Thuuud¡ª</em>

    When the dust cleared, an envoy holding a white spear appeared in front of them, emitting a blinding light. Seeing him, the God sses grew wary.

    <em>¡®Spear God Ben¡­¡¯</em>

    Meanwhile, the members of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were sweating cold bullets. However, there were still plenty among them that remained calm. Why? Because they had Alexander, one of the Summit Five and global best ranker.

    ¡°Unlike God, they did not get any adjustments. Besides, there are no God-rank NPCs working under yers that have been announced to the world yet.¡±

    Indeed, that was the truth. There was a half God, but there was no real God among the NPCs yet. It hadn¡¯t been that long since Sword God Valen had died too. To put it in other words¡­

    ¡°There¡¯s no need for us to be afraid of a single envoy.¡±

    This was what they strongly believed. After all, they were all God sses.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think that this is an opportunity for the God of Knights, Affor?¡±

    ¡°I think so too.¡±

    God of Knights Affor was one of the world-renowned God ss yers. Even though he was just a novice yer at Level 50, he was blessed with a God ss that allowed him to summon strong knights from all over the world. In fact, he could even summon Supreme NPCs that far surpassed Legendary NPCs in the world. Affor was someone that even the God of Summoners would give up attacking, as long as he was under the protection of his knights.

    The number of knights that he could usually summon was around eight. But after receiving the buff effect, he could summon ten. He could now even summon the Legendary Knights that he had been unable to summon before. What were Legendary Knights? They were far more special and stronger than the legends who had made their names in the past.

    Before the Envoy of the Spear made his full appearance, Affor had already summoned his knights.

    <em>[You have summoned one of the legendary Spear Masters, Lunoie!]</em>

    <em>[Lunoie is said to be the greatest Spear Master in human history!]</em>

    <em>[Lunoie can grant a buff that increases all stats by 10% when he is with other spear masters.]</em>

    Indeed, Lunoie was a great being. The description attached to his name was very different from others¡¯ from the get-go. After hearing that notification, Affor immediately summoned other spear masters. Each and every single one of the spear masters that he summoned were equivalent to Supreme NPCs in power.

    ¡°Once Affor deals with that envoy, we will quickly divide our ranks and deal with the Divine Army and God at the same time.¡±

    Everyone nodded at Alexander¡¯s orders. Immediately after that, Lunoie led the other nine Named NPCs and surrounded the Envoy of the Spear. Lunoie was a very tall and imposing man with a very messy and unkempt beard. He was looking at the impact created by the Envoy of the Spear that was still bathed in light.

    <em>¡®I think I can kill him right after that effect ends though?¡¯</em>

    ording to everyone¡¯s estimates, it would take about ten seconds for God¡¯s Envoy¡¯s summoning to bepleted. In those ten seconds, Affor had time to summon all of the knights that he could summon, the knights surrounding the ce where the envoynded.

    However, just when the bright light started to slowly disappear, everyone heard the Envoy of the Spear murmur, ¡°Activate the God Piercing Spear.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    The God Piercing Spear? What was that? Everyone tilted their heads in confusion.

    Lunoie did not hear it; he had already charged forward and thrust his spear at the old man¡¯s neck, in hopes of ending this futile fight that he had never intended to participate in as quickly as possible.

    <em>Swooooooosh¡ª</em>

    Lunoie had been summoned here, but he had never wanted to be part of this war. He just wanted to finish everything quickly and take a rest. However, the Envoy of the Spear grabbed his spear lightly and said, ¡°Oh my.¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    At that moment, a bright light shed from the white spear in the old man¡¯s hand. At the same time, a sharp glint also appeared in the eyes of the Envoy of the Spear, whose features were masked by his helmet.

    Lunoie felt goosebumps on every part of his body. ¡°What, what¡¯s this¡­¡±

    The voice of the man in front of him sounded gentle and warm, yet there was an underlying coldness and powering through. Then, a set of shocking notifications hit the entire world.

    <em>[Warning!!!]</em>

    <em>[A being that transcends the limits of a human being has made an appearance!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!!!]</em>

    <em>[A being that transcends the limits of a human being has made an appearance!]</em>

    <em>[The envoy summoned by God is also another God!!!]</em>

    The system was giving everyone a peek at how strong their opponent was through these notifications. The moment the half Spear God unsealed his God Piercing Spear, he became a true Spear God. This realization made all of the God sses and antagonists¡¯ faces turn stiff and ugly.

    <em>¡®Th-the envoy is another God?!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®What kind of bullshit is this?!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Stop the bullshit! How can a yer have a God as a subordinate?!!!¡¯</em>

    It was impossible. Of course it was; even Spear God Ben, who was under the Food God¡¯smand, was only a half-God. No yer had ever heard such a notificationing from Spear God Ben before. Thus, everyone was horrified.

    Then, the man wearing the golden helmet said, ¡°I also grew up listening to your heroic tales.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Lunoie tried to snatch his spear back, but it did not budge at all. And it was not because hecked the strength, but because his body refused to fight against the man in front of him.

    The man continued to speak. as he looked at everyone through the visor of his golden helmet. ¡° However¡­I am at a level far beyond what you can reach. After all, isn¡¯t that what strength and power is all about?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Lunoie almost answered ¡®Yes¡¯ at that moment. It has always been like that. No matter how strong a person became, there would always be someone that would surpass them in the future.

    The man in front of Lunoie said, ¡°Kneel.¡±

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    And at that moment, all of the spear masters, with Lunoie at the lead, felt their legs turn weak as they all copsed on their knees. The God Piercing Spear had the power to make all of the spearmen and spear masters obey the item user. This power was called the ¡®Spear God¡¯s Authority¡¯. Of course, it was an ability that came with a chance of failure. However, in front of the great Spear God, everyone could only kneel down.

    At the same time, Affor heard notifications that he had never expected to hear in his entire life.

    <em>[Lunoie has surrendered to the Great Spear God.]</em>

    <em>[Bayer has surrendered to the Great Spear God.]</em>

    <em>[¡­the Great¡­]</em>

    ¡°Im, impossible¡­!¡±

    A Great God had made those that he summoned with his own power surrender? And who was that guy? Affor was sure that he was not Spear God Ben!

    ¡°Spear God Aerdes¡­?¡± One of the antagonists that used the spear mumbled. The probability of this statement being true seemed to be the highest. Why? This was because everyone here was sure that Spear God Ben was not yet a true andplete Spear God. The God sses were all appalled by that realization. How did the God candidate summon another God?

    Then, the man in the golden helmet said, ¡°I will fight for my God. I will willingly cut off your heads for my God. However, I will also give you the chance and the honor to fight with me.¡±

    <em>[You have triggered the Spear God¡¯s Authority!]</em>

    Lunoie and the other spear masters immediately answered in unison.

    ¡°For the Spear God!¡±

    ¡°For the Spear God!¡±

    ¡°For the Spear God!¡±

    All of them thumped their spears on the ground in worship of the man in front of them.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The antagonists and the God sses were all rendered speechless by the scene unfolding in front of them. And¡­

    ¡°Kill them all.¡±

    The ones that they had thought were their allies suddenly became enemies that charged straight at them. The biggest problem here was the fact that Lunoie was the greatest spear master in the history of mankind. In addition, the ones behind him were spear masters too.

    Then, the Spear God, who they thought was Aerdes, slowly stepped forward. The expression on Alexander and the other God sses¡¯ faces changed. The one that they had to be wary of was the God that was in front of them, the very same God that was holding a spear in his hands.

    Spear God Ben had shown everyone that he had the power to ughter tens of thousands of enemies during the Battle of Thrones when he temporarily got a hold of the power of God. And thanks to the God Piercing Spear, Spear God Ben was able to get a hold of the power of the God of Spears for an entire hour today.

    Spear God Ben said, ¡°Spear God¡¯s Bull.¡±

    But just like the case with Minhyuk earlier, the notification that rang in everyone¡¯s ears tranted to something different.

    <em>[Frenzied Spear.]</em>

    The Spear God¡¯s Bull was a skill attached to the God Piercing Spear. Upon casting, it would charge into the enemies that were within a hundred meter radius of the skill caster. Assuming that the enemies were spread apart at two meter intervals, the effect of this skill was tremendous. And as the bull continued its charge, it would cast abnormal status debuffs on all of the enemies that it made contact with. That was on top of a 6,800% additional attack power given to the skill caster.

    What would happen if a demigod, in possession of a divine spear, gained an additional 6,800% attack? It would be truly, <em>truly</em> devastating.

    <em>Vwoooooooooooooong¡ª</em>

    Then, a tremendous amount of force shot out from the envoy¡¯s spear and shot out, ready to cover an entire 100 meter radius.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    The moment the powerful force touched them, those who were hit all disappeared without leaving a trace.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    After reaching a radius of 70 meters, the wall behind them broke down and the cliffs surrounding the canyon copsed.

    <em>Rumblee¡ª</em>

    Something akin to a natural disaster unfolded in front of everyone. The spear of disaster killed plenty of the antagonists and dragged them down to the mire.

    <em>[You have fallen into the Abnormal Status: Fear!]</em>

    <em>[Your morale has been greatly reduced.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will decrease by 13%. Your attack and movement speed will decrease by 10%!]</em>

    The worst part? The Spear God¡¯s Bull had thrown abnormal statuses on them even without the Spear God personally touching them.

    <em>Tremble¡ª</em>

    Alexander felt a chill run down his spine. Then, he saw God make another move.

    <em>[God has summoned his second Envoy.]</em>

    <em>[God¡¯s Envoy will trample and destroy the wicked on God¡¯s behalf!]</em>

    Just like before, another envoy engulfed in bright light shot down from the sky. This time, unlike the Envoy of the Spear, who was wearing a golden ensemble, the second envoy was wearing pure white full-te armor, a white helmet, a white cape, with a pair of pure white wings on his back.

    <em>[Warning!!!]</em>

    <em>[A being that transcends the limits of a human being has made an appearance!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!!!]</em>

    <em>[A being that transcends the limits of a human being has made an appearance!]</em>

    <em>[The envoy summoned by God is an Archangel!]</em>

    At this moment, the being that was hailed as a lesser demon had descended and be an archangel.

    ¡°F*ck¡­¡± One of the Korean yers murmured in despair.

 Chapter 641: The Battlefield of the Gods

    Chapter 641: The Battlefield of the Gods

    Archangels lived in apletely different world from the demons and had always been the symbol of ¡®goodness¡¯. ording to the information released, there were a total of four Archangels in the Athenae worldview, and they had power that wasparable to the power of the Great Demons.

    Who were the Great Demons? They were none other than Gorac, Gremory, and Verus. Of course, the Great Demons had a different level of power from ordinary demons. In fact, even the Great Demons also had different levels of strengths amongst them, and if one ranked their military forces, they should be ranked in the order of Verus, Gorac and Gremory.

    No one knew if the Archangels also had the same hierarchy. However, there was one thing that everyone was certain of, even the weakest Archangel was not someone that they could dare to treat recklessly.

    ¡°Get into the defensive formation¡­!¡± Alexander shouted hurriedly as the Archangel, or to be exact, Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Shield Elpis,nded and swung his Archangel¡¯s Sword that was covered in bright light.

    <em>[Archangel¡¯s Fury]</em>

    The bright light that covered the sword burst out and turned into thousands of lightning strikes that fell down from the skies.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª</em>

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    Elpis just looked like Zeus, the strongest, greatest and most omnipotent god, in Greek mythology! Thousands of lightning strikes, which looked like spider webs, fell down and killed hundreds of God-ss yers before they could even form a defensive formation.

    ¡°This is crazy¡­!¡±

    The Archangel was also insanely strong. Who the hell was the person that they were fighting against?!

    ¡°Absolute Monarch Richard¡­?¡± One of the yers murmured.

    Indeed. The very first person that came to their mind was the Absolute God ss and the God of Monarchs, Absolute Monarch Richard. But then, a man, whose face was covered with the hood of a shabby robe, stepped forward and said, ¡°It¡¯s not me.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    It was Richard. Richard had refrained from joining the battle and opted to watch the flow of the war in the Battlefield of the Gods from the sidelines quietly.

    Alexander gulped dryly and asked, ¡°Then, who the hell is it¡­¡±

    ¡°The more pressing matter is stopping him, right?¡±

    That was the truth. The Archangel that descended just now did not exert as much power as the Spear God earlier. But with every swing of the Archangel¡¯s sword, hundreds of lightning bolts would sweep away their allies.

    ¡°I think Alexander should lead the closebat God-ss yers and stop them.¡±

    ¡°But as I am now¡­¡±

    ¡°God of Buffs Rogal, can you please cast the ¡®Prayer of the Uninterrupted¡¯ on Alexander and the other closebat God-ss yers?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    The Prayer of the Uninterrupted was a power that allowed the ovep of an additional buff on top of their other buffs, just like how Rogal himself could ovep buffs on himself. The first to receive the ¡®Prayer of the Uninterrupted¡¯ was Alexander, the most famous among the God-ss yers. Then, not long after, letters appeared in the skies and fluttered down on the bodies of Alexander and the other closebat God-ss yers.

    <em>[You have received the Absolute Monarch¡¯s Stigma. All of your stats have increased by 23%!]</em>

    <em>[You have received the Absolute Monarch¡¯s Stigma. All of your skills¡¯ level have increased by +2!]</em>

    ¡°¡­So this is an Absolute God ss?¡± Alexander murmured as another man covered in ck robe stepped forward and took off the hood covering his face, which caused a greatermotion than Richard¡¯s appearance.

    ¡°Akhan¡­?¡±

    ¡°Crazy Tyrant Akhan?¡±

    ¡°Akhan is fighting on our side too?¡±

    Akhan looked up at God coldly. He had been in seclusion for a long time after being forced to log out several times by Minhyuk. Of course, he was not just simply ying during that time. He put in a lot of effort to get attention once again and gain resources to get revenge on the Food God.

    In the first ce, Akhan was not only a genius developer, but also a genius gamer. His appearance, along with Richard, was enough to boost their morale.

    It was not only them. The top rankers from each country, the very same rankers that were watching the situation, began to announce their presence. Many of them had participated as ¡®Kings¡¯ during the Battle of Thrones. There were also some that dominated the world.

    This had be a situation where they could not care about gaining an advantage over each other to gain higher contribution points to be a True God or change into a God ss. As things stood, they had to bring God down. In other words, they had started to truly unite and fight alongside one another. Richard did not really like Akhan, but he still gave him his Absolute Monarch¡¯s Stigma.

    ¡°Heuuuuup¡­¡± Akhan inhaled as the power surged through his veins before exhaling, ¡°Fwaaaaaaa.¡±

    He looked as if he was drunk, his expression turning scary and horrifying as he cackled by himself, ¡°Then, all I have to do is kill those Divine Army troops, right?¡±

    ¡°What the¡­ Akhan, do not act on your own. We have to fight together to make this possible¡­¡±

    ¡°Shut up. Go and stop that Archangel and God. If we continue on dilly-dallying like this then he might just summon another guy. Don¡¯t you think so?¡± Akhan said, walking forward.

    However, something surprising happened. A man appeared by his right side and walked together with him. This man was none other than the Kingdom of Dead¡¯s King, Death. On his right stood Golden Mage Ali.

    Akhan grinned as if he found everything amusing. But Death and Ali just looked at him coldly while saying¡­

    ¡°I¡¯m not going to fight beside you because I like you.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m doing this because I believe we will lose if we don¡¯t go together.¡±

    They were going to fight alongside their hated enemy. After all, this was not the time for them to discuss who was good or bad. They had to prevent God from summoning more envoys.

    <em>[Akhan, Death, and Ali are joining forces.]</em>

    <em>[This is the strongest and the bestbination that we have ever seen in our lives! The best summoner, the best necromancer, and the best mage!]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s a pity that we can only see thisbination in the Battlefield of the Gods.]</em>

    Then, Death said, ¡°Don¡¯t try to mess with me.¡±

    ¡°Fufufufufufufu!¡±

    At the same time, the Archangel flew to the skies and released another burst of power.

    <em>Rumbleeeeeeee¡ª</em>

    Dozens of lightning appeared as the Archangel wielded his sword and struck the three people.

    ¡°Barrier.¡±

    <em>[Crazy! It only took less than a second for a barrier to appear!]</em>

    <em>[The barrier appeared even before the lightning struck their bodies! As expected of Golden Mage Ali!]</em>

    In just an instant, a gigantic barrier appeared and covered the body of the three people, protecting them from lightning strikes. And amidst the thick cloud of dust that bloomed from the attack, a huge being soared to the skies, apanied by a notification that shook the entire world.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeck!¡±

    <em>[ck Dragon Vormon has emerged!]</em>

    Vormon was the most powerful and the most fearsome dragon in the history of dragonkind. And the being standing above him? Crazy Tyrant Akhan. While he was in hiding, Akhan found a way to make ck Dragon Vormon into his own summon. And that was not all. He also found the heart of an ancient dragon and transnted it into ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s body. And now, ck Dragon Vormon had be far more powerful than he was in the past.

    Death, who stood on top of a bone dragon, and Ali, who stood on top of the Predatory Snake, rose to the skies next to Akhan.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    Then, the best and strongestbination that anyone would ever witness began their attack. Hundreds of AOE magical attacks appeared around Vormon¡¯s body, while Ali cast higher-tiered magical attacks in the sky, like Meteor and the likes.

    <em>Blink¡ª</em>

    When ck Dragon Vormon blinked, the hundreds of AOE magical attacks rained down upon the ground. Meanwhile, in the sky above, Golden Mage Ali mmed his staff down and let loose the Meteors on God.

    <em>Rumbleeee¡ª</em>

    They did not even stop there. Ali ced his hands on Death¡¯s shoulder and said, ¡°Mass Teleport.¡±

    Even if they pretended that they were not aware, the two were very much familiar with their opponent. The same was true the other way around. In a sh of light, Death and Ali appeared on the ground where the Divine Army troops were, and Death immediately summoned the Kingdom of Death.

    <em>ck, ck, ck, ck¡ª</em>

    Undead began to appear, their bones cking as the Kingdom of Death rose from the ground. Then, Ali used Mass Teleport once again to bring Death and himself out of harm¡¯s way.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kghhhk!¡±

    It only took a few seconds. But in those few seconds, the cheering Divine Army troops had been brought down to the point that they could only scream and shriek.

    At the same time, Alexander, together with the world-renowned rankers, was trying to push back the Spear God. They were the yers with the best control in the world. Although the power of the Envoy of the Spear had transcended the human realm, they were people that had received the Absolute Monarch¡¯s Stigma, on top of another set of buffs. Amidst the chaos, Alexander was given the time to gather his power.

    Whenever the Envoy of the Spear tried to thrust his spear at their vital points, Ali would use Diss and stop him from doing so. Ali even saw a window of opportunity to use another of his magic.

    <em>[The God of Magic¡¯s Shackles.]</em>

    <em>[You can restrict your opponent¡¯s movements for two seconds!]</em>

    Two rings made of golden light moved swiftly and bound the Envoy of the Spear¡¯s arms and legs, tying them together for two seconds. Two seconds was a very short time, but on the battlefield, that was already a very long time.

    Just when the God-ss yers tried to move and attack the Spear God together, the Archangel descended from the skies.

    <em>Baaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The Archangel was immediately swept away by dozens of explosions the moment hended on the ground. This was ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s explosion magic. Of course, there was no way that Vormon would just sit back and watch the Archangel do what he wanted.

    In the first ce, the number of God-ss yers and antagonists far surpassed the number of the Divine Army troops under God. This was the difficulty that God, his envoys, and his Divine Army had to endure and surpass.

    Without any hesitation, Ali spread his palms and said, ¡°Compress.¡±

    <em>¡®Grandpa Ben, Elpis. I¡¯m sorry. But I also want to be a True God.¡¯</em>

    Ali smiled bitterly. He also wanted to be stronger. With Ali¡¯s words, the Archangel and the Spear God were gathered together in one ce. Without missing a beat, Alexander cast the spell, which power he was gathering earlier.

    ¡°Splitting God.¡±

    The name might sound weird and funny. but the power that it disyed was far beyond anyone¡¯s imagination. A 50 meter long sword made of light created by the skill would deal an additional 8,000% damage to whoever or whatever it made contact with.

    The Envoy of the Spear and the Archangel were both cut down by the sword made of light.

    ¡°Kghhk¡­!¡±

    ¡°Keheok!¡±

    A ck figure suddenly passed by Alexander just when the two groaned in pain. The figure was none other than ck Dragon Vormon with a huge breath brewing in his mouth.

    Alexander was very confident that this fight would be over once those two envoys died. After all, thebination of Ali, Death, and Akhan would not let God gain enough contribution to summon another envoy.

    <em>¡®We wo¡­!¡¯</em>

    However, before Alexander could rejoice, the loud sound of the earth trembling rang in his ears.

    <em>Thuuuuuuuuuuud¡ª</em>

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeeeck!¡± ck Dragon Vormon shrieked, half of his neck almost cut off. Right in front of him stood a man bathed in bright light, protecting the Archangel and the Envoy of Spear.

    <em>[God does not approve of his envoys getting hurt!]</em>

    <em>[God will now give punishment to those that have dared to attack his envoys!]</em>

    <em>[God has entered the battlefield!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!!!]</em>

    <em>[God is a being whose powers you cannot dare to fathom or measure!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!!!]</em>

    <em>[Please do not fight against God!]</em>

    A sharp glint shed in God¡¯s eyes as he red at the struggling ck Dragon Vormon. Then, he pointed his sword at Vormon and said, ¡°Get lost.¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

 Chapter 642: The Battlefield of the Gods

    Chapter 642: The Battlefield of the Gods

    The Envoy of the Spear and the Archangel were both necessary talents that Minhyuk needed to win the Battlefield of the Gods. However, they were also his very preciousrades. Minhyuk could not just stand by and watch as the two men came in contact with huge danger, even though he was expected to not make any move since he was God, albeit only temporarily.

    Because Minhyuk became a God, his skill levels and stats had dramatically increased. ck Dragon Vormon might have been transnted with the heart of an ancient dragon, but Minhyuk was already several times stronger than before.

    After cutting Vormon down, Minhyuk looked at everyone coldly as he used a skill. The skill was none other than Overlord Technique. Originally, the Overlord Technique was a skill that could only be used when the Overlord¡¯s Mana had been filled. However, for Minhyuk, who became a God, such a restriction was not needed. In fact, it even became more powerful than usual.

    Just like that, the Overlord¡¯s Technique made Minhyuk¡¯s enemies kneel down under a different name.

    <em>[God¡¯s Sword de.]</em>

    <em>[Your sword with additional 11,000% attack power will rip all of your enemies within a 150 meter radius apart!]</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s yellow eyes grew wide in shock as Ali summoned a shield to protect them.

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    Akhan immediately took the opportunity to cast the summoner¡¯s buff ability to his summon, Vormon.

    <em>[The Summoned One¡¯s Blessings.]</em>

    <em>[Physical and magical defenses will increase by 60%!]</em>

    Death also summoned skeletons and created a huge wall that blocked their front. However, none of their defensive measures worked.

    Alexander could only sigh as God red sharply at them. He thought, <em>¡®Those eyes look familiar¡­¡¯</em> while looking at God¡¯s eyes, the only part of his face that was visible to them, while the rest was obscured by the bright light.

    In the end, the power that God released broke apart the golden shield that Ali created. It even broke apart the wall of bones and traveled even further, directly hitting Vormon.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeck!¡± Vormon shrieked as his body got torn to pieces.

    It was a sight that was enough to make the entire world go into shock. ck Dragon Vormon was said to be the greatest and strongest existence in this world! Yet he was already turning into dust that scattered in the wind barely moments after he was summoned. But that power did not stop at Vormon. It continued on and knocked down several more people. Then, God took a step forward.

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    <em>Stagger¡ª</em>

    One step from God and many already started to back away.

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    On his second step, someone fell on their back. And on his third step, someone groaned in despair, ¡°Aaah¡­!¡±

    At that moment, Akhan¡¯s voice rang loudly in everyone¡¯s ears, ¡°Everyone,e back to your senses!!! How long are you going to hide those cherished things of yours?! Are you not going to kill God?!¡±

    The God-ss yers finally realized the severity of the situation in front of them after hearing Akhan¡¯s words.

    What Akhan was talking about was the skills with penalties that each of the God-ss yers had saved. Most of these yers could use skills with the strongest effects, but they would also be subjected to terrible penalties. In the case of Food God Minhyuk, his ss was said to be the most bnced, since he did not have any skill with the worst penalties. The penalty for such skills was too big. However, the pay off in terms of power was also beyond anyone¡¯s imagination.

    Still, they hesitated.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Then, at that moment, Ali began shooting hundreds of magical attacks. Amidst the explosions, God Minhyuk desperately hoped for the appearance of a being, <em>¡®Brod.¡¯</em>

    <em>(<strong>Ring Connecting the King and his Vassals</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: Legendary</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: The One that has Vassals.</em>

    <em><strong>Durability</strong>: 2,000 / 2,000</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>?No matter where or what your vassal was doing, you will be able to summon them unconditionally. Can only be used once a month.</em>

    <em>?To summon your vassal, you need to say the trigger words: ¡®If I¡¯m with you then¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk deliberately chose this artifact from Reuven¡¯s treasure house. He also chose to use the Ring Connecting the King and his Vassals at this moment because he saw that his contribution was almost filled just a few moments prior.

    <em>[You have used the Ring Connecting the King and his Vassals.]</em>

    <em>[Your Vassal is out of range.]</em>

    Minhyuk had tried several times but the result had always been the same. Minhyuk chewed on his lips, fully aware that he would eventually be pushed back during this battle.

    Just like what Akhan has implied, the God-ss yers would be able to show tremendous power once they disregarded the penalties that they would incur upon using their skills. Of course, there would only be one person that would climb to the realm of a True God, but there were people that just wanted to defeat him and see him lose. Even that was threatening to Minhyuk.

    ced in such a situation, Minhyuk believed that it was necessary to have Brod by his side to win. With the power that Brod disyed during the Battle of the Thrones, and the ¡®Great Sword¡¯ that Minhyuk had asked to be made for him, there was a chance that they would be able to overturn this situation.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk broke through the bombardment of magical explosions and charged towards his enemies. He intended to cut down more of his enemies, gain enough contribution and immediately summon God of Snakes Elizabeth. However¡­

    <em>[God of Buff¡¯s Maniption.]</em>

    <em>[You will gain the power to temporarily manipte anything and everything.]</em>

    <em>[It is impossible to go beyond thews of causality.]</em>

    <em>[You have received a -5 on all of your stats as a penalty.]</em>

    In the end, God of Buffs Rogal decided to use his penalty skill. In exchange for the huge penalty, he received the power to temporarily control the system. Then, Rogal threw a ck chain towards Minhyuk¡¯s body which promptly got absorbed inside.

    <em>[You can¡¯t earn contributions for 15 minutes!]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The notification came as a shock to Minhyuk.

    <em>[The weapon used by the Archangel has been sealed!]</em>

    The God Piercing Spear had a longer durationpared to the weapon used by the archangel. This meant that the Archangel would be infinitely weakerpared to before. The problem was that there was not much time left either for the Envoy of the Spear¡¯s weapon too. On top of that, if Minhyuk could not umte contributions for fifteen minutes, it meant that it was impossible for him to summon another envoy. How about the Divine Army? They were still struggling as Akhan, Ali, and Death continued to hold them back.

    ¡°From the looks of it, it seems like he really has more envoys to summon¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s freaking crazy. How many envoys does he have?¡±

    The God-ss yers clicked their tongues as they watched Minhyuk break through the mes of war and disy his powers. Minhyuk had a passive skill called ¡®Lightning¡¯. By bing God, the strength of the skill had grown by leaps and bounds.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The moment he struck one of the God-ss yers that blocked him, a divine explosion unfolded.

    <em>Baaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk began to push back the antagonists and God sses rapidly. Meanwhile, the Envoy of the Spear and the Archangel continued to stay by each other¡¯s side. However, after losing his weapon, the Archangel was rendered powerless under the onught of the attacks of Alexander and the antagonists.

    Minhyuk looked at the God-ss yers that lined up in front of him with a cold and sharp re as he cast his skill, ¡®Sword of Tempest¡¯. Unlike the ordinary Sword of Tempest, thousands of swords rained down on his enemies, spinning fiercely and devouring them whole.

    ¡°Euaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keoooooook!¡±

    ¡°The damage that he deals is crazy¡­¡± Alexander murmured as he assessed the situation.

    He was right. Most of the enemies that received Minhyuk¡¯s attack had been forced to log out. There were supposed to be God-ss yers, some even the pirs of their own empires and kingdoms.

    ¡°God Piercing Arrow.¡±

    <em>Thwaaaaaaack¡ª</em>

    Master Archer Miao aimed for Minhyuk¡¯s heart as she released an arrow that would definitely reach its target

    <em>¡®I can take that.¡¯</em>

    Although they believed that Minhyuk was just a powerful dealer, his HP volume was actually five times higher than normal. He even had an excellent defensive power.

    Minhyuk looked at the enemies that surrounded him. His beloved master had left him his legacy. This was what Minhyuk was going to show the world right now, ¡°Hundred Swords.¡±

    <em>[You have used the Sword that Epasses God¡¯s Lands.]</em>

    Originally, the hundreds of des released by this skill would have an additional 4,000% damage. But with all of Minhyuk''s power increased, the total damage that it could deal had reached 8,000%. But that was not all. Even its radius of effect had increased to 80 meters.

    <em>Rumbleeeeee¡ª</em>

    The ground started to distort, as multiple sword des took the lives of the enemies surrounding him. The abnormal status that originally caused breathing difficulties was reced with a stun and a restriction on their ankles. Nearly 9,000 antagonists and God-ss yers died from the attack.

    ¡°That¡¯s really freaking crazy¡­¡±

    ¡°How can we kill someone like that?¡±

    In the end, the ones that hesitated were forced to make a decision. When Minhyuk leapt above his enemies, a chain suddenly shot out and wrapped his arm. As he tried to shake it off, a set of notifications rang out.

    <em>[God of Endurance.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Endurance has restrained his opponent from moving!]</em>

    <em>[Your opponent will not be able to move for five seconds!]</em>

    <em>[You will receive a penalty of -1 level on a random skill.]</em>

    The yer that used the skill had the God-ss: ¡®God of Endurance¡¯s Descendant. Although the yer did not usually gain much attention, he was the best person for this situation. Alexander¡¯s eyes shone brightly at this. Even the otherbat sses saw the opportunity presented by this situation.

    Alexander also had a skill with the worst penalty. While he had used the skill: Splitting God before, this time, it was different.

    ¡°Splitting the Origin.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Alexander¡¯s sword fell from the sky like a disaster and struck Minhyuk.

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    The attack dealt huge damage; one nce and anyone could estimate that there was at least 16,000% damage on that attack. Immediately after, Master Archer Miao nocked an arrow on her bow, ¡°Tempest Shot.¡±

    Then, a huge storm struck Minhyuk¡¯s body. The attack generated a powerful force that caused great changes in the surroundings.

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡± Minhyuk screamed as the notifications rang.

    <em>[You have dealt a huge blow to God!]</em>

    <em>[God has started to shake!]</em>

    The God-ss yers and the antagonists cheered as they started attacking Minhyuk all at once. In those five seconds, it would not matter how strong God was. It would still be very hard for him to endure against the onught of their most powerful attacks.

    At the same time, God had been given a passive as a special privilege called ¡®God¡¯s Revival¡¯. If God¡¯s HP reached zero, it would immediately refill to almost 40%, while a ¡®God¡¯s Barrier¡¯ would appear and protect him for four seconds.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The God-ss yers¡¯ strongest attack skills continued to rain down on Minhyuk.

    ¡°God!¡±

    ¡°Goooooood!¡±

    The Envoy of the Spear tried to break through the enemy ranks as quickly as possible, but his strength was no longer enough. Even the Archangel tried to do something, but in the end, he bled to his death until he turned into ashes.

    <em>[The Archangel has died in the Battlefield of the Gods.]</em>

    <em>[The Archangel will be revived in the territory that he lives in.]</em>

    The Archangel scattered in the wind and disappeared from sight. Despair devoured the Envoy of the Spear as he looked at his king, who was rendered powerless by countless enemies.

    The God-ss yers and the antagonists were delighted, while the entire world paid attention to whatever was going to happen next with bated breaths. Perhaps a new person qualified to be a God would be born right here and now?

    In the end, Minhyuk¡¯s HP reached zero. Thanks to his special privilege, his HP immediately jumped back to 40% and a golden barrier appeared to surround him.

    Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>[Spatial Distortion.]</em>

    <em>[The God that Controls Space restricted your range of movements to three meters!]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s face turned ugly. Because of the power that was cast upon him, even if the barrier was lifted after four seconds, he would not be able to leave this ce. The antagonists began to surround him.

    At this point, the entire world knew, <em>¡®The one qualified to be God will change¡­¡¯</em>

    Meanwhile, someonemented, howling, ¡°Goooooooood!¡±

    ¡°Nooooo!¡±

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    Exhausted, Minhyuk copsed on one knee. As he tried to stand up with thest of his strength, the barrier started to melt down. Minhyuk saw the God-ss yers and the antagonists looking at him with smiles of victory on their faces.

    <em>¡®Minhyuk, this is our victory,¡¯ </em>Alexander thought. He had just realized that the man that they were fighting against was the Food God. However, he did not need to inform anyone of this fact. The man in front of him would die without the world knowing this.

    With the barrier almost disappearing, Alexander said, ¡°Prepare to attack.¡±

    But then, at that moment, a very wee notification rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The Ring Connecting the King and His Vassals is shining brightly!]</em>

    <em>[The vassal that you were searching for is trying his best toply with your request!]</em>

    Minhyuk struggled to stand up amidst the attention of everyone around him. A little more and his contribution would be enough to summon one more envoy, and it was just in time.

    <em>[You can now earn contributions again!]</em>

    Minhyuk jumped out of the slowly disappearing barrier himself, throwing his body in the middle of the antagonists that surrounded him inyers.

    ¡°Wh, what¡­?!¡±

    In an instant, Minhyuk charged forward and cut down five antagonists.

    <em>[You have met the required contribution for summoning an envoy.]</em>

    Then, he said, ¡°Summon Envoy.¡±

    <em>[God has summoned his third Envoy.]</em>

    <em>[God¡¯s Envoy will trample and destroy the wicked on God¡¯s behalf!!!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!!!]</em>

    <em>[A being that has transcended the limits of a human being has made an appearance!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!!!]</em>

    <em>[A being that has transcended the limits of a human being has made an appearance!]</em>

    <em>[The envoy summoned by God is also another God!!!]</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    A bright light shot down from the skies. Seeing this, Minhyuk hurriedly rummaged through his inventory, taking out a greatsword and throwing it toward the light in the sky.

    <em>Booooooooooom¡ª</em>

    The shooting light caught the greatsword that Minhyuk threw which promptly changed the notifications that announced his arrival.

    <em>[Warning!!!]</em>

    <em>[A being that has transcended the limits of a human being has made an appearance!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!!!]</em>

    <em>[A being that has transcended the limits of a human being has made an appearance!]</em>

    <em>[The envoy summoned by God is an Absolute God!!!]</em>

    The bright light that shot down fell on the ground and took the shape of a man kneeling on one knee in front of his God. Everyone present was horrified by the sudden turn of events.

 Chapter 643: The Battlefield of the Gods

    Chapter 643: The Battlefield of the Gods

    Brod was Queen Iris¡¯ escort knight when Minhyuk first met him. Apparently, he used to be called Mercenary King Brod in the past, but after experiencing something huge, Brod had decided to stay by Iris¡¯ side. Later, he came to serve Minhyuk and became the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Sword, until he left one day.

    Who was the strongest in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom? When asked this question, many of the members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would answer the same thing. It was none other than Brod. Brod was the Absolute Supreme NPC in Beyond the Heavens.

    When they met him in the Battle of the Thrones as the number one Sword of the Gods, everyone could tell that he had grown stronger than ever. They did not know the reason, but they were all certain that Brod actually had insane power, which he had sealed at some point. During the Battle of the Thrones, that seal had been released.

    Right now, Brod was brought to that state again once he had in his hand the sword that Minhyuk and Hyemin¡¯s Daddy had made together for him¡ªthe ¡®Greatsword for the Knight that Left.¡¯

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    A powerful force burst out and swept the entire area. It looked like a powerful tornado had materialized in ce. This sudden development made the God-ss yers and the antagonists feel flustered.

    <em>(<strong>Greatsword for the Knight that Left</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: God</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: Level 600 or higher, Sword Master or higher.</em>

    <em><strong>Durability</strong>: ¡Þ / ¡Þ</em>

    <em><strong>Attack</strong>: 2,708</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>?A 43% increase in STR, AGI and STM.</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Greatsword Supreme Mastery increased to Level 9.</em>

    <em>?A 50% increase in sword attack speed.</em>

    <em>?A +2 level increase in all swordsmanship skill levels.</em>

    <em>?A 1.5x increase in swordsmanship skill damage.</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Three Consecutive Attacks.</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: King and Vassal.</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Force and Defense.</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: King and Vassal¡¯s Sword Dance.</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: God¡¯s Strongest Swordsmanship</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: This is a sword produced by the king that is waiting for his vassal to return, honoring the vassal by remembering him. This sword can break and cut everything down.</em>

    Minhyuk released a trembling breath as he watched the light disappear and reveal Brod wearing a bright red helmet and armor. It felt quite refreshing to meet with this man again.

    Brod knelt down on one knee and courteously said, ¡°Your Majesty, please give me your orders.¡±

    To Minhyuk, Brod had always been a very reliable person. His appearance here meant that Minhyuk gained the strength of a thousand men. Meanwhile, the God-ss yers and the antagonists behind them all heard the same notifications.

    Brod was currently an Absolute God-level being. Of course, not everyone was strong just because they were hailed as an Absolute God. There was someone that was good at cooking, good at summoning, good at saving, and someone good at leading. Brod, however¡­was definitely a very powerful Absolute God.

    ¡°Destroy the enemies.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty.¡±

    ¡°¡­Did he say <em>Your Majesty</em>?¡±

    ¡°No, no way¡­¡±

    Minhyuk knew that his enemies would start to figure out his true identity at this point in time. In the first ce, there were not many yers that had extremely powerful entities under theirmand like him. Also, there were only two people in the world that could be referred to as ¡®Your Majesty¡¯.

    ¡°The, the Food God¡­¡±

    ¡°Food God Minhyuk¡­¡±

    ¡°But, but even if he truly is the Food God, are his vassals truly this strong?¡±

    It was the biggest point of doubt for everyone. Minhyuk¡¯s Named NPCs were all famous. Everyone was aware that each and every single one of them were legends. However, being a legend did not mean that they were God rank. No one had heard that they had reached the God rank. This was mainly because they were unaware that the series of notifications about the creation of God-rank artifacts were all rted to Minhyuk.

    Brod slowly stood up, his sharp gaze looking at the enemies that surrounded them. Everyone that caught his eyes could not help but flinch.

    ¡°Mercenary¡¯s Pinnacle Swordsmanship,¡± murmured Mercenary King Brod as he stood there imposingly. His voice was soft, but the impact of those words was tremendous.

    Right now, Brod was much stronger than he used to be. In addition, he also wielded the God-rank greatsword that granted him almost 2700 attack points!

    ¡°Final Chapter. Wolf of Death.¡±

    <em>[Warning!!!]</em>

    <em>[This is an attack that you cannot block!]</em>

    <em>[You have fallen into a 2 second stunned state!]</em>

    ¡°What¡­?¡±

    Everyone was terrified. It seemed like the drastic increase in the level of Brod¡¯s skill, Wolf of Death¡¯s Final Chapter, had added a stunned state to it. While everyone had turned stiff from being stunned, the attack¡¯s original hundred des turned into thousands, raining down upon them. It took only one tenth of a second for this attack to tear apart all of the enemies that surrounded Minhyuk and Brod.

    ¡°God of Protection¡¯s Shie¡­ Aaaaargh!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaargh!¡±

    Around 20,000 people disappeared without a trace. Ashes fluttered at the ces that the sword des passed by. But the attack did not end there.

    ¡°God¡¯s Strongest Swordsmanship. Greatsword¡¯s Style Chapter 3. sh.¡±

    An enormous greatsword around fifty meters in length appeared in the skies above them. As it fell upon them, it was as though a gigantic God was thrusting the greatsword downward with all his might.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    A tremendous force with 13,000% attack came crashing down and turned everyone that it passed by into ashes. In an instant, 30,000 of the enemies disappeared. The next moment, Minhyuk received a set of notifications.

    <em>[The special ability ¡®King and Vassal¡¯ of the Greatsword for the Knight that Left has been triggered!]</em>

    <em>[All stats will increase by 12% as long as King and Vassal is activated!]</em>

    Yes, the Greatsword for the Knight that Left had a buff effect that could raise all of the stats when the king and his vassal fought together. The most surprising part was that it could ovep with other buffs.

    Alexander, Ali, Death, and even Akhan were rendered speechless. All they could do was gape at Brod as he massacred 30,000 people at once. What they needed to do right now was made clear to them.

    ¡°Concentrate your attacks!!!¡±

    They tried to attack Minhyuk and Brod in unison. Just then, a red aura suddenly burst out from Brod¡¯s body while a golden aura erupted from Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    <em>[The King and Vassal¡¯s Sword Dance.]</em>

    <em>[The King and his Vassal have begun a sword dance together!]</em>

    <em>[They would both be resistant to all status ailments and abnormal statuses as they perform their sword dance!]</em>

    <em>[Skill cooldown will be reduced by 40% as they perform their sword dance!]</em>

    <em>[Attack and movement speed will increase by 50% as they perform their sword dance!]</em>

    <em>[Evasion rate will increase by 300% as they perform their sword dance!]</em>

    <em>[Physical and Magical Defense will increase by 80% as they perform their sword dance!]</em>

    <em>[The sword dance willst for two minutes!]</em>

    The King and Vassal¡¯s Sword Dance was a skill that could only be performed if the king and his vassal trusted each other and fought alongside each other on the battlefield. Although it would onlyst for two minutes, everything would increase by leaps and bounds.

    ¡°Heuuuuup!¡± Brod breathed in as he dug deep into the ranks of the enemies while Minhyuk jumped right behind him.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The lightning triggered with every stroke of Minhyuk¡¯s sword was several times more powerful than usual, and it swept away hundreds of enemies. As for Brod, an attack-oriented character and given a greatsword with an attack power of 2,700 to boot, everytime he swung his sword, his enemies would turn to ashes and disappear into the wind. It was a one-shot kill.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    ¡°Shit! Somebody cast some debuff on them!!!¡±

    ¡°Use debuff or magic! Just try and stop them!!!¡±

    ¡°Euaaaaaaaaaack!!!¡±

    Screams rang loudly everywhere. However, no matter what they did, they could not do much against Brod, who was covered with red aura, and Minhyuk, who was covered with a golden aura. After all, not only had their stats and skills all risen dramatically, but they now also had resistance against anything and everything.

    ¡°Sword of Absolute Death.¡±

    With Minhyuk bing a God, the powerful skill that could create hundreds of sword des had be even more potent, now summoning thousands of des.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    With the advent of the devastating des, the enemies were easily swept away. Of course, Brod did not idle around, casting a skill along with Minhyuk¡¯s skill.

    ¡°God¡¯s Strongest Swordsmanship, Final Chapter. Exploding Sword.¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The ground twisted and turned as huge, powerful explosions enveloped a 150-meter radius.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Cold sweat dripped down Alexander¡¯s forehead as the notifications constantly rang in his ears.

    <em>[24, 313 allied Antagonists were killed in less than a minute!]</em>

    <em>[75 allied God-ss yers were killed in less than a minute!]</em>

    <em>[17, 441 allied Antagonists were killed in less than a minute!]</em>

    <em>[55 allied God-sses yers were killed in less than a minute!]</em>

    It was apletely impossible feat, yet the situation was unfolding right in front of them. With this, Alexander quickly changed his mind.

    <em>¡®The Battlefield of the Gods has a time limit.¡¯</em>

    Because of the time limit, the game would end in an hour. Right now, the God-ss yers did not need to hunt God. What they needed to do was to hold out as long as possible so they could prove that they were at least equal to him. Thanks to that, Alexander was relieved.

    <em>¡®The other envoys are probably not that strong, right?¡¯</em>

    Thementators from all over the world seemed to share the same sentiments.

    <em>[From what I can see, the God-ss yers need to change their strategy. I think it¡¯s better for them to ce more importance on enduring than hunting God.]</em>

    <em>[The sudden appearance of Brod has caused the tides of war to change.]</em>

    <em>[The figure of the two of them fighting together, back-to-back, is so cool.]</em>

    Yes. Common sense already went out the window in this fight. Everyone knew that Minhyuk and his Named NPCs were incredibly strong. However, the fact that they suddenly became Gods was so unbelievable. Alexander desperately wanted to believe that this was the end of it.

    ***

    ATV Broadcasting Station¡¯s PD Kim Dae-Guk trembled after realizing that the God candidate was Food God Minhyuk. With that revtion, the ratings of their broadcast had reached another all time high.

    ¡°PD! We¡¯re almost reaching our highest viewership rating!¡±

    PD Kim Dae-Guk¡¯s hands were now covered with sweat. It was only natural. After all, many people came to their broadcast after hearing the news about God¡¯s identity. However, just like what they expected, the view was still unable to surpass the highest viewership rating that they had.

    So far, Minhyuk had always been the topmost contributor to ATV Broadcasting Station¡¯s highest viewership rating. However, even if that was the case, everyone in this room believed that it would be very hard to surpass the highest viewership rating; after all, the other broadcasts also had a massive impact.

    PD Kim Dae-Guk could not erase the regret on his face. At that moment, the director called out to him, and Dae-Guk rushed to where the director was. However, he suddenly stopped in his tracks when he heard the murmur of one of the employees in the room.

    ¡°Fi, finally! He¡¯s summoning another envoy!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    PD Kim Dae-Guk whipped back despite the director¡¯s urgent call. Which envoy would appear this time? Of course, no one thought that another God rank envoy would appear this time. It just did not make sense at all. How could a yer have so many God-rank envoys, right? If that happened, then the bnce would bepletely and utterly broken.

    On the screen, Minhyuk and Brod continued to dance around the battlefield as several bright lights shot down from the skies.

    ¡°Crazy¡­! He¡¯s summoning so many of them at once?!¡±

    Minhyuk had umted his contribution points and bided his time to summon all of them at once. Among all of the summoned envoys was a small girl. The little girl was wearing a white mask and a white priestess robe.

    <em>[God has summoned his fourth Envoy.]</em>

    <em>[Warning!!!]</em>

    <em>[A being that has transcended the limits of a human being has made an appearance!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!!!]</em>

    <em>[A being that has transcended the limits of a human being has made an appearance!]</em>

    <em>[The envoy summoned by God is also another God!!!]</em>

    ¡°F, fourth¡­?¡±

    ¡°The, the viewership ratings are increasing once again!!! We¡¯re getting closer to breaking our highest record!!!¡±

    The higher the ratings, the smaller the increase. So, even if it rose just a bit, it could be said that the increase in rating was tremendous. Yet, before they could even collect themselves, another surprisey in store for them.

    <em>[God has summoned his fifth Envoy.]</em>

    <em>[Warning!!!]</em>

    <em>[A being that has transcended the limits of a human being has made an appearance!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!!!]</em>

    <em>[A being that has transcended the limits of a human being has made an appearance!]</em>

    <em>[The envoy summoned by God is also another God!!!]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    The person that appeared this time was as tall as Brod. Looking at the figure, PD Kim Dae-Guk thought that he was probably Gorfido.

    ¡°A, a fifth God?!¡±

    The following summons were no less shocking.

    <em>[God has summoned his sixth Envoy.]</em>

    <em>[The envoy summoned by God is an Absolute Supreme NPC!!!]</em>

    <em>[God has summoned his seventh Envoy.]</em>

    <em>[¡­is an Absolute Supreme NPC!!!]</em>

    <em>[God has summoned his eighth Envoy.]</em>

    <em>[¡­Absolute Supreme NPC!!!]</em>

    Notifications like these kept on ringing. These notifications rendered the entire world speechless. For the Fourth God, instead of the power to control the system, she showed the power to devour her enemies. With just one wave of her hand, tens of thousands of enemies bled all over.

    One after the other, the envoys released their attacks. The man who was believed to be Great Pirate Gorfido swung the huge scythe in his hand and released a gigantic wave ofva that engulfed tens of thousands of enemies.

    Even the Absolute Supreme NPCs used their lethal skills together.

    ¡°P, PD¡­ Our, our highest viewership rating has been updated¡­¡±

    In just three minutes, Food God Minhyuk had written another legend. In three minutes, just three minutes, there were no other people standing on the battlefield except for Minhyuk and his envoys.

    Then, the notifications rang.

    <em>[The first Battlefield of the Gods has ended!]</em>

    <em>[In the first Battlefield of the Gods, ¡®God¡¯ has overpowered and wiped out his enemies!]</em>

    <em>[God, who has achieved an overwhelming feat, will receive a special reward!]</em>

    ¡°Our Lord, the Food God¡­¡± PD Kim Dae-Guk murmured unknowingly.

 Chapter 644: The Battlefield of the Gods

    Chapter 644: The Battlefield of the Gods

    Everyone¡¯s expectations of the first Battlefield of the Gods had been broken. God hadpletely overwhelmed the battlefield. However, thementators were still in the middle of providing their conjectures and assumptions.

    <em>[The envoys are allowed to equip artifacts. From what it looks like, Food God Minhyuk has produced God-rank artifacts for them in preparation for the Battlefield of the Gods.]</em>

    <em>[We can assume that the notifications regarding the creation of several God-rank artifacts that rang recently were all rted to the Food God.]</em>

    <em>[However, there¡¯s something noteworthy about these artifacts. Just like what we have seen, the Gods eventually lose their power after some time. If I could make a guess, it is highly likely that those artifacts are consumable ones and can only exert power temporarily.]</em>

    <em>[If that¡¯s the case, then there¡¯s a high probability that the envoys will not be able to y a huge role during the Twin Gods¡¯ Hunt.]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s right. In the end, only God, yer Food God, would be able to receive adjustments during the games.]</em>

    <em>[I believe the next game will be a pretty difficult battle for the Food God.]</em>

    Indeed. There were plenty of variables that worked in the Food God¡¯s favor during the first Battlefield of the Gods. The prime example of this was the temporary ascent of his Named NPCs to the realm of the Gods. However, everyone is of the same mind that there would not be a repeat of that miracle.

    While thementators and viewers were busy specting on their own, Minhyuk, who won the first Battlefield of the Gods, was listening to the constant ring of the notifications in his ears.

    <em>[As the God that has made an overwhelming achievement in the battlefield, you will be able to receive a special reward!]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 30,000 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 3,000,000,000,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have received an additional benefit! All of your stats will increase by 2%!]</em>

    <em>[All of the envoys that fought with you will receive a 1% increase in all of their stats!]</em>

    <em>[The Absolute Gods and the Gods are all sighing as they watch you.]</em>

    <em>[All of them are watching you, who might be a new God, with interest.]</em>

    <em>[The Divine Sword¡¯s Skill Proficiency has increased slightly.]</em>

    <em>[If you achieve a shocking achievement, you might be given the chance to use the close to impossible skill that has been sealed once!]</em>

    <em>[This is a privilege that is only avable on the second battlefield.]</em>

    Minhyuk nodded with a satisfied smile on his face. The 1% increase in all of the envoys¡¯ stats today was already a huge gain. After all, it would give them all a huge boost in power. On top of that, Minhyuk was able to increase his level by two.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk rubbed his chin as he looked at the additional reward that he received, where he could use a ¡®sealed skill once¡¯. For some, this reward would either be the best or the worst. It would be the best if they were the owner of a sealed skill, a skill that was incredibly strong and that they could never use. On the other hand, if they did not have any sealed skill, then this was a privilege that they could never make use of.

    <em>¡®As for me¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk looked down at his hands. He was the owner of a sealed skill.

    ***

    Food God Minhyuk was the God in the Battlefield of the Gods! A lot of people started to pay attention to the event because of this. It was only natural that the ratings for the second battlefield would be higher than the first battlefield. On top of that, the yers that heard of God¡¯s victory all began to wonder how God looked like and how he would perform.

    On their screens, the scene of the second battlefield was reflected. In front of them was a huge kingdom, void of any human existence. Seeing this, thementators began to exin the huge kingdom that was disyed on their screens.

    <em>[We have received the information regarding the second battlefield. For the second portion of the Battlefield of the Gods, they will have to hunt the Corrupted Twin Gods. God, together with the God-ss yers and the antagonists will appear in the kingdom together.]</em>

    <em>[Although they appear at the same time inside the kingdom, there would be a transparent barrier that cuts the entire area in half. They would be separated on each side and would face one of the Corrupted Twin Gods each.]</em>

    <em>[For the hunt of the Corrupted Twin Gods, only 200 antagonists would be chosen to fight alongside the God-ss yers. These 200 people are chosen by the God-ss yers and all of them are high rankers.]</em>

    <em>[On the other hand, God can bring all of the ¡®Envoys¡¯ under hismand to fight. God can bring up to 50 envoys. If God does not have any vassals to summon, the envoys would be reced by the envoys prepared by the system.]</em>

    <em>[This time, they have added a very fun and interesting system, a deal meter system.]</em>

    <em>[A deal meter?]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s right. In most RPG games, you will be able to see how much damage you have dealt whenever you attack monsters. This system will be added during the hunt for the Corrupted Twin Gods.]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s very, <strong>very</strong> interesting. If we can see the damage dealt by the rankers then we can see who has the upperhand.]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s right. There will also be a Deal Shop that will open. The Deal Shop will only open once they have umted enough in the deal meter. The God-ss yers can designate only one person to open the Deal Shop and use it.]</em>

    <em>[The shop will contain items that will be of great help to God, the God-ss yers, and the envoys.]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s very urate. It would truly be of great help to them if they could make good use of the shop.]</em>

    <em>[However, I don¡¯t think that it would be easy to use the Deal Shop.]</em>

    <em>[There¡¯s also a rule that states that the winner of the first battle will only start five minutester.]</em>

    <em>[Because of that, Food God Minhyuk will have no choice but to y the game five minutester than the rest.]</em>

    <em>[The key is within those five minutes. The God-ss yers should take those time to learn as much as they could about the Corrupted Twin Gods.]</em>

    <em>[The God-ss yers are starting to appear one after the other in the kingdom as we speak.]</em>

    <em>[They all look nervous.]</em>

    <em>[If they lose this time, the God-ss yers will have to give up the qualifications to be a True God to the Food God, yer Minhyuk.]</em>

    <em>[As we can see, One of the Corrupted Twin Gods has also made their appearance!]</em>

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    The Corrupted Twin Gods were the children of the strongest and most powerful of the Six Monster Gods, Obren, who was still hidden behind a veil. The Corrupted God was a ferocious and powerful being that even the Absolute Gods feared. Because of that, God of Origin Athenae divided the Corrupted God into two, turning them into Twin Gods and weakening their powers before sealing them.

    One of the Twin Gods roared loudly. This Twin God had a singlerge eye on his face and around tens of thousands of eyes all over his body. This God also had a huge axe in his hand. This Twin God was around 18 meters in height and looked intimidating, especially with the bat wings that were unfurled on his back.

    Seeing the appearance of this God, the God-ss yers could not help but gulp dryly.

    <em>[The second battle of the Battlefield of the Gods will begin in three minutes!]</em>

    ***

    In the busy office building of Joy Co. Ltd., President Kang Taehoon burst inside the meeting room with a very serious expression on his face, while someone said, ¡°Akhan did not participate in the Battlefield of the Gods to be a God, but for something else.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    President Kang Taehoon could only frown. Crazy Tyrant Akhan once worked with President Kang Taehoon to produce Athenae. However, he was crazy for money. This fact got revealed to the public after he got severely beaten by yer Minhyuk. Because of that, the people turned their backs on him and he disappeared from everyone¡¯s sight.

    As to the reason why Akhan participated in the Battlefield of the Gods?

    ¡°Please look at this,¡± The Story Team Leader said as he brought something up on the screen in front of them. The screen disyed the details of the staff that was currently in Akhan¡¯s possession.

    <em>(<strong>The Corrupted God¡¯s Sacrificial Staff</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: Legendary</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: Summoner at Level 500 or higher.</em>

    <em><strong>Durability</strong>: 3,000 / 3,000</em>

    <em><strong>Attack Power</strong>: 301</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>?You can reform theplete body of the Corrupted God. </em>

    <em>?Once youbine the bodies of the Corrupted Twin Gods, the Corrupted God¡¯s passive skill: ¡®Plundering the Gods¡¯ will appear in his body.</em>

    <em>?You will be able to gain some control over the Corrupted Twin Gods.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: The Corrupted God was a very sly and clever man. Knowing that the God of Origin and the Absolute Gods would make a move to suppress him, he had hidden this artifact deep inside their own temple so that he would be able to gain hisplete body once again.</em>

    ¡°<em>Cough¡­¡±</em>

    <em>¡°Cough, cough!¡±</em>

    Coughs began to ring loudly in the meeting room. Just like what the description said, the Corrupted God had created this artifact to counter God of Origin Athenae and the Absolute Gods before hiding it. And Akhan definitely brought this item on purpose. In fact, there was a bigger underlying issue.

    ¡°It¡¯s definitely for the passive skill: Plundering the Gods, right?¡±

    The artifacts in the game were created by the production team. However, most of them were created ording to the flow of the story. A prime example of this was a famous sword that was used by a legendary swordsman. This artifact was a self-produced artifact that followed the story created in Athenae. However, none of them expected this development to ur.

    The Story Team Leader, his expression dark, said, ¡°That¡¯s right. Plundering the Gods was the power given to the Corrupted God by his father, God Obren to counter the other Gods. It is a passive skill that can take away one¡¯s divine power if they killed a God.¡±

    ¡°¡­What a f*cked up situation.¡±

    What was wrong with taking away the divine power of a God? Well, in this case, it was not God¡¯s divine power that would be taken away. If what they expected unfolded, they would be ced in the worst-case scenario, where all of the God-ss yers were disqualified from the game and deprived of their sses.

    This was not supposed to happen. Events should not have variables. After all, they werepletely different from the story. But at this moment, the start of the battle between the Corrupted Twin Gods and the God-ss yers had be a problem.

    Of course, Kang Taehoon would provide the highest amount ofpensation to those that have been disqualified from the Battlefield of the Gods. However, there would be a huge conflict with the system. God of Origin Athenae would not allow those that have been disqualified to be a God ss once again.

    If that happened, then Joy Co. Ltd. would definitely be subjected to severe criticisms. They were now facing the greatest ordeal since the establishment of theirpany. ck Dragon Vormon? God of Snakes Elizabeth? The situations before could not evenpare to the disaster that would unfold in this situation. The ovep of the story and the event that Joy Co. Ltd. was hosting would be the cause of this disaster.

    ¡°If all 500 God-ss yers be disqualified, then¡­¡± One of the people inside the meeting room murmured, bringing everyone into a panic.

    Kang Taehoon closed his eyes and pondered over this matter deeply. When he opened his eyes, he murmured, ¡°The Deal Shop has not yet been opened. Add the items that I tell you in the Deal Shop.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Even if they are not their vassal, the yer can ask for an NPC¡¯s help. If they respond, they will be summoned and allowed to participate in the Battlefield of the Gods.¡±

    All of the people present in the room were in awe of Kang Taehoon¡¯s words. Why? Because there was one man participating in the Battlefield of the Gods that could bring together the best and strongest Named NPCs in the world.

    Then, another man, the Special yers Management Team Leader Park Minggyu, opened his mouth, ¡°President. There¡¯s someone that¡¯s very close to Obren. Although Obren is in a very crude and rough form, he is still sealed by that man¡¯s side.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Park Minggyu¡¯s words brought huge shock to the members of the board and all of the people present for the meeting. Even President Kang Taehoon¡¯s eyes grew wide at this.

    Joy Co. Ltd. was apany that maintained its integrity. Even if they were a part of the higher ups, the teams involved would not divulge any confidential information to others. This was especially true for the Special yers Management Team. They were very strict when it came to divulging information to others.

    However, they were in an emergency. And now, someone was telling them that Obren, the father of the Corrupted God, was close to a yer?

    Team Leader Park Minggyu looked over at the monitor. In that monitor, God, who was set to appear five minutester, would be warped inside the second battlefield of the Battlefield of the Gods.

    Then, Team Leader Park Minggyu said, ¡°That person is none other than Minhyuk.¡±

    Everyone¡¯s eyes were stained with both shock and astonishment.

    ¡°He is the only one that could give us a solution in these difficult times.¡±

 Chapter 645: The Battlefield of the Gods

    Chapter 645: The Battlefield of the Gods

    Battlefield of the Gods.

    More than 500 God-ss yers and high rankers that were proceeding as God¡¯s Antagonists appeared in the area, as a notification rang in their ears.

    <em>[The second battle in the Battlefield of the Gods has begun!]</em>

    At the same time, Evron, one of the Corrupted Twin Gods, roared loudly and it shook the world.

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    The roar was so loud that it almost caused the yers¡¯ eardrums to rupture, while strength drained from their body.

    <em>[Corrupted Roar]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will decrease by 24%!]</em>

    <em>[Your physical attack and defense will decrease by 24%!]</em>

    <em>[Your attack hit rate will decrease by 33%!]</em>

    <em>[You have fallen into the Abnormal Status: Fear!]</em>

    <em>[Your AGI has dropped by 10%!]</em>

    <em>[Your total HP Volume will decrease by 80%!]</em>

    ¡°¡­It just started but¡­ what¡¯s this?¡± One of the God ss yers murmured. Just when they realized that they were not even given time to prepare, Evron raised his axe to the sky and mmed it down on the ground.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Hundreds of bloody red energy bloomed in the sky, following the movement of the axe, and mmed down on the God-ss yers and the antagonists like lightning bolts from dark clouds.

    <em>[You have received 33,697 attack damage!]</em>

    <em>[You have received 28,361 attack damage!]</em>

    <em>[¡­31,411¡­]</em>

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keoheooooook!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    It was just a single attack, but it was catastrophic. The powerful force of the attack instantly pulverized several God-ss yers and antagonists. However, those that remained started to prepare for battle. They were the top yers in the world! This would not faze them!

    The God-ss yers that yed support were immediately evacuated to the safest ce that they could find. They were tasked to create items that only someone at the God-rank could create, like buff parchments, buff potions, and things that could give the others excellent defenses.

    As they were doing that, the rest who were more focused on attacking would get into a general attack formation and charge in unison. For boss mobs, it was important to drain their HP right at the beginning.

    A powerful mana wave fluctuated in the area surrounding Ali, his golden hair fluttering behind him as he held his golden staff high above him while he summoned dozens of Disses.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The most powerful magical attack Diss, only castable by the highest-tiered mages, shot through the Corrupted God. The entire world, including the yers and thementators, watched with bated breaths and anticipation. Ali was the best mage in the world! They looked forward to the damage that he could deal. However, the result was different from the oue that everyone expected.

    <em>[Diss has been nullified!]</em>

    <em>[Diss has been nullified!]</em>

    <em>[Diss has been null¡­!]</em>

    <em>[You have dealt 7,151 attack damage!]</em>

    <em>[You have dealt 6,614 attack damage!]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Ali paused in his tracks. It was only natural. The average damage that the Corrupted God dealt to the yers was around 30,000. However, Ali was only able to deal an average of around 6,000 points. On top of that, since the Corrupted God was ssified as a boss mob, he had a ridiculously high HP volume.

    The worst was that only eight out of the 26 Disses had sessfully hit. This implied that the Corrupted God¡¯s basic attack and magical attack evasion rate was beyond the yers¡¯ expectations.

    Then, Alexander stepped forward, bypassing Ali. After all, they were now in a situation where everyone waspeting against each other too.

    The damage that they could deal here would be the model for the damage dealt by Athenae¡¯s global top rankers in the future. Alexander believed that he would be the prime example. After all, he was one of the yers that made up Athenae¡¯s Summit Five and the damage that he could deal to his opponent was considered to be among the best in the world.

    Alexander cast his secret skill, the very same one that destroyed one of the walls of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom during the Battle of the Thrones. His sword grew huge as it shot up toward the sky.

    ¡°Disaster Sword.¡±

    <em>[Disaster Sword<strong>]</strong></em>

    <em>[Everything will be crushed and broken, as if a disaster has befallen upon them, with the additional 11,000% attack power added to your sword!]</em>

    <em>[It is an attack that cannot be stopped!]</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Alexander¡¯s sword came right down on the Corrupted God¡¯s head. However¡­

    ¡°Keheoook?!¡±

    <em>[You have dealt 20,251 attack damage!]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Alexander was flustered. Ali¡¯s magic and Alexander¡¯s skill were different. Magic had cooldowns but as long as one had enough mana, then they would be able to use it again and again. Due to that, an attack skill would have a higher firepower than a magic skill.

    Right now, the strongest attack skill in Alexander¡¯s arsenal only made the Corrupted God scream. To put it simply, it was like someone saying, <em>¡®Ah! It stings.¡¯</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The Corrupted God smacked the speechless Alexander away.

    <em>Smaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaack!¡± Alexander shrieked, a mouthful of blood shooting out of his mouth.

    It was at this moment that everyone realized that this was not the time to engage in a war of nerves against each other.

    ¡°Rampant Shot!¡±

    ¡°Dancing Sword!¡±

    ¡°God¡¯s Iron Mace!¡±

    ¡°Meteor!¡±

    ¡°Corpse Explosion!¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Hundreds of powerful forces mmed into the body of the Corrupted God and dealt continuous damage to the boss. However, the problem was that the damage from the Corrupted God was far higher than thebined damage from their mass attack.

    The moment Evron swung his axe, a powerful force swept past the allied God-ss yers and antagonists, and made the ground twist and turn.

    ¡°Keuheeeeeeup!¡±

    ¡°Crazy!!!¡±

    ¡°I, I think I have figured out a way to deal more attack damage!¡±

    There was also a God of Analysis and Prudence among them. This man continued, ¡°If you can urately hit one of his thousand eyes then we can deal twice as much damage!¡±

    ¡°As expected of the God of Analysis¡­!¡±

    Everyone was in awe of the God of Analysis. After all, it only took him a few minutes to grasp the weakness of the Corrupted God Evron.

    They were fast approaching the five minute mark. Meanwhile, Alexander checked the Corrupted God¡¯s HP bar and thought, <em>¡®We were only able to cut down 15% of his HP in those five minutes. However, it¡¯s still worth a try.¡¯</em>

    One by one, the yers were able to adapt to the battle against the Corrupted God. They avoided the other areas as much as possible and focused on the eyes.

    Even if they only attacked with their basic attacks, they would be able to kill the Corrupted God as long as they dealt constant damage. They would also be able to increase their speed once the parchments and potions of the supports werepleted.

    <em>¡®No matter how I think about it, I believe we will be faster than Minhyuk.¡¯</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaam! Baaaaaaaaaaaam¡ª</em>

    <em>Rumbleeeeeee¡ª</em>

    The battlefield was filled with loud explosions. Finally, five minutes have passed.

    <em>[God has entered the battlefield!]</em>

    A huge blue translucent barrier appeared and divided the area in half as Minhyuk was warped over, bathed in bright light. Surrounding him were his powerful envoys. As they appeared, the remaining Corrupted Twin God appeared in front of them.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Alexander immediately looked away from Minhyuk. He did not have any time to dy now. They had to hurry up and kill Evron in front of them.

    At that moment, Crazy Tyrant Akhan, who was controlling tens of thousands of wyverns in the sky, suddenly held up a staff with the head of a skeleton at the tip. Then, Akhan crushed that head.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The ashes from the crushed skeleton head scattered in the air which was immediately followed by something surprising. A mysterious and dreary voice flowed out of Akhan¡¯s mouth, ¡°<em><strong>Abuha</strong></em><em><strong></strong></em><strong><em>kedoro</em></strong><em><strong> verua</strong></em><strong>.</strong>¡±

    The voice sounded creepy, like nails scratching a chalkboard. Although the voice was soft, it was heard by everyone present.

    <em>[The incantation to awaken the Evil God has begun!]</em>

    <em>[No one will be able to move at the majesty of the incantation to awaken the Evil God!]</em>

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°What the hell?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡±

    The movements of the God-ss yers and the antagonists werepletely restricted. All of them looked up at Akhan in confusion.

    ¡°What the hell are you doing Akhan?!¡±

    ¡°What bullshit scheme are you on again, Akhan?!!!¡±

    Akhan was someone who would do anything for money. Another virtual reality game producer had promised him five billion won if he could do something to bring down Athenae.

    The corners of Crazy Tyrant Akhan¡¯s lips twitched. At his dreary voice, the eyes covering the bodies of the Corrupted Twin Gods turned ck.

    ¡°<strong><em>Abuha</em></strong><strong><em></em></strong><em><strong>kedoro</strong></em><strong><em> verua</em></strong><em>.</em>¡±

    Another chant and the Corrupted Twin Gods raised their heads to the sky in unison.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Then, they roared loudly, making the yers gulp dryly and thementators tense with nervousness. Then, at that moment, Akhan¡¯s eyes turned entirely ck as he mmed the staff down and muttered thest of the chant.

    ¡°<em><strong>Vrahni</strong></em><strong><em></em></strong><em><strong>ebeo</strong></em><em><strong></strong></em><strong><em>prattu</em></strong><strong><em></em></strong><em><strong>verua</strong></em><em><strong>. </strong></em><em>(O¡¯ great one, awaken.)</em>¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    At the same time, the Corrupted Twin God that was standing on Food God Minhyuk¡¯s side was dragged to where Evron, the other Twin God, was. The moment the Twin God touched the translucent wall, the wall melted.

    <em>Sizzle¡ª</em>

    Then, the two great beings that were being dragged together started to merge.

    ¡°What, what is this?¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t thispletely different from the rules?¡±

    ¡°What the hell?!¡±

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t the battlefield be stopped at this moment?!¡±

    All of the yers mored loudly. In the end, Akhan¡¯s staff turned into ck powder, fluttering and seeping through the merging existence. Soon, the existence that emerged was covered in a sticky liquid.

    The being inside, a fair-skinned woman, stretched the membrane that enveloped her as hard as she could. She was garbed in clothes that looked simr to a white priestly robe, with an axe in one hand and a book in the other. Her face was so charming and beautiful, as if an archangel had descended and graced them with her presence. However, there was something unusual on her face; there was an additional eye on her forehead.

    As she broke out from the membrane and stretched her body, she said, ¡°Ah, that¡¯s refreshing.¡±

    However, the voice that rang in the ears of all of the yers present sounded like the devil¡¯s whisper. The moment she opened her eyespletely, the hundreds of eyes that were hidden all over her body opened at the same time.

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaa!¡±

    <em>Crack¡ª crack¡ª</em>

    The woman stretched her body once again, her body twisting strangely.

    All of the yers watched her movements with bated breaths. The same was true for thementators and viewers that were tuned in to the broadcast.

    In fact, the restrictions on the movement of the yers present in the battlefield had already been lifted. However, none of them even thought of moving, tension evident in the air as they watched her every movement. Then, the notifications rang in their ears.

    <em>[The Corrupted God has awakened in the world!]</em>

    <em>[The ones that sessfully kill the Corrupted God will receive hefty rewards!]</em>

    <em>[The Corrupted God is a being that even the Great Demons are helpless against!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!!!]</em>

    <em>[Danger!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!!!]</em>

    <em>[Danger!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!!!]</em>

    <em>[Dang¡­!]</em>

    <em>[A majestic being that epasses the world has descended.]</em>

    <em>[The passive: Plundering the Gods is bestowed upon the Corrupted God!]</em>

    <em>[The passive: Plundering the Gods can deprive those afflicted of their qualifications as God!]</em>

    ¡°What the hell?! Deprive one¡¯s qualifications as God?! What kind of bullshit is that?¡± One of the yers mumbled unconsciously.

    It was a natural reaction. For high rankers, their characters were both a source of pride and an asset. None of them would ever want to lose their achievements. On top of that, they had always received praise as one of the God-ss yers up until this moment. And yet, the notifications were telling them that they would be deprived of their qualifications?

    ¡°Ha¡­¡±

    It was so ridiculous that all that yer could do was scoff. But then, the eyes of the Corrupted God turned to him.

    <em>Giggle¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The Corrupted Godughed. That was when the yers saw that unlike her beautiful appearance, her teeth were sharp and pointed, like that of a piranha. It was grotesque. She grinned viciously, whispering like a devil, ¡°Curious?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°Then, I¡¯ll show you.¡±

    Then, she raised her hand holding the axe to the sky. Everyone¡¯s eyes followed the movement of her hands. Immediately after, she mmed the axe down on the small book in her other hand.

    <em>aaaaaam¡ª</em>

    The moment the axe struck the book, blood dripped down and covered her hand.

    <em>Drip, drip, drip, drip¡ª</em>

    At the same time¡­

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaack!¡± The yer that she made eye contact with screamed, his body twisting.

    ¡°W, waaaaaaaah! Aaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Then, blood started pouring out of that yer¡¯s chest. None of the people that witnessed the scene could move. Fear gripped their bodies, and they were afraid that they would be targeted next. Then, a horrifying set of notifications rang in the ears of everyone present in the area.

    <em>[The God of Sewing has started to lose his divine power!]</em>

    <em>[Once deprived of his divine power, the God of Sewing¡¯s God ss will be revoked.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Not long after, the Corrupted God cackled, while she continued to strike her little book.

    <em>m, m, m, m¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack! Aaaaaaaack! I, I don¡¯t want to¡­ No!!! I worked hard to get this, this God ss!!!¡±

    The yer fell on the ground, squirming and struggling as if he would be able to stop the process. However, blood continued to pour down his chest. The screaming man continued to struggle, his voice sounding increasingly desperate and listless as he murmured, ¡°¡­Please, stop.¡±

    <em>[The God of Sewing has been forced to log out.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Sewing has been deprived of his qualifications to be God.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°Kyahahahahaha! Kyahahahahahahaha!¡±

    As the grating and horrendousughter echoed in the area, everyone realized that an unprecedented catastrophe had befallen Athenae.

 Chapter 646: The Battlefield of the Gods

    Chapter 646: The Battlefield of the Gods

    The entire world was rendered speechless by the shocking scene that they witnessed. The parents, who were watching at home, immediately moved to cover the eyes of their children. Many viewers, who initially came to just enjoy the show, felt drops of cold sweat in the palm of their hands.

    Many people considered Athenae as just a game. At any moment, whether there was a crisis or not, everyone still considered it as a game. However, that was not the case this time.

    All of the yers¡¯ hands were covered in cold sweat. Someone was even gulping nervously despite his dry mouth. It was because of the expression of the yer who had lost his divine power. It was the expression of a dying man, and it was extremely vivid.

    Perhaps, that expression was appropriate. After all, there were only a few yers that were able to gain a God ss in the entire world. Just having a God ss would make one the object of envy. It was also a disy of power, to show that one was far more special than the others. The God sses had be everyone¡¯s idols and lived enviable lives. Taking away their God sses was probably no different from taking their lives away from them.

    <em>[I don¡¯t know what to say. God of Sewing, yer Addra, has been disqualified from bing a God.]</em>

    <em>[Akhan, using a mysterious and unknown staff, merged the Corrupted Twin Gods into one and awakened the True Corrupted God.]</em>

    <em>[Look at the expressions of the yers in the Battlefield of the Gods. All of them are terrified.]</em>

    <em>[The dread and terror on their faces are too vivid and clear. I don¡¯t even know what to say.]</em>

    <em>[This is a dead end¡­ a dead end¡­]</em>

    Thementators were all left speechless. In times like this, there were only a few yers that could maintain their cool-headedness and remain aware of their situation.

    <em>¡®The moment we die, we will be deprived of our God ss.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®If those with legendary sses and secret sses are also deprived of their sses along with the God sses, then we¡¯re all in the worst situation possible.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®We have to kill her as quickly as possible.¡¯</em>

    However, none of them moved yet. Then, at that moment¡­

    ¡°<em>Fwaaaaaaaaaaa</em><em>.</em>¡±

    The Corrupted God, the young girl that sounded as if she had been possessed by Satan, stretched her body once again. Her piranha-like teeth and her forked tongue that was akin to that of a snake, features that added a grotesque vibe to her otherwise beautiful face, made everyone tense with nervousness.

    ¡°Come to think of it¡­¡± the God of Corruption grinned as she looked around her. Then, she took a deep breath and said, ¡°It seems like I¡¯m surrounded by dirty Gods, huh? Hihihihihihi!!!¡±

    The Corrupted God picked up another hand axe as she giggled loudly. In a blink, the book that was stained with blood disappeared. One of the yers with sharp and keen eyes saw something.

    ¡°Just now, I saw the name ¡®Addra¡¯ written on the book in the hand of the Corrupted God! We have to prevent her from striking the book with her axe!!!¡±

    Everyone nodded. The book that appeared once again did not look any different from the book with the name before, of course there were already names written on it. This time though, it had a bloody pattern on it. Then, the God of Corruption mmed her axe on the book.

    <em>aaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keheooooook!¡±

    ¡°Kghhhhhk!¡±

    Alexander, who was charging forward, looked back. He could see that some of the antagonists copsed while clutching their chests. He thought, <em>¡®Is she attacking randomly?!¡¯</em>

    Was it because the target of her attacks would change depending on the type of book that she was holding? However, Alexander could not afford to delve deeper into the topic. Before that, he and the other top rankers had to try and avoid any more casualties.

    <em>Flip, flip, flip, flip¡ª</em>

    ¡°Heee?¡±

    The Corrupted God turned her head slightly, looking straight at Alexander with interest shing across her face, ¡°What an interesting fellow. You are not a God but you have reached that level, huh? Ahihihihihihi!¡±

    Then, the color of the book changed, from a bloody red to blue. The book that appeared for the first time carried the name ¡®Alexander¡¯.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m faster¡­!¡¯</em>

    Alexander increased his speed to the limit. He was confident that his speed at cutting her was much faster than her speed of shing down on the book. But then, at that moment, the eye on her forehead suddenly opened.

    <em>[The Corrupted God¡¯s Eye.]</em>

    <em>[You have fallen helpless under the eye of the Corrupted God!]</em>

    <em>[You have fallen into a state of terrible fear for one second!]</em>

    <em>Tremble, tremble, tremble¡ª</em>

    Alexander, the best ranker in the world, shivered as he looked up at her and stopped in his tracks. He was terrified. In the end, Alexander was still a human being. No matter how strong he was, he would still sumb to fear. What was more, he was being subjected to great fear through the system as well as in reality. He wanted to shout: Stop! However, the axe in her hand was already on its way to strike down the book.

    ¡°The Noble One¡¯s Whip.¡±

    <em>Crackle¡ª</em>

    At that moment, a whip bursting with white light stretched out and wrapped around the hand of the God of Corruption. When Alexander turned his head, he saw Genie standing there. Above the sky stood Golden Mage Ali and Death. Thousands of undead appeared around Death and began to fall to the ground. Then, Death pricked his finger, his blood dripping down and spreading in the air.

    <em>Drip¡ª</em>

    Then, Death chanted, ¡°God of Death¡¯s Exploding Corpse.¡±

    <em>[God of Death¡¯s Exploding Corpse.]</em>

    <em>[The corpses will explode with four times more damage than the ordinary Exploding Corpse.]</em>

    <em>[Just like a homing missile, the corpses will fly and stick to the body of the enemy!]</em>

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeee!¡±

    Thousands of undead shot down, targeting the Corrupted God, exploding upon the moment they fell on her body.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    <em>[You have dealt 2,251 attack damage!]</em>

    <em>[You have dealt 1,614 attack damage!]</em>

    <em>[You have dealt 1,997 attack damage!]</em>

    The notifications constantly rang in everyone¡¯s ears. Obviously, it was less than the damage that Alexander and Ali had dealt before. However, if they were not fools, then they would know.

    <em>[That¡¯s, that¡¯s a very huge deal¡­!]</em>

    <em>[The Corrupted Twin Gods had merged to be the Corrupted God, this meant that she is several times stronger than before. Which also means that Death is dealing a huge amount of damagepared to before. On top of that, there are thousands of explosions like that!]</em>

    Indeed, it was only natural that the attack damage that they could deal to their opponents would weaken as their opponent grew stronger. However, thanks to Death¡¯s power, they were able to cut down a bit of the Corrupted God¡¯s HP.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Immediately after, a golden aura appeared and swirled around Ali as the giant predatory snake changed into a staff, its head turning into the tip of the staff.

    ¡°God of Magic, lend me your powers,¡± Ali said, swinging his staff once.

    <em>[You have destroyed 1% of the mana volume that you possess. You have temporarily increased your magical attack damage by 1.7x.]</em>

    <em>[You have temporarily decreased your magic cooldown by 70%!]</em>

    <em>[You have temporarily increased the number of magic that you can cast simultaneously!]</em>

    <em>[You will be able to temporarily use higher tiered magic!]</em>

    Several Meteors manifested around Ali at the same time. There were also hundreds of Disses that were falling down like golden rain on the ground. The next moment, Ali mmed his predatory snake staff.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The hundreds of magic bombs that he had prepared fell down and mmed straight on the Corrupted God¡¯s body.

    <em>[You have dealt 1,620 attack damage!]</em>

    <em>[You have dealt 1,945 attack damage!]</em>

    <em>[You have dealt 2,146 attack damage!]</em>

    <em>[¡­2,51¡­]</em>

    Amidst the constant downpour of their attacks, the other God-ss yers started to slowlye back to their senses.

    ¡°God of Lightning!!!¡±

    A huge bolt of lightning fell down from the sky as the God of Lightning and Thunder raised his sword high up in the sky.

    <em>[You have dealt 4,131 attack damage!]</em>

    Not long after that, a few men flew past the God of Lightning. These men were the strongest closebat yers in existence: Khan, Carr, and Ares.

    ¡°Giant¡¯s Consecutive Hits!!!¡±

    ¡°Swift Sword!¡±

    ¡°King¡¯s Downward Kick!!!¡±

    <em>[You have dealt 846 attack damage!]</em>

    <em>[You have dealt 995 attack damage!]</em>

    <em>[¡­331¡­]</em>

    Khan¡¯s consecutive attacks dealt around 6,000 attack damage in total.

    <em>aaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    Then, Carr¡¯s swift sword shed the Corrupted God.

    <em>[You have dealt 4,513 attack damage!]</em>

    Right after that, Ares'' foot shot down from the skies and mmed into the Corrupted God¡¯s body.

    <em>[You have dealt 4,151 attack damage!]</em>

    The rest of the yers also began to move andnd attacks on the Corrupted God. Just like that, the Corrupted God¡¯s HP dropped to 60%. There became a ray of hope, that they would be able to create a legend right here and now. A thick cloud of dust bloomed as they continued to send attacks at the Corrupted God.

    ¡°Heok¡­ heok¡­ heok¡­ heok¡­¡±

    ¡°Heok¡­ heok¡­¡±

    ¡°Haa¡­ haa¡­ haaa¡­¡±

    The yers'' rough and ragged breaths rang out loudly in the battlefield. Even the frequency of their skill casting had reduced drasticallypared to before. This was mainly because the yers¡¯ were being tied down by their skills¡¯ cooldown time, as a result, they were unable to use some of their skills.

    The yers continued to cast their skills, thinking that they could take turns and continue with this attacking system to keep the Corrupted God in check. In the gaps of the thick cloud of dust, they were able to see that the Corrupted God¡¯s HP fell to around 50%.

    ¡°Kyaaaaaahaaaaa. This is fun, so fun. Huh? Hihihihihi! This is very fun!!!¡±

    However, at that moment, a gruesome and gratingughter rang in their ears.

    <em>Swoooooooooooosh¡ª</em>

    A powerful wind blew away the thick cloud of dust as she flipped her book. Immediately after that, a page was torn off of the book, before floating to the sky. Then, the page burned.

    <em>Crackle¡ª</em>

    <em>[Page of Recovery]</em>

    <em>[All of the Corrupted God¡¯s HP will recover.]</em>

    ¡°Hihihihihihihi! Ahihihihihihihi!¡±

    Everyone was left speechless. At this very moment, the hope that was building up in their chest waspletely snuffed out.

    She hissed, her forked tongue slithering out of her mouth, after cackling for a long time. Then, she said, ¡°So, humans are only at this level? Interesting. Is it my turn now?¡±

    The yers immediately went on alert, wondering if she was going to strike her book again. This time, the hundreds of eyes littering her body opened and red at them.

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaaack!¡± One of the yers, whose legs got twisted all of a sudden, shrieked. The yer was none other than Italy¡¯s God of Shield and the global number one tanker, Valentino.

    The Corrupted God moved her fingers as if she was manipting a puppet. It started with Valentino¡¯s legs twisting, then his entire body slowly began to twist strangely.

    <em>Craaaaack, </em><em>craaaack</em><em>, crack¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaack! N, no! Nooooooo! I don¡¯t want this!!!¡±

    ¡°This damn b*tch!!!¡±

    ¡°Stop heeeeeer!!!¡±

    However, it was useless.

    <em>Crack, craaaack¡ª</em>

    In the end, Valentino¡¯s qualification as a God was deprived as his neck got twisted.

    <em>[The God of Shield has been forced to log out.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Shield has been deprived of his qualifications to be God.]</em>

    <em>Giggle¡ª</em>

    The Corrupted God giggled as she pointed a finger at a woman while saying, ¡°Ah? I can also do this. Here, look.¡±

    A small doll made of straw appeared in front of the Corrupted God, after which, she flicked the doll¡¯s head with her finger.

    <em>Poof!</em>

    Master Archer Miao¡¯s head got blown away.

    <em>[The God of Archery has been forced to log out.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Archery has been deprived of her qualifications to be God.]</em>

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    ¡°H, hiiiiiiiiik!¡±

    ¡°Eeeeeeeeeek!¡±

    It was at this moment that they finally realized that the Corrupted God in front of them was not an opponent that they could fight against.

    At the same time, several small dolls made of straw appeared around her.

    ¡°Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Ahihihihihihi!!!¡±

    <em>Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof!</em>

    With every flick of her finger, a head would explode. The yers¡¯ eyes spun, their heads turning dizzy from fear. Then, the Corrupted God looked at several people, interest shing in her eyes once more.

    ¡°Oh? I think this is a first for me? The God of Magic, the God considered to be the greatest God, and the God of Death are fighting together?¡± She said, smiling coldly, ¡°Then, you¡¯ll have to die.¡±

    <em>Draaaaaaag¡ª</em>

    <em>Draaaaag¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The bodies of Ali and Death were immediately dragged to where the Corrupted God was. The Corrupted God had a special ability. This ability was none other than Divine Power Absorption. It was a power that could allow her to absorb God¡¯s powers and make them a part of her own. From what it looked like, the powers of the God of Magic and the God of Death were enough to satisfy her.

    ¡°Hiyaaaaaa! Come to me, quick! Quick!¡±

    ¡°S, stop¡­! Stop!!!¡±

    ¡°Shit¡­¡±

    Ali and Death¡¯s expressions turned contemtive. They were both Athenae¡¯s best top rankers. Although it was not obvious in their expressions, they were also afraid. This was because they would lose everything that they have built.

    They would live their ordinary lives once again. No, in fact, they would live the life of being bullied and trampled on by others once again, despite reigning over others in this game for the longest time. Death had been living a life of loneliness while Ali had to support and take responsibility for his brother, who had an intellectual disability.

    Both men felt like tears were about to flow down their cheeks. They wanted to run away. They wanted to shout for help. However, they were true rankers, Athenae¡¯s living legends, so they could not do so.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    ¡°F*cker!!!¡±

    ¡°Try it.¡±

    They spat coldly at the Corrupted God. However, she ignored them, opting to open her mouth as wide as she could to swallow the two of them together. As they got closer and closer to her mouth, they heard the Corrupted God¡¯s gratingughter as she said, ¡°You should have brought out a True God to kill me.¡±

    Then, at that moment, Ali, who recalled the first time they met each other, shouted loudly, ¡°Frieeeeeeeeeeeeeend!!!¡±

    <em>[A new God has been born to the world!]</em>

    <em>[The new God has the special power to cook and eat well.]</em>

    <em>[The new God has the special power to handle the sword well!]</em>

    <em>[This is a first!]</em>

    <em>[The Food God ss and the Sword God ss have been temporarilybined!]</em>

    <em>[He¡¯s not one of the eight Absolute Gods that exist in the world, he is the ninth Absolute God, a new Absolute God born to the world!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!!!]</em>

    <em>[A strong powerhouse that has transcended even the level of the Gods has appeared in the world!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!!!]</em>

    <em>[A strong powerhouse that has transcended even the level of the Gods has appeared in the world!]</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    A powerful force burst out from somewhere in the area. The tremendous power restricted the Corrupted God¡¯s movements and stopped her from moving her mouth.

    The Corrupted God turned to look at the source of the power, her eyes stained with shock and astonishment. There, he saw a man that had temporarilybined and received the power of the Food God and the Sword God sses.

    ¡°If that¡¯s what you wish for, then¡­¡± A man with pure white hair and dark brown eyes, eyes that Valen originally had, looked at her coldly and continued, ¡°¡­I will be a True God.¡±

    With those words, the man passed by the Corrupted God, a cut appearing on the body of the Corrupted God, as a shocking amount of deal rang in the ears of everyone that saw this scene.

    <em>[You have dealt 113,031 attack damage!]</em>

    The entire world was left in shock.

 Chapter 647: The Battlefield of the Gods

    Chapter 647: The Battlefield of the Gods

    Everyone had been stunned after seeing the Corrupted God run amok.

    <em>[What is the Food God doing? Isn¡¯t the Food God there? Why is he not doing anything to help the other yers when they are so terrified?]</em>

    One of the yers asked a very reasonable question, to which several other yers answered.

    <em>[The Food God is also afraid. If the Food God got deprived of his God ss then it would be a total loss for him. Losing that would also mean losing all of the skills that he possessed. If that happens, then Minhyuk will no longer be able to reign as a king.]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s right. The Food God may be strong as a God, but can he fight against the Corrupted God?]</em>

    <em>[If we look at it in the worst possible view, then we can say that the Food God, who has the qualifications to be a True God, is waiting on the sidelines. If the Corrupted God killed all of the God-ss yers and antagonists here, then he would eventually be the victor of the Battlefield of the Gods.]</em>

    Everyone made their own guesses and assumptions. After all, the Food God did not jump into battle like they wanted him to.

    However, their assumptions were still wrong. Food God Minhyuk was swiftly making his way through the hundreds of God-ss yers while all of the cameras were solely focused on the Corrupted God. The first person that he approached was God of Buffs Rogal.

    ¡°F, Food God¡­¡± Rogal stuttered, his movementsing to a halt.

    <em>¡®What is Athenae¡¯s highest ranker, Minhyuk, doing here? Why did he leave behind the other yers who were screaming in terror back there?¡¯</em>

    <em>Shake, shake, shake¡ª</em>

    Rogal, whose body was shaking uncontrobly, felt that everyone present would die. They would die a death that was far more horrible than imaginable, having witnessed the present situation.

    However, Minhyuk was God and he had the qualifications to be a True God. While they hoped for Minhyuk to fight for them, Rogal knew that it was just wishful thinking. There was no reason for the Food God to do something like that. All the Food God needed to do was win this battlefield. All of the yers here were just ying for themselves and their own profit alone.

    Still, Rogal sobbed with his head bowed, ¡°If it were you¡­ if it were you, then you might be able to stop her! Master Archer Miao¡¯s head just exploded! She lost her God ss and now she will be trampled on by everybody, being kicked around like a pebble on the street! Can¡¯t you please¡­ just once¡­ just do it once for us¡­?!¡±

    ¡°I am going to fight.¡±

    At that moment, Rogal heard Minhyuk¡¯s warm and soft voice in his ears. When he finally looked up at him, he saw the look in the man¡¯s eyes. Minhyuk¡¯s eyes did not contain a shred of joy after witnessing the death of the God-ss yers, nor did they contain any signs of giving up.

    ¡°I am going to fight too. That¡¯s why you have to lend me your strength, Rogal.¡±

    Rogal was flushed with an unknown emotion as he looked at Minhyuk. The man could have sat on the sidelines or run away, but here he was standing in front of Rogal begging him softly to help him. That was when Rogal saw it.

    <em>Shake, shake, shake¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk was trying to hide it but failed to do so. Rogal could see that the Food God was also shaking.

    ¡°Hoo¡­¡± Minhyuk let out a trembling breath. Seeing him like this made Rogal realize why he became a king in Athenae.

    ¡°Food God,¡± Rogal said, bowing his head politely, ¡°I will aid you.¡±

    At that moment, the strongest power that the God of Buffs, the very same power that Rogal was preparing to use against Minhyuk, appeared and fell on Minhyuk¡¯s body..

    <em>[God of Buff¡¯s Grace]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 24%!]</em>

    <em>[All of your skills¡¯ levels have increased by +1!]</em>

    <em>[Your physical attack and defense have increased by 10%!]</em>

    <em>[Your fear has temporarily disappeared!]</em>

    A powerful force surged through Minhyuk¡¯s veins as several other God-ss yers that were preparing various things earlier, appeared behind Rogal. They were all fully aware that jumping into the frontline of that battle would guarantee the quickest death that they would ever experience. However, the Food God was now trying to take the lead and run to that gruesome battlefield.

    ¡°I will help you too.¡±

    <em>[God of Reinforcement]</em>

    <em>[The Continent Destroyer Sword has been reinforced by +2!]</em>

    Then, the God of Alchemy handed a bottle of blue potion to Minhyuk.

    <em>Pop¡ª</em>

    ¡°Me too.¡±

    Without any hesitation, MInhyuk gulped down the potion that was handed over to him.

    <em>[God of Alchemy¡¯s Potion]</em>

    <em>[You have consumed the best potion, one that can only be made once every six months, made by the God of Alchemy!]</em>

    <em>[The effects of the potion can ovep with other buffs!]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 22%!]</em>

    <em>[All of your skills¡¯ levels have increased by +1!]</em>

    <em>[You can now probably use a sealed skill that was impossible for you to use before.]</em>

    Then the God of Parchments approached Minhyuk. He handed over several parchments to Minhyuk while saying, ¡°I have always admired you.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk did not answer. They had met as enemies on this battlefield, a situation where Minhyuk had to win against them to be a God, while they had to stop him from bing one. But right now, these people were looking at Minhyuk with small smiles on their faces. Even the otherbat God-ss yers and antagonists began to gather around Minhyuk too.

    Then, one of the antagonists said, ¡°I usually hate the looks of the God-ss yers, but I also don¡¯t want to see them crying and whining like that.¡±

    Minhyuk ced his warm hand over the man¡¯s shoulder and looked back at everyone. At that moment, Ali and Death were being dragged by the Corrupted God.

    ¡°Go ahead. Quickly save your friends.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll give you support from the rear as much as we can.¡±

    Minhyuk looked at them and nodded before running forward as hard as he could. One of the reasons why Minhyuk decided to jump forward was because of his friends. Ali might be an <em>otaku</em> but he was someone that firmly believed in Minhyuk. Death might be timid and was not good at expressing himself to others, but he was also someone very precious to Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk was just one person. Even though he was afraid, he had no choice but to run forward to protect those that were precious to him.

    <em>¡®Instructor,¡¯ </em>Minhyuk thought, looking up at the sky for a very brief moment.

    <em>¡®My beloved instructor will fight for me, with me today.¡¯</em>

    <em>[Do you want to use your one chance of using Sword God Valen¡¯s power?]</em>

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    <em>[You have be the first yer to temporarily own two God sses!]</em>

    <em>[The power of the Sword God resides in your body!]</em>

    <em>[Your basic attack damage has increased by 700%!]</em>

    <em>[Your skill damage has increased by 700%!]</em>

    <em>[All skills rted to swordsmanship will have a +3 increase in level!]</em>

    <em>[Divine Sword: Thousand Swords¡¯ seal has been lifted!]</em>

    <em>[Divine Sword: Ten Thousand Swords¡¯ seal has been lifted!]</em>

    <em>[Divine Sword: Million Swords¡¯ seal has been lifted!]</em>

    Minhyuk could feel the warmth beside him as his beloved instructor¡¯s power wrapped around him. At the same time, Minhyuk¡¯s ck hair slowly turned white, while his eyes turned a dark shade of brown. There was also a bright light surrounding his body as he continued to run forward.

    Finally, as the Corrupted God opened her huge mouth to devour Ali and Death, Minhyuk said, ¡°If that¡¯s what you wish for then I will be a True God.¡±

    Minhyuk did not have enough time to cast a skill. All he could do was cut her with his own power.

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    <em>[You have dealt 113,031 attack damage!]</em>

    However, something surprising happened. A line appeared at the ce where Minhyuk shed the Corrupted God.

    <em>Swoooooosh¡ª</em>

    The Corrupted God¡¯s face was filled with disbelief as she touched the line on her body. When she raised her hands, she saw that it was stained with green blood.

    <em>Spuuuuurt¡ª</em>

    Blood gushed out of the wound as she screamed, ¡°Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Even then, the Corrupted God¡¯s expression was still filled with disbelief. So far, all of the humans around her had attacked her. However, most of them could only deal around 5,000 damage. But one swing of this human¡¯s sword and it cut through her body. The first thing that came to her mind was fear. Then, it was immediately followed by anger and the desire to ughter and devour the man. She wondered what the man would taste like if she gobbled him up.

    The Corrupted God immediately turned to the man and flicked her finger at his head. However, the effects were repelled.

    <em>[He is a Great God that can resist your attacks!]</em>

    Her eyes, including those that littered all over her body shed as if they were in shock. There were pre-existing conditions for the Corrupted God to be able to use her book to deal with her enemies, and that was they had to be infinitely weaker than her. In other words, it would not work on the man.

    Then, another blue book appeared in the hands of the Corrupted God. This time, Minhyuk¡¯s name appeared in the book. But just when she was about to strike her axe down¡­

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk once again passed by her body with another sh.

    <em>[You have dealt 103,145 attack damage!]</em>

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaaaack! Eeeeeeeeek¡­!¡± The Corrupted God shrieked, gritting her teeth to reach for the book once again. But every time she reached for the book, her body would get sliced.

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    <em>[You have dealt 121,561 attack damage!]</em>

    <em>[You have dealt 105,613 attack damage!]</em>

    <em>[¡­131,513 attack¡­!]</em>

    <em>[¡­133,114 attack¡­!]</em>

    Everyone could not believe the notifications that rang in their ears. The average attack damage that most of the yers dealt using their one-shot kill skills were around 3,000~6,000 at best. As for Minhyuk, he waspletely overwhelming the Corrupted God with his sword alone. What was more surprising was that it was just his basic attack damage.

    Minhyuk was very determined to keep her hands tied and away from that book. He could not guarantee what would happen if he gave her the leeway to strike that book down. Just like that, the Corrupted God¡¯s HP shrunk in front of everyone¡¯s eyes.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    Everyone watched nervously as they watched Minhyuk send consecutive attacks toward the Corrupted God.

    The Corrupted God was Obren¡¯s child, a God that even Athenae and the Absolute Gods feared. She was also someone that put all of the God sses at risk. Yet, the Food God was able to face her.

    <em>aaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Everything was a misjudgement on their part. The Corrupted God immediately grabbed Minhyuk¡¯s wrist. As it turned out, she did not only use her book and eyes as weapons. The Corrupted God became the Absolute Gods¡¯ object of fear because she was very good at fighting, well-versed in handling weapons of any kind and size.

    She grinned, ¡°Isn¡¯t this fun?¡±, her sharp teeth glinting as her forked tongue peeked at the gaps of her mouth as she continued, ¡°Then, shall I try it now?¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    A fire burst out and the book in her hand disappeared. The next moment, she punched Minhyuk¡¯s stomach with her now free left hand.

    <em>[You have received 201,303 attack damage!]</em>

    ¡°Ugh!!!¡± Minhyuk groaned as he flew back from the impact of the punch. However, the Corrupted God also threw her axe and nicked him in the shoulder.

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    <em>[You have received 243,161 attack damage!]</em>

    Just by looking at the attack damage, everyone knew that if it was the other yers, they would have already died.

    The Corrupted God smiled in interest, ¡°Two Godsbined together, ahihihihihihihi! Isn¡¯t this very fun? You¡¯re definitely strong. So strong that even I feel threatened. However¡­¡±

    She licked the tip of her nose with her forked tongue and continued, ¡°Do I even have to fight you?¡±

    As she said those words, Minhyuk, who was sent flying back, saw ten books, with each book containing a name, appearing in the sky above her.

    <em>[Fallen God of Assassins Aekenon.]</em>

    <em>[Ousted God of Magic Canvarro.]</em>

    <em>[Lunatic God of Battles Kabanjarro.]</em>

    <em>[¡­Forsaken Throne¡­]</em>

    <em>[God of Monarchs that has Destroyed his own Kingdom Pellod.]</em>

    Everyone saw the same scene. Among them, someone that knew the most about Athenae¡¯s mythology and legends shouted, ¡°The Fallen God of Assassins, the Ousted God of Magic Canvarro and the other names written on those books! These were all Gods that had been expelled by God Athenae and deprived of their seats as Gods! They might be weakened since they have lost most of their divine powers but they are still Gods! In other words¡­¡±

    The same yer continued to murmur, ¡°These ten Gods will descend here as our enemies¡­?¡±

    Along with those words, a ck aura appeared and slithered across all ten books.

    <em>[The Fallen God of Assassins has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[The Ousted God of Magic Canvarro has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[The Lunatic God of Battles Kabanjarro has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[The God of Monarchs that has Destroyed his own Kingdom Pellod has appeared!]</em>

    Why was Athenae afraid of the Corrupted God? It was because the Gods that were driven out, grew crazy and became corrupted, following her.

    The atmosphere in the entire area sank as all of the fallen Gods appeared and looked at Minhyuk. At the same time, hundreds of Death Knights appeared behind Pellod, the God of Monarchs that destroyed his own kingdom. Even though they had fallen, they were still Gods.

    The Corrupted God cackled loudly, ¡°Ahihihihihihihihi?! You became a f*cking God?! So, what?! In the end, you¡¯re still alone! Huh?! Ahihihihihihihi!!!¡±

    Sheughed crazily. While she identified that man as a threat, there was no one else in this ce.

    At that moment, Minhyuk¡¯s lips moved silently.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry but¡­¡±

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    <em>[You have dealt 75,413 attack damage!]</em>

    Blood spurted out of the back of the Corrupted God. When she turned around, she saw an unknown, yet beautiful, woman standing right behind her. The woman¡¯s glossy and beautiful hair fluttered behind her red full te armor.

    ¡°¡­that child is not alone.¡±

    <em>[Continental Emperor Ellie has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[She has answered Minhyuk¡¯s call and has be one of the ¡®God¡¯s Envoy¡¯. entering the battlefield!]</em>

    Not long after, dozens of lights appeared from behind Minhyuk.

    <em>[Overlord Raldo has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[He has answered Minhyuk¡¯s call and has be one of the ¡®God¡¯s Envoy¡¯¡­]</em>

    <em>[Great Demon Gremory has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[She has answered Minhyuk¡¯s call¡­]</em>

    <em>[The Dragon King has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[The Elf King has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[Queen Iris has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[Saintess Loyna has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[Pope Carunu has appeared!]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s real envoys were all hiding their powers and waiting in the distance as per his orders. Spear God Ben appeared in a sh of light, with his ck hair fluttering behind him. Great Pirate Gorfido also appeared, holding his Ten Thousand Chains while ring sharply at the enemies around them. Even Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Shield Elpis appeared with his sword pointed at the corrupted Gods.

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Roaaaaaaaar!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaar!¡±

    The Cerberus, Love, Hope and Happiness roared and showed their majesty as Hell¡¯s gatekeeper. God of Snakes Elizabeth also appeared while looking at the corrupted Gods with a cold and sharp re.

    ¡°Oiiiiiiiiiiink!¡±

    In front of Minhyuk, Supreme Divine Beast Beanie appeared.

    ¡°We will stick with you until the end.¡±

    ¡°We will trust you and fight with you.¡±

    ¡°Give us your order, Food God.¡±

    Behind Minhyuk, those that ran away earlier out of fear from losing their God ss, as well as the antagonists, stood next to each other looking at Minhyuk, with shining eyes.

    Minhyuk turned around and said to everyone that stood by his side, ¡°Destroy the corrupted Gods.¡±

 Chapter 648: The Battlefield of the Gods

    Chapter 648: The Battlefield of the Gods

    The hands of every single person in the world were mmy with cold sweat as they watched the conflict between Food God Minhyuk, supported by the forces behind him, and the corrupted Gods.

    ¡°Destroy the corrupted Gods.¡±

    At Minhyuk¡¯smand, everyone moved. The first one to jump towards the enemies was Continental Emperor Ellie. She held the Great Sovereign¡¯s Sword and had the opportunity to be the next Sword God. However, she chose to give up that opportunity for her people, remaining as an emperor. Her current level of strength was somewhere beyond that of a True God.

    Ellie chased after the Fallen God of Assassins, who was moving swiftly.

    ¡°Ahihihihihihihi! That guy is the fastest God. He¡¯s also the one with the strongest one-shot kill attack¡­¡± The Corrupted God giggled mockingly. However, Ellie moved her sword swiftly to block the Fallen God of Assassins¡¯ dagger that was hidden from view.

    <em>aaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    Ellie even stabbed the Fallen God of Assassins in the forehead.

    <em>[Critical Hit!]</em>

    <em>[A 4x damage has been applied!]</em>

    <em>[You have dealt 293,378 attack damage!]</em>

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaaaaaack!¡± The Fallen God of Assassins shrieked as his HP plummeted from Ellie¡¯s strike. The Corrupted God¡¯s expression turned ugly. The God-ss yers and the viewers that watched this scene were in shock and disbelief.

    ¡°Crazy. 290,000 damage?¡±

    ¡°Is that even possible¡­?¡±

    It was possible. Ellie was someone that had the power of a True God. On top of that, the Great Sovereign¡¯s Sword also gave her a 40% increase in her critical hit rate, while increasing the damage of the critical hit by four times.

    Not long after, Spear God Ben charged toward the Corrupted God with fierce momentum, who flicked her finger at Spear God Ben¡¯s head in response.

    <em>[He is someone that can resist your attacks!]</em>

    <em>[Your attack has failed.]</em>

    Unlike Minhyuk, Spear God Ben was notpletely resistant to her attacks. However, he was still able to defy her powers. The Corrupted God could not understand what just happened.

    <em>¡®Howe the strongmen of this era are here¡­¡¯</em>

    Just when the Corrupted God was about to swing her axe down on one of the blue books that appeared in her hand, Ben threw a small stone which struck her hands.

    <em>Ping¡ª</em>

    Immediately after, Spear God Ben mmed into her sr plexus swiftly.

    <em>Bang¡ª!</em>

    <em>[You have dealt 45,317 attack damage!]</em>

    He followed up quickly with another strike.

    <em>[You have dealt 49,441 attack damage!]</em>

    Then, Ben jumped in the air and spun, avoiding her kick all the while casting his skill.

    ¡°Absolute Pinnacle Spear.¡±

    <em>Staaaaaaaab¡ª</em>

    Just like that, a spear pierced through the body of the Corrupted God.

    <em>[You have dealt 285,311 attack damage!]</em>

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    The lightning strikes created by the Absolute Pinnacle Spear instantly restrained the Corrupted God and the other fallen Gods around her.

    <em>[You have dealt 275,310 attack damage!]</em>

    <em>[You have dealt 245,131 attack damage!]</em>

    The Corrupted God could not hide her embarrassment. Even after she tried to strike Spear God Ben away, another one came at her. This time, it was a young girl, who had been chasing after their movements, and she ced her index finger on the Corrupted God¡¯s forehead.

    <em>[God of Snakes Mockery.]</em>

    <em>[God of Snakes Elizabeth is mocking you!]</em>

    <em>[All of your skills have been restricted for seven minutes.]</em>

    ¡°E, Elizabeth¡­?¡±

    How could the Corrupted God not know of Elizabeth? She was one of the Six Monster Gods and had the power to control the system. She was the first one that the Absolute Gods had driven away because they feared her power. Of course, she was not the same as what she used to be.

    ¡°Why are you helping that trifling human being?!¡±

    ¡°He is not someone trifling.¡±

    <em>Blink¡ª</em>

    Elizabeth¡¯s eyes turned yellow as she said, ¡°I serve His Majesty.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The impact of the words that Elizabeth uttered were far greater than the appearance of the strongmen.

    <em>¡®God of Snakes Elizabeth serving a measly human being? That is impossible!¡¯</em>

    Then, Elizabeth turned around. For the first time, Minhyuk cast one of the Divine Sword skills and uttered, ¡°Thousand Swords.¡±

    <em>[Thousand Swords]</em>

    <em>[Upon a sessful attack, a thousand swords will indiscriminately stab the enemy with additional 50% damage!]</em>

    <em>Staaaaaaab¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk stabbed the Corrupted God¡¯s heart with his sword. Immediately after that, a thousand unstoppable sword des stabbed into her body.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    Although the attack only had around 50% additional damage per sword, she was taking on the attack of a thousand sword des.

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaaack! Kyaaaaaaaaaack!¡± The Corrupted God¡¯s shrieks rang loudly in the entire battlefield.

    Even Minhyuk was in awe of the effects of the Thousand Swords. He thought, <em>¡®Even though the Divine Sword did not receive the skill level increase effect¡­¡¯</em>

    At this very moment, Minhyuk realized the greatness of the Sword God. The rest of the God-ss yers and the antagonists did not dare intervene in the fight against the Corrupted God.

    <em>¡®We will only get in the way if we intervene.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®We should focus more on attacking the other corrupted Gods.¡¯</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    An explosion suddenly urred where Minhyuk was, the impact forcing him to fly back. The one that did that was none other than Canvarro, the Ousted God of Magic. Canvarro was the previous generation¡¯s God of Magic. Shortly after he was kicked out of his seat as a God, the current God of Magic Archipelo appeared and sat on the empty throne.

    ¡°Frieeeeeeeeeeend!!!¡±

    Just as Canvarro tried to attack Minhyuk with magic again, Ali teleported in a blink and appeared right in front of Canvarro with his arms stretched forward, ¡°Fire Storm.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª!</em>

    Whenpared to an ordinary mage, Archipelo¡¯s descendant, Ali, had a mana reserve that was deeper and his magic was stronger. His skill, which created a huge storm, easily swept Canvarro away. However, Canvarro was not someone that could easily be done in. He immediately found his bnce and cast another magic in retaliation.

    <em>Staaaaaaaab¡ª</em>

    A Diss appeared suddenly and stabbed straight through Ali.

    ¡°Ugh¡­ this is my first time getting Dissed.¡±

    It was just what Ali expected from the previous generation¡¯s God of Magic. Canvarro canceled the raging Fire Storm in the sky and tried to stab Ali with another Diss. But then¡­

    ¡°Exploding Corpses.¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Several undead fell from the sky and wrapped around Canvarro inyers before exploding. Death appeared, walking with the Death Knights, a sharp and cold re in his eyes. Right next to him was Alexander.

    <em>[The best rankers are all gathering to fight against the Gods.]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s a very unbelievable scene. Of course, the Gods that have been kicked out and became corrupted have grown significantly weaker than they were in the past. However, they still have the power to wipe out a single kingdom on their own.]</em>

    <em>[I feel a zing heat warm the depths of my heart at the sight of the rankers¡¯ teamwork.]</em>

    They were not Gods yet but they had nothing to fear since Athenae¡¯s best had joined forces. Meanwhile, the Corrupted God was witnessing firsthand how ridiculously strong Minhyuk¡¯s Named NPCs were. On top of their own strength, they also received the protection of Absolute Monarch Richard, the God of Buff, as well as the God of Reinforcement, giving them enough power to fight against the Gods on their own.

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaack!¡± The Corrupted God continued to scream and shriek. With all of her power and abilities sealed for seven minutes by God of Snakes Elizabeth¡¯s power to control the system, the Corrupted God could not use her skills and was left helpless under the onught of their attacks.

    In the end, the Corrupted God began to shed tears of blood. With her sharp teeth and gruesome face twisting horribly, she whispered evilly, ¡°The child that awakened me.¡±

    <em>¡®Please say it,¡¯ </em>Akhan answered as he continued to watch the situation while hiding himself.

    The thought of the Corrupted God being in danger never even crossed his mind at all. It was because he was fully aware of the extent of her true powers.

    ¡°Let your powers dwell in me.¡±

    <em>¡®If that is what you need.¡¯</em>

    Akhanughed deeply. He knew that the Corrupted God could devour the strong. Her powers would grow even stronger if she devoured those that worshiped her. Besides, it did not mean that he would be forced to log out if he was devoured.

    <em>[The Corrupted God has devoured your soul!]</em>

    <em>[As someone that the Corrupted God has preyed upon, you will be able to gain EXP if she destroys all of her enemies.]</em>

    <em>[However, a word of caution!]</em>

    <em>[If the Corrupted God dies, you will receive a penalty that is several times more than a penalty for forced log out!]</em>

    <em>¡®I ept.¡¯</em>

    Immediately after that, the Corrupted God opened her huge mouth toward the sky.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    What the Corrupted God needed now was the foundation to use the power of her father, Obren. With that, Akhan¡¯s soul got sucked into the mouth of the Corrupted God.

    <em>Gulp¡ª</em>

    <em>[You have devoured your worshiper.]</em>

    <em>[The level of your worshiper is high!]</em>

    <em>[You have taken a step closer to activating Obren¡¯s Authority!]</em>

    The Corrupted God had made up her mind to show the greatest fear and frustration to this human that stabbed her with a sword on her chest.

    ¡°Damn it¡­!¡± Minhyuk shouted, noticing that the situation had turned very unusual.

    Not long after, a notification rang in Elizabeth¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The effects of God of Snakes¡¯ Mockery have disappeared!]</em>

    The Corrupted God had made the effects of Elizabeth¡¯s power disappear in that instant. This meant that she could easily deal with Elizabeth¡¯s power whenever she wanted. The worst part was that Elizabeth was currently the closest to the Corrupted God. The Corrupted God opened her maw and devoured Elizabeth in one go.

    ¡°Elizabeth!!!¡±

    The Corrupted God gulped Elizabeth down. Fortunately, the death of the gods in the Battlefield of the Gods was not a real death.

    ¡°Hiyaaaaa. That was delicious,¡± the Corrupted God said, smiling in delight as she twisted her body.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    With that, her figure hidden under the shell was finally revealed to the world.

    <em>Fwoooooooosh¡ª</em>

    ck arms popped out.

    <em>Swoooooosh¡ª</em>

    ck bat-like wings also popped out behind her back.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    Next, the skin covering her upper body cracked, ck scales appearing and covering everything as a gigantic horn appeared on top of her head.

    <em>Fwooooosh¡ª</em>

    There were also her yellow eyes, dark skin, forked tongue and sharp teeth that seemed to fill up her mouth. The beautiful woman from earlier was now nowhere to be seen.

    <em>[The True Corrupted God has awakened!]</em>

    <em>[All of her stats have increased by 32%!]</em>

    <em>[Her total HP has increased by 50%!]</em>

    <em>[Even without doing anything, she had already transcended the Gods!]</em>

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    The way the Corrupted God stretched her body was terrifying. And then¡­

    <em>[The Corrupted God has invoked a stronger version of the power of the one that she devoured!]</em>

    <em>[She has used the power of the God of Snakes to control the system!]</em>

    <em>[For three minutes, all of the NPCs that died will die a true death!]</em>

    ¡°¡­!!!¡±

    ¡°What kind of bullshit is this?!!!¡±

    ¡°W, what¡­?!!!¡±

    ¡°This is impossible¡­!!!¡±

    The situation had taken a disastrous turn. All of the yers turned to look at Minhyuk only to see his stiff expression.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    In an instant, the Corrupted God stabbed Minhyuk in the chest. Then, the Corrupted God smiled wickedly while whispering in his ears, ¡°I¡¯ll take everything away from you.¡±

    For the first time, Minhyuk felt a crippling fear. He was afraid that he would be deprived of his Food God ss and be turned into an ordinary yer. If that happened, he would no longer be able to protect his kingdom, his friends, and all of the people that believed in him. Now, more than ever, he could not afford to copse and fall.

    <em>[The power ignores your thousand poison resistance and is digging through your body!]</em>

    <em>[Your consciousness is starting to blur!]</em>

    Unfortunately, Minhyuk¡¯s vision started to blur. In his blurring vision, he saw the NPCs that he called himself, Ellie, the Dragon King, Raldo, Gremory, Spear God Ben, Elpis, Cerberus, and Beanie. When his eyes turned to the ground, he saw one more person.

    Amidst his darkening consciousness, Minhyuk murmured weakly, ¡°Someone¡­ please¡­ please¡­ help me¡­¡±

    With that, God began to fall. But as Minhyuk turnedpletely unconscious, a slightly inaudible voice rang out weakly, <em>¡®¡­Take some rest.¡¯</em>

    That voice belonged to none other than the ego of the being that resided in the Puzzling Seasoning Jar, the very same voice that was usually yful and always cursing. However, that voice was now solemnly reciting, <em>¡®Awaken my sealed power through Kronad¡¯s Ne.¡¯</em>

    ***

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    The entire world gulped dryly as they watched God, Minhyuk, fall down on the ground. At the same time, the Corrupted God, in her full disastrous form, looked back at her enemies and smiled a gruesome and hideous smile.

    ¡°Hiiiiiiiiiiik¡­!¡±

    ¡°U, uwaaaaaaaaaah¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Even the NPCs that Minhyuk had summoned were taking a step back away from her.

    ¡°We have to stop her! Do whatever we have to do! Just stop her!!!¡±

    The God sses and the antagonists all rushed towards the Corrupted God. Although Minhyuk was supposed to be their enemy, he stood up and fought for them. So, they wanted to help him protect those that were precious to him.

    <em>Thwack¡ª</em>

    However, an unbelievable scene unfolded the moment the Corrupted God flicked her finger. Dozens of books appeared in the sky. At the same time, dozens of daggers appeared and pierced through the dozens of books that appeared.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª</em>

    ¡°N, no¡­¡±

    Another wave of God sses lost their qualifications. The Corrupted God smirked, vowing to take away everything from that man. She was someone that had inherited the powers of the great Obren and was granted with the ¡®Evil God¡¯s Book¡¯.

    Obren was hailed as the Evil God. He had several books with varying powers and authorities. The Evil God¡¯s Book that the Corrupted God had received was nothing but a small fraction of Obren¡¯s powers. However, even if it was only a bit of his power, it was enough to make the Absolute Gods hold their breaths in trepidation.

    In the sky above everyone, hundreds of books appeared. On these books were the names Ben, Ellie, Elpis, Gorfido, Cerberus, and many more. With a swing of the Corrupted God¡¯s hands, hundreds of daggers moved to stab the books.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    However, the hundreds of daggers stopped just right in front of the books.

    <em>Snap¡ª</em>

    The sound of a finger snap rang out, and all of the daggers disappeared into thin air. All of the people present were looking at the scene incredulously. The hundreds of books that the Corrupted God summoned were instantly reabsorbed by tens of thousands of books emitting ck light. Then, the system notifications rang in everyone¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The cruelest, greatest, and most sacred One has awakened to the world!]</em>

    <em>[The Gods called him the Evil God.]</em>

    <em>[The Evil God was known as the greatest among the Six Monster Gods.]</em>

    <em>[The Evil God¡¯s name was Obren.]</em>

    ¡°¡­Fa, Father,¡± the Corrupted God said, her eyes shaking with fear.

    Standing in front of her was the man that fainted just a few moments earlier. However, his appearance had changed. His hair had grown as long as his waist, fluttering behind him with a ck sheen. Even his skin had turned ck. Contrary to the darkness that surrounded him, the man¡¯s eyes had turned golden.

    The one hailed as the most dangerous and greatest said, ¡°Oh my.¡±

    <em>Flinch!</em>

    The Corrupted God unknowingly shrinked at the man¡¯s words. Everyone focused on the man¡¯s lips, their bodies trembling in nervousness at the Evil God¡¯s descent. All of them were wondering what the Evil God would say.

    Obren was the one that had been sleeping in the seasoning jar. His mouth then parted to speak, ¡°This child¡­¡±

    A freezing coldness appeared in Obren¡¯s golden eyes.

    ¡°¡­is my friend.¡±

    ¡°¡­!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­!!!¡±

    <em>[¡­!]</em>

    <em>[¡­!]</em>

 Chapter 649: The Battlefield of the Gods

    Chapter 649: The Battlefield of the Gods

    Obren was termed as the greatest among the Six Monster Gods. However, there were not many viewers that knew about him. At that very moment, a person with the name ¡®Obren¡¯s Follower¡¯ appeared on one of themunity sites.

    <em>[Obren was known to be strong enough to be a threat to Athenae and her children. He was an ¡®Evil God¡¯ and even when several Absolute Gods came at him, they were still unable to win against him. Because of that, it was said that Athenae and the Absolute Gods tricked him into slumbering somewhere.]</em>

    <em>[Then, are you saying that even the Gods are afraid of Obren?]</em>

    <em>[Is Obren stronger than Great Demon Verus?]</em>

    <em>[The Great Demons are not at a level where they can dare to fight against Obren. Obren is literally the God of evil and the wicked. He is the most dangerous being.]</em>

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    The viewers that read the exnation all fell into varying degrees of shock. To top it all off, there was Obren¡¯s deration.

    ¡°This child¡­¡± Obren, the most dangerous God, in Minhyuk¡¯s form said, ¡°¡­is my friend.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Even the Corrupted God could not hide her shock and embarrassment when she heard those words. After all, Obren was her father, an Evil God that no one could recklessly fight against. Yet he was telling her that an Evil God like him was friends with a mere human?

    ¡°Father¡­ I don¡¯t understand,¡± the Corrupted God shook her head.

    Obren, in Minhyuk¡¯s body, continued coldly, ¡°I never asked you to understand.¡±

    To be fair, even Obren himself could not understand the situation that he was in. He had been slumbering within the Puzzling Seasoning Jar. He had also stayed with Minhyuk for quite a long time, having seen his thoughts and feelings, as well as the way he treated others and even himself, causing Obren to feel plenty of emotions. Perhaps it was also the reason why Obren willingly used the only solution that he knew to awaken his sealed self.

    <em>(<strong>Kronad¡¯s Sealed Ne</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: ???</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: ???</em>

    <em><strong>Durability</strong>: ???</em>

    <em><strong>Attack Power</strong>: ???</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>????</em>

    <em>????</em>

    <em>?You can only use the power hidden in Kronad¡¯s Sealed Ne once.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: An old and faded ne that has been sleeping for hundreds of years.</em>

    The true worth of Kronad¡¯s Sealed Ne, an item with most of its details and special abilities sealed, was that it could tell one the way to unseal the Evil God. However, the power hidden in Kronad¡¯s Ne could only be utilized once. If that power was used, then one would lose the method of awakening and unsealing the Evil God.

    These were the notifications that Obren had heard when he awakened inside Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    <em>[If you use the only chance to use the power hidden in Kronad¡¯s Sealed Ne, you will be able to awaken with your original powers for a brief moment.]</em>

    <em>[After using Kronad¡¯s ne, it willpletely disappear from existence.]</em>

    <em>[The duration of your awakening is three minutes.]</em>

    Despite the risk, Obren used the ne. Although he already grasped in his hand a way to awaken himself, he still willingly gave it up, just because of Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®I also don¡¯t know,¡¯ </em>Obren thought to himself, wondering why he made such a choice for a mere human being.

    <em>¡®Somehow, I do not want to see him sad.¡¯</em>

    As for the Corrupted God, her flustered expression gradually cooled down. Obren had already disappeared a long time ago. Besides, he was just borrowing that human¡¯s body right now. That meant that Obren¡¯s power had either decreased or degenerated.

    For the Corrupted God, her father might have been someone that begotten her. The truth was, the Corrupted God hated Obren. She also feared him, and secretly, she wanted to kill him and gain the ¡®Evil God¡¯ title.

    ¡°Hihihihihihi! Ahihihihihihihi! You¡¯re friends with a mere human? Then, shall I kill you?¡±

    The Corrupted God had one power that Obren did not have, which was God Absorption, a power that allowed her to use the powers and abilities of the God that she had devoured. In other words, if the Corrupted God devoured Obren, she would be able to be far stronger than before.

    ¡°And if your friend¡¯srades die then¡­ it would be the cherry on top of the icing.¡±

    <em>Smirk¡ª</em>

    The Corrupted God¡¯s face turned even more ugly as she smiled grimly. Then, she turned to Pellod, the God of Monarchs that destroyed his own kingdom, and devoured him.

    <em>[You have absorbed the God of Monarchs Pellod!]</em>

    <em>[One of the God of Monarchs Pellod¡¯s special characteristic ¡®Ruler¡¯s Mana¡¯ has increased significantly!]</em>

    <em>[You can call for more summons than usual!]</em>

    In the sky above them, twenty books instantly appeared as several more fallen, corrupted and crazy Gods descended, each and every single one of them great and strong. Unfortunately, Obren did not have the power to control the fallen Gods.

    So, the Corrupted God thought, <em>¡®No matter how powerful Obren is, there¡¯s no way that he could deal with dozens of Gods. Besides, he¡¯s very weak.¡¯</em>

    The Corrupted God grinned, basking in the pleasure of the fading hope in the eyes of all of the people present, including Ellie, Raldo, and the others. Dozens of fallen Gods looked down upon them as the Corrupted God dered, ¡°Kill them.¡±

    <em>Smirk¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    A powerful sword light shone as the previous generation¡¯s Sword God, the very same God that tried to cut down Athenae in the past, moved to sh Ellie.

    Hundreds of thousands of undead roared loudly at the summons of the previous generation God of Death, who was kicked out of his throne by the current God of Death.

    There was also a storm of blood summoned by the God of Blood, wreaking havoc and ready to devour everyone below.

    ¡°Kyahahahahahahahahhahahaha! Ahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!¡± The Corrupted God cackled, dragging everyone into a deeper pit of despair. She would bring down Obren and be the Evil God.

    Right now, the Corrupted God was intoxicated with the power that was flowing through her veins.

    <em>¡®Can you see this, Obren? You are no longer the Evil God.¡¯</em>

    After all, he was just standing there and staring at everything without making a move.

    <em>¡®Perhaps Obren does not have the power to restrain me. Maybe he¡¯s just trying to intimidate me.¡¯</em>

    The Corrupted God thought that he was just showing empty bravado to make her back off. However, that was not the truth.

    Obren, with his long ck hair fluttering behind him, remained expressionless as he looked at the Corrupted God and the dozens of fallen Gods in the sky above them. Then, he grinned and spat one word, ¡°Bang.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Then, something surprising happened. The sword lights that were moving to target Ellie exploded in the air, while the undead falling from the skies turned into ash that scattered in the wind. None of the attacks reached Minhyuk¡¯s people.

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    The Corrupted God¡¯s eyes grew wide in shock. And then¡­

    ¡°Bang.¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    A gigantic lightning bolt shot out from one of the tens of thousands of books emitting ck light in the sky and killed the God of Combat. Immediately after that, Obren turned to look at the Ousted God of Magic Canvarro.

    ¡°Bar¡­¡±

    ¡°Bang.¡±

    <em>Boooooooooooom¡ª</em>

    Canvarro was just about to cast an imprable barrier to stop the attack, but before he could even do so, another book engulfed in ck light moved, blowing off Canvarro¡¯s head.

    ¡°Bang. Bang, bang. Bang, bang!¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The fallen Gods that had appeared in the sky began to drop one after the other. The Corrupted God could not believe her eyes at the sight.

    ¡°Hii, hiiiiiiik¡­!¡±

    She could not get defeated at this point. The Corrupted God immediately rushed to Spear God Ben, the nearest person to her. She wanted to take him hostage.

    ¡°Bang,¡± Obren spat out another word.

    <em>[One of the Evil God¡¯s Eight Books ¡®The Book that Rewinds Everything¡¯ has been activated!]</em>

    Then, a golden book appeared in the sky and fluttered open. The Evil God¡¯s Eight Books were the books with the strongest power. As the golden book fluttered open, words began to flow out from inside.

    <em>[The Evil God, the most dangerous God, will read every word and bring everything back to the beginning.]</em>

    At that moment, a bright golden light from the golden book spread out and wrapped the entire world.

    <em>[The divine power that the Corrupted God has extinguished will return and find their owners.]</em>

    <em>[God of Archery, Master Archer Miao, has regained her powers as a God ss.]</em>

    <em>[God of Shields Valentino has regained his powers as a God ss.]</em>

    <em>[God of Lightning¡­]</em>

    <em>[God of Strikes¡­]</em>

    <em>[The Corrupted God will no longer be able to take away divine power.]</em>

    Notifications constantly rang in the ears of everyone present and everyone in the world.

    ¡°Aahh¡­ aaaaah¡­ aaah¡­!¡±

    The ones that had felt despair because of this cried in relief. Also¡­

    <em>[The system that the Corrupted God has hijacked has been restored and is now running smoothly.]</em>

    <em>[The NPCs will revive in their own empires, kingdoms, or territories upon their deaths in the Battlefield of the Gods.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The notifications brought relief to everyone.

    The Corrupted God shook her head. It was impossible. How could a man like him who had been slumbering for so long have that much power when he just awakened?

    <em>¡®Even if he was weakened, he¡¯s still someone that I can¡¯t deal with?¡¯</em>

    She wanted to deny it. The Corrupted God bit her lips tightly. That was when she realized something.

    ¡°But¡­¡±

    <em>Grin¡ª</em>

    The Corrupted God began to cackle once again.

    ¡°¡­You, how did you awaken?¡±

    Indeed, how did Obren awaken? The Corrupted God was privy to a lot of information. She was also aware that the one that sealed Obren was the first pope of Athenae and that the only way to awaken him was through the power of that first pope.

    ¡°You¡­ you¡¯re about to lose your powers, no? Huh? Ahihihihihihihihi!!!¡± The Corrupted God cackled. All she needed to do was endure everything. If she could endure this, then she would eventually win. The moment she obtained her original body, she would be able to sweep them away easily. In other words, it would not be difficult for her, even if the other fallen Gods were not with her.

    Dozens of books began to gather around the Corrupted God.

    <em>[Obren¡¯s Child has been activated!]</em>

    <em>[You will be able to prevent all attacks from Obren for two minutes!]</em>

    As mentioned before, the Corrupted God hated Obren. He was a God that was far stronger than herself and was someone that was revered as the greatest. However, she had left a path open for herself to fight against Obren. Although the power was still iplete, if it was just about stopping Obren¡¯s powers, then she couldst against him for two minutes.

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Obren hummed, flicking his fingers towards the tens of thousands of books that were floating in the sky.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Thousands of lightning bolts appeared in the sky and exploded the moment they touched the Corrupted God.

    ¡°<em>Gulp¡ª</em>¡°

    The Corrupted God unknowingly swallowed her saliva at the sight. The strength that Obren was showing was so powerful that even she had to wonder if he could break through the absolute defense that she had against him. However, once the dust had settled down, everyone could see that she had not been hit at all.

    ¡°Ahihihihihihihihihi! It¡¯s over! In the end, I won? Huh?! Ahihihihihihihihi!!!¡±

    The Corrupted God¡¯s delight plunged everyone into despair once again.

    Meanwhile, thementators began to speak once again.

    <em>[It seems like Obren will really disappear soon.]</em>

    <em>[If that happens then I think the situation will go back to the way it was before.]</em>

    <em>[The brief moment of hope that everyone was given hadpletely disappeared.]</em>

    Everyone felt despair and frustration once again. Obren moved quickly. But this time, he squeezed the hilt of Minhyuk¡¯s sword.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    A single swing of the sword was so powerful that even the spectating Gods were shocked. However, there was not even a single scratch that appeared on the body of the Corrupted God.

    ¡°Obren. This is my victory. I will kill everyone here. Then, I will kill your friend.¡±

    Everyone was once again dragged into a deeper pit of despair amidst the continuous explosions. Meanwhile, Obren heard a notification in his ears.

    <em>[You will fall into a very long and deep sleep in twenty seconds!]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Obren also felt a sense of urgency. However, at that moment, some kind of force began to pull him out. That power belonged to none other than Minhyuk, who had finally woken up.

    Minhyuk¡¯s long hair started to get shorter again. However, he still had Obren¡¯s power even if for just a few seconds.

    ¡°Ahihihihi? Ahihihihi¡­?¡±

    The Corrupted God had also sensed something unusual.

    At that moment, Minhyuk said, ¡°Million Swords.¡±

    A million swords appeared around Minhyuk, all of them directed at the Corrupted God. Minhyuk red sharply at the Corrupted God as he said coldly, ¡°I¡¯m not Obren.¡±

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab!</em>

    The Million Swords brought judgment upon the Corrupted God.

 Chapter 650: The Battlefield of the Gods

    Chapter 650: The Battlefield of the Gods

    After being knocked out by the Corrupted God, Minhyuk¡¯s consciousness had faded into a blur. Amidst the haze, he heard the voice of the mischievous rascal, <em>¡®It has been a pleasure meeting you, human. Unlike me, you are someone that can embrace everyone regardless of their difference. Because of that, no one would betray you. You even chose Kronad¡¯s Sealed Ne for someone like me.¡¯</em>

    Obren¡¯s thoughts flowed into Minhyuk¡¯s head. Minhyuk was also made aware of the fact that Kronad¡¯s Sealed Ne was the only way to awaken the faintly slumbering Obren inside the Puzzling Seasoning Jar. To Mihyuk¡¯s shock, Obren had decided to use the ne for Minhyuk¡¯s sake, despite it being the only chance.

    In his blurred and hazy consciousness, Minhyuk asked, <em>¡®Why¡­?¡¯</em>

    Obren did not reply for a very long time. In the meantime, Obren continued to kill the fallen Gods and fight against the Corrupted God on his behalf. Finally, the Corrupted God invoked Obren¡¯s Child, a power that made the Corrupted God invincible against Obren for two minutes. At that moment, Obren¡¯s emotions began to flow in Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®If I don¡¯t kill her now, then everyone here will die, even the master of this body.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I have to use whatever it takes.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Should I open the Evil God¡¯s Eight Books: Book of Sacrifice?¡¯</em>

    The Book of Sacrifice was the book with the strongest power among the Evil God¡¯s Eight Books. But of course, there were conditions attached to the book. The book would extinguish the one that opened the book permanently, in exchange for the power to do anything.

    In the end, Obren made a decision, <em>¡®I will open the Book of Sacrifice.¡¯</em>

    In other words, Obren had decided to walk the path of permanent erasure. Minhyuk kept on asking, <em>¡®Why¡­?¡¯</em> but Obren remained silent for a long while, before answering in a wry manner, <em>¡®Friend.¡¯</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    <em>¡®Because you are a friend to me.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk felt a deep ache in his heart. He had always acted mean towards the proud and conceited seasoning jar that pretended to know everything. The same was true for Obren, the seasoning jar. He even used to tease Minhyuk, asking if he was some kind of stupid f*cker that did not even know anything. However, even though they teased each other, a small smile curled at the corner of their mouths. They both knew that such moments were something that they might never experience again.

    Finally, Obren tried to say, <em>¡®Book of Sacrifice¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>Blink¡ª</em>

    But before he could even finish his words, Minhyuk woke up, the abnormal state that the Corrupted God ced him in, finally loosening its hold. At the same time, the notifications rang in his head.

    <em>[You have the power of Sword God Valen, the sword that can cut through the world, dwelling in your body!]</em>

    <em>[You have the power of Food God Allen, the One that befriended everyone in the world and the one that did not want anyone to be hungry, dwelling in your body!]</em>

    <em>[You have the power of Obren, the greatest and most dangerous God that chose you as his friend, dwelling in your body!]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have dramatically increased!]</em>

    <em>[You have received the power and authority to use the Evil God¡¯s Book!]</em>

    <em>[You might have the chance to use the sealed power that you cannot use before!]</em>

    As Minhyuk awakened, the long hair that reached his waist slowly began to recede and return to his usual short hair. Just when the Corrupted God¡¯s cackling was dying down¡­

    ¡°Ahihihihihihihi? Ahihihihi¡­¡±

    The power that Minhyuk obtained in the first Battlefield of the Gods, the power that allowed him to use one of his sealed powers for one time only and the very same power that would allow him to showcase his strongest, made its appearance.

    ¡°Million Swords.¡±

    <em>[You have used your one chance to use a sealed power and cast Million Swords!]</em>

    This was something most of the people did not know yet. In the case of God sses and Gods, a notification would always pop out whenever they used their strongest secret skill.

    <em>[The God that only holds a sword points his weapon at the enemy. A million swords have lit his path!]</em>

    Letters shining brightly appeared in the air above them as a million swords rose up.

    <em>[Million Swords.]</em>

    <em>[Each sword that attacks the enemy will have an additional 50% attack!]</em>

    <em>[Your attack hit rate has increased by 30%!]</em>

    In Minhyuk¡¯s opinion, the Million Swords was a transcendental skill that could disy its prowess most effectively againstrge numbers of enemies. Just like that, a million swords appeared and stabbed through the Corrupted God.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    <em>[You have dealt 86,521 attack damage!]</em>

    <em>[You have dealt 84,311 attack damage!]</em>

    <em>[Attack has failed!]</em>

    <em>[Attack has failed!]</em>

    <em>[¡­failed!]</em>

    <em>[You have dealt 74,413 attack damage!]</em>

    Almost 80% of the million swords failed to inflict great damage upon the Corrupted God. However, there were still a little more than 100,000 swords that were able to strike and rapidly brought the Corrupted God¡¯s HP to a new low.

    Then, Minhyuk looked at her coldly and said, ¡°I am not Obren.¡±

    The Corrupted God¡¯s body was definitely feeling the pain after receiving the intense baptism of that attack. There was only one human being in front of her, yet that human was pushing her to her death.

    As for Minhyuk, he opened his mouth for Obren, who tried to extinguish himself to protect him, and said, ¡°And I am also Obren¡¯s friend.¡±

    <em>¡®¡­¡¯</em>

    Obren was slowly losing his power. Under the condition imposed by Kronad¡¯s Sealed Ne, he had to undergo a deep and long sleep once again. As his consciousness was slowly fading away, these words imprinted clearly in his thoughts, <em>¡®I am Obren¡¯s friend.¡¯</em>

    Obren might not be able to see Minhyuk, but he was sure that the boy was smiling brightly at him. He left this word as his consciousness faded into nothingness, <em>¡®¡­Thanks.¡¯</em>

    Finally, a set of notifications rang.

    <em>[Evil God Obren has fallen into a deep slumber inside the Puzzling Seasoning Jar. There is a chance that he would not be able to awaken from this sleep!]</em>

    <em>[Obren has fallen into a deep slumber. However, his powers will only disappear after ten seconds.]</em>

    Obren finally fell into a deep sleep, one that Minhyuk did not know if he could wake up from. In any case, Minhyuk attacked the Corrupted God with the power that Obren left to him.

    <em>[Book of the God that Loved Lightning.]</em>

    <em>[Lightning strikes with an additional 20,000% attack will befall your enemies!]</em>

    <em>Crack!</em>

    It was not just a single word. The most surprising thing about Obren¡¯s power was the fact that he could use dozens or hundreds of books at the same time without any cooldown.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    ck lightning strikes continuously fell from the ck book floating in the sky and struck the Corrupted God¡¯s body.

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Now, the scream that came out of the Corrupted God¡¯s mouth sounded more like a demon¡¯s shriek than the tearful cry of a beautiful woman. However, her HP bar was the problem. Her total HP was so ridiculous that it was still able to hold out, despite the Sword God¡¯s most lethal skill and the hundreds of books that dealt more than 20,000% attack power.

    <em>Drip, drip¡ª</em>

    Cold sweat dripped down Minhyuk¡¯s forehead. If they failed to kill the Corrupted God here and now, then this would end in their defeat.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Amidst the ck lightning continuously raining down on the Corrupted God, Minhyuk finallynded a sessful blow that created an explosion in her body. However¡­

    <em>[Obren¡¯s power haspletely disappeared!]</em>

    There was still around 5% of the HP bar shing above the Corrupted God¡¯s head as Obren¡¯s power disappeared from Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    ¡°Haa¡­ Haa¡­ Haaa¡­¡± Minhyuk breathed heavily as an overwhelming sense of helplessness encroached upon him at the disappearance of Obren¡¯s power.

    <em>Smirk¡ª</em>

    ¡°It¡¯s my victory, no?¡± The Corrupted God said, a devilish smirk stered on her face.

    ***

    Joy Co. Ltd.

    Everyone sitting inside the conference room sighed helplessly. Five percent. There was just five percent of the Corrupted God¡¯s HP left. However, it was this small amount of HP that signaled their failure to kill the Corrupted God.

    President Kang Taehoon sighed deeply. He knew that there was only 5% left. However, yer Minhyuk was too exhausted now. The other God-ss yers and the envoys were out ofmission too.

    Their problem was not just the Corrupted God¡¯s HP. No matter how many times they attacked, if they could notnd a sessful blow, then they would not be able to chip away at that HP.

    ¡°Hoo¡­¡±

    ¡°What should we do?¡±

    ¡°They were given hope but they still failed to kill her in the end.¡±

    Everyone was engulfed in despair. What would happen to Joy Co. Ltd. now? What if the Corrupted God took away the God-ss yers¡¯ divine powers once again? If that happened then plenty of yers would leave Athenae. Perhaps the world of Athenae would instantly copse as well.

    <em>¡®What am I supposed to do?¡¯ </em>President Kang Taehoon thought as he looked out of the window and stared at the clouds floating beyond them. He felt powerless. He could not do anything.

    ¡°Do we have no other choice but to trust them?¡±

    He was the owner of the world called Athenae, yet he was left in such a desperate situation where all he could do was trust the yers.

    ¡°It¡¯s not over yet,¡± the voice of the subordinate that President Kang Taehoon trusted the most rang.

    All of them turned to look at the direction where the voice came from. There, they saw Team Leader Park Minggyu ring sharply at the monitor. There was no frustration or despair on his face.

    ¡°What do you mean Team Leader Park Minggyu?¡±

    While everyone was wallowing in their despair and frustration, Team Leader Park kept on looking at the monitor. Minggyu, as the head of the Special yers Management Team, had an astute sense of observation.

    ¡°There¡¯s still one book that has yet to disappear.¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°Wh, what did you say?!¡±

    Everyone hurriedly looked at the monitor. Then, Team Leader Park tapped on his keyboard and zoomed in on the book. It was true. The tens of thousands of books that were floating in the sky had disappeared except for one book, a book that was shining a bright blue light. That book was also one of the Evil God¡¯s Eight Books, and its name was¡­

    <em>¡®God of Origin.¡¯</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Park Minggyu¡¯s eyes shone brightly.

    ¡°When the Million Swords attacked the Corrupted God, Obren had used two books. The first one was the ¡®Book of the One that Protected Nothing¡¯. This book has the power to protect one¡¯s self for five minutes, even if one loses their confidence. As for the second book, it was one of the Evil God¡¯s Eight Books, the Book of the God of Origin. As for what it does¡­¡± Team Leader Park Minggyu said as he looked around the conference room

    Kang Taehoon was, of course, aware of the power of the book.

    ¡°It opens the path for the God of Origin to descend upon the world.¡±

    ***

    ¡°Ahihihihihihihihihihi?! Ahihihihihihihihihi! I told you so. In the end, it¡¯s my win! Huh!!! That m*****f**king Obren!!! I¡¯ll take the name of the Evil God now!!!¡± The Corrupted Godughed creepily, causing the yers to fall into despair once more.

    <em>Stagger¡ª</em>

    Even Minhyuk was left in a very difficult situation. He could not even stand properly after exhausting most of his power. But then, at that moment, a bright light burst out from the book that was floating in the sky and created a set of stairs made of light. Then, a woman began to descend from those stairs.

    <em>[The God of Origin Athenae has descended!]</em>

    <em>[All creations are equal in front of the God of Origin Athenae!]</em>

    <em>[Everyone, worship the God of Origin Athenae!]</em>

    At the same time, everyone¡¯s legs turned weak as they fell down in worship of the woman. She was an existence that no one had seen before. The supeputer that governed the world and the God of Origin, Athenae.

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    Even the Corrupted God was forced to kneel in front of her, ¡°M, mother¡­¡±

    There was only one man, and one man alone, that did not kneel in front of her. Athenae¡¯s face was obscured with light. However, Minhyuk could see the features of Athenae¡¯s face.

    Athenae¡¯s skin was so fair that one could describe it as white. Her hair was long and matched her skin, while her eyes were as blue and as deep as ake. She was holding a sword in her hand. As she floated in front of Minhyuk, Athenae looked down on him and ced the sword on his left shoulder while saying, ¡°I order you, in the name of God of Origin Athenae.¡±

    She slowly lifted the sword and ced it on Minhyuk¡¯s right shoulder, ¡°Today, you will be my knight.¡±

    And finally, Athenae gently ced the sword on top of Minhyuk¡¯s head.

    <em>Swoosh¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s body, which was being controlled by the system, ced his hand upon his chest and showed courtesy. Then, Athenae kissed Minhyuk¡¯s forehead before turning into light and disappearing. Her voice lingered in Minhyuk¡¯s ears as she disappeared.

    <em>[You are the first foreigner and the first God that has received my acknowledgement.]</em>

    Then, the system notifications came.

    <em>[You have be Athenae¡¯s Knight. The God of Origin¡¯s Blessings resides in your sword!]</em>

    <em>[Your sword has overwhelming power that can cut through anything!]</em>

    <em>[You can cut down your enemies with 100,000% additional damage!]</em>

    Minhyuk slowly stood up as the powerful force that Athenae created engulfed him in a bright light and lit up the world. Finally, he stood in front of the kneeling Corrupted God and raised his sword.

    <em>[The First Knight Acknowledged by Athenae.]</em>

    <em>[He raised his sword.]</em>

    <em>[To bring judgment upon the one that was corrupted, the one that has killed a lot.]</em>

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    <em>Roll, roll, roll¡ª</em>

    The Corrupted God¡¯s head fell down on the ground.

    <em>[You have killed the Corrupted God!]</em>

    An unbelievable notification rang loudly in everyone¡¯s ears.

 Chapter 651: The Battlefield of the Gods

    Chapter 651: The Battlefield of the Gods

    <em>Roll, roll, roll, roll, roll¡ª</em>

    The grotesque and terrifying head of the Corrupted God fell down and rolled on the ground before slowly disappearing.

    <em>[You have killed the Corrupted God!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 31,977,413,135 EXP!]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[¡­leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 97,413 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Corrupted God¡¯s Eyes.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Corrupted God¡¯s Hand Axe.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Corrupted God¡¯s Mysterious Bundle.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Skill Book: Evil God¡¯s Judgment.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired God¡¯s Mineral d (5).]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the <strong>Title</strong>: ¡®The One that Killed the Corrupted One¡¯.]</em>

    Unbelievable notifications kept on ringing in Minhyuk¡¯s ears. His level also increased by as much as six levels after killing the Corrupted God.

    <em>¡®I even received around 97,000 tinum¡­?¡¯</em>

    The amount of tinum that he received waspletely unbelievable. With this amount, one would be able to establish a kingdom right away. On top of that, there were more than 76 legendary ranked artifacts that dropped from the Corrupted God. That was not all that was in store.

    <em>¡®God rank?¡¯</em>

    There was one God-rank artifact, which was none other than¡­

    <em>(<strong>The Corrupted Goddess¡¯ Ring</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: God</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: Level 500 or above, the One that has received the true recognition of three or more Gods.</em>

    <em><strong>Durability</strong>: ¡Þ / ¡Þ</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>?Total HP and MP volume will increase by 1.2x.</em>

    <em>?Natural Mana Recovery Speed will triple.</em>

    <em>?Cooldown will be reduced by 30%.</em>

    <em>?INT will increase by 200%.</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Stronger Strikes the More You Hit</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Corrupted Goddess¡¯ Blessings</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Boom</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: A ring stolen by the Corrupted Goddess from Athenae¡¯s Storage in the past. After receiving her energy, the ring has transformed into the Corrupted Goddess¡¯ Ring. This is a ring that can only be used by those that are chosen by the Gods.</em>

    For essories, the special abilities attached to the item would usually be significantly weaker than the abilities attached to swords or armor. However, there was one thing that one should not overlook. With ten fingers in total, a yer could wear multiple rings. However, there were restrictions. For yers that just started, they could only wear one. For those that reached Level 100, they could wear two. For high rankers, they could wear three, and for those that were at a higher level than that, they could wear four.

    Of course, the benefits were great. Assuming that someone could only wear five artifacts, rankers that could wear six would be able to disy a much stronger power, even more so if it was a God rank item.

    <em>¡®This is crazy¡­¡¯</em> Minhyuk thought in awe. The fact that it could increase his HP and MP by 1.2x was already ridiculous.

    Themon way to increase one¡¯s HP and MP was to invest in physical STR and WIS whenever a yer leveled up. However, even if one invested one stat point to their STR, their HP would only increase by 10. The same was true for MP, one had to invest one stat point to increase their MP by 10. Most of the time, yers had no other choice but to supplement the increase by taking various quests or artifacts.

    Of course, a ranker¡¯s HP and MP reserves were extremelyrge. However, anyone would want to have their HP and MP boosted, especially if they were hunting boss mobs. Just by wearing one of the five artifacts on his hand, those stats could be increased by 1.2x.

    There was also an increase in natural mana recovery by three times. This meant that closebat yers would not need to take mana potion, as long as they used this together with their artifacts. On top of that, there was a 30% cooldown reduction across the board, and a 200% increase in INT.

    <em>¡®Isn¡¯t this an exclusive item for mages?¡¯</em>

    One would certainly think that way if they saw the item. Minhyuk was sure that there would be mages that would be twice as powerful if this artifact was avable to them.

    Finally, he came to the attached skills.

    <em>¡®The name ¡®Stronger Strikes the More You Hit¡¯ is a bit¡­¡¯</em>

    For a skill that was attached to a God-rank ring, it had quite an absurd name. However, one should not overlook the skill just because of its name. The skill was even more cheat-like than the HP and MP increase effect.

    <em>(<strong>Stronger Strikes the More You Hit</strong>)</em>

    <em>Artifact Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>: </em>

    <em>?There¡¯s a 2% chance of reducing the cooldown of a random skill once an attack has beenunched.</em>

    <em>?There¡¯s a 2% chance of increasing the damage of a random skill once an attack has beenunched.</em>

    <em>?However, the damage of the randomly selected skill will be canceled after thirty minutes if no attack has hit the target after the initial strike.</em>

    <em>?There¡¯s a 1% chance of increasing physical and magical attack and defense once an attack has beenunched.</em>

    Just by attacking the enemy, one would be able to increase their stats or decrease their cooldown. For Minhyuk, there was no other way to describe this skill other than overpowered. On top of that, the skill Corrupted Goddess¡¯ Blessings could increase a random skill by 1.5x.

    Minhyuk felt his breath quicken at the sight of the artifact. However he could not help but feel disappointed by the fact that it was something that he could not use yet. There was a restriction attached to the artifact where one could only use it after receiving the true recognition of three or more Gods. The artifact was very great, but there was no telling when it would be avable for Minhyuk to use.

    As for the Corrupted God¡¯s Mysterious Bundle, it was an item that could give the person whatever they were greedy for, just by inserting their hand inside the box. And even though Minhyuk had not checked it yet, he could tell that the ¡®Evil God¡¯s Judgment¡¯ was the item that could grant the power to use the Evil God¡¯s Books, the same power that the Corrupted God had used before.

    The total value of all of the things that Minhyuk had gained from killing the Corrupted God was so valuable that it could not be measured with money.

    Athenae was a game that was loved by everyone all over the world. It was in this game that astronomical rewards would be given whenever an opponent that had never been hunted before was killed. It was a source of joy for Minhyuk, and the same was true for all of the yers.

    <em>Shake, shake, shake¡ª</em>

    Unfortunately, most of the yers¡¯ faces were currently dark and solemn.

    ***

    The notifications rang for all of the yers present as the second Battlefield of the Gods ended.

    <em>[You have participated in the Corrupted God¡¯s hunt!]</em>

    <em>[The rewards that you will receive will be based on your contributions!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 586 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by +8!]</em>

    <em>[All of your skill proficiency has dramatically increased!]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the <strong>Title</strong>: ¡®The One that Participated in the Corrupted God¡¯s Hunt¡¯.]</em>

    Everyone in the battlefield received the same set of rewards. The title: The One that Participated in the Corrupted God¡¯s Hunt was a very amazing title that permanently increased all of their stats by 1%, while giving them an additional 10% attack when fighting against evil and corrupted beings. However, no one was smiling.

    <em>Shake, shake, shake¡ª</em>

    Alexander¡¯s hands were trembling from both shock and fear, Golden Mage Ali was down on the floor with a nk look on his face after losing all of the strength in his legs, and Death was staring at the ce where the Corrupted God¡¯s body had disappeared from, dazed. Most of the people present were in a simr state. All of them felt an overwhelming and indescribable sense of helplessness.

    Of course, the feeling of being helpless would always appear in their minds whenever they fought or watched beings or yers that were stronger than themselves. However, this time, it was different. It was much worse than that. It was the lingering fear and the aftermath of the event.

    Up until this moment, all of them had truly felt the fear of losing their qualifications of their God sses. They felt like they were being chased by a true and genuine murderer. All of the people present here were the world¡¯s best and strongest rankers who dominated the world. For most of them, this game was their only joy in life. Just the thought of losing their ss was enough to bring forth severe anxiety in them.

    ¡°Ah¡­ Aaaah, aaaaaaah¡­¡± One of the female yers was crying, her body trembling fiercely even after the Corrupted God had died.

    There was also the fear of another simr event in the future. That crippling thought threatened to consume them.

    Meanwhile, thementators began to chime in.

    <em>[We have not experienced what they had just gone through, so it is a bit hard to console them. Our idols, our role models are all feeling a deep sense of helplessness right now. It¡¯s understandable. What they experienced is scary and terrifying. Perhaps there would be some of them that would not be able to ess Athenae for a few days.]</em>

    <em>[It breaks my heart to watch this scene. From my point of view, Joy Co. Ltd. should not spare any effort, andpensate them for this incident. They should do their best to console these yers.]</em>

    <em>[However, despite this situation, there are still plenty of yers that are curious about the rewards that Food God Minhyuk has received.]</em>

    <em>[This is just the cold and harsh truth, a bitter reality. For everyone, the Corrupted God was the most dangerous and greatest existence that they have encountered.]</em>

    More people were curious about the rewards that Minhyuk had received than the helpless, disappointed and terrified rankers. It was only natural and that was what made reality bitter.

    <em>¡®I¡­ I¡­ Can I even continue ying this game?¡¯</em> Alexander asked himself.

    This was a virtual reality game, but perhaps, it also truly tested the limits of the yers.

    Alexander¡¯s head fell down. Just like him, many people stared nkly in space, their faces filled with helplessness. Of course, if any of them were the star of the show and the one that received the main rewards, then they might not feel this helpless and disappointed.

    <em>¡®You will not be terrified because you¡¯re the one that cut down such a fearsome opponent,¡¯</em> Alexander thought of Minhyuk. Many yers had the same thought.

    Minhyuk would rise up and be known as the man that had in the Corrupted God. He would be the people¡¯s idol and hero, while they would be known as the extras that fought beside him.

    ¡°Heooook!¡±

    Someone eventually choked up and let loose the tears that they had been keeping inside.

    At that moment, Minhyuk spoke up.

    ¡°I, Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King Minhyuk, swear under my name and my throne.¡±

    None of the people looked up despite Minhyuk¡¯s loud and clear voice. Then, the notifications rang in their ears.

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens King. King Minhyuk has sworn under his name and throne!]</em>

    <em>[If he fails to fulfill his promise, Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King Minhyuk will receive a penalty!]</em>

    The king¡¯s oath with his name and throne at stake was a very heavy one. Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°I will distribute the rewards that I have received in this hunt with everyone here.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Everyone could not help but raise their heads the moment Minhyuk¡¯s words registered in their ears.

    ¡°Wh, what¡­¡± Alexander mumbled, disbelief written all over his face as he looked up at Minhyuk. The fact that he announced it to the world at this very moment meant that he could never break this promise.

    Minhyuk slowly walked and looked among the God-ss yers, the antagonists, and his own envoys. Then, with a soft smile on his face, he said, ¡°This is something that we all have achieved together.¡±

    The majesty and pride of the first king of Athenae was nowhere to be seen. Minhyuk was talking to them softly in a warm and considerate voice that gently wrapped around them.

    ¡°It¡¯s all thanks to everyone¡¯s efforts that I was able to kill the Corrupted God.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    What Minhyuk said was the truth. It was because the God-ss yers had helped him that he was able to kill the Corrupted God. The only one that would be mentioned when talking about the sess of this hunt was Minhyuk, and Minhyuk alone. However, with his words, everyone would be remembered.

    ¡°Never forget the great power that you have witnessed.¡±

    Yes, with just one sentence from Minhyuk, the viewers began to say¡­

    <em>[That¡¯s right. I thought it was really cool when I saw Alexander avoid the Corrupted God¡¯s attack and attack her right away.]</em>

    <em>[What about Death? Even though he¡¯s fighting against the Gods, he still climbed on top of his bone dragon and attacked them.]</em>

    <em>[Ali was amazing too. He sent hundreds of magical attacks like they were firecrackers to attack his enemies. He also used his defensive magic to protect his allies.]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s not all. Have you seen God of Buffs Rogal?]</em>

    Everyone began to talk. This time, they were not just talking about Minhyuk¡¯s splendid and awe-inspiring fight, but the actions of those that fought alongside him.

    <em>[The Food God is strong, that¡¯s an undeniable fact. However, there are also others that have shown that they are on a different level. They are strong and have amazing control.]</em>

    <em>[I¡¯m going to watch the video on repeat.]</em>

    <em>[Good job. Everyone really did a good job here.]</em>

    <em>[It was a battle that I will never forget.]</em>

    Alexander could not understand what Minhyuk was doing. He could have monopolized everything and taken the spotlight by himself, yet he was looking out for everyone and even talking gently to them. Did he not have an ounce of greed in his body? No. Minhyuk obviously had greed too.

    <em>¡®The one that will be a True God¡­¡¯</em>

    Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°Can you hear them?¡±

    Everyone perked their ears up and listened intently to his words.

    ¡°Can you hear the apuse that everyone from all over the world is giving to you?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°Can you see it?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°In the future, many viewers would look back on this intense and awe-inspiring battle that is recorded forever in history.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    That was right. Minhyuk was consoling them.

    <em>¡®We were terrified and afraid. However, we did it. We were able to ovee our fears. And we will be able to ovee the trials and ordeals that we will face in the future. We are afraid, but we have to move on.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®This is just like you¡­¡¯</em> Ali thought, looking at Minhyuk with a small smile on his face. Death also grinned and raised his thumbs up at him.

    Those that had copsed on their feet slowly gathered their strength and stood up one by one. Yes. Even though they were left terrified and helpless, they were able to win a huge victory today. Minhyuk stood in front of them, watching them stand up one by one. The viewers that were witnessing this scene felt shivers run down their spine.

    Minhyuk knew, <em>¡®Words have power.¡¯</em>

    Words were amazing. What Minhyuk did could be considered to be sugarcoating his words. However, they couldpletely alter his rtionship with others. It could even relieve the sadness for some, and be some sort of support to the grieving. Minhyuk might be young, but this was something that he had realized at a very early age after watching his father interact with people.

    <em>¡®No way. Is he really thinking of splitting the rewards?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had vowed under his name and his throne. However, some still wondered if he would really do it.

    <em>p¡ª p, p¡ª</em>

    Someone started pping which prompted the sound of apuse ringing across the entire battlefield. As everyone¡¯s representative, Alexander stood up in front of Minhyuk and said, ¡°It was an honor fighting with you today.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the same for me.¡±

    At this moment, Minhyuk had received something from the God-ss yers and the antagonists that was far greater than the rewards from the hunt. It was the trust and confidence that they would gain victory as long as Minhyuk and hisrades were in charge. No amount of money could buy something that valuable.

    Then, Alexander grinned and said, ¡°We won¡¯t get everything from you. Take half and we¡¯ll split the remaining half amongst ourselves.¡±

    <em>¡®Oh?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk chuckled.

    ¡°Please show us the list of the artifacts that you have acquired, Minhyuk.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s just give it to the Food God¡­¡±

    ¡°No. The Food God has taken the initiative to give it to us. He¡¯s already giving it to us and you¡¯re not willing to take it? He said that he. Would. Give. It. To. Us.¡±

    <em>¡®Huh? Huuuuuuh? A, Alexander?¡¯</em>

    It seemed like Alexander was already quite ahead of Minhyuk in this aspect.

 Chapter 652: Banquet with the Gods

    Chapter 652: Banquet with the Gods

    Minhyuk, who promised to share the rewards of the hunt with those that fought together with him, broke out in cold sweat after hearing what the grinning Alexander said.

    ¡°I thought you¡¯d feel ufortable if we did not ept your offer. Ah. It¡¯s not that we want to take it from you.¡±

    <em>¡®No¡­ Then, you don¡¯t have to take it¡­¡¯</em>

    ¡°Hahahaha! As expected of Minhyuk, you have a heart that¡¯s as big as the ocean!¡±

    <em>¡®No, it¡¯s narrow¡­¡¯</em>

    That was right. Minhyuk had actually been trying to console them with words. Still, even if he was thinking that way, Minhyuk actually did not hate how the situation panned out. After all, they all fought beside him and deserved to receive those rewards. Alexander and the God-ss yers began to choose various items from the rewards list that Minhyuk read out loud to them.

    <em>¡®You haven¡¯t told us the most important ones yet.¡¯</em>

    That was right. Alexander, as everyone¡¯s representative, had dered that they would only take half of the rewards and share it amongst themselves. They divided gold, reinforcement stones, misceneous items, and legendary artifacts among themselves.

    However, Alexander had left the best and most important rewards untouched. Of course, the other yers also did the same. As for Minhyuk, he did not mention the Corrupted Goddess¡¯ Ring and the Corrupted God¡¯s Mysterious Bundle. Minhyuk looked at them with a small smile on his face, as he could feel their consideration towards him.

    Minhyuk and the rest looked at each other as they waited for the Battlefield of the Gods to end.

    ¡°Food God, can I add you as a friend?¡±

    ¡°Ah. Of course.¡±

    ¡°Me too!¡±

    ¡°Me too!¡±

    ¡°By any chance, do you still have an empty seat in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?¡±

    ¡°Minhyuk, please add me as a friend too!¡±

    At this moment, the God-ss yers and the antagonists realized why Minhyuk became Athenae¡¯s best ranker. It even made them want to be close to him. The notification for friend requests kept on ringing in Minhyuk¡¯s ears. In the future, if Minhyuk and the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were ever in danger, not all of them mighte but some would definitely run to help. Simply put, Minhyuk had gained connections with these God-ss yers, something money could never buy.

    This heartwarming scene continued to unfold, while the final announcements rang out.

    <em>[You will be sent out of the Battlefield of the Gods soon.]</em>

    <em>[The rewards for the Battlefield of the Gods will be sent at 12:00 noon the next day. We, at Joy Co. Ltd., acknowledge our inadequacy in this event and will be providing additional rewards to those that have participated.]</em>

    <em>[The victor will be announced at the same time tomorrow.]</em>

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°Fighting beside you has been an honor.¡±

    The God-ss yers and the antagonists said their farewells to Minhyuk and told him that they would see each other next time.

    At the same time, thementators continued their banter.

    <em>[Food God Minhyuk has obtained something that even money can¡¯t buy.]</em>

    <em>[Adding these people as friends is something that all of the ordinary yers dream of. And Minhyuk has received a lot of this today.]</em>

    <em>[Perhaps some of them would knock on the doors of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    Even the viewers had things to say amongst themselves.

    <em>[This is very heartwarming.]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s thanks to Minhyuk that our idols have regained their energy once again, no?]</em>

    <em>[I won¡¯t be able to forget the Battlefield of the Gods for a very long time.]</em>

    It was a very touching story.

    <em>Griiiiiin¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk, who was logging out, was sporting a very devilish grin.

    That evening.

    Haze had heard about how Minhyuk shared half of the rewards that he earned in the Battlefield of the Gods. Minhyuk then told Haze, ¡°Haze, I probably have to leave again to find a way to awaken Obren.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Haze was Beyond the Heavens¡¯ prime minister. Shepletely understood Minhyuk¡¯s thoughts, perhaps more than any other person. However, she could not understand why Minhyuk did it this time.

    The finances of Beyond the Heavens were not much. In fact, they did not even have any excess to give other people the rewards that they had earned. On top of that, Minhyuk even had to leave Beyond the Heavens for a while. It would take a lot of money to fill his absence. And since the profits that they would gain through him would be cut off while he was away, the losses that they would incur might possibly shake the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ foundations.

    ¡°Your Majesty, I truly cannot understand. I¡¯m sorry but I¡¯m going to have to say something really harsh this time. Why did you have to share your rewards with them? Of course, I understand that maintaining close rtions with them is very important, however you did not need to do that at all.¡±

    At her words, Minhyuk tilted his head in confusion, ¡°Haze, what exactly are you talking about? Since when did I give half of the rewards that I obtained to them? I only gave them 5% of the rewards that I received.¡±

    ¡°¡­What?¡± Haze looked at Minhyuk in confusion.

    ¡®<em>What did he mean by 5%?</em>¡¯

    ¡°You¡¯re not telling me that you only gave them 5% of what you got, right?¡± Haze asked, her eyes spinning.

    However, Minhyuk just nodded and took a huge bag out of his inventory, before handing it over to Haze. Haze immediately opened the bag and checked the contents. It was filled to the brim with tinum coins that were shining brightly.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Using her skills as a prime minister, she quickly checked the amount inside the bag.

    <em>[543,782 tinum.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Haze felt her breath stagnate. Even someone at her position could safely say that she had never seen such a huge sum of money in her entire life.

    ¡°H, how¡­ can you have this much money?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not yet done though.¡±

    At the same time, various artifacts poured out from Minhyuk¡¯s inventory. There were plenty of legendary rank artifacts and legendary grade materials that poured out.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Haze licked her dry lips. There were around 324 legendary rank artifacts.

    <em>¡®Where in the world did His Majesty get them? Wait, don¡¯t tell me¡­¡¯</em>

    ¡°Are you going to leave for good?¡±

    Haze was aware that the words ¡®closing the game¡¯ that the foreigners said meant that they were leaving Athenae. Was it because Minhyuk received a huge shock from the incident earlier?

    However, Minhyuk shook his head, a devilish smirk stered on his face, ¡°Haze, do you still not know what kind of person I am?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Haze pondered deeply over his words. No, that was not it. Minhyuk was not the kind of person that would recklessly give things away. It was the reason why he became the king of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    ¡°But Your Majesty, didn¡¯t you fulfill the King¡¯s Oath? The rewards that you received from killing the Corrupted God¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. I shared the rewards that I received from the Corrupted God. But you see, how about the rewards for killing the other Gods that the Corrupted God has summoned?¡±

    <em>ck¡ª</em>

    Haze finally realized. She had also heard about what happened in the Battlefield of the Gods. The Corrupted God had led several of the corrupted, the fallen and the crazy Gods. During the battle, the Corrupted God had summoned around twenty other Gods.

    What had happened to those twenty Gods? Obren, who possessed Minhyuk¡¯s body back then, made their heads explode one after the other. Then, who would receive their rewards? The EXP? The titles? It was of course Minhyuk who received it.

    That was right. Thanks to Obren hunting those Gods, Minhyuk was able to level up 33 times today. The corrupted and fallen Gods were weaker than ordinary Gods, which meant that the rewards from killing them would also be inferior. However, there were twenty of those Gods.

    In other words, the reason why Minhyuk graciously shared the rewards that he got from the Corrupted God was because he had already gained an enormous amount of funds and artifacts. He just did not say anything to them on purpose, which made Minhyuk look generous back then.

    ¡°Fufufufufufufufufu!¡±

    ¡°Hohohohohohohoho!¡±

    ¡°Hahahahahahahaha!¡±

    ¡°Ohohohohohoho!¡±

    Haze said, ¡°I would believe it if you told me that you¡¯re the God of Swindlers. Haha! You really look like a swindler right now, Your Majesty!¡±

    ¡°Hahahaha! That¡¯s apliment, right?!¡±

    ¡°Hohohohoho! Of course, of course!¡±

    Just like that, the bond between the king and his vassal grew even stronger. It was a very beautiful night.

    ***

    What would one get from being a True God in Athenae? There were two representative things. The first one was the temple, while the second was the power of a true God. One would be able to have their own temple constructed and have people that believed in him and followed him. It was the coolest thing in the world to some people.

    Minhyuk was also looking forward to it, waiting for midnight toe in excitement. Finally, at midnight, various notifications rang.

    <em>[The rewards for the Battlefield of the Gods will be given based on your contribution.]</em>

    <em>[You have participated with your qualifications as a God!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 43,873,551,311 EXP!]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up!]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 34,316 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You havepletely overwhelmed and defeated your enemies in the Battlefield of the Gods. You were also the biggest contributor in the second Battlefield of the Gods, in killing a being that was almost impossible to defeat!]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by +20!]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the <strong>Title</strong>: The One that has Climbed to a True God¡¯]</em>

    <em>[You have proven your qualifications as a True God!]</em>

    <em>[For the first time, the yer, Food God, has reached the True God ss!]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased significantly!]</em>

    <em>[Once youe back after the Banquet with the Gods, you will be able to acquire one of the True God Food God¡¯s skills!]</em>

    It did not mean that one would be super strong once they became a God. If one became a God, then they would be able to open a new path and enjoy new contents. The first such content was none other than the Banquet with the Gods.

    Not long after, an exnation rang in his ears.

    <em>[Banquet with the Gods.]</em>

    <em>[Whenever a new Continental God or a new God is born to the world, the Gods would gather together and enjoy a banquet!]</em>

    <em>[Please dere your position as a God there!]</em>

    <em>[Something special might happen if you increase your favor with them!]</em>

    Minhyuk turned into light and disappeared from sight.

    ***

    The Banquet with the Gods was a ce where the great, arrogant Gods gathered. Unfortunately, the Absolute Gods and God of Origin Athenae never participated in this banquet. It was up to them if they wanted to attend or not.

    These Gods usually divided themselves between the Gods with the original blood of the Gods, and Gods that were human, and Continental Gods. Many of these Gods valued bloodline very highly, ignoring the Continental Gods and taking their position for granted.

    It had been a very long time since a Continental God appeared in the world. However, what would happen if one showed up? Well, they would be forced to face the Gods that hated their existence.

    <em>Crackle¡ª</em>

    The Gods¡¯ representative figure was God of Fire Ardees. His position among the Gods was actually very low and transparent. He could not create anything special like the nonbat Gods, nor did he have a powerful force like thebat Gods. He was literally someone weak and easily overlooked. However, he was always bullying the rookies. He was the kind of God that was strong against the weak and weak against the strong.

    Whenever Ardees moved in the Banquet with the Gods, a me that was not hot would float along with him. God of Fire Ardees had long yed the role of the God that trampled the Continental Gods, acting on behalf of all the Gods.

    None of the Gods stopped him since they also wanted to see such a y. After all, these grinning Gods were all just pretending to be elegant on the outside. On the inside, they were all vicious and nasty. On top of that, there were Gods up above them that were looking after Ardees, that was why he was proud and arrogant. It was especially so this time.

    <em>¡®A God that likes to eat?¡¯</em>

    It seemed like they were going to be presented with a situation where they would be able tough to their heart¡¯s content! Unlike the God of cksmiths that was good at making weapons, or the God of Buffs that could give special powers to others, what could the God that liked to eat do? What in the world was that God''s ability? Were his believers all obese? After decades of no new God being born, a funny one had suddenly appeared.

    Among these Gods, only a few of them had seen how Food God Minhyuk fought in battle. It was because they were not really as free as what others thought. Not knowing the depth of his opponent¡¯s power, Ardees intended to bash the new guy¡¯s head and turn him into the banquet¡¯s object of ridicule and mockery.

    <em>¡®We have to put him in his ce from the very beginning.¡¯</em>

    A God that liked to eat would definitely be very weak. Besides, the only God that God of Fire Ardees was afraid of was the Sword God. Although the Sword God was a Continental God, he was so powerful that even the ordinary Gods were afraid of him. On the contrary, for that God that liked to eat, Ardees could already imagine how he became a True God.

    ¡°Hiyaaaaaa¡­ I can tell why the Banquet with the Gods is called the banquet with the Gods.¡±

    Then, at that moment, a man¡¯s voice rang in their ears. The man was smacking his lips and gulping at the sight of the delicacies that even the Gods present did not even touch. Then, the man smiled happily as he happily filled his te with food.

    Ardees instantly knew who the man was. He was fully convinced of the man¡¯s identity. After all, he was a face that he had never seen before. There was also the fact that he was acting crude in front of food. He also had little divine power in his body. Ardees watched as the man sat in one ce, looked at his te in admiration and started devouring his food.

    The man also greeted the Gods that came near him, ¡°Hello! Hello. Nice to meet you.¡±

    <em>¡®A polite and courteous God? What a funny thing to be. Actually, isn¡¯t it only natural for humans like him to crawl and bow like that since he is in the presence of Gods?¡¯</em>

    Under the expecting gazes of everyone present, Ardees stood up and approached the man. He looked at the pathetic and pitiful Continental God¡¯s te, then Ardees pped the te that the man was eating from, its contents spilling on the ground below.

    <em>ng¡ª</em>

    Just like that, the te fell down and the food contained within rolled around on the ground.

    <em>Now, Ardees.</em>

    Ardees had predicted what would happen next in his head. The man in front of him would crouch on the ground and pick up the te and clean up the food himself. Once that happened, Ardees would crush the man¡¯s hands with his feet and show everyone how terrified and pathetic the man was.

    <em>Shake, shake, shake¡ª</em>

    Just as Ardees expected, the man¡¯s body began to shake. The man shivered as he looked down on the food that had rolled on the ground.

    <em>¡®Ah. This is a really funny situation.¡¯</em>

    A petty and pathetic human was shaking in front of the Gods!

    Ardees sneered and said, ¡°How dare a mere savage Continental God like you participate in the Banquet with the Gods and tarnish¡­¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    To be exact, Ardees tried to speak, but before he could even finish, the fist of the God that loved to eat made contact with his face, causing Ardees to fly away from the strong impact.

    Then, the man said, ¡°This f*cking bastard.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The man definitely just called a God a f*cking bastard.

 Chapter 653: Banquet with the Gods

    Chapter 653: Banquet with the Gods

    The ss system among the Gods was extremely clear. In this system, God of Fire Ardees¡¯ status was at the lowest rank. Also, not all of the Gods could view the humans¡¯ world and most of the ones with the qualification to stand here were those that were already born Gods.

    However, there was one thing that could not be overlooked. Ardees was the God that had trampled on and bullied the Continental Gods that had ascended and be True Gods, causing them to nevere back to this ce again. Although Ardees remained in the lowest rank because of his nasty and fiery temper, the Gods could not deny his strength.

    To everyone¡¯s shock, Ardees was sent flying back and rolling on the ground after receiving the punch of the God that Loves to Eat.

    <em>Crackle¡ª</em>

    zing mes that were several degrees hotter than normal ignited around Ardees, who failed to hide his fluster and embarrassment. It quickly turned to fury. At the same time, plenty of the Gods present were enjoying the sudden turn of events, finding it funny,

    <em>[The God that Likes Drinking Alcohol clicks his tongue at your foolish behavior.]</em>

    <em>[The God that Likes Sculpting smiles at you in interest.]</em>

    <em>[The God that is Good at ying Instruments shakes his head and looks at you pitifully.]</em>

    On the other hand, Ardees wanted to be the one pummeling the insignificant Continental God, before kicking him out of this ce like a measly and dirty dog.

    In fact, Ardees was very close to the God of Death. He yed the part of a pet dog in front of the God of Death, wagging his tail to show his loyalty to him. The most important factor here was that the God of Death was a figure akin to an Absolute God.

    Even among the Gods, the title of an Absolute God was sacred and holy. Even if a thousand of them fought against an Absolute God, the power that such a God could exert would be beyond their imaginations. Their words were thew and a slight move of their hand could change the world. As for Ardees, who was acting all chummy and sticking close to an Absolute God, the Gods found itpletely unimaginable. That was how huge the influence of an Absolute God was.

    <em>Crackleeee¡ª</em>

    Ardees, who had rolled around on the ground, slowly lifted his body up. He knew that the Gods were sneering and jeering. He was also aware that they wanted to witness the great spectacle of him beating the measly Continental God up. To everyone else, what happened was just a fluke, a false bravado of the new Continental God. However¡­

    <em>¡®Why, why does it hurt so much?¡¯</em>

    Ardees failed to quicklye back to his senses after receiving enormous damage from the Continental God. To think that it was only from being hit by the man¡¯s bare hands.

    <em>¡®I think this is around the same damage as when I got beaten up by Spear God Aerdes¡­¡¯</em>

    There were many that criticized Ardees and his unpleasant behavior. Among those that criticized him was Spear God Aerdes. Aerdes might have given up her position to someone else and had already stepped down from being the Spear God, but she was still an influential and powerful figure among the Gods. She was a God that none of them dared to look at! That was why Ardees was shocked that the damage he received from the man was simr to the damage from Spear God Aerdes.

    Soon, Ardees came back to his senses. He was someone that was close to the God of Death! He even bowed his head and greeted the God of Death yesterday. Of course, the God of Death just passed by him without even giving him a nce, but the fact that a God like him could give his greeting like that was enough to give Ardees great influence and power.

    <em>¡®How dare you do that to me, someone that¡¯s close with the God of Death¡­!¡¯</em>

    Simply put, Ardees wanted to say, <em>¡®Do you know the God of Death?! I¡¯m close with him¡­!¡¯</em>. So, he jumped up as hotter mes red out of his body.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s definitely some kind of power hidden behind that fist of his!¡¯</em>

    Ardees¡¯ thoughts finally cooled down. There was no way that the man in front of him could deal this much damage just by using his ordinary fists alone. For a moment, Ardees wondered if the God that Likes to Eat could umte damage in his fists by eating food.

    Ardees looked at the God that Likes to Eat and told him coldly, ¡°Hitting a God in the Banquet with the Gods, are you aware of the terrible consequences of your actions?¡±

    ¡°You have done something that you should never have.¡±

    All of the Gods looked curiously at the man after hearing his words. They wondered why the Continental God that just became a True God punched Ardees. Was he someone that climbed the ranks of the Gods because he had a grudge against Ardees? Perhaps that was the reason. After all, if it was not due to resentment, which fool would dare to hit a God in the Banquet with the Gods?

    Then, the man looked at the food on the floor and said, ¡°You have made my beef steak fall on the ground.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    The Gods looked confused, while the man actually looked like he was about to cry. Everyone could not hide feeling embarrassed for him. What was this crazy guy saying?! However, what was even funnier was the sincerity of the man¡¯s expression.

    As for Ardees, he was sure that this crazy bastard was just one piece of shit. He was confident that the blow was definitely a fluke.

    ¡°Come at me, you fiery potato bastard.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    <em>¡®Does this guypare everything to food?¡¯ </em>

    But then, Minhyuk said, ¡°Ah. That was my mistake. I can¡¯tpare you with food. That would be putting food at a disadvantage and wronging them.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Ardees was rendered speechless. He was already thinking about fighting this m***erf**king bastard. However, the man continued to provoke him, ¡°It was not that hard, no? Hitting you? It seems like the Gods are nothing. Come at me.¡±

    Ardees broke out into a fit ofughter after hearing the man¡¯s words. The other Gods joined in as well. A measly Continental God actually thought that he could go against them. No matter how much of a lower rank God Ardees was, he was still a God. The mes that his body released could instantly turn thousands of human soldiers into ashes.

    Then, a very interesting thought shed in Ardees¡¯ head.

    ¡°Everyone, today I will make this foolish Continental God realize his own insignificance, as well as the greatness of us Gods,¡± Ardees said, trying to incite the Gods as he looked back at them. All of the Gods nodded in interest.

    ¡°But before that, I would like to propose some interesting conditions.¡±

    ¡°Conditions?¡±

    ¡°Fufufufu. That really sounds interesting.¡±

    ¡°However, shouldn¡¯t the Continental God agree to it first?¡±

    Ardees looked at the God that Likes to Eat and said, ¡°I will bet my ¡®God¡¯s Recognition¡¯. You will get it if you win a fight against me.¡±

    ¡°Hooo?¡±

    ¡°God¡¯s Recognition?¡±

    God¡¯s Recognition had a slight twist. The increase depended on the God¡¯s degree of recognition, and the person would receive an effect that was simr to a permanent increase in stats. For the lower-ranked Gods, there was also a chance that their ss would change if they received several God¡¯s Recognition. However, as a restriction, the Gods could only give their recognition once every hundred years. As for lower ranking Gods like Ardees, they could give their recognition once every thousand years.

    ¡°As for you, why don¡¯t you bet on your qualifications as God?¡±

    ¡°Ohoooo!!! That sounds really fun, no?¡±

    ¡°Qualifications as God, huh? This is getting more and more interesting.¡±

    ¡°Hohohohoho!¡±

    ¡°Ahahahahaha!¡±

    For the Gods, this was just another source of fun and entertainment. As for Ardees, he thought to himself viciously, <em>¡®This bastard, if you¡¯re a True God then you have to agree¡­¡¯</em>

    ¡°Sure, let¡¯s do it.¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    The man readily agreed. At the same time, Ardees immediately heard a voice in his ears.

    <em>[The bet with Food God Minhyuk has begun.]</em>

    <em>[Food God Minhyuk has bet his qualifications as a God.]</em>

    <em>[You, the God of Fire, have bet your ¡®God¡¯s Recognition¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[The God¡¯s Oath has been fulfilled in the name of the greatest God, Athenae.]</em>

    The corners of Minhyuk¡¯s mouth were curled into a smile.

    ***

    Before the Banquet with the Gods.

    Minhyuk appeared in the vicinity where the Banquet with the Gods would be held and met an unexpected person. She was none other than the God of Cooking, Arlene.

    Arlene was one of the Absolute Gods and had told Minhyuk a lot of stories. She had told him about the resident bully, the God of Fire, and the other Gods that wouldugh and sneer. She warned how Minhyuk would be at the center of everything. Arlene had appeared to give him advice and that was to be careful.

    After hearing those stories, Minhyuk came to realize that it did not matter whether they were Gods or not, things were the same everywhere. However, he also thought that this was an opportunity.

    That was the reason why Minhyuk punched Ardees when he came to him and deliberately flipped his te. Was Minhyuk, the king of a nation, a hot-tempered person? Not at all. Everything had been nned.

    Besides, Minhyuk also needed the God¡¯s Recognition so that he could fulfill the requirements for use of the Corrupted Goddess¡¯ Ring. Furthermore, it was not him but Ardees, who brought up God''s Recognition first.

    Then, Ardees said, ¡°Ah, there¡¯s something that I forgot to mention.¡±

    It seemed like Ardees truly wanted to show off his greatness as a God. However, Minhyuk just found it funny.

    ¡°I have received the favor of the God of Death.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The impact of those words were very great. There were even some Gods that trembled from fear. After all, the God of Death was an Absolute God and the object of fear for some. Of course, everyone here was already aware of this fact. However, the name alone could strike fear in their hearts.

    ¡°Do you think you can beat me just like that?¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Then, at that moment, the space beside Ardees was torn apart as a huge golem engulfed in fire appeared in front of everyone. The golem was around three meters in size.

    Gods had their own envoys, and they would appear using their God''s power as an individual. In fact, the God would receive a correction effect in their power whenever they summoned an envoy.

    A buzz arose in the area.

    ¡°From what I heard, Ardees¡¯ fire golem is like the father of all golems. Wasn¡¯t that fire golem one of the biggest contributors in driving out the Corrupted God?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right. That¡¯s absolutely correct. Ardees and his fire golem was the one that drove away the Corrupted God¡¯s subordinate, the God of Combat.¡±

    ¡°We have to admit that Ardees carries great power.¡±

    The Gods were in awe. The fire golem that helped in driving the Corrupted God¡¯s subordinate, the God of Combat, had made an appearance! As for its level, it was hard even for the Gods to measure it.

    At the same time, the Gods felt pity for the pathetic Continental God, who would definitely be turned to ashes under the coboration of Ardees and the fire golem.

    However, the man grinned, ¡°In the world below, I am the king of men.¡±

    ¡°What? The king of men? Pfft¡­ hahahahaha!¡±

    ¡°Ahahahahahahaha!¡±

    ¡°Bwahahahahahahaha!¡±

    Everyone burst intoughter after hearing Minhyuk¡¯s words. He was a mere king of men, but he dared to utter those words in front of the Gods?!

    Minhyuk took an ¡®Almond of Subordinates¡¯ from his inventory and ced them in his mouth.

    <em>Crunch, crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    Queen Iris never forgot to send over some Almond of Subordinates to Minhyuk whenever it was time for tribute. This Almond of Subordinates was an item that allowed Minhyuk to summon one of his vassals.

    ¡°Since you summoned one, then I will also summon one knight. Will that be alright?¡±

    ¡°Bwahahahahahahaha! You¡¯re going to summon a mere human knight?¡±

    ¡°Can that human even make eye contact with us here?¡±

    ¡°This is really interesting! Very, very interesting! Puhahahahahahaha!¡±

    Minhyuk grinned as he looked at the guffawing Gods. Then, he asked, ¡°By any chance, do you guys know about the Spear God?¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Minhyuk was already aware of the Gods¡¯ hierarchical system thanks to Arlene¡¯s detailed stories. All of the gods that heard the two words ¡®<em>Spear God¡¯</em> immediately shut their mouths.

    <em>¡®Why did such a namee up?¡¯</em>

    Spear God Aerdes was a high-ranking God that stood above the rest. Of course, all of the Gods present here expected the sessor that inherited her power to be equally strong. Perhaps that person would even be the closest to bing the next Absolute God.

    Minhyuk looked at them as he coldly dered, ¡°Summon Spear God Ben.¡±

    <em>[The One that inherited Aerdes¡¯ divine name, Spear God, has appeared. He will now participate in the Banquet with the Gods!]</em>

    <em>[The One that inherited Aerdes¡¯ divine name, Spear God, is the Food God¡¯s vassal!]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    In just an instant, the entire area was plunged into silence.

    Ben, who was summoned under the intense and ring light, appeared in front of the fire golem.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    His hands moved swiftly and just like that, the fire golem¡¯s sturdy chest was cracked and torn to pieces. It did not take that long for the golem to copse on the ground, helpless and useless.

    <em>Vwoooooooooong¡ª</em>

    ¡°Your Majesty, you have called for me?¡± The Spear God said, getting down on one knee in front of the Continental God, the very same Continental God that the Gods believed to be pitiful, barbaric, and uncivilized.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Everyone¡¯s mouth snapped shut at the sight.

 Chapter 654: Banquet with the Gods

    Chapter 654: Banquet with the Gods

    The Gods¡¯ hierarchical system could be simply described like this: Athenae was at the peak, above the Absolute Gods, who were akin to emperors. Spear God Aerdes was like a king below that. Although they were all Gods, their world followed a strict and indisputable system.

    Among the Gods, Aerdes could be considered to be the one that had remained in her position for a very long time. She remained steadfast and firm in her throne and was one of the candidates of bing an Absolute God. But one day, she left her position and entrusted it to a human legend before disappearing.

    Rumors circted among the Gods. Some said that the human had defeated Spear God Aerdes. There was also spection about how Spear God Aerdes was left dying from an unforeseen ident, which forced her to relinquish her seat and entrust it to the human.

    However, there was one thing that everyone was sure of. All of them firmly believed that the one that inherited the position of the Spear God was a great person. Otherwise, it would not make sense for them to inherit Spear God Aerdes¡¯ powers.

    At this very moment, the new Spear God, an old veteran, knelt on one knee and paid his respects to the Continental God that they were mocking, the very same Continental God that liked to eat and was a mere king of men.

    ¡°Your Majesty, you called for me?¡±

    <em>Vwooooooooong¡ª</em>

    Ardees¡¯ fire golem had been instantly knocked down the moment the old man appeared, a feat that revealed his greatness as the Spear God.

    <em>¡®Did, did he just say Spear God?!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®The Spear God that we have heard about from the rumors is that man¡¯s vassal?!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®What the hell? What kind of ridiculous bullshit is that? How can a God be the vassal of a mere human¡¯s¡­ no, the recently ascended Continental God?!¡¯</em>

    Everyone was in disbelief. Of course, it was only natural. After all, it was rare even for the Gods to have other Gods serving under them.

    The one that was most surprised was Ardees. He knew best about the fire golem¡¯s capabilities and powers. Its HP volume was ridiculously high, and that was not all.

    <em>¡®An ordinary God¡¯s attack would never be able to pierce through its defenses.¡¯</em>

    Of course, it was only proper to categorize these so-called Gods below someone at the Spear God¡¯s level. However, there was one thing that Ardees was certain of, if that Spear God remained standing there, then he would never have a chance of defeating the one hailed as the Food God.

    <em>¡®This can¡¯t be happening¡­ are you telling me that I won¡¯t be able to touch that trivial man just because of his subordinate?¡¯</em>

    Ardees turned despondent. The vassal was preventing him from beating the shit out of the weak and trivial human.

    ¡°Your Majesty, do you have any orders for me?¡± Ben asked politely, still kneeling down on one knee.

    Ben had been Minhyuk¡¯s vassal for the longest time. As such, he was very quick in deducing what the boy wanted to do. He quickly red at all of the prying eyes that surrounded them. Everyone that met his gaze all shuddered and turned away.

    Then, Ardees said, ¡°This fight will be considered void. I summoned the fire golem to show our true worth. But you summoned the Spear God? Don¡¯t you think that¡¯s beyond ridiculous?¡±

    Ardees tried to get out of the situation to the best of his abilities. However, Minhyuk just looked at him as if he found it funny and scoffed, ¡°You can do it, but I can¡¯t? There¡¯s nothing more ridiculous than that.¡±

    ¡°I clearly said that I will fight you. I never mentioned that I will fight the Spear God.¡±

    Minhyuk frowned, ¡°Ho, that sounds like you¡¯re telling me that you can win easily if the Spear God is not with me.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that only natural?¡± Ardees sneered. He was sure that this was the reason for the man¡¯s confidence. Ardees was very confident in his assumption. The man in front of him was only able to be so arrogant because the Spear God was by his side. Perhaps it was the Spear God that helped him reach the realms of the God.

    ¡°Is that so? Ridiculous. I¡¯m pretty confident that I will be able to knock you down in just one hit.¡±

    ¡°So, you¡¯ve gone mental.¡±

    ¡°You have started to talk arrogantly just because you summoned a God.¡±

    ¡°As expected of a human. Such arrogance¡­¡±

    It was not just Ardees, even the other Gods clicked their tongues at Minhyuk.

    At the same time, a brilliant idea came upon Minhyuk.

    ¡°Hoo¡­ Hooo¡­ Hoo¡­ Hooo¡­¡±

    Minhyuk began to breathe heavily, his feet stomping heavily on the ground.

    <em>Crack! Crack, crack, crack!</em>

    ¡°You¡¯re belittling me?!!! The great me?! The king of a nation and a human that became a God?!!!¡±

    Then, Ben, who was quick on the uptake, quickly scrambled up. Having seen Minhyuk¡¯s wink that the others failed to see, he said, ¡°Your, Your Majesty¡­ please, please calm down. You can¡¯t grow angry likest time. Thest time you got angry like this, you killed plenty of your subordinates, did you not?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t stop me, Ben. I won¡¯t let any of these people that have belittled me go!¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty, I beg you. Please calm yourself down!¡±

    At that moment, Ardees and the other Gods realized that Minhyuk had an anger-management issue. When they thought back, they realized that he had also punched Ardees in the face just because Ardees flipped his te over. No matter how they looked at it, it was definitely an anger management issue.

    Finally, unable to hold his anger back, Minhyuk raised his voice, ¡°All of you! If I make up my mind, I will be able to wipe all of you in one go! Fine, let¡¯s do this. The Spear God will not join me in this battle!¡±

    ¡°Your, Your Majesty!!!¡± Spear God Ben¡¯s eyes grew wide. He shook his head fiercely as he grabbed Minhyuk¡¯s arm.

    However, Minhyuk¡¯s face, which had turned red from anger, shook him off and said, ¡°What do you think?! Come on, let¡¯s do it 1:1?!!! However, what are you going to bet in exchange for not allowing the Spear God to participate in this battle, huh?!!¡±

    Then, at that moment, a woman stepped forward. The woman was none other than the Eode, the Incarnation of Water. Just like Ardees, she was one of the elements¡¯ incarnations. She felt that one of the elements¡¯ incarnations were being belittled and ignored. Not wanting to see such a person humiliate an elemental incarnation, she stepped forward and said, ¡°How about I bet my God¡¯s Recognition?¡±

    ¡°Hahahahahaha?! Is that so?! You¡¯re joining too, huh?!¡± Minhyuk said,ughing arrogantly.

    Immediately after, another figure, the one that resembled a golem, stepped forward and said, ¡°Then, I will bet my God¡¯s Recognition too.¡±

    It was none other than the Incarnation of Earth.

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes shone as he heard their words, <em>¡®Things are going better than I thought?¡¯</em>

    Everything depended on how one would lead the situation. Since it was the Gods that started it in the first ce, approaching and belittling him, Minhyuk would respond in kind. He would take full advantage of the situation and make sure to press those high noses down to the ground.

    <em>[After discussion, the bet with Food God Minhyuk has been revised.]</em>

    <em>[Food God Minhyuk has bet his qualifications as a God.]</em>

    <em>[You, the God of Fire, have bet your ¡®God¡¯s Recognition¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[Based on the revisions, Spear God Ben will not participate in the battle with Food God Minhyuk.]</em>

    <em>[The Incarnations of Earth and Water have bet their ¡®God¡¯s Recognition¡¯.]</em>

    Ardees cackled, ¡°Wahahahahahahahah! Bwahahahahahahahahaha!¡±

    He could not help butugh out loud at the turn of events. After all, the human could not control his anger and made an entire mess of his situation. It was truly worthy of ridicule.

    All of the Gods presentughed. They all believed that the human¡¯s special power lied in summoning a God. However, today, this man will lose his qualification as God and would no longer be allowed to enter this ce.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    At that moment, someone began to walk among the Gods. Seeing the Gods'' part and making way, Ardees could not help but wonder about the identity of the being that was making their way among them.

    Finally, a figure emerged among the Gods. Ardees could not help but choke on his breath the moment he saw the face of the figure, <em>¡®The, the God of Cooking?!¡¯</em>

    The God of Cooking was one of the Absolute Gods, who rarely participated in the Banquet with the Gods. However, someone of great status like her suddenly appeared here. Because of that, the surprise that Ardees felt was much greater. On top of that, she was standing behind Minhyuk.

    ¡°Long time no see.¡±

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s been a long time.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Everyone present was rendered silent. They finally understood the reason why Arlene stepped in this ce and attended this event.

    <em>¡®She¡¯s, she¡¯s, she¡¯s, she¡¯s acquainted with that bastard?!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®No, are you telling me that she attended this event just because of him?!¡¯</em>

    The God of Cooking, one of the Absolute Gods, was an existence that no one could easily be friends with, even if they wanted to be one. However, she appeared here and was even looking at Minhyuk with a gentle smile on her face.

    Then, Arlene said, ¡°On behalf of Mother Athenae and everyone present here, I give you our thanks,¡± before lifting Minhyuk¡¯s hand and kissing its back.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    None of them could make sense of what was happening. Arlene continued, ¡°May mother¡¯s blessings always be with you, who made the Corrupted God fall into eternal rest on behalf of everyone.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Everyone froze in ce the moment those words were uttered. Except for the higher ranking Gods, the rest of the Gods in the world of the Gods were unaware of the fact that the Corrupted God wasid to eternal rest. However, with those words from Arlene, they came to realize that Minhyuk, the man in front of her, had killed the Corrupted God.

    It waspletely unbelievable. How could a mere human kill the Corrupted God? The God of Information opened his mouth and said, ¡°No way, are you telling me that he is the king among the humans that has sealed the Great Demon, as well as hunted and killed both Demigod Asura and one of the Six Monster Gods¡¯ Elizabeth¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The feeling of shock deepened at those words. This was more so the case for Ardees. His eyes had grown wide as he thought, <em>¡®That¡¯s, that¡¯s not true¡­ that¡¯s impossible.¡¯</em>

    He wanted to deny it. No, in fact, he wanted to get out of this situation right now. But before he could do so, a bright light burst from behind them as a throne was created.

    <em>[God of Origin, Mother Athenae, has graced the Banquet with the Gods with her presence.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The greatest God had made an appearance. As she appeared on her throne, she said, ¡°The first foreigner to receive my recognition and my first knight¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­Congrattions on ascending and bing a True God.¡±

    ¡°God¡¯s Knight?¡±

    ¡°Him?¡±

    ¡°None of the Gods has ever been God Athenae¡¯s Knight though¡­¡±

    The impact and significance of a God¡¯s Knight was very huge. This was because bing a God¡¯s Knight meant that they had received Athenae¡¯s recognition. It was a very unbelievable achievement that not even the Gods have achieved.

    Minhyuk showed courtesy towards Athenae and said, ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Minhyuk knew that he would have probably lost in the battle against the Corrupted God if Athenae had not appeared to help him. That was why he was truly grateful to her.

    ¡°¡­This is impossible,¡± Ardees shook his head in disbelief.

    The God of Origin and one of the Absolute Gods hade to congratte a human¡¯s ascension to being a True God. That waspletely ridiculous. However, with this, there was no way that Ardees would be able to avoid the duel against the man.

    Ardees then thought, <em>¡®Perhaps that man was only able to defeat the Corrupted God because the God of Origin descended, made him into her knight and shared with him her power?¡¯</em>

    This was the only way that it could make sense. At the same time, Ardees knew that he should immediatelyunch an attack. He thought of using his most powerful attack, ming Explosion. It was an attack that allowed him to turn his opponent to ashes upon summoning a gigantic bead of zing mes. Ardees was confident that he would be able to kill that man with this one move.

    ¡°ming¡­¡±

    Unfortunately, he was unable to finish his sentence.

    ¡°Sword of Absolute Death.¡±

    <em>Stab!</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Ardees did not even realize that a powerful sword was already stuck in his head.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab!</em>

    Immediately after that, hundreds of sword des appeared and stabbed through his body. However, it did not end there. The man did it again.

    ¡°Sword of Absolute Death.¡±

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab!!!</em>

    <em>Crackle, crackle¡ª</em>

    The arrogant God, Incarnation of Fire Ardees, had persecuted and trampled on many Continental Gods. He was also someone that hasmitted plenty of evil acts by borrowing and using the influence and power of the God of Death. This very same God died within four seconds, turning into ashes and disappearing into the wind.

    At the same time, notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s head.

    <em>[You have acquired the <strong>Title</strong>: ¡®The One that can Even Deceive the Gods¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[You have received three God¡¯s Recognitions!]</em>

    <em>[You have lifted the seal of the Corrupted Goddess¡¯ Ring!]</em>

 Chapter 655: The First Priest

    Chapter 655: The First Priest

    <em>(<strong>The Corrupted Goddess¡¯ Ring</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: God</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: Level 500 or above, the One that has received the true recognition of three or more Gods.</em>

    <em><strong>Durability</strong>: ¡Þ / ¡Þ</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>?Total HP and MP volume will increase by 1.2x.</em>

    <em>?Natural Mana Recovery Speed will triple.</em>

    <em>?Cooldown will be reduced by 30%.</em>

    <em>?INT will increase by 200%.</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Stronger Strikes the More You Hit</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Corrupted Goddess¡¯ Blessings</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Boom</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: A ring stolen by the Corrupted Goddess from Athenae¡¯s Storage in the past. After receiving her energy, the ring has transformed into the Corrupted Goddess¡¯ Ring. This is a ring that can only be used by those that are chosen by the Gods.</em>

    Minhyuk had acquired the Corrupted Goddess¡¯ Ring after killing the Corrupted God. However, considering that he needed to gain three God¡¯s Recognition as the requirements to use it, Minhyuk thought that he would only be able to use it in the future.

    But by some stroke of luck, Minhyuk was able to win three God¡¯s Recognition in the Banquet with the Gods.

    <em>[You have killed the Incarnation of Fire.]</em>

    <em>[The Incarnation of Fire has done many evil and atrocious deeds as a God.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1,203 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired a Fire Golem¡¯s Golem Fragment.]</em>

    <em>[There are no special penalties incurred since the two Godspeted fairly.]</em>

    <em>[However, fire attributed and fire-rted monsters will have higher hostility toward you.]</em>

    After killing the God of Fire, notifications rang constantly in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The God that Controls Water res at you as if she wants to kill you.]</em>

    <em>[The God that Rules the Land cannot hold back his anger toward you.]</em>

    <em>[The God that Makes Good Pottery cannot hold back his anger toward you.]</em>

    There was no penalty from the system. However, the stinging res and the anger that the other Gods were showing him were showing up as notifications. After all, he had killed one of the Gods. However, Minhyuk was aware that if he let them trample over him right now, they would probably trample over him over and over again in the future.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s a chance that I won¡¯t be able toe up here again.¡¯</em>

    That was right. In the end Minhyuk was a yer. His chances ofing back here were extremely low. Perhaps this event where he climbed to the realms of a True God was his only chance ofing here.

    Looking around, Minhyuk could see the contempt in the eyes of several Gods. However¡­

    <em>[God of Origin Athenae looks at all the Gods.]</em>

    All of the Gods threw their gazes to the ground at the notification.

    <em>[God of Origin Athenae has always been aware of the atrocious and evil deeds that the Incarnation of Fire hasmitted until this very moment.]</em>

    <em>[God of Origin Athenae has always been aware of the God¡¯s foolishness, observing as the Incarnation of Fire wreaked havoc andmitted evil deeds.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Everyone was rendered speechless. God of Origin Athenae was fully aware of everything that they had done so far, and she made sure to let them know about it. Because of that, the Gods would not be able to send any more stinging and contemptuous gazes toward Minhyuk in the future.

    There was a high chance that Athenae descended here not only to see the newly ascended Continental God, but also to punish the other Gods for their misdeeds. The punishment came almost immediately after that.

    <em>[God of Origin Athenae is bestowing punishment upon you.]</em>

    <em>[All of you will be locked up in God¡¯s Prison for three days.]</em>

    With Athenae¡¯s order, the Gods turned into ashes and disappeared. Then, Arlene, who was looking at Minhyuk, winked at him before warping away and disappearing from his sight.

    The only ones left were Minhyuk and Athenae. Minhyuk looked at Athenae, the supeputer and the greatest God in Athenae. As for Athenae? She silently looked at Minhyuk for a long time.

    <em>[Athenae looks at you with a soft smile.]</em>

    Athenae was sporting a motherly smile on her face, the action prompting the following notifications:

    <em>[You will now leave the Banquet with the Gods.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired ¡®Athenae¡¯s Bundle¡¯ after receiving your qualifications as a True God.]</em>

    <em>[A temple will be built in honor and praise of you after receiving your qualifications as a True God.]</em>

    <em>[A statue will be built to worship you inside your temple after receiving your qualifications as a True God.]</em>

    ***

    The Gods and the priests that followed them were two inseparable existences. In the event that one became a God and no one came to serve them or spread their word, then they might not be able to be a True God. As for the priests, the existence of their God was something that they trusted and followed wholeheartedly. Even if their God did not do anything or did not make any achievements, the priests had to trust and follow them sincerely.

    Right now, a priest had reached a dpidated temple. It was crumbling, with its beams being supported by both intact and bent pirs. There were even cobwebs all over the ce, with clouds of dust blowing up with every step one took. Even the ce where the God that one should serve was supposed to be worshiped waspletely covered in dust, the texts written on itpletely iprehensible.

    Priest Ambron no longer believed and trusted in God. The only reason why he came here today was because of a mysterious dream. In that dream, he faced an unknown God that guided him to this ce.

    <em>¡®Is God trying to humiliate me once again?¡¯</em>

    Priest Ambron, as someone that had served a God before, knew that a God had called himself here. However, Ambron hated the existences that called themselves ¡®God¡¯ more than anybody else. After all, if there truly was a God, then he would not live such a miserable and terrible life.

    <em>¡®The first priest.¡¯</em>

    Yet he came here, because he was appointed as the first priest.

    These were the priests often chosen by other Gods to serve them: Priests without a God that they believed in and served, priests whose God¡¯s records had beenpletely erased from existence, or priests that have left their God because of a sense of betrayal.

    The dream that Ambron had was rted to bing the first priest. The unknown God¡¯s power had chosen him to be the first priest of his own temple. However, he had his misgivings.

    ¡°A Continental God, huh?¡±

    Ambron had never seen such a shabby and dpidated temple in his life. Temples that suddenly appeared like this were most likely caused by the appearance of a Continental God.

    <em>Rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble¡ª</em>

    Then, at that moment, the ground shook as the ce in front of Ambron vibrated fiercely. Ambron was aware of the meaning of this phenomena. This was an announcement that a new owner had appeared in the temple.

    A huge statue slowly appeared in front of Ambron. The statue of the God held a fine sword in one hand and a frying pan in the other. There was also a very beautiful cape draped over God''s back, while a pristine full te armor protected his body. Even his face looked so handsome to the point that he could be called the God of Beauty.

    However, Ambron just snorted, <em>¡®Arrogant God bastard. Damn bastards that only look at us as if we¡¯re mere ants.¡¯</em>

    Ambron gnashed his teeth when he saw the statue. ¡®<em>All the Gods are arrogant and prideful beings! They treat human lives like ants!¡¯</em> These were the thoughts that were deeply ingrained in Ambron¡¯s head.

    He quickly took out a hammer and dered, ¡°This God will eventually bring despair to plenty of humans.¡±

    Ambron looked up at the statue with a face filled with anger.

    ¡°The God that I served before was the God of Mercy. I have been taking care of my sick mother since I was young. My mother had always prayed to the God of Mercy to ease her sickness and I had always prayed with her,¡± Ambron mumbled to himself, feeling the need to take out his suppressed anger on this statue to relieve his hatred.

    ¡°Once I grew of age, I chose to serve the God of Mercy. Perhaps my faith and belief reached her? So, she gave me an oracle. I immediately followed her oracle, digging up the herbs that I believed would cure my mother of her sickness.¡±

    Ambron had gone away for days on end. But when he came back with the herb that the God of Mercy had told him about, he was greeted with a house that was burnt and torn apart.

    ¡°My sick mother, my father that worked in the smithy, my four siblings¡­ all of them were killed by bandits the moment I left. They even burnt the house down. The worst part? The bandits left unscathed, escaping the grasps of the authorities. If she truly was watching over us, then she should have prevented it from happening. At the very least, she should have punished them,¡± Ambron said, tears welling up in his eyes.

    Everything would have turned out differently if he had just been there. Ambron, with his innate strength and abilities as a priest, was someone that stood above the ordinary masses. If he had been there, then his family would not have died. However, the God of Mercy sent him to a ce far away to get the herb. Because of that, everyone was killed.

    ¡°And what did you do?! You did not even apologize to me?!!!¡±

    There had not been even a hint of apology at all. What did those Gods do for the humans that served them? They had never shown themselves at all. They always hid behind their temples, only sending out oracles and conveying their thoughts through God¡¯s Message.

    As for the God that Ambron served? No, she did not even deem him worthy of her words nor her apology. She no longer gave him an oracle nor visited him in his dreams.

    Ambron walked in front of the statue with a hammer in hand. He was fully aware that he was doing this just to vent his anger. After all, he was just a barbaric man that hated Gods down to his very core!

    <em>Vwoooooooong!</em>

    Just like that, Ambron mmed the hammer down as hard as he could.

    ***

    Special yers Management Team.

    ¡°Team Leader¡­¡±

    ¡°Huh? Yeah, I saw,¡± Team Leader Park said, nodding at Employee Lee Minhwa¡¯s words.

    The Food God¡¯s newly constructed temple and Ambron, the chosen first priest. Fate was so cruel. The fact that Ambron was chosen as the first priest was aplete coincidence. The biggest problem here was the fact that Minhyuk would have apletely hard time winning the heart of this priest. However, it was also an interesting development.

    ¡°Ambron, one of the Absolute Supreme NPCs, is chosen as Food God Minhyuk¡¯s first priest¡­¡±

    Ambron was the candidate that would supposedly be ¡®Death¡¯s Priest¡¯. The story about Death¡¯s Priest was about a priest that hated God. Upon his death, he sold his soul to the God of Death in exchange for great power, bing a priest that went against the Gods. Death¡¯s Priest Ambron was believed to be the strongest out of the eight Absolute Supreme NPCs. Today might be the day that Ambron would awaken as Death¡¯s Priest.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s unsuitable to call him the first priest? After all, he wouldn¡¯t be the Food God¡¯s priest,¡± Lee Minhwa said.

    However, Team Leader Park remained silent.

    <em>Vwooooooooong¡ª</em>

    They watched through the monitor, as the temple shook and trembled as Ambron swung the hammer. The temple was truly old and dpidated. They could see dust and debris falling down from just a simple m of a hammer.

    ¡°¡­He¡¯s truly a crazy NPC,¡± Team Leader Park murmured, a bitter look on his face. However, hepletely understood where Ambron came from.

    <em>Vwoooooooong¡ª</em>

    Simply put, Food God Minhyuk was just inadvertently caught up in the whirlpool of Ambron¡¯s rage.

    <em>Vwoooooooong¡ª</em>

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    A crack rang somewhere around in the temple, a telltale sign that the temple was about to copse.

    Then, at that moment, Lee Minhwa asked, ¡°But, just what if, what if Ambron chooses to serve the Food God?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Team Leader Park looked at the monitor at the question and said, ¡°The Food God will have a first priest that¡¯s as powerful as the popes of the Athenae Religion.¡±

    ***

    <em>Vwooooooooooong¡ª</em>

    Ambron felt delighted as he watched everything fall apart. A bright smile curled at the corners of his lips as tears streamed down his cheeks.

    <em>¡®Damn Gods! Eat shit! I will drag this temple down andy in my eternal rest here!¡¯</em>

    <em>Vwooooooooong¡ª</em>

    A rain of dust and debris began to fall down.

    <em>Vwoooooooooong¡ª</em>

    Finally, the huge pir behind Ambron fell.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud!</em>

    Then, the ceiling began to copse and fall apart. Only then did Ambron let go of the hammer in his hands. He looked around, his eyes lifeless and despondent.

    Ambron was fully aware that the Gods would not listen to cries and pleas. After all, the Gods had always hidden themselves behind their temples, only spouting nonsense with their voices and treating human lives like ants.

    The Gods would not even care even if he died. He hated them, loathing and abhorring their very existence. It included this God in front of him.

    ¡°Was he called the Food God¡­?¡±

    <em>Vwooooooooong¡ª</em>

    The part of the ceiling right behind Ambron fell down creating a thick cloud of dust. Not long after, the part of the ceiling above him began to fall down and copse.

    ¡°You¡¯re definitely the same as them,¡± Ambron mumbled as he looked at the debris that wasing his way.

    <em>[The great God answers your call!]</em>

    <em>Thump¡ª</em>

    Just then, Ambron, who had closed his eyes, heard the falling ceiling hit something. However, he did not feel any impact.

    <em>¡®Am I dead?¡¯</em>

    There was only one word that Ambron wanted to hear from them before his death.

    However, Ambron was not dead. Someone appeared and hugged his body, protecting him from the falling debris. The man, who was bent over to cover Ambron, stood up.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    At the same time, the debris and wreckage from the copsed ceiling fell down. Only then did Ambron see the figure of the man. The man definitely had the same features as the statue from before. This man was looking at Ambron. The Gods had never answered his cries and pleas. They never even told him the words that he wanted to hear.

    However, this God, with his gentle eyes, sharp jawline, and straight nose, looked at him and said, ¡°I don¡¯t know if this is something that I can say.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The man stared at Ambron and continued, ¡°But I will speak on behalf of the God that you served.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The words that Ambron wanted to hear so much¡­

    ¡°¡­I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    Ambron¡¯s eyes grew wide at God¡¯s words. Along with that, God¡¯s divine messages rang in his ears.

    <em>[The God that has started at the lowest ce.]</em>

    <em>[He met the priest that hated the Gods the most.]</em>

    <em>[Watch and see. This is the birth of the greatest religion and the beginning of a new legend.]</em>

 Chapter 656: The First Priest

    Chapter 656: The First Priest

    Minhyuk, the first yer to be a king and a God, heard the notification in his ears.

    <em>[Searching for your first temple, the temple that Athenae had bestowed upon you.]</em>

    After participating in the Banquet with the Gods and meeting with Athenae, Minhyuk immediately got transported somewhere in a sh of light. However, it was taking quite a long time for the warp to end. During the long wait, these notifications also rang in his ears:

    <em>[Your temple has been found!]</em>

    <em>[Your first priest has appeared in your temple!]</em>

    <em>[If you fail to win the heart of your first priest, you will have to find another priest!]</em>

    <em>[A God is a great existence.]</em>

    <em>[Please show God¡¯s greatness and never let your majesty fall!]</em>

    <em>[You can now check your temple!]</em>

    The Gods were divine existences, and none of them had ever made an appearance in front of their own believers, those who ced their trust and faith in them.

    Minhyuk, who was curious about his temple, decided to check it first. He arrived at an unexpected scene: his supposed first priest was looking at Minhyuk¡¯s statue with an angry re, holding a hammer in hand. Furthermore, the priest kept on swearing as if he wanted to hit the statue with his hammer right away.

    <em>¡®What the hell?! Are all priests as crazy as this?!¡¯</em>

    However, even if he thought like that, Minhyuk still patiently listened to the man¡¯s story. Minhyuk naturally understood why Priest Ambron was feeling that way. If he had been in the priest¡¯s ce, he would have also hated the Gods.

    Many thoughts shed in Minhyuk¡¯s head at that realization, <em>¡®Perhaps this is the difference between the NPC and the yer.¡¯</em>

    And as he watched the temple fall apart, another thought shed in his head, <em>¡®What rewards will I get if my temple falls apart?¡¯</em>

    Yes, Minhyuk was not only feeling pity for Ambron. He also calcted the probability of things going in his favor. He knew how to embrace people and their differences, and was aware that a simple word could change one¡¯s view of the world.

    Because of that, Minhyuk ignored the notifications that suggested for him not to show up. He appeared in front of Ambron, hugging the man and protecting him from the copsing ceiling.

    <em>¡®Perhaps these words wouldpletely change your life.¡¯</em>

    Then, Minhyuk said the words that would nevere out of the mouths of the other arrogant Gods.

    ¡°¡­I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    Priest Ambron¡¯s eyes grew wide at Minhyuk¡¯s words. Then, a teardrop fell down from his eye. Ambron slowly stood up, his steps taking him further away from Minhyuk as he shook his head firmly.

    ¡°H, how can a God¡­ apologize to a human¡­¡±

    Ambron knew that the Gods did not show themselves to their believers.

    ¡°I hope my words can be some source offort and sce for you.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk stood silently in front of Ambron as the priest continued to shed tears.

    <em>¡®Perhaps this God¡­¡¯</em>

    At that moment, Ambron entertained the thought that the God in front of him was different from the other Gods.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Only after Ambron¡¯s tears stopped did he realize that God had hugged him earlier. In fact, it was the figure of God that had greeted him instead of the copsing ceiling when he had opened his eyes earlier. For some reason, he thought that God¡¯s figure was really cool and handsome.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Perhaps that was the reason why Ambron¡¯s cheeks were flushed with a dark shade of red.

    <em>¡®N, no. Why are your cheeks turning red¡­?!¡¯</em> Minhyuk thought, unable to hide how flustered he was. Then, the notifications rang.

    <em>[The God that Likes to Cook is watching the scene with joy and delight.]</em>

    <em>[The God that Likes to Cook is rooting for you!]</em>

    <em>¡®What, what are you rooting for?! No, what the hell are you thinking?!¡¯</em>

    Arlene had to be rooting for Minhyuk and the priest¡¯s future endeavors, that was what Minhyuk desperately wanted to believe.

    Only after the situation had calmed down to some extent did Minhyuk have the time to look at the temple¡¯s situation. Most of the temple had indeed copsed.

    Ambron was also very much aware of the temple¡¯s situation. After all, he was the one who had grabbed a hammer and started demolishing the temple.

    ¡°¡­What are you going to do about my temple?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    Thefort and hugs would end at this point. Minhyuk was not the kind of person who would allow himself to suffer losses. Of course, the temple was already on the verge of a copse, but even if that was the case, it was still his first temple.

    Then, the notifications rang.

    <em>[You have changed First Priest Ambron¡¯s fate!]</em>

    <em>[However, the fate that ties Priest Ambron down is a very strong one!]</em>

    <em>[You might be able to defy Priest¡¯s Ambron¡¯s fate if you gain hisplete recognition!]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Linked Quest</strong>: First Priest Ambron<strong>]</strong></em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: SS</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: God</em>

    <em><strong>Rewards</strong>: Ambron¡¯s Temple Management</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty for Failure</strong>: Ambron¡¯s departure.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: First Priest Ambron is filled with hatred toward the Gods. His hatred for you has disappeared, but there¡¯s a chance that he will go back to his original feelings toward you. Win Ambron¡¯s heart and gain his loyalty.</em>

    <em><strong>Conditions for Clearing</strong>: Increase favor with Ambron.</em>

    <em>[Ambron will temporarily act as your first priest.]</em>

    Minhyuk rubbed his chin in thought. It seemed like his choice to show recognition toward Priest Ambron andfort him had been correct. Even though the temple had copsed, from what it looked like, Ambron himself was a worthy reward. However, since Ambron had destroyed Minhyuk¡¯s temple, he thought that it was only natural that he get somepensation from Ambron. The problem was whether Ambron could give him anything. For now, Minhyuk decided to check Ambron¡¯s stats first.

    <em>(<strong>Ambron</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: Supreme NPC</em>

    <em><strong>Type</strong>: First Priest</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: 563</em>

    <em><strong>Attack</strong>: 1,005</em>

    <em><strong>Defense</strong>: 1,607</em>

    <em><strong>Holy Power</strong>: 5,443</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: The One that Serves God</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: The One that Detests God</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Priest that Shares Faith</em>

    <em>?Innate Pope¡¯s Power</em>

    <em>?Innate Death¡¯s Priest¡¯s Power</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Together with God</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Prayer for God</em>

    <em><strong>Potential</strong>: 132</em>

    <em><strong>Experience Value</strong>: 18% / 100%</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: From now on, Ambron¡¯s future and life would depend on whether he starts to believe in God once again or not.</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Minhyuk was shocked to learn that the priest in front of him was not just any ordinary priest. Ambron¡¯s passive skills and active skills were both amazing. However, the one that took the cake was the passive skill Priest that Shares Faith. It was a skill that could give Ambron the power to attract other priests that had either been abandoned by their Gods, hated their Gods, or had yet to find their Gods. For Minhyuk, who still did not have a single believer in his temple, this was a necessary and very wee power.

    Aside from that passive, there were two other surprising points in Ambron¡¯s stats.

    <em>(<strong>Pope¡¯s Power</strong>)</em>

    <em>Passive Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?Born with the talents to be a pope, once he truly serves and puts hisplete trust and faith in his God, he will be a pope that will shock the entire world.</em>

    <em>?If he bes a pope, his God will receive a 5% increase in all stats.</em>

    <em>?If he bes a pope, he will be able to naturally attract believers with his glib tongue.</em>

    Ambron was actually a natural born candidate to be a pope. His potential was limitless. However, there was a flip side.

    <em>(<strong>Death¡¯s Priest</strong>)</em>

    <em>Passive Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?If he refuses to serve a God, then he will be a figure that would be a Death¡¯s Priest. Once he bes a Death¡¯s Priest, he would target and kill the other Gods¡¯ priests and even go so far as killing Gods.</em>

    <em>?If he bes a Death¡¯s Priest, all of his skillset and stats will change.</em>

    Minhyuk did not know what a Death¡¯s Priest was, but he could tell just by the exnation alone that Ambron¡¯s future as a Death¡¯s Priest could be reversed if he performed well in this quest.

    <em>¡®I admit that this God is different from the other Gods. However, that¡¯s not enough reason for me to serve him. Besides, there¡¯s a chance that he¡¯s not worthy enough to have me.¡¯</em>

    Ambron was already aware that he was a pope candidate. Ever since he was young, he knew that the holy power in his body was beyond anyone¡¯s imagination. When the God of Mercy showed him an oracle, he realized that there were things that he could do that other ordinary priests could not.

    There was practically no reason for Ambron to serve a God that was starting at the lowest point. Just when the thought shed in his head, however, the God asked him, ¡°Have you eaten yet?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ***

    The members of the Story Team hurriedly rushed to the Special yers Management Team. This was because they heard that the fate of the Death¡¯s Priest, a very special NPC, had been altered.

    However, even after hearing the entire story, the Story Team¡¯s Team Leader was confident that it was not the case at all.

    ¡°No matter what you think, the Food God will never win Ambron¡¯s heart. The person that would be the Death¡¯s Priest has to believe in the Food God to the point that he could be considered a fanatic. It¡¯s nigh impossible to increase favor with him.¡±

    He tried to deny it but Team Leader Park and Lee Minhwa just chuckled at him. Then, Park Minggyu said, ¡°I can¡¯t tell you that we¡¯re going to be alright but¡­¡±

    Team Leader Park looked at Minhyuk, who was cooking a meal. ¡°Not only is the Food God good at cooking, he also knows what the other person wants. He knows how to use those things well.¡±

    ***

    Priest Ambron had prayed incessantly to God since he was a child. Because of his beliefs, he imposed a ban on himself and refrained from eating meat, making sure to maintain a vegetarian diet.

    And now, the great God in front of him had just asked him ¡°Have you eaten yet?¡±

    Hearing the question, Ambron unknowingly touched his stomach. He had eaten beforeing here. However, his stomach had started to grumble because of his nervousness.

    Minhyuk had a soft smile on his face. <em>¡®I must win Ambron¡¯s heart!¡¯</em>

    He had already shown a better image as a God in front of Ambron. Now, all he had to do was increase his favor.

    ¡°May I ask why you¡¯re asking me this?¡±

    A God was asking if he was hungry. Ambron could not help but be skeptical.

    ¡°Because I¡¯m going to cook you a meal.¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s words came as a huge shock to Ambron. After all, he had never seen a precedent to something like this. A God that made something for his priest? There were no records of this in history.

    <em>¡®So, he¡¯s really different from the other Gods¡­¡¯</em>

    Perhaps because he was a Continental God, but the God in front of him waspletely different from the Gods that he knew of. On top of that, Ambron was also very curious about what kind of dishes the God that Likes to Eat could make.

    So, Ambron said, ¡°Just the fact that you¡¯re willing to cook for me is already something that makes me deeply moved. However, I do not eat meat.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t eat meat. Okay. How about vegetables that taste like meat? It¡¯s alright, no?¡±

    ¡°Y-yes.¡±

    Ambron had heard that the high ranking priests of the greatest religion, the Athenae Religion, woulde across precious ingredients once in a while, and some of those tasted like meat.

    As Minhyuk was close with everyone from the Athenae Religion, he was able to receive plenty of ingredients from them. An example was chicken grass. There were also beef apples that had the same texture and vor as that of beef sirloin.

    ¡°You must be feeling tense, it¡¯s better if I make you some porridge.¡±

    Then, Minhyuk began to cook. The dish that he was making for Ambron was chicken porridge. He chopped the vegetables and boiled the ¡®chicken¡¯ to make the broth. Not long after, he added some glutinous rice, as well as various vegetables, to the broth before stirring them evenly.

    Minhyuk cooked the porridge for a long time, his sweat dripping down his forehead as he watched the cauldron simmer. It was an unexpected scene, yet his figure looked cool.

    Minhyuk was a God, and yet he was cooking for a mere human like Ambron, who was staring unknowingly at his figure. Ambron thought that Minhyuk was truly cool.

    The finished porridge was ced in front of Ambron. There was also a te of ¡®kimchi¡¯ ced right next to it. Ambron looked at God and tried to eat the dish in front of him while watching him.

    The bowl of chicken porridge in front of him was filled with well-cooked and glistening rice that was inplete harmony with the various colors of the vegetables on top of it. He took a spoonful and blew lightly on it before cing the still-hot porridge in his mouth.

    ¡°Hooo~¡±

    Ambron immediately breathed out to soothe the heat in his mouth. As he continued to chew, an amazing vor spread in his mouth.

    <em>¡®This, this is the taste of meat¡­?¡¯</em>

    It tasted just like what he heard from the stories. The meaty soup tasted light and savory. Ambron kept eating the chicken porridge in front of him until he came across the chicken grass that was added in the porridge. Even though it was just a little piece, the chicken grass had a tender and soft texture in his mouth, one that Ambron had never felt from other vegetables before.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    As he swallowed the mouthful, Ambron¡¯s eyes grew wide, and he hurriedly wolfed down the chicken porridge. This time, he tried a mouthful of chicken porridge with the crunchy kimchi that was served beside it. Once he ced it in his mouth, the cold kimchi mellowed down the heat of the chicken porridge. Its spicy and sour vor alsoplemented the savory vor of the chicken porridge.

    <em>¡®Delicious. Truly delicious! Is this what meat tastes like?! Eureka!¡¯</em>

    Ambron came to a realization as he scrambled to finish his bowl. After scraping the bowl clean, Ambron let out a satisfied breath as he patted his full stomach subconsciously. That was when he made eye contact with his new God, who was looking at him after finishing his own food.

    God smiled at him and asked, ¡°Was it good?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    That smile was truly too dazzling.

    ¡°It was delicious.¡±

    Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>[Your favor with Ambron has increased!]</em>

    <em>[Ambron has fallen for your bright smile!]</em>

    <em>[Your favor with Ambron has increased!]</em>

    <em>[Ambron has fallen for the dish that you cooked for your first priest!]</em>

    <em>[Your favor with Ambron has increased!]</em>

    <em>[You havepleted the <strong>Quest</strong>: First Priest Ambron.]</em>

    <em>[The <strong>Linked Quest</strong>: Priests that Follow You will be created.]</em>

    Ambron¡¯s cheeks were dusted pink.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk could not understand his reaction.

    <em>¡®Did he fall for me? He fell for me just after eating one dish?¡¯</em>

    Ambron, whose cheeks were stained with a dark shade of red, stared at Minhyuk for a long time. Only when Minhyuk looked back at him did he turn his head to avoid his gaze shyly.

    <em>¡®Why are you avoiding eye contact?!!¡¯</em>

    Ambron tried to fan the flush on his cheeks away before asking, ¡°All right. For the time being, I will live in your temple. Ah, by the way, have you decided on the name of your religion?¡±

    Minhyuk broke into a smile at Ambron¡¯s question. In fact, his ¡®religion¡¯ had existed for a long time already. Finally, the true birth of this great religion hade.

    ¡°Minhyuk Religion.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Priest Ambron could not help but doubt his hearing at the ridiculous name. However, Minhyuk said with fierce conviction, ¡°The name of my religion is Minhyuk Religion!!!¡±

    This was the true birth of the great religion known as Minhyuk Religion.

 Chapter 657: The First Priest

    Chapter 657: The First Priest

    <em>[<strong>Linked Quest</strong>: The Priests that Follow You]</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: SSS</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: God</em>

    <em><strong>Rewards</strong>: Temple¡¯s Level increases, all stats will increase by +3</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty for Failure</strong>: Ambron¡¯s departure</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: You have won some of First Priest Ambron¡¯s loyalty and trust. However, Ambron can still leave this ce at any given moment. Before he chooses to do so, make sure to show him that your temple can grow stronger.</em>

    <em><strong>Conditions for Clearing</strong>: Thirty priests or believers that have true faith in you.</em>

    <em>¡®Hmm¡­¡¯ </em>Minhyuk rubbed his chin in thought.

    The most basic thing that a temple needed to operate was not only a priest, but also a congregation of believers. The temple would only be able to run smoothly if there were believers that donated and raised funds for the religion. That would determine whether the temple would be in a deficit or a surplus once it started operating. Believers that were truly faithful to their Gods would willingly open their pockets and donate, while praying for afortable and easy life.

    ording to the quest, Minhyuk had to gather at least thirty priests or believers that had true faith in him. Ambron looked bitterly at Minhyuk. He was fully aware that gathering priests and believers was a very daunting task. New believers would most often choose to believe in Gods that had plenty of believers already. After all, it was very hard to follow a God that had nothing at all.

    <em>¡®This is going to be very hard.¡¯</em>

    Ambron looked very bitter.

    ¡°I will also help in gathering new priests and believers.¡±

    Ambron had decided to trust and follow Minhyuk for the time being. Besides, it was him that brought the temple to its copse.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Still, he looked miserable as he looked around the temple. Ambron was sure that whichever priest or believer they gathered would immediately run away the moment they saw the temple in such a dpidated state.

    ¡°Right. You¡¯re not going to tell me that you will turn tail after putting the temple in this state, no? Ah. I¡¯m not telling you to follow or listen to me against your will. I suppose only someone without a conscience would do something like that, right?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    After hearing Minhyuk¡¯s words, Ambron thought that he should do his best while he was here.

    ¡°Ah. If you¡¯re going to do that, then I would like you to go around with my friend.¡±

    ¡°A friend?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    Ambron looked at Minhyuk with a bit of expectations. What kind of existence was God¡¯s friend like? Then, the space behind Minhyuk cracked open as something walked out. There was a bright light shining out from the space so it looked like there was a halo surrounding the being.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s so bright¡­¡¯</em>

    What greeted Ambron once the light faded away was a being that was standing proudly, with his arms folded on his chest, and an arrogant smile curling at the corners of his lips.

    ¡°Oiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiink!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Ambron was struck speechless. The baby pig was sporting an arrogant expression on his face, while looking down at Ambron as if he was a God.

    ¡°Ah. There¡¯s something that you have to keep in mind when traveling with him. You have to regrly give him something delicious. If you fail to do that, he will get angry.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°However, I am super confident¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­Yes?¡±

    ¡°¡­He will definitely be a big help to you.¡±

    Even if Ambron did not understand how the baby piggy in front of him could help gather believers and priests, Minhyuk believed in Beanie. After all, he was fully aware of Beanie¡¯s endless potential.

    Minhyuk watched as Beanie haughtily approached Ambron with his outstretched paws.

    ¡°Oiiiiiiiiiiiiiink!¡±

    ¡°What? Ah, yes?¡±

    ¡°Oink, oink oink! Oiiiiiiiink! <em>(If you have something delicious with you, give it to me. Oink!)</em>¡±

    Minhyuk smiled as he watched Beanie already working Ambron, who was flustered and embarrassed, the moment he appeared.

    <em>¡®Ah. They¡¯re getting along well.¡¯</em>

    Although it was unknown how the two of them would get along, Minhyuk still nodded at the sight.

    For now, there was something that Minhyuk had to check. He immediately pulled out the Corrupted God¡¯s Mysterious Bundle. It was an item that would allow the one to gain the object or the map that was leading to the object that they were the most greedy for..

    Without any hesitation, Minhyuk ced his hand inside the Corrupted God¡¯s Mysterious Bundle.

    <em>[You have ced your hand inside the Corrupted God¡¯s Mysterious Bundle.]</em>

    <em>[It will give you the item that you want the most or tell you the ce where the item is.]</em>

    Something fell in Minhyuk¡¯s hand immediately after. The item that he pulled out was obviously a map.

    <em>[You have acquired the map to First Pope Kronad¡¯s Grave.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk stared at the map in his hand for a moment before taking out the Puzzling Seasoning Jar from his inventory. The Puzzling Seasoning Jar looked no different from usual. However, the most important change here was that the nagging and mischievous guy had been quiet for quite a long time now. There was a chance that this state would remain forever too. Minhyuk knew that Obren could no longer appear using Kronad¡¯s Sealed Ne.

    <em>¡®I never expected that you would sacrifice yourself for me.¡¯</em>

    For Minhyuk¡¯s sake, Obren willingly let go of his final chance to awaken in this world once again.

    Minhyuk slowly unfolded the map to First Pope Kronad¡¯s Grave. Usually, whenever one opened a map in Athenae, a hologram would pop out and show where the yer was currently located.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    To Minhyuk¡¯s confusion, his current position was not shown anywhere in the map. He continued to observe the map.

    ¡°What the hell? This¡­¡±

    Only then did he realize that the map that was in his hands was of an area still unopened in Athenae. The continents that he was aware of were nowhere to be seen.

    ¡°It¡¯s apletely different ce?¡±

    Athenae was full of possibilities. President Kang Taehoon even mentioned once that it was impossible to consume and clear all of Athenae¡¯s contents. The yers then vaguely realized that there was a chance that there was another world that existed beyond the world that they were currently ying at. In fact, there were even reports about some yers actually visiting such a ce.

    ¡°May I take a look at that?¡± Priest Ambron asked, showing interest in the map.

    After some time, Ambron spoke, ¡°So, the stories were true.¡±

    Ambron had been studying myths and legends for a very long time. He had been working hard since young, which gave him enough qualifications as a pope.

    ¡°You know about this?¡±

    ¡°Yes. This is the Land of the Forgotten Heroes.¡±

    ¡°Land of the Forgotten Heroes?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. That is what we call that ce. For them, the world that they live in is just like the world we live in. Just like us, they also have gods, albeitpletely different from ours, in their world.¡±

    ¡°And how do I get there¡­?¡±

    ¡°Popes or Saint-level existence from one of the other religions would probably know about it. There are probably other ways to go there, but I¡¯m not aware of them.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡±

    ¡°Yes. However, there¡¯s one thing that¡¯s for sure. The people that live in our world seek to explore the Land of the Forgotten Heroes. After all, that ce would definitely grant them new power, new artifacts, new food and many more.¡±

    ¡°¡­New food?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    Minhyuk was already drooling at the thought. This was starting to look like a vacation abroad.

    At this moment, Minhyuk¡¯s destination was confirmed. He was now set to go to the ¡®Land of the Forgotten Heroes¡¯.

    After that, Minhyuk hurriedly visited Athenae Religion and asked Loyna about the story of the Land of the Forgotten Heroes. Then, he immediately went to the next destination after that.

    The only ones left in the temple were Beanie and Ambron. Ambron watched as Beanie borrowed a lot of things from the Athenae Religion.

    ¡°Oink, oink oink oink! Oiiiiiiiiink! (Just trust me, oink! I know of a good way to gather believers!)¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Although Ambron was not convinced, he decided to put his trust on the baby piggy for now.

    Just like that, the two of them moved to gather priests and believers.

    ***

    The Kingdom of Death was ruled and owned by Death. He was its king. Yet droves of priests and pdins woulde to this ce. In fact, the reason why they flocked there was because there were countless tests that required them to use their holy power against the undead, in order to receive their qualifications and recognition.

    Right now, Death was sighing in his kingdom, <em>¡®Beanie, why do you have to ask me to do that¡­ well, there¡¯s nothing I can do since this is for Minhyuk¡¯s sake.¡¯</em>

    Beanie had visited Death and asked for a favor. Death watched the pdin trainees and apprentice priests wading through crowds of undead through the crystal ball in his hands and said, ¡°Zone 3. Summon Lich.¡±

    Just like that, a lich was summoned in the ce that was shown in the crystal ball.

    ***

    There were five pdin trainees and three apprentice priests struggling to fight against skeletons in Zone 3. Among them was Lany, a girl that dreamt of joining the Athenae Religion. Lany was not entirely sure but this might just be the final step for her to achieve her dream of joining the Athenae Religion. After all, she was smart, religious, and had holy power that was a cut beyond the rest.

    However, she fell into despair not long after.

    ¡°A, a lich?!¡±

    ¡°How, howe a lich suddenly showed up in here?!!¡±

    A lich suddenly showed up in Zone 3 where the trainees and apprentices were taking their tests. This was unprecedented. On top of that, a lich was a very powerful undead that these priests and pdins would not be able to deal with. The people here were not yers but NPCs, and their deaths here would mean that they would face eternal rest. Simply put, the lich in front of them was a true object of fear.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Magic attacks rained down upon them as the lich waved its hand. However, strangely enough, none of them realized that the attacks never reached their bodies. All they did was scream in fear and terror.

    Then, hundreds of undead appeared around the lich. Seeing the additional troops advance, the apprentice priests and pdin trainees cried and shed tears.

    ¡°Ah, aaaaaaaah¡­! G, God¡­ please grant power to our pitiful selves to punish the evil and the wicked!¡±

    ¡°God! Please show us a way to get out of this difficulty!¡±

    All of them cried out and wailed for their Gods to help them. But of course, the Gods did not answer their calls.

    The lich looked at them with a cold and vicious re as it appeared right in front of them. Then, it began to cast magical attacks that continued to rain down upon them.

    Lany shut her eyes tightly, tears dripping down her cheeks as she hoped and prayed, <em>¡®G, God¡­ Please¡­ please¡­ us¡­¡¯</em>

    Then, at that moment, a man¡¯s voice rang in their ears, ¡°God has sent his envoys to answer the cries of the poor and the pitiful. The evil and the wicked will retreat in front of our God.¡±

    <em>aaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The sound of a mysterious and unknown bell rang loudly in the area. This caused the undead in the surrounding area to let out agonizing howls.

    Then, a white light burst out from behind them as the mysterious voice continued to flow in their ears, ¡°Aaah. His Holiness has sent his envoys, asking them to show up to protect the poor and the pitiful. Praise be upon him, praise be upon him!¡±

    The man that was reciting those phrases was none other than Ambron. Reading the lines that Beanie had written for him, he thought, <em>¡®Why am I reading something like this?¡¯</em>

    However, he still continued to recite the words written on his cheat sheet, ¡°Be afraid, you wicked ones!¡±

    Death, who was watching everything from a distance, said to the lich, ¡°Hey. Get on your knees and pretend to be afraid.¡±

    ¡°Kiheeeeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    The lich and the rest of the undead fell down on their knees, showing frustration as they shrieked.

    <em>Diiiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    The bell rang once more, putting the lich and the undead under more suffering.

    ¡°Open your eyes and witness the arrival of God¡¯s envoy!!!¡± Ambron cried out as a being enveloped in a bright and white halo appeared.

    Lany ced her palms together and looked at the being in awe. The light that covered the being slowly faded away until it revealed his form. The being was wearing a white priest¡¯s uniform with a bell in one hand and a ck kitchen knife on the other. As for his visage, it was none other than the face of a baby piggy.

    ¡°Ooiiiiiiiiiiiiink! <em>(In the name of my God, be gone! </em><em>Oink</em><em>!)</em>¡±

    <em>Crackleeee¡ª</em>

    Along with that snort, the lich and the undead were devoured by mes.

    Ambron was rendered speechless at the Go-Stop[1] like scenario that unfolded in front of him. However, although it was a bit embarrassing, everything was done perfectly.

    <em>¡®Just look at his face. He has the exact expression as that of a kind and gentle mother.¡¯</em>

    Beanie¡¯s expression was the epitome of kindness itself, while wearing the white priest uniform. He kept the bell and the knife as he looked upon the apprentice priests and pdin trainees kindly. Then, he flew to them and patted their foreheads.

    ¡°Oink, oink oink oink.¡±

    ¡°Child, do not fear. My God has called for me and told me to run here for your sake.¡±

    ¡°Ah, aaaaaaaaaaah¡­!¡±

    ¡°Oink oink, oink, oiiiiiiiiiink!¡±

    ¡°I will make sure to destroy evil and bestow upon you a new lease in life.¡±

    Beanie smiled gently at them and turned around as if he was closing his act. The moment he turned around, he broke out into a gleeful smile while thinking, <em>¡®A perfect performance, oink!¡¯</em>

    Of course, he also dropped something when he turned around, pretending to be unaware, and disappeared into another burst of light with Ambron.

    Once they disappeared, the apprentice priests and pdin trainees continued to stare nkly in awe after witnessing the descent of God¡¯s true envoy and messenger.

    At that moment, Lany picked up the thing that God¡¯s envoy had dropped. Then, she looked at the contents.

    <em>[Join the Path of Minhyuk Church.]</em>

    <em>[Who is the Great God, Food God?]</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Lany, who checked the contents, sped the letter in her chest and said, ¡°This is¡­ definitely God¡¯s divine revtion.¡±

    Lany, who dered that she would join Athenae Religion, had found a new religion to follow. Its name? Minhyuk Church.

    1. A fishing card game ?

 Chapter 658: The First Priest

    Chapter 658: The First Priest

    Minhyuk met with Athenae Religion¡¯s Saintess Loyna to ask for information on the path to the Land of the Forgotten Heroes.

    The Land of the Forgotten Heroes was a ce where one could note and go so recklessly. Even Saintess Loyna said that she could only get a parchment that could allow one to enter the path to the Land of the Forgotten Heroes once every year. But even if one received this parchment, it would only guide them to that ce. ording to Loyna, one could only enter that ce through their own power alone.

    Minhyuk gratefully received the parchment that Saintess Loyna had handed over to him, and ripped the parchment apart.

    <em>[You have torn the Parchment that Guides you on the Path to the Land of the Forgotten Heroes.]</em>

    <em>[You are being warped.]</em>

    When Minhyuk opened his eyes, he was greeted with a long bridge in front of him. The bridge was surrounded by clouds and it would make anyone dizzy just by looking down below.

    There, Minhyuk summoned Hanwoo and climbed on its back as they moved towards the other end of the bridge.

    ¡°Hanwoo.¡±

    ¡°Mooooooo?¡±

    ¡°Give this hyung some rib-eye.¡±

    <em>Swish, swis~</em>

    ¡°Hanwoo.¡±

    ¡°Mooooo?¡±

    ¡°Give this hyung some skirt steak.¡±

    ¡°Moooooo¡­¡±

    Minhyuk and the Bull Demon King, Hanwoo, shared a very special rtionship where they could exchange morbid jokes like this. As he rode on Hanwoo¡¯s back, he asked, ¡°Why is my dear Hanwoo looking so listless and weak today?¡±

    Minhyuk climbed down and gently ced his hand on Hanwoo¡¯s head. He looked at the cow with a curious look on his face. For some reason, he could tell that Hanwoo¡¯s eyes looked a bit sad today.

    ¡°Mooooooo!!!¡± Hanwoo moo¡¯ed loudly, scraping the ground with his hind legs. It seemed like he was ying a prank on Minhyuk.

    ¡°Did you trick me? Rascal. Hey, I might die if you run into me!¡±

    ¡°Moooooo!¡±

    Hanwoo grinned, finding what they were doing fun and interesting. Minhyuk then climbed on Hanwoo¡¯s back again.

    ¡°Hanwoo, I don¡¯t know what kind of danger awaits us at the end of this bridge. But you and I, your hyung, we will get through it together, right?¡±

    ¡°Mooooooooo!¡±

    Minhyuk smiled as he patted Hanwoo¡¯s head once again. Then, he looked at the Food God¡¯s True Inherent Skill that he had acquired when he received the qualifications of a True God.

    <em>(<strong>Inversing Giddiness</strong>)</em>

    <em>Food God¡¯s Secret</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Mana Required</strong>: 5,000</em>

    <em><strong>Cooldown</strong>: 144 hours.</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?Through the skill Inversing Giddiness, you can decrease the stat or skill level increase effect on the person that ate your dishes and received its buff effects. You can decrease it as much as the buff effect they received.</em>

    <em>?God¡¯s dishes are special. In the event that they have been subjected to the Inversing Giddiness skill, the effects of the buff and the changes you made will not disappear even if they have been forced to log out as long as it is still within the buff duration. The opponent will have to find a special way to resolve the issue.</em>

    This was the only debuff skill that Minhyuk had in his arsenal.

    <em>¡®I can most definitely cast a tremendous debuff with this.¡¯</em>

    It was also the most overpowered debuff skill that Minhyuk has ever seen in his entire life. For example, Minhyuk¡¯s buffed dish could increase all of the stats by 20% as well as all skill levels by +1. With the Inversing Giddiness, he could reverse everything and make it so all of the stats would suffer from a 20% decrease and all skill levels by -1 decrease.

    <em>¡®The most important part here is that there are no restrictions and limitations on the number of dishes.¡¯</em>

    He could cook dishes in bulk. If Minhyuk fed hundreds of people with his buffed dishes and used Inversing Giddiness on them, they would be weaker than usual. In that situation, if he and his allies were able to eat buffed dishes sessfully?

    <em>¡®Perhaps there¡¯s a chance that I can win against Great Demon Verus even if it¡¯s a 1:1 fight, no¡­?¡¯</em>

    Of course, that would only be the case if it was the same Verus that Minhyuk had fought in the past. That was also on the assumption that Verus was able to eat the dish that he made and that he was able to eat his own buffed dish safely.

    Minhyuk, who was lost in those thoughts, failed to see the sadness in Hanwoo¡¯s eyes. Hanwoo¡¯s intelligence was not that high. However, he knew sadness too. The days that he spent with Minhyuk were very precious to him.

    But they were drawing closer to the Land of the Forgotten Heroes. And as they got closer, Hanwoo thought that perhaps he should walk slower and enjoy his time with his master and owner more.

    Then, he saw Minhyuk look back at him and said, ¡°Hanwoo! There should be a lot of delicious food there, right?! Maybe there¡¯s also that special hay that you¡¯re very fond of there?!!!¡±

    Hanwoo looked at the bright smile on the face of his owner and just like any other day, heughed together with him too, ¡°Mooooo!¡±

    ***

    God¡¯s Children were a secret organization of God-ss yers. They were people that even the world¡¯s Summit Five would be reluctant to deal with. In fact, some of the God-ss yers wanted to join the organization. Alexander had also warned Minhyuk not to sh with God¡¯s Children as much as possible.

    Now, on the path heading towards the Land of the Forgotten Heroes stood Henry, the God of Money. He was not yet revealed as a member of the God¡¯s Children. However, there were rumors about him being the richest man in Athenae. In fact, there were even rumors about how his financial and capital power wasparable to that of Cauhel.

    Just because one had money did not mean that one could grab everything in Athenae. Even for Cauhel, there were certain artifacts that he could not buy even with his money. However, that was not the case for Henry.

    Henry, with his God of Money ss, had a special skill called ¡®Treasure Hunting¡¯. It was a skill that could guide Henry to a special artifact and the method to obtain it. However, it could only be triggered randomly once a month. At the same time, he was operating and leading a huge merchant group. There were even some that say that the scale of his merchant group had already gone beyond that of an empire.

    Currently, Henry was looking at an arrogant monkey in front of him. This monkey was none other than the Fake Sun Wukong.

    There was no one in the world that was unaware of the grand story of the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal. He was the one hailed as the king of the monkeys and was the owner of the Ruyi Jingu Bang that could grow longer or shorter depending on his will, as well as the Flying Nimbus that allowed him to fly among the clouds. He was also famous for rebelling against the Gods in Heaven and fighting against the Bull Demon King as Sanzang[1]¡¯s disciple.

    However, the Sun Wukong in front of Henry was the fake one.

    ¡°We need more. We need more power, silver and gold, and treasures to pressure and defeat the real Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal.¡±

    ¡°Please do not worry, Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal,¡± Henry said, smiling softly. All the while thinking, <em>¡®How dare this fake Sun Wukong¡­¡¯</em>

    The Fake Sun Wukong was actually a protagonist of the story that has been handed down from ancient times. When the real Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal was kicked out by Sanzang, he transformed into Sun Wukong¡¯s form and pretended to be him. Using that form, he became the ruler of the monkey-type monsters.

    In the Land of Forgotten Heroes, characters that appeared in myths and legends from reality would appear here. This ce was bound to be a very interesting and fun ce for yers. In this ce they could meet the curious Zeus or the beautiful Aphrodite. That was how many mysterious things were hidden in thisnd.

    What the Fake Sun Wukong wanted to do was to gather gold, silver and plenty of other treasures to lure out the real Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal, who had be a king in the Land of the Forgotten Heroes, and secretly take his position there. Henry was in a partnership with him.

    In fact, the number of yers that were entering the Land of the Forgotten Heroes were increasing by the day. Even though the ce was still hidden by a thinyer of veil, yers wereing in streams. However, there was one thing for sure, these yers were high-leveled yers that were fully prepared to travel to this newnd.

    Now, it was thanks to their entry that Henry was able to gain gold and silver. And this was what Henry was doing. He was dividing his gold, silver and treasures with the Fake Sun Wukong. Was the amount of gold and treasures small? Not at all.

    The Fake Sun Wukong actually had a special passive skill called ¡®Greedy Monkey¡¯. It was a skill that could triple the artifact and gold drop rate from the ones that he killed.

    Henry¡¯s rewards would also increase by 1.5x whenever he received someone else¡¯s quest rewards. This was the power of ¡®God of Money¡¯ Henry. The truth was a third of the money that he earned with his global merchant group was earned through his partnership with the Fake Sun Wukong. But now, this partnership was no longer necessary.

    <em>[Your ability: Treasure Hunting has been triggered!]</em>

    <em>[Treasure Hunting is an ability that can search for rare powers, owners of powerful artifacts and methods to obtain them!]</em>

    <em>[Your search has been sessful!]</em>

    <em>[The Fake Sun Wukong has stolen the Jade Emperor¡¯s Jade Seal!]</em>

    <em>[The Jade Emperor¡¯s Jade Seal has the power that could give one the ¡®Power to Ask the Jade Emperor to Grant You One¡¯s Wish¡¯ and the ¡®Chance to Be a King¡¯!]</em>

    What Henry found was sufficient enough to bring a deep smile to his face. What if he became a ¡®king¡¯ in this mysterious world that no one knew about? He was already thrilled at the thought of how he could exploit and extort plenty of things from the people from this ce. However, there was one problem.

    ¡°I have to get going now. We have to search for new prey,¡± Henry said as he left the ¡®Fake Sun Wukong¡¯s cave. The cave where the Fake Sun Wukong was currently residing was connected to the Land of the Forgotten Heroes. Henry was met with hisrades the moment he got out of the cave.

    ¡°As expected, our greatest problem is our strength.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°Hmmm¡­¡±

    Henry¡¯s expression, which was full of pretentious smiles at the Fake Sun Wukong earlier, turned grotesque. He was someone that would not care about the means. If he could use money, then he would use it. On top of that, he had strong and powerfulrades and troops.

    However, it was still impossible. The Fake Sun Wukong was not as strong as the true Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal, but he was still so powerful that they could not deal with him with their power alone.

    The ones that came here with Henry were his own people, moving in secret as unofficial rankers. They were also rankers that were at the top of the food chain. However, the Fake Sun Wukong was still too powerful for them.

    ¡°We need a buff. A very powerful one and something that all of us can get together.¡±

    ¡°¡­Where should we get such a buff?¡±

    There were only a select few people that could give out such a buff. The God of Parchment, the God of Alchemy and the God of Reinforcements were a few of them. But Henry was not acquainted with them at all.

    ¡°Aaaaah, Hanwoo~ Can¡¯t you really give some ribeye to your hyung?¡±

    ¡°Mooooooooooo!¡±

    But then, at that moment, an unidentified voice rang in their ears. It seemed like there was someone that was stepping into the Land of Forgotten Heroes. Henry immediately hid with hisrades.

    Amidst the thick fog, they saw the figure of a yer riding on top of a cow. The yer looked unfamiliar. However, Henry could tell that the ¡®cow¡¯ that the yer was riding and talking to was the Food God¡¯s Hanwoo.

    Henry has already explored this unknownnd. He knew that Hanwoo was the Bull Demon King and was very much aware of how much his worth was.

    <em>¡®If we do this well, then¡­¡¯</em>

    A good idea shed in Henry¡¯s head. He thought of a brilliant idea where he could kill the Fake Sun Wukong, get the Jade Emperor¡¯s Jade Seal, and even acquire the Bull Demon King.

    ¡°Let¡¯s eat the buffed dishes that the Food God has made.¡±

    <em>Grin¡ª</em>

    Henry¡¯s hideous smile was so wide that his lips seemed to touch his ears.

    ***

    The Fake Sun Wukong was sitting on his throne and stroking the Ruyi Jingu Bang on his shoulder. He said, ¡°Human beings are truly stupid.¡±

    He was aware of Henry¡¯s ns. Henry might not know about it but the Fake Sun Wukong had another special skill called ¡®Truths and Lies¡¯. After seeing through his ns, the Fake Sun Wukong nned to wipe out Henry and his gang the moment they came back to his cave.

    <em>¡®It seems like they have found a new prey. Very well, I can kill him together with them.¡¯</em>

    An hourter.

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    The Fake Sun Wukong could not hide his bewildered expression. It was because Henry, the man he introduced as ¡®Food God¡¯, and even hisrades, all sat together and looked at the prepared meals.

    And Minhyuk, who watched everyone like that, hid the deep smile on his face.

    1. An epithet referring to the Tripitaka ?

 Chapter 659: The First Priest

    Chapter 659: The First Priest

    Minhyuk, who was traversing the path to the Land of Forgotten Heroes with Hanwoo, saw a group of people approaching him, causing him to be surprised. He had heard from Saintess Loyna that there were already quite a few people that were going to the Land of Forgotten Heroes. However, he never expected to meet some of them like this.

    The man right in front had a very familiar face.

    <em>¡®What was his name again? Was it Henry¡­?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk knew that he was the one with the God of Money ss and was the number one yer in the global merchant rankings. There could be said to be no corner in this world, especially after the continents had united, where Henry¡¯s merchant group had not taken root. That was how far Henry¡¯s reach was.

    That very same Henry approached and greeted him politely, ¡°Hello.¡±

    Minhyuk looked warily at them, especially since he looked different from his usual self.

    Henry said, ¡°Looking at this cow and the sandwich in your hands¡­ You must be the Food God, right?¡±

    It seemed like Henry had a pretty sharp eyesight. In fact, Minhyuk was walking around with Hanwoo because he did not expect to meet someone so easily in this ce. In any case, Minhyuk knew that he would not be able to hide his identity here.

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°Aaaah. As expected, I was right. So, you¡¯re really the Food God!¡±

    ¡°Wow. You¡¯re really the Food God?¡±

    ¡°You were the first to receive the qualifications to be a True God not too long ago!¡±

    ¡°I was very moved and impressed with the Battlefield of the Gods!!!¡±

    They all smiled happily as if they were in awe and delight at meeting Minhyuk here. The same was true for Henry.

    Henry bent his upper body, showing a more polite gesture than normal, and said, ¡°It¡¯s an honor to meet Athenae¡¯s best yer.¡±

    Then, Henry reached his hand out and grabbed Minhyuk¡¯s hand. At the same time, a set of notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[God of Money¡¯s ttery]</em>

    <em>[The God of Money¡¯s ttery is special. The other person will develop good feelings towards you and listen more to what you have to say!]</em>

    ¡°I¡¯m a huge fan. I¡¯ve been watching you since your ¡®Frying Pan Killer¡¯ days. Meeting you here is truly an honor!¡±

    Henry, as the one with the God of Money ss, was someone that had plenty of special skills in his arsenal. One of them was God of Money¡¯s ttery. With this skill, he would be able to quickly increase his favor with both NPCs and yers, as long as they did not harbor any hostility against him. It was all thanks to this skill that Henry was able to have a high sess rate when dealing withrge merchant groups.

    However, Minhyuk¡¯s reaction was lukewarm.

    <em>¡®As expected, he doesn¡¯t trust people that easily huh?¡¯</em> As the thought shed in his head, Henry suddenly remembered something, <em>¡®Ah,e to think of it, I¡­¡¯</em>

    Henry had obtained a special ingredient recently. The ingredient was so valuable that he was already pondering about how much he would sell it for. However¡­

    <em>¡®The Jade Emperor¡¯s Jade Seal is far more valuable than this. Besides, I will be able to get enough rewards once we finish hunting the Fake Sun Wukong.¡¯</em>

    He would gain bigger profits from giving up something small. Henry did not hesitate at times like this.

    ¡°To be honest, since I¡¯m a fan, I have always kept the rare and special ingredients that I got since a long time ago, in hopes of being able to give them to you once we meet.¡±

    ¡°Ingredients?¡±

    The look in Minhyuk¡¯s eyes changed the moment he heard the word ¡®ingredients¡¯. At this moment, Henry realized that the rumors were true. The Food God would always show great favor to those that would give him something special and delicious. Henry was confident that he would seed with the ingredient in his hands.

    Not long after, Henry handed over an ingredient that seemed to resemble the shredded chicken that was in Minhyuk¡¯s inventory.

    <em>(<strong>Phoenix-like Bird</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Ingredient Grade</strong>: Legendary</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities:</strong></em>

    <em>?You cannot make a buffed dish with this ingredient.</em>

    <em>?All of your stats will increase by 0.5% upon consumption.</em>

    <em>?Fire attribute resistance will increase by 5% upon consumption.</em>

    <em>?Your EXP Acquisition Rate will double for two weeks upon consumption.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: This is a bird that wanted to be a phoenix and resorted to imitation. Although it is not a phoenix, it has be a bird that is faster and stronger than other birds. This bird might taste like chicken or it might also taste like a phoenix. All in all, it will taste like something that you have never tasted before.</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Henry could see how Minhyuk¡¯s eyes grew wide and how his palms clenched into a fist, and he broke into a grin despite himself.

    ¡°As you can see, it¡¯s a very precious ingredient. It might just be a legendary grade ingredient but I think it¡¯s as good as any God-grade one, especially with the 0.5% increase in all stats, the 5% increase in fire-attribute resistance, and the doubling of the EXP acquisition rate.¡±

    It was the truth. The Phoenix-like Bird ranked the highest among all of the legendary grade ingredients.

    The Food God gulped dryly and asked, ¡°You¡¯re going to give this to me, just like that?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I¡¯m simply a huge fan. Take it as receiving my heart and feelings. Haha. You can eat it here.¡±

    <em>Squeeze¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s big and warm hands held Henry¡¯s hand tightly. He then looked at Henry deeply while saying, ¡°Thank you. Thank you very much.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    For some reason, Henry felt like he had just be Minhyuk¡¯s benefactor with how he was looking at him.

    ¡°In fact, I¡¯m really curious to see how the Food God cooks. I would really like to see you cook and eat here.¡±

    Minhyuk gave a thumbs up at those words.

    <em>¡®Fufufufu.¡¯</em>

    There was no one in this world that did not like bribes. Just like that, Minhyuk began cooking. The dish that he was cooking was none other than spicy braised chicken.

    Minhyuk naturally hummed. After all, he was making spicy braised chicken with the Phoenix-like Bird. As he hummed, he looked at Henry and the others.

    <em>¡®What are you all up to?¡¯</em>

    No goodwill came without a price. That was what Minhyuk always believed. As for Henry, he was nning on avoiding conflict with the Food God while finding a way to hunt the Fake Sun Wukong. He intended to guide Minhyuk to the cave where the Fake Sun Wukong was after eating his buffed dishes. But of course, all of that were his thoughts.

    The power of the Fake Sun Wukong was beyond anyone¡¯s imagination. It would be very hard to defeat him, even if it was the Food God. They would act as if they did not expect the appearance of the Fake Sun Wukong while leading Minhyuk to him. The Fake Sun Wukong would then focus on attacking the Food God while pretending to attack them.

    Then, the Food God would be forced to log out by the Fake Sun Wukong and be subjected to his ¡®Greedy Monkey¡¯. Once that happened, the Bull Demon King woulde under the possession of the Fake Sun Wukong. After that, Henry and hisrades would move to kill the Fake Sun Wukong.

    It was the perfect n. They could just tell the Food God that they had been forced to log out too if he questioned them too.

    ¡°Wow. The way you cook is truly magnificent,¡± Henry burst out in admiration at the man that did not realize what would happen to him.

    Minhyuk just gave him a thumbs up.

    ***

    The freshly made Phoenix-like Bird¡¯s spicy braised chicken was ced in front of Minhyuk along with some white rice, pickled purple daikon, and kimchi. The spicy braised chicken had a glossy sheen and looked just like those big native chicken legs the size of tes, something that he had eaten before.

    ¡°Thank you for the meal.¡±

    Of course, Minhyuk did not forget to say his thanks. Then, he took a big bite of the native chicken-like leg. The heat of the freshly made chicken spread the moment he ced it in his mouth. However, it was immediately followed by the vor of the spicy seasoning and the chewy texture of the meat.

    There was a slight hint of difference in vor. It tasted more mellow, softer. Even the distinct smell of chicken was nowhere to be found. The more Minhyuk chewed, the more the natural oils of the meat flowed in his mouth.

    <em>¡®Wow. So this is what an imitation of a phoenix tastes like¡­ then, what would a real phoenix taste like?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk gobbled up the chicken leg, vowing to eat a phoenix someday. Then, he scooped a bowl of rice and mixed it with the spicy braised chicken¡¯s sauce. He also mashed some of the potatoes and mixed them with the sauce, before mixing them with the rice and putting it in his mouth.

    <em>¡®Aaaaah! This is the best! It¡¯s a vor that can make you eat three bowls of rice in one go!¡¯</em>

    Meanwhile, Henry and his party, who were watching him, gulped dryly.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    They were people that lived in a different country from Minhyuk. But just one look at Minhyuk and his delighted expression as he ate the red and spicy braised chicken made them want to try it too. The spicy scent wafted over and tickled their noses, filling their mouth with saliva.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m getting hungry.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Hoo¡­ Just one bite, please.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had already finished his entire te clean, leaving only the bones, even before they could finish the thought in their heads.

    <em>[You have eaten the Phoenix-like Bird.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 0.5% increase on all of your stats.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained a 5% increase in your fire attribute resistance.]</em>

    <em>[Your EXP Acquisition Rate will double for two weeks.]</em>

    Then, Minhyuk thought, <em>¡®They probably gave me this for a buffed dish, no?¡¯</em>

    It was obvious. However, Minhyuk thought that it would not be that bad to cook buffed dishes for them. What could the worst oue be?

    <em>¡®They want to eat my buffed dishes then turn around and hit me on the back? Well, even if that happens¡­¡¯</em>

    Even if that happened, Minhyuk still had a way to deal with them.

    Then, Henry said, ¡°You¡¯re probably going to the Land of Forgotten Heroes, right? By any chance, would you like toe with us?¡±

    Henry knew that he should not bring the subject up immediately. If he did that, then it would make it look like it was truly a transaction. So, it would be better and would look more natural if he asked for a favor while talking in a friendly manner.

    ¡°We¡¯ll make sure to carefully¡­ no¡­ show you around,¡± Henry said, pointing at the cave connecting to the Land of the Forgotten Heroes.

    <em>¡®If it¡¯s really just asking for a favor, then it¡¯s not a bad thing.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk did not know much about the Land of the Forgotten Heroes, so he hoped it was not the worst case.

    Just like that, they all began to move.

    ***

    The Fake Sun Wukong wished to kill the real Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal and take his ce to be king. However, there was one problem, the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal was a tad bit stronger than himself. It was mainly because of that reason that the Fake Sun Wukong was feeling restless and uneasy to issue a challenge right then and there.

    So, the Fake Sun Wukong decided to work with the human named Henry to gather artifacts, gold, and bizarre items. However, this cooperation was nowing to an end. He had seen through Henry and his group¡¯s n to turn against him.

    Thus, Fake Sun Wukong watched as Henry and his party entered the cave. The group was talking amongst themselves, the core contents of their conversation ringing in the ears of the Fake Sun Wukong.

    <em>[Minhyuk¡¯s dishes are truly amazing. To think that it can increase stats by 25% and even increase skill levels. If it''s at that level, then wouldn¡¯t we be 1.5x stronger than before?]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s right. There would be nothing that we would be afraid of if we ate the Food God¡¯s dishes.]</em>

    For some reason, Henry and his party were ttering the man named Food God. When the Fake Sun Wukong heard their words, he instantly realized why.

    <em>¡®Anyone could be 1.5x stronger? If I be 1.5x stronger then I will be able to defeat the real Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal, right?¡¯</em>

    The Fake Sun Wukong kept on listening to bits and pieces of their conversation, trying to put everything together. From what he had gathered, that man, the Food God, was someone that could make buffed dishes that could make anyone be stronger.

    <em>¡®I also need that man¡¯s dishes!¡¯ </em>

    Then, the Fake Sun Wukong thought of something, <em>¡®Is Henry going to attack me after eating that guy¡¯s dishes?¡¯</em>

    Shrewd, but the Fake Sun Wukong would not leave things be. After all, he also needed that man¡¯s cooking.

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll head over there!¡¯ </em>The Fake Sun Wukong thought as he rushed out of his throne.

    ***

    Henry and his party eventually asked Minhyuk to cook buffed dishes for them with Minhyuk agreeing to their request. However, the Fake Sun Wukong appeared just when Minhyuk had summoned the cooking trailer inside the cave.

    <em>[Fake Sun Wukong has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[The ones that will hunt the Fake Sun Wukong will receive rewards!]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    What was more shocking was the part where the Fake Sun Wukong was looking at Minhyuk with great favor and kindness. Then, he said, ¡°I¡¯m originally supposed to protect this ce and kill you, human. However, I want to eat your food. I will give you a generous reward if you cook for me.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Henry and his party were all rendered speechless.

    <em>¡®What the hell is wrong with this bastard? Why is he going off script?!¡¯</em>

    However, the Fake Sun Wukong did not mention anything about them at all. The first and main priority was to get the buffed dish. So, the Fake Sun Wukong believed that he should not be caught conspiring with that group.

    Henry was also aware that things were going in a very strange direction. However, he hurriedly quipped, ¡°This, this is quite strange. From what I heard, the Fake Sun Wukong is very ferocious. But it seems like that¡¯s not the case at all?¡±

    ¡°Really? I just got a quest. It says that I will be able to get 1,000 tinum if I satisfy the Fake Sun Wukong.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Henry was rendered speechless. Considering Minhyuk¡¯s point of view, it was advantageous to also cook for the Fake Sun Wukong. If they suddenly said, ¡®Don¡¯t cook for him,¡¯ then the situation would be strange. In the end, all they could do was sit and wait amidst a very awkward silence.

    Henry and his party had nned to eat buffed dishes and kill the Fake Sun Wukong. On the other hand, the Fake Sun Wukong wanted to eat the buffed dish to kill the real Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal.

    Everyone remained silent as Minhyuk finished cooking another spicy braised chicken. Just like that, Henry, his party, and the Fake Sun Wukong hurriedly gobbled up the dish.

    The Fake Sun Wukong was in both awe and admiration when he finally tasted the dish. He had never tasted anything like this in his entire life. He thought, <em>¡®It would be a pity killing that human but¡­¡¯</em>

    There was nothing he could do. Then, after eating the dish, the notifications rang in Fake Sun Wukong¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You have eaten the Spicy Braised Chicken.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 24%.]</em>

    <em>[Your Ruyi Jingu Bang skill level has increased by +2.]</em>

    <em>[Your Flying Nimbus¡¯ speed has increased by 40%.]</em>

    The Fake Sun Wukong was in shock. The same was true for Henry and his party members.

    Amidst this tense and awkward atmosphere, the Fake Sun Wukong slowly stood up and said, ¡°Then, is it time for me to kill everyone?¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Henry and his party were confused and dumbfounded. They were obviously working in partnership with Fake Sun Wukong, but he suddenly dered that he would kill them.

    <em>¡®He knows?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He knows that we¡¯re trying to kill him?!¡¯</em>

    The situation had beplicated in an instant. It was not just them that grew stronger, even the Fake Sun Wukong grew stronger.

    ¡°F, Food God. The bastard was truly up to something! Please join us in hunting the Fake Sun Wukong!¡± Henry said, judging that the hunt would be possible if Minhyuk was with them.

    But then, the Fake Sun Wukong said, ¡°Human that cook well, do you truly believe them? Did you know that they were trying to lure you and bring you to me so that they could kill you?¡±

    ¡°Eeeeeeek! What nonsense¡­!¡±

    ¡°This monkey bastard!¡±

    Minhyuk, who heard the words of the Fake Sun Wukong, finally understood the entire situation. It seemed like Henry and his party were cooperating with the Fake Sun Wukong. However, they also wanted something from the fake Monkey King, and sought to kill him by gaining more strength through Minhyuk¡¯s buffed dishes. However, the Fake Sun Wukong found out about their ns and also wanted to kill them, all the while coveting Minhyuk¡¯s power.

    <em>¡®So, that¡¯s what happened.¡¯</em>

    They might not know it but Minhyuk was actually in a very good situation. He was in a situation where he had nothing to lose and more to gain.

    <em>Grin¡ª</em>

    So, Minhyuk looked at Henry and said, ¡°Thank you for the Phoenix-like Bird.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Then, Minhyuk sighed and continued, ¡°But you m*th**f*ckers that are trying to hit each other in the back must have gone crazy, no?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    All of them looked at Minhyuk as he raised his hand above his head and snapped his fingers.

    <em>Snap¡ª</em>

    <em>[Inversing Giddiness]</em>

    <em>[Everyone that has eaten your buffed dish will receive a decrease in their stats and abilities that are equivalent to the buff that they have received!]</em>

    Minhyuk, with a cold smile on his face, said, ¡°Then, since you¡¯re all getting along, how about I kill all of you?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

 Chapter 660: The First Priest

    Chapter 660: The First Priest

    Fake Sun Wukong was very flustered. In fact, he wanted to fight against the real Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal after eating Minhyuk¡¯s buffed dish. Unfortunately, things had gone out of hand.

    <em>[Inversing Giddiness]</em>

    <em>[The buff effects that you received after eating the Spicy Braised Chicken have disappeared!]</em>

    <em>[Your stats and skills will decrease by the amount equivalent to the buff effects that you have received.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will decrease by 24%.]</em>

    <em>[Your Ruyi Jingu Bang¡¯s skill level will decrease by -2.]</em>

    <em>[Your Flying Nimbus¡¯ speed will decrease by 40%.]</em>

    The 24% decrease in all stats and the -2 decrease was a very devastating blow. Especially because Fake Sun Wukong intended to fight by depending on the Flying Nimbus. But now, the Flying Nimbus had slowed down drastically with a 40% decrease in speed.

    However, it was not just Fake Sun Wukong, who was flustered. Everyone present was dumbfounded and confused. Someone at Level 500 would only have the power at Level 400 if their stats decreased by that much. The higher the level of the yer, the greater the effect when a debuff was ced upon them.

    In the end, all Henry could do was hurriedly open his guild chat window.

    <em>[<strong>Guild Master Henry</strong>: Everyone on standby, quickly enter the cave connecting to the Land of Forgotten Heroes. Make sure to send five Reapers too!]</em>

    Henry was a very meticulous man, and was always prepared for everything.

    He ran a giant merchant group that had taken root in all corners of the world. The number of troops under hismand was beyond anyone¡¯s imagination. Even the NPCs serving him were quite strong and powerful. Rumor had it that Henry¡¯s Money Bag Merchant Order¡¯s troops could rival an empire. In fact, that was the truth.

    There were a huge number of powerful and strong NPCs all over the world. Where would strong and powerful NPCs that were greedy for money go? An empire? A kingdom? Or perhaps, Nerva Sephiroth¡¯s Luvien Empire? The answer was none of the above.

    The greedy NPCs would knock on the doors of the ce where there was the most money. They would head to the ce that could give them plenty of rare and special things. That ce was none other than the Money Bag Merchant Group, the ce that Henry was operating.

    The NPCs were working not as vassals but as mercenaries under Henry. There were rumors that the Named NPCs working for him wereparable to the NPCs under Absolute Monarch Richard. Among those greedy NPCs, there were five that were hailed as the strongest.

    Henry and the people at the merchant group refer to them as the ¡®Five Reapers¡¯, a group that was built solely with Supreme NPCs. There was one that was once a king and another that was once the pir of an empire. There was even someone that was believed to be the humanoid monster seen in legends.

    <em>[<strong>Guild Master Henry</strong>: How long will it take for you to enter the cave?!]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Kerron</strong>: Ten minutes will be enough.]</em>

    The gears in Henry¡¯s head were turning quickly as he rallied his troops, <em>¡®It doesn¡¯t matter who wins if we fight against the Food God now. There¡¯s a chance that it will eventually turn into a battle between forces.¡¯</em>

    Henry¡¯s merchant group was a behemoth. However, that did not mean that he was not afraid of fighting against the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. So, he said, ¡°Food God, you¡¯re misunderstanding us! Only a part of Fake Sun Wukong¡¯s words were true! We have been cooperating with him, but we intended to hunt him with you after eating your buffed dishes!¡±

    For now, Henry¡¯s main goal was to get out of this situation that was quickly turning into a very bad one.

    ¡°It¡¯s the truth! Please believe me! I¡¯m not a fool. How can I fight against you¡­¡±

    ¡°F*cking bastard. You¡¯re still lying?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Unfortunately, Minhyuk was not someone that could be deceived by such nonsense. Henry felt goosebumps rise in his arms as he thought, <em>¡®How¡­ How can a person¡¯s demeanor change this much in just a moment?¡¯</em>

    Henry believed that he was the representative of two-faced people. After all, he had always been hiding his greedy and ugly face behind his smile. What about the Food God? The Food God from earlier was smiling brightly like a pure and innocent child when they presented the Phoenix-like Bird to him. He even showed infinite trust in them. Now, the expression that he was showing them was cold and ruthless. This was Athenae¡¯s king and the man that was the first to receive qualifications to be a True God.

    ¡°Then, let¡¯s drag this as long as we can,¡± Henry said, taking out a parchment from his inventory.

    <em>[The Weak¡¯s Parchment.]</em>

    <em>[This is a parchment made by God for the weak so they could punish their opponents!]</em>

    <em>[You can set a target. Once the target has been set, the target will receive a 50% restriction on their attack power for ten minutes!]</em>

    Parchments could be created and purchased. The parchment that Henry used was a God-rank parchment. However, the only disadvantage that it has was the fact that it could only be used on yers to limit their attack power.

    The Food God must have been aware that plenty of special items like this were in Henry¡¯s possession. After all, he was a merchant that dominated the world.

    ¡°Sun Wukong. Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s high time that we kill him?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The Fake Sun Wukong was also thinking the same thing. He could punish Henry and his party any time that he wanted. But before he could do that, he had to eliminate the most dangerous person in this area.

    In other words, instead of the Food God killing them all, they should cooperate and kill the Food God first.

    ¡°Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship.¡±

    <em>Vwooooooooooong¡ª</em>

    A powerful force erupted from Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Minhyuk, who was preparing to fight, was suddenly bombarded with magical attacks. It was literally a bombardment of 5th tier to 7th tier magical attacks. A thick cloud of dust bloomed inside the cave as the ground shook and trembled from the impact of the attacks.

    The man that sent the attack was Louivin. It could be said that he built the Money Bag Merchant Group with Henry. Louivin was ranked tenth in the Athenae¡¯s global mage rankings.

    However, even if he was ranked tenth, he had a way to deal with Golden Mage Ali. That was his skill ¡®Mana Extinction¡¯. It was a skill that could double the magic¡¯s attack power in exchange for twice the mana consumption. Although he could not fight for a very long time, he would be able to beat any mage in a very short and decisive battle.

    Henry winked at Louivin. Even Sun Wukong tried to make a move. But just when Sun Wukong was about to jump on his Flying Nimbus and attack Minhyuk, everybody present received notifications.

    <em>[The God that Likes to Eat has grown furious!]</em>

    <em>[God will bring judgment upon those that mocked and tricked him!]</em>

    <em>[God has opened his lips to judge you!]</em>

    Minhyuk was in possession of ¡®God¡¯s Voice¡¯, something that he received after receiving his ¡®Qualification as a God¡¯. For the yers, God¡¯s Voice was like a notification that rang in their ears. However, Minhyuk found out that its power was greater than what he thought. Intimidation. This was what the yers felt whenever they heard God¡¯s Voice.

    As the thick cloud of dust settled down, Minhyuk¡¯s body appeared with his finger pointing at Louivin¡¯s head.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Doubt shed in Louivin¡¯s head when he saw the finger pointing at him.

    ¡°Bang.¡±

    <em>[Boom]</em>

    <em>[An explosion with additional 4,500% attack power will erupt in the target¡¯s body.]</em>

    <em>[There¡¯s a chance of triggering three to six consecutive explosions.]</em>

    <em>[Because of the effects of the Weak¡¯s Parchment, only 50% of the additional damage will be disyed!]</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Consecutive explosions engulfed Louivin, his body flying back from the impact.

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 20%!]</em>

    <em>[You have received a fatal injury in your arm. You won¡¯t be able to move the injured arm for a while!]</em>

    ¡°Urrrrrgh¡­¡±

    Louivin and the rest of their party were left dumbfounded after seeing Minhyuk incur only a few minor wounds from the bombardment of magic earlier.

    The main reason for this was Minhyuk¡¯s ughterer¡¯s Armor. The ughterer¡¯s Armor could increase Minhyuk¡¯s magical defense by as much as three times. On top of that, the Corrupted Goddess¡¯ Ring had given Minhyuk a 1.2x increase in his total HP volume. In fact, the ¡®Boom¡¯ that he used earlier was also a skill attached to the Corrupted Goddess¡¯ Ring.

    However, the thing that shocked Louivin and the party the most was that Minhyuk¡¯s damage, which had been halved, was still this great. If it was at 100%, then Louivin might have already died.

    Amidst their shock, Minhyuk quickly jumped up and tried to cut down Louivin.

    <em>Swooosh¡ª</em>

    Sun Wukong, who was riding on his Flying Nimbus, quickly moved to intercept Minhyuk with his Ruyi Jingu Bang.

    <em>aaang¡ª</em>

    Dozens of Ruyi Jingu Bangs appeared and struck toward Minhyuk.

    <em>[Phantom Ruyi]</em>

    <em>[Dozens of Ruyi Jingu Bangs will appear and hit the enemy with 4,000% damage!]</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Henry and his party could not help but groan. Currently, Sun Wukong¡¯s Ruyi Jingu Bang¡¯s level had decreased by two. He was even weaker considering that all of his stats had also decreased. However, despite the weakened state, he was still able to send dozens of attacks with 4,000% damage on his enemies. However, to everyone¡¯s further shock, Minhyuk remained steadfast despite receiving the powerful hits.

    For legendary-rank armor, their defense would normally range between 1,200 to 1,400. In the ughterer¡¯s Armor¡¯s case, it had around 2,400 defense, with a 7% chance of triggering the ¡®ughterer¡¯s Shield¡¯, a passive that could summon a transparent shield that had double the defense of Minhyuk.

    Then, the word ¡®Gather¡¯ appeared on the de of Minhyuk¡¯s sword.

    <em>[Gather]</em>

    <em>[Upon sessful attack, you will have a 100% chance of having an additional 4,000% attack.]</em>

    <em>[There¡¯s a 40% chance of triggering around four to eight times of bloody lightning rain with 2,000% attack that will indiscriminately attack anyone within a 30 meter radius of your target.]</em>

    <em>[There¡¯s a 10% chance of the bloody lightning rain exploding with an additional 2,000% attack.]</em>

    <em>[The skill¡¯s duration is four minutes.]</em>

    Due to the restriction, the skill became weaker, causing bloody lightning strikes with additional 2,000% attack power to engulf a thirty meter radius. On top of that, there was also a 40% chance of triggering the lightning rain four~eight consecutive times. This was the main point.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk swiftly shed Sun Wukong with his de.

    <em>Bang!</em>

    Then, a single lightning strike fell down upon Sun Wukong, making his body tremble and shake.

    <em>¡®What¡­!¡¯</em>

    The Fake Sun Wukong¡¯s estimated level was at around Level 700. With the 24% stat decrease debuff, his level fell to around Level 600 or so. The level was considerably high that was why the damage that he received came as a shock to everyone. Barely a moment after, a bloody lightning rain fell within a thirty meter radius and struck Henry and his party.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Urrrrrk!¡±

    After being swept away by the lightning rain, Louivin was forced to log out while the rest of the party suffered a huge amount of damage.

    <em>¡®What the hell is this¡­¡¯</em>

    That was when Henry realized the overwhelming difference in their powers. The man was obviously subjected to a 50% decrease in attack power. So, how was he able to do something like this?

    <em>[Fake Sun Wukong awakens all of his power!]</em>

    By then, the Fake Sun Wukong has realized the seriousness of their situation. At the same time, the true value of Fake Sun Wukong, something that even Henry was unaware of, unfolded.

    <em>[All of your stats will increase by 45%!]</em>

    <em>[All of your attack power will increase by 40%!]</em>

    <em>[Your skills¡¯ level will increase by +4!]</em>

    In fact, even if the Fake Sun Wukong used this power, he would still be helpless against the true Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal. That was just how powerful the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal was.

    Henry and his party had never seen the true extent of the power of the Fake Sun Wukong, let alone the power of the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal. For a moment, Henry felt fortunate. He thought, <em>¡®Fake Sun Wukong can kill the Food God. Once he kills the Food God, I will use the mass teleport parchment and escape with the items that the Food God will drop¡­!¡¯</em>

    Henry believed that this was the best and wisest choice.

    <em>Thump, thump, thump, thump¡ª</em>

    Then, at that moment, the sound of footsteps echoed in the cave. For the first time, Henry felt relieved. Finally, his reinforcements had arrived.

    The ¡®Five Reapers¡¯ had arrived together with 2,000 support troops, a force that could rival an empire¡¯s elite forces. This was the elite troops and the Five Reapers that he spent a lot of money to nurture and develop!

    Henry was confident that this number was enough to kill Minhyuk. He had judged that Minhyuk would not be able to do anything to the number of his forces no matter how strong he was. He thought, <em>¡®Fortunately, I did not fight with the Fake Sun Wukong using the Five Reapers.¡¯</em>

    He was only able to realize today that they would not be able to win against the Fake Sun Wukong, even if they had received the effects of a buffed dish. The first thing that they would do upon the death of the Food God was to flee.

    Finally, the support troops charged inside the cave.

    ¡°Support troops?¡± Minhyuk said, frowning.

    Henry¡¯s mouth broke into a wide grin as he said, ¡°That¡¯s right. Hahahahahaha! I wonder what artifacts you will drop? Huh?! I¡¯m really curious!¡±

    But then, God¡¯s sacred voice rang in their ears once again.

    <em>[The God that Likes to Eatughs at you.]</em>

    <em>[The ones that block his way¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­will miraculously open a path in front of his greatness.]</em>

    ¡°Summon Hanwoo.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°Hanwoo, charge.¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The support troops that Henry nurtured and developed with tons of money were literally swept away in one fell swoop. At the same time, plenty of artifacts and spoils of war fell down as they were forced to log out. That was not the end.

    <em>Crunch¡ª</em>

    The Food God chewed some almonds and said, ¡°Summon. Spear God Ben.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The great Spear God with his flowing ck hair descended right beside the yer that summoned him. His spear immediately stabbed through the heart of Fake Sun Wukong, who was aiming for Minhyuk¡¯s back with his Ruyi Jingu Bang.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    After stabbing Fake Sun Wukong, the Spear God pulled his spear out and turned around, ignoring the explosion unfolding behind him to kneel in front of his king.

    <em>[The God that Likes to Eat will never be afraid even if tens of thousands of enemies appear in front of him.]</em>

    <em>[For he is with him, the one that can light up the world with just a single spear.]</em>

    <em>[Lay witness¡­]</em>

    <em>[This is a God apanying and serving another God.]</em>

    Spear God Ben, with his fluttering ck hair, knelt in front of Minhyuk.

    A God knelt in front of another God. To the God that he served, he said, ¡°Your Majesty! Please give me your orders!¡±

    Spear God Ben¡¯s power was equivalent to the power of a thousand troops.

 Chapter 661: The Land of the Forgotten Heroes

    Chapter 661: The Land of the Forgotten Heroes

    Henry had always dreamt big. He aspired for his merchant group ¡®Money Bag¡¯ to take root in all corners of the world and take control of all of the integrated continents. It was important to dominate themercial sector but it was also equally important to have ¡®military forces¡¯.

    Henry had spent quite a huge sum to develop and nurture his own troops. He purchased and distributed nurturing medicines to his troops, and even hired Named NPCs to be their instructors. It was not just hundreds of thousands of tinum spent on them. Perhaps he had spent millions of tinum on their development. That itself was a testimony to his drive.

    This elite army was Henry¡¯s pride. The soldiers were stronger than the knights of any ordinary empire, and the same was true for his mages. Henry believed that it was not a waste to spend that much money on them since their levels had exceeded Level 450.

    Unfortunately, his dreams were dashed in one fell swoop.

    ¡°Summon, Hanwoo. Hanwoo, charge.¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    <em>[Knight Rikaedo has died.]</em>

    <em>[Knight Ribae has died.]</em>

    <em>[Knight Clyde has died.]</em>

    <em>[Soldier Amborr has died.]</em>

    <em>[Soldier Clow¡­]</em>

    <em>[Mage Aejen has died¡­]</em>

    The 2,000-strong elite soldiers that Money Bag Merchant Group was proud of, were helplessly trampled on. Whenever Hanwoo, who was almost the size of the cave, passed by them, not only their armor, even their bodies broke apart.

    Hanwoo had just appeared for a few seconds, but it was devastating.

    <em>[1,953 soldiers have been killed!]</em>

    <em>[You are their master.]</em>

    <em>[As their master, you have to console their bereaved families.]</em>

    <em>[This was a contractual rtionship forged with ¡®money¡¯. The God of Money ss will receive a penalty if he loses his troops.]</em>

    <em>[You have to give constion money to the bereaved families. The amount will depend on the military power and strength of the soldiers that died!]</em>

    Henry felt his head throb painfully. He had been nurturing these troops for a very long time, yet they were easily swept away in a matter of minutes. Fortunately, the Five Reapers were safe. This was thanks to Mage Cain, one of the Five Reapers, who used Mass Teleport to escape.

    However, before Henry could even express his anger, another shocking thing happened. An old veteran sporting his long ck hair descended from the sky and stabbed his spear through the mighty Fake Sun Wukong¡¯s chest.

    ¡°Your Majesty! Please give me your orders!¡± The old man shouted as he knelt down in courtesy.

    The sight made Henry reel in shock, <em>¡®How¡­?¡¯</em>

    Henry could not understand it. The appearance of one old man made him feel extremely helpless. He had the God of Money ss and was a great man whose reach had taken root in all corners of the continent. And yet, a single person felt much more overwhelming and powerful than the strong men that he nurtured and developed.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Anger started to mount within Henry, <em>¡®No. That¡¯s absolutely impossible.¡¯</em>

    These were the prized mercenaries that he bought with money and raised with so much difficulty. He was sure that they would never give in and would be able to triumph against that man.

    ¡°Five Reapers, rip that old man to shreds!!!¡± Henry shouted, a sense of inferiority engulfing his entire being.

    Nolsun, a man sporting a long beard and was once the candidate to be the Mercenary King, charged forward with his greatsword while shouting, ¡°I will quickly tear you apart!¡±

    A powerful force erupted from Nolsun¡¯s greatsword. This was ¡®Splitting Steel¡¯, a skill that could instantly triple his cutting power and destructive force.

    <em>ng¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Everyone in the scene was rendered speechless. Spear God Ben easily blocked the greatsword. He did it just by simply thrusting the tip of his spear against it. Nolsun might be a Supreme NPC, but he was just someone that could potentially be the new Mercenary King. He was still nothing in front of Brod, the previous Mercenary King. Instead of taking up the position, he chose to work under Henry since he had good money.

    To this very same Nolsun, Ben said, ¡°You won¡¯t be able to win just because you have the strength.¡±

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    Spear God Ben thrusted his spear once more. It parried the greatsword, then pierced through Nolsun¡¯s thick full te armor until it pierced through his heart.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    <em>[Critical Hit!]</em>

    <em>[Double Attack!]</em>

    <em>[You have an 80% chance of triggering Double Attack to inflict another attack with the same damage!]</em>

    Once again, the spear struck through Nolsun¡¯s heart. Among the Five Reapers, Nolsun had the highest HP and defense.

    ¡°Keok¡­¡±

    However, he could not even utter a word due to the intense pain after receiving two strikes from Spear God Ben.

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    Spear God Ben left Nolsun behind, his body copsing in a heap.

    <em>[Supreme NPC Nolsun has died!]</em>

    <em>[You have employed Nolsun as a mercenary!]</em>

    <em>[You have done a lot of vicious and evil deeds with Nolsun!]</em>

    <em>[You have to pay 300 tinum to Nolsun¡¯s bereaved family!]</em>

    <em>[You have received a -2 in all of your stats for all of the evil deeds that you have done with Nolsun!]</em>

    Henry felt like his mouth had been glued shut.

    Another reaper, who was hiding within the shadows of the cave walls, moved to attack the Spear God. This reaper was Assassin Rhen, the one called the ¡®Reaper of Death¡¯ in the Money Bag Merchant Group. Rhen jumped from the walls and went after Spear God Ben¡¯s neck.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    In the blink of an eye, his body ended up getting stuck like a meat on a skewer on Spear God Ben¡¯s spear, who had taken him out without even looking at him.

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    <em>[Supreme NPC Rhen has died!]</em>

    <em>[You have employed Rhen as a mercenary!]</em>

    <em>[You have¡­with Rhen!]</em>

    In fact, Food God Minhyuk did not even pay any attention to the Five Reapers. He was not even focusing on the Fake Sun Wukong at all. Instead, he was actually inside a transparent barrier eating as fast as he could. As for Fake Sun Wukong, he was still reeling and staggering, unable to recover from the injury that he sustained from Spear God Ben.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°Three.¡±

    In a matter of seconds, Spear God Ben had in another one of the Supreme NPCs, Silver Mage Rowane.

    ¡°S, stop¡­¡± Henry mumbled, an unbearable sense of helplessness engulfing his entire being. He felt like everything that he had built was falling apart with each of their deaths. The worst part was the fact that it did not seem like it was that difficult for Food God Minhyuk and Spear God Ben to deal with them.

    ¡°Four,¡± Spear God Ben said as another of the Five Reapers copsed just right in front of Henry.

    ¡°Hi¡­ Hiiiiiiiik¡­!¡±

    The final Reaper, the king of a nation that was deposed by a traitor and had fled to survive, threw Henry under the bus. Once again, he chose to flee for his survival.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    A greater sense of loss and helplessness washed over Henry at the sight. He had heard about the loyalty of the Food God¡¯s vassals, that they were willing to offer their lives for him. In contrast, he, who offered money alone for people¡¯s service, did not nurture camaraderie and trust with his men.

    <em>¡®Everything that I have built copsed in front of just a single vassal¡­?¡¯</em>

    It was quite devastating.

    Henry believed that he was above everyone. Yet in front of a single vassal, the elite troops that he nurtured and the Reapers that he developed, crumbled one after the other. There was another thought that came to mind.

    <em>¡®Aren¡¯t there more people like this in Beyond the Heavens¡­?¡¯</em>

    The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was home to many strong men, including Spear God Ben. There was also the Absolute God¡¯s Sword Brod. He might have just appeared for a brief moment in the Battlefield of the Gods and his exact location was still unknown, but it was obvious that his loyalty was to Minhyuk.

    Just when Minhyuk¡¯s barrier was slowly being lifted, the Ruyi Jingu Bang extended past Minhyuk and blew Spear God Ben away.

    <em>Baaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡°Kghhk!¡±

    A small me of hope burned in Henry¡¯s heart. No matter how strong Minhyuk was, the Fake Sun Wukong was still far stronger than him. Perhaps the Fake Sun Wukong would be able to kill both the Food God and Spear God Ben.

    <em>¡®Now, the only one I can rely on is not my subordinates, but Fake Sun Wukong.¡¯</em>

    He wanted to see the frustration on the Food God¡¯s face. Thus, he resorted to another move.

    <em>[The God of Money¡¯s Grace.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Money gives his grace upon a single being.]</em>

    <em>[In exchange for increasing the power of that single being, you will lose gold. If you don¡¯t have enough gold, it will turn into a ¡®debt¡¯ and you will have to pay it back!]</em>

    <em>[If the person that you chose to strengthen dies, you will lose triple the amount of gold you invested!]</em>

    <em>[You need 222,544 tinum to strengthen Fake Sun Wukong!]</em>

    It was truly a huge amount of money. However, once Fake Sun Wukong invoked the skill ¡®Greedy Monkey¡¯, the drop rate of the opponent that he killed would increase significantly. Henry believed that they would not be at a loss if Minhyuk just dropped a single God-rank artifact.

    Henry was going to bet his life and death here.

    ¡°Sun Wukong! I will support you throughout this fight!!!¡± Henry shouted the words that he did not mean. However, he had to do it just so he could get out of this situation and to get the items from the Food God¡¯s dead body.

    But then, a golden die appeared above Minhyuk¡¯s head as he stepped out of the barrier. Minhyuk slowly turned his head and looked at Henry.

    <em>¡®What¡­ what kind of look is that¡­¡¯</em> Henry thought, gulping dryly at the sharp look that he received.

    Was it a cold look? Or perhaps it was disgust and contempt? No. It was none of the above. Minhyuk¡¯s gaze was calm and unperturbed. Only then did Henry realize what that look meant. Minhyuk was looking at him calmly as if he was not even someone that was worth dealing with. That was right. Henry, the God of Money that almost dominated the entire continent, was not worth anything in the eyes of Food God Minhyuk.

    ¡°Eeee¡­ eeeeeeeek!¡± Henry screeched, fury coloring his face. That gaze was not fake at all.

    Amidst that, Fake Sun Wukong charged swiftly towards Minhyuk.

    <em>[Raging Monkey.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will increase by 30% for five seconds!]</em>

    Fake Sun Wukong¡¯s body glowed red at the dramatic and sudden temporary boost in power.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s right! Kill that arrogant bastard!¡¯ </em>Henry thought, believing that this would be the end of the Food God.

    ¡°Sword of Absolute Death.¡±

    <em>Stab¡ª!</em>

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaaaaack!¡± Fake Sun Wukong shrieked, his body bowled over as he flew back from the impact of the hit.

    Not long after, a barrage of exploding sword lights devoured Fake Sun Wukong, creating a thick cloud of dust. However, it did not end there. Minhyuk once again spat out, ¡°Sword of Absolute Death.¡±

    <em>Stab¡ª!</em>

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!¡± Another scream rang out from Fake Sun Wukong¡¯s mouth as the barrage of exploding sword lights pierced through his body once more.

    And finally¡­

    ¡°Sword of Absolute Death.¡±

    <em>Stab¡ª!</em>

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª!</em>

    Minhyuk began to recklessly use his skills. The effects that he received from the buffed dish that he ate were as follow:

    <em>[Ovepping Delight.]</em>

    <em>[The Ovepping Delight¡¯s buff effect willst for seven minutes!]</em>

    <em>[You have rolled a six, your EXP Acquisition Rate will double for seven minutes!]</em>

    <em>[You have received the effects of the Legendary Grade Chicken Mayo Rice Bowl and the Legendary Grade Chicken Mayo Rice Bowl.]</em>

    <em>[All of your skills¡¯ cooldown time has decreased by 70%.]</em>

    <em>[You can use all of your skills two times in a row without any cooldown.]</em>

    <em>[You can use Sword of Absolute Death three times in a row.]</em>

    Minhyuk was able to make two of the same dish using the skill Double Food. On top of that, he was given the option to choose what kind of buff would appear in his dishes through the ingredients that he would use. Minhyuk deliberately chose ingredients that would help him reduce his skills¡¯ cooldown time, as well as allow him to use them consecutively. That was why he was able to utilize his skills non-stop after eating this dish.

    <em>Thump, thump, thump¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk approached the ce where the thick cloud of dust was and where Fake Sun Wukong¡¯s bodyid. Then, he thrusted his sword as hard as he could.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    He could see the silhouette of Fake Sun Wukong¡¯s body twitch from the sword stab. At the same time, the notifications rang in Henry¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The being that has received the God of Money¡¯s Grace has died!]</em>

    <em>[Your gold payment¡¯s rate has tripled!]</em>

    <em>[You funds are insufficient. You need 398,513 tinum more!]</em>

    <em>[You have borrowed 398,513 tinum from the God of Money!]</em>

    <em>[You are now in debt to the God of Money!]</em>

    No matter how rich Henry was, this amount was enough to shake his entire merchant group.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Henry¡¯s body began to shake and tremble at the empty gaze that Minhyuk was looking at him with. He looked behind Henry as he walked towards him and said, ¡°I really have to thank you. Thanks to you, I have acquired plenty of funding for my kingdom¡¯s development.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Henry looked back to the ce where his elite forces and the Five Reapers died. The ce was filled with countless gold and artifacts that dropped from them. The value of those drops alone could reach, and even go beyond 100,000 tinum. Henry had lost a lot today while Minhyuk gained a lot.

    Minhyukughed mercilessly at his plight. After all, they were the ones that nned to hit the man in the back after making use of him.

    <em>Smirk¡ª</em>

    Thatugh was the most vicious and most cruelugh that Henry had seen.

    ¡°This f*ck¡­!!!¡±

    <em>sh!</em>

    However, Henry¡¯s head fell on the ground before he could even finish his words. As his vision slowly darkened, Minhyuk¡¯s cold voice rang in his ears, ¡°This is the difference between you and me.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°You m*therf*c**ng bastard.¡±

 Chapter 662: The Land of the Forgotten Heroes

    Chapter 662: The Land of the Forgotten Heroes

    <em>Fwoosh¡ª</em>

    God of Money Henry, or Michael, got out of his Athenae ess capsule. His face was ovee with great fury. This was because the Food God had told him that he was not worth dealing with before he was forced to log out.

    <em>¡®F*cking bastard.¡¯</em>

    If Michael were to be honest, he truly felt like trash when facing the Food God. He had even been hit hard with the debt that he incurred with the God of Money. Even if he was the head of the Money Bag Merchant Order, it was still too much for him. Michael was aware of how much of a thieving bastard the God of Money was. It did not matter if Michael was his sessor, he would still be pped with a 30% monthly interest for his debt.

    Michael could not endure his anger any longer and ended up essing the private chat room with the other ¡®God¡¯s Children¡¯.

    <em>[<strong>Michael</strong>: ¡­omitted. I¡¯ve lost a lot because of the Food God. I¡¯m in urgent need of your help. If you help me go against the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, then I will promise to give you a generous reward.]</em>

    Henry¡¯s position among the God¡¯s Children was actually very low. Perhaps the only reason why he could remain with the other God¡¯s Children was because of therge amount of potions and subsidies that he distributed to them. If it were made known that Henry, the owner of thergest merchant group, Money Bag, had a low position, it would truly be unbelievable.

    The God¡¯s Children had been active since Athenae¡¯s early days. However, they had maintained their secrecy and kept their status as a secret. Some of them were powerful enough to subdue Alexander, while some were already shaking the continents and having them in the palm of their hands.

    However, there was one thing for sure. Even if they looked like a ¡®team¡¯, they were not interested in helping each other. Of course, there were rare cases where they cooperated. But this was mostly because they were familiar with one other. It did not take away the fact that they were people that only pursued individual activities.

    At that moment, one of the men replied.

    <em>[<strong>Rex</strong>: It seems like you don¡¯t know how to judge what¡¯s right or wrong, Henry. Did you really think that your bowl was that big?]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    At this point, Michael¡¯s anger reached his tipping point. Those words hit the nail on the head. That fact made Michael want to throw his phone away. However, he could not follow through with his thoughts.

    Rex was very influential and had a huge presence among the God¡¯s Children. If Michael were to be honest, his cool-headed judgment was correct. He was the one that tried to tackle Food God Minhyuk first. However, instead of them hitting Minhyuk in the back, he was the one that got hit in the head. And after being forced to log out, he came here to whine and asked for help from the people that were stronger than him.

    Henry immediately calmed down.

    <em>¡®Think about how you joined the God¡¯s Children.¡¯</em>

    Joining their group was the greatest honor for Henry. Continuing this rtionship with them would be very beneficial once he had the entire continent in the palm of his hands. By that time, some of them would already be continental emperors, some gods, and others, supreme existences in Athenae.

    <em>[<strong>Henry</strong>: I¡¯m sorry. I was too careless. Please pretend that you did not hear that.]</em>

    In the end, Henry lowered his tail. The situation that they would encounter would probably be unpleasant even if all of the God¡¯s Children banded together and attacked the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. In other words, the God¡¯s Children that he was acquainted with would not be able to help him either.

    <em>[<strong>Rex</strong>: Perhaps, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom will soone into my hands.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Henry looked at the message in doubt. The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom woulde into Rex¡¯s hands? Henry was aware that Rex was not a man of empty words. He often gave them notices like this every once in a while. Everything always happened just like he dered. Henry was also aware that Rex would not go back on his words. It was likely that he would not be able to hear the answer if he asked about it himself.

    That was when Rex continued.

    <em>[<strong>Rex</strong>: I hope you¡¯ll be there to support me once the timees.]</em>

    The corners of Henry¡¯s mouth split open into a vicious grin.

    At the same time, in the Luvien Empire.

    The only continent that the Luvien Empire failed to invade was the continent where the Eivelis Empire and the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were. The failed invasion was a very bitter memory.

    To make up for that disgrace, Nerva Sephiroth and the Luvien Empire continued to invade other kingdoms, empires, and continents. As he continued with the invasions, Nerva Sephiroth¡¯s powers and the army that he was leading also grew stronger. This was the power of those that inherited the power of the Battle God.

    Currently, Nerva Sephiroth was sitting on his throne and staring at the man that entered the room. The man, whose slender figure was d in leather armor, walked forward.

    Nerva Sephiroth looked at the man in interest, <em>¡®A very interesting guy.¡¯</em>

    In a small vige on the outskirts, this man, together with only 5,000 vignte-level troops,sted an entire week against the Luvien Imperial Army. Aftersting for a week, the man immediately gave the vige up and asked to have an audience with Nerva.

    Nerva heard that the man was the owner of a tremendous power. However, he used various tactical strategies and did not show much of his power.

    <em>¡®Smart. He used the vige to get an audience with me.¡¯</em>

    He had no intention of saving the vige in the first ce. He just wanted to meet with Nerva and be recognized.

    ¡°I have seen you, Your Majesty Nerva,¡± the man said, bowing politely. Then, he immediately and bluntly told him about his goal, ¡°Do you want to destroy the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?¡±

    ¡°What? Hahahahahahahahaha!!!¡± Nerva Sephirothughed loudly at his boldness.

    This man was none other than one of the God¡¯s Children, Rex. Then, he said, ¡°If you give me a chance, then I will dedicate the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom to you.¡±

    ***

    After forcing Henry to log out, Minhyuk began collecting his spoils of war. He collected everything. The drops, including the ones from the Five Reapers and the elite troops, were all expensive items. Even their gold drop rate was tremendous. All of the soldiers of the elite troops dropped nearly eight tinum each.

    <em>¡®An unexpected harvest?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had judged that unless Henry was a fool, he would not easily think of attacking the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. If a war suddenly broke out, then people would try to look for the reason. If they continued to chase after that truth, then they would probably reveal all of the atrocities that he had done.

    ¡°More than that¡­¡±

    Minhyuk began to scroll through the notifications that he had received from killing the Fake Sun Wukong.

    <em>[You have killed the Fake Sun Wukong!]</em>

    <em>[Fake Sun Wukong has received the God of Money¡¯s Grace!]</em>

    <em>[Those that hunt the ones that received the God of Money¡¯s Grace would be given 10% of the gold used!]</em>

    <em>[This will be given in addition to the tinum that the Fake Sun Wukong has dropped!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 88,431 tinum!]</em>

    The amount of tinum that he received was quite huge. That was on top of the valuable items that the Fake Sun Wukong had dropped, far more valuable items that the other Named Monsters did not have.

    <em>[You have acquired Fake Sun Wukong¡¯s Ne.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Luwamma¡¯s Gloves.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Kotryni¡¯s Armor.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Ambos¡¯ Longsword+3.]</em>

    Minhyuk could tell through the notifications that Henry and Fake Sun Wukong had joined hands prior and put many yers to death. There was actually no case whatsoever of a monster dropping a reinforced artifact. However, the Fake Sun Wukong had even dropped those.

    <em>[You have acquired the Jade Emperor¡¯s Jade Seal.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Tears that God Shed for the Poor and Pitiful.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Fake Sun Wukong¡¯s Summoning Ring.]</em>

    Among those drops, the Jade Seal stood out. The Jade Emperor was like a god in Daoism, the strongest and greatest god that ruled the Heavens.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s probably like Athenae in the Land of the Forgotten Heroes, right?¡¯</em>

    Because of that, one could expect that the ¡®Jade Seal¡¯ that he owned should be an item with considerable power.

    <em>¡®Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡¯</em>

    Henry had been cooperating with the Fake Sun Wukong but he suddenly turned against him and tried to kill him. Minhyuk wondered if the reason was because of this ¡®Jade Seal¡¯. So, he immediately checked the details.

    <em>(<strong>Jade Emperor¡¯s Jade Seal</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: God</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>?The Jade Emperor will grant the one that used the Jade Seal with one wish. However, there is a chance that the Jade Emperor will not listen if the wish is impossible to begin with.</em>

    ?<em>The Jade Emperor¡¯s Jade Seal can make the item user a king or an emperor. </em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: This is the Jade Emperor¡¯s Jade Seal. You can tell the Jade Emperor one wish once you return this to him. However, if your wish is impossible to grant, there¡¯s a chance that the seal will just disappear. Be careful.</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    This was by far the most amazing thing that Minhyuk had acquired during the course of ying Athenae. The Jade Emperor was literally the god of this new world, the Land of the Forgotten Heroes. It seemed that this very same Jade Emperor could grant a wish. Maybe Minhyuk could get a God-rank artifact or obtain some kind of delicious delicacy from him. Or just like what the description said, he could also ask the Jade Emperor to make him a king or an emperor of this new world.

    <em>¡®This must be why Henry coveted it.¡¯</em>

    The next thing that he checked was the Tears that God Shed for the Poor and Pitiful.

    <em>(<strong>Tears that God Shed for the Poor and Pitiful</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: Legendary</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong></em><em>:</em>

    <em>?One of the few tears that the benevolent God shed when he saw the plight of the poor and the pitiful.</em>

    <em>?The Tears that God Shed for the Poor and Pitiful has the power to temporarily prevent or cure a sick person.</em>

    <em>?You can use these tears on everything that you made, including potions, food, parchment and many other things.</em>

    <em>?However, if a low-grade itemes out, there is a possibility that the item will not improve but degrade.</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    It was quite an unusual item. Depending on the grade of the item that came out after the tear had been added, it would either improve or worsen.

    <em>¡®This will depend on how you pour it.¡¯</em>

    Finally, he checked the Fake Sun Wukong¡¯s Ring. The ring was literally a summoning ring that could summon the Fake Sun Wukong.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s this amazing?¡¯</em>

    Of course, it was not that hard dealing with cases regarding Named NPCs like Sun Wukong. However, if one handled it well, the Fake Sun Wukong would be able to give them a huge boost in strength.

    <em>¡®To be honest, that punk was strong.¡¯</em>

    Although it might seem that Minhyuk had won easily, the truth was not like that. The hit from Spear God Ben that made him copse, as well as the three Sword of Absolute Death that were cast upon his body were the main reason why the Fake Sun Wukong died so easily.

    ¡°Well then, shall we go now?¡± Minhyuk said, as he began to move.

    It was now the time for him to go to the Land of the Forgotten Heroes. The notifications rang the moment he stepped out into the light at the end of the cave.

    <em>[Unknown Land.]</em>

    <em>[You have arrived at the Land of the Forgotten Heroes!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 500 REP.]</em>

    <em>[Your EXP acquisition and item drop rate will double for two weeks.]</em>

    <em>[You will receive special rewards for every achievement you made in the Land of the Forgotten Heroes.]</em>

    They were notifications that Minhyuk had expected to hear. However, the following notifications took him by surprise.

    <em>[The Sealed Bull Demon King has returned to his hometown!]</em>

    <em>[The Sealed Bull Demon King will return to his original form upon his return to his hometown!]</em>

    <em>[The Sealed Bull Demon King¡¯s memories of you will turn hazy and vague!]</em>

    <em>[You have lost your ownership of the Sealed Bull Demon King.]</em>

    ¡°What kind of bull¡­!¡± Minhyuk shouted, his expression turning stiff. Hanwoo was a friend andpanion thatughed and talked with him. They even held a conversation just a few moments prior.

    Then, another set of notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[The map you have obtained from the Corrupted God¡¯s Mysterious Bundle is responding.]</em>

    <em>[The map will show you the path and the method to awaken Obren!]</em>

    <em>[There¡¯s a high chance that the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal knows how to awaken Obren!]</em>

    <em>[The Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal is the greatest king and monarch in the Land of the Forgotten Heroes. He is also known as the King of Wisdom.]</em>

    ¡°¡­F*ck,¡± Minhyuk cursed.

    Since the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal knew a lot of things, there was a chance that he might know not only about Obren¡¯s awakening, but also about Hanwoo.

    Minhyuk stared at the wide expanse of the Land of the Forgotten Heroes and began to move.

    ***

    Among the five kings of the Land of the Forgotten Heroes, the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal was the one that had sat on his throne for the longest time. He was both a legend and a myth.

    He was famous for being one among the kings that participated in a war against another world, a world that was not the Land of the Forgotten Heroes, and for preventing millions of enemies from invading hundreds of years ago. The inhabitants of the Land of the Forgotten Heroes called that great war the ¡®War¡¯s Path¡¯.

    Based on that story, it could be said that Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal, along with the other kings, were figures that exerted power far beyond that of the kings and emperors of the other world. The story was also proof of the failure of that world to pioneer the Land of the Forgotten Heroes, despite several continents joining hands in that war.

    One could see how great the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal was. After all, he was a king then, and was still a king now. He was someone that aimed his weapon against the Jade Emperor. Just this fact alone could tell everyone that he possessed power beyond their imaginations.

    Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal, or Sun Wukong, had taken the form of a man. He had a beard so long that one had to braid it to keep it out of the way. His eyes, nose and lips were manly and tough. That was on top of his sturdy and bulky body that carried his Ruyi Jingu Bang on his back.

    Currently, Sun Wukong was furious.

    ¡°Who the hell can?!¡±

    <em>Rumbleeeeee¡ª</em>

    Sun Wukong¡¯s royal pce trembled and shook at his words.

    ¡°Tell me?! Who the hell can let the queen¡¯s eyes see?!!!¡±

    All of his subjects and retainers could only grit their teeth and bow their heads under the fury of their king. His voice was so loud and furious that it could shake the entire castle.

    This was the man that even the Jade Emperor feared. Yes. This man was the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal. When the Fake Sun Wukong judged that he could fight and kill him, it was nothing but useless arrogance. The true Sun Wukong was very powerful. Perhaps his power could beparable to Great Demon Verus in his heyday.

    But now, this mighty man was shedding tears, ¡°How can my wife¡¯s eye and condition worsen after drinking the potion made by the best alchemist in thisnd?!!!¡±

    Although the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal had reigned as a king and created many legends over a span of hundreds of years, he was only able to meet his beloved queen a few decades ago.

    With his love for the queen, the queen finally gave birth to their first daughter. Although the cause was unknown, his wife suddenly became sick after giving birth.

    Sun Wukong¡¯s wife was blind since birth. He wanted to give her a present, a present that could allow his beloved wife to see his ugly monkey face and their daughter¡¯s lovely one.

    However, the potion that was created by the greatest alchemist of thisnd, the potion containing the tears of the benevolent god, worsened his wife¡¯s condition.

    In this Land of the Forgotten Heroes, thend that was called ¡®Edea¡¯, the citizens faced a huge restriction and limitation. Unlike the world where the ordinary yers yed, the people here had abyssmal DEX. In other words, there was no one with dexterous hands in this ce.

    After venting his anger out, Sun Wukong visited his beloved wife¡¯s bedroom. His wife¡¯s skin has started to turn dark. It was obvious that she was already dying.

    ¡®<em>Why?! Why does my wife have to die without being able to open her eyes and see her husband and daughter¡¯s faces! Someone¡­ please¡­ someone¡­ help me. Please help me give my beloved queen her final present!¡¯</em> Sun Wukong, the king of ¡®Edea¡¯, crumpled the nket covering his queen and begged.

    At the same time.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Holding Hanwoo¡¯s ne with the word ¡®Hanwoo?¡¯ written on it, Minhyuk finally arrived in Kingdom of Rama, the kingdom that was being governed by the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal.

 Chapter 663: The Land of the Forgotten Heroes

    Chapter 663: The Land of the Forgotten Heroes

    Minhyuk had just arrived at Kingdom of Rama to meet with the Great Sage Heaven¡¯s Equal and find a way to awaken Obren, as well as how to get Hanwoo back. The notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears the moment he stepped foot inside the kingdom.

    <em>[The Kingdom of Rama is a long-established kingdom in Edea, the Land of the Forgotten Heroes.]</em>

    <em>[You will receive a special reward if you can show the citizens of Edea your true worth and surprise them with a new culture.]</em>

    <em>¡®True worth and a new culture¡­¡¯ </em>Minhyuk pondered deeply as he strode inside the kingdom.

    The Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal was hailed as the greatest king of Edea, the Land of the Forgotten Heroes. Minhyuk wondered if he could truly gain an audience and meet such a great king.

    <em>¡®That would be impossible. I would already be thankful if they would not kick me out.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk pondered deeply on the method that would allow him to have an audience with the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal.

    ¡°I heard that the queen¡¯s condition has worsened.¡±

    ¡°His Majesty is probably very sad. What happened to the alchemist that made a potion using the Tears that God Shed for the Poor and the Pitiful?¡±

    ¡°From what I heard, his head had been cut off all at once. You know His Majesty¡¯s character, right?¡±

    ¡°His Majesty is quite pitiful, no? He just wants to show the beauty of this world to Queen Ari before she dies.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s ears perked up as he paid attention to the conversation of the kingdom¡¯s citizens. It seemed like the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal wanted to show the world to his blind wife before she died. However, the task was not easy to do and they had failed several times already. From what he heard, the queen¡¯s condition had worsened after drinking a potion not too long ago.

    <em>¡®If I do this well, then¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk also found another fact after pondering about how to gain an audience with Sun Wukong. It was that Sun Wukong had collected several drops of the Tears that God Shed for the Poor and Pitiful. However, just a few days ago, his stock had dried up after the alchemist used it on the potion.

    <em>¡®I have to make it so the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal will be able to find me somehow.¡¯</em>

    He began to think of the ways to make it happen.

    <em>¡®Hmm. I can smell the scent of food somewhere¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk, who was thinking seriously, suddenly stopped in his thoughts.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    And just as if he was possessed, he followed the scent until he stood in front of a stall.

    <em>Sniff¡ª sniff, sniff¡ª</em>

    ***

    <em>¡®What the¡­ Is this guy crazy?¡¯</em>

    Resu had used up all of his money to buy a store that was on the verge of copse, in the capital of Kingdom of Rama, to do business in the food sector. He had been open for three months, but the number of customers that he served were only a pitiful amount.

    Resu¡¯s shop imitated the dishes of the other world. From what he heard, there was this dish called ¡®rice ball¡¯ that was made by mixing cooked rice and putting various ingredients in it. He imitated the said dish and cooked rice and sold it together with minced fish.

    <em>¡®Why is this greatbination not selling out?¡¯</em>

    The people of the Kingdom of Rama enjoyed seafood. Resu could not understand why his rice balls with minced fish and shellfish were not selling like hotcakes. It was even a new world¡¯s delicacy! Since he was out of business, Resu felt like he was already dying.

    But then, an unknown man suddenly came in front of his store, his nose twitching as if he was sniffing around.

    ¡°¡­What is this smell? What the hell?¡± The man said, a frown adorning his face.

    Minhyuk, who could follow the smell of food from a mile away, frowned the moment he entered the store. The name of the store was ¡®Otherworld Rice Ball¡¯. In other words, it was a store that sold rice balls from the world where Minhyuk came from. However, the store smelled bad.

    Still, he did not rashly judge the store. He first ordered one, ¡°Please give me one rice ball.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir.¡±

    Minhyuk carefully watched Resu¡¯s process of making rice balls from start to finish. He could not help but be shocked.

    <em>¡®What the hell? Isn¡¯t the rice too sticky? The rice looks more like porridge?! You¡¯re making rice balls with that kind of rice?!¡±</em>

    It was not ordinary rice, instead, it was very, <em>very</em> sticky and watery. The rice grains even looked like they had been crushed! When making rice balls, it was best to use firm rice. It would taste better that way.

    Then, Resu ced his sticky rice in a bowl and started putting in other ingredients. He carefully removed the meat from the grilled fish and added it to the bowl before adding uncooked m meat inside.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was rendered speechless at the sight. Of course, even in reality, a different country would have a different way of eating the same ingredients. However, Resu¡¯s rice ball could not be even called an imitation.

    Finally, it was ced in front of Minhyuk.

    ¡°<em>Crunch, crunch. </em>The charm of this rice ball is the crunchy fish bones.¡±

    Minhyuk could see sharp fish bones protruding from the rice ball.

    <em>¡®Are the throats of the people of thisnd made of iron?¡¯ </em>

    However, Minhyuk still did not show his displeasure. This was because the chef did not know the correct recipe.

    When Minhyuk looked around, he saw that the other dishes were in a simr state. So, he thought, <em>¡®Is thisnd a ce whose people are not good at cooking?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk pondered for a moment, unsure if he should criticize the chef harshly or not. However, he came to only one conclusion. He believed that it would be better to speak harshly to someone that did not know how to cook and lead them to a better path than to stay silent.

    ¡°I have never eaten a rice ball like this in my life¡­¡±

    ¡°Like this?¡± Resu asked, a strange sense of expectation on his face.

    Minhyuk sighed and said, ¡°This is the worst rice ball that I have tasted in my life.¡±

    ¡°¡­Yes?¡±

    Nothing was more shocking to a chef than being told that the dishes that he cooked were the worst. Of course, Resu¡¯s face grew red from anger after hearing those words.

    ¡°This is the first time I heard such nonsense!¡±

    ¡°Is this really the first time you¡¯re hearing such criticism?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Resu turned mute at his words. Who would say something like that to his face? However, it was a reality check, especially from the customers¡¯ frown and his declining business.

    ¡°Who are you to say such words¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m a chef from another world.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Resu¡¯s eyes grew wide from shock.

    <em>¡®Someone, someone with good DEX came to Edea?!¡¯</em>

    People from another world would onlye to Edea every once in a while. However, all of these people only had one thing inmon. It was the fact that they were strong.

    No one with high DEX had ever arrived here before. One had to be strong or else they would not be able to arrive here. This was the reason why Resu was very shocked. There was also the chance that this chef from another world might know the real recipe of the rice ball that he had only ever heard of.

    ¡°S, so¡­ how do you usually make rice balls?¡±

    ¡°If you add fish or raw shellfish, then the rice ball will be fishy and unptable. That¡¯s why¡­ uhm¡­¡± Minhyuk continued to talk as a notification rang in his ears.

    <em>[Resu is showing an interest in you, a person from a new world.]</em>

    That was when Minhyuk recalled the fact that he could receive special rewards and privileges if he spread new culture to these people.

    <em>¡®Then, maybe¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk thought that he might be able to meet with Sun Wukong if he used this method.

    ¡°Very well. I¡¯ll make one for you.¡±

    Rice balls were truly very easy to make. It could be made with delicious stir-fried pork, ham, vegetables, and many more. However, the rice ball that Minhyuk was going to make for Resu was different.

    <em>¡®Should I make a boneless chicken feet set?¡¯</em>

    The taste of the spicy and chewy chicken feet and the small rolled rice balls. So, Minhyuk began cooking. He made sure to coat the boneless chicken feet evenly with the spicy sauce.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that you¡¯ll make rice balls? So, why are you using boneless chicken feet¡­? Ah! By any chance, do you put boneless chicken feet in the rice balls in your world?!¡±

    ¡°No. Not at all.¡±

    ¡°Huh? So, why¡­¡±

    ¡°Because I want to eat chicken feet.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Resu was at a loss after hearing the brief response.

    Then, Minhyuk began to set up a fire using charcoal to grill the chicken feet. This was so the chicken feet would be coated with the aromatic smell of fire. He also prepared some salty yet soft steamed eggs. Only after doing those did he prepare the rice balls.

    ¡°Rice balls can be made with whatever size you want. You can make it big or small. Everything is up to you. As for these rice balls, I¡¯m going to make them small,¡± Minhyuk said as he drizzled some sesame oil on the well-cooked rice. Then, he added some seaweed powder, sesame seeds, thinly chopped pickled radish, and canned tuna.

    After that, Minhyuk put on a stic glove and ced enough rice for a bite and formed it into a rice ball.

    ¡°Can I try one¡­¡±

    <em>Thwack¡ª!</em>

    ¡°Have some respect. You will eat only after all of the dishes are ready.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Resu¡¯s face was flushed with embarrassment at the deadly re that Minhyuk gave him.

    <em>¡®Is this really the case for the people from the other world?¡¯</em>

    Resu tilted his head in confusion.

    Not long after, the boneless chicken feet set waspleted. At the same time, Minhyuk triggered his ¡®Joy of Eating Together¡¯ skill.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡± Resu uttered in pure admiration as the same dishes appeared in front of Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk rubbed his hands excitedly. He did not really care about Resu at this moment. He looked at the soft and wobbling steamed eggs. Just one look at the spicy boneless chicken feet and he already wanted to put everything in his mouth.

    The first thing that he grabbed was a piece of boneless chicken feet. Minhyuk made it a bit less spicy. Then, he ced it in his mouth. As he chewed, the wonderful texture spread in his mouth together with the spicy vor.

    Smiling happily at the taste, Minhyuk then picked a piece of lettuce. cing three pieces of boneless chicken feet on top, he dipped everything in ssamjang and finally delivered it into his mouth.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡± A sigh of admiration naturally burst out of his mouth, followed by a ¡®Ho~!¡¯ from the spiciness that lingered.

    Minhyuk grabbed his spoon and scooped up a mouthful of the vibrant yellow steamed egg and ced it in his mouth. The light and salty vor of the steamed egg created the perfect harmony.

    This time, Minhyuk picked a piece of boneless chicken feet, dipped it in white mayonnaise and ate it. The savory and greasy vor of the mayonnaiseplemented and mellowed down the sharp and tingling spiciness of the chicken feet.

    After that, he ced the rice ball in his mouth. The salty taste of the seaweed immediately greeted his tongue. However, munching on one was not enough. So, Minhyuk consumed another one, a smile blooming on his face.

    Minhyuk continued to eat the boneless chicken feet just like that, his mouth tingling and burning from the spiciness. Then, he quickly picked up a cold and refreshing julpis.

    <em>Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp¡ª</em>

    The cold and refreshing peach-vored julpis instantly cleansed the mouth. After gulping down the drink, Minhyuk breathed, <em>¡®Fwaaa!¡¯</em> and smiled happily! It was only after eating everything did he think of looking at Resu.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Resu was eating the boneless chicken feet, the steamed egg, and the rice balls with tears and snots dripping down his face.

    ¡°<em>Sob.</em> How can food taste like this¡­¡±

    Minhyuk found the sight a little embarrassing.

    As for Resu, he thought, <em>¡®Is he a god?! How can food taste like this?!!!¡¯</em>

    Resu was thrilled and moved by the dish that he tasted. He looked at Minhyuk with clear and sparkling eyes. There was even a hint of respect in his eyes.

    ¡°Are you a god? How can a dish taste like this¡­¡±

    At that moment, a brilliant idea shed in Minhyuk¡¯s head. Just like the yers, Minhyuk could also deliver God¡¯s Voice to the NPCs.

    <em>[The God that Likes to Eat looks at you with a kind smile.]</em>

    <em>[The God that Likes to Eat speaks.]</em>

    ¡°Foolish one.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    God¡¯s Voice rang in Resu¡¯s ears as the man sitting before him said, ¡°Do you realize it now? I came here to save your poor and pitiful ptes.¡±

    <em>[The God that Likes to Eat hasplimented you.]</em>

    ¡°Ah¡­! Aaaaaaah¡­!¡±

    <em>¡®I was a poor and pitiful soul! That¡¯s why God has personallye down to save me!¡¯</em>

    ¡°Wh, what is your name?¡±

    ¡°Minhyuk. I am Minhyuk of the Minhyuk Church!!!¡±

    <em>¡®Huh?</em><em>The name of the religion is a bit weird?¡¯</em>

    But it did not matter to Resu.

    ¡°God¡­ Aaaaaaaah!!! God!!! God Minhyuk!!!¡±

    Minhyuk looked down at him and opened his arms kindly. Then, he said, ¡°Do you have faith in me?!¡±

    ¡°I have faith!!!¡±

    ¡°Louder. Do you have faith in me?!¡±

    ¡°I have faiiiiiiiiiith!!!¡±

    ¡°Do not forget that I saved your poor and pitiful soul today!!!¡±

    ¡°<em>Sob, sob, sob, sob! </em>Long live the Minhyuk Church!!!¡±

    <em>[You have received the first believer of Minhyuk Church!]</em>

    <em>[His faith in Minhyuk Church has reached the skies!]</em>

    Today, Minhyuk Church received its very first official believer.

 Chapter 664: The Land of the Forgotten Heroes

    Chapter 664: The Land of the Forgotten Heroes

    Resu, Minhyuk¡¯s first believer, could not contain his awe and wonder at the sight that unfolded in front of his very eyes.

    It was a good day to go out with one¡¯s lover or family. The cool breeze that blew in the night was refreshing enough to bring a smile to one¡¯s face. And in this wonderful weather, a new and rare scene had started to unfold in Resu¡¯s ¡®Otherworld Rice Ball¡¯ store, as stic tables and chairs, something that had never before been seen in Edea, were set up in front.

    ¡°We¡¯re going to sell boneless chicken feet like this. Outdoors.¡±

    ¡°O, outdoors?¡±

    Eating outdoors, in the open-air, was a very unfamiliar experience for the people of Edea. Of course, this was not that new for soldiers that went to war or had gone hunting. However, if they did business like this, then it would be impossible to call out to customers. Resu wondered if they truly could sell their food. However, he still believed in Minhyuk, the god that he served.

    As for Minhyuk, he had heard these notifications when he sessfully shared new culture with Resu:

    <em>[Resu has been made aware of the culture of a new world!]</em>

    <em>[Your STR and AGI has increased by +2!]</em>

    It seemed like the rewards were much better than what he expected.

    Meanwhile, the people of the Kingdom of Rama found what they were doing to bepletely absurd and ridiculous.

    ¡°They¡¯re going to let their customers eat outside?¡±

    ¡°Rice balls are food that are very easy to eat, but isn¡¯t that too much?¡±

    ¡°This is how Resu¡¯s store will go down.¡±

    ¡°<em>Tch, tch.</em>¡±

    The people clicked their tongues at the unfamiliar items that were being ced in front of Resu¡¯s store. Although there were only a few customers that showed interest, Resu had faith.

    <em>¡®I believe in Lord Minhyuk!¡¯</em>

    Resu¡¯s reverence and faith in his god was very high.

    On that day, one knight sat on one of the tables ced in their store¡¯s veranda.

    ***

    Cannar, the 3rd Knight Order¡¯smander of the Kingdom of Rama, was a very popr and famous figure in the kingdom. He was known for choosing to starve instead of eating the packed lunches during training, the moment he found out that it did not taste good. In fact, even the dishes made by the royal chef did not suit his taste.

    Yes. Cannar was a gourmand that highly valued taste. However, none of the people cursed him for being picky with his food. Because Cannar was themander of the 3rd Knight Order. The levels of the NPCs in this world were much higher than the level of NPCs in the world where the yers usually y in. Cannar¡¯s level was estimated to be around Level 600.

    Cannar actually did not care much about the people¡¯s gazes. As long as he could eat something delicious, he would be satisfied. That was why he was here. He came here because Resu said that he was going to try something new.

    ¡°Hmmm¡­¡±

    The stic tables and chairs, which were incredibly light, did not give much of a good first impression.

    ¡°Commander Cannar, what would you like?¡±

    ¡°I haven¡¯t had a proper meal for days since we have been training. I¡¯m looking for a meal that can make me feel full and sated. Can you get something like that for me?¡±

    ¡°Yes? But we¡¯re selling boneless chicken feet here, I don¡¯t think it¡¯s enough to make you feel full.¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t you try? Please?¡± Cannar asked, and watched Resu approach an unidentified chef.

    Not long after, the man approached Cannar and asked, ¡°You wanted a fulfilling meal?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Ah. I¡¯m also a bit busy. So, I think I¡¯ll have to leave in half an hour.¡±

    There was not enough time and it was even a dish that was not on the menu. However, Minhyuk just nodded and said, ¡°I have the perfect dish for you. Please wait a moment.¡±

    Then, he walked back to his station.

    ¡°What are you going to make?¡± Resu asked.

    Minhyuk smiled at Resu and answered, ¡°Soy sauce egg rice.¡±

    ¡°Soy¡­ sauce egg rice?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll know it when you see it,¡± Minhyuk said, immediately moving to prepare a meal for Cannar, who had been busy training, and only had half an hour for a meal.

    <em>Tick, tick, tick, tick¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk lit up the gas stove, heated the pan and spread the oil evenly on it before cracking two eggs on it.

    <em>Sizzle, sizzle¡ª</em>

    A loud and cheerful sound rang loudly in the area. Cannar closed his eyes and listened intently to the cacophony of sounds that surrounded him.

    <em>¡®The sound is like music to my ears.¡¯</em>

    The sizzling sounded just like a musician¡¯s performance on this refreshing and breezy night.

    <em>¡®It feels nice to sit outside and feel the cool breeze blowing through our skin.</em><em>That is if the food is edible.¡¯</em>

    The food came out only after a few minutes. The service was really fast.

    Cannar looked at the food served in front of him. The bowl was filled with rice and two half-cooked eggs on top. Just one look and Cannar could tell that the yolk would flow down the rice with one poke of the chopsticks in his hands.

    Meanwhile, the residents of the capital that were in the vicinity all turned to look at Cannar. As mentioned before, Cannar was a very famous figure. Everyone was aware that there was no restaurant here that had ever satisfied his pte. The bestpliment that came out of his mouth was, <em>¡®It¡¯s edible.¡¯. </em>To them, it was interesting to see the picky Cannar sit on a shabby looking stic chair.

    <em>¡®What kind of curses will he use to swear on that store?¡¯</em>

    There were also quite a lot of people that had gathered to see what kind of bad review Cannar would give to the store after eating their food. The people kept flocking to the store¡¯s vicinity.

    As for Cannar, he looked at the dishes in front of him and asked, ¡°How do you eat this?¡±

    ¡°You have to mix everything,¡± Minhyuk answered as he ced some ripe kimchi next to his bowl.

    With those words, Cannar poked the egg yolk with his chopsticks. Just like he expected, the golden yolk flowed down and covered the grains of rice below as a salty aroma wafted through his nose.

    <em>¡®What¡¯s this aroma?¡¯ </em>Cannar thought, savoring the smell as he continued to mix his rice. Strangely enough, the sound was stimting his appetite as he mixed his food, making his mouth fill with drool.

    <em>¡®This savory smell¡­¡¯</em>

    ¡°Make sure to get an entire spoonful, it tastes the best like that.¡±

    Cannar followed the chef¡¯s advice and filled his spoon with rice. The spoonful of the dish had a beautiful golden sheen. What was this dish?

    ¡°What is the name of this dish?¡±

    ¡°Soy sauce egg rice. It¡¯s quite easy to make. However, that does not equate to a bad taste and vor.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡± Cannar said as he put the entire spoon in his mouth, anticipation evident in his eyes.

    The moment he ced the spoon in his mouth, the soft texture of the egg, and the savory and salty vor that coated the rice, greeted him. The more he chewed, the more the savory vor came out. The salty taste alsoplemented the savory vor, which could get boring over time. Then, he munched on another spoonful.

    <em>¡®What the hell is this¡­¡¯</em>

    Cannar was astonished. This time, he grabbed a piece of the red colored kimchi and ced it in his mouth.

    <em>Crunch, crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    The sound of pleasant crunching rang in his ears, which was immediately followed by a spicy taste. With the sudden spicy vor spreading in his mouth from the kimchi, Cannar immediately ate another spoonful of rice.

    Perspiration started dripping down Cannar¡¯s forehead from thebination of heat and spiciness. This was mainly because Cannar could not handle anything spicy. Even if that was the case, he felt like the cool breeze around him was enough to dry his sweat and cool down his body.

    Cannar closed his eyes and thought, <em>¡®Delicious.¡¯</em>

    Then, he opened his eyes and looked at the scenery. Although the residents were currently blocking the sight, the night view of the capital had always been beautiful. The children running around andughing, the women chattering as they sold their food in the market. The view and the cacophony of sounds were truly beautiful.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Cannar continued to eat his shockingly explosive meal amidst the ambience of the kingdom he called home.

    ***

    The residents that watched Cannar eat were all shocked. He ate hurriedly before closing his eyes to ponder about something.

    <em>Drip¡ª</em>

    Not long after, a drop of tear dripped down his cheek. Cannar, with his helmet on, approached Minhyuk and Resu and said, ¡°It¡¯s the most delicious meal I¡¯ve ever had in my life. Although it¡¯s a bit noisy, the liveliness of the city paired with the simple yet delicious dish is superb.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°By any chance, are you someone from another world?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°There must be a lot of interesting and delicious food in your world. It makes me feel envious.¡±

    Then, the notifications rang immediately.

    <em>[Cannar has been made aware of the culture of a new world!]</em>

    <em>[Cannar is an influential figure in the Kingdom of Rama.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 0.1%!]</em>

    ¡°I¡¯lle back.¡±

    After Cannar¡¯s departure, the residents of the capital that were waiting for a good show began to sit on the tables one after the other. And¡­

    <em>[Evan has been made aware of the culture of a new world!]</em>

    <em>[You gained +2 AGI, +1 STM!]</em>

    <em>[Careon has been¡­new world!]</em>

    <em>[Abaxx has been¡­new world!]</em>

    The notifications rang non-stop in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    Resu¡¯s store soon reached its capacity, until they eventually added more seats to serve more customers. Resu looked at the scene in deep awe.

    <em>¡®The, the sales¡­!¡¯</em>

    The sales were beyond his imagination. It was not just the boneless chicken feet. Even the sales of the soy sauce egg rice was booming. Many people were asking for that dish since it could be cooked quickly and was very easy to eat.

    The soldiers even came in groups to eat. Because of that, rumors about them began circting. There were even nobles that came to taste their food.

    ¡°What a crude and shabby ce. But I heard that the food¡¯s delicious, so let¡¯s try it.¡±

    ¡°Ma, marvelous!!! This is very delicious!!! Now that I look at it more, I can say that the ambience is very good!!!¡±

    The very same nobles that said those words were all left in admiration.

    But whether it was the nobles or themoners, the price was not that high to be a burden to their pockets. At this moment, one of Minhyuk¡¯s sub-sses, the God of Swindlers(?), was activated.

    ¡°We¡¯re selling soju with the boneless chicken feet! We¡¯re selling soju!!!¡±

    ¡°Goodness! We already ran out of sesame oil today so we can¡¯t make any more soy sauce egg rice!¡±

    Minhyuk began to tell various lies at opportune moments. The people that ate boneless chicken feet with soju on the veranda.

    ¡°Fwaaa! This is the taste of life!¡±

    ¡°Do you know why soju is bitter?!¡±

    ¡°Why is it bitter?!¡±

    ¡°Because my life is bitter!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­F*ck.¡±

    Anyway, the people learned of the perfect taste of thebination of soju and boneless chicken feet. As for the soy sauce egg rice, Minhyuk had always been promoting that the secret to tasting this good was the ¡®sesame oil¡¯ and kept on telling people that they had run out of sesame oil every day, making people feel pity for not being able to taste such a delicious dish.

    In fact, rumors about their store even reached the ears of the members of the royal family. The members of the royal family immediately ordered their servants to order and pack some food from that store for them.

    ¡°Aaaaaaaah! This vor¡­!!!¡±

    ¡°I want to go there personally and try the dishes myself!¡±

    They had no choice but to admire the dishes in front of them. Just like that, the rumors also entered the ears of the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal.

    Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal was aware that Quen Ari¡¯s death was just right around the corner.

    ¡°¡­Queen Ari. I would like to treat you to your final meal.¡±

    Sun Wukong also knew that it would be impossible to show his face and her daughter to his beloved wife, Queen Ari. This was because there were no more Tears that God Shed for the Poor and the Pitiful in his possession. Because of that, he wanted to treat his wife to a delicious meal.

    The Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal, looked at his retainers and said, ¡°Bring that chef to me!!!¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty!¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty!¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty!¡±

    At the same time¡­

    Resu watched Minhyuk deal with the members of the royal family. He knew that Minhyuk had been squeezing sesame oil just a few moments prior.

    One of the members of the royal family said, ¡°We came here personally because we wanted to try your food for ourselves. And now what? You¡¯re telling us that we can¡¯t eat your soy sauce egg rice anymore?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry but there¡¯s nothing I can do. The ingredient called ¡®sesame oil¡¯ is actually called ¡®God¡¯s Tears¡¯ in my world. Its value is beyond anyone¡¯s imagination and its vor is something that even kings and emperors would admire.¡±

    The royal family were convinced by his words that exined the importance of the sesame oil, their expression morphing into that of awe.

    ¡°Sesame oil is an ingredient that I cannot obtain easily!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    Resu, with his very eyes, had witnessed Minhyuk extracting a hundred bottles of sesame oil just today alone.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry but there¡¯s nothing else I can do for you.¡±

    The members of the royal family could only sigh and feel sorry for themselves. Then, one of the members of the royal family said, ¡°Sell it to me then. The sesame oil that¡¯s called God¡¯s Tears! I¡¯ll buy it from you!¡±

    ¡°You, you want to buy God¡¯s Tears?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll give you as much as you want. So, tell me the price!!!¡±

    At their words, a vicious smile curled at the corners of Minhyuk¡¯s lips. There was even one of them that expressed his intentions of wanting to buy ¡®soju¡¯.

    ¡°Soju is two tinum each. Sesame oil is twenty tinum per bottle.¡±

    Soju cost around 1,300 gold, but Minhyuk is selling it for around 200 million gold. As for the sesame oil, it cost around 10,000 gold but his selling price was two billion.

    Today, the God of Swindlers had made a name in this world. Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>[The God that is Good at Lying looks at you and asks how you can lie so seriously like that?]</em>

    <em>[The God that is Good at Lying has grown interested in you.]</em>

    ¡°¡­???¡±

 Chapter 665: The Land of the Forgotten Heroes

    Chapter 665: The Land of the Forgotten Heroes

    Most of the people of Edea believed in, and served, the Jade Emperor. To them, the Jade Emperor was their father, their king, and their god. It was the case for all five of the currently existing kingdoms in Edea.

    The same had been true for the Kingdom of Eden. However, the king of the Kingdom of Eden rebelled against the Jade Emperor. This was because one of the Jade Emperor¡¯s Knights, or those hailed as the Four Envoys, killed a woman and a child from their kingdom, just for colliding with him on the streets.

    The king of the Kingdom of Eden prayed for days on end to get an apology from the Knight, to no avail. Rumacar, the envoy that killed the woman and the child, began to punish the Kingdom of Eden instead.

    Rumacar felt like he was greater than the king and took advantage of the fact that he was an envoy of the Jade Emperor and used various tactics to deceive the people. He even hypnotized the king and made him kill several of his own officials.

    The king, who had once prayed for the woman and the child from the Kingdom of Eden, was reduced to nothing but a puppet tyrant, while Rumacar dered that he would take on the throne through the ¡®orders¡¯ of the Jade Emperor.

    With those words, rebels gathered together and dragged the king of the Kingdom of Eden from his throne. After that, the king of the Kingdom of Eden fled and disappeared.

    <em>Twitch¡ª</em>

    Now, that very same king had awakened. He was a man with an enormous build. And although the king looked like a human, there were huge horns akin to that of a bull growing out of his head. The man also had fierce eyes and a sharp, angr jawline. This man was none other than the Bull Demon King, or Hanwoo.

    ¡°What happened¡­¡±

    The Bull Demon King searched through his memories until he recalled the part where the rebels invaded the Kingdom of Eden and how he had fled.

    The Bull Demon King was also very powerful. However, he had been no match against God¡¯s Envoy and the troves of rebels that he gathered. Especially since Rumacar was ridiculously strong. That was why he ran away.

    When he continued to run, he eventually reached the entrance to another world. Before stepping foot into the other world, the Bull Demon King heard the voices of the gods that ruled that world.

    <em>[If you choose to move to the other world, you will have to lose your memories. You will also be forced to live in apletely different manner.]</em>

    <em>[You will only be able to return to your original form once you return to your home world, Edea.]</em>

    Back then, the Bull Demon King had thought that there was no reason for him to remain in this world. After all, his own men and even the people that he cared about had turned their backs and abandoned him. It seemed better for him to live without these memories. As such, he ran away with those thoughts in his head.

    <em>¡®So, I came back.¡¯</em>

    Perhaps it was his fate. The Bull Demon King stared at the vast and empty horizon, toward the direction where the Kingdom of Eden should be and thought, <em>¡®Even if I die¡­¡¯</em>

    The Bull Demon King wanted to let them know that Rumacar did not care one bit about the kingdom and that the Jade Emperor just used and made an example out of them.

    <em>¡®In the end¡­¡¯</em>

    He was going to die.

    <em>¡®Hanwoo!¡¯</em>

    <em>Twitch¡ª</em>

    Just as he staggered forward with his slightly weak body, his head suddenly throbbed in pain, as a vague and hazy memory shed in his mind. He could not see the face of the man that was calling out brightly to him.

    <em>¡®What the hell happened to me in that world?¡¯</em>

    The Bull Demon King, who had been drowning in despair for the longest time, felt the corners of his lips curl up into a smile before promptly disappearing again.

    <em>¡®I see¡­¡¯</em> The Bull Demon King thought.

    <em>¡®I received someone¡¯s love in that world although I don¡¯t know who it was.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Thank you.¡¯</em>

    Now, the Bull Demon King would perform his final duty as a king as he walked towards the Kingdom of Eden.

    ***

    The Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal stared at the chef from another world that sat in front of him, while his hand held the bowl of soy sauce egg rice that he had eaten just a few moments earlier. He was also very satisfied with the soy sauce egg rice.

    ¡°A long time ago,¡± Sun Wukong began his tale, ¡°my wife and I had gone to that world for a while. Back then, she smiled happily, like an innocent and bright child, after eating the food there.¡±

    The Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal, Sun Wukong, knew that he could live forever. He was an immortal. On the contrary, Queen Ari, who was a human, would die one day. Sun Wukong was aware of this fact. Perhaps he was actually already preparing for that day toe.

    ¡°When I saw that smile, I said that I would do my best for her until the day she died.¡±

    Sadness. The sadness of an immortal watching his beloved depart the world of the living. This was what Sun Wukong was feeling. Minhyuk could not even dare to imagine how terrible that pain was.

    ¡°Treat her to a delicious meal. If you please her¡­¡±

    Although it was rare, there were times when one could bet everything that they have for the love of their lives.

    ¡°I will make sure to reward you generously.¡±

    ¡°I understand, Your Majesty,¡± Minhyuk answered, bowing politely.

    When in Rome, do what the Romans do. Minhyuk might be the king of a nation, but that was not the case here in Edea. On top of that, he was actually looking out for an opportunity.

    From what he could see, the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal had already given up on trying to make Queen Ari see the world, even if for a moment. However, Minhyuk was in possession of the Tears that God had Shed for the Poor and the Pitiful. If he used this item, then he would probably be able to let the queen see for a moment. It might also be his chance to ask Sun Wukong for something bigger.

    Judging that to be the case, Minhyuk tried to make it seem like he had a slip of the tongue.

    ¡°Your, Your Majesty! I think you should hurry up and see this!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­What¡¯s the problem?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s rted to the Kingdom of Eden!¡±

    ¡°The Kingdom of Eden? I understand,¡± Sun Wukong nodded solemnly the moment he heard the words.

    Sun Wukong was actually having an audience with Minhyuk in the office near Queen Ari¡¯s bedroom. So, he walked inside the room, kissed his wife¡¯s forehead and stepped out. However, with every step he took, he could not help but look back. It seemed like he did not want to part with her.

    ¡°I will make the best meal for her,¡± Minhyuk said.

    Hearing this, Sun Wukong patted him on the shoulder and finally stepped out.

    Before everything else, Minhyuk checked the quest notification that rang in his ears.

    <em>[<strong>Hidden Quest</strong>: Queen Ari¡¯s Final Meal.]</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: SSS</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: The One that was Summoned by the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal.</em>

    <em><strong>Rewards</strong>: Will depend on the satisfaction.</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty for Failure</strong>: The Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal¡¯s Wrath.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: Queen Ari is on her deathbed. And the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal wants to send her off with a very delicious meal. The rewards that you receive will depend on Queen Ari and Sun Wukong¡¯s satisfaction.</em>

    The notifications alone told Minhyuk that he did not need to tell anything to Sun Wukong. After all, the rewards would depend on their satisfaction.

    ¡°Are you going to cook for me?¡± Queen Ari, who was lying down on her bed, asked. Although her eyes were wide open, they were distant and unfocused.

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right. Please don¡¯t worry, I will make the tastiest food for you while making sure to not upset your stomach.¡±

    The expression on Queen Ari¡¯s face grew bitter. Sheid unmoving before finally opening her mouth and asking, ¡°What was his expression like?¡±

    Fate had been so cruel to them. It had never allowed her to see the face of her beloved.

    Minhyuk answered her question honestly, ¡°He looks sad. However, I can see that he¡¯s doing his best for his beloved queen until the very end.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Queen Ari was very grateful for his honesty. Those words made her realize that Sun Wukong truly loved her and that she was loved, even until the moment she left.

    ¡°Your Majesty, the Queen.¡±

    ¡°Yes? Speak.¡±

    Minhyuk looked at her and asked softly, ¡°Do you want to see His Majesty and Her Highness, the Royal Princess?¡±

    ¡°¡­I want to.¡±

    Queen Ari¡¯s unfocused eyes were filled with grief.

    <em>¡®I want to see.¡¯</em>

    She had heard from her husband about the beautiful flowers that bloomed a dark and bright shade of red, about the rolling waves of the blue sea, and the setting sun that could bring a smile to anyone¡¯s face. She had heard that the sky was so high that she would be able to feel her heart grow full just by looking at it.

    But more than anything, she wanted to see her husband. The husband that she had only heard the voice and felt the warmth of. She truly wanted to see Sun Wukong and her child, the princess.

    ¡°My wish is not that big.¡±

    That was right. Ari¡¯s wish was not that big.

    ¡°All I want is to watch him sleep and caress his face before falling into my eternal rest.¡±

    It was not a very difficult feat for others, but it had been impossible for Queen Ari.

    ¡°Tonight¡­¡±

    However, Minhyuk took his cooking utensils out of his inventory.

    ¡°You can look at the sky, the sea, the ground, and¡­ the faces of the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal and Her Highness, the Princess.¡±

    Queen Ari¡¯s unfocused gaze turned toward Minhyuk¡¯s voice.

    ¡°I will give you your vision.¡±

    ***

    The Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal groaned lightly as he asked, ¡°The Bull Demon King has returned?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, Your Majesty.¡±

    The Bull Demon King was the king of the Kingdom of Eden. He was strong, but he was not as strong as Sun Wukong.

    In fact, Sun Wukong had fought against the Bull Demon King in the past. They fought for days on end but no one came out as the victor. However, he had now obtained a much stronger power than before.

    Sun Wukong was actually aware that the Bull Demon King was not truly a tyrant. He was just a poor and pitiful person that had be a thorn in the eyes of the Jade Emperor.

    However, his return was enough to bring the other kingdoms on alert. What would happen if the Bull Demon King angered the Jade Emperor? Besides, Sun Wukong was sure that the other kingdoms were aware that what happened to the Kingdom of Eden was just to set an example for them.

    ¡°The Bull Demon King has helped us a lot before.¡±

    Sun Wukong and the Bull Demon King might have fought before but it was also through that fight that they were able to be close friends. That was why this was very heartbreaking for him.

    <em>¡®I will be forced to witness my dearly beloved friend¡¯s fall.¡¯</em>

    ¡°We will not take any actions.¡±

    Unfortunately, that was the decision he came to. The Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal had enough power to to fight against the Jade Emperor. However, he was also aware that victory was impossible. Therefore, they could not get involved. This was his judgment as a king. After ending the meeting, Sun Wukong hurried back to his wife¡¯s room.

    Sun Wukong¡¯s head was filled with thoughts as he stared at the stars that littered the skies. He thought about how a star would fall at the end of a great man, about how a star that once shone brightly and beautifully before was now starting to fade into nothingness.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Then, Sun Wukong began to run. He ran as fast as he could until he felt his breathing turn rough.

    He wanted to see the end of his most beautiful star. He felt sorry that he could not show her the world. All he wanted was to show his face and her daughter to her, but his n failed. That was why Sun Wukong resented himself. He hated how helpless he was. All Sun Wukong wanted was to make eye contact with his beloved wife and see her smile brightly.

    Then, the bedroom door opened. Inside the bedroom was Queen Ari, who sat on her bed, looking at the cooing child in her arms. Then, she raised her head, her eyes staring at Sun Wukong. She smiled the brightest smile that she had smiled in her life and said, ¡°You came?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°I finally see you and the princess.¡±

    The Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal copsed to the ground, moved. Queen Ari walked, albeit weakly and slowly, towards him and caressed his rough, long beard.

    ¡°¡­You¡¯re ugly. You told me you were handsome.¡±

    ¡°Fu, fufufu. How can I seduce you if I said that? So, do you hate it?¡±

    ¡°No. I just¡­¡± Queen Ari said, her lips trembling as she lowered herself and hugged Sun Wukong, ¡°I just really wanted to see you.¡±

    The bright and shining stars started to fade, yet the night was very beautiful.

 Chapter 666: The Land of the Forgotten Heroes

    Chapter 666: The Land of the Forgotten Heroes

    Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal Sun Wukongid on the pristine white bed, not taking his eyes off of his queen. Meanwhile, Queen Ari stroked Sun Wukong¡¯s face carefully while their beloved princess slept soundly between them.

    ¡°I¡¯m very happy to have been given the chance to see both you and the princess.¡±

    Sun Wukong asked his queen after a thought shed in his head, ¡°How was the dish that the chef from another world cooked for you?¡±

    The Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal had heard that the chef was the one that helped Queen Ari gain vision.

    ¡°¡­It¡¯s the most delicious dish that I have tasted in my entire life.¡±

    ¡°¡­I see.¡±

    Sun Wukong would have to thank the man. But for now, all he wanted to do was hug Queen Ari tightly into his arms.

    ¡°I¡¯ve lived a wonderful life.¡±

    Just like that, the time passed by quietly. One hour, two hours, three hours. Sun Wukong felt a deep ache in his chest as he recalled the memories of the time he spent with her.

    <em>Thump.</em>

    By the time dawn broke out, Queen Ari passed away. Although her body had already started to cool down in Sun Wukong¡¯s arms, her expression remained gentle and happy.

    Not long after, the pce started to get busy preparing for Queen Ari¡¯s funeral. As for Sun Wukong, he said, ¡°The chef. Bring the chef to me. Tell him that I will grant him whatever he wants!¡±

    ***

    In the past, the Kingdom of Eden was considered as the most beautiful and peaceful kingdom in all of Edea, under the fair rule of the Bull Demon King. The kingdom rarely went to war and even held festivals for the people to enjoy themselves. In fact, the Bull Demon King wanted to treat everyone equally, personally stepping forward and punishing the nobles if they tried to persecute themoners unfairly.

    However, that was no longer the case.

    <em>Shiver, shiver, shiver¡ª</em>

    The people of Eden were lying face down, bodies trembling in fear as their new king, Rumacar, marched in front of them. If any of them raised their heads in an untimely manner, all of them knew that the disciplined and strict knights would immediately cut their heads off.

    ¡°It¡¯s filthy and it stinks. Take it down or tear it apart, I don¡¯t care. Immediately make a prayer room for the Jade Emperor.¡±

    ¡°H, how¡­ how can you tear down a house that has existed there for thirty long years!¡±

    Rumacar turned slightly to look at the old man that had voiced out hisint.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. We shouldn¡¯t easily tear down a house that has existed for thirty years.¡±

    ¡°Aaah, aaaaaaah¡­! Th, then¡­!¡±

    <em>Thump¡ª</em>

    The old man, whose head fell off and rolled on the ground with one swing of Rumacar¡¯s hand, could not even finish his words.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine now, no? Anyone that goes against my order of creating a room for the Jade Emperor deserves to die. Don¡¯t you think so?¡± Rumacar said as he looked at the knights behind him.

    The knights kept their mouths shut, gulping dryly at the sight. Among them stood Aaron, who was shivering at the sight, his palms clenched tightly into fists. That old man had been running a small pub. Aaron often went to the pub to drink and chat with him. Now, that old man was killed.

    Aaron was themander of the Kingdom of Eden¡¯s Royal Knights. He was hailed as the strongest knight, not only in Eden, but in all of the other kingdoms in Edea. Sword¡¯s Saint Aaron, that was what he was called.

    Aaron hated that he was witness to how far the Kingdom of Eden had fallen. He hated how this country fell and was persecuting its people.

    ¡°Commander Aaron. Heed my orders, quickly clean that filthy thing up.¡±

    ¡°¡­I have received your orders.¡±

    However, he was nothing but a mere knight. All he could do was to follow the orders of their new king, Rumacar, and this world¡¯s god, the Jade Emperor. Sometimes, he would catch himself missing <em>him.</em>

    Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!</em>

    Suddenly, the sound of drums began to ring loudly in the area. Rumacar¡¯s expression turned ugly, his head turning swiftly towards one direction. Commander Aaron also felt the tremendous energy that appeared in the distance.

    Along with that, the gasping soldiers ran up to them and reported¡­

    ¡°The, the Bull Demon King¡­ has returned!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­What?!¡±

    Rumacar could not help but be shocked. He had inflicted a fatal injury upon the Bull Demon King before he fled. He could not even find him anywhere in Edea even after countless thorough searches using the power of the Jade Emperor. Yet now, he had somehow returned. However, not long after, a gruesome smirk appeared on Rumacar¡¯s face.

    ¡°Summon the entire army.¡±

    The Kingdom of Eden was currently in a chaotic state. There were even some people that dreamt of staging a rebellion. There were also some of them that had been waiting here, hoping against hope that the Bull Demon King was still alive and well. But today, Rumacar would make sure to cut the Bull Demon King¡¯s head off and make it roll in front of everyone.

    The Kingdom of Eden¡¯s troops swiftly gathered at themand of their new king.

    ***

    The Bull Demon King stared at the troops that started to line up at the walls that he built together with his people.

    <em>Vwooooooooooong¡ª!</em>

    The troops¡¯ roar along with the loud re of the horn shook the world.

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°ughter the tyrant!!!¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaah!!!¡±

    The gates began to open at the loud roars of the hundreds of thousands of troops that spilled out on the field. However, the Bull Demon King walked forward, ready to face them all by his lonesome self.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m sorry.¡¯</em>

    The Bull Demon King looked at the soldiers. They were someone¡¯s father and someone¡¯s child. He was sure that he had seen them at least once, greeted them, and evenughed and chatted with them. However, the Bull Demon King decided to ignore that fact and see them only as the Jade Emperor¡¯s dogs. Besides, these people had already turned a blind eye to his plight.

    He would destroy the fallen Kingdom of Eden. Getting back his throne? He never dreamt of it. All he wanted to do was to let them know that the Jade Emperor and his envoys were in the wrong.

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    Holding an old woldo in his hands, the Bull Demon King continued to walk forward.

    ¡°<em>Hihihihihihing</em><em>!</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Hihihihihihing</em><em>!</em>¡±

    A ten thousand-strong cavalry charged toward the Bull Demon King. They were immediately followed by the soldiers. The Kingdom of Eden had a total of 750,000 troops. Each and every single member of the kingdom¡¯s army was very powerful. That was especially the case for their cavalry, the pride of the Kingdom of Eden. All of the members of the cavalry were knights.

    The Bull Demon King saw the man leading the cavalry.

    <em>¡®Ard.¡¯</em>

    He knew the man. That man used to be a kid that had dreamt of joining the cavalry. The Bull Demon King was the one that personally chose that child. But now, that child¡¯s spear was aimed at him. He was also aiming his de at them.

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    With one sh of the Bull Demon King¡¯s woldo, Ard, who was running at the lead, flew away.

    ¡°Charge.¡±

    The Bull Demon King charged toward the cavalry and the troops behind them at the speed of light. At the same time, an unknown voice rang and lingered in his ears.

    <em>¡®Hanwoo, charge!!!¡¯</em>

    The Bull Demon King was sure that it was the voice of that person that he met in the other world.

    <em>¡®Thank you. I hope you live well,¡¯ </em>the Bull Demon King thought, hoping those words reached the man that he could not remember. Still, he was very grateful to whoever it was.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    A shocking spectacle unfolded in front of everyone as the Bull Demon King charged forward at the speed of light, crushing everything and everyone in his path. Just like Moses parting the Red Sea, a path miraculously opened up in front of the Bull Demon King. Just like that, the pride of the Kingdom of Eden, the cavalry, was swept away by a single man.

    ¡°Hi, hiiiiiik!¡±

    ¡°A, aaaaaaack!¡±

    The cavalry men that the Bull Demon King passed by all disappeared without a trace. But he did not stop, instead, he continued to charge forward to where the footed soldiers were.

    Meanwhile, on top of the walls.

    King Rumacar looked down with an air of arrogance at the Bull Demon King. He was lounging on top of the walls while leisurely eating grapes.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡°Leap.¡±

    A powerful force covered the Bull Demon King¡¯s legs, boosting his ability to leap by around six times and allowing him to jump to higher ces and reach the ce where Rumacar was.

    Rumacar stared at the iing woldo that was aiming for his head in interest, his head tilting slightly to the side and avoiding itpletely.

    <em>Vwooooooong¡ª</em>

    ¡°Interesting.¡±

    The Bull Demon King immediately spun around and charged toward Rumacar once again.

    <em>Ping¡ª</em>

    A sh appeared on the cheeks of Rumacar, the Jade Emperor¡¯s Envoy, as a drop of blood dripped down his chin.

    <em>Thuuuuuud¡ª</em>

    The Bull Demon King, whonded on the ground once more, began to sweep away the Kingdom of Eden¡¯s army. In that short amount of time, around 20,000 of the troops had already died.

    ¡°C, crazy¡­!!!¡±

    ¡°As expected of the Bull Demon King!!!¡±

    Rumacar¡¯s expression turned cold as he wiped the blood off of his cheeks. Strangely enough, the drop of blood made him smile strangely. Then, he stood up from his seat and lightly held his sword, jumping down from the walls and arriving in front of the Bull Demon King in a sh.

    <em>¡®What¡­!¡¯</em>

    Rumacar moved so fast that no one was able to see how he moved. Even the Bull Demon King, who was able to wipe out 20,000 troops in one go, was unable to feel Rumacar¡¯s presence.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª!</em>

    The Bull Demon King¡¯s skin was sturdy and thick. There was no weapon or magic that could pierce through it and break it apart. However¡­ his body was easily stabbed by Rumacar with his sword, blood dripping down and covering his body.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaack!¡±

    The Bull Demon King brandished his de recklessly, but Rumacar easily escaped with just a slight twist of his toes. He even countered with an attack of his own by mming the t of the de of his sword on the Bull Demon King¡¯s face.

    <em>Baaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Although the Bull Demon King was only hit by the t of the de, he was still thrown to the ground by the force of the blow. Rumacar did not let the opportunity slip by, his foot trampling on the Bull Demon King¡¯s face.

    <em>Stomp, stomp, stomp!</em>

    ¡°A mere king from an uncivilized kingdom dares to go against the Jade Emperor and his envoy?¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaack!¡±

    The Bull Demon King struggled but Rumacar justughed at his vain efforts. After making a mess of the Bull Demon King¡¯s face, Rumacar stepped back and said, ¡°Die.¡±

    Rumacar did not want to kill the man with his own hands. He wanted him to experience a disastrous death at the hands of his beloved people and army. This would be his and the Jade Emperor¡¯s punishment for this measly king. He wanted to show him how cruel and vicious he was.

    Rumacar cackled at the Bull Demon King¡¯s figure. He turned around, his hands behind his back as he looked at the kingdom. Then, he said, ¡°The Million Great Army that you have led? They are no more.¡±

    That was right. Even the Million Great Army that he had raised and nurtured as the king had now turned their backs on him and served the Jade Emperor.

    ¡°The people that you loved and cherished? They are no more.¡±

    The people that he cherished, the ones that heughed and cried with and discussed the bright future of the Kingdom of Eden were no longer with him.

    ¡°You are all alone.¡±

    Indeed. The Bull Demon King was now all alone. He was once a great and kind king, but now he was reduced to nothing but an unfortunate king who would go down in history as a tyrant.

    ¡°You no longer have anyrades,¡± Rumacar¡¯s cold voice rang in the ears of the fallen Bull Demon King.

    However, Rumacar, who was standing with his back to the Bull Demon King, could not help but be puzzled. He should have already heard the sound of the Bull Demon King being trampled on and killed. However, there was no sound that rang behind him. So, he turned around to look, only for his face to turn ugly.

    The Sword¡¯s Saint Aaron, the Kingdom of Eden¡¯s First Royal Knight Order Commander, was supporting the Bull Demon King. Standing around them were 20,000 strong knights. All of them stood, their des aimed at their allies to protect the Bull Demon King.

    Sword¡¯s Saint Aaron spat coldly, ¡°His Majesty, the Bull Demon King, is not alone.¡±

    ***

    At the same time.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I will be able to bring my troops and fight by your side.¡±

    The Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal, heard about how Minhyuk was rted to the Bull Demon King.

    Sun Wukong, who sent something towards Minhyuk¡¯s body, said, ¡°However, I can lend you my powers.¡±

    <em>Swoooooooosh¡ª</em>

    Then, Minhyuk, who saw the Flying Nimbus appear in front of him, climbed on top of the cloud. He had heard from Sun Wukong that his dear Hanwoo was fighting a lonely battle.

    ¡°Hang in there, Hanwoo.¡±

    At this very moment, the Bull Demon King¡¯s greatest and strongestrade headed for the battlefield at the speed of light.

 Chapter 667: Hanwoo

    Chapter 667: Hanwoo

    There were some people who were unaware of the fact that Envoy Rumacar was trying to take down the Kingdom of Eden because the Bull Demon King had lost the favor of the Jade Emperor. The Bull Demon King might have hit his own servants and people with his own hands but that was because Rumacar manipted him, to change the public¡¯s view about him.

    Then again, perhaps, everyone knew. However, knowing how strong Rumacar was and how they could not go against the Jade Emperor, the god and lord that they served, they did not do or say anything. All of them opted to turn a blind eye and run away.

    <em>¡®Your Majesty, why didn¡¯t you run away?¡¯ </em>Sword¡¯s Saint Aaron thought, hoping to ask the Bull Demon King this question.

    ¡®<em>Why did youe back here, knowing that you would die? Is it for revenge? Or perhaps¡­ Is it because you wanted to enlighten your foolish people?¡¯</em>

    That was right. The Bull Demon King had tried to kill them before but that was probably because he was fighting for the crumbling Kingdom of Eden. It might have been his way of trying to save the people of his beloved kingdom that were being oppressed day in and day out.

    The Bull Demon King was the role model of all of the knights and a king loved by all of his people. Hence, they could no longer stand seeing their king being trampled on like that by Rumacar.

    ¡°¡­Right now, are you thinking of pointing your des towards the Jade Emperor?¡±

    ¡°I will pay for my sins with my death.¡±

    <em>[You are a believer of the Jade Emperor.]</em>

    <em>[From this point on, you have given up your faith in the Jade Emperor and have decided to fight against him!]</em>

    The words were very heartbreaking. However, Aaron believed that his actions were correct.

    Rumacarughed. These people chose to die, being influenced by their emotions?

    <em>¡®Laughable.¡¯ </em>

    He looked at the 20,000 knights that chose to aim their swords at their allies and ordered, ¡°Do noty a finger on them.¡±

    The reason for the order was simple. Rumacar wanted to punish them directly with his own hands.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    However, the one that made a move first was not Rumacar, but Aaron. Aaron charged forward, brandishing his sword in hopes of shing Rumacar¡¯s chest.

    <em>ng¡ª</em>

    However, Rumacar nimbly and swiftly lifted his sword, and Sword¡¯s Saint Aaron¡¯s sword was blocked. Despite being the best and strongest swordsman in the entire kingdom, his attack was easily blocked.

    ¡°I¡¯ll show you the difference between us,¡± Rumacar said, passing by Aaron.

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    Then, blood spurted out of Aaron¡¯s body.

    ¡°Urghhh!¡±

    After passing by Aaron, Rumacar immediately leaped toward the knights.

    ¡°Rampant.¡±

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    It was a shocking spectacle. Hundreds of swords flew out of Rumacar¡¯s sword with a sh of white light, dancing around and cutting down the knights. However, the knights still continued to charge at him.

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    The swords pierced through the knights¡¯ bodies one after the other.

    ¡°Sword Explosion.¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaargh!¡±

    A huge storm of swords devoured the knights, ripped them apart, and forced them to disappear without a trace the moment Rumacar mmed his sword on the ground. One swing of his sword and dozens more fell down, a strike with his power and hundreds copsed. To top it off, Rumacar did not break a single sweat despite killing hundreds and thousands.

    <em>¡®Rumacar is truly a monster¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®How did he do that?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Trying to fight against him is truly a crazy thing.¡¯</em>

    Aaron and the other knights that had thought of protecting the Bull Demon King and rebelling against Rumacar were now about to change their minds. In the face of fear, the knights would once again choose to turn a blind eye to the Bull Demon King.

    <em>¡®Carrion¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Avitto¡­¡¯</em>

    However, upon seeing theirrades dying in vain, those that had held swords and learnt together with them since their childhood, made them feel that they could not stomach it. Aaron, whose body was filled with holes, stood up with the support of his sword.

    ¡°Are you still going to pretend that you do not know?! That guy is not the king of the Kingdom of Eden. He will continue to kill us and we will continue to live in fear inside our own kingdom! Even our mothers, our fathers and our children will continue to live in fear!!!¡±

    <em>Tremble, tremble, tremble¡ª</em>

    Aaron¡¯s words were the truth. If things continued like this, then they would eventually feel like they were living in hell.

    <em>Graaaaab¡ª</em>

    Even more knights chose to turn sides after those words.

    ¡°Take down Rumacar!!!¡±

    ¡°Kill Rumacar!!!¡±

    <em>[You are a believer of the Jade Emperor.]</em>

    <em>[From this point on, you have given up your faith in the Jade Emperor and have decided to fight against him!]</em>

    The people that lived for the Jade Emperor decided to abandon their faith in him. Of the 700,000 surviving troops, 200,000 decided to switch sides. They believed that it would not matter how strong Rumacar was, he would not be able to do anything against their numbers. Of course, there were still 500,000 remaining troops, but they did not matter because they were at a loss on what to do.

    Then, at that moment, Rumacar said, ¡°Those that will remain by my side, return right away.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The order was very shocking. They already knew what that order meant.

    <em>Gulp¡ª</em>

    Someone gulped dryly at the rising tension in the air, as one of the soldiers ran away to return back to the kingdom, prompting around 480,000 of the troops to return to the castle. Then, they appeared on the walls and began to watch the situation unfold on the battlefield. As for the remaining 20,000 troops? They were still on the fence.

    Rumacar looked coldly at them and said, ¡°Then, all of you should just go and die.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Rumacar shed the empty space in front of him and¡­

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    Just like that, the heads of hundreds of soldiers fell and rolled on the ground, blood spurting out from their bodies.

    <em>Fwiiiish¡ª</em>

    <em>Spurt¡ª!</em>

    <em>Swooooosh¡ª!</em>

    ¡°Hi, hiiiiiiiiik! We, we will return! We will return right away!!!¡±

    The quick-witted soldiers could tell that Rumacar was going to kill all of the troops that did not return. That was the truth. For Rumacar, they were not worth his protection. They were nothing but insects that he could step on whenever he wanted. That was why he could just kill them the moment he deemed them an eyesore.

    ¡°Hiiiiiiik!¡±

    ¡°Eeeeeeeeeeek!¡±

    A few of the soldiers tried to turn around and go back to the castle but their bodies were split in half before they could even do so.

    <em>Thump¡ª</em>

    <em>Thump¡ª</em>

    <em>Thump¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­Rumacaaaaaaaar!¡± Aaron screamed.

    The staggering Bull Demon King groaned at the sight and thought, <em>¡®Are you going to ughter more than 200,000 troops here just to make an example of them?¡¯</em>

    A crazy king. No, that was not a king. Rumacar was nothing but a crazy killer. Was it truly possible to do something like that again?

    ¡°The Jade Emperor¡¯s Army will judge and punish you.¡±

    Rumacar was delighted. He was now given a justification. He could now punish them for betraying the Jade Emperor and forsaking their faith in him.

    The space in front of Rumacar was torn apart, as 10,000 strong knights riding on white war horses and wearing golden full te armor appeared one after the other. In Edea, they were called ¡®Heavenly Army¡¯. They were recorded in legends and had several records in Edea¡¯s history. They were known as the Jade Emperor¡¯s army. and each and every single one of their troops held power that was far beyond anyone¡¯s imagination and could easily deal with countless people all on their own.

    ¡°¡­He¡¯s really going to kill us all?!¡±

    ¡°How can you do that?!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re going to kill us all just because we no longer believe in the Jade Emperor?!¡±

    ¡°You are just traitors in my eyes,¡± Rumacar said. He was looking at them as if he was looking at bugs.

    Finally, the Heavenly Army began to attack the 200,000 troops.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡±

    As if they were being ¡®judged¡¯, the troops that had been cut down began to burn and disappear into ashes. That was just how powerful the knights of the Heavenly Army were.

    The remaining troops were left in confusion as theirrades began to die one after the other. In fact, some of the knights of the Heavenly Army wouldugh at them as they killed them, enjoying the pain that shed on their faces as they pierced them with their weapons.

    The Bull Demon King clenched his fists tightly, his body trembling slightly at the sight.

    ¡°For His Majesty, the Bull Demon King!!!¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty, please survive¡­ Keuaaaaaaack!¡±

    The soldiers abandoned and turned their back on the Jade Emperor for him. They were now dying because of him. The Bull Demon King looked down at the ¡®Dying Snake¡¯s Ring¡¯ on his finger.

    Upon use, the Dying Snake¡¯s Ring would instantly double all of the stats, skills, abilities and power of the item user. However, one would not be able to move for thirty minutes after using it. Simply put, the ring had a huge penalty on it.

    However, the Bull Demon King ignored that fact and kissed the Dying Snake¡¯s Ring. Then, a snake appeared and slithered around the Bull Demon King¡¯s body until it covered him entirely.

    ¡°Charge.¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Immediately after that, the Bull Demon King charged forward and literally pushed away the Heavenly Army that were ughtering the remaining troops of the Kingdom of Eden.

    <em>Booooooooom¡ª</em>

    The Bull Demon King just lightly hit the head of one of the soldiers of the Heavenly Army but it easily exploded.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    One swing of his woldo and all of his enemies were swept away, as if a wave had washed over them.

    Rumacar was just sitting silently on the sidelines as if he found it fun and interesting. He was also aware of the effects of the ring and how it could bring forth a shocking increase in the power and abilities of the user. However, once the snake¡¯s power disappeared, the strength in the user¡¯s body would disappear and leave them exhausted and unable to move.

    <em>¡®Is it his final struggle?¡¯</em>

    However, the struggle was far too strong.

    <em>aaaaash¡ª</em>

    The Bull Demon King jumped high in the sky, shing his woldo down and breaking apart the Heavenly Army¡¯s armor and sweeping them away.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡±

    <em>Flinch¡ª</em>

    The Heavenly Army, the powerful army of the Jade Emperor, flinched and began to retreat. But the Bull Demon King chased after them and continued to cut them down. As for the troops that decided to protect him? They immediately followed behind him.

    <em>Baaaaaaang!</em>

    <em>¡®This is the end,¡¯</em> the Bull Demon King thought, feeling his strength slowly begin to seep out of his body. Using the remaining strength in his body, he brandished his woldo onest time to cut down the retreating Heavenly Army.

    <em>Thump¡ª</em>

    The Bull Demon King mmed his woldo on the ground, using it to support himself as he fell on one knee and gasped loudly.

    ¡°Haa¡­ Haa¡­¡±

    He was fully aware that Rumacar would mock him as he died.

    ¡°First, I will cut off your limbs and feed them to the dogs. Then, I¡¯m going to cut your head off, disy it in the central za and feed it to the crows.¡±

    The Bull Demon King did not care about the humiliation and disgrace that he would experience after his death. It was just¡­

    ¡°¡­Run away.¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty!!!¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty, the Bull Demon King!!!¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty!!!¡±

    The reason why the Bull Demon King killed the Heavenly Army was for the survival of the soldiers of the Kingdom of Eden. He would be happy if even one more of them could survive and live through this. In the end, Rumacar was still alone. It was impossible for him to chase more than 200,000 troops all by himself. So, even if it was just 10,000, no, even just 1,000, the Bull Demon King wanted to save them.

    ¡°Keuhahahahahaha!¡± Rumacarughed loudly as he walked towards the Bull Demon King, his sword hanging lightly on his hand.

    Once again, the Bull Demon King shouted, ¡°Run, now!!!¡±

    Everyone flinched at the shout. However, Rumacar said, ¡°You are nothing but a helpless and useless king.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°The army that believed in you is nothing but a mere headless bunch that looks like an ant in front of the Jade Emperor¡¯s mighty Heavenly Army.¡±

    Perhaps that was the truth. Perhaps he was truly foolish to have ever entertained the fact that he could fight and rebel against a great god.

    ¡°I will cut off the heads of the people that trust and follow you and burn it along with your head that has been eaten by the crows,¡± Rumacar said, his piercing gaze looking at the troops around him, ¡°And I will make sure to kill all of these men with you. After all, you will never be able to save anyone.¡±

    The Bull Demon King shouted again, ¡°Go!!! Quick, go now!!!¡±

    He wanted to stand up, but the penalty of the Dying Snake¡¯s Ring was preventing him from doing so. In the end, he fell t on the ground.

    <em>Thump¡ª</em>

    The space was torn apart once again as another unit of the Heavenly Army appeared.

    ¡°Hi, hiiiiiiiik!!!¡±

    ¡°This, this is impossible¡­!¡±

    The Bull Demon King and the people of the Kingdom of Eden did not know that Rumacar was a mander¡¯ that led the Jade Emperor¡¯s Heavenly Army. Due to his position, he was given enough authority to call for the strongest among the countless troops of the Heavenly Army.

    Around 60,000 Heavenly Army troops began to surround the surviving 200,000 troops from the Kingdom of Eden.

    ¡°We, we won¡¯t even be able to run away¡­¡±

    ¡°How¡­¡±

    The Bull Demon King looked at the scene in bitterness while Rumacar¡¯sughter dug and gnawed on his consciousness.

    Rumacar slowly approached the Bull Demon King, intent on cutting off the man¡¯s limbs. The Bull Demon King, who had his eyes closed, heard the fear in the voices of the Kingdom of Eden¡¯s troops.

    ¡°No one will be left to stay by your side. You will die alone, no? Ahahahahahahaha! Hahahahahahahahaha!¡±

    But then, the unknown voice rang in his ears again, <em>¡®Hanwoo!!! You¡¯re always going to protect your hyung, right?!¡¯</em>

    He did not know who he was but his voice continued to linger in the Bull Demon King¡¯s head, <em>¡®Of course, this hyung of yours will always protect you, Hanwoo!¡¯</em>

    It was strange. But for some reason, he always felt his heart ache whenever he heard that voice. He tried to look up at whoever it was as he pleaded, <em>¡®Please help me.¡¯</em>

    Everyone watched in despair as Rumacar raised his sword, ready to sh and cut off the Bull Demon King¡¯s limbs apart.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    But then, hundreds of swords rained down and devoured Rumacar.

    ¡°Aaaaaaargh!¡± Rumacar screamed after receiving the brunt of the first downpour of the swords. However, he immediately brandished his sword, swinging it around to parry the raining swords.

    There was someone that stood in front of the Bull Demon King and blocked his path. The man looked coldly at Rumacar.

    Bull Demon King seemed to have not noticed the man, busy ruminating over the words that Rumacar had uttered just a few moments prior.

    <em>¡®No one will be left to stay by your side. You will die alone.¡¯</em>

    However, someone called out to him, ¡°Hanwoo.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The Bull Demon King opened his eyes to see a man standing in front of him. And along with his appearance, God¡¯s voice rang in the ears of everyone present.

    <em>[The God from Another World is ring at the Jade Emperor¡¯s Envoy!]</em>

    <em>[The God from Another World has the power of the Sword God!]</em>

    <em>[The God from Another World has the power of the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal!]</em>

    <em>[The God from Another World uses the power of the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal!]</em>

    <em>aaaaaash¡ª</em>

    <em>Poof, poof, poof, poof, poof¡ª</em>

    The moment the man struck the ground with his sword, more than 500,000 clones of the man appeared and surrounded the 60,000 Heavenly Army troops that were encroaching upon the 200,000 surviving troops from the Kingdom of Eden Every single one of the clones raised their swords and pointed it towards the Heavenly Army.

    <em>ck¡ª</em>

    <em>ck¡ª</em>

    <em>ck¡ª</em>

    <em>ck¡ª</em>

    Then, the hundreds of thousands of men, bearing the same face spoke in unison¡­

    ¡°Sword of Absolute Death.¡±

    ¡°Sword of Absolute Death.¡±

    ¡°Sword of Absolute Death.¡±

    <em>Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom¡ª</em>

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    The man turned to look at the Bull Demon King. Then, he said with a soft, gentle and warm voice, ¡°Hyung¡¯s here.¡±

 Chapter 668: Hanwoo

    Chapter 668: Hanwoo

    The following notifications rang in the ears of Minhyuk, who borrowed the powers of the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal.

    <em>[You have borrowed some of the powers of the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal!]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 38%.]</em>

    <em>[You will now be able to use some of the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal¡¯s skills.]</em>

    <em>[You can use the Active Skill: Flying Nimbus!]</em>

    <em>[You can use the Active Skill: Cloning Technique!]</em>

    <em>[You can use the Active Skill: Monkey Army!]</em>

    <em>[You can use the Active Skill: Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal Power to Govern Time and Space!]</em>

    <em>[You can use the Passive Skill: Ruyi Jingu Bang!]</em>

    <em>[With the Passive Skill: Ruyi Jingu Bang dwelling in your sword, you will be able to freely control the size of your sword!]</em>

    <em>[With the Passive Skill: Ruyi Jingu Bang dwelling in your sword, your basic and skill attack power will increase by 100%!]</em>

    Minhyuk received a tremendous boost to his power, albeit temporarily, and it was at the same level and power that Sun Wukong could use.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s nothing to be afraid of with this,¡¯</em> Minhyuk thought as he rushed to the battlefield where Hanwoo was fighting alone.

    However, the courage that he mustered just now immediately withered away the moment he caught sight of the Jade Emperor¡¯s Envoy, Rumacar, and the Heavenly Army.

    <em>[Heavenly Army. Level 549.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk could not help but be shocked. He might not know the full story but he could tell that the Heavenly Army was something that the man named Rumacar was leading. Shocking as it might seem, that was just the average level of the army. There were also some that were ssified as Heavenly Commanders among them.

    <em>[Heavenly Commander. Level 601.]</em>

    <em>¡®¡­¡¯</em>

    They were at a level that someone like Minhyuk could only mumble ¡®Crazy!¡¯ upon seeing them. None of the yers had reached Level 600 yet. Of course, for high rankers beyond Level 500, their levels were not that important anymore. Their control, special skills and artifacts could make up for theck in levels. In fact, having better specs would mean that they could even take on someone that was fifty levels higher than them.

    <em>¡®Even if that was the case, this is still¡­¡¯</em>

    The level of the Heavenly Army was on par with the high rankers while the Heavenly Commanders were of a higher level than them. There was even Rumacar amidst their ranks.

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[Danger!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[Danger!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[Dan¡­!]</em>

    <em>[A powerful existence that can shake the entire Edea has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[Unable to resist!]</em>

    <em>[Rumacar has triggered his Battle Energy!]</em>

    <em>[You have fallen into a helpless state after meeting with someone that you cannot fight against!]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have decreased by 23%!]</em>

    <em>[This is a power that your invincible body cannot resist!]</em>

    <em>[The Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal¡¯s power has helped you resist the abnormal status!]</em>

    <em>[Your breath has turned ragged and your body has started to shake after meeting someone that you cannot fight against!]</em>

    <em>[Your physical and magical attack and defense have decreased by 40%!]</em>

    <em>[¡­invincible body¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal¡¯s power¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­cannot fight against¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal¡¯s power¡­]</em>

    The notifications rang non-stop.

    <em>¡®What the hell is that? That¡¯s the estimated level?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was appalled. He was already aware that the people of Edea were far more powerful than the people in the world that he was from, but this level was a tad bit too high than what he expected.

    <em>¡®Fortunately, I have Sun Wukong¡¯s power.¡¯</em>

    How powerful was Rumacar? To be honest, Minhyuk could not really measure his power.

    Still, Minhyuk had already decided to fight this battle. He swiftly descended from the sky using the Flying Nimbus and headed straight towards where the Bull Demon King, or Hanwoo, was.

    As he flew down, he saw more than 10,000 bodies of the soldiers of the Heavenly Army surrounding Hanwoo. In other words, Hanwoo killed them all.

    <em>¡®What tremendous strength¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk knew that God of Snakes Elizabeth and Spear God Ben would not be able to show that much power, even if they used all their strength in one attack. Hanwoo, with that much power, still fell in front of Rumacar, unable to do anything.

    Minhyuk immediately used the Sword of Absolute Death and stopped Rumacar from cutting off Hanwoo¡¯s limbs.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    Minhyuk plunged his sword into the ground the moment hended, casting one of the skills that was loaned to him. Sun Wukong¡¯s Cloning Technique was said to be so outstanding and shocking that no one in the world could rival it.

    <em>[Cloning Technique. Chapter 64.]</em>

    <em>[Great Army of 500,000 Cloning Technique has been casted!]</em>

    <em>[The Great Army of 500,000 Cloning Technique is a skill that creates arge number of clones that instills a great sense of fear and helplessness in your enemies!]</em>

    <em>[You can only use this skill to create clones once!]</em>

    <em>[The clones will only be able to exert 5% of your damage upon casting!]</em>

    The clones immediately surrounded the Heavenly Army, their swords pointed towards them.

    ¡°Sword of Absolute Death.¡±

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Even though they could only deal 5% of Minhyuk¡¯s damage, it was fine, because each of the 500,000 clones sent hundreds of swords flying. Of course, the problem was that many of the attacks had missed and did not even do any damage to the Heavenly Army. The concept was simr to Level 100 yers attacking Level 200 yers and most of their attacks missing.

    It was quite difficult to deal with the Heavenly Army with just 5% of his damage. However, even if Minhyuk had topletely depend on a stroke of luck tond sessful attacks, he would still be able tond at least one. After all, hundreds of thousands of sword attacksnding on a single person were definitely enough to injure the enemies.

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keheoooook!¡±

    ¡°What, what the hell is this¡­!¡±

    More than a million of sword lights appeared in the sky above them. Chapter 64 of the Cloning Technique was a skill that could frighten the enemies.

    Meanwhile, ridiculous notifications rang in Rumacar¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The Heavenly Army is trembling in fear!]</em>

    <em>[The Heavenly Army¡¯s morale is decreasing!]</em>

    <em>[All of the troops¡¯ stats will decrease by 17%. All of the troops¡¯ defensive power will decrease by 15%!]</em>

    <em>¡®The great and mighty Heavenly Army is afraid?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk stood in front of Hanwoo as he called out to him, ¡°Hanwoo.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°Hyung¡¯s here.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Hanwoo, the Bull Demon King, could tell that this man was the owner of the unknown voice that he kept on hearing in his head. As soon as the man called out to him with a soft and gentle voice, he felt this strange thumping in his heart.

    Who the hell was this person in front of him? What kind of person was he for him to be able to borrow the power of the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal? And who was he for him to be very interested in him?

    <em>¡®Why are you fighting for me?¡¯</em>

    The Bull Demon King¡¯s own people and troops had once turned their backs on him. Of course, it was different now. But the fact that they did that back then still remained. However, that was not the case for the man in front of him. The Bull Demon King could tell that the man¡¯s eyes were filled with sincerity.

    <em>¡®He has sincerity and integrity. His eyes are telling me that he would give me anything that I wanted and needed. What am I to you? What are you to me?¡¯</em>

    The Bull Demon King was both curious and grateful. He grabbed the man¡¯s warm and big hands that reached out to him and raised his body with his help. However, their emotional and touching reunion was cut short.

    <em>Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom¡ª</em>

    Even though they were seriously wounded, the Heavenly Army was still the Heavenly Army and powerful to boot. They were able to sweep away the clones swiftly. Just like that, hundreds of clones disappeared in a <em>¡®poof!¡¯</em> with a sh of their swords.

    The thin and flimsy cloth that covered Rumacar¡¯s body was torn, his body dripping with blood. He took a step forward, his sword still dangling lightly from his hold.

    <em>Step¡ª</em>

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    <em>[You have received a fatal wound!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 90%!]</em>

    ¡°¡­Ugh!!!¡±

    Rumacar just took one step but he had already appeared in front of Minhyuk, piercing Minhyuk through his shoulders with his sword.

    <em>¡®What the hell is this?!¡¯</em>

    Was it because his speed was so fast that no one could see him? Or was it because of a passive skill? Minhyuk did not know.

    <em>Step, step¡ª</em>

    <em>Stab¡ª Stab, stab¡ª!</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s body was stabbed once again. Realizing the seriousness of the matter, he immediately cast another Cloning Technique.

    <em>[Cloning Technique. Chapter 3.]</em>

    <em>[Three clones have been created.]</em>

    <em>[The three clones will have the same defense, speed and agility as you, and will make it hard for your opponent to distinguish one from the other.]</em>

    <em>[The three clones will confuse your enemies while the main body will pierce through their hearts!]</em>

    <em>Poof¡ª!</em>

    ¡°I still can¡¯t figure out how you managed to borrow the power of the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal.¡±

    Three clones with the same speed, agility and defensive power appeared, making it more difficult for Minhyuk¡¯s opponent to identify which was his main body.

    <em>Dash, dash, dash¡ª</em>

    Four Minhyuks dashed forward; one going to the left, one to the right, one in front, and the remaining one leaping on the sky above them, skillfully wielding the sword in their hands and¡­

    <em>[Ruyi Jingu Bang]</em>

    <em>[Just like the Ruyi Jingu Bang, you can adjust the size of your sword to whatever size you want.]</em>

    The clone up front aimed his sword that had increased in length at Rumacar¡¯s heart. However, Rumacar twisted his toes and easily avoided the attack. Then, he looked at the sword aiming for his waist from the left and parried it with the t of his de.

    <em>ng¡ª</em>

    Rumacar quickly moved, lifting his leg and getting away easily, as the one from the right tried to attack him from the bottom. As for the one from above? He tried to m his huge sword down on Rumacar.

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keok!¡±

    Before that could even happen, Rumacar, who had moved at the speed of light, was already holding Minhyuk by the neck.

    Minhyuk was very shocked, <em>¡®How in the world¡­¡¯</em>

    With Sun Wukong¡¯s power dwelling in him, Minhyuk was now almost 40% stronger than normal. But what happened just now showed Minhyuk that Rumacar was as strong and as powerful as Great Demon Verus, who he had fought in the past.

    Minhyuk recalled the conversation he had with Sun Wukong.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m going to lend you some of my power. However, this will still not be enough to deal with Rumacar.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Are you sure?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I¡¯m very sure.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had no choice but to consult with Sun Wukong. That was when their conversation steered to the Jade Emperor¡¯s Seal.

    <em>¡®How about asking the Jade Emperor to kill him?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®¡­I don¡¯t think that¡¯s possible.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk and Sun Wukong continued to think of a solution as they continued their discussion. Then, Minhyuk said, <em>¡®It¡¯s reckless but I¡¯ll give it a try. First things first, I¡¯ll go and provoke him and make him bring in all of his troops.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®May the tides of war be in your favor.¡¯</em>

    That was right. Minhyuk, to some extent, had already predicted this situation. However, even though he predicted it, he still felt afraid.

    <em>Clench¡ª</em>

    Rumacar tightened his grip on Minhyuk¡¯s neck, intent on twisting Minhyuk¡¯s neck as he said, ¡°A god from another world trying to destroy and kill me, the Jade Emperor¡¯s Envoy?¡±

    Even though Minhyuk¡¯s neck was grabbed tightly like that, he was still able to cast another skill.

    <em>[Cloning Technique. Chapter 4.]</em>

    <em>[Switch.]</em>

    <em>Poof¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk switched ces with one of his clones in an instant and¡­

    ¡°Overlord¡¯s Technique.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    zing mes erupted and devoured Rumacar, pushing him away from Minhyuk.

    <em>Crackle¡ª</em>

    Rumacar tried to extinguish the mes that surrounded him but could not do so. The Overlord¡¯s Technique that Minhyuk was using here was at its strongest.

    Meanwhile, the Heavenly Army slowly came back to their senses and began to ughter the 200,000 troops from the Kingdom of Eden. At the same time, the space above them was once again torn apart as a set of stairs appeared. There was also an unidentified being slowly descending from those stairs.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    <em>[Heavenly Army¡¯s First Knight Order¡¯s Commander Aervo has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[Level 646.]</em>

    <em>[Heavenly Army¡¯s First Mage Order¡¯s Commander Can has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[Level 655.]</em>

    <em>[Heavenly Army¡¯s Second Knight Order¡¯s Commander Karen has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[Level 640.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was left speechless as themanders of the Heavenly Army continued to appear and descend from the sky one after the other.

    <em>¡®This is the might of the Heavenly Army¡¯smanders¡­¡¯ </em>Minhyuk thought, a groan escaping his lips.

    There were eight of them that appeared. Each of their levels was high enough to wipe out an entire kingdom in the world that Minhyuk yed in.

    ¡°Stop¡­ This is my fight,¡± the Bull Demon King said, rising fully to his feet as he listened to the screams of the dying soldiers of the Kingdom of Eden. He continued, ¡°Thank you. But you should go now. The ending of this war will not change just because one person appeared to help me.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    <em>Step, step, step, step¡ª</em>

    Rumacar, who was devoured by the zing mes earlier, began to walk towards them once again. His top waspletely burned by the fire, which revealed his shiny and lean muscles. His body had burns here and there, but it did not take away his dignity and majesty. His long flowing hair framed his handsome visage as he looked at Minhyuk sharply.

    <em>Step¡ª</em>

    Themanders of the Heavenly Army also took a step forward and lined up beside him. Then, the crack in space widened as 250,000 Heavenly Soldiers wearing golden full te armor appeared. Some of them were riding on top of white warhorses, some dragging huge siege weapons, while some walked on foot. Their majesty and dignity was enough to steal anyone¡¯s breath away.

    Edea was a world that none of the yers could fight in. They would be nothing but helplessmbs in this world.

    ¡°Please go!!!¡± The Bull Demon King shouted.

    But then, the sword in Minhyuk¡¯s hand changed shape and turned into the Ruyi Jingu Bang. The Bull Demon King looked at the Ruyi Jingu Bang intently.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    But nothing happened.

    Rumacar and the Heavenly Army began to charge to where they were.

    ¡°Quick!!!¡± The Bull Demon King shouted desperately at Minhyuk but the man did not budge.

    <em>[You have used the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal Power to Govern Time and Space!!!]</em>

    <em>[You are twisting and moving space!!!]</em>

    <em>[The ones that have moved through space will experience death in this world. However, their deaths would not be their real deaths!!!]</em>

    Minhyuk turned to look at the Bull Demon King and said, ¡°Just now, what did you say, Hanwoo? The ending of this war will not change just because one person appeared to help you?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    That was right. The Bull Demon King obviously said those words. Minhyuk just grinned at him and said, ¡°What makes you think I¡¯m the only one that came here?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    <em>Pat¡ª</em>

    Then, at that moment, a hand rested on the Bull Demon King¡¯s shoulders as the soft and gentle voice of an old man rang in his ears, ¡°So, this is what you look like, Hanwoo?¡±

    ¡°¡­!!!¡±

    Minhyuk was well-versed in ways to intimidate and suppress the momentum of his opponents. He triggered God¡¯s Voice.

    <em>[The Spear God from Another World stands with the Bull Demon King and aims his spear at the enemies!!!]</em>

    The old man walked past the Bull Demon King.

    ¡°Hanwoo, don¡¯t try to take this on your own.¡±

    Another voice rang in the Bull Demon King¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The One that used to be called the Demon from Another World stands with the Bull Demon King¡­!]</em>

    ¡°Do¡­ Do I have to call you Hanwoo oppa now?¡±

    <em>[The God of Snakes from Another World¡­]</em>

    ¡°I am Conir! Hanwoo, nice to meet you again!¡±

    <em>[The Sword Saint from Another World¡­]</em>

    ¡°Fufufufu. The beautiful love story between Hanwoo and a cow from another world!!!¡±

    <em>[The Great Sage from Another World¡­]</em>

    God¡¯s Voice rang constantly in the battlefield.

    <em>Boooooooom!!! Boooooooooom!!! Booooooooom!!!</em>

    The Bull Demon King turned his head at the loud and booming drum beats that rang behind him. There, he saw the Beyond the Heaven¡¯s Kingdom¡¯s castle, a castle that was showing off its might and dignity. Then, the soldiers, who appeared on the walls of the castle, roared loudly.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    Countless troops marched proudly as they poured out of the now open gates, holding gs with the symbol of a fork and knife crossed over each other.

    <em>Booooooooom!!! Boooooooooom!!! Boooooooom!!!</em>

    Along with the sound of drums, the soldiers of the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Kingdom roared as loud as they could.

    ¡°Beyond the Heavens! Beyond the Heavens! Beyond the Heavens!¡±

    ¡°Beyond the Heavens! Beyond the Heavens! Beyond the Heavens!¡±

    Arge army of around 600,000 appeared along with Beyond the Heaven¡¯s temporarymander, Ben. The moment the old man raised his spear, the loud shouts immediately stopped.

    ¡°Your Majesty!!! Please give us your orders!!!¡± They shouted all at once.

    Minhyuk turned around and patted the Bull Demon King on the shoulder, ¡°You are not alone.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    <em>[The God from Another World is the King of the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Kingdom!]</em>

    The god and king from another world looked at his kingdom¡¯s soldiers and spat coldly, ¡°Destroy them.¡±

 Chapter 669: Hanwoo

    Chapter 669: Hanwoo

    Minhyuk¡¯s words struck deeply in the Bull Demon King¡¯s mind.

    <em>¡®You are not alone.¡¯</em>

    After being abandoned by the Kingdom of Eden and fleeing for his life, the Bull Demon King thought that he was all alone. He thought that he would have to fight this war by himself.

    <em>¡®How¡­¡¯</em>

    The eyes of the soldiers from the ce called the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, were filled withplete faith and trust toward him, all the while showing their might and prowess,pletely showing how they could protect him.

    <em>¡®¡­Ha.¡¯</em>

    The Bull Demon King barked augh. He did not remember how he met these people from another world, however, there was one thing that he was sure of.

    <em>¡®I¡­¡¯</em>

    He could tell that he had lived a very happy life there.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk triggered God¡¯s Voice once again.

    <em>[The God from Another World is the King of the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Kingdom!!!]</em>

    Minhyuk looked back at the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ troops.

    The Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal Power to Govern Time and Space was a very special power.

    <em>(<strong>Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal Power to Govern Time and Space</strong>)</em>

    <em>Active Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: God</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: Level 500 or higher.</em>

    <em><strong>Mana Required</strong>: 10,000</em>

    <em><strong>Cooldown</strong>: 6 months</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?You can switch the current space that you are in with a space or ce that you have been to before. </em>

    <em>?The number of people that you can move does not have any restrictions. However, you need the person¡¯s approval before you can move them. With the power of the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal, everyone that came over from another space would not experience true death even if they died in your current space. Once you switch the space again, those that have died wille back to life.</em>

    <em>?For the yers, they will not receive any death penalty upon their death.</em>

    <em>?They will also not receive any penalty even if they use a penalty-heavy skill.</em>

    It was apletely unbelievable and overpowered skill. Of course, from what Minhyuk could see, Sun Wukong could not freely use this skill either.

    Minhyuk had sent a whisper to Genie while he was riding the Flying Nimbus to the battlefield. He had told her to leave the minimum amount of guards and get everyone else to prepare for battle.

    Minhyuk would not call for them rashly and without any reason. He might be the king of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, but he knew that the other yers and the troops were busy trying to gather the funds for the kingdom¡¯s operations.

    <em>¡®If we can hunt the Heavenly Army, then we will also be able to obtain artifacts and gold.¡¯</em>

    Indeed, they could also gain huge profits in this ce.

    ¡°Your Majesty, please give us your orders,¡± Genie said, ring sharply at their enemies.

    Most of the members of the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ guild had chosen to participate in this battle. They did this not only because they wanted to help Hanwoo, but also because they wanted to fight against the strong people of this new world, Edea.

    Minhyuk looked at Rumacar, who was charging at them, and spat coldly, ¡°Destroy them.¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    <em>Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!</em>

    Hundreds of Disses, shining with bright golden light, bloomed at the tip of Ali¡¯s fingers and flew toward the battlefield.

    <em>Fwooooooosh¡ª</em>

    The Disses that stabbed through the soldiers of the Heavenly Army did not stop even after piercing them, continuing to pierce through whoever was behind them.

    This was what Ali had heard, <em>¡®Give it your all the moment you enter the new world.¡¯</em>

    He did not know the reason. However, Minhyuk had ordered them to not spare their MP, their cooldown, or even their penalty-heavy skills.

    <em>[The God of Magic¡¯s Grace.]</em>

    <em>[For ten minutes, your WIS and INT will increase by 20 and your magical attack power will increase by 1.4x!!!]</em>

    <em>[For ten minutes, your MP volume will increase by 1.5x!!!]</em>

    <em>[For ten minutes, your casting time will be reduced by 50%!]</em>

    Ali truly did not hold back, immediately casting and using every magic skill that he could.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Rumacar and the Heavenly Army were all shocked as their own divine army became helpless and unable to fight back in front of an unknown mage. On top of that, the Heavenly Army¡¯s First Mage Order¡¯s Commander Can and the Second Mage Order¡¯s Commander Edoen both tried to dispel Ali¡¯s magic. However, their power was not enough to stop the hundreds of magical attacks that Ali had sent toward them.

    Ali, the sessor of the God of Magic, was a top ranker that was above Level 550. As for Can and Edoen? They were both past Level 640. But no matter how much higher their levels and powers were, they would still be unable to fight against Ali, who had given his everything.

    ¡°Firestorm. Firestorm. Firestorm. Firestorm. Firestorm.¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Five tornadoes made of zing mes appeared and devoured the Heavenly Army.

    <em>¡®Are the people from another world that powerful?¡¯</em>

    Rumacar was someone that had heard a lot of stories about other worlds. However, from what he had heard, the people from the other worlds were supposed to be far weaker than them. Yet, the scene in front of them painted a different picture.

    <em>¡®Perhaps that guy is the only strong one?¡¯ </em>Rumacar thought. However¡­

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Hundreds of thousands of undead began to fall down from the sky above them.

    <em>Vwooooooooooooong¡ª</em>

    A man carrying a huge scythe climbed on top of a bone dragon and red at the soldiers of the Heavenly Army beneath him, while coldly saying, ¡°Corpse¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­Explosion.¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The explosions swept away the Heavenly Army. The scene waspletely ridiculous.

    The Heavenly Army wasposed of countless strong men that have lived for hundreds of years and served as the Jade Emperor¡¯s army. There was even a saying that the Heavenly Army was akin to the Jade Emperor himself, because of how powerful they were.

    Rumacar said through gritted teeth, ¡°Commander Aervo! Commander Can!!!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!!!¡±

    Rumacar immediately gave his orders to themanders of the Heavenly Army. Just a single call of their name and they all understood what their armymander wanted to do. Commanders Aervo and Can were both men that specialized in long-range attacks. They were strong men that surpassed even Sword¡¯s Saint Aaron.

    Commander Aervo shot toward Ali like a beam of light.

    ¡°You¡¯re just at this level?¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Aervo was shocked. That was because an old man with long, fluttering ck hair appeared just above him, with his spear pointing straight at him.

    ¡°Absolute Pinnacle Spear.¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Hundreds of spears appeared above Aervo, shooting him down like lightning.

    ¡°Uuuuuugh!¡± Commander Aervo groaned, moving skillfully to parry the lightning-like spears as best as he could.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    However, the old man took advantage of the gap in his defenses and stabbed him several times in the chest with his spear.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°<em>Tch¡­</em>!¡± Commander Can clicked his tongue, terror creeping up his spine at the sight.

    <em>¡®Aren¡¯t they too strong?¡¯</em>

    However, Can did not forget what he needed to do. He leapt toward the undead that were falling from the sky above them.

    ¡°Giant¡¯s Downward Strike.¡±

    To his horror, a man immediately followed right behind him. Khan sped his huge fists together and mmed it on Can.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaack!¡± A scream was ripped out of the mouth of the now falling Can.

    The still charging Rumacar frowned, <em>¡®No way¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaam¡ª</em>

    Then, at that moment, two men flew swiftly. One of the men, Ares, had his feet covered with an eerie blue light.

    ¡°Rising Kick.¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    A very neat and precise rising kick was disyed.

    <em>Boooooooooom¡ª</em>

    ¡°Urghhhhh!¡± Can groaned, his body once again sent upward.

    This time, a man reached for the hilt of the sword on his waist and said, ¡°Quick Draw.¡±

    <em>aaaaash¡ª</em>

    The power that was released by the quick draw and release of the sword instantly killed Can.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaack¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Rumacar could not understand how Minhyuk¡¯s kingdom was far stronger than what he initially expected them to be.

    At this moment, the Bull Demon King shouted, ¡°Help the warriors from the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and drive away the Heavenly Army!!!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaah!!!¡±

    ¡°Charge!!!¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The penalty of the Dying Snake¡¯s Ring that was imposed on the Bull Demon King had ended. Even Spear God Ben would find it extremely difficult to fight against the Bull Demon King at his full strength. This very same Bull Demon King was charging and sweeping away the Heavenly Army.

    ¡°Get rid of the Heavenly Army!!! The Jade Emperor is not a god that cares for us!!!¡±

    With Sword¡¯s Saint Aaron at the lead, the 200,000 strong troops of the Kingdom of Eden joined the battlefield. Aaron was a very clever man.

    ¡°Can you see this, warriors of Eden?! We can defeat the Jade Emperor¡¯s Heavenly Army and drive them out!!!¡±

    Rumacar made 500,000 of the Kingdom of Eden troops run back to the kingdom out of fear.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go out there and fight too!!!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaah!!!¡±

    These very same soldiers opened the gates of the kingdom and charged out, fighting fiercely against the Heavenly Army to take down their ¡®king¡¯, Rumacar.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    In response, Rumacar swung his sword to create a huge storm of swords.

    <em>[The God of Snakes¡¯ Wrath.]</em>

    Just as he did so, a red energy burst out of a little girl¡¯s body, slithering and wrapping around not only Rumacar, but even the Heavenly Army and themanders¡¯ bodies.

    <em>[The system has been controlled!]</em>

    <em>[You will not be able to use any kind of attack skill for ten minutes!]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Rumacar was left speechless.

    <em>¡®Where the hell did these outrageous peoplee from?¡¯</em>

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaargh!¡±

    The Heavenly Army was being swept away by the nearly 700,000 troops from the Kingdom of Eden and the nearly 700,000 troops from the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. There was even the Bull Demon King, who was pushing the Heavenly Army back with his pure strength alone.

    ¡°Ki¡­ Kihihihihihihihi¡­¡± Rumacar¡¯s shoulders shook as he covered his face with his hand. In the end, he broke out into a fit ofughter, ¡°Keuhahahahahahaha!¡±

    There were almost a hundred and forty million enemies, and many of them had shown powers that far exceeded his expectations. But if one were to ask Rumacar if he was confident in dealing with them, hee would answer ¡®yes¡¯ without any hesitation.

    Rumacar did not know how long it would take. However, he could juste back and kill them one after the other once they exhausted their strength. That was right. Rumacar was confident that he would be the victor, even if he was against a million or two million enemies. In fact, he was even confident that he would be able to kill them all.

    ¡°Keuhahahahahahahahaha! Ahahahahahahahahaha!¡± Rumacar continued tough in the middle of the battlefield.

    He felt like there was no need to do something so useless asing back. It was more apt to kill these foolish people. What was more, the soldiers of the Kingdom of Eden had chosen to be the same with the others and even opted to defy the orders of the Jade Emperor. Rumacar was confident that the Jade Emperor would understand and be considerate to him.

    Rumacar continued to stand in the middle of the battlefield and called out to the Jade Emperor, ¡°My Lord, Jade Emperor, grant me the power of those that have died.¡±

    <em>sh¡ª sh¡ª</em>

    The enemies around Rumacar were being cut down. He looked like he was dancing around the battlefield unimpeded and free.

    <em>[The Jade Emperor has answered your call.]</em>

    The blood that the dead shed on the battlefield slowly rose from the ground.

    <em>sh, sh¡ª</em>

    ¡°Bring judgment upon these foolish ones and show them the right path,¡± Rumacar asked the Jade Emperor, a nk look on his face.

    <em>sh, sh¡ª</em>

    Then, he shed his own finger and added a drop of his own blood to the blood that was rushing to the sky. Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>[An Ancient Envoy has awakened to the world!!!]</em>

    <em>[The Jade Emperor has bestowed upon you the authority over the Ancient Envoys!]</em>

    <em>[Now, you will be able to give orders not only to the Heavenly Army, but also to the Ancient Heavenly Army!]</em>

    Rumacar was not the only envoy of the Jade Emperor. The Jade Emperor also had the Ancient Envoys, envoys that were said to be the most powerful since time immemorial. Now, some of these envoys had awakened. One of those that have awakened was just like Rumacar, the armymander of the Heavenly Army.

    It seemed like the Jade Emperor was also furious about this situation.

    A man wearing rusty armor stood at the sky above them. He was followed by 800,000 troops of the Ancient Heavenly Army.

    <em>Dong¡ª! Dong¡ª! Dong¡ª! Dong¡ª!</em>

    Fear struck the hearts of the troops of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and the Kingdom of Eden as the thunderous echoes of the drums rang out across the battlefield.

    Rumacar said, ¡°Today, the Kingdom of Eden will disappear from the annals of history.¡±

    He intended to kill all of the people here. He had deemed the Kingdom of Eden aspletely rotten to the core. Besides, there were far too many people in that kingdom that went against the Jade Emperor. It was only right for them to disappear.

    The most thrilling part for Rumacar was the fact that Ancient Envoy Lebanon, the one hailed as the Death Commander, had made his appearance here. After all, Lebanon was an existence that even Rumacar could not hold a candle to.

    Then, Lebanon spoke.

    <em>[Die.]</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Hundreds of thousands of swords burst out of Lebanon¡¯s sword and rained down upon everyone on the ground.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    <em>¡°</em>Uwaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keheooook!¡±

    At that moment, 60,000 of the troops on the ground disappeared without a trace.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The people of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, and even the Bull Demon King, could not hide how flustered they were. The battle had nowe to an end. There was no way for them to continue. After all, none of them expected for Death Commander Lebanon and the Ancient Heavenly Army to appear here.

    Lebanon stood next to Rumacar.

    ¡°Kghhk! Kihihihihihihihihihi! Kill those ants!!! Huh? Kahahahahahahaha!!!¡±

    Rumacar¡¯sughter reverberated across the battlefield that had been engulfed in silence. All of the surviving troops could not help but gulp dryly. As for Rumacar? He looked at the wretched look on everyone¡¯s faces and continued tough.

    ¡°Kihihihihihihihi! Ahahahahahahaha!¡±

    However, the corners of Minhyuk¡¯s mouth started to twitch amidst Rumacar¡¯s continuousughter.

    ¡°Kihihi¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°Fufufufufufufu. Fwahahahahahahahahahahahaha!¡±

    Then, Minhyuk began tough loudly.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Rumacar could not hide his confusion at Minhyuk¡¯s reaction.

    <em>¡®All of the puzzle pieces have been fitted together.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk and Sun Wukong had created a n, which had nowe to fruition.

    <em>[You have used the Jade Emperor¡¯s Seal!]</em>

    Minhyuk took out the seal and held it out for everyone to see. Then, he said, ¡°Jade Emperor, I have your seal. Now, you have to grant my wish.¡±

    ¡°¡­!!!¡±

    Rumacar knew what kind of item the Jade Emperor¡¯s Seal was. Basically, it was an item that proved the Jade Emperor¡¯s existence. One could think of it as a seal. However, that seal was the item that has allowed the Jade Emperor to remain in the ¡®position of God¡¯ in this world. It was also an item that could allow anyone in possession to ask the Jade Emperor to grant one of their wishes.

    ¡°The entire Heavenly Army led by Rumacar that is present here.¡±

    Rumacar felt his lips start to go dry.

    ¡°As well as Ancient Envoy Lebanon and the Ancient Heavenly Army that he leads. The leadership and authority over all of these divine troops¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk turned around to where the Bull Demon King, or Hanwoo, was. Then, he pointed his finger at him and said, ¡°Bestow it upon him.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>[The Bull Demon King has been entrusted with the leadership and authority over the entire Heavenly Army!!!]</em>

    <em>Grab¡ª</em>

    Immediately after that, the tall and majestic Lebanon turned to Rumacar and grabbed him by the neck.

    Minhyuk looked at Rumacar andughed, ¡°F*cking bastard.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

 Chapter 670: Hanwoo

    Chapter 670: Hanwoo

    What did the seal mean to the Jade Emperor? To put it simply, the seal was a royal seal. It was important to the rulers of empires and was something that could only be held by emperors or absolute existences like the Jade Emperor.

    Also, the Jade Emperor¡¯s Seal was something that was unique to the Jade Emperor. It was essential for him to rule the entire Edea Continent. Unfortunately, the Jade Emperor¡¯s Seal had been stolen from him by none other than the Fake Sun Wukong!

    The Jade Emperor had been searching for the whereabouts of the seal for a very long time. However, he could not find it, no matter how hard he looked. But now, a person from another world appeared with the seal in his hands.

    For Jade Emperor¡¯s Envoy Rumacar, the Jade Emperor was the master that he had served since his birth and was the sole reason for his existence.

    <em>[The Jade Emperor has bestowed the authority tomand the entire Heavenly Army and Ancient Heavenly Army to the Bull Demon King!]</em>

    <em>[The entire Heavenly Army must obey the orders of the Bull Demon King! Treat his words as the words of the Jade Emperor himself.]</em>

    <em>[The Jade Emperor will personally punish anyone that dared to disobey the orders of the Bull Demon King!]</em>

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­Keok!¡±

    Lebanon, the one hailed as the Death Commander and the Jade Emperor¡¯s strongest envoy, grabbed Rumacar by the neck.

    ¡°F*cking bastard,¡± Minhyuk mocked Rumacar. In fact, his n was simple.

    Minhyuk recalled the discussion that he had with Sun Wukong.

    <em>¡®Rumacar can borrow the power of the Ancient Envoys once he is ced in a big crisis. That will be our opportunity. If we fight him as we are right now, then both you and I would not even stand a chance.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®So, all we need to do is use the power of the Jade Emperor to kill Rumacar?¡¯</em>

    That was right. In the first ce, Minhyuk would never be able to stand up against Rumacar. However, that did not mean that he needed to fight himself.

    <em>Twitch, twitch, twitch¡ª</em>

    Rumacar¡¯s face turned red as he struggled fiercely against Lebanon¡¯s grip on his neck. He could not hide the anger that stained his face. Why? He had always followed the Jade Emperor¡¯s orders to the point that he was even willing to crawl and bark like a dog, but in front of a single seal, the Jade Emperor abandoned and forsaken him. He also felt furious at the fact that everything that was happening was all because of Minhyuk.

    Meanwhile, the Bull Demon King thought, <em>¡®The power to rule over the entire Heavenly Army¡­¡¯</em>

    He looked at the hundreds of thousands of divine soldiers that were now under hismand. Everything was thanks to the man named Minhyuk.

    ¡°Heavenly Army, heed mymand! Kill Rumacar!!!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    The loud answers of the soldiers of the Heavenly Army were thunderous and frightening. However, among them stood some soldiers that believed and had followed Rumacar since they were young. Although Rumacar was a terrible person, he was a very goodmander to them.

    ¡°Rumacar!!!¡±

    ¡°Commander Rumacar!!!¡±

    ¡°Uwoooooooooooo!¡±

    Those that chose to follow Rumacar began to turn sides and hit the troops of the Ancient Heavenly Army. After all, it was not the Jade Emperor, but Rumacar that raised them. That was why they were willing to sacrifice their lives to save Rumacar.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    However, as they shed against the Ancient Heavenly Army, cracks began to appear on their bodies. Rumacar had to bear witness to the cracks that slowly covered the faces of his beloved troops. Not long after, a red glow appeared from the cracks on their faces.

    ¡°Commander Rumacar, please survive¡­¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Rumacar witnessed firsthand how the soldiers of the Heavenly Army that he carefully raised and nurtured, exploded and disappeared without a trace after trying to jump in to save him.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°Do you realize it now?¡± The Bull Demon King said, his words causing Rumacar¡¯s chest to pound painfully, ¡°How do you feel when those that jumped up to protect and save you died?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Rumacar red angrily at the Bull Demon King. If looks could kill, the Bull Demon King would already be dead by now. However, his expression soon turned calm.

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    Rumacar cut off Lebanon¡¯s arms, swiftly backing away from them. There were still some of Rumacar¡¯s Heavenly Army and the Jade Emperor¡¯s Ancient Heavenly Army that were fighting. However, it was safe to say that the Ancient Heavenly Army was ughtering Rumacar¡¯s army.

    Rumacar looked at the sword in his hand for a moment before saying, ¡°I will die with honor and glory.¡±

    <em>Stab¡ª!</em>

    Rumacar stabbed himself in the stomach. His Heavenly Army looked at him and began tomit suicide by stabbing their abdomens with their swords too.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª!</em>

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Euaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°For Commander Rumacar!¡±

    ¡°For the Jade Emperor!!!¡±

    Both the Bull Demon King and Minhyuk just stared at Rumacar¡¯s figure.

    <em>¡®Even if the authority tomand the Heavenly Army was given to the Bull Demon King, they are still a force to be reckoned with. He could not take control of them so easily.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®It¡¯s only natural that most of them will die here.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®On top of that, most of them are serving Rumacar, someone that has been at odds with the Bull Demon King since the very beginning.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®They will eventually bring harm to the kingdom.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Anyway, the Ancient Heavenly Army will disappear by themselves over time.¡¯</em>

    Although the Bull Demon King was given the authority tomand the Heavenly Army, he still did not have the right and authority to lead them in heaven. Besides, the Jade Emperor, who already found the Bull Demon King distasteful, would also not view him in a good light if he had the Heavenly Army under hismand.

    Rumacar looked at the copsing Heavenly Army in despair. He thought, <em>¡®My strength is dying my death.¡¯</em>

    The strength that he had been so very proud of was slowing his impending death, albeit only for a short moment. So, he quickly raised his sword and stabbed himself a few more times.

    Anyone that saw him could tell that Rumacar was a very prideful man. To be exact, he was someone that had lived with everyone prostrating at his feet since he was born to this world. For someone like him, it was very inconceivable to die at the hands of someone else.

    <em>¡®Well, that¡¯s a relief,¡¯ </em>Rumacar thought. Anyway, he had already given up on living and had chosen to die at his own hands instead of the hands of his enemies. At the very least, they would not be tainted by the hands of these people in their deaths.

    ¡°Who said that you can do as you please? You think it¡¯s that easy?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Rumacar¡¯s eyes, which were slowly closing, opened once again. The man, the god from another world named Minhyuk, approached him.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Rumacar could not understand. Why would he kill an enemy that had already surrendered and given up?

    However, Minhyuk¡¯s perspective waspletely different. Rumaca had killed many of the Kingdom of Eden¡¯s citizens. On top of that, he was someone that had made his beloved Hanwoo suffer.

    <em>¡®I am a yer.¡¯</em>

    The most important thing was, Minhyuk was a yer.

    The Bull Demon King and the rest of the people present looked at him in confusion. They also did not feel the need to kill Rumacar and his men. After all, they have already forsaken their lives.

    On the other hand, Minhyuk, a yer, needed to kill Rumacar with his own hands.

    <em>¡®Who would even think that I¡¯m calctive?¡¯</em>

    Any yer would make the same choice that he made here. Minhyuk was just going to wrap it up nicely.

    ¡°The family of the bereaved, the ones that you have mercilessly killed, are still crying and mourning the deaths of their beloved.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°Many even bled and died today because of you.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Rumacar does not deserve to die by his own hands.¡±

    ¡°His words are correct. We¡¯re all foolish to wait for Rumacar to die peacefully, without paying for the pain that he inflicted upon us.¡±

    ¡°Kill Rumacar!!!¡±

    Rumacar¡¯s eyes grew wide from shock. He was fully aware that the man in front of him was just inciting the people around them. He just wanted to prevent him from dying an honorable death. However, Rumacar did not have any strength to fight back any more, especially after he had stabbed himself several times.

    For Minhyuk, this was just like someone delivering food to his mouth while he was lying down. Minhyuk¡¯s voice sounded eerily fishy as he said, ¡°This sword carries the blood and tears of the people, as well as the wishes of the departed¡­¡±

    To Rumacar, Minhyuk¡¯s words were just mere bullshit.

    Although Minhyuk¡¯s voice sounded grave and solemn, the corners of his mouth were curled up. However, none of them could speak ill of him. After all, this was his spoils of war.

    ¡°In the name of the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King, I will bring judgment upon you.¡±

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    Rumacar¡¯s head fell on the ground. At the same time, notifications constantly rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    The first to ring in his ears were the additional notifications.

    <em>[The Absolute God of Another World groans as he looks at you, who killed his own envoy.]</em>

    <em>[The Hundred Swords¡¯ skill proficiency has increased after another god looks at you in awe!]</em>

    <em>[The God that Likes to Cook is looking at you in shock.]</em>

    <em>[The Hundred Swords¡¯ skill proficiency¡­another god¡­awe!]</em>

    <em>[The God that Controls Death is looking at you¡­]</em>

    <em>[The God that is in charge of Beauty is¡­]</em>

    <em>[The God that Loves to Farm is¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­Hundred Swords¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­Hundred Swords¡­]</em>

    <em>[The Hundred Swords¡¯ skill proficiency has reached the MAX level!]</em>

    <em>[The Thousand Swords¡¯ seal has been released!]</em>

    <em>[You can now use the Thousand Swords!]</em>

    There were also the notifications about the sessful kill of Rumacar.

    Meanwhile, Lebanon and the rest of the Ancient Heavenly Army started to disappear.

    ¡°I will no longer serve the Jade Emperor.¡±

    ¡°The Jade Emperor is not our God.¡±

    ¡°If he was truly our God, then he would have taken care of us!¡±

    <em>[Even, who had served the Jade Emperor for the longest time, has given up his faith in his god!]</em>

    <em>[Kannon, who had served the Jade Emperor for the longest time¡­faith in his god!]</em>

    <em>[Rebaen, who had served the Jade Emperor for the longest time¡­faith in his god!]</em>

    A handful of the surviving soldiers began to renounce the Jade Emperor as their god,pletely abandoning their faith in him. Even if they hated the Jade Emperor to their core, he was still the god that they had served and worshiped since birth. It was not that easy to give up their faith like that.

    However, it was not that there was no alternative.

    ¡°Wait, you¡¯re also a god.¡±

    ¡°Goodness. A god is standing in front of me.¡±

    ¡°A man like you is someone worth worshiping and serving.¡±

    There were only around 400~500 people that abandoned their faith in the Jade Emperor.

    These people nced at the Bull Demon King after staring at Minhyuk. The Bull Demon King nodded his head, expressing his eptance.

    ¡°Do you want to join our religion?¡±

    The soldiers, who were supposed to worship the Jade Emperor, looked at Minhyuk with shining eyes the moment they heard his question.

    ¡°I want to!¡±

    ¡°I want to join!!!¡±

    ¡°I want to serve and worship you!!!¡±

    The Bull Demon King¡¯s approval meant that Minhyuk could take them in at any time. This might mean that they would abandon and leave the Edea, the continent that they lived in since their birth. However, the fact that they had forsaken the Jade Emperor meant that they had to leave this ce sooner orter. They were ready, willing to give up on many of the things that they held dear, and looked at Minhyuk, who had a gentle smile on his face.

    ¡°What is the name of your religion?!¡±

    ¡°I will only serve you!!!¡±

    ¡°You will be our true god!!!¡±

    ¡°I believe I will be really happy in the future if I serve and worship a god like you!!!¡±

    Minhyuk looked up at the sky with a wide and bright smile on his face and said, ¡°The name of my religion is!!!¡±

    Everyone looked at him in trepidation. What was it? Was it something dreamy like ¡®Divine Religion¡¯ or ¡®Sword God Religion¡¯?

    At that moment, the notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You have obtained 437 new believers of Minhyuk Church!]</em>

    <em>[Their faith in Minhyuk Church has reached unprecedented levels right now!]</em>

    <em>[They might jump to their deaths if you so wish for it to happen!]</em>

    Then, he said, ¡°It¡¯s Minhyuk Church!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    <em>[The faith of the 437 believers of Minhyuk Religion has decreased slightly.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk thought in confusion, <em>¡®Huh? Why did it suddenly decrease?¡¯</em>

    In fact, the only one that could not understand the notification was Minhyuk alone.

 Chapter 671: Hanwoo

    Chapter 671: Hanwoo

    Rumacar, the current king of the Kingdom of Eden, had died. However, the Jade Emperor, who sent him to take over the kingdom, was silent about it. This was because he had forsaken and abandoned Rumacar, in exchange for his royal seal. With Rumacar dying by the Jade Emperor¡¯s will, there was a high chance that the Kingdom of Eden would not be found guilty.

    No matter how overboard a god could be, each and every kingdom under his jurisdiction had eyes. He was the one that willingly abandoned Rumacar for his own gain, it was unlikely that he would seek a pretext to invade the Kingdom of Eden again. In the end, a god could only exist if he had priests and believers, and the Jade Emperor was fully aware of that fact.

    Hanwoo, or the Bull Demon King, was working round the clock in the Kingdom of Eden. As for Minhyuk, he was currently resting in arge room that was prepared for him by the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal. He wanted to consult with Sun Wukong again, and ask him if there was a way to unlock Obren¡¯s seal and awaken him.

    Minhyuk was not able to check the notifications after hunting Rumacar since he had been busy. Hence, he took this short break to do that.

    <em>[You have sessfully killed the Jade Emperor¡¯s Envoy and the Commander of the Heavenly Army, Rumacar!]</em>

    <em>[Many people from the Edea Continent will show hostility towards you.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the <strong>Title</strong>: ¡®The One that Cut Down the Heavenly Army¡¯s Commander¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 43,977,413,135 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up!]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up!]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up!]</em>

    <em>[¡­leveled up!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 34,613 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 36 sheets of the Jade Emperor¡¯s Weapon Reinforcement Enchantment Parchments.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 53 sheets of the Jade Emperor¡¯s Armor Reinforcement Enchantment Parchments.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Tempest Sword.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Ebentor¡¯s Hard Armor.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Runbei¡¯s Breath.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Heavenly Army¡¯s Commander¡¯s Ring.]</em>

    <em>[¡­Aven¡¯s Ne.]</em>

    <em>[¡­Korona¡¯s Ring.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Skill Book: Typhoon Sword.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Skill Book: Intangible Sword.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s level increased seven times in a row, bringing his level to Level 550 with half of the EXP bar filled.

    <em>¡®From what I heard, something special will happen once you reach Level 600¡­¡¯</em>

    Joy Co. Ltd. had sent an announcement about this to the yers. However, it was something that would not happen anytime soon. High rankers at Level 500 or higher needed at least a month to raise their level even by just one level.

    Minhyuk decided to check the title ¡®The One that Cut Down the Heavenly Army¡¯s Commander¡¯ first.

    <em>(<strong>The One that Cut Down the Heavenly Army¡¯s Commander</strong>)</em>

    <em>Unique Title</em>

    <em><strong>Title Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?When fighting against those that are rted to the Jade Emperor, you will receive a 15% increase in all of your stats and a 50% increase in your sword¡¯s attack power.</em>

    <em>?All of your stats will increase by 3%, regardless of the special rtion requirement listed above.</em>

    The title was not bad, especially with the 3% increase in all stats.

    The other items that Minhyuk deemed to be useful were the Jade Emperor¡¯s Weapon and Armor Reinforcement Enchantment Parchments. These two parchment items could increase the power of the weapon or the armor by 1 to 3 times. However, there was a surprise to these items.

    <em>¡®The probability of having a sessful reinforcement is three times higher than that of ordinary reinforcement blessings and stones.¡¯</em>

    The reinforcement parchments were that good.

    Next, Minhyuk looked at the other items that caught his eyes, those that could immediately help him with whatever situation he would face next. Among these items was the Heavenly Army¡¯s Commander¡¯s Ring.

    <em>¡®Isn¡¯t this one amazing?¡¯</em>

    <em>(<strong>Heavenly Army¡¯s Commander¡¯s Ring</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: Legendary</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: Level 500 or higher.</em>

    <em><strong>Durability</strong>: ¡Þ / ¡Þ</em>

    <em><strong>Special Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?A 15% increase in CHA.</em>

    <em>?You can summon ten of the Heavenly Army¡¯s Warriors.</em>

    <em>?You can summon one Heavenly Commander.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: This is a ring that can only be obtained by those that have killed the Commander of the Heavenly Army, Rumacar. The one Heavenly Commander and the ten knights will obey all of your orders unconditionally.</em>

    <em>¡®Wait a minute. This¡­¡¯ </em>Minhyuk mumbled, finding the description of the ring to be very shocking.

    There were some surprises in the description. The first was that there was no time limit to the summoning time. In other words, once they summoned them, they could be Minhyuk¡¯s allies for all eternity, which meant he could even use this in another way.

    <em>¡®Since I can summon them from the ring, this means that it¡¯s possible for me to hide them from the others.¡¯</em>

    It was very important to hide one¡¯s powers when dealing with enemies. It would be like a trump card of some sort. The next one was the fact that the special effects did not mention what kind of ¡®Heavenly Commander¡¯ or ¡®Heavenly Army¡¯s Knight¡¯ would be summoned.

    <em>¡®The one that I can summon can either be the Heavenly Army¡¯s Mage Commander, Knight Commander, or even the Archery Commander.¡¯</em>

    Yes. The same was true for the knights. The most important part here was that the level of the troops of the Heavenly Army that Minhyuk had seen before were at least at Level 550,parable to that of a high ranker. There was also Heavenly Army Commander Lebanon, who was at Level 600.

    <em>¡®Even a boss mob will be afraid of him.¡¯</em>

    Basically, they would be crazily strong subordinates. There was also another advantage to this.

    <em>¡®For summoning rings, I can just wear it and take it off after the summoning.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk already owned a lot of rings. For summoning rings, they were not subjected to the item limit imposed upon the yer. That was why Minhyuk could just wear it and take it off whenever he wanted.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s because of this, huh¡­¡¯</em>

    Before, Minhyuk had received an attack from Rumacar just by the man taking one step forward. The attack was not really that difficult to evade. However, he learnt something from the description.

    <em>(<strong>Intangible Sword</strong>)</em>

    <em>Active Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: Legendary</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty for Use</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Mana Required</strong>: 500</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?Upon activation of the Intangible Sword, you will be able to attack your enemies with an invisible sword for three minutes.</em>

    <em>?Upon activation of the Intangible Sword, you will be able to use Sword Maniption.</em>

    <em>?Upon activation of the Intangible Sword, your sword¡¯s attack power will increase by 30%.</em>

    There was one thing that Minhyuk was very curious about.

    <em>¡®Intangible Sword¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk already had a skill with the same name. It was a skill that he had obtained from one of the Eight Pinnacle Strong Men, Imperial Sword Rumad. It was quite rare to find a duplicate skill for skills at a certain rank or higher. There were even fewer cases where legendary skills or higher ovepped and had duplicates.

    <em>¡®Usually, in this case¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk remembered a very, <em>very</em> special case. It was not like there was not a precedent where a legendary rank skill had duplicate.

    <em>¡®The skill has been divided into two.¡¯</em>

    For the example he remembered, the power had been split into two. If that was truly the case, then it might mean something.

    <em>¡®Did Imperial Sword Rumad visit Edea?¡¯</em>

    Since Minhyuk obtained the Intangible Sword, a skill that was divided into two, it was obvious what he would do next.

    ¡°Skillbination.¡±

    One did not need to have a special skill or power to make this happen. All they needed to do was find the two parts of the power that were divided.

    <em>[You are in possession of another Intangible Sword!]</em>

    <em>[The Skill Book: Intangible Sword is reacting and responding to the Intangible Sword skill that you currently possess!]</em>

    <em>[Skill Book: Intangible Sword has regained its full power!]</em>

    The skill book that he acquired and was lying dormant in Minhyuk¡¯s inventory after he killed Rumacar suddenly flew out and floated in the air. Then, it was sucked into his body.

    <em>[The Intangible Sword skill in your possession has regained its full strength!]</em>

    <em>[Congrattions! Your Intangible Sword skill will change and obtain a higher level!]</em>

    <em>[The Intangible Sword skill¡¯s level will change from Legendary to Envoy rank!]</em>

    <em>[Edea¡¯s Envoy-rank Skills are equivalent to your world¡¯s God-rank Skills!]</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    A skill that was equivalent to a God-rank skill was an unexpected harvest for Minhyuk.

    That was when a thought shed in Minhyuk¡¯s head, <em>¡®The only one they worship as a True God here is the Jade Emperor, huh?¡¯</em>

    Right below the Jade Emperor were his envoys. In other words, the Jade Emperor¡¯s existence was like Athenae, while his envoys were like the Absolute Gods.

    Putting that thought aside, Minhyuk moved to check the description of Intangible Sword once again, his body trembling with anticipation.

    <em>(<strong>Intangible Sword</strong>)</em>

    <em>Active Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: Envoy</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty For Use</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Mana Required</strong>: 3,000</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?Upon activation of the Intangible Sword, you will be able to attack your enemies with an invisible sword for five minutes. Your attack will reach your enemy as long as they are within a ten meter radius from you just by simply brandishing your sword.</em>

    <em>?Upon activation of the Intangible Sword, you will be able to send hundreds of invisible swords and manipte them with Sword Maniption.</em>

    <em>?Upon activation of the Intangible Sword, your sword¡¯s attack power will increase by 900%. The movement speed of your Sword Maniption will also be ten times faster than your speed of wielding your sword.</em>

    <em>?Upon activation of the Intangible Sword, you will be able to ignore all of your enemy¡¯s defenses.</em>

    <em>¡®Isn¡¯t this freaking amazing¡­?¡¯</em>

    The biggest takeaway here was that he could use Sword Maniption to manipte hundreds of invisible swords. This was an overpowered skill, especially since the movement speed of the Sword Maniption would be ten times higher than his own speed and would even have 900% more attack power.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s safe to say that the sword will move at the speed of light, no?¡¯ </em>Minhyuk thought. However, something happened right after, taking him by surprise.

    <em>[The priest that serves and worships you is praying to you!]</em>

    <em>[Your priest is informing you of a danger!]</em>

    <em>[Please listen and grant your priest¡¯s heartfelt prayers!]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk looked at the notifications in doubt. This meant that Ambron, the priest that was originally supposed to walk the path of the Death¡¯s Priest, was praying to him.

    <em>¡®Did something happen to the temple?¡¯</em>

    Then, at that moment, something else cropped up.

    ¡°The Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal has sent me to inform you that everything has been prepared.¡±

    Minhyuk had asked the Bull Demon King and Sun Wukong if they had a way of sending his believers to his own kingdom. Fortunately, Sun Wukong was able to create a portal that could send plenty of people to another world. However, once they were sent to that world, it would be very hard for them to return to this world.

    <em>¡®I can¡¯t go right now.¡¯</em>

    After all, he had yet to find out if there was a way to awaken Obren from Sun Wukong.

    <em>¡®Should I try this one, then?¡¯ </em>Minhyuk thought, taking out a parchment that he had received as a gift from Sun Wukong. This parchment was none other than the ¡®Cloning Technique Parchment¡¯.

    ¡°Then, is it possible to open the portal now? I have to send my believers and my clone right away.¡±

    The best part about the Cloning Technique Parchment was that he could switch positions orbine with the clone that he sent, if it was truly an emergency. Once he found out that the situation was something that his clone could not handle, he would go himself.

    <em>[Cloning Technique. Chapter 3.]</em>

    <em>[A clone that resembles you has been made!]</em>

    <em>[The clone will have 60% of your power!]</em>

    <em>[You can control your clone!]</em>

    ***

    At the same time.

    <em>Booooooooooom¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡°Ugh, aaaaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°For, For Minhyuk Religioooooooooon!!!¡±

    Priest Ambron gulped back the terror that gripped him, as he charged forward with the priests and believers.

    He had gathered close to 200 believers with the help of Beanie. Most of them were just apprentices. However, the fact that they could gather this many priests and followers was already a miracle. There should have been no priest willing to join a small religion like Minhyuk Church, but here they were.

    However, they were suddenly attacked. The main culprits behind this surprise attack were none other than the believers of Ardees, the Incarnation of Fire. God of Fire Ardees¡¯ priests and believers grew enraged after learning of the death of their god and went on to search for the temple of the Food God.

    After finding the whereabouts of the temple, Dean Illen, the head priest that served God of Fire Ardees, scouted and gathered information. He was fully aware that the Food God¡¯s temple was just newly built and should still be unorganized. To his surprise, he found out that they had already gathered around 200 priests and believers in just a short amount of time.

    On the other hand, the religion that worshiped Ardees had existed for a very long time. The number of their priests and believers was around 20,000 members all over the world. They might not be strong, but at the very least, they had numbers.

    <em>¡®We¡¯re stronger than those apprentices,¡¯</em> Illen thought, a sneer on his mouth.

    Illen was also aware that the Food God¡¯s temple was being protected by the Supreme Divine Beast, Beanie. That was why he used the ¡®Prayer of Restraint¡¯ on Beanie. Even though it was just five minutes, he would still be able to restrain the baby piggy. That was more than enough time to get rid of a praying priest and a mere 200 believers.

    <em>¡®Today is the day that the Food God¡¯s temple will be destroyed!¡¯</em>

    Ambron felt his heart sink into despair.

    <em>¡®¡­Have you gathered plenty of priests and believers?¡¯ </em>Ambron asked his god.

    He had asked the Food God, Minhyuk, to gather thirty priests and believers. If Minhyuk was able to do that, Ambron felt like he would be able to trust and follow him. They had gathered this many priests and believers thanks to Beanie¡¯s ¡®method acting¡¯, but it would have definitely been a very hard task for the Food God.

    <em>¡®In the end, will everything fall apart and get destroyed?¡¯</em>

    Ambron had already decided to risk his life and die today. Anyway, he was already dead set on dying before. However, before leaving this world, he wanted to at least pray onest prayer to his god.

    ¡°Euaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuwaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    The screams of the people, who had joined the Minhyuk Church and had gathered to worship him, rang rampant inside the temple.

    ¡°Keuhahahahahahahahah! You will all die! Everything inside the Minhyuk Church will be destroyed!¡±

    This temple would copse today and the Minhyuk Church would disappear. But then, God¡¯s Voice rang in the ears of Ambron, who was praying earnestly to his god.

    <em>[God has answered the prayers of the earnest and gentle one!]</em>

    <em>[God will send his priests and believers for your sake!]</em>

    <em>[God will send his clone that can use 60% of his own powers for your sake!]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Ambron was left in disbelief. In fact, he truly did not expect anything much after he prayed. However, God was sending him believers? How many believers did he have? Ten? Twenty? Perhaps, fifty? How much help could they be to them?

    At that moment, Ambron felt disappointment in his god, Minhyuk. Unbeknownst to him, the believers that Minhyuk sent were in fact, strong.

 Chapter 672: Hanwoo

    Chapter 672: Hanwoo

    Ambron sighed softly. He expected Minhyuk to send only around 30 believers, but the number of enemies that appeared in front of them was around 20,000. On top of that, God had only sent a clone with 60% of his own power and did not evene in person.

    <em>¡®In the end, he¡¯s the same¡­? Why can¡¯t hee in person? Just like that time when he first captivated me and won me over? Isn¡¯t he going to save me and those poor people?¡¯</em> Ambron gritted his teeth.

    <em>[God is grateful to you for gathering believers for him!]</em>

    <em>[God has received your sincere heart and thoughts!]</em>

    <em>aaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    At that moment, white light began to burst out of the Minhyuk Church¡¯s temple, which was hidden behind the dark thickets of the gloomy and dark forest.

    <em>aaaaash¡ª</em>

    <em>aaaaaash¡ª</em>

    <em>aaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    White warhorses appeared one after the other from within the forest, carrying men covered with the hood of their white uniform simr to a priest¡¯s robes as they charged forward and cried loudly to announce their presence.

    ¡°<em>Hihihihihihing</em><em>!</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Hihihihihihihing</em><em>!</em>¡±

    <em>[The envoys sent by God have now reached the temple and havee to save you!]</em>

    Ambron could not hide the shock in his eyes when he saw the men wearing pure white priestly robes appear in front of him. Fifty people? A hundred? Perhaps, two hundred? No, not at all. There were as many as 500 people that appeared in front of him, and they immediately started to sweep away the 20,000 enemy army that were attacking the temple.

    ¡°Euaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!!!¡±

    The average level of the soldiers of the Kingdom of Eden was at Level 450. Among them were also the ten Heavenly Army knights and one Heavenly Commander that Minhyuk had summoned through the ¡®Heavenly Army¡¯s Commander¡¯s Ring¡¯.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The scene where a mere unit of 500 strong men in pure white priestly robes swept away the believers of the Incarnation of Fire, was very awe-inspiring.

    ¡°Ah, aaaaaaah¡­ aaaaaaaaaah¡­!¡± Ambron sank to his knees, his hands sped together in prayer.

    <em>¡®To think I doubted my god! I was suspicious of him!¡¯</em>

    Tears streamed down Ambron¡¯s cheeks as he repented. Hundreds of Ardees¡¯ believers charged towards him, intent on killing him. Was this going to be his end? Perhaps, but it was fine, because today, Ambron had seen how great and amazing his god, the Food God, was.

    ¡°Die!!!¡±

    ¡°Kill that priest no matter what!!!¡±

    Ambron, despite the countless swords and spears aimed at him, smiled. But then, at that moment, the hood covering the face of one of the men, who in white priestly robes riding the warhorses, fell off and exposed his face. Ambron was deeply moved at the sight.

    <em>¡®My God! The Great God of the Minhyuk Church!!!¡¯</em>

    Then, the man swung his sword while saying, ¡°Intangible Sword.¡±

    <em>[God has sent his clone to save and protect you!]</em>

    <em>[He is swinging his sword for you!]</em>

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª!</em>

    Then, at that moment, hundreds of Ardees¡¯ believers that were dead set on killing Ambron copsed on the ground, blood spurting from their body at the same time.

    <em>Thud¡ª Thud¡ª Thud¡ª Thud¡ª</em>

    Even though Ambron had seen it with his own eyes, he could not believe it. It was just too surreal.

    <em>¡®What¡­?¡¯</em>

    Ambron¡¯s face was painted with confusion. The clone that God had sent had only swung his sword once. However, the hundreds of people that had approached him all died in an instant. That was not even the end of it.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Urrrrrrrrrrk!¡±

    Ambron immediately turned around and looked at the direction where the screams came from. There, he saw more believers of the Incarnation of Fire Ardees die one after the other, their bodies spurting blood all over. Some were not even able to scream before they died, their heart and vital points pierced through by some sort of power.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª!</em>

    Ten seconds. It only took ten seconds for 1,000 of Ardees¡¯ believers to die.

    <em>¡®Are they that weak?¡¯</em>

    Well, that was one of the reasons. Many of the believers of Ardees were ordinary people that had never held a de in their hands. They were only a threat to Minhyuk Church because the religion¡¯s believers were mostly apprentices and theirrge numbers.

    Then, was it because the clone was very strong? No, that was not it either.

    Right now, they could not see it, but God¡¯s clone had activated the Intangible Sword and sent hundreds of invisible swords to sweep away the enemies. Although the clone only had 60% of Minhyuk¡¯s power, the hundreds of swords that couldpletely ignore his opponent¡¯s defenses could exert a strength that was far beyond anyone¡¯s imagination.

    Dean Illen, the head priest that served God of Fire Ardees, could not hide how flustered he was. He screamed, ¡°What can you even do with just less than 700 people?!!!¡±

    His anger red. However, he soon calmed down. Most of Ardees¡¯ believers were just ordinary people. However, there were also quite a few pdins that served his god. These pdins were around Level 450 and would definitely be able to turn the situation around.

    One of the pdins swung his sword down on one of the Food God¡¯s envoys.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    A gleeful smile appeared on Illen¡¯s face, as he expected a fountain of blood that would soon dye this temple red. They had around 500 pdins on their side. He believed that this number was more than enough to kill those envoys.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    One of the Food God¡¯s envoys charged forward alone, shing and cutting down Ardees¡¯ pdins. As the fight continued, the spear of one pdin caught the hem of the priestly robes that covered the envoy and tore it apart.

    What appeared beneath the white robe was a golden full te armor and a white cape. Written on the white cape fluttering behind the man were the words ¡®Heavenly Army¡¯s Heavenly Commander Nelson¡¯.

    <em>¡®Heavenly Army¡­? What the hell is a Heavenly Army?!¡¯</em>

    Dean Illen might not know it but Heavenly Commander Nelson¡¯s level was at Level 610. No matter how many of them flocked towards him, there was no way that they could kill him.

    Unbeknownst to him, Minhyuk had also summoned ten warriors of the Heavenly Army with the same ¡®Heavenly Army¡¯s Commander¡¯s Ring¡¯. Some of them were knights, some were mages, and some were archers.

    The mages brought confusion to the enemies by bombarding them with magical attacks while the archers shot their arrows and targeted their vital points. As for the knights? They helped those that were in grave danger by stabbing the enemies in their vital points.

    ¡°This, this is impossible¡­¡±

    Dean Illen¡¯s family had served the Incarnation of Fire Ardees for hundreds of years. As the head priest, he had always hoped that the god that he served would be worshiped by many people and the religion that he had created would be stronger. That was the reason why Illen, using various methods and giving it his all, gathered strong priests and believers. He had devoted his entire life to this cause!

    But what about Minhyuk Church? It was a religion that had just been established and was only in operation for a week. However, there were already more than 500 powerful believers that had gathered together to worship and serve the religion.

    However, it was not just Illen that was surprised about this. Even Ambron was shocked by this scene.

    <em>¡®What in the world is the Food God¡¯s power¡­¡¯</em>

    Ambron could not measure it. His clone only had 60% of his power, yet he was like the god of the battlefield as he ughtered the enemies in front of him.

    ¡°He, he¡¯s the God that we serve and worship¡­?!¡±

    ¡°Minhyuk Church¡¯s Lord and God!!!¡±

    ¡°Lord Minhyuk!!!¡±

    ¡°Ah, aaaaaaaah¡­!!! Our great and mighty Lord Minhyuk!!!¡±

    The apprentices were given two surprises today. The first one was the fact that they were able to see their god¡¯s visage, and the second one was the might of their god.

    As for Ambron, he finally decided to acknowledge Minhyuk. He had certainly asked him to gather thirty believers. But Minhyuk had gone far and beyond.

    <em>¡®He aplished something very amazing.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had gathered around 500 believers by himself. It was aplete and undeniable sess.

    ¡°Look!!! This is the great and mighty lord and god of our Minhyuk Church!!! Lord Minhyuk¡¯s power right now is only at 60%!!!¡±

    ¡°Wow¡­¡±

    ¡°Did, did he just say 60%¡­?¡±

    Those words alone were enough to bring shock to the believers and priests of both Minhyuk and Ardees religions.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    Then, as if to drive that fact in further, Minhyuk¡¯s Intangible Sword cut down more than 5,000 of the enemies that blocked his path.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Everyone turned speechless when they saw how Ardees¡¯ priests and believers fell down like leaves in autumn. Some evenpletely lost their will to fight. In fact, Ardees¡¯ believers were aware that nothing would change even if they destroyed the Minhyuk Church. They just did this because they wanted to find a ce where they could vent their anger after they learned about the death of the god that they had served and worshiped for a very long time.

    ¡°Ardees was a violent and fierce god. Everyone knew of his viciousness even in the world of the gods,¡± At that moment, Priest Ambron dered as he stepped forward.

    There were now only around a thousand survivors from Ardees¡¯ believers at most. This was because the envoys that Minhyuk had brought forward were far too strong. For some strange reason, the surviving believers of God Ardees began to listen intently to Ambron. This was all because of Ambron¡¯s passive, ¡®Priest that Shares Faith¡¯.

    The Priest that Shares Faith was an incredible skill that could attract those that did not have any god to follow, those that had been abandoned by their god, or those that no longer had any god to worship and serve.

    ¡°On the other hand, the Food God is very gracious and merciful towards his believers.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Everyone looked at Ambron when they heard his words. It was true. After all, Minhyuk had sent his clone and envoys to protect his temple, priests and believers. This fact alone made the believers of God Ardees feel envy towards the believers of the Food God¡¯s religion.

    ¡°Our Lord, the Food God, will wee you with open arms.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s clone stopped attacking the moment he heard those words.

    <em>¡®Eh? I didn¡¯t n on doing that though?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had been controlling his clone. In fact, he did not intend to spare a single soul here. However, he stopped to watch this interesting situation that Ambron, his priest, was creating.

    ¡°If you stay with Minhyuk Church, you will definitely be happy!!! Everyone, can¡¯t you see the happy smile on my face?!!!¡± Ambron said, tears streaming down his cheeks.

    ¡°Ah, aaaaaaaaah¡­!!!¡±

    ¡°Such heartfelt tears!!! Just because you¡¯re serving and worshiping your own god!!!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaah! Minhyuk Church! What a great name!!!¡±

    Among those that shouted in admiration was Illen, the dean and head priest of Ardees¡¯ religion. In fact, he had already grown skeptical of his god and was already on the fence as to whether he should continue to serve his god or not. He was also the one that was first to shout to make sure that he could win the heart of his new god and the believers of Minhyuk Church.

    ¡°Minhyuk¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Everyone focused on Illen when they saw him mumble Minhyuk¡¯s name while shedding tears.

    ¡°¡­Church, long live!!!¡±

    ¡°Long liveeeeeeeee!!!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaaaah! The great and mighty Minhyuk Church!!!¡±

    Many of them decided to abandon their religion and choose to serve Minhyuk and Minhyuk Church right at this very moment. However, there were others that did not want to do so.

    At that moment, a very quick-witted being began to make his move. This being was none other than Priest Beanie, wearing his own version of a priestly robe.

    Beanie grabbed the priests and believers that started to move to return to their homes, his expression reminiscent of an old master in seclusion. Then, he smiled at them kindly and said, ¡°Oink, oink oink, oink. <em>(Have a meal before you go.)</em>¡±

    The eyes of everyone that tasted the food served in the Minhyuk Church grew wide after realizing the greatness of the Food God.

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaah! Lord Minhyuuuuuuk!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaaaah. Long live Minhyuk Religioooooon!¡±

    At the same time, notifications rang in the ears of Minhyuk, who was controlling his clone from afar.

    <em>[You have gained 557 new priests and 485 new believers in Minhyuk Church.]</em>

    <em>[Minhyuk Church¡¯s level has increased further!]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Simply put, Minhyuk was able to eat rice cake while lying down[1] thanks to Ambron. Just when the thought shed in his head¡­

    <em>¡®I want to eat some rice cakes.¡¯</em>

    Today too, Minhyuk Church¡¯s god was thinking like as he typically did.

    1. Achieving something so easily. ?

 Chapter 673: Hanwoo

    Chapter 673: Hanwoo

    Minhyuk and the Bull Demon King stood facing each other. For Minhyuk, the Bull Demon King was a very reliablerade. And for the Bull Demon King, although he did not have theplete memories of this man in front of him, he could still tell that this man had treated him dearly and fought for him.

    ¡°I¡¯ll get going now,¡± Minhyuk said, smiling softly.

    The Bull Demon King was aware that there was nothing much he could do for Minhyuk right now. He had heard Minhyuk say to the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal, that he would leave after learning how to awaken Obren.

    ¡°Please stop by if you evere to Edea again.¡±

    ¡°Alright.¡±

    ¡°Also, this. I prepared a gift for you.¡±

    The Bull Demon King had ordered his subordinates to bring something to him. He had wrapped it in gold cloth and wanted to give it to Minhyuk as a gift.

    Minhyuk had a hunch about what it was. One small peek at the gap between the gold cloth and he could see the glimmer of a perfectly delicious-looking ¡®beef gift set¡¯.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk could tell that the beef gift set that the Bull Demon King had gifted to him was not ordinary. However, for some reason, he felt reluctant to consume it.

    ¡°I¡¯ll eat it well!¡± Minhyuk said, a bright smile stered on his face.

    The Bull Demon King could not understand the man even more after seeing the pure smile like a child on his face, <em>¡®He¡¯s the king of a nation and a god, someone that stood up to Rumacar and killed him, yet he smiles brightly in front of food.¡¯</em>

    Actually, even if the Bull Demon King was in the form of a cow, he knew that it would not be easy to pretend and act in front of him.

    <em>¡®Did I take a fancy to this man¡¯s purity and innocence?¡¯</em>

    Perhaps the reason why he, the Bull Demon King, followed this man for so long was because of that.

    ¡°Hahahahahahaha. Do you like it that much?¡± The Bull Demon King said, smiling as he watched the boy clutch the gift tightly to his chest.

    ¡°Of course I like it! It¡¯s the Hanwoo Gift Set that my dear Hanwoo gave me!¡±

    ¡°¡­Hmm?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing! Anyway, I really, <em>really</em> like it!¡±

    The two looked at each other for a long time. In the end, Minhyuk left. As for the Bull Demon King, he continued to watch him until his back disappeared from the horizon.

    And once again, the Bull Demon King resumed his duties as a king. He had been working hard andmanding his people to aid those that had been affected and was walking around the Kingdom of Eden to greet his people and evenforting the families of the bereaved for a few days now.

    As he continued with his work, one of the knights called out to him. The knight was none other than the Sword¡¯s Saint Aaron. The Bull Demon King looked at him as he continued to speak, ¡°Why do you keep on looking in the direction where he left?¡±

    ¡°I do not,¡± the Bull Demon King denied, only realizing that he had been looking back unconsciously.

    He thought that he was just trying to recall the time that he spent with the man, who he could not remember well,ughing and crying. In fact, he could even hear the man¡¯s voice in his ears.

    <em>¡®Moooooooooooooo!</em>¡¯

    How many times had heughed so happily with him?

    <em>¡®Let¡¯s go, Hanwoo!!!¡¯</em>

    Had he ever lived for someone like that before? No. But he knew that it would not happen again.

    ¡°Your Majesty,¡± Aaron called out to the Bull Demon King. Then, he said, ¡°I hate to say this, but you are no longer our king.¡±

    ¡°¡­What?¡± The Bull Demon King looked at Aaron, a stern look on his face.

    Aaron looked around the Kingdom of Eden and said, ¡°Your Majesty, you have already beenbeled as a tyrant, a fact that has greatly shaken the public¡¯s view upon you. And even though Rumacar was the one that persecuted the people, they all med Your Majesty, the Bull Demon King, before ming Envoy Rumacar.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°Everyone remembered how Your Majesty had fled and abandoned us. Our king? You can continue to stay on the throne. However¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The Bull Demon King could not understand. If the people hated him, then that meant that the same was true for the knights. However, the look in the eyes of the people, the knights and the troops when they looked at him did not contain any of that. In fact, their eyes were showing their undying loyalty, and faith in the Bull Demon King.

    ¡°There is no way that we will treat someone, who holds someone else dear in their heart, as our king. Don¡¯t you think so too?¡±

    <em>Shiiiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    The Sword¡¯s Saint Aaron drew his sword and pointed it at the Bull Demon King.

    ¡°Please leave and do what you want to do, what you intended to do.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    <em>Shiiiiing¡ª</em>

    <em>Shiiiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    <em>Shiiiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    Hundreds of knights drew their swords and pointed it at the Bull Demon King. In the first ce, the Bull Demon King should not have returned here. However, he came back here to save them. They did not deserve to serve him and live under his rule, especially after they had turned their backs on him despite knowing full well that he was not a tyrant, all because they were afraid of the Jade Emperor and Rumacar. This was the only thing that they could do for him.

    ¡°Please remember what you truly wanted to do,¡± Aaron said, his expression turning cold. ¡°Please leave the Kingdom of Eden.¡±

    ¡°<em>Heuk. </em><em>Huhuhuheuk</em><em>¡­</em>¡±

    ¡°Huhuhu!¡±

    They might be pointing their swords at the Bull Demon King but someone was crying among them. The Bull Demon King looked up at the sky, filled with emotions, as the people of the Kingdom of Eden stuck their heads to the ground and bowed to him.

    ¡°Someday¡­¡± The Bull Demon King said as he looked down at Aaron, ¡°¡­If Ie here someday, then don¡¯t kick me out so easily, no?¡±

    Aaron looked at his king, the two men smiling brightly at each other.

    ***

    An unknown notification rang in the Bull Demon King¡¯s head just when he was about to leave the kingdom. It was the same notification that he heard when he moved to another world.

    <em>[The Jade Emperor is furious to see you try to give up your throne!]</em>

    <em>[If you give up your position as the king of the Kingdom of Eden, you will have no other choice but to return to the figure of a cow.]</em>

    The Bull Demon King was a very important figure in the Edea Continent. Even though he might not know it, this was the system¡¯s way to put restrictions upon him and prevent a powerful person like him from leaving the continent.

    The Bull Demon King stood on his spot and looked back at the Kingdom of Eden.

    <em>aaaaaash¡ª</em>

    Then, he was enveloped in a sh of light. When the light faded, the Bull Demon King had returned to being Hanwoo, the gigantic cow. Then, his memories as the Bull Demon King started to get blurred once again. On top of that, he could no longer think as deeply as he could before. He became nothing more than a slightly smarter cow than the rest. However, he began to run.

    ¡°Moooooooooo!!!¡± He cried out, a spring in his steps as he ran swiftly at the thought of seeing <em>him</em> again.

    Hanwoo no longer had the powerful force and charisma that he disyed before when he swept away his enemies with his woldo. However, he now had his four thick and powerful legs. He continued to run, his tail swishing gently behind him.

    Monsters began to attack him when he ran past a rugged in. After all, he looked like a tasty, edible cow. But even if Hanwoo lost most of his strength, he was still the Bull Demon King. These monsters were nothing to him as he charged through thousands of them.

    ¡°Moooooooooooo!!!¡±

    There was also a time when he encountered a very, <em>very</em> wide river, which he struggled to cross. On top of that, the zing heat of the sun beat his back and made him thirsty. However, he continued to run, and soon, he came across Sun Wukong.

    Sun Wukong looked at Hanwoo in surprise. However, he chuckled lightly and said, ¡°He went to the Papal Wall.¡±

    ¡°Mooooooooooo!!!¡± Hanwoo cried loudly as he started yet another long journey.

    The Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal, Sun Wukong looked at Hanwoo¡¯s disappearing figure with a small smile on his face and said, ¡°So, you¡¯re going to create a splendid legend, huh?¡±

    Hanwoo kept on running despite knowing the fact that the road to the Papal Wall was far more difficult and dangerous than the roads that he traversed before. There was even a time where his feet turned ck after charging through a river ofva.

    <em>Sizzleeee¡ª</em>

    ¡°Mooooo! Moooo!¡±

    He had to hide in a cave, curling in and on himself to stop his body from shivering, trying to withstand the cold that the harsh and cold typhoon brought forward. He also had to climb precarious cliffs, trudging carefully with his heavy body.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    <em>Thuuuuuuuud¡ª</em>

    ¡°Moooooooooo!!!¡± Hanwoo screamed wildly as he fell from the cliffs.

    That was not all. There were also strong monsters that blocked the path towards the Papal Wall. If he was still the Bull Demon King, then these monsters would not even step forward to fight against him. However, he was Hanwoo now, and thousands of these monsters charged at him and prevented his advance.

    ¡°Mooooooooooo!!!¡± Hanwoo cried loudly as he fought against them until his body was covered with cuts and tears.

    <em>Stagger¡ª</em>

    Hanwoo¡¯s steps faltered but he still continued to charge through the horde of monsters.

    ¡°Moooooooooooo!!!¡±

    Finally, the silhouette of the Papal Wall appeared in the distance. As his destination appeared in his eyes, Hanwoo¡¯s steps turned light and cheerful.

    ***

    At the same time.

    Minhyuk had been standing in front of the Papal Wall for several days now, his expressionpletely flustered.

    The Papal Wall boasted an extremely outstanding durability. However, the biggest problem for Minhyuk was the fact that there was not even a chip off of the wall no matter how hard or powerful Minhyuk¡¯s attack was.

    <em>¡®The wall regenerates¡­¡¯</em>

    To top it off, the Papal Wall¡¯s durability would restore five minutes after receiving an attack. Because of that, Minhyuk had to deal an extremely huge amount of damage all at once to reduce the durability. But even after using Ovepping Delight, Double Food, and several other skills together, Minhyuk still could not make the Papal Wall budge.

    Minhyuk smiled bitterly as he looked at the towering walls in front of him, <em>¡®If that guy¡¯s here then he would probably be able to do it.¡¯</em>

    A soft smile graced Minhyuk¡¯s lips at that thought. The ne that he had always hung around Hanwoo¡¯s neck was still kept properly in his inventory. Minhyuk quickly cast aside the thought as he began swinging his sword once again.

    He swung his sword for around thirty minutes but no matter what he did, the Papal Wall truly did not budge.

    ¡°Haaa¡­ Haaa¡­¡±

    <em>[You are running out of stamina!]</em>

    <em>[You will experience dizziness for a moment!]</em>

    Minhyuk felt giddy and dizzy for a brief moment.

    ¡°Mooooooooo!!!¡±

    At that same instance, a loud cry rang in his ears.

    ***

    Hanwoo continued to run. There he was, the master that he wanted to see so much, right in front of him. That was when he saw that his master was exhausted, blocked by a towering wall.

    So, Hanwoo made his body grow bigger. From 20 meters, to 30 meters, to 40 meters, to 50 meters. Although his master did not order it, Hanwoo could tell what his master wanted.

    <em>Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom¡ª</em>

    With a huge leap that made the ground shake, Hanwoo finally collided with the towering wall.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Then, the huge walls began to fall apart and crumble to pieces, kicking up a thick cloud of dust. Although he could not see it, Minhyuk could tell that it was his dear Hanwoo.

    Even though Minhyuk was still dizzy, he still jumped up from the ground, not daring to believe his eyes. When the dust finally settled, Minhyuk was able to see Hanwoo, whose body was covered with blood and torn all over.

    But Hanwoo still continued to walk, stepping ever so closer to where Minhyuk was. And when he was in front of his master, he slowly stuck his head out.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk looked at Hanwoo silently. After a while, he took out the ne with the word ¡®Hanwoo?¡¯ written on it, the very same ne that he kept dearly and properly, and hung it on Hanwoo¡¯s neck.

    ¡°Mooooooooooooo!!!¡±

    Minhyuk did not say anything. He just looked at Hanwoo, who was crying loudly, with a bright smile on his face. Then, he climbed on Hanwoo¡¯s back as they started to cross onto thend beyond the Papal Wall.

    ¡°Hanwoo, let¡¯s go!!!¡±

    ¡°Mooooooooooo!!!¡±

    Today, the king and his pressure vassal experienced a warm and loving reunion.

 Chapter 674: Papal Wall

    Chapter 674: Papal Wall

    Even the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal was unaware of whatid beyond the Papal Wall. However, there was one thing that Sun Wukong knew about it. It was that the Papal Wall was the tomb of Athenae Religion¡¯s first Pope, Kronad.

    ording to Sun Wukong, Kronad¡¯s Tomb was already there even before he came to thisnd. No one had ever gone beyond the towering Papal Wall. However, right at this very moment, Minhyuk had crossed the Papal Wall.

    <em>[You have crossed over the Papal Wall!]</em>

    <em>[You are the first yer to have ever crossed the Papal Wall!]</em>

    <em>[Anyone that has crossed over the Papal Wall will not be able to leave thisnd unless they have received permission from thisnd¡¯s owner.]</em>

    <em>[However, you will be able to escape if you were forced to log out!]</em>

    <em>[Whispers, guild chats, and any other form ofmunication have been restricted!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 500 REP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained +5 in all of your stats.]</em>

    Thend that stretched out in front of Minhyuk was like a new world, one that was surrounded by the towering Papal Walls, and waspletely different from Edea.

    Minhyuk was only able to rx on Hanwoo¡¯s back after he had crossed over the Papal Wall. The Papal Wall was so thick and sturdy that it did not budge even after he had struck his sword against it for several days.

    <em>Gulp¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk gulped dryly, his stomach protesting from hunger. Actually, even though Hanwoo had given him a gift set, he could not bear to eat it.

    <em>¡®I just can¡¯t bring myself to eat the final parting gift that he had given me.¡¯</em>

    But now, Hanwoo came back to him and would stay by his side forever.

    <em>Gulp¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk gulped once again as he sent Hanwoo, who looked as exhausted as he was, to the summoning room. Then, he slowly untied the golden cloth that wrapped the gift set. Inside the box were various cuts of beef in bite-sized pieces gleaming brightly and appealing to him, prompting Minhyuk to quickly check the details of the gift set.

    <em>(<strong>A Beef Gift Set Given to the Benefactor of the Kingdom of Eden</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Ingredient Grade</strong>: Legendary</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>?STR increases by +3%</em>

    <em>?STM increases by +3%</em>

    <em>?Basic Hit Attack Damage increases by 5%</em>

    <em>?Increases favor and affinity with the Kingdom of Eden.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: This is a special beef gift set that has been handed down in the Kingdom of Eden for many generations. Only the benefactor acknowledged by the Bull Demon King will be able to receive this special gift set. The beef, cut from the highest grade beef in the Kingdom of Eden, will absolutely taste fresh and will melt in one¡¯s mouth.</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk could not help but admire the gift set in front of him, not because of its special abilities, but because it was said to be the highest grade beef in the Kingdom of Eden.

    The beautiful, gleaming beef looked alive, as if it would move with the slightest touch of one¡¯s fingers.

    <em>Twitch¡ª</em>

    However, the most surprising part was its freshness. Parts like the rump were still twitching and wriggling, as if the cow where it was taken from had just been ughtered.

    The first thing that Minhyuk did was to slice the thick rump into thin slices and spread it on a te. The rump was the part of the cow that was mainly used for <em>yukhoe</em> or beef sashimi. Then, Minhyuk looked at the ribeye that seemed to be blossoming, and chuck p tail, happily.

    Minhyuk had been through a lot since he came to Edea. From meeting God of Money Henry, to cooking for Queen Ari, to jumping into the battlefield to save Hanwoo.

    ¡°You did a good job.¡±

    A meal always tasted delicious especially after a tough and tedious job.

    <em>Tick, tick, tick, tick¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk ced his grilling pan on top of his stove. Then, with his chopsticks, he grabbed two pieces of the beef sashimi that heid out on the white te like a blooming flower, dipped them into the sauce that he prepared, and ced everything in his mouth.

    <em>Munch¡ª</em>

    The distinct savory vor of the sesame oil spread all over his mouth, lingering and harmonizing with the freshness of the rump.

    Minhyuk carefully ced a piece of the well-marbled chuck p tail on top of the now red-hot grilling pan.

    <em>Sizzleeee¡ª</em>

    The moment the meat made contact with the pan, a cheerful and loud sizzle echoed in the area. This was the explosive sound of beef that could make anyone mor to eat just one piece. Exactly ten secondster, Minhyuk flipped the beef. After another eight seconds, he scooped the piece of beef from the pan and ced it directly into his mouth.

    The delicious juices of the meat exploded in Minhyuk¡¯s mouth the moment he bit down on it. A happy smile bloomed on his face at the softness of the beef. This was the moment that he realized that the description ¡®will melt in one¡¯s mouth¡¯ was truly appropriate. After having a taste, Minhyuk immediately ced four pieces of the chuck p tail on the grill.

    <em>Sizzleeeee¡ª</em>

    He watched the blooming smoke that floated from the grill for a moment before cing some victory onion on his te. Then, he added the perfectly cooked beef with some wasabi on top, wrapped everything together and gobbled it up.

    Thebination of sweetness and savoriness of the victory onion, along with the nose-tickling spiciness of the wasabi instantly washed away the greasiness of the meat.

    Next, he grabbed some green onion sd with the beef before cing everything in his mouth.

    ¡°Kgghhk!¡± Minhyuk shouted in admiration as he ced the ribeye, with its perfect red color and marbling, on the grill.

    Minhyuk flipped the piece of meat back and forth to cook it well, cutting it into bite-sized pieces once it was cooked perfectly. Then, he grabbed a piece of the cut rib-eye, ced it on top of a lettuce leaf together with some garlic, green onion sd, and ssamjang. Minhyuk then wrapped everything before putting it in his mouth.

    The very first thing that greeted his mouth was the fresh and crispy texture of the lettuce, which was immediately followed by the cacophony of vors that the various ingredients contributed in the wrap.

    With only a bit of the beef left, Minhyuk took out a bowl of cold noodle soup, a staple that he always had, from his food inventory. He stared at the refreshing and cool thin sheet of ice that floated on the soup before scooping the noodles up. Then, he added some vinegar and mustard in his bowl and mixed everything properly.

    Next, he cut the noodles in his bowl both horizontally and vertically and shook it with his chopsticks to loosen it up. After doing all of that, he lifted the entire bowl and drank the cool and refreshing broth. One sip and his mouth was filled with the sour and refreshing broth of the soup.

    ¡°Ugh. Brain freeze.¡±

    A sharp yet refreshing feeling shot up to Minhyuk¡¯s head, as he scooped up a huge mouthful of noodles and ate it up.

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuuuuuuuurp!!!</em>¡±

    The cold, sour and refreshing taste of the cold noodle soup washed away the remaining greasiness in his mouth. Then, he added the remaining pieces of beef in his bowl and¡­

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuuuuuuuurp!!!</em>¡±

    The soft ribeye and the chewy noodles created a fantastic harmony inside his mouth. After emptying everything, the notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You have eaten the A Beef Gift Set Given to the Benefactor of the Kingdom of Eden!]</em>

    <em>[Your STR and STM has increased by 3%!]</em>

    <em>[Your Basic Hit Attack Damage has increased by 5%!]</em>

    <em>[Your favor and affinity with the people of the Kingdom of Eden has increased.]</em>

    Minhyuk patted his stomach, a satisfied smile stered on his face.

    <em>¡®Now that I¡¯ve had a meal¡­¡¯</em>

    It was now time for him to slowly explore the world surrounded by the Papal Wall. He began to move once again.

    ***

    Special yers Management Team.

    Team Leader Park Minggyu had left to attend a meeting while Employee Lee Minhwa was left to roll around in their department.

    <em>¡®Meanwhile, he¡¯s eating that truly delicious beef¡­¡¯ </em>Lee Minhwa thought, the longing to eat beef at thepany dinner today evident on her face.

    Just in time, Team Leader Park, who was held up by the meeting that took longer than expected, opened the door.

    ¡°Team, Team Leader! There¡¯s trouble!¡±

    ¡°Trouble? What¡¯s the trouble? More importantly, your saliva¡­¡± Park Minggyu looked at Lee Minhwa strangely when he saw the drool dripping down her chin.

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuurp!</em>¡± Lee Minhwa hurriedly wiped the drool on her face and said, ¡°That¡¯s not the problem right now. yer Minhyuk has entered the Pope¡¯s Tomb.¡±

    ¡°The Pope¡¯s Tomb?¡± Minggyu repeated, his expression turning ugly.

    The Pope¡¯s Tomb was a ce that was blocked by the Papal Wall. As for the Papal Wall, for the longest time, it was considered as an unknownnd that no one had ever entered before. It was actually a ce that housed priests and believers that continued to live immortal lives.

    ¡°Do you think Pope Kronad and Minhyuk will meet?¡±

    There were things and existences that even they could not touch or approach in Athenae. The operators and management called them by the name ¡®Athenae¡¯s Eight Pirs¡¯.

    Who was the main representative of the Eight Pirs? It was none other than Athenae herself. The second would be Great Demon Verus, while the third was the Evil God, Obren. They were powerful beings that could rule the world with their power alone.

    However, among them stood Pope Kronad. In a way, it could be said that Pope Kronad was merely a pope that served one religion, a being that waspletely different from those mentioned above. So, why was Pope Kronad considered to be on par with those beings?

    Lee Minhwa turned to look at Team Leader Park before asking solemnly, ¡°For some reason, I really can¡¯t understand it.¡±

    At her question, Team Leader Park Minggyu tapped on theputer. The Special yers Management Team could search about a variety of things regarding the game on theirputers. Team Leader Park clicked on the information regarding Athenae¡¯s Main Story, an appendix that was attached to an old and ancient book that was discovered a long time ago.

    <em>[People used to believe that Pope Kronad was a pope that served and worshiped Athenae.]</em>

    <em>[That was true. He was truly the pope of Athenae Religion.]</em>

    <em>[However, the truth regarding his existence had been warped and distorted. Pope Kronad was¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­He was the pope of all religions.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Lee Minhwa stared at the screen in shock and astonishment.

    Even Athenae was a god that only ruled the Athenae Religion. But Kronad? It could be said that he was the king of all the popes.

    ¡°What in the world is this¡­¡± Lee Minhwa voiced her doubts. How could a single pope rule over all of the popes of all religions?

    ¡°I don¡¯t know the exact details about that.¡±

    Surprisingly enough, it was a ¡®story¡¯ that even Team Leader Park Minggyu could not ess at the moment. All Lee Minhwa could do was release a shaky breath and calm herself down as she tried to recall the things that she knew about the world within the Papal Wall.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t there a temple called Evangel that Pope Kronad was trying to build in that ce?¡±

    There were hundreds and thousands of temples and shrines scattered all over the world. Of course, the one with the most magnificent and breathtaking temples, as well as the one with the most number, was none other than Athenae Religion. However, Evangel was considered to be a cut above that. It was a temple that was only mentioned in myths and legends.

    ¡°If, by any chance, yer Minhyuk is given the opportunity to obtain Evangel, then¡­¡±

    Team Leader Park fixed his sses and answered, ¡°The lowest-ranking god will be the master and owner of the greatest temple in existence.¡±

    ***

    Minhyuk vigntly and carefully explored the world inside the Papal Wall. Then, he caught sight of farmers tending to their field in the distance. Only after seeing that did Minhyuk realize that this world was a ce where people lived too. In fact, there were also soldiers wearing shabby armor and carrying rusty spears passing by the farmers.

    <em>¡®Is it a kingdom? Should I consider it as such?¡¯</em>

    To be able to get information about this ce, Minhyuk believed that he had to go and talk to the farmers. He nned to make delicious dishes with the crops that they grew, eat together, and increase their favor.

    Thinking like that, Minhyuk approached them. The first person that he encountered was ady that was harvesting cucumbers. However¡­

    <em>[You have met Bellman Religion¡¯s Pope, Airen!]</em>

    <em>[Pope Airen. Level 528.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    When he looked at the men, who were wearing straw hats on their heads, that surrounded thedy¡­

    <em>[You have met Karr Religion¡¯s First Pope, Kaenin!]</em>

    <em>[Pope Kaenin. Level 513.]</em>

    <em>[You have met Vendios Religion¡¯s Pope, Anjaru¡­!]</em>

    <em>[¡­Level 501.]</em>

    <em>[¡­Cannath Religion¡¯s Saintess¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­Level 531.]</em>

    ¡°???¡±

    Minhyuk could not help but be flustered by the sudden turn of events. To top it off, when he looked at the soldiers with their old and shabby spears that approached him, a stranger to thesends, he was greeted with even more surprises.

    <em>[You have met Favron Religion¡¯s Strongest Pdin, Kerr¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­Level 589.]</em>

    <em>[¡­Aekero Religion¡¯s Strongest Pdin¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­Level 603.]</em>

    ¡°???¡±

    Then, at that moment, the hundreds of farmers that were busy tending to their field stopped in their work and turned to look at them.

    <em>[Those with high holy power have sensed the evil energy that is leaking from the Puzzling Seasoning Jar!!!]</em>

    <em>[They will show hostility towards you!!!]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    As he watched the hundreds of high ranking pdins, saints and popes approach him, Minhyuk thought, <em>¡®I¡¯m f*</em><em>cked</em><em>¡­¡¯</em>

 Chapter 675: Papal Wall

    Chapter 675: Papal Wall

    Cold sweat started to drip down Minhyuk¡¯s forehead. It was a very shocking sight after all. The woman that was toiling on the field was a religion¡¯s pope. If she was the only one, then Minhyuk would not be so shocked. It was because almost all of the people here were popes. On top of that, there were the soldiers that were patrolling the grounds.

    <em>¡®The strongest pdins¡­?¡¯</em>

    For each religion, only one person could be hailed as the strongest pdin. Yet, beings of such a level were all living here as if they were ordinary soldiers. The problem was that all of them were reacting to the evil energy that was flowing out of Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s no way that I can defeat them¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk knew that there was no chance of winning against the huge number of strongest pdins and popes present in this ce. There were even some people whose level had gone beyond Level 600. The bigger problem was the fact that he could not afford to sh against them. After all, he came here to find out more about Obren and how to awaken him.

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    Then, the man, who was the Favron Religion¡¯s Strongest Pdin Kerr, stopped in front of Minhyuk with his old spear in hand. He said, ¡°What a bizarre phenomenon. I can sense a strong holy power alongside the evil energy in his body.¡±

    ¡°I see, I see. His holy power is also very strong.¡±

    The pdins and the popes stopped in front of Minhyuk, their expressions filled with curiosity and doubt. However, they did not show any signs of dropping their vignce. With their spears and swords pointed at Minhyuk, one of them asked, ¡°How did you get here? What are you? If you don¡¯t tell us what you are, I will tear a being like you with strong holy power and evil energy apart.¡±

    Minhyuk was unsure about what to say to them. He felt like he would be attacked at once if he said, <em>¡®I came here to awaken the Evil God?¡¯.</em>

    But then, a woman, Illua the saintess of the Cannath Religion, stepped forward and said, ¡°I can sense that the evil energy ising from something in your possession, can you show it to us?¡±

    Minhyuk hesitated when he heard Illua¡¯s question. However, he realized that this was bound to happen sooner orter.

    <em>¡®Hiding this won¡¯t make any difference,¡¯ </em>Minhyuk thought, finally making a decision as he took out the Puzzling Seasoning Jar from his inventory. The moment he pulled it out, the eyes of everyone around him grew wide.

    ¡°Obren¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the container where Obren is sleeping.¡±

    ¡°How¡­¡±

    All of them looked surprised. It seemed like they all knew about the seasoning jar where Obren was slumbering in.

    <em>¡®It seems like I can really find an answer here,¡¯ </em>Minhyuk thought, fully convinced about the matter.

    Meanwhile, everyone looked at him with their eyes asking him about his identity. So, Minhyuk slowly opened his mouth and began to speak, ¡°I¡­¡±

    Everyone focused on Minhyuk¡¯s mouth.

    ¡°¡­am Obren¡¯s friend.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    They immediately turned to look at each other, shock evident in their gazes. At that moment, a man, who seemed to be the oldest among them, stepped forward. The man looked emaciated, his body all skin and bones.

    <em>¡®Why do the popes, saints and strongest pdins of each religion look like this?¡¯</em>

    It was quite a strange sight to see. Minhyuk realized most of them looked emaciated. Even their clothes were poor and shabby. He turned to look back at the old man.

    <em>[Pope Echeron. Level 623.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was once again left speechless after seeing the old man¡¯s level. Not only that, the old man was also the pope of a religion called Eres.

    <em>¡®Eres¡­? Will I be able to use the Detailed Information function on it?¡¯</em>

    The Detailed Information function was not something that would be activated and used just because someone was curious about an artifact or a quest. It could also be activated once one had questions about someone that they have met and only if they were facing each other.

    <em>[Eres Religion. A religion that served and worshiped Eres, the first Spear God. ording to records, no other Spear God has surpassed Eres.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was puzzled. A human could only live up to 70 to 100 years. But in this ce, there were many bigshots here with the title of ¡®first¡¯ added to their names.

    <em>¡®They are immortals.¡¯</em>

    If that was not the case, then they were probably dead and this ce was their grave.

    Old Man Echeron asked, ¡°Can you see that?¡±

    Echeron was referring to the wide field in front of them. Of course, Minhyuk could see the state of the field. There were even some people that did not pay them any heed and continued to toil in it. However, he realized something.

    <em>¡®Huh? There¡¯s something strange here.¡¯</em>

    That was right. There was something strange.

    Doing fieldwork inside the game Athenae was different from reality. One could not dig simply because they wanted to dig. They had to have enough DEX or farming skill to be able to dig properly and well. The higher their stat or skill was, the better they could dig. For people that did not have the skill or enough DEX, it would at least take them one to two hours of work to do a job that would otherwise only take five minutes. That was exactly what this scene looked like to Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®Four Pope-ranked people can¡¯t harvest a single green onion?¡¯</em>

    Indeed, there were four Pope-ranked people that were working together to pull a green onion out of the ground. Of course, just like what was mentioned, one would not be able to farm if they did not have DEX or farming skills. Perhaps, the green onion was something special?

    <em>¡®No. A pope can¡¯t even pull out a green onion¡­?¡¯</em>

    Fortunately, an exnation immediately rang in his ears.

    <em>[Thend that exists beyond the Papal Wall has been cursed by an Evil God!]</em>

    <em>[Those that have received the Evil God¡¯s Curse will have restrictions in their food, clothing and shelter!]</em>

    <em>[No matter what they do, they will not be able to improve their DEX. They will also experience greater difficulty when solving their needs for food, shelter and clothing!]</em>

    <em>[They are cursed by the Evil God to live the life of an immortal!]</em>

    <em>¡®¡­Evil God¡¯s Curse?¡¯</em>

    What truly happened between Obren and First Pope Kronad?

    Then, a quest window popped up in front of Minhyuk.

    <em>[<strong>Hidden Quest</strong>: The Evil God¡¯s Cursed Stone]</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: SSS</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: The One that Entered the World Within the Papal Wall</em>

    <em><strong>Rewards</strong>: An increase in favor with the people living inside the Papal Wall. The Popes and Pdins¡¯ blessings. Consultation with First Pope Kronad.</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty for Failure</strong>: Expulsion from the Papal Wall.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: The ones living inside the Papal Wall hadmitted a crime against the Evil God. Because of that, they have received a curse regarding their living necessities. They would have to work hard for hours on end just to harvest a single grain of rice. Even their DEX is not enough to make clothes for themselves. If they happen to create an article of clothing, it would disintegrate on its own within a week. Winter will always surround the houses that they live in and they have to endure the cold. Destroy two of the ¡®Evil God¡¯s Cursed Stone¡¯ for them.</em>

    <em>¡®They have restrictions on their living necessities?¡¯</em>

    There were three major things that a person needed to live and survive, which were food, clothing and shelter. Yet, the people here had received restrictions regarding this. Well, it was not really aplete restriction.

    <em>¡®Were they really subjected to restrictions in their way of living?¡¯</em>

    Then, the old man said, ¡°We are all cursed. That¡¯s why, every time we enter our house, we have to fight and endure the freezing cold. We can make fire but we can¡¯t even burn our firewood. As for the food? It¡¯s already a relief if we can eat a meal in a day. And even if we make clothes, our clothes will disintegrate on their own within a week.¡±

    It was a truly terrible curse.

    <em>¡®They have to experience it forever?¡¯</em>

    Of course, people would want to sleep somewhere warm, feel full and wear good clothes. However, in thisnd, everything regarding those things was the ¡®worst¡¯ and they have to continue living like that for all eternity. For Minhyuk, someone who loved to eat, this was a terrible thing.

    ¡°However, there¡¯s a way to release this curse. If you split a certain amount of firewood and harvest a certain amount of crops, you will be able to break the ¡®Evil God¡¯s Cursed Stone¡¯.¡±

    Minhyuk was quick to notice about what this was, <em>¡®Is it a repetitive hardbor quest?¡¯</em>

    Indeed, it was a quest regarding hardbor where one had to achieve 100% firewood collection rate or crop harvest rate toplete.

    ¡°If the Evil God¡¯s Cursed Stone is broken, we will be able to be morefortable when harvesting crops and spend our time in the cold warmly by burning firewood and creating fire.¡±

    The old man looked sad. It would be a lie if they said that the punishment they were receiving for the crime that they havemitted was not hard.

    ¡°But if you try and decide to do us this favor then the Evil God¡¯s Curse will also fall upon you the moment you try to split the firewood and harvest the crops.¡±

    Minhyuk was not given any other choice. He could only ept this quest.

    Meanwhile, the Level 623 Pope Echeron said sadly, ¡°Ah, it seems I have spoken too much. I¡¯m feeling hungry.¡±

    Then¡­

    <em>Ping¡ª</em>

    ¡°Huuuuh? Hanel has copsed!¡±

    ¡°He must have copsed because of hunger!¡±

    Hanel, the man that was working on the field, copsed. The strongest pdin of the Carn Religion, a man that has reached Level 570, had copsed on the field because of hunger!

    For now, Minhyuk decided to ept the quest. Then, the notifications rang in his ears again.

    <em>[You have epted the <strong>Hidden Quest</strong>: The Evil God¡¯s Cursed Stone]</em>

    <em>[The Evil God¡¯s Curse will fall upon you the moment you start splitting firewood and harvesting crops!]</em>

    ¡°You have to go to that field over there, not in this field,¡± Echeron said, pointing to a distant ce.

    Minhyuk bowed politely and headed there himself. That was when he saw a wide field that looked to be around three hectares or more.

    <em>¡®¡­?¡¯</em>

    Anyone could tell that this field was huge. Then, another notification rang in his ears.

    <em>[You have one week to achieve a 100% crop harvest yield!]</em>

    The field was far too big for Minhyuk to aplish something like that by himself. On top of that, he would even be subjected to the Evil God¡¯s Curse.

    Meanwhile, the popes and pdins began to crowd around Pope Echeron. He was a symbolic figure to these people. To put it simply, he was like the head of the vige or an elder that led them.

    ¡°Pope Echeron! Why did you tell that man about that impossible ordeal!¡±

    All of them looked at the pope in doubt. Break the Evil God¡¯s Cursed Stone? So far, none of them had been able toplete a 100% collection rate. That was the case even if everyone stuck together and helped each other out. The worst part was that their collection rate would return to 0% if they failed toplete the task within a week.

    At their words, Echeron said, ¡°That man must not have an audience with Pope Kronad.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­¡±

    Indeed. The man was the friend of Evil God Obren. They were all aware of how heartbroken Kronad would be if the man appeared in front of him. That was why Echeron said that.

    Echeron turned to look at the direction where the man went, a bitter look on his face as he thought, <em>¡®¡­Forgive me.¡¯</em>

    After dealing with that, Echeron made his way to the prayer room to pray. Who was he praying to? It was none other than ¡®Evil God Obren¡¯. Those that did not know him would even think that he was a follower and believer of the Evil God. However, he was doing this because he wanted to apologize for the mistakes that he had made a long time ago.

    Echeron stayed in the prayer room connected to his house for three entire days.

    ¡°Aaaaaah¡­¡±

    <em>Ping¡ª</em>

    Even in the midst of his prayers, someone would faint and copse on the ground. They were so hungry to the point that their body could no longer hold on.

    <em>Shiver, shiver, shiver¡ª</em>

    When they went to sleep at night, all they could do was curl in on themselves as their body shivered in the cold. All of the houses in thisnd would reach a temperature below zero once night fell. They could not even burn firewood tobat the cold. No, to be exact, they did not have any firewood to burn. This was all because of the Evil God¡¯s Curse.

    As they let out a shaky breath that had turned white from the cold and wrapped a nket tightly around their shaking bodies. They mumbled, <em>¡®I¡¯m sorry, Obren.¡¯</em>

    But even after hundreds, no, thousands of years, none of them med Obren. They only med themselves.

    As for Echeron? He finally finished his three-day prayer and went out to the field.

    ¡°Did he give up and leave?¡±

    It was alreadyte, the sun was already setting beautifully on the horizon. Eceheron believed that there was no man that was capable of toiling on the field or splitting firewood under the Evil God¡¯s Curse.

    However, he still recalled the man¡¯s words, <em>¡®I am Obren¡¯s friend.¡¯</em>

    Friend. It was a very nice word. However, Echeron knew that he, together with Pope Kronad and the rest of the people here, had betrayed the beautiful meaning of that word. What did the word ¡®friend¡¯ entail? Perhaps it was doing anything and everything for the other? Or perhaps that was also a lie.

    As he continued to walk forward, he saw hundreds of popes, pdins and saints huddled together.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Echeron quickly approached them. There, he saw the man shining brightly under the beautiful light of the setting sun. The man was swinging his pickaxe as hard as he could despite his exhaustion and paleplexion.

    Then, someone suddenly said, ¡°He¡¯s been at it for days. He did not even sleep.¡±

    ¡°Why is he doing that?¡±

    At that moment, Bellman Religion¡¯s Pope Airen said, ¡°I asked him before why he was doing this, even though it was so hard.¡±

    Everyone, including Echeron, turned to look at her. Airen looked at the man working hard on the field and continued, ¡°However, he just answered me with, <em>I¡¯m Obren¡¯s¡­</em>¡±

    Echeron focused on Airen¡¯s words as she said, ¡°¡­<em>friend.</em>¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    At this moment, the word ¡®friend¡¯ was engraved once again in Echeron¡¯s heart.

 Chapter 676: Papal Wall

    Chapter 676: Papal Wall

    When Minhyuk first met Obren, he was known as a ¡®Grumpy Gochujang that Does What it Pleases¡¯. He spoke as if he did not care about anything and was in defiance of the world. After that, the gochujang turned into a Puzzling Seasoning Jar. In that form, Obren talked a lot. His words were always teasing and edgy.

    <em>[The Evil God¡¯s Curse has fallen upon you!]</em>

    <em>[The Evil God¡¯s Curse is elerating the speed upon which you will feel exhaustion!]</em>

    <em>[Your stamina will run out quickly!]</em>

    <em>[The Evil God¡¯s Curse has bestowed upon you the Curse of the Seasons!]</em>

    <em>[Whenever you harvest crops, you might feel as if it is as hot as 40 degrees or as cold as -10 degrees!]</em>

    <em>[The fatigue and exhaustion from harvesting crops and the aches and pains from your repeatedbor will get worse as time goes by!]</em>

    <em>[Your harvesting yield will decrease by as much as 50% of your ordinary harvesting yield!]</em>

    These were the notifications that rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears the moment he started to harvest the ingredients on the field.

    <em>Fwoosh¡ª</em>

    Immediately after that, a burning heat wrapped around and devoured Minhyuk. Even during the summer, the temperature rarely reached 40 degrees. However, the Evil God¡¯s Curse was making Minhyuk feel feverish with a temperature of 40 degrees.

    <em>¡®This is really awful.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk started to feel thirsty as the sweat began to drip down his entire body. That was not all.

    <em>¡®I can feel the strength leaving my body rapidly.¡¯</em>

    With his stamina depleting several times faster than usual, Minhyuk felt that it was more exhausting.

    <em>¡®You¡¯re telling me to harvest all of the crops in this field¡­?¡¯</em>

    The thought that the task was nigh impossible shed in Minhyuk¡¯s head. There was no helping it. Even disregarding the fact that his stamina would be depleted quickly, it was almost impossible to work alone in this huge field and finish the task in such a short amount of time. However, Minhyuk still held the pickaxe in his arms tightly.

    <em>Graaaab¡ª</em>

    <em>Thud¡ª thud¡ª</em>

    He began to dig the field as hard as he could. The feverish temperature that engulfed his entire body caused him to perspire profusely. It was very hard for him especially since he could feel his strength draining from his body with every swing of his pickaxe.

    <em>¡®¡­It hurts.¡¯</em>

    Using a pickaxe repeatedly meant that one¡¯s palm would be affected. Compared to before, Minhyuk¡¯s hands started to form blisters. However, he just gritted his teeth and continued, despite his trembling and painful hands.

    <em>¡®Obren.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk realized the fact that he had never done much for the man. After all, Obren was someone that would often give Minhyuk advice or share his knowledge with him whenever he was able to. There were even times when the godforted him.

    If Obren was here now, he was sure that the god would tell him, <em>¡®Moron. What do you mean you¡¯re working hard because we¡¯re friends? However, this is making me feel quite pleased.¡¯</em> Minhyuk was sure that Obren would praise him andfort him in that way.

    <em>¡®That Obren is the Evil God?¡¯</em>

    From what Minhyuk had heard, hundreds of millions of humans had died at the hands of the Evil God. It was even said that he was someone that had cut off the gods¡¯ heads and made them roll on the ground. Was the Obren that Minhyuk knew truly an Evil God like that?

    <em>¡®Then, if he¡¯s truly an Evil God, would he really give up his chance to awaken to the world once again, just for me?¡¯</em>

    The answer to that was definitely a no. This just meant that Obren waspletely different from the stories about him.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s obviously something deeper.¡¯</em>

    <em>Swooosh¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk continued to swing his pickaxe. Just like that, one hour, then two, then three hours, and pretty soon, five hours passed by.

    <em>[You have triggered the skill: Will.]</em>

    <em>[All of your skills and abilities rted to DEX will temporarily increase by 24%.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1 DEX.]</em>

    He felt a burst of strength in his body. However, it disappeared as quickly as it appeared. This time, his body was engulfed in extreme cold.

    <em>Shiver, shiver¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s body shook like a leaf, frost appearing all over his body. His lips started to turn blue as the blisters on his hand became frozen, making it more painful.

    ¡°Hoooo¡­¡±

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    However, Minhyuk did not stop moving his pickaxe. As he dug the ground, he would also often bend down to harvest the crops. The image of Minhyuk harvesting crops with trembling hands looked very pitiful, extremely unbefitting for someone hailed as the king of a nation.

    ¡°Hooo¡­¡±

    Minhyuk gathered his hands together and blew on them to keep them warm. Then, he stood up again to dig with his pickaxe.

    <em>[You have run out of stamina!]</em>

    <em>[It is highly rmended that you take a break!]</em>

    <em>[You have triggered the skill: Will.]</em>

    <em>[All of your skills and abilities rted to DEX will temporarily increase by 24%.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[You have run out of stamina!]</em>

    <em>[¡­take a break!]</em>

    <em>[¡­skill: Will.]</em>

    Minhyuk was trying to endure it and hold out with his skill: Will. However, his body could no longer take it. It had started to stop listening to him.

    <em>[Your vision has grown blurry! You are experiencing dizziness!]</em>

    He had focused on harvesting for an entire day already. However, even if that was the case, the questpletion was dismal.

    <em>¡®Just 7%¡­?¡¯</em>

    If things remained as they were, there was no way that Minhyuk would be able to get a 100% harvest by the end of the week. Even so, he still continued to dig the ground with his pickaxe.

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    Then, at that moment, blood started to drip down his palms. It seemed like the blisters in his hand had burst. At the same time, a set of notifications that would bring anyone to despair rang in his ears.

    <em>[You have run out of stamina! There¡¯s a high chance that you will faint soon!]</em>

    <em>[You have resisted the abnormal status: fainting with your strong mental power.]</em>

    <em>[However, if you continue like this, you might die from overworking!]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s body shook greatly. He was about to copse and faint. However, at that moment, he heard a prayer.

    ¡°¡­Please grant your strength to the poor and pitiful,¡± the voice of the woman rang in the area. This voice belonged to none other than Pope Airen.

    With her words, a warm light covered Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    <em>[Pope¡¯s Prayer.]</em>

    <em>[Pope Airen¡¯s prayer for you has alleviated some of your physical exhaustion and fatigue.]</em>

    <em>[You have recovered some vitality.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s body, which felt as if it was being dragged down by a very heavy weight, suddenly became lighter. Even his consciousness that was teetering over the edge of copse, cleared up for a bit.

    Airen also knew that Minhyuk should not meet with Pope Kronad. However, little did she know, her heart was won over a little.

    <em>¡®Looking at him makes me look forward to what else he can do¡­¡¯</em>

    Who could work in the field like that all day? Airen was sure that there was no one that would choose to do so. Especially with the awfully terrible Evil God¡¯s Curse. But for some reason, Airen wanted to bet on Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk, who made eye contact with her, nodded before focusing on harvesting the crops on the field once again. Of course, the notifications kept on ringing in his ears too.

    <em>[¡­run out of stamina!]</em>

    <em>[¡­take a break!]</em>

    <em>[¡­skill: Will.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1 Will.]</em>

    Just like that, three days passed by.

    Old Man Echeron shook his head and said, ¡°You cannot give him your blessings anymore.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The popes would sometimes give Minhyuk their blessings. However, Echeron had deemed this act as not right. Perhaps the others were also aware of this fact.

    ¡°You¡¯re just giving him false hope. Even if you give him your blessings, the results of this ordeal will not change.¡±

    That was true. Minhyuk¡¯s crop yield was only at 30%, even after toiling hard without much rest or sleep for three days straight. The yield was far too low. The problem was that the increase in the yield would grow slower and slower as the end of the week approached. Perhaps he would only be able to reach 50% by the end of this.

    Of course, Echeron¡¯s heart ached at the sight too. He thought, <em>¡®Thank you for making me realize the true meaning of the word ¡®friend¡¯.¡¯</em>

    However, all of them were destined to stay here for all eternity and suffer. As for Minhyuk? He could only leave this ce.

    With Echeron¡¯s words, the blessings and prayers ended. However, Minhyuk did not stop moving his pickaxe and harvesting the crops.

    <em>Thud¡ª!</em>

    ***

    Plenty of the rted team members gathered in the Special yers Management Team, all of them saying the same thing as they entered.

    ¡°He¡¯s still on it?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Yes. All of them were asking if Minhyuk was still at it. Was Minhyuk someone that did not give up? They did not know. However, everyone here knew that he was someone that often defied the odds to turn the situation around.

    How many people in the world could do something like this? Yet Minhyuk was doing it and was even giving it his all. However, they felt pity for him.

    ¡°Amazing¡­¡±

    They could not help but burst in admiration. This was the reason why Minhyuk stood above the other yers.

    However, Lee Minhwa just sighed, <em>¡®He won¡¯t be able to do it, let alone obtain Evangel Temple.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk would not be able to make it within a week. The data that they had was proof of it. But then, she saw Team Leader Park Minggyu¡¯s eyes start to shake after he checked something. So, she asked, ¡°Team Leader, what¡¯s the matter?¡±

    ¡°¡­Right now, there are many gods that are watching yer Minhyuk, right?¡±

    Lee Minhwa nodded. Of course there would be plenty of them watching him. After all, Minhyuk was someone that had caught the attention and interest of those gods. Those gods always watched with anticipation whenever the man did something reckless and impossible.

    ¡°It¡¯s because yer Minhyuk is someone eye-catching. He¡¯s someone that anyone would want to watch,¡± Lee Minhwa said, wondering why her team leader was so surprised by that fact.

    Then, Minggyu asked, ¡°How high is yer Minhyuk¡¯s Will stat now?¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Lee Minhwa was surprised by the sudden question. She immediately went to herputer and checked Minhyuk¡¯s Will stat. She said, ¡°It¡¯s at 4,861¡­¡±

    ¡°Right.¡±

    At this moment, Lee Minhwa understood why Park Minggyu was so surprised earlier.

    ¡°His Will stat is going to reach 5,000 soon.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. And also, right now¡­¡± Team Leader Park looked at the monitor disying Minhyuk¡¯s Will stat. The 5,000 mark of the Will stat was a very special milestone. Then, he continued, ¡°One of the Absolute Gods, the God of Will, is watching him.¡±

    ***

    Minhyuk no longer received any Pope¡¯s Prayer or Blessings. All of them were just standing there and watching him work. By the end of the fourth day, Minhyuk¡¯s harvest yield only reached 37%. However, he never stopped.

    <em>¡®You have forsaken your only chance at awakening and even took on the risk of falling into a deep and long sleep, just for me.¡¯</em>

    What Minhyuk was doing now could neverpare to what Obren had chosen to give up for his sake. Minhyuk could not just give up and run away, just because he thought that it was impossible. He had to persevere.

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    Sweat continued to pour down his body, even as it started to feel heavy and painful again. However, his mind never gave in. Thankfully, his Will kept on increasing which allowed him to persevere and hold on.

    <em>[You have gained 1 Will.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1 DEX.]</em>

    Over the course of his stay here, Minhyuk¡¯s Will stat had continuously increased. It was a windfall. After all, the higher the Will, the better. The Will stat was like a support for him. Itplemented his mental fortitude and strength, allowing him to continue standing upright and not copse and faint.

    That was when he suddenly thought of something, <em>¡®5,000.¡¯</em>

    Perhaps it was a milestone with a special meaning, perhaps it did not have anything to it. Minhyuk did not know. After all, there was no yer that had ever reached 5,000 in their Will stat. Minhyuk shelved the thought for now, opting to focus on what he was doing at the moment.

    <em>Thud¡ª thud¡ª</em>

    Not long after, Minhyuk¡¯s vision began to spin.

    <em>Thump¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk gasped as he fell down on the ground, his sweat pooling beneath him. His palms were covered in blood and shaking fiercely. By now, it took all he had to even catch his breath.

    <em>¡®¡­I want to sleep.¡¯</em>

    <em>Thuuuud¡ª</em>

    However, the thought of Obren¡¯s voice spurred him on. He grabbed his hoe with his trembling hands and continued to harvest the crops hiding underneath the ground.

    Minhyuk¡¯s arms trembled and shook, as he was able to harvest another crop. At that moment, something happened.

    <em>[You have gained 1 Will.]</em>

    <em>[Congrattions! Your Will stat has reached 5,000!]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the <strong>Title</strong>: ¡®The One that Never Gives Up¡¯!]</em>

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods, the God that has a Will to Never Give Up, is looking at you.]</em>

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods, the God that has a Will to Never Give Up, has bestowed power upon you!]</em>

    <em>[The fatigue and exhaustion that has been weighing down on your body and mind has disappeared and cleared up!]</em>

    <em>[Something special will happen whenever you trigger the Passive Skill: ¡®Will¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[The power of the Absolute God has helped you escape the clutches of the Evil God¡¯s Curse!]</em>

    <em>[The power of the Absolute God has doubled all of your abilities rted to DEX!]</em>

    <em>[You will develop exhaustion and fatigue slower than usual. All of your skills and abilities rted to DEX will increase by 75%.]</em>

    <em>[The God that Never Gives Up has offered you a bet!]</em>

    <em>[The God of Will has proposed a bet regarding harvesting crops and chopping firewood.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

 Chapter 677: Divine Will

    Chapter 677: Divine Will

    Minhyuk had made a bet with a god once in the past. Back then, he epted the bet with the God of Cooking and had to make ten legendary dishes in a row. Afterpleting that, he was able to acquire one of the ten Absolute God¡¯s Secrets in the world, the Ovepping Delight.

    First, Minhyuk checked the rewards that he received.

    <em>(<strong>The One that Never Gives Up</strong>)</em>

    <em>Unique Title</em>

    <em><strong>Title Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: The One that Never Gives Up</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: The One with the Strong Will</em>

    <em>?All of your stats will increase by 1%.</em>

    <em>?Your DEX will increase by 5%.</em>

    The passive skill: ¡®The One that Never Gives Up¡¯ has a 15% chance of being triggered whenever one does a task with firm will and tenacity. Once activated, it would increase one¡¯s defense by 50% and attack by 40%, for a minute and a half. It also had a buff effect that increased one¡¯s HP volume by 30%.

    The other passive skill: ¡®The One with the Strong Will¡¯ was also special. It was rted to the skill ¡®Will¡¯. Once the skill: Will was triggered, it would increase one¡¯s DEX and fatigue recovery.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s a good title.¡¯</em>

    Then, he checked the bet.

    <em>[<strong>Bet with the Gods Quest</strong>: A Bet to Complete Harvesting Crops and Chopping Firewood]</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: SSS</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: The one that never gives up that has received the attention of the God of Will. </em>

    <em><strong>Rewards</strong>: ???</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty for Failure</strong>: The skill: Will will be destroyed.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: The God of Will has developed a great interest in you after you have shown the will to never give up despite the impossible task in front of you. Do not give up and finish harvesting the crops and chopping the firewood.</em>

    <em>¡®The penalty is¡­¡¯</em>

    To be honest, it was a bit too much.

    After Minhyuk achieved 5,000 in his Will stat, he received a special privilege from the God of Will, which allowed him to escape the clutches of the Evil God¡¯s Curse. He even had a 60% increase in his DEX. Because of that, he did not have to ept the bet with the god.

    <em>¡®Losing the skill: Will forever is definitely a huge penalty for me.¡¯</em>

    It was the truth, especially for Minhyuk, who had relied on the support of the skill plenty of times.

    <em>¡®I was able to obtain an Absolute God¡¯s Secret with the bet with the God of Cooking.¡¯</em>

    However, the temptation of the reward caused him to waver.

    ¡°I ept the bet.¡±

    Minhyuk epted the bet and immediately continued to harvest the crops in front of him. This was so he could be sure that the Evil God¡¯s Curse had already disappeared from his body. Just as he hoped, he did not feel any pain nor did he feel hot or cold. However, the crops were still difficult to harvest in and of themselves.

    <em>¡®Even if the Evil God¡¯s Curse has disappeared¡­¡¯</em>

    It was still a very difficult job to do. Minhyuk looked around the field and murmured to himself, <em>¡®Since the Evil God¡¯s Curse has been lifted then¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had consumed an easy-to-eat buffed dish to boost his DEX when he received the Evil God¡¯s Curse. However, he heard a notification back then.

    <em>[You have received the Evil God¡¯s Curse.]</em>

    <em>[You can only receive buff effects from a blessing or a prayer from someone that has strong holy power.]</em>

    In other words, all of the buff effects would not be avable to him. However, that was not the case anymore.

    <em>¡®With the way I am now, then¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had not been able to have a proper meal for a few days now. So, he took out one of the ingredients that he had acquired in the past and had been saving for quite a long time now.

    <em>(<strong>Hundred-year-old Ginseng</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Ingredient Grade</strong>: Effective Medicine</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>?STR +7, STM +15</em>

    <em>?This is a hundred-year-old ginseng that can boost one¡¯s strength and help one regain their stamina and energy. There is a chance of getting a higher boost in your power depending on the way you cook the ingredient.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: This is a ginseng that has remained underground for a hundred straight years.</em>

    Minhyuk took out a cauldron. There was this dish that he had been craving for. It was a dish that anyone would look forward to, even if the temperature was hot or cold. That dish was none other than samgyetang.

    Samgyetang was the perfect dish during the cold, when one was desperately hoping for a warm soup amidst the freezing wind. It was also a dish that could make one sweat and was perfect to bat heat with heat¡¯.

    Minhyuk started to cook, putting all of the ingredients, including the hundred-year-old ginseng, the jujube, an entire clove of garlic, some green onion and many more, inside his cauldron. Of course, he did not forget to add the chicken in his samgyetang before covering the cauldron with its lid.

    <em>Crackle¡ª crackle¡ª</em>

    The crackling of the firewood inside the firece provided warmth and made Minhyuk feelfortable.

    <em>Chiiiiiik¡ª</em>

    The white steam that escaped from the gaps of the lid of the cauldron made Minhyuk feel excited. After the dish had been boiled and cooked to some extent, he removed the lid and began to season the dish. Then, he boiled it again. The longer the samgyetang boiled, the more tender the meat and the easier it would separate from the bone.

    After waiting for quite a while, Minhyuk moved the samgyetang into arge earthenware pot. Then, he set the table and ced several side dishes next to the pot. There was nothing special about the samgyetang¡¯s side dishes. They were just ssamjang, cucumber, green pepper, well-ripened kimchi, some pepper and some salt.

    Minhyuk gently pulled the leg off of the chicken with his chopsticks from the still boiling soup of the samgyetang.

    ¡°Kghhhhk¡­¡±

    The juicy and still piping hot chicken meat looked very tender and soft. Once he ced it in his mouth, he gently chewed the tender and well-boiled chicken leg. When he pulled it out of his mouth, only the bones were left.

    <em>Swoosh¡ª</em>

    ¡°Kyaaa!¡± Minhyuk eximed lightly as he grabbed the remaining piece of chicken leg. This time, he dipped it in salt before putting it in his mouth.

    The saltiness of the dip and the slight sweetness of the samgyetang created a harmony inside his mouth. Then, Minhyuk grabbed a piece of green pepper and dipped it in ssamjang.

    <em>¡®Green peppers aren¡¯t spicy. They taste best if you dip them in ssamjang.¡¯</em>

    <em>Crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    <em>¡®This sound¡­ this sound is music.¡¯</em>

    The sound that apanied the green pepper dipped in ssamjang was so appetizing that Minhyuk could not help but eat ravenously. Next, Minhyuk ate the chicken with some well-ripened kimchi. The color of the side dish looked so scrumptious.

    <em>Crunch, crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    The greasy taste that lingered in Minhyuk¡¯s mouth disappeared the moment he ced the kimchi in his mouth. The deliciousbination painted a smile of joy on Minhyuk¡¯s face. Sometimes, Minhyuk would grab some cucumbers, dip them in ssamjang and put them in his mouth.

    ¡°Magnificent! This is truly magnificent!¡± Minhyuk shouted happily.

    This time, Minhyuk added the glutinous rice that he had soaked in advance into the still-warm samgyetang soup together with some minced onions, carrots, and green onions, before boiling everything once again. He would stir it once in a while to prevent the rice from sticking on the bottom of the pot. Just like that, Minhyuk had finished making a chicken porridge in his earthenware pot.

    Minhyuk quickly grabbed his spoon and scooped a spoonful of the piping hot chicken porridge.

    ¡°Fwoo! Fwoo!¡± Minhyuk blew on his spoon. After all, he knew that he would burn his mouth if he put the spoonful of freshly cooked chicken porridge in his mouth.

    After he decided that he blew enough, he ced it in his mouth. The chicken porridge tasted light with a hint of saltiness in it. The charm of the chicken porridge was that it did not need much chewing and was easy on one¡¯s stomach.

    After that, Minhyuk added some well-ripened kimchi on top of another spoonful and ced it immediately in his mouth. The refreshing kimchi perfectlyplemented the slightly greasy vor of the chicken porridge.

    Then, Minhyuk took out another side dish from his inventory. It was none other than the cool and refreshing dongchimi, with a thinyer of ice on top of it.

    <em>¡®Dongchimi goes well with chicken porridge too.¡¯</em>

    Eating dongchimi with hot chicken porridge would wash away the greasiness and the heat of the dish, leaving behind a refreshing vor in one¡¯s mouth.

    <em>Scratch, scratch¡ª</em>

    In a blink, Minhyuk was already scratching the bottom of the pot while chewing thest piece of hundred-year-old ginseng in his mouth.

    <em>¡®Hmm. It tastes healthy.¡¯</em>

    Indeed. The bitterness andck of vor of the ginseng could only be described as healthy.

    <em>[You have eaten Samgyetang.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will increase by 16%.]</em>

    <em>[Your lost vitality and energy has been restored. You have gained strong stamina. For the time being, you will not get tired.]</em>

    <em>[Your STM has increased by 1.3x.]</em>

    <em>[The buff effect willst for an entire week.]</em>

    Minhyuk, who looked around after eating his meal, was shocked with what he saw. This was because he was greeted by the sight of countless popes, saints, and pdins gathered around him.

    ¡°¡­How was the taste?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s not even a drop left¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Perhaps this was only a natural reaction for these people, who have felt that hunger and the cold were now a natural part of their lives.

    ¡°I¡¯ll work on the fields so it won¡¯t happen to you anymore,¡± Minhyuk dered. However, the truth was none of the popes, saints and pdins believed that he would be able to do it.

    After all, no matter how hard Minhyuk tried before, he was only able to achieve a 37% harvest yield in four days. However, what they did not know was that Minhyuk had just been blessed by the God of Will and was no longer shackled by the Evil God¡¯s Curse.

    ¡°If that¡¯s really the case then we wouldn¡¯t wish for anything more.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s just a dream.¡±

    ¡°If you do that, then there¡¯s nothing that we can¡¯t do for you. However¡­¡±

    Their faces turned darker as they spoke. They had watched Minhyuk vomit blood and curl in pain for several days as he toiled on the field and was only able to aplish so little. The popes, saints and pdins had given hope up. But Minhyuk was not the same.

    ¡°You can go back now,¡± Minhyuk said, sending these people back. He did not have any time to chat with them. He could not be dyed any longer.

    Although he had escaped the shackles of the Evil God¡¯s Curse, there were still a lot of crops that needed harvesting.

    They all turned back, distancing themselves from Minhyuk, and watched him from afar.

    <em>Thuuuud¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk once again began to m his hoe down and started his harvest spree. That was when the popes, saints and pdins realized something.

    <em>¡®What?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He¡¯s gotten a lot faster.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Doesn¡¯t it look like there¡¯s a spring in his step as he digs with his hoe?¡¯</em>

    That was right. This was because Minhyuk¡¯s speed was almost 1.5x faster than before. Although it was partly because of the meal that he ate, Minhyuk could not deny that everything was thanks to the God of Will. However, there was just one thing.

    <em>¡®I feel like dying.¡¯</em>

    The problem was his mental strength. Mental strength and endurance was not something that anyone could just replenish. No matter how clear his head was, there was no way that he would feel refreshed doing such repetitive tasks without sleeping.

    <em>¡®Obren¡­!¡¯</em>

    However, Minhyuk gritted his teeth and persevered for his friend. Then, a set of notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[You have triggered the skill: Will.]</em>

    <em>[All of your skills and abilities rted to DEX will temporarily increase by 24%.]</em>

    <em>[A special privilege has been activated thanks to the power of the God of Will.]</em>

    <em>[All of your skills and abilities rted to DEX will temporarily increase by 3%!]</em>

    <em>[The effects have ovepped.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1 DEX.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk felt power coursing through his veins. Even as time went by and his mental strength reached its limits, he never gave up and continued to try again and again.

    ***

    The God of Will was a very influential being among the Absolute Gods. In fact, even the God of Death did not dare to recklessly go against him. The power that the God of Will possessed did not have any restrictions. It was limitless. Since he was the God of Will, as long as he tried to do it, he could be like the God of Death, or anyone he wanted to be.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    And that very same God of Will was now standing there with a gaping mouth. At first, he just wanted to help a bit and watch that god challenge something that he knew was something that was already impossible to achieve. Thanks to his help, the god fought against the limits of his mental strength and persevered.

    No one had ever entered the eyes of the God of Will.

    However, the man that he was watching soon harvested all of the crops on the field and broke the Evil God¡¯s Cursed Stone that appeared in front of him. Then, he immediately went on to chop firewood. The man continued to chop firewood for not one or two, but four straight days.

    Every time the man fell down, he would stand up once again and repeat what he was doing. As the God of Will watched the man, he acknowledged the fact that even he could not achieve something like that.

    Finally, the man chopped hisst piece of firewood.

    <em>Thuuunk¡ª</em>

    The remaining Evil God¡¯s Cursed Stone appeared right in front of the man.

    The God of Will smiled softly and said, ¡°You are worthy to have this.¡±

    The God of Will had lost the bet, but the smile on his face was wider and brighter than any smile of his from before.

    At the same time.

    <em>[You have broken the Evil God¡¯s Cursed Stone!]</em>

    <em>[You havepleted the <strong>Hidden Quest</strong>: Evil God¡¯s Curse!]</em>

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    Notifications rang constantly in Minhyuk¡¯s ears. However, among these countless notifications, there was just one set that stopped Minhyuk in his tracks.

    <em>[The Skill: Will has evolved!]</em>

    <em>[One of the ten Absolute God Secrets has awakened in the world!]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Passive Skill: Divine Will.]</em>

 Chapter 678: Divine Will

    Chapter 678: Divine Will

    There were originally only ten Absolute God¡¯s Secrets in existence. However, Minhyuk was able to create another ¡®Absolute God¡¯s Secret¡¯, the passive skill: ¡®Lightning¡¯. Because of that, there were now eleven Absolute God¡¯s Secrets.

    Since then, there were two other notifications that rang regarding the acquisition of the Absolute God¡¯s Secrets. However, it was not Minhyuk that had obtained these secrets, but other people.

    The Absolute God¡¯s Secrets in Minhyuk¡¯s possession was Lightning and Ovepping Delight. And just now, he was able to acquire the ¡®Divine Will¡¯.

    <em>¡®I can feel my heart thumping¡­¡¯</em>

    For the first time in a long while, Minhyuk felt heartbeat quicken. None of the Absolute God¡¯s Secrets that he obtained had disappointed him. He immediately checked the details of the skill.

    <em>(<strong>Divine Will</strong>)</em>

    <em>Absolute God¡¯s Secret</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Mana Required</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?You can trigger the skill just by exerting a fourth of effort and passion needed originally in the skill: ¡®Will¡¯.</em>

    <em>?Upon the Divine Will¡¯s activation, all stats will increase by 8%. If the skill is triggered consecutively within 30 minutes, all of the stats will increase by an additional 4%. The effect can be stacked thrice.</em>

    <em>?Upon the Divine Will¡¯s activation, all attack and defense will increase by 6%. If the skill is triggered consecutively within 30 minutes, all attack and defense will increase by an additional 3%. The effect can be stacked thrice.</em>

    <em>?Upon the Divine Will¡¯s activation, all skills and abilities rted to DEX will increase by 30%. If the skill is triggered consecutively within 30 minutes, all skills and abilities rted to DEX wii increase by an additional 15%. The effect can be stacked thrice.</em>

    <em>?Upon the Divine Will¡¯s activation, the yer¡¯s mind will clear and any fatigue and exhaustion willpletely disappear. </em>

    <em>?Upon the divine Will¡¯s activation, you will have a 4% chance of triggering a 50% increase in HP and MP, as well asplete reset of the skill¡¯s cooldown time.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: This is a special power that the God of Will, someone that never knows how to give up, has bestowed upon those that he acknowledged. The effects of this power will only be expressed by the ones that tried their hardest.</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk was left entirely speechless. The skill was too overpowered.

    <em>¡®All of the stats will increase? There¡¯s also an increase in all attack and defense?¡¯</em>

    That was right. Compared to the previous skill: Will, Divine Will was a skill that granted even greater power.

    <em>¡®Effort, passion, and the will to do something.¡¯</em>

    This meant that these things would trigger the skill and could now be used in battle. On top of that, the effects could be stacked three times. In other words, if the Divine Will was triggered four times in a row, Minhyuk would be able to receive a 16% increase in all of his stats and a 12% increase in all of his attack and defense. That was not all. There was also a 60% increase in all skills and abilities rted to DEX.

    <em>¡®Although only by a bit, DEX could also be considered to be rted to all stats.¡¯</em>

    Indeed. The DEX stat truly had the effect of slightly increasing one¡¯s attack power. However, there was one more surprising fact about the skill.

    <em>¡®There is a probability of restoring HP and MP and even reset the skill cooldown time if the skill: Divine Will is activated¡­¡¯</em>

    It was extremely cheat-like, and it could be a huge help to Minhyuk in so many ways. After checking the unexpected harvest, Minhyuk turned his attention towards the notifications about the questpletion.

    <em>[You havepleted the <strong>Hidden Quest</strong>: Evil God¡¯s Cursed Stone.]</em>

    <em>[You can now have an audience with Pope Kronad!]</em>

    <em>[The popes, saints and pdins have bestowed upon you their great blessings!]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 2%!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1,200 Holy Power!]</em>

    <em>[Your sword will now carry the Pdins¡¯ Special Power!]</em>

    <em>[Your attack and defense will increase by 10% whenever you¡¯re facing evil!]</em>

    <em>[You have taken a step towards Temple Evangel.]</em>

    <em>[You might have the chance to awaken whatever is slumbering inside Evangel.]</em>

    The rewards, a 2% increase in all stats and 1,200 holy power, were not that bad. Minhyuk had the ¡®Pandora¡¯s Helmet¡¯, an item that could double his holy power. With his high holy power, his effectiveness against the undead and the demonic beasts would be enhanced even more.

    Minhyuk was most curious about ¡®Evangel¡¯.

    <em>¡®What is Temple Evangel?¡¯</em>

    He had been studying the countless worlds in Athenae. It was necessary for him as a king of a nation. To be honest, he was also doing it because he wanted to eat all of the delicious food and ingredients that he could get his hands on. However, even for someone like Minhyuk, who had studied quite a lot about Athenae, the words ¡®Temple Evangel¡¯ were still unfamiliar.

    Not long after, Old Man Echeron approached Minhyuk.

    Echeron could not believe the reality that was presented in front of him. All he could do was look up to the sky and think, <em>¡®Is this truly the will of the heavens?¡¯</em>

    Echeron fully believed that Kronad and Obren¡¯s reunion would lead to a disaster. But if this was fate, then there was nothing that they could do.

    ¡°Please follow me,¡± Echeron said, as he led Minhyuk somewhere.

    ***

    There were only two people known to the world to have the Absolute God ss. Richard, the guild master and king of Maserrati Guild, now the Maserrati Kingdom; and Lu Bai, the one with the Savior ss. The influence of these two people in Athenae reached far and wide.

    Savior Lu Bai has been gathering plenty of people from all over the continent that possessed simr beliefs and dispositions to him. The force that they possessed was said to have gone beyond the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, rivaling even that of a considerablyrge empire. Lu Bai was also said to have the power to attract NPCs, which meant that his power was now beyond anyone¡¯s imagination.

    As for Richard? He was the king of Maserrati Kingdom. Although his kingdom currently had lesser potential than the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, some spected that the Maserrati Kingdom would soon surpass the said kingdom, thanks to the power of Absolute Monarch Richard.

    These were prime examples of how the yers that had climbed to the ranks of the ¡®Absolute God¡¯ ss could shake the world.

    Unbeknownst to all, there was another Absolute God ss yer that appeared shortly after Lu Bai, the first Absolute God ss yer. That was none other than the ¡®God of Stories¡¯.

    The God of Stories had the power to receive guidance about a story, albeit only a very small part of it, once every three months. The story could be anything, from one that could happen in a few months¡¯ time, to a story that could happen in a few years'' time. This power could both be advantageous and disadvantageous at the same time. After all, even if he knew a piece of the story, if he could not get the outline, then he would face a total disaster.

    However, the Athenae officials had mentioned that among the yers, Rex, the ¡®God of Stories¡¯, was the one that had chosen the most appropriate ss for himself.

    Rex was one of the God¡¯s Children, who had recently gained an audience with the Luvien Empire¡¯s Emperor Nerva Sephiroth. He had received a hint of the story regarding the ¡®God of Death¡¯ a few months ago and had since been working on it slowly.

    What was the benefit about getting a piece of the story? It was that one could monopolize the corresponding ¡®quests¡¯ and ¡®rewards¡¯ in that story. There was also the fact that he could find out about the unique quests and information that was only avable to the ss rted to the story, even though he did not have that ss.

    When Rex found out about the story that was rted to the God of Death, he immediately tried to solve the puzzle.

    <em>¡®The God of Death is the being that rules Hell.¡¯</em>

    It was none other than the ¡®God of Death and the Hell Corps¡¯ Invasion¡¯. This was an episode that was not expected to start until next year in Athenae. Perhaps this episode was also supposed to be spearheaded by Death, the owner and master of the Kingdom of Death.

    However, Rex was now walking down the passage connected to Hell. He was also currently apanied by the Luvien Empire¡¯s Sixteenth and Seventeenth Sword of the Gods!

    <em>¡®The power that the Sword of the Gods possessed is truly admirable.¡¯</em>

    He had already tried to break through this ce with several high rankers. However, they were all wiped out without even reaching the entrance to hell.

    This was the reason why Rex requested an audience with Nerva Sephiroth. He wanted to receive the support of the Sword of the Gods for this.

    <em>¡®Some of the Sword of the Gods and the Luvien Imperial Army will join me to take down the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.¡¯</em>

    They would make it seem like the Luvien Empire was not going to attack the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. After all, there was a perfect way to disguise Nerva Sephiroth¡¯s army.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    A Level 642 Death Knight that protected the Hell¡¯s Gate copsed in a heap without being able to do anything, in front of the Sword of the Gods.

    <em>Step, step¡ª</em>

    Finally, Rex took a step forward to thend beyond these gates. There, he saw a huge statue of the God of Death standing tall and mighty. There was a high chance that even Death, the God of Death¡¯s own sessor, had not even met with this being yet.

    Rex pricked the tip of his finger with his dagger and let his blood drip on the ground.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    A gigantic snake appeared around the dark and dreary statue of the God of Death and slithered around Rex.

    <em>[The God of Death is staring at you.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Death is slowly encroaching upon your body.]</em>

    Slowly, ever so slowly, the snake entered Rex¡¯s mouth. Everything happened just like how Rex pieced the fragments of the story together. Then, a shocking set of notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods, the God of Death, has resided in your body!]</em>

    <em>[You will now be the God of Death and will have the authority to open Hell''s Gate!]</em>

    <em>[You can only be the God of Death for a short period of time!]</em>

    <em>[You will have the power to ¡®demonize¡¯ or ¡®reanimate¡¯ your followers and subordinates.]</em>

    <em>[You now have the authority to lead the Hell Corps!]</em>

    <em>[You¡­!]</em>

    <em>[You¡­!]</em>

    Notifications rang non-stop in Rex¡¯s ears. With this, he wouldunch an attack on the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. The reason for doing so was actually very simple. It was mainly because of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s wealth, and at the same time, to showcase the power of the God¡¯s Children.

    The current Rex looked like theplete God of Death, with a ck robe and a bloody-red staff in his hands. With one swing of his staff, the Sword of the Gods instantly turned into the undead.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Then, another notification rang in his ears.

    <em>[A word of advice. You and your army are vulnerable against holy power!]</em>

    However, Rex did not pay it much heed. After all, was there anyone with a high enough holy power to fight against them? Unfortunately for him, he should have paid closer attention to this word of advice.

    ***

    Minhyuk checked his holy power stat.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s already at 6,046, huh¡­?¡¯</em>

    What would happen if the Pandora¡¯s Helmet¡¯s effect were to be applied to this? Minhyuk¡¯s holy power stat would reach 12,000. That level of holy power was extremely high. In fact, there was even a high chance that even Saintess Loyna did not have that high of a holy power.

    Minhyuk, who had finished confirming his holy power, finally arrived in front of a gigantic yet shabby and crumbling temple.

    ¡°You¡¯re the only one that can get inside.¡±

    ¡°¡­Yes,¡± Minhyuk answered, doubt shing on his face. However, he still nodded in agreement and climbed the stairs.

    <em>Step, step, step, step¡ª</em>

    As he reached the end of the stairs, Minhyuk found someone sitting on a chair.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk could not help but groan.

    <em>¡®That person is Pope Kronad, right? He¡¯s the pope? He has to be the pope, right?¡¯</em>

    However, the man did not look like a pope at all. He had a gaunt and emaciated face, long and loose white hair, as well as a very sharp and bright re. He was wearing a pristine white priestly robe while holding a sword that was shining brightly.

    The moment Minhyuk took another step forward, he received a set of notifications.

    <em>[You are the only being that hasid eyes on Pope Kronad!]</em>

    <em>[Pope Kronad. Level 913.]</em>

    <em>[His battle energy is trying to bring you down!]</em>

    <em>[His battle energy has reduced all of your stats by 45%!]</em>

    <em>[You cannot resist this power with your Invincible Body!]</em>

    <em>[His battle energy has reduced your attack power by 45%!]</em>

    <em>[His battle energy¡­your¡­]</em>

    <em>[His battle energy¡­your¡­]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk felt that this waspletely unbelievable. Among all of the NPCs that he had encountered, this one had the highest level. In fact, just one gaze and he could feel his legs shake from the pressure that the man was emitting. Then, at the same time¡­

    <em>[The <strong>Sudden Quest</strong>: Obren¡¯s Wrath has been triggered!]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    <em>[<strong>Sudden Quest</strong>: Obren¡¯s Wrath.]</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: SSS</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: The One in Possession of the Puzzling Seasoning Jar</em>

    <em><strong>Rewards</strong>: ss change to Evil God</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty for Failure</strong>: -2 in all stats.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: Evil God Obren hates Pope Kronad down to his very core. Despite his sleeping state, Obren had gathered his power inside the Puzzling Seasoning Jar that he could kill Pope Kronad the moment he met with him. Use that power to kill Kronad!</em>

    At that moment¡­

    <em>Crackle, crackle, crackle¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The speechless Minhyuk could only look around. His eyes strayed towards the top of the stairs where Kronad was sitting on his chair and the huge temple behind him. Surrounding them were around 10,000 gigantic ¡®Evil God¡¯s Books¡¯.

    <em>[Evil God Obren has awakened from his slumbering state in your arms to attack Pope Kronad, the object of his hatred!]</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Along with that, lightning bolts, mes and the like began to pour out from the ten million books in the sky. All of these attacks aimed solely at Kronad.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    At this moment, Minhyuk realized that something had gone terribly wrong.

 Chapter 679: Divine Will

    Chapter 679: Divine Will

    Minhyuk had nned to meet with Pope Kronad and build enough favor with him so that he could ask the man to awaken Obren, who had fallen into a long and deep sleep.

    To his dismay, Obren had exerted control over Minhyuk¡¯s body. Minhyuk¡¯s hair grew longer until it reached his waist. His eyes went entirely ck, and the whites of his eyes could not be seen. He then released his wrath and summoned around ten million Evil God¡¯s Books and started to bombard Kronad with attacks.

    <em>Rumbleeee¡ª</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Just like the missiles being fired by drones, the lightning bolts and zing mes shot fiercely from the ten million books! However, Kronad just stared at the bombardment with a nk and empty gaze. Then, he grabbed the brilliant and dazzling sword in his hands and swung it.

    <em>Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!</em>

    At that moment, millions of sword lights shot up to the sky and scattered the attacks from the Evil God¡¯s Books. Then, a huge golden mirror appeared in front of Kronad.

    <em>[Kronad¡¯s Mirror]</em>

    <em>[Kronad¡¯s Mirror has sealed the Evil God!]</em>

    <em>[Evil God Obren, who had used your body to show his wrath, falls back into a deep slumber once again!]</em>

    <em>Rumbleeee¡ª</em>

    At the same time, Minhyuk¡¯s appearance, his waist-length hair and jet-ck eyes, returned back to before as he regained his control once again.

    ¡°Haaa¡­ haa¡­¡± Minhyuk gasped, as he copsed on the ground.

    Even Pope Kronad looked like he was exhausted, as he turned to Minhyuk and asked, ¡°You¡¯re Kronad¡¯s friend?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    Kronad nodded slowly at Minhyuk¡¯s answer. He thought, <em>¡®So, he made a friend again¡­¡¯</em>

    Kronad was quite surprised. He thought that Obren would never trust anyone again. In fact, Kronad would feel that way if he were in Obren¡¯s shoes.

    <em>¡®Does this mean that you have given this man your trust and faith?¡¯</em>

    Kronad slowly opened his mouth.

    ¡°Me too¡­¡± He said with his dry and coarse mouth, ¡°I was once Obren¡¯s friend.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    At that moment, Minhyuk recalled something. When he first met Obren, the god told him that someone had used him before abandoning him and sealing him in the Puzzling Seasoning Jar.

    Then, Kronad continued, ¡°I was also the one that killed Obren.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ***

    Kronad and Obren had been friends. Yet, Kronad was also the one that killed Obren. Those words were obviously very, <em>very</em> shocking.

    Then, Kronad, with a bitter smile on his face, asked, ¡°Will you listen to our story?¡±

    <em>[Obren is slumbering inside the Puzzling Seasoning Jar that you possess.]</em>

    <em>[You can watch the Evil God¡¯s story through a video.]</em>

    <em>[If you do not wish to view the story, please say ¡®I reject¡¯.]</em>

    ¡°I ept.¡±

    Minhyuk wanted to know more about Obren. That was why he readily epted it.

    <em>[You have chosen to ept. You can now watch the video.]</em>

    <em>[Your character will be in an ¡®invincible¡¯ state during the duration of the video.]</em>

    Minhyuk slowly closed his eyes as a bright light appeared and wrapped around his body. Then, the story started.

    <em>[A long, long time ago, Athenae gave birth to Obren, one of the Six Monster Gods.]</em>

    The figure of Athenae giving birth to Obren appeared in front of Minhyuk. There was disbelief in Athenae¡¯s face after she saw Obren.

    ¡°This child is the one that has the most power among the Six Monster Gods¡­?¡±

    Athenae knew plenty of things. She was aware that the Six Monster Gods and the Absolute Gods would be the key figures of this world. The Six Monster Gods would be considered the ¡®evil¡¯ ones while the Absolute Gods would be considered as the ¡®good¡¯ ones.

    However, Athenae had different thoughts as to who was ¡®good¡¯ and who was ¡®evil¡¯. After all, those things were something that one could not judge by themselves. It was just that these gods were born with evil powers.

    That was how Obren was born into this world. He was such a pure, innocent, and naive boy, that no one would believe that he was one of the Six Monster Gods. Athenae continued to give birth to the rest of the Six Monster Gods, while Obren grew older and turned into a young boy.

    One of the Six Monster Gods killed one of the gods just a few days after they were born, while another descended to the world of humans and only came back after ughtering an entire kingdom. As for Obren, he just stayed there and read a book.

    <em>[Obren was too soft-hearted. He did not know how to kill. He was just a boy that wanted to descend to the world of humans to feel the sun, see the sky, and sail the seas. Just like that, thousands of years passed by.]</em>

    Thousands of years was an extremely long time. During that time, Obren had always remained alone. The rest of the Six Monster Gods had kept their distance away from him after knowing that he had different ideals from them. As for the Absolute Gods and the other gods? They also shunned him and kept away from him, just because he held the title of ¡®Six Monster Gods¡¯.

    <em>[He had always been alone.]</em>

    Always. Obren always kept to himself. Even during the banquets where all of the gods gathered, Obren would just sit in the corner and quietly read his books.

    <em>[Heughed alone.]</em>

    Obren would often giggle by himself as he read his book.

    <em>[He always cried by himself.]</em>

    Sometimes, he would cry by himself. During those times, he would me himself while wondering why the other Six Monster Gods pointed and cursed at him.

    One day. Obren decided that he wanted to go down to the world where the humans lived. He wanted to float in the sea, look at the sky, and run on the ground.

    Obren, with his fine and dashing looks, descended to the human world. However, during the process, he had lost his favorite book. This book was called ¡®The History of the Continent¡¯, a book that detailed the happenings in the long history of the human world.

    As he scoured the earth to find his book, a man approached him and said, ¡°It seems like you dropped this.¡±

    For the first time, Obren held a conversation with a human. Despite his young age, the young man that approached Obren had a head of white hair. He was garbed in a pristine white priestly robe and disyed a bright smile as he looked at Obren.

    The two continued their conversation, as the man introduced himself, ¡°My name is Kronad.¡±

    ***

    Kronad had been chosen at a young age by God Athenae. Blessed with tremendous holy power, he was someone that could hear the voice of God Athenae. Because of that, he was named as the first pope of the Athenae Religion, despite his young age.

    He was very, <em>very</em> strong, and he used that power to gather plenty of priests and believers to serve and worship Athenae. Through his efforts, the Athenae Religion was able to establish itself all throughout the continent, growing quickly in size. It was because of Kronad that the Athenae Religion became the greatest religion.

    Then, one day, as he prayed to Athenae, Kronad began to wonder if thesends truly belonged to the gods? In the end, he wanted to understand why he worked so hard, if everything would eventually belong to Athenae. After all, these were the priests and believers that Kronad had carefully gathered and nurtured, not Athenae.

    <em>¡®Why is it like this? What did God do for me?¡¯</em>

    Kronad began to doubt his faith and everything that he was doing from that moment. Eventually, he started to fall into the abyss of darkness. He was a pope with the power to cut down even the gods, which bred ideas and thoughts that he initially should not have.

    He thought, <em>¡®We are the masters and owners of thesends.¡¯</em>

    Thesends belonged to the humans. Soon his thoughts turned awry.

    <em>¡®We must drive out the gods.¡¯</em>

    To do that, they needed a key figure to help them drive out the gods. Kronad decided that it should be none other than himself. Thus began his mission to meet and persuade the other religions¡¯ popes and strongest pdins to drive out Athenae and the other gods.

    Due to the humans¡¯ natural characteristics, all of them believed in the tremendous power that ¡®Pope Kronad¡¯ wielded.

    <em>¡®Perhaps we can be the gods of thesends?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®It will be us and not them that will be the gods¡­?¡¯</em>

    As a result, these thoughts gued their minds. It was because of those thoughts that Kronad began to win the support of many of the popes, saints, and pdins. They began to create ¡®Evangel¡¯, the temple that would go against the gods.

    <em>[Evangel. It is the most powerful and greatest temple in existence. A temple that existed in the legends that was said to have the power that could rival several gods and popes together. Surprisingly enough, Pope Kronad was able to recreate the Evangel and make it appear in reality. He almost finished the temple. However, he faced a road block during its creation. Toplete Evangel, he needed the divine power of an ¡®Absolute God¡¯ level being.]</em>

    So, Kronad began his investigation regarding the world of the gods. That was when he found out about the being that would most likely be the Evil God, ¡®Obren¡¯.

    ¡°It seems like you dropped this.¡±

    Kronad sneered in his mind, when he encountered Obren in theirnd. However, he showed a bright smile to Obren and said, ¡°My name is Kronad.¡±

    Their meeting had been part of Kronad¡¯s n from the very beginning.

    ***

    <em>[Obren was genuinely happy to have met a friend in Kronad.]</em>

    Kronad took Obren to the sea, who delighted as he enjoyed the cool breeze that blew from the sea. Sometimes, Obren would go to human festivals with Kronad to drink, dance and y. Obren was lonely no more.

    <em>[He was no longer alone.]</em>

    <em>[He no longerughed alone.]</em>

    <em>[He no longer shed tears alone.]</em>

    The Obren that alwaysughed and smiled by himself, the Obren that cried by himself, Obren could nowugh and smile with his friend Kronad, as well as the popes, saints and pdins that the man introduced to him. Obren treated them as his friends, family, and most precious people.

    One day, Kronad took Obren to a ce where they could gaze at the stars. The two of themy down on the ground and watched the stars. As he looked up to the skies, Obren said, ¡°I¡¯m happy. I¡¯m very happy, Kronad.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m also happy when I¡¯m with you.¡±

    ¡°Kronad.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Kronad remained silent at those words. Then, he looked at Obren, who asked him, ¡°No matter what happens, I won¡¯t leave your side. How about you? Is it the same for you?¡±

    Kronad only answered the question after a while, ¡°¡­Of course.¡±

    The two continued to watch the starry sky like that.

    Minhyuk continued to watch the video in front of him. There were times when Minhyuk would cry, and times when he would burst out in anger. Minhyuk¡¯s eyes had grown bloodshot as he neared the end of the video.

    <em>Step, step, step, step¡ª</em>

    Once the video ended, Minhyuk began to approach Kronad. Kronad watched as Minhyuk approached him and grabbed him by the cor.

    <em>Tighten¡ª</em>

    The words that he saw in the video made a huge impact on him, as they appeared in his mind once again.

    <em>[That day was the eve of the war between the gods and the humans.]</em>

    <em>[That day, Obren killed the gods and ughtered hundreds of millions of human beings and truly became the ¡®Evil God¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[That day, the one that stood at the center of the storm was none other than ¡®Kronad¡¯.]</em>

    Who was evil and who was good? Who were they to judge that?

    Pope Kronad, who¡¯s level was beyond Level 900, was the strongest NPC that Minhyuk had ever encountered.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    However, Minhyuk pped the man in the face as hard as he could as he roared, ¡°Mot**rf*cker! Is this the friendship that you were talking about?!¡±

 Chapter 680: Divine Will

    Chapter 680: Divine Will

    <em>[To finish the creation of Temple Evangel, one has to have the power of the Six Monster Gods or the Absolute Gods. Obren, the one that would most likely be the ¡®Evil God¡¯ and the god with the purest power, needed to kill tens of millions of humans and inject the power that he would obtain after that process into Evangel.]</em>

    Kronad was left deep in his thoughts as he recalled the conversation that he had with Obren just yesterday.

    <em>¡®No matter what happens, I won¡¯t leave your side. How about you? Is it the same for you?¡¯</em>

    <em>[Kronad¡¯s hearts and thoughts were shaken by Obren¡¯s pureness and naivety. However¡­]</em>

    ¡°Tomorrow is ¡®the day¡¯.¡±

    ¡°The dish that we will feed Obren has beenpleted. Half a dayter after Obren eats this dish, he would start to go berserk. This will be the ring that will contain the power that he would obtain by killing those people. This willplete Evangel.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    <em>[Kronad had already crossed the line that should never have been crossed. Thousands of popes and strongest pdins and millions of priests, pdins and believers followed and believed in him. All of themforted themselves that this was a small sacrifice for the greater good.]</em>

    The next day, Kronad looked at the dish that they had prepared. This was the dish that had the power to make the Evil God go berserk. Once Obren consumed this dish, he would lose his consciousness and kill millions of humans, perhaps even more.

    ¡°Kronad made this for me? Wow! I¡¯m really grateful! I¡¯ll make sure to savor it well!¡±

    <em>[Kronad did not even have the courage to give the dish to Obren himself. He asked another pope to deliver it to Obren.]</em>

    Kronad stared out of the window. When he turned around, he recalled the bright and pure smile on Obren¡¯s face. Suddenly wavering, he left everything behind and ran to where Obren was as fast as he could.

    ¡°Thank you very much, Kronad. The dish was very delicious.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    However, it was toote. Obren had already finished eating the dish.

    Obren looked at Kronad, his eyes conveying how sincere and grateful he was to the pope. That was when Kronad realized that the things that he did could no longer be undone.

    On that day, the war between the gods and the humans began.

    ***

    <em>[Athenae was fully aware of Kronad¡¯s ns. She knew that Pope Kronad was rallying the other popes to drive out the gods from their world in order to be the ¡®gods¡¯ of their own world. In the end, Athenae was left with no other choice but to gather the gods and her army.]</em>

    <em>[Athenae was a very clever being. She had nned to eradicate the humans and retrieve Evangel just before theypleted the temple.]</em>

    <em>[With Athenae at the center, millions of divine troops and hundreds of gods advanced towards the border of the worlds. All of them were ready to cross to the world inhabited by humans.]</em>

    <em>[However, a young man found out about their ns and set out to stop them.]</em>

    <em>[This man was none other than Obren, the one that would be the Evil God and one of the Six Monster Gods.]</em>

    ¡°Mother! Kronad is not that kind of person! He told me that the reason why he created Evangel is so he could strengthen and protect the Athenae Religion!¡±

    ¡°Stay out of the way, Obren. The humans had already fallen into corruption. They need to undergo reformation.¡±

    ¡°Mother!!!¡±

    Of course, Athenae turned a deaf ear to Obren¡¯s earnest and desperate cries. After all, Athenae was aware that Obren had been hoodwinked by Kronad and his men from the start.

    The Absolute Gods, the Six Monster Gods, and the other gods tried to advance despite seeing Obren standing in front of them. But then¡­

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    All of them watched in shock when they saw more than ten million books floating in the sky above Obren, who was preparing to attack them.

    <em>¡®The one who was destined to be the Evil God¡­ A being that no other Absolute God or Six Monster God could everpete against.¡¯</em>

    Athenae could only groan. She never expected that Obren could already use the Evil God¡¯s Books to that extent.

    ¡°Our dear older brother Obren, are you thinking of forsaking us?¡±

    ¡°Do not be foolish, Obren.¡±

    ¡°None of you considered me as an older brother. However, these people have considered me as their family, their brother.¡±

    Obren wanted to protect them, the only friends and family that he ever had.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    When the gods tried to advance, countless powerful attacks bombarded and overwhelmed them.

    <em>[Obren¡¯s power was truly overwhelming. Even the Absolute Gods and the Six Monster Gods could not handle it. Obren killed countless soldiers of the divine army on the spot, making the gods tremble in fear.]</em>

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    The Spear God stabbed Obren¡¯s shoulder with a spear, while the God of Archery¡¯s arrow pierced through his thighs. The God of Magic¡¯s gigantic meteor also descended and engulfed the god. But Obren never backed down. Even though his body was torn and bloodied, Obren did not run away. He stood there and confronted the gods.

    <em>[He was the only one that could protect Kronad and his dear friends.]</em>

    <em>[To Obren, his friends were far more valuable than his own life.]</em>

    Athenae looked at Obren as he used his power to protect those humans and endure hours of assault just to save them. In the end, she could only sigh as she enlightened Obren with the truth.

    ¡°My child. See for your own eyes how Kronad tried, and is still trying, to take advantage of you.¡±

    <em>[At that moment, Kronad¡¯s side of the story unfolded and yed in Obren¡¯s eyes.]</em>

    <em>¡®One of the Six Monster Gods, Obren¡­ I think we can use him toplete the Temple Evangel.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®How should we approach him?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll approach him and make it seem like our meeting is a coincidence. From what I heard, he¡¯s been alone for a very long time. We¡¯ll take advantage of that loneliness.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Obren will be the Evil God and ughter millions of humans. Will that be alright?¡¯</em>

    Kronad grinned and said, <em>¡®It¡¯s but a small sacrifice for the greater good. Whether it¡¯s the humans or Obren, they¡¯re all sacrifices for our future.¡¯</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    <em>[Tears fell down his cheeks as Obren finally realized the truth.]</em>

    Obren lost the strength in his legs and copsed on the ground, his body quivering while he sobbed. Then, at that moment, a mysterious voice rang in his head.

    <em>¡®Kill them. The gods that mocked you and the humans that used you. ughter them all.¡¯</em>

    <em>Booooooooooom¡ª</em>

    Suddenly, a powerful force exploded from Obren¡¯s body and engulfed the entire area.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaack!¡± Obren roared, his overwhelming power shaking the world that the gods lived in.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s been hiding his true power?¡¯</em>

    At that moment, Athenae realized that Obren had been holding back the entire time. Athenae was appalled by the realization, while the other gods were all trembling in terror and fear.

    Obren started to lose his rationality.

    <em>Grab¡ª</em>

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Obren.¡±

    Someone hugged the berserk Obren tightly. When Obren turned his head to look at the man that hugged him, he saw Kronad¡¯s face.

    Kronad finally realized that everything that they did was wrong when they saw Obren protect them, to the point that he was bloody and bruised. But by that time, everything was already toote.

    ¡°Dieeeeeeeee!!!¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Hundreds of explosive attacks rained down on Kronad. Obren¡¯s wrath was too much. Although Kronad tried to stop him, his rationality had already disappeared after going berserk.

    Athenae, who watched her son turn berserk, made the most rational decision.

    <em>[Athenae knew that Kronad would copse even if they did not make a move. So¡­]</em>

    ¡°¡­Go, Obren.¡±

    A bright light engulfed Obren and Kronad.

    <em>[Athenae sent them to the world where the humans lived.]</em>

    After watching them disappear, Athenae turned around and said, ¡°Let us return. They will destroy themselves.¡±

    A bitter and helpless expression appeared on Athenae¡¯s face as she and her army returned.

    ***

    <em>[Obren and Kronad had been sent to thend of the humans. However, Obren¡¯s wrath was greater than he expected. Kronad could tell that if things continued at this rate, the entire human race would be wiped out on this day. So, he tried to stop and restrain Obren.]</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    One attack from Obren and tens of thousands of pdins disappeared without a trace. Tens of thousands of priests prayed and prayed for the ¡®wicked one¡¯ to be driven out from theirnds but it was to no avail. The mindless ughter continued for days on end.

    More than a month had passed, yet the battle between the humans and the Evil God was still underway.

    ¡°I will kill all of you, treacherous and lying humans! I will kill all the gods! I will kill everyone until I¡¯m the only one left in thesends!!!¡±

    Thousands of humans died with every swipe of Obren¡¯s hands. It was literally the descent of the Evil God.

    At that point, Kronad, the popes and the pdins realized that they could not, and would not be able to kill Obren. All of them reached a consensus and decided to ¡®seal¡¯ him.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    When Evil God Obren ughtered and wiped out another human empire, and mankind was left on the edge of despair, Kronad gathered all of the popes and strongest pdins. They quickly went to find Obren.

    As Obren spiraled further into his madness, his once pure and naive eyes now sought only ughter and destruction. The moment he caught sight of Kronad, he unleashed countless powerful attacks.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    With Pope Kronad at the vanguard, the popes, pdins, priests and saints, together with the volunteers and representatives of each empire and kingdom, fought hard to stop Obren.

    On this day, thergest number of people that died on the battlefield was recorded in the annals of history. The gods refused to listen to the earnest and desperate cries of the humans. They had reaped what they sown. The gods did not spare them any mercy.

    <em>Staaaaab¡ª</em>

    Fortunately, Kronad was able to sessfully stab Obren in the abdomen. Then, he grabbed whatever item he could grab first, which turned out to be a seasoning jar.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Obren.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Obren¡¯s body was sucked inside the jar.

    ¡°I¡­ loathe¡­ you¡­¡±

    With Obren¡¯s body sealed inside the jar, Kronad, the popes, the pdins, the saints and everybody else thought that the war was finally over.

    <em>[You have received the Evil God¡¯s Curse!]</em>

    <em>[The pdins, saints, saintesses, priests and popes that survived this war will be cursed to live a life of immortality. You will live beside Evangel, the temple that you have been greedy for, for all eternity!]</em>

    <em>[Obren¡¯s curse will bring suffering to you for all eternity!]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Kronad looked at the seasoning jar helplessly.

    <em>aaash¡ª</em>

    Then, the seasoning jar disappeared in a sh, flying to somece unknown to them.

    At the same time, Kronad, the popes, the priests, the pdins and the saints all disappeared in a sh of light. The ce where they were brought to? The Papal Wall.

    They all paid tribute to those that died.

    ¡°We will never forget those that have died because of our sins.¡±

    ¡°We will always remember Obren and receive punishment for what we have done to him for all eternity.¡±

    ¡°We were Obren¡¯s friends yet we turned our backs on him and betrayed him. We have to find a way to awaken him.¡±

    <em>[Now, thousands of yearster, Kronad, the popes, the pdins and the saints finally found a way to awaken Obren.]</em>

    ***

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡°Mot**rf*cker! Is this the friendship that you were talking about?!¡± Minhyuk shouted as he punched Pope Kronad in the face. However, the man¡¯s head was just bent at an awkward angle from the blow.

    Normally, those that received Minhyuk¡¯s punch would have already been sent a few meters back. However, Pope Kronad was a very powerful being. Such a blow meant nothing to him.

    Kronad looked at Minhyuk and said, ¡°I know that we cannot turn back time and reverse what we did. That¡¯s why we will be paying for our sins. We have found a way to awaken Obren. I hope that you will bring himfort and console his wounded heart.¡±

    Minhyuk, who was looking at Kronad in rage, soon calmed down.

    ¡°Please take care of him once he awakens, so that he will no longer suffer from grievances and be hurt.¡±

    Then, a quest window popped out in front of Minhyuk.

    <em>[<strong>Hidden Quest</strong>: Furious Obren]</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: SSS</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: The One that Received Kronad¡¯s Recognition.</em>

    <em><strong>Rewards</strong>: Unfinished Evangel. Obren¡¯s revival.</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty for Failure</strong>: You will not be able to leave this ce for a month.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: Obren¡¯s power, whichy slumbering inside the Puzzling Seasoning Jar, has weakened by a lot. Thankfully, Kronad, the popes, the pdins, the saints and the priests have found a way to awaken Obren. They will bring the furious Obren of the past and kill him here.</em>

    <em>The awakened Obren will be furious but he will be severely weakened. However, the only way to kill Obren is to use the ¡®Sacred Papal Sword¡¯. To use the Sacred Papal Sword, the inhabitants of thisnd have to willingly enter ¡®hell¡¯ to pay for their sin and suffer for all eternity. </em>

    <em>Help grant their ¡®grave punishment¡¯ and revive ¡®Obren¡¯.</em>

    Minhyuk finally found a way to meet with ¡®Obren¡¯ once again.

 Chapter 681: Divine Will

    Chapter 681: Divine Will

    The Sacred Papal Sword was a sword that existed even before Pope Kronad came to this world, and was something that had been mentioned in myths and legends.

    ording to the records, the Sacred Papal Sword could only be used by a chosen pope. The pope should also have a high amount of holy power, of which Pope Kronad had around 20,000. One should also be able to withstand the strong energy that would burst out and flow from the Sacred Papal Sword. Even after meeting all of those requirements, they would only be able to wield the sword for half an hour at most.

    That was on top of the countless and heavy sacrifices that they would have to make, just to summon the Sacred Papal Sword.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s a sword that can only be created by sacrificing and consuming the holy power of plenty of beings with high holy power¡­¡¯</em>

    Of course, Minhyuk knew that this was for the progress of the story. These people had sinned and they had to bear the price of that sin. That was not all; those that helped create the Sacred Papal Sword and the one that used the sword would suffer for all eternity in hell.

    <em>¡®Are you telling me that you have to pay such a high price in order to wield such strong power?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk hated and despised these rotten and corrupt popes and pdins. But right now, the fury, hatred, and contempt that he had for them would not change anything. Rather than telling them, <em>¡®I¡¯m d you¡¯re repenting.¡¯</em> after seeing that they wanted to pay for their crimes, he decided to focus on Obren and find a way to awaken him.

    <em>¡®Obren¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk could now understand why Obren acted so coldly toward him when they first met. Obren was just someone that had loved to read books. He was known as one of the Six Monster Gods but he only wanted to experience the sky, the sea, and thend happily. He was merely someone born with the potential and power to be an ¡®Evil God¡¯. Minhyuk wanted to meet that very same Obren once again.

    ¡°What do I have to do?¡± Minhyuk asked, his voice as cold as frost.

    ¡°From what I know, you¡¯re a chef, one who can infuse tremendous power in his dishes. It seems like you are someone that has inherited the powers of the Food God of the past.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded. He had watched everything properly. There was a chance that the Food God of the distant past was the one that made the dish that made Obren go berserk.

    ¡°Can you cook for us?¡±

    Of course, Minhyuk¡¯s answer to that question was ¡®OK¡¯. After all, they needed to kill the berserk Obren of the past for him to be able to meet the guy that was sleeping in the seasoning jar once again.

    However, the problem was it seemed like they wanted Minhyuk to use his own ingredients to cook for them.

    ¡°I can cook for you. However, you need to pay the price.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Kronad nodded at Minhyuk¡¯s words. Not long after, one of the popes approached Minhyuk and handed him a heavy bag along with several artifacts.

    <em>[You have acquired 68,512 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Pope Kronad¡¯s Faded Papal Robes.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Pope Kronad¡¯s Faded Bell.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Pope Kronad¡¯s Faded Ne.]</em>

    The three artifacts that were given to him were all a part of a set.

    <em>¡®If you wear all three of these together, you will get an instant boost in power, right?¡¯</em>

    Each of the artifacts were legendary, but if one wore them all together, then they could rival a god-rank artifact in terms of power. However, there was a restriction.

    <em>[Pope Kronad¡¯s Faded Set can only be used twice! The artifacts will disappear after all of the uses have been consumed!]</em>

    That was right. Pope Kronad could not just easily hand over his own artifacts. He was someone that wanted to erase his existence from history. Even if the set artifacts could only be used twice, it could still be considered to be a huge reward. Especially since the value of the ingredients that Minhyuk would use, no matter how good they were, would not even be worth 60,000 tinum.

    Some of the popes were looking at Minhyuk with both suspicion and anger. For them, Kronad was their leader. It did not matter if they and Kronad would go down in history as sinners and murderers, their reverence and belief in Kronad still made them feel reluctant to see Minhyuk treat their leader like that.

    <em>¡®How dare he speak informally toward Lord Kronad¡­?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®And what¡¯s with that look? Is he looking at us in contempt?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He¡¯s nothing but a chef at best¡­¡¯</em>

    Of course, they had been in awe when they saw Minhyuk disy his strong will and break down the Evil God¡¯s Cursed Stones. However, he was nothing but a mere chef to them.

    At that moment, Minhyuk looked at one of the pdins. The pdin was none other than the Brahma Religion¡¯s Strongest Pdin, Elon. Elon was someone that had gone beyond Level 653 and was far more stronger than any of the other pdins in this ce.

    ¡°Your expression is showing irritation,¡± Minhyuk said as he looked at the other popes, pdins and saints, with a dry and fed up expression of his own.

    He had the same purpose as these people and that was to awaken the sealed Obren. That was why he was putting up with them for now. So, he said, ¡°I have no intention of feeling sorry for you, nor do I intend to hold your hands and give you my heart. Especially for you lot, who hide behind the name of a friend so you can use them for your own greed.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    That was when they recalled that the man in front of them had told them that he was Obren¡¯s friend. He even proved that he truly cared for Obren, by doing his best to break the Evil God¡¯s Cursed Stone. He waspletely different from them. For someone that saw Obren as a friend, how much hatred would he have for them?

    ¡°I am not helping you. I am just doing this to help Obren¡­¡± Minhyuk said as he threw a small toy-like trailer out. Not long after, the trailer grewrge.

    <em>Beeeeeeeeeeeeeep¡ª</em>

    <em>Rumbleeeeeeeeee¡ª</em>

    <em>Rumbleeeeeeeeee¡ª</em>

    The eternal mes shot out from the two vents on the trailer¡¯s roof. Then, Minhyuk red at them. His aura was so dignified that even Elon, a Strongest Pdin, could not help but gulp dryly from his momentum. Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°Go to hell.¡±

    ***

    Several South Korean broadcasting stations, including ATV Broadcasting Station, were rushing to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    ATV Broadcasting Station¡¯s PD Kim Daeguk rubbed his chin as he recalled the message that he received from a man. The message went:

    <em>[There will be a scoop in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. If this message spreads to other yers or NPCs, there will be no scoop on that day. On top of that, all of the stations that have received this message will no longer be included in the next message transmission.]</em>

    PD Kim Daeguk, along with the other officials and employees of the broadcasting station, quickly rode on their horses and rushed toward the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. It did not take too long for them to enter the kingdom.

    The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was a very beautiful ce. The yers and NPCs were interacting freely. The kingdom¡¯s finances were notcking, which meant that there was not a single person that was hungry. Also, since their king was the Food God, the kingdom was filled with countless delicious delicacies.

    What kind of scoop would they be able to get in this kingdom?

    PD Kim Daeguk looked around. He saw several officials and employees rushing inside the kingdom.

    <em>¡®What in the world will happen in this beautiful and peaceful Beyond the Heavens Kingdom? Is the Great Demon Verus going to descend again?¡¯</em>

    They were aware that Food God Minhyuk was nowhere to be seen in Athenae these past few days. Rumors about how Kang Minhyuk¡¯s eating addiction had red up and worsened had been circting recently, along with rumors about how he was taking sses necessary for sessors.

    Just what in the world was going to happen in such peace? But then, at that moment, something happened.

    <em>Vwoooooooooooooong¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    A powerful and strong tremor shook the ground and made the entire area shake. PD Kim¡¯s eyes grew wide at the sudden changes in the area. That was when he saw a gigantic, thirty meter-long staff that fell down somewhere near the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    <em>Thuuuuud¡ª</em>

    <em>Thuuuuuud¡ª</em>

    <em>Thuuuud¡ª</em>

    Staves fell from the sky and stabbed into the ground, forming a hexagon. Then, just like a spiderweb, a huge barrier slowly unfolded. The barrier was so huge that it engulfed not only the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, but also an area 20 kilometers around it too.

    <em>[The God of Death¡¯s ¡®ughterer¡¯s Circle¡¯ has unfolded.]</em>

    <em>[One cannot easily enter the God of Death¡¯s ughterer¡¯s Circle.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Death¡¯s ¡®ughterer¡¯s Circle¡¯ is created for ughter. Only officials and executives of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom can enter ughterer¡¯s Circle freely.]</em>

    ¡°Th, that¡­!¡±

    ¡°PD Kim Daeguk. Please, please look over there!¡±

    Immediately after that, something happened in the skies. Everyone at the outskirts of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom turned to look up. There, they saw an extremely huge door shrouded with zing mes. The gates were being blocked by gigantic skeletons. They were doing their hardest to prevent whatever creatures lied behind those doors froming out.

    <em>Thuuuud¡ª</em>

    <em>Thuuuuuuuud¡ª</em>

    <em>Thuuuuuuud¡ª</em>

    <em>Thuuuuuud¡ª</em>

    The gates were being forced open by loud and powerful bangs. Everyone would flinch whenever something mmed on the gates.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    In the end, the gates burst open, revealing the hideous and terrifying creatures that were being detained inside. Some of them had bodies that were charred all over, while others had nothing but bones. There were even ones that had cuts all over their bodies. It was not just humans. There were also monsters and what seemed to be demonic beasts amidst their ranks. On top of being creepy, their numbers were far toorge for anyone to estimate.

    PD Kim gulped dryly as he watched these hideous beings line up in a formation. He thought, <em>¡®It¡¯s, it¡¯s a sea of ck.¡¯</em>

    It was the perfect expression to describe the scene in front of them. Then, the notifications sounded.

    <em>[ The <strong>Episode</strong>: God of Death and the Hell Corps¡¯ Invasion has begun!]</em>

    <em>[You will be able to gain rewards if you stop the God of Death and the Hell Corps¡¯ Invasion!]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    At this moment, Daeguk realized that something was terribly wrong.

    <em>¡®An episode is targeting a kingdom?¡¯</em>

    That was impossible. It was obvious that someone had manipted the episode and twisted its direction.

    Then, the God of Death descended, apanied by a set of notifications.

    <em>[The God of Death has descended to lead the Hell Corps.]</em>

    <em>[Plenty more will be dragged to hell with his touch.]</em>

    The God of Death, who was wearing a ck robe that covered his entire body, raised his staff and pointed it forward.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Powerful andrge magical attacks rained down and fell on the ground.

    ¡°¡­What the hell?!¡±

    ¡°What the hell?! Why is there a sudden magical bombardment?!¡±

    ¡°Heok¡­?!¡±

    Someone was able to spot the being that released the bombardment.

    ¡°ck Dragon Vormon?!¡±

    ck Dragon Vormon had been killed by the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom during the war in the Continental Cloud in the past. He had been summoned by Crazy Tyrant Akhan back then.

    ¡°No way¡­¡±

    What kind of ce was Hell? It was thend of the dead. However, just because someone could drag everyone out of hell did not mean that the bnce would be broken.

    <em>¡®What if one can summon anyone from hell by umting contributions and meeting certain conditions?¡¯</em>

    If that was the case, then the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was truly in trouble. There was a high chance that Great Demon Verus, the Corrupted God, or even Demigod Asura would appear here.

    This was actually the case. Rex needed to kill the members and citizens of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom to increase his contributions and drag them to hell, before being able to summon more terrifying entities.

    <em>¡®I have to increase my contributions.¡¯</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Another bombardment of magical attacks appeared, this time aimed directly at the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. The mages of the kingdom immediately stepped forward and created a shield to protect theirnd. However, some of the attacks were still able to pass through the shields, killing the soldiers and the people inside the walls.

    Since the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was caught off guard at the moment, Rex could take this opportunity to ughter most of their people.

    <em>¡®The achievements of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom are just mere exaggerations.¡¯</em>

    Rex had watched the videos of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s battles several times. However, he believed that most of them were just mere exaggerations.

    He was certain that the reason why these people were strong was because they used their powers at the risk of penalties. After all, there was no way that the Food God and those NPCs could be <em>that</em> strong. In other words, Rex rejected the possibility that they were truly powerful, because it was beyond hismon sense.

    Besides, Rex was confident in his forces. He had the Sword of the Gods with him, as well as several Death Knights. He was even leading around four million troops of the Hell Corps with 200,000 of them already charging toward the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom at the moment.

    ¡°<em>Roar, grrrrr, </em><em>grooooar</em><em>!</em>¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!¡±

    Hell was a new, unexplorednd. The existences that lived in thatnd were extremely powerful. There were ¡®Hell¡¯s Hellhounds¡¯ that crawled out from hell, their levels at least Level 450; ¡®Hell¡¯s Beowulf¡¯, who were at least Level 460; and ¡®Hell¡¯s Soldiers¡¯, who were at around Level 460~480, all charging forward. As for the knights, some of them even exceeded Level 500.

    Rex smiled in satisfaction as he watched his Hell Corps charge forward.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaah¡­¡±

    ¡°Ah, aaaaaaaaah¡­¡±

    ¡°Sh, shit.¡±

    PD Kim saw the soldiers stationed on the walls looking at the scene in front of them in a daze. In fact, even Daeguk could not help but take a step back because of the crippling fear that weighed heavily on him. The citizens of the kingdom were already screaming from fear and terror.

    <em>Diiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    <em>Diiiiiiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    <em>Diiiiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    At that moment, a mysterious bell rang loudly in the area. No one could tell where the sound came from. To be exact, the beautiful chimes were emitting from a very small being that stood among the soldiers of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    He was just the size of a fist and was wearing pristine white priestly robes while holding the bell, as he stood on top of the walls. This being was none other than Beanie, the Supreme Divine Beast!

    ¡°<em>Oink, oink oink. </em><em>Oiiiiiiiiiink</em><em>!</em> (How dare those ugly creatures try and charge toward Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?! Oink!)¡±

    Ambron, who supported Beanie, stepped forward and said in a pure and gentle voice, ¡°Look. Our god¡¯s envoy, Supreme Divine Beast Beanie, will punish you!¡±

    Immediately after that, Beanie¡¯s special skill, the Predator¡¯s Authority, was activated. The Predator¡¯s Authority was a skill that could devour any power and allow Beanie to use it for himself. It could also allow him to deal as much damage as the one that had the power.

    <em>Thump¡ª</em>

    Beanie jumped down andnded on the ground. Then¡­

    ¡°<em>Oiiiiiiiiink</em><em>!!! </em>(All of you should just go and die, <em>oiiiiiiink</em><em>!!!</em>)¡± Beanie cried out as his body started to erge.

    That was right. The power that Beanie was disying after activating the Predator¡¯s Authority was none other than ¡®Hanwoo¡¯s Charge¡¯. Just like that, Beanie¡¯s body grew to fifty meters in the blink of an eye.

    In his pristine white priestly robes, Beanie soon reached the size of the walls and charged toward the 200,000 advancing troops of the Hell Corps. Just as he was about to collide with the enemy forces, Ambron nced at the people of the kingdom behind him and said, ¡°Just like a miracle, the sea will open up and create a path for him with one step of his foot.¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Beanie jumped up, his feet trampling upon the 200,000-strong enemy troops.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Rex, who watched his 200,000 strong army disappear, was left entirely speechless.

 Chapter 682: Divine Will

    Chapter 682: Divine Will

    The past Obren, who had gone berserk, was estimated to have reached over 1,000 in terms of his level. But ording to the quest description, the Obren that would appear right now would be much weaker than he was back then. Even if that was the case, Obren would still be Obren.

    ording to Pope Kronad, he would receive a penalty that would reduce his level by 150 once he summoned the ¡®Sacred Papal Sword¡¯. In other words, his level would be around Level 700. Because of that, the pdins, priests, popes, and even the saintesses had to grow stronger than they were now.

    Minhyuk hated these people, but he still decided to make the warmest meal for them. He was not doing this for them. He was doing it for Obren.

    <em>¡®I know that these people have not had a proper and filling meal for a long time now.¡¯</em>

    Because of that, Minhyuk decided to make a home-cooked meal for them. It was perfect for someone with a hungry stomach on a cold and freezing day.

    Those who were often busy with their studies or work, would often hear their stomachs grumbling andining from hunger after not being able to eat properly the whole day. During times like that, the food that they missed the most were not the food bought outside, but the warm meals that their mothers made for them before.

    Minhyuk decided that the main dish would be spicy stir-fried pork. He would use the trailer¡¯s specialty to create bulk dishes of spicy stir-fried pork for these people.

    <em>Sizzleeee¡ª</em>

    The spicy stir-fried pork was best cooked inside arge iron pot and on the zing mes of the Eternal me. Minhyuk also prepared some soybean paste stew on the side while he was cooking the stir-fried pork. He quickly made the broth by dissolving some soybean paste and added some sliced zhini and onions.

    <em>Boil, boil, boil¡ª</em>

    Then, he added some sliced tofu and enoki mushrooms and let it boil some more. After that, he added some chopped green onions to finish the dish.

    With the soybean paste stew finished, Minhyuk moved to therge iron pot once again and began to stir the pork.

    <em>Sizzleeeee¡ª</em>

    <em>Crackle, crackle¡ª</em>

    The heat emitted by the Eternal mes caused sweat to drip down and cover Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    Elon, Brahma Religion¡¯s most powerful pdin and the one that was said to be the second inmand right next to Kronad, reflected on the words that Minhyuk told them.

    <em>¡®Go to hell¡­?¡¯</em>

    Of course. They were all prepared to do just that. Everything was their fault. It was only right that they paid the price for the sin that they hadmitted. However, he felt anger surge in his head when he recalled the impudent tone in Minhyuk¡¯s voice.

    <em>Sizzleeee¡ª</em>

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    The anger boiling in Elon¡¯s heart quickly melted away as he watched Minhyuk groan while cooking. To this man, they were nothing more than trash that wanted to wipe out mankind to be gods. However, he still gave it his all for his friend Obren.

    Seeing Minhyuk work hard like that made Elon, whose feelings had turned dull after being trapped in this ce for thousands of years, feel alive once again.

    <em>¡®Why did we do that¡­?¡¯</em>

    It was toote. All they could do was look back at what they did in regret.

    By then, Minhyuk was alreadydling some soybean paste stew in earthenware pots and scooping some piping hot, spicy stir-fried pork onto a te. When he was cooking the spicy stir-fried pork, Minhyuk deliberately added the vegetablester to maintain its crispiness and freshness. Of course, he also ced some piping hot rice cooked in an iron pot, and transferred it on the te.

    One by one, they received the dishes that Minhyuk made for them. All of them looked down at the meal that was spread out on the table in front of them. They wondered if they could truly fight against Obren just by eating one meal. At the same time, they had another thought.

    <em>¡®Do we deserve to eat this meal?¡¯</em>

    That was what they thought. They felt a lot and thought a lot when they were watching Minhyuk. While they were hesitating to eat the meal, Minhyuk, who had finished setting up his own table and was already preparing to eat, spoke dryly, ¡°Are you telling me that popes, pdins and priests won¡¯t eat that meal because you don¡¯t eat meat?¡±

    That was not true. They have lived in this ce for such a long time, perhaps for an eternity. How could they afford to be picky with food?

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. You can eat this one meal before you go to hell.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    They all grabbed their spoons one after the other after hearing those words. Minhyuk only said those words because they had to fight. After all, Minhyuk believed that no one would be able to fight on full power with an empty stomach. However, the people around him interpreted his words differently.

    ¡°<em>Sob, sob, sob, sob!</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Sob, sob, sob, sob!</em>¡±

    The saintesses, pdins, and popes began to cry as they ate their meal. Meanwhile, Elon watched Minhyuk eat before eating his meal. The first thing that he tasted was the piping hot rice. The spoonful of glistening rice that entered his mouth tasted sweet and soft. Next, he tried the rice with some spicy stir-fried pork.

    <em>Munch, munch, munch¡ª</em>

    Elon¡¯s eyes shed open. He was actually the first among all of the people that were detained here inside the Papal Wall to taste meat. However, even if they ate meat, the popes, pdins and saints did not know how to cook. In other words, the meat dishes, as well as the other food that they had tasted before this was the worst of the worst. Although the meat in front of them left a burning and stinging sensation in their mouths, the stir-fried meat tasted surprisingly good.

    Next, he ate a spoonful of the white rice in his mouth before sipping some of the soybean paste stew. The savory vor of the soup made from fermented soybean paste spread instantly in Elon¡¯s mouth. Then, following Minhyuk, Elon also scooped a huge spoonful of zhini and tofu. He dumped the zhini and tofu in his bowl of rice, mixed everything together before scooping a mouthful and putting it in his mouth.

    ¡°This vor¡­!¡± Elon shouted, unable to hide the admiration that he felt for the dish.

    This time, he grabbed a lettuce leaf. He spread the leaf on top of his palm, scooping half a spoon of rice on top of it along with some sliced garlic dipped in ssamjang and some kimchi. Then, he closed the lettuce into a wrap before cing it in his mouth. A cacophony of vors burst out in his mouth the moment he chewed the wrap.

    A warmth blossomed in Elon¡¯s heart as he finished his meal. He thought, <em>¡®I¡¯m very thankful that thest meal that I will ever eat was a very delicious one.¡¯</em>

    They would all go to hell soon. There, they would not be able to eat anything and only suffer from terrible pain. As a drop of tear fell from the corner of Elon¡¯s eyes, a series of notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[You have eaten Spicy Stir-fried Pork.]</em>

    <em>[Legendary Grade.]</em>

    <em>[Your Holy Power will increase by 21%!]</em>

    <em>[Your Physical and Magical Attack will increase by 10%!]</em>

    <em>[Your Physical and Magical Defense will increase by 14%!]</em>

    <em>[All of your skills and abilities rted to Holy Power will increase by 20%!]</em>

    <em>[The buff willst for four days.]</em>

    All of the people that ate the meal were shocked to their core when they heard the notifications.

    <em>¡®His power is far more amazing than the Food God of the past that we knew.¡¯</em>

    A god¡¯s throne was something that was passed on and inherited. There was a high chance that the Food God that they knew was a Food God of a very distant past. With the flow of time, the Food Gods that seeded him must have developed their skills and created their own, forging a path of their own, and growing even further. That was why Minhyuk¡¯s power far exceeded their expectations.

    ¡°Let¡¯s assemble,¡± Kronad said. He also ate the spicy stir-fried pork, found it to be an extremely satisfying meal, and had received an increase in holy power.

    The popes, priests, saints and pdins all gathered at his words.

    ¡°It¡¯s time for us to go to hell,¡± Kronad said bitterly, all of hisrades nodding grimly in agreement. Then, a bright light burst out as he ced his palms together.

    <em>[Pope Kronad has started the Prayer of Sacrifice!]</em>

    Then, the rest of the people also ced their palms together in a prayer, a bright light also bursting out of their palms. The light that burst out of their bodies began to gather in a circle in the middle of their gathering. It slowly floated above them as it grew bigger and bigger.

    ¡°Ugh!!!¡± Pope Kronad groaned.

    As the holy power that burst out of their body gathered in the light above them, a warning rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[A tremendous amount of holy power, an amount that even the gods fear, is being gathered.]</em>

    <em>[You might die if the gathered holy power explodes.]</em>

    <em>[You are in front of an extremely powerful holy power.]</em>

    <em>[Witnessing an extremely powerful holy power has increased your holiness.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 100 Holy Power.]</em>

    <em>aaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    Then, the space where the huge light gathered slowly opened to reveal a sword with a de surrounded by golden sword energy.

    <em>[The Sacred Papal Sword has made an appearance!]</em>

    <em>[The Sacred Papal Sword is a great sword with a rank higher than that of any god-rank sword!]</em>

    <em>[Gazing upon the Sacred Papal Sword alone will purify your heart and thoughts!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 100 Holy Power.]</em>

    Golden Sword God along with the name ¡®Kronad¡¯ were the words engraved on the de of the sword. This showed that Kronad was the only owner of the Sacred Papal Sword.

    Finally, Kronad stepped forward and slowly grabbed the hilt of the Sacred Papal Sword.

    <em>[A considerable amount of holy power has been destroyed to summon the Sacred Papal Sword.]</em>

    <em>[Your power to destroy evil has weakened a bit after a part of your holy power has been sacrificed to summon the Sacred Papal Sword.]</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Then, at that moment, the holy power around Kronad exploded, forcing a groan out of his mouth, ¡°Uuuuuugh!¡±

    Kronad¡¯s hands and arms started to burn even though he was just holding the sword.

    <em>Sizzleeee¡ª</em>

    The Sacred Papal Sword would only remain in this world for thirty minutes. So, Kronad immediately ordered, ¡°Quickly, Obren¡­!¡±

    The priests hurriedly prayed after hearing Kronad¡¯s words.

    <em>Riiiiiip¡ª</em>

    After a moment, the space in front of them was ripped apart, as a young and furious Obren, the Obren from the past, appeared.

    <em>[Berserk Evil God Obren of the Past. Level 764.]</em>

    Kronad turned vignt as he saw the Evil God slowly open his eyes. Just when he was about to attack Obren, Obren did something unexpected.

    <em>[Berserk Evil God Obren of the Past reacts to his own consciousness sealed inside the Puzzling Seasoning Jar!]</em>

    <em>[Berserk Evil God Obren of the Past uses the Book of Absorption!]</em>

    <em>[Obren has absorbed some of his power sealed in the Seasoning Jar with the Book of Absorption!]</em>

    Everything happened in an instant. The book that said ¡®Book of Absorption¡¯ floated in the air and forced the seasoning jar in Minhyuk¡¯s possession to float in the air above them. Then, a ck string of energy flew out of the Puzzling Seasoning Jar. The ck energy was then absorbed by the Berserk Evil God Obren of the Past.

    <em>[Berserk Evil God Obren of the Past has grown stronger!]</em>

    <em>[Berserk Evil God Obren of the Past. Level 863.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was left speechless. Even Great Demon Verus, Demigod Asura, or the Corrupted God did not reach that level. What could they do against someone at that level?

    <em>[Evil God Obren has released his wrath!]</em>

    <em>[Evil God Obren has been waiting for this moment. He has prepared a lot to kill Kronad!]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The furious Obren of the past had been waiting for this very moment. He immediately released the Evil God¡¯s Books that he had prepared in advance.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª</em>

    Powerful explosions engulfed Kronad as hundreds of swords and spears flew toward his body. The impact of the attack sent the now bloody Kronad flying back.

    <em>ng¡ª</em>

    At the same time, the Sacred Papal Sword in his hand fell on the ground.

    ¡°Uurrrrrk¡­¡± Pope Kronad coughed up a mouthful of blood, a groan escaping his mouth as his body got stuck to a wall.

    ¡°It¡¯s, it¡¯s not going to work¡­¡±

    ¡°Im, impossible¡­¡±

    ¡°Lord, Lord Kronad!!!

    ¡°Get, get the sacred sword!!! Retrieve the sword!¡±

    The pdins hurriedly ran forward to retrieve the sacred sword. However, when one of the pdins touched the sword¡­

    <em>[Only those that have been acknowledged by the Sacred Papal Sword can wield it!]</em>

    <em>[The Sacred Papal Sword punishes the undeserving!]</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    A powerful force burst out of the Sacred Papal Sword, engulfing dozens of priests, pdins, popes and saints. All of them disappeared without a trace.

    <em>[Six popes, fourteen pdins, eighteen priests, and two saintesses have lost all of their holy power and died!]</em>

    <em>[They will fall in hell and live a life worse than this life, walking a never-ending hellish path!]</em>

    ¡°A, aaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Evil, Evil God¡­!!!¡±

    Screams rang loudly all over the ce.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Minhyuk had also lost his consciousness for a moment when faced with Obren¡¯s constant bombardment of attacks. Even though the attacks only grazed him, he received tremendous damage.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Popes disappeared one after another right in front of Minhyuk. Fortunately, Minhyuk was able to open his eyes ande back to his senses.

    Then, he heard Pope Kronad¡¯s voice in his ears.

    <em>¡®The Sacred Papal Sword can only be wielded by those that have received the recognition of God Athenae.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®This sword requires an extremely high amount of holy power to be wielded. To be honest, even if I am a human, I have higher holy power than most gods.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®If someone with low holy power dared to use it, this sword would mete out punishment on its own.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Is there another being that can wield this sword? I don¡¯t think such a being exists in this world.¡¯</em>

    Someone that received the recognition of God Athenae and someone with an extremely high amount of holy power. Those were the requirements of the Sacred Papal Sword.

    <em>Step¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk stepped forward. He took out ¡®Pandora¡¯s Helmet¡¯ from his inventory and put it on his head.

    <em>[Pandora¡¯s Helmet doubles your Holy Power! Your Holy Power has increased greatly!]</em>

    With another step, he took out ¡®Pope Kronad¡¯s Faded Bell¡¯ and held it in his left hand.

    <em>[You have equipped Pope Kronad¡¯s Faded Bell!]</em>

    <em>[Your Holy Power has increased by 10%!]</em>

    This time, he took off his red armor, the ¡®ughterer¡¯s Armor¡¯, and swapped it with the white priestly robe, ¡®Pope Kronad¡¯s Faded Priestly Robes¡¯.

    <em>[You have equipped Pope Kronad¡¯s Faded Priestly Robes!]</em>

    <em>[Your Holy Power has increased by 15%!]</em>

    Minhyuk untied the ne hanging on his neck, recing it with ¡®Pope Kronad¡¯s Faded Ne¡¯, as he took another step towards the Sacred Papal Sword.

    <em>[You have equipped Pope Kronad¡¯s Faded Ne!]</em>

    <em>[Your Holy Power has increased by 10%!]</em>

    <em>[You have equipped Pope Kronad¡¯s Faded Set!]</em>

    <em>[With the set effect, your total Holy Power will increase by 60%!!!]</em>

    <em>[Your Holy Power has temporarily exceeded 20,000!!!]</em>

    Finally, Minhyuk reached the ce where the Sacred Papal Sword fell down. Then, he bent down and grabbed the hilt of the sword.

    <em>Graaaaab¡ª</em>

    <em>[You have grabbed the Sacred Papal Sword!]</em>

    <em>[The Sacred Papal Sword is checking your qualifications!]</em>

    <em>Sizzleeeee¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s right hand, which held the Sacred Papal Sword, began to burn.

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Just like when Kronad held the sword in his hand earlier, a powerful wave of holy power burst out from the sword and swept the area around Minhyuk.

    <em>[The Sacred Papal Sword has acknowledged you!!!]</em>

    The aftermath of the sudden burst of holy power made Minhyuk¡¯s hair flutter. He looked at Obren and called out, ¡°Obren.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s gaze was sharp as he continued to look at Obren.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go home.¡±

 Chapter 683: Divine Will

    Chapter 683: Divine Will

    Rex had obtained and manipted the episode: God of Death and the Hell Corps¡¯ Invasion. Right now, he was forced to watch his almost 300,000-strong troops get trampled on and destroyed in less than a minute, by a gigantic, 50 meter tall, Supreme Divine Beast Beanie wearing white priestly robes.

    <em>[You, who have taken over the God of Death¡¯s power, have lost over 300,000 Hell Corps!]</em>

    <em>[The God of Death is a harsh and cruel being!]</em>

    <em>[Two points from all of your stats will be deducted and destroyed!]</em>

    Rex almost lost hisposure at the sound of the notifications in his ears. It was not Hanwoo but Supreme Divine Beast Beanie that used the charge? It had turned into Beanie Charge?! However, he forced himself to calm down.

    <em>¡®This is just the beginning.¡¯</em>

    He was just caught off guard by Beanie¡¯s sudden attack. Rex still had millions of troops in his Hell Corps and he could still use the power of the God of Death. Besides, he had no reason to be afraid, when he had two Sword of the Gods with him.

    <em>¡®Based on what I have researched and analyzed, Spear God Ben will not be able to beat a single one of the Sword of the Gods.¡¯</em>

    To Rex, Spear God Ben was just a half-baked god. However, Ben had been able to temporarily exert the power of a true god by using an unidentified spear, whereas the Sword of the Gods were existences that could rival true gods.

    <em>¡®It will take some time for the elites of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom to gather.¡¯</em>

    Rex was a very thorough and careful man. He was aware that the main pirs and executives of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had some schedules to attend overseas. After all, they needed to engage in several external activities to seize stronger power and greater influence. Rex also knew that Ben, who was acting as a temporarymander, was leading some of the kingdom¡¯s troops for some training.

    <em>¡®This is all because of your arrogance and conceit.¡¯</em>

    The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had grown into a kingdom where no other kingdom, empire or organization could touch them recklessly. However, that was also the reason why they had neglected their security.

    Also, there was no way that they could imagine that this would happen, right? Besides, there were plenty of nations that hoped to forge friendship and diplomatic rtionships with the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. It seemed like the kingdom had thought that these nations woulde quickly to their aid. However, Rex had set up the ¡®ughterer¡¯s Circle¡¯ to prevent any support troops from entering the kingdom.

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s Supreme Divine Beast Beanie has yed a big role just now.]</em>

    <em>[I have no idea what in the world is happening right now but what I do know is the fact that there are currently no major executives inside the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[It also seems like Food God Minhyuk is nowhere to be seen.]</em>

    Thementators also believed that the situation was very bad. In fact, the people and troops of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were actually at a loss.

    But then, at that moment, someone started to climb up the stairs. This someone was none other than the boy who was just eating a bowl of ramyeon earlier. Then, the boy shouted, ¡°I!!! Am!!! Conir!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°Conir will be the temporarymander of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!!! Everyone, follow Conir!!! Charge!!! Charge!!! Everyone, eat ramyeon and charge!!!¡±

    ¡°Are, are we really going to charge?!¡±

    ¡°I am Conir!!! Grandpa Ben always said this!!!¡±

    ¡°Sir, Sir Conir¡­ Please¡­¡±

    Ramyeon Boy Conir raised his sword and shouted those words at the top of his lungs the moment he stepped foot on the ramparts.

    Seeing this, Rex smiled in satisfaction. He thought, <em>¡®It seemed like all of the talents of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom are out?¡¯</em>

    He could not help butugh.<em></em>

    <em>¡®They actually ced an intellectually-challenged boy in the position of amander? It¡¯s time tounch a full-on attack. We can pierce through the gates of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom in one go!¡¯</em> Rex judged that to be the case.

    However, the truth was Jarrod was standing behind Conir. Jarrod was known as the God of Tactics and was the former Tactic Star. He was currently the tower master of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s Tower of Knowledge, and was working on several tactics and strategies during his free time. With someone like Jarrod on their side, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would never be caught off guard. They had always been vignt and careful.

    <em>¡®Everyone can leave this ce disappointed because the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is fully prepared.¡¯</em>

    Jarrod looked back at Park and called out, ¡°Sir Park.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Park, who was now themander of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s First Knight Order, answered.

    However, he was shocked by Jarrod¡¯s following remarks, ¡°All of you, follow Conir¡¯s orders.¡±

    ¡°Yes? Are you sure?¡± Park asked, unable to hide his fluster at Jarrod¡¯s words.

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    Park obviously held great respect and admiration for Conir. It was because Conir was someone that had skills in swordsmanship that even Park could not dare to underestimate. However, everyone knew that Conir was a boy with an intellectual disability. Hismanding skills were not enough to lead the Beyond the Heavens troops.

    However, Jarrod¡¯s expression was firm.

    ¡°I understand,¡± Park answered, fully trusting Tactic Star Jarrod. So, he dered, ¡°All of you shall follow Sir Conir¡¯s orders! You have to absolutely follow each and every single order of Sir Conir!¡±

    ¡°I am Conir!!! Are you really going to follow Conir?!!!¡±

    ¡°I will make them follow you!!!¡±

    Conir felt his heart tremble at those words. He was a simple boy that loved to cook ramyeon. However, every time he saw their temporarymander Ben, and his hyung and king, Minhyuk, say words like, <em>¡®Destroy them.¡¯ </em>or <em>¡®Wipe out the enemies.¡¯</em>, he always thought that they were cool. Now was his chance to do the same.

    However, the people and the soldiers were fraught with confusion.

    ¡°W, what?! We have to follow Sir Conir?!¡±

    ¡°What in the world are you saying?!¡±

    Of course, all of them respected and loved Conir. However, this was an emergency. They could not understand why he was ced in such a position.

    ¡°I am Conir!!! Everyone, open the gates and charge!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The walls were the most efficient shield to defend against enemy attacks. Because of that, everyone deemed that it was much more advantageous to fight the battle and attack their enemies from the walls. To their fright, Conir had chosen to disregard that advantage. Still, the confused soldiers recalled Park¡¯s words. So, they opened the gates and followed Conir¡¯s orders.

    <em>Creak, creak, creak, creak, creak¡ª</em>

    ¡°U, uwooooooooooooh!¡±

    ¡°For, for Beyond the Heaveeeeeeeens!¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    Around 500,000 Beyond the Heavens¡¯ soldiers opened the gates and tried to charge forward fiercely. But then, ck Dragon Vormon released another bombardment of magical attacks from the sky above them.

    ¡°N, no! Not like this! Conir¡¯s order is canceled! Everyone retreat! Protect the walls!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­U, uwaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Retreaaaaaaaaat!¡±

    ¡°Retreaaaaaat!¡±

    The soldiers quickly crept back into the safety of the castle walls. Thementators, Rex, the Hell Corps, and even ck Dragon Vormon looked at them incredulously.

    ¡°???¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    PD Kim Daeguk, who was watching everything from inside the walls of the castle, mumbled, ¡°Are they crazy¡­? Why did they give Conir the right tomand?¡±

    Conir might be an excellent swordsman, however he was obviously a poormander.

    ¡°Sir, Sir Conir has to step down!¡±

    ¡°Commander Park! Please quickly get Sir Conir out of here!¡±

    ¡°Ahhhhhhh! This is the end of Beyond the Heavens!¡±

    The people and soldiers grew frustrated. All they could do was sigh when they saw Conir shouting, <em>¡®Open the gates! Go to war!¡¯</em> once again.

    At that moment, a dreary and arrogant voice rang in PD Kim¡¯s ears.

    ¡°Fufufufufu. Conir, you¡¯re doing a great job. Thanks to your excellent tactical advance and retreat, the enemies will soon charge recklessly towards the gates.¡±

    When he turned to look at the direction of the voice, he saw someone wearing a dark robe over their head. There was a very suspicious round thing twitching from around the guy¡¯s hips, as well as some white and fluffy dog fur escaping from the gaps of the hood of his robe.

    <em>¡®Trap Specialist Bichor¡­?¡¯</em>

    To be exact, the being was the bichon that followed Minhyuk to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    PD Kim Daeguk immediately turned to look at the inner walls of the kingdom. There, he saw a mysterious wire. It seemed like it was something that Bichor had installed unbeknownst to everyone present.

    ***

    Kronad was left in despair after receiving a direct hit from Obren, <em>¡®Obren, it seems like you truly resent us¡­¡¯</em>

    Even after a very long time had passed, Obren was still hell-bent on killing Kronad, ready to deal the killing blow at any given moment.

    Kronad could feel that every bone in his body had been crushed and broken from the impact of the attack. It was just a single attack, yet it rendered himpletely useless and unable to fight.

    <em>¡®I can¡¯t use my right arm any more.¡¯</em>

    Kronad¡¯s right arm had been burned and charred after just holding the Sacred Papal Sword once. In other words, once he lost hold of the Sacred Papal Sword, he would no longer have any other chance to wield it anymore.

    ¡°Kill, kill Obren!!!¡±

    ¡°Obren!!! We¡¯re sorry!!! We are going to awaken you and release the seal that we have ced upon you!!!¡±

    ¡°<em>Sob, sob, sob!!! </em>Obren! Please forgive us!!!¡±

    Kronad saw the pdins, popes, and saints scream as they charged forward to kill the Berserk Obren of the Past. It was only by aplishing it, that the Obren with Minhyuk will be able to awaken.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s different from us.¡¯</em>

    Because of that, Kronad was sure that the man would be able to show Obren the true meaning of the word ¡®friend¡¯ and give him all of the love and care that he deserved.

    <em>¡®We want you to be happy even if that means that we have to go to hell.¡¯</em>

    This was Kronad¡¯s wish.

    ¡°Ugh!¡± Kronad groaned. He tried to move his body but it would not listen to him at all.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    A simple attack from Obren¡¯s Evil God¡¯s Books easily annihted the strongest pdins of each religion. They turned into ashes and disappeared into hell without being able to do anything.

    ¡°Aaaaaah¡­ Obren¡­ you poor and pitiful soul. Please kill us until your hatred from what we did to you in the past has appeased¡­¡± One of the saintesses knelt down and ced her hands together in prayer. However, her neck was stabbed by the dagger in Obren¡¯s hands.

    <em>Shwaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡°Shut up!¡±

    The Berserk Obren of the Past had nothing but the desire to kill all of the people here. Obren had already killed around 30% of the people here. However, he did not stop. He wanted to wipe out everyone here.

    <em>Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom¡ª</em>

    Millions of Evil God¡¯s Books floated and scattered in the sky above them. If this attack falls, then everyone would die here. To be exact, everyone would be dragged down to hell without being able to give Obren a new chance at life.

    ¡°Ah, aaaaaaaaah¡­!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s¡­ over¡­¡±

    Everyone was left in despair. Then, at that moment, Kronad recalled the man that came here. He thought, <em>¡®We¡­ </em><em>have</em><em> to send him back¡­¡¯</em>

    If that man stayed here, then he would die. He could not die in this ce. At the very least, they had to save Obren¡¯s true friend and send him out. Kronad looked around, trying to find the man. That was when he saw him walking towards the Sacred Papal Sword.

    ¡°Wh, what¡­?!¡±

    Kronad could not understand. From what he knew, the man was a good chef and a king of a nation. Even though he was excellent in his own fields, that did not mean that he could hold and wield the Sacred Papal Sword. That sword could only be held by the one that received Athenae¡¯s ¡®recognition¡¯, and was someone with high ¡®holy power¡¯.

    Kronad watched as Minhyuk¡¯s outfit changed with every step that he took. He watched as the man donned a splendid helmet and a white papal robe lined and embroidered with gold. He also saw how a bell appeared on the man¡¯s left hand.

    ¡°N, no¡­! Stop!!! You¡¯ll go to hell if you touch that sword¡­ Urk!!!¡± Kronad shouted as he spat a mouthful of blood.

    Kronad¡¯s shout caught everyone¡¯s attention. When they saw what was happening, they also hurriedly shouted to stop Minhyuk.

    ¡°No!!!¡±

    ¡°Do not touch that sword!!!¡±

    ¡°Please stop!!!¡±

    Everyone believed that Minhyuk was nothing but a chef at best. A chef would not be able to hold that sword. Besides, what difference would it make, even if he could hold that sword?

    Then, Minhyuk grabbed the hilt of the sword in front of their eyes.

    <em>Graaaaaab¡ª</em>

    <em>Booooooom¡ª</em>

    A bright and pure white light burst out and covered the entire area. Everyone could only close their eyes from the sudden appearance of the blinding light.

    Then, a shocking set of notifications rang in their ears.

    <em>[The Sacred Papal Sword has recognized its new owner!]</em>

    <em>[The one recognized by the Sacred Papal Sword rings Pope Kronad¡¯s Bell!]</em>

    <em>Diiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    <em>Diiiiiiiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    <em>Diiiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    Pope Kronad¡¯s Bell rang crisply and loudly in this area filled with despair.

    <em>[The crippling fear that dragged you down has disappeared!]</em>

    <em>[Your Holy Power has increased by 13%!]</em>

    A brilliant light covered the man¡¯s body as he red at Obren sharply. Then, he said, ¡°Obren, let¡¯s go home.¡±

    The pope¡¯s bell floated above Minhyuk¡¯s head, both of his hands grabbing the Sacred Papal Sword as he dashed forward.

    <em>Dash, dash, dash, dash¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The white halo of light that surrounded Minhyuk¡¯s body made him look like a god in the eyes of the people present. Even the white papal robe matched the style of the golden sword in his hands. The sharp look on his eyes as he red at Obren also gave him an air of arrogance.

    ¡°Uwoooooooooh!!!¡±

    The Berserk Obren of the Past sensed danger from the man that dashed toward him. At that moment, the millions of books that were floating in the sky above them all turned and targeted Minhyuk.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Then, millions of attacks bombarded and devoured Minhyuk. However, none of the attacks reached Minhyuk. He was being protected by a transparent barrier produced by the Sacred Papal Sword.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The surrounding area was being flipped over and destroyed but Minhyuk still continued to run. When he finally reached Obren, he immediately shed with his sword. At the same time, millions of lightning bolts fell from the sky.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The lightning bolts struck the millions of ¡®Evil God¡¯s Books¡¯ and burned them to ashes.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    It did not stop there. The lightning bolts also devoured the Berserk Obren of the Past.

    ¡°Ah¡­¡±

    Pope Kronad stared at Minhyuk, the man that created millions of lightning bolts that fell from the sky. Then, he watched as Minhyuk took a step toward Obren.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk cut down Obren, who was being devoured by countless lightning bolts.

    Kronad, the popes, the pdins, the priests, and the saints that witnessed the scene realized that they had witnessed the appearance of the ¡®god¡¯ of the new world.

 Chapter 684: Divine Will

    Chapter 684: Divine Will

    Minhyuk looked like an archangel after moving past Obren, who was being devoured by the continuous lightning strikes.

    No matter how high Minhyuk was on the yers¡¯ rankings, there was no way that he would have been able to deal with the Berserk Obren of the Past, whose level was over Level 800. However, he was able to cut the god down because of one thing.

    <em>(<strong>Sacred Papal Sword</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: God</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: Level 500 or higher, Holy Power at 20,000</em>

    <em><strong>Durability</strong>: ¡Þ / ¡Þ</em>

    <em><strong>Attack</strong>: 2,041</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>?Increases Holy Power by 100%.</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Pope¡¯s March</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: The One that Wields the Papal Sword</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Pope¡¯s Benevolence</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Pope¡¯s Dignity</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: The Sword that ys Evil</em>

    <em>????</em>

    <em>????</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: The Sacred Papal Sword is a sword that even the gods would not dare to hold recklessly. This sword was made to y those that are ¡®evil¡¯. It will cut down any evil being. In case the Sacred Papal Sword¡¯s power has been sealed, the seal will be lifted if the sword was used to cut down a being that it has acknowledged as ¡®evil¡¯. </em>

    The Papal Sword had clear advantages and disadvantages. What if this sword was used on an ordinary monster and not an evil being? It would not have much effect.

    Its powers were somewhatcking for a god-rank artifact. Of course, its attack power was very high. However, most of the skills attached to it were mainly focused on evil beings like the undead, or demonic beasts, or beings from hell. It was also an effective weapon against yers with very high chaotic levels.

    Although it was called a god-rank weapon, it did not have a single lethal, one-shot kill skill attached to it. It waspletely different from the Continent Destroyer¡¯s Sword which had the ¡®Continent Destroyer¡¯ skill attached. However, the Sacred Papal Sword was, without a doubt, a sword that could exert tremendous power against evil.

    The sword only had one active skill, the skill was none other than the Pope¡¯s March.

    <em>¡®All of the popes, priests, and pdins that have approved of the Pope¡¯s March will join the journey.¡¯</em>

    It was a skill that could only be used once every year. However, the most interesting part of the skill was in its effect.

    <em>¡®I think it¡¯s a skill that makes one look cool, no?¡¯</em>

    They would follow the one with the Papal Sword and join him in his journey. After the march, they must absolutely obey the orders of the pope for three straight minutes.

    Next was the second skill, The One that Wields the Papal Sword.

    <em>¡®This one is truly a cheat.¡¯</em>

    Why did Minhyuk consider the skill to be a cheat?

    <em>¡®All attack will increase by 75% while all defense will increase by 50% when facing evil beings? And it even ignores all of the enemy¡¯s defenses and debuffs!¡¯</em>

    Simply put, it was a crazy skill. Any undead, demonic beast, or demons will practically melt away in front of this Sacred Papal Sword.

    There was also the Pope¡¯s Dignity. It was a majestic skill to the point that Minhyuk found himself thinking, <em>¡®Was the person that made this sword </em><em>drunk on trying</em><em> to make himself look cool?¡¯</em>

    This was the exnation regarding the bright and white light that was emitting from Minhyuk¡¯s body: <em>¡®An effect that would fit the situation would appear. This effect will make the pope shine even more.¡¯</em>

    There was also the fact that the one wielding the sword would be able to change the length of their hair, change the color of their eyes, and even slightly change the appearance of the artifact to whatever they wanted.

    Finally, the description of the key and most important skill attached to the sword came into view.

    <em>¡®The Sword that ys Evil. This is really¡­¡¯</em>

    Seeing the skill made Minhyuk wonder if those on the evil side also had a skill that could cause a copse in bnce like this.

    <em>¡®This one has an effect too.¡¯</em>

    Upon activation of the skill, it would make the skill user look like an ¡®archangel¡¯. In other words, Minhyuk¡¯s appearance would change bit by bit once he used all of the skills in the Sacred Papal Sword. There was an even more terrifying effect.

    <em>¡®The Sacred Papal Sword will increase all of my skills¡¯ skill level by +4 when it recognizes evil¡­?¡¯</em>

    It was another overpowered skill. An increase in skill level meant that the attack would increase, which would increase the basic attack¡¯s damage.

    With the Sacred Papal Sword in Minhyuk¡¯s hands, his attack power will increase by 75% when facing evil beings. With this skill, his skills would increase in strength and additional damage. There was also a special privilege when wearing the Pope¡¯s Faded Set, where he would bepletely protected from all evil beings¡¯ attacks for thirty seconds.

    These were the reasons why Minhyuk was able to cut down Berserk Obren of the Past.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    As for the lightning that fell from the sky? It was Minhyuk¡¯s own skill ¡®Sword of Absolute Death¡¯. However, thanks to the effect of the Sword that ys Evil, it made the attack look as if pirs of light had shot down from the sky.

    Pope Kronad, the Strongest Pdins and the popes were all shocked.

    <em>¡®Obren had received a fatal injury¡­?!¡¯</em>

    That was right. The Berserk Obren was fatally injured by Minhyuk¡¯s attack.

    Meanwhile, the only thought in Obren¡¯s mind was, <em>¡®I have to kill Kronad and those damn bastards!¡¯</em>

    However, a man suddenly appeared and blocked his path. That was what he could not understand. Kronad, the popes, the pdins, and all of the people that used him were already right in front of his eyes. He had to kill them.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack! I¡¯ll kill all of you!¡±

    The Evil God¡¯s Book that summoned lightning soared to the sky.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Light shed from the Evil God¡¯s Book as ck bolts of lightning rained down upon the ground below.

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk disappeared in a sh of light. From the left, the right, the back and the front, he would disappear and appear in sh. This was Minhyuk¡¯s Like the Wind,pletely changed by the skill: Pope¡¯s Dignity.

    At that moment, the Berserk Obren of the Past judged that it was necessary to weaken the powerful human in front of him before he could take care of those bastards. An Evil God¡¯s Books appeared and floated in the sky before turning into a ck energy that shot towards Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    However, one swing of the sword in Minhyuk¡¯s hand and the ck energy dissipated into nothingness.

    <em>[You cannot suppress the one that wields the Sacred Papal Sword!]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Obren was in disbelief. How could a mere human be so powerful? Unfortunately, he was consumed entirely by vengeance.

    <em>¡®I must kill everyone here!¡¯</em>

    So, Obren activated a skill that only he could use. He opened one of the Eight Evil God¡¯s Books, the ¡®Book of Extinction¡¯. Minhyuk looked up, as tens of millions of books appeared in the air above them,pletely covering the blue sky.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    The Book of Extinction couldy anything to waste in an area with a radius of 50 kilometers. At that moment, a ck bolt of lightning fell down and wiped out dozens of pdins in an instant.

    <em>Baaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    A disaster unfolded in front of everyone as the attack from the Book of Extinction fell down all over the ce.

    The unknown man standing in front of him smiled bitterly and called out to him, ¡°Obren.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Obren could not understand what the man meant. He recalled how the man looked at him and told him, <em>¡®Let¡¯s go home.¡¯</em>

    <em>Do you know me?</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    A bolt of ck lightning fell down on the ground just right behind Minhyuk, overturning the ground and creating even more chaos. However, amidst the ce filled with despair, Minhyuk stood there, shining brightly like the onlymp in a dark night.

    ¡°I miss your nagging and nitpicking.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The man took a step forward and continued, ¡°I miss all the times that weughed together.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Obren took a step back as the man took another step closer to him. There was no way that he would haveughed with the man in front of him. After all, he was a human, a human like Kronad that betrayed him.

    ¡°I miss all the times that we overcame hardships and trials together.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The man¡¯s expression was sincere.

    ¡°I promise you, I will let you nag at me and we willugh and cry together. So,e back with me.¡±

    Obren¡¯s pupils shook.

    ¡°Come back with me to our home.¡±

    Obren felt the loud thumps of his heart. It was iprehensible to him. Why was his heart thumping like crazy? Why? He obviously did not know who the man was, so why? Why was he reacting like this?

    However, the feelings that were overwhelming him were not exactly a mistake. The Berserk Obren of the Past had absorbed a part of the power of the Obren that was sealed and slumbering inside the Puzzling Seasoning Jar. During the process, some of the consciousness and ego of the slumbering Obren flowed into him.

    <em>¡®Home, together with you¡­¡¯ </em>The Berserk Obren of the Past pondered over the words despite his doubts. However, he caught sight of Kronad¡¯s face from behind Minhyuk¡¯s shoulder.

    <em>Grit, grit, grit¡ª</em>

    The Berserk Obren ground his teeth in anger.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    <em>Rummmmmmble¡ª!</em>

    ¡°No. I¡¯m not going back!!!¡±

    Dark clouds loomed above them and strong winds blew fiercely as the rain of ck lightning intensified. Then, Obren gathered hundreds of ck lightning above Minhyuk¡¯s head.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Unfortunately, he could not follow through. It was because his hand was stopped. And the one that held his hand was none other than his own self, Obren.

    ¡°Why?¡± The Berserk Obren asked.

    <em>Why are you stopping us? Didn¡¯t you know it too? Those humans are dirty and ugly and are just trying to use us. </em>

    ¡°Hiiiiiiiiik¡­!¡±

    But just when he tried to release the bolts of lightning again, he heard a voice in his heart.

    <em>¡®Stop.¡¯</em>

    Obren felt frustrated.

    <em>¡®Why are you telling me to stop?¡¯ </em>

    Then, his own voice sounded, <em>¡®He¡­¡¯</em>

    Obren listened intently to the voice in his heart.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s my true friend.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He¡¯s the one that cherished and loved me.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He¡¯s the person that made meugh.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®And he¡­¡¯</em>

    Obren paused when he heard the words that his own self told him.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s the only human that I trust and believe in.¡¯</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Obren turned to look at Minhyuk, a single drop of tear dripping down his cheek.

    <em>¡®I have sworn to myself that I will never, ever trust another human again.¡¯</em>

    However, his own self from the future, the one trapped in the Puzzling Seasoning Jar, came to trust and believe in someone.

    ¡°Thank you¡­¡±

    <em>Swooooosh¡ª</em>

    The power of the Evil God¡¯s Book slowly started to disappear. However, darkness started to encroach upon Obren¡¯s eyes, staining the whites into ck. He was once again about to be devoured by madness and go ¡®berserk¡¯.

    Obren sped the hands of the man in front of him and said, ¡°Minhyuk. Even if I die, I will make sure to remember your name. Please take good care of this guy from now on.¡±

    Obren smiled softly, the grip on Minhyuk¡¯s hands tightening as he shouted, ¡°Kill me!!! Quick!!!¡±

    Minhyuk nodded. He and Obren were both thankful to this Obren of the Past. Then, he triggered God¡¯s Voice. He hoped that his voice would reach the Berserk Obren of the Past, who was slowly turning berserk once again.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    A powerful force erupted from Minhyuk¡¯s body as a white me erupted from the de of the sword in his hands.

    <em>[The one that wields the Sacred Papal Sword.]</em>

    <em>[The one named Food God.]</em>

    <em>[A king that led his own nation.]</em>

    <em>[He looks at the Berserk Obren, the Obren that was once betrayed, with a soft smile on his face.]</em>

    <em>[He promises that he willugh with you.]</em>

    <em>[He promises that he will cry with you.]</em>

    <em>[He promises that he will protect you for all eternity.]</em>

    <em>[He promises that he will always trust and believe in you for all eternity.]</em>

    Minhyuk let loose the zing white mes that covered his sword as hard as he could.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    However, God¡¯s Voice continued to ring in Obren¡¯s ears despite the zing white mes that were devouring and burning him.

    <em>[The one that wields the Sacred Papal Sword chose to stay by the side of the most vicious Evil God.]</em>

    <em>[He vows to create a new story with you.]</em>

    As the Berserk Obren of the Past slowly disintegrated, he heard the voice of Minhyuk, not the God¡¯s Voice but his real voice, call out to him, ¡°Obren.¡±

    Minhyuk showed a bright smile to him and continued, ¡°Thank you.¡±

    The Berserk Obren of the Past gave a bright and wide smile to Minhyuk, his body turning into ashes as he brooded over the words that Minhyuk told him.

    <em>¡®Thank you. I am very grateful to you. Thank you¡­¡¯</em>

 Chapter 685: Divine Will

    Chapter 685: Divine Will

    Thementators were left speechless after seeing the gates on the walls of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom repeatedly open and close.

    <em>[I have absolutely no idea why they ced Conir inmand of the troops.]</em>

    <em>[Conir is definitely the wrong person to be ced in the position of amander. Is the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom currently so empty that there¡¯s no other figure that can lead their troops?]</em>

    <em>[Some of the soldiers of Beyond the Heavens died from ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s bombardment of magical attacks because of their repeated charge and retreat.]</em>

    <em>[The soldiers¡¯ morale is rapidly decreasing. It¡¯s very obvious. Going back and forth like that repeatedly will definitely exhaust them.]</em>

    Just like thementators, the soldiers of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom also could not understand their situation.

    <em>¡®Why the hell?!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Why is the authority tomand given to Sir Conir?!¡¯</em>

    Some of them even wondered if the whole thing was just a joke to the higher-ups. But then, Conir, who was standing on the walls, jumped down on the ground and said, ¡°This time, it¡¯s for real! I am Conir! Everyone, charge!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­This time, it¡¯s for real?¡±

    ¡°I think it¡¯s for real this time?!!!¡±

    The troops¡¯ fighting spirit burned brightly the moment they saw Conir join their ranks. The enemies were trying to devour their beloved and cherished kingdom.

    ¡°Woooooooooaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Protect Beyond the Heavens!!!¡±

    Although they did not realize it, the morale of the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ soldiers soared to the skies. Conir grabbed his sword and charged forward. Right behind him were hundreds of thousands of their kingdom troops.

    Rex nced at the troops behind him and ordered the two Sword of the Gods, ¡°Get 700,000 of our troops to advance without any dy.¡±

    He could tell by watching the situation, that the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s army under Conir¡¯smand was nothing but a group of weak and disorderly soldiers. Because of that, Rex was fully convinced that he would be able to break through the kingdom¡¯s walls before Spear God Ben, Elpis, Gorfido or the executives of Beyond the Heavens arrived.

    Then, 700,000 soldiers of the Hell Corps stepped forward with their overwhelming and dreary momentum.

    <em>[Can you see it? The level of the Death Soldiers that the God of Death has sent forward reached Level 490.]</em>

    <em>[The Death Warriors that are mixed among them also have levels that reached Level 550.]</em>

    <em>[Their levels are very incredible. They¡¯re actually at a level where none of the current yers could fight against. In fact, even their numbers are terrifying. How many are there? There seems to be around a million of them advancing?]</em>

    The rest of them were demonic beasts and monsters from hell. Rex had actually sent forward 400,000 soldiers at the vanguard, with 300,000 demonic beasts at the rear. To put it simply, Rex had sent his strongest force forward.

    <em>¡®If we can kill all of these recklessly charging fools then I will be able to umte my contributions. If I can summon a powerful being from hell from those contributions then¡­¡¯</em>

    Then, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom will copse. Around 700,000 troops lined up and stood in front of Rex. At the vanguard were soldiers, whose bodies were charred ck, and warriors with rusty sheet metal armor and weapons. There were also countless Hell Werewolves, Hellhounds, and mammoths, ready to charge at any given moment.

    ¡°I am Conir!!! Kill them all!!!¡±

    Conir truly meant it this time. He would truly wipe out all of the enemies in front of him!

    ¡°<em>Roaaaaaaaaar!</em>¡±

    ¡°Grrrrrrrrrr!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaaaa!¡±

    The Hell Corps that blocked their path roared. That was not all, there was also the gigantic ck dragon above that was ring at them with its yellow eyes.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Conir was startled. He was a powerful and unrivaled swordsman, but he was also just a boy with an intellectual disability in his current form. The scene in front of him would definitely frighten him, especially if he was alone.

    ¡°U, uwaaaaa! Re, retreat. Retreat!!!¡±

    The situation was perfect. Conir and the Beyond the Heavens troops turned around yet again, just before they collided with the Hell Corps. Rex¡¯s lips could not help but twist into a gruesome smirk.

    ¡°Charge after them and kill them all!¡±

    Frantically fleeing enemies were very easy targets. With Conir at the lead, the troops immediately turned around and fled.

    ¡°U, uwaaaaaaaah! Ruuuun!!!¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Mages, send support to the rear!!!¡±

    A baptism of magical attacks rained down on the chasing werewolves, hellhounds and gigantic mammoths. However, the magic did not deal much damage because their skins were too tough and thick.

    ¡°Grrrrrrr!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!¡±

    One of the werewolves leapt and bit down on one of the soldiers neck, knocking him down to the ground.

    <em>Riiiiip¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keooook¡­!¡±

    Just like that, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s soldiers began to fall one after another as they got caught by the attacks behind them.

    ¡°This, this is not it¡­¡±

    ¡°We won¡¯t listen to Sir Conir from now on!!!¡±

    The soldiers felt the need to defy the orders from their superiors at this moment. All of a sudden, the fleeing soldiers caught sight of a robed figure on top of the walls. Despite the ck robe covering his entire being, it could not hide the thick and white fur!

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Everyone suddenly realized what the ridiculous disy was for, as they desperately rushed inside the walls of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. The mages and archers stationed on the walls fired their shots at the enemies, slowing down their advance as much as possible and aiding the retreating troops.

    The fact that the soldiers of the kingdom had reached the walls also meant that the enemies were also advancing and nearing their gates.

    ¡°Push ahead!!!¡± Rexmanded.

    Once the gates were breached, their kingdom¡¯s fall would soon follow. The 700,000-strong troops did not stop their charge at hismand.

    Unbeknownst to them, Bichor had already finished his preparations. He pulled the hood of his robe back and revealed his round head covered with rich and thick fur. Then, with a vicious and mean smile on his face, he said, ¡°Fufufufufufu. Conir, you did a good job.¡±

    Meticulous enemies would never send a lot of troops at the very beginning. This was because they would want to test their enemies¡¯ powers and forces. However, right now, the God of Death had sent a considerable number of troops to their gates. It was all thanks to Conir¡¯s self-sabotage operation.

    <em>[Hey, isn¡¯t that smiling bichon on the walls the ¡®Nasty Bichon¡¯ that ughtered the troops of the Luvien Empire in the past?!]</em>

    <em>[You¡¯re right. He¡¯s the Nasty Bichon! Damn it, he looks really ugly right now!]</em>

    Bichor had shown a nasty smile when he massacred the Luvien Imperial Army in the past. Because his smile had been incredibly nasty, the people had started to call him ¡®Nasty Bichon¡¯ or ¡®Ugly Bichon¡¯.

    Whether they knew who he was or not, Bichor did not care. All he did was speak with his dreary voice and say, ¡°Bang¡ª¡°

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Then, at that moment, the area about a kilometer away from the walls of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom exploded. To be exact, the explosion bloomed in the middle of the charging 700,000 enemy troops.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Several other explosions were triggered by that one explosion, creating a devastating domino effect. But that was not the end.

    <em>Creak, creak, creak, creak, creak¡ª</em>

    The walls of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom creaked open as tens of thousands of spears shot out from deep inside and pierced through the troops upfront.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab!</em>

    Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was teeming with talented people. They had Golden Hammer Lant¡¯s disciple, Orgel, as well as the president of Ilhwa Construction, Roadol, with them. When these two people met with Bichor, a trap specialist that had reached the level of a god, they were able to create the best, and most dangerous, traps.

    <em>[You have lost 173,311 allied troops!]</em>

    <em>[You have lost 123,113 allied troops!]</em>

    <em>[The God of Death is looking at you coldly!]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Rex hurriedly shouted, ¡°Retreat! Retreat!!!¡±

    If they could retreat and fall back right now, then he might at least be able to retain half of the Hell Corps. However, it was already toote. The best and strongest mages and archers of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom that Jarrod had hidden behind the walls and ordered to prepare their killing shots appeared.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    A bombardment of powerful magical attacks rained down on the retreating enemies. That was not all. The sky above the retreating enemies suddenly darkened.

    The City in the Skies, As, had appeared above them. ¡®Jarrod¡¯ the Tactic Star has already deployed 100,000 troops inside As. These soldiers unleashed arrows and magical attacks from the City in the Skies. Even the traps that Bichor had set up in As had been released.

    <em>Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack¡ª</em>

    Just like a machine gun, fifteen spears were shot out per second from As, sweeping away the enemies below them.

    <em>[You, who have taken over the God of Death¡¯s power, have lost over 700,000 Hell Corps!]</em>

    <em>[You have lost a total of one million troops!]</em>

    <em>[The God of Death is a harsh and cruel being!]</em>

    <em>[Five points from all of your stats will be deducted and destroyed!]</em>

    <em>[The God of Death is giving you a warning!]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Rex gritted his teeth. He thought that it was the best timing for him to kill most of his enemies while obtaining only a bit of damage on their side. That was why he came here to fight with his own body.

    <em>¡®I admit that Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is not an easy ce to deal with.¡¯</em>

    Because of that, Rex decided to go all out from now on. In fact, after bing the God of Death, Rex believed that the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would not be able to do anything against the full power of his forces.

    ¡°Vormon. Immediately turn the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom into an abyss of hell. Sword of the Gods, please join the battle.¡±

    ¡°We should do that.¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaaa!¡± ck Dragon Vormon roared as he soared to the skies with hundreds of magical attacks appearing around him.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Hundreds of magical attacks fell upon Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. However, despite the mages¡¯ best efforts to create a shield that would protect their kingdom, they were still unable to do anything against the barrage.

    ¡°We will advance right away.¡±

    There was no need to waste any more time for meaningless battles.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    With Rex¡¯s order to advance, one of the Sword of the Gods, iney, threw the spear in his hands and created arge hole in the walls of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    <em>¡®Huh¡­ this is too easy¡­¡¯</em>

    Rex thought that the Swords of the Gods were too yful. For a moment, he felt resentment towards them, who chose to wait on the sidelines despite the situation earlier. Fortunately, they were trying to cooperate with him now.

    The huge hole that iney created would definitely be their point of breakthrough. Thousands of Hell Corps would charge through there and create havoc inside the kingdom. It would make the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s fall much easier.

    There was no need to worry anymore. Besides, ck Dragon Vormon was flying above them and bombarding them with magical attacks.

    <em>¡®Their executives are not here yet. And Vormon¡¯s summon still has three hours left.¡¯</em>

    Indeed, the story might be different if the executives of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had appeared. Actually, even if the executives arrived here, there was no way the greatest being would die that easily.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeck¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    That was when a shocking thing happened in front of Rex. Why did it look like ck Dragon Vormon was shrieking? And why was he flying towards them as if he was fleeing?

    An unidentified white spear was stuck through ck Dragon Vormon¡¯s neck, as an old man with long ck hair fluttering behind him appeared and jumped up from the walls.

    The old man clicked his tongue when he saw ck Dragon Vormon shrieking from fear. He said, ¡°It¡¯s you again?¡±

    The old man sounded as if he found the appearance of ck Dragon Vormon to be annoying. Then, he stabbed the dragon¡¯s neck with his spear once again.

    <em>Spuuuuurt¡ª</em>

    <em>Crackleeee¡ª</em>

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeck!¡± ck Dragon Vormon shrieked as his body burned and slowly disappeared from the mes that appeared and wrapped around his body. His eyes were filled with terror. It seemed like he was truly afraid of the old man in front of him.

    Then, the old man red at Rex and the rest of the enemy troops. At the same time, a notification rang in Rex¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s Temporary Commander, Spear God Ben, has appeared!]</em>

 Chapter 686: The God of Death and the Hell Corps

    Chapter 686: The God of Death and the Hell Corps

    The white mes that devoured Obren were due to Minhyuk¡¯s Overlord¡¯s Technique, after its appearance had been altered by the Sacred Papal Sword. Obren was slowly turning to ash and disappearing into the wind.

    ¡°Obreeeeeeeeen! We¡¯re soooooorryyyyy! <em>Sob, sob, sob!</em>¡±

    ¡°Forgive us, Obreeeeeeen!¡±

    The popes, priests, pdins, and saints that saw Obren of the Past¡¯s state cried loudly. Among them, a man trudged forward, dragging his body towards Obren. Although he stumbled and fell, he desperately kept on standing up to walk towards the fallen god. There was a sad look in his eyes as he hugged Obren¡¯s body tightly until theypletely turned into ashes.

    ¡°Obren¡­ You can rest easy now. I hope you can be happy beside this man. As for me? I will go to hell now,¡± Kronad cried. The punishment that he would receive was what he deserved. They would be dragged to hell and suffer there for all eternity in pain.

    Meanwhile, the notifications continued to ring in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You have sent the Berserk Obren of the Past to his eternal rest.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 132,149 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 54,144,000,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[¡­leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[Because the Berserk Obren of the Past¡¯s existence was notplete, you will not be able to acquire artifacts, skill books, titles and many more.]</em>

    Minhyuk felt that thest notification was a bit of a bummer. Thankfully, he was able to increase his level by five times and acquire a huge amount of tinum. He was actually waiting for another set of notifications.

    <em>[You havepleted the <strong>Hidden Quest</strong>: Berserk Obren.]</em>

    <em>[You have be the owner of the Unfinished Evangel!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1,000 Holy Power.]</em>

    <em>[The Unfinished Evangel is a temple that even the gods desired and coveted!]</em>

    <em>[The level of your temple is very low.]</em>

    <em>[You cannot control the Unfinished Evangel.]</em>

    <em>[To have full control over Evangel, you should first increase your temple¡¯s level to Level 7.]</em>

    <em>[Athenae¡¯s First Pope and the Pope of all Religions, Kronad, has bestowed power upon you.]</em>

    <em>[You can use the Unfinished Evangel for ten minutes once.]</em>

    <em>[Obren, who had fallen into an eternal slumber inside the Puzzling Seasoning Jar, has returned!]</em>

    <em>[Obren had fallen into a deep slumber inside the Puzzling Seasoning Jar for a very long time and had grown weak.]</em>

    <em>[He is still slumbering. However, he will awaken inside the Puzzling Seasoning Jar one day.]</em>

    <em>[Once Obren awakens from inside the Puzzling Seasoning Jar, he will be able to get out of the seasoning jar every once in a while, with the help of the power of the ¡®Evil God¡¯s Book¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[Obren, when awakening from inside the Puzzling Seasoning Jar, can disy his full power once!]</em>

    Minhyuk felt a little disappointed at the fact that Obren got weaker. However, that was only natural, since the Berserk Obren of the Past had taken some of his powers before. Besides, he had been asleep and sealed in the seasoning jar for a very, <em>very</em> long time. It was reasonable that his powers were weaker.

    <em>¡®This is also a way to achieve bnce to a certain extent.¡¯</em>

    However, even if Obren was subjected to such restrictions, Minhyuk was confident that there would be a huge boost in his power, just by having the god by his side.

    Just when Minhyuk thought that everything was over, another set of notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[You have fulfilled the conditions for releasing the seal of the Sacred Papal Sword.]</em>

    <em>[The sealed skill has been released after ying a great evil.]</em>

    <em>[The Active Skill: ¡®Pope¡¯s Sword¡¯ has been created.]</em>

    It seemed like the power that had been sealed within the Sacred Papal Sword was finally released. Just when Minhyuk was about to check the details, Kronad, the popes, the priests, the pdins and the saints approached him.

    ¡°We are very grateful to you.¡±

    These people had not yet gone to hell.

    Pope Kronad was truly grateful to Minhyuk. He spoke emotionally, ¡°Once, just once, we will run to your aid if you call for us.¡±

    <em>[Pope Kronad has promised to ¡®lend you a helping hand¡¯.]</em>

    This promise meant that the people here would unconditionallye to Minhyuk¡¯s aid wherever they were, even if they were in hell. It was a very good reward.

    ¡°But why are you guys still here?¡±

    ¡°Do you want us to go to hell that quickly?¡±

    Minhyuk did not bother to answer their question. It was not really like that. He was just actually wondering why Kronad, the popes, the pdins and the saints were still here.

    Kronad smiled lightly. He was aware that that was not Minhyuk¡¯s intentions. He said, ¡°We will go when God Athenae wills it. More than that, boy, you look like you need a rest.¡±

    The pope had caught the hints of fatigue and exhaustion on the man¡¯s face. After checking that Obren had revived, the strength had left Minhyuk¡¯s body and he was sorely tempted to sit around and take a good long rest.

    <em>¡®I have gone too far and have done too much in Edea without taking any breaks.¡¯</em>

    That was right. Minhyuk hadpleted many quests and even came to rescue Hanwoo the moment he stepped foot in Edea. After doing all of that, he immediately rushed to the Papal Wall, entered thends within, and began the grueling work of harvesting crops and chopping firewood for several days. He was even dragged into the fight against the Berserk Obren of the Past, a fight that he never expected to be involved in.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m exhausted¡­¡¯</em>

    It would not be strange for him to copse right away. Actually, his eyes were already fighting to remain open.

    ¡°I¡¯ll get some rest first,¡± Minhyuk said, logging out of the game without any hesitation.

    ***

    After logging out of the game, Minhyuk headed towards the kitchen to get a drink of water.

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll sleep first then exercise after I wake up.¡¯</em>

    Usually, Minhyuk would head out to exercise after he finished ying the game. However, he felt like he would lose consciousness and fall into a deep sleep the moment his head hit his pillows.

    Just as he passed by the living room on his way to the kitchen, he heard the reports from the TV.

    <em>[There are plenty of doubts regarding the Episode: The God of Death and the Hell Corps¡¯ Invasion this time.]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s absolutely correct. From the current flow of the story, episodes rted to the God of Death should only appear about half a yearter.]</em>

    <em>[However, the biggest question is why is an episode centered and targeting the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?]</em>

    <em>[Episodes are something that all of the yers can enjoy. However, an episode broke out and targeted the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom out of the blue. It¡¯s obvious that some yer has been involved in this.]</em>

    <em>[Conir was left inmand of the troops up until this moment. And thanks to the Nasty Bichon, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was able to hunt a million of the Hell Corps.]</em>

    <em>[Isn¡¯t this part showing us how prepared the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is in case of any sudden attacks or invasions?]</em>

    <em>[However, none of the executives from Beyond the Heavens have arrived yet¡­]</em>

    <em>[There are rumors that the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s King, Food God Minhyuk, has been neglecting the management of the kingdom and opting to focus on the temple operations¡­]</em>

    <em>[As we speak, the God of Death has pushed forward and sent all of his forces to advance¡­]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk felt his consciousness immediately clearing because of the scene on the TV. The world within the confines of the Papal Wall was closed off. It was a ce wheremunication, including whispers and guild chats, werepletely restricted. Fortunately, the invasion had only begun.

    <em>¡®Who the hell¡­¡¯</em>

    It was obvious that some yers were deliberately targeting their kingdom. However, rather than thinking deeply about the cause of the matter, it was far more important for Minhyuk, the king, to hurry back to his kingdom.

    Minhyuk rushed to the kitchen and drank a ss of cold water to clear his mind up. Then, he essed Athenae once again.

    ***

    What kind of existence was ck Dragon Vormon? He had been hunted and killed by the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom during the Continental War that happened a while back. Back then, the members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had unleashed all their strength at the critical moment, which allowed them to hunt him down.

    However, there was one thing for certain right now. ck Dragon Vormon was the greatest monster in existence. After all, he was a being that could use several 8th tier magic and could utilize 6th to 7th tier magic without regard.

    <em>Crackle¡ª</em>

    But right now, he had disappeared and turned into ashes, just by being stabbed in the neck by Spear God Ben with his spear. Vormon¡¯s eyes, which trembled and shook at the sight of Spear God Ben, was clearly imprinted in Rex¡¯s consciousness. There were also these notifications.

    <em>[ck Dragon Vormon is gripped by extreme fear at the sight of Spear God Ben!]</em>

    <em>[ck Dragon Vormon is trembling so hard to the point that he can¡¯t control his body anymore!]</em>

    <em>¡®A dragon, the greatest existence on earth, was afraid?¡¯</em>

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ troops shouted loudly as they faced the four million-strong Hell Corps,posed of demonic beasts, and soldiers. The enemy even had 200 gryphons flying above the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom while carrying Hell Warriors.

    <em>[The legendary monsters Gryphons are flying in a pack!]</em>

    <em>[Their levels are expected to be around Level 530. And they are even carrying Hell Warriors with them.]</em>

    <em>[If the Hell Warriors jumped down inside the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, they would surely add to the chaos and confusion.]</em>

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kyahaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Just like what thementators have mentioned, the gryphons were legendary monsters. It was a rare sight to see such monsters charge swiftly and turn into a ck light while carrying Hell Warriors on their backs.

    Spear God Ben, with his Terrius-like ck hair fluttering behind him, red sharply at the flying gryphons. Then, he spoke, ¡°Absolute Pinnacle Spear.¡±

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    A spear of light appeared in the sky above them and pierced through one of the gryphons. Just like a signal, countless spears of light rained down from the sky and shot down the flying gryphons.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Rex¡¯s eyes grew wide in shock.

    At the same time, the gates of the castles began to open.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Woaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Cavalry, along with 20,000 soldiers charged forward.

    <em>¡®Their aura and momentum changed¡­?¡¯</em>

    Rex found it unbelievable. The disorderly and messy Beyond the Heavens troops suddenly turned into a well-organized and disciplined army.

    iney, the Sword of the Gods that specialized in the spear, stepped forward.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    At that moment, Rex realized that he did not need to fear. After all, there were two Sword of the Gods by his side.

    iney was ranked 18th among the Sword of the Gods. Nevertheless, he was someone that could not be ignored. The Sword of the Gods were god-like existences in this world. They had received the protection of the gods.

    <em>[Sword of the God iney. Level 683.]</em>

    Furthermore, iney¡¯s level was at Level 683. Just like mentioned before, Rex was a very meticulous man. Thest time Spear God Ben fought in a battle, it was against the Corrupted God. Even if he still had the power from back then, there was no way that Spear God Ben would win against iney.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s no way that the Spear God can grow any further than that.¡¯</em>

    All NPCs had potential. The number indicated in their potential determined how much an NPC could grow and develop. Rex had assumed that Spear God Ben was only a temporary Spear God and had only reached that level thanks to that unknown spear. That was why he thought he could safely leave him to iney.

    At that moment, a pair of white wings sprouted from iney¡¯s spear, and he immediatelyunched an attack.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>[Spear Explosion]</em>

    <em>[The spear, with an additional 6,600% attack power, will shoot like a light and exterminate and destroy everything within a sixty meter radius.]</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The spear shot like a light, shooting above the ground followed by an explosive sound, and headed straight towards the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom cavalry and the troops charging behind them. Spear God Ben stood in the path of the iing spear.

    A mocking snarl appeared on Rex¡¯s face, ¡°That imbecile¡­¡±

    Then, Spear God Ben raised his spear and tried to stop the spear charging at the speed of light.

    <em>[Spear God¡¯s Bull.]</em>

    <em>[The Spear God¡¯s Bull, with an additional 6,800% attack, will charge forward and trample on everything and everyone within a 100 meter radius.]</em>

    <em>[Everything and everyone that the Spear God¡¯s Bull makes contact with will suffer from an abnormal status!]</em>

    <em>[You have equipped the God Piercing Spear!]</em>

    <em>[The one that wields the God Piercing Spear will receive a 1.4x increase in all skill damage!]</em>

    <em>[Spear God¡¯s Bull¡¯s damage will increase to 9,520%!]</em>

    <em>Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump¡ª</em>

    The earth shook and the sky rumbled as a tremendous amount of light shot out from the tip of Spear God Ben¡¯s spear. It turned into the figure of a bull and met iney¡¯s spear head on.

    <em>Rumbleeeeee¡ª!</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    iney¡¯s spear of light was pushed back and trampled upon. The bull figure did not stop there, as it continued to charge forward and sweep away some of the Hell Corps behind.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Spear God Ben¡¯s eyes made contact with iney. Then, at that moment, the inevitable happened.

    <em>[Spear God¡¯s Authority has been activated.]</em>

    The passive skill: Spear God¡¯s Authority attached to Ben¡¯s God Piercing Spear was triggered. The Spear God¡¯s Authority was a skill that could either subdue enemy spear masters or make them into Ben¡¯s allies.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Rex, who saw iney make eye contact with Spear God Ben, finally realized that something was wrong. He could see how iney¡¯s hands were shaking as he gripped his spear tightly.

    <em>[Sword of God iney is terrified of the enemy!]</em>

    In front of a True God, the Sword of the Gods was nothing but a weak being.

 Chapter 687: The God of Death and the Hell Corps

    Chapter 687: The God of Death and the Hell Corps

    <em>[You lost 40,000 Hell Corps.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Death is a harsh and cruel being!]</em>

    <em>[The God of Death is giving you a warning!]</em>

    Rex became very flustered. He was someone that only moved after thorough calctions and preparations. Based on his calctions, Ben should not have been able to beat iney<em>.</em>

    And yet, in front of his very eyes, iney¡¯s skill waspletely crushed by Spear God Ben¡¯s own skill.

    <em>¡®iney is even afraid?¡¯</em>

    There was an existence that the Sword of the Gods feared? Undoubtedly, iney truly felt afraid a moment ago. He, who had turned into a Death Knight, could not understand.

    <em>¡®What was that coercion right now?¡¯</em>

    It was only natural that he felt flustered, especially if he was unaware of the power of the passive skill: ¡®Spear God¡¯s Authority¡¯.

    <em>[Indomitable Knight.]</em>

    <em>[The Indomitable Knight will never back down regardless of the circumstances.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will increase by 26%. Your spearmanship level will increase by +1.]</em>

    However, the fear that struck iney soon disappeared.

    <em>¡®What an interesting nation, huh?¡¯</em>

    iney thought that this kingdom was truly interesting. After all, where else would there be a Spear God serving a king? And it was also very obvious that this kingdom would pose a huge threat to His Majesty, Nerva Sephiroth.

    <em>Dash, dash, dash, dash¡ª</em>

    iney charged toward Spear God Ben. Meanwhile, Rex felt relieved, <em>¡®That¡¯s right. That¡¯s right. Spear God Ben¡¯s skill damage might be higher than his but iney¡¯s level will definitely overwhelm him.¡¯</em>

    There are huge differences between skill and physical levels. Even if Spear God¡¯s Ben¡¯s skills were more powerful than iney¡¯s, there was still no way for him to win against a Sword of the God.

    <em>aaaaaaaaaaaam¡ª</em>

    However, iney, who was charging forward to fight against the old man, was suddenly sent flying back.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Rex looked puzzled. iney jumped back to attack Spear God Ben once again. The two of them exchanged blows one after another. But in the end, iney was the one that was being pushed back.

    ¡°Wh, what¡­?!¡±

    The reason for that was the notification that rang for Ben, after the hunt for God of Snakes Elizabeth.

    <em>[Spear God Ben¡¯s potential increases dramatically after sessfully killing God of Snakes Elizabeth!]</em>

    In fact, this was a notification that all of the NPCs that participated in that hunt had received. It was not just a slight increase, but a lot. In other words, Spear God Ben¡¯s path for growth had opened up. With his bloody efforts, he was able to grow even further. This meant that Rex¡¯s earlier calctions and assumptions that he could not grow any further werepletely wrong.

    <em>Staaaaaaaaab¡ª</em>

    iney was sent flying back after getting hit by the shaft of the spear.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    iney could not hide his confusion any more. He was aware that Spear God Ben¡¯s body was not something that was inferior to him.

    <em>¡®His abilities and skills precedes mine?¡¯</em>

    iney¡¯s spearmanship could not bepared to Spear God Ben¡¯s own. Immediately after that, the spear in Spear God Ben¡¯s hands shot forward, moving like a snake as it aimed for iney¡¯s neck.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    However, an explosion erupted in front of Spear God Ben. The man, who caused the explosion, was wielding two hatchets with one shing down on Ben¡¯s shoulder, and the other on his nk.

    ¡°Kghhk!¡± Ben groaned.

    The man was none other than the seventeenth ranked Sword of the Gods, Rend. After all, Rex was currently receiving the help of two Sword of the Gods. No matter how strong Spear God Ben was, there was no way that he could deal with iney, who was approaching with his spear, and Rend, who was swinging his ratchets.

    ¡°Ughhh!¡± Another groan escaped Ben¡¯s mouth as he looked around while blocking the path of the two Sword of the Gods in front of him.

    <em>¡®The situation is not good.¡¯</em>

    Ben might still be causing problems for Rex right now, but the truth was the situation around him was not good. This was because the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ troops, who had shed against the Hell Corps, were now being swept away.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Ben could not hide his despair as he watched the soldiers that he carefully raised and nurtured die like that.

    ¡°Ha, hahahahahahahahaha! Hahahahahahahahaha!¡±

    Rex began to guffaw inughter.

    The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was starting to get pushed back, their soldiers getting ughtered on the field. In other words, Rex¡¯s contribution was increasing at a rapid pace. The higher Rex¡¯s contribution was, the stronger the being he could bring from hell.

    <em>¡®Additional reinforcements will arrive soon.¡¯</em>

    Who was Rex¡¯s additional reinforcement? It was none other than the God of Money Henry. Henry was someone that ran the top merchant group in the continent, the Money Bag Merchant Group.

    Henry was the one that had suffered humiliation and disgrace after getting PK-ed by Minhyuk at the entrance to Edea. He had been waiting for the opportunity to go against Minhyuk and the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    Right now, he was leading 700,000 mercenaries under his banner. These 700,000 mercenaries alone could easilypete against the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s soldiers.

    <em>¡®I will definitely kick you down!¡¯</em>

    Rex, who was now the God of Death, raised the staff in his hand.

    <em>[God of Death¡¯s Wrath.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Death¡¯s Wrath has fallen upon you!]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will decrease by 21% while your physical and magical defenses will decrease by 30%!]</em>

    <em>[The rate of sessful attacks will be reduced by 25%!]</em>

    <em>[Terrible fear and terror encroaches upon you.]</em>

    <em>[There is a chance of experiencing hallucinations.]</em>

    A gigantic bloody skull appeared in the sky above them before scattering into smoke and entering the bodies of the Beyond the Heaven¡¯s troops.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Spear God Ben easily understood that the situation was bing worse.

    ¡°All troops, retreat¡­!¡±

    He judged right there and then that it would be safer for them to defend from the walls and endure there.

    ¡°A, aaaaaaaaack! What, what the hell! Don¡¯te! I¡¯m telling you, don¡¯te here! Aaaaaaaaack! Di, die!!!¡±

    <em>Staaaaaab¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keheooook! Carls¡­ Wh, why?¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaack! Great Demon Verus!¡±

    <em>aaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    Due to their hallucinations, some of the soldiers of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom began turning their weapons against their ownrades. This was all because of the God of Death¡¯s Wrath.

    However, Spear God Ben still urged and led the troops to retreat as fast as they could.

    <em>¡®We already have more than 90,000 casualties¡­¡¯</em>

    Ben felt miserable. How could they console the families of the bereaved? How sad would His Majesty and the people be?

    <em>¡®Your Majesty, where are you¡­¡¯</em>

    Ben hoped that Minhyuk woulde to their aid soon.

    As they retreated, the enemy continued to chase after them, crushing them and sweeping them away.

    <em>Vwoooooooooooong¡ª</em>

    They saw anotherrge army appear from beyond the bloody barrier. Their gs carried a ¡®gold coin¡¯, the symbol of the ¡®Money Bag¡¯ merchant group.

    At that moment, Rex used God¡¯s Voice.

    <em>[The God that ruled over life and death is furious at the foolish Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    All of the cameras turned towards the God of Death. Then, Rex said, ¡°I am Rex, one of God''s Children. Right now, I am the God of Death that hase to punish the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Why punish them, you ask? Recently, Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King Minhyuk had PKed one of God¡¯s Children, Henry, with no rhyme or reason, just so he could extort money and artifacts from him. I¡¯ve borrowed the power of the God of Death to punish him!¡±

    Rex sounded solemn. No one could refute his words. In fact, none of them could tell what was right or wrong. After all, God¡¯s Children had been working in secret, so none of the people knew about their deeds, whether they were good or bad. Rex knew that it was better to make the first hit no matter what.

    <em>[This is unbelievable. God¡¯s Children have staged a war against the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?]</em>

    <em>[That might be the case but if Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King Minhyuk truly did that then the God¡¯s Children are the one in the right.]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s too early to make a conclusion. Nothing has been revealed yet. We don¡¯t know what the truth is. The only thing that we know of is the fact that God of Money Henry is one of God¡¯s Children. Another thing that we know of is the fact that the God of Death and the God of Money have joined hands to destroy the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    These were the headlines that followed that breaking news.

    <em>[Breaking News: God of Death and God of Money Henry are advancing to destroy the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[An unusual disaster in Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Will the Food God¡¯s kingdom copse just like this?]</em>

    Then Rex, who was standing behind the retreating Beyond the Heavens troops, started to summon something. After all, he had already gathered enough contribution to summon one more.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    PD Kim Daeguk looked at the bloody-red sky and thought, <em>¡®What the hell is happening here?¡¯</em>

    The space in the sky above them was torn apart, revealing the gates of hell. PD Kim could not help but recall the memories of the past. He had already seen this once, just once, before.

    The God of ughter, the devilish being that had killed more than tens of millions of people. The human that was hailed as a demigod and the one that Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King had killed before. PD Kim was also the one that had recorded that momentous battle.

    Then, Rex used God¡¯s Voice once again.

    <em>[The blood and tears shed by the tens of millions of people that he killed, flooded the world and created an ocean. His sword did not show any mercy and would kill anyone, even emperors and kings. In the end, even the gods feared this evil being.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The huge Hell¡¯s Gate shook and trembled.

    <em>Thuuuuuuuuuump¡ª</em>

    Just like that day, the skeletons that held the gates closed were gripping it tightly so that it would not open.

    <em>Thuuuuuuuuuump¡ª</em>

    However, the skeletons shrieked from the powerful impact of the force behind the gates, the gates shaking fiercely once again.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    <em>[Look. Watch as the one that was hailed as the God of Battle, who waster on called as the God of ughter, makes his appearance.]</em>

    <em>Thuuuuuuuuuuuuuump¡ª</em>

    The soldiers of Beyond the Heavens flinched as a gap appeared on the tightly closed gates.

    <em>[Asura¡¯s Realm.]</em>

    <em>[Asura¡¯s world of fighting and carnage has unfolded.]</em>

    A skill was activated.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kkeoooooook!¡±

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Kiiiiiiiiiiiiik!¡±

    Blood flowed out of the eyes, noses, and ears of the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ soldiers as they screamed. In fact, the same was true for some of Hell Corps.

    PD Kim Daeguk thought, <em>¡®How, howe? Howe Asura¡¯s Realm has been activated but Asura has not yete out of the gates?!¡¯</em>

    He could not understand it at all.

    ¡°PD, what should we do?!¡±

    ¡°All cameras, focus on the Hell¡¯s Gates and get a close up!!!¡±

    PD Kim Daeguk was one of the people that loved and cherished the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. He was a huge fan. Because of that, he had decided that it was only apt that he would be the one to capture the destruction of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom with his camera, should it happen, although it would be a pity.

    <em>[<strong>Director</strong>: PD Kim, our viewership ratings have reached 30% now¡­]</em>

    Although their ratings were high, there was still a bitter aftertaste in his mouth. What should he do? Should he feel happy or should he feel sad while filming the end of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Finally, Hell¡¯s Gate mmed open. Just like in the past, they expected the God of ughter toe out.

    ¡°PD Kim¡­¡±

    ¡°Right¡­¡±

    To be honest, this was the first time that PD Kim would see the God of ughter Asura in the flesh.

    Despair colored the faces of Spear God Ben and the troops of the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ troops. On the other hand, Rex¡¯s lips were curled into a huge smirk.

    <em>¡®Today is the day that the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom will perish!¡¯</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Then, Asura¡¯s hands appeared, grabbing the Hell¡¯s Gate with one hand and pulling himself out.

    <em>¡®Huh?¡¯</em>

    However, PD Kim Daeguk realized that something was wrong. He felt that something was strange.

    <em>¡®What¡¯s that? Why does Asura¡¯s arm look injured¡­?¡¯</em>

    Was it an effect to make Asura look more terrifying? That was not it. There had been no injury on his body when he appeared in the past.

    <em>[Demigod Asura has descended.]</em>

    <em>[Those that send Asura back to hell will receive rewards.]</em>

    A man of three meters, with bloody red skin and full te armor covering his body and two bloody red swords in his hands, appeared. He looked just like he did when he ughtered millions in the past.

    Just one look at his figure and anyone would feel numb from fear. In fact, everyone was tense and nervous as they watched Asurae out. However, for some reason, the Asura that came out of the gates of hell was staggering this time. Even his body was covered with blood.

    <em>Fwiiiiiiiiish¡ª</em>

    ¡°Ah, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah¡­¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°What, what the hell?!¡±

    All of them could not hide the doubt and confusion on their faces. Then, at that moment, someone else came out of Hell''s Gate.

    This woman was wearing blood-red armor and holding a bloody sword in her hands. Her silver hair fluttered behind her as she flew towards Asura from the depths of the gates of hell.

    <em>aaaaaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    With a swing, she cut down Asura¡¯s head, and he turned into a stream of blood that got sucked back inside Hell¡¯s Gate.

    <em>Shwaa¡ª</em>

    An unbelievable world message hit the world as the womannded lightly on the ground.

    <em>[The world¡¯s very first Absolute Demigod ss has been born!]</em>

    <em>[The first Absolute Demigod ss is ¡®Asura¡¯!]</em>

    <em>[There are a total of 20 Absolute Demigod sses that exist in the world!]</em>

    The silver hair that fluttered from beneath the woman¡¯s helmet stood out to everyone. The beautiful eyes from beneath her helmet looked coldly at the Hell Corps that were charging towards the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. The woman¡¯s face was slowly revealed as she took off her helmet.

    At the same time, the new Absolute Demigod ss yer triggered God¡¯s Voice.

    <em>[Asura, the one that dyed the world red with blood, has been cut down and killed.]</em>

    <em>[The new ¡®Asura¡¯ has be a sword that will ughter the enemies of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[The name of the new Absolute Demigod ss that appeared in the world has been revealed.]</em>

    <em>[The Sword of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[A friend of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[The Goddess of the Battlefield that will fight for the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    ¡°As..car¡­!¡± PD Kim eximed, a shudder running down his body.

    Ascar, with her silver hair fluttering behind her and her sword in hand, red fiercely at the Hell Corps that were attacking her beloved kingdom. Then, she coldly dered, ¡°Hell¡¯s Infernal Sword.¡±

    Then, Ascar¡¯s greatsword struck the ground.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    The enemies that charged towards her and her kingdom started to get torn apart.

    This was the return of Ascar.

 Chapter 688: The God of Death and the Hell Corps

    Chapter 688: The God of Death and the Hell Corps

    Back when the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was still the Legend Guild, there was a woman that all of the guild members recognized and praised as the best dealer of the guild. That fact did not change even after they became the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    She could deal high amounts of damage, had genius gaming sense, and a merciless sword that people started to call her ¡®Goddess of the Battlefield Ascar¡¯. That very same Ascar, or Da-Sol, had received the Asura¡¯s Sessor¡¯s Ring from Minhyuk.

    After receiving the item, Ascar left not long after. She wanted to be stronger so that she could protect the things and people that were precious to Minhyuk.

    This was the quest that she had received back then:

    <em>[<strong>ss Change Quest</strong>: True Asura.]</em>

    Ascar had a lot of doubts and confusion when she saw the ss Change Quest: True Asura. She had already changed her ss before, so she could not understand why there was another ss change quest.

    Soon after, Ascar found out that it was a linked quest. Armed with that knowledge, she wasted no time in trying to clear the quest. As she continued the quest, she eventually went to Hell and hunted the creatures in that realm. By doing so, she became a very famous existence in Hell and was eventually dubbed as the God of Assassins by the beings that lived there.

    In the past, Ascar had undergone a trial that Asura himself had led. This trial allowed her to transfer to the Asura ss. As it turned out, the final quest in the True Asura quest was to kill him. Only by killing Asura would Ascar be the True Asura.

    <em>[You havepleted the <strong>ss Change Quest</strong>: True Asura.]</em>

    <em>[Your ss will be upgraded to an Absolute Demigod ss!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP and MP have recovered to 100%!]</em>

    <em>[Only those that do not have the ¡®God ss¡¯ will be able to change to the Absolute Demigod ss!]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats and skills will change after acquiring the Absolute Demigod ss!]</em>

    <em>[Your level will drop by -200 twenty four hours after changing your ss to the Absolute Demigod ss!]</em>

    <em>[The Absolute God ss Asura is Hell¡¯s Killing Fiend!]</em>

    <em>[The Absolute God ss Asura is the object of fear for all of the beings in hell!]</em>

    The Absolute Demigod ss had distinct differences from the Absolute God ss. All of the Absolute God ss yers had the God ss first. That was not the case for the Absolute Demigod ss. Whether one had a normal ss, a legendary ss, or a hidden ss, they could grab the opportunity to add the title of Absolute in their name.

    Ascar also guessed, <em>¡®It will measure one¡¯s force.¡¯</em>

    She was right. It measured one¡¯s force and strength. The Absolute Demigod ss waspletely different from the Absolute God ss. As long as a human was strong enough to climb to the ranks of a demigod, or a demigod that was strong enough to climb the ranks of the Absolute Demigod, they could get this ss.

    <em>¡®Minhyuk.¡¯</em>

    Because Ascar was in hell, she was aware of what was happening in middle earth and why the army in hell was headed there. Back when she hugged Minhyuk after Crystal¡¯s Fashion Show, Ascar made a vow.

    <em>¡®This time, I will be the one to protect you.¡¯</em>

    Ascar red sharply at the Hell Corps while her silver hair fluttered beautifully behind her. Then, the notifications rang in her ears.

    <em>[The Absolute Demigod ss Asura is Hell¡¯s Killing Fiend.]</em>

    <em>[The Absolute Demigod ss Asura will showcase far stronger powers against beings from hell!]</em>

    <em>[Against beings from hell, your attack power will increase by 50%!]</em>

    Ascar brandished her greatsword while saying, ¡°Hell¡¯s Infernal Sword.¡±

    <em>[An additional 2,800% attack will be stacked on the cruel and merciless sword. It will bring despair to everyone within a twenty meter radius.]</em>

    Dozens of bloody red swords stretched out from Ascar¡¯s greatsword fiercely and ughtered all of the enemies that rushed towards her. Her attack was also increased dramatically, since she was fighting against beings from hell. Thousands of enemies that rushed towards her disappeared with one swing of her sword. She did not stop there. Ascar immediately flew up and sent several bloody red greatsword lights, as well as several bloody beads at the center of the Hell Corps.

    ¡°Asura¡¯s Realm.¡±

    <em>Fwoooooooooooooosh¡ª</em>

    Bloody energy appeared and engulfed the Hell Corps, sweeping them away in waves.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Kyahaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keheoooooook!¡±

    Even though they were already dead, blood, albeit rotten, dripped down their eyes, noses and ears.

    <em>[Asura¡¯s world of fighting and carnage has unfolded.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will decrease by 20% and your movements will be restricted.]</em>

    <em>[Asura¡¯s great power has bound your body.]</em>

    <em>[Your attack sess rate as well as physical and magical defense will decrease by 30%.]</em>

    Ascar charged into the huge Asura¡¯s Realm that unfolded at the center of the Hell Corps. In response, the Hell Warriors in rusty te armor and wielding rusty swords while riding on top of the Hell Werewolves charged at her. The level of these Hell Warriors were at least at Level 600. Ascar kept on running, twisting her body to avoid the swords that aimed at her body. Then, she immediately countered with her greatsword.

    <em>[The Passive Skill: Six Greatswords has been triggered!]</em>

    Asura was a being with six arms, hence he could wield six swords. Because of that, Ascar was also bestowed the same power. The difference was, Ascar could deal six strikes by just swinging her sword once. However, in return, the damage of each strike would be reduced by 50%.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    Even if that was the case, the Hell Warriors lookedpletely weak in Ascar¡¯s eyes. Her attacks were enough to burn into ashes, causing them to disappear into the wind.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    All of the enemies that Ascar passed by would instantly turn into ashes that scattered in the wind. Ascar was literally a killing fiend inside Asura¡¯s Realm. And that was not all.

    <em>Ping¡ª</em>

    In the midst of her assault, Ascar sustained an injury to her arm. However, bloody beads formed above the enemies that she attacked, which she absorbed into her body. The scariest thing about Asura was the fact that he could immediately recover the injuries that he sustained. This terrifying ability was also disyed here by Ascar.

    ¡°Blood Tempest.¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Eight bloody storms shot up to the sky from Ascar¡¯s bloody great sword. Then, it rained down on the ground and engulfed thousands of soldiers from the Hell Corps.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The veteran archers and mages stationed on the walls of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom supported her with their arrows and magic. However, Ascar knew the situation very well.

    <em>¡®The number of enemies is too much.¡¯</em>

    <em>Staaaab¡ª</em>

    However, before she knew it, Spear God Ben had already arrived beside her.

    ¡°It¡¯s been a long time. I made you shoulder a heavy burden.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s alright, Grandpa.¡±

    However, Spear God Ben still had a worried look on his face as he stared at beyond the bloody barrier that covered the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    ¡°Summon Hell Warrior.¡±

    <em>Thuuuuuuuuump¡ª</em>

    The ss that Ascar obtained could also summon Hell Warriors and Hell Soldiers. Fifty Hell Warriors poured out of the small Hell¡¯s Gate that opened in front of her and surrounded her and Spear God Ben to protect them.

    ¡°Please don¡¯t worry too much.¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    Spear God Ben looked at Ascar in confusion. However, she just gave him a small smile. The situation was so dire that it was impossible for them not to worry. It was not just the Hell Corps. There was also arge army from one of the empire¡¯s top merchant groups that hade here to destroy them. The worst thing was the rest of the executives of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had not yet arrived.

    ¡°¡­They¡¯re already here.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡± Ben said, his face lighting up for a moment. It seemed like some of the executives of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would arrive soon. That was a huge relief, especially in their situation right now.

    <em>¡®Still, how can we deal with such a huge army¡­?¡¯</em>

    The number of their enemies was too many. But then, Ascar said, ¡°I know what you¡¯re worried about. There¡¯s no way for us to deal with such a huge army. However, people that can summon and createrge armies are already here.¡±

    ¡°¡­What do you¡­ Ugh!¡± Spear God Ben asked in doubt, before quickly using his spear to cut down one of the enemies that had broken through the gaps of the Hell Warriors protecting them. He had no other choice but to throw the thought to the back of his head, his hands busy with dealing with the enemies.

    Meanwhile, Ascar recalled what happened in hell.

    Ascar had stood in front of the statue of the God of Death to summon Asura. That was the reason why she was there. However, that was when she saw two men covered in ck robes facing each other in what seemed to be some strange confrontation.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m cooperating with you this time again but that does not mean that I like you, you bastard.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I feel the same. It¡¯s just because that f*cking bastard dared to touch what¡¯s mine.¡¯</em>

    Ascar had already spent a long time in hell. During the course of her stay, she was able to learn that the God of Death had two sessors. Among the two, one would climb the ranks and sit among the ¡®Absolute Gods¡¯.

    <em>¡®More importantly, it¡¯s very surprising that the God of Death summoned us here himself.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®It just shows how much he hates the damn bastard that twisted the God of Death¡¯s episode. See, he''s giving us this much power too.¡¯</em>

    Through their conversation, Ascar could tell that the God of Death had lent some of his powers to these two people. Then, one of the men turned his head to look at Ascar, who was eavesdropping on their conversation.

    Then, with a weing smile on his face, he greeted her, <em>¡®Ascar.¡¯</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    At the same time, a whisper arrived from the man that smiled at her. Ascar¡¯s face turned ugly at the whisper that she received.

    ¡°These attention seekers, really¡­¡± Ascar mumbled, her face burning in shame.

    ***

    A deep smile was etched on Henry¡¯s face. He would now be able to repay the humiliation that he received from Minhyuk before. Rex would soon release the bloody barrier and open the path for the Money Bag Merchant Group¡¯s mercenaries to enter the battlefield.

    The situation had turned slightly in favor of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom thanks to the sudden appearance of Ascar. However, it would not take too long for more than 700,000 mercenaries to enter that battlefield. Even if the executives of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom appeared, there was no way for them to win. Their numbers were just far too overwhelming for them.

    <em>¡®I will take everything away from you. Hahahaha!¡¯</em>

    How great was the benefit that he could get from trampling on Beyond the Heavens Kingdom? Henry was sure that it would be beyond anyone¡¯s imagination.

    Finally, a part of the bloody barrier was slowly disappearing. Once they entered, this barrier would close off once again.

    <em>[It seems like a part of the bloody barrier that covered the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is disappearing.]</em>

    <em>[From what it looks like, the Money Bag Merchant Group will now advance through that gap. This will definitely elerate the fall and destruction of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[This is a crisis for the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Woaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ troops, who were able to buy more time thanks to Ascar¡¯s sudden appearance, felt despair once again when they heard the cheers of the Money Bag¡¯s troops. Hundreds of thousands of their troops started to advance, joining the Hell Corps.

    Henry, who was riding atop his horse, caught sight of two strange people. The two men, who were covered with ck robes from head to toe, were standing still and watching the situation in front of them.

    <em>¡®What the hell? Who are those gloomy bastards?¡¯</em>

    At the same time, Ascar¡¯s face had turned a deep shade of red as she recalled the contents of the whisper that she received.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s good to make a fancy entrance, right?¡¯</em>

    ¡°Those attention seekers. I will never forget this¡­¡±

    Then, Ascar started to speak using the God¡¯s Voice. The words that she was uttering came from those two men.

    <em>[The God of Death is furious.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Henry and the mercenaries were shocked and confused from the sudden God¡¯s Voice that rang in their ears.

    <em>¡®The God of Death is furious?¡¯</em>

    <em>[Furious at the fact that an unqualified bastard dared to wield his power, he sent his own envoys to fight on his behalf.]</em>

    Despite her face flushing red from embarrassment, Ascar still continued to use the God¡¯s Voice.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The mercenaries were thrown into confusion, after all, the voice that suddenly rang in their ears was enough to throw anyone into panic.

    Henry, who was also listening to the God¡¯s Voice, thought, <em>¡®What the hell is this?¡¯</em>

    Then, right in front of the advancing mercenaries, something surprising happened.

    <em>[The envoy that rules the dead has created his own kingdom and blocked the enemies.]</em>

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    Countless bones shot up from the ground where the Money Bag¡¯s troops were advancing on, as a huge castle appeared in front of them.

    <em>ck, ck, ck, ck, ck, ck¡ª</em>

    Then, not long after that, the ground twisted and cracked as skeletons and rotten bodies climbed out from underground. Their numbers? Over 300,000.

    <em>Thump¡ª</em>

    <em>Thump¡ª</em>

    <em>Thump¡ª</em>

    <em>Thump¡ª</em>

    However, to everyone¡¯s surprise, White Death Knights appeared and surrounded the kingdom from the ck air currents that shot out from the ground. There were also around fifty liches that created two thrones inside the kingdom.

    <em>¡®Two thrones¡­¡¯</em>

    Henry knew who the owner of the kingdom was. However, he did not know why there were two thrones there.

    <em>¡®How in the world did he summon White Death Knights?¡¯</em>

    Was the God of Death truly furious to the point that he sent his envoys and even strengthened them?

    <em>[The envoy that is well-versed in summoning has be the ruler of the living and stands beside the envoy that rules the dead.]</em>

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Kyahaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡±

    A circle appeared in the space in the sky.

    ¡°A, a dragon?!¡±

    ¡°What, What the hell?!¡±

    Several dragons flew out of the circle in the sky and stopped just right above the Kingdom of Death. Furthermore, hundreds of legendary monsters appeared from the spaces that opened all over the kingdom.

    ¡°¡­Heok.¡±

    ¡°What, what the hell¡­¡±

    ¡°Keok¡­¡±

    The mercenaries could not contain how flustered and confused they were.

    That was not the end. Bone fragments appeared in the air and created a set of stairs that connected the sky and the kingdom beneath it. Then, two men began to descend from the stairs.

    <em>Step, step, step, step¡ª</em>

    The two men were simr in height. Even the way they dressed was very simr too. The entire battlefield was rendered silent, as the mercenaries stopped in their tracks to look and listen to the sound of steps of the two men descending the stairs.

    The two envoys that the God of Death had sent slowly sat on their thrones. The first envoy pulled the hood that covered his face, his eyes ring sharply at the mercenaries.

    ¡°The, the King of the Dead¡­!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Death¡­!¡±

    Not long after, the other man also slowly pulled his hood. The entire world was left reeling in shock while Henry and the mercenaries looked at him with stiff and heavy expressions on their faces the moment his face was revealed.

    ¡°Ki, kikik, kihihihihihihi!¡± The manughed, his voice sounding crazy and yful at the same time.

    ¡°Crazy Tyrant Akhan¡­¡±

    This was a partnership that should never have been possible. However, if the two were together, then they would be the bestbination.

    The two men looked at their enemies coldly and haughtily as they opened their mouths and gave their cold and harsh orders.

    ¡°Wipe them out.¡±

    ¡°Wipe them out.¡±

 Chapter 689: The God of Death and the Hell Corps

    Chapter 689: The God of Death and the Hell Corps

    There was a piece of information that was only passed on in hell. ording to this story, the God of Death had two sessors. One was a wicked being that had the power to create anything and everything, while the other was the king of the dead, who wouldter be the God of Death. The God of Death appreciated both talents. After all, they were both very talented and qualified to take over the mantle.

    However, the God of Death knew one thing. <em>¡®There can never be two of the same god under the same sky.¡¯</em>

    That was right. In the end, only one of the two would inherit the title and be the true God of Death. Thus, a thought shed through the God of Death¡¯s head. <em>¡®If all of this power was not divided into two and was only given to one sessor, then¡­¡¯</em>

    Perhaps, that existence would bring fear even to Athenae. The God of Death had always felt regret because of this matter. However, the God that Reads Stories twisted and destroyed what he was nning. The ns that the God of Death was making were still in the preparation stage.

    The day when the episode <em>God of Death a</em><em>nd the Hell Corps</em> was scheduled to be released was also the day when the God of Death would choose which one of his two sessors became the true God of Death.

    The two sessors wouldpete and kill as many people as they could in Middle Earth. There was a chance that on that day, when the God of Death¡¯s invasion happened, it would be a game changer for the whole of Athenae. There was a chance that many of Athenae¡¯s yers and NPCs would die.

    Of course, the God of Death did not like what was happening right now. He was not ready for the invasion yet. Besides, the God that Reads Stories was just utilizing borrowed power to destroy a kingdom.

    However, an interesting thought shed through the God of Death¡¯s head. He wanted his two sessors, who had lost the story originally meant for them, to take down this current story.

    <em>[The God of Death is very excited to see what the two of you will be able to do now that you havebined your powers!]</em>

    <em>[You might be able to gain new skills if you satisfy the God of Death!]</em>

    These were the notifications that Death and Akhan heard when they stood in front of the statue of the God of Death afterplying with his summons. However, an ugly expression shed across the faces of the two men as they looked at each other.

    <em>¡®I have to work together with this money-crazy bastard¡­?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I have to work with this bastard that ys with corpses everyday¡­?¡¯</em>

    A summoner that could call forth any kind of monster that had been slumbering in the world.

    A necromancer that ruled the dead and could call in hundreds of thousands of undead troops while summoning undead knights and mages

    The two were aware that they could produce unimaginable results if the two of them worked together.

    <em>[The God of Death has bestowed his power upon you!]</em>

    <em>[Your skills as the King of the Dead have changed!]</em>

    <em>[The Kingdom of the Dead has changed into the ¡®Empire of the Dead¡¯!]</em>

    <em>[You have been given the authority to manage and control the Order of the Blue Death!]</em>

    <em>[The number of undead that you can control has doubled!]</em>

    <em>[The attack of the undead that you have summoned will increase by 1.3x!]</em>

    <em>[The defense of the undead that you have summoned will increase by 1.3x!]</em>

    <em>[Your total HP and MP volume will increase by 1.7x!]</em>

    These were the notifications that the King of the Dead, Death, heard. As for Akhan? He also received notifications of a simr caliber.

    Every yer had the desire to show off power that could shake the world. The same was true for Akhan and Death.

    Death, the king of the Kingdom of Death, was aware that his position was increasingly unstable due to the continuous appearance of increasingly powerful individuals. Even Akhan, who was greedy for money, was being challenged. In fact, several of the gamepanies that had offered to sponsor him before had already turned their heads away from him.

    And at this moment, these two people were cooperating.

    ¡°Wipe them out.¡±

    ¡°Wipe them out.¡±

    The two kings sitting on their thrones looked at their enemies haughtily.

    ¡°We have received your orders!!!¡±

    ¡°We have received your orders!!!¡±

    The Blue Death Knights ced their fists on the left side of their chests and pulled out their swords.

    <em>Shiiiiing¡ª</em>

    <em>Shiiiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    The blue des shone beautifully, harmonizing perfectly with the blue te armor they were wearing..

    ¡°This, this is impossible¡­¡±

    Among the 600,000 mercenaries hired by the Money Bag Merchant Group was Viray, the one called ¡®White Necromancer.¡¯ He was hailed as the ruler of necromancers in the Agaon Continent and was called their king. His level was high, at 570.

    Viray was left in contemtion as he watched the Blue Death Knights attack, even though he could also summon the White Death Knights.

    The truth was, yers could not yet keep up with the level of the truly powerful NPCs. That was why Henry spent a huge amount of money to hire Viray, the White Necromancer. This was so he could keep Death in check.

    However, Viray was now shaking in fear.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°The Blue Death Knights are a Knight Order that only the God of Death can order around. They are literally the Knights of Death that appear in myths and legends.¡±

    ¡°What kind of nonsense¡­¡± Henry shook his head.

    The Knights of Death that appeared in myths? And he was telling Henry that Death had summoned a hundred of them? Viray had summoned around 100 White Death Knights. It should have been a number that could overwhelm Death. That was why Henry thought that what he was seeing was just some form of trickery.

    ¡°If they truly are the beings from the myths, then¡­¡± Viray mumbled, his gaze stained with fear as he looked at the charging Blue Death Knights. He could see his White Death Knights charging toward them too. As the two forces collided, his voice came out as barely a whisper.

    ¡°My Death Knights will be no match against them.¡±

    <em>aaaaaash¡ª</em>

    One Blue Death Knight swung his sword against the White Death Knight that was charging at him. However, Viray¡¯s White Death Knight could not bear the force of the impact and staggered backward.

    The Blue Death Knight took that opportunity to m his fist into the enemy''s face, cracking the skull of Viray¡¯s White Death Knight. The White Death Knight shook and staggered as his skull split apart. The Blue Death Knight continued to bash the White Death Knight''s head until it turned to dust.

    <em>Craaaaack¡ª</em>

    The figure of the Blue Death Knight with the crushed skull of his enemy in his hands was enough to invoke fear and terror among everyone. Following his example, the rest of the Blue Death Knights charged forward and bashed in the heads of Viray¡¯s Death Knights. They made it look effortless.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Henry was left speechless. However, it was not yet over.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid!!!¡±

    Mercenaries were people that walked the tightrope of life and death many times. After receiving a buff, their fears disappeared. Then, they charged forward.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    A bombardment of 6th and 7th tier magical attacks from the dragons rained down from the sky and swept them away.

    <em>Rumbleeeeeee¡ª</em>

    <em>Rumbleeeeeee¡ª</em>

    The sky above them was torn apart as five gigantic Meteors appeared. The moment theynded, tens of thousands of mercenaries disappeared without a trace.

    <em>Thuuuuuuud¡ª</em>

    The ground shook and trembled. Death¡¯s undead did not waste any time as they began their brutal and fierce onught, killing all of the mercenaries in front of them. Akhan¡¯s named monsters also joined the fray, creating more chaos and killing plenty of enemies.

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    Five Mammoth Lords, elephant-type monsters that were seven meters long, appeared with thick iron armor all over their bodies and trampled on the mercenaries. The hides of the Mammoth Lords were so thick that none of the knights¡¯ swords, magic, arrows and other attacks could do any damage to them.

    Death, who was sitting on his throne with a nonchnt look on his face, watched as his undead army dug through the gaps of the mercenaries. Then, he said, ¡°Corpse Explosion.¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Thousands of undead exploded and wiped out mercenaries several times their number. That was not the end. Death looked coldly at the now dead mercenaries and said, ¡°Rise.¡±

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    The skin of the dead mercenaries melted away as their bones twisted strangely. In a twisted fashion, they came under Death¡¯s control, cutting down their previous allies.

    Within an instant, Henry lost about 80,000 mercenaries. The damage was huge, especially since he was already heavily indebted to the God of Money.

    In fact, these mercenaries were people that he had attracted by using his financial powers and capabilities from reality. He was sure that he would gain bigger benefits if he destroyed the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!

    However, the situation was turning for the worse every second.

    <em>Vwoooooooooong¡ª</em>

    <em>aaaash¡ª</em>

    At that moment, a gigantic man with a ck sword jumped to the skies, ughtered a few gryphons andnded heavily on the battlefield and began another wave of ughter. Meanwhile, on the other side, a huge and powerful tidal wave appeared.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Those that were caught by the huge tidal wave were torn apart, turning the blue waters red. The man held a chain in one hand while holding the Ten Thousand Sword in the other. They were none other than Elpis and Gorfido.

    There was a hidden passage that connected the outside of the kingdom directly to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Even the bloody barrier was able to stop them as they entered through that path.

    ¡°Giant¡¯s Consecutive Hits!!!¡±

    Another man flew in at the speed of light, this man was Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Fist, Khan. Right below him was Ares, who ughtered his enemies with his kicks.

    <em>Crackleeeee¡ª</em>

    A gigantic whip struck down from the sky and swept away the enemies. The attack came from none other than Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Vice Guild Master, Genie.

    One by one, the executives of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom appeared. Hope seemed to shine on the kingdom that was being pushed back.

    One of thementators made ament.

    <em>[The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Executives are showing up now.]</em>

    <em>[Golden Mage Ali has also arrived. Ali¡¯s magical bombardment easily devoured tens of thousands of the Hell Corps.]</em>

    <em>[I think hope is finally shining on Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    Meanwhile, Henry hurriedly sent a whisper to Rex.

    <em>[<strong>Henry</strong>: If we can¡¯t destroy the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom then everything will be over for you and me!]</em>

    That was right. It was the end for them. Rex would receive severe punishments from the God of Death, while Henry would drown in debt.

    However, Rexughed.

    <em>[<strong>Rex</strong>: It¡¯s not the end. Do not forget, I am now the God of Death.]</em>

    Indeed. Rex was now the God of Death. That meant that he was currently the god that governed hell and controlled all of the dead. In front of his eyes were these words:

    <em>[<strong>Current Contributions</strong>: 313, 624.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Great Demon Verus</strong>: 500,000 contributions. Cannot be summoned.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Corrupted God</strong>: 700,000 contributions. Cannot be summoned.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>God of Snakes</strong>: 600,000 contributions. Cannot be summoned.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Demon Baal</strong>: 100,000 contributions. 200,000 souls of those that died within 24 hours. Can be summoned immediately.]</em>

    A huge grin appeared on Rex¡¯s face¡ªhis contributions were enough for Baal. Baal was also known as the Demon King, an existence that sat right below Great Demon Verus. He was the demon that ranked first among the 72 Demons!

    ¡°Summon Baal.¡±

    <em>Thump, thump, thump, thump¡ª</em>

    The souls of the dead soared to the skies at the swing of Rex¡¯s staff.

    <em>Kyaaaaaaack!</em>

    <em>Kihyaaaaack!</em>

    <em>Kiheeeeeeeck!</em>

    The 200,000 shrieking souls gathered in the sky and created a gigantic ck hole.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Genie and the rest of the executives of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom realized that a huge crisis was upon them the moment they saw the gigantic ck hole appear above them.

    Rex sent another whisper to Henry.

    <em>[<strong>Rex</strong>: If Baal uses a few of the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ executives and their troops, he will be able to summon the Great Demon. In fact, he could also summon the God of Snakes and even the Corrupted God.]</em>

    The true dignity and might of the God of Death was now being revealed.

    A demon slowly appeared from the gigantic ck hole. The demon wore a majestic and impressive ck cape. Baal had risen in rank among the 72 Demons purely through his power and force.

    <em>[Baal¡¯s Spear of Blooming mes.]</em>

    <em>[A sea of fire will engulf a five kilometer radius. It will deal 5,000% damage on the first hit and 2% damage per second from the injuries sustained by the attack.]</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Demon King Baal threw his spear on the ground, and as if thend was covered with gasoline, fire spread rapidly, turning the undead into ashes and devouring the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ troops.

    <em>Crackleeee¡ª</em>

    One throw of his spear, and more than 100,000 undead and a thousand troops perished.

    Baal spread out his ck wings as hended on the ground. On his way, he cut off the head of the dragon that blocked his path.

    <em>Thump¡ª</em>

    Rex cackled as he watched the headless dragon plummet to the ground.

    <em>[The contributions for summoning Great Demon Verus have been satisfied!]</em>

    The Great Demon would once again descend upon the earth.

    ***

    ¡°¡­¡±

    At the same time, Minhyuk was left dumbfounded after hearing Kronad¡¯s words.

    Most of Kronad¡¯s power had been exhausted after summoning the Sacred Papal Sword. He told Minhyuk that he would not be able to send him back until some of his strength has been restored.

    At that time, when he checked Evangel and the Sacred Papal Sword, Minhyuk thought, <em>¡®Even for a short time, if I can go to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom then¡­¡¯</em>

    The tide of war would change.

    ¡°How long will it take?¡±

    ¡°Half an hour. And I can only send you back for a very short time. We will be sent back here after ten minutes.¡±

    Hearing his words, Minhyuk badly wanted to curse Kronad and punch him straight in the gut.

    <em>¡®Everyone, please hang in there a bit more.¡¯</em>

 Chapter 690: The God of Death and the Hell Corps

    Chapter 690: The God of Death and the Hell Corps

    <em>Crackle, crackle, crackle¡ª</em>

    Baal¡¯s Spear of Blooming mes caused an area of five kilometers in radius to be engulfed in mes that continued to devour those within, siphoning their lives away.

    ¡°Keuheeeeeup¡­!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kill me right away! Aaaaack!¡±

    The most difficult pain for humans to endure was that of their flesh and bones burning. The soldiers of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were all begging and screaming for a swift death after being subjected to this attack that gave them a 2% damage per second.

    Everyone, including thementators, were busy trying to understand the current situation. The same was true for PD Kim Daeguk.

    <em>Gulp¡ª</em>

    He watched as the soldiers screamed and begged for their lives to end while their skin and flesh started to turn ck from the mes. Some eventually died and turned to ashes that disappeared into the wind.

    ¡°The, the smell¡­ Urkkk!¡± The rookie cameraman could not help but retch at the scene in front of him.

    Athenae was a virtual reality game that could recreate scenes from reality. That included the stench of burning flesh, a smell that could make anyone fidget from nervousness.

    ¡°Sir¡­¡±

    ¡°Huh? Yeah. Baal¡¯s appearance does not pose a huge threat to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.¡±

    There were many prominent and powerful beings staying in Beyond the Heavens Kingdom like the God of Snakes, Elpis, Gorfido, and even Spear God Ben. Baal would not be a threat, even though he was called the Demon King, because of them. The problemy somewhere else.

    ¡°Some time after ck Dragon Vormon was summoned, Baal was also summoned. Do you know what this means?¡±

    ¡°¡­As long as the requirements are met, he can summon others?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s correct. Baal¡¯s descent will most definitely increase his speed inpleting the requirements. What will happen if another one gets summoned right after Baal?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s going to elerate the process even more.¡±

    That was right. It was likely that the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would be faced with a line-up of ridiculously overpowered enemies in a short time.

    ¡°Sir. Do you think Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Kingdom will be able to ovee this crisis?¡±

    PD Kim Daeguk turned silent at the cameraman¡¯s question while thinking about all of the beings that the enemy could bring in from hell. It was unlikely to be just one, or two; an entire group of them would definitely appear.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s turning into an impossible situation,¡¯</em> PD Kim thought as he stood on top of the walls of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. He turned to look at Genie and the executives of the kingdom before looking up at the sky above them.

    <em>[Great Demon Verus has descended!]</em>

    <em>[You feel fear and terror as Great Demon Verus approaches with his tremendous amount of demonic energy.]</em>

    <em>[Your body has started to go numb from the fear. You have lost control of your body.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have decreased by 20%.]</em>

    <em>[Your morale has greatly decreased.]</em>

    <em>[Ordinary humans will lose their will to fight in front of him.]</em>

    <em>[Great Demon Verus¡¯ demonic energy has put pressure on the ordinary humans, forcing their throats to constrict and their breathings to turn ragged.]</em>

    <em>[Verus¡¯ Wrath.]</em>

    <em>[Verus¡¯ Wrath has restricted your movements for three straight minutes.]</em>

    <em>[Everyone will be equal in front of Great Demon Verus for three straight minutes.]</em>

    The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ soldiers started to lose their will to fight. The light in their eyes slowly dimmed as they copsed on the ground. All they could do was stare helplessly at Great Demon Verus, just like they did in the past.

    <em>¡®When the Great Demon descended, many had died</em>.¡¯

    That thought alone brought fear to the soldiers that were there to fight.

    ¡°Ah, aaaaaaah¡­ aaaaaah¡­¡±

    Some shed tears just by looking at the scene.

    <em>Tighten¡ª</em>

    The new PD saw PD Kim¡¯s palms turning into fists. He knew it was because PD Kim was a fan of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    <em>¡®Sir, why do you like Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®You know, when you look out at the world and you realize that there are things that you can¡¯t do and there are things that only you can do?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Yes.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®But whenever I watch the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, I always think: Ah, so this is also possible. There¡¯s hope that this can be done.¡¯</em>

    That was what his senior PD had told him.

    Then, PD Kim Daeguk opened his mouth. ¡°Just like always¡­¡±

    At that moment, God of Snakes Elizabeth appeared.

    <em>[Elizabeth has started to take control of the system!]</em>

    <em>[The effects of Verus¡¯ Wrath have disappeared!]</em>

    On top of the walls, a woman appeared with a pair of wings on her back and shining a light toward the soldiers that had lost their will to fight. This was none other than Valkyrie Mei Wei.

    Then, in front of the frightened and shaking soldiers, several people stood up and flew toward Verus, who appeared in the form of a gigantic demonic face in the air above them, just like they did in the past.

    Spear God Ben.

    Lesser Demon Elpis.

    Great Pirate Gorfido.

    ¡°Berserk. Splitting the Demon.¡±

    ck blood gurgled out of Great Demon Verus¡¯ face as he was shed by the berserk Lesser Demon¡¯s ck sword. Immediately following the attack was the old veteran with fluttering ck hair. The old man thrust his spear toward Great Demon Verus and released a very powerful force.

    <em>Staaaaaaaaaaaaaab¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaaaack!¡± A shriek came out of Great Demon Verus involuntarily.

    That was not the end. Great Pirate Gorfido passed by the demon and cut him down with his Ten Thousand Sword and tied him up with his Ten Thousand Chains, dragging him down to the ground with a powerful tug.

    <em>Fwiiiiiiiiiiiish¡ª</em>

    <em>nk, nk, nk, nk¡ª</em>

    <em>Boooooooooom¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Silence pervaded the area for a moment.

    Quite some time had passed since Great Demon Verusst descended on earth. During that time, the members of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom did not stop in their pursuit of strength, growing rapidly as they trained.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Woaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    PD Kim said, ¡°They¡¯ll be able to get through it.¡±

    ***

    Genie released a shaky breath as she watched Great Demon Verus get dragged down to the ground.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>Boooooom¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaam¡ª</em>

    Meanwhile, loud explosions took ce on the ground as Baal¡¯s countless spears and swords exploded, sweeping away hundreds of the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ soldiers.

    The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had certainly grown stronger. Right now, they were very confident that they would be able to hunt the partially sealed Great Demon Verus without much difficulties. However, the problem here was that it was not just Great Demon Verus that would appear here.

    They might have dragged Verus to the ground but he would most definitely get back up right away.

    ¡°¡­As arrogant and impudent as ever.¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Demonic energy exploded all over the ce, engulfing the soldiers of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, as well as Elpis, Spear God Ben, and Gorfido.

    ¡°<em>Keuuuuup!</em>¡±

    ¡°Arghhh!¡±

    On the other side, Golden Mage Ali had been casting magic over and over again to try and deal with the Hell Corps.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The dragons that Akhan had summoned were also aiding him with their magical bombardment to restrain the Hell Corps.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s just too many enemies. Even their levels are too high.¡¯</em>

    The level of the members of the Hell Corps had reached a height where the current yers could not deal with. Their numbers were also several times more than the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ troops.

    Genie could see that Akhan and Death were having a hard time on their side. The advent of both Baal and Great Demon Verus had forced the undead and the monsters to lose their will to fight.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡°Quick Draw.¡± Carr immediately jumped into the battlefield and cut down hundreds of the Hell Corps the moment he essed the game.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Kyahaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kiryaaaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    Even ck Dragon had hurriedly essed the games and fought in the war. However, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was getting pushed back.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Genie could see how desperate everyone was fighting to protect the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    <em>¡®There are also things that we just can¡¯t do¡­¡¯</em> Genie thought as she bit her lips.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Kiiiiieeeeeeeeeek¡±

    <em>Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!</em>

    The enemies, who had reached the vicinity of the walls, began to hammer it down. Gigantic demonic beasts also began to charge at the walls.

    ¡°Break their walls down!!!¡±

    The easiest way to capture a kingdom was to break down its outer walls that were protecting it. Once the outer walls copsed, the troops would have no other choice but to scatter all over the ce to protect the citizens of the kingdom. Knowing this fact, Demon King Baal sent his spears toward the walls, using them as if they were siege weapons.

    <em>Craaaack¡ª</em>

    <em>Craaaaaack¡ª</em>

    <em>Craaaaaaaack¡ª</em>

    Seeing the spears piercing through the walls, creating cracks that gradually spread all over, brought fear to the citizens of the kingdom.

    ¡°Are we¡­ going to die like this¡­?¡±

    ¡°Uwaaa! Uwaaaa! Uwaaaah!¡±

    A middle-aged man gave a sad smile to his wife, who was hugging their newborn daughter.

    ¡°D, dear¡­¡±

    ¡°Nelly¡­ Run as far as you can from here. Leave the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.¡±

    The in and average man decided to pick up a weapon and fight to protect his wife and daughter.

    ¡°Mom¡­ make sure that you hide, okay?¡±

    After hugging his mother tightly, a young miner grabbed his pickaxe and ran to fight.

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeck!¡±

    There were too many demonic beasts and Hell Corps. They tried to stop them from the walls but it did not take too long for the enemies to breach their defenses and climb over the walls.

    The boys, men, gray-haired old men and even the women of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom grabbed their pickaxes, kitchen knives, hammers, maces, anything that they could grab and use as a weapon to protect those that they held dear.

    <em>Thuuuuuuuuud¡ª</em>

    Great Demon Verus attacked the walls on purpose, causing more spider web-like cracks to appear and spread all over.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    ¡°S, senior¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    PD Kim Daeguk shuddered. <em>¡®This is another world.¡¯</em>

    The people living in this world felt so real that he was left speechless. Would they be able to stop the enemies even if they killed the army of demonic beasts and killed Great Demon Verus?

    <em>¡®No. He would just summon another powerful being.¡¯</em>

    Perhaps, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would meet its end here today. However, these people still grabbed whatever weapon they could grab to protect those that were precious and dear to them.

    ¡°Long live Beyond the Heavens!!!¡±

    ¡°Long live Beyond the Heavens!!!¡±

    ¡°Beyond the Heavens forever!!!¡±

    What was more surprising was they still crying out for the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom when the kingdom could not even protect them.

    <em>¡®Don¡¯t they resent Food God Minhyuk and the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom? And why is no one running away and abandoning the kingdom?¡¯</em>

    ¡°¡­Beyond the Heavens.¡±

    This name was once again engraved in PD Kim Daeguk¡¯s heart.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Stop theeeeeeeeem!¡±

    ¡°We have to defend the outer walls one way or another!¡±

    The outstanding members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, Spear God Ben, Gorfido, Elpis, Khan, Carr, Locke, Cerberus, Aruvel, Conir and many more, struggled as they tried to prevent the enemies¡¯ advance somehow.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡± Carr shrieked, a mouthful of blood trickling down his lips as he was sent flying back. However, he stood back up and dashed forward once again, his hand holding his sword tightly.

    ¡°Conir!!! Conir will protect the people!!!¡± The young Sword Saint shouted with gritted teeth after seeing the people behind him. Despite the obvious fear in his eyes, he still charged forward to protect them with all his might.

    ¡°All of you, protect the outer walls!!!¡± One of the pirs of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, the woman wielding her whip like crazy, shouted loudly at the soldiers while trying to restrain the enemy.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    However, Verus¡¯ demonic energy once again hit the walls, the cracks growing bigger by the minute. In the end, a thick cloud of dust bloomed as the walls copsed.

    The Hell Corps and the demonic beasts took this opportunity to charge forward and poured into the kingdom. The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ troops and the yers tried desperately to stop their advance, but it was to no avail.

    <em>Craaaaaack¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaang!</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack! Long live Beyond the Heaveeeeeeens!!!¡±

    ¡°Keheok! Long live¡­ Your, Your Majesty Minhyuk¡­¡±

    The citizens of the kingdom were killed one after the other.

    ¡°N, no!!!¡±

    ¡°Noooooooo!!!¡±

    ¡°Kghhhhk! Damn it!!!¡±

    The soldiers felt frustrated while the executives of the kingdom sported ugly looks on their faces.

    Carr med how weak he was. <em>¡®If only I was a bit stronger.¡¯</em>

    Khan cursed his insignificant punches. <em>¡®If only my punches had packed more strength¡­¡¯</em>

    Only one thought shed in the heads of everyone present: ¡®<em>If only I were stronger.¡¯</em>

    The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom fell into despair as they watched the citizens of the kingdom fall one after the other. Even PD Kim Daeguk was left in a daze as he witnessed the scene. It felt far too real.

    <em>¡®This is¡­ the kingdom that¡­ Kang Minhyuk¡­ created¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®What a wonderful and beautiful kingdom it was.¡¯</em>

    PD Kim was fully immersed in the surreal feeling that the situation had brought about. That was when he saw one of the Hell Werewolves running toward a crying girl. He did not know what came over him. The next thing he knew, he was already running toward the girl.

    ¡°Siiiiiiir!!!¡±

    He ran like crazy, and had a hard time catching his breath. But when he reached her, the Hell¡¯s Werewolf was already about to bite the girl and rip her limbs off. All Kim Daeguk could do was hold the little girl in his arms tightly and turn around with his back to the wolf.

    At that moment, the director¡¯s whisper rang in his ears.

    <em>[<strong>Director Kim</strong>: PD Kim, the viewership rating has exceeded 40%¡­]</em>

    ¡°F***************ck!!!¡±

    He was a broadcaster. However, he could not help but scream loudly at this desperate situation. He was fully aware that he and the child would be eaten like this.

    ¡°<em>Kkiiiiiiing</em><em>! </em><em>Hiiiiing</em><em>, hiiiiing!</em>¡±

    Just when the Hell¡¯s Werewolf was about to pounce on them, it suddenly whined as it took a step back, fear evident on its face.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    PD Kim Daeguk slowly turned around, only to be met with a blinding white light. Then, an unknown yet beautiful voice rang from within the white light.

    <em>[He is the benevolent king of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

 Chapter 691: The God of Death and the Hell Corps

    Chapter 691: The God of Death and the Hell Corps

    <em>[He is the benevolent king of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Kihyiiiiiiiick!¡±

    The hundreds of thousands of demonic beasts and Hell Corps shrieked as the light slowly expanded and enveloped the world.

    <em>Sizzleeee¡ª</em>

    <em>Sizzleee¡ª</em>

    The demonic beasts and the Hell Corps began to melt away.

    Meanwhile, everyone fighting for the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, including their soldiers and guild members, started to get healed. The injuries that littered their bodies were recovering while their skill cooldowns had started to reset.

    <em>[When he first came here, he was just an ordinary man. However, he became a role model to many.]</em>

    The voice rang in the ears of everyone present on the battlefield as the light expanded even further. Was it Minhyuk¡¯s God¡¯s Voice? No, not at all.

    <em>[He built up and developed his holy power by killing plenty of evil beings.]</em>

    <em>Diiiiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    Along with those words, the first chime of a bell rang.

    <em>[He embraced and took many under his wing, eventually bing their king.]</em>

    <em>Diiiiiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    The bell chimed a second time.

    <em>[With the holy power that he has gathered, he received recognition from the Sacred Papal Sword and became its new owner.]</em>

    <em>Diiiiiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    The bell chimed a third time as a man, whose eyes were closed, walked out of the source of the blinding white light. There was a golden sword hanging on his waist with the word ¡®Minhyuk¡¯ engraved on the de. The gold-lined, embroidered white papal robe on his body caused his white skin, sculpted features and dark hair to stand out even more, looking radiant.

    <em>[From the very beginning, up to this moment, and into the future, he will remain as the kind and benevolent man that he is.]</em>

    <em>Diiiiiiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    The bell chimed a fourth time.

    Minhyuk, who was wearing a papal robe, slowly opened his eyes. His eyes captured the sight of his people and his guild members, who had fallen into the pits of despair. A bitter yet soft smile appeared on his face as he looked at them. Then, a powerful and imposing notification rang in their ears.

    <em>[He is the one that holds divine power, the friend of all, the king, the legend, the God.]</em>

    <em>[His name? Minhyuk. The ones that hold holy power, heed his call.]</em>

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    <em>aaaash¡ª</em>

    <em>aaaaaash¡ª</em>

    Then, at that moment, blinding lights burst out from all over the ce. The lights were so bright that no one could even open their eyes from the shocking re.

    Evern Religion.

    Ailen Religion.

    Favu Religion.

    Brati Religion.

    Gorbandi Religion.

    Luacha Religion.

    Coin Religion.

    Hundreds, then thousands, then millions of people, with their faces covered by the hood of their priestly robes which carried the pattern of all of the religions that existed in the world began to appear one after another.

    There were knights carrying swords that emitted bright light, priests carrying their god¡¯s religion¡¯s doctrines close to their hearts, and even believers with their hands sped together in prayer.

    Just like that, tens of millions of people wearing white priestly robes carrying different patterns appeared all around Minhyuk.

    <em>[Share this glorious moment together.]</em>

    <em>Diiiiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    As the bell chimed a fifth time, all of the pdins, priests, popes, and believers turned to look at Minhyuk alone.

    <em>[Remember this glorious moment.]</em>

    <em>Diiiiiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    As if the bell¡¯s sixth chime was a signal, everyone pulled the hood that covered their heads.

    <em>[The path that he will tread will soon be the path of legends.]</em>

    <em>Diiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    With the bell¡¯s seventh chime, Minhyuk held the Sacred Papal Sword with both hands.

    ¡°Your Majesty¡­¡±

    ¡°Your Majeeeeeeesty!¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty Minhyuuuuuuuk!!!¡±

    The people cried out for their king. The king that had always been there for them since the very beginning! The King that had always fought for them since day one!

    <em>[Pray for him.]</em>

    At that moment, the tens of millions of popes, pdins, priests and believers prayed in their own unique ways. The pdins held their swords upright and ced them on their chests while the priests held their god¡¯s doctrine to their chests. Every single one of them was paying a silent tribute to the man in front of them. Then, a powerful burst of light appeared one after another from those that prayed.

    <em>[Your prayers have given courage to those that are feeling fear.]</em>

    <em>Diiiiiiiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    The bright light slowly spread out and covered the soldiers and executives of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 23%!]</em>

    <em>[When facing evil beings, your attack power will increase by 15%!]</em>

    <em>[You will not be able to feel any kind of fear!]</em>

    Then, the bell chimed for the ninth time.

    <em>[Submit to him.]</em>

    <em>Diiiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    PD Kim Daeguk, with the little girl still tightly held in his embrace, looked up at Minhyuk.

    There were tens of millions of people in white priestly robes looking at Minhyuk with firm determination in their eyes. Minhyuk stepped forward with the golden sword in both his hands.

    ¡°Destroy them.¡±

    <em>Diiiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    Along with those words, the bell chimed a tenth time. At the same time, holy power spread out from the hands of the tens of millions of priests, melting the demonic beasts in the area.

    The pdins also marched forward, following right behind Minhyuk, who was walking at the vanguard.

    <em>[After three minutes of absolute obedience and subservience from the Pope¡¯s Journey, they will return to the ce that they originally were in!]</em>

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    Millions of pdins rushed out, wielding their swords and sending their bright and shining sword lights. All of the Hell Corps and demonic beasts that stood in their path copsed.

    Pope Kronad had temporarily sent them here.

    <em>¡®We don¡¯t have time.¡¯</em>

    Countless notifications had rung in Minhyuk¡¯s ears as he ran forward with millions of pdins escorting him.

    <em>[The One that Wields the Papal Sword.]</em>

    <em>[When facing evil, all of your attack will increase by 75% while all of your defense will increase by 50%.]</em>

    <em>[You have ignored all abnormal status inflicted by evil beings!]</em>

    Immediately after that, Minhyuk¡¯s ck hair slowly turned to white as a pure halo appeared behind him, leaving a bright aura on the path that he traversed.

    <em>[Pope¡¯s Dignity.]</em>

    <em>[Effects will be applied based on the situation. You can change the color of your hair or even the shape of the artifact that you¡¯re wielding!]</em>

    It was obvious that the Pope¡¯s Dignity was a power created by the maker of this sword likely when he was drunk on anything and everything ¡®cool¡¯. The skill would apply the appropriate effects to the situation, whether it was changing one¡¯s body parts or artifacts.

    ¡°Kieeeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Kyahaaaaaaack!¡±

    The pdins opened up the path for him, allowing Minhyuk to run unimpeded with the holy sword in his hands.

    ¡°You bastard¡­!¡±

    His destination was none other than Great Demon Verus.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Great Demon Verus unleashed a powerful force,pletely engulfing Minhyuk. Unfortunately for him, Minhyuk currently had a very high defense against evil beings, and even received an additional 50% in defense thanks to the passive skill: The One that Wields the Papal Sword.

    Pure white wings with beautiful and fine feathers slowly unfurled on Minhyuk¡¯s back as he continued to run forward. The wings on his back spread widely as he finally reached Great Demon Verus. This was also the effect that was deemed perfect for the situation, created by the Pope¡¯s Dignity.

    <em>p¡ª</em>

    A strong p of the wings on Minhyuk¡¯s back propelled him upward, bringing him face to face with Verus as a bright light appeared around the Sacred Papal Sword in his hands.

    At first, Minhyuk felt utterly disappointed when he acquired the Sacred Papal Sword, because the Sacred Papal Sword did not have any ¡®Absolute Kill¡¯ skill. However, after Obren was freed from his seal, the sealed power of the Sacred Papal Sword was also lifted and Minhyuk acquired the skill: ¡®Pope¡¯s Sword¡¯.

    <em>(<strong>Pope¡¯s Sword</strong>)</em>

    <em>Artifact Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Mana Required</strong>: 700</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Cooldown</strong>: 480 hours</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?The Pope¡¯s Sword responds to evil beings. It is a sword that destroys evil.</em>

    <em>?The stronger the evil being is, the higher the damage. The higher the wickedness of the evil being is, the higher the damage.</em>

    The reason why Minhyuk considered this skill to be too overpowered was because there was no limit ced on the amount of damage that he could send towards evil beings.

    Earlier, when Minhyuk was running towards Verus, numerous notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[The Sacred Papal Sword has recognized the evil being!]</em>

    <em>[Your damage will increase upon activation of Pope¡¯s Sword.]</em>

    <em>[The Sacred Papal Sword¡­evil being!]</em>

    <em>[Your damage¡­activation of Pope¡¯s Sword.]</em>

    <em>[The Sacred Papal Sword¡­evil being!]</em>

    <em>[Your damage¡­activation of Pope¡¯s Sword.]</em>

    In fact, Minhyuk thought that this battlefield was the perfect ce for the Pope¡¯s Sword to disy its strength to the greatest effect.

    ¡°Bastard!!! You¡¯re trying to destroy me once again!!!¡± Great Demon Verus bellowed, his hideous and terrifying yellow eyes glinting dangerously as he watched Minhyuk, whose white wings were unfurled behind his back, approach him.

    Minhyuk swung his sword, which was engulfed with a bright light, down with all his might at Verus.

    <em>[Pope¡¯s Sword.]</em>

    <em>[The Pope¡¯s Sword has recognized the evil being! You will be able to deal an additional 150,315% damage upon your enemy!!!]</em>

    Many who were watching Minhyuk with his white wings and sword engulfed in light, felt some sort of yearning for that power. Also, the scene looked utterly beautiful to the point that they could not take their eyes off of it.

    <em>aaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    Because of the extremely high damage inflicted by the Pope¡¯s Sword, Great Demon Verus¡¯ body was split in half, his body not given time to regenerate.

    <em>Fwiiiiiiiiish¡ª</em>

    Verus¡¯ body was engulfed by the light of Minhyuk¡¯s divine and holy sword, both halves slowly disappearing into nothingness.

    <em>Tap¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk, with his white hair,nded softly on the ground. He turned to look at his people and his guild members.

    At that moment, Genie remembered the urgent whisper that Minhyuk had sent earlier.

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: Genie, I will not be able to stay here for long. I will be sent back in ten minutes. So, hurry and gather all of the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ executives.]</em>

    Genie did not know what Minhyuk intended to do but she still carried out his request and gathered all of the best yers and members of Beyond the Heavens including Carr, Khan, Locke, Ares, Spear God Ben, Conir, God of Snakes Elizabeth and many more.

    Meanwhile, thementators gushed out in admiration as they watched Minhyuk turn to look at the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ citizens, troops and guild members.

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Food God Minhyuk has created another legend.]</em>

    <em>[This video of him leading tens of millions of pdins, priests and believers will most definitely be considered as the best video of the year.]</em>

    But that was not the end yet.

    <em>Swoosh¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk, whose white hair slowly bled out and returned to ck, walked towards his guild members.

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    Everyone watched in confusion as Minhyuk disappeared in a sh of light, together with the tens of millions of pdins, priests and believers. Although the Pope¡¯s Journey¡¯s Absolute Obedience and Subservience had not yet ended, they had already disappeared.

    But then, at that moment, a beautiful voice spread across the earth.

    <em>[A long time ago, greedy humans tried to build a temple to fight the gods.]</em>

    <em>[However, the temple that would be used to fight against the gods was notpleted. It disappeared forever, only to remain in the annals of history.]</em>

    <em>[Today, this temple has found its new owner.]</em>

    <em>[Temple Evangel, the temple in the legends and the myths, answers the call of its new owner.]</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    A pir of light shot down and rapidly formed a temple.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    The walls of the temple were pure white and lined with diamonds. It was huge and magnificent. And inside that temple, the gigantic statue of Food God Minhyuk was erected. At the same time, beautiful flowers and lush trees, as well as well-ced vines grew around the temple, giving the entire ce a more stylish feel. Finally, a door made of white wood appeared,pleting Temple Evangel.

    When the white doors opened, they saw Minhyuk sitting on the golden throne inside the temple. He was wearing a papal robe, and he looked at the executives and yers of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom standing beyond the doors of the temple with a soft smile on his face.

    <em>[Temple Evangel has revealed its full appearance!]</em>

    <em>[Minhyuk, the new owner of Temple Evangel, has triggered the temple¡¯s power!]</em>

    <em>[Your character is being controlled by the system.]</em>

    Then, the chosen ones that Genie had gathered walked inside the temple one after the other. They lined up in front of Minhyuk and knelt down to show their courtesy.

    <em>Crackle¡ª</em>

    <em>Crackle¡ª</em>

    <em>Crackle¡ª</em>

    White mes appeared and enveloped their bodies. To be exact, the white mes were creating white priestly robes that suited their bodies. On the back of those priestly robes was the symbol of the fork and knife, the mark that symbolized Food God Minhyuk.

    Then, Minhyuk stood up and slowly descended with the Sacred Papal Sword in his hands. He stopped in front of the kneeling Genie and gently ced the sword on her left shoulder.

    <em>[The lord of the Temple Evangel and the god that owns the Sacred Papal Sword is bestowing upon you his love and affection.]</em>

    Then, he lightly tapped the sword on Genie¡¯s right shoulder and the top of her head.

    <em>[You are now the first knight acknowledged by the lord of Temple Evangel.]</em>

    <em>[All of your skills and stats will change!]</em>

    The power of the legendary temple, Temple Evangel, was the power of ¡®buff¡¯.

 Chapter 692: The God of Death and the Hell Corps

    Chapter 692: The God of Death and the Hell Corps

    Why did Pope Kronad want to construct the mythical temple Evangel to fight against the gods?

    If one pondered about it deeply, they would find it strange. One would think that they would have opted to create a powerful weapon, or a strong skill if they wanted to fight against the gods. However, Pope Kronad, the pdins, saintesses and priests that joined him in his cause all decided to create the Temple Evangel.

    The answer to that question was very simple. The one that obtained Evangel would seize its powers. On top of that, the defense of Evangel was at a level that only few could break. That was not all. Evangel would be able to give its owner several special privileges that were very in line with its moniker, <em>¡®mythical temple¡¯</em>.

    However, even those reasons were not what spurred Pope Kronad and the rest of the people to awaken and create Temple Evangel.

    <em>¡®The knight acknowledged by the owner of Evangel.¡¯</em>

    ording to different ounts regarding Evangel, once the temple waspleted and found its rightful owner, the owner would be given the right to appoint ten people that would be Evangel¡¯s Knights. ording to those same records, the people appointed as knights of Evangel would gain a tremendous boost in power for a certain period of time.

    Back then, not many humans had the power to cut down the gods. That was why Pope Kronad did his best to create Temple Evangel. He wanted to obtain the power that would allow others to cut down gods.

    <em>[You are now the first knight acknowledged by the lord of Temple Evangel.]</em>

    <em>[All of your skills and stats will change!]</em>

    Genie¡¯s hair and eye color turned white, matching perfectly with her fair and radiant skin. Then, a bright light burst out of her body.

    <em>[Your HP and MP have increased by 50%!]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 39%!]</em>

    <em>[Your whip¡¯s striking power has increased by 60%!]</em>

    <em>[Your whip¡¯s skill damage has increased by 50%!]</em>

    <em>[You have received Evangel¡¯s Blessings. Attack and defense will increase by 40% when facing evil beings.]</em>

    <em>[The buff willst for one whole day.]</em>

    Pope Kronad had been disappointed back when they were almost finished with the construction of Temple Evangel. There was not much synergistic effect. Simply put, it failed to live up to their expectations.

    However, Kronad thought, <em>¡®Temple Evangel is a temple made to counter evil.¡¯</em>

    Evangel had the buff effect that would increase one¡¯s attack and defense by 40% against evil beings. It would also grant various buff effects on the acknowledged knight. For evil beings, Evangel was practically torture.

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    It was very loud outside Evangel as the Hell Corps and the demonic beasts surrounded the temple that suddenly made its appearance.

    Minhyuk nodded quietly at Genie, who was looking at him with a firm and determined expression on her face. He slowly approached the next knight as the bright halo of light continued to expand from Genie¡¯s body.

    And who was the second knight? It was none other than ¡®Spear God Ben¡¯.

    ***

    Rex could not hide the shock on his face.

    <em>¡®Evangel¡­? What in the world is Evangel?¡¯</em>

    Of course, he could tell what Evangel was like through the notifications that resounded all over the world. However, no matter how hard he pondered over it, he could not figure out what kind of power it held. The only thing that he could see through the wide open doors of the temple was Minhyuk appointing his vassals as knights.

    However, there was one thing that Rex was certain about. He had to destroy this temple called Evangel before it could exert its full power.

    <em>[Food God Minhyuk is holding a ceremony and appointing his vassals and guild members as knights inside the mythical temple, Evangel.]</em>

    <em>[I don¡¯t know why he is taking the time to appoint them as knights under the current situation. However, it seems like the Hell Corps and the demonic beasts cannot enter the temple even though its doors are wide open.]</em>

    <em>[If they¡¯re just aiming for a fancy and glorious performance, then they have already seeded! The appearance of Evangel was so wonderful. I¡¯m sure I will never forget this scene.]</em>

    Thementators and viewers could not help but feel anxious as they watched the Hell Corps and demonic beasts slowly start to surround Evangel. Then, Genie slowly walked out of the doors of Evangel.

    Everyone watched as a bombardment of attack greeted her the moment she stepped out. They were fully aware that the Level 500 Hell Warriors were very difficult to deal with, even if a few of the members of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom teamed up.

    In just a sh, Genie, who was wearing the white priestly robes with her long white hair fluttering behind her, disappeared from sight. When they saw her again, she had already cracked her whip out.

    <em>¡®Stupid¡­! There are so many enemies yet you dared toe out alone!¡¯ </em>Rex thought, a wicked grin spreading widely.

    Genie was one of the main pirs of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Once they killed her, their morale would drop drastically. The Hell¡¯s Warriors immediately charged forward to kill her.

    But then, her whip drew a beautiful arc as she struck the approaching Hell¡¯s Warriors.

    <em>Crackle, crackle, crackle¡ª</em>

    A single strike of her whip released zing white mes that turned the Hell¡¯s Warriors into ashes.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    <em>[¡­!]</em>

    <em>[..!]</em>

    Just like that, Genie rushed toward the enemies.

    <em>Shwaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>Craaaack¡ª</em>

    <em>Fwooooooosh¡ª</em>

    Her whip danced around, burning the Hell¡¯s Warriors into ashes while the numbers slowly diminished in front of her.

    <em>[Exploding Whip]</em>

    <em>[There¡¯s a 23% chance of your whip exploding and incurring 2,600% additional damage to everything within a fifteen meter radius.]</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    A huge explosion apanied by zing white mes swept the surrounding area. In just one minute, Genie was able to kill around 300 enemies.

    <em>¡®This is crazy¡­!¡¯</em>

    That was not the end of the enemy¡¯s problems. Spear God Ben appeared right after Genie.

    Spear God Ben was someone that had blocked countless enemies and even killed the strongest of their opponents. Because of that, Rex had decided to quickly exhaust him of his physical strength. He even forced the duration of his ¡®God Piercing Spear¡¯ to end so that he would be much weaker than before.

    ¡°Absolute Pinnacle Spear.¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    A rain of spears fell down right in front of Spear God Ben, whose long white hair fluttered behind him, and swept away the enemies around him.

    Just like that, the appointed knights of Evangel walked out of the temple one after the other.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    ¡°Quick Draw.¡±

    A powerful force stretched out from Carr¡¯s sword and devoured all of the Hell Corps and demonic beasts in an area of fifty meter radius. In front of Carr¡¯s sword, the Level 550 beings from Hell also burned to ashes. Lesser Demon Elpis and God of Snakes Elizabeth stepped out right after Carr.

    Each time a knight appeared, the tides of war were pushed even further in their favor. No matter how many ants there were, they would not be able to win against an elephant. This was what was happening right now.

    Thementators and the viewers could not keep their mouth shut at the shocking spectacle that was unfolding in front of them.

    <em>[Crazy¡­]</em>

    <em>[If you look at the camera stationed above the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, you will see them. They are the only source of light amidst the dark sea of Hell Corps and demonic beasts.]</em>

    <em>[The ¡®white mes¡¯ effect that appears whenever they wield their weapons or use their magic has be the light that shines through the darkness.]</em>

    Temple Evangel slowly started to fade away after all ten of the knights had been appointed. Minhyuk hurriedly sent a whisper to Genie.

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: Genie, I¡¯ll be right back. Please hang in there a bit more.]</em>

    <em>¡®No matter how strong they could get from the buff that they received from Temple Evangel¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk could tell that Rex could bring in several more powerful beings here. That was why he knew that this was nothing but a stopgap. Just like that, Temple Evangel disappeared in a sh of light.

    Meanwhile, Rex was listening to the notifications that were constantly ringing in his ears.

    <em>[The God of Death loathes you, who has lost more than half of his Hell Corps and demonic beasts.]</em>

    <em>[If you lose in this war, all of your stats will receive a -50 penalty.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Story is receiving harsh criticism and rebuke from the God of Death.]</em>

    <em>[If you lose in this war, there¡¯s a chance that you will lose your qualifications as the God of Story!]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Rex¡¯s expression turned ugly at the notifications. However, a wide grin appeared in his face not long after.

    <em>¡®The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom has received the admiration and praise of everyone because they were able to ovee the hardships and adversities that were thrown their way every time.¡¯</em>

    That was right. They had been able to ovee those hardships and adversities. But that was it. Rex was very confident that he would gain victory here. After all, he was banking on the countless notifications that were now floating in front of him through his notification window.

    <em>[<strong>Current Contribution</strong>: 3,313,624.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Corrupted God</strong>: 700,000 contributions. Can be summoned.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>God of Snakes</strong>: 600,000 contributions. Can be summoned.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>First Spear God Eres</strong>: 300,000 contributions. Can be summoned.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>First God of Magic Veleo</strong>: 300,000 contributions. Can be summoned.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>First Sword God Abkah</strong>: 300,000 contributions. Can be summoned.]</em>

    As long as they had died, whether they were mythical beings or not, Rex could summon them with his contributions. That was why he was waiting. He was waiting for thatst being to be avable to him.

    <em>¡®I will summon them all at once and wipe you all out.¡¯</em>

    He was sure that he would be at the center of the spotlight once that happened. That thought alone brought a deep smile on Rex¡¯s face.

    At the same time.

    Minhyuk, who had returned to the Papal Wall, was fully aware of what was going on in Rex¡¯s head.

    <em>¡®He can summon the Corrupted God or the God of Snakes with the contributions that he had gathered. However, he¡¯s holding back on the summons.¡¯</em>

    He knew that Rex intended to summon all of them at once so that he could wipe them all out in one go. In a way, that was the perfect n. After all, there was a risk that they would be destroyed if he summoned them one by one.

    However, right now, Minhyuk had a very powerful ally by his side.

    ¡°We can go back there now. And just like I promised you before, I will lend you my power once.¡±

    Pope Kronad was someone at Level 900. However, after summoning the Sacred Papal Sword and awakening Obren, his level had decreased to Level 750. Nevertheless, he was still powerful. So was the army behind him that was riding on the white pegasi¡¯s backs.

    The army wasposed of the strongest pdins, popes, saintesses, and priests. If Minhyuk was on the other end of their spears, he would have no other choice but to groan in despair at the sight of them.

    <em>¡®They look so freaking cool¡­¡¯</em>

    It was quite a sight to see countless people wearing white priestly robes and faded full te armor on their bodies while riding on the back of the legendary monster, pegasus.

    <em>[¡­Hey. Are you going without me?]</em>

    At that moment, a very wee voice rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears, bringing a smile to his face.

    <em>Crackle, crackle, crackle¡ª</em>

    At the same time, the color red began to bleed in the sky, turning the surroundings dark. The scene shocked Kronad, the pdins and the priests. Then, an Evil God¡¯s Book covered with an eerie ck light appeared in the sky above them. This was none other than the ¡®Evil God¡¯s Army¡¯, one of the Eight Evil God¡¯s Books.

    Beings wearing ck armor and riding on top of vicious ferocious war horses called ¡®Evil God¡¯s Ghostly Horse¡¯ marched out from within the book.

    <em>[Evil God¡¯s Knight. Level 631.]</em>

    <em>[Evil God¡¯s Ghostly Horse. Level 540.]</em>

    <em>¡®The Awakened Obren will only be able to exert the true power of the Evil God for one day.¡¯</em> This was the notification that he heard as he watched the countless number of Evil God¡¯s Army march out of the book in awe. Their number was roughly the same as the number of the pdins and priests.

    Minhyuk stood in the middle, with Pope Kronad and the absolute beings wielding holy power standing on his right, while the Evil God¡¯s Army stood on his left. But that was not the end. The seasoning jar, covered with a bright light, appeared in front of him.

    <em>Bathump, bathump, bathump¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk felt his heart thump wildly in his chest.

    His dear friend Obren, who chose to sleep forever for his sake, and Minhyuk, who did his best to awaken him, finally met face to face.

    Obren¡¯s figure, which he had only seen through the video, slowly walked out of the space that was created by the seasoning jar.

    <em>[Evil God Obren has awakened.]</em>

    <em>[Evil God Obren has given you all of his trust.]</em>

    <em>[Evil God Obren cares about you with all his being.]</em>

    <em>[Evil God Obren loves and cherishes you with all of his heart.]</em>

    <em>[Evil God Obren wants to live for you.]</em>

    Obren was a sad and pitiful young man in Minhyuk¡¯s memories. He was someone thatughed and cried alone, living a life of solitude while he continued to read his book. Then, he met the man named Kronad, who ended up betraying him and his trust. Obren was someone that had lived in the dark for a very long time.

    Evil God Obren was looking at Minhyuk sadly.

    <em>[Evil God Obren has ughtered billions of people!]</em>

    <em>[With Evil God Obren by your side, you will receive countless criticism and hate from the other gods!]</em>

    <em>[With Evil God Obren by your side, you will face countless hardships and obstacles!]</em>

    Obren looked at Minhyuk with a sad smile on his face. Then, he asked, ¡°¡­Do I¡­ Do I even deserve to stay by your side?¡±

    Obren was described as the devil that had ughtered billions. However, Minhyuk looked at him with a bright smile on his face and said, ¡°Stay by my side forever, Obren.¡±

    Only after hearing those words did a bright and pure smile adorn Obren¡¯s face. The smile was the most beautiful and wonderful smile that Minhyuk had seen on him, a smile that he never saw once in that video.

    Kronad, who watched the scene, shivered. <em>¡®The god of the new world and the Evil God of the past will create a new legend together¡­¡¯</em>

 Chapter 693: The God of Death and the Hell Corps

    Chapter 693: The God of Death and the Hell Corps

    shes of light would asionally appear amidst the dark sea of Hell Corps. With every sh of their des and cast of their skills, the appointed knights of Evangel would burn hundreds of their enemies and turn them into ashes.

    Evangel did not just grant them a simple buff effect. The appointed knights of Evangel also heard these notifications in their ears:

    <em>[The warm sacred power of the Temple Evangel flows in you.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 11%!]</em>

    <em>[The sacred and holy power melts away the fear settling in your bones and instills in you a great sense of bravery.]</em>

    <em>[Your Holy Power has increased. When facing evil beings, all of your attack and defense will increase by 15%.]</em>

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    The soldiers of Beyond the Heavens shivered. Their king, Minhyuk, went on a Pope¡¯s Journey and defeated countless evil beings for them. Even the executives of Beyond the Heavens that were appointed as Evangel¡¯s Knights were driving out the evil and wicked beings away.

    Meanwhile, the executives all felt like they were flying, with how powerful they were.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    Carr brandished his sword once and he was able to cut down five Hell Corps soldiers in one go.

    <em>¡®This is apletely ridiculous power.¡¯</em>

    Any yer would feel delight at the fact that they could kill an existence that they could not even think of hunting before. However, what they were experiencing was not just at that level.

    All of their skills and stats had received a tremendous increase. On top of that, they had also received an increase in attack and defense when fighting against evil beings. It was more apt to say that the enemies would melt and disappear into nothingness with a single swing from Carr¡¯s sword.

    <em>¡®Right. At this rate, we might really be able to pull through this situation¡­!¡¯</em>

    Carr even entertained the thought of wiping out therge army that was targeting them.

    <em>[God of Snakes¡¯ Elizabeth¡¯s First Child.]</em>

    <em>[Marquess Leona has awakened to the world.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk had fought against Elizabeth¡¯s child, Marquess Leona, with the Masserati Guild in the Stars¡¯ Path in the past. But now, she made another appearance.

    <em>[Snakes¡¯ Fetters have been triggered!]</em>

    <em>[All of your skills will be temporarily unavable.]</em>

    <em>[All of your parchments and potions will be temporarily unavable.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Carr lookedpletely confused. He then turned to look at Elizabeth. Elizabeth was one of the Six Monster Gods. She had lost all of her memories and abandoned her past, bing a strong ally and friend of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    For a moment, Carr wondered if she could nullify the condition that they were in. Just when the thought shed in his head, Marquess Leona made eye contact with the soldiers of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    ¡°Die.¡±

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    Thousands of Beyond the Heavens¡¯ soldiers turned into stone.

    <em>¡®What the hell is Elizabeth doing?¡¯</em>

    Carr caught himself thinking, shocked by the thought in his head. Elizabeth was also currently fighting in the vanguard. She had also received many buff effects like them and had been demonstrating her power to free her allies and soldiers from the abnormal conditions that they were being subjected to.

    Then¡­

    <em>[A sealed monster has awakened to the world!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[Danger!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[Danger!]</em>

    <em>[God of Snakes¡¯ Elizabeth has made her appearance!]</em>

    <em>[The one that will be able to hunt God of Snakes Elizabeth will be able to get rewards.]</em>

    Elizabeth, who was existing with them right now, and the Elizabeth that they have killed in the past could be said to be two different beings. God of Snakes Elizabeth had been summoned two kilometers away from Carr.

    <em>[God of Snakes¡¯ Curse.]</em>

    Green poison exploded from within Elizabeth¡¯s body and enveloped the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ troops. The soldiers began to melt and disappear the moment the poison touched their bodies.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    In just an instant, more than 10,000 soldiers of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had perished. Carr could not help but gulp dryly. Unfortunately, their dilemma was not yet over.

    <em>[The Corrupted God has made her appearance!]</em>

    <em>[The one that will be able to hunt the Corrupted God will be able to get rewards.]</em>

    <em>[The Corrupted God is a being that not even the Great Demon could treat recklessly!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[Danger!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[Danger!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[Danger¡­!]</em>

    <em>[A great existence that epasses the entire world is descending!]</em>

    <em>Twitch, twitch¡ª</em>

    Everyone from the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom felt fear run down their spines. Their legs were shaking so bad that it made it hard for them to stand properly.

    The Corrupted God wasughing with that piranha-like set of teeth of hers glinting sharply, a stark contrast to her beautiful appearance.

    ¡°Heehee?¡±

    Thousands of books rise in the sky above them. On the book were the names of countless soldiers of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Then, she struck the books with the axe in her hand.

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    Red blood exploded from the books as the hearts of the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ soldiers caved in and exploded.

    ¡°¡­Ah?¡±

    Carr was just reveling in the feeling of immense strength earlier, but now, his thoughts turned in another direction.

    <em>¡®What the hell is this¡­?¡¯</em>

    Carr was the official number one yer in Korea. He had also been appointed as Evangel¡¯s Knight and had received a tremendous boost in his power. However, the enemies that appeared in front of him were far too strong.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    Thousands of Beyond the Heavens soldiers began to turn into stones once again.

    ¡°Please die.¡±

    The poison from Leona and God of Snakes Elizabeth were easily killing their soldiers. The soldiers did not even have the time to scream as their bodies melted away, blood dripping down their orifices. There was also the Corrupted God cackling by herself while striking the books in her hand and using them to send lightning bolts and other attacks that devastated their forces.

    ¡°Ahihihihihihi! Die! Die! Die!¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Euaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°All of you, die.¡±

    ¡°Keheooooook!¡±

    ¡°Urrrrk¡­!¡±

    ¡°Die.¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keheooooook!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Everything in front of Carr was suddenly in slow motion. He, along with the other nine people that had grown stronger, tried to stop the onught of their attacks, but none of it worked.

    ¡°Ugh!¡± Spear God Ben groaned, a mouthful of blood dripping down his chin as he received a fatal injury from the Corrupted God.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡± Khan screamed, his arm bending at an unusual angle as the Corrupted God bent the arm of the doll named ¡®Khan¡¯ in her hands.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    As for Golden Mage Ali, he had received restrictions from God of Snakes Elizabeth and could no longer use his magic.

    Carr¡¯s grip on his sword loosened.

    ¡°Minhyuk¡­¡± he unconsciously called out Minhyuk¡¯s name as he looked at the outer walls of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    <em>¡®Will we be able to endure until youe back?¡¯</em>

    He could not help but doubt if they could stop them here.

    ***

    ¡°Retreat!!!¡±

    ¡°Retreat!!! Retreat!!! Get back!!!¡±

    ¡°Retreat at your fastest speed!!!¡±

    The soldiers of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom rushed back inside the confines of the now-copsed outer walls. Their casualties were at least 300,000. The kingdom was filled with the anguished cries of the people.

    Genie gave an order to Park, ¡°Park. Use the underground passage to take our people and the soldiers out of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom right this instant.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Park¡¯s pupils trembled fiercely as he looked at Genie and the executives of the kingdom that had gathered around her. There were only around 2,000 of them and they were mostly made out of yers with Elpis, Gorfido, Connir, Aruvel and Spear God Ben in the mix.

    Park could not bring himself to speak. The number of their people and soldiers alone had reached a million. Right now, she was telling them to abandon their kingdom.

    ¡°¡­I have received your orders.¡±

    In the end, Park conceded, his lips bleeding from how hard he bit them as he bowed down. Then, he hurriedly rushed to give his orders to the people and the soldiers.

    ¡°Your Majestyyyy!!!¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty Minhyuk!!!¡±

    ¡°Absolutely not! How can you tell us to abandon Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?!¡±

    The cries of the people echoed in their ears. However, Genie still tried to show a smile to them. Then, she turned to the people that stood by her and asked, ¡°Do you have any regrets?¡±

    ¡°None.¡±

    ¡°There is none!!!¡±

    There were plenty of powerful rankers among them. Many world rankers had knocked on the doors of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and joined their ranks, bing the kingdom¡¯s pir. None of them regretted their choice.

    There was also Ben, Elpis, Gorfido and the other NPCs. Genie was aware that none of them would listen to her.

    ¡°Elizabeth.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Create a shield.¡±

    ¡°I understand, Unnie.¡±

    Elizabeth was also one of the appointed knights of Evangel. She might be a lot weaker than her original appearance, however, the buff effect that Evangel bestowed upon her allowed her to ce a thick barrier all over their territory.

    <em>[God of Snakes¡¯ Shield.]</em>

    <em>[A huge and invincible shield will be erected. This shield will not easily be broken by anyone.]</em>

    A bloody red barrier unfurled and enveloped the entire Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. The God of Snakes¡¯ Shield was supposed to be imprable to any and all existence. However, the problem was that the enemies could easily ignore the ¡®any and all existence¡¯ part.

    Genie might look calm on the outside but she was just pretending. Everyone could see how badly her body was shaking. The small girl held her hand after seeing her release a shaky breath.

    ¡°Unnie,¡± Elizabeth called out, shing her a bitter and helpless smile.

    Genie could only respond with a small smile of her own. They were yers so they would still be able toe back to life. However, these people here would not.

    <em>¡®Minhyuk. We¡¯ll try our best to save them somehow.¡¯</em>

    Genie had always thought of ways to protect the reckless and stubborn NPCs of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. With Haze¡¯s help, she had been able to find out about one artifact.

    The artifact was the ¡®Forced Summoner¡¯s Room¡¯s Ring¡¯. It was an artifact that could force any vassal or NPC to enter the summoning room the moment they were ced in danger. Genie wanted to give this ring to Minhyuk. Only then would these NPCs live.

    ¡°Hihihihi¡­¡± The Corrupted God giggled as she summoned thousands of books in the sky above them.

    Rex¡¯s summoned God of Snakes Elizabeth red at the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, while Leona looked at them as if she wanted to destroy them right away.

    In front of the gods that Rex had summoned, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom seemed to be nothing but a trifling existence, as all of them prepared to attack the barrier.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    At that moment, Genie received a notification.

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: Genie. Retract the order to retreat right away.]</em>

    ***

    In a pub somewhere in Itaewon, Seoul.

    There was arge TV set up inside the pub where plenty of people gathered to watch whenever interesting things happened in Athenae. All of the customersmented as they watched the scene on the TV.

    ¡°Is this the end of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?¡±

    ¡°The Corrupted God, the God of Snakes, Leona. There¡¯s still the remaining 1.5 million-strong Hell Corps. There¡¯s no way that they will be able to stop this.¡±

    ¡°This is a bnce breaker, no? There¡¯s no way that someone will be able to stop that.¡±

    The people voiced their bitterness as they downed their beers. Among them was a woman, who was leisurely ordering her own beer. Another woman, Han So-Won, who was sitting facing the first, could not take her eyes off of the television.

    The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was both a role model and the object of everyone¡¯s envy. It was a very sad thing to witness the destruction of such a wonderful kingdom.

    <em>Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp¡ª</em>

    ¡°Kyaaaa! The beer tastes very delicious today!¡± So-Won¡¯s friend gulped down her cold and refreshing draft beer and shouted in admiration.

    So-Won looked at her friend incredulously. ¡°Aren¡¯t you yer Minhyuk¡¯s fan? This b*tch, the Beyond the Heavens will be destroyed today, yet you¡¯re acting like that. Weren¡¯t you the one that kept on praising him every single day?¡±

    The woman, who drank her beer and chomped on a chicken leg, was none other than Lee Minhwa. She looked at her friend calmly and said, ¡°Well? Do you know why I¡¯m here? And why am I so calm despite all of this?¡±

    Han So-Won¡¯s confusion grew at the question.

    <em>¡®She¡¯s right, shouldn¡¯t Joy Co. Ltd. be in a state of emergency right now? Then, why is Lee Minhwa here?¡¯</em>

    ¡°Let me tell you this.¡± Lee Minhwa lifted her beer pint and said, ¡°My dear Team Leader has told me to get off work. I have been working overtime these past few days. So, my Team Leader told me that while I¡¯m drinking beer and eating chicken to¡­¡±

    Lee Minhwa looked around. She saw that everyone around her were sporting tense and nervous expressions on their faces as they waited for the imminent destruction of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    Meanwhile, on the TV.

    <em>[The God of Snakes¡¯ Elizabeth, the Corrupted God, the Marquess Leona, the First Spear God, the First Sword God, and even the First God of Magic!]</em>

    <em>[All of them are preparing for a full-on attack toward the bloody red barrier!]</em>

    <em>[The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom will surely be erased from the map once they release their full-on attack!]</em>

    <em>[As we speak, the full-on attacks of the several gods are now flying toward the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!]</em>

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    <em>Creak, creak, creak, creak¡ª</em>

    The sound of chairs screeching and copsing rang loudly inside the pub as the scene on the TV showed the enemies shooting a powerful force toward the red barrier that protected the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    <em>Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp¡ª</em>

    Lee Minhwa, who gulped down her beer once again, looked at Han So-Won again and finally finished her words earlier. ¡°¡­not miss out on the fun. He told me to make sure that I watch how the enemies, those absolute beings, get ughtered once again. After all, it¡¯s a sight that will not be easy toe by.¡±

    <em>Beeeeeeeeeeeeeep¡ª</em>

    <em>Beeeeeeeeeeeeeep¡ª</em>

    Then, at that moment, the scene on the screen turnedpletely white as a loud and grating beep rang in the ears of everyone present.

    ¡°What, what the hell?!¡±

    ¡°What in the world is happening?!¡±

    ¡°What about the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom??? The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!!!¡±

    So-Won looked at Minhwa in confusion before turning back to the white screen of the TV. Then, the whiteness slowly bled out and disappeared.

    ¡°What the hell is that¡­¡±

    As whiteness recede and the scene of the battlefield appeared in front of them again, they saw that the attacks from the God of Snakes¡¯ Elizabeth, the Corrupted God, the Marquess Leona, the First Spear God, the First Sword God, and the First God of Magic were all gone.

    In front of the dpidated and copsed walls of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, covered with the bloody-red barrier, stood three men.

    The man standing in the middle was riding on the back of a gigantic cow. By his side was a very beautiful man with dark hair, a nonchnt look on his face as he red at the enemies in front of them. This man was riding on top of a very hideous and ferocious looking horse.

    <em>Snap¡ª</em>

    The moment the beautiful man snapped his fingers, five million books appeared in the sky above them, all of them aiming at the Corrupted God.

    <em>[The Corrupted God is mine. I¡¯ll only kill around 600,000 enemies. Kronad, don¡¯t you dare think of crossing this line over here.]</em>

    The beautiful man with ck hair looked to the other side at a white-haired man. Although the white-haired man was already old, he was still very handsome and dignified. The old man wore a white papal robe and rode on the back of a pegasus. He raised the sword in his hands and pointed it to the other half of the Hell Corps, effectively creating a line that divided both sides.

    <em>[Then, I¡¯ll kill around 700,000. Obren, you should be the one that should not think of crossing this line.]</em>

    The two men looked at the man riding on top of the cow.

    <em>[What about you?]</em>

    <em>[And you?]</em>

    The man riding on top of the gigantic cow was wearing a white papal robe, a gold sword hanging on his waist. The man¡¯s ck and dark eyes were a stark contrast to his fair skin and white hair. Then, the man opened his mouth.

    <em>[Me? I¡¯ll kill them all.]</em>

    The two other men nodded in agreement.

    <em>[That¡¯s neat.]</em>

    <em>[Not bad.]</em>

    The man riding on top of the cow nced at the soldiers of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and showed them a kind and soft smile. However, his expression had turned aplete 180 the moment he looked at the enemies. He red at them as he opened his mouth.

    ***

    Before the man could say the words on the screen, Employee Lee Minhwa had already beaten him to the punch. ¡°Wipe them out.¡±

 Chapter 694: The God of Death and the Hell Corps

    Chapter 694: The God of Death and the Hell Corps

    Silence engulfed the entire area.

    God of Snakes Elizabeth, one of the Six Monster Gods, might be considered as the weakest among them, but she was still an existence that could make even the Absolute Gods tremble. It was not just her, there was also the Corrupted God and the Marquess of Snakes Leona, as well as the Level 450~530 Hell Corps.

    Anyone would most definitely be shaking in their boots if they saw this lineup. And yet, the words of the trio that just showed up shocked everyone watching.

    <em>[¡­They¡¯re lying, right? That man riding on top of the ck ghostly horse said that he would kill 600,000 of the enemies?]</em>

    <em>[What about that old man with white hair that¡¯s dressed in a white papal robe? I heard him say that he should not cross the line.]</em>

    Thementators were in disbelief, their voice shaking. The person in the middle that appeared was none other than the king of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. They had to wonder if Minhyuk was the type of person to bring liars with him.

    At the same time, in the office of Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s Story Team.

    The Story Team Leader felt both flustered and embarrassed when he saw the words ¡®warning¡¯ and ¡®error¡¯ pop out of the monitor.

    <em>¡®Crazy¡­!¡¯</em>

    Team Leader Park Minggyu, who was in the Story Team¡¯s office to eat chicken, looked at him suspiciously. ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±

    ¡°You know that Obren and Kronad are both talents that are a part of the Eight Pirs and can rule and control the world with their appearance alone, right?¡±

    ¡°Of course, I know.¡±

    ¡°The fact that they appeared at the same time¡­ you know what effects would appear when the two of them made an appearance like that, right?¡±

    ¡°I know that too.¡±

    It was just like how the effect would be different when a boss monster appearedpared to an ordinary mob. For the appearance of boss monsters, various notifications would ring in the head of the yers present, and even the surroundings would change. For beings at the level of Kronad and Obren, there would be world messages that would announce their appearance. And right now, both of them had made an appearance.

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[The Eight Pirs of the Athenae Worldview have appeared at the same time. The system has temporarily experienced a failure.]</em>

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[¡­Athenae Worldview¡­]</em>

    <em>[The system has begun to search for a new direction!]</em>

    All of theputers inside the Joy Co. Ltd. were connected to Supeputer Athenae. This was so they could immediately create a story in Athenae if the need arose.

    Meanwhile, the viewers were scoffing at the three men that stood in front of the millions of enemies.

    <em>[Are you kidding me? Why did the Food God bring two old chuunis?]</em>

    <em>[I think they¡¯re NPCs. If they¡¯re talking arrogantly like that, then they should be big shots, right? Then, shouldn¡¯t we receive notifications by now? If there are no notifications then they must be nothing but liars. Tch]</em>

    That was right. The viewers would often judge how strong or powerful an NPC was based on the notifications that they heard. However, neither the man with ck hair nor the man with white hair trigger any notification.

    In other words, while the system was busy trying to find a new direction, these people believed that Minhyuk the men that Minhyuk brought with him were just low-leveled liars.

    <em>Rumbleeeeeee¡ª</em>

    At that moment, the sky suddenly turned dark. It was not just the sky above the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, or the Asgan Continent. The entire world had turned dark by this sudden phenomenon.

    <em>Rumbleeeeeee¡ª</em>

    The ground shook fiercely as the animals roared and screamed, trying their best to flee from something unknown. There were even tens of thousands of birds pping their wings as hard as they could and flying away. Then, the man with ck hair riding on the ck ghostly horse made a move. This man was none other than Obren.

    <em>[He is Evil.]</em>

    A voice, so creepy and hoarse like that of a devil, resounded in the area. It was so creepy that everyone that listened to it felt goosebumps rising on their skin.

    <em>[He dyed the ground red with the blood of hundreds of millions of humans.]</em>

    Tens of thousands of ck books floated in the sky where Obren was looking at.

    <em>[Someone who even the gods are afraid of has appeared here.]</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    ck lightning bolt fell from the sky and fell down upon 200,000 Hell Corps.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The ck lightning that fell thousands of times per second was like disaster incarnate.

    <em>[The ones that survive, remember his name. His name is Evil God Obren.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Actually, Evil God Obren had only made an appearance using Minhyuk¡¯s body in the past. That was why the viewers and thementators did not know what Obren truly looked like.

    However, that was not the end. Gigantic pirs of light began to pour down from the sky. The huge light expanded until it covered half of the sky and created a huge contrast from the lingering darkness in the sky. Everywhere the light passed by, the withered flowers would bloom and the agitated animals would cry in relief.

    <em>[He is Virtuous.]</em>

    This time, the kind and gentle voice of a woman, a voice that warmed the hearts of many, rang in the area.

    <em>[He, who gave off the same warmth as a gentle mother¡¯s embrace, epted and embraced many, bing the king of the popes.]</em>

    Then, the white-haired old man wearing the white papal robe stepped forward and brandished his sword, creating tens of thousands of swords made of light in the sky that immediately fell down on the ground.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The falling swords of light destroyed hundreds of thousands of demonic beasts and Hell Corps.

    The viewers andmentators were plunged into a state of disbelief as they watched the Hell Corps and demonic beasts disappear just like that. Then, the voice of the kind and gentle woman rang again.

    <em>[The ones that lived a hard life, remember the name of the person that has embraced and acknowledged your existence. His name is First Pope Kronad.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    <em>[¡­!]</em>

    Then, it came to the man standing in between them. He was neither as strong, as great or as outstanding as Evil God Obren or First Pope Kronad. But at this moment, the creepy, devilish voice and the kind, gentle voice that sounded as warm as a mother¡¯s voice rang together.

    <em>[He is a mere human being.]</em>

    <em>[Born from an ordinary mother and an ordinary father.]</em>

    Minhyuk turned to look behind him to see the retreating soldiers of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom return. All of the people that abandoned the kingdom at Genie¡¯s orders returned. They all looked at their king and listened to his voice.

    <em>[He is but a normal human being. However, one day, he became king.]</em>

    <em>[He is but a normal human being. However, one day, he became god.]</em>

    <em>[Yes, indeed. He was just an ordinary human being.]</em>

    ¡°Your Majesty Minhyuuuuuuuuuuk!¡±

    ¡°Your Majeeeeeeeesty!!!¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty, congrattions on your safe return!!!¡±

    Behind Minhyuk stood hundreds of thousands of Beyond the Heavens¡¯ soldiers. All of them stood tall, their expressions determined and firm as their morale rose to the sky.

    <em>[He is but a normal human being. However, he had received the love and admiration of many.]</em>

    The sword in Minhyuk¡¯s hands glittered. This was the passive skill: ¡®Pope¡¯s Dignity¡¯ that was attached to the Sacred Papal Sword. At the same time, the power to increase all of his skill level by +4 that was included in the Pope¡¯s Dignity finally appeared.

    <em>sh¡ª!</em>

    The moment Minhyuk brandished the sword in his hands, a bright light shed and killed hundreds of demonic beasts and Hell Corps. The entire world watched in admiration as hundreds of Hell Corps and demonic beasts disappeared with every swing of his sword. Then, he rode on top of Hanwoo, who immediately charged forward. Behind him the powerful troops of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom ran forward with their weapons in hand.

    Then, the space behind Obren and Kronad suddenly tore apart. Behind the terrifying Evil God Obren, thousands of his followers on top of ghostly horses rode out. Behind Pope Kronad, thousands of pdins, priests, popes and saintesses riding on top of the pegasi charged out.

    All of them charged forward and began to ughter the ck sea made up of demonic beasts and Hell Corps. With every swing of the sword of the pdin, hundreds of demonic beasts and Hell Corps would die. Everywhere the followers of the Evil God passed by, the enemies¡¯ body would be torn to shreds and be unrecognizable.

    On the left was Obren and on the right was Kronad. As for Minhyuk? He ran in the middle under the protection of both of them. The charging Kronad stabbed God of Snakes Elizabeth, who tried to block Minhyuk¡¯s path, with dozens of swords made of light.

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaaack!¡± She shrieked as countless ck lightning fell from above her.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Minhyuk immediately used ¡®Sword of Absolute Death¡¯.

    <em>Boooooooooom¡ª</em>

    A powerful force pierced through Elizabeth¡¯s body. However, it did not end there. Hundreds of sword lights appeared and cut through her thick and sturdy body.

    ¡°Kyahaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    <em>[You have killed the God of Snakes Elizabeth!]</em>

    Just like that, God of Snakes Elizabeth disappeared without being able to do anything. Marquess Leona immediately jumped in their path and tried to stop them. However, the book that Obren had summoned fluttered open before turning into a ck spear that pierced through her neck. Kronad, who was behind her, also shed her body horizontally. Minhyuk joined in and cut her from her head down to her toe.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª!</em>

    <em>[You have killed the Marquess of Snakes Leona!]</em>

    The ck Evil God¡¯s Army, the white Kronad¡¯s Army, and Minhyuk with his Beyond the Heavens Kingdom in the center, continued to advance amidst the constant notifications that rang in their ears. The scene was more than worthy of everyone¡¯ admiration.

    Only ten minutes had passed. However, in that short amount of time, Obren and Kronad had already disyed their power by killing more than 1.5 million Hell Corps.

    Obren was allowed to use his original strength once after being unsealed. His level right now was over 1,000. As for Kronad, he was currently at around Level 700 since his level got reduced after summoning the Sacred Papal Sword. However, he was able to exert power that was on par with Obren, because his power would increase when fighting against evil beings.

    <em>¡®This is impossible¡­¡¯</em>

    The main culprits of this situation were speechless as they watched the Hell Corps get wiped out, as if a tsunami had passed through them. It was apletely impossible scenario for a yer to achieve, which was why they were in disbelief.

    However, there was one man that was very thrilled to see this scene. This man was none other than PD Kim Dageuk, whose palms were clenched tightly into fists.

    <em>[<strong>Director</strong>: PD Kim, our viewership ratings have exceeded 55% right now!!!]</em>

    Minhyuk, a mere human being that became a king and a god, was now writing a new legend.

    Once again, the voice of a devil and the kind woman resounded once again.

    <em>[He is the only human that has received the help of the Eight Pirs of the World, the Evil God and the First Pope.]</em>

    <em>[And he¡­]</em>

    It did not take too long for the Hell Corps and the demonic beasts to be swept away.

    <em>Dash, dash, dash, dash, dash¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk could be seen running toward Rex, who was currently in the form of the God of Death. Warnings were constantly shing in front of the unfortunate Rex.

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[The God of Death is giving you a warning!]</em>

    <em>[If you are forced to log out, your qualifications as the God of Story will be revoked!]</em>

    At that moment, Evil God Obren¡¯s ¡®Book of Curse¡¯ appeared and entered Minhyuk¡¯s sword.

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[Obren¡¯s Book of Curse is dwelling in the enemy¡¯s sword!]</em>

    <em>[If that sword hits you, the penalty that you will receive will double!]</em>

    <em>[If you die, the war will be considered as over with your defeat. You will receive the -50 in all stats penalty.]</em>

    <em>[With the Book of Curse, you will receive a -100 in all stats as a penalty.]</em>

    If that sword reached Rex, everything would be over. However, Obren and Kronad were standing beside Minhyuk. White wings appeared on the back of Minhyuk, who had both good and evil by his side.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    <em>Staaaaaaaaaaaab¡ª!</em>

    The faded sword in Minhyuk¡¯s arms pierced through Rex¡¯s heart.

    Minhyuk looked at Rex¡¯s helpless expression and snarled, ¡°You m***er f*cker.¡±

    <em>[You have been forced to log out.]</em>

    <em>[You have failed the <strong>Episode</strong>: God of Death and the Hell Corps¡¯ Invasion.]</em>

    <em>[Your qualifications as the God of Story has been revoked.]</em>

    <em>[You have lost 100 in all of your stats.]</em>

    In the despairing Rex¡¯s ears, the grating voice of a devil and the warm and gentle voice of the benevolent mother rang until the very end.

    <em>[He is but a normal human being. However, he might be the only human that will be acknowledged as someone with the potential to be one of the Eight Pirs of the World.]</em>

    At the same time, this notification rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears:

    <em>[You have acquired the </em><em><strong>Title</strong></em><em>: ¡®Candidate for the Eight Pirs¡¯.]</em>

 Chapter 695: The God of Death and the Hell Corps

    Chapter 695: The God of Death and the Hell Corps

    The God of Death had died. To be exact, Rex, in the form of the God of Death, had died. Nevertheless, the God of Death had used his power and was directly involved in the episode. As a result, the story had been changed and the God of Death had to regain his powers and lie low for quite a long time.

    However, there was one thing that everyone was certain about. The God of Death held a considerable amount of power and sat in a lofty position among the Absolute Gods. Naturally, the rewards would most definitely be very, <em>very</em> generous.

    <em>[You have acquired the </em><em><strong>Title</strong></em><em>: ¡®Candidate for the Eight Pirs¡¯.]</em>

    <em>(<strong>Candidate for the Eight Pirs</strong>)</em>

    <em>Common Title</em>

    <em><strong>Title Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?All of your stats will increase by 7%.</em>

    <em>?Eight Pirs¡¯ Protective Barrier</em>

    <em>?The Unyielding One</em>

    <em>?Double Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: This is a title that only those that have the talent and power to be the Eight Pirs of the world will have. Having this title in and of itself is already an honor.</em>

    Considering Minhyuk¡¯s level, the 7% increase in all stats would bring great synergistic effects and increase in power. There was also the Eight Pirs¡¯ Protective Barrier.

    <em>¡®It creates a barrier that will defend one of the Eight Pirs unconditionally.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was actually still clueless about the Eight Pirs. However, considering that Obren and Kronad were a part of it, he thought that there was a high probability that Athenae was also a part of the Eight Pirs.

    Excluding the ones that he was familiar with, there were still quite a lot of them that he was not aware of. Whoever they were, they would either be one of the two: his ally or his enemy. Before the time when he had to confront them came, he had to build up his strength. Acquiring these skills would definitely be advantageous to him.

    He turned his attention to ¡®Double Skill¡¯.

    <em>¡®Huh? This is quite good.¡¯</em>

    The Double Skill was a skill that invoked Minhyuk¡¯s admiration. Although it only had a 1.2% chance of getting triggered, it could double the effect of whatever skill was being used when activated.

    For example, the Overlord¡¯s Technique could deal around 3,000~4,000% damage to everyone within a 40~60 meter radius. If Double Skill was activated, it would double that effect. This meant that the Overlord¡¯s Technique would deal around 6,000~8,000% damage to everyone within a 80~120 meter radius.

    The 1.2% probability of triggering might be very low, but the power that it could bring was almost a cheat.

    <em>¡®If it gets activated during a critical situation then¡­¡¯</em>

    The Double Skill would bring about a tremendous effect.

    Finally, there was the ¡®The Unyielding One¡¯. When ying Athenae, there were times when yers would meet great powerhouses and be forced to give in to their momentum and aura. This was something that was done by the system. However, Minhyuk could trigger ¡®The Unyielding One¡¯ once every 480 hours and resist that power once without fail.

    These were the following notifications that rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You have sent the God of Death back to Hell.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 876,500,315 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 76,413 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 2 God of Death¡¯s SP.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained the Ring of Malicious Whispers.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained tnium (4).]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained the God of Death¡¯s Book of Disasters.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained the God of Death¡¯s ck Duck.]</em>

    <em>[¡­the Dead¡¯s Land¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­the One that Leads the Dead¡­]</em>

    Notifications rang non-stop in his ears as the ck energy that spread from the spot where Rex had died hovered around Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    <em>[God of Death¡¯s SP is responding to you.]</em>

    <em>[God of Death¡¯s SP is special. It can increase the skill level of an Absolute God¡¯s Secret.]</em>

    <em>[God of Death¡¯s SP is special. It can increase the level of the skill between 1~3 levels.]</em>

    <em>[However, God of Death¡¯s SP will randomly select the two skills that it will increase the level of.]</em>

    Minhyuk had obtained some ¡®God¡¯s SP¡¯ in the past. God¡¯s SP was a very cheat-like SP that could increase any skill¡¯s level, with the exception of Absolute God¡¯s Secrets.

    Athenae was not a game where one could get ¡®SP¡¯ just because they leveled up. For them to be able to increase the level of their skills, they had to meet certain conditions or increase the level of their skill proficiency.

    Because of that, rankers always wanted to obtain ¡®SP¡¯ for themselves. It was not easy to obtain SP. However, even if a yer obtained just one SP, it would be able to increase their powers tremendously.

    <em>[God of Death¡¯s SP is searching and exploring your body.]</em>

    <em>[An unpleasant sense of discord and alienation is spreading in your body.]</em>

    ¡°<em>Ugh¡­</em>¡± Minhyuk groaned as the unpleasant sense of something sticky and hot passing through and roving around his body spread in him.

    <em>[God of Death¡¯s SP has chosen the first skill.]</em>

    A faint sense of expectation arose from Minhyuk. He had quite a lot of skills in his arsenal. However, there were quite a few of them that he no longer used. It was a natural phenomenon caused by the yers¡¯ increase in level and power.

    <em>[The Overlord¡¯s Technique has been chosen!]</em>

    <em>[God of Death¡¯s SP has increased the Overlord¡¯s Technique¡¯s level by +2!]</em>

    <em>[Skill: Overlord¡¯s Technique¡¯s level has increased to Level 6.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    It was a pleasant notification to hear. Of course, Minhyuk thought that it would be better if it was increased by three. However, he knew that the thought was far too greedy. The fact that one SP could increase a powerful skill like Overlord¡¯s Technique by two was already incredibly good.

    Minhyuk immediately checked the skill.

    <em>(<strong>Overlord¡¯s Technique</strong>)</em>

    <em>King¡¯s Authority</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: 6</em>

    <em><strong>Minimum Overlord¡¯s Mana Required</strong>: 40</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty</strong>: None.</em>

    <em><strong>Cooldown</strong>: 60 hours.</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?The Overlord¡¯s Fire with an additional 5,000~7,000% attack will strike everyone within a 60~80 meter radius.</em>

    <em>?The Overlord¡¯s Fire is a fire that cannot be easily extinguished. Once it attaches to a body, it will deal continuous damage.</em>

    <em>?You are an Overlord¡¯s Technique¡¯s user that already has another King Authority. You can just choose one of the two types of mana and set it to use to build up the mana required for the authority.</em>

    <em>?Your speed of gathering Overlord¡¯s Mana will increase by 1.3x.</em>

    <em><strong>Conditions for Growth</strong>: You can develop the King¡¯s Authority by fighting against an enemy that is leagues stronger than you are or fight against an overwhelming number of people in a war. You can also develop it by learning under the tutge of a strong individual. Your growth will depend on how much you learnt.</em>

    <em>¡®Come to think of it, it¡¯s been quite a long time since I obtained this skill but I have never increased its level until now.¡¯</em>

    It seemed like the reason was because each level up was apanied by an additional 1,000% attack. That was a tremendous increase in power for one level up.

    That was not all. Even its cooldown time that was set at 240 hours before had been drastically reduced to 60 hours. Also, the radius of effect was increased and the speed of gathering the Overlord¡¯s Mana had also increased. Simply put, the powerful Overlord¡¯s Technique could now be used more often.

    A man¡¯s greed knew no bounds. Since the first skill that was increased had achieved tremendous results, Minhyuk could not help but expect that the second skill would also give him shocking results.

    <em>[God of Death¡¯s SP has chosen the second skill!]</em>

    <em>[The Inversing Giddiness has been chosen!]</em>

    <em>[God of Death¡¯s SP has increased the Inversing Giddiness¡¯ level by +1!]</em>

    <em>[Inversing Giddiness is a skill that originally did not have a level!]</em>

    The Food God¡¯s Secret Inversing Giddiness was originally a skill that did not have a level. However, God¡¯s SP could increase a skill¡¯s level even if there was no level or the skill level was already at MAX.

    <em>(<strong>Inversing Giddiness</strong>)</em>

    <em>Food God¡¯s Secret</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Mana Required</strong>: 5,000</em>

    <em><strong>Cooldown</strong>: 144 hours.</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?Through the skill Inversing Giddiness, you can decrease the stat or skill level increase effect on the person that ate your dishes and received its buff effects. You can decrease it as much as the buff effect they received.</em>

    <em>?God¡¯s dishes are special. In the event that they have been subjected to the Inversing Giddiness skill, the effects of the buff and the changes you made will not disappear even if they have been forced to log out as long as it is still within the buff duration. The opponent will have to find a special way to resolve the issue.</em>

    <em>?An unknown ability has been added to Inversing Giddiness.</em>

    <em>?You can now choose the ones that you want to receive the effects of the Inversing Giddiness from the ones that have eaten your dishes and received your buffs.</em>

    Actually, Minhyuk had chosen not to use the skill Inversing Giddiness too much. Even the changes in its effects were not as great as that of Overlord¡¯s Technique. Still, Minhyuk was very satisfied with what he got.

    After checking all of the rewards, Minhyuk looked at Pope Kronad, the pdins, priests and saintesses that were approaching him. All of them were looking at both him and Obren with sadness. However, relief was also present in their faces.

    ¡°It¡¯s time for us to go to hell.¡± Kronad smiled as he looked at Minhyuk and Obren. ¡°You both will be legends of the present.¡±

    At that moment, they all began to turn into ashes. The disappearing pdins, priests, saintesses and Kronad kept their gazes at Obren. Before Kronad¡¯s facepletely disappeared and burned into ashes, he struggled to open his mouth to say, ¡°Sorry¡­¡±

    Obren remained silent as he looked at the ce where Kronad had disappeared. There was no gratitude for sacrificing themselves for him. After all, they were just paying for their sins. It was what they deserved. Obren decided to focus on the days that he would spend with Minhyuk in the future.

    ¡°I¡¯m feeling sleepy.¡±

    ¡°¡­Go on, take a rest.¡±

    Even though he was unsealed, Obren was doomed to forever live inside the seasoning jar and could only spend time with Minhyuk every once in a while.

    <em>Swooosh¡ª</em>

    Obren turned into ck smoke that was sucked back inside the seasoning jar.

    ¡°R, Run!!!¡±

    ¡°A, aaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Retreat!!!¡±

    Upon Rex¡¯s death, the Hell Corps and the demonic beasts all turned to ashes and disappeared without a trace. As for the mercenaries that were being led by God of Money Henry, they were all rushing to escape from thebined forces of Akhan, Death, and Beyond the Heavens.

    Among the fleeing enemies, Genie and the executives of the Beyond the Heavens found two Death Knights.

    ¡°¡­Your Majesty, they are obviously the Luvien Empire¡¯s Sword of the Gods.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk kept his mouth shut. It was only right that they go after them and condemn them. However, now was not the time. Right now, the kingdom¡¯s soldiers and executives were all exhausted. The enemies were strong. They would incur huge damages once again if they killed those two.

    Minhyuk looked at the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. He could see that their outer walls had copsed, part of their kingdom destroyed by the enemies that had entered through those gaps. There were also the soldiers that could not hide their sadness at the deaths of theirrades, who they were just training with up until yesterday, and the families that were crying at the loss of their sons and daughters.

    ¡°Haze. Make sure to properlypensate the bereaved families. Also, prepare the graves for the victims and hold a funeral for their souls.¡±

    ¡°¡­Yes, Your Majesty.¡±

    Funerals for those that died in war were rarely held. After all, it cost a lot of money. Besides, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was still at war. Everyone knew who the true enemy was, even though the Luvien Empire had tried to secretly hide their Swords among the many.

    However, Haze willingly epted the order after seeing Minhyuk¡¯s expression. <em>¡®I have never seen such an expression on His Majesty¡¯s face.¡¯</em>

    Haze had always wondered about the repercussions if Minhyuk became truly angry. However, the thought alone brought terror to her.

    <em>¡®Someone that you shouldn¡¯t dare provoke.¡¯ </em>This was what Haze thought of His Majesty Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk looked at his people and his soldiers. He addressed them briefly yet with a firm determination in his voice.

    ¡°I intend to punish those that have made our Beyond the Heavens suffer like this.¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Beyond the Heavens! Beyond the Heavens! Beyond the Heavens!¡±

    ¡°Long live His Majesty Minhyuk!¡±

    They had fought a tough and desperate battle. But in the end, they were the ones shouting to the world about their victory. Right now, Minhyuk intended to show everyone how Beyond the Heavens treat their enemies.

    ***

    Luvien Empire¡¯s Nerva Sephiroth was a human being. However, he inherited the power of the Battle God and became the Absolute God¡¯s Sword.

    After receiving God''s power, he was able to call for the other God¡¯s Swords and was even awakening powerful armies and strong soldiers with each of the achievements that he made in this realm. Recently, Nerva Sephiroth had awakened the Sword of the Gods Knight Don, who existed from a long time ago.

    Who was Knight Don? The Swords of the Gods had existed for a very long time. Even among those Swords of the Gods, there was an existence that could be said to be theirmander. That was Knight Don. Even Nerva Sephiroth had to tread carefully when talking to him.

    Don stood atop the outer walls of the Luvien Empire, watching the stars twinkle in the sky above them. That was when he felt a presence from a distance. His expression turned strange when he chased after the presence.

    <em>¡®What kind of power is this?¡¯</em>

    Don had another title, the ¡®Knight of All Creation¡¯. He had a special power that allowed him to know what kind of person he was dealing with, just by looking at them.

    Right now, there was a brave energy akin to that of a lion that wasing straight towards the Luvien Empire. However, Don did not make a fuss out of it. This was because he was confident in his own power. He just looked at the ce where the brave ¡®lion¡¯ wasing from.

    As he felt the energy, Don thought, <em>¡®This energy must belong to a very powerful man. I¡¯ll make sure to beat that dragon up with my own hands.¡¯</em>

    He thought of a righteous man that had a huge and sturdy build. However, the person that showed up in front of him was very, <em>very</em> unexpected. The man had wless and fair skin, dark hair, big doe-like eyes, sharp jaws and very handsome features. He was wearing a bloody-red armor and a cape on his back that bore the symbol of a fork and knife crossed together.

    <em>¡®Who is this guy?¡¯ </em>Don thought, his eyes scanning the man in front of him.

    <em>[You are trying to figure out the opponent in front of you.]</em>

    <em>[The opponent carries a power that can resist your eyes!]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Don was quite shocked. This person in front of him could resist his eyes? However, he also found it quite interesting.

    <em>[The opponent has given your eyes permission to look!]</em>

    <em>[He is in possession of demonic energy on par with the devil.]</em>

    <em>[He is in possession of holy power on par with the pope.]</em>

    <em>[He is in possession of the power of the Sword God.]</em>

    <em>[He is in possession of the power of the Food God.]</em>

    <em>[He is in possession of the protection of the Empires¡¯ Ruler¡­]</em>

    <em>[He is in possession¡­the Elven King¡­]</em>

    <em>[He is in possession¡­the Dragon King¡­]</em>

    <em>[He is in possession¡­the Evil God¡­]</em>

    <em>[He is in possession¡­the First Pope¡­]</em>

    <em>[He is the first human in this world to have achieved and reached the realms of the True God!]</em>

    <em>[He might be one of the Eight Pirs!]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    At that moment, the man walked out from the cover of the darkness, walking past the bushes that separated him from Don and looked at him with a cold gaze..

    ¡°I am Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King Minhyuk. I request an audience with His Majesty Nerva Sephiroth.¡±

    This is the appearance of the insignificant, yet outstanding king.

 Chapter 696: The Ten Plagues

    Chapter 696: The Ten gues

    After the end of the episode: God of Death and the Hell Corps¡¯ Invasion, Minhyuk immediately called for Haze and the Knowledge Star Jarrod to give them an order, which was for them to fully grasp the current dynamics and movements of the Luvien Imperial Army.

    At the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ executive meeting, Jarrod reported, ¡°ording to the reports that we have confirmed, the Luvien Empire is slowly nibbling at the territories under the Masserati Kingdom.¡±

    ¡°Masserati Kingdom is a kingdom created by a yer. They have probably judged that it was easier to deal with them since they are less organized?¡±

    The people that resided in Athenae and the yers were generally different from each other. yers had only ever fought in real wars in this ce. As for the residents of this world, whether they were from an ordinary kingdom or an empire, all of them had experienced or were experiencing war since young.

    ¡°However, Absolute Monarch Richard is not someone that can easily be taken down like that. ording to our reports, he has been holding out in Esser Fortress for two weeks now.¡±

    ¡°From what it looks like, they will use the fall of Masserati Kingdom to warn us.¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right.¡±

    Everyone turned to look at Minhyuk, watching him rub his chin in thought. All of them were aware that they could not let their emotions affect their judgment on this matter. Although the cries of their people was enough to shake the entire kingdom, if they acted on their feelings, they might probably be running on a path that would bring about a swift copse of their kingdom.

    ¡°I will go to the Luvien Empire and ask them to pay for their sins.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­Your Majesty.¡±

    Shock was painted on the faces of everyone present.

    What kind of existence was the Luvien Empire? They were arge organization that had cast their and covered the entire continent. There were so many powerful and talented individuals in their empire that even the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom could notpare with them. Even their military forces were around eight times bigger than the troops nurtured in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. That was basically the difference between a kingdom and an empire.

    It was also a nation that had forced an ¡®alliance¡¯ with other kingdoms and empires throughout the continent, by bringing them down to the brink of destruction. One wrong move against them and one could be the target of countless kingdoms and empires.

    Everyone looked worried at his suggestion. However, Minhyuk was grinning.

    ¡°I will leave no trace behind.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean by that, Your Majesty?¡± Haze asked,pletely puzzled by his words.

    Minhyuk took out a book that was wrapped in thick chains from his inventory. One look at it and everyone already felt an unpleasant sense tingling at the bottom of their spines. This book was none other than the ¡®God of Death¡¯s Book of Disaster¡¯, an item that he acquired after sending the God of Death back to hell.

    Knowledge¡¯s Star Jarrod quickly checked the book¡¯s information.

    <em>(<strong>God of Death¡¯s Book of Curses</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Grade</strong>: God</em>

    <em><strong>Special Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?The God of Death¡¯s Ten gues will fall wherever the book¡¯s owner wants it to fall into.</em>

    <em>?The First gue. The river, wherever you want it to be, will turn into blood.</em>

    <em>?The Second gue. Frogs wille out from the waters and cover thends.</em>

    <em>?The Third gue. Lice will infest¡­</em>

    <em>?The Fourth ge. A variety of flies will¡­</em>

    <em>?The Fifth gue. Pestilence¡­</em>

    <em>?¡­</em>

    <em>?¡­</em>

    <em>?The owner of the God of Death¡¯s Book of Disasters can end the gues whenever they want. However, whether it is fully used or not, once it is opened, the God of Death¡¯s Book of Disasters will disappear.</em>

    <em>?The owner of the God of Death¡¯s Book of Disasters can imitate the voice of the God of Death.</em>

    <em>?The God of Death¡¯s Book of Disaster will not harvest any human life during its duration. In other words, everything is nothing but an illusion.</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Jarrod could only groan after checking the information of the book. These gues had no limit. Wherever it would fall, it would literally bring about a huge disaster. It could also allow them to initiate a negotiation.

    One after the other, the executives of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom began to check the information of the book. That was when the yers realized something.

    <em>¡®This¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Did they take inspiration from the Ten gues of Egypt?¡¯</em>

    There were many cases in Athenae where the stories, artifacts and items had taken inspiration from actual myths and legends from reality. From what they heard, the Chinese Server had a God-rank artifact by the name ¡®Green Dragon Crescent de¡¯. It was probably the case for this particr item too.

    ¡°What about the Sword of the Gods that intervened in this war?¡±

    ¡°They moved as if they did not do anything in the empire. We can expect the Luvien Empire to pretend as if they weren¡¯t involved at all. From what I heard, the Luvien Empire had deliberately sent them to the Masserati camp to hide them away from prying eyes.¡±

    ¡°I see. Then, our Beyond the Heavens Kingdom will secretly send support to Masserati Kingdom.¡±

    ¡°We will send support to Masserati Kingdom?¡± Haze expressed her doubts. She knew that support did not simply mean that. She thought for a moment before speaking up again, ¡°Your Majesty, the support you¡¯re speaking about should have a ¡®price¡¯, am I right?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s correct.¡±

    ¡°That also means that we will hide our identities.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded. If the Beyond the Heavens openly formed an alliance with the Masserati Guild and helped them stop the Luvien Empire, then they would just give the empire justification to pursue them.

    Besides, there was no harm in hiding their identities. After all, as long as the Luvien Empire did not have any solid proof, they would have no other choice but to swallow their anger the moment Beyond the Heavens denied their allegations.

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then it¡¯s better to send only a few of them.¡±

    ¡°We should do that. Ah, it would be better if we can make a team. What kind of people do you think will apply for the Masserati Kingdom Support Team?¡±

    There were too many people around Minhyuk that had a deep-seated hatred for the Luvien Empire. Everyone nodded at Minhyuk. Among them, there was one man that looked extremely excited. He was none other than Minhyuk¡¯s father and the chairman of Ilhwa Group, ck Dragon.

    ¡°Son.¡±

    ¡°Yes, dad?¡±

    ck Dragon, with a flushed look on his face, asked, ¡°Can I think of a name for the team?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Minhyuk readily agreed. However, he saw the faces of some of his guild members turn dark. He thought, <em>¡®Hmm? What¡¯s the matter with these guys?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk looked at them in confusion while ck Dragon practically vibrated in his seat with excitement. Meanwhile, the guild members were recalling the team name that ck Dragon hade up with in the past.

    <em>¡®Is the team going to be called Power Infinity Great King God General Magister Dark Breaker again¡­?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®What will the team name be this time¡­?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Haaa¡­¡¯</em>

    As for ck Dragon? He was thinking, <em>¡®Fufufufufufu. Everyone will surely be surprised by my naming sense once again!¡¯</em>

    ***

    <em>[Nerva Sephiroth.]</em>

    <em>[He was an emperor sent by the God of Battle in the chaotic human world.]</em>

    <em>[This emperor will correct the chaotic world and rule over everyone in the world.]</em>

    This was how Nerva Sephiroth was depicted in the stories. This very same Nerva Sephiroth was looking at the Swords of the Gods iney and Rend with an indifferent expression on his face.

    ¡°The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ troops are far stronger than what we expected. Even the Spear God called Ben, the Lesser Demon Elpis, as well as the other vassals, have far exceeded our expectations.¡±

    ¡°Although they are a kingdom created by nothing more than a foreigner, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom has far surpassed a considerable number of kingdoms in the continent.¡±

    ¡°The people and soldiers adore and serve their king, Minhyuk, wholeheartedly.¡±

    Basically, iney and Rend were telling him to be wary of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    Nerva was actually aware that Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had been involved in the war between the Luvien Empire and the Eivelis Empire. However, it would be quite funny to see a proud and arrogant emperor like him not letting a small kingdom go, and try to attack them because of something in the past. If the people find out about that, he would most definitely be aughingstock.

    <em>¡®For now, we should focus on devouring the Masserati Kingdom.¡¯</em>

    Nerva had already given the numerous kingdoms and empires under him an order to attack the Masserati Kingdom. If they decided to rashly advance and deal with the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom right now, then the empire might receive huge damages.

    ¡°This emperor has trusted you to deal with this yet youe back with results like this. I might start to doubt your qualifications if things continue to go on like this.¡±

    <em>Flinch!</em>

    <em>Flinch!</em>

    Nerva Sephiroth was the emperor that was chosen by the Battle God. The power in his voice made the two Swords of the Gods tremble and shake.

    ¡°Lead our knights to the Masserati Kingdom, who is upying ournds as they pleased. I will only ept the news of your victory. Otherwise, you will have to pay for your sins.¡±

    Only after that did the Swords of the Gods retreat. Nerva felt his temples throb from his exhaustion. However, another report came to him.

    ¡°Your Majesty, the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King has requested an audience.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    It was very shocking news. The Beyond the Heavens King himself came to visit? The report even mentioned that the man came alone.

    Nerva watched as the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King Minhyuk entered at hismand. The man had a head full of dark hair, shining bright eyes, a sharp jawline, and a straight nose. It waspletely contrary to his own white skin, fierce eyes and long blonde hair.

    On this day, the emperor of a huge empire and the king of a small kingdom finally met.

    ***

    The moment Minhyuk met Nerva¡­

    <em>[You are facing a transcendental being that has inherited the power of the Battle God!]</em>

    <em>[The Emperor¡¯s Authority is forcing you to give in!]</em>

    <em>[You will not be able to resist even if you try your hardest!]</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    He had no choice but to kneel on both knees even though he was walking confidently.

    <em>¡®Crazy¡­ He forced me to kneel with just one nce?¡¯</em>

    Of course, this was all caused by Nerva Sephiroth¡¯s passive skill. Nerva Sephiroth was now smiling at him in satisfaction. There were only two people in the world that had escaped the clutches of his ¡®Emperor¡¯s Authority¡¯.

    ¡°I wonder why the king of a distant continent has traveled this far? And why did you suddenly request an audience with this emperor?¡±

    Nerva was very arrogant and snobbish. However, that did not mean that he could just disregard and ignore a guest of great status. After all, an emperor had great etiquette and courtesy. Only if a true absolute being had both manners and courtesy would they be able to experience unparalleled power.

    ¡°I have heard that the Luvien Empire is known to be the most beautiful and peaceful empire so I really wanted to visit it. And truly, the Luvien Empire is as beautiful and magnificent as the rumors said it to be. I am curious as to how you manage it.¡± Minhyuk spoke softly, his head bowed down as he continued to stay on his knees.

    In the end, Nerva was an emperor and Minhyuk was just a king. If he acted rashly here, he would give Nerva the justification to wage a war against the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. However, that did not mean that he would not do anything. In fact, Minhyuk¡¯s words wereced with thorns.

    The empire was magnificent and beautiful? How did he manage it? He was, in fact, asking if Nerva felt good using the money that he obtained by raiding other kingdoms and empires and living a rich andvish life.

    ¡°This is all because the people are repaying this emperor for all of the things that I have given them. Don¡¯t you think so, too?¡± Nerva spun up bullshit right on the spot.

    ¡°So, what¡¯s the real reason behind your visit?¡±

    The gaze that Nerva used to look at Minhyuk turned sharp. This was the gaze of an absolute being.

    Minhyuk¡¯s response was very forward. ¡°It¡¯s because I have seen some familiar faces in the war that we fought not too long ago.¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Nerva rubbed his chin thoughtfully. ¡°Familiar faces? From what I heard, there were many undead and demonic beasts during that war. So, why did youe here to look for them? Perhaps¡­¡±

    Nerva¡¯s eyes narrowed sharply, his expression obviously questioning Minhyuk. Minhyuk just smiled softly.

    ¡°I just mentioned the familiar faces that I have seen back then. Other than that, I came here to inform you that I want to stay in the empire for a few days.¡±

    ¡°A few days? That much is fine. However, even if you are the king of a nation, you have to know that our imperial family will not be able to serve you properly.¡±

    Nerva meant that Minhyuk should leave. Did he think that he would be weed as a distinguished guest and served wholeheartedly? But Minhyuk still nodded in agreement. After all, that was what he wanted anyways.

    ¡°I see. It would be good if we can have a cup of tea sometime soon.¡±

    However, Nerva was indifferent. ¡°I don¡¯t like tea.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? Even so, I believe you will want to meet with me and drink a cup soon. You¡¯ll have to know, I can make delicious refreshments.¡±

    <em>¡®Are you telling me that I will seek you out myself?¡¯ </em>Nerva frowned. No matter how he listened to those words, he could only take it as Minhyuk saying that he, Nerva, would find Minhyuk first.

    Nerva stood up and left him behind. However, he spoke to him onest time. ¡°It¡¯s quite rude of you to stop by in the middle of the night. You have obviously interrupted my bedtime.¡±

    ¡°Please forgive me, Your Majesty. How should I apologize to you¡­¡± Minhyuk answered quietly. ¡°I might be the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King but I am also a chef and a good one at that. From what I heard, your knights will be going to war, right? How about I serve them my dishes as an apology?¡±

    Nerva asked him outright, ¡°What in the world are you nning?¡±

    Minhyuk just shook his head at the cold and harsh question. ¡°I don¡¯t have any ns, Your Majesty. Ah, there¡¯s one more thing.¡±

    Minhyuk showed a very bright smile as he continued his words. ¡°Our Beyond the Heavens Kingdom has this tradition where we will write a short greeting and share it to a precious person during our first meeting. I have personally written a greeting for you, Your Majesty. If you will, please allow me to present it to you.¡±

    ¡°You have my permission,¡± Nerva answered as he tried to deactivate his Emperor¡¯s Authority for a while. But before he could do so, he was already met with Minhyuk¡¯s sharp gaze. He watched as the man kneeling in front of him slowly stood on one of his legs.

    <em>[The opponent is resisting your Emperor¡¯s Authority!!!]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Nerva clenched his fists, his eyes fixed on the man, who slowly got on his other leg.

    <em>[The opponent haspletely suppressed your Emperor¡¯s Authority!]</em>

    This was effect ¡®The Unyielding One¡¯, from Minhyuk¡¯s new title, ¡®Candidate for the Eight Pirs¡¯.

    <em>¡®H, how¡­!¡¯</em>

    Nerva was very shocked. There were only two people in the world that had escaped the grasps of his Emperor¡¯s Authority. Today, the third person to do so had appeared.

    Minhyuk smiled softly as he handed Nerva a rolled parchment. ¡°This greeting is written using the special characters from the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. I¡¯m sure you will be able to interpret the meaning of these words since you have a lot of talented figures in the Luvien Empire.¡±

    ¡°I understand. You may leave.¡±

    At those words, Minhyuk retreated and left the audience hall. As for Nerva Sephiroth? He hurriedly called for the experts of the Luvien Empire and tasked them to decipher the words written in the parchment that Minhyuk had handed to him.

    ¡°I cannot sense any evil energying from this parchment.¡±

    ¡°There are no powers that are meant to harm you inside, Your Majesty.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing but a letter.¡±

    Even the experts that had studied the ancientnguages also gathered.

    ¡°We cannot interpret thisnguage.¡±

    ¡°We cannot understand. This is the first time that we have seen or heard about anguage like this.¡±

    Nerva immediately threw everyone out as he turned to look at the text with a solemn expression on his face.

    <em>[??? ?????[1]. (Nerva, you¡¯re a frauckring brastrard.)] </em>

    It was a message that only Koreans would be able to understand.

    Nerva rubbed his chin in thought as he stared at the parchment seriously. ¡°These words obviously have a profound meaning¡­¡±

    As expected, Hangul was a very greatnguage.

    1. There were additional characters written in the curse word to make it hard to decipher ?

 Chapter 697: The Ten Plagues

    Chapter 697: The Ten gues

    The Swords of the Gods iney and Rend could not forget the sharp killing intent that appeared in the eyes of the man that they had met in the hallway.

    <em>¡®I did not expect him toe over to the empire as soon as the war ended.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®What a crazy king.¡¯</em>

    Even if he came here personally, it would not matter if he was a king or not, he would still not be able to punish the knights of the empire without any clear justification. If it was found that he did something to them, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would be forced to pay the price for that crime.

    Rend and iney looked back at the knights and the soldiers that gathered behind them, ready to go.

    ¡°What¡¯s the status in Esser Fortress?¡±

    ¡°The Masserati Kingdom¡¯s resistance is much stronger than what we expected.¡±

    It was only natural. This was because the Masserati Kingdom¡¯s territories would continue to be devoured by the great and mighty Luvien Empire once they had taken over Esser Fortress.

    ¡°However, looking at the current situation. We believe that it would only be a matter of time before they fall.¡±

    ¡°Once we enter the battlefield, they will most definitely fall within a week.¡±

    iney and Rend nodded at each other. The knights that they were going to lead were the ¡®Hundred Battle Knights¡¯, the very same knights that His Majesty Nerva Sephiroth had nurtured with his own powers.

    The Hundred Battle Knights were the ones that had received the Battle God¡¯s recognition and rewards after Nerva had sessfully met the conditions uponpleting the conquest of another kingdom. The level of their force could be said to be so high that no other knight within the empire could fight against them.

    These people, along with fifty thousand troops of the Imperial Army, were more than enough to deal with the enemy. There were only 120,000 troops of the Imperial Army who were fighting actively on the battlefield. If they joined, it would likely only take a week to obtain control of the war and gain victory.

    At that moment, a knight approached iney and Rend and gave them a report.

    ¡°¡­What?!¡±

    ¡°What did you say¡­?!¡±

    The knight¡¯s report was extremely shocking. They could soon see a man approach them right after the knight finished his words.

    iney and Rend had witnessed how this man danced around the battlefield. He was the king of a nation and a god and was the first person to make the Luvien Empire suffer a defeat. This man was none other than Minhyuk.

    ¡°Are you going to war now?¡±

    ¡°¡­Yes, that¡¯s right.¡±

    Even if they were the Swords of the Gods, Minhyuk, the man in front of them, was the king of a nation. They had to bow down and show courtesy to him.

    ¡°I have disturbed His Majesty Nerva¡¯s bedtime because I suddenly requested an audience. So, as an apology, I¡¯ve asked that he let me personally cook a meal to cheer on his men that are going to war.¡±

    ¡°A meal¡­?¡±

    From what they heard, the dishes made by Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Minhyuk were so delicious that one would be able to hear a heavenly voice the moment they took their first bite. There were also many rumors about how excellent his buffed dishes were to the point that he could bring an ordinary soldier to the level of a knight.

    <em>¡®Are those fake and ridiculous rumors what made the present Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?¡¯</em>

    Indeed. The Luvien Empire¡¯s Swords of the Gods iney and Rend did not believe such rumors. In fact, even Emperor Nerva did not believe it. This was because none of the people from the Luvien Empire had encountered Food God Minhyuk¡¯s dishes even once.

    After all, those dishes could only be made by Food God Minhyuk. There was no way that he would cook for the people of the Luvien Empire, or even do something that would be beneficial to them.

    <em>¡®It seems like the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom has created several false rumors to attract people when they established their kingdom.¡¯</em>

    In fact, there was someone that could confidently say that those were rumors. That person was the Imperial Chef Ruval. Although not at the level of the Swords of the Gods, Ruval was considered a chef that had received the favor of one of the Absolute Gods, the God of Cooking. He was also considered as a Buff Chef and was someone that increased the power of the Swords of the Gods with his dishes.

    <em>¡®His dishes are very surprising. However, the effects in the rumors are too absurd to be considered real.¡¯</em>

    Eating Ruval¡¯s dish would make them 1.3x stronger. But from what they heard, eating the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King¡¯s dishes would make anyone at least 1.5x stronger. What kind of bullshit was that?

    <em>¡®What? What the hell is this?¡¯</em>

    However, iney and Rend found it ridiculous that someone like him would bother to cook for them.

    <em>¡®Is he going to put poison in?¡¯</em>

    The quick-witted iney shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s fine. We¡¯ll just get sleepy on the road if our stomachs are full. Beef jerky is more than enough for us.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re also fine with the way things are.¡±

    ¡°This won¡¯t do. I have already made a promise with His Majesty.¡±

    They knew that the man in front of them came here to catch them. Knowing that fact made iney lose his temper.

    ¡°Why do you even want to cook for us?!¡±

    Although the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was not allied with the Masserati Kingdom, they were not hostile with each other. This was a fact that iney knew full well. So, why would someone like Minhyuk hold on to them even though they had already firmly refused his offer?

    ¡°Are you trying to poison us?¡±

    ¡°Sir iney.¡± Rend tapped him on his shoulders.

    However, Minhyuk¡¯s face had already turned cold. ¡°That¡¯s quite a rude thing to say to a king of a nation, don¡¯t you think so? You¡¯re saying that I¡¯ll kill everyone here?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°iney. Do you think that he would give us poisoned food right now? Once everyone dies here, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom will not be able to escape the wrath of the Luvien Empire and face destruction.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Unless someone was a fool, they would not let something like that happen.

    ¡°Please forgive me.¡±

    ¡°The damage has already been done. It has already made me feel ufortable. I have no choice but to report this to His Majesty.¡±

    ¡°That¡­ Please forgive us, Your Majesty Minhyuk.¡±

    iney, even Rend and the rest of the knights, bowed their heads and showed courtesy.

    Even though Minhyuk was nothing but a king of a small nation, Emperor Nerva was someone that ced importance on courtesy and manners. If it was made known that his vassals were doing as they pleased and acting rudely, as a strict Emperor, Nerva might even take their heads off.

    Minhyuk looked at them. ¡°I¡¯ll be honest with you.¡±

    He took a step closer toward iney and Rend and lowered his voice so only they could hear. ¡°I am a king. However, His Majesty Nerva might just be the emperor of the entire continent. Why do you think I came here and dered that I will cook for you?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The two were at a loss. After all, it was better to seek a friendship and alliance with the Luvien Empire. Of course, there was no way that they had not seen the majesty and dignity of the Luvien Empire.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s wise.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®If he cooks for us then he will be able to contribute to our victory. Will he use that opportunity to get a proper audience with His Majesty?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®This makes sense.¡¯</em>

    ¡°Still, your sins will not disappear.¡±

    ¡°<em>Cough!!!</em>¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    Minhyuk looked at them fiercely. However, in the end, he just sighed and patted them on their shoulders.

    ¡°Alright. Let¡¯s do it like this. I will still cook for you. However, if you are satisfied with my dishes, you have to give me a book about your ¡®Spearmanship¡¯ or ¡®Axe Technique¡¯.

    ¡°¡­Yes?¡±

    The Swords of the Gods had books where the art that they were proficient in were written on. For yers, these books would be skills. For NPCs, they would only be a book that they could learn and practice on.

    This was something that all of the yers were aware of. In fact, among the yers, there were quite a few that had received something simr from the Swords of the Gods. However, what they received were the lowest ranking books. But even that had exceeded a considerable number of swordsmanship that are considered excellent in this world.

    ¡°That¡¯s only if you¡¯re satisfied with my dishes. You can just forget about it if you¡¯re not satisfied.¡±

    ¡°We understand.¡±

    ¡°Yes, only if we¡¯re satisfied.¡±

    Minhyuk grinned widely. <em>¡®If their spearmanship and </em><em>axe</em><em> technique gets passed down to the soldiers of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, they will surely be stronger.¡¯</em>

    In fact, Minhyuk had deliberately spoken words that he did not mean, in order to coax them and induce a quest, which was now floating in front of him. The quest required him to satisfy iney and Rend with his dishes. The grade of the book that he would receive would depend on the amount of satisfaction that he would get.

    ¡°I¡¯ll get started then.¡±

    <em>Rumbleeeeeeee¡ª</em>

    <em>Pppiiiiiiiiiiiiii¡ª!</em>

    Minhyuk threw out a small trailer, which grewrger, in front of them. The trailer immediately recognized the strong existences near him, iney and Rend.

    <em>Rumbleeeeeee¡ª</em>

    Hot mes soared from the chimney and the two vents on the roof.

    ***

    Minhyuk, who climbed into the trailer, was sporting an expression that was filled with interest.

    There was one more reward that he had obtained after he defeated Rex, the ¡®God of Death¡¯. It was none other than the ¡®God of Death¡¯s ck Duck¡¯.

    <em>(<strong>God of Death¡¯s ck Duck</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Ingredient Grade</strong>: Legendary</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>?God of Death''s ck Duck has the power toy eggs.</em>

    <em>?The ck Duck willy 100 eggs every month.</em>

    <em>?The duck that wille out from the ck Duck¡¯s egg will automaticallye out as an adult.</em>

    <em>?ck Duck is a delicacy. It has a vor that is hard toe by in this realm.</em>

    <em>?The duck born from the ck Duck¡¯s egg will greatly increase one¡¯s STR and AGI. It can also help increase the level that has not risen for a long time.</em>

    It was a special ingredient. Minhyuk could obtain a hundred ck ducks every month. Of course, the ck ducks that he obtained would be incapable of producing eggs. Still, it was a hundred ducks every month. Their meat could even increase STR, AGI and a variety of other things.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk stood in front of a cauldron and cooked with everything that he got. The dish that he was preparing was none other than duck jumulleok, a dish made by stir-frying marinated duck with red seasoning. It was a dish that could make Minhyuk drool just by thinking about it.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Sweat started to flow down Minhyuk¡¯s forehead as he continued to stir-fry the marinated duck inside the huge cauldron.

    Minhyuk was truly doing his best. The first reason was so that he could partake in the tasty dish. The second reason was, <em>¡®The greater the buff that they received, the more they will weaken.¡¯</em>

    However, for those that did not know him, thoughts appeared as they watched.

    <em>¡®Why is he working so hard for someone like us?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®A king of a nation is actually cooking for us?¡¯</em>

    Rend and iney had attacked Beyond the Heavens Kingdom just a few days prior. Of course, they were confident that the Food God and his vassals were unaware of that fact.

    As the king continued to cook, sweat started to drip down his body while his muscles twitched and moved beneath his sleeves. He was already handsome. However, this figure made him even more dashing.

    <em>¡®¡­Is this the kind of person the king of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is?¡¯</em>

    For a moment, the thought of wanting to serve such a king floated in their heads. However, that was sphemy. It waspletely unloyal. How could they think of leaving His Majesty Nerva? Still, they had never heard of a king working so hard for just mere knights.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk¡¯s mind was filled with his own thoughts.

    <em>¡®You f***ing bastards. Eat your fill and prepare to fight. This will be yourst supper so you have to eat well, huh? You bastards.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had not forgotten the fact that Rend and iney were the ones that attacked the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    <em>[iney¡¯s favor has increased.]</em>

    <em>[The Luvien Empires¡¯ Sword of the God iney has realized something new as he watched Beyond the Heavens King.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will increase by 0.1%.]</em>

    <em>[iney¡¯s favor has increased.]</em>

    <em>[The Luvien Empires¡¯ Sword of the God...]</em>

    <em>[¡­stats will increase by 0.1%.]</em>

    <em>¡®Huh?¡¯</em>

    What kind of expression would they sport once they realized the true reason why Minhyuk was doing this? However, Minhyuk did not stop there. He even triggered his God¡¯s Voice.

    <em>[The god, the king of a nation, is trying to bringfort to those that are heading to a faraway battlefield.]</em>

    <em>[Even if it''s only a small gesture, he hopes that his dishes would be able to cheer up those that would march a long and arduous path.]</em>

    <em>[He is doing his best to cook for you.]</em>

    <em>Ppiiiiiiiiiiii¡ª</em>

    <em>Rumbleeeeee¡ª</em>

    At the same time, the zing Eternal mes shot up from the trailer¡¯s vents. It was not just the Swords of the Gods, even the knights and the soldiers could not help but watch in admiration as the sound of the dish cooking rang in their ears. There were even some soldiers that started to cry.

    <em>[iney¡¯s favor has increased.]</em>

    <em>[¡­stats will increase by 0.1%.]</em>

    <em>[Rend¡¯s favor has increased.]</em>

    <em>[¡­stats will increase by 0.1%.]</em>

    <em>[Hundred Battles¡¯ Volvotta favor has increased.]</em>

    <em>[¡­STR will increase +1.]</em>

    <em>[Hundred Battles¡¯ Ambro favor has increased.]</em>

    <em>[¡­STR will increase +1.]</em>

    <em>[Soldier Verlyn¡¯s favor has increased¡­]</em>

    <em>[Soldier Venom¡¯s favor has increased¡­]</em>

    However, Minhyuk did not hear these notifications. He just did his best toplete the best and the worst dish while thinking about their punishment.

    <em>[You havepleted the Duck Jumulleok.]</em>

    <em>[Trance. It¡¯s a dish that has your wrath, a heart to kill, hatred, and will to take revenge, poured into it.]</em>

    <em>[Due to the effects of Trance, the buff effect has be better.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the <strong>Title</strong>: ¡®Furious Chef¡¯.]</em>

    <em>¡®Eh?¡¯</em>

    In reality, one could still decide to cook for others even if they hated them. Just like a wife that cooked even after fighting with her husband, a chef toward a bad customer, and an employee toward a boss that they did not like.

    However, Minhyuk¡¯s anger was far greater than that. The cries of sorrows of his beloved people, the soldiers, and the family of the bereaved were still echoing in his ears. Because of that, the first dish that contained his anger and fury had made an appearance.

    Another set of notifications rang.

    <em>[You have only ever cooked with a happy heart.]</em>

    <em>[However, sometimes, you will need to cook even if you are ovee with anger.]</em>

    <em>[You, who have made an excellent dish despite being consumed by anger, have received a special privilege.]</em>

    <em>[The skill: ¡®Ingredient Tracking¡¯ will change into ¡®Ingredient Search¡¯.]</em>

    ***

    Emperor Nerva did not even bother to give a room to Minhyuk inside the imperial castle, opting to drive him out to one of the houses inside the capital. It was a cold and harsh treatment. However, it was also very favorable to Minhyuk. A man, who looked just like Minhyuk, suddenly appeared inside the castle grounds. It could be seen that the man was holding a ck book that was wrapped in thick chains.

    This man was made using the ¡®Great Sage Heaven¡¯s Equal¡¯s Cloning Technique Parchment¡¯. Minhyuk¡¯s clone slowly unfolded the thick chains that wrapped around it before reading the book¡¯s first chapter aloud, ¡°The First gue.¡±

    Elsewhere, at the same time.

    Nerva was hand in hand with his dearly beloved princess, who had just turned eleven years old, taking a walk and gazing at the pond inside the castle grounds.

    ¡°F, father¡­¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter princess?¡± Nerva asked, a shiver suddenly running down his spine as he hurriedly looked at the direction where his princess was pointing her finger at. There, he saw the pond turning red with blood.

    At that moment, the sky covering the Luvien Empire darkened, as a dark and dreary voice rang loudly in everyone¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The First gue.]</em>

    <em>[Blood will color the rivers red.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s counterattack had finally begun!

 Chapter 698: The Ten Plagues

    Chapter 698: The Ten gues

    <em>(<strong>Ingredient Search</strong>)</em>

    <em>Passive Skill</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: None</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty on Use</strong>: You will be unable to use The Food God¡¯s True Worth for the day.</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?Once the skill is triggered, the system will search for the ingredient that correspond to the type of effect and cuisine that you choose. The search will search within a ten kilometer radius. The skill will also suggest recipes ording to the buff effect + ingredients + cuisine, and will also suggest alternative ingredients for the dish.</em>

    <em>?There is no limit on the number of times that it can be used. However, the skill can only be used once a month.</em>

    <em>?The Ingredient Search skill will guide you toward any ¡®special¡¯ or ¡®gourmet¡¯ cooking ingredients within a one kilometer radius.</em>

    <em>?If you find the ingredient and have ¡®read¡¯ it, you will not be able to use the Ingredient Search for a month.</em>

    The Ingredient Tracking skill was a skill that Minhyuk often made use of. It allowed him to search for the perfect ingredient by choosing the type and effects that the dish should have. This skill had made it convenient for him to find ingredients with the effect that he needed whenever he was trying to make buffed dishes.

    Right now, the Ingredient Tracking skill had changed into the ¡®Ingredient Search¡¯ skill. The original abilities that the Ingredient Tracking had were retained, and new abilities were added!

    <em>¡®Now, I can search for ingredients even if I stay still in one ce.¡¯ </em>Minhyuk smiled as he handed out the finished duck jumulleok.

    ¡°Tell the soldiers that I will cook for them if theye back from the war.¡±

    The soldiers gulped back their saliva. It did not matter if Minhyuk was a great chef or not. There was no way that he would be able to feed tens of thousands of people.

    <em>¡®It would be easier to kill them if I had fed them but¡­¡¯ </em>Minhyuk thought, a bitter smile hanging on his face.

    However, iney and Rendpletely misinterpreted the regret on his face. Because of this misinterpretation, Minhyuk was able to harvest interest, good will and favor from the two.

    <em>¡®A king that feels pity for the hungry soldiers of another empire¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Look at those sad eyes!¡¯</em>

    The two suddenly thought that Minhyuk was truly a wonderful and splendid king. The duck jumulleok was only distributed to those at the legionmander-rank. This meant that only two hundred people would be able to taste the dish.

    <em>¡®The main protagonists of all those fake rumors are finally in front of us!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King is probably too sad because he could not give a strong boost in power to all of the people here. After all, there are just too many of us.¡¯</em>

    iney and Rend both shook their heads.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk stared at the duck jumulleok in front of him. He was the type of person who was a sucker for the traditional way of eating dishes. Even if he had to eat it only once, he would make sure that he would eat it properly. That was also the reason why he had around 10,000 butane stoves and grilling tes in his inventory.

    He took out the grilling te and stove, before gently cing the already cooked duck jumulleok on it, keeping it warm by using the lowest heat setting on the stove.

    <em>Bubble, bubble, bubble, bubble¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk grabbed a wooden spat and began to stir the bubbling red sauce of the duck jumulleok, prompting a gush of white steam out in the open. Then, he hurriedly pulled off the lid of his rice bowl. After that, he quickly scooped a spoonful of the duck jumulleok, filled with plenty of red duck meat from the sauce, onions and peri leaves.

    ¡°<em>Fwoo! Fwoo! Chomp!</em>¡± Minhyuk blew on the spoonful of duck jumulleok before pushing it in his mouth. The sweet and spicy vor spread in his mouth the moment he took a bite.

    ¡°Ho~¡±

    Because the meat was still very hot, he could not help but let out a breath as he rolled it around in his mouth. Still, it was a delight. Then, he took a spoonful of hot rice and ced it in his mouth.

    <em>¡®The rice tastes sweet.¡¯ </em>Minhyuk thought that this was the perfect expression to describe the rice that he was eating. Perhaps it was because he used some good rice?

    This time, Minhyuk grabbed a piece of peri leaf. Then, he grabbed three pieces of duck meat dipped in ssamjang and ced it on top of the leaf along with some garlic and seasoned chives. Then, he made a wrap and ced everything in his mouth.

    <em>Munch, munch, munch¡ª</em>

    The fragrant scent of peri leaves immediately wafted through his nose as the savory and meaty vor of the garlic and the duck meat spread in his mouth.

    After that, Minhyuk picked up the bowl of bean sprout soup that he made along with the duck jumulleok and took a sip. The refreshing soup rinsed down the spiciness and greasiness that lingered in his mouth.

    Just like that, Minhyuk ate four pieces of duck meat in a row. Minhyuk thought, <em>¡®Wow. How can something like this taste this good¡­?¡¯</em>

    Rend, who was eating his own duck jumulleok, paused in admiration as he watched Minhyuk eat, <em>¡®Aaaah. What a very down-to-earth and humble king¡­!¡¯</em>

    Rend was nowpletely blinded by affection after having a taste of Minhyuk¡¯s dish.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk began to cut the remaining duck jumulleok on the grill with his scissors. Then, he covered his rice bowl with the lid and shook it, before pouring the contents over the grilling te and sprinkling them with some chopped peri leaves and lettuce. Of course, he did not forget to drizzle it with the savory and fragrant sesame oil.

    <em>Sizzlee¡ª</em>

    Using his wooden spat, Minhyuk skillfully tossed and turned the fried rice on his grilling te. After stir-frying it well, he carefully spread it out on the grilling te before sprinkling it with some seaweed kes that curled and danced on top of it.

    Minhyuk turned off the heat. Then, he grabbed his spoon and mixed the still-hot duck jumulleok fried rice.

    ¡°<em>Fwooooo!</em>¡±

    He scooped a mouthful and blew on it gently before putting everything in his mouth. Heat spread in his mouth. However, Minhyuk found it very delightful as he continued to chew on the spoonful of the fried rice.

    The sweet vor of the rice, the various vegetables, and the spicy sauce created the perfect harmony in his mouth. It was like the icing on the cake for his duck jumulleok meal.

    After eating everything, Minhyuk looked around him, <em>¡®You¡¯re all eating well, huh?¡¯</em>

    They were all eating well, not knowing that this might probably be theirst meal.

    iney and Rend, who had both finished their meals, looked at each other.

    <em>¡®Having a meal like this before going to the battlefield will definitely make you confident and at ease.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I¡¯ve never tasted anything like this before.¡¯</em>

    They did not know how helpful this dish would be, but it was better to be full than hungry, although they were not expecting anything from this dish¡¯s buffs.

    <em>[You have eaten Duck Jumulleok.]</em>

    <em>[Legendary Dish.]</em>

    <em>[Your STR will increase by 13%, STM will increase by 10%, and AGI will increase by 8%.]</em>

    <em>[Your Physical and Magical Attack will increase by 20%.]</em>

    <em>[Your Physical and Magical Defense will increase by 20%.]</em>

    <em>[God¡¯s Axe Technique¡¯s level will increase by +1.]</em>

    <em>[The buff willst for two days.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Rend¡¯s eyes grew wide. It was crazy. The effects were truly freaking crazy. With this, he was confident that the fall of Masserati Kingdom, which they predicted to only happen after a week, would be finished in a day.

    <em>¡®God¡¯s Axe Technique has leveled up by one?¡¯</em>

    This was all thanks to the description written in the ¡®ck Duck¡¯, where it would increase the level of whatever the person wanted to increase the most. In other words, the duck meat had the power to recognize what the other person wanted the most.

    Rend practiced the God¡¯s Axe Technique and he had always wanted to reach a higher level. With the +1 increase in level of the God¡¯s Axe Technique, he was confident that had be 1.5x stronger.

    ¡°What, what a magnificent meal.¡±

    ¡°Amazing¡­¡±

    They all developed a sense of respect for Minhyuk, the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King.

    ¡°If it¡¯s a meal like this¡­¡±

    ¡°We will give you what we had promised you.¡±

    Rend and iney each handed a book to Minhyuk.

    <em>[You have obtained the book about Sword of the Gods¡¯ Rend¡¯s Best Axe Technique.]</em>

    <em>[You are the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King</em>.<em> The skills of the soldiers who use the </em><em>axe</em><em> will increase by at least one level after reading this book.]</em>

    <em>[¡­book about Sword of the Gods¡¯ iney¡¯s Best Spearmanship¡­]</em>

    <em>[You are the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King¡­]</em>

    The results were quite excellent. Rend and iney¡¯s faces were filled with smiles.

    ¡°Once we return from the war, we will surely tell His Majesty about your contributions, Your Majesty Minhyuk.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps, His Majesty will view you in a positive light too.¡±

    ¡°Alright.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded at them, watching as they marched to war. They could not help but admire Minhyuk, who sent them off from the entrance, as their march brought them further away from the empire.

    ¡°Hoo. The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King is a much better man than I thought.¡±

    ¡°You think so too?¡±

    ¡°I think it would be very nice if the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and our Luvien Empire forges a close rtionship.¡±

    Then, they told one of the soldiers next to them, ¡°Let His Majesty know that His Majesty Minhyuk¡¯s cooking has brought no harm to us.¡±

    ¡°We have tried it ourselves, so we are sure.¡±

    They all waved at Minhyuk, who was also waving at them.

    Minhyuk smiled at their leaving backs. <em>¡®You better look carefully, you f*</em><em>ckers</em><em>.¡¯</em>

    He recalled the quest that he received when he faced Nerva Sephiroth. Back then, Nerva had scoffed at him when Minhyuk insinuated that Nerva would want to have a cup of tea with him soon.

    <em>[<strong>Quest</strong>: A Cup of Tea with Nerva Sephiroth.]</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: SSS</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: Empire¡¯s Honored Guest.</em>

    <em><strong>Rewards</strong>: ???</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: Nerva Sephiroth, the emperor of the Luvien Empire, has mmed his door upon you. If he asks you for a cup of tea first, then that means that he has taken a step back and will allow concessions toward your kingdom.</em>

    The quest sounded easy. However, that was not the case at all. The rank, which was at SSS, was proof of how hard it was. This was the simplest show of how powerful and influential Nerva was.

    <em>¡®Shall I speed things up a bit?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk started to make his move.

    ***

    <em>[The First gue.]</em>

    <em>[Blood will color the rivers red.]</em>

    A dark and dreary voice suddenly rang across the entire Luvien Empire as the rivers that ran across the empire slowly turned red with blood.

    ¡°B, blood¡­ Kyaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°H, Heok!!!¡±

    ¡°M, mom!!!¡±

    In the wells used by the wives, in the valleys where the children ran around, even the water that they drank.

    ¡°<em>Bleeeeeegh</em><em>!!! </em>What the hell is this?! Isn¡¯t this blood?!¡±

    ¡°The entire world is covered with blood¡­¡±

    Of course, the Luvien Empire was a very powerful nation. Their mages were able to create water and provide their people with the minimum amount of potable water. However, the problem was that they did not know the cause of this.

    ¡°Your Majesty, I have heard reports that Food God Minhyuk¡¯s dishes were of great help to those that went to war.¡±

    Nerva nodded and asked, ¡°What about Food God Minhyuk?¡±

    ¡°He has only been looking around and eating at the amodation that you have given him.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    It was very hard not to assume. After all, this crazy thing happened as soon as he came here. However, he did not do anything at all.

    At that moment, dreaded notifications rang out.

    <em>[The Second gue.]</em>

    <em>[The Third gue.]</em>

    <em>[The Fourth gue.]</em>

    <em>[The fish will jump out of the water. Heads will be filled with lice. And flies will take over the sky.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Nerva Sephiroth frowned at that. However, he suddenly felt an itch in his head.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Several lice fell on his hands when he gentlybed his hair with his hands.

    ¡°Kyaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Ugh, Aaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Nerva immediately rushed with his retainers to the highest point in the castle to observe the situation of the capital. They were very shocked to see flies upying the sky, turning it into a sea of ck. They flew swiftly, clinging tightly on the bodies of everyone inside the capital. It was a terrible sight to see.

    ¡°Have you not found any solution to this?!¡±

    Fortunately, they had not had any casualties yet. However, the people would be in fear, which would in turn shake their nation. If their capital was shaken, the other empires and kingdoms might see this as an opportunity. Perhaps they might evenugh at them and tell them that it was their punishment.

    ¡°We first need to figure out the cause¡­¡±

    ¡°Where¡¯s the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King?!!!¡±

    ¡°We will check his whereabouts quickly.¡±

    Nerva¡¯s retainers moved, quickly returning to give their report.

    ¡°The ones we ced on his side to monitor him have said that he did not do anything.¡±

    It was really driving him nuts. He firmly believed that the man was the cause of it all but he did not even have any physical evidence to prove his ims.

    <em>[The Fifth gue.]</em>

    <em>[The livestocks will die and an epidemic will spread.]</em>

    ¡°Ugh¡­ aaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°N, nooooo!!!¡±

    ¡°<em>Urrrrrrrrk</em><em>!!!</em>¡±

    In just a few hours, most of the livestock inside the Luvien Empire had died. The livestocks that died began to dpose in just a few hours, their carcasses rotting swiftly. The flies that covered the skies flocked and ate their dead bodies, carrying the virus in them and spreading the gue among the people. The people¡¯s skin started to turn bloody red, a nasty stench reeking from deep within their bones.

    <em>[The Sixth gue.]</em>

    <em>[The skin that has grown red will fester and get inmed.]</em>

    Large abscesses grew on the bodies of the people of the empire. These abscesses were so terribly inmed that yellow pus started toe out of them. Boils grew on everyone, whether they were unmarried women or strong men.

    Then, the unidentified voice gave them a warning.

    <em>[The final disaster, the Tenth gue, will be the punishment for the greedy one.]</em>

    Nerva concentrated on the sound of the voice.

    <em>[You will lose the one that you cherish the most.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The one that Nerva cherished the most was his daughter, the princess. Although three princes had been born to him, the princess, who was born in hister years, was the apple of his eye.

    That was when Nerva thought, <em>¡®Didn¡¯t my dear princess cough a lot a few days ago?¡¯</em>

    Nerva hurriedly gave his orders to the knights, ¡°Tell the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King that we shall have a cup of tea.¡±

    Minhyuk had clearly told him a few days ago.

    <em>¡ªI believe you will want to meet with me and drink a cup soon. </em>

    Back then, Nerva just scoffed at the man. But right now, he was the one that was giving the order to do so. This was a disgrace, a disgrace that would not be easily washed away.

    Two hours passed by just like that.

    <em>[The Seventh gue.]</em>

    <em>[The skies will bring punishment upon thend.]</em>

    Hailstones that were as big as a fist began to fall from the sky, breaking the roofs over everyone¡¯s heads and injuring the people. And that was not all, even balls of fire fell down from all over the ce, burning those shattered houses and forcing the people to gather in the za.

    ¡°Your Majesty!!!¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty Nerva!!! Please save us from this disaster, we beg you!!!¡±

    As he listened to the cries of his people, Nerva thought, <em>¡®How the hell did he do this?¡¯</em>

    He was both curious and doubtful.

    <em>¡®Is it really possible for a person to have power like this?¡¯</em>

    Nerva¡¯smon sense dictated that it was impossible. How dare someone so trivial bring forth danger to the entire Luvien Empire, right? Just with this power alone, he knew that it was possible to destroy the empire.

    <em>¡®What if¡­ it¡¯s an illusion¡­?¡¯</em>

    Nerva Sephiroth was a very clever and crafty ruler. He was able to see right through the crux of the matter. However, there was this fear that was lingering in his head.

    <em>¡®What if it is real? If so, then the princess will die.¡¯</em>

    But everything would be over once he had a cup of tea with the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King. Anyway, the man would be greatly honored to have a cup of tea with him. Besides, Nerva was sure that the man would be happy to forge friendly rtions with the Luvien Empire.

    Then, Knight Commander Don arrived to meet him. The problem was there was no Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King, the man that Nerva believed woulde rushing once he called, in sight.

    ¡°Where is he?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Don could not open his mouth. He could not bring himself to say what he wanted to say.

    ¡°Commander Don?!!! Where in the world is he?!!!¡±

    Knight Commander Don carefully recalled the words that the man said as he slowly answered Nerva, ¡°He said that he was afraid that he would not be able to meet with you right now since he is a bit busy.¡±

    Nerva Sephiroth, the absolute being under the care of the Battle God, sprang to his feet. ¡°W, what¡­?! That¡¯s ridiculous¡­!¡±

    How dare he refuse the emperor¡¯s request? Was he truly a crazy bastard?! That was when Nerva realized that this was the man¡¯s way of mocking him for trampling on his pride before.

    <em>¡®What if the man truly has something urgent to deal with?¡¯ </em>

    Nerva had to calm his anger down first and ask, ¡°What was the reason? Why did he say that he could note?¡±

    Donn stuttered, trying to spit out the words that the man had conveyed to him, ¡°He said¡­ Chi¡­ e¡­¡±

    No matter how hard Don tried, even if his face had already turned red, he still could not spit the words out properly.

    The emperor asked him again, ¡°What is it?¡±

    Don still kept his mouth shut. He had always been cautious and careful with the things that he did. But now, he had no choice but to close his eyes and say those words loudly. ¡°¡­I¡¯m busy eating chicken. Your Majeeeeesty!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Nerva Sephiroth was left speechless for a moment. And he, who had always presented himself with courtesy and manners ended up spitting out strings of curses.

    ¡°This f*cking!@##!$@#$%$!#$?#!#bastard!@#!#shi!@#!#.¡±

 Chapter 699: The Ten Plagues

    Chapter 699: The Ten gues

    <em>Rumbleeeeeeee¡ª</em>

    <em>ck, ck, ck, ck¡ª</em>

    Lost in his thoughts, Nerva Sephiroth¡¯s expression was dark amidst the sound of hail and fireballs crashing on the castle roofs.

    <em>Griiiiip¡ª</em>

    <em>¡®How dare the king of such a small nation¡­¡¯</em>

    Nerva had asked Minhyuk to have a cup of tea. However, he was rejected by the man because Minhyuk ¡®had to eat chicken¡¯.

    Nerva was filled with pride. As the emperor appointed by the Battle God, he firmly believed that he was the only man that could rule thisnd. But, a mere foreigner king was showing contempt toward him. Still, the anger that he felt only boiled for a brief moment.

    <em>[The Eighth gue.]</em>

    <em>[A gue of locusts will descend and devour everything.]</em>

    ¡°Your Majesty!!!¡±

    The servants rushed inside. When he followed them outside, Nerva saw a sea of locusts engulfing the entire Luvien Empire.

    ¡°¡­They¡¯re eating all of our crops.¡±

    ¡°We''re already suffering from food shortage as it is.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Nerva groaned.

    <em>¡®There is an epidemic going around and even all of the water sources have turned into blood, yet there are still no casualties.¡¯</em>

    Even their livestocks were dying, yet no one had died from starvation.

    <em>¡®This is obviously an illusion!¡¯</em>

    Even though he thought that everything was nothing but an illusion, he still feared theing of the Tenth gue. What if the warning from the dreary voice about him ¡®losing the one that he cherishes the most¡¯ turned out to be true?

    ¡°What about the princess?¡±

    ¡°She has developed a fever and even her coughs have gotten worse.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Nerva turned nervous. However, the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King had opted to ignore his summons. He was trapped between a rock and a hard ce.

    <em>[The Ninth gue.]</em>

    <em>[Pitch-ck darkness will cover everything.]</em>

    In a situation where there were infectious diseases running rampant, insects infesting everything, as well as hail and fireballs falling from the sky, the sudden plunge into pitch-ck darkness of the entire Luvien Empire heightened the fear in everyone.

    Even Nerva started to grow uneasy. He quickly ran to see the princess, only to see the child that he loved dearly hacking from the cough that gued her as cold sweat dripped down her body.

    ¡°Father¡­¡±

    The other princes were not allowed to refer to Nerva Sephiroth as ¡®father¡¯. They had always been ordered to call him ¡®Your Majesty¡¯. The princess was the only exception. Nerva only allowed her to call him father. Nerva Sephiroth was still a human after all.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry too much. You have been looking quite emaciated these past few days.¡±

    Nerva¡¯splexion turned pale after seeing the princess, who was still in cold sweat, worrying about him.

    <em>[The final disaster will soon fall upon thesends.]</em>

    Once again, that unidentified and dreary voice rang loudly.

    ***

    The ¡®Bird that Flies a Thousand Miles¡¯ flew at the speed of light to deliver the parchment it was carrying to all races and ces all throughout the continent. The parchment carried the figure of a ck dragon ascending to the heavens. The symbol was of the sender of the letter, ck Dragon.

    Ruth hurriedly epted the parchment and delivered it to Her Majesty Ellie, who carefully pored over the contents of the chuunibyou-like parchment.

    For unverified letters, Ruth would read them first before passing them on to Her Majesty Ellie. He could not help but recall the contents of the parchment that he received earlier.

    <em>[ck Dragon is gathering people.]</em>

    <em>[He is gathering people that will deliver a huge blow to the Luvien Empire.]</em>

    <em>[He has named the group that will be formed through this as ¡®Team Darkness¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[ck Dragon has given a codename that suited those that will gather under the banner of this team the most.]</em>

    <em>[Ellie¡¯s codename will be: Red me Swordsman.]</em>

    <em>¡®Her Majesty will be called Red me Swordsman¡­ Goodness, he gave the Continental Emperor the codename Red me Swordsman?!¡¯</em>

    Aide Ruth felt his cheeks burn from embarrassment. It sounded like the codename of someone that shouted, <em>¡®Take this! This is the ming Sword of Justice!!!¡±</em> or something like that. The thought alone made Ruth¡¯s face turn red. Ellie, on the other hand, remained silent after reading the parchment.

    <em>¡®Maybe Her Majesty is feeling embarrassed too? That¡¯s why she¡¯s not speaking?¡¯</em>

    Ellie just walked slowly and headed out toward the ramparts. The moonlight shone brightly over Ellie and the peaceful Eivelis Empire. Under the light of the moon, one could see the small flush on her cheeks and the slight tremble of her body.

    <em>¡®She¡¯s really too shy to speak</em>. <em>She¡¯s even tearing up from the embarrassment¡­¡¯</em>

    Was that how a person looked like if they were too embarrassed? Then, Ellie opened her mouth. ¡°Ruth¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty.¡±

    ¡°Red me Swordsman.¡±

    There was a tremble in Ellie¡¯s voice as she looked up at the bright moon. Ruth, who watched his empress like that, thought he understood her feelingspletely.

    ¡°It¡¯s too¡­¡±

    <em>¡®That¡¯s right. She must be so embarrassed¡­¡¯</em>

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t it sound so cool?¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    ¡°In the name of Team Darkness, I am the Red me Swordsman.¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    ¡°It sounds like the name of someone that can burn the world with just a single strike of their sword, no? I feel more satisfied with this name, more so than the name Continental Emperor.¡±

    ¡°Your¡­ Your Majesty?¡±

    ¡°How should I appear so that I will look cooler? Will it sound cooler if I say, <em>¡®Burn with my sword of mes!¡¯</em> when I appear once the Masserati Kingdom is in danger?¡±

    <em>¡®N, no¡­ Your Majesty¡­?¡¯</em>

    ¡°I really can¡¯t help but admire ck Dragon¡¯s naming sense once again. He¡¯s really a genius. I should consult with him about the name of our next knight order.¡±

    <em>¡®¡­¡¯</em>

    The words that Minhyuk told him in the past shed in Ruth¡¯s head.

    <em>¡ªEllie-noona is a member of ¡®Gremory and the Attention Seekers¡¯. Please pay attention and be careful, Sir Aide.</em>

    Only then did Ruth realize that those words were true.

    Then, Ellie, with a very grave look on her face, murmured, ¡°How¡­ how should I make my appearance more splendid¡­ Hoo¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ***

    At the same time.

    The ¡®Bird that Flies a Thousand Miles¡¯ had arrived in another kingdom. It was the Lumae Kingdom, a small nation yet it had the power that wasparable to the power of a considerablyrge empire.

    These days, Prince Votto had been very worried about his father. <em>¡®Father¡­¡¯</em>

    Once in a while, his father, King Raldo, would recall the past.

    ¡ª<em>Son, these days I keep on remembering the battle back then.</em>

    Back then, his father was given the codename: Absolute Strongest Uncle Red Dragon, and yed an active role in the war. The thrill of that day was something that King Raldo could never forget. There were even times when he would say that he felt like his mouth and hands were itching to do something and that he could not stand it.

    ¡°My father received a mysterious letter?¡±

    Prince Votto immediately rushed to where his father was. There, he saw his father, King Raldo, sitting on his throne and shedding tears as he read the letter in his hands.

    King Raldo was a legend that built the Lumae Kingdom up from the ground, making it a nation that no other small nation or kingdom could ever dare touch so easily. He was also considered as the strongest existing king in Asgan Continent and stood among the ranks of the Absolute Supreme NPCs.

    However, that very same Raldo was weeping. When Raldo and the knights entered with a concerned look on their faces, he just turned to the window and smiled at the moonlight that shone through the windows.

    ¡°The day has finallye. They said that they¡¯re gathering people again. And the name of the team this time is even better than before.¡±

    ¡°F, father¡­?¡±

    ¡°Team Darkness. Isn¡¯t it such a noble and majestic name? Just like that name of the night sky, no?!!¡±

    ¡°D, dad¡­?¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty¡­!¡±

    Raldo suddenly covered his face with hisrge hand,ughter escaping through his mouth.

    ¡°<em>Fufufufu.</em> Votto, if you hear the codename that I received this time, you will also want to join Team Darkness.¡±

    ¡°Absolutely, absolutely not! Never!!!¡±

    ¡°The name given to me this time is Darksword. The Darksword that will leave its mark in the annals of history. Fuhahahahahaha!!!¡±

    Prince Votto¡¯s face turned ugly. He looked like he wanted to cry.

    <em>¡®D, dad. Please¡­¡¯</em>

    ***

    Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Vice Guild Master Genie walked out while thinking, <em>¡®Only a few people should go as reinforcements to the </em><em>Masserati</em><em> Kingdom. Since the public is still in chaos after the war, we should not send many troops.¡¯</em>

    If they did that, the people would just grow uneasy. Genie sent a whisper to Minhyuk regarding this concern. Thankfully, Minhyuk sent a whisper back swiftly.

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: My dad said that he will think of a team name. If it¡¯s Gremory and the Attention Seekers, they will definitelye to gain some attention. Don¡¯t worry too much about it.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Genie</strong>: Gremory and the Attention Seekers?]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>:¡­You see¡­ They are people that like to seek others'' attention¡­]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Genie</strong>: ???]</em>

    Gremory and the Attention Seekers? It was a very strange name. However, Genie still decided to go and see ck Dragon just in case something was amiss.

    When she arrived in front of ck Dragon¡¯s house, she saw that the door was already open.

    ¡°Huh¡­?¡±

    Genie stepped inside and saw how unique the house was. To put it in other words, it was very much in his style. Even the gloomy feeling was up to point. At the same time, ck Dragon¡¯s voice rang from deep within the house.

    <em>[Come in.]</em>

    Genie chased after the sound of the voice and was promptly left speechless by the sight. Britney was curled up in front of ck Dragon while Breaker had his arms wrapped gently around him. ck Dragon giggled as the four dragons surrounded him.

    ¡°I¡¯m well aware what Miss Genie is worried about.¡±

    <em>¡®Father¡­¡¯</em>

    At this point, they should have already gotten used to Chairman Kang Minhoo¡¯s preferences. However, Genie just could not bring herself to get used to it.

    ck Dragonughed as he continued to speak with his gloomy voice, ¡°All of the members of Team Darkness have agreed to my proposal.¡±

    ¡°I, I see. That¡¯s a relief.¡±

    Genie could see that ck Dragon already had another guest. This guest was none other than Ascar. After her transfer to the Absolute Demigod ss, she had be one of the strong pirs of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    ck Dragon turned to look at Ascar and said, ¡°As I was saying before, God of the Battlefield, your mission is to use that ¡®voice¡¯, that can even show contempt to the gods, and let the world know of the splendid appearance of the members of Team Darkness.¡±

    ¡°¡­Yes,¡± Ascar answered. She looked like she wanted to cry.

    Genie easily interpreted those words, <em>¡®So, to put it simply¡­ Once Gremory and the Attention Seekers appear, ¡®Scar will use her ¡®God¡¯s Voice¡¯ and help them make a more splendid appearance¡­?¡¯</em>

    Ascar turned to look at Genie, with an unmistakable look in her eyes.

    <em>¡®Genie¡­ please help me¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®S, ¡®Scar¡­¡¯</em>

    Goodness, the only Absolute Demigod ss, Asura Ascar, had turned into ck Dragon¡¯s ¡®God of Voice¡¯ shuttle!!!

    ¡°<em>Fufufufu. </em><em>Keuhahahahahahahahaha</em><em>!!!</em> The slumbering being on my right arm is already going crazy from the activities that we¡¯re about to partake in!!! <em>Keuhahahahahahaha</em><em>!!!</em>¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Genie and Ascar both wanted to cry at this moment.

    ***

    Minhyuk had received a whisper from Genie.

    <em>[<strong>Genie</strong>: Minhyuk, Gremory and the Attention¡­ No, Team Darkness has finished preparations and is ready to go to war.]</em>

    He nodded. This was something that he already expected. The Gremory and the Attention Seekers that he knew would most definitely appear in this battle. After all, they would surely attract attention here.

    Meanwhile, he was feeling restless.

    <em>¡®I heard news that the princess had contracted a sickness at this time but¡­¡¯</em>

    The illusion of the disaster would only appear once the gue had been announced. In other words, the princess¡¯ sickness was not something that Minhyuk was involved in, since the Tenth gue had not yet arrived.

    Basically, the princess was truly sick.

    <em>¡®Is he not going to do anything even though I sent them back?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had sent the servants back to Nerva to humiliate him. At the same time, the quest ¡®A Cup of Tea with Nerva Sephiroth¡¯ had changed to ¡®Nerva¡¯s Move¡¯. It was a quest where he had to make Nerva, the emperor of the great Luvien Empire, make a move on his own. If Nerva would not personallye here, then Minhyuk might actually incur plenty of damages with how he acted afterward.

    Minhyuk decided to check the situation outside first. So, he opened the door, only to be shocked. It was because Emperor Nerva¡¯s pale face greeted him. The man was just about to knock on the door when he was suddenly met with Minhyuk¡¯s eyes, his hands forced to stop.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    And what did Minhyuk do? It was simple.

    <em>Grin¡ª</em>

    One side of his mouth curled up into a smirk.

 Chapter 700: The Ten Plagues

    Chapter 700: The Ten gues

    Who was Nerva Sephiroth? He yed the most important role in Athenae¡¯s second era. He was one of the absolute beings that the Battle God had chosen to descend to earth to lead an army that was so powerful that even several empiresbined would not be able to win against them.

    As such, Nerva Sephiroth was very prideful and arrogant. However, he was currently sporting a very pale look on his face. His hands that were about to knock on the door paused in mid-air when Minhyuk suddenly appeared in front of him.

    <em>[You havepleted the <strong>Quest</strong>: Nerva Sephiroth¡¯s Move.]</em>

    <em>[Nerva Sephiroth is the emperor of the Luvien Empire. It is very unusual for him to make the move first.]</em>

    <em>[Please coordinate with Nerva Sephiroth for your rewards.]</em>

    Minhyuk caught a glimpse of the hundreds of escort knights and soldiers that were standing behind Nerva, a scene that prompted a confused expression on his face.

    ¡°Why did Your Majestye to this shabby ce?¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you want to have a cup of tea with me?¡±

    Minhyuk turned to look inside the house. He acted as if he was busy with something. Simply put, he was disregarding Emperor Nerva¡¯s presence right in front of him. However, Nerva still held his anger back.

    ¡°Pleasee inside.¡±

    Minhyuk first allowed Nerva inside while ncing at the troops stationed outside.

    ¡°Knights, stay on standby.¡±

    ¡°¡­Yes, Your Majesty.¡±

    The only ones that entered the house were Minhyuk and Nerva.

    Minhyuk quickly served some chamomile tea. ¡°You look quite anxious and restless. Chamomile has a calming effect and can soothe the mind and the body. Please have some.¡±

    He had clearly heard that the rewards that he would receive would depend on the deal that they would make here.

    ¡°The empire seems quite noisy these past few days?¡± Minhyuk thus began his act.

    ¡°¡­I will be straightforward with you. Stop these disasters right now.¡±

    The moment Minhyuk arrived, disaster fell upon their empire. Nerva was convinced that he was the cause, especially after hearing that sly undertone in his voice.

    Of course, Minhyuk sported a confused expression on his face. ¡°Stop the disasters?¡±

    Nerva was currently very anxious and tense. What if something went wrong with the princess?

    ¡°If something happens to the princess, I will not let the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom go. Your kingdom will not be safe.¡±

    That was the truth. If Nerva made up his mind, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would disappear from the map in just a week. The Luvien Empire could also give quests to other yers and get them to help destroy the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    ¡°Why are you suddenly besmirching Beyond the Heavens?¡± Minhyuk asked, his gaze turning fierce.

    Nerva grabbed the cup of tea presented to him and stared at Minhyuk.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The overwhelming killing intent that poured out from Nerva¡¯s body made Minhyuk feel breathless. Minhyuk could not help but be surprised. After all, the air around them hadpletely turned sharp from the man¡¯s killing intent.

    <em>¡®Just how strong is Nerva?¡¯</em>

    Nerva Sephiroth was not just a simple emperor. He was someone that was recognized by the Battle God. Even his climb to the throne was very unusual. Minhyuk was certain that Nerva was a very powerful man, someone that he could not win against.

    ¡°Is it because this emperor has wronged you? Forgive us for letting you live in a ce like this. To tell you the truth, there¡¯s not enough room for distinguished guests of the imperial family.¡± Nerva suddenly remembered his current situation and instantly erased the killing intent that he was releasing.

    ¡°I promise you, the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King, if you feel like you have been wronged, then I will make sure topensate you for it.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what in the world you¡¯re talking about. What do you mean by stopping the disasters? And what do you mean bypensating me? This is making me uneasy,¡± Minhyuk said, shaking his head while sporting a miserable expression.

    ¡°Not too long ago, many of our people and soldiers had died because of the army that the God of Death had sent and the vicious and heinous group that aided them.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Nerva was aware that those words were aimed at him.

    ¡°I feel bitter resentment toward those people. And I will make sure to show those that did this to us what kind of power we have.¡±

    ¡°The God of Death is not some kind of pushover.¡±

    ¡°But I cannot back down on this. On another note, you have told me that you willpensate me. However, I do not know what you mean. But if I dare ask you¡­¡± Minhyuk looked back up and made eye contact with Nerva.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s different.¡¯</em>

    At that moment, Nerva realized that the man in front of him was different from the kings and the puppets that inherited the throne from previous emperors, the ones that licked the path that he walked on and kissed his shoes. Nerva even felt a bit of admiration for him at this moment.

    <em>¡®He is a talent that can be an emperor.¡¯</em>

    Perhaps he might reach a greater height than Continental Emperor Ellie. That was when Nerva felt a bit of fear. If Ellie and this man cooperated andbined their strength while still growing, it might be impossible for him to devour the entire continent.

    Whether he knew what Nerva was thinking or not, Minhyuk said, ¡°I¡¯m not asking for too much, Your Majesty Nerva. I just want to appease my kingdom and the families of the bereaved that were affected by the war.¡±

    His first demand was gold.

    ¡°The war has also made us lose and break a lot of our weapons. It is to the point that we have to import a lot from the other nations.¡±

    His second demand was artifacts from the Luvien Empire, an empire that was overflowing with such things.

    ¡°Ah. From what I heard, you are holding plenty of prisoners inside the Luvien Empire¡¯s underground prison, is that true? If some of my people are there then¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Nerva did not even bother to answer.

    The third demand was the release of the prisoners of war from the underground prison.

    ¡°Also, I¡¯ve heard that the Luvien Empire has plenty of interesting ingredients.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Nerva was confused, wondering if he heard correctly.

    ¡°You know, that ingredient where you can get either fruits, vegetables, or even meat? The ingredient that would make someone grow stronger if they eat the product produced after nting? What was it called? ¡®Seed of Growth¡¯¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Nerva¡¯s eyes grew wide. <em>¡®How, how did he know about the Seed of Growth?¡¯</em>

    The Seed of Growth was something that Nerva Sephiroth had obtained as a reward from the Battle God after he had made another achievement. It was a ¡®God-grade¡¯ ingredient.

    However, the most surprising thing about this ingredient was the fact that it could increase the potential of the being that consumed it. However, it would have no other effects for those that were already normally strong.

    What would happen if a soldier consumed such an ingredient? The seed could identify if that person had the desire and passion to get strong. Also, if that person was talented but was not strong, it would promote a higher growth in potential.

    <em>¡®It has the power to turn an ordinary soldier into a legend of this era.¡¯</em>

    Nerva, who acquired this seed just a few days ago, was actually looking for a person to feed it.

    The reason why Minhyuk knew about it was because of his ¡®Ingredient Search¡¯ skill, which would automatically search for cooking ingredients within a one kilometer radius.

    <em>¡®I even walked around the castle grounds on purpose for this.¡¯</em>

    Nerva pondered deeply for a very long time. This seed was also very valuable to him. After he finished thinking, he said, ¡°Can your Beyond the Heavens Kingdom handle this?¡±

    ¡°¡­Isn¡¯t that something that we¡¯ll only know if we try it?¡±

    ¡°Interesting.¡±

    Nerva smiled. Once this deal was concluded, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would openly be the enemy of the Luvien Empire. This was because they had made their presence firmly known to Nerva Sephiroth.

    ¡°I will send gifts to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom in the form of gold, treasures and artifacts.¡±

    <em>[Nerva Sephiroth has promised to give you 5,000 tinum as a gift!]</em>

    <em>[Nerva Sephiroth has promised to give you 20,000 weapons, 30,000 armor, and 5,000 essories!]</em>

    ¡°I also promise to release the prisoners of war being held in the underground prison.¡±

    <em>[You can now enter the Luvien Empire¡¯s prisons and bring the prisoners of war out!]</em>

    ¡°I will also give you this Seed of Growth.

    <em>[You have acquired the Seed of Growth!]</em>

    Nerva held out a handkerchief bearing the symbol of their empire to Minhyuk. This handkerchief contained the Seed of Growth.

    Minhyuk smiled lightly once he received it. This was his victory.

    But before Nerva stepped out, he said, ¡°Everythinges at a price.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk knew what it meant. One way or another, the Luvien Empire would make sure to make them pay for this. Perhaps the destruction of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would even be sped up. Still, Minhyuk could not resist having onest jab.

    ¡°Ah. Please do have some chicken with me sometime. It¡¯s delicious.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Nerva¡¯s face turned red as he hurried out of the room.

    <em>Thud!!!</em>

    The doors finally closed.

    After receiving the Seed of Growth, Minhyuk pondered deeply, <em>¡®I have to find someone loyal. They should not be strong yet, but they must have the skills and will give their all. I need someone like that.¡¯</em>

    ***

    Deep underground the Luvien Empire¡¯s Imperial Castle was a prison. Its cells were filled with prisoners of war from several kingdoms and empires.

    As the Luvien Empire wanted to dig out the secrets that they knew, the means of torture that these prisoners underwent were extremely terrible. There were even cases where some had their eyes gouged out.

    In this underground prison, there was a soldier stripped down to his underwear and shivering fiercely from the cold, while countless prisoners were dying around him. All of the soldier¡¯s nails and even his toenails had been pulled out. This soldier was none other than the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s soldier, Nero.

    Nero was born with a weak body. However, despite his condition, he never neglected a day of exercise and had always walked the proper path when learning, in order to be a soldier.

    He had always been grateful to Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King Minhyuk. <em>¡®I will never forget it.¡¯</em>

    The people of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were not starved. No, they used to starve but not anymore.

    Soldier Nero¡¯s house had been shabby and dpidated and they used to starve. Then one day, his mother grew sick. Unfortunately, he did not even have the money to make porridge for her. At that time, the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ soldiers knocked on their door and gave them a bag of flour.

    On that day, a royal decree was passed down. It said that there would no longer be hungry and starving people in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Nero hugged the bag of flour and wept bitterly. That was the day that he decided to be a soldier.

    Nero trained and practiced hard, and grew to be a skilled,petent soldier. However, war came and he was dragged into it.

    ¡°Shall we start again?¡±

    The prison guards appeared, slowly approaching him with iron rods heated in fire.

    A while ago, some of the imperial guards came and went to this ce to torture them. It was a very long and painful time to the point that the others had already fainted in the middle. There were even some of them that shouted ¡®I¡¯ll tell you!¡¯. But the guards continued to torture them. That was why Nero was sure that they were just doing this for fun.

    ¡°Tell us the secrets of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Where is the secret passage to the kingdom?¡±

    Nero, who was curled up in the corner and trembling from the cold, saw the reddish and hot rod that wasing his way. The pain of getting his nails pulled out was already unbearable, he shuddered to think what would happen if he got stabbed with such a thing.

    ¡°¡­I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°Hmmm.¡±

    The guard looked at Nero pensively as he continued to torture and abuse his body. All Nero could do was clench his teeth and endure the pain.

    ¡°<em>Heuk! Ugh!</em>¡±

    Tears poured down from his eyes, his consciousness and rationality slipping further away from him as the smell of burnt flesh and the smoke of the hot rod invaded his nose.

    ¡°Are you ready to talk?¡± The guard asked him with an evil grin.

    Nero breathed roughly as he firmly shook his head. ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t¡­ know!!!¡±

    <em>Sizzleeeeeee¡ª</em>

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Nello¡¯s torture was endless, his skin getting burned all over. In the end, the guards began to resort to breaking his fingers.

    ¡°Urk!!!¡±

    At that moment, the conversation that he had with the other prisoners of wars came to mind.

    <em>¡ªYou might as well give up those secrets. No emperor or king would care about us anyway. All of us here have been abandoned.</em>

    <em>¡ªThat¡¯s right. We¡¯re already abandoned. Besides, the empire has promised us riches if we spill the secrets, right?</em>

    <em>¡ªI¡¯ll choose to confess.</em>

    Indeed, there was no king or emperor that would care about their people that had already been captive and turned to prisoners of war.

    ¡ª<em>We are nothing but tools for war.</em>

    With the promise of wealth and riches, most of the captives had decided to betray their nations. But that was not the case for the soldiers of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    ¡ª<em>Even if our king doesn¡¯te.</em>

    <em>¡ªHe will still be our one and only true king, the king that fought for us.</em>

    So, Nero endured.

    ¡°I have never seen such a tough and stubborn guy as this.¡±

    ¡°He hasn¡¯t even passed out.¡±

    In the end, one of the guards dragged Nero¡¯s body out and started another round of torture, this time much terrible than before.

    <em>Sizzleeee¡ª</em>

    ¡°Ugh, aaaaaaack! Uwaaaaaaaaack! Keuaaaaaaack! Keheooooook!¡±

    It was so terrible that the only thing that coulde out of Nero¡¯s mouths were groans and screams of pain. The worst part of this was the trauma inflicted on the mind. Still, Nero endured everything.

    ¡°This bastard is no fun. Let¡¯s just kill him and do the same to the other bastards.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The sound of death loomed upon him as the sword got dragged out of its scabbard and was ced over his neck. It renewed the fear in Nero. He had always wanted to be stronger so that he could be a knight, so that he could cut down his enemies. To be one of the strong of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and gaze at his king, Minhyuk, from afar. What would he say? Those were the thoughts that shed in Nero¡¯s head as he watched the dee nearer.

    In the end, Nero could only close his eyes tightly as he shouted the words that had been raging in his heart. ¡°Be¡­ Be¡­¡±

    ¡°Be? Be¡­ what?¡±

    ¡°Long live¡­ Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡­¡±

    ¡°This f*cking bastard¡­¡±

    ¡°Your¡­ Majesty¡­ Minhyuk¡­ may you live long!!!¡± Nero squeezed out thest of his strength and shouted as loud as he could.

    The guards giggled as they held the sword to his neck, digging into his flesh. But Nero kept his eyes shut, the only thought running through his head, <em>¡®Your Majesty¡­ I hope¡­ I hope¡­ that you live a long and healthy life¡­¡¯</em>

    At that moment, a cold voice rang out.

    ¡°Do not touch this king¡¯s people.¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The guard was sent flying back, his head stuck in the wall opposite Nero.

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    Everyone saw the man ring sharply and coldly at the falling guard, and were shocked.

    ¡°Your, Your Majesty¡­!¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty Minhyuk!!!¡±

    ¡°Your Majeeeeestyyyy!!!¡±

    The prisoners of war from the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom cried out loudly, their heads bowing deeply toward the man. As for the other prisoners of war from the other kingdoms and empires, they were all looking incredulously at the scene.

    <em>¡®The, the king of a nation personally came here to save the prisoners of war?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He did not send his men but he came personally?¡¯</em>

    At that moment, the same thought shed in their heads: <em>I wish the emperor and king that we serve is just like him. </em>They also realized why the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ soldiers did not give in and kept their mouths shut.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry everyone. I camete.¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty!!! Your Majeeeestyyy!!!¡±

    Their howls and cries filled the entire underground prison. Although Nero could only open one eye from how swollen they were, he slowly looked up. There, he saw His Majesty, the one and only king that he served. His king, whose eyes were shining brightly through his ck hair, ced his warm andrge hands on Nero¡¯s shoulder.

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Nero felt warm tears well up in his eyes. Then, an even more shocking statement was spoken.

    ¡°Nero, let¡¯s go home. Your mother is waiting for you.¡±

    ¡°¡­Your Majesty.¡±

    ¡­Minhyuk, whomanded hundreds of thousands of troops, remembered his name.

    ¡°<em>Sob, sob, sob, sob, sob!</em>¡±

    Minhyuk, who saw Nero crying, spoke kindly, ¡°Nero, will youe back with me and be my knight?¡±

    It was at this moment that Minhyuk had decided on who the owner of the Seed of Growth would be.

    Nero replied, tears dripping down his face, ¡°¡­Yes.¡±

    This was the start of the bond between Minhyuk, who would be the emperor in the future, and Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Moon Nero, who would be his shadow.

 Chapter 701: The Ten Plagues

    Chapter 701: The Ten gues

    The Masserati Kingdom, led by the Absolute God ss Absolute Monarch Richard, had been expanding their influence and power recently.

    Several guilds already came under themand and rule of Absolute Monarch Richard, as the yers were fascinated with his special power that could promote their growth. There were also many high-rankers that came knocking on their doors, judging that they would soon overtake the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom due to their development.

    Absolute Monarch Richard possessed the skill ¡®Talent Search¡¯, which helped him discover and awaken people with amazing potential, as well as the passive skill ¡®Supreme Submission¡¯, which won the hearts of many legendary NPCs. With these two skills, he was able to increase the pace of development of the Masserati Kingdom.

    But right now, the Masserati Kingdom was facing an unprecedented, and the greatest, disaster since their founding.

    ¡°Mages! Do you not have any magic anymore?!¡±

    ¡°My MP is all out!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve used up all of our arrows too.¡±

    ¡°Ugh, aaaaaaaack! My eyeeeeees!¡±

    They had been holding out in Esser Fortress for two weeks straight and their situation was turning for the worst.

    Richard watched the battlefield with a grave look on his face. <em>¡®We cannot let them take over Esser Fortress.¡¯</em>

    Esser Fortress was a strategic point. If this fortress got taken down, the enemies would only need four hours to reach the capital of Masserati Kingdom. Simply put, once this ce was conquered, the Imperial Army would be able to take their territories one by one.

    <em>¡®I never expected the Imperial Army¡¯s power to be this overwhelming.¡¯</em>

    Richard was already familiar with the Imperial Army¡¯s reputation. However, he possessed plenty of passive skills that could stimte the growth and raise his soldiers'' powers. Because of that, Richard was confident that his soldiers could be considered as the strongest and the best troops in the continent.

    However, the story changed when the Imperial Army brought out their elite troops.

    <em>¡®An ordinary knight is at the same level as rankers at the top 100,000.¡¯</em>

    As for the elite knights? They were either on par or stronger than rankers at the top 30,000.

    <em>¡®How am I supposed to deal with troops at such a crazy level?¡¯</em>

    At this moment, Richard realized why the empire was the center of attention for Athenae¡¯s second era.

    <em>¡®Fighting them with numbers is meaningless.¡¯</em>

    If he decided to do that, the only one that would be weakened was his Masserati Kingdom.

    <em>¡®Then, does that mean that I can only give up Esser Fortress to the Luvien Empire?¡¯</em>

    No. He could not do that. If he gave in at this point, then the Luvien Empire would just continue to gnaw at and devour his Masserati Kingdom. In fact, what the empire was using as a pretext for this war was that the Masserati Kingdom had set foot and took root in and that was originally theirs.

    <em>¡®There are 70,000 troops from the Imperial Army.¡¯</em>

    As for the Masserati Kingdom? They had around 110,000 troops. However, the number of their soldiers had dropped significantly over the course of this war.

    At that moment, a voice rang out.

    ¡°You must never back down, King of the New World.¡±

    Richard turned around to look at the source of the dreary and gloomy voice. When he turned, he saw the figure of a middle-aged man wearing a ck cape on his shoulders and a helmet that seemed to have been modeled after a dragon.

    <em>¡®ck Dragon¡­?¡¯</em>

    Richard was very familiar with that ck helmet and that rumored dark, chuuni-like way of speech. This man was the father of Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King Minhyuk, also known as the chairman of the global corporation, Ilhwa Group.

    ck Dragon crossed his arms on his chest and looked at the enemies arrogantly. ¡°I have received the calls of the souls of the dead and hade running to this ce.¡±

    ¡°Nice to meet you.¡±

    ck Dragon was also a world-renowned figure so Richard could not just easily ignore him and send him back to where he came from.

    Then, ck Dragon said, ¡°With my eyes that can see over a thousand miles, I can see that the enemy reinforcements are already on their way here.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Richard¡¯s face had turned ugly. Those words only meant one thing. ck Dragon had received information that the enemies would receive reinforcements.

    <em>¡®Damn it!¡¯</em>

    In fact, in a way, he should have expected that things would turn out like this. Ever since the beginning, the empire had been ready to take down the Masserati Kingdom at any given moment. However, they had efficiently distributed the Imperial Army troops to cover several continents so it was just taking a bit longer. The fact that they were going to send reinforcements, no matter how little, would still be too much for the kingdom to handle.

    <em>¡®If they came at us in full force, our kingdom would have already copsed in a day.¡¯</em>

    Thankfully, the story team had arranged it in a way that they would not be annihted without even being able to fight back. However, the fact that the empire could bring the Masserati Kingdom down at any time with just the slightest bit of effort from their emperor would always remain true.

    Masserati Kingdom now had only two ways to survive. One was to abandon their currentnd and find a new one to live in. The second, fight until the end and get theirnds taken over anyway.

    ¡°Did he tell you toe and inform me?¡±

    The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and the Masserati Kingdom were neither allies nor enemies. Simply put, they could not expect to receive a huge favor from them, like support without any consequences.

    ¡°We came here in case you needed help.¡±

    The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had been attacked by the Hell Corps not too long ago. This meant that they did not have plenty of troops avable at the moment, especially since there was a chance that they would also make a counter attack.

    ¡°I see. You want something in return.¡±

    ck Dragon nodded silently.

    ¡°I would like to hear it.¡±

    ¡°First would be hints for God-grade ingredients for our dear Majesty.¡±

    ¡°¡­As expected of your informationwork. Amazing.¡±

    Beyond the Heavens had Informant Abel, who ranked fifth in the Assassination and Informant rankings in Athenae, and he had an impressive informationwork. Not too long ago, Abel had found out that the Masserati Kingdom had acquired God-grade ingredients.

    Meanwhile, there was a man that stood next to Richard and listened to his conversation with ck Dragon.

    <em>¡®Why is His Majesty allowing this trivial conversation to go on?¡¯</em>

    The man was Ricor, and he was working under the name ¡®Mask of Disaster¡¯. Naturally, this was because he had the special ss ¡®Disaster Specialist¡¯, a ss that also used swords.

    Every year, in Athenae, the most anticipated yers with the fastest growth would be hailed as the Five Promising Prospects. Disaster Specialist Ricor was one of those five, rumored to be the best among them.

    In fact, he was able to catch up with the ordinary high-rankers, achieving a high position in the Masserati Kingdom. That was why Ricor, although only twenty years of age, was very arrogant.

    Under Absolute Monarch Richard¡¯smand, he was able to grow even faster. Believing in the power that he and Richard had, Ricor thought that the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would soon be overtaken by the Masserati Kingdom.

    Hence, he could not understand why Richard was bothering with this trivial conversation. Then, more shocking words were exchanged.

    ¡°How many support troops will you send?¡±

    ¡°We have a little more than ten people. We have already set up a team and I assure you that it¡¯s a very great team.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Ricor was very stunned when he heard those words.

    <em>¡®He wanted God-grade ingredients for the support of just ten people?! These crazy bastards!!!¡¯</em>

    However, Ricor tried to stay calm and just stood there watching the situation on the sidelines.

    ¡°Second, hints for the Absolute Demigod sses.¡±

    ¡°¡­!!!¡±

    ¡°That guy next to you, I seem to recall that his name is Ricor? He will soon be the next Absolute Demigod after the first Absolute Demigod Asura, right?¡±

    The informationwork of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was truly beyond incredible. The reason why Ricor had a great attachment to the Masserati Guild was because Richard had personally visited him and told him that he would make him into an Absolute Demigod, just like Ascar, who became one earlier.

    ¡°You probably know a few more methods to be an Absolute Demigod.¡±

    The Absolute Monarch was supposed to be a figure that could go against Nerva Sephiroth. That was why there should be several Absolute Demigod-ss yers beside him.

    ¡°One spot. We only need that one spot that is suitable for one of our guild members.¡±

    Richard continued to listen to the demands.

    ¡°Third, a promise to send support troops. In the future, when something happens to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, you will have to send support troops no matter what.¡±

    ¡°What in the world¡­!¡±

    Ricorpletely lost his temper. They were imposing too many demands.

    <em>¡®Besides, even if Richard agreed, do they think that they can turn the situation around? Just ten high-ranker ss people? No, there should be at least a hundred to even be worthy of such demands!¡¯</em>

    ¡°¡­I will think about it.¡± Richard answered with a grave look on his face.

    Ricor felt extremely frustrated.

    <em>¡®Why is he even considering those audacious demands?¡¯ </em>

    ck Dragon just nodded. ¡°You won¡¯t regret asking for help from our Team Darkness. <em>Fufufu. </em>Can¡¯t you feel the being on your right arm about to go berserk too?¡±

    Ricor felt goosebumps on his skin. <em>¡®Darkness? Did he go crazy with his power?¡¯</em>

    It seemed like ck Dragon was just like how the rumors imed him to be. He truly was the King of ¡®Chuunis¡¯.

    Then, the enemy reinforcements arrived.

    <em>[Sword of the Gods iney has appeared on the battlefield!]</em>

    <em>[iney is someone that has borrowed the power of God!]</em>

    <em>[Those that can kill him will be able to obtain rewards.]</em>

    <em>[Sword of the Gods Rend has appeared on the battlefield!]</em>

    <em>[Those that can kill him¡­]</em>

    The wall of the fortress instantly copsed after one of the Sword of the Gods, iney, hurled his huge spear with all his might.

    <em>Rumbleeeeeee¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Rend immediately joined in, throwing several axes that exploded like bombs and killing hundreds of soldiers at a time.

    ¡°¡­Ugh.¡± Richard could not help but groan especially after he saw the Hundred Battle Knights that followed right after the two.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Richard¡¯s face turned ugly. The tide of the wars had instantly turned the moment the Swords of the Gods and the Hundred Battle Knights appeared on the battlefield. They were leading arge army of 100,000 behind them. Now, the ones at a disadvantage when it came to numbers were them, not the enemy.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Long live His Majesty Richard!!!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The soldiers were being swept away so easily, dying in vain to the point that Richard had to wonder if this was truly a war and not just some one-sided ughter. Even the Masserati Kingdom¡¯s elite knights, who Richard had tried to nurture as hard as he could, were nothing but mere children ying around in front of them.

    Just like that, the troops blocking the enemies¡¯ advance toward the fortress continued to be pushed back.

    ¡°Hiiiik¡­!¡±

    Ricor, along with several of the Masserati Guild¡¯s marquises, were deployed to the field. All of the prominent high rankers of the guild moved to block the advancing enemies. Ricor, in particr, stood out the most among them.

    <em>¡®This is already a losing battle. Getting help from the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡­¡¯</em>

    Ricor bit his lips tightly. He might be an arrogant ranker, but he was one of the few that did not look at the NPCs as mere artificial intelligence. That was why he was feeling desperate.

    <em>[Disaster of the Sky.]</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    A huge meteor fell from the sky and crashed on the site that Ricor aimed for the moment he swung his sword. The meteor easily devoured several of the Hundred Battle Knights.

    <em>Bzzzt¡ª</em>

    <em>Rumbleeeeeeee¡ª</em>

    A huge tornado appeared in the sky and devoured the approaching enemies as Ricor appeared in the sky in a sh of lightning.

    <em>Vwoooooooooong¡ª</em>

    The tornado was also apanied by a powerful typhoon that raged amidst the enemy ranks and forced them to hold on for their dear lives.

    <em>Tighten¡ª</em>

    The typhoon grew more intense the moment Ricor tightened his palms into a fist. The ordinary enemy soldiers could not even control their bodies as they got swept away. This was Ricor¡¯s power, as someone that would climb the ranks of the Absolute Demigods.

    ¡°Ricor,e back here!!!¡± Richard called Ricor back.

    However, Ricor could not hear his king¡¯smands.

    <em>¡®Hans, Veron, Neva, Karn¡­¡¯</em>

    They were the people that apanied him. Although they were artificial intelligence, Ricor treated them as his friends. He did not want to see them die.

    ¡°Uwooooooooooo!¡±

    <em>Rumbleeeeeeeeee¡ª</em>

    <em>Bzzt¡ª</em>

    Ricor used his pinnacle skill and triggered one of the Five Disasters. Even though the skill meant that he would have to incur a -2 in all stats, Ricor did not hesitate to use it. That was how much panic he was feeling.

    <em>[The God of Disasters¡¯ Wrath.]</em>

    First, hundreds of lightning bolts fell down from the skies.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    Then, it was followed by an area of one-kilometer radius twisting and shaking asva spurted out and covered the ground.

    <em>Rumbleeeeeeeeee¡ª</em>

    But that was not the end. The strong winds blowing around them turned as sharp as swords, tearing apart the enemies.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    There was also a huge tidal wave that suddenly appeared and devoured the enemy troops.

    ¡°Uwoooooooooooh!¡±

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll protect them! I¡¯ll definitely protect them!!! They are my precious people, the people of Masserati!¡¯</em>

    Ricor was confident in his power. After all, he was one of the Five Promising Prospects and was also one of the next generation Absolute Demigods.

    ¡°You have an interesting skill there, huh?¡±

    Sword of the Gods iney easily maneuvered along the twisted ground, his spear dancing through the de-like storm and before piercing through Ricor¡¯s heart.

    <em>Staaaaaaab¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keoheooooook!!!¡±

    ¡°We should nip them in the bud.¡±

    One of Rend¡¯s axes flew down from the sky at the speed of light and shed Ricor¡¯s shoulder, forcing him to slowly fall down to the ground.

    <em>¡®No¡­¡¯</em>

    Ricor¡¯s head turned nk. All he could do was gaze at Richard¡¯s panicked gaze. He could see his king shouting his name frantically while looking at him, who had rushed out recklessly on the battlefield.

    ¡°Ricor!!!¡±

    <em>¡®If only I were stronger¡­¡¯</em>

    He was supposed to be an Absolute Demigod, but he had not even changed his ss yet. There were some pointers he had heard from Richard before.

    <em>¡®The way for you to change ss to the Absolute Demigod ss is simple. All you have to do is meet and face this era¡¯s transcendental strong men and you will be able to gain ss Percentages. If you fill that gauge, you will be able to change sses.¡¯</em>

    However, what was strange was the fact that the percentage gauge did not increase even though he was face to face with two of the Sword of the Gods.

    <em>¡®What rank should I meet for it to change?¡¯ </em>That question shed in Ricor¡¯s head as his body got close to the ground.

    Then, he saw Richard¡¯s mouth open. ¡°I ept your conditions!!!¡±

    iney and Rend were already shooting down toward him. That was when he saw ck Dragon, who was riding on Britney¡¯s back, descend from the sky with his arms crossed over his chest. Then, he slowly raised his left arm as a powerful ck energy appeared and swirled around him.

    <em>Roaaaaaaaaaaar¡ª!</em>

    ¡°I am granting you the permission to awaken the power sealed within you and go berserk!¡±

    <em>Snap¡ª</em>

    Ricor felt like everything was in slow motion as he watched the man snap his fingers and say those words. However, the sight also invoked one thought.

    <em>¡®What the hell? What kind of f*cking r*tard*ed line was that¡­¡¯</em>

    However, the oue waspletely different from what Ricor expected. A woman with red hair fluttering underneath her helmet and a sword in her hand appeared just above the falling Ricor. The woman had a bewitching look, despite the cold and sharp re of her eyes.

    ¡°Red me Swordsman Ellie, go wild!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    At that moment, iney¡¯s spear and Rend¡¯s axe struck the woman that was blocking Ricor. However, the woman just swung her sword lightly and she was able to easily block both weapons of the two beings that were hailed as the Swords of the Gods.

    ¡°Burn, Sword of White mes.¡±

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    The woman once again swung her sword lightly. However, both iney and Rand¡¯s bodies got shed and torn apart.

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    Ricor finallynded on the ground, his eyes staring directly at the back of the woman thatnded in front of him.

    <em>[You have met the Sword Emperor, the Continental Emperor and Team Darkness¡¯ ¡®Red me Swordsman¡¯!]</em>

    <em>[She is one of the Supremes of the current era!]</em>

    <em>[You might experience something special!]</em>

    For the first time, notifications rting to his ss change rang in his ears.

    Ellie swung her sword and said, ¡°Everyone is equal in front of me, the Red me Swordsman.¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª!</em>

    At the same time, a powerful force erupted from her sword and swept away the enemies in front of her.

    For the first time in Ricor¡¯s life, he thought, <em>¡®It might sound r*ta**ed but it¡¯s still so cool¡­¡¯</em>

    Indeed, it was.

 Chapter 702: The Ten Plagues

    Chapter 702: The Ten gues

    The Masserati Kingdom¡¯s troops were reeling from despair.

    <em>¡®The enemies are too strong.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Even their numbers are higher than ours.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Our best and strongest are already exhausted.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Are we going to die today¡­?¡¯</em>

    The number of enemies was far too overwhelming. It was not just that. The strength of the enemies¡¯ reinforcements was much better than the troops before. In fact, the troops of Masserati Kingdom were all fighting, knowing that they would die by the day was over.

    They all tried to do their best for their kingdom but their enemies did not even give them the opportunity to do so. In the end, even Ricor, themander of Masserati¡¯s Fifth Knight Order, was about to be thrown down on the ground.

    That was when a distinct voice rang out.

    ¡°I am granting you the permission to awaken the power sealed within you and go berserk!¡±

    A man¡¯s voice rang above them as a woman appeared in front of Ricor in a sh. At the same time, an unidentified voice rang in the ears of both the troops of the Luvien Empire and the Masserati Kingdom.

    <em>[The Red me Swordsman. She is someone that will unify the continent with her sword.]</em>

    <em>[She might even split the sky with her sword.]</em>

    <em>[She has wielded her sword for the Masserati Kingdom that has been thrown into the pits of despair.]</em>

    <em>[The enemies standing in front of her will have no choice but to submit in front of the ¡®Red me Swordsman¡¯s sword.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    The notifications sounded very chuuni-like. However, the moment the woman, who was ring at the approaching enemies, brandished her sword, the heavens and earth were overturned.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaack!¡±

    The enemy soldiers that got hit by the hundreds of sword lights that she unleashed were easily swept away. Ellie pointed her swords and spoke to her enemies in a nonchnt voice. ¡°Come.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°<em>Hihihihihihiiiing</em><em>!</em>¡± The horses shrieked, their hinds rearing from fear as the soldiers retreated with them. Even Ricor, who was looking at her from behind, broke out in a cold sweat.

    <em>¡®This¡­ is the real strongman of this era¡­¡¯</em>

    Actually, it was not that easy to change into the Absolute Demigod ss as Ricor thought it to be. There were simply not that many people in Athenae that could be hailed as a supreme existence of the era. Simply put, the condition in changing his ss required him to meet with existences like the Great Demon or if it was monsters, those at the level of the Six Monster Gods.

    As for Ellie, a recognized legend of the current era, she was much more powerful and greater than Ricor had imagined.

    <em>¡®I was nothing but a frog in a well¡­¡¯ </em>Ricor was finally able to realize his own shorings.

    The woman in front of him stood alone with Esser Fortress behind her, yet in the eyes of the terrified soldiers of the Masserati Kingdom, she was like a mountain: strong and immovable.

    Ricor felt his heart shake as he looked at that solid and sturdy back. <em>¡®She¡¯s so cool¡­¡¯</em>

    Unbeknownst to them, Ellie, who had her back to them, also felt her heart thump wildly. <em>¡®They must think that I¡¯m a cool person, no? Hohohoho!¡¯</em>

    As expected of one of the members of Gremory and the Attention Seekers.

    iney and Rend, who were sent flying back, finally recovered. If Ellie were to be honest, there was no way that she could handle those two by herself.

    <em>¡®They¡¯re much stronger than I thought.¡¯</em>

    She was quite surprised when she felt a much stronger resistance than she imagined when she struck their weapons with her sword. In fact, the only reason why they were stronger than what Ellie imagined was because they had eaten Minhyuk¡¯s buffed dishes.

    At that moment, ck Dragon slowlynded on the ground and walked forward. Standing around him, the four dragons immediately burst out in a loud cry and red sharply at the two Swords of the Gods.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Covering the left side of his face with his hand, ck Dragon continued to walk with an eerie smile on his face.

    <em>[<strong>ck Dragon</strong>: Son, you have to get the timing right. Understand?]</em>

    ***

    <em>¡®Father¡­?¡¯</em>

    Previously, Minhyuk had already informed his father, ck Dragon, that he had fed them his buffed dishes. He had also told him that he could take away the power that he had given them and make them weaker.

    In response, ck Dragon had an interesting thought.

    ¡ª<em>I have a brilliant idea.</em>

    It was basically a ploy to use ¡®Inversing Giddiness¡¯ at the perfect timing to make them look cooler as they say their lines.

    <em>[<strong>ck Dragon</strong>: Thanks to my dear son, this father will be able to show the world his cool side.]</em>

    <em>¡®D, dad¡­?¡¯</em>

    <em>[<strong>ck Dragon</strong>: Fufufufufu. My heart is already pounding at the thought of my enemies shaking in front of me!]</em>

    <em>¡®¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk could only shake his head in embarrassment.

    ***

    ck Dragon continued to move forward with his four dragons.

    He had climbed the ranks and changed his ss to Dragon Monarch. However, his original ss was ¡®Destined Chuunibyou¡¯. Recently, he was able to acquire a ss-specific item, which was called ¡®Gloves of Darkness¡¯. The item was a gauntlet that could only show the wearer¡¯s desired effect and had no practical effects. It could not even inflict any damage against his enemies. However, it was perfect for the idea he had.

    <em>Vwoooooooooooong¡ª</em>

    A fierce and vicious ck energy swirled around ck Dragon as he raised his right gloved hand in front of him. His face was grim and fierce as he gathered the energy in his palms.

    ¡°Myrades have died by your hands.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Rend and iney were aware that the man in front of him was Beyond the Heavens¡¯ ck Dragon. They watched as the face of the man named ck Dragon turned grimmer with every step he took.

    ¡°Someone was the father of a newly-born child, someone else had to leave behind a grieving wife.¡±

    <em>Grit, grit, grit, grit¡ª</em>

    ck Dragon gnashed his teeth. He had no doubts that they would not even be able to recall the faces of the people and soldiers of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom that they had killed. In fact, it was likely that hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, perhaps even hundreds of thousands of people, had already died under the hands of the Swords of the Gods.

    ¡°Those people, whose wives and children were waiting for them toe home, were killed by you!!!¡±

    <em>Rumbleeeeeee!</em>

    <em>Crackle, crackle, crackle¡ª</em>

    The heavens suddenly rumbled as a huge and dark cloud appeared and hovered above their heads. At the same time, ck sparks began to appear in ck Dragon¡¯s arms.

    ¡°A young man that dreamt of bing a soldier and even a soldier that hoped to get married, they all died.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    iney and Rend listened silently to ck Dragon. In fact, the two of them were nobles, and felt that they were superior to others from birth.

    ¡°Why would we care about the life of an insect?¡±

    ¡°Emotions are only a distraction in war.¡±

    ¡°Besides, we don¡¯t even know who you¡¯re talking about.¡±

    The people and the soldiers of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were nothing more than bugs in front of their eyes. Why would they even bother to remember them? The only thing that they could remember was the thrill and joy of cutting down their terrified enemies!

    The words triggered an even more intense reaction from ck Dragon, the sparks that appeared in his arms growing more wild as his eyes turned entirely ck. While he had his chunni side, he was not doing this just so he could look cool. ck Dragon truly felt sorrow for those people that had lost their lives.

    Then, iney and Rend continued.

    ¡°Moron.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure even your king does not want you to openly reveal your identity like that.¡±

    ¡°I heard that you¡¯re the father of His Majesty Minhyuk. Get lost. Since we have eaten his dish, we don¡¯t really want to cut you down right now.¡±

    Rend and iney¡¯s favor toward Minhyuk had reached a high level. That was why they did not want to touch the crazy moron in front of them.

    The words and actions that ck Dragon uttered had revealed his identity and waspletely contrary to what the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had wanted him to do, which was to move in secret.

    ¡°In the first ce¡­¡± ck Dragon red sharply at them as he slowly and carefully uttered his next words. ¡°I have no intention of leaving a single one of you alive.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    <em>Rumbleeeeee¡ª</em>

    The ck energy that surrounded his body grew fierce, swirling rapidly like a raging typhoon. ck Dragon looked at the two Swords of the Gods with a cold gaze before snapping his fingers once again.

    <em>Snaaaaap¡ª</em>

    ¡°This is for the people that died under your hands. I bring judgment upon you in the name of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.¡±

    <em>[Inversing Giddiness]</em>

    <em>[The buff effects that you received after eating the Duck Jumulleok have disappeared!]</em>

    <em>[Your stats and skills will decrease by the amount equivalent to the buff effects that you have received.]</em>

    <em>[You have lost 13% of your STR, 10% of your STM and 8% of your AGI.]</em>

    <em>[Your physical and magical attack have decreased by 20%.]</em>

    <em>[Your physical and magical defense have decreased by 20%.]</em>

    <em>[Your God¡¯s Axe Technique¡¯s level has decreased by 1.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Only then did they realize that the Beyond the Heavens King already knew that they were a part of those that invaded theirnds. That gentle and kind smile as well as the words that he wanted to be friendly with the empire, all of it was false.

    ¡°Hiiiiik¡­!¡±

    ¡°Damn it!¡±

    The swirling ck energy formed powerful, swirling tornadoes that made the troops of the Luvien Empire feel flustered.

    <em>[Look. This is the power of the man that became a king with his power alone.]</em>

    ¡°Summon, Darksword.¡±

    A huge and bulky man wearing ck armor emerged once one of the tornadoes disappeared. This man was a supreme NPC that reached the ranks of the Absolute Supreme NPC on his own.

    <em>Crackleeeeeeee¡ª</em>

    At the same time, zing mes shot out of the man¡¯s sword. The heat of the mes was so intense that the Imperial Army troops felt like their armor was melting.

    ¡°Die.¡±

    The huge me, brought about by the man¡¯s Overlord¡¯s Technique, devoured thousands of the Imperial Army troops and turned them into ashes. ¡®Darksword¡¯, or Overlord Raldo, shot forward and struck Rend on the shoulder with his sword.

    <em>aaaaash¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    iney hurriedly tried to stab Overlord Raldo with his spear when he heard Rend scream, but Ellie was there to stop him.

    ¡°I will also bring punishment upon you in the name of the people of the Eivelis Empire and Sword Emperor Ellie.¡±

    <em>Tingle¡ª</em>

    For the first time in his life, iney felt a bone-chilling dread creep up his spine.

    Thousands of arrows rained down from the sky and swept away the Imperial Army troops as another tornado disappeared out. At that moment, the enemy troops wondered, <em>¡®Are there thousands of archers behind that tornado?¡¯ </em>

    The truth was there was only one person, to be exact, one elf that came out of the tornado. He was none other than Elven King Argon, who received the codename ¡®Phoenix¡¯s Incarnation¡¯ this time around.

    Just like that, the Imperial Army troops were pierced through by his arrows, every single one of them striking their target true. Even iney and Rend did not escape the onught of attacks, their bodies pierced through by countless arrows.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!¡±

    Overlord Raldo dug into the gaps of Rend¡¯s defenses fiercely, his sword going straight through the chest. He even went so far as to cut his Achilles¡¯ tendon one after the other, before mming his face with the hilt of his sword.

    <em>Stab¡ª!</em>

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    <em>Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump!</em>

    On the other side, Ellie ran forward and expertly avoided iney¡¯s spear.

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>Swooooosh¡ª</em>

    Ellie brandished her sword, throwing it in the air before taking a dagger out and cutting her opponent¡¯s wrists.

    <em>Spuuuuurt¡ª</em>

    She immediately grabbed the falling sword, using it to sh iney¡¯s chest as she passed by.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaack!¡±

    Ellie also kicked the back of iney¡¯s knee, forcing him to kneel down as she poked his <em>qi</em>, or acupuncture, points with the tip of her sword.

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    Unable to move, iney looked at Ellie with fear. ¡°This¡­ this is impossible¡­¡±

    Ricor, who had finally returned to Richard¡¯s side, looked at the scene incredulously. Every single time a member of them appeared in front of him, these notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[He is one of the Supremes of the current era!]</em>

    <em>[You might experience something special!]</em>

    <em>[He is one of the Supremes of the current era!]</em>

    <em>[You¡­special!]</em>

    <em>[He is¡­the current era!]</em>

    <em>[He is one of the Supremes¡­!]</em>

    Richard looked back at Ricor. ¡°Among all of Athenae¡¯s yers, Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Minhyuk is the one with the most connections.¡±

    This was the reason why Richard had hesitated even though ck Dragon had only said that there would be ten people that woulde to help them.

    ¡°He has the power to attract people to his side, always caring for and loving those thate under his wing. Perhaps one might call him sentimental, but it was through all that that he was able to be a real king.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    At this moment, a new name was engraved upon Ricor¡¯s heart. It was none other than Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Food God, Minhyuk.

    ¡°So, you better remember this clearly.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°That man, with the support of hisrades, will likely be the first user to be the emperor in Athenae.¡±

    The fact that Richard said this himself meant that he was sure that Minhyuk would be emperor much earlier than him. Ricor felt a shiver run down his spine at the thought alone.

    Meanwhile, iney and Rend, the two people that cut down others like they were killing bugs, knelt on their knees in dumbfounded despair, while Overlord Raldo and Continental Emperor Ellie¡¯s swords were raised above their heads.

    At that moment, ck Dragon dered, ¡°Bring judgment upon them.¡±

    <em>shhh¡ª</em>

    <em>aaaaash¡ª</em>

    The heads of the Swords of the Gods iney and Rend fell and rolled on the ground at the same time.

 Chapter 703: The Ten Plagues

    Chapter 703: The Ten gues

    The Swords of the Gods were chosen from among the humans and there had been only two candidates for the Battle God¡¯s Sword. Of those two, Nerva Sephiroth was the one that was considered to be infinitelycking.

    Compared to Nerva, the other candidate was virtuous. That was not all, his abilities and charisma tomand his men was far superior than Nerva''s, or any other else¡¯s for that matter. However, the one that eventually rose to the position of the Battle God¡¯s Sword was Nerva Sephiroth.

    Nerva Sephiroth has betrayed his friend, his rival, and seeded in getting what he wanted. He could not help but recall the voice that he heard on the day that he inherited the power of the Battle God.

    <em>[As the Battle God¡¯s Sword, you must not be shaken by any kind of turbulence.]</em>

    <em>[The Battle God¡¯s Sword shall be the master of the entire continent. Everyone will kneel down in front of him, even the descendants of the other gods.]</em>

    <em>[The Battle God¡¯s Sword must trample on everyone, even the sessors of the Absolute Gods.]</em>

    <em>[The Battle God¡¯s Sword is the supreme existence.]</em>

    Nerva could not forget the joy and delight that he had felt back then. He was very happy that it was him that inherited the Battle God¡¯s power, and not that outstanding and virtuous person.

    But today, the Luvien Empire had suffered shame and disgrace.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Sitting on his throne, Nerva Sephiroth turned to look out to the sky. He saw clearly how two stars had fallen to the ground. The stars were the symbol of iney and Rend. Two of the Swords of the Gods had met their deaths.

    At the same time, the catastrophe that was falling and wreaking havoc in the Luvien Empire disappearedpletely. The livestocks, which they thought were already dead, and the infectious disease, which they believed to be spreading around, disappeared in a moment. It was like everything that had happened was a lie. There were no casualties. However, it hadpletely tarnished Nerva¡¯s pride.

    Nerva Sephiroth rose from his throne and opened the huge doors of the audience hall. There he saw thousands of the Luvien Imperial Army¡¯s troops lined up outside.

    The Luvien Imperial Army never stopped growing stronger. They would all grow every time they cinched a victory. Of course, the Battle God would always give Nerva rewards with every win too. That was right.

    <em>¡®Everything will be done smoothly. All of the empires and kingdoms will kneel down before me.¡¯</em>

    This was because they were continuously getting stronger. Suddenly, the words of the other candidate for the Battle God¡¯s Sword, the same man that was considered for the God¡¯s Sword position, shed in Nerva¡¯s head.

    ¡ª<em>Nerva. One day someone will bring upon you severe punishments. I will never forget your evil deeds. It will always be recorded in history.</em>

    The voice of the friend andrade that Nerva chose to betray for power made his chest throb with pain.

    <em>¡®Do you think someone will dare to punish me? Preposterous,¡¯</em> Nerva thought, looking straight ahead at the 40,000 troops lined up with the twelve Swords of the Gods at the vanguard.

    They might just be 40,000 soldiers, but they were the finest and greatest of the Luvien Empire. All of these men were knights, even the one with the lowest level was at Level 500. They had also learned and grown under the Swords of the Gods¡¯ careful nurturing. Just 10,000 of them were strong enough to easily make a kingdom fall.

    Wearing ck helmets, ck armor and riding on ck horses, the army had a total of 150,000 knights in their ranks, and was called ¡®Nerva¡¯s ck Knights¡¯, the army that represented the Luvien Empire.

    Nerva had quickly called back the Swords of the Gods and the ck Knights that he had dispatched to invade the other kingdoms and empires. But what was more surprising was the fact that some of the yers had heard this notification:

    <em>[<strong>Empire Quest</strong>: Nerva¡¯s ck Knights.]</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: SSS</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: Level 500 or higher.</em>

    <em><strong>Rewards</strong>: Empire¡¯s peerage, will depend on contributions.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: Nerva intends to punish the arrogant and impudent Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King Minhyuk. Along with the troops that he sends, take over Esser Fortress and upy the Masserati Kingdom as fast as possible. Anyone that can behead the Masserati Kingdom¡¯s King Richard and the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King Minhyuk will be given the title of a ¡®Count¡¯.</em>

    Of course, it was a quest that only yers that had joined the Luvien Imperial Army could receive. However, the most important take-away here was that 15% of the world¡¯s leading high-rankers had already migrated to the Luvien Empire. They had deemed that the Luvien Empire was safe. It was safe from the dangers of war and they could safely grow their strength here.

    In the Luvien Empire, possessing a title, even that of a bar, would be treated courteously and could receive huge sponsorships from the empire. Nerva Sephiroth would also give them the foothold to grow even further with his power.

    Currently, even if the yers were high-rankers, they could not easily get a title. But with this single announcement, it was possible to be a Count as a reward. In other words, this was the high-rankers¡¯ greatest opportunity, especially for those that held a grudge against the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and the Masserati Kingdom.

    Just like that, an additional 20,000 high-rankers gathered in the Luvien Empire. There were yers among them that were considered as the strongest in their respective countries and had even participated in the ¡®Battle of the Thrones¡¯ as kings before.

    <em>¡®Did you think that I quibbled with you to create an excuse, Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King?¡¯</em>

    Nerva had seemingly argued and asked Minhyuk those questions back then. But the truth was, he could easily mobilize a huge force at any given moment. The only problem was that the Battle God had ced a restriction upon him and could not abuse that authority. This time, Nerva ignored that restriction and mobilized his army despite the penalties.

    As for why Nerva did not go against the restriction and instead swallowed the other kingdoms and empires step by step, it was because of something else.

    <em>¡®If you eat too much then you¡¯ll get sick.¡¯</em>

    If he brought all of the empires and kingdoms to his feet at one go, it would be hard for him to take control over them. That was why he was conquering them one by one.

    <em>¡®It would be difficult for the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom to gather their troops since they just experienced a war not too long ago.¡¯</em>

    In addition, no other empire or kingdom could participate in this war and help them. The same was true for Ellie and Raldo, who loved that king so much. The moment they moved their troops, their nations would be ced on the path to destruction.

    ording to the spy that he had nted in the Masserati Kingdom, Ellie, Raldo and some of Minhyuk¡¯s other friends were gathered there.

    <em>¡®All of them will die because of you today.¡¯</em>

    Once the Masserati Kingdom fell, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would soon follow.

    <em>¡®You¡¯re an immortal that will continue to live even if you get killed? Then, I¡¯ll just kill you over and over again.¡¯</em>

    Nerva soon gave his orders. ¡°We will now bring upon severe punishment to the Masserati Kingdom for illegally upying our territory.¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaah!!!¡±

    He looked at his troops that roared with all their might and continued to give his orders. ¡°Advance.¡±

    ***

    In the underground prison located beneath the Luvien Empire¡¯s imperial castle.

    Minhyuk had finally realized why Nerva Sephiroth had told him to go to the underground prison himself to free his men.

    <em>[An unidentified power has suppressed you!]</em>

    <em>[You will not be able to leave this ce for 30 hours!]</em>

    <em>[You cannot use any kind of movement scroll or magic like teleport or a return order!]</em>

    This was quite an unexpected situation. However, Gremory and the Attention Seekers were able to behead iney and Rend just like they had nned.

    <em>[<strong>Genie</strong>: Minhyuk, Nerva¡¯s ck Knights and 20,000 high-rankers are marching toward Esser Fortress.]</em>

    ¡°¡­Nerva has sent his finest men to Esser Fortress. Hmm,¡± Minhyuk mumbled.

    This happened three hours ago. Nero, who was looking at his king, could not understand why the man in front of him did not do anything.

    ¡°That¡­ Your Majesty¡­¡±

    ¡°Yeah?¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you worried?¡±

    ¡°Worried?¡±

    Minhyuk did not look extremely anxious or nervous for someone that had heard something so urgent. In fact, he had eaten thirty-five chickens and twenty-one pizzas in the three hours since he received that message.

    ¡°I¡¯m very worried, Nero.¡±

    <em>¡®But¡­ didn¡¯t you just say ¡®This pizza is so delicious!¡¯ while eating happily?¡¯</em>

    Nero had only heard rumors about His Majesty Minhyuk¡¯s appetite. However, he could not help but be amazed after witnessing it in person. No matter how hard he looked at him, Nero could tell that Minhyuk was not truly that nervous.

    ¡°Your Majesty¡­ Please excuse my rudeness. The recent war had left the people and the soldiers of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom devastated. It would be impossible for us to rally our troops. On top of that, the other kingdoms and empires would not dare to help us due to the threat of the Luvien Empire.¡±

    <em>Crunch, crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk munched on a chicken leg while nodding. ¡°I know, right?¡±

    ¡°And there were even the words that Your Majesty had mentioned earlier. If Nerva¡¯s ck Knights came, there would be no one in the entire world that could rival against them.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that the truth? Hey, if you don¡¯t like chicken, then how about dried meat?¡±

    ¡°¡­But will it really be alright?¡±

    ¡°Hmmm.¡± Minhyuk rubbed his chin in thought.

    Nero and the soldiers of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were looking at him nervously. Minhyuk just sat there, eating his chicken legs nonchntly.

    Then, at that moment, a pigeon flew inside the underground prison.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Nero and the soldiers looked at the pigeon in shock.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk performed his very own magic trick, putting an entire chicken wing in his mouth, only for bones toe out.

    ¡°Have you ever seen anything like this?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    His people were at a loss for words when they heard their king ask them somberly about something so trivial. Then, Minhyuk proceeded to read the letter with a wry smile on his face.

    <em>¡®This is a special letter. After all, how can something enter this ce when Emperor Nerva is here?¡¯ </em>Nero thought, showing how quick-witted he was.

    Then, another pigeon flew in. After reading all the letters, Minhyuk nodded quietly and said, ¡°I am aware of your worries, Nero.¡±

    ¡°¡­Yes, Your Majesty.¡±

    ¡°They have killed the people and the soldiers of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. That¡¯s why I came here.¡±

    Nero was aware of the disasters that fell on the Luvien Empire.

    <em>¡®No way, did His Majesty do that? What an amazing person!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk grinned and said, ¡°But Nero¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty?¡±

    ¡°The resentment of our people and soldiers has not been resolved yet, don¡¯t you think so too?¡±

    ¡°¡­What do you mean by that?¡±

    <em>¡®Did he mean that their revenge is not yet over?¡¯</em>

    ¡°Our reinforcements have already arrived in our world.¡±

    <em>¡®Our world¡­? What in the world does that mean?¡¯</em>

    ***

    Swords of the Gods iney and Rend¡¯s heads fell down. Without realizing it, the morale of the soldiers of Masserati Kingdom soared.

    With the help of just the Red me Swordsman, Darksword, and Phoenix¡¯s Incarnation, the Masserati Kingdom was able topete against the Luvien Empire.

    Ricor, who was taking a brief respite with Richard, turned to his king and asked, ¡°Your Majesty, ck Dragon said that ten people wille. Why are there only three?¡±

    ¡°¡­I also don¡¯t understand.¡±

    The two could only look at them in confusion.

    Not too far away from them, the first Absolute Demigod ss, Ascar, was looking at Gremory and the Attention Seekers bickering with each other with a dark look on her face.

    ¡°Ellie and Raldo had made a very cool and splendid appearance,¡± the Dragon King spoke with a serious expression on his face.

    Gremory also nodded along. ¡°Ipletely agree with you. If we make our appearance right now, then we will receive less attention¡­ No, there¡¯s no need for us to make our appearance right away.¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you go and help them now¡­¡±

    ¡°Do keep quiet. We are having a very serious discussion right now.¡±

    ¡°Asura brat, this is a very serious matter. Ha¡­ How should I make an appearance and get the most attention? Should I ride a ck carriage and shout ¡®The Demon has descended!¡¯?¡±

    ¡°No. Please, now¡­¡±

    ¡°Won¡¯t you please stay quiet?¡±

    ¡°Shut up.¡±

    ¡°Shh!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Ascar, who had unexpectedly be the God¡¯s Voice Shuttle, felt her expression morph into a very ugly and dark one.

    <em>¡®I will definitely take revenge.¡¯</em>

    Ascar was Asura, the Goddess of the Battlefield and the very first Absolute Demigod. She did note here to be their God¡¯s Voice Shuttle. The ¡®revenge¡¯ that she mentioned would definitely terrify anyone, especially for those that had seen how merciless she was on the battlefield.

    Finally, Gremory decided to go to war.

    ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll ride my ck carriage and make a splendid appearance. Asura brat, you have to make a good introduction. Understand? One that will make everyone remember my entrance, something that will go down in the annals of history.¡±

    Ascar¡¯s cold and frosty gaze was glued on the back of Gremory, who rode her ck carriage and disappeared from her sight.

    <em>¡®I will definitely not let this go.¡¯</em>

    ***

    A ck swirl of energy suddenly appeared between the Masserati Kingdom¡¯s troops and the Luvien Imperial Army, who were in the middle of a tense confrontation.

    Gremory, who was riding on her ck carriage, appeared with a proud and cold look on her face.

    ¡°You pitiful souls. I am Team Darkness¡¯ Evil Goddess,¡± Gremory dered, raising both of her arms gracefully as ck energy wrapped around her. Not long after, God¡¯s Voice rang in everyone¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The Evil Goddess has appeared!]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Those that had heard the God¡¯s Voice doubted their ears for a moment. Gremory, whether she was aware of it or not, gracefully dered, ¡°Die.¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    <em>[The Evil Goddess used her skill. It was very effective.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    <em>[Everyone, please act surprised.]</em>

    ¡°¡­Wow, Waaaaaaaaaah¡­¡±

    ¡°Team, Team Darkness¡¯ Evil Goddeeeeeeess~¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s, that¡¯s a very splendid appearance¡­¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaah¡­¡±

    ¡°Very strong¡­¡±

    The Imperial Army troops just shook their heads nkly.

    God¡¯s Voice was something that everyone could hear. However, the user could also designate it such that some could not hear it. In other words, Gremory was the only one that could not hear Ascar¡¯s voice.

    Gremory, who was still unaware of what was happening, was reveling in the ¡®attention¡¯ that everyone was giving her, her arms still raised up high as she took a deep breath.

    ¡°<em>Fwaaaaaa.</em>¡±

    Ascar looked at her and thought, <em>¡®Hehe. Revenge is a sess.¡¯</em>

    She was showing her unexpectedly cute side.

 Chapter 704: Support Troops

    Chapter 704: Support Troops

    The entire world was in a buzz.

    <em>[The Luvien Empire had sent 40,000 of Nerva¡¯s ck Knights and 20,000 rankers to Masserati Kingdom¡¯s Esser Fortress.]</em>

    <em>[Esser Fortress is a very strategic point for Masserati Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[From the quest that opened just now, it seems like Nerva Sephiroth is very determined to kill both Richard and Minhyuk all at once.]</em>

    <em>[ording to the correspondents that we have sent to various parts of Athenae, the kingdoms and empires are ¡®not making a move¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[Do you know what this means?]</em>

    <em>[No nation is moving to help the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and the Masserati Kingdom.]</em>

    Even the viewers were making a fuss.

    <em>[Where are all those nations that used to tter the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom? They have grown close with Minhyuk, right?]</em>

    <em>[Ellie, Raldo, Dragon King, Gremory, Saintess Loyna and even the other popes, they all are close to him, right? Amazing.]</em>

    <em>[But now that he¡¯s in danger, you can¡¯t even see a strand of their hair there. Haha.]</em>

    <em>[Don¡¯t state the obvious. Just think about it. That¡¯s the Luvien Empire. Anyone that dares to stop the advance of the Luvien Empire will find their nations destroyed in just a matter of days. As for Saintess Loyna, she¡¯s supposed to be a neutral party.]</em>

    <em>[Then, just like usual, there will be no nation that will support the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom? I¡¯m pretty sure their troops are all exhausted too.]</em>

    <em>[What in the world did the Food God do to Nerva¡­]</em>

    <em>[Haven¡¯t you heard the rumors? Minhyuk was the one that brought the ten gues to the Luvien Empire.]</em>

    <em>[For real?]</em>

    <em>[Yep, yep¡­ Hey, why don¡¯t you know about this? Haha. Moron.]</em>

    <em>[Anyway, that¡¯s the reason why Nerva is hell-bent on destroying the kingdoms created by ¡®foreigners¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[GG, Beyond the Heavens. There are even country-level rankers among the high-rankers that joined the war. From what I heard, Vietnam¡¯s Miao has be really strong thanks to the ¡®God-rank Bow¡¯ that she got recently.]</em>

    <em>[I heard that France¡¯s Cauhel now has two god-rank artifacts, is that true?]</em>

    <em>[Didn¡¯t China¡¯s Xu Jiaqi also get stronger?]</em>

    Just like what they said, it was not just the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom that had grown stronger. The other yers had also continued to grow. Because of that, country-level rankers that had participated as kings in the Battle of the Thrones before were confident that they were now strong enough to take them on once more.

    God of Archery Miao stroked her white bow and thought, <em>¡®I¡¯m very sorry to you, Minhyuk. But I really want to get that title in the Luvien Empire.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®It will be very hard for the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom to survive this time.¡¯</em>

    For them, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was a nation that would have to copse one day. Miao walked with the troops and looked at the man named Venteio, who was at the vanguard and leading Nerva¡¯s ck Knights.

    <em>¡®The Luvien Empire¡¯s power is truly amazing¡­¡¯</em>

    Miao was left speechless after seeing the current Mercenary King, Mercenary King Venteio, in front of her. This man had suddenly appeared, took down the Mercenary King and united all of the mercenaries in the continent. From what she knew, he was also one of the Absolute Supreme NPCs too.

    <em>¡®And there¡¯s also the Swords of the Gods. They are a force to be reckoned with but they¡¯re still acting like that.¡¯</em>

    Even though Venteio was not one of them, the Swords of the Gods all acted courteously toward him. It seemed that strength was respected, and he was very influential.

    Venteio also brought along his mercenary troops and incorporated themselves among the ck Knights.

    <em>¡®Wolf Mercenary.¡¯</em>

    Including Venteio, there were only less than thirty members. However, from what Miao had learned, they had named themselves ¡®Wolf Mercenary¡¯ in honor of the man that they all admired.

    <em>¡®They are at a level that even a decent ranker would not be able to fight against them.¡¯</em>

    That was just how powerful the Wolf Mercenary was. In fact, the mercenaries were all ranked. Those in Wolf Mercenary were all strong people that could rival those at the top 1,000 rankers.

    <em>¡®But in the end, they still became Nerva¡¯s dogs.¡¯</em>

    There was no helping it. Athenae¡¯s Second Era only had one oue, and that was the entire continent being devoured by the Luvien Empire.

    In no time at all, the Esser Fortress appeared in the eyes of the imperial army.

    ***

    For a moment, the battlefield turned silent and calm. Even though they were from the same army, the soldiers of the Luvien Imperial Army could not help but gulp when they saw Nerva¡¯s ck Knights approach. It was only natural. After all, they were of different levels.

    The feelings were more intense for the Masserati Kingdom troops.

    <em>¡®What the hell is in front of us? A raid?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®We have crossed a mountain yet we are faced with another mountain?¡¯</em>

    ¡°Why did the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom provoke the Luvien Empire?! Shouldn¡¯t you have expected something like this to happen?!¡±

    Richard was furious. He red at ck Dragon fiercely while venting his anger. Did Minhyuk not expect this to happen? However, even if he could, in the end, Minhyuk was still a yer.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. <em>Hooo</em><em>.</em>¡±

    Richard realized that he had acted rashly. The one that moved his army was Nerva, not Minhyuk. Besides, this was not the time to determine who was right or who was wrong.

    However, Richard could not help but feel ashamed at the delight that he had felt when they initially got the upper hand against the Luvien Empire. After all, his name would be even more known to the world with this.

    <em>¡®I¡­ In the end, Masserati Kingdom will still be destroyed¡­¡¯</em>

    A bitter aftertaste lingered in Richard¡¯s mouth. Many of the people that believed in him would perish today.

    ¡°¡­Soon.¡± ck Dragon looked at the horizon that was now covered with their enemies. ¡°Endure. Hold on until the sun goes down.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Richard looked at ck Dragon in confusion.

    <em>¡®Until the sun goes down¡­? What?¡¯</em>

    Then, Ellie approached ck Dragon and asked, ¡°The situation is not looking too good. I did not expect that Luvien would send another army.¡±

    Even Raldo hurriedly returned to their side and said with an ugly look on his face, ¡°I never expected them to send the ck Knights¡­¡±

    <em>¡®What? What did they say just now?¡¯</em>

    ck Dragon had implied something earlier. From what he could see, it was something that only he and his son, Minhyuk, knew.

    <em>¡®By any chance¡­ will support troopse¡­?¡¯</em>

    No. Richard had judged that to be virtually impossible. Any kingdom or empire that dared to send support from thisnd would definitely be pulled out from their roots. However, he could finish pondering over the matter.,

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keheoooook!¡±

    ¡°W, what?!¡± Richard shouted in surprise. Dozens of arrows pierced through the mages¡¯ shields and stabbed into the hearts of their troops that were above the ¡®centurion-rank¡¯.

    ¡°Hoooo,¡± a woman spat out a breath as she pulled the strings of her bow once again. This woman was none other than God of Archery Miao with her newly acquired ss-specific item, the Abbas¡¯ Bow. She had actually used the ¡®Enemy Commander Search¡¯ skill that was attached to the bow.

    <em>Dash, dash, dash, dash, dash¡ª</em>

    Immediately after that, the ck Knights¡¯ cavalier charged toward the walls of Esser Fortress that housed the nervous and tensed Maserati troops waiting for them.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>[Sword of the Gods Be has joined the battlefield!]</em>

    <em>[Sword of the Gods Lo has joined the battlefield!]</em>

    <em>[Sword of the Gods Pero¡­battlefield!]</em>

    <em>[Sword of the Gods Amber¡­battlefield!]</em>

    There was only one Sword of the Gods that ranked in the top ten among them, the rest were all ranked in the 20s. However, there were a dozen of them. On top of that, Luo, the Sword of the God that ranked in the top ten, was special.

    <em>[Sword of the Gods Luo. Level 701.]</em>

    iney and Rend were only at around Level 680 or so. One would say that the twenty-level difference was not that huge. In truth, it was a deep chasm that separated them.

    In Athenae, new skills would appear or they would receive additional stats whenever they increased their level by a hundred. There was a high chance that Luo was more than twice as strong as the other Swords of the Gods present here.

    The arrival of the additional enemies plunged the troops of the Masserati Kingdom into fear and terror.

    Sword of the Gods Luo was an assassin-ss. One move and he was able to sh the necks of the executives of the Masserati Kingdom.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    <em>Spurt¡ª</em>

    <em>Ssh¡ª</em>

    <em>Fwooosh¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Richard¡¯s pupils were shaking as he looked at Luo. In just an instant, the man in front of him was able to force his guild members, the pirs of his kingdom, to log out.

    ¡°Right now¡­¡± Richard hurriedly gave his orders. ¡°Send the NPCs back and bring all of the yers to the vanguard!!!¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­? But¡­¡±

    ¡°Now!!! Even Team Darkness! Please fall back and stay in the rear!!!¡±

    Richard remembered that the NPCs of Masserati Guild were also here. That was why he made the choice to send the NPCs back and brought only the yers forward.

    He quickly looked at the time. <em>¡®Time before the sun sets¡­¡¯</em>

    There were still thirty minutes left.

    ¡°Hold on!!! You have to hold on and defend the fortress one way or another!!!¡±

    That was right. Richard decided to put his trust in them. Hearing the words of Minhyuk¡¯s father made him realize why he admitted that he was d that Minhyuk was the first yer to be king.

    As for Ellie and Team Darkness? They did notpletely fall back to the rear, instead, they kept on sending them support from the walls of the fortress.

    Richard grabbed the ring in his hand tightly.

    ¡°Your Majesty¡­!¡± Ricor called out to him in a hurry, he was one of the few that knew what that ring was for.

    During the time when ss-specific items were rapidly spreading in Athenae, Richard was able to get his hands on the ¡®The Ring of the King¡¯s Blessings¡¯, an item that could dramatically increase the stats and skills of the guild members that were within Richard¡¯s two kilometer radius. However, there was a side-effect.

    <em>¡®He won¡¯t be able to level up for two weeks¡­ even his level will drop by one.¡¯</em>

    Even though he would face such a huge penalty, Richard still asked his guild members to fight for him. ¡°Our names will be written in history if we win this war today!!!¡±

    Putting all his hope and faith in those words, Richard tightened his hold on the ring.

    <em>[You have activated the Ring of the King¡¯s Blessings!]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 21%!]</em>

    <em>[All of your skills have increased by one level!]</em>

    <em>[Your fear has disappeared, reced by courage and bravery!]</em>

    <em>[Your skill cooldown has decreased by 20%!]</em>

    <em>[Your resistance to abnormal status has increased by 20%!]</em>

    The guild members of Masserati Kingdom hade from all over the world. They all followed Richard because of his ¡®Power of Growth¡¯. As they continued to live under his rule, they realized why he became the second king of Athenae. He was someone that truly cared for his guild members, while sometimes being more cruel and tough than anybody else.

    ¡°As His Majestymanded!!! Let¡¯s hold on!!!¡±

    ¡°Endure it!!!¡±

    ¡°Attack!!!¡±

    A troop made entirely of yers squeezed thest of their strength and charged toward the ck Knights.

    ¡°¡­What an amazing fellow.¡±

    ¡°We have no choice but to acknowledge him, eh?¡±

    Ellie and Raldo looked at Richard in admiration. For a long time, it had been very hard to unite the foreigners. After all, they solely lived for profits and gains. Yet, these people were now working together and making a sacrifice for the king of their nation.

    <em>¡®I can now see why he became the Absolute Monarch.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Minhyuk, make that person your rival and continue to grow and move forward.¡¯</em>

    Ellie and Raldo even entertained those thoughts.

    Ricor also went out shouting, ¡°Uwoooooooooooh!¡± as several disasters fell down from the sky.

    Even though Ricor¡¯s disaster had be much stronger, there was not much damage on the Swords of the Gods and the ck Knights.

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaack!¡±

    God of Archery Miao¡¯s arrows flew and stabbed through Ricor¡¯s chest.

    The guild members, who had regained their courage, charged forward but the problem was the ck Knights were too strong. Richard could clearly see that even his strongest guild members that ranked at the top of their guild were no match against the ck Knights. Even the Swords of the Gods were easily stabbing through his members¡¯ chests and chopping off their heads as if it were a game.

    <em>¡®¡­¡¯</em>

    Twenty five minutester.

    <em>[90% of the Masserati Guild¡¯s members that had gathered in Esser Fortress have been wiped out.]</em>

    <em>[Your qualifications as a king are being questioned.]</em>

    <em>[You might incur the resentment and grudges of the people if you lose this war.]</em>

    ¡°¡­Ah.¡±

    Richard clearly felt the difference in their ss. The best members of the guild fought with all their might yet they were easily wiped out, leaving only 10% of their forces behind. Their levels went down and they even dropped their artifacts. Although they were not really dead, Richard was sure that they would most definitely shed tears of blood at the loss.

    <em>¡®However¡­¡¯</em>

    The reason why they would be sad and in despair was because today was likely the fall of the Masserati Kingdom. In the end, Richard drew his sword with Ricor, who was covered in blood, escorting him.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    In just a blink, the walls of Esser Fortress were being upied by the ck Knights.

    ¡°Kill their king!!!¡±

    ¡°Die!!!¡±

    ¡°Ugh!!!¡±

    Richard became aware of his limits as he tried to cut down their enemies.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    Ellie and Raldo also jumped in and escorted Richard.

    ¡°Go. Quickly go back to your kingdom and empire.¡±

    ¡°That is for us to judge,¡± Ellie said, looking at Richard with a wry smile on her face. Ellie was known to be a cold empress. She did not show any emotion to any other king in her presence. ¡°The Masserati Kingdom will be stronger.¡±

    However, her words showed that she evaluated the Masserati Kingdom highly. Still, everything would be for naught if their kingdom perished. They had to survive this day.

    Then, ck Dragon appeared, looked over the horizon and said, ¡°The sun is setting.¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keheoook!¡±

    ¡°Pl, please. Don¡¯te here. Hiiiiiik!¡±

    As the desperate screams of his dying guild members rang in his ears, Richard could not help but look at the beautiful scene of the sun setting down the horizon.

    <em>¡®What the hell is over there?¡¯</em>

    They did not have any allies and support troops. Richard had no doubt that the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would also face the same situation soon.

    <em>¡®Why did ck Dragon say those words?¡¯</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Then, at that moment, the setting sun illuminated the figure of two men walking slowly forward.

    <em>[The Legends of the Land of the Forgotten Heroes has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[He is a living and breathing legend in the Land of the Forgotten Heroes, a man that is skilled in cloning techniques and someone that could make the Jade Emperor tremble in fear!]</em>

    <em>[He is someone that has be a king in the Land of the Forgotten Heroes. He has rectified the shaking and copsing kingdom and is writing the story of a new legend!]</em>

    <em>[This Legend¡¯s name is ¡®Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal¡¯, the king of the Kingdom of Rama!]</em>

    <em>[This Legend¡¯s name is ¡®Aaron¡¯, the king of the Kingdom of Eden!]</em>

    <em>Vwooooooooooong¡ª</em>

    <em>Boom¡ª Boom¡ª Boom¡ª Boom¡ª!</em>

    The loud beat of the drums and the re of the horns resounded on the battlefield as another man appeared in the middle of the two men, the three of them slowly walking forward once again.

    Tworge armies, with one holding the symbol of a two-legged bull while the other bore the symbol of the ¡®Ruyi Jingu Bang¡¯, appeared right behind them, spreading around the horizon. Each army had around 40,000 soldiers.

    Finally, Richard was able to see the face of the man that was walking at the forefront. This man was none other than Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King Minhyuk.

    Richard could only gulp dryly while thinking, <em>¡®¡­You brought support troops from another world?¡¯</em>

    He was truly in a different ss.

 Chapter 705: Support Troops

    Chapter 705: Support Troops

    Luvien Imperial Castle.

    Nerva was sitting leisurely on his throne, enjoying a ss of champagne. It had been a long time since hest felt this good.

    Although the two kingdoms that would disappear within this week were nothing but small kingdoms, he felt satisfied and good about it.

    He quietly took a sip of his champagne as he watched the situation on the battlefield through the crystal ball.

    <em>¡®Ah. The sunset looks beautiful.¡¯</em>

    That was when Nerva saw three silhouettes on the horizon with the sunset on their backs.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Right behind them were 80,000 strong troops, marching with powerful momentum and an overwhelming aura.

    <em>tter¡ª!</em>

    ¡°What the¡­?!¡±

    Nerva knew who these people were. They were the kings in the Land of the Forgotten Heroes, Edea. He was also aware that the kings of Edea looked upon this world in a very bad light and the fact that the troops from that world were<em> extremely</em> strong, to the point that none of the armies in this world could go against them easily.

    Of course, Luvien Empire¡¯s Nerva¡¯s ck Knights did not fall behind them in terms of power and would not be easily pushed back. However, he had realized right at this very moment that the situation that he envisioned would not be achieved as easily as he thought. Nerva did not stay idle either.

    <em>¡®Why the hell is that bastard there?!¡¯</em>

    How in the world was Minhyuk over at that ce? He was sure that he had trapped the man inside the underground prison.

    Nerva headed for the underground prison swiftly, looking at all of the captives and prisoners of war that they had locked up inside. However, no matter how hard he looked, ¡®Minhyuk¡¯ was nowhere to be found.

    <em>¡®This is impossible.¡¯</em>

    There was no way that the man would be able to get out of this ce. It did not matter how resourceful one was, they would not be able to escape once the restrictions were in ce.

    <em>¡®Unless they did not exist from the very beginning? Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡¯</em>

    The figure of the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal shed in Nerva¡¯s head, rooting him in his ce with a stunned look on his face.

    Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal, Sun Wukong, was a master of cloning techniques.

    <em>¡®From the very beginning, that bastard¡­!¡¯</em>

    It was not Minhyuk that hade here, but his clone.

    ¡°Eeeeeeeeeek¡­!¡±

    An unbearable rage overcame Nerva. It was so overwhelming that he quickly wanted to vent it somehow. That was when he caught sight of the prisoners of war from the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    ¡°You bastards¡­!¡±

    As his hands reached toward the prisoners, he recalled something.

    <em>[You have made a vow with the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King to release the prisoners safely under the name of the emperor!]</em>

    That was right. Nerva had made a vow in the name of the emperor. Because of that, he could not do anything to the prisoners in front of him.

    ¡°Damn it!!! Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King, you f*cking bastard!!!¡± Nerva¡¯s screams echoed loudly in the prison cells.

    ***

    The one that entered the underground prison was not Minhyuk, but his clone. If that was the case, then where was his main body? Of course, it was in Edea.

    Minhyuk had gone to Edea to ask for help from Sun Wukong, the king of the Kingdom of Rama, and Aaron, the king of the Kingdom of Eden. The two kingdoms immediately approved his request for support, a feat was much easier than he thought.

    Minhyuk had actually thought of two possible oues after he secured help from them. Either Nerva would stay still, or he would bring his troops out. If it was the former, then it would not be too bad. After all, Minhyuk had already taken everything that he wanted from Nerva. However, what he hoped for was thetter.

    He believed that Nerva would try to make an example out of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. After all, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had just ended a war against the Hell Corps. They were currently an easy target to gobble up.

    Just as he hoped, Nerva opted for thetter.

    <em>[The Land of the Forgotten Heroes is an unknownnd. It is a ce where only a few of the yers have been in.]</em>

    <em>[ording to rumors, there are many beings in Edea that are at a higher level than the beings in the world that we y in.]</em>

    <em>[Even the level of their knights and soldiers are far higher than the level of those in ournds.]</em>

    Of course, the viewers were also in a buzz.

    <em>[No, how in the world did he get support from the kings of another world?]</em>

    <em>[And it¡¯s not just simple support. Even the kings themselves came here? At this point, we should call Minhyuk the King of Networking, no?]</em>

    <em>[From what I know, Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal is a very powerful being in the Land of the Forgotten Heroes. He¡¯s basically a living and breathing legend in that world.]</em>

    <em>[Freaking amazing¡­]</em>

    The viewers all over the world watched in surprise and admiration. However, they were not the only ones that were surprised. Richard, the Masserati Kingdom, and Ricor felt like their breaths had been stolen.

    <em>[You have met the king of the Kingdom of Rama; Edea¡¯s Legend, also known as the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal.]</em>

    <em>[He is the Supreme among all of the Supremes of the current era!]</em>

    <em>[You might experience something special!]</em>

    Ricor¡¯s percentage bar experienced a huge increase. However, that was not what surprised him.

    <em>¡®How¡­ why¡­ why did it increase because of a yer¡­¡¯</em>

    What surprised him were the unbelievable notifications that rang in his ears.

    <em>[He is the King of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, the God of Minhyuk Religion, and the one that received the blessings and protection of the Sword God and the Evil God.]</em>

    <em>[He is the one that received the blessings and protection of the Dragon King, the Saintess, the Elven King, the Great Demon and the Continental Emperor.]</em>

    <em>[He is someone that is receiving the attention of various Absolute Gods.]</em>

    <em>[He is the first human to be a candidate for the Eight Pirs¡­]</em>

    <em>[The system cannot measure him!]</em>

    <em>[You might experience something special!]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Ricor¡¯s percentage bar did not increase that much, since Minhyuk was not that strongpared to the other NPCs as of now. However, it was also the truth that the system refused to measure the man in front anymore. And Ricor could tell.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s a high chance that he¡­ stands above everyone¡­¡¯</em>

    Ricor felt goosebumps rise all over his body as he watched the man re sharply at Nerva¡¯s ck Knights.

    Then, he opened his mouth and said, ¡°Today is a very sorrowful day.¡±

    At the same time, in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, Minhyuk¡¯s clone that was created using Sun Wukong¡¯s Cloning Technique Parchment, stood on top of the walls of the kingdom.

    Even after they had finished the funeral, his people and soldiers still wept bitterly, grieving for the dead. His clone recited the words that he had uttered on the battlefield to these people.

    <em>[Today is a very sorrowful day.]</em>

    BJ Know-it-all Dictionary was also there, filming everything and broadcasting it through his broadcasting channel. As for the battlefield, it was being filmed by cameras from all over the world.

    <em>[They took a lot from us, killed plenty of us.]</em>

    The people¡¯s gazes were focused on Minhyuk.

    <em>[Everyone felt fear and terror. Although we protected what is ours, we still lost a lot.]</em>

    Indeed. The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had done a great job in defending their nation unlike the other nations.

    <em>[Even so, those people that died had a home to go back to. In this war someone¡¯s husband, someone¡¯s son, someone¡¯s wife had died.]</em>

    Many people from Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had died and many more were still grieving. Even though they won, they would have to live with the pain and sadness for quite some time.

    For these people, there was one thing that Minhyuk could do.

    <em>[I, the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King, will never forget those that died on that day. And for those that killed many people under the pretext of bringing peace to the continent, I will bring judgment upon you, this I swear upon my name.]</em>

    Minhyuk, who was standing on top of the walls of the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Kingdom, held his sword with both hands. The clone was acting the same way that he, who was on the battlefield, was acting. His clone charged forward as hard as he could just like he did on the battlefield. He ran toward his enemies with Sun Wukong and Aaron right at his heels.

    Then, a light shed in front of Minhyuk. This was none other than ¡®Everyone¡¯s Delight¡¯. Minhyuk¡¯s dish, a simple toast, appeared in front of Ellie, Raldo, Gremory, Dragon King, Argon, Richard and even Ricor in another sh of light.

    Sword of the Gods Luo immediately ran to where the running Minhyuk was.

    <em>Vwoooooooong¡ª!</em>

    Luo¡¯s dagger turned into ck smoke and traveled at the speed of light, almost stabbing into Minhyuk¡¯s neck.

    <em>Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh¡ª</em>

    Sun Wukong¡¯s Ruyi Jingu Bang fell down from the sky and struck Lou several times.

    ¡°I believe I am your opponent, boy.¡±

    <em>Pooof¡ª!</em>

    Hundreds of Sun Wukong¡¯s clones appeared around Luo while pointing their own Ruyi Jingu Bang at him.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Luo¡¯s face turned ugly. Minhyuk had already escaped his grasp and was running at the vanguard with 4,000 cavalry men from both the Kingdom of Rama and the Kingdom of Eden close behind him.

    <em>Crackleeee¡ª</em>

    At the same time, a huge pir of zing mes shot out from Minhyuk¡¯s sword.

    <em>[Overlord¡¯s Mana has reached 100%!]</em>

    As the number and strength of the enemies increase, the power of Minhyuk¡¯s Overlord Technique would also increase. Minhyuk brandished his sword against the Swords of the Gods and Nerva¡¯s ck Knights that were fiercely charging at him.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The Overlord¡¯s Technique finally made its appearance, shaking and flipping over the heavens and the earth.

    It was not too long ago when Minhyuk¡¯s Overlord¡¯s Technique grew stronger after leveling up. With 100% of the Overlord¡¯s Mana filled, the Overlord¡¯s Technique could now bring devastation and inflict 5,000~7,000% damage to anyone within an eighty meter radius in front of him.

    <em>Rumbleeeeeeeee¡ª</em>

    Amber, another Sword of the Gods, looked at the raging mes and stepped forward. He was someone that specialized in defense and shield techniques, as he had received the blessings and power of the God of Shields.

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    When he stabbed his sword into the ground, a transparent square shield that was around fifty meters in width appeared around them.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Not long after, the Overlord¡¯s Technique collided with Amber¡¯s square shield.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Amber groaned. He was confident in his square shield. After all, even if Knight Commander Don struck it, it would not break. However, cracks already started spreading in the shield with just one attack.

    <em>¡®So, I can still block it.¡¯</em>

    The fact that they could still block such a powerful attack was a good thing for them.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    However, to his horror, another wave of Overlord¡¯s Technique was cast and it was following right behind the first one.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Amber looked at it incredulously. How could such a powerful attack be invoked twice in a row?

    ¡°Oiiiiiiiink!¡±

    The one that summoned this fire was none other than the baby piggy, Beanie.

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Amber¡¯s square shield cracked and broke into pieces. Just like that, two Overlord¡¯s Technique wreaked havoc and devoured Minhyuk¡¯s enemies without mercy.

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª</em>

    It only took an instant for the ck Knights to turn into ashes and disappear into the wind.

    ¡°Hiiiiik¡­!¡±

    Amber managed to hold out for a brief moment using ¡®God of Shields¡¯ Blessings¡¯. The Swords of the Gods immediately pounced on Minhyuk the moment the Overlord¡¯s Technique calmed down. Of course, Amber also joined them.

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Amber deflected Minhyuk¡¯s sword strike and immediately countered with his shield.

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    <em>[Your HP has fallen below 94%!]</em>

    A huge damage was dealt to Minhyuk. The only woman among the Swords of the Gods present, Be, punched Minhyuk in his nk.

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡±

    <em>[Three of your ribs have been broken!]</em>

    <em>[Continuous and lingering pain might interfere with your battle.]</em>

    Be was one of the few women among the Swords of the Gods and used closebat techniques. However, it was said that her power could break even mountains.

    Seeing Minhyuk gripping his sides from the pain, Pero immediately charged forward and struck him with his sword.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    The moment Minhyuk blocked the attack, Be grabbed him and threw him to the skies.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡°Ugh!!!¡±

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Food God Minhyuk is being trampled on by the three Swords of the Gods.]</em>

    <em>[The three Swords of the Gods¡¯ levels are in thete 600¡¯s. No matter how strong yer Minhyuk is and how good his artifacts and buffed dishes are, it would still be too hard for him to endure the onught of attacks from the three of them together.]</em>

    That was the unfortunate truth.

    The three Swords of the Gods immediately chased after Minhyuk. Just when Amber was about to strike Minhyuk with his square shield from above. He saw Minhyuk¡¯s lips curl up into a smirk.

    <em>Grin¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    At that moment, Be realized that something was wrong. However, it was already toote. Minhyuk mumbled, ¡°Intangible Sword.¡±

    <em>[Intangible Sword.]</em>

    <em>[Your enemies will be attacked by invisible swords for five minutes. Your attacks will reach everyone within your ten meter radius.]</em>

    <em>[You can use Sword Maniption and send hundreds of invisible swords toward your enemies.]</em>

    <em>[Your sword¡¯s attack power will increase by 900%. The movement speed of your Sword Maniption will also be ten times faster than your speed of wielding your sword.]</em>

    Invisible swords shed and pierced the bodies of the three Swords of the Gods that chased after Minhyuk in the sky.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    Their bodies were all torn to shreds, blood spurting out like fountains from all over their bodies.

    <em>Thump¡ª</em>

    Among the four of them that were in the sky, it was only Minhyuk thatnded with both of his feet on the ground.

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    The bodies of the three Swords of the Gods were all unmoving as they crashed helplessly to the ground.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    Immediately after that, the skill Intangible Sword continued to sweep away the ck Knights that blocked Minhyuk¡¯s path.

 Chapter 706: Support Troops

    Chapter 706: Support Troops

    ¡®Intangible Sword¡¯ was a skill that allowed Minhyuk to use sword maniption to send hundreds of swords with ten times the speed of an ordinary sword strike against his enemies for five minutes. Whenever the invisible swords pierced through the ck Knights, the Knights would turn into ashes and disappear into the wind.

    <em>[You have killed the Sword of the Gods Be.]</em>

    <em>[She is one of the Luvien Empire¡¯s greatest warriors.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1,713,223,413 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 2,392 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained the Sword of the Gods Be¡¯s Best Close Combat Book.]</em>

    <em>[¡­killed the Sword of the Gods Amber.]</em>

    <em>[He is one of the Luvien Empire¡¯s¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­gained 1,641,313,100 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[¡­gained 1,976 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[¡­obtained the Sword of the Gods Amber¡¯s Best Shield Technique¡­]</em>

    The Swords of the Gods were a testament to the power of the Luvien Empire. They were absolute beings that even the global yers dared not dream of fighting against them in their current state.

    <em>[Food God Minhyuk is really, truly crazy¡­ Not too long ago, Volfo Kingdom, who fought with the Imperial Army for two weeks, immediately copsed with the appearance of one of the Swords of the Gods but¡­]</em>

    <em>[What the hell is that skill? The Food God is obviously just standing still but all of the enemies around him are being swept away.]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s probably a god-rank skill¡­? F*cking amazing¡­]</em>

    The viewers watched the scene in amazement.

    Minhyuk was using the Intangible Sword to control the movements of the Swords of the Gods for its entire duration of five minutes.

    <em>¡®As expected. They will work on them once but you can¡¯t use it on them again a second time.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was appalled to see the skills of the Swords of the Gods. The fact that they could block the invisible swords on reflex or by listening to them was shocking.

    ¡°Uuuuugh!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk looked back only to see blood spurt out from Sun Wukong¡¯s thighs.

    <em>¡®Even the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal is having a hard time against Luo?¡¯</em>

    Of course, it seemed like Sun Wukong had also dealt huge damage to Luo. Minhyuk felt a sense of urgency at the thought of the two being equal in power. There was even a chance that Luo was stronger.

    <em>¡®You have to eat everything quickly¡­¡¯</em>

    It was only an epic-grade dish. However, it would still be of great help to Gremory and the Attention Seekers.

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    Raldo, who was eating his own meal in a hurry, tried to eat everything in one go but a dagger shot through the toast and knocked it to the ground.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    He could not help the sh of irritation and frustration when he saw the toast fall on the ground, its ingredients scattering all over the ce.

    What was the biggest disadvantage of buffed dishes? It was the fact that one had to eat everything before the effects could be triggered. Unlike artifacts, even a five-year-old child could ruin the dish because it did not have the concept of durability.

    Luo was taking advantage of that fact, moving around swiftly and stopping Minhyuk¡¯s allies from eating the dishes that he gave them.

    <em>¡®¡­Damn it.¡¯</em>

    Even Minhyuk did not expect that Luo would use this method. The worst part was that the effects of ¡®Intangible Sword¡¯, which were preventing the enemies from moving forward, had now disappeared.

    Minhyuk originally nned to let Gremory and the Attention Seekers eat while he was holding off the enemies with ¡®Intangible Sword¡¯, that way they could be stronger once they fought together with him. However, that npletely fell through.

    There were still eight surviving Swords of the Gods together with God of Archery Miao, Cauhel and China¡¯s Xu Jiaqi.

    ¡°His Majesty Nerva would confer the title of a Count to the one that will kill the King of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The Luvien Empire¡¯s Count was different from any other ordinary count title. Perhaps the benefits that one would receive when they became one would be simr to the benefits that a yer would receive if they became the king of their own kingdom.

    Minhyuk just looked at them sharply and provoked them even further. ¡°My head? Take it if you can.¡±

    ¡°Exploding¡­¡± God of Archery Miao aimed her bow at Minhyuk using her god-rank bow. ¡°Shot.¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    A powerful wind apanied the shot that was going straight toward Minhyuk.

    Master Reflector Xu Jiaqi had a special power that could allow her to absorb her opponent¡¯s skill and turn it on her enemy once. When she faced one of the Six Monster Gods, she was able to absorb one of its skills. Of course, she was forced to log out right after. Right now, she used this skill and struck her sword into the ground.

    <em>Baaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The ground twisted and turned as a force that was more powerful than Minhyuk¡¯s Overlord Technique fired back toward Minhyuk. The other high-rankers also unleashed their Pinnacle Skills and sent them towards Minhyuk. Even the Swords of the Gods used their own Pinnacle Skills.

    <em>Rumbleeeee¡ª</em>

    <em>Rumbleeeeee¡ª</em>

    No matter how strong and powerful Minhyuk was, there was no way that he would not die if he was buffeted by a rain of pinnacle skills. However, instead of defending, what he took out was a bowl and mixer. He silently ced some whipping cream in the bowl and turned the whisk.

    <em>[Cancel.]</em>

    <em>[Cancels and nullifies all skills and magic within a five meter radius of the item user.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    The high-rankers were shocked. The seemingly trifling bowl and mixer were able to nullify all of the skills and magic that entered his five meter radius.

    As for the Swords of the Gods, they were all stunned silly.

    <em>¡®No, why¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He just turned the whisk of the bowl and mixer¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®All of the power that we used is being canceled¡­?¡¯</em>

    It was something that was beyondprehension.

    Ellie, Raldo, Dragon King, and Argon all promptly gave up eating their dish, opting to join the fight to restrain the Swords of the Gods and the high rankers. Even the elite forces of the Kingdom of Eden and the Kingdom of Rama charged forward and began to push the enemies back.

    The soldiers of the Kingdoms of Eden and Rama were all very strong. Not losing any ground against the ck Knights was proof of their power.

    <em>¡®There are too many Swords of the Gods. And they are very powerful.¡¯</em>

    Unfortunately, there were way too many country-level rankers.

    The Swords of the Gods continued to ughter the soldiers of the two kingdoms, narrowing the distance between them and Minhyuk. Minhyuk prevented the attack of one of the Swords of the Gods and stabbed him through his chest with ¡®Rampant Sword¡¯.

    <em>Baaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The moment the opponent flew away, another sword flew toward Minhyuk¡¯s chest.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 60%!]</em>

    ¡°Kghhk!¡±

    The Swords of the Gods immediately surrounded Minhyuk.

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Whenever Minhyuk sessfully connected an attack, a bolt of lightning would fall down and wreak havoc in the surrounding area. However, the Swords of the Gods¡¯ magical defense was just far too high. It seemed like there was not much damage even after being struck by those lightning bolts.

    <em>¡®This is dangerous,¡¯</em> Minhyuk thought, drops of cold sweat dripping down his back as the onught of attacks continued.

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 40%!]</em>

    Seeing his rapidly depleting HP, Minhyuk decided that he had to pull back for now. However, as he tried to use ¡®Like the Wind¡¯ and fly back swiftly, a man suddenly appeared to chase after him.

    The man was none other than Mercenary King Venteio. He was the one that united all of the mercenaries from the four continents and was someone that was in the rank of the Absolute Supreme NPC.

    <em>¡®Were those rumors truly a lie¡­?¡¯</em>

    Mercenary King Venteio was actually looking for a man. That man had raised and nurtured him, someone that was infinitely weakerpared to the other children, and made him stronger than everybody else. But one day, that man suddenly disappeared.

    Then, one day, he showed up once more. From what Venteio had heard from a foreigner, the man that he was looking for was living for someone else. Venteio wanted to find him and ask him why he just disappeared without even saying a word to them.

    Mercenary King Venteio dug up all kinds of rumors and followed them just so he could find this man.

    <em>¡®This man can¡¯t be it.¡¯</em>

    The man that he knew would never live for a man like this.

    Venteio became one of the Luvien Empire¡¯s ck Knights because he received a promise from Emperor Nerva Sephiroth that he would not hunt down mercenaries. For the mercenaries of the entire continent, Venteio willingly became the Luvien Empire¡¯s dog.

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Mercenary King Venteio¡¯s heavy greatsword mmed into Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    ¡°Ugh?!¡±

    Minhyuk looked at the man in shock. <em>¡®What the hell is this?!¡¯ </em>The damage that he received waspletely ridiculous. It was just one attack but his HP had fallen by 10%.

    Venteio was actually called by another name, which was ¡®Superhuman Mercenary King¡¯, as he wielded a powerful force and had be stronger over a short course of time.

    ¡°Mercenary¡¯s Pinnacle Swordsmanship. Chapter 1.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes grew wide at the very familiar swordsmanship name. It was something that he knew better than anybody else. However, the technique that Venteio used was slightly different. Unable to absorb and learn the entirety of the power, he changed the original ¡®Mercenary¡¯s Pinnacle Swordsmanship¡¯ and made it his own.

    ¡°Herculean Wolf.¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk felt his limbs bend the moment the sword struck his body.

    <em>[Both your arms have received a huge shock. It would be very hard for you to control and move them for three seconds.]</em>

    Minhyuk felt his arms shake at the unbelievable force that traveled down his body from the strike. He could also see the Swords of the Gods that were quickly rushing in from behind the man.

    He had to quickly avoid them. So, he tried his best to raise his trembling hand and put something small in his mouth.

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    The mercenaries that came with Mercenary King Venteio, who were now acting as ck Knights, threw several chains to restrain Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®Damn it¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk found everythingpletely ridiculous. Who in the world was that man? He obviously was almost or at the same level as the other Swords of the Gods.

    <em>¡®So, why¡­?¡¯</em>

    But why was it that the man was stronger than them? First, Venteio¡¯s master was very excellent. And second,pared to ordinary imperial troops or kingdom soldiers, he had lived almost every single waking moment of his life walking the tight-rope of life and death.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s stronger than¡­ Luo¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was also aware that one¡¯s level was not everything in Athenae. It was just presented more clearly to him today.

    <em>[Your entire body is being restricted by huge chains!]</em>

    <em>[You cannot break the chains easily!]</em>

    This was a method that the mercenaries often used when hunting huge and powerful monsters. Powerful beings could break these chains in ten seconds. However, ten seconds in a battle like this was more than enough time to deal irreparable damage.

    Weapons aimed at Minhyuk¡¯s body as they started to cast their attacks, pummeling him. Venteio looked at Minhyuk and convinced himself that there would be no connection between this man and the person that he was looking for, murmuring to himself, ¡°A person like you¡­¡±

    <em>Crack¡ª!</em>

    ¡°S¡­mon.¡±

    But before Venteio could finish his words, his eyes grew wide as he noticed something.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    At that moment, a gigantic man with a cloak bearing the symbol of a fork and knife crossed together descended in front of Minhyuk. The man triggered the true manifestation of the skill that Venteio had been trying to imitate.

    ¡°Mercenary¡¯s Pinnacle Swordsmanship, Final Chapter.¡±

    Venteio knew that power really well. In the past, that power had ughtered tens of thousands of imperial troops sent by various empires that had started the mercenary hunt.

    The man standing in front of them was their king, their god, and the model of many mercenaries in the world.

    ¡°Wolf of Death.¡±

    Thousands of red sword lights shot out from the man¡¯s sword, turning into wolves that charged forward and swept away the Swords of the Gods.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaack¡­! Ab, Absolute God¡¯s Sword?!¡±

    What kind of existence was the man in front of him? Venteio did not know. Just like they said, he might be someone that was called the ¡®Absolute God¡¯s Sword¡¯.

    ¡°Your Majesty, are you alright?¡±

    Perhaps, he was just someone¡¯s retainer and vassal. But for Venteio, he was his master and teacher.

    ¡°Master¡­¡±

 Chapter 707: Support Troops

    Chapter 707: Support Troops

    At one point in time, mercenaries were viewed as tools for war and used as such. In exchange for cash, they would die for those that hired them, sometimes even bing their meat shield.

    All of the empires and kingdoms across the continents paid no heed to the mercenaries, until an incident happened. A member of the imperial army fought against one mercenary, which resulted in the death of the imperial army soldier.

    Upon investigation, the imperial army soldier tried to take advantage of a woman and take her home. However, the mercenary that witnessed the scene tried to scare the soldier away, only for it to end up in a physical brawl that cost the life of the soldier.

    However, the empires and kingdoms from all over the continent were of the same mind and dered this:

    ¡ª<em>We will use this as an opportunity to teach those rough and unruly mercenaries a lesson.</em>

    Afterward, an era of ughter, the Mercenary Hunt, began.

    Any mercenary that did not join the ¡®Latona Mercenary Alliance¡¯, created by several kingdoms and empires, wasbeled as evil and killed. However, the Latona Mercenary Alliance was not favorable to the mercenaries. A deeper look at their system and one could see that the Alliance prioritized the imperial and kingdom armies, and even forced the mercenaries to be tools of war.

    The world had turned into one where mercenaries were persecuted. It was quite ironic. All they wanted to do was earn money. Since most of them had a family to support, they went to the battlefield to kill and be killed. However, they were treated as if they were dirty.

    <em>¡®I was born in such a world. However, I met a hero.¡¯</em>

    Venteio clearly remembered how mercenaries were treated like dogs. Although he was nothing but the lowest of mercenaries, he still hoped to straighten and correct this world.

    Venteio was considered the lowest of the mercenaries, with poor swordsmanship and poor physical conditions. However, he started to change after meeting that man.

    Prior to the man¡¯s appearance, there was a former Mercenary King, who had be the dog of the empires and the kingdoms and burned at least 5,000 mercenaries at the stake. The man dethroned the former King, and created the ¡®Mercenary¡¯s Pinnacle Swordsmanship¡¯, spreading it for all the mercenaries that did not use any system when practicing swordsmanship, archery, spearmanship and the likes.

    <em>¡®He is a legend.¡¯</em>

    At first, the mercenaries under that continent united and flocked to his side.

    <em>¡®He is a myth.¡¯</em>

    Over time, mercenaries from around the world started to gather around him.

    <em>¡®News of their victory spread all over the world.¡¯</em>

    News about how mercenaries, who had always suffered defeat, won against the empires and kingdoms that persecuted them spread and allowed the mercenaries to stand tall and proud. Those who had nowhere to go started to flock together until millions of them had gathered and bowed to him.

    ***

    Standing at the center of the battlefield was Brod.

    ¡°Master¡­¡±

    Brod smiled bitterly at Venteio when he made eye contact with him.

    ***

    The first time Venteio met Brod, he was training alone in the training grounds after lights out and was ming himself for being weak. While trying to catch his breath on the ground after copsing, he heard a murmur in his ears.

    ¡ª<em>Simple, fast and urate. You know where to attack the enemy but you don¡¯t have enough strength in your body.</em>

    The man slowly appeared from the darkness, a smile on his face as he looked at the exhausted Venteio. From that night onward, Venteio continued to hone his swordsmanship and increase his physical strength under Brod¡¯s watchful gaze.

    ¡ª<em>Why is such a great and outstanding man like you, Sir Brod, wasting your time watching over someone like me?</em>

    Brod looked up at the sky and smiled lightly after hearing the question.

    ¡ª<em>It¡¯s a pleasure for me to spend time with the young man that will be the Mercenary King in the future.</em>

    <em>¡ª¡­!</em>

    <em>¡ªYou¡¯re the only one, you know?</em>

    <em>¡ª¡­Yes?</em>

    <em>¡ªThe only one that trained every single night for two straight years.</em>

    That was the first time that someone recognized Venteio. After all, in everyone else¡¯s eyes, he was just Wimpy Venteio, Foolish Venteio, or Porter Venteio. The other party was the Mercenary Emperor that had united all of the mercenaries in the world, the one that led their victory against the various kingdoms and empires, ended the ¡®Mercenary Hunt¡¯, and was hailed as a legend.

    Venteio, however, could not fullyprehend theplexities of the Mercenary¡¯s Pinnacle Swordsmanship despite learning under Brod¡¯s tutge. So, using his own understanding, he transformed the skill into something that he could call his own. Afterpleting the first chapter, Venteio immediately headed to where Brod was, delighted to report his progress.

    ¡ª<em>Master!</em>

    However, no one was there when he had gone to Brod¡¯s quarters. He was also not in the ce where he usually gazed at the stars in the sky. Brodpletely disappeared overnight. It was as if he was nothing but a mirage, an illusion that did not truly exist.

    Then once again, the mercenaries¡¯ era of ughter began. A new mercenary king arose, and grew friendly with the kings and emperors, and banned everyone that used the ¡®Mercenary Pinnacle Swordsmanship¡¯. However, even if that was the case, there were still plenty of them that silently continued to train in the skill all throughout the continent.

    Over the course of time, the memory of the man that they hailed as Mercenary Emperor grew blurry. As for Venteio? He followed his will and aimed to be the Mercenary King, uniting the mercenaries from the four continents once again. Soon, they would elect the Mercenary King, their continent¡¯s supreme ruler. And Venteio would be the one to sit on that throne.

    ***

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keheoooooooook!¡±

    The Swords of the Gods screamed and shrieked at the bloody red swords that rained down on them. The scene of beings at Level 700 or higher being swept away so easily was nothing short of spectacr.

    ¡°Your Majesty, we don¡¯t have much time.¡±

    Summoning Brod here was naturally just based on pure luck. In the end, he would have to go back to where he was. Minhyuk actually felt sorry for always calling him like this.

    <em>¡®Where exactly are you going, Brod?¡¯</em>

    However, Minhyuk was aware of how much Brod cared for him.

    ¡°Five minutes. We only have five minutes then I have to go back.¡±

    Their time was tight. No matter how strong Brod was, there were still far too many Swords of the God left alive. Then, Luo suddenly appeared amidst the rain of bloody-red sword lights and moved to stab Brod through the heart.

    <em>Baaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Brod easily blocked Luo¡¯s sword,ughing as he said, ¡°You bastards¡­¡± his eyes turned sharp as he looked at them. ¡°It seems like I have no other choice but to punish you with my own hands.¡±

    ¡°Do you believe that¡¯s possible, Fallen Wretched Emperor?¡±

    Minhyuk, who watched the interaction between the two, could tell that there was a story that he waspletely unaware of. Especially after hearing the Swords of the Gods calling Brod the Fallen Emperor.

    Luo did not dare to rx. <em>¡®The Absolute Gods¡¯ Sword¡­¡¯</em>

    The other half of the Two Suns in the Sky. It was something that he could not forget along with the orders that Emperor Nerva had given him back then.

    ¡ª¡­<em>Kill Brod¡¯s Knight Order. All of them.</em>

    There were two Suns thatpeted for the sky. Each of them had a knight order that followed them. Blinded by greed, Nerva poisoned the meal of his rival andpetitor, as well as everyone that followed him. Then, he took that opportunity to kill everyone, who had vomited blood from the poisoning.

    Just like that, the colleagues thatughed and fought alongside Luo all died, by his hand no less. As for the man that he chose to serve? He became the emperor while the other Sun disappeared from existence.

    But today, he came back. Brod¡¯s sudden appearance here brought shock to a lot of people. The other Swords of the Gods might not know much about Brod, but that was not the case for Luo.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª</em>

    ¡°You got injured back then and have lost a lot of your power,¡± Luo said, his attacks getting faster while the other Swords of the Gods jumped toward Brod. In fact, he could tell that Brod¡¯s condition was not the same as before from the attack that he had received earlier.

    <em>¡®It was a long time ago since he was the Absolute Gods¡¯ Sword.¡¯</em>

    Since Brod had lost some of his power, Luo firmly believed that his strength, together with the other Swords of the Gods, was enough to deal with him. Besides, they had Mercenary King Venteio with them so it would be easier.

    ¡°Lord Venteio! Quick, join us in attacking!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Venteio, the man that gathered and united the mercenaries from across the four continents, had joined them under the condition that the great Luvien Empire would not carry out a ¡®Mercenary ughter¡¯.

    However, all he could do right now was look at the back of the person that he admired and resented.

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    The assault continued on. The people in the area looked in admiration at Brod, who parried the attacks of five Swords of the Gods by himself.

    <em>aaaaaash¡ª</em>

    However, after cutting down one of the Swords of the Gods, a gap appeared in Brod¡¯s movements. Luo, who moved like a ghost, used this opportunity to aim for his back.

    <em>Twitch¡ª!</em>

    Venteio¡¯s body reacted.

    <em>Staaaaaaab¡ª!</em>

    ¡°Your Majesty!!!¡±

    However, the one that was stabbed by Luo¡¯s sword was not Brod, but Minhyuk.

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 20%!]</em>

    <em>[You have received a fatal blow. Your body cannot move.]</em>

    ¡°Kghhk¡­!¡± Minhyuk groaned, his body stumbling from the impact of the blow.

    Venteio¡¯s pupils shook at the sight that unfolded in front of him.

    <em>¡®They¡¯re supposed to be nothing more than a king and his vassal!¡¯</em>

    Yet, the king willingly sacrificed his body for his vassal. Venteio looked at his master, the person that he longed for and always thought about, stopping the enemies in front of him.

    ¡°Lord Venteio!!! Have you forgotten your vow with the empire?!!!¡±

    Luo thought that this was an opportunity. If they could not seize this opportunity, Brod would continue to be an obstacle for the Luvien Empire. They had to hurry up and finish dealing with him.

    <em>¡®I did not expect that he would be this strong¡­¡¯ </em>Luo thought,pletely dumbfounded. Howe the man in front of them was not being pushed back despite fighting against several Swords of the Gods?

    <em>¡®You¡¯re doing this much even when you¡¯re protecting your king?¡¯</em>

    Then, what would happen if Brod was not protecting anyone? They would most likely be wiped out already. That was just how strong and powerful Brod was.

    <em>Swoooooosh¡ª</em>

    Using Absorption Conversion, Minhyuk recovered his injuries by eating chocopie.

    ¡°Sword of Absolute Death.¡±

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk stabbed his sword through the heart of one of the Swords of the Gods that tried to sh Brod¡¯s neck.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    But it did not end there. Hundreds of sword lights appeared and fell down like rain, keeping the others at bay for a brief moment.

    Seeing this, Luo moved swiftly. This time, he aimed for Minhyuk. <em>¡®He will definitely use his body to protect his king.¡¯</em>

    <em>Staaaaaaab¡ª</em>

    Just like he expected, Brod used his abdomen to block the blow that was aiming for Minhyuk. Luoughed at the sight of Brod stumbling back from the injury. Of course, the Swords of the Gods did not miss this opportunity, leaving behind cuts and stabs in Brod¡¯s body. Even the country-level rankers moved to join the hunt for Brod.

    Minhyuk felt his heart squeeze. <em>¡®Damn it! I did not expect that I would be a burden like this!¡¯</em>

    Just like Luo thought, they would truly not be Brod¡¯s rival if Minhyuk was not here. However, that was when Minhyuk noticed something.

    <em>¡®Why is his body covered with injuries? And he also looks exhausted.¡¯</em>

    Brod looked exhausted from the moment he summoned him here. It seemed like he was fighting something before he got called here. Every nook and cranny of his armor had some sort of damage. There was even blood that had already turned dark, as more continued to flow out.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°Ugh¡­!¡±

    Various weapons pierced through Brod¡¯s body.

    <em>¡®No¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk sensed a great sense of danger. Brod was his vassal and his friend. He was someone that Minhyuk did not want to lose. One could say that Brod was also one of the people that made the current Beyond the Heavens Kingdom what it was today.

    Brod looked back at Minhyuk and said, ¡°¡­Your Majesty.¡±

    Minhyuk was able to see something in those eyes as he watched the man jump up to the sky.

    <em>¡®Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk did not know where Brod had been or what he had been doing. He did not even know what kind of growth he had achieved so far.

    <em>¡®I can restrain them once I use this power.¡¯</em>

    Brod knew that he would also be hit by their attacks the moment he used this power to stop them. However, it was fine. As long as he could protect his king, then it was fine.

    ¡°Mercenary¡¯s Pinnacle Swordsmanship.¡±

    <em>Vwooooooooooooong¡ª</em>

    A red energy burst out of Brod¡¯s body as he continued to float in the sky, his head calcting the movement speed of Luo, the most agile among the enemies.

    <em>¡®The moment I use this power, all of their bodies will be pierced through. However, their attacks will also pierce through me.¡¯</em>

    Nevertheless, he still chose to use this power. It was the new chapter of the Mercenary¡¯s Pinnacle Swordsmanship, something that he had not shown to anyone yet.

    ¡°The Wolf King¡¯s Hunt.¡±

    <em>Roaaaaaaaaaaaar¡ª</em>

    A roar resounded loudly in the area as a gigantic red wolf manifested from his sword. This wolf would bite down and tear apart the necks of the enemies that surrounded him. Unfortunately, he needed at least 0.1 seconds for the skill to bepleted. However, all of Brod¡¯s hopes were dashed when he saw Luo.

    ¡°¡­Luo.¡±

    Luo used his ¡®Quick Leap¡¯ and increased his movement speed by four times. Brod¡¯s face turned ugly. He could not bear to look at Minhyuk.

    ¡°Brooooooooood!!!¡±

    At that moment, he knew that he would face death. However, his only regret was that he could not protect His Majesty and solve the problem that he needed to solve.

    <em>¡®Your Majesty¡­¡¯</em>

    Brod slowly closed his eyes. However, unbeknownst to him, someone else was already preparing their own skill.

    ¡°Mercenary¡¯s Pinnacle Swordsmanship.¡±

    He became the empire¡¯s dog to protect the other mercenaries. However, his master had told him this in the past¡­

    ¡ª<em>The good thing about being a mercenary is the fact that you can be free.</em>

    That was right. They were free because they were mercenaries. After learning from his master, he tried to understand it himself and ended up creating a new Mercenary¡¯s Pinnacle Swordsmanship.

    ¡°Final Chapter. Howling Wolf.¡±

    <em>Awooooooooooooooooo¡ª</em>

    While Brod¡¯s wolf was red, Venteio¡¯s wolf was ck. The ck wolf rushed at Luo and bit his neck.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    The wolf continued past Luo, devouring two more Swords of the Gods along the way.

    Brod slowly opened his eyes only to meet with Venteio¡¯s ones.

    ¡°This idiot¡­¡±

    It seemed like the bastard from back then had already grown up well. However, Brod also knew that Venteio had to live for the empire. The actions that he took would most definitely fan the mes of the empire¡¯s ire. They would most likely get purged once again.

    However, Venteio missed him as much as he resented him. So, he could not help but struggle to spit out the words that he wanted to say. ¡°Thank you, my hero.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Finally, Brod¡¯s skills, the Wolf King¡¯s Hunt, was sessfullypleted and activated.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    The wolf, which was much bigger, much stronger and had much sharper teeth than the ck wolf, charged forward and collided with the Swords of the Gods. It was so powerful that it instantly tore apart the armor and weapons that they used.

    At the same time, several weapons pierced through Brod¡¯s body. Thankfully, Luo¡¯s attack, which would have been fatal, had been avoided so his life was still secured.

    After the five minutes was over, Brod, who was still bleeding all over, disappeared from sight. However, his eyes did not leave Venteio.

    <em>¡®You will probably die because of me.¡¯</em>

    That was what was conveyed in Brod¡¯s look. However, Venteio just responded with a bright smile on his face and uttered the words that Brod once uttered to him, ¡°The good thing about being a mercenary is the fact that you can be free.¡±

 Chapter 708: Support Troops

    Chapter 708: Support Troops

    <em>¡®</em><em>Brod</em><em>¡­?¡¯</em>

    That was the first thing that came to Minhyuk¡¯s mind when he saw Venteio. The impression that he had of Venteio was simr to that of Brod when he first saw him. Then, some notifications rang.

    <em>[The Man that Will Be the Greatest Mercenary King in History.]</em>

    <em>[Venteio. He is one of the Absolute Supreme NPCs.]</em>

    So far, the only Absolute Supreme NPCs that Minhyuk knew were Sword Emperor Ellie and Overlord Raldo, who recently climbed to that rank. In fact, Venteio¡¯s existence made Minhyuk feel extremely nervous.

    However, Venteio had disyed his powers to help them. Because of that, Brod was able to use his ¡®Wolf King¡¯s Hunt¡¯ and strike the Swords of the Gods directly, leaving them either dead or groaning from their serious injuries.

    ¡°Sir Venteio! How dare you betray the empire?!¡±

    ¡°The young mercenaries that follow you will definitely get killed!¡±

    ¡°The empire will make sure to purge you!¡±

    The ck Knights expressed their wrath toward Venteio. The Great Luvien Empire had shown them mercy and made them into ck Knights, but he had chosen to cast aside Emperor Nerva¡¯s good grace.

    At that moment, another set of notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The story of The Man that Will Be the Greatest Mercenary King in History might change.]</em>

    <em>[You are greatly involved in this story.]</em>

    Minhyuk watched as Brod looked at Venteio. He could see that Brod¡¯s eyes were filled with pain and sadness.

    Meanwhile, thirty of the Wolf¡¯s Mercenaries stood around Venteio and supported his will.

    ¡°The will of Mercenary King Venteio is our will.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s an honor to meet with the father of the mercenaries and our legend!¡±

    ¡°We have made our choice and we do not regret it.¡±

    Brod could not hide his regret as he looked at those men.

    <em>¡®¡­How¡­ How are you going to walk this thorny path?¡¯</em>

    Brod was like a father and a teacher to these people. He was the one that taught them and gave them pride and dignity. He watched as they all drew their swords with firm determination in their eyes, well-prepared to die on this battlefield. As he slowly disappeared from sight, he turned to Minhyuk and called out, ¡°¡­Your Majesty.¡±

    This was the first time that Minhyuk had seen such a bitter smile on Brod¡¯s face. Then, the man told him, ¡°On the day when a person recognized by the God of Mercenaries bes a Mercenary King, God will bestow very rare and special cooking ingredients.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk, more than anybody else, knew the meaning of those words.

    ¡°There¡¯s no way that I will let such rare ingredients pass by me, no?¡± Minhyuk smiled softly at Brod¡¯s request. Besides, Minhyuk felt a familiar feeling from Venteio. Perhaps a good rtionship might form between them.

    After that, Brodpletely disappeared. The ck Knights all showed resentment toward Venteio and the Wolf Mercenaries. However, Venteio and his men just stood still. They did not attack Minhyuk and also did not attack the ck Knights.

    <em>¡®I have protected my master and that¡¯s more than enough.¡¯</em>

    Venteio used his power to protect Brod, and not Minhyuk. Now that Brod had returned safely, he would not do anything. Of course, he also did not have any intention to harm Minhyuk, the one that Brod tried to protect with all his might.

    <em>¡®We have received the ire of the Luvien Empire. Nothing good will evere out of it.¡¯ </em>Venteio was fully aware that the Mercenary Elders would be hell bent on removing him now.

    As for the ck Knights? They could not attack the honest and blunt Venteio, as well as the Wolf Mercenaries, who had taken the opportunity to walk through the gaps between them and leave the battlefield. This was because many of the Swords of the Gods had either died or had been seriously injured.

    Among the wounded Swords of the Gods was Luo. He had been forced to kneel, his body torn to shreds. In fact, even his left arm had disappeared. All he could do was show a helpless expression on his face as he vomited a mouthful of blood.

    ¡°Urk¡­¡±

    However, the images that shed in front of him were the faces of Brod¡¯s knights, the very same knights that he oncepeted with before.

    ¡ª<em>Yo, Luo! How about getting some cold and refreshing darkger with me after training?</em>

    <em>¡ªGood, hahahaha!</em>

    A faint smile shed on Luo¡¯s face at the memory. Everything had been great back then.

    Back then, there were two Swords of the Gods¡¯ Knight Order. One had been wiped away, by the hands of the other no less, just to make the man that they serve the emperor.

    Luo did not want to ask for atonement.

    ¡ª<em>What will happen if¡­ I refuse?</em>

    Nerva replied coldly to Luo¡¯s question.

    ¡ª<em>Are you thinking of disobeying the orders of the Absolute God¡¯s Sword?</em>

    Luo instantly understood the underlying meaning of those words. He would die if he refused. And it was not just him. Even his wife and child would die. He feared death and he hated the thought of his wife and child dying because of him. However, Luo still tried to stop the other knights.

    ¡ª<em>Even so, how can you kill them just like that?! We have to tell the Battle God!</em>

    <em>¡ªLuo, don¡¯t think about doing anything stupid.</em>

    <em>¡ªNo. I¡¯m leaving.</em>

    Nothing had been cleared up between them. Brod only saw Luo as his enemy, nothing more and nothing less. Seeing the cold look on Brod¡¯s face made Luo¡¯s heart break. After all, he had always admired and looked up to the man.

    Luo did not actually participate in those gruesome murders. In fact, he even tried to prevent their deaths. However, when he woke up the next day, he learned that only a few Swords of the Gods had made a move. They killed them all using poison. Even if he was not involved directly, he could not wish for forgiveness and atonement.

    ¡°¡­Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King. <em>Urk.</em>¡±

    Luo actually still wanted to live. His desire for survival was great, as great as his anger toward Nerva Sephiroth. However, he was forced to be Nerva¡¯s loyalpdog because he had people to protect. He had to protect his wife, who had now be a wrinkled old woman, and his son, who had just be an imperial knight. Tears dripped down his cheeks and blurred his vision.

    ¡°Before I leave, I¡­ will give this final gift¡­ to you.¡± Luo looked at Minhyuk, his eyes dazed.

    At the same time, a very shocking set of notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The death of Sword of the Gods Luo is just right around the corner.]</em>

    <em>[The Sword of the Gods Luo wants to leave the Assasination God¡¯s Book with you.]</em>

    Minhyuk could not understand why the man, the enemy, in front of him was trying to leave something precious to him. However, Minhyuk did not really care, as it was not his business to pry. There was no need for him to consider his circumstances. Besides, Luo had killed a lot of people.

    He took a step forward. Minhyuk only needed to strike once and he would gain victory. However, at that moment, his steps suddenly stopped.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    He could not move at all after reading the notifications that rang in his ears.

    ¡°Damn it. Even at times like this¡­ I still want to live¡­¡±

    Luo looked at Minhyuk bitterly, his body flinching whenever Minhyuk¡¯s hand, which was holding his sword, twitched.

    Why did Luo want to live? After all, his wife had already be an olddy and his son had be a knight. It was because of the guilt, the guilt of hisrades taking away the lives of his precious friends, the other Swords of the Gods, and failing to avenge their death. He could not even kill Nerva Sephiroth, who had climbed to the position closest to the Battle God using an immoral method. That was why he wanted to live. He wanted to avenge them.

    As for why Minhyuk stopped in his tracks and hesitated, he received notifications, and he could barely believe them.

    <em>¡®No. Why should this bastard¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>[A great being has randomly activated the Origin Authority ¡®God and Knight¡¯!]</em>

    <em>[The Origin Authority God and Knight will help you win the loyalty of the God-chosen knight.]</em>

    The God and Knight was the ¡®Origin Authority¡¯ that helped Minhyuk make God of Snakes Elizabeth into his vassal.

    <em>(<strong>God and Knight</strong>)</em>

    <em>Origin Authority</em>

    <em><strong>Current Status</strong>: Sealed</em>

    <em><strong>Effects</strong>:</em>

    <em>?Sealed.</em>

    <em>?Sealed.</em>

    <em>?Sealed.</em>

    <em>?If you are ced in ¡®that situation¡¯, this power will be triggered randomly and without your knowledge. This can only happen once in three months.</em>

    <em>?There¡¯s a chance that you will be able to control God and Knight once the seal has been lifted.</em>

    <em>?You can have more than five God level NPCs once the seal has been lifted.</em>

    <em>?You can have more than twenty Legendary level NPCs once the seal has been lifted.</em>

    As mentioned in the description, it was almost impossible to guess when it would be activated, beingpletely random. The most ironic part here was the part where he did not have any inkling as to how the Origin Authority would help him win the loyalty of the chosen knight. Simply put, there were many ways, but they were not mentioned.

    <em>¡®Am I supposed to spare this bastard?¡¯</em>

    The God and Knight¡¯s notification obviously said that it would help him win the loyalty of the God¡¯s chosen knight. But Minhyuk did not choose the man in front of him. This could only mean one thing. Athenae, the original owner of the Origin Authority, had deemed that Luo¡¯s existence would be very beneficial to Minhyuk.

    If it would be left to Minhyuk, he would have killed Luo already after receiving the God of Assassination¡¯s Book. However, another set of notifications stopped him from doing so.

    <em>[The Seed of Growth has reacted to Soldier ¡®Nero¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[Nero was born with the talent to be an assassin.]</em>

    <em>[However, just because one has talents does not mean that one could be one. Sometimes, one needs to be reminded and taught for them to realize their true talents.]</em>

    Minhyuk had met the soldier named Nero in the underground prison just recently. The man had the gift to be an excellent assassin. However, he did not know his own value and had decided to live as an ordinary soldier.

    Of course, the Seed of Growth would definitely release some of that talent and allow him to gain some power. But Minhyuk knew that Nero would eventually hit his limits if he continued to live as he was before. Nero could read the ¡®God of Assassin¡¯s Book¡¯ and grow further, but he would still eventually hit another threshold without the help of a mentor.

    The question was, was there anyone that could help Nero grow? Naturally, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had Abel, although he was more of an informant than an assassin. Furthermore, he was already swamped trying to find information that would be very helpful to the kingdom.

    Even though Luo had lost an arm, there was a chance that he could be a person that would be able to help Nero grow further. He might also be able to help nurture assassins for the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. If Luo helped Nero and allowed him to grow?

    <em>¡®Another god might be born in the kingdom right after the Spear God.¡¯</em>

    However, Minhyuk judged that Luo needed to die. Just when his sword was about to stab Luo in the heart, he received another notification.

    <em>[One of the Swords of the Gods, Luo, hates and resents Nerva Sephiroth.]</em>

    <em>[Deep down in his heart, he was searching for the person that would stand up and fight against Nerva Sephiroth.]</em>

    The God and Knight could suggest many ways to gain the loyalty of someone and turn them into Minhyuk¡¯s knight. At this moment, the reason why he should spare the man in front of him was finally revealed.

    <em>¡®Luo hates Nerva?¡¯</em>

    Perhaps this was also the reason why Luo deliberately left behind his God of Assassination Book with him. This factplicated things. With a cold look on his face, he forced himself to think rationally and objectively.

    What would the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom gain if he brought Luo in? If Minhyuk killed him right here and now, then it was nothing but mere revenge. Finally, Minhyuk made a decision.

    Meanwhile, Luo had been subjected to the influence of the ¡®God and Knight¡¯, which had caused his anger and desire to live soar dramatically within him. The faces of the knights that Nerva had killed, as well as the faces of the people that he cared about the most, shed in his head.

    Nerva was a terrible demon. He was sure that once he was dead, the man would just say, <em>¡®¡­How dare you put a stain to the name of the Great Luvien Empire! Pathetic.¡¯</em>

    Luo was seething in anger. He desperately wished for someone to stand up and fight against Nerva.

    ¡°¡­Do you want to kill Nerva?¡±

    The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King, who was standing in front of him, asked. However, Luo did not answer. ¡°I understand that my question is very ridiculous. However, I want to know. Do you want to see Nerva¡¯s downfall?¡±

    The man was nothing but the king of a small nation.

    ¡°I will make that happen. In return, you will have to be my dog.¡±

    Even if Luo lived like a dog, he would still want to see Nerva¡¯s downfall.

    ¡°You will die the moment you be useless to me. Your duty is to raise a group of assassins for the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and make Nero a worthy sessor after you. I will kill you after that. The moment you try to betray me, you will die. Will you still choose to be my dog?¡±

    Luo did not answer as Minhyuk passed by him. The choice was now up to him. Besides, the vow between a king and his vassal was absolute. Just like Minhyuk said, with that vow, if he tried to betray his king then he would die. In fact, as long as his king wished for it, he would die.

    Luo, who was kneeling on the ground, looked at the man. He was wearing a cloak that bore the fork and knife crossed together, the symbol of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, and his eyes that were glinting sharply through the strands of his ck hair.

    The man turned his head and looked at Luo. ¡°The Luvien Empire will never know whether you are alive or dead. After all, I¡¯m going to kill all of them.¡±

    Then, the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King charged at the ck Knights that were already moving toward him.

    <em>¡®How¡­¡¯</em>

    Luo felt an unknown yet zing heat run through his veins. Why did he feel this way when looking at the enemy¡¯s general? Actually, Luo knew Brod all too well.

    <em>¡®¡­So, this is the reason why you serve this man? Is it because he¡¯s the only person that can beat Nerva?¡¯</em>

    Winning the war against Nerva was a tall challenge, especially for a mere king of a small nation. Still, Luo grasped the string of his consciousness that was threatening to disappear and get cut off at any given moment, tightly. He forced himself to endure and watched the battle until the very end.

    Gremory and the Attention Seekers, as well as Sun Wukong and his troops, were all exhausted. In fact, even Minhyuk was exhausted. There were still 600 surviving ck Knights. However, carrying the name of the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King, he charged forward and fought alone.

    After killing them, he stood among their corpses and raised a white g. Then, he stabbed his sword on the ground and prayed silently for the souls of the people and the soldiers.

    As he watched the scene, Luo vowed, ¡°¡­I will bark if you want me to bark. I will bite if you want me to bite. I will die if you want me to die¡­¡±

    Malice and hatred slowly stained Luo¡¯s eyes as he continued to focus on Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    ¡°I will be your dog.¡±

    <em>[The God and Knight have seeded!]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired God¡¯s Second Knight.]</em>

    <em>[God¡¯s Second Knight ¡®Luo¡¯ is the one that has inherited the power of the God of Assassination.]</em>

    <em>[The rtionship between God and God¡¯s Second Knight is superficial and is only a rtionship based on obedience.]</em>

    <em>[God¡¯s Second Knight Luo will die if he betrays you.]</em>

    <em>[God¡¯s Second Knight Luo will die if you no longer have a use for him.]</em>

 Chapter 709: Support Troops

    Chapter 709: Support Troops

    The Disaster Specialist Ricor¡¯s gaze was nk while his body was stiff.

    <em>[The second Absolute Demigod ss has been born to the world!]</em>

    <em>[The second Absolute Demigod ss is ¡®God of Disasters¡¯!]</em>

    <em>[There are a total of twenty Absolute Demigod sses in the world!]</em>

    The percentage of his encounters with the powerhouses of the current era had experienced a huge leap, which eventually led to his change of ss, when Brod made his appearance. However, that was not the reason why he was all stiff and tense.

    <em>¡®Crazy¡­ He really killed everyone.¡¯</em>

    This was because Food God Minhyuk truly killed all of the remaining enemies. He fought fiercely against the ck Knights, the very same ck Knights that forced the troops of the Kingdom of Eden and the Kingdom of Rama to step back, and stood all alone in the battlefield.

    <em>¡®Even if there were quite a lot of Swords of the Gods that died¡­¡¯</em>

    The ck Knights were known as the elite of the elites of the Luvien Empire. Seeing Minhyuk sweep all of them away by himself, one could not look at him as someone that was simply strong anymore.

    <em>¡®He is very skilled with the sword, a genius so to speak. He even has outstanding gaming sense and a strong will.¡¯</em>

    Ricor felt something that was far beyond admiration and astonishment.

    <em>¡®So, this is the reason why he became king before Richard.¡¯</em>

    The arrogant and prideful Ricor, rumored to be the best among the Five Promising Prospects, was left with no choice but to admit this fact. Then, he turned to Richard, who was standing next to him. He could see that Richard was watching the battlefield with a calm expression on his face.

    <em>¡®Howe he¡¯s still so rxed despite the situation?¡¯</em>

    Ricor could not help but admire Richard too. How could he remain so calm even after witnessing the power and the connections of his own rival andpetition?

    <em>¡®As expected of someone that has be a king.¡¯</em>

    His admiration grew even deeper as he watched the man beside him.

    ¡°Ricor, gather the spoils of war and inform the people that we have won. I am currently nursing a throbbing headache so I will log out first. I will be back in half an hour.¡±

    ¡°I understand, Your Majesty.¡±

    Richard¡¯s expression was calm and nonchnt as he turned around and stepped away. His back did not even shake even after witnessing Food God Minhyuk¡¯s majestic disy of power!

    <em>¡®So cool.¡¯</em>

    Today, Ricor¡¯s admiration for Richard reached another all time high.

    ***

    <em>Fwiiiiiish¡ª</em>

    Meanwhile, it was currently night in America. After logging out and terminating his connection, Richard immediately rushed to the bathroom. Seeing his wet underwear, he could not help but cry.

    ¡°¡­I never expected that I would wet my pants.¡±

    The truth was, Richard had wetted his pants when he witnessed Minhyuk¡¯s majestic disy of power earlier! He had a problem now, which was that his wife and children were currently sleeping! He would definitely raise suspicions if he did theundryte at night! At this moment, he remembered the traditional Korean washboard that his wife had brought back when she went on a trip to Korea just recently.

    <em>Scrub, scrub, scrub, scrub¡ª</em>

    Richard, who was crouching on the floor, looked at his underwear and thought, <em>¡®To be honest, that disy is really something that can make one wet their pants.¡¯</em>

    This was the king of the Masserati Kingdom.

    ***

    Luo, the tenth among the Swords of the Gods and the person that inherited the power of the God of Assassination, felt that his limbs were as heavy as lead. Hisst memory was that of the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King ughtering hundreds of ck Knights, before standing atop their corpses with his cloak fluttering behind him.

    ¡°Ugh,¡± Luo groaned lightly, but he instinctively jumped up the moment he came back to his senses, his eyes immediately surveying his surroundings. This was an upational disease. After all, assassins had to always be sensitive to whatever was happening around them.

    <em>¡®I can only feel a crude and poor aura from this ce.¡¯</em>

    The Great Luvien Empire had plenty of swordmasters and great mages that could easily cast 7th Tier magic. Also, the Swords of the Gods were generally at Level 600 or above. On the other hand, the energy and aura that he could feel in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was just in crude.

    <em>¡®Can this kind of weak nation even stand against Luvien¡­?¡¯</em>

    Luo immediately stopped in his tracks when he tried to roll the sleeves of his right arm using his left hand.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Right, his left arm was now missing. He had lost that arm to Brod. There was a hint of bitterness as he looked at his severed left arm, before using his teeth to roll the sleeves of his right arm.

    He was now stamped with the ¡®Imprint of Obedience¡¯. The mark must have appeared on both the king and the subordinate when he vowed that he would live and die as Minhyuk¡¯s dog. This mark would take his life if he betrayed his king or should his king willed it. With this mark engraved on his skin, there was no way for him to kill himself. In other words, he hadpletely be the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s dog.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m already regretting this choice.¡¯</em>

    It was true that Luo had made this choice because he was greedy. He wanted to live and not die at that moment so he made the choice.

    Not long after, a man came inside the room. This man was none other than Park. He said, ¡°You need to go and train the assassins immediately. We have secretly selected several assassins from Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Please pay more attention to Nero.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Luo was once the Sword of the Gods. But now? He was demoted to nothing more than an instructor that would raise future assassins. He was not even given any time to rest.

    <em>¡®Ha¡­¡¯</em>

    He could not help but sigh. If his rtionship with Minhyuk was not based purely on the Imprint of Obedience and instead on respect and loyalty, then his treatment would probably be different.

    He had been greeted with severe disappointment the moment he woke up in this kingdom. All he could do was go to the training grounds. That was where he saw soldiers and troops infinitely weakerpared to the empire¡¯s forces.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s no way that the king of such a weak kingdom will be able to kill Nerva¡­¡¯</em>

    Once again, Luo felt deep regret at his choice.

    The cold and sharp eyes of the people of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom continued to stab into Luo¡¯s body as he continued on his way to the training grounds.

    <em>St¡ª</em>

    Someone threw an egg at Luo. However, Luo did not pay it any heed and just continued on his way. When he arrived at the training grounds, he saw the people that he was supposed to train.

    <em>¡®What the hell is this? Aren¡¯t they nothing but f*cking bastards?¡¯</em>

    Luo was actually very good at teaching assassination techniques. In fact, he was the one that taught and led the Luvien Empires¡¯ Divine Assassin Corps. However, the sight in front of him caused him to sigh. He was already thinking of not giving it his all.

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll just live like this and die here.¡¯</em>

    Yes, he would teach them. However, he would not give it his best. They wanted his Secret? Well, he never intended to teach them such a thing. Even if he taught them the basics, he was sure that their levels would not increase by much.

    After all, this was nothing but a rtionship between a dog and its owner. No, in fact, dogs would always listen to their owners. That was not the case for Luo. He was forced by his circumstances. There was no way that he would give it his all and train these soldiers sincerely.

    Meanwhile, an old man watched his figure from afar. This old man was none other than Spear God Ben.

    Ben smiled bitterly at him and thought, <em>¡®Your Majesty, he will be nothing but a mere puppet. That is unless you win his heart and loyalty. Hoho.¡¯</em>

    On the other side, Luo was very shocked to see the old man smiling bitterly at him. There were quite a few reasons why he was shocked. The first one was because he realized that he could not win against this old man after losing one arm. The second was because he was an old man. And the third, it was a surprising matter.

    <em>¡®Goodness! He has long and thick ck hair at such an old age¡­ Ahem. I want to know his secret.¡¯</em>

    That was right, Luo, who wore a ck cowl every day, was in fact also bald.

    ***

    Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s walls.

    The news of their victory in war spread far and wide. The cheers of the people of Beyond the Heavens shook the world. Although it was already night, the streets of the kingdom were still lively and vibrant. It was as if a festival was happening.

    After the war, Minhyuk stood on top of the walls, a small smile at the corners of his lips. <em>¡®Fufufufu. There¡¯s nothing better than eating something simple like this.¡¯</em>

    <em>Tick, tick, tick, tick¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk opened the gas burner stove and ced a nickel pot on top of it. The dishes that he nned to eat this time were none other than ramyeon and gimbap.

    <em>¡®The best way to cook ramyeon is to follow the prescribed amount of water in the bag.¡¯</em>

    This was the perfect season for ramyeon, where a cool and refreshing breeze blew. Eating ramyeon while sitting on the walls and looking over the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. It was simply perfect. Just the thought of it could make anyone¡¯s heart tremble.

    Just like that, the ramyeon in the nickel pot started to boil. Then, Minhyuk cracked an egg at the most opportune moment. Minhyuk personally preferred his eggs intact. He did not like stirring them in the soup.

    Minhyuk quickly set up the table and served the cooked ramyeon. Then, he ced some tuna gimbap, well-ripened kimchi and some pickled radish along with the pot.

    As the cold breeze blew in, he quickly took a big bite of the steaming hot ramyeon from the pot.

    ¡°<em>Hoo! Hoo!</em>¡± Minhyuk blew on the mouthful.

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuuuuuuuuurp!</em>¡±

    The noodles were chewy and the soup was spicy. As expected, ¡®Jjin Ramyeon¡¯s Spicy vor¡¯ could be described as the way, the truth and the life. Minhyuk lifted another huge mouthful of noodles and ced them in his mouth.

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuuuuuuuurp!</em>¡±

    As he chewed the noodles, he quickly grabbed some well-ripened kimchi and ced it in his mouth.

    <em>Crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    The kimchi added depth to the vor of the soup. This time, he took a bite of the gimbap that was filled to the brim with tuna.

    <em>¡®Kghhk! I really like the scent of peri leaves.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk truly liked the scent of the peri leaves wafting from the tuna gimbap. It was a unique scent that would waft into his nose and spread in his mouth in one bite. And that was not all, there was also the mayonnaise and the tuna inside, a perfect blend that could make one feel better in an instant.

    Next, Minhyuk dipped his tuna gimbap in his ramyeon soup.

    <em>Munch, munch, munch¡ª</em>

    Whenever he felt like his throat was dry, he would lift the entire pot, blow lightly on the soup and drink directly from it. The spiciness of the soup was able to warm up his cold body.

    After a few minutes of eating the noodles and gimbap, Minhyuk started to wonder if he had some cold rice with him. However, he quickly shook his head. <em>¡®Let¡¯s try something new today.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk only left a small amount of ramyeon soup on the pot. Then, he added some cold rice on top of the soup, where he could see little noodles left behind.

    <em>Tick, tick, tick, tick¡ª</em>

    Then, he turned on the gas burner stove once again. What Minhyuk was cooking right now was none other than ¡®ramyeon porridge¡¯[1].

    Ramyeon porridge would taste better if the rice was boiled down together with only a bit of the ramyeon soup left. After the soup has been boiled down, Minhyuk cracked an egg above it. Then, he boiled it for a bit more before turning off the heat.

    Minhyuk quickly scooped a mouthful of the ramyeon porridge, the grains of rice mixed with the small strands of noodles, and ced it in his mouth. All he could do after eating the mouthful that was fresh out of the pot, was to roll it around in his mouth until it cooled down.

    The savory taste of the ramyeon porridge was quite a vor. Of course, he did not forget to scoop another mouthful. But this time, he added some kimchi on top of it.

    <em>Crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk smiled happily as he nodded in admiration. He made sure to eat everything, not leaving behind even a single grain of rice on the pot. Then, he let out a sigh of happiness as he looked over the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    ¡°<em>Fwaaaa</em><em>¡­</em>¡±

    As he watched over his kingdom, he recalled the notifications that he received before he came here.

    <em>[God¡¯s Second Knight Luo does not have loyalty toward you. He does not harbor any love or hatred toward the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[The rtionship between him and you is nothing more than a master and servant rtionship, a rtionship based on obedience.]</em>

    He was not shocked that Luo did not have any loyalty toward him. However, if this matter persisted, then it would be a huge problem. After all, someone with no loyalty to him was definitely a headache. It was likely that he would do everything half-heartedly. There were no feelings toward Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    Minhyuk scrolled through his notifications that rang in his ears after they won in Esser Fortress.

    <em>[The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom has helped the Masserati Kingdom gain victory.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 40% of the spoils of war.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 8,313 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 2,411,000,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[¡­leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[Congrattions. You have reached Level 570.]</em>

    <em>[The <strong>ss-specific Ques</strong><strong>t</strong>: Even More Tasty Dishes has been created.]</em>

    <em>[¡­acquired ck Knight¡¯s Armor(456).]</em>

    <em>[¡­acquired ck Knight¡¯s Sword(301).]</em>

    Although he obtained plenty spoils of war, Minhyuk¡¯s attention was solely focused on the ¡®ss-specific Quest.¡¯

    <em>¡®There are quite a lot of people that are doing ss-specific quests right now.¡¯</em>

    Quests like this often gave ss-specific items for God-ss yers and Legend-ss yers. The items that they received varied greatly. As for the high rankers? Whether they were swordsmen, mages, necromancers or the likes, only those that had reached the highest level the fastest would receive a ss-specific quest.

    Finally, Minhyuk had received his own ss-specific quest. As expected, the most important part of this ¡®ss-specific quest¡¯ was the reward.

    <em>[<strong>ss-specific Quest</strong>: Even More Tasty Dishes.]</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: ???</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: Food God</em>

    <em><strong>Rewards</strong>: ss-specific artifact and cooking ingredients left behind by the previous Food God for his sessors.</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty for Failure</strong>: The worst artifact and the worst cooking ingredient.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong></em><em>: One could call this a simple ss quest. All you need to do is make more and more food, making sure that they are delicious, to plenty of people. Your time limit is one week. The previous Food God had created and distributed 21,000 dishes to people in his lifetime. The rewards would depend on thepletion of the dish and the amount that you can make. The less dishes you make, the worse the ss-specific artifact and ingredient you will get. These are all left behind by the Food God for his sessors. The Food God can utilize the help of others and have assistants by his side.</em>

    Minhyuk stood up and began to make his move.

    ***

    The Louvert Guild was a chef¡¯s guild that was well-known to the world. However, ck, the guild master of the Louvert Guild, had made a careless bet with the Food God and as a result, came under the wing of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    Right now, the Louvert Guild¡¯s Master ck and their eight executives were all sitting together with Minhyuk. ck was no longer surprised because Food God Minhyuk always did something amazing. Rather than thinking, <em>¡®What is he going to say this time,¡¯</em> they all began to think, <em>¡®What does he want to eat this time again?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk said, ¡°Everyone should be aware that the families that have lost their loved ones in this war are still grieving.¡±

    Indeed. Although the streets were lively and it looked like a festival was happening in the kingdom, it was nothing but a tool that masked the sorrow within. Once they got back home, they would definitely be crying and weeping as they hugged the possessions of their loved ones and stared at the empty space that was left behind.

    ¡°That¡¯s why I¡­¡±

    <em>¡®What do you want to do again this time?¡¯ </em>ck asked in his thoughts as he stared at Minhyuk and listened attentively to his words.

    ¡°I n on cooking dishes myself and feeding all of my people for an entire week.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    ck thought that he would no longer be surprised by whatever Minhyuk decided to do. But the words that rang in his ears made him jump from his seat.

    If theybined the number of citizens and soldiers of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, they would have around 700,000 people in total.

    <em>¡®Is he crazy¡­?¡¯ </em>ck thought, taken aback by the words of the rascal in front of him.

    1. A cross between ramyeon and gruel/porridge ?

 Chapter 710: Abundant Deliciousness

    Chapter 710: Abundant Deliciousness

    Where can dishes cooked in bulk be found? The mostmon ce would be cafeterias, like office cafeterias, school cafeterias, and even military cafeterias. There had been cases where military chefs had to serve hundreds, even thousands of servings per meal.

    <em>¡®Actually, one hour is more than enough to make a hundred servings.¡¯</em>

    It was possible. The person in charge of the soup would focus only on cooking the soup, the person in charge of stir-frying the dishes would only stir-fry the dishes, the person in charge of the vegetables would only season the vegetables, and the likes. However, this estimate was based on the assumption that all of the ingredients had already been processed and that all of the cooking tools were tailored for cooking in bulk.

    If one decided to give it their all and cook the entire day, then they would only be able to cook for around 2,400. However, it was a given that a person had to rest. Considering that the person that was cooking was Minhyuk, it would not be too strange if he could only make 1,200 dishes in a day.

    <em>¡®Cooking is not just simply about making it. It is aplicated process, an art wherein you have to make sure that the taste is also superb.¡¯ </em>This was the thought that ran through the head of one of the world¡¯s top ten chefs, ck.

    ¡°Do you think what you said makes sense?¡±

    He wanted to feed all of his people for a week? Of course, it might be possible. However, it would require the cooperation between the Louvert Guild, Minhyuk, and plenty of other chefs from the Asgan Continent. That alone would cost a huge sum of money.

    ¡°Feeding all of the people? I think that¡¯s nothing but a vain thought. Also, for the members of our Louvert Guild, this would definitely feel like a severe punishment.¡±

    ck did not want to participate in something that would bring them no benefit.

    ¡°I¡¯m not forcing you to help me. I just wanted to inform you that I will challenge it. I will be cookingrge batches of bulk dishes.¡±

    It was the truth. Minhyuk did not intend to ask them for help and was just informing them. He knew that if he asked them for help, then all of them would think that he was nothing but a selfish person.

    After all, ck and the members of the Louvert Guild were all busy people. No, to be precise, all of the yers that were ying this game were just taking time out of their busy schedules to y around. He could not tell them to help him out just because of some personal agenda.

    ck walked out of the door once the conversation was over. The truth was, he still had not fully acknowledged Food God Minhyuk. The reason why he came under Minhyuk¡¯smand was because of a careless bet. Besides, ck, someone that was one of the world¡¯s leading chefs, felt like it would hurt his own pride to make food that would simply fill the stomach.

    Just as he was about to step out, Minhyuk spoke once more.

    ¡°However, this is mainly because I want to give my people a warm and hearty meal.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ck, who already had his hand on the doorknob, stopped in his tracks. He remembered how he dreamt of bing the world¡¯s best chef when he was still a child.

    ¡ª<em>I don¡¯t care whether they are poor or rich! I want to feed everyone with a warm meal that I made myself!</em>

    ck gritted his teeth. He recalled the lost dreams from long ago, after living in a fierce environment, surrounded by vicious chefs.

    ¡ª<em>What can a son of the chairman of a conglomerate like you, who did not even have dreams of bing a chef, know about this, huh? Dreaming such absurd and empty dreams while not having enough skills to do just makes you a very contemptible person.</em>

    ck mmed the door shut. After he stepped out, the eight executives of the Louvert Guild all looked at each other. Even they found Minhyuk¡¯s idea to be quite absurd.

    ¡°Ah. Of course, we just have to do our best. If it doesn¡¯t work, then there¡¯s nothing that we can do.¡±

    That was right. There was no way that they could make such a thing happen. This was nothing but Minhyuk¡¯s wish to feed all of his people. It was impossible to achieve in the first ce.

    One of the executives asked carefully, ¡°So, what do you n to cook?¡±

    ¡°Spicy stir-fried chicken and buckwheat noodles.¡±

    ***

    There was always something trending on the Athenaemunity site. yers were often interested in what other yers did or what they got, and would often express their thoughts on the matter. At that moment, there was another huge buzz in themunity site.

    <em>[Did you guys see the news? The Food God said that he will cook for his entire kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[Me! Me! No matter how I look at it, it looks like it¡¯s a ss quest.]</em>

    <em>[Food God Minhyuk is going to cook for his people? Kyaa! He¡¯s really the Food God!]</em>

    <em>[ording to the records, the current poption in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is around 720,000.]</em>

    <em>[¡­Eh? Can he cook for that many people in just a week?]</em>

    <em>[Can he even do it? Hahahahahaha.]</em>

    <em>[It should be possible, right? Well, the Food God can just stand there and give his orders while the members of Louvert Guild cook.]</em>

    <em>[Only the poor and pitiful members of the Louvert Guild will be dying¡­]</em>

    <em>[The Food God is a king. Well, all he needs to do is give orders.]</em>

    Minhyuk had been constantly challenging repetitive andborious quests so far, to the point of recklessness sometimes. A typical example of such a quest was the quest that he cleared not too long ago in the Papal Wall, where he had to harvest crops and chop firewood.

    None of them knew how stubborn and strong-willed Minhyuk was when it came to repetitivebor. This was because his endeavors had seldom been broadcasted. Of course, the yers would think that only the poor and pitiful chefs would be at a disadvantage.

    However, a picture had been released of Minhyuk releasing his huge trailer in the middle of the za, as he began his preparations.

    <em>[???]</em>

    <em>[¡­?]</em>

    <em>[Eh? He¡¯s doing it himself?]</em>

    <em>[¡­OMG?]</em>

    Food God Minhyuk was a very busy figure. He was not only one of the top rankers of Athenae but also the heir to a huge corporation. Not only that, he was also the king of a nation. Yet he was going to cook personally?

    <em>[Guys, I bet he will run away after two days.]</em>

    <em>[I will bet too!]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s just in reckless.]</em>

    That was right. Everyone knew Minhyuk as the best ranker. They also knew him as a kind and virtuous man. However, they did not know that he was strong-willed, stubborn to a fault. Everyone believed that he would absolutely not finish it.

    ***

    Central za.

    Minhyuk arrived in the central za and threw out his toy-like trailer, which eventually grew in size and spat out zing mes.

    <em>Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeep¡ª</em>

    <em>Rumbleeeeeeee¡ª</em>

    The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Chef¡¯s Tower Master Len, along with some volunteers from the Louvert Guild, came in as assistants. However, Minhyuk would be the only one that would make the main dish. The assistants would only be there to make the buckwheat noodles and the dongchimi. As for the one that would help Minhyuk with the main dish? It was none other than the trailer.

    <em>(Cooking Trailer)</em>

    <em>Rank: God</em>

    <em>Requirements: A DEX higher than 2,000</em>

    <em>Durability: ¡Þ / ¡Þ</em>

    <em>Special Effects:</em>

    <em>?Your cooking time will be reduced by 60%.</em>

    <em>?Your cooking time for bulk dishes will be reduced by 70%.</em>

    <em>?The vor of the dish will be preserved in bulk dishes. No deterioration will ur.</em>

    <em>?Automatic cooking function.</em>

    <em>?With the stronger firepower, stir-fried dishes will have a 10% increase in buff effects.</em>

    <em>?Dishes cooked in the trailer would have a 30% increase in buff effects and a 40% duration reduction.</em>

    <em>?The trailer can detect any danger in the vicinity. The higher the level of danger detected, the higher the chances of creating a higher-grade dish that can help you ovee the approaching crisis.</em>

    <em>?Attacks and damage will be nullified while you are cooking. However, it is only effective for an hour.</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Double Food</em>

    <em>Description: This is a cooking trailer created with an Eternal me that has stronger firepower. Cooking will be done much faster than expected when inside the trailer. Even the buffs of thepleted dishes will be greater than initially expected.</em>

    The only item that Minhyuk had for bulk cooking was the trailer. It was an artifact that could reduce the time it took to cook for a thousand people from an hour to twenty minutes. On top of that, it could even preserve the taste of the dish.

    However, even with the help of the trailer, it was still not enough. That was why Hyemin¡¯sDaddy came and touched the trailer.

    ¡°I think it¡¯s possible.¡±

    God of cksmiths Hyemin¡¯sDaddy had a special skill called ¡®Artifact Skill Transformation¡¯. He rarely used this skill because the skill transformation was set so that it could not produce a force that was equivalent to the existing skill.

    <em>¡®This is not to make the buff stronger but to increase the number of dishes that can be produced.¡¯</em>

    That was the reason why he deemed it possible. With his hands on the trailer, Hyemin¡¯sDaddy began to activate his skill.

    <em>[You have applied the Artifact Skill Transformation to the Active Skill; Double Food.]</em>

    <em>[Double Food is a skill that will allow you to create the same food with the same effect as long as it has been used within ten minutes.]</em>

    Double Food was the epitome of an overpowered skill. If he made a god-grade dish, then he could use the skill to make another god-grade dish. However, that was not the effect that Hyemin¡¯sDaddy and Minhyuk wanted.

    <em>[Double Food has started to transform.]</em>

    The skill began to change in the direction that Hyemin¡¯sDaddy envisioned.

    <em>[If you use the skill within ten minutes of the dish¡¯s creation, you will be able to get triple the amount of dishes than original.]</em>

    <em>[However, the buff effect will receive a significant reduction!]</em>

    <em>[With the reduction of the buff effect, the penalty for use of Double Food would be removed and its cooldown will be reduced to thirty minutes.]</em>

    ¡°Apply.¡±

    <em>[The modifications have been applied to Double Food.]</em>

    <em>[The modifications applied to Double Food will remain for one week.]</em>

    <em>[After the week has passed, the original effects of the Double Food skill will return.]</em>

    Minhyuk, even in his status as a king, opted to wear a chef¡¯s uniform bearing the symbol of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, as he climbed inside the trailer. Everyone gathered to see their king in the central za while the assistants continued to carry the ingredients inside.

    ¡°Thank you, Your Majesty!¡±

    ¡°Long live His Majesty Minhyuk!¡±

    The people all bowed towards Minhyuk. In fact, they also think that the feat was impossible to achieve. However, they were just very grateful for Minhyuk¡¯s consideration towards them.

    Minhyuk smiled brightly and asked, ¡°Are you all ready to eat something delicious?¡±

    ***

    Lee Minhwa and Team Leader Park Minggyu were both staring at the monitor.

    ¡°Minhwa, you know about it, right?¡±

    ¡°Of course. The Food God ss specific items that yer Minhyuk could get are very special.¡±

    ss-specific items were divided into two categories. There were quests that would unconditionally give yers their ss-specific items, regardless whether they finished their quest in an excellent manner or were only able to barelyplete it. There were also quests with rewards that would depend on what one had aplished during the duration of the quest.

    Minhyuk¡¯s quest belonged to thetter, which was quite a rare urrence. However, there was no doubt that the ss-specific items for the Food God were exceptional.

    In fact, all of the previous Food Gods had gone through this quest. And now, it had appeared for the current Food God.

    ¡°If he can¡¯t cook a lot of dishes, then he¡¯ll only be able to get a set of ordinary cooking utensils.¡±

    Team Leader Park Minggyu nodded.

    However, what if Minhyuk cooked more dishes than the previous Food Gods?

    ¡°Otherwise, he will be able to get the god-rank tools from ¡®Ravier¡¯, the greatest Food God and the God of Cooking of the past.¡±

    ***

    Luo was moving like a machine. His gaze was lifeless, as if he had no soul, while he continued to train the assassins. Even so, the assassins were still happy to be able to learn something new and gain some sort of awakening and realization. Of course, they were still aware of the attitude of Luo.

    <em>¡®The Instructor doesn¡¯t like us.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I can¡¯t even see any will from him. He definitely will not do anything for us.¡¯</em>

    They could not hide the bitterness that welled up within them.

    After training, Luo went back, his gaze lifeless and nk. As he walked home, he heard ridiculous stories through the mouths of the people.

    <em>¡®The king will cook for his people?¡¯</em>

    He could not help butugh at that. That was bullshit. It was nothing but a mere performance. Luo still remembered the time when Emperor Nerva invited poor and pitiful children inside the imperial family with a bright smile on his face while holding hands with them. Why was this scene so unforgettable to Luo? Because the moment they entered the pce, away from the prying eyes of the people, Nerva immediately swatted away the hand that he was holding and looked at the children in disgust. It was as if he was looking at bugs.

    <em>¡®He looked like he held something dirty with his hands.¡¯</em>

    Nerva even wiped his hands with his handkerchief. That was what kings and emperors do. They would often do things that would look good on the outside only to win the hearts of the people.

    Then, an old man approached Luo. ¡°Are you going back?¡±

    The old man was none other than Spear God Ben. Luo felt his heart shake when he saw Spear God Ben.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m so curious. Why does he have so much hair on his head?¡¯</em>

    But he did not bother to ask. Ben justughed and walked behind him.

    ¡°I know that it¡¯s hard to adapt but you will gradually adjust to this ce. You must already know that this ce is very different from Luvien.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. It¡¯s very different.¡± Luo nodded. ¡°Your living conditions are infinitely shabbierpared to Luvien. Even the standards of your military forces are low whenpared to the empire.¡±

    Benughed. ¡°Don¡¯t just look at the kingdom¡¯s shorings. Do you not see any good points?¡±

    <em>¡®Who knows if there are advantages here?¡¯</em>

    As Luo continued to walk, he finally realized the difference between the people of the Luvien Empire and the people of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    <em>¡®Why do they look happy?¡¯</em>

    Even though they had lost a lot of people in the war recently, the people of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom still looked exceptionally happy. Why did their faces look much brighter than the faces of the people of the empire?

    It was obvious that the people of the Luvien Empire were living a much morefortable life. They did notck food, had higher wages andpensation for their workpared to other kingdoms, and they also received constant support. They also had the pride of being a part of a strong powerhouse.

    So, why did the people of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom look much happier than them?

    ¡°In the end, the Beyond the Heavens King is nothing but a performer. He¡¯s just using the pretext that he wants to feed the people. I¡¯m pretty sure all of the royal chefs are working hard under hismand by now.¡±

    ¡°Huh? What do you mean?¡± Ben asked, his head tilting in confusion. Then, he smiled kindly as he looked in another direction.

    Luo also turned his head and followed his gaze. <em>¡®In the end, the Beyond the Heavens King will also¡­¡¯</em>

    Luo believed that Minhyuk would be no different from Nerva.

    <em>Beeeeeeeeeeep¡ª</em>

    <em>Rumbleeeeeeee¡ª</em>

    There, he saw a huge trailer spitting out zing Eternal mes through a huge vent. Inside was a king, who sweated profusely yet was still smiling happily as he cooked. Meanwhile, the eyes of the people were filled with respect and admiration as they looked at their king.

    Ben, with a bright smile on his face, said, ¡°This is the king of the nation that you¡¯re serving.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    <em>Badump¡ª</em>

    Luo felt his heart throb.

    <em>¡®I have never seen the image of a king or an emperor like this.¡¯</em>

    <em>Badump¡ª</em>

    The other kings and emperors, including Nerva, were nothing more than performers. But not this king.

    <em>Badump¡ª</em>

    <em>¡®Is this the nation that you want to build?¡¯ </em>Luo turned around, a small smile on the corners of his lips. <em>¡®I look forward to it.¡¯</em>

 Chapter 711: Abundant Deliciousness

    Chapter 711: Abundant Deliciousness

    A notification rang in the ears of Minhyuk, who was busy making spicy stir-fried chicken for his people.

    <em>[God¡¯s Second Knight Luo is starting to develop favorable feelings toward you.]</em>

    <em>[You might be able to win over his heart and loyalty.]</em>

    As soon as Minhyuk brought Luo to their kingdom, he had asked Informant Abel to gather information on him. Abel, quick on his feet as always, performed his task swiftly.

    <em>¡®An excessively devoted person to his wife and child.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®A Sword of the Gods that is loved by the people.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®The Sword of the Gods that has never caused a fuss or a problem in the empire.¡¯</em>

    The Swords of the Gods held both great power and authority. More often than not, they would cause trouble. It would either be them killing a soldier because they found him offensive, or taking a woman home, sometimes by force, just because they coveted their appearance. These scenarios were frequent and could not be helped. After all, the world of Athenae was set during the middle ages, and such conduct wasmonce back then.

    However, Luo did not cause any stir or waves at all.

    <em>¡®Why has his heart wavered like that?¡¯</em>

    Luo and Minhyuk had forged a rtionship, akin to a master and his dog, to kill Nerva. However, it was also true that Luo would never be a true vassal if Minhyuk could not win his heart and loyalty.

    <em>(<strong>Luo</strong>)</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: Sword of the Gods</em>

    <em><strong>Type</strong>: Vassal</em>

    <em><strong>Level</strong>: 626</em>

    <em><strong>Attack</strong>: 6,430</em>

    <em><strong>Defense</strong>: 2,211</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: God of Assassination¡¯s Blessings</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Dance of the Assassin</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Ghostly Arts</em>

    <em><strong>Potential</strong>: 165</em>

    <em><strong>Experience Value</strong>: 23% / 100%</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: Although he has lost his left arm and his level has decreased by quite a bit, Luo is the one that is considered as the best assassin in the Luvien Empire. His existence ispletely unrivaled. And as the leader of the Divine Assassin Corps, he also has an excellent ability when ites to raising assassins.</em>

    If he won Luo¡¯s heart, Minhyuk might just be able to acquire the greatest assassin in the continent.

    <em>¡®We¡¯ll just have to wait and see.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk put aside everything about Luo away for a moment and focused on cooking the spicy stir-fried chicken in front of him.

    <em>Sizzleeeeee¡ª</em>

    He had already stir-fried the chicken legs, sweet potatoes, rice cakes, cabbages, onions and peri leaves together for the spicy stir-fried chicken.

    <em>¡®Stir-fried dishes taste even better as the sauce seeps deeper into the ingredients.¡¯</em> This was what Minhyuk personally believed. Thankfully enough, the trailer was capable of producing a bulk amount of this same dish.

    Once the dish was almost done, Minhyuk did not forget to add some udon noodles to the stir-fried dish. He originally wanted to make the dish and use preservation magic on it to prevent the noodles from swelling and getting soggy. After all, he nned on using different kinds of add-ons to the spicy stir-fried chicken and allow the people to choose what they wanted when he handed it over to them.

    In a way, it could be said that his idea was reckless. In fact, he lookedpletely overwhelmed just by cooking the spicy stir-fried chicken. Furthermore, it still did not have any sauce yet.

    <em>¡®However, they will enjoy it better that way.¡¯</em>

    As someone that suffered from an eating addiction, Minhyuk only felt pleasure when he ate by himself before. Whether it was a hundred or a thousand dishes, he would only find it fun when it entered his mouth.

    However, when he started ying Athenae and his eating addiction was slowly being ovee, he saw how food made people happy and delighted. That was when he discovered a new form of pleasure, the joy in cooking for others. The most important thing that he learned and realized as he continued to y this game was the joy of eating together.

    Although his people would only be able to eat this meal once, he wanted to do his best so that they would be happy once the food entered their mouths. Since this was a dish that he wanted to make for the people of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, he naturally included a portion each for the people that he was very grateful for like Genie, Ascar, Ben, Conir, Aruvel, Mei Wei, Crow, Ace, Abel and many more.

    Since there were a lot of people that helped him along the way, it was only right that he did his best for them after all.

    <em>Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep¡ª!</em>

    Perhaps the trailer sensed Minhyuk¡¯s thoughts, it began to spew out Eternal mes with more intensity, working harder for his sake. Five hours soon passed and Minhyuk had not stopped cooking yet.

    <em>[It¡¯s already been five hours.]</em>

    <em>[Food God Minhyuk has not yet rested in those five hours. The moment he¡¯s finished cooking, he would immediately wipe the pot and put in a new batch of ingredients to continue cooking.]</em>

    <em>[Athenae might just be a game but if one continues to work repeatedly then they will experience both mental and physical exhaustion once their stamina runs out. Food God Minhyuk intends to feed all of his people. However, I still cannot fathom what kind of method he intends to use.]</em>

    None of them had an inkling as to how Minhyuk would feed all of his people. Meanwhile, the viewers had started to voice their own opinions.

    <em>[He¡¯s not going to cook for 700,000 people without taking a rest, no? Haha.]</em>

    <em>[Guys, do you even think that¡¯s possible? How can a person cook non-stop for an entire week?]</em>

    <em>[Even if he cooks like that, he won¡¯t be able to cook enough for 700,000 people¡­]</em>

    <em>[I know, right¡­]</em>

    It was true that it would be impossible for Minhyuk to cook for 700,000 people even if he continued to cook non-stop.

    <em>[But you guys know something? He¡¯s a king yet he still cooks for his people. Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s cool?]</em>

    <em>[Yep, yep. I agree with you. Which ruler and leader would go that far for his people and nation?]</em>

    <em>[The rulers and leaders in reality are all busy pping their mouths. Haha.]</em>

    The viewersplimented Minhyuk¡¯s ideals, saying that he was truly living a life worthy of pride. Among them, there were a few people that said, <em>¡®Minhyuk will be able to make it.¡¯ </em>In fact, many did not know that Minhyuk had gained a new skill, the ¡®Divine Will¡¯.

    <em>[You have triggered the skill: Divine Will.]</em>

    <em>[All of your skills and abilities rted to DEX will temporarily increase by 30%.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will increase by 8%. Your attack and defense will increase by 6%.]</em>

    Divine Will was far more special than the original skill, ¡®Will¡¯, that Minhyuk obtained before. For Divine Will, Minhyuk only needed a quarter of the efforts that he needed to trigger Will. Furthermore, if he could trigger it again within thirty minutes, his DEX would increase by another 15%. If he could repeat this feat again, then he would be able to get a total of 60% increase in DEX. It could even cleanse his mind and body of the fog and fatigue, making him feel refreshed and energetic, as if he had just woken up and washed up.

    <em>¡®Come to think of it, I went through all sorts of hardships and trials just so I could get ingredients and cook, no?¡¯</em>

    God-grade ingredients were very tricky and troublesome to cook. Some of them had released zing mes that engulfed Minhyuk and caused him to suffer burning pain all throughout his body. There were also some ingredients that were extremely heavy, forcing him to groan from the weight as he flipped the dish over. There were also some ingredients that sent strong and powerful attacks that created injuries all over his body. There was even a time when Minhyuk had foregone sleeping for a few days just so he could harvest ingredients.

    Knowing that there was no penalty and that he had the Divine Will in his arsenal, Minhyuk was far more rxed than before. Nevertheless, the continuous efforts made Minhyuk reel and stagger as he tried to make another batch of spicy stir-fried chicken.

    ¡°Kghhk¡­¡±

    The people watching him cook all turned anxious when they saw him shake his head and hold it with one hand.

    ¡°Your, Your Majesty¡­¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty Minhyuk!¡±

    The soldiers wanted to rush to his aid but Minhyuk just shook his head at them. ¡°¡­I¡¯m fine. I have to continue to cook so you must never enter here!¡±

    ¡°B, but Your Majesty¡­¡±

    ¡°I promised my people that I will cook for them. How can my words as the king of this nation be taken so lightly? My words should carry their weight in gold.¡±

    ¡°Your, Your Majesty¡­¡±

    The soldiers felt tears begin to well up in their eyes, stepping back as they tried their hardest to not let a single drop fall. Warmth started to bloom in the hearts of the people when they heard those words.

    That was not the end, Minhyuk was waiting to deal the decisive blow!

    ¡°Trust this king of yours and just wait.¡±

    ¡°<em>Huhuhuhuhu.</em> Your Majeeeeeeeesty!¡±

    ¡°Long live His Majesty Minhyuuuuuuuuuuk!¡±

    At that moment, a set of notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The patriotic spirit of the people of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom for their own kingdom has grown deeper. Their loyalty to their king is higher than the loyalty of the people of other kingdoms and empires.]</em>

    <em>[You are deeply respected by the people of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[Even though you are a king, it is still not an easy feat to win the hearts of all of your people.]</em>

    <em>[A special reward will be given to you!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained +1 in all of your stats!]</em>

    A glib tongue and a face full of sincerity would usually get one out of trouble. If Minhyuk were to be honest, it was not really that hard to win his people¡¯s favor. All he did was mix the truth with some small actions and duped them somewhat! However, what he did was not necessarily all that bad. The fact that he was still doing his best for them did not change.

    That was how four straight days passed by.

    ***

    It was not only Korea, the entire world was also in a buzz. At first, the world was only slightly interested when they heard that Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King Minhyuk would cook bulk dishes for his people. However, the biggest reason for their outburst was the fact that the Beyond the Heavens King had not even slept a wink in four days and was still cooking.

    Thementators could not help but admire his will.

    <em>[I really don¡¯t know what to say. Just thirty minutes ago, Food God Minhyuk was struggling from exhaustion.]</em>

    <em>[I can see his sweat all over his body but he never stopped cooking.]</em>

    <em>[Look at his eyes, he looks really exhausted. However, his firm determination to feed all his people is keeping him awake.]</em>

    <em>[Ah¡­ As we speak, the Food God has copsed.]</em>

    Thementators could only sigh. They were very speechless at what they were witnessing. One of them gritted his teeth and tried his hardest to speak, his voice quivering slightly.

    <em>[Look at all the people that have said that the Food God is nothing but a genius. Even if he is, beyond a doubt, he¡¯s a hard worker. At this moment, I can say with my own heart that I really respect the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King, Food God Minhyuk.]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s right. I would also like to express my support for him, but my words fail me. Please do your best.]</em>

    All of the viewers andmentators were in awe and admiration as they watched him with their throbbing hearts. Every person watching this scene was cheering for him, albeit in a small voice.

    <em>¡®We hope you can do it.¡¯</em>

    It was true that Minhyuk was exhausted, but only to some extent. It was not actually as hard as it seemed to them.

    <em>¡®Wow, isn¡¯t the Divine Will really amazing?¡¯</em>

    The Divine Will was supporting Minhyuk so perfectly that he did not even get tired even after several days of hard work. He was truly experiencing mental fatigue but the rest of his reactions were somewhat exaggerated.

    It finally happened on the fifth day.

    <em>¡®At this point¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk stumbled and copsed.

    ¡°Your Majeeeeeeeeeeesty!¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty Minhyuuuuuuuuuuk!¡±

    The soldiers immediately ran to Minhyuk. Of course, Spear God Ben was among them.

    ¡°Are you alright, Your Majesty?¡± Ben held Minhyuk¡¯s hand carefully and asked.

    However, Minhyuk did not move.

    <em>¡®Did he really pass out?¡¯</em>

    Just then, Minhyuk suddenly gave Ben¡¯s hand a gentle squeeze and took it out of his hold. Then, Ben saw him squint and wink at him.

    There was a saying: A school dog will recite a poem after three years.[1] Ben had been with Minhyuk as his vassal for quite some time. Of course, he had learned how to put on a show from Minhyuk.

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaah. Goodness! His Majesty fainted after cooking non-stop for five days for the sake of his people! Aaaaaaaah. Our king truly cares about his people!!!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Huhuhuhuhuhu. Your Majeeeeeeeesty!!!¡±

    ¡°Let us all never forget the care and the effort that our dear and noble king has done for us.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°Long live Your Majesty Minhyuuuuuuk!!!¡±

    ¡°Your Majeeeeeeeeeeesty!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaah¡­¡±

    The timing was perfect. Ben even did an adlib and slowly ced his ears near Minhyuk¡¯s mouth. ¡°His Majesty is saying something!¡±

    The people and the soldiers, even the viewers andmentators all held their breath as they waited for Spear God Ben to convey the words that Minhyuk wanted to say.

    ¡°I will not stop cooking for the sake of my people.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    <em>[¡­This is truly a very touching moment.]</em>

    <em>[I have been amentator for four years but this is the first time that I have cried without even realizing it.]</em>

    <em>[Hoo¡­ Our Lord, the Food God. Is there even a name that is more fitting than that?]</em>

    Ten minutester, Minhyuk stood up once again after drinking some cold water. Amidst everyone¡¯s worried stares, he tried to prepare the ingredients and cook once again.

    <em>[Who are they?]</em>

    <em>[Why are there suddenly a lot of people walking toward the trailer?]</em>

    <em>[Isn¡¯t the person standing at the forefront quite familiar?]</em>

    A man led arge number of chefs in front of the trailer. This man was none other than ¡®Twilight Chef ck¡¯. ck and the Louvert Guild had decided that only those that volunteered would go and help Minhyuk.

    Seeing them, Minhyuk slowly came out of the trailer. ck looked at him silently. He had been watching him for a few days and had once again started to rethink the dreams that he had when he was a child. Not too long ago, ck had mocked Minhyuk¡¯s challenge, saying that it was reckless. However, at this very moment, he was filled with respect and admiration for the man in front of him.

    ¡°Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King Minhyuk, I could not help but feel shame as one of the top ten chefs in the world after watching you.¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    ¡°Thanks to you, I was able to remember the mindset that I had once before, the same mindset that I had when I just started cooking. Thank you.¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    Then, ck mmed his fist on his chest.

    ¡°Our Louvert Guild is honored to have stayed by your side, the one with the pride of a true chef. From this day forth, we vow to always walk by your side through thick or thin.¡± Then, tears started to fall down ck¡¯s face as he continued with a bright smile on his face, ¡°We too want to join you.¡±

    <em>Wipe, wipe, wipe¡ª</em>

    ck turned around beautifully and wiped his tears. But then, he suddenly turned back and gave Minhyuk a thumbs up. ¡°You really are a cool punk.¡±

    Minhyuk, who watched the entire thing, thought, <em>¡®¡­What¡¯s wrong with him?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had suddenly gained the loyalty of ck and the entire Louvert Guild.

    1. ??? ? ??? ??? ??, you learn what you are exposed to. Even those that are inexperienced will have some knowledge on the field if they stay there for a long time. ?

 Chapter 712: Abundant Deliciousness

    Chapter 712: Abundant Deliciousness

    While ck was renowned as one of the top ten chefs in the world and the master of the Louvert Guild, he had spent his childhood in poverty. Back then, even though he was poor, ck felt happy with just three meals a day and often dreamt of bing a chef. He had dreamt of cooking a delicious dish that everyone can enjoy regardless if they were poor or rich.

    However, as ck grew older, he realized that being a chef did not mean that he could cook as many delicious dishes as he wanted. And yet, Minhyuk was different from him.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s cooking purely for the sake of the people.¡¯</em>

    ck looked back on his past as he watched Minhyuk do his best until he ¡®copsed¡¯.

    <em>¡®I wanted to be a chef for the people but I ended up going after power.¡¯</em>

    Because of this, ck remembered once again why he became a chef. At that point, he decided to be loyal to both Minhyuk and the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. The same was true for the members of the Louvert Guild. They also received great inspiration as they watched Minhyuk cook for his people.

    ¡°What should we do?¡± ck had a grave expression as he asked. They all understood that there was a severe shortage of workers right now.

    Ten minutester.

    <em>Scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch¡ª</em>

    ck, a chef among the top ten in the world, was seen crouching down and peeling the radish for dongchimi.

    ¡°Ah¡­ Mr. ck, you did not peel this part here.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Oh¡­ Yeah¡­¡±

    ***

    Five days was not a short amount of time. During that time, Minhyuk had only slept minimally to continue cooking. Although he deliberately copsed and pretended to be tired, it was not a walk in the park either.

    <em>¡®The Divine Will is an overpowered skill but¡­¡¯</em>

    It would be a lie if Minhyuk said that he did not experience mental exhaustion. In fact, there was this constant urge to rest and sleep that was running through Minhyuk¡¯s head. On top of that, there was also this desire that was incessantly nagging at the corner of his head.

    <em>¡®I really want to eat something good.¡¯</em>

    However, the thing that bothered Minhyuk the most was the pressure.

    One week. Minhyuk was the one that made the firm deration to feed all of his people in such a short amount of time. However, after looking at the amount that he had finished cooking, he thought that perhaps it was impossible to achieve. Right now, Minhyuk had only reached around 44% of his target amount.

    These notifications had also rang in his ears:

    <em>[The <strong>ss-specific Quest</strong>: Even More Tasty Dishes is ongoing.]</em>

    <em>[You have already achieved quite great results in your ongoing quest.]</em>

    <em>[You will be able to obtain quite good rewards.]</em>

    Any person doing a quest would want to get the best rewards that they could obtain in this situation. That was also the reason why Minhyuk found it quite regrettable.

    <em>¡®If I can¡¯t finish everything in a week, then I¡¯ll just add a few more days topensate.¡¯</em>

    However, even if he did that, the rewards that he would obtain would not get better. At the rate that he was going, it would be impossible for him to feed all of his people. In fact, even the yers in themunity site were also expressing their regrets.

    <em>[I guess there are just things that people can¡¯t achieve even if they work hard.]</em>

    <em>[He truly did his best, even foregoing sleep for a few days. This is making me feel sad.]</em>

    <em>[In the first ce, it was ridiculous to dere that he would feed all of his people in just one week.]</em>

    <em>[Nevertheless, I still support you!!! Our Lord, the Food God!!!]</em>

    Even the people were looking at Minhyuk sadly. They thought that their king would me himself if he failed to do what he promised.

    <em>¡®Your Majesty, you have already done great.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Your Majesty, thank you for thinking of the people.¡¯</em>

    The people cared about him more than anyone else. That was why they had to wonder if he would be disappointed with himself. However, Minhyuk just looked at them with a soft smile on his face.

    <em>Beeeeeeeeeeeep¡ª</em>

    For five straight days, the Eternal mes had continued to spew out zing mes through the vents of the trailer. It never died down, as if it was representing Minhyuk¡¯s passion and will for the people.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s hands turned stiff as he flipped the chicken inside the pan.

    <em>Buuuuuuuuuzzz¡ª</em>

    Perhaps it was because of the umted pressure and tension, as well as the mental exhaustion and fatigue that he endured under the watchful gazes of his people, because a ringing appeared in his ears and everything turned dizzy for a moment. When his vision cleared, Minhyuk only saw the ground getting closer and closer until he made contact with it.

    <em>Thuuuuud¡ª</em>

    ¡°Your Majesty!!!¡± Spear God Ben hurriedly rushed forward. He knew right away that this was not a performance on Minhyuk¡¯s part.

    For Minhyuk, everything passed by in slow motion. Even the sound of one¡¯s breath in his ears sounded like those in the movies.

    <em>¡®Haa¡­ Haa¡­¡¯</em>

    The people that ran forward looked slow as they approached Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®I can¡¯t stop cooking.¡¯</em>

    He had to do it for his people and for himself. If Minhyuk was someone that gave up at the sight of several hardships and trials, then he would not have been able to produce miraculous results in his fight against his eating addiction.

    It would be easy for him to just give up, however, if he gave up here, then he would not be able to move forward and reach his goals.

    <em>Grab¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk grabbed the cooking shovel with a trembling hand as he tried his hardest to stand up. ¡°¡­I¡¯m okay.¡±

    Spear God Ben caught a glimpse of Minhyuk¡¯s strong and stubborn will. He immediately stepped back and raised his hand to stop all of the people that rushed to help Minhyuk from getting closer.

    However, the problem was Minhyuk did not have the strength to even lift his finger. His exhaustion had been constantly nulled and voided by the Divine Will skill. However, the mental fatigue had already umted to the point that his body did not listen to him at all and it was making it very hard for Minhyuk to get up.

    Then, at that moment, a petal slowly and gently fell on him.

    <em>Vwoooooooooong¡ª</em>

    Petals appeared and flew in with the wind, falling gently on Minhyuk, who had copsed on the floor, and turning into light until they seeped into his body.

    <em>[The God that Likes to Cook is cheering for you.]</em>

    <em>[Some of your umted fatigue has been relieved.]</em>

    <em>[God¡¯s Special Power will help you double the amount of food that you make.]</em>

    <em>[You have received God¡¯s support.]</em>

    <em>[The proficiency of your skill: Thousand Swords has increased.]</em>

    That was not the end. The petals that the God of Cooking had sent were pink but there were still other petals of various colors that were gently falling down on Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    <em>[The God that has the Courage to Never Back Down is¡­you.]</em>

    <em>[The God that has the Courage to Never Back Down¡­]</em>

    <em>[Some of your umted fatigue¡­]</em>

    <em>[God¡¯s Special Power has increased your cooking speed by 30%.]</em>

    <em>[¡­God¡¯s support.]</em>

    <em>[¡­proficiency¡­Thousand Swords¡­]</em>

    <em>[The God Standing at the Peak of Magic¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­umted fatigue¡­]</em>

    The falling petals soothed Minhyuk, washing away his exhaustion. They also carried plenty of special effects that opened up several possibilities for Minhyuk, who did not want to give up.

    Then, a very surprising notification rang in his ears.

    <em>[The God that is Good at Commanding the Army is cheering for you.]</em>

    <em>[¡­fatigue¡­]</em>

    <em>[God¡¯s Special Power has temporarily increased all of your stats by 20%.]</em>

    <em>[The proficiency of your skill: Thousand Swords has increased.]</em>

    This god was clearly one of the Absolute Gods, the Battle God, the very same God that gave Nerva Sephiroth his powers. Right now, he was watching Minhyuk with interest.

    <em>Grab¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk tightened his hold on his cooking shovel. He stood up once again and washed it clean.

    <em>¡®I feel refreshed.¡¯</em>

    In fact, he felt much more refreshed than when the Divine Will skill was triggered. He even thought that reaching his goal was possible now. With the power bestowed upon him by various gods, he could cook faster and serve several more dishes than before.

    <em>Sizzleeee¡ª</em>

    So, Minhyuk stood in front of the zing Eternal mes and began to cook once again.

    There was a man watching everything unfold from afar. The left sleeve of his shirt was fluttering loosely with the wind, evident of his missing arm. After watching Minhyuk, the man turned around and returned to the training ground.

    At the training ground, Nero, together with the chosen assassins of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, were training diligently. The truth was, Nero actually has a lot of worries in his head.

    <em>¡®How can we win over Mr. Luo¡¯s heart?¡¯</em>

    Luo looked like a machine and did not seem to have any interest in him nor in any of the assassins whatsoever. From what he knew, the man had signed a contract of obedience with Minhyuk. That was why Nero wondered if it was even possible for them to grow closer with him because of that. In fact, Nero just wanted to share the bond of a teacher and pupil with Luo.

    ¡°You¡¯re still very clumsy,¡± Luo, who returned after going out for a while, scolded Nero for the first time and grabbed his arm to help him correct his posture.

    ¡°Yes¡­?¡±

    So far, Luo had never taken interest in whatever stupid or clumsy posture they made when he taught them. Out of the blue, he was correcting Nero¡¯s posture.

    ¡°Starting tonight, I will give each and every single one of you special training. After that, I will teach you the God of Assassination¡¯s Assassination Arts.¡±

    ¡°Is, Is that true?¡± Nero rejoiced at those words but Luo maintained his silence. However, Nero could feel it. He could tell that Luo was now willing to open up to them.

    ***

    A week had passed since Minhyuk started cooking. There were many yers in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and all of them came to watch Minhyuk cook.

    ¡°Wow¡­ how can a person¡­¡±

    ¡°But don¡¯t you think he¡¯s cool?¡±

    ¡°I never thought that watching someone cook would look so cool.¡±

    ¡°Kyaaaaaack!!! Oppa, please take me!!!¡±

    ¡°Honey, you will turn 45 the day after tomorrow¡­¡±

    ¡°Shut up.¡±

    ¡°H, honey¡­ why are you grabbing my cor¡­¡±

    People did note to ogle at Minhyuk as if he were an animal on disy in a zoo, but to show their respect for him.

    <em>[A huge crowd has gathered in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. People from all over the continent havee here to see Minhyuk.]</em>

    <em>[Perhaps the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom will usher in more immigrants after this cooking event ends.]</em>

    <em>[Just like the desperate wish of the people and the yers, I am also desperately hoping that the reckless yet amazing Food God Minhyuk will be able to finish what he wants to do safely.]</em>

    <em>[I am also looking forward to other things.]</em>

    <em>[What other things?]</em>

    <em>[If you make various achievements in Athenae, you will be able to obtain titles and stats. Since he cooked a lot of dishes in a short amount of time, I¡¯m pretty sure that he will be able to obtain various titles or even artifacts. From what I can see, there¡¯s a chance that Food God Minhyuk has already surpassed the limits of the requirements to receive a reward.]</em>

    <em>[I also can¡¯t wait. I wonder what kind of titles and rewards he will receive?]</em>

    Minhyuk, who was covered in perspiration while still cooking, was finally reaching the end of his goal.

    <em>¡®Fortunately, we were able to prepare enough buckwheat noodles and dongchimi.¡¯</em>

    With the majority of the members of Louvert Guild joining to help, they were able to finish preparing all of the buckwheat noodles and dongchimi that they needed.

    The problem was that Minhyuk was only able to make around 500,000 servings of the main dish. Of course, that was already a ridiculous amount of dishes to be prepared in just a week. However, this feat was only possible because he received various buff effects and help from the gods. Still, the fact that he was about to fail to cook for all of his people was still undeniable.

    This morning, these notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears:

    <em>[You have seeded in making numerous tasty dishes and attaining dazzling achievements more than the previous Food Gods!]</em>

    <em>[You will obtain the most outstanding and amazing reward.]</em>

    The contents of the quest required Minhyuk to make more dishes than the other Food Gods and not to cook for all of his people. However, Minhyuk never stopped because he had promised his people.

    <em>¡®I have to do it even if it would take a few more days.¡¯</em>

    He had decided to continue to cook even after the quest had finished.

    The end of the quest was just right around the corner. Minhyuk did not stop moving his shovel, his hands growing more urgent as the time ticked by. There were even veins popping out of his arms as he exerted more power into his stirring. Even his breath had turned ragged from exertion.

    <em>Sizzleeee¡ª</em>

    With one final flip, he hadpleted another spicy stir-fried chicken. With that, the quest was over. However, Minhyuk washed the pan once again and immediately tried to prepare another dish. At that moment, something happened.

    <em>[Ravier, the Food God and the God of Cooking in the past, has given you strength!]</em>

    <em>[The 513,516 servings of spicy stir-fried chicken that you have made for your people will be multiplied until they correspond to all of the people, soldiers and yers under yourmand!]</em>

    <em>[You havepleted the <strong>ss-specific Quest</strong>: Even More Tasty Dishes.]</em>

    <em>[You havepleted your ss-specific Quest with amazing achievements!]</em>

    <em>[¡­!]</em>

    <em>[¡­!]</em>

    <em>[¡­!]</em>

    <em>[¡­!]</em>

    Notifications constantly rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears. However, the umted fatigue had already gotten to Minhyuk. After he finished cooking for his people with the help of a very unexpected person, Minhyuk copsed. He could not hear the notifications that kept on ringing in his ears as he fell into deep sleep.

    At the same time, the reporter that came to film the scene pointed his camera to the skies. With the gods praising Minhyuk for his achievements, just like snowkes, millions of petals fell down from the sky and covered the entire kingdom.

    ¡°Woaaaah!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s beautiful.¡±

    ¡°The petals look like snow¡­¡±

    In the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s training grounds.

    Luo smiled faintly when he caught sight of the millions of petals falling from the sky. At the same time, another set of notifications rang in the sleeping Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[God and Knight. Luo has started to develop a deep respect for you.]</em>

    <em>[Perhaps you will be able to gain his eternal loyalty!]</em>

 Chapter 713: Beyond the Heavens Kingdomâ€™s Shadows

    Chapter 713: Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s Shadows

    The streets of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were festive and lively. People took to the streets to dance and sing Minhyuk¡¯s praises. Even the yers joined in on the fun, partaking in the happiness of the people of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    Minhyuk finally woke up after sleeping for around thirty minutes. The spicy stir-fried chicken that he had made was being distributed to a long line of people that was centered on the trailer.

    ¡°Your Majesty, thank you for the food!¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty Minhyuk, thank you!¡±

    Minhyuk smiled faintly as he listened to his people¡¯s greetings and words of gratitude. This challenge was both very meaningful and rewarding to him.

    <em>¡®Well then, now that the week-long hard work was over¡­¡¯</em>

    Although he still felt a bit tired, Minhyuk could tell that his condition was fine.

    <em>¡®Is there something more delightful than having a good rest after eating to your heart¡¯s content?¡¯</em>

    Of course, sleeping right after eating was not good for the body. But did it matter? Athenae was a virtual reality game. Besides, his body in reality was most definitely hungry too. Minhyuk unknowingly rubbed his hands in anticipation as he looked at the spread of food in front of him.

    There was a round grilling pan in front of him filled with glossy red spicy stir-fried chicken. Even if he was just going to eat once, Minhyuk always preferred to eat properly. He looked like he was inside a shop that specializes in selling spicy stir-fried chicken.

    There was a bowl of buckwheat noodles with a thin sheet of ice covering it ced near the grill, along with some radish, ssamjang, garlic, peri leaves, lettuce, kimchi, and dongchimi. In the middle of the spicy stir-fried chicken was a long stretch of cheese and some udon noodles on top.

    The first thing that Minhyuk grabbed was a piece of spicy stir-fried chicken.

    <em>Munch, munch, munch¡ª</em>

    Since the dish was stir-fried really well, the meat waspletely soaked with sauce.

    ¡°Kghkk¡­¡±

    The amazing vor struck him even more because he ate it after a hard day¡¯s work. However, Minhyuk did something different today. Today, he opened a can of beer.

    <em>Fwiiiish¡ª</em>

    The loud and cheerful sound of the can opening rang loudly in Minhyuk¡¯s ears. Usually, whenever Minhyuk was eating, he was solely focused on eating. The same was true for drinking. He would only drink when it was time to drink. Perhaps it was because of how hard he worked these past few days, but strangely enough, Minhyuk was craving for some beer.

    <em>¡®Well, it¡¯s just one can of beer.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk smiled faintly as he gulped down the cold and refreshing beer in one go. Beer tasted the best when one drank a lot in one gulp.

    ¡°Fwaaaa!¡±

    He savored the refreshing taste of the beer before picking a piece of chicken meat and dipping it in the cheese. The cheese that stuck on the chicken stretched all the way to Minhyuk¡¯s mouth.

    ¡°Hahahaha!¡±

    The delightful taste caused him to burst intoughter. This time, he grabbed a piece of sliced radish together with two pieces of the spicy stir-fried chicken and ced everything in his mouth.

    <em>Crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    The sweet and sour taste of the radish was a tasty addition to the savory vor of the spicy stir-fried chicken. Then, he grabbed a piece of chicken and ced it on top of a peri leaf. Of course, he did not forget to put some garlic dipped in ssamjang and some radish slices before cing everything in his mouth.

    ¡°Kghhk¡­¡±

    Minhyuk could not help but shrug his shoulders in a happy dance as the fragrant scent of the peri leaf wafted through his mouth. This time, he picked up the chicken with some cabbage.

    <em>¡®Yo! Yo! Seasoned cabbage is also very delicious. If prepared and cooked properly, it could have a crispy texture.¡¯ </em>A happy smile curled at the corner of Minhyuk¡¯s lips when the spicy stir-fried chicken and the cabbage entered his mouth.

    Then, he held the te in one hand and grabbed some udon noodles with the other. The still steaming udon looked so scrumptious as he ced them on the te. He could even feel drool pooling in his mouth at the sight. Then, Minhyuk opened his mouth wide as he chomped on a huge mouthful of udon noodles. The pleased smile on his face grew even wider as he continued to chew the food in his mouth. Well-seasoned udon noodles were the charm and the highlight of spicy stir-fried chicken.

    This time, he stretched his chopsticks towards the cold buckwheat noodles, shaking it to loosen the noodles inside the soup. Then, he added some vinegar and mustard based on his preference before taking a huge bite of the ice-cold buckwheat noodles.

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuuuuuuuuurp!</em>¡±

    The cold and refreshing chewy noodles cleansed his palette immediately. The buckwheat noodles had a much softer texture than the ordinary cold noodles, a true delight to the mouth. Of course, Minhyuk did not forget to hold the bowl to his lips and drink the cold soup.

    ¡°Kghhhk¡ª¡° An exmation escaped his mouth at the taste.

    This time, he grabbed a piece of spicy stir-fried chicken and added it on top of the buckwheat noodles. The sight brought a delighted smile on his face.

    He also did not forget to gulp some of the dongchimi that was also covered with a thinyer of ice. His eyes, which had been closed as he savored the dongchimi, snapped wide open from the coldness that pricked his head.

    After finishing his meal, a set of notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You have eaten Spicy Stir-fried Chicken.]</em>

    <em>[The dish is Magic Grade.]</em>

    <em>[The dish boosts your energy and calms your body and soul.]</em>

    <em>[The buff willst for five days.]</em>

    The buff effect of the spicy stir-fried chicken was obviously not good enough. However, considering that the dish was created for around 700,000 people, Minhyuk was still very grateful for it.

    Minhyuk turned to look at his people. He watched them as they enjoyed the spicy stir-fried chicken that he had made. After watching them with a smile on his face, he turned to look at his notification window to scroll through the notifications that rang for him before he fell into deep sleep.

    His eyes suddenly grew wide when he came across one among the many notifications that he was scrolling through.

    <em>¡®This, this¡­¡¯</em>

    He had no choice but to be shocked by what he saw.

    ***

    Several people from different teams had gathered in the Special yers Management Team. In fact, even the employees of Athenae had been interested in watching Minhyuk challenge the bulk dishes quest.

    Some of them even shouted loudly until veins popped out of their necks, arguing whether Minhyuk could not do it or not. Among them, Team Leader Park Minggyu and Employee Lee Minhwa were staunch supporters of team ¡®He Can Do It¡¯ and did not budge at all.

    ¡°Are you telling me that this is because you two know yer Minhyuk the most?¡± The Story Team Leader asked as he put pressure on Minggyu¡¯s shoulders.

    However, this was not the main point. The main point here was the rewards that Food God Minhyuk had obtained.

    ¡°What are the rewards?¡± President Kang Taehoon, who was also in the Special yers Management Team, asked.

    The artifacts owned by yers, especially those that were very rare and scarce, should never be revealed to others. However, there were always exceptions to the rules. Artifacts of a certain level could be checked by Team Leader-level or higher-leveled individuals that had signed a non-disclosure agreement that prohibited them from revealing a yer¡¯s personal information to others, just like the people present in this room. The main reason why they were allowed to know about the yer¡¯s artifact was so they could n ahead and catch the future flow of the story.

    Team Leader Park immediately dragged a notification window on the monitor.

    <em>[yer Minhyuk haspleted the ss-specific Quest: Even More Tasty Dishes.]</em>

    <em>[yer Minhyuk haspleted the ss-specific Quest with amazing achievements!]</em>

    <em>[yer Minhyuk will obtain the best rewards.]</em>

    <em>[He will be able to obtain the Greatest and Mightiest Food God¡¯s relic, Ravier¡¯s Bizarre Cauldron.]</em>

    <em>[He will be able to obtain the God-grade ingredient: Poiron¡¯s Cabbage.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Question marks appeared on the heads of everyone present except for President Kang Taehoon and the members of the Special yers Management Team.

    <em>¡®What kind of ss-specific item is this¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®A cauldron¡­?¡¯</em>

    Then, President Kang Taehoon said, ¡°It¡¯s only natural since his ss is Food God. However, you have to remember that the previous Food God, Ravier, was both the Food God and the God of Cooking.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­¡±

    All of them agreed. The relics left behind by Ravier, who had held the titles of Food God and God of Cooking, were truly exceptional. There was a high chance that the cauldron that Ravier had left behind would be beyond their imagination.

    Without waiting for any of them, Minggyu dragged the details of the Bizarre Cauldron and disyed it on the monitor.

    <em>(<strong>Bizarre Cauldron</strong>)</em>

    <em>ss-Specific Artifact</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: God</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: Food God</em>

    <em><strong>Durability</strong>: 50,000 / 50,000</em>

    <em><strong>Attack</strong>: 4,211</em>

    <em><strong>Defense</strong>: 4,513</em>

    <em><strong>Special Abilities</strong>:</em>

    <em>?All stats will increase by +5</em>

    <em>?Buffed dishes¡¯ effects would increase by 15% when the cauldron is used for cooking.</em>

    <em>?Attack speed and movement speed will decrease by 20% when lifting the cauldron lid.</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Critical Cauldron Lid</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Frisbee Cauldron Lid</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Obscure Snacks</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: This is the bizarre cauldron that Ravier, the past Food God and God of Cooking, treasured and loved.</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    This time, even President Kang Taehoon, Team Leader Park Minggyu and Lee Minhwa had doubts written clearly on their faces.

    ¡°Why does a cauldron have 4,211 attack¡­?¡±

    The cauldron¡¯s attack was a ridiculous 4,211. It far surpassed Minhyuk¡¯s Continent Destroyer Sword, which was only at around 2,000 attack.

    ¡°How can you use a cauldron to attack?¡±

    ¡°Maybe with the lid¡­?¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­¡±

    A terrible image, the image of a person¡¯s head being cut off with a cauldron lid, shed in Minggyu¡¯s head when he heard Lee Minhwa¡¯s words. However, there was an even worse scenario that shed in, not only his head but also the heads of everyone present.

    <em>¡®The boss mob dying after getting hit by a cauldron lid once¡­¡¯</em>

    Even the defense was beyond the charts. How could one defend with a cauldron? As expected, another ridiculous scenario was painted in their heads.

    ¡°If the Captain has a shield, then yer Minhyuk¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­Has a cauldron lid.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The cauldron¡¯s defense, which was around 4,000, was high enough to surpass even the god-rank artifacts in existence.

    However, there was obviously one drawback to this artifact. The cauldron lid was not suitable for swinging since it was spread out widely and without a curve. Also, the movement and attack speed would decrease by 20% the moment Minhyuk raised it.

    ¡°This is crazy¡­¡±

    As for the passive skill: Critical Cauldron Lid, if one attacked using the cauldron lid, they would have a 40% chance of incurring a x2 critical damage to the opponent. A 4,000 attack and a x2 critical damage? And the probability was as high as 40%?

    Then, there was also the Frisbee Cauldron Lid. This skill had a thirty minute cooldown time.

    ¡°You will be able to hit the enemy with 4x the attack and 4x the flying speed?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    They were just imagining it but they could already feel how much it would hurt. There was still another active skill.

    ¡°Obscure Snacks.¡±

    It was an interesting skill and was probably the skill that Food God Minhyuk was in love with. It was also an excellent skill. Once the skill was activated, a snack that could be easily andfortably eaten at any given circumstances, would be created inside the cauldron within five minutes. The snacks would not have any grades but the buff effect would be set to what the item user needed the most. Also, the buff effect would be very random and would either be very helpful or very harmful to the item user.

    In other words, this skill would allow one to eat during battle and receive buffs that could ovep with the effects of an ordinary buffed dish.

    ¡°This is overpowered¡­¡±

    ¡°Really overpowered.¡±

    The fact that they could ovep the buff effects with the effects of a buffed dish was already a cheat.

    After they checked the ingredients that Minhyuk received, they immediately turned their attention to Minhyuk. The Bizarre Cauldron was a bit special, but it was without a doubt, an amazing artifact. They wanted to see his reaction. Right now, Minhyuk¡¯s figure that was reflected on the monitor could be seen to be shaking and trembling after he had received the cauldron.

    ¡°He must be happy, he deserves it.¡±

    ¡°He must be very shocked that he can make snacks and eat them during battle while also receiving buff effects.¡±

    Team Leader Park Minggyu and Lee Minhwa both shook their heads at their words.

    ¡°I don''t think that¡¯s the reason why he likes it,¡± Park Minggyu said.

    Minhyuk looked so thrilled on the monitor. He could not contain his excitement any longer as he shouted out.

    <em>[Kghhk! Cauldron lid samgyeopsal. I have always wanted to try it since long ago. Keuhahahahahahahaha!]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    As expected of Minhyuk.

    ***

    The Luvien Empire¡¯s Divine Assassin Corps was the best group of assassins that Sword of the Gods Luo had raised and nurtured. Every single one of them was at least Level 550 or higher. They were so strong that even the number one yer at the Assassin Rankings would not be able to contend against any one of them.

    Right now, there were a total of fifteen Divine Assassin Corps members hiding in the shadow of the castle of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, which was in a festive atmosphere.

    Nerva was deeply disappointed by their loss in the war earlier. So, he resorted to the dirtiest among the dirtiest tricks in the book.

    <em>¡®Bring me the heads of the people that the Food God loves and cherishes.¡¯</em>

    There was no better opportunity than today, when the entire Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was in a very festive and cheerful atmosphere. Of course, even if they were not in a festive mood, it would still be very easy for the Divine Assassin Corps to infiltrate the kingdom.

    Levone, the deputy leader of the Divine Assassin Corps, checked the details of their first target on the parchment in his hands.

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s Prime Minister. Haze.]</em>

    Their target was a woman. Levone was confident that he would only need ten seconds to deal with her. An easy job. They had even surrounded the office where she was working while hiding all signs of themselves.

    Deputy Leader Levone made eye contact with one of the members and nodded. The member slowly grabbed the door handle and pulled the door open. Once the door was fully opened, the woman would die without even knowing what hit her.

    <em>Creaaaaaaaaaaaak¡­</em>

    Just when the door was halfway open, the hand of the member that held the door handle was cut off, blood spurting out from the injury that was sustained.

    <em>Spuuuurt¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Everyone was shocked. But that was not the end, blood was already gushing out from the neck of the member that had his hands cut off, his body copsing from two quick and fatal blows.

    The man that cut down the assassin quickly sheathed his dagger to his waist while using that hand to drag his mask up to cover everything beneath his eyes. The man¡¯s eyes were fierce, killing intent spilling out from his pupils while the sleeves of his left arm fluttered loosely with the wind.

    ¡°Y, you¡­¡±

    ¡°Commander Luo¡­¡±

    ¡°Why, why is themander here¡­?¡±

    The man in front of them was none other than the Sword of the Gods Luo. However, Luo just quickly pulled out the dagger that he sheathed on his waist in response to their questions.

    ¡°I am the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s¡­¡± Luo spoke coldly, his killing intent growing stronger by the second.

    <em>¡®They are the ones that were once myrades, the disciples that I raised. But today, I have finallye to a decision.¡¯</em>

    ¡°¡­dog.¡±

    Luo had decided to swear his eternal loyalty and allegiance to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

 Chapter 714: Beyond the Heavens Kingdomâ€™s Shadows

    Chapter 714: Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s Shadows

    After ending the training with the assassins, Luo had walked back to the home that was prepared for him. The streets that he passed by were very lively and festive. All of the people were enjoying the delicious food that was given to them.

    <em>¡®¡­This makes me want to keep looking forward to what you can do.¡¯</em>

    Luo was fully aware that Minhyuk was only the king of a small nation, and was infinitely weaker than Nerva. He also knew that it was very foolish for him to stand up against Nerva right now. However, Luo also saw that Minhyuk and Nerva werepletely different people.

    When Luo finally reached his home, his eyes could not help but grow wide at the sight in front of him. Even his remaining arm was shaking. As an assassin, Luo could manage his expression and the changes in his emotions better than anybody else. But he failed in doing so right at this very moment. Because Legion Commander Park was standing with the two people that he wanted to see so much. They were none other than his wife and son.

    ¡°His Majesty had ordered Sir Abel to fetch them from the empire. He had quite a hard time bringing them over.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Luo stared at the two people in front of him. After he had be one of the Swords of the Gods, Luo no longer aged. But his wife had grown old and turned into an olddy. Even his son had already be a dashing man in his mid-thirties.

    Luo¡¯s wife slowly approached him and stroked his cheek. ¡°Can you put down the burden that you have been carrying on your shoulder now?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Luo had always been carrying such a huge burden, the guilt of allowing the massacre of the knights that fought alongside him in the past. He also carried the burden of helping Nerva be the Battle God¡¯s Sword. However, Luo was forced to carry that burden because the life of his wife and son were being threatened.

    ¡°From this point on, there will be no watchmen and observers attached to you,¡± Park said.

    His wife went to his side and held his only hand. Even his dashing son reached out to him and hugged him while calling him ¡®Father¡¯. Luo just stood there and let his son hug him tightly while he held his wife¡¯s warm hand.

    When they entered the house, an enticing and mouth-watering aroma wafted through their noses. Park immediately led Luo to the kitchen where he found a round grilling pan filled with spicy stir-fried chicken.

    ¡°It¡¯s His Majesty¡¯s orders.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°Every citizen should be able to eat the delicious meal that he made.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    After Park left, Luo and his family started eating.

    ¡°Oh my¡­ This is the wonderful meal that I have tasted in my life.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s spicy enough that you can feel the sting in your mouth but it¡¯s a very pleasant kind of spicy. Try dipping it in cheese, father.¡±

    Luo scooped a lot of cheese with his spicy stir-fried chicken before cing everything in his mouth.

    ¡°No, father. You took too much cheese. Leave some for me too¡­¡±

    ¡°Hahahahaha!¡±

    Laughter resounded in their home. Somehow, life here was morefortable than his life in the Luvien Empire. After he finished eating, Luo came out of the house to savor the fresh air around him. He actually knew the reason why he felt morefortable here in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, even though it was a much weaker nation than the Luvien Empire.

    <em>¡®Is this your charm and power?¡¯</em>

    For some reason, Luo could see why the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was a nation that was filled withughter unlike the Luvien Empire.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Luo held his breath. He detected some unidentified people heading towards the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ castle. Luo looked at their general direction before secretly following behind them.

    ***

    The Divine Assassin Corps was the best assassination group raised by Luo. Their missions were mostly eliminating the members of the royal family, the imperial family, or strong individuals of their enemy nations. Once they made a move, their targets, whether they were royals or imperials, would die without a trace. The one that taught them all of this was Luo.

    Luo said to the fourteen members of the Divine Assassin Corps that came here, ¡°I am Beyond the Heavens¡¯ dog.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Whatever happened in front of them, the assassins could maintain a straight face and unmoving heart. After all, once their emotions change, their heart would beat irregrly and their breathing would change. All of this would create a sound.

    Assassins had to hide even the smallest of breaths so their emotions should never change. But at this moment, they could not restrain their emotions.

    ¡°Are you perhaps under the influence of dark magic?¡±

    ¡°Commander Luo, did you get brainwashed¡­?¡±

    However, all of them knew that Luo was not brainwashed. They could easily tell through the other¡¯s eyes and expression if they were brainwashed. That was something that they had learned from their expression. Luo¡¯s eyes were clear.

    Luo said coldly, ¡°Do not be swayed by anything. Did you forget that?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    It was true. He was still the Commander Luo that they knew of. They had received reports that Luo had died during the war with the Masserati Kingdom.

    <em>Gulp¡ª</em>

    ¡°Commander, why¡­¡±

    Luo¡¯s gaze underneath his mask was cold and piercing, the sleeve covering his left arm fluttered with the wind as he stretched out his hand holding the dagger.

    ¡°Come.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Now, they discovered that Luo was alive in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. They just could not understand the reason why. However, the lessons he taught them would never be forgotten.

    <em>¡®We mustplete our task no matter the circumstance.¡¯</em>

    So, Levone and the members of the Divine Assassin Corps prepared to attack.

    <em>¡®He only has one arm.¡¯</em>

    Luo was originally someone that used two daggers.

    <em>Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh¡ª</em>

    Immediately after that, the assassins, whether they were males or females, appeared in the air and shot towards Luo.

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    Luo easily deflected the assassins with skillful movements. His movements were neat and precise. Some of the members charged at him while using the 1st Chapter of the ¡®Assassin¡¯s Dance¡¯, a skill that Luo taught them.

    <em>¡®Chapter 1. Quick Death.¡¯</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    In just an instant, three assassins narrowed the distance between them and Luo, their daggers aiming for his neck, the pit of the stomach, and other vital parts.

    However, the real owner of the Assassin¡¯s Dance was Luo. He quickly used the 2nd Chapter of the Assassin¡¯s Dance.

    <em>¡®Chapter 2. Rampant ughter.¡¯</em>

    Rampant ughter could create thirteen clones of his hands that could both attack and defend. It was the perfect skill to defend the iing strikes. Each of these thirteen hands couldplete a strike in just 0.5 seconds.

    <em>sh, sh, sh¡ª!</em>

    Some of the hands blocked the daggers that were aiming for Luo¡¯s vital points, while the rest of the hands countered and tore their bodies apart.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Luo thrust his dagger into the throat of the assassin that tried to stab him in the pit of his stomach, causing blood to gurgle out of his mouth as he slowly copsed on the ground.

    ¡°Keheok¡ª¡°

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Luo looked at the members of the assassin corps sadly, his hands pulling out the dagger that he stabbed through their necks without any hesitation. Of course, Luo did not stop there. He immediately cut through the neck of the assassin that had been aiming for his neck, before piercing through the throat of the one that aimed for his back.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Although he only had one arm left, he was still themander of the Divine Assassin Corps and was one of the Swords of the Gods. It was a disy of his overwhelming power.

    Someone gulped loudly amidst the deafening silence that suddenly fell upon them.

    <em>Creaaaaaaaak¡ª</em>

    ¡°What is happening¡­¡±

    Luo frowned when he saw Haze opening her door anding out. Haze¡¯s eyes grew wide when she realized the situation in front of her.

    Levone smiled slightly. ¡°I have not forgotten themander¡¯s teachings. Make sure to assassinate all of the enemies and the targets using any and all means.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Luo knew the meaning of those words all too well. Even if they died, their target would be assassinated. Those that were on the side of defense and protecting someone were subjected to plenty of restrictions and limitations.

    Several daggers shed towards Haze.

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaaack!¡± Haze screamed when she saw the daggers of the masked assassins appear in front of her.

    <em>aaaang¡ª</em>

    At that moment, Luo moved his dagger skillfully and blocked several of their weapons away before pushing Haze away forcefully. Haze, who was forced to step back, looked at Luo with a stunned expression. She had been the one that strongly opposed the addition of Luo to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    <em>¡®Your Majesty, he¡¯s very dangerous because he¡¯s only bound by the subservient rtionship between you two. Also, the use where he would die if he defied and betrayed you is not that big of a threat for an assassin. What would you do if he took the life of someone from the Kingdom by risking his own life?¡¯</em>

    Haze kept on urging Minhyuk, saying how dangerous such a person who was not truly loyal to him, could be.

    <em>¡®You¡¯ll know it when you see it.¡¯ </em>This was Minhyuk¡¯s only answer to her words.

    Haze did not have any trust in Luo and had judged him to be a very dangerous person.

    <em>Ping¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Despite that, Luo actually threw himself in front of Haze to stop the daggers that wereing for her. The injuries that appeared on his body increased by the second.

    <em>¡®¡­Amazing.¡¯</em>

    Haze was in awe. Luo was protecting her alone against more than ten assassins, who must have inherited some of the power of the gods. However, it would be dangerous if things continued at this rate.

    While that thought shed in Haze¡¯s head, Luo used the final chapter of the Assassin¡¯s Dance. None of the assassins that he taught had learned this yet. It was not that Luo did not teach them, but because it was a skill that none of them could even imitate. It enabled the user to swing a dagger thirty times per second while the skill user¡¯s movement speed would increase by five times for five seconds.

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    Blood spurted all over all around Luo and Haze. He moved like a leopard, charging swiftly to bite the neck of his enemies!

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    The enemies that stood tall in front of them started to fall one after the other.

    ¡°¡­Ah.¡±

    At this moment, Haze realized that Luo would be a great asset if they won his loyalty. When it came to protecting someone, no one from the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would be able to even touch his feet. The moment the thought shed in her head, the Divine Assassin Corps¡¯ deputy leader, Levone, stretched his hand out and thrusted his dagger towards Haze.

    <em>Piiiiiiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    However, the dagger did not reach Haze, instead, it stabbed Luo¡¯s nks.

    <em>Staaaaab¡ª!</em>

    However, not a single sound came out of Luo¡¯s mouth.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­Commander.¡±

    Levone looked at Luo bitterly.

    Luo seemed to be more cold-hearted than anybody else. However, out of all the Swords of the Gods that Levone had seen, Luo was the most humanitarian.

    ¡°You should have remembered all of the teachings I taught you.¡±

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    Luo¡¯s dagger pierced through Levone¡¯s neck. Deputy Leader Levone¡¯s eyes were still filled with respect for him as he breathed hisst.

    This was one of Luo¡¯s teachings, <em>¡®An assassin is someone that will either kill or protect someone. The moment you decide which path you will take, you have to be prepared to throw everything away for that goal.¡¯ </em>Indeed, Luo had thrown everything away at that moment.

    Luo stood tall as he watched Levone fall to the ground. Not showing what was deep inside them was an assassin''s pride. Right now, Luo¡¯s insides were literally burning. He felt pain yet he still stood tall.

    Haze, who watched everything, behind Luo was very shocked. <em>¡®How is he still standing?¡¯</em>

    <em>Urk¡ª</em>

    Blood constantly poured out of Luo¡¯s abdomen and stained his ck clothes. Looking at him right now, one would not even find it strange if he died at any moment. However, Luo still stood firm.

    Then, he looked back at Haze and said, ¡°Call the knights.¡±

    After saying those words, Luo slowly left the ce.

    ¡°Y, you¡­ you need to get treated right away! Stop right there!¡±

    However, Luo did not stop. Then, he saw a man walking hurriedly from the other end of the hallway. It was none other than Minhyuk.

    Just one nce and Minhyuk could tell what had happened. However, despite the hellish scene in front of them, there was not a single scratch on Haze¡¯s body.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk bowed slightly at Luo. He did not know what to say to the man so he opted to shut his mouth.

    Then, Luo said to him, perhaps to assure him, ¡°I¡¯m nothing but Beyond the Heavens¡¯ dog.¡±

    Luo was someone that hade from the Luvien Empire. He had killed a lot of innocent people while he stayed by Nerva¡¯s side. The lives that he had reaped were far too numerous to count. Among those that he killed, there were many that were far more sincere or far better than others.

    <em>¡®Right now, I¡¯m just Beyond the Heavens¡¯ dog. Nothing more, nothing less.¡¯</em>

    There was nothing more that he wanted. He then moved to walk past Minhyuk.

    ¡°Luo.¡±

    Luo turned his head slowly and saw the bitter look on Minhyuk¡¯s face.

    ¡°You¡¯re not Beyond the Heavens¡¯ dog.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°Let me ask you this.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk looked at him, and put on a bright smile before asking, ¡°Would you like to be Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s Shadow?¡±

    A shadow was the strongest guard that would stick to their liege and protect them. Luo¡¯s pupils shook, this was the first time that this had happened.

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    Despite bleeding all over his body, Luo knelt down on both knees. He then looked up at Minhyuk and said, ¡°I am willing to be your shadow.¡±

    <em>[Luo has sworn his eternal loyalty to you!]</em>

 Chapter 715: Beyond the Heavens Kingdomâ€™s Shadows

    Chapter 715: Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s Shadows

    Nero, one of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s soldiers, was once a prisoner of war of the Luvien Empire. Despite experiencing gruesome acts of torture, he remained steadfast in his loyalty and affection toward his own kingdom.

    His passion and efforts to be strong for the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom burned hotter than anybody else. However, he was naturally born with a weak body. No matter how hard he tried, his body just could not get any stronger.

    But after eating a dish using the ingredient ¡®Seed of Growth¡¯ that Minhyuk cooked for him, Nero¡¯s potential burst forth. His growth became faster than the other soldiers, even rivaling some of the knights.

    As he grew further, these notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears:

    <em>[You have used the ingredient ¡®Seed of Growth¡¯ to feed Soldier Nero!]</em>

    <em>[Nero. His greed, passion, and efforts to grow stronger is greater than anybody else!]</em>

    <em>[His potential has grown significantly!]</em>

    <em>[His potential has increased to 158!]</em>

    <em>[He was born with the talent to be an assassin!]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Nero¡¯s increase in potential to 158 was shocking to Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s even higher than Grandpa Ben¡¯s potential¡­?¡¯</em>

    When Minhyuk first met Ben, he was hailed as a legendary existence and was one of the Strong Men of the past. Back then, Ben¡¯s potential was only at 137. Of course, Ben had grown far beyond his potential and even became the Spear God. However, the thing to take note was the fact that Ben had developed on his own.

    On the other hand, Nero had several masters and teachers by his side. His first teacher could be said to be Luo, who was currently standing in front of Nero. He learned the art of killing the enemy in a single strike and theplexities of assassination from Luo. He also learned from Ben on how to use the spear, and from Elpis on how to wield the sword.

    Nevertheless, no one could deny how fast Nero was growing. He was only a low-ranking soldier but in just a few days he became as strong as a centurion.

    <em>¡®For His Majesty Minhyuk, I will work even harder to be stronger.¡¯</em>

    Nero had always been very grateful to Minhyuk. And the same was true for Luo.

    After pledging his eternal loyalty to Minhyuk the night before, Luo began to give his all in teaching Nero. At the same time, he thought, <em>¡®How can I fit in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?¡¯</em>

    Bing a citizen of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom did not mean that he belonged. To truly belong, was to blend and assimte with the people of the kingdom.

    ¡°Ugh¡­ it¡¯s cold.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s so cold today, no?¡±

    ¡°Ughhhh¡­¡±

    As he was pondering over the matter, he heard the voices of the assassins that he was training. That was when he saw how red the hands of the assassins were from the cold. It was true that the weather was very cold, to the point that one¡¯s breath would turn white with every exhale. Of course, the cold sensation brought about by the weapons in their hands made them feel even colder.

    ¡°Let¡¯s take a break.¡± Luo announced their break. As they stood in front of the fire to warm themselves up he saw the assassins looking in one direction.

    <em>¡®That stall is called a snack bar¡­ right?¡¯</em>

    Several tents were set up on one side of the training grounds, housing several street food vendors. On top of those tents were the words ¡®Minhyuk¡¯s Snack Bars¡¯, written in a gentle and affectionate script. Luo had seen them ever since he came here but he had never tried them.

    ¡°You¡¯re finally showing interest in it.¡± Nero smiled slightly. ¡°His Majesty Minhyuk set this up in consideration for the soldiers, such that on a cold winter day, the struggling soldiers would not go hungry.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The empire also had something simr. They always prepared ¡®hard bread¡¯ or ¡®soup¡¯ so that the soldiers would not go hungry.

    <em>¡®As expected of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, they¡¯re very generous when ites to food, right?¡¯</em>

    The truth was, Luo was not really that much interested in food and eating. After all, it would not be funny if an assassin grew fat and heavy.

    But then, Nero continued, ¡°Though, ording to rumors, His Majesty Minhyuk actually ordered those snack bars to be set up because he¡¯s the one that actually wants to eat.¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Luo looked puzzled.

    <em>¡®No way, the king of a nation enjoys such dishes?¡¯ </em>

    Luo was born a noble and the number of times that he had tasted those kinds of dishes could be counted with one hand.

    At that moment, Minhyuk appeared.

    ¡°Salute!¡±

    ¡°Salute!¡±

    ¡°Salute!¡±

    The soldiers and knights that were enjoying the food in the snack bar showed courtesy toward Minhyuk, who greeted them while rubbing his frozen hands. Actually, the real reason why Minhyuk came here was to see Luo. However, his nose guided him to where the snack bar was.

    ¡°Whenever His Majestyes, the snack bar would always run out of ingredients.¡±

    Minhyuk did not have the opportunity to have a proper meal today because he was very busy with his work. On top of that, the weather was very cold, cold enough to give him a runny nose. On such a cold day, he caught sight of a snack bar. Well, what else could Minhyuk¡¯s heart do except for thump excitedly? He had been the one that asked somebody to set up the snack bar. After trying it once, he was hooked.

    He stood in front of the snack bar and looked at the steaming dishes. ¡°Hiyaaaaah¡­¡±

    There, in front of him, were several chewy sundaes that were kept warm on a steamer. There was also the shining red tteokbokki that could make anyone¡¯s mouth water just by looking at it. As for the fish cakes, the soup was bubbling as steam rose out of its pot.

    The first dish that Minhyuk tried was the fish cakes. He grabbed some warm fish cakes and immediately took a bite. As he exhaled after the fish cake entered his mouth, the warm breath could be seen swirling in the cold air. Smiling happily, he grabbed the soy sauce and added it to the fish cake. In just a moment, he ended up eating thirty fish cakes in a row.

    Of course, he was not done yet. This time, he scooped some of the warm fish cake soup and poured it into a paper cup.

    ¡°Hoo¡­ Hoo¡­¡± Minhyuk gently blew on the cup before taking a sip. The warmth of the soup instantly spread in his body and melted away the coldness that settled in his bones.

    Next, Minhyuk grabbed some tteokbokki, dipped it deeper into the sauce and ced it in his mouth. The chewiness and the spiciness of the tteokbokki caused Minhyuk¡¯s shoulders to dance in happiness. Then, he tried the fishcake.

    ¡°Kghhk¡­¡± Minhyuk let out a small burst of admiration as he picked up a piece of sundae to dip in salt.

    The saltplemented the sundae perfectly, bringing out its savory vor. Then, he picked up some of the dry liver, dipped it in the tteokbokki sauce and ced it in his mouth. The tteokbokki sauce somewhat took away the dryness of the liver and made it easier for him to gulp down.

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡±

    Minhyuk rubbed his chin in thought for a while. After a brief thought, his chopstick headed straight for the gimmari.

    <em>Crunch¡ª</em>

    A very lively sound rang loudly in Minhyuk¡¯s ears the moment he took a bite of the gimmari, as a wide and bright smile appeared on his face. Then, he immediately mped some of the long fried squid and ced them in his mouth.

    After finishing his meal in that first snack bar, he moved on to the next. The chef in charge of ¡®Minhyuk¡¯s Snack Bars¡¯ could not help but groan lightly.

    <em>¡®He ate 142 pieces of fish cakes, 53 servings of tteokbokki, 65 servings of sundae and 36 servings of fried fritters all by himself¡­¡¯</em>

    But Minhyuk did not stop there. There was still the snack bar next door that sold bungeo-ppang[1].

    Just when Minhyuk was about to dig in, Haze appeared.

    ¡°Your Majesty, you have to leave food for your soldiers to eat.¡±

    ¡°H, Haze. I¡¯m just going to eat this one and leave. Can¡¯t I do that?¡±

    ¡°No. I have something urgent to report to you. If youe here every day, then will the soldiers still be able to eat something?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t evene here everyday¡­¡±

    ¡°I heard that you went this morning, as well asst night.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was the king of a nation and one of the most influential yers in the world, yet he was being dragged away with a sad look on his face. The scene made Luo¡¯s heart feel hot.

    <em>¡®Themoners¡¯ king¡­¡¯</em>

    At this moment, Luo¡¯s eyes were filled with adoration. He could no longer wait to properly blend in with the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Because of that, he had to take on an untimely challenge. So, he stood in front of the snack bar and took a bite of the fishcake.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Luo¡¯s eyes grew wide the moment he put the fishcake in his mouth.

    <em>¡®Is, is this really amoner¡¯s food? I feel like I¡¯m eating a dish made from the ingredients of the God of Farming¡­!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Isn¡¯t this like some kind of course meal?¡¯</em>

    There were several dishes spread out on the table, causing Luo to be in awe. After drinking some of the fish cake soup, warmth bloomed in his chest.

    ¡°How can this be¡­?¡±

    The vor was deep, and the soup tasted as good as those that he had tasted before, which had been made with legendary-grade ingredients.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Luo bit his lips tightly. This new realization moved him deeply. Then, his steps stopped in front of the ce where the ¡®bungeo-ppang¡¯ that Minhyuk tried to eat was being served.

    <em>¡®It looks like a fish¡­ it doesn¡¯t make me feel good.¡¯</em>

    He wondered if his mouth would be filled with a fishy smell once he ate it. Luo hesitantly took a bite out the head of the fish-shaped bun.

    <em>Crunch¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The warm and crispy texture of the bungeo-ppang greeted Luo¡¯s mouth. It was a vor and a texture that he had never felt before in his life. There was also the soft texture of the bread and the deep vor of the sweet red beans.

    <em>¡®This is the best¡­¡¯</em>

    Luo felt that this was the best dish among all of the dishes that he tasted today. In fact, he even brought a huge paper bag carrying around thirty bungeo-ppang in his hands as he walked on the way home.

    <em>Munch, munch¡ª</em>

    <em>¡®How can I blend in and assimte in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?¡¯</em>

    <em>Crunch¡ª</em>

    Luo pondered deeply while eating. That was when an old man called out to him. He was none other than Spear God Ben.

    ¡°Hey, you asked me why my hair was so thickst time, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Would you care to follow me?¡±

    Luo held his bag of bungeo-ppang tightly as he followed behind Spear God Ben. The ce they went to was a dark basement.

    Standing on a podium, a man raised his arms high and shouted, ¡°Talmor Fati! <em>Fweet</em><em>, </em><em>fweet</em><em>~! </em><em>Fweet</em><em>, fweet~!</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Fweet, </em><em>fweet</em><em>~! </em><em>Fweet</em><em>, fweet~!</em>¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaah! For Talmor!!!¡±

    Then, at that moment, Luo felt a heat bloom on his bald head. Within minutes, he was already joining in and shouting loudly with emotion, ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaah! For Talmooooooooooooor!!!¡±

    Soon, the time came for them to leave the ce.

    ¡°I¡¯ll see you soon.¡±

    ¡°Of course, I¡¯lle by again.¡±

    After going separate ways with Spear God Ben, Luo went on his merry way home. There was a deep smile of satisfaction in his face as he continued to eat his bungeo-ppang. He felt that his hair had grown quite a bit.

    Then, he pondered once more, <em>¡®How on earth can I fit in with the people of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?¡¯</em>

    This time, a demon approached him. The demon was called Great Sage Aruvel and he handed Luo a very mysterious book and said, ¡°I came here to bewitch the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ neer¡­ No, no. I¡¯m giving you a present.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    The title of the book was ¡®The Prince and the Maid Behind the Mill.¡¯

    ¡°It¡¯s my new work. Fufufu,¡± the demon said as he turned around with a ir.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Luo could not help but frown at the demon¡¯s antics. Then, that night, Luo sat on his bed and decided to read the book before falling asleep.

    <em>¡®G, goodness. He¡¯s definitely a genius¡­¡¯</em>

    This was a text that Luo never encountered before, even having lived as a noble all his life!

    The story revolved around the zing and hot love that unfolded behind the mill! And that was not all, the second prince, who was also vying for the throne, sent his troops to the mill to kill the first prince! The man, who was going to be a king, fought tooth and nail against the enemies to protect the maid!

    As he read the story, Luo¡¯s remaining hand unknowingly crept to his pants.

    The next day, Luo pocketed 3,000 gold and decided to buy and eat bungeo-ppang before going to work.

    And just like yesterday, he was still gued with the same concern, <em>¡®How can I fit in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?¡¯</em>

    The old man, Spear God Ben, chuckled as he watched Luo walk about his daily life. <em>¡®Hohoho. He has blended in quite quickly in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.¡¯</em>

    Luo, one of the Swords of the Gods and Minhyuk¡¯s shadow, smiled happily as he touched the 3,000 gold in his pocket that he nned to use to buy and eat bungeo-ppang.

    ***

    Minhyuk, who was dragged by Haze, finally heard the report.

    ¡°From what we have gathered, the Luvien Empire is trying to kill Mercenary King Venteio.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Although he¡¯s a Mercenary King that integrated four continents with his own power, there were still countless continents in the world. In other words, there were still plenty of candidates for bing the Mercenary King who are also hailed as such. To be the true Mercenary King, one has to receive the recognition of the God of Mercenaries and all of the mercenaries present in the inauguration ceremony. Venteio was the one that originally sat in that position.¡±

    That was right. That was how it should have been originally. However, this was the notification that popped in Minhyuk¡¯s ears when Venteio lent them a helping hand.

    <em>[The story of The Man that Will Be the Greatest Mercenary King in History might change.]</em>

    <em>[You are greatly involved in this story.]</em>

    The man¡¯s story changed because he chose to help Minhyuk.

    ¡°We expect the candidates for Mercenary King to target and kill Venteio.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded. ¡°What would happen if we turned against the mercenaries?¡±

    ¡°It will be like charging toward multiple empires.¡±

    That had got to be the case. The number of mercenaries all over the world could rival, perhaps even far surpass, the number of people in all of the empiresbined.

    ¡°But what if the one that will be the Mercenary King will join our side?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Haze¡¯s pupils dted. She could not really calcte the results in her head so quickly. However, there was one thing that she could be sure of. ¡°We will be able to take a step further into turning our kingdom into an empire.¡±

    1. simr to taiyaki ?

 Chapter 716: Venteio

    Chapter 716: Venteio

    A few world messages rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears just a few dayster.

    <em>[Qingdao Kingdom has been established.]</em>

    <em>[The king of Qingdao Kingdom is Xu Jiaqi.]</em>

    <em>[The Rothschilde Kingdom has been established.]</em>

    <em>[The king of the Rothschilde Kingdom is Cuhel.]</em>

    Finally, after some time of Minhyuk bing the first king in Athenae, two other kingdoms had been established, in just a span of a week at that. But that was not all. The game experts andmentators expected the establishment of at least five more kingdoms this year.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s a high chance that the Qingdao Kingdom and the Rotschilde Kingdom already had the power and the funds to create a kingdom long ago.¡¯</em>

    From what they had gathered these two kingdoms had their eyes on the Luvien Empire. However, Minhyuk had swept away the Luvien Empire¡¯s ck Knights not too long ago. So, Xu Jiaqi and Cuhel both struck while the iron was hot.

    Since several more kingdoms would be established in the near future, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom needed to start their own preparations, for none other than the establishment of their empire.

    <em>¡®It will probably take a long time.¡¯</em>

    What were the most necessary things for the establishment of an empire? Arge territory, enough people, plenty of soldiers and many more. None of these had been met by the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom yet.

    Although the strength of the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ troops was high and they could tear down several enemies, their numbers were not even close enough to rival the number of soldiers that an empire should have. The reason for that was very simple.

    <em>¡®No matter how many immigrants we receive, we¡¯re still being limited by our territory¡¯s smallnd mass.¡¯</em>

    There was a limit to the number of people that the current Beyond the Heavens Kingdom could amodate. What would be a good alternative then?

    <em>¡®We can also build strong alliances.¡¯</em>

    What if they formed an alliance with the Mercenary King that united the whole world?

    <em>¡®It¡¯s amazing just to think about it, right?¡¯</em>

    However, that was nothing but a thought.

    ¡°To be honest, I don¡¯t think it¡¯s possible to make an ally out of Sir Venteio, the one who will be the Mercenary King, Your Majesty.¡± Haze began to exin calmly. ¡°The Luvien Empire is currently putting pressure on the Mercenary Elders and the Mercenary King Candidates by saying that they would start another Mercenary Hunt. Even if Venteio bes the Mercenary King at this time, do you think there¡¯s still anybody that will want to follow him?¡±

    Haze¡¯s words were the truth. Even if Mercenary King Venteio united the entire continent, there would still be a lot of people that would harbor great distrust toward him. Sooner orter, he would be dismissed from his post and the mercenaries, under the pressure of the empire, would turn on him. He would be nothing but a king in name alone.

    ¡°It would take a miracle to unite all the people that have lost trust in Venteio. He might be someone that have united and integrated four continents but there are still many candidates that can rece him as the Mercenary King.¡±

    ¡°In other words, Venteio has to be made into someone that cannot be easily reced.¡±

    That was impossible even for someone like Minhyuk. He had to ponder deeply and recall what Haze reported to him to think of ways to approach Venteio.

    Brod had asked Venteio to help Minhyuk. However, what Minhyuk needed to know here was who Venteio really was like as a person. What if Venteio was a strange person that thought about the other mercenaries as nothing more than bugs?

    <em>¡®Everything will be a mess, then.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk actually did not possess much information about him. After organizing his thoughts, he said, ¡°In that case, I should go with the thought of winning over Venteio as the individual and not winning over the entire group of mercenaries.¡±

    ¡°Indeed.¡±

    That was wise thinking. It would be a big boost to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom if Venteio could move to their kingdom, even if he failed to be the Mercenary King.

    <em>¡®But if that does not work out, then, there¡¯s nothing I can do.¡¯</em>

    This was Minhyuk¡¯s first time helping Brod after receiving help from Brod so many times. It was fine even if Minhyuk would not be able to get anything from it.

    <em>¡®I heard that once someone bes the Mercenary King, the God of Mercenaries will drop God-grade ingredients. I¡¯m really curious about them.¡¯</em>

    However, it seemed like it would be very hard for him to get those in his hands. Minhyuk rubbed his chin in thought and said, ¡°Right now, they are catching and killing the mercenaries that call themselves the Wolf Mercenaries, no?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, Your Majesty.¡±

    This was one of the things that Haze had reported to him. Minhyuk could roughly predict how the situation would unfold for them. Nodding in answer, he stood up from his seat while changing his appearance with Great Demon Verus¡¯ Mask and said, ¡°I¡¯ll be on my way then.¡±

    Haze sighed bitterly as she looked at Minhyuk. As the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ prime minister, she did not want her king to do anything that would be of no help to their kingdom. After all, she could tell that it would be very difficult to bring Venteio over to their side and have him settle down in Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    <em>¡®I look forward to whatever results you bring back, Your Majesty. After all, you always exceed my expectations.¡¯</em>

    ***

    The mercenaries from all over the world were all shocked and confused. Just a few days ago, the Luvien Empire led their army and massacred all of the mercenaries stationed in the small vige of Edith. They did so under the pretext that the mercenaries were the first to attack the soldiers of the Luvien Imperial Army. 413 mercenaries died that day.

    This sudden event brought fear and terror to the mercenaries all over the world. All of them were afraid that the Mercenary Hunt, an event that various empires and kingdoms had carried out in the past, would be reenacted once again.

    There were four Mercenary Elders and three Mercenary King Candidates sitting around a table. A diplomat and representative from the Luvien Empire had sat with them just a few moments prior.

    <em>¡®This contract states that you will earn 3% of the mercenaries¡¯ profits as long as you sign it¡­¡¯</em>

    The Luvien Empire had told them that they would createws that would ensure that they gain profits through the mercenaries¡¯ earnings and make sure that they would enforce it to be adopted. By "enforce", they literally mean that they would double down on all of the mercenaries from all over the world to sign contracts and fulfill them.

    For them, this was a very happy and wee thing.

    <em>¡®Even if we sit still, we will still gain money? Only the people below us have toplete the missions?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®This is like sitting on a pile of gold.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I can y and eat for the rest of my life.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®And if we so want it, the Luvien Empire will provide us with a home and a citizenship. There is no other better opportunity than this¡­!¡¯</em>

    Their eyes were stained with greed, except for one elder.

    Elder Sven shook his head. ¡°This is a ridiculous use. How can we just sit here and take the money that the mercenaries risk their lives to earn? If we ept this offer now, we will all be reduced to nothing but the empire¡¯s tools. You must havepletely thrown away the Mercenary¡¯s Pride that the former Mercenary King Brod had instilled upon us!!!¡±

    ¡°Ahem¡­¡±

    ¡°Keuheum¡­¡±

    The others coughed and groaned. They could not forget the Mercenary¡¯s Pride.

    <em>¡®Do not be treated as tools but asrades and warriors. Stand tall and never yield to any kingdom or empire.¡¯</em>

    The greatest Mercenary King had instilled this pledge of pride in all of the mercenaries. epting this use proposed by the empire would be stamping on the pride of the mercenaries, effectively turning them into tools once again. In other words, they would return to being their meat shields.

    ¡°Then, are you suggesting that we go against the Luvien Empire?¡±

    ¡°You want to get beaten like this without even being able to resist?! True, Venteio made a mistake by betraying the empire! However, he is the only talent and candidate to be the Mercenary King!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­The only talent and candidate to be the Mercenary King.¡±

    The Mercenary King Candidates all looked at Sven coldly. In fact, they admitted that fact too. Venteio was the only one with the qualities and the power to be the Mercenary King. That was actually the reason why they were here, to weed him out. The Mercenary King Candidates had already verbally agreed that the new Mercenary King would not be Venteio, but Avak.

    Avak had always been second to Venteio, hidden by the tremendous shadow cast by Venteio. Avak had a strange and entric personality but his skills were undeniable. He was also a shrewd and clever person that aimed to make peace with the empire at all times.

    ¡°Elder Sven,¡± Avak called out in a low voice.

    Sven was startled to see the coldness in Avak¡¯s gaze. However, he still red at the man, his gaze firm and unrelenting.

    ¡°Madam Jeronie is quite healthy and well, no?¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Sven¡¯s eyes opened wide.

    ¡°You know, I¡¯m just saying that the madam is in good health.¡±

    ¡°You, you¡­!¡±

    Indeed. Avak had expected that Elder Sven would oppose this. Right now, Avak¡¯s men were with Madam Jeronie, Elder Sven¡¯s wife, and were ready to kill her at any given moment.

    ¡°Elder Sven, Venteio is a guilty man. He had killed the soldiers of the Luvien Empire and caused the death of several innocent mercenaries.¡±

    ¡°¡­Do you really not know? The reason why Venteio had to act as one of the empire''s ck Knights is for the sake of all of the mercenaries?¡±

    Venteio was a firm believer and follower of the Mercenary¡¯s Pride. However, at that moment, Venteio realized that he did not have the strength nor the power to follow that pride. That was why he became the empire¡¯s dog.

    Venteio intended to make contributions there, be the Mercenary King and build a friendly rtionship with Nerva. Afterward, he would use his voice to speak about the Mercenary¡¯s Pride.

    It was somewhat simr to what Avak intended to do, yet also different. Venteio was willing to sacrifice himself for the sake of the mercenaries, while Avak wanted to sacrifice and sell the mercenaries to build a friendly rtionship with Luvien and satisfy his own personal greed.

    ¡°But in the end, what was the result? He went against the will of the empire and now everyone else has to pay for it.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Sven¡¯s body shook and trembled. He still firmly believed that Avak should not be the Mercenary King. If Avak became the Mercenary King, then the only future that awaited the mercenaries were to be dogs.

    Avak stood up from his seat and patted Sven heavily on the shoulder. ¡°All you have to do is join everyone here in choosing me as the next Mercenary King.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Indeed. Once that happened, Avak would be the Mercenary King and he could then devour the entire continent.

    ¡°¡­What are you going to do to Venteio?¡±

    ¡°He deserves to be punished for the crime that hemitted, right?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    That was right. Venteio would die today.

    ¡°It seems like the mercenaries are arriving one after the other,¡± Avak said, blocking whatever words woulde out of Sven¡¯s mouth. Then, he walked outside.

    The mercenaries, who wanted to witness the selection of the Mercenary King, would cross the continents and gather in one ce. However, all of them were required to wear robes up until the Mercenary King was chosen. Only the candidates to be the Mercenary King were allowed to not wear robes.

    The mercenaries from all over the world marched toward Aeopia, thend of the mercenaries. Avak smiled widely as he watched this scene.

    <em>Thud¡ª thud¡ª thud¡ª thud¡ª</em>

    The sound of the advance of hundreds of thousands of mercenaries made Avak¡¯s heart pound. He was filled with excitement at the thought of bing the king of these people.

    At that moment, he caught sight of a man of huge build and without any robe on his body walking silently among these people. Avak could not help the slight groan that escaped his mouth at the overwhelming charisma that the man exuded.

    However, Avak had already secretly told the other mercenaries, <em>¡®Those that protect and defend </em><em>Venteio</em><em> will all die.¡¯</em>

    The mercenaries also felt fear when they heard the name of the Luvien Empire. On top of that, Venteio had beenbeled by the empire as a criminal charged with high treason. In other words, none of the mercenaries here would side with Venteio. Instead, all of the people present here were on Avak¡¯s side.

    Avak raised his sword and pointed it at Venteio in front of him. ¡°Sinner Venteio, pay for your crimes!!!¡±

    At that moment, hundreds of thousands of mercenaries stopped and looked at Venteio before pulling their swords and pointing it at the man.

    ***

    Venteio stared at the hundreds of thousands of sword des pointed at him. He already knew that he would die today. In fact, Venteio could have run away. He could have chosen to live in seclusion in a ce where no one could find him.

    <em>¡®I will never back down, master.¡¯</em>

    He knew that he had no power to protect the Mercenary¡¯s Pride so he chose to be the dog of the Luvien Empire. However, he did it for the sake of all of the mercenaries.

    Today would mark the day in history when he, a candidate for the Mercenary King, would die a miserable death. However, he knew that there were people that fought hard to protect the mercenaries¡¯ pride. And those that would remember him would definitely carry on this pride.

    ¡°You have broken and betrayed the Mercenary¡¯s Pride!!!¡± Venteio shouted at the top of his lungs as he pointed his sword back at the hundreds of thousands of mercenaries that were aiming their des at him.

    <em>Shiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    Avakughed. ¡°Pride? Can that be turned into money, Venteio?¡±

    ¡°So you chose to be the empire¡¯s dog! A mercenary whose descendants will forever be ashamed to admit that he was their ancestor!!!¡±

    Venteio slowly took a step toward the mercenaries that blocked his path. The mercenaries all faltered at the sight of Venteio walking slowly with his sword hanging loosely in his hands.

    ¡°It seems like you are willing to let our descendants live in a world where they are persecuted and used!!!¡± Venteio shouted, his slow steps turning into a full run.

    Avak justughed louder, ¡°Bwahahahahahahahaha!¡±

    The man was alone. No one woulde to his aid and help him defend his pride. However, Venteio, who scolded them and reminded them once again about the pride of the mercenaries, swung his sword that was overflowing with power.

    ¡°Mercenary¡¯s Pinnacle Swordsmanship. Chapter 4.¡±

    Venteio also knew that he would be all alone here. However, he fought bravely and without any fear at the thought of <em>him.</em>

    <em>¡®What¡¯s wrong with being alone? Isn¡¯t it an honor for someone to fight for their pride?¡¯</em>

    So, he would continue to fight, even if he was alone.

    ¡°Keuhahahahahahahahahaha!¡± Avak¡¯sughter grew louder and louder as he continued to watch Venteio.

    <em>Shwaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>Fwooooooooosh¡ª</em>

    <em>Swoooooooosh¡ª</em>

    At that moment, tens of thousands mercenaries threw their robes to the sky, revealing the symbol of a roaring wolf on their backs. Their swords, which were originally pointing at Venteio, immediately switched to the other mercenaries beside them. The history and the pride that <em>he </em>left behind was none other than them, the Wolf Mercenaries.

    ¡°Wh, what¡­?¡±

    ¡°Mercenary¡¯s Pinnacle Swordsmanship. Chapter 4.¡±

    They also swung their swords and cast the same skill that Venteio used. At the same time, the running Venteio leapt to the sky with his sword creating a seven-meter-long red sword light behind him.

    The powerful force from the sword light struck down on the other mercenaries, along with the same Mercenary¡¯s Pinnacle Swordsmanship Chapter 4 that the other mercenaries cast.

    ¡°Wolf¡¯s Death.¡±

    ¡°Wolf¡¯s Death.¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The sword of the ones that carried on <em>his</em> ¡®pride¡¯ connected, and carried out judgment upon those foolish and ignorant mercenaries.

 Chapter 717: Venteio

    Chapter 717: Venteio

    Avak had informed all of the mercenaries from all over the world, <em>¡®Those that protect and defend </em><em>Venteio</em><em> will all die too.¡¯</em>

    That was the truth. Once Avak ascended and became the Mercenary King, he would purge all of the mercenaries that tried to protect Venteio. He would also use the help of the empire to chase them to the ends of the world and make sure that there was none of them left.

    Venteio was also aware of what Avak did. The only reason why he went willingly into certain death was so he could inform the world about the Mercenary¡¯s Pride, before dying in a glorious manner. He thought he was alone, but the mercenaries that he thought had left him behind suddenly appeared and used the ¡®Mercenary¡¯s Pinnacle Swordsmanship.¡¯

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Sword light shot out from the swords of those mercenaries and trampled those that were around them.

    ¡°Venteio! Venteio! Venteio!¡±

    ¡°Venteio! Venteio! Venteio!¡±

    Tens of thousands of mercenaries shouted his name as they surrounded him. That was when Venteio realized that these men chose to stay by his side, even if it meant their deaths.

    ¡°¡­Master.¡±

    The figure of that ¡®man¡¯, who told them to never betray the pride of the mercenaries, suddenly shed in Venteio¡¯s head. At that moment, Venteio vowed firmly, <em>¡®I have to repay the people that came here to protect our Mercenary¡¯s Pride.¡¯</em>

    A stronger power flowed out of Venteio¡¯s sword.

    ¡°Mercenary¡¯s Pinnacle Swordsmanship. Final Chapter.¡±

    Like a lone wolf, he red sharply at his opponents as a howl resounded across the battlefield.

    <em>Awoooooooooo¡ª!</em>

    ¡°Howling Wolf.¡±

    Hundreds of sword lights shot out from Venteio¡¯s sword, turning into ck wolves that tore and shredded his enemies apart.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª!</em>

    Avak, two other Mercenary King Candidates, as well as the elders, all groaned at the sight of the mercenaries being swept away by Venteio¡¯s sword.

    <em>¡®This is the man that united the mercenaries from four continents of the world¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®A mercenary that only appears once every thousand of years¡­¡¯</em>

    If Venteio did not betray the empire, then he would have easily be the Mercenary King and made a name for himself for a very long time toe.

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    However, Avak firmly believed that Venteio¡¯s fate had already been changed. The mercenaries behind Avak pulled out their crossbows and began to shoot at the 30,000 Wolf Mercenaries that fought alongside Venteio.

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!

    ¡°A, aaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Ughhhhhh!¡±

    ¡°We, We will never forget the pride of mercenaries. Uwaaaaaaaack!¡±

    There was nothing they could do in front of an overwhelming amount of enemies. The mercenaries that came to fight by Venteio¡¯s side were struck down one by one.

    <em>Grip¡ª!</em>

    Venteio, who instantly cut off the heads of three mercenaries in one go, felt sorry to see hisrades die so helplessly like that.

    Avak yelled, ¡°Venteio. Are you trying to make others pay for your sin?!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Venteio knew that he was going to die. Still, his heart ached for these people. He felt sorry that they had to be killed along with him.

    ¡°Put your sword in your scabbard ande here! Face judgment in front of the God of Mercenaries! Only then will they, at the very least, be spared!¡±

    ¡°¡­No!¡±

    ¡°No! Our Mercenary King! You are the only Mercenary King that we will recognize!!!¡±

    ¡°Venteio¡­!¡±

    ¡°Mercenary King!!!¡±

    ¡°No!!!¡±

    <em>Shiiiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    Venteio sheathed his sword. At the same time, the mercenaries went to tie up the remaining members of the Wolf Mercenaries instead of killing them. Just like that, Venteio walked silently among the hundreds of thousands of mercenaries until he entered Fortress Babylon.

    Waiting for him inside were the Mercenary Elders and the three other Mercenary King Candidates, who led him toward the huge statue of the God of Mercenaries.

    God of Mercenary Dawn was worshiped by all of the mercenaries in existence. Venteio stared at Dawn¡¯s imposing statue, with its arms crossed tightly across its chest and a sword hanging on its waist as its eyes red at whatever battlefield that it was looking at.

    ¡°On your knees! Apologize before the God of Mercenaries, Venteio.¡±

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    The mercenaries standing behind Venteio kicked him on his leg and forced him to kneel.

    ¡°To satisfy your own personal greed, you chose to betray the Luvien Empire and caused the death and injuries of many mercenaries.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Perhaps it was truly because of Venteio¡¯s personal greed. However, he did not regret it.

    Not long after, the bound Wolf Mercenaries were brought in. Avak had actually sent a separate order to capture them from all over the world. But it seemed like it was not needed. Who knew that they would walk into the tiger¡¯s den on their own two feet?

    ¡°Venteio, we will now begin the Mercenary King¡¯s inauguration.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Venteio remained silent. The Mercenary King¡¯s inauguration was an event that required the votes of the elders and the other mercenary kings. The person that would receive the most votes would then present his name to the God of Mercenaries and wait for his recognition and approval.

    Just like that, they all circled around the statue of the God of Mercenaries.

    ¡°I, Laika, who carry the will of the mercenaries from all over the world, will choose an honorable and brave Mercenary King that will lead us all into a brighter future. His name is¡­¡±

    In that circle was the kneeling Venteio and Avak, who was standing in front of him and looking down on him with a face filled with arrogance.

    ¡°Avak.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Venteio remained silent as the elders began to speak one after the other.

    ¡°I, Ethon, who carry the will of the mercenaries from all over the world¡­will lead us all into a brighter future¡­¡±

    ¡°His name is Avak.¡±

    ¡°I, Coru¡­all over the world¡­¡±

    ¡°His name is Avak.¡±

    The voices of the Mercenary Elders resonated in the building. Finally, Sven¡¯s turn came. He looked sadly at Venteio and said, ¡°I, Sven¡­all over the world¡­¡±

    Each of their words stabbed deeply into Venteio¡¯s heart. At the same time, Avak spoke in a low voice, ¡°You have to give your recognition to me too, Venteio. If you don¡¯t do it, then I will kill all of the Wolf Mercenaries in this ce.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Venteio looked up at Avak. That must have been the reason why he captured the Wolf Mercenaries instead of killing them on the spot. Venteio was obviously one of the candidates for the Mercenary King. He knew that one could lose their qualifications as a candidate for bing the Mercenary King by either fighting against each other or by giving up their right and pointing out another.

    Avak was truly a shrewd and maniptive man. He knew full well that the mercenaries, who had the slightest bit of distrust in him, would only follow him if Venteio acknowledged him as the next Mercenary King.

    Venteio looked at the Wolf Mercenaries, whose eyes were covered with ck blindfolds and their hands were tied tightly with a rope, shaking and trembling.

    ¡°I, Mercenary King Candidate Ars, give up my qualifications and choose Avak as the next Mercenary King.¡±

    One of the candidates spoke up and named Avak as the next Mercenary King.

    ¡°I, Mercenary King Candidate Ferell, give up my qualifications and choose Avak as the next Mercenary King.¡±

    Now, two had already given up their qualifications. There was no elder nor candidate here that chose to recognize Venteio.

    ¡°Venteio, are you really willing to kill those poor and pitiful people?¡± Avak¡¯s vicious, evil voice that was stained with pure greed mmed into Venteio¡¯s ears.

    ¡°I, Mercenary King Candidate Venteio¡­¡± Venteio uttered very, <em>very</em> slowly. ¡°Give up my qualifications¡­¡±

    A wide, evil grin appeared on Avak¡¯s face. He felt quite pleased. He believed that he would sit on that throne and leave Venteio behind. He could finally enjoy all kinds of pleasures and riches. When all of this was over, Venteio would long be a cold, hard corpse.

    ¡°¡­the next Mercenary King¡­¡±

    Everyone held their breath. Even the Wolf Mercenaries kept quiet, their disappointment in Venteio clear. Where was the Mercenary¡¯s Pride that he spoke of? Did he abandon it because he felt sorry for them? Because they would get killed? That was very disappointing.

    But then, someone opened his mouth amidst the heavy silence that fell inside the hall, ¡°I choose Venteio as the Mercenary King.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Furious, Avak looked at the direction where the voice came from. However, he could not find who it was because the person was mixed in among the Wolf Mercenaries.

    At the same time, Venteio, who was forced to kneel down, slowly stood up and red at Avak.

    ¡°I do not recognize Avak as the next Mercenary King.¡±

    ¡°Bastaaaaaaaaaard!!!¡±

    <em>Shiiiiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    Venteio quickly pulled out his sword. Although he felt his heart ache at the thought of the Wolf Mercenaries dying, he still did not let his pride fall apart. However, he would make sure that they would all be legends and go down in history together.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Avak was sent flying back as Venteio¡¯s sword struck his body. The two other Mercenary King Candidates immediately jumped toward Venteio. No matter how strong Venteio was, there was no way that he could deal with three Mercenary King Candidates all on his own.

    Nevertheless, Venteio still shouted at the top of his lungs, ¡°Shame on all of you!!! Shame on the ones that called themselves the mercenary kings yet chose to abandon their pride and honor to be the Luvien Empire¡¯s dogs!!!¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Venteio swung his sword, effectively stopping Mercenary King Candidate Ars from moving forward.

    ¡°History will remember us! I will fight until myst breath to protect the pride of the mercenaries. Wolf Mercenaries, remember this fact well!!!¡± Venteio continued to shout, his eyes turning bloodshot. ¡°Our deaths will not be in vain! Many of our descendants and the future generation will definitely inherit our pride!!!¡±

    ¡°We believe you!!!¡±

    ¡°We are not afraid of death!!!¡±

    ¡°We are very honored to fight with you and die today!!!¡±

    ¡°Hiiiiiik! Mercenary Elders! Quickly inform the God of Mercenaries the result of the Mercenary King¡¯s inauguration!¡± Avak shouted hurriedly.

    Venteio was a monster. The three of them might have the power to kill him but the damage that they would receive in return would be huge. However, the moment he bes the Mercenary King, he would receive and awaken a portion of the power of the God of Mercenaries. That would make it much easier for him to kill Venteio.

    The Mercenary Elders hurriedly prayed to their god.

    ¡°O¡¯ Father of Mercenaries, the Mercenary King that is recognized by all¡­¡±

    ¡°O¡¯ Father of Mercenaries¡­recognized by all¡­¡±

    Venteio¡¯s heart ached even further. Once he died his honorable death, Avak would be the Mercenary King. And once that happened, all of the mercenaries would be reduced to nothing but mere tools.

    <em>¡®Master. What should I do?¡¯</em>

    However, all he could do right now was to fight desperately. Venteio gritted his teeth and parried the attacks of the other Mercenary King Candidates.

    <em>Ping¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuk!¡±

    Like a dam breaking, several attacksnded on his body the moment one attack pierced through Venteio¡¯s defenses.

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    ¡°Ugh!¡± A groan escaped Venteio¡¯s mouth. At the same time, the prayers of the Mercenary Elders came to an end, staining his face with despair.

    ¡°Please give recognition to Mercenary King Avak.¡±

    ¡°Please give recognition to Mercenary King Avak.¡±

    ¡°¡­Mercenary King¡­¡±

    The statue of God of Mercenaries Dawn resonated with their words.

    <em>Vwoooooooooong¡ª</em>

    Hearing the resonance, Avak raised his arms and rejoiced. ¡°Keuhahahahahahahahahaha!¡±

    Whenever the God of Mercenaries chooses his Mercenary King, he would bestow upon them a sword made of light. Once Avak grabbed a hold of it, all of the mercenaries would kneel at his feet and sing him praises! And he would be the true Mercenary King.

    However, something very unusual happened. A very beautiful sword that was emitting a ck light appeared in front of God of Mercenaries Dawn¡¯s statue. There were no records in the history of mercenaries of a sword made of ck light ever appearing.

    Then, the sword made of ck light flew in search of its owner. It went past Avak and many more people until it reached Venteio. At the same time, a voice rang from deep within the statue of God of Mercenaries Dawn.

    <em>[The Father of all mercenaries and the God of Mercenaries, Dawn, has sent an envoy for the sake of the descendant that will seed his ¡®name¡¯.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Everyone froze. The word descendant did not mean the next Mercenary King. It meant that whoever that was would be the new God of Mercenaries. The sword made of ck light stopped in front of an unidentified man that was standing among the Wolf Mercenaries.

    <em>Swoosh¡ª</em>

    However, what was more surprising was the fact that the man released the ropes that bound him tightly and the blindfold that covered his eyes with ease.

    The man, whose face was suddenly covered with a ck smoke, grabbed the sword made of ck light. When the smoke dissipated, the man¡¯s face had already changed. The man had fair skin, a straight nose and big shining eyes. The shabby cape on his back also changed and turned into a white cape that carried the symbol of a fork and knife crossed together.

    He walked forward and stopped in front of Venteio. An unknown force slowly forced him to once again kneel down. In fact, it was not only him. No one could move. They were all equal in front of the power of god.

    <em>¡®Y, you¡­¡¯</em>

    Venteio had seen the man on the battlefield just recently. The man smiled kindly at Venteio.

    <em>[The God of Mercenaries has been watching those that were willing to sacrifice their lives for the pride of mercenaries for a very long time.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Mercenaries¡¯ envoy uses his voice to deliver his message!]</em>

    ¡°Child,¡± the man said with a soft and clear voice. Venteio could only stare at his eyes that carried a warmth that was simr to a mother¡¯s touch. ¡°Grab your sword.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Venteio¡¯s hand moved slowly until he grabbed the hilt of the sword that was radiating with a beautiful ck light.

    <em>Grab¡ª!</em>

    <em>Crackle¡ª!</em>

    ck mes burst out from the sword and engulfed Venteio.

    At that moment, those that could not move were finally able to move once again. In front of everyone present, the man, Food God Minhyuk, looked at Venteio and said softly, ¡°Didn¡¯t I say it before? You¡¯re the only one that can be the Mercenary King.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The owner of the voice that shouted those words among Wolf Mercenaries earlier was him.

 Chapter 718: Venteio

    Chapter 718: Venteio

    Minhyuk knew that Avak would use the Wolf Mercenaries to force Venteio to give up his qualifications during the Mercenary King¡¯s inauguration. So, he pretended to be one of the Wolf Mercenaries and knelt with them.

    Minhyuk had nned to join in the fight and help Venteio once he found the perfect opportunity. However, the notification that he received made him rethink his ns.

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[<strong>Sudden Quest</strong>: God of Mercenaries¡¯ Descendant]</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: SSS</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: The One Appointed by the God of Mercenaries</em>

    <em><strong>Rewards</strong>: ???</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty for Failure</strong>: Venteio¡¯s Death</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: The God of Mercenaries has chosen Venteio, the one that fights for the pride of the mercenaries, as his own sessor. However, in order to be the God of Mercenaries, Venteio has to ovee several hardships and adversities. Be the God of Mercenaries¡¯ envoy and deliver his will to the world.</em>

    The God of Mercenaries¡¯ sessor. In other words, if his qualifications were recognized in the future, Venteio would be the next God of Mercenaries.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s much more capable than I thought.¡¯</em>

    It seemed like the God of Mercenaries loved and cherished Venteio, someone who fought fiercely to protect the pride and dignity of mercenaries, rather than for his talent and capabilities. However, there was a condition imposed upon him. He had to survive this ce first. What would happen if Venteio survived here?

    <em>¡®All mercenaries will follow him.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had stepped in this ce to help and build a rtionship with only one person.

    Venteio had betrayed the empire and was the reason why the Luvien Empire wanted to start the Mercenary Hunt. There was no way that the mercenaries would follow Venteio even if he became their king in that situation. In fact, they would most definitely bring him down.

    That was the reason why Minhyuk chose to reach out to the individual named Venteio, instead of all of them. But what would happen if Venteio became the sessor of the God of Mercenaries?

    <em>¡®The mercenaries will worship Venteio and will have the courage to stand up against the empire.¡¯</em>

    That would most definitely be a reality. Their current Mercenary King was about to change and be the God of Mercenaries? That was something that had never happened in their long history of thousands of years. That was how much influence and power Venteio would have once he became the sessor and the king of all of the mercenaries. Perhaps he would even far surpass the influence and power that Brod had when he became the Mercenary King.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t I say it before? You¡¯re the only one that can be the Mercenary King,¡± Minhyuk said as he handed the sword made of ck light to Venteio and watched the mes engulf his body.

    This was what the God of Mercenaries wanted to tell all of the mercenaries: <em>Don¡¯t you dare touch a single hair of my sessor.</em>

    Even if the four Mercenary Elders and the other Mercenary King Candidates voted for Avak, Venteio would still be the Mercenary King as long as the God of Mercenaries chose him.

    At that moment, Venteio felt a surge of unknown emotions rush in his chest. He found it to be unbelievable. The God of Mercenaries had chosen him just because he fought so hard to protect the pride that he held onto for a very long time.

    <em>¡®I have to survive and live.¡¯</em>

    The Mercenary Elders, the candidates, as well as Avak, must have already noticed the fact that all of the mercenaries would kneel in front of Venteio the moment he walked out of this ce alive.

    This thought alone brought fear to Avak. <em>¡®The God of Mercenaries actually acknowledged that bastard¡­?¡¯</em>

    For thousands of years, their God had not changed. What was the reason why they became mercenaries? It was so that they could make money. So, why did the God of Mercenaries choose someone that believed in a useless emotion such as pride, as his sessor? Nevertheless, since Venteio was named as the God of Mercenaries¡¯ sessor, he would receive the trust and worship of all of the mercenaries.

    ¡°Dieeeeeeeee!!!¡± Avak screamed, the veins on his neck protruding out.

    In fact, Avak also had his own ck Panther Mercenaries on standby in case something happened. They numbered 30,000 and all of them were the elites of his mercenary corps.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Avak¡¯s sword mmed into Venteio¡¯s own.

    <em>¡®Standing in the ranks of Absolute Supreme NPCs does not mean that they''re just extremely strong individuals.¡¯ </em>Minhyuk knew this fact very well.

    Although Venteio was truly the strongest among the candidates to be the Mercenary King, it was also true that if the rest discarded the name of the Mercenary King Candidate and the three of them joined forces, they would be strong enough to kill Venteio.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Die, Venteiooooooooo!!!¡±

    Mercenaries wearing capes with the symbol of the ck Panther poured out from a narrow space.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Ferell, one of the Mercenary King Candidates, swung his axe at Venteio¡¯s sword. Avak followed right behind him, his sword shing toward Venteio¡¯s nks.

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk did his best and prevented the ck Panther Mercenaries from approaching Venteio.

    <em>Crackleeeeee¡ª</em>

    A ck me appeared and surrounded Minhyuk¡¯s sword as he said, ¡°Overlord¡¯s Technique.¡±

    <em>Vwoooooooooom¡ª</em>

    The Overlord¡¯s Technique, a skill that could shake the heaven and the earths, shot toward the ck Panther Mercenaries.

    <em>[Mercenary¡¯s Song.]</em>

    <em>[The Mercenary¡¯s Song has weakened the power of the Overlord¡¯s Technique!]</em>

    <em>[The Overlord¡¯s Technique could only disy 40% of its original strength!]</em>

    The Mercenary Elders gathered together and sang, effectively weakening Minhyuk¡¯s Overlord¡¯s Technique. The Overlord¡¯s Technique, which should have swept away and killed the ck Panther Mercenaries, only inflicted severe injuries upon them. Even its radius of effect had been reduced, a fact that proved that even the Mercenary Elders were high-leveled Named NPCs.

    <em>[The Dead Mercenaries Curse.]</em>

    <em>[The evil spirits of the mercenaries that died an unfair death have ced a terrible curse upon you!]</em>

    <em>[You have an invincible body that can ignore and resist all kinds of abnormal states.]</em>

    <em>[You have resisted an abnormal state.]</em>

    The mercenaries¡¯ evil spirits that clung to Minhyuk¡¯s body scattered with the effects of his invincible body. Unfortunately, that was not the case for Venteio.

    <em>[All of your stats have decreased by 17%!]</em>

    <em>[Your resistance to abnormal status has decreased by 50%.]</em>

    <em>[All of your defenses have decreased by 45%!]</em>

    <em>[You cannot use any of your skills for one minute!]</em>

    The abnormal status brought about by the curse was applied to Venteio, as his expression turned ugly and twisted. At that moment, the Mercenary Elders and the Mercenary King Candidates realized that this was the perfect opportunity to kill Venteio.

    <em>[Mercenary¡¯s Roar.]</em>

    <em>[The Mercenary¡¯s Roar adds power to your attacks!]</em>

    <em>[The damage of your first attack has increased by 50%!]</em>

    <em>Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!</em>

    A loud roar shook the heavens and the earth. The ones that received the effects of the Mercenary¡¯s Roar were none other than the three Mercenary King Candidates.

    <em>aaaaaash¡ª!</em>

    ¡°Aaaaargh!¡± Venteio gasped, ignoring the pain that bloomed on his body as he pulled away from them.

    <em>¡®Like the Wind.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk hurriedly moved, blocking their path toward Venteio. The three Mercenary King Candidates smiled darkly. This was their golden opportunity. This was the perfect moment to kill two eyesores at the same time. The three people simultaneously cast their ultimate killing move.

    A ck energy surrounded Avak¡¯s sword as he said, ¡°ck Panther¡¯s Fangs.¡±

    It was a skill that could allow his sword to move as fast as a ck panther, with a power that could sweep away and tear apart more than hundreds of his enemies.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The ground beneath Avak sank as an overwhelming power shot out of his sword. At the same time, Ferell mmed his gigantic axe on the ground.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack!</em>

    Then, there was the remaining mercenary king, Ars. Compared to Venteio, Ferell and Avak, his build could be considered to be ordinary. The reason why he became a mercenary king was because of the destructive power of his swordsmanship.

    <em>Boom, boom, boom, boom¡ª</em>

    Dozens of sword lights shot out of his sword, toward Minhyuk.

    ¡°Get out of the way!!!¡± Venteio shouted. He did not want to see the person that his master cherished die because of him.

    However, Minhyuk just looked back at him and said, ¡°I finally got the chance to try it out.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    As those words made Venteio curious, he also realized that Minhyuk had a trump card hidden in his hands. <em>¡®What kind of power does the king that </em><em><strong>he </strong></em><em>serves hides?!¡¯</em>

    Not long after, Minhyuk, who was acting all cool and mysterious, pulled something out.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    At that moment, the roaring mercenaries, the Mercenary Elders that were preparing to cast various curses, and the three Mercenary King Candidates, were all stunned into silence. They all had several question marks shing on their faces. Because the thing that Minhyuk pulled out was none other than a perfectly oiled and smooth cauldron lid.

    ¡°Heuup!!!¡±

    ¡°Wh, what¡­?¡± Venteio felt embarrassed to see Minhyuk pull out a cauldron lid and use it as a shield.

    He knew that his strength was on par, or perhaps only a tad bit stronger, than the other three mercenary kings. With the help of the Mercenary Elder¡¯s powers and their three ultimate killing moves, they would have gained 50% more power. With that much power, why did Minhyuk not bring out the God of Shield¡¯s shield, but a cauldron lid?

    Everyone thought that the attack would remain unimpeded, breaking the cauldron lid in an instant and mming straight into Minhyuk and Venteio.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    However, something shocking happened. The three people¡¯s ultimate killing move mmed directly into the cauldron lid. However, the force behind the attack did not even make the cauldron lid budge.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°What? What kind of f*cking bullshit is this¡­?¡±

    In the end, their ultimate killing moves all disappeared into nothingness. When everything cleared out, they could see that the cauldron lid was still as spotless and as shiny as it was when it was first pulled out.

    Minhyuk¡¯s Bizarre Cauldron had a defense that reached as high as 4,513. It was more than twice the amount of the defense power that most god-rank artifacts had. However, there was a penalty in exchange for that.

    <em>[You have used the Bizarre Cauldron¡¯s Cauldron Lid.]</em>

    <em>[Your movement speed and attack speed have decreased by 20%.]</em>

    Then, Ferell¡¯s axe mmed heavily on the cauldron lid.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    A huge shockwave spread the moment the two made contact. Ars and Avak tried to use the opportunity to strike Minhyuk. However, Venteio blocked their attacks.

    Ferell, just like Venteio, specialized in using his herculean strength to fight. His strength was such that his axe could split gigantic rocks in one go. Even his basic attack damage was much higher than others. Perhaps, he would be able to ughter the Swords of the Gods if they only fought with their basic attacks. That was how powerful his blows were.

    <em>Bang! Boom! Baaaam!</em>

    Ferell used his axe to constantly strike the cauldron lid while shouting, ¡°You¡¯re already as good as dead from the moment you brought out that cauldron lid!¡±

    The other mercenary kings did not even bother to check on Minhyuk¡¯s condition. From the moment he took out that cauldron lid, he would need some time before he could swap it for another weapon.

    Besides, they believed that he could not even attack with that cauldron lid. Although it could give him a wide range of attack, the speed at which he swung his lid would be much slower than Ferell¡¯s speed in swinging his axe.

    At that moment, Minhyuk, who had been doing nothing but use his cauldron lid as a shield against the swinging axe, finally found a gap in Ferell¡¯s defenses. He quickly held the cauldron lid with both hands and made a gesture as if he was going to m it down on Ferell.

    Ferell justughed at him. How painful could a cauldron lid hitting his body be? Perhaps it would hurt ordinary people, but for people like him, who had high defense and STR? It was probably nothing.

    <em>Craaaaack¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keheoook?!¡±

    It hurt like hell. Ferell heard the bones in his shoulder crack the moment the cauldron lid made contact with it. The impact of the attack delivered a heavy shock through his shoulder guards that made his bones rattle. Even if Ferell wanted to shout curses in pain, he could not. The damage, something that he had never experienced in his life before, stunned him silly.

    Then, he saw Minhyuk lift the cauldron lid once more and swing it horizontally, an attack that made contact with his ribs.

    <em>Craaaaack¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keoooooook¡­¡± Ferell groaned, his face marred with both pain and confusion. He was wearing sheet armor on his body, but the attack dented the sheet armor severely, while the shock from the blow traveled to his body.

    Ferell was someone that had walked the tightrope of life and death ande out of it sessfully. There was even a time when he survived after half of his body had been bitten by a gigantic lion-type monster. Back then, he used his herculean strength to rip apart the monster¡¯s jaws and escape from the throes of death.

    <em>¡®This amount of pain is¡­!¡¯</em>

    He could endure it. To his dismay, the cauldron lid swung and mmed into his body once again.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    ¡°Urghhhhh¡­¡±

    This time, the attack was far more powerful. The moment the cauldron lid made contact with his body, the sheet armor that protected him was torn apart. It even cut through his flesh and crushed the bones in the area.

    <em>[Critical Cauldron Lid!]</em>

    <em>[Damage incurred has been doubled!]</em>

    The damage that he received earlier was without the critical damage, hence, the difference.

    Minhyuk continued to lift the cauldron lid as he watched Ferell copse on the ground.

    <em>[Critical Cauldron Lid!]</em>

    <em>[¡­doubled!]</em>

    <em>aaaaaaaash¡ª!</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡±

    <em>[Critical Cauldron Lid!]</em>

    <em>[¡­doubled!]</em>

    <em>Booooooom¡ª!</em>

    ¡°Keoheoooooook¡­!¡±

    <em>[Critical Cauldron Lid!]</em>

    <em>[¡­doubled!]</em>

    <em>Craaaaaaaaaack¡ª</em>

    ¡°Urkkkkkk¡­¡±

    All of the mercenaries stopped what they were doing, their attention focused on what was happening between them. They watched as Minhyuk lifted the cauldron lid with both hands and hit Ferell repeatedly. Some of them even turned their heads to look away from the cruel disy.

    In the end, Ferell slowly felt his vision turn dark. It was the obvious result after his thick metal sheet armor was torn apart and wrecked from the scuffle.

    <em>¡®I, I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m dying because of a cauldron lid¡­¡¯</em>

    Ferell. A Mercenary King Candidate and a mercenary king that ruled two continents. Age? He was 43 years old. Cause of Death? Killed by a cauldron lid.

 Chapter 719: Venteio

    Chapter 719: Venteio

    <em>[You have killed one of the Mercenary King Candidates Ferell.]</em>

    <em>[Ferell used an immoral and hical method in the Mercenary King¡¯s election.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 840,031,311 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 2,131 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Ferell¡¯s Double-Handed Axe.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Mercenary King Candidates¡¯ Elixir.]</em>

    <em>[¡­rusty de.]</em>

    <em>[¡­acquired Ferell¡¯s Broken Sheet Armor.]</em>

    These were the notifications that rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears after he killed Ferell.

    Meanwhile, the mercenaries were left speechless and with nk stares, as they looked at the cauldron lid in Minhyuk¡¯s hands.

    <em>¡®He killed Mercenary King Ferell with a cauldron lid?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®From what I heard, Mercenary King Ferell is much stronger than Venteio and Avak when ites to physical power¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Crazy¡­¡¯</em>

    What kind of power did that cauldron lid have? Seeing this, the elders hurriedly tried to use the ¡®The Restricted Mercenary¡¯s Voice¡¯ to stop Minhyuk from using his cauldron lid.

    But then, Minhyuk suddenly leapt to the sky. The mercenaries hurriedly aimed their crossbows and shot their arrows to kill him.

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk pointed his cauldron lid forward and rotated it fiercely. Then, after blocking the bows, he quickly threw it using all of his strength.

    <em>[Frisbee Cauldron Lid.]</em>

    <em>[The Cauldron Lid will fly at your target with 4x your original speed. It will have a 100% hit rate and have 4x more damage than normal.]</em>

    <em>[Once the flying Cauldron Lid makes contact with the target, the impact of the attack will incur huge damage.]</em>

    <em>Vwoooooooooooong¡ª!</em>

    It sounded like a missile was fired when he threw it out. The cauldron lid flew at the speed of light and blew away all of the mercenaries in its path.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    <em>Booooooom¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Urrrrrrrrrk!¡±

    The ones that were ¡®lucky¡¯ enough to only get brushed by the cauldron lid incurred severe injuries. As for those that were directly hit by it? All of them were crushed on the spot. When something was thrown, its speed would usually be reduced after it passed through something. However, that was not the case for the ¡®Frisbee Cauldron Lid¡¯ at all.

    The cauldron lid continued on its merry way until it mmed into the pit of the stomach of one of the elders that were chanting a spell.

    <em>Spuuurt¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The Mercenary Elder died instantly after he was sent flying back.

    <em>[You have killed Mercenary Elder Ethon.]</em>

    <em>[Ethon used an immoral and hical method in the Mercenary King¡¯s election.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 240,031,311 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1,322 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Mercenary Elder¡¯s Diary.]</em>

    <em>[¡­acquired the Mercenary Elder¡¯s Memento.]</em>

    After killing Ethon, the cauldron lid immediately flew back to Minhyuk. At the same time, the mercenaries rushed toward him.

    Venteio looked at Minhyuk worriedly. <em>¡®There¡¯s just too many of them.¡¯</em>

    The mercenaries under Avak continued to pour in. There were already around 10,000 people crowding in this small and narrow space.

    ¡°One way or another, do not let him use that cauldron lid!!!¡± Avak shouted as he continued to keep Venteio in check. Indeed, he felt like they could kill Minhyuk as long as he did not have that damn cauldron lid with him.

    However, the Bizarre Cauldron¡¯s other special abilities were still yet to be disyed. Minhyuk ced the cauldron lid behind him and pulled the Continent Destroyer Sword out of its sheath. Immediately after that, another skill of the Bizarre Cauldron made its appearance.

    <em>[Obscure Snack.]</em>

    <em>[A snack will be created in five minutes.]</em>

    <em>[The snack¡¯s buff effect will be randomly selected!]</em>

    <em>Booooooooooooom!</em>

    A cauldron suddenly appeared behind Minhyuk. There was also firewood that was cking with fire that appeared underneath it.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    The atmosphere turned strained as the cauldron shook and trembled. The charging mercenaries stopped in their tracks, not rxing one bit. The cauldron showed tremendous power with just the lid alone. They were quite worried about what would happen next. What ifva poured out of it and devoured them?

    <em>[A snack has been created!]</em>

    The mercenaries gulped nervously as they watched Minhyuk open the lid. Then, something covered with light came out of it and slowly fell on Minhyuk¡¯s hands.

    ¡°¡­<em>gulp.</em>¡±

    Everyone turned extremely tense. Even Venteio, Avak and Ars, who were busy fighting each other, looked at the unknown item covered in unknown light and held their breaths.

    Minhyuk looked sharply at the object covered with light. There was some strange sense of confidence, joy, and delight on his face.

    <em>¡®Th, that¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®What the hell is it?¡¯</em>

    What kind of thing is it? Was it amazing? How did it work?! Perhaps it was an item that could cause a disaster? Or maybe it was something that could cause the ground to break or crack the moment it hit the ground?

    Amidst everyone¡¯s nervous curiosity, the light finally cleared up and revealed the item hidden within. As it turned out, the item was none other than a long and plump hot bar.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    More than being surprised, the mercenaries were just speechless.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk was trembling with excitement. <em>¡®Goodness. It has the ability to make food?!¡¯</em>

    Was there something more amazing than this in the world? He hurriedly grabbed the hot bar and pushed everything in his mouth. The pleasant texture of the hot bar slid down his mouth and triggered a bright smile on his face. Minhyuk looked like a squirrel with his bulging cheeks that moved along with every chew that he made.

    <em>[You have eaten the Obscure Snack: Long Hot Bar.]</em>

    <em>[Your skills¡¯ attack has increased by 10%!]</em>

    <em>[Your attack speed has increased by 25%!]</em>

    ¡°The hot bar was so delicious!¡± Minhyuk smiled happily, like a child that was given a present.

    The mercenaries present could not help but doubt if he was truly the king of a nation and the very same man that wielded the destructive cauldron lid earlier. However, Minhyuk¡¯s gaze turned sharp and cold as the words engraved on the de of his Continent Destroyer Sword changed into the word ¡®<em>gather¡¯</em>.

    <em>[Gather]</em>

    <em>[Upon sessful attack, you will have a 100% chance of having an additional 4,000% attack.]</em>

    <em>[There¡¯s a 40% chance of triggering around four to eight times of bloody lightning rain with 2,000% attack that will indiscriminately attack anyone within a 30-meter radius of your target.]</em>

    <em>[There¡¯s a 10% chance of the bloody lightning rain exploding all over the ce.]</em>

    <em>[The skill¡¯s duration is four minutes.]</em>

    The skill Gather was the Absolute God¡¯s Secret that was in Minhyuk¡¯s possession. It would always trigger lightning strikes attacking indiscriminately in a thirty-meter radius with every swing of his sword.

    <em>p¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s cape fluttered behind him as he charged toward the mercenaries.

    <em>aaaash¡ª</em>

    The moment he cut down a mercenary, Gather was triggered and lightning began to strike all over the ce.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The worst part for the enemies was that Gather had a 100% chance of getting triggered. In other words, the lightning strikes would continue to fall down with every strike of Minhyuk¡¯s sword. On top of that, Minhyuk¡¯s attack speed had increased by 25%. This meant that the synergy effect of the skill improved significantly too.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    With a single swing of Minhyuk¡¯s sword, lightning fell and swept away hundreds of mercenaries. In fact, Minhyuk deliberately waited for his enemies to crowd together. He had two reasons to do so. The first one was so that he could trigger Gather. The second reason was obvious.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s because it will be more effective if they are crowded together.¡¯</em>

    <em>[You have killed Mercenary Akarr.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 43,133,414 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have killed Mercenary Vedi.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 31,551,411 EXP.]</em>

    Minhyuk was also able to gain a huge amount of EXP. However, there were also cons when his enemies were gathered in a crowd like this. Being surrounded by a crowd of enemies meant that Minhyuk would be under a heavy onught of attacks. Thankfully, he was able to recover some of his HP thanks to his ¡®ughterer¡¯s Absorption¡¯.

    <em>¡®This is crazy¡­¡¯</em>

    Avak was appalled after witnessing Minhyuk ughter 4,000 mercenaries in just two minutes all by himself. Of course, there were some good things that came out of it too.

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    ¡°Ughh!¡±

    Avak was able to punch Venteio who was exhausted by now, forcing him to roll on the ground. Of course, he also took the opportunity to sh Venteio¡¯s thighs.

    <em>Ping¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!¡±

    Minhyuk hurriedly rushed to his aid.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Lightning fell wherever he went as he once again stood in front of Venteio.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The heavy onught of attacks from the enemies fell upon Minhyuk and Venteio. Arrows, magic, swordlights and many other attacks rained down on them.

    ¡°Don¡¯t let them take a breather!!!¡±

    Avak was someone that had ovee several hardships and trials in his life. He had also survived several deadly crises. All of those experiences had made him a very shrewd and sneaky opponent.

    He could tell that Minhyuk¡¯s lightning strikes and ughterer¡¯s Absorption would only be triggered if he made a sessful attack. That was why he prevented him from attacking them. In fact, he even told the mercenaries to attack Minhyuk¡¯s hand that was holding his sword. There were even some that dared to approach him and clung to his arms to stop him from swinging his sword.

    <em>Buzz¡ª</em>

    As time went by, the area began to get overly crowded. The ck Panther Mercenaries relentlessly pressured them, attacking more fiercely with every minute passing by.

    Minhyuk¡¯s HP, which he could not recover so easily, began to plummet.

    ¡°¡­Run away.¡±

    Venteio could not let Minhyuk die in this ce. If he died here, then he was no way he could face his master. However, Minhyuk just shook his head. He had to make Venteio the next God of Mercenaries.

    ¡°If we survive¡­¡± Minhyuk, who was now covered with blood all over, turned to Venteio and smiled. ¡°¡­then, let¡¯s be friends?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The Food God, the king of a nation, and the Mercenary King that would be the next God of Mercenaries, bing friends. It would truly be an amazing story.

    Minhyuk could not back down. One, he knew the value of that rtionship. And two, he knew that Venteio was someone that would back down if someone showed loyalty to him.

    Besides, Minhyuk still had a reason why he was waiting like this and allowing his enemies to gather.

    <em>¡®I just need to hold on a bit longer.¡¯</em>

    <em>aaash¡ª</em>

    At that moment, Avak¡¯s sword pierced through Minhyuk¡¯s abdomen.

    ¡°Kghhk!¡±

    <em>Baaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk, who was helpless as the attacknded on him, watched his HP fall below 10%. His vision started to blur as the strain of reaching the limits of his body and his HP washed over him at the same time. Immediately, Minhyuk took two things out and ced them in his mouth.

    <em>¡®That¡­¡¯</em>

    Venteio had also seen Minhyuk chew something in his mouth during their battle against the ck Knights.

    <em>aaash¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s HP fell below 3%.

    <em>Crunch¡ª</em>

    Avak was delighted. It was not just him. Even the Mercenary Elders and all of the mercenaries present here were rejoicing. They were all wondering how much reward they would get from the Luvien Empire for killing the man that would be the God of Mercenaries and the king of a nation?!

    They continued to gather around Minhyuk, delight evident on their faces.

    ¡°Summon.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    The corners of Minhyuk¡¯s lips twitched. The thing that he chewed was none other than the Almond of Subordinates. The heroes of stories always appeared at the end after all.

    ¡°Spear God Ben.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    A bright light shot down from the sky as an old man with fluttering ck hair fell down. The old man¡¯s white spear pointed at Minhyuk¡¯s enemies.

    ¡°Absolute Pinnacle Spear.¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Spears rained down from the sky and swept them away. In just an instant, more than 4,000 mercenaries disappeared without a trace.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Avak¡¯s jaw turned ck.

    ¡°Awaken.¡± Minhyuk opened his mouth again. ¡°Obren.¡±

    <em>Vwooooooooooooooooong¡ª</em>

    The Puzzling Seasoning Jar floated in front of Minhyuk as a handsome ck-haired man walked out along with thousands of ck books behind him. Then, he looked at his enemies nonchntly and said, ¡°Get lost.¡±

    Lightning strikes fell down from the thousands of books floating in the air above them.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Avak and the mercenaries that followed him were literally being swept away.

    There was one person that a lone Mercenary King Candidate should never cross paths with, and it was none other than Minhyuk.

    <em>Crunch¡ª</em>

    And finally, he summoned another person. ¡°Brod.¡±

    <em>aaaaash¡ª</em>

    He was the man hailed as the Mercenary Emperor, someone that suddenly appeared in the world, united the mercenaries from all over the world and ended the Mercenary Hunt. Brod was the legend.

    Brod¡¯s sword, which fell from the sky, was filled with tremendous power. Venteio looked at his figure with longing, while Avak looked at him with fear.

    ¡°Final Chapter. Wolf¡¯s Death.¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Hundreds of red sword lights rained down from the sky and devoured the mercenaries that gathered in the area. Then, the surviving mercenaries began to kneel down on one knee, one after the other.

    They were not kneeling out of fear but because of an unknown and powerful aura that forced the mercenaries to their knees. This was none other than the ¡®Mercenary King¡¯s Aura¡¯, a skill that would only be triggered if Brod was facing mercenaries.

    Brod turned to Venteio and said, ¡°Congrattions on bing the continent¡¯s new Mercenary King, Venteio.¡±

    Weak-willed Venteio, Porter Venteio, Dimwit Venteio. He used to be all of that. But today, he became the Mercenary King that united the entire world.

    ¡°Your Majesty, if you please.¡±

    He also became Minhyuk¡¯s friend.

 Chapter 720: Venteio

    Chapter 720: Venteio

    Mercenary King Candidate Avak tried his best to get up from his knees. However, he was no match against the legend among legends, the man that ended the mercenary hunt and united all of the mercenaries from all over the world. He could not even lift a single finger in front of Mercenary Emperor Brod and the ¡®Mercenary King¡¯s Aura¡¯ that he was exuding.

    There were even those thousands of books that released lightning that the handsome ck-haired man used to sweep away the mercenaries around them in an instant. What about that old man that was wielding the white spear over there? Every swing of his spear made dozens of mercenaries disappear without a trace.

    <em>Tremble, tremble, tremble¡ª</em>

    Avak¡¯s body shook. <em>¡®That guy is a king thatmands these men¡­?¡¯</em>

    Only then did he realize that the only reason why he thought he could kill Minhyuk was because he came here without any of his vassals. But the moment he had them by his side, he was like a huge, overbearing mountain that seemed impossible to ovee.

    In just a few short minutes, most of the ck Panther Mercenaries were already killed. The enemy did not show them any mercy, even after they fell on their knees without being able to move.

    That was especially the case for Venteio. He even took the lead in punishing them.

    <em>¡®These are the men that followed Avak and wanted to sell the pride and dignity of the mercenaries to the empire.¡¯</em>

    Because of that, Venteio made the choice to kill them. He did not have any intention of letting anyone with such ideals live.

    ¡°Ve, Venteio¡­ there wasn¡¯t anything I could do. Avak is holding my family hostage¡­¡±

    Venteio looked at Elder Sven in pity too. He knew why the elder made such a choice. In fact, Elder Sven was the cleanest person among all of the elders. He was the one that worked hard for the basic human rights of the mercenaries. However, in the end, Sven still gave in to Avak and even participated in trying to kill him and Minhyuk.

    ¡°I will make sure to take care of your family until they grow old.¡±

    Venteio was offering him a final courtesy. Elder Sven knew this fact well. So, he smiled faintly at him and said, ¡°¡­I¡¯m forever grateful, new Mercenary King.¡±

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    Elder Sven also died by Venteio¡¯s hands. As for Mercenary King Candidate Ars, he was already in a desperate situation, his entire body filled with holes created by Spear God Ben¡¯s spear. The 30,000 ck Panther Mercenaries were now all dead. The only one that remained alive was Avak.

    Venteio stood in front of Avak, his gaze cold and piercing. ¡°You must have known, right? If you became the Mercenary King and signed that contract with the empire, all of the mercenaries would be nothing but tools. The empire would turn them into disposable meat shields that would take the arrow for them and die on their behalf.¡±

    Avak justughed. ¡°In the first ce, mercenaries are people that live on the battlefield to make money, right? So what if the mercenaries died?! This was my opportunity to be the Mercenary King and rule the continents with Emperor Nerva! Besides, if I refuse, all of the mercenaries will be killed anyway!¡±

    That was true. If Avak and the elders rejected the empire¡¯s proposal then they would immediately start a mercenary hunt. Once the mercenary hunt began, all of the kingdoms and empires under the rule of the Luvien Empire would put a bounty on their heads. With that, all of the mercenaries in the entire world would not have long to live.

    ¡°Even so, you should have chosen to fight.¡± Venteio¡¯s will was conveyed through his eyes as he looked at Avak coldly. ¡°You should have chosen to fight even if you¡¯re going to die. You should have chosen to fight until you have taken yourst breath.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk could not help but shudder when he overheard Venteio¡¯s words. How many people could live and uphold such will with great determination? He was even prepared to sacrifice his life to continue to uphold it. But would Avak feel the same way?

    ¡°Fufufufufufu! What crazy nonsense are you spouting? You want me to fight for something like that even after knowing that I¡¯m going to die? That¡¯s some noble bullshit.¡±

    Until the very end, Avak still remained a trash.

    ¡°Rather than fighting to death like that, it¡¯s better to gain money and spend itvishly while living a life of pleasure¡­¡±

    <em>aash¡ª</em>

    <em>Thump¡ª</em>

    Venteio¡¯s sword swung without any hesitation. Just like that, Avak¡¯s head fell and rolled on the ground.

    At that moment, several notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You havepleted the <strong>Sudden Quest</strong>: God of Mercenaries¡¯ Descendant.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 5,000 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1,550,000,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You will receive the additional rewards from Venteio.]</em>

    Then a burst of red energy appeared from the God of Mercenaries¡¯ statue and shot toward Venteio, who stood there, absorbing it as it wrapped around his body.

    <em>[Venteio, the one that received the recognition of the God of Mercenaries, has be the God of Mercenaries¡¯ descendant!]</em>

    <em>[In the future, he will be the God of Mercenaries!]</em>

    <em>[Venteio has be the Mercenary King that will unite the continents.]</em>

    Then, the additional notifications rang loudly and turned into world messages.

    <em>[The God of Mercenaries¡¯ Sessor has been born to the world!]</em>

    <em>[The inauguration for the One that became the Mercenary King and the God of Mercenaries will start in an hour!]</em>

    <em>[An anonymous yer has contributed greatly to the birth of the God of Mercenaries¡¯ sessor!]</em>

    Venteio felt the power that he had gained when he became the God of Mercenaries¡¯ descendant, surge through his veins. The existence that was already an Absolute Supreme NPC had gained even more strength.

    <em>¡®I wonder what would happen if he sparred with Ellie noona?¡¯</em>

    Sword Emperor Ellie was also an Absolute Supreme NPC that had also gained power. Both of them, with one working as the emperor of the Eivelis Empire and the other working as the Mercenary King, also had quite a huge influence in the continents.

    However, instead of feeling happy about bing stronger, Venteio was looking at someone sadly. The man that he was looking at was none other than Brod.

    Just like before, Brod slowly disappeared from their sight. The reason why Venteio fought so hard to protect the pride of the mercenaries, something that all of them had turned away from, was because of Brod.

    Venteio had experienced many sad and lonely days. There were even times when he felt like he wanted to give up and just live afortable life away from the path of the mercenaries. But each time the thought shed in his head, he would always recall the words that Brod had imparted to him, stopping him from doing so.

    ¡°¡­I greet the former Mercenary King.¡± Venteio knelt down and showed courtesy.

    Brod, on the other hand, looked like he was having a hard time deciding on how to express his joy and delight. He just stared at Venteio for a long time before slowly approaching him and pulling him into a tight hug.

    ¡°You, who have fought for the pride of the mercenaries without backing down and losing hope¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°I have never forgotten you. You might have once been weaker than anybody else, but you trained alone every single night.¡±

    ¡°<em>Sob, sob, sob, sob¡­</em>¡± Tears streaked down Venteio¡¯s cheeks. He had been waiting for this moment for a very long time. He had longed for the day that he could meet this man that gave him confidence. Every day he hoped that he would not disappoint him should that meeting ever happen.

    ¡°You have be the Mercenary King. You will now fight desperate battles in this new era.¡±

    Venteio knew that the empire would continue to put pressure on them.

    ¡°Never back down. Continue to grow and move forward.¡± Brod smiled softly when he saw Venteio nod at him.

    Brod did not actually want to leave. But all he could do right now was hug Venteio more tightly than ever. Then, he said, ¡°You are like a son to me.¡±

    Venteio felt Brod¡¯s body shake slightly. So, he held the arms that hugged him even tighter as he showed the man in front of him a bright and wide smile. Then, Brod slowly disappeared.

    The disappearing Brod and Venteio shared a short conversation, something that Minhyuk did not hear. Minhyuk looked at them warmly. He felt like watching them talk intimately like that, albeit for a very short time, was heartwarming.

    Silence fell upon the hall after Brod disappearedpletely. The man that became the Mercenary King was just sobbing a few moments ago. He could not help but blush when he saw Minhyuk staring at him and seeing his poor disy.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The awkward atmosphere around them was truly inevitable.

    ***

    The entire world was in a buzz.

    <em>[Breaking News. A new Mercenary King has been born to the world. And it is believed that a yet to be identified anonymous yer was deeply involved with the episode.]</em>

    <em>[We can expect many mercenaries toe to the inauguration ceremony that will happen in an hour.]</em>

    <em>[Breaking News. The continents¡¯ new Mercenary King is also named as the God of Mercenaries¡¯ sessor.]</em>

    <em>[Who helped the man that will be both the king and the god of the mercenaries?]</em>

    <em>[The Rothschilde Kingdom¡¯s founding ceremony will also be held at the same time.]</em>

    The emergence of the new Mercenary King, who was the new God of Mercenaries at the same time, inevitably caused a huge stir among the yers of Athenae.

    The Mercenary King could exert much more power and had a lot more influence than a kingdom or an empire. What more if he was set to be the God of Mercenaries too? However, there were not many broadcasting stations that chose to step in Aeopia, and there were two reasons.

    First, Cuhel was holding the founding ceremony of his newly established Rothschilde Kingdom at the same time. Interestingly, it was said that he would do a lottery and give out plenty of artifacts to those that attended his kingdom¡¯s founding ceremony. He was basically gathering yers and migrants rapidly through his money.

    Second, many people already assumed that the new Mercenary King would be the man called Avak, who was renowned to have sold out the mercenaries¡¯ freedom for his own self-interest and greed. Although countless mercenaries from all over the world would have to follow him, how many of them would truly stand by his side with sincerity and loyalty? They also expected that there would only be a few mercenaries that would attend the inauguration. Simply put, Avak might have won the money but he would never win the heart of the mercenaries.

    However, ATV¡¯s PD Kim Daeguk thought differently. He was currently checking the real-time situation through the lenses of the cameraman from the single team that he sent to the Rothschilde Kingdom.

    <em>¡®Just in case something unexpected happens there.¡¯</em>

    If an unexpected situation urred, then the ATV broadcasting station would be the one that would gain high ratings.

    <em>¡®Broadcasting live was originally a gamble, no?¡¯</em>

    The number of drones and shooting equipment that each broadcasting station could release was limited. Although he had sent a team on Rothschilde Kingdom, he was more focused on the situation here.

    When he saw the scene here, PD Kim felt like he had hit the jackpot. There were more than 500,000 mercenaries gathered around the fortress in Aeopia, thend of the mercenaries. It was quite a huge crowd. But that was not the end of it.

    <em>¡®Mercenaries fall under the category of a sub-ss. There should be a lot of yers that have made money by working as mercenaries at least once while they are ying in Athenae.¡¯</em>

    All of these mercenaries heard the same set of notifications that reminded them to attend the Mercenary King¡¯s inauguration ceremony. Of course it was their choice whether they wanted to go or not.

    ¡°PD Kim. The yer that contributed greatly to the birth of the new Mercenary King has not yet appeared?¡±

    ¡°Yes. He hasn¡¯t appeared yet. After all, the Mercenary King has not yet made his appearance.¡±

    The mastermind that helped the Mercenary King sit on his throne. This title was enough to guarantee the future of any high ranker!

    Then, at that moment, a man, with his huge buildpletely covered with blood and a tattered cape carrying the symbol of a wolf fluttering behind him, walked out of the fortress and stood on top of the ramparts.

    ¡°V, Venteio?¡±

    <em>Murmur, murmur¡ª</em>

    The entire broadcasting station was in a buzz. This was apletely unexpected situation. Then, one of the broadcasting team members said, ¡°The viewership rating has increased from 4% to 6%.¡±

    They watched as Venteio took out his bloody sword and held it in front of him.

    <em>¡®¡­There was absolutely no chance of Venteio bing the Mercenary King before¡­¡¯</em> That was what PD Kim Daeguk thought.

    After bing the empire¡¯s enemy, Venteio lost the power to unite all of the mercenaries. In fact, there was even a high chance of a coup happening if he sat on that throne. Because of that, the mercenaries had no choice but to shut him out and not show him any of their trust.

    <em>¡®But if he is the God of Mercenaries¡­?¡¯</em>

    Then, the narrative would change. Venteio would be the hope of the mercenaries. They would be given the strength and the courage to fight against the empire with his existence alone. Based on the information that they got, something else stood out.

    ¡°These people did not rush here. They are people that have already been there since earlier¡­¡±

    There were 500,000 mercenaries attending the inauguration ceremony. However, they had already been there earlier. None of them came from a long way away.

    At that moment, light shed all over the ce. It was obvious that it was caused by several mass teleportation magic being activated. When the light subsided, mercenaries wearing capes that held the figure of a roaring dragon appeared.

    ¡°The Dragon Mercenary Corps¡­!¡±

    The Dragon Mercenary Corps was one of the top ten strongest mercenary corps in the world.

    ¡°P, PD Kim. The viewership rating has dramatically increased. We have already reached 15%!¡±

    The light of the mass teleportation magic shed one after the other.

    ¡°The Crow Mercenaries, the Red Hawk Mercenaries, the ck Spear Mercenary Corps¡­ the top ten mercenary corps are appearing one after the other!¡±

    The light of the mass teleportation magic did not stop shining for a very long time.

    <em>Thud¡ª thud¡ª thud¡ª thud¡ª</em>

    As the gs carrying the symbols of the top ten mercenary corps rose to the skies signaling their attendance of the Mercenary King¡¯s inauguration ceremony, loud footsteps echoed loudly in the area. Various mercenaries from all over the world were marching uniformly toward the fortress.

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    <em>aaaash¡ª</em>

    <em>aaaash¡ª</em>

    ¡°Our viewership rating has increased to 18%!¡±

    The appearance of the mercenaries from all over the world marching from all directions was so magnificent and awe-inspiring, to the point that it could give anyone watching them goosebumps on their skin. With a scene like this, the increase in their ratings were only natural.

    ¡°¡­This is incredible.¡± PD Kim Daeguk trembled.

    Everyone that had gathered in this ce held their breaths as they looked at the bloody Venteio holding his sword and stabbing it on the ground beneath him.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    At that moment, the nearly two million mercenaries that had gathered to attend the inauguration ceremony all knelt on one knee and shouted in unison¡­

    ¡°Congrattions on bing the Mercenary King of the new world!¡±

    ¡°Congrattions on bing the Mercenary King of the new world!¡±

    ¡°¡­Sir, our viewership ratings have surpassed 25%.¡±

    PD Kim felt his entire body shake.

    Two million? No, if theybined all of the other mercenaries that were not able to attend right away, there would be more. All of them would trust and follow this man, and this man alone, for the next era.

    <em>¡®He will be the master of the new episode.¡¯</em>

    <em>Gulp¡ª</em>

    PD Kim felt a huge tension settle on his shoulders. <em>¡®Just who was the one that helped Venteio be the Mercenary King?¡¯</em>

    That person would be the star of their show, the one that would allow their ratings to sky rocket. Right now, everyone was wondering the same thing.

 Chapter 721: Venteio

    Chapter 721: Venteio

    PD Kim Daeguk understood the reason for the numerous mercenaries that had gathered.

    <em>¡®With Venteio bing the God of Mercenaries, those that were being chased down by the Luvien Empire have gathered here.¡¯</em>

    They had all gained hope, and believed that they would now be able to fight against the Luvien Empire with Venteio leading them.

    As their new master in this new world, Venteio opened his mouth and spoke heavily to the millions of mercenaries that were kneeling on one knee in front of him. ¡°The Luvien Empire is persecuting us under the guise of a mercenary hunt.¡±

    Everyone held their breath as they focused on Venteio¡¯s words.

    ¡°Perhaps, just like in the past, countless of ourrades might die or be used as tools.¡±

    Resentment and determination shed in their eyes as they continued to gaze at Venteio.

    ¡°But¡­ are you going to run away?¡±

    No. No longer<em>. </em>Because Venteio was now standing in front of them. Now, they had the courage and confidence to fight against the empire. They took their weapons and mmed them on the ground, their voices ringing loudly in the area.

    <em>Thump! Thump!</em>

    ¡°Venteio!¡±

    ¡°Venteio!¡±

    ¡°Perhaps we¡¯ll have to hide like fugitives and die fighting to protect our pride until the very end. But isn¡¯t it fine?¡±

    <em>Thump! Thump!</em>

    ¡°Venteio!¡±

    ¡°Venteio!¡±

    ¡°Nevertheless, it will be glorious and honorable. The fact that we will fight for our pride until the very end will definitely make its mark in history!!!¡±

    <em>Thump! Thump!</em>

    ¡°Venteio!¡±

    ¡°Venteio!¡±

    ¡°Right here and now, I dere war. We will fight for our Mercenary¡¯s Pride. We will take arms and punish those that try to suppress us!¡± Venteio pulled out his bloody sword and raised it high to the sky.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Venteio! Venteio! Venteio!¡±

    Their loud roars shook the heavens and the earth.

    ATV Broadcasting Station¡¯s PD Kim Daeguk could not help but gulp dryly at the sight.

    <em>¡®The man that rules andmands the top ten mercenary corps in the world.¡¯</em>

    Even if the Mercenary Kings ruled over the mercenaries, based on the articles recorded in history, there was only one Mercenary King that had received the support of all the top ten mercenary corps in the world. It was none other than the man that they hailed as the Mercenary Emperor. Now, another person like that had made an appearance.

    ¡°S, Sir¡­ Our viewership ratings have surpassed 27%!¡±

    PD Kim felt his lips turn dry when he saw Mercenary King Venteio turn his head back and look inside the pce. Everyone knew that the person that woulde out of that ce and appear in this situation was none other than the yer that contributed greatly in helping Venteio sit on his throne.

    Who was the yer that helped Venteio be the Mercenary King? After all, the Mercenary King was supported by the top ten mercenary corps in the world, along with over two million mercenaries that were present here!

    ¡°Our viewership ratings have gone over 30%! Meanwhile, the ratings of the Rothschilde Kingdom¡¯s founding ceremony have dropped by around 5%!¡±

    PD Kim¡¯s hands were filled with sweat.

    ¡°Let me introduce to you the one that helped me defend our pride.¡±

    Everyone turned nervous as their eyes focused behind Venteio. Who the hell helped Venteio be the Mercenary King?

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    The sound of footsteps rang amidst the pin drop silence. The viewers,mentators, broadcasting officials, and even the world rankers that were tuned in, were all staring intently, waiting to see who the person was.

    What greeted them was a 1.85m-tall, fair-skinned, young man with soft and gentle eyes, a straight nose and sharp jawline, framed by his neat ck hair. He was none other than Minhyuk.

    ¡°The, the viewership ratings have exceeded 35%! It¡¯s starting to increase at a rapid pace! 36%! 37%, 38%! We have reached 40%!!!¡±

    ¡°Food, Food God¡­¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that Minhyuk?¡±

    ¡°The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King¡­¡±

    The entire world was in a huge uproar. However, they all noticed something off. Minhyuk¡¯s expression was sullen, when they were supposed to be celebrating a glorious and thrilling asion.

    <em>¡®Why does he look so sullen?¡¯</em>

    Everyone watching the broadcast in one of the meeting rooms of Joy Co. Ltd. knew the reason why.

    Kang Taehoon chuckled. ¡°He¡¯s sullen because Venteio did not give him the dish, right?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s probably the case. It¡¯s just like yer Minhyuk.¡±

    Indeed. Minhyuk had yet to receive the rewards from Venteio. There was also the dish that the God of Mercenaries had bestowed upon Venteio! No, perhaps he would not be able to get it. After all, the reward section of the quest did say ¡®???¡¯.

    Even with Minhyuk acting all sullen like that, the entire world was still envious of him. Especially after hearing Venteio say, ¡°I promise you, the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King, that I will run to you when you call for it, or whenever you are in danger.¡±

    <em>[Mercenary King Venteio promises the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King Minhyuk that he will run to his aid!]</em>

    Even so, Minhyuk still had a sullen expression on his face. He tried not to show it, he really did! However, it was very hard to hide the disappointment that he was feeling.

    Then, all of the cameras took a close-up of Venteio and Minhyuk. Venteio grinned at Minhyuk. At the same time, a mercenary appeared behind Minhyuk carrying what seemed to be an item that was wrapped in golden cloth.

    Venteio said, ¡°Didn¡¯t you ask me before if we could be friends?¡±

    Since all of the cameras were zoomed in to them, they did not miss the conversation between the two. Goodness! Minhyuk was on an entirely different level to ask the Mercenary King to be his friend!

    Minhyuk nodded slowly. However, Venteio shook his head.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Everyone was shocked. He did not want to be friends? As expected, it was very difficult to make friends with a big-shot like Venteio. Perhaps he thought that the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was beneath him?

    But then, Venteio said, ¡°How about a brotherly rtionship? You can call me hyung. After all, I¡¯m twenty years older than you.¡±

    However, the sullen look on Minhyuk¡¯s face did not disappear. The entire world that watched this scene were all shocked.

    <em>[My god. I don¡¯t know the reason why but Minhyuk just nodded with a sullen look on his face even though Venteio is suggesting that they have a brotherly rtionship.]</em>

    <em>[I don¡¯t understand either. He¡¯s going to take Venteio as his hyung but¡­ no. As long as he forges a friendly rtionship with the Mercenary King then it would be like putting wings on the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, no?]</em>

    <em>[I really don¡¯t get it.]</em>

    Then, the mercenary that appeared behind Minhyuk handed over the item wrapped in golden cloth. The moment he checked the item, the sullen and gloomy look on his face instantly disappeared, reced by a bright and happy smile.

    With a charming voice, Minhyuk called out, ¡°Venteio hyuuuuuuung~?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    <em>[¡­?]</em>

    <em>[¡­?]</em>

    What was this change of attitude? It changed so fast it could be considered to be as fast 5G LTE!

    ¡°Hehe. Venteio hyung is so cool!¡± Minhyuk eximed coquettishly.

    <em>[Ahem, ahem. Anyway. yer Minhyuk now has Ellie noona, Uncle Raldo, and even Mercenary King Venteio hyung by his side.]</em>

    <em>[I¡¯m so jealous. A prett¡­ no, a cool hyung buys him a good meal.]</em>

    The entire world was envious of Minhyuk, while the viewership ratings painted an impressive picture as well.

    ¡°PD Kim, we reached the highest rating at 44.1% today at the ¡®Venteio hyuuuuuuung~?¡¯ part!¡±

    ATV Broadcasting Station had hit the jackpot once again.

    ***

    Mercenary King Venteio had no reason to give Minhyuk the dish that the God of Mercenaries had bestowed upon him. All Brod had said was that the God of Mercenaries would bestow a very rare dish to the newly crowned Mercenary King.

    However, Venteio clearly remembered the words that Brod told him before he disappearedpletely.

    ¡ª<em>His Majesty gets very sensitive whenever he¡¯s hungry. He¡¯s probably very hungry right now.</em>

    Of course, Venteio understood the meaning of those words. Actually, this dish had the power to make the Mercenary King stronger. However, Venteio had already gained more strength after he became the God of Mercenaries¡¯ sessor, so there was not a need for the dish.

    Right now, this was the only thing that he could do for Minhyuk. After all, he and his mercenaries would have to live in hiding for a while. They had to move and change their territory somewhere that was far away from the empire¡¯s reach so that they could prepare for the desperate battle that awaited them.

    However, although it was just a dish, Minhyuk still smiled brightly and innocently like a child when he saw it.

    <em>¡®Master. I think I understand why you care so much about him.¡¯ </em>A warmth bloomed in Venteio¡¯s chest as he watched Minhyuk with the heart of an older brother.

    After the inauguration ceremony ended, Minhyuk fidgeted, his eyes darting around. Venteio looked at him, nodding indulgently as he said, ¡°Go ahead and eat it.¡±

    ¡°Yes, hyung!¡± Minhyuk shouted as he unwrapped the golden cloth. However, what greeted him was a st of steam that escaped from the seams of the lid, which waspletely covering the contents of the pot.

    <em>Sniff, sniff¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s nose twitched. He knew this smell. He could recognize what it was. It was the dish that one would think of when they wanted some hot soup and good food to eat on a cold day, especially as one¡¯s hands had been frozen stiff after swinging a sword all day outside and their nose was running.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    When he opened the lid, the contents inside the pot that greeted him was none other than seafood kal-guksu[1].

    ¡°Hiyaaaa¡­¡±

    Minhyuk could not help but gulp down the drool that threatened to drip down his chin as he looked at the glossy noodles, the zhinis, the carrots, and thergely chopped green onions inside the pot. There were also mussels, shrimps, ms, and blue crabs floating inside that would definitely add a refreshing vor to the soup.

    <em>Gulp¡ª</em>

    Looking at the extremely appetizing dish in front of him, Minhyuk quickly made some fresh kimchi while cing some of it inside Gorac¡¯s Aging Jar. After a few minutes, he took out the now well-ripened kimchi and began to set the table. The best way to eat kal-guksu was to eat it with some mouth-watering, well-ripened kimchi, as well as some fresh kimchi.

    Minhyuk first scooped some noodles on a small bowl before scooping out adle-full of soup.

    ¡°Ugh. So cold.¡± Minhyuk lifted the small bowl of noodles to warm up his frozen body. Then, he blew on it lightly before slurping away.

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuuuuuuuuurp!</em>¡±

    He felt very refreshed as the hot soup warmed up his frozen body. Then, he grabbed his chopsticks and mped a mouthful of noodles and sucked them all up in one go! Minhyuk¡¯s cheeks bulged from how full his mouth was. However, it did not stop him from admiring the chewy texture of the noodles. Of course, he did not forget to eat some of his fresh kimchi.

    <em>Crunch¡ª</em>

    Since the kimchi was freshly made and had only been soaking in its seasoning for a short time, its vor was not yet sour. It was the perfectplement to the noodles. Thebination tasted divine in Minhyuk¡¯s mouth.

    This time, Minhyuk took a bite of the knife-cut noodles along with a mouthful of soup.

    <em>Sluuuuuuuuurp¡ª</em>

    Then, he took another sip of soup.

    ¡°Haaa¡ª¡±

    The deep and refreshing vor of the soup was enough to warm one¡¯s heart. There was also the joy of taking out the meat of the mussels and ms one after another.

    After he finished picking the meat of the shellfish, he ced them back in the soup. Then, he mped another mouthful of noodles along with some of their meat.

    <em>Sluuuuuuuuurp¡ª</em>

    ¡°Kghhk¡­¡± A burst of admiration unknowingly escaped from his mouth.

    After that, he ate some well-ripened kimchi with the noodles of the kal-guksu.

    <em>Crunch, crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    The taste of the well-ripened kimchi added to the vor of the soup was like the icing on the cake. Minhyuk finished the contents of the pot in no time at all. He even lifted the entire pot and gulped everything down until the veryst drop.

    ¡°Fwaaa!¡±

    Venteio watched Minhyuk finish the dish with a happy smile on his face. While the notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears, Venteio approached him and said, ¡°Ahem, ahem. Minhyuk, can you do this hyung of yours a favor?¡±

    ***

    Haze was pondering deeply as she looked at the wide stretch ofnd in front of her. <em>¡®We</em><em> have to expand our territory, even if ites down to force.¡¯</em>

    The current poption of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was quiterge. They had already expanded their territory before, but they still had to expand even further and obtain various territories so they could create new attractions, develop new and wide hunting grounds for others to experience, as well as for the people that would move into their kingdom in the future.

    There was actually a notorious hunting ground in the vicinity of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. It was called Akkravo, and that they nned to pioneer.

    Many people from the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had devoted their blood, sweat and tears to try and pioneer thend. However, Akkravo was and where strong monsters regrly appeared. If these monsters were taken out of the equation, Akkravo was a very fertilend where the sun shone brightly on. In other words, it would be a perfectly goodnd to live in.

    They also had another problem. Even if they decided to move some of their people there, the poption was not enough to fill Akkravo. When establishing a new territory, one had to build several buildings, markets, and various other facilities.

    Although the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had a huge poption, a huge chunk of that was made up of ¡®yers¡¯. Inparison, the number of their NPCs was remarkably small.

    In the case of yers, they could attract them with sweet offers of artifacts and cooking quests given by the Food God. They were also attracted by the huge number of rankers in their kingdom. However, for the NPCs, they did not feel the need to have those.

    ¡°If things continue like this, perhaps we should just give up on Akkravo?¡±

    As mentioned before, Akkravo was teeming with strong monsters. In other words, if they established a territory here, they would be frequently attacked by these monsters. That meant that they had to have people capable of defending against them. Also, they could only deploy soldiers if there were plenty of people. Otherwise, it would be a waste of manpower if they deployed soldiers in a ce that was inhabited by a very small poption.

    ¡°Ugh¡­¡±

    Haze, who was pondering deeply over their next course of actions, heard something from one of the foreigner executives.

    ¡°Minhyuk will being back soon.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡±

    Haze was delighted to hear that His Majesty wasing back.

    <em>¡®Did he seed in befriending Venteio?¡¯</em>

    Haze was not aware of the happenings since she had been stuck in this ce for a long time, watching the situation.

    <em>¡®Did he die¡­?¡¯</em>

    What if Venteio died? If that happened, then His Majesty would definitely be heartbroken. After all, their goal was to befriend Venteio, not the Mercenary King.

    But then, at that moment, something happened.

    <em>Rumbleeeeeee¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Haze¡¯s eyes grew wide as the ground beneath her feet started to shake and tremble. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡±

    Were Akkravo¡¯s strong monsters going tounch abined attack now? If that was the case, they would be in trouble. The number of soldiers that apanied Haze right now was notrge enough.

    ¡°Around seven? No, eight thousand¡­?¡±

    She listened to the sound of footsteps, but still did not understand. However, she still ordered the soldiers to prepare for battle.

    ¡°We have to check the situation first then return quickly.¡±

    They had to at least check the number of monsters before retreating.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    A thick cloud of dust was kicked up as the visitors approached them. To their pleasant surprise and relief, the one that appeared in front of them was none other than Minhyuk.

    ¡°Haaaaaaaaaaazzzzzzeeeeeee!!!¡± Minhyuk shouted, his hands waving widely above him.

    Haze looked at Minhyuk in confusion. ¡°Your, Your Majesty, the people behind you¡­?¡±

    There were around 9,000 people, perhaps even more, behind Minhyuk.

    ¡°They¡¯re the mercenaries¡¯ families. Venteio asked me to take them. Ah. There are around one thousand skilled mercenaries among them. From today on, they will move to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡ª<em>Please ept and take in the family members of the mercenaries. They have nowhere to go. Since the mercenaries need to fight a lonely battle for a very long time, we need someone to protect their families. I will send a few mercenaries with them to help out.</em>

    As it happened, the favor that Venteio asked him was about taking care of the family of the mercenaries that would be fighting in the war that they dered on the Luvien Empire.

    With the number of people that Minhyuk brought over, it would be very easy for them to turn Akkravo into their territory and settle down in the area.

    Haze was quickly struck by the realizations of what had happened.

    <em>¡®His Majesty said that he would just build a friendly rtion with Venteio, but he came back with almost 10,000 people?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Venteio became the God of Mercenaries¡¯ sessor and became the leader that all of the mercenaries in the continent will follow?¡¯</em>

    But it did not end there.

    <em>¡®And he also formed a brotherly rtionship with Mercenary King Venteio¡­?¡¯</em>

    Haze could only bow down to His Majesty¡¯s ss and efficiency.

    1. knife-cut noodles ?

 Chapter 722: The Sageâ€™s Tower of Magic

    Chapter 722: The Sage¡¯s Tower of Magic

    After Minhyuk returned to his kingdom, he finally had the time to check the effects of the dish that the God of Mercenaries had given. He had not been able to confirm it before because it had been so hectic.

    <em>[You have eaten the Seafood Kal-Guksu.]</em>

    <em>[Legendary Grade.]</em>

    <em>[This Seafood Kal-Guksu was given by the former Food God Allen as a gift to his trusted friend, the God of Mercenaries!]</em>

    <em>[Your acquired rewards have grown better!]</em>

    The results were quite unexpected. Only then did he realize that it was also quite unusual that the God of Mercenaries would give dishes to the Mercenary King. It seemed like this opportunity was thanks to the help of the former Food God Allen.

    Minhyuk had also acquired the Bizarre Cauldron from one of the previous Food Gods, Ravier. After receiving the item, he had immediately asked Abel to investigate Ravier and was able to gain information about him.

    <em>¡®Food God Ravier is known as the greatest Food God in history.¡¯</em>

    In fact, Ravier was not only the Food God, but also the God of Cooking. This meant that Allen was not the greatest. However, Minhyuk thought that although Allen was not the greatest, he was likely the most influential.

    <em>¡®Food God Allen has a lot of friends and connections.¡¯</em>

    Allen knew a ¡®Continental Emperor¡¯, a ¡®Monster Lord¡¯, even a ¡®Continent¡¯s Greatest Swordsman¡¯. In fact, even the notifications that he just received showed that Food God Allen had a close rtionship with the God of Mercenaries. There was a high chance that he still had other connections and they were just hidden.

    Then, the notifications continued to ring in his ears.

    <em>[You have gained a 1.1% increase in all of your stats.]</em>

    <em>[Your physical and magical attack and defense will increase by 5%.]</em>

    <em>[Your resistance to abnormal status will increase by 10%.]</em>

    <em>[Two of your skills will receive a one time enhancement effect. Searching for two of your skills!]</em>

    The effects of the seafood kal-guksu that Minhyuk knew before could only increase all of the attack and defense of the one that consumed it by 3%, as well as a 0.4% increase in all stats. It could also only increase the resistance to abnormal status by 7%. As for thest enhancement effect, it could only enhance one skill.

    <em>¡®Isn¡¯t this a huge boost?¡¯</em>

    The unexpected, yet very wee notifications brought a smile to Minhyuk¡¯s face.

    <em>Ring!</em>

    Once the search was finished, he heard another set of notifications.

    <em>[Your skill: Everyone¡¯s Happiness has been enhanced to Level 9. This can only be used once.]</em>

    <em>[The enhanced skill must be used within a week.]</em>

    <em>¡®Oh¡­!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was extremely happy. When he first acquired Everyone¡¯s Happiness, he also received the ¡®Food God¡¯s Praise¡¯, which allowed him to use the skill at Level 9 once. Back then, he surprised the world by creating as many as 10,000 clones of the dish that he made. This was a truly unexpected harvest. The only downside was the fact that he had to use it within a week.

    <em>¡®Where should I use it then?¡¯</em>

    Finally, the search for the other skill had finished.

    <em>[Your skill: Sword of Absolute Death has been enhanced to Level 9. This can only be used once.]</em>

    <em>[The enhanced skill must be used within a week.]</em>

    The Sword of Absolute Death was Minhyuk¡¯s strongest attack skill and was a skill thatbined the Exploding Sword, the Heaven Tearing Sword, and the Sword of Tempest. The power that the Sword of Absolute Death at such an enhanced level could disy would definitely be shocking. Especially since his usual Sword of Absolute Death could already ughter hundreds to thousands of people in one go, as long as the enemies were gathered in one ce.

    Minhyuk looked very satisfied after looking at the effects that he received. Then, he called out to the empty space in front of him, ¡°Luo.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty.¡± Luo appeared behind him the moment he finished speaking.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­What¡¯s the matter?¡±

    ¡°No. I just tried to call you but you really appeared?¡±

    Minhyuk was actually just imagining the scenes in the movies between the king and his shadow knight. It was unexpected that Luo actually appeared the moment he called him. From what he knew, Luo should still be teaching the soldiers in the training ground. So, it was shocking to see him suddenly appear here.

    ¡°It¡¯s one of the powers I possess.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­¡±

    That was right. Luo had the ¡®Ghostly Arts¡¯ in his possession. Among the skills in the Ghostly Arts was one called ¡®Ghost¡¯s Stealth¡¯. It was an amazing skill that could allow the skill user to choose one target. Once the target was chosen, the skill user would be able to hear their voice and move to where they were at any given moment. It was originally a skill used to kill their targets secretly. But its uses could also be changed and used in different, efficient manners.

    ¡°There¡¯s something I¡¯m curious about.¡±

    ¡°You can ask me anything.¡±

    Minhyuk recalled Luo, as one of the Swords of the Gods, calling Brod the ¡®Fallen Wretched Emperor.¡¯ This made him curious about Brod. He was curious about Brod¡¯s past, where he was, and what he was doing now.

    Not too long ago, during the war in Masserati Kingdom, Minhyuk had summoned Brod after being subjected to the heavy onught of attacks from the Swords of the Gods. When Brod had appeared, he was already bloody and bruised. He even looked exhausted.

    <em>¡®Was he training to be stronger?¡¯</em>

    NPCs could also gain experience and grow stronger whenever they hunt stronger monsters. Especially for Brod. In Minhyuk¡¯s eyes, Brod¡¯s potential was limitless.

    ¡°What kind of person is Brod?¡±

    ¡°Sir Brod is¡­¡± Sword of the Gods Luo began to tell his tale.

    There were two suns that existed in the sky, Absolute God¡¯s Sword Brod and Absolute God¡¯s Sword Nerva. The two had been fighting for the position of the Battle God for a very long time. At one point, both of them had already established their own empires, each of them reigning over their ownnds in the Land of the Gods. Their empires were so strong that even the gods could only watch them by the sidelines.

    <em>¡®Both empires were inhabited by humans.¡¯</em>

    This was one thing that Minhyuk was certain about after looking through the information that he had gathered so far. When it came to their fighting strength on all fair terms, Nerva had always been behind Brod.

    Finally, the day the final battle to determine who would be the next Battle God was decided. The battle was a scramble for Argard, a ce located inside the Land of the Gods. The one that woulde out victorious in this battle would be the Battle God¡¯s Sword and descend upon earth to rule the world.

    However, a day before the battle, Nerva had employed dirty tricks.

    ¡°He ordered the Swords of the Gods to kill Sir Brod¡¯s knights that wouldpete with them.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    At those words, a shallow groan escaped Minhyuk¡¯s mouth. He felt like his breathing had turned ragged as his hands clenched into fists.

    ¡°Were you there too?¡±

    ¡°¡­No, not at all.¡± Luo¡¯s answer was brief. He also did not make any excuses. That alone was enough of an answer.

    ¡°Sir Brod was ovee with grief after seeing his entire knight order die. On that day, he gave up thepetition and suddenly disappeared.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded. This was probably the end of the story that Luo knew of. It must have been a long time before he met Brod again.

    ¡°How are the two of them?¡±

    ¡°Nerva is a very intelligent man. He is also someone that is well-versed in human behaviors. He is someone that knows what is the appropriate behavior to show to others more than anybody else. He is also someone that aspires to force all beings to prostrate and kneel by his feet.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded once again.

    ¡°Sir Brod is also intelligent. However, he prefers to hang out and train with his men rather than fake his behavior and trick others. Because of his humanistic approach, many people followed him sincerely. Unlike Nerva, he dreamt of a world where all races lived in harmony. That was why he was fighting to be the Battle God¡¯s Sword.¡±

    ¡°¡­Right.¡± Minhyuk nodded. The Brod that he knew was that kind of man. He was someone that would rather cry andugh with others, than try to force them and show them who was superior.

    ¡°Is the reason why Brod is not staying here because he wants to be stronger?¡± Minhyuk looked out the window with a bitter look on his face.

    Luo looked at him for a moment before shaking his head. ¡°He¡¯s not doing that to be stronger, Your Majesty.¡±

    Minhyuk turned to Luo in doubt as he continued, ¡°He¡¯s doing it to protect you, Your Majesty.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk knew it well. Brod wanted to be stronger so he could protect him better. However, that was not what Luo meant.

    ¡°Your Majesty, there is no god that will be pleased if a human bes a god. You must know that there were humans that became gods before too.¡±

    Minhyuk also knew that. The gods that he met were all like that. They were petty bullies that tried to trample on the new gods andugh at them.

    ¡°ording to historical records, most of the humans that became gods would die within three years.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes grew wide as he focused on Luo.

    ¡°There was only one way for them to survive. They have to be a god that is powerful enough that even the other gods dare not touch them so easily.¡±

    ¡°An example should be Sword God Valen, no?¡±

    ¡°No. Sword God Valen is different. After sealing the entrance to the Demon World, Valen disappeared from the public view and lived as a ¡®human¡¯, not a ¡®god¡¯.¡±

    It was probably just like Luo had said. It was more likely that Valen survived because he lived in seclusion and not because he was extremely strong.

    ¡°The humans that became gods coulde and go between the earth and the Land of the Gods. However, when they are on earth, countless gods would send hardships and adversities toward them.¡±

    Hardships and adversities? This meant that the gods would send their own apostles and envoys and allow them to use their own powers to kill those humans that became gods.

    Minhyuk was very flustered. ¡°What do you mean? The gods would send their apostles? I have never been attacked once¡­¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty,¡± Luo said, his voice calm and rxed. ¡°Sir Brod is stopping them for you.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk felt his heart sink. To be honest, he resented Brod for leaving just like that. All he wanted was for him to stay by his side. But why was he not there? Of course, Brod was still as reliable as ever. He always showed up whenever he needed him and asked for his help to protect him.

    All this time, Minhyuk thought that Brod left because he wanted to be stronger. No matter how much he wanted to be stronger to protect Minhyuk, there were still times when Minhyuk would think that it was a pity that he was not here by his side. But as it turned out, Brod did not leave simply because he wanted to be strong.

    ¡°He¡¯s probably fighting against many gods in the Land of the Gods right now. As long as you¡¯re here on earth, he is probably killing the apostles that the other gods sent. Their missions are to kill Your Majesty, destroy Your Majesty¡¯s temple and priests, and ughter Your Majesty¡¯s kingdom and subjects.¡±

    Luo¡¯s words meant that Brod was doing this all by himself. The thought alone made Minhyuk¡¯s heart throb in pain. Every time Brod appeared when he called for him, he would call out ¡®Your Majesty¡¯ with a kind and gracious smile. He did not even show any signs of having a hard time on his expression at all.

    But he was fighting a lonely battle silently. Minhyuk was not even able to properly say ¡®thank you¡¯ to him.

    ¡°¡­Damn it.¡± Minyuk clenched his fists tightly. ¡°Luo, is there any way for me to help Brod?¡±

    Minhyuk wanted to do something, anything. Whatever it was, he was willing to do so. As long as he could do something for Brod.

    ¡°Most of the knights that followed Sir Brod had died back then. However, there were a few that survived. They are now living under a different name.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes had already turned bloodshot as he looked at Luo intently.

    ¡°The Sage¡¯s Tower of Magic. The master of that ce, the man named Andeiro. He once was Brod¡¯s Mage Order¡¯s Commander. Perhaps he knows of a way to help Brod out.¡±

    ***

    At the same time.

    A man wearing the tattered cape that carried the symbol of the fork and knife crossed together staggered as he stood in front of a warp gate, his body bloody. This warp gate was the gate that allowed anyone from the Land of the Gods to descend to earth.

    For days on end, this man stood still and killed the armies and the apostles sent by those gods to target <em>him. </em>Hundreds of thousands of Divine Troops continued to charge at him and pressure him. But he still stood tall.

    Even one of the Absolute Gods, the Battle God, was furious with him. This man once followed and served him. That was why he was furious.

    <em>¡®How dare he serve another and block the other gods from getting to that person?!¡¯ </em>

    So, the Battle God sent his troops over and over again.

    The man continued to fight even amidst the bone-chilling cold.

    ¡°Haa¡­ Haa¡­¡± His breath had turned ragged. He could not even remember how many enemies he had cut down since he started this. In fact, he did not even remember how many of them he chased after when they escaped from his grasp and crossed through the warp gate.

    Exhausted beyond belief, he lost his grip on his sword. However, behind him was a mountain of corpses, the corpses of the soldiers of the Divine Troops that he had killed. However, there were still plenty of soldiers from the Divine Troops standing in front of him.

    ¡°Step aside!¡±

    ¡°You, who once was the Absolute God¡¯s Sword, swear your allegiance to the Battle God once again!¡±

    The soldiers of the Divine Troops could not understand why the Battle God wanted this person by his side so much. Perhaps he just wanted this man, who had a different power than Nerva, toe back to his arms?

    ¡°The Battle God has dered that he will forgive you as long as you stand down!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    But Brod did not say anything. He just picked up the cold and hard sword that fell on the ground while thinking, <em>¡®Did His Majesty have his meal yet?¡¯</em>

    <em>My King, who loves to eat.</em>

    <em>¡®Does his head hurt?¡¯</em>

    <em>My master, who lives through several hardships and adversities.</em>

    <em>¡®This subordinate of yours is doing well.¡¯</em>

    Brod smiled faintly.

    <em>¡®Your Majesty, perhaps this subordinate of yours will not be able to see you anymore.¡¯</em>

    Brod grabbed his sword tightly. There was a pang on his chest at the thought of the sad look on his king¡¯s face if he truly died here. More than being sad, perhaps he would even hate himself for not being by Brod¡¯s side.

    <em>Grab¡ª</em>

    Brod held onto his sword as tightly as he could as he looked at his enemies.

    ¡°I¡­¡±

    Brod, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯smander-in-chief, ran toward the hundreds of thousands of Divine Troops with his sword in his hands and said, ¡°¡­only serve one man!¡±

 Chapter 723: The Sageâ€™s Tower of Magic

    Chapter 723: The Sage¡¯s Tower of Magic

    Special yers Management Team.

    In this quiet space, Employee Lee Minhwa could be seen waving urgently at Team Leader Park Minggyu. ¡°Team, Team Leader!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Park Minggyu approached Lee Minhwa with a strange look on his face and stared at her monitor. There, on the monitor, was a very familiar yer.

    ¡°The Food God?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with him?¡±

    ¡°Right now, the Food God is headed to the Sage¡¯s Tower of Magic.¡±

    ¡°¡­What?¡± Team Leader Park¡¯s face turned ugly.

    There were numerous towers in the Athenae worldview. It could even be said that they were overflowing. There were even several of them that were of the same name in every empire or kingdom. Some of the empires had grown famous because of their own towers, such as the ¡®Tower of Swordsmanship¡¯ or the ¡®Tower of Axemanship.¡¯

    The Sage¡¯s Tower of Magic was different. It was an absolute existence that even the Great Luvien Empire did not dare to touch. It also did not belong to any kingdom or empire.

    This tower, had once been on the verge of copse after it seemed to have been abandoned, and then, it was rebuilt by a man named Andeiro, most renowned in Athenae as the strongest Great Mage. Since he possessed all of the knowledge in the world, the tower that he resided in was called the Sage¡¯s Tower of Magic.

    The question was why in the world would the Food God head to that ce?

    ¡°Food God Allen¡¯s friends are all slumbering in that tower, right¡­?¡±

    That was right. The original owner of that abandoned tower was Allen, the previous Food God. In Minhyuk¡¯s case, a ss quest regarding this tower would only be triggered when he reaches Level 650.

    There was also an exnation for why the expression on the two¡¯s faces turned serious.

    ¡°The previous Food God was someone that had connections with more absolute existences than the current yer Minhyuk.¡±

    Of course, they were already in their soul forms and they did not actually live in this ce. However, their souls might be able to manifest in response to Food God Minhyuk¡¯s will.

    Park Minggyu shook his head not long after.

    ¡°Tower Master Andeiro will not allow yer Minhyuk, who has not reached Level 650 yet, to climb the tower. He is still unqualified to do so. After all, he would immediately trigger the tower¡¯s trials the moment he entered. It is a fact that even the people of the Great Luvien Empire could not even break through one of the tower¡¯s trials.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡±

    ¡°Yes. But why is the Food God heading there?¡±

    Lee Minhwa turned to look at her monitor once again as she exined the situation to Minggyu. After learning that this was for Brod, all Team Leader Park could do was rest his forehead in his palm.

    Unfortunately, Supeputer Athenae had determined that Brod would die within two weeks. Even the executives of Joy Co. Ltd. were of the same mind. It was nigh impossible for a man to live and survive in the Land of the Gods while facing the wrath of the gods.

    But then, Lee Minhwa felt restless. <em>¡®This feeling¡­ I have felt this way so many times now.¡¯</em>

    Indeed, Lee Minhwa felt something very simr whenever the Food God was trying to do something. The feeling that he would be able to ovee the situation that they deemed that he would not be able to break through.

    ¡°What if he sessfully enters the tower?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡± Team Leader Park pondered for a long time. He looked at the monitor and said, ¡°Then, we might be able to witness the rise of another sun in that world.¡±

    ***

    The Sage¡¯s Tower of Magic was surrounded by rough and difficult terrain. The only way to reach it was to pass through a very long canyon. The problem was it was almost impossible to do so.

    <em>¡®The unchosen ones will not be able to pass through this canyon.¡¯</em>

    From what Minhyuk had heard, Alex, the American mage, was one of the chosen ones. It was said that he was only presented with a very short and easy trial before entering the tower. This only happened because he was chosen.

    <em>¡®Ali tried to force his way through but he eventually failed.¡¯</em>

    Yes, that was right. Even Golden Mage Ali had failed to set foot in the Sage¡¯s Tower of Magic because he was not recognized as one of the chosen ones.

    At the entrance to the canyon, there was a sign with the symbol of a skull painted on it. These notifications would ring in the challengers¡¯ ears the moment they looked at the sign:

    <em>[Andeiro¡¯s Valley of Death.]</em>

    <em>[Only the ¡®Chosen Ones¡¯ can enter through Andeiro¡¯s Valley of Death.]</em>

    <em>[Warning! If you ignore this sign, you will receive a penalty that is five times higher than normal upon your death.]</em>

    <em>[You might receive Andeiro¡¯s recognition in the middle of the trial. If you receive his recognition, you will be given one chance to go outside.]</em>

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[It is rmended that you turn around and go back to where you came from.]</em>

    Andeiro was someone that knew everything, whether it was about ancient weapons, methods ofbining and assembling weapons, and even the locations of cooking ingredients. Many people had tried to visit him here to consult him. However, all of them died, suffering a 5x penalty.

    However, even after looking at the sign, Minhyuk still did not stop.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    <em>¡®I haven¡¯t done anything for Brod yet.¡¯</em>

    After looking back on everything, Minhyuk realized that he had only been on the receiving end of Brod¡¯s kindness, even if he did not give anything in return. He also realized that he had never cooked anything for Brod alone.

    Although Brod was much more reservedpared to the others, he had always stood by Minhyuk¡¯s side. So, even if he was at risk of receiving a huge penalty, he still wanted to challenge this for him.

    <em>[You have entered Andeiro¡¯s Valley of Death.]</em>

    <em>[Upon death, you will receive a 5x penalty.]</em>

    <em>[The only way to get past Andeiro¡¯s Valley of Death is to kill all the monsters that will appear in around ten minutes.]</em>

    <em>[Andeiro¡¯s Valley of Death is gauging you.]</em>

    <em>[A total of 15,000 monsters at Levels 400~570 will appear in the canyon.]</em>

    <em>[If you can¡¯t kill all of the monsters in fifteen minutes, the 15,000 monsters will appear again.]</em>

    <em>[Challengers¡¯ HP and MP will remain as they were even after the fifteen minutes is over.]</em>

    <em>[If you hunt 30,000 monsters, you will be able to use Andeiro¡¯s Magic Shop.]</em>

    Hunting monsters. Yes, that was the trial that one had to go through to get past the canyon. It would not matter if the challenger was weak or strong, it was set so the difficulty could adjust and suit the challenger.

    The difficulty here was that another 15,000 monsters would be added if Minhyuk failed to kill all of the monsters within the fifteen minute mark.

    <em>¡®On top of that, the challenger will not be able to recover their HP, MP and Stamina.¡¯</em>

    In other words, the longer he took to finish the trial, the more disadvantageous it was for him.

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!¡±

    15,000 monsters ranging from Level 470 to Level 500, the likes of which could only be seen in hunting grounds that high rankers frequented, appeared.

    Minhyuk looked around and caught sight of a few named boss monsters amidst their ranks. It was important to remember that even if regr monsters and named monsters were at the same level, the difference between their powers was like between heaven and earth.

    <em>¡®I want to know a method to help you, Brod.¡¯</em>

    That was why Minhyuk had to meet with Andeiro, a knight that led an order under Brod¡¯smand, no matter what.

    <em>Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship.</em>

    A bright red aura spread and covered Minhyuk¡¯s body as he immediately jumped into the midst of the 15,000 monsters.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaack!¡±

    The word ¡®Explosion¡¯ was engraved on his sword. Explosion was one of the modes of Minhyuk¡¯s skill where he could st an entire ten meter radius if he sessfully triggered the skill after directly hitting his opponent.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª</em>

    Every time Minhyuk swung his sword, an explosion would engulf the monsters and blood beads would rise from their dead bodies.

    Fortunately, Minhyuk had a variety of skills that could allow him to survive a long and drawn out battle. A prime example of that was the ughterer¡¯s Absorption. With the ughterer¡¯s Absorption in his arsenal, his HP would not be depleted so easily.

    Fighting here in Andeiro¡¯s Valley of Death had another advantage.

    <em>[You have gained 431,111 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1,031,000 EXP.]</em>

    Hunting monsters in this canyon would allow him to increase his EXP. Hunting such arge number of monsters was a very rare opportunity for any yer. They would be able to bomb their levels up if they used this opportunity well, on the assumption that they did not die. After all, a 5x penalty would be waiting for them if they died.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Minhyuk, who was only using his basic attacks and passive skills to deal with the monsters, soon heard a series of notifications in his ears.

    <em>[Fifteen minutes have passed.]</em>

    <em>[All monsters will regenerate!]</em>

    <em>[You have hunted 2,439 monsters.]</em>

    Minhyuk nodded when he heard the notifications.

    <em>¡®The EXP I get is not that bad.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s goal right now was to reach Level 600 and he still needed another 24 more levels to reach that. However, it was quite hard to level up now. He was not even able to increase his level by one even after two weeks of grinding elsewhere.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Minhyuk once again started attacking the monsters with just his basic attacks. Just like this, he continued farming even after forty minutes had passed by.

    ***

    Andeiro was the master of the Sage¡¯s Tower of Magic. He was also known as the strongest Great Mage in existence. Right now, Andeiro was watching Minhyuk fight the monsters through a crystal ball.

    ¡°A foolish king.¡± Andeiro, a sage that knew a lot and whose face had turned ugly, shook his head. ¡°You must not help Brod.¡±

    The fire on the candle that he created shook fiercely as if it was about to die out from the wind.

    ¡°¡­He will die soon,¡± Andeiro muttered. There was a clear bitterness to his words.

    Minhyuk should not meet with him nor try to help Brod. Because Brod already knew that Minhyuk, who he was trying to protect with all his might, would be hurt by the truth or attempt to aid him.

    ¡°It¡¯s impossible.¡±

    Andeiro shook his head as he watched Minhyuk fight the monsters. He was not one of the Chosen Ones and none of those that he did not choose had ever crossed that canyon. Not even the Swords of the Gods or the soldiers of the Great Luvien Empire could pass through it. Besides, Food God Minhyuk was far too weak to meet with him right now.

    An hour had passed since Andeiro started watching Minhyuk.

    ¡°¡­Why isn¡¯t he using his powers?¡± Andeiro asked aloud.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Andeiro¡¯s eyes grew wide. He was sure that the man was only using his basic attacks.

    <em>¡®Did he get stronger?!¡¯</em>

    That was right. Minhyuk was growing stronger. After around twenty five minutes, Andeiro received another shock.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>¡®He, he grew stronger again?!!!!!!!!¡¯</em>

    Then, another thirty minutes passed.

    <em>¡®Agaaaaaaaain?!!!!!¡¯</em>

    Indeed. Minhyuk was growing stronger and stronger as time went by. It was something that was beyond Andeiro¡¯sprehension. The notification that rang ten minutester almost caused him to question his rationality.

    <em>[The challenger hunted 4,578 monsters in fifteen minutes.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    At first, the man only hunted around 2,800 monsters. But in just three hours, that number skyrocketed.

    ¡°He was able to hunt 1,700 more in just that short amount of time?¡±

    It waspletely unbelievable. Usually, the number of monsters that the challenger could hunt would significantly decrease as time went by. This was because the monsters would continue to regenerate, while the challengers would have already used up all of their powers and get exhausted. In other words, they would have reached their bottom line. However, Minhyuk was able to kill 4,500 monsters without using any kind of power.

    Two hours passed.

    ¡°¡­Why doesn¡¯t he look tired?!¡±

    And another two hours¡­

    ¡°Why isn¡¯t he getting tired?!¡±

    And another hour¡­

    ¡°Why?!!!!¡±

    <em>[The challenger has hunted a total of 30,000 monsters.]</em>

    <em>[The challenger has bought the legendary-grade ingredient ¡®Revia¡¯s Pork¡¯ from the Magic Shop.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Andeiro continued to watch Minhyuk. Just like that, another three hours passed by.

    <em>[The challenger¡­a total of 30,000 monsters.]</em>

    <em>[The challenger has bought the legendary-grade ingredient ¡®Katarina¡¯s Sesame Leaf¡¯ from the Magic Shop.]</em>

    Andeiro¡¯s Magic Shop was filled with many rare and precious items. There were actually many legendary-grade items in there. However, people had always said that the rewards that they could get from there were quite stingy and not generous at all. Challengers that could kill a total of 30,000 monsters were usually among the top ten in the world. That was why they found the rewards to becking.

    Just like that, two days had passed.

    <em>[¡­a total of 30,000 monsters.]</em>

    <em>[¡­challenger¡­ bought¡­ ¡®Corde¡¯s Honey¡¯¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­challenger¡­ bought¡­¡®Kevin¡¯s Caviar¡¯¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­challenger¡­bought¡­ ¡®Shining Wheat¡¯¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­challenger¡­bought¡­ ¡®Flying Chicken¡¯s Egg¡¯¡­]</em>

    It had to be known that all of the items inside Andeiro¡¯s Magic Shop were items that Andeiro had obtained through great hardships.

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    Then, Minhyuk was enveloped in a bright light. In the NPCs¡¯ perspective, that light was the ¡®light of growth¡¯. As for the yers, it was a sign of leveling up. This was Minhyuk gaining a level.

    <em>[This~ is a jackpot! A jackpot!]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    At this moment, Andeiro realized that the trial of the Valley of Death was being used against him. That man was basically robbing him of plenty of the things that he had collected in his life!

 Chapter 724: The Sageâ€™s Tower of Magic

    Chapter 724: The Sage¡¯s Tower of Magic

    Was the level of the yer proportional to the strength that they wielded? Well, it was only half correct. When one¡¯s level increases, they would be able to get bonus stats, as well as ss quests and skill quests that were avable to that level.

    However, ironic as it was, the highest-leveled yer Fabian was not the most influential yer in the game. Fabian was at Level 592, the officially recognized highest level in the game. Rumor had it that this was because he was the ¡®God of Growth¡¯ and he could gain 2.5x more EXP than others.

    There were not that many high rankers in the global top ten rankings. As for Food God Minhyuk? His level was around the top 500. But in just two days, he jumped to the top 450.

    <em>[The Food God leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[He¡¯s probably grinding levels? Well, he must have done it because it¡¯s worth leveling up.]</em>

    <em>[He deserves it, he¡¯s been busy running his kingdom after all.]</em>

    Of course, everyone did not think too much about it at first. However, there were changes again just a day after he leveled up.

    <em>[¡­The Food God leveled up again?]</em>

    <em>[OMG¡­ He¡¯s already at the bottom half of those at the top 300s.]</em>

    <em>[What did he do to level up that much in a day? Is it a bug?]</em>

    The speed at which yers at Level 550 or above leveled up was known to be extremely slow. In fact, there were many yers that could not level up even once in a span of a month. And yet, Minhyuk was able to do so in just a day. On that day, just ten hours after he leveled up, the rankings changed once more.

    <em>[¡­The, the Food God leveled up again.]</em>

    <em>[What?! Isn¡¯t this a bug?!]</em>

    <em>[This is obviously a bug! There¡¯s an error in the official homepage!]</em>

    Everyone believed that there was a system error in the official homepage. So, they reported it to Joy Co. Ltd.

    <em>[We have checked yer Minhyuk ording to the reports of some yers and have found that there is no ¡®bug¡¯.]</em>

    Just like that, Minhyuk entered the top 200. For the actual high-leveled rankers, a small difference in level could bring about huge changes. Minhyuk was now only neen levels behind Fabian.

    The rankings finally started to fluctuate.

    ***

    <em>[You have acquired the ¡®Elixir of the Fast Growing One¡¯ from Andeiro¡¯s Magic Shop.]</em>

    <em>[You have consumed the Elixir of the Fast Growing One.]</em>

    <em>[Your EXP Acquisition Rate will increase to x3 for one week.]</em>

    Three days had already passed by but Minhyuk still continued to fight the monsters without taking a rest. The average number of monsters that Minhyuk had killed in a day during his non-stop hunt was around 50,000.

    In fact, this opportunity to bomb his level up was very hard toe by. It wasmon for yers to only hunt around twenty to fifty monsters that fit their level. They usually did not go past that number. After all, they had to take into ount the monsters¡¯ regeneration speed and the number of yers that were with them on the field.

    However, right now, monsters keep on regenerating for Minhyuk. Furthermore¡­

    <em>[You have hunted a Sheet Metal Owl Bear.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1,316,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 43,038 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Sheet Metal Owl Bear¡¯s Sturdy Sheet Metal (2kg).]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Sheet Metal Owl Bear¡¯s Skin.]</em>

    The monsters not only gave him EXP but also dropped artifacts. The concept of drops here was not the kind of drop where one had to pick them up manually. The drops in this ce would automatically get absorbed in his inventory.

    <em>¡®I have already gained around 15,000 tinum. If I count the misceneous items that I got, then I already have around 40,000 tinum on hand.¡¯</em>

    That was not all. Since he took the Elixir of the Fast Growing One the EXP that he acquired was tripled. It was said that something special would happen once a yer reached Level 600. This was a fact that even a Level 10 yer would know. So, Minhyuk did not want to let go of this opportunity. Of course, three days of non-stop hunting was exhausting. But that did not matter.

    More importantly, Minhyuk was still hunting the monsters with his basic attacks alone. What was his reason?

    <em>¡®Andeiro¡¯s Magic Shop. This shop is my only ticket out of the Valley of Death.¡¯</em>

    Before doing something, Minhyuk would always draw a virtual simtion in his head. Seeing the spread of items from Andeiro¡¯s Magic Shop, he instinctively knew, <em>¡®I need to do hard and repetitivebor.¡¯</em>

    What if hebined the items, especially the ingredients, with his own power?

    <em>¡®I can break through this ce.¡¯</em>

    Was this a n that anyone could execute? Not at all. This n was something that only he could carry out because he had the ughterer¡¯s Absorption, along with the cauldron lid¡¯s special skill that allowed him to withstand and endure the named monsters¡¯ inherent skills. As for how he could continue to stand tall and not falter? It was all thanks to the synergistic effect created by thebination of the ughterer¡¯s Armor, Absorption Conversion, Lightning, and Minhyuk¡¯s own mental strength.

    <em>[The Divine Will has been triggered.]</em>

    There was also the Divine Will, which would get triggered every once in a while and kept him from copsing. Then, he bought another item.

    <em>[You have acquired Andeiro¡¯s +1 Skill Enhancement from Andeiro¡¯s Magic Shop.]</em>

    Minhyuk had only purchased cooking ingredients so far. At this point, he had already swept up all of the ingredients in the Magic Shop. So, he turned to other things and had now purchased quite a lot of them.

    In addition to Andeiro¡¯s +1 Skill Enhancement, he also purchased Andeiro¡¯s 140% Skill Attack Power Enhancement Parchment and the 100% Probability Passive Skill Activation Parchment.

    <em>¡®Andeiro is truly an outstanding mage.¡¯</em>

    Mages could also create parchments and elixirs, albeit not all of the time. The items that Andeiro created could surpass any decent alchemist by a huge margin. The main reason was because there was an ovepping effect attached to all of the items that he created. However, in exchange, it had the disadvantage of being Andeiro¡¯s item.

    <em>Piiiiiiiiiing¡ª!</em>

    A Colossal-winged Gryphon opened its mouth and fired a ray of light at Minhyuk. Although the attack could easily melt away most rankers if they were in his position, he was able to block it with the cauldron lid.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    However, Minhyuk could not bnce out the power of the attack so he was sent flying back.

    ¡°Ugh¡­¡±

    Minhyuk hurriedly stood up and threw the cauldron lid to deal with the crowd of monsters that gathered around him, which also created some space for him to fight back. Then, he pulled out his Continent Destroyer Sword and started another round of hunting.

    However, he could not deny that he was getting exhausted. He did not expect that continuously hunting monsters like this would take arger toll on his mental strength than his other quests before. He wanted to quit. However, he remembered how Brod fought all by himself without telling him at all.

    <em>¡®This is all I can do for you, so I will not stop.¡¯</em>

    <em>Ping¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk leapt to the skies and cut down the Colossal-winged Gryphon.

    <em>¡®Is there a way for me to not get tired?¡¯</em>

    He could not fall down until he collected everything that he needed. At that moment, he received a terrible notification.

    <em>[Your Vassal Brod¡¯s HP has fallen below 10%.]</em>

    <em>[Vassal Brod is on the brink of death.]</em>

    These notifications would ring if the NPCs that were registered as a yer¡¯s vassal were in any danger.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s face turned ugly upon hearing the notifications.

    ***

    God of Conflicts Belovan was among the highest-ranking gods and was considered to be the one closest to an Absolute God. He looked at the warp gate that connected to the human realm that was blocked with some sort of red energy.

    ¡°I never expected that you would use such petty tricks.¡± Belovan was solemn, having watched the man endure and fight fiercely for days on end, while still standing until this moment. Then, he looked at the mountains of corpses formed by the bodies of hundreds of thousands of soldiers of the Divine Army.

    The reason why God of Conflicts Belovan was considered as the being closest to an Absolute God was because he possessed power that not even the other gods could afford to take lightly. But this very same god was both shocked and terrified by the power that Brod disyed.

    ¡°I can¡¯t understand.¡±

    Just when Belovan thought that he already had Brod in the palm of his hands, the man sealed the warp gate and pulled away from them. It was likely so he could prevent them from descending on earth and attacking the Food God, the king that he served. However, this could only dy them for ten days. And even though he escaped, he was gravely injured.

    <em>¡®How¡­ You are already in that state, so how¡­¡¯</em>

    Brod had received several injuries, with several weapons sticking out of his body. And that was not all, he had also received an attack from Belovan himself. But even if his situation was dire, he was still able to deal a huge blow to Belovan and the Divine Army and escape from their grasp.

    ¡°There¡¯s no way that he could go far. The Battle God has ordered to capture him alive!¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    Not only the soldiers of the Divine Army but even some of the gods that served the Battle God had joined in. Sooner orter, they would be able to find Brod.

    <em>¡®Why does our Lord want to take him back so badly?¡¯</em>

    Why did the Battle God let the man go despite him going against his own will? But as he looked at the blood-stained spot where the man stood, Belovan felt like he understood himself a bit.

    At the same time, at another location.

    Brod, who was gasping for breath,id down on the ground behind a huge rock. The ground beside him was filled with blood-stained weapons that he pulled out from his own body.

    ¡°Haa¡­ haa¡­¡±

    A blizzard raged in the Land of the Gods, nketing the area with a thick pile of snow. Every ragged breath that escaped his mouth would turn white from the cold.

    ¡°I can¡¯t die yet,¡± Brod muttered as he applied the herbs that he had gathered here in the Land of the Gods to heal his wounds.

    <em>I can¡¯t die yet. I need to protect His Majesty longer.</em>

    <em>Flutter¡ª</em>

    Brod¡¯s eyes slowly fluttered to a close. All he wanted was to get one look.

    ¡°Your Majesty¡­¡±

    Even if he died here and fell into eternal rest at the very least let him see the face of his beloved king onest time.

    ***

    <em>Grip¡ª</em>

    ¡°Brod.¡±

    Minhyuk gritted his teeth as his hold on his sword tightened. He had not done anything for Brod yet but Brod was going to leave him

    <em>¡®This is an order, Brod. Don¡¯t die.¡¯</em>

    He had to be there. So, Minhyuk began to move faster.

    At the same time, Andeiro, who was watching him, was shocked. <em>¡®¡­He¡¯s gotten a lot faster?¡¯</em>

    Only then did Andeiro realize that Minhyuk had been maintaining his pace to preserve his strength. But now, he was speeding up.

    ¡°Brod. Just wait a bit more. I¡¯ming. So, hang in there just a bit longer.¡±

    Andeiro, who was watching this through his crystal ball, felt a throb in his chest. Then, he quickly used his crystal ball to check on another scene. He looked at none other than Brod, who was in the Land of the Gods. Andeiro could not take his eyes off of this man¡¯s appearance, an appearance that looked like he was going to die for the man that he served.

    ***

    Just like that, a day, then three days passed by. During that time, Brod desperately ran away to survive longer. He was doing his best and struggling to live to the point that he looked so shabby and unkempt that one would not recognize him as the Absolute God¡¯s Sword.

    Two days passed like that once again. However, the king that he served could not cross the threshold. It was impossible. That was just how it is.

    However, Andeiro saw the man cook inside a transparent barrier. All of the ingredients that he was using were those that he purchased from Andeiro¡¯s Magic Shop.

    Andeiro looked away and turned his attention to Brod once again. Brod had allowed another attack to graze his body as he struggled to cut his enemies down and escape.

    <em>Clench¡ª</em>

    Andeiro¡¯s palms clenched into fists. He could not bear to see the state that Brod was in. A drop of tear unknowingly dripped down his cheek.

    ¡°Someone¡­¡±

    The feeling that he had buried deep inside his heart, a feeling that he believed to have disappeared, once again resurfaced.

    ¡°Anyone, please save Brod.¡±

    Then, something extraordinary happened.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    A pir of light shot down from the sky. As for the ce that itnded? It was none other than the ce where the king that Brod saved was in.

    Andeiro hurriedly turned to look at the crystal ball. There, he saw the man with his ck hair fluttering with the wind, his white cape that carried the symbol of a fork and knife crossed together, facing against 20,000 monsters.

    Andeiro wore his own artifact, the ¡®Eye of All Creation¡¯ which was in the form of sses, and looked at the man. The Eye of All Creation was an artifact that could see through the power that the opponent possessed.

    He watched through the crystal ball as the man looked at the monsters and said, ¡°Double Food.¡±

    <em>[The Eye of All Creation is scrutinizing the opponent.]</em>

    <em>[Double Food can create a copy of a dish!]</em>

    ¡°Ovepping Delight.¡±

    <em>[Ovepping Delight can allow buff effects of two dishes to take effect at the same time.]</em>

    <em>[He received two buff effects at the same time using a God-grade dish!]</em>

    <em>[He has received the Max Skill Enhancement effect from the Seafood Kal-Guksu!]</em>

    <em>[Ovepping Delight has increased his Sword of Absolute Death from Level 9 to Level 13!]</em>

    ¡°Use Andeiro¡¯s Skill Enhancement.¡±

    <em>[Sword of Absolute Death¡¯s level has increased to Level 14!]</em>

    ¡°Use Andeiro¡¯s 140% Skill Attack Power Enhancement Parchment.¡±

    <em>[Sword of Absolute Death¡¯s damage has increased by 140%!]</em>

    ¡°Use Andeiro¡¯s 100% Probability Passive Skill Activation Parchment.¡±

    <em>[He has applied the parchment effects to Passive Skill: Double Skill.]</em>

    <em>[Sword of Absolute Death¡¯s force has doubled!]</em>

    At that moment, cracks appeared on the lenses of the Eye of All Creation.

    <em>[Warning! Immeasurable.]</em>

    <em>[Warning! Immeasurable.]</em>

    <em>[Warning! Immeasurable.]</em>

    Andeiro stared at Minhyuk in disbelief. At that moment, another notification rang. It was the voice of an unidentified Absolute God.

    <em>[The lowest God¡­]</em>

    Minhyuk red sharply at the 20,000 monsters in front of him through his fluttering ck hair. Then, he swung his sword and said, ¡°Sword of Absolute Death.¡±

    The moment his sword came down, tens of thousands of red sword lights appeared in the sky.

    <em>tter¡ª</em>

    In the end, Andeiro¡¯s Eye of All Creation broke apart as the unknown voice finished the words that they started.

    <em>[¡­wields the greatest sword.]</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

 Chapter 725: The Sageâ€™s Tower of Magic

    Chapter 725: The Sage¡¯s Tower of Magic

    <em>[You havepleted a Spicy Stir-fried Pork.]</em>

    <em>[Trance. It is a dish that has your heart, effort, a king¡¯s heart to give his all for his vassal, and a master¡¯s soul poured into it.]</em>

    <em>[Due to the effects of Trance, the buff effect has be better and the dish grade has increased.]</em>

    <em>[You have fallen into a surprising state of Trance.]</em>

    <em>[The buff effects and dish grade will be slightly better.]</em>

    <em>[Something special might happen due to the effects of Trance.]</em>

    <em>[God Grade.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 27%.]</em>

    <em>[All of your skills¡¯ levels have increased by +2.]</em>

    <em>[Your physical and magical attack have increased by 30%.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP and MP has been restored to 100%.]</em>

    Minhyuk stared at the spicy stir-fried pork in front of him that was struck by a pir of light as soon as the notifications rang in his ears.

    ¡°Fwaaaa¡­¡±

    He had been so deep in his trance that it was only now that the things around him had started toe into focus. That was when he caught sight of one of the notifications.

    <em>¡®Something special might happen because of Trance?¡¯ </em>Minhyuk thought, guessing that perhaps the skill Trance had undergone some changes.

    He once again inspected the spicy stir-fried pork in front of him. It seemed like while he was in a trance, he had also made some soft steamed eggs that would go together with the dish. There was also some lettuce to make some wraps with, lying next to a bowl of rice, as well as a bowl of siraegi[1] soybean paste soup.

    <em>¡®I have been working hard for a few days, no?¡¯</em>

    Since he had been hunting monsters non-stop, it was only natural that he forgot about his hunger.

    The first thing that Minhyuk did was to taste a spoonful of the steaming siraegi soybean paste soup. The deep and savory vor of the soup spread in his mouth the moment he took that first sip.

    Then, he scooped another spoonful, this time with a mouthful of dried radish leaves. He chewed the sprouts that had been gently covered with the warmth of the soup, before scooping a mouthful of the still-steaming rice and putting it in his mouth.

    ¡°Kghhhk¡­¡±

    The rice was good and well-cooked! Every bite was sweet, soft, and chewy. Just like that, he scooped a huge mouthful of spicy stir-fried pork and pushed it in his mouth.

    <em>Munch, munch¡ª</em>

    The spicy and sweet stir-fried pork created a fantastic harmony of vors in his mouth.

    This time, Minhyuk spread a leaf of lettuce on his palm. Then, he scooped half a spoonful of rice, a huge heaping of spicy stir-fried pork, some garlic dipped in ssamjang, and some kimchi. Then, he closed the lettuce into a wrap that he crammed in his mouth. The various ingredients inside the wrap unleashed a cacophony of vors that danced in his mouth.

    <em>Gulp¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s throat bobbed as he scooped a spoonful of the soft-looking steamed egg. He then proceeded to dump it in his bowl of rice, mixing it together before putting it in his mouth.

    ¡°Kghhk¡­¡± Minhyuk burst out in admiration as he took another scoop of the siraegi soybean paste soup.

    After eating for some time, he took out another bowl of rice. He dumped the bowl of rice on the bowl of spicy stir-fried pork, sprinkled some seaweed powder on it and mixed everything thoroughly. After mixing everything, he ced two perfectly fried eggs on top of it.

    <em>Drip¡ª</em>

    One of the fried egg¡¯s yolk dripped down the mixed rice with a slight press of the spoon. Minhyuk quickly mixed everything and scooped a mouthful that he chomped down on.

    ¡°Kghhhhk!¡±

    Minhyuk could not help but admire the vor that spread in his mouth. This time, he cut the remaining egg inrger pieces before eating everything inrge bites.

    After he finished eating, the barrier slowly disappeared. Minhyuk walked out and faced the 20,000 monsters with a fierce re as the notifications for the various buff effects that ovepped in his body rang in his ears.

    Minhyuk had been working hard in the Valley of Death for this day and the time had finallye.

    <em>[Ovepping Delight has increased Sword of Absolute Death from Level 9 to Level 13!]</em>

    <em>[The skill: Sword of Absolute Death¡¯s power has reached the level of an Absolute God¡¯s Secret!]</em>

    <em>[You have used Andeiro¡¯s Skill Enhancement. Sword of Absolute Death¡¯s Level has increased to Level 14!]</em>

    <em>[The power of the Sword of Absolute Death can no longer be measured!]</em>

    <em>[You have used Andeiro¡¯s 140% Skill Attack Power Enhancement Parchment!]</em>

    <em>[Various Gods are watching with bated breath as you wield the sword with the skill that you created!]</em>

    <em>[You have used Andeiro¡¯s 100% Probability Passive Skill Activation Parchment!]</em>

    <em>[The Sword of Absolute Death¡¯s effects are doubled.]</em>

    <em>[The power of the Sword of Absolute Death can no longer be measured!]</em>

    <em>[Incredible! You have created a powerful force that no other gods have ever created!]</em>

    <em>[The Greatest God, who has been watching you challenge the impossible, has responded to you!]</em>

    <em>[The Eight Pirs from all over the world are responding to your power!]</em>

    <em>[You have created a power that is on par with the power of the Eight Pirs!]</em>

    <em>[You have taken a step closer to bing one of the Eight Pirs.]</em>

    A shocking series of notifications rang non-stop in Minhyuk¡¯s ears. But it did not end there. As the only knight that the Greatest God had ever acknowledged, the Greatest God praised Minhyuk for his new achievement.

    <em>[The lowest God¡­]</em>

    Without any further hesitation, Minhyuk swung his sword toward the 20,000 monsters that stood in front of him.

    ¡°Sword of Absolute Death.¡±

    <em>[¡­wields the greatest sword.]</em>

    The message, a world message, resounded all over the world as tens of thousands of red sword lights appeared in the sky and shot toward the monsters, sweeping them away without mercy.

    <em>[Damage cannot be measured!]</em>

    Even Minhyuk, the one that used the skill, could not determine the extent of damage that he dealt to his opponents. What was more surprising was the fact that the attack did not dissipate even after it mmed into the walls of the canyon. It just continued to cut through the walls of the cliffs as it was.

    <em>Rumbleeeeeeeeee¡ª</em>

    Even the named monsters that were known for their hard and tough skins split in half at the slightest touch of the blood-red sword lights.

    <em>Rumbleeeeeeeeee¡ª</em>

    The canyon walls, which had been carved out after thousands of years, copsed and crushed the monsters that fled from Minhyuk¡¯s devastating attack.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    A thick cloud of dust shot up to the sky as Minhyuk, the only one left in the ce, walked forward silently.

    <em>[You have broken through Andeiro¡¯s Valley of Death with amazing records!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 50,000,000,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained a +1% increase in all of your stats.]</em>

    <em>[You can ask Andeiro one question that you are most curious about.]</em>

    <em>[You can ask Andeiro one thing that you want the most.]</em>

    <em>[The level of the Sword of Absolute Death has increased by +2.]</em>

    Just when those notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears, goosebumps suddenly bloomed all over his body while his legs buckled and his vision went dark. A pitch-ck darkness engulfed Minhyukpletely. In this darkness, several eyes¡ªsome were yellow, some were off-white, some were clean and pure, and some were blood-shot¡ªstared at Minhyuk.

    <em>[Some of the Eight Pirs are looking for the one that created a power that transcended their own!]</em>

    <em>[Their eyes are staring at you.]</em>

    <em>[Their eyes are about to see your face.]</em>

    ¡°Keheoooook!¡± A loud groan escaped Minhyuk¡¯s mouth. This mysterious and unknown phenomenon felt so stifling to the point that he felt like he was going to die.

    <em>[Obren, who is slumbering inside the Puzzling Seasoning Jar, has awakened!]</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    At that moment, a bright light burst out in the darkness as Obren appeared and hugged Minhyuk tightly, hiding his face from the eyes that were staring at him in this endless void.

    Obren red sharply and coldly at the entities pressuring Minhyuk and spat, ¡°Get lost!¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The scene changed in an instant.

    <em>[Some of the Eight Pirs failed to find out your identity!]</em>

    <em>[The power of Obren, one of the Eight Pirs, is protecting you!]</em>

    ¡°I did not expect that you would be able to create a force that could be on par with the powers of the Eight Pirs¡­¡± Obren mumbled in shock as he slowly let go of his hold on Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk, the lowest-ranking god, had created a power that is close or perhaps even surpassed the power of the Eight Pirs. It was shocking as even the Absolute Gods could not create something like that as they wanted. Of course, it was only a one-time thing.

    ¡°Are you telling me that you¡¯re really one of the candidates of the Eight Pirs of this era?¡± Obren asked Minhyuk. However, he quickly said, ¡°You¡¯re acting way too unruly. You can¡¯t be like this. Try to think about your body next time.¡±

    ¡°Why are the Eight Pirs¡­¡±

    ¡°There is no one in the world that likes the emergence of a new powerhouse.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk could not answer back. It was just like what Obren said. There might be some from the Eight Pirs that did not pay any heed to Minhyuk. However, each person and being had a different personality. There would probably be some that were wary of his existence and wanted to nip him in the bud before he grew any further.

    <em>Shiver¡ª</em>

    Goosebumps once again appeared on Minhyuk¡¯s back. What would have happened if Obren did not appear and protect him?

    <em>¡®I would probably be forced to give up on Athenae¡­?¡¯</em>

    Perhaps that would happen. After all, the power of the Eight Pirs that Minhyuk knew of was absolute.

    ¡°It would be impossible to hide from their eyes for a long time. My power to protect you is also limited.¡±

    Obren was in a weakened state. There was no way that he could protect Minhyuk forever. In other words, Minhyuk had to grow stronger, strong enough to protect himself from <em>them</em>.

    ¡°I¡¯m going back to sleep.¡±

    Obren might not have manifested a body but he had spent plenty of energy when he protected Minhyuk from <em>them</em>. Obren left Minhyuk behind, whose back was still dripping with cold sweat, and returned to the Puzzling Seasoning Jar.

    After that, Minhyuk walked toward the Sage¡¯s Tower of Magic. The moment he went inside, he received a couple of notifications.

    <em>[You have entered the Sage¡¯s Tower of Magic.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 500 REP.]</em>

    A man, who looked very reliable despite his age with his tall and sturdy build, holding a staff in his hands appeared in front of Minhyuk. This man was none other than Andeiro, the master and owner of this tower.

    Andeiro could not help but gulp dryly. <em>¡®I didn¡¯t expect the Eight Pirs to show their interest in this man.¡¯</em>

    Andeiro had witnessed everything that happened with his own eyes. He thought that Minhyuk should never enter his tower. Minhyuk wanted to save Brod, who was sacrificing himself for Minhyuk. However, he thought that Brod¡¯s sacrifice would all be in vain if this man fought recklessly with the Gods.

    But at one point, Andeiro changed his mind. Besides, he also had an obligation to fulfill. He had to answer one question and grant one wish for the one that would be able to pass through the Valley of Death without his recognition.

    Minhyuk also knew about this fact. So, he went straight to the point. ¡°Sir Andeiro, I heard from Luo that you have served Brod in the past. I believe you already know what¡¯s going on right now.¡±

    Of course, Andeiro was aware of the entire story.

    ¡°Please let me know of a way to save Brod,¡± Minhyuk asked politely.

    Andeiro, the greatest mage in the world that even the Great Luvien Empire could not touch, slowly opened his mouth and said, ¡°There is only one way to save Lord Brod.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°And that is through the power of the Food God.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Andeiro¡¯s words were confusing. True, Minhyuk had considered the Food God as an extremely amazing god. However, as time passed by and he started interacting and learning about beings like the Absolute Gods, the Six Monster Gods, and the Eight Pirs, he had slowly begun to change his mind.

    <em>¡®I am but one small and trivial god in this vast world.¡¯</em>

    However, Andeiro told him that only the power of the Food God could save Brod.

    ¡°What are you saying? I don¡¯t understand. Brod is in the Land of the Gods right now¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. He¡¯s being chased by the Battle God¡¯s Divine Army in the Land of the Gods. The Battle God is the highest ranking god among the Absolute Gods. In that ce, he is an absolute existence.¡±

    Could such an absolute being be overpowered by a mere god, someone that was not even an Absolute God, and save Brod?

    <em>Thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    Andeiro turned around and walked away with Minhyuk following right behind his heels. Then, he watched as Andeiro grabbed the knob on a door. The door had the pattern of a fork and a te engraved on it.

    <em>¡®Why is that symbol here?¡¯</em>

    That symbol was the symbol of none other than the former Food God, Allen.

    The moment the door opened, a vastnd greeted the two of them.

    <em>[The Food God¡¯s slumbering friends andrades have awakened at the appearance of the Food God!]</em>

    Minhyuk just closed his eyes very briefly. But when he opened them, hundreds of people had appeared throughout the vastnd and were looking at him. There was even a man sitting on a throne with his legs crossed and looking at him.

    <em>[The Food God¡¯s friend, the Continental Emperor, wants to test you!]</em>

    <em>[He is a legend of the continent!]</em>

    There was also a man sitting on top of a dragon¡¯s head. The man looked at Minhyuk and smiled.

    <em>[The Food God¡¯s friend, the Monster Lord, wants to test you!]</em>

    <em>[He is¡­the continent!]</em>

    There was a handsome man with his sword resting on his shoulder.

    <em>[The Food God¡¯s friend, the Legendary Swordsman, wants¡­]</em>

    <em>[The Food God¡¯s friend¡­]</em>

    <em>[The Food God¡¯s friend¡­]</em>

    <em>[The Food God¡¯s friend¡­!]</em>

    Bright light shed all over the ce with another blink of Minhyuk¡¯s eyes.

    <em>[The Food God¡¯s friend, Mage Efren, wants to test you!]</em>

    <em>[He is a god!]</em>

    <em>[The Food God¡¯s friend, Archer Kaman, wants to test you!]</em>

    <em>[He¡­a god!]</em>

    <em>[The Food God¡¯s friend¡­]</em>

    <em>[The Food God¡¯s friend¡­]</em>

    <em>[The Food God¡¯s friend¡­!]</em>

    Countless notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears. All of the people that appeared looked at Minhyuk with either a look of interest, or a look filled with arrogance.

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    <em>Thump¡ª! Thump¡ª! Thump¡ª! Thump¡ª!</em>

    And what appeared behind them were monsters, soldiers, knights and even divine armies, the troops that they were leading.

    Then, another set of notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[Before this ce was abandoned and neglected, this was the Food God¡¯s Tower!]</em>

    <em>[The souls of the Food God¡¯s friends want to test you, who have inherited his power!]</em>

    <em>[The Food God has befriended 643 legends and 3 gods!]</em>

    Andeiro looked back at Minhyuk and said, ¡°They¡¯re the only way for you to save Lord Brod.¡±

    1. dried radish leaves ?

 Chapter 726: The Sageâ€™s Tower of Magic

    Chapter 726: The Sage¡¯s Tower of Magic

    The former Food God, Allen, was the one that was most simr to Minhyuk in terms of personality. Just like Minhyuk, he had hoped that there would be no hungry people in this world. He also had a very cheerful and friendly personality, and had an abundance of people by his side.

    The original owner of the Sage¡¯s Tower of Magic had been Food God Allen. But before he headed for the Abyss, he had gathered all of his friends here and had a meal with them. Then, he left these words to them.

    ¡ª<em>Even if I die, a banquet will be held for you here once every year.</em>

    Not long after, Allen fell into slumber in the Abyss. Since then, every year, his friends would visit the Food God¡¯s Tower. Former Food God Allen had used his special power to allow his friends to eat delicious dishes whenever they came here. This setting continued even after his death.

    All of Allen¡¯s friends loved and cherished him deeply. That was why they wanted to find his grave. However, that was impossible. Their souls continued toe to this abandoned tower year after year in hopes that they would see him again, or eat the dishes that he cooked for them again one day.

    Now, Minhyuk, Allen¡¯s sessor, appeared in front of them. The moment he entered the tower, all of the souls that longed to see Allen gathered together.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk felt a huge pressure on his shoulders at the sight of them. There was a Continental Emperor sitting on his throne, a Monster Lord sitting cross-legged atop a dragon¡¯s head, and even three gods looking at him with interest.

    <em>¡®The lowest, yet the greatest god. This name suits Allen the most, no?¡¯</em>

    He never became an Absolute God but there were so many people waiting for him to return. It just showed how much they treasured Allen during their lifetime.

    It was also at that moment that Minhyuk realized the method that Andeiro told him to save Brod. <em>¡®Together with them¡­?¡¯</em>

    Then, Andeiro spoke, ¡°Originally, you would have toe to this tower when you¡¯re stronger. But even without my recognition, you were still able to enter this tower. That inevitably changes a few things.¡±

    <em>[The <strong>ss-Specific Quest</strong>: Food God¡¯s Friends can be modified!]</em>

    Minhyuk realized that he would eventuallye to this ce once he reached a certain level. But based on the notification that he just heard, the contents of the original quest for that specific level could be modified.

    ¡°However, it might also remain the same. You might still have toe out of here and return only if you have the power to deal with it.¡±

    The notification had clearly said that the quest ¡®Food God¡¯s Friends¡¯ could be changed. In other words, the change might or might not happen, depending on the choice that he made right here and now.

    ¡°You have to know that if things change, you will have to take onrger risks.¡±

    <em>[If the ss-Specific Quest is changed, two Food God¡¯s skills will be randomly chosen and deleted upon failure!]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes grew wide at the incredibly harsh penalty for quest failure. Just the thought of skills like ¡®Food God¡¯s Cooking Skills¡¯, ¡®Create a Recipe¡¯, or ¡®Let¡¯s Have a Meal¡¯ getting deleted made him feel terrible. It would truly be a huge loss. Especially ¡®Food God¡¯s Cooking Skill¡¯, a skill that had been ying a huge role in Minhyuk¡¯s buffed dishes.

    <em>¡®Is this the price that I have to pay for testing the system?¡¯</em>

    One would think differently and say that this was because the rewards had changed, so they had to take on a bigger risk for trying to gain power beyond their reach.

    However, Minhyuk did not take too long to think it over.

    ¡°I will do it.¡±

    ¡°¡­I understand,¡± Andeiro answered calmly, but deep inside he was quite surprised. In a way, one could describe this situation as the king risking two of his greatest powers just to save his vassal.

    The notifications rang at that moment.

    <em>[The <strong>ss-Specific Quest</strong>: Food God¡¯s Friends has been modified!]</em>

    <em>[The <strong>ss-Specific Quest</strong>: Food God¡¯s Friends¡¯ Recognition has been created!]</em>

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[<strong>ss-Specific Quest</strong>: Food God¡¯s Friends¡¯ Recognition]</em>

    <em><strong>Rank</strong>: ???</em>

    <em><strong>Requirements</strong>: Food God</em>

    <em><strong>Rewards</strong>: The aid of the former Food God¡¯s friends. Unknown and sealed Food God¡¯s relic.</em>

    <em><strong>Penalty for Failure</strong>: The destruction of two Food God-specific skills.</em>

    <em><strong>Description</strong>: You have changed the contents of the quests. The friends andrades of the previous Food God are either looking at you favorably or looking at you with an unpleasant gaze. Gain all of their recognition.</em>

    <em>¡®As expected.¡¯</em>

    Only after he received all of their recognition would he be able to save Brod. However, how should he go about doing it?

    Then, Andeiro snapped his fingers.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaack!¡±

    An ear-piercing roar rang loudly as an unidentified storage box appeared. The storage box was covered with bright red blood and fastened tightly by dozens of unidentified hands, as if they did not want anyone to open it.

    ¡°God¡¯s Cursed Ingredient,¡± Andeiro said as he handed the box to Minhyuk.

    The moment his hands made contact with the box, the hands that fastened it tightly disappearedpletely.

    ¡°Some call them the ¡®Torturous Ingredients¡¯.¡±

    Minhyuk could already guess what he needed to do. ¡°Am I supposed to cook something using this ingredient?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. As you can guess from the moniker that was given, God¡¯s Cursed Ingredients can cause torturous pain to the one cooking them. However, if you sessfully cook the dish, you will be able to create God-grade dishes.¡±

    ¡°Is that an unconditional result?¡±

    ¡°Indeed. But the process won¡¯t be easy. Ah. You have to know that the pain that you will feel is only an illusion. However, you won¡¯t be able to distinguish that.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk looked down at the hideous and terrifying storage box and smiled. Andeiro, who saw this, could not understand. This was the first time that he had seen someone smile when given a cursed ingredient.

    ¡°Why are you smiling?¡±

    ¡°The dish created using this ingredient must be delicious, right?¡±

    ¡°¡­I suppose so. But the process would be very difficult.¡±

    ¡°Then, that means that I can treat Brod to a delicious meal.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Andeiro¡¯s heart ached when he heard those words. Rather than thinking of the pain that he would experience, he was thinking about the one that he would be cooking for, smiling at the thought of that person being happy.

    <em>¡®Or is it just because he¡¯s doing this for Lord Brod?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk stared at the storage box and asked, ¡°What are the ingredients stored inside?¡±

    ¡°You will get whatever ingredient that you want. The moment you take them out, the pain will start to spread through your body.¡±

    Minhyuk closed his eyes for a moment, pondering over what kind of dish Brod would want to eat. Although it might seem uncharacteristic for someone with a build like Brod, he actually liked fried dishes or rice bowl dishes.

    After pondering for a moment, Minhyuk finally made a decision. <em>¡®Pork sirloin.¡¯</em>

    <em>ck¡ª</em>

    The surroundings instantly changed the moment Minhyuk opened the storage box.

    <em>Crackle¡ª</em>

    A river ofva was flowing right in front of Minhyuk, its zing heat engulfing his entire existence. Just taking a breath could easily heat up his nose and lungs.

    <em>[You have acquired God¡¯s Cursed Pork Sirloin.]</em>

    Minhyuk began to cook the moment he heard the notifications. The dish that he was trying to cook was curry rice and tonkatsu. One could mix their curry with rice, or dip their tonkatsu in the curry sauce. Both ways of eating were definitely excellent.

    <em>[Your STR has quickly depleted.]</em>

    <em>[Pain will continuously spread all throughout your body. It will feel like you are suffering from a terrible burn.]</em>

    Just when Minhyuk felt like he was getting used to it, a zing heat spread all over his body. Nevertheless, Minhyuk still started cooking. He did not give up and continued to move his hands.

    He first tried to chop and dice the carrots, potatoes, and onions using his ¡®Ingredient Acquisition Skill¡¯.

    <em>[You cannot use the ¡®Ingredient Acquisition Skill¡¯ when cooking the Cursed Pork Sirloin.]</em>

    However, a bolt out of the blue rang in his ears. The Ingredient Acquisition Skill was a skill that allowed Minhyuk to slice, dice and chop his ingredients to his desired shape and size all at once. But, that had be impossible. Minhyuk had no choice but to wash the potatoes and carrots in the water and do it himself.

    Just when he was about to wash them in water, his hands were suddenly covered in a chill.

    <em>[You have a frostbite.]</em>

    <em>[It would be difficult to move your hands.]</em>

    ¡°Urk!¡±

    Intense pain struck his hands. It felt like hundreds of sharp fragments of ice were stabbing through his hands. However, he still continued to wash ingredients despite his trembling hands.

    <em>aaash¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaack!¡±

    The moment he held the knife to chop and slice the ingredients, Minhyuk felt a bone-deep pain piercing through his left arm. It was as if a knife had stabbed through his flesh and bones. Whenever he sliced or chopped the ingredients, he felt like his entire being was also being shed and hacked.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaack!¡±

    Even if Athenae was a virtual reality game where the sense of pain was reduced, continuous exposure to pain would affect one¡¯s mental state. But, Minhyuk still soldiered on.

    After he finished preparing all of the ingredients, he dissolved the curry powder in water and put everything inside the pot and turned the heat on.

    <em>Tick, tick, tick, tick¡ª</em>

    When the fire started to boil the water, Minhyuk saw something sticky rising swiftly, it was so fast that it had already covered up to his ankles.

    <em>[You have fallen into an illusion!]</em>

    It felt like he was also boiling just as the ingredients on the pot were boiling. Everything felt so hot, like he was melting all over. Just like Andeiro said, he did not realize that he had already fallen into an illusion.

    At that moment, Minhyuk was gripped tightly with fear, and for the first time in a long while, felt like he wanted to give up from the sensation that he was feeling.

    ***

    ¡°Aaaaaah! Uwaaaaaaack!¡±

    The former Food God¡¯s friends were all watching Minhyuk scream as he cooked in the middle of the field. They could not see what he was suffering from, or how much pain he was in.

    Meanwhile, Andeiro looked at him and thought, <em>¡®I hope you can ovee this.¡¯</em>

    The Continental Emperor, garbed with the mane of a lion, said, ¡°Even Allen failed to cook God¡¯s Cursed Ingredient.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think that¡¯s too much? It¡¯s too crazy.¡±

    ¡°Hmph. So what if it¡¯s crazy? There is no way that such a person will be able to surpass Allen.¡±

    Their reactions and opinions were varied. Some felt sorry for the Food God¡¯s sessor, while some felt that it was a pity that the person that inherited the power of the Food God was nothing but a mere human being.

    ¡°What¡¯s the biggest challenge here?¡±

    Andeiro answered the question, ¡°You will see the thing that you fear the most. Even Allen couldn¡¯t ovee that.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no way that a mere brat can do something that even Allen can¡¯t do,¡± one of the gods mocked.

    Allen was one of the gods and the only god that approached the realms of the Absolute Gods.

    In the end, Minhyuk copsed.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Then, he suddenly grabbed his head and rolled around on the ground.

    ¡°It has started. The thing that he feared the most has appeared in front of him and be his current reality.¡±

    Just like mentioned, Minhyuk was currently experiencing the thing that he feared the most.

    Minhyuk shouted at the empty space in front of him, ¡°¡­Uncle Munsoo.¡±

    Everyone held their breath.

    ¡°I¡¯m hungry. Please open the door.¡±

    When Minhyuk was at the height of his suffering from his eating addiction and they could not find a cure, he had decided to undergo the worst treatment possible himself. He was locked inside a room where he was forced to fast. Back then, the thing that he feared the most was hunger.

    Minhyuk moved as if he was banging on the door. ¡°Uncle, I¡¯m begging you! Please, please open the door. I¡¯m so hungry! I¡¯m hungry!!! Just let me eat something, anything!!!¡±

    There was no hope for him to live after suffering from his eating addiction for a very long time. During that time, Minhyuk was among the only three people that had the disease. Out of the three of them, one had died. Before them, all of the people that had the disease had died before they reached the age of 20 due to theplications brought about by hyper obesity.

    ¡°I¡¯m, I¡¯m hungry¡­!¡±

    When Minhyuk fell down again, he started to swallow something. That something was none other than the tissue that was left inside the room. Everyone watching him frowned when they saw him cram something madly in his mouth.

    Then, the sight in front of Minhyuk changed again. This time, it showed Korea¡¯s top conglomerate, the Ilhwa Group, Chairman Kang Minhoo and his sessor, Kang Minhyuk. Countless people began to point their fingers at Minhyuk, who was suffering from eating addiction. They cursed him and called him a pig and dragged his father down with him.

    In Minhyuk¡¯s head, tens of thousands of people were shouting ¡®pig¡¯, ¡®die¡¯, or ¡®you deserve to die!¡¯ at him. In the end, all he could do was grab his head and roll around.

    ¡°Ugh, aaaaaaaaaaaack!!! I want to live too, I also want to live!!! Please save me!!!¡±

    The Continental Emperor shook his head when he saw Minhyuk scream like that. ¡°¡­It¡¯s over.¡±

    ¡°Andeiro. That¡¯s enough. Stop him from cooking.¡±

    ¡°As expected, he¡¯s nothing more than a brat.¡±

    Adren, one of the gods, shook her head when she heard someone say that Minhyuk was nothing but a brat. Adren, who was beautiful enough to be called the Goddess of Beauty, was once called the God of Benevolence. She had the power to see the pain of another.

    She spoke up, ¡°I don¡¯t think he¡¯s a brat.¡±

    ¡°¡­What did you see?¡±

    ¡°He is suffering from a terrible disease, a disease that forces him to eat and keep on eating even if his stomach is already bulging and he feels like he is about to explode. That¡¯s the disease that he has.¡±

    ¡°What¡­?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s like a curse. It¡¯s a disease where his body cannot stand the hunger. And it is not something that he can control. Even if his airways are blocked by food and he is at the risk of dying, he will still continue to eat and eat. He has been suffering from that disease for a very long time. It is a very terrible disease that could probably reap the lives of thousands.¡±

    The expressions of everyone present turned ugly when they heard those words.

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaaaah! Save me! I want to live! I¡¯m hungry!¡±

    ¡°¡­Stop the trial.¡± The Continental Emperor shook his head and the others also agreed with him.

    Meanwhile, those that did not pay him any heed could only sigh and mumble ¡®As expected¡¯ as they turned to look away. Then, Andeiro grabbed the storage box. Once he ced God¡¯s Cursed Ingredients back inside the storage box, everything would be sealed and it would be over.

    One of the legends, the Monster Lord, clicked his tongue. ¡°In the end, is there no one talented enough to surpass Food God Allen? Perhaps humans are truly weak¡­¡±

    When he turned his head while saying those words, the God of Benevolence Adren murmured, ¡°¡­only¡­ person¡­¡±

    ¡°What?¡± The Monster Lord looked at her suspiciously.

    Minhyuk, who was rolling on the ground while holding his head, gasped and said, ¡°¡­will¡­ live¡­¡±

    Everyone immediately turned to look at Minhyuk. They realized that the words that wereing out of his mouth had changed.

    ¡°I will live.¡±

    The words that came out of his mouth were no longer ¡®save me¡¯, but ¡®I will live¡¯. They watched as Minhyuk supported himself with one hand and struggled to stand up, his eyes shining brightly and with rity.

    ¡°I said, I will live.¡±

    Everyone gaped at him. Adren was looking at Minhyuk in disbelief as he grabbed his cooking utensils and continued cooking.

    She recalled that the Monster Lord asked her about the meaning of the words that she murmured earlier. So, Adren gulped dryly while looking at Minhyuk and began, ¡°He¡­¡±

    Minhyuk moved around busily again.

    ¡°He¡¯s the only person that has ovee that disease.¡±

 Chapter 727: The Sageâ€™s Tower of Magic

    Chapter 727: The Sage¡¯s Tower of Magic

    Minhyuk¡¯s eating addiction struck unexpectedly when he was still in middle school. Before that, he had been living a satisfying life. He had his father, the chairman of Ilhwa Group, and countless friends that trusted and followed him. He also received countless praises for being the only person that would be the next leader of Ilhwa Group.

    Minhyuk was someone that lived on the straight path and never strayed. Those that envied him would say, <em>¡®It¡¯s because he met good parents or whatever.¡¯</em>

    Was that really the case though? Minhyuk¡¯s father was not the type of person that would give him everything at his beck and call. His father was a man that made sure to remind him of the lessons that his mother taught him well, and made sure that he would be someone that was resilient.

    Also, everything that Minhyuk had achieved was all thanks to his greatest ¡®talent¡¯, which was in fact hard work and effort. But when the eating addiction suddenly reared its head, Minhyuk truly suffered a lot.

    <em>¡®I lost my friends.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had to tell his friends that he was transferring schools, when in fact, he stayed in his room to try and treat his eating addiction.

    <em>¡®I let down all the people that had high expectations of me too.¡¯</em>

    There were many people that said that the sessor, Kang Minhyuk, had gone crazy and ran away while studying. There were even rumors about how Kang Minhoo was an alcoholic and Minhyuk had a hard time because of that.

    <em>¡®I even lost my fit and healthy body.¡¯</em>

    He was ovee with severe depression as his body grew and grew. In the end, he even developed insomnia. He had a hard time sleeping and would only be able to sleep an hour each day. His condition grew worse and worse with each passing day.

    <em>¡®I want to live. I want to live like ordinary people. I want to eat three meals a day with my family, my friends and perhaps even a lover.¡¯</em>

    So, he moved his bloated body and started to move in the pool. He even did sit-ups while lying on his bed whenever he could not sleep. Although he was still fat, he still continued to work out, read his books and study.

    <em>¡®I will live.¡¯</em>

    He jumped and ran with firm determination and worked out for more than four to five hours each day. Minhyuk even desperately tried to control his appetite.

    Finally, he met Athenae.

    ¡°I will definitely live.¡±

    That was Minhyuk¡¯s dream.

    And Minhyuk, who finally stood up after a lot of struggle, began to cook again.

    <em>¡®I will be their role model. I will definitely survive this and find a cure for Eating Addiction. Then, I will lead Ilhwa Group and tell the world, <strong>¡®We can all get through this.¡¯</strong>¡¯</em>

    That was why, this fear was nothing to Minhyuk. He could endure, and he would endure.

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes shed as his entire body felt like it was boiling as he continued to cook the curry. As he continued like that, he began to forget the pain.

    <em>¡®Brod.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk would definitely feed Brod a warm and delicious meal. Before he knew it, he had already finished cooking the curry. This time, he ced a pot on the stove and poured cooking oil in it. Then, he turned on the stove once again and let the oil¡¯s temperature rise to the appropriate heat.

    Just like that, Minhyuk covered the pork sirloin with batter and crumbs while experiencing the pain of his entire body being hacked by an axe.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    <em>Stagger¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk staggered and almost lost his footing. However, he clenched his teeth and held on and slowly stretched his hand out to put the sirloin inside the pot of boiling oil.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Hundreds of lightning bolts fell from the sky andnded on Minhyuk. The sight was terrifyingly grotesque. Although he was receiving an onught of attacks, the ingredients and the dish that he was making waspletely unaffected.

    ¡°Kghhk¡­!¡±

    The snow, which fell from the sky, suddenly turned into sharp icicles that stabbed through Minhyuk¡¯s body as continued to move to ce the meat inside the oil.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!¡± Minhyuk screamed from the pain. However, the figure of the man that he was doing this for shed in his head.

    <em>¡®Your Majesty, have you eaten?¡¯</em>

    Brod¡¯s face appeared clearly in his head. Minhyuk knew that he had not done anything for the man at all, despite Brod doing a lot for him. So, Minhyuk persevered. He grabbed his trembling wrist with his other hand and forced himself to ce the meat inside the oil.

    <em>Sizzleeee¡ª</em>

    Countless disasters fell upon Minhyuk as the delightful sound of meat being fried rang in the area. Evenva spurt out of the ground and devoured him.

    <em>Crackleee¡ª</em>

    Sometimes, gigantic rocks would fall from the sky and hit Minhyuk before disappearing, as if they were not there in the first ce.

    However, strangely enough, they did not pose any threat to Minhyuk, who was now solely focused on the dish that he was cooking. He hadpletely fallen into a trance.

    <em>[You have fallen into a Deep Trance once again.]</em>

    <em>[Something special might happen once Trance has been triggered.]</em>

    But Minhyuk did not hear these notifications. He was solely focused on cooking. In fact, he did not even notice that his surroundings had been changing constantly as he continued to cook the tonkatsu.

    It turned into summer, with scorching heat that reached 50 degrees, then turned into winter, where everything around him turned frozen. Hundreds of lightning bolts fell from the sky while the ground beneath him cracked and shook. However, he did not notice these things. He waspletely in his cooking zone. Nothing could stop him.

    Finally, a bright and delighted smile popped out on his face as he finished cooking the tonkatsu. He quickly scooped some steaming white rice on a te before pouring curry in the empty space right next to it. Then, he ced the well-fried tonkatsu above the curry.

    At this point in time, Minhyuk already felt dizzy and even his vision had started to spin. In his blurry consciousness, a series of notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[You havepleted Curry Rice and Tonkatsu.]</em>

    <em>[Something special might happen due to the effects of Trance.]</em>

    <em>[Trance. It is a dish that has your will to never back down, a heart for your vassal, a desire to live, and sincerity poured into it.]</em>

    <em>[You have achieved Extreme Trance. The buff effects applied and dish grade will be much better than the ordinary Trance!]</em>

    <em>[The skill: Trance has changed into Extreme Trance!]</em>

    <em>[You have sessfully cooked a dish using God¡¯s Cursed Ingredient!]</em>

    <em>[This is a shocking achievement that even the former Food God has never achieved.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Food God Specific Skill Points (2).]</em>

    <em>[Upon the sessful creation of a dish using God¡¯s Cursed Ingredient, a God-grade dish will be unconditionally produced!]</em>

    <em>[Due to the effects of Extreme Trance, the God-grade dish has be a dish of a higher-grade!]</em>

    <em>[You have created the second Absolute God-grade dish in the world!]</em>

    <em>[¡­All stats!]</em>

    <em>[¡­HP and MP!]</em>

    <em>[¡­temporarily¡­Fallen Wretched Emperor Brod!]</em>

    <em>[You havepleted the <strong>ss Specific Quest</strong>: Food God¡¯s Friends¡¯ Recognition.]</em>

    <em>[The Continental Emperor acknowledges¡­!]</em>

    <em>[The Dragon Lord acknowledges¡­!]</em>

    <em>[The God of Benevolence acknowledges¡­!]</em>

    <em>[You havepleted the quest with extraordinary results¡­!]</em>

    Minhyuk was distracted by the notifications that rang non-stop in his ears.

    ***

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    All of the Food God¡¯s friends were left speechless. This was especially the case for the Dragon Lord, who had just been speaking rudely and was even saying that he would never acknowledge him. In fact, even his pupils were shaking at the sudden turn of events.

    ¡°What did I just see?¡±

    A new grade, the Absolute God-grade dish has been born to the world. It was a shocking and extraordinary achievement that even the former Food God Allen had not attained in his lifetime.

    However, even if they had witnessed it, some people still could not help but deny it. The Dragon Lord shook his head.

    ¡°Ha¡­¡± He smirked, a look of interest shing on his face as he shook his head and said, ¡°The reason why Allen is the greatest is because he was close to many people.¡±

    Many of them agreed with his words. Even the Monster Lord wanted to deny the scene in front of him and insist that Allen, their friend, was the best.

    However, Andeiro opened his mouth and said, ¡°I am someone that can see and view a lot of things even though I stay in this tower.¡±

    Everyone nodded. These souls knew Andeiro since they had seen and interacted with him for quite a long time now.

    ¡°That man calls the Continental Emperor Ellie, the person that decided to give up the position of the Sword God to remain the empress of her empire, noona.¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    ¡°He also calls the king of a nation, who is hailed as the Overlord, uncle.¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    ¡°Ah, not too long ago, he established a brotherly rtionship with the Mercenary King that united the mercenaries from all over the world and became the God of Mercenaries¡¯ sessor.¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    ¡°The temporarymander-in-chief of his kingdom is the Spear God of this era.¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    ¡°This man named Elpis, the Lesser Demon, is the shield of his country. He also has one of the Sword of the Gods as his escort knight. He also has the protection of the Great Demon Gremory and is friends with Saintess Loyna¡­ <em>mumble, mumble¡­</em> Ah! He also has one of the Eight Pirs, Obren, under hismand. He also has a deep connection with Pope Kronad. And he also has the Supreme Divine Beast as his pet¡­ <em>mumble, mumble¡­</em>¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Everyone¡¯s expression turned nk for a moment. The Monster Lord looked at Minhyuk and said, ¡°That child¡­ he really needs our help, right?¡±

    ¡°I think so?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Silence enveloped them for a moment.

    ***

    <em>¡®This is the end.¡¯ </em>

    That was the thought that shed in Brod¡¯s head as he looked at the cliff behind him. Standing in front of him was the God of Conflicts Belovan, four other gods, and 250,000 soldiers of the Divine Army. His abdomen was bleeding profusely after he was stabbed by the sword of God of Conflicts Belovan.

    However, even though he was in a very dangerous and life-threatening state, Brod still did not let go of his sword.

    ¡°Absolute God¡¯s Sword, Fallen Wretched Emperor, this is the end,¡± Belovan spat coldly. He was so tired and fed up with running after Brod.

    <em>¡®How can he do this much when he¡¯s just by himself¡­¡¯</em>

    They could not fathom how he was able to cut down 100,000 soldiers of the Divine Army and endure the attacks of three gods. At this point, all Belovan wanted was to getpensated for all the effort that he put in this by killing that bastard. However, he still could not deny the fact that he was under orders to bring Brod back alive.

    ¡°I will say this for thest time. The Battle God wants you. Come back to the Battle God¡¯s arms. And he promises you¡­¡±

    Belovan could not understand. Why was the Battle God so intent on having Brod by his side? Why did he care so much about this man to the point that he promised such a thing?

    ¡°¡­that he will make a new empire for you.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The remarks were so shocking to the point that even the soldiers of the Divine Army started to kick up a fuss. The Battle God would go so far as to make an empire in the Land of the Gods for this human? Some of them even gulped dryly, thrilled at the thought alone. If that happened, even the gods would not be able to do anything to him. All kinds of riches and treasures would be waiting for him and he would forever live in peace andfort.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you want it?¡± Belovan asked.

    Brod applied pressure on his bleeding abdomen as he shook his head with a bitter smile on his face. ¡°I have felt and realized something after serving someone sincerely.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t really want to be an emperor. Even if I do not be an emperor, I will still be able to live happily. Lately these thoughts have been running through my head.¡±

    <em>Grab¡ª</em>

    Brod grabbed his sword tightly and smiled softly. ¡°I don¡¯t mind even if I do not be an emperor. No, instead of me, I hope that <em>he </em>will be the one that will be the emperor.¡±

    <em>¡®Your Majesty, my brother, my king.¡¯</em>

    The king that smiled brightly when eating his food, the one that hummed softly and patted his stomach in delight after eating his fill.

    ¡°I will only serve <em>him</em>.¡±

    Belovan grabbed his sword tightly. Infuriated, the Battle God ordered to cut him down.

    ¡°Then, you have to die,¡± Belovan dered as he moved to stab Brod¡¯s neck. He then shouted, ¡°Fool! Your king does not hold you in his heart! You''re nothing but a mere vassal, a tool to be used and abandoned!!!¡±

    However, Brod smiled widely at Belovan¡¯s words.

    <em>¡®Yes. That might be the case. Nevertheless¡­¡¯</em>

    ¡°Your Majesty,¡± Brod called out quietly.

    He recalled the words that Minhyuk told him when they met each other the other day.

    ¡ª<em>Brod. I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re doing. But I¡¯m begging you. Please, please survive and continue to live. Understand?</em>

    <em>¡ªHahaha. Of course, Your Majesty! This servant of yours is the strongest, no?</em>

    Brod knew that he would not be able to keep that promise. He was in a very terrible situation. In fact, he did not have any more strength to hold out against them. If one of the soldiers of the Divine Army charged ahead and hit him, he would most definitely copse.

    Still, he just had one small wish.

    ¡°¡­Please remember this servant of yours.¡±

    At that moment, the tip of Belovan¡¯s sword almost reached Brod¡¯s neck. If it were anyone else, it would be unheard of. How could a king remember a dead vassal? There was just no way!

    Brod slowly closed his eyes.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    A chilling sound rang in his ears. With this, he would finally fall into eternal rest.

    <em>Drip¡ª drip, drip¡ª</em>

    The sound of blood dripping floated in Brod¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The lowest God came running for one person and one person alone.]</em>

    <em>[The king promises that he will remember his vassal!]</em>

    <em>[The king opens his mouth and addresses his vassal!]</em>

    ¡°Brod.¡±

    That soft, warm and gentle voice was most definitely His Majesty¡¯s voice. Brod slowly opened his eyes, not daring to believe his ears.

    ¡°Ah¡­ Aaaaaaah¡­¡±

    Brod¡¯s heart throbbed and ached. The one standing in front of him was his king. His king held the de of Belovan¡¯s sword tightly, his red blood dripping down on the ground.

    ¡°I will remember.¡±

    Brod stretched his trembling hand toward His Majesty. Then, he saw Minhyuk smiled softly and said, ¡°But you have to stay with me for a very long time.¡±

 Chapter 728: The Sageâ€™s Tower of Magic

    Chapter 728: The Sage¡¯s Tower of Magic

    Belovan¡¯s expression turned ugly. The lowest god in front was ring at him while holding onto his sword with one hand. He could not help but gulp dryly at the thick killing intent that he was emitting, despite his wide and round eyes underneath his ck hair.

    <em>¡®They¡¯re the same¡­¡¯</em>

    The man in front of him was a human, or to be more precise a human that recently became a god. Brod raised his shaking arms and fussed over the man, worrying about his bleeding hands being cut.

    <em>¡®How dare a mere Continental God that stands at the lowest¡­!¡¯</em>

    That ¡®mere¡¯ Continental God kept his sword at bay. If Belovan had to be honest, this was something that was already shocking. In fact, he did not expect a man with the status of god and king to personallye here just for one mere vassal.

    However, even if that was the case, they were still in for trouble.

    ¡°Just you?¡± Belovan snickered.

    First, Absolute Gods were strong existences that others could not easily deal with. Besides, there were several gods and around 250,000 soldiers of the Divine Army in this ce. Whatever choice he made, whether he ran away with Brod or killed everyone here, the Battle God would still go after them. He was still doomed to die in the end.

    ¡°Your Majesty.¡± Brod was choking up. He also knew how reckless Minhyuk was. Minhyuk told him that he would remember him, however, he had to live and stay with him for a very long time. Although his king told him to live with him for a long time, he knew that he could not do so. Their current situation was too desperate for them to be able to do that.

    ¡°Kill the Food God!!!¡±

    ¡°Cut down those that stand up against the Battle God!!!¡±

    ¡°Continental God, you have to pay the price for trying to stop the Battle God¡¯s Divine Army!¡±

    It seemed like there was only Minhyuk and Brod standing against hundreds of thousands of enemies. This scene brought along a wide, but creepy, smile on Belovan¡¯s face. On the other hand, Brod was thinking about how he could somehow save His Majesty from this predicament.

    ¡°I¡­¡±

    Minhyuk red sharply, his gaze seen through the gaps of his ck hair looked extremely cold. Belovan was startled to see those wide and gentle eyes giving such a cold look.

    ¡°¡­am not alone.¡±

    That was when Belovan saw three weapons hanging on Minhyuk¡¯s neck. The first weapon was a sword.

    <em>[The Emperor thatmanded the entire continent brandishes his sword for the lowest God!]</em>

    <em>[He was the Continental Emperor that united the entire continent!]</em>

    The next weapon was a spear shining a bloody red light.

    <em>[The greatest God of War in history wields his spear for the lowest God!]</em>

    <em>[He was the one thatmanded the greatest Heavenly Army!]</em>

    At the same time, the space behind Minhyuk opened up to reveal 100,000 soldiers of the Heavenly Army wearing white horned helmets, white armor, and holding shining and brilliant swords in their hands.

    Then, the final one, a dagger fashioned out of a monster¡¯s teeth.

    <em>[The Father of all of the monsters in the continent raises his sword for the lowest God!]</em>

    <em>[He was the one that ruled all of the monsters in the entire continent!]</em>

    Just like how the space behind Minhyuk was torn apart, the sky above them also opened up.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Kyahaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    Dozens of dragons appeared soaring through the skies, unleashing several wide area-of-effect attack magic on the divine army soldiers beneath them.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Then, a goddess, beautiful enough to be called the Goddess of Beauty, appeared right beside Brod. She hugged Brod tightly and said, ¡°Did you know?¡±

    The woman¡¯s gentle and warm voice seemed to melt the deep-seated exhaustion and fatigue in Brod¡¯s body.

    ¡°Your king has ovee his greatest pain just for you.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Brod felt a gush of warmth flood his chest as the God of Benevolence kissed him on the forehead.

    <em>[The God of Benevolence¡¯s Barrier]</em>

    <em>[No physical force or power will be able to break through the power of this barrier.]</em>

    As the barrier appeared and surrounded Brod, the God of Benevolence handed the dish that Minhyuk made to him. ¡°This is a dish that your king has prepared solely for you.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Brod looked at the dish for a moment before looking at Minhyuk, who was standing with hundreds of legends, pointing their swords, spears and arrows at the enemies, across the barrier. There were even several gods standing beside him and ring sharply at the Divine Army.

    Brod smiled as he looked at Minhyuk¡¯s back. ¡°I am d to be serving him.¡±

    The God of Benevolence smiled softly at him when she heard his words. ¡°He is also very happy to have you by his side.¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk began to advance together with the hundreds of legends and several gods, and flung God of Conflicts Belovan away. As his white cape fluttered, he gave amand to those that were fighting for him.

    ¡°Destroy them.¡±

    ***

    The Food God¡¯s friends, led by Minhyuk, began to push back Belovan, the gods and the troops of the Divine Army.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s sword struck Belovan and sent him flying back. Belovan¡¯s face waspletely ugly.

    <em>¡®How dare these human legends¡­!¡¯</em>

    However, even though they were only human legends, they were all on apletely different level. Just because they were legends did not mean that they were all at a simr level. Each and every single one of them were at the level of a Supreme NPC. The problem was that there were also gods among the Food God¡¯s friends.

    However, Belovan was not that worried.

    <em>¡®So what if they¡¯re here?¡¯</em>

    <em>aaaaash¡ª</em>

    Belovan¡¯s sword moved and shed the neck of one of the legends.

    <em>Crackleee¡ª</em>

    The legend, who was in soul form, disappeared into ashes. Belovan was confident that he had the power to kill Minhyuk, Brod and everyone here. In fact, Belovan¡¯s level was extremely high. It was at around Level 800, perhaps even higher. Besides, it did not matter even if he lost all his troops here. It was fine since the Battle God would just send another Divine Army to him.

    ¡°Sword of Absolute Death.¡±

    <em>Swooooooosh¡ª</em>

    At that moment, hundreds of sword lights with a 100% probability of hitting his vital points struck Belovan.

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡± Belovan screamed involuntarily.

    Minhyuk then used ¡®Like the Wind¡¯ and appeared right under Belovan¡¯s nose. ¡°Did you think that support troops woulde to your aid?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Belovan could not understand his words. That was only natural. After all, the Battle God would never let Minhyuk and Brod go. However, beforeing here, Minhyuk had already prepared various items.

    ¡°There will be no reinforcementsing here. If you are wiped out here, then this battle will be over,¡± Minhyuk said, his lips twisting up into a smirk.

    ***

    Beforeing to the Land of the Gods.

    Minhyuk finally woke up and had a conversation with Andeiro.

    ¡°So, what you mean to tell me is that nothing will change even if I go to Brod right away?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. The one that Brod is fighting right now is God of Conflicts Belovan. He is someone strong enough to be considered as the one standing at the peak of ordinary gods. He is one of the candidates to be an Absolute God. However, you have to know that he is on the Battle God¡¯s side. Even if the Divine Army and the other gods are swept away like that, the Battle God will just continue to send an army as long as he¡¯s alive.¡±

    That was a problem. Even if Minhyuk brought along the Food God¡¯s friends to save Brod and overcame the situation, they would still be left helpless. The Battle God would just continue to throw his forces into chasing after Brod and him. When that happened, they would be left defenseless. After all, the Food God¡¯s friends would not be by their side forever.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think killing the Battle God is an option, no?¡±

    ¡°¡­That¡¯s impossible. The Battle God is hailed as the strongest and greatest among the Absolute Gods.¡±

    Indeed. Minhyuk also thought that it was impossible.

    ¡°Then, is there really no other way?¡±

    ¡°No. It¡¯s not like there¡¯s no other method.¡±

    In the first ce, Andeiro had suggested that it was possible to save Brod by saying that the way to save him was by getting the help of the Food God¡¯s friends. However, getting the help of the Food God¡¯s friends was just a part of the process. Minhyuk could only save Brod after going through a long and arduous process.

    Andeiro said, ¡°I can bring the Battle God here for a moment using a portion of my powers.¡±

    ¡°¡­The Battle God?¡± Minhyuk looked at Andeiro in surprise.

    Who was the Battle God? He was the being that appointed Nerva Sephiroth as the emperor of the Great Luvien Empire. He was also the god that most of the gods in the Land of the Gods served. Perhaps, if Athenae was taken out of the equation, he could be considered as the greatest among all of the gods.

    Andeiro did not exin any further. However, Minhyuk understood him perfectly well.

    ¡°Please call the Battle God.¡±

    ¡°I understand,¡± Andeiro answered as he stood in front of a faceless statue. Then, a wisp of ck energy shot out from his staff and entered the statue.

    ¡°¡­Heed my calls.¡±

    The power remained in the statue before disappearing. No changes appeared in the statue. Andeiro¡¯s expression turned ugly at that. So, he chanted the spell once again and called for the Battle God toe down to this ce. However, the Battle God did not respond at all.

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Minhyuk asked, he could see that Andeiro¡¯s tries were fruitless.

    ¡°The Battle God is not responding.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s ignoring you.¡±

    ¡°You said he¡¯s ignoring me?¡±

    The one that answered the question was not Andeiro, but Adren the God of Benevolence.

    ¡°The Battle God is the greatest among all of the gods. He¡¯s not someone that other gods can see just because they wanted to. It doesn¡¯t make sense for such a god toe here for you. After all, you are the lowest god.¡±

    However, Minhyuk had to meet with the Battle God right at this very moment.

    ¡°Andeiro, keep on calling him.¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡±

    What they were doing felt like they were keeping on calling someone that deliberately did not answer their phone. Still, they would call until the phone was picked up! However, no matter how hard they kept on calling, the Battle God did not respond.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think anything would change if you go to save Brod right now,¡± Andeiro mumbled. He also felt confused. He never expected such a situation to happen. Even the Food God¡¯s friends all looked discouraged by this.

    <em>¡®Then, what if¡­¡¯</em>

    At that moment, Minhyuk thought of using a trick.

    Andeiro quickly noticed that Minhyuk had thought of something. ¡°Did youe up with something?¡±

    Minhyuk told Andeiro about the method that he thought of. The Food God¡¯s friends, who were there with them, looked dumbfounded at what they heard.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think the Battle God will ept something so ridiculous?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s nonsense.¡±

    However, Minhyuk thought differently. There was always a way to get another person to respond.

    ¡°Andeiro. Call him one more time.¡±

    ¡°Are you really going to do it?¡±

    Andeiro sighed when he saw Minhyuk nod. <em>¡®I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s going to work but¡­¡¯</em>

    In the end, a wisp of ck energy once again swirled from Andeiro¡¯s staff and entered the statue. Just like before, the statue still did not respond.

    But then, using his most wretched and annoying voice, Minhyuk shouted, ¡°Ah, that m*th**f*cker. He must have ran away because he¡¯s scared. That must be the case, no? He must have ran away just now because he¡¯s really scared?¡±

    <em>[The Battle God is descending by his own will!]</em>

    Eyes appeared on the nk face of the statue. The Battle God finally responded.

 Chapter 729: The Sageâ€™s Tower of Magic

    Chapter 729: The Sage¡¯s Tower of Magic

    The Battle God was the greatest and most arrogant among the gods. Even the God of Death, who was well-known for his entricity, dared not fight against the Battle God. He had the entire Land of the Gods under his control.

    However, as he continued to watch Brod, there was something that he could not understand.

    <em>¡®Why?¡¯</em>

    In the past, Brod hadpeted with Nerva to be the Battle God¡¯s sessor. He was sure that the man dreamt of standing in that position too. So, he could not understand why Brod was serving another person now.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s nothing but the king of humans, the lowest of the Continental Gods, why serve him?¡¯</em>

    In the first ce, such a person could not possibly hold on to a talent like Brod. So, the Battle God Reached his hand out to Brod.

    <em>¡®Come to me. Come back to me and bring the world under your rule once again. I will give you one more chance to sit on the emperor¡¯s throne!¡¯</em>

    But, Brod never answered his calls. The only thing that he wanted to do was to serve and protect his humble and poor king.

    <em>¡®What kind of human is he for Brod to act like that?¡¯</em>

    The Battle God was very curious. Then, Andeiro asked to see him. The Battle God smirked. A mere human mage was actually trying to summon him. However, there was perhaps something going on. Andeiro kept on calling and asking to meet with him.

    <em>¡®Doesn¡¯t he know that I might unleash my full wrath upon them if they¡¯re so careless with me?¡¯</em>

    The Battle God started to get irritated from the continuous calls and requests. However, he still chose not to respond. In fact, what he wanted to do was scold Andeiro. So, he looked at Andeiro from where he was.

    But the person that he saw in front of him was different. There were many many handsome men among the gods, but this man was a cut above the rest. Even if he was ced among many good-looking people, this young and handsome king would still stand out. This allowed the Battle God to recognize his identity right away.

    <em>¡®So, you¡¯re Brod¡¯s king?¡¯</em>

    Who in the world was he? But even though he was curious, the Battle God still did not have any intention of responding.

    At that moment, that young and arrogant king said, ¡°Ah, that m*th**f*cker. He must have ran away because he¡¯s scared. That must be the case, no? He must have ran away just now because he¡¯s really scared?¡±

    Prickled, the Battle God did not have any choice but to respond. He immediately descended upon the bronze statue.

    The Battle God was a proud, arrogant and great king. Plenty of gods prostrated at his feet and all of the emperors and kings on earth would kneel in front of his sessors and descendants.

    <em>¡®So, who the hell does this king of a kingdom think he is?¡¯</em>

    <em>[Battle God¡¯s Wrath.]</em>

    <em>[The Battle God¡¯s Wrath is forcing you to your knees!]</em>

    <em>[The Battle God¡¯s Wrath will force you to kneel down and worship him!]</em>

    All of the souls, even Andeiro, could not hold out against this power and were forced to kneel down one after the other.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk, with his trembling knees, looked up at the Battle God. However, the Battle God knew that this guy would eventually kneel in front of him.

    The Battle God was delighted when he saw the arrogant and impudent king, that was chosen and loved by Brod, slowly bend his knees. That was right, in the end, everyone would bend their knees and prostrate at his feet, let alone the king that Brod served.

    However, Minhyuk¡¯s cold eyes continued to re at the smirking Battle God.

    ¡°What a joke¡­¡±

    Minhyuk straightened his knees that were just about to bend.

    <em>[The Unyielding One has been triggered.]</em>

    <em>[The Candidate for the Eight Pirs is someone that will never give in and yield to anyone!]</em>

    When everyone yielded and gave in to the Battle God, only Minhyuk remained standing still.

    <em>¡®The </em><em>power</em><em> of the Eight Pirs¡­?¡¯ </em>The Battle God was surprised. However, he did not let it show on his expression.

    ¡°Lowest God, why did you call for me?¡±

    Minhyuk went straight to the point in reply to his question. ¡°Stop trying to kill Brod.¡±

    The Battle God could onlyugh at how straightforward Minhyuk was.

    <em>¡®Who are you to dare say something like this to me?¡¯</em>

    ¡°I refuse.¡±

    ¡°Howe?¡±

    ¡°Brod has brought forth a huge mess by blocking the gate connecting the Land of the Gods to earth. He is also responsible for injuring and killing countless soldiers and gods of the Divine Army. He hasmitted a sin that is worthy of death. It¡¯s only right that he receives what he deserves.¡±

    ¡°Bullshit.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    <em>¡®What a truly arrogant and foul-mouthed human. Did this human not think about the consequences of his actions?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk thought differently. <em>¡®To get the results that we want, I have to act as wild as I can.¡¯</em>

    ¡°Shall I tell you a fact, then? You want Brod. However, he does not want to go back to you. So, being the petty being that you are, you thought that if you can¡¯t have him, then he should just die. Am I right?¡±

    The Battle God did not reply. It was true after all. The Battle God truly wanted Brod by his own side. That was why he sent the Divine Army after him and attacked him. It was all so he could get him. However, the man was strong and stubborn, and had kept on refusing his outstretched hand.

    ¡°Even if I¡¯m not here, you will still not get Brod.¡±

    ¡°What are you getting at?¡±

    The Battle God had already decided. No matter what happened after this, he would make sure to rip the mouth of this damn bastard in front of him.

    ¡°Do you want to kill me?¡± Minhyuk asked provokingly. He slowly approached the statue and looked at its face. ¡°You must think that I¡¯m nothing like a god, no?¡±

    That was right. It was quite suffocating and annoying to see a mere Continental God im themselves to be a true god.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you make a bet with me?¡±

    ¡°A bet?¡±

    Minhyuk was aware that the Absolute Gods liked to make bets. After all, he had already gambled with both the God of Cooking and the God of Will.

    ¡°If I can protect Brod from the gods and the Divine Army that you send, then you will no longer interfere with me and Brod.¡±

    The Battle God could only cackle when he heard those words.

    <em>¡®Does this lowly god not know who I sent?</em><em>God of Conflicts </em><em>Belovan</em><em> is my most reliable hunting dog.¡¯</em>

    Belovan was not called the God of Conflicts for no reason. In the past wars between the gods, Belovan had killed almost forty gods by himself. Adding on the number of gods and soldiers of the Divine Army there, it would be impossible to protect Brod.

    <em>nce¡ª</em>

    His cold eyes nced around and saw that the legends and gods that dominated the previous era were here. They wanted to go and help Brod? Even if they went, they would not be his men¡¯s opponents.

    The Battle God sneered and asked, ¡°Then, what are you going to bet on, the lowest and most insignificant god? Ah, don¡¯t tell me¡­¡± The Battle God¡¯s eyes sank deeper. ¡°¡­are you willing to bet that insignificant position as a god of yours?¡±

    <em>[The God that Commands All of the Armies has made a bet with you!]</em>

    <em>[The Battle God offers you a bet to ¡®Save Brod¡¯. However, if you fail to do so, you will be stripped of your title as the ¡®Food God¡¯.]</em>

    Minhyuk had already prepared for this. Just like Andeiro said, to save Brod, they needed to go through a process. The first step was to win the hearts of the Food God¡¯s friends. The second step was to make a bet with the Battle God so he would no longer interfere with Minhyuk and Brod. All that was left was the final step.

    <em>¡®Brod eating my dish.¡¯</em>

    The Absolute God-grade curry rice and tonkatsu had a special power hidden in the dish.

    ¡°I ept the bet.¡±

    ***

    The friends of the Food God were all legends and gods thatmanded the continent and had be the topic of many. However, these very same people were afraid.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    With every swing of Belovan¡¯s sword, hundreds of the Heavenly Army and monsters disappeared without a trace.

    <em>aaash¡ª</em>

    To everyone¡¯s dismay, the man that was hailed as the greatest swordsman of all time got his neck cut down, dying with his soul scattering into nothingness. But Belovan did not stop there. He threw the sword with all his might.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡°Food God¡¯s sessor¡­ ¡±

    The Continental Emperor looked at Minhyuk sadly, the sword thrown by Belovan piercing through his chest.

    ¡°I hope you achieve what you want.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    <em>Clench¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk clenched his palms into fists. Belovan was far too strong. Even the soldiers of the Divine Army that fought together with him were also very strong. The legends were not even at a level where they could leave a scratch on them.

    ¡°Keuhahahahahahahaha! Where¡¯s that arrogant look of yours earlier, huh?!¡±

    <em>aaaash¡ª</em>

    Just like leaves falling in autumn, the legends fell one after another under Belovan¡¯s sword. After killing his way, he charged at Minhyuk at the speed of light.

    Minhyuk blocked the first attack and moved to try and block the next attack.

    <em>Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh¡ª</em>

    However, although Belovan only swung his sword once, the attack pierced through Minhyuk¡¯s entire body.

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 60%!]</em>

    <em>[Your movements are temporarily restricted after being stabbed through several ces all at once!]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s face turned ugly. He had never faced anyone this strong. It was not only his swordsmanship, he even had a special passive that ignored artifact effects as well as various powerful active skills.

    <em>¡®¡­He¡¯s a monster, right?¡¯</em>

    Belovan stepped back and swung his sword once again. At that moment, hundreds of sword lights stretched out from his sword and pointed toward the 100 legends. It was strength that could make anyone despair.

    ¡°Continental God.¡± Belovan grinned arrogantly. ¡°And Brod.¡±

    He wanted to show how foolish they were to try and stand up against the Battle God.

    ¡°Look carefully at how your king dies.¡±

    Belovan¡¯s special skill unfolded.

    <em>Lethal Exploding Sword.</em>

    A powerful force shot toward Minhyuk from Belovan¡¯s sword.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    <em>[Lethal Exploding Sword]</em>

    <em>[The attack has a 15,000% additional damage that will unfold the moment the attacknds on your target. There will also be a powerful explosion that would erupt seven times in your opponent¡¯s body.]</em>

    The attack came at the speed of light. Minhyuk could tell that it was too fast for him to stop. However, even if that was the case, there was still a small smile lingering on his face.

    ¡°Brod.¡± Minhyuk looked back. ¡°How is the food?¡±

    ***

    The Battle God knew that Belovan¡¯s Lethal Exploding Sword was powerful enough to kill several gods. Still, he watched the battlefield along with several other Absolute Gods. There were even several of them that favored Minhyuk. Why were they there? Well, it was so they could give him strength the moment he won the bet.

    ¡°The God that Loves to Cook. The God that Never Backs Down.¡± The Battle God looked at them and snickered. ¡°I feel very sorry for you. Why do you expect something from a mere Continental God?¡±

    Arlene, the God of Cooking, said, ¡°It would be good for you to not underestimate Minhyuk or think as if he¡¯s a simple human being.¡±

    Even the God of Will, the man that never backed down, added, ¡°He is the toughest and most amazing human I have ever seen in my life.¡±

    In response, the Battle God justughed, ¡°In the end, he¡¯s nothing but a mere human. Hahahahahaha!¡±

    That man would be deprived of his position as a god and Brod, the man that left the Battle God¡¯s side, would die.

    ¡°It¡¯s not yet over,¡± the God of Cooking mumbled softly, a smile adorning her face.

    That was when they heard Minhyuk¡¯s voice.

    <em>[Brod, how is the food?]</em>

    Then, a man answered his question.

    <em>[It was very delicious.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The Battle God turned to look at the scene. There, he saw Brod, the Absolute God¡¯s Sword, standing in front of Minhyuk with a kind and gentle smile on his face.

    <em>[Your Majesty.]</em>

    Brod looked at the Lethal Exploding Swording at Minhyuk before turning to look back at his king.

    <em>[This is the power that this vassal of yours once had. Today, Your Majesty has allowed me to disy this power once again, even if for a short time.]</em>

    Then, Brod shed his sword down.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The moment his sword met with the Lethal Exploding Sword, Belovan¡¯s skill fluttered in the air until it became a soft and gentle breeze.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Only then did the Battle God realize once again why he wanted to have Brod so badly. This was because Brod was extremely powerful. He was powerful enough that even the God of Conflicts Belovan was no match against him.

    ¡°No way¡­!¡±

    Arlene said, ¡°The dish that that human child made has a variety of effects. One of them is none other than awakening the power that Brod wielded in the past.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The Battle God¡¯s eyes grew wide. Then, Brod, whopletely offset the Lethal Exploding Sword, spoke out again.

    <em>[Your Majesty.]</em>

    He knelt down on one knee and looked up at his king.

    <em>[This servant of yours once dreamt of bing an emperor.]</em>

    Minhyuk nodded.

    <em>[I will act rudely and be an emperor today in front of Your Majesty. I am hoping for your kind understanding and consideration?]</em>

    Minhyuk nodded softly as Brod smiled at him.

    Then, at that moment, the God of Will opened his mouth and said, ¡°Did you forget?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°You had two suns. You did not need to speak to us to brag about them.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°However, one of your two suns burned so brightly to the point that you feared him every so often.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°From what I remember, that sun¡¯s name was Brod. And he is now burning at his brightest.¡±

    The Battle God¡¯s pupils shook. That was right. He wanted Brod but he also feared him. That was why he had turned a blind eye when Nerva resorted to trickery and killed Brod¡¯s knights. If he were to be honest, Nerva¡¯s Swords of the Gods were far weaker than Brod¡¯s Swords of the Gods.

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    Light shed in the space in front of Brod. When it faded, it revealed the figure of Mage Andeiro, who was wearing a cape carrying the symbol of the wolf. Andeiro pointed his staff at Belovan¡¯s neck.

    But that was not the end.

    <em>sh¡ª!</em>

    When the light faded away, more than twenty knights appeared, with their swords raised and pointed at Belovan¡¯s neck.

    These were the ¡®Red Sword Knights¡¯, the knights that grew under Brod¡¯s careful care and nurturing, that once transcended the other Swords of the Gods.

 Chapter 730: The Sageâ€™s Tower of Magic

    Chapter 730: The Sage¡¯s Tower of Magic

    Brod pondered over the words that the God of Benevolence told him.

    <em>¡ªYour king has ovee his greatest pain just for you.</em>

    He looked down at the curry rice and tonkatsu that was ced in front of him. He was sure that Minhyuk must have gone through and ovee unimaginable pain, hardships, and trials, while making this dish.

    The still-steaming curry rice and tonkatsu set wasplete with side dishes like savory and salty seaweed, chopped kimchi, pickled radish, tonkatsu sauce, and many more. The sight of these dishes alone brought a gush of warmth in Brod¡¯s chest as he quickly blew on the steam.

    ¡°<em>Hoo¡­</em> Let¡¯s try it.¡±

    This was a dish that His Majesty had worked hard to make. Brod looked at the rice piled up on one side of the te as he scooped a spoonful of the curry ced right next to it and mixed them together. Then, he scooped a mouthful and ced it in his mouth.

    ¡°Ho.¡±

    The taste naturally brought out a breath of admiration from his mouth. This was the taste of curry that had been well-cooked and stewed for quite some time.

    With a pleased smile on his face, Brod began to mix all of the curry and the rice in his te. After mixing them together, he began to scoop one spoonful after another in his mouth.

    <em>Munch, munch, munch¡ª</em>

    The small smile on his face grew deeper as he continued to eat. This time, he turned his attention to the crispy tonkatsu, cutting a piece and cing it in his mouth.

    <em>Crunch¡ª</em>

    Brod was pleasantly surprised at the texture of the tonkatsu. Then, he added a piece of tonkatsu along with his curry rice. The thick and rich vor of the curryplemented the tonkatsu perfectly.

    <em>¡®His Majesty told me that the best way to eat curry rice is to eat it this way.¡¯</em>

    Brod scooped a mouthful of curry rice and ced a piece of salty seaweed on top of it before putting everything in his mouth.

    <em>¡®This is quite a strange, yet delicious,bination.¡¯</em>

    Then, while admiring the taste lingering in his mouth, he dipped the tonkatsu in the tonkatsu sauce and ate everything just like that.

    <em>Scrape¡ª scrape¡ª</em>

    Not long after, the sound of a spoon scraping the bottom of the te rang loudly. Brod felt like this was the most delicious dish he had ever eaten in his entire life. In fact, he felt that it was even more special, since His Majesty had put in a lot of hard work and effort in making this dish.

    That was when the notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[You have eaten Curry Rice and Tonkatsu.]</em>

    <em>[The dish is Absolute God Grade.]</em>

    <em>[Your Mercenary¡¯s Pinnacle Swordsmanship¡¯s level has increased by +3.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP and MP has recovered to 100%.]</em>

    <em>[All of your skill cooldown has been reset.]</em>

    <em>[The sealed power of the Fallen Emperor has been awakened.]</em>

    <em>[You will be able to summon the members of your knight order that has greeted death.]</em>

    <em>[You will be able to summon the army that you once led.]</em>

    <em>[The buff willst for a week.]</em>

    Brod could not help but be surprised.

    <em>¡®Is this the power of His Majesty¡¯s Create a Recipe skill¡­?¡¯</em>

    Brod knew that the ¡®Create a Recipe¡¯ skill was a skill that would allow Minhyuk to create the recipe of a dish that the recipient wanted to eat the most. It also was a skill that could find out what power the opponent wanted the most at that moment, and increase it. What shocked him the most, was that it was an Absolute God-grade dish.

    Brod moved after seeing Belovan send his Lethal Exploding Sword toward Minhyuk.

    ***

    A long time ago, there were two suns that existed in the sky. One was Brod, stronger than anybody else and loved by the people in the Land of the Gods. And the other was Nerva, the clever genius that brought countless benefits to thend.

    Each of them had a knight order under theirmand. Nerva named his knight order as the ¡®Swords of the Gods¡¯, while Brod named his own as the ¡®Red Swords¡¯. The Red Sword Knights had always been superior to the Swords of the Gods. Since they grew under the careful teaching and nurturing of the Absolute God¡¯s Sword Brod, it was only natural that they became strong. However, most of them were killed when Nerva poisoned them, while those that survived scattered all over the world and lived in seclusion.

    <em>[The Fallen Wretched Emperor Brod has once again risen to the sky and became the sun!]</em>

    <em>[Brod¡¯s radiance as the sun has started to shine brighter and hotter than ever!]</em>

    <em>[The souls of the members of Brod¡¯s Red Sword Knights answer his call!]</em>

    <em>sh¡ª!</em>

    Andeiro, who appeared with a sh of light, felt deeply moved as he pointed his staff at the neck of the God of Conflicts Belovan.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s an honor to be able to fight by your side once again.¡¯</em>

    <em>sh¡ª!</em>

    Andeiro slowly opened his closed eyes after the sh of light disappeared. There, he saw hisrades who died an unjust death, the honest knights that had only served one master, pointing their swords at Belovan¡¯s neck.

    One was holding his sword lightly whileughing at Belovan. There was also the female knight, Haley, holding her sword with both hands. Another one had even opted to position himself right behind Belovan, so he could attack him from the back.

    Oh, how Andeiro missed each and every single one of them. These were therades that he cried,ughed and fought with! The people that served Brod alongside him!

    These people, who were greater and stronger than any other Swords of the Gods of the present, dered loudly.

    ¡°Your Majesty! Please give us your orders!¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty! Please give us your orders!¡±

    Brod¡¯s body was wrapped in light as a crown that emitted a bright red light hovered above him beforending lightly on his head. Even his shabby sword had started to glow with a red light, as a red armor and red cape carrying the symbol of a ck wolf appeared on Brod¡¯s body.

    Brod looked behind him, before turning back around to face Belovan.

    <em>Thud¡ª! Thud¡ª! Thud¡ª! Thud¡ª!</em>

    The space behind him was torn apart as hundreds of thousands of soldiers of the Divine Army wearing red armor marched out.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s breath was caught in his throat. He was leftpletely speechless after seeing the level of the knights that appeared in front of him.

    <em>[Red Sword Knight Haley. Level 732.]</em>

    <em>[Red Sword Knight Rocan. Level 763.]</em>

    <em>[Red Sword Knight Cardin. Level 746.]</em>

    <em>[Red Sword Knight¡­]</em>

    The level of the knights easily surpassed the level of the Swords of the Gods. But the surprise did not end there.

    <em>[Soldier Akkan. Level 485.]</em>

    <em>[Soldier Fergon. Level 445.]</em>

    <em>[Centurion Jen. Level 501.]</em>

    <em>[Mage Luanma. Level 453.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Their strength waspletely unbelievable. They were so strong that Nerva Sephiroth¡¯s own army would bepletely overshadowed if they were ced side by side.

    Brod, their master, looked back at Minhyuk and gave a warm smile. Then, he looked forward, his expression twisting and turning ferocious as he spat coldly, ¡°Destroy them.¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    At that moment, the Red Sword Knights moved to attack Belovan. Meanwhile, Brod¡¯s army released a rain of arrows and magic that devoured the Battle God¡¯s Divine Army.

    Of course, Brod could not be left behind. He charged forward and cut down one of the gods with his sword that was emitting a bright red light. His opponent waspletely powerless in front of Brod.

    <em>aaaash¡ª!</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Brod did not stop after killing one god. He continued even further and ran toward the god that was right behind the first one.

    ¡°Mercenary¡¯s Pinnacle Swordsmanship. Final Chapter,¡± Brod spat coldly as he leapt to the sky with his cold and sharp re. ¡°Wolf¡¯s Death.¡±

    More than a thousand bloody red sword lights shot out and devoured the god, tearing him apartpletely as several explosions bloomed around him.

    Immediately after that, Andeiro stabbed his staff on the ground. ¡°Earth Quake.¡±

    <em>Rumbleeeeeee¡ª</em>

    The ground split in half, forcing many of the soldiers of the divine army to fall into the gap.

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    Andeiro leapt to the sky, his staff shining brightly above them.

    ¡°Meteor.¡±

    Then, several gigantic Meteors fell on the ground.

    <em>Booooooooom¡ª</em>

    The moment the Meteors made contact with the ground, they devoured and destroyed everything.

    Helplessness. This was what Belovan, the gods, and the Divine Army felt as they were pushed back so easily. However, the fact that Belovan was strong could not be denied. He still stood firm even though he was dealing with twenty Red Sword Knights by himself.

    <em>aash¡ª</em>

    Belovan¡¯s sword shed toward Knight Haley¡¯s nks as he gritted his teeth. <em>¡®Is this your true power?¡¯</em>

    To be honest, Belovan once admired Brod. He had heard a story before he became a god, a story about a man that conquered the entire Land of the Gods with a single sword alone. Belovan grew up and chased after that man. After all this time, he had no doubt that he was stronger than Brod.

    ¡°Brooooooooood!!!¡± Belovan shouted, his eyes turning bloodshot. ¡°Fight me!!!¡±

    This was God of Conflicts Belovan¡¯s dream.

    Brod allowed the Red Sword Knights to step back and hunt the soldiers of the Divine Army instead.

    ¡°Haa¡­ haa¡­¡±

    Belovan was known to be an absolute being in terms of swordsmanship in the Land of the Gods. In fact, even the Absolute Gods feared his existence!

    Belovan gripped his sword tightly as he charged at Brod the moment he saw the man approach him.

    Minhyuk, who was watching the scene, thought, <em>¡®Belovan will absolutely¡­¡¯</em>

    Then, their swords shed.

    <em>ng¡ª ng, ng, ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    Dozens of sword strikes were released per second as Belovan tried to press Brod back with all his might. He aimed for the neck, the abdomen, his lower body, everywhere! Belovan attacked everywhere, yet Brod fended all of his attacks with just one hand.

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    The counterattack came incredibly fast, with Brod shing Belovan¡¯s shoulder.

    <em>Spurt¡ª</em>

    Then, he shed his nks.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab!</em>

    Brod¡¯s sword went through Belovan¡¯s body numerous times, and Minhyuk could not help but admire Brod.

    <em>¡®Belovan will absolutely not win against Brod.¡¯</em>

    The most conclusive evidence to this statement was because of Brod¡¯s level.

    <em>[Brod. Level 891.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Brod¡¯s level made Minhyuk speechless. With Brod regaining his powers as the emperor, Belovan would not be able to hold a candle to him. In the end, Belovan was forced to his knees, his bodypletely covered in blood from Brod¡¯s attacks.

    <em>¡®I¡­ I didn¡¯t even seed innding a single attack¡­?¡¯</em>

    Deeply frustrated, Belovan wondered what kind of position the human king had assigned to Brod for him to follow and trust him so much.

    ¡°What position do you have in Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡­?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m the Commander-in-chief.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    That seemed only natural. What other position would he hold other than being amander-in-chief? But, it was practically a waste for someone like him to not sit on a throne. Was Brod telling them that he was satisfied with just being amander-in-chief?

    Then, Brod said, ¡°Well, that¡¯s actually just my side job.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°If we¡¯re talking about my main job, then I¡¯m a livestock farmer. I raise cows, pigs, chickens and the like.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    At that moment, Belovan had a horrifying thought, <em>¡®I lost to a livestock farmer?¡¯</em>

    ¡°How can you tantly tell lies like that¡­!¡± Belovan shouted, blood gurgling from his throat.

    However, Brod just smiled and shook his head. When he looked around, he saw that the Divine Army was already being sorted out. Then, he turned to look back at Minhyuk and opened his mouth.

    ***

    The other Absolute Gods kept their mouths shut as the Battle God watched Belovan copse helplessly on the ground. Brod turned around and walked slowly toward Minhyuk. The Battle God felt an ache deep in his chest as he watched Brod.

    Then, Brod, who was walking slowly, opened his mouth.

    <em>[I serve him not because I want to get something in return.]</em>

    Brod did not choose the Battle God, the greatest among all of the Absolute Gods. He spoke out, his voice echoing loudly in the area and striking deep within the hearts of those that heard it.

    <em>[I serve him because I feel happy, perhaps sometimes sad too, by his side.]</em>

    The situation was finally sorted and the notifications rang in the ears of the Battle God.

    <em>[You have lost the bet with Food God Minhyuk.]</em>

    <em>[You can no longer force or exert any sort of influence on Brod.]</em>

    Brod carefully took out a handkerchief and tied Minhyuk¡¯s hand, the hand that he used to grab Belovan¡¯s sword earlier.

    There were many reasons why the Battle God wanted to have Brod so badly. The first was because he felt that it was a pity that such a loyal and faithful man had turned his back on him. And the second was because Brod would be an ordinary human. Unlike when he was still the Absolute God¡¯s Sword, he would only have a limited time left to live as a human.

    <em>¡®You¡¯ll only have a few years at most. Do you think that will be okay? Yet¡­ yet you still chose to serve that human king?!!!¡¯ </em>The Battle God had asked him.

    Brod just continued to carefully tie Minhyuk¡¯s hands with the handkerchief. After doing that, he gently wrapped the boy¡¯s hands in his and looked up at him with a warm and bright smile on his face.

    <em>[Your Majesty.]</em>

    Minhyuk looked at Brod, returning a smile of his own.

    <em>[This servant of yours will only serve you, Your Majesty.]</em>

 Chapter 731: The Sageâ€™s Tower of Magic

    Chapter 731: The Sage¡¯s Tower of Magic

    In Athenae, NPCs usually became the actual owners of thend, while yers lived as ¡®foreigners<em>¡¯</em>. Because of that, even the officials and operators of Joy Co. Ltd. had a hard time predicting what would happen next. Of course, it was not all of the time, but there were cases where their predictions would go wrong.

    The Sorrowful Grave of the Dead. This was a ce where legends, who had once made their names known all over the world and had died an unjust death, wereid to rest. A man dressed in what seemed to be torn and ragged royal robes arrived at this ce.

    ¡°Haa¡­ Haaa¡­¡±

    The man was none other than Prince Aegon, the First Prince of the Faller Kingdom. Faller Kingdom was one of the few nations that did not give in to the Great Luvien Empire. As a kingdom that had its share of powerful people, the Faller Kingdom did not want to be another¡¯s puppet.

    King Aephiro rejected the Great Luvien Empire, and the results of his actions were terrible. In just two weeks, more than half of his kingdom had been razed to the ground while many of his people died. King Aephiro was in and most of the royal family was hunted down and exterminated.

    In hopes of chasing down a legend that had been passed down in the royal family, Prince Aegon came running to the Sorrowful Grave of the Dead. For days on end, he had taken many twists and turns, avoiding the eyes of the Imperial Army before finally arriving here.

    <em>¡®An army that even the gods fear will awaken for the sake of the </em><em>Faller</em><em> Kingdom.¡¯ </em>Prince Aegon continued to ponder about the legend that had been passed down in the family.

    In Joy Co. Ltd. conference room, all of the board members including President Kang Taehoon were looking at the screen.

    ¡°Did I predict wrongly again¡­¡± President Kang Taehoon muttered bitterly while the other board members looked at Prince Aegon on the screen nervously.

    The one that was sleeping in that ce was a unique entity.

    ¡°One of the Six Monster Gods, God of Birth Gaerna.¡±

    Everyone groaned when they heard the words of one of the board members.

    The strongest and the greatest among the Six Monster Gods was ¡®Obren¡¯. In fact, he was the only one among the Six Monster Gods that was a part of the Eight Pirs.

    However, just because he was the strongest did not mean that he was the most difficult to deal with. Those were two very different things. If everyone present was asked to choose which of the Six Monster Gods was the most difficult one to deal with, then they would all choose Gaerna. That was how tricky Gaerna was.

    ¡°Gaerna is also the being that could cause a lot of problems in Athenae.¡±

    Gaerna waspletely different from the Corrupted God and the God of Snakes Elizabeth.

    ¡°Gaerna is originally set to unseal herself in a year or so. Upon awakening, the episode ¡®Gaerna¡¯s Army¡¯ will start.¡±

    The episode, ¡®Gaerna¡¯s Army¡¯ closely resembled an event. It would turn into a quest that would be given to all of the yers at every corner of the world, and allow them to umte contributions. Three days after Gaerna¡¯s awakening, the yers would then have to vote for the ¡®Alliance¡¯s King¡¯.

    <em>¡®The king of the Allied Forces will receive a dramatic increase in all of their stats and skills.¡¯</em>

    At the same time, the Alliance¡¯s King must be able to unite all of the yers.

    However, it seemed that Gaerna was going to be awakened less than a year before her intended time. It did not matter how dramatic the increase in skills and stats would be, whoever would be the Alliance¡¯s King would be facing a tough fight.

    ¡°What will happen if they can¡¯t stop her?¡± One of the board members asked.

    Meanwhile, on the monitor, Prince Aegon cried out in anguish.

    <em>[The One that ruled the greatest army! I am Faller Kingdom¡¯s First Prince Aegon! This is the time to make good of the promise that you left us in the past! Awaken for me!]</em>

    Everything that he thought was wrong. The legend that had been passed down in the Faller Kingdom¡¯s royal family was false. Gaerna would not help them. She was a creature that would use her power to bring the world to the pits of despair if she awakened.

    <em>[Shwaaaaaaaaaack¡ª!]</em>

    A ck wisp of energy shot up and swirled around Prince Aegon until itpletely covered his body.

    <em>[Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª]</em>

    <em>[Crunch¡ª Crunch¡ª Crunch¡ª Crunch¡ª]</em>

    Prince Aegon¡¯s blood spurted all over the ce, his flesh tearing apart as his bones broke in loud cracks, one after another. In the ce where Prince Aegon once stood appeared Gaerna. She had the face of a dragonfly with a single horn protruding on her forehead, the wings of a butterfly and the legs of a mantis. Gaerna¡¯s eyes narrowed into crescents as she looked around.

    <em>[I¡¯m hungry.]</em>

    Kang Taehoon could only remain silent, unable to answer the board member¡¯s question as he continued to stare at the monitor. It was Team Leader Park Minggyu who answered on his behalf, ¡°Perhaps more than half of the territories in Athenae would disappear.¡±

    ***

    <em>[A sealed monster has awakened to the world.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Birth Gaerna has descended!]</em>

    <em>[The ones that sessfully kill God of Birth Gaerna will receive great rewards.]</em>

    <em>[The <strong>Episode Quest</strong>: God of Birth Gaerna has been created.]</em>

    The world was turned upside down with the sudden appearance of one of the Six Monster Gods. In the Battlefield of the Gods, the yers had witnessed the dignity and majesty of the ¡®Corrupted God¡¯, and were now fully aware of how dangerous the Six Monster Gods were.

    Because of that, the entire continent was in a buzz.

    <em>[Breaking News. One of the Six Monster Gods, Gaerna, has appeared.]</em>

    <em>[Breaking News. Will the nightmare that the Corrupted God had brought upon the Battlefield of the Gods be reproduced?]</em>

    <em>[ording to the experts, Food God Minhyuk was only able to kill the Corrupted God because he had the help of ¡®Obren¡¯¡­]</em>

    The world was plunged in fear. They have not yet gotten over the nightmare that the Corrupted God had brought upon them when she massacred the god-ss yers one after another.

    But then, at that moment, two kingdoms had made a deration with great confidence.

    <em>[Breaking News. Rothschilde Kingdom¡¯s King Cuhel has dered that he will hunt one of the Six Monster Gods, Gaerna, in a press conference.]</em>

    <em>[Breaking News. Qingdao Kingdom¡¯s King Xu Jiaqi has dered a temporary alliance with the Rothschilde Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[Their goal? To hunt one of the Six Monster Gods.]</em>

    <em>[Cuhel has hired the world¡¯s strongest rankers and mercenaries. Among them, there are some yers that have participated in the Battle of the Thrones and sat on their own thrones in the past.]</em>

    <em>[The world has begun to gather around the alliance created by the Rothschilde Kingdom and Qingdao Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[Cuhel and Xu Jiaqi have expressed their confidence¡­]</em>

    The Rothschilde Kingdom and the Qingdao Kingdom had been established after the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and the Maserrati Kingdom.

    Cuhel had been using his tremendous financial power to attract people to his country, while Xu Jiaqi received the support of the Chinese people. In fact, these two kingdoms had been growing so fast in terms of poption and had almost caught up with the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. That was why both Cuhel and Xu Jiaqi were confident.

    <em>¡®We will kill one of the Six Monster Gods, just like how the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King has killed one.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®There¡¯s no way that we can fail in taking one down.¡¯</em>

    There were around 500,000 cavalry men from the Allied Army created between the Rothschilde Kingdom and the Qingdao Kingdom stationed along the route that Gaerna was supposed to pass through.

    Cuhel thought, <em>¡®This is an opportunity for us to attract a lot of yers.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®We might be able to crush Beyond the Heavens¡¯ prestige and soar to the top.¡¯</em>

    Cuhel drew his imposing sword and cried, ¡°Victory will be ours! We will carve a new legend in Athenae!!!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaah!!!¡±

    The 500,000-strong army,posed of both NPCs and yers, marched to where Gaerna was. s, half a day after they started marching, devastating news began to flood the screens of all of the people of the world.

    <em>[Breaking News. The Allied Army from the Rothschilde Kingdom and the Qingdao Kingdom has been annihted.]</em>

    <em>[Breaking News. Xu Jiaqi and Cuhel were only able to barely survive, retreating to create a defensive line...]</em>

    <em>[Breaking News. A 500,000-strong army has fallen while facing the disaster brought about by Gaerna.]</em>

    The entire world was terrified after learning the fact that the allied forces were defeated almost effortlessly.

    Battered, bruised and barely able to survive, Xu Jiaqi and Cuhel quickly rushed back and tried to form a defensive line. Gaerna was headed for the Rothschilde Kingdom.

    ***

    Faelbert Fortress.

    ¡°This is impossible¡­¡±

    Cuhel was currently brainstorming with Xu Jiaqi. The two of them had witnessed Gaerna¡¯s power personally. Even though they had a huge army with them, it was all useless in front of Gaerna¡¯s power.

    Cuhel had spent a huge amount of money toplete Faelbert Fortress. It was said to be the greatest fortress created and built by a yer. The two, Cuhel and Xu Jiaqi, listened to the constant reports and news inside this fortress.

    ¡°The 150,000 soldiers that fought in Pager Gorge have been wiped out¡­¡±

    ¡°The 100,000 soldiers sent to the Akhad River have also been wiped out.¡±

    ¡°ording to reports, the 150,000 soldiers of the Ruacard Kingdom have been wiped out.¡±

    ¡°Reports have also stated that the 200,000 soldiers of the Piennot Empire have been wiped out.¡±

    The empires and kingdoms from all over the world were also fighting to restrain Gaerna. However, the only news that came to them was of their defeat.

    Fortunately, the global top rankers that Cuhel had hired with his money were all still in good condition. This was because he did not put them in the frontline just in case something unexpected happened.

    ¡°What¡¯s the current number of our forces?¡±

    ¡°We have around 600,000 troops.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The first Allied Army, with 500,000 soldiers, had been wiped out in just half a day. At that moment, Cuhel realized, <em>¡®Perhaps the Rothschilde Kingdom will fall today?¡¯</em>

    That was when the face of one man shed in his head.

    <em>¡®This is the first time that I ever wanted to see that damn bastard.¡¯</em>

    ***

    <em>[Your vassal, Brod, has offered his life to you and vowed to live only for your sake.]</em>

    <em>[You can both feel the deep bond that connects you two.]</em>

    Minhyuk was pleased to hear such notifications ring in his ears as he helped Brod stand up. At the same time, additional notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[You have won the bet against the Battle God.]</em>

    <em>[The Battle God will no longer be able to force or exert any sort of influence on Brod.]</em>

    He did it! Minhyuk went through a lot ofplicated and difficult steps and finally seeded in saving Brod!

    Meanwhile, Brod looked around the countless corpses of the gods and the soldiers of the Divine Army. There was also God of Conflicts Belovan, who was on his knees and in despair.

    ¡°Collect the spoils of war.¡±

    At Brod¡¯s orders, his men, the very same men that he had not met for a very long time, rushed forward to retrieve all of the spoils of war. It did not even take them that long.

    Then, Brod said, ¡°Your Majesty, although these are lowly items, this servant of yours is offering them all to you.¡±

    <em>[You have gained 141,413 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained 751 Divine Army¡¯s Sharp Swords.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained 786 Divine Army¡¯s Shiny Armor.]</em>

    <em>[¡­obtained Belfan¡¯s Ne.]</em>

    <em>[¡­obtained Condoro¡¯s Armor.]</em>

    Minhyuk looked satisfied as he listened to the notifications that continuously rang in his ears. Then, he looked at Brod, his ever upright and strong vassal.

    <em>¡®Thank you. Thank you so much.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was truly grateful to him. He was grateful that Brod had been protecting him from the dangers that he waspletely unaware of. Of course, Brod was also looking at his king gratefully. His king had cooked for him and even went through several trials and hardships for his sake.

    Then, at that moment, voices rang from the ground beneath them. The voice sounded different from the usual God¡¯s Voice. It was a far more special story that was narrated by the Battle God himself.

    <em>[The greatest among the gods had turned a blind eye to the sufferings of his most noble and kind knight.]</em>

    Minhyuk and Brod both turned tense. After all, the deal stipted that the Battle God was only restricted from interfering with Brod, but not with Minhyuk. Was he going to y dirty tricks just like that?

    Then, a line appeared in the air above them, creating the picture of a man turning a blind eye to the sufferings of his own servant and vassal, then it slowly scattered in the wind.

    <em>[The abandoned knight met a new master and finally held his sword again to fight for him.]</em>

    Another picture was drawn in the air. This time, it was the figure of the knight standing tall in front of countless enemies that were approaching from a distance.

    <em>[The great god, the very same god that abandoned him, coveted the knight once again, longing for and wanting him to stay by his side.]</em>

    <em>[But the abandoned knight only fought for his new master, fighting recklessly despite the risk of dying for the sake of his new king.]</em>

    The picture in the air started to move as if it was alive. It showed how the knight fought valiantly against hundreds of thousands of enemies, winning by the skin of his teeth each and every single time.

    <em>[The knight¡¯s new master set aside everything and ran for his knight.]</em>

    This time, the picture showed the knight¡¯s new master handing over the dish that he made to his knight.

    <em>[At that moment, the great god realized that the two of them had something that he did not have with the knight before.]</em>

    <em>[He realized that no trial or hardship could stop the two of them together.]</em>

    The picture changed once again. Standing at the center of hundreds of thousands of corpses, the knight and his new master looked at each other. Then, the two smiled at each other and turned around to walk away.

    <em>[The knight met a new master.]</em>

    Then, the figure of a person silently watching the departing back of the master and the knight was drawn in the air. The newly drawn man had a bitter expression on his face as he watched the two leave. In the end, the man also turned around and walked in the opposite direction from the two of them.

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[May the two of you stay by each other¡¯s side for a very long time.]</em>

    <em>[The Battle God has given you his first blessing!]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 2%!]</em>

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[May the two of you ovee countless trials and hardships together.]</em>

    <em>[The Battle God has given you his second blessing!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1 God¡¯s SP!]</em>

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[May the two of you experience joy and sadness together.]</em>

    <em>[The Battle God has given you his third blessing!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP and MP volume have increased by 10%!]</em>

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[May the two of you be myths and legends together.]</em>

    <em>[The Battle God has given you his fourth blessing!]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Battle God¡¯s Treasure Box!]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired one God¡¯s Summons Parchment!]</em>

    The picture once again moved to show the faces of the knight and the master. The two were looking at each other with bright and wide smiles on their faces.

    Finally, the Battle God left one more sentence.

    <em>[I sincerely wish you all the best.]</em>

    The Battle God, who was walking in the opposite direction, had a bitter expression on his face. However, there was a small imperceptible curve at the corners of his lips.

 Chapter 732: God of Birth Gaerna

    Chapter 732: God of Birth Gaerna

    After the Gaerna Hunt episode was released, the video of the defeat of the allied forces led by the Rothschilde Kingdom and the Qingdao Kingdom quickly became ZTube¡¯s ¡®Best Video of the Week¡¯.

    The leading BJs from all over the world were left speechless after watching this video.

    <em>Click¡ª</em>

    Someone gulped dryly as they clicked on the video with hundreds of millions of views, prompting the video to start.

    <em>[You can feel the burning passion from the 500,000 soldiers that gathered around Cuhel and Xu Jiaqi.]</em>

    <em>[The Allied Army that Cuhel and Xu Jiaqi gathered this time has many legends and strongmen sent as support by various kingdoms and empires from all over the continent.]</em>

    <em>[Cuhel is the head of the Rothschilde Family. He has immeasurable amounts of money. He exchanged a portion of that money into gold to hire many legendary NPCs and mercenaries.]</em>

    <em>[Master Reflector Xu Jiaqi has received the enthusiastic support of the Chinese people. She was originally the leader of the dark gamer guild ck Dragon Order. Dark gamers y games for a living and there are many top yers among them. When she established her kingdom, many of the dark gamers knocked on the doors of her kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[There¡¯s one thing that I can tell you. Even one of the Six Monster Gods would not be able to deal with the army gathered here so easily.]</em>

    These were thementators¡¯ observations.

    In the video, Cuhel and Xu Jiaqi climbed on their horses and looked at the approaching Gaerna arrogantly. Gaerna had a grotesque appearance. Anyone that took a look at her dragonfly face, mantis lower body, and the butterfly wings on her back would most definitely have goosebumps on their skin.

    <em>[God of Birth. Gaerna. Not much has been revealed yet about Gaerna¡¯s power.]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s why the Allied Army seems tense as they approach carefully.]</em>

    Finally, Cuhel and Xu Jiaqi sent forth 30,000 cavalry as vanguard. There were also tens of thousands of mages and archers standing behind them for support.

    ¡°Fire!!!¡± Xu Jiaqi cried as tens of thousands of arrows and magic rained down on Gaerna and exploded.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    ¡°I¡¯m¡­ hungry.¡±

    From what it looked like, Gaerna did not receive any damage from the explosive magic and arrows.

    ¡°I¡¯m huuuuuuuuungry!¡±

    Gaerna¡¯s mandibles opened widely as her loud and tearful cry resounded in the area. Then, the tens of thousands of arrows and magics that were raining down on her body were sucked into her mouth.

    <em>[Huh¡­]</em>

    The moment one of thementators voiced their confusion, Gaerna spread her butterfly wings and soared above the Allied Army.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    No one had been able to sense when she made a move. Gaerna¡¯s dragonfly eyes scanned them.

    ¡°Looks¡­ delicious¡­¡±

    At the same time, the tens of thousands of arrows that Gaerna swallowed before poured out of her mouth.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Ugh, aaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keooooooook!¡±

    The Allied Army was caught off-guard by the sudden bombardment of arrows and magic from the sky. Master Reflector Xu Jiaqi hurriedly used her reflecting ability to try and return the bombardment, but with one swish of Gaerna¡¯s wings, her skills disappeared into nothingness.

    In just an instant, around 20,000 of the Allied Army forces died. Then, something bizarre happened. The yers that died were supposed to turn into ashes and disappear into nothingness. However, their bodies remained intact.

    ¡°God of Birth Gaerna¡­ No way!¡± Cuhel mumbled, furrowing his brow as he realized something.

    ¡°Uweeeeeeeeeeeeck!¡± Gaerna vomited something that fell on the dead members of the Allied Army.

    What did Gaerna vomit? Nothing other thanrvae. Thervae had the color of human skin, while their faces varied. Some were yellow, some were blue, and some were red. Regardless of their colors, they each moved to find the head of the corpses and dug into their flesh to eat their brains. At that moment, those that had fallen and died stood up once again.

    There were also quite a few Korean yers among the members of the Allied Army. One of the yers, who had joined the alliance with his friend, called out to his friend. The problem was that his friend¡¯s brain had already been eaten by thervae.

    ¡°Min¡­ Min-Seok¡­¡±

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    In response, the man named Min-Seok stabbed his friend with his sword without any hesitation.

    ¡°Damn it!!!¡±

    In an instant, the 20,000 allies had turned into enemies.

    ¡°<em>Click, click, click!</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick!</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Krrrrrrrrrrr!</em>¡±

    Those that had been afflicted with the parasites could no longer speak and could only make inarticte, insect-like sounds. But that was not all. Their strength had grown by around 10~20% while their defenses increased by at least 30%. Fortunately, they were not able to use skills or magic.

    However, that was <em>still</em> not the biggest problem.

    ¡°You, you can¡¯t die!!!¡±

    ¡°We can¡¯t die!!!¡±

    It was the fact that they could not die on the battlefield. Otherwise, they would be ¡®revived¡¯ and turned into those creatures. However, it was impossible to not die on such a chaotic battlefield. On top of that, Gaerna would never let them go.

    ¡°Urk¡­!¡±

    Every time Gaerna let out a weird cough, hundreds of moths woulde out of her mouth and cling to the bodies of the members of the Allied Army.

    <em>Sizzleeeee¡ª</em>

    Someone¡¯s arm slowly started to melt.

    ¡°A, aaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Another was subjected to an abnormal status and lost their vision.

    ¡°Keheok! My, my body has be weak!¡±

    Someone lost the strength in their body.

    Just like that, the number of their enemies continued to increase, while their own forces continued to decrease rapidly.

    ¡°Damn it¡­¡±

    ¡°Fire. It seems like fire magic is able to deal additional damage to them.¡±

    They <em>could </em>use fire, but unfortunately, there was a problem with that¡ªwhether they were friend or foe, fire would devour them all.

    By then, the number of enemy troops had grown to 150,000.

    This damned situation required the allied forces to eitherpletely behead theirrades or turn them to ashes. Otherwise, they would juste back to life.

    It was literally hell on earth. After just half a day, the number of surviving members of the Allied Army was only 2,000, and they were only thinking of how to escape from their enemies faster. On the other hand, the enemy troops had increased to 180,000.

    The person that clicked on the video gulped dryly once again when the video ended.

    ¡°How can they kill that¡­?¡±

    ***

    Alexander, the world¡¯s top ranker, stood with Cuhel on the walls of Faelbert Fortress. Cuhel had promised him a huge sum of money to join his side. However, he did note here because of the money. One wrong move and one of the Six Monster Gods could potentially destroy all of Athenae. So, Alexander hade here and joined them as a yer that was a model for all the other yers.

    ¡°Cuhel, we don¡¯t have much time. Hurry up and contact yer Minhyuk.¡±

    ¡°¡­Bullshit.¡±

    Cuhel was a member of ck Stone, an organization that had now be the backbone of the Rothschilde Kingdom. ck Stone had run into Minhyuk several times, which was the basis of his hatred for the man.

    ¡°Gaerna will arrive here in half a day. That mongrel is very smart. She is deliberately going all over the ce to devour the troops beforeing to the final defense line. The number of people that died in her hands has already reached three million. Even her parasitic soldiers have reached 1.2 million already.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The people had resorted to calling those that had their brains devoured and controlled by Gaerna as ¡®parasitic soldiers.¡¯

    ¡°There are quite a few legends of their own continents among that army. They might not be able to use their skills but their power alone is not something that we can afford to deal with just our numbers. And if we don¡¯t stop her now, then¡­¡±

    Cuhel turned to look at Alexander when he heard those words.

    ¡°In half a month, almost half of the territories in Athenae will be devoured by Gaerna. You have to know that the Great Luvien Empire is keeping quiet on purpose. We have to stop her now.¡±

    ¡°All of our preparations are done. We have already purchased a thousand dragon rubies.¡±

    Dragon rubies were named so because they resembled the eyes of a dragon. To be exact, dragon rubies were not gems, but bombs that could st apart an area fifty meters in radius. It was a very efficient method to deal with Gaerna¡¯s parasitic soldiers, who were vulnerable to fire.

    However, dragon rubies were very expensive. They cost around ten tinum each and were very scarce. Even though Cuhel had scoured every ce he knew and bought supplies from all over the world, he was only able to gather around a thousand of them.

    ¡°Do you really think you can prevent their advance with just that? We have only seen a little bit of Gaerna¡¯s power.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    It was the truth. They had only seen an extremely small fraction of Gaerna¡¯s power.

    There was actually a reason why Alexander wanted Cuhel to call Minhyuk.

    ¡°If we fight against Gaerna by ourselves, then we are the only ones who will be at a disadvantage. There are currently a lot of global top rankers in the alliance now. What do you think will happen if I and the others be parasitic soldiers?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    If that happened, then it would be impossible to stop them.

    ¡°Even so¡­¡± Cuhel tried to refute Alexander¡¯s words, the veins on his neck popping out at the thought of doing what he asked.

    However, before he could finish his sentence, Alexander had already grabbed his cor. ¡°I know that you¡¯re a f*cking bastard that swims in money and feels like he¡¯s on top of the others. Weren¡¯t you the one who dered it? That the Rothschilde Kingdom would be the one that will kill Gaerna? But what¡¯s the situation now? Gaerna is even turning ordinary NPCs into her parasitic soldiers. If you don¡¯t stop her here, then the Rothschilde Kingdom and the Qingdao Kingdom will be over.¡±

    ¡°What you¡¯re trying to say is¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Minhyuk must be the Alliance¡¯s King.¡±

    It was a disgrace for him, a stain on his pride, but Alexander still chose to say it.

    ¡°Cuhel. The high-rankers here will move only if Minhyukes. What do they care about your money? Those high-rankers will definitely make a run for it. Why would they stay here if there was a chance that they would turn into parasitic monsters? They could just run. Nobody wants to be like that. The best way to deal with the enemies is to utilize only a small number of the best of the best.¡±

    He was right. The more allies Gaerna had, the more disadvantageous it would be for them. The best course of action was gathering the best rankers to fight in this war.

    ¡°We have to deal with millions of enemies with just a few tens of thousands of allied forces.¡±

    If Minhyuk and the NPCs that he led joined those tens of thousands of allies, then the effect would be tremendous. Cuhel knew that it was unavoidable. If they lost this battle, the Rothschilde Kingdom would copse within a week.

    ¡°¡­I understand.¡±

    They only had a few hours left before Gaerna arrived at the fortress. Was there any reason for the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom to join the hunt for Gaerna? There was none. Even if they tried to frame it as something done for the sake of the yers of Athenae, even Cuhel knew it was bullshit.

    In fact, the Rothschilde Kingdom had dered that they would be the first to kill Gaerna. So, if the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom came here, they would receive severe criticism.

    After receiving Minhyuk¡¯s code, Cuhel sent him a whisper.

    <em>[<strong>Cuhel</strong>: This is Cuhel.]</em>

    The reply came not long after.

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: Okay.]</em>

    Cuhel felt his blood starting to rush to his head the moment he saw the reply. However, he was the one requesting the other party¡¯s help. So, he had to think more deeply about his choice of words.

    <em>¡®I have been harassing and bullying Minhyuk since he was still at the intermediate level.¡¯</em>

    Therefore, Minhyuk¡¯s reaction was only natural.

    <em>[<strong>Cuhel</strong>: We¡¯re currently at Faelbert Fortress with 600,000 troops¡­(omitted)¡­We are in desperate need of your help.]</em>

    After a while, he received Minhyuk¡¯s reply.

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: K.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Cuhel clenched his fists tightly. Once more, he had to remind himself that he was the one that was requesting help.

    <em>[<strong>Cuhel</strong>: I am hoping that you wille.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: Hmm.]</em>

    It seemed like Minhyuk was seriously pondering over the matter this time.

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: You want me to help you stop Gaerna¡¯s millions of troops with just a few tens of thousands of troops. If I really answer Rothschilde Kingdom¡¯s request for help, how much are you willing to pay me?]</em>

    This was business. It was only natural to discuss things like this. Was he supposed to just fight for the sake of the yers from all over the world? Of course, it was no surprise that he was looking out for his own self-interest in the process.

    <em>[<strong>Cuhel</strong>: You should know by now that I have a lot of money. State your terms.]</em>

    He certainly sounded arrogant, but Cuhel was the head of the Rothschilde Family. His wealth and assets were truly immeasurable.

    <em>¡®I think five billion should be more than enough, no?¡¯</em>

    The yers that had participated in the Battle of the Thrones received around two billion in cash for joining him in this endeavor. It was even under the condition that they could choose to no longer participate in the hunt if they died once. They would just work for a few days as mercenaries, but they would be able to gain that much money. It was practically a windfall.

    As for Alexander, he received a little over three billion. It was a huge sum of money. However, in exchange, the Rothschilde Kingdom would gain an astronomical amount of money if they could kill Gaerna. That was why Cuhel did not mind spending that much.

    With that range in mind, Cuhel predicted that Minhyuk would ask for five billion at most. Then, Minhyuk¡¯s reply arrived.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Minhyuk</em></strong><em>: Two hundred billion.]</em>

 Chapter 733: God of Birth Gaerna

    Chapter 733: God of Birth Gaerna

    The Rothschilde Family was well-known for their enormous wealth. Experts had once said, <em>¡®The total wealth of the current Rothschilde Family should probably be around five trillion, give or take.¡¯</em> That was the truth. However, that was the family¡¯s money, it did not belong solely to Cuhel.

    Of course, it was also true that Cuhel was the one managing that huge amount of money. In a sense, he was the one with the financial power. Right now, Minhyuk was asking for a hundred times the amount that the other rankers had received.

    ¡°Two hundred billion¡­?¡± Cuhel mumbled, his expression turning ugly.

    <em>[<strong>Cuhel</strong>: It would be good if you stop from ying around with words. The situation is not good right now.]</em>

    If Minhyuk had asked for twenty billion, then Cuhel would have thought that he was being serious and giving it a deep consideration. After all, it was a more realistic asking price.

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: Do you think I¡¯m someone that will want to y word games with you?]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    That was when Cuhel realized that Minhyuk was truly asking for two hundred billion cash inpensation.

    <em>[<strong>Cuhel</strong>: You must be nuts. Even if you¡¯re the world¡¯s top ranker, you dare to ask for two hundred billion, just for a few days of help? You better wake up and face reality.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: This is what I have judged to be a reasonable amount based on my calctions.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Cuhel</strong>: ¡­]</em>

    Cuhel was speechless. Minhyuk was speaking sincerely with him but Cuhel did not want to understand. He just shook his head and refused the terms.

    <em>[<strong>Cuhel</strong>: I refuse these terms.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: Alright. By the way¡­]</em>

    Cuhel was still a businessman, his head spinning and working while discussing with Minhyuk. He had judged that Minhyuk was not worth the two hundred billion that he was asking for. Then, Minhyuk countered.

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: The next time you contact me, it will be 250 billion.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Cuhel</strong>: You¡¯re crazy.]</em>

    Cuhel looked tense as he terminated the whisper. Alexander, who was by his side, could tell that the negotiations did not go smoothly. Even so, he still did not intervene with the negotiations between Cuhel and Minhyuk. In the first ce, it was not something that he could insert himself in.

    ¡°Our 600,000 strong troops will stop Gaerna today,¡± Cuhel dered.

    ***

    They began to give orders to the members of the Allied Army stationed on the walls.

    ¡°Try to keep the enemies in check while staying inside the walls as much as possible!!!¡±

    ¡°You must nevere in contact with the enemies.¡±

    ¡°yers, once your HP falls below 20%, immediately use a Return Order!!!¡±

    ¡°Distribute bottles of oil and matches to the NPCs!¡±

    ¡°¡­What are we using these bottles of oil and matches for?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    The NPC soldiers looked puzzled at the items handed over to them.

    Then, the centurion said, ¡°Pour the oil on your body and light yourself up with the match before you die.¡±

    The centurion¡¯s expression was filled with bitterness while the NPC soldiers were stained with fear and terror.

    ¡°¡­This is the only way. Would you rather turn into our enemy and cut your allies down?¡±

    Those words were true. However, the thought of setting themselves on fire started to cause panic among the NPC soldiers.

    The 200,000 strong Petro Army had been defeated.

    The 150,000 strong troops from Lewatt Kingdom had been defeated.

    The Brecht Territory had been swept away, resulting in more than 300,000 casualties.

    News of defeat continued to ring in the ears of the NPC soldiers as they were handed a bottle of oil each.

    <em>¡®May God Athenae¡¯s blessings be with you.¡¯</em>

    They would fight for the sake of thisnd.

    ¡°For our descendants that will continue to live here.¡±

    ¡°For my wife and daughter.¡±

    ¡°For my mother.¡±

    ¡°For my lover.¡±

    Every one of them thought about those that were precious to them and chose to continue to fight.

    Cuhel, who was watching this scene, felt his heart throb.

    <em>¡®They are just NPCs.¡¯</em>

    Cuhel was someone that did not particrly care about artificial intelligence. However, for some reason, he felt an unknown emotion arise in him as he watched the soldiers¡¯ solemn expression while they prepared for their imminent deaths.

    This was the connection and the feelings between a yer and an NPC. Perhaps he was feeling this way because Cuhel was the king of the Rothschilde Kingdom, and they were his soldiers, who were going to sacrifice their lives for his kingdom.

    <em>Grit¡ª</em>

    Cuhel gritted his teeth. ¡°Don¡¯t let them take away what is precious to you! Protect them! We will make history today!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Woaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    Loud and passionate cries rang loudly and shook the battlefield. Sadly, the first troops to be deployed were the weakest soldiers. As for the high rankers and the top-ranking NPCs, all of them fell back. This was because they risked elerating their downfall if these high rankers and outstanding NPCs turned into parasitic soldiers.

    Soon, Gaerna and her army appeared right in front of them. The estimated number of their forces was around 1.3 million.

    ¡°<em>Click, click, click, click¡ª</em>¡°

    ¡°Kiriririririririiiik!¡±

    ¡°Kyakakakaka!¡±

    People that used to be their friends, their lovers, their parents, came charging at them while emitting terrifying insect-like sounds from their mouths. It was like watching a herd of zombies charging at them relentlessly.

    There was also Gaerna, who was pping her butterfly wings above them. ¡°I am¡­ hungryyyyyyy¡­!¡±

    The entire army turned tense and nervous when they heard her hoarse and creepy voice. All they could do was gulp dryly as they watched Gaerna approach with her army.

    <em>[From what I hear, Cuhel and Xu Jiaqi are fully prepared this time.]</em>

    <em>[We know that they have a thousand dragon rubies, bombs that can blow away areas of an entire fifty meter radius, with them.]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s not all. Cuhel also bought siege weapons using his enormous wealth and will be using them to fire at the enemies.]</em>

    Everyone waited with bated breath, preparing for the moment the enemies came close.

    ¡°Ughhhh¡­¡±

    The soldiers behind the walls shivered in fright when they caught sight of the enemies¡¯ creepy eyes. They looked like they had turned into insects, staring at them from afar while emitting strange cries.

    Finally, when the enemies entered within thirty meters from the walls of the fortress, Cuhel took action.

    ¡°Fire!!!¡± He roared as zing mes shot out from the walls of the fortress.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The mes engulfed the parasitic soldiers. However, there were some stronger ones that were able to endure the zing mes. In response, tens of thousands of mages appeared above the walls in unison and began chanting.

    ¡°Explosion.¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    A loud and powerful explosion bloomed amidst the ranks of the parasitic soldiers. As a thick cloud of dust rose from the ground, the archers moved with practised ease as they took aim and shot the brains of the parasitic soldiers.

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh!</em>

    <em>[They are being swept away.]</em>

    <em>[In just an instant, 30,000 of the parasitic soldiers had disappeared without leaving any trace.]</em>

    <em>[Amazing. As expected of Cuhel and Xu Jiaqi.]</em>

    But it was not yet over. Wyverns, carrying knights that held dragon rubies in their hands, soared through the skies.

    <em>p¡ª</em>

    The wyverns descended swiftly as the knights threw the dragon rubies at the spots that they had nned in advance.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Tremendous explosions rocked the battlefield, devouring several areas of a fifty meter radius and causing the parasitic soldiers to disappear into nothingness. Almost 500 dragon rubies exploded and reaped the lives of around 70,000 parasitic soldiers. Of course, the archers made sure to swiftly end the lives of the few that survived, sniping their brains from the walls of the fortress with their arrows.

    <em>¡®We have a chance at winning.¡¯</em>

    The best mana potions were prepared for the mages. Also, even if the vanguard turned into parasitic soldiers, they were the weakest of the bunch and could be easily dealt with.

    ¡°More, more, more! Push them back harder!!!¡±

    <em>Crackle¡ª</em>

    Perhaps it was because of the ridiculous damage that the dragon rubies unleashed, but the enemies, whose defenses had increased by 30%, were being swept away more easily than they anticipated.

    Xu Jiaqi, who was next to Cuhel, shook her head. ¡°There¡¯s something strange¡­¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re too weak and are getting swept away easily. No matter how vulnerable they are to mes, that¡¯s just¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Not long after, the two took notice of Gaerna. No matter what they did, Gaerna was a god.

    ¡°It seems like she thought the same as us and has also ced the weakest of her army in the vanguard.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Cuhel¡¯s face turned ugly at that. Well, he had already expected it to some extent. However, he felt that Xu Jiaqi should not have voiced that fact. After all, it would definitely affect the morale of the soldiers.

    ¡°Gaerna is also hiding the parasitic soldiersposed of high rankers and continental legends at the rear of her army, just like we did with ours.¡±

    It truly was just like what Xu Jiaqi had said.

    ¡°She¡¯s currently waiting for our firepower to dwindle. If something else happens in this situation then¡­¡±

    ¡°Uweeeeeeeeeeeeeck!!!¡±

    At that moment, Gaerna started to vomit once again.

    <em>[Parasitic Mosquitoes.]</em>

    <em>[Gaerna has vomited parasitic mosquitoes that will give birth to knights. Those that are bitten by the parasitic mosquitoes will turn into parasitic knights after an hour!]</em>

    <em>[The parasitic mosquitoes desire the blood of the strong!]</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°Uweeeeeeeeeeeeeeck!!!¡±

    Tens of thousands of mosquitoes poured out of Gaerna¡¯s mouth each time she threw up.

    ¡°Uweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeck!!!¡±

    Everyone could not help but freeze at the sight of countless mosquitoes filling the sky above them.

    ¡°<em>Uweeeeeck! Hack, ack!!!</em>¡±

    Finally, around 1.5 million red mosquitoes the size of a grain of rice began to fill the sky. Then, they began to fly in search of their prey.

    ¡°Shoot, shoot them!!! Mages, shoot that mosquito swarm right now!!!¡±

    ¡°Insecticide!!! Spray the insecticide that we have prepared!!!¡±

    Knowing that they would deal with bugs, they had already prepared some insecticide. Large containers filled to the brim with insecticides shot to the skies.

    <em>Poof, poof, poof, poof, poof, poof¡ª</em>

    Thousands of mosquitoes died as the insecticides exploded. The mages also sent a wave of fire magic, lighting up the insecticide and creating a path of mes in the sky. However, there were just far too many of them. The insecticide would either get swept away by the wind or the mosquitoes would scatter around to avoid the attacks.

    ¡°<em>Kihyeeeeeeeeeeeck!¡±</em>

    <em>[Gaerna¡¯s Shriek.]</em>

    <em>[The parasitic mosquitoes respond to Gaerna¡¯s shriek. Their movement speed has tripled.]</em>

    <em>[They quickly move to chase the strong!]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Cuhel¡¯s face turned even uglier as he hurriedly cried out his orders. ¡°Rankers! Quick, log out¡­!¡±

    <em>Thwack¡ª</em>

    Unfortunately, before he could even finish his words, Alexander felt a sting on his neck, his palms automatically reaching out and pping the area. When he looked down at his palms, he could see blood.

    ¡°What the hell is this¡­?¡±

    Then, the veins in his body swelled and popped out, turning green to the naked eye.

    <em>[You have been infected by the parasitic mosquito.]</em>

    <em>[If you can¡¯t detoxify the infection with an excellent antidote, you will be a parasitic soldier in an hour.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP is rapidly declining.]</em>

    <em>[Heat has started to flow through your veins.]</em>

    Alexander¡¯s eyes grew wide as a foreign and strange feeling engulfed his entire body.

    ¡°Haa¡­ Haa¡­¡± Alexander sat down, gasping. When he looked around, he could see that the best yers and the strongest NPCs in Faelbert Fortress¡¯ walls were exhibiting the same symptoms as him.

    ¡°Antidote¡­¡±

    <em>Gulp, gulp, gulp¡ª</em>

    People from all over the walls had started to gulp down antidotes. However, a set of notifications rang in their ears, bringing them further despair.

    <em>[You can¡¯t detoxify the infection with a high-grade antidote!]</em>

    <em>[You have to use top-grade antidotes!]</em>

    To make matters worse, the parasitic mosquitoes were insidious. They would hide and bite those that had taken the top-grade antidotes once again.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Top-grade antidotes were very hard toe by because their ingredients were rare. Besides, they would rarely carry something that precious, since it was unlikely for them to get infected by such a high-level poison.

    At that moment, Alexander realized what was going to happen next. ¡°Everyone here would be parasitic soldiers¡­?¡±

    This was the epitome of a disaster.

    ***

    Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s meeting room.

    The expression of everyone in the room was stained with despair.

    President Kang Taehoon sighed. ¡°In an hour, they will start to attack their allies.¡±

    ¡°This will be the end of Faelbert Fortress.¡±

    ¡°The people gathered in Faelbert Fortress consist of global top rankers and outstanding NPCs. Unless their entire body ispletely resistant to poison, they will be a threat not only to Faelbert Fortress, but also to the entire world.¡±

    ¡°We can expect the situation to calm down only after the Luvien Empire makes a move.¡±

    ¡°If that happens, the entire Athenae will be under the control of the Luvien Empire.¡±

    Everyone sighed. Kang Taehoon closed his eyes, sinking deep into his thoughts.

    <em>¡®What should we do to get out of this difficult situation?¡¯</em>

    They also had to do something about those high rankers. If they became parasitic soldiers, then everything would be over.

    <em>ck¡ª</em>

    ¡°Haa¡­ Haaa¡­¡±

    Then, at that moment, someone mmed the door open. It was none other than Employee Lee Minhwa.

    Team Leader Park, who was sitting with the others inside the meeting room, looked at her in confusion. ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±

    Ordinary employees could not recklessly barge into a meeting. However, Team Leader Park could tell that something was up when he saw Lee Minhwa¡¯s expression.

    ¡°yer¡­ yer Minhyuk has finished cooking.¡±

    ¡°Cooking?¡±

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re talking about cooking?¡±

    Everyone was bewildered with her deration. That was when something shed in Park Minggyu¡¯s head, making him jump to his feet.

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡±

    Lee Minhwa nodded as Team Leader Park hurriedly switched the video on the TV screen. There, they saw yer Minhyuk cooking with Brod by his side.

    ¡°President,¡± Team Leader Park called out to Kang Taehoon. He looked like he had managed to grasp onto a strand of hope.

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    Everyone turned to look at Minggyu, who looked back at them and said, ¡°Souls can¡¯t be parasitic soldiers, right?¡±

 Chapter 734: God of Birth Gaerna

    Chapter 734: God of Birth Gaerna

    The entire world held their breaths as they watched the battle in Faelbert Fortress unfold. The Allied Army used dragon rubies, various fire magics, and explosives. However, with the appearance of the strong parasitic soldiers that stayed at the rear of Gaerna¡¯s army, their mes and explosions began to lose their effects on the enemies.

    <em>Baaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The parasitic soldier, with his entire body scorched all over after receiving the brunt of the bomb¡¯s explosion, continued to push through. He clinged on the walls and began to climb up slowly.

    The archers tried to shoot the heads of the parasitic soldiers that clung to the walls, but they would either block the arrows or duck from the trajectory. The worst was when the arrows that they shot could not even prate their skulls.

    ¡°Haaack, aack!¡± Gaerna coughed loudly. This time, tens of thousands of wasps flew out of her mouth.

    The wasps grewrger andrger as they flew forward, eventually bing asrge, perhaps evenrger, than the wyverns in the sky. They would even shoot venomous stingers from time to time.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Ughhhhhhh¡­¡±

    Gaerna did not let the opportunity go. Seeing that her enemies were dying one after another, she immediately vomited thousands ofrvae. Thervae quickly gnawed at their brains, creating a fresh wave of parasitic soldiers.

    ¡°This, this¡­¡±

    Cuhel started to ponder after hearing the notification that rang for everyone all over the world.

    <em>[The newly born Gaerna had even eaten her nanny.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Goosebumps rose on the skin of all of the people listening to the notifications. This message was something that Joy Co. Ltd. had prepared before.

    <em>[Athenae, seeing Gaerna¡¯s viciousness and ferocity, locked her up and ced her under surveince.]</em>

    Despite the message ringing in their ears, the NPCs continued to fight desperately.

    <em>Staaaaaab¡ª</em>

    Ra, a soldier that had his chest pierced by one of the wasps¡¯ stingers, was a young man that dreamt of bing a knight one day.

    <em>[You have been attacked by a wasp.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP is rapidly declining.]</em>

    <em>[Your head is spinning, you cannote back to your senses.]</em>

    These would probably be the notifications that Ra would have heard if he were a yer. Just like that, his head started to spin and his entire body was flushed with heat, making his breath turn ragged.

    <em>Spurt¡ª</em>

    The soldier named Ra pulled out the stinger that was stuck in his chest and slowly opened his eyes to take onest look in the world that he lived in. Then, he poured the contents of the bottle of oil on his body. He then lit a match with trembling hands and steeled his heart.

    <em>Crackle¡ª</em>

    The hero lit himself on fire and hugged one of the parasitic soldiers as the fire began to devour his body. It was not just Ra, plenty of soldiers poured oil on their bodies and lit themselves on fire when they knew that their situation was hopeless, their bodies illuminating the battlefield and creating a devastating scene of defeat, which was heartbreakingly beautiful at the same time.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    <em>Twitch¡ª</em>

    Cuhel felt his heart throb at the scene. He was the one that had said that they were nothing but mere artificial intelligence. But the expressions on their faces and the look in their eyes as they died were telling him a different story.

    <em>¡®Please win.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Please kill Gaerna.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®You are our king.¡¯</em>

    Why did Cuhel start ying Athenae? It was a way for the head of the Rothschilde Family to ease his boredom. Having that feeling of obtaining everything and losing nothing had made him turn to Athena, hoping to find something new and interesting.

    The NPCs in this world did not know who Cuhel was. They did not revere him because he was a noble person from the Rothschilde Family. When he first logged inside the game, the beginner¡¯s instructor had told him this, <em>¡®Don¡¯t lose spirit!¡¯</em>

    From that point on, he started to y Athenae. His journey was fun and fulfilling and he even founded a kingdom in this ce.

    ¡°Long live His Majesty Cuheeeeeeeeel!!!¡±

    <em>Crackleeeeee¡ª</em>

    ¡°Rothschilde Kingdom forever!!!¡±

    <em>Crackleeeeeee¡ª</em>

    But now, his people were turning into beautiful mes one after another.

    <em>[On the day that Gaerna was locked up in her room, she ate everyone around her and promptly disappeared.]</em>

    Cuhel¡¯s eyes turned bloodshot. The number of their allied troops were constantly decreasing while the number of their enemies continued to increase.

    <em>[One day, she suddenly appeared with 200,000 troops.]</em>

    Cuhel began to run.

    ¡°Uwoooooooooooh!¡±

    Armed with all kinds of artifacts, skills and items that were far greater than anybody else, he charged at the parasitic soldiers that were attempting to devour his own soldiers, killing them one after another.

    <em>[But her army grew and became 400,000.]</em>

    <em>aaaaaash¡ª</em>

    ¡°Get back to your senses! Don¡¯t die!!! I will fight by your side!!!¡±

    Cuhel¡¯s cries brought strength to his soldiers.

    <em>[Then, it became 700,000.]</em>

    Cuhel helped up one of the soldiers that had stumbled on his feet. ¡°Stand up, quick!!!¡±

    <em>[The army continued to grow and became a million.]</em>

    ¡°Your Majesty.¡±

    The soldier looked at the bottle of oil with fear in his eyes. Cuhel shook his head. This was the order that he had given himself, die by their own hands or be a parasitic soldier.

    The soldier began to pour the contents of the bottle of oil on his head but Cuhel grabbed his hand. ¡°Stop! Don¡¯t light yourself up in mes!!!¡±

    Only now did he realize how cruel and heartless that order was.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you supposed toe back? To your home? To your family¡­?¡±

    <em>Staaaaaaab¡ª</em>

    The wasp¡¯s stinger and venom pierced through the chest of the young soldier that Cuhel was supporting.

    <em>Swoosh¡ª</em>

    Cuhel¡¯s face turned ugly as he watched the soldier fall down. He quickly took out a fan and waved it towards the wasps in the sky, the wind generated by his fan shredding them to pieces. However, it was already toote.

    <em>[Her army became two million.]</em>

    Despair stained Cuhel¡¯s expression as he watched the people around him turn into parasitic soldiers.

    <em>[Then, it became three million.]</em>

    The constant ringing of the message in his ears brought him further and deeper into despair.

    <em>Thwack¡ª</em>

    Feeling something on his neck, he quickly pped it with his palm. Then, he saw green blood dripping down his palms.

    <em>[You have been infected by the parasitic mosquito.]</em>

    <em>[If you can¡¯t detoxify the infection with an excellent antidote, you will be a parasitic soldier in an hour.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP is rapidly declining.]</em>

    <em>[Heat has started to flow through your veins.]</em>

    Cuhel¡¯s vision began to spin.

    <em>[Gaerna¡¯s army pressured and pushed back the Gods and the Divine Army. The Gods, before they could truly die, chose to kill themselves.]</em>

    <em>[This part of history was soaked in blood and continued on for a long time.]</em>

    <em>[ording to a record left behind by one of the gods, Gaerna¡¯s army had exceeded 4.4 million.]</em>

    Then, Gaerna began to move, the arm beneath her wings swinging fiercely.

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    Mantis'' arms popped out from the ground and ughtered thousands of soldiers.

    ¡°I¡¯m hungryyyyyyyyy!!!¡± Gaerna cried, soaring to the skies and flying straight towards Faelbert Fortress.

    ¡°We have¡­ to stop her,¡± Cuhel mumbled, his face flushed red from the heat of his body.

    But then, tens of thousands of tentacles sprouted all over Gaerna¡¯s body. The tentacles shot forward and pierced through the heads of both yers and soldiers. The soldiers immediately turned into their enemies, their swords pointed at the people that were once their allies.

    <em>[God once said, ¡®Gaerna is despair.¡¯]</em>

    The allied forces had to face the onught of those who had once been theirrades.

    ¡°A, aaaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°<em>Click, click, click, click, click!</em>¡±

    ¡°Save meeeeeeee!!!¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty Cuhel, please get to safety!!!¡±

    <em>[A disaster.]</em>

    The soldiers around Cuhel surrounded him and createdyers trying to protect him somehow.

    ¡°Cuheeeeeeeeeeel!!!¡± Xu Jiaqi¡¯s urgent voice rang in his ears but Cuhel was being swallowed by his panic.

    <em>[A devil.]</em>

    Cuhel felt like everything around him was happening in slow-motion. The constant ring of the messages in his ears pressed him deeper into the quagmire of panic, his breathing turning more ragged by the second.

    <em>¡®Damn it.</em>¡¯

    The mosquito¡¯s bite made him more unstable as time went by. He felt fear. He realized that the Rothschilde Kingdom would fall and he would lose many people.

    Once again, tens of thousands of tentacles sprouted from Gaerna¡¯s body and mouth, with dozens of them flying towards Cuhel.

    <em>[A predator.]</em>

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    At that moment, urate and concise swordsmanship cleaved the tentacles that were aiming for Cuhel¡¯s head. At the same time, a palm shot forward and pped Cuhel¡¯s cheek.

    <em>Thwaaaaaaack¡ª!</em>

    ¡°Get back to your senses, Cuhel!¡±

    His vision returned to him and he finally saw his surroundings once again, the p awakening him.

    The one that pped Cuhel was none other than Alexander. Around him stood plenty of yers that once participated as kings of their country in the Battle of the Thrones. Even the 20,000 elite rankers and NPCs that they sent to the rear had appeared together with them.

    Alexander dragged Cuhel up and said, ¡°Change of ns.¡±

    There was a somber and grim look in Alexander¡¯s eyes as he continued, ¡°We take down as many of them as we can before we die!!!¡±

    <em>Fwooooooooosh¡ª</em>

    The single arrow shot by Master Archer Miao turned into thousands of arrows and urately struck the heads of the enemies.

    ¡°Sword of Disaster.¡±

    Alexander leapt to the skies and struck Gaerna with his sword.

    <em>aaaaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeck!!!¡±

    Alex, the global number one mage, sent an explosion that hit the screaming Gaerna.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Seeing Gaerna fly back, the 20,000-strong elite troops began to push back and drive away the enemies that clung to the walls of Faelbert Fortress. These outstanding members of their troops poured out all of their power to drive the enemies away.

    ¡°Meteor.¡±

    <em>Rumbleeeeeeeee¡ª</em>

    Alex summoned a meteor that mmed into the ground and massacred nearly ten thousand enemies. Alexander flew above them and reaped their heads one after another. Master Archer Miao shot three arrows per second, urately piercing through the heads of the enemies.

    <em>[Amazing.]</em>

    <em>[Only five minutes have passed since the 20,000 elite troops joined the battle but almost 60,000 enemies have already disappeared without leaving a single trace.]</em>

    <em>[This battle clearly shows the potential of the world¡¯s top rankers and NPCs.]</em>

    <em>[It seems like they are giving it their all before they die.]</em>

    <em>[¡­I¡¯m cheering them on. As the strongest and supreme existences in Athenae, it seems like they n to reduce Gaerna¡¯s army as much as possible.]</em>

    The rankers turned the tables in an instant. The alliance, which was on the defensive since earlier, had started to push back.

    ¡°At the very least, we¡¯ll take half of you to hell with us,¡± Alexander dered.

    His words sounded as if it was something that they could truly achieve. However, the messages were not yet over.

    <em>[To hunt the predator, the gods had to face 4.4 million strong troops with just 500,000 of their finest men.]</em>

    <em>[They finally saw the light of victory.]</em>

    <em>[However¡­]</em>

    <em>[With just a <strong>bang¡ª!</strong> Everything copsed.]</em>

    <em>Bang¡ª!</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Alexander and Cuhel turned to look at the direction of the sound, their faces filled with doubt and confusion. A loud explosion devoured the area right next to them. That area was the ce where Mage Alex was. It seemed that Alex had been infected with the parasitic mosquito too.

    <em>Baaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>Boooooooom¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaam¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    At that moment, explosions appeared all over the ce and began to devour their allies. They were popping. The heads of those that the parasitic mosquitoes infected began to pop and explode, devouring the area around them.

    <em>¡®The closebat ss members of the army did not explode.¡¯</em>

    Just like mentioned before, Gaerna¡¯s army could not use skills or magic. In other words, Gaerna was controlling them and making them explode one after another. In just an instant, 10,000 of the rankers stationed on the walls of the fortress died.

    <em>Riiiiiiiiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    A sharp ringing sound rang in Cuhel¡¯s ears amidst the countless explosions that bloomed all over the ce. Although he was trying his hardest toe back to his senses, his vision had turned white. Then, the notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[The Alliance¡¯s King has not been chosen yet.]</em>

    <em>[yers, please choose the Alliance¡¯s King.]</em>

    <em>[The voting for the Alliance¡¯s King will end in three minutes.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Cuhel recalled the conversation that he had with Alexander.

    <em>¡®I will be the Alliance¡¯s King. I am very confident about that.¡¯</em>

    This was what Cuhel dered. However, with his still ringing ears, Cuhel sent a whisper to someone.

    ¡°Your terms¡­ win¡­ or fail¡­ I ept¡­!!!¡±

    Alexander was left in despair as he watched Cuhel be like this. He also sent a whisper.

    <em>[<strong>Alexander</strong>: Are you really not going toe?]</em>

    He did not receive any answer. To be honest, Alexander was a bit disappointed. After all, many of the top rankers were fighting here for the future of Athenae. Of course, joining this war was dependent on the individual¡¯s choice. Whether the deal with Cuhel went through, it would be his choice whether he woulde here or not. Still, Alexander could not help but feel animosity towards him for that.

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: We have finished preparing.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Alexander¡¯s eyes grew wide. Those words only meant one thing. <em>¡®He had been preparing something?¡¯</em>

    Then, Cuhel cried out, his voice stained with tears, ¡°I am voting for Minhyuk as the Alliance¡¯s King!!!¡±

    <em>[Rothschilde Kingdom¡¯s King Cuhel votes for Minhyuk.]</em>

    All of the yers, whose heads were about to burst, turned to look at him. Quickly, they followed suit before they faced their deaths.

    ¡°I vote for Minhyuk to be the king!!!¡±

    ¡°I am voting for Minhyuk as the king.¡±

    ¡°I vote for Minhyuk!¡±

    ¡°¡­Minhyuk!¡±

    They voted for the Alliance¡¯s king, their voices echoing all over the battlefield.

    Alexander could onlyugh helplessly as countless strong yers were devoured by explosions and disappeared without a trace. Of the 600,000 strong troops, around 200,000 of them had died, while 150,000 turned into their enemies. Despite this situation, Alexander murmured, ¡°I vote for Minhyuk as the Alliance¡¯s King.¡±

    <em>Shiiiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    He knew that his end was near. In fifteen minutes, the infection would spread all over his body and turn him into a parasitic soldier that would ughter plenty of his allies.

    The number of surviving elite rankers and NPCs was only around 10,000. Each and every single one of them were sporting grim looks on their faces as they watched Gaerna shriek and stop them from moving.

    Disaster Specialist Ricor from the Maseratti Kingdom was among their ranks. He looked coldly at Gaerna, who was trying to stop them from killing themselves, and mumbled coldly, ¡°Eat shit.¡±

    <em>aaaaaash¡ª</em>

    <em>Blink¡ª</em>

    The moment Ricor triggered the ¡®Disaster of Light¡¯, a bright light appeared from the sky and attracted everyone¡¯s attention as a loud ringing rang in their ears.

    <em>Riiiiiiiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    <em>Riiiiiiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    The rankers, who were all preparing to log out and shut themselves away from this battlefield, stopped in their tracks the moment the notifications rang over the ringing in their ears.

    <em>[The selection for the Alliance¡¯s King is over!]</em>

    <em>[Minhyuk has been chosen to be the Alliance¡¯s King!]</em>

    <em>[The Alliance¡¯s King stats and skills will receive special effects!]</em>

    <em>[The Alliance¡¯s King is not in Faelbert Fortress and is located somece else!]</em>

    Then, another set of notifications rang in their ears.

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[The Alliance¡¯s King has arrived at Faelbert Fortress!]</em>

    <em>[The Alliance¡¯s King¡¯s appearance has a special effect on everyone present! All of your stats will increase by 7%!]</em>

    When the light disappeared, a man with a cape carrying the symbol of a fork and knife crossed together fluttering behind him stood on top of the walls of Faelbert Fortress.

    <em>sh¡ª!</em>

    Light shed once again turning everything white before returning to their original state.

    <em>sh¡ª!</em>

    Everyone was looking at Minhyuk. Feeling their gazes, Minhyuk turned to look down at the Allied Army.

    <em>sh¡ª!</em>

    All of their gazes followed Minhyuk¡¯s fingers as he raised his arm to the sky.

    <em>sh¡ª!</em>

    Finally, he snapped his thumb and index finger.

    <em>Snap¡ª!</em>

    ¡°Everyone¡¯s Happiness.¡±

    At the same time, ten thousand dishes appeared in the sky and slowly fell down until they floated in front of the top rankers and NPCs.

    A message rang following the appearance of the dishes. This time, it was not Gaerna¡¯s message but a message that Minhyuk sent.

    <em>[The ten thousand strong knights that fight to protect Athenae will cut down Gaerna¡¯s one million strong army.]</em>

 Chapter 735: God of Birth Gaerna

    Chapter 735: God of Birth Gaerna

    Back when Minhyuk was still negotiating with Cuhel.

    <em>[<strong>Minhyuk</strong>: By the way¡­ the next time you contact me, it will be 250 billion.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Cuhel</strong>: You¡¯re crazy.]</em>

    Minhyuk stared at Cuhel cursing him as he ended the whisper.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s a fair price.¡¯</em>

    He had judged that asking for 250 billion was not that excessive. After all, he had also witnessed theplete massacre of the 500,000-strong troops that marched first in the hands of Gaerna.

    Minhyuk was also aware that the Allied Army was trying to turn the tables with just a handful of elites. He was certain that they would not be able to put up a good fight at all, especially with Gaerna¡¯s army¡¯s overwhelming numbers.

    What did 250 billion represent? It was a lot. Of course, the reason why he asked for so much was that he felt quite repugnant and disgusted with Cuhel¡¯s request. Both the Rothschilde Kingdom and the Qingdao Kingdom had dered that they would kill Gaerna to the world and targeted the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. However, the moment they were pushed to a corner, they came running to him and sent him a whisper.

    However, that was not the decisive reason why he asked for so much.

    <em>¡®Can we even measure the true value of this box?¡¯</em>

    The Battle God had given Minhyuk his blessings. Among the blessings that he received was an item called the ¡®Battle God¡¯s Treasure Box.¡¯ What was the Battle God¡¯s Treasure Box?

    <em>[The Battle God¡¯s Treasure Box will give you the ingredients, artifacts, orders, potions or whatever it is that you desire. However, you can only get one item and its rank would randomly be chosen from legendary~god!]</em>

    As it turned out, the box would give someone whatever they wanted once. However, the rank or grade of the item would depend on luck. If they were lucky, they would be able to get a god-grade item and if their luck was bad, then they would get a legendary-grade item.

    Minhyuk would choose to get a god-grade ingredient, cook it into a dish, and use it to increase his powers. However, his ns had now changed.

    ¡°Select an ingredient that has an effect that would allow theplete removal of all poisons and abnormal status from the Battle God¡¯s Treasure Box.¡±

    <em>[The Battle God¡¯s Treasure Box is searching for the ingredient that you want.]</em>

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Bean Sprouts Grown by the God of Poisons.]</em>

    Minhyuk immediately checked the ingredient that he acquired.

    <em>¡®You will have the power to resist all kinds of poisons and abnormal status.¡¯</em>

    This was the most important point. Since it was a god-grade ingredient, Minhyuk could expect additional effects like a tremendous increase in stats or skills. Of course, this was all under the assumption that he would be able to serve a high-grade dish.

    Minhyuk immediately started cooking.

    Bean sprouts were ingredients used in various dishes. It could be used in stir-fries, fried rice, rice noodles, and many others. Simply put, bean sprouts could be used in a variety of ways. The dish that Minhyuk chose to make was ¡®Vietnamese Rice Noodles¡¯, well known for its refreshing and delicious soup.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s easy and quick to eat.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had recently received the privilege where he could raise one of his skills to MAX, which allowed his Everyone¡¯s Happiness to reach Level 9. Although it could only be used once, it could still allow him to feed 10,000 people all at one go, during that one time.

    Then, he started cooking.

    <em>¡®I just did not respond to Cuhel¡¯s offer.¡¯</em>

    That was right. Minhyuk just chose to not respond to Cuhel¡¯s offer. However, that did not mean that he would not help. He also wanted to protect Athenae. After all, he was very grateful to the game Athenae for giving him a second chance at life. If it had not been for Athenae, his condition would not have improved.

    As he cooked with all his might, he remembered the words that Brod told him before.

    ¡ª<em>Your Majesty, I¡¯m sorry but I would like to visit the ce that we lived at in the past with them.</em>

    In the Land of the Gods, there was a copsed empire. It was the ce where Brod, his Red Knights and his soldiers once lived. Right now, that was where he wanted to go with the souls of his men. Brod assured him that it would not take that long.

    Meanwhile, the reports from Genie kept on ringing in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[<strong>Genie</strong>: Most of the 20,000 rankers had been bitten by the parasitic mosquitoes. They will turn into the enemy in an hour.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Genie</strong>: The situation is getting worse by the second. Gaerna is blowing up the heads of the mages and the archers.]</em>

    <em>[<strong>Genie</strong>: Minhyuk, I think the top rankers are trying to kill themselves.]</em>

    Despite the constant influx of reports in his ears, Minhyuk did not lose his concentration. To protect Athenae, which was dear and precious to him, and for the people fighting there he had to concentrate.

    Finally, he finished cooking.

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[You havepleted Vietnamese Rice Noodles.]</em>

    ***

    The entire world was in despair as they watched the best rankers use their final strength and kill off as many as they could before they got fully infected.

    ¡°Even if I go down, I will kill one more of you bastards!!!¡±

    ¡°I shudder at the thought of you bastards surviving and infecting others.¡±

    ¡°Die!!! Die!!!¡±

    They would soon receive the penalty for being forced to log out. For top ranking yers like them, being forced to log out would mean that they would lose a lot, more than what an ordinary yer would lose. Some of them might even be pushed out of their position in an instant. That was just how huge the penalty was. However, despite that, the top ranking yers still chose to fight until the bitter end.

    Then, a message rang in the ears of all of the people drowning in despair all over the world.

    <em>[The head of the members of the Divine Army that the gods had sent exploded and swept away their allies.]</em>

    <em>[Only 50,000 of them survived. Those 50,000 strong troops fought until the very end to protect the Land of the Gods.]</em>

    <em>[However, they too became the enemies and started to point their weapons at the gods.]</em>

    <em>[In front of Gaerna¡¯s actions¡­]</em>

    The messages were filled with despair. But amidst these messages, a series of notifications popped out.

    <em>[The Alliance¡¯s King has arrived at Faelbert Fortress!]</em>

    <em>[The Alliance¡¯s King¡¯s appearance has a special effect on everyone present! All of your stats will increase by 7%!]</em>

    The moment he snapped his fingers, the same dish appeared in front of all 10,000 top rankers and NPCs, apanied by a sh of light. The dish was none other than Vietnam Rice Noodles.

    Meanwhile, Gaerna¡¯s message continued to ring in their ears.

    <em>[For days on end, the gods tried to hunt Gaerna¡­]</em>

    <em>[However, Gaerna¡¯s army just continued to increase¡­]</em>

    <em>[In the end, the Absolute Gods¡­]</em>

    A voice rang loudly over the message that brought despair upon the people of the world.

    <em>[The ten thousand strong knights that fight to protect Athenae will cut down Gaerna¡¯s one million strong army.]</em>

    Everyone cheered. Hope bloomed in the faces of the people that had stopped in their tracks to watch the battle on the electronic disys on the streets. A guy watching the scene in the subway on his mobile phone could not help the goosebumps that rose on his skin. Even those that were watching the real-time video in thepany together could not help but shout, <em>¡®Woah¡ª!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Ten thousand knights will defeat Gaerna¡¯s one million troops.¡¯</em>

    The thrill and excitement brought forth by this deration spread all over Joy Co. Ltd.

    ¡°It¡¯s, It¡¯s Minhyuk!!!¡±

    ¡°Minhyuk came!¡±

    Everyone cheered when they saw Minhyuk appear along with 10,000 dishes.

    Meanwhile, President Kang Taehoon stared at Minhyuk on the monitor and thought, <em>¡®Please.¡¯</em>

    Gaerna was the most difficult being to deal with among the Six Monster Gods. The only one that could stop her now was none other than Minhyuk. However, there were people that thought that those words were nothing but an empty promise. Having seen what they saw, It was just impossible.

    Gaerna¡¯s messages were still ringing.

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods, the God that Ruled and Commanded all of the Armies, took out his sword.]</em>

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods, the God that Liked to Cook, cooked for them.]</em>

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods, the God that Never Knew How to Back Down, gave them the will to stand up and never copse.]</em>

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods, the God that Ruled the Dead, sent those that could never be infected to defeat the enemy.]</em>

    ording to the notifications, even the Absolute Gods suffered in the hands of Gaerna. Would the appearance of a single yer change the flow of the game just like that?

    Gaerna realized something after getting a whiff of the scent of food and immediately moved to try and restrain the rankers and NPCs that were trying to eat. She could truly do so. After all, she had the power to make their heads explode at any given moment.

    But then, God¡¯s Voice rang once again.

    <em>[Don¡¯t be afraid.]</em>

    The majestic and imposing voice struck the hearts of all of the viewers.

    <em>[A girl, who has the power to rule the world, will lend her strength for our sake.]</em>

    <em>aaaash¡ª</em>

    At that moment, a beautiful girl appeared next to Minhyuk. She was the God of Snakes Elizabeth. Light appeared on the tips of Elizabeth¡¯s fingers. The light then shot out and devoured Gaerna.

    <em>[Gaerna will temporarily be unable to control the brains of the infected!]</em>

    <em>[Gaerna will temporarily be unable to infect others!]</em>

    At the same time, Gaerna¡¯s army charged forward with a shriek, trying to stop the top rankers and NPCs from eating the dish in front of them.

    <em>[The greatest and mightiest Spear God will stop the enemies for our sake.]</em>

    <em>aaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    An old man with long ck hair fluttering behind him fell from the sky, his white spear glittering beautifully under the light of the sun.

    ¡°Absolute Pinnacle Spear.¡±

    A downpour of spears rained upon the ground and instantly turned 40,000 of Gaerna¡¯s army that were charging toward the rankers into ashes. It was quickly followed up by another notification.

    <em>[The Evil God, who dyed the world with blood and fear, will lend his power for our sake.]</em>

    <em>aaaaaash¡ª</em>

    The Puzzling Seasoning Jar came out of Minhyuk¡¯s inventory and revealed a handsome man who was ring coldly through the gaps of his long hair.

    ¡°Get lost.¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Tens of thousands of books floated around him and released bolts of ck lightning that devoured and ughtered Gaerna¡¯s Army.

    ¡°I¡¯m hungryyyyyyyyyyy!!!¡± Gaerna screamed as she flew to the sky. ¡°Uweeeeeeeeeeeeck!!!¡±

    Then, tens of thousands of mosquitoes flew out of her mouth. The swarm of mosquitoes flew and grew until they were the size of an average human being.

    <em>[Mosquito Knight. Level 531.]</em>

    Everyone fell deeper into despair when they saw the mosquito knights. At that time, Minhyuk, who was standing atop the walls of Faelbert Fortress, leapt to the skies.

    Then, zing ck mes red up and shot out from the de of his sword as he swung them toward the mosquito knights that had started to gather in the sky. Fortunately, the skill: Double Skill with a 1.2% probability of getting triggered, was activated. The skill allowed him to double the effects and the radius of his strike.

    <em>[And I will also...]</em>

    The entire world, including the rankers that were hurriedly eating the Vietnamese Rice Noodles, watched Minhyuk. One could see the hope in their eyes.

    Someone gulped loudly, their hands sweating profusely as they watched Food God Minhyuk unleash a zing me from his sword. Then, the zing ck mes turned into a wave that cleared an entire path in the sky that had darkened from the appearance of the swarm of mosquitoes.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>Crackleeeeeeeee¡ª!</em>

    The Overlord¡¯s Technique devoured and annihted all of the mosquitoes that appeared in the sky. The mes continued to spread until it reached and set Gaerna aze.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeck! I¡¯m going to kill you! Die! Dieeeeeeeeeee!¡±

    <em>[¡­fight with you. And not only that.]</em>

    At that moment, Gaerna burst out into mes.

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    <em>[Gaerna¡¯s Wrath.]</em>

    <em>[Gaerna¡¯s Wrath has awakened all of the insects.]</em>

    Gaerna was not only the God of Birth but also the God of Bugs. Just like that, various kinds of unknown and mysterious bugs soared to the sky and covered it in a sea of ck. Just like before, those bugs grew the size of humans too. There were at least 60,000 of them flying in the sky and many more in the ground.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to kill you!!!¡± Gaerna roared as the swarm of insects charged at Minhyuk.

    Despite the nervous tension that surrounded everyone else, Minhyuk remained calm andposed. All of them believed that no matter how powerful Food God Minhyuk was, there was no way for him to kill almost 200,000 insects in one go.

    However, the notifications were not over yet.

    <em>[Your idol.]</em>

    <em>Thump¡ª</em>

    Someone stepped forward and stood right next to Minhyuk. His skin, which was covered with bulging green veins earlier, had now returned to normal. Rather than that, there was this ck and imposing aura that surrounded the man¡¯s body. He was Alexander.

    <em>[Your friend.]</em>

    <em>Thump¡ª</em>

    This time, a woman with attractive and alluring brown skin, and a beautiful bow hanging on her back appeared next to him. This woman was none other than Master Archer Miao.

    <em>[Your rulers and kings.]</em>

    ¡°Alliance¡¯s King, give us your orders!!!¡±

    ¡°Food God, give us your orders!!!¡±

    ¡°Uwoooooooooooh!!!¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaaah!!!¡±

    Almost 10,000 people with ck aura oozing out of their bodies gathered around Minhyuk amidst the sea of bugs.

    <em>¡®Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk red sharply at the iing sea of bugs while his body released an imposing red aura.

    <em>[We will all make history by defeating a million troops with just ten thousand strong men.]</em>

    With his sharp and cold gaze, Minhyuk ordered, ¡°Destroy them.¡±

 Chapter 736: God of Birth Gaerna

    Chapter 736: God of Birth Gaerna

    <em>[You have eaten Vietnamese Rice Noodles.]</em>

    <em>[Legendary Grade.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP and MP have recovered by 50%.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 17%.]</em>

    <em>[Your skills¡¯ cooldown has decreased by 20%.]</em>

    <em>[Your Disaster Swordsmanship¡¯s skill level has increased by +1.]</em>

    <em>[You will be able to resist all kinds of poison and abnormal status.]</em>

    <em>[The buff willst for four days.]</em>

    Everyone that ate the Vietnamese rice noodles that Minhyuk made were shocked.

    <em>¡®This is a legendary grade dish¡­?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®The effects of a legendary grade dish are this great?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®This is crazy. Then, what will be the effects of a god-grade dish?¡¯</em>

    To be exact, Minhyuk¡¯s case was slightly special. Even though the grade of his dishes was not necessarily high, it would still be able to disy greater effects and better power than simr grade dishes cooked by others. This was all thanks to the effects of ¡®Food God¡¯s Cooking Skills¡¯ and ¡®Extreme Trance¡¯. In fact, although the dish that Minhyuk made did not reach god-grade, the ingredients were excellent. Hence, the effects were like that.

    The 10,000 strong rankers stood around Minhyuk, who was the sole person that was releasing a red aura.

    <em>[The poison from the Parasitic Mosquitoes that infected and spread all over your body has disappeared.]</em>

    With the 17% increase in all of their stats, all of them could be said to be in their best condition. For global top rankers and NPCs at their level, that much of an increase meant that the power that they could disy would be beyond words. That was not all. Even their skills, which could no longer level up, had increased in level.

    <em>¡®This is the Food God¡¯s power¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Amazing.¡¯</em>

    However, there was something that they had to do first before delving deeper into their admiration.

    <em>[The world¡¯s best rankers and NPCs have gathered around the Alliance¡¯s King, the Food God.]</em>

    <em>[There are more than 50,000 Mosquito Knights flying at them with spears in hand.]</em>

    The Mosquito Knights all had wings and were bipedal creatures that were holding spears in their hands.

    God of Archery Miao, who watched these mosquitoes charge toward Minhyuk, announced her attack, which would create a new legend.

    ¡°Tempest Shot.¡±

    <em>Vwooooooooooong¡ª</em>

    With her strengthened and reinforced Tempest Shot, the attack flew and devoured an area of forty meter radius.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª!</em>

    The loud and violent sound of the air whipping around rang loudly as her arrow swept through most of the mosquito knights that were almost reaching Minhyuk. Immediately after that, Spear God Ben, with his fluttering ck hair, sent his spear and stabbed the mosquitoes as hard as he could.

    ¡°Exploding Spear.¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    A huge explosion urred and forced the mosquitoes to fall out of the sky. Immediately after that, Alexander¡¯s sword sprang from the ground and grew until it was forty meters in length, ughtering all of the beings that it sliced through in one go.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The 10,000 best rankers and NPCs of the world unleashed all their skills without restraint, and ughtered the mosquito knights. In just an instant, they were able to annihte more than 60,000 mosquito knights.

    <em>[What amazing firepower, no?]</em>

    <em>[No one among the 10,000 strengthened rankers received any damage even though they ughtered more than 50,000 mosquito knights.]</em>

    <em>[However, it¡¯s still too early for us to be happy. Gaerna is still in a much better shape than we can hope for.]</em>

    Minhyuk immediately used the chat function of the ¡®Alliance¡¯s King.¡¯

    <em>[<strong>Alliance¡¯s King</strong>: Everyone, except for the 10,000 men around me, retreat to Faelbert Fortress¡¯ underground area right away.]</em>

    Their enemies were over 600,000 in numbers. On the contrary, the Allied Army only had a little over 100,000 people left. Yet, he was asking them to retreat. However, Minhyuk had a good reason for doing so. This was because it would be very difficult for the 10,000 strong men to fight back if these people became parasitic soldiers too.

    <em>¡®Take down and hunt arge number of enemies with the least number of allies.¡¯ </em>This was Minhyuk¡¯s n.

    The 10,000 of the strongest rankers jumped in the middle of the ranks of the parasitic soldiers. Of course, Minhyuk also joined the battle. They disyed a shocking sight as they fought. The parasitic soldiers, which hundreds of thousands of soldiers had a hard time dealing with, were being swept away so easily.

    Since the parasitic soldiers could not use any skills or magic, it was much easier for the rankers and NPCs that had grown much stronger, to deal with them. After all, they could use their skills, magic and artifacts properly.

    Everything happened in an instant. The 10,000 cut down 50,000. Then, they cut down 100,000. But the impressive fact was that there were only less than fifty people that died.

    <em>[The people that we are watching right now are the world¡¯s best and supreme existences.]</em>

    <em>[There¡¯s no way that the parasitic soldiers will be able to deal with them so easily, especially if they are pushing hard like this.]</em>

    <em>[They¡¯re even advancing and retreating appropriately to make sure that they don¡¯t get exhausted quickly.]</em>

    <em>[Amazing. It makes me want to fight alongside them.]</em>

    All of the viewers were in admiration. The best and strongestbatants, even though they numbered only 10,000, were not being pushed back by the hundreds of thousands of parasitic soldiers that surrounded them!

    But then, Gaerna tilted her dragonfly¡¯s head and looked at them intently.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeck?¡± Gaerna cried strangely, tilting her head to the left and to the right repeatedly.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeck!¡±

    Not long after, she clicked her disgusting mandibles.

    <em>Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!</em>

    The parasitic soldiers that surrounded the strongest fighters began to explode one after another. They even jumped at the top rankers and NPCs before exploding.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    It seemed like Gaerna¡¯s message was not yet over.

    <em>[Gaerna¡¯s army exploded all at once, inflicting serious and heavy damages to the army sent by the Absolute Gods.]</em>

    <em>[In just an instant, more than 200,000 Divine Army troops had died.]</em>

    This was obviously a power that allowed her to kill plenty of her enemies. Even so, Gaerna was hard to deal with because she had a lot of troops.

    <em>[The Absolute Gods had lost plenty of their troops but they believed that they could win.]</em>

    <em>[Why? Because they had significantly decreased the number of their enemies.]</em>

    <em>[However, with a whisper of ¡®I¡¯m hungry¡¯¡­]</em>

    ¡°I¡¯m hungry.¡±

    <em>Giggle¡ª</em>

    Gaerna¡¯s dragonfly eyes were smiling as she eyed the rankers that were being swept away by the explosions.

    ¡°Uweeeeeeeck!¡±

    Then, tentacles stretched out of her mouth andtched onto the bodies that had not yetpletely disappeared.

    <em>Twitch, twitch¡ª</em>

    The tentacles wriggled and twitched strangely, devouring the bodies and letting them flow into her body.

    <em>[Then, she said, ¡®Delicious¡¯.]</em>

    ¡°Delicious.¡±

    At that moment, Gaerna¡¯s entire body began to swell and dete repeatedly.

    <em>Twitch, twitch¡ª!</em>

    Just like that, her entire body was reborn. Gaerna¡¯s already strange body grew hard and tough, her eyes that resembled that of a dragonfly turning into that of a mantis.

    Indeed, she was changing into a mantis. Even the wings on her back had started to change and turn into that of a cockroach¡¯s wings. Her build also changed, turning into a 180 centimeter tall being with a very bulky figure. Her arms also turned as sharp as a de.

    ¡°Hiyayayayaaaaaaah!¡± Gaerna breathed through her nose and released a very satisfied and refreshed breath.

    <em>[Gaerna has transformed into herplete form!]</em>

    <em>[Gaerna will continue to devour those that she had killed!]</em>

    Everyone looked at her with bated breath. In fact, everyone had assumed that Gaerna only had one excellent ability and that was controlling her army<em>. </em>There were some that looked at her as if they could not believe what just happened.

    ¡°Kekekekekekekekeke!¡± Gaernaughed maniacally as she looked at them through her mantis-like eyes. Then, she said, ¡°Did you know?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t? You don¡¯t know how scrumptious you look right now?¡± Gaerna said, her voice hoarse and gritty.

    All of the people present gulped dryly as they watched her lick her lips with her forked green tongue.

    ¡°I will enjoy this meal. Kekekekekekekekeke!¡±

    Gaerna¡¯s gruesomeugh echoed across the entire area, making everyone nervous. There was nothing that prohibited Gaerna from absorbing the powers if she had already absorbed once before. In other words, she could be stronger.

    ¡°Everyone, on guard¡­!¡±

    <em>Thump¡ª thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­???¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Before Minhyuk could even finish his words, the heads of fifteen of the best rankers that were standing near Minhyuk fell on the ground. Gaerna¡¯s message immediately followed after that.

    <em>[The Absolute Gods saw it clearly. The moment she disappeared, bright red blood began to spurt from the throats of their men.]</em>

    ¡°What¡­!¡±

    <em>Thump¡ª thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump¡ª</em>

    The heads of their allies began to fall one after the other, even though Minhyuk had started to chase after her. Only after he had concentrated deeply was he able to see where she was.

    It seems like Gaerna had developed the ability to use skills. Tentacles once again stretched out from her mouth andtched onto the dead bodies of the strong from one side to another.

    <em>Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp¡ª</em>

    ¡°Kyahahahahahahack! It¡¯s so deliciouuuuuuus!¡±

    Those that were still alive and dealing with the hundreds of thousands of parasitic soldiers turned to look at Gaerna, who had be even more powerful. All of their eyes were stained with terror and shock.

    <em>Rumbleeeeeee¡ª</em>

    One hit of her de-like arms and hundreds of the supremes¡¯ heads fell down.

    <em>[In just an instant, Gaerna had killed plenty of the Divine Army¡¯s troops.]</em>

    ¡°Kiheheheheheheheck!¡±

    Gaerna appeared right in front of Minhyuk.

    ¡°Protect Minhyuk!!!¡±

    ¡°Protect the Alliance¡¯s King!!!¡±

    If the Alliance¡¯s King died, then everything would be over. Everyone tried to run to Minhyuk¡¯s aid but the parasitic soldiers gathered around them and intercepted their path.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    One swing of Gaerna¡¯s arm and Minhyuk¡¯s body was shed six times in a row.

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 85%.]</em>

    The attack was very powerful and could neither be avoided or prevented. Of course, Minhyuk did not miss the time to open up the distance between them by using Like the Wind.

    <em>Twitch, twitch, twitch¡ª</em>

    However, Gaerna came after him and swung her arms again, releasing dozens of invisible des that hacked Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!¡±

    Everyone fell into despair. Only two seconds had passed. However, in that short amount of time, the Alliance¡¯s King was already brought to the brink of death.

    ¡°Sword of¡­¡±

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    Gaerna pushed Minhyuk even further before he could even finish using his skills.

    ¡°You. Are. The. Most. Delicious. Looking. One. Do. You. Know. That?¡± Gaerna spat each word with her creepy voice, a hideous grin curling on her mouth.

    Spear God Ben could be seen rushing forward to try and help Minhyuk, who was already bleeding all over. However, Gaerna¡¯s attacks were just too fast. All Minhyuk could do was hurriedly take out the Almond of Subordinates.

    The problem was Gaerna noticed and had already restrained him. She did not allow him to do anything at all. He just sat there, his blood dripping all over.

    ¡°It¡¯s the end¡­¡±

    Someone¡¯s whisper rang in the battlefield. Meanwhile, thementators were left speechless while the viewers watched their screens with ugly looks on their faces.

    <em>[The Battle God hurriedly drew his own sword. He ended up fighting personally against Gaerna.]</em>

    Gaerna¡¯s message reverberated in the area followed by her gratingughter. ¡°Kihehehehehehehehehek! The Battle God will note here. Kihehehehehehehehehe!¡±

    <em>[The Battle God sealed and locked Gaerna away.]</em>

    ¡°No one will be able to lock me up now. Kihehehehehehehehehek!¡±

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods, the God that rules andmands all of the armies, has spoken!]</em>

    ¡°¡­Kiheeeek?¡±

    Just then, a deep and majestic voice, a voice that none of the users or the viewers from all over the world had heard before, rang in the battlefield.

    <em>[You¡¯re wrong.]</em>

    Gaerna could never forget the gruesome voice of the Battle God. As for the viewers, all of them held their breath at the booming bass that rang in their ears.

    The Battle God¡¯s greatest regret was the fact that he could only seal Gaerna and not kill her. As for Gaerna, she felt fortunate that she would no longer be able to meet such a horrible bastard. But now, that bastard¡¯s voice was ringing in her ears.

    <em>[The brightest sun that has received my recognition.]</em>

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    The sky was torn apart revealing a man wearing a red crown and holding a red sword in his hands, with a white cape carrying the symbol of a fork and knife crossed together hanging on his back. Everyone knew who this man was.

    The Red Sword Knights also stood by his side in the sky while ring coldly at Gaerna¡¯s army. The Red Sword Knights was a knight order that transcended even the Swords of the Gods. These powerful knights drew their swords out in unison.

    <em>[The strongest knight that has received my recognition.]</em>

    A torrential downpour of ten thousand sword lights poured down and swept away the parasitic soldiers as the Red Sword Knights swung their swords down.

    Exploding with a red aura, Brod jumped down and struck Gaerna¡¯s head with his sword.

    <em>[On my behalf.]</em>

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeeeeeck!!!¡±

    <em>Staaaaaaaab¡ª</em>

    The Battle God¡¯s majestic and deep booming voice rang loudly in the world¡¯s ears as Brod¡¯s sword stabbed deeply in Gaerna¡¯s head.

    <em>[He will bring punishment unto you.]</em>

 Chapter 737: God of Birth Gaerna

    Chapter 737: God of Birth Gaerna

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeck!!!¡± Gaerna shrieked, her eyes trailing after the falling Brod.

    She tried to hurriedly move out of the way but it did not work out at all. The powerful force that Brod was emitting was enough to make Gaerna, one of the Six Monster Gods, to feel numb all over.

    <em>Staaaaaaaaaaaab¡ª</em>

    Brod¡¯s red sword pierced through Gaerna¡¯s thick and sturdy-looking mantis head. That first attack did not kill her, so he stabbed her head once again, causing her to scream uncontrobly once more.

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaaaaack¡ª!¡±

    Brod frowned as he pulled his sword out of Gaerna¡¯s head. She struggled like crazy and swung her de-like arms fiercely.

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!¡± Gaerna shrieked strangely, running around amok while green blood dripped down her mouth. ¡°It hurts! Hurts! Hurts! Hurts! It huuuuuuuuuuuuuurts!¡±

    The entire world held their breath. Who was Brod? He was known as the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Sword and the Absolute God¡¯s Sword. He was also known as Minhyuk¡¯s faithful and loyal vassal. However, the announcement that Brod was the brightest Sun that the Battle God had recognized really struck them.

    The only person that was called the Sun right now was Nerva. However, the fact that the Battle God admitted that he was the only ¡®Sun¡¯ that he had recognized meant that he cared more about Brod in the past.

    ¡°Crazy¡­¡±

    ¡°What the hell? How many strong people are with Minhyuk?¡±

    Everyone from all over the world, including the rankers present here, were looking at Minhyuk in admiration. However, the battle was not yet over. The Red Sword Knights, like falling stars, shot down from the sky while swinging their swords.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    Just like that, the parasitic soldiers were taken out, getting swept away by their sword attacks. The entire world cheered as they watched Gaerna¡¯s mighty army begin to copse.

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    After running around like crazy, Gaerna recovered to some extent. Of course, the first thing that she did was to pull back and run away from Brod.

    <em>Swoooooooooooosh¡ª</em>

    The rankers could not even see her make a move.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud¡ª thud¡ª</em>

    Everywhere she passed by, heads rolled on the ground once again. However, Brod also made his move.

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Brod made a grab for Gaerna by the back of her head. He then controlled his sword, which was stuck on the ground, to move and aimed for Gaerna¡¯s head.

    <em>Pooooof¡ª</em>

    Gaerna tried to think after escaping from Brod¡¯s grasp earlier. However, before she could even do so, Brod had already appeared and grabbed her by the head again.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    Cracks appeared all over Gaerna¡¯s body as she fell on the ground. Brod red coldly at her and said, ¡°This lord has never allowed you to touch His Majesty¡¯s body.¡±

    <em>¡®Mercenary¡¯s Pinnacle Swordsmanship. Final Chapter.¡¯</em>

    ¡°Wolf¡¯s Death.¡±

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    Hundreds of sword lights shot from Brod¡¯s sword and shed Gaerna¡¯s body.

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaaaaack!¡± Gaerna shrieked, crossing her arms to try and block the attacks. But it was useless, the sword lights were too sharp and fast, piercing through her body until they dug deeply in the ground beneath her.

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Many people held their breath as they watched Gaerna scream terribly. They felt like Brod could kill Gaerna at the rate things were going.

    <em>[You have heard the Battle God¡¯s voice.]</em>

    <em>[You have used God¡¯s Summons Parchment.]</em>

    After that, he no longer heard the Battle God¡¯s voice. Minhyuk knew that the Battle God did not do this because he viewed Minhyuk favorably. He was aware that the Battle God was worried about Brod and not himself, and that he also wanted to kill Gaerna.

    <em>¡®And.¡¯</em>

    There was one thing that Minhyuk could guess after hearing the Battle God¡¯s voice urgently delivered to him.

    <em>¡®Does this mean that Brod can¡¯t kill Gaerna right now?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had been shocked when he had first received the God¡¯s Summons Parchment. He immediately tore the parchment apart.

    <em>Riiiip¡ª</em>

    Hundreds of beams of lights shot out from Minhyuk¡¯s body and flew to various parts of Athenae.

    ***

    Gaerna, who was stabbed in numerous ces, was suffering from terrible pain.

    At the same time, she was so hungry that she had to eat those humans. However, the Brightest Sun acknowledged by the Battle God would not allow her! He would not leave her alone!

    She was hungry, that was why she ate those humans.

    She was hungry, that was why she ate those gods.

    Did she do something wrong? No. There was nothing wrong with what she did. The strong would always eat the weak. So, was she being eaten by Brod? No.

    ¡°Kihihihihihihihihihihi! Kihehehehehehehehehehe!¡±

    Despite still being buried deep into the ground, Gaerna cackled. As herughter reverberated in the world, another message followed right after.

    <em>[Gaerna, who had been defending against the Battle God,ughed.]</em>

    The damn memory from that time shed in her head.

    <em>[Sheughed.]</em>

    ¡°Kihehehehehehehehehe!¡±

    <em>[Blood spurted out from all over the Battle God¡¯s body.]</em>

    Blood had spurted out from the body of the Battle God, the greatest and strongest Absolute God. At this point, the people realized that they had not witnessed the full extent of Gaerna¡¯s power.

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kiheeeeeeeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°<em>Click, click, click, click, click!</em>¡±

    The parasitic soldiers cried loudly before charging madly towards Gaerna.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª!</em>

    Gaerna opened her mandibles, its opening growing into a thirty meter wide pit. Brod, the Red Sword Knights, and the supremes immediately noticed something unusual and tried to stop her.

    <em>[Gaerna¡¯s Gluttony has been triggered!]</em>

    <em>[Gaerna¡¯s Gluttony cannot be resisted!]</em>

    Even if they wanted to stop her, they could not approach her. In the end, all they could do was watch Gaerna prey on her parasitic soldiers. This fact made Brod and the supremes devastated.

    But then, Alexander¡¯s expression turned weird.

    <em>[God is calling upon you.]</em>

    <em>[You will be forced to log out once you answer God¡¯s call!]</em>

    <em>[Those that will choose to answer God¡¯s call will only receive the penalty of not being able to ess and connect to the game for forced log out!]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Alexander turned his head and looked at Minhyuk. He could see that Minhyuk¡¯s hair had already grown longer while his eyes had taken on a reddish hue. The sight brought shock to Alexander. <em>¡®Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡¯</em>

    At the same time, the same notifications rang in the ears of the other supremes.

    <em>[God is calling upon you.]</em>

    <em>[You will be forced to log out once you answer God¡¯s call!]</em>

    <em>[Those that will choose to answer God¡¯s call will only receive the penalty of not being able to ess and connect to the game for forced log out!]</em>

    Everyone panicked for a very brief moment.

    <em>Gulp¡ª</em>

    Their eyes were still glued to Gaerna, who was eating her parasitic soldiers. This meant that once she was done with that, she would be in herplete form and likely exerting her full strength. In that tense and nerve-wracking moment, a person answered God¡¯s call first.

    ¡°I answer God¡¯s call.¡±

    Everyone turned to look at the direction of the voice. The person that answered God¡¯s call was none other than Cuhel.

    Cuhel looked at Minhyuk. For him, he hated and resented Minhyuk more than anybody else. In fact, he felt annoyed at his very existence. However, Cuhel also knew that the only person that could end this war right now was Minhyuk.

    Alexander immediately said after him, ¡°I will answer.¡±

    ¡°Answer!¡±

    ¡°I will answer the call!!!¡±

    Anyway, there was a high chance that they would die here. The fact that those that would answer the call would not receive any penalty except for the forced logout penalty where they could not ess the game for some time was already a sweet deal.

    ¡°Deliciooooooouuuuuuuuus!¡±

    A creepy and spine-chilling voice reverberated in the world as the sky above them turned red.

    <em>[Gaerna¡¯s Craze has been triggered.]</em>

    <em>[All of Gaerna¡¯s abilities will increase by 70% and her attributed skills will also be avable while Gaerna¡¯s Craze is in effect!]</em>

    <em>[The Craze¡¯s duration is five minutes.]</em>

    Then, Gaerna¡¯s message immediately followed.

    <em>[When Gaerna went into a craze for five minutes, a fifth of the Land of the Gods disappeared without a trace.]</em>

    The message was incredibly startling. Everyone could only hold their breaths and watch what would unfold next.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk just stood there and continued to look at the sky as these notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[You have used God¡¯s Summons!]</em>

    <em>[While using God¡¯s Summons¡­]</em>

    <em>[You cannot move.]</em>

    <em>[The enemies will not be able to inflict any harm upon your body!]</em>

    Then, blood began to pour down from the red sky.

    <em>Kyahahahahahahahahahahaha!</em>

    Gaerna squeezed herself out of the ground, her skin a bright and ring red. Then, with a voice that sounded like grating metal, she said, ¡°Die.¡±

    <em>[God¡¯s Catastrophe has unfolded.]</em>

    <em>[One swing of Gaerna¡¯s arms and tens of thousands of des will appear and destroy her enemies.]</em>

    <em>aaaaaaaaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    Tens of thousands of des appeared and reaped the lives of many present, and turned them into nothing but ashes. Even the ground, the trees, the rocks, everything that her arms passed by disappeared without a trace.

    With just one swing of Gaerna¡¯s arms, more than 800 supremes died. The aftermath of the attack also swept away several Red Sword Knights, forcing them to scatter in the wind.

    ¡°Dieeeee!¡±

    <em>aaaaaaaaaaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    Once again, tens of thousands of des appeared. This time, they flew towards Alexander. Alexander felt his body get torn into pieces, like paper being ripped apart. However, his head had turned to look at Minhyuk.

    ¡°Dieeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!¡±

    Another swing and Brod was pushed back. This time, it was Cuhel and God of Archery Miao that turned into ashes, their gazes fixed upon Minhyuk as they slowly disappeared.

    ¡°Die! Die! Die! Dieeee!!!¡±

    Everyone on the ground was dying one after the other. In just an instant, more than 6,000 of the supremes had disappeared. As for the remaining 2,000-odd, they were left in the pits of despair.

    ¡°Die! Die! Die! Die! Kekekekekekekekeke!!!¡±

    ¡°Ugh, aaaaaaaaaaargh!!!¡±

    ¡°Crazy¡­¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to die!¡±

    A scream rang out. For NPCs, this was very frustrating. Once they died here, they would truly and utterly be dead. Some of them copsed on the ground, crying. Some wielded their sword until their veryst breath.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    Only one man stood firm in the face of these deaths. Fortunately, Minhyuk¡¯s vassals were able to survive thanks to Elizabeth¡¯s barrier.

    ¡°Kekekekekekekekeke!¡±

    <em>[The Battle God managed to survive and prevent God¡¯s Disaster and seal Gaerna.]</em>

    ¡°No one will be able to stop me now! Kekekekekekekeke!¡±

    A cloud of dust bloomed from this now barrennd hiding Minhyuk from view, who was bathing in bright light.

    Gaerna was not an idiot. She nned to run away before Minhyuk could even trigger his power. So, she spread her wings and shot out from the thick cloud of dust to the sky above.

    ¡°Kikikikikikikikiiii!!!¡±

    <em>[If Gaerna escapes, then the only one that will be able to catch and kill her would be the Luvien Empire.]</em>

    <em>[It seems like they have no other choice but to let Gaerna escape.]</em>

    <em>[Many have already died. Based on our estimations, there¡¯s only less than 1,000 of the strongest rankers that have survived this battle.]</em>

    Gaerna, who had already flown to the sky, smiled strangely as she tried to turn around. However, the Battle God¡¯s voice rang loudly in her ears.

    <em>[The Stars have answered God¡¯s call.]</em>

    The red sky suddenly turned dark. Immediately after that, tens of thousands of stars started to fall from the dark sky. The falling stars burst into a bright and blinding light that surrounded and engulfed Gaerna. In just a blink, Minhyuk, with red hair reaching up to his waist, flew and appeared in front of Gaerna.

    <em>[Continental Emperor Ellie has answered God¡¯s call.]</em>

    <em>[Mercenary King Venteio has answered God¡¯s call.]</em>

    <em>[Elven King Argon has answered God¡¯s call.]</em>

    <em>[Great Demon Gremory¡­God¡¯s call.]</em>

    <em>[yer Locke¡­God¡¯s call.]</em>

    <em>[yer Alexander¡­God¡¯s call.]</em>

    <em>[Sword God Valen¡­God¡¯s call.]</em>

    As the bright light slowly disappeared, Gaerna was horrified to see countless translucent figures appear with her enemy.

    <em>[The Ones that responded to God¡¯s call can use their ¡®One Shot Kill Skill¡¯ once!]</em>

    Gaerna did not have any path for escape.

    Sword God Valen¡¯s soul stood next to Minhyuk. God¡¯s Summons was an item that allowed God to ask all of the people that he had connection with, whether they be yers, NPCs, or even the dead NPCs, for their ultimate lethal attacks.

    All of the people that answered Minhyuk¡¯s call pointed their weapons at Gaerna. Sword Emperor Ellie and Sword God Valen pointed their swords at her. Genie prepared to swing her whip while Locke stood ready with his axes. Elven King Argon pulled the strings of his bows as the Dragon King raised his trident and pointed it at Gaerna¡¯s neck. In fact, everyone, including the yers, were moving ording to the will of the system.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeck!¡± Gaerna, who realized that she had lost her chance to escape, shrieked.

    Minhyuk held his sword tightly as he triggered the Sword of Absolute Death. With that as the signal, everyone began to cast their own One Shot Kill Skills.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    Tens of thousands of the strongest skills poured out and struck Gaerna¡¯s body. Attacks from swords, arrows, spears, axes, magic, holy magic, and even the stars exploded in the sky.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The light created by these explosions illuminated and shook the entire Athenae.

    <em>Rumbleeeeeeeeeeeeee¡ª</em>

    Amidst the rumbling and shaking world, this notification rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You have killed Gaerna!]</em>

 Chapter 738: God of Birth Gaerna

    Chapter 738: God of Birth Gaerna

    The ones that had connections with Minhyuk, even the ones that had only seen his face once, received the same notifications. For the yers, these were the notifications that rang in their ears.

    <em>[God is calling upon you.]</em>

    <em>[If you respond to God¡¯s call, your One Shot Kill Skill will be activated.]</em>

    <em>[Even if you are forced to log out, the skill will still be controlled under the AI¡¯s control.]</em>

    <em>[You will be forced to log out once you answer God¡¯s call!]</em>

    <em>[Those that choose to answer God¡¯s call will only receive the penalty of not being able to ess and connect to the game for forced log out!]</em>

    For the NPCs, instead of the notifications, it came to them in the form of God¡¯s holy and sacred voice.

    <em>[The lowest God is asking for your help.]</em>

    <em>[If you respond to this request, 50% of your power will disappear for a day.]</em>

    Fortunately, they would not incur any huge penalties. Because of that, many of the NPCs that cherished and loved the lowest God answered his call.

    The dark sky was painted with the picturesque scene of tens of thousands of lethal skills. Seeing the world¡¯s best and strongest gathered around like that brought forth a renewed hope to the people from all over the world. Finally, Gaerna¡¯s body was torn to pieces.

    These notifications rang loudly across the world.

    <em>[The Allied Army has seeded in killing Gaerna.]</em>

    <em>[Rewards will be given to the members of the Allied Army based on their contributions.]</em>

    <em>[You joined the Allied Army. Your EXP Acquisition Rate and Item Drop Rate will triple for two weeks.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Allied Army¡¯s Brilliant Sword.]</em>

    <em>[You will receive rewards for your contributions.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 50,000,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 20 Mand Recovery Potions.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 20 Mand Mana Potions.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 3 Aesthnon Ores.]</em>

    These were the rewards for those that had made low or vague contributions. These rewards were fixed. As for the people that have made higher contributions, it was natural that they would receive better rewards andpensation.

    <em>[You will receive rewards for your contributions.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 6,000,000,000,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 634 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[¡­acquired 100 Mand¡¯s Excellent Recovery Potions.]</em>

    These were the notifications received by the yers that survived the battle. Of course, these were also the same notifications received by the yers that had been forced to log out too.

    Thementators quickly caught wind of the contents of the rewards.

    <em>[The distributed rewards are amazing.]</em>

    <em>[Among all of the episode quests¡¯ rewards, this has got to be the most generous one.]</em>

    <em>[Their EXP Acquisition and Item Drop rates will triple. That means that they can gain a huge increase in their level and plenty of special items during the two week duration.]</em>

    <em>[Most of the yers that participated in the war and joined the Allied Army came from the Qingdao Kingdom and Rothschilde Kingdom. However, there are still plenty of other yers that joined as mercenaries. To be honest, they had been ridiculed by the others, no?]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s right. There were plenty of mockingments in themunity sites with some of them saying, ¡®You¡¯ll definitely receive penalties for your death.¡¯]</em>

    <em>[Those naysayers must be turning green from envy right now.]</em>

    <em>[As much as we care about the generous rewards of this episode quest, plenty of people are also paying attention to Food God Minhyuk.]</em>

    <em>[The entire world is wondering what kind of rewards he has received.]</em>

    That was right. The chosen Alliance¡¯s King would receive 1.5x more rewards if they sessfully killed Gaerna. On top of that, the Alliance¡¯s King would have the highest contributions. In fact, watching the hunt for Gaerna, everyone was sure that Brod, Minhyuk and those that had been called using God¡¯s Summons were the ones with the greatest contributions. That was why many were paying attention to the rewards that Minhyuk had received.

    Minhyuk stood there shining a brilliant red, just like the sun among the stars in the dark sky. When he looked around, he saw many people standing beside him in the sky looking at him. Many of them were the yers that had been forced to logout and were being controlled by AI.

    But among them, there was one person that he sorely missed. The person that stood at the forefront and the representative of all of these people, Sword God Valen. Valen had a soft and gentle smile on his face as he looked at Minhyuk. Of course, Minhyuk was looking at him with a smile of his own.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Valen said after looking at the boy for a very long time. In the end, Valen slowly disappeared with the wind.

    Minhyuk knew what Valen meant by those words. The man was thanking him for bing a great person and for still being healthy and lively. He was also thanking him for allowing them to meet once again. Those two words held plenty of meaning for the two of them.

    ¡°I¡¯m the one that should thank you, Instructor.¡±

    Minhyuk smiled softly, before bowing his head in gratitude to the ones that answered his call. Sword Emperor Ellie and Mercenary King Venteio were smiling softly at him, pleased looks on their faces. Even Overlord Raldo approached him and knocked his shoulders before they disappeared into thin air. Minhyuk slowlynded on the ground not long after, his red hair turning back to its usual ck color. He had also heard the notifications for the rewards.

    Meanwhile, the entire world was left in a frenzy.

    <em>[Did anyone check the rankings?]</em>

    <em>[Why? What¡¯s the matter?]</em>

    <em>[OMG¡­!]</em>

    Exmations rang out everywhere. Minhyuk had recently attracted the attention of many people from all over the world because of his abrupt and shocking burst of increase in level. Back then, his rapid growth had ced him around thete 200s in rankings. But now, there was another change in the ranking.

    <em>[The 8th ce¡­?]</em>

    <em>[The Food God is ranked 8th¡­]</em>

    <em>[He was at rank 276 up until yesterday though?]</em>

    <em>[No. How much did his level increase in one go?]</em>

    <em>[He¡¯s at Level 596 now.]</em>

    <em>[Only a few left before Level 600¡­]</em>

    Amotion broke out.

    <em>¡®How amazing would the other rewards be if his EXP increased by this much?¡¯</em>

    However, Minhyuk¡¯s expression was dark, as hended on the ground. From what he knew, more than three million troops deployed in this war, this number included the troops sent by different empires and kingdoms, as well as the members of the Allied Army. However, only 600 of these people survived. Fortunately, none of Minhyuk¡¯s men died or got seriously injured.

    The viewers were looking at Minhyuk in confusion. Minhyuk should have been happy since Gaerna¡¯s hunt was over, but his expression told a different story. It was to be expected, after all, he believed the NPCs were also people too, the people that lived in this world.

    Minhyuk slowly approached the bodies that had not yet disappeared, touching the wrists of one of the soldiers that held a young girl¡¯s hair tie. Then, the notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[You have gained Roald¡¯s favor.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained Brechtri¡¯s favor.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained Raecor¡¯s favor.]</em>

    <em>[¡­Cracker¡¯s favor.]</em>

    Notifications constantly rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears. There were still a considerable number of NPCs standing together with the yers among the surviving supremes. They would probably receive the support of the Rothschilde Kingdom and the Qingdao Kingdom. However, Minhyuk was able to gain their favor just by showing sympathy to the dead soldiers of another kingdom.

    <em>¡®Instead of enjoying victory first, the king of a nation is honoring the dead instead.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He truly is a very considerate and understanding king.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®If he is my king, then I will most definitely rest assured, even if I died.¡¯</em>

    Others would think that this was just a show that Minhyuk was doing. However, he was not doing this for show. He actually felt sad and sorry for the lives that were lost here.

    Meanwhile, there was a person that was watching what he was doing in reality.

    ***

    Cuhel felt a whirlwind of emotion engulf his entire being as he watched Minhyuk stroke the tanned wrist of a dead soldier on TV. He had also realized some things about the bond that he had with the NPCs of the game through this incident.

    <em>¡®Is it because of that? Is that the reason why a lot of people follow you?¡¯</em>

    Cuhel was the head of ckstone. There were also a lot of people that followed him. However, if one went into the specifics, they only followed him because they believed and trusted his money.

    Minhyuk might be the sessor of Ilhwa Group, but he was not as rich as Cuhel. However, the people that followed him were all loyal to him. Cuhel now realized why.

    He turned to look at the butler behind him. He looked at him for a moment before saying, ¡°Deposit three hundred billion into that ount.¡±

    ¡°Three hundred billion?!¡±

    The butler almost choked on his own saliva when he heard the amount. However, Cuhel remained nonchnt. Of course, three hundred billion was still a huge amount, even for someone like him.

    However, he had also made huge contributions during Gaerna¡¯s hunt and had received huge rewards. In fact, the Rothschilde Kingdom was the one that took the lead in hunting Gaerna so the benefits that they would receive would definitely be huge. On top of that, Cuhel would be very happy if he could buy a rtionship with Minhyuk with just this much money.

    Well, Minhyuk had originally asked him for 200 billion. However, he had told him that he would need to add another 50 billion if he went to find him again. As for the remaining 50 billion? It was just a small consideration from Cuhel in support of Minhyuk.

    Then, on the monitor, Minhyuk began to speak.

    <em>[We gained victory.]</em>

    They have protected Athenae from one of the Six Monster Gods.

    <em>[However, many of us have died. Some of us probably lost their fathers, their sons, their daughters, or even their wives.]</em>

    On the path of her destruction, Gaerna had also attacked several ordinary and mediocre territories.

    The survivors remained silent at his words. The same was true for all of the viewers that watched them from all over the world. The viewers were empathizing. They were wondering what they would feel if they were there.

    Someone thought, <em>¡®More than the gains and profits, you give precedence to the heart and the minds of your people. Is that the kind of person you are?¡¯</em>

    Even Cuhel had thought that way. All he could do was look at Minhyuk while chuckling bitterly to himself.

    <em>[Let us mourn for their deaths.]</em>

    The survivors all prayed silently together with Minhyuk. Cuhel also remained silent as if he was there too.

    <em>[For those that died today, I will give¡­]</em>

    <em>¡®Fifty billion. It¡¯s not such a bad loss to give to someone like that, no?¡¯</em>

    <em>[Five¡­]</em>

    Minhyuk hesitated in his words.

    Then, the butler said, ¡°Young Master, I have deposited the money.¡±

    ¡°Wait. Five¡­?¡± Cuhel said, his eyes focused on Minhyuk¡¯s lips. Then, Minhyuk quickly changed his words.

    <em>[One hundred billion.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    <em>[The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s finances are currently unstable. This is because the number of our poption keeps on increasing which means that we have to undergo a never-ending process of expanding our territories.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    <em>[However, I have gained a lot during Gaerna¡¯s hunt and will dispose of some of them to raise 100 billion to soothe the hearts of those that had been affected by this battle.]</em>

    ¡°¡­But that¡¯s my money?¡±

    <em>[We will make it so we can help you recover from the damages of this war.]</em>

    ¡°No. Wait¡­¡±

    Cuhel pondered deeply. Minhyuk had originally asked for 200 billion. But then, he charged him 250 billion because he said that it would be an additional 50 billion, and was the cost of Minhyuk¡¯s ¡®disappointment¡¯. Cuhel also gave him an additional 50 billion to support him. In other words, the 100 billion that Minhyuk offered for the dead was the money that he gained from Cuhel.

    <em>[I will never forget those that sacrificed their lives and died today. I hope that this money will help soothe the wounds and the pain that you will feel even for a brief moment.]</em>

    <em>[Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!]</em>

    <em>[Long live Beyond the Heaveeeeeeens!!!]</em>

    <em>[Long live Food God Minhyuuuuuuuuuuuuk!!!]</em>

    Cuhel was the one that foot the bill, but Minhyuk was the one that gained poprity and fame. When he thought back on it, he realized that Minhyuk had started his sentence earlier with ¡®five¡­¡¯. That meant that he only nned to give fifty billion initially.

    ¡°Hey, you $%#^@$!#$!@#!!!¡±

    The portal sites all over the world were stered with ¡®Minhyuk¡¯s 100 billion donation¡¯, coupled with articles praising Minhyuk¡¯s generosity. There was even someone that praised Minhyuk for raising 100 billion by disposing of most of the artifacts that he had gained during Gaerna¡¯s hunt. Basically, all of them praised Minhyuk.

    ¡°This damn bastard! @#!@#!@#%$$!#!¡±

    Cuhel, who spent another 50 billion because of his consideration and warm feelings for the man, screamed loudly.

 Chapter 739: God of Birth Gaerna

    Chapter 739: God of Birth Gaerna

    One man turned the entire world upside down. In fact, his name was stered on every portal site in existence.

    <em>[Food God Minhyuk has donated a huge sum of 100 billion for those that were affected by Gaerna.]</em>

    <em>[ording to reports, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s finances are not doing well.]</em>

    <em>[The people of Korea: He¡¯s working hard to campaign so that the people will buy from Ilhwa Group.]</em>

    <em>[Ilhwa Group¡¯s stock prices have seen a dramatic increase.]</em>

    <em>[Food God Minhyuk: Chosen as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.]</em>

    <em>[The hundred billion won distributed to the various kingdoms and empires that fell victim to Gaerna. The kingdoms and empires are now showing a favorable impression toward Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[Where was the Luvien Empire during Gaerna¡¯s hunt? The kingdoms and empires in the world of Athenae might be showing favor to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom but they are acting coldly toward the Luvien Empire.]</em>

    <em>[Experts: We can assume that Food God Minhyuk has received quite a lot of rewards to willingly offer 100 billion to help the victims of Gaerna.]</em>

    <em>[Experts: The value of the Food God¡¯s 100 billion won is not something that can be bought so easily.]</em>

    <em>[Minhyuk ranked first in ¡®Who do Teens Want to be Like the Most?¡¯]</em>

    <em>[Expert Im Tae-Ho says that the Food God¡¯s worth is 100 billion won.]</em>

    <em>[What is the ¡®worth¡¯ that the expert is talking about?]</em>

    <em>[Many kingdoms and empires have received damage from Gaerna¡¯s hunt. There are even small nations that received so much damage that it will be very hard for them to recover. The ce where Gaerna appeared was in the vicinity where three small nations were gathered. They sent their soldiers out the moment they saw Gaerna advance and were promptly wiped out. Something like this could be considered as an irredeemable crisis for small kingdoms and nations like them. However, the king of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom has lent them a helping hand during their time of great crisis.]</em>

    <em>[Then, that means that Food God Minhyuk bought the hearts of those kingdoms and empires with just 100 billion won?]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s right. Minhyuk is obviously a very clever person. Bear in mind, there were only about 600 survivors. These are talented people that have received the support from their respective kingdoms and empires. They will obviously run to their kings and emperors and say, ¡®You have to forge a close rtionship with the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, Your Majesty!¡¯]</em>

    <em>[Listening to it, I can say that it¡¯s highly likely to happen.]</em>

    <em>[We don¡¯t know if this is what Food God Minhyuk intended to do but his actions have ensured that he has taken a step closer to establishing his own empire.]</em>

    As various articles and stories poured out about the Food God, Minhyuk¡¯s value continued to rise. Even famous celebrities and third-generation chaeboldies were explicitly stating their favor toward Minhyuk on SNS.

    <em>[Did you see what Choego Group¡¯s Kim Hae-Ri has posted on SNS?]</em>

    <em>[That guy who¡¯s very hot these days? I want to meet him. That¡¯s what she said, right? I¡¯m pretty sure she¡¯s saying this so she can meet Minhyuk.]</em>

    <em>[Kim Hae-Ri is that person that we call Mom¡¯s Favorite, right? She is famous for her good personality, her celebrity-like looks, and she¡¯s even the daughter of the Choego Group¡¯s chairman¡­]</em>

    <em>[Ever since Kim Hae-Ri revealed her feelings on SNS, celebrities and popr figures have stopped posting on SNS.]</em>

    <em>[Is it because they can¡¯tpete with her?]</em>

    <em>[What¡¯s more, the Ilhwa Group and the Choego Group are on fairly good terms.]</em>

    <em>[Wow. I¡¯m so jealous of Minhyuk. Kim Hae-Ri¡­]</em>

    The Choego Group was not as big as the Ilhwa Group or the Daehan Group, but it was still one of the top ten of Korea¡¯s conglomerates.

    Although Kim Hae-Ri was a third generation chaebol, she graduated from Harvard University in America and was renowned for her good deeds. She also received the love of many for her outstanding beauty. Considering that these things were quite unusual for someone that was just a third generation chaebol, it might be an indication of how much Kim Hae-Ri was considered as the best woman of her era.

    While so many people were paying attention to him, Minnyuk was busy checking the rewards that he received alone in his office.

    <em>[You have killed Gaerna.]</em>

    <em>[You were the Alliance¡¯s King during Gaerna¡¯s Hunt.]</em>

    <em>[The rewards that you will receive will be better than others.]</em>

    <em>[You have made surprisingly great contributions in Gaerna¡¯s hunt. The rewards that you will receive will be better.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 32,513 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 11,313,111,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[¡­leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[¡­leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[¡­leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Gaerna¡¯s Life Elixir (2).]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Gaerna¡¯s Map to Ovee One¡¯s Limitations.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Gaerna¡¯s Parasitic Ring.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired The Master of Aeropia¡¯s Ne.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Six Monster Gods¡¯ Skill Creation Book.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 3 God¡¯s SP.]</em>

    <em>[You will receive rewards based on your contribution.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 30,000,000,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 52,311 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 5 Mand¡¯s Elixir.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 1 Mand¡¯s Growth Potion.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Mand¡¯s Treasure Chest.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Mand¡¯s Treasure Hunting Map.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 200 special Stat Points (STP).]</em>

    He had gained more than 50,000 tinum. Just this alone proved that the rewards this time were far more unconventional and grander than he had imagined. Of course, in Minhyuk¡¯s case, this might be because he was appointed as the Alliance¡¯s King and had made great contributions.

    Minhyuk then left that behind and looked at the list of his rewards. First was the Mand¡¯s Growth Potion. Once the potion was consumed, the user¡¯s EXP Acquisition Rate will increase by 30x for an entire hour.

    <em>¡®What? Isn¡¯t this too much of a cheat?¡¯</em>

    Of course, the growth potion was like a double-edged sword. In fact, if he took everything in consideration, consuming an EXP potion that had a two-week duration might be more beneficial than this one. However, what if he could gain a huge amount of EXP in an hour?

    <em>¡®Then, it would be better than taking several week-long EXP potions.¡¯</em>

    As for the Mand¡¯s Elixir, it was an exceptional recovery potion that money could not buy.

    <em>¡®It can recover your HP and MP to 100% and has no cooldown? On top of that, it can also increase your defensive power by 20%?¡¯</em>

    The only word that coulde out of Minhyuk¡¯s mouth was ¡®crazy.¡¯

    There was also the Mand¡¯s Treasure Chest. It was an item that worked just like any other Treasure Chest where one would randomly get a potion made by Mand once opened. Mand¡¯s Treasure Hunting Map was an item that would allow the item user to find whatever they wanted.

    Then, there were the 200 special STPs. These were points that could increase stats that could not be increased by regr STPs, like Will and DEX. Minhyuk had actually received 200 of them. However, he decided not to use them for now.

    Minhyuk then turned his attention to the rewards that he received for killing Gaerna. The first one was Gaerna¡¯s Life Elixir.

    <em>¡®You can even save the dead with this¡­?¡¯</em>

    It was apletely crazy elixir with an astronomical value. The next one was Gaerna¡¯s Map to Ovee One¡¯s Limitations.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s someone in Beyond the Heavens that needs this.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk chuckled. The effect of the item was none other than locating a way to ovee the person¡¯s limits. Next was the Master of Aeropia¡¯s Ne.

    <em>¡®This is a token of recognition that recognizes one as the master of the Insect Kingdom¡­¡¯</em>

    To put it simply, Gaerna was the Queen of Insects. Aeropia was thend of insects. Minhyuk stared at the item and thought that it would probably be able to contribute to the development of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom into an empire.

    But the most notable item was the Six Monster Gods¡¯ Skill Creation Book. It allowed the user tobine the skills in their possession or create the skills that they wanted. Minhyuk believed that the use of this item needed careful consideration.

    <em>¡®If it¡¯s not too absurd, then maybe it¡¯s possible?¡¯</em>

    Perhaps Minhyuk could use this to create a skill that was along the lines of Double Food, Double Skill, or maybe something along the lines of Sword of Absolute Death.

    <em>¡®This is amazing.¡¯</em>

    Even though Gaerna did not drop any outstanding artifacts, the rewards that Minhyuk received were more than satisfactory. The only thing that he was disappointed about was, of course, regarding food.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s nothing here that I can eat. Tch.¡¯</em>

    However, there was really no need for him to feel sad. After all, the Mand¡¯s Treasure Hunting Map could help him find whatever it was that he wanted.

    <em>¡®I need to take a break.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had rescued Brod and killed one of the Six Monster Gods, Gaerna, within the span of a short time. He badly needed to take a break.

    <em>¡®Tomorrow¡¯s Christmas. Ah. It¡¯s also Genie¡¯s birthday.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk recalled the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Vice Guild Master Genie. Christmas was just right around the corner, which meant that it was his dear old friend¡¯s birthday.

    After going around the kingdom¡¯s capital once, Minhyuk logged out of the game.

    ***

    Royal Department Store was owned by the Ilhwa Group, located in Gangnam with various luxury stores located inside.

    Inside one of the world-renowned luxury brand¡¯s stores, a woman in her early twenties was seen bowing down while the rest of the staff around her were fidgeting.

    ¡°F*ck, I already told you. My baby at home identally took off the tag. This has never been worn. But you¡¯re telling me that you can¡¯t give me a refund because of your regtions? F*ck that.¡±

    ¡°Sir, ording to our regtions, products with their tags removed¡­¡±

    ¡°No. The tag was just removed. Ah, I <em>really</em> don¡¯t like the way this girl talks to me.¡±

    Kim Heung-Soo, a man in his early thirties, was a VIP client that spent around a million won per year at the Royal Department Store. However, he brought forward a pair of luxury shoes that had clear signs of wear and was demanding a refund.

    The truth was, Kim Heung-Soo knew that he would not be able to get a refund with this. However, he was in a very bad mood today and wanted to abuse his power as a VIP and show off his superiority.

    Surprisingly enough, something like this often happened in the Royal Department Store.

    ¡°We¡¯re very sorry, sir.¡±

    In the end, the employee in her early twenties, Im Yoon-Ah, bit her lips and apologized even though she did not know what she was apologizing for.

    ¡°But you don¡¯t look sorry at all?¡± Kim Heung-Soo rolled his eyes. He found it unpleasant to hear that products with their tags removed were not eligible for refund. Then, he gestured with his eyes, ncing on the floor beneath them.

    ¡°That¡­ sir. No matter how much you¡¯re a VIP, that¡¯s a bit¡­¡±

    The manager immediately noticed the meaning of his gesture and tried to stop him.

    ¡°Should I lodge a formalint?¡±

    Comints from VIP were very fatal. There had never been a case where the department stores protected their employees after aint. They would always protect their customers. This was how ordinary department stores usually worked.

    However, the reason why Im Yoon-Ah took a job at the Royal Department Store was because of something else. The representative of the Royal Department Store had recently been changed and became Ilhwa Group¡¯s sessor, Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk had mentioned something when he went around the department store recently.

    ¡ª<em>Customers might be king but the staff is my family. As my family, if someone dares to speak informally to you, then speak informally to them. If they cursed at you, then curse at them too. I, and Ilhwa Group¡¯s legal team, will take responsibility for you.</em>

    Lim Yoon-Ah brooded over those words.

    Once again, Kim Heung-Soo nced at the floor. It was a gesture that wanted her to kneel down on his feet. He wondered if her trembling legs would drop to the ground.

    ¡°This b*tch. If you did something wrong to your customers then you have to apologize¡­¡±

    <em>¡®If a customer speaks informally, then speak informally to them.¡¯</em>

    Thus, Im Yoon-Ah steeled herself and shouted, ¡°You f*cking bastard! How dare you call me b*tch! You¡¯re the one that¡¯s a f*cking mother*cking b*tch!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    A moment of silence passed. Everyone in the store was flustered. At that moment, Kim Heung-Soo raised his arms.

    ¡°This crazy b*tch! Is this how the Royal Department Store treats their customers?! You curse at them?!¡±

    Then, he tried to swing his arm. Im Yoon-Ah closed her eyes tightly to prepare for the impact.

    ¡°I was the one that ordered it. You really are a shitty pig-like bastard, huh?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Kim Heung-Soo¡¯s arm stopped as he turned to look back.

    A 185-centimeter-tall man d in a fitted ck suit with a face that seemed to be sculpted by the gods, stood with his hands in his pockets. There were dozens of the department store¡¯s executives standing behind him too.

    ¡°I ordered them to speak informally if any customer spoke informally to them, and curse if the customers cursed at them. ¡°

    Kim Heung-Soo knew this man¡¯s name. He was the owner of the Royal Department Store and the heir to Ilhwa Group. He was the most influential person in the world right now, and with a simple order, it could break hispany and turn it into ruins in just a week.

    With dozens of executives lined up behind him, he stood in front of Kim Heung-Soo and asked, ¡°Got a problem with that?¡±

 Chapter 740: God of Birth Gaerna

    Chapter 740: God of Birth Gaerna

    There was a man that became the most famous person in the world in just a few days. He was none other than Minhyuk from the virtual reality game, Athenae.

    Donating 100 billion won, which was a huge amount of money, was enough to grab even the attention of those that were not interested in Athenae. Most would have clicked on his name at least once on the portal sites. Minhyuk¡¯s current value was astronomical. Even the fact that he was able to ovee his eating addiction was stirring the hearts of the people. On top of that, he was known as a good man.

    Such a promising man was currently in front of Kim Heung-Soo asking, ¡°Got a problem with that?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Kim Heung-Soo was the type of person that climbed to where he was because theirpany suddenly did well. Such a person usually believed that they were either the king or the god of this world.

    That was why, Kim Heung-Soo, intimidated as he might be, stuttered, ¡°How dare you speak informally?! You¡¯re still young and immature! Do you think you can curse at your VIPs?!¡±

    Indeed, Kim Heung-Soo was a VIP at the Royal Department Store and he had his own pride too.

    ¡°No, aren¡¯t you the president of this department store? Does the president even have the right to tell your employees to curse at their VIPs?!!!¡±

    At that question, Minhyuk looked back at all of his employees and executives. ¡°I¡¯m a president but I can¡¯t even protect my own people? What kind of president would I be if I can¡¯t even do something like that?¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s voice turned cold as he slowly exuded the charisma that a king in Athenae could show.

    ¡°What the hell? Just for one employee¡­¡±

    ¡°The Ilhwa Group is a group that got to where it is today because of each and every single one of our employees.¡±

    Kim Heung-Soo gulped dryly at Minhyuk¡¯s words.

    ¡°The only reason you have reached such a ce and standing is also because of your employees. Offended? Then, go ahead and spread rumors,¡± Minhyuk said as he nced at the CCTV. ¡°I will make sure to respond ordingly with our legal team.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Kim Heung-Soo was left speechless.

    There was no one that could win against Ilhwa Group¡¯s legal team in the country. When it came to matters regarding Minhyuk, each and every single member of the legal team would want to step up.

    Kim Heung-Soo could only stand there in a daze, his mouth opening and closing without any sounding out of it.

    Seeing him hesitate, Minhyuk said, ¡°Scram.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Kim Heung-Soo hurriedly packed his used shoes and scrambled away.

    Im Yoon-ah could only stare at Minhyuk with an open mouth of her own, when she saw him step up for the employees.

    <em>¡®Ah¡­¡¯</em>

    She recalled the conversation that she had with her manager before.

    ¡ª<em>President Kang Minhyuk told us to speak informally when a customer speaks informally and curse when they curse at us. But do you think that will work in reality?</em>

    <em>¡ªIt will all be over for us once we receiveints.</em>

    <em>¡ªWe will definitely be bums.</em>

    Then, Minhyuk looked back at the executives and said, ¡°Are the VIPs of the department store all like this?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    His words made the proud and arrogant executives speechless.

    ¡°Make sure you investigate the customers¡¯ints thoroughly. If it¡¯s the customer¡¯s fault and they call out and force my employees to apologize again then I won¡¯t stay still.¡±

    ¡°We understand.¡±

    The executives answered with their heads down. Then, Minhyuk turned his head again.

    Im Yoon-Ah and Minhyuk were of the same age. However, even though they were the same age, the man in front of him showed apletely different demeanor. She watched as Minhyuk recalled the majestic and charismatic expression that he disyed earlier, before recing it with a soft and gentle smile, one that enchanted Im Yoon-Ah.

    Then, he spoke warmly, ¡°It seems like it¡¯s going to snow on Christmas.¡±

    He smiled brightly as he pocketed his hands and led the executives out of the store. The scene left Im Yoon-Ah, who could not take her eyes off of him, in a daze for a very long time.

    ***

    Ilhwa Group.

    The executives of Ilhwa Group sitting inside the meeting room were flustered and at a loss. It was all because of the globalpany Aepel¡¯s buyer, Michael.

    ¡°I¡¯ll admit that Ilhwa is at the top of South Korea and is apany that produces excellent products. However, Aepel is looking for apany that will work with us for a long time toe.¡±

    Everyone shut their mouths at the words of Michael, the white-haired American that sat in front of them with his legs crossed.

    They could easily deduce the meaning of Michael¡¯s words. <em>¡®Do you think the future of Ilhwa is bright?¡¯</em>

    Ilhwa Group¡¯s future was yet to be determined. Right now, Minhyuk was left in charge of their best and biggest department store in Korea to prepare him as the sessor. However, that alone was not enough for them.

    A rare disease was like a ticking time bomb. Even more so in cases where there had been no precedent of someone making a full andplete recovery.

    Because of that, Michael judged that a contract with Ilhwa Group with Minhyuk as its sessor would be impossible. After all, their future would be unstable. Besides,panies located in Japan could easily produce products of the same quality as those produced by Ilhwa Group.

    ¡°If something happens and he¡¯s the one sitting on top of Ilhwa Group, then you will all be left in shambles.¡± Michael stood up and buttoned his coat. ¡°I¡¯ll be on my way then.¡±

    The executives of Ilhwa Group clicked their tongues when they heard his firm refusal. Among them was Park Munsoo.

    ¡°This is a big deal. Ilhwa Group will be able to build a more solid and sturdy foundation if we can sign a contract with Aepel.¡±

    Nopany was permanent. In fact, there were plenty ofpanies that had copsed during the IMF crisis. However, it would be different if Ilhwa could sign a contract with Aepel.

    Park Munsoo sighed, a bitter smile shing on his face. <em>¡®Minhyuk, things aren¡¯t going smoothly.¡¯</em>

    ***

    Michael, a major executive of Aepel, climbed inside a ck sedan. Even though he was in a high position, there was only one car that apanied him. Michael usually acted from the shadows. He might be an executive of a global leadingpany but his face was unknown to many.

    ¡°We will go back to America right away after having our meal.¡±

    ¡°¡­In the end, you won¡¯t be signing a contract with Ilhwa Group?¡±

    Ilhwa Group was the bestpany in Korea. The quality of their products was excellent and their staff performed well.

    ¡°We cannot invest in apany, whose future we cannot ascertain.¡±

    Michael was very firm in this decision when it came to the contract. In fact, there was actually one more reason why he turned them down instantly.

    ¡°Daddy, are we going to meet the Food God?¡±

    ¡°¡­Isn¡¯t the Food God ying his game right now? Don¡¯t you think so too, princess?¡±

    There was a little girl, who was wearing a beanie on her head, sitting next to Michael. Even though she was already nine years old, the girl was much shorter than her peers. In fact, even the size of her head and her hands were quite small.

    Progeria. This was a very rare disease, and people often said, <em>¡®A child that ages quickly and bes old.¡¯</em>

    Michael was a pragmatic person. As someone whose daughter had a rare disease, he knew better than anyone how hard it was to find treatment and cure such diseases.

    Even so, Michael still loved his dear daughter Amy wholeheartedly. Amy was born in hister years. However, after they found out that Amy was gued with progeria, his wife grew unwell from various stress factors. Eventually, she sumbed to her death after being exposed to another disease.

    The child, thinner as she may be whenpared to others, was the apple of his eyes. Michael knew that she would not be with him for a long time. And due to his realist nature, such thoughts made his heart break.

    Patients diagnosed with progeria were said to have an average life expectancy of around thirteen years.

    ¡°Aha! Is he really in the middle of a game now? Daddy, I also want to taste the dishes that the Food God makes!¡±

    ¡°¡­So do I, my lovely daughter.¡± Michael smiled bitterly as he kissed his daughter on her forehead. ¡°How about eating a delicious meal with daddy in the highest ce in the country today?¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­ It¡¯s a pity. But I¡¯ll do it if daddy wants to do it!¡±

    Michael smiled at the ever considerate Amy, who did not evenin once, and said, ¡°Please go to Ilhwa Tower.¡±

    Ilhwa Tower was the tallest building in Korea and it was constructed by Ilhwa Group. From what Michael knew, it had around 140 floors.

    As their ck car headed for Ilhwa Tower, Amy said, ¡°Will it snow in Korea today?¡±

    ***

    There was a special restaurant located on the 135th floor of Ilhwa Tower. The restaurant was created using a very small space on the 135th floor and only served three tables.

    Even though the space was small, its view was the best. In fact, people from all over the world came to visit this ce to taste the delicious Korean food made by the country¡¯s best chefs. This restaurant was actually opened by Ilhwa Group.

    Currently, there was a beautiful young woman and a striking young man sitting by the window of the restaurant. The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Vice Guild Master Genie, or Im Jihye, nced at the beautiful view of Seoul through the window. Strangely enough, her face was flushed red.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s cozy.¡¯</em>

    Im Jihye¡¯s birthday was on Christmas and Minhyuk had prepared this for her birthday. For someone like her, who had Minhyuk in her heart, it was a very exciting and pleasant experience.

    ¡°I heard that their Korean food here is delicious. I really wanted to try it.¡±

    Today was a special day for Minhyuk too.

    Minhyuk and Genie had been friends for a long time now. Ever since they met again, he had only been on the receiving end of his friend¡¯s generosity. She had looked past his eating addiction and treated him without any discrimination. He had always been grateful to her. That was why he wanted to treat her to a meal here and give her a gift.

    Then, at that moment, a customer was seated on another table. The guests were very familiar faces.

    <em>¡®Choego Group¡¯s Kim Hae-Ri¡­?¡¯</em>

    Kim Hae-Ri was a third generation chaebol and was the granddaughter of the Choego Group¡¯s chairman. She was actually apanying Choego Group¡¯s Chairman Kim Tae-Seong.

    ¡°Hello, Chairman.¡±

    ¡°Oh, Minhyuk. Did youe here for a meal?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Chairman. Please enjoy your meal.¡±

    Since world-renowned figures often came here, there was no fuss ormotion. However, Kim Hae-Ri had recently shown a great interest in Minhyuk. In fact, Kim Hae-Ri was actually really pretty. It was to the point that even Jihye felt inferior to her.

    <em>¡®She¡¯s even taller than me. Tch.¡¯</em>

    Kim Hae-Ri was 173 centimeters tall. She was also not hiding her goodwill and interest toward Minhyuk, evident from her gaze.

    At that moment, another customer came in. He was an American gentleman carrying a young girl wearing a beanie, in his arms. The man looked surprised when he made eye contact with Minhyuk, an expression that he immediately schooled back to indifference.

    Then, the girl in his arms said, ¡°It¡¯s the Food God!!!¡±

    ¡°Hello, littledy.¡± Minhyuk responded, a small smile on his face.

    They also sat down on their table. Everyone was amicable.

    However, unlike the peaceful and friendly atmosphere outside, the kitchen was inplete chaos.

    ¡°Chef, are you alright?¡±

    ¡°¡­I made a blunder.¡± The chef groaned as he stared at his hands that had already turned red. He had identally spilled boiling oil on his hands. He could have screamed from the burning pain but he knew that there was a much bigger problem than that.

    ¡°I can¡¯t cook with this hand¡­¡±

    The manager could tell. It was urgent that the chef received treatment now. Furthermore, cooking with that hand was impossible at the moment.

    ¡°But outside¡­¡± The manager looked awkward and flustered.

    There were the heads and sessors of twopanies, as well as an unidentified gentleman with a little kid. They all came here to enjoy Christmas. So, the manager hurriedly tried to exin the situation.

    ¡°The chef has injured his hand and needs to get treated immediately. I will show you to the VIP section of the omakase on the floor below. Of course, we won¡¯t take your money. We¡¯re truly sorry.¡±

    ¡°<em>Cough.</em> Do tell him to go and see a doctor right away.¡±

    Of course, their faces were filled with disappointment. The one that felt very disappointed was the American gentleman.

    ¡°¡­The chef injured his hand?¡±

    ¡°Yes, and we have only one chef. I¡¯m truly sorry.¡±

    Michael truly could not hide his disappointment. Amy was the one that really wanted toe to Korea. The biggest reason why she wanted toe here was because she wanted to try Korean food.

    That was also the reason why they came to this ce, so they could eat the best Korean food. There was a chance that Amy did not have much time left. That was why Michael could not hide his difort and disappointment.

    ¡°Amy, the chef is not feeling well so we can¡¯t eat here today.¡±

    ¡°Will the chef be okay?¡±

    She was understanding, showing more concern for the chef¡¯s well-being even though she wanted to try Korean food so much. Michael could only sigh as he hugged his daughter.

    Then, the young man sitting at one of the tables said, ¡°Would it be alright if I cook?¡±

 Chapter 741: God of Birth Gaerna

    Chapter 741: God of Birth Gaerna

    Those whose dishes were known to be the best could only be made by the top ten chefs in the world. However, in a survey conducted by a foodpany in America¡ª<em>¡®I Really, </em><strong><em>Really</em></strong><em> Want to Try this Person¡¯s Cooking Before I Die¡¯¡ª</em>there was one person receiving as much as 92% of the votes. Surprisingly, that person was not a chef.

    He was none other than Food God Minhyuk, a yer of Athenae. Athenae was an amazing virtual reality game that embodied theplete taste and vor of the dishes and ingredients.

    Those that had tasted Minhyuk¡¯s dishes in Athenae had said this: <em>¡®I felt like I heard a divine and heavenly voice in my ears.¡¯</em>

    It was a testament to how good it tasted. They even mentioned how the vor waspletely unforgettable. People had different tastes and ptes. For the same dish, some might find it disgusting while others thought it to be delicious. However, with regards to Minhyuk¡¯s dishes, it was widely recognized to be delicious.

    ording to an announcement made by Joy Co. Ltd., Food God Minhyuk¡¯s ¡®vor Increase¡¯ helped the people feel like the dish was more delicious and more in line with their ptes. Of course, it was possible inside the dream-like virtual reality world. Because of that, the public always wondered if Minhyuk¡¯s cooking was truly that great in reality.

    Right now, Minhyuk, the one who had received the highest votes in the I Really,<em> Really</em> Want to Try this Person¡¯s Cooking Before I Die survey, spoke up inside Ilhwa Tower¡¯s 135th floor¡¯s special restaurant, ¡°Would it be alright if I cook?¡±

    Choego Group¡¯s Chairman and Michael both stopped in their tracks when they heard the question.

    Minhyuk spoke very carefully. After all, just because this tower was built by the Ilhwa Group did not mean that he owned it. On top of that, it would also be very rude to offer to cook in a restaurant with its very own chef. However, Minhyuk really wanted to treat Genie to a very special meal today. Thankfully, the chef in this restaurant was one of Artheon¡¯s executives.

    ¡°Oh, if it¡¯s Minhyuk¡¯s cooking then I would like to taste it.¡± Chairman Kim Tae-Seong, who was already moving to stand up from his seat with disappointment, expressed his delight.

    The same was true for Kim Hae-Ri. ¡°I¡¯m looking forward to it.¡±

    However, it was different for Michael. Working as Aepel¡¯s agent had made him very busy. Because of that, he did not know much about Athenae. However, he knew that Minhyuk was a famous chef inside the game.

    <em>¡®Things are different in fantasy and reality.¡¯</em>

    However, unlike Michael, Amy was very happy. ¡°Wow, Daddy! I can eat the dishes made by the Food God today?¡±

    This was the brightest expression that he had seen on Amy in thest few days, which made it very hard for Michael to leave this ce. So, he sat down once again.

    After everyone was seated, the manager, who had gone inside the kitchen and returned, said, ¡°The chef had said that if Mr. Minhyuk is willing to do it, then he could trust his kitchen to Mr. Minhyuk and leave for the hospital. I¡¯m really sorry but we will leave it to you. Of course, we wouldn¡¯t charge our guests here for their meal.¡±

    After receiving the approval of the chef, Minhyuk smiled softly and looked at the people around him. ¡°I know that I¡¯mcking but I hope that you will enjoy it.¡±

    ¡°I would be able to see Minhyuk cook up close. That¡¯s good, no?¡±

    This restaurant¡¯s special feature was that the chef would be cooking right in front of the customer¡¯s table, whether it was stir-fried dishes or stew. However, Minhyuk could not really do that.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t mind, would you please gather around here?¡±

    They moved their chairs and tables ordingly after hearing Minhyuk¡¯s words. Although it was Michael himself that moved the table in this fancy restaurant, his daughter Amy was very, <em>very </em>happy.

    ¡°Wow. I¡¯ll be able to see the Food God up close like this. I¡¯m so happy, Daddy.¡±

    Michael smiled faintly as he stroked his daughter¡¯s head. He had investigated Minhyuk¡¯s eating addiction before he went to Ilhwa Group to talk about the contract. Eating addiction was a disease that already existed for a very long time. Among the three most recent patients with this disease, one had died. So far, most of the patients with this disease had died from theplications brought about by hyper-obesity. None of them lived past the age of 22.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s a disease where one cannot suppress their appetite.¡¯</em>

    Yet someone with that disease would cook? Michael shook his head. After all, he knew how terrible the disease was.

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll never know unless I experienced it myself.¡¯</em>

    This ce was a fancy restaurant. It had a clean and tidy ambience, as well as fantastic dishes and breath-taking views. Of course, the ingredients that they used were all top-notch. For most Koreans, there were no rare or special Korean dish that they had not heard of or tried. This particr restaurant always made clean and neat dishes that both Koreans and foreigners liked. That was why there were plenty of customers that came to this restaurant.

    <em>¡®What shall I cook?¡¯</em>

    The chef that would be working in this restaurant today was Minhyuk. After pondering deeply, Minhyuk began to cook.

    <em>Tak, tak, tak, tak, tak, tak¡ª</em>

    The rhythmic and regr sound of chopping rang in the small restaurant. All of the vegetables that passed by Minhyuk¡¯s hands were quickly chopped and sliced.

    ¡°Wooaaaah.¡± Amy smiled brightly and innocently at the scene.

    Minhyuk decided to just go with an ordinary menu. He nned to serve some japchae, kimchi stew, and braised short ribs, along with various vegetable side dishes and a freshly made kimchi sd.

    Anyway, the food would feel more luxurious depending on how one ted it. In fact, there was even a saying about how one is actually paying for the ambience and not the food when dining in a restaurant.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk poured cooking oil in his sizzling pan and a zing hot me rose from the pan.

    ¡°Woooooah!¡± Amy smiled brightly, enjoying the view in front of her.

    ¡°Littledy, where are you from?¡±

    ¡°America.¡±

    ¡°Then, today I¡¯ll let you taste the true vor of Korean dishes.¡±

    ¡°Okay!¡±

    Michael felt an unknown emotion rush into him as he watched his daughter conversefortably with Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®How¡­¡¯</em>

    There was a question that he wanted to ask. What kind of an expression would people with rare diseases make, knowing that they would die soon? People like them often sank into despair, fearing each and every single day and ming themselves even though it was not their fault. Of course, that was not the case for Amy. She was just a little girl and she did not know much about something like that.

    However, Michael had researched everything that he could with regards to rare diseases and found out that most patients that suffered from such diseases would often be diagnosed with severe depression.

    <em>¡®How could he smile like that?¡¯</em>

    Michael understood that Minhyuk was still working on his recovery. However, he knew that those with rare diseases rarely improved. Either they getpletely cured, or they would walk forever with this ticking time bomb.

    <em>¡®How can you be cooking?¡¯</em>

    He also questioned why Minhyuk could cook. After all, Michael knew that people with eating addiction would always lose their reason when presented with food. So, how could the man in front of him cook?

    Michael, who had been watching Minhyuk, noticed that Minhyuk¡¯s mouth or hands would flinch and twitch every once in a while.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s actually enduring¡­?¡¯</em>

    That was very, <em>very</em> shocking. The only thing that Michael could do was stare wide-eyed at Minhyuk along with the others, who were admiring his mboyant hand movements, as he cooked.

    Then, there was the delicious scent of food being stir-fried that whetted their appetites. Not long after, the dishes were served. Although the selection was ordinary, they have been ted as nicely as they could be.

    Fresh kimchi, bean sprouts sd, shredded radish, kimchi sd with oysters, and steamed eggs were ted neatly and nicely on each te and served to each person.

    Amy tasted the soft steamed eggs that were served in front of her. ¡°Wow. So delicious¡­¡±

    The perfectly seasoned steamed eggs, gently passed by her throat the moment she ced a spoonful in her mouth. Even Michael was somewhat surprised by the vor of the steamed eggs when he tasted it.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s soft and tasty.¡¯</em>

    The vor could truly stimte one¡¯s appetite.

    It did not take that long for the main dishes to be served in front of each person. Once the braised ribs and kimchi stew were served, each of the guests began to eat.

    ¡°Thanks, Minhyuk. You didn¡¯t have to go through all that trouble.¡±

    ¡°Jihye, it¡¯s fine. I haven¡¯t done anything for you, you know?¡± Minhyuk smiled faintly.

    Meanwhile, Michael hurriedly took care of Amy, who had been eating in a hurry, and started to eat together with her. Despite being sloppy, he used his chopsticks to pick up a mouthful of japchae and ce it in his mouth. The japchae was savory and warm, but the Korean¡¯s unique saltiness and spiciness were not there.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s delicious.¡¯</em>

    Then, he scooped some soft steamed eggs and ate it with a mouthful of the well-cooked rice. Next, he tried some of the kimchi stew. The moment he ced a spoonful in his mouth, he felt the spiciness hit instantly. But even though it was spicy, he could not help himself from scooping and eating more.

    This time, Michael went for the braised ribs. He remembered eating the same dish in Myeong-dong a long time ago. From what he could remember, it had been extremely expensive and was not even ptable. Michael was not aware, but the restaurant that he went to was actually one that ripped off foreigners through promotions in SNS. In fact, it was a restaurant that none of the Koreans go to.

    Recalling the nightmare that he experienced back then, Michael carefully took a bite of the braised ribs. The meat gently separated from the bone, its tender and soft texture gliding smoothly in his mouth as he chewed.

    ¡°Ah¡­?¡± Michael unknowingly released a gasp of admiration as he picked up another piece of braised ribs.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s really delicious.¡¯</em>

    Michael could only admire the vor, one that waspletely different from the vor of the dish that he tasted back then.

    Then, he turned back to look at Minhyuk, who was serving Amy with some braised ribs.

    ¡°Did you like it, littledy?¡±

    ¡°Yeeees.¡± Amy, who had been eating in a hurry, truly looked satisfied. Then, she said, ¡°I also have a rare disease.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡±

    Of course, Minhyuk could tell. For patients with progeria, their appearance would look old, along with their rapidly aging body and their body would be much smaller than their peers.

    ¡°People say that I¡¯m going to die before I reach 13 years old,¡± Amy said innocently. The only reason why she could say those words with a smile was because she was still far too young to understand the gravity of her situation.

    ¡°Uncle, aren¡¯t you afraid?¡±

    Amy was a huge fan of the Food God. Especially because she knew he had a rare disease too.

    Minhyuk chuckled softly. ¡°I¡¯m beating it. And just like how I¡¯m getting better, the littledy will also be able to beat and win her own battle. When I turn 31 years old and the littledy turns 18 years old,e find me. I¡¯ll make sure to cook something for you again.¡±

    ¡°Really? Can I really live?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    It might sound like a wild and impossible dream, but Minhyuk had spoken those words with sincerity. Children believed in what was ced in front of them. And right now, the only man that had improved and showed signs of recovery from his rare disease was sitting in front of her and giving Amy a ray of hope.

    ¡°Then, when I turn eighteen, please cook something delicious for me!¡±

    ¡°Sure. It¡¯s a promise, Amy.¡±

    ¡°Yeeeees!¡±

    Amy¡¯s face grew brighter. Michael could tell that his little girl had also started to believe that she would be able to survive and live. The man in front of her had given Amy a small ray of hope even though the countless doctors that they hired for billions had shaken their heads in regret.

    Once they finished the meal, Michael sent Amy out with his assistant and asked, ¡°By any chance, do you know of me?¡±

    Minhyuk looked at Michael in doubt and confusion at his question. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but this should be the first time that we have met.¡±

    Michael nodded. He also knew how ridiculous his question was.

    ¡°Young man¡­ how can youugh and smile like that? Aren¡¯t you afraid?¡±

    Despite the doubt on his face, Minhyuk still answered his question, ¡°I might be afraid but that doesn¡¯t mean that I should give up.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°Even when I had lost hope and was left wallowing in my frustration, my father stayed and never gave up on me. He trusted me and supported me, even when I reached the point where I wanted to die. Back then, I had asked myself, <em>¡®Should I die?¡¯</em> Afterward, I thought, <em>¡®I should live.¡¯</em> And since then, I worked hard and reached this point.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°I am not going to die. Amy¡¯s not going to die either. I fully believe that to be the case. I will cheer you on.¡±

    Those words brought a huge shock to Michael.

    <em>¡®I am a realistic person.¡¯</em>

    If they were talking about being realistic, then there was truly no way that Amy would be cured. That was why he thought that he should let the child do all of the things that she wanted to do before she died.

    But this man in front of him and his father were different. They trusted and relied on each other and finally made progress. Because of them, Michael found new hope.

    ¡°The future of Ilhwa, with you as its sessor, seems bright.¡±

    Minhyuk smiled faintly and looked out of the window. ¡°It¡¯s snowing.¡±

    It usually snowed during the Christmas season. Amy was looking at the fluttering white snow with a bright and hopeful smile. Michael picked up his phone and called someone the moment he entered his car.

    ¡°Munsoo? It¡¯s Michael,¡± Michael said as he looked at the white snow outside. ¡°I¡¯ll sign the contract with Ilhwa Group. Huh? Why did I suddenly change my mind?¡±

    A gentle smile shed on his face as he answered the question. ¡°Because I saw that Ilhwa Group¡¯s future will be much brighter than any otherpany.¡±

    The car sped up toward the airport.

    During this white Christmas, a miracle happened to Amy.

 Chapter 742: God of Birth Gaerna

    Chapter 742: God of Birth Gaerna

    Im Jihye, one of the famous beauties of Korea, had been a fat and chubby girl when she was younger. She was called nicknames like ¡®Flower Piggy¡¯ and ¡®Flying Fatty¡¯ and did not have many friends.

    One day, when she entered middle school, she was partnered with a boy.

    ¡°Hello. Let¡¯s get along well.¡±

    Even though the boy was still a first-grade middle schooler, he was incredibly tall and handsome. It was as if the features of his face were sculpted. From the rumors that Jihye heard, he was often referred to as the ideal son.

    Everyone was biased toward those that looked good. Jihye, who had always been bullied and teased a lot in elementary school, felt scared.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m supposed to partner with a boy like this¡­?¡¯</em>

    She was hesitant back then.

    ¡°Shall we have <em>Pikachu</em> tonkatsu after school?¡±

    ¡°Y, yeah¡­¡±

    ¡°Want to go to a PC room after ss?¡±

    ¡°Y, yeah.¡±

    The boy was friendlier than anybody else. He approached Jihye warmly and was the first person to look at who she was inside, and not judge her for her outward appearance. But one day, the boy disappeared without a word. When that happened, all Jihye could do was grit her teeth.

    <em>¡®Until we meet again.¡¯</em>

    Jihye thought that they would meet again someday. And if they did, then they were meant to be. She went on a difficult diet and ended up hearing that she was the best and most good looking person when she entered high school. She became famous not only in her school but even in the schools in the vicinity.

    A lot of boys rushed to dere their love for her, but she only waited for one person. After many years and plenty of difficulties, she was finally able to meet with him once again.

    Jihye had be very pretty, whereas she heard that he had be very fat and was suffering from a disease. Nevertheless, her feelings did not change. She did not like him for his outward appearance. It was just like how he looked at her back then.

    Right now, he was having a meal with her on Christmas day, her birthday. It was even a meal that he made with his own hands too.

    Jihye waited for Minhyuk to finish cooking everything. She and Minhyuk were finally able to have ate meal after the white-haired foreigner gentleman and his daughter finished their own and left the restaurant.

    ¡°It¡¯s really yummy.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? What a relief, then.¡± Minhyuk smiled softly, bringing a soft blush to Jihye¡¯s face.

    She quickly turned to look at the window to watch the snow falling outside, hoping that he did not notice the flush that appeared on her face.

    <em>¡®Today¡¯s my chance.¡¯</em>

    There was no better time for her to confess to him. So, Jihye opened her mouth with great difficulty, ¡°You know¡­¡±

    ¡°Minhyuk?¡± At that moment, Kim Hae-Ri, who had finished eating her meal, approached them.

    Even Im Jihye could not deny Kim Hae-Ri¡¯s beauty. On top of that, her background was overwhelming. After all, she was the only daughter of the Choego Group. She was also said to be talented enough to lead Choego Group herself.

    Of course, Im Jihye was notcking in terms of looks herself. However, in front of Kim Hae-Ri¡¯s overwhelming background, she could only shrink back.

    ¡°Thank you very much for today¡¯s meal.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t mention it,¡± Minhyuk replied politely to her. The Choego Group and the Ilhwa Group were on close terms with each other.

    ¡°I was thinking of buying you a drink in gratitude. Do you have any other ns with Miss Jihye today?¡±

    The truth was, Minhyuk and Jihye did not have any other appointment except for this meal. As the conversation progressed, Jihye felt herself shrink smaller and smaller. Perhaps, Minhyuk would choose to join hands with the Choego Group in the future. The best course of action was to take in Kim Hae-Ri as his wife. Besides, Kim Hae-Ri was perfect in everybody¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°We don¡¯t have ns, but I would still like to spend time with my friend.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure that you know that what you¡¯re doing is rude. You can see that I¡¯m with a woman but you came and talked to me so abruptly like this, no?¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t the two of you just friends?¡± Kim Hae-Ri asked, her eyes shifting and glinting sharply like that of a sly fox.

    That was right. The two of them were nothing but friends that had known each other for many years.

    But then, Minhyuk spoke, ¡°We might be just friends, but¡­¡± he grabbed a ss of water and continued, ¡°¡­I like her a lot?¡±

    ¡°¡­Ah.¡± Kim Hae-Ri¡¯s face turned bright red with those words. Even Jihye, who heard his words, looked at Minhyuk in surprise.

    Minhyuk took a sip of water as he looked at Hae-Ri and said firmly, ¡°Can you please leave us alone, now?¡±

    Kim Hae-Ri, whose face had turned a bright shade of red from embarrassment, quickly turned around and left the ce.

    Both Minhyuk and Jihye were just twenty-one years old. They both went out of the restaurant and decided to walk around the streets and take in the Christmas atmosphere after the meals. There were carols ringing all over the ce, with snow falling and turning the streets white.

    This time, Jihye gathered her courage and held Minhyuk¡¯s big warm hands. Minhyuk just looked back at her and smiled lightly as they both traversed the snowy streets of Seoul.

    ***

    Elpis was the one hailed as the Lesser Demon and the shield of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. The gigantic man with ck skin akin to that of a demon looked back at Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, while carrying a huge luggage on his back.

    ¡ª<em>Elpis, here. I thought you might need it.</em>

    Just a few days ago, His Majesty Minhyuk had visited him to hand over some items. They were none other than the ¡®Map to Ovee One¡¯s Limitations¡¯ and a bottle of ¡®Mand¡¯s Elixir¡¯.

    The Map to Ovee One¡¯s Limitations would guide the person to find a way to ovee and break through their limits. Of course, the process would definitely be apanied by huge risks, but it did not matter.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s Spear God Ben, Emperor Brod, One of the Six Monster God¡¯s Elizabeth, Shadow Luo¡­¡¯</em>

    Lately, Elpis was ovee with a sense of inferiority. All of these great and strong people were working for His Majesty. On the other hand, he had not experienced much growth. But he promised His Majesty that he would protect him and the kingdom many times over.

    So, for Elpis, this map, which came to his hands at the perfect time, was very valuable. Although it would be dangerous, he still wanted to go. Of course, the map had the answer to his query.

    <em>[The map will show you the path to Great Demon Gorac¡¯s Shelter.]</em>

    Elpis realized that perhaps he would be a ¡®Great Demon¡¯ once he pushed past his limits. He looked at Beyond the Heavens onest time as he ced his earphones to his ears and turned to leave.

    ¡°Yeah! One swallowtail butterfly~¡± Elpis expressed both his sadness and determination with a song.

    ***

    In the Luvien Empire, Nerva was called the <em>sun,</em> while the two princes were called the <em>moons.</em> They also had three Luvien¡¯s Stars, a title that corresponded to the three dukes of the empire. The power of the dukes was said to be above and beyond the powers of the Swords of the Gods.

    One of the dukes, Duke Ruffiso, was said to be the one that cared the most about the Luvien Empire. The Luvien Empire used to exist in the Land of the Gods, and Duke Ruffiso, who was born and raised in that ce, hoped that the Luvien Empire would unify the continents as soon as possible.

    Duke Ruffiso approached Don, the Knight Commander of the Swords of the Gods, and said, ¡°Mand¡¯s Prison. You must bring back Mand and all of his legacies from that ce.¡±

    Who was Mand?

    ording to the legends, Mand, an entric and ill-tempered person, was a very talented alchemist to the point where the gods greatly coveted his talents. It was also said that he was imprisoned by the gods when he created a potion that could go beyond the principles of causality of the world. ording to those records, his escape was prevented by a Great Spirit and he still remained in that prison.

    The Luvien Empire had finally discovered the whereabouts of that prison.

    ¡°I understand.¡±

    Those that were sent to Mand¡¯s Prison were Don, the Knight Commander, and several other Swords of the Gods. Duke Ruffiso wanted to personally go and retrieve Mand and his legacies, but he was too busy to do so.

    Ruffiso could only watch as Don turned around after giving a firm and determined answer.

    <em>¡®I have no idea what¡¯s going on in his mind.¡¯</em>

    Knight Commander Don was a pure-blooded knight. He grew up in a family of knights, became a knight himself and swore to follow and serve a man as his master. However, his master was deposed and he was now serving Nerva.

    That was right. Knight Commander Don was one of the few surviving members of the Red Sword Knights. Nerva had ced several mind-controlling ck magic on him and forced him to stay by his side. Why did Nerva have to go so far to keep this man by his side? This was because Knight Commander Don was a very powerful man. He was so powerful that even the dukes had to tread carefully when dealing with him.

    <em>¡®Knight Commander Don is capable of killing that Great Spirit. He will be able to bring back Mand and his legacies.¡¯</em>

    The Great Spirit was a very powerful monster that even the dukes could not easily fight against. However, its power should have waned as time went by.

    Duke Ruffiso watched Knight Commander Don¡¯s back for a very long time.

    ***

    <em>Twitch¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s mouth broke into a small smile constantly as he worked in his office. This was the end of his twenty one years of being single! Truth was, his heart had already been set on Genie for a very long time. The very first reason was her good and kind heart. Of course, her appearance that waspletely different from the past was also lovely. However, Minhyuk would love her even if she still looked the same in the past.

    Meanwhile, he could not help but worry as he continued to deal with his work. There was something that he had not been able to check because he went on a date with Genie. That was none other than Mand¡¯s Treasure Hunting Map.

    <em>¡®I can¡¯t believe myself! I didn¡¯t even try to use a way to get to eat delicious food¡­!¡¯</em>

    It was good that he confirmed his feelings with Genie, but this was also important! Mand¡¯s Treasure Hunting Map was an item that would help him find whatever he wanted. Of course, there was a high chance that whatever item they wanted or hoped for was among the items in Mand¡¯s possession.

    Minhyuk immediately used Mand¡¯s Treasure Hunting Map.

    <em>[You have used Mand¡¯s Treasure Hunting Map.]</em>

    <em>[Mand¡¯s Treasure Hunting Map will find the item that you want.]</em>

    <em>[However, a thought for consideration! If the item does not exist among the items that Mand has hidden or possessed, the treasure hunting map will disappear on its own.]</em>

    Minhyuk was very curious about Mand. Even the legendary informant Abel could not find anything about him. However, there was one thing that he was sure of. Mand was a very special alchemist. After all, he was the genius behind the Life Elixir, an elixir that could save even the dead.

    Immediately after, a very shocking notification rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The map is starting to draw the path to the Illusory Blue Liquid Salt.]</em>

    urate routes and drawings that represented the continents and the kingdoms and empires located in them started to get drawn on the otherwise empty parchment. Minhyuk could tell that the path was located in the American Server.

    While the map was slowly being drawn, a special notification rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You can now check the item(s) on Mand¡¯s Treasure Hunting Map.]</em>

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Illusory Blue Liquid Salt</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Ingredient Grade</em></strong><em>: God</em>

    <strong><em>Special Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?The buff effects will increase by 10% upon the addition of the Illusory Blue Liquid Salt to the buffed dish.</em>

    <em>?An additional +1 in skill level will be added if the skill level increase effect is present upon the addition of the Illusory Blue Liquid Salt to the buffed dish.</em>

    <em>?The buff duration will increase by 20% upon the addition of the Illusory Blue Liquid Salt to the buffed dish.</em>

    <em>?The Blue Liquid Salt is in liquid form and is contained in a 2?-bottle. However, it can be transformed into powdered form ording to the user''s wishes.</em>

    ¡°¡­Unbelievable!¡± Minhyuk mouthed in shock.

    Not long after, the map finished drawing and the notification rang in his ears.

    <em>Ring¡ª!</em>

    <em>[The map to Mand¡¯s Prison has beenpleted.]</em>

    Minhyuk looked at the map as he stood up from his seat. This was a crazy ingredient, something that he had never heard before in his life. But the most surprising thing about this item was the fact that it could be used many times. Most importantly, what if the man named Mand was still in Mand¡¯s Prison?

    ¡°I shall depart immediately.¡±

    Minhyuk moved to go to Mand¡¯s Prison.

 Chapter 743: God of Birth Gaerna

    Chapter 743: God of Birth Gaerna

    A lot of unofficial rankers had decided to go public. However, even after taking that into consideration, Fabian was still the global official number one ranker. At Level 595, many expected him to be the first yer to reach Level 600. While he was not as famous as Alexander, Food God Minhyuk or the other leading rankers, Fabian was still the talk of the town.

    <em>[Fabian is considered to be the first person to break through Level 600! The God of Growth and Development that has the highest level in Athenae!]</em>

    In a press conference, he dered, ¡°That¡¯s correct. I am confident that I will be the first person to break through Level 600.¡±

    <em>Click, click, click, click, click, click, click!</em>

    ¡°Recently, plenty of yers have been closing in on you, Fabian. One such example is yer Minhyuk. Still, are you confident that you will be the first person to break through Level 600?¡±

    In fact, the reason why Fabian held this press conference was because of the Food God. After finishing Gaerna¡¯s hunt just recently, the Food God bombed his way through the levels and quickly moved up to the top eight in terms of ranking. He was still two levels away from Fabian but he was already receiving a significant amount of attention because of the explosive increase in his levels.

    ¡°I am sure. I am the God of Growth and Development. I will be the one to take the title of the first to reach Level 600.¡±

    ¡°But what will you do if the Food God takes the title first?¡±

    The reporters and journalists did not actually care who was the best. All they wanted was to get provocative lines that they could use as their article¡¯s title.

    Even though he did not have any talent in gaming, Fabian was fortunate to be the God of Growth and Development and reach a high level. Yet, as high as his level was, he was in a situation where plenty of yers had trumped him and showed how superior they were to him with their abilities and qualifications. Thus, someone like Fabian was easy to annoy and irritate, as long as one knew which buttons to push.

    ¡°That¡¯s absolutely impossible. If he breaks through Level 600 first then I will acknowledge him and kowtow to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.¡±

    It was a very careless and rash remark from someone that was hailed as the global official number one ranker.

    <em>Click, click, click, click, click, click, click!</em>

    After finishing the press conference, Fabian moved to the waiting room. His manager asked out of worry, ¡°Fabian, are you really confident that you will be able to do it?¡±

    ¡°Of course, I¡¯m confident.¡±

    Fabian had his reasons. It was because the ¡®God of Growth and Development¡¯ had recently bestowed upon him a Divine Heritage Record.

    The God of Growth and Development wanted Fabian to grow faster than anybody else so he gave a lot of suggestions and proposals for him to be able to bomb his levels up.

    The God had mentioned about ¡®Ankanni¡¯s Dungeon¡¯, a dungeon that had no artifact or gold drops, instead, it offered a 5x increase in EXP acquisition rate. He also mentioned the hidden quest: ¡®Vka Kingdom¡¯s Salvation¡¯, which could increase one¡¯s EXP level to a ridiculous degree. There was also the ¡®Great Spirit Hunt¡¯, a hunt for the being that was once the god of all monsters. Among the three, Fabian had put aside the ¡®Great Spirit Hunt¡¯ since he could not find out about its location.

    <em>¡®If I can kill him, my level will definitely increase at an explosive rate.¡¯</em>

    From what he heard, the Great Spirit would not drop any artifact or gold. However, it would give an outrageous amount of EXP. The Great Spirit was estimated to be at least at Great Demon Verus¡¯ level.

    From what Fabian had gathered, there was a hell-like chasm that divided Level 599 from Level 600. It would be very difficult to cross that gap. He presumed that the EXP needed would at least be ten times higher than the EXP he needed to reach Level 598.

    <em>¡®Food God. You absolutely don¡¯t stand a chance. I will be the first to reach Level 600.¡¯</em>

    Fabian waspletely immersed in a sense of superiority. At the very least, he was better than Minhyuk in this one thing.

    Meanwhile, Team Leader Park Minggyu was also at the press conference. It was an event held by Joy Co. Ltd. where they invited the hottest yers. Since he was already here for an overseas business trip, he decided to stop by and check on things.

    At that moment, Team Leader Park¡¯s phone rang. The caller was Employee Lee Minhwa.

    <em>[Team Leader, there¡¯s a problem.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡± Team Leader Park sighed. Things like this no longer surprised him. ¡°What is it?¡±

    <em>[yer Minhyuk is heading to Mand¡¯s Prison.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡± Team Leader Park¡¯s eyes grew wide. It seemed like the news surprised him this time.

    <em>¡®yer Minhyuk has Mand¡¯s Growth Potion.¡¯</em>

    What were the effects of Mand¡¯s Growth Potion? The most notable effect was the 30x increase in the user¡¯s acquired EXP for an entire hour after the potion was consumed.

    ***

    The Great Luvien Empire¡¯s First Knight Commander Don was someone that the Battle God had sent to Nerva.

    His memories were a bit hazy and vague, but he knew that he had once been poisoned by an unknown concoction that made his body bleed all over, while he slowly withered and die.

    From what he could remember the Battle God had restored his condition back then and appointed him as Nerva¡¯s knight. Don had recovered most of his memories except one thing, the memories of the man that he served in the past.

    <em>¡®Why did I die? Why was I poisoned with that unknown drug? Perhaps it''s alright not to remember? After all, I now belong to His Majesty Nerva. I am loyal to him and him alone.¡¯</em>

    These were the thoughts that gued Don¡¯s head. But one day, a name rang in his ears.

    <em>¡®Your Majesty Brod!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Brod.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Brod!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Brooooooood!¡¯</em>

    Don knew of a person that had a simr name to the one that the mysterious voice in his head was calling out. The man was none other than Brod, the vassal of the man they called Food God Minhyuk. Were they the same person? Don was not sure of that. However, there was one thing that he was certain of.

    <em>¡®His Majesty Nerva is very wary of him.¡¯</em>

    Indeed. Nerva Sephiroth was very wary of Brod. Perhaps that was the reason why Nerva came to him with a kind and gentle smile and gave Don a task.

    ¡ª<em>Don, I want you to personally go to Mand¡¯s Prison and bring him back together with his legacies.</em>

    Nerva treasured and believed in Don immensely. As someone that came from a pure knight lineage, Don lived by his sword.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s amazing.¡¯</em>

    Don had actually seen the Food God. The Food God was a man that could hide his identity from Don¡¯s all seeing eyes. He was also a man that couldmand Brod, a man that even His Majesty Nerva was wary of, as his loyal vassal and subject.

    <em>¡®He must obviously be an amazing man.¡¯</em>

    Although he tried to keep it under wraps, Don could tell that Nerva was conscious of the man.

    <em>¡®Perhaps he will soon establish an empire of his own.¡¯</em>

    That should be a testament to how great a man the Food God was. Besides, he was not only a king, but also a god. Don could already tell that he must be a charismatic figure in their kingdom. That charisma must be something that he used to gather and lead Brod and his other vassals.

    ***

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    When Knight Commander Don, along with three Swords of the Gods and 500 ck Knights, arrived in front of Mand¡¯s Prison, a ce supposedly filled with a considerable number of traps and monsters, they could not help but be puzzled and confused.

    ¡°Hot¡­ hot¡­¡±

    They saw someone crouching in front of the prison and eating some fish cake soup. There were hundreds of fish cake skewers scattered around them, evidence of how much the man had eaten. There was also the baby piggy, Beanie, sitting in front of the man and eating together with him. The twodled some soup in their paper cups and slurped everything up.

    ¡°Kihyaaaa!!!¡±

    ¡°Oiiiink!!!¡±

    ¡°As expected, fish cake soup is the best dish for winter.¡±

    ¡°Oiiiink!¡±

    Beanie and Minhyuk smiled brightly, their eyes filled with awe and admiration. Then, the final fish cake skewers went into their bellies.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­Oiiiink.¡±

    Tears began to well up in Minhyuk¡¯s and Beanie¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Oink, oink oink oink, oink oink. <em>(Bastard owner! I told you so! You should have listened to me when I told you to bring 800 fish cake skewers! Oink!)</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Sniffle.</em> I really should have listened to you. Five hundred is far from enough¡­¡±

    A scene where a king was getting scolded by a baby piggy because he brought less fish cake skewers, and the more shocking part was that the king was kicking himself down for not listening!

    At that moment, Minhyuk¡¯s gaze met with Knight Commander Don.

    Normally, Knight Commander Don and the Swords of the Gods would find this situation to be an opportunity to kill a king that posed a threat to the Great Luvien Empire. However, it was different in Athenae.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s a foreigner. So, even if we kill him here, he will juste back to life.¡¯</em>

    If they gave in to their impulses and made a move on Minhyuk, then he would use this as a reason to hold the Luvien Empire guilty. Also, the Luvien Empire and the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were not enemies on the surface.

    ¡°Hello.¡±

    ¡°Ah, Commander Don.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s momentum changed in an instant. The stupid and foolish-looking king from earlier was now nowhere to be found. He looked at Don and the knights behind him with eyes that were filled with both confidence and charisma.

    <em>¡®Our goals are¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®The same¡­¡¯</em>

    Both sides noticed that their goals were the same. Both sides were here because they wanted to get something from inside Mand¡¯s Prison.

    Minhyuk turned and grabbed the doors of Mand¡¯s Prison strongly.

    ¡°You will be in danger if you go in alone. I don¡¯t know the reason for Your Majesty being here, but Mand¡¯s Prison is not as easy as you think it might be.¡±

    Mand was a very unique existence. Jealous of his talents, the gods imprisoned Mand and erased the memories of most of the people that knew him back then. This was the reason why only a few people knew about Mand. One of those few people was Nerva.

    <em>Clench¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk tightened his grip on the rusty metal doors, exerting force and opening it fiercely. ¡°Dangerous or not, we¡¯ll only know if we get inside, yea?¡±

    <em>Creaaaaaaaak¡ª</em>

    The huge iron doors creaked open. In fact, even Don and the Swords of the Gods did not know what exactly was inside the prison. The only thing that they knew about was the ¡®Great Spirit¡¯ that was guarding it.

    <em>[You have entered Mand¡¯s Prison]</em>

    <em>[The Great Spirit lurking inside Mand¡¯s Prison is dragging you inside.]</em>

    At the same time, a powerful force that they could not resist, wrapped around them. The force not only sucked Minhyuk, but also Knight Commander Don, the Swords of the Gods and even the 500 ck Knights.

    Ten secondster, no one could be seen in front of the prison.

    ***

    Inside Mand¡¯s Prison.

    Mand watched the people, who knocked on the doors of the prison.

    ¡°How did they find this ce?¡± Mand murmured as he nibbled on his nails.

    He was trapped here, cursed to live alone forever. He could not die even if he wanted to. The gods were all watching each and every single move that Mand made. The stigma on his body was proof of it.

    There was only one way for Mand to get away from them and that was to die. However, Mand was someone that feared death. He feared the thought of dying more than anybody else.

    Hence, he did something that waspletely contrary to what Nerva and Knight Commander Don expected.

    Trapped in this ce for a long time, Mand had no other entertainment except for making potions. During his time here, he was able to make a ¡®Berserker Potion¡¯. If this Berserker Potion was consumed by the Great Spirit, the Great Spirit would be able to regain the power that he had lost and be even stronger.

    <em>¡®I want to live.¡¯</em>

    Just one step away from this prison and Mand would die. This was the restriction ced upon him through the stigma branded on his body. So, he had to stop them.

    ¡°You guys must note inside this ce.¡±

    ***

    Notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears the moment he got sucked inside Mand¡¯s Prison.

    <em>[You have entered Mand¡¯s Prison.]</em>

    <em>[Your EXP acquisition rate and artifact drop rate will be doubled.]</em>

    <em>[Mand¡¯s Prison is being guarded by the Great Spirit.]</em>

    <em>[You will receive the wrath of the furious Great Spirit.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk and Don made eye contact as they slowly got their bearings.

    ¡°Kyahahahahahahahahahahack!¡±

    At that moment, a loud and grating scream rang loudly as a powerful force from an unknown being wrapped around the two men¡¯s bodies.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaack!¡±

    <em>[You are continuously receiving damage!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 70%!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 60%!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 50%¡­!]</em>

    Minhyuk, Don and the Swords of the Gods found that they could not move their bodies ording to their will. It seemed like the irresistible, unknown force was preventing them from doing so. The worst part was when the 500 ck Knights began to drop dead one after the other.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    These falling ck Knights were the best of the best in the Great Luvien Empire.

    <em>[The Great Spirit¡¯s Roar.]</em>

    <em>[The mes of destruction will burn everything that the Great Spirit set his sights upon.]</em>

    zing mes sprang in the depths of the dark and gloomy prison.

    ¡°Aaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°For the Great Luvien Empireeeee!¡±

    ¡°Long live His Majesty Nerva!!!¡±

    Knowing that their time was almost up, the surviving ck Knights threw themselves at the zing mes so that they could weaken its momentum and power with their bodies.

    <em>Crackle!!!</em>

    Don and the Swords of the Gods stared in horror as the ck Knights instantly turned into ashes the moment the mes licked their bodies. However, the notifications were not yet over.

    <em>[The Great Spirit has gone berserk!]</em>

    <em>[The Berserk Great Spirit has be stronger than he originally was!]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Knight Commander Don was told that the Great Spirit had grown weak. That was why he personally came here and led this expedition. To their horror and dismay, the Great Spirit had somehow gone berserk.

    <em>¡®I might not be able to deal with him¡­¡¯</em>

    The mes continued to show off an incredible lethality as they licked the ground and stretched even further forward. Don and the Swords of the Gods had sustained considerable physical damage. If they got caught in that attack, there was no way for them to survive.

    ¡°Get behind me.¡±

    At that moment, a man stepped forward and pulled something out in a handsome and cool manner.

    ¡°A cauldron lid¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk ced his cauldron lid in front of him to block the iing attack. Don and the Swords of the Gods quickly gathered behind him as the zing mes made contact with the thick cauldron lid.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>¡®Keok¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®What the hell is that cauldron lid¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Are you telling me that it¡¯s a cauldron lid made by a god?¡¯</em>

    All of them knew that the mes, which easily killed the ck Knights, could deal damage that was on par with a dragon¡¯s breath. That was why they could not help the disbelief that shed on their faces when they saw the cauldron lid stop the mes¡¯ momentum.

    <em>Fwiiiiiiish¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk looked back at them once the mes had calmed down. At the same time, Don and the Swords of the Gods made eye contact. All of them could tell one thing.

    <em>¡®Join hands with our enemy?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®We can only hunt the Great Spirit if we join forces with him.¡¯</em>

    At this moment, the two sides joined hands and fought together.

 Chapter 744: God of Birth Gaerna

    Chapter 744: God of Birth Gaerna

    There was a clear difference between NPCs and yers. For yers, Athenae was still a game at the end of the day. Even if they died, they would only be forced to log out and receive huge penalties.

    But what about the NPCs? If they died, it was real death. Since NPCS faced the threat of real death, fear would often grip them tightly when it came to perilous situations. The same was true for Don and the Swords of the Gods. No matter how proud and arrogant they were, it would be a lie if they said that they did not fear death.

    However, having sworn loyalty to His Majesty Nerva, Knight Commander Don had a heavy sense of duty. As long as it was ordered, he would give his all toplete his duties.

    They had initially estimated the level of the weakened Great Spirit to be at Level 720. Now that it had gone berserk, all their estimations had been thrown out of the window.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m sure the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King can make excellent buffed dishes.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He also has a variety of artifacts.¡¯</em>

    However, the problemy elsewhere. The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King had just used a cauldron lid to stop the Great Spirit¡¯s Roar. They had to join hands with him. But the Luvien Empire was practically the entire continent¡¯s enemy. On the other hand, the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King was a foreigner. He was different from them, who had to fight to survive. Even if he died, he would juste back to life.

    The Swords of the Gods looked at each other. Even Knight Commander Don found it hard to bring the matter up. But for Knight Commander Don, his sense of duty was higher than his desire to live. He wanted toplete the mission more than anybody else.

    Then, Minhyuk, who put his now-heated cauldron lid back into his inventory, turned to them and said, ¡°It seems like we have to cooperate, yea? What do you guys think?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    They wondered if the Luvien Empire was truly the enemy of the entire continent after seeing Minhyuk ask them for cooperation without any hesitation. They just could not believe that Minhyuk would ask something like that of them so easily.

    ¡°You don¡¯t like my suggestion? But, I think I really need your help.¡±

    Knight Commander Don thought for a moment before asking, ¡°Will that be really alright with you?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s there to consider? I already knew that this ce might turn out to be far more dangerous than what I originally thought. Based on your reactions, I can tell that you already knew about this ce and it has somehow be much harder to deal with than what you expected, no?¡±

    ¡°Then, it¡¯s fine.¡±

    Although they agreed, the Swords of the Gods felt like their pride had taken a huge hit. Somehow, it was as if they had been led by the nose by the man in front of them.

    Knight Commander Don and the Swords of the Gods knew that Minhyuk was strong. However, the Swords of the Gods that participated here were at the 1st~5th ranks and were known to be the best of the best. Basically, they were leagues beyond the Swords of the Gods that Minhyuk had dealt with so far.

    The 1st-ranked Swords of the God Beloch said, ¡°Your Majesty Minhyuk, please stay at the rear. We¡¯ll do the hunting. I think it¡¯s better for Your Majesty to assist us with your dishes and support us with your cauldron lid at the appropriate time, or when you think that we¡¯re in danger. After all, we¡¯ll be in huge trouble if something happens to Your Majesty.¡±

    To put it simply: <em>Don¡¯t disturb us and stay behind.</em>

    Basically, Minhyuk¡¯s strength did not leave anysting impression on the 1st~5th ranked Swords of the Gods. However, they knew that they would be able to receive support from him with his cooking skills and excellent supplies.

    ¡°Then, I¡¯ll do that.¡±

    Minhyuk was also curious about the Swords of the Gods and how they would actfortably. After all, he had only heard about them before. Besides, he also really wanted to reach Level 600 as fast as possible.

    Not long after, a set of notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[A fragment of the Great Spirit that guards Mand¡¯s Prison has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[The Great Spirit, including his fragments, is a special being that does not drop any artifact or gold. Instead, he gives enormous amounts of EXP.]</em>

    <em>¡®Ho?¡¯</em>

    Then, at that moment, the Great Spirit¡¯s fragment appeared in front of Knight Commander Don.

    <em>[Great Spirit¡¯s Fragment. Level 674.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk felt himself choke on his breath for a moment when he saw the Great Spirit¡¯s Fragment¡¯s level.

    The Great Spirit¡¯s Fragment was walking on two feet and looked quite simr to a man. However, his body, which was equipped with rusty armor and a sword, looked like it had melted down.

    <em>¡®Shit, this is crazy. An ordinary mob¡¯s level is around Level 670?!¡¯</em>

    However, the shock did not end there.

    <em>[Because of the Great Spirit turning berserk, all of the Great Spirit¡¯s Fragments will have a 10% increase in power.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    In other words, the fragment in front of them could now wield a force that was almost on par with a Level 730 being. Fortunately, there was only one in front of them.

    ¡°Bastard!¡± Apanied by a loud warcry, the Great Spirit¡¯s Fragment made a move.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The Swords of the Gods were startled by the fragment¡¯s surprisingly fast speed. In just an instant, the Great Spirit¡¯s Fragment closed the gap and appeared in front of Knight Commander Don, his rusty sword already swinging down on Don¡¯s chest.

    Knight Commander Don easily avoided the attack, his sword moving skillfully as he aimed an attack of his own back at the fragment.

    <em>Creak, creak, creak, creak¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    The sound that rang when his sword met with the melted flesh was not the sound of flesh being cut off, but the sound of metal being grated. There was not even a hint of scratch left on the bastard¡¯s neck when they separated.

    Beloch, the first ranked Sword of the Gods, immediately moved and swung his sword down, shing down on the fragment¡¯s back.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Unfortunately, only a loud bang could be heard. From what they could see, the fragment did not even sustain any damage from the attack. Even though that was the case, the Swords of the Gods were seasoned veterans. The five of them immediately surrounded the fragment, restraining him and stopping him from releasing another attack.

    The second ranked Sword of the Gods, Luma, was the Sword of the Gods that used a katana. Swinging his katana five times per second, he moved to cut down his opponent.

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng! Fwooooosh¡ª!</em>

    At longst, rotting blood spurted out from the fragment¡¯s body. But at the same time, the speed at which the blood poured out of the Great Spirit¡¯s Fragment¡¯s body began to speed up.

    <em>[Great Spirit¡¯s Fragment¡¯s Madness.]</em>

    <em>[The Great Spirit¡¯s Fragment saw blood. His movement speed will increase by 20% and he willunch consecutive indiscriminate attacks.]</em>

    <em>[The amount of damage that the Great Spirit¡¯s Fragment will incur will double.]</em>

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    The fragment literally fell into madness as he started pressuring and attacking the fifth ranked Sword of the Gods Revor. He did not even care about the attacks that fell on him. Even if his body got torn apart and got cuts all over, he just continued to charge at Revor. Just when his sword was about to finally cut Revor down, a man appeared in front of Revor and cut off the fragment¡¯s head.

    <em>Shiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    <em>Thump¡ª</em>

    <em>Roll, roll¡ª</em>

    <em>[You have gained 93,315,461 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Great Spirit¡¯s Fragment(1).]</em>

    ¡°That was a close one.¡±

    ¡°Ah, Your Majesty.¡±

    The man was none other than Minhyuk. In fact, he could not help but be shocked deep inside after he beheaded the Great Spirit¡¯s Fragment.

    <em>¡®Crazy! It¡¯s giving this much EXP?¡¯</em>

    The amount of EXP was insane.

    ¡°It¡¯s dangerous, Your Majesty,¡± Don voiced his concerns.

    Minhyuk immediately got to using his glib tongue to wrap things up properly. ¡°Well, the Great Spirit¡¯s Fragment seemed like it''s about to die and this friend seems like he¡¯s in danger. Didn¡¯t you say that before? To help when appropriate?¡±

    In fact, what he was saying was only half correct. Minhyuk had stepped in because he was curious about the EXP that the Great Spirit¡¯s Fragment would give. In any case, that amount of EXP would not help the growth of the Swords of the Gods so it would be better if he could just devour all the EXP himself. Basically, what Minhyuk did was to reap all of the EXP with just one sword strike.

    <em>¡®In just a single blow¡­?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Ah, it¡¯s because we have brought the fragment to the brink of death.¡¯</em>

    That was what the Swords of the Gods judged. Anyway, they pushed the thought aside and began to dive deeper into the prison and faced a steady stream of Great Spirit¡¯s Fragments. Every time they triggered the ¡®Great Spirit¡¯s Fragment¡¯s Madness¡¯, someone would get pushed back.

    <em>¡®The amount of damage that he would receive would double once his madness is activated. After around 13~16 attacks, I can kill him with a single blow.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk did some calctions, and stepped in whenever the Swords of the Gods would almost finish the fragment¡¯s hunt.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    <em>[You have gained 93,315,461 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Great Spirit¡¯s Fragment(1).]</em>

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    <em>[You have gained 93,315,461 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Great Spirit¡¯s Fragment(1).]</em>

    Minhyuk took advantage of the situation by stepping forward at an appropriate time, taking thest hit and devouring the EXP. It was only possible with his thorough calctions.

    But after this happened dozens of times, Beloch finally voiced his assumption. ¡°Perhaps the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King can check the enemy¡¯s status?¡±

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then are you saying that he¡¯s killing the enemy with just one strike because he can urately tell when they¡¯re about to die?¡±

    That was a usible reasoning. Otherwise, it could only be exined by the fact that he could deal a tremendous amount of damage that he could cut down his enemies in one strike. That was less likely.

    ¡°That¡¯s very narrow-minded and cowardly.¡±

    ¡°From what I heard, foreigners can grow stronger by acquiring EXP.¡±

    ¡°What a weak king. He can only resort to such underhand methods.¡±

    The Luvien Empire only acknowledged the strength of the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ NPCs like Brod, Spear God Ben, God of Snakes Elizabeth, Evil God Obren and the likes. As for Minhyuk, who was in front of them, they thought that he was nothing but a weak and shabby king.

    ¡°Enough,¡± Knight Commander Don spoke coldly upon hearing the insults and curses they uttered toward Minhyuk. ¡°We will also be receiving help from his dishes soon. Anyway, we aren¡¯t able to get that EXP, so it should not matter to us what he does.¡±

    The Swords of the Gods shut their mouths at his words. At the same time, this thought shed in their heads: If the Beyond the Heavens King was as useless as they thought he was, then distrust in him would grow.

    As they ventured deeper into the prison, the surroundings became darker and darker. One of the Swords of the Gods tried to use amp in the pitch ck darkness that surrounded them.

    <em>[You cannot use amp.]</em>

    ¡°¡­We have to be careful.¡±

    Everyone held their breaths. Everything around them was pitch ck. They could not see an inch ahead of them and could only rely on their hearing to move forward. At that moment, a set of notifications rang in their ears.

    <em>[You have entered the Tomb of the Fragments.]</em>

    <em>[Dozens of Great Spirit¡¯s Fragments have moved to attack the intruders!]</em>

    <em>[Most potions will only have ? effectiveness inside the Tomb of Fragments.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk was the first to realize something was wrong after hearing the notifications in his ears. The next was Knight Commander Don. He saw around eighty eye balls blink in the darkness.

    ¡°¡­Dodge!!!¡±

    At Don¡¯s cry, several lights shed and lit up the area as dozens of Great Spirit¡¯s Fragments appeared in front of them. It was aplete, utter disaster. No matter how strong Knight Commander Don and the Swords of the Gods were, it would still be too difficult for them to deal with almost forty Great Spirit¡¯s Fragments at once.

    ¡°We¡¯ve been lured to a narrow ce to be killed off one by one! Damn it!¡± Don¡¯s face turned ugly. He could see that the narrow pathways had already been filled with several Great Spirit¡¯s Fragments.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Just like that, they were besieged by countless attacks. All they could do was move constantly while trying to find a way to break out of the situation. However, the constant attacks had given them cuts, stabs and scratches all over their bodies. Someone was stabbed in the arm, someone in their thighs, while some had their abdomens pierced through.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Heuuuup!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t lose concentration! Gather here!¡±

    Everyone gathered in one ce at the cry of Knight Commander Don.

    ¡°Release your sword energies,¡± Donmanded as he released sword lights and attacked the enemies that surrounded them.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Hundreds of sword lights flew all over the narrow space that they were trapped in. However, that was aplete error in judgment. While their attacks did reach their opponents, the problem was that they could only restrain them for a moment. Everyone, including Knight Commander Don, had consumed their mana yet their opponents did not die at all.

    The worst part was when the opponent saw blood, they would be consumed by bloodlust, losing their reason all the while increasing their speed by 20% as they charged forward.

    Knight Commander Don stepped forward to defend against their attacks, his body spurting blood as he received severe injuries from the indiscriminate attacks that the opponents sent his way.

    ¡°Does anyone have any mana left?!¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t have anymore left.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. Haa¡­ haa¡­¡±

    Everyone could tell that there would be at least two Swords of the Gods that would fall in this ce if things continued at this rate.

    ¡°Me.¡±

    At that moment, a man wearing a white cape that bore the symbol of a fork and knife crossed together stepped in front of Knight Commander Don. At the same time, ck mes appeared and licked the de of Minhyuk¡¯s sword.

    Minhyuk had received several Memorize Parchments from Golden Mage Ali. What was Memorize? It was a parchment created by high-ranking mages that contained their magic. And one of them was a useful skill for such a situation.

    ¡°Compress.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The men that had been running crazily all over the ce to avoid the attacks were instantly gathered in one ce. But that was not the end.

    ¡°Summon Beanie.¡±

    ¡°Oiiiiiiiink!¡±

    Minhyuk also summoned Beanie in front of him.

    <em>Crackleeee¡ª</em>

    Of course, ck mes were also crackling on the de of Beanie¡¯s kitchen knife.

    Minhyuk attacked first, his sword engulfed in ck mes shing whatever was in front of him.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    zing mes shot forward and swept away the enemies in front of Minhyuk. Then, Beanie immediately stood in front of Minhyuk and unleashed a simr attack.

    ¡°Oiiiiiiiiiink!¡±

    Two seas of zing mes devoured the nearly forty Great Spirit¡¯s Fragments that surrounded them.

    <em>[You have gained 93,315,461 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Great Spirit¡¯s Fragment(1).]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 83,450,100 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Great Spirit¡¯s Fragment(1).]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 89,644,689 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Great Spirit¡¯s Fragment(1).]</em>

    <em>[¡­EXP.]</em>

    <em>[¡­EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    The ck mes devoured the Great Spirit¡¯s Fragments, turning them into dust that disappeared in the wind. When the ck mes were finally extinguished, Minhyuk turned to look back at them with a bright smile on his face and said, ¡°At this rate, it¡¯s not me that should stay behind and send support but you, right?¡±

    His sharp words and smiling demeanor made them speechless.

 Chapter 745: God of Birth Gaerna

    Chapter 745: God of Birth Gaerna

    Minhyuk was able to hunt almost forty Great Spirit¡¯s Fragments by himself because their HP was almost gone. It was also because of the difference between NPCs and yers.

    In most cases, NPCs would either use their inherent skills or the skills that they have created themselves. On the other hand, yers acquired skills in various ways. Some could be acquired through special skill books, while others through a ss change. Because of that, skills had been considered a part of a yer¡¯s power. After all, they could just use another skill if one of their skills were in a cooldown.

    Overlord¡¯s Technique was a skill that Overlord Raldo possessed. Even the Sword of the Gods could not recklessly go against it. It just went to show how powerful it was.

    ¡°At this rate, it¡¯s not me that should stay behind and send support but you, right?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    All of them were left speechless.

    Why did the Swords of the Gods tell Minhyuk to stay at the rear? It was because they thought they only needed his buffed dishes. Besides, there was little need for him since they already had skills that were excellent enough to be called the best on the continent. To them, Minhyuk, someone that they had to protect and shield, was nothing but a deadweight. To put it simply, they were secretly ignoring Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk was aware of this too. However, he did not feel the need to express his discontent.

    <em>¡®He could have expressed his anger toward us.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®As a king of a nation, our actions must have hurt his pride. However, he did not even express his anger before. Perhaps it is because of his magnanimity.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Perhaps he has judged that it is faster to show us through his actions.¡¯</em>

    They are people who had sworn by the chivalry code. As knights, they could admit their faults and apologize, especially if they treated another rudely. They also knew how to treat those that they were indebted to properly.

    <em>[You have gained Beloch¡¯s favor.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained Revor¡¯s favor.]</em>

    <em>[¡­Gratt¡¯s favor.]</em>

    Their favor toward Minhyuk increased dramatically. He might be the king of an enemy nation but they were still people that knew how to show respect and repay the grace that was given to them.

    ¡°Let me tell you this: do not judge others by their appearance.¡±

    Everyone agreed with those words.

    ¡°We are very grateful for your help.¡±

    ¡°We will not forget this grace.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded at their words. He knew that there was no need to make them feel embarrassed in a ce like this. Also, there was one thing that he knew that he could get from them.

    <em>¡®I have the Six Monster Gods¡¯ Skill Creation Book.¡¯</em>

    That was right. Minhyuk had a skill creation book in his possession, and he only had one chance to create a skill. ording to the description, he could run up to twenty simtions during the skill creation process.

    <em>¡®The Swords of the Gods.¡¯</em>

    They were born geniuses who had grown up and dominated the entire continent.

    <em>¡®What if they help me create a new skill?¡¯</em>

    Perhaps something that would exceed someone¡¯s wildest imagination would appear. Unfortunately, his thoughts were cut short.

    ¡°Uggghhh!¡± Knight Commander Don copsed on one knee, his hands clutching his abdomen tightly. ¡°Urk!¡±

    Knight Commander Don, who took on the attacks of forty of the Great Spirit¡¯s Fragments by himself, vomited a mouthful of blood. He was very confident that he could stop the enemies as much as he could by himself. However, everyone knew that he did so just so he could protect the other Swords of the Gods.

    ¡°Commander.¡±

    ¡°Commander Don!¡±

    Knight Commander Don was sent down by the Battle God as a reward when Nerva conquered a portion of the continent. As such, he was just recently appointed as the knightmander.

    However, even though he was in position only for a short period of time, the Swords of the Gods had already trusted and followed him more than anybody else. This was the result of how worthy Knight Commander Don was and how he treated hisrades.

    The light in Don¡¯s eyes dimmed as he copsed on the ground.

    ¡°Hurry and get your potions out!¡±

    They quickly opened the potion and poured it into Don¡¯s bloody mouth. However, Knight Commander Don¡¯splexion was turning paler and paler by the second.

    At that moment, Minhyuk realized, <em>¡®Did his HP fall below 2%?¡¯</em>

    At this point, yers would have heard the notification saying, <em>¡®You will die from excessive bleeding.¡¯ </em>Most of the potions had cooldown times, and Minhyuk had clearly seen Don take a potion a few minutes ago.

    ¡°Urk!¡± Knight Commander Don vomited another mouthful of blood. As his vision started to blur, he began to entertain the thought of getting eternal rest. He looked at the Swords of the Gods that appeared in front of his gradually dimming eyes.

    ¡°Commander!¡±

    ¡°C, Commander! Please wake up!¡±

    <em>[The ck magic that has bound you has loosened as you fall into eternal rest.]</em>

    Then, Don¡¯s memories returned to him as he slowly and gradually approached his death.

    <em>¡®Your Majesty Brod¡­¡¯</em>

    The events of the past shed before his eyes. Brod appeared in front of Don, who was dying by himself, and stood against tens of thousands of enemy troops.

    ¡ª<em>You can¡¯t die yet. You said that you¡¯ll be the Sword God.</em>

    <em>¡®Why? Why did he risk his precious life and throw himself amidst tens of thousands of enemy troops, just to save a mere member of his troops?¡¯</em>

    After cutting everyone down, he walked back with his hands supporting his shoulders and his entire body covered in blood.

    ¡ª<em>Your Majesty. I will live for Your Majesty for as long as I¡¯m alive.</em>

    Don had promised to live for his sake just like that.

    ¡°Haa¡­ haa¡­¡±

    Don reached his hand toward the sky.

    <em>¡®I remember now. I remember the face of my true master, the one that I truly serve. However, I¡¯m afraid I won¡¯t be able to keep that promise.¡¯</em>

    At that moment, Minhyuk spoke up.

    ¡°I have a very precious potion with me. It¡¯s the only potion of its kind that I got from hunting Gaerna.¡±

    The knights looked at Minhyuk as he stepped forward with desperate eyes. However, they all knew that in the end, he was the king of an enemy kingdom. The death of Knight Commander Don was something that he should take joy in and greatly wee.

    On top of that, it was the only bottle of potion that he had acquired from hunting Gaerna. Its preciousness was something that was beyond anyone¡¯s imagination.

    Minhyuk looked down at the bottle of potion for a while. <em>¡®I actually have five of these.¡¯</em>

    That was right. Minhyuk had obtained five Mand¡¯s Elixir. He gave Elpis one, which left him with four. Minhyuk looked down and caressed the bottle for a long time. He sported an expression that made it look as if he was very conflicted.

    Of course, Minhyuk did not forget to emphasize, ¡°I intended to use this potion for my vassals. I¡¯ve reserved this in case they ever meet with danger.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°However¡­¡± Minhyuk looked at the Swords of the Gods with deep sadness in his eyes. ¡°I can tell that he is a very precious person to you.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded his head slowly as he showed the most nostalgic and the saddest look in his eyes, while putting on the faintest smile on his face.

    <em>Pop¡ª</em>

    Then, he popped the potion bottle open and poured the contents into Don¡¯s mouth.

    <em>Gulp, gulp, gulp¡ª</em>

    Mand¡¯s Elixir was a very special potion. First, it did not have any cooldown time at all. Second, it could recover 100% of both HP and MP. And third, it could temporarily increase one¡¯s defense by 20% upon consumption.

    Of course, Minhyuk was not using Mand¡¯s Elixir, such a precious potion, just because he did not want these people to lose a precious person.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Sudden Quest</em></strong><em>: Knight Commander Don¡¯s Memories.]</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: SS</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: Don¡¯s favor</em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: Don¡¯s favor will increase dramatically.</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Failure</em></strong><em>: Don¡¯s death.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: Knight Commander Don¡¯s consciousness had been altered with ck magic. Because of that, he had lost some of his memories. Part of his memories had been reawakened upon his death. You have a bit of connection with him. Saving him might be of help to you.</em>

    Don was rted to Minhyuk in some way. He was not sure how they were rted, but at the very least, he was sure that Don would be of great help to him if he survived this ordeal.

    ¡°Get up. Your men are very worried about you!¡± Minhyuk shouted heatedly, his voice touching the hearts of the members of the knight order around him.

    <em>¡®Ah, aaaaaaaah¡­ He is a true and genuine king. He¡¯s a man that can understand the hearts of the people, even if they are from an enemy nation!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®How can this be? He actually used a very precious potion, a potion that he only has a bottle of, to save our Commander Don?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®My god. He¡¯s truly a man with great generosity!¡¯</em>

    <em>[Your favor with Beloch has dramatically increased.]</em>

    <em>[Your favor with Revor has dramatically increased.]</em>

    <em>[Your favor with Cratt has dramatically increased¡­]</em>

    Minhyuk received a huge increase in favor amongst the people present. It was like hitting two birds with one stone! He saved Knight Commander Don, and won the hearts of the Swords of the Gods in one go.

    Knight Commander Don, whose consciousness had started to blur and turn dark earlier, gradually regained his senses. Seeing this, Minhyuk, with eyes zing with passion, sped the man''s hands with his own and said, ¡°I was very worried. I might have used a very, <em>very</em> precious potion that I only have one bottle of, but I¡¯m very d that it can save you. It¡¯s definitely not a waste at all!!!¡±

    Knight Commander Don felt an unknown emotion surge within him when he saw the relieved expression on Minhyuk¡¯s face. <em>¡®You¡¯re saying that you used a very precious potion, that you only have one bottle of, on me? You? The king of an enemy kingdom¡­?¡¯</em>

    Having survived the ordeal thanks to Minhyuk¡¯s help, Don began to recall the memories that he had lost. Brod, the only emperor that he had served and the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King, the person who had Don¡¯s emperor under hismand.

    ¡°I did not waste the potion at all.¡±

    <em>[The God Who is Good at Lying is looking at you in admiration. ¡®Wow, you¡¯re really¡­¡¯]</em>

    Minhyuk wrapped Don¡¯s hands with his warm hands once again and smiled kindly at him. ¡°Look, your men are very d that you¡¯re safe and alive.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Don finally looked back at his men. He could clearly see the look of relief that shed on their faces.

    Then, Minhyuk gently let go of his hands and said, ¡°I¡¯m very d that you survived, Sir Don.¡±

    The Great Luvien Empire¡¯s Knight Commander Don, the current number one Swords of the Gods and a very promising talent under Nerva¡¯smand, knelt down on one knee in front of Minhyuk.

    ¡°Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King.¡±

    The other Swords of the Gods immediately knelt down on one knee and followed his example.

    <em>[You have reached MAX favor with Don.]</em>

    Knight Commander Don looked up at Minhyuk with a very faithful and loyal gaze.

    ¡°This¡­ Knight Commander Don is His Majesty Nerva¡¯s subordinate¡­¡±

    <em>¡®I was originally serving His Majesty Brod. Why am I serving Nerva now?¡¯</em>

    His memories about what happened at that time were still iplete.

    ¡°To repay the grace that you have bestowed upon me, I will risk and sacrifice my life for you. At the very least, I will risk it for as long as we are inside Mand¡¯s Prison.¡±

    ¡°Sir, yes, sir!¡±

    ¡°Sir, yes, sir!¡±

    ¡°Sir, yes, sir!¡±

    ¡°Sir, yes, sir!¡±

    Themander¡¯s words were the knights¡¯w. Seeing theirmander show his loyalty to Minhyuk, the Swords of the Gods also showed their loyalty to him. After all, Minhyuk was someone who deserved such treatment.

    Minhyuk looked very moved with the disy. He slowly approached them, his knees bending slightly as he pulled them up with him. ¡°Don¡¯t kneel down. It¡¯s for you and for Your Majesty¡¯s sake too.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­¡±

    If Nerva saw what happened here, they would all be charged with treason. Even if they got beheaded and executed right away, they would have no say in the matter.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want your loyalty if that means that you will have to sacrifice your life for me.¡±

    Even though Minhyuk said that, he was stillughing happily deep inside.

    <em>¡®Fufufufufu. Instead of sacrificing your lives. Just help me with the Six Monster Gods¡¯ Skill Creation Book!¡¯</em>

    However, what he disyed on the outside waspletely different from what he thought inside.

    ¡°Let¡¯s just berades that will cross the tightrope between life and death in this ce,¡± Minhyuk said as he drew an <strong>X</strong> on their right arm. It was the symbol of friendship that Ali loved so much.

    ¡°This¡­¡±

    ¡°What is this?¡±

    ¡°It is a symbol that we have berades, at the very least, in this ce.¡±

    ¡°Ah. It has such a deep meaning¡­¡±

    ¡°Ah, aaaaaaaaah¡­!¡±

    ¡°Well then, how about we give it a try?¡± Minhyuk raised his right arm carrying the <strong>X</strong> symbol and shouted as hard as he could, ¡°Frieeeeeeeeeeend!¡±

    ¡°Frieeeeeeeeeeeeeeend!!!¡±

    ¡°Frieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeend!!!¡±

    If Ali saw this scene where they raised their hands and shouted together, he would definitely be moved to tears.

 Chapter 746: God of Birth Gaerna

    Chapter 746: God of Birth Gaerna

    Minhyuk and the Swords of the Gods had a hunch that they would be able to reach Mand and the Great Spirit after passing through the Fragment¡¯s Tomb.

    ¡°So, what you¡¯re saying is that the Great Spirit is much stronger than what you expected?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s correct, although I don¡¯t understand why Mand would turn the Great Spirit berserk.¡±

    Mand had incurred the jealousy of the gods with his talents. Because of that, he was imprisoned here and rendered unable to escape the eyes of the gods. It was logical for him to me and resent the gods, as well as the Great Spirit keeping him captive.

    So, why did he choose to turn the Great Spirit berserk?

    ¡°It would be dangerous for us to go in as we are.¡±

    Minhyuk thought that it was finally time for him to show off his true worth. At this point, everyone was devastated and in despair after suffering from the battle against the Great Spirit¡¯s Fragments. On top of that, Knight Commander Don had almost died. One needed a full meal during times like this.

    <em>¡®I think that would be perfect.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk knew just the thing, and he already had the tools and utensils to prepare the dish that he had in mind.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Bizarre Cauldron</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>ss-Specific Artifact</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: God</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: Food God</em>

    <strong><em>Durability</em></strong><em>: 50,000 / 50,000</em>

    <strong><em>Attack</em></strong><em>: 4,211</em>

    <strong><em>Defense</em></strong><em>: 4,513</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?All stats will increase by +5</em>

    <em>?Buffed dishes¡¯ buff effects will increase by 15% when the cauldron is used for cooking.</em>

    <em>?Attack speed and movement speed will decrease by 20% when lifting the cauldron lid.</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Critical Cauldron Lid</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Frisbee Cauldron Lid</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Obscure Snacks</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: This is the bizarre cauldron that Ravier, the past Food God and God of Cooking, treasured and loved.</em>

    It was an artifact of the greatest Food God, and it had a special effect that could increase the buffed dish¡¯s effects by 15% when cooked using the Bizarre Cauldron.

    <em>Crackle¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk lit a fire beneath the cauldron and began to boil the chicken that was usually used for <em>samgyetang</em>.

    <em>Fwiiiiiish¡ª</em>

    The steam that escaped the seams of the cauldron lid drew the attention of the Swords of the Gods.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s really the king of cooking.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®So cool.¡¯</em>

    In fact, what Minhyuk wanted to cook was not <em>samgyetang</em>, but chicken porridge. Once the chicken was cooked perfectly, he pulled it out of the cauldron and tore it apart with his bare hands. He looked like a master chef as he sat there and tore the meat of the chicken with his hands!

    After tearing the chicken apart, he ced everything back, including the minced vegetables and glutinous rice that he had prepared before. Then, he let everything boil.

    <em>Fwooooosh¡ª</em>

    A mouth-watering scent slowly wafted out as steam escaped the seams of the lid once again.

    Usually, whenever the Swords of the Gods went on a hunt or a war, they would only bring beef jerky or other dried rations with them. Just the thought of eating a proper meal inside a hunting ground was making them shake in their seats with anticipation.

    Minhyuk finished cooking the chicken porridge in no time at all. He immediately scooped the porridge into bowls and served it in front of everyone, along with some <em>jangjorim</em> and well-ripened kimchi.

    At that moment, the Swords of the Gods saw the difference between the size of their bowl and Minhyuk¡¯s bowl.

    <em>¡®I don¡¯t think you can call that a bowl. That¡¯s already a basin.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®That¡¯s more than twenty times more than our serving.¡¯</em>

    ¡°I¡¯ve prepared a lot since there are many of us here.¡±

    Hearing Minhyuk¡¯s words, everyone turned to look at the chicken porridge that he prepared. The truth was, Don, who had just escaped the ws of death, had no appetite at all. He felt like he was going to be sick just by looking at the porridge in front of him.

    <em>¡®Even so, I have to eat. If I want to fight against the Great Spirit then I must eat.¡¯</em>

    Don grabbed his spoon and scooped a mouthful of chicken porridge into his mouth. A light yet savory vor spread in his mouth the moment he tasted the dish.

    <em>¡®Ho?¡¯</em>

    The vor was simply divine. On top of that, it was soft enough that he did not need to chew. Don could not help but smile when the dish went down his throat smoothly. After eating several spoonfuls of the porridge, Don turned his attention to the beef, which seemed to have been pickled with soy sauce.

    <em>¡®What¡¯s this?¡¯</em>

    Don saw Minhyuk eating it with his porridge, so he copied him. To his surprise, the salty and savory vor of the beef burst out in his mouth the moment he ced it in his mouth. The dish rounded up the vor and gave a huge boost to the nd taste of the chicken porridge. This time, Don opted to eat the <em>jangjorim</em> as it was.

    ¡°Ho? What in the world is this?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s called beef <em>jangjorim</em>. It¡¯s a very tasty side dish, no?¡±

    ¡°Beef <em>jangjorim¡­</em>¡±

    ¡°More importantly, it is a side dish that has been cooked and simmered for a long time in soy sauce. Because of that, it can be stored for quite a long time.¡±

    ¡°¡­What a magnificent dish.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s absolutely right. It is a magnificent dish. I can finish three bowls of rice with just this alone.¡±

    Now that he had heard about it, Don realized that this side dish was truly amazing. As the Knight Commander, Don was no exception; he also only took beef jerky and hard bread with him whenever he went to any battlefield or hunting ground. After all, they were easy to carry and could be stored for a long time. Because of that, Knight Commander Don felt like the <em>jangjorim</em> tasted better than the chicken porridge.

    ¡°By any chance, do you have any more of this? I¡¯m really sorry to ask this of you, but it¡¯s truly very tasty. Ah. Of course, I would pay whatever price you set for it.¡±

    Knight Commander Don felt deeply moved by the jangjorim¡¯s vor and advantages and wanted to get more of the dish, even if he had to pay for it.

    <em>¡®I have to get it even if it is five times the price!¡¯</em>

    ¡°Hmm. I can tell that you must have really liked it since you¡¯re saying that. But¡­ This beef <em>jangjorim</em> was made in an aging jar that can only be used once and aged for two years¡­¡±

    That was a lie. Minhyuk could age the <em>jangjorim</em> in Gorac¡¯s Aging Jar in just under five minutes.

    ¡°As for the soy sauce, I used the Soy Sauce Bestowed by God.¡±

    It was just normal dark soy sauce.

    ¡°The beef is from Rammabi¡¯s Cow, and its value is unimaginable¡­¡±

    It was just ordinary beef.

    ¡°I think it¡¯s around 30 tinum per kilogram?¡±

    He had actually bought it for around 15,000 gold per kilogram.

    ¡°But since it¡¯s you, I will give it to you for only 25 tinum per kilogram.¡±

    ¡°¡­I asked you for this favor, so let me buy it at 30 tinum.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s fine. Just pay me 25 tinum. Take it as me being happy to have made your acquaintance.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m really grateful.¡±

    Minhyuk lied without even flinching!

    ¡°Please let me buy it too!¡±

    ¡°Me too.¡±

    ¡°This dish is really delicious!¡±

    <em>[You have sold 1 kilogram of Beef Jangjorim to Don for 25 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have sold 1 kilogram of Beef Jangjorim to Beloch for 25 tinum¡­]</em>

    ¡°This is a special bargain for you guys. Don¡¯t tell anyone about this at all!!!¡±

    Minhyuk even got them to promise to keep their mouths shut and not tell the others the priceter on.

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    ¡°Hahahahahaha! Thank you.¡±

    ¡°As expected of the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King.¡±

    ¡°I am deeply moved by your great generosity!!!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s mouth twitched in joy.

    <em>The God Who is Good at Lying looks at you and says¡­]</em>

    <em>[Do you even have a conscience¡­?]</em>

    <em>¡®What is this guy? Why does he keep on talking to metely?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk decided to ignore the god and just watched the men around him continue their meals.

    An emotional smile shed on Don¡¯s face as he ate thest spoonful of his meal. Then, the notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[You have eaten the Chicken Porridge.]</em>

    <em>[The dish is Legendary grade.]</em>

    <em>[Due to the effects of the Bizarre Cauldron, all buff effects have increased by 15%.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 13%.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP and MP volume has increased by 1.3x.]</em>

    <em>[All of your skills¡¯ levels have increased by +1.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Don and the rest of the knights were in awe. He had just cooked the dish in front of them, yet it had such amazing effects.

    <em>¡®Perhaps this is the reason why His Majesty Nerva is wary of him?¡¯</em>

    He was truly a man worthy of admiration.

    At that moment, Minhyuk brought up his request. ¡°I have a favor to ask you, will you listen to me?¡±

    ¡°Please feel free to speak.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll do it to the best of our abilities.¡±

    Since Minhyuk had reached MAX favor with Don and the Swords of the Gods, he readily exined about the Six Monster Gods¡¯ Skill Creation Book. As it was, the Six Monster Gods¡¯ Skill Creation Book would unconditionally create God-rank skills. However, just because it was a God-rank skill did not mean that it could also be very efficient. That was Minhyuk¡¯s greatest problem. Everything would depend on the creator of the skill. Currently, who he had right in front of him were Knight Commander Don and the Swords of the Gods.

    <em>¡®They are the strongest teachers that one might not be able to see anywhere else.¡¯</em>

    They were the ones who had treaded the furthest in each of their respective fields and had transcended the limits of a human being.

    ¡°Alright. We¡¯ll help you.¡±

    ¡°We have to help.¡±

    The truth was, the Swords of the Gods did hesitate for a moment. After all, Minhyuk was still the king of the enemy kingdom. However, they had to at least do that much to repay the favor of him saving Knight Commander Don.

    At the same time at Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s conference room.

    President Kang Taehoon and the board members all looked at the scene in shock.

    ¡°¡­You can use the Six Monster Gods¡¯ Skill Creation Book like this?¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t this considered an emergency?¡±

    Indeed, it was an emergency. The Six Monster Gods¡¯ Skill Creation Book was an item that would absolutely produce a God-rank skill. However, the most important aspect here was the fact that it could create apletely different skill, depending on how high the efficiency and how far the yer could push.

    Even for Joy Co. Ltd., this was something that waspletely unexpected. All of them focused on the screen in front of them as the Six Monster Gods¡¯ Skill Creation Book shone brightly.

    Minhyuk stared at the shining skill creation book and said, ¡°I¡¯m thinking of creating a new swordsmanship.¡±

    ¡°A new swordsmanship?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. I do notck skills rted to cooking at the moment. As for my Food God¡¯s skills, they¡¯re more than sufficient. The same goes for my one-shot kill skills and lethal moves.¡±

    That was right. Minhyuk had the Overlord¡¯s Technique, the Sword of Absolute Death, and the swordsmanship that Sword God Valen left behind¡ªthe Thousand Swords, the Ten Thousand Swords and the likes. What did these skills have inmon? They were all one-shot lethal skills. Among these skills, the Overlord¡¯s Technique and the Sword of Absolute Death were considered to be the most powerful, so he usually used them.

    That was also the reason why he had neglected a particr swordsmanship skill. It was none other than ¡®Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship¡¯. When he had reached the halfway point on his road to the pinnacle, Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship had shown tremendous power. However, Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship¡¯s efficiency and use had significantly decreased when Minhyuk became stronger or whenever he acquired new skills.

    Also, in terms of swordsmanship skills, it should be able to be used ording to the situation. That was not the case for lethal skills. As such, Minhyuk, someone who had a lot of powerful skills, needed to reinforce himself in this aspect.

    The Six Monster Gods¡¯ Skill Creation Book was covered in a bright light.

    <em>[You have used the Six Monster Gods¡¯ Skill Creation Book.]</em>

    <em>[With the Six Monster Gods¡¯ Skill Creation Book, you can eitherbine the skills that you already have or create new skills.]</em>

    <em>[If you choose tobine your skills, those skills will disappear.]</em>

    <em>[You can run up to twenty simtions.]</em>

    What Minhyuk intended to do here was to create a new skill based on Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship, in exchange for the sacrifice of Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship.

    <em>[You are creating a skill based on Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship.]</em>

    <em>[Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship¡¯s first chapter is ¡®Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship¡¯.]</em>

    The light emitting from the skill creation book created a hologram. The hologram showed the existing ¡®Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship¡¯ buff with Minhyuk¡¯s figure. It showed a red aura wrapping around his body as he used the skill.

    ¡°Would it be fine to look at it by ourselves?¡±

    ¡°Yes, of course.¡±

    The Swords of the Gods moved to check the effectiveness of the skill ¡®Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship¡¯ with the hologram.

    <em>[A being that has transcended the limits of a human being has added their power to the Six Monster Gods¡¯ Skill Creation Book!]</em>

    <em>[A being that will soon transcend the limits of a human being has added their power to the Six Monster Gods¡¯ Skill Creation Book!]</em>

    <em>[A being that will soon transcend the limits of a human being¡­]</em>

    Minhyuk felt the greatness and majesty of the Swords of the Gods as he continued to listen to the notifications that rang in his ears. Then, an additional notification rang.

    <em>[The beings that even the gods cannot judge and evaluate begin to create the ¡®Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship¡¯s¡¯ buff effect.]</em>

    They were beings that even the gods could not judge and evaluate. That was how powerful and amazing the Swords of the Gods were.

    ¡°It¡¯s an excellent buff ability. However, I think it would be better if it had the effect where its power could increase based on the amount of mana that His Majesty Minhyuk has.¡±

    ¡°I think it would be better to increase the cutting power.¡±

    The Six Monster Gods¡¯ Skill Creation Book was an item that could allow them to tweak the skill however they liked. There was no restriction as to how they could make it.

    <em>[The Six Monster Gods¡¯ Skill Creation Book has rejected the creation of Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship¡¯s Skill for the first time.]</em>

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then let¡¯s take this inefficient ability out and increase the amount of mana used¡­¡±

    <em>[The Six Monster Gods¡¯ Skill Creation Book has rejected the creation of Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship¡¯s Skill for the second¡­]</em>

    ¡°This power might not necessarily be useful to His Majesty Minhyuk right now. Rather than that, how about increasing this one.¡±

    The Swords of the Gods brainstormed and discussed how to create the best and most efficient Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship skill. Finally, the first chapter waspleted.

    <em>[The Six Monster Gods¡¯ Skill Creation Book has approved the creation of Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship!]</em>

    <em>[You can now view the effects of the newly created swordsmanship skill!]</em>

    These were the effects of the original Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship:

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Active Skill</em>

    <strong><em>Type of Swordsmanship</em></strong><em>: Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship</em>

    <strong><em>Mana Required</em></strong><em>: 400</em>

    <strong><em>Cooldown</em></strong><em>: 30 minutes</em>

    <strong><em>Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?All stats will increase by 15% and skill casting time will be reduced for five minutes.</em>

    <em>?Evasion Rate increases by +30%.</em>

    <em>?Critical Hit Rate increases by +30%.</em>

    It was obviously an excellent skill.

    And this one was the new swordsmanship skill that the Swords of the Gods created together:

    <em>[Please check the first effect of the newly created XX¡¯s Swordsmanship.]</em>

    <em>(</em><strong><em>XX¡¯s Swordsmanship</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Active Skill</em>

    <strong><em>Type of Swordsmanship</em></strong><em>: XX¡¯s Swordsmanship</em>

    <strong><em>Mana Required</em></strong><em>: 5,000</em>

    <strong><em>Cooldown</em></strong><em>: 15 minutes</em>

    <strong><em>Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?Movement and attack speed increase by 40%.</em>

    <em>?Physical and magical defenses increase by 30%.</em>

    <em>?Cutting Power increases by 60%.</em>

    <em>?Sword Attack increases by 30%.</em>

    <em>?When using sword-rted skills, skill damage increases by 20%.</em>

    <em>?Critical Hit Rate increases by 50%.</em>

    <em>?Skill willst for eight minutes.</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk could hardly contain the shock that he felt when he saw the skill.

 Chapter 747: God of Birth Gaerna

    Chapter 747: God of Birth Gaerna

    As their levels increased, the skills that the yers needed would continue to change. This was the same reason why mages, who reached a high level, would no longer use Tier 1 magic like energy bolts anymore.

    Why was that the case?

    <em>¡®The reason is simple. As the level of the yers increases, the level of their enemies and the monsters that they face will also increase. Thus, using such skills against high-leveled enemies would not bring about any results at all.¡¯</em>

    It would have been nice if the yer¡¯s skills could also grow stronger the higher their levels. Unfortunately, skills had clear limits.

    The unique rank ¡®Three Consecutive Stabs¡¯ that novice yers usually received was a skill that would allow them to stab their opponents three times in a row, with an additional 35% attack. What about the normal rank ¡®Veteran¡¯s Sword¡¯ that high-leveled knight yers learned? It was also a skill that would allow them to stab their opponents three times in a row. However, it had an additional 1,400% attack. As mentioned above, most of the skills that yers used in the past would grow obsolete as time passed by.

    Currently, under the input of the Swords of the Gods, Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship, a skill with a buff effect, had grown better than it was before. Even the ck aura that wrapped around Minhyuk¡¯s body in the hologram as his figure used Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship showed a much more imposing momentum than before.

    ¡°Do you like it?¡±

    <em>¡®Do I like it you ask?! I really, really like it.¡¯</em>

    ¡°The special ability to increase all stats was set to increase even the other trivial stats. However, Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship is abat skill. Instead of increasing all of the stats and the evasion rate, we focused on the stats that affectbat, and also increased the mana required ordingly.¡±

    The yer¡¯s total mana would increase the higher the level the yer had reached. It was only natural for the mana required to increase with the increase in skill effect.

    The second was Sword of Frenzy. Minhyuk¡¯s figure in the hologram disyed the skill and used it against a wooden doll.

    <em>¡®The skill will trigger six consecutive strikes with 400% additional attack and 100% additional damage upon a sessful strike on an enemy¡¯s vital point. It will also deal six consecutive strikes with 100% additional damage to everyone within a five meter radius.¡¯</em>

    When Minhyuk had just entered the ranks of high rankers, this skill had disyed a tremendous amount of power. Right now, that was no longer the case.

    ¡°This skill is definitely excellent. However, I can feel that its focus is neither here nor there.¡±

    ¡°It attacks the target, as well as all of the enemies within a five meter radius. I think this power would be more efficient if we can focus that damage on one target.¡±

    The Swords of the Gods began to modify the Sword of Frenzy.

    ¡°First, let¡¯s take out that unnecessary area of effect.¡±

    ¡°Since it¡¯s a power that attacks the vital point, it would be good if it can be activated even if the attack did not directly hit the opponent.¡±

    ¡°It would be a big deal if the attack doesn¡¯t work even if the vital point was hit, right? Then, how about adding this effect?¡±

    ¡°I think that¡¯s good.¡±

    <em>[The Six Monster Gods¡¯ Skill Creation Book has rejected the creation of Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship¡¯s Skill for the fourth¡­]</em>

    ¡°Hmm. Then, how about we adjust this part down a bit and limit the number of times that it can be used?¡±

    <em>[The Six Monster Gods¡¯ Skill Creation Book¡­]</em>

    ¡°I think we can increase the amount of mana required more.¡±

    <em>[The Six Monster Gods¡¯ Skill Creation Book¡­]</em>

    <em>[The Six Monster Gods¡¯ Skill Creation Book has approved the creation of Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship!]</em>

    <em>[You can now view the second effect of the newly created swordsmanship skill!]</em>

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Sword of Frenzy</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Active Skill</em>

    <strong><em>Type of Swordsmanship</em></strong><em>: XX¡¯s Swordsmanship</em>

    <strong><em>Mana Required</em></strong><em>: 3,000</em>

    <strong><em>Cooldown</em></strong><em>: 30 minutes</em>

    <strong><em>Effects:</em></strong>

    <em>?You can hit the enemy¡¯s vital points just by stabbing within a five meter radius.</em>

    <em>?Twelve consecutive attacks with 500% additional damage each will be triggered upon sessful attack on a vital point.</em>

    <em>?You have an 80% chance of ignoring all of your enemy¡¯s defenses.</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was at a loss for words.

    <em>¡®This ispletely¡­¡¯</em>

    At this point, even the word ¡®crazy¡¯ was not enough to describe the skill. With a 500% additional damage, dealing at least eight attacks would mean that he would be able to deal a total of 4,000% additional damage to his enemies.

    However, the most shocking part of the skill was the 80% chance of ignoring the enemy¡¯s defenses. Defense was a very important factor. There was nearly a 40% difference in the amount of damage between yers wearing armor with a 100 defense and armor with a 1,000 defense.

    Because of that, the Sword of Frenzy could be said to have an effect of more than 4,000% damage if thest effect was triggered.

    <em>[The God who Loves to Cook watches you with interest as you create a new skill.]</em>

    <em>[The God who Rules Over All Armies watches you as you create a new skill.]</em>

    <em>[The God who Does Not Know When to Back Down¡­create a new skill.]</em>

    <em>[The God who Likes to Create and Destroy All Skills and Abilities is surprised to see the birth of a new skill.]</em>

    The God who Likes to Create and Destroy All Skills and Abilities was none other than the God of Abilities and Destruction, the same being that had created the ¡®;Pinnacle Skills¡¯ and sent them down to earth. He was watching the creation of a new skill with bated breath.

    The Swords of the Gods continued to modify and create the new skill. The next skill that they tackled was the Heaven Tearing Sword, that could cut down all the enemies within a five meter radius with attacks that had 600% additional damage.

    <em>[The Six Monster Gods¡¯ Skill Creation Book has approved the creation of Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship!]</em>

    <em>[You can now view the third effect of the newly created swordsmanship skill!]</em>

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Heaven Tearing Sword</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Active Skill</em>

    <strong><em>Type of Swordsmanship</em></strong><em>: XX¡¯s Swordsmanship</em>

    <strong><em>Mana Required</em></strong><em>: 4,500</em>

    <strong><em>Cooldown</em></strong><em>: 35 minutes</em>

    <strong><em>Effects:</em></strong>

    <em>?There is a 70% chance of enemies falling into a two-second stunned state after getting directly hit by the five meter long sword light.</em>

    <em>?Those that are directly hit by the sword light will be pierced by the attack even if it does not initially cut them.</em>

    <em>?If the sword light directly hits the target, an additional 3,500% damage will be inflicted.</em>

    <em>?There is a 7% chance of the enemy falling into a six-second stunned state after getting directly hit by the sword light.</em>

    ¡°Wow¡­¡±

    <em>[The God who Rules Over All Armies secretly casts a sidelong nce at you.]</em>

    <em>[The God who Does Not Know When to Back Down groans.]</em>

    <em>[The God who Likes to Create and Destroy All Skills and Abilities¡¯ face has turned a bright shade of red.]</em>

    <em>[The God who Loves to Cook wants to exchange it for a dish that they made.]</em>

    Plenty of gods watched and looked forward to the creation of the new swordsmanship. Each time a new chapter was finished, Minhyuk would be pleasantly surprised.

    Next was the Sword of Tempest, a skill that was best suited for dealing with huge numbers of enemies. The skill would release hundreds of des with 250% attack and indiscriminately attack all of the enemies around the skill user for six seconds. It could also increase the movement speed by 200%.

    ¡°This skill forces His Majesty Minhyuk to jump in the middle of the enemies¡¯ ranks.¡±

    ¡°Is that even necessary?¡±

    ¡°How about fixing this part right here and making it like this?¡±

    <em>[The Six Monster Gods¡¯ Skill Creation Book has approved the creation of Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship!]</em>

    They ran a total of twelve simtions toplete all of the chapters of the swordsmanship skill.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Sword of Tempest</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Active Skill</em>

    <strong><em>Type of Swordsmanship</em></strong><em>: XX¡¯s Swordsmanship</em>

    <strong><em>Mana Required</em></strong><em>: 6,500</em>

    <strong><em>Cooldown</em></strong><em>: 50 minutes</em>

    <strong><em>Effects:</em></strong>

    <em>?You can summon a typhoon-like sword that has an ego of its own.</em>

    <em>?Hundreds of des will appear and dance around the typhoon-like sword. The skill user¡¯s basic speed will be increased by 150% and applied to the des that will cut down the enemies.</em>

    <em>?Movement speed will also increase by 300% during the skill duration. The skill duration is three minutes.</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk clenched his fists tightly. The skills created by the Swords of the Gods were perfect. He could already feel his own perspiration start to pool in his hands.

    Before, the Sword of Tempest would release hundreds of des that danced around his body and create a tempest to cut down the enemies. But the Sword of Tempest now could summon a typhoon-like sword that has an ego of its own to cut down the enemies; there was no need for him to put himself in unnecessary danger.

    <em>[You have recreated and modified the skill: Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship using the Six Monster Gods¡¯ Skill Creation Book.]</em>

    <em>[You can use the previous swordsmanship skill¡¯s name for the newly created skill¡¯s name or change the skill¡¯s name to a new one.]</em>

    <em>[The Six Monster God¡¯s Skill Creation Book has shown a response to you for creating a shocking skill!]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Easter Egg.</em></strong><em> The One that has Transcended the Six Monster God¡¯s Skill Creation Book¡¯s grade.]</em>

    <em>[You can create one additional chapter and add it as the swordsmanship¡¯s final chapter.]</em>

    <em>[The final swordsmanship that will be created will be the XX¡¯s Swordsmanship¡¯s lethal attack skill!]</em>

    <em>[No one else can interfere in the creation of the final swordsmanship.]</em>

    <em>[You have eight simtions left.]</em>

    This was a very wee notification for Minhyuk. However, this time, the Swords of the Gods could no longer lend him a helping hand.

    Minhyuk pondered deeply over the matter. <em>¡®How aboutbining all of these skills and creating a new swordsmanship that¡¯s simr to the Sword of Absolute Death?¡¯</em>

    This was the easiest and most basic idea. Minhyuk tried to create the skill and immediately ran a simtion.

    <em>[The Six Monster Gods¡¯ Skill Creation Book has rejected the creation of Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship¡¯s Skill for the thirteenth¡­]</em>

    The Swords of the Gods did not have it easy either earlier, so Minhyuk maintained his calm and tried again.

    <em>¡®Then, let¡¯s discard the thought aboutbining everything together. Let¡¯s justbine the benefits of the Heaven Tearing Sword and the Sword of Frenzy.¡¯</em>

    <em>[The Six Monster Gods¡¯ Skill Creation Book¡­ fourteenth time¡­]</em>

    <em>¡®If this doesn¡¯t work, then let¡¯s increase the mana required.¡¯</em>

    <em>[The Six Monster Gods¡¯ Skill Creation Book¡­ fifteenth time¡­]</em>

    <em>[The Six Monster Gods¡¯ Skill Creation Book¡­ seventeenth time¡­]</em>

    <em>[The Six Monster Gods¡¯ Skill Creation Book¡­ eighteenth time¡­]</em>

    Minhyuk started to panic. He now realized how great Don and the Swords of the Gods were. After all, they were able to pinpoint all of the shorings of the skill and put in everything that he would need in the new one. That could only be done if they had sharp and good eyes. On the other hand, Minhyuk, who was the one that owned the skill and was well-versed in his character window, continued to fail.

    <em>¡®I will seed this time.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk lowered his expectations and tried once again.

    <em>[The Six Monster Gods¡¯ Skill Creation Book has approved the creation of Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship.]</em>

    Minhyuk almost howled in delight. This was the birth of a new skill that could be his new lethal move, right? However, that was not the case at all.

    <em>[The Six Monster Gods¡¯ Skill Creation Book has judged that it feelscking to be called a lethal move.]</em>

    <em>[Would you like to continue with the creation of the skill?]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The skill creation book rejected the skill as a lethal move. With this, Minhyuk had used up all of his simtions. In other words, Minhyuk had to create a skill that was strong enough to be called a lethal move by calcting solely in his head.

    <em>Roll, roll, roll¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    While Minhyuk continued to calcte and ponder deeply, he saw a potion bottle roll and stop in front of the Swords of the Gods. The moment Don and the Swords of the Gods¡¯ realized what just happened, the bottle exploded.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>[You have inhaled Mand¡¯s Potion of Restriction!]</em>

    <em>[You cannot use all of your skills and potions for five minutes.]</em>

    <em>[Your resistance to abnormal statuses has decreased by 40%.]</em>

    <em>[All of your defensive power has decreased by 30%.]</em>

    <em>[All of your attack power has decreased by 30%.]</em>

    <em>[You will experience difficulty in breathing.]</em>

    ¡°Keheoook!¡±

    ¡°Ughh!¡±

    ¡°Urrrk?!¡±

    Everyone inhaled the smoke, which spread at the speed of light from the potion bottle, and they could not help but be shocked. They all felt like the power in their bodies decreased all at once. They even found it difficult to breathe, as if they had been choked by smoke for a long time. The abnormal status did not allow them to get back to their senses.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    Then, at that moment, a terrible roar resounded everywhere, as something hurtled through the walls of the prison and mmed into Knight Beloch.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Beloch could note to his senses in time to respond and was sent flying back.

    The thing that mmed into Beloch was floating in the air. It resembled a gigantic carp with a huge fin on its head. It also had scales that looked both shiny and tough, and a tail that looked like that of a dragon¡¯s tail.

    <em>[The one that sessfully kills the Great Spirit will receive rewards!]</em>

    <em>[The Great Spirit is a unique being that does not drop any artifact or gold!]</em>

    <em>[However, you will be able to gain a lot of EXP upon sessful hunting!]</em>

    <em>[The Great Spirit is currently in a berserk state!]</em>

    <em>[The Berserk Great Spirit has received the protection of Mand.]</em>

    <em>[Berserk Great Spirit. Level 832.]</em>

    That was when they saw a man standing on the head of the Great Spirit and holding tightly on its fin. That man was none other than Mand.

    Minhyuk¡¯s hands instantly moved to grab a bottle of potion the moment he saw Mand and the Great Spirit.

    <em>Pop¡ª</em>

    He drank everything in one go.

    <em>[You have consumed Mand¡¯s Growth Potion.]</em>

    <em>[You will be able to gain 30 times the amount of EXP that you will acquire in one hour!]</em>

    The opportunity to bomb his way through his levels has arrived.

    <em>¡®Let¡¯s go for Level 600 in one go!¡¯</em>

 Chapter 748: God of Birth Gaerna

    Chapter 748: God of Birth Gaerna

    The gods, who were jealous of Mand¡¯s talents in making potions, had locked him up in a prison and made a ¡®Great Spirit¡¯ guard him. Forced to live forever inside the prison, Mand might have been suffering tremendously. However, it was not just that. The gods even erased the memories rted to Mand in the people¡¯s heads. Because of that, only a few people know of this fact. One of those few people was Nerva.

    <em>¡®ording to His Majesty Nerva, the Great Spirit had already weakened over time, and Mand would be suffering after being cooped up in this ce for so long.¡¯</em>

    ¡°Mand!!! We¡¯vee here to save you!!!¡±

    ¡°Hero, cursed by the gods because of envy, we havee to save you!!!¡±

    They came here to save Mand, or so they believed. In fact, the moment they arrived, they thought that Mand would drop to his knees, overwhelmed with gratitude and covered in tears to thank them foring to save him. So, why was the situation like this? Why was Mand standing over there and holding tightly on the fin of the Great Spirit?

    ¡°Shut up!!! I¡¯m not stepping out of this ce!!!¡±

    They just could not understand.

    <em>¡®Could we have gotten the legends wrong? By any chance, was Mand not locked up by the gods?¡¯</em> No, that was obviously the case.

    At that moment, the Great Spirit opened its mouth. ¡°<em>Graaaaaaaaaaaa!!!</em>¡±

    Knight Commander Don and the Swords of the Gods turned nervous and vignt after seeing the Great Spirit open its carp-like mouth and release a strange sound. They were still unable to use any of their abilities.

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    Suddenly, hundreds of electric bolts shot out from the Great Spirit''s mouth and flew toward the Swords of the Gods. The attack was far too fast for them to avoid.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Ughhhhhh!¡±

    ¡°Urkkkkk!¡±

    ¡°Keheooook!¡±

    <em>[You have suffered the Great Spirit¡¯s Lightning Attack!]</em>

    <em>[You have fallen into a five-second stunned state!]</em>

    Not only did they receive a huge amount of damage, they were also stunned in ce. At the same time, the Great Spirit¡¯s dragon-like tail swished and the dozens of spears that were at the tip of the tail stabbed through the bodies of the stunned Swords of the Gods.

    ¡°Kghhhhhhk!¡±

    ¡°Keheoook!¡±

    The Swords of the Gods could only scream as they were rendered helpless by the stun. At that moment, Mand took out several bottles of red potion.

    ¡°M, Mand... We¡­ you¡­¡±

    ¡°Shut up! I never asked for help!!!¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The moment the bottles made contact with the ground, a loud explosion erupted and engulfed an area of fifty meter radius. The Swords of the Gods did not die immediately, since they had high HP and defense. However, it was still a huge blow. Commander Don and the Swords of the Gods felt like their deaths were certain now that Mand and the Great Spirit were cooperating.

    Immediately after the explosion, the Great Spirit opened its mouth once again. The Swords of the Gods had to stop the Great Spirit from opening its mouth again, but there was still a second left in their stunned state.

    When dealing with boss monsters, one usually needed great abilities. However, it was undeniable that one also required excellent skills. After all, it was possible to deal a fatal blow as long as the appropriate skill was used at the right time. However, all of the power of the Swords of the Gods was sealed for five whole minutes.

    Meanwhile, there was one man that was avoiding all of the Great Spirit¡¯s attacks using ¡®Like the Wind¡¯. That man was none other than Minhyuk, who had the ¡®Invincible Body¡¯.

    Just when the Great Spirit opened its mouth and was about to release a burst of mes, Minhyuk said, ¡°Like the Wind.¡±

    Minhyuk appeared in front of the Great Spirit in an instant, stabbing it and triggering his skill.

    ¡°Sword of Absolute Death.¡±

    <em>Stab¡ª!</em>

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    The first strike sessfully pierced through the head of the Great Spirit, triggering hundreds of sword lights that ravaged its body.

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    However, the Sword of Absolute Death did not do much damage because of the Great Spirit¡¯s thick and shiny scales. Still, that was enough, Minhyuk had bought enough time. The Swords of the Gods had finally been released from their stunned state.

    Mand, who was standing on top of the Great Spirit¡¯s head, lost his bnce and fell down.

    ¡°Hiiiiiiik!¡±

    After falling on the floor, Mand immediately ran away and hid behind a huge rock.

    The Swords of the Gods immediately charged forward after they were released from their stunned state. Knight Commander Don used his Veteran¡¯s Sword and shed the Great Spirit¡¯s body all over the ce.

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    Beloch and the other Swords of the Gods put pressure on the Great Spirit with their fantastic military might and cooperation. However, a problem still remained.

    ¡°Why is this damn skin so thick¡­?¡±

    The swords and attacks used by the Swords of the Gods could cut most things like butter. However, the Great Spirit¡¯s scales boasted a tremendous defense that made it hard for them to deal a significant amount of damage with their blows.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaack!!!¡±

    At that moment, the Great Spirit shook its tail, causing it to split into eight that turned into spears and stabbed the bodies of the Swords of the Gods.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°Kghhhhk!¡± Sword of the Gods Beloch groaned as one of the tails pierced through his abdomen.

    Even Knight Commander Don could not escape, and his shoulder was pierced.

    All of the Swords of the Gods from rank 1 to 5 could use ¡®God¡¯s Steps¡¯, a skill that allowed them to avoid their opponent¡¯s attacks by moving a set distance all at once. They could avoid most of the Great Spirit¡¯s attacks. However, the problem was that they were unable to use their skills. Despite dealing countless attacks, they still could not deal any damage at all.

    On the other hand, they were being battered and bruised by a series of attacks.

    <em>¡®Damn it! If only I could use my power¡­!¡¯</em>

    There must be a way. Otherwise, it was certain that everyone would be wiped out.

    ¡°I¡¯ll use my skill, so please do your best to restrain the movements of the Great Spirit in front of us.¡±

    ¡°¡­Your Majesty?¡±

    ¡°¡­I understand.¡±

    The various techniques like swordsmanship and spearmanship that the Sword of the Gods possessed were said to be powerful enough to be equal to gods. To these people, they wondered how strong Minhyuk¡¯s best skills would truly be. Fortunately, Minhyuk¡¯s Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship had just been modified.

    <em>¡®The key here is how much His Majesty Minhyuk¡¯s skills can stop the Great Spirit.¡¯</em>

    They wondered if Minhyuk could hold the Great Spirit back at least until the restrictions on their skills had been lifted.

    ¡°Intangible Sword.¡±

    <em>[Intangible Sword.]</em>

    <em>[Your enemies will be attacked by invisible swords for five minutes. Your attacks will reach everyone within your ten meter radius.]</em>

    <em>[You can use Sword Maniption and send hundreds of invisible swords toward your enemies.]</em>

    <em>[Your sword¡¯s attack power will increase by 900%. The movement speed of your Sword Maniption will also be ten times faster than your speed of wielding your sword.]</em>

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª!</em>

    At that moment, blood spurted out from the cuts that appeared after the gigantic body of the Great Spirit.

    The Swords of the Gods could easily cut down even the highest of rankers. However, even they could not put a scratch on the body of the Great Spirit because of its high defense.

    But in just one second, the creature¡¯s body was littered with rips and tears as blood flowed out in between its scales. The shocking part was that the attack was invisible. Despite the attack being unseen, they could still hear it.

    <em>¡®The Hundred Swords¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He actually injured the Great Spirit¡­?¡¯</em>

    That was right. The invisible Hundred Swords moved with sword maniption and hacked at the Great Spirit under Minhyuk¡¯s will.

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaaaack!¡±

    The Great Spirit was forced to take a few steps back, struggling from the sudden pain that assaulted its body. Minhyuk took this opportunity to narrow the distance between them once again and swing his sword recklessly at the monster.

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª Fwoosh¡ª!</em>

    Intangible Sword was a skill that could carry out an attack as long as the target was within a ten meter radius of Minhyuk. Thus, he swung his sword more than three times per second.

    <em>¡®He calctes how the bastard will struggle as he swings his sword.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He¡¯s pressuring the Great Spirit so that it cannot evade or run away.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®His skill with the sword is amazing.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk could stand shoulder to shoulder with a gold medalist in kendo. The Great Spirit had a high amount of HP. However, with how much blood it was spurting, it was apparent that it was getting hit very hard.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    In the end, the Great Spirit decided to go for a blitz instead of avoiding the blows. It screamed violently as it moved toward Minhyuk. The Swords of the Gods stuck together and tried to hold the Great Spirit back, but it was no use.

    Seeing that, Minhyuk immediately used his new skill.

    <em>[XX¡¯s Swordsmanship.]</em>

    <em>[Your attack speed and movement speed have increased by 40%. Your physical and magical defense have increased by 30%.]</em>

    <em>[Your cutting power has increased by 60%, sword attack by 30%, and all sword-rted skills¡¯ damage by 20%.]</em>

    <em>[Your critical hit rate has increased by 50%.]</em>

    <em>[The skill duration is eight minutes.]</em>

    ck aura swirled and covered Minhyuk¡¯s body, his ck hair fluttering as the de of his sword shone a bright golden light.

    ¡°Sword of Frenzy.¡±

    The moment the skill was triggered, dozens of vital points shone brightly all over the Great Spirit¡¯s body. This was something only visible to Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk looked at the charging beast¡¯s gaping mouth. With his current Sword of Frenzy, even if he stabbed from a five meter distance, he would still be able to deal damage to his opponents. That was on top of the Intangible Sword that was still working for him.

    The moment the Great Spirit was three meters away from him, Minhyuk struck strongly at its gaping mouth.

    <em>Staaaaaaaab¡ª!</em>

    <em>[You have sessfully stabbed a vital point!]</em>

    The notification rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears the moment he stabbed the Great Spirit''s mouth. Immediately after, eight consecutive attacks with 500% additional damage exploded throughout the Great Spirit¡¯s body.

    <em>Stab¡ª! Stab¡ª! Stab¡ª! Stab¡ª! Stab¡ª!</em>

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    Minhyuk immediately jumped and triggered the Heaven Tearing Sword the moment he saw the Great Spirit shriek and trash around.

    <em>Piiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    A five meter long sword light with an additional 3,500% attack hit the beast directly.

    <em>Piiiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    It had to be known that the Heaven Tearing Sword was no longer a sword strike that cut, but a sword strike that pierced. In other words, the attack went through the Great Spirit¡¯s body and even broke the wall behind it.

    <em>[The 7% chance of forcing the enemy into a stunned state has been triggered!]</em>

    <em>[The opponent will not be able to move for six seconds.]</em>

    The Great Spirit was left in a stunned state and could not move. Meanwhile, Commander Don and the Swords of the Gods thought: <em>¡®Six seconds. That¡¯s an opportunity.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®However, His Majesty Minhyuk must have already exhausted most of his skills¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Are we going to lose this six second opportunity just like that?¡¯</em>

    Thankfully, Minhyuk still had a lot of skills in his arsenal.

    <em>[Thousand Swords.]</em>

    <em>[Upon sessful attack on the vital point, the Thousand Swords will indiscriminately stab the enemy with 50% of your normal damage.]</em>

    This skill was also one that targeted vital points.

    <em>Staaaaaaab¡ª</em>

    The moment his attack connected with a vital point, thousands of swords rose from the ground around him and scattered a brilliant light. The blinding light left the Swords of the Gods in astonishment as they watched it rip the Great Spirit apart.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    At this point, they thought: ¡®<em>He really shouldn¡¯t have any more skills, right?¡¯</em>

    But then, the word ¡®Destruction¡¯ appeared in golden light on the de of Minhyuk¡¯s sword.

    <em>[The Destruction Mode¡¯s 35% chance of triggering sixteen bloody lightning bolts with an additional 1,600% damage for every enemy has been triggered.]</em>

    <em>aaaaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Immediately after that, sixteen bloody red lightning bolts fell from the sky and devoured the Great Spirit¡¯s body. It even triggered a three second stunned state! The Great Spirit, who was almost released from the previous stunned state, was once again forced into another stunned state.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    With every attack that Minhyuk sent, a tremendous storm of lightning would fall down and put pressure on the Great Spirit.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    At that moment, Mand made a move. He threw a bottle of red potion in order to save the Great Spirit that had fallen into consecutive stunned states.

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡°Like the Wind.¡±

    Minhyuk escaped the area at the speed of light. As quickly as he escaped, he moved to narrow the distance between him and the Great Spirit once again.

    Knight Commander Don and the Swords of the Gods all made eye contact.

    ¡°This, this time, perhaps all of his skills have been used up?¡±

    ¡°P, probably¡­?¡±

    <em>¡®There is no way that he has any more skills, right?¡¯</em>

    ¡°Hundred Swords.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    A sea of des that contained hundreds of swords spread out and devoured the Great Spirit. The incredible power that could deal 4,000% damage per second was released! It could even inflict an abnormal status and make it difficult for the opponent to breathe!

    Devastated by the tsunami of des, the Great Spirit had no choice but to suffer 4,000% damage per second.

    ¡°This time, for sure¡­¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no more.¡±

    Contrary to their expectations, Minhyuk flew up and stabbed his sword down on the head of the Great Spirit.

    ¡°Continent Destroyer.¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    zingva spurted out as the ground exploded, inflicting continuous damage to the Great Spirit.

    ¡°This time¡­¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no¡­¡±

    ¡°Sword of Tempest.¡±

    However, the new skill that they had helped produce was triggered. The skill immediately produced a sword.

    <em>[The typhoon-like sword with an ego has been summoned.]</em>

    <em>[Please choose a ¡®name¡¯ for the typhoon-like sword.]</em>

    Minhyuk quickly gave a name to the sword. ¡°Stormy.¡±

    <em>Swoooooooooosh¡ª!</em>

    <em>[Sword of Tempest.]</em>

    <em>[Hundreds of des will appear and dance around the typhoon-like sword that has an ego of its own. The skill user¡¯s basic speed will increase by 150% and apply to the des that cut down the enemies.]</em>

    <em>[Movement speed will also increase by 300% during the skill duration.]</em>

    <em>[The skill duration is three minutes.]</em>

    The sword known as ¡®Stormy¡¯ shone brightly and put a huge amount of pressure on the Great Spirit by releasing hundreds of sword des.

    <em>Swoosh¡ª!</em>

    ¡°¡­This time, for sure¡­¡±

    ¡°There should really be none anymore.¡±

    ¡°Probably.¡±

    But then, Minhyuk took a potion out of his inventory and drank everything in one gulp.

    <em>[You have consumed Mand¡¯s Elixir.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP and MP have recovered to 100%.]</em>

    <em>[All of your skills¡¯ cooldown time has been reset.]</em>

    ¡°Sword of Absolute Death.¡±

    <em>Stab, stab¡ª Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª!</em>

    ¡°Rampant Sword.¡±

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª!</em>

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Hundred Swords.¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡°???¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    Question marks popped up in the heads of Knight Commander Don and the Swords of the Gods as Minyuk released another flurry of skills.

    ¡°That¡­¡± The fifth Swords of the Gods, Revor, said, ¡°Aren¡¯t we just standing idly by and watching as His Majesty Minhyuk hunts¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    It seemed like Revor was someone who could not f*cking read the room.

 Chapter 749: The Life Elixir

    Chapter 749: The Life Elixir

    Mand was anxious. He had been cursed to die the moment he left this ce. He knew this fact very well. That was why he was desperate. He was left with no choice but to kill all of the people that came to this prison.

    <em>¡®I don¡¯t want to die¡­!¡¯</em>

    Of course, he carried resentment and hatred toward the gods. He even cursed them more than a hundred times in a day. In truth, Mand had only done his best to make potions so that his weak wife could live a long and healthy life.

    He never wanted any gold, silver or treasures. He did not even want to make potions to reap the lives of many on the battlefield. All he wanted was to make a potion that could save a life. However, Mand¡¯s talent had caught the attention and jealousy of the gods. And one day, he found himself suddenly trapped in this ce.

    <em>¡®I wonder what happened to my wife?¡¯</em>

    Back then, his wife was heavily pregnant. Many had told Mand that his wife might die giving birth. After all, there were many cases where those already with weak bodies grew even weaker after having children.

    That was the reason why Mand gave it his all and created a potion. It was called ¡®Mand¡¯s Elixir¡¯. However, even after hepleted the potion, he was not able to give it to his wife. Because he had suddenly found himself trapped in this damn ce.

    Every day, he felt curious. <em>¡®Did my wife live a long time with our child¡­?¡¯</em>

    Mand had always been more concerned about them than he was about himself. Of course, he was aware that they would not have been very happy, especially since he had suddenly disappeared from them. However, even though he had not been there, he wondered if his wife was able to give birth safely.

    <em>¡®Did she live until her hair turned white?¡¯</em>

    He was just curious about that. He wanted to get out of this ce someday and find out what happened to them.

    <em>ng¡ª!</em>

    Mand threw a potion.

    <em>Fwiiiiiiiish¡ª</em>

    <em>[The Great Spirit¡¯s HP and MP have recovered to 50%!]</em>

    The HP that Minhyuk had painstakingly taken off recovered quickly. Fortunately, the skill restriction ced upon Knight Commander Don and the Swords of the Gods had been terminated.

    ¡°We can finally y an active role now¡­¡± Knight Commander Don muttered excitedly.

    Just like what the 5th ranked Revor said, they were also wondering what would happen if Minhyuk, who had almost killed the Great Spirit, sessfully finished the job himself.

    <em>Vwooooooooong¡ª</em>

    Blue energy appeared and surrounded the bodies of Knight Commander Don and the Swords of the Gods. It was the power of divinity.

    <em>Baaaaaaaam¡ª</em>

    Don shot forward and used his ability to cut down the Great Spirit.

    <em>Piiiiiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    The Great Spirit burst into a loud scream as its scales got torn apart from the attack. ¡°Graaaaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    <em>¡®As expected, they can deal a huge amount of damage.¡¯</em>

    <em>aaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk could not help but groan at the sight. Now that their skills were not restricted, they could get into proper positions and put pressure on the Great Spirit. Even though their attack power has been limited to 30% because of Mand¡¯s intervention, they were still able to exert that much power. Their strength truly made one speechless.

    As he watched everything unfold, Mand felt increasingly nervous. It was getting clearer and clearer by the minute that he would die, despite the fact that the Great Spirit was in a berserk state.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Mand quickly pulled out another bottle of potion. He held the bottle tightly, his fingers gently caressing the bottle for a long time.

    ¡°Get out of this prison right now.¡±

    ¡°¡­Mand, what in the world is wrong with you?!¡±

    ¡°We came here to save you.¡±

    ¡°Save me?¡± Mand smiled bitterly, sadness apparent in his eyes as he continued, ¡°I will die if I take even one step out of this prison.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    It seemed like it was not only Minhyuk, but even Knight Commander Don and the Swords of the Gods were unaware of this fact.

    ¡°The only way for me to get out of this ce is to die and be revived. But do you think that¡¯s even possible?¡±

    Mand did not want to attack them either. However, it was an inevitable choice if he wanted to live. After being stuck in this ce for a long time, he had long forgotten how tomunicate with people. Because of that, he had failed to inform them of this fact first to make them give up and just attacked them first. Mand was a good person at heart. That was why he was staring at the potion in his hands for a very long time. He just wanted to live.

    <em>¡®Potion of Despair.¡¯</em>

    Why did he name this potion like so? Because it would bring despair and hopelessness to both the potion user and the enemy. The Potion of Despair would reduce one¡¯s defense and HP, leaving only 1/5th remaining upon consumption. However, it could increase all attack power, attack speed and movement speed by 1.5x. The effect wouldst for ten minutes.

    The potion was a double-edged sword. However, if the Great Spirit consumed it, then it would be almost twice as strong as it was originally. These people would not be able to fight against it at all.

    Mand actually did not have any intention of using the potion. He was just bringing it out to threaten them.

    ¡°Go, now. Anyway, you¡¯ll just imprison me to make potions for you if you take me away from here!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Don and the Swords of the Gods could not even deny his words. However, they were knights who had received the orders of their emperor. They had to carry out orders no matter what.

    <em>¡®If we can''t take Mand away, then we have to at least take his legacies away.¡¯</em>

    So, they did not back down.

    ¡°Eeeeek! I will really use this potion¡­!¡±

    However, something unexpected happened. The Great Spirit, which had always been on the defensive, suddenly turned around and charged toward Mand at the speed of light.

    <em>Gulp¡ª</em>

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    It devoured the potion bottle that was in Mand¡¯s hands before he could even react. The colors immediately drained from Mand¡¯s face.

    ¡°Q, quick. Run! Run away!!!¡±

    But it was already far toote. The potion had already flowed down the Great Spirit¡¯s throat.

    <em>[The Great Spirit has consumed the Potion of Despair.]</em>

    <em>[The Great Spirit¡¯s HP and defense have been reduced. Only 1/5th of the original amount remains!]</em>

    <em>[The Great Spirit¡¯s attack speed, movement speed and all of its attacks have increased by 1.5x.]</em>

    <em>[If you sessfully kill the Great Spirit while the Potion of Despair is still in effect, you will gain double the EXP!]</em>

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeeeck!¡± The Great Spirit released a loud shriek.

    ¡°B, bastard!!!¡± Mand¡¯s face turned ugly.

    As it turned out, Mand and the Great Spirit had not been in cahoots with each other. The Great Spirit¡¯s purpose was to trap Mand in this ce, while Mand only fed it his potions so he could survive.

    Mand hurriedly pulled out another bottle of potion.

    <em>¡®Potion of Reset.¡¯</em>

    This bottle could eliminate all of the effects of the other potions applied to the body of the opponent. The effects of this bottle would be triggered by drinking or just sshing the potion on the target¡¯s body.

    <em>Craaaaack¡ª</em>

    The Great Spirit moved swiftly and lunged at Mand, the spears on the tip of its tail shooting forward and piercing through Mand¡¯s body.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª!</em>

    ¡°Urk¡­!¡±

    Mand, whose neck was stabbed by one of the spears, had a look of anguish as he waved his hand to Minhyuk and the Swords of the Gods. Squeezing the remaining strength in his body, he used his finger to take out more potions while saying, ¡°Everyone¡­ quick¡­ run¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Don, Minhyuk and the Swords of the Gods were shocked by his actions. Even though he was about to die, he still moved to take out more potions to ensure that they could escape safely.

    ¡°I¡¯ll buy you enough time¡­¡±

    <em>Fwoooooosh¡ª</em>

    The Great Spirit tugged the spears that pierced through Mand¡¯s body roughly. Blood spurted out from Mand as he fell down on his knees, his body slowly copsing on the ground.

    ¡°¡­Beinny,¡± Mand uttered his wife¡¯s name as his eyes slowly closed. Mand already knew that his death was imminent. After all, even his heart had been pierced through.

    ¡°Damn it!!!¡±

    Don and the Swords of the Gods released their sword lights and fired it indiscriminately at the Great Spirit. The Great Spirit¡¯s current biggest weakness was its low defense and HP. The best course of action was to kill it before it could even attempt to attack.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Hundreds of sword lights exploded on the Great Spirit¡¯s body. With its low HP and defense, they could tell that its body was taking on a lot of damage.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeeck!¡± The Great Spirit shrieked, charging at the Swords of the Gods with a speed that almost made it invisible to the naked eye. At the same time, its dragon-like tail turned into hundreds of spears that pressured the Swords of the Gods.

    <em>aaaaaash¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Revor, who had been stabbed in several ces by the spears, copsed to the ground.

    ¡°Kghhhhhhhk!¡±

    Beloch, who had been directly hit by the charging Great Spirit, felt all of his bones break.

    ¡°It, it became more powerful¡­?!¡±

    ¡°I, I don¡¯t have any more mana¡­!¡±

    They needed more power to push back and pressure the Great Spirit.

    At that moment, Minhyuk was trying to finish the creation of his final skill. His mind was spinning fast as he recalled the force and might that Knight Commander Don and the Swords of the Gods had disyed earlier. He also thought about what he needed for the skill to be called a one-shot lethal skill.

    A swordsmanship unfolded in Minhyuk¡¯s head, and he continued to draw the shape of the final chapter.

    <em>aaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!¡±

    The third in the rankings of the Swords of the Gods copsed as both of his thighs got shed and stabbed. Just like that, the Swords of the Gods were rendered helpless, unable to put up a fight any longer. Even Commander Don, who had the sturdiest and toughest body, was in a dire situation with spears stabbed through his body all over his.

    ¡°Kghhhhhk¡­¡±

    Don slowly turned his head, blood spurting all over from his body. He could see the Swords of the Gods all over the ce, bleeding and most likely on the brink of death. In fact, he was aware that he was also going to die soon. After all, he had already experienced dying once, he was all too familiar with the feeling now. Back then, Minhyuk had saved him with his only bottle of potion. Even if he died, he had to at least save his benefactor. He had to at least do that much.

    ¡°Your Majesty, this servant will stop that monster. Quick¡­¡± Don turned to look at Minhyuk. He had resolved himself to give it his all to help buy Minhyuk some time to escape.

    However, Don could not utter a single word anymore after seeing Minhyuk. He felt his heart thump at the sight of Minhyuk, with his eyes closed and gesturing with his fingers in the air in front of him.

    <em>Bathump¡ª</em>

    Don¡¯s heart continued to thump wildly as he watched Minhyuk reopen his eyes.

    <em>[You have created the final skill of the XX¡¯s Swordsmanship using the Six Monster God¡¯s Skill Creation Book!]</em>

    <em>[You havepleted the creation of all of your skills.]</em>

    <em>[Please choose a name for XX¡¯s Swordsmanship.]</em>

    <em>Vwoooooooooong¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s hair fluttered from the fierce wind that appeared around him as he looked at the Great Spirit with a calm and quiet gaze. He was around twelve meters away from the Great Spirit.

    ck energy fluttered into existence and wrapped around Minhyuk¡¯s sword.

    <em>[You have chosen the name ¡®Food God¡¯s Swordsmanship¡¯ as the name for XX¡¯s Swordsmanship!]</em>

    Minhyuk uttered, ¡°Food God¡¯s Swordsmanship.¡±

    Don blinked. He could swear that he just blinked once. However, the next thing he saw was Minhyuk, who was covered with ck energy, already standing right in front of him. Minhyuk¡¯s sword shed for a brief moment before returning back to its sheath. In that instant, the body of the Great Spirit had already been cut down.

    <em>ck¡ª</em>

    ¡°Final Chapter.¡±

    ¡°Grrrrrr¡­?¡± The Great Spirit¡¯s throat rumbled in doubt.

    ¡°Sword of Carnage.¡±

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    At that moment, thirty-seven consecutive attacks tore apart the body of the Great Spirit in a split second, causing blood to spurt out of each and every single wound.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    The Great Spirit¡¯s body, which was shed all over, fell t on the ground.

    <em>Thuuuuuud¡ª</em>

    At the same time, the notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You havepleted the Food God¡¯s Swordsmanship.]</em>

    <em>[Food God¡¯s Swordsmanship is a ¡®God-rank¡¯ skill!]</em>

    <em>[You have killed the Berserk Great Spirit!]</em>

    <em>[The Berserk Great Spirit has consumed the Potion of Despair. EXP acquired has doubled!]</em>

    <em>[Mand¡¯s Growth Potion is still in effect. You will obtain thirty times the amount of EXP acquired within the potion¡¯s one hour duration!]</em>

    <em>[The Great Spirit is a monster that does not drop any artifacts or gold. However, it gives more EXP than any other monster!]</em>

    <em>[Failed to calcte the EXP!]</em>

    <em>[Failed to calcte the EXP!]</em>

    <em>[¡­EXP!]</em>

    <em>[Sessfully calcted the EXP!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 98,000,000,000 EXP!]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up!]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up!]</em>

    <em>[¡­leveled up!]</em>

    <em>[¡­leveled up!]</em>

    <em>[¡­leveled up!]</em>

    <em>[¡­leveled¡­]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Congrattions! </em></strong><em>You are the first yer to reach Level 600!]</em>

 Chapter 750: The Life Elixir

    Chapter 750: The Life Elixir

    The notifications rang nonstop in Food God Minhyuk¡¯s ears. There were also world messages interspersed among them. However, Minhyuk did not have the time to check those messages right now.

    One look around and he could tell that most of the Swords of the Gods had received severe injuries. One was limping, and someone was holding onto their arm that was going to fall off. Even Knight Commander Don was left speechless by the disastrous turn of events that led to this. He and the Swords of the Gods would be left crippled, on top of being unable to take Mand away.

    The worst was that Mand was on his knees and was on the brink of dying. His tears that were dripping down his chin were a testament to how afraid he was of death. Amidst the crippling despair and misery, Mand felt his senses slowly fade away. When a person was dying, their senses would disappear one after another, with hearing thest to disappear.

    For a moment, Mand thought that he saw his wife, Beinny, appear in front of his own dying figure. He could see her standing under the clear blue sky with the green grass around them, with a beautiful smile on her face that seemed to outshine everything else.

    <em>¡®Mand, what should we name this child?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®If it¡¯s a girl, then let¡¯s name them Leny. If it¡¯s a boy, then let¡¯s name them Ford.¡¯</em>

    All he wanted was for his wife and daughter to live happily for a very long time. But the gods had taken that away from him. Mand hated the gods even at this moment as he inched closer to death.

    <em>[The Lowest God¡¯s voice is echoing in your ears.]</em>

    ¡°Mand.¡±

    Someone seemed to be calling out to him, the gentle and warm voice washing away the fear in Mand.

    <em>[The Lowest God¡¯s name is Food God.]</em>

    <em>[The Lowest God is showing you care.]</em>

    Mand hated the gods. They were selfish and petty beings. However, this god was patting his head and giving him warmth.

    The Lowest God spoke in a soft voice, ¡°You are free now.¡±

    <em>Pop¡ª</em>

    Something flowed down his throat, along with an unknown sound ringing in his ears. Then, his senses, which had started to disappear, came back once again.

    That was when Mand saw the lowest, yet somehow the greatest, god kneeling in front of him with a bitter and soft smile on his face.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Knight Commander Don and the Swords of the Gods were rendered speechless. This was because they knew the meaning of the words that Minhyuk had said just now.

    <em>¡®Is he saying that he won¡¯t take him to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Even though he saved Mand¡¯s life?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®No way. That¡¯s definitely not the case.¡¯</em>

    However, Minhyuk drove it deeper with his following words.

    ¡°On behalf of the gods that persecuted you and locked you up in this ce, because they were jealous of your talents, I apologize.¡±

    Minhyuk grabbed Mand¡¯s hand. He had heard the man mutter to himself, even on the brink of death, about how his wife and daughter were, about how he just wanted to live a normal life.

    ¡°I will not ask you toe to our Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. And¡­¡± Minhyuk turned his head to look at Don and the Swords of the Gods. ¡°So will they. Mand. You are now free. Go, go and find the traces of your family. I will definitely help you.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Mand could not say anything.

    <em>[Some of the gods that have trapped Mand are looking at the Lowest God in anger!]</em>

    <em>[They may be hostile toward you for tarnishing their reputation!]</em>

    Mand also heard how those self-centered and selfish gods would try to restrict and restrain Minhyuk. However, Minhyuk just looked at the sky above them and said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll make sure to punish those damn gods that put you in this situation.¡±

    Mand stared at Minhyuk¡¯s soft and gentle eyes. Then, a soft smile appeared on Minhyuk¡¯s face as he said, ¡°But before that, I have a favor to ask you. Please save them.¡±

    Minhyuk turned around and looked at the Swords of the Gods, whose bodies were ripped apart and broken down by the Great Spirit. Mand was the one who created the Mand¡¯s Elixir. Healing them was but an easy thing.

    Mand slowly nodded. ¡°I understand.¡±

    He had been locked up in this prison for a very long time. Because of that, he was able to create many potions. Mand slowly approached Beloch. Beloch¡¯s bones were broken. One look and one could tell that he was having a hard time moving. Mand poured the contents of one of his potions and let Beloch drink it. At that moment, Beloch, who was struggling from the throbbing pain brought about by his broken bones, felt his bones move and rebuild themselves.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    At the same time, he felt greed for Mand. However, Beloch knew his position. Only Minhyuk could ask Mand to go with him. Because he was the one who saved Mand.

    This time, Mand approached the Sword, who got both of his legs pierced through by spears and poured potion directly on the gaping flesh.

    <em>Sizzle¡ª</em>

    As the potion washed over the gaping wound, new flesh regenerated, and it was healed. Everything happened in a blink of an eye, bringing a huge shock to everyone. That was how ridiculously powerful Mand¡¯s potions were. Of course, those potions were not something that Mand could make freely.

    Then, Mand moved on. This time, it was Revor. He had lost one eye during the battle with the Great Spirit. It had gonepletely blind. He was taken aback to be able to see the world again just after the potion washed over his eyes. With that, Mand had saved everyone.

    Knight Commander Don and the Swords of the Gods looked at Minhyuk and Mand in gratitude. That was especially the case for Minhyuk. This was because Minhyuk was the one who saved Mand with a mysterious potion, who in turn saved the rest with his own potions.

    In other words, Minhyuk had indirectly be a benefactor to all of them once again.

    <em>[You have received Beloch¡¯s favor.]</em>

    <em>[Your favor with Beloch has already reached MAX.]</em>

    <em>[¡­Revor¡¯s favor.]</em>

    <em>[Your favor with Revor has already¡­]</em>

    Meanwhile, Mand was wondering to himself. He knew that even with the Mand¡¯s Elixir, the elixir that he made, he would not be able to save himself. After all, he was already as good as dead earlier.

    <em>¡®How was he able to save me with a potion?¡¯</em>

    ¡°It¡¯s an item I got from the Six Monster Gods. It¡¯s Gaerna¡¯s Life Elixir.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Mand had heard about Gaerna¡¯s Life Elixir. It was a potion that could save even the dead. It was basically a potion with a value that could not be measured. However, the man in front of Mand had given him the potion so readily.

    <em>¡®You are free now.¡¯</em>

    Mand¡¯s preconception about the gods had started to change. To be exact, his views about Minhyuk had started to change. In response, Mand said, ¡°You can have everything here.¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Knight Commander Don and the Swords of the Gods were all petrified with shock. Those words meant that Minhyuk would receive all of the potions that Mand had created himself.

    <em>[You have be the owner of all of the potions that exist inside the prison.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the ¡®Blue Liquid Salt¡¯ through Mand¡¯s Treasure Hunting Map.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 485 Mand¡¯s Bomb Solution.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 2 Potions of Destruction.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 57 Mand¡¯s Panacea for the Developing One.]</em>

    <em>[¡­Mand¡¯s¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­Mand¡¯s¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­Mand¡¯s¡­]</em>

    As he listened to the notifications that rang in his ears, Minhyuk realized just how astronomical the value of the items in this prison was. Then, Minhyuk received a whisper.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Abel</em></strong><em>: Minhyuk, I found it.]</em>

    Minhyuk had immediately asked for Informant Abel¡¯s help the moment he heard Mand¡¯s words earlier. For Informant Abel, cases where he needed ¡®Ordinary Information¡¯ could be easily found within thirty minutes through a hologram.

    Minhyuk wrote down the information that he received and handed it over to Mand. ¡°Go here. What you¡¯re looking for is here.¡±

    Mand looked at the note for a very long time. He held onto the paper tightly and nodded while biting his trembling lips. Then, he slowly walked out of the prison.

    Knight Commander Don and the Swords of the Gods¡¯ jaws dropped open.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s really just going to let the man go like this?! That excellent and very talented Mand?!¡¯</em>

    Mand looked back at Minhyuk as he was departing and asked, ¡°What is the name of your kingdom?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.¡±

    Mand reflected on the name as hepletely walked out and escaped the prison. Seeing him disappear, Knight Commander Don and the Swords of the Gods looked helpless.

    ¡°Is it¡­ really alright to send him away like that?¡±

    Minhyuk looked puzzled at Don¡¯s question. So, Don continued, ¡°If you take Mand to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, you will be able to gain a lot of power.¡±

    ¡°Don. What you said is just proving what Mand was saying earlier, no? That you¡¯re going to lock him up and force him to make potions?¡±

    ¡°But¡­ Your Majesty, Gaerna¡¯s Life Elixir is a very valuable¡­¡±

    ¡°I have also received a lot. Besides¡­¡± Minhyuk looked at the ce that Mand disappeared from. ¡°What¡¯s good in having someone by your side when you haven¡¯t won their hearts?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Those words struck the hearts of Don and the Swords of the Gods deeply. They felt like they finally knew why there were many talented people that stayed in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, and why they were all willing to throw everything away for Minhyuk¡¯s sake.

    As for Minhyuk, there was this indescribable feeling welling up in him, telling him that he would be able to meet Mand again.

    ***

    Mand realized that seventy years had passed since he had been locked up. Following what was written on the piece of parchment that Minhyuk handed over to him, he was able to arrive at a quaint vige.

    The vige was so small that it did not take too long for Mand to find the person that he wanted to find. However, that person was not at home. So, Mand asked the people and went to where she was.

    There, he saw two tombstones. One of the two tombstones had the words ¡®Dearly Beloved Mother, Beinny¡¯. Standing in front of the tombstone was ady with a head filled with white hair. She was standing and looking at the two tombstones silently while holding an old fairy tale book in her hands. The moment Mand saw her, he knew that she was his daughter, Leny.

    ¡°You¡¯re finally here, Father.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Mand was surprised to hear that Leny, who had now be an olddy herself, could recognize him. However, that did not stop him from hugging his daughter and crying his heart out for a very long time.

    After talking with his daughter, he found out the reason why she was able to recognize him. Leny handed over the fairy tale book in her arms and said, ¡°Mother wrote this fairy tale book. So that we won¡¯t forget you.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Mand held the fairy tale book and slowly started to read it.

    <em>[A long, long time ago, there was a man living in a small vige who liked to make potions.]</em>

    <em>[One day, that man fell in love with a woman.]</em>

    <em>[The man climbed mountains and crossed seas to make a potion for the sick and frail woman.]</em>

    <em>[The man created a potion that shocked even the gods.]</em>

    <em>[And one day, the man suddenly disappeared.]</em>

    <em>[The people said that the gods were jealous of the man and took him away.]</em>

    <em>[Time went by, and the woman gave birth to a beautiful daughter.]</em>

    <em>[The woman believed that even if the man was not by their side, everything that she had right now was because the man loved her.]</em>

    <em>[The daughter grew up listening to the man¡¯s heroic story.]</em>

    <em>[And finally, one day, the man that disappeared came back.]</em>

    <em>[The cool and handsome father, the beautiful and kind mother, and Leny lived happily ever after.]</em>

    It was a fairy tale book that started and ended with a childish tone. However, Mand knew that the gods had erased everything rted to him in the memories of the people. It seemed like before his wife, Beinny, could forget, she made this fairy tale book to remember him by.

    Mand turned to look at the tomb that was right beside Beinny¡¯s own. It was a tomb that was made for him. The words written on the tombstone were the same words written at the end of the fairy tale book.

    <em>[We will always remember you, Mand.]</em>

 Chapter 751: The Life Elixir

    Chapter 751: The Life Elixir

    The global official number one ranker, Fabian, was visiting South Korea and attracted countless reporters, who had flocked to Incheon International Airport for a scoop.

    <em>Click, click, click, click, click, click¡ª</em>

    Fabian was someone that did not have much influence in Athenae. He was just famous for being a yer with the highest level. The only reason why he was able to attract this much attention was because he reached Level 599 just a few days ago after following the methods that the God of Growth and Development had told him. His goal of Level 600 was just right around the corner, it was just one more level.

    Actually, Fabian visited this country on purpose. It was because he wanted to keep Food God Minhyuk in check.

    <em>¡®Hmph! That Food God is very daring.¡¯ </em>Fabian waved his hands toward the reporters while clicking his tongue and thinking about how stupid and pitiful the Food God would be.

    The reason why everyone was so interested in Level 600 was because anyone that reached that point would be able to gain new power. In particr, the first to reach Level 600 would be able to get a special and amazing title!

    Everyone was curious, and the reporters were no different. All of them kept on asking questions.

    ¡°Why did youe to visit South Korea?¡±

    ¡°For the longest time, I have been very fond of South Korea. So, I n to stay at a hotel here and try to achieve Level 600.¡±

    Fabian knew that the reporters would be able to sniff and flock to that hotel the moment he reached Level 600.

    Then, one of the reporters said, ¡°Word on the grapevine is that you came to our country to keep the Food God in check, is that true?¡±

    ¡°The Food God?¡± Fabian acted innocently as if it was the first that he heard such a thing. ¡°No, not at all.¡±

    In fact, Fabian was known for his inferiorityplex. After all, even though his level was the highest, no one in the world recognized him. However, this time, there was the opportunity to trample and mock the current world¡¯s best, the Food God.

    ¡°However, from what I know, the Food God¡¯s level is at Level 597. It will be very difficult to increase by three levels in such a short amount of time. I was only able to raise my level this much because I got lucky.¡±

    This was Fabian¡¯s way of provoking Minhyuk. He was telling them that he was, in the end, still the one in the lead.

    ¡°I¡¯m very pleased to have arrived in Korea today. I can spare an hour for questions,¡± Fabian said generously.

    At that moment, one of the reporters¡¯ phone rang.

    <em>Ring, ring, ring, ring, ring¡ª!</em>

    <em>Ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, ring¡ª!</em>

    ¡°Ah, put it on vibrate mode.¡±

    The phone, which had been set on vibrate mode, began to ring once again. It made the reporter frown. Not long after, the reporters had no choice but to take out their phones from their pockets because it did not stop ringing.

    ¡°Hello? I¡¯m covering Fabian right now¡­ What?! The first person to achieve Level 600 in the world has appeared?!¡±

    ¡°Is that true?!¡±

    ¡°Who is it?!¡±

    ¡°Heooook?!¡±

    The reporters were all in shock, their eyes growing bigger the moment they heard the name.

    ¡°The, the Food God?!¡±

    ¡°Food God Minhyuk?!!¡±

    ¡°Did, did you say that it¡¯s Minhyuk?!¡±

    Everyone turned silent after answering the phone, just like they promised earlier. Their eyes turned to look at Fabian.

    <em>ck¡ª</em>

    In the next instant, one of the reporters picked up their camera and began to run. Immediately after, the rest of the reporters picked up their cameras and ran out of the airport.

    ¡°We need to go in front of the Food God¡¯s house, quick!¡±

    ¡°Senior, what about Fabian?!¡±

    ¡°What about Fabian?! The Food God has achieved Level 600, that¡¯s no small matter! If we don¡¯t cover it then the repercussions will be huge!!!¡±

    ¡°N, no. I will give you three hours of an interview!!!¡±

    In no time at all, there was no reporter standing in front of Fabian.

    Fabian¡¯s manager approached him. ¡°Excuse me, Sir Fabian.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°If we continue to stay here in Korea right now, then I think we will beughed at.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°Should I book a flight back home?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Fabian returned to his home country barely thirty minutes after entering Korea.

    ***

    Back in America, Fabian received the mockery of the people from all over the world.

    <em>[No, Fabian, where¡¯s the V? Hahahahahaha. You always bragged about how you would be the one to get to Level 600 first?]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s because Fabian is the sessor of the ¡®God of Growth and Development¡¯. In other words, the EXP that he can acquire is three times that of the EXP that the Food God can acquire.]</em>

    <em>[Wow. After seeing this, don¡¯t you think that the Food God is really amazing? How did he level up so quickly?]</em>

    <em>[I agree that he is really Our Lord, the Food God. But Fabian? I think he¡¯s just a f*cking God, or something, right?]</em>

    <em>[Pfft¡­ I think it¡¯s better to call him a moron, no?]</em>

    <em>[He has always been very sarcastic during interviews with regards to the Food God.]</em>

    <em>[¡®I¡¯m going to be the first to reach Level 600! No one else will be able to move faster than me and achieve Level 600.¡¯ That¡¯s what he said. Wasn¡¯t that just aimed at the Food God?]</em>

    <em>[Yeah, yeah. He¡¯s just a f*cking god.]</em>

    Thanks to all of the interviews that Fabian had made all over the world, Minhyuk¡¯s achievement as the first to reach Level 600 had even more impact and influence.

    ¡°Sir Fabian, the people from all over the world are asking you to keep your promise.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    That was right. Fabian had vowed in one of his interviews that if Minhyuk was the one that achieved Level 600 faster than him, then he would go to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, bow in front of him and ask him to ept him.

    Fabian knew. <em>¡®I have to handle things well at times like this.¡¯</em>

    That was how Fabian was. He was someone that knew how to y tricks. It just so happened that he did not belong to any guild. So, Fabian nned to go to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom to fulfill his promise and tell this to Minhyuk, ¡°I swear my eternal loyalty and allegiance to you and promise to ovee hardships and adversities with you. I respect you.¡±

    It would definitely make him into a cool ranker that could ept the results of his defeat! He would even promise to help the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and further advance the kingdom! Only then would the criticisms from the world die down.

    ¡°Everyone, please head to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. From today onward, I will be a part of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.¡±

    ***

    Various BJs and reporters from all over the world had gathered in front of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Fabian had contacted the BJs and asked them for a favor.

    ¡ª<em>Please make it so that I will have the image of someone that graciously epts the results.</em>

    Indeed, the public¡¯s opinion was often led around by the words of someone else. Besides, what was the BJs¡¯ specialty? It was talking, right? There were also numerous broadcasting cameras that were preparing to film Fabian, who had been pushed out of his number one position and settled in the number two position. They were excited to see him enter and serve the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    Fabian was riding a ck horse and was heading toward Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Just as they had promised, the BJs and broadcastingpanies began filming.

    ¡°Fabian has arrived.¡±

    ¡°Fabian, who was ranked number one in the world up until recently, made a vow not too long ago. He hase to keep it.¡±

    ¡°Fabian, who epted the results graciously and moved straight to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, is worthy of apuse.¡±

    As he rode on the ck horse, Fabian thought, <em>¡®It must be directed in a way that I look cool.¡¯</em>

    This board was something that he set up himself. So, they had to do it in a way that they could create a movie-like effect. He continued to ride his ck horse and went around the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, while showing a bittersweet smile on his face.

    ¡°So, this is the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡­¡±

    The guards on the wall immediately asked him, ¡°Who goes there?!¡±

    ¡°Speak, who are you?!¡±

    Fabian, with a gracious smile on his face, said, ¡°I am Fabian. Please tell His Majesty Minhyuk that I, Fabian, havee to pledge my allegiance to him.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    The guards looked at him in doubt. Nevertheless, they still hurried to make a report.

    Meanwhile, Fabian got off his horse and looked back at the walls. Then, he began to talk like one of those knights in a medieval movie. ¡°This is the kingdom that I must now serve and protect. The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡­¡±

    He was looking at the walls while talking like that, as though he was in some medieval y.

    ¡°His Majesty Minhyuk has arrived!!!¡±

    Hearing that loud cry, Fabian walked over from the walls and went to a ce where Minhyuk could see him well.

    Minhyuk appeared on the walls. His body was covered in dirt and he looked very tired. It seemed that he had just returned from somewhere not too long ago.

    Fabian hurriedly kneeled on one knee, a reverent and courteous look on his face. ¡°I am Fabian. I came running here for you, Your Majesty Minhyuk.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    He banged his hand on his chest and continued, ¡°I want to live for you and your kingdom.¡±

    Fabian¡¯s expression was determined and showed his will.

    ¡°Look at Fabian¡¯s eyes. Although he had been pushed down by Minhyuk from his number one ranking, it seems like he has no regrets because it was all fair y.¡±

    Fabian, who continued to thump his chest, said as he brought down his other knee, ¡°I will stand by your side and promise to protect you forever!¡±

    The people from all over the world discussed the matter enthusiastically.

    <em>[He¡¯s trying to keep his promise. Like a true man.]</em>

    <em>[This was the man that ranked first in the world before. Even though there¡¯s nothing special about him, he¡¯s still a ranker that could bolster Beyond the Heavens¡¯ forces.]</em>

    <em>[Kghhk. With this, Beyond the Heavens Kingdom will be tougher, no?]</em>

    <em>[Yes, once Beyond the Heavens Kingdom absorbs Fabian.]</em>

    ¡°Fabian.¡±

    ¡°Yes, please speak.¡±

    ¡°Who are you?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    <em>[???]</em>

    <em>[???]</em>

    At that moment, question marks appeared in the heads of the people from all over the world.

    ¡°Th, that¡­ I¡¯m Fabian. I don¡¯t know how else I should put it?¡±

    ¡°No, I mean¡­ am I supposed to know who you are?¡±

    Then, at that moment.

    <em>[Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.]</em>

    <em>[Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.]</em>

    <em>[Ah, crazy. Hahahahahahahahahaha. Shit, I drooled. Hahahahahahaha.]</em>

    <em>[Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehe.]</em>

    <em>[Ah. Hahaha. Fabian looks constipated. Minhyuk doesn¡¯t know who he is.]</em>

    <em>[But that¡¯s possible, right? Him not knowing the fact that Fabian is the one that¡¯s ranked first in the official rankings. Haha.]</em>

    At that moment, one of the broadcasting stations¡¯ officials raised his voice and exined to Minhyuk who Fabian was.

    <em>¡®Hoo. Right, you may not know me but I¡¯m Level 599. I¡¯m the guy that¡¯s closest to you in level. Do you understand now? Do you know how big an increase in power the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would gain if I joined you?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Now, open your arms wide and ept me!¡¯</em>

    ¡°I pledge to serve you. I promise that this is not a false allegiance! I promise with all my heart that I will serve and protect you and the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!!!¡± Fabian dered, his head bowed down. Since he dered this much, it was a given that Minhyuk would ept him with open arms.

    ¡°No, who¡¯s going to take you in? Why are you creating a scene all by yourself when I didn¡¯t even say anything about epting you?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Indeed, Minhyuk had never mentioned anything about epting him. In all honesty, Minhyuk knew about Fabian. He was the number one ranker in the world and he was chasing Minhyuk¡¯s current level. Of course, he was also aware of Fabian¡¯s past arrogant and impudent words.

    Minhyuk was someone that would not ept Fabian just because he could increase the Beyond the Heaven¡¯s Kingdom¡¯s power. Besides, he was someone that had insulted Minhyuk and spoke sarcastically about him.

    <em>¡®You reap what you sow.¡¯</em>

    Everyone that watched the scene were confused.

    <em>[Doesn¡¯t the Food God look colder than normal?]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s right. He¡¯s usually friendly and polite.]</em>

    <em>[Guys, think about it. An unknown yer suddenly appears in front of you and deres, ¡®ept me in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!¡¯. Do you think a busy person like Minhyuk would feel good about it? And haven¡¯t you heard it before? Fabian had been talking shit about Minhyuk through his interviews.]</em>

    <em>[I see, so that¡¯s the case.]</em>

    Fabian looked baffled. Was there someone like him that would not like the ranked number one in the world?! However, Fabian could not back down either.

    ¡°This Fabian might not be good enough but I promise toy my life down for the sake of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡­¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s get things straight here.¡± Then, Minhyuk said firmly. ¡°I don¡¯t know you. But it seems like you have been doing a lot of interviews and speaking ill of me, no?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve seen quite a lot of your interviews and you have always spoken sarcastically about me and insulted me. To be honest, I feel bad to hear someone I don¡¯t know speak nonsense like that about me.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°But now, I have achieved Level 600 faster than you. Because of that, the people are mocking and cursing you. So, to change the public¡¯s unfavorable view of you, you moved here to stay true to your promise. Isn¡¯t it like that?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you a f*cking bastard then?¡± Minhyuk¡¯s expression turned cold.

    His charisma and majesty as the King of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdompletely overwhelmed Fabian. Amidst the live broadcast of the BJs and broadcasting stations from all over the world that had zoomed in on Minhyuk and Fabian, he spoke coldly, ¡°Get lost, you f*cking bastard.¡±

 Chapter 752: The Life Elixir

    Chapter 752: The Life Elixir

    Minhyuk had immediately returned to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom after finishing what he needed to do in Mand¡¯s Prison. After returning, he immediately logged out. However, because he logged out immediately aftering back to the kingdom, he still looked dirty and haggard even though he was able to fully rest in reality.

    He entered his office and checked the set of notifications that rang in his ears when he achieved Level 600, since he could not check earlier.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Congrattions!</em></strong><em> You are the first yer to reach Level 600!]</em>

    <em>[Your achievement will be spread all over the world.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the </em><strong><em>Title</em></strong><em>: ¡®Pioneer¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[You will receive a reward for reaching Level 600!]</em>

    <em>[All five of your basic stats will increase by 8%.]</em>

    <em>[Your resistance to abnormal status will increase by 10%.]</em>

    <em>[Your basic physical and magical attack will increase by 5%.]</em>

    <em>[Your basic physical and magical defense will increase by 5%.]</em>

    <em>[You have reached Level 600. You can now acquire a new ss! You can also acquire a God ss!]</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Minhyuk was very surprised when he saw that he could transfer to a new ss. However, what was surprising here was the fact that a yer could have two God sses! Of course, a God ss was very hard toe by. In fact, there were only a select few yers that could change to a God ss. However, what was certain was that Minhyuk would definitely be stronger than he was right now if he could get another God ss.

    But then, the notifications continued.

    <em>[You possess the sses: Food God and entric Gourmand.]</em>

    <em>[You will only be able to acquire a new ss if you give up one ss.]</em>

    <em>[You are the first yer to achieve Level 600.]</em>

    <em>[You will receive a special privilege. You will receive guidance to a legendary and God ss.]</em>

    It seemed that he had received a special privilege that would guide him to where a God ss was.

    In fact, Minhyuk had realized that the entric Gourmand ss was not as useful to him as he initially thought. entric Gourmand was a ss that would give him special privileges whenever he cooked and ate dishes using entric ingredients. But after having it for some time, he realized that these privileges ovepped with his Food God ss. That was why he judged that he did not need it.

    ¡°I choose to give up the entric Gourmand.¡±

    <em>[You have given up on the entric Gourmand!]</em>

    <em>[You can now acquire a new ss.]</em>

    <em>[You have one year to choose a new ss!]</em>

    <em>[Please look at the guide for your new ss!]</em>

    <em>[Legendary One-Shot Kill Ruvoir¡¯s Descendant.]</em>

    <em>[God of Tomb Raiders Favron¡¯s Descendant.]</em>

    <em>[Legendary Swift-footed Asphen¡¯s Descendant.]</em>

    <em>[God of Escape Karnbel¡¯s Descendant.]</em>

    <em>[God of Knowledge Apollo¡¯s¡­]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk rubbed his chin in thought.

    Surprisingly, he could also check the detailed information of the sses that were presented to him just like this:

    <em>[The God of Tomb Raiders is a ss that specializes in digging through various tombs and dungeons and obtaining relics and antiques! It is a very useful ss if you are hoping to build more wealth, with the God of Tomb Raiders guiding you once every month to new graves or dungeons!]</em>

    Minhyuk, who clicked on the sses one after another could not help but frown. <em>¡®All of them are no good.¡¯</em>

    The Legendary One-Shot Kill ss allowed the user to one-shot kill their opponents. As for the God of Knowledge, it was a ss that could increase one¡¯s INT and WIS, through more knowledge and information they gathered from Athenae. This was a ss that was useful for mages, but not for Minhyuk.

    Gods and legends were also divided into ranks and everything that was presented to him were low-ranking sses.

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[Something surprising has happened!]</em>

    <em>[Many of the gods that are interested in you are willing to guide you into their sessor¡¯s paths!]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk was quite shocked. He had some ties with the gods, but he also shed with quite a few of them. To think that there were a few that were willing to give him a chance to be their descendant.

    <em>[God of Cooking¡¯s Descendant.]</em>

    Arlene, the God of Cooking, could make better dishes than Minhyuk with considerably higher buff effects. In fact, the greatest Food God, Ravier, was both the Food God and the God of Cooking. However, Minhyuk thought differently. This was an opportunity to receive a new ss. Should he waste it in a ss that ovepped with his original ss?

    <em>¡®Grandma, I¡¯m sorry but I¡¯m not attracted to the God of Cooking ss.¡¯</em>

    But that was not the end yet.

    <em>[God of Will¡¯s Descendant.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk had heard several notifications from the God of Will when he was doing repetitivebor before. It was obvious that the god was greatly interested in him. Of course, Minhyuk also coveted the endless skills that the god possessed. However, just like the name ¡®God of Will¡¯ suggested, he would only be able to exert strength if there was an effort. Still, it was very tempting. In the end, Minhyuk still shook his head.

    <em>[Sword God¡¯s Descendant.]</em>

    The notification was quite moving. After all, he would be able to take over his beloved teacher. However, Minhyuk¡¯s sword attack power and skills could be considered to be top notch already.

    Then, a startling notification rang.

    <em>[God of Origin¡¯s Descendant.]</em>

    Athenae was the mother of all of the gods and the Absolute God that ruled all over Athenae. The fact that he could be her sessor was enough to make him shudder. The only problem was that it was impossible to confirm the benefits of the ss even if he clicked on the detailed information. Minhyuk was the first knight recognized by Athenae.

    As of now, he was most attracted to the God of Origin¡¯s Descendant.

    However, something even more shocking rang in his ears.

    <em>[Battle God¡¯s Descendant.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk was taken aback.

    The Battle God had recently made a bet with Minhyuk. After losing the bet, the Battle God had admitted the things that he did wrong and even rewarded Minhyuk. He even personally gave advice to Minhyuk during Gaerna¡¯s hunt. With the appearance of this notification, Minhyuk grew attracted to the ¡®Battle God¡¯s Descendant¡¯ ss.

    But then, the notifications rang again.

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[The gods who are looking at you are arguing and trading harsh words with each other.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Any other Athenae yer would be surprised to see such a notification. Most of the gods that had wanted to guide him on the path of being their sessors were outstanding and incredible gods.

    <em>[The God of Origin spoke sternly with a firm expression on her face.]</em>

    <em>[Children.]</em>

    <em>[The Gods hurriedly closed their mouths.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Cooking¡¯s eyes looked as if she was asking ¡®M, Mom?¡¯]</em>

    <em>[The God of Will blurts out, ¡®M, Mother. Th, that¡­¡¯]</em>

    <em>[The Battle God remained silent.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    As expected of Athenae, those majestic and dignified gods immediately shut their mouths with just a single word from her.

    <em>[The God of Origin tells you to exercise caution when choosing.]</em>

    That was right. Minyuk also did not have to choose right away.

    <em>¡®But if I have to choose right away, then¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had already seen all of the information except for the God of Origin¡¯s Descendant. In short, the ss that he was most interested in was none other than¡­

    <em>¡®Battle God.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was most interested in this ss.

    Then, at that moment¡­

    ¡°Your Majesty, someone named Fabian hase to find you.¡±

    ***

    The sly Fabian, who had spoken sarcastically about Minhyuk, tried to make up for the words that he carelessly spilled by pretending that he was someone that could graciously ept the results.

    However, Minhyuk had treated him coldly, even going so far as to growl at him, ¡°Get lost, you f*cking bastard.¡±

    In terms of level, Fabian was the world¡¯s number one. That was until a few days ago.

    Countless broadcasting stations and BJs from all over the world were currently broadcasting the scene in front of them. Fabian had turned into apleteughing stock. Minhyuk had deliberately pointed out everything from beginning to end so that all of the viewers could understand. At one point in time, the opinions of the viewers that said that Fabian was ¡®a real man among men¡¯ and that he was ¡®someone that knows how to keep his promises¡¯ had made aplete turn.

    <em>[Now that I hear that, isn¡¯t that just right?]</em>

    <em>[Wow. Isn¡¯t he a f*cking trash, then?]</em>

    <em>[When did he badmouth Minhyuk? That¡¯s ridiculous.]</em>

    The BJs and reporters immediately sent whispers to Fabian. They were telling him that the viewers¡¯ opinion and reaction had made a drastic turn.

    ¡ª<em>I will make sure to pay you back ten times what you did to me.</em>

    Minhyuk was just that kind of person. He would make sure to pay Fabian, who dared to provoke him recklessly like that, tenfold of what he did to him.

    As mentioned before, Fabian had a huge inferiorityplex. He waspletely arrogant because his level was high. However, his ego and self-esteem was at rock bottom. Because he did not garner any attention at all. In that situation, when he suddenly heard Minhyuk¡¯s words, there was only one reaction.

    ¡°You m*therf*cker!!!¡±

    Fabianpletely cast aside all pretense, just like what Minhyuk wanted. Of course, he would not be able to swallow that anger down. The BJs and the reporters hurriedly sent whispers to try and calm him down but he ignored them.

    ¡°I will obviously give a huge boost to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom if I join you! But what?! Huh?! You¡¯re telling me to get lost?!¡±

    He was right. There would obviously be a boost in their military strength and power. Although Fabian did not receive much attention, he was still someone that reached Level 599. Simply put, he had a higher amount of stats and skillspared to others. On top of that, once rumors about Fabian joining the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had spread, many people would be interested in the kingdom once again.

    A good idea shed in Minhyuk¡¯s head. ¡°Are you that strong?¡±

    Minhyuk tilted his head while sporting an expression that screamed, <em>¡®I never heard of you before.¡¯</em> Anyway, if this n was executed well, then the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would usher in a huge issue and gain more attention. Of course, it would also allow him to pay back ten times more of what he did to him while also increasing his reputation.

    Fabian¡¯s lips twisted into a smile. ¡°I¡¯m the renowned number one in the global level rankings¡­ No, I¡¯m number two now.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡± Minhyuk looked at Fabian from head to toe before grinning widely. ¡°Right. But I don¡¯t even know who you are?¡±

    ¡°This #$%@#@$@.¡± Fabian¡¯s spat out curses, drawing the ire and criticism of the viewers. Then, in a fit of rage, Fabian dered, ¡°Then, you should see it for yourself!!!¡±

    He took the bait. Even though Fabian was the one that said those words, he also found it impossible. He knew that Minhyuk was a yer that could easily trample on him.

    ¡°But looking at your expression, it seems like you don¡¯t want topete, no?¡±

    ¡°W, what¡­!¡± Fabian¡¯s face turned red after hearing Minhyuk¡¯s provocation. It put a crack on his pride and ego.

    ¡°Shall we do this then?¡± Minhyuk crossed his arms as he looked down arrogantly at him. ¡°If you can sessfullynd three attacks on me within a minute, then I will bow down and apologize to you. Ah, I¡¯ll also give you a legendary grade dish that I have made. Let¡¯s also add 30,000 tinum to the mix.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Fabian¡¯s thoughts whirled fast. Thirty thousand tinum was a huge amount. All he needed to do was to attack thrice in a minute? That was something that he definitely could do.

    It had to be known that Fabian was a Knight ss, which was further divided into different categories¡ªthose that specialized in STR, those that specialized in AGI, and those that specialized in skills. Fabian was a knight that specialized in AGI. He could quickly cut down his enemies with his sword.

    Well, it did not matter what happened anymore. After all, Fabian¡¯s image had already beenpletely tarnished. He would just take this opportunity to show the world how he would trample on the Food God.

    ¡°Come down, you damn bastard!!!¡± Fabian shouted enthusiastically.

    Meanwhile, the BJs and the people all over the world were discussing the sudden turn of events.

    <em>[Even if Minhyuk has overtaken Fabian in the global rankings, it would be impossible to stop Fabian fromnding an attack thrice in a minute.]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s right. He has countless skills. I believe he would be able to attack thrice.]</em>

    Indeed. yers had skills. And high-leveled yers like them would often have AOE skills. If Fabian attacked with an AOE skill, it was likely that he would win this bet instantly.

    Minhyuk jumped down from the walls, his feet gentlynding on the ground. At the same time, power swelled in Fabian¡¯s body.

    <em>[Master of Speed.]</em>

    <em>[Movement and Attack Speed has doubled.]</em>

    <em>[Skill activation time has been reduced by 50%.]</em>

    <em>¡®He shouldn¡¯t have made this bet.¡¯</em>

    That was what Fabian believed as he ran in front of the cameras and the BJs.

    <em>¡®This damn bastard!!!¡¯</em>

    Fabian raised his sword and aimed for Minhyuk. But then, ck energy suddenly appeared and swirled around Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    <em>[Food God¡¯s Swordsmanship.]</em>

    <em>[Your attack speed and movement speed have increased by 40%. Your physical and magical defense have increased by 30%.]</em>

    <em>[Your cutting power has increased by 60%, sword attack by 30%, and all sword-rted skills¡¯ damage by 20%.]</em>

    <em>[Your critical hit rate has increased by 50%.]</em>

    <em>[The skill duration is eight minutes.]</em>

    This was none other than the Food God¡¯s Swordsmanship¡¯s buff effect.

    Fabian was quite shocked to see the cold look in Minhyuk¡¯s eyes while ck energy swirled around his body. However, that did not reduce the confidence that he had in himself.

    Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°Food God¡¯s Swordsmanship.¡±

    This was the first time that Fabian had heard about the ¡®Food God¡¯s Swordsmanship.¡¯

    <em>ck¡ª</em>

    While Fabian was left in doubt, Minhyuk pulled his sword out of its sheath as he passed by Fabian.

    ¡°¡­Sword of Carnage.¡±

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Sword of Carnage</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Active Skill</em>

    <strong><em>Type of Swordsmanship: </em></strong><em>Food God¡¯s Swordsmanship</em>

    <strong><em>Mana Required: </em></strong><em>6,500</em>

    <strong><em>Cooldown: </em></strong><em>1 hour</em>

    <strong><em>Effects:</em></strong>

    <strong><em>?</em></strong><em>Movement speed increases by ten times and cuts down your enemy in an instant.</em>

    <em>?The opponent cut down by your sword will suffer from thirty eight sword attacks in one second.</em>

    <em>?One of the sword attacks will have 2,000% additional damage.</em>

    <em>?There¡¯s a 100% chance of ignoring all defenses.</em>

    <em>aaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk cut down Fabian with his sword. Then, he sheathed his sword, turned around and went back to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s gates.

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª!</em>

    ¡°Keuuaaaaack! Urrrrk! Aaaaack!¡± Fabian shrieked and screamed as his HP dropped at a ridiculous rate. Once the thirty eight attacks ended, Fabian turned to ashes and disappeared into the wind.

    <em>[¡­!]</em>

    <em>[¡­!]</em>

    <em>[¡­!]</em>

    The entire world was left in shock. One of the viewers that watched the scene could not help but mutter:

    <em>[One shot, one kill¡­?]</em>

 Chapter 753: The Life Elixir

    Chapter 753: The Life Elixir

    The first, second, and third most-searched terms on all of the portal sites in the world were rted to the Food God. He had basically dominated all inte traffic.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>1.</em></strong><em> One Shot, One Kill.]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>2.</em></strong><em> Food God¡¯s Swordsmanship.]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>3.</em></strong><em> Fabian.]</em>

    ¡®One shot, one kill¡¯ meant that one had killed their enemy in one attack, a feat that was only possible if there was a huge difference in levels.

    <em>[Fabian is at Level 599. His total HP, an umtion of the HP he received during level ups and the increase with his countless titles, must be incredibly high. But¡­]</em>

    <em>[I know, right. But with just one shot¡­?]</em>

    <em>[Wow. This is crazy.]</em>

    <em>[What the hell is Food God¡¯s Swordsmanship? Isn¡¯t Minhyuk using Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship?]</em>

    That was right. Minhyuk, during his early days in Athenae, had always used the swordsmanship that he learned from Ellie.

    <em>[I haven¡¯t seen him use Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship recently.]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s right. As his level increased, the frequency at which he used Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship decreased.]</em>

    All of the yers knew that it was inevitable. It was a cause of concern for the public. After all, the Food God was a nonbat ss. Combat sses could acquire additional alternative skills whenever they leveled up. Conversely, Minhyuk would not be able to acquire thosebat skills, and instead only gain skills rted to cooking. In other words, he would end upgging behind his peers.

    However, Minhyuk¡¯s Food God¡¯s Swordsmanship¡¯s ¡®Sword of Carnage¡¯ was able to force Fabian to log out. Because of that, the people could not help but to pay huge attention to the Food God¡¯s Swordsmanship.

    <em>[Aren¡¯t swordsmanship divided into several chapters?]</em>

    Swordsmanship, unlike other skills, was usually divided into several chapters. Hence, one could disy and use several skills within a swordsmanship skill.

    <em>[Wow. But to tell you the truth, I never expected that he would be able to one shot, one kill Fabian¡­]</em>

    <em>[Is this even realistically possible¡­? No matter how strong the skill is, Fabian is still second in the rankings.]</em>

    Just like what the other yers were saying, it should be impossible for most high level yers to one shot their opponents who were on a simr level. However, the Sword of Carnage sent 38 sword attacks with 2,000% additional damage toward the enemy. There was also the part where it could ignore defense.

    <em>[Fabian, although he was ranked first in the global rankings before, is known for being a beggar.]</em>

    Fabian was known for not having any ¡®God-rank¡¯ artifacts among all of his equipment. People estimated that the man had at most three legendary rank artifacts. This just meant that Fabian¡¯s gamer luck was extremely bad.

    There was also Minhyuk¡¯s title, ¡®Pioneer¡¯, which had great effects.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Pioneer</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Unique Title</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: The very first to achieve Level 600.</em>

    <strong><em>Title Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?A 20% increase in your equipped weapon¡¯s basic attack and skill attack.</em>

    <em>?A +1 in skill levels of all skills in your possession.</em>

    <em>?Whenever a surprising achievement is gained, special rewards and world messages can be obtained.</em>

    Because of the Pioneer¡¯s +1 in skill level and +20% in equipped weapon¡¯s basic attack, the Sword of Carnage could exert even more power.

    Minhyuk slowly walked back to the ce where Fabian had died. It seemed like he had left behind a ring and some gold.

    <em>[You have acquired 121 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Ring of Growth.]</em>

    Upon checking the item, Minhyuk found out that it was an item that could permanently increase one¡¯s EXP acquisition rate by 10%. It was an item that was very useful to him. But then, at that moment, something very unexpected happened.

    ***

    The entire world turned red as strong waves appeared in the sea and lightning fell down on the ground.

    <em>Vwoooooooooooooong¡ª</em>

    A strong and powerful storm engulfed all of Athenae.

    <em>[The Greatest God is furious at what the ugliest gods had done. Strong waves rose from the sea and lightning bolts fell down from the sky with her wrath.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°What, what¡¯s happening?!¡±

    The yers, shocked by the sudden turn of events, could only wonder about what was happening.

    <em>[The Greatest God purges the gods, who had taken away a man¡¯s freedom by trapping and inflicting eternal pain on him because they were jealous of his talents.]</em>

    <em>Crackle, crackle, crackle, crackle¡ª</em>

    Everyone in Athenae, including both yers and NPCs, turned to look at the howling skies.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°A, aaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Motheeeeeeer!¡±

    ¡°F, forgive¡­ aaaaaack!¡±

    Screams and shrieks rang loudly in the skies above them.

    <em>Craaaaaaack¡ª</em>

    <em>Craaack¡ª</em>

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    <em>[The ones that followed the Greatest God took their swords and attacked those gods, stabbing them in the neck and filling the Land of the Gods with their screams.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Many held their breaths as the wrath of the Greatest God Athenae unfolded, along with the purge of the gods.

    Of course, what followed next was the question, <em>¡®Who was the person that incurred the jealousy of the gods and was trapped by them?¡¯</em>

    <em>[The Greatest God looks sadly at the man as he walks silently on his own path.]</em>

    <em>[The Greatest God returns the memories and the history of the man, stolen and sealed by the gods.]</em>

    At the same time, the name of the man appeared in the minds of the people from all over the world. Most of the people that knew of the man were either almost a hundred years old or over a hundred years old.

    Athenae had hundreds of millions of people all over the world. There would certainly be a lot of people that were over a hundred years in age. Some of them had lived longer because they were strong and powerful legends, while some lived longer than the others because they had long lifespans.

    An old woman, who was sitting on her rocking chair, looked at her young granddaughter and began to tell a tale, speaking as if she was reading from a fairy tale book. ¡°A long, long time ago, there was a man that was so talented in alchemy that the gods grew jealous of him. The man had a beautiful wife that was pregnant with their child. For the sake of his wife, who was weak in nature, the man climbed mountains and crossed seas just so he could make a potion that could cure and revive even those that died.¡±

    Many people from all over the world began to remember the man.

    ***

    In a bar.

    A hundred-year-old man that had lost all of his teeth drank some ckger and told the story of the man, as if he was speaking about a hero¡¯s story in the past.

    ¡°He finallypleted it! The best potion in existence, a potion that can revive even the dead! But what did he get in return for this feat?! The gods grew jealous of him! They threw him in a prison and gave him eternal life, so that he would not die and suffer for all eternity. He has been living in pain and suffering!!!¡±

    In a small vige somewhere.

    ¡°Around a hundred years ago, a huge epidemic broke out in our vige. More than 2,000 people suffered and died. However, a man, who said that he was trying to make a potion for his wife, appeared and made a medicine that cured the epidemic for us.¡±

    The legend in a small vige that had disappeared before, finally resurfaced. The statue of the man once toppled over by the gods was rebuilt.

    The young girl, who was listening to her grandmother tell a fairy tale-like story, asked, ¡°What¡¯s the name of the man?¡±

    The people listening to the story inside the ck Lager Pub gathered around and asked, ¡°Old man, what¡¯s the man¡¯s name?!¡±

    And the vigers, who escaped the epidemic, moved to confirm the name written beneath the statue.

    ¡°Mand. His name is Mand.¡± The olddy smiled at her granddaughter.

    The old man drinking ckger mmed his mug down on the table. ¡°The Legendary Alchemist, Mand.¡±

    As for the vigers, this was the name that greeted them: <em>¡®Our Hero, Mand.¡¯</em>

    All of the vigers bowed their heads and expressed their gratitude.

    Meanwhile, in ces all over the world, praises of Mand began to ring out.

    ¡°Mand. His talent in alchemy is second to none in this world,¡± someone said.

    ¡°Aaaaaah~ Mand~ The man that incurred the envy of the gods~¡±

    That was not all, the name of this legend was also engraved in the hearts of all those that studied and practiced alchemy.

    <em>[The Greatest God watched the man as he walked away after gaining his freedom.]</em>

    <em>[After being imprisoned for the longest time, Mand finally became free.]</em>

    <em>[The Greatest God looked at his lonely figure and spoke to him¡­]</em>

    <em>[Child.]</em>

    Everyone held their breaths as Athenae¡¯s ethereal voice rang in their ears.

    <em>[Do you resent them?]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Everyone was rendered speechless as the world message, which had been ringing non-stop in their ears, exined Mand¡¯s situation.

    Although he sessfully created the elixir, Mand still failed to hand it over to his wife. He had been dragged away and imprisoned by the gods, suffering for a long time. When he finally broke free, what greeted him was his wife¡¯s cold grave.

    <em>Clench¡ª</em>

    ¡°These bastards!!!¡±

    ¡°How could they do that?!!!¡±

    ¡°Mand, it¡¯s fine to be mad! You deserve to be angry!!!¡±

    ¡°Gods!!! How can you treat us humans like bugs!!!¡±

    Many fully understood Mand and his feelings. Then, Mand¡¯s voice rang in their ears.

    <em>[I resent them.]</em>

    Not long after, Athenae¡¯s voice rang once again.

    <em>[There are some that I haven¡¯t purged yet. I will give you the power to do as you please with them, kill them if you may.]</em>

    <em>Vwoooooooooooooong¡ª!</em>

    The wind blew even harder, sweeping across the entire world of Athenae. Then, a startling notification rang in everyone¡¯s ears.

    <em>[Mand is turning into the Evil Incarnate.]</em>

    <em>[There is a high chance that Mand, who will turn into the Evil Incarnate, will go berserk.]</em>

    Both yers and NPCs alike felt fear. They knew that Mand was very pitiful. However, they did not know what would happen if Mand went berserk.

    One after another, the people caught sight of Mand walking silently by himself as a ck pir of light fell down from the sky and engulfed his entire figure.

    ck wings like that of the demons sprouted from behind Mand¡¯s back. Through it all, Mand kept on walking, as if he already had a destination in mind. The trees started to wither and dry as life was sucked out of the ces that Mand passed by. Even the verdant grass turned gray and crumbled into pieces. Mand, the man that had traversed the world for the sake of his wife, was slowly transforming into the Evil Incarnate.

    Someone, who was watching him walk like that, murmured, ¡°If he continues on that path, then¡­?¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that the path toward the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?¡±

    ***

    The power that God Athenae had given Mand was surging in his veins. The ck pir that fell down from the sky struck his body and tried to transform him and make him into the Evil Incarnate. Even so, Mand just continued to walk silently.

    Did he resent them? Yes, of course. After all, they deprived him of witnessing even the end of his wife¡¯s life. Did he want to take revenge on them? That was right. Mand wanted to wring the necks of the gods that forced him in this situation.

    As he continued to walk, a huge wall appeared in his sight. Mand looked up at the sky bitterly and said, ¡°But you know¡­¡± a teary smile shed on his face. ¡°My wife is a good person.¡±

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    ¡°My daughter, Leny, had grown up so beautifully and brilliantly, living her own version of a happily ever after.¡±

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    ¡°They wouldn¡¯t want me to be like this.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The ck demon-like wings that sprouted on Mand¡¯s back slowly disappeared as the ck pirs of light that fell from the sky scattered into nothingness.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    As he continued on his path, Mand¡¯s eyes caught sight of someone. There were countless BJs and broadcasting stations officials around this individual, who smiled quietly as he watched Mand approach him.

    Seeing that smile, the Greatest God felt an indescribable emotion well up in her chest.

    <em>[Athenae delivers the voice of Mand, who has given up on bing the Evil Incarnate!]</em>

    <em>[I have nowhere to go now.]</em>

    The faint smile on the man¡¯s face remained as Mand continued to approach him.

    <em>[Whenever I think about where I should go, you are the only thing thates to mind. Now, I¡¯m¡­]</em>

    <em>[I just want tough, cry and grow old.]</em>

    Mand arrived in front of the man. This time, a pir of white light fell down on his body from the sky above.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    When the pir of light disappeared, Mand¡¯s appearance had already changed. His ragged clothes had turned into a beautiful white robe, and even his hair had been brushed up while his scruffy face had been tidied up. Then, the symbol of a ¡®fork and knife¡¯ crossed together appeared on the back of his robe.

    <em>[I want to stay here by your side.]</em>

    The man stepped closer to Mand after hearing those words. Immediately after that, a new world message rang in the world.

    <em>[Mand, who was turning into the Evil Incarnate, refused to be the Incarnate with his own power.]</em>

    <em>[The Greatest God has bestowed the position of ¡®God of Alchemy¡¯ to the qualified one!]</em>

    <em>[Mand has be the God of Alchemy!]</em>

    The man standing in front of the new God of Alchemy was none other than Minhyuk. With a warm and gentle gaze, Minhyuk smiled brightly and said, ¡°Wee, Mand.¡±

 Chapter 754: The Life Elixir

    Chapter 754: The Life Elixir

    Joy Co. Ltd. was immediately put on alert when Mand started to turn into the Evil Incarnate.

    ¡°Did you say that Mand is turning into the Evil Incarnate?! What in the world is going on?!!¡±

    ¡°Athenae is granting him the position of the ¡®Evil Incarnate¡¯!!!¡±

    The Story Team¡¯s leader was very shocked to hear that. Athenae could give the position of the ¡®Evil Incarnate¡¯ to those that harbored great resentment and anger toward the gods.

    From what the Story Team¡¯s leader knew, Mand was supposed to die while trying to escape the prison. However, he came back to life thanks to Gaerna¡¯s Life Elixir.

    ¡°This is a disaster¡­¡± The Story Team¡¯s leader mumbled as he rushed to the conference room.

    There were plenty of people already seated inside after grasping the severity of the situation.

    One of the board members said, ¡°Isn¡¯t the Evil Incarnate one of the hidden Absolute Gods?¡±

    That was right. The Evil Incarnate was the hidden and final Absolute God. The Evil Incarnate was incredibly and terrifyingly strong. In fact, it was still questionable whether he could be killed if all of the Absolute Gods, including the Battle God, joined forces.

    One of the Six Monster Gods, Gaerna, could actually be easily subdued as long as the Luvien Empire had stepped forward. But in the case of the Evil Incarnate? There was no way to control and subdue him.

    Just when despair had started to stain the faces of everyone present, a shocking notification popped up on the monitor in front of them.

    <em>[Mand has personally given up the position of the Evil Incarnate.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    It was so surprising that even President Kang Taehoon did not even think that this was possible. After all, only those that had great resentment and anger toward the gods were qualified to be the Evil Incarnate.

    <em>¡®Is Mand not angry with the gods?¡¯</em>

    No, that was not the case at all. If that was truly the case, then the power of the Evil Incarnate would not have sprouted in him when Athenae bestowed it upon him. He was obviously furious. However, he still chose to give up on bing the Evil Incarnate.

    <em>[The Greatest God has bestowed the position of ¡®God of Alchemy¡¯ to the qualified one!]</em>

    <em>[Mand has be the God of Alchemy!]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    This was also a very shocking and unexpected notification. However, it was much better than Mand bing the Evil Incarnate. It was truly a roller coaster of emotions for the employees of Joy Co. Ltd.

    <em>[God of Alchemy Mand pledges his eternal loyalty and allegiance to Minhyuk!]</em>

    The surprise did not end there. Mand, who was walking toward Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, found Minhyuk and approached him. Minhyuk smiled graciously at Mand, who was looking at him with sad, bitter eyes.

    <em>[Wee, Mand.]</em>

    President Kang Taehoon stood up from his seat after watching the scene. ¡°Everyone, let¡¯s go. It seems like things have already calmed down to some extent.¡±

    Of course, it was not something that they should just let be. After all, Food God Minhyuk had taken in another god as his vassal. However, even if they gathered now and brainstormed about what they should do, they could tell that nothing would change.

    After leaving the conference room, President Kang Taehoon went straight to where Supeputer Athenae was. There was something that he was very curious about.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t Mand be the Evil Incarnate?¡±

    That was the question that he had no answer to.

    <em>¡®Why did Mand go to Minhyuk¡¯s side? Why did he refuse to be the Evil Incarnate?¡¯</em>

    President Kang Taehoon was a very busy person. In fact, he sometimes felt like 24 hours was not enough time in a day. He hadmented as such because he could not strictly monitor Minhyuk¡¯s activities.

    <em>[Minhyuk could have taken Mand to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom by force. However, he did not do so and chose to give him his freedom.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Athenae recounted the story to President Kang Taehoon. She told him how Minhyuk gave up on Mand and his talents, and opted to give him his freedom.

    <em>[And Mand met his daughter Leny in front of his wife¡¯s grave. After that, he went straight to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    Kang Taehoon remained silent as he listened to Athenae¡¯s voice.

    <em>[Mand went there because he believed that he would be the happiest there.]</em>

    ¡°I see. A yer actually caught the heart of someone that could be the Evil Incarnate. Hahahahahaha!¡±

    Kang Taehoon¡¯s cheerfulughter echoed in the room.

    ***

    <em>[Mand swears his eternal allegiance to you!]</em>

    This was the notification that rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears as he shed a warm and gracious smile toward Mand.

    <em>[Mand is the God of Alchemy!]</em>

    <em>[Although Mand is recognized by Athenae to be the God of Alchemy, he still has not fully met the requirements to be fully qualified as one.]</em>

    <em>[Once he meets the qualifications, he will be able to gain a new power!]</em>

    Mand, someone that had a talent that even the gods coveted, had be a god. However, it seemed like he was not given the full extent of his powers yet.

    <em>¡®No, maybe it¡¯s not that he can¡¯t use the entirety of his powers after bing a god but it¡¯s just that he can¡¯t use his new powers?¡¯</em>

    Perhaps it would be better to think that way. Minhyuk hurriedly checked Mand¡¯s information.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Mand</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: God of Alchemy</em>

    <strong><em>Type</em></strong><em>: Vassal</em>

    <strong><em>Level</em></strong><em>: 664</em>

    <strong><em>Attack</em></strong><em>: 121</em>

    <strong><em>Defense</em></strong><em>: 106</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Talent in Alchemy that Surpasses the Gods</em>

    <em>?Guidance of a Teacher</em>

    <em>?Potion and Parchment Reproduction</em>

    <em>?God¡¯s Potion Creation Arts(Sealed)</em>

    <em>?God¡¯s Destruction Creation Arts (Sealed)</em>

    <em>?Unconditional production of God-grade potions (Sealed)</em>

    <strong><em>Potential</em></strong><em>: 167</em>

    <strong><em>Experience Value</em></strong><em>: 25%/100%</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was awestruck. Just like what the notification had said, the power that Mand had gained after bing a god had been sealed.

    However, the passive skill ¡®Talent in Alchemy that Surpasses the Gods¡¯ had an effect that could make any potion that Mand created 80% better than ordinary potions produced and manufactured by others.

    In other words, if an ordinary alchemist yer created a potion that could increase one¡¯s HP by 100, Mand¡¯s potion would be at least 1.5x better. They would also be in the same grade!

    Alchemists had a limited amount of potions that they could produce in a day. This limitation was so they could prevent yers from making and selling potions in Athenae. Of course, it was not really a huge restriction. High ranking alchemists could produce at least 300 bottles of potions in a day.

    Then, what about Mand?

    <em>¡®He can produce ten thousand?¡¯</em>

    A person that could create ten thousand bottles of potion in a day was insane to think about. Then, there was the Guidance of a Teacher.

    <em>¡®The rate at which the students that will learn alchemy under him will grow 50% faster than normal¡­¡¯</em>

    Of course, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom already had plenty of alchemists under theirmand. Alchemy was a very important field in a nation and that was especially the case for soldiers. After all, the soldiers¡¯ death rate would be drastically reduced while their hunting efficiency would increase if they received an effective potion.

    Then, there was the Potion and Parchment Reproduction. It was a skill that could allow Mand to replicate a potion or a parchment for a set number, depending on their grade. Mand could replicate normal potions 100 times, magic potions 50 times, rare potions 30 times, epic potions ten times, legendary potions two times, and god potions one time. The skill could only be used once every six months. Even though the cooldown was long, it was still an overpowered skill.

    The pure white robe that adorned Mand¡¯s body, a gift from Athenae, carried the symbol of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. After being tidied up, Mand, with his hair gently falling down his shoulders, looked handsomepared to his earlier scruffy appearance. This was the new God of Alchemy.

    Minhyuk looked around and saw how everyone witnessed the birth of the God of Alchemy.

    <em>[The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is one step closer to establishing an empire.]</em>

    <em>[I can only say that I¡¯m speechless. Speechless after witnessing the crazy steps that the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had taken forward right now.]</em>

    <em>[We can expect a huge influx of alchemists, both yers and NPCs, in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. They¡¯re probably hoping that they will be able to learn some special alchemy skills from the God of Alchemy.]</em>

    That was right. With the God of Alchemy in their ranks, there would be plenty of yers and NPC alchemists that would flock to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    Amidst everyone¡¯s stare, Mand and Minhyuk walked inside the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    ***

    Minhyuk told Mand to go and rest. However, Mand said, ¡°I have rested for far too long inside the prison. Your Majesty, please allow me to meet with your alchemists instead.¡±

    Mand had died and was subsequently resurrected and freed by Minhyuk. Somewhere along the way, he became the God of Alchemy. He wanted to do something.

    Minhyuk nodded along and led him toward the kingdom¡¯s alchemy facility. When they entered, they were greeted by the busy scene of alchemists producing and manufacturing potions.

    There were around three hundred alchemists under the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s banner. Most of them had been hired and were paid to create potions between normal grade and magic grade. Only by doing so would they be able to distribute them to the soldiers.

    Minhyuk picked up one of the potion bottles and inspected it.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s Alchemists¡¯ Advanced Potion</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: Rare</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: Level 300 or higher.</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?HP and MP will recover by 25%.</em>

    <em>?Vitality will increase by 20%.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: This is a high grade potion produced by the alchemists of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.</em>

    With a potion like this, they would be able to receive a tinum from the high-leveled yers. After all, most potions that granted recovery in percentages would often have enormous value. However, even though they were in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, they could only produce around thirty of this type of potion every day.

    Mand also checked the details of the potion. Then, he dabbed a finger and tasted the potion, and the look of having tasted something awful shed on his face.

    ¡°As expected.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter, Mand? Is there something wrong?¡±

    ¡°Can I tweak this potion?¡±

    Minhyuk nodded readily. After gaining his approval, Mand moved to the ce where advanced potions were being made.

    <em>Crackle¡ª</em>

    Mand lit the mes and said, ¡°From what I can tell, this potion seems to be made using some Phoenix ws, Undine¡¯s Tears and Arrancar¡¯s Tail as ingredients. Am I correct?¡±

    The alchemist stationed on the table looked at Mand with wide eyes as he answered, ¡°Y, yes. That¡¯s, that¡¯s correct.¡±

    ¡°These ingredients definitely have good effects. However, Arrancar¡¯s Tail and Undine¡¯s Tears would often reduce the potion¡¯s special effects to create a synergistic effect. If you drop a mandragora leaf here, then¡­¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The moment the small leaf entered the potion battle¡­

    <em>[The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s Advanced Potion has been changed!]</em>

    Minhyuk hurriedly approached them to check the details of the potion.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s Alchemists¡¯ Advanced Potion</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: Rare</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: Level 300 or higher.</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?HP and MP will recover by 34%.</em>

    <em>?Vitality will increase by 29%.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: This is a high grade potion produced by the alchemists of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. God of Alchemy Mand has made some changes to the potion.</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­Heoooook!¡±

    ¡°Keheoook!¡±

    ¡°Im, Impossible¡­!¡±

    Mand just did a little tweaking, but the HP and MP recovery had increased by 9%. Even the vitality increase was boosted sharply. However, the most important takeaway here was the fact that none of the rare grade potions could be considered as outstanding as the potion that Mand had tweaked. Both Minhyuk and the alchemists were very shocked with this.

    <em>¡®I really obtained a great talent!¡¯</em>

    Mand simply dropped a leaf but the effects of the potion changed drastically. What more would happen if Mand led and taught the alchemists of the kingdom?

    <em>[Alchemists from the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom dream of having Mand as their teacher.]</em>

    <em>[If Mand bes their teacher the Guidance of a Teacher will allow them to grow at an explosive rate.]</em>

    Then, Mand asked, ¡°Your Majesty, can I stay here and help them?¡±

    Minhyuk, of course, nodded willingly. Then, he started smacking his lips as he recalled something.

    The truth was, Minhyuk had a dream. He had asked the alchemists to create many things so far. But each and every one of his requests had failed. It was very hard to keep the effects of the potions while making them the way that he wanted.

    ¡°Since we¡¯re at it, can you make a potion like this?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡± Mand looked puzzled when he was met with Minhyuk¡¯s eyes that were filled with great anticipation.

    <em>¡®What in the world¡­?¡¯</em>

    When he heard Minhyuk¡¯s request, he could barely believe his ears. However, he could see the deep longing in Minhyuk¡¯s eyes. So, Mand sighed to himself and resigned himself to the task with a brief nod.

    ¡°I¡¯ll try to make one.¡±

    Mand started to manufacture a potion right in front of Minhyuk. In less than an hour, he was able to create a top-grade potion.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Mand¡¯s Top Grade Potion</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Grade</em></strong><em>: Epic</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: Level 300 or higher.</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?HP and MP will recover by 54%.</em>

    <em>?Vitality will increase by 37%.</em>

    <em>?Tastes like Pocari Sweet.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: An amazing potion created by God of Alchemy Mand.</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was thrilled! His body started to tremble as his breathing turned ragged. Slowly, ever so slowly, he took a sip of the potion that Mand had made. The moment the potion entered his mouth, a sweet and refreshing vor spread in his mouth. It was the vor of the masterpiece of sports and ion drinks, Pocari Sweet!

    ¡°<em>Sob.</em> Finally¡­¡±

    Minhyuk had hoped and longed for a delicious potion that he could drink easily! Generally, potions tasted bitter, with some tasting like a bad mixture of several drinks. It was as if all healthy things had to taste bitter. This had been Minhyuk¡¯s greatest woe, a problem that no other alchemist had ever managed to solve, which was the creation of a delicious potion!

    ¡°Then, does this mean that I can drink Powerdade-vored potion, Coca-cora-vored potion, Hanta-vored potions now?¡± Minhyuk wondered aloud, his body trembling in excitement as he sped Mand¡¯s hands.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Cold sweat started to drip down Mand¡¯s back.

    <em>¡®What¡¯s wrong with this king? I haven¡¯t seen anyone act like this before? Have I made the wrong choice?!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk, ovee with emotion, said with a tear dripping down his cheek, ¡°Mand! I have chosen your position!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    A slight expectation bloomed in Mand¡¯s chest. He was a legendary alchemist. Someone with a talent in alchemy that even the gods were jealous of. He even became the God of Alchemy. What would his position be?

    ¡°Beverage Manufacturing nt Director!¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    ¡°Mand! You will be the Beverage Manufacturing nt Director!!!¡±

    Mand, a talented individual that the gods coveted, had be the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s Beverage Manufacturing nt Director.

 Chapter 755: The War of Destruction

    Chapter 755: The War of Destruction

    <strong>Joy Co. Ltd.</strong>

    President Kang Taehoon and the other board members were currently holding a meeting. The main content of their meeting was the ¡®War of Destruction¡¯ event.

    Team Leader Park Minggyu said, ¡°The reason why we¡¯re holding the War of Destruction is to show the world that the master of Athenae is not the Luvien Empire. I believe it¡¯s alright to put restrictions on the three dukes. After all, their power is not something that the current yers can fight against. It¡¯d be even better if we can prevent them from participating in this event.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡± The Story Team¡¯s Leader raised his voice. ¡°Just like what Team Leader Park had said, the War of Destruction is an event that will show whether our yers can fight against the Luvien Empire or not. If we prevent the three dukes from fighting, then it won¡¯t be the actual power of the Luvien Empire, no?¡±

    It was only natural to share their opinions and coordinate with each other during meetings. But this time, it was more special. The War of Destruction would definitely be the most exciting event since the start of Athenae¡¯s Second Era.

    The Luvien Empire was slowly and steadily conquering the entire continent. In fact, nearly a third of Athenae¡¯s territory already belonged to the Luvien Empire.

    Many yers had their thoughts and discussions about the state of matters.

    ¡ª<em>I don¡¯t know if what we¡¯re ying is Athenae or the Luvien Empire.</em>

    Because of that, plenty of the yers had given up fighting against the Luvien Empire. But could the yers trulypete and fight against the Luvien Empire?

    ¡°The main purpose of the War of Destruction is to unite the yers from all over the world.¡±

    That was right. The War of Destruction aimed to unite all of the yers. The yers could actually stand up and fight against the Luvien Empire. Quite a few of the top high rankers wereparable to the Swords of the Gods and some of the excellent rankers had the power to push back and fight against their military forces. The only problem was that they were not united.

    Even if people all over the world joined forces, it would still be insufficient. People would often reject each other. The reason might be because they were from a different race, or from a different country, or even from a different guild.

    Through this War of Destruction, the yers would hopefully be able to see this fact. They would be able to see how tough and strong the yers could be, if they were united. That they were never second to the Luvien Empire.

    ¡°Is the design for the Land of Destruction beingpleted?¡±

    The Land of Destruction was the continent where the War of Destruction would take ce. It was and that would be temporarily created for the sake of the event. Inside thisnd, the yers would not be subjected to the penalties of a forced logout and the NPCs would not really die.

    ¡°Yes, the design for the Land of Destruction is almost finishe¡­¡±

    <em>Knock, knock¡ª</em>

    A knock suddenly rang.

    ¡°¡­?¡± President Kang Taehoon doubted his ears for a moment. Who would even knock and interrupt them when they were in a board meeting?

    ¡°Come in.¡±

    When the door opened, they were greeted with Lee Minhwa, who was breathing heavily. Seeing her, Park Minggyu felt an ominous feeling creep over him.

    ¡°P, President. We¡¯re in trouble.¡±

    President Kang Taehoon could already feel the onset of a headache with how his temples started to throb.

    <em>¡®What is it this time?¡¯</em>

    The fact that Lee Minhwa ran like this meant that it was definitely a huge deal. Kang Taehoon did not even feel surprised anymore.

    ¡°The Battle God has rejected Nerva as the ¡®Destruction Monarch¡¯.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    All of the board members were shocked. President Kang Taehoon jumped up from his seat from the shocking words.

    ¡°Connect it and put it on the monitor.¡±

    Lee Minhwa¡¯sputer screen was connected to the monitor in front of them. All of them could not help but groan when they saw the words on the screen.

    <em>[The Battle God has rejected Nerva as the Destruction¡¯s Monarch!]</em>

    <em>[The Battle God has another person perfect for the job in mind.]</em>

    ¡°¡­What in the world does this mean?¡±

    Battle God¡¯s Sword Nerva was an absolute existence in Athenae, including the Land of the Gods. In fact, even though he was not a candidate or a sessor of the Battle God, he was still the closest to the Battle God in terms of might and power. If not Nerva, then was there truly someone else that the Battle God had in mind?

    ¡°Who the hell is it?¡±

    <em>¡®Which empire are they from? By any chance, could it¡­?¡¯</em>

    ¡°Sword Emperor Ellie?¡±

    Continental Emperor Ellie was the woman that had given up on the position of the Sword God. She was the only one that could stand up to Nerva along with Absolute Monarch Richard, or so Kang Taehoon had evaluated. The next notice threw him off his train of thought.

    <em>[The person that the Battle God had in mind that was perfect for the job is a yer.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    It was unbelievable. The great Battle God had a yer in mind as the perfect for the job. However, there were far more unbelievable things.

    <em>¡®The only yer that the Battle God had in mind as the perfect person for the job should be the one that was walking the path of the Battle God¡¯s Descendant. But, the Battle God¡¯s Descendant hasn¡¯t appeared yet! Perhaps¡­¡¯</em>

    Was he saying that the yer had not chosen him yet? Who in the world would not choose the greatest Absolute God, the Battle God?

    ¡°Highlight the Battle God.¡±

    <em>ck, ck, ck, ck, ck, ck¡ª</em>

    Team Leader Park Minggyu hurriedly tapped on his keyboard to show the world above the clouds. They watched as the Battle God sat crossed legged, his posture screaming arrogance as he watched someone with a small smile on his face. The individual that he was watching burst into a fit ofughter.

    <em>[Ahahahahaha! As expected, the taste of pocari sweet is the best vor for potions! Kyaha! This is so delicious!]</em>

    <em>[Your, Your Majesty¡­ You have drunk 541 bottles of low-grade potions just because they are delicious!!!]</em>

    <em>[Your Majesty, please.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The person that wasughing loudly while drinking a beverage-vored potion was none other than the Food God Minhyuk.

    Kang Taehoon groaned. ¡°Did the Battle God choose yer Minhyuk to be Nerva¡¯s enemy?¡±

    That was surprising. A foreigner that was not Absolute Monarch Richard, nor Sword Emperor Ellie, was rated higher than Nerva. Of course, Minhyuk was no match for Nerva right now. There was a 99% chance of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom copsing within a week if they shed openly against the Luvien Empire.

    However, what the Battle God was focusing on, was not the present.

    <em>¡®He must be thinking that Minhyuk will be able to surpass Nerva in the future.¡¯</em>

    It was an interesting thought. However, what they had to do was to put up the ¡®fire¡¯ that suddenly red up in front of them. President Kang Taehoon hurriedly went to Athenae and told the supeputer to urge the Battle God to change his mind. However, Athenae had told him that it was futile.

    <em>[The Battle God does not recognize anyone but Food God Minhyuk as the Destruction Monarch.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The War of Destruction was something that the Battle God hosted. It was an event where the Battle God¡¯s chosen Destruction Monarch, the yers and the continental NPCs shed in the Land of Destruction. There was nothing they could do if the Battle God had already decided on this.

    President Kang Taehoon could only return back to the conference room without getting anything from Athenae. Seeing him return with an ugly expression, aplex expression shed on the faces of all of the board members and executives present. If yer Minhyuk became the Destruction Monarch, then they would have to revise everything. Otherwise, they would be faced with a copse of the entire event.

    Then, Team Leader Park said, ¡°There¡¯s that, but don¡¯t we still have the Battle God¡¯s Judge?¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­!¡±

    ¡°I see, we still have the Battle God¡¯s Judge.¡±

    Who was the Battle God¡¯s Judge? He was the one that had the absolute authority to vote against the Battle God. The Battle God knew that he was not a 100% perfect, so he himself chose the Battle God¡¯s Judge to help him make the right choices.

    The Battle God¡¯s Judge had been away from the Battle God for quite some time since he was busy chasing the whereabouts of the Six Monster Gods. But today, the Battle God¡¯s Judge had finally returned.

    ¡°The Battle God¡¯s Judge will go to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and see if Minhyuk truly has the qualifications to be the Destruction Monarch. If he fails to meet the expectations, then the Battle God¡¯s Judge will oppose the choice of the Battle God.¡±

    A little ray of hope shone on the faces of the people inside the Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s conference room.

    ***

    At the same time.

    Achan, the Battle God¡¯s Judge, had arrived at the entrance to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. After returning from years of chasing the whereabouts of the Six Monster Gods under the order of the Battle God, he heard a very ridiculous story from the Battle God¡¯s aide.

    ¡ª<em>The Battle God has acknowledged someone else, not Nerva.</em>

    <em>¡ªThe Battle God did what?!</em>

    Achan was very shocked. He had also heard about the person that the Battle God had acknowledged during the process and learned that he was but a king of a small nation, and a continental god, the lowest of gods.

    Perhaps something happened to the Battle God¡¯s head? However, Achan shook his head. Even an Absolute God was not a perfect existence. That was why he was here and was acting as the Battle God¡¯s Judge.

    Achan was once the sessor of the War God. However, even though he was the War God¡¯s Descendant, he liked to follow the Battle God. Because of that, he abandoned his position to work as the Battle God¡¯s Judge.

    That was when Achan recalled something. <em>¡®What else was he about to say to me?¡¯</em>

    Achan tilted his head in thought. He was sure that the aide that told him this story was about to say something more. However, Achan had been in a hurry. After all, he had to change this wrong decision. So, he had left quickly for the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    The arrogant, powerful and tough Judge Achan stepped foot inside the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. There was this deep-seated arrogance on his face as he continued to walk through the streets of the kingdom.

    Achan was the War God¡¯s Descendant. Even though he was not aplete god, his level alone almost reached Level 750.

    <em>¡®Battle God, you think that the king of this weak nation can stand up against Nerva?¡¯</em>

    Achan felt like his vision was turning dark at the thought alone, a helpless sigh escaping his mouth. This seemingly peaceful kingdom was infinitely smaller than the Luvien Empire.

    His eyes slowly swept the surroundings as he slowly roamed the kingdom. That was when he caught sight of an old man with a head of ck hair.

    ¡°Grow, hair, grow!!!¡±

    The old man was shouting as he knocked on his head with ab.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Achan, who watched the old man, saw that there were quite a lot of people that had gathered around the old man. There was a very tall man that appeared with a huge cow next to him. It seemed like the man was a livestock farmer.

    ¡°Our dear Moo-moo has quite an appetite these days. That¡¯s why she¡¯s eating more. Hoho.¡±

    ¡°I am Conir!!! Conir heard there¡¯s a neer!!! Conir feels good!!!¡±

    A young boy ran past Achan. From what he could see, the boy had an intellectual disability. Then, another man passed by him again. The man was carrying a on his back, it seemed like he was a fisherman.

    At the same time, a little girl appeared next to the old man. The girl, with a head of silver hair, looked so beautiful. She was also emitting a mysterious aura, like that of a snake.

    <em>¡®A fisherman, a deranged old man, an intellectually disabled boy, a beautiful youngdy. What the hell is this?¡¯ </em>Achan frowned.

    Then, he saw a man, who lost his left arm, wearing an all-ck outfit and nibbling on a fish-shaped bread. The man sighed. ¡°<em>Sniff¡­</em> I made a huge mistake. How can this be?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter, Luo?¡±

    ¡°I should have brought 3,000 gold so I can buy <em>bungeoppang</em> on my way home today.¡±

    ¡°Goodness, that¡­¡±

    ¡°<em>Heok!!!</em> Big brother Luo! You¡¯re in trouble!!!¡±

    ¡°<em>Sob, sob, sob¡­</em>¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    <em>¡®No, what the hell is this nation?!¡¯</em>

    There were people that became desperate because they forgot to bring 3,000 gold to buy food?!

    ¡°I heard that a neer hase today.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± The old man smiled graciously as he patted his hair with hisb. ¡°The neer is very tall and handsome.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the neer¡¯s job?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be surprised. It¡¯s very important¡­¡±

    <em>¡®It¡¯s important?¡¯ </em>Achan unknowingly perked his ears up.

    ¡°He¡¯s the Beverage Manufacturing nt¡¯s director.¡±

    ¡°C, Conir!!! Conir is very jealous of the neer!!!¡±

    ¡°Hooo. He has taken on a huge task.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a really amazing job.¡±

    ¡°Is it fine to give such a huge task to a neer¡­? Hmm. I¡¯m a bit worried. Being a Beverage Manufacturing nt¡¯s director is no easy job.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Achan was left speechless, another sigh escaping his lips.

    ¡°It seems like the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King and kingdom are really pathetic, huh?¡±

    The moment he said those words, the people that had gathered together and were talking happily suddenly turned toward Achan.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ***

    The Battle God¡¯s Aide Latte looked very worried. Judge Achan had heard what happened from him earlier and immediately warped himself off.

    ¡°Achan¡­ you should have listened until the end.¡±

    Whether it was the past or the present, Achan¡¯s personality had not changed. He was still as impulsive as ever. Because of that, he missed what Aide Latte was about to say.

    These were the words that Aide Latte were going to tell him had he not whisk himself away so quickly.

    ¡°Achan, there are many incredible men in that territory. They have the Spear God, the Fallen Wretched Emperor, the God of Snakes, a Sword of the Gods, and many more.¡±

 Chapter 757: The War of Destruction

    Chapter 757: The War of Destruction

    The entire world cheered loudly after watching the video that Joy Co. Ltd. released. It was around thirty minutes long, which was pretty lengthy. Many people had clicked on this video when it was released, and Minhyuk was no different. However, he received a call from President Kang Taehoon the moment he clicked on the video.

    <em>Click¡ª</em>

    The scene on theputer screen changed as the story began.

    The Land of the Gods, the world beyond the clouds.

    <em>[The gods¡¯ nanny, Bellian.]</em>

    A kind and beautiful woman looked at the young gods that sat and huddled around her.

    ¡°Bellian! Hurry! Tell us that story again!¡±

    ¡°You still want to hear that story?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, yeah! That story grows more interesting the more we hear it!!!¡±

    ¡°The story of the Battle God and the Destruction Monarch!!!¡±

    ¡°Hoho. Alright, alright.¡± Nanny Bellian gently brushed away the hair of the little god that was buried in her embrace. Then, as she looked at the other young gods, she began her story. ¡°A long, long time ago¡­¡±

    ***

    <em>[There were two brothers that got along well.]</em>

    ¡°Brother Farrow, let¡¯s go togetheeeeeer.¡±

    ¡°Belson, if you don¡¯te out, then I¡¯ll be going ahead.¡±

    <em>[The brothers were simr, yet also different. The older brother, Farrow, was adventurous and courageous. He also had an outstanding charisma and an amazing ability to lead. Because of that, many people flocked around him.]</em>

    <em>[The younger brother, Belson, was very timid. He was afraid of venturing out and going on adventures and did not have many friends because he was very picky about the people around him. In fact, his only friend was his older brother, Farrow.]</em>

    ¡°Brother, I¡¯m really tired,¡± Belson, who was breathing roughly, spoke.

    Farrow, who was climbing on a cliff with him, looked back. ¡°So? Can you be the great ruler of the Land of the Gods like that? The soldiers will definitelyugh at you.¡±

    ¡°Hiiik¡­! I can do it too!¡±

    The younger brother, Belson, immediately followed after Farrow and climbed up on the cliff.

    <em>[Even though the younger brother Belson was timid, he was surprisingly chosen by the Battle God.]</em>

    The adventurous and courageous Farrow climbed the cliff quickly! However, even though he had a head start, Belson was able to climb faster than him.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    <em>[The biggest thing that the two had inmon was the fact that they would be great and excellent rulers once they grew up.]</em>

    <em>[The elder brother Farrow envied his younger brother Belson. Despite being timid, he was good at everything because he was the child chosen by the Battle God.]</em>

    Farrow looked up at his brother Belson, who had already gone far ahead of him despite starting veryte, with a bitter look on his face.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    But then, Belson suddenly tripped and crashed back on the ground.

    ¡°Aaaaaaaack!¡±

    <em>Thuuuuuud¡ª</em>

    Shocked by the sudden turn of events, Farrow hurriedly climbed back down and checked Belson¡¯s leg.

    ¡°It, it huuurts¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s broken.¡±

    ¡°¡­I wanted to climb too.¡± Belson looked up at the cliff sadly.

    Farrow knew how much his brother wanted to climb this cliff. He looked at his sad brother and said, ¡°Come on, get on my back. Belson.¡±

    ¡°Huh? What are you saying? You want to carry me and climb such a dangerous cliff?¡±

    ¡°Come on, a man should not be afraid of challenges.¡±

    Farrow began to climb the cliff again while carrying Belson on his back. His breathing turned ragged as he struggled to climb with Belson on his back. Nevertheless, he was still able to climb the cliff just as his brother wished.

    ¡°Haa¡­ Haaa¡­¡± Farrow panted loudly as his entire body copsed on the ground.

    <em>[Farrow might be jealous of his brother Belson, but he also cherished and loved him more than anybody else.]</em>

    ¡°Thank you, brother.¡±

    <em>[Belson also loved his older brother more than anybody else.]</em>

    <em>[The twoid down on the ground at the top of the highest cliff and looked up at the sky above them.]</em>

    ¡°Belson.¡±

    ¡°Yes, brother.¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter who bes the Battle God between us, we have to congratte the other with all our heart, okay?¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡±

    <em>[The older brother, Farrow, already knew.]</em>

    <em>[Even though he tried harder and worked harder than anybody else, in the end, the one that would be chosen as the Battle God was his younger brother, Belson.]</em>

    <em>[His words were a reminder to himself. A reminder that he would congratte his younger brother wholeheartedly once he became the Battle God.]</em>

    <em>[But one day, a disaster befell the younger brother Belson.]</em>

    <em>[The Evil Incarnate, who hid deep within the Land of the Gods after the battle with the previous Battle God, ced a curse on the twenty-year-old Belson.]</em>

    <em>[The Evil Incarnate dered that Belson would die at the age of 21.]</em>

    <em>[Farrow¡¯s men raised their voices at this.]</em>

    ¡°God Farrow! This is a sign from heaven. It¡¯s your chance to shine and rise to the position of the Battle God!¡±

    ¡°It won¡¯t be long before God Belson falls into eternal rest!¡±

    ¡°You can now be the Battle God, the position that you longed for so much!!!¡±

    Farrow, who grew up kindly and nicely, heard the words of his men and felt his head throb. They kept on saying that he would finally be the Battle God since his brother Belson was dying.

    Farrow walked toward his younger brother, Belson. Belson had grown ill and started to grow weaker by the day. The younger man had grown pale as he coughed loudly. Farrow gently patted his brother¡¯s head.

    Then, Belson, with his dry and chapped lips, said, ¡°Brother, you did not forget the promise we made, didn¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°We promised that we will congratte whoever bes the Battle God with sincerity, no? Brother, I can now congratte you wholeheartedly once you be the Battle God.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°Brother, make sure to be the greatest Battle God in the history of the gods, okay?¡±

    ¡°Yeah¡­¡± Farrow nodded.

    The moment he went outside, he immediately ordered his men to bring his horse to him.

    ¡°Where will you be going?¡±

    ¡°I will go and meet the Evil Incarnate.¡±

    ¡°Wh, what¡­¡±

    ¡°I will save Belson.¡±

    ¡°Goooood!¡±

    ¡°Nooooo!¡±

    ¡°You must not go there!!!¡±

    ¡°You can now be the Battle God!!!¡±

    Farrow smiled bitterly at the cries of his men. ¡°The Battle God position¡­ I won¡¯t take it even if you force me.¡±

    <em>[Farrow rode his horse and ran as hard as he could. He went to where the Evil Incarnate was, in the depths of the darkness that encroached upon the Land of the Gods.]</em>

    <em>[The Evil Incarnate was one of the unknown Absolute Gods. He had been exiled by God Athenae because of his ferocious and cruel personality.]</em>

    <em>[On top of that, the Evil Incarnate was very strong, to the point that even if the gods joined forces, they would not be able to deal with him.]</em>

    <em>[Farrow continued to run through the Land of the Gods to go where Evil Incarnate was.]</em>

    <em>[Finally, he stood face to face with the Evil Incarnate.]</em>

    ck streams of energy appeared and created a figure in front of Farrow. The figure looked simr to a demon.

    ¡°The one that was left behind, the unchosen one.¡±

    ¡°Evil Incarnate, release the curse that you have ced upon my younger brother Belson.¡±

    ¡°Kihihihihihihihihihihi! Kihihihihihihi! Kahahahahaahahhaaha!¡±

    <em>[The Evil Incarnate could not understand it. He was curious why Farrow came here. Why did hee here when he could be the Battle God once his younger brother died?]</em>

    ¡°If your younger brother lives, then you will not be the Battle God.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t need such an opportunity! Hurry up and lift the curse from my brother!!!¡±

    <em>[The Evil Incarnate grew furious after seeing the deep bond that the two brothers shared.]</em>

    <em>[That was why he made a proposal, one that he was sure Farrow would never ept.]</em>

    ¡°Then, how about this? How about you be the one to carry the curse in Belson¡¯s stead? Ki, ki, kihihihihihihihihihi!!! Hihihihihihihihi!!!¡± The Evil Incarnateughed like crazy and left Farrow speechless for quite a long time.

    Then, the video changed.

    This time, it showed Belson, who was fast asleep. Farrow, engulfed in a bright light, appeared right next to him and bent down to kiss his forehead.

    ¡°Belson, I¡¯m sure you will be a great Battle God. Congrattions, my dear younger brother.¡±

    ¡°Brother?¡±

    <em>[However, when Belson opened his eyes, Farrow was nowhere to be seen.]</em>

    <em>[Belson¡¯s body felt light and energetic. On the other hand, Farrow disappeared, never toe back even after seven years had passed.]</em>

    <em>[And¡­]</em>

    ¡°Wooooooow!!!¡±

    ¡°Battle Gooooooood!!!¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaaah!!!¡±

    The gods cheered as tens of millions of soldiers from the Divine Army knelt down before one man. He wore a crown made of light.

    <em>[Battle God Belson.]</em>

    It was a story about the past of the current Battle God, Belson. That was right, Belson became the Battle God all because of Farrow. However, even though he became the Battle God, Belson did not look happy.

    ***

    The view changed once again to show the nanny from earlier. The young gods began to bombard her with questions.

    ¡°So, what happened to Farrow?¡±

    ¡°Unfortunately, the older brother Farrow¡­¡± The nanny smiled bitterly as the scene changed once again.

    ***

    <em>[He was dying deep inside the forest where the Evil Incarnate lived.]</em>

    Although Farrow was not chosen by the Battle God like his younger brother Belson, he was someone who worked hard and had a talent that far surpassed many other gods in the realm. It was said that there were not that many gods that could beat Farrow in a fight.

    However, that very same Farrow was dying alone inside the deep, dark forest. His face looked pale as he gasped for air while lying on the ground. Nevertheless, there was a faint smile on his face as he looked up at the ck sky above him.

    ¡°Belson, congrattions on bing the Battle God.¡±

    Finally, Farrow died.

    <em>[However, Farrow¡¯s death was not the end. Furious, the Evil Incarnate ced a curse on him and brought him back to life.]</em>

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª sh, sh! Swish, swish¡ª!</em>

    The forest started to change. The roots of the trees swayed and moved, wrapping around Farrow¡¯s dead body and creating an armor around him. Iron rose from the ground to create a sword for him as millions of troops awakened around Farrow¡¯s body.

    ¡°The One that failed to be the Battle God. All of this was nned by your younger brother Belson. Belson hade to me and asked me to put a curse on himself so that you, his older brother, would give up your own life.¡±

    <em>[The Evil Incarnate whispered in Farrow¡¯s ears.]</em>

    <em>[Farrow, caught in the vicious lie, began to hate Belson.]</em>

    ¡°Belson, I will kill you and be the Battle God.¡±

    <em>[After that, Farrow disappeared with the army around him.]</em>

    <em>***</em>

    The scene changed again.

    The young gods were crying as they surrounded the nanny.

    ¡°The Evil Incarnate is really bad.¡±

    ¡°Then, does that mean that the older brother, Farrow, came back and attacked the Battle God?¡±

    The nanny shook her head at the young god¡¯s question. ¡°Who knows? I also do not know¡­¡±

    <em>Rumbleeeeeeee¡ª</em>

    But then, the ground began to shake and tremble. Nanny Bellian hurriedly moved to hug the young gods.

    ¡°Wh, what¡¯s happening!?¡±

    Nanny Bellian, with the young gods in her arms, looked out of the window. That was when she saw a forest surrounded with ck energy slowly descending upon the Land of the Gods from the sky above.

    <em>[Destruction Monarch Farrow has awakened in the world!]</em>

    <em>[Destruction Monarch Farrow has returned with the Land of Destruction!]</em>

    <em>[Destruction Monarch Farrow points his sword at the Land of the Gods!]</em>

    <em>Vwoooooooooooooong¡ª</em>

    The Land of the Gods rumbled and shook. Nanny Bellian hugged the crying young gods tightly. Then, she saw millions of fierce and vicious troops on the Land of Destruction that was slowly descending upon them from the sky. This was Farrow¡¯s army, one that she had only heard from the stories.

    ¡°What, what do we do¡­¡±

    Bellian knew. She knew that those vicious men would definitely defile the Land of the Gods and kill many. She was helpless. Her body trembled and shook as she hugged the young gods tighter.

    Then, the strongest and greatest Absolute God, Battle God Belson, appeared. Engulfed with a golden aura, the Battle God raised his hand toward the descendingnd.

    <em>[The Battle God has sent the Land of Destruction down to Earth!]</em>

    <em>[The Battle God tries to unravel the curse that gues the Destruction Monarch Farrow!]</em>

    <em>[Farrow¡¯s curse cannot be lifted!]</em>

    <em>[Farrow¡¯s curse cannot be lifted!]</em>

    <em>[The Battle God suffers an attack from Farrow and has lost a portion of his power!]</em>

    <em>[The Battle God tries to unravel the curse guing Farrow using a different method!]</em>

    <em>[Farrow temporarily loses his rationality!]</em>

    <em>[The Battle God sends an envoy inside the body of the irrational Farrow to control him!]</em>

    <em>[The envoy that the Battle God has sent failed to control Farrow!]</em>

    <em>sh¡ª!</em>

    At that moment, the Land of Destruction that was slowly falling on the Land of Gods passed by andnded on the earth.

    <em>[The envoy that the Battle God has recognized has failed to control the Destruction Monarch Farrow!]</em>

    <em>[However, they were able to sessfully seal some of the power of the Destruction Monarch!]</em>

    <em>[The envoy that the Battle God has recognized can now use the power of the Destruction Monarch!]</em>

    <em>[The envoy that the Battle God has recognized bes the Destruction Monarch. They can now use a portion of Farrow¡¯s power and be much stronger!]</em>

    <em>[The Battle God attacked Farrow and was able to temporarily control a portion of his powers!]</em>

    Then, the Land of Destruction finally settled down on earth. Farrow, who had lost his rationality, opened his eyes and looked over thend. Then, he opened his mouth and said, ¡°Kill everyone.¡±

    At that moment, the voice of the Battle God rang all over the world.

    <em>[Brave Descendants.]</em>

    <em>[Kill the Destruction Monarch on my behalf and drive away the Land of Destruction.]</em>

    <em>***</em>

    Finally, the video ended.

    At the same time, a notification rang for Minhyuk, who was about to log into Athenae.

    <em>[The Battle God has appointed you as the Chosen Envoy!]</em>

    <em>[Following the arrangements discussed with Joy Co. Ltd., you will awaken inside the body of the Destruction Monarch!]</em>

 Chapter 756: The War of Destruction

    Chapter 756: The War of Destruction

    Judge Achan was someone who cared for and loved the Battle God, to the point that he swore his eternal allegiance to the god. He was also among the strong figures who stood by his side. The Battle God also cared deeply for Achan. After all, there were only a few men who had such a pure and loyal heart.

    The problem was that Achan had a very hot temper. An impulsive man whose body moved before his mind could think. He had encountered many small problems because of this.

    The Battle God gave him the title of a judge and sent Achan far away, saying that he should go and investigate the Six Monster Gods. The Battle God would have loved to have Achan by his side. But whenever he thought about the small incidents that this man had caused him, he could not help but feel his head throb.

    Thus, true to his character, Achan said, ¡°It seems like the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King and kingdom are really pathetic, huh?¡±

    <em>Swoosh!</em>

    <em>Swoosh!</em>

    <em>Swoosh!</em>

    <em>Swoosh!</em>

    The moment Achan said those words, the people who had beenughing and talking amongst themselves suddenly turned to look at him. There was a sharp glint in the eyes of the old man with a head of ck hair, who had just been knocking on his head with theb on his hands.

    The boy with an intellectual disability was huffing and puffing as he looked at Achan. Even the beautiful girl with silver hair that resembled a snake was looking at him with a pointed look.

    The man, who was chewing on a stand of hay, tilted his head and looked at him as if he had heard him wrong. Even the fisherman who was carrying a on his back ced his luggage down with a tense look on his face.

    There was also the man named Luo, who had forgotten to bring 3,000 gold to buy some <em>bungeoppang</em>. He pulled up the mask that was resting on his chin until it covered everything below his eyes.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Achan finally realized that he had a slip of the tongue in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s territory.

    <em>¡®What the hell is wrong with these pathetic people?!¡¯</em>

    Initially, he had thought they were nothing but ordinary people who worked as fishermen, livestock farmers, potion manufacturers and the like. They were unlikely to be important enough to meet their king.

    ¡°Ah. I was careless with my words.¡± Achan raised his hand, an embarrassed look shing on his face.

    Then, at that moment, another person appeared.

    ¡°Love, Hope, Happiness! Come, fetch!¡±

    Someone threw a ball for the dog, which flew past Achan.

    <em>Vwooooooooong¡ª</em>

    However, Achan found it strange. The size of the ball was very unusual.

    <em>¡®Why is the ball as big as a watermelon?¡¯</em>

    By the time the thought shed in his head, the ground was already trembling.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    ¡°Grrrrrrrrr!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Roaaaaaar!¡±

    Something moved frantically, flying past Achan and biting on the ball that was thrown a bit earlier.

    <em>Fwiiiiiiish¡ª</em>

    The ball immediately deted and shrunk as the animal bit it and ran back to where it came from.

    ¡°Goodness, our dear Love, Hope and Happiness. Come on, give it to daddy¡­ Keooook!¡±

    The man, who came running after the creature for a hug, was sent flying back after getting hit by the charging dog.

    <em>¡®Which part of that looks like Love, Happiness and Hope?!!!¡¯</em>

    Achan looked horrified. However, that was not yet the end.

    <em>ng¡ª</em>

    A dark-skinned boy came out while taking off the rubber gloves on his hands. ¡°<em>Phew.</em> I finally finished the three tons of dirty dishes that we had today.¡±

    <em>¡®¡­Three tons?!¡¯</em>

    Achan could not help but be shocked.

    <em>¡®They ordered that little boy to wash three tons of dirty dishes?!¡¯</em>

    He felt anger surge within him.

    ¡°The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King is truly pathetic.¡±

    Achan¡¯s idea of a good ruler was someone who thought of the masses. That little boy doing three tons of dishes in a single day must mean that the king did not ce any emphasis on welfare! There was even a man who believed that a three-headed creature was a pet dog.

    Everyone¡¯s eyes turned to Achan once again the moment those words escaped his lips. Up until then, the entire za was boisterous and noisy. However, the moment he said those words, silence engulfed them as all of the people who were walking on the street stopped and stared at him.

    Then, the old man with a head of ck hair said, ¡°Hey, look here, how dare you belittle His Majesty like that, huh?¡±

    The man, who seemed to be a fisherman, looked at him fiercely. ¡°Who are you? How dare you talk shit about His Majesty?¡±

    Achan¡¯s face turned ugly. ¡°I should go and meet with the Beyond the Heavens King to berate him myself. How dare he force a little boy to do three tons of dishes in a day?!¡±

    The furious Achan huffed as he began to move. ¡°And you?! You are all staying still after seeing this?! After seeing a little boy get exploited and forced to dobor?! I will personally meet with that king¡­¡±

    But before Achan could even finish his words, the old man had already appeared in front of him and grabbed him by the wrist. ¡°I can¡¯t let you see His Majesty.¡±

    Achan¡¯s face grew even uglier. Even if he was unaware of the inner workings of this kingdom, all he wanted was to try and do something for the poor and pathetic people. He was the only one thinking about their welfare!

    <em>¡®How dare this old man grab me by the wrist?¡¯</em>

    Achan immediately pulled his sword out.

    <em>¡®¡­I can¡¯t move?¡¯</em>

    To his dismay, Achan realized that he could not move the arm that was being held by the old man. Was it because the old man was using force on him? That was not the case at all.

    ¡°You look like a traveler. I say, you should stop kicking up a fuss. His Majesty¡¯s kingdom is very beautiful¡­¡±

    Before the old man could finish his words, Achan put some strength in his wrists and pulled away from the old man. Achan was the Battle God¡¯s Judge. As the Battle God¡¯s Judge, his power was of a much higher level than that of ordinary gods.

    Also, Achan was an arrogant man. He could do what he wanted to do. So, he stretched his hand out and tried to grab the old man¡¯s neck. However, the old man moved faster than him.

    <em>Boom¡ª</em>

    The old man¡¯s fist mmed straight into the pit of his stomach, forcing Achan to take a few steps back.

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Achan, the sessor of the War God, was shocked by the power of this ck-haired old man.

    <em>¡®What the hell is up with this old man?¡¯</em>

    <em>Shiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    Achan grabbed the hilt of his sword and pulled it out. Then, he swung it like crazy toward the old man. However, the old man was able to easily evade all of the attacks that Achan had released.

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    At that moment, chains suddenly appeared and wrapped around Achan¡¯s ankles, stopping him from moving.

    ¡°Move one more step, and you¡¯ll lose your feet,¡± the Great Pirate Gorfido, someone who painted the seas red and brought horror to everyone, spoke coldly.

    <em>¡®The fisherman¡­?¡¯</em>

    Achan looked at the man in doubt as he swung his sword and tried to break the chains.

    <em>nk!</em>

    The chain could not withstand the force of his attack and broke loose. Achan immediately leaped to the skies. However, the dark-skinned boy was already up there. He was riding a white wolf and moving toward Achan.

    ¡°Roaaaaaaaar!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The ¡®pitiful¡¯ boy, who washed three tons of dishes, rode on his white wolf and mmed into Achan. Forced tond on the ground once again, Achan could not help but look at the sky in disbelief.

    ¡°What the hell is this kingdom¡­¡±

    An old man, who looked like he was too weak to hold his own chopsticks, punched him in the gut. He even allowed a mere fisherman to attack him. And there was also that dishwashing boy, who turned out to be the owner of a divine beast.

    However, none of that mattered. Achan was the War God¡¯s Descendant.

    <em>[The War God¡¯s Battle Energy is rising!!!]</em>

    <em>Vwooooooooooong¡ª</em>

    The killing intent that slowly spread out from his body began to envelop those that were around him. Achan¡¯s ego had been hurt. He was kept in check by a mere fisherman, an old grandpa, and a little boy.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Achan shot forward toward the old man, his speed not visible to the naked eye.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Then, at that moment, a spear made of light appeared in front of the old man. The old man promptly grabbed the spear and stabbed toward the charging Achan¡¯s body,unching multiple thrusts. This time, Achan was fully prepared. He was able to fully defend himself against those attacks.

    <em>[The One that Restrains.]</em>

    Suddenly, light stretched out from the tip of the beautiful snake-like girl¡¯s finger and wrapped around Achan¡¯s body.

    <em>[You have fallen into a one-second stunned state.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Achan was once again in shock. He was among those with the highest resistance against abnormal status among the gods. Because of that, there were only a select few abnormal conditions that worked on his body. However, he had somehow fallen into a one-second stunned state.

    <em>¡®Who the hell is that girl¡­¡¯</em>

    Then, the old man¡¯s spear stabbed all over Achan¡¯s body once again.

    <em>Stab¡ª Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaack!¡± A shriek escaped Achan¡¯s mouth, who was in disbelief, as he got trampled on the ground.

    <em>¡®How can this be? He¡¯s nothing but an old man¡­¡¯</em>

    On the other hand, Achan could not help but slowly acknowledge the existence of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    <em>¡®A mere old man is very powerful in this nation? And it¡¯s not just him, there¡¯s also that fisherman, that little girl and that young boy that washes the dishes!¡¯</em>

    <em>[You, the Battle God¡¯s Judge, is currently judging and evaluating the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[You are slowly recognizing the existence of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    Indeed, much to his chagrin, Achan could not help but acknowledge and admit the existence of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. However, he still had to maintain the pride of the Battle God¡¯s Judge. He could not allow himself to be easily beaten by these people.

    <em>[War God¡¯s Authority.]</em>

    Achan called upon the power that he once used when he was still the War God¡¯s Descendant, increasing his own power by 1.5x and transferring the power to his sword, allowing him to cut down anything.

    <em>aaaaash¡ª</em>

    Achan, who had been lying on the ground, jumped up and shot toward the old man.

    <em>ng¡ª ng, ng, ng, ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    Finally, Achan forced the old man to go on the defensive.

    ¡°Hoho. What an amazing friend.¡±

    <em>aaaash¡ª</em>

    Achan looked at the old man in wonder. Why was he still moving leisurely despite being forced on the defensive? Achan raised his sword and aimed for the old man¡¯s neck.

    ¡°I can¡¯t allow this to go on any further.¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Achan¡¯s body fell forward as an indescribable pain gnawed at his entire body, down to his very bones.

    The gigantic and muscr livestock farmer had smacked Achan on the back of his head. Even though the man had just smacked him on the head, Achan could not get his senses together. He scurried to stand up from the ground. Before he could even do so, the livestock farmer had already moved at lightning speed. And with his bare fist, he began to punch the proud and arrogant Achan.

    <em>Punch¡ª punch, punch, punch, punch¡ª Boom¡ª Boom, boom, boom, boom¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡± Achan screamed. The man¡¯s fists moved so fast that he could not even see them with his naked eye. But that was not all; the force behind those punches was so strong that all he could do was scream loudly.

    <em>[You are surprised beyond belief. You can only acknowledge the existence of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!]</em>

    Even though his body was screaming from the pain, as the judge, he could not help but acknowledge the kingdom in front of him. Even this kingdom¡¯s livestock farmers were this strong?!

    <em>¡®It, it seems like they are a lot better than the Luvien Empire¡­¡¯</em>

    Of course, this conclusion was only made since Achan had only seen one side of them. Then, at that moment, Achan saw a man running toward them. Achan realized that he was the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King.

    The Beyond the Heavens King would have surely heard a notification the moment Achan entered the territory, like this, <em>¡®The Battle God¡¯s Judge will begin the examination.¡¯</em>.

    The Battle God was great and mighty. His name carried a lot of weight. The king of a nation would definitelye running and stop his people from beating Achan up and probably even help him stand up and shake the dirt off of his body. Achan was even sure that he would condemn these ordinary folk who made him suffer like this.

    Minhyuk, who came running at record speed, asked, ¡°Grandpa, what¡¯s the matter?¡±

    Then, Ben exined what happened one after another. Of course, Achan knew that he had been a little arrogant when he first came in here. However, once they knew who he was, they would definitely understand why he acted that way.

    ¡°What? He cursed me, spoke ill of me out of the blue, and even attacked Grandpa Ben when you tried to stop him?!¡±

    ¡°Hoho. That¡¯s about right, Your Majesty.¡±

    ¡°No, then isn¡¯t he a bad guy?!¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    Achan could not understand. He was sure that the man in front of him already knew that he was the Battle God¡¯s Judge.

    ¡°So what if you¡¯re the Battle God¡¯s Judge? What the hell? You came to someone else¡¯s kingdom andid your hands on my people?!¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    That was right. The man obviously knew who he was.

    ¡°Your Majesty, what should we do?¡±

    ¡°Teach him a lesson. Just make sure not to kill him and then send him back.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Immediately after that, all of the people present began to beat Achan up.

    <em>Punch, punch. Stomp, stomp! Bang, bang, bang!</em>

    ¡°Heuk! Ack! Urk! Hiiik! Keoooook!¡±

    ***

    The board members and executives of Joy Co. Ltd. flocked to the conference room once again despite their busy schedules. Since they were the pirs of thepany, they just could not sit idly by and watch the monitor all day. That was why they had to get back to work and could only rush back whenever there was something important happening.

    Following President Kang Taehoon¡¯s orders, they set up and turned on the monitor.

    They watched as the ex-War God¡¯s descendant, Battle God¡¯s Judge Achan knelt before the Battle God.

    Meanwhile, the board members and executives could not help but wonder as they looked at Achan through the screen.

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter with Achan¡¯s face?¡±

    ¡°It looks like someone beat him up?¡±

    Indeed, Achan¡¯s face was all puffed up. It was obvious that he had been pummeled.

    Not long after, the contents of the report that Achan had made for the evaluation appeared on the screen in front of them.

    <em>[Battle God¡¯s Judge Achan has evaluated that the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is far superior to the Luvien Empire.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    Then, Achan bowed deeper and prostrated himself on the ground as he spoke.

    <em>[Battle God, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s old man is as strong as a god. Their fisherman has transcended the limits of a human being. Even their young boys and girls are extraordinary. And there¡¯s also that livestock farmer¡­]</em>

    Everyone in the conference room finally understood what happened after listening to Achan whine and grumble, his voice stained with tears.

    <em>¡®No. Why did you¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He went there just in time when they had gathered together¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Haa¡­¡¯</em>

    Then, a notification appeared on the monitor.

    <em>[The Battle God¡¯s Judge fully supports the Battle God¡¯s decision!]</em>

    The board members and executives finally epted the fact that they were all going to work overtime from this point on.

    At that moment, the silent Battle God, the greatest Absolute God, opened his mouth. Everyone in the room focused on his words.

    <em>[Did it hurt?]</em>

    <em>[¡­Yes.]</em>

    The board members and executives of Joy Co. Ltd. felt that Achan was very pitiful.

 Chapter 758: The War of Destruction

    Chapter 758: The War of Destruction

    President Kang Taehoon sat silently in a car headed back to Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s head office.

    <em>¡®As expected of Minhyuk. He¡¯s the true and legitimate sessor of Ilhwa Group, no?¡¯</em>

    He was on his way back after negotiating with Minhyuk.

    Who was President Kang Taehoon? He was the person that had created Athenae, widely recognized as the ¡®second world¡¯. There were even rumors about him bing the ¡®World¡¯s Richest Man that Surpassed <em>Bill Gates</em> at the Fastest Speed.¡¯ However, that was not a rumor; it was the truth.

    He was a businessman. That was why Kang Taehoon had to make sure that he would not lose out as much as possible when negotiating with the other party. However, President Kang Taehoon waspletely outmaneuvered by Minhyuk.

    Kang Taehoon pressed the answer button on his vibrating phone.

    ¡ª<em>President, the Food God has been approved as the Destruction Monarch.</em>

    ¡°I understand.¡±

    The contract had beenpleted. Kang Taehoon recalled the conversation that he had with Minhyuk back at the mansion earlier.

    ***

    Minhyuk¡¯s household became hectic from President Kang Taehoon¡¯s sudden visit. After being led to the guest room, President Kang Taehoon was able to meet with Minhyuk, whose hair was still wet as if he had just finished working out.

    ¡°It seems like something has happened, huh?¡±

    As expected of Minhyuk, he was quick-witted. President Kang Taehoon immediately began to talk about the ¡®War of Destruction.¡¯

    ¡°Originally, the Battle God¡¯s chosen envoy for the War of Destruction should be Nerva. However, the Battle God¡­ <em>mumble, mumble¡­</em>¡±

    Minhyuk looked quite surprised as he listened to the story. <em>¡®The Battle God chose me and not Nerva?¡¯</em>

    It was quite a shocking story, unbelievable even. Minhyuk¡¯s rtionship with the Battle God stemmed from Brod. Not too long ago, when Minhyuk reached Level 600 and had received a chance to get a new ss, the Battle God had even offered the Battle God¡¯s Descendant ss to him.

    <em>¡®Is his favor toward me higher than what I think?¡¯</em>

    If that was not the case, there was another possibility.

    <em>¡®He does not haveplete trust in Nerva?¡¯</em>

    At that moment, President Kang Taehoon said, ¡°Since this has already happened, we hope that you will ept and be the War of Destruction¡¯s Destruction Monarch. Of course, our Joy Co. Ltd. will make sure topensate you as well.¡±

    President Kang Taehoon handed him the contract that listed the contents of the event and the rewards that he would receive. There was a two billion won deposit listed on the contract. There was also a 300,000 tinum payment in Athenae, along with the crown of the Destruction Monarch. The Destruction Monarch¡¯s Crown was an item that was no less than a god-rank artifact. They were very generous rewards for ying the key role in an event just once.

    ¡°How will this work?¡±

    ¡°Originally, the Battle God would push Nerva into Farrow¡¯s body to control the Destruction Monarch. Then, Nerva would be the Destruction Monarch and the Luvien Imperial Army would temporarily fight against the rankers in the Land of Destruction. However, it has be the opposite. You will be the Destruction Monarch and stop both the rankers and the NPCs of the world.¡±

    Minhyuk rubbed his chin. The Land of Destruction was a ce where an event would be held.

    ¡°In the first ce, your story will eventually flow in a way where the Destruction Monarch will be defeated. The story will go like that. Once you be the Destruction Monarch, your power will gradually weaken with the help of the power of the Battle God. And once the Destruction Monarch dies, Farrow, whose soul is also inside, will also take an eternal rest.¡±

    If the Destruction Monarch won against all of the yers and NPCs in that ce, then the Land of Destruction would remain and be preserved. If that happened, then it would no longer be an event.

    Minhyuk got lost in his thoughts. <em>¡®Did the Battle God choose me because he¡¯s interested in me?¡¯</em>

    He decided to look at it from the Battle God¡¯s point of view. President Kang Taehoon had told Minhyuk about the timid Battle God Belson, his adventurous and courageous older brother Farrow, as well as the Evil Incarnate. Farrow had died in the ce of his younger brother and because of that, Belson was able to take the position and be the Battle God.

    <em>¡®The Battle God is the greatest and strongest god. Because of that, he has this responsibility and sense of duty where he has to prevent the Destruction Monarch from wreaking havoc in the Land of the Gods. After all, everything started because of him.¡¯</em>

    However, what if he was thinking not as the Battle God, but as the younger brother, Belson?

    <em>¡®If it was Nerva, then he would have epted and followed the orders of the Battle God without any doubts. In the end, he would lead the Destruction Monarch to his inevitable death. But what does the Belson truly feel?¡¯</em>

    That was right. What did the Battle God truly feel? The older brother Farrow sacrificed himself for his younger brother Belson. But the Battle God Belson had to kill him just like that?

    Minhyuk, who had closed his eyes to think, slowly opened them.

    <em>¡®Perhaps that¡¯s the reason why he chose me?¡¯</em>

    After he finished organizing his thoughts, he rested his head in his palms for a moment, before he picked up the contract and handed it back to President Kang Taehoon.

    ¡°It looks like we need to revise the contract.¡±

    President Kang Taehoon had expected this. He knew that yer Minhyuk would not be satisfied with just this much.

    ¡°For the first revision, please make it so Joy Co. Ltd. will not interfere with me, ¡®Kang Minhyuk¡¯, after I be the Destruction Monarch.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    President Kang Taehoon¡¯s eyes grew wide at that. ¡°What do you mean by that?¡±

    ¡°Just like what I said. What I want is for you to not impose any systematic restrictions on me inside the Land of Destruction. Literally. Do not interfere with anything.¡±

    To put it simply, Minhyuk was not going to do what they say and do whatever they wanted. However, it was an impossible condition. They could not have that. The problem, however, was that Joy Co. Ltd. could not find a substitute. There was no one other than Minhyuk.

    ¡°The second one. Promote our Ilhwa Group in various advertisements and programs under Joy Co. Ltd.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    President Kang Taehoon was at a loss for words. Joy Co. Ltd. was famous for not promoting anypany in any of their programs and advertisements.

    ¡°Third. Don¡¯t interfere with the rewards that I will get from when I was the Destruction Monarch.¡±

    Kang Taehoon nodded. The third revision was appropriate. However, the problem was the first and second revisions. Seeing that Minhyuk did not put forward any more conditions after stating these three meant that he was not willing to receive what Joy Co. Ltd. had previously offered in the contract.

    ¡°I can¡¯t easily ept the second revision in the contract. This time, with the War of Destruction, ourpany has signed a cooperation with ATV Broadcasting Station. Only after ATV Broadcasting Station reaches 40% in viewership ratings would we allow the second revision to take into effect.¡±

    In fact, achieving a 40% viewership rating was almost impossible. Of course, Minhyuk had set new records in terms of viewership ratings quite a few times by himself. However, it was very difficult to find such a record in broadcasting history.

    ¡°The third condition¡­ Well, it¡¯s the reward that you have earned so there¡¯s nothing we could do about that. That¡¯s not something that we can interfere with. However¡­¡± President Kang Taehoon looked confused. ¡°What are you thinking?¡±

    ¡°President Kang Taehoon, weren¡¯t you the one that said that Athenae is a world where NPCs and yers work together?¡±

    Athenae was not a world where only NPCs live. It was a world where yers lived together with them.

    ¡°I just don¡¯t want Joy Co. Ltd. to interfere with me in such a world.¡±

    President Kang Taehoon understood what he meant. Joy Co. Ltd. had dered that it was a world where yers and NPCs lived together, yet they had often interfered with the game. That logicpletely caught Kang Taehoon off guard.

    On top of that, they also discussed many more things.

    ¡°ording to the president, the Destruction Monarch can use his vassals. If that is the case, then does that mean that I can also allow my vassals to move inside the Land of Destruction?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right. Once you be the Destruction Monarch, your NPCs will be controlled by AI and act as usual. But in fact, the vassals that you will summon and call for are your real vassals. Since you will be under the influence of the power of the Destruction Monarch, their powers will be expressed in different ways and forms.¡±

    ¡°Then, inside the Land of Destructions, will my vassals controlled by AI suffer from mental damage if they die?¡±

    ¡°That won¡¯t happen. It¡¯s true that the ones controlled by AIs will have no thought of their own and would only move like robots. Well, it will be more convenient to think of them as robots in that sense. The same goes for you too, you will also have an AI there. We will analyze everything about you, including your behavior patterns so that it will act 99.9% consistent with your behavior.¡±

    From what Kang Taehoon had said, it seemed like they did not have any intentions of revealing who the Destruction Monarch would be. Of course, Minhyuk was onboard with this n.

    President Kang Taehoon had nned for Minhyuk, not ¡®Nerva¡¯, to be the Destruction Monarch. Doing it this way would definitely increase the people¡¯s interest and create a buzz, which would in turn increase the viewership ratings. Of course, it would also make Minhyuk¡¯s side be seen in a better light.

    President Kang Taehoon finally stood up after they finished their discussions. Before he could step out of the door, he heard Minhyuk say, ¡°Please take care of the clean up.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    For some reason, there was this unknown sense of difort that welled up in President Kang Taehoon.

    ***

    The Land of Destruction had finally made its appearance in the world. Along with that, the voice of the Battle God rang in the ears of all of the beings and NPCs in all of Athenae.

    <em>[Bring judgment and punish Destruction Monarch Farrow. Destroy the Land of Destruction.]</em>

    NPCs from all over the world began to march toward the Land of Destruction.

    <em>[As you can see, we currently have Overlord Raldo, Sword Emperor Ellie, Mercenary King, War God King Fren, Monarch of Magic d. They are all here. The world¡¯s greatest NPCs are gathering at the Land of Destruction under the orders of the Battle God.]</em>

    <em>[We can also see the g of the Great Luvien Empire.]</em>

    <em>[Nerva has appeared along with the one chosen by the Battle God. It¡¯s clear that the one that has be the current Destruction Monarch is not Nerva.]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s not only the NPCs, even the rankers from all over the world are flocking in this ce.]</em>

    <em>[The Land of Destruction is a ce where plenty of yers and NPCs can fight and contribute. Obviously, the more they kill, the higher the contributions that they would umte.]</em>

    <em>[That is not all. With the ¡®God¡¯s Comfort and Ease¡¯ that the Battle God has bestowed upon the Land of Destruction, the yers that are forced to log out will not suffer from penalties. Even the NPCs will just revive in the territory that they live in when they die in this ce. Not only that, the Battle God¡¯s Comfort and Ease will also decrease the pain that the yers and the NPCs will feel if they were attacked.]</em>

    <em>[The rankers and NPCs that are aware of this fact do not need to feel nervous at all.]</em>

    <em>[Perhaps the rankers and the NPCs can even test their limits in this ce.]</em>

    <em>[There has been a lot of discussion and spection as to who the Destruction Monarch is. After all, they have not revealed the person¡¯s identity. It¡¯s not Nerva, but someone that the Battle God trusts. Who could it be? We can only assume that they must be someone among the NPCs, however there¡¯s not even a single clue about their identity.]</em>

    <em>[There are some people that guessed that it¡¯s Food God Minhyuk. However, from what we can see, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is also arriving at the scene.]</em>

    <em>[Spear God Ben, Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Sword Brod, God of Snakes Elizabeth, Food God Minhyuk and the other members of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom are all present.]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s not Food God Minhyuk either.]</em>

    <em>[The total number of people that can enter the Land of Destruction is 1.5 million. There should be around 500,000 yers and around a million NPCs.]</em>

    <em>[Even though there¡¯s a limit in the numbers, they are all strong men.]</em>

    <em>[As we can all see, all of the troops are now being warped to the Land of Destruction under Nerva¡¯s control.]</em>

    <em>sh¡ª!</em>

    A light shed in front of them. When Nerva and the other Athenae high rankers had opened their eyes, they were already in the Land of Destruction.

    <em>[You have entered the Land of Destruction!]</em>

    <em>[There will be no penalties for forced logout inside the Land of Destruction!]</em>

    <em>[Kill the Destruction Monarch and give the soul of Farrow eternal rest!]</em>

    <em>[The Destruction Monarch¡¯s level will now be revealed!]</em>

    Everyone held their breaths as they walked out. The moment they walked out, they caught sight of the Destruction Monarch that was looking at them from a distant castle.

    The Destruction Monarch was wearing a ck cape and a ck horned helmet on his head, his eyes glinting sharply from underneath the shadows of the helmet. Immediately after that, the level of the Destruction Monarch floated above his head.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Destruction Monarch</em></strong><em>. Level 904.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?!!¡±

    Alexander, who was at the vanguard, was appalled.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t his level far too high?¡±

    Immediately as the thought shed in his head, notifications rang out.

    <em>[The Battle God bestowed a Potion of Restriction to his envoy trapped by the power of Destruction Monarch Farrow!]</em>

    <em>[The consciousness of the envoy trapped inside Farrow¡¯s body has momentarily returned to him as he received the potion bestowed upon him!]</em>

    <em>[Once the Destruction Monarch takes the potion, his level will decrease by -100.]</em>

    Everyone, including the rankers and Nerva, were very relieved to see this set of notifications. No matter how strong they were, fighting against someone at Level 904 seemed impossible.

    The Destruction Monarch, in a way, it could be considered the envoy called by the Battle God that was trapped in his body, grabbed the bottle of potion.

    <em>ng¡ª</em>

    However, something unexpected happened. The envoy threw the bottle of potion back. It broke into pieces, leaving behind a puddle of potion on the ground.

    <em>Fwiiiiiiiish¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    <em>[The Destruction Monarch has refused to take the Potion of Restriction!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[A transcendental being has engulfed you with his killing intent!]</em>

    Cold sweat dripped down all of the rankers¡¯ backs. The same was true for the operators and executives of Joy Co. Ltd.

    Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s conference room.

    President Kang Taehoon jumped to his feet. <em>¡®Minhyuk, was this the reason you told us not to interfere?¡¯</em>

    Indeed. Minhyuk was going to ignore the scenario that they had set up where the Destruction Monarch was going to get defeated.

 Chapter 759: The War of Destruction

    Chapter 759: The War of Destruction

    <em>[You have been appointed as the Battle God¡¯s Chosen Envoy!]</em>

    <em>[Following the discussion with Joy Co. Ltd., you will awaken inside Farrow¡¯s body!]</em>

    These were the notifications that Minhyuk received the moment he logged inside the game. Immediately after that, another set of notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[Destruction Monarch Farrow is currently encroaching upon your consciousness!]</em>

    <em>[You can check the Destruction Monarch¡¯s status window as if it is your own status window!]</em>

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Destruction Monarch</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: God</em>

    <strong><em>Type</em></strong><em>: ???</em>

    <strong><em>Level</em></strong><em>: 904</em>

    <strong><em>Attack</em></strong><em>: 8,685</em>

    <strong><em>Defense</em></strong><em>: 7,643</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Monarch¡¯s Charisma</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Roar of Despair</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Monarch¡¯s Touch</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Tyrant¡¯s Swordsmanship</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: ???</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: All of the external appearances of the skills that you have as the character ¡®Minhyuk¡¯ have been changed and can now be used. On top of that, all skills will have a +3 level increase and will be stronger than usual with the correction effect of the Destruction Monarch. You can summon up to ten vassals.</em>

    <em>Your vassals will also be stronger than usual with the Destruction Monarch¡¯s correction effect.</em>

    <em>¡®Isn¡¯t the passive skill ¡°Monarch¡¯s Charisma¡± amazing?¡¯</em>

    Farrow was also one of the candidates to be the Battle God. Perhaps it was because of that, his Monarch¡¯s Charisma could increase all of the stats of his subordinates by 12%.

    Minhyuk nodded to himself after checking the other active skills. These were definitely the skills of a candidate for the Battle God. However, he could not help but wonder about the ¡®???¡¯ listed in one of the active skills.

    Additional notifications continued to ring in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The army summoned by the Battle God will soon reach the Land of Destruction.]</em>

    <em>[If you¡¯re a yer, please follow Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s guidance.]</em>

    <em>[The </em><strong><em>Quest</em></strong><em>: Destruction Monarch¡¯s Mission has been created.]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Quest</em></strong><em>: Destruction Monarch¡¯s Mission]</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: SS</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: The One appointed as the Battle God¡¯s Envoy.</em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: Depends on the scenariopletion rate.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: You have temporarily be the Destruction Monarch. Stop the intruders under the orders of the Battle God and follow the system notifications toplete the final scenario safely.</em>

    Minhyuk nodded after seeing the quest. Perhaps, if Minhyukpleted this quest¡¯s final scenario, then the rewards that he would receive would be very generous. However, these messages were there only for formality¡¯s sake. Minhyuk could safely ignore it because he had already finished the negotiations with President Kang Taehoon.

    At that moment, an unknown voice drifted in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>¡®What¡­ a¡­ relief¡­ My¡­ younger¡­ brother¡­ became¡­ the¡­ Battle¡­ God¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk rubbed his chin in thought.

    Farrow was the older brother that sacrificed himself for his younger brother and was also the candidate for the Destruction Monarch. His consciousness, which had remained weak, was speaking and reaching out to Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®I just¡­ want¡­ to¡­ see¡­ you¡­ one¡­st¡­ time¡­¡¯</em>

    In the end, Farrow¡¯s voice disappeared into nothingness.

    <em>¡®Anyway, the Land of Destruction is and for an event anyway,¡¯ </em>Minhyuk pondered. <em>¡®Even if we attack the NPCs, they will only feel a small amount of pain, just like the pain that yers suffer.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was the Destruction Monarch at the moment.

    <em>¡®I can do what I want.¡¯</em>

    ***

    The greatest Absolute God and the only candidate to seed God Athenae was none other than Battle God Belson. He had remained in this seat for thousands of years. After such a long time, tears started to drip down from his eyes.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The Battle God had to protect the Land of the Gods and be a role model for all. That was why he had to kill his older brother, the Destruction Monarch Farrow. He had to protect the earth and the Land of the Gods from the being that threatened its safety. Such was fate. So, Belson gave his orders to all beings on earth.

    <em>-Kill Farrow and destroy the Land of Destruction.</em>

    However, that was not what he truly wanted. Belson wanted to see his older brother Farrow once again. s, he was the Battle God. He could not afford to be swayed by his personal feelings. Because of that, he bestowed a Potion of Restriction to Minhyuk, the envoy that he chose.

    Belson turned around after watching the potion slowly descend and reach his envoy¡¯s hands. Once that potion was drunk, the Destruction Monarch would lose some of his power. Not only that, he would also continue to weaken every hour. In other words, it was a potion that would eventually kill the Destruction Monarch.

    <em>¡®Why did I choose you?¡¯</em>

    On the other hand, the Battle God questioned his choices as he turned his back away from the scene. Why did he choose Minhyuk? Was it because Brod loved him so much? Or was it because he was the Lowest God that would probably stand at a high position in the future?

    <em>ng¡ª</em>

    <em>Fwiiiiiiiish¡ª</em>

    The Battle God turned to look back at the crystal ball after hearing the sound of something breaking. He caught sight of Minhyuk, who had thrown away the Potion of Restriction.

    Only then did he realize why he chose this man. If he had chosen Nerva, he would have obeyed his orders without any hesitation. However, this man was beyond Belson¡¯s control. Perhaps that was the true reason.

    The Battle God felt his heart thump wildly.

    ¡°Child.¡± The Battle God continued to watch the scene. ¡°Help me meet my older brother once again.¡±

    ***

    Minhyuk¡¯s lips twisted into a smirk when he turned his back after breaking the Potion of Restriction. This was his choice. The Destruction Monarch would not die.

    As one of the top rankers in Athenae, his senses as a gamer were top notch. He could feel that the rewards could be changed at any given time, depending on the will of the NPCs.

    <em>¡®Perhaps I will be able to get something much bigger than this?¡¯</em>

    What could it be? Perhaps, it was none other than the greatest Absolute God, the Battle God.

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[The </em><strong><em>Quest</em></strong><em>: Destruction Monarch¡¯s Mission has been changed.]</em>

    <em>[The </em><strong><em>Quest</em></strong><em>: Battle God¡¯s Wish has been created.]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Quest</em></strong><em>: Battle God¡¯s Wish]</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: SSS</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: The One appointed as the Battle God¡¯s Envoy.</em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: The Battle God will randomly give you additional rewards.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: You have refused the orders of the Battle God. Because of that, the Battle God tells you what he truly wants. The Battle God does not want you to die. He wants to meet his older brother Farrow once again.</em>

    Destruction Monarch Minhyuk looked at the rankers, as well as the Luvien Imperial Army that were standing at a distance. Not long after, a man was summoned by Minhyuk¡¯s side.

    <em>[Your vassal Mand has been summoned!]</em>

    <em>[Because of the correction effect of the Destruction Monarch, Mand will have 40% more power than usual!]</em>

    <em>[Instead of the usual potions, Mand will be able to make parchments.]</em>

    Mand, who was wearing a ck robe and a skull mask on his face, stood beside Minhyuk as he received his monarch¡¯s orders.

    ¡°Make me a parchment that will allow me to maintain my consciousness and rationality under any curse.¡±

    ***

    The entire world was at the edge of their seats. The Destruction Monarch¡¯s level was at Level 904. If he drank the Potion of Restriction, then his level would go down by a hundred. However, he had destroyed the Potion of Restriction.

    The tension caused people all over the world to start throwing out guesses.

    <em>[Perhaps this is the kind of event that Joy Co. Ltd. has prepared?]</em>

    <em>[What? To increase the tension in the yers?]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s probably right. The Land of Destruction is and solely made for this event. Because of that, the NPCs will not suffer and the yers will not receive the penalties for being forced to logout.]</em>

    <em>[That must be it.]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯ll probablye back to normal in no time at all.]</em>

    The guesses were quite convincing. There was no way that it could be something else. None of them even entertained the fact that the Destruction Monarch could think outside the box.

    Then, the notifications for the ¡®Battle God¡¯s Warriors¡¯, the people who entered this ce under the orders of the Battle God, began to ring in their ears.

    <em>[Please enter Area 51, Area 50, Area 48, and Area 40 respectively.]</em>

    <em>[There are 80,000 Destruction Soldiers stationed in Areas 51, 50 and 48 and a total of 200,000 troops stationed in Area 40 that are building a defense line!]</em>

    <em>[Get past their defense line and charge toward the Destruction Castle.]</em>

    The line ofmand was taken over by Luvien Empire¡¯s Nerva Sephiroth.

    ¡°Sword Emperor Ellie goes to Area 51. Spear God Ben in Area 50. Knight Commander Don and the Swords of the Gods in Area 48. Brod and I will personally break through Area 40.¡±

    Inwardly, Nerva was actually very furious.

    <em>¡®The Battle God chose someone else?! He did not choose me?!¡¯</em>

    This was a huge stain on his record, a disgrace! That was why Nerva intended to charge ahead of the Battle God¡¯s Warriors and kill the Destruction Monarch by himself.

    After properly dividing the army, they all entered their respective areas. Then, a hologram appeared in front of Nerva as he began to observe everything.

    At the same time, hundreds of drones from ATV Broadcasting Station, the station that signed an exclusive contract with Joy Co. Ltd., began to fly to the skies and started filming.

    ***

    ATV station¡¯s camera focused on Ellie as she headed toward Area 51 with 80,000 troops marching behind her.

    Sword Emperor Ellie¡¯s presence alone was enough to shine a light on everything that the camera captured. Everyone was well aware that she had declined the position of the ¡®Sword God¡¯ and had chosen to remain as the emperor. They also knew that there were not any Absolute Supreme NPC that could stand up against her.

    Then, suddenly, a man stood in front of the tense and careful Ellie. There were strands of long white hair that escaped through the gaps of the ck horned helmet that the man was wearing on his head as he held a sword in his hands.

    ATV¡¯s PD Kim Daeguk looked at the scene in confusion. ¡°What, what the hell?!!! Why are there more than 80,000 troops deployed in Area 51?!¡±

    That was right. There were actually a lot more troops stationed in Area 51 than the 80,000 troops reported in the notifications.

    The man with long white hair and wearing a ck horned helmet had the name ¡®Ten Knights of Destruction¡¯ written over his head. The man¡¯s original name? Spear God Ben.

    Of course, the fierce battle immediately began as the Knight of Destruction raised his sword high up in the sky.

    ¡°Sword King¡¯s Roar.¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Then, hundreds of swords fell down from the sky and created a huge explosion that devoured and swept away the Battle God¡¯s Warriors. At the same time, the almost 150,000 troops waiting on the sidelines made their move and quickly ughtered the surviving Battle God¡¯s Warriors. In the end, the Knight of Destruction¡¯s experienced and sharp de pierced through Ellie¡¯s chest.

    ¡°Kghhk!¡±

    Ellie¡¯s consciousness began to blur. Fortunately, she was not experiencing any pain or fear from the blow.

    ¡°Y, you¡­ Howe¡­¡±

    However, she noticed the true identity of the knight before shepletely disappeared.

    ***

    Area 48.

    Knight Commander Don could not help but shrink and cower from the unknown killing intent that engulfed his body. There was an overwhelming pressure that emanated from the man that wore a skull mask and held a ck staff.

    Don could tell that this was not an opponent that they could deal with. Their opponent¡¯s true name was Evil God Obren.

    ¡°Destruction¡¯s Explosion.¡±

    Knight Commander Don¡¯s eyes grew wide when he heard the man mumble under his breath. Then, hundreds of explosions that covered a thirty meter radius each bloomed all over the ce.

    ***

    Meanwhile, in another ce.

    Nerva and Brod went to Area 40 together. Nerva, the brightest sun and the Battle God¡¯s Sword, was not just an emperor. He might not be as strong as Brod was in the past, but he was still stronger than anybody else. His level easily exceeded Level 800.

    Overtaken by his fury, Nerva wanted to destroy the Land of Destruction as quickly as possible. Even if he had to go to the frontlines himself. In no time at all, he was able to arrive at the ce along with 250,000 rankers and NPCs.

    <em>[The Destruction Monarch has appeared!]</em>

    <em>Vwoooooooooooooong¡ª!</em>

    The earth shook while the heavens cried. The sudden turn of events forced the birds that were resting in the trees to shriek and fly away. Then, a two-meter-tall mannded on the ground.

    <em>[Tyrant¡¯s Swordsmanship. Chapter 3.]</em>

    <em>[Tyrant¡¯s Storm.]</em>

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    The moment he swung his sword, a heavy downpour of de lights rained down on all of the rankers and strong troops that stood behind Nerva. But the attack did not end there. The de lights turned into a storm that devoured them and tore them to pieces. In a single attack, he devoured 40,000 of the 250,000 strong troops all at once.

    Nerva tried to prepare for an attack.

    <em>Grab¡ª</em>

    However, he just blinked and the Destruction Monarch was already in front of him and holding him by the cor.

    ¡°Are you ready to get beaten up?¡±

    Nerva met his enemy on a single log bridge.

 Chapter 760: The War of Destruction

    Chapter 760: The War of Destruction

    ATV Broadcasting Station¡¯s PD Kim Daeguk was shocked by the speed at which their viewership ratings were rising.

    <em>¡®The Destruction Monarch continues to evade the system¡¯s restrictions.¡¯</em>

    Daeguk did not know how or why. All he could do was watch everything unfold.

    The first time it happened was when he threw away the Potion of Restriction. As for the second time, it was the number of troops deployed in each area. It far exceeded the number of troops reported to the yers through the notifications. Then, the Ten Knights of Destruction appeared without any notice.

    All of this led to only one conclusion. The Destruction Monarch was not moving under the control of the system. Somehow, this fact attracted an increasing number of yers and viewers.

    ¡°PD Kim, we have reached 20% in viewership ratings!¡±

    ¡°It seems like the others that have heard about it are already starting to tune in.¡±

    It was likely the truth. The Land of Destruction was an event that most people in the world were already paying attention to. However, for most, their livelihood was far more important than tuning in and watching an event. There would definitely be some that would just opt to watch everything on during the reruns.

    However, now that they were in a situation where Joy Co. Ltd., the yers, and the rest of the world could not predict what would happen next. Unable to resist their curiosity, many began to watch on their smartphones, theirpanyputers, or whatever screen they could get a hold of.

    PD Kim Daeguk focused on the screen in front of him, as the fierce battle between the Knight of Destruction with a ck staff and Knight Commander Don broke out.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Evil God Obren, who was acting as a Knight of Destruction, waved his staff and released countless powerful magical attacks that engulfed and swept away Knight Commander Don, the Swords of the Gods and the rankers.

    ¡°This is crazy¡­¡± One of the rankers muttered.

    All of the people present here were leading figures in the world. However, with every swing of the Knight of Destruction¡¯s staff, they would disappear without a trace.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The Battle God¡¯s Warriors tried to respond by sending arrows and magical attacks of their own. However, the shield that materialized in front of the Knight of Destruction easily defended against all of the attacks.

    Then, Golden Mage Ali, who was also among the people, said, ¡°He¡¯s not a mage¡­¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    Golden Mage Ali was a world-renowned mage. From his perspective and experience, the opponent was definitely not a mage. For one, the magic that the opponent used did not even have any casting time or cooldown. There was also the fact that the forms of magic that he used were not the kind of magic that Ali knew.

    Not long after, the Knight of Destruction mmed his staff on the ground.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    Lava began to spurt out of the cracks that suddenly appeared in the ground beneath their feet, which devoured 10,000 of the Battle God¡¯s Warriors, just like that.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The power of the Knight of Destruction was strong enough to make anyone groan and click their tongues.

    However, the contenders were rankers and world-famous NPCs. Knight Commander Don, with his keen eye, noticed that their opponent was slightly weak when it came to closebat.

    Don immediatelymanded the Swords of the Gods and the high rankers to narrow the distance between them and the Knight of Destruction. At the same time, he moved and constantly tried to push back the Knight of Destruction.

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    Finally, Don was able tond a sh on the body of the Knight of Destruction. The Swords of the Gods immediately followed and also delivered blows to their opponent¡¯s body.

    <em>[As expected of the Great Luvien Empire¡¯s Knight Commander Don. He¡¯s able to push back the Knight of Destruction at great speed.]</em>

    <em>[If they can push him back a bit more then, they would be able to kill the Knight of Destruction.]</em>

    At that moment, the situation worsened for them.

    <em>[Another Knight of Destruction has appeared!]</em>

    A petite Knight of Destruction riding on a gigantic toad appeared. This was the God of Snakes Elizabeth. The moment the gigantic toad opened its mouth, a ck stream of energy shot out and engulfed everyone present.

    <em>[All of your stats have decreased by 21%!]</em>

    <em>[You will not be able to use any skill or magic for three minutes!]</em>

    Don and the rankers were appalled by the huge debuff that had fallen upon them. However, that was not the end yet.

    <em>[Monarch¡¯s Touch.]</em>

    <em>[All of the stats of the Knight of Destruction will increase by 37%!]</em>

    <em>[The level of all of the skills of the Knight of Destruction will increase by +4!]</em>

    <em>[The Knight of Destruction¡¯s HP and MP will recover by 100%!]</em>

    What was the ¡®Monarch¡¯s Touch?¡¯ It was, of course, the cooking buff that Minhyuk had. After bing the Destruction Monarch, the skill was adjusted, allowing him to bestow outstanding buffs to his men without actually cooking.

    At the same time, the Knights of Destruction, who were already 40% stronger than usual, felt a huge burst of power within their bodies. Then, thousands of thick lightning bolts fell non-stop on the ground the moment the Knight of Destruction raised his ck staff to the sky.

    <em>Crackle, crackle, crackle, crackle, crackle¡ª</em>

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    In less than fifteen minutes, the situation had changed entirely.

    <em>[There are only 20,000 Battle God¡¯s Warriors that survived and had made a retreat.]</em>

    <em>[Tch. I can only click my tongue at the power of the Knights of Destruction.]</em>

    <em>[If things continue at this rate, I don¡¯t think the Battle God¡¯s Warriors will be able toplete their mission and kill the Destruction Monarch.]</em>

    ***

    Nerva was furious after realizing that he was grabbed by the cor. He was the emperor of the Great Luvien Empire and the Battle God¡¯s Sword! He was already furious that the Battle God had chosen someone else instead of him and something like this even happened.

    Voices rang constantly in the ears of Battle God¡¯s Sword Nerva.

    ¡°Your Majesty! The troops led by Sir Don have been defeated! They were forced to retreat! They only have 20,000 surviving members!¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty! ording to the reports, Sword Emperor Ellie and the troops with her have been annihted by the Knight of Destruction!¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty!!!¡±

    ¡°Your Majestyyyyy!!!¡±

    <em>¡®Who the hell is this bastard?! And who the hell are the Knights of Destruction?¡¯</em>

    As Nerva watched the bastard in front of him smirk beneath his helmet, he realized, <em>¡®This bastard knows me.¡¯</em>

    Nerva was very sure of this fact. He also noticed that the Destruction Monarch did not have any intention of sparing him at all. From what he could see, the Destruction Monarch did not have any intention to fulfill the orders of the Battle God.

    In other words, the bastard in front of Nerva nned to be a tyrant and kill everyone here. An act that was in line with the original Destruction Monarch¡¯s behavior.

    Since the bastard was already right in front of him, he would not let this chance slip by. Nerva immediately used the power that the Battle God bestowed upon him.

    <em>[Nerva, themander of the Battle God¡¯s Warriors, summoned all of the troops!]</em>

    The space behind them was torn apart. Those that survived the battle against the Knights of Destruction appeared in a scattered mess, along with the people that Nerva had not yet ordered to march out. Even the world¡¯s top rankers and the executives of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom appeared together with some of the Swords of the Gods.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s face turned ugly as he continued to hold Nerva by the cor. He did not know that Nerva had the power to summon an entire army.

    Then, at that moment, a bright light burst out from Nerva¡¯s body.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>[An enormous amount of divinity has exploded!]</em>

    <em>[Nerva¡¯s divinity far surpasses the divinity of ordinary gods!]</em>

    <em>[He¡¯s one of the current era¡¯s transcendental beings!]</em>

    <em>[He is someone that has gone beyond the limits of a human!]</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Even though Nerva did not pull his sword, Minhyuk¡¯s body received countless strikes that forced him to fly back.

    ¡°Ugh¡­¡±

    As he saw his HP drop at a rapid rate, Minhyuk understood that he could never beat Nerva if he was his normal self and not the Destruction Monarch.

    The people behind Nerva immediately prepared to attack Minhyuk. Among them were Spear God Ben, God of Snakes Elizabeth, Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s Vice Guild Master Genie, Locke, Khan, Alexander, Xu Jiaqi, and many others. The most threatening being among them was none other than ¡®Brod.¡¯

    However, they had to know that Minhyuk was not just the ¡®Food God¡¯ right now, but also the ¡®Destruction Monarch.¡¯ The two-meter-tall Destruction Monarch released an ear-deafening roar.

    ¡°Roaaaaaaaaaaaaar¡ª!¡±

    The loud roar pierced through the ears of Nerva and the rest of the Battle God¡¯s Warriors.

    <em>[Roar of Despair.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will decrease by 23%.]</em>

    <em>[All of your skills¡¯ level will decrease by -2.]</em>

    <em>[Your physical and magical defenses will decrease by 40%.]</em>

    <em>[Your physical and magical attack will decrease by 20%.]</em>

    <em>[Your resistance to abnormal statuses will decrease by 50%.]</em>

    Everyone present froze in their tracks. There were around 700,000 Battle God¡¯s Warriors gathered here. And all of them had fallen into a state of debuff.

    Then, the two-meter tall Destruction Monarch flew to the skies and used his special skill, the ¡®Tyrant¡¯s Swordsmanship.¡¯ It was an excellent swordsmanship that easily surpassed the swordsmanship that Brod used, which Minhyuk believed to be the best swordsmanship out there.

    ¡°Tyrant¡¯s Swordsmanship. Final Chapter.¡±

    The ck cape hanging on the Destruction Monarch¡¯s body fluttered behind him as he looked coldly at Nerva and the rankers beneath him.

    ¡°Exploding Sword.¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The moment his sword hit the ground, thousands of swords rained down and exploded, ughtering tens of thousands of the Battle God¡¯s Warriors.

    Suddenly, the person that Minhyuk had ssified to be the most frightening enemy, appeared in front of him just when he was about to get away from them.

    ¡°Mercenary¡¯s Pinnacle Swordsmanship.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°Final chapter. Wolf¡¯s Death.¡±

    <em>Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom¡ª!</em>

    Hundreds of red sword lights shot out from Brod¡¯s sword and pierced through Minhyuk¡¯s body. Despite the Destruction Monarch¡¯s monstrously high HP, Minhyuk still grew cautious, especially since his HP continuously dropped at a rapid pace.

    <em>¡®This is Brod¡¯s true power¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk realized what Brod was like in the eyes of the enemy. He tried to get away from Brod but the man stuck to him as if he was a ghost haunting him.

    ¡°Absolute Pinnacle Spear.¡±

    A rain of spears fell down on Destruction Monarch Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Screams rang out of Minhyuk¡¯s mouth. The soldiers of the Land of Destruction tried to charge in and save him but the rankers were holding them back properly.

    <em>¡®This is crazy¡­¡¯</em>

    Today, Minhyuk realized how much despair and frustration Brod and Spear God Ben could bring to their enemies on the battlefield. Minhyuk knew that he would not be able to fight back against Brod and Ben¡¯s linked attacks. After all, his skills would not be able to keep up with them.

    That was why he tried to hurriedly pull away from them. However, Nerva held on tightly to him.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Nerva aimed his sword and shed at Minhyuk¡¯s back.

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 40%!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 30%!]</em>

    A sense of urgency crept up in Minhyuk the more he saw his HP fall rapidly. He could not help the sense of frustration and despair that encroached upon him when facing thebined power of Spear God Ben and Brod.

    Minhyuk actually knew of a way to end this situation at the fastest speed. However, Nerva was here and he knew that he would immediately know. What was the method? It all stemmed from one of the notifications that Minhyuk heard when he became the Destruction Monarch.

    <em>[The Destruction Monarch can call for the Knights of Destruction to his side at any given moment!]</em>

    ¡°Knight of Destruction.¡±

    <em>[Please choose the one that you want to summon among your Knights of Destruction!]</em>

    There were a total of ten Knights of Destruction. The Destruction Monarch could only give the highest title to only one of them, and one of them alone.

    ¡°Destruction General.¡±

    That man was none other than Brod.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The mighty and gigantic Destruction General fell down from the sky. The moment Brod, the Destruction General, appeared, he immediately received the correction effects of the Destruction Monarch. All of his stats increased by 40% and even all of his skill levels increased by +2. And that was not all. He also received the effects of Minhyuk¡¯s cooking buff through the Monarch¡¯s Touch.

    <em>[All of the Destruction General¡¯s stats have increased by 22%!]</em>

    <em>[All of the Destruction General¡¯s skill level has increased by +3!]</em>

    <em>[The Destruction General¡¯s basic attack power and skill attack power has increased by 20%!]</em>

    <em>[¡­transcended the limits of a human being¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­transcended the limits of a human being¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­transcended the limits of a human being¡­]</em>

    Amidst the constantly ringing notifications, the Destruction General cut down Brod, who was about to cut off Minhyuk¡¯s head.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    He also hacked Spear God Ben, who charged in with his spear, with hundreds of sword strikes in just under five seconds.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    He might be the Destruction General now but he was still ¡®Brod¡¯ in reality. He then moved to cut down Nerva in one strike.

    <em>Spuuuuuurt¡ª!</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!¡± Nerva grew even more furious. He screamed as he fell down, his feet immediately finding his bnce as he chased after the man.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>[You have raised your divinity to the highest level.]</em>

    <em>[All of the beings look at you in fear because of the high amount of divinity that you are emitting.]</em>

    <em>Vwoooooooooooong¡ª</em>

    Nerva just raised his divinity to the maximum. However, cracks had already appeared on the ground. Even the trees and the buildings suddenly caught mes and burned down to ashes.

    Nerva¡¯s gold hair fluttered behind him. He could no longer reign in his fury. He was furious at the unknown Destruction Monarch, as well as the arrogant and impudent man that dared to cut him down.

    The viewers watching the scene were shocked.

    <em>[So, this is the power of Athenae¡¯s greatest NPC¡­?]</em>

    <em>[Crazy.]</em>

    <em>[Wow¡­]</em>

    Everyone gulped dryly.

    ¡°How dare youy a hand on my precious body!!!¡± Nerva roared in fury as his body continued to release his divinity.

    The others were in shock and awe of Nerva¡¯s overwhelming charisma. However, Minhyuk was different.

    <em>¡®Brod was originally only slightly weaker, no, maybe he¡¯s on par with Nerva. Brod, who¡¯s already in a state like that, received the correction effects of the Destruction Monarch, as well as the buff effects from Monarch¡¯s Touch.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was not sure if Nerva already realized who was in front of him. However, what was obvious was the fact that he was enraged, to the point that veins had already started to pop in his neck.

    Nerva continued to release his divinity as he warned them, ¡°I will rip you to shreds and kill¡­!¡±

    <em>Thwaaaaack¡ª</em>

    The Destruction General pped Nerva¡¯s cheeks strongly.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Nerva¡¯s eyes grew wide when he felt his head turn to the side. In fact, even the people from all over the world that were tuned in had their eyes wide open from the shocking scene.

 Chapter 761: The War of Destruction

    Chapter 761: The War of Destruction

    ATV Broadcasting Station¡¯s viewership rating was rising exponentially.

    ¡°PD Kim! Our viewership rating has exceeded 30%!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve gone over 32%!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re already over 35%!¡±

    ¡°Even more viewers are tuning in to our broadcast!¡±

    ¡°PD Kim?¡±

    Despite the loud shouts of the moring employees, PD Kim Daeguk remained motionless, his gaze nk as he continued to stare at the screen. He was also mesmerized by the scene presented in front of him.

    <em>Thwaaaaaaaaack¡ª</em>

    Along with that loud sound, the face of Athenae¡¯s absolute existence was forced to turn to one side. There might be moreplex reasoning for the drastic increase in their viewership ratings. However, one thing was for sure. Most of the yers that had given up on ying and abandoned Athenae after suffering from the Great Luvien Empire were now tuning in to the broadcast after hearing the news.

    The Luvien Empire, an empire that had appeared and opened the second era of Athenae, had imposed huge taxes on several hunting grounds, hidden dungeons, and even yers. Of course, those taxes would be nothing as long as they became a citizen of the Luvien Empire. However, some of the yers still felt like the empire had vited their freedom. For these people, seeing Nerva being pped on the cheek like that was a very refreshing sight.

    ¡°Our viewership rating has exceeded 40%¡­!¡±

    The viewership rating that Minhyuk and Kang Taehoon had discussed over their negotiations had been met.

    ***

    Brod, who was once one of the two suns, had also led a knight order that was strong enough to fight against the Swords of the Gods. Back then, Brod waspeting fairly with Nerva for the position of the Battle God¡¯s Sword. However, the only one that was ying fair was Brod.

    Nerva had poisoned the food of the Red Sword Knights, an act that resulted in the death of many. As for those that survived, they were forced to hide in the shadows.

    Although he was not aware of it, Brod¡¯s anger toward Nerva had reached great heights when thetter forced his dearly beloved Red Sword Knights to their death. After all, the person that he once believed to be his friend took away the lives of the people that were precious to him, all because of his greed and self-interest.

    Then, that very same friend, Nerva Sephiroth, suddenly appeared in front of his eyes.

    In the form of the Destruction General, Brod pped Nerva across the face, forcing Nerva¡¯s face to the side, rendering shocked and unable toe back to his senses.

    Even thementators could hardly believe their eyes.

    <em>[A surprising thing had just happened right in front of our very eyes.]</em>

    <em>[The being called the Destruction General just pped Nerva¡¯s face.]</em>

    <em>[I believe we¡¯re seeing something that I personally never thought possible during my broadcasting career here in Athenae.]</em>

    Nevertheless, everyone thought that it was just that. They all thought that the Destruction General was lucky enough to p Nerva. The NPCs and rankers on the scene grew tense. They were all worried that Nerva¡¯s wrath would also have an impact on them.

    Just like they expected, Nerva was feeling boundless anger from what just happened to him.

    ¡°Bastaaaaaaaaaaard!!!¡± Nerva shouted, his eyes growing wide while the veins on his neck popped out and his face turned red from fury. He quickly nned on making this bastard feel the worst pain imaginable in this world. ¡°Bastard, how dare you¡­¡±

    <em>Thwaaack¡ª</em>

    However, the Destruction General just pped him once again. The p was so strong that Nerva staggered backward. He tried to get back to his senses as quickly as possible but it was to no avail. It was obviously just a p in the face. However, Nerva felt as if someone had hit him in the face with a crowbar.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The divinity that exploded from his body made the ground around him rise to great heights and turn into a wave.

    <em>[Nerva¡¯s Wrath.]</em>

    <em>[Athenae¡¯s absolute existence, Nerva, is furious.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP is dropping continuously!]</em>

    <em>[You will be helpless in front of this strong force!]</em>

    <em>Thwaaaack¡ª</em>

    The Destruction General pped Nerva once again. Nerva was shocked and terrified of the force that was used to p him. He could not even react at all. The Destruction General just stood close to Nerva and pped him several times.

    <em>Thwaaaack¡ª!</em>

    <em>Thwaaaaaaaaaack¡ª!</em>

    <em>Thwaaaack¡ª!</em>

    Nerva¡¯s lips burst and blood began to drip down his chin.

    ¡°Your Majesty¡­!¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty Nervaaaaaaaa!!!¡±

    ¡°Your Majestyyyyyy!!!¡±

    Nerva¡¯s faithful and loyal subjects tried to run to where he was.

    They were actually in a situation where Nerva had already summoned all of the Battle God¡¯s Warriors, and it made Minhyuk also summon all of his Knights of Destruction.

    <em>aaaash¡ª</em>

    <em>aaaaaash¡ª</em>

    <em>aaaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    Along with a swirl of ck streams of energy, someone that looked like the Spear God, the Evil God and the God of Snakes appeared. Not only that, someone like Brod and someone like the Sword of the God Luo, who carry a deep anger and resentment toward Nerva, also appeared.

    Luo, the person that carried the power of the God of Assassins, was once Nerva¡¯s subordinate. There was only one reason why Luo was angry at Nerva. However, just when Luo was about to dash forward and join Brod, Destruction Monarch Minhyuk raised his arm and stopped him.

    ¡°Let him be. He¡¯s the only one that¡¯s more furious at Nerva than you.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    For a moment, Luo felt like he could see Brod¡¯s expression through his mask. There was both fury and sorrow shing on his face. At that moment, Luo knew what he should do instead.

    <em>Stab¡ª Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    Luo also received the correction effect and buff effect of the Destruction Monarch. He moved swiftly and swept away those that tried to approach the Destruction General. This was the best he could do for Brod, the one that was most furious with Nerva.

    Of course, Minhyuk thought the same. However, there was just one thing that he was worried about.

    <em>¡®What if Brod gets too angry and reveals his identity¡­?¡¯</em>

    The Land of Destruction was an event and death was not true death. Even though it was necessary to do this, Nerva Sephiroth, who suffered from great disgrace and shame, would definitely rally his entire force and move to destroy the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom if he knew the truth.

    Thankfully, Brod was not a fool blinded by his anger.

    <em>Thwaaaaaaack¡ª</em>

    ¡°This is for the ones that died an unjust death because of you.¡±

    <em>Thwaaaaaaaaack¡ª</em>

    ¡°This is for the ones that had been deprived of a lot of things because of you.¡±

    <em>Thwaaaaaaaaack¡ª</em>

    ¡°This is for the ones that are suffering as they lived their daily lives because of you.¡±

    Every word that Brod said was for him and the Red Sword Knights. Eventually, Nerva¡¯s body lost strength. This was the greatest humiliation that he has ever felt as the greatest emperor in existence.

    Nerva Sephiroth knew that he could no longer allow this man to cause him any more disgrace. So, he used all of the divinity in his body and ignited a fire that engulfed his body.

    <em>Cracklee¡ª</em>

    The burning Nerva Sephiroth red sharply at the Destruction General. In his final moment, he realized who was standing in front of him.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Nerva was once Brod¡¯s closest friend. However, Nerva had always been jealous and envious of the man.

    <em>¡®I wasn¡¯t the sun that shone brightly by his side.¡¯</em>

    Compared to Brod, Nerva was nothing but a shabby and dim existence. His greed made him furious.

    ¡°Brother.¡±

    ¡°¡­Do not call me brother with that filthy mouth of yours.¡±

    The Destruction General¡¯s rage boiled over.

    Before he disappeared from the zing mes of his divinity, Nerva said, ¡°Try to bring down my empire with that king that you believe in.¡±

    ¡°I will bring it down even if you don¡¯t say anything.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll be waiting for you.¡±

    Brod and Minhyuk both understood the meaning of Nerva¡¯s words. Nerva would not do anything about what happened here. The greatest and absolute existence in Athenae had been pped in front of everyone. But he actually promised he would not do anything about it.

    On the other hand, Nerva knew that in the long time that passed ever since that day, Brod had been suffering. He had to be living with a broken heart, his rage and resentment eating up his very existence every single day. Nerva fully understood that. So, as the sinner that brought that pain to Brod, he promised not to do anything about this transgression.

    <em>Swoooooooooosh¡ª</em>

    <em>[The Battle God¡¯s Warriors¡¯ Commander has died!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[Please eliminate the Destruction Monarch and the Destruction Army!]</em>

    Both the yers and NPCs started to realize that this situation was turning into something that was far beyond an event.

    At that moment, Minhyuk heard Mand say, ¡°Your Majesty, it¡¯spleted.¡±

    Minhyuk hurriedly pulled back as he looked at the parchment that Mand made.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Parchment that Drives Away Evil</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Grade</em></strong><em>: Legendary</em>

    <strong><em>Special Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?It can awaken those that have been brainwashed by ck magic, curses and all other evil powers and return themselves to their original self.</em>

    <em>?It will take more than ten minutes for the purification to finish. The parchment user cannot move during that time period.</em>

    After confirming the details, Minhyuk immediately ordered, ¡°Everyone, protect me.¡±

    <em>Riiiiip¡ª</em>

    A bright light enveloped the body of the Destruction Monarch the moment Minhyuk tore the parchment apart. At the same time, the Destruction Monarch¡¯s Army and the Knights of Destruction surrounded Minhyuk and began to protect him.

    After losing theirmander, the Battle God¡¯s Warriors realized that this was their only opportunity. So, they unleashed a fierce barrage of their attacks.

    Then, at that moment, a very frustrating notification rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The Destruction Monarch only has twelve hours left to live.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk already knew that the Land of Destruction could not be maintained for a long time. And the same was true for the body of the Destruction Monarch Farrow. Although Farrow would not be killed by the others, he still would not be able to escape his inevitable death.

    <em>¡®I have obviously been far too reckless.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk admitted this fact. He willingly twisted the framework of the event after thinking through the perspective of the Battle God. However, he also knew that it was the NPCs that gave the rewards in Athenae. So, he was convinced that he would be able to win over the Battle God.

    However, something far more unexpected and extraordinary happened.

    <em>[The Evil Incarnate is furious!]</em>

    <em>[The Evil Incarnate is enraged!]</em>

    <em>[Evil Incarnate.]</em>

    <em>[He is a being that exists everywhere and nowhere.]</em>

    <em>[He is furious at the being that went against his will.]</em>

    <em>[The Land of Destruction is actually the Land of the Evil Incarnate!]</em>

    Immediately after, a bleak and gloomy voice rang all over the ce. It sounded like it was Satan''s voice inside a girl¡¯s body.

    <em>[I am the one that is the most hideous.]</em>

    <em>[The one that reeks the most.]</em>

    <em>[The most terrifying.]</em>

    <em>[The greatest.]</em>

    <em>[The one that dared to go against my will.]</em>

    <em>[Ke¡­ kekekekekekekeke¡­ kihihihihihihihihi¡­ Kihehehehehehehehehehe!]</em>

    A strange and gruesomeughter rang loudly and engulfed the entire Land of Destruction.

    Joy Co. Ltd.

    President Kang Taehoon¡¯s jaw dropped at the sudden turn of events. ¡°Did the Evil Incarnate react to yer Minhyuk¡¯s erratic and out-of-the-box behavior?¡±

    That was right. In the original story, the Battle God¡¯s Army would eventually kill the Destruction Monarch. This was the story that the Evil Incarnate wanted to see. If that happened, then the Evil Incarnate would be the oneughing at everyone. However, things were not going as nned right now.

    <em>[The Evil Incarnate has started his descent!]</em>

    The one that existed everywhere and nowhere shot into the body of the Destruction General.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¡ª Swoosh¡ª Fwiiiish¡ª</em>

    Of course, Brod¡¯s body would be the biggest and greatest prey that the Evil Incarnate could have in this situation. Thankfully, even if Brod died here, he would not really die a real death.

    <em>[The Destruction General is resisting the Evil Incarnate!]</em>

    <em>[The Destruction General is trying to drive away the Evil Incarnate!]</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaaack!¡± Brod¡¯s eyes made contact with Minhyuk as he screamed. Brod seemed to be trying his best to not lose his consciousness for Minhyuk¡¯s sake. But the Evil Incarnate was far too strong. He was able to dominate Brod¡¯s body in the end.

    Minhyuk¡¯s face turned ugly. Perhaps the power of the Evil Incarnate was to take over and use the body of another. However, there were not many clues to confirm this matter. All Minhyuk could do was stare and gulp dryly.

    The Evil Incarnate took over the body of the Destruction General andughed maniacally.

    <em>[Kahahahahaha!]</em>

    <em>[He¡¯s going to die.]</em>

    <em>[Your older brother Farrow will die in a sea of despair.]</em>

    <em>[Everyone here will die.]</em>

    The Evil Incarnate was originally one of the Absolute Gods. However, he had been exiled by the other Absolute Gods and concealed from others. He had long been hiding in the darkness, and bringing evil and despair to many.

    Brod¡¯s body, which had been taken over by the Evil Incarnate, changed shape. What appeared next was an extremely dark-skinned man with a face that had no other shape or feature except a wide mouth filled with sharp piranha-like teeth and a very long tongue.

    The Evil Incarnate licked his face with his long tongue.

    <em>[Evil Incarnate. Level 921.]</em>

    There was probably only one reason why the Evil Incarnate still lived in this world. Perhaps it was because he could live and appear anywhere and everywhere.

    The Evil Incarnate whispered with his Satanic and girl-like voice¡­

    <em>[Die, Farrow.]</em>

    Then, the same terrifying voice rang in the ears of everyone present.

    <em>[The Evil Incarnate¡¯s Whisper.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has started to drop at a rapid pace after hearing the whispers of the Evil Incarnate.]</em>

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keheoooook!¡±

    ¡°Urrrrrrk¡­!¡±

    The people, regardless if they were enemies or allies, started to fall one after another. It was nothing but a mere whisper. However, the scene in front of Minhyuk clearly showed how terrifying the opponent was.

    <em>¡®Almost 30% of all the people present have died.¡¯</em>

    At that moment, Minhyuk realized that perhaps Destruction Monarch Farrow would die soon.

    At the same time.

    The man, who turned a blind eye to his older brother Farrow¡¯s plight in the heavy suffocating weight of the name ¡®Battle God¡¯, grabbed his sword and put on his cape.

    He stared at the white armor hanging on his wall. This was the armor that could only be worn by those recognized by the Battle God and had the power to temporarily allow one to be a ¡®God¡¯s Knight¡¯ once worn. He also packed the white armor.

    Then, the Greatest God spoke.

    <em>[Child. You should not go there.]</em>

    The god of the strongest and most powerful army, the Battle God, had temporarily lost some of his power in an attempt to restrict Farrow. Because of that, he did not have the power to lead his entire army as of the moment.

    Even so, the Battle God still wore his golden helmet and said, ¡°I have to go, Mother.¡±

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    ¡°That child has made me realize what I needed to do now.¡±

    Athenae knew that the child that Belson was referring to was none other than the Lowest God Minhyuk. Who were the gods? The greatest? Did being the greatest mean that they should not have any emotion? No. Athenae was fully aware how much the Battle God loved and missed his older brother Farrow.

    At this moment, the greatest Absolute God began to move.

    Athenae¡¯s voice resonated from behind the disappearing Battle God.

    <em>[The one that made him move.]</em>

    <em>[¡­was the Lowest God.]</em>

 Chapter 762: The War of Destruction

    Chapter 762: The War of Destruction

    After looking at the Fallen and Wretched Emperor Brod, Minhyuk could not help but feel curious. He wondered who would win if the brightest sun, Brod, and the entire force of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom fought.

    It was a thought that he had entertained as a joke before. However, he knew that it would not be an easy fight if that truly happened. They might have plenty of prominent and powerful people on their side, like Spear God Ben, God of Snakes Elizabeth, Sword Saint Conir, Great Pirate Gorfido, Sword of the Gods Luo, and many more, but Brod was just too strong for them.

    Right now, Brod had turned into the Evil Incarnate. It was definitely a challenge for them to deal with, but it did not mean that there was no hope at all.

    <em>[The Evil Incarnate has taken over the body of the Destruction General! The Destruction Monarch¡¯s Touch¡¯s buff has been terminated!]</em>

    <em>[The Destruction Monarch¡¯s correction effect on the Destruction General has been terminated!]</em>

    Even so, the level of the Evil Incarnate was still at Level 921. Perhaps it was because of the countless powers that the Evil Incarnate possessed,bined with Brod¡¯s own power, hence it resulted in that. In fact, a simple whisper from the Evil Incarnate and more than 30% of the troops present had died.

    Thankfully, this was just the ¡®Boss¡¯ Appearance Feature¡¯.

    The Boss¡¯ Appearance Feature was an event that would get triggered whenever a boss monster or a high-leveled NPC appeared. A tremendous amount of power would get triggered, usually in the form of a lethal move, and be released to the surroundings. Most characters would not trigger such a feature unless it was their very first appearance to the world.

    Nevertheless, it was only right for them to be vignt and afraid of the being in front of them. After all, he was the Evil Incarnate that took over Brod¡¯s body.

    ¡°I only have 30% of my HP remaining¡­¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe that the appearance feature would be at this level¡­¡±

    ¡°Healers, quick! Use heal¡­!¡±

    It did not matter whether they were allies or enemies, both yers and NPCs alike were flustered when nearly 30% of their numbers disappeared in a sh. None of them had heard of a boss appearance feature that could kill hundreds of thousands in an instant.

    Among all of the people present, Minhyuk was the one that was the most flustered and frustrated.

    <em>¡®I can¡¯t move for another eight minutes.¡¯</em>

    This was the penalty for using the Parchment that Drives Away Evil.

    At that moment, the effects of the parchment started to manifest. Farrow, who was slumbering deeply inside Minhyuk¡¯s body, said, ¡°Belson¡­ there has never been a time that I have harbored resentment toward you.¡±

    ¡°¡­Kekekekekekekeke, kihihihihihihihihi!¡± The Evil Incarnate¡¯s boomingughter continued to ring, its volume getting louder when he heard Farrow¡¯s voice.

    All of the people that heard hisughter started to bleed through their ears.

    <em>[The Ugliest and Filthiest God hoped for something.]</em>

    <em>[He hoped that the older brother, Farrow, and the younger brother, Belson, would resent each other.]</em>

    However, seeing that it did not work, the Evil Incarnate felt his rage boil over.

    <em>[He wanted to punish the Lowest God that ruined his ns in the dirtiest and filthiest way that one could think of.]</em>

    Swords appeared on the hands of the Evil Incarnate. This was the manifestation of the final chapter of the Mercenary¡¯s Pinnacle Swordsmanship, the Wolf¡¯s Death.

    <em>[The Evil Incarnate triggers his special skill!]</em>

    <em>[Wolf¡¯s Death exerts double the power that it originally has!]</em>

    Thousands of ck sword lights covered the sky and pointed at Minhyuk. Spear God Ben and Sword of the Gods Luo, who were in their Knights of Destruction forms, immediately moved in front of him. Not only that, the Destruction Monarch¡¯s Army also surrounded him.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª!</em>

    Ben and Luo moved to cut down the sword lights that covered the skies. However, that was not enough. The sword lights that were released by the Evil Incarnate were sharper and sturdier than the sword lights that Brod was originally capable of releasing.

    In the end, Ben, Luo, and the other Knights of Destructions suffered a considerable amount of damage. Even the Destruction Monarch¡¯s Army that surrounded Minhyuk had been swept away, disappearing without leaving a single trace behind.

    In the end, some sword lights got past them andnded on Minhyuk.

    <em>sh, sh, sh¡ª!</em>

    <em>[Your HP has fallen below 70%!]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s face turned ugly. Unfortunately, the appalling notifications did not end there.

    <em>[The Mercenary¡¯s Pinnacle Skill¡¯s Final Chapter has been fused with the effects of the Evil Incarnate¡¯s ¡®Gruesome Dreams¡¯!]</em>

    <em>[The Gruesome Dreams¡¯ effect will only be applied to NPCs. It will be triggered even after they have died in the Land of Destruction and get revived outside.]</em>

    <em>[The Gruesome Dreams¡¯ effects would force one to dream about the moment that they feared the most over and over again.]</em>

    <em>[The Gruesome Dreams¡¯ effects wouldst for an entire month!]</em>

    <em>[The only way to remove the effects of the Gruesome Dreams is to drive away the Evil Incarnate that has encroached upon and taken over the body of the Destruction General.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s face grew uglier by the second.

    Each and every single person had a painful memory that they could never voice out, hidden in the depths of their hearts. For Spear God Ben, it was the day that he lost his child. For Great Pirate Gorfido, it was the day that he found out that he was the one that killed the girl, who he treated as if she was his real daughter, with his own hands.

    Through ¡®Gruesome Dreams¡¯, they would continue to suffer that moment over and over again. Something like that would definitely bring them down to their knees and force them into a mental breakdown.

    Minhyuk could only stand there in frustration,menting the fact that he could not move, as he watched his men helplessly.

    As for the Battle God¡¯s Warriors, they just stood by and watched the situation. After all, they had deemed the Destruction Monarch as their enemy. It would not make sense for them to jump in the middle when the Evil Incarnate was going to kill their enemies.

    However, the Evil Incarnate did not distinguish between ally or foe.

    <em>[The Evil Incarnate¡¯s Jar of Desire has appeared!]</em>

    A huge ck jar popped out in front of the Evil Incarnate. And when he opened the lid, a loud and terrifying scream rang loudly.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    <em>[The ones that hear the screams of the Jar of Desire will lose something that they treasure and cherish the most once they are forced to log out!]</em>

    Alexander, who was also watching the situation, frowned deeply at the notification.

    <em>[The Evil Incarnate will reduce your level by -10 if you are forced to log out of the Land of Destruction.]</em>

    <em>[However, if the Evil Incarnate dies within two days, the penalty will be waived.]</em>

    It was an insane penalty. Alexander could not help but groan. As one of the global top rankers, Alexander only needed ten more levels to reach Level 600. He had been thinking that perhaps he would be able to close the gap between him and Minhyuk once he reached Level 600. However, he could only grab the hilt of his sword tightly after hearing the worst notification that he could receive at the moment.

    Meanwhile, at God of Archery Miao¡¯s side.

    <em>[The Evil Incarnate will remove your skill: Destruction Shot if you are forced to log out of the Land of Destruction.]</em>

    ¡°¡­God damn it. You just can¡¯t get a break around here.¡±

    Destruction Shot was God of Archery Miao¡¯s one-shot kill skill. For a top high ranker like her, losing her own lethal skill would be the worst oue.

    Such notifications rang in the ears of all of the rankers present when the Evil Incarnate appeared:

    <em>[The Evil Incarnate has descended!]</em>

    <em>[Five of the people that contribute greatly to the hunt of the Evil Incarnate will acquire the thing that they want the most.]</em>

    <em>[Those that contribute to the hunt of the Evil Incarnate will receive 50 tinum.]</em>

    Even if they were not able to reach the top five in terms of contributions, 50 tinum was still a very sweet deal.

    The gazes of the top high rankers and the Destruction Monarch met. However, none of the high rankers even thought about cooperating with the Destruction Monarch. They did not know who he was. The only thought that coursed through their heads was that they had to kill the Evil Incarnate right here and now.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    Alexander, God of Archery Miao, and the global top rankers began to move, while some of the world-renowned NPCs followed behind them. Among the NPCs that moved were the Mercenary King Venteio, Saintess Loyna, the Dragon King, Elven King Argon and many more. With these NPCs standing behind them, the yers felt like they had nothing to fear.

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng¡ª! ng, ng!</em>

    ¡°Destruction Shot!¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡°Mercenary¡¯s Pinnacle Swordsmanship.¡±

    The strongest NPCs and the most powerful yers released their lethal skills toward the Evil Incarnate.

    ¡°<em>Graaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!</em>¡± A strange cry came out of the mouth of the Evil Incarnate. It sounded like the attacks were effective against him.

    Of course, the Knights of Destruction did not miss this opportunity. They moved and joined the fray, causing continuous damage to the Evil Incarnate. However, the problem was that the Knights of Destruction and the Battle God¡¯s Warriors were also constantly fighting against each other.

    <em>[They¡¯re not united at all.]</em>

    <em>[They both have the same goal. However, since they are enemies, each side feels like they are interfering with each other in terms of putting pressure on the Evil Incarnate.]</em>

    However, thanks to them, Minhyuk was able to buy some time. Now, there were only three minutes before the penalty of the Parchment that Drives Away Evil was over.

    The current level of the Destruction Monarch was around Level 900. It was more than enough to confront the Evil Incarnate. Just then, something unexpected happened.

    <em>[Farrow, who had fallen into a deep slumber inside the Destruction Monarch¡¯s body, has started to awaken!]</em>

    <em>[The skill: ??? is being released!]</em>

    <em>[You can now check the skill: ???.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes grew wide when he checked the skill hidden in the Destruction Monarch, or Farrow, to be exact.

    <em>¡®You¡¯ve prepared something like this?¡¯ </em>However, Minhyuk still shook his head. <em>¡®I need him for this skill to be triggered and activated.¡¯</em>

    At that moment, those that were attacking felt like they were finally seeing a ray of hope after seeing the Evil Incarnate unable to defend itself and getting constantly pushed back like that.

    <em>[The Ugliest and Filthiest God, the Evil Incarnate, loved ¡®fear and despair¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[The Evil Incarnate loves to trample on budding hopes and dreams.]</em>

    <em>[He smirks andughs.]</em>

    <em>Smirk¡ª</em>

    The corners of the lips of the Evil Incarnate were curled up despite the attacks thatnded constantly on his body.

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    In the blink of an eye, the situation was flipped around, as two ck hands sprung up behind the heads of tens of thousands of yers and NPCs. Then, these hands moved and snapped the necks of these people all at once. Those that leapt to the sky to attack the Evil Incarnate, all dropped one after another.

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    Tens of thousands of people died, just like that. The Evil Incarnate immediatelynded on the ground and took advantage of Brod¡¯s huge physique to ughter the people around him.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    <em>Cruuuuuuuunch¡ª</em>

    Wherever he passed by, people would fall down and die. Both the Destruction Monarch¡¯s Army and the Battle God¡¯s Warriors fell down, their corpses intertwined on the battlefield.

    ¡°Step back!!!¡±

    ¡°Ugh, aaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Run away!!! Step back!!!¡±

    ¡°Keheoooook!¡±

    ¡°F*ck this sh*t!¡±

    They all tried to run away, ming and even raising their weapons against each other. In just thirty seconds, almost another 4,000 people died. The overwhelming power of the Evil Incarnate made everyone feel helpless and discouraged.

    Then, the Evil Incarnate stabbed his sword into the ground.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    An explosion of what seemed to beva rose on the ground and devoured tens of thousands of people once again.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Everyone was left standing in a daze at the crazy disy of power.

    ¡°What the hell¡­ Who in the world is the Destruction General?¡±

    ¡°How can he be so strong¡­¡±

    ¡°Or is he strong because he is now the Evil Incarnate?¡±

    Amidst their despair, Minhyuk finally felt the penalty slowlye to an end.

    <em>¡®I think it¡¯s worth giving it a try once I can move.¡¯</em>

    A small hope started to sprout within Minhyuk. However, just like mentioned before, the Evil Incarnate loved to trample on budding hopes and dreams.

    ¡°Kihihihihihihihihihihi. I already knew.¡± The Evil Incarnateughed grotesquely. ¡°Kihihihihihihihihihihihihi!!!¡±

    His gruesomeughter rang loudly across the battlefield. At the same time, the horned helmet that covered Minhyuk¡¯s face began to disperse.

    <em>[The Evil Incarnate has taken away the power that he has bestowed upon the Destruction Monarch!]</em>

    <em>[The Destruction Monarch¡¯s power is disappearing!]</em>

    <em>Swoosh¡ª </em>and everything disappeared. The Level 900 power of the Destruction Monarch was stripped away from Minhyuk and disappeared into nothingness.

    Slowly, his original appearance began to be revealed. His height of two meters was reduced and returned to his original 185 centimeter height. Shortly after, his white and fair skin, his straight nose and his soft and gentle eyes made their appearance. Then, his ck cloak changed color and returned back to its original white color.

    <em>[With the power of the Destruction Monarch disappearing, the original appearance of the Battle God¡¯s Envoy has started to unfold!]</em>

    At that moment, Minhyuk realized what the Evil Incarnate wanted to do. He must have thought that Minhyuk desired that Level 900 power and wanted to squash Minhyuk¡¯s hope of killing him.

    Finally, his face was revealed to the world.

    ¡°Minhyuk¡­?¡±

    ¡°Minhyuk¡¯s the Destruction Monarch?¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that crazy¡­?!¡±

    However, it was not despair that bloomed in the faces of the people that saw Minhyuk¡¯s face, but hope.

    ¡°Kihihihihihihihi¡­?¡± The Evil Incarnate¡¯sughter slowly died down.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk decided to do the only thing that he could do now. His God¡¯s Voice reverberated in the entire field.

    <em>[Gather up.]</em>

    His imposing and charismatic voice rang and all at once, the Destruction Monarch¡¯s Army and the Battle God¡¯s Warriors, who had been busy fighting against each other, began to gather behind him.

    Thementators broke out into amotion.

    <em>[Well, the Evil Incarnate must not have known, right?]</em>

    <em>[Indeed. yer Minhyuk is the only yer in Athenae that can unite these people.]</em>

    Then, he triggered his God¡¯s Voice once again.

    <em>[This evil being must be¡­]</em>

    Minhyuk was only at Level 600, leagues away from the Level 900 power that the Evil Incarnate had stripped away from him. However, he had something that could break through that level gap. He had the power to unite many.

    <em>[¡­Destroyed.]</em>

 Chapter 763: The War of Destruction

    Chapter 763: The War of Destruction

    There had been a never-ending release of breaking news all over the world.

    <em>[Breaking News. The Destruction Monarch and the Envoy Chosen by the Battle God himself is none other than Food God Minhyuk.]</em>

    <em>[Breaking News. The appearance of the Evil Incarnate has ruined the ¡®War of Destruction¡¯ event.]</em>

    <em>[With the appearance of the Evil Incarnate, the ATV Broadcasting Station has broken through 50% in viewership ratings.]</em>

    <em>[People from all over the world have tuned in wondering if they can hunt down the Evil Incarnate and if the War of Destruction Event will end safely.]</em>

    <em>[Breaking News. The Destruction Monarch, global rankers, and NPCs have joined forces.]</em>

    <em>[A miracle, a hope, has started to sprout in everyone¡¯s hearts.]</em>

    Meanwhile, the ugliest and filthiest god, the Evil Incarnate, hoped that Destruction Monarch Farrow and Battle God Belson would be devoured by their despair. He also hoped that everyone here, including the man named Food God that tried to interfere with his ns, would suffer tremendously.

    Because of that, the Evil Incarnate took away the power that he gave to the Destruction Monarch. After all, only when they lost everything that they had, would helplessness and despair settle in their bones and make them shrink in fear.

    However, the Evil Incarnate did not see any despair or suffering sh in the eyes of everyone present.

    <em>[The Evil Incarnate has made a huge mistake here.]</em>

    <em>[True, he revealed the identity of the Destruction Monarch. However, that yer is the best and the strongest ranker in Athenae.]</em>

    <em>[The most important point here is the fact that yer Minhyuk has killed and hunted plenty of enemies that we believed to have been impossible to hunt.]</em>

    <em>[yer Minhyuk is like a ray of light for everyone. He has always made the impossible possible.]</em>

    <em>[And he¡¯s also the king of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[The yers, along with his own guild members, and the NPCs that were once his enemies, are now gathering by his side.]</em>

    <em>[Since yer Minhyuk was the Destruction Monarch, we will now be able to see who the Knights of Destruction are.]</em>

    <em>[The Knights of Destruction are probably NPCs from the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom like Spear God Ben, Brod, God of Snakes Elizabeth, and many more.]</em>

    <em>[As we speak, the NPCs of Beyond the Heavens are starting to scatter into nothingness. Perhaps it¡¯s because the Evil Incarnate stripped yer Minhyuk of the power of the Destruction Monarch.]</em>

    <em>[It seems like the Spear God Ben, Brod, Food God Minhyuk and the rest that we saw earlier were made and controlled by AI.]</em>

    <em>[However, we should not forget the most important fact.]</em>

    The yers from all over the globe clenched their fists tightly. Among those that gathered around Minhyuk were Overlord Raldo and Mercenary King Venteio.

    <em>[Venteio is the sessor of the God of Mercenaries. He¡¯s like the father to all of the mercenaries.]</em>

    <em>[Overlord Raldo might just be a king of a small nation. However, that nation is one that a few empires dare not do anything to. He has strengthparable to a kingdom itself.]</em>

    <em>[Elven King Argon and the Dragon King are also here.]</em>

    <em>[With the advent of the War of Destruction, plenty of NPCs that wanted to test the limits of their strength and their capabilities have all participated.]</em>

    <em>[Even Absolute Monarch Richard and his Masserati Kingdom¡¯s guild members are also among the people that have gathered.]</em>

    <em>[It seems like even Monarch Richard thought that their only way out of this perilous situation is to side with Minhyuk.]</em>

    <em>[This will be the moment where they flip the heavens and the earths.]</em>

    At that moment, a stream of golden energy fluttered into existence on Golden Mage Ali¡¯s palms. Then, he pushed his palm forward and gathered the people scattered all over the ce and brought them together.

    ¡°Do you think you, humans, will be able to do anything just because you¡¯re united?!¡±

    The Evil Incarnate was once again left furious when things did not go his way. Furious at the hope that shed in their faces, instead of the despair that he was anticipating, the Evil Incarnate shot hundreds of sword lights toward them, which filled the sky.

    Before, they were all busy keeping each other in check. That was not the case anymore. Knights of Destruction Spear God Ben swung his spear and destroyed the sword lights that started to fall from the sky.

    <em>Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom¡ª</em>

    Immediately after that, Overlord Raldo used his ¡®Overlord¡¯s Technique¡¯ and further weakened the sword lights that got past Spear God Ben¡¯s attacks. Of course, the thousands of rankers would not let themselves be left behind. They all sent powerful attacks toward the oing barrage.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaam¡ª</em>

    However, even though the rankers sent their powerful attacks, the sword lights did not disappear entirely and just continued on their merry way. Thankfully, with enoughyered attacks, they eventually scattered into nothingness.

    ¡°Keueeeeeeeck! Keueeeeeeeeeck! Despair! Despair! I told you to fall into the depths of despair!¡± The Evil Incarnate grew even more furious when things continued to stray from the path that he wanted.

    Then, with Minhyuk charging at the vanguard, the closebat high rankers began to run. At the same time, golden swords floated above before gentlynding on the heads of the charging rankers and slowly seeping into their bodies.

    <em>[Absolute Monarch¡¯s Radiant Sword.]</em>

    <em>[All of your attacks have increased by 20%. Your skills¡¯ attack has increased by 15%!]</em>

    These notifications rang in the ears of the high rankers, thanks to Absolute Monarch Richard¡¯s buff.

    <em>[Ruler of the Battlefield.]</em>

    <em>[The blessings of the noble god that rules over all battlefields has wrapped around you!]</em>

    That was not the end. Mei Wei, once the global number one ranker who was now famous for bing Minhyuk¡¯s bread shuttle, gave her blessings. At the same time, wings rose on the shoulder des of all of the charging rankers.

    <em>[Your movement and attack speed have increased by 25%!]</em>

    <em>[Your evasion rate has increased by 40%!]</em>

    <em>[You can fly at the speed of light once!]</em>

    Hundreds of rankers flew up with white wings on their backs, and Minhyuk at the lead.

    Then, a small and illusory figure started to form on Minhyuk¡¯s back. The illusory figure of a hero was wearing a golden armor and a golden horned helmet on his head. Belson might be chosen by the Battle God, but this person was someone that had transcended and gone beyond many gods through his own hardwork and effort.

    Belson was clearly the God that ¡®Rules and Commands all Armies.¡¯ He had the ability to read through his enemies and the charisma to lead tens of millions of troops under his banner. Although his older brother Farrow was not chosen by the Battle God, there was one thing that one had to know about him. If they were talking about a show of force and power, Belson had never beaten Farrow. That was how strong and powerful Farrow was.

    <em>[The effects of the Parchment that Drives Away Evil has been activated!]</em>

    <em>[Farrow haspletely regained his consciousness!]</em>

    <em>[Farrow.]</em>

    <em>[He was a candidate for the God of Generals.]</em>

    <em>[The Greatest God has chosen Belson to be the Battle God and Farrow as the God of Generals that protected him.]</em>

    <em>[God of Generals Farrow was as strong and as powerful as the Sword God, the Spear God, the God of Archery and many more.]</em>

    The upright and noble Farrow, the man that sacrificed his life for the sake of his younger brother Belson, appeared on Minhyuk¡¯s back as an illusory figure and asked him,<em> ¡®Were you the one that awakened me?¡¯</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was speechless. The man¡¯s voice was so soft, maic and charismatic. It was a voice that showed the majesty and dignity of a true god. Then, the voice took on a gentler tone.

    <em>¡®I saw everything.¡¯</em>

    Farrow remembered everything when he was still the Destruction Monarch. He knew that the envoy chosen by the Battle God to enter the Destruction Monarch had defied the god¡¯s will. Of course, he also knew the reason why.

    <em>¡®I know that you did this so you can win the heart of the Battle God.¡¯</em>

    That was right. Minhyuk was aware that the greatest reward that he could obtain here was the Battle God himself. That was the reason why he chose this path.

    <em>¡®However, there¡¯s also something small beneath that wish.¡¯ </em>God of Generals Farrow smiled lightly. <em>¡®Deep inside, I know you also wished for me and Belson to meet again.¡¯</em>

    That was also true. Farrow could see through this because he was the general thatmanded the entire Land of the Gods.

    <em>[God of Generals Farrow was a myth in the Land of the Gods.]</em>

    This was a hidden story. As his untold story got told through the notifications ringing in the people¡¯s ears, a scene began to appear in the sky above them.

    <em>[The Evil Incarnate had constantly sent attacks to the Land of the Gods.]</em>

    <em>[Using the wicked ones, he led millions of troops and advanced to the Land of the Gods.]</em>

    <em>[However¡­]</em>

    Illusory figures and sceneries were drawn on the sky. It showed a god standing by his lonesome self and cutting down the millions of troops that the Evil Incarnate sent to the Land of the Gods. The man wore a golden armor and a golden horned helmet on his head. After breathing lightly, the man turned around.

    <em>[God of Generals Farrow.]</em>

    <em>[He cut down millions of enemy troops by himself.]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s why the Evil Incarnate put a curse upon his younger brother Belson.]</em>

    <em>[Why? Because the Evil Incarnate was afraid of Farrow.]</em>

    <em>[Farrow might not be the Battle God, but he has strength and powerparable to the army that the Battle Godmanded.]</em>

    Then, Farrow said, his soft and gentle voice seemed to wrap around and embrace Minhyuk, <em>¡®The Lowest God.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Do me onest favor. We¡­¡¯ </em>Minhyuk heard the voice of the Battle God.

    Minhyuk, who flew at the speed of light, appeared in front of the Evil Incarnate. Then, he shed the god in front of him and used ¡®Sword of Carnage.¡¯

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack! Aaaaaaaaaaack! Graaaaaaaaa!¡± Screams were constantly emitting from the mouth of the Evil Incarnate. Without wasting any second, the other high rankers also unleashed their attacks on the Evil Incarnate.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk gentlynded on the ground as the golden wings on his back slowly disappeared into nothingness.

    <em>¡®¡­do this for me.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk nodded his head after listening to Farrow¡¯s story.

    <em>¡®If everything seeds then¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk pondered over the things that he said. The Evil Incarnate existed everywhere and nowhere. He was hiding his true body. However, ording to Farrow¡­

    <em>¡®He will soon reveal his body.¡¯</em>

    Even if the Evil Incarnate was over Level 900, would anyone be able to endure the onught of heavy and intense attacks from the high rankers, the outstanding NPCs, and Minhyuk? Of course not. He would definitely notst long. In fact, he had already copsed on the ground from the continuous attacks.

    <em>¡®¡­Come quickly,¡¯</em> Farrow, who was in the form of an illusory apparition hanging on Minhyuk¡¯s back, said as he looked somewhere.

    That was when a new batch of notifications sounded.

    <em>[The Evil Incarnate is everywhere and nowhere.]</em>

    <em>Swooooooooosh¡ª</em>

    A ck figure that was floating around in the sky shot down and entered the body of the Evil Incarnate.

    <em>[The true Evil Incarnate has descended!]</em>

    <em>[The Evil Incarnate¡¯s Authority has been activated!]</em>

    <em>[Darkness has started to dye everything!]</em>

    All of the yers¡¯ vision had turned dark, which brought forth an even greater fear and terror.

    ¡°What in the world is going on?¡±

    ¡°What is this?!!!¡±

    ¡°What the hell is going on?!¡±

    <em>[The Evil Incarnate¡¯s Authority has dragged you into a state of fear and terror!]</em>

    <em>[Only when the darkness clears up will you be able to move!]</em>

    <em>[Your body is suffering from intense fear!]</em>

    ¡°U, uwaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m, I¡¯m scared¡­¡±

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaack¡­¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s, let¡¯s log out!¡±

    ¡°Shit! We can¡¯t log out!¡±

    All of them began to shake fiercely from the fear. However, no matter how hard they tried, their bodies just could not move.

    The voice that sounded like the devil whispered softly in their ears, ¡°I am you. Your evil is my source and my root. Ke, kekekekekekekekeke! Kihihihihihihihihihi!¡±

    <em>-Kihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihi!</em>

    <em>-Kehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe!</em>

    The gruesome and horribleugh engulfed all of the yers. But then, for a brief moment, a bright light shed amidst the darkness. Then, the notifications rang in the ears of the yers.

    <em>[The Evil Incarnate¡¯s Authority will release the ¡®Evil Spirit¡¯s Army¡¯ for thirty minutes!]</em>

    <em>[The Evil Spirit¡¯s Army will remain indefinitely unless the Evil Incarnate dies or his Evil Incarnate¡¯s Authority ends.]</em>

    Millions of ck evil spirits of all bizarre shapes and sizes charged in front of their very eyes. They all had bones twisting strangely all over their bodies and their level was high, some even reached Level 646. Watching them turn the Land of Destruction into a sea of ck made everyone tremble even further from fear.

    ***

    Joy Co. Ltd.

    Everyone inside the conference room held their breath as they watched the Evil Incarnate¡¯s Authority unfold and bring about the yers and NPCs¡¯ greatest fears. At the same time, millions of evil spirits marched and dyed the entire Land of Destruction a sea of ck.

    The flustered voices of thementators also continued to ring inside the conference room.

    <em>[Our screens are once again filled with a sea of darkness.]</em>

    <em>[We cannot confirm whatever is happening in the Land of Destruction.]</em>

    <em>[Creak, creak, creak¡ª Crack, crack, crack¡ª]</em>

    <em>[Uwaaaaaaack!]</em>

    <em>[Keuaaaaaaack!]</em>

    <em>[U, uwaaaaaaa! S, save meeeee!!!]</em>

    They could only hear the screams echo in the darkness. Even the operators and executives of Joy Co. Ltd. were left speechless when they heard those desperate screams.

    <em>[A total of 24,313 yers and NPCs have either died or have been forced to log out inside the Land of Destruction.]</em>

    <em>[A total of 42,514 yers and NPCs have either died or have been forced to log out inside the Land of Destruction.]</em>

    <em>[A total of 23,614 yers and NPCs have either died or have been forced to log out inside the Land of Destruction¡­]</em>

    Everyone felt their mouths turn dry at the notifications that constantly rang in their ears. Just like that, deaths and forced logouts devoured their surroundings.

    <em>[P, pleaaaaaaaase!!!]</em>

    Someone¡¯s head dropped and rolled as one of the yers shrieked helplessly.

    <em>[Crackleeee¡ª!]</em>

    <em>[Crackleeeeeeeee¡ª!]</em>

    <em>[Cracklesssss¡ª!]</em>

    Then, zing mes suddenly broke out all over the ce and illuminated the Land of Destruction. At the same time, the bodies of the Evil Spirits¡¯ Army that were devouring and tearing apart the yers and NPCs caught fire and slowly faded into white before disappearing with the wind.

    <em>[Crackleeee¡ª!]</em>

    <em>[Crackleeeeeeeee¡ª!]</em>

    Everyone turned to look at the light that was like amp in this never ending sea of darkness. There, they saw a man walking amidst the millions of troops of the Evil Spirit¡¯s Army.

    The man¡¯s face looked very familiar. In fact, anyone that saw the promotional video of the War of Destruction would know who he was. His face was now covered with wrinkles, but it was still obviously ¡®him¡¯.

    He wore a set of white armor with a white sword hanging on his waist, while his silver hair fluttered behind him. With every step that he took, the entities of the Evil Spirit¡¯s Army were extinguished, disappearing into nothingness. The Evil Spirit¡¯s Army had a limitless number of soldiers, but none of them reached him.

    Everyone was in awe as they watched ¡®him¡¯ walk slowly forward. Then, he pulled his sword and swung it once.

    <em>Crackleeeeeeeee¡ª</em>

    At the same time, half a million of the Evil Spirit¡¯s Army disappeared starting from the front to the rear of the army, after being engulfed with a bright white light.

    This was the greatest being.

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods.]</em>

    <em>[The Greatest and Strongest God that Ruled Over All of the Armies.]</em>

    <em>[The Battle God has descended!]</em>

    <em>[The Battle God. He is the greatest god among the absolute gods!]</em>

 Chapter 764: The War of Destruction

    Chapter 764: The War of Destruction

    The great myth among the Absolute Gods, which had been hidden under a thin veil, was being steadily revealed.

    There were only a few selected yers that were able to sessfully change into an ¡®Absolute God ss.¡¯ Among these Absolute God sses, there was one ss that had 56.1% votes for the ¡®Absolute God that I Want to Be the Most.¡¯ It was none other than the ¡®Battle God.¡¯

    Roldran, someone with the special ss ¡®God Researcher¡¯ in Athenae, had the ability to dig up information about the gods. He was someone that knew more about the Battle God than anybody else and had revealed all of his knowledge about him.

    ¡ª<em>The Battle God is a god above other gods. The Spear God, the Sword God, the God of Magic and many other gods would have to kneel in his presence.</em>

    <em>¡ªUnlike the other gods, the Battle God can keep his position for a very long time.</em>

    <em>¡ªording to myths and legends, the very first Battle God also had special powers.</em>

    <em>¡ªIt¡¯s the power to call upon and gather the gods at hismand.</em>

    The people were shocked after hearing that the Battle God had such a power.

    Then, someone asked Roldran.

    ¡ª<em>Then, does that mean that the Battle God is invincible?</em>

    <em>¡ªNo. This is only true for the first Battle God. ording to stories, the Battle God of this era has an older brother. When the two of them were born, this power was given to the older brother. However, now that older brother is dead.</em>

    <em>¡ªDoes that mean that the power has been gone forever?</em>

    <em>¡ªThat¡¯s right. To be honest, there¡¯s no way that they will let such a power remain intact in Athenae, where bnce is valued more than anything else. There is a high chance that even if he has that power, he will not be able to use it.</em>

    <em>¡ªWhy is that so?</em>

    <em>¡ªBecause he would need the approval of the Battle God. He cannot just call upon the gods whenever he wanted.</em>

    As such, the power waspletely sealed. However, just by listening to the myths and legends about the Battle God made all of the viewers admire the said god. After all, he was someone that had saved the Land of the Gods several times, and was deserving of the admiration of many.

    <em>Crackleeeee¡ª</em>

    One swing of his sword and more than half a million of the Evil Spirits¡¯ Army were engulfed by white mes, disappearing into nothingness.

    As the people watched him, with strands of his silver hair fluttering from underneath his horned helmet, they could not help but wonder what would happen next.

    When the Destruction Monarch appeared, who was also the Battle God¡¯s older brother Farrow, the Battle God had spent quite a lot of energy to control and suppress him. As a result, he temporarily lost the power to lead all of his troops. In other words, the Battle God was nothing but a strong god right now. However, he still took the risk and made a move.

    As the Battle God turned his back on the white mes that devoured the enemy troops, his gaze was focused elsewhere. There, he saw his older brother Farrow clinging on Minhyuk¡¯s back in the form of a soul.

    Farrow did not say anything. This man in front of them was his younger brother, the younger brother that was chosen as the Battle God. However, he had been a coward throughout their youth.

    Then, the voice of the Battle God rang all over the world. It was a slightly different, yet unmistakably unique voice.

    <em>[He was a coward.]</em>

    In the sky, the figure of a boy squatting on the ground while sobbing as little gods surrounded him appeared. Then, another boy appeared. The boy swung his wooden sword and chased the other gods away.

    <em>[However, he had an older brother.]</em>

    Then, the scene in the sky changed. This time, it showed the reliable older brother patting the crying boy¡¯s back.

    <em>[The older brother led and guided the younger brother.]</em>

    The reliable older boy taught the younger boy how to hold his sword, the two of them smiling brightly as they looked at each other and swung their wooden swords.

    Hundreds of scenes appeared in the sky at the same time. There was a scene where the older brother appeared like a miracle when the younger brother was surrounded by a huge number of monsters. The scene where the older brother cooked for his younger brother. The scene where the older brother taught his younger brother how to stand and carry himself in front of others. Hundreds of such scenes appeared and scattered in the sky. Finally, the scene of the Battle God standing in front of millions of Divine Army troops appeared.

    <em>[And because of him¡­]</em>

    The Battle God looked at his older brother Farrow. Farrow had been smiling lightly at him, but when he heard the Battle God¡¯s voice, his smile turned brighter. Right now, Farrow could say that he was the happiest in the world. He might not have be the Battle God, but his brother Belson, did. He became the greatest god in the world.

    On the other hand, the Battle God was sporting a bitter smile on his face. Because of his foolish self, his older brother died all by himself. He could not even bring himself to go to his older brother Farrow.

    At that moment, Minhyuk felt Farrow squeeze into his body. However, it was not coercive nor forceful. Just like he promised, Minhyuk surrendered his body to Farrow.

    Minhyuk¡¯s soul left the body and immediately, there were changes to the physique. In the first ce, this body was that of Farrow, the Destruction Monarch. So, when Farrow¡¯s soul went inside, the figure of the Destruction Monarch morphed into that of Farrow.

    Unlike his younger brother Belson, Farrow had short silver hair and a gigantic body that towered over two meters. The moment he recovered his body, Farrow began to walk one step at a time until he stood in front of the Battle God.

    The Battle God was the greatest and strongest god. However, he could not hide his emotions in front of his older brother, as a single drop of tear started to drip down his cheek.

    ¡°Congrattions on bing the Battle God, Belson.¡±

    The Battle God smiled at Farrow¡¯s words. The fact that Farrow reached his hand out to him first was showing him that his older brother did not regret the choice that he made back then. The Battle God sped his brother¡¯s hand tightly. Only after he grabbed his older brother¡¯s big and warm hands, hands that he had not been able to hold for a very long time, did a bright smile bloom on the Battle God¡¯s face.

    <em>[This is a very heartwarming scene.]</em>

    <em>[Farrow, who died for his younger brother, and Belson, the strongest Absolute God that dearly missed his older brother.]</em>

    <em>[This was originally a story where Destruction Monarch Farrow was supposed to die.]</em>

    Then, the Evil Incarnate¡¯s piercing shrieks rang in the ears of the two, ¡°Farrooooooooooow!!! Belsoooooooooooooon!!!¡±

    The Evil Incarnate¡¯s Authority wouldst for thirty minutes. Basically, he had an infinite number of troops for as long as the authority was activated. Just like that, enormous cracks in space opened as millions of hideous and gruesome troops of the Evil Spirit¡¯s Army continuously poured out. All of them charged toward Farrow and the Battle God.

    Then, Farrow said, ¡°Belson, did your skill in the sword improve?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m probably better than you now, brother.¡±

    Older Brother Farrow carried a sword that was as big as his body, while the Battle God had his sword hanging at his waist.

    Meanwhile, the viewers that watched the scene were all holding their breaths. The Battle God was the strongest and greatest Absolute God. However, he could only exert the true extent of his power when he was leading his army. Perhaps Farrow was even stronger than the Battle God right now.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Farrow walked toward the millions of charging Evil Spirit¡¯s Army with the Battle God walking beside him.

    <em>[Amazing.]</em>

    <em>[It looks like that sea of ck ising to devour the two of them.]</em>

    <em>[You can sense no fear from the steps of the two gods.]</em>

    <em>[Perhaps the greatest scene in the history of Athenae will be created today.]</em>

    <em>[Dear viewers, we suggest that you don¡¯t take your eyes off of your screens.]</em>

    <em>[The steps that they are taking now will be the stuff of legends.]</em>

    The Battle God pulled his sword and swung it swiftly.

    <em>Crackle¡ª</em>

    In just an instant, more than 300,000 of the Evil Spirits¡¯ Army had been swept away by zing white mes.

    This time, it was Farrow that swung his greatsword in the air. He just swung it at the empty air in front of him. However, something amazing happened right after. More than 500,000 of the Evil Spirits¡¯ Army were ripped apart before disappearing into nothing.

    Belson and Farrow exchanged nces, before the two began to run toward the enemy troops as they spoke to each other with voices that only they could hear.

    ¡°That child, who is he?¡± Farrow was very curious about Minhyuk.

    The Battle God grinned at his older brother¡¯s question. ¡°He¡¯s the child that I want to be my sessor.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Farrow was very surprised to hear his brother say that he wanted that child, the lowest god, to be this era¡¯s Battle God. Then, he said, ¡°Today, that child will cut down the Evil Incarnate.¡±

    The Battle God nodded at his brother¡¯s words.

    With every swing of Farrow¡¯s greatsword, hundreds of thousands of the Evil Spirits¡¯ Army would get ripped apart. Likewise, with every swing of the Battle God¡¯s sword, white mes would burst out and devour hundreds of thousands of the troops that had dyed thisnd with darkness.

    <em>[The speed at which the Evil Spirits¡¯ Army gets summoned cannot keep up with the speed at which they are being exterminated by the Battle God and the God of Generals.]</em>

    <em>[The two of them have be the bright light that guides the yers and NPCs that almost copsed from fear.]</em>

    Up until now, the yers and the NPCs were in a terrible state of fear. To be honest, they were still terrified. They were unable to move their bodies and could only look at the situation.

    Of course, the Evil Incarnate would not just sit still and allow them to do as they pleased. The Evil Incarnate was also an Absolute God. Since the Greatest God Athenae had given birth to his existence, he had always been everywhere and nowhere.

    <em>[The Evil Incarnate¡¯s Breath.]</em>

    <em>[The Evil Spirits¡¯ Army inhales the Evil Incarnates Breath.]</em>

    <em>[The speed at which the Evil Spirits¡¯ Army appears has increased by three times.]</em>

    Just like that, more and more troops of the Evil Spirits¡¯ Army appeared and put pressure on the Battle God and the God of Generals. This time, the ones that could not keep up were the Battle God and the God of the Generals. The worst part was that the Evil Incarnate would not stop ying tricks on them either.

    <em>[The Evil Spirits¡¯ Army has started to explode!]</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The troops that surrounded the Battle God and the God of Generals exploded one after the other, the explosions engulfing the body of the two godspletely. At the same time, a golden barrier appeared and protected the Battle God, while a silver barrier covered the body of the God of Generals. However, even when they were in such a state, the Evil Incarnate did not stop attacking them.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Thousands of spears made of ck light fell down from the sky and mmed into the barriers that protected the Battle God and the God of Generals.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    In the end, cracks began to form in the barriers that protected the two gods. However, the two exchanged looks once again, and they both moved and began to prepare something.

    Even though their barrier was slowly breaking down and millions of Evil Spirits¡¯ Army were charging in on them, the two remained steadfast and continued with what they were preparing.

    ¡°Kihihihihihihihihihihhihihihihihi! The two brothers will die together! Kehehehehehehehehhehehehehehehehe!¡± The Evil Incarnate cackled, hisughter chilling to the bones.

    Just the thought of the Evil Incarnate and his Evil Spirits¡¯ Army devouring the two gods brought another fresh wave of terror to the yers and NPCs. The same was true for Genie.

    The Evil Incarnate¡¯s Authority had the power to put anyone into a state of extreme fear. Genie¡¯s legs were shaking fiercely from that fear. But then, she saw a man pass by her. The man was slowly covered by a white armor that fell down from the sky.

    <em>[You have worn the God¡¯s Knight¡¯s Armor!]</em>

    <em>[Only those that have received the recognition of the Battle God can wear the God¡¯s Knight¡¯s Armor!]</em>

    <em>[You have temporarily be a God¡¯s Knight.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 33%.]</em>

    <em>[All of your skills¡¯ level has increased by +2.]</em>

    <em>[God¡¯s Knight can wield the power of the Battle God and the God of Generals.]</em>

    As the white armor settled over Minhyuk¡¯s body, his ck hair slowly turned silver. At the same time, the sound of something cracking rang loudly behind them.

    Genie turned around, only to be greeted with the destruction of the barrier that protected the Battle God and the God of Generals. Thankfully, the two had almost finished the preparation for their lethal move.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Farrow stabbed his sword in the ground, and instantly, a huge explosion that covered a 50 kilometer radius bloomed and devoured the Evil Spirits¡¯ Army. When everything settled down, there was no trace of the army being in the area left behind.

    At the same time, tens of thousands of white mes rained down from the sky and extinguished the existence of the Evil Spirits¡¯ Army beneath them the moment the Battle God raised his sword to the sky.

    The army that had been blocking the path to the Evil Incarnate disappeared because of the overwhelming strength that the two gods disyed. However, the Battle God and the God of Generals were now both exhausted. They were breathing roughly after consuming a huge chunk of their power to release those moves.

    <em>Neigggggghhhh¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk, who had now be a God¡¯s Knight, climbed atop a white warhorse.

    <em>¡®Minhyuk?¡¯</em>

    That was when Genie noticed that the Battle God and the God of Generals had only made their move to attract the attention of the Evil Incarnate. The one that would truly cut down the Evil Incarnate was not them, but Minhyuk.

    Meanwhile, a set of notifications rang in the ears of Minhyuk, who was charging through the disappearing Evil Spirits¡¯ Army on his white warhorse.

    <em>[You have be the God¡¯s Knight! You can now use the power of the Battle God or the power of the God of Generals!]</em>

    <em>[You have used the skill: ¡®Assembling the Gods¡¯!]</em>

    <em>[The Battle God has approved your use of the skill: ¡®Assembling the Gods¡¯!]</em>

    The ¡®???¡¯ skill that God of Generals Farrow possessed was none other than this.

    Then, the voice of the Battle God resounded.

    <em>[The One who gathered all of the gods¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­is the Lowest God.]</em>

 Chapter 765: The War of Destruction

    Chapter 765: The War of Destruction

    What kind of existence were the gods in the minds of the Athenae yers? They were the absolute existence in their fields, with Greatest God Athenae as the sole exception. There were many legends that used the spear and the sword, to the point that it was impossible to count them with their hands. However, gods were different. For each field in the world, there was only one god.

    That was why everyone knew that these gods were great, but arrogant beings. Was there anything that they could say against these arrogant beings? No, because they were the progenitor and the creator of that field. Besides, it was likely anyone would act the same way if they were in the same position.

    Minhyuk, who rode on the white warhorse while wearing full te armor, used the God of Generals¡¯ skill: ¡®Assembling the Gods¡¯. Underneath the white horned helmet, Minhyuk opened his mouth and said, ¡°Assemble.¡±

    Along with his words, a powerful and majestic world message resounded.

    <em>[The One that Received the Recognition of the God of Generals.]</em>

    <em>[The One that Became the ¡®God¡¯s Knight¡¯ for the Battle God.]</em>

    <em>[He has used the Assembling the Gods!]</em>

    <em>[The Gods that have assembled will only be able to use one attack and one skill!]</em>

    <em>[He is the Lowest God!]</em>

    <em>[The Lowest God¡¯s order to assemble the gods is not an absolute order!]</em>

    <em>[¡­has not responded!]</em>

    <em>[¡­has not responded!]</em>

    Plenty of people grew helpless and despondent when they heard that some gods were unresponsive despite the call for the Assembling of the Gods. It would have been a spectacr sight to see, one not witnessed anywhere else in the world, if a yer rallied those noble and arrogant gods. However, the yers knew the reality.

    <em>[¡­ A foreigner god? There¡¯s no way that they¡¯ll respond to the calls of yer Minhyuk, a mere Continental God.]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s a bit unfortunate but at least we have the Battle God and the God of Generals on our side. There¡¯s still hope.]</em>

    <em>[In fact, I believe they have a good chance. After all, yer Minhyuk can use the power of the ¡®Food God¡¯ and the power of the ¡®God¡¯s Knight¡¯ right now.]</em>

    Thementators spoke as if they were consoling each other, but the viewers remained bitter.

    <em>[There¡¯s no way that those arrogant gods will answer the calls of a foreigner god and the lowest god Minhyuk.]</em>

    <em>[It doesn¡¯t matter if yer Minhyuk is the best and strongest ranker in the world. In the first ce, it does not make sense for him to gather those gods.]</em>

    <em>[However, what do you think would happen if the Battle God is the one that used the Assembling the Gods?]</em>

    <em>[If the Battle God is the one that used the Assembling the Gods, then don¡¯t you think that those gods will all prostrate and kneel in front of him?]</em>

    <em>[This is obviously the limit of a yer.]</em>

    <em>[It would be ridiculous if Absolute Gods appeared, right?]</em>

    <em>[Guys, wake up. The ordinary gods are noting, so why would Absolute Gods appear? On top of that, the Absolute Gods are in the same ss as the Battle God.]</em>

    Just like what one viewer said, the Absolute Gods were in the same ss as the Battle God.

    <em>[Will they even assemble even if it was the power of the Battle God? They have their own pride, you know?]</em>

    <em>[Eh¡­ But it¡¯s not the Battle God that asked them to gather. It¡¯s Minhyuk.]</em>

    <em>[No, how can the Food God gather them if even the Battle God cannot?]</em>

    <em>[Now that you say that¡­ it sounds reasonable.]</em>

    Everyone felt that it was a pity after thinking like that.

    However, the Battle God was sporting a rxed expression on his face as he murmured to himself, ¡°There are so many Absolute Gods that love and adore that child.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Farrow turned to look at Minhyuk in surprise after hearing those words.

    ***

    Joy Co. Ltd.

    Lee Minhwa, a member of the Special yers Management Team, watched as the Land of the Gods was turned upside down.

    Some of the gods were talking with each other.

    ¡°What? A mere Continental God dares to order us gods to assemble?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s his name?¡±

    ¡°The Food God? That cheeky and impudent bastard?!!!¡±

    ¡°Why would I even respond to the calls of that cheeky bastard?!¡±

    ¡°I have my pride as a god too!¡±

    All of the gods in the Land of the Gods cursed and denied the summon. Seeing this, Lee Minhwa immediately tapped on her keyboard. However, what she saw in another ce made her dumbfounded.

    ¡°This is yer Minhyuk¡¯s personal connections¡­ no, I mean, godly connections¡­¡±

    <em>¡®Is it even appropriate to call it personal connections at this juncture?¡¯</em>

    Just as she was pondering over the matter, the doors mmed open and Team Leader Park Minggyu entered.

    Team Leader Park hade from the conference room to check on the situation after seeing that none of the gods had responded. ¡°Why are the gods not responding? No matter how prideful they were, the Assembling of the Gods has been approved by the Battle God himself.¡±

    Lee Minhwa shook her head at his question. ¡°Team Leader, it¡¯s not that the gods are not responding.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    Team Leader Park looked at her in doubt. What in the world did she mean? So, Park Minggyu immediately turned to look at the monitor. There, he saw several Absolute Gods preparing to go to battle.

    ¡°They¡¯re just waiting for the perfect moment. After all, those mere gods could never stand in front of the Absolute Gods.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ***

    The Evil Incarnate had no other choice but to feel that this situation was absurd. The blood running through the veins of that child was only that of a Continental God¡¯s blood. However, he was also considered as the Lowest God.

    The Evil Incarnate felt the power of many gods thrumming in his body, however his strength was still far too weak. Even so, the Battle God and the God of the Generals still willingly handed the authority to use the ¡®Assembling the Gods¡¯ to this child.

    If it was the God of the Generals that used the ¡®Assembling the Gods¡¯, then the other gods might have rushed over. But what would be the result right now? Regardless, it brought delight to the Evil Incarnate.

    ¡°Kikikikikikikikikikiki! Kihihihihihihihihihihihihi!¡±

    To him, the situation looked like they dug the pits of despair on their own. They were filled with hope as they called for the other gods, but were promptly ignored.

    <em>¡®I cannot kill Belson or Farrow right now.¡¯</em>

    The Evil Incarnate was a very shrewd being and he knew them better than anybody else. Since he knew them well, the Evil Incarnate thought of only killing Minhyuk, who had be the God¡¯s Knight and was charging straight toward him on his white warhorse. But that was not the end.

    ¡°You bastard, I will find you every day and kill you.¡±

    The Evil Incarnate nned to chase Minhyuk, the culprit that ruined his ns, to the ends of the earth and kill him day after day. He was everywhere and nowhere. This was a feat that he was very capable of.

    Not long after, hundreds of ck swords and spears appeared around him.

    <em>[The Evil Incarnate¡¯s Thunder Spear.]</em>

    <em>[Three hundred spears with additional 2,400% attack shoot at your enemy at a high speed.]</em>

    The Evil Incarnate was basically at the level of an Absolute God. So, just three of the spears that he sent with additional 2,400% attack were enough to kill a few high rankers. Not to mention, the Thunder Spears were as fast as lightning and thunder.

    <em>Rumbleee!</em>

    Along with the rumbling in the sky, the spear that was floating beside the Evil Incarnate had traveled swiftly. In the blink of an eye, it was already stabbing through Minhyuk¡¯s nk.

    ¡°Kghk!¡±

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 90%!]</em>

    Minhyuk was shocked to see that a chunk of his HP had been lost in just one attack. He fell into contemtion as he continued to ride the white warhorse. <em>¡®If I don¡¯t kill that bastard here then¡­¡¯</em>

    Just like what the Evil Incarnate dered, Minhyuk would be forced to log out every single day. That would spell doom for the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. It also meant that Minhyuk¡¯s eating addiction¡¯s improvement woulde to a halt.

    However, the Thunder Spears did not stop. They continued to silently move and stab into Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    <em>Stab¡ª stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    <em>Rumbleeeeeeee¡ª</em>

    With every rumble of thunder, shes of light would appear and stab all over Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 50%!]</em>

    <em>[Your head suddenly began spinning!]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s body, which was still riding on the white warhorse, wobbled. He was suddenly in danger of falling. In fact, his hold on the reins suddenly loosened and his body had started to slip away from the horse.

    But the attack was not yet over. Hundreds of spears flew one after another and shot toward Minhyuk¡¯s falling body. At that moment, the notifications came.

    <em>[The first God has responded!]</em>

    <em>[The first God has been watching over him for a long time.]</em>

    <em>[This God has always been watching him, seeing that he does not know how to back down despite all of the trials and hardships presented to him.]</em>

    <em>[The first God is one of the ¡®Absolute Gods¡¯, the God of Will.]</em>

    <em>[¡­!]</em>

    <em>[¡­!]</em>

    <em>[¡­!]</em>

    <em>[¡­!]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Everyone was shocked to see the message that rang.

    The God of Will was one of the Absolute Gods and he was the one that did not know how to back down. If the Battle God was the one that everyone admired the most, the God of Will was the god that everyone believed to be capable of giving the best passive skills. That was not all, the God of Will had only appeared in front of a select few yers, those that had sessfullypleted extremely hard and repetitivebor.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    A man appeared and supported Minhyuk¡¯s body that was falling off of the warhorse. The man¡¯s face was covered with a ck mask so none of them could see his exact appearance. However, the soft smile and the warm gaze that he used to look at Minhyuk was gentler and warmer than anybody else.

    When the hundreds of spears that were targeting Minhyuk appeared in front of them, another bunch of notifications rang out.

    <em>[The Will of the One that Charges Forward.]</em>

    <em>[The Will of the One that Charges Forward has been triggered!]</em>

    <em>[With your unwavering will, you will not fear anything thates your way. No attack will reach you!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP and MP has been restored to 100%!]</em>

    <em>[You have the courage to stand tall and never fear anything.]</em>

    <em>[All of your attack power has increased by 30%!]</em>

    <em>Swoooooooosh¡ª</em>

    The hundreds of spears disappeared into nothing the moment Minhyuk raised his head and looked at them. The God of Will was left in a translucent state. He flew behind Minhyuk and joined him in his charge.

    Thementators were stunned by the scene.

    <em>[This is unbelievable! One of the Absolute Gods, the God of Will, has responded to yer Minhyuk¡¯s call¡­]</em>

    But the shock that they would receive was not yet over.

    <em>[The second God has responded!]</em>

    <em>[The second God loved and treasured him, who loved and ced food above everybody else and who wanted no one to be hungry, more than anybody else!]</em>

    <em>[The second God is one of the ¡®Absolute Gods¡¯, the God of Cooking!]</em>

    At the same time, the God of Cooking, who was wearing a white armor and a white mask on her face, appeared right next to Minhyuk and smiled softly at him.

    <em>[The God of Cooking¡¯s Smile.]</em>

    <em>[You have seen the smile of the fussiest and most stubborn God of Cooking.]</em>

    <em>[Even if you haven¡¯t eaten anything, you will still feel full!]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 23%. All of your skills¡¯ level has increased by +1!]</em>

    The God of Cooking Arlene was the god that had been watching Minhyuk for the longest time.

    The entire world was left reeling in shock.

    <em>[The third God has responded!]</em>

    <em>[The fourth God has responded¡­]</em>

    <em>[The fifth God¡­]</em>

    <em>[The fiftieth God¡­]</em>

    <em>[The ny-ninth God¡­]</em>

    <em>[You are in an oversaturated situation!]</em>

    <em>[Saturated Situation!]</em>

    <em>[Status can no longer be measured!]</em>

    <em>[Cannot be measured!]</em>

    <em>[Cannot be measured¡­]</em>

    <em>[The Gates of Heaven have been momentarily blocked because of the overflowing number of gods that have responded to your call!]</em>

    It waspletely ridiculous. So many gods have responded to the point that they were moring over the gates and could not pass through.

    Minhyuk had already be stronger with the help of the God of Will and the God of Cooking. Because of that, Minhyuk¡¯s speed as he rode his white warhorse had also increased tremendously. It did not take too long for Minhyuk to reach the vicinity of the Evil Incarnate.

    The Evil Incarnate knew that he could escape as long as he wanted to.

    <em>¡®I never expected that there would be this many gods that would respond to his call.¡¯</em>

    The Evil Incarnate was very sure that he would die if all of the gods came here. However, just when he was about to turn into a stream of ck air and disappear, another god responded.

    <em>[The 307th God has responded!]</em>

    <em>[At first, this God envied him. Why? Because he was the one that caught his heart. He was also the one that made God feel insignificant.]</em>

    Many people groaned and hummed at the notifications. Which god was it that envied Minhyuk and even made him feel insignificant?

    <em>[But now, this God believes in him more than anybody else.]</em>

    <em>[This God watches you, the Lowest God, earnestly.]</em>

    <em>[I hope that you will inherit my legacy and follow in my footsteps.]</em>

    <em>[The 307th God is one of the ¡®Absolute Gods¡¯, the Battle God!]</em>

    <em>[The Battle God has gathered all of the gods that answered yer Minhyuk¡¯s call!]</em>

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    Huge pirs of light poured down from the sky and surrounded the Evil Incarnate. Once the light cleared away, what greeted the Evil Incarnate was more than 2,000 gods, with all of their weapons and power aiming at him.

    <em>[The assembled Gods are awaiting the orders of the Lowest God!]</em>

    This was the scene that all of the yers dreamt of, but had deemed to be impossible. A scene where they could borrow the power of the gods and use it to fight the enemies.

    Minhyuk, who stood in the middle of it all, raised his sword atop his warhorse andmanded, ¡°Destroy him!¡±

 Chapter 766

    Chapter 766

    Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s conference room.

    Everyone in the room felt sweat in the palm of their hands, while their lips opened and closed in excitement as goosebumps rose in their bodies.

    The same was true for President Kang Taehoon. who had jumped from his seat, his eyes staring intently at the monitor while his hands clenched into fists. This was the ¡®Assembling of the Gods¡¯ that was carried out by a mere yer.

    Someone asked, ¡°Why did the gods that did not respond to Minhyuk earlier turn up in the end?¡±

    ¡°The gods are also quick-witted beings.¡± The Story Team¡¯s leader looked bitter as he continued, ¡°The Absolute Gods have gathered, how would they, the ordinary gods, not join them? The excuse that Minhyuk is a mere Continental God has disappeared the moment the Absolute Gods made their appearance.¡±

    That was the truth. To put it into perspective, it was like inside a human kingdom in Athenae, if the king appeared and answered the call, yet his subordinates and servants snorted and ignored it? Would that be even possible?

    President Kang Taehoon continued to stare at the monitor. He watched as more than 2,000 gods gathered around the Evil Incarnate and waited for Minhyuk¡¯s orders.

    ¡°A yer¡­¡± Kang Taehoon licked his dry lips. ¡°¡­has be a key character in Athenae.¡±

    At the same time, Minhyuk¡¯s voice rang from the monitor.

    <em>[Destroy him.]</em>

    ***

    The Evil Incarnate red at silver-haired Minhyuk that stood in front of him. This person was a mere human being, the Lowest God. Yet, the gods answered this child¡¯s call.

    At the same time, bright white light bloomed as the gods fulfilled Minhyuk¡¯s order.

    ¡°God¡¯s Bullseye.¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The God of Archery¡¯s arrow with 12,000% additional attack pierced through the neck of the Evil Incarnate.

    ¡°Roaring Whip.¡±

    <em>Craaaaaaack¡ª</em>

    A ferocious whip stretched forward and struck the Evil Incarnate¡¯s body with seventy attacks per second, tearing apart his skin and flesh.

    ¡°Kehehehehehehehehehe! Enouuuuuugh, stoooooooooop!¡± The Evil Incarnate shrieked as the hundreds of Disses in the form of spears made of light sent by the God of Magic stabbed into his body all at once.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°P, pleaaaaaaaaaaaase!¡±

    The Absolute God that existed everywhere and nowhere, the being that existed where greed, despair and frustration ran rampant, was now shrieking desperately from pain.

    The body of the Evil Incarnate, which was already turning into a stream of ck air and getting ready to disappear, materialized once again. What awaited his body was an onught of attacks.

    That was not all. There were plenty of gods that had gathered, gods like the God of Parchment, the God of Alchemy and the God of Buffs. These gods poured out their buffs on Minhyuk, who had summoned them.

    <em>[God of Buffs¡¯ Blessings.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 13%!]</em>

    <em>[Your sword¡¯s attack has increased by 10%.]</em>

    <em>[Your physical and magical defenses have increased by 20%.]</em>

    <em>[This is a buff that can ovep with other buffs.]</em>

    <em>[Parchment of Benevolence.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats¡­16%.]</em>

    <em>[Your skills¡¯ attack power¡­32%.]</em>

    To allow Minhyuk to receive several buffs, the gods chose to add the ovepping buff effect on top of the buffs that they sent to Minhyuk. However, in return, the effects of the buff that they cast was much weaker than their original buffs. Still, it was enough. Minhyuk, who was constantly being covered with light, was growing stronger by the second.

    At that moment, the shrieking Evil Incarnate suddenly utilized one of his life-saving cards.

    <em>[Connecting Pain.]</em>

    <em>[The Evil Incarnate has linked himself with another, causing the target to feel and suffer from the same damages and pain that he is receiving.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    It was a terrifying and gruesome skill, one that appalled both gods and viewers alike. More importantly, It mattered who the Evil Incarnate used the skill on. All of them turned tense as they held their breath. Amidst the nerve-wracking silence, someone released a shallow groan.

    ¡°Kghhk¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Everyone turned to look at the direction where the familiar voice came from. There, they saw a man gasping as cold sweat dripped down his face. The man was none other than the ¡®Battle God¡¯.

    ¡°S, stop attacking¡­!¡± One of the gods hurriedly shouted.

    However, the skills that had already been released could no longer be taken back. They continued to attack the Evil Incarnate and whenever these attacksnded on him, the Battle God would suffer a pain that seemed to tear apart his entire being. Damage and pain were constantly intertwined. So, as the pain continued to bloom in the Evil Incarnate¡¯s body, the Battle God also continued to suffer damages.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaack! Stooooooooooooop! Please, please, please¡­!¡±

    Unlike the Evil Incarnate that continued to scream and shriek, the Battle God just gritted his teeth and endured the pain. This was the endurance of a god and the dignity of an absolute being. However, none of them was aware that the Battle God¡¯s HP was also rapidly falling.

    The Battle God was the ¡®God of Armies¡¯. However, now that he had temporarily lost his power to lead his army, he was nothing but a god with strength and power. Soon, he stumbled on his feet.

    Belson¡¯s older brother, Farrow, looked at him in worry.

    ¡°Ki, kikikikikikikiki! Kihehehehehehehe¡­ If I die, then the Battle God will die too.¡±

    The gods stopped attacking the dirty and shameless Evil Incarnate. The skills that they had triggered previously hade to a stop.

    At the same time, Minhyuk had been listening to the sounds that the Battle God had made.

    ¡°¡­What?¡± Minhyuk looked at the Battle God in surprise. However, the Battle God just smiled bitterly and nodded at him.

    Immediately after that, the Battle God opened his mouth and said, ¡°Attack the Evil Incarnate. This is amand.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The gods were left speechless. When the Evil Incarnate dies, so then would the Battle God. Unfortunately, the Battle God was the pir of the Land of the Gods. Not long after, the Battle God used his Divine Order.

    ¡°Attack him!!!¡±

    <em>[The Battle God has given a Divine Order!]</em>

    <em>[The gods will not be able to resist the Battle God¡¯s Divine Order!]</em>

    Following his orders, the gods began to attack the Evil Incarnate once again.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    ¡°Grrrrrrrrrrr! Kihyeeeeeeeeeeeeeck!¡± Screams and shrieks continuously rang out from the mouth of the Evil Incarnate.

    Each time an attacknded, the Battle God would feel pain as if his bones were being wringed out and his entire body was being torn apart and burned.

    ¡°Belson¡­¡±

    ¡°Brother.¡±

    Farrow looked at his brother sadly. This was the choice that he made.

    ¡°I am the Battle God.¡±

    Indeed, he was the Battle God. He ruled over all of the gods and he had a mission; to protect both humans and gods alike.

    ¡°Thanks to you, brother, I was able to be the god that stood at the highest point.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Both viewers andmentators that watched the scene were in awe and admiration. The gods always showed majesty and arrogance. However, there had always been a sincerity deep within them and the Battle God was showing it right now to protect the humans and the Land of the Gods.

    The gods were great, but they were also arrogant. This was the story of the man that walked silently amidst criticisms and the story of someone that chose to leave for everyone¡¯s sake.

    Meanwhile, the Evil Incarnate chose this moment to rush inside the body of the Battle God.

    <em>[The Evil Incarnate has taken over the body of the Battle God while he is in a weakened state!]</em>

    The Evil Incarnate thought that if he became the Battle God, then the gods would not be able to attack him. However, even if he took over the body of the Battle God, control did note so easily. The Battle God¡¯s vision was turning dark, but he endured with his strong spirit and resilience.

    ¡°Quickly¡­ stop!¡±

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    Blood spurted out as the body of the greatest god got torn apart, the blood flowing all over the ce. However, the Battle God did not shake an inch. He just stood there with a bitter smile on his face.

    Then, an unknown voice rang all throughout the world. The voice belonged to Belian, the nanny of the gods that was shown during the ¡®War of Destruction¡¯¡¯s advertisement. It was immediately followed by the voices of the young gods, who asked questions one after another.

    <em>[But whenever I see Mister Belson, who became the Battle God, he looks so scary.]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s right. The Battle God always has this serious expression on his face every day.]</em>

    <em>[I heard that the Battle God purged a lot of the other gods.]</em>

    Nanny Belian told them in a calm voice.

    <em>[The Battle God is a ruler with a heart that is warmer than anybody else¡¯s.]</em>

    The Battle God looked around the yers and NPCs that had not died yet and burned the image into his mind. He looked up at the beautiful sky and thought of how these people that survived would go home withughter in their faces.

    <em>[He¡¯s someone that has to be colder than anybody else to maintain order. However, he is also a man who cares deeply about the gods and humans, more than anybody else.]</em>

    <em>[The choices that he made has always been for the good of the gods and the humans.]</em>

    <em>[In the process, he had no choice but to purge the ones that he cherished and loved. Every time the Battle God would have a hard time making that final choice.]</em>

    <em>[However, deep inside he knew¡­]</em>

    <em>[He knew that he had to make the choice for the good of everyone.]</em>

    <em>[He is the god that carried that much pain on his shoulders.]</em>

    <em>[However, as the greatest god, he could not show that he was dealing with such pain.]</em>

    <em>[He has the humblest, yet the greatest name.]</em>

    Then, all of the gods¡¯ skills stopped.They could only use one of their skills or their powers through the effect of the Assembling the Gods. At this point, the Battle God was already reduced to a point where he was breathing roughly.

    Everyone looked at the Battle God. All of the gods knew that the Battle God lived only for their sakes. He had always made the choice that was right for them and because he was there, the Land of the Gods had remained peaceful. However, unlike them, who enjoyed the peace that he brought them, the Battle God had always been suffering from the pain of his choices and the sadness that came along with it.

    A single attack. Just one more attack and that would kill the Battle God.

    ¡°Battle Gooooooood!!!¡±

    ¡°Gooooooood!!!¡±

    ¡°No!!!¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t die!!!¡±

    ¡°Battle Goooooooood!!!¡±

    <em>[And he is someone that is loved and admired by many gods.]</em>

    The Battle God looked at the other gods. Even the other Absolute Gods knew that he was the one that had been sacrificing. Unlike them, who lived arrogantly and actedzily with their title as the Absolute God, the Battle God had been busy handling and governing the Land of the Gods. Yet, he looked at all of them with a small smile on his face.

    At that moment, a man with silver hair fluttering behind him walked up to the Battle God. The man aimed his sword at the Battle God¡¯s heart. This man was Minhyuk.

    The Battle God had told Minhyuk earlier that he should kill him. It would, in turn, kill the Evil Incarnate. This was the only way for everyone to live peacefully. The Battle God did not have any regrets. He had be a great ruler, and he was even able to meet his older brother Farrow.

    <em>[And he is the god that will give his all for the sake of everyone until his veryst moments.]</em>

    <em>[And that is¡­]</em>

    <em>Spuuuuuurt¡ª</em>

    <em>[The Battle God.]</em>

    The God that had lived for everyone¡¯s sake gently patted Minhyuk¡¯s cheeks, while on hisst breath, thinking that this god who ended his life might me himself despite the expression on his face not betraying his feelings.

    ¡°Child.¡± He smiled lightly. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    With that, the Battle God¡¯s body slowly copsed.

    <em>[The Greatest God has died.]</em>

    In the case where an Absolute God died, the game would be temporarily suspended and all of the yers could watch the god¡¯s death. Of course, it was their choice to watch it. yers could choose to keep ying as they were, or watch the process of the god¡¯s death. As of this moment, most of the yers chose to watch the death of the Battle God.

    They watched on their screens as a man d in white walked toward the light. He looked like he just got out of the shower, with not a single scratch or dirt on his body, as he walked toward the ¡®Gates of Death¡¯. There was a small smile on his face as he continued to walk toward the light.

    ¡°I had a pleasant time.¡± He looked at the gates that were within his reach and said, ¡°I smile whenever I see the young gods running peacefully and happily because of the choices that I have made.¡±

    The Battle God abandoned his majesty and charisma as he slowly approached his death. He said, ¡°I would often get angry with Nanny Belian whenever I saw her make mistakes. However, she is also very dear and precious to me.¡±

    He grinned widely. ¡°Because there are people that believed in me and worshiped me, I, as the Battle God, was happier than anybody else.¡±

    That was right. Even though everybody said that he had been suffering through pain, the Battle God felt like he had been blessed.

    <em>Step, step¡ª</em>

    The Battle God continued to walk. As he reached the end of the road, he stopped and turned to look at the rest of the world. Then, he said, ¡°I do not regret my choices.¡±

    With the bright light shining behind him, the Battle God grinned widely.

    <em>[Battle God.]</em>

    <em>[He is the greatest god.]</em>

    <em>[He is the god that is loved by many.]</em>

    The Battle God slowly grabbed the handle of the Gates of Death.

    ¡°There are still so many people that need you though,¡± Minhyuk said, a bright smile on his face as he grabbed the Battle God¡¯s wrist.

 Chapter 767

    Chapter 767

    As they watched the clear figure of the Battle God walking to his death in the video, both yers and NPCs alike could not help but close their eyes. There were even some that became emotional and shed tears at the scene.

    He was the greatest, but perhaps, he was also the most pitiable Absolute God. Even in the face of death, the Battle God was still smiling broadly. Everyone could not help but watch him in awe and admiration. To the yers, the Battle God might just be an artificial intelligence but at this moment, they all felt like he was a father that had sacrificed himself for them.

    However, a young man appeared in the scene just when the Battle God grabbed the handles of the Gates of Death. This man was Food God Minhyuk, a person that everyone in the world knew of.

    The scene changed the moment Minhyuk grabbed the Battle God¡¯s wrist. A bright light illuminated the entire Land of Destruction as the original figure of the Battle God, with his body covered in blood, bruises and cuts, appeared in the eyes of all of the yers, while Minhyuk poured down some kind of potion in his mouth.

    It was quite a strange sight. Just a few seconds ago, Food God Minhyuk had cut down the Battle God in order to deal with the Evil Incarnate. But now, he was feeding some unknown potion to the Battle God.

    <em>[I¡¯m very curious about what kind of potion that is.]</em>

    <em>[Maybe yer Minhyuk is grabbing at straws as he lets this potion flow into the mouth of the Battle God?]</em>

    <em>[The Battle God¡¯s body is in a state where recovery is no longer an option. No, in fact, the Battle God¡¯s breath has already been cut off.]</em>

    <em>[The video that we saw earlier ended at that. In the end, did the Battle God cross through the Gates of Death?]</em>

    <em>[¡­We aren¡¯t sure of that yet. It¡¯s a bitplicated.]</em>

    Thest scene that they saw in the video was Minhyuk speaking those words.

    ¡ª<em>There are still so many people that need you.</em>

    After that, the video was cut off. However, in the eyes of all of the viewers andmentators, the Battle God had already died. Besides, no ordinary potion could restore the body of a god, even more so if he was the Battle God. It did not matter how amazing the potion was, everyone was convinced that there was no potion in existence that could save him.

    Of course, both thementators and the viewers all felt that it was truly a pity. Especially since a great god had to sacrifice his own life for the sake of the other gods and the humans. Unfortunately, no one could go against the hands of fate.

    ***

    ¡°<em>Urk¡­!</em>¡±

    Something shocking happened. The Battle God began to cough. It was a miraculous situation that the gods present found hard to believe. All of them looked at the Battle God that had copsed on the ground just seconds earlier.

    ¡°Ugh.¡±

    When they saw the Battle God slowly stand up, their expressions turned into one of incredulity.

    The potion that Minhyuk fed the Battle God earlier was none other than Gaerna¡¯s Life Elixir. He only had one bottle left. However, Minhyuk knew that even though he had sacrificed greatly this time, he might be able to receive something valuable, perhaps something with a greater value than anything before.

    Even the Battle God himself, whose eyes opened once again, was shocked.

    <em>¡®Is there a potion that can revive a god that has already died?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk smiled lightly and said, ¡°I told you, there are still so many people that need you.¡±

    The Battle God looked around, his gaze focusing on the blue sky that he thought he would never see again. Then, he turned to look at the gods that were watching him nervously.

    One by one, the gods started to lower themselves to the ground and kneel on one knee to show courtesy to the Battle God. The scene of more than 2,000 gods kneeling and showing courtesy was nothing short of spectacr.

    There were also the three other Absolute Gods present; the God of Cooking, the God of Will, and the Savior. These three gods bowed their heads and grinned widely to celebrate and congratte him on his new life.

    As the Battle God slowly got to his feet, he heard the warm cheers of the surviving NPCs and yers.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Long live the Battle God!!!¡±

    ¡°Long live yer Minhyuuuuuuk!!!¡±

    A small smile curled at the corners of the Battle God¡¯s lips when he heard the cheers. Then, his older brother Farrow appeared and hugged him tightly.

    ¡°Thank you, Belson. Thank you for being such a great and amazing Battle God.¡±

    The Battle God knew that it was time for them to say goodbye. Destruction Monarch Farrow¡¯s body slowly began to scatter with the wind, while he hugged his dearly beloved younger brother, the Battle God, tightly.

    ¡°Your older brother is here. I have always been here.¡±

    The Battle God embraced his dying older brother Farrow tighter, his eyes wide open as if he wanted to burn the image of his brother into his mind until the manpletely disappeared into the air.

    Then, the notifications began to ring after Farrow disappeared.

    <em>[The War of Destruction has ended!]</em>

    <em>[Rewards for the War of Destruction will be distributed based on your contributions!]</em>

    And of course, Minhyuk also heard the same notifications.

    <em>[You have participated in the War of Destruction as the Destruction Monarch.]</em>

    <em>[Your rewards are being calcted.]</em>

    <em>[Destruction Monarch Farrow has left a gift for you!]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Forgotten Monarch¡¯s Crown.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 2,000,000,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[¡­leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 100 Special Stat Points (STP).]</em>

    <em>[You have achieved amazing results as the Destruction Monarch.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 200,000 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 3,500,000,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 3 God¡¯s SP.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 5 God¡¯s SP bestowed by the King.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Destruction Monarch¡¯s Supreme Treasure Box!]</em>

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Forgotten Monarch¡¯s Crown</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: God</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: The One that Received the Acknowledgement of God of Generals Farrow.</em>

    <strong><em>Durability</em></strong><em>: 50,000/50,000</em>

    <strong><em>Defense</em></strong><em>: 855</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?All stats +12%</em>

    <em>?Charisma x2</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Absolute Defense</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Vassal¡¯s Voice</em>

    <em>?Can be ovepped with others.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: This was the helmet worn by God of Generals Farrow, who was also a candidate to be the Battle God. This helmet can only be worn by those that received the recognition of Farrow. Furthermore, since this is a transparent-type of helmet, it can be equipped and ovepped with another helmet.</em>

    <em>¡®¡­!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was shocked. The Forgotten Monarch¡¯s Crown, a helmet type of item, could be ovepped with any other helmets. Usually, it was only essories like rings that could be worn and ovep with others.

    In fact, the Forgotten Monarch¡¯s Crown was actually far behind ordinary ¡®God-rank¡¯ helmets in terms of defense and special abilities. However, because it can ovep with another, that was enough to cover all of its shorings.

    In the case of the active skill Absolute Defense, it could create an absolute defense barrier that would stay up for seven seconds once triggered. However, there was something more surprising.

    <em>¡®I can use any attack inside the Absolute Defense and I can even move freely?¡¯</em>

    Despite boasting imprable defense, barriers usually had one biggest drawback. It was that the converse was true, rendering one unable to attack others. However, the Forgotten Monarch¡¯s Crown could negate that drawback.

    There was also the Vassal¡¯s Voice. It allowed the monarch to monitor the situation of three designated vassals when they were in danger, and would allow them or Minhyuk to move to where they were at any given moment.

    <em>¡®This is obviously a very useful helmet.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk also received God¡¯s SP, which he could use to level up his skills, including his God-rank skills. As for the God¡¯s SP bestowed by the King, they were a reward that could increase the SP of Minhyuk¡¯s chosen person and was limited to his vassals.

    Finally, he came to thest reward.

    <em>¡®The Destruction Monarch¡¯s Supreme Treasure Box.¡¯</em>

    This part had been exined by President Kang Taehoon before. ording to him, the rewards that one would receive would depend on how much they had contributed during the War of Destruction. In Minhyuk¡¯s case, he had acquired the Destruction Monarch¡¯s Supreme Treasure Box, an item that President Kang Taehoon had said to have only a 1% chance of being acquired.

    However, Minhyuk put aside the joy of acquiring all of these items for a while. Because there was something that was far more important than them.

    The Battle God was looking at Minhyuk with a kind smile on his face. It was not only that, the eyes that the gods used to look at Minhyuk, who yed a huge role in saving the Battle God, had a different gaze from before.

    The Battle God had longed to see his older brother Farrow for the longest time. But when the Destruction Monarch appeared, he decided to give the orders to kill him. But Minhyuk ignored his orders and instead, helped the Battle God meet with his older brother Farrow. It was also with his help that the Battle God was revived.

    Everyone here knew that Minhyuk had won the heart of the Battle God. He had achieved what no one else would have if they were in his position.

    People were beings that only believed in the things that they could see in front of them. So, when the Battle God opened his mouth, all of them watched with rapt attention.

    ¡°Thanks.¡±

    <em>[The Battle God has bestowed upon you his King¡¯s Blessings.]</em>

    <em>[All of the abilities of your ten vassals that participated as the Knights of Destruction will increase by 10%.]</em>

    ¡°Thank you for allowing me to meet my older brother once again, someone that even I had turned away from, in the name of the Battle God.¡±

    <em>[The Battle God has bestowed upon you his Undying Knight.]</em>

    <em>[The Undying Knight will automatically trigger if one of your appointed vassals¡¯ HP drops below 3%.]</em>

    <em>[The Undying Knight can only be triggered three times!]</em>

    Today, the Battle God did not just meet his older brother Farrow. The Battle God, who had chosen to hide his feelings under the heavy weight of the name of the Battle God, realized something too as he looked at everyone present. Perhaps, this time with the new life that he obtained, he could also be a Battle God that could lean on someone, rely on them andugh and cry with them sometimes.

    ¡°Thank you for allowing me to live a new life.¡±

    <em>[The Battle God has bestowed upon you the Summoning of the Greatest Absolute God.]</em>

    <em>[The Summoning of the Greatest Absolute God can summon the Battle God twice.]</em>

    Then, the Battle God said, ¡°I have a request.¡±

    The impact of the Battle God¡¯s words was enormous. The greatest god, the Battle God, had a request for Minhyuk? Everyone was at the edges of their seats. All of their ears were perked up and pointed to where the Battle God was, afraid of missing even a single word that the god breathed.

    ¡°I hope that you can be my sessor.¡±

    At that moment, the notifications rang.

    <em>[The Battle God has chosen you to be his sessor.]</em>

    <em>[The other requirements that you needed to fulfill to be the Battle God have been omitted. Once youplete this single requirement, you will be able to change ss and be the Battle God!]</em>

    The entire world was turned upside down. The greatest Absolute God was asking Minhyuk to be his sessor. But what was more surprising was the response of the other Absolute Gods.

    <em>[The God of Cookingments the fact that her chance to be a master has been taken away.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Will watches with wide eyes and shakes his head.]</em>

    <em>[The Savior just looks at you with a happy smile on his face.]</em>

    Based on the reaction of the two other Absolute Gods, it was obvious that they had Minhyuk in mind to be their sessor too.

    However, the noteworthy thing here was that Minhyuk only needed to fulfill one requirement and he would be the Battle God¡¯s Descendant. Everyone wondered what kind of requirement it was as they watched Minhyuk with rapt attention. ATV Broadcasting Station¡¯s cameras began to do a close up shot of his face.

    In front of the entire world, Minhyuk answered, ¡°I will be the Battle God.¡±

    <em>[You have epted the Battle God¡¯s offer!]</em>

    <em>[Once you fulfill the final requirement, you will be the ¡®Battle God¡¯!]</em>

    At the same time, ATV Broadcasting Station¡¯s viewership rating soared, reaching an all time high at 60%.

    Minhyuk was not yet done. In front of all of the viewers, yers and NPCs, he dered, ¡°I will build an empire.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    This was the final requirement to be the Battle God.

 Chapter 768: I Am the Battle God

    Chapter 768: I Am the Battle God

    Following the meeting of the Battle God and his older brother Farrow, and his eventual death, notifications rang in the ears of all of the yers in the world.

    <em>[You can now view the final moments of the Greatest God, the Battle God.]</em>

    <em>[Would you like to watch it?]</em>

    Many yers chose to watch the video and of course, they saw Minhyuk appear toward the end and held the wrist of the Battle God, who had grabbed the handle to the Gates of Death.

    The video ended not long after that. Curious about the situation thereon after, they immediately logged out of the game and tuned in to the ATV channel, which was airing the ¡®War of Destruction.¡¯

    It did not matter how outstanding or thrilling an event was, if people were not interested in it in the first ce, then they would not watch it and just focus on doing their own things. However, in this particr instance, once the video of the Battle God¡¯s final moments ended, they all ended their ess to the game. What greeted their eyes upon tuning in to ATV was the revived Battle God standing in front of Minhyuk.

    Because of that, ATV Broadcasting Station had achieved a phenomenal record, breaking 60% in viewership ratings. The entire station could not help but break out in a frenzy.

    ¡°This is the highest viewership ratings since the foundation of ATV Broadcasting Station!¡±

    ¡°No. It¡¯s actually safe for us to say that this is the highest viewership rating since the founding of our country. I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll be able to reach this high of a rating in the future.¡±

    They might have hit 60% for a while, but their ratings were falling at a rapid rate again. Up until that moment, their viewership rating peaked at 60%.

    <em>[I will build an empire.]</em>

    ¡°The, the ratings are going up again!¡±

    ¡°It went over 60%!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s over 60.5%!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s at 60.9%!¡±

    ¡°The viewership ratings are only increasing by a little bit, but it¡¯s definitely going up.¡±

    ¡°The viewership ratings have gone over 62%.¡±

    The viewership ratings, which was supposedly impossible to reach again, had gone over 60%. Their highest recorded ratings for this day was 63%.

    ¡°We have achieved 63% in viewership ratings.¡±

    PD Kim Daeguk told the director, ¡°¡­Shouldn¡¯t we at least give yer Minhyuk a que of appreciation or something?¡±

    ¡°What nonsense are you spouting?!¡± The director¡¯s face turned ugly at that. It was not a norm for a broadcasting station to send a que of appreciation to a yer.

    However, the director continued, ¡°We cannot only send a que of appreciation! Let¡¯s also make sure to constantly promote Beyond the Heavens Kingdom in our station. Ah, don¡¯t forget about Ilhwa Group too.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Ah, it seemed like the director was <em>taking a mile after being given an inch</em>.

    ***

    What was an empire? ording to the data gathered through surveys by Athenae experts, one needed tobine at least five kingdoms created by yers, to establish an empire.

    The first kingdom to have been created was the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, which was then followed by the Masserati Kingdom. Just recently, the Qingdao Kingdom and the Rothschilde Kingdom were constructed. The appearance of the two kingdoms sparked the influx of yer-made kingdoms. There were currently at least sixteen known kingdoms all over the world that were built by yers.

    However, the five kingdoms made by yers was the minimum requirement.

    What about the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom? Of course, they were outstanding. However, the people could not help but express their concern saying that it was still far too early for them to take this step.

    <em>[If the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom bes an empire, then it will be another huge step for the yers¡¯ advancement. However, I don¡¯t think the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is ready to be an empire yet.]</em>

    <em>[First off, they need to fulfill the appropriate number of citizens and troops, as well as the size of the territory. Beyond the Heavens certainly have outstanding people like Spear God Ben, Brod, God of Snakes Elizabeth, Luo, God of Alchemy Mand, and many more. However, that is just that. Just having many outstanding people in their kingdom does not mean that they can fulfill the number of citizens required.]</em>

    <em>[An individual¡¯s power and might is important. However, from what we know, it¡¯s equally important to reach a certain poption number and a certain size of territory before they can establish an empire.]</em>

    <em>[On the other hand, the current poption and territory of Beyond the Heavens are no more than that of an ordinary kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[Of course, considering the fact that the other kingdoms built by yers are also less than average, their speed of growth is already outstanding. However, it¡¯s still impossible for them to build an empire.]</em>

    <em>[On top of that, the finances needed to build one will likely be tremendous.]</em>

    <em>[Unless plenty of people knock on the doors of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, and they can somehow gain more territory, then it¡¯s impossible for them to achieve right now.]</em>

    <em>[I think it¡¯s only possible for yer Minhyuk to be the ¡®Battle God¡¯ in two years or so.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s deration that he would establish an empire had created a huge stir. In fact, almost all of the media in the world was talking about Minhyuk and the empire that he wanted to build.

    Of course, Minhyuk knew that he could not establish an empire right there and then. He could tell from the countless notifications that popped up in front of him.

    <em>[Your final requirement to be the Battle God¡¯s Descendant is to ¡®Build an Empire.¡¯]</em>

    <em>[You are currently the king of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[To build an empire, you must secure at least thrice your current territory size, poption and military forces.]</em>

    <em>[To build an empire, you must secure at least 15 yers beyond Level 580.]</em>

    <em>[To build an empire, you must secure at least 20 NPCs beyond Level 650. Even if the NPC does not go over Level 650, as long as the system recognizes them as NPCs with special power, then they will meet the conditions.]</em>

    However, by dering his intention to establish an empire, Minhyuk knew that many people would be interested in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Honestly, Minhyuk did not expect the conditions to build an empire to be this stringent. Especially the requirements for NPCs, he needed at least twenty people that were over Level 650.

    <em>¡®When I was just a novice in Athenae, I never knew that the knights of the Eivelis Empire were that strong. Well¡­¡¯</em>

    President Kang Taehoon had mentioned before that just as the yers grow, those that lived inside Athenae would also grow. After all, if only the yers were capable of growing, then Athenae would be very boring to its yers.

    Also, aside from Minhyuk, there were only five other rankers that had exceeded Level 580. They were none other than Khan, Mei Wei, Carr, Ali, and Alicia. Of course, the rest would reach Level 580 sooner orter. However, it was unclear when that would happen.

    ¡°It won¡¯t be easy.¡±

    Those were the words that the Battle God left him before he transformed into a ray of light and slowly disappeared from Minhyuk¡¯s sight. Of course, those were not the only things that the Battle God left Minhyuk before hepletely disappeared. He also left him a present.

    <em>[The Battle God has bestowed upon you a final present.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Candidate Box.]</em>

    <em>[You can now view the Candidate Box.]</em>

    <em>[You can now use the Battle God¡¯s Voice.]</em>

    <em>[You can now use the Battle God¡¯s Steps.]</em>

    <em>[Everything inside the Candidate Box will disappear if you fail to be the Battle God¡¯s Descendant.]</em>

    The Battle God¡¯s Voice was different from the voices of ordinary gods. It could produce images in the sky above. He then read the description for the Battle God¡¯s Steps.

    <em>¡®For a brief moment, my figure will change into that of the Battle God¡¯s figure and force everyone to kneel in front of me.¡¯</em>

    Both of these skills would be very useful to him. Not long after, the other gods alsopletely disappeared.

    <em>[The War of Destruction is over.]</em>

    <em>[You will be warped to the ce where you first connected.]</em>

    However, Minhyuk received additional notifications.

    <em>[The Forgotten Monarch¡¯s Crown¡¯s ¡®Vassal¡¯s Voice¡¯ has been triggered.]</em>

    <em>[Your vassal Elpis is in danger!]</em>

    The Forgotten Monarch¡¯s Crown had a skill called Vassal¡¯s Voice. This skill would inform Minhyuk when any of his three designated vassals were in danger. It could also exin in detail the vassal¡¯s current situation. On top of that, the monarch was connected to their vassal and would allow them to go to where their vassal was at any given moment.

    <em>¡®Elpis is in danger?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk immediately checked the detailed exnation.

    ***

    Great Demon Gorac¡¯s Shelter.

    The mischievous and wicked Great Demon Gorac had his soul divided into several fragments, scattered all over the world. He was not only wicked, he also liked to y entric and bizarre pranks on others.

    In fact, there were quite a lot of stories circting all over that said that Great Demon Gorac was a far more special NPC than Great Demon Verus. Great Demon Verus was known to be strong, and he had the 72 Devils under hismand. On the other hand, Great Demon Gorac was known to give out special skills and sses rted to the demons and the devils.

    This very same Gorac was looking at a man named Elpis, who was lying on the ground in front of him. He did not know how this man was able to find him. However, what was certain was the fact that this man had not yet met the qualifications to be here.

    Hence, the question was: why was Elpis able to step foot in this ce, when he had not yet met those qualifications? This was all thanks to the ¡®Map to Ovee One¡¯s Limitations¡¯ that Minhyuk had given to Elpis. Thus, Elpis was not yet given the test to be Great Demon Gorac¡¯s Descendant.

    ¡°With your weak power, you cannot be the Great Demon.¡±

    There was that. However, there was also another reason why he was being blocked more fiercely. Elpis had dered that he came here to be strong for the king that he served. Gorac had acknowledged that spirit.

    Inside Gorac¡¯s Shelter, there were Gorac¡¯s Eight Devil Generals. These Devil Generals wereparable to Verus¡¯ devils in terms of power. As Elpis continued to fight against these devils, he continued to shout, ¡°I want to take the test! I have to be stronger for my king. Give me a chance to take the test!¡±

    However, Gorac did not give him that opportunity. To Gorac, this man was serving a mere king. It might have been different if the one that Elpis served was someone special. After all, Gorac fancied Elpis and wanted him to be his sessor.

    ¡°I can¡¯t grant someone like you, who serves a mere king, a chance to take the test.¡±

    ¡°What should I do to get that chance?¡±

    ¡°Throw him away.¡±

    He was not going to kill him. Gorac hoped that Elpis woulde back and find him againter, when he was more prepared.

    The reason why Gorac was so hung up over the status of the man that Elpis served was because he was a sly and clever demon. He wanted his sessor to surpass the other Great Demons. However, a devil had obvious limitations. The only way to go beyond those limits was for his sessor to surround himself with those that could go above and beyond, excelling in whatever field they were in.

    Gorac could already infer the kind of man Elpis served just by listening to the few words that Elpis mentioned.

    <em>¡®A human king.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He has quite a few vassals.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He is also a god.¡¯</em>

    Gorac could tell that the man must be some kind of lowly god. After all, if he was some great god then he must already have at least one empire of his own. He could not allow a Great Demon to have connections with a mere lowly god. Well, there might be a chance if the other party were an Absolute God.

    The demonic beasts from the Demonic Beast Corps that surrounded him tried to move the copsed Elpis away. However, at that moment, someone else came to visit Gorac¡¯s Shelter.

    <em>[The Battle God¡¯s Steps has been triggered!]</em>

    <em>[Everyone will kneel down in front of the Battle God¡¯s feet!]</em>

    <em>[The power contained in your voice is all epassing!]</em>

    <em>Thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    Demon Gorac, who stood over two meters tall with gigantic bat-like wings on his back, stood up and stared ahead. He was also aware of the Battle God¡¯s might and dignity. It was the power that only the Battle God could exert.

    Immediately after that, all of the demonic beasts in the vicinity prostrated themselves at the feet of the man that was walking toward them. His manner was majestic despite the hundreds of thousands of troops present in this ce. And that was not all, he was also releasing a tremendous amount of divinity.

    <em>¡®The Battle God came here? No, why? That¡¯s probably not him, right?¡¯ </em>Great Demon Gorac was very confused.

    Minhyuk, who was walking toward them, said, ¡°Allow my vassal to take your test.¡±

    He had already heard about Elpis¡¯ current situation through the ¡®Vassal¡¯s Voice.¡¯

    Gorac gulped dryly as he watched Minhyuk approach him using the ¡®Battle God¡¯s Steps.¡¯ Although Gorac towered over most people with his height of two meters, he still felt an overwhelming pressure from the man in front of him.

    However, there was a chance that this man had only received this power through some cheat. After all, Great Demon Gorac had lived in the darkness for a very long time. He was quite ignorant of the events that happened or were happening in the world. Even so, he was still certain that this aura and energy belonged to the Battle God. So, just to be sure, he piped up.

    ¡°Who in the world are you?¡±

    ***

    The Battle God¡¯s aide looked at the Battle God, who was sporting an uncharacteristically soft smile on his face, and asked, ¡°But, Battle God. Was it really necessary for you to bestow upon him your Battle God¡¯s Voice and Battle God¡¯s Steps?¡±

    The Battle God¡¯s Voice and the Battle God¡¯s Steps were both ¡®Tokens of the Battle God.¡¯ They were powers that only the Battle God could exert.

    ¡°What if it¡¯s used for something dangerous¡­¡±

    The Battle God shook his head at that. With a confident look on his face, he answered, ¡°No. I know that child. That child will not use that power for something useless. In fact, I believe he will try to save that power.¡± He continued to speak with a happy smile on his face, ¡°I believe in that child.¡±

    ***

    Great Demon Gorac asked, ¡°Who in the world are you?¡±

    Minhyuk answered, ¡°Battle God.¡±

 Chapter 769: I Am the Battle God

    Chapter 769: I Am the Battle God

    Minhyuk looked at Elpis, who copsed on the ground.

    Elpis was once a human being. However, he had been taken away to the Demon World by Great Demon Verus, and turned into a vessel for demonic energy. Despite being only human, he was hailed as the ¡®Lesser Demon¡¯ and had be an existence that made the entire Demon World tremble in fear. By chance, Elpis and Minhyuk met and stayed together.

    Elpis was definitely a powerful figure. However, there were far more powerful figures in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, like Spear God Ben, Brod, God of Snakes Elizabeth, Sword of the Gods Luo, and many more. As the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom grew, the amazing characters that surrounded Minhyuk also began to increase, to the point of overflowing.

    Indeed, Elpis was strong. However, as their enemies grew stronger, Minhyuk could tell that Elpis had started to feel impatient. He also wanted to be stronger in order to protect his king.

    <em>¡®I never expected that the Map to Ovee One¡¯s Limitation would lead him to Great Demon Gorac¡¯s Shelter.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk also found this situation to be very unexpected. However, as it turned out, even after Elpis had reached Great Demon Gorac¡¯s Shelter, he was still unable to take the test.

    Through the Vassal¡¯s Voice¡¯s exnation, Minhyuk was able to clearly understand the situation.

    <em>[Gorac wants¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­the one that Elpis serves to be a more powerful individual. Or Elpis himself will be strong enough to meet the requirements of the test.]</em>

    Minhyuk asked the Vassal¡¯s Voice, which provided more information than he thought, <em>¡®Why is Gorac questioning the master that Elpis serves?¡¯</em>

    <em>[Gorac wants to be the greatest Great Demon in history.]</em>

    <em>[However, he knows that a devil has clear limits.]</em>

    Minhyuk understood. What the Vassal¡¯s Voice meant was that even demons needed some ¡®connections¡¯ to achieve that goal. Hence, Minhyuk had no choice but to borrow the name of the ¡®Battle God.¡¯

    Minhyuk had a bitter look on his face as he stared at Elpis, who had fallen on the ground without even being allowed to take the test. He must have been so desperate, trying to go to Gorac over and over again and asking him to allow him to take the test. As a king, Minhyuk just wanted to clear a path for his vassal, Elpis. As expected, Gorac was fussy, difficult, andplicated.

    Gorac had actually never met with the Battle God. However, as the entric Great Demon, he had a hugework of information at his disposal. It was because of this amazing intelligencework that Great Demon Verus could not do anything against him. Based on the information that he had gathered, the power that Minhyuk was disying was truly the power of the Battle God. However, something still felt off.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s not strong.¡¯</em>

    Gorac felt like he could suppress the man in front of him. ording to his information, the Battle God was a very powerful individual that even Great Demon Verus could notpare to.

    <em>Hehe¡ª</em>

    Great Demon Gorac¡¯s eyes turned into crescents. ¡°Well, I¡¯m not so sure about that.¡±

    As mentioned before, Great Demon Gorac led Eight Devil Generals. They were different from Great Demon Verus¡¯ 72 Devils, but were as tough and as powerful as them. In fact, each and every single one of them was a powerful figure at the level of a god.

    Even so, Minhyuk just stared at Gorac as he continued to show off his arrogance and majesty. As for Gorac, he wanted proof of his power.

    <em>[The </em><strong><em>Sudden Quest</em></strong><em>: Gorac¡¯s Test has been created!]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Sudden Quest</em></strong><em>: Gorac¡¯s Test.]</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: SS</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: The one facing Gorac.</em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: Gorac¡¯s recognition and additional rewards.</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Failure</em></strong><em>: Will not be able to re-enter Gorac¡¯s Shelter.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: Gorac is a very sly demon. Even after you introduced(?) yourself as the Battle God, he still suspects your identity. Show off your might and receive Great Demon Gorac¡¯s recognition. If he acknowledges you, then he will admit his disrespectful behavior and willpensate fairly.</em>

    The Eight Devil Generals were all outstanding beings in each of their own fields, much like the gods and the 72 Devils were. One of them, General Burrow, had abilities rted to assassination. He had the power to burst his enemy¡¯s heart open in one move.

    Gorac reckoned that even if the opponent in front of him was the Battle God, if he could not deal with the Devil General, then there was no need for him to join in the fight.

    Devil General Burrow immediately reached for Minhyuk¡¯s heart. However, Minhyuk just looked down at him arrogantly, his majestic aura still exuding from his body.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°I will have to test you to know.¡± Great Demon Goracughed horrendously.

    Just when General Burrow¡¯s hand was about to reach for Minhyuk¡¯s heart, a man appeared in front of him like a ghost. The man only had his right hand. However, even though he only had one hand left, he was able to easily cut off Devil General Burrow¡¯s hand, and even stabbed the demon all over his body.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab. Stab, stab, stab¡ª!</em>

    ck blood spurted out of General Burrow¡¯s body. Demon Gorac was stunned to see General Burrow being blown away like that. Then, he saw the one-armed man put his dagger back into its sheath.

    ¡°I won¡¯t allow even your fingertips to touch His Majesty¡¯s body.¡±

    This man was Minhyuk¡¯s shadow, Sword of the Gods Luo.

    General Burrow looked at the blood that covered his body. The damage was not substantial. However, it was strong enough that he could not just ignore it.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Gorac frowned. He could clearly tell that the man that appeared in front of him was a god based on his temperament alone. Perhaps this was what Gorac had truly wanted to see. The Battle God was supposedly strong as an individual, but his true powery in his army. Immediately after that, Gorac triggered his special skill.

    <em>[Demonic Eyes.]</em>

    <em>[The Demonic Eyes are checking the opponent!]</em>

    <em>[This man has inherited the power of the God of Assassination.]</em>

    <em>[He is someone that has transcended the limits of a human being!]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Gorac was shocked. The man that had suddenly appeared in front of him was not a god, but someone that had transcended the limits of a human being. Curious, he turned his eyes toward Minhyuk.

    <em>[Demonic Eyes.]</em>

    <em>[An unknown yet tremendous power has started to put pressure on the Demonic Eyes!]</em>

    Gorac could not check Minhyuk at all. He could not help but tilt his head while wondering who in the world the man in front of him was. Even so, Gorac still thought that this was probably nothing but a trick. He could not get a definite answer just with that single vassal alone.

    ¡°I want to do some more checking.¡±

    ¡°Howe?¡±

    ¡°I want to make sure that you¡¯re reliable and trustworthy.¡±

    Gorac was a meticulous demon. He had hundreds of thousands of troops in his Demonic Beast Army and his Eight Devil Generals here with him. If Minhyuk was truly the Battle God, then he could easily bring an army that was capable of dealing with this much number.

    Minhyuk¡¯s lips twisted into a smirk the moment he saw the Eight Devil Generals make a move at the same time.

    ¡°You must be delusional.¡±

    <em>Thud.</em>

    Luo immediately stood by Minhyuk¡¯s side the moment he took a step forward.

    ¡°Gorac. It¡¯s not up to you to decide whether you will cooperate with me or not.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m the one that will decide that.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Gorac¡¯s face turned ugly. The arrogance and confidence that exuded from Minhyuk almost overwhelmed him at that moment.

    <em>Crack.</em>

    Then, Minhyuk took out an Almond of Subordinates and put it in his mouth.

    ¡°Spear God Ben.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>[Demonic Eyes.]</em>

    <em>[The Demonic Eyes are checking the opponent!]</em>

    <em>[This man has received the recognition of the Spear God and has transcended the limits of a human being to be this era¡¯s Spear God.]</em>

    <em>[He is someone that has won against the previous generation¡¯s Spear God!]</em>

    ¡°¡­Wait.¡±

    Gorac¡¯s breath got caught in his throat. He had to stop the man in front of him. However, Ben¡¯s spear had already stabbed through the bodies of the Devil Generals.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Minhyuk had fought against demons several times in the past. However, it was not just yers like him that could grow, NPCs would also obviously grow as well. The most important point here was that the NPCs under Minhyuk¡¯smand had also improved, going from legends to gods. One such example was Spear God Ben.

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    ¡°God of Snakes Elizabeth.¡±

    ¡°N, no. Wait¡­¡±

    <em>[Demonic Eyes.]</em>

    <em>[The Demonic Eyes are checking¡­]</em>

    <em>[She is one of the Six Monster Gods, the God of Snakes Elizabeth!]</em>

    <em>[Elizabeth¡¯s Authority.]</em>

    <em>[All of the beings recognized as enemies within a three kilometer radius will not be able to use all of their skills and abilities.]</em>

    Cold sweat started to drip down Gorac¡¯s forehead.

    The Six Monster Gods were beings that even the Absolute Gods feared. However, all Gorac could do was watch as light spread from the tips of the fingers of the little girl and covered the entire shelter and made everyone lose their ability to use their skills.

    Gorac hurriedly tried to shout again, ¡°Pau¡­¡±

    ¡°Awaken, Obren.¡±

    <em>Vwooooooooooooong¡ª</em>

    A handsome and dashing ck-haired young man appeared from inside a small seasoning jar. Then, with an infinitely cold expression on his face, he looked at the hundreds of thousands of Demonic Beast Army troops and the Devil Generals and spat out, ¡°Get lost.¡±

    The Evil God¡¯s Books appeared after being summoned and released ck bolts of lightning from the sky.

    <em>[Demonic Eyes.]</em>

    <em>[He is the one hailed as the Evil God and is one of the Eight Pirs of this world.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Gorac was left speechless. The Evil God was the name of the most vicious and cruel god. And right now, that very entity had descended in this shelter. Not only that, he had easily and swiftly killed 80,000 of the troops of the Demonic Beast Army.

    <em>¡®One of the Eight Pirs is his vassal? Unbelievable.¡¯</em>

    Of course, Gorac was aware that Evil God Obren¡¯s power and body was notplete and had already weakened over time. However, his mere existence could be said to be everyone¡¯s object of fear.

    <em>[Gorac has started to acknowledge you.]</em>

    <em>[Gorac has started to acknowledge you.]</em>

    <em>[Gorac has acknowledged you.]</em>

    <em>[Gorac has acknowledged you.]</em>

    At this point, Minhyuk knew that Gorac¡¯s acknowledgement and recognition was no longer necessary. However, since the situation had already developed to this point, he decided that it would be better for him to gain the upper hand.

    <em>Swooooooooosh¡ª</em>

    All of the vassals that he summoned slowly started to scatter in the area. Gorac wondered if the man in front of him had finally decided to stop and talk. However, Minhyuk¡¯s strongest and most powerful vassal had not yet made an appearance. So, he summoned him.

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    ¡°Brod.¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Hundreds of sword lights fell down from the sky the moment Brodnded on the ground. Just like that, a thick cloud of dust bloomed as the surviving Demonic Beast Army troops were swept away. Immediately after that, Brod rendered all of the Devil Generals helpless, unable to participate inbat.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª!</em>

    The Devil Generals were unable to fight back and could only copse on the ground from the powerful force that mmed into them.

    <em>[Demonic Eyes.]</em>

    <em>[The Demonic Eyes are checking¡­]</em>

    <em>[He is the sun acknowledged by the Battle God!]</em>

    <em>[He is the Absolute God¡¯s Sword.]</em>

    <em>[He¡­]</em>

    <em>[He¡­]</em>

    <em>[He¡­]</em>

    The achievements of the man that appeared rang constantly in Gorac¡¯s ears.

    <em>¡®The era¡¯s strongest.¡¯</em>

    It was almost impossible to describe what the man was. One thing was for sure, everyone would be powerless in front of this man. But not long after, Gorac saw the self-proimed Battle God pull out his sword.

    <em>Swoooooosh¡ª</em>

    A brilliant and blinding light spread all over the ce the moment Minhyuk pulled his sword out. After making a splendid achievement, Minhyuk had received three God¡¯s SP from the Battle God. He had also received plenty of rewards for hunting the Evil Incarnate. These were some of the rewards that he obtained.

    <em>[The Evil Incarnate¡¯s Fear Skill Parchment.]</em>

    He had received two of this parchment. The Fear Skill Parchment was an item that could make a skill grow several levels beyond its MAX level.

    <em>¡®Fear.¡¯</em>

    Indeed. It was literally fear. After all, it also had the effect of bringing the opponent¡¯s fear and terror to its limits once the skill was activated.

    <em>[You have used the Evil Incarnate¡¯s Fear Skill Parchment.]</em>

    Minhyuk knew that the Great Demon Gorac would definitely be a strong ally if he stood by their side. However, Gorac was entric and weird. Even if they were allies, he might still flip the boat and betray him. So, Minhyuk decided, <em>¡®Let¡¯s bring him to his knees.¡¯</em>

    <em>[The effects of the Evil Incarnate¡¯s Fear Skill Parchment have been applied to the Overlord¡¯s Technique.]</em>

    <em>[The level of the Overlord¡¯s Technique has gone beyond the MAX level.]</em>

    Minhyuk pointed the tip of his sword, which shot out ck mes, toward Gorac and said, ¡°Gorac, deciding whether to cooperate with me or not has never been up to you.¡±

    <em>Crackleeeeeeee¡ª</em>

    Gorac, who saw the raging ck mes, felt fear engulf his entire body.

    Overlord¡¯s Technique was a skill that could originally deal around 5,000~7,000% additional damage in a 60~80 meter radius. With its current power-up, the damage was unimaginable.

    <em>[Overlord¡¯s Technique.]</em>

    <em>[You will deal 11,000~13,000% additional damage to a 500 meter radius!]</em>

    <em>¡®¡­?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was quite shocked. The result of the upgrade was something that he had not expected.

    <em>¡®I only wanted to scare him though¡­ but since things have already developed to this point¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>Crackleeeee¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk, who was pointing his sword engulfed with ck mes at Gorac, swung it towards the Demonic Beast Army that was stationed behind him.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The mes that shot out from his sword destroyed all of the Demonic Beast Army troops behind him. But that was not all. Even the shelter, which was in the form of a forest, was burned down and turned into ashes.

    <em>Crackleeeee¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk turned his back away from the devastation created by the ck mes that he sent out and said, ¡°This matter has always been in my hands.¡±

    <em>[A Great Demon is terrified of you.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained the </em><strong><em>Title</em></strong><em>: The Only One that the Great Demon Fears.]</em>

 Chapter 770: Happy Island

    Chapter 770: Happy Ind

    Great Demon Gorac was the entric demon that had created the ¡®Disaster Artifacts.¡¯ Minhyuk had met the Great Demon Gorac in the past.

    At that time, Gorac had been standing at a very high ce that he could not reach. But now, Minhyuk, who had turned his back on the burning forest, was making Gorac tremble in fear. It was barely noticeable, but Gorac¡¯s legs were shaking.

    Gorac tried to put up with it. After all, he was the Great Demon. However, he realized that the trembling in his legs would not stop no matter how much he wanted it to.

    <em>[You havepleted the </em><strong><em>Sudden Quest: Gorac¡¯s Test</em></strong><em>.]</em>

    <em>[You have made Gorac, who has acknowledged you, experience an overwhelming fear.]</em>

    <em>[Please tell Gorac the reward that you need.]</em>

    <em>[If the reward is found to be unreasonable, your opportunity to receive the reward will disappear.]</em>

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    <em>aaaash¡ª</em>

    <em>aaaash¡ª</em>

    After sending all of his vassals back, Minhyuk checked the title that he received.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>The Only One that the Great Demon Fears</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Unique Title</em>

    <strong><em>Title Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?Any member of the demon race below Level 400 will lose the will to fight against you.</em>

    <em>?Your physical and magical attack will increase by 15% when fighting against demons and devils.</em>

    <em>?Your physical and magical defense will increase by 15% when fighting against demons and devils.</em>

    It was a very useful title when fighting against demons and devils.

    Minhyuk stared at the speechless Great Demon in front of him, who could not help but gulp dryly, despite being one of the Three Great Demons.

    <em>¡®This manmands the Spear God, the Six Monster Gods, the Evil God and even the strongest of this era as his vassals?¡¯</em>

    However, that was not important.

    <em>¡®So, he¡¯s really the Battle God? What an amazing power.¡¯</em>

    The power of the Overlord¡¯s Technique that Minhyuk disyed earlier seemed to be overwhelming enough, to the point that Gorac truly thought of him as the Battle God.

    Then, Minhyuk asked, ¡°It seems like you¡¯re still caught up in your own delusions?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°Whether you¡¯re the one to decide if you¡¯ll cooperate with me or not?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°Huh? It seems like you¡¯re still hesitating.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°Even though my vassal can be your sessor?¡±

    That was right. It was just like what Minhyuk said. If Elpis passed the test, then he would be the Great Demon that would inherit his position. In fact, Gorac¡¯s soul had been broken into pieces and scattered all over the world. In this state, it was urate to say that Gorac was already dead. So, if Elpis passed the test, he would be born as the next Great Demon. And this new Great Demon would serve a powerful king like Minhyuk, alongside powerfulrades andpanions.

    <em>¡®Perhaps a Great Demon with a far greater name and influence than me will be born?¡¯</em>

    Was Elpis qualified to be a Great Demon? Well, if Gorac was honest, Elpis¡¯s strength and qualifications were still insufficient. However, even if that was the case, Gorac still hoped that Elpis would grow strong enough to be his sessor.

    Then, Great Demon Gorac said, ¡°Fine. I will cooperate with you. I will allow Elpis to take the test.¡±

    A faint smile curled at the corners of Minhyuk¡¯s lips when he heard that. Minhyuk had seen Elpis struggle for the chance to take that test.

    ¡°And I hope that you can forgive me for the disrespect that I have shown you. Well, I¡¯m not asking you to forgive me so simply. I will listen to two of your wishes.¡±

    Originally, the reward for the quest: Gorac¡¯s Test was just one wish. Granting him two wishes showed how much Gorac sought Minhyuk¡¯s forgiveness.

    Among the Three Great Demons, entric Gorac was the one with the widestwork of information. Thus, these two wishes that Minhyuk could ask Gorac were very, <em>very </em>important.

    Minhyuk¡¯s first wish was, ¡°I want to build an empire in the human world. I wish to know a way to build an empire as quickly as possible.¡±

    If Minhyuk told Gorac to build him an empire, then his opportunity would definitely go to waste.

    As for his second wish, it was: ¡°I am extremely hungry. I wish to know of a ce where I can find something very special and delicious to eat that only you know of.¡±

    As expected of Minhyuk, making such a wish.

    Gorac did not take too long to answer. He said, ¡°A ce where there¡¯s something delicious to eat and can help you build an empire quickly. I know of such a ce.¡±

    Gorac rubbed his chin. He knew quite a lot about Athenae. What about Aruvel, the Demon World¡¯s Great Sage? He was no match for Gorac. That was how extensive Gorac¡¯s information and knowledge was. He was even privy to what the Athenae production team would openter.

    However, there was something that Gorac was wondering about. ¡°Can I ask you why you used one of the opportunities to ask me for a wish to find some food?¡±

    The high rankers could not buy any information from Gorac with money. But the person in front of him was using such a priceless opportunity to find some food. Other people would use this opportunity to find ces with God-rank weapons or skills.

    <em>¡®Of course, if you go there then you will be able to find special ingredients.¡¯</em>

    However, Gorac found it quite a bit strange.

    Then, Minhyuk smiled, his charisma exuding as he said, ¡°Is there something that¡¯s more important than eating in the world? Both gods and humans eat to live in the end, no?¡±

    <em>¡®What¡¯s this? Why does this sound so convincing?¡¯</em>

    ¡°You might have a good weapon or a strong power, but what good would it bring you if you¡¯re hungry and weak?¡±

    <em>¡®Strangely enough, it really sounds convincing.¡¯</em>

    Gorac got caught up in Minhyuk¡¯s logic.

    ¡°Happy Ind,¡± Gorac said bluntly. ¡°If you go there, you will find the special ingredients that you want. You will also find a way to build an empire as fast as possible.¡±

    Then, Gorac continued, ¡°Of course, you would only receive all of this if you do something there.¡±

    There was no free meal in the world. Since Gorac had guided him on the path, then Minhyuk had to work hard to get what he wanted himself.

    ¡°Happy Ind is still an unknown and undiscovered ind. My power, which is still lingering on the ind, will guide you to some extent.¡±

    Minhyuk could feel that Gorac was more meticulous and caring than what he thought. With this, there was nothing more that Minhyuk could do for Elpis. He had to ovee the rest himself.

    ¡°Are you going straight to Happy Ind?¡±

    Minhyuk nodded in answer to Gorac¡¯s question.

    <em>Swoosh¡ª</em>

    A bright light shed, and when it faded, Minhyuk had already disappeared.

    ***

    <em>[You have entered Happy Ind.]</em>

    <em>[Only those thate from Asgan Continent can ess Happy Ind.]</em>

    <em>[You are the very first yer to enter Happy Ind.]</em>

    <em>[Happy Ind is a special ind with a poption of 470,000.]</em>

    <em>[Happy Ind has and area of 1,359.02?.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 300 REP.]</em>

    Minhyuk was greeted with a wide expanse of nature the moment he opened his eyes. It felt like he was standing in the middle of a very beautiful paradise. Perhaps it was because it was called Happy Ind; the beautiful and glimmering sea made him feel happy and refreshed. It went without saying that such a beautiful ce would make him hungry.

    ¡°There¡¯s even a saying that goes, <em>¡®Even the sights of Diamond Mountain must wait after a meal!¡¯</em>¡±

    After all, the only thing that one would do was to take pictures and eat good food. Of course, Minhyuk was trying to find things that would help him build an empire and acquire delicious ingredients.

    ¡°But¡­ how do I get around this ce?¡± Minhyuk looked around in confusion.

    Minhyuk had to meet with the residents of this ind first. However, there was no mode of transportation avable to him at all. On top of that, he also did not know the way.

    But then, at that moment, notifications rang out.

    <em>[Upon your arrival in Happy Ind, Gorac¡¯s power will guide you.]</em>

    <em>[Gorac¡¯s power will guide you, who wants something special and delicious. You will be guided in order.]</em>

    Immediately after that, the figure of a dish appeared in front of Minhyuk. A happy smile settled on Minhyuk¡¯s lips when he saw the dish.

    ording to the notifications that he heard when he entered Happy Ind, only those that came from Asgan Continent could enter this ce. In other words, it was a special ce for those that lived in the Korean server. With the beautiful sea surrounding this ind and the dish that was projected in front of him earlier, Minhyuk could easily tell what the motif and the inspiration for this ind was.

    The special dish that Gorac will guide him to was none other than ¡®Gogi-guksu¡¯, which was considered a Jeju Ind¡¯s local specialty. In the past, it was difficult to travel to and from Jeju Ind, thus, the ind developed their own dishes. Among those dishes was gogi-guksu.

    It was a special dish made by boiling ck pork both for the soup and the topping. Its soup was renowned to be clean and refreshing. In fact, Minhyuk still had memories of going to Jeju Ind and eating gogi-guksu back when his mother was still alive.

    ¡°<em>Gulp.</em>¡±

    He could not forget that light, clean, and refreshing soup, as well as the taste of the soft and tender boiled pork. He was already excited just by thinking about it.

    <em>¡®What if I eat the noodles and drink the soup with some crispy kimchi?¡¯</em>

    ¡°Kghhk!¡±

    Minhyuk could not help but squeal in anticipation as he clicked on the word ¡®gogi-guksu¡¯ that was glittering brightly in front of him. Then, at the same time, Gorac¡¯s power began to guide him.

    <em>[Please go and find Evelyn.]</em>

    A map unfolded in front of Minhyuk and began to show him Evelyn¡¯s location. It was located much nearer than he thought. So, he began to walk toward his destination.

    ***

    Special yers Management Team.

    Team Leader Park Minggyu and Lee Minhwa both groaned.

    ¡°He noticed it, right?¡±

    ¡°I think so too.¡±

    They knew yer Minhyuk to be a quick-witted person. And just like what he had noticed, Happy Ind was indeed made using Jeju Ind as the motif and inspiration. Of course, not everything was the same. However, it was true that there were a lot of references from Jeju Ind. For someone like Minhyuk, who had the Food God ss, he would be able to gain a lot from this ce.

    ¡°This ind was supposed to open and be used for an event next year.¡±

    ¡°Will this change a lot of things?¡±

    If there was only one yer involved, the story would continue without many changes, unless that yer did something special. However, yer Minhyuk was capable of exerting too much influence in the Athenae worldview.

    To be specific, there was one thing that Park Minggyu and Lee Minhwa were monitoring closely. Inside Happy Ind, the residents there worship a god. The god was ferocious and had always terrorized the residents of the ind. However, thereinid the issue.

    ¡°Happy Ind¡¯s God is¡­¡±

    ¡°A ck pig.¡±

    The two looked at each other as they sighed despondently at the same time.

    ***

    Evelyn was someone that ran a small restaurant in Happy Ind. Her small restaurant was currently on the brink of falling apart. Her family had been making gogi-guksu for decades. Her father, who originally owned the ce, died not too long ago. On top of that, she just could not get her hands on any ck pork.

    ck pigs could be hunted on Happy Ind, usually done by hunters. In Evelyn¡¯s case, it was her father, a former knight, that used to hunt the ck pigs for their restaurant. When her father died, she tried to ask other hunters to hunt some ck pig for her and sign a distribution contract with her. However, all of them refused.

    <em>¡®Pluine Merchant Group must have already gotten their hands on those hunters.¡¯</em>

    Evelyn¡¯s shop might be small, but many customers visited them to the point that there was no room for others to step inside during their rush hour. Because of that, those merchants that were now in power were trying to destroy her.

    One might wonder why she could not just go and hunt for the ck pig herself? Unfortunately, the ck pigs on this ind were very strong. A single ck pig could smash a big rock into pieces. That was why most of the hunters here were former knights.

    <em>¡®Even so, I can¡¯t use white pork to make gogi-guksu.¡¯</em>

    ck pigs and white pigs were different from each other. The meat of ck pigs tasted much better than the meat of ordinary pigs because their fat and meat content were much better. So, if Evelyn used white pork, the taste of her gogi-guksu would definitely change.

    <em>¡®Is there really no way at all?¡¯</em>

    Evelyn wanted to protect this restaurant that her father had left her.

    <em>Knock, knock¡ª</em>

    Then, at that moment, someone knocked on the door of her shop. Evelyn had currently closed her shop because she could not operate without any ingredients at all. However, she still stepped out with a confused expression on her face.

    There, she saw a man smiling happily while eating omegi-tteok[1], a specialty of Happy Ind.

    ¡°Omegi-tteok is really delicious¡­!¡±

    Evelyn stared at the man in doubt when she saw the man shed a tear while smiling brightly. She could see that the man purchased the omegi-tteok from the store right next to her restaurant.

    Then, she heard Mrs. Halsen, who ran the omegi-tteok restaurant next door, said, ¡°I can¡¯t believe that he ate 827 omegi-tteok¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    A strange man had suddenly appeared.

    1. a type of tteok(rice cake) in Jeju Ind. ?

 Chapter 771: Happy Island

    Chapter 771: Happy Ind

    Omegi-tteok is a rice cake made with <em>chajo</em>[1] powder. It is filled with red bean paste inside and covered with red beans on the outside. In recent years, there has been a variety of omegi-tteok developed. The fillings are the same red bean paste but the coating outside has changed. There are some that use ¡®injeolmi powder¡¯, ¡®ck sesame seeds¡¯, and even ¡®cereals.¡¯

    ***

    The moment Minhyuk chomped on the red bean covered omegi-tteok, the not-so-sweet vor of the red bean that covered the rice cake greeted his taste buds. Then, it was immediately followed by the chewy texture of the rice cake, and then a burst of sweetness from the red bean paste inside. Savoring those vors could make one dance happily.

    Of course, the next omegi-tteok that Minhyuk tried was the one covered with injeolmi.

    ¡°<em>Chomp.</em>¡±

    Minhyuk consumed the entire rice cake in one bite. The sweetness of the injeolmi powder immediately greeted him with that one huge bite. However, the more he chewed the omegi-tteok, the more he realized that the vor was quite different from injeolmi. It felt more chewy and softer than injeolmi. Even the red bean paste inside was much sweeter.

    Just like that, Minhyuk continued to eat the omegi-tteok, including those covered with ck sesame seeds and cereals, while admiring the vors and textures.

    <em>¡®Happy Ind is a very beautiful ind¡­¡¯</em>

    Based on Minhyuk¡¯s standards, Happy Ind was the best ind in existence. After all, it was an ind with very delicious rice cakes. He even had tears dripping down the corners of his eyes as he ate them.

    <em>[You have eaten Happy Ind¡¯s Specialty, Omegi-tteok, for the first time.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained +1 STM as a special reward.]</em>

    It was truly astonishing. For the first time since he started this game, his STM stat increased permanently just because he ate an omegi-tteok, a specialty of the ind.

    <em>¡®What kind of ce is Happy Ind?¡¯</em>

    It was a special ind that only Gorac knew of, an ind that produced delicious food that could also raise one¡¯s stats?

    After finishing everything, a stream of tears flowed down Minhyuk¡¯s cheeks.

    <em>Drip, drip, drip, drip¡ª</em>

    At that moment, the door in front of him burst open and he met the gaze of a woman. The woman looked like she was Minhyuk¡¯s age and was a beautyparable to Genie and Ascar.

    <em>¡®Since the omegi-tteok is this good, then the gogi-guksu must also taste good.¡¯</em>

    Gorac¡¯s power had guided Minhyuk to this ce. Of course, Minhyuk did not stay idle during that time. From what he heard from the merchants and sellers in the area, Evelyn was the best when it came to making gogi-guksu.

    ¡°Please give me fifty bowls of gogi-guksu.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Evelyn looked at the man in front of her in shock.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s ordering fifty bowls of gogi-guksu for himself?¡¯</em>

    She did not think that Minhyuk was just making things up. After all, the man in front of her had eaten ¡®827¡¯ omegi-tteok by himself. However, there was a problem.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I don¡¯t have any ingredients.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡± The words were a bolt out of the blue. He hurriedly asked, ¡°What do you mean by that? Why don¡¯t you have any ingredients?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have any more pork.¡±

    It was a shocking statement, even more so than getting only fried rice after ordering <em>bokjjamyeon</em>[2]. Who had heard of a restaurant selling gogi-guksu that did not have any pork?

    ¡°Then, can¡¯t you just buy it?¡±

    ¡°It seems like this is your first time in Happy Ind, huh?¡± Evelyn knew at once that this was Minhyuk¡¯s first time here. After all, he still did not understand how terrifying the ck pigs on the ind were.

    Minhyuk nodded in answer. Seeing that, Evelyn exined the distribution contract for ck pork.

    ¡°¡­I think I won¡¯t be able to keep the store running anymore.¡± Evelyn looked bitter. However, she quickly erased the expression on her face and showed Minhyuk a small smile.

    The sight of someone crying, then smiling broadly at the same time as he ate 827 pieces of omegi-tteok might look strange. However, Evelyn could tell that the man in front of her loved food dearly.

    ¡°Just one bowl. I only have enough ingredients left to make one bowl of gogi-guksu.¡±

    Just one bowl. After that, there were no more ingredients left. Evelyn would no longer be able to make gogi-guksu in this restaurant.

    Minhyuk was thrilled when he heard that Evelyn could still make one bowl of gogi-guksu for him. At the same time, he thought, <em>¡®Should I bring her a bunch of ck pork?¡¯</em>

    Perhaps Evelyn¡¯s final bowl of gogi-guksu was truly special. After all, there were plenty of chefs that ended up forsaking the long, arduous path of cooking.

    Some gave up because they received poor welfare despite the intense and harrowing work. Most chefs had to work ten hours a day in front of the fire, with some working more hours than that. There were even some that could not make enough money with their craft. All in all, there were many reasons as to why people stopped cooking.

    Evelyn was in a simr situation. She even told him that she would give him thest bowl that she could make. It might be a single bowl of gogi-guksu, but it would be the bowl that was made with utmost sincerity.

    Then, Evelyn began to cook. She used a variety of ingredients, including the meat of the head of the ck pig, to boil the milky-white soup. The waiting time was quite a pleasant experience in itself.

    <em>Tak, tak, tak, tak¡ª</em>

    The loud and rhythmic sound of the knife as it made contact with the chopping board rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears, and made his anticipation grow even further.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Even the rising steam that escaped from the pot as Evelyn raised the lid also increased his expectations for the dish. When Minhyuk saw Evelyn take out the noodles and shake them off, he realized that the time to eat gogi-guksu was finally approaching.

    Soon, Evelyn served the steaming gogi-guksu with some dumplings on top. Then, she said, ¡°You¡¯re my final customer. So, I won¡¯t take your money.¡±

    Minhyuk looked at the gogi-guksu in front of him. The milky-white soup contained Evelyn¡¯s fresh and hand-made noodles, topped with seven pieces of boiled pork and egg garnish.

    As he looked at the dish in front of him, Minhyuk vowed that he would repay this grace. However, he knew that action would always speak louder than words. But first, he had to appease his hunger.

    The first thing that Minhyuk did was to lift the bowl. Then, he gently blew on it and sipped the milky-white soup. The light and refreshing vor of the broth of the gogi-guksu instantly spread in Minhyuk¡¯s mouth.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s no gamey smell at all.¡¯</em>

    One of the main reasons why ck pork was used instead of white pork for Happy Ind¡¯s gogi-guksu was because it was less gamey and fishy. After savoring the soup, Minhyuk mped a mouthful of the noodles and slurped them up in one breath.

    <em>Sluuuuuuuuuuuuurp¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s lips curled up as the chewy noodles danced around in his mouth. Next, he grabbed some boiled pork and ate it together with some noodles. One look and he could see that the pork had the perfect ratio of lean meat and fat. When he put everything in his mouth, the vor that spread brought out a burst of admiration from him.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡±

    The taste of Evelyn¡¯s gogi-guksu was so divine, that Minhyuk almost wondered if the ¡®First Food God¡¯ hade back alive. Once again, he drank the soup directly from the bowl. Then, he mped some well-ripened kimchi along with some noodles.

    <em>¡®The charm of noodle soup is amplified with kimchi.¡¯</em>

    Indeed. The crispy, well-ripened kimchi went well with the light, nd vor of the noodle soup.

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuuuuuurp.</em>¡±

    <em>Crunch, crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    The pleasant sound of crispy kimchi being munched on rang. Then, Minhyuk turned his chopsticks toward the dumplings. The moment he put one in his mouth, the hot juices trapped inside the thin skin burst out and spread in his mouth.

    While Minhyuk was having a delightful meal, the door to Evelyn¡¯s restaurant mmed open.

    <em>Bang¡ª!</em>

    ***

    People began to pour in the moment the doors of Evelyn¡¯s restaurant mmed open. There was deep anger marring Evelyn¡¯s beautiful face as she red at the man that suddenly stood in front of her.

    Pluine Merchant Group practically dominated the entire Happy Ind. Their merchant group was sorge that even the Happy Ind¡¯s royal family could not do anything to them at all.

    The men that appeared in front of Evelyn were knights sent by the Pluine Merchant Group. Among them was Loic, an outstanding knight. He was hired by Pluine Merchant Group to do vicious tasks on their behalf.

    In fact, the Pluine Merchant Group was actually an evil and malicious merchant order. They were considered as the group with the absolute power in the ind

    Five other knights entered the restaurant with Loic. A total of six warriors that came to a single woman¡¯s restaurant? It was unlikely due to Evelyn¡¯s outstanding looks.

    ¡°Get lost, Loic,¡± Evelyn roared at Loic.

    ¡°We can¡¯t just go away for no reason, no?¡±

    Loic, who sported a huge build, shrugged his shoulders.

    ¡°I already told you to stop doing business. But what¡¯s this? You have a customer? Hey, you! Stop pigging out and get lost,¡± Loic growled as he red at the man sitting by the side. Then, he continued, ¡°We have pushed back on collecting your rent time and again. Today¡¯s your final due date, Evelyn. You will have to work for the Pluine Merchant Group from this point on.¡±

    ¡°What nonsense¡­!¡± Evelyn¡¯s face turned red.

    She was truly behind on her restaurant¡¯s rent. In fact, it was not just that. Herte father had also left her with debt. Loic had been using this method to try and bring her to Pluine Merchant Group¡¯s side, because they coveted Evelyn¡¯s special power.

    ¡°Well, if you don¡¯t want that. Then, juste to my side, no?¡± Loic said, looking at Evelyn with a disgusting gaze.

    Evelyn almost blew the top of her head from anger when she saw the grimy look. ¡°You are all disgusting.¡±

    She bit her lips tightly. In fact, she had already guessed the things that they did.

    ¡°You are the ones that did my father in.¡±

    Yes, Evelyn¡¯s father died during a hunt. She had already suspected that it was rted to the Pluine Merchant Group.

    ¡°There¡¯s so many people that came to take a single woman, huh?¡±

    Evelyn¡¯s lips were already bleeding from how hard she was biting them. Furious, she regretted the fact that she could not fight back when her father died back then. But now, she would say what she wanted to say.

    She knew that she no longer had any way to run this restaurant anymore. She was also aware that her life would be turned upside down from this point on. However, even after knowing this oue, Evelyn would not back down. She was not the type to surrender so easily.

    ¡°Just looking at all of your faces makes me feel sick. It makes me feel like I want to vomit. Especially when looking at you, Loic. Is the reason why you were called Orc Loic because you resemble an orc? Shameless bastard. You¡¯re going around doing every evil and malicious thing in the book just so you can get a woman.¡±

    ¡°W, what¡­¡± Loic¡¯s face turned red.

    Loic was a hot-tempered individual. Especially when what Evelyn said was the truth. Loic might be strong but he was not blessed with good looks. He was so ugly to the point that every single time he approached a woman, they would all reject him.

    However, now that he had gained some sort of position in the Pluine Merchant Group, he wanted to use this opportunity to take Evelyn by force.

    Loic grabbed Evelyn¡¯s wrist and dragged her toward himself. Evelyn, weak as she was, could only be dragged helplessly.

    ¡°Aaaack¡­!¡±

    ¡°If youe with me, then everything will turn for the better for you. Yeah? Fufu. I¡¯ll even give you a lot of money.¡±

    <em>Thwack¡ª</em>

    In response to the creepy and disgusting smile on Loic¡¯s face, Evelyn pped him hard, blood dripping down his cheeks as her fingernails scratched his skin. Furious, Loic raised his hands toward her. However, he was in the presence of the other knights. So, he just whispered to Evelyn¡¯s ears, ¡°Who do you think killed your father? Huh?¡±

    Evelyn understood the meaning of his words. Loic was the one that killed her father. Her blood started to boil from anger. However, she was helpless. She could only get dragged by the hand. She could tell that Loic was also at the limit of his temper. So, as if she was grasping the final straw, she hurriedly spoke while being dragged away, ¡°W, wait. Let me serve myst customer properly.¡±

    Thisst customer was a very precious existence to Evelyn.

    Loic turned to look at the man that was eating gogi-guksu by the side. He had obviously told this man to get lost earlier. But the man did not listen. Loic mmed his fist on the table.

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    The table broke into pieces and the bowl of gogi-guksu that the man was eating fell on the ground, its bowl breaking into pieces. At the same time, thest piece of boiled pork left in the bowl also fell on the ground.

    <em>tter¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh my, I missed the mark. Next time, I¡¯ll make sure to take your head. Get. F*cking. Lost.¡±

    Evelyn could no longer hold back her anger. Despite her wrist still being held tightly by Loic, she started to rain blows on the man, scratching him with her nails.

    ¡°How dare you! How dare you do that to my customer¡­!¡±

    Loic, who was being pped non-stop, could no longer hold back. He moved to grab her by the hair.

    But then, the customer, who was still sitting on his seat, murmured, ¡°Have you ever tried eating gogi-guksu?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Loic tilted his head in confusion.

    <em>¡®What bullshit is this guy spouting?¡¯</em>

    ¡°The soup tastes light and refreshing, the noodles are chewy, and the boiled meat on top tastes fantastic with its perfect fat to lean meat ratio.¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    ¡°The gogi-guksu¡¯s boiled meat was very delicious. That¡¯s why I left behind one piece to eat at the end of my meal. A cherry on top, so to speak.¡±

    The man stood up from his seat and grabbed Loic¡¯s wrist that was holding on to Evelyn. Then, he exerted some force.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    At that moment, Loic felt the bones of his wrist break and crack. Then, with bloodshot eyes, the man said to him, ¡°You m*th*rf*ck*r. You will pay for what you did to my boiled meat.¡±

    1. A particr type of glutinous millet in Jeju Ind. ?

    2. A set meal of fried rice and jjampong ?

 Chapter 772: Happy Island

    Chapter 772: Happy Ind

    ¡°K, keuaaaaaaack! Aaaaaaaaack! P, please stop. Let go of my hand.¡±

    Loic, whose wrist was being crushed, felt the unbearable pain. However, the worst was the sound that rang in his ears.

    <em>Crack, craaaaaaack¡ª</em>

    <em>Craaaaaaack¡ª</em>

    It did not take too long for the bones to shatterpletely. In a matter of seconds, Loic¡¯s hand was hanging loosely, and the sight brought great fear and terror to everyone who witnessed it.

    The man who grabbed and broke Loic¡¯s wrist said, ¡°You m*th*rf*ck*r. You will pay for what you did to my boiled meat.¡±

    His eyes were bloodshot. Loic and the knights looked at the man in doubt.

    <em>¡®Is that truly his reason for doing this?!¡¯</em>

    Perhaps, there was another reason. After all, why would someone be so vicious just because a piece of boiled pork fell on the ground?

    ¡°It was my boiled pork, the piece of boiled pork that I was saving forst.¡±

    The man¡¯s voice was devoid of warmth, yet his words were quite nonsensical. However, the vitriol that leaked through his voice was enough to tell everyone present that he meant business.

    <em>¡®He broke Commander Loic¡¯s wrist just because of a single piece of boiled pork¡­¡¯</em>

    However, the surprise from that realization was only brief. The knights of the Pluine Merchant Order immediately pulled their swords out. However, Minhyuk did not let go of Loic¡¯s wrist. In fact, he continued to look at the man with a scathing, terrifying gaze.

    Loic screamed, ¡°Damn you! How dare you do this to me for a mere piece of boiled pork¡­!¡±

    The moment those words left Loic¡¯s mouth, Evelyn realized something. Loic had said something that he should not have. Those words caused Minhyuk¡¯s anger to soar.

    Of course, the reason why he was furious was mainly attributed to that final piece of boiled pork that fell on the ground. However, although Minhyuk looked like he had been focused on his meal, he had actually been paying attention to what was happening beside him.

    As it turned out, Loic had killed Evelyn¡¯s father, because he coveted Evelyn¡¯s body. The Pluine Merchant Group, Loic¡¯s employer, was helping him from behind the scenes.

    Who was Evelyn? She had served Minhyuk, who really wanted to partake in her craft, a bowl of gogi-guksu using thest of her ingredients. The value of an item varied greatly depending on the person receiving it. For Minhyuk, the bowl of gogi-guksu that Evelyn served him was a very precious and special gift.

    Minhyuk let go of Loic¡¯s wrist, who felt relieved. It seemed like the man in front of him had already wrapped his head around the situation.

    ¡°How dare you go against the Pluine Merchant Order¡­¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Loic¡¯s front teeth flew as Minhyuk¡¯s fist made contact with his face. Then, Minhyuk stepped on Loic¡¯s foot and restricted his movements, effectively preventing him from running away as hended punch after punch on the man¡¯s body.

    <em>Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam!</em>

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    The sound of Loic¡¯s cracking bones rang inside the restaurant as his body waspletely pummeled while he fainted on the spot.

    <em>¡®H, how¡­¡¯</em>

    The one who was most surprised by the sudden turn of events was Evelyn. In her eyes, he was a pure and innocent young man who loved to eat. But now, he was shrouded by an overbearing aura while terrifying killing intent leaked from his eyes. His momentum was so overwhelming that none of the people in the room couldpare.

    Even so, the knights of the Pluine Merchant Group still jumped at Minhyuk.

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>Booooooooom¡ª</em>

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    However, the knights of the Pluine Merchant Group were also helpless in front of him. All they could do was unterally receive his beatings. Minhyuk easily overpowered these knights.

    ¡°W, wait. You can¡¯t kill them!¡±

    Evelyn knew that Minhyuk would be in a bad position if he killed them because of her. At her words, Minhyuk stopped raining blows on the men inside the restaurant.

    The truth was, Minhyuk was not actually thinking of killing them either. At that moment, the hidden symbol engraved on Minhyuk¡¯s chest shone brightly. It was the ¡®Evil Incarnate¡¯s Hunter¡¯ symbol.

    Minhyuk had been the one who killed the Evil Incarnate not too long ago. He had received a lot of rewards for that. Among them was the symbol of the ¡®Evil Incarnate¡¯s Hunter.¡¯

    This symbol had the power to allow Minhyuk to either brainwash or put a curse on his opponent. The name of this power was the ¡®Cursed Whispers¡¯ and he could choose from a diverse selection of curses to use on his opponent. When it came to brainwashing, he could use it to inflict extreme fear upon his opponents and turn them crazy until they fell dead.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s a useful but terrifying skill.¡¯</em>

    As expected of a skill left behind by the Evil Incarnate. Of course, the skill could only be triggered if the opponent was at least a hundred levels below Minhyuk¡¯s level. Even after this condition was met, the skill could only be triggered by luck. The only way to increase the probability of the skill being triggered was reducing the opponent¡¯s HP as much as possible.

    Evelyn did not notice, but Minhyuk was staring coldly at the people who had curled their bodies from the pain and had copsed on the ground. Then, his eyes turned ck as he began to whisper to them.

    <em>[Cursed Whispers]</em>

    <em>[Your chosen curse has been applied to your enemies.]</em>

    ¡°Obey me.¡±

    The faint whisper sounded as if it came from the devil himself. Minhyuk brainwashed the knights, except for Loic. The knights¡¯ eyes turned ck for a very brief moment before returning to their original color.

    Then, Minhyuk spoke as if nothing had happened, ¡°Get lost.¡±

    The knights hurriedly stood up and dragged Loic away with them.

    Meanwhile, Evelyn looked at Minhyuk in gratitude. She didn''t even know how to thank the man. At the same time, she was also very worried, not for herself, but for Minhyuk. After all, the Pluine Merchant Order¡¯s influence and power wasparable to the royal family on Happy Ind. It was actually more urate to say that the king had no other choice but to concede in front of the Pluine Merchant Order.

    ¡°How could I even thank you¡­¡±

    Minhyuk said, ¡°That one bowl of gogi-guksu was more than enough.¡±

    He meant it. The dish was more than enough for Minhyuk. After all, it was the most delicious gogi-guksu that he had ever tasted in his life.

    <em>¡®Are all of the dishes on this ind at this level?¡¯</em>

    The dish born from Evelyn¡¯s hands was so good that it caused Minhyuk to burst out in exmation. Perhaps she was born to be a chef?

    However, there was something that Minhyuk was very curious about. ¡°But why do those guys want you so much?¡±

    Minhyuk was very quick-witted. He guessed that it was not just for her delicious dishes.

    ¡°My dishes can give one special powers.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Happy Ind was quite different from the Asgan Continent. Evelyn¡¯s dishes might be the Asgan Continent¡¯s buffed dishes. It was unlikely that Evelyn was the only one capable of making buffed dishes on this ind. If such dishes were scarce, then it made sense for them to covet Evelyn. Still, Minhyuk thought that things should not have devolved to this level.

    ¡°Those that eat my dishes will be able to grow stronger at a faster pace. Furthermore, this effect is permanent.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes grew wide.

    <em>¡®The effects are permanent? Wait. Does that mean that the EXP acquired will increase permanently?¡¯</em>

    This was an insane discovery. There were some among the high rankers that bought the ¡®Blessed One¡¯s Ring¡¯, an equipment that could permanently increase one¡¯s EXP gain by a mere 3%. However, the ring was transacted for tens of thousands of tinum. That was how much the yers wanted the permanent increase in EXP acquisition. In Evelyn¡¯s case, the effect would manifest by eating her dishes and not by wearing an artifact.

    Minhyuk pondered deeply over this matter. There was a chance that the operators had set Evelyn as Happy Ind¡¯s special NPC. Those who were able to eat her dishes would be able to get a permanent increase in their EXP acquisition. This meant that Evelyn¡¯s worth was beyond imagination. What would happen if Minhyuk was able to bring Evelyn to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?

    <em>¡®Plenty of NPCs and yers would rush to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and knock on our doors.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was certain of this. The permanent increase in EXP acquisition would easily outweigh the benefits that the Luvien Empire could bring forward.

    <em>¡®I want her.¡¯</em>

    However, just because he wanted to bring her to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom did not mean that he could ask her to go there right away.

    ¡°Please be careful,¡± Minhyuk said.

    Evelyn understood the meaning of his words better than anybody else.

    ¡°Yes. That¡¯s why I¡¯m going to go somewhere safe.¡±

    ¡°Where?¡±

    ¡°The king¡¯s castle. Myte father was quite close with His Majesty Effer.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded. Perhaps this was much better than her being forced to go to the Pluine Merchant Group. There was a high chance that her choice was the best path for herself.

    ¡°I see.¡±

    First of all, she was in a situation where it was impossible for her to continue running her restaurant. For her, the best course of action was to evade the eyes of the Pluine Merchant Group.

    It was a pity, but Minhyuk knew that he had to let it be. After leaving Evelyn behind, he quickly checked a portion of the memories of the knights that he used the Cursed Whisper on.

    <em>¡®This is really very convenient and useful.¡¯</em>

    With the help of the Cursed Whisper, Minhyuk was able to monitor and check the situation of the Pluine Merchant Group through the minds of the knights that he had brainwashed.

    Then, his eyes grew wide. <em>¡®Huh? Setoka and Kanpei[1]?¡¯</em>

    These were Jeju Ind¡¯s specialties, different varieties of tangerine that wererge and sweet.

    <em>¡®Oho? The Pluine Merchant Group has some Setoka and Kanpei stored in their warehouse?¡¯ </em>Minhyuk thought, his throat bobbing as he gulped his saliva.

    ***

    Loic, whose bones were crushed, immediately called for high-ranking priests to heal his body the moment he went back to the Pluine Merchant Group. Thanks to the priests, his bones were mended to some extent, and he was finally able to walk on his own.

    As soon as he could stand up, he growled, ¡°Gather the knights and the soldiers. I¡¯m going to tear that damn bastard to shreds!! I¡¯ll kill him and Evelyn!¡±

    Loic was furious. But before he could enact his ns, one of the knights that came with him said, ¡°Sir Loic, before you go, why don¡¯t you check the Setoka and Kanpei that we will offer to the God of Happiness?¡±

    ¡°<em>Ahem</em>. Yes, you¡¯re right. Let¡¯s do that first.¡±

    The golden Setoka and Kanpei held special powers and were considered to be valuable and precious items in Happy Ind. They were also very raremodities. In fact, the ind could only harvest five of each of the golden Setoka and Kanpei per year. The strength and power of those who consumed these fruits would permanently increase. In other words, the fruits could increase one¡¯s stats.

    The golden Setoka and Kanpei that they harvested were offered to the God of Happiness during their yearly prayers. As it stood, the day where they would offer these fruits to the God of Happiness was drawing near. That was why Loic had to check on the warehouse containing those ten fruits before killing that bastard.

    ¡°I wonder what the golden Setoka and Kanpei taste like?¡±

    Of course, they have all tried the ordinary Setoka and Kanpei. However, they were still vastly different from the golden Setoka and Kanpei.

    ording to the merchant group¡¯s master, who had tasted it once, they were unparalleled in terms of taste. They were sour, yet also had a lingering sweetness. Just thinking about it was enough to make them drool. The problem was that the golden Setoka and Kanpei were precious and priceless items. That was why they could not get their hands on it.

    ¡°Do we have enough horned ck pig¡¯s meat to offer to the God of Happiness?¡±

    ¡°Yes. We have ughtered and processed two hundred horned ck pigs for the offering.¡±

    The horned ck pigs were around ten times more expensive than ordinary ck pigs. However, the taste of their meat was superb. From what they had heard, the banquet prepared for the God of Happiness was incredibly special. However, for some strange reason, they were unaware of the exact details of the event.

    Loic immediately grabbed the handles of the doors of the food storage warehouse upon their arrival. He said, ¡°Let¡¯s quickly check the condition of the items, after that, we¡¯ll go gather a hundred knights to rip that bastard to shreds.¡±

    The moment he opened the door, Loic tilted his head in confusion

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    He was greeted with the sight of a man sitting leisurely inside the warehouse with the skin of the golden Setoka and Kanpei scattered behind him. In fact, the man was even pushing thest piece of Kanpei in his mouth.

    ¡°You, you¡­!¡±

    The individual had eaten all of the golden Setoka and Kanpei. On top of that, the two hundred horned ck pig meat and the rest of the ingredients inside the food storage warehouse were all gone.

    However, the most important thing was that Loic was very familiar with the man that devoured all of the golden Setoka and Kanpei. It was none other than the bastard that he had encountered in the restaurant earlier.

    The man grinned at Loic. Then, he opened his mouth and a loud sound, akin to a dragon¡¯s roar, echoed inside the food storage warehouse.

    ¡°<em>Buuuuuuuuuuuurp¡ª!</em>¡±

    1. Tangerines (citrus fruits) that are grown and bred in Jeju Ind, originated from Japan. ?

 Chapter 773: Happy Island

    Chapter 773: Happy Ind

    It was not really that difficult for Minhyuk to sneak in and hide inside the Pluine Merchant Group¡¯s food storage warehouse. All he needed to do was instruct the knights that he brainwashed earlier to open the doors and allow him entry to the food storage warehouse. The moment Minhyuk entered the warehouse, he helped himself to every single piece of rare and precious dishes and ingredients stored inside.

    The golden Setoka and Kanpei were truly delicious. He had whisked his knife out and sliced them into pieces perfect for eating. The refreshing vor of the tangerine burst out in his mouth the moment he consumed it.

    A burst of sourness met his taste buds at the first bite of the Setoka, arger variety of tangerine, which was immediately followed by a refreshing sweetness. Furthermore, there was something far more surprising than its vor.

    <em>[You have eaten a Golden Setoka.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained +1 in all of your five basic stats.]</em>

    <em>[You have eaten a Golden Setoka.]</em>

    <em>[You¡­gained +1¡­five basic stats.]</em>

    <em>[You have eaten a Golden Kanpei.]</em>

    <em>[Your total HP and MP volume have increased by 200.]</em>

    <em>[¡­eaten a Golden Kanpei.]</em>

    <em>[¡­HP and MP volume¡­200]</em>

    As mentioned before, the food storage warehouse housed a variety of rare and delicious ingredients and dishes, including the horned ck pork.

    <em>[You have acquired 231 Surly Octopi.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 313 Fatty Amberjacks.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 21 kg of Sea Urchin Roe.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 531 kg of Happy Tangerine¡­]</em>

    Minhyukughed in delight as he listened to the notifications that constantly rang in his ears, ¡°Wahahahahahahahahahaha!¡±

    It was truly a wonderful warehouse, filled with many rare and precious delicious ingredients! However, even if he looted this warehouse, Minhyuk did not feel any guilt, especially after he had dug through the memories of the knights that he brainwashed. The truth was, the Pluine Merchant Group was truly evil. All of the things that they had gathered here were either stolen, looted or monopolized.

    Just when Minhyuk was about to pop the final piece of the Kanpei into his mouth, the doors of the warehouse suddenly opened.

    ¡°Let¡¯s quickly check the condition of the items, after that, we¡¯ll go gather a hundred knights to rip that bastard to shreds.¡±

    The familiar voice of Loic rang out while he standing beyond the doors, and as he appeared, his expression was filled with shock after seeing the scene in front of him.

    ¡°You, you¡­!¡±

    ¡°<em>Buuuuuuuuuuuurp¡ª!</em>¡± Minhyuk, who could not hold back his body¡¯s natural reaction, released a loud sound that was akin to a dragon¡¯s roar.

    All of the ingredients and dishes stored in the food storage warehouse were items that the Pluine Merchant Group had to offer to the Happy Ind¡¯s God in a few days'' time. They had no choice. After all, the Happy Ind¡¯s God would always lose his temper and grow angry whenever he was hungry.

    ¡°We will receive far more special support with the offering that we will present this time.¡±

    The top brass of the merchant group had mentioned it before, and Loic had also heard that it was likely the owner of Happy Ind would change.<em></em>But now, the man in front of him had eaten all of the offerings that they were supposed to send.

    At the same time, Loic thought that this was an opportunity. They might have lost all of the dishes and ingredients set aside as offerings, but he was given the chance to rip apart and kill the damn bastard in front of him. To top it all off, they were inside the Pluine Merchant Group. That meant that hundreds of knights woulde running to his aid the moment he opened his mouth.

    <em>Grab¡ª</em>

    <em>Grab¡ª</em>

    However, the knights that stood beside Loic grabbed him by the arms and stopped him from moving. Loic looked at the knights beside him in confusion. ¡°Wh, what? Let go of me?¡±

    <em>Shiiiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk looked coldly at Loic as he pulled his sword out and approached the confused man.

    Loic was quite a strong man. He was able to shake off the knights that were holding him down in one go. But by then, Minhyuk was already in front of him, his sword slitting Loic¡¯s throat as he passed by him.

    <em>Fwiiiiiiiiiish¡ª</em>

    Loic could only watch the blood spurting from his neck in horror and copsed to the ground.

    Minhyuk looked down at him with a frigid expression on his face and said, ¡°I don¡¯t have the habit of leaving loose ends.¡±

    ***

    It was said that the meat of the Horned ck Pig, a pig that only appeared in Happy Ind, tasted better than ordinary ck pigs. Upon hearing this, Minhyuk immediately thought of ck pig ogyeopsal[1]. However, he tried his hardest to endure.

    <em>¡®No. There must be an even more special entity than the horned ck pig.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk did not have any doubt about it. The detailed exnation of the horned ck pig only said that the meat tasted better than ordinary ck pigs and did not even have any special abilities that increased the stats or skills of the consumer.

    Minhyuk had been ying Athenae for years now. As a long-time yer, he knew that ces like Happy Ind would have ingredients that were definitely out of the norm. That was why there would definitely be an ingredient of mindblowing standards on this ind.

    There was always a rainbow after the rain. April showers would always bring May flowers. Hard work would always be rewarded. So, Minhyuk endured and stopped himself from eating the horned ck pork. This was because he wanted to eat what was probably the most delicious ck pork on the ind.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m definitely improving.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk felt like his eating addiction was improving. If it was the him of the past, then he would definitely not hold back and endure. The 200 horned ck pork would be devoured in one seating.

    After looting the food storage warehouse, Minhyuk continued to follow Gorac¡¯s guidance.

    <em>¡®If I go and find the man named Heaven, I will be able to eat hanchippang[2].¡¯</em>

    Hanchippang was a local specialty bread and could only be bought in Happy Ind. It was bread in the shape of a squid, or hanchi, and usually filled with various things inside like cheese and red bean paste.

    Minhyuk, who was walking under the guidance of Gorac, heard a series of notifications in his ear.

    <em>[Ingredient Search has been sessful!]</em>

    <em>[You will be guided to where the Legendary Three Meter Great King Largehead Hairtail.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes grew wide.

    In the short time he spent here, he already discovered that Happy Ind was famous for its seafood, ck pork, and various other specialties. Since the inspiration for this ind was Jeju Ind, the Ingredient Search was able to find a rgehead hairtail¡¯, an ingredient that was as famous as ck pork.

    Before it became Ingredient Search, the skill was called Ingredient Tracking, which would track the ingredient that the skill user had specified. But now, the Ingredient Search skill had bepletely different. It would not only search for the ingredient that the user wanted, but also guide them to where it was, as long as they were within a one-kilometer radius of the ingredient.

    Minhyuk quickened his steps.

    <em>¡®A Legendary Three Meter Great King Largehead Hairtail? Amazing! There was a hairtail that had grown to three meters in length?¡¯</em>

    It had to be known that the hairtails in Jeju Ind were already famous for reaching a meter in length. These one-meter-long hairtails would often be spread out like a fan. When the meat of the hairtail was scooped out and ced on top of piping hot rice, it was as if one had the entire world in their hands. Right now, the notifications were telling Minhyuk that there was a Legendary Three Meter Great King Largehead Hairtail.

    Minhyuk moved as though he was possessed, until he arrived in front of Happy Ind¡¯s Castle. His brows furrowed. This had to be the castle where the king, whom Evelyn went to meet, lived.

    <em>¡®Does the king have the legendary ingredient in his hands?¡¯</em>

    Now, this was a problem. Minhyuk was a king, but thisnd was an unknown one, where his influence did not reach at all. The king would note out even if he shouted for him. Basically, he could not meet him just because he wanted to do so.

    Minhyuk only had one way to solve this problem. He had to make it so that the king woulde and find him himself. He had to get the king¡¯s interest and attention.

    <em>¡®I have to make myself the talk of the town.¡¯</em>

    Since Minhyuk was not from this ind, he could use this to his advantage and spread nice rumors about him to the residents living in Happy Ind. These rumors had to be a head-turner. It also had to spread far and wide to the point that it would reach the king¡¯s ears.

    <em>¡®Let¡¯s follow the guide for now.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk continued to follow the guide and met the man named Heaven, who sold hanchippang. Heaven was an old man, who had a very simple problem.

    ¡°I¡¯m in trouble. Because my hand has been seriously injured, I can¡¯t make any hanchippang and cannot run my business properly.¡±

    Gorac¡¯s power would only guide and help Minhyuk find food in his vicinity. As for the rest, it would be up to Minhyuk and the NPCs that he would encounter.

    <em>[The </em><strong><em>Quest</em></strong><em>: Sell Hanchippang has been created.]</em>

    The rewards of the quest were simple. He would receive 100,000 gold for 100 pieces of hanchippang. It was obviously a quest for beginner chefs. However, Minhyuk still readily agreed to take the quest.

    <em>[You have learned the Hanchippang Recipe.]</em>

    After learning Heaven¡¯s hanchippang recipe, Minhyuk began to work. After all, he was not only the Food God, but also someone with a DEX stat that was out of this world.

    Minhyuk poured the dough made from Jeju¡¯s buckwheat into the hanchippang machine. Then, he added a dollop of cream cheese, some hanchi powder, and some mozzare cheese.

    Once the hanchippang was done, he took it out of the machine and immediately took a bite. The hanchippang was crispy on the outside while the mozzare cheese stretched out, connecting his mouth to the portion. He munched on the part of the hanchippang where the mozzare cheese bit by bit, until he reached and tasted the sweetness of the cream cheese.

    <em>¡®Wow. This is really delicious!¡¯</em>

    This could also be attributed to Minhyuk¡¯s high DEX stat, as well as his ability to create buffed dishes, which no longer had a limit per day.

    <em>[You have made a Hanchippang.]</em>

    <em>[The fatigue of those that will eat the Hanchippang will disappear while their energy will increase.]</em>

    Then, Minhyuk added a drop of something to the hanchippang dough. This was none other than the ¡®Sea Honey¡¯, an item that he had not used for a very long time.

    <em>¡®Fufu.¡¯</em>

    All of the preparations for his business were finished.

    Meanwhile, Heaven looked at his masterpiece in shock. ¡°Wow, look at this. This is golden brown. How can you bake them so well?¡±

    This was mainly because Minhyuk¡¯s cooking skills were far better than Heaven¡¯s own. However, even if he was able to make it well, the problem still stood.

    <em>¡®Will he be able to do business?¡¯</em>

    Hanchippang was a specialty of Happy Ind. The problem did not lie in its taste. It was because the residents of Happy Ind were used to its taste, and they did not find anything special with it. After all, they were the only ones that were able to eat this kind of dish.

    But the quest would only bepleted if Minhyuk was able to reach a certain amount of sales. For him toplete this, his practiced skill in speech would have to y a huge part.

    ¡°Sister, pleasee and try some of this hanchippang. I guarantee that it¡¯s very delicious.¡±

    The woman that Minhyuk called out to looked like a <em>haenyeo</em>[3], who was over fifty.

    ¡°Hoho. Did you just call me sister? I¡¯ll be fifty-nine next year.¡±

    ¡°Goodness. This¡­ I made a mistake. It¡¯s because you look so young.¡±

    ¡°Hoho. You have a good eye, young man. Give me five hanchippangs!¡±

    ¡°Yes, ma¡¯am!¡±

    Lauren, the olddy that Minhyuk called over, had been very exhausted from picking various ms and shellfish earlier. She slowly ate the hanchippang, savouring the sweetness that followed the crispiness of the bread. Somehow, the taste was slightly different from the hanchippang that she was very used to.

    <em>¡®This, this taste is addictive,¡¯ </em>Lauren thought as she gobbled everything up in one go.

    <em>[Your fatigue has disappeared.]</em>

    <em>[Your energy has increased.]</em>

    To her surprise, the fatigue and exhaustion that umted in her body after working hard today had disappeared, as if they had been washed away by the waves. Even her knees, which ached from time to time, seemed to have loosened up and allowed her to move freely.

    Of course, Minhyuk did not stop his lip service and continued to drag in new customers.

    ¡°Oh my, brother! Are you tired? Come,e. Have some hanchippang that will definitely give you energy. Since you¡¯re very handsome, I will give you a discount. Three hanchippangs cost 10,000 gold. But for you, I¡¯ll give it for 9,900 gold!¡±

    ¡°Hahaha. Is that so? Then, give me three!¡±

    Sometimes, there were customers with dark and gloomy expressions on their faces that would pass by.

    ¡°Dear customer, what¡¯s the matter?¡±

    ¡°My fiance broke our engagement because I¡¯m bald.¡±

    ¡°Eeeeeeeeh?! How can that be?¡±

    Minhyuk looked like he was genuinely sorry for the man. He secretly slipped something onto his fingers. It was none other than the ¡®Growth Ring¡¯, an artifact produced by the Talmor Religion¡¯s pope that had great effects when it came to growing hair.

    ¡°This hanchippang right here has a hair-growing effect. Brother, trust me this once!¡±

    ¡°Haha. You sound like you¡¯re joking. But what¡¯s the harm in trying, no?¡±

    Minhyuk immediately rubbed the ring on his fingers the moment the man took a bite of the hanchippang. At the same time, the man felt a heat bloom on top of the empty fields on his head.

    ¡°U, uwoooooooh! It¡¯s, it¡¯s really growiiiiiiiing!!!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s really true. Hahahaha!!!¡±

    This was not the only type of customer that passed by Minhyuk¡¯s stall.

    ¡°It has been very boringtely. Is there something interesting out there?¡±

    ¡°Is that so? Then, how about giving this a read?¡±

    ¡°Why Did the Prince Go Out Tonight? What¡¯s this?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a very, <em>very</em> interesting novel. Brother, I¡¯m only giving this to you, okay?¡±

    The next day, the bald man and the bored man both came back to visit Minhyuk. There was actually some hair growing on the bald man¡¯s head now.

    ¡°Thanks. I don¡¯t know how I can repay the grace that you have given me.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, brother. I¡¯m already happy to see you happy, brother.¡±

    As for the guy who said that he was bored, ¡°This is the first time in a long time that I enjoyed reading a book. What happens next?¡±

    Everyone grew to like and treat Minhyuk preciously.

    ¡°Kghhk! I heard that he¡¯s a guest from another continent? You¡¯re even a noble! You¡¯re a noble that came to visit our dear Happy Ind!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right! He¡¯s a noble!¡±

    ¡°Thanks to that child, my back is no longer hurting like before!¡±

    <em>[Carmel¡¯s favor has reached the MAX level.]</em>

    <em>[Evon¡¯s favor¡­]</em>

    <em>[Rokai¡¯s favor¡­]</em>

    <em>[Krucao¡¯s favor¡­]</em>

    On top of all that, Minhyuk¡¯s sales had increased at an exponential rate. It was around a hundred times more than the store¡¯s usual sales. There was even a long line in front of the hanchippang store. After all, the taste of the hanchippang was very divine for these people. And Minhyuk, he was akin to a god, to all of these people who had grown addicted to Sea Honey.

    <em>[Many people have started to sing you praises.]</em>

    <em>[As the master and leader of Minhyuk Religion, your divinity has grown quite a bit.]</em>

    The story of Minhyuk, who they referred to as the ¡®noble¡¯, was constantly being mentioned and discussed by the people, and his favor with the people was constantly increasing until they reached MAX level.

    Quite a lot of people even began to sing of Minhyuk¡¯s stories.

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaah, Noble~ Eat one hanchippang from his shop and your pain will fly away~¡±

    ¡°Someone grew hair!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaah! He is loved by all!¡±

    Minhyuk did not stop there. He continued to follow Gorac¡¯s guidance and talked to all of the people who offered special dishes. There were obviously some customers who owned or cooked special dishes among those who bought hanchippang. He would then tell them something along the lines of, ¡°I¡¯ll give you five more hanchippangs, will you trade some mackerel with me?¡±

    ¡°Good!¡±

    ¡°I heard that you grow Great King Apples, the apples that are native to Happy Ind. How about trading them for eight hanchippangs?¡±

    ¡°Call!¡±

    Those who had tasted the hanchippang were soon addicted to its taste and effects. Everyone was willing to ept the trade, which allowed Minhyuk to pile up a huge amount of ingredients in his inventory.

    Then¡­

    <em>[You have built a rapport and have received a lot of favor from many residents of Happy Ind.]</em>

    <em>[You have achieved the </em><strong><em>Easter Egg</em></strong><em>: ¡®Happy Ind¡¯s Noble¡¯]</em>

    <em>[You have gained +10 in all of your stats.]</em>

    <em>[Everything that you buy from the residents of Happy Ind will be 30% cheaper.]</em>

    <em>[Even though you¡¯re a foreigner, the residents of Happy Ind will not be wary of you and will even be friendly with you.]</em>

    <em>[The Story of the Noble is being spread far and wide.]</em>

    This was the effect that Minhyuk wanted. Just like that, the Story of the Noble shook the entire Happy Ind.

    ¡°A noble from another continent?¡±

    Happy Ind¡¯s King Effer viewed him favorably after hearing that he was loved by the millions of people on the ind.

    ¡°Bring him to me.¡±

    1. ??? simr to samgyeopsal but has fiveyers. Basically, it¡¯s samgyeopsal with skin. ?

    2. ?? - a type of squid with short legs and a diamond-shaped fin at the edge. ? - bread. ?

    3. A female diver that collects mollusks etc on the ind. ?

 Chapter 774: Benevolent Ruler

    Chapter 774: Benevolent Ruler

    Happy Ind¡¯s King Effer was loved and cherished by the people of the ind. It had to be known that Happy Ind was superior to Asgan Continent in all aspects. The level of their soldiers, knights, and even their monsters were higher than those in Asgan Continent. As a person who could subjugate such high-leveled monsters, King Effer could be said to be an outstanding individual.

    <em>¡®What else can I do? I am nothing more than a puppet.¡¯</em>

    Effer smiled bitterly. He might be the king of Happy Ind, but his position had been shaken, and he was effectively controlled by the Pluine Merchant Group. They had the ¡®God of Happiness¡¯ backing them up. That was not all, the ¡®God of Happiness¡¯ Envoys¡¯ that the God of Happiness had sent also had outstanding skills and abilities. Therefore, the God of Happiness¡¯ Envoys were a part of the top brass of the Pluine Merchant Group.

    <em>¡®God of Happiness, why have you abandoned us?¡¯</em>

    Originally, the God of Happiness did not intervene with what was happening on the ind. But one day, the God of Happiness suddenly started protecting the Pluine Merchant Group. Effer surmised that this must have started when the Pluine Merchant Group started making offerings and sacrifices to the god. The God of Happiness also bestowed upon them plenty of things.

    The Pluine Merchant Group then took away the fertilends, which originally belonged to the farmers, saying that it was under themand of the God of Happiness. Even the vast seas, which originally belonged to the fishermen, were taken away because of the God of Happiness¡¯s revtion. As theyid im to things one after the other, King Effer failed to stop them.

    The God of Happiness was an insurmountable existence to the people of the ind. The god was just far too strong. Unlike the other Continental Gods, the God of Happiness could descend directly upon theirnds. In front of such a god, King Effer was nothing but weak.

    ¡°Urk¡­!¡±

    Effer hurriedly covered his mouth with a handkerchief when he felt the cough bubble up in his throat. When he took it away, there was already blood smearing the cloth. This was Effer¡¯s biggest worry. He knew that his days were already numbered. All he could do was smile bitterly as he tried to calm his trembling body.

    ¡°<em>Hoo¡­</em>¡± Effer sighed, his body calming down to some extent after quite some time.

    ¡°Your Majesty, the Noble has arrived.¡±

    Effer was very curious about the man that his people hailed as the <em>Noble.</em> Even Evelyn had something to say about him. Evelyn¡¯s father was both a knight and a chef who served the royal family in the past. Effer would always feel better whenever he ate the ¡®gogi-guksu¡¯ that her father had made. From what Evelyn had told him, the Noble was a very good person.

    <em>¡®He punched several knights of the Pluine Merchant Group.¡¯</em>

    However, Effer believed that even though they were just a few knights of the merchant group, that was still something that he should not have done. They were probably just the tip of the iceberg of the Pluine Merchant Group.

    Not long after, the door opened wide, and the Noble entered the halls with a bright and pure smile on his face.

    ¡°Your Majesty. This servant of yours, Minhyuk, greets you.¡±

    Minhyuk was also a king. However, he was disying such courtesy and being polite because he was a king of the Asgan Continent, and did not have any influence on Happy Ind. Even if he shouted, <em>¡®I¡¯m also a king!¡¯</em> No one would believe him. If he used ¡®God¡¯s Voice¡¯ for no reason at all, then he would only draw the ire of the people and would definitely strip him of whatever benefits he had umted.

    ¡°I can hear theughter and joy of my people from all the way here. Because the Noble has visited us, I can hear my people enjoy themselves and let go of their worries. For that, I am very grateful.¡±

    Minhyuk was quite surprised by these words. <em>¡®Didn¡¯t he call for me here because he was curious?¡¯</em>

    Of course, the king was curious about Minhyuk. However, the main reason why King Effer asked to meet Minhyuk was because he brought smiles to the faces of his people.

    The weight of a king¡¯s gratitude was heavy. Even so, it was still said with great sincerity, and it was evident in the smile of King Effer.

    ¡°Thank you for your praise.¡±

    ¡°I heard that you came from another continent?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°It seems like you¡¯re a pretty good chef in that continent.¡±

    That was true. Minhyuk was a pretty good chef.

    ¡°I have a favor to ask of you,¡± Effer said, smiling bitterly. ¡°I heard that you have made a small connection with Evelyn.¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°When you go back to your continent, please take Evelyn with you.¡±

    ¡°¡­Eh?¡±

    Minhyuk looked at Effer in doubt. Evelyn was someone who could create dishes that could permanently increase one¡¯s EXP acquisition rate. If Minhyuk could take her back with him, then he would be able to attract even the outstanding rankers to his kingdom. In other words, she would be Minhyuk¡¯s shortcut to building an empire.

    <em>¡®However, why would the king ask me for a favor like this?¡¯</em>

    ¡°You must have heard about it, right? That child will no longer be able to live in thisnd peacefully. There are just far too many people that want her and her ability.¡±

    Minhyuk knew about this fact. However, there was still a point of doubt. <em>¡®But she¡¯s now staying by the king¡¯s side? So, why?¡¯</em>

    Evelyn was under the protection of the king. Why would he send her away?

    Minhyuk did not have aplete grasp on the situation in Happy Ind yet. In fact, he was only able to get a glimpse of the flow when he was running the hanchippang business. From what he understood, the benevolent ruler, King Effer, was being used as a puppet by the Pluine Merchant Group, who was being backed by the God of Happiness.

    However, even if the Pluine Merchant Group was treating him like a puppet, why would he decide to send Evelyn with Minhyuk?

    <em>¡®There¡¯s a chance that they¡¯re much more dirty and vulgar than I thought of.¡¯</em>

    Anyway, there was no need for Minhyuk to reject such an offer. In fact, he would be an idiot if he refused this.

    ¡°I understand.¡±

    ¡°Keep that child safe and let her live happily for a very long time. Ah. If you don¡¯t mind, then please take those that want to visit another continent with you, too.¡±

    The bitter smile on King Effer¡¯s face had morphed into that of relief. However, the sadness was still evident on his face. He looked like he was going somewhere far away.

    ¡°Ah. I heard that you can give others strength through your cooking in your continent?¡±

    ¡°Are you talking about buffed dishes, Your Majesty?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    Based on what Minhyuk has observed, there was no concept of buffed dishes in Happy Ind.

    ¡°Can I try and have a taste of your buffed dish? I need to gain stronger power for a short period of time, you see.¡±

    Why did King Effer need to gain strength? Even if he was curious, Minhyuk still held his tongue and did not ask. He just said, ¡°Of course, you can. However, Your Majesty¡­ I will need excellent ingredients to make an excellent buffed dish.¡±

    The main reason why Minhyuk came here was so he could eat the Legendary Three Meter Great King Largehead Hairtail. It would be nice if he could get a special ability, but even without it, he would still be happy to taste such a delicacy.

    ¡°I¡¯ll give you whatever ingredients you need. Just tell me.¡±

    ¡°The ingredients that only Your Majesty has, the very, <em>very</em>rge Legendary Great King Largehead Hairtail, the Jeweled Sea Urchin Roe that can only be harvested once every two years, Silk Seaweed, Rocky Stone Radish¡­¡±

    Minhyuk had already investigated the special ingredients that were in the hands of King Effer. To his shock, even though the ingredients were far more valuable than he initially thought, King Effer still readily agreed and gave him the ingredients.

    <em>¡®I have to grow a bit stronger even if it¡¯s only for a brief moment.¡¯</em>

    Then, Minhyuk began to cook for King Effer. He began to grill the three-meter-long Legendary Great King Largehead Hairtail, until it was golden brown in color while he left the sea urchin and seaweed soup boiling by the side. Of course, he also did not forget to make some braised hairtail using the ordinary hairtail and radish.

    ¡°Hehe, looks delicious.¡±

    Effer could not help but smile when he saw the pure, bright expression that adorned the face of the chef from another continent.

    When he finished cooking all of the dishes, Minhyuk asked, ¡°Your Majesty, would it be alright to share this meal with you?¡±

    ¡°Well, there¡¯s quite a lot of dishes here. It would be nice if I had someone to dine with.¡±

    ¡°No. I have my own food,¡± Minhyuk said as he used the Joy of Eating Together and made the same set of dishes appear in front of him.

    <em>¡®What a mysterious ability,¡¯ </em>Effer mumbled to himself as he looked at the table that wasid with plenty of dishes.

    Minhyuk¡¯s shoulders danced in happiness as he looked at the same set of dishes that appeared in front of him. Before he started eating, Minhyuk did what he had to do. He skillfully removed the bones of the three-meter-long Great King Largehead Hairtail with his chopsticks.

    ¡°Oh! What an amazing ability,¡± Effer said in admiration.

    After removing all of the bones, all that was left was the plump and juicy meat of thergehead hairtail. Minhyuk stared at the hairtail, the sea urchin, and the seaweed soup right next to it.

    Of course, he had also served plenty of side dishes like kimchi and fresh vegetables. Minhyuk gulped as he scooped a huge spoonful of rice. Then, he ced a huge piece of thergehead hairtail on top before cing everything in his mouth.

    ¡°Kghhhk¡­¡±

    A burst of the salty and savory vor of the hairtail that was sprinkled amply with salt spread in his mouth, perfectlyplementing the sweetness of the rice.

    After admiring the wonders of the grilled hairtail, Minhyuk turned his attention to the braised hairtail and deboned the hairtail in one swift move. Then, he grabbed his spoon scooped a spoonful of the braised dish and poured it on top of his bowl of rice before taking a big bite. Thebination of the sweetness and spiciness of the braised hairtail made Minhyuk¡¯s mouth tingle with delight. The charm of the hairtailid with its seasoning.

    Then, Minhyuk cut off a piece of the radish that waspletely red, added it to his rice and ced everything in his mouth. The radish that had been coated perfectly with the sauce was very rich in vor.

    Next, Minhyuk added some rice to his sea urchin and seaweed soup. One spoonful and he could taste the savory seaweed and the deep vor of the sea urchin in the soup.

    ¡°I was the one that asked you to cook for me, but you seem to be eating better than me, huh? Hahahaha!¡± Effer burst intoughter.

    Actually, it was not just Minhyuk who was acting like that, even Effer could not stop his spoon from moving. That was just how delicious the meal in front of him was.

    Then, a series of notifications rang in Effer¡¯s ears after he finished eating his meal.

    <em>[You have eaten Grilled Hairtail and Seaweed Soup.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 22%.]</em>

    <em>[Beoned¡¯s Swordsmanship¡¯s level has increased by +2.]</em>

    Effer was very shocked to feel a surge of power run through his veins after finishing his meal.

    <em>¡®Unbelievable! Is this power that came from a dish?¡¯</em>

    It was at this moment that Effer realized that the chef in front of him was a far greater man than he initially thought he was. He was satisfied enough with the results that he bestowed the best blessings that he could.

    <em>[Effer¡¯s Blessings.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by +11.]</em>

    <em>[All of your skills¡¯ skill proficiency has increased.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Effer¡¯s Treasure Box.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired a Return Spell Scroll filled with Effer¡¯s Power.]</em>

    <em>[The Return Spell Scroll will allow you to return to Asgan Continent at any given time and take with you those that wish to join you.]</em>

    Then, Effer told Minhyuk with a small smile on his face, ¡°You can go now. Don¡¯t forget the promise that you made with me.¡±

    ¡°I understand, Your Majesty,¡± Minhyuk answered. He could tell that Effer¡¯s favor toward him was higher than what he expected. He could also tell that he was a king who truly loved his people. As he looked at Effer, he realized that he had quite a lot to learn from him.

    Since he had achieved what he wanted, Minhyuk immediately logged out. After confirming that the man had disappeared, Effer allowed the sadness toe back to his face.

    ¡°Go, go and leave this ce.¡±

    He wanted Minhyuk to leave Happy Ind as soon as possible.

    ¡°Get rid of the king!!!¡±

    ¡°Take down the ipetent tyrant, King Effer!!!¡±

    Not long after Minhyuk left, a loud voice rang loudly throughout Happy Ind. This was the coup d¡¯¨¦tat that the Pluine Merchant Group had organized. As the puppet king of Happy Ind, Effer had already guessed that this would happen. With a bitter smile on his face, he held his sword tightly and stood up from his throne.

    ¡°The Noble and chef from another continent.¡± He erased the bitter smile on his face as he red sharply at the doors. ¡°Take as many people as you can and get out of Happy Ind.¡±

    <em>ck¡ª</em>

    The doors opened, and the God of Happiness¡¯s envoys came barging inside with their swords pointing at Effer.

    ¡°Listen, Happy Ind¡¯s King!!!¡±

    ¡°Pay the price for your crimes. You have killed hundreds of innocent lives in Happy Ind!¡±

    ¡°Happy Ind is no longer yours, Effer!¡±

    What a joke. It was just yesterday that they found more than a hundred people dead. It was obvious that these people were killed by the Pluine Merchant Group. And they most likely did it to put the me on Effer.

    However, this was the king¡¯s final flight. Effer leaped to the skies and flew like a butterfly with the sword in his hands.

 Chapter 775: Benevolent Ruler

    Chapter 775: Benevolent Ruler

    ¡°The king caused the death of his poor and innocent people.¡±

    ¡°More than a hundred people died and shed tears of blood.¡±

    ¡°Listen, King Effer. You are no longer qualified to sit on that throne.¡±

    ¡°Pluine Merchant Group¡¯s Master, Lord Avendor, will be the new owner of Happy Ind.¡±

    The people of Happy Ind heard the voice of the Pluine Merchant Group¡¯s people. Happy Ind was a small but peaceful ind. Although the Pluine Merchant Group had taken away much from them, they were still able to maintain their own peace.

    ¡°Your Majesty Effer¡­¡±

    All of them could see that this was the final push from Pluine.

    In the past, King Effer would usually go around the market during the day and greet the merchants. He would even pat the heads of the running children and ask them while smiling, <em>¡®Are you doing well? Hoho.¡¯</em>

    ¡°Your Majesty, no¡­¡±

    Everyone knew that King Effer would never do such a thing.

    An old man cried out, ¡°Enough with your lies!!! God of Happiness is just making things up to choose a new king!!!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right!!!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t think that we don¡¯t know that you¡¯re all a part of Pluine Merchant Group!!!¡±

    The people shouted, trying to defend King Effer. However, the only response that they got was a cold de to their throats.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    The people who cried out in indignation were cut down by the knights of the Pluine Merchant Group. The one that stood at the forefront of it all was called Avendor. He was the owner of the Pluine Merchant Group, and also the Second Prince that had been expelled from the royal family. Filled with indignant fury after being kicked out, he created the Pluine Merchant Group and had been plotting for this day.

    ¡°Kill all those that go against us.¡±

    ¡°Are, are you saying that we should kill the ordinary citizens?¡±

    ¡°Kill them!!!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!!!¡±

    Avendor¡¯s voice did not have a shred of mercy. Besides, he had nothing to fear. After all, the God of Happiness was on his side, and Avendor was certain the god would absolutely descend ande to his aid at any given moment. Today would be the day that Effer would be stripped of his King¡¯s Authority.

    <em>Staaaaaaab¡ª</em>

    Avendor, who was sure of the results, stabbed the heart of a young man who was crying for his king, Effer. He shot the dying man a nce as though he was a bug before moving toward the castle.

    ***

    Effer was fully aware that the Pluine Merchant Group would try to take his throne. However, if Avendor became king, Effer was sure that he would persecute the residents of Happy Ind. However, there was nothing that he could do. Things had not seemed to turn out well for him, and his days were numbered.

    That was why Effer could only give his soldiers this order.

    ¡ª<em>Whatever happens, do not resist. I should only be the one to die.</em>

    This was the choice that Effer made. He chose to fight to the death and stepped out to meet the iing forces.

    The God of Happiness¡¯s Envoys were all high-leveled NPCs with levels that reached 600. They were people who only took orders from the God of Happiness and would do their best to fulfill them.

    Roine, one of the God of Happiness¡¯s envoys, thought, <em>¡®We canpletely subdue King Effer in under ten minutes.¡¯</em>

    This was based on what they had gathered about Effer¡¯s strength. Effer flew through the air beautifully like a butterfly, and it was like he was the setting sun.

    <em>aaaaaaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    One of the envoys stumbled back when their sword made contact with King Effer¡¯s sword. Effer did not miss the opportunity and continued to cut and sh the body of the stumbling envoy.

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    The envoys watched the sudden turn of events with wide eyes.

    <em>¡®What the hell?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®H, how¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®King Effer has be stronger?¡¯</em>

    It was impossible. Avendor and the envoys were fully aware of the condition of King Effer¡¯s body. Even if they did not stage a coup, King Effer would still die. All of them shook their heads. They believed that it was nothing but a mere coincidence. While they were trying to convince themselves, Effer quickly strode forward and cut down another envoy.

    <em>Spuuuurt¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    The scream that rang in their ears confirmed their doubts.

    <em>¡®How did he be stronger?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®No. Even if he became stronger, does it even make sense for him to grow by this much?¡¯</em>

    They werepletely unaware of the meal that Effer and Minhyuk ate. In fact, Effer himself was surprised by the surge in strength.

    <em>¡®He was a chef that smiled brightly and purely.¡¯</em>

    Effer smiled faintly. Although he had only met the man for the first time today, the delicious meal that he cooked and the bright expressions that he showed brought a smile to Effer, albeit a faint one. It was not only that, the buffs from his dishes also allowed him to fight to his heart¡¯s content.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m grateful.¡¯</em>

    <em>Grin¡ª</em>

    Effer smiled as he pushed back the God of Happiness¡¯s Envoys with his sword. While Effer was king, he was also the one with the greatest skill in swordsmanship in the history of Happy Ind.

    The enemies believed that five envoys were enough to subdue him. Unfortunately, the situation was proving to be hard for them. They were finding him to be more than they could handle.

    ¡°Take down Effer!!!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaah!!!¡±

    The cries of the rebels rang loudly as the gates of the castles were forced open.

    ¡°Those who surrender will not be killed!¡±

    ¡°Drop your weapons!¡±

    Effer turned toward the direction of the voice. The God of Happiness¡¯s envoys did not miss this opportunity and immediately pressed forward to attack Effer.

    <em>Piiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    <em>Spuuuurt¡ª</em>

    <em>Spuuuuuuuuurt¡ª</em>

    Blood spurted out and flowed down Effer¡¯s armor as their swords cut his flesh. At this moment, Effer realized that his end was near. The rebels would soon flood the castles. At the very least, he had already given his orders.

    ¡ª<em>Do not resist.</em>

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    The sound of footsteps drew closer and closer to Effer¡¯s ears. But he continued to do his best to protect the ce that he lived in until the very end.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    Effer groaned lightly as a sword pierced through his shoulders, ¡°Kghhhk.¡±

    It was very difficult for a mere human to fight and win against an envoy chosen by god. Even though Effer was the greatest king of Happy Ind, he was still unable to stand against the gods that stood above him.

    Seeing Effer stumbling like that while his hand gripped his gaping shoulder, the envoy named Roine raised his sword and aimed for his neck.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Effer looked at the de of the sword helplessly. Just then, the doors to the castle opened, and a sword flew in, forcing Roine to twist his body and get away from Effer.

    ¡°Your Majesty¡­¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty Effer¡­¡±

    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Korro, the knightmander of the royal family, held a sword that was dyed red with blood while giving Effer a solemn, bitter look.

    ¡°¡­I clearly ordered you to not resist.¡±

    ¡°Forgive this servant of yours, I will disobey Your Majesty¡¯s orders for today.¡± Korro smiled sadly. He clearly remembered how his king was kinder and warmer than anybody else.

    Thirty percent of the royal knights had already been handed over to the Pluine Merchant Group. As for the remaining 70%, they all gathered together and formed one force in order to fight until the bitter end and prevent the Pluine Merchant Group from doing what they wanted to do. Unfortunately, it was going to be difficult, impossible even.

    ¡°I wanted all of you to survive and live.¡±

    ¡°We want to fight alongside you until the very end, Your Majesty.¡±

    ¡°¡­This is ridiculous.¡±

    However, the smile on Effer¡¯s face had garbled his words and turned it into an iprehensible murmur. In fact, the envoys also thought the same. Even though they were envoys, they could not understand why the God of Happiness wanted to do something like this.

    <em>¡®God, how can you abandon and betray the faith of the righteous king and knights?¡¯</em>

    Everything started when Avendor began to offer food to the God of Happiness, who was always hungry. They would always bring food to sate the never-ending hunger of the god, and eventually, he got tamed by Avendor. He was nothing but a mere human, but he had somehow managed to tame a god. What else could the envoys do? They served the god after all.

    On the other hand, they found these people who dared to stand against them to be foolish. Knowing the difference in strength and status, these knights stillunched an attack on the God of Happiness¡¯s Envoys.

    Meanwhile, Korro, who was supporting Effer, began to run. Roine looked back at them and said, ¡°Go after them.¡±

    <em>[The God of Happiness¡¯s Envoys have descended!]</em>

    <em>[The God of Happiness¡¯s Envoys are people that have been chosen by the God of Happiness!]</em>

    Along with those words, around ten God¡¯s Envoy appeared in a sh of light and chased after Korro, Effer, and the other fleeing knights. In the end, they were blocked by the walls. There was nowhere to run. On top of that, Effer no longer moved his feet.

    ¡°Long live His Majesty Effeeeeeeeer!¡±

    ¡°We will always believe in you, Your Majesty Effer.¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡±

    He could hear the screams and shouts of his people. They shouted his name as they died one after another. Effer stood still, tears flowing down his cheeks. ¡°Stop, everyone stop¡­¡±

    <em>¡®Stop shouting my name, then you will be able to survive and live. I have already prepared everything for you, you can leave this ce alive!¡¯</em>

    Effer had a conversation with Evelyn before everything happened.

    ¡ª<em>I¡¯ve already asked the chef from another continent for a favor. I want him to take all of the people that want to leave Happy Ind.</em>

    <em>¡ªWh, what do you mean by that, Your Majesty?</em>

    <em>¡ªHappy Ind is already ruined. Everyone who wants to leave is free to follow that chef. Evelyn, tell the people who want to leave this ce. Tell them that I had ordered the chef to lead you to a newnd.</em>

    Effer had created a path for them, one that would allow them to survive. Hence, he did not understand why they would do something so stupid. They only needed to endure a bit more, and they would be able to get to another continent safely. It was just for a few more days.

    ¡°If all of you had only held out for a few more days after my death, then¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s because we don¡¯t want to watch Your Majesty die like that.¡± Korro smiled bitterly.

    ¡°Ha¡­ Hahaha¡­ Hahahahaha¡­¡±

    Effer felt satisfied. He was sure that there was no one that would feel as grateful as he was right now. After all, his people did not fear death and would even die for him.

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods, the God that Rules All Armies, is watching you.]</em>

    Then, an unknown voice rang in their ears. Effer did not know what an Absolute God was.

    <em>¡®Based on the stories of old, is it a ss of God above the God of Happiness? Is that the case?¡¯</em>

    Effer could not be certain. The god was watching him, but he did not know why. Perhaps the god wasughing at how this weak king was struggling, or maybe he was cheering him on.

    Effer¡¯s gaze then turned toward the top of the walls. There, he saw his people blocking and trying to stop the members of the Pluine Merchant Group from entering. There were around 60,000 residents there. It was slightly effective, as the Pluine Merchant Group could not advance, perhaps because they also could not bring themselves to kill ordinary people.

    ¡°Those that defy the revtions of the God of Happiness¡­¡±

    At that moment, Avendor appeared and clicked his tongue at the residents who were blocking their path.

    ¡°¡­Will face God''s wrath.¡±

    <em>[The God of Happiness that controls the entire Happy Ind has descended!]</em>

    The gigantic God of Happiness, who was in the form of a mountain boar, appeared right in front of Avendor. It was thirty meters in height and looked like a gigantic mountain.

    ¡°<em>Hwiiiiiiiiiiiiik!</em>¡±

    Everyone who heard the loud shriek of the God of Happiness had blood dripping down their ears.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kghhhk! Even if God said so himself, we still will not let you go!¡±

    ¡°His Majesty Effer is not guilty!¡±

    ¡°God, I can not understand your revtion!¡±

    However, even when God appeared, the people did not get away from the walls. At that moment, Avendor grinned.

    ¡°N, no¡­¡±

    Effer knew that the gigantic God of Happiness would charge at them.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    ck light spread out from the body of the charging God of Happiness. Then, his speed grew three times faster in an instant, his body trampling on the thousands of people that blocked the path to the castle grounds until he smashed into the walls and forced a portion to copse.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    With a portion of the wall copsing so easily like that, Effer was able to see the bodies of the people, the soldiers and the knights of the royal family that had been trampled on. Six thousand people died from that one charge.

    ¡°Aaaah¡­ aaaaaaaah¡­ aaaaaaaah¡­¡±

    Effer fell into despair.

    ¡°Urk!¡± He coughed blood as he cried out. His death was just right around the corner.

    Avendor, who watched Effer vomit a mouthful of blood, said, ¡°King Effer, prostrate yourself and apologize to the God of Happiness.¡±

    What Avendor truly meant was that Effer should bow down in front of him, kneel down and die at his hands. Effer, who was still vomiting blood, stumbled to his feet. He knew that the God of Happiness would continue to trample on his people and soldiers if he did not go there.

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    Effer used thest of his strength to jump down from the walls and walk slowly. As he walked forward, there was sorrow on his face as he looked at the corpses covered by the rubble of the copsed portion of the wall. For the sake of his people, Effer let his sword down. For the sake of his people, he walked forward.

    Avendorughed, ¡°Ha¡­ Hahahaha! Hahahahaha! Come! Apologize to god!!!¡±

    Despite the vicious and maniacalughter that mocked him, Effer continued to walk and shed tears for his people.

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods, the God that Rules All Armies, looks at the kind king that loves and cherishes his people.]</em>

    <em>[He¡¯s watching the final moments of the king, whose life ising to an end.]</em>

    Now, Effer knew that this god was watching him not because he was mocking him. It was because he saw how Effer cared for his people until the very end and felt sorry that he was about to die.

    <em>¡®Then, please give me strength.¡¯</em>

    However, God did not give him any strength. Perhaps this God who rules all armies, could not exert any pressure or influence Happy Ind?

    Effer continued to walk while saying, ¡°This is myst order as your king. All of the people and soldiers, heed my words. Go! Leave this ce!!! Anyone that will defy my order will have to pay!!! Go, now!!!¡±

    The king released his final orders with tears in his eyes. The people and the soldiers howled and cried as they immediately retreated at his orders.

    ¡°Your Majesty!!!¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty Effer!!!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re sorry, forgive us, Your Majesty!!!¡±

    They apologized to their king for failing to protect him until the very end.

    ¡°Avendor, promise this.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°Do not touch my people and soldiers who have surrendered!!!¡±

    Avendor smirked. Effer would soon kneel down and die by his hands. Then, he did not need to kill anyone anymore.

    ¡°I swear.¡±

    That oath was more than enough.

    <em>Step, step, step¡ª</em>

    Effer held his sword tightly.

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods, the God that Rules All Armies, has seen the choice that you have made.]</em>

    <em>[God has bestowed upon you a present for your final moment.]</em>

    <em>[You, who are about to die, start to feel your blood boil and rise.]</em>

    <em>[The sun that once burned the brightest has now turned into a sunset.]</em>

    <em>[The sky will always be brighter before the sun sets.]</em>

    <em>[You have transcended the limits of a human being.]</em>

    <em>[You will be recorded in history as the King of the people, for the people and by the people.]</em>

    <em>[A new legend, the Benevolent Ruler, has been born!]</em>

    The new legend, Effer, ran.

    Meanwhile, Avendor, the Pluine Merchant Group, the citizens of Happy Ind and the soldiers of Effer looked at him in shock as he jumped to the sky. Avendor had promised that he would not touch his people and his soldiers. Hence, Effer did not care about him anymore. Instead, his sword was now aimed at the God of Happiness.

    This was none other than the ¡®Illuminating Halo¡¯[1]. Whenever the sun sets, it would release a bright sh of light that would illuminate the skies. And just like that phenomenon, Effer swiftly shed his sword with all his strength, aiming for the throat of the mountain-like God of Happiness.

    <em>Spuuuuuuuuuurt¡ª</em>

    ¡°<em>Kwiiiiiiiiiiiiiik!!!</em>¡±

    <em>[Another legend has been recorded in history as the Benevolent Ruler cuts down a god.]</em>

    ***

    At the same time, Minhyuk had just finished his exercise and went straight to the showers, while thinking, <em>¡®I¡¯ll log in right away after taking a shower.¡¯</em>

    1. Refers to that brief moment where one bes lucid just before they die. ?

 Chapter 776: Benevolent Ruler

    Chapter 776: Benevolent Ruler

    The God of Happiness might be in the form of a ck pig, but he was still a god that had been worshiped by the residents of Happy Ind for a very long time. Everyone attributed their abundant harvest of crops, endless amounts of ck pork for consumption, and a peacefulnd to the God of Happiness.

    For the longest time, the God of Happiness was a being that none of the residents of the ind could defy. But right now, the very same god was struck and injured by the new legend ¡®Benevolent Ruler¡¯ Effer.

    <em>Spuuuuuuuuuurt¡ª</em>

    ¡°<em>Hwiiiiiiiiiiiiiiik!!!</em>¡±

    Bright red blood spurted from the deep gash on the neck of the God of Happiness. The residents, the soldiers, and even the troops of Pluine Merchant Group and Avendor, who never expected such a thing to happen, were all taken aback.

    The God of Happiness was a god, but to Effer, he had be someone who took his people away from him. And everyone knew that Effer only wielded his sword for the sake of his people.

    Effer leaped to the sky again and shed the body of the God of Happiness with his sword.

    <em>Spuuuuuuuurt¡ª</em>

    Just like before, blood spurted out from the new wounds.

    ¡°The God of Happiness is bleeding¡­?¡±

    ¡°He looks like he¡¯s in pain.¡±

    ¡°Will he end up dying too?¡±

    Their belief that the God of Happiness lived for all eternity was slowly breaking down. In the meantime, Effer continued to sh and cut the body of the God of Happiness.

    The dazed and bewildered Avendor finally came back to his senses. ¡°How, how dare you! What are you doing to god?! Go, kill Effer!!!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    The Pluine Merchant Group¡¯s knights tried to move and stop Effer from continuously attacking the God of Happiness, but the royal knights stood in front of them and blocked their path.

    ¡°Don¡¯t let them take a single step toward His Majesty!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    They wanted to at least protect Effer¡¯s final moments.

    ¡°Urk!¡±

    Red blood continued to drip down Effer¡¯s chin as he cut down the God of Happiness. His life was about to end. However, Effer was able to disy a prowess far greater than normal. After all, his final light was now shining brightly. He even entertained the thought that maybe he could just cut down the God of Happiness by himself.

    However, the God of Happiness¡¯s ck eyes snapped open.

    ¡°<em>Hwiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiik!¡± </em>The god roared, his mouth wide open as he charged at Effer.

    Effer tried his hardest to block the charging ck pig with his sword, but it was useless, as he was pushed thirty meters back. He hurriedly twisted his body away in order to veer from the path of the God of Happiness¡¯s charge; s, the god had already sent an attack toward him.

    <em>aaaaash¡ª</em>

    Effer was sent flying, pain blooming all over his body as his bones shattered.

    ¡°Kghhhk,¡± Effer groaned as he quickly stood up. However, the God of Happiness was already encroaching upon him with his huge mouth.

    <em>Choooooooomp¡ª</em>

    The God of Happiness snapped down on Effer until his bones broke apart.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡±

    The bite easily crumpled the armor that covered Effer¡¯s body as if it were a flimsy sheet of paper. Effer hurriedly raised his sword and pushed it into the mouth of the god.

    ¡°<em>Hwiiiiiiiiiiiiik!</em>¡±

    Effer was finally able to escape as the mighty god loosened his hold on Effer, releasing a loud shriek in pain and fury. Meanwhile, his entire body was covered in blood, and even his vision had turned blurry.

    ¡°<em>Hwiiiiiiiiiiik, hwiiiiiiiiiiiiik!</em>¡±

    The sword that he had stuck in the mouth of the God of Happiness remained inside, forcing shrieks and screams out of the god as he struggled to get it off.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Effer felt that he was already nearing his end. He looked up at the sky as his body continued to spurt out blood.

    ¡°¡­God.¡± He called out to not the God of Happiness but another god with a sad look on his face.

    His people and soldiers were crying when they saw him stand there waiting for his end in front of the God of Happiness.

    ¡°Please take care of them?¡± He pleaded to the God that Ruled All Armies. Effer did not know what kind of god he was, all he could do was stare at the sky and plead.

    ¡°<em>Kuwiiiiiiiiiiiiiiik!</em>¡±

    The shrieks of the God of Happiness grew more violent in nature. Effer¡¯s people gave it their all, throwing everything they could get their hands on in order to restrain the god, but it was to no avail.

    Then, Avendor tried to control the God of Happiness. ¡°Please calm down!¡±

    Avendor had been winning the God of Happiness over through a constant supply of offerings and sacrifices. After all, even though he was a god, he still could not let go of his characteristics as a pig. That was why Avendor was able to control him with rare and delicious dishes and ingredients.

    However, prior to this, the 200 horned ck pigs, as well as the Setokas and Kanpeis that they had prepared to offer to the god, had all disappeared. This meant that the God of Happiness was hungrier than usual.

    ¡°G, God¡­?¡± Avendor called out to him.

    At that moment, the God of Happiness turned his head to look at him and screamed loud enough to make the entire ind shake, ¡°<em>Kwiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiik!</em>¡±

    <em>[God of Happiness¡¯s Frenzy.]</em>

    <em>[All of the God of Happiness¡¯ stats have increased by 44%.]</em>

    <em>[All of the God of Happiness¡¯ skills¡¯ levels have increased by +2.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Happiness has lost all sense of reason and will break anything and everything in its path.]</em>

    ¡°God¡­!¡± Avendor shouted in doubt. He never predicted that something like this would happen.

    The God of Happiness grewrger andrger until he reached almost sixty meters in height, his gigantic shadow enveloping Avendor. Then, the God of Happiness snorted.

    <em>[The God of Happiness¡¯ Gallop.]</em>

    <em>[His gallop is so dangerous that it can even trample on and tten an entire mountain.]</em>

    The direction of his charge was where the Pluine Merchant Group¡¯s troops were.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The God of Happiness easily trampled on the Pluine Merchant Group¡¯s troops and even took down several buildings in the process.

    ¡°Keheoooook!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keok!¡±

    The Pluine Merchant Group¡¯s troops died without even being able to scream. To the horror of those who survived, the God of Happiness began to devour the troops in his hunger, since he had eaten far less offerings than normal.

    <em>Crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    The scene looked quite grotesque as he chewed through the armor of the troops before gulping everything down.

    <em>[The God of Happiness¡¯ Gluttony.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Happiness¡¯ body will grow bigger and bigger the more he preyed on his enemies.]</em>

    Just like that, the God of Happiness grew bigger and bigger.

    ¡°Aaaaah¡­ ahhh¡­ aaaaah¡­¡±

    Only after seeing more than 4,000 of the Pluine Merchant Group¡¯s troops die did Avendor realize how reckless he was for thinking he could control a god. When he looked around, he saw the countless buildings that had once stood tall, turned into rubble.

    ¡°Quick, evacuate the people into the castle.¡±

    This was thestmand that Effer could give. Effer¡¯s troops quickly opened the castle gates and allowed entry for the hundreds of thousands of people outside.

    Meanwhile, Knight Commander Korro helped Effer up. As they entered the castle, Effer looked back. He could see a huge portion of Happy Ind being destroyed underneath the feet of the God of Happiness.

    Effer slowly climbed atop the walls and clearly saw how the God of Happiness slowly destroyed Happy Ind, trampling on the fruits of all of theirbor. Dozens of houses copsed with just one stomp of the god. Although it was not grand, these ces held memories that were dear to them. But now, everything had fallen apart.

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah¡­¡±

    ¡°<em>Sob, sooooob.</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Huhuhuhuhu.</em>¡±

    The cries of his people, who had lost their ce, rang in Effer¡¯s ears.

    <em>¡®Where is he?¡¯</em>

    Effer turned his head to look for the man who might have the answer to these poor people who had lost their homes. However, that man was nowhere to be seen.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    At that moment, the berserk God of Happiness, who had lost control of his reason and power, mmed into Maruc¡¯s Mountain. The mountain walls of Maruc¡¯s Mountain crumbled and turned into dust. But the God of Happiness just roared, his bodypletely devoid of a scratch.

    ¡°<em>Hwiiiiiiiiik! Hwiiiiiiiik!</em>¡±

    The roars of the God of Happiness, which was already 80 meters tall, brought fear to everyone. That was when they saw the God of Happiness snort and turn to look at the walls.

    ¡°Damn it,¡± Knight Commander Korro mumbled under his breath.

    Everyone held their breath. The God of Happiness might be in a berserk state but he would not likely forget the king that cut his body and the people that threw stones at him.

    <em>Thuuuuuuuuuud¡ª</em>

    One gigantic step and the ground beneath the god¡¯s feet sunk in deep.

    <em>Thuuuuuuuuuuud¡ª</em>

    Another step and the surrounding buildings cracked and crumbled.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    <em>Crash, crash, crash¡ª</em>

    Effer¡¯s body slowly copsed, knowing that his death wasing closer and closer. In the end, the entire Happy Ind was going to be destroyed with him. The legend that he created would not be recorded in any history. Today, the entire Happy Ind would disappear.

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    <em>Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom¡ª</em>

    The 80-meter-tall God of Happiness in the form of a wild mountain boar looked at them with his ck eyes that had slowly turned red.

    <em>[God¡¯s Charge.]</em>

    <em>[God¡¯s Charge would deal an additional 4,000% attack and damage. His speed will also double.]</em>

    ¡°<em>Kwiiiiiiiiiiiik!</em>¡±

    The charging God of Happiness grew faster and faster, the speed at which he ran unbelievably fast, and all Effer could do was close his eyes. The god passed through the entire Happy Ind in a sh of light.

    A watery smile curled at the corners of Effer¡¯s lips. In the end, he could not protect his kingdom and his ind.

    ¡°Uwaaaa, uwaaaah, uwaaaah!¡± A child cried somewhere.

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaaack!¡± Someone hugged another tightly.

    ¡°Hailey, let¡¯s meet in the sky.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Aaaaaaaah. Aaaaaaaaaah¡­!¡± Someone screamed in fear as death loomed over them.

    <em>Gulp¡ª</em>

    Right then, the sound of someone gulping rang in their ears. It was a sound that waspletely different from the cries of fear reverberating in the area.

    ¡°It¡¯s been a long time since Ist saw a guy covered in ck light.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Effer slowly opened his eyes. That was when he saw the man standing in front of him and looking at the God of Happiness. The man turned to look at Effer. It was the chef from another continent. This man was nothing but a chef. Effer squeezed thest of his strength and said, ¡°Chef from another continent, take my people and get out of this ce. Quick! Use the spell that I gave you!¡±

    He firmly believed that they would be able to save the lives of many if Minhyuk would just tear that spell parchment. But that was where Effer was wrong. The God of Happiness would arrive long before the spell could be activated, without a doubt.

    ¡°Hiyaaah. If you grill some ck pork <em>ogyeopsal</em> and dip it in some salted anchovies then¡­ Kghhk~!¡±

    <em>¡®What nonsense is he talking about? Does he think that he can joke around at a time like this?¡¯</em>

    Effer could not understand the man in front of him. That was when he saw the expression on the face of the chef from another continent turn serious.

    ¡°Let me show you the worth of what you paid for.¡±

    Minhyuk had cooked and ate the Legendary Three Meter Great King Largehead Hairtail. Of course, he was only able to taste it because he cooked for the king. However, for Minhyuk, Effer giving him those valuable and priceless ingredients to cook was a favor in itself.

    As the God of Happiness approached closer and closer, images appeared in the sky above them. The image showed a man standing atop the walls with hundreds of thousands of people looking up at him. Then, an old man holding a spear, a man with a gigantic build, a baby piggy, and many more appeared by his side. They were people that they did not know of. But based on the unusual image that appeared in the sky, they could see that all of them were showing courtesy to the man standing atop the walls.

    <em>[Uwaaaaaaaaaah!]</em>

    <em>[Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!]</em>

    Then, the hundreds of thousands of troops cheered for the man standing on the wall as the new form of God¡¯s Voice, something that the Battle God had gifted Minhyuk, rang.

    <em>[You have triggered the Food God¡¯s Voice!]</em>

    Not long after, the face of the man standing on top of the walls grew clear in the sky. The man was wearing red armor and a white cape that carried the symbol of a fork and a knife crossed together. The charisma and majesty of a king exuded by the man was natural, as he looked at his vassals and subordinates through the gaps of his ck hair.

    ¡°Aaaaah¡­!!!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaah! It¡¯s the Noble! The Noble!!!¡±

    ¡°Minhyuk!¡±

    The people knew the name of the man that was being projected in the sky. This was the young man who sold them hanchippang with a bright smile on his face. This very same young man was standing in front of them right now.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Effer clenched his fists, which were covered with cold sweat, tightly. Minhyuk, who met the eyes of Effer, turned to look at the people who were calling him ¡®Noble.¡¯ He smiled silently before turning to look at the approaching God of Happiness.

    Then, Minhyuk murmured, ¡°Summon Hanwoo.¡±

    ¡°Moooooooooooo!¡±

    A cow appeared in front of them with a sh of light. Then, the cow began to grow in size from twenty to forty to fifty meters. The gigantic cow might still be a bit smaller than the God of Happiness, but Hanwoo still charged fiercely at the god.

    ¡°Mooooooooooooo!¡±

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud¡ª!</em>

    Then, both beings collided.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Everyone thought that the huge cow would be sent flying away. However, that was not the case at all. In fact, the huge cow was even pushing and fighting against the God of Happiness.

    In the end, the cow started to get pushed back. However, one man had already leaped to the sky and pulled out his sword to stab the back of the God of Happiness. All of their gazes were focused on the man.

    At the same time, words shone and appeared in the sky above them. These were the words that everyone read:

    <em>[He is the King of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

 Chapter 777: Benevolent Ruler

    Chapter 777: Benevolent Ruler

    Minhyuk was met with the despairing faces of the residents of Happy Ind the moment he logged back inside the game. He realized that they were awaiting their deaths from within the walls of the castle.

    <em>¡®Did they expect this to happen?¡¯</em>

    It was highly likely that Effer did not expect their situation to be this desperate. Many people must have wanted to leave Happy Ind, a n that did note to fruition due to their emotions and feelings for Effer.

    The quick-witted Minhyuk instantly understood the situation and quickly triggered his Food God¡¯s Voice.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m not sure, but there¡¯s a chance that they will be my people too.¡¯</em>

    It was a sad and pitiful story. Unfortunately, Effer was already at death¡¯s door. That was his fate. There was nothing that Minhyuk could do about it. After all, it was an incurable and irreversible disease. As for the people that Effer was leaving behind, they would need a new ruler. It could not be just any ruler. After everything that they had been through, they would definitely want a powerful ruler.

    Minhyuk felt the need to show and tell these people about the kind of existence he was, as well as the kind of ce the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was.

    <em>Impressive, majestic and great.</em>

    He wanted to show these people the embodiment of those words. That was why he wanted to stop the God of Happiness.

    In the end, the gigantic cow, Hanwoo, was gradually being pushed back in the struggle of power between him and the God of Happiness. Seeing this, Minhyuk immediately soared through the skies and held his sword with both of his hands.

    The loud and majestic Food God¡¯s Voice rang loudly as Minhyuk aimed his sword at the back of the God of Happiness.

    <em>[He is the King of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    ¡°Sword of Frenzy.¡±

    Minhyuk, with the help of the Swords of the Gods, had created the ¡®Food God¡¯s Swordsmanship¡¯ using Ellie¡¯s Swordsmanship as the base. As a result, it was much stronger than before.

    When he triggered Sword of Frenzy, the vital points of the God of Happiness appeared in his eyes. However, just because they were all vital points did not mean that they were the same. The attack would have different impacts depending on where the vital point was. The one that Minhyuk chose to attack was none other than the back of the neck.

    <em>Staaaaaaaaaaaab¡ª</em>

    <em>[Sword of Frenzy.]</em>

    <em>[You can hit the enemy¡¯s vital points just by stabbing within a five meter radius.]</em>

    <em>[Twelve consecutive attacks with 500% additional damage will be triggered upon sessful attack on a vital point.]</em>

    <em>[You have an 80% chance of ignoring all of your enemy¡¯s defenses.]</em>

    <em>[You have sessfully ignored all of your enemy¡¯s defenses.]</em>

    ¡°<em>Kuweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeck!</em>¡±

    The God of Happiness jumped around and struggled like crazy the moment Minhyuk stabbed right into the back of his neck while he was busy pushing Hanwoo back.

    Immediately after that, the twelve consecutive hits were triggered.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    The God of Happiness¡¯ struggle intensified from the consecutive strikes of 500% additional damage. In the end, Minhyuk could no longer hold on because of the fierce struggle and fell to the ground.

    ¡°Noble!¡±

    ¡°Are you alright?!¡±

    The residents of Happy Ind leaned over the railings of the walls and looked at Minhyuk. Even the dying Effer was leaning over to watch the situation. Effer had originally thought that the man was a mere chef. However, it seemed like he was a great king from another continent.

    None of the people here wanted him to die in this ce. Everyone had judged that the God of Happiness had simply allowed Minhyuk tond an attack on him. There was no way that a mere human king would be able to ovee and kill a god.

    <em>Thuuuuuuud¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk immediately used Like the Wind to avoid the God of Happiness¡¯ stomping feet.

    <em>[Sword of Tempest.]</em>

    <em>[Hundreds of des will appear and dance around the typhoon-like sword that has an ego of its own. The skill user¡¯s basic speed will be increased by 150% and applied to the des that will cut down the enemies.]</em>

    <em>[Movement speed will also increase by 300% during the skill duration.]</em>

    <em>[The skill duration is three minutes.]</em>

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    Hundreds of swords whipped up a storm in front of Minhyuk and moved swiftly, leaving only afterimages of their des. At the center of it was the ego.

    ¡°Stormy.¡±

    As if responding to Minhyuk¡¯s words, the storm of swords danced and flew faster toward the God of Happiness.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    Hundreds of scratches appeared on the body of the God of Happiness the moment the storm of swords made contact with his body.

    <em>¡®How high is his defense? What about his HP? Can I even kill him alone?¡¯</em>

    There were a lot of things that Minhyuk had noticed earlier when he stabbed the God of Happiness. First off, the god¡¯s defense was high, higher than any of the opponents that he had faced before. It was proven with the attack just now. Even though his Sword of Tempest had caused injuries on the god, they were nothing but superficial wounds and did not really do much damage.

    <em>Crunch¡ª</em>

    ¡°Summon Spear God Ben.¡±

    <em>[You cannot summon your vassals in Happy Ind!]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s face twisted from the unexpected difficulty in front of him. He had already expected this much, but when it was presented to him, he still could not help but break out in cold sweat. He had judged that the God of Happiness to be viewed differently from the gods that lived in the Land of the Gods. The God of Happiness was a god that did not interact nor live with other gods and existed solely on Happy Ind. He also had a ridiculously high HP and MP.

    ¡°<em>Hwiiiiiiiik! Kwiiiiiiiiiiiik!</em>¡±

    The God of Happiness stomped his feet on the ground as if he was preparing to crush Minhyuk.

    <em>Thuuuuuuud, thuuuuuuuuud, thuuuuuuuuud¡ª</em>

    The entire Happy Ind shook and trembled because of the God of Happiness¡¯ actions. As the tension rose to its peak, the character on Minhyuk¡¯s sword changed to ¡®Destruction¡¯.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª</em>

    With every swing of Minhyuk¡¯s sword, a red bolt of lightning would fall from the sky and hit the God of Happiness. However, Minhyuk was still being pressured as well. He had to try and avoid the charging ck pig.

    While avoiding the attack, Minhyuk tried to awaken Obren, who was sleeping inside the Puzzling Seasoning Jar.

    <em>[Obren cannot be awakened.]</em>

    Unfortunately, Obren was not someone that Minhyuk could call out at any given moment. If Obren was sleeping, then he could not summon him. Minhyuk¡¯s expression was distorted.

    <em>¡®Then, what should I do?¡¯</em>

    <em>[The God of Happiness¡¯ Tranquil Cry.]</em>

    ¡°Grrrrrrr¡­.¡±

    At that moment, the eyes of the God of Happiness turned white. When they made contact with Minhyuk¡¯s eyes, a strange sound resonated inside Minhyuk¡¯s head.

    <em>[You have fallen into a two second stunned state.]</em>

    <em>[You cannot resist with your Invincible Body.]</em>

    ¡°<em>Kwiiiiiiiiiik!</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Hwiiiiiiiiiiiiik!</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Kuweeeeeeeeeeeck!</em>¡±

    It sounded like thousands of pigs crying loudly in his head. At the same time, he temporarily lost control of his body. Then, the God of Happiness charged at Minhyuk, who had stopped in ce.

    Hanwoo hurriedly tried to stop the God of Happiness. However, there was nothing he could do with his ¡®Charge¡¯ skill on cooldown. In fact, he was even thrown away by the charging God of Happiness.

    Not long after, the God of Happiness collided with Minhyuk.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¡ª!</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 80%!]</em>

    <em>[Your bones all over your body have been broken, you cannot control your body.]</em>

    <em>[The movements of your left arm are now limited!]</em>

    ¡°Keheoook!¡±

    Minhyuk, who was flying backward, clearly felt the impact. It was just one single collision, but it had shaved off 20% of his HP. The God of Happiness chased after Minhyuk and stomped on him with his front legs.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Every stomp caused a crater in the ground and created a thick cloud of dust. Of course, Minhyuk also received damage.

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 50%!]</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª!</em>

    ¡°<em>Kwiiiiiiik, hwiiiiiik, kwiiiiiiiik!</em>¡±

    The God of Happiness, who was in the form of a ck pig, smirked as he trampled on the man in front of him. A sense of urgency welled up deep within Minhyuk when he saw how 15~20% of his HP was shaved with every stomp of the god¡¯s foot.

    <em>[Evil God Obren has awakened!]</em>

    A glow appeared on Minhyuk¡¯s face. He could now summon Obren! As long as he summoned Obren, then he would be able to kill the God of Happiness.

    <em>[Obren is not responding to your summons!]</em>

    ¡°¡­What?¡±

    However, Obren did not respond to his summons. Actually, Obren was not sleeping earlier. He just deliberately ignored and refused the summons.

    <em>¡®Pathetic bastard.¡¯ </em>Obren spoke to Minhyuk. <em>¡®Instead of thinking about how to win on your own, you want to get other people¡¯s help?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk frowned when he heard Obren¡¯s scathing remarks. ¡°What do you mean¡­¡±

    <em>¡®You can¡¯t do anything without the others by your side, huh? Punk?¡¯</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk, while being punished on the ground, was left speechless.

    As if to give him a hint, Obren continued, <em>¡®You can win even without me, the Spear God or Brod.¡¯</em>

    At that moment, the God of Happiness¡¯ front foot stomped on Minhyuk once again.

    <em>Thuuuuuuuuuuud¡ª!</em>

    ***

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud¡ª!</em>

    A thick cloud of dust would rise whenever the God of Happiness¡¯ front foot came down on Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    ¡°Minhyuk¡­¡± Evelyn murmured, tears constantly dripping down her cheeks.

    Minhyuk was a chef from another continent. A simple and pure young man who loved to eat. Somehow over time, he became the Happy Ind¡¯s Noble.

    Evelyn looked around her. She saw that they were all very sad to see Minhyuk¡¯s plight. After all, in their memories, Minhyuk was a young man with a very bright and cheerful smile on his face. His smile was so bright that they could not help but chuckle and smile along with him.

    Despair stained their faces. They all knew that no one would be able to survive the God of Happiness¡¯ kicks and stomps. Even Avendor, the culprit that created this mess, knew this much. Somehow, Avendor had miraculously survived the God of Happiness¡¯ rampage. He clicked his tongue.

    <em>¡®Preposterous. A mere human king dares to fight against God?¡¯</em>

    In Avendor¡¯s eyes, the man was nothing but a fool. He thought that it was best that he get out of this ce and find a way out of the ind.

    <em>Staaaaaaaaaab¡ª</em>

    Just then, a spine-chilling sound rang in everyone¡¯s ears. That was when they saw a sword stuck in the eye of the God of Happiness, who was happily stomping on the ground earlier.

    ¡°<em>Kwiiiiiiiiiiik!</em>¡± The God of Happiness shrieked from the pain.

    At the same time, Minhyuk jumped up from the ground and appeared in front of the God of Happiness in a sh. A barrier glowing in a gentle silver light wrapped around his body. It was the effect ¡®Absolute Defense¡¯ from the Forgotten Monarch¡¯s Crown, the helmet worn by Destruction Monarch Farrow that was stackable with another equipment. The skill had a seven-second duration. However, the most surprising fact about this effect was that the user could attack their opponent even while the barrier was up.

    ¡°<em>Kwiiiiiiiiiiik!!!</em>¡±

    The bleeding Minhyuk looked at the shrieking God of Happiness and spat coldly, ¡°Hey, shut up. It¡¯s irritating.¡±

    For a moment, Minhyuk had felt afraid when he realized that he could not summon Spear God Ben or Brod. In fact, he thought that his opponent was overwhelmingly strong when he was forced to the ground and received the god¡¯s stomps.

    However, Obren¡¯s words made him realize something.

    <em>¡®I have always received help whenever I¡¯m in a tight spot.¡¯</em>

    Because Spear God Ben, Brod or somebody else would alwayse to his aid and get him out of the dangerous situation that he was left in, he had be too dependent on them.

    He¡ª the ruler of a kingdom, perhaps an empire in the future, and would be the next Battle God¡ªhad started to bow down and step away in front of powerful enemies just because he believed that his vassals woulde and save him.

    However, Obren¡¯s words had made him realize that he was not the God of Vassals. He was the Food God, and also the Battle God¡¯s Descendant. At that moment, his thoughts were manifested by the Food God¡¯s Voice and turned into letters that branded the sky above them.

    <em>[He has received the recognition of the Sword God.]</em>

    That was right, Minhyuk had received Valen¡¯s recognition.

    <em>[He has received the recognition of the Spear God.]</em>

    Indeed.

    <em>¡®Even though I¡¯m a human, I have also received the recognition of Spear God Ben.¡¯</em>

    <em>[He has received the recognition of the Absolute God¡¯s Sword.]</em>

    He had also received Brod¡¯s recognition. He even dered to the world that he would build an empire and be an emperor.

    <em>[He¡­]</em>

    <em>[He¡­]</em>

    <em>[He¡­]</em>

    <em>[He¡­]</em>

    <em>[He¡­]</em>

    Words continued to etch themselves in the sky above them.

    He had received the recognition of all these great entities. Perhaps he was the only candidate to be an emperor that could be Nerva¡¯s greatest enemy. Yet, he had felt frustrated just because he could not call his vassals to fight the God of Happiness?

    When he was pummeled earlier, the thought that shed in his head first was, <em>¡®What should I do? I cannot summon my vassals?¡¯</em> Minhyuk had to throw away thoseid-back thoughts. Then, the beginning of the voice changed.

    <em>[I¡­]</em>

    ¡°Food God¡¯s Swordsmanship.¡±

    Red aura burst out and covered Minhyuk¡¯s entire body as his attack and movement speed increased by 40%, while his physical and magical defense increased by 30%. It did not end there. His cutting power and sword attack power also increased by 30%, along with a 20% increase in skill damage. Even his critical hit rate had increased by 50%.

    Minhyuk, who had been hoping for others to appear ande to his aid earlier, leaped toward the God of Happiness, his ck hair fluttering behind him.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª!</em>

    He began to sh and cut the God of Happiness¡¯ body quickly and swiftly. With the increase in his cutting power, Minhyuk was able to cut deep enough that blood started spurting all over the god¡¯s body.

    ¡°<em>Kwiiiiiiiiiik!!!</em>¡±

    Even if the being in front of him had a higher HP and defense than any other opponent that he had faced, or if one attack from this opponent could easily shave off 20% of his HP, why had he thought that it was a big deal? He had received the recognition of many.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s the god standing at the lowest ce¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®The lowest god¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®A trivial and insignificant god¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>Bullshit.</em>

    Regardless of the many negativements, he had alwayse out on top.

    ¡°Food God¡¯s Swordsmanship. Final Chapter.¡±

    ¡°<em>Kwiiiiiiiiik, kwiiiiiiiik, kwiiiiiiiiik!</em>¡±

    Minhyuk red coldly at the charging God of Happiness as he shed his sword down at the speed of light.

    ¡°Sword of Carnage.¡±

    <em>[Sword of Carnage.]</em>

    <em>[Movement speed increases by ten times and cuts down your enemy in an instant.]</em>

    <em>[The opponent cut by your sword will suffer from thirty-eight sword attacks in one second. Each of the sword attacks will have 2,000% additional damage.]</em>

    <em>[You have ignored all of your enemy¡¯s defenses.]</em>

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª!</em>

    Blood spurted out of the eighty-meter-tall body of the God of Happiness as it was torn apart by thirty-eight sword attacks in one second.

    ¡°<em>Kwiiiiiik, kwiiiiiiik, kwiiiiiiiiik!</em>¡±

    The body of the God of Happiness, who struggled fiercely against the attack, slowly curled up and tilted to the side.

    <em>Thuuuuuuuuuud¡ª</em>

    The Food God¡¯s Voice, which had been triggered earlier, finally came to an end.

    <em>[I¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­am the God that stands at the highest ce.]</em>

 Chapter 778

    Chapter 778

    Gods could basically trigger ¡®God¡¯s Voice¡¯, which generally narrated the achievements of that god, or would announce the kind of god he was, or even the legends and myths that surrounded such a god.

    To put it simply, God¡¯s Voice was a tool for gods to introduce themselves. There were some cases where the god would use their own voice to introduce themselves to humans, legends, or even transcendentals.

    Minhyuk had always been introduced like that. It had started with the Greatest God, Athenae. She would often say, <em>¡®The Lowest God¡­¡¯ </em>Even the Absolute Gods would also say, <em>¡®He is the God at the Lowest ce¡­¡¯</em>

    As such, anyone who heard it would think, <em>¡®The Lowest God?¡¯</em>

    This was actually a way to increase the tension. None of the gods had used such remarks to mock him. So far, Minhyuk had epted it with ease.

    <em>¡®I am obviously the god standing at the lowest ce.¡¯</em>

    He was a pitiful god who could barely even build an empire of his own, despite his credibility and background. Perhaps more so than being a god, it was more suitable to call him a Human King.

    However, he was throwing away that title at the moment.

    <em>[I am the God that stands at the highest ce.]</em>

    A deep and majestic voice resounded in the area, the tone and meaning of the words heavy. At the same time, Obren¡¯s voice rang from within the Puzzling Seasoning Jar, <em>¡®That¡¯s right. You will be the God that will stand at the highest ce.¡¯</em>

    Then, Minhyuk¡¯s ¡®Sword of Carnage¡¯ fell upon the 80-meter-tall God of Happiness.

    ¡°<em>Kwiiiiiiiik, kwiiiiiiiik, kwiiiiiiiiik!</em>¡± The God of Happiness shrieked and screamed as blood spurted out of his body, and his body tilted to one side and fell down loudly. Hundreds of buildings were swept away, and a thick cloud of dust rose due to the impact.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Everyone was silent.

    ¡°<em>Kwiiiiiiiik! Kwiiiiiiik!</em>¡±

    The God of Happiness was shrieking from the pain, but it felt like everything was silent. Everyone was speechless as they watched Minhyuk emerge from the cloud of dust and walk away from the God of Happiness.

    <em>¡®The highest¡­ god¡­?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®A mere human?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Our dear Noble?¡¯</em>

    Were those empty words? They clearly heard him say it with his own mouth. But after seeing him knock down the God of Happiness, the people of Happy Ind truly felt like he was a god that stood at the highest ce. Rather than a god that they could not see or reach, the Noble in front of them seemed more real.

    ¡°Goooooood!!!¡± Effer, who vomited another mouthful of blood, shouted, ¡°I beg of you, please take care of my people!!!¡±

    Effer squeezed thest of his strength and shouted, despite the blood that gurgled out of his mouth. Minhyuk could tell why he did that.

    <em>[The residents of Happy Ind believe in you.]</em>

    <em>[The residents of Happy Ind¡¯s faith in you is soaring.]</em>

    <em>[The residents of Happy Ind do not have any doubt in you.]</em>

    <em>[You are the Happy Ind¡¯s ¡®Noble¡¯!]</em>

    At this moment, even if someone appeared to denounce him, for the residents of Happy Ind, Minhyuk was the god that stood at the highest ce.

    ¡°<em>Kuweeeeeeeeeeeck!</em>¡± The God of Happiness released a loud roar as he hurriedly lifted his body up. ¡°<em>Kwiiiiiik! Kwiiiiiiik! Kwiiiiiiik!</em>¡±

    The God of Happiness¡¯rge body slowly deted and shrank until it was only forty meters in height. However, Minhyuk¡¯s eyes remained cold, arrogant and majestic. Seeing those eyes, the God of Happiness could not help but take a step back.

    <em>[Obscure Snacks.]</em>

    <em>[A snack will be created in five minutes.]</em>

    <em>[The snack¡¯s buff effect will be randomly selected!]</em>

    Minhyuk continued to look mockingly at the retreating God of Happiness as a huge cauldron appeared behind him.

    Then, steam escaped from the lid of the cauldron. An easy-to-eat snack, which contained the buff effect that the item user needed the most, was being cooked inside. The only downside was that the buff effect was entirely up to luck. If their luck was bad, they might even get a dish that was counterproductive.

    Minhyuk nced above the head of the God of Happiness.

    <em>[God of Happiness. Level 787.]</em>

    The god had a really high level. He also had extremely high HP and defense. His attack and damage upon impact were probably higher than the other gods¡¯ attack power and damage.

    The God of Happiness, who was stepping further away from Minhyuk, might be in the form of a ck pig, but it did not mean that he was a fool. Even though the man in front of him had dered that he was the God standing at the highest ce, he was still a mere human being.

    The slightly smaller God of Happiness snorted. ¡°<em>Kwiiiiiiiiiiik!</em>¡± Then, he charged fiercely toward Minhyuk.

    <em>[God¡¯s Lightning Speed.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Happiness¡¯ speed has tripled.]</em>

    The God of Happiness might have a huge body, but he was charging at the speed of light, breaking the ground beneath him as he went. However, Minhyuk did not evade or shy away from his attack. All he did was say, ¡°Heaven Tearing Sword.¡±

    <em>[A five-meter-long sword light is moving toward the enemy.]</em>

    <em>[There is a 70% chance of enemies falling into a two-second stunned state after getting directly hit by the five-meter-long sword light.]</em>

    <em>[If the sword light directly hits the target, an additional 3,500% damage will be inflicted.]</em>

    <em>[There is a 7% chance of the enemy falling into a six-second stunned state after getting directly hit by the sword light.]</em>

    A sword light shot out from Minhyuk¡¯s sword and flew straight toward the God of Happiness¡¯ face. The God of Happiness could not evade. After all, he was charging at the speed of light and did not have the leeway to stop in his tracks or change directions.

    <em>Boooooooooooom¡ª</em>

    The Heaven Tearing Sword pierced through the head of the God of Happiness and continued on its way, destroying several more buildings behind the god.

    ¡°<em>Kuwiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiik!</em>¡±

    Blood spurted out from the hole created by the sword light. Minhyuk smiled faintly at the sight.

    <em>[The 7% chance of the enemy falling into a six-second stunned state has been triggered!]</em>

    The body of the God of Happiness turned stiff like a stone. Then, the arrogant human took a step toward him.

    ¡°<em>Kwiiiiiiiiiiik!</em>¡± The God of Happiness squealed and tried to get away, but it was to no avail.

    Minhyuk raised his sword, which was carrying the character ¡®Destruction¡¯ on its de.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª!</em>

    Sixteen bolts of red lightning fell upon the body of the God of Happiness the moment Minhyuk swung his sword down.

    ¡°<em>Kwiiiiiiiiiiiik!</em>¡± The pig squealed loudly in the area.

    <em>[Destruction.]</em>

    <em>[Bloody lightning bolts with an additional 1,600% damage have been triggered!]</em>

    <em>[Destruction.]</em>

    <em>[Bloody lightning bolts with an additional 1,600% damage¡­]</em>

    <em>[Destruction.]</em>

    <em>[Bloody lightning bolts with an additional 1,600%¡­]</em>

    The notifications rang constantly as bloody lightning bolts fell down from the sky one after another. The worst part was that Destruction also had a stun effect.

    <em>[The 40% chance of your enemy falling into a three-second stunned state has been triggered.]</em>

    ¡°<em>Kwiiiiiiiiiik¡­!</em>¡±

    The face of the God of Happiness, who believed that he would now be able to escape this torture, turned ugly.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Whenever he thought that he would be able to escape, another notification would ring in his ears.

    <em>[The 40% chance¡­falling into a three second¡­]</em>

    <em>[The 40% chance¡­falling into a three second¡­]</em>

    <em>[The 40% chance¡­]</em>

    Everyone was left in shock. For the residents of Happy Ind, the God of Happiness was someone that they had always been worshiping. They believed that it was because of him that Happy Ind¡¯s peace was maintained, that he was the reason why Happy Ind existed.

    However, the human king, no, the God standing at the highest ce, was beating the God of Happiness like a dog and even left him in an infinite stunned state.

    ¡°He, he really is the God standing at the highest ce¡­¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no other words to exin it other than that, no?¡±

    <em>[The residents of Happy Ind have started to deify you.]</em>

    <em>[As the God of Minhyuk Religion, your divine power will slightly increase.]</em>

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk¡¯s cauldron finally finished making the snack.

    <em>[A snack has been created!]</em>

    <em>Swoosh¡ª</em>

    The lid of the cauldron slid open.

    Minhyuk had already healed most of the injuries that he sustained earlier through the use of ¡®ughterer¡¯s Absorption.¡¯ Even his left arm, which had been broken, was already healed and was able to move once again.

    He reached his left hand out and grabbed the snack deep inside the cauldron. The snack was none other than a piping hot hoppang. Minhyuk immediately checked the hoppang¡¯s buff effect after hitting the God of Happiness once again.

    <em>¡®This is amazing.¡¯</em>

    Of course, he did not stop there. He also triggered Double Food and duplicated the hoppang in his hands. Then, he also triggered the ¡®Ovepping Delight¡¯ skill.

    <em>[Ovepping Delight.]</em>

    <em>[You can now receive the effects of two dishes.]</em>

    <em>[The duration of the buff effect will depend on the number on the die cast.]</em>

    Minhyuk immediately took a bite of the hoppang in his hands. The greatest advantage of the Obscure Snack was that he could get a buff effect even if he did not cook.

    After tearing through the hot bread, Minhyuk finally reached the sweet and still steaming red bean paste inside.

    <em>¡®Ho~¡¯</em>

    He quickly blew on the red bean paste and chomped on the snack. As someone who could eat one hoppang in two bites, Minhyuk finished both the hoppangs in a sh.

    <em>ck, ck, ck¡ª</em>

    Then, a golden dice appeared behind him and rolled in ce. However, before the number in the dice appeared, there was a change in the situation with the God of Happiness.

    ¡°<em>Kuweeeeeeeeeck!</em>¡±

    After being hit repeatedly by the lightning bolts, the eyes of the God of Happiness turned red.

    <em>[The God of Happiness¡¯ Roar.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Happiness can now resist abnormal statuses.]</em>

    <em>[Happiness¡¯ ck Pig Army has appeared in answer to the God of Happiness¡¯ Roar.]</em>

    <em>[The Happiness¡¯ ck Pig Army will crush everything around them for three minutes!]</em>

    Minhyuk felt that something unusual had happened when he felt the vibrations in the ground. That was when he saw more than 5,000 ck pigs running toward them from a distance.

    <em>[Happiness¡¯ ck Pig. Level 632.]</em>

    The ck Pig Army with an unusually high level came barging in and charged through buildings.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    At that moment, the God of Happiness, who finally got free from the abnormal status that tied him down, mmed into Minhyuk.

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    Effer, who watched Minhyuk fly back, saw mes engulf the thousands of pigs. These pigs left behind soaring mes wherever they went.

    <em>¡®The Happy Ind that I have treasured and cherished is doomed.¡¯</em>

    Effer¡¯s consciousness was fading in and out now that he was about to die. When he came back to his senses again, he could see that the thousands of ck pigs were already approaching the walls.

    <em>¡®Is he really the god that stands at the highest ce?¡¯</em>

    Meanwhile, the God of Happinessmanded his Happiness¡¯ ck Pig Army to devour and destroy everything around them. After causing enough destruction, they finally turned toward the walls.

    That was when a brilliant and blinding golden light shone brightly above them. The light came from none other than the golden dice, which was disying the number six.

    <em>[The die has been cast! You have rolled a six!]</em>

    <em>[The Ovepping Delight¡¯s buff effect willst for seven minutes!]</em>

    <em>[You have rolled a 6, your EXP Acquisition Rate will double for seven minutes!]</em>

    <em>[You have received the effects of the Epic Grade Hoppang and the Epic Grade Hoppang.]</em>

    <em>[Your sword¡¯s cutting power has increased by 150%.]</em>

    <em>[Your sword¡¯s basic attack has increased by 270%.]</em>

    <em>[Your skill Sword of Absolute Death¡¯s level has increased by +4.]</em>

    Minhyuk, who stood next to Effer, mumbled, ¡°Use God¡¯s SP.¡±

    The dying Effer looked up at Minhyuk. Minhyuk smiled softly at him before saying, ¡°Use everything on the Sword of Absolute Death.¡±

    Immediately after that, Minhyuk swung his sword toward the charging God of Happiness and the Happiness¡¯ ck Pig Army.

    <em>[The Absolute Gods are watching the Highest God!]</em>

    <em>[The Greatest God is watching you!]</em>

    <em>¡®Is that so? Is he really the god that stands at the highest ce?¡¯</em> Effer thought as he continued to watch Minhyuk.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    Sword lights shot out from Minhyuk¡¯s sword the moment he swung it down. Then, tens of thousands of swords bloomed from these lights, which devoured the Happiness¡¯ ck Pig Army until they were nothing but dust floating in the sky.

    Among these thousands of swords, there were nine sword lights that shone brighter than the rest. These sword lights flew swiftly and cut down the God of Happiness.

    <em>Crackleeeee¡ª</em>

    ¡°<em>Kwiiiiiiiiiiiiik¡­!</em>¡±

    <em>[You have killed the God of Happiness!]</em>

    The huge body of the God of Happiness slowly fell down. At the same time, the bodies of the charging Happiness¡¯ ck Pig Army turned to ash that disappeared with the wind.

    Effer smiled faintly.

    <em>¡®What a relief. My people will stay with the god standing at the highest ce.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk sat down and looked at Effer, who had a faint smile on his face as he finally sumbed to eternal rest.

    Minhyuk used his voice, the Food God¡¯s Voice, for Effer, dering loudly.

    <em>[The King loved and cherished his people dearly.]</em>

 Chapter 779

    Chapter 779

    ¡°Use everything on the Sword of Absolute Death.¡±

    Minhyuk was in possession of five God¡¯s SP, three of which he had received due to his ster performance as the Destruction Monarch during the recent War of Destruction. As for the remaining two, he acquired them after killing the Evil Incarnate.

    One of the reasons for not utilizing them earlier was because he wanted to hide his power. The other reason was he wanted to save it and use it on the right skill in case of an emergency. On top of that, Athenae would always update its server once a week on Wednesdays from 8:00 in the morning to 12:00 noon. These were the items listed in the updates about a month ago:

    <em>[God¡¯s SP Patch Guide: A partial patch has been made to amend the part where God¡¯s SP can level up a skill beyond the MAX Level 9.]</em>

    <em>[The contents of the patch are as follows:]</em>

    <em>[If you use God¡¯s SP to level up a MAX level skill, you will only be able to use the power of that skill at that level once.]</em>

    <em>[If you use God¡¯s SP to level up a MAX level skill, the system will measure the skill and evolve it.]</em>

    Minhyuk had been collecting his God¡¯s SPs, using them to escape several crises so far. Because of that, Joy Co. Ltd. was left with no other choice but to limit the use of God¡¯s SP. Many yers were aware that this was a useless patch that was meant to nerf Minhyuk. In fact, there were not many cases where skills had been raised to the MAX level. Technically, people who could earn God¡¯s SP were few and far in between.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk, who went all-in with his God¡¯s SP on the Sword of Absolute Death, heard the following notifications.

    <em>[Sword of Absolute Death¡¯s level has increased by +5!]</em>

    <em>[You can only use the power of the Sword of Absolute Death+5 once!]</em>

    <em>[God¡¯s SP has increased the Sword of Absolute Death¡¯s level by +5. The skill will now undergo evolution.]</em>

    <em>[Sword of Absolute Death+5 will produce nine sword lights with 35,000% additional attack for every two seconds. The attacks will automatically target the strongest enemy.]</em>

    <em>[The nine sword lights will inflict nine different abnormal statuses on the target.]</em>

    <em>[Around 20,000 ordinary sword lights with an additional 1,000% attack power will cut down your enemies.]</em>

    The result of thebination of the buffed dish¡¯s +4 skill level increase and the God¡¯s SP¡¯s +5 skill level increase was a stupendous increase in the basic effects and level of the skill.

    None of the high rankers possessed a lethal skill with an additional 35,000% attack; that was how powerful the skill had be. It was not just that. The nine sword lights with additional power that would appear and target the strongest enemy was literally a overpowered skill. Thankfully, it could only be used once.

    There was actually a reason why Minhyuk still chose to use his God¡¯s SP despite knowing that its use would be restricted.

    <em>¡®It will probably take days with the power of my attacks alone to deal with the God of Happiness.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had realized this after the God of Happiness was left in an infinite cycle of stunned states from Destruction. There were as much as sixteen lightning strikes that fell upon the god with every swing of Minhyuk¡¯s sword, but it did not deal much damage. Perhaps it was because the opponent had a godly special characteristic rted to recovery that wasparable to the damage dealt by Destruction.

    Besides, he thought that this was a very reasonable choice, especially since the thousands of troops of the Happiness¡¯ ck Pig¡¯s Army had already made an appearance by that time.

    Minhyuk stretched his palms toward the now-dead God of Happiness. He had seen earlier that the God of Happiness was a monster that was shrouded in ck light.

    <em>[You have acquired the God of Happiness¡¯ Ogyeopsal.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the God of Happiness¡¯ Samgyeopsal.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the God of Happiness¡¯ Sirloin.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the God of Happiness¡¯ de Shoulder Meat¡­]</em>

    However, even when the notifications constantly rang in his ears, Minhyuk never took his eyes off of Effer. Effer had fallen into his eternal rest where heid, a small smile forever immortalized in his face.

    <em>[The King loved and cherished his people dearly.]</em>

    This was the final gift that Minhyuk could give to Effer, having learnt a lot from watching him. Effer was a king that loved his people until his veryst breath and only after he saw the God of Happiness and the Happiness¡¯ ck Pig¡¯s Army die, did he pass away in relief.

    <em>¡®The residents of Happy Ind must have been happy that he¡¯s their king too.¡¯</em>

    The residents of Happy Ind that Minhyuk saw were not wealthy. However, he was sure that with Effer as their king, they would have been very happy.

    Then, a notification rang in his ears.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Easter Egg. </em></strong><em>The One that Gained New Enlightenment as a King.]</em>

    <em>[The enlightenment that you gained is very beneficial for you as a king.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 500 CHA.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 500 REP.]</em>

    <em>[Your love and affection for your people has grown deeper.]</em>

    <em>[The love and trust of the people that follow a king like you will increase even more.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Map of the Dead King¡¯s Tomb.]</em>

    This enlightenment made Minhyuk grow a step further.

    Meanwhile, the people, who heard the Food God¡¯s Voice, stirred from the relief that they felt after surviving, and saw their king that had fallen into eternal rest.

    ¡°<em>Urk¡­</em><em>Heuk¡­ Sniff¡­</em>¡±

    Knight Commander Korro was a cold and frigid guy, to the point that he was called Cold-blooded Korro. However, that very stoic man trembled fiercely as he sobbed and knelt in front of Effer.

    ¡°Your Majesty¡­ Your Majeeeeeesty¡­ Your Majeeeeeesty!¡±

    With Korro¡¯s loud sobs as the trigger while he hugged Effer¡¯s body, the cries of the people rang all over Happy Ind.

    ¡°Your Majesty Effeeeeeeeer!¡±

    ¡°<em>Heuk, heuk, heuk¡­</em> Your Majeeeeeeeesty!¡±

    Some sobbed as they grabbed their injured chest tightly, while others bowed and knelt on the ground. Hearing such cries, Minhyuk knew what he had to do. He walked toward Avendor, the culprit that had caused all of this. Avendor had tried to run away but failed to do so.

    Having witnessed Minhyuk¡¯s prowess personally, on top of losing most of his troops to the God of Happiness, Avendor immediately knelt down and cried out, ¡°S, Spare me. Please spare me. I will serve you for the rest of my life.¡±

    Avendor was a businessman. After all, that was how he had the royal family y into the palm of his hands with the Pluine Merchant Group that he just recently established. For a person like that, what he feared the most was death.

    ¡°I will give you everything I have. So, please spare me!¡±

    <em>[Avendor has sworn that he will hand over Pluine Merchant Group and everything that he owned to you.]</em>

    <em>[Pluine Merchant Group¡¯s Treasure Trove is hidden in the basement of Pluine Merchant Group¡¯s headquarters.]</em>

    <em>[You will be able to gain 56,413 tinum from Pluine Merchant Group¡¯s headquarters.]</em>

    <em>[You will be able to obtain two legendary artifacts.]</em>

    <em>[You will be able to obtain a variety of ingredients from Happy Ind.]</em>

    <em>[You will be able to obtain 30 tons of various minerals and ores that can be smelted to make weapons and defensive equipment.]</em>

    <em>[You will be able to obtain special spell incantations that you can only get in Happy Ind.]</em>

    Minhyuk nodded as he listened to the notifications that rang constantly in his ears.

    ¡°Are, are you going to spare me?¡±

    Avendor, who was crawling forward to cling on Minhyuk¡¯s legs, felt relief. He was promising plenty of valuable things. He believed that Minhyuk must have found himself to be useful.

    <em>Staaaab¡ª</em>

    Unfortunately for him, Minhyuk¡¯s sword pierced through Avendor¡¯s chest.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Then, he pulled out his sword without any hesitation and turned around. Minhyuk knew that only through Avendor¡¯s death would these people have the driving force and motivation to get through their grief. And he will be at the center of it all.

    ¡°Today, I, the King of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, will listen and heed King Effer¡¯s will!¡±

    Effer had already told Evelyn before that the chef from another continent would lead everyone that wanted to leave the ind. Now, everyone knew that no one would be able to live on Happy Ind anymore. Even if they stayed here and tried to rebuild this ce, it would take them decades to restore everything. These people needed a new leader.

    ¡°King Effer wished for his people to live happily in peace. It was his utmost priority even until the moment of his death. I also wish to protect and carry out his will.¡±

    The crying residents of Happy Ind turned to look at Minhyuk. They had known him first as the Noble, before he revealed himself to be a god.

    ¡°My kingdom, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, might becking but I hope to create a bigger and stronger Beyond the Heavens with you. Will youe with me?!!!¡±

    Minhyuk was from the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    ¡°We will be by your side!!!¡±

    ¡°Are you really willing to ept all of us, who have nowhere else to go?¡±

    ¡°Really?!¡±

    Based on Minhyuk¡¯s experience, there was something special about the residents of Happy Ind. They all had outstanding dexterity. Their DEX was far superior to anyone living on the ordinary continents. They had the ability to make swords, armor and even clothes. They produced food, as well as paintings and sculptures. Minhyuk was sure that those abilities would be able to liven up and increase the value of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    ¡°We will wee you with wide open arms.¡±

    ¡°We will go to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!¡±

    ¡°We will serve you!¡±

    ¡°You are our king now!¡±

    <em>[The 153,456 residents of Happy Ind will move to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[The 32,315 troops of Happy Ind will move to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[The residents of Happy Ind have exceptional ability when ites to making things.]</em>

    <em>[Beyond the Heaven¡¯s Kingdom¡¯s production capacity has increased by 10%.]</em>

    ¡°We will hold King Effer¡¯s funeral before we leave.¡±

    Minhyuk demonstrated his capacity and virtue as a king. The people, who had now be the residents of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, were very moved. After all, Minhyuk did not forget to pay courtesy to King Effer until the very end.

    ***

    After the funeral and before they left Happy Ind.

    This was Minhyuk¡¯s long awaited moment. The God of Happiness was considered a Named Monster. Of course, his rank was ¡®God¡¯ and not only that, he was also glowing in ck light. This would be Minhyuk¡¯s first time eating a ck light God-rank monster.

    ¡°And it¡¯s even a ck pig¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was very thrilled. Right now, there was a steaming grilling te and some salted anchovies ced right beside, ready for him to dip his ck pork ogyeopsal in. On a tableid open beside him, there was a spread of lettuce leaves, peri leaves, kimchi, ssamjang, chopped garlic, spicy doenjang jjigae, and a bowl of rice.

    When the grilling te in front of him had heated up to some extent, Minhyuk ced down a thick slice of ogyeopsal.

    <em>Sizzleeee¡ª!</em>

    A loud and cheerful sound rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears. It sounded like the ck pork was singing a beautiful serenade and calling out to him. Steam rose to the air as another thick slice of ogyeopsal was ced on the grill. Then, Minhyuk ced some well-ripened kimchi on top of the grill to cook it together with the ogyeopsal.

    <em>Sizzleeeeeeeee¡ª</em>

    When the top of the ogyeopsal turned golden brown, he flipped it over once.

    <em>Sizzleeeeeeeee¡ª</em>

    Oil bubbled and sizzled on the surface of the ogyeopsal that was being cooked well. Then, Minhyuk grabbed a pair of scissors and cut them up into pieces, letting them cook perfectly.

    Once the meat was cooked, Minhyuk mped a piece and ced it in his mouth. The juices of the meat of the ck pork, along with its savory vor, slowly spread in his mouth with every bite.

    ¡°Kghhk. This is amazing!¡±

    This time, Minhyuk mped a piece of the ogyeopsal and dipped it in salt before cing it in his mouth.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡±

    The vor was worthy of admiration. Minhyuk¡¯s chopsticks moved swiftly, spreading some pickled wild garlic on his te and cing two pieces of the thick ck pork ogyeopsal on top of it. Then, he added a small amount of wasabi before rolling the pickled wild garlic and ced it in his mouth. The sweet and refreshing vor of the pickled wild garlic and the strong vor of the wasabi that could tickle one¡¯s nose met with the oily and savory vor of the ogyeopsal, creating a fantastic harmony of vor.

    <em>Snip¡ª</em>

    <em>Sniiiiiip¡ª</em>

    This time, Minhyuk cut the well-ripened kimchi that he cooked on the grill. Then, he ced two pieces of ogyeopsal on top of a lettuce leaf while adding some chopped garlic, a heaping of ssamjang, some well-cooked kimchi, and some pickled green onion. After that, he ced the huge wrap in his mouth.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡±

    It was abination that would automatically make one explode in admiration. After that, he grabbed some ck pork ogyeopsal and simply dipped it in the salted anchovies.

    ¡°As expected, Jeju¡¯s ck pork tastes the best.¡± Minhyuk smiled happily as he grabbed the big bowl of rice and scooped some into his mouth. Then, Minhyukdled some of the spicy doenjang jjigae in another bowl. Of course, he did not forget to use his chopsticks to pick out enough tofu, beef brisket, and zhini in the bowl.

    Minhyuk did not dilly-dally. This was the icing on top of his cake. He scooped a spoonful of the spicy doenjang jjigae that was filled with various ingredients and ced it in his mouth. He thendled more of the spicy doenjang jjigae and poured it over his rice. Then, he crushed the tofu and zhini and mixed it with the rice that had been soaked well with the soup, before scooping a mouthful and cing it in his mouth.

    ¡°Woah¡­¡±

    <em>¡®The king¡¯s meal¡¯s poison tester? Go away! Everything is for me!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk, who made sure to leave some ck pork ogyeopsal, quickly prepared some cold noodles and began wolfing them down.

    <em>Sluuuuuuuuuuurp¡ª</em>

    The cold, sweet and sour broth that he inhaled from the bowl seemed to easily wash away the greasiness of the pork. Then, he ced a piece of the ck pork ogyeopsal on top of the noodles.

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuuuuurp.</em>¡±

    A bright smile was disyed on Minhyuk¡¯s face as he continued to eat huge mouthfuls of noodles one after another.

    Before he knew it, he had already finished all of the food on the table. Then, the notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[Food God¡¯s True Worth.]</em>

    <em>[You can acquire the God of Happiness¡¯ Passive Skill ¡®Steel Skin¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[Would you like to acquire it?]</em>

    The Food God¡¯s True Worth was a skill that could allow him to acquire some of the skills of the Named Monster that he had eaten. However, even if he chose to, there was still a chance that the skill acquisition would fail.

    Minhyuk looked at the notifications window nervously. Then, not long after, an additional notification window popped out in front of him.

 Chapter 780

    Chapter 780

    <em>[Acquisition rate 4%¡­ 8%¡­ 18%¡­ 41%¡­ 58%¡­ 75%¡­ 88%¡­ 94%¡­ 100%]</em>

    <em>[You have sessfully acquired Steel Skin.]</em>

    <em>[You currently possess three skills acquired through Food God¡¯s True Worth.]</em>

    <em>[You can only have three skills acquired through Food God¡¯s True Worth.]</em>

    <em>[Please delete one skill.]</em>

    Minhyuk looked through the three skills that he obtained from Food God¡¯s True Worth and promptly chose one. It was Dark Fire Storm, a skill that Minhyuk obtained after he hunted a Minotaurus in the past. However, after Minhyuk reached his current level, the highest in the game, the skill had be useless to him.

    After deleting Dark Fire Storm, he was able to obtain the Steel Skin.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Steel Skin</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Passive Skill</em>

    <strong><em>Level</em></strong><em>: None</em>

    <strong><em>Mana Required</em></strong><em>: None</em>

    <strong><em>Cooldown</em></strong><em>: None</em>

    <strong><em>Effects</em></strong><em>: There is a 20% chance of triggering Steel Skin. Once triggered, it will triple the skill user¡¯s physical and magical defenses in an instant.</em>

    ¡°Oh.¡±

    Minhyuk was quite impressed with the skill. It was probably the reason why Minhyuk¡¯s attacks did not work well on the God of Happiness. It was a very useful passive skill for him.

    At this point, Minhyuk recalled his evolved Sword of Absolute Death, which he had not yet checked. The Sword of Absolute Death was a one-shot kill skill that had always been a huge help to Minhyuk. Moreover, it was just at the half Pinnacle-level when he acquired it.

    <em>¡®From the very beginning, this skill has always been outstanding.¡¯</em>

    However, he was using the Sword of Absolute Death less and less these days. The higher one¡¯s level became, the more skills with greater power they would acquire. Unfortunately, the Sword of Absolute Death had always remained stagnant.

    Minhyuk quickly opened the information window of the newly evolved Sword of Absolute Death.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Sword of Absolute Death</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Active Skill</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: God</em>

    <strong><em>Level</em></strong><em>: 1</em>

    <strong><em>Mana Required</em></strong><em>: 10,000</em>

    <strong><em>Cooldown</em></strong><em>: 1 hour</em>

    <strong><em>Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?Hundreds of lightning swords with additional 7,000% attack power will fall down from the sky and hit all of the enemies within a 20 meter radius with a 100% sess rate.</em>

    <em>?Immediately after the first attack, the hundreds of lightning swords with 2,000% additional attack will strike down all of the enemies within a 30 meter radius.</em>

    <em>?Anyone that will receive a direct attack from the lightning sword will fall into a four second stunned state.</em>

    It was definitely much better than it was before, especially with its additional attack and damage. They were at least a dozen times higher.

    After looking at the evolved skill, Minhyuk thought that the most useful was the first effect. After all, the first effect would drop hundreds of lightning swords with an additional 7,000% attack power within a 20 meter radius with 100% uracy. Basically, it meant that the lightning swords would be able to recognize the enemies and attack them in turn.

    Allies and enemies were usually tangled together and unidentifiable in the battlefield. To top it off, Minhyuk was themanding officer so there were many cases where he would be subject to the intensive and continued onught of his enemies¡¯ attacks.

    If he were to use this evolved ¡®Sword of Absolute Death¡¯, none of his enemies within a twenty meter radius would be able to live and get back to their senses from the sudden downpour of lightning sword lights.

    <em>¡®This is a Level 1 God rank skill?¡¯</em>

    For a Level 1 skill, its effects were incredible. Unlike the Overlord¡¯s Technique, a skill wherein Minhyuk needed to fill up enough Overlord¡¯s Mana before he could use it, the new Sword of Absolute Death did not need to fill any special mana meter. Simply put, the effects of the evolved skill were an unexpected, but amazing, result.

    After he finished checking everything, Minhyuk heard Knight Commander Korro¡¯s voice outside saying, ¡°Your Majesty, all of the people have finished the preparations needed to migrate.¡±

    It was time for him to go back.

    ***

    In front of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s ramparts.

    The kings of the five other kingdoms that existed in the Asgan Continent stood outside of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and shouted loudly.

    ¡°Take back your deration, King of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!¡±

    ¡°Many people are being harmed because of your careless and arrogant remarks!¡±

    ¡°Send your vassals to the Luvien Empire now and make peace with them!¡±

    The kings from all over the continent, who brought along around 50,000~100,000 troops with them, shouted loudly and appealed to Minhyuk. The scene was being broadcasted all over the world.

    <em>[The kings of Asgan Continent are currently raising their voices in front of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[This was caused by the deration that Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King Minhyuk has made recently.]</em>

    <em>[¡®I¡¯ll build an empire.¡¯ This deration had a huge impact.]</em>

    <em>[The reason why these kings are appealing to Minhyuk is because they are afraid that the Luvien Empire will pressure them.]</em>

    <em>[Of course, there¡¯s no way that the Luvien Empire will be pleased that the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is trying to establish an empire. The kings that are currently standing in front of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom are the ones that have been observing the tight situation between the Luvien Empire and the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[However, Minhyuk¡¯s deration has changed the situation. They all expect the Luvien Empire to keep the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom fully in check.]</em>

    <em>[And there¡¯s a high chance that the other kingdoms from Asgan Continent will suffer greatly during that process.]</em>

    <em>[The main reason why they are raising their voices like this is because of that possibility. After all, there is still no guarantee that the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom will be able to build an empire.]</em>

    <em>[All of the people trying to migrate to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom have gone silent.]</em>

    <em>[What¡¯s the reason?]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s all because of yer Minhyuk¡¯s deration. The yers are now reluctant to migrate to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom after learning that they will be kept in check by the Luvien Empire.]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s not all. It would be good for a kingdom to have plenty of yers. But more than that, what they need are the ¡®residents¡¯ that lived in that ce. The number of NPCs living in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is far from the number needed to build an empire.]</em>

    <em>[If the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom fails to secure enough NPC migrants, then they will fall under the coalition of the Asgan Continent¡¯s kingdoms.]</em>

    It was just as thementators said. The kings had personally gathered here to make an appeal because they all feared that Minhyuk¡¯s deration would bring them harm.

    ¡°Are we supposed to be coteral damage just because of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s arrogant deration?!¡±

    The one that instigated all of these kings to gather in front of Beyond the Heavens was King Roath of the kingdom named di, thergest kingdom on the Asgan Continent.

    ¡°The number of people migrating to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom has sharply decreased. However, on the other hand, the number of people going to the Luvien Empire has been increasing by the day. We have to stand firm and correct the manners and etiquette of the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King.¡±

    King Roath admitted that the king of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had outstanding achievements every time he made a move. However, he was but a king of one small nation.

    ¡°In fact, the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King does not have my recognition. Building an empire? Bullshit. I will bring the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King to his knees today and send him to the Luvien Empire.¡±

    This was a statement made to curry favor with the Luvien Empire. However, the other kings present also agreed to such a statement. After all, their positions were precarious if the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom failed to establish an empire just because of one king¡¯s arrogant deration. Of course, they all believed that it would be a good thing if the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom could truly open up the possibility of bing an empire. However, they could not even see a possibility of that happening anytime soon.

    ¡°We have to make sure that the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King will apologize for making such a bold and arrogant deration!!!¡± King Roath roared, the veins on his neck popping out with how loud he was. The troops behind him immediately shouted after hearing his words, ¡°Apologize!!!¡±

    The viewers had their concerns as well.

    <em>[If Minhyuk fails to show that he and his kingdom has the possibility of building an empire then what will happen to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?]</em>

    <em>[They will probably cease to exist. All of the kingdoms that appeared here will run to the Luvien Empire. Their numbers might not be enough to build an empire, but if they get absorbed by the Luvien Empire then the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would be left to ruin. How can they even think about building an empire by then?]</em>

    That was right. One had to absorb other kingdoms for them to build an empire. However, the problem was these kingdoms looked quite hostile to them. From the looks of it, it was impossible for an alliance to be formed.

    ¡°Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King! Please apologize!!!¡±

    The hundreds of thousands of troops lined up in front of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom shouted, their voices ringing loudly and shaking the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    But then, something unexpected happened.

    <em>Rumbleeeeeeeeee¡ª!</em>

    The skies suddenly darkened, ck lightning bolts dancing in the clouds and striking the ground beneath them. Not long after that, a shocking notification rang for the whole world to hear.

    <em>[A new Great Demon has awakened.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Everyone was left breathless from shock.

    ***

    A new Great Demon had awakened. The impact of these words were huge. Who was the new Great Demon? And was this Great Demon as strong as Verus? Would they now be called the Four Great Demons?

    However, the shock was not yet over. In fact, the notifications that rang in the ears of the yers were far more surprising.

    <em>[The awakened Great Demon has inherited everything from ¡®Gorac.¡¯]</em>

    <em>[The new Great Demon has now be the new master of Demon Gorac¡¯s Demon World¡¯s Army.]</em>

    <em>[With the birth of a new Great Demon, you will now be able to receive a new race, the ¡®Demon Race!¡¯]</em>

    <em>[You will only be able to receive the new race ¡®Demon¡¯ from the Great Demon.]</em>

    <em>[The new race, Demon, can only be obtained by yers above Level 500.]</em>

    Meanwhile, the troops that had gathered in front of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were left in doubt and confusion. This was because the ck thunderbolts and air current were swirling and gathering in front of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    <em>Rumbleeeeeeeee¡ª</em>

    The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King had sealed Great Demon Verus in the past.

    <em>[No way, are you telling me that the Great Demon that inherited everything from Gorac will destroy the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom instead of Verus?]</em>

    It was a very likely story. At the same time, another round ofmotion had begun.

    <em>[We still do not know what kind of being the new Great Demon is. However, there¡¯s one thing that we are sure of.]</em>

    <em>[A new ¡®race¡¯ has been created for the first time in Athenae.]</em>

    <em>[yers will now be able to switch their ss to Demon. And since this race can only be obtained through the Great Demon, the yers will definitely go and find the newly awakened Great Demon.]</em>

    The birth of a new Great Demon brought fear and anticipation to everyone from all over the world. But right now, the ones that were shaking in fear were the kings that had gathered in front of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    ¡°Hi, hiiiiiiiik¡­!¡±

    ¡°Howe the new Great Demon is appearing here¡­¡±

    <em>[The Great Demon has descended!]</em>

    <em>[The newly awakened Great Demon is leading the Demon World¡¯s Army and descending on earth!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[Danger!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[Danger!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[Danger¡­!]</em>

    <em>[A great being that epasses the world has descended.]</em>

    The space behind the tens of thousands of troops gathered in front of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom cracked open, as hell horses dragging a gigantic burning carriage appeared from within and galloped forward.

    <em>Crackle!</em>

    ¡°<em>Hihihihihihing!</em>¡±

    The new Great Demon, wearing a helmet adorned with tworge horns on his head, sat in the carriage with his arms crossed.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    <em>[The legendary demonic beast Akkeveno has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[The legendary demonic beast Akkeveno has appeared!]</em>

    In the sky, thousands of demonic beasts that resembled wyverns appeared, considered legendary even in the Demon World. Right below them was the new Demon World¡¯s Army, marching with terrifying and overwhelming momentum.

    <em>Booooooom¡ª!</em>

    <em>Boooooooooom¡ª!</em>

    <em>Boooooom¡ª!</em>

    The loud beats of the drums signaled the arrival of the new Great Demon.

    ¡°U, uwaaaaaaaaaaah¡­!¡±

    ¡°Uwoooooooooooh¡­!¡±

    <em>[The Great Demon¡¯s Authority has been triggered!]</em>

    <em>[Killing Intent¡¯s Authority.]</em>

    <em>[Everyone that stands in front of the Great Demon will lose their will to fight.]</em>

    <em>[All of the skills and abilities of those that face the Great Demon will fall by 15%. Everyone will fall into a state of ¡®Extreme Fear.¡¯]</em>

    ¡°U, uwaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s, it¡¯s the devil!!!¡±

    ¡°The Great Demon has appeared!!!¡±

    ¡°Your, Your Majesty! Please give us your orders!!!¡±

    The troops that were gathered in front of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s walls screamed in fear. Even their kings could not resist the Great Demon¡¯s power. All of the kings here knew that there was only one straw that they could grasp in this situation. That was the king of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. After all, Minhyuk had sealed the Great Demon Verus in the past.

    ¡°B, Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King, open your gates!¡±

    ¡°Open your gates quickly!¡±

    ¡°Come out and seal the Great Demon with us!!!¡±

    The kings hurriedly shouted for help when they saw Minhyuk appear above the walls. However, Minhyuk remained silent, and the gates did not open.

    At that moment, the Great Demon slowly walked out of the carriage. With every step that he took, tremendous killing intent spread out of his body. The soldiers that caught sight of his figure fainted with their mouths foaming. The kings, who saw their soldiers falling without even being able to fight back, trembled in fear. Then, the Great Demon¡¯s gaze fell upon them.

    ¡°Ah, aaaah¡­¡±

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    They unknowingly fell on their knees as the Great Demon passed by, his gaze domineering and filled with arrogance. Then, the Great Demon stopped and stood still before looking up at Minhyuk, who was standing on the ramparts.

    <em>¡®Is he really aiming for the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King?!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Is, is this our chance?!¡¯</em>

    The kings thought that this was their chance to escape. The Great Demon slowly took off his horned helmet. Then, something very surprising happened. The Great Demon, who was looking up at Minhyuk, slowly knelt down.

    ¡°Your Majesty.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The kings were once again left in shock. The kneeling Great Demon was crying as he looked up at Minhyuk.

    ¡°This Elpis¡­ This Elpis believes that he can now protect you, Your Majesty.¡±

    The name that left the Great Demon¡¯s lips shocked everyone once again.

    <em>[The name of the newly awakened Great Demon is¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­none other than ¡®Elpis.¡¯]</em>

 Chapter 781

    Chapter 781

    Great Demon Gorac was an entric character. What he wanted was to have a sessor that would surpass and go beyond Great Demon Verus. Because of that, the hurdles that one had to face in order to take over his mantle were terribly and brutally painful.

    ¡°Haa¡­ haa¡­ haa¡­ haa¡­¡±

    Elpis¡¯ voice was like grating metal, as he stood there among the corpses of the hundreds of thousands of demonic beasts that he had in, while trying to catch his breath.

    <em>¡®The Trial of the Undying Warrior.¡¯</em>

    It was a challenge where the warrior would not die. However, the Undying One could not rest until he had killed the hundreds of thousands of demonic beasts that would appear to surround him. The challenger had to continue to fight and surpass the limits of his strength and stamina. It was basically torture.

    Once the muscles in the body were overloaded, pain would start to bloom in one¡¯s body. However, Elpis ignored the pain tearing through his entire body, only focusing on cutting down all of the demonic beast around him. After doing all of that, heughed.

    ¡°¡­Why are youughing and smiling?¡±

    Great Demon Gorac looked at Elpis in confusion. Elpis was smiling so brightly despite his ragged breathing.

    <em>¡®Is he happy because he thinks he¡¯s gone beyond the final gate and will finally be my sessor?¡¯</em>

    Gorac knew that it was unlikely.

    ¡°Now¡­¡± a watery smile hung at the corners of Elpis¡¯ mouth. ¡°I can now protect His Majesty.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Great Demon Gorac was left speechless. Was that his only reason? Maybe that was all it was, but Gorac felt his heart shake.

    <em>¡®I have no regrets.¡¯</em>

    Even so, Gorac still did not regret choosing Elpis as his sessor. In fact, he even thought that he had made the right choice.

    ¡°I want to go and see His Majesty as soon as possible.¡±

    Hearing his words, Gorac pulled out a crystal ball that showed the scene in front of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom where the kings were shouting loudly. As Gorac liked fun and interesting things, he suggested something with a grin.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think that we should make the birth of the new Great Demon be a splendid affair?¡±

    ¡°I just want to see His Majesty quickly¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll give around 500,000 of the Demonic Beast Army. And also my zing Red Carriage.¡±

    ¡°No. I¡¯m just¡­ His Majesty¡­¡±

    ¡°Ho? What do you think about this horned helmet?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Gorac was very excited about how his sessor would make his appearance to the world. Elpis could not help but tilt his head in confusion after seeing Gorac be more excited than him. However, Gorac was aware of something.

    <em>¡®The humans will only believe what they see.¡¯</em>

    This was both a small lesson and a reward for Elpis. Gorac knew what the 500,000 Demonic Beast Army and Elpis¡¯ splendid and showy appearance represented.

    Gorac grabbed Elpis by the chin and said, ¡°With your eyes looking down on others, say this in your toughest voice, <em>¡®Do. You. Want. To. Die?¡¯</em>¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Elpis was left speechless.

    ***

    <em>[The name of the newly awakened Great Demon is¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­none other than ¡®Elpis.¡¯]</em>

    A huge ripple spread out, affecting everyone present. The kings who were dripping in cold sweat and were trying to find a way to escape, the troops who had fainted and were foaming in the mouth, and the viewers, who were watching this scene from all over the world.

    <em>[Something unbelievable is happening right in front of us.]</em>

    <em>[Elpis. The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Shield Elpis hase back as a Great Demon.]</em>

    <em>[Elpis is the person that is hailed as the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Shield. Recently, his standing has been greatly reduced due to Spear God Ben, God of Snakes Elizabeth, Brod and many others.]</em>

    <em>[Right now, he is standing in front of Minhyuk and is pledging his eternal allegiance and loyalty once again.]</em>

    <em>[The biggest takeaway here is that Elpis is the Great Demon that inherited Gorac¡¯s position. And he is the only one that can help others convert their race to ¡®Demon.¡¯]</em>

    <em>[I can¡¯t even imagine the impact and influence that this will bring going forward.]</em>

    <em>[The Demons are well known for being well-versed inbat. The fact that yers can now convert to the Demon race may open up new paths and avenues for the high rankers that find themselves unable to grow any further.]</em>

    <em>[Have you seen the expression on the faces of the kings of Asgan Continent?]</em>

    <em>[They look like they can¡¯t believe the scene in front of them.]</em>

    That was right. The kings could not bring themselves to believe what was happening in front of them. A mere human king had a Great Demon serving as his vassal.

    What kind of a being was a Great Demon? They were beings that had terrorized and brought fear to the human race for a very long time. Great Demon Gremory and Great Demon Gorac might not have invaded the human world, but every time Great Demon Verus made his appearance, a few kingdoms would disappear from the face of the earth.

    Now, a Great Demon had be a vassal of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. On top of that, he had brought a 500,000-strong Demonic Beast Army? Their momentum was enough to make everyone shake in their boots.

    The kings, who had been moring for Minhyuk and the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom to apologize for their arrogant deration of establishing an empire, were immediately put on the spot. Elpis just looked at Minhyuk while shedding tears, a small yet delighted smile adorning his face.

    Elpis was once the container for demonic energy. He had lived every single day of his life filled with despair. While living like that, he met Minhyuk. Elpis recalled how Minhyuk cooked a very delicious meal for him. One day, while looking back on everything that he had been through, Elpis found himself standing by Minhyuk¡¯s side. Elpis could not help but smile.

    He had often wondered what to say, and how to repay the favor that he received from the man in front of him. Now that he had grown stronger and had taken another step further, he vowed to dedicate his life to his king.

    Minhyuk looked at the crying Elpis and said, ¡°Have you eaten, Elpis?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was aware of the struggles and hardships that Elpis had gone through to be the Great Demon. Right now, the best thing that he could do was to wee him warmly.

    But then, at that moment, King Roath took a step forward. King Roath was the main instigator and the main pir of the kings present here. He was also the one with the loudest voice, denouncing Minhyuk¡¯s deration. Among these kings, King Roath had thergest kingdom. The other kings, who watched him take a step forward and release his kingly charisma, gulped dryly.

    <em>¡®What is he trying to do?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®No way. Is he still going to insist on that with the Great Demon in front of him?¡¯</em>

    Then, King Roath, who was nowying on the charisma without holding back, chuckled as he looked around and said, ¡°Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King!¡±

    With the loudest voice that he could muster, he said, ¡°Congrattions and celebrations! Congrattions on receiving Great Demon Elpis as your vassal once again!¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    The kings all tilted their heads in confusion. They were all thinking the same thing.

    <em>¡®What the hell is that bastard doing?¡¯</em>

    ¡°I, King Roath of the di Kingdom, wholeheartedly support the establishment of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°Is there anything that I and my kingdom can do to be of help to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The other kings, thementators, and the viewers watching the broadcast from all over the world, looked at King Roath incredulously. Even if he was considered shameless, Roath would always prioritize his kingdom.

    The di Kingdom might be considered the most powerful kingdom on the continent, but its position and influence were being reduced by the day. In fact, he had seen the prospects of the Luvien Empire and thought that he had to do what he did to gain benefits for himself and his kingdom.

    But now, King Roath had finally seen the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s potential. If the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom truly seeded in bing an empire that could rival and fight against the Luvien Empire, King Roath believed that they would not forget the di Kingdom, which helped establish the foundations of their empire. Even if his pride and dignity took a hit for shamelessly changing his words, he might still be able to gain more benefits.

    However, the other kings stood still.

    <em>¡®It doesn¡¯t mean that it will be a good thing just because the Great Demon is in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Since the Great Demon is in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, there must be quite a significant number of people that are reluctant to go there.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Does he think that this will immediately open up a possibility for the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom to be an empire?¡¯</em>

    But then, at that moment, they saw around 200,000 people of unknown origins approach the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. All of the kings and their troops grew nervous and vignt. They thought, <em>¡®Which kingdom sent another troop?¡¯</em>

    However, they had not heard about another kingdom joining them like that. On top of that, these people were not staring at the kings and their troops but at Minhyuk, who was standing on the walls behind them.

    ¡°Your Majesty Minhyuk, we have finally arrived.¡±

    ¡°Forgive us for beingte.¡±

    ¡°Noble, you have our heartfelt gratitude!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re very grateful to you!!!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°This is the ce where we will live from now on, right?¡±

    ¡°I wonder if we¡¯ll be able to live well in this ce?¡±

    ¡°Is that even important? Just bing the subject of His Majesty Minhyuk is worthy of celebration, no?¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    As it turned out, the more than 200,000 people who appeared were the residents of Happy Ind. They were about to establish their new homes in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and would be of tremendous help to the growth and development of the kingdom.

    <em>¡®N, no. How the hell were they able to get this many migrants?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®How can this be¡­¡¯</em>

    An ordinary kingdom would usually have only around thirty migrants per day. This was because most people would not want to leave the ces where they had lived. But 200,000 people at one go?

    Meanwhile, the residents of Happy Ind were quick-witted. They had already grasped the situation. Knight Commander Korro turned to look at Evelyn and, with his loudest voice, said, ¡°Evelyn!!! How about paying back His Majesty Minhyuk¡¯s grace by using your special power?!¡±

    Of course, Evelyn answered back in a jolly manner, ¡°Aha! Are you talking about my power that will allow those who will eat the dishes that I made grow faster permanently?¡±

    She looked around and continued loudly, as if she wanted them to clearly hear her words, ¡°But I will only use my S. P. E. C. I. A. L. ability for the people of Beyond. The. Heavens. If they aren¡¯t residents of Beyond the Heavens, then I will absolutely. Not. Serve them!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The kings and the viewers that heard those words were left stunned.

    <em>[Did she just say what I think she said?]</em>

    <em>[Basically, what that NPC said is that she can permanently increase one¡¯s EXP Acquisition Rate permanently with her dishes.]</em>

    <em>[Unbelievable. I can¡¯t believe that an NPC with such a unique ability exists.]</em>

    <em>[Even if there¡¯s only a 2%~5% increase in EXP Acquisition Rate, there will definitely be many people that wille to see her.]</em>

    <em>[However, the most important thing to note in what she said is the fact that she will only serve her dishes to the residents of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The kings¡¯ brains rolled for a brief moment. Then, King Fernon rushed to join King Roath and shouted, ¡°Congrattions! Congrattions!!! You will definitely be the ruler of an empire! I have believed it for a very long time!!!¡±

    Then, another king rushed forward. ¡°I can allow your 200,000 new residents to stay in Arvatto Kingdom temporarily until they have fully settled in your kingdom!¡±

    ¡°Hahahahaha! I have believed in you for a very long time?!¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it the same for King Roath? Of course, I think the same. Hahahahaha!!!¡±

    ¡°Ha, hahahahahahahahaha!¡±

    The soldiers could onlyugh awkwardly when they heard their kingsugh like that.

    Then, Minhyuk looked at the kings and the soldiers with a small smile on his face. He said, ¡°Kings of the Asgan Continent.¡±

    ¡°Please feel free to speak your mind.¡±

    ¡°How long are you going to let us wait outside like this? Huh? Please treat us to a cup of tea.¡±

    ¡°I also want to try the food that you make.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll only say this once, so you all better listen carefully.¡±

    All of the kings perked their ears up and listened carefully. It went without saying that the rest of the world was equally curious. Minhyuk, with a faint smile on his face, opened his mouth and said, ¡°Everyone¡­¡±

    The kings gulped dryly as the cameras from all over the world zoomed in on Minhyuk¡¯s face. The smile on Minhyuk¡¯s face grew wide as he finished his words, ¡°¡­you¡¯re all m*therf*ckers.¡±

 Chapter 782

    Chapter 782

    What kind of existences were kings in Athenae? They were beings that could spare or kill thousands of people with just a wave of their hands.

    <em>¡®Summon the army!¡¯</em>

    They were also beings that couldmand an army of 200,000 with a single order.

    To the ordinary yers, kings were absolute beings. Even though there were emperors and empresses of empires that ranked higher than the kings, for most yers, even the kings were in a position that was beyond their reach.

    Right now, Minhyuk had spoken bluntly to such existences, saying, ¡°You¡¯re all m*therf*ckers.¡±

    ¡°Hahaha. this king is a m¡­ huh?¡±

    The first one to react was King Roath, who realized that something was wrong. Soon, theughter from the other kings gradually died down, and their expressions turned ugly. Although they had changed their tune, their pride taking a huge blow, they were still kings. Yet here they were, openly ridiculed by another king.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t your words too much?!¡± King Roath growled, the fawning look on his face gone.

    These kings only had two options now. They had to choose the Luvien Empire or the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. In a situation like this, they thought that the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would wee them with open arms, since they were showing favor toward him and his kingdom.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s true that we made a fuss earlier, but can¡¯t he understand the position that he¡¯s in?¡¯</em>

    The other kings acknowledged the fact that they had kicked up a fuss earlier. However, the establishment of their empire was not yet a done deal. There was only a possibility of this happening. Yet, Minhyuk was already acting arrogantly in such a manner toward them.

    ¡°Apologize. This king feels very ufortable,¡± Roath said, looking at the other kings with a grim look on his face. ¡°We can start a war right away.¡±

    King Roath expressed how angry he was through the open threat. The other kings nodded in agreement.

    Minhyuk opened his mouth and retorted, ¡°F*ck you. Just now, you were shouting that I can¡¯t build an empire and moring for me to bow my head and apologize to the Luvien Empire. And then, what?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°Weren¡¯t these the words that came out of your mouths earlier, <em>You can¡¯t build an empire. Go and apologize to Nerva.</em>¡±

    The kings could not open their mouths. After all, this was the truth.

    ¡°However, after Elpis, who boosted my power, and the new migrants appeared and opened up the possibility of an empire being built, what did you f*ckers do?¡±

    Their attitudes had made aplete 180.

    <em>-We believed in you!</em>

    <em>-You can definitely build an empire! We will help you!</em>

    <em>-So, don¡¯t forget uster!</em>

    Minhyuk was fully aware of the situation. After calming down, he gave them a long look and said, ¡°If you ran to the Luvien Empire and ttered Nerva, what do you think will happen?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    They continued to keep their mouths shut. Yes, if they had gone to the Luvien Empire, Nerva would never throw them away. However, the Asgan Continent, led by the Eivelis Empire, had clearly stopped the invasion of the Luvien Empire.

    ¡°Using various reasons, they would nibble your position bit by bit. In the end, they will make your heads roll and take away your vastnds.¡±

    There was truth in Minhyuk¡¯s words. In the first ce, there would be no reason to harass Beyond the Heavens if the kings had already established friendly rtions with the Luvien Empire. If they were truly friendly with the empire, they would have just bowed to Nerva and begged them to take them in.

    However, this was the Asgan Continent, which was fully in the hands of the Eivelis and the Collodis Empires. In fact, these kings were only able to survive without being deprived of their territories because of the two Empires.

    The main reason why they came here to appeal was so they could prolong the time before the Luvien Empire invaded thesends. However, they saw a possible lifeline in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom as well.

    They thought that perhaps they could hide behind the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom in the future. On top of that, if Beyond the Heavens became an empire, they might be able to gain a lot of benefits.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s true that the only nation that can stop the Luvien Empire as of the moment is the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.¡¯</em>

    The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom housed Brod, the Spear God, the God of Swords Luo, the God of Snakes Elizabeth, Great Demon Elpis and many more. One could not win a war just because they had an advantage in numbers.

    ¡°Weren¡¯t you trying to lean and depend on me because you saw our potential?¡±

    If Minhyuk and these kings had a fallout, then these kingdoms would probably have no other choice but to wring their hands and wait for their destruction. The kings¡¯ dark faces turned beet red.

    ¡°What you want to do is to keep your pride and also to do as little help as possible but reap the most benefits.¡±

    Those words made the kings unable to raise their heads.

    ¡°Then,ter you will shout and dere, <em>¡®I took the lead and helped in the foundation of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.¡¯ </em>Isn¡¯t that the case?¡±

    The kings remained mute. Then, King Baroque said, ¡°You¡¯re a crazy king. We will return!¡±

    ¡°I also can¡¯t listen to the words of a mad king. Come, we shall return!¡±

    Three kings left. From what it looked like, they were going to beg Ellie and try to grab onto her ankles. However, King Roath and King O¡¯Lough remained standing in front of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Those words were true. Regardless, these two kings knew that their survival needed toe first before anything else.

    Then, Minhyuk, with his majestic and dignified voice, said, ¡°I will be the Battle God.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The power and the impact of those words were tremendous. Only after seeing this were thementators able to grasp the situation.

    <em>[Amazing. It seems like yer Minhyuk does not want a rtionship based on cooperation and alliance but one based on ¡®subservience and obedience¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[My goodness. He has the charisma that can overwhelm those kings. I feel like he will truly be the Battle God.]</em>

    That was right. Minhyuk did not want an alliance. He wanted them to be vassals and for them to be obedient. That was why he went so hard on them like that.

    ¡°First.¡± Roath opened his mouth. ¡°I apologize for the disrespectful behavior that I showed you earlier.¡±

    Roath knew that he had acted in a way that could cause others to question his qualifications as a king. However, these actions were motivated by the safety of his people. He also knew that the kings who left this ce would regret the choice that they had made. Because of their pride, it would be very hard for their people to set foot in the Eivelis Empire and the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, let alone the Luvien Empire.

    ¡°What do you want?¡±

    In fact, Minhyuk had already expected that King Roath and King O¡¯Lough would remain.

    ¡°Give me di Kingdom¡¯s Avarrin Territory.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡± Roath¡¯s eyes grew wide.

    As mentioned before, the di Kingdom was thergest kingdom on the Asgan Continent. They also held thergest and widest territory. In fact, it was only just recently that they were able to transform the driednds of the Avarrin Territory into a ¡®fertile¡¯nd. Roath had been trying to cultivate thisnd to make it into a new home for his people.

    ¡°Wh, what¡­ that¡­¡±

    ¡°We need a ce for our migrants and those who wille to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom in the future to call home.¡±

    He might not have lifted the knife, but it was still no different from a robbery. But then, Minhyuk said, ¡°We will let bygones be bygones. I will not forget the di Kingdom after this.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk added, ¡°What do you think will happen to those kingdoms that left this ce?¡±

    Minhyuk had the justification. The offending kings came here and raised their voices to go against the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. They would either have one of the two oues. They would either get devoured by Luvien or by Minhyuk. Among the two, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had a greater advantage when it came to absorbing them. After all, they all belong to the Asgan Continent.

    King Roath hesitated. Avarrin Territory was a territory that bordered the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. In other words, it was very, <em>very</em> close to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. It would definitely be very helpful for the di Kingdom to form a friendly rtionship with the kingdom. The problem was that the Avarrin Territory was worth hundreds of thousands of tinum. It was a sum of money that no ordinary yer could dream of touching.

    After a brief moment of hesitation, King Roath said, ¡°I will give the Avarrin Territory to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.¡±

    <em>[di Kingdom¡¯s King Roath has promised to hand over the ownership of the Avarrin Territory!]</em>

    <em>[Avarrin Territory was originally a dry and barrennd. However, King Roath, with the help of special farmers and builders, was able to transform it into a fertilend!]</em>

    <em>[Avarrin Territory is a hugend that can amodate 400,000 people!]</em>

    The corners of Minhyuk¡¯s lips curled up into a smile.

    Meanwhile, King O¡¯Lough was very tense. His kingdom was an excellent ¡®production fortress.¡¯ They had countless cksmiths, seamstresses and merchants. Even though the size of their kingdom was small, their financial power could rival that of the di Kingdom.

    ¡°We need weapons and armor, as well as equipment that will help us provide both protection and home to my people.¡±

    ¡°¡­Giving you 100,000 tinum is sufficient, right?¡± King O¡¯Lough made the first move.

    However, Minhyuk did not answer and just gave him a smile. He just stared at King O¡¯Lough with that soft and gentle smile for twenty straight seconds.

    The viewers, who were watching, groaned in exasperation.

    <em>[Look at that smile. We can already tell what it means.]</em>

    <em>[Who does he think he¡¯s offering a mere 100,000 tinum to?]</em>

    ¡°A¡­ a hundred and fifty thousand¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk just continued to look at him, the smile on his lips stretching even wider.

    <em>[Hey, hey. He might not lift the knife, but this is no different from robbery, no?]</em>

    <em>[A hundred and fifty thousand tinum is a huge amount of money. In fact, taking out that amount of money is enough to shake a kingdom¡¯s finances.]</em>

    ¡°A hundred and seventy thousand¡­?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s settle it at two hundred thousand.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    King O¡¯Lough felt strange. <em>¡®No. I¡¯m the one that¡¯s offering it to you, so why do I feel like I¡¯m being ripped off?¡¯</em>

    It was a very subtle yet strange feeling, especially since Minhyuk was obviously smiling.

    ¡°I, I understand.¡±

    <em>[Lake Kingdom¡¯s King O¡¯Lough promises to send you 200,000 tinum.]</em>

    Minhyuk looked at the two kings before speaking briefly and bluntly, ¡°Thanks.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The kings could not shake off the feeling that they had been ripped off. Then, Minhyuk approached them and personally handed each of them an unknown bottle.

    ¡°These are coffee beans that Spear God Ben grew himself. I¡¯ll give you some to express my gratitude.¡±

    ¡°Th, thank you.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll drink it well.¡±

    The kings, who were holding a bottle of coffee beans made from cat poop, left in a daze. These beans were bought with a territory that was worth hundreds of thousands of tinum and 200,000 tinum of cold hard cash.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The two kings scrunched their noses as they continued on their way. At the same time, they could not help but be impressed.

    <em>¡®He was able to overwhelm us with just a few words.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He was able to get a huge territory and 200,000 tinum just like that.¡¯</em>

    They were sure that he would go on to greater heights.

    ***

    BJ Correspondent was a bigshot that ranked third in the global Ztube rankings. He had a lot of fans all over the globe, and his earnings could easily exceed a hundred million.

    Right now, he was in Evelyn¡¯s Gogi-guksu restaurant, temporarily created by King Minhyuk for the woman named Evelyn.

    Minhyuk had personally sent an invitation to Correspondent.

    <em>[Please spread the news in your broadcast that we will only serve twenty people the EXP Acquisition Rate Booster Dish.]</em>

    People who wanted to advertise through high-ranking BJs were rare and far too few. However, as a BJ himself, BJ Correspondent knew that those ads were usually exaggerated. Even so, he was a professional, and was willing to tell people what they were most curious about in Athenae.

    His viewers were constantly postingments on his broadcast.

    <em>[Are we finally going to be able to see the dish of that woman named Evelyn that can permanently increase one¡¯s EXP Acquisition Rate?]</em>

    <em>[How many do you think they will be able to acquire?]</em>

    <em>[0.9%?]</em>

    <em>[I think it¡¯s more like 0.4%?]</em>

    What the viewers were guessing was very reasonable. It would already be great if they could eat a dish and permanently increase their EXP Acquisition Rate, even if it was just by 1% at most.

    <em>¡®Are they going to increase the number of their high rankers through this?¡¯</em>

    Correspondent smiled bitterly. Of course, obtaining a permanent 1% increase in EXP Acquisition Rate was a sweet deal. However, for those who were still on the fence and were still mulling over whether they would go to the Luvien Empire or the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, a 1% increase was not enough to sway them to go to Beyond the Heavens.

    <em>¡®Well, it doesn¡¯t matter to me. I just came here to get an issue. If I can get a 2% increase, then it would already be amazing.¡¯</em>

    The viewers were expecting at most 1%. but Correspondent thought that he would get 2%. A permanent increase would definitely help him level up and would have huge effects on him in the long run.

    <em>¡®If they can increase it by 2% then it will be enough to make the heads of those high rankers turn and pay attention to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.¡¯</em>

    Correspondent smiled when he saw the gogi-guksu served in front of him. Then, he asked Evelyn, ¡°His Majesty Minhyuk said that you would only cook for twenty people. Is there a reason for that?¡±

    ¡°His Majesty let me taste a dish not too long ago. After eating that dish, I felt like I grew more energetic and that my power had increased a bit. Maybe it¡¯s because of that?¡±

    Correspondent was a quick-witted person.

    ¡°Everyone, I believe Minhyuk has fed Evelyn a buffed dish to increase the percent of the EXP Acquisition Rate that she could give. To everyone watching my broadcast, they will only serve twenty rankers. This is on a firste, first-served basis. How abouting to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom quickly? Haha!¡± Correspondent said, a smile on his face.

    Since there was a buff effect added, he could really expect a 2% increase now. Without waiting any further, he quickly started eating.

    Correspondent tasted the soup of the gogi-guksu first.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    He was surprised. The soup tasted a bit like the soup of Japanese ramen, but it was thicker. In fact, he felt like it was better than the gogi-guksu that he had tasted on Jeju Ind. Then, he took a huge bite of the noodles as he continued to admire the vor of the soup.

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuuuuuuurp!</em>¡±

    The noodles were very chewy. He could not stop his chopsticks from moving. Not long after, he grabbed the entire bowl and drank the soup.

    ¡°Wow. That¡¯s really amazing.¡±

    Correspondent was in awe and admiration. He had eaten in such a hurry that he almost forgot he was doing a broadcast. Before finishing the rest of the soup, he said, ¡°I wonder how much my EXP Acquisition Rate will increase from the dish that Lady Evelyn, whom Minhyuk is very proud of?¡±

    <em>[Shit. Just finish eating quickly.]</em>

    <em>[Hurry and eat!]</em>

    <em>[Eat, so we can see the % increase.]</em>

    A BJ¡¯s notification window could be shared with their viewers during their broadcast. However, as cheeky as he was, Correspondent turned off the sharing function. This was so he could build the tension.

    <em>¡®Please! Just increase by 2%!!!¡¯</em>

    Correspondent, who prayed desperately, was left speechless after seeing the notification that popped up in his notification window.

    <em>[Why? What % did you get?]</em>

    <em>[Hey, let us look at it¡­?]</em>

    <em>[I¡¯m going crazy here!]</em>

    <em>[Look at Correspondent¡¯s expression. He¡¯s obviously trying to keep us in suspense.]</em>

    Correspondent finally took a breath after staring nkly at his notification window in a daze, ¡°Keheoook!¡±

    He was so surprised that he almost fell from his chair. At this point, the viewers¡¯ anticipation and expectations had reached an all-time high.

    Meanwhile, BJ Correspondent was still sporting a look of disbelief on his face as he said, ¡°To, to all of the rankers watching this broadcast, I would like to inform you¡­ Please, please run to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom now. Now that I have eaten one bowl, there are only neen bowls left.¡±

    <em>[Run? What do you mean by run? That¡¯s too much. Haha.]</em>

    <em>[Correspondent, hurry and share the screen!]</em>

    <em>[What the hell is the %?!]</em>

    Correspondent did not dally anymore. He clicked on the ¡®Share with Your Viewers¡¯ button and shared the notification window that popped up in front of him with his viewers.

    <em>[You have eaten the Gogi-guksu made by God¡¯s Hand Evelyn.]</em>

    <em>[Evelyn is a Special NPC that can make dishes that can permanently increase the EXP Acquisition Rate.]</em>

    <em>[Your EXP Acquisition Rate has permanently increased by 8%.]</em>

    Silence. The chatting window in the broadcasting channel waspletely silent.

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    Then, one of the viewers typed a message.

    <em>[I think the high rankers must be running like crazy now, right¡­?]</em>

 Chapter 783

    Chapter 783

    The entire Athenaemunity was turned upside down after the video posted by the world-renowned BJ Correspondent was released.

    <em>[That¡¯s freaking crazy. He only ate a dish, and his EXP Acquisition Rate increased by 8%?]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s permanent?]</em>

    <em>[Wow¡­ That¡¯s f*cking crazy, right?]</em>

    <em>[What the hell? Isn¡¯t thisplete nonsense¡­?]</em>

    There was only a very slight difference between most high rankers. And yet, this slight difference was what determined their rankings. It was also because of this that they had to often wear a ¡®Growth Ring¡¯ or a ¡®God¡¯s Blessing¡¯s Ring¡¯, items that were extremely valuable and could increase one¡¯s EXP Acquisition Rate permanently by 3%. It went without saying that the item had to be equipped for the effect to manifest.

    However, the dish made by God¡¯s Hand Evelyn was something that did not require any equipping. In other words, they did not need to take up another precious ring slot because they only needed to eat in order to increase their EXP Acquisition Rate.

    <em>[There are 2,031 Level 300 yers and above applying to migrate to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[There are 433 Level 400 yers and above applying to migrate to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[There are 31 Level 500 yers and above applying to migrate to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    Soon, there was a huge influx of applications for migration.

    <em>¡®As expected of His Majesty. He has his ways,¡¯</em> Haze thought as she looked at Evelyn¡¯s crowded gogi-guksu restaurant.

    Minhyuk had used the ¡®Create a Recipe¡¯ skill on Evelyn and was lucky enough to produce a legendary-grade dish that increased Evelyn¡¯s ¡®God¡¯s Loving Touch¡¯ skill level by +3. The effects of the buffed dish wouldst for an entire week. Even so, Beyond the Heavens still limited the number of people to 20.

    <em>¡®This is so those foreign talents will not have any time to consider and think things through.¡¯</em>

    True, there might be many talents who would want to take advantage of the situation. However, what if they heard that it was limited to twenty people? Then, they would have no choice but to rush to be a part of that quota, despite still being conflicted over choosing between the Luvien Empire and the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    Actually, it was fine if they could not be a part of the twenty that could get the 8% permanent increase in EXP Acquisition Rate. Since the effect was already proven, those who failed to grab a slot believed that they would also be able to get that benefit someday.

    <em>¡®Those twenty people will have to pay at least 100,000 tinum each through Evelyn¡¯s quest.¡¯</em>

    It did not matter if it was an ingredient or money; they had to pay that much. Evelyn¡¯s dish was worthy of such a price. All Evelyn had to do was cook.

    <em>¡®How in the world did His Majesty bring such a person here?¡¯</em>

    Haze could see Evelyn¡¯s astronomical worth. In fact, Minhyuk had said this to her.

    ¡ª<em>We need to get as many people as possible before they can finish the patch for Evelyn.</em>

    Patch was a part of the foreigners¡¯ lingo. Based on what Haze understood, it was like God Athenae was putting a sanction to weaken some of Evelyn¡¯s power.

    Looking at the other side, Haze could see another crowd of people gathered. And the ce where they were gathered was where Great Demon Elpis was.

    ***

    <em>[A new Great Demon has awakened to the world.]</em>

    <em>[The newly awakened Great Demon can change your race to Demon.]</em>

    <em>[You can only change your race to Demon if you are Level 500 or higher.]</em>

    <em>[You can only change your race to Demon through the newly awakened Great Demon.]</em>

    These were the messages that rang in the ears of all of the yers of Athenae the day Elpis descended as the new Great Demon. Many yers were very excited and were looking forward to changing to a new race in Athenae.

    On top of that, the demons were known to be beings born with stronger powers than humans. <em>Battle Demons</em>. That was what the demons were called.

    This was the order that Elpis had received from Minhyuk.

    ¡ª<em>Elpis. Just live how you want to live. Do what you usually do. You¡¯re already reliable enough, but now that you have be the Great Demon, I feel more assured.</em>

    Elpis was much stronger than before. In fact, his level had increased by as much as 80 levels. However, in truth, Elpis was still a ¡®Probationary Great Demon.¡¯ He was not yet at a level topletely finish Gorac¡¯s trial. It was only thanks to Minhyuk¡¯s help, as well as his own hard work and effort, that he was able to break through that system and became the Great Demon. Because of that, Elpis still had to take things step by step until he became a ¡®True Great Demon.¡¯

    Right now, there was a huge crowd gathered around Elpis. Many people came to visit the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom to meet Elpis. However, they were unable to even utter a word in front of the demon. The title ¡®Great Demon¡¯ was already enough to make them feel numb all over. They could not even approach Elpis, who was sitting silently with his earphones plugged into his ears.

    <em>¡®Ugh¡­ So, scary.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®What kind of gaze is that¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Just looking at him is giving me goosebumps.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Is this the dignity and majesty of the Great Demon?¡¯</em>

    Right at that moment, something happened.

    ¡°Yo, Elpis! Did you eat already?¡± An ordinary farmer, who was passing by, waved his hands and called out to the Great Demon. He was an ordinary resident of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    The onlookers watched Elpis wave back at the man with a small smile on his face and say, ¡°Elpis¡­ has eaten. Old man Halsen, stay healthy!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The people were astonished. He, an object of fear to the people who were not a part of the kingdom, was smiling faintly and even wishing the ordinary resident of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom good health!

    Seeing this, one of the yers mustered the courage and approached him. He said, ¡°Elpis, have you eat¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    However, Elpis just looked at him nonchntly.

    <em>[The Great Demon¡¯s Killing Intent has affected you. Your breathing has been constricted.]</em>

    <em>[It is a power that you cannot resist.]</em>

    ¡°Keheok¡­?!¡±

    The yer that spoke up looked like he was suffocating. The next moment, the children of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom appeared and came running toward Elpis with their swords.

    ¡°Hiyaa! Take this! I am the Hero Vagan, Great Demon!¡±

    Then, the children swung their thin branches at Elpis.

    <em>¡®Are those brats crazy?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Hiiiik! Their limbs will be cut off!¡¯</em>

    Everyone thought that a terrible tragedy would unfold in front of them. However, Elpis pretended to clutch his heart and said, ¡°Urk. Hero, your sword is too¡­ strong¡­¡±

    <em>Thud.</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The yers were left speechless when they saw Elpis pretend to fall down. Then, after ying with them, Elpis stood up and rubbed the children¡¯s heads.

    The yers thought that the best way to change their race to Demon was to increase their favorability with Elpis. Now, they realized that the first step in increasing their favor with the Great Demon was to be a resident of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. These people quickly moved to apply for migration to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    <em>[There are 32 yers applying to migrate to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    Those that applied for migration and were epted, finally received a quest from Elpis.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Demon Race Change Quest</em></strong><em>: The Great Demon¡¯s Atrocious Envoy.]</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: S</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s yer, Level 500 or above.</em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: Sessful change to the Demon race.</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Failure</em></strong><em>: You will no longer be able to change your race to the Demon race.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: Meet the Great Demon¡¯s Envoy in the ¡®Evil One¡¯s Dungeon¡¯ located not too far from the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and fulfill his orders.</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The yers could not help but tremble in fear.

    <em>¡®As expected.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I knew it; it won¡¯t be easy to change one¡¯s race to Demon.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®The Great Demon¡¯s Atrocious Envoy¡­?¡¯</em>

    Despite their shock, they could only take a step forward to change their race after meeting the Great Demon¡¯s Atrocious Envoy and fulfilling his orders. The mere thought was enough to make them feel numb all over. Great Demon Elpis lived in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. From what they saw, he showed great favor toward the people of his kingdom. However, all of the demons were beings that killed humans so easily, treating their lives as if they were mere bugs.

    <em>¡®What if the Great Demon¡¯s Atrocious Envoy is such a being?¡¯</em>

    However, to be a Demon, they had no choice but to take a step forward and fulfill the quest.

    ***

    ¡ª<em>You should listen to that ¡®guy¡¯ to the best of your abilities. He¡¯s someone that cares for the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom more than anybody else.</em>

    Minhyuk had mentioned a particr person who cared for and helped the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom a lot. That guy came to Asura Ascar, King of the Dead Death, and Golden Mage Ali and asked them a favor, although his mannerisms made it more of an order.

    This was because that guy was very ferocious and terrifying, and these three important figures were forced to stay in this dungeon together. The three could only sigh.

    ¡°We only have to do it once¡­ well¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s better to do that ¡®guy¡¯ a favor than let him get angry and show us how ferocious he is.¡±

    ¡°<em>Haaaa¡­</em>¡±

    The three, who were considered to be one of the strongest high rankers of the world, could only grit their shaking teeth at the thought of that ¡®guy.¡¯

    ***

    <em>[You have entered the Evil One¡¯s Dungeon.]</em>

    <em>[This dungeon is owned by the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[Only Level 500 or above can enter the dungeon.]</em>

    There were a total of ten people who entered the dungeon to change their race to Demon. ording to the data posted on the official Athenae home page, it was very difficult to convert to the Demon race.

    ¡°From what I heard, the Demon race should be thest race that we can convert into. However, Joy Co. Ltd. was forced to release the race quickly after Elpis became the Great Demon.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Originally, the Elf, Orc and many other races should be the ones released first.¡±

    ¡°I think that¡¯s the reason why only those with Level 500 or higher can change their race.¡±

    It was just like what they said. The demons were a race of battle maniacs. That was why everyone was aware that they would be able to gain a stronger power if they could seed in changing their race. However, there was no way that Athenae would allow them to do it so easily.

    Reagan, one of the ten yers that entered the dungeon, was a yer that had lived in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom for a very long time now. He had a dream.

    <em>¡®I also want to be as strong as Emperor of the Swords Carr, King of the Dead Death and Asura Ascar. I also want to be one of the powerhouses of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.¡¯</em>

    Even though Reagan had been a resident of the kingdom for a long time, it was only natural that he had to take the same quests as everyone else.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go inside.¡±

    They all turned nervous as they entered the dungeon.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª!</em>

    At that moment, countless explosion magic was triggered and swept away the area where they were. But that was not the end.

    ¡°H, Hell Warrior?!¡±

    Even high-leveled monsters like the Hell Warrior had made an appearance. At this point, they realized that changing their race to Demon was even more difficult than they had imagined.

    However, Reagan still stepped inside and fought a bloody battle alongside the rest of the yers. He thought,<em> ¡®I will definitely meet the Atrocious Envoy.¡¯</em>

    The thought of meeting such a being made Reagan feel some fear, that even his vision would start to shake. However, he pushed through. He gave it his all and led the charge toward the depths of his dungeon. He wanted to achieve his dreams.

    When they reached the halfway point, half of the yers that entered the dungeon had already been forced to log out.

    ¡°Haa¡­ Haa¡­ How about going back?¡±

    ¡°The level is too high for us.¡±

    Even the people of the kingdom that owned the dungeon would be subject to penalties once they were forced to log out. They thought that it was not worth the risk at this point.

    However, Reagan shook his head. ¡°I won¡¯t leave.¡±

    ¡°I will log out.¡±

    ¡°Me too.¡±

    In the end, two of the surviving yers left. After that, Reagan continued to break through the dungeon with the remaining yers. Thankfully, Reagan was a bit of a talent himself and was able to reach the end of the dungeon and ovee the enemies. Unfortunately, the only one that was able to survive the process was Reagan alone. He could only gulp dryly as he recalled the terrible and hideous image of the ferocious devil.

    As he walked toward the end of the dungeon, he heard the roars of a beast from the pitch-ck darkness that awaited him.

    ¡°<em>Graaaaaaaaaa!</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Roaaaaaaaaaar!</em>¡¯

    ¡°<em>Grrrrrrrrrrrr!</em>¡±

    Reagan almost shriveled and curled in on himself when he heard the roar.

    <em>[You have entered the Atrocious Envoy¡¯s room.]</em>

    <em>[The servants of the Atrocious Envoy have appeared!]</em>

    Reagan could see the silhouette of the servants through the darkness. Two of the unrecognizable silhouettes were holding staves, while the other one was holding a huge greatsword. And finally, the notification came.

    <em>[The Atrocious Envoy has appeared!]</em>

    The Atrocious Envoy riding on top of a gigantic beast has made his appearance. With his appearance, light slowly appeared in the dark dungeon and illuminated the entire area, allowing Reagan to see their true figures.

    The Atrocious Envoy sitting on top of the gigantic beast was wearing a ck cape on his back and had tworge horns on his head. He also had a bloody red sword in his hands.

    Then, the three servants of the Atrocious Envoy began to speak.

    ¡°<em>Fufufu.</em> You, who havee this far to be a member of a new race, bow down before the Great One.¡±

    Reagan, who heard the voice, could not help but tilt his head in confusion.

    <em>¡®Huh? I think I heard that voice somewhere before?¡¯</em>

    Once the surroundings werepletely illuminated by the light, Reagan was finally able to see clearly.

    ¡°Oink, oink oink oink, oink oink oink, <em>(The One that wants to seize the evil power.)</em>¡±

    The baby piggy Beanie, who was wearing a huge horned helmet and a ck cape from who knew where showed a vicious smile. This was the appearance of the ¡®Demon Lord¡¯ Beanie!

    As for the beast that he was riding on, it was none other than Love, Hope, and Happiness.

    ¡®Demon Lord¡¯ Beanie cried, ¡°Oink, oink oink oink, oink oink. <em>(Do you want to obtain the dark and evil power, oink?!)</em>¡±

    Reagan¡¯s gaze turned to look at the three, whose figures hadpletely appeared after the light shone on them. Each of them wore huge horned helmets on their heads and ck capes on their backs.

    <em>¡®My idols¡­¡¯</em>

    They were none other than Golden Mage Ali, Asura Ascar, and King of the Dead Death.

    The three trembled when they saw Beanie winking at them. Then, they hurriedly opened their mouths.

    ¡°<em>Fufu.</em> Congrattions on reaching this ce.¡±

    ¡°We will now give you the right to be a member of the new race.¡±

    ¡°However, you have to pay the price. You have to bring at least an ¡®epic¡¯ grade ingredient that the devil wants.¡±

    ¡°<em>Fufufufufu.</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Kekekekekeke.</em>¡±

    ¡°Keuhahahahaha!¡±

    Reagan felt his heart break as he watched themugh unnaturally like that.

    <em>¡®My idols¡­¡¯</em>

    Every single one of them was under the thumb of Beanie, the ¡®greatest and cruelest being¡¯ who would turn everything upside down once he became angry.

    At this moment, Reagan realized that if Minhyuk was the number one in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, then the one sitting in the number two position was none other than Beanie.

    <em>Drip, drip, drip¡ª</em>

    Reagan cried. So did Ascar, Ali and Death.

 Chapter 784

    Chapter 784

    A world message rang for all of the yers in the world.

    <em>[The first yer to convert their race to Demon has been born.]</em>

    Reagan, who gained the honor of bing the first demon among the yers, posted this on the Athenae official homepage. Of course, he posted this after obtaining the approval of King Minhyuk.

    <em>[You have changed your race to Demon.]</em>

    <em>[Your previous ss was ¡®Knight.¡¯]</em>

    <em>[Your ss will now change from ¡®Knight¡¯ to ¡®Demon Knight.¡¯]</em>

    <em>[All of your attack has increased by 17%. Your INT and WIS stats have increased by 20%.]</em>

    <em>[Your attack and movement speed have increased by 20%. Your skill cooldown has decreased by 20%.]</em>

    <em>[The skills that you possessed as a knight will now be changed to the Demon Knight¡¯s skills. Your skills have be stronger.]</em>

    <em>[Your recovery and buff skills have been deleted.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 100 Demonic Energy stats.]</em>

    <em>[Your level has decreased by -50.]</em>

    <em>[You have turned into a demon through Great Demon Elpis.]</em>

    <em>[You have be Great Demon Elpis¡¯ subordinate. You are now the first Demon Knight.]</em>

    All of the yers were amazed to see the benefits that they would obtain if they changed their race to demon.

    <em>[As expected of a battle race¡­ just look at that 17% increase in all of your attack¡­ there¡¯s even a 20% increase in movement speed¡­]</em>

    <em>[It seems like the Demon race does not rely on skills.]</em>

    <em>[However, from what it looks like, the benefits that you can get are worth it. Just the fact that one can increase their attack speed by 20%pared to other yers of the same level¡­]</em>

    <em>[What a pity. Why is it that only yers at Level 500 or higher can change their race?]</em>

    <em>[If you look at Reagan¡¯s skills, you can tell that his skills have be a lot cooler and stronger.]</em>

    There were certainly huge benefits and merits in changing one¡¯s race to Demon. However, many yers expressed their dissatisfaction. After all, only yers at Level 500 or above could change their race. But there was one thing that they were sure of.

    <em>[Because the demons changed their race through Great Demon Elpis, they must consider him as an object of worship.]</em>

    <em>[Then, that means¡­]</em>

    <em>[That means that the master of the demons is the vassal of our Lord the Food God¡­?]</em>

    <em>[¡­]</em>

    The yers could only sit in silence, jealous of the fact that Minhyuk had be the grand master of all of the demons.

    ***

    Bran, the second in the global explorer rankings, was a holder of the ¡®Explorer¡¯ ss. He explored unknownnds and ancient dungeons, while searching for special artifacts, surprising cooking ingredients, and many more. Explorer Bran was a talent that was sought after by forces from all over the world. One of the main forces that sought him for his talent was the Luvien Empire.

    The Luvien Empire wanted Explorer Bran. In fact, they already had Ian, the current global number one explorer. If they added Bran to their list of talents, then they would be able to hoard a huge amount of information regarding ancient items, and even legendary and god-rank artifacts. They would then be able to monopolize all kinds of dungeons and hunting grounds.

    However, Bran refused their offer. As a result, the Luvien Empire began to openly pressure him, keeping him in check. He was often chased by someone, and his search for a dungeon had been interrupted several times.

    Right now, the Luvien Empire almost had all of 100 of the world¡¯s most famous explorers in their hands. Because of that, Bran was being forced to be a lone wolf.

    At this point, Bran suddenly found a way to grow faster.

    <em>¡®Whenever explorers level up, they will be able to get enlightened and receive a new skill that will help us find new dungeons.¡¯</em>

    This was also the reason why the explorers were all eager to level up. Of course, most of the EXP that they acquired came from finding something new. So, what method did Bran find to grow faster? It was none other than ¡®Evelyn¡¯s Dish.¡¯

    Bran rejected Luvien¡¯s proposal and immediately moved to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom to eat Evelyn¡¯s dish.

    ¡°All of the dishes for the twenty people have been served.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Unfortunately, the high rankers had rushed to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom as soon as they heard the news. There was no time for them to check whether there were any of the dishes left. Many of them went there and applied for migration. One of them was Bran.

    A permanent 8% increase in EXP Acquisition Rate. That was a huge benefit. Bran was very frustrated at the fact that he lost out on this benefit. That was when he thought, <em>¡®Wouldn¡¯t it be solved if I just met with Minhyuk?¡¯</em>

    That was right. If he met Minhyuk, then everything would be solved. He was the only person with the power to change the limit from twenty to any number he wanted. However, there was no way that he would willingly give preferential treatment without any price.

    <em>¡®If I gave him the information about that ce then¡­¡¯</em>

    Bran immediately made a move.

    ***

    Bran did not actually migrate because there was something special about the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. He migrated purely because of his conditions.

    Using the name ¡®Dungeon Explorer¡¯, Bran was able to meet countless kings and emperors. Every single one of them had treated Bran as a tool. Their usual scenario always went like, <em>I¡¯ll give you money, so find a dungeon for me.</em> Or, <em>I¡¯ll give you something, so dig up an ancient ruin for me.</em> It always happened without fail. Because of that, Bran thought that Minhyuk would be no different.

    When he actually met Minhyuk in person, he was greeted with a soft and warm smile.

    ¡°Your reputation precedes you, Bran.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for thepliment.¡±

    Although this was a virtual reality game, Bran still showed courtesy when he greeted Minhyuk. He knelt on one knee, looked up at Minhyuk, who was sitting on his throne, and said, ¡°I have asked for an audience with Your Majesty because I have some useful information to offer you.¡±

    ¡°Useful information?¡± Minhyuk asked, intrigued. He knew that any information that came from the global number two explorer, Bran, would definitely be huge.

    So, Bran began to tell his story. ording to Bran, he had a special skill that even Dungeon Explorer Ian did not have. That skill was none other than the ¡®Ancient Relic Tracker¡¯ skill, one that he could only use once every five months. From what he said, the skill allowed him a minute to look at where the relic was and view its information.

    ¡°That¡¯s an amazing ability.¡±

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s thanks to this ability that I was able toe this far. When I used that skill recently, the ce that I was able to see for a minute was none other than the ¡®Tomb of the Kings.¡¯¡±

    ¡°¡­Tomb of the Kings?¡±

    ¡°Yes. The Tomb of the Kings has been standing for a very long time, and it is the ce where all of the kings that once existed wereid to rest.¡±

    It was a tomb for all of the kings that had ever existed. It was both a strange and interesting story.

    ¡°However, the most important thing about the ce is that it contains a lot of rewards. It has the ¡®Legendary Cavalry¡¯ of the Locae Kingdom, a kingdom known to have the most excellent cavalry. It has the ¡®cksmiths¡¯ Legacy¡¯ from the Avon Nation, a kingdom that was hailed as the Kingdom of cksmiths. It also has ¡®Abannon¡¯s Mages¡¯ Relics¡¯ from the Kingdom of Magic¡­¡±

    ¡°Wait. Wait up,¡± Minhyuk interrupted as he took a deep breath.

    Bran smiled deep inside. <em>¡®Right, that¡¯s right.¡¯</em>

    All of the kings and emperors that he met acted the same way. Whenever he said that he found something, they would all grow excited, and their faces would be filled with desire. It would also be the same for the man in front of him. No one could resist the desire to obtain rare and important artifacts. He believed Minhyuk would also turn out to be a hypocrite that would make a huge fuss about him, but eventually only end up talking about his own benefits and profits.

    On top of that, the Tomb of the Kings could help with the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s quest to establish an empire. Bran expected Minhyuk to sport a greedy look on his face while saying, <em>¡®Then, are you telling me that I can get my hands on all of that?¡¯</em>

    However, Minhyuk said somethingpletely different from what Bran expected.

    ¡°Then, does that mean¡­¡±

    ¡°Feel free to ask me.¡±

    ¡°There must be a lot of delicious things in there!!!¡±

    <em>¡®Eh?¡¯</em>

    Bran looked at Minhyuk weirdly. This was because Minhyuk had been exuding a king¡¯s dignity and majesty earlier, but was now shining brightly like an innocent child.

    ¡°Hiyaa. Since that ce has the most outstanding cavalry and even the relics of a Magic Kingdom, then that means that there should be a banquet from a kingdom with the most delicious dishes, right?!!!¡±

    Bran unknowingly felt at ease when he saw the smile on Minhyuk¡¯s face. He did not even feel like he was talking to a king. He felt like he was talking to a friend that he had met a few times.

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ that¡¯s right. In fact, from what I recall when I was looking through the list of rewards, there¡¯s this thing called the ¡®Banquet Enjoyed by the Kings.¡¯¡±

    ¡°¡­Oh my god,¡± Minhyuk eximed as he stood up from his throne and strode to where Bran was, grabbing both of his hands with his own. ¡°Thank you for this very useful information. Thank you.¡±

    The king in front of Bran was a friendly king, his bright smile was enough to put a smile to his own face. However, a small part of Bran still thought that the man in front of him was pretentious. The bright expression was probably just a facade. After all, he was a talent that anyone coveted.

    ¡°I know the way. I will guide you there, Your Majesty. However, you have to know that it¡¯s very dangerous.¡±

    ¡°Alright,¡± Minhyuk said as he looked at Bran gently. ¡°What do you want in return, Bran?¡±

    Everything had a price.

    ¡°I want to eat Lady Evelyn¡¯s dish.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡± Minhyuk nodded. He understood that the 8% permanent increase in EXP Acquisition Rate was enough to attract a talent like Bran. ¡°That¡¯s not difficult. Alright. Then¡­¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s words turned into a mumble. Bran thought that it had finallye to this point. Now, Minhyuk would tell him to find plenty of dungeons and relics for the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. With those lips stained with greed, he would say, <em>¡®I will also make sure to take care of your share.¡¯</em>

    However, the words that Minhyuk said werepletely unexpected.

    ¡°¡­Thank you for joining us here in Beyond the Heavens.¡±

    ¡°Eh? There¡¯s nothing else? You won¡¯t ask me to dedicate my body and soul to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom? Or find dungeons and relics for you?¡±

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s your choice, Bran. Aren¡¯t we ying this game because we want to have fun? I hope that you have a pleasant gaming experience in Athenae with our Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    To Bran, Minhyuk was a very strange king. And because he was a very strange king doing unexpected things, Bran thought, <em>¡®Perhaps it¡¯s my greatest luck that I came to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?¡¯</em>

    ***

    After the Rothschilde Kingdom dered that they would hunt Gaerna, one of the Six Monster Gods, they ended up staying by the sidelines while Minhyuk and the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom did the actual hunting.

    As a result, many of the people of the kingdom migrated and left the Rothschilde Kingdom, which brought a crisis to those that they left behind. Thankfully, King Cuhel was able to find a solution and a way to ovee this crisis. He had paid a huge amount of money to a dungeon explorer and learned about the ¡®Tomb of the Kings.¡¯

    <em>[Only those with the qualifications as a ¡®king¡¯ can enter the Tomb of the Kings!]</em>

    <em>[You can lead your soldiers inside the Tomb of the Kings.]</em>

    <em>[However, if you lead too many soldiers, the difficulty of the Tomb of the Kings will increase.]</em>

    <em>[If the ¡®king¡¯ that challenges the Tomb of the Kings fails, the greedy kings will take away a lot from you.]</em>

    <em>[They can take away a variety of things including stats, sses, gold, artifacts, skills and many more.]</em>

    <em>[Would you like to challenge the Tomb of the Kings?]</em>

    Cuhel had no other choice. Several other kingdoms had already bared their fangs, threatening to tear apart the crumbling the Rothschilde Kingdom. Even the Luvien Empire was looking at them with drool dripping down their chins. In fact, no one would find it strange if the Rothschilde Kingdom copsed at any moment.

    The bigger problem here was the fact that the Luvien Empire would definitely issue an extermination order against Cuhel once the Rothschilde Kingdom fell.

    <em>¡®If that happens, then my life in Athenae will be over.¡¯</em>

    Athenae was a very precious ce for Cuhel, a rich young master who only knew about money. For someone like him, who had always been bored with life, the game brought him something new, something fun. The game also taught him that there would always be someone better than him.

    Cuhel led 20,000 mercenaries, who he had a hard time gathering, and the 10,000 surviving elites of the Rothschilde Kingdom.

    ¡°I will challenge it.¡±

    However, the price that he paid for this challenge was terrible.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    ¡°U, uwaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Your, Your Majesty Cuhel! Please live long and healthy!¡±

    ¡°Keheooook!¡±

    Within just a few short minutes after entering the dungeon, more than half of their troops were lost.

    Since Cuhel led a huge number of troops, the difficulty of the dungeon was increased. Fortunately, it seemed like the difficulty of the dungeon was gradually decreasing as their numbers decreased.

    However, the problemid elsewhere. The moment they entered the depths of the Tomb of the Kings, a startling notification rang in their ears.

    <em>[The blessings of one of the Eight Pirs, Aegaeon, is protecting the Tomb of the Kings.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Cuhel did not know. He truly did not know that the Tomb of the Kings was owned by one of the Eight Pirs. All he could do was to move forward despite the despair that was filling him. He could no longer escape or leave this ce.

    The further inside they went in, the stronger their opponents became. Their troops only had 500 surviving yers, 700 NPCs, and around 200 mercenaries. The soldiers'' moans and groans rang all over the ce.

    Cuhel had truly changed. He had learned about the importance of the NPCs during Gaerna¡¯s hunt.

    <em>¡®Even here¡­¡¯</em>

    Cuhel saw his soldiers shout, <em>¡®Long live the Rothschilde Kingdom, long live His Majesty Cuhel!¡¯</em> as they died one after another. Many of the soldiers, who came here with him, pleaded as they died, <em>¡®Please don¡¯t lose your pride. Please don¡¯t give up.¡¯</em>

    He felt bitter. Cuhel could tell that everyone here would be wiped out in an hour. How could he not lose his pride at this point? He felt like he was the most ipetent king in history.

    <em>¡®I should just give up here and end my career in Athenae¡­¡¯</em>

    Then, the mercenaries approached him and said, ¡°We will definitely be forced to log out here. Please don¡¯t forget our payment.¡±

    The arrogant Cuhel just nodded, exhaustion evident in his face. At that moment, someone¡¯s face shed in his head.

    <em>¡®I wonder what the situation will be like if it¡¯s that guy and hisrades?¡¯</em>

    It was none other than Food God Minhyuk. If it were him, then hisrades would say this to him:

    <em>¡®Don¡¯t worry. We can get past this.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Let¡¯s move forward, Minhyuk.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®We can do it.¡¯</em>

    The high rankers and NPCs that lived in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and surrounded Minhyuk did not go there because they were enticed by material things. It was because they liked Minhyuk. They were in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom because they really, <em>really </em>liked Minhyuk. That fact made Cuhel envy him.

    <em>¡®I really envy you,¡¯</em> Cuhel thought.

    Cuhel was the richest man in the world, yet he was standing here, envious of another man.

    ¡°Kghhk¡­¡±

    ¡°It hurts.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going to die.¡±

    Cuhel thought that he at least wanted to save the NPCs that fought for him because he was their king and not because they were enticed by money or material things. If someone could save them, then Cuhel would give them whatever they wanted.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m sorry¡­¡¯</em>

    He felt sorry for these people, who served such an ipetent king. But then, something very surprising happened.

    <em>[Another king has entered the Tomb of the Kings!]</em>

 Chapter 785

    Chapter 785

    Cuhel was drained and exhausted. As the head of the Rothschilde Family, he had received the envious gazes of many people from a young age.

    Unlike other people, the young Cuhel and his friends would often talk about things rted to the economy and ways to make more money. The people that surrounded him were either those that wanted to gain his attention for his money, or those that wanted to see him fall down.

    The same had been true for the only woman that Cuhel had loved. Back then, he thought that she truly loved him for who he was, and not for his money. However, the woman belonged to an ordinary household and his family opposed their rtionship vehemently.

    Cuhel had asked her.

    ¡ª<em>Shall we run away together?</em>

    <em>¡ªH, huh? Run away?</em>

    <em>¡ªThat¡¯s right. I¡¯m willing to throw away my family just to be with you.</em>

    <em>¡ªGive me time to think about it.</em>

    The woman never showed up after that. In the end, it was not Cuhel¡¯s love that she wanted but the great wealth that he stood to inherit.

    Cuhel felt like his life was boring and dreary. He had no goals. Since he had more money than anybody else in the world, he did not have much desire to do anything and aim for sess.

    Then, one day, Athenae was released. When he first opened his eyes in Athenae, the instructor had greeted him with tough words.

    ¡ª<em>Hey, novice. What are you looking so dazed for? Go there and hit the scarecrow with your wooden sword! Quick!</em>

    It was the first time that Cuhel was treated like this. They saw him as a person and not some kind of walking money bag.

    ¡ª<em>Novices need passion!</em>

    <em>¡ªYou need to raise your level so you can go to higher hunting grounds!</em>

    The NPCs treated him as an ordinary yer, not as the family head of the Rothschilde family.

    ¡ª<em>Do you not know who I am? How dare you¡­</em>

    Cuhel had growled at the instructor at first. However, after receiving such a trivial and insignificant quest and hitting those scarecrows, Cuhel somehow found himself smiling.

    This was a new world. For the first time in his life, he found a goal. His goal was to be the most outstanding ranker in Athenae. However, he never entertained the foolish thought that he could do it with his own power alone. No, he wanted to be the biggest and most influential person in this world.

    So, following that goal, he founded the ckstone Group and collected various artifacts. During that process, he gained yers who followed him because they liked him and not just because he had the money. Then, he built a kingdom.

    However, as it turned out, bing the best ranker was very difficult. After Gaerna¡¯s hunt, Cuhel¡¯s kingdom took a huge hit. However, during that hunt, Cuhel was able to realize the importance of the NPCs.

    Cuhel recalled the boy, who looked at him with his fists curled up on his chest in a salute, who joined their expedition to the Tomb of the Kings. He immediately approached the boy and saw the respect that filled his eyes. With his shaking voice, the boy had said:

    ¡ª<em>Your Majesty¡­</em>

    His pure eyes shone brightly.

    ¡ª<em>I hope that you will never get injured. And¡­ please don¡¯t back down.</em>

    <em>¡ª¡­</em>

    Cuhel turned around, his face nk as he clenched his fists tightly.

    <em>¡®I won¡¯t give up. I won¡¯t back down. I will make it so you can live in a better nation, a better kingdom.¡¯</em>

    Unfortunately, reality was a bitter pill to swallow.

    <em>[The soldiers¡¯ morale has dramatically decreased.]</em>

    <em>[They are shaking with fear and terror.]</em>

    <em>[Please make sure that you have left your current location and have advanced within ten minutes.]</em>

    <em>[If you don¡¯t advance, your HP will continue to decrease.]</em>

    Cuhel had stopped because he could no longer bear to take another step forward. He knew better than anybody else that the remaining troops apanying him would all die if he decided to advance.

    Lesso, who watched Cuhel hesitate to advance, looked at him worriedly. Lesso had followed Cuhel since he built ckstone.

    ¡°Your Majesty, are you alright?¡±

    Cuhel smiled bitterly at Lesso¡¯s question. <em>¡®He¡¯s going to be forced to log out soon, but he¡¯s still worried about me.¡¯</em>

    Lesso was one of the powerhouses that ranked in the global top 1,000. If Lesso had chosen to defect to the Luvien Empire, he would have received preferential treatment and would have grown much more than he had grown now. However, he had chosen to stay. With the fall of the Rothschilde Kingdom, he was pushed out of the top 3,000 rankings. It was not just Lesso. There were also quite a few high rankers that followed Cuhel because they truly liked him.

    Then, Rothschilde Kingdom¡¯s pride and the one hailed as their Sword Master, Knight Commander Ruman, approached him and said, ¡°Your Majesty, yourplexion looks bad.¡±

    Cuhelughed bitterly as he looked at both of his loyal subjects.

    <em>¡®Right, Minhyuk has vassals that follow him because they like him.¡¯</em>

    ¡°It would have been better if you did not serve me and served Minhyuk instead¡­¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty, please don¡¯t say that!!!¡±

    ¡°How can you say that to us, Your Majesty!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Cuhel had been muttering to himself andining about his own selftely. Although it was sad to admit such a fact, it was the truth. If these talents lived in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, they would probably live better lives and would have already reached a higher ce.

    Knight Commander Ruman smiled faintly and said, ¡°I am very happy that you are the one that I¡¯m serving, Your Majesty.¡±

    Cuhel was left speechless. Why were the people around him so obstinate?

    Lesso, who looked at him in confusion, said, ¡°Who do you think is the other king that entered?¡±

    ¡°Maybe he¡¯s leading a lot of troops too?¡±

    The notifications that they had heard a few moments ago mentioned that a king, other than Cuhel, had entered the Tomb of the Kings. The number of kingdoms founded by yers had been increasing at a rapid rate. That was why it was hard for them to guess who entered.

    <em>[Please continue to advance.]</em>

    <em>[If you don¡¯t advance within a minute, your HP will continue to go down.]</em>

    Cuhel realized that he could no longer dy, his hands gripping the hilt of his sword tightly.

    ¡°Until the end!!!¡±

    ¡°Until the very end!!!¡±

    The knights and soldiers that apanied Cuhel squeezed thest of their strength as they shouted and stood up.

    Meanwhile, some of the mercenaries looked at Cuhel with mockery evident in their eyes. After all, this would mark the end of his majestic and magnificent career in Athenae.

    With Cuhel at the vanguard, the group began to advance once again. At some point, darkness engulfed everyone. Cuhel took a deep breath, his nerves tightening from tension.

    Then, a gloomy and eerie notification rang in their ears.

    <em>[The One that challenged to prove their qualifications to stand above other kings.]</em>

    <em>[Death will be given upon those that are not qualified.]</em>

    <em>[The Locae Kingdom¡¯s cavalry remains a legend. The day that the Locae Kingdom¡¯s 100 cavalry men marched forward is the day that the waves will split apart. They will march forward and pierce through the enemy camp.]</em>

    <em>[The Locae Kingdom¡¯s Legendary Cavalry has appeared!]</em>

    ¡°<em>Hihihihihihihihihing!</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Hihihhihihihihihihihihihihihing!</em>¡±

    <em>[The soldiers of Fulcan Kingdom nurtured by Knight Echen can make an empire tremble in fear and terror.]</em>

    <em>[The Fulcan Kingdom Soldiers have appeared!]</em>

    The moment the darkness gave way to light, Cuhel was greeted with a charging cavalry. Even the long lines of statues of soldiers that surrounded them began to move.

    <em>[Legendary Cavalry. Level 543.]</em>

    <em>[Fulcan Kingdom¡¯s Soldiers. Level 510.]</em>

    There were around 800 cavalrymen and 1,000 Fulcan Kingdom soldiers. Their levels were beyond what an ordinary soldier could handle.

    ¡°Stop them!!!¡±

    The tanker yers rushed to form a shield at Cuhel¡¯smand. Then, the cavalry collided with the tankers¡¯ shields.

    <em>Boooooooooom¡ª</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    However, the huge impact forced the tankers back, creating a gap that the cavalry took advantage of as they skillfully stabbed their spears through the small cracks in their defenses. That was not all, the Fulcan Kingdom soldiers also shot arrows that pierced through the bodies of the Rothschilde Kingdom¡¯s troops.

    ¡°Mages!!!¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The ranker mages swept the cavalry with their explosion magic. However, it seemed like the cavalry had a high defense, to the point that none of their magic even put a scratch or a dent on them.

    ¡°Destroy.¡±

    The Maestro of Destruction Cuhel squeezed thest of his strength as he swung his sword that was crackling with red sparks.

    <em>[The One that Destroys.]</em>

    <em>[The current of destruction will inflict 4,400% damage to all of the enemies within a thirty-meter radius.]</em>

    <em>Crack, crack, crack! Crackle!</em>

    The red electric current swept through the cavalry and made them shake and tremble from the shock. The rankers and knights of the Rothschilde Kingdom took the opportunity to jump on the cavalry and cut them down. Of course, Cuhel followed right behind them.

    ¡°Your, Your Majesty!!!¡±

    Cuhel gritted his teeth. The reason why he jumped into the vanguard himself was so he could buy more time, even if it was only for a brief moment. It was all for his soldiers to live.

    <em>sh, sh! sh!</em>

    Cuhel was also one of the rankers who represented their nation during the Battle of the Thrones. He could easily sweep away the cavalrymen and the soldiers with a swing of his sword.

    ¡°Cry.¡±

    <em>Booooooooooooom¡ª</em>

    A huge meteorite fell from the sky with a swing of Cuhel¡¯s sword. Despite his shorings, he was strong. On top of that, he was equipped with various high-grade and top-quality artifacts.

    ¡°Uwooooooooo!¡±

    Seeing Cuhel fight like that gave the soldiers of the Rothschilde Kingdom energy, allowing them to push the enemy back.

    ¡°As, as expected of His Majesty¡­!¡±

    The yers and the mercenaries looked at Cuhel in admiration. He was showing an overwhelming and majestic dance that none of them could even imitate or catch up to.

    <em>[Lebannon King¡¯s Curse.]</em>

    <em>[All of your skills are restricted for one minute.]</em>

    <em>[All of your defensive power will drop by 30% for one minute!]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Cuhel, who has been pushing back his enemies with his skills, bit his lips tightly. Now that his skills had been rendered useless, the veteran cavalry and soldiers began to charge and sweep away the Rothschilde troops.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaack!!!¡±

    The screams of his dying soldiers rang in Cuhel¡¯s ears, bringing forth a sense of urgency. Without his skills, all he could do was swing his sword again and again and again.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!!!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Your, Your Majesty¡­! Please, please don¡¯t die¡­!¡±

    ¡°Please make the revival of the Rothschilde Kingdome true!!!¡±

    ¡°I beg of you, please take care of my daughter Hennil!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to die¡­ I don¡¯t want to die¡­!¡±

    The deaths of NPCs were real deaths. Cuhel, who could only listen to the dying screams of his men, felt extremely helpless.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    At that moment, one of the young soldiers jumped in front of him and wrapped him in a hug to protect him from a spear that was about to stab through his body.

    These people had treated him kindly. These soldiers saw and treated him as a person, and not someone that could just give them money. Even the soldier that threw himself in harm''s way to protect Cuhel, was looking at him as his king and was filled with respect for him.

    Then, the spear that pierced through the chest of the soldier was pulled out.

    <em>Spuurt¡ª!</em>

    ¡°Ah¡­!¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty.¡± The soldier smiled weakly, his body falling to the ground while spurting blood nonstop. ¡°Please take good care of yourself.¡±

    Cuhel¡¯s despair grew as he watched the soldier die in his arms. At that moment, he caught sight of Knight Commander Ruman getting pierced by a spear while another flew for his neck.

    Cuhel did not know why, but when he came back to his senses, he was already running toward Ruman. He heard Commander Ruman¡¯s words in his head.

    <em>¡ªI am very happy that you are the one that I¡¯m serving, Your Majesty.</em>

    Perhaps it was because of those words that he jumped forward and hugged the man tightly to protect him with his own body.

    <em>Shwaaaaaa¡ª!</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 75%!]</em>

    ¡°Your, Your Majesty¡­?¡±

    Cuhel hugged Ruman tightly as the cavalry and soldiers surrounded them and stabbed him with their spears non-stop.

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 50%!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 45%!]</em>

    ¡°Thank you, Ruman,¡± Cuhel said, smiling faintly even though the spears continued to pierce through his body.

    Then, suddenly, all of the cavalry and soldiers stopped in their tracks.

    <em>[The Tomb¡¯s Kings are watching you with interest.]</em>

    <em>[The Tomb¡¯s Kings evaluates you as ipetent. However, they will test your qualifications as someone who values the lives of his soldiers more than his own life.]</em>

    <em>[New ss.]</em>

    <em>[King Above Kings.]</em>

    <em>[You can be the God of all of the kings.]</em>

    Despite the sweet and thrilling notifications, the cavalrymen and the soldiers began to move once again.

    <em>[The Tomb¡¯s Kings might be watching you with interest, but they will never ept someone ipetent!]</em>

    <em>[If you fail to reach the end of the tomb, then you will not be able to gain a new ss.]</em>

    Attacks rained upon Cuhel¡¯s body once again while the screams of his soldiers rang in his ears. A new ss? He did not care about it anymore.

    Cuhel looked around him. Even though he was being cut and stabbed by the enemies¡¯ spears and swords, his soldiers and the yers under hismand still continued to jump forward to try and save his own ugly self. However, all of them were swept away by the cavalry. He bit his lips as he looked at them.

    Cuhel was the family head of the Rothschilde Family. He had grown up to be arrogant, believing that there was no one above him. But now, people that he cared about were dying in front of his eyes.

    ¡°Please¡­¡± Cuhel opened his trembling lips and pleaded to that other king who entered the Tomb of the Kings. ¡°Please. Help me. Please save my men!!!¡±

    He knew that his desperate cries would remain unanswered. After all, no one in their right mind would help their rival. However, Cuhel felt like this was thest straw that he could grab.

    The once arrogant Cuhel cried out once again, ¡°Please save my soldiers!!! I¡¯ll do anything, please!!!¡±

    Cuhel¡¯s cries were filled with both anguish and hope.

    Then, several spears appeared in Cuhel¡¯s vision. Once those spears pierced through them, he and his soldiers would all die.

    <em>Swoosh¡ª</em>

    But then, at that moment, the spears that were approaching them suddenly split in two as the shadow of someone who blocked the enemy in front of Cuhel fell upon him.

    The man looked back at Cuhel with a sad look on his face as he said, ¡°You look tired, Cuhel.¡±

    Then, the notifications rang in Cuhel¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The other challenger of the Tomb of the Kings is suggesting an alliance.]</em>

    <em>[The person that suggested an alliance is ¡®Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King Minhyuk!]</em>

    <em>[Would you like the Rothschilde Kingdom to form an alliance with the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?]</em>

 Chapter 786

    Chapter 786

    To be honest, Cuhel was actually very jealous of Minhyuk.

    ording to Cuhel¡¯s standards, he might find Minhyuk, a sessor to Korea¡¯s biggestpany, to be ridiculous andughable. After all, Cuhel had enough worth to buy severalpanies. On top of that, it was not even that strange for the man that he was jealous of to die at any given moment, because he was afflicted with a very rare disease called ¡®Eating Addiction.¡¯

    Yet, why was Cuhel jealous of Minhyuk?

    <em>¡®He has the will to move forward.¡¯</em>

    It was because Minhyuk¡¯s strong will allowed him to stand tall and never back down.

    <em>¡®There are many people around him.¡¯</em>

    On top of that, Minhyuk was always surrounded by people who truly loved and cared for him. However, the utmost reason why Cuhel was jealous of Minhyuk was probably because even if he left everything behind, the man would still be very happy.

    Why was someone thatcked a lot of thingspared to him still happier than him? This was the main reason why Cuhel was jealous of Minhyuk. Despite his misgivings, as time went by, Cuhel began to unknowingly acknowledge Minhyuk.

    During Gaerna¡¯s hunt, Chuel made a deal with Minhyuk. Back then, he gave him tens of billions of won more than their agreed price because of his goodwill.

    However, Minhyuk had suffered from Cuhel¡¯s tricks and antics for a long time. In fact, they were already at odds since the time when Cuhel was leading ckstone.

    But now, these notifications rang in Cuhel¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The other challenger of the Tomb of the Kings is suggesting an alliance.]</em>

    <em>[The person that suggested an alliance is ¡®Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King Minhyuk!]</em>

    <em>[Would you like the Rothschilde Kingdom to form an alliance with the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?]</em>

    Cuhel was very surprised to see Minhyuk appear before him and split the spears aimed at him.

    When he looked around, he saw a man standing a bit further away from them. It seemed like this man was the one that came with Minhyuk. That was right, only two people hade. The notification sounded so grand and majestic, saying that the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was suggesting an alliance, but there were only two people that came.

    Cuhel had his own pride and ego. Especially when it came to Minhyuk. However, he abandoned it all.

    ¡°Minhyuk, I beg you. Please, please save my soldiers!¡± He shouted without any hesitation.

    <em>[You have epted the alliance with the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom inside the Tomb of the Kings!]</em>

    ¡°Your Majesty¡­!¡±

    ¡°No!¡±

    ¡°How can this be¡­¡±

    Cuhel¡¯s vassals were very shocked to see their king shout desperately at Minhyuk and beg him to save them. This was because they knew what kind of existence Minhyuk was to Cuhel. But for Cuhel, their survival was far more important than his pride and ego.

    <em>¡®No matter how strong Food God Minhyuk is, the appearance of two people would not make any difference¡­¡¯</em> Lesso thought as he looked at Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King Minhyuk.

    Lesso hated this man. He hated that this man forced his own king to humble himself and make him look shabby. Besides, there was no guarantee that they would be able to ovee this difficulty just because a single person appeared.

    Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°Cuhel.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t beg so easily. This is not a favor; this is a deal between you and me.¡±

    The soldiers of Rothschilde Kingdom, including Lesso, were very surprised. The words that Minhyuk said might have sounded crude, but it was undeniable that he was respecting and honoring the status and position of Cuhel, the current ruler of the Rothschilde Kingdom.

    Minhyuk took out a parchment from his inventory and stretched his palm out. This parchment was none other than a ¡®Memorize Magic Parchment¡¯ that contained Golden Mage Ali¡¯s ¡®Compress¡¯ magic. It had to be known that the higher Ali¡¯s level was, the better his lower-tiered magic would be. Right now, his Compress magic had evolved to the point that it would only gather allies. All of the Rothschilde Kingdom¡¯s troops, including Cuhel, were pulled back until they were gathered behind Minhyuk.

    However, there were still hundreds of cavalrymen and soldiers that were charging toward Minhyuk, who was now blocking their path to the rest of the troops.

    <em>[Intangible Sword.]</em>

    <em>[Your enemies will be attacked by invisible swords for five minutes. Your attacks will reach everyone within your ten-meter radius.]</em>

    <em>[You can use Sword Maniption and send hundreds of invisible swords toward your enemies.]</em>

    <em>[Your sword¡¯s attack will increase by 900%. The movement speed of your Sword Maniption will also be ten times faster than your speed of wielding your sword.]</em>

    <em>Swish, swish, swish, swish, swish¡ª!</em>

    The sound of the wind blowing strongly around them rang in their ears as hundreds of invisible swords cut through the charging crowd of cavalrymen and soldiers under Minhyuk¡¯s maniption.

    ¡°<em>Hihihihihihihihihihing!</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Hihihihihihihihing!¡±</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    The sound of their flesh ripping and the enemies¡¯ screams echoed in the area. However, Minhyuk remained cautious.

    <em>¡®There are a lot of things that we¡¯re still unaware of inside the Tomb of the Kings. I have to save my skills as much as I can for maximum efficiency.¡¯</em>

    Of course, Minhyuk was wary of the Tomb of the Kings. After all, it was a dungeon that boasted a higher difficulty than what he imagined. That was why he limited the use of his skills and only focused on using passive skills that did not consume any MP or trigger a skill¡¯s cooldown.

    The passive skill that he used was none other than Explosion, a passive that had a 40% probability of getting triggered and inflicting 2,500% additional damage to his targets. But that was not all. It could also trigger an explosion that would inflict 1,400% additional damage to everyone within a ten-meter radius.

    On top of that, Explosion belonged to the other passive Lightning, which corresponded to the ¡®Absolute God¡¯s Secret¡¯ skill that he had, which could go beyond ordinary god rank skills.

    The de of Minhyuk¡¯s sword carried the character ¡®Explosion¡¯ on it. When he swung his sword, a loud and overwhelming explosion bloomed and swept away the cavalrymen.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Meanwhile, the surviving troops of the Rothschilde Kingdom were rendered speechless after witnessing the aftermath caused by an ¡®Absolute God¡¯s Secret¡¯ skill.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s ridiculous. Are you telling me that¡¯s a passive skill?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He can easily sweep away those powerful troops with just a passive skill?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk ould swing his sword thrice in a second. With the Explosion¡¯s 40% probability of getting triggered, he could actually trigger Explosion once every second.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>Boooooooooom¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaam¡ª</em>

    After triggering a series of explosions, Minhyuk also incurred damages. He had been stabbed and cut several times by the enemies¡¯ spears and swords when he jumped at the gaps in their defenses.

    However, bloody beads would often rise from the bodies of the enemies that he attacked and get absorbed into his body. These bloody beads were produced by ¡®ughterer¡¯s Absorption¡¯, a skill attached to the ughterer¡¯s Armor.

    These notifications also rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears every time an attacknded on his body.

    <em>[Steel Skin.]</em>

    <em>[Your physical and magical defenses have instantly tripled.]</em>

    The Steel Skin was a passive skill that Minhyuk had acquired from the God of Happiness through the Food God¡¯s True Worth, and it had a 20% chance of getting triggered.

    Minhyuk¡¯s defense as the top high-ranker was already beyond one¡¯s imagination. If it was tripled, then most of the Named Monsters in existence would not be able to inflict much damage on him.

    <em>¡®This is ridiculous¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Is the gap between us and the Food God really thisrge?¡¯</em>

    Among all of the people present, the one who could not believe the scene in front of him the most was Lesso. Although he had been pushed out of the top 3,000 rankings, Lesso was still a high ranker. That was the reason for his struggle.

    The soldiers and the cavalrymen, enemies that they had a hard time fighting, were unable to deal any significant damage to Minhyuk.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    They saw the stalwart back of Minhyuk, who had been swinging his sword non-stop and sweeping away the enemy cavalry and soldiers, through the thick cloud of dust. He did not even look like he was out of breath.

    At this moment, the people of Rothschilde Kingdom realized something.

    <em>¡®Ah, we shouldn¡¯t think that only two people came here.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He¡¯s just one person, but it feels like an entire army came here¡­¡¯</em>

    Then, the notifications rang in their ears.

    <em>[You have wiped out the Legendary Cavalry of the Locae Kingdom!]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 100 Legendary Cavalry Parchments, parchments that can turn ordinary cavalrymen into legendary cavalrymen.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 100 Nurturing Parchments, parchments that can turn ordinary soldiers into strong men that can rival the soldiers of the Fulcan Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 485 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired King Lebannon¡¯s Treasure Box.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 100 Legendary Cavalry Warhorses.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 100 Fulcan Kingdom¡¯s Soldier¡¯s Storm Swords.]</em>

    The Rothschilde Kingdom¡¯s troops were shocked when they heard about the rewards that they had acquired. The tinum was shocking enough. Somehow, they were also able to obtain 100 warhorses, as well as power that could turn ordinary soldiers into 100 legendary cavalry and another 100 strong soldiers that could rival the soldiers of Fulcan Kingdom.

    <em>¡®Since this is the Tomb of the Kings, the rewards that they are giving are rewards that will help one develop a stronger and more powerful kingdom, right?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®The risks might be great, but the rewards are also superb.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®However, the difficulty is just too high for us to be able to clear.¡¯</em>

    While the Rothschilde Kingdom¡¯s troops were busy thinking about this, Cuhel had already approached Minhyuk.

    ***

    When Minhyuk entered the Tomb of the Kings, he was quite surprised to find out that another kingdom was already there. Minhyuk moved quickly, hoping that the other kingdom had not yet monopolized whatever was inside the Tomb of the Kings. That was when he heard Cuhel¡¯s voice.

    Why did Minhyuk help him? He had many reasons.

    One, Minhyuk believed that the Rothschilde Kingdom might really need some help in this ce.

    Two, Cuhel had given him tens of billions of won during Gaerna¡¯s hunt as a show of good faith.

    Three, he was moved by the fact that Cuhel had significantly changed from the past. Cuhel had a bitter rivalry with Minhyuk since a long time ago. But his changes had made Minhyuk move.

    Of course, he also took care of the necessary while helping protect Cuhel¡¯s momentum and prestige. The rewards that they got here were all taken by Minhyuk.

    Then, Minhyuk recalled the notification that he had heard earlier.

    <em>[You might be able to gain the ss: King Above Kings.]</em>

    There was a chance that this same notification was heard by Cuhel too. However, Minhyuk had heard something from Dungeon Explorer Bran before.

    ¡ª<em>Give up on the ss King Above Kings. From what I understand, you will be able to trigger an easter egg if you give up on the ss.</em>

    As expected of Bran, he was truly an amazing talent. Well, Minhyuk did not really need it in the first ce. There was no need for him to abandon the Food God ss or the Battle God¡¯s Descendant ss just for the King Above Kings.

    At the same time, this notification rang in the ears of everyone present.

    <em>[There are currently two candidates for the ss: King Above Kings.]</em>

    However, the two ignored the notification.

    ¡°Why did you help me?¡±

    ¡°What are you talking about? This is nothing but a deal. I¡¯ll be taking 90% of the rewards from here on out.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Cuhel felt an unknown emotion well up within him when Minhyuk insisted that this was a deal until the very end. If this was nothing but a mere favor, then Cuhel would be left struggling to keep his side alive. However, Cuhel was aware that Minhyuk did not help him just so he could obtain something.

    Then, he received a whisper.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Minhyuk</em></strong><em>: The almighty Cuhel has always been arrogant. Just be yourself.]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Cuhel</em></strong><em>: ¡­Thanks.]</em>

    Minhyuk was honestly surprised to see the whisper that Cuhel sent back. He never thought that the arrogant and almighty Cuhel would say ¡®thanks¡¯ to someone else.

    Of course, after seeing Minhyuk¡¯s whisper, Cuhel decided to truly act like himself.

    ¡°You must have also heard that this is thend owned by one of the Eight Pirs. It seems like you helped us because you thought that it was very difficult to clear on your own, right?¡±

    That was right; this was the true Cuhel.

    ¡°But if I hadn¡¯te, then all of you would have already been wiped out, no?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a different matter. You¡¯re the one that suggested an alliance. And that¡¯s because you needed our strength. Am I wrong?¡±

    The yers and soldiers of the Rothschilde Kingdom were very relieved to see Cuhel back to his usual self once again.

    <em>¡®His Majesty has returned to his usual self.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®That¡¯s right. He is someone that will not back down even after seeing the excellent disy that the Food God had shown us just now.¡¯</em>

    They were relieved to see Cuhel and Minhyuk bicker and argue back and forth like that.

    ¡°That¡¯s right, I will acknowledge that. I need your help too. However, what can you even do for me now?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Both Cuhel and his troops turned silent at that. This was the end of Minhyuk¡¯s help. Now, Minhyuk was acting shrewdly and being very calctive. Besides, what he said was true. What could someone, who was on the verge of being wiped out, truly do?

    ¡°Cuhel, let¡¯s make another deal.¡± Minhyuk brought forward another suggestion. ¡°I¡¯m sure you have heard the notification about the ss: King Above Kings.¡±

    That was right. Cuhel was also aware that it could only be given to one person.

    Minhyuk had chosen to give up on this ss from the very beginning. After all, ording to Bran, this was the only way to trigger an easter egg.

    ¡°As you have heard, the ss King Above Kings is a ss that the souls of the kings sleeping in this tomb will give to the one that they have recognized and acknowledged. However, they do not acknowledge you.¡±

    Cuhel wanted to be the King Above Kings. However, he knew more than anybody else that Minhyuk was the one with the qualifications to get the ss.

    Minhyuk licked his lips and lied without even blinking, ¡°To be honest, I can have three sses. However, just like what I said earlier, let¡¯s make another deal. I will help you to gain the recognition and the acknowledgement of the kings here so that you can obtain the King Above Kings.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Cuhel was shocked. If he became the King Above Kings in this ce that was owned by one of the Eight Pirs, then he might be able to obtain tremendous powers. But this man in front of him was actually willing to concede and give up on that opportunity.

    Yes, Cuhel was very desperate. He needed the ss King Above Kings to protect his Rothschilde Kingdom. However, he also thought that Minhyuk must also want the ss.

    <em>¡®He can have three sses?¡¯</em>

    Of course, that was just some bullshit that Minhyuk spouted. He could only have two sses, and he truly did not need the King Above Kings. However, Cuhel did not know that. Hearing those words made Cuhel go down a very different path of thought.

    <em>¡®Is he giving that ss up for my sake?¡¯</em>

    Cuhel had no other choice but to think that way. Then, he could not help but think of the times when he treated Minhyuk as his bitter rival and the times that he tantly said that he hated him.

    ¡ª<em>You look tired, Cuhel.</em>

    When he thought back, he was certain Minhyuk¡¯s eyes were filled with warmth(?) when he said those words. Cuhel felt deeply moved when he recalled the matter. That was right, Minhyuk¡¯s generosity and kindness knew no bounds.

    <em>¡®I wonder what I should ask for? If it¡¯s Cuhel, then I can probably ask for a lot of things, right? Should I try asking for some God-grade ingredients?¡¯</em>

    On the other hand, Minhyuk was considering what he would demand in exchange for the King Above Kings ss that he was pretending to yield over.

    Then, at that moment, Cuhel¡¯s whisper arrived.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Cuhel</em></strong><em>: From the bottom of my heart, thank you. I know that ss is also precious to you but you¡¯re willingly giving up on it for me. You even looked at me kindly and worried about my exhaustion and fatigue.]</em>

    ¡°???¡±

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Cuhel</em></strong><em>: I could see the warmth in your eyes when you voiced your worries about me earlier. I felt like I saw an old friend. Don¡¯t you think so too?]</em>

    ¡°???¡±

    Cuhel¡¯s eyes were starting to shine with tears.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Cuhel</em></strong><em>: I, Rausch, the head of the Rothschilde Family promise you in my name and my family¡­]</em>

    ¡°???¡±

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Cuhel</em></strong><em>: ¡­will repay you for this gratitude. When the timees that you will need my help, I will utilize the entire power of my family to aid you.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk could not help but murmur under his breath, <em>¡®A sudden windfall?¡¯</em>

 Chapter 787

    Chapter 787

    There were once talks about how the Rothschilde Family could shake the entire global economy with their financial prowess. It was rumored that the total assets of this well-known family were worth around fifty quadrillion. They had enough money to buy severalrgepanies and still have some left over.

    Rausch Rothschilde was the man that would be the family head of the Rothschilde Family. He was the one that was actively leading the Rothschilde Family and was praised as an outstanding family head.

    Those in politics and business, in fact almost everyone in the world, wanted to forge a rtionship with Rausch. However, none of them was able to win his heart. For Rausch, everything was simply a business transaction.

    But now, Rausch, who was called Cuhel in Athenae, was looking at Minhyuk with red eyes. He looked like he was deeply moved.

    <em>¡®N, no. I know that this is a sweet and sudden windfall, but what¡¯s the matter with your eyes?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk felt like the zing look from Cuhel waspletely burdensome. However, Cuhel was still the king of the Rothschilde Kingdom. So, he hurriedly tried to hide his expression.

    Then, Lesso stepped forward and said, ¡°You said that you¡¯re offering a deal and that you¡¯re going to yield over the King Above Kings to His Majesty Cuhel. However, just like you said, only after the kings slumbering here have acknowledged the challenger will the King Above Kings be given. In other words, our kingdom has to receive the recognition and acknowledgement of the kings. How will you do that?¡±

    It was a very reasonable question. What did being recognized have anything to do with the Food God?

    Then, Minhyuk looked incredulously at Lesso and said, ¡°After watching me earlier, did youe to believe that I¡¯m abat ss?¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Lesso and the other yers were very shocked to hear those words.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s right. The Food God is not someone with abat ss¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I mistook him for someone with abat ss because of how strong he was.¡¯</em>

    Goosebumps rose all over their bodies. They had forgotten that Minhyuk was not from abat ss, even though he was excellent inbat and even his abilities were outstanding.

    <em>¡®He can live and survive on his own in the world, no?¡¯</em>

    As the thought shed in their heads, they heard Minhyuk say, ¡°As I mentioned earlier, I will receive 90% of the rewards. On top of that, I will require one God-grade ingredient, as well as 200,000 tinum.¡±

    God-grade ingredients were valuable and priceless ingredients. However, there was even a 200,000 tinum fee on top of that. That amount was enough to pay for an entire kingdom¡¯s maintenance fee for a year.

    ¡°That¡¯s too much¡­¡±

    Lesso, who was caught in a fit of rage, was about to step forward. However, Cuhel was a step faster than him. He stopped Lesso while looking at Minhyuk deeply and said, ¡°I understand.¡±

    ¡°¡­I, I see. Thanks for your kind and willing response.¡±

    <em>Twitch¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Cuhel¡¯s burdensome gaze made Minhyuk want to flee.

    Then, Lesso said, ¡°No matter how powerful you are, how dare you demand a god-grade ingredient?¡±

    ¡°We have one anyway, so does it really matter?¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty, you know how hard we worked to get it¡­¡±

    ¡°Lesso, let¡¯s be honest, where will that God-grade ingredient be used?¡±

    Lesso¡¯s eyes grew wide. That was right. Food God Minhyuk had a skill that allowed him to feed more than ten people with a single dish. Of course, this skill could only be used if they were from the same guild or were allies. In other words, this was the method that Minhyuk would use to help Cuhel get recognized and acknowledged.

    <em>¡®There will be at least ten people that can eat buffed dishes made from the God-grade ingredients in this ce.¡¯</em>

    ¡°It¡¯s actually been a while since we acquired this God-grade ingredient. But if it¡¯s you, I think you won¡¯t find it tricky to deal with.¡±

    Cuhel had seen videos of Food God Minhyuk cooking God-grade ingredients. Most of the God-grade ingredients can cause huge amounts of damage to the chef handling them. However, the ingredient that they had in their hand was special.

    ¡°The ingredient is sealed. However, all of the people that unsealed it and tried to cook it died.¡±

    It was most definitely a strange and unfamiliar ingredient.

    ¡°So far, most of the god-grade ingredients have only caused damage when cooking. What killed them?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s magic. The ingredient constantly casts magic, high-ss magic at that. Do you think it¡¯s fine?¡± Cuhel asked gently as he looked at Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®If you think that it¡¯s too dangerous, then you don¡¯t have to do it, my dear and precious friend.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk shied away from his gaze and said, ¡°I¡¯ll do it.¡±

    Minhyuk had added the ingredient to the deal since it was a way for him to help the others here be strong. However, he had other reasons too.

    <em>¡®God-grade ingredients are very delicious. Fufufu.¡¯</em>

    He was getting paid for eating something delicious.

    Cuhel nodded as he pulled out the ingredient from his inventory. It was inside a fancy box. When Minhyuk received it, the notifications rang.

    <em>[You have acquired 600g of Vicious Magic¡¯s Pork Ribs.]</em>

    <em>[It is currently in a sealed state inside the ¡®Box of Suppression.¡¯]</em>

    ¡°¡­Ho?¡±

    Minhyuk was amazed. The ingredient that Cuhel took out was truly great.

    <em>¡®If we¡¯re talking about ribs, then¡­¡¯ </em>Minhyuk grinned. <em>¡®I can make some braised pork ribs.¡¯</em>

    Just the thought alone was enough to make Minhyuk¡¯s mouth water. He imagined himself picking up a piece of the steaming ribs from the still-boiling braised dish. Then, he would put everything in his mouth and pull the bones out, leaving only the lean meat inside. Minhyuk preferred to have the meat fall cleanly off when it came to braised pork ribs.

    <em>¡®Braised pork ribs is one of the Korean dishes that foreigners love the most.¡¯</em>

    He was sure that the others, who would eat this dish through the skill Everyone¡¯s Delight, would also be very satisfied.

    ¡°Heh¡­¡± Minhyuk drooled. He was already very delighted with the dish even though he was just imagining it.

    ¡°Don¡¯t open it yet. Open it once we get far enough.¡±

    Those words sounded cowardly, but what else could Cuhel do? He and the Rothschilde Kingdom¡¯s troops still had to survive. Cuhel knew that an overwhelming amount of magic would pour out the moment Minhyuk opened that box.

    Minhyuk just shook his head when faced with Chuel¡¯s apprehension of the box. He said, ¡°You¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    Then, Minhyuk triggered his skill.

    ¡°Let¡¯s Have a Meal.¡±

    This was an absolute barrier that would remain standing for at most half an hour. Attacks made within the barrier would also not affect the others. After doing all that, Minhyuk quickly checked the pork ribs¡¯ information.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Vicious Magic¡¯s Pork Ribs</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Ingredient Grade</em></strong><em>: God</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?You can supplement the parts that you want to supplement.</em>

    <em>?Your attack and defense will increase by at least 1.3x.</em>

    <em>?Your skills or magic skills will increase tremendously.</em>

    <em>?Complex fire control is needed for cooking.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: It is an ingredient found in some decrepit and ancient ruins presumed to be hidden by some god. It will send out 3rd~8th ss magic and indiscriminately bomb the one that will cook the ingredients. The blood has been drained so it can be cooked right away.</em>

    Fortunately, there was some sort of silver lining. The fact that the blood was already drained meant that he did not need to spend time doing that anymore.

    Minhyuk, while inside the Let¡¯s Have a Meal barrier, slowly opened the box in front of him.

    <em>Boooooooooooom¡ª</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    At that moment, Explosion magic was triggered one after another. Explosion was a wide area of effect 3rd ss magic that Mages could learn. Its ss was not extremely high, but when it came to magic, the one that cast the magic was also of great importance.

    In Cuhel¡¯s point of view, the magic that this ingredient could cast was enough to cause damage to yers that were at least 60 levels higher than high-leveled mages.

    The barrier created by Let¡¯s Have a Meal could cover an area with a five-meter radius. Cuhel could not help but worry about Minhyuk after seeing the violent explosion that erupted from within the area that the barrier protected. When they first opened that ingredient, it killed those around it within five seconds.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Everyone present could not help but gasp in awe when they saw the scene inside the barrier after the thick cloud of dust that bloomed inside finally settled down.

    <em>Glug, glug, glug, glug, glug¡ª</em>

    They saw Minhyuk pouring water into a cauldron while enduring the explosions that erupted and engulfed his entire being.

    <em>¡®I have to finish it as soon as possible.¡¯</em>

    Something interesting also happened. Although the explosions were huge and violent, they did not create any rubble or debris. In other words, Minhyuk did not have to worry about any ashes from the explosions. The dish that he was cooking would not get dirty. Even more surprising was the fact that the explosion did not affect the ingredients that Minhyuk was using.

    After pouring water into the cauldron, Minhyuk immediately swept all of the chopped pork ribs inside.

    <em>[Diss.]</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª</em>

    At that moment, a bright light shed inside the barrier as dozens of the magic Diss pierced through Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 60%.]</em>

    <em>[The strong impact of the attack has made your vision turn blurry and hazy.]</em>

    Before he could respond, another round of Diss was triggered.

    <em>[Diss.]</em>

    <em>Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom¡ª</em>

    Despite the light shing brightly around him and his rapidly declining HP, Minhyuk, with his superb concentration, continued to cook. He quickly took out a bottle of potion and drank its contents in one go.

    <em>[You have consumed Mand¡¯s Recovery Elixir.]</em>

    <em>[You have recovered 50% of your HP.]</em>

    He was quite relieved to see that his HP had recovered as quickly as it declined. In fact, Mand could only make one bottle of Mand¡¯s Recovery Elixir each day. Prior to this expedition, God of Alchemy Mand had made twenty bottles of this and handed them all to Minhyuk.

    Immediately after that, Minhyuk took out a bottle of yellow potion and drank its contents.

    <em>[You have consumed Mand¡¯s Magical Defense Elixir.]</em>

    <em>[Your magical defense has increased by 80%!]</em>

    Minhyuk had several artifacts in his possession that could increase his magical defense. With the Magical Defense Elixir that increased it by another 80%, he could easily halve the damage that he would receive.

    The potions that Mand had given Minhyuk were extremely overpowering, as they did not have any cooldown. In other words, he could recover by drinking those potions one after another.

    <em>¡®If it wasn¡¯t for Mand then I would have already died here.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk looked at the pork ribs that were being cooked well, heaving a sigh of relief. Then, he took out the potatoes and stretched his hand over it.

    <em>[You cannot use the Ingredient Acquisition Skill while cooking the pork ribs.]</em>

    It was as he expected. He truly had to prepare everything personally.

    <em>[Hellfire.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Just when Minhyuk was about to peel the potatoes, the notification made him realize that cooking this dish was truly going to be a difficult task.

    Hellfire was a magic skill that was literally a ball of mes from hell. It was practically an exclusive skill for high-level mages. And this particr skill had appeared and struck Minhyuk, who was cooking inside the barrier.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!!!¡±

    ***

    ¡°Minhyuuuuuuuuuuk!!!¡± Cuhel called out Minhyuk¡¯s name the moment he saw the hellfire appear and engulf his body.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    The Rothschilde yers and soldiers looked at Cuhel, who was calling out desperately to Minhyuk, in confusion. However, they could not deny the fact that they were also very nervous. They could not see Minhyuk¡¯s figure from within the ck mes. As if to add fuel to the fire, one disaster came after another.

    <em>[Meteor.]</em>

    <em>[Explosion.]</em>

    <em>[Lightning Storm.]</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>Boom, boom, boom, boom!</em>

    <em>Crackleeee¡ª</em>

    Countless magical attacks ran amok inside the small area covered by the barrier. The gigantic meteor shook the entire tomb while zing mes and crackling lightning licked and flew inside the transparent barrier.

    ¡°This, this is not something that one can endure.¡±

    <em>¡®No matter how powerful Minhyuk is, there¡¯s no way that he canst against something like this!¡¯</em>

    ¡°What, what¡¯s that?¡± Then, at that moment, one of the soldiers muttered, which made Cuhel turn his head.

    There, they saw a man in the form of a spirit walking toward the barrier. The man was dressed in a pure white priestly robe.

    <em>[One of the ¡®Kings¡¯ of the Tomb of the Kings has appeared!]</em>

    The Tomb of the Kings was the ce where the souls of all of the kings that had existed in the world were slumbering. Of course, there were quite a lot of special and powerful kings slumbering here too.

    <em>[The King has been recorded as a legend.]</em>

    <em>[The King loved and cherished his people more than anybody else.]</em>

    <em>[The King left behind the Legend of the Benevolent Ruler before turning into one of the stars in the sky.]</em>

    <em>[The King is the one that ruled Happy Ind.]</em>

    <em>[The King came to meet the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King!]</em>

    <em>[The name of the Great King recorded in history as the Benevolent Ruler is¡­]</em>

    <em>[His name is Effer!]</em>

    Effer stretched his hand and touched the barrier that isted Minhyuk.

 Chapter 788

    Chapter 788

    <em>[Meteor.]</em>

    <em>[Explosion.]</em>

    <em>[Lightning Storm.]</em>

    Minhyuk was shocked when he heard the notifications that rang out consecutively.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª</em>

    The meteor that fell from the sky shook not only the ground but also Minhyuk¡¯s body. That was not all. The explosion that bloomed all over the ce also struck him.

    <em>Bzzt, bzzt, bzzt, bzzt¡ª</em>

    There was also a lightning storm that blew strong gusts of wind while zapping and electrocuting Minhyuk.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaack!¡± Minhyuk unknowingly let out a scream.

    Athenae was a game that did not really ry pain to its yers. However, since it was a virtual reality game that had graphics that could be said to be almost lifelike and simr to that of reality, just having these magical attacks fall down and engulf the narrow area of five-meter radius was enough to gnaw at Minhyuk¡¯s spirit and mental strength.

    The worst was that even Mand¡¯s Recovery Elixir could not keep up with the amount of damage he was receiving from the continuous bombing of the magical attacks.

    With the thick cloud of dust and the loud sounds of explosion ringing in his ears, Minhyuk did not have any way to check on the situation outside of his barrier.

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 20%!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 17%!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 15%¡­]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s lips had already turned dry and cracked from the heat around him. To make matters worse, there were several magical attacks that were all getting ready to be triggered.

    <em>[Wind Cutter.]</em>

    <em>[Fireball.]</em>

    <em>[Lightning.]</em>

    This time, they were all low-ss magical attacks. However, the magic that was being cast by this ingredient could be considered to be on a simr level to those by mages at Level 600 or higher. That was why it did not matter if the magic was low-ss or high-ss. Minhyuk knew that he would not be able to endure if hundreds more magical attacks came his way.

    <em>Crackle¡ª</em>

    A small fireball shot toward Minhyuk. As though it was a signal, the rest of the magical attacks moved to strike him all at once.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    But then, a strange thing happened. The fireball, which was almost right in front of Minhyuk¡¯s eyes, sizzled and disappeared into nothingness. When he looked around, he realized that the same thing happened to the other magical attacks.

    When the hundreds of magic spells disappeared, Minhyuk finally saw the man, who had his hand on his transparent barrier. The man, who was in the form of a spirit, smiled softly at him.

    ¡°Your, Your Majesty Effer?¡±

    The man was none other than Effer, who died not too long ago in Happy Ind.

    <em>[Benevolent Ruler Effer¡¯s power is protecting you.]</em>

    <em>[Effer¡¯s power and protection willst for three minutes!]</em>

    ¡°Noble, it¡¯s been a while.¡±

    It was quite a fresh and novel feeling to see Effer like this.

    <em>¡®This is the Tomb of the Kings.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk never dreamt that Effer would be in this ce. However, he was here. Right now, Effer¡¯s gaze as he looked at Minhyuk was filled with one question.

    <em>¡®Are my people living well?¡¯</em>

    Effer smiled in relief when he saw Minhyuk nod.

    Meanwhile, Cuhel and the troops of Rothschilde Kingdom looked at the scene in shock and astonishment.

    <em>¡®He received help from one of the kings inside the Tomb of the Kings?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®How far do his connections reach?¡¯</em>

    On top of that, the king who helped Minhyuk was the one recognized as the ¡®Legend of the Benevolent Ruler¡¯ in history.

    Effer looked like he had something to say to Minhyuk. ¡°Minhyuk, this¡­¡±

    However, Effer could not open his mouth any further than that. It was as if some sort of power was restricting him and stopping him from saying the rest of his words.

    Effer could only sigh as he looked at Minhyuk once again. Then, he said, ¡°Are you going to cook a God-grade dish?¡±

    Minhyuk nodded while Effer looked at him with a bitter smile on his face.

    ¡°You have to make it.¡±

    At that moment, Minhyuk noticed something strange. Effer did not say anything more than that. However, the idea that the Tomb of the Kings was not as simple as what he initially thought had already sprouted in his head.

    Then, Minhyuk smiled at Effer. ¡°Of course, I will seed.¡±

    Even if one used God-grade ingredients, there was no certainty that the dish woulde out as a God-grade dish. There were many factors as well as several probabilities involved in making one. In the end, God-grade ingredients were just another way to help them get closer to the level of ¡®God.¡¯

    Minhyuk was very d to see Effer. However, time was short. He no longer had the leisure to talk with him.

    <em>Tak¡ª tak, tak¡ª</em>

    He quickly chopped and diced the kimchi, carrots, potatoes, and onions into bite-sized pieces. Then, after the pork ribs boiled once, he threw the water away and refilled it again.

    <em>Crackle¡ª</em>

    The mes underneath the cauldron crackled into life once again. Minhyuk hurriedly made the sauce and spread it evenly in the cauldron. After that, all he had to do was to close the lid and wait for it to finish cooking.

    However, ording to the description of the Vicious Magic¡¯s Pork Ribs,plex and intricate control of fire was needed when cooking. This was the trickiest part of the process.

    <em>[Please turn down the heat. If you don¡¯t reduce the heat quickly, the ingredient will no longer be edible.]</em>

    <em>¡®Shit.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s face turned ugly. The water inside the cauldron had not even boiled yet. However, the ingredient said to reduce the heat.

    <em>[Please raise the heat to medium heat. If you don¡¯t put it on medium heat quickly¡­]</em>

    Minhyuk controlled the fire once again.

    <em>[Please raise the heat to the highest¡­]</em>

    He hurriedly controlled the fire and followed the instructions that the notifications said.

    <em>¡®I didn¡¯t expect that using a cauldron would backfire on me like this.¡¯</em>

    There were two main reasons why Minhyuk chose to use Ravier¡¯s Bizarre Cauldron. The first one was because the buff effect would increase by 15% when the Bizarre Cauldron was used for cooking. The second one was that cauldrons could endure stronger mes. This meant that Minhyuk could skip the ordinary burner stove and opt for something stronger, which meant that he would be able to boil down his dishes faster.

    <em>¡®I have to seed in making a high-grade dish here so that Cuhel and the other yers can be stronger.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk grew restless and impatient. He was constantly controlling and changing the level of mes underneath the cauldron while checking the time he had left of Effer¡¯s protection. Of course, there was also the pressure of having to make a God-grade dish.

    <em>¡®Huff, huff¡­¡¯</em>

    He looked like he was being chased.

    Effer, who saw him like that, said, ¡°It seems like I made a slip of the tongue.¡±

    ¡°¡­Yes?¡± Minhyuk turned to look at Effer.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know if this is because I said that you have to do it or not¡­¡± Effer looked bitter. ¡°But your expression when cooking right now? It looks like you¡¯re just cooking to be strong, Minhyuk.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk felt like he had been hit by a hammer on the head when he heard Effer say those words.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know if this is because I told you to do it, but the way you look right now is not the one that I saw when you cooked the Great King Large Hairtail for me. It doesn¡¯t look like you¡¯re doing your best to eat something delicious.¡±

    Only after hearing those words did Minhyuk realize it. When he looked back on everything that he had done so far, he realized that he had recently viewed cooking as a means and tool to be strong and not as a way to ¡®taste delicious dishes.¡¯ Of course, he had always thought of eating something delicious whenever he cooked. However, his thinking had clearly changed whenpared to the past.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s right. I originally started Athenae so I can eat something delicious.¡¯</em>

    But now, it had be a method to be stronger, a way to win the hearts of the people.

    ¡°I think it¡¯s time for me to go back now.¡± Effer¡¯s translucent body started to blur.

    Minhyuk, who was pondering over his words, looked up at him with a small smile on his face and said, ¡°Thank you for your reminder.¡±

    Effer disappeared with a small smile on his face. His words had be a great lesson for Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®Yeah. I¡¯m ying Athenae to eat something delicious.¡¯</em>

    At that moment, Minhyuk, who was cooking urgently as if he was being chased by something, rxed as his mindset changed. He would not make these braised pork ribs as the most powerful dish, but as the most delicious braised pork ribs in the world. That was the dish that he would cook.

    <em>Crackleeee¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk continued to control the fire. However, with Effer¡¯s disappearance, the magic bombing continued once again.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª!</em>

    Most of the magic that fell upon him was exploding magic like Explosion. However,pared to the beginning, there was significantly less magic that bombed him. But Minhyuk ignored everything that was happening. All that was left in his head was the thought of how delicious the braised pork ribs would be once he was done cooking.

    <em>¡®The sweetness of the braised short ribs will explode in the mouth once you bite on the meat and pull it off the bone.¡¯</em>

    There was no other thought in his head except the thought of achieving the best harmony of vors in the braised pork ribs that he was making.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª!</em>

    Cuhel and the soldiers of the Rothschilde Kingdom were at a loss for words as they continued to watch the violent exploding magic that ran amok inside the barrier.

    ¡°His expression is so¡­¡±

    ¡°He looks so happy¡­¡±

    It was that look of excitement on one¡¯s face when they were about to eat something delicious. Despite the magic bombing that constantly fell on him, Minhyuk did not even budge an inch. In fact, he looked like he was truly enjoying what he was doing.

    Cooking was Minhyuk¡¯s shelter, his salvation and home. It was not a mere means to be stronger. It had made him happy and fulfilled, especially because he had always been hungry.

    <em>[You have fallen into an Extreme Trance.]</em>

    <em>[You truly take delight and enjoy the process of cooking.]</em>

    <em>[The dish that you made with your happiness might be more special.]</em>

    <em>¡®That¡¯s right. I¡¯m very happy right now.¡¯</em>

    The fact that he would be able to eat this delicious dish made Minhyuk focus to the point that he could not perceive his surroundings. All he could think about was how he would eat this once he was done.

    <em>[The God of Cooking has turned your dish, which is being made with a ¡®Happy Heart¡¯, into something more special.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Will is helping you realize new things and is stopping anything from getting in your way.]</em>

    <em>[The Battle God smiles in delight as he looks at you, who is very happy at the thought of eating something delicious.]</em>

    However, Minhyuk did not hear the voices of the gods. His entire focus was on making the braised pork ribs in front of him the most delicious in the world.

    <em>¡®Just you wait, I will make the tastiest braised pork ribs in the world,¡¯ </em>Minhyuk thought, a bright smile on his face.

    ***

    Ruin and Eveio were two of the mercenaries hired by the Rothschilde Kingdom to enter the Tomb of the Kings. While everyone was distracted and had their attention on the Food God, the two slipped away and went deeper into the ruins.

    The truth was, the one that sold the information to Cuhel about the Tomb of the Kings was none other than Ian, the global number one dungeon explorer. However, another dungeon explorer had approached Cuhel under Ian¡¯s orders.

    Ian was a business-minded person through and through. Right now, he was the dog of the Luvien Empire. That meant that he would do everything in his power to help the Luvien Empire prosper. That was why he approached the two mercenaries.

    ¡ª<em>The two of you should go and join the expedition for the Tomb of the Kings as mercenaries.</em>

    <em>¡ªThe Tomb of the Kings?</em>

    <em>¡ªAre you telling us to go?</em>

    From what they heard from Ian, the Tomb of the Kings¡¯ difficulty was at an extreme level that no king in existence could clear right now. So, why was he telling them to push themselves to their deaths?

    ¡ª<em>The Rothschilde Kingdom¡¯s King and his army will be wiped out in that ce. Since Cuhel will challenge the dungeon, he will lose his artifacts, skills and even his level if he fails. However, what¡¯s interesting is the fact that the skill will only drop and not get deleted if he gets forced to log out. However, what¡¯s more important is the fact that the artifact drop rate is several times higher than normal.</em>

    That was right. The reason why Ian sold that information to the Rothschilde Kingdom and asked them to enter was because he was confident that the Rothschilde Kingdom would be wiped out.

    ¡ª<em>Watch over them until the very end. Watch until they get annihted. After that, I will enter and acquire everything.</em>

    It was a thrilling thought of having the opportunity to take everything away from them. Cuhel was a bigshot and was a recognized wealthy man in Athenae. But it was not just him, even the other yers would also drop artifacts. However, something unusual happened. Food God Minhyuk suddenly appeared and began to cook.

    <em>¡®No way, are you telling me that a God-grade dish will appear?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®That¡¯s impossible. However¡­¡¯</em>

    The two were very confident that a God-grade dish would not appear. However, they were very afraid of the power that Food God Minhyuk wielded. If the Rothschilde Kingdom had him by their side, then they might truly be able to clear the Tomb of the Kings.

    Still, Ian had been prepared for situations like this.

    ¡ª<em>If, by any chance, they are doing exceptionally well. Then, there¡¯s a simple way of dealing with them. The Tomb of the Kings is thend owned by one of the Eight Pirs, Aegaeon. Pray to Aegaeon and awaken him. If you do that, then something interesting will happen.</em>

    <em>¡®Then, even the Food God will drop his skills and artifacts.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®It would be very amazing if we can take everything from the Food God.¡¯</em>

    The two did not know what the interesting thing that would happen was. Regardless, Ruin and Eveio werepletely blinded by the benefits that they might possibly get. After following the map that Ian gave them, the two arrived safely in the ce where Aegaeon¡¯s statue was standing.

    Who was Aegaeon? He was one of the Eight Pirs who stood side by side with Pope Kronad, Evil God Obren, and even Athenae. The two did not know anything about him since no information had been released yet. They just did what they were told and prayed, just like Ian instructed them to do.

    ¡°O¡¯ noble and great one that has been slumbering for a very long time, please heed our calls and awaken¡­<em>omitted¡­</em>please lend us your strength!¡±

    The two ced their hands together and prayed. During the prayer, Ruin pulled out a dagger and cut his palm. Then, he let his blood drip on the golden bowl that was sitting snugly on the hands of Aegaeon¡¯s statue.

    <em>Drip¡ª</em>

    Red blood slowly filled the bowl. Not long after, a red light burst out from the statue as a shocking notification rang in their ears.

    <em>[The power of the slumbering Aegaeon has temporarily awakened.]</em>

    <em>[Aegaeon, one of the Eight Pirs, hasmand over all of the kings inside the Tomb of the Kings.]</em>

    ¡°Soldiers, prepare for battle.¡±

    <em>[All of the kings inside the Tomb of the Kings have awakened!]</em>

    <em>[All of the kings inside the Tomb of the Kings have started to summon their armies!]</em>

    <em>[All of the kings inside the Tomb of the Kings have started to charge and eliminate the intruders!]</em>

    <em>[Challengers must survive for thirty minutes from the attacks of all of the kings.]</em>

    ***

    At the same time.

    Minhyuk, with a bright smile on his face, murmured, ¡°Braised pork ribs. Complete!¡±

    As the smile on his face grew wider, notifications began to ring in his ears.

    <em>[You have achieved the </em><strong><em>Easter Egg</em></strong><em>: ¡®The Most Delicious Dish in the World!¡¯]</em>

    <em>[Achieving an Easter Egg has made your dish even more special!]</em>

 Chapter 789

    Chapter 789

    <em>[You have achieved the </em><strong><em>Easter Egg</em></strong><em>: ¡®The Most Delicious Dish in the World!¡¯]</em>

    <em>[Achieving an Easter Egg has made your buff abilities even more special!]</em>

    <em>[You havepleted the Braised Pork Ribs!]</em>

    <em>[Extreme Trance. It is a dish that has your ¡®Excitement¡¯, ¡®Will to Eat Something Delicious¡¯, and ¡®Realization to Return to Your Roots¡¯ poured into it!]</em>

    <em>[Due to the effects of Extreme Trance, the buff effect has improved greatly.]</em>

    <em>[You have cooked using Ravier¡¯s Bizarre Cauldron.]</em>

    <em>[The buffed dish¡¯s effects will increase by 15%.]</em>

    <em>[Legendary Grade.]</em>

    <em>[All stats¡­]</em>

    <em>[All skills¡­]</em>

    <em>[Physical Attack Power¡­]</em>

    <em>[HP and MP¡­]</em>

    <em>[Skill¡­]</em>

    The notifications rang constantly in Minhyuk¡¯s ears. However, they werepletely ignored, as his eyes were focused on the steaming braised pork ribs in front of him.

    The steaming, well-seasoned braised pork ribs had been boiled down well in the Bizarre Cauldron. The meat looked extremely tender, and the potatoes right next to the meat looked like they had soaked up the sauce well. Minhyuk could not help but swallow back his saliva just by looking at it.

    <em>¡®The most delicious braised pork ribs in the world.¡¯</em>

    Yes, this was the braised pork ribs that he made, with only the thought of making it the most delicious. However, unlike Minhyuk¡¯s happy and delighted smile, the troops of the Rothschilde Kingdom were very disappointed.

    <em>¡®In the end, a God-grade dish did not appear.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®What could the dish¡¯s grade be?¡¯</em>

    When a God-grade item or dish was created, a pir of light would fall down from the sky. Seeing that no pir of light came to be, it was safe to say that Minhyuk failed to make a God-grade dish.

    <em>¡®Even if he made a legendary-grade dish, will it even have effects that can reverse the tides of this challenge?¡¯</em>

    Lesso believed that they needed at least a God-grade dish to survive safely inside the Tomb of the Kings. Right then, at that moment, they received worse news.

    <em>[All of the kings inside the Tomb of the Kings have awakened!]</em>

    <em>[All of the kings inside the Tomb of the Kings have started to summon their armies!]</em>

    <em>[All of the kings inside the Tomb of the Kings have started to charge and eliminate the intruders!]</em>

    <em>[Challengers must survive for thirty minutes from the attacks of all of the kings.]</em>

    <em>[You will be able to receive rewards after surviving for thirty minutes.]</em>

    <em>[However, if you seed in defeating all of the kings, you will receive a special reward!]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The Rothschilde Kingdom¡¯s troops became nervous about this unexpected turn of events. Based on what they had experienced so far, the Tomb of the Kings only allowed them to encounter the soldiers and knights of several outstanding kingdoms. They had not yet encountered and fought with a king directly. However, from the notifications, all of the kings were now charging toward them. They would even arrive with all their troops.

    <em>¡®Shit¡­¡¯ </em>Lesso¡¯s expression turned ugly. <em>¡®If we seed in defeating all of the kings, then we will receive a special reward?¡¯</em>

    That was absolutely impossible. It was already a miracle if they could survive for thirty minutes, how would such a feat be possible? Amidst all that, Minhyuk activated his skill.

    <em>[Everyone¡¯s Happiness.]</em>

    <em>[One bowl of dish has turned into ten.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s Everyone¡¯s Happiness could feed a total of ten people. One bowl was for himself, while the rest was for Cuhel, Lesso and the other high rankers.

    ¡°What is the grade of the dish?¡±

    ¡°Legendary grade,¡± Minhyuk answered Lesso¡¯s question bluntly and briefly.

    It was something that Lesso had expected, but he still felt the disappointment growing in him. Nevertheless, Lesso knew that he had to eat this meal quickly so he could increase the chances of their survival.

    ¡°Everyone, please hang in there while we eat this meal.¡±

    ¡°We understand.¡±

    The royal army answered with firm determination when they heard Lesso¡¯s orders.

    Lesso, who was about to eat his food, suddenly thought of looking at Minhyuk.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    He was leftpletely speechless. It was because Minhyuk was smiling happily at the braised pork ribs in front of him as though he had not a care in the world.

    ***

    There was a bright smile blooming on Minhyuk¡¯s face as he looked at the braised pork ribs served in an earthen pot in front of him. There was also a bowl of warm rice and a variety of side dishes ced around the earthen pot.

    <em>¡®The braised pork ribs are enough for a meal. But it¡¯s better to eat it like this. It¡¯s more yummy this way.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk liked to eat his meals properly, even if he was only going to be able to eat them once. So, he pulled out a bowl of boiling doenjjang jjigae, seaweed, and a serving of japchae from his inventory and set it on the table.

    After he finished the set up, he first grabbed a piece of braised pork ribs, bit on the meat and pulled the bone away. The braised pork ribs, which had been cooked well through varying heat inside the cauldron, easily gave way and separated from the bones.

    <em>Munch¡ª</em>

    The moment he chewed the meat, the savory and sweet vor of the meat spread gently in his mouth.

    ¡°Wow, it¡¯s melting. It¡¯s melting.¡±

    These were the only words that Minhyuk could use to describe the sensation in his mouth. Minhyuk quickly grabbed a pork rib in each hand and tore it apart with his teeth.

    After that, he grabbed his spoon and scooped up a mouthful of steaming rice in his mouth. The warm, well-cooked rice tasted sweet and delightful. Then, he immediately grabbed some braised pork meat and crammed it together with the rice in his mouth.

    ¡°Kghhk! This is amazing! Amazing!¡±

    This time, he turned his attention to the potatoes. He ced the fluffy and well-seasoned potatoes on top of his rice and sprinkled a few spoonfuls of the braised pork ribs¡¯ sauce on top. Then, he crushed the potatoes and mixed them together with the sauce and the rice. He felt nothing but awe when he ced the mix of rice, potatoes and sauce in his mouth.

    Then, he took a sip of the spicy and savory doenjang jjigae.

    ¡°Wahahahaha!¡±

    Shouts of awe and admiration came out of Minhyuk¡¯s mouth. The braised pork ribs, which had achieved the<em></em>Easter Egg: The World¡¯s Most Delicious Dish, was truly the best braised pork ribs that Minhyuk had ever tasted in his life.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    Loud footsteps began to ring and resonate in the area as Minhyuk ate his meal happily.

    ***

    Special yers Management Team.

    Lee Minhwa immediately went to report to Team Leader Park Minggyu after she saw the notifications on the monitor. ¡°Team Leader! All of the kings inside the Tomb of the Kings have awakened!¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Team Leader Park rushed to look at the monitor. ¡°No way. Did Eight Pirs Aegaeon get temporarily awakened?¡±

    Lee Minhwa nodded, which made Park Minggyu¡¯s expression turn somber. The Tomb of the Kings was a ce that should not have been explored yet. However, the yers had always moved beyond the expectations of the operators of Joy Co. Ltd.

    The release of the opponents inside the Tomb of the Kings should have been a sequential process. However, while that was the case, the current level of yers could not handle the level of difficulty of the tomb, not to mention if only one or two kings and their troops appeared. But right now, all of them had appeared.

    ¡°Thirty minutes. To be honest¡­ I think it¡¯s impossible for them to survive there for thirty minutes.¡±

    ¡°But¡­ If they can endure for that long, then they would be able to obtain huge rewards, no?¡±

    That was right. Those who would be able to endure and hold on until the end of that half hour would be able to receive enormous rewards. Of course, there were conditions.

    ¡°Only those that have given up on the King Above Kings¡¯ ss will be able to receive a more special reward.¡±

    ¡°¡­yer Minhyuk has given up on the King Above Kings¡¯ ss.¡±

    Team Leader Park¡¯s worries had now turned into reality. Actually, Park Minggyu was aware that Minhyuk did not really need the King Above Kings. He already guessed that he would give it up because of that.

    ¡°The one that gives up on the King Above Kings and the one that destroys and tramples on all of the kings instead of just holding on and enduring will be able to receive the special power of one of the Eight Pirs.¡±

    That was not all.

    ¡°They will also be able to get the special army of the God of All Kings Aegaeon.¡±

    There was one important fact that one had to know.

    ¡°It will be impossible even if yer Minhyuk is present there.¡±

    Lee Minhwa shook her head and said, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be so sure about that.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°yer Minhyuk has cooked a meal.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    yer Minhyuk¡¯s dishes had always exceeded expectations, not to mention if it were a God-grade dish.

    ¡°Is it God-grade?¡±

    ¡°No. It''s a Legendary grade.¡±

    ¡°So, it is.¡±

    <em>¡®It¡¯s just a legendary grade dish then?¡¯</em>

    If so, its effects would not be enough to allow the Rothschilde Kingdom¡¯s army to pull their foot off of the grave.

    Lee Minhwa, who looked at the relief that shed across Team Leader Park¡¯s face, said, ¡°But there¡¯s a problem.¡±

    ¡°What is it again?¡±

    ¡°The legendary grade dish is somewhat special.¡±

    ***

    The ten people, including Minhyuk, hurriedly ate their meals as the footsteps echoed louder and louder inside the Tomb of the Kings.

    <em>[The mages of the best Mage Kingdom, Abannon, have appeared!]</em>

    <em>[Mage King Imperio has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[Mage King Imperio. Level 595.]</em>

    <em>[Mages. Level 497.]</em>

    <em>[The knights of the Kenperoe Kingdom, the kingdom known for their outstanding sword masters, have appeared!]</em>

    <em>[Sword King Carman has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[Sword King Carman. Level 601.]</em>

    <em>[Knights. Level 511.]</em>

    <em>[The elite soldiers raised by the Tyrant have appeared¡­]</em>

    <em>[The archers protected by the God of Archery have appeared¡­]</em>

    The notifications rang constantly in their ears. The surviving troops of the Rothschilde Kingdom immediately took a step forward and protected those that were eating behind them.

    It sounded like there were a hundred people, maybe even a thousand people. Or perhaps there were five thousand or more? Powerful and strong enemies constantly appeared until their numbers could not be predicted anymore.

    ¡°Hold on for just a bit longer!!!¡± Cuhel ordered them. He hoped that they would be able to endure until they finished eating.

    However, the morale of the yers, NPC soldiers, and even the mercenaries had dropped to an all-time low after seeing the extremely high level of the opponents that appeared in front of them.

    <em>¡®This is the true appearance of the Tomb of the Kings.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Can we evenst for thirty minutes?¡¯</em>

    Thirty minutes? It looked like they would onlyst for five minutes.

    ¡°Until the end!!!¡± However, Ruman, the proud knightmander of the Rothschilde Kingdom, held his sword tightly and shouted. He would fight until his death.

    There were only around 1,000 troops left in the Rothschilde Kingdom¡¯s army. On the other hand, more than ten kings, whose levels averaged at Level 600, had made their appearance, together with 10,000 of their soldiers, whose levels averaged at Level 500.

    Even so, Ruman charged forward. At that moment, Mage King Imperio¡¯s staff burst into a bright light and triggered dozens of magic in quick session.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª!</em>

    The mages immediately followed after him and sent attacks toward the soldiers of the Rothschilde Kingdom. The few remaining mages and tankers of the Rothschilde Kingdom hurriedly used their shield magic and physical shields to ward off the attacks.

    Immediately after that, Sword King Carman jumped in the ranks of the Rothschilde Kingdom¡¯s army.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    One swing of his sword and several soldiers were cut down. That was not all. The archers protected by the God of Archery sent a rain of arrows in the sky that pierced the bodies of the soldiers urately with their 100% uracy rate.

    Lesso watched the knights and soldiers charging forward despite the arrows that pierced through their bodies. He could tell that they were squeezing thest of their strength to fight. However, with just one swing from Sword King Carman¡¯s sword, they sumbed to their deaths.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Lesso was also eating braised pork ribs. However, he just could not swallow it down.

    <em>¡®Legendary grade¡­¡¯</em>

    It was definitely an amazing dish. However, Food God Minhyuk had asked them for quite a lot of things earlier while dering that he could save everyone here with great confidence. Of course, the situation took a turn for the worse, and the reality in front of them was terrifying. Their allies andrades were fighting desperately and resisting with all their might, yet they could only die a helpless and vain death. Yet, Minhyuk merely brought forth a mere legendary dish?

    <em>¡®Did he think that we could beat them with just a legendary-grade dish?¡¯</em>

    It was absolutely impossible, ridiculous even. It would be better for them to put down their chopsticks, stop eating their meals, and fight fiercely alongside theirrades.

    ¡°Food God!!! What the hell is wrong with you, huh?! Looking so happy and delighted there?!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°Are you telling us to eat this meal when the situation is already like this?!!!¡±

    Just like Chuel, Lesso had also realized the importance of NPCs. The man in front of him had spoken confidently as if he could save them. That was why he could not help but look at him in resentment when people kept on dying.

    ¡°Legendary? What the f*ck?! Yes, it¡¯s a great dish, but do you think that a dish at that level can save us and give His Majesty Cuhel the power to ovee all of those kings, huh?!!!¡±

    Lesso slowly stood up from his seat. He would rather fight beside them until the very end than put his bet on this dish. He was aware that he would not be able to defeat even a single of the kings over there even though he was among the top high rankers. However, he¡¯d rather die fighting until the very end.

    However, Minhyuk grabbed Lesso, who was about to jump into the fray, by the cor and said, ¡°Hey, you bastard. You¡¯ve been annoying me since earlier. ¡°

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Lesso was taken aback when Minhyuk¡¯s dignity and majesty as a king suddenly erupted violently. Just a few moments earlier, the man had been showing a pure and happy smile as he cooked and ate his dish. But now, he was met with an overwhelming charisma that exploded without warning. Then, Minhyuk pped Lesso.

    <em>Smaaaaaack¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keok?!¡± Lesso groaned, his hand reaching out to cover his face as he was sent flying back from the force of the p.

    ¡°I did not like your attitude from the very beginning.¡±

    Minhyuk truly did not like Lesso, who had been arguing about a lot of things since earlier. Of course, Lesso also hated Minhyuk, thinking that he was trying to mislead them with his lies.

    ¡°F*cking bastard. Open those eyes and look carefully.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Lesso was confused. Then, he saw Cuhel step forward after eating his meal. There was also a warm and happy smile directed toward Minhyuk on his face. Then, an unbelievable set of notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[Your King, Cuhel, has transcended the limits of a human being!]</em>

    <em>[¡­Cuhel¡­limits of a human being!]</em>

    <em>[¡­Cuhel¡­limits of a human being!]</em>

    While the notifications rang constantly in his ears, he saw a ck stream of energy flow out of Cuhel¡¯s body. This was obviously the effect of the dish that he ate. Then, Cuhel pointed his sword toward Sword King Carman.

    ¡°The One Who Yields.¡±

    The One Who Yields was one of Cuhel¡¯s skills that could send out a beam of light that would pierce through his opponents. The light would explode and devour an entire area with a radius of ten meters.

    Lesso still shook his head. He knew that Cuhel¡¯s ¡®The One Who Yields¡¯ would not work on the Sword King Carman.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    However, a beam of light that was several times thicker than usual shot out from Cuhel¡¯s sword toward Sword King Carman. The Sword King hurriedly swung his sword and tried to sh the attack apart. s, Cuhel¡¯s skill was faster. It pierced through the Sword King¡¯s body and exploded.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The explosion engulfed an area with a 50-meter radius and devoured around 500 enemy troops all at once.

    ¡°<em>Gulp.</em>¡±

    Lesso could not understand what was happening for a moment. What did Cuhel do for him to be like that? The only thing that he did was to eat the dish given to them. But how could this happen after eating a mere dish? Lesso, who caught sight of Minhyuk¡¯s gaze, hurriedly rushed to his braised pork ribs and began to cram the few remaining pieces of ribs in his mouth.

    As he finished his meal, his guild members grew stronger one after another and even transcended the limits of a human being. Levar, the Rothschilde Kingdom¡¯s greatest mage, flew to the sky after finishing his meal and began to shoot magic toward the Mage King.

    ¡°<em>Urk¡­</em>¡±

    Surprisingly enough, the one that fell and copsed on the ground was the Mage King. Mage Levar was only at Level 485 and had a hundred-level difference with the Mage King.

    Seeing this, Lesso could not help but hurriedly cram thest piece of the braised pork ribs in his mouth. Then, the notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[You have eaten the Braised Pork Ribs.]</em>

    <em>[Legendary Grade.]</em>

    <em>[Due to the effects of the Bizarre Cauldron, the buff effects have increased by 15%.]</em>

    <em>[The Easter Egg ¡®Most Delicious Dish in the World¡¯ has increased the buff effects by 20%.]</em>

    <em>[Due to the effects of Extreme Trance, the buff effects have increased by 15%.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 34%.]</em>

    <em>[All of your skills¡¯ level has increased by +3.]</em>

    <em>[Your physical and magical attack have increased by 22%.]</em>

    <em>[Your physical and magical defenses have increased by 40%.]</em>

    <em>[Your resistance against abnormal status has increased by 50%.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP and MP has returned to 100%.]</em>

    <em>[Your skill cooldown has been reset.]</em>

    <em>[The effect ¡®ck stream of energy¡¯ has been activated.]</em>

    Lesso had seen the power of a God-grade buffed dish once on the inte. This legendary-grade dish did not pale inparison to the effects of that dish.

    Then, Minhyuk stood in front of him and said, ¡°You better fix that attitude. Understand?¡±

    Only then did Lesso realize that whatever the dish may be, whether it was legendary grade or God-grade, as long as it passed by Minhyuk¡¯s hands, its effects would be amazing.

    Lesso answered politely, ¡°¡­Yes. I understand.¡±

 Chapter 790

    Chapter 790

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll never show such an attitude toward the Food God ever again,¡¯</em> Lesso made such a vow as he felt the surge of power that flowed through his body from the buff effects that he received.

    <em>¡®How is this even possible?¡¯</em>

    The effects of Minhyuk¡¯s buffed dish were enough to give Level 500 yers a strength that could rival those at Level 650. What was even more surprising was that a ¡®legendary¡¯ grade dish was exerting the power of a ¡®god¡¯ grade dish.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª!</em>

    Lesso triggered his special skill, ¡®Crevice¡¯s Sword.¡¯ It was a skill that could normally engulf an area of a 15-meter radius and create a huge crevice on the ground where magma woulde pouring out.

    <em>[Crevice¡¯s Sword]</em>

    <em>[Magma with an additional 6,500% damage will spurt out of the crevice within a 36-meter radius area.]</em>

    <em>[The enemies¡¯ armor that make contact with the magma will immediately corrode. An additional 600% damage per second will be dealt to the enemies.]</em>

    The skill was supposed to only deal an additional 4,000% damage from the initial spurt of magma and 150% damage per second once it corroded the enemies¡¯ armor and defenses. On top of that, these additional % damages were usually rted to one¡¯s basic attack damage.

    Lesso was currently the most excited out of everyone present in this tomb. This was because the level of his power had reached a point where his enemies were melting down.

    ¡°Ha¡­ Hahahahahaha¡­ Hahahahahahahaha!¡±

    It was exhrating. Lesso felt like he could go toe to toe with Alexander the way he was right now. In fact, he felt like he could be the best ranker in the world. However, Lesso immediately realized that it was nothing but useless arrogance.

    ***

    <em>[The first attack of the kings of the Tomb of the Kings will continue!]</em>

    <em>[Remaining Time: 24 minutes 53 seconds.]</em>

    <em>[You will receive special rewards if you can wipe out the kings of the Tomb of the Kings and their troops quickly.]</em>

    <em>[You have wiped out the kings of the Tomb of the Kings and their troops!]</em>

    <em>[Your EXP Acquisition Rate has increased by 1.5x.]</em>

    <em>[A special reward will be given to the yer with the highest contribution inside the Tomb of the Kings.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 2,000 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained +2 in all of your stats.]</em>

    <em>[You are the yer with the highest contribution.]</em>

    <em>[You have wiped out the Magic Kingdom Abbanon¡¯s Mages.]</em>

    <em>[You are a king of a nation.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 200 Nurturing Parchments that can help your kingdom¡¯s mages to grow one ss higher.]</em>

    <em>[You have randomly acquired 137 of the 4th~6th ss Magic Books from the Abbanon¡¯s Magic Kingdom.]</em>

    If they could wipe them out faster, then they would be able to receive greater rewards. Minhyuk was also aware that there were precious ingredients, which the kings had enjoyed in their lifetimes, hidden within the Tomb of the Kings.

    Minhyuk jumped out and left Lesso behind. He had been saving his skills as much as possible ever since he entered the Tomb of the Kings. This was because he still did not know about whaty ahead of him inside this tomb. But now, all of the kings were now charging toward them at one go. There was no need for him to save his strength any longer.

    ¡°Summon Beanie.¡±

    ¡°Oiiiiink!¡±

    Beanie held a ck kitchen knife in his paws and wore a white cape carrying the ¡®Beyond the Heavens¡¯ symbol¡¯, as he appeared in front of Minhyuk with a smirk on his face.

    ¡°Oink! Oink, oink. Oiiiiiiiiink! <em>(It¡¯s been a long time since you called for me, bastard master! Oiiiink!)</em>¡±

    Minhyuk smiled faintly as he stood with Beanie at the forefront, facing over 10,000 of the charging troops that marched with their kings. Their levels all exceeded Level 570. However, Minhyuk had be stronger after eating the ¡®legendary¡¯ grade dish that wasparable to a ¡®god¡¯ grade dish in terms of buff effects.

    Minhyuk was currently at Level 602. At that level, he would be able to obtain strength that was at least at Level 700 if he ate a god-grade dish.

    ¡°Overlord¡¯s Technique.¡±

    <em>Crackleeeee¡ª!</em>

    A zing ck me erupted and covered his sword.

    ¡°Oiiiiiiiiiiiiink!!!¡±

    Beanie, who was now standing right next to him, immediately cast Overlord¡¯s Technique and swung his sword which was also covered with zing ck mes, together with Minhyuk.

    <em>Crackleeeeeeee¡ª!</em>

    After eating the buffed dish, the Overlord¡¯s Technique¡¯s level had increased by +2 and now covered an area with a 100-meter radius. On top of that, Beanie also released a simr Overlord¡¯s Technique, which instantly doubled the area.

    <em>Crackleeeee¡ª</em>

    The thousands of troops that were charging toward Minhyuk and Beanie and blocking their path were immediately sent flying back by the Overlord¡¯s Technique that overturned the entire area of 200 meter radius.

    <em>[You have wiped out the kings in the Tomb of the Kings and their troops at an incredible speed!]</em>

    <em>[The speed of the enemy troops¡¯ advance cannot catch up with the speed of being wiped out!]</em>

    <em>[You will be given a special reward.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 3,000 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired +5 to all of your stats¡­]</em>

    The Rothschilde Kingdom¡¯s army and Cuhel were all very shocked, especially those that had eaten the same legendary grade dish that Minhyuk had eaten. They clearly felt their limits. They felt very frustrated after seeing Minhyuk and realizing that they could not even reach his ankles. Then, at that moment, a set of chilling notifications rang out.

    <em>[Eight Pir Aegaeon¡¯s power has been activated!]</em>

    <em>[Aegaeon is gathering all of the kings.]</em>

    <em>[The gathered kings have be 20% stronger with Aegaeon¡¯s blessings.]</em>

    <em>[With Aegaeon¡¯s blessings, the gathered kings have received a 30% increase in their physical and magical defenses.]</em>

    <em>[There are a total of 300 kings gathered together.]</em>

    <em>[The gathered kings have recognized the current era¡¯s two strong kings.]</em>

    <em>[They are pointing their swords only at the two kings.]</em>

    <em>[The kings from the past want to test two great kings who have seeded them.]</em>

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    Hundreds of bright lights burst out in quick session. At that moment, all of the troops were swept away while Minhyuk and Cuhel were dragged forward by Aegaeon¡¯s power.

    ¡°Keheuuuuup!¡±

    ¡°Urk¡­!¡±

    Hundreds of kings surrounded and stared at the two of them. These proud and majestic kings were all curious about the kings of the current era and their strength. The questions began.

    ¡°Our strength¡­¡±

    ¡°Do you have the qualifications?¡±

    ¡°Do you have them?¡±

    Cuhel gulped dryly. Aegaeon had increased these kings¡¯ level by a hundred. These kings were asking them such questions. At the same time, Cuhel felt thrilled.

    <em>¡®If I¡­ If I can take the test together with Food God Minhyuk¡­¡¯</em>

    Cuhel realized that Food God Minhyuk stood at a higher ce than him and was much greater than him. He was an insignificant existence whenpared to Minhyuk.

    But then, Minhyuk put his hands on his shoulder and said, ¡°Be the King Above Kings.¡±

    Today, Minhyuk noticed that the world¡¯s richest man, Cuhel, would be Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s strong and reliable ally. That was why he believed that it would be better if this new reliable ally would have the new ss ¡®King Above Kings.¡¯

    Cuhel looked at Minhyuk and thought, <em>¡®Even though he might feel bad that he would have to be recognized together with someone like me¡­¡¯</em>

    However, the man in front of him gave him strength and confidence.

    ¡°I love you, friend.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Cuhel, who never had a real friend in his life, wanted to make a genuine friend. That was why he said those words. However, his method was a bit clumsy and cringy, to the point that it made Minhyuk feel this strange sense of difort.

    Meanwhile, the kings opened their mouths again.

    ¡°Can you carry our powers?¡±

    ¡°This era¡¯s strong kings.¡±

    ¡°We will test your qualifications.¡±

    There was arrogance in the eyes of these kings, as well as some curiosity toward the strong kings of the current era.

    Minhyuk¡¯s lips twisted into a smirk. ¡°Shut up and juste at us quickly.¡±

    The arrogant and great king''s faces turned ugly when they heard Minhyuk¡¯s impudent remarks.

    <em>[One of the Eight Pirs, Agaeon, is looking at you with interest.]</em>

    The 500 kings started attacking the two at the same time. The Rothschilde Kingdom¡¯s army was unable to intervene in this battle because Aegaeon¡¯s power was preventing them from interfering with their battle.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Minhyuk swiftly evaded the onught of attacks and the enemies that were chasing after him with his Like the Wind. Then, he kicked strongly and soared through the air, cutting down the kings that were blocking his path in the air.

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª!</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaack!¡±

    He stepped on the bodies of the falling kings to catapult himself higher, all the while allowing the attacks to fall on his body. Thanks to the activation of the Steel Skin, his physical and magical defense had tripled.

    ¡°Sword of Absolute Death.¡±

    Minhyuk, with his dark hair fluttering with the wind, red sharply at the kings. He was very upset when he heard them talk about testing themselves over and over again.

    <em>[Hundreds of lightning swords with additional 7,000% attack will fall down from the sky and hit all of the enemies within a 20 meter radius with a 100% sess rate.]</em>

    <em>[Immediately after the first attack, the hundreds of lightning swords with 2,000% additional attack will strike down all of the enemies within a 30-meter radius.]</em>

    <em>[Anyone who received a direct attack from the lightning sword will fall into a four-second stunned state.]</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    All of the kings within the 20-meter radius area were struck with lightning swords that carried an additional 7,000% attack.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Their screams rang rampant as hundreds of lightning swords fell from the sky one after another.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Those who had been directly hit by the lightning sword also fell into a stunned state. Minhyuk did not stop there. He quickly dashed forward the moment his feetnded on the ground.

    ¡°Stormy.¡±

    A sword made of storms was summoned right beside the running Minhyuk and shot toward the kings. Just like that, blood spurted out from the bodies of the kings.

    <em>¡®Crazy. Food God Minhyuk is really crazy.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Goodness¡­¡¯</em>

    The royal army was left ck-jawed when they saw Minhyuk¡¯s performance. Of course, they were also admiring Cuhel.

    <em>[The Destroyer¡¯s Dance.]</em>

    Cuhel triggered his secret skill, the Destroyer¡¯s Dance. It could create hundreds of Destruction Energy with every step that he made and stab his enemies, the kings, as they danced around him.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    Cuhel felt like he had nothing to fear now.

    <em>¡®My precious friend is right here with me, what is there for me to fear?¡¯</em>

    Hepletely entrusted his back to Minhyuk. Then, he thought, <em>¡®A way for my Rothschilde Kingdom to get back up on its feet and be stronger¡­¡¯</em>

    It had seemed like it was impossible.

    <em>¡®I should just stay with him.¡¯</em>

    <em>Stab¡ª Stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    Cuhel dashed forward and cut down the kings one after another.

    The pace at which they cut down the number of kings had be faster. Then, Minhyuk ran away from the kings. Of course, the kings started to chase after him. However, he took this opportunity to jump into the middle of their ranks.

    Minhyuk grinned. He had the skill ¡®Save¡¯, which allowed him to save a skill and use it once without it being affected by the cooldown time.

    ¡°Sword of Absolute Death.¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª</em>

    Once again, he triggered the Sword of Absolute Death and sent hundreds of lightning swords with an additional 7,000% attack, raining down on the kings, and wiping them out easily.

    At the same time, Cuhel cut down thest king.

    <em>Blink¡ª</em>

    <em>[You have wiped out all of the kings of the Tomb of the Kings!]</em>

    <em>[The two kings have received the recognition and acknowledgement of the Tomb of the Kings.]</em>

    <em>[The owner of the Tomb of the Kings, Aegaeon, has appeared.]</em>

    A bright light shed as a strange, powerful force wrapped around Minhyuk¡¯s body. Then, the space that he was standing on suddenly changed.

    ***

    The Eight Pirs. They were legendary characters who supported and maintained the world of Athenae. They were beings that even the Absolute Gods would not dare fight against.

    Aegaeon, one of the Eight Pirs, was an existence that wasparable to a king above kings. The Tomb of the Kings was just one among the many possessions that he had.

    If Goddess Athenae was the existence that maintained and kept the bnce of the world, then Aegaeon was the existence that wanted the world to ¡®not exist.¡¯ Among Aegaeon¡¯s power, there existed a power called ¡®gluttony.¡¯ It allowed him to devour his opponents which made him, who harbored such thoughts and ideals, extremely dangerous.

    That was why Athenae used all of her powers to seal Aegaeon. However, Aegaeon was a vicious and shrewd being. Knowing that he would be sealed, he separated himself into fragments and scattered them all over the world. Then, he waited.

    Right now, Aegaeon wanted one man. The same man who overcame the hurdles presented by the hundreds of kings in the Tomb of the Kings. He sat on his ck throne and watched as the man appeared in front of him in a sh of light.

    The man had many faces. He showed a bright and innocent smile when eating, and a wild, ferocious face, fiercer than any wild beast, when he was fighting.

    <em>[Aegaeon¡¯s Dignity has been triggered.]</em>

    <em>[Aegaeon¡¯s Dignity can force anyone to their knees and take away their will to fight!]</em>

    Aegaeon, with his ck hair strewn all over his face, looked at the man with an expressionless face and said, ¡°Kneel.¡±

    The power that he used was something that even the gods could not fight against. There was no god that would be able to stand in front of his dignity.

    <em>Rumbleeeeeeeeeee¡ª</em>

    The heavens and the earth shook as the word ¡®Kneel¡¯ rang in the area, and a tremendous amount of pressure weighed down on the human king in front of Aegaeon.

    ¡°Who the f*ck are you to tell me to kneel?¡±

    <em>[The Unyielding One has been triggered.]</em>

    <em>[The Candidate for the Eight Pirs does not give in to anyone!]</em>

    The knees of the man in front of Aegaeon did not fold.

    Meanwhile, contrary to his confident and arrogant words, Minhyuk was actually very nervous. This was his first time encountering such a strong pressure in Athenae. The pressure was leagues beyond the one that he felt when he faced the Corrupted God, one of the Six Monster Gods Gaerna, and the other powerful beings that he had faced before.

    Even so, Minhyuk did not kneel. In fact, he even took a step towards Aegaeon.

    <em>Thud, thud¡ª</em>

    ¡°You kneel.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°Worship.¡±

    The Earth King¡¯s Authority, ¡®Worship¡¯ was triggered. After the battle against over 300 kings, the Earth King¡¯s Mana had reached 100%. ording to the description of the Earth King¡¯s Authority ¡®Worship¡¯, it could force anyone to kneel once the Earth King¡¯s Mana had been filled to 100%.

    At that moment, Aegaeon¡¯s expression changed.

    <em>Thuuuuuuuuud¡ª</em>

    Something invisible that felt like they were tree roots began to wrap around Aegaeon¡¯s body as a powerful pressure began to press down on himself and drag him down from his throne.

    <em>¡®What¡­?!¡¯</em>

    Aegaeon was very shocked. He had never knelt down before, even in the presence of Athenae.

    <em>Thud, thud¡ª</em>

    A drop of sweat fell down Aegaeon¡¯s forehead as the man continued to take huge strides forward.

    <em>aaaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    Aegaeon could ignore the forced kneel status.

    <em>Swoosh¡ª</em>

    The power of Worship slowly disappeared. However, Minhyuk was already running with his sword. Minhyuk was quick-witted. He could tell that Aegaeon was not looking at him favorably and would try to kill him.

    <em>Dash, dash, dash¡ª</em>

    Aegaeon immediately jumped from his seat when he saw Minhyuk dash forward. The moment Minhyuk swung his sword, Aegaeon triggered a skill that no one could resist and forced Minhyuk¡¯s consciousness to turn ck.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Only after that did Aegaeon realize that the sword that Minhyuk swung stopped just right next to his neck.

 Chapter 791

    Chapter 791

    <em>Swoosh¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk was forced into an unconscious state, his body copsing toward the ground. Aegaeon immediately used his power and sent him flying back.

    <em>Baaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Aegaeon watched the unconscious Minhyuk roll helplessly on the ground. Cold sweat dripped down his back followed by a spine-numbing chill. Aegaeon never imagined that the man would try to kill Aegaeon, let alone make him kneel in front of him. However, it was all the more reason why Aegaeon wanted the man more.

    <em>Looks delicious.</em> Aegaeon¡¯s Gluttony whispered in his ears.

    Meanwhile, Obren, who was inside the Puzzling Seasoning Jar, realized that Minhyuk was facing the worst possible scenario. He had realized when they entered that thisnd was owned by Aegaeon. He assumed that someone had temporarily awakened Aegaeon in this ce. When Minhyuk was dragged to the ce where Aegaeon was, Obren was dismayed.

    ¡ª<em>What I¡¯m worried about has now be a reality.</em>

    Almost all of the Eight Pirs were looking for Minhyuk. They wanted to nip him in the bud. Minhyuk was able to avoid the pursuit of the Eight Pirs thanks to Obren¡¯s powers. However, Minhyuk still ended up facing one of them.

    Obren, who knew that Aegaeon would devour the boy right away, had given Minhyuk a small piece of advice.

    <em>¡®Either run away or kill him. Do one of the two somehow. The bastard is currently in a weakened state. Perhaps you might be able to kill him.¡¯</em>

    However, Obren had been mistaken. Even though Aegaeon was in a weakened state, he was still a being that Minhyuk could not even dream of facing. Of course, that was not Obren¡¯s fault. He had given Minhyuk the choice, and it was Minhyuk who chose to try to kill Aegaeon.

    ¡°Interesting.¡± Aegaeon grinned as he looked at the handsome man who was sprawled and unconscious on the ground with an expression filled with interest. Then, not long after, he began tough in a crazy manner.

    ¡°Fufufufufufu. Hihihihihihihi. Ahahahahahahahaha! Interesting!¡±

    Just like a devil, he whispered, ¡°I have to eat him, right?¡±

    Aegaeon licked his lips as he took a step toward Minhyuk. His Gluttony could take away and devour all of his opponent¡¯s power. Aegaeon was sure that he would somehow be able to regain some of his lost power as long as he preyed on this man.

    Of course, Minhyuk waspletely unconscious at this moment. Obren¡¯s voice soundedpletely muffled, as if it was covered with a thick haze, to him.

    <em>¡®Damn it, Minhyuk. Minhyuk!!! F*ck!!!¡¯</em>

    Slowly, his voice began to break through his consciousness.

    <em>¡®Ah¡­ yes¡­ quickly¡­the path¡­ open¡­!¡¯</em>

    However, Minhyuk¡¯s consciousness was stillpletely in the dark.

    ***

    Joy Co. Ltd.

    <em>Beeeeeep¡ª</em>

    <em>Beeeeeep¡ª</em>

    <em>Beeeeeep¡ª</em>

    <em>[Warning.]</em>

    <em>[Warning.]</em>

    <em>[Warning.]</em>

    The busy employees of Joy Co. Ltd. all froze in their tracks when they saw the warning messages sent by Supeputer Athenae sh on the screens of theirputers. This was the first time that Athenae had directly announced a crisis in the form of a ¡®warning.¡¯

    ¡°Team, Team Leader!!!¡±

    ¡°Team Leader!!!¡±

    ¡°Can you check what¡¯s going on?!¡±

    The members of various teams hurriedly called out to their team leaders. Unfortunately, they also did not know the current situation. So, the various team leaders all jumped up from their seats and ran toward the conference room.

    Everyone gasped for breath the moment they arrived in the conference room. The same was true for Kang Taehoon. Among the team leaders was Team Leader Park Minggyu, who had already been briefed by Lee Minhhwa. Team Leader Park quickly exined the ins and outs of the situation to President Kang Taehoon.

    ¡°Did you just say Aegaeon?¡±

    ¡°Yes. That¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°How did ite to this¡­?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s quiteplex, and there are a variety of reasons. One, there were a few dungeon explorers that discovered the ¡®Tomb of the Kings,¡¯ a ce that they should not have been able to find right now.¡±

    Indeed. The yers of Athenae had always exceeded the expectations of the developers.

    ¡°Second. Someone temporarily awakened Aegaeon¡¯s power.¡±

    A groan escaped President Kang Taehoon¡¯s mouth.

    ¡°Third. Food God Minhyuk has sparked Aegaeon¡¯s greed.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Everyone was left speechless. They did not expect that Aegaeon, one of the Eight Pirs, to grow greedy for Minhyuk. However, these various reasonsbined into aplex problem that would now create an ¡®error¡¯ that should not have existed in the first ce.

    ¡°What would happen if Aegaeon devours Minhyuk?¡± Someone asked.

    Team Leader Park Minggyu answered, ¡°Aegaeon¡¯s power is literally what it says, gluttony. The power to devour everything and take away the power and abilities of his opponent. Once that happens, Minhyuk will lose his ss, and he will revert back to Level 1.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Silence engulfed the conference room for a moment. The world¡¯s best ranker returning back to Level 1? This wouldpletely subvert what President Kang Taehoon had always advocated and preached about Athenae, that it was a world that also flowed the same way as that in reality.

    Who would even want to y the game once they were forced back to Level 1? What if the yer who had the admiration of the people and could bring hope to other yers was the one who experienced that?

    Even if he truly got devoured then, they had to help him recover somehow.

    ¡°Speak. Suggest other methods.¡±

    ¡°First, we can forcefully delete Eight Pirs Aegaeon. If Aegaeon absorbed the Food God¡¯s power, he would have the power of both the Food God and the Battle God¡¯s Descendant.¡±

    ¡°Then, we will restore it through Food God Minhyuk¡¯s saved data.¡±

    ¡°Also, I believe that we have to give Food God Minhyuk some kind ofpensation.¡±

    ¡°But if we do it like this, we will face quite a lot of problems. The previous Eight Pirs would suddenly be the Seven Pirs. On top of that, can we guarantee that we will be able to fully recover Food God Minhyuk¡¯s data? Also, what kind ofpensation should we give to yer Minhyuk?¡±

    President Kang Taehoon¡¯s heart felt heavy. In fact, he knew it all too well.

    ¡°It¡¯s impossible to fix.¡±

    A sigh escaped from his lips as silence enveloped the entire conference room. Since Athenae had been made to be as realistic as possible, things that exceeded their expectations would often happen. This time was no different, but the consequences were dire.

    All they could do was drown in the despair brought forth by the depressing silence as they watched Aegaeon, who was about to devour Minhyuk, walk toward the man on the TV screen.

    The scene in front of everyone turned white. At the same time, Team Leader Park received a text message from Lee Minhwa. He could not help but read the content of the message out loud, ¡°Athenae has opened a path¡­?¡±

    ***

    Aegaeon¡¯s eyes almost turned green from greed as he walked one step at a time and approached the unconscious Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®Looks delicious,¡¯</em> Aegaeon licked his greedy lips and whispered to himself. Then, he stopped in front of Minhyuk. However, just when he was about to reach for the man¡¯s head, a cold voice rang from the side.

    ¡°Hey.¡±

    The voice belonged to a handsome dark-haired man. This man was none other than the Evil God, or so the people called him. Another one of the Eight Pirs, Obren, looked at Aegaeon and spoke coldly, ¡°If you touch this child, I will make sure to find all of your fragments scattered all over the world and tear them to pieces.¡±

    Aegaeon felt strange. He did not expect that the Evil God, one of the Eight Pirs, was protecting a human king. However, even if that was the case, with how Evil God Obren was currently, there was no way that he could stop Aegaeon.

    ¡°What can you even do when you¡¯re that weak?¡±

    However, Obren just chuckled coldly, ¡°I never said that this child is alone.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Aegaeon looked at Obren in confusion.

    <em>[The Greatest God, Athenae, has opened up a path that connects the entire world.]</em>

    <em>[Goddess Athenae is summoning those who know Minhyuk from every corner of the world!]</em>

    Aegaeon frowned, wondering what Athenae was thinking. It was absolutely ridiculous. Why would she open up a path just for a mere human king? Besides, who would evene here to go against one of the Eight Pirs?

    A path made of light spread out and extended from the sky.

    ¡°Then, shall I tear up all of your fragments hidden in the east?¡±

    A man wearing silver armor and a very somber expression on his face appeared and stood in front of the unconscious Minhyuk, blocking Aegaeon¡¯s path. This man was the ¡®God that Rules and Commands the Greatest Army¡¯.

    ¡°Then, let me tear everything in the west.¡±

    Immediately after that, a beautiful woman appeared, staring fixedly at Aegaeon with a cold and sharp re. This woman was none other than the ¡®God that Loves Cooking¡¯.

    ¡°The North.¡±

    She was immediately followed by a man with a gloomy and dreary expression. He spoke briefly and bluntly, as if to prove his taciturn personality. This was the God ¡®that Never Backs Down¡¯.

    ¡°Gods, will you leave the south to this humble human? I will make sure to tear all of the fragments until they can no longer be recognized.¡±

    This time, a woman wearing a red full-ted armor that carried the mark of the phoenix, the symbol of the Eivelis Empire, and a sword on her shoulder appeared. This was none other than Sword Emperor Ellie.

    ¡°Hoho. For someone that dared to harm His Majesty, I do not n on stopping after I tear his fragments to pieces.¡±

    Then, an old man with a very cold expression appeared. This old man currently held and wielded the greatest spear in existence.

    ¡°Did you just try to touch His Majesty¡¯s body?¡±

    The Fallen and Wretched Emperor, who almost ruled the greatest empire, appeared.

    ¡°You must want to die.¡±

    Dark demonic energy spread out from the body of the newly born Great Demon, also known as the Shield of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. The demonic energy turned into a shield that protected Minhyuk.

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!¡±

    ¡°Rooooooaaaaaaar!¡±

    Although they looked quite insignificant and trivialpared to the others that had appeared here, Love, Hope and Happiness still ran forward fiercely and roared loudly to protect their master.

    There were also yers that responded to Athenae¡¯s summon and appeared in this ce.

    ¡°F*ck! Who dares to touch my boyfriend!!!¡± Genie shouted as she mmed her whip on the ground.

    ¡°I¡¯ll make sure to break an arm,¡± Right beside her, Khan dered as he put on his gloves and looked beside him.

    ¡°Then, I¡¯ll go for the legs. I¡¯ll make sure to cut them to pieces.¡± Asura Ascar held her bloody-red sword tightly.

    ¡°Is that even necessary? It¡¯s not a bad idea to throw him and make him the food for my undead, right?¡± The King of the Dead, Death, looked at Aegaeon arrogantly.

    ¡°Let¡¯s blow him up until there¡¯s nothing left of him.¡± Golden Mage Ali smiled.

    Then, another yer said, ¡°I¡¯ll turn him into an eunuch.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    For a moment, everyone turned to look at Locke, who was the source of the statement. Of course, they immediately turned back to look at Aegaeon again. However, Locke grabbed his axe tightly, as if he was very serious about what he said.

    The truth was, everyone that appeared here was very nervous. None of them could estimate the power of one of the Eight Pirs.

    Aegaeon unknowingly took a step back. The legends of this era gathered together just for the sake of a mere human king? It was truly beyond his understanding.

    In a blink, a crowd of powerful people gathered and surrounded Minhyuk in a protective circle. Then, at that moment, a middle-aged man¡¯s voice rang loudly from beside Minhyuk, who had been hidden by the crowd.

    ¡°You are mistaken.¡±

    The crowd parted and opened up a path for Aegaeon to see who was talking. At the end of the path was a middle-aged man. He gently ced Minhyuk¡¯s head on hisp and swept his hair away.

    This man had responded to Athenae¡¯s summons, even from hell. His name? Sword God Valen.

    Valen looked at Minhyuk, who slept like a baby, with a soft smile on his face and said, ¡°This child¡¯s greatest strength does not lie with the powerful sword that he wields. Nor does it lie with the excellent dishes that he produces, or the amazing abilities and outstanding artifacts in his possession.¡±

    Valen looked up at Aegaeon and continued with a cold voice, ¡°To be loved by all.¡± Valen held his sword tightly after making sure that the boy¡¯s head was gently ced on hisp and spoke with great emphasis, ¡°This is this child¡¯s greatest strength.¡±

 Chapter 792

    Chapter 792

    What was Minhyuk¡¯s biggest strength? It was none other than his power to attract people.

    Minhyuk was kind and polite to the point that people often forget the fact that he was the sessor to argepany. He had always stood against the strong and never ignored the weak. On top of that, there was often a pure, innocent and child-like smile whenever he was eating his food, which fascinated a lot of people. Many people benefited greatly from Minhyuk¡¯s buffed dishes as well.

    Just like that, people started to gather around him as he continued on his journey in Athenae. Before Aegaeon knew it, Minhyuk was already surrounded by countless people.

    <em>¡®To be loved by all.¡¯</em>

    Aegaeon looked at Valen, who had already stood up, with his sword aimed at him. Then, he looked around him. If he did his best, he was sure that he could devour Minhyuk right here and now. However, the problem came after that. If he devoured Minhyuk, the people who appeared here would make sure to hunt and destroy his fragments to the point that no trace would be left behind.

    <em>¡®I can¡¯t have that.¡¯</em>

    If Aegaeon was honest, just the fact that Minhyuk was loved by all and had such power was enough for him to covet the child more. However, he knew that this was not the time yet.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡°I¡¯ll stand down for now.¡±

    All of the people present were ring coldly at Aegaeon as he disappeared from their sight.

    ¡°<em>Fwaaaaa¡­</em>¡±

    The moment he disappeared, Sword Emperor Ellie released a shaky breath. Many others also breathed a sigh of relief. They would be lying if they said that they did not feel fear at the thought of fighting a battle where their odds werepletely unknown. Thankfully, it did not get to that point.

    Then, Sword God Valen lowered himself once again and swept Minhyuk¡¯s hair away. ¡°You¡¯re truly amazing, Minhyuk.¡±

    Valen looked at the people around him. He did not expect Minhyuk to be loved by the Absolute Gods.

    ¡°Hmmm¡­ want to eat¡­ samgyeopsal¡­ jokbal¡­¡±

    Valen stared at the sleeping Minhyuk for a very long time.

    ***

    Joy Co. Ltd. conference room.

    Everyone felt very relieved. The ones that had been summoned and gathered in the Tomb of the Kings were now returning one after another through the paths opened by Athenae.

    Kang Taehoon, who had recently connected Supeputer Athenae to the conference room, called out, ¡°Athenae.¡±

    The screen in front of them immediately turned ck.

    <em>[Speak.]</em>

    ¡°Did you judge that this disaster could be prevented by opening that path?¡±

    Everyone held their breath. Supeputer Athenae was the one that managed and maintained the bnce of everything inside the game Athenae. The choice that had been made earlier might have been done through Obren¡¯s request, but this might have also been a decision made by Athenae herself to prevent the dire consequences.

    <em>[I cannot confirm nor deny anything.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    <em>[I have opened the path because it is the ¡®only method¡¯ avable.]</em>

    Athenae continued to speak, not stopping to hear whatever was in everyone¡¯s mind.

    <em>[I did not predict anything like this.]</em>

    Even Supeputer Athenae did not predict that this would happen. All she did was do her best to try and correct the error that suddenly appeared. The officials and operators of Joy Co. Ltd. remained silent. They felt extremely insignificant at this moment.

    President Kang Taehoon smiled bitterly and said, ¡°So, it¡¯s not us, not you, but Minhyuk, who prevented this disaster?¡±

    Silence enveloped the room for a few seconds. Then, Athenae said¡­

    <em>[That¡¯s right.]</em>

    ¡°Hahahahaha!¡± Kang Taehoonughed loudly.

    It was not the operators of Joy Co. Ltd. nor Athenae who did this. Perhaps even the supeputer Athenae was hoping that there would be many people who would respond to her call when she opened the path earlier.

    Then, Team Leader Park Minggyu, who vowed to further improve after reflecting and ming himself for being ipetent and helpless in such a situation, said loudly, ¡°yer Minhyuk¡­ has truly be the heart of Athenae.¡±

    ***

    <em>[You have achieved amazing feats while clearing all of the trials of the Tomb of the Kings!]</em>

    This was the notification that rang in the ears of all of those present in the Tomb of the Kings. Cuhel and the Rothschilde Kingdom army felt that this was a very novel feeling.

    <em>¡®We have been on the back foot since the very beginning.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Thanks to Minhyuk, we were able to ovee these trials and even got amazing achievements.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk, who finally returned from the space that he was dragged into, was truly worthy of their admiration.

    However, none of them was aware of what Minhyuk had gone through in that ce. As for Minhyuk, he could check the situation through his guild chatting window.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Vice Guild Master Genie</em></strong><em>: Minhyuk, are you alright?]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Locke</em></strong><em>: Hoo¡­ When I said that I will make him into an eunuch¡­ everyone turned around. That f*cker¡­]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Khan</em></strong><em>: You should get some rest when you get back. You must be very tired.]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Ascar</em></strong><em>: We¡¯re in trouble. Grandpa Ben, Brod and Elpis are making a fuss. They said they wanted to find Aegaeon¡¯s fragments.]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Ace</em></strong><em>: Looking for a girlfriend in Athenae. I¡¯m Firefist Ace of Jungsan Middle School! My type are girls that are like Robin.]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Crow</em></strong><em>: Hey, hey. How can you put a macro[1] here?]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Ace</em></strong><em>: Aaack! Sry, sry. Minhyuk hyung, are you okay?]</em>

    Minhyuk smiled faintly. He was very grateful to all of them. Just when he was about to give his thanks, a constant stream of notification windows popped up in front of him. Well, Minhyuk thought that it would be better to just go back and personally give his thanks, so he looked at the notifications first.

    <em>[You have achieved amazing feats while clearing all of the trials of the Tomb of the Kings!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 933,311,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 53,317 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[Something amazing will happen in the kingdom of the one that has achieved amazing feats while clearing the Tomb of the Kings.]</em>

    <em>[The soldiers of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s Royal Army that are below Level 500 will grow 10% stronger.]</em>

    <em>[The EXP Acquisition Rate of the soldiers of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s Royal Army that are below Level 500 will double for two weeks.]</em>

    <em>[The EXP Acquisition Rate of the yers of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom will double for two weeks.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 300 Nurturing Parchments of the Ruaca¡¯s Knights that Grew Powerful from the Strength of the Tyrant.]</em>

    <em>[When applied, the Knights¡¯ level will increase by 10%.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 300 Nurturing Parchments of the Baramma Kingdom¡¯s Archers that Received the Blessings of the God of Archery¡­]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 100,000 Immortal Guardian¡¯s Swords and 100,000 Immortal Guardian¡¯s Armor from the cksmiths Kingdom, Aggadon Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the legendary ingredients from the Banquet Enjoyed by the Kings.]</em>

    <em>[You can acquire 130g~250g from every part of the Soft, Tender and Melt-in-the-Mouth Cow.]</em>

    <em>[You have met the conditions to acquire the King Above Kings ss.]</em>

    <em>[You have given up on the King Above Kings ss.]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Easter Egg</em></strong><em>: The One that Went Beyond the King Above Kings.]</em>

    <em>[As your reward for achieving the Easter Egg, you can get one of the rewards of the King Above Kings ss.]</em>

    This was the moment that he had been waiting for. This was the main reason why Minhyuk gave up on the King Above Kings ss. Of course, the other rewards were excellent, especially those that would help his forces be stronger. However, the reward that Minhyuk wanted the most was the ingredients for the Banquet Enjoyed by the Kings. Of course, he would choose the one that tasted the best.

    <em>[The Legendary Ingredients from the Banquet Enjoyed by the Kings have evolved into God-grade ingredients.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 200g of Chuck p Tail.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 200g of Rib Eye Steak.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 150g of Skirt Steak¡­]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 200g of t Iron Steak¡­]</em>

    Minhyuk already felt like he was recovering well the more he listened to these notifications.

    <em>¡®I¡¯ve gained a lot.¡¯</em>

    First, the EXP Acquisition Rate of all of the yers in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had doubled for two weeks. In other words, Beyond the Heavens would be able to rise in terms of power. Since tens of thousands of yers benefitted from the achievements made by their king, many people woulde to visit the kingdom to see for their own eyes.

    <em>[The Seventh Absolute Demigod ss has been born to the world!]</em>

    <em>[The Seventh Absolute Demigod ss is the ¡®King Above Kings¡¯!]</em>

    <em>[There are a total of twenty Absolute Demigod sses that exist in the world!]</em>

    The world message rang out. Minhyuk turned to look at Cuhel, who was trembling from excitement.

    <em>[The other king has cleared the Tomb of the Kings with greater achievements than you.]</em>

    <em>[The other king has given up on the ¡®King Above Kings¡¯ ss.]</em>

    <em>[Your ss will be upgraded to the Absolute Demigod ss!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP and MP has recovered to 100%.]</em>

    <em>[Only those that do not have the ¡®God ss¡¯ will be able to obtain the Absolute Demigod ss.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats and skills will change after you have acquired the Absolute Demigod ss!]</em>

    <em>[Your level will go down by -200 within twenty-four hours after you have acquired the Absolute Demigod ss!]</em>

    <em>[The Absolute Demigod King Above Kings is the one that brought all of the kings to their knees with just his sword.]</em>

    <em>[The Absolute Demigod King Above Kings is a powerful man who can even fight against an emperor with his sword alone!]</em>

    Cuhel¡¯s previous ss was the Maestro of Destruction. That meant that all of his skills and stats had changed with the acquisition of this new ss. When he looked at the new list of his skills, a shiver ran down his body. All he could do was look at it in awe.

    ¡°Your Majesty, congrattions on bing the Seventh Absolute Demigod ss!!!¡±

    The Rothschilde Kingdom¡¯s army all knelt down and showed courtesy in front of Cuhel.

    Was the Absolute Demigod ss more shabby whenpared to an Absolute God ss? Not at all. ording to the information that had been published before, Absolute God sses could have an enormous influence in the world of Athenae. While the Absolute Demigod sses could not exert as much influence, they were mostly bat sses¡¯ and had power that could potentially go beyond that of the Absolute God sses. The prime example of this was ¡®Asura Ascar.¡¯

    The trembling Cuhel said, ¡°Minhyuk, I will give you all of the rewards that we have acquired today.¡±

    ¡°Your, Your Majesty¡­!¡±

    ording to their deal, the Rothschilde Kingdom should receive at least 10% of the rewards. This was supposed to be the reward for the victims and those who suffered from this trial.

    ¡°I¡¯ll take care of thepensations for those that participated and died in this conquest.¡±

    Cuhel did not think that it was a waste to do so. In fact, he had already firmly decided on one thing.

    ¡°From this day on, our Rothschilde Kingdom will be Beyond the Heaven¡¯s Kingdom¡¯s¡­¡±

    But before he could finish his words, a notification rang out.

    <em>[Another person has entered the Tomb of the Kings!]</em>

    ***

    The global top Dungeon Explorer Ian had be a dog of the Great Luvien Empire. He deliberately leaked the information about the Tomb of the Kings to the Rothschilde Kingdom, knowing that these people would not be able to clear the dungeon. It was because he intended to get all of their drops once they had been wiped out.

    <em>¡®Those two bastards must have already been forced to log out.¡¯</em>

    When Aegaeon was temporarily awakened, the two mercenaries that he hired to stir up trouble had been forced to log out.

    Ian felt his heart thump wildly.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s not only Cuhel, but even Food God Minhyuk that has died in this ce.¡¯</em>

    The challengers of the Tomb of the Kings would lose their skills, artifacts, and a variety of things in their possession upon failing in their trial. The most interesting fact here was the fact that the skill that they lost would not be deleted but dropped, just like when killing a monster.

    <em>¡®They will not be able to survive against Aegaeon.¡¯</em>

    Each of the top three dungeon explorers held special skills and abilities that allowed them to stand on top of other dungeon explorers. In the case of Bran, the 2nd in the rankings, he had the skill ¡®Ancient Relics Tracker¡¯. As for Ian, he had the ¡®Dungeon Explorer¡¯s Eye.¡¯

    If the Ancient Relics Tracker could track relics once every five months, the Dungeon Explorer¡¯s Eye could be triggered once every month. It was much better than the Ancient Relics Tracker since it could help Ian read, analyze, and grasp the system of the dungeons, even in this Tomb of the Kings that he was currently tracking.

    <em>¡®In the end, they had to awaken Aegaeon. Even if they defeated the kings and obtained amazing achievements, it would be impossible for them to defeat Aegaeon.¡¯</em>

    Ian grinned widely. In the unlikely scenario they had killed Aegaeon, he would have gotten the notification. However, there was no such thing.

    However, there was one thing that Ian had overlooked. Each skill had its own advantages. For example, Bran knew through his ¡®Ancient Relics Tracker¡¯ that one would be able to obtain the ss King Above Kings inside the Tomb of the Kings. That was something that Ian did not know.

    <em>¡®Who¡¯s the one that got the King Above Kings?¡¯</em>

    However, Ian quickly threw that question to the back of his mind. With his eyes stained by greed, he quickly entered the Tomb of the Kings.

    ¡°You¡¯re still resorting to dirty tricks to gain benefits for yourself?¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Ian was shocked when a voice suddenly rang in his ears. A figure emerged from the darkness, and it was none other than Bran. Ian had always ignored Bran. In fact, he believed that Bran would not be able to catch up to him. However, this was only because Bran did not resort to immoral and dirty methods.

    ¡°H, how¡­?¡± Ian stuttered, disbelief clear on his face.

    ¡°You must be the one that leaked that information to me.¡±

    Another figure emerged from the darkness. This man was none other than Cuhel. Ian¡¯s pupils dted when he saw that the man was still alive. He took a step back.

    ¡°W, wait¡­¡±

    Ian was a dungeon explorer. His power could only rival that of a high-level yer, and he was absolutely no match against Cuhel.

    <em>Thump¡ª</em>

    Unfortunately, when he took a step back, he was blocked by a tall man.

    ¡°When one enters the Tomb of the Kings, they will be subjected to greater penalties upon being forced to log out.¡±

    The person blocking his path scoffed. This man was none other than the Luvien Empire¡¯s greatest nemesis, the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King, the Food God.

    ¡°This¡­ shit¡­!¡±

    It was only then that he realized that these people had cleared the Tomb of the Kings.

    <em>¡®Im, impossible¡­!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk, who was standing behind the shocked Ian, whispered, ¡°Did you know? I obtained a lot of interesting things when I hunted the Evil Incarnate.¡±

    Minhyuk took out an artifact from his inventory. This artifact was a one-time use artifact called the ¡®Dagger of Despair.¡¯

    <em>Staaaaaaab¡ª</em>

    The moment the dagger stabbed Ian¡¯s back, he received chilling notifications.

    <em>[Your penalty for being forced to log out will be doubled!]</em>

    <em>[You will drop 30%~80% of your tinum once you are forced to log out.]</em>

    ¡°W, wait. Let¡¯s make a deal¡­¡±

    However, Minhyuk¡¯s sword had already pierced through his heart even before he could finish his words.

    <em>Staaaaaaaaab¡ª!</em>

    <em>[You have been forced to log out!]</em>

    <em>[You have received the Tomb of the Kings¡¯ Penalty!]</em>

    <em>[The Dagger of Despair has doubled your penalty for forced log out.]</em>

    <em>[You will drop 71% of your tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have dropped 44,313 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have dropped the Veteran Dungeon Explorer¡¯s Armor.]</em>

    <em>[You have dropped Farimi¡¯s Nimble Boots.]</em>

    <em>[You have dropped your skill: Breaking Through Dungeons.]</em>

    His thoughts turned nk. The notifications that continued to ring in his ears made him fall into the depths of despair.

    <em>[You have dropped your skill: Dungeon Explorer¡¯s Eyes.]</em>

    The nail in the coffin was when the best skill that had kept him at the top also dropped.

    <em>¡®N, noooooooooooo!!!¡¯</em>

    Ian screamed. Then he saw Minhyuk grinning, ¡°Hey, thanks a lot.¡±

    Finally, Ian¡¯s vision turned dark.

    1. automatic program that repeatedly inputs a specificmand ?

 Chapter 793

    Chapter 793

    Everything was finally sorted out. Ian, the mastermind behind the fiasco, was most likely going to be pushed out of the top of the Dungeon Explorer¡¯s Rankings after he received the forced logout penalty, dropping the Dungeon Explorer¡¯s Eyes that he was very proud of in the process.

    Meanwhile, Cuhel had something that he really wanted to tell Minhyuk. ¡°Minhyuk. Our Rothschilde Kingdom will¡­¡±

    However, he was interrupted before he could finish his words once again.

    ¡°Bye everyone! Bye! I¡¯m going to go and eat beef!!!¡±

    Minhyuk fidgeted like he was a puppy that was about to poop and waved his hands at them while smiling brightly like a child. Then, he turned into a bright light and disappeared.

    ¡°That, that impertinent fool! His Majesty is still speaking!¡±

    ¡°Is he saying that beef is more important than His Majesty¡¯s words?¡±

    But Cuhel shook his head when he heard the words of the soldiers of the Rothschilde Kingdom.

    ¡°It¡¯s better to eat beef, no? Our dear Minhyuk is suffering from a rare disease, there¡¯s nothing we can¡¯t do,¡± Cuhel said as he stared at the spot where Minhyuk had disappeared from, with clear affection.

    <em>¡®Our¡­ our dear Minhyuk? What?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Since when did he call Minhyuk ¡®our dear Minhyuk¡¯?¡¯</em>

    Cuhel continued to stare at the ce where his friend, Minhyuk, disappeared and thought, <em>¡®I also want to see my dear Minhyuk in real life.¡¯</em>

    Cuhel had always been a loner. He had never made a proper friend or even got close to someone. That was why he was very excited to have Minhyuk in his life.

    <em>¡®I really want to see Minhyuk.¡¯</em>

    There was a saying that went, <em>¡®Strike while the iron is hot.¡¯.</em> So, Cuhel, or Rausch, the head of the Rothschilde Family, immediately logged out and got on a ne.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go to Incheon Airport.¡±

    ***

    Minhyuk chuckled the moment he entered his office back in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. There were a variety of beef parts spread out in front of him, while the baby piggy Beanie with his plump belly sat opposite him.

    ¡°Oink. Oink, oink. Oiiiiiiiink! <em>(I want to eat them already! Oink!)</em>¡±

    Beanie also worked together with Minhyuk in the Tomb of the Kings. Of course, Beanie was not going to eat the God-grade Soft, Tender and Melt-in-the-Mouth Beef. What Beanie was going to eat was the 1++ grade beef that Minhyuk had purchased for him.

    ¡°Beans, when ites to beef, you have to cook it quickly on a piping hot grill.¡±

    White smoke slowly rose from the heated grill. Only after seeing the smoke did Minhyuk use his tongs to grab a rib eye steak, which had a fantastic marbling, and ce it on the grill.

    <em>Sizzleeeeeeeee¡ª</em>

    <em>Sizzleeeeeeeee¡ª</em>

    Beanie immediately followed Minhyuk¡¯s instructions and grabbed a piece of rib eye steak on his own.

    ¡°Oiiiiiiiiiink¡­!¡±

    Beanie was deeply moved.

    Then, Minhyuk turned the rib eye steak at the perfect moment. Beef needed to be turned once over on high heat. Doing it in such a way would trap the juices of the beef and maintain its soft and tender texture.

    Minhyuk cut the rib eye steak into bite-sized pieces. Then, he mped a thick and juicy piece and dipped it in salt.

    <em>Chomp¡ª</em>

    When he bit into the meat, the juice immediately spread out in his mouth along with the tender, soft and slightly undercooked meat.

    ¡°O, oink¡­¡±

    Beanie also looked ecstatic with just one bite of the soft and tender beef.

    Minhyuk smiled happily. This time, he ced some chopped scallions on top of the rib eye steak before putting everything in his mouth.

    <em>Munch, munch¡ª</em>

    ¡°Kghhk¡­ This is a small slice of heaven¡­¡±

    Beef eaten after doing hard work was truly bliss.

    <em>Pop¡ª</em>

    Minhyukughed as he opened a very, <em>very </em>cold bottle of beer and poured it into a ss.

    ¡°The first one should be a bottoms up.¡±

    The first sip of beer was the most delicious. Something so refreshing and cool should be drunk in one go.

    <em>Gulp, gulp, gulp¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk gulped the contents of his ss and drank everything until the veryst drop.

    ¡°<em>Gulp, gulp, gulp, kghhk!</em>¡±

    On the other hand, baby piggy Beanie mmed the can of c down after inhaling its contents.

    Since they had finished all of the rib eye steak, they turned their attention to the chuck p tail this time. Each cow would usually only have around 4~5kg of chuck p tail, and was considered to be the most delicious and precious part when grilled.

    They both ced a piece of chuck p tail on the well-heated grill.

    <em>Sizzleeee¡ª</em>

    When smoke finally rose, it signaled that the side was already cooked well. That meant that it was time to get flipped. After cooking, Minhyuk dipped the bite-sized chuck p tail in the salt and ced it in his mouth. Just like before, the soft and tender texture of the meat spread in Minhyuk¡¯s mouth.

    <em>¡®It practically melts in the mouth.¡¯</em>

    This was the perfect expression to describe the taste of both the rib eye steak and the chuck p tail. It was so good, that Minhyuk¡¯s body shivered with each bite.

    <em>Sizzleeeeeee¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk grilled two more pieces of chuck p tail. Then, he ced the well-cooked chuck p tail on the lettuce leaf that he spread on his palm, added some scallions, and garlic dipped in ssamjang. He wrapped everything up and ced it in his mouth.

    ¡°Hmm. This is the best.¡±

    ¡°Oiiiiiiiiink¡­!¡±

    Beanie, who was sitting right in front of Minhyuk, also made his own bulging lettuce wrap. One might wonder how could such a huge lettuce wrap fit in his mouth. As it turned out, Beanie was able to cram the huge lettuce wrap in his mouth. His cheeks might be bulging to its limits but there was a very happy smile on his face.

    ¡°Oooooooooink.¡±

    In just a blink, the beef brisket doenjang jjigae that they cooked while they were eating the grilled meat was done. The slight greasiness from the grilled beef immediately disappeared the moment the spicy doenjang jjigae entered their mouths.

    Minhyuk hurriedly scooped a spoonful of the jjigae,plete with zhini, tofu and cheongyang pepper, and ced it on the rice. Then, he scooped some of the soup on the rice and mixed everything together. He could not help but exim happily the moment he ate a spoonful.

    ¡°This is delicious! Yummy!¡±

    After eating doenjang jjigae, Minhyuk turned his attention to the cold noodles that they prepared in advance.

    ¡°Oiiiiink<em>. (As expected, meat tastes best with spicy cold noodles. Oink.)</em>¡±

    However, unlike Minhyuk, Beanie was eating some glossy-red spicy cold noodles. Minhyuk actually preferred the cold noodles that were cold and slightly sweet to the taste. He loved slurping the noodles and the pears and drinking the cold soup.

    ¡°Kghhhk!¡±

    <em>¡®This is the best!¡¯</em>

    The cold and refreshing cold noodles, together with the sweet pear, created a fantastic harmony of vors in his mouth. Then, Beanie gave him some of his spicy cold noodles, which he promptly ate with his chuck p tail. Thebination of the sweet, spicy cold noodles and the soft, tender chuck p tail was truly perfect. After that, Minhyuk returned to his cold noodles. He quickly sipped the cool and refreshing broth of the noodles.

    ¡°Kyaa!¡±

    ¡°Oiiiiiiiink! <em>(I¡¯m stuffed, oink!)</em>¡±

    Beanie¡¯s tummy was bulging.

    <em>¡®The way Beanie¡¯s leaning on the wall looks exactly like my grandpa.¡¯</em>

    Beanie looked cute as he stroked his bulging belly while leaning against the wall. Then, the notifications rang.

    <em>[You have eaten the Soft, Tender and Melt-in-the-Mouth Beef.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 2%.]</em>

    <em>[Your skill attack has increased by 8%.]</em>

    <em>[Your skill cooldown has decreased by 10%.]</em>

    <em>[Your total HP and MP volume have increased by 15%.]</em>

    The Soft, Tender and Melt-in-the-Mouth Beef had evolved from legendary grade to god-grade. However, the permanent increase was quite low whenpared to ordinary god-grade ingredients. In other words, even though it evolved, it was considered lower-ranked among the god-grade ingredients. However, the taste was superb, so it was eptable to Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®Now that I have eaten, I think it¡¯s time to take a nap.¡¯</em>

    Just when he was about to log out, he received a whisper.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Cuhel</em></strong><em>: Are you asleep¡­?]</em>

    ¡°???¡±

    Minhyuk tilted his head in confusion.

    <em>¡®What the hell? Why does this whisper sound like something a girl would receive from her ex-boyfriend?¡¯</em>

    At first nce, it was clear that Cuhel was very bad at socializing.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Minhyuk</em></strong><em>: Not yet sleeping.]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Cuhel</em></strong><em>: Minhyukie, I wanted to see you so I¡¯m thinking of going to Incheon Airport. Will it be fine¡­?]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    It really did sound like messages sent by an ex-boyfriend who was going to his ex-girlfriend¡¯s house.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Minhyuk</em></strong><em>: It¡¯s fine but I¡¯m a bit sleepy now.]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Cuhel</em></strong><em>: Is that so? Well, I¡¯m still on my way now. So, juste to Incheon Airport when it¡¯s convenient for you. ^^;;]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Minhyuk</em></strong><em>:¡­OK.]</em>

    For some reason, Minhyuk felt really ufortable.

    ¡°Why do I feel so ufortable?¡±

    ***

    Incheon Airport.

    It had been a while since Rausch¡¯s private nended at Incheon Airport. However, Rausch had told Minhyuk toe at his own pace since he was the one who went to visit on a whim.

    <em>[What should we do today?]</em>

    <em>[I want to do something fun and interesting with you.]</em>

    <em>[Shall we go and eat something yummy?]</em>

    <em>[Is there something you want to try?]</em>

    Rausch repeatedly deleted and typed on his phone, thinking about the text he wanted to send to Minhyuk. He had never really yed with friends, if his business rtionships could even be considered ¡®friends¡¯. Since he never had true and genuine friends, Rausch was very much socially awkward.

    He leaned on his chair and waited for Minhyuk for a very long time. However, even after ten hours of waiting, Minhyuk did note.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t he toote? The young master even personally came here.¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Rausch shook his head. ¡°I made a very unexpected visit and did not even contact him before. Besides, I¡¯m going to meet a friend. Is waiting ten hours really a waste?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The butler was very surprised to see the small and faint smile on Rausch¡¯s face. Rausch was obviously a very important figure all over the world. In fact, the president of America had to go and personally receive him when he went to America for a sudden visit.

    Minhyuk, who made Rausch wait for ten hours, was nothing short of amazing. And Rausch, in his adoration of Minhyuk, could be considered a saint with the patience he had. In fact, Rausch was willing to do anything and everything for Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®The young master¡¯s first friend.¡¯</em>

    Helivert, the butler who had served Rausch since he was born, smiled happily when he saw the genuine excitement that shed on his master¡¯s face.

    ***

    After 15 hours of waiting, Minhyuk finally arrived at the airport.

    ¡°Hello. How have you been?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Cuhel¡¯s style still sounded like an ex-boyfriend¡¯s greeting. Although Minhyuk felt very ufortable, he did not intend to slight Rausch, who came here from far away.

    ¡°It hasn¡¯t been long since we parted ways. More than that, what did you ride toe here?¡±

    ¡°A private jet.¡± Rausch winked as he pointed at the magnificent ne that could be seen through the transparent wall of ss.

    The size of Rausch¡¯s private jet was several timesrger than a regr private jet.

    ¡°You have a private jet? How much does one cost?¡±

    ¡°I think around 150 billion won?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes grew wide. Even for someone like him, the son of the chairman of arge corporation, that amount was still very surprising.

    ¡°Wow, so jealous.¡±

    Rausch turned to look at Minhyuk when he heard those words. Just like mentioned before, he truly wanted to do something, anything, for Minhyuk.

    Rausch said, ¡°Shall I buy you one?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was taken aback when he heard Rausch¡¯s offer. However, as someone who was inherently polite, Minhyuk did not like to hear such words, whether it was a joke or not.

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡±

    Rausch realized that he had made a mistake when he saw Minhyuk¡¯s face turn ugly.

    <em>¡®Indeed. Did it truly make sense for someone to only buy their friend a private jet?¡¯</em>

    ¡°I made a mistake. Sorry.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. It does not matter how much. What do you mean by saying something like that about a private jet¡­¡±

    ¡°It would be more convenient for you if I bought you an airport.¡±

    ¡°¡­Huh?¡±

    <em>¡®It should be an airport instead of just a private jet, right?¡¯</em>

    ¡°Helivert. Please check how much it would cost to build an airport. Also, check the price of about three helicopters and five private jets to keep inside the airport.¡±

    ¡°Yes, young master.¡±

    ¡°Do you like it, friend?¡±

    Minhyuk was not someone who would get something like that from others. As a result, he did not know how to respond as well.

    ¡°Huh? Huh. Yeah¡­¡±

    This was Minhyuk, who had a rich friend that could easily buy him an airport.

 Chapter 794

    Chapter 794

    A quadrillion is equivalent to a thousand trillion. A hundred million might be shabby whenpared to such an amount, but it was already enough for someone to buy a house in the countryside.

    If one had a billion, then they would be able to buy a decent apartment in Seoul. If they had ten billion, then they would be able to build a building in a good spot in Gangnam.

    If someone had a trillion, then they could already be considered to be super rich. They could even own several supercars and buildings and live a life of luxury and leisure. A trillion was already enough to consider one wealthy; now imagine one having a thousand times of that. That was how much a quadrillion was worth.

    When referring to public data, the Rothschilde Family was known to possess assets and properties worth five quadrillions. ording to the rough estimate of some experts, the Rothschilde Family probably had assets above seven quadrillions in total.

    Hence, when Rausch dered that he would build an airport, he truly meant it.

    ¡°What should we name the airport? What do you think about MinRa Airport?¡±

    ¡°What does MinRa mean in MinRa Airport?¡±

    ¡°I justbined the first few letters of Minhyuk and Rausch.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡± Minhyuk shook his head when he saw Rausch speak about building an airport as if it was a very trivial matter. ¡°That¡¯s enough. What good will it bring for me to have an airport?¡±

    Although Minhyuk was infected by Rausch¡¯s enthusiasm and felt excited about the prospect of having an airport, he knew that it was not a matter to be taken lightly.

    <em>¡®What airport? It¡¯s already funny to think that I was going to receive a private jet earlier.¡¯</em>

    If an airport was truly built for Minhyuk, the impact would definitely be unusual.

    ¡°More than that, is there something that you want to do?¡±

    ¡°I want to go to a ce that will help me see and experience Korea¡¯s unique culture. I also want to try unique food and also do something fun with you.¡±

    Now that Rausch had a friend, things like that suddenly felt fun and interesting for him.

    Thankfully, he came at the perfect time. Today was the once-a-month outing day where Minhyuk was allowed to y and eat delicious food. Minhyuk thought for a moment. Then, excitement started to fill his eyes as he said, ¡°I know of a good ce.¡±

    ***

    Rausch followed right after Minhyuk. As they continued to walk, the surroundings turned dark and a mysterious smell wafted at the tip of his nose.

    <em>¡®Is this¡­ a gambling den? I heard that Korea has Hwatu[1] and they¡¯re very good at it¡­ but does Minhyuk gamble?¡¯</em> Rausch thought, his expression filled with confusion.

    <em>ng~</em>

    When Minhyuk opened the door and entered the shop, the dazzling and colorful lights from hundreds ofputers illuminated the darkness and greeted them.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°This is Korea¡¯s PC Room.¡±

    ¡°PC Room? I know that. There are quite a lot of PC Rooms all over the world.¡±

    Rausch could not hide his disappointment. Why did theye to this ce called PC Room where plenty of low-ss people mingled? Even though he was disappointed, he still sat in one of the booths. However, there was this unknown smell lingering on the tip of his nose.

    <em>¡®What¡¯s this? What¡¯s this strong yet appetizing smell?¡¯</em>

    When he turned his head to his side, he saw a young student with a headset on his ears eating ramyeon while ying a shooting game with his friends.

    <em>¡®Ramyeon?¡¯</em>

    Rausch had been running on an empty stomach for quite some time now. He could not help the rumbling from his stomach at the smell. On top of that, Korea was known as one of the ramyeon powerhouses in the world.

    When Rausch clicked the mouse to browse the inte on theputer in front of him, he practically jumped up from his seat in shock.

    ¡°Heok¡­!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±

    ¡°The, the inte¡­¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    ¡°How can it load in less than 0.3 seconds?!¡±

    When it came to IT, South Korea was known as the top global powerhouse. Even if Rausch¡¯s family was rich, there was no way that he could increase the speed of the inte in their house if their country¡¯s own speed was only at that level.

    ¡°Fufufufu. What do you think? How¡¯s Korea¡¯s unique culture?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Rausch slumped back in his seat in shock. That was when he saw Minhyuk click away busily on something on his screen.

    <em>¡®What¡¯s sotteok-sotteok? Cow[2] and rice cake? What in the world is it? Hmm? Chicken mayo? What¡¯s this? Ho, samgyeopsal rice wrap? I think samgyeopsal is a very famous dish in Korea, right?¡¯</em>

    He watched as Minhyuk kept on clicking on food on hisputer.

    ¡°Our PC Rooms also serve dishes. The quality is as good as that of restaurants. Also, if you click on a few buttons, they will deliver it to your seat.¡±

    ¡°They will deliver the food to me? You only have to click a few buttons?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. How to say this, it¡¯s simr to room service or something like that.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡± Rausch was very surprised. <em>¡®This is a state-of-the-art system¡­¡¯</em>

    In order for someone to order room service in a hotel, they had to dial the phone and recite the menu that they wanted to order themselves. But in Korea, they would deliver the food directly to their seat after clicking on a few pictures and buttons on the screen?

    While Rausch was busy appreciating Korea¡¯s cutting-edge system, Minhyuk continued to click away. In fact, Minhyuk just wanted to eat the food in the PC Room.

    <em>¡®Fufufufu. Eating delicious food while ying games in a PC Room is the best!¡¯</em>

    ¡°Here¡¯s your order.¡±

    Then, plenty of dishes were served one after another in front of the two of them.

    ¡°We will bring the food to you after they have been cooked. The total amount for your order is 187,000 won.¡±

    Rausch was shocked once again. <em>¡®From what I remember 187,000 won is roughly around 150 dors, right? That¡¯s quite cheap for this amount, and it¡¯s even room service!¡¯</em>

    Of course, whether it was 150 dors or 1,500 dors, it was nothing in Rausch¡¯s eyes. When his eyes strayed to the table of dishes served in front of him, Rausch could not help but be in awe.

    ¡°Is this the samgyeopsal rice wrap?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    The staff was kind enough to put the rice, meat, garlic, and ssamjang into a wrap to make it easier for the people to eat while ying games. All they had to do was eat the dish as it was.

    But that was not the only thing on Rausch¡¯s table. There was also a bowl of ramyeon, sotteok-sotteok seasoned with spicy chicken sauce, and a chicken mayo rice bowl. Of course, the dishes on Minhyuk¡¯s table were far more than those on Rausch¡¯s table.

    ¡°Eat as much as you want, Rausch. This is a banquet prepared for you who came all the way here to Korea.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Rausch was deeply moved. Minhyuk did not ask or talk to him about business. He waspletely different from the other business acquaintances and friends that he met before. He was as normal as it could get.

    <em>¡®A friend that I met to do fun and enjoyable things with.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was the first friend that Rausch had ever made. He found their current situation to be very exciting and enjoyable.

    Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°To be honest¡­¡± He rubbed his hands in excitement. ¡°After I got diagnosed with eating addiction, it has always been one of my small dreams to go to a PC Room and eat their dishes.¡±

    Rausch listened silently to his friend.

    ¡°It might be something that was normal and ordinary for others but¡­¡±

    If one looked around them, there were young friends, couples, middle-aged people around them. Regardless of their age or their gender, they were sitting here and clicking away on theputers in front of them.

    ¡°For someone like me,ing here often to y games and eat delicious food was something that had been beyond my reach. But now, I¡¯m getting closer and closer to achieving it.¡±

    Rausch looked at Minhyuk, his eyes filled with an endearing look, and said, ¡°Everything will turn out well. I¡¯m cheering for you.¡±

    ¡°Y, yeah¡­ Th, thank you.¡±

    Minhyuk immediately turned to his food to avoid Rausch¡¯s burdensome gaze. In front of him was a table of delicious dishes.

    ¡°Eat the ramyeon first. Otherwise, it will get soggy,¡± Minhyuk said as he mped a huge mouthful of the steaming ramyeon. He personally preferred to eat ramyeon in huge bites.

    <em>Sluuuuuuuuuuuurp!</em>

    The chewy noodles were enough to make anyone feel happy the moment they took a bite of their own ramyeon.

    <em>Sluuuuuuuuuuuurp!</em>

    After eating the noodles in big bites like that, Minhyuk grabbed the disposable bowl and drank the ramyeon soup inside.

    ¡°Kghhk¡­¡±

    A small burst of admiration escaped from his mouth, before he dove into the stir-fried kimchi that he ordered along with the ramyeon.

    <em>Crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    A shiver ran down Minhyuk¡¯s spine when he took a bite of the delicious and well-made stir-fried kimchi. Then, he grabbed the straw inserted in his cold ss of coke that was filled with ice and took a sip.

    <em>Gulp, gulp, gulp¡ª</em>

    After that, he pulled the chicken mayo rice bowl that wasplete with a huge helping of chicken and topped with plenty of seaweed powder. He grabbed his spoon and carefully mixed the chicken mayo rice bowl.

    Once everything had been mixed evenly, Minhyuk immediately scooped a huge mouthful of the chicken mayo in his mouth. The sweet and savory vors of the chicken mayo rice bowl danced around in his mouth.

    <em>Crunch¡ª</em>

    The chicken that was covered with its crispy-fried skin was all lean meat and juices inside. In just four bites, Minhyuk finished the entire bowl of chicken mayo rice bowl. When he felt like his throat was a bit dry, he grabbed the bowl of ramyeon and drank the remaining soup inside.

    ¡°Hiyaaa¡­¡± Minhyuk sighed in admiration and turned to look at another bowl of noodles in front of him.

    The bowl of noodles was none other than chapagetti. The smell of chapagetti wafted all over the PC Room, which made the other customers press on the ¡®order¡¯ button.

    ¡°This PC Room¡¯s staff is very good.¡±

    There was a perfectly fried egg ced on top of the chapagetti. When Minhyuk poked the egg with his chopsticks, the yolk immediately flowed down and covered the noodles beneath it. Then, he mixed everything together before taking a huge bite.

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuuuuuuuurp!</em>¡±

    The sound of someone slurping their noodles rang loudly amidst the clicking of the mouse and the cking of mechanical keyboards inside the PC Room. The chapagetti was sweet and the seasonings had been mixed very well.

    <em>Sluuuuuuuuuuurp!</em>

    Minhyuk then grabbed the two pieces of pickled radishes served with the dish and ced it in his mouth.

    <em>Crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    After eating like that, he turned to look to his side. There, he saw Rausch eating the dishes in front of him with awe and admiration shing on his face.

    ¡°My god. I can¡¯t believe they wrapped it like this already for us to eat it easily.¡±

    Then, Rausch ced the samgyeopsal rice wrap in his mouth. The garlic tasted a bit spicy in his mouth, but its vorplemented the other vors and made the dish even more delectable. After that, he turned his attention to the dish named sotteok-sotteok.

    ¡°What a unique name.¡±

    Rausch remarked after smelling the dish a bit. As he took a bite, Minhyuk said, ¡°When ites to sotteok-sotteok, you have to eat the ham together with the rice cake.¡±

    ¡°Ah, is that so?¡±

    Following what Minhyuk said, Rausch took a huge bite of the ham and the rice cake that was covered with the spicy chicken sauce.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Rausch¡¯s eyes grew wide in surprise. <em>¡®My, my god¡­¡¯</em>

    The rice cake, the ham, and the slightly sweet spicy chicken sauce met together and created a perfect harmony of vors in his mouth. When he chewed, the hamplemented the rice cake that had been fried to a golden brown yet was still juicy and chewy on the inside.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    A shudder ran down Rausch¡¯s back. Minhyuk brought him here with no specific reason in mind. They came here purely to have fun.

    <em>¡®A top-ss hotel room-like service, super yummy Korean authentic dishes, and fast inte speed. This is really fun!¡¯</em>

    Rausch wanted to repay Minhyuk for bringing him here. So, he approached the counter and said, ¡°How much is this PC Room?¡±

    ¡°You have to pay 1,000 won per hour.¡±

    ¡°No, I mean the purchase price of the entire PC Room.¡±

    ¡°Around 400 million¡­?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll buy it for four billion.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Rausch wanted to do anything, something, for Minhyuk. It was to the point that he was willing to buy the PC Room that he liked.

    ¡°Ah! You¡¯re doing it again.¡±

    However, that was not what Minhyuk wanted. To him, doing something like this was burdensome.

    ¡°Rausch. I did not meet you because I wanted something from you. Ah, it seems like you still don¡¯t know much about the meaning of the word ¡®friend¡¯, huh?¡±

    That was right. Rausch truly did not know much about it. He thought that it would be fine and they would like it if he bought his friends expensive things. After all, Rausch had been surrounded by greedy people from a very young age.

    ¡°Friends are people that will stay by your side, encourage you, give you strength and have fun with you. Understand? All you have to do is stay by my side, like that. But what are you trying to do? Do you not want toe and see me anymore?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Rausch realized something after hearing those words. ¡°Is it enough if I just stay by your side?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have to buy you cars or expensive luxury items?¡±

    Minhyuk nodded. Rausch finally realized the true meaning of the word friend. Just like that, Rausch yed and had fun with Minhyuk in the PC Room. And on his way back, Minhyuk went to see him in the airport.

    ¡°Come visit me again next time, Rausch.¡±

    Minhyuk did not hate Rausch either, especially since he had treated him kindly and with grace. Rausch had a small smile on his face as he entered his private jet.

    ¡°It looks like you had fun.¡±

    ¡°Yes. I¡¯ve also made a firm decision.¡±

    Then, Rausch¡¯s ne took off.

    ***

    Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s conference room.

    All of the executives of the kingdom, with the exception of Minhyuk, had gathered inside the conference room. It was not because they did not want Minhyuk to be here, it was because he had logged out to get some rest. Also, there was something that Haze wanted to discuss with them without Minhyuk.

    ¡°So, you¡¯re saying that our situation is much worse than we expected?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. After the recent fiasco with the kings and our choice to abandon them, several kingdoms had and cut off their deals and businesses with us. Of course, the kingdoms that wanted to join us have been supporting us but there are obvious limitations to this. The areas where we can grow financially are facing restrictions and limitations.¡±

    ¡°Is the money that we raised together with Minhyuk not enough?¡±

    ¡°The more migrants we have, the more funds we need to settle them down. Of course, this fund wille back to us in the form of tax. However, if things continue at this rate, we can expect our treasury to be tight in just two years.¡±

    They certainly did not have anything to say about Minhyuk abandoning and cutting off those kings. They did not need to nor n to drag those kings that did not want to be with the Beyond the Heavens anyway. Besides, the kingdoms that truly wanted to be with them had already subordinated themselves to Minhyuk and had pledged their allegiance to his throne.

    However, the problem was that if things went on at this rate, then the Beyond the Heavens would be faced with great financial troubles.

    ¡°What¡¯s the quickest solution to this problem?¡±

    ¡°War. We have to wage war and absorb other kingdoms.¡±

    Everyone turned silent. War was not an easy topic to discuss. If the opponent was the one that attacked first, then it would be alright. But if they waged war to loot other kingdoms, then their image would be unfavorable.

    ¡°We don¡¯t have any other options to solve this problem. How about asking His Majesty to prepare for war right away?¡±

    War might not be good, but Haze knew that there was no other way. The executives could only groan. Just then, something unexpected happened.

    ¡°Huh?¡± Genie looked confused. She received a whisper from apletely unexpected person.

    ¡°Wait.¡±

    Just when Genie said those words, someone from the outside urgently shouted, ¡°Rothschilde Kingdom¡¯s King Cuhel has arrived!¡±

    Haze, together with all of the executives, hurried outside. Haze was aware that Minhyuk had been with Cuhel in the Tomb of the Kings.

    <em>¡®Don¡¯t tell me¡­ are they going to wage war?¡¯</em>

    Well, that would be good for them. After all, the Rothschilde Kingdom was known for their financial power that could rival that of an empire. However, that was only the case because Cuhel had a lot of money.

    When they finally climbed the walls, Haze saw Cuhel leading his elite troops. There was a strange tension and anxiety in the air. Even the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ soldiers were nervous.

    ¡°Can you please convey this to your king?¡±

    Cuhel looked around with a small smile on his face. He had already finished the conversation with the executives of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    ¡°From this day forward, the Rothschilde Kingdom wishes to be under the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s rule.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Everyone was surprised.

    <em>¡®Just like you said, friends only needed to stay by each other¡¯s sides to enjoy and have fun together. It¡¯s already good like that.¡¯</em>

    That was what Cuhel wanted to fulfill.

    ¡°Please receive this as a small gesture of my sincerity.¡±

    <em>[The Rothschilde Kingdom is giving 2,000,000 tinum as a gift to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Two million tinum was enough money to buy a small kingdom on the spot. It was a huge amount of money that could only be earned if one killed at least a monster at the level of the Six Monster Gods.

    Haze and the executives stepped forward, and with her most solemn expression, Haze said, ¡°Wee?.¡±

    1. Usually refers to the cards but can also be used to refer to the game itself. Simr to Japan¡¯s Hanafuda and is used to y games/bets. ?

    2. the ? in ????(sausage and rice cake skewer) can also be read as cow ?

 Chapter 795

    Chapter 795

    Someone was looking at another with his chin on his hand, and a very serious expression on his face. His expression was so solemn that no one else was willing to break his trance. This distressed character was none other than the baby piggy, Beanie.

    ¡°Oiiiiink. Oink, oink. Oiiiiink!¡± <em>What¡¯s going on? Oink!</em>

    Beanie could not understand. The reason why this baby piggy the size of a fist was in distress, was due to the other party in front of him.

    ¡°Kihyeeeee?¡±

    Luna¡¯s eyes were big and round enough to cover almost half of her face. She, who was evenrger than Beanie, looked at the baby piggy with her eyes wide open and filled with confusion.

    ¡°Kihyeeeee?¡±

    Luna presses her paw on Beanie¡¯s bulging belly, the smooth and tender belly going down along with her movements.

    ¡°Oiiiiink. Oink, oink!¡± <em>That¡¯s quite rude, oink!</em>

    ¡°Kihyeeeee! Kihyeeeee!¡±

    Beanie watched as Luna flew around happily. The thing that Beanie was concerned about was ¡®Luna¡¯s Growth¡¯. It had been years since Luna came to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. However, Luna¡¯s physical growth had reached a standstill. In fact, she still looked like a hatchling.

    <em>¡®She also doesn¡¯t seem to have be smarter. Oink!¡¯</em>

    Beanie hummed as he looked at Luna with worry in his eyes.

    <em>¡®This child is going to be the Dragon Lord, right?¡¯</em>

    ¡°Kihyeee¡­¡±

    Then, Luna, who was flying happily around, suddenly fell down on the bed. It was as if she had lost the strength in her body.

    ¡°Oink. Oiiink. Oink, oink.¡±

    Beanie immediately began to massage Luna¡¯s body. She had told him before that her body had been feeling stiff recently. Suddenly, the door opened, and a man entered the room.

    ¡°Fufu. Is she suffering from growing pains? It seems like she¡¯s taking on the pain of bing a king, no?¡± The guy, ck Dragon, said as he gently rubbed Luna¡¯s head.

    ¡°Oiiiink?¡± <em>What do you mean? Oink?</em>

    Beanie had been searching for the reason behind Luna¡¯s stagnant growth. The one that helped him was none other than ck Dragon.

    ¡°From what I read, there were a few Dragon Lord Candidates who suffered from growing pains while they were still baby dragons. And ording to the text, only an adult dragon could relieve the growing pains of the baby dragon.¡±

    ¡°Oiiiiiiiink. Oink, oink.¡±

    Beanie needed more information.

    ¡°However, if this growing pain does not stop then¡­¡±

    Beanie immediately blocked Luna¡¯s ears so she could not hear what ck Dragon was about to say.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeee?¡±

    ¡°She wouldn¡¯t die. She just would stop growing.¡±

    ¡°Oiiiiiiink¡­¡±

    Beanie sighed with relief.

    ¡°However, from what I gathered, the growth of her Mana Heart will be affected if we don¡¯t alleviate her growing pains as soon as possible. So, I think it¡¯s better that we find a solution as fast as we can.¡±

    A way for Luna to meet other dragons might not be as difficult as they thought. After all, Dragon Elder Belluc had a favorable impression of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. In addition, he had told Beanie, who was caring for Luna, toe and visit them at least once.

    Beanie immediately rushed out to find someone to apany them. However, the entire Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was very busy with the Rothschilde Kingdom, who appeared in their territory.

    Haze and the executives were all in the middle of a meeting too. Brod led the knights on a three-day training camp, while Spear God Ben was busy training the soldiers that remained in the kingdom. Elpis was also busy trying to recruit yers who would transition and change their race to the demon race.

    ¡°Oiiiiiiiiiink¡­!¡±

    Beanie grumbled. If Beanie were to be honest, he had been quite upset with Minhyuk and the Beyond the Heavens Kingdomtely.

    <em>¡®Bastard Master does not even call for me, oink!¡¯</em>

    Of course, Minhyuk always called for him whenever he was going to eat something. However, when it came to fighting or some other things, Minhyuk did not call for him. He just let him live however he wanted in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    After all, Beanie was the one who confidently dered that he would take care of Luna. However, he still could not stop the feeling of disappointment that welled up in him. In fact, Beanie could faintly sense that he was now infinitely weakerpared to the other people who surrounded Minhyuk. Perhaps that was the reason for his unsettled heart.

    <em>¡®If I can deal with Luna¡¯s growing pains, then perhaps they would see me as someone great and imposing. Oink!¡¯</em>

    Beanie thought that it was a good idea. So, he prepared to leave. The man who watched everything happen decided to go together with him.

    ¡°Fufufufu! I can¡¯t believe that I will participate as a knight who will help the growth of the future king. The dragons in my right arm are already going berserk!¡±

    ¡°Oiiiiiiink! Oink, oink! Oiiiiiiiiiink. <em>(Do you think there¡¯s someone who can stop this Supreme Divine Beast? Don¡¯t worry. Luna. I will definitely let you grow and be a great king. Oiiiiiiink!)</em>¡±

    Luna could only sigh when she saw ck Dragon and Beanie smile viciously like that.

    ¡°Kihyeeeee¡­¡±

    Luna vowed that she would take good care of her uncles.

    ***

    <em>[The Rothschilde Kingdom requested to be under the rule of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!]</em>

    The executives of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were in awe. They did not know how Minhyuk was able to win Cuhel¡¯s heart. However, there was one thing that they were certain of. By absorbing the Rothschilde Kingdom, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had grown one step closer to bing an empire.

    Then, suddenly, someone said, ¡°Is Minhyuk stronger than Sword Emperor Ellie now?¡±

    Sword Emperor Ellie was a special existence among the emperors. In her case, she abandoned the position of the Sword God¡¯s Descendant to be an emperor. However, just because she did not be a Sword God did not mean that she was not strong. After all, not many people were strong enough to stand at the position of the Sword God.

    No one could judge which was which. Some thought that Sword Emperor Ellie would be stronger, while others thought that Minhyuk would be stronger.

    ¡°Then, what about Nerva?¡±

    ording to Brod, Nerva had strength that was on par with, or perhaps even greater than, the power that he could wield. These words raised the question of whether they couldpete and fight against the Luvien Empire once they became the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    That was when they suddenly realized something.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, though?¡±

    ¡°Who knows¡­¡±

    ¡°Then, are you saying that he¡¯s going to lose against Nerva?¡±

    Minhyuk carried plenty of variables that Nerva did not have in his arsenal. Also, Beyond the Heavens Kingdom bing the Beyond the Heavens Empire was still a matter that would take years before it coulde to fruition. If they looked at the rate at which they grew right now, it was quite hard to predict what would happen in the future.

    Hence, the question remained.

    ¡°Then, is Minhyuk strong enough to overwhelm all of us?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    No one could easily answer the question. Everyone here were executives and powerhouses of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Among them was an Absolute Demigod ss, a descendant of the God of Magic, and the master of the kingdom of death. They also had Bread Shuttle Mei Wei, who once was the global number one ranker. Basically, each and every single one of them was strong enough to stand in the global top 100 yers.

    ¡°Who knows? How about asking for a spar?¡± Emperor of the Swords Carr asked. His will burned bright.

    Any yer would wish topete with the one standing at the top. That was especially the case for high rankers. Also, those in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were all talents in their own fields and hade here through various methods and proposals. Basically, each and every single one of them came here because they liked Minhyuk and the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Their belief and faith in him and his kingdom were admirable. Of course, it was also very important for them to know how strong Minhyuk was.

    Besides, the executives were also growing stronger by the day. So, they wanted to test their powers. Each and every single one of the people, except for the NPCs, harbored the same idea. They wanted topete with Minhyuk with their own power.

    <em>[Guild Master Minhyuk has logged in.]</em>

    Haze could only support her forehead when she saw the executives look at each other after hearing the notifications.

    <em>¡®I already knew that this would happen someday but¡­¡¯</em>

    The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had be a gathering ce for the world¡¯s strongest. It was only natural that they were itching to fight against each other. Of course, they did not harbor any ill will. They just purely wanted to test the limits of their power.

    ¡°Hi, guys. Did I hear that correctly? Rothschilde Kingdom hase under ourmand?¡±

    Minhyuk, who entered the conference room where the executives gathered immediately after he logged in, paused when he felt the strange atmosphere in the room.

    ¡°¡­What¡¯s wrong with you?¡±

    Minhyuk saw everyone¡¯s eyes turn to look at him. Then, Carr stood up and stepped forward. He said, ¡°Minhyuk, I have been curious since a long time ago. What would be the result if we fought?¡±

    Ali also took a step forward. ¡°Aren¡¯t you curious too, Minhyuk? About how strong you have be?¡±

    Even his girlfriend, who was also one of his rivals inside the game, Genie, smiled and said, ¡°Darling~ We can definitely satisfy your curiosity.¡±

    ¡°N, no. I¡¯m not really that curious¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was a bit flustered. He also knew that this day woulde. It was not necessarily considered bad behavior. In fact, various kingdoms would often holdpetition among their guild members on a regr basis.

    <em>¡®However, that¡¯s a 1:1 fight. Why is it 1:10 when my turnes¡­?¡¯</em>

    Of course, they did not have any guarantee that they could win against Minhyuk in a 1:1 fight. However, Minhyuk did not agree so easily. He thought about a lot of things.

    <em>¡®Will the desire to grow more after they fight me?¡¯</em>

    Or¡­

    <em>¡®¡­Will they suffer setbacks because they will feel frustrated?¡¯</em>

    If he won, which side would they tip over? Also¡­

    <em>¡®Can I really win against all of them?¡¯</em>

    So far, all of the victories that Minhyuk had obtained had some sort of anomaly. There were times when he had eaten God-grade dishes and had received the help of NPCs. Of course, there were also times when he received the help of his powerful guild members. He could not guarantee that he would win against them without any doubt.

    ¡°We are <em>very</em> curious.¡± Asura Ascar stepped forward too.

    Actually, everyone here thought that they could beat Minhyuk if they gave it their all. It was a possible scenario. After all, Minhyuk was not a Named Boss Monster. He was a yer, and he had a limited amount of HP. Even his recovery rate was definitely not that great.

    The yers obviously had limits. They might be able to deal a huge amount of damage, but their recovery rate and defensive power were limited.

    <em>[yer Carr has applied for an official PVP.]</em>

    <em>[You will not receive any penalty if you are forced to log out during an official PVP.]</em>

    <em>[yer Ascar¡­official PVP.]</em>

    <em>[yer Ali¡­official PVP.]</em>

    <em>[yer Death¡­]</em>

    <em>[yer Genie¡­]</em>

    The notifications for PVP applications rang constantly in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    ¡°Minhyuk.¡± Carr pulled out his sword. ¡°I know why you¡¯re trying to avoid this, trying to avoid us. But do you think that you¡¯re really doing it for us?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk turned silent. What if they were helpless and they lost to him? Would they be sad? Would they feel fear? Would they feel helpless? Would they run? However, he also found it to be quite funny.

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods that has never been seen before, the God of Comrades, has appeared for the first time!]</em>

    <em>[The God of Comrades has been watching you, the Beyond the Heavens King, and yourrades that trust and follow you.]</em>

    <em>[The camaraderie and friendship between you and your friends andrades are very special. Because of that, the God of Comrades thinks of the bond between you and yourrades as something more special.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Comrades is giving you a piece of advice. It might be better for you to confront them than to avoid them.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Comrades suggests a bet. Win the battle against yourrades.]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>God¡¯s Bet</em></strong><em>: Win in a Battle Against Your Comrades.]</em>

    <em>[If you ept, the God of Comrades will use his power to create a barrier that willpletely prevent any aftermath brought about by your battle from affecting the outside.]</em>

    Minhyuk was actually still unsure. However, Carr¡¯s words and the advice of the God of Comrades, who had been watching him for a long time, were quite simr. In the end, avoiding this PVP was not the answer.

    ¡°Agree to everything.¡±

    <em>[The PVP with yer Carr has started!]</em>

    <em>[The PVP with yer Genie¡­]</em>

    <em>[The PVP with yer Death¡­]</em>

    At the same time, a huge transparent barrier covered and cordoned the entire area where they were. As for the people and yers not involved with the PVP, they were all pushed out of the barrier.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Minhyuk. But I have also grown tremendously.¡± Carr smirked.

    God sses would always be able to gain a stronger power every time they increased their levels even for a bit. Carr was a genius, on top of being a high ranker, which allowed him to grow more every time he leveled up. His specialty was ¡®Quick Draw¡¯, which had grown a few steps further than before.

    ¡°God shing Quick Draw.¡±

    The moment he triggered his skill, it devoured a 50-meter radius area. This skill was Carr¡¯s one-shot-kill skill, a skill that could ignore 80% of his opponent¡¯s defenses and deal 40% additional damage.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The half moon created from his quick draw shot out and devoured the surrounding area. At that moment, everyone knew that they had to give it their all.

    ¡°Keuheheheheheehehek!¡±

    ¡°Kihehehehehehehek!¡±

    ¡°Kihihihihihihihik!¡±

    With a wave of the staff in his hands, hundreds of undead fell down from the sky and followed Death¡¯smand. A thick cloud of dust bloomed as the undeadnded.

    ¡°Corpse Explosion.¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª!</em>

    ¡°Don¡¯t go too far ahead. Get your blessings from me first.¡± Mei Wei said as she stretched her hand out to the sky as several swords appeared from the sky and stopped above the heads of all of the guild members inside the barrier.

    <em>[Valkyrie¡¯s Sword]</em>

    <em>[All of your attack power has increased by 20%.]</em>

    <em>[Your skill cooldown time has dropped by 25%.]</em>

    <em>[Your critical hit rate has increased by 40%.]</em>

    They moved immediately after that.

    Golden Mage Ali had also grown. He had now grown closer to bing the God of Magic. The same was true for his special skill, Diss, originally a skill that could only be summoned one after another. However, he recently learned a new magic. That magic was none other than ¡®Replicate¡¯.

    Replicate was a magic that could replicate another skill a dozen or more times in exchange for consuming double the amount of mana for every casting.

    ¡°Diss.¡±

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª!</em>

    Golden spears that had been replicated several times shot toward Minhyuk through the thick cloud of dust.

    ¡°Blood Explosion.¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Non-stop explosions eventually reached their enemy. Blood Explosion was a brutal skill with 6,400% additional damage and could easily kill the opponent.

    Everyone held their breath. Then, Golden Mage Ali used ¡®Wind¡¯ to clear the thick cloud of dust that surrounded them.

    Minhyuk¡¯s figure appeared in front of them. There was a faint silver barrier shining over his body. This was the seven-second barrier that could make him absolutely invisible against all attacks created by one of his skills, Absolute Defense.

    ¡°Is it already over?¡±

    At the same time, the power of the ¡®Sword of Absolute Death¡¯ burst out of Minhyuk¡¯s sword.

 Chapter 796

    Chapter 796

    <em>Munch, munch¡ª</em>

    When watching an exciting movie, something fun, or just a good show, there was a snack that everyone loved to munch on. It was none other than popcorn, which was usually sold in movie theaters.

    Employee Lee Minhwa had run to the ¡®Mega Box¡¯ movie theater during lunch time to buy some, after feeling an intense craving for it. She bought arge bucket of the half-and-halfbi popcorn, with her favorite onion and caramel vors.

    On her screen, the Beyond the Heavens King Food God was fighting an intense and fiery battle against the executives of the kingdom.

    <em>Crunch¡ª</em>

    The moment Lee Minhwa pushed the caramel popcorn into her mouth, she felt the texture, which was crunchier than regr popcorn, bloom. Lee Minhwa personally believed that it was tastier if one ate the popcorn by the handfuls. and not one by one.

    She crammed a handful of popcorn in her mouth before sipping the coke that she bought along with her bucket. The carbonate in the drink made her throat tingle.

    This time, Lee Minhwa tried the onion vor. Just like before, she ate it by the handful. Unlike the crunchier caramel popcorn, the onion popcorn had a more mellow crunch. For her, this was the perfectbination of ¡®sweet and salty¡¯.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    <em>Munch, munch¡ª</em>

    Team Leader Park Minggyu shook his head when he saw Lee Minhwa eat her popcorn like that.

    ¡°By the way, Team Leader. Don¡¯t you think that it¡¯s a bit unexpected?¡±

    ¡°What is?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m talking about the appearance of the God of Comrades.¡±

    In fact, Team Leader Park was surprised by the sudden and very unexpected appearance of the God of Comrades. Although the God of Comrades was one of the Absolute Gods, he was among the cautious ones that up until now, had not made an appearance.

    ¡°The God of Comrades has been watching Minhyuk and the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.¡±

    To be exact, he was watching Minhyuk. After all, Minhyuk had the power to attract people and a heart that cared for and cherished hisrades.

    ¡°From what has been revealed so far, does that mean that the God of Comrades has judged that this process is necessary for the growth among theserades?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps that¡¯s true. Even if they¡¯rerades and friends, determining who¡¯s stronger is still necessary. How they would change after going through this situation is what¡¯s important.¡±

    People were seldom broad-minded and open in their way of thinking. In fact, it did not matter how close people were, once they lost, they would feel frustration. As for those that were more narrow-minded, it would probably even result in ¡®hate¡¯, ¡®envy¡¯ and ¡®jealousy¡¯ toward Minhyuk.

    It seemed like the God of Comrades was very curious about what would happen to the people of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom after this.

    ¡°If they satisfy the God of Comrades, then they would be able to receive huge rewards, right?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Team Leader Park nodded.

    The rewards that the God of Comrades gave out tend to increase when he was satisfied.

    ¡°They might also receive a reward that would allow all of them to grow even further.¡±

    Lee Minhwa was lost in thought after hearing those words.

    <em>¡®Let¡¯s wipe the onion powder off of my mouth first before thinking¡­¡¯</em>

    Then, she asked, ¡°By the way, who do you think will win? Will it be the Food God or the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ executives?¡±

    Park Minggyu just shrugged his shoulders. ¡°Who knows? I don¡¯t know either.¡±

    ***

    Everyone groaned slightly when they saw the silver barrier that shone brightly and covered Minhyuk¡¯s entire body.

    <em>¡®He has a skill like that¡­?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®What skill is that?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk did not tell anyone about the barrier skill, ¡®Absolute Defense¡¯, attached to the Forgotten Monarch¡¯s Crown. It was natural, after all, it did not matter if they were his closest friends or not, he never felt the need to brag about the new artifacts and abilities that he had obtained.

    However, the thing that surprised the executives the most was the fact that the barrier was not the typical dome-like barrier. It clung to Minhyuk¡¯s skin as if it was wrapped around him.

    All of the people here were high rankers, and were very quick-witted.

    <em>¡®No way¡­!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Are you telling me that he can attack even though he has a barrier on him?!¡¯</em>

    The thing that they hoped to be untrue had now turned into reality. Minhyuk mumbled under his breath.

    <em>¡®Like the Wind.¡¯</em>

    Then, as he moved to cover several meters swiftly, he swung his sword and released the power of the ¡®Sword of Absolute Death.¡¯

    <em>[Sword of Absolute Death]</em>

    <em>[Hundreds of lightning swords with additional 7,000% attack will fall down from the sky and strike all of the enemies within a 20 meter radius with a 100% sess rate.]</em>

    <em>[Immediately after the first attack, the hundreds of lightning swords with 2,000% additional attack will strike down all of the enemies within a 30 meter radius.]</em>

    <em>[Anyone that will receive a direct attack from the lightning sword will fall into a four second stunned state.]</em>

    Lightning swords with 7,000% additional attack fell and hit all of Minhyuk¡¯s opponents within a twenty meter radius urately. Everyone turned nervous. How much damage would they receive from Minhyuk''s AOE skills? Would it eat around 15~25% of their HP?

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 65%!]</em>

    ¡°Keheoook?!¡± Carr choked in surprise. The damage that they received waspletely ridiculous. It was supposed to be an AOE skill, but the damage wasparable to that of a high ranker¡¯s lethal skill. The other executives were also left in a dazed and confused state. That was especially the case for Ali and Death. They were the ones that had been hit hardest by the attack earlier.

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 25%!]</em>

    Mages and necromancers generally had lower HPpared to others. Fortunately, it was offset by the fact that they had higher magical defensespared to other closebat sses. At that moment, they came to a realization.

    <em>¡®What will happen if we get struck by Lightning after getting hit by the Sword of Absolute Death?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®What the hell? Are we going to get wiped out?¡¯</em>

    There was a chance that they could get wiped out like that. Of course, some of them would probably be able to survive if they activated their special skills. However, they still thought that Minhyuk had already gone too far ahead of them. Right in front of their eyes, the lightning swords were about to run rampant and cut them down indiscriminately.

    <em>Clench¡ª</em>

    ¡°Compress.¡±

    All of the executives were pulled to where Ali was as he cast a huge golden barrier around them. Taking this opportunity, Mei Wei, who could act as both a buff specialist and a dealer, cast her healing and recovery skills over the group.

    <em>[Valkyrie¡¯s Wings.]</em>

    <em>[The wings made of light will heal and recover your wound by 35~65%.]</em>

    <em>aaaaash¡ª</em>

    The wings of light fell down from the sky and were absorbed in their bodies. They might not be able tounch any attacks while they were inside the barrier, but they could still do other things inside, just like how Minhyuk would hide inside his barrier to cook.

    A strange tension lingered in the air as all of the lightning swords disappeared.

    <em>¡®Defeating this many people with varying powers and strength is definitely not an easy task,¡¯ </em>Minhyuk thought. After all, they were all top rankers in their own respective fields. Also, unlike him, the executives would often go out together and hunt. Their teamwork was fantastic.

    <em>¡®I shouldn¡¯t be bothered too much about this.¡¯</em>

    On the other hand, Minhyuk could not go with them as he had far too many things on his te. At this juncture, Minhyuk might be nervous, but the same was true for all of the executives.

    <em>¡®What kind of AOE is that? It can deal as much damage as a Named Boss Monster¡¯s AOE.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®If we get too careless and get hit by that, we¡¯ll probably immediately die if we get hit by a basic attack right after. Right?¡¯</em>

    Still, they felt like they were the ones at an advantage at this moment. Minhyuk¡¯s skills obviously had limits and restrictions, while their group had more than ten people. Then, the barrier melted away. Both sides were exchanging nervous looks.

    ¡°Kingdom of Death. Summon Baroque. Summon Andrana. Summon Broicht. Summon Paruino. Summon Kruna. Summon. Summon. Summon.¡±

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¡ª!</em>

    Dozens of blue death knights appeared as a huge kingdom rose from the ground and engulfed the area where the barrier was before, creating another barrier of sorts. Blue death knights were existences that were on the same level as legends for necromancers.

    ¡°Please give your orders!¡±

    The levels of each and every single one of the blue death knights easily exceeded Level 500. However, that was not the end. Thousands of undead also appeared and surrounded the death knights as they charged forward.

    Death sat on top of a bone dragon and charged forward with his army. Golden Mage Ali, who was sitting on his divine beast Predatory Snake, also charged forward with him.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª!</em>

    Hundreds of 1st~2nd ss magic appeared around Ali and shot toward Minhyuk. However, just because they were 1st~2nd ss magic did not mean that they could be ignored. Ali stood at the pinnacle of the mage yers. Even some Level 500 monsters would perish under the onught of his 1st~2nd ss magic bombings.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª!</em>

    Minhyuk grabbed his sword tightly as he looked at the rain of magic attacks and the undead protecting the executives behind them. Then, he leapt to the sky. At the same time, the magic attacks mmed into his body.

    <em>[Steel Skin.]</em>

    <em>[Physical and magical defenses have tripled.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has fallen below 90%.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has fallen below 89%.]</em>

    <em>¡®As expected, they are dealing a lot of damage.¡¯</em>

    That was true. For a top ranker like Minhyuk, who had Steel Skin activated, the fact that 1st~2nd ss magic could shave off 1~2% of his HP meant that the total damage dealt was still substantial. Then, he pointed his sword below, mming it into the undead below him.

    <em>[Continent Destroyer]</em>

    <em>[The moment the sword gets stabbed into the ground, everyone within a 35 meter radius will incur an additional 500% damage from powerful shockwaves.]</em>

    <em>[Lava will rise five meters from the ground and cause an additional 1,600% damage to anyone that it touches and will continuously incur additional 100% damage.]</em>

    <em>Crackleeeee¡ª!</em>

    The ground twisted and turned, devouring and melting the undead asva shot up from the ground and reached a height of five meters. With the additional 1,600% attack, the undead turned into ck ashes.

    <em>[Food God¡¯s Swordsmanship.]</em>

    <em>[Your attack speed and movement speed have increased by 40%. Your physical and magical defenses have increased by 30%.]</em>

    <em>[Your cutting power has increased by 60%, sword attack power by 30%, and all sword-rted skills¡¯ damage by 20%.]</em>

    <em>[Your critical hit rate has increased by 50%.]</em>

    <em>[The skill duration is eight minutes.]</em>

    Minhyuk did not stop there. He quickly triggered his buff skill.

    ¡°Stormy.¡±

    <em>Bzzt, bzzt¡ª</em>

    A single sword with an ego created hundreds of sword des that swept and cut down the undead. Death¡¯s expression turned ugly when he saw his undead get easily swept away.

    Then, at that moment, two rankers who had hidden among the undead crept toward Minhyuk. They were none other than Carr and Khan. Both men were hailed as the dealers of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    ¡°Emperor¡¯s Stab.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    A gigantic wave erupted from Carr¡¯s sword as he stabbed toward Minhyuk¡¯s vital point. Originally, such an attack would be blocked by the armor on Minhyuk¡¯s body. However, the attack went through thanks to the influence of the ¡®ignore all defenses¡¯ attached to the skill.

    <em>Staaaaaaaab¡ª!</em>

    <em>[Your vital point has been stabbed!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 56%!]</em>

    Even Minhyuk was shocked at the huge amount of damage that he received. Just when he was about tounch a counter, Khan appeared right below his vision.

    ¡°Giant King¡¯s Uppercut.¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡®Giant King¡¯s Uppercut¡¯ had changed after Khan reached Level 550.

    ¡°Kghhk!¡±

    Minhyuk was sent flying upward by the punch. At the same time, he saw his HP fall below 40%.

    <em>¡®Everyone has truly grown tremendously.¡¯</em>

    He was quite happy to know that he was not the only one that grew. The fact that hisrades had grown stronger was a cause for celebration. Seeing him fly upward, Carr immediately leapt to the sky and followed right behind him.

    <em>Boom! Boom! Boom!</em>

    Carr¡¯s shining sword immediately went back to its sheath.

    ¡°Quick Draw.¡±

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª!</em>

    Seven consecutive crescent sword lights flew and shed Minhyuk. At the same time, the image of Khan¡¯s arm appeared beneath him and connected.

    ¡°Giant King¡¯s Consecutive Attacks.¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The fists, which could swing six times every second, swung at Minhyuk for three straight seconds at a fierce speed.

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 30%.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 28%.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP¡­below 26%.]</em>

    However, the attacks were not over yet. Death¡¯s staff suddenly transformed and turned into a scythe.

    ¡°Death Scythe,¡± Death murmured as several blue death knights got sucked into the de of the scythe.

    This was Death¡¯s closebat skill, and it could only be swung once. However, it could deal an attack with an additional 23,000% attack.

    Unfortunately, due to Death not being a closebat yer, his normal damage was too low. Even so, a 23,000% additional attack was more than enough topensate for that.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The Death Scythe sliced Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 11%!]</em>

    <em>[Danger!]</em>

    They could do it. They could knock down the existence standing at the top. Carr, Khan and Death shuddered at the thought. They wanted to reach such heights too. They wanted topete with him and win at least once.

    Minhyuk had be their driving force, their motivation. His existence allowed them to grow even further. They might be able to win, even if they fought him as a group, it would be a win nheless. Their victory was almost at hand. Carr just needed to trigger his skill and strike him with this.

    <em>Bzzt, bzzt, bzzt¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    The three froze in ce when they saw the spark dancing around Minhyuk¡¯s de. They knew what that was. It was the power of the ¡®Sword of Absolute Death.¡¯

    ¡°He has Save!!!¡±

    Indeed. Minhyuk had the skill ¡®Save¡¯ in his arsenal. In the case of the skill ¡®Save¡¯, the user could save their skill and use it once without caring about its cooldown.

    ¡°Sword of Absolute Death.¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Lightning swords fell down from the sky and rained on the heads of the three people in front of Minhyuk.

    ***

    All of the executives stood frozen as they watched the downpour of lightning swords fall down from the sky.

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk cut them down one after another after they had fallen into a stunned state.

    <em>[PVP Party Member Carr has been forced to log out.]</em>

    <em>[PVP Party Member Death has been forced to log out.]</em>

    <em>[PVP Party Member Khan has been forced to log out.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Silence enveloped the entire area.

 Chapter 797

    Chapter 797

    Carr, Khan and Death were figures that the entire world recognized as top-level high rankers.

    Death, in particr, was evaluated as someone that could go toe-to-toe with Minhyuk. He could summon hundreds of thousands of his undead corps. He also had the power to call andmand blue death knights and powerful liches. When it came to group matches, Deathpletely triumphed over Minhyuk. However, this was not a group match, but a PVP. Necromancers were the most vulnerable ss when it came to PVP matches.

    Silence engulfed the entire area after the three were forced to log out.

    <em>¡®That was dangerous.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s arm trembled lightly. If the ¡®Sword of Absolute Death¡¯ was triggered just 0.7 secondster, then it would not be them that was forced to log out, but him.

    Blood beads rose from the bodies of Carr, Khan and Death. The amount of HP that Minhyuk was able to recover was dependent on the amount of damage that had been dealt. After that, Minhyuk took out some choco pie from his inventory and used ¡®Absorption Conversion¡¯ to restore huge amounts of his HP.

    ¡°Only through this would things be set straight. Especially when ites to the king that leads us.¡± The one that spoke was none other than Golden Mage Ali.

    Did a king need to be strong? Well, that was not necessary. However, for the yers, their king must be strong. This was so the other yers could not ignore them. It was also to ensure that the NPCs would not discriminate against them.

    There was both a strange sense of satisfaction and bitterness that welled up in all of the executives¡¯ hearts. However, they did not have the luxury to think about it. They knew that they could not afford to give Minhyuk a break.

    <em>[God of Magic¡¯s Descendant.]</em>

    <em>[Your magic casting time has been reduced by 50%.]</em>

    <em>[Your magic damage has increased by 40%.]</em>

    <em>[The radius of effect of various attack magics has increased by 15%.]</em>

    <em>[Your magic attack speed has increased by 20%.]</em>

    <em>[The amount of mana consumed with every casting has been doubled.]</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Golden Mage Ali¡¯s eyes slowly started to turn gold as a huge wave of magic spread from his body. At the same time, cracks appeared on the ground beneath him. Everyone realized that they had to squeeze out everything they had and pour all into this fight.

    ¡°Firestorm! Fire Wall!¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>Crackleeee¡ª</em>

    A raging storm of fire and a gigantic wall of fire appeared and blocked Minhyuk¡¯s view.

    ¡°Ugh¡­¡± Minhyuk groaned lightly.

    The damage that Ali¡¯s magic could inflict was at a level where other mages could only dream to have.

    That was when Minhyuk realized something, <em>¡®These punks are still¡­¡¯</em>

    They were still not at Level 600.

    <em>¡®What will happen if they reach Level 600?¡¯</em>

    Among them, Minhyuk was the only one that had gone beyond Level 600 and had received various privileges. From what he had gathered, there were some sses that would receive far more special rewards once they reached Level 600.

    In Minhyuk¡¯s case, he was able to receive the title ¡®First One to Achieve Level 600¡¯ as a benefit for his God ss subss. On the other hand, what if one of his sses got strengthened?

    <em>¡®Aside from now, there¡¯s no other time where I can win against them.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk made a firm decision.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª</em>

    Ali¡¯s magic attacks rained down and created a sea of mes.

    <em>[Asura¡¯s Realm has unfolded.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will be reduced by 20%. Your movements will be restricted.]</em>

    <em>[Asura¡¯s overwhelming power is restricting you.]</em>

    <em>[Your attack sess rate, physical and magical defense have decreased by 30%.]</em>

    The bloody red greatsword that was wrapped with buddhist beads was stabbed straight into the ground. At the same time, bloody red energy began to spread out.

    <em>[You have an invincible body that can ignore and resist all kinds of abnormal states.]</em>

    With Minhyuk¡¯s Invincible Body, he could easily resist these debuffs. However, Asura¡¯s Realm was a skill that could debuff the opponent while buffing the skill user at the same time. To be honest, the person that Minhyuk was most wary of was Asura. Ascar ran through the mes and swung her greatsword at Minhyuk.

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 63%.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 62%¡­]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 61%¡­]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s total HP had been cut down by 0.5% with every basic attack from Asura Ascar. That was not all, Ascar also had a passive skill called ¡®Six Blows¡¯. This skill came to be because the original Asura was a being with six arms. In other words, Asura Ascar¡¯s one hit would turn into six hits that could easily cut off 3% of Minhyuk¡¯s HP. This was only the basic attack.

    <em>¡®Crazy¡­¡¯</em>

    On top of all that was going on, Ascar¡¯s speed had also increased tremendously.

    ¡°Blood Explosion¡¯s Greatsword.¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª!</em>

    Ascar triggered the Blood Explosion¡¯s Greatsword, an attack skill that could trigger explosions for two straight minutes and devour an entire three meter radius area, dealing additional 600% attack damage.

    <em>Baaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Even if Minhyuk blocked the attack with his sword, the explosions were still triggered.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Minhyuk was forced to take a few steps back from the series of explosions. Seeing this, Ascar could only smile bitterly.

    <em>¡®I gained this power to protect you from danger.¡¯</em>

    This was Ascar¡¯s reason for gaining power and strength. She wanted to show off the power that she had gained, to the person that she wanted to protect. Then, Ascar tried to trigger the ¡®Blood Explosion¡¯s Great Bombardment¡¯, an overpowered skill that could deal 8,000% additional damage to a single target upon triggering.

    ¡°It¡¯s ov¡­¡±

    However, before she could finish casting her skill, Minhyuk had already cut down Ascar and went past her.

    <em>[Sword of Carnage]</em>

    <em>[Movement speed increases by ten times and cuts down your enemy in an instant.]</em>

    <em>[The opponent cut down by your sword will suffer from thirty eight sword attacks in one second. Each of the sword attacks will have 2,000% additional damage.]</em>

    <em>[You have ignored all of your enemy¡¯s defenses.]</em>

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª!</em>

    Blood spurted out all over Ascar¡¯s body. A single attack was enough to decrease her HP at a rapid rate until it became zero. In the end, she could only end her words with great difficulty, her body falling in a heap.

    ¡°¡­er?¡±

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    <em>[PVP Party Member Ascar has been forced to log out.]</em>

    Minhyuk had been deliberately holding off on using the Sword of Carnage. This was a n purely made to deal with Asura Ascar.

    Each and every single ss had their own advantages and disadvantages. Asura might be considered to be a ss with the highest damage dealt, but it also had a lower HP and defensepared to other closebat sses.

    <em>Swoosh¡ª</em>

    Locke threw his huge axe toward Minhyuk as he looked at the disappearing Ascar with a bitter smile. Genie did not let the opportunity go to waste, swinging her ming whip and creating dozens of afterimages as she tried to pierce through Minhyuk¡¯s defenses.

    Ali joined in the fray, using Blink magic efficiently and appearing through the zing mes and casting dozens, if not more, of AOE magic attacks to try and bombard Minhyuk. There was also Valkyrie Mei Wei. Dozens of swords made of light appeared around her and shot straight toward him.

    Minhyuk had only been careless enough to reveal a gap for a split second. However, befitting of their title as one of the high rankers, they took advantage of that slight gap.

    When the attacks that were directed at Minhyuk were almost at his nose, He tried to cast the barrier of his skill ¡®Let¡¯s Have a Meal.¡¯ However, Mei Wei, who had been preparing to cast a debuff before she even attacked, sent the debuff toward Minhyuk.

    <em>[The Restricted One¡¯s Steps.]</em>

    <em>[Active Defensive Skills will be unable for two minutes.]</em>

    <em>[A Valkyrie¡¯s Steps are special!]</em>

    <em>[It can neutralize and ignore skills that can resist abnormal status!]</em>

    Only a select few high rankers had the power to neutralize those that could ignore abnormal statuses, and one of them was the best buff specialist and outstanding dealer, Bread Shuttle Mei Wei.

    Their attacks devoured Minhyuk¡¯s bodypletely.

    <em>[Steel Skin.]</em>

    <em>[Physical and magical defenses have tripled.]</em>

    Fortunately, Steel Skin was triggered and the damage that he received was decreased by quite a lot.

    <em>¡®If the skill wasn¡¯t triggered then I would have died¡­ No, it looks like I will still die¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª!</em>

    The attacks caused tremendous damage, decreasing Minhyuk¡¯s HP at a rapid pace. However, Minhyuk just allowed the attacks tond on his body, opting to use this moment to trigger his own attack skills.

    ¡°Intangible Sword.¡±

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    Hundreds of invisible sword des pierced through the bodies of the executives that were still attacking Minhyuk.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    The attacks also triggered Minhyuk¡¯s ughterer¡¯s Absorption which restored some of his HP. Unfortunately, the rate at which his HP decreased still far exceeded the rate at which he recovered.

    The executives, who knew Minhyuk well, did not let up with the attacks even when their bodies were getting pierced through by the invisible and intangible swords.

    <em>¡®I want to win.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I want to win against the person standing at the top of Athenae.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®It will feel good even if we struggled and fought hard.¡¯</em>

    They all hoped and prayed for their victory. The same went for Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®I want to keep being the best.¡¯</em>

    He was unsure of the future. He did not know what would happen once these people reached Level 600. Perhaps one of his guild members might even be stronger than him.

    <em>¡®I want to keep standing at the top.¡¯</em>

    <em>Crackleeee¡ª</em>

    mes burst out of Minhyuk¡¯s sword. At the same time, the executives also prepared their final attacks.

    ¡°Priest¡¯s Fury.¡± Locke mmed his axe on the ground. The ground cracked as a powerful force rushed toward Minhyuk.

    ¡°Dancing Sword of Light.¡± Dozens of swords of light appeared around Mei Wei before shooting straight for Minhyuk.

    ¡°Burn.¡± Genie¡¯s whip engulfed in mes cracked and devoured an entire area of twenty meter radius.

    ¡°Meteor. elerate.¡± To top it all off, a meteor fell at the speed of light, its target was none other than Minhyuk.

    Several lethal and one-shot kill skills flew toward Minhyuk. He had stopped thinking about not wanting to fight because he felt a bit sorry for them. Instead, he was filled with thoughts of wanting to keep his position at the top. He wanted to remain the strongest.

    Filled with determination to be an emperor in Athenae, Minhyuk cast his Overlord¡¯s Technique.

    <em>[Double Skill]</em>

    <em>[You have a 1.2% chance of triggering Double Skill. Upon triggering, skill¡¯s effects will be doubled.]</em>

    <em>[Overlord¡¯s Technique]</em>

    <em>[The Overlord¡¯s Fire, with an additional 10,000%~16,000% attack power, will attack everyone within a 120~160 meter radius.]</em>

    A zing me burst out. Double Skill was a skill attached to the title: Eight Pir¡¯s Candidate. It would double the power of the skill upon being triggered.

    Minhyuk looked at the iing lethal and one-shot kill skills after he triggered the Overlord¡¯s Technique.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The fire, which was enough to fill the entire transparent barrier that cordoned off the area where they were fighting, engulfed everyone.

    <em>Booooooooooom¡ª</em>

    The power of the Overlord¡¯s Technique was so strong that it shook the entire capital of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    At the same time, a series of notifications rang in their ears.

    <em>[Party Member Ali has been forced to log out.]</em>

    <em>[Party Member Genie has been forced to log out¡­]</em>

    <em>[Party Member Locke has been forced to log out¡­]</em>

    <em>[Party Member Mei Wei has been forced to log out¡­]</em>

    <em>[Party Member Crow has been forced to log out¡­]</em>

    Minhyuk listened to the constant notifications that rang in his ears. However, he was only given a small reprieve to rejoice and bask in his delight.

    <em>[You have been forced to log out during a PVP match.]</em>

    <em>[Because it was during a PVP match, you will not receive any penalty for being forced to log out.]</em>

    <em>[You have been defeated by all of your enemies in the official PVP!]</em>

    These notifications rang at the same time. Minhyuk slowly fell down almost at the same time as the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ executives disappeared from the mes of the Overlord¡¯s Technique.

    ¡°¡­Crazy.¡±

    Haze was left speechless. She could still see the shockwaves raging from within the transparent barrier.

    Meanwhile, the yers, who were still on the fence about migrating to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, looked at the barrier silently. They too, were at a loss for words.

    <em>Gulp¡ª</em>

    The sound of someone gulping dryly rang in the otherwise silent area. Then, someone said, ¡°I¡­ I¡¯m a part of this kind of kingdom? This is the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom?¡±

    The man that murmured was none other than Bran, the second in the Dungeon Explorer¡¯s global rankings. He was the one that moved to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom after making a small deal with Minhyuk.

    ***

    A few days ago, Minhyuk had called for Bran.

    ¡ª<em>This is the Dungeon Explorer¡¯s Eyes. I think this fits you perfectly.</em>

    Bran had been quite surprised when he heard that. The Dungeon Explorer¡¯s Eyes was a God-rank skill book. He was shocked that Minhyuk had readily given him something so valuable.

    ¡ª<em>Now, you won¡¯t be the second but the first.</em>

    Bran had been thrilled when he heard those words, until Minhyuk continued speaking.

    ¡ª<em>Ah! I¡¯ll also give you your position. From now on, your job is Ingredient Explorer. What do you think?! You like it, right?! Keuhahahahahaha!</em>

    Minhyuk hadughed as he asked Bran for the delicious ingredients hidden all over Athenae. Nheless, Bran had felt very happy that he was a part of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, even though his job, Ingredient Explorer, was really suspicious. But now, his thoughts were different.

    ***

    The way the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ executives fought, something that he had just witnessed, was truly spectacr and awe-inspiring. It was something that Bran had never seen before. Of course, he also had nothing to say about how Minhyuk fought. He was now thankful that he chose to join Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    Bran, the second in the Dungeon Explorer Rankings¡­ no, he was going to be the first with the Dungeon Explorer¡¯s Eyes. At this juncture, he was wondering if it was truly alright for him to im that he was a part of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

 Chapter 798

    Chapter 798

    Anyone that was forced to log out during an official PVP match would be allowed to reconnect to the game after thirty minutes. However, fearing that this system was going to be abused, the operators set it so there could only be one request for an official PVP match per day.

    After reconnecting, Minhyuk and the executives once again gathered in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s conference room. Silence enveloped them for a moment. Even Minhyuk, who was lost in his thoughts, was silent.

    <em>¡®Why aren¡¯t there any notifications from the God of Comrades?¡¯</em>

    While he was pondering about that, the thought, <em>¡®What should I say to them?¡¯</em> also crossed his mind. In fact, they were only forced to log out slightlyter than Minhyuk. It could be said to be just a hair¡¯s breadth of difference. However, it did not really matter whether they had been logged out first or Minhyuk was logged out first. In the end, Minhyuk fought them alone and was still not pushed back by all of the executives of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    <em>¡®They must feel frustrated.¡¯</em>

    He was fully aware of how much effort they had put in toward themselves and the kingdom. Each and every single day, they devoted most of their time in the game to hunt and develop the kingdom. In terms of their gaming sense, each and every single one of them could be considered as geniuses. However, they still failed to defeat one yer.

    The sense of frustration and the fact that they could not win against him might have hit them hard in the face. There was a chance that they might opt to not ess the game for a few days too.

    ¡°You¡¯re definitely strong.¡± The one that broke the silence was Carr.

    He was an Olympic gold medalist in kendo. As someone in that position, he had more pride and arrogance than any other normal ranker. However, even though his expression was ugly, it was only for a brief moment. A grin shed on his face as he continued, ¡°But I don¡¯t think you¡¯re impossible to reach.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°I think my strength will be more than enough to give it another try once I reach Level 600.¡±

    The Emperor of the Swords Carr¡¯s ss was under the ¡®Swordsman¡¯ ss. From the information they had gathered, Normal or Legendary sses would receive huge benefits once they reached Level 600 or higher. This was a reward for those that worked hard, aside from those that had the God ss, for reaching Level 600.

    ¡°I now have another reason to speed up my leveling.¡± Carr smirked.

    ¡°That¡¯s what I think too.¡± Ascar grinned.

    One after the other, the executives began to pipe up in agreement.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. If I work harder for a bit, then I¡¯ll probably be stronger than you?¡±

    ¡°Minhyuk, once I reach Level 600, you¡¯re over.¡±

    ¡°I have to work harder to level up. Who wants to go and hunt with me? Let¡¯s go for three straight days.¡±

    That was right. The executives of Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were not discouraged nor frustrated about such things. Rather than being frustrated, they took this as an opportunity to vow to be stronger as soon as possible. Of course, there was some exaggeration in the words that they said.

    In fact, all of them were aware that Minhyuk did not eat any buffed dishes, one of his biggest advantages and his special skill. If Minhyuk ate his buffed dishes, then their chances of winning against him were very slim. That was considering even after they reached Level 600.

    However, they said those words to ignite their will and determination to be even stronger. Of course, it was also in consideration of Minhyuk, who had been worrying about them all throughout the process.

    In a way, this oue could be considered to be very surprising. After all, no matter how close friends were, in such situations, jealousy might brew and there might be ugly feelings toward each other.

    <em>¡®Thank you. You¡¯re all amazing.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had to wonder if he could have done something like this too if he was the one in their position.

    <em>[You have failed the </em><strong><em>God¡¯s Bet</em></strong><em>: Win in a Battle Against Your Comrades.]</em>

    <em>[You have lost the battle against yourrades.]</em>

    The content of the God¡¯s Bet with the God of Comrades was to win in a battle against hisrades. Even though there was only a 0.1 second difference in their logout times, the system considered it as a loss for Minhyuk. However, when Minhyuk checked the contents of the bet earlier he found out that it strangely did not have any penalties. Then, suddenly, the situation changed.

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods, the God of Comrades, smiles faintly as he watches you and yourrades who did not harbor any me, envy or jealousy with each other and instead, are showing love and affection.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Comrades has bestowed upon you a slightly special reward.]</em>

    <em>[All of the ones that participated in the PVP match will receive an increase in their EXP Acquisition Rate. Your EXP Acquisition Rate will triple for two weeks.]</em>

    <em>[The increase EXP Acquisition Rate that you have acquired before will be disregarded and deleted.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the </em><strong><em>Title</em></strong><em>: Comrade.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    This set of notifications rang in the ears of all of the people present inside the conference room. Minhyuk had been the only one to hear the voice of the God of Comrades before, that was why he was the only one that knew of the bet and was the only one that received the quest.

    However, based on these notifications, Minhyuk could tell that the God of Comrades had sensed something more special with him and his executives.

    <em>[The God of Comrades is looking at you with a delighted smile on his face.]</em>

    <em>Grin¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk might not be able to see the god but he had a feeling that the god was looking at them with a fatherly smile on his face.

    Everyone hurriedly checked the title that they had suddenly obtained.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Comrade</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Common Title</em>

    <strong><em>Title Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?All stats will increase by 2% once three or more people with the ¡®Comrade¡¯ title are gathered together.</em>

    <em>?All skill cooldown time will be reduced by 5% once three or more people with the ¡®Comrade¡¯ title are gathered together.</em>

    <em>?All stats will increase by 7% and all skill cooldown time will be reduced by 10% once all of the people with the ¡®Comrade¡¯ title are gathered together.</em>

    <em>?EXP Acquisition Rate will increase by 3% once all of the people with the ¡®Comrade¡¯ title are gathered together.</em>

    ¡°This is good.¡±

    ¡°This is really great.¡±

    The sudden reward made the atmosphere between the executives of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom turn easy-going.

    ¡°If we¡¯re having triple the EXP Acquisition Rate for two weeks then¡­ I think I should hurry and go out.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll have to run and reach Level 600 in one go.¡±

    The reward also gave them a special opportunity, having vowed to work harder and grow stronger than Minhyuk. At that moment, Minhyuk immediately stopped those that were raring to go and hunt.

    ¡°Wait, you guys.¡±

    ¡°Hu? Why?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Minhyuk looked at them with a small smile on his face as he said, ¡°You should have a meal first, no?¡±

    ***

    Minhyuk wanted to cook a delicious meal for all of the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ executives, encouraging them to move forward with their goal of reaching Level 600. He collected all of the special ingredients that his guild members had on hand to make a dish.

    As he looked through the ingredients, he decided to serve a Chinese-style cuisine.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk stir-fried the ck bean sauce in the frying pan while he boiled the hot and spicy jjamppong to the side. His hands were so fast that he looked like an experienced chef.

    <em>ck, ck, ck¡ª</em>

    After cooking the sauce, he mixed it with the noodles and poured the finished jjajangmyeon and jjamppong in separate bowls. Of course, he did not forget to make some tangsuyuk as well as some dumplings, which he promptly served together with the dishes from before.

    ¡°Hiyaa¡­¡±

    ¡°Look at that gloss¡­¡±

    The colors of the ck jjajangmyeon and the red and spicy jjamppong were both vibrant and incredible. Minhyuk turned to look at the jjajangmyeon and jjampong that was served in front of him. Of course, he had to eat a bowl of each.

    ¡°Let¡¯s eat.¡±

    Everyone grabbed their own chopsticks. Minhyuk also grabbed his own, immediately putting it in the bowl of jjajangmyeon and using it to mix the noodles with the saucepletely. Then, he lifted a mouthful of the evenly-mixed jjajangmyeon from his bowl and dug in.

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuuuuuuuuurp!</em>¡±

    The moment he put the jjajangmyeon in his mouth, the sweet ck bean sauce spread along with the chewy and warm noodles in his mouth. Then, he ate another mouthful.

    <em>Sluuuuuuuuuuurp¡ª</em>

    He also ate some sweet and sour pickled radish.

    <em>Crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    After that, he ate another huge mouthful of the noodles.

    <em>Sluuuuuuuuuuurp¡ª</em>

    This time, Minhyuk stretched his chopsticks toward the perfectly golden tangsuyuk. Tangsuyuk always tasted best when it was fresh out of the pan.

    ¡°When ordering tangsuyuk in a Chinese restaurant, you wouldn¡¯t know if what you ordered is truly tangsuyuk or if it''s just a lump of fried skin. But Minhyuk¡¯s tangsuyuk is the best. There¡¯s a lot of meat and it¡¯s fried very well.¡±

    That was right. When it came to tangsuyuk, it was important to make sure that there was only a thinyer of batter and plenty of meat. If the batter was too thick while the meat was too thin, then the tangsuyuk would grow soggy and dry. The moment they dipped the meat in the tangsuyuk¡¯s sweet and sour sauce and put it in their mouths, a very delightful crunch rang in their ears.

    <em>Crunch¡ª</em>

    Their tongues were greeted with the thick and juicy meat right after they bit the crunchy and crispy skin.

    ¡°Kghhk¡­¡± Minhyuk eximed softly. After tasting the jjajangmyeon and the tangsuyuk, he lifted the bowl of the jjamppong.

    It was quite strange. The taste of the soup of jjamppong after eating jjajangmyeon was excellent. Minhyuk felt like the spiciness of the jjamppong soup was curbing the greasiness of the previous dishes. He immediately grabbed a mouthful of the noodles and ced it in his mouth.

    <em>Sluuuuuuuuuuurp.</em>

    There was a sense of delight when the spiciness hit his taste buds. Of course, he would also grab some mussels and squid every once in a while as he ate the noodles.

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuuuuuuuuuuurp!¡±</em>

    Minhyuk and his executives quickly slurped and finished their meals. On top of the delicious meal, the buff effects that they received were excellent. This was because it was made from ingredients, which they had collected, of various grades.

    <em>[You have eaten the Chinese Meal Set.]</em>

    <em>[Epic Grade.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 11%.]</em>

    <em>[Your skill cooldown time has decreased by 20%.]</em>

    <em>[Two randomly chosen skills will receive a +1 level increase.]</em>

    <em>[Your total HP and MP have increased by 7%.]</em>

    <em>[The buff effect willst for one week.]</em>

    ¡°Minhyuk, we¡¯re going hunting.¡±

    They all moved out after finishing their meal.

    ¡°We¡¯ll do a group hunt in the Hellfire Dungeon.¡±

    The Hellfire Dungeon was a dungeon where one could onlye out a week after entering. They could onlye out earlier if they were forced to log out. It was also a ce where they could not receive whispers or chats from the guild. It was a high level hunting ground with extreme difficulty.

    Those that received the title of ¡®Comrade¡¯ hurriedly warped to the hunting ground. Of course, this was only done after getting explicit approval from Haze.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to rest for a bit too¡­¡±

    Just when Minhyuk, who was sitting with Haze, was about to log out, he received a startling message.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>ck Dragon</em></strong><em>: Minhyuk. Req¡­ t¡­ ing¡­ for¡­ sup¡­ t]</em>

    ¡°???¡±

    Minhyuk looked at the whisper in confusion. He quickly tried to send a whisper to ck Dragon.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Minhyuk</em></strong><em>: Father, what¡¯s going on?]</em>

    <em>[You cannot send any whisper ormunication to ck Dragon.]</em>

    Minhyuk realized that something unusual had happened. He hurriedly stood up to try and find out about the situation. Then, things got worse.

    <em>[Your pet Beanie is in danger!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[Your pet Beanie is in danger!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Shocked by the notifications, Minhyuk hurriedly tried to recall Beanie¡¯s summons. Once the summon has been recalled, Beanie would be sent back to the summoning room, allowing him to escape from the imminent danger that he was facing and recuperate and recover.

    <em>[Your pet Beanie has refused the summons.]</em>

    ***

    One hour earlier.

    God¡¯s Children was a group of yers that had been working secretly in Athenae. They were a group that even the top high rankers were very reluctant to sh with. After all, they were people that stood above even the ordinary God ss yers. However, two of the God¡¯s Children had been dragged down to the pit by a single man.

    One was Henry, the Money God¡¯s Descendant. After shing with Minhyuk, Henry, the owner of the Money Bag Merchant Group, was left with a huge debt to the Money God. The second one was Rex, the God of Stories. Rex tried to bring down the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom using the power of the God of Death, but he was defeated and even lost the God of Stories ss.

    However, just because they were dragged through the mud did not mean that they hadpletely disappeared from Athenae. They had been preparing for their ¡®revenge and had been waiting for an opportunity for a very long time now.

    The problem was that it was very difficult to find an opportunity to exact their revenge. It was impossible for them to attack the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, what with Spear God Ben, Fallen Emperor Brod, and Great Demon Elpis, and numerous heroes defending the ce. It was very difficult for them to do something about the kingdom.

    However, there were people that willingly went out of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. These people were none other than Beanie, Luna and ck Dragon.

    Rex was a cruel and vicious person.

    ¡°What do you think will the Food God feel if the most important person to him dies?¡±

    There were people that treated NPCs as real people. For people like these, the death of NPCs was like the death of a real person, and it would be as painful as witnessing the death of their most precious person. Rex and Henry had been waiting for this moment for a very long time. The moment they found out that the three went out, they used their connections and money to buy rankers and bring in NPCs.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeee. Kihyeeeeeee.¡±

    ck Dragon, Beanie and Luna were taking a stroll leisurely. Luna was even pping her tiny wings right next to Beanie, while ck Dragon chuckled darkly once in awhile, behaving like a ¡®viin.¡¯

    <em>¡®It must be a hassle trying tough like a viin every time.¡¯</em>

    This had been their most awaited moment. They were sure that the three would be very shocked once they saw them suddenly appear. They might even tremble in fright.

    ¡°Do you remember us?!!!¡± Rex shouted as they appeared in front of the three using the great mage¡¯s Mass Teleport.

    Luna, who was pping her tiny wings, ck Dragon, who was chuckling darkly, and Beanie, who was picking his snout with his three paws, were taken aback.

    ¡°Oiiiiink¡­!¡±

    <em>Poooooooooot~!</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Shocked by the sudden appearance of a group of people in front of them, Beanie¡¯s butt had loosened while his paws pushed up his snout and induced a nosebleed. Then, while looking at them in a daze, he released another fart.

    <em>Pooooooooooot¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

 Chapter 799

    Chapter 799

    Rex and Henry had been waiting for this day, where they would get their revenge on Minhyuk for dragging them through the mud. If his beloved father, ck Dragon, were forced to log out, and his precious pets, Beanie and Luna, were to die, then Minhyuk¡¯s heart would definitely be broken.

    Thinking about their beautiful revenge, Henry and Rex, together with 6,000 people, appeared in front of the three. Of the 6,000, there were some that originally followed them, while the rest were those that they employed.

    <em>Poooooooot~</em>

    However, everyone was left speechless when they heard the loud sound that came from Beanie¡¯s butt. It sounded as if a huge balloon that suddenly got deted.

    <em>¡®What¡¯s with that fart? Why does it sound like that?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Shouldn¡¯t it sound like fwiiiiiiish not poooooooot?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®And why is his nose bleeding like that? We haven¡¯t even attacked them yet.¡¯</em>

    Beanie identally pushed his paw straight up his nose when they suddenly appeared in front of them.

    <em>nk¡ª</em>

    Beanie, who had been staring nkly in front of him, shook his body not long after.

    ¡°Oiiink¡­ <em>(Heee¡­.)</em>¡±

    Then, he showed an expression of extreme relief. Perhaps it was because his stomach was now in a veryfortable state.

    ¡°This, this pig! How dare you ignore us!¡±

    ¡°Oink?¡±

    Henry and the rest of the people behind him felt like they had beenpletely ignored by the pig in front of them. However, if one looked at it from Beanie''s point of view, the only reason why he farted was because he was surprised. As a result? Well, his bulging belly ended up feelingfortable.

    ¡°Kill that baby piggy!!!¡±

    ¡°Kihyeeee, kihyeeeeee, kihyeeeeee!¡± The Hatchling Luna burst in tears when she felt the frightening and threatening aura around her. Beanie calmly patted Luna¡¯s back. Meanwhile, ck Dragon had already noticed that they were in a very dangerous situation.

    <em>¡®I can see a few famous rankers here and there.¡¯</em>

    ck Dragon had changed sses to the Royal ss: Dragon Monarch. On top of that, he was the king of the dragons and could summon four legendary dragons. However, dealing with all of the people present here would be quite difficult, even for someone like him.

    <em>¡®Beanie¡¯s also here, but¡­¡¯</em>

    The Supreme Divine Beast Beanie could use the ¡®Predator¡¯s Authority,¡¯ a skill that could allow him to use the skill of another person once. It could even copy the amount of damage and attack that the skill could deal, with all the buff effects included. However, the fact that he could only use it once meant that it would still be impossible for them to get out of this situation safely. Of course, Beanie¡¯s basic force was overwhelminglyrge. But against this number, it was useless.

    ck Dragon furtively moved closer to Beanie and Luna. Then, he tried to rip apart the Mass Teleport parchment that was made with Golden Mage Ali¡¯s powers.

    <em>[Magic Shackles.]</em>

    <em>[An unknown power restricts the use of any kind of power that uses the mage¡¯s mana.]</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>[With the ¡®Magic Shackles¡¯ in effect, the Memorize Parchment containing Mass Teleport has failed!]</em>

    ck Dragon¡¯s face turned ugly. He hurriedly tried to send a whisper to Minhyuk.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>ck Dragon</em></strong><em>: Minhyuk. Requesting for urgent support!]</em>

    However, the mage that used Magic Shackles was a step faster than him.

    <em>[Silence.]</em>

    <em>[Whispers, guild chats, party chats and all types ofmunication have been restricted. You won¡¯t be able to send or receive any messages.]</em>

    ¡°Do you think we¡¯ll let you run away like that?¡± Rex chuckled darkly.

    Everyone present knew how this would end. However, ck Dragon had various skills, abilities, items and artifacts in his arsenal. He had a skill, ¡®Crisis Hawk¡¯, prepared in case he encountered a situation like this.

    <em>Fweeeeeeeeet¡ª</em>

    A ck hawk responded to his call as a parchment appeared in front of him. Then, letters began to get branded on the parchment as ck Dragon thought of the message that he wanted to send.

    <em>[Minhyuk. Beanie, Luna and I are somewhere near Louvre Lake and we¡¯re in danger. Requesting for support.]</em>

    Then, the parchment rolled and tied itself up on the feet of the ck hawk.

    <em>[The Crisis Hawk is flying toward the yer ¡®Minhyuk.¡¯]</em>

    <em>[Once the Crisis Hawk arrives where yer ¡®Minhyuk¡¯ is, you will be able tomunicate with him!]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The ck hawk flew swiftly away from them.

    ¡°Kihyeeeee¡­ kihyeeeeee!¡± The frightened Luna cried out, looking worriedly at ck Dragon and Beanie.

    ¡°Kill them all at once. Mages and archers, go first.¡±

    The mages raised their staves while the archers pulled the strings of their bows at the words of Henry and Rex. ck Dragon closed his eyes for a moment while Rex, Henry and the rest of the peopleughed at him.

    ck Dragon had built quite a reputation in ZTube. This was because the chairman of the prestigious Ilhwa Group acted like a chuuni teenager in Athenae. He would speak cringe-worthy lines like, <em>¡®Fufufu. Fools. Do you want to see the beings on my right arm go berserk?¡¯</em> while chuckling like a viin.

    They were certain that he would do the same this time. They were just waiting for him to say the line, before they would openly mock andugh at him.

    However, ck Dragon, who had his eyes closed, asked, ¡°¡­Can¡¯t you just let us go?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Everyone looked at the man in confusion. This was not like the usual ck Dragon.

    ¡°If you want to go to war, then why don¡¯t you go and officially dere one against the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom? If not, then let these children go and juste at me?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Ilhwa Group Chairman¡¯s Kang Minhoo was one of the world¡¯s top entrepreneurs.

    ¡°Please, do not try to harm these little ones.¡±

    ck Dragon cared deeply for Beanie and Luna. Perhaps a part of him med himself for beingcent and bringing them out, which led to this situation. However, he knew that if harm came their way, the one that would be the saddest was Minhyuk.

    The one person that ck Dragon loved the most in the world was his son. Just thinking about how his son would grieve the loss of these precious beings was already making his heart ache.

    <em>¡®I am a father before I am a chairman of apany.¡¯</em>

    He was a father that loved his child dearly, willing to put down his pride for his son.

    ¡°Let these children go,¡± ck Dragon pleaded earnestly.

    Some of the yers cleared their throats. It seemed like they had realized how conceited and ck-hearted they were at this moment.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry but we have also umted quite a lot of resentment, you know?¡±

    However, Rex and Henry were guffawing. ck Dragon¡¯s reaction made them certain that Minhyuk would be very sad if Beanie and Luna died. Rex raised his hand and swung it down. At the same time, hundreds of arrows and magics rained down on the three. The twoughed at the scene.

    ¡°Dear father, he must be very heartbroken, no? Hahaha!¡±

    At that moment, ck Dragon¡¯s gaze suddenly changed, while facing the hundreds of arrows and magic that were about to rain down on them.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    His empty and nk eyes seemed to embody the void as he looked at Rex and Henry.

    <em>¡®W, what the¡­ that look¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I feel like I¡¯m being choked.¡¯</em>

    ck Dragon had the gaze of an apex predator, one that stood at the top of the food chain. There were no ripples in his eyes, but the glint in them was sharper than anybody else''s. At this moment, the two realized that they had provoked someone that they should not have.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    A powerful, overwhelming force suddenly burst out of ck Dragon¡¯s arms. Dragons were summoned, starting with the appearance of the heads, followed by their huge bodies and long tails.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Roaaaaaaaar!¡±

    Four dragons of different colors roared loudly.

    <em>[The Four Legendary Dragons are outraged!]</em>

    <em>[The Four Legendary Dragons are being affected by their master¡¯s raging emotions!]</em>

    The first dragon that ck Dragon had obtained among the Four Legendary Dragons was ¡®Britney¡¯. Britney was furious after he read ck Dragon¡¯s thoughts, roaring as he blocked the downpour of arrows and magic with his body.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª!</em>

    Although the attacks hurt, Britney did not shriek from the pain. He showed a tough appearance toward the enemies that angered his master.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeck!!!¡±

    Rex and Henry were both overwhelmed by the loud roar of the gigantic dragon that appeared in front of them. Immediately after that, the other three dragons made their presence known by unleashing their Breaths.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    There were some that received the brunt of a Poison Breath.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    Some were frozen into ice cubes after being hit by a Cold Breath.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    There were also some that were subjected to a Breath that nullified and ignored everything.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    The enemies were all left flustered and in disarray after being subjected to different Breaths. Meanwhile, Rex and Henry could only look at ck Dragon, who stood still amidst the raging Breaths.

    The man stood there with a cold and arrogant gaze. It was as if he was standing at the top and looking down on them. They might have forgotten this fact, but ck Dragon was the chairman of apany. He was someone that had been standing at the top of the food chain for a very long time now.

    Rex and Henry firmly believed that it was impossible for the three of them to defeat their party. After all, their numbers far exceeded theirs. They even had ten high rankers that were on par with ck Dragon in terms of strength. Besides, what could ck Dragon do alone? Unfortunately for them, reality proved otherwise.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    <em>Crack, crack, craaaaaack!</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°A, aaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keheoooook!¡±

    The Four Legendary Dragons ran wild and killed the troops that Rex and Henry brought along. However, the most surprising part here was the fact that the Four Legendary Dragons did not retreat even though their bodies were being stabbed, torn and bombarded with swords, arrows and magic.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeck!!!¡±

    The roars of the Four Legendary Dragons, who wanted to protect their master, shook the world. Then, ck Dragon took a step toward his enemies.

    <em>Swooooooosh¡ª</em>

    At the same time, dragon scales appeared all over his body and formed a glittering and majestic armor. ck Dragon, who was now garbed with his ck dragon armor, stretched his right hand out as a long ck spear made of bones appeared.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    A ck stream of energy appeared in the spear that was in ck Dragon¡¯s hand. Then, the ck stream shot towards the sky.

    ¡°Assemble.¡±

    <em>[The Dragon Race responds to the summons of the Dragon Monarch!]</em>

    The skies darkened. Not long after, ear-piercing roars rang from the gaps in the dark sky.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Kiheeeeeeeeeek!¡±

    Rex and Henry turned to look at the sky, only to see hundreds of members of the dragon race descending rapidly, folding their wings as they knelt down in front of ck Dragon.

    ¡°Please¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­give us your orders!!!¡±

    ck Dragon looked at the members of the dragon race in front of him with a haughty look on his face as he gave his orders, ¡°Destroy them.¡±

    The members of the dragon race spread their wings and flew to the sky with their long spears, throwing the enemies into chaos as they joined the fray.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    Both Rex and Henry gulped dryly when they saw the members of the dragon race sweep through their troops. However, they soon came back to their senses. In a way, ck Dragon could be said to be a summoner. A summoner¡¯s biggest disadvantage was the fact that all of their summons would disappear once they died.

    Rex and Henry looked at ck Dragon, who was charging straight toward them.

    ¡°Kill ck Dragon!!!¡±

    ¡°Once you kill him, the dragons and the members of the dragon race will disappear!!!¡±

    Summoners usually relied heavily on their summons. They might have better physical specspared to mages, but they were still infinitely weakerpared to closebat sses. Hansen, one of the rankers in the top 2,000 rankings, and two other rankers from the top 10,000 rankings charged toward ck Dragon. However, something very surprising happened.

    ¡°Dragon¡¯s Cry.¡±

    <em>Piiiiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    ck Dragon¡¯s spear pierced through Ranker Hansen¡¯s body, as he screamed from the pain. He was able to get back to his senses quickly and tried to exchange several blows with ck Dragon.

    <em>aaaaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    ¡°Urk¡­!¡±

    The next moment, Hansen copsed on the ground.

    With a cold and freezing gaze, ck Dragon cut down all of the enemies that blocked his path with his ck spear. He ignored the damage received in exchange for charging forward swiftly, and in a blink, appeared in front of Henry.

    Cold sweat broke out of Henry¡¯s forehead when he saw ck Dragon appear in front of him.

    Just like Minhyuk, ck Dragon was a tall man that reached 183 cm in height. Such a man was looking down at Henry as if he was insignificant.

    ck Dragon had asked them politely before to just fight against him and leave Beanie and Luna alone. However, Henry and Rex justughed at him. So, in response, ck Dragon said coldly, ¡°Then, I will just have to kill all of you.¡±

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

 Chapter 800

    Chapter 800

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    ck Dragon¡¯s spear pierced through Henry¡¯s chest.

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 40%!]</em>

    <em>[Critical strike! You are bleeding!]</em>

    <em>[You will be in a very dangerous situation if you don¡¯t stop the bleeding!]</em>

    Henry was shocked that ck Dragon was able to reach him despite the thousands of soldiers and rankers that stood between them earlier.

    The ck Dragon that they knew of was a chuuni through and through. Now that they had made him upset, the gaze that he used to look at them was horrifyingly cold.

    <em>Shiver¡ª</em>

    A chill ran down Henry¡¯s spine. ck Dragon¡¯s gaze was too sharp and cold for a mere merchant inside a game to handle.

    ¡°This is certainly very surprising. I never expected that I would be beaten by a mere summoner like you. Even if we fought 1:1, I believe I will still lose against you.¡±

    Hansen, who had been stabbed by ck Dragon¡¯s spear earlier, had finallye to his senses and wasing after him. ¡°I believe you have just used an attacking skill, no? I¡¯m pretty sure you don¡¯t have a lot of that in your arsenal. So, it¡¯s safe to say that you have already given your best, right?¡±

    That was right. ck Dragon could win against Hansen or any of the rankers at the top 1,000 rankings in a 1v1 fight. However, the problem is that ck Dragon was currently up against a huge number of enemies.

    ¡°From what I can see, you¡¯re thinking of showing us an overwhelming force from the very beginning to force us to retreat, no?¡±

    When Hansen¡¯s words ended, one of the ranker-ss mages cast an Explosion right beneath ck Dragon.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª!</em>

    ck Dragon was sent flying by the tremendous explosion.

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    Taking this opportunity, the closebat rankers immediately dashed forward, chasing after ck Dragon and putting immense pressure on the man.

    ¡°¡­<em>Phew.</em>¡± Henry sighed in relief. He had beenpletely overwhelmed by ck Dragon¡¯s momentum that he momentarily forgot the current situation. ck Dragon would not be able to win against them.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Kiiiiiiiiiik!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    Despite ignoring the pains to continue biting their enemies fiercely, the Four Legendary Dragons still ended up being pushed back. They were growing more and more exhausted the longer they fought. On top of that, they were struggling from the pain of the countless gashes and injuries that littered their bodies.

    ¡°Hold on! Please, hold on a bit longer!¡± ck Dragon begged the Four Legendary Dragons to hold on with thest vestige of their strength. He was also doing the same, giving his all to prevent the closebat yers from gaining more ground.

    ¡°So, you¡¯re the Dragon Lord¡¯s candidate.¡±

    At this moment, Henry and Rex took this opportunity to approach Luna. Although Luna was someone that they had to be very wary of, she was still just a small hatchling. She had not yet reached her full growth. They believed they could still deal with her.

    ¡°Kihyeee¡­?¡±

    Luna might be the Dragon Lord¡¯s candidate but she was currently a sheltered flower protected by a greenhouse. She had never truly felt what danger was and how it could threaten her life. That was why this situation caused Luna to be terrified.

    ¡°Kihyeeeee?¡± Luna inched backward, pping her tiny wings as the two people approached her.

    ¡°Luna!!!¡± ck Dragon shouted. However, this momentarypse in attention allowed the rankers the opportunity to cut him down with their swords.

    ¡°Kihyeeee¡­¡±

    Luna did not know what this feeling was. She felt fear and her heart ached terribly.

    <em>Throb¡ª</em>

    Luna¡¯s heart thumped fiercely as an unknown and dull ache spread in her body. This was the growing pains of a legendary dragon. Luna watched as her dear uncle ck Dragon dragged his bloody and injured body just to run to where she was.

    <em>Drip, drip¡ª</em>

    Tears slowly flowed down from Luna¡¯s big eyes.

    ¡°Kihyeee¡­¡±

    Luna was crying. She cried in fear as Rex, Henry and hundreds of troops approached her.

    ¡°Oiiiiiiiink!¡±

    At that moment, a baby piggy stood in front of Luna.

    This baby piggy was Luna¡¯s ever-so-yful and mischievous second teacher, who cared for and loved her with all his heart and soul. Luna had not seen much of Beanie¡¯s serious side in her young life. From birth, all she had heard her second teacher say was that he was hungry.

    But at this very moment, Luna¡¯s second teacher, the baby piggy Beanie, looked back at her with a small and faint smile on his face.

    ¡°Oiiiiink. <em>(Luna.)</em>¡±

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeee¡­¡±

    ¡°Oiiiiink. <em>(Don¡¯t cry. Oink.)</em>¡±

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeee¡­¡±

    Beanie showed a bright and wide grin to the terrified Luna. At that moment, warmth gushed inside Luna¡¯s body as she felt her heart flutter.

    ¡°Oiiiiiiiiiink!¡±

    Beanie drew his Food God¡¯s Kitchen Knife.

    <em>aaaash¡ª</em>

    A golden crown and golden full-te armor appeared and covered Beanie as he stood in front of the crying Luna. Then, he made his move. Beanie could use the power of the Predator¡¯s Authority, a skill with enough force to kill everyone in this ce.

    <em>Crackleeeee¡ª</em>

    And now, the power that he preyed on began to boil. ck mes crackled to life from the de of Beanie¡¯s kitchen knife.

    <em>Crackleeee¡ª</em>

    Beanie red sharply at the enemies that approached them. He wanted to protect his dear and precious Luna.

    Predator¡¯s Authority not only copied another¡¯s skill but it could also replicate its state when it was copied, including all of the buffs and enhancements during that time.

    Beanie unleashed the power of Minhyuk¡¯s Overlord¡¯s Technique that had been under the effect of ¡®Double Skill¡¯. In other words, the skill was twice as powerful.

    <em>[Overlord¡¯s Technique.]</em>

    <em>[The Overlord¡¯s Fire, with an additional 10,000%~16,000% attack, will engulf everyone within a 120~160 meter radius.]</em>

    Beanie swung his kitchen knife, the overwhelming power of the Overlord¡¯s Technique bursting toward his enemies as the ck mes roared to life.

    <em>Rumbleeeeeeee¡ª</em>

    The fire was so intense that it could melt anything and everything that it passed by, shaking the heavens and the earths.

    ¡°Oiiiiiiiiiink!¡±

    Cold sweat broke out of Rex¡¯s and Henry¡¯s foreheads as they watched the zing mes devour the area.

    <em>¡®Shit¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He¡¯s going to be able to melt down and kill thousands of our troops if things continue at this rate.¡¯</em>

    However, the twoughed in relief not long after. They had hidden several mages that were capable of casting high-ss magic among their troops. These mages had been lying low and waiting for such a moment. They immediately cast a barrier that was absolutely invincible.

    <em>Vwoooooooooong¡ª</em>

    A dome-like barrier spread out and prevented the fire from doing any damage to their troops.

    <em>Crackleeeeee¡ª</em>

    As for the troops that failed to hide inside the barrier, they all turned to ashes and disappeared. However, there were still well over half of the troops that survived the catastrophe.

    ¡°¡­Oink.¡±

    Beanie¡¯s face turned ugly at the unexpected oue. Rex and Henry had been wary of Beanie¡¯s ¡®Predator¡¯s Authority.¡¯ Because of that, they had prepared a countermeasure in advance. The expression on Beanie¡¯s face was grave when he turned away from Luna.

    ¡°Oiiiiiiink¡­!¡±

    Beanie decided to jump right into the enemy ranks. It was the only way he could prevent them from reaching Luna.

    ¡°Oiiiiiink.¡±

    <em>Swooooooosh¡ª</em>

    Beanie wielded his kitchen knife skillfully as he flew toward the enemy. He made use of his small stature to cut down his enemies one after another and cast his artifact¡¯s skills at the perfect moment.

    <em>[Rain of Kitchen Knives.]</em>

    <em>[Hundreds of strong and powerful kitchen knives with an additional 200% damage will fall down from the sky and crush your enemies.]</em>

    The skill caused numerous knives to fall from the sky and stabbed through Beanie¡¯s enemies.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kghhhhhhhk¡­!¡±

    <em>aaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    ¡°Oiiiiiiiink¡­!¡±

    One of the rankers cut down Beanie, who was weaving through his enemies and the rain of ck kitchen knives, sending him crashing to the ground.

    Beanie might be able to deal a huge amount of damage, but his HP and defenses were very low. He staggered on his feet, struggling to stand back up and fight once more. However, a bombardment of magic fell upon him.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª!</em>

    ¡°O, oiiiiiiink¡­!¡±

    Notifications about his summoning being recalled constantly rang in Beanie¡¯s ears as the bombardment devoured and threatened to rip apart his body. However, he ignored the notifications.

    <em>¡®No one will be able to protect Luna if I disappear here. Oink.¡¯</em>

    ck Dragon also realized that the situation was going downhill.

    <em>[¡®yer¡¯ Minhyuk has received your message through the ck hawk. He is currently writing a reply.]</em>

    <em>[You can nowmunicate and exchange letters with each other through the Crisis Hawk.]</em>

    ck letters began to appear one after another in front of ck Dragon.

    <em>[I¡¯m already warping to the location that you have mentioned.]</em>

    ck Dragon struggled to read the letters that were being written in front of him as he continued to fight a fierce battle. He looked around in exhaustion.

    <em>[How long do you think it will take?]</em>

    The reply came shortly afterward.

    <em>[Around ten minutes.]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s far toote¡­]</em>

    ck Dragon¡¯s expression turned dark. The fact that Minhyuk was arriving here in ten minutes meant that he rushed here the moment he received the message. However, the problem was that they were not sure if they could evenst for ten more minutes. Beanie was already struggling to stay on his feet, his body covered with injuries. Even ck Dragon was in a pinch. His HP had already dropped below 15%. There was no guarantee that they couldst for that much time.

    <em>[Is there no other way?]</em>

    ck Dragon wanted to protect Beanie and Luna, one way or another. Then, Minhyuk¡¯s reply was branded in the space in front of him.

    <em>[Father, Beanie¡­]</em>

    ck Dragon doubted his eyes for a moment when he saw what was written in front of him. He turned to look at the groaning Beanie, who had copsed on the ground once again. Then, he read the message once again.

    <em>[¡­might be the most powerful being in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    ***

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeee! Kihyeeeeeeee!¡±

    The sadness that Luna felt almost overwhelmed her when she saw Beanie struggle to stand up after copsing on the ground over and over again. He was even using his kitchen knife to support himself.

    ¡°Oiiiiiink¡­¡±

    Luna¡¯s heart ached terribly as she looked at him. It was a strange and unfamiliar emotion for the young dragon.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeee¡­¡±

    Tears flowed from the hatchling Luna¡¯s big eyes. Luna wanted to tell Beannie to stop struggling and not to push himself anymore. However, she realized soon after that the reason why Beanie was not backing down was because he was protecting her. This realization made her cry even louder.

    ¡°Oiiiink¡­¡±

    However, despite the injuries and gashes that covered his body and littered his face, Beanie still looked at her with a small smile. Beanie was the Supreme Divine Beast. However, recently, he felt like he was not growing as much as he wanted.

    <em>¡®I also want to be as strong as Brod, Elpis and Spear God Ben so I can protect Luna. I want to be stronger so that Minhyuk will not worry about me and he will summon me more. I want to be stronger than anybody else so I can save my master, Minhyuk, whenever he¡¯s in danger.¡¯</em>

    Beanie hated the fact that he was weak, despite having the title of Supreme Divine Beast. Tears streamed down his face. He wanted to protect Luna and of course, he also wanted to live and survive. He hoped to watch his beloved Luna grow from a hatchling to an adult dragon and be the king of all dragons.

    <em>Baaaaaang¡ª</em>

    However, Beanie was helpless. One of the yers kicked him and sent him flying back. Although he struggled to stand up once again, he could no longer prop himself up. Beanie tried to force his eyes to remain open somehow, but in the end they still closed. Along with that, his body started to droop.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeee!¡±

    Luna roared, her heart-rending scream drawing the attention of everyone present.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeee!¡±

    Beanie had always lovingly stroked her back while calling out to her with an ¡®oink.¡¯

    ¡ª<em>I¡¯m so full, oink!</em>

    Luna recalled how Beanie smiled brightly while patting his bulging belly. She cried loudly as she desperately flew to where he was. Beanie, the one that always smiled at her, the one that always protected her, the one that loved her with all his heart.

    ***

    <em>[On that day, my second father, the baby piggy, sacrificed his life for me. I flew desperately to where his gradually cooling body was while the enemies scrambled to wield their weapons, magic and arrows to kill me. However, I saw none of them through the sadness and despair that enveloped my entire being as I desperately flew to where my father was.]</em>

    <em>[Rumbleeeeeeee¡ª!]</em>

    <em>[Crackleeeeeeee¡ª!]</em>

    <em>[Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª!]</em>

    <em>[Then, my father enveloped me in a warm hug.]</em>

    <em>[With an oink, he gave me his usual smile as he shielded me from all of the attacks that came my way with his body.]</em>

    <em>[I was young back then and all I could do was stare at my father. At that moment, I witnessed my father awaken the power that had been sleeping in his body.]</em>

    <em>[Plenty of people in that ce died with a single swing from my father¡¯s de.]</em>

    <em>[On that day, the figure of my father that was reflected in my eyes looked greater than anyone else in the world.]</em>

    <em>Great Dragon Luna¡¯s Autobiography (Excerpt)</em>

 Chapter 801

    Chapter 801

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeee!¡±

    The enemies moved to attack the hatchling Luna, who was crying and flying toward Beanie. AOE magic from high-leveled ranker mages, ¡®Power Shot¡¯ from archers, and even swords and spears from the knights threatened to pierce Luna¡¯s body.

    Ovee with grief, Luna forgot the fears that almost devoured her as she continued to fly to where Beanie was. Just when the AOE magic attacks were about to hit her, something happened.

    <em>aaaaash¡ª</em>

    <em>[The Supreme Divine Beast¡¯s sealed passive skill has been released.]</em>

    <em>[The Passive Skill: ¡®Predator¡¯s Wrath¡¯ has been triggered!]</em>

    Beanie stood still and blocked the enemies¡¯ path toward Luna.

    ¡°Ki, kihyeeeee¡­¡± Luna cried, her tears dripping down her cheeks as she stared at Beanie. He enveloped Luna in a tight hug using his small body.

    ¡°Oiiiiink¡­!¡± <em>Don¡¯t cry, oink!</em>

    Then, a golden barrier spread from Beanie¡¯s body, surrounding him and Lunapletely.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    The powerful attacks werepletely blocked by the barrier.

    ¡°A, a golden barrier¡­?¡±

    Rex knew who that barrier belonged to. There was only one yer in the entire Athenae that could cast a golden barrier. It was none other than Golden Mage Ali.

    However, it was something that Rex could not understand. ording to their investigations, Beanie could only use the Predator¡¯s Authority once. Beanie had already used his Predator¡¯s Authority when he cast ¡®Overlord¡¯s Technique¡¯ earlier.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The thick cloud of dust that covered the golden barrier disappeared. Beanie, who was holding Luna in his arms,nded gently on the ground. Then, he stroked Luna¡¯s head and smiled softly at her.

    <em>[Predator¡¯s Wrath.]</em>

    <em>[The HP of the target, who had died once, will recover to 50%.]</em>

    <em>[Randomly selecting skills from the list of skills that you have preyed on before.]</em>

    <em>[The higher the level or rank of the skill, the lower its chances of being chosen.]</em>

    <em>[You can use a total of six skills.]</em>

    <em>[You can use your skills within four minutes.]</em>

    Beanie smiled softly at Luna as he slowly ced her down.

    ¡°Oiiink. Oink.¡± <em>Don¡¯t worry, oink.</em>

    Beanie slowly turned around and walked toward their enemies.<em></em>The expression on Beanie¡¯s face was terrifying. Then, ck bones began to appear and cover his body.

    <em>[You are using the second skill.]</em>

    <em>[You have used the Dragon Sword and Dragon Armor!]</em>

    Slowly, the ck bones that appeared and covered his body turned into armor. When Beanie drew the kitchen knife that was hanging on his waist, ck bones also covered it. This time, it turned into a longsword.

    The second skill that he used was ck Dragon¡¯s Dragon Sword and Dragon Armor.

    <em>[Upon equipping the Dragon Sword, all of your attack will increase by 15%. Your skill damage will also increase by 10%!]</em>

    <em>[Upon equipping the Dragon Armor, all of your defense will increase by 20%. Your HP volume will also increase by 20%.]</em>

    ¡°Wh, what¡­?!¡±

    ¡°He can use multiple skills?!¡±

    Everyone looked at Beanie in surprise. They knew that this skill belonged to ck Dragon.

    Beanie sported a cold gaze as he continued to walk as the ck armor and the dragon swordpleted their transformations. Fluttering on his back was a white cape that carried the symbol of a fork and knife crossed together. At this point, his enemies firmly believed that Beanie would no longer be able to use any more skills.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s no way that he can use any more of the ability that allows him to replicate and use his opponent¡¯s skills, right?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®If that¡¯s possible, then Beanie¡¯s existence could be considered as a bnce breaker.¡¯</em>

    Since Beanie could replicate the skills of his opponents, it meant that the skills of named boss monsters were not impossible. However, everyone believed that this was a very difficult feat.

    Hansen, who had been putting pressure on ck Dragon, immediately jumped at Beanie. ¡°You¡¯re nothing but a mere baby pig! How dare you show such an arrogant and impudent expression, huh?!¡±

    To be honest, Hansen personally disliked baby piggy Beanie. He believed that this pig was only arrogant because he had the backing of his master. However, Beanie moved faster than Hansen, his sword already shing at Hansen¡¯s body even before Hansen¡¯s sword could reach him.

    <em>[You are using the third skill.]</em>

    <em>[Sword of Carnage]</em>

    <em>[Movement speed increases by ten times and cuts down your enemy in an instant.]</em>

    <em>[The opponent cut down by your sword will suffer from thirty eight sword attacks in one second. Each of the sword attacks will have 2,000% additional damage.]</em>

    <em>[You have ignored all of your enemy¡¯s defenses.]</em>

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    Beanie¡¯s expression remained cold. He did not even look back as he passed by Hansen and continued forward. Hansen just copsed on the ground after receiving 38 consecutive strikes, wearing a dumbfounded expression.

    ¡°¡­Isn¡¯t that the Food God¡¯s skill?¡±

    ¡°What the hell¡­¡±

    ¡°What the hell is that baby piggy?!¡±

    Rex, Henry, and their hired troops were all thrown into disarray. Hansen was considered as one of the strongest people among their group. But he was easily cut down like that. Beanie leapt to the skies with an arrogant expression on his face. He watched as they all scrambled to retreat.

    ¡°Oiiiiiiiink. Oink, oink!¡± <em>Mercenaries¡¯ Pinnacle Swordsmanship.</em>

    ¡°Oiiiiiiink!¡± <em>Final Chapter.</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Hundreds of bloody red sword lights illuminated the skies before devouring the enemies beneath them. High rankers? Name NPCs? Those titles were useless. Brod, the owner of the power that was trampling on them, was stronger than anybody else.

    The bloody red sword lights that shot out from Beanie¡¯s sword continued to devour the enemies. Now, there were less than 70 surviving enemies, who were all groaning from pain.

    ck Dragon, who watched this scene unfold, was in awe. <em>¡®I never expected that he could wield this much power.¡¯</em>

    ck Dragon had learned about Beanie¡¯s hidden power after his conversation with Minhyuk. He had asked Minhyuk if he had told anyone about this, but Minhyuk replied that he had not told anyone, not even Beanie.

    ¡ª<em>Predator¡¯s Wrath is a skill that has been unlocked just recently. Although it¡¯s only temporary, this skill can allow Beanie to be one of the strongest powerhouses and allow him to surpass everyone in the world. However, it has two weak points.</em>

    ¡ª<em>First, the condition for triggering the skill is extremely bad. It requires Beanie¡¯s HP to reach zero. In other words, it can only be triggered once he''s dead. If Beanie knew about this, he would most likely endure and take on the pain of dying the moment the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is in danger.</em>

    Minhyuk had a point there. It might not be that obvious, but Beanie loved Minhyuk and the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom more than anybody else in the world. He would do anything for Minhyuk and Luna, even if it meant that he had to experience the pain of dying.

    ¡ª<em>The second loophole can be seen after the skill¡¯s activation. He can use six skills but the skills will be randomly selected. It is even set up in a way that the chosen skills will only be revealed step by step. In other words, the skill user would not be able to know what skill would be chosen in advance. The following skill would only be avable for viewing after he had finished using the current skill. There¡¯s also the problem about the type of skill chosen. Some of the skills might be extraordinary, while some might be very useless for the situation. If all of the skills chosen turn out to be useless, then the worth of the skill is not enough for Beanie to risk his life, right?</em>

    Minhyuk was right. The two disadvantages were too ring.

    ck Dragon looked at the enemies that Beanie had killed. He never expected that Beanie would be able to deal with so many enemies by himself. However, the problem came after that. Even though the surviving enemies were suffering from both major and minor injuries, there were still more than 60 of them left.

    <em>¡®I hope that whatever skillse next will be outstanding skills¡­¡¯</em>

    If that could not happen, then the only way for them to get out of this situation was for Minhyuk to arrive as soon as he could.

    <em>[There¡¯s six minutes left.]</em>

    ck Dragon was in a constant state of anxiety. However, they could not me Minhyuk. Even if he knew their current location, there was no way for him to warp to this ce. After all, he had never saved a warp point in this area. The only thing that he could do was rush to warp to the nearest vige in this area. No one could me for Minhyukingte.

    Meanwhile, Beanie red as he sliced the neck of one of the yers.

    <em>Spuuuuuurt¡ª</em>

    There were no ripples in Beanie¡¯s eyes as he continued to pass by his enemies one after another. Because of that, Henry and Rex could not get a glimpse of what was going through his head.

    <em>¡®Does he still have more skills?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Did he use all of the skills that he can use? But looking at that gaze¡­ I think he still has a few more skills up his sleeves, right?¡¯</em>

    However, contrary to their thoughts, Beanie was not calm. He was actually groaning deep inside.

    <em>[You are using the fourth skill.]</em>

    <em>[The Author¡¯s Tenacity.]</em>

    <em>[The moment you pick your pen and write, you will fall into a state of trance. Your thoughts will disappear and your inspiration wille to mind.]</em>

    Beanie had not only preyed on offensive skills, but also support and nonbat skills. He had many different kinds of skills to choose from. One of these skills was none other than the Author¡¯s Tenacity, the skill of the bestselling author, Aruvel. The skill was obviously great and outstanding. However, it was currentlypletely useless in the situation that they were in.

    <em>aaaaaash¡ª</em>

    After cutting down another of his enemies, Beanie looked at the skill that emerged once again.

    <em>¡®Oink. Oiiiiiiiink¡­¡¯</em>

    He was in a very embarrassing situation. Beanie was in desperate need of strong and powerful skills right now. But the two skills that came out werepletely useless to Beanie right now.

    <em>[The fifth skill is the Illusory Extraction.]</em>

    This was a skill possessed by the legendary barista and the Spear God, Ben. It was an amazing skill that could allow him to extract coffee beans without using any kind of machine. However, it was to no purpose at the current moment.

    Rex realized that something was off when he saw Beanie cutting down the enemies that were about to die.

    ¡°That, that pig bastard¡­¡±

    What did he mean by calling a baby piggy a pig bastard? Of course, those words resonated with them in their hearts. That was why all of the surviving troops turned to look at Rex when they heard his words.

    ¡°He¡¯s not using any skills right now. He must have no other skills left to use.¡±

    ¡°Now that I think about it¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Even though he only needs one AOE skill to wipe us out he¡¯s¡­¡±

    That was certainly the case. Beanie was left flustered when everyone had discovered his carefully hidden thoughts. His enemies had alle back to their senses. They quickly took this opportunity and finally made their move.

    Beanie hurriedly used the Illusory Extraction to see what thest and final skill was.

    <em>[You are using the fifth skill.]</em>

    <em>[Illusory Extraction.]</em>

    <em>[You have used the Illusory Extraction.]</em>

    <em>[There are no coffee beans to extract!]</em>

    Since there were no beans to extract, the skill naturally disappeared.

    Meanwhile, the enemies continued to send one attack after another at Beanie.

    <em>Staaaaaaaaab¡ª</em>

    Several spears pierced through Beanie¡¯s bulging belly.

    ¡°O, ooooiiiiiiink¡­!¡±

    There were also several sword attacks that shed Beanie, his small body tearing apart from the attacks.

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    ¡°Oink¡­!¡±

    Beanie screamed in pain as his HP rapidly decreased once again. He was once again on the verge of death. However, Beanie knew that this would be a real death. He squeezed thest of his strength to look at his final skill.

    ¡°Oiiiiiiiiink¡­!¡±

    There was a wide smile on Beanie¡¯s face.

    <em>[You are using the sixth skill.]</em>

    <em>[Summon.]</em>

    <em>[Searching for the people that you are connected to.]</em>

    <em>[You are connected to your master, ¡®Minhyuk¡¯!]</em>

    <em>[Summoning Master ¡®Minhyuk¡¯!]</em>

    ***

    <em>[That day was the first time that I saw my father¡¯s wrath.]</em>

    <em>[The sword that my father wielded had the power of hisrades and friends.]</em>

    <em>[Among these powers was the power of Uncle Brod, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s Commander-in-chief, and the one hailed as the Fallen Wretched Emperor.]</em>

    <em>[When my father told me his side of the story back then, he said that he almost went crazy. The fourth skill, the Author¡¯s Tenacity, and the fifth skill, the Illusory Extraction, were both skills that were useless in battle.]</em>

    <em>[Because of that, my father was once again left in danger. He used thest of his strength to check the final skill.]</em>

    <em>[He was ovee with relief and happiness at that moment, because thest skill that my father used allowed him to see the person that he loved, cherished and respected the most in the world.]</em>

    <em>[The skill allowed him to summon Minhyuk, my first father.]</em>

    <em>Great Dragon Luna¡¯s Autobiography (Excerpt).</em>

 Chapter 802

    Chapter 802

    Pierced by countless spears and shed by the swords of his enemies, Beanie¡¯s body had turned into aplete wreck. Despite that, there was still a wide and bright smile on his face as he stared at the light that shed in front of him.

    A hand stretched out from the bright light and stopped the spears from piercing Beanie¡¯s body further. At the same time, the heads of the yers that were attacking Beanie all fell and rolled on the ground.

    A tall, handsome man, whose looks were blessed beyond measure, appeared as the bright light disappeared. As his ck hair and fair skin came into view, he hugged Beanie tightly in his arms as his white cape carrying the symbol of the fork and knife crossed together that represented the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom fluttered behind him.

    This man was the one that stood at the top of Athenae, also known as the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King, Food God Minhyuk. And right now, Minhyuk was sporting a very frightening expression on his face.

    ¡°You m*therf*ckers.¡±

    Killing intent from Athenae¡¯s top yer burst out and encroached upon the enemies. Those that met him for the first time unknowingly took a step back. It was well known that Food God Minhyuk was a kind and courteous person. However, the Minhyuk in front of them right now waspletely different from what they heard, especially with the killing intent that was bursting out from his eyes.

    While some took a step back in fear, some of the high-leveled rankers'' will to fight was burning even brighter. Both ck Dragon and Beanie were exhausted. The fact that Minhyuk came here alone meant that they had a chance to kill the existence that stood at the top of Athenae.

    Rohan, a ranker at the top 1,000 of the Assassin Rankings, used his lethal skill on Minhyuk.

    ¡°Dagger of Destruction.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª!</em>

    The Dagger of Destruction was a skill that could instantly increase the skill user¡¯s speed by five times, while inflicting 10,000% additional damage upon hitting the enemy¡¯s vital point. It could be considered as Rohan¡¯s strongest skill. Rohan moved swiftly, his dagger stabbing straight toward Minhyuk¡¯s chest.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    Rohan felt delighted. It did not matter whether Minhyuk stumbled or copsed on the ground, all he knew was that Minhyuk would definitely be forced to log out after he pierced through his heart. It was definitely possible with the additional 10,000% damage, especially since he was an assassin that could deal a huge amount of damage.

    However, reality turned out to bepletely different from what Rohan had imagined. Minhyuk, who had ced Beanie down, grabbed Rohan¡¯s wrist that was aiming for his chest while he used his other hand to grab the assassin¡¯s neck.

    ¡°Keok¡­!¡±

    Then, Minhyuk mmed Rohan on the ground.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 70%!]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Rohan was very shocked to see a huge chunk of his HP disappear like that. After all, he was just simply mmed on the ground. Even if Rohan was an assassin ss yer, could Minhyuk really deal such a huge amount of damage by doing something like that? On top of that, Minhyuk was not even abat ss yer. Minhyuk was calm, despite Rohan using a lethal skill on him.

    <em>¡®How high is his STR and STM stat¡­?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s stats were considerably higher than his peers. This was all thanks to his Food God ss, the dishes that he ate, the titles, as well as the special rewards that he obtained.

    <em>¡®This, this is the Supreme¡­¡¯</em>

    However, Rohan¡¯s thoughts were cut short when Minhyuk stomped on his head several times.

    <em>Bang! Bang! Bang!</em>

    Rohan was forced to log out just like that.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Rex and Henry were both left speechless. The two knew Minhyuk well, that was why they did not dare to make a move on him despite the fact that he came here alone.

    ¡°Attack him all at once!!!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right! He¡¯s all alone!¡±

    ¡°Even if he¡¯s considered as the best of the best, what can he do all by himself?!!!¡±

    The surviving yers all charged at Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®No. Just because he¡¯s alone does not mean that we can deal with him.¡¯</em>

    Henry was the only person among those present that wanted to run away from this ce. But before he could even do so, Minhyuk had already made his move.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk grabbed a mysterious and unknown potion bottle and threw it on the ground. Then, steam immediately rose from the ground and spread through the air.

    <em>[You have inhaled the Restricted One¡¯s Potion.]</em>

    <em>[Return Scrolls and Teleport Magic have been disabled for three minutes.]</em>

    Minhyuk had received a variety of potions from God of Alchemy Mand in preparation for times like this.

    ¡°Intangible Sword.¡±

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    Several of the closebat yers that had jumped up and aimed for Minhyuk all fell t on the ground. Even so, enemies still charged at Minhyuk from all sides. In response, Minhyuk used Like the Wind and moved swiftly while murmuring, ¡®Sword of Absolute Death.¡¯

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª</em>

    Lightning swords fell from the sky and devoured most of the surviving yers, who were all swept away, dying helplessly without even touching a single hair on Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    Rex was once the Story God and the main pir of the God¡¯s Children. Even though he had lost his Story God ss, he was still able to retain all of the various information that he obtained when he still had the ss.

    With that information, he was able to reach his target. It was none other than Vampire Be, one of the Eight Pirs. Vampire Be was the greatest among the vampire races and was considered as the mother of all vampires.

    Rex had signed a contract with her. These were the terms and conditions of the contract that he had signed with her.

    <em>[You have signed a contract with the Mother of Vampires Be.]</em>

    <em>[You can activate Be¡¯s power whenever you want.]</em>

    <em>[However, to activate the power you need to ingest the blood of a strong person.]</em>

    <em>[You will be punished by the Mother of Vampires if you fail to drink the blood of the strong after you activate Be¡¯s powers.]</em>

    Rex had always dreamt of exacting his revenge against Minhyuk. If he offered the blood of the strong to the Mother of Vampires Be, then he would be able to use Be¡¯s power semi-permanently. However, just like what was said in the notifications, he would be punished if he failed to fulfill that condition. However, Rex was very confident.

    ¡°Minhyuuuuuuuuuuk!!!¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¡ª!</em>

    <em>[Be¡¯s power is running wild!]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased significantly!]</em>

    <em>[Your total HP and MP volume has doubled.]</em>

    <em>[You can now use some of Be¡¯s skills!]</em>

    <em>[You can now use Be¡¯s Authority, Blood Absorption.]</em>

    Rex slowly turned into a vampire. His skin turned deathly pale, his eyes turned red, his fangs grew longer and sharper, while wings that looked simr to that of a bat¡¯s sprout out on his back. Even his silver hair grew long enough to reach his waist.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    The blood of all of the enemies that Minhyuk had cut down turned into tens of thousands of droplets that floated in the air and created a spectacr view.

    ¡°I¡­¡±

    Rex had been looking forward to this moment for a very, <em>very</em> long time. Because of the God of Death, he lost all of his qualifications to be the Story God and quickly fell to the bottom. However, he now had the power of one of the Eight Pirs, the Mother of the Vampires Be, albeit only borrowed. Still, Rex was confident that he could surpass the best of the best, in fact he believed that he could even surpass any god with this power.

    ¡°I am!!!¡±

    <em>Rumbleeeeeeee!!!</em>

    <em>[You have used Be¡¯s Skill. Your damage has increased by 1,000%.]</em>

    <em>[You have used Be¡¯s Skill. Your damage has increased by 1,000%.]</em>

    <em>[You have used Be¡¯s Skill. Your damage¡­]</em>

    <em>[You have used Be¡¯s Skill¡­]</em>

    <em>[Your additional damage has increased by over 7,000%!]</em>

    It did not matter what kind of Be¡¯s attack skill he would use, he would be able to deal additional 7,000% damage. Rex waspletely drunk on power. He vowed that he would trample on Food God Minhyuk and make him suffer today.

    ¡°¡­Athenae¡¯s Supreme!!!¡±

    At this moment, Rex was very confident that he had be the true supreme existence in Athenae. The tens of thousands of droplets of blood that floated in the air shot toward Minhyuk.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The moment the first drop of blood collided with Minhyuk¡¯s body, a huge and powerful explosion engulfed him.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª</em>

    Just like that, the tens of thousands of droplets of blood floating in the sky exploded and devoured Minhyuk. Rex, who watched this scene with his long silver hair fluttering behind him,ughed maniacally.

    ¡°Keuhahahahahahaha! Ahahahahahahahaha! I am the new supreme! I will make new history! And I will be the new god!!!¡±

    ¡°F*ck off.¡±

    A faint voice rang amids the loud explosions. It belonged to none other than Minhyuk. He walked out unfazed and unscathed, a faint silver barrier shining all over his body. This was Absolute Defense, a power that would create a thin barrier around Minhyuk¡¯s body and make him invincible for seven seconds.

    Rex¡¯sughter got stuck in his throat while his eyes grew wide from shock.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    It was far toote. Minhyuk¡¯s sword was already right in front of him.

    <em>[Double Skill]</em>

    <em>[You have a 1.2% chance of triggering Double Skill. Upon triggering, skill¡¯s effects will be doubled.]</em>

    Double Skill had an extremely low probability of being triggered. However, once triggered, it could boost the power of even Minhyuk¡¯s strongest skill.

    <em>[Sword of Carnage]</em>

    <em>[Movement speed increases by twenty times and cuts down your enemy in an instant.]</em>

    <em>[The opponent cut down by your sword will suffer from 76 sword attacks in one second. Each of the sword attacks will have 4,000% additional damage.]</em>

    <em>[You have ignored all of your enemy¡¯s defenses.]</em>

    Everything happened in a sh. Rex only blinked once, yet Minhyuk had already gone past him. It had to be known that Rex¡¯s HP was doubled the moment he activated Be¡¯s power.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    Unfortunately, it was all for naught. The sound of his flesh being stabbed and shed continuously rang in the area while his HP fell rapidly. When it finally reached zero, these notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[The penalty in your contract with Mother of Vampires Be has been triggered!]</em>

    <em>[You have been forced to log out while using Be¡¯s power!]</em>

    <em>[Be, who is invisible to the rest of the people, appears behind you and bites your neck to kill you!]</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    At that moment, Rex saw the deathly pale Be look at him with her eerie snake-like eyes and creepy smile as she bit his neck. Then, she said, ¡°Since you dared to borrow my power, then you have to pay the price, no?¡±

    <em>[Mother of Vampires Be has removed all of the defensive equipment, essories and weapons that you possess.]</em>

    <em>[You have dropped the Sword of the Shining One.]</em>

    <em>[You have dropped the Ne that Even the Gods Coveted.]</em>

    <em>[¡­dropped the Radiant Hero¡¯s Armor.]</em>

    <em>[¡­dropped the Legend¡¯s Swift Boots.]</em>

    <em>[Mother of Vampires Be has forced you to drop all of the items that you coveted and snatched.]</em>

    <em>[You have dropped 12,134 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have dropped Skillbook: Together with the Light.]</em>

    <em>[¡­dropped Gryphon Lord¡¯s Teeth.]</em>

    <em>[¡­dropped the Aestinium Ore.]</em>

    <em>[¡­dropped the Padadinium Ore.]</em>

    The notifications rang non-stop in Rex¡¯s ears.

    <em>[Mother of Vampires Be drags your bare body to her homebase.]</em>

    <em>[After being dragged to Be¡¯s homebase, she will suck you dry of your blood for sixty days.]</em>

    <em>[Even if you do not log in, your blood will still be sucked dry. You will also receive the forced logout penalty for sixty days.]</em>

    <em>[Be will never reduce your punishment. This is the punishment for losing while using her power.]</em>

    <em>[Be¡¯s curse will stick to you and always harass and torment you!]</em>

    This was literally a ¡®death sentence.¡¯ Rex would have no room forining. It had been stated in the conditions when he obtained this strong power. This punishment was only possible because Athenae was quite a realistic game.

    Then, at that moment, Rex heard Minhyuk¡¯s voice behind him. He said, ¡°Supreme? So, the supreme is f*cking weak, huh? F*cking bastard.¡±

    That would be thest thing that Rex heard in Athenae, because hepletely dropped the game after this.

 Chapter 803

    Chapter 803

    God¡¯s Children were once the object of admiration by many in Athenae. Yet, Rex, one of God¡¯s Children, was brutally forced to log out by the de of Minhyuk¡¯s sword. As for Henry and the rest of their party, it was a simple matter for Minhyuk to deal with them.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeee¡­! Kihyeeeeeee¡­!¡± Luna cried out, breathing a sigh of relief as she flew into the arms of the injured Beanie.

    Once everything was sorted out, Minhyuk approached Beanie.

    ¡°Oiiiiink¡­¡±

    Beanie, covered with injuries of varying degrees, truly did his best to protect Luna. Minhyuk gently ced his hand on the baby piggy¡¯s head and said, ¡°You have to tell me next time, okay?¡±

    ¡°Oiiiiiiiink¡­¡±

    Minhyuk fed the injured Beanie a potion. In no time at all, the baby piggy was back to his usual cheerful self. Beanie patted his chest and showed off his usual arrogant expression.

    ¡°Oink, oink. Oiiiiiiiiink! <em>(You saw it right?! You saw how great of a pig I am, right? Oink!)</em>¡±

    A sigh of relief escaped Minhyuk¡¯s lips when he saw Beanie back to his usual self. Fortunately, no one died. At the same time, it also made him realize that he should pay more attention to Beanie and Luna.

    <em>[I¡¯m quite curious. I wonder how weak the dregs of the continent are.]</em>

    Then, at that moment, an unknown voice resonated all over the world through a world message.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk could tell that something unusual was about to happen.

    ***

    Joy Co. Ltd. was busy, as each and every team¡¯s members stared anxiously at their own monitors. Meanwhile, President Kang Taehoon sat together with all of the board members, team leaders, and executives inside the conference room.

    ¡°The story rted to the Land of the Forgotten Heroes should have started with the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal Sun Wukong directly crossing through continents to ask for help in liberating Edea that was ruled by Rumacar.¡±

    ¡°The yers that epted the requests of the four kingdoms would then do quests that will drive out the Jade Emperor¡¯s envoy, Commander Rumacar. The Episode Quest: ¡®Edea¡¯s Peace¡¯ should have been a fun and interesting event for the yers.¡±

    ¡°But now, the entire situation has changed. Originally, the kingdoms, including the Kingdom of Eden and the Kingdom of Rama, should have been under Rumacar¡¯s rule. The yers would have to work together to save Edea from Rumacar¡¯s tyrannic rule.¡±

    ¡°However, due to Food God Minhyuk killing Rumacar, he brought peace to Edea. It¡¯s fine if this peace could be maintained. However, the current situation is that the Jade Emperor and his other envoys have chosen to go on a different approach regarding this matter.¡±

    The pping of a butterfly¡¯s wings could be felt on the other side of the world. The butterfly effect not only could happen in reality, but also in Athenae. The fate of the Land of the Forgotten Heroes, Edea, had beenpletely changed. It was fine if the people of Edea could maintain their peace. If so, then there would not be any unpredictable quests or big episodes that would be created.

    However, the monitor in front of them was disying the serious conversation that was being held between the Jade Emperor and his envoys.

    <em>¡®How will the episode change¡­?¡¯</em>

    President Kang Taehoon felt his head throb. They initially nned for the current yers to experience something novel and fresh as they bring peace to Edea by driving out Commander Rumacar and the Heavenly Army. However, things have changed now.

    They watched on the TV screen as the Jade Emperor spoke.

    ***

    In the world above the clouds.

    The Jade Emperor sat on his golden seat as he watched his envoys speak and argue.

    The Jade Emperor had a total of four envoys. Rumacar, themander that was excellent in swordsmanship. Heron, the daoist envoy that was well-versed in wide-area daoist magic. Ferro, the envoy with a huge build and was a master of the woldo. And finally, Viel, the envoy that wielded the greatsword.

    ¡°There is no longer any person in Edea that worships the Jade Emperor.¡±

    ¡°Rumacar tried to be the king of the Kingdom of Eden but he failed in the end. During the process, a god from another continent called the Food God intervened and helped the humans of Edea. Because of that, they started to deny the Jade Emperor.¡±

    ¡°The Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal, the king of the Kingdom of Rama, is rallying the four kingdoms and gathering forces.¡±

    ¡°We have to hurry! Shouldn¡¯t we make a move and kill all those uncivilized and dirty humans?! Please give us your orders and we will immediately descend.¡± Viel said.

    However, the Jade Emperor shook his head. Just like what Viel had said, the residents of Edea, which they viewed as nothing but insignificant and uncivilized bugs, no longer worshipped and served him. On the other hand, their faith and trust toward the Food God had reached an all-time high.

    The Jade Emperor could not forget what happened back then. The Food God had taken advantage of his need for the jade seal and transferred Rumacar¡¯s authority over the Heavenly Army to the Bull Demon King. It would be quite refreshing if he could just beat that bug and kill him right away. However, it would be a problem if he sent all of his envoys down to Edea.

    <em>¡®They will definitely kill everyone if I send them down. Well, that doesn¡¯t really matter to me.¡¯</em>

    Everyone in Edea, including those kings, would die. In fact, the Jade Emperor would do it if he could. He truly wanted to kill those rebellious bugs. The problem was the presence of the Absolute Gods of the other continent, in particr, the greatest god, Athenae. He knew that Athenae would not sit idly by if he truly dared to do so.

    Just when the Jade Emperor was pondering over how he should solve this matter, a voice sounded out.

    ¡°Great Heavenly Father, I can see that you are very worried about this matter. Why don¡¯t you bestow upon me the Sword of Aeon? I will use the Sword of Aeon to cut down everyone that threatens the Heavenly Father¡¯s rule.¡±

    The Sword of Aeon was a sword that often appeared in the myths and legends of Edea. It was a sword that could easily surpass the supreme and mythical swords in the world. However, there was a problem.

    ¡°Rumacar is the only one that knows the whereabouts of that sword.¡±

    ¡°¡­<em>Cough.</em>¡±

    ¡°Damn it, Rumacar!¡±

    The Jade Emperor trusted Rumacar the most even though he was far behind Viel when it came to individual power and might. However, Rumacarmanded and ruled the Heavenly Army very well. He was a perfect fit for the position. The Jade Emperor bestowed the Sword of Aeon to Rumacar because he trusted him. Despite having the Sword of Aeon in his possession, Rumacar had failed to use it.

    <em>¡®He hid it for me.¡¯</em>

    The Jade Emperor might have several envoys but he never trusted anyone. Rumacar was the only exception. If Viel got the Sword of Aeon in his hands, then he might even try to use that sword against him. The truth was, the Jade Emperor knew where the Sword of Aeon was.

    <em>¡®Anyway, no one will be able to find it.¡¯</em>

    As he watched his envoys sigh in regret, the Jade Emperor said, ¡°Let¡¯s talk about thatter.¡±

    They had to solve the problem regarding the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal Sun Wukong, who stirred up the public¡¯s sentiments and was rebelling against him. The Jade Emperor pondered over the matter for a while. Not long after, a deep smile bloomed on his face.

    ¡°Then, how about leaving Sun Wukong to the foreigners from another continent? Let¡¯s have them kill him?¡±

    ¡°¡­You mean those insignificant bugs?¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡±

    The envoys thought for a moment.

    With the orders of the Jade Emperor, they would give those insignificant humans a choice. Would they side with the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal, or would they side with the Jade Emperor? Since it was technically the choice of the humans, there was a high probability that the Absolute Gods would not be able to stop them.

    Viel, who was also pondering deeply about the matter, grinned and said, ¡°Then, does that mean that only the Food God will protect the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal?¡±

    ***

    President Kang Taehoon sighed.

    <em>¡®So, it¡¯s going to unfold like this?¡¯</em>

    The Jade Emperor chose to open a passageway that would connect the other continent to Edea and drive out the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal. Basically, it meant that there would be people that woulde and protect the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal, and there would be people that would stand on the side of God''s Envoys.

    ¡°Who would even side with the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal?¡±

    The Jade Emperor¡¯s envoys would fight together. Then, who would fight for Sun Wukong?

    ¡°Of course, we would limit the number of times that the Jade Emperor¡¯s envoys would appear. At the same time, we would also give preferential treatment and greater rewards to those that would side and protect the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal.¡±

    ¡°Even so, there won¡¯t be that many people who would take the side of Sun Wukong.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡±

    Kang Taehoon nodded in agreement. There was no one in the world that would take a quest knowing that they would eventually fail. They would definitely ept the quest that would guarantee sess. In other words, Minhyuk might be the only one that woulde to Sun Wukong¡¯s aid.

    Then, Team Leader Park Minggyu said, ¡°Since the direction has been determined, we have to refine and coordinate the contents of the episode to the best of our abilities. We should make it so those that want to bring down Sun Wukong will have a hard time gaining contributions even if they hunt many enemies. On the other hand, the longer yer Minhyuk endures, the more contribution points he will gain, and the more special privileges he will receive.¡±

    Everyone nodded. They should give at least a small window for sess for yer Minhyuk, who would likely be the only one to side with Sun Wukong. Otherwise, this would not be considered an event, but a massacre.

    Then, at that moment, Envoy Viel said something very unexpected.

    <em>[Then, if that¡¯s the case, how about we show those dregs how scary we are before we let them choose?]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Everyone was shocked. At the same time, the notifications rang.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Sudden Quest</em></strong><em>: The Jade Emperor¡¯s Envoys.]</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: ???</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: yers at Level 450 or higher that have epted the quest.</em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: Acquisition of 100 tinum and permanent stat increase. If you seed in hitting the envoy a hundred consecutive times, you will be able to randomly obtain one of the envoys¡¯ treasure boxes.</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Failure</em></strong><em>: None.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: The envoys of the Jade Emperor are trying to issue an order to the strong men of the continent. But before that, they want to show off their powers. Once you ept, you will be warped into the ¡®Land of Fantasy¡¯ created through illusions to fight against them. You will not receive any penalty if you are forced to log out inside the Land of Fantasy. On the other hand, you will be able to randomly receive a variety of rewards, including tinum with every damage inflicted upon the envoys.</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Everyone¡¯s faces turned ugly when they saw the notification.

    When Viel opened his mouth, his voice resonated and turned into a world message.

    <em>[I¡¯m quite curious. I wonder how weak the dregs of the continent are.]</em>

    These words would definitely set the hearts of all of the yers of Athenae on fire.

    ¡°Who did we base Viel on?¡±

    The figures from the Land of the Forgotten Heroes were mostly based on several legendary and mythical beings from the legends. One look at the Jade Emperor, the Bull Demon King and the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal Sun Wukong was enough to see that this was the case.

    The Story Team¡¯s Leader pressed on his temple as he replied helplessly, ¡°Lu Bu.¡±

    ***

    <em>[You have entered the Land of Fantasy!]</em>

    <em>[There are only 50,000 yers that can enter the Land of Fantasy!]</em>

    <em>[All 50,000 yers have entered.]</em>

    <em>[The Land of Fantasy will disappear after ten minutes!]</em>

    <em>[You will not be able to enter the Land of Fantasy after that anymore!]</em>

    The yers were in a buzz. They have all heard about the Land of the Forgotten Heroes, Edea. However, the envoys of that ce had called them the dregs of the continent.

    Because of that, the high-leveled yers¡¯ will to fight grew wildly. After all, they were given the privilege to fight against the strong men of another world while being given surprising rewards.

    ¡°Hey, look at this! We will either get 100 tinum or a permanent stat increase if we can at least sessfullynd a hit and inflict damage just once.¡±

    ¡°Is that for real?¡±

    ¡°Wow. Won¡¯t we be able to get rewards just by using our skills right from the very beginning?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s amazing!¡±

    There were a considerable number of yers that joined because of the rewards. Also, among the 50,000 yers were some of the world¡¯s best rankers.

    Meanwhile, Kentaro, Japan¡¯s top ranker, broke into a cold sweat.

    <em>¡®The envoys of the Jade Emperor.¡¯</em>

    They were transported to the Land of Fantasy, which was a drynd filled with hundreds of thousands of human corpses. Amidst this dry and terrifyingnd, three men appeared on a small hill. One of them was wearing a robe, while another stood at 190 centimeters tall holding a woldo.

    ¡°Guan Yu?¡±

    The guy standing in the middle with a in face stood imposingly with a gigantic greatsword in his hands.

    ¡°There¡¯s quite a lot of dregs that appeared, huh?¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The one that came forward was none other than Viel. Everyone¡¯s expressions turned ugly when they heard his words.

    <em>Piiiiiiiiiiiiing¡ª</em>

    An arrow flew swiftly toward Viel¡¯s head.

    <em>Swoosh¡ª</em>

    However, Viel only needed to turn his head to the side to evade the attack. The one that shot the arrow was none other than Master Archer Miao.

    ¡°That¡¯s Miao¡¯s arrow¡­¡±

    ¡°He only turned his head to the side to avoid it?¡±

    Most of the yers present had never fought against gods. God¡¯s envoys were virtually god-like existences.

    Kentaro was on edge. When he looked back, a very wee figure greeted him. He could see a firm and determined expression on his face. However, not long after his face and body changedpletely. It seemed like he had used the Great Demon Verus¡¯ mask. This man was none other than Minhyuk. After changing his appearance using the Great Demon Verus¡¯ mask, Minhyuk disappeared into the crowd.

    Then, Viel stepped forward and said, ¡°Come. I¡¯m more than enough to deal with those dregs.¡±

    Viel was immediately bombarded with a variety of lethal and one-shot kill skills the moment he stepped forward. Just one scratch and they would be able to obtain tinum and permanent stat increase as rewards.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go!!!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right! You f*cker!!!¡±

    ¡°Uwoooooooo!!!¡±

    Tens of thousands of magic attacks, skills and arrows rained down on Viel. However, Viel only looked at them quietly and raised his hand before swinging the greatsword that was almost the size of his body.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    At the same time, all of the skills that were flying toward him scattered and disappeared with the wind.

    ¡°Huh¡­?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°What, what the?¡±

    Only then did they realize that something was wrong. Kentaro groaned when he saw Viel fly up and swing his greatsword once again.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    At that moment, gigantic sword lights fell down from the sky and killed all of the yers that they came in contact with.

    <em>[More than 8,000 yers have been forced to log out!]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    A moment of silence enveloped the entire Land of Fantasy.

 Chapter 804

    Chapter 804

    ¡°I¡¯m quite curious. I wonder how weak the dregs of the continent are?¡±

    After the unexpected quest notification, Viel¡¯s voice turned into a world message that resonated all over the world. Hearing those words, some thought that it was a part of an episode while some fumed in rage. Regardless, when they saw the list of rewards in the quest window, all of them cheered.

    <em>¡®Just one scratch, no, just one sessful attack and one could get either 100 tinum or a permanent stat increase? On top of that, if you sessfully attack him for 100 consecutive times then you will be able to randomly obtain one of the envoys¡¯ treasure boxes?¡¯</em>

    The yers cheered loudly. Hiidden quests or S-rank quests were often swallowed up by high rankers. However, for the average yer, it would be a miracle if they could even receive hidden quests and the likes just once in their lives. Now, the opportunity to receive 100 tinum and even a permanent stat increase was just right around the corner. On top of that, they would not receive any penalty even if they died inside the Land of Fantasy.

    A permanent stat increase just by attacking the opponent? It had to be known that food, artifacts or anything that could permanently increase one¡¯s stats cost a fortune. That was why every single yer that entered the Land of Fantasy saw this as a big opportunity.

    Unfortunately, the moment they entered, more than 8,000 yers disappeared without a trace with just a swing of Viel¡¯s sword.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The yers all went mute, their bodies shaking from both tension and anxiety. The world¡¯s best high rankers hurriedly gathered.

    ¡°They opened the Land of Fantasy to trample on us,¡± Alexander, one of the world¡¯s best rankers, said.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    None of the yers could refute that statement. At the same time, they were wary and nervous when they saw him.

    <em>¡®I heard that he has been hiding somewhere to traintely.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Alexander¡¯s already at Level 599.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®What will happen once he reaches Level 600?¡¯</em>

    Alexander was the one that stood at the top before Minhyuk appeared. He was once the world¡¯s best ranker. They did not know what would happen once this man reached Level 600. However, as things stood, they quickly put this thought at the back of their minds.

    Viel, who had been floating in the sky above them, held his sword tightly and fell like a meteor among the yers that were gathered together.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Dozens of yers turned into ashes and disappeared with the wind upon impact. All of the yers that entered thisnd were at least Level 450 or higher. They tried to protect themselves and defend against Viel¡¯s attacks using various buff and defensive skills.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    However, one swing of Viel¡¯s swords and all of their shields, barriers and defensive skills were rendered useless.

    <em>[Viel¡¯s greatsword can ignore all defenses! It also has an armor break skill!]</em>

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    With another swing of his sword, dozens of yers disappeared once again. Viel then crouched down.

    ¡°Beast¡¯s Roar.¡±

    <em>Roaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar¡ª!</em>

    <em>[Beast¡¯s Roar.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have decreased by 22%.]</em>

    <em>[Your uracy rate has dropped by 40%. All of your defenses have decreased by 30%.]</em>

    <em>[The roar of the wild beast has left you in an extreme state of fear.]</em>

    The yers were all subjected to an abnormal status and were left trembling in fear. In their eyes, the charging Viel looked like a vicious and fierce tiger. This was an illusion, something that was brought forth by that fear. It was akin to how one would feel if a tiger suddenly pounced on them with their mouths wide open.

    ¡°Hiiiiiiiiiiik!¡±

    ¡°Eeeeeeeeek!¡±

    ¡°S, Save¡­¡±

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    The yers were cut down, helpless against Viel¡¯s attacks. It was a one-sided massacre. Among the yers inside the Land of Fantasy, there were also quite a few broadcasting station officers. Thementators were watching and rying everything through the eyes of the station officers.

    <em>[These unknown men are all the envoys of the Land of the Forgotten Heroes, Edea''s Jade Emperor.]</em>

    <em>[The Jade Emperor is basically at the level of an Absolute God. If that was the case, then the envoys could be considered as ordinary gods.]</em>

    <em>[However, just because they have the status of an ordinary god does not mean that you should ignore their power. In fact, we can safely say that there are only a select few yers that have seen and fought against gods. Furthermore, even if that is the case, most of them will die under those gods¡¯ hands.]</em>

    <em>[What¡¯s more surprising is the fact that the other two gods are just standing on the side and not moving. The only one that¡¯s making a move is Viel.]</em>

    <em>[It seems like they are looking at our yers and Named NPCs as nothing but a huge joke.]</em>

    <em>[The yers are dying without even being able to do anything.]</em>

    <em>Rumbleeeeeeeeeee¡ª</em>

    The ground cracked and shook as Viel mmed his sword on the ground.

    ¡°Petty and insignificant dregs.¡±

    Viel deemed them to be insignificant beings.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡°Tornado Shot.¡±

    A strong wind swirled around one of the yers, who pulled the string of her bows tightly. And when this yer, Master Archer Miao, released her arrow, a powerful force apanied it.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Tornado Shot, a skill that engulfed an entire 30 meter radius, struck Viel.

    <em>Swish¡ª</em>

    Blood slowly dripped down Viel¡¯s face as a scratch appeared on his cheek.

    <em>[You have sessfullynded one attack!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 100 tinum.]</em>

    However, Viel easily grabbed the swirling arrow and forced the overwhelming whirlwind to quiet down.

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    Viel¡¯s face turned ugly as he snapped the arrow and threw it on the ground. ¡°How dare you! You petty trash¡­¡±

    <em>Crackleeeeeeee¡ª</em>

    Before he could even finish speaking, Kentaro moved swiftly, leaving behind an afterimage. When he next appeared in front of Viel, dozens of his clones popped out all around the man.

    <em>Poof¡ª!</em>

    Kentaro¡¯s dozens of clones swung their swords all at once.

    <em>Stab, stab stab¡ª</em>

    Three of the sword strikes failed to scratch Viel¡¯s skin despite Kentaro moving to stab him. However, there was one sessful attack.

    <em>[You have sessfullynded one attack!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained +1 STR.]</em>

    <em>[¡­sessfullynded one attack!]</em>

    <em>[¡­gained +1 AGI.]</em>

    Viel¡¯s expression grew even uglier. Despite the countless afterimages, the envoy was still able to easily pinpoint where the true Kentaro was.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª!</em>

    Viel swung his greatsword more than four times in a split second, and cut Kentaro.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaack!¡±

    Kentaro¡¯s HP instantly fell down below 10%. Thankfully, a gigantic sword struck Viel from behind.

    ¡°Sword of Disaster.¡±

    <em>[Sword of Disaster.]</em>

    <em>[You can cut down and break anything in your path just like a disaster with an additional 11,000% attack power!]</em>

    <em>[This is an attack that could not be stopped or prevented!]</em>

    An unstoppable attack passed by Viel¡¯s greatsword and struck his head.

    <em>aaaaaash¡ª</em>

    The impact of the attack forced Viel¡¯s leg to get buried deep underground. The world¡¯s best high rankers did not miss this opportunity and immediatelyunched their own attacks.

    <em>[Athenae¡¯s Supremes are trying to push Viel back.]</em>

    <em>[All of the high rankers are doing a great job with Alexander at the lead.]</em>

    Thementators were very excited as they watched Athenae¡¯s powerhouses attack and put pressure on a god. Even the viewers were impressed by this scene.

    <em>[Kyaa¡­ Athenae¡¯s Supremes are taking action!]</em>

    <em>[He¡¯s helpless. Anyway, there are dozens of powerful high rankers there.]</em>

    <em>[Do you think they¡¯ll be able to kill that guy named¡­ Was it Viel or Niel?]</em>

    <em>[¡­They won¡¯t.]</em>

    <em>[Why?]</em>

    <em>[Look carefully.]</em>

    Everyone focused on their screens when they saw one of the viewers dash their hopes. Only then were they able to see it.

    <em>[They¡¯re sessfullynding their attacks but they aren¡¯t dealing any damage¡­?]</em>

    <em>[¡­It¡¯s true.]</em>

    That was right. It was obvious that their attacks werending sessfully but there was no damage dealt. Were they able to cut Viel? No, it felt like their swords were trying to cut through iron. How about stabbing? It just looked like they were stabbing a wall.

    <em>[What the hell? How high is his defense¡­?]</em>

    <em>[Even the best high rankers can¡¯t deal much damage to him?]</em>

    <em>Haaa¡­ haa¡­</em>

    Someone¡¯s rough breathing rang loudly in the area. Most of them had already used their skills and bombarded Viel. In fact, skills were still continuously raining down on him. However, there was something that the rankers realized.

    <em>¡®He did not even groan or scream once.¡¯</em>

    Daoist Aeron, who was watching everyone attack Viel at the side, said, ¡°That¡¯s enough.¡±

    Aeron did not look pleased with the situation that Viel created. He raised his hand and waved his finger, creating lines and circles in the air in front of him.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The moment he finished the circle, the ground was suddenlypressed and all of the yers were gathered around. It was just like Golden Mage Ali¡¯s press¡¯ magic.

    ¡°It seems like I have dragged the fight against these bugs for far too long, huh?¡± Viel said, appearing as the thick cloud of dust settled down. There was not even a single major injury on his body. Seeing this, the rankers could not help but groan.

    ¡°Let¡¯s hurry up and get this over with.¡±

    Aeron took out a talisman. As the amulet burned, mes burst out and created a circle around thepressednd that locked up all of the yers in the Land of Fantasy.

    <em>[me Wall Talisman.]</em>

    <em>[You will receive additional 6,000% damage if you touch the wall of mes around you!]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The yers realized that they would not be able to easily get out of this ce.

    Then, Viel said, ¡°Remember this.¡± A huge force gathered around the de of his greatsword as he raised it high up in the sky. ¡°Remember how helpless you are in front of us, you bugs.¡±

    <em>Crackleeeeeeee¡ª</em>

    The moment he mmed his greatsword on the ground, the ground cracked as a powerful shockwave erupted and swept away the yers.

    ¡°You are nothing but mere livestock.¡±

    Viel wanted to use them to bring down the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal. But before that, he wanted to imprint in their heads the kind of existences the Jade Emperor¡¯s envoys were.

    Viel pulled back his greatsword then swung it again.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    The heads of thousands of yers rolled on the ground as their bodies turned to ashes. Among those that died were many famous high rankers, including Master Archer Miao.

    Then, Viel jumped back as another of Aeron¡¯s talisman flew in the air and burned into ashes.

    <em>[Berserk Talisman.]</em>

    <em>[The triggered skill will be 1.6x stronger.]</em>

    ¡°Tiger¡¯s Massacre.¡±

    It looked like a tiger was swiping them with its front paws, its sharp ws and herculean strength easily tearing apart the fragile human skin and flesh. Just like that, hundreds of sword lights that looked like they were filled with barbs and hooks stretched from Viel¡¯s gigantic greatsword and rained down on the yers.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    Instead of being just cut down, the yers were viciously torn apart by the unusual form of sword light that rained down on them and forced them to log out. The rankers¡¯ skills were also easily being nullified by Daoist Aeron¡¯s talismans.

    ¡°Shit¡­¡±

    The yers felt helpless. They could only watch as they got logged out one after another.

    ¡°Have you finally realized it?¡± Viel asked, a nonchnt look on his face. ¡°You are all nothing but bugs. We only need to lift our fingers to crush you.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Overwhelming. That was right. Their power was truly overwhelming. Of course, not all of the world¡¯s leading rankers were participating in this. Perhaps they were on some important quest, in boss hunts, or even busy fighting in a high-leveled hunting ground, that could be why they were not able to respond to the notifications.

    However, everyone present here had realized how huge the gap was. Once their arrogance and self-esteem were crushed, all that was left was a sense of helplessness. The vicious hook-shaped sword lights did not disappear right away. In fact, it was still brutally killing and tearing apart one yer after another.

    ¡°Next time we meet, make sure to properly act like a dog and bark well¡­¡± Viel, who was talking arrogantly, suddenly frowned.

    Why? Because there was a golden light that burst from among the yers.

    <em>¡®A die?¡¯</em>

    ***

    Frustration, helplessness and a sense of loss, that was what these people, who were charging forward to be stronger, were feeling right now. The strength disyed by these god-rank Named NPCs had brought despair to the yers present.

    Were they still not a match against these NPCs despite having a powerhouse like Alexander by their side?

    ¡°Next time we meet, make sure to properly act like a dog and bark well¡­¡±

    As they listened to Viel, the yers could tell that they would not even be able to fight and resist the next time they met. At that time, they would really be forced to log out and be faced with a penalty.

    But then, a golden die suddenly appeared and released a bright, blinding light above them. Immediately after that, an imposing and majestic notification resonated in the Land of Fantasy.

    <em>[The Highest God has appeared.]</em>

    ¡±¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The moment the notifications rang, a faint smile appeared on the faces of all of the yers present. Alexander and Kentaro were grinning widely. There was even someone that let out a sigh of relief.

    <em>Twitch¡ª</em>

    Viel felt his eyebrows twitch.

    <em>aaaash¡ª</em>

    And then, a man flew toward him. Viel¡¯s hook-like sword lights immediately chased after the man, trying to rip him apart and cut him down.

    <em>¡®The attacks are not reaching him?! What?!¡¯</em>

    The man¡¯s body was covered with a faint silver glow.

    Viel knew who this man was. The man was tall with chiseled looks, and bright eyes shining from underneath his dark hair. There was also his signature white cape carrying the symbol of a fork and knife crossed together.

    Viel immediately wielded his sword to try and stop the man¡¯s attack. s, he could not stop the man¡¯s sword. There was a force that made it so he would not be able to dodge or block his attack.

    ¡°Sword of Carnage.¡±

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    <em>[You have sessfullynded one attack!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained +1 STR.]</em>

    <em>[You have sessfullynded one attack!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained +1 AGI.]</em>

    <em>[You have sessfullynded one attack!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 100 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have sessfullynded one attack!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 100 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have sessfullynded one attack!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained +1 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[You have sessfullynded one attack!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained +1 INT.]</em>

    <em>[¡­one attack!]</em>

    <em>[¡­one attack!]</em>

    <em>[¡­one attack!]</em>

    <em>[¡­one attack!]</em>

    <em>[¡­one attack!]</em>

    <em>[¡­one attack!]</em>

    The notifications rang nonstop, signifying the man¡¯s sessful attacks. On top of that, they were not just sessful attacks. They were apanied by a huge damage that brought Viel tremendous pain. He felt like his body was being torn apart.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!!!¡±

    The mannded right next to the screaming Viel, who had copsed on the ground. He said, ¡°Then what does that make you? Someone who¡¯s being beaten by a bug?¡±

    The man was none other than Minhyuk.

 Chapter 805

    Chapter 805

    Minhyuk knew just how fearsome the Jade Emperor and his envoys were. He had once fought against Rumacar, the god¡¯s envoy and Heavenly Army Commander, who took away the Bull Demon King¡¯s kingdom in Edea. What would have happened back then if he did not have the ¡®Jade Emperor¡¯s Seal¡¯?

    <em>¡®I would have probably failed to protect the Kingdom of Eden, and lost Hanwoo too.¡¯</em>

    That was just how strong Rumacar was. The envoys of the god of Edea were no different.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s simr to how I can¡¯t beat Grandpa Ben in a one-on-one fight.¡¯</em>

    The true gods had this sense of detachment that no yer could dare to touch.

    Minhyuk had just been taking a break after rescuing ck Dragon, Beanie and Luna when he heard the notifications. As someone that was aware of how frightening their existence was, Minhyuk immediately hid his appearance using the Great Demon Verus¡¯ Mask the moment he arrived at the Land of Fantasy. After all, he needed to prepare well.

    <em>¡®If I make a move right away, then the one that would die would only be me.¡¯</em>

    Not too long ago, Minhyuk had fought against the executives of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom in a 10:1 battle. The result of that battle was a draw.

    However, just because Minhyuk was able to beat them and force the result into a draw did not mean that his strength overwhelmed the other ten of thembined. It was simr to the case of ten Level 500 yers that would have a difficult time fighting and winning against a single Level 580 yer.

    However, something noteworthy was that Minhyuk had not received any buff from his buffed dishes during the duel. To be fair, the biggest advantage of the Food God was none other than his buffed dishes. If Minhyuk received the effects of his buffed dishes, then he would be able to exert the power of someone at Level 700 at any given moment.

    Minhyuk quietly took out the meal that he had kept in his inventory while trying to keep as much distance as possible from the other yers. The meal consisted of a 30-cm-long MyWay Sandwich. The brand had plenty of stores globally. Its main charm was the fact that one could choose whatever type of bread they wanted, as well as the types of vegetables and sauces, on their sandwich. In Minhyuk¡¯s case, he wanted to eat the MyWay Sandwich so bad that he made one himself.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s easy to store and very convenient to eat.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk always kept some high-grade dishes in his food storage inventory in case of emergencies. Even if he stored some fried chicken in his inventory for a long time, its crispy golden skin and warmth would not disappear. In other words, as long as his food was stored in his inventory, he would still be able to eat it at its peak condition.

    He immediately used Double Food to replicate the MyWay Steak and Cheese Sandwich. Then, Minhyuk triggered ¡®Ovepping Delight¡¯ so he could get double the buff effects. After doing all of that, Minhyuk started to devour the steak and cheese sandwich.

    The bread¡¯s slightly crispy texture, along with the ¡®barbeque & mustard¡¯bination, created a perfect harmony. The biggest reason why Minhyuk loved MyWay sandwiches was because of the huge amount of vegetables one could get in it. One bite and he could taste the cacophony of vors of the onions, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, olives and many other vegetables packed in his sandwich. Even the full and savory vor of the steak and the melted cheese added to its charm. When he felt like his throat had gone dry, he would fill a ss with ice and cider and drink it all up in one gulp.

    ¡°Kyahaaa!¡± The bubbly and refreshing feeling that traveled down his throat made him shout in delight.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaack!¡± One of the yers screamed after getting hit by an attack.

    ¡°Keheoheok! Urk! This, this crazy bastard! What the hell?!¡±

    The yer, who had been on the verge of death after getting hit by Viel¡¯s attack, looked dumbfounded when he saw a yer run around with a sandwich in one hand and a drink in another.

    However, Minhyuk did not care. He just continued to eat his sandwich while running around to avoid Viel¡¯s attack path.

    <em>[Ovepping Delight.]</em>

    <em>[You can now receive the effects of two dishes.]</em>

    <em>[The duration of the buff effect will depend on the number that the die will cast.]</em>

    The golden die shone brightly above the yers who were trapped in a circle of mes.

    <em>[The die has been cast! You have rolled a four!]</em>

    <em>[The Ovepping Delight¡¯s buff effect willst for three minutes!]</em>

    <em>[You have rolled a six, your EXP Acquisition Rate will double for seven minutes!]</em>

    <em>[You have received the effects of the Legendary Grade Steak and Cheese Sandwich and the Legendary Grade Steak and Cheese Sandwich.]</em>

    <em>[Your STR and AGI have increased by 24%!]</em>

    <em>[Your physical and magical defenses have increased by 22%!]</em>

    <em>[Your Sword¡¯s Basic Attack has increased by 70%!]</em>

    <em>[You can choose one of the skills in your possession and use it once without worrying about its cooldown!]</em>

    <em>[Your Passive Skill Activation Percentage has increased tremendously!]</em>

    Minhyuk did not even dy the moment the number appeared on the golden die.

    <em>¡®Did you say bug?¡¯</em>

    Perhaps humans were nothing but weak and insignificant bugs in the eyes of the gods. After all, the gods could easily take the lives of these humans that served them.

    Minhyuk used Absolute Defense, triggering an invincible barrier that wouldst for seven seconds, as he shot forward. Because of that, the hook-shaped sword lights could not tear Minhyuk apart even if they wanted to. Passing through hundreds of sword lights, Minhyuk finally reached his target.

    ¡°Sword of Carnage.¡±

    A total of thirty-eight fierce and vicious attacks shed at the arrogant god, Viel.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaaack!!!¡± Viel shrieked and fell to the ground.

    Minhyuk, who got off of the god, looked back at him and said, ¡°Then what does that make you? Someone who¡¯s being beaten by a bug?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The shrieking and screaming Viel felt an unbearable shame and disgrace envelope his body.

    The man who appeared in front of him was none other than the man who killed Rumacar, who almost became the king of the Kingdom of Eden. This man had also won the heart of the king of the Kingdom of Rama, also known as the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal Sun Wukong. Because of that, the residents of Edea slowly began to worship him instead of the Jade Emperor and his envoys.

    Viel¡¯s screams finally stopped. Despite the blood spilling from his body, he took a step forward toward this impudent man, his expression one of fury.

    Viel had been the Jade Emperor¡¯s envoy since he was young. In other words, he was a person who walked the path of Gods for his whole life. Since the number of gods in Edea was few and far in between, the arrogance that was bred in his bones knew no bounds.

    Viel raised his greatsword. However, Minhyuk did not give him any chance to counter. He immediately used the power that he kept in his skill ¡®Save.¡¯

    <em>aaaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    ¡°Sword of Carnage.¡±

    Once again, Minhyuk passed him swiftly, his sword cutting his body all over the ce.

    <em>[You have sessfullynded one attack!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 100 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have sessfullynded one attack!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained +1 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[You have sessfullynded one attack!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained +1 INT.]</em>

    <em>[¡­one attack!]</em>

    <em>[¡­one attack!]</em>

    <em>[¡­one attack!]</em>

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    Viel was once again buffeted by a torrent of attacks, blood spurting all over his body. However, he endured the pain and red at Minhyuk with bloodshot eyes.

    ¡°This f*cking dog¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was quite surprised. The Sword of Carnage¡¯s 38 attacks was not yet over, but Viel was still able to hold on to his sword and move to attack him. In other words, Viel chose to run toward Minhyuk while enduring the pain of his body being ripped and torn apart.

    <em>¡®This guy is crazy¡­¡¯</em>

    The Sword of Carnage had the power to unconditionallynd a sessful attack on Minhyuk¡¯s enemies. If Minhyuk could not control his enemy even with such a skill, then what could he do? The worst part was that his opponent was still fine even after enduring the power of the Sword of Carnage twice.

    <em>¡®His HP and defenses must be beyond one¡¯s imagination.¡¯</em>

    The man in front of him looked like a general, an arrogant and unrelenting one at that. Of course, Minhyuk would not just stand still. Once again, he swung his sword and passed by the charging Viel.

    <em>[You have chosen the ¡®Sword of Carnage¡¯ among all of the skills in your possession to be used once.]</em>

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    Blood spurted out of Viel¡¯s body as the attacks ravaged him yet again. At that moment, Minhyuk realized, <em>¡®I won¡¯t be able to keep this guy in ce.¡¯</em>

    <em>Crackleeeeeee¡ª</em>

    zing mes spurted out and covered his sword. If a wild beast was running rampant then he had to deal with it as soon as possible.

    ¡°Let¡¯s leave it at that.¡±

    <em>Ping¡ª</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 81%!]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk looked back in surprise. He did not even feel the presence of the huge man carrying a woldo. The man¡¯s eyes were cold yet calm.

    <em>¡®Guan Yu?¡¯</em>

    The man looked just like Guan Yu of the Three Kingdoms. At the same time, a horizontal sh swept past Minhyuk¡¯s chest. It was an attack that he could not avoid or defend against.

    <em>[Critical Strike!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 55%!]</em>

    ¡°Urk¡­!¡±

    Blood dripped down Minhyuk¡¯s chin. When he looked back, he saw three talismans floating and burning above the palms of Daoist Heron. The burning talismans turned into huge mes that moved to devour the other yers.

    To be honest, Ferro, the man with the woldo, was secretly shocked.

    <em>¡®I can¡¯t believe he was able to push Viel to this extent.¡¯</em>

    Of course, the opponent only used skills that Viel could not fight back against, but it was obvious that the opponent was able to inflict severe damage on their fellow envoy. If Ferro and Heron were not here, then Viel might have already died.

    Still, Viel was the strongest among them. The next time they met, Viel would most likely be able to read through all of his schemes and lock down the possibility of him being able to fight back.

    ¡°This is my win.¡±

    However, Minhyuk stillughed despite the mes that fell upon the other yers. Blood was still flowing out of his mouth from Ferro¡¯s attack earlier. However, Ferro could only ept the words of the man who smiled through his blood-stained teeth.

    ¡°Damn it¡­ how¡­ you bastards¡­!¡±

    Viel wanted to rip the guy in front of him to shreds and kill him right away. However, as one of the Jade Emperor¡¯s envoys, he had to follow Ferro¡¯s advice. They did not want to show anything more to their opponents. Besides, Minhyuk¡¯s words were actually right. He truly won.

    The mes fell on the ground.

    <em>Roaaaaaaaaaaaaar¡ª!</em>

    <em>Crackleeeeeeeee¡ª!</em>

    zing mes engulfed an entire area of a 300-meter radius and turned everything into ashes. At the same time, these notifications rang in everyone¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The Land of Fantasy is over.]</em>

    <em>[yers who have been forced to log out will not receive any penalties.]</em>

    Minhyuk, who slowly disappeared into the mes, raised his middle finger at Viel and said, ¡°F*ck you!¡±

    When he finally disappeared, another set of notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[You have sessfully hit the Jade Emperor¡¯s envoy 100 times in a row!]</em>

    <em>[One of the four envoys¡¯ treasure boxes is being randomly selected.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Rumacar¡¯s Treasure Box!]</em>

    <em>[You can choose the type of treasure that you want to obtain from the treasure box!]</em>

    During this event, Minhyuk was able to gain a total of 4,000 tinum and nearly 80 additional stat points, of which about 20 points were STR, 20 points were AGI, 10 points were STM and about five points each in DEX and INT. Even though he was angry that he died in the mes, he was still the real winner.

    ***

    The Jade Emperor groaned as he sat on his throne. He had only raised one of his eyebrows when the man killed his most trusted envoy Rumacar, and even trampled on one of his envoys Viel, almost killing him. He was not agitated at all.

    <em>¡®If, by any chance, he gets Rumacar¡¯s Treasure Chest then¡­¡¯</em>

    Rumacar did not have the qualifications to wield the Sword of Aeon. As for the other envoy, Viel, he should never get his hands on it too.

    Viel was quite an ambitious man. If that sword fell in his hands, then the Jade Emperor was sure that Viel would definitely turn that sword on him. That was also the reason why Rumacar hid the sword.

    <em>¡®That won¡¯t happen.¡¯</em>

    The Jade Emperor grinned. His envoys¡¯ treasure chests were all special. Anyone that could get their hands on it would be able to get what they wanted. They could get money to buy anything, a special artifact, or even a unique skill that only his envoys had. Each item was obviously a great thing.

    So, where did Rumacar hide the Sword of Aeon? He hid it in a cooking ingredient in his treasure box. The Jade Emperor recalled the conversation that he had with Rumacar back then.

    ¡ª<em>My Lord, the Sword of Aeon will only reveal itself if one cooks the ingredient and eats everything.</em>

    There was no way that someone would actually choose a cooking ingredient after all. With Rumacar¡¯s voice lingering in his ears, the Jade Emperor opened his eyes. The power of both the god and the emperor filled his eyes as he took a peek of the man called Food God from the sky above.

    He watched as the Food God browsed through the choices offered by the treasure chest.

    ¡°Perhaps he will choose to acquire Envoy Rumacar¡¯s Ring¡­¡±

    Envoy Rumacar¡¯s Ring was not inferior to a God-rank artifact. What was interesting about it was that it could absorb an opponent¡¯s attack and return it with 100% of the attack¡¯s damage back to his opponent. However, it had a restriction where it could only be used once a week. Of course, the ring was notparable at all to the Sword of Aeon. But, on the surface, it was still superior to any other artifact there.

    <em>Swoosh¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk looked carefully over the items offered by the treasure box. Then, with a serious look on his face, he murmured to himself.

    <em>[Of course, what I¡¯m going to choose is¡­]</em>

    The Jade Emperor looked relieved.

    <em>¡®Yes, it¡¯s just as you said.¡¯</em>

    Of course, he would choose Rumacar¡¯s Ring, which looked good on the outside, but was stillcking on the inside. After all, it was the best choice. As for the cooking ingredient that Rumacar hid the Sword of Aeon at? It was nothing more than the Sky World¡¯s Native Chicken that he enjoyed eating before.

    Not long after, the serious look on Minhyuk¡¯s face dissolved and turned into a bright and wide smile.

    <em>[Keuhahahahahahahaha! That¡¯s right. Of course, the reward that I will choose is the Sky World¡¯s Native Chicken!!! Hahahahahaha!!!]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    For a moment, the Jade Emperor wondered if his ears were truly working. However, when the treasure box finally opened, what appeared in front of Minhyuk was truly the Sky World¡¯s Native Chicken.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    <em>[Why should I choose that ring? I can¡¯t even eat that~ Eating is what¡¯s more important. Ah, it¡¯s only natural, right? Wahahahahahaha! Keuhahahahahaha!]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    After a long stretch of silence, the Jade Emperor said, ¡°So, he¡¯s a crazy bastard?¡±

 Chapter 806

    Chapter 806

    Obtaining one of the Jade Emperor¡¯s envoys¡¯ treasure chests with just more than a hundred sessful attacks could be considered to be a truly exceptional reward. Perhaps it was proof of the difficulty for a single person to hit the envoys more than a hundred times.

    Minhyuk scrolled through the rewards list. He could see that each and every single one of the items listed was very outstanding.

    If one chose gold, they would get as much as 100,000 tinum. If they chose artifacts, they would be able to acquire Rumacar¡¯s Ring, an overpowered artifact that could absorb the opponent¡¯s skill and return it back to them at full force. It was an item that would be very useful when fighting against Named NPCs or boss monsters. Even the selection of skill books that he could obtain was impressive.

    And yet, the moment he saw it, Minhyuk¡¯s eyes solely focused on the Sky World¡¯s Native Chicken. He did not even ponder over this matter for too long.

    ¡°Of course, I will choose this.¡±

    In the end, Minhyuk chose the Sky World¡¯s Native Chicken, and he did not have any regrets over this matter.

    ¡°Why should I choose that ring? I can¡¯t even eat that~ Eating is what¡¯s more important. Ah, it¡¯s only natural, right? Wahahahahahaha!¡±

    There was a saying that originated from ancient times that went, <em>¡®Eating would be better.¡¯</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Sky World¡¯s Native Chicken from Rumacar¡¯s Treasure Box.]</em>

    A skillfully processed Sky World¡¯s Native Chicken appeared right in front of Minhyuk.

    These days, there was a certain dish made of chicken that Minhyuk had been craving. It was none other than braised chicken. It was quite simr to the spicy version. However, the key difference was that braised chicken was a dish that was prepared in soy sauce.

    Before everything else, Minhyuk checked the details of the Sky World¡¯s Native Chicken.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Sky World¡¯s Native Chicken</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Ingredient Grade</em></strong><em>: Medicine</em>

    <strong><em>Special Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?Additional 4% increase in both physical and magical attack.</em>

    <em>?Additional 5% increase in total HP and MP volume.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: This is a tasty native chicken that has been raised in the Sky World and can instantly restore one¡¯s vitality and energy upon consumption.</em>

    Although it could not rival a God-rank artifact, it could permanently increase one¡¯s physical and magical attack, as well as their total HP and MP, which showed just how extraordinary the ingredient was.

    Minhyuk began to cook. The first thing that he did was to soak the t sweet potato noodles in cold water, before boiling the chicken once. After the chicken had boiled to some extent, he discarded the water. Then, he repeated the process and boiled the chicken once again. As the water started to boil once more, he added the sliced potatoes, sweet potatoes, and the soy sauce-based seasoning.

    <em>¡®Spicy braised chicken and braised chicken are simple dishes but they taste really, really good.¡¯</em>

    Eventually, the water started to boil down. When it came to braised chicken, Minhyuk personally preferred to have it on the sweet and spicy side. So, how should he make it spicy? It was simple. He only needed to chop some cheongyang peppers and add them to the boiling dish.

    After letting it boil to some extent, he then added the soaked t noodles from before. Adding the t noodles would bring the vor of the braised chicken to its peak, like a finishing touch of sorts.

    t noodles were much thicker than regr noodles, so it would take more time to boil them. However, t noodles could absorb more of the seasoning, which would retain more of the sweetness from the dish.

    Minhyuk smiled happily as he finished cooking the braised chicken. The glossy and dark braised chicken with thick t noodles that hadpletely absorbed the seasoning looked mouth-watering. Braised chicken did not need many side dishes. The dongchimi, covered with a sheet of ice, and the slightly purple pickled radish were more than enough.

    The first thing that Minhyuk tasted was the icy-cold dongchimi. The moment the dongchimi touched his mouth, a cool, sweet and refreshing vor immediately tickled his taste buds.

    Then, he grabbed a thick and plump chicken leg. He had made sure to make cuts in the chicken before cooking the dish, ensuring that the seasoning would soak through its bones. Each and every single bite of the chicken truly was filled with vor, the sweetness of the seasoning along with the spiciness of the pepper created a perfect harmony of vor that spread in his mouth, along with the natural juices of the meat.

    ¡°Kghkkk¡­¡± With a small burst of admiration, Minhyuk picked up a huge mouthful of the t noodles buried under the braised chicken¡¯s sauce and transferred it to his small te.

    Minhyuk then put a spoonful of the still warm rice in his mouth before slurping some of the t noodles on his te. His taste buds were teased with sweetness the moment the well-seasoned t noodles entered his mouth.

    <em>¡®Kghhk! As expected, t noodles are important when ites to braised chicken.¡¯</em>

    It was all because t noodles could absorb more of the seasonings and the saucepared to the chicken meat. On top of that, it had a chewy texture that many loved. As he ate the noodles, Minhyuk turned his chopsticks to eat some of the slightly purple pickled radish.

    <em>Crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    Through its sweet and sour vor, the pickled radish instantly washed away any greasy aftertaste, leaving behind a refreshing feeling in one¡¯s mouth.

    This time, Minhyuk turned his attention to the chicken wings. It tasted perfect and all Minhyuk did was put it in his mouth, bite it, and then pull out its bones.

    After eating the wings, Minhyuk scooped out the sweet potatoes that he had sliced and boiled together with the rest of the dish and ced it on his te. A smile curled up at the corners of his lips the moment he cut off a part of the sweet potato and ced it in his mouth.

    ¡°The sauce is amazing in and of itself.¡±

    Minhyuk scooped some of the dark sauce with his spoon and drizzled it on his rice. Then, he mixed everything evenly and put a huge mouthful in his mouth. The well-cooked rice and the fantastic sauce made him feel good and happy. There was a bright smile on his face after cleaning his te.

    At that moment, the notifications about the stats that he obtained from eating the Sky World¡¯s Native Chicken rang in his ears. However, there was an additional notification that followed right after.

    <em>[The Sword of Aeon that Rumacar had hidden inside the cooking ingredient is now being revealed.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk looked at the notification in confusion.

    <em>¡®Why is a sword suddenly appearing from an ingredient?¡¯</em>

    At the same time, a bright light burst out as the space in front of Minhyuk opened. A sword appeared from within, glowing in ck light even through its sheath.

    <em>[The Continent Destroyer Sword is resonating!]</em>

    ¡°¡­What the hell?¡±

    Minhyuk was flustered. The weapon, the Continent Destroyer Sword, hanging around his waist was a god-rank weapon, yet it resonated with the sword that appeared in front of him. But it did not end with just that.

    <em>[The Continent Destroyer Sword temporarily loses its power in front of the greatest sword!]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes grew wide. This was just like the weak bowing itself in front of the strongest and the greatest. To his horror, more notifications rang out.

    <em>[The Sacred Papal Sword is resonating!]</em>

    <em>[The Sacred Papal Sword temporarily loses its power in front of the greatest sword!]</em>

    <em>[The ughterer¡¯s Armor is resonating!]</em>

    <em>[The ughterer¡¯s Armor temporarily loses its power in front of the greatest sword!]</em>

    <em>[Great Demon Verus¡¯ Mask¡­]</em>

    <em>[Hepas¡¯ Legendary Frying Pan¡­]</em>

    All of the artifacts in Minhyuk¡¯s possession resonated with the sword. Minhyuk quickly checked the Continent Destroyer Sword, which had already started losing its momentum.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Continent Destroyer Sword</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: God</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: Level 500 or higher, The One Brod has Acknowledged</em>

    <strong><em>Durability</em></strong><em>: ¡Þ / ¡Þ</em>

    <strong><em>Attack</em></strong><em>: 1</em>

    <strong><em>Special Effects:</em></strong>

    <strong><em>?</em></strong><em>The sword¡¯s special effects are currently in a temporary sealed state.</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk could not help but groan when he saw this. The attack of the Continent Destroyer Sword was reduced to one. Even the special effects and abilities of the sword were all sealed. To put it simply, the sword had lost all of its power.

    <em>¡®No way¡­ don¡¯t tell me that the sword will remain in this state¡­¡¯</em>

    What kind of unexpected disaster was this?! Did Rumacar do this to take revenge before he died in his hands? Just when Minhyuk was about to shake from anxiety, a new set of notifications rang out.

    <em>[The Continent Destroyed Sword has started to regain its original power¡­]</em>

    <em>[The Sacred Papal Sword has started to regain¡­]</em>

    <em>[The ughterer¡¯s Armor has started to regain¡­]</em>

    The shaking and resonating artifacts began to settle down one after the other.

    <em>¡®Are you saying that all of these artifacts had been pushed back by the momentum of a single sword?¡¯</em>

    This was truly shocking. In all his years of ying Athenae, he had not heard of something like this happening. After a brief moment, the artifacts in his possession regained their full power once again. It took around two minutes for each artifact to regain their strength.

    After confirming that all his artifacts were fine, Minhyuk walked toward the Sword of Aeon that was floating in the air in front of him.

    <em>¡®What in the world is this?¡¯</em>

    The Continent Destroyed Sword and the Sacred Papal Sword were god-rank artifacts, of which only less than ten had been released and unearthed in all of Athenae. Of course, they were currently in a time when several god-rank artifacts were being discovered and released one after another in the world. But even so, each and every single one of these god-rank artifacts were still very valuable. To think these god-rank swords were showing fear towards this Sword of Aeon.

    Minhyuk reached his hand out to grab the hilt of the sword.

    <em>[You have acquired the Sword of Aeon.]</em>

    <em>[The Sword of Aeon is currently in a sealed state.]</em>

    <em>[You will only be able to unlock the first seal of the Sword of Aeon after meeting the conditions.]</em>

    Minhyuk smiled as he muttered to himself after checking the conditions to unlock the first seal.

    ***

    The Jade Emperor¡¯s Envoy Viel¡¯s expression looked very ugly.

    ¡°How dare that dreg of the continent say that to me. If it weren¡¯t for you then I¡­¡±

    mes of fury zed in Viel¡¯s eyes as he red at Heron and Ferro. If they did not step in then that bastard named Minhyuk would have already died a horrible death at his hands.

    ¡°The mes on the de of his sword were very unusual. Yes, it would have been very easy to kill him. However, the process would be very troublesome,¡± Ferro said.

    That was bullshit. Viel knew that he was more than enough to kill the dreg. However, Viel also knew that he would have to use plenty of his skills, and it would be likely that he would suffer during the process as well.

    However, it was still a huge blow to their image since those from the other continent would view this as their ¡®win¡¯. While Viel was getting lost in his temper and did not know what to do, Ferro sighed.

    ¡°The opportunity wille soon.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Only after hearing those words from Ferro did Viel finally calm down. Soon, they would recruit troops from the other continent to kill the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal. On that day, he would make sure to kill the man called Food God.

    After that, they went for an audience with the Jade Emperor. When they saw the Jade Emperor, he was sporting a very unusual expression.

    ¡°What seems to be the problem?¡±

    ¡°The Sword of Aeon is now in the hands of the man named Food God.¡±

    ¡°What¡­?!!!¡±

    All of the envoys were shocked. How did that happen? They could not help but groan when they heard from the Jade Emperor that the Sword of Aeon was hidden in a cooking ingredient.

    ¡°More importantly, are you saying that he chose food over an artifact? Does that mean that he¡¯s a god that likes to eat?¡± Daoist Heron smiled bitterly.

    They did not really care that much, rather, they were more than happy at this oue.

    ¡°Anyway, he would not be able to use that sword. Am I right, my Lord?¡±

    After all, even Rumacar could not use that sword.

    The Jade Emperor nodded. ¡°No one has been able to unlock the first seal of the Sword of Aeon for thousands of years.¡±

    The Sword of Aeon was sealed by the great and noble heroes of the past because they feared its power.

    ¡°What are the conditions for unlocking the first seal?¡±

    ¡°The condition is simple but it is very difficult to achieve. Basically, one has to inject the mana of the era¡¯s strongest in the sword. Of course, they have to be recognized and acknowledged by the Sword of Aeon.¡±

    ¡°The strongest as recognized by the Sword of Aeon?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. You have to know that the sword will not even recognize a kingdom¡¯s sword master.¡±

    Viel grinned. If that was the case, then all he needed to do was to snatch the Sword of Aeon from the Food God and go to the other continent to kill their strongest and get their mana. As it turned out, it was a very good thing. After all, someone else found the sword, whose whereabouts were unknown, for him.

    ¡°Have you been watching the idiot?¡±

    The Jade Emperor nodded.

    ¡°I would like to watch him too.¡±

    Viel wanted to see the man run around wildly, unable to lift the seal of the Sword of Aeon.

    ¡°We won¡¯t be able to watch him for some time. The Absolute Gods of the other continent hate to see those that try to interfere with the people living in thend under their control.¡±

    Clouds slowly rose in front of the Jade Emperor at his words. Then, the clouds slowly parted showing the figure of the man named Food God.

    ¡°However, there¡¯s something that I found strange.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean? What¡¯s strange?¡± Viel looked at the Jade Emperor in confusion.

    ¡°Right. When that man saw the conditions for lifting the first seal, he said¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡¯Isn¡¯t this very easy? Freaking amazing.¡¯ I don¡¯t know what <em>freaking amazing </em>means though.¡±

    ¡°Keuhahahahahahaha!¡± Viel guffawed.

    The condition was to inject the mana of the strong recognized by the Sword of Aeon. Yet, he was saying that it was easy? It was obviously because the guy was full of arrogance and false bravado. Fulfilling that condition was impossible unless one did it like Viel intended, killing the strong and taking away their mana.

    Then, the Food God, who was leisurely walking down the street and munching on some chicken skewers, opened his mouth and spoke.

    <em>[Obren, can youe out for a bit? Wake up and put some of your mana in this sword, please.]</em>

    At the same time, an unknown and mysterious seasoning jar appeared. Then, a dark-haired handsome man with a frown marring his face also appeared.

    <em>[When will you bring Aruvel¡¯s new work? The Creaky Magic Bed and the Girl Volume 2? Don¡¯t you know how boring it is inside the seasoning jar?]</em>

    <em>[Woah, woah. Calm down. Aruvel is doing his best in writing the second volume. Also, cut it off with those erotic novels. Look at your bloodshot eyes.]</em>

    <em>[I¡¯m going to tell you this because you¡¯re very clueless. The story is about a beautiful genius girl, who is slowly losing interest in the world. Her sweat drips down her skin as the magic bed creaks every single day. That sound¡­ the peak¡­ and the feeling of going even higher than the peak of pleasure¡­ Hooo¡­!]</em>

    The dark-haired handsome man exhaled shakily as if he felt extreme pleasure just by imagining the scene.

    The envoys, who watched the scene with the Jade Emperor, looked at the man in confusion.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s going to ask someone like that to put their mana inside the sword?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®That uncivilized trash that gets off of erotic books?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Ridiculous.¡¯</em>

    Then, the dark-haired handsome man ced his hand on the sword and said¡­

    <em>[Give me volume 2 as soon as possible. I trust you.]</em>

    <em>[Eyyy. Haa¡­ Alright. As expected of PervBren.]</em>

    <em>[The Sword of Aeon recognizes the Evil that subdued and took over an era!]</em>

    <em>[He might be weaker but the Sword of Aeon still resonates in fear of the great Evil that had once brought fear to both man and god!]</em>

    <em>[The Sword of Aeon has gone past acknowledging the man and is now trembling in fear!]</em>

    <em>[The rate ofpletion for the lifting of the first seal has increased by 11%!]</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Everyone looked at the scene in shock. Then, someone muttered, ¡°That pervert¡­?¡±

 Chapter 807

    Chapter 807

    The Jade Emperor was aware of how great the Sword of Aeon was. It was considered as the best sword even among the swords in the gods¡¯ possession.

    The heroes of the previous era feared the power of the Sword of Aeon and did their utmost to seal it. It was not just sealing it, they even put almost impossible conditions to lift the seal. One of the conditions to awaken its power was to have the mana of the current era¡¯s heroes, or powerhouses.

    Right now, the man that loved to read erotic books frightened the Sword of Aeon and raised the rate ofpletion of the lifting of the first seal by 11%.

    ¡°That¡¯s absolutely unexpected.¡±

    ¡°However, if you listen closely to the Sword of Aeon, the man is the weakened Evil God of the past.¡±

    The Jade Emperor and his envoys believed that this would be the one and only time that the Food God, the uncivilized and barbaric trash from the other continent, would be able to increase thepletion rate of the Sword of Aeon.

    Just like that, they watched as Minhyuk arrived in his kingdom with his chicken skewer in hand. He continued to walk down the street and met an old man not long after he entered his kingdom. The old man looked like he was well over sixty. However, strangely enough, his hair was ck and glossy. They watched as the old man collected the cats¡¯ poop, wrapping it carefully before savoring its scent.

    ¡°What the hell¡­¡± Viel looked furious at the old man¡¯s frivolous behavior.

    Given the old man¡¯s age, he had to be an old veteran among the soldiers of the Food God¡¯s kingdom. However, could he even go out and fight like that?

    <em>¡®Well, is he smelling the animal¡¯s poop because he can¡¯t do that anymore? But why is he smelling the cat¡¯s poop?¡¯</em>

    The old man smiled kindly.

    <em>[Hoho. Your Majesty, the coffee beans that we will harvest this time all have a very good scent.]</em>

    <em>[Grandpa Ben¡­ munch, munch¡­ please put some of your mana here.]</em>

    <em>[Mana?]</em>

    <em>Pfft¡ª</em>

    There was a burst ofughter among the envoys.

    ¡°Does that old man even have mana? Is he going to squeeze his old bones? Huh?¡± Viel mocked the old man openly.

    However, the moment the old man ced his hand on the Sword of Aeon, shocking notifications rang out once more.

    <em>[The Sword of Aeon recognizes the Spear God that conquered an era!]</em>

    <em>[He might have been a human once but the Spear God became a demigod to protect someone and eventually became a true god that overcame the previous Spear God for the sake of that someone!]</em>

    <em>[The Sword of Aeon is left in a turbulent state after seeing the Spear God¡¯s will to never back down and protect what is precious to him while acknowledging the man!]</em>

    <em>[The rate ofpletion for the lifting of the first seal has increased by 6%!]</em>

    Everyone present, including the Jade Emperor, groaned when they saw the notifications.

    ¡°That old man¡­¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s the Spear God?!¡±

    Even though the Jade Emperor and his envoys werepletely different from the gods of the other continent, they had also heard a lot of stories about the previous generation¡¯s Spear God.

    The Jade Emperor groaned once again. ¡°No, but how¡­¡± He was so surprised that a small tremor appeared in his voice. ¡°The Spear God¡­ the cat¡¯s butt¡­¡±

    ¡°Uhm¡­¡±

    All of them could not take their eyes off of Minhyuk, who began to walk again. Of course, his mouth never stopped moving and he kept on eating. This time, he waved to a tall man with a huge build walking somewhere with a drove of pigs.

    <em>[Your Majesty, you¡¯re back.]</em>

    From the straw hat on his head, to the hay dangling in his mouth, to the pigs grunting and following him obediently, it was obvious that the man was a livestock farmer.

    <em>[Hyaaa. Every time I see the oinkies I always feel this way¡­]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes were shining brightly as he looked at the pigs. The livestock farmer looked at him in surprise before speaking sorrowfully.

    <em>[Your Majesty, you have shocked our oinkies. Please refrain from saying that in front of them.]</em>

    At this point, everyone could see how much the livestock farmer cared for the animals. Minhyuk smacked his lips in regret, and hurriedly changed the subject.

    <em>[Brod, I need some of your mana here.]</em>

    <em>[Alright.]</em>

    The moment the soft-hearted livestock farmer ced his hand on the sword, absurd notifications that they had never heard of before appeared in front of them.

    <em>[The Sword of Aeon is resonating with an unmeasurable force!]</em>

    <em>[The Sword of Aeon is resonating with an unmeasurable force!]</em>

    <em>[The Sword of Aeon has grown infatuated with this strong power.]</em>

    <em>[The Sword of Aeon wants to serve him as his master.]</em>

    <em>[The Sword of Aeon is left in a turbulent state after feeling the power of a legend that represents the current era.]</em>

    <em>[He possesses talent that even the gods covet. He is the Fallen Wretched Emperor and the Absolute God¡¯s Sword that even the Absolute Gods fear.]</em>

    <em>[The rate ofpletion for the lifting of the first seal has increased by 8%!]</em>

    The Jade Emperor jumped up from his seat.

    This man waspletely different from the dark-haired, perverted, handsome man from earlier. The dark-haired handsome man was a transcendental being from history. But this man was a living and breathing supreme, standing tall above everyone in the current era.

    It was unknown why such an existence was working as a livestock farmer. However, what was even more surprising was the fact that he was serving somebody else.

    ¡°Why is he serving the Food God?¡±

    They just could not understand it. Why would someone who transcended those from the current era, someone that even the Absolute Gods feared, serve an ordinary god?

    They kept on watching Minhyuk as he continued to walk around his kingdom. This time he spoke to a passing fisherman.

    <em>[Gorfido. Please put some of your mana here.]</em>

    <em>[Alright, Your Majesty.]</em>

    <em>[The Sword of Aeon recognizes the Great Pirate that terrorized the seas!]</em>

    <em>[The Sword of Aeon recognizes him for being the only human who has united all of the pirates roaming the seas!]</em>

    <em>[The rate ofpletion for the lifting of the first seal has increased by 3%!]</em>

    Then, he continued to walk again. At that moment, someone came running to him.

    <em>[Your Majesty, I have finallypleted the c-vored Recovery Potion that Your Majesty has told me about.]</em>

    <em>[Really? Gulp, gulp, gulp, kghhk! Excellent! Really excellent, Mand!]</em>

    The man who ran to Minhyuk knelt down and cried when he heard Minhyuk¡¯s praise

    <em>[Your Majesty¡­ I think I¡¯m finally able to be of great help to you. This Mand has really worked hard toplete this c-vored potion. Just the thought of Your Majesty feeling very happy while drinking this potion is enough to make me cry!]</em>

    <em>[Good job. You really did a good job.]</em>

    Minhyuk raised his hand and patted the man on his shoulder. He was looking at the man warmly, showing how proud he was of the man and his achievements.

    <em>[Please take care of me from now on, Mand.]</em>

    <em>[Yes.]</em>

    <em>[Then, please ce your hand here.]</em>

    <em>[Alright.]</em>

    <em>[The Sword of Aeon recognizes the one that has the talent that even the gods envied.]</em>

    <em>[He is someone who has gone through all kinds of trials and adversities because the gods were envious of his talents.]</em>

    <em>[He is someone who has saved the world from being ravaged by an infectious disease with just a single potion. He is the God of Alchemy.]</em>

    <em>[The rate ofpletion¡­ 1st seal¡­ 5%!]</em>

    The Jade Emperor and his envoys continued to watch.

    <em>[Love, Hope, Happiness. Put your paws on the sword!]</em>

    The heads of Love, Hope and Happiness popped out from the dog house as they ced a paw on the Sword of Aeon.

    <em>[The Sword of Aeon recognizes Hell¡¯s Gatekeeper!]</em>

    <em>[The rate ofpletion¡­ 1st seal¡­1%!]</em>

    Then, they watched as he approached a bichon that wasbing its thick and rich fur.

    <em>[Bichor, put your paw here for a minute.]</em>

    <em>[The Sword of Aeon recognizes the one that created traps and explosives that even the gods are afraid of!]</em>

    <em>[The rate ofpletion¡­ 1st seal¡­ 3%!]</em>

    This time, Minhyuk approached a tall ck-skinned man, who was standing on the side of the road and listening to music.

    <em>[Elpis, please put a bit of your mana here.]</em>

    <em>[Alright.]</em>

    <em>[The Sword of Aeon recognizes the newly crowned Great Demon!]</em>

    <em>[The rate ofpletion¡­ 1st seal¡­ 4%!]</em>

    Minhyuk filled the rate ofpletion for the lifting of the 1st seal up to 78% just by going around his own kingdom.

    Viel, who had beenughing at Minhyuk, felt some dampness in his palms.

    <em>¡®Sweat¡­?¡¯</em>

    Viel had thought of immediately going to his kingdom to slit his throat and take the Sword of Aeon the moment he received the Jade Emperor¡¯s permission. However, it seemed like the one that would get his head decapitated if he went there. Just the thought of going there alone made him feel terrified.

    ¡°As expected, he cannotpletely unseal the seal of the Sword of Aeon.¡±

    In just an hour, the man was able to fill more than 70% of the sword¡¯spletion rate. This was an absurd achievement that no one could ever reach. However, this was only possible because of the people in his kingdom. As for filling the remaining 30%, it was definitely impossible.

    As Minhyuk continued with his walk, a young woman appeared behind him.

    <em>[Your Majesty, it¡¯s time for the Continental Conference.]</em>

    <em>[Hmm. Alright. Let¡¯s go right away. Ah, before that. Haze, can you put your hand on this?]</em>

    <em>[My hand?]</em>

    <em>[Right. It would be good if you can put a bit of your mana here.]</em>

    <em>[Let me give it a try.]</em>

    <em>[The Sword of Aeon recognizes the woman who could make even the God of Fraud click their tongue.]</em>

    <em>[She has the amazing talent of a con artist and scammer who can sell dirt picked up on the street for 100 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[The rate ofpletion¡­ 1st seal¡­ 1.8%!]</em>

    After that, the Jade Emperor and his envoys watched as the two people warped and disappeared in a sh of light.

    ***

    Continental Conference.

    The Continental Conference was a meeting where those who were against the Great Luvien Empire gathered to discuss and understand the current trends in the empire and how they would respond in the future.

    They had held the conference twice in total, and any representative or leader of a group, regardless of their race and status, could participate in this conference. Every time a conference was held, these leaders would bring a huge number of troops and leave them stationed outside the capital of the Eivelis Empire to show off their military might. Currently, there were millions of troops gathered outside of the capital.

    As for the leaders that led these millions of troops? They were all famous people in the continent, including Continental Emperor Ellie, Collodis Empire¡¯s Emperor Asvon, Mercenary King Venteio, Dragon King, Elven King Argon and Overlord Raldo were all sitting inside the conference room to participate in this conference. And it was not just them, they also had knights that represented their empires and kingdoms by their side.

    Of course, just by their force and might alone could be said to be warriors that represented their own empires and kingdoms. However, it was also very important to have overwhelming talent.

    Even though they were all on the same side and were against the Luvien Empire, they were still leaders who stood above their people. It was only natural for a subtle contest of pride to ensue among them.

    Minhyuk entered the conference room while they were still busy talking with each other.

    ¡°Hello, everyone!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re here, Minhyuk.¡±

    ¡°Hoho. My younger brother hase.¡±

    ¡°My nephew¡¯s here.¡±

    The atmosphere inside the conference room instantly turned friendly the moment Minhyuk entered. Of course, the Jade Emperor and his envoys were still looking at Minhyuk, who waspletely clueless that he was being watched, at this time through the clouds.

    Minhyuk was quite puzzled by the stern and harsh atmosphere that lingered in the air earlier. ¡°Were you all arguing again?¡±

    Since all of the people had gathered here were leaders, having a contest of pride was truly inevitable. At that moment, Minhyuk thought, <em>¡®Hoo. Yes, that¡¯s right.¡¯</em>

    Thepletion rate of the Sword of Aeon still needed around 25%. Right now, there were some ideal candidates gathered here that could help him fill that remainder.

    ¡°You¡¯re still fighting to see who¡¯s stronger, no?¡±

    Someone coughed in embarrassment when they heard Minhyuk¡¯s words. However, he continued, ¡°Then, how about we do it like this? I recently acquired a very interesting sword. How about letting this sword gauge your powers? The one with the highest score wins.¡±

    Of course, he was just saying it as a joke. However, everyone showed great interest as if they found it to be fun and interesting.

    Ellie nced at Raldo. <em>¡®Raldo, you might be a great king hailed as the Overlord. However, you¡¯re still leagues behind whenpared to me.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Ellie, you might be the woman hailed as the Continental Emperor and the Sword Emperor. However, I¡¯m someone that built my own kingdom myself. You¡¯re nothing in front of me.¡¯</em>

    Meanwhile, King Argon thought, <em>¡®Perhaps this is our chance to establish the position of us, elves?¡¯</em>

    Everyone looked at Minhyuk eagerly, interest evident in their eyes.

    ¡°Ah. Just so you know, something very shocking will happen once I take the sword out. It will only be for a moment though,¡± Minhyuk said as he took out the Sword of Aeon.

    And just like he said, something very surprising happened. All of the weapons and armor inside the conference room were sealed temporarily the moment he took out the sword.

    Minhyukughed when he saw the horror in everyone¡¯s faces.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s very easy to fulfill this condition, right?¡¯ </em>He thought as he said out loud, ¡°Everyone, please gather round. Then, at the same time, ce your hand on the sword and inject your mana!!!¡±

    All of the people in the conference room gathered to where Minhyuk was and gingerly ced their hands on the sword. Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°Go!!!¡±

    With those words, everyone sent their mana to the sword. At the same time¡­

    <em>[The current era¡¯s powerhouses have started to inject their mana at the same time.]</em>

    <em>[The Sword of Aeon has started to resonate with the mana being injected to its de.]</em>

    <em>[The Sword of Aeon resonates with the mana of the greatest and the strongest.]</em>

    <em>Rumbleeeeee¡ª</em>

    The inside of the conference room shook and trembled as the Sword of Aeon resonated with the mana that was being poured into it.

    <em>[The Sword of Aeon recognizes Sword Emperor Ellie, the only emperor that can unite the continent and the only one to refuse the position of the Sword God!]</em>

    <em>[The rate ofpletion¡­ 1st seal¡­ 6.1%!]</em>

    <em>[The Sword of Aeon recognizes Overlord Raldo, the king that has built his own kingdom by wielding the greatest sword!]</em>

    <em>[The rate ofpletion¡­ 1st seal¡­ 3%!]</em>

    <em>[The Sword of Aeon recognizes Argon, the king of all the elves!]</em>

    <em>[The rate ofpletion¡­ 1st seal¡­ 3%!]</em>

    <em>[The Sword of Aeon recognizes Mercenary King Venteio, the man that united all of the mercenaries!]</em>

    <em>[The rate ofpletion¡­ 1st seal¡­ 4%!]</em>

    <em>[The Sword of Aeon¡­ the King of the Seas, the Dragon King¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­Sword of Aeon¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­Sword of Aeon¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­Sword of Aeon¡­]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s mouth almost split with how wide he was grinning.

    <em>¡®Easy peasy, right?!¡¯</em>

    His smile grew wider and wider the more he listened to the notifications that rang constantly in his ears.

    <em>[You have achieved 100%pletion rate and have fulfilled the condition to lift the 1st seal of the Sword of Aeon!]</em>

    <em>[The 1st Seal of the Sword of Aeon will now be lifted!]</em>

    Then, a bright, blinding light burst out from the Sword of Aeon and enveloped the entire conference room. At the same time, a world message resonated all over the world.

    <em>[The skies, the seas, thend.]</em>

    <em>[The greatest and strongest sword that can split the world has appeared.]</em>

 Chapter 808

    Chapter 808

    <em>[The skies, the seas, thend.]</em>

    <em>[The greatest and strongest sword that can split the world has appeared.]</em>

    Athenae, the game loved by the people from all over the world, was turned upside down because of a single world message that rang in everyone¡¯s ears.

    <em>[We have never heard of a world message like this before, right?]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s right. It seems like someone anonymous has acquired a God-rank sword! I have only heard about notifications like this but this is the first time that I have seen one myself!]</em>

    <em>[Wow. Sht. Who is it? So jealous¡­]</em>

    There were a lot of guesses and spections.

    <em>[Maybe it¡¯s Alexander? Didn¡¯t this notification ring shortly after Alexander reached Level 600?]</em>

    <em>[Omg? That¡¯s really possible¡­ Maybe he got the greatest sword out of all of the god-rank swords as a reward for reaching Level 600?]</em>

    <em>[That sounds really possible?]</em>

    <em>[But what if it¡¯s not Alexander? What if it¡¯s another yer? What if it¡¯s Akhan or the Food God?]</em>

    <em>[Hmm¡­ But if you obtained a god-rank sword then you should either be in a hunting ground or doing a hidden quest, right?]</em>

    <em>[Yes, that¡¯s only natural. If you stayed in a vige, then there¡¯s no way for you to get a god-rank sword.]</em>

    The yers¡¯ guesses and theories definitely seemed usible. After all, one could only possibly obtain god-rank artifacts if they obtained great achievements or did something that others did not before.

    <em>[yers, please tell us where the high rankers are currently at.]</em>

    There were plenty of Athenae yers in the world. In fact, there were so many that their numbers reached the billions. Since the faces of the famous high rankers were well-known, it was not that difficult for the yers all over the world to determine their locations. Everyone received several tip-offs from the billions of Athenae yers that were inside the game.

    <em>[Akhan is logged out. It¡¯s been three days since hest logged in the game. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s Akhan.]</em>

    <em>[How about Alexander?]</em>

    <em>[Alexander¡¯s location is out! He has been staying in the Supreme¡¯s ins for months now.]</em>

    <em>[The Supreme¡¯s ins? Isn¡¯t that a ce that only those above Level 580 can enter?]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s a ce where only the Supremes can enter. Maybe he got it by hunting boss mobs there after reaching Level 600?]</em>

    <em>[Isn¡¯t Kentaro in the Supreme¡¯s in too?]</em>

    <em>[Huge info about Asura Ascar is out too! I think she¡¯s been doing some ss quests these days. Maybe she got it as a reward for her ss quest?]</em>

    A lot of guesses came out. Even Food God Minhyuk¡¯s location came out.

    <em>[We have also confirmed Minhyuk¡¯s location.]</em>

    <em>[He¡¯s attending the Continental Conference in the Eivelis Empire, hehe;;]</em>

    <em>[Ah, so it¡¯s not the Food God.]</em>

    <em>[There¡¯s no way that one can obtain a sword while attending the Continental Conference, right? Hahahahahaha.]</em>

    <em>[There are a lot of yers that have confirmed that they have seen yer Minhyuk attend the Continental Conference in the Eivelis Empire. At this point, we can confidently say that it¡¯s not yer Minhyuk.]</em>

    <em>[Yep, yep. It¡¯s definitely not yer Minhyuk. Also, from what I heard, yer Minhyuk did not do any hidden quests or special quests these past few days.]</em>

    <em>[But what if it¡¯s Minhyuk? As everyone here knows, Our Lord the Food God takes all the good rewards.]</em>

    <em>[You sht. Hahahahaha. Use your head a little. Do you think someone in the Continental Conference would go to Minhyuk and say, ¡®Here¡¯s the supreme sword, take it.¡¯ or something? How can you even get a god-rank sword during a conference? Get it now?]</em>

    <em>[Ah¡­ uhmm¡­ I see¡­ So, who¡¯s the one that got it?]</em>

    Both true and false information was being tossed around among the yers, bringing in more spections and guesses among them. However, there was one thing that was certain. All of the Athenae yers were extremely jealous of whoever the yer that obtained the sword was.

    ***

    Minhyuk hurriedly rushed out of the Continental Conference¡¯s conference hall.

    <em>¡®What a relief.¡¯</em>

    He actually did not expect that a world message would resonate. Fortunately, the Continental Conference was held in a ce with tight security, which contained the white light that burst out from the sword.

    Besides, most of the people that attended the conference were trustworthy and reliable. Minhyuk was assured that none of them would be talking about this to another soul.

    After returning to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom with a single warp, Minhyuk quickly checked the notifications that rang right after the world message.

    <em>[The first seal of the greatest sword, the Sword of Aeon, has been lifted.]</em>

    <em>[You can now see the changes in the abilities and effects of the Sword of Aeon.]</em>

    <em>[The conditions for lifting the second seal of the Sword of Aeon will now be released.]</em>

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Sword of Aeon</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: God</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: God, the One that Lifted the First Seal</em>

    <strong><em>Durability</em></strong><em>: ¡Þ/¡Þ</em>

    <strong><em>Attack Power</em></strong><em>: 1,814</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?Increase all stats by 18%.</em>

    <em>?Reduce all skills¡¯ cooldown by 20%.</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Double Basic Attack Damage</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: The Greatest Sword</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Skill Transformation</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: The Annihtor¡¯s Sword</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: Aeon. This is a sword that has been sealed for so long that one could not remember when it was first sealed. Only its first seal has been lifted, the sword still cannot exert its full power.</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk groaned lightly.

    ¡°This is the power of a sword with only its first seal lifted?¡±

    The Continent Destroyer Sword had been used by the Absolute Gods¡¯ Sword Brod. It was a god-rank sword that was bestowed upon Brod by the God of Death for killing millions with his de.

    When both swords were ced side by side andpared with each other, there was no doubt that the Continent Destroyer Sword was better. After all, it was a sword that Minhyuk had reinforced to +5. The Continent Destroyer Sword had around 2,500 attack, a 41% increase in STR and AGI, as well as overpowered effects like 60% increase in cutting power, 60% increase in piercing power, and 70% increase in critical hit rate.

    However, the reason for Minhyuk¡¯s surprise was because of the potential of the sword. There were many artifacts that could only be used after one had met a condition. Of course, there were also those where one needed to fulfill a second condition too. Artifacts like that would usually only exert around 55% of its total power after their first seal was lifted. What would happen if the second condition was met?

    <em>¡®Of course, the remaining 45% of the power would be added back.¡¯</em>

    If Minhyuk followed a simple form, once the second condition was met, the attack of the Sword of Aeon would probably increase to around 2,600.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s even in an ¡®unenhanced¡¯ state?¡¯</em>

    That was right. Back when the Continent Destroyer Sword was still in an unenhanced state, it only had around 1,800 in attack. But if Minhyuk was able topletely unseal the Sword of Aeon, then he would be able to increase its attack to be equivalent to a sword that had received +5 reinforcement.

    ¡°Crazy. If I can meet the condition and lift the second seal, then I will be able to get around 3,000 in attack power, right?¡±

    ¡ª<em>Enemies will melt with this much damage dealt!</em>

    These were the words thatmentators usually used whenever theypared the damage dealt by the basic attacks of the strong. It might sound impossible but the Sword of Aeon¡¯s attack could probably make it possible.

    But that was not all. Even its special abilities were all overpowered. The Sword of Aeon¡¯s ¡®Double Basic Attack Damage¡¯ had a 45% probability of being triggered, while the ¡®Greatest Sword¡¯, as seen before, had the power to render all artifacts useless for a moment. Even the Skill Transformation and the Annihtor¡¯s Sword were both very good skills.

    <em>¡®Are you telling me that all of these skills would be even better once I meet the conditions to lift the second seal?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was speechless. With trembling pupils, he turned to look at the conditions to lift the second seal. However, he frowned when he saw it.

    <em>¡®Huh¡­?¡¯</em>

    <em>[Go to the God of Death and find the conditions for lifting the Sword of Aeon¡¯s second seal.]</em>

    ¡°Of all people¡­ why the God of Death?¡±

    ***

    Special yers Management Team.

    Employee Lee Minhwa looked bitter.

    ¡°yer Minhyuk looks a bit flustered with this¡­¡±

    ¡°Understandable. Among the Absolute Gods, the God of Death is the trickiest and most dangerous god. On top of that, he has to go to hell to meet with him.¡±

    ¡°yer Minhyuk going to hell¡­ Come to think of it, aren¡¯t there a lot of delicious things in hell?¡±

    From what Lee Mihwa knew, that was truly the case. Hell was a ce where all of those that did not enter the cycle of reincarnation after dying were living. It was and filled with many hidden items. It also housed plenty of delicious and amazing ingredients and dishes.

    However, disregarding the food, would Minhyuk even be able to receive the blessing of the God of Death on the Sword of Aeon?

    ¡°Team Leader, what do you think?¡±

    ¡°Who knows? I also don¡¯t know what will happen this time. However, there¡¯s something else that I know of.¡±

    ¡°Something else?¡± Lee Minhwa looked at Park Minggyu in confusion.

    Then, Team Leader Park opened his dry lips and said, ¡°The Sword of Aeon has three seals in total.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡± Lee Minhwa jumped up from her seat. ¡°No¡­ No way¡­!¡±

    The Sword of Aeon with its first seal lifted was already that strong. Once its second seal was lifted, it would already be stronger than the Continent Destroyer Sword. What would happen if the third seal was lifted?

    ¡°The true Supreme Sword will be born to the world.¡±

    After leaving those words, Team Leader Park Minggyu moved to the conference room. The Jade Emperor and his envoys had released the quest not too long ago. Today was the day that they would release the video rted to the quest to all of the yers.

    ***

    Minhyuk felt very flustered when he realized that he needed to go to Hell and meet with the God of Death to know the conditions for lifting the Sword of Aeon¡¯s second seal.

    Among the people that he knew, Ascar probably knew how to get to Hell. However, just when he was about to send a whisper to Ascar, there was the notification of the new episode.

    <em>[You can now view the video of the new episode: ¡®Edea, the Land of the Forgotten Heroes¡¯!]</em>

    <em>[Would you like to watch the video?]</em>

    Minhyuk murmured, ¡°Yes.¡±

    Immediately after that, the scene in front of him changed.

    The Jade Emperor and his envoys were currently gathered together in the world in the clouds.

    <em>sh¡ª!</em>

    The Jade Emperor, who was sitting on his golden throne, frowned. This was because a silver-haired man appeared in front of him in a sh of light. The man was someone that everyone in Athenae knew. He was none other than the ¡®Battle God¡¯.

    ¡°God of Edea, why is a god trying to exterminate those poor and pitiful humans?¡±

    The surface on which they were stepping on, the clouds, parted in the middle and showed the residents of Edea flocking together under the banner of the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal.

    The Jade Emperor snorted. ¡°And why is the god of another continent trying to meddle in our affairs?¡±

    ¡°This ce might be different from thend that we rule but the price of life remains the same. Doing this will tear down the order, and bring chaos and destruction to the world.¡±

    The envoys immediately grew wary when they saw the Battle God take a step forward.

    The Battle God was the greatest of the Absolute Gods. No matter how many envoys there were, they would still be unable to win against him. However, the situation would be different if the Jade Emperor teamed up with the envoys. But the Jade Emperor was not a fool. If he chose to fight the Battle God right here and now, then the other Absolute Gods would definitelye to the Battle God¡¯s aid.

    ¡°They are criticizing and denying my existence as god.¡±

    ¡°That is something that us gods have to bear with.¡±

    ¡°Pffft. Are the gods on your side that weak?¡± Envoy Viel burst intoughter.

    ¡°Shut up.¡±

    <em>Rumbleeeeee¡ª!</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    With just a snort, Viel was knocked down by the force that shot out of the Battle God¡¯s body.

    The yers that watched the video knew that Viel was the one that ughtered tens of thousands of yers not too long ago. However, even someone like him was helpless in front of an Absolute God like the Battle God.

    The Jade Emperor clicked his tongue at Viel, who had copsed on the ground, then he turned to look at the Battle God once again, ¡°Then, how about we do it like this?¡±

    There was a grin on the Jade Emperor¡¯s face as he looked at the Battle God with narrowed eyes.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you gods obsessed with ¡®fairness¡¯? Shall we leave it to the foreigners then? I will task the foreigners to clean up and drive away the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal. As for those that were of different opinion, they can align with Sun Wukong.¡±

    The Battle God¡¯s brows furrowed.

    ¡°Everything is up to them. You can¡¯t say that it¡¯s not fair, right?¡±

    The Battle God was silent. That was right. It would not be someone else¡¯s choice. Everything would be up to them. It was their own free will to choose what side they wanted to stand on.

    However, the Battle God knew full well that there would not be that many people that would stand on the side of the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal. Still, this was better than having the Jade Emperor and his envoys intervene directly with the affairs in the human world.

    After pondering for a moment, the Battle God nodded and said, ¡°What a shallow trick.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    In the end, the one that was left gnashing his teeth was the Jade Emperor.

    ¡°I know that you are fully aware of what kind of situation would unfold.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡±

    The Jade Emperor pretended to be none the wiser in front of the Battle God.

    However, the Battle God said, ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then we should coordinate our opinion and draft an agreement.¡±

    They finally drafted an agreement. There were various uses and conditions written in the agreement. For one, only the Jade Emperor¡¯s envoys were allowed to descend to Edea. There was also a use that prohibited the Jade Emperor from giving aid to the foreigners that wanted to drive out the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal.

    On the other hand, the Battle God had his conditions.

    ¡°I will provide aid to a brilliant and excellent warrior. It¡¯s fine, right?¡±

    ¡°Alright. Let¡¯s do that.¡± The Jade Emperor sneered.

    Basically, those that could cut down many enemies would receive special privileges and preferential treatment from the Battle God.

    With that, the agreement was drawn up. However, it seemed like the agreement waspletely unfavorable to the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal. Well, it was only natural. In the first ce, Edea was thend ruled by the Jade Emperor. As someone from anothernd, the Battle God could not recklessly interfere with the affairs of their own world.

    After finishing what he came here for, the Battle God turned around to leave. However, just before leaving, he said, ¡°Ah, did you know?¡±

    The Jade Emperor and his envoys looked at the Battle God in confusion.

    The Battle God smirked as he continued, ¡°The man that you are thinking about? He is my sessor.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The eyes of the Jade Emperor and his envoys grew wide, their jaws dropping in shock.

    Then, the video showed a close up of the handsome face of the Battle God as he said, ¡°My sessor, the Battle God¡¯s Descendant¡­¡±

    All of the people watching the video watched with bated breath as they listened to his voice. Not long after, the Battle God showed a bright smile.

    ¡°He will soon have all of Edea in his hands.¡±

 Chapter 809

    Chapter 809

    ¡°He will soon have all of Edea in his hands.¡±

    The words that the Battle God left at the end of the video rted to the episode were more than enough to arouse the curiosity of all of the yers of Athenae.

    <em>[What does the Battle God mean when he said that yer Minhyuk would have all of Edea?]</em>

    Comments quickly piled upon the silly and naive yer¡¯s question.

    <em>[Do you not know? Edea is thend under the Jade Emperor¡¯s rule. However, the Jade Emperor is trying to kill and ughter all of the forces in Edea that are against him by making use of us yers. What do you think will happen if Minhyuk works hard and protects the four kingdoms of Edea?]</em>

    <em>[Uhmm¡­ He will be loved by the four kingdoms, right?]</em>

    <em>[You crazy bastard. Will he only receive their love? The residents of Edea will be left devastated after receiving continuous pressure from the Jade Emperor. Even if they can defend themselves with the help of Minhyuk, there will be no ce left for them in Edea, thend ruled by the Jade Emperor. So, what will happen next?]</em>

    <em>[¡­Uh¡­ They¡¯ll go to a ce where there¡¯s someone that they can trust?]</em>

    <em>[Good. Good. You¡¯re doing good, punk. So, who is the person that they can trust?]</em>

    <em>[¡­Minhyuk?]</em>

    <em>[Yep, yep. That¡¯s it. Hence, even if they survive this ordeal, the residents of Edea will be left with nowhere to go. So, they will rely on Minhyuk, the benefactor who protected Edea. If that truly happens, then Minhyuk will be able to absorb all of the forces in Edea.]</em>

    <em>[Oh¡­ Ah? Omg¡­ Wait¡­! Will he be able to absorb four kingdoms? Then¡­!]</em>

    <em>[What you¡¯re thinking is correct. If the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom can absorb the four kingdoms then¡­]</em>

    <em>[They will probably be able to reach 95% of the conditions needed to be the Beyond the Heavens Empire¡­!]</em>

    ***

    Minhyuk hurriedly called for a meeting.

    At that time, Minhyuk was still unsure of what effects protecting the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal and the kingdoms of Edea would bring. However, the words of the Battle God at the endpletely shook his heart.

    ¡°Our Beyond the Heavens Kingdom should focus on protecting Edea, no?¡±

    All of the guild members nodded in agreement.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Everyone should halt their hunting quests and put a pause on any other activities to defend Edea.¡±

    Vice Guild Master Genie nodded in answer, finding the suggestion reasonable. Even Locke was shrugging his shoulders, expressing that he would go with whatever they decided.

    ¡°No matter how many yerse, we will still be able to stop them as long as we have Spear God Ben and Brod with us. From what I heard, the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal is also very strong, right?¡±

    Minhyuk nodded. The yers from all over the world viewed this battle as a confrontation between the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and the rest of the world. Everyone knew that the opportunity for their Beyond the Heavens to be an empire was just right around the corner. In a situation like this, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had to give it their all.

    However, amidst their excited chatter, Haze sat there calmly. She thought, <em>¡®Aside from His Majesty Minhyuk, the rest would take quite a while to arrive at Edea.¡¯</em>

    Shortly after the video was released, a passage to Edea had opened. The problem was the passage was very long. There were also countless traps and monsters along the way. Even outstanding rankers would need two weeks topletely break through this passage. In other words, even though a huge crowd would push forward and head to Edea, they would not arrive until two weekster.

    It would likely also take a long time for the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom to reach Edea, even if they departed right then and there.

    However, the thing that Haze was most worried about was something else.

    ¡°¡­However.¡±

    Those who were moring loudly turned to look at Haze and immediately quieted down when they saw the serious look on her face. Haze might be young but she was the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s prime minister and was the one in charge of the finances of the entire kingdom. Not only that, she was recognized for her brilliant and cunning mind.

    ¡°Do you think that the Luvien Empire will stay still?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Everyone turned mute when they heard her words.

    The news about how Minhyuk would be able to establish an empire if he could save Edea must have already reached the Luvien Empire. Besides, fully aware that the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom would be empty and defenseless, the Luvien Empire would not let them be.

    Abel, who had gone to check what the Luvien Empire¡¯s stance was at Haze¡¯s request, arrived at this moment. He sat down, pulled his mask, and said, ¡°It¡¯s just like Haze said. The Luvien Empire is rallying their troops.¡±

    Their excitement immediately died down. Everyone finally realized howcent their thinking was. The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s greatest enemy was just right in front of them. Besides, there was already a high chance that Nerva viewed Minhyuk as a thorn in his eyes. The greatest reason was due to Minhyuk bing the ¡®Battle God¡¯s Descendant.¡¯

    ¡°Once our troops leave, this ce will copse.¡±

    Haze¡¯s words might be heartless and cold but they were the truth.

    The only reason why the Luvien Empire did not recklessly touch the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was because they had arge number of powerful people like Brod, Spear God Ben, Bichor, Elpis, and many more. So, what would happen if the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Army left the kingdom?

    ¡°We will fall in three days. The reason why he¡¯s secretly gathering his troops is probably because they do not want any information leaked or to tip off their enemies.¡±

    They all perked their ears up and listened intently to Haze.

    ¡°This time, Nerva will truly march with his real army. Of course, it will still not be his entire army. However¡­¡±

    All of the people present gulped dryly.

    ¡°We would have to use all of our power just to be able to match them.¡±

    The Luvien Empire had absorbed the power and military might of dozens of kingdoms. If the Beyond the Heavens wanted to survive this trial, they would have to give it their all in defense.

    ¡°From this point on, we have to gather all of our troops and prepare for this.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The dream that they thought was almost within their reach suddenly flew away.

    Minhyuk was left in a state of confusion. <em>¡®Sun Wukong hase all the way here to help me.¡¯</em>

    The same was true for the Kingdom of Eden which was once ruled by the Bull Demon King. Did he have to stand by and watch these people get ughtered?

    ¡°We don¡¯t know if we can win this war. That¡¯s why we have to ensure that we willst as long as possible,¡± Haze said as she looked at the people around her. Then, her eyesnded on Minhyuk, who was already sporting a bitter look on his face. ¡°However, there is only one solution for us to cinch our victory.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk looked at Haze.

    ¡°And that is His Majesty¡¯s victorious return after protecting Edea.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes grew wide when he heard those words. Even the other guild members were very shocked to hear that.

    ¡°Are you saying that Minhyuk should go alone and protect Edea by himself, Haze?¡±

    ¡°No, no matter how strong he is¡­¡±

    ¡°The troops from Edea will catch the Luvien Empire off guard. Besides, even if His Majesty Minhyuk remains here, our chances of winning the battle against the Luvien Empire are only at 8%. But what if hees back with Edea¡¯s troops? That probability will rise.¡±

    What Haze said was the cold and hard truth. Even though Beyond the Heavens was a very strong kingdom, they would still be hard-pressed when it came to fighting a battle against the Great Luvien Empire.

    ¡°We have to face reality. We are currently being pushed into a corner. We need Edea¡¯s troops to protect our Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.¡±

    Everyone turned to look at Minhyuk. After all, he was the one that had to go alone.

    ¡°And I¡­¡± Haze smiled lightly. ¡°¡­I trust you, Your Majesty.¡±

    Among everyone present, Haze was the most realistic and most rational. However, she had a firm and steadfast belief that Minhyuk would be able to do it. She was just showing her faith in her king.

    Minhyuk pondered deeply for a moment. They did not have any other choice. The establishment of their empire was just right in front of them. However, reaching for that dream might mean the destruction of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    ¡°I never expected that these words woulde out of my mouth.¡± Minhyuk smiled bitterly. ¡°Everyone, do whatever it takes to protect the kingdom. I will also do whatever it takes to protect Edea ande back victorious.¡±

    Beyond the Heavens had received the attention of many yers. Because they had an image to uphold, there were countless things that they did not dare to challenge or do. But now, these people would not pay any more attention to the means and methods that they would employ. Winning this battle was more important than maintaining their image. It was alright even if their prestige dropped for a bit.

    Then, Minhyuk dered, ¡°I will go to Edea alone.¡±

    The meeting ended with that. Minhyuk began to move with Haze immediately following right behind him.

    ¡°Haze, prepare all of Mand¡¯s potions. And bring me all of the dishes above legendary grade in the kingdom. Also, ry my orders to Bichor. Tell him to create the most dangerous bomb that he can make.¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡±

    ¡°How much of the kingdom¡¯s funds can we use right now?¡±

    ¡°We have around 320,000 tinum.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll take half of it. Hmmm, that might be a bit short. Uhel.¡±

    Cuhel, who was keeping pace with Minhyuk, turned to look at him. The other executives that were walking along with them perked their ears up and listened intently.

    ¡°Lend me a hundred billion.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    All of the executives were very shocked to hear those words.

    <em>¡®A, h¡­ hundred billion?!!!¡¯</em>

    If one apartment in Seoul costs about a billion won, then a hundred billion won could very well buy a hundred units. Minhyuk wanted to borrow that much money?

    Then, Cuhel replied, ¡°A hundred billion? I don¡¯t think that¡¯s enough. Let me lend you two hundred billion.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Thank you.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Locke, who was sporting a nk look on his face, said, ¡°Are we talking about the MXple game currency right now¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s preparations had started at full steam.

    ***

    Supreme¡¯s ins. It was and where only the chosen supremes could walk on. Only a few yers above Level 580 could enter this area. There was one powerhouse that stood above the rest in this ce. And this powerhouse was none other than Alexander.

    Alexander had recently achieved Level 600. The moment he reached that level, someone from the Supreme¡¯s in called out to him.

    <em>[One of the Eight Pirs, the Master of All Weapons Fabro, has recognized your existence!]</em>

    <em>[You are a man who has reached the peak of power with just an ordinary ss.]</em>

    <em>[If you can ovee the trials set by Eight Pirs Fabro, you will be able to change into one of the Eight Pirs¡¯ sses, the ¡®Weapon Master!¡¯]</em>

    At first, Alexander was beyond thrilled. He knew that Food God Minhyuk was just a candidate for the Eight Pirs and not one of them yet. As for Alexander, he stood above all of the rankers in America despite only having the mostmon ss. However, even though he reached the top of his country, the limits set by his ss had forced him into a standstill. Because of that, he could only look at Minhyuk¡¯s back.

    But now, an opportunity appeared in front of him. He was given the chance to obtain an Eight Pirs¡¯ ss, a ss that perhaps might even be able to go beyond the power of an Absolute God ss.

    <em>[You have been forced to log out for the ninth time!]</em>

    <em>[Because you are doing the Eight Pirs ss Change Quest, you will not receive any forced logout penalties!]</em>

    <em>[You only have one chance left.]</em>

    <em>[If you fail the ss Change Quest, you will lose -10 levels!]</em>

    Alexander felt very frustrated. The walls that blocked him in this trial were far too high.

    The trial was divided into three parts. The first one was solving a trap. The second one was dealing with a monster army. And the third was sessfullynding ten attacks on the Eight Pirs Weapon Master Fabro. However, he had always been stumped by the third part of the trial. The highest number of sessful attacks that hended was five.

    It could be said that Fabro¡¯s trial was extremely forgiving and merciful to Alexander. After all, the sessful attacks that he needed tond were ridiculously few. On top of that, he could also use all of the potions and parchments in his possession. He could even switch his artifacts freely.

    However, Alexander had run into the limits of his character and skills. And now, he only had one chance left.

    <em>¡®I¡­¡¯</em>

    If he failed this trial, he would not even be able to get a glimpse of Minhyuk¡¯s back. After all, a -10 in level for a high ranker was extremely fatal. Alexander took a deep breath. Then, he closed his eyes and immersed himself in his thoughts. Perhaps, he already knew what the oue of this battle was.

    <em>¡®I will fail.¡¯</em>

    However, Alexander was not someone who would give up that easily. Besides, the trial had a time limit so he had no other option. He could not back down. He clenched his fists as he moved to take his final chance at this trial.

    ¡°Alexander.¡±

    At that moment, someone called out his name.

    Alexander immediately turned to look in the direction where the voice came from. There, he saw the man that he was chasing desperately after with a faint smile on his face.

    ¡°You look like you¡¯re having a hard time.¡±

    ¡°¡­You, why¡­¡± Alexander looked at the man in confusion.

    It seemed like even Minhyuk had guessed that he would fail this trial. But then, Minhyuk said to him, ¡°How about having a meal with me?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    <em>¡®I don¡¯t care. I will use whatever means is avable to me.¡¯</em>

    This was Minhyuk¡¯s first step.

 Chapter 810

    Chapter 810

    The agreement between the Battle God and the Jade Emperor contained a lot of uses. Among those uses, there was one concession that the Battle God was forced to make.

    <em>¡®While the foreigners are crossing through the passageway, the Heavenly Army can attack the allied forces.¡¯</em>

    Although the Battle God had tried not to yield on this as much as possible, he was forced to give in for both sides to settle on the agreement. Basically, it was the result of a lot ofpromise.

    There would be 30,000 soldiers of the Heavenly Army that would enter the battlefield at set intervals during the two weeks that the foreigners would need to cross that passageway.

    ¡°H, hiiiiiiiiiiiiik!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keheok!¡±

    ¡°S, Spare me, please¡­¡±

    ¡°K, Kingdom of Rama, forever!!!¡±

    The average level of the troops of the Heavenly Army ranged from 540~550. There was also the Heavenly Commander, who was at Level 600, that appeared among the troops. The Kingdom of Rama had rallied all of the forces of the four kingdoms, but even though they had a total of five million troops, the level of their enemies was still far too high.

    Even when only 30,000 Heavenly Army soldiers entered the battlefield each time, it was still far too difficult for the allied forces to deal with them. Riding on their white warhorses with their golden full te armor, the 30,000-strong Heavenly Army easily swept the allied forces of more than 150,000 aside.

    The Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal Sun Wukong was the only one who had the strength to deny the Jade Emperor and rebel against him. Sun Wukong rode atop his Flying Nimbus with his Ruyi Jingu Bang, his weapon that could be adjusted at will, and flew at a high speed.

    <em>Staaaaaaaaaab¡ª</em>

    The Ruyi Jingu Bang¡¯s length extended, piercing through the chest of one of the Heavenly Army soldiers that tried to throw their spear at him, before returning back to its original length. However, there was no time to rest. Dozens of arrows flew toward him at the same time.

    <em>aaaash¡ª</em>

    Sun Wukong controlled his Flying Nimbus, moving swiftly to escape from the rain of arrows. However, he was not fast enough, as one of the arrows pierced through his thighs. He hurriedly pulled the arrow off of his body, his eyes scanning the allied forces as they fought fiercely against the Heavenly Army.

    The difference in levels between the allied forces and the Heavenly Army was extremely difficult to ovee, even with their overwhelming number. That was not all, the voice of the Jade Emperor resonated all over the world not too long ago.

    <em>[In thisnd devoid of everything, I personally sowed the seeds and made both trees and grain grow and thrive.]</em>

    <em>[Because of me, you did not go hungry and you were able to sleep, sheltered away from the wind.]</em>

    <em>[All of you in Edea that rebelled against me, those greedy ones will march through the passageway connecting this continent to the rest of the world, to take everything away from you and crush you.]</em>

    <em>[In two weeks, all of you will disappear and turn into nothingness.]</em>

    The Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal knew that the Jade Emperor was referring to the foreigners from the other continent. These greedy foreigners would gather and form a huge army that would sweep this ce away.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaaack!!!¡±

    A scream rang from among the 30,000-strong Heavenly Army. However, Sun Wukong¡¯s face was still very ugly despite the loud scream. At that moment, another king approached Sun Wukong. This king looked a bit peculiar, with the face of a pig, a brawny body and a trident in hand. The king was none other than Zhu Bajie.

    Zhu Bajie mmed his trident on the ground and said, ¡°Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal, I don¡¯t know about this.¡±

    Zhu Bajie was the king of the Runt Kingdom and just like Sun Wukong, he also rebelled against the Jade Emperor. However, he just could not understand the situation that was presented in front of him.

    ¡°We just raised our voices to seek justice from God. But right now, my troops are dying, aren¡¯t they?¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t you tell? The Jade Emperor will still take everything away from uster.¡±

    ¡°This is not the ter¡¯ that you are talking about!!!¡±

    Zhu Bajie was well aware of that. The reason why they gathered under the banner of Sun Wukong was because he was extremely outstanding and powerful. However, he firmly believed that they should have stopped before the Jade Emperor had opened the passageway and his envoys made a move.

    ¡°And how about that guy named Food God? He¡¯s just a king of a single nation at best. What difference would it make if he made an appearance here or not?¡±

    The Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal was able to bid his wife a final farewell thanks to the help of the Food God. He also helped the Bull Demon King protect his kingdom, even taking the said king as his subordinate. Basically, the people of the Kingdom of Rama and the Kingdom of Eden were indebted to him and deified him.

    Zhu Bajie had never met the guy.

    ¡°We should quickly hold an ancestral rite for the Jade Emperor right here and now. If this continues, then everyone will die.¡±

    Sun Wukong did not respond to those remarks. Then, another king approached him. The king was wearing a monk¡¯s robe with a set of Buddhist m beads hanging on his left wrist and a muyu[1] on the other hand. This king was none other than Xuanzang.

    Xuanzang was known in Edea for his mysterious powers. He was able to awaken a person¡¯s innate talent and impart upon them teachings that would help them grow stronger. If Sun Wukong was the strongest pir that people relied on, then Xuanzang was the spiritual pir of all of the residents in Edea.

    ¡°We have to keep on fighting.¡±

    ¡°But my soldiers are dying!!!¡±

    Zhu Bajie absolutely loathed the situation. He had thought they were just going to be forced into bad living conditions.

    ¡°Whether I live or die, it is the will of Lord Buddha.¡±

    ¡°That goddamn Buddha¡¯s will!!! The Jade Emperor is the one that¡¯s real, what the hell¡­¡±

    ¡°Zhu Bajie.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Zhu Bajie¡¯s body shook at the cold and subdued voice of the Buddhist Monk Xuanzang. In fact, Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie and the Bull Demon King had all been disciples of Xuanzang.

    ¡°Will you onlye to your senses after you do the 108 prostrations to Lord Buddha?¡±

    Zhu Bajie promptly shut his mouth. He remembered it clearly. Although it was called 108 prostrations, it was a never-ending cycle of praying and bowing. If, by any chance, they incurred the wrath of Xuanzang, he would use his muyu and knock it on their heads.

    <em>¡®What kind of Buddhist monk is he, huh?!¡¯</em>

    However, Zhu Bajie remained firm. ¡°I will prioritize my life and the life of my kingdom.¡±

    He did not want to fight a losing battle. Even now, his soldiers continued to die at the hands of the troops of the Heavenly Army.

    <em>Tap¡­ tap¡­ tap¡­</em>

    Xuanzang knocked on his muyu with a bitter look on his face.

    <em>Rumbleeeeeeeeee¡ª</em>

    <em>[The Heaven¡¯s Gate has opened!]</em>

    The Jade Emperor could send 30,000 Heavenly Army troops once per day. On top of that, the Jade Emperor¡¯s envoys could send one of their attacks once the Heaven¡¯s Gate has opened.

    <em>Crackleeeeeeeee¡ª</em>

    At that moment, two talismans covered by blinding light shot out from the space that cracked open in the sky. The talisman burned, its mes growing tens of thousands of times.

    The mes, which gathered into a cluster, grew until they were the size of a meteor. They looked fierce enough to burn the tens of thousands of Edea¡¯s troops and turn them into ashes. These zing mes immediately flew to where Xuanzang, Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie were.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    They did not have any way to stop the zing mes because they were too fast. In fact, even if they had enough time, they knew that they still would not be able to stop it.

    At that moment, Xuanzang suddenly muttered in shock, ¡°Fuck.¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    Both Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie tilted their heads in confusion when they heard Xuanzang¡¯s low curses. However, not long after, they realized that they might possibly die right then and there.

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    However, a man suddenly descended atop the walls. On the back of the man was a white cape fluttering, carrying the symbol of a fork and knife crossed together. The man brought something out of his inventory. This something was none other than the Mixer and Bowl. He quickly put the mixer in the empty bowl and started to mix it.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>[Cancel.]</em>

    <em>[Cancels and nullifies all skills and magic within a five meter radius from the user.]</em>

    Just like that, the zing mes disappeared as if nothing had happened.

    This man was none other than Minhyuk. He had arrived here after he finished his preparations, using every means and method necessary in the other continent.

    After nullifying the mes that were strong enough to bring down the walls all at once, Minhyuk stared at the battlefield for a moment before turning to look behind him.

    His eyes, which were framed by his ck hair, were soft and gentle. However, his straight nose and sharp jawline made him look very manly.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re here.¡± Sun Wukong smiled faintly when he saw Minhyuk.

    Actually, the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal was already thinking that Minhyuk might note. Their situation was truly dire after all. Still, Minhyuk hade.

    Minhyuk approached Sun Wukong and gave him a hug. ¡°Have you been well?¡±

    ¡°As you can see, we¡¯re not doing that well.¡±

    His gaze passed by Xuanzang and Zhu Bajie. At that moment, Xuanzang thought, <em>¡®His gaze is simr to that of a fierce tiger.¡¯</em>

    It seemed like the man was born with the eyes of a true king, one that no one could beat.

    ¡°Hello, Buddhist Monk Ssamjang[2]!!! Hello, Zhu Bajie!!!¡±

    <em>¡®S, Ssamjang?¡¯ </em>Xuanzang tilted his head in confusion.

    ¡°Haha. You really have a very deli¡­ no, a very cool name!¡±

    Xuanzang felt very strange. The man had just been sporting a gaze that was simr to the gaze of a tiger. But now, he had the pure and innocent eyes like that of a child. Then, Xuanzang saw the man turn to look at Zhu Bajie. However, the way that he looked at Zhu Bajie was especially terrifying.

    <em>¡®G, greed¡­?!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s gaze was filled with endless greed. On top of that, his eyes seemed to be filled with desperation, as though he would do anything to get whatever he wanted, one way or another. Why would greed appear in his eyes when he was just looking at Zhu Bajie? Minhyuk¡¯s eyes sneaked a look at Zhu Bajie¡¯s belly.

    <em>¡®Can he feel the unknown power in Bajie¡¯s belly?!¡¯</em>

    In actual fact, Minhyuk was only focused on Bajie¡¯s thick belly fat. At the same time, the sound of someone gulping their saliva rang loudly in the area.

    ¡°Haha. Lord Ssamjang and Zhu Bajie¡­ I can see a beautiful harmony between you two!¡±

    <em>Gulp¡ª</em>

    Why was he gulping his saliva? Xuanzang could not understand this person.

    At that moment, Zhu Bajie spoke, breaking Xuanzang away from his thoughts, ¡°Are you the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King?¡±

    Zhu Bajie¡¯s tone was hostile. He believed that the one responsible for this situation was Minhyuk. If he had not appeared to save the Kingdom of Eden and had not shaken the faith of the residents of Edea, then a path to survival might have opened for them. Zhu Bajie was a small-minded and petty being. Rather than fighting back, he would rather avoid it altogether.

    ¡°Where¡¯s your army?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s none. I came alone.¡±

    ¡°None? None?!!! How can you say that even after seeing the situation that we¡¯re in?! Why?!!! Are you afraid to lose your own soldiers, huh?!!!¡±

    When Zhu Bajie saw Minhyuk¡¯s pure and bright face, he felt like people like this would usually be the ones hiding behind others. He even thought Minhyuk lookedpletely easy to deal with.

    <em>¡®Is this guy truly the same guy that saved the Kingdom of Eden? Bullshit. He was only probably able to do that because he had the Jade Emperor¡¯s Jade Seal. He allowed the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal¡¯s wife to see once again with his excellent cooking? Well, all he had to do was cook for that.¡¯</em>

    ¡°Go and kneel down. Ask for the Jade Emperor¡¯s forgiveness personally. Only then will we be able to liv¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes grew cold. An overwhelming killing intent slowly spread out from his body, encroaching upon the entire area.

    In fact, Minhyuk thought that the situation was ideal. He might be Edea¡¯s benefactor, but those from the other kingdoms had never met him face to face before. Even the soldiers and people that were fighting today would not put their trust and belief in Minhyuk. These allies, without any trust or faith, would definitely hold him back.

    ¡°Shut your mouth.¡±

    Xuanzang groaned. The man only said three words but hepletely overwhelmed Zhu Bajie, a king of a nation.

    Minhyuk, whose lips were twisted into a smirk, said, ¡°Shall we make a bet, then?¡±

    Named NPCs were fully capable of creating quests. Zhu Bajie was a king. This meant that he was more than capable of doing so.

    ¡°I will wipe out all of the troops of the Heavenly Army present on the battlefield. If I fail, then I will do as you say. I will kneel down and beg for the Jade Emperor¡¯s forgiveness. But if I seed, then you will have to do one thing for me.¡±

    ¡°Kghhk, keuhahahahahahaha!!! Keuhahahahahahahaha!¡±

    Zhu Bajie guffawed. Even the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal was struggling against the Heavenly Army. They had killed 15,000 out of the 30,000 soldiers today. However, that was only half of the troops.

    Yet, he was saying that he would kill all of them by himself? He was saying that he would do something that even the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal could not even do?

    ¡°Did you hear that? If he fails, then he will personally apologize and beg for the Jade Emperor¡¯s forgiveness. Well, all of this will be solved easily. With that. Alright. Let¡¯s do that.¡±

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Sudden Quest</em></strong><em>: The Bet epted by the Runt Kingdom¡¯s King Zhu Bajie.]</em>

    Then, Zhu Bajie asked, ¡°What do you want me to do? Even if I epted this bet, I won¡¯t listen to what you want if it¡¯s ridiculous.¡±

    Minhyuk, who had taken a step forward and went to the edge of the walls, turned back to look at him and said, ¡°Ah. It¡¯s not that difficult.¡±

    Zhu Bajie crossed his arms and snorted as if he was encouraging him to speak.

    ¡°I¡¯m just going to hit you, f*cker.¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    Then, Minhyuk triggered God¡¯s Voice, as it would give people and the soldiers the will and the power to gain victory with their own hands.

    <em>[I am the Highest God that wields the Greatest Sword.]</em>

    <em>[Look...]</em>

    Minhyuk pulled out a sword from his inventory. From its de to its hilt, the sword was emitting a ck light. Then, everyone¡¯s jaw dropped in shock at the notifications that followed.

    <em>[Zhu Bajie¡¯s Trident is resonating!]</em>

    <em>[Xuanzang¡¯s Muyu is resonating!]</em>

    <em>[Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal¡¯s Ruyi Jingu Bang is resonating!]</em>

    <em>[The Heavenly Army¡¯s Full te Armor is resonating!]</em>

    <em>[The Heavenly Army¡¯s Faded Sword is resonating!]</em>

    <em>[The Sword with the Breath of the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal is resonating!]</em>

    <em>[All of the effects and abilities of all weapons and defensive equipment will temporarily be sealed!!!]</em>

    After Minhyuk had asked his vassals and friends to put their mana in the sword, one of the sword¡¯s skills had been unsealed.

    ¡°Hi, hihihihihihihing!¡±

    ¡°Hihihihihihihing!¡±

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    The horses reared their legs and threw off the soldiers of the Heavenly Army on their backs, before running away, while the birds that were sitting on the branches of the trees flew away. It was as if they had seen something very scary.

    <em>Vwooooooooooooooooong¡ª</em>

    The sword¡¯s cry shook thend and made the sky weep.

    Minhyuk finished his words with God¡¯s Voice as he jumped off of the walls.

    <em>[This is the path to victory.]</em>

    1. Wooden fish or a Chinese temple block ?

    2. ??(Samjang/Xuanzang) sounds simr to ??(ssamjang) ?

 Chapter 811

    Chapter 811

    The truth was, both the residents and soldiers of Edea were very, <em>very </em>scared.

    <em>¡®Please. I beg you, do not give us the order to attack¡­¡¯</em>

    They were shaking to their core. Some even felt like they felt like they were going to lose control over their dder.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Therades thatughed and drank with them just yesterday had fallen on the ground, blood spurting out of their chests. Someone who vowed to receive the Jade Emperor¡¯s apology died helplessly on the battlefield. The desire to live was after all, basic instinct.

    The fear had increased, especially after realizing that their victory seemed to be a shot in the dark. The Jade Emperor¡¯s Heavenly Army had superior weapons and defensive equipment and was much stronger than them. They were only 30,000 strong but were killing hundreds of thousands of people each day.

    <em>¡®I¡¯d rather we apologize to the Jade Emperor.¡¯</em>

    Rather than dying helplessly in this battle, they would rather surrender and beg for the Jade Emperor¡¯s forgiveness.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m exhausted.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®We will die.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®There¡¯s no hope.¡¯</em>

    At that moment, an unknown voice rang in their ears.

    <em>[I am the Highest God that wields the Greatest Sword.]</em>

    <em>[Look. This is the path to victory.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The frightened, exhausted and battle-weary soldiers of Edea raised their heads when they heard the voice. There were still 15,000 surviving Heavenly Army troops that were pushing them back. Who was the owner of this voice?

    <em>¡®Who is that?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®No way¡­ God?¡¯</em>

    It was rare for ordinary humans to have any opportunities to meet and face God. That was why it came as a bigger shock to them that a god had suddenly appeared here.

    <em>Vwoooooooong¡ª</em>

    <em>Vwoooooooong¡ª</em>

    However, that was not the only thing that surprised them. Their crude weapons and shields vibrated and resonated with something. It was even more surprising for the Heavenly Army, who were wielding far superior weapons and artifacts than the soldiers of Edea. They realized that their sharp swords had lost momentum, and their tough, sturdy armor suddenly felt like flimsy cloth.

    The spooked horses had already raised their hind legs and shook them off their backs.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    The ground shook and vibrated.

    ¡°He, he¡¯s really a god?!!!¡± Someone¡¯s cry raised everyone¡¯s expectations.

    Hope slowly started to bloom in the eyes of the exhausted soldiers of Edea. Their eyes immediately turned and followed the direction of the voice, their gazesnding upon the figure of a man.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The wind blew fiercely, and the man appeared alone in front of the 15,000 flustered soldiers of the Heavenly Army. The man¡¯s white cape, carrying the symbol of the fork and knife crossed together, fluttered majestically behind him. The ck sword in his hands reflected the bright light of the sun and gave off a powerful momentum.

    ¡°F, Food God!!!¡±

    Minhyuk was the one who had saved the Kingdom of Eden. Some of the soldiers had seen him personally save and rescue the Bull Demon King. The words ¡®Food God¡¯ caused a hugemotion among the troops of Edea. From what they heard, the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal and the Kingdom of Eden¡¯s Aaron had received help from this person. However, those who had not seen him in person would always tend to deny his existence.

    Minhyuk turned around, his gentle and soft eyes framed by his dark hair as he looked at the soldiers behind him. He shed a very soft smile at them before turning back around and charging forward.

    ¡°He, he¡¯s alone?!¡±

    There were still around 15,000 enemy troops, but Minhyuk courageously took a step forward.

    Weapons, defensive equipment, and artifacts were all very important items. Between a yer equipped with a wooden sword of 100 attack and one wielding a sword with 1,000 attack, the one with the wooden sword would be able to reduce their opponent¡¯s HP by 100, whereas the one equipped with the sword of 1,000 attack could cut down their opponent¡¯s HP by 500. This was only the case because the opponent was wearing armor on their body.

    Right now, the enemies¡¯ armor and equipment¡¯s defenses all dropped to 1, albeit temporarily. Even their weapons¡¯ attack dropped to 1. Simply put, the fact that their weapons and defensive equipment had been restricted meant that they had grown at least 50% weaker than normal.

    ¡°How dare you?! You think you can deal with us alone?!¡± One of the Heavenly Commanders sneered.

    Minhyuk was fully aware that there was only one way, perhaps the best way, to win the hearts of the people in the world. That was to make them witness him in action.

    ¡°Die!!!¡±

    <em>Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom¡ª!</em>

    The Heavenly Army¡¯s mages unleashed a barrage of magical attacks.

    Minhyuk¡¯s magical defense could be said to be very, <em>very</em> high. It was all thanks to the elixirs and medicines that he had eaten before, as well as the special effect attached to the ughterer¡¯s Armor that tripled his basic magical defense.

    At this point, the staves and wands of the enemy had all lost their magical attack. The mages were beings that did not just rely on artifacts. The damage that their magic attack could inflict would also differ depending on the magical attack of their wand or staff.

    A thick cloud of dust rose from the explosion created by the magical attacks. However, Minhyuk walked out of the dust unscathed.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Everyone looked at him in shock.

    Minhyuk, who was free of injuries, dered, ¡°Intangible Sword.¡±

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    An invisible sword flew and pierced the heart of the Heavenly Commander standing at the vanguard. He was appalled.

    <em>¡®H, how¡­¡¯</em>

    The armor that he wore truly felt like it was just a piece of cloth. Perhaps, it would have been much better if he had worn a real cloth on his body. At least then, he would not be forced to fight while carrying the heavy weight of the armor.

    Not long after, the Intangible Sword split and turned into hundreds of invisible swords that pierced through the hearts of the Heavenly Army¡¯s soldiers.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    The Heavenly Army was suddenly plunged into chaos. The armor that usually halved the damage that the soldiers received did not protect them nor prevent the attack from inflicting damage upon them. Of course, the ¡®Intangible Sword¡¯ also had the power to ignore all of Minhyuk¡¯s enemy defenses.

    However, it did not end there. Another threatening force appeared and encroached upon those who lost the protection of their defensive equipment.

    ¡°Stormy.¡±

    <em>Swoooooooooooosh¡ª</em>

    A sword with an ego of its own appeared and created hundreds of des that danced and rained upon the enemies.

    <em>Vwooooooooong¡ª!</em>

    The enemies fell helplessly against these sword des.

    <em>ng, ng, ng!</em>

    They tried to defend themselves, but their defensive equipment were easily pierced through, the de cutting through them like sheets of paper.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    The enemies screamed while Minhyuk used his ughterer¡¯s Absorption to restore his HP. However, what was more astonishing to the Heavenly Army was the fact that their attacks did not even put a toll on Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    <em>aaang¡ª</em>

    Even though they stabbed their enemy as usual, the attack that should have pierced through the enemy¡¯s armor and stabbed straight through his abdomen waspletely blocked by the opponent¡¯s armor. The attacks did not even reach their target.

    Minhyuk smirked at the Heavenly Army¡¯s soldier, who was looking down at his sword in confusion. ¡°What¡¯s this, huh?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª!</em>

    Minhyuk easily cut down the soldier in front of him. A Level 550 Heavenly Army soldier died, just like that, blood spurting out of his body. Even though Minhyuk jumped into the ranks of the 15,000-strong Heavenly Army and received the brunt of their attacks, he did not even feel any danger at all.

    <em>Crackleeeeeeeee¡ª!</em>

    The zing mes kept the enemies at bay. Originally, the Overlord¡¯s Technique could only injure the Heavenly Army troops and not kill them. However, it was very different right now.

    <em>Crackleeeeeeee¡ª!</em>

    A huge storm of fire spread out and covered everything the moment he swung his sword and released Overlord''s Technique. At the same time, the enemies that were caught by the raging Overlord¡¯s Technique had their flesh and bones burned down until only ashes were left.

    <em>[You have gained 11,013,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 13,154,167 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[¡­EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 17 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 19 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[¡­21¡­]</em>

    As expected, the high-level Heavenly Army troops were truly in a different league. Each of the soldiers dropped around 20 tinum, while giving him a huge amount of EXP.

    <em>Swooooooosh¡ª</em>

    No corpses could be seen on the ground where the mes were slowly dying down. Everything was reduced to ashes and had disappeared into nothingness.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Fear slowly started to appear in the eyes of the enemies while hope started to sprout in the hearts of the allied forces of Edea. These were the Heavenly Army soldiers that they could not even deal with earlier. Yet, this lone man overwhelmed thempletely without the help of the allied forces.

    ¡°Hiiiiiiik¡­!¡±

    In the end, the great and majestic Heavenly Army ran away from Minhyuk as if they had seen a ghost. The one-sided battle that unfolded in front of them caused their morale to plummet, which made it even easier for Minhyuk to deal with them.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª!</em>

    Minhyuk chased after the enemies with his ck sword carrying the golden symbol of ¡®Explosion¡¯ on its de. He dashed swiftly and swept the enemies around him.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª!</em>

    The soldiers of the Heavenly Army died under his sword one after another as he cut through them. Meanwhile, the Heavenly Commanders made a decision. They wanted to kill Minhyuk somehow. They did not know how long the restriction on their weapons and defensive equipment wouldst; that was why they were very reluctant to do this.

    They all approached Minhyuk and pulled out their weapons. They moved to cut him with their swords, stab him with their spears, and shoot them with their arrows.

    <em>[The Heavenly Army¡¯s Faded Sword has started regaining its original power.]</em>

    <em>[The Heavenly Army¡¯s Faded¡­]</em>

    That was when the momentum of the swords that disappeared slowly began to return, causing the swords to light up brightly. While this was happening, all of the soldiers that were spread out over the ce had flocked to one area. They had somehow ended up with Minhyuk standing in the middle of everything. Now that they had their sharp swords and spears, they could kill this bastard!

    However, there was a grin on Minhyuk¡¯s face. Sparks started to dance on the de of his sword.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª!</em>

    The swords of lightning created by the ¡®Sword of Absolute Death¡¯ fell down from the sky and killed the Heavenly Commanders. At the same, hundreds of lightning bolts rained down and swept away the enemies that gathered around him.

    Defensive equipment did not matter at this point. The 5,000% additional damage of the Sword of Absolute Death far exceeded what those defensive equipment could handle.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª!</em>

    The Heavenly Army soldiers were all helpless under the onught of the lightning strikes that fell constantly upon them.

    <em>[The faith of Edea¡¯s residents in you is increasing.]</em>

    <em>[They have started to deify you!]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the </em><strong><em>Title</em></strong><em>: Heavenly Army¡¯s ughterer.]</em>

    He was also able to obtain a special title that could help increase his attack power by 8% whenever he was fighting against the Heavenly Army.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The wind blew fiercely after the Sword of Absolute Death ended. The time it took for Minhyuk to cut down all 15,000 surviving troops of the Heavenly Army was only three minutes.

    <em>¡®I didn¡¯t expect that the effects of losing the power of all artifacts would be this great.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk could not help but be in awe.

    Meanwhile, the residents and troops of Edea felt like they had caught a small glimpse of hope once again as they cheered loudly.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    However, amidst the cheering troops, there was one person who had broken out in cold sweat. This person was none other than Zhu Bajie.

    ***

    The Allied Forces of Edea cheered loudly.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!¡±

    ¡°Food Gooooood!!!¡±

    ¡°Thank you! Thank you for staying by our side!!!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!¡±

    The soldiers of Edea shed tears of happiness as hope started to bloom in their hearts once again. With the sword¡¯s resonance, the Heavenly Army was forced to be helpless in front of a god.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Zhu Bajie, who watched this scene, could not help but be surprised.

    Meanwhile, the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal murmured, ¡°He has grown stronger.¡±

    Zhu Bajie groaned. How could a god like that have that much momentum and might? However, he was worried about something else.

    <em>[You have lost the bet against Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King Minhyuk.]</em>

    <em>[You will have to listen to one thing that he wants as long as it does not cross the line.]</em>

    Cold sweat slowly dripped down Zhu Bajie¡¯s pig face. However, he shook his head and thought, <em>¡®Even if he won against the enemy like that, he should not dare to beat me, a king of a nation, right?¡¯</em>

    Zhu Bajie thought that the Runt Kingdom was a very important force in the fight against the Jade Emperor. He believed that Minhyuk must have said those words just so he could keep him in check. At that moment, Minhyuk climbed up the walls once again. Zhu Bajie confidently said, ¡°I, the king of Runt Kingdom, has made a promise with you. I will grant you one thing that you want!!!¡±

    Then, he added, ¡°I have seen everything. Your strength might be more than enough, but!¡±

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    Zhu Bajie mmed his trident and continued, ¡°Your performance in the battle against the Jade Emperor still remains to be seen. Alright, what do you want?¡±

    Zhu Bajie was clearly the one who had wronged Minhyuk. Minhyuk had greeted him and showed him courtesy first. As a king of a nation, would he act politely if it was for nothing? However, Zhu Bajie had forsaken the courtesy between them. In fact, he did not even want to acknowledge him.

    ¡°Money? Artifacts?¡±

    Zhu Bajie still believed that this man would not beat him.

    ¡°Wait. Walk.¡±

    Minhyuk led Zhu Bajie away. Zhu Bajie, who was trying to maintain his pride, followed him,

    ¡°I don¡¯t think you meant what you said before. You wouldn¡¯t beat a king of a nation, no? So, tell me what you want.¡±

    ¡°But that¡¯s what I want? Hmm.¡±

    Minhyuk pondered deeply as he walked with Zhu Bajie.

    <em>¡®As expected, it was a bluff.¡¯</em>

    Zhu Bajie chuckled to himself as he continued to walk with Minhyuk. Then, Minhyuk suddenly put his hand on the king¡¯s shoulder and stopped him.

    ¡°We¡¯re here.¡±

    Zhu Bajie looked puzzled. He was also busy thinking to himself while he walked with Minhyuk. However, he found himself inside what seemed to be an armory in a deserted part of the castle walls.

    <em>Creaaaaaaaaak¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk grinned as he closed the door. Then, he whispered, ¡°No one will know if I beat you up in this ce.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

 Chapter 812

    Chapter 812

    Although Zhu Bajie could notpare with Sun Wukong, he was the second among all of the kings of Edea in terms of power and force. His kingdom¡¯s military might far surpassed that of the Kingdom of Eden. Due to that, the king of the Runt Kingdom was a key figure in this war.

    Zhu Bajie, who had been led inside the abandoned armory, listened to Minhyuk who closed the door and said, ¡°No one will know if I beat you up in this ce.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    At this point, Zhu Bajie already thought that there was something wrong. Even if Minhyuk said that he would beat him earlier, it should have been nothing but a bluff.

    However, Minhyuk¡¯s expression remained cold. ¡°To be honest, I thought that you would apologize to me after I disyed my prowess.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°You have treated me rudely at first. However, I let it go. It was only natural not to trust me since you haven¡¯t personally seen what I am capable of. But I showed my capabilities.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°Unfortunately, you threw your chance away. You should have apologized. But you did not admit your mistakes. You even held on to your useless pride and arrogance and kept on barking at me like a dog.¡±

    ¡°So, so what, huh¡­¡±

    Zhu Bajie was not given the chance to finish his words.

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s fist connected with Zhu Bajie¡¯s face, shocking the king with how hard the hit was. The blow felt like a rock had smashed into him! Just like what was mentioned before, Zhu Bajie was also a key figure in Edea. He was a powerhouse of the continent. However, just when he was about to jump up and pounce on Minhyuk, Minhyuk kicked his neck.

    <em>Craaaaack¡ª</em>

    ¡°This is what I want. I want you to keep that mouth of yours shut. Don¡¯t go and scream about how I beat you to a pulp.¡±

    <em>[You have lost the bet. You have to listen to your opponent¡¯s demands.]</em>

    <em>[If you break your promise, then you will receive punishment.]</em>

    After ensuring their privacy, true to his words, Minhyuk began to beat Zhu Bajie into a pulp.

    <em>Thump¡ª Thud¡ª thump, thump, thump¡ª Baaang¡ª</em>

    ¡°Ack! Ugh! Urk! Hik! Uweeck! Keuaaaaaack!!!¡±

    Zhu Bajie had never been treated like this in his life. Today was the day he realized what the words ¡®beaten to a pulp¡¯ truly meant.

    <em>Shwaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡°Urk, ugh¡­ Th, that¡­ it¡­ exploded?¡±

    Minhyuk, who was doing the beating, and Zhu Bajie, who was receiving the beating, both paused for two seconds.

    ¡°It did not explode.¡±

    Then, Minhyuk continued to beat him up. He did not hold back his punches at all, because he truly did not like Zhu Bajie. Of course, Minhyuk thought that it was quite rude to treat an ally that would fight alongside himter like this. If the man in front of him was the enemy, he would not have hesitated to cut his head off. But since he could not kill him, he opted to beat him up.

    Finally, big fat tears started to roll down Zhu Bajie¡¯s right eye.

    ¡°S, stop¡­!¡±

    Zhu Bajie actually knew that he deserved this beating. If it was his usual self, Zhu Bajie would be able to confidently say that he was not really small-minded and petty. He just felt so heartbroken when he saw his soldiers die helplessly one after the other.

    He could not help the tears that welled up in his eyes as his people gave up their lives to fight such an uphill battle. Perhaps that was why he found Minhyuk, who gave these people hope after they had to sacrifice their lives, revolting.

    However, there was no denying the fact that he had wronged Minhyuk. He did not even acknowledge the fact that he did it. That was why he truly deserved this beating.

    ¡°Hwiiiiiiiiik!¡±

    The cries of a pig being ¡®ughtered¡¯ rang loudly from within the abandoned armory.

    ***

    Xuanzang had followed right behind Minhyuk and Zhu Bajie because he was extremely worried about the two. That was when he heard the cries from Zhu Bajie from inside the armory.

    ¡°Namo Amitabha Buddha¡­¡± Xuanzang recited as he turned the beads in his hands.

    Not long after, Minhyuk, who was breathing roughly, came out of the armory. The man bowed politely when he made eye contact with Xuanzang.

    <em>¡®He definitely has a firm character.¡¯</em>

    Of course, if Minhyuk had stepped back in this situation, then even Xuanzang would not have understood this point. He also knew that Zhu Bajie had behaved rudely. However, a man¡¯s mind was veryplicated. Of course, they would feel ufortable if the person that they knew and cared about was beaten up by someone that they had only met. Even so, Xuanzang just silently turned the beads in his hands.

    ***

    The allied forces were finally given a break after all of the troops of the Heavenly Army had been killed.

    Minhyuk walked with Xuanzang and met with Sun Wukong.

    ¡°You have grown stronger than before.¡± Sun Wukong smiled lightly. Then, he looked around and said, ¡°I just want to protect thisnd that my dear wife loved.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded when he heard those words. He was already trying his hardest to prepare for the war. However, he had judged that the most important thing to do was to bridge the huge chasm between the allied forces and their enemies, the Heavenly Army and the Heavenly Commanders.

    Because of that, Minhyuk had swept clean almost all of the ingredients in the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. He would use these ingredients to make Sun Wukong and the others grow stronger. However, that did not mean that he would use all of the ingredients in his hands just for their sake.

    ¡°Edea has a lot of special and excellent ingredients, no?¡±

    ¡°There are a lot. In fact, Zhu Bajie¡¯s Runt Kingdom has quite a lot of such materials.¡±

    ¡°Runt Kingdom?¡±

    ¡°Bajie likes to eat and is always seeking ways to eat more delicious dishes. Because of that, the crops and livestock of the Runt Kingdom are much better than the rest of the kingdoms in Edea.¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Minhyuk hummed.

    Of course, it was only natural that Zhu Bajie¡¯s kingdom was filled with ingredients. However, Minhyuk did not have any regrets with regards to beating the man up.

    ¡°How good is the quality?¡±

    ¡°Hmm. I don¡¯t really know too well. From what I heard from the chefs, nothing canpare to Bajie¡¯s ingredients when ites to ingredients for buffed dishes.¡± Sun Wukong rubbed his furry and fuzzy chin. ¡°Compared to the ingredients that one can generally get from our kingdoms, the ingredients from the Runt Kingdom can help increase the probability of producing higher grade dishes.¡±

    ¡°Is it possible for me to see some ingredients?¡±

    Sun Wukong nodded. Not long after, a soldier brought some of the ingredients from the Runt Kingdom. Ingredients were very important during war, especially for long,rge-scale battles.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Runt Kingdom¡¯s Bean Sprouts</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Ingredient Grade</em></strong><em>: D</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?Increase in Vitality (VIT).</em>

    <em>?Increase in STR and STM.</em>

    <em>?Increases the chance of getting a higher grade of dish by four times.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: These are bean sprouts harvested from the Runt Kingdom. Having been grown in a good environment, the taste and vor of these bean sprouts cannot be matched by any kingdom.</em>

    Minhyuk could only gasp. Most of the special abilities listed under the ingredient were normal. However, thest one truly showed how special the ingredients of the Runt Kingdom were.

    <em>¡®This is crazy. They can quadruple the rate of getting higher grade dishes?¡¯</em>

    The most interesting part was the fact that all of the ingredients from the Runt Kingdom had this ability. High grade dishes were very important. If Minhyuk could serve high grade dishes, then they would be able to obtain better buff effects. But that was not all. It was even mentioned in the description that these bean sprouts tasted very good because of the environment they were grown in.

    ¡°Bajie loves his people and his soldiers dearly. He might love to eat on his own, but he also loved to eat together with his people. He often works through the night in hopes of producing better crops and livestock for them to consume. After decades of hard work, they are finally able to produce their desired results,¡± Xuanzang said as he turned the beads in his hands. ¡°He¡¯s not a bad guy per se. He¡¯s just bad at expressing his own feelings. There¡¯s no need to get angry with each other. You can just ask him to supply the ingredients that you need. There¡¯s no need to make things troublesome.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded. The Buddhist Monk Xuanzang truly had a point.

    <em>¡®There will obviously be legendary, perhaps even god-grade, ingredients among these excellent ingredients.¡¯</em>

    He would also be able to increase his probability of producing high-grade dishes by x4 if he had those ingredients in his hands.

    ¡°I understand.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded and headed toward the armory that he came out from just a few moments earlier. He was going to talk with Zhu Bajie and let bygones be bygones.

    ***

    Zhu Bajie was crying inside the armory. It was partially because of the pain of being hit, but mostly he wasmenting about how his twisted personality caused discord among his allies.

    Then, the door opened and a man entered the abandoned armory once again.

    ¡°<em>Ahem, ahem.</em>¡±

    Seeing Minhyuk clear his throat and enter once again, Zhu Bajie said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I have only considered my pride and have disregarded our people, especially with the situation that we are in. It was very rude, even for me.¡±

    Minhyuk just listened to Bajie¡¯s words.

    ¡°I was just very anxious. I thought that this was a fight that we couldn¡¯t win. I know that this is a pathetic excuse but I just wanted to protect my people. I was just very heartbroken to see the soldiers that onceughed and cried with me die one after another. For a moment, I entertained the thought that if you had note to Edea, then my people would not die like this. It¡¯s just¡­ I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    This was very unexpected. When Minhyuk first saw Zhu Bajie, he thought that the king was a cowardly and narrow-minded being. However, after listening to his words, he finally understood why the man acted like that.

    Minhyuk was someone that knew how to win a person¡¯s heart the best.

    <em>¡®When someone that cannot stand you suddenly treats you kindly.¡¯</em>

    People were quite funny. If someone, who was usually nice to others, did something bad once then people would begin scolding him saying, <em>¡®Hey, he wasn¡¯t as good as I thought he was~¡¯</em> The funny thing was, if a mean and cold person suddenly acted nice to others then they would say, <em>¡®Hey, isn¡¯t he quite true and kind?¡¯</em>

    This was the so-called Give Disease then Give Medicine[1] strategy.

    ¡°I understand.¡±

    Besides, based on what he learnt, Zhu Bajie was also someone that loved food.

    ¡°I have also acted rashly.¡±

    Then, Minhyuk took something out of his inventory. It was none other than a gas stove and five bags of ramyeon.

    ¡°Let¡¯s have a meal. This dish is called ramyeon. It¡¯s a precious dish. In fact, I only have five of them left.¡±

    The truth was, Minhyuk had around 30,000 packs of ramyeon in his inventory.

    ¡°I want to have a meal with you.¡±

    ¡°¡­Ramyeon?¡± Zhu Bajie¡¯s interest was piqued. There was a shine in his eyes that made even Minhyuk feel burdened.

    Zhu Bajie was literally a pig. There was no better method to win his heart than to offer him food. Besides, Minhyuk was also quite famished especially since he had just finished a high-intensity battle earlier.

    Minhyuk turned the gas stove¡¯s heat on, ced a pot and began to boil water. Once the water had started boiling, Minhyuk began to pour the packets of ramyeon seasoning.

    ¡°It¡¯s, it¡¯s turning red!¡± Zhu Bajie shouted, his eyes growing wide from shock.

    After adding the kes, Minhyuk proceeded to add the noodles.

    <em>¡®When ites to spicy ramyeon, Jjin Ramyeon is always the key.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk smiled faintly as he continued to prepare the ramyeon, doing his best to make it very delicious.

    <em>¡®Should I leave it as it is and not add anything else?¡¯</em>

    Every once in a while, he would feel like ramyeon taste better without the addition of eggs, green onions, cheese or rice cakes. Just like that, the ramyeon that was devoid of any other additional ingredients waspleted.

    Minhyuk mustered the sweetest smile that he could show as he ced a bowl in front of Zhu Bajie, as well as a side of kimchi. ¡°Here, have a taste.¡±

    After doing so, Minhyuk began to scoop out noodles and soup into a bowl of his own. He grabbed the bowl filled with steaming ramyeon, mped a mouthful of noodles before slurping everything up.

    ¡°Ho¡ª¡°

    He could not help but breathe out to cool down the hot noodles that entered his mouth. After eating several mouthfuls of noodles, he added a few crunchy kimchi in his mouth.

    <em>Crunch, crunch, crunch¡ª</em>

    ¡°Kghhk¡­¡±

    Ramyeon truly tasted good. Then, Minhyuk poured soup in his bowl once again.

    ¡°Fwaaa!¡±

    The spicy vor of the soup could easily invoke a breath of admiration to anyone who tasted it.

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuurrrrrp!</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuuuuuuuuurrrp!</em>¡±

    The sound of someone slurping noodles rang loudly inside the empty armory.

    Of course, if one ate something spicy, it was only natural that their noses would be runny.

    ¡°<em>Snort.</em>¡±

    Zhu Bajie looked at Minhyuk, who blew his nose after eating ramyeon, in shock.

    <em>¡®How can such a simple dish taste so good?¡¯</em>

    Zhu Bajie was someone that loved new, novel and delicious dishes. He felt thrilled. How could a dish that waspleted in a mere ten minutes taste so good? But that was not all. Bajie was also very grateful.

    <em>¡®This is very precious. He only had five bags left¡­¡¯</em>

    For a dish like this, it would definitely be worth as much as it tasted, although Minhyuk had around 30,000 bags in his inventory. However, Zhu Bajie did not know that.

    Strangely enough, Zhu Bajie felt good sitting down like this, cooking ramyeon on a gas stove and eating on the floor.

    ¡°You¡¯re a good person,¡± Zhu Bajie said, his snout twitching. ¡°I can¡¯t believe that you¡¯re willing to share something so precious and valuable with me.¡±

    Zhu Bajie viewed food as something important to him. Because of that, this act touched him even more deeply.

    Seeing him like this, Minhyuk felt quite relieved. <em>¡®If I can forge a friendly rtionship with Zhu Bajie and maintain it, then I might be able to obtain a steady supply of ingredients that could quadruple my rate of producing higher grade dishes.¡¯</em>

    Just when he was thinking, <em>¡®Well then, shall we start to persuade him?¡¯¡­</em>

    <em>[¡®God and Knight¡¯ has been randomly triggered!]</em>

    <em>[¡®God and Knight¡¯ is applying its power on Minhyuk and Zhu Bajie!]</em>

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes grew wide.

    <em>¡®Huh? Why did this get triggered?¡¯</em>

    It seemed like he would be able to obtain a crazy profit, after all.

    1. a proverb that means making trouble or creating trouble then giving help. ?

 Chapter 813

    Chapter 813

    The Origin Authority was the authority possessed by the three most powerful and outstanding gods. Surprising as it might sound, the God and Knight was an Origin Authority that belonged to the greatest god in the game of Athenae.

    it was a power that could only be triggered randomly. It could recognize the situation on its own and help a god gain the loyalty of the knight through a variety of methods.

    Minhyuk looked at Zhu Bajie, who was very touched to the point that snot ran down his pink pig snout even though it was only five packs of ramyeon.

    <em>¡®This is crazy. I did not expect that things would turn out this way.¡¯</em>

    Zhu Bajie was the king of the Runt Kingdom, one that produced ingredients that could quadruple one¡¯s chances of producing higher grade dishes. If Zhu Bajie became Minhyuk¡¯s knight, then those ingredients would be as good as his. Just the thought alone brought a thrill down his spine.

    After slurping up and eating the delicious ramyeon, the deeply moved Zhu Bajie suddenly turned depressed. He looked at Minhyuk and said, ¡°I am trash.¡±

    He could clearly imagine the situation outside of this armory.

    ¡°Many of my soldiers have died while the rest of them continue to walk the tightrope between life and death until now. Those that have lost theirrades and the parents that have lost their children are probably crying their hearts out.¡± He sighed. ¡°Yet here I am, enjoying food in this ce.¡±

    Then, additional notifications from the God and Knight rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The king of the Runt Kingdom is both very sad and anxious. With the power of God and Knight in effect, your words and act offort might have a bigger impact on Zhu Bajie.]</em>

    At this point, Minhyuk understood the path that he should take. Meanwhile, Zhu Bajie had already lowered his head. If he had to be honest, he was also very, <em>very </em>afraid.

    <em>¡®I don¡¯t want to die yet.¡¯</em>

    He wanted to live longer. After all, there were still plenty of delicious dishes and ingredients in the world, just like the ramyeon that he ate just now, that he had not tasted yet. Seeing Zhu Bajie tremble pitifully like this, one might say that he was a bit too shabby and weak to be considered a king.

    <em>Pat¡ª</em>

    But then, a warm and gentle hand patted his shoulder. This was the same hand that had just beat him to a pulp just a few moments prior. When Zhu Bajie looked up, he saw a bitter yet soft and gentle smile on the man¡¯s face.

    ¡°Scared?¡± Minhyuk asked, making eye contact with Bajie.

    Actually, Minhyuk was very embarrassed. However, he was still willing to do it to win the heart of Zhu Bajie, if it meant getting him and the Runt Kingdom on his side. Besides, Minhyuk¡¯s words would have a greater impact on Zhu Bajie thanks to the effects of the God and Knight.

    The bitter smile on Minhyuk¡¯s face grew deeper when he saw Zhu Bajie nod his head.

    ¡°To be honest, my kingdom is also currently in the midst of preparing for war.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Zhu Bajie was very shocked when he heard that. If they were preparing for war, then why was he here?

    ¡°We have to fight a war against an empire that is so powerful that one would think that it is impossible for us to win. Even so, I still had toe here.¡±

    Of course, it was also necessary to moisten one¡¯s mouth with saliva.

    ¡°Because while the residents of Edea are afraid, they still keep on charging forward. I came here for that reason and that reason alone.¡±

    Just like he said, part of the reason why he came here was because the residents of Edea kept on popping up in his mind. There was also the connection that he had forged with Sun Wukong. However, the greatest reason that made Minhyuke here was because he was confident that he would be able to obtain Edea if he could win this fight. If he got Edea on his side, then he would be able to win the war against the Luvien Empire.

    ¡°Are, are you alright?¡± Zhu Bajie voiced his concerns when he saw Minhyuk¡¯s eyes start to turn red.

    ¡°However, I believe that my kingdom will be able to endure and hold out. That¡¯s why, I will protect this ce and go back to them.¡±

    Minhyuk, whose eyes had turned red, shed a single tear! Zhu Bajie felt his heart shake when he saw that tear.

    <em>¡®It must have felt very painful to leave his kingdom toe here despite the current situation. He has that firm determination to fulfill his promise to return victorious. This is a great responsibility both as a king and a god.¡¯</em>

    Zhu Bajie knew that it was apletely different weight from the one that he carried on his shoulder.

    Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°That is why I am here. I will devote myself and do my best to protect you and your beloved Runt Kingdom.¡±

    <em>Bang, bang.</em>

    Minhyuk thumped his fist on his chest loudly.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I will make sure to protect you all, even at the cost of my life!!!¡±

    Zhu Bajie felt his heart shake again when he saw the determined expression on Minhyuk¡¯s face. Bajie could tell that the man was telling the truth, especially since he had such an innocent look on his face.

    <em>¡®I can¡¯t believe that he¡¯s shedding tears for his people.¡¯</em>

    At the same time, he was also determined to protect the people of Edea. Zhu Bajie stood up as he looked at Minhyuk. He stretched out his pig-like hand and wiped the tear that dripped down Minhyuk¡¯s eyes.

    If one had to imagine, Zhu Bajie had the face of a pig. And this very same Zhu Bajie was crying while wiping the tear off of Minhyuk¡¯s face.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was left speechless. He could not believe what he was seeing, a pig crying! He was not even crying properly himself to begin with.

    ¡°I will do my best to help you gain victory in this ce so that you can meet with your people quickly.¡± Zhu Bajie knelt down on one knee. ¡°I will do anything for you, even if it means sacrificing my life!¡±

    <em>[The God and Knight has seeded!]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired God¡¯s Third Knight.]</em>

    <em>[God¡¯s Third Knight ¡®Zhu Bajie¡¯ is the king of the Runt Kingdom, a kingdom that has 890,000 strong troops!]</em>

    <em>[The rtionship between God and God¡¯s Third Knight is a Submissive Rtionship.]</em>

    <em>[Keep in mind that Zhu Bajie is the king of a nation. If you disappoint him or ask too much of him and his people, then he may leave you.]</em>

    <em>[However, if Zhu Bajie suddenly decides to abandon and leave you for no apparent reason, then he will be forced to die.]</em>

    Minhyuk smiled faintly as he patted the kneeling Zhu Bajie, who vowed to serve him in tears. ¡°You said that you would do anything?¡±

    Zhu Bajie nodded firmly, determination evident in his eyes.

    Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°Then, bring all of the god-grade and legendary grade ingredients from the Runt Kingdom.¡±

    ***

    Sun Wukong, Xuaxang, Zhu Bajie and Aaron all turned to Minhyuk and asked, ¡°How many foreigners do you think woulde here through the passageway?¡±

    Minhyuk answered, ¡°Over eleven million.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Everyone in the room could not help but groan.

    The total poption of the world was at around eight billion. Based on the avable data, around 2.5 billion people had subscribed and were ying Athenae. Of course, there would be plenty of people that had yed the game once or twice before giving up and others, who had not essed the game for a very long time. However, even after excluding those numbers, there would still be around a billion, perhaps more, that were actively ying and enjoying Athenae.

    It would be very difficult to pass through the passageway connecting the other continent to Edea. Low and mid-level yers would never dare to set foot in the passageway. However, even if only Level 500 high leveled yers joined in the game, their numbers would still be huge.

    Taking things one step further, even if a lot of them were forced to log out as they challenged the passageway, the number of foreigners that would cross over and enter Edea would definitely be at around eleven million.

    The problem was the current troops of Edea¡¯s allied forces had already decreased. They only had around eleven million soldiers on standby. This number would definitely go down since they had to deal with the Heavenly Army that would be sent at set intervals.

    ¡°In order to win, we have to do everything that we can,¡± Minhyuk said as he took out his trailer and started to makerge batches of dishes. ¡°We need to narrow the gap between the Heavenly Army and the foreigners.¡±

    The level of the troops of Edea were far higher than the level of the troops back in the continent where the yers came from. However, the level of the Heavenly Army far exceeded their levels too.

    <em>Beeeeeeeeeep¡ª!</em>

    <em>Rumbleeeeeee¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk, who was cooking inside the trailer that was spewing mes, said, ¡°I have brought a thousand bottles of potions made by the God of Alchemy from Beyond the Heavens and 20,000 high-ranking potions from the other continent. There are also thousands of outstanding explosives and traps made by God¡¯s Trap Installer, as well as artifacts and defensive equipment.¡±

    This showed how much Minhyuk had prepared for this war.

    ¡°Namo Amitabha Buddha¡­¡±

    Xuanzang spun the beads in his hand.

    <em>¡®Has he poured everything into this?¡¯</em>

    The amount of things that Minhyuk was giving to the troops of Edea was not something that a simple kingdom could have. Minhyuk had done his preparations by spending all of the funds on his hands, as well as the money that he borrowed from Cuhel.

    <em>¡®If we win, we will be able to gain a profit that¡¯s several times more than what I have invested.¡¯</em>

    That was why he did not consider this to be a waste. That was not all. Minhyuk had his dishes as well. They only had ten more days left. Before Minhyuk came here, he had countless discussions with the Tower of Knowledge¡¯s God of Tactics Jarrod and Dwarf Olger. He also had several conversations with Ilhwa Construction¡¯s president, Roadol.

    Preparations had to be done. The millions of residents of Edea and the more than four million troops worked together to create something that would help them in their fight against the Jade Emperor.

    ***

    Just like that, a day has gone by.

    ¡°This is ridiculous¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just a simple dish, so why are we getting this much power from it?¡±

    ¡°If it¡¯s like this, then I feel like I can even twist the necks of the soldiers of the Heavenly Army!¡±

    The soldiers, who had seen the dishes created with the Runt Kingdom¡¯s ingredients that could quadruple the rate of producing higher grade dishes, were impressed.

    ***

    Three dayster.

    ¡°Thank you for the food.¡±

    ¡°This is truly an amazing dish.¡±

    ¡°Namo Amitabha Buddha¡­¡±

    The kings ate the outstanding dishes that Minhyuk had made for them.

    ***

    After a week had gone by.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The residents, soldiers and kings of Edea were shocked to see the trailer still spewing out mes.

    ¡°It seems like he is the only one that could truly save Edea.¡± Xuanzang smiled as he thought about something else.

    <em>¡®Perhaps, the person that is with you might also be another savior.¡¯</em>

    Buddhist Monk Xuanzang was a person with very special abilities. He could see through the essence of a person and even know of their limitations. Sometimes he could help them break through those limits and gain new power. He was also a very mysterious being that could, at times, lift the seal on one¡¯s power temporarily.

    While Minhyuk was cooking in the trailer, Obren¡¯s voice, which sounded half worried and half nagging, rang out.

    ¡ª<em>Take a day off. Rest is also a form of preparation for war. This idiot king.</em>

    Minhyuk was happy to hear his voice, especially the warmth that was veiled by his scathing remarks.

    ¡°We¡¯ve alreadye this far, Obren. Perhaps I might truly be an emperor.¡±

    Although Minhyuk sounded very optimistic, Obren could feel the pressure weighing down on the boy even from inside the seasoning jar.

    <em>¡®Can he do it? Can he really be an emperor?¡¯</em>

    As he listened to Minhyuk¡¯s words, Obren wondered if he could aid the boy in this goal.

    ***

    A dark-haired handsome young man could be seen sitting on top of a high hill overlooking Edea. This man was none other than Obren. He came out of the seasoning jar for a while after waking up from his slumber.

    In the ten days or so that passed by, the trailer only stopped spewing mes for two days.

    ¡°Idiot,¡± Obren muttered, a small smile curling at the corners of his lips.

    The boy had always been like that ever since the first time they met. No matter what it was, he would make sure to do his best even if it took a toll on his body. Of course, he always made the impossible possible.

    At the same time, Obren thought, <em>¡®I want to protect you here.¡¯</em>

    In this ce, there was no Brod, no Spear God Ben, and no Sword of the Gods Luo. Just as the thought shed in his head, he heard a voice.

    ¡°The friendship between you two is amazing.¡±

    Xuanzang stood right next to Obren, as their eyes made contact while he turned the beads in one of his hands.

    ¡°Why are you here?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re asking me why I came here? Isn¡¯t it more appropriate to say that you have been waiting for me toe here?¡±

    Obren turned silent for a moment when he heard Xuanzang¡¯s words. It was the truth. He was truly waiting here, for Xuanzang, who possessed special powers.

    But before they could discuss such matters, Xuanzang asked, ¡°I want to hear your story. The story of how the Evil God became friends with the human king.¡±

    Obren frowned as he looked at Xuanzang. However, he did not hate the fact that the monk was asking about their story, and he began to talk.

    ¡°When I first met him, I was in the form of a Grumpy Gochujang.¡±

    A smile bloomed and stayed on Obren¡¯s face as he narrated their story.

    ¡°Every time I see that brat move a step forward, I feel very happy and proud,¡± Obren spoke, his eyes watching Minhyuk.

    ¡°Whenever he felt sad, I would also feel sad.¡±

    Buddhist Monk Xuanzang silently stood there and listened to his story.

    ¡°Whenever he felt happy, I would also feel happy.¡±

    Obren looked down at his hands. The true power of the Evil God was slumbering in his body.

    <em>¡®If only I have that power again.¡¯</em>

    ¡°That¡¯s why I would do anything as long as I can protect that child.¡±

    A faint smile appeared on Xuanzang¡¯s face. It was truly an interesting and wonderful friendship.

    ¡°Well then, let¡¯s hear what you have nned.¡±

    Obren looked at Xuanzang once again. Xuanzang had always been watching him even though he was with Minhyuk. It was only natural that Obren would feel his gaze.

    ¡°I heard that there are nine Absolute Gods in the world.¡±

    Obren nodded.

    ¡°The Jade Emperor, the god protecting Edea, may very well be the tenth Absolute God.¡±

    It coincided with what Obren thought of before. However, since this world was on a different map, the people would only think that there were nine Absolute Gods.

    Xuanzang looked around Edea for a while before turning to look at Obren once again. Then, he said, ¡°You should be the tenth Absolute God.¡±

 Chapter 814

    Chapter 814

    <em>[The morale of Edea¡¯s Allied Troops has reached the skies!]</em>

    <em>[The Edea¡¯s Allied Troops are deifying you.]</em>

    <em>[Your divinity has increased slightly.]</em>

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Minhyuk! Minhyuk! Minhyuk!¡±

    Loud and hot cheers resonated throughout Edea.

    Minhyuk cooked for a total of twelve days. The first ones that he cooked for and fed were the builders, trap installers, and the cksmiths. After they had eaten the meal, they immediately went on to create a new fortress using the designs and blueprints provided by Golden Hammer Lant¡¯s disciple Olger and the president of Ilhwa Construction Roadol.

    After that, Minhyuk continued to cook, producingrge batches of high grade dishes in those twelve days.

    <em>[You have made more than thirty legendary grade dishes.]</em>

    <em>[You have achieved the </em><strong><em>Easter Egg</em></strong><em>: Continuously Creating Something and Achieving Something that Even the Gods Could Not Do.]</em>

    <em>[You have created 31 legendary grade dishes, 864 epic grade dishes, 18,413 unique grade dishes, 201,346 rare grade dishes.]</em>

    <em>[As a reward for obtaining an easter egg, the buff effects of the dishes that you made since you started cooking for this period, whether they have been consumed or not, will be 15% better.]</em>

    It was a stroke of good luck. It was as if to cheer Minhyuk on by improving the buff effects of the dishes after he finished his twelve-day nonstop cooking fiesta.

    Minhyuk looked at the residents of Edea, who were cheering loudly around him. In a few days, the yers that had been recruited by the Jade Emperor woulde to this continent.

    ¡°Make sure that you aplish it.¡±

    ¡°Please be safe ande back soon.¡±

    Minhyuk was now ready to go to Hell.

    <em>¡®The Sword of Aeon.¡¯</em>

    He wanted to lift the Sword of Aeon¡¯s second seal. A war was about to break out, but he had to leave.

    <em>¡®If I seed in lifting the Sword of Aeon¡¯s second seal, then it will definitely be a huge variable that can change the tide of this war.¡¯</em>

    The high rankers had definitely analyzed Minhyuk and nned several countermeasures to his powers. Besides, Minhyuk was the yer with the highest level. This meant that he had little to no improvement just by leveling up alone. After all, it would take a lot for someone at his level to increase his level by one.

    However, once the second seal of the Sword of Aeon was lifted, Minhyuk could be the biggest variable in this war.

    That was not all. There was also another reason for him to unseal the Sword of Aeon.

    <em>¡®If can lift the Sword of Aeon¡¯s second seal, then I might be able to confront the Jade Emperor¡¯s envoys.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was themander and the leader of the allied forces. He was the one that had to deal with the Jade Emperor¡¯s envoys. However, with how he was right now, victory might just be a pipe dream. Before Minhyuk came to Edea, he had asked Ascar for a parchment that would grant him ess to Hell.

    <em>Riiiiiip¡ª</em>

    A huge door, with an unknown skeleton above, appeared in front of him after he ripped the parchment apart.

    <em>Vwooooooooooong¡ª</em>

    A dark, stale wind blew out of the door when he opened it. However, just as he was about to step inside, Obren suddenly appeared from the Puzzling Seasoning Jar. Minhyuk looked at Obren in confusion.

    However, the dark-haired handsome Obren said, ¡°I have something else to do.¡±

    These past few days, Minhyuk had seen Obren and Xuanzang talk. Perhaps that was the reason for his departure. If he were to be honest, Minhyuk wanted Obren by his side on the journey to Hell, which showed how much the young man relied on the Evil God.

    ¡°I¡¯m worried.¡±

    Obren was very worried. The two of them might be bickering every single day but they truly cared for each other.

    ¡°If, by any chance, you feel that you¡¯re in danger, then¡­¡±

    ¡°What are you going on about?¡±

    Obren shook his head before Minhyuk could even finish his words.

    ¡°The thing that I¡¯m going to do is for my sake. What do you mean by dangerous, huh?¡± Obren smiled arrogantly. ¡°I am the Evil God.¡±

    Evil God Obren had threatened the entire human race in the past.

    Minhyuk smiled bitterly. ¡°Right. I understand.¡±

    Xuanzang was a man with a strange power. Originally, Obren could not roam around outside the seasoning jar and could only go somewhere in the vicinity of the jar after he awakened. However, the power of Buddhist Monk Xuanzang made it possible.

    Minhyuk turned around and entered the Hell¡¯s Gate, while Obren walked in the opposite direction. Then, Obren stopped in his tracks.

    ¡°Minhyuk.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    This was the first time that Obren had called him by his name. Usually, he would call Minhyuk, <em>¡®Hey, stupid idiot¡¯ </em>or something along those lines.

    When Minhyuk turned back to look at him, he saw Obren opening and closing his mouth repeatedly. Then, a small smile bloomed on the handsome man¡¯s face.

    ¡°Don¡¯t get hurt.¡±

    ¡°You too.¡±

    Obren stood next to Xuanzang as he watched Minhyuk enter the Hell¡¯s Gate, his eyes lingering on the ce where the young man had disappeared from for a very long time.

    ***

    Special yers Management Team.

    Team Leader Park Minggyu¡¯s expression wasplicated as he watched Minhyuk and Obren go on their separate paths.

    ¡°No way. I never expected Xuanzang to propose something like this.¡±

    It was just like what Xuanzang had said, the Jade Emperor was the tenth Absolute God. However, since he was in a different world from the other Absolute Gods, his existence was not widely known.

    If Xuanzang and Obren¡¯s ns truly came to fruition, then Obren would probably be the newest addition to the Absolute Gods.

    ¡°The one that¡¯s beside a yer, bing an Absolute God¡­¡±

    It was quite a scary thought. Of course, on the other hand, it could also be considered a pretty interesting development. However, there was still some time left before it could happen.

    For now, Team Leader Park had to focus on something else. yer Minhyuk had crossed the gates of Hell.

    ¡°The God of Death is the most vicious and stubborn among all of the gods.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s correct.¡±

    So far, Minhyuk had always forged friendships and connections with all of the people that he met through his journey. The prime example of this was the Battle God, someone that initially did not like and even opposed Minhyuk. However, since then, he had Minhyuk be his sessor, and was even one of his staunch supporters and firm believers.

    However, the God of Death was different. It was probably impossible for Minhyuk to make friends with him.

    ¡°Team Leader, there¡¯s something that I¡¯m worried about.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°Among the God of Death¡¯s blessings, there¡¯s a blessing that can enhance and reinforce weapons, right?¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Team Leader Park¡¯s eyes grew wide when he realized this problem. That was right. The God of Death had a great power that allowed him to seed in reinforcing any kind of weapon without fail. This was a power that was only given to three of the most outstanding gods. It was one of the Origin Authorities, ¡®The One that Advances.¡¯

    ¡°If the Sword of Aeon received a +3 because of The One that Advances, then¡­?¡±

    Team Leader Park¡¯s mouth turned dry. It had not happened yet. He had to focus on his work first. By the time they were about to clock off, Park Minggyu suddenly grew curious about Minhyuk¡¯s location. So, he turned to Lee Minhwa and asked, ¡°Where¡¯s yer Minhyuk now?¡±

    ¡°Please wait a moment.¡±

    <em>Tap, tap, tap¡ª</em>

    After a few taps, Lee Minhwa looked up at the monitor to check the situation. Her eyes then grew wide from shock. ¡°He, he¡¯s in the Barren Land.¡±

    ¡°The Barren Land¡­?¡±

    The Barren Land was a very dangerous ce in Hell. However, there were surprising things to eat in this dry and barrennd.

    ¡°Wasn¡¯t He in that ce¡­?¡±

    Hell had a character called He. Who was she?

    ¡°That¡¯s right. The God of Death¡¯s sweetheart is there.¡±

    ***

    What would people think whenever they heard the word ¡®Hell¡¯? Most people would think that it was a dry, barrennd where the dead lived, a ce that was worthy of fear. Some would also imagine a ce that was filled with decaying corpses and scattered skeletons, emitting a rotten stench. There was no one in the world who would think of something nice when they heard the word ¡®Hell.¡¯

    There was a consistent andmon theme all throughout Hell. It was death. No crops, trees, grass, or even weed would grow in Hell. The only things that existed in Hell were the rotten and the dead. The reason was this special dry and crackednd, a ce so dry that it was called the Barren Land. There were four Sin¡¯s Ingredients hidden inside the Barren Land.

    The Sin¡¯s Ingredients were all buried deep underground. They were the reason for Hell¡¯s nigh-uninhabitable environment. Monsters from Hell would often resort to eating each other or drinking rotten and contaminated water.

    He, the first God of Farming, was located in this very same Barren Land.

    The first God of Farming had given up her seat to her sessors way back, so she could take a rest. In fact, it was such a long time ago that she could not even remember when exactly it happened. She hade to Hell in hopes of changing this ce. The beings living in Hell obviously wanted to eat fresh crops and healthy livestock too. That was why she had hoped to make it happen.

    However, it had already been hundreds, perhaps even thousands of years since she came here to dig the Sin¡¯s Ingredient out of the ground.

    <em>Crack¡ª!</em>

    <em>Thud, thud¡ª!</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª!</em>

    He dug the ground around the Sin¡¯s Radish that was buried deeply in the ground. However, even though she was working hard, she had remained unsessful for thousands of years in her endeavor. That was even considering the fact that He used to be the God of Farming.

    First and foremost, the conditions to dig up the ingredients were far too demanding. If one¡¯s hoe touched even just a part of the Sin¡¯s Radish, the harvesting rate would plummet to 0%. In other words, even if one had already reached 80% harvesting rate, they would return to 0% if they touched the Sin¡¯s Radish by mistake during the process.

    That was not all. The soil that surrounded the Sin¡¯s Radish would also move to squeeze the radish deeper the moment anyone started to dig it out. If one could not ovee the squeezing rate for a certain amount of time, the harvesting rate would return to 0% after twenty seconds.

    He had not been able to make any progress even after working hard for thousands of years.

    <em>Thuuud¡ª!</em>

    He wore a straw hat and a cotton coat, items usually worn by farmers, and tried her hardest to dig the ingredient to the point that she was covered in mud. Even though she was wearing what farmers usually wore, her beauty could not be hidden. It wasparable to that of Saintess Loyna. However, despite her beauty and hard work, the time was still up and the ground had started to cover the radish once again.

    <em>¡®I will never give up!¡¯</em>

    He had been doing this for thousands of years. However, she had never given up even once.

    <em>¡®The promise that I made with him¡­ I will make sure that I will keep it!¡¯</em>

    ¡°It will only be possible if I can harvest this Sin¡¯s Ingredient but¡­¡±

    However, for her to be able to dig out the rest of the ingredients, she had to first harvest the Sin¡¯s Radish in front of her. After all, the main role of the Sin¡¯s Radish was to prevent others from digging the other ingredients.

    <em>¡®If only I have a higher DEX¡­¡¯</em>

    The problem was He¡¯s DEX. Just because she was once the God of Farming did not mean that she had extremely high DEX. Of course, He had been digging this radish for thousands of years. That constant, repetitive action would have definitely increased her DEX at a rapid pace. Unfortunately, Hell was and where the dead lived, and the dead could not <em>grow</em>. That was the reason why she had been stuck in this ce for that long.

    With a bitter look on her face, He headed toward a cottage not far from where she was digging.

    ¡°Someday¡­¡±

    <em>¡®I will be able to do it.¡¯</em>

    Maybe it would take forever, but she believed she would be able to do it.

    ***

    How long had she been asleep? He did not know. She stretched her body as she slowly got up in a mechanical fashion. True to her routine, she stood up once again to dig up the Sin¡¯s Radish that she had not harvested and perhaps would not be able to harvest for thousands of years more toe.

    She grabbed her hoe and headed toward the Barren Land. However, when she arrived there, He could not help but tilt her head in confusion. There was a delicious and tantalizing smell wafting from somewhere, one that she had never once experienced in her thousand years of living in Hell.

    He¡¯s eyes suddenly grew wide after walking for quite some time. ¡°Heok¡­?!¡±

    She could see that the Sin¡¯s Radish had disappeared. Not too far from the ce where the radish had been buried was a man sitting in front of a table and eating something.

    ¡°Kyaaa. Beef and radish soup is best paired with rice, no? Of course, that¡¯s right. Keuhahahahahaha!¡±

    ¡°Wh-what¡­?¡±

    He could not hide her confusion.

    <em>¡®That is impossible, right? There is no way that the radish on the man¡¯s spoon that he is bringing to his mouth is the Sin¡¯s Radish, right?¡¯</em>

    Then, her train of thought continued.

    <em>¡®Did¡­did he make beef and radish soup using the Sin¡¯s Radish?!¡¯</em>

 Chapter 815

    Chapter 815

    Hell looked exactly how Minhyuk imagined it to be. Thend waspletely barren and there was a sticky, unpleasant humidity and a terrible stench that lingered at the tip of one¡¯s nose.

    Upon reaching Hell to meet the God of Death, Minhyuk realized he was facing one huge difficulty.

    <em>¡®Where is the God of Death?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk did not know where the God of Death was. Left with no choice, he continued to walk around cluelessly.

    <em>[Ingredient Search is sessful!]</em>

    <em>[You will be guided to the Sin¡¯s Radish!]</em>

    The Ingredient Search skill was amazing, automatically searching and finding special and rare ingredients within one kilometer radius of the user.

    <em>Growl¡ª</em>

    The notification came at the perfect time, as Minhyuk had just started to be hungry. Since Hell was a barren and drynd, Minhyuk thought that maybe the ingredients in this ce were quite special. When it came to radish, there was one dish that would alwayse to mind. It was none other than beef and radish soup.

    There was once when he went home very, <em>very</em> hungry. He saw a pot in the kitchen. Inside, was the beef and radish soup that his mom had made. Whenever they did not have anything to eat at home, they would just cook some beef and radish soup, and eat it together with some rice and kimchi.

    <em>Gulp¡ª</em>

    Just imagining the taste of the soup was enough to whet Minhyuk¡¯s appetite. His stomach growling, Minhyuk stepped toward the ce where the Sin¡¯s Radish was.

    ***

    <em>[You have entered the Barren Land.]</em>

    <em>[The Barren Land is known to be the driest, emptiest and most dangerous ce in Hell.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 200 REP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 10 CHA.]</em>

    Minhyuk, who had been walking along and following the guidance of the Ingredient Search skill, entered the ce known as Barren Land. When he looked around, all he saw was and that was more parched and arid than the rest of Hell.

    However, the radish that he was seeking for was in this very ce. When he saw the radish, Minhyuk felt that it was mystifying. The ck aura that was emanating from the radish felt rather strange.

    The Ingredient Search skill allowed Minhyuk to read through the information of the ingredients. Upon utilizing it, Minhyuk would be able to check the information of the ingredient that he was being guided to.

    Of course, Minhyuk had already checked the Sin¡¯s Radish¡¯s information.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Sin¡¯s Radish</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Ingredient Grade</em></strong><em>: Medicine</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?All stats will increase by 0.5%.</em>

    <em>?Attack will increase by 3% when fighting against monsters from Hell.</em>

    <em>?Additional 1% increase in all stats upon eating all of the Sin¡¯s Ingredients.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: Sin¡¯s Radish, together with the other Sin¡¯s Ingredients, possess the power to prevent life in Hell. Only after you have dug up the Sin¡¯s Radish will you be able to dig for the other Sin¡¯s Ingredients. On top of that, it is very difficult to dig up the Sin¡¯s Radish.</em>

    The 0.5% increase in all stats and the 3% increase in attack when facing monsters from Hell were incredible. On top of that, one would also be able to obtain an additional 1% increase in all stats once all the Sin¡¯s Ingredients had been consumed. It was just like wearing a set artifact.

    <em>¡®This is a one of a kind ingredient.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk smiled happily as he grabbed the Sin¡¯s Radish and pulled it up to collect it.

    <em>[Sin¡¯s Radish cannot be harvested normally.]</em>

    He had already expected this but he still tried it just in case. In the end, Minhyuk took out his hoe and began to carefully dig out the Sin¡¯s Radish.

    <em>[Harvest Rate: 4%]</em>

    <em>[Harvest Rate: 7%]</em>

    <em>[Harvest Rate: 13%¡­]</em>

    Minhyuk was taken aback. He possessed a very high DEX stat after all, and it was because of that high DEX that he was able to always get the ¡®best¡¯ whenever he harvested any ingredient. However, the harvest rate of Sin¡¯s Radish definitely was the worst he hade across so far.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s only at 20%?¡¯</em>

    When his harvest rate reached 25%, a new set of notifications rang out.

    <em>[A light pressure has been applied to the Sin¡¯s Radish.]</em>

    <em>[The harvest rate of Sin¡¯s Radish will be reset to 0%.]</em>

    ¡°Oh my god¡­¡±

    Minhyuk gave the Sin¡¯s Radish an incredulous look. The light pressure was referring to the slight vibration that transferred to the body of the Sin¡¯s Radish while he was digging around it, yet this minor disturbance had caused his efforts to go to waste. Just like that, the soil that he had dug and scooped up earlier disappeared and returned to the area where it was before.

    Minhyuk gave it another try. This time, he tried to harvest the ingredient by digging around as carefully as possible. After he achieved a 60% harvest rate within twenty seconds, he was greeted with another notification.

    <em>[Twenty seconds have passed since you tried to harvest the Sin¡¯s Radish.]</em>

    <em>[Since you went beyond the specified time, the harvest rate of Sin¡¯s Radish will be reset to 0%.]</em>

    ¡°¡­Eh?¡±

    Minhyuk could not help but feel frustrated. The harvesting of the Sin¡¯s Radish was far too demanding. First, the harvest rate could only increase by pitiful amounts and the slightest touch to the body would instantly reset the harvest rate to 0%. Not only that, once twenty seconds had passed, the harvest rate would also be reset to 0%.

    <em>¡®Can this even be harvested?¡¯</em>

    Even for Minhyuk, who was a cut beyond the rest in terms of harvesting crops, was very flustered. The biggest problem was the small increase in the harvest rate. He was only able to reach 60% in twenty seconds.

    <em>¡®A normal farmer would probably have a hard time achieving even a 10% harvest rate in the same amount of time.¡¯</em>

    Even though there were quite a few setbacks, Minhyuk was not one to give up. He tried several more times and of course, suffered each and every single time.

    ¡°Hmm.¡±

    Minhyuk rubbed his chin in thought. The 0.5% increase in all stats after consuming the Sin¡¯s Radish made it an outstanding ingredient. He was sure that its vor would also be amazing. In other words, Minhyuk had to get his hands on it.

    Hence, he took out a bottle of potion made by Mand. This potion was the Proficient One¡¯s Elixir, an overpowered elixir that could double the DEX of the person who consumed it for around two minutes. Using this bottle of potion, which Minhyuk only had one bottle of, seemed appropriate for the asion.

    <em>¡®The Proficient One¡¯s Elixir is precious too but the increase in all stats that the Sin¡¯s Radish would give me has much greater allure than that.¡¯</em>

    Anyway, once he consumed this potion, Minhyuk¡¯s DEX would double for two minutes. He chugged the purple liquid in one go.

    <em>[You have consumed The Proficient One¡¯s Elixir.]</em>

    <em>[Your DEX will double for two minutes.]</em>

    There was no time to waste. Minhyuk immediately grabbed his hoe and dug the ground around the Sin¡¯s Radish.

    <em>[You have dug the best part of thend using your hoe.]</em>

    <em>[Your ability has surpassed even that of the God of Dexterity.]</em>

    <em>[The hoe that you swing will help you in harvesting the ingredient. It will help you to avoid damage and dig urately based on the requirements of the ingredient that you are harvesting.]</em>

    The most important thing when harvesting was not damaging the crop itself.

    <em>Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!</em>

    Minhyuk, apanied by the sound of hoe hitting the ground, worked carefully but quickly around the Sin¡¯s Radish.

    <em>[Your Harvest Rate has increased by 15%¡­]</em>

    <em>[Your Harvest Rate has increased by 16%¡­]</em>

    <em>[Your Harvest Rate has increased by 14%¡­]</em>

    His harvest rate rose at a rapid pace. However, just because the rate increased did not mean that everything would go without a hitch. After all, everyone could make a mistake. Minhyuk¡¯s hoended at a wrong spot, the de of his hoe almost hitting the Sin¡¯s Radish.

    <em>[Your shockingly high DEX that surpassed even that of the God of Dexterity has made up for your mistake!]</em>

    <em>Thuuuud¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s hoe automatically swerved and avoided the Sin¡¯s Radish, hitting the ground right next to it.

    <em>[You have sessfully harvested the Sin¡¯s Radish!]</em>

    <em>[Wonderful job!]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk was dumbfounded when he saw the notifications that rang after he sessfully harvested the Sin¡¯s Radish. It was almost too cheery over such a simple matter. However, he realized after hearing the following notifications that it was not just about picking this one radish.

    <em>[The Sin¡¯s Radish has been buried in the ground for who knows how long, sucking up all of the nutrients in Hell.]</em>

    <em>[By harvesting Sin¡¯s Radish, you are now eligible to harvest the other Sin¡¯s Ingredients.]</em>

    After thinking about it carefully, Minhyuk realized that it was understandable. After all, it was truly too difficult to harvest even for someone like him, who had an extremely high level of DEX.

    <em>Swoosh¡ª</em>

    The ck aura that was seeping from the Sin¡¯s Radish also disappeared after it had been pulled out. Minhyuk looked at the thick and solid Sin¡¯s Radish that looked very good to eat.

    ¡°Kghhk¡­¡± He let out a small burst of admiration as he began to cook.

    Minhyuk peeled the Sin¡¯s Radish and chopped its white and fine bulb into bite-sized pieces before heating the pot. Once the pot was heated, he drizzled some sesame oil and added some beef for the soup.

    <em>Sizzleeeee¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk immediately grabbed his chopsticks to stir the beef to stop it from sticking to the pot. It sizzled the moment it came into contact with the hot sesame oil. Then, he sprinkled some pepper before adding the Sin¡¯s Radish and stir-frying everything together. After frying to a certain extent, he added water and let it boil. Beef and radish soup was tasty when cooked well. Minhyuk would, of course, do his best to cook it well.

    After making the beef and radish soup, Minhyuk quickly finished setting up his table. He sprinkled some green onions on top of the well-boiled and steaming beef and radish soup and served some kimchi, seaweed and rice on the side.

    The first thing that Minhyuk did was to scoop a huge spoonful of rice and ce it in his mouth. The freshly cooked rice was still steaming and tasted sweet. Then, he immediately took a sip of the beef and radish soup.

    ¡°Kghhk¡­¡±

    Minhyuk gave himself a pat on the back for seasoning that beef and radish soup very well. After that, he quickly scooped some rice together with some of the beef and radish soup and ced everything in his mouth. Thebination of the sweet rice, the well-seasoned beef, and radish soup created a fantastic vor that danced in his mouth.

    He once again scooped another spoonful of the beef and radish soup and ced it in his mouth. The radish was boiled well, its soft texture easy to chew and quickly disappeared down Minhyuk¡¯s mouth, which was immediately followed by the superb taste of the meat. Then, he ate another spoonful, this time with a bite of kimchi on the side.

    ¡°Kyaa!!!¡±

    Minhyuk was impressed with thebination of vors. Next, he scooped a spoonful of the soup but instead of kimchi, he added the salty and savory seaweed on top. When he put everything in his mouth, the savory vor of the seaweed instantly melted with the beef and radish soup, creating a wonderful harmony of vors.

    Minhyuk smiled happily as he made sure that he did not leave a single drop left andpletely emptied the pot. He leaned back in satisfaction after hearing the 0.5% increase in all of his stats and the 3% increase in attack when facing Hell¡¯s monsters.

    ¡°Did, did you make beef and radish soup using the Sin¡¯s Radish?¡±

    At that moment, an unknown voice rang in his ears. When Minhyuk turned around, he saw a beautiful woman wearing a straw hat and holding a hoe in her hands.

    <em>[The First God of Farming He has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 500 REP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 10 CHA.]</em>

    <em>¡®The First God of Farming?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk looked at the woman in doubt. Why was the first God of Farming in this ce?

    He¡¯s body trembled. If one was in her shoes, they would probably also be giving a simr reaction. After all, she had been trying for thousands of years to dig up the Sin¡¯s Radish. However, the man in front of her not only dug up the Sin¡¯s Radish, but he even turned it into beef and radish soup.

    ¡°Hello!¡±

    He felt her temples throb when the man greeted her brightly. She was choked up with anger for a moment. However, she could not just burst out and reprimand the man. In the end, the Sin¡¯s Radish did not belong to anybody. In fact, if she took a step back and looked at it rationally, it was a good thing. The man had dug up the Sin¡¯s Radish for her and made her life easier.

    After greeting the first God of Farming politely, Minhyuk turned around to leave. He thought, <em>¡®I¡¯m full for now. I¡¯ll go and meet with the Priest of Death first and solve my matters before harvesting the rest of the Sin¡¯s Ingredients.¡¯</em>

    His most pressing matter was lifting the seal of the Sword of Aeon.

    However, He turned restless when she saw Minhyuk preparing to leave. It was natural.

    <em>¡®He was able to harvest the Sin¡¯s Radish, an ingredient that I couldn¡¯t harvest for the longest time. Perhaps he might be able to harvest the other ingredients too?¡¯</em>

    He hurriedly stopped Minhyuk, ¡°W-wait¡­!¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡± Minhyuk stopped in his tracks and turned to look at her in doubt.

    ¡°Are you just going to go like that? Even though there are plenty of delicious Sin¡¯s Ingredients left?¡±

    ¡°Ah.¡±

    Minhyuk instantly understood the situation when he saw He¡¯s expression. There was expectation! The look of someone that wanted something from him! He could not help but chuckle to himself when he saw that.

    <em>¡®Huh? If I do this well, then¡­¡¯</em>

    This woman was the first God of Farming after all, perhaps he would be able to reap a lot of benefits.

    He smiled awkwardly. She did not need the Sin¡¯s Ingredients. However, she wanted to get rid of them and allow the dry and barren Hell to soak up the rain and shower it with abundance. From what she could see, the young man in front of her seemed to be exactly what she needed to help with the process.

    ¡°Ah. I¡¯m a bit busy, you see. I have to meet with the God of Death. Then, I have to go to the bathroom, and then sleep.¡±

    Minhyuk hadpletely grasped what usually went through the heads of people that wanted something from others. There was a high chance that the first God of Farming had rare and good ingredients in her hands. So, he had to y his cards right.

    Minhyuk then turned around as if he was not interested in what He had to say. Seeing him move away like that, He hurriedly shouted, ¡°The-the God of Death? I know him well! I will introduce you to him!¡±

    Minhyuk, who had taken a few steps, suddenly stopped in his tracks. Then, he grinned and asked, ¡°What did you say you would do for me?¡±

    ¡°If you help me harvest the Sin¡¯s Ingredients, I will introduce you to the God of Death and give you the excellent crops that I have harvested in my lifetime.¡±

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Hidden Quest</em></strong><em>: He¡¯s Request.]</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: SSS</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: The One that Received He¡¯s Request.</em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: Three God-grade Cooking Ingredients.</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Failure</em></strong><em>: Getting kicked out of hell.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: The First God of Farming He has a small wish. She hopes to harvest all of the Sin¡¯s Ingredients buried deep in the Barren Land and let those living in Hell be able to feel full. You can obtain one God-grade ingredient for every Sin¡¯s Ingredient you harvest if you choose to help her.</em>

    <em>¡®Did you just say three God-grade ingredients¡­?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes narrowed to crescents. This was practically a pie from the sky.

 Chapter 816

    Chapter 816

    Whether it was an artifact material or a cooking ingredient, as long as it reached God-grade, its value would soar and be considered as a valuable treasure. Of course, cooking ingredients had lower valuepared to artifact materials at the same grade. After all, artifacts could disy permanent effects.

    However, that was not the only reason why God-grade cooking ingredients were of lower valuepared to other materials of a simr grade. Basically, the way to cook God-grade ingredients was not that difficult. On top of that, God-grade ingredients were constantly being released with the increase in level of the yers. Interestingly, the value of God-grade cooking ingredients was still very high.

    Right now, the quest He¡¯s Request popped up in front of Minhyuk, and he even stood to obtain three God-grade ingredients!

    <em>¡®Acquiring these three God-grade ingredients will help me in protecting Edea this time. It might be one of the big variables in this battle!¡¯</em>

    Of course, it was important for him to lift the second seal of the Sword of Aeon. However, acquiring these three God-grade ingredients was equally important.

    Amidst all these, there was one thing that Minhyuk was very curious about.

    ¡°You said that you know the God of Death, right? How did you know him?¡±

    He smiled bitterly. After a few moments of hesitation, she said, ¡°I¡¯m his lover.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Lover? Perhaps it was only natural. Gods were just like humans. They also had emotions, and could also feel and love.

    <em>¡®Keok! If¡ª if she¡¯s an ex-girlfriend then¡­ wouldn¡¯t that make it even worse?¡¯</em>

    When lovers separated, they would usually grow apart and sometimes, the rtionship might even sour.

    But then, He said, ¡°I can guide you to where the God of Death is and I can also lend you a hand so that you won¡¯t die right away when you meet him!¡±

    ¡°Did you just say die?¡±

    ¡°The God of Death always kills any outsider. So, if you appear right in front of him, there¡¯s a chance that he might kill you on the spot.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­¡±

    Minhyuk did not know where the God of Death was. But after knowing that the God of Death would attack him on the spot if he suddenly appeared in front of him, then it was probably for the best that he went there with He.

    <em>[You have epted the </em><strong><em>Hidden Quest</em></strong><em>: He¡¯s Request]</em>

    ¡°What¡¯s the second Sin¡¯s Ingredient?¡±

    ¡°The second Sin¡¯s Ingredient is pumpkin sweet potato.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk was delighted to hear what it was. Sweet potato was an amazing ingredient. It tasted good whether steamed or roasted over a fire. It was also good when made into caramelized sweet potato or added into dishes like braised chicken or spicy braised chicken.

    ¡°Pumpkin sweet potato! Huwooooo!¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    He thought that the young man in front of her was quite unusual. The man had just been making a serious face just now before entering into a deal with her, but now, he was smiling purely like an innocent child.

    ¡°Do I have to dig for the sweet potato like before?¡±

    He shook her head. ¡°I have no idea either.¡±

    He never had the chance to try and harvest the second Sin¡¯s Ingredient.

    The two looked around. Even though the Sin¡¯s Sweet Potato was buried deep underground, they could still see the ck aura that seeped out of the ground and floated right above where it was. Minhyuk quickly approached the ck aura and swung his hoe down on where the sweet potato was.

    <em>[You have started the harvest of the Second Sin¡¯s Ingredient, the Sin¡¯s Sweet Potato.]</em>

    <em>[To harvest the Sin¡¯s Sweet Potato, you need to harvest a total of 20,000 sweet potatoes in three days.]</em>

    The surroundings suddenly changed right as the notifications finished ringing in their ears. From the dry and barrennd from before, it suddenly turned into a wide and thriving sweet potato field.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    He and Minhyuk were both shocked. In He¡¯s case, she was shocked to hear that they needed to harvest 20,000 sweet potatoes in three days.

    <em>¡®In just three days? That¡¯s impossible.¡¯</em>

    Of course, she had the help of the man in front of her. However, He thought that it was still an impossible feat. When she saw Minhyuk¡¯s shaking body, she thought, <em>¡®Are you thinking what I¡¯m thinking?¡¯</em>

    However, Minhyuk¡¯s thoughts werepletely different from hers.

    ¡°If I can harvest all 20,000 sweet potatoes, then does that mean that they¡¯ll all be mine?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t this a really good quest?¡±

    The way Minhyuk sounded so optimistic and positive about their situation left He quite speechless.

    Thus, the two began to dig for sweet potatoes.

    ***

    With He and Minhyuk¡¯s high DEX, it was not that hard to harvest the sweet potatoes. On top of that, He also had a variety of helpful harvesting skills.

    ¡°Hundred Hoes.¡±

    <em>Thuuuuud¡ª</em>

    The sweet potatoes in her vicinity squeezed out of the ground the moment she swung the hoe in her hands. Just like that, He was able to harvest the sweet potatoes at a rapid pace.

    While she harvested the sweet potatoes, she turned to look back at the young man beside her. To her surprise, the young man named Minhyuk was working much faster than her.

    <em>¡®Crazy.¡¯</em>

    He had a guess how the man beside her was able to harvest the Sin¡¯s Radish. The sweet potatoes around them would usually be harvested after three swings of an ordinary hoe. However, Minhyuk could easily dig it up with just a swing.That was not all, he was also moving rapidly all the while roasting a pile of sweet potatoes wrapped in foil underneath the zing mes of burning firewood.

    ¡°Pumpkin sweet potato! Uwoooh!¡±

    <em>Thud, thud, thud¡ª!</em>

    Minhyuk looked happy as he swung his hoe continuously and dug the sweet potatoes in front of him. This was his only chance of obtaining 20,000 sweet potatoes in three days.

    About an hourter, there was a notification.

    <em>[You have gained 1 DEX.]</em>

    The beings from Hell could not grow further. Actually, this statement was not quite true. It was better to say that the dead could not grow. Minhyuk was faintly aware that He was already dead. However,pared to finding out the truth of the matter, he was more desperate to dig and eat the sweet potatoes.

    After digging for quite some time, Minhyuk approached the burning firewood that had been roasting the pile of sweet potatoes since earlier. Then, using the Sword of Aeon, he speared one of the sweet potatoes and took it out of the fire. Perhaps, those that sealed the Sword of Aeon would be both astonished and dismayed to see the greatest sword being used as a stick to take out sweet potatoes from a fire.

    ¡°Hot! Hot!¡±

    The mouth-watering golden color of the sweet potato greeted Minhyuk after he peeled off both the hot foil and the burnt skin of the root crop. He then carefully blew on the steaming flesh of the sweet potato before taking a huge bite.

    ¡°Hoo¡ª¡°

    The heat instantly spread in Minhyuk¡¯s mouth the moment he took a bite, forcing him to roll the sweet potato all around his mouth. Once the heat dissipated to some extent, the sweetness of the sweet potato began to slowly spread out.

    ¡°De-delicious! I¡¯m going to eat more. Sweet potato!!!¡±

    Minhyuk returned to the field to work once again with his right hand holding the hoe and his left hand holding a steaming sweet potato. He could not help but inhale sharply when she saw this ridiculous scene.

    ¡°Haa¡­ Haa¡­¡±

    He, who had used a lot of her skills during that hour, was able to harvest 300 sweet potatoes. If she was harvesting an ordinary sweet potato, then she would probably be able to harvest around 2,000 in the same amount of time. However, this was Sin¡¯s Sweet Potato, and harvesting it was far more difficult than harvesting ordinary sweet potatoes.

    The 20,000 quota in three days seemed possible considering that she could harvest 300 in an hour. However, after taking into ount the recovery time of her mana and the cooldown of her skills, she realized that it was far from enough.

    He, who was left exhausted and out of breath, suddenly thought of Minhyuk once again. She turned to look back at him.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    To her shock, Minhyuk was able to harvest around 500 sweet potatoes in an hour. On top of that, his speed had increased by about 1.6x since he started digging for sweet potatoes. This was all thanks to the Divine Will skill.

    <em>[The skill: Divine Will has been triggered.]</em>

    <em>[All of your skills and abilities rted to DEX will temporarily increase by 30%.]</em>

    <em>[All stats will temporarily increase by 8%. Attack and defense will temporarily increase by 6%.]</em>

    The passive skill Divine Will was much easier to trigger than the previous skill Will. He only needed to exert a quarter of the usual effort that he otherwise usually need. It would also boost all stats, as well as the attack and defense of the skill user.

    That was not all, if Divine Will was triggered three times in a row, the DEX would increase by around 60%. In other words, Minhyuk did not grow tired.

    <em>Thud¡ª thud¡ª thud¡ª</em>

    It was as if Minhyuk was given wings. He dug non-stop, the sweet potatoes piling up into a mountain behind him.

    By the second hour¡­

    <em>[You have gained 1 DEX.]</em>

    By the third hour¡­

    <em>[You have gained 1 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[You have harvested 2,000 sweet potatoes!]</em>

    By the fifth hour¡­

    <em>[You have gained 1 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[You have harvested 3,000 sweet potatoes!]</em>

    And by the tenth hour¡­

    <em>[You have gained 1 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[¡­DEX.]</em>

    <em>[¡­DEX.]</em>

    <em>[You have harvested 6,000 sweet potatoes!]</em>

    He was leftpletely speechless. <em>¡®How is he not getting tired?¡¯</em>

    In contrast, she felt so exhausted. It felt like she was going to fall asleep any second. However, Minhyuk still looked very energetic. On top of that, he had been working like that for twenty four hours straight.

    <em>[You have harvested more than 12,000 sweet potatoes.]</em>

    In the first ce, Minhyuk was someone that did not give up easily. Seeing Minhyuk continue to dig sweet potatoes without resting for an entire day motivated He. She cheered herself up as she continued to push herself as well.

    Then, by the third day, the sweet notifications rang out.

    <em>[You have harvested 20,000 sweet potatoes!]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Sin¡¯s Sweet Potato.]</em>

    <em>[You can now harvest the Sin¡¯s Potato!]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the God of Farming He¡¯s Shining Bean Sprouts.]</em>

    Even though almost half of the third day had passed by, what they had aplished was still amazing.

    Then, another notification rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You have reached MAX favor with the God of Farming He.]</em>

    Minhyuk had constantly heard notifications regarding He¡¯s favor while he was harvesting sweet potatoes. So, it was not really that surprising.

    Still full of vigor, Minhyuk asked He to sit down and take a break. They had conversed while harvesting the sweet potatoes. ording to He, she had been struggling for thousands of years to harvest the Sin¡¯s Ingredients, in hopes that she would be able to provide the beings of Hell with incredible ingredients and allow them to eat tasty dishes.

    Minhyuk smiled. Then, he peeled a roasted sweet potato and handed it over to the goddess. ¡°He, you haven¡¯t eaten anything for a very long time. Go on, have a bite.¡±

    He looked at the sweet potato in Minhyuk¡¯s hands. Everyone hadughed at her when she said that she would let Hell thrive. However, she had continued on this seemingly unfeasible journey and it seemed like she was now finally heading toward the end. This young man in front of her was the only one that recognized her efforts.

    She held the sweet potato in her hand before taking a bite. The taste of the root crop that she had not tasted for thousands of years was strangely sweet. Tears started to gather in her eyes.

    ¡°Thanks.¡±

    <em>¡®Thank you, for giving me this delicious food for the first time in thousands of years.¡¯</em>

    ¡°Let me give you a present in return.¡±

    <em>[You have received the blessings of the God of Farming He.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1,000 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Active Skill: Farmer¡¯s Breath.]</em>

    <em>¡®Oh?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was in awe. He checked the information of the Farmer¡¯s Breath.

    <em>¡®Isn¡¯t this amazing?¡¯</em>

    The Farmer¡¯s Breath was an amazing skill that could increase all of the crops effects by 10% just by breathing upon them.

    After taking a short breath, the two stood up to begin harvesting the Sin¡¯s Potato. But then, He asked, ¡°Why aren¡¯t you getting tired? Actually, why does it seem like you¡¯re enjoying this?¡±

    There was no one in the world that would enjoy such repetitive andborious work. Even the God of Farming was suffering from doing hardbor like this.

    Minhyuk grinned and said, ¡°Because I want to do it. I find enjoyment in things that I want to do. Besides, I also love eating sweet potatoes. More importantly, isn¡¯t it fun to think that I will be able to help Hell thrive with you, Miss He?¡±

    They were good words, and they moved He¡¯s heart deeply. Although she was a god that stood at a high ce, she was still able to learn something from the young man in front of her.

    <em>¡®Have fun¡­ that¡¯s right. Let¡¯s have fun.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk ced his hand on top of Sin''s Potato.

    <em>[You have started the harvest of the Third Sin¡¯s Ingredient, the Sin¡¯s Potato.]</em>

    <em>[To harvest the Sin¡¯s Potato, you need to harvest a total of 40,000 sweet potatoes in five days.]</em>

    ***

    In a ce where the corpses of the dead were strewn about, the God of Death sat on his throne with his eyes closed. He was the God that presided over all of those that died. A single drop of tear trickled down his cheek. The God of Death¡¯s heart ached just at the thought of <em>her.</em>

    Just like Athenae, the God of Death had sat in his position for a very long time. However, he had once doubted himself. It was because of that doubt that he chose to descend upon the earth.

    It was during that time that he met the Continental God, the God of Farming He. Unlike himself, she was a being that had the power that could bring life to the world. Somehow, the grim, dark and twisted God of Death fell in love with the life-giving He.

    It was true love, but one that should never have sprouted. The God of Death was hated by many. The day the God of Death returned to hell was the day his beloved He, the Continental God, was killed by the other gods.

    The God that presided over Hell almost drowned in guilt. He would not have died ande to Hell if she had not loved him. On the day that he was supposed to send her off to be reincarnated, the God of Death could not face her because of that guilt. After all, even the God of Death could not revive the dead. Back then, He had said something.

    ¡ª<em>Do not feel sorry. I have no regrets loving you.</em>

    However, the God of Death could not raise his head to meet her gaze. He knew that the God of Death was ovee with guilt. She knew right then, the God of Death could not bring himself to see her anymore.

    <em>¡®Are you thinking about those things again? You¡¯re probably thinking along the lines of¡­ I am hated by everyone because I am the God of Death. I cannot be happy because I am the God of Death?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®And¡­ All of this is because of me.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Weak. That¡¯s what you are.¡¯</em>

    He called the God of Death weak. When he looked up, he saw the bitter smile on He¡¯s face.

    <em>¡®I¡¯ve found something to do. I¡¯ll make crops grow and make Hell thrive and be bountiful. I will only reincarnate after I have done that.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®That¡¯s impossible. If you miss the time to reincarnate, your soul will not be able to enter the cycle of reincarnation and you will truly perish.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®¡­Louis,¡¯ </em>He called out to him in a small voice after hearing the worry in his tone.

    The God of Death finally looked her in the eye.

    <em>¡®Didn¡¯t you say that before? I¡¯m so tired of Hell where not a single grass could grow. I hate how Hell smells rotten. I hate myself for being the God of Death.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®This is the ce where you belong.¡¯</em>

    He¡¯s smile was the most beautiful smile in the world.

    <em>¡®I will bring new life to your world before leaving.¡¯</em>

    After that, He went to harvest the Sin¡¯s Ingredients. Thousands of years had passed since then. However, the God of Death never visited her. He could not face her. He knew that he was acting cowardly, running away from her just because he felt guilty.

    But the God of Death also knew that He¡¯s true death was fast approaching. In fact, she should have perished more than 2,000 years ago. However, the God of Death had interfered and stopped her from truly dying. Now, she only had around a week left.

    The God of Death had been watching her from far away, hiding his existence from her for a very long time. A thousand years since her deration, exhaustion had already started to seep into her bones. Three thousand yearster, she looked like she was having a hard time. However, she never ran away.

    It had been a long time since the God of Death hadst seen her smile. He just hoped that she would give up and finally enter the cycle of reincarnation.

    The God of Death wiped the tears that dripped down his cheeks and slowly opened his eyes. Then, he gently ced his hand on the ck crystal by his side to take a look at her face.

    What greeted him though, was her bright and smiling face as she swung her hoe down. It was a smile that he had not seen on her face for thousands of years.

    With hoe in hand, He was shouting with joy.

    <em>[It¡¯s a potato! Ahoo! Ahoo!]</em>

    ¡°¡­Ahoo?¡±

    What did <em>ahoo</em> mean? The God of Death tilted his head in confusion. That was when he found a young man not too far away from He.

    <em>[We will eat potatoes! Ahoo!!!]</em>

    <em>[Ahoo! Ahoo!]</em>

    The God of Death watched the two people as theyughed and worked hard in the field together, his gaze drifting toward the man named Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®I hope that you can help her enter the cycle of reincarnation before it¡¯s toote.¡¯</em>

 Chapter 817

    Chapter 817

    ¡°We will eat potatoes! Ahoo!!!¡±

    Potatoes were delicious. Whether they were sliced thinly, or turned into French fries, or even if they were ground finely and turned into potato pancakes, they were still delicious. In fact, they were already appetizing even if they were just steamed and dipped in salt.

    Minhyuk happily dug the potatoes, not a sign of exhaustion on his face.

    ¡°Ahoo! Ahoo!¡± He shouted, following behind Minhyuk and working happily on the field.

    However, at that moment, He crouched when she felt something strange in her body. Of course, Minhyuk did not miss this scene.

    ¡°Urk!¡±

    He could see the blood on the palm that she used to cover her mouth.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    ¡°Ah. It¡¯s nothing. I probably just consumed too much mana.¡±

    He made it sound like it was nothing, but Minhyuk could tell that there was something off. After all, he could see how her body suddenly turned translucent before returning back to how it was.

    ¡°Shall we go back to working on the field again?¡±

    He tried passing it off as nothing. However, Minhyuk could clearly tell that there was something truly wrong with her.

    At that moment, a quest window suddenly appeared in front of Minhyuk.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Sudden Quest</em></strong><em>: Harvesting Ingredients Before He¡¯s Soul Perish.]</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: SSS</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: The One Chosen by the God of Death.</em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: The second seal of the Sword of Aeon will be lifted.</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Failure</em></strong><em>: Expulsion from Hell</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: The God of Death is watching over you and He as you both try to harvest the Sin¡¯s Ingredients. However, He¡¯s soul will be destroyed in a few days¡¯ time. Harvest all of the Sin¡¯s Ingredients before that and help her enter the cycle of reincarnation safely.</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The God of Death was watching them. However, after reading the quest window, a frown appeared on Minhyuk¡¯s face.

    <em>¡®Perish?¡¯</em>

    He had been in Hell for thousands of years. She had been here for far too long, it was hard to tell the exact length of time that she had been here.

    <em>¡®She is giving up her chance to enter the cycle of reincarnation just so she can help Hell thrive and prosper.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was in awe and admiration of He¡¯s firm determination. Furthermore, the God of Death offered to lift the second seal of the Sword of Aeon as a reward.

    Because of that, Minhyuk swung his hoe with greater vigor.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    <em>¡®I don¡¯t know what¡¯s happening between the two of them, but¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was already motivated enough with the God-grade ingredients that He would give her with every sessful harvest of the Sin¡¯s Ingredients. Now, the lifting of the second seal of the Sword of Aeon was also added as a reward. However, the reason why Minhyuk¡¯s swinging grew stronger and faster was more than that.

    <em>¡®That determination and desire to change Hell even at the expense of your own well-being¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s swings grew faster as he looked at He, who started to swing her hoe again after vomiting another mouthful of blood.

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll let you reincarnate safely.¡¯</em>

    <em>Thud¡ª!</em>

    ***

    In the passageway between the continent and Edea.

    At first, there were nearly a hundred million yers that entered the passageway.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Episode Quest</em></strong><em>: Cross the Passageway and Enter Edea.]</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: ???</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: Level 400 or higher.</em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: +4 in all stats.</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Failure</em></strong><em>: Banned from entering the passageway.</em>

    <strong><em>Description: </em></strong><em>The Jade Emperor is calling for all of the heroes from the continent to fight on his behalf. Cross the passageway and reach Edea.</em>

    The reason why a huge number of yers entered the passageway was because of the unconventional rewards.

    On average, ordinary yers would have around seven stats while high rankers would have around nine stats or more. These stats were STR, STM, AGI, INT, WIS, DEX, CHA, Observation, Will, Courage, and many more. Just by passing through the passageway, they could stand to have all of these stats increase by four. This would have the same effect as having their levels increase by three.

    On top of the +4 in all stats once they sessfully crossed through the passageway, their EXP acquisition rate and artifact drop rate would increase by 1.5x while fighting inside. Due to all these, nearly a hundred million yers had gathered together to cross the passageway.

    However, by the end of the passageway, the number of yers left was only twelve million. Aside from the high ranking yers, the rest of the yers could not endure the high level of difficulty of the passageway and had all been forced to logout.

    The yers that stood at the vanguard looked tired and exhausted.

    ¡°Damn it. I didn¡¯t expect us to take three weeks.¡±

    Initially, they had thought that they would only take two weeks to break through the passageway. However, they took an additional six days before they couldpletely cross and reach Edea. They had been forced to wander around the Maze of Death that was located at the end of the passageway.

    Most of the ones that were able to cross through the passageway were around Level 450 or higher. In other words, only the elite were able to survive. Thus, the hundred million yers that first entered the passageway dwindled to a mere fraction that reached the exit that would lead to Edea.

    <em>[The exit is already in front of the yers.]</em>

    <em>[They only need to go a little further and they will be able to reach Edea.]</em>

    <em>[From what we heard, the average level of Edea¡¯s troops is known to be around Level 450. And from what we gathered, there are around four million troops that are waiting for them outside this passageway.]</em>

    <em>[The leader of the Allied Forces, the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal, is a high-leveled Named NPC, at Level 600.]</em>

    <em>[The passageway to Edea is long and difficult. However, the rewards that the yers are expecting are indeed sweet.]</em>

    <em>[ording to the agreement made by the Jade Emperor and the Battle God, the yers are free to choose which side they want to stand on, whether it is the Allied Forces or the Jade Emperor¡¯s side.]</em>

    <em>[However, the rewards that the Jade Emperor are offering are much sweeter. Besides, all of the experts believe that the yers sent by the Jade Emperor have a 95% chance of obtaining victory.]</em>

    <em>[Since this is arge-scale episode, Joy Co. Ltd. has released the average level of Edea¡¯s Allied Forces and even the level of the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal and the other kings. Although Food God Minhyuk is standing with Edea, many of the yers are still predicting the defeat of the Allied Forces.]</em>

    <em>[The biggest reason why the yers are deciding to turn their backs on Edea¡¯s Allied Forces lies with the Jade Emperor¡¯s envoys. The envoys are literally gods, not production-rted gods, butbat-rted gods.]</em>

    <em>[ording to the agreement, the envoys are not allowed to enter the battlefield as they please, instead, at certain intervals. With the addition of the yers, it is expected to give a great boost to them.]</em>

    <em>[Of course, the yers that crossed through the passageway can still choose which side they want to join. They can also join Edea¡¯s allied forces. After all, there are no sides during the quest ¡®Cross the Passageway and Enter Edea.¡¯]</em>

    ¡°How many artifacts and gold will I be able to earn in Edea?¡± Bastien, the man standing in the vanguard, also known as the number one in the global Summoner¡¯s Rankings, said.

    Bastien and the other high rankers knew that the battle in Edea was not just about the fall of the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal. It was also about the spoils and EXP that they would get for killing their enemies and the rewards that they could obtain by plundering the four kingdoms. That thought alone was enough to cause them to shake in excitement.

    In a battle where their victory was expected, Bastien, along with the rest of the yers, arrived at the most dangerous part of the passage, the exit.

    <em>[You havepleted the </em><strong><em>Episode Quest</em></strong><em>: Cross the Passageway and Enter Edea.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained +4 in all of your stats.]</em>

    Bastien smiled in contentment after struggling to cross the aisle. However, the smile of delight that shed on his face turned stiff the moment he breathed in the sweet air of Edea. He quickly turned to look at the yers that followed right behind him from the cave-like passageway.

    ¡°Everyone, prepare to figh¡­¡±

    Unfortunately, Bastien was not given the chance to finish his words.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª</em>

    Tens of thousands of magic attacks rained down and exploded on the yers that had sessfully passed through the passageway.

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª</em>

    Hundreds of thousands of arrows shot through the sky and pierced the hearts of the yers. Bastien, who was standing at the vanguard, hurriedly summoned his Turtle Dragon. He hid behind its gigantic turtle back to look at the situation ahead.

    What was waiting in front of them was none other than Edea¡¯s Allied Forces. They had already taken control of the area in front of the exit of the passageway and had been waiting for their arrival. However, the presence of the allies was not what surprised Bastien.

    ¡°What¡ª what the hell is this¡­¡± Bastien looked at the huge shadow cast upon them as he muttered, ¡°Turtle¡ª turtle ship¡­?¡±

    Bastien had seen the way the Beyond the Heavens, which had been called the Legend Guild back then, carried their defensive battle to sess with the help of this fortress in the form of a turtle ship. The turtle ship-shaped fortress looked extremely durable and sturdy, especially since it was made with reinforced steel. On top of that, they could freelyunch sorties by opening and closing the upper portion of the turtle ship.

    The turtle ship that appeared in front of them was a bit different from the one from before. The fortress now had wheels at the bottom, which allowed these turtle ships to move as they pleased. In addition, they had several holes in their front portion that allowed them to send countless spears, arrows and magic at their enemies.

    This slightly different turtle ship was still not the reason why Bastien was shocked. Soon, thementators saw the current situation that the yers were currently facing as their drones entered Edea and flew above the yers and the Allied Forces.

    <em>[There¡ª there are dozens of turtle ships!]</em>

    <em>[There are dozens of turtle ships waiting for the Jade Emperor¡¯s Army!]</em>

    <em>[The shocking part is not the appearance of the turtle ship, but the sheer size and number of the turtle ships present in the area.]</em>

    <em>[The Edea episode started around three weeks ago. During that amount of time, they should have only been able to build one or two turtle ships. However, there were more than thirty turtle ships that appeared in front of everyone!]</em>

    Cold sweat started to drip down Bastien¡¯s back.

    The entire Edea Allied Forces were riding aboard those dozens of turtle ships. Sun Wukong, who was standing on the turtle ship at the center of their formation, shouted, ¡°Fire!!!¡±

    Several openings appeared on the surface of the thirty turtle ships. At the same time, the Dragon Cannons that Trap Installer Bichor had created appeared, and shot zing mes that could melt anything and everything that crossed its path.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Dozens of streams of fire shot forth and melted the yers that stepped out of the passageway. That was not all, the Edean troops also began to shoot arrows that pierced through the bodies of the yers that survived the initial catastrophe.

    A faint smile appeared on the face of the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal, Sun Wukong.

    <em>¡®We were only able to make one turtle ship.¡¯</em>

    That was right. They were only able to create one turtle ship with the blueprint that Minhyuk had brought them in the span of two weeks that they were given to prepare for this battle. So, why were there thirty turtle ships that appeared in this ce? The secretid with <em>The Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal¡¯s Cloning Technique</em>.

    The Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal¡¯s Cloning Technique could replicate and clone various forms, including objects. However, there was a problem with this. The more the object was replicated, the lower the attack and defense the replicated object would have. Thankfully, Mihyuk¡¯s dish was able to make up for this shoring.

    Originally, if the original body of the object could release 100% power, then the replicated body would only be able to release 30% of the original¡¯s power. But thanks to Minhyuk¡¯s dish, the replicated turtle ships could exert around 50% of the original¡¯s power.

    Moreover, most of the weapons that they loaded on the turtle ships were not replicated. Basically, they just used the replicated turtle ships as a way to equip and use these weapons.

    <em>[This is surprising.]</em>

    <em>[In just an instant, more than 200,000 yers have disappeared without leaving a single trace.]</em>

    The cameras that floated above caught the flustered look on the yers¡¯ faces. However, the high rankers immediately came back to their senses and issued orders.

    ¡°Charge!!!¡±

    ¡°Do not forget that our numbers far surpass theirs!!!¡±

    The yers that were able to sessfully pass through the passageway that connected Edea were all elites. All of them had decent skills and control, and were armed with better artifacts.

    The rest of the yers immediately followed the high rankers¡¯ orders and charged forward despite the continuous downpour of arrows and magical attacks. The tens of thousands of mages cast Shield to create a barrier in front of them, while the tankers raised their square shields and created a wall that protected the others.

    <em>¡®Considering the level of the troops of Edea, we will be able to pierce through their defenses!!!¡¯</em>

    The level of the troops of Edea¡¯s Allied Forces were at the same level as the minimum level of the yers that charged through the passageway. Since that was the case, their side, with higher numbers than their enemies, would have a bigger advantage.

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¡ª</em>

    ¡°Huh¡­?¡±

    Bastien felt that something was off. The arrows sent by the soldiers of Edea only pierced through the yers¡¯ vital points, like their necks or their hearts.

    <em>¡®What?¡¯</em>

    Then, at that moment, hundreds of thousands of Edea¡¯s Allied Forces¡¯ soldiers charged forward as the lower portion of the turtle ships opened.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaah!!!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaah!!!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaah!!!¡±

    The charging soldiers of Edea¡¯s Allied Forces collided with the yers that ran toward the turtle ships.

    <em>aaaaash¡ª</em>

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª!</em>

    <em>Swooooooosh¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­What the hell?¡±

    ¡°They aren¡¯t at Level 450!!!¡±

    ¡°The level of the soldiers is much higher than what we expected!!!¡±

    The spears and swords of the troops of Edea¡¯s Allied Forces were much faster than the yers¡¯ own. That was when Bastien turned to look at the level of the soldiers in front of him.

    <em>[Edea¡¯s Soldier. Level 451.]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    That was strange. Joy Co. Ltd. clearly published the average level of the soldiers of Edea¡¯s Allied Forces. Yet, these soldiers were easily cutting down the yers in front of them, leaving them in a disastrous situation.

    ¡°¡­This¡ª this crazy bastard¡­¡±

    Only then did Bastien and thementators realize the situation in front of them.

    <em>[Pl¡ª yer Minhyuk must have fed the soldiers of Edea with his dishes!]</em>

    <em>[However, what is scarier is the fact that the soldiers did not just grow 10% or 15% stronger.]</em>

    <em>[From what it looks like, they have grown at least 20% stronger!]</em>

    A huge variable had suddenly appeared, which allowed the soldiers of Edea to sweep the yers.

    As mentioned many times before, NPCs were better than the yers at the same level as them. After all, they had been trained in the way of their weapons since they were young, with most of them training from the moment they woke up, until the moment they slept. On the other hand, the yers had only touched swords or other weapons inside the game. This was the clear difference between yers and NPCs.

    However, a grin still spread on Bastien¡¯s face. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter.¡±

    Some yers would possess something that put them at an advantage over NPCs. That was none other than their artifacts and skills.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª!</em>

    ¡°Use your skills!!! We can push those soldiers back if we shower them with our skills!!!¡±

    Bastien¡¯s grin grew wider. Their opponents might believe that they had prepared enough. However, if it was just to this extent, then they would never be able to ovee the yers.

    Unbeknownst to them, this was not the only thing that Minhyuk had prepared. He did everything he could, employing all means and methods.

    Notifications suddenly rang in the ears of all of the yers that sessfully entered Edea.

    <em>[The Food God is proposing a quest to the yers!]</em>

    Kings could give quests to yers that belonged to their kingdom, while gods could suggest quests to any yer. The notification window popped up in front of them.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Quest</em></strong><em>: Hunting the Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army.]</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: ???</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: yers that have passed through the passageway and entered Edea.</em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: Fairy¡¯s Tears (1)</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Failure</em></strong><em>: Gaining the hostility of the Jade Emperor¡¯s Envoys.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: You will gain one Fairy¡¯s Tear for every soldier of the Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army that you kill. However, you will only be able to receive the Fairy¡¯s Tears if you can sessfully reach Edea¡¯s Allied Forces¡¯ fortress.</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Silence enveloped the battlefield for a very short moment. Even though the magical attacks and arrows were raining upon them, the yers all stopped moving.

    However, the one that was extremely rmed by this sudden turn of events was none other than Bastien. In fact, he could barely breathe from the shock.

    ¡°This¡ª Thiiiiiiiis¡ª This¡ª cr¡ª crazy bastard¡­¡±

    Thementators kindly spoke for him.

    <em>[This¡ª this is crazy!!!]</em>

    <em>[You will be able to get one Fairy¡¯s Tears if you hunt one yer?! Just so you know, you will be able to get twenty tinum if you sell this Fairy¡¯s Tear on the market. In other words, it¡¯s worth around a hundred million won in cash!]</em>

    <em>[To think you can get one for every yer that you sessfully hunt!]</em>

    That was right. Minhyuk was using every means and methods avable to him. This was the second part of his preparations.

 Chapter 818

    Chapter 818

    For high rankers, twenty tinum was not much. That amount of money was something that they could earn by working hard in a day or two. However, how many of the yers were high rankers?

    High ranking yers only ounted for 5% of the tens of millions of high-leveled yers of Athenae. Hence, twenty tinum was important to the majority of these yers.

    The difference in level between the high rankers and the ordinary high-leveled yers was quite huge. High rankers could solo a boss mob, while ordinary high-leveled yers would need to team up with at least five or six other yers.

    Because of that, most of them would only be able to earn around one or two tinum per day. But now, these ordinary yers were given the opportunity to earn tinum that was worth a hundred million in cash, just by killing anyone siding with the Jade Emperor.

    Everyone had many points of interest when they saw the notifications. First, they were shocked that Minhyuk had the financial power to pull this off. Second, they were very surprised to know that they would also have the chance to gain hundreds of millions in cash.

    Everything was at a standstill despite the non-stop bombings of magical attacks sent by Edea¡¯s Allied Forces. Even the arrows fell continuously, piercing through the bodies of the yers that stood there in a daze. However, there was a strange sense of tension that buzzed in the air amidst the battlefield.

    Then, at that moment, a person¡¯s voice rang out.

    ¡°Hey. Let¡¯s split the money fifty-fifty. I¡¯ll give you fifty million won.¡±

    <em>Staaaaaaab¡ª</em>

    One of the yers stabbed the heart of his friend that logged in the game together with him.

    ¡°Hey. Don¡¯t you think that¡¯s a bit too much¡­ you f*cker.¡±

    An ugly expression shed on the face of the yer that got stabbed in the heart.

    ¡°It¡¯s just a game anyway.¡±

    That spark gave way to a rapidly devolving situation.

    ¡°Haren, I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    <em>Staaaaaaaab¡ª</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaack! You m*therf*cker¡­¡±

    <em>aaaaaaash!</em>

    ¡°Aaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    The screams of yers being killed by their ownrades rang loudly in the battlefield. Themotion grew gradually like the cracks created by an earthquake, as greedy yers killed their own allies one after another.

    The wavering yers were thinking, <em>¡®It should be fine, right?¡¯ </em>This was particrly the case for the mages. They were considered the most threatening existence during this moment. After all, they were capable of casting AOE magic attacks from afar. These kinds of skills would be most effective since the coalition army were all gathered together.

    The closebat yers were at the vanguard while the archers and the mages were at the rear. In other words, the mages were gathered together. All of them used their AOE magic at the same time, as if they had been waiting for this moment.

    ¡°Explosion!¡±

    ¡°Fire Storm!¡±

    ¡°Fire Wall!¡±

    ¡°Wind Cutter!¡±

    Their targets were the archers that had significantly lower HP and defensespared to the closebat yers.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª!</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaack! This damn bastard mages!!!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    The archers began to shoot their arrows to retaliate against the mages¡¯ offensive.

    ¡°Yes! I killed three people!¡±

    ¡°I got two!!!¡±

    However, the mages, who could cast AOE magic attacks, were at a more advantageous position.

    This indiscriminate bombings and attacks between the mages and the archers was enough to make the yers who were sitting over the fence,e to a decision.

    ¡°This f*cking bastard! Want to try me, huh?!!¡±

    ¡°Shut up, f*cker!¡±

    ¡°You morons! Are you going to kill yourrades just for a hundred million won?!¡±

    ¡°Yeah! I can kill for a hundred million won!¡±

    The thing that could make people do the scariest things in the world was money.

    <em>[A terrible catastrophe is unfolding right in front of our very eyes.]</em>

    <em>[The ones that have gathered to deal with Edea¡¯s Allied Forces have been taken advantage of and are now killing each other.]</em>

    <em>[In the first ce, the Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army is a group of people that have gathered only for the benefits. For people like them, the Fairy Tears have a very sweet allure.]</em>

    <em>[This is definitely yer Minhyuk¡¯s idea. It¡¯s amazing. Some might say that yer Minhyuk¡¯s method is amon chaebol behavior where they show off their money. But if we look at the reality, we can¡¯t say that it¡¯s something that he should not do.]</em>

    <em>[yer Minhyuk is in a very unfavorable situation after all. He has to protect the entire Edea by himself.]</em>

    <em>[Because of the situation, the viewers will most likely say that he¡¯s a truly amazing person instead of criticizing yer Minhyuk.]</em>

    <em>[As we speak, the turtle ships have once again fired their dragon cannons.]</em>

    <em>[Edea¡¯s Allied Forces are also helping with their magic attacks and arrows.]</em>

    <em>[The Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army is decreasing in numbers at a truly fast pace.]</em>

    The notifications also rang at the same time.

    <em>[Edea¡¯s Allied Forces have defeated 450,000 of the Jade Emperor Coalition Army!]</em>

    <em>[ording to the agreement made between the Battle God and the Jade Emperor, special privileges and benefits will be given to yer Minhyuk, themander of Edea¡¯s Allied Forces.]</em>

    The Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army was in a much superior position. Because of that, the Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army would not receive any benefits. On the other hand, those that would stand on Edea¡¯s side would receive all the benefits. s, none of those that sided with the Jade Emperor knew about the rewards that the Allied Forces would receive.

    ¡°You bastards! Aren¡¯t you going to stop?!!¡±

    ¡°Enough!!!¡±

    The top rankers that had sat on the throne as kings during the Battle of Thrones, tried to stop the other yers but none of their words worked.

    Human greed was truly a scary thing. It could sometimes make others betray their lovers, friends, and even their family. Since this happened in the<em> game, </em>people would easily reveal their greed.

    Bastien, who watched everything unfold in front of him, bit his lips tightly. <em>¡®He¡¯s willing to spend hundreds of billions of won for this?¡¯</em>

    The Food God was a great man. However, no matter how great or amazing he was, would Minhyuk truly be willing to spend hundreds of billions of won? No, perhaps he had spent far more than that. Even if Minhyuk won this battle, his worth would not be worth hundreds of billions of won.

    Then, Bastien¡¯s eyes grew wide in realization, ¡°This¡ª This is a trap¡­!¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Xu Jiaqi looked at him in confusion when she heard those words.

    ¡°Minhyuk has no intention of spending a single penny!!!¡±

    ¡°What the hell are you talking about?¡±

    Xu Jiaqi, the king of Qingdao Kingdom, was confused. Minhyuk had obviously used his position as a god to send arge-scale quest to the yers. Even if he was a god, he would receive sanctions if he could not fulfill the rewards that he had listed in the quest. But Bastien was saying that Minhyuk did not have any intention of spending a single penny.

    ¡°Take a good look at the quest window, Xu Jiaqi. What do you think is wrong with it?¡±

    In fact, if one looked closely, they would realize that it was impossible toplete this quest. Xu Jiaqi¡¯s eyes grew wide after she carefully perused the contents of the quest.

    ¡°This is crazy¡­¡±

    They felt terrified, yet at the same time, in awe of Minhyuk¡¯s brilliant idea. Bastien looked at the battlefield once again.

    Before crossing the passageway, the yers had to choose whether they would stand on the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal¡¯s side or the Jade Emperor¡¯s side. If they were not here, then they were not on the Jade Emperor¡¯s side.

    However, what if they attacked their own allies? What would happen next was simple.

    <em>[You have decided to help Edea¡¯s Allied Forces!]</em>

    Those who had not moved to kill any of Edea¡¯s Allied Forces were automatically recognized as the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal¡¯s allies. That was why their nicknames, which were initially written in blue, had turned to red by themselves. In other words, they had turned into <em>enemies.</em>

    What would happen if someone with a red name appeared amidst the ranks of the Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army? If one looked closely at the contents of the quest, they would see something like this:

    <em>[If you can sessfully reach Edea¡¯s Allied Forces¡¯ fortress.]</em>

    However, it was impossible for them to reach that fortress. The rest of the Coalition Army would kill those that betrayed their allies.

    Bastien tore a Megaphone Parchment and shouted, ¡°Everyone! Stop!!!¡±

    The deep and loud voice rang heavily, shaking everyone¡¯s eardrums. Some of the yers stopped, while others kept on killing their allies. However, after Bastien had exined the current situation, an awkward air began to wrap around the yers.

    ¡°Damn it¡­¡±

    ¡°Shit, we¡¯re f*cked¡­¡±

    As mentioned before, the names of the yers¡¯ characters, who had killed their allies, had already turned red. However, they were still amidst the Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army.

    These people, who had been blinded by greed and failed to see the reality of the matter, could not stop the ugly expression that shed on their faces.

    ¡°C¡ª can¡¯t you just spare us?¡±

    ¡°Spare us and allow us to reach Edea¡¯s Allied Forces, please!!!¡±

    There were around 500,000 yers with red names amidst their troops. These yers no longer wished to attack the people around them. All they wanted was to receive the corresponding Fairy Tears for those that they have killed before.

    However, Bastien and the other top rankers that participated in the Battle of Thrones looked at each other. Each and every single one of them shook their heads.

    Then, Bastien said, ¡°Kill all of the yers that have be a part of Edea¡¯s Allied Forces.¡±

    With his orders, the Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army sent concentrated attacks to the ces where these yers had gathered.

    There were many reasons why they had to kill these 500,000 yers on their own. The first reason was they had betrayed their allies. Second, if they decided to spare them and take them along, they would not know when these yers would turn around and hit the back of their heads. As for the third reason, there was no real need to carry them after all.

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaack!!!¡±

    ¡°P-please spare me!!!¡±

    ¡°I can get 300 million, it¡¯s within my reach. Please just spare me this once. Just let me stay, please. Keuaaaaaack!!!¡±

    The yers¡¯ desperate screams rang loudly in the battlefield. However, the expressions on the faces of the Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army wereplicated as they meted out the punishment on those that betrayed their allies.

    <em>[The Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army¡¯s morale has dramatically decreased.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will decrease by 5%.]</em>

    ¡°Retreat! Everyone, retreat!!!¡± The Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal Sun Wukong gave his orders.

    At the same time, the Allied Forces¡¯ turtle ships began to back away from the Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army, even though the Coalition Army had taken a huge blow to their morale.

    Kentaro, the Japanese Server¡¯s top ranker, smiled while thinking about how great and amazing Minhyuk truly was. Meanwhile, Bastien and Xu Jiaqi assessed the situation with ugly faces.

    Among these rankers, there was one high ranker that watched Edea¡¯s Allied Forces back away and retreat. The ranker was wearing a robe with a hood that covered most of his face and a mask. If others saw him, they would immediately think that he was an <em>assassin.</em>

    <em>¡®I¡­¡¯</em>

    This ranker was none other than Alexander, who became the first Eight Pirs¡¯ ss, the Weapon Master not too long ago.

    <em>¡®¡­will lead Edea¡¯s Allied Forces to victory.¡¯</em>

    ***

    <em>[You have harvested 50,000 potatoes!]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Sin¡¯s Potato.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired God of Farming He¡¯s Noble and Lofty Zhini.]</em>

    Minhyuk safelypleted the harvest of the third Sin¡¯s Ingredient. While he was in the middle of his harvest frenzy, he received notifications about how they had defeated 1.2 million troops of the Coalition Army and how he had gained special privileges and rewards for achieving such a feat.

    However, these notifications did not lighten the burden that he had to carry. In fact, it even put more pressure on him to return as fast as possible.

    ¡°Urk! <em>Cough!</em>¡±

    After finishing the harvest of the third Sin¡¯s Ingredient, He copsed on the ground and coughed up several mouthfuls of blood. Her blood soaked the ground as her body turned translucent for a moment before returning back to her original appearance.

    <em>[He¡¯s soul is nearing its demise!]</em>

    <em>[Hurry up! Harvest the final Sin¡¯s Ingredient and allow He to reincarnate safely!]</em>

    Minhyuk knew that there was no time for him to rest, especially after hearing the notifications.

    ¡°Now¡­ you know that I wouldn¡¯t believe that all of this is just because you¡¯re tired, right?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡± He smiled bitterly as she struggled to get up. ¡°Soon, my soul might be gone forever. That¡¯s why¡­¡±

    He held the hoe in her hand tightly.

    ¡°¡­for Hell to thrive and bloom.¡±

    <em>¡®And for the dark and brooding you.¡¯</em>

    ¡°Let¡¯s go and harvest the fourth and final ingredient.¡±

    Minhyuk hurriedly approached thest Sin¡¯s Ingredient and stretched his hand out. The final Sin¡¯s Ingredient was cabbage.

    <em>[You have started the harvest of the Fourth Sin¡¯s Ingredient, the Sin¡¯s Cabbage.]</em>

    <em>[You need to harvest the Sin¡¯s Cabbage in three days.]</em>

    <em>Crackleeeeeeee¡ª</em>

    zing mes that seemed like they could burn anything and everything in their path burst out of the cabbage. It seemed like one had to endure the zing mes to sessfully harvest the cabbage. Minhyuk and He walked toward the cluster of zing mes together.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk thought, <em>¡®The Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army will face Hanwoo for the second round.¡¯</em>

    ***

    Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army.

    The high rankers were discussing their next steps.

    ¡°That guy will probably send Hanwoo out next,¡± Xu Jiaqi said.

    Hanwoo was a being that could grow several tens of meters in height and was someone that boasted a powerful attack. He was a very terrifying being that had trampled tens of thousands of enemies in the countless battles that he had participated in with his <em>Hanwoo Charge</em>.

    However, the Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army was fully prepared to face him. Once Hanwoo used his Charge skill, the global number one tanker, Valentino, would summon his <em>Shield Wall</em> along with the other tankers.

    Valentino¡¯s Shield Wall could only be activated after taking the MP of the other tankers around him. However, Valentino¡¯s Shield Wall was the best shield. In fact, it could stop anyone¡¯s charge and they were confident it could even block Hanwoo.

    At that moment, terrifying sounds rang out.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    The thundering footsteps made the entire Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army nervous.

    ¡°Valentinooooooo!!!¡±

    ¡°I know!!!¡±

    Valentino, one of the kings in the Battle of the Thrones and the global number one tanker, stepped forward with tens of thousands of rankers at the cry of the other high rankers.

    <em>[To activate Shield¡¯s Wall, you need to use the MP of other tankers.]</em>

    <em>[yer Ronsi has given his power to your shield.]</em>

    <em>[yer Kenya¡­to your shield.]</em>

    <em>[yer Ero¡­to your shield.]</em>

    Tens of thousands of rankers channeled their MP to power Valentino¡¯s Shield Wall. Then, a sh of bright and blinding light appeared as Valentino mmed his square shield into the ground.

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    At the same time, a transparent shield appeared as his shield grew several tens of meters in height. This Shield Wall would definitely be able to neutralize Hanwoo¡¯s Charge.

    At that moment, Sun Wukong suddenly appeared in the skies above them on his Flying Nimbus. Then, he threw a bottle filled with white sloshing liquid in the air.

    <em>Pop¡ª</em>

    <em>Piiiing¡ª</em>

    The bottle burst, creating what seemed like a sh bang that instantly made everyone¡¯s vision turn white, while a piercing sound rang in their ears. Even Valentino¡¯s vision had turned white.

    However, Valentino grinned. Why? Because he has a skill called <em>God¡¯s Aggro, </em>a skill that could drag the target toward his shield without fail. Before the sh bang burst out, he had seen Hanwoo growing and charging at them from a distance. So, he triggered God¡¯s Aggro.

    <em>[God¡¯s Aggro.]</em>

    <em>[Please choose your target!]</em>

    ¡°Hanwoo.¡±

    <em>[Your chosen target will collide with your Shield¡¯s Wall!]</em>

    The enemy was trying to blind them for a moment and bring chaos and confusion? Bullshit. That was nothing.

    <em>Beeeeeeep¡ª</em>

    At that moment, their vision and hearing started to return. The grinning Valentino could not help but breathe out in disbelief after looking beyond his powerful and transparent shield.

    ¡°Keheoook!¡±

    Amotion broke out among the yers.

    ¡°Wh¡ª What the hell?!¡±

    ¡°This is crazy!!!¡±

    ¡°I¡ª I never expected something like this!!!¡±

    The scene that greeted them when their vision returned was the terrifying charge of not one, but more than a hundred, fifty-meter-high Hanwoos.

    ¡°Mooooooo!!!¡±

    ¡°Moooooooooooo!!!¡±

    ¡°Moooooooo!!!¡±

 Chapter 819

    Chapter 819

    Hanwoo¡¯s Charge was the greatest AOE attack skill of the Bull Demon King, former king of the Kingdom of Eden. It was a truly overpowered skill, with its 6,000% additional attack and ability to break everything and anything that crossed his path during the charge.

    The yers had always been in awe whenever they watched Hanwoo grow to the height of fifty meters, before charging forward to trample his enemies. This time, the Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army had prepared the Shield¡¯s Wall and the God¡¯s Aggro to stop Hanwoo¡¯s Charge.

    However, an unbelievable scene was unfolding in front of their very eyes. Hundreds of Hanwoos, each over fifty meters tall, were charging forward and encircling their entire army.

    <em>[You have triggered the Hundred Army¡¯s Cloning Technique.]</em>

    <em>[The Hundred Army¡¯s Cloning Technique can increase the number of your chosen target, raise the terror in the hearts of your enemies to the extreme and greatly expand the range of the skill that is used by the target!]</em>

    <em>[The skills used by the clones will only have 10% of the original power!]</em>

    The main reason why Sun Wukong couldpete with the Jade Emperor was because of his cloning technique. Utilizing Sun Wukong¡¯s cloning technique, Hanwoo became a hundred Hanwoos.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    The entire Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army fell into great chaos as the gigantic Hanwoos charged at them. At that moment, Master Archer Miao pulled the strings of her bow and released an arrow.

    <em>Swoooooosh¡ª</em>

    Her arrow was aiming at Hanwoo¡¯s forehead.

    ¡°Reinforced Shot.¡±

    Hanwoo, who received the Reinforced Shot with 3,500% additional attack, disappeared with a <em>bang!</em>

    Master Archer Miao immediately exined, ¡°Get back to your senses! The Hanwoos are just an illusion created by cloning techniques. His attack and defense will be much lower than usual. Even if you get trampled by his feet, you will be able to endure it. We can also make him disappear before he arrives!¡±

    The high rankers saw through the shorings of the cloning technique in a single nce. If this was the usual Hanwoo, then they would not be able to kill him, even if they poured all of their attacks on him. However, the situation was different right now.

    <em>Poof¡ª</em>

    <em>Poof¡ª</em>

    The mages hurriedly cast their magical attacks. As a result, several Hanwoos were swept away by the explosion of their attacks and disappeared into nothingness.

    ¡°It¡ª It¡¯s true?!¡±

    ¡°Right. They won¡¯t inflict high damage on us even if we get trampled on,¡± Master Archer Miao dered confidently.

    Of course, the others also felt the same.

    <em>Tak¡ª tak, tak, tak¡ª</em>

    However, just when Hanwoo jumped among the ranks of the Coalition Army, a mysterious sound, which seemed like the drumming of a muyu, rang across the battlefield. It was quite strange. Although the entire battlefield was covered with Hanwoo¡¯s thundering footsteps, all of the yers could still hear the drumming of a muyu clearly in their ears.

    <em>Taak¡ª taaak¡ª</em>

    Then, the sound of the muyu started to slow down.

    <em>[All of the members of the Allied Forces have been blessed by the Great Buddha¡¯s power to defeat all of the enemies!]</em>

    <em>[All stats will increase by 21%. Both physical and magical attack will increase by 23%!]</em>

    <em>[This buff effect can ovep with other buffs.]</em>

    The power of the Great Buddha seeped into the charging Hanwoos¡¯ bodies as the first Hanwoo made contact with the Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army.

    ¡°No matter how high your damage is¡­¡± Master Archer Miao cried loudly.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª!</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°U¡ª uwaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°It¡ª it hurts!!!¡±

    Unfortunately, things yed out differently than expected. The yers that had been trampled by Hanwoo¡¯s gigantic feet were left confused and in a daze. The damage that they received was not negligible at all. Of course, there was not a single yer that died under Hanwoo¡¯s feet. However, their HP fell by around 10~20%, more than their expectations of 5% damage.

    Why was that the case? This was because Hanwoo, or the Bull Demon King, had also eaten Minhyuk¡¯s buffed dish. Minhyuk had made sure to feed him a buffed dish that maximized the effects of Hanwoo¡¯s Charge skill.

    Not long after, more than ny Hanwoos charged forward and trampled upon the enemy army.

    ¡°Keuaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°A¡ª aaaaaaaack!¡±

    After four seconds of non-stop charging, no yer had been forced to log out yet. However, after a certain period of time, the yers began to get swept away. After all, Valentino¡¯s Shield Wall, a skill that could only prevent one attack, was already useless.

    <em>[A herd of Hanwoos is trampling on the yers. This is crazy!]</em>

    <em>[The Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army is left in confusion and chaos from what yer Minhyuk and Edea¡¯s Allied Forces have prepared!]</em>

    <em>[However, it¡¯s stillcking by quite a lot!]</em>

    <em>[Hanwoo¡¯s Charge is a power that can trample upon the enemies and kill them. It¡¯s something that will not give the yers any room to breathe!]</em>

    <em>[However, please look at the situation right now! The yers that have crossed through the passageway are those with great control and superb ability to read the flow of the battle. They are currently holding out with the help of the priests¡¯ heals and potions!]</em>

    <em>[If we¡¯re looking at the extent of the damage, we can clearly say that the damage inflicted is much lesser than the normal damage that Hanwoo¡¯s Charge can inflict!]</em>

    That was right. The hundred Hanwoos were definitely effective in causing chaos among the enemy ranks. However, the power had obviously decreased.

    The tankers hurriedly triggered their skills as they pushed their square shields to cover the heads of the yers around them. These square shields, which numbered at ten thousands perhaps even more, created an amazing scene that prevented Hanwoo¡¯s feet from trampling on them.

    ¡°Ridiculous bastard. Did you think that this would work on us, huh? What a grand idea, huh?!¡± Summoner Bastien chuckled along with the other high rankers. Even the troops of the Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army were all relieved to know that the damage was at a level that they could endure.

    However, there was one man that did notugh. It was none other than Alexander, who was hiding underneath the hood of his robe.

    <em>¡®Something¡¯s strange.¡¯</em>

    Once the Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army reached a certain area in Edea, they would join the Heavenly Army and be a much stronger army. So, before that, Minhyuk had to kill as many of the Coalition Army as possible. However, Hanwoo¡¯s Charge was not doing much in terms of reducing the enemy numbers.

    Alexander realized something, his eyes growing wide.

    <em>¡®If it were me, I would have set up Bichor¡¯s trap at the exit of the passageway.¡¯</em>

    Looking back on their situation, the only thing that Alexander had seen that came from Bichor was the outstanding <em>Dragon Cannons</em>.

    <em>¡®No way!!!¡¯ </em>A thought shed in Alexander¡¯s head, his eyes growing even wider with the realization.

    <em>[Edea¡¯s Commanderughed as he looked at his enemies!]</em>

    <em>[Edea¡¯s Commander has opened his mouth to say¡­]</em>

    <em>[Bang.]</em>

    It was short and bold. Of course, Edea¡¯s Commander was given plenty of special privileges and rewards. The <em>Commander¡¯s Voice,</em> which was quite simr to God¡¯s Voice, was also one of those privileges.

    ¡°Bang?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    While everyone was lost in confusion, Alexander discovered potion bottles that were tied with a rope on the legs of Hanwoo¡¯s clones.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª!</em>

    Then, one of the potion bottles exploded. Tens of thousands of yers disappeared without a trace.

    <em>¡®Crazy¡­¡¯</em>

    Alexander¡¯s gaze moved around until he confirmed the location of all of Hanwoo¡¯s clones.

    <em>¡®They¡¯re all suddenly deep inside the Coalition Army¡­¡¯</em>

    All of the Hanwoos had already prated deeply in the army. The deeper one was, the higher the number of troops gathered.

    <em>¡®Minhyuk never intended to use Hanwoo¡¯s Charge to kill the troops in the first ce.¡¯</em>

    The appearance of hundreds of Hanwoos was meant to serve as a tactic to create chaos and disturbance among the enemy troops. <strong><em>This</em></strong>was Minhyuk¡¯s true n.

    ¡°¡­We¡¯re in trouble,¡± Valentino murmured, his face turning deathly white.

    Like a chain reaction, the rest of the potions exploded one after the other.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The huge explosions shook the entirety of Edea. The estimated number of bottles that exploded was around ten. However, each and every single one of those bottles could trigger an earth-shaking explosion.

    <em>[Edea¡¯s Allied Forces have defeated 1,100,000 of the Jade Emperor Coalition Army!]</em>

    <em>[ording to the agreement made between the Battle God and the Jade Emperor, special privileges and benefits will be given to yer Minhyuk, themander of Edea¡¯s Allied Forces.]</em>

    Hell on earth. There was nothing else to describe the situation that suddenly unfolded in front of them, as yers were forced to log out in droves from the huge explosions that bloomed amidst their ranks. Even though there were yers that had miraculously escaped being forced to log out, they were left lying on the ground, groaning from the severe injuries that littered their bodies.

    The Edea¡¯s Commander¡¯s Voice rang in the ears of these people.

    <em>[Edea¡¯s Commander isughing and mocking the enemies!]</em>

    ***

    <em>Crackleeeeeee¡ª!</em>

    zing mes, which seemed to be able to burn everything and anything that it passed by, rose up from the Barren Land¡¯s dry and empty fields.

    After mocking the Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army and forcing 1.2 million of their troops to log out by making full use of Hanwoo and the explosives, Minhyuk concentrated on his task once again.

    <em>Crackleeeeee¡ª</em>

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    ¡°Kghhhhk¡­¡±

    Both He and Minhyuk groaned after they jumped into the fire pit to harvest the cabbage.

    <em>[A small portion of Velma¡¯s mes flows out and prevents you from harvesting the cabbage!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 80%.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 79%.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP¡­]</em>

    Notifications rang constantly in Minhyuk¡¯s ears as the mes licked every inch of his body. Of course, since he was a yer, it just felt a bit weird to him. Unfortunately, that was not the case for He. Her entire body was being destroyed and burned by the mes. She endured the pain from the zing mes and continued to work hard on harvesting the final ingredient. It was quite a spectacr sight to see the two of them mming their hoes on the ground while being engulfed with mes.

    The only reason why Minhyuk and He was able to endure this long was because the two of them had been sharing Mand¡¯s Potion. However, the potion would run out soon.

    <em>Thud¡ª Thud¡ª Thud¡ª</em>

    It was getting harder and harder for He to swing her hoe. There was respect in Minhyuk¡¯s eyes as he watched He work hard while enduring the burning pain that wracked her entire body.

    <em>¡®For thousands of years¡­¡¯</em>

    She was a woman that dreamt of making Hell thrive and prosper.

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll let this barrennd, thend where you belong, bloom and thrive.¡¯</em>

    Along with that dream was her love for the God of Death.

    <em>[Harvest Rate: 47%!]</em>

    <em>[Harvest Rate: 48%!]</em>

    <em>[Harvest Rate¡­]</em>

    <em>Thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    They had been digging hard and swinging their hoes for who knew how long. However, the two of them continued to work hard, hoping that their efforts would bear fruit.

    ¡°Urk! <em>Cough!</em>¡±

    ¡°He, are you alri¡­¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t stop!¡± He shouted when she saw Minhyuk try to stop to approach her. Even when the red and zing mes were burning her entire body, He¡¯splexion remained deathly white. However, she still gave a small smile while saying, ¡°Please, I beg you. Please don¡¯t stop what you¡¯re doing.¡±

    Minhyuk could see how desperate she was. He tightened his grip on his hoe and nodded.

    ¡°How long are you going to avoid He when she¡¯s working hard like this?¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s voice was faint. In fact, the loud crackle of the mes easily buried his voice. However, this voice still floated to someone¡¯s ears.

    ¡°How long will you keep on saying that it¡¯s your fault while running away without even apologizing, you moron?¡± Minhyuk murmured, addressing the man despite not knowing if he was listening. Nevertheless, he continued to swing his hoe.

    <em>Crackleeee¡ª!</em>

    ¡°Hihihihihihing!!!¡±

    When they reached 50% of the harvest rate, arger and hotter me suddenly burst out from the dry and barrennd.

    <em>[Velma has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[Velma is the mother of all Hell Horses that exist in Hell!]</em>

    <em>[She is the guardian that protects Hell together with the God of Death!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[Hell Horse Velma is a ferocious being!]</em>

    <em>[Hell Horse Velma. Level 627.]</em>

    ¡°Hihihihihihihihing!¡±

    A Hell Horse covered with ck mes appeared. Its mes burned brighter and hotter than those that covered ordinary Hell Horses. The Hell Horse looked at Minhyuk and He.

    <em>¡®Nothing is ever easy in this world.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk bit his lips tightly.

    ***

    The God of Death heard Minhyuk¡¯s words loud and clear.

    <em>¡ªHow long are you going to avoid He when she¡¯s working hard like this?</em>

    <em>¡ªHow long will you keep on saying that it¡¯s your fault while running away without even apologizing, you moron?</em>

    The most fearsome and ferocious god in the world, the God of Deaths, sat on his throne made of skeletons as he looked at his crystal ball. Minhyuk¡¯s murmurs continued to be delivered to his ears.

    ¡ª<em>He is determined to make the world that you live in prosperous and more beautiful, even at the risk of her soul getting destroyed. Will you be okay if her soul gets destroyed like that, huh?</em>

    Those words made the God of Death jump from his seat. Everything that a god had, including his pride, arrogance, face and even his guilt, he finally put it down. Gods could also love, even if they were scary or deadly.

    <em>[Hihihihihihihing!]</em>

    The crystal ball showed the scene where Hell Horse Velma roared wildly. Velma was Hell¡¯s guardian god. She might be a horse, but her strength and power wasparable to that of ordinary gods.

    Perhaps He would die under Velma¡¯s hooves. After all, Velma¡¯s mission was to maintain the state of Hell. Harvesting all of the Sin¡¯s Ingredients meant that they would be breaking the bnce that Velma protected.

    At that moment, a huge door opened in front of the God of Death, widely recognized as one of the greatest and most fearsome gods. However, hepletely threw away his pride to run toward the woman that he loved.

    <em>Throb¡ª</em>

    A memory shed in the God of Death¡¯s mind. It was a memory of the time when he, He and Velma spent great timesughing together. Even so, Velma was someone that was very faithful to her mission.

    The God of Death ran like crazy until he arrived near the Barren Land.

    <em>[The Food God has taken over your possession of the Mother of Hell Horses, Velma!]</em>

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    What greeted him was a ridiculous notification. The God of Death could not help butugh helplessly. He came here just in case the Mother of Hell Horses Velma tried to kill He. But what he saw was Velma sitting in front of He, while removing the mes that covered the Barren Land.

    He was gently stroking Velma¡¯s head as she called out, ¡°Velma.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The words that followed made the God of Death¡¯s heart drop.

    ¡°Please take care of Louis when I¡¯m no longer here.¡±

 Chapter 820

    Chapter 820

    Hell¡¯s Guardian God Velma had existed since Hell and the God of Death existed. She was born to maintain the bnce of Hell. Harvesting the Sin¡¯s Ingredients in the Barren Land was something that might break the bnce in Hell.

    ¡°Hihihihihihihihing!¡±

    Velma¡¯s entire body was covered in ck mes, while red mes covered the ce where her mane should be.

    <em>¡®She¡¯s higher than Level 600¡­¡¯</em>

    This came as a disappointment to Minnyuk, who was trying to harvest the final Sin¡¯s Ingredient, the Sin¡¯s Cabbage. Did this mean that he had to deal with Velma while harvesting the cabbage?

    Given Velma¡¯s level, Minhyuk would probably only be able to deal with her if he could utilize all the cooking buff effects avable to him and go all out. However, the problem was that they were in urgent need to harvest the Sin¡¯s Cabbage.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s soul might get destroyed.¡¯</em>

    If Minhyuk was forced to fight Velma, then He would be left alone to harvest the Sin¡¯s Ingredient, which would be a huge problem. If that happened, then Minhyuk was sure that the aftermath of the battle between him and Velma would definitely affect He.

    Minhyuk put his hoe back into his inventory and grabbed his sword. He looked nervously at Velma, who was standing arrogantly a few meters away from them. But then, something strange happened.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Velma could not take her eyes off of He. Under normal circumstances, Velma would have already disyed her ferocious nature by charging at intruders and biting them. However, Velma just stood there and looked at He.

    Then, tears started to well up in Velma¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Hihihihing¡­¡± Velma cried softly.

    Seeing this, He stopped harvesting for a moment. She looked at Velma with a bitter smile on her face and said, ¡°Have you been well, Velma?¡±

    ¡°¡­Ah.¡±

    Minhyuk finally understood the situation. Velma was owned by the God of Death. If He was the God of Death¡¯s lover, then she must have spent quite a lot of time with Velma.

    The mes that covered the Barren Land almost disappeared.

    <em>[Velma is the god tasked to protect the bnce in Hell!]</em>

    <em>Crackleeeeee¡ª!</em>

    The mes that were on the verge of dying down burst out once again. This was a restriction ced upon the guardian god. Even if Velma did not want to, she would be forced to protect the bnce in Hell without fail.

    ¡°Hihihihihing!¡±

    <em>Thud¡ª</em>

    A terrible pressure fell upon Velma as she took a step back with a loud thud. When she tried to take another step back, her entire body flinched and she was forced to stop in her tracks.

    ¡°Hihihihihihihihihing!¡± Velma¡¯s loud cries clearly represented the struggle she was feeling.

    The Hell Horse remembered the look on her master¡¯s eyes before. He had this dark, dull and gloomy look on his face. Even his eyes seemed to be empty as he lost interest in everything. But then, one day, her owner asked her to go with him to earth. Her master disguised her as a young and tiny foal.

    That was when they met He. The God of Death worked on the field with He. It was quite interesting. The God that was in charge of death suddenly engaged in activity which gave rise to new life.

    ¡ª<em>Ah, for real? Louis. Why can¡¯t you do anything in the field?! Is there anything that you¡¯re good at?!</em>

    <em>¡ª¡­I¡¯m good at turning the living into the dead.</em>

    <em>¡ªIs this the time for that¡­?!</em>

    <em>¡ªSorry¡­</em>

    <em>¡ªHihihihihing.</em>

    Velma could clearly remember how He nagged the God of Death. However, even when He nagged at him, she could see the small smile that curled at the corner of her master¡¯s lips. Both Velma and the God of Death caused problems back then. However, they were both very happy.

    He smiled as she stroked Velma¡¯s face.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    <em>Thud, thud, thud¡ª!</em>

    As the guardian god tasked to protect the bnce of Hell, Velma was bound to receive punishment if she chose to defy and not fulfill her tasks. Intense numbing pain ripped through Velma¡¯s body as the sounds of bones cracking rang loudly in everyone¡¯s ears.

    <em>[Velma is the god tasked to maintain the bnce of Hell.]</em>

    Velma took another step forward as the sound rang.

    <em>Thud¡ª!</em>

    And another¡­

    <em>Thud¡ª!</em>

    However, that was her limit. She could no longer move from the pain. Velma felt like her body was being stabbed by dozens of swords as her bones broke.

    ¡°Hihihihihihing!¡± Velma screamed as she fell on the floor twitching.

    ¡°¡­Velma.¡± He looked at the Hell horse sadly.

    <em>¡®This is terrible.¡¯ </em>Minhyuk felt sorry for both He and Velma. Especially for Velma, who was suddenly given the task to kill one of the beings that were most precious to her. In fact, it could be seen how resistant Velma was with how she would not attack He, even when her entire body was in pain.

    Then, Minhyuk mumbled, ¡°Perhaps this is because Velma is owned by the God of Death?¡±

    ¡°What¡­?¡± He looked at Minhyuk in confusion.

    But just to be sure, Minhyuk voiced out his thought, ¡°By any chance, is the God of Death the one that imposed such a restriction on Velma?¡±

    ¡°Probably? Although the God of Death cares deeply and cherishes Velma, this is something that he has to do.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded as he turned to look at Velma, who was screaming while her head was being pressed down on the ground. Then, he said, ¡°What would happen if I took over Velma¡¯s ownership?¡±

    ¡°¡­What?¡± He¡¯s eyes grew wide.

    What would happen if Velma¡¯s master became Minhyuk? If this was possible, then they might be able to do something about their overall situation.

    Minhyuk opened his skill window.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Allurer¡¯s Cooking Skill</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Active Skill</em>

    <strong><em>Level</em></strong><em>: 2</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Use</em></strong><em>: -2 in all of your stats.</em>

    <strong><em>Effects</em></strong><em>: You will be able to tame the opponent by creating the recipe that they want and feeding it to them. The probability of sessfully taming the opponent will increase or decrease depending on various factors and conditions.</em>

    <strong><em>Number of Avable Uses</em></strong><em>: 2/3</em>

    The Allurer¡¯s Cooking Skill was one of the ss-specific skills that the Food God had. Minhyuk had used this very skill to bring the Baphomet named Rune under him. If Minhyuk seeded in taming Velma using the Allurer¡¯s Cooking Skill, there was a chance that the coercive pressure that was making her suffer would disappear.

    ¡°Create a Recipe.¡±

    <em>[Creating a recipe that the other party desires.]</em>

    <em>[You can now check the recipe for Yukhoe Bibimbap.]</em>

    <em>[The amount of buff that can be used has been decreased due to creating a recipe.]</em>

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Yukhoe Bibimbap Recipe for Velma</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Required Ingredients</em></strong><em>: Benya¡¯s Eye of the Round Steak, Dew-covered Lettuce, Sun¡¯s Gochujang, Foltoni¡¯s Pears, etc¡­</em>

    <strong><em>Expected Dish Grade</em></strong><em>: Unique~Legendary</em>

    <strong><em>Expected Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?Velma¡¯s zing Dash will dramatically increase.</em>

    <em>?Velma¡¯s me Rted Skills will dramatically increase.</em>

    This was quite unexpected for Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®She wants a Yukhoe Bibimbap?¡¯</em>

    Then, he caught sight of Velma¡¯s teeth, and instantly understood why.

    <em>¡®It looks sharper and tougher than a lion¡¯s teeth.¡¯</em>

    Velma was most probably an omnivore.

    ¡°She wants yukhoe bibimbap.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s because I used to give her yukhoe bibimbap before.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded when he heard He¡¯s words. It was likely that Velma could not forget the taste of the bibimbap that she ate back then. Fortunately, yukhoe bibimbap was very quick and easy to cook.

    Minhyuk quickly began to cook for the distressed Velma. He swiftly chopped and sliced the vegetables, before moving to take out the eye of the round steak that he always carried in his inventory and sliced it thinly.

    After that, he scooped rice on a huge bibimbap bowl and began to add the bean sprouts, lettuce, carrots, pears, and the yukhoe. Then, he ced some gochujang on top of the yukhoe and drizzled some sesame oil, before cing an egg yolk in the middle as a decoration.

    Minyuk ced the yukhoe bibimbap in front of Velma the moment hepleted it. It was quite a sight to put food in front of the struggling Hell Horse. Even so, it still allowed Velma to take in the scent of the food.

    The scent wafting from the bowl was very nostalgic. It was a scent that she had smelled a long time ago. It was obvious that Velma had not forgotten the yukhoe bibimbap that He had given her before. After all, it was a delicacy that she could never eat in Hell, a ce where nothing grew or thrived.

    <em>¡®The most important part to take into consideration here is that the chances of the Allurer¡¯s Cooking Skill bing sessful depend on various factors.¡¯</em>

    At this moment, Velma did not want to hurt He. This could be a reason for a higher probability of the Allurer¡¯s Cooking Skill bing sessful.

    He approached Velma and swept her hair. ¡°Do you remember this dish?¡±

    ¡°Hihihihihing!¡± Velma cried.

    He smiled as she mixed the bibimbap for the Hell horse. The moment she ced the bowl down again, Velma immediately ate the dish.

    <em>Munch, munch, munch¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk, who went back to swinging his hoe, watched Velma chew the bibimbap like crazy. Watching her eat like that made Minhyuk remember the taste of yukhoe bibimbap that he ate before. He remembered popping the egg yolk ced in the center.

    <em>Fwoosh¡ª</em>

    The yolk had dripped down the rice and the vegetables as he mixed everything with the red gochujang. At the same time, the appetizing and savory scent of the sesame oil had wafted and further stimted his salivary nds.

    <em>Mix, mix¡ª</em>

    Once everything was mixed and had turned red, he then scooped a huge bite and put it in his mouth.

    <em>Munch, munch, munch¡ª</em>

    The spicy vor of the gochujang and the savory sesame oil had then spread in his mouth the moment he chewed the mouthful of bibimbap. But that was not all. The assorted ingredients like pears, bean sprouts, carrots, lettuce, and many other vegetables also added sshes of vors that created a pleasant mixture in his mouth.

    <em>Gulp¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk gulped at the memory.

    At the same time, Velma finished all of the yukhoe bibimbap. Seeing this, Minhyuk felt very nervous.

    <em>[Mother of Hell Horses Velma has eaten the Allurer¡¯s Dish: Yukhoe Bibimbap.]</em>

    <em>[The Allurer¡¯s Cooking Skill is attempting to tame Velma.]</em>

    <em>[The taming process is very difficult!]</em>

    Velma felt something strange. She felt a force appear in her body that tried to separate her from the God of Death. She immediately pressed down on that foreign force.

    <em>¡®I have to protect the God of Death.¡¯</em>

    <em>[Velma is refusing the Allurer¡¯s Cooking Skill!]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s face crumpled. However, Velma caught sight of He¡¯s face.

    <em>¡®I also don¡¯t want to hurt her.¡¯</em>

    <em>[Velma is conflicted!]</em>

    <em>[Velma¡¯s great love for He has greatly increased the probability of the sess of Allurer¡¯s Cooking Skill.]</em>

    <em>[Velma is refusing the Allurer¡¯s Cooking Skill.]</em>

    <em>[Velma is conflicted!]</em>

    <em>[Velma¡¯s great love for He¡­]</em>

    The notifications rang constantly. Minhyuk, who saw the very conflicted Velma, shouted loudly, ¡°Velma, I promise you¡­¡±

    ¡°Hihihihihing¡­¡± Velma cried softly. She could see the sincerity in Minhyuk¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°I will send you back to your master¡¯s arms.¡±

    He was speaking the truth. Velma was a ferocious Hell horse. Even if he could tame her and make her into his subordinate, there was no guarantee that Minhyuk would be able to control her. He was also aware that the God of Death would not leave him alone if he took Velma with him. Basically, Velma would be Minhyuk¡¯s temporarily.

    <em>[The Allurer¡¯s Cooking Skill has seeded.]</em>

    <em>[Velma¡¯s taming has seeded.]</em>

    <em>[However, Velma is the wild and uncontroble Guardian God of Hell.]</em>

    <em>[You have tamed the Hell God. You have made a surprising achievement by doing something that even the God of Summoning has never done!]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained the </em><strong><em>Title</em></strong><em>: What the Hell? Is There Nothing That You Can¡¯t Seduce?]</em>

    In the end, Minhyuk sessfully took over the ownership of Velma. Once Velma¡¯s master changed, the pain that wracked her entire body slowly disappeared.

    <em>Crackleeeee¡­</em>

    At the same time, the zing mes started to die down and disappear. He embraced Velma, who was finally free from the pain.

    While He and Velma were busy catching up with each other, Minhyuk continued with his job and stepped up the pace. As he swung his hoe, he saw the figure of a man standing not too far away from them.

    The man was wearing a ragged ck robe and a bare face that could be considered to be very handsome. His eyes lookedpletely empty, but there was the unmistakable charisma that an absolute being would have emanating from his body.

    <em>¡®That guy is¡­ the God of Death¡­¡¯</em>

    Now that the mes had gone down, it was not that difficult to harvest the Sin¡¯s Cabbage anymore.

    <em>Thuuuuuud¡ª</em>

    With onest swing of his hoe, the notifications rang one after the other.

    <em>[You have sessfully harvested the Sin¡¯s Cabbage!]</em>

    <em>[You have harvested all of the Sin¡¯s Ingredients. You have made an amazing achievement!]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 1%!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 500 REP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 200 CHA.]</em>

    Despite the notifications that rang constantly in his ears, Minhyuk stood still and watched the small light that slowly appeared from the ces where the Sin¡¯s Ingredients were once buried. Just like electric currents flowing through wires, the light began to wriggle and spread and lit up Hell.

    Amidst the beautiful scene of Hell turning bright, the God of Death stood still and looked at He with a sad smile on his face.

    <em>[You havepleted the </em><strong><em>Sudden Quest</em></strong><em>: Harvesting Ingredients Before He¡¯s Soul Perish.]</em>

    The Sword of Aeon flew out of Minhyuk¡¯s inventory on his own and floated in front of him. It then rose and flew with the wind as the God of Death stretched out his hand.

    ¡°Louis¡­?¡±

    The God of Death did not say anything to He. He just showed a small smile toward He, who had not yet disappeared. After a few moments of silence, he, who med himself for her death and ran away in cowardice, finally gathered the courage to say the words that he could not bring himself to say for thousands of years before the woman he loved disappeared.

    ¡°I love you, He.¡±

    <em>Crackleeeee¡ª</em>

    ck mes shot out of his fingertips and filled the Sword of Aeon. The mes spread quickly across Hell, like the aftermath of a nuclear bomb¡¯s explosion. Then, the aftermath suddenly stopped before getting sucked back inside the Sword of Aeon.

    <em>Rumbleeeeeeeeee¡ª</em>

    Then, powerful winds and tremors shook Hell.

    <em>[The Sword of Aeon¡¯s Second Seal has been lifted!]</em>

    <em>[The skies, the seas, thend.]</em>

    <em>[The greatest and strongest sword that can split the world has appeared.]</em>

    The same notifications that rang when the first seal was lifted rang once again. It was followed by another set of notifications, which rang for all of Athenae to hear.

    <em>[This Sword¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­has cut even the Eight Pirs.]</em>

 Chapter 821

    Chapter 821

    <em>[The skies, the seas, thend.]</em>

    <em>[The greatest and strongest sword that can split the world has appeared.]</em>

    <em>[This Sword¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡­has cut even the Eight Pirs.]</em>

    The entire Athenae was turned upside down once again when these notifications rang all over the world. Even the Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army in Edea stopped in the middle of their march when they heard these notifications. However, the notifications did not end there.

    <em>[Anonymous has grabbed the greatest sword in existence!]</em>

    The whispers among the Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army grew louder and louder.

    ¡°The notification itself says that it¡¯s the greatest sword?¡± Valentino, the God of Shields and the one considered as Italy¡¯s greatest tanker, groaned. ¡°I¡¯d like to get hit by that sword at least once.¡±

    Meanwhile, cold sweat dripped down Master Archer Miao¡¯s forehead. Who in the world got their hands on that sword? There were quite a lot of guesses and assumptions amidst the yers. None of them were sure who the owner of the sword was.

    ¡°Fortunately it¡¯s not the Food God.¡±

    ¡°Whoever that is, I hope that they can deal with the Food God.¡±

    ¡°New and strong yers will always appear. There¡¯re also those unofficial rankers.¡±

    Food God Minhyuk was currently acting as Edea¡¯smander. Master Archer Miao had clearly seen him amidst the hundreds of Hanwoos that came charging at them. She even saw Minhyuk turn around after Hanwoo trampled on them.

    However, there was one thing that everyone was sure of. The yers all over the world all felt envious and jealous. At the same time, there was also a great sense of anticipation and excitement.

    ***

    There was an uproar in Joy Co. Ltd. The moment the yers all over the world received the notifications, the officials of Athenae quickly checked on the situation.

    ¡°How high is the attack of the greatest sword in existence?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe that the most powerful sword has already made an appearance. Isn¡¯t this much faster than what we expected?¡±

    There was only one thing that everyone was curious about. That was the item window that would usually be disyed in front of the yer. However, because of the <em>yer Confidentiality Agreement </em>made with the executive-level yers, they could not check the yers¡® item window.

    Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s conference room.

    President Kang Taehoon groaned as he sat in front of all of the executives.

    ¡°It seems there will be quite a lot of God-rank artifacts that will be released soon.¡±

    With the appearance of the greatest sword, the production team would have to work and supply more God-rank artifacts.

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s a relief. It¡¯s just in time. We will have approximately fifty yers that should reach Level 600 in a month¡¯s time.¡±

    Whenever someone obtained something special, the others would also be able to obtain something special too. If the high ranking yers were lucky, they might be able to overtake the others if they could get a good reward among the special privileges after reaching Level 600.

    The fact that Minhyuk had obtained the greatest sword in existence was already a huge variable on its own. However, it was still manageable since he was a nonbat ss yer. It would be difficult for him to handle the otherbat yers once they got their special privilege after reaching Level 600.

    Not long after, they turned on the monitor. President Kang Taehoon nodded as he looked at the monitor. He said, ¡°Disy the Sword of Aeon¡¯s window.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Everyone looked at the screen nervously. With the cking of one of the executive¡¯s keyboards, the item information window appeared on the screen.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Sword of Aeon</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: God</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: God, the One that Lifted the Second Seal</em>

    <strong><em>Durability</em></strong><em>: ¡Þ/¡Þ</em>

    <strong><em>Attack</em></strong><em>: 2,354</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?Increase all stats by 37%.</em>

    <em>?Reduce all skills¡¯ cooldown by 30%.</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Double Basic Attack Damage</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: The Greatest Sword</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Submission and Surrender</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: God¡¯s Dual Sword Technique</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: Aeon. This is a sword that has been sealed for so long that one could not remember when it was first sealed. Only its second seal has been lifted, the sword still cannot exert its full power.</em>

    The entire conference room was plunged into silence.

    The attack of ordinary high rankers¡¯ swords usually ranged from around 1,600 to 2,000. However, the Sword of Aeon¡¯s attack far exceeded that.

    A sword¡¯s attack would affect not only one¡¯s basic attacks, but also all attack skills rted to the sword. Assuming that another yer had the same conditions but using a different sword, with a 37% increase in all stats, they would be able to incur almost 1.5x more damage than normal.

    Then, there were the skills attached to the Sword of Aeon. Some of the skills that appeared before had been deleted and reced by new ones. However, the one that stood out the most was the<em> Dual Sword Technique.</em>

    ¡°Disy the God¡¯s Dual Sword Technique.¡±

    Just like that, the effects of the God¡¯s Dual Sword Technique appeared in front of them.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Everyone was left speechless. Using the God¡¯s Dual Sword Technique was very difficult. After all, it was only possible if one had two God-rank swords with them. However, it was perfect for MInhyuk¡¯s circumstances. So, using the skill was already possible.

    Still, that was not the most shocking part. Even though the God¡¯s Dual Sword Technique could only be activated for five minutes, the skill user¡¯s attack speed would increase by 70% during the entire duration. Even the power of all of the sword-rted skills would also increase by 1.4x.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Everyone was speechless.

    At that moment, Department Head Kim Dae-Il murmured, ¡°It¡¯s just as we expected, no?¡±

    That was right. It was still within expectations. However, not long after, the Story Team¡¯s Leader suddenly groaned. It seemed like he finally had seen through the crux of the item¡¯s description.

    ¡°Keheok!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Kim Dae-Il looked at him in confusion.

    The Story Team¡¯s Leader, with his shaky voice, said, ¡°Please read the item¡¯s description once again. But this time, read it very, <em>very</em> carefully.¡±

    At his words, everyone turned to look at the description once again. Then, their eyes grew bigger one after the other. They finally noticed the crucial point.

    <em>[Only its second seal has been lifted, the sword still cannot exert its full power.]</em>

    ¡°On¡ª Only the second seal?!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not yet fully unsealed?!¡±

    President Kang Taehoon and several other executives looked quite calm and collected. They already knew this fact.

    Meanwhile, Kang Taehoon turned to look at the monitor once again. He watched as Minhyuk checked the Sword of Aeon with the God of Death and He, whose soul¡¯s extinction was approaching. Then, he said, ¡°We have a bigger problem.¡±

    Everyone turned their attention back to President Kang Taehoon as he continued, ¡°The Sword of Aeon has not even received any strengthening and reinforcement yet.¡±

    ***

    ¡°I love you, He.¡±

    These were the words that He hoped and longed to hear for thousands of years. She knew that the man she loved was the reason for her death. Because of that, the man was drowning with guilt and could only avoid her. However, instead of an apology from her lover, what she wanted to hear from him were those words, and those words alone.

    He¡¯s eyes shone with her tears as she looked at the God of Death as she gestured at the whole of Hell, vast, empty and lonely.

    ¡°Are you going to nt flowers?¡±

    ¡°I will think of you every time I look at those flowers.¡±

    ¡°How about nting some trees too?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure that I will smile as I eat the fruits born from those trees while thinking about you.¡±

    ¡°Will you remember me?¡±

    ¡°Forever and always. I will never forget you until the day that I disappear from this world.¡±

    That was right. He only wished to hear these words from the God of Death. After finally hearing those words, He could no longer hold back. She jumped into the arms of her lover.

    The God of Death held He tightly in his arms. The warmth of her body and her unique scent that he had not felt for the longest time put the God of Death¡¯s heart at peace.

    However, the God of Death could already see He¡¯s body shifting between a translucent state and her original state repeatedly. She truly did not have any more time left. She had to cross the River of Reincarnation now. Before that, there was something that the God of Death had to do first. He gently ced He down before turning to look at Minhyuk.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s breath hitched, his breathing turning ragged as pressure fell upon him.

    Even though the God of Death¡¯s eyes looked empty, they still contained charisma that belonged to an absolute being. The God of Death was an Absolute God that even the Battle God, who ruled over all of the armies, could not control.

    Then, the God of Death said, ¡°How dare you take what is mine?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°I will crush and destroy everything rted to you. I will drag all those that you care about in Hell and make them into my ves. I will make it so they will be forced to wander in Hell without being able to reincarnate.¡±

    Indeed, the God of Death was truly capable of something like this. He had the power to make those words the reality.

    He tried to say something but she promptly closed her mouth after a brief moment. Even though the God of Death loved her, this was something that she had no power to stop. In the first ce, the God of Death was a vicious and ferocious being that no one could ever get close to.

    ¡°And I will deprive you, who entered Hell without my explicit permission, of the power to enter Hell once again.¡±

    <em>[The God of Death has banned you from entering Hell!]</em>

    <em>[Once you leave, you will no longer be able to enter Hell anymore!]</em>

    The God of Death looked at Minhyuk coldly. He was different from the Battle God. He was a god that no one could get along with.

    ¡°The next time we meet, I will tear your body apart.¡±

    It was an ill-fated rtionship. Saving He was part of a <em>quest</em>. In other words, the rewards that he received woulde with a price. Unlike the other gods, the God of Death did not have any interest nor did he have any favorable impression of Minhyuk.

    ¡°If you cook for He before she leaves, then I will turn a blind eye on this matter.¡±

    This was not something that he asked just because he felt a sense of familiarity or was friendly with Minhyuk. The God of Death did this for the sake of He, the woman that he loved the most.

    Minhyuk, on the other hand, was rxed. In fact, he even chuckled when he heard those words. That was cool. For the sake of the woman that he loved, he was willing to be an ordinary man, even for a brief moment, and not the God of Death.

    ¡°Are you kidding me?¡±

    Of course, in Minhyuk¡¯s fashion, he had to snap back at him. The God of Death was doing this for his lover, and not for his own good. If that was the case, then he had to be the one to fight for his own benefits.

    ¡°Without anything in exchange?¡± Even though Minhyuk said those words, there was a soft smile on his face. Cooking for He was something that he also wanted to do.

    ¡°Let¡¯s make a deal.¡±

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Hidden Quest</em></strong><em>: He and Louis¡¯ Parting Meal.]</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: A</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: The one the God of Death asked to cook; the one that returned Velma¡¯s ownership.</em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: You will be granted the Origin Authority: The One that Advances once.</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Failure</em></strong><em>: The God of Death will be hostile to you.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: The God of Death wants to have a final parting meal with He before she crosses over the River of Reincarnation. Satisfy them with one final feast.</em>

    Minhyuk was very surprised when he saw the quest window.

    <em>¡®Did you just say Origin Authority?!¡¯</em>

    The three greatest gods each possessed an Origin Authority of their own.

    One of the Origin Authorities was the <em>God and Knight</em> that was now in Minhyuk¡¯s possession, a skill said to be superior to any other skill in existence. As for the second Authority, it was in the hands of the God of Death.

    <em>¡®The One that Advances?¡¯</em>

    It would only be granted to him once. Minhyuk had no idea about what kind of power it was. However, the difficulty of the quest that was given to him was quite low. In fact, it was only at rank A. The dishes that he would cook would only serve as a decoration to make the parting of these two people more beautiful. It would be fine as long as Minhyuk did not do anything weird with the dishes that he would make.

    <em>¡®This is definitely for business.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk saw the<em></em>part in the requirements where he had to return Velma¡¯s ownership. Of course, it was something that he was not sad to part with. After all, he already nned to send the Hell Horse back from the very beginning.

    Leaving the messy things behind for a moment, Minhyuk began to cook. The dishes that he chose would definitely serve to change the atmosphere between the two parting lovers into something beautiful and romantic.

    So, what was Minhyuk going to cook? It was none other than carbonara. Minhyuk boiled the spaghetti pasta while he stir-fried some bell peppers, button mushrooms and bacon. He also grilled some steak until they were medium rare.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    The two gods sitting by the side could not take their eyes off of the rising mes as the olive oil made contact with the pan. After he finished cooking all of the dishes, Minhyuk took a table and some chairs from his inventory and ced them in front of the two.

    Both gods were unfamiliar with the dishes that he cooked, so Minhyuk had to exin how to eat them one by one. ¡°Hold the steak with your fork and cut it with your knife.¡±

    The God of Death followed his instructions, his hands moving awkwardly as he cut a piece of steak.

    ¡°Then, please feed this piece to He.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The God of Death, who sessfully cut a piece of steak, raised the fork and ced the food in He¡¯s mouth. Of course, He did the same. She rolled a mouthful of carbonara and delivered it to the God of Death¡¯s mouth. The two looked at each other, small smiles hanging at the corner of their lips.

    When they finished their parting meal, the notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[You havepleted the </em><strong><em>Hidden Quest</em></strong><em>: He and Louis¡¯ Parting Meal.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Death will grant you the Origin Authority: The One that Advances once!]</em>

    ***

    River of Reincarnation.

    Unlike the other sights in Hell, the area around the never-ending River of Reincarnation was covered with green grass and its beauty was breathtaking.

    The River of Reincarnation was impartial. Once someone entered and crossed through the River of Reincarnation, all of the memories of their past lives would disappear. Even if they were gods in their previous lives, they would not know what kind of existence they would be once they were reborn.

    Right now, standing in front of this majestic and beautiful River of Reincarnation was the God of Death and the first God of Farming He.

    <em>[He will perish soon!]</em>

    He¡¯s feet started to turn blurry. However, the two just stood together hand in hand and looked at the River of Reincarnation.

    Then, He asked, ¡°If you get reincarnated, what kind of being do you want to be, Louis?¡±

    The God of Death looked at He. His voice sounded so soft, warm and gentle that one would wonder if he was truly the God of Death as he answered her, ¡°A human.¡±

    ¡°A human?¡± He looked at Louis in surprise.

    Those that lived and sat in their position as gods would generally be reluctant to give up their ce. Yet, the man beside her wanted to be an ordinary human being.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to be just any human being.¡± Louis smiled softly. ¡°I want to be a human being born right next door to you.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°I will be born right next to you, grow up next to you, and chase after you. Then, when youe of age, I will confess to you. I want to be the kind of human being that will have two children with you, who look like you. I want to be the kind of human being that will do ordinary things with you, eat delicious dishes with you, and continue to walk and smile together with you once our children grow up and leave our nest.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s my greatest wish.¡±

    Tears streamed down He¡¯s cheeks. She said, ¡°<em>Sniff. </em>Make sure of it. Make sure that you¡¯re born right next door and chase after me. Make sure to watch over me so that I don¡¯t bounce off all over the ce.¡±

    ¡°I promise you. I will make sure to do it even if it requires me to visit Athenae.¡±

    ¡°<em>Pfft.</em> What¡¯s that?¡±

    The God of Death wiped the tears off of He¡¯s cheeks as she chuckled at his words. Then, He took one step, then another, and another, until she entered the River of Reincarnation. She turned around and looked at Louis with a bright smile on her face as she turned into a light that floated around like a firefly, before disappearing with the current.

    <em>[You have activated the Battle God¡¯s Voice!]</em>

    In the sky above them, a beautiful picture was drawn. It was the picture of the God of Farming He and the God of Death Louis wearing ordinary farming clothes, holding their children¡¯s hands tightly as they went home with their backs against the sunset.

 Chapter 822

    Chapter 822

    He disappeared after crossing the River of Reincarnation. However, she looked the happiest until she waspletely gone.

    The reason why Minhyuk triggered the Battle God¡¯s Voice was not because of the God of Death.

    <em>¡®I acknowledge and respect your firm determination and pride in turning the barrennds of Hell fertile and green.¡¯</em>

    He had struggled for thousands of years and eventually disappeared. However, her efforts throughout the millennia deserved all the respect. So, he triggered the voice as a show of courtesy to the first God of Farming.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    After He left, the two men were left with an awkward atmosphere. Perhaps it was only natural. The only reason why Minhyuk was able to talk to the God of Death was because He was there. Besides, the God of Death was considered the coldest god out of all the gods in existence.

    However, this cold God of Death remained standing in front of the River of Reincarnation with a nk look on his face. The problem was an hour and thirty minutes had already passed since He had disappeared.

    <em>¡®¡­No way. There¡¯s no way that the God of Death is staring at the River of Reincarnation because he¡¯s feeling awkward, right?¡¯</em>

    When this question shed in Minhyuk¡¯s head, he had no choice but to open his mouth. After all, it was frightening to think that they would keep standing here forever like this.

    ¡°You know¡­¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    Only after Minhyuk spoke did the God of Death turn to look at him. The moment Minhyuk saw the expression on the God of Death¡¯s face, he knew that he had guessed right.

    <em>¡®I knew it! I was right! He was pretending to look at the River of Reincarnation because he¡¯s feeling awkward!¡¯</em>

    Among all of the Absolute Gods, the God of Death was the most headstrong god. He was also someone that had not met many people in his long life. So, this meant that he was at a loss when it came to handling people and having conversations.

    The God of Death¡¯s legs, who finally turned around to look at Minhyuk, trembled slightly.

    <em>¡®He stood in ce for an hour and a half to look at the River of Reincarnation, of course his legs would feel numb,¡¯</em> Minhyuk thought, a wry smile on his face.

    Then, the God of Death said, ¡°Give me your sword.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk tilted his head in confusion when the god suddenly asked for the Sword of Aeon.

    The God of Death seemed to know what Minhyuk was wondering about, and he exined, ¡°The effects of The One that Advances can strengthen and reinforce your sword.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk was shocked to hear that. The God of Death already had the power to lift the sword¡¯s second seal. That was why it was very surprising to hear that he could even boost the power of the Sword of Aeon.

    ¡°Do you know what kind of sword the Sword of Aeon is?¡± The God of Death asked as he looked at Minhyuk nonchntly, as if Minhyuk was an insignificant ant.

    To be honest, Minhyuk did not really know. Usually, one would be able to learn about the story behind the artifacts that they obtained by going through a quest. However, in Minhyuk¡¯s case, he was able to obtain the Sword of Aeon by choosing cooking ingredients from Rumacar¡¯s Treasure Box.

    Minhyuk immediately focused on the God of Death¡¯s words. It seemed like the god in front of him knew the story of the sword and what kind of sword it was. However, the God of Death suddenly stopped talking.

    <em>¡®Why did he stop talking?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk knew then that the God of Death would not tell him even if he asked. Perhaps the system had restricted the God of Death from divulging any information about the sword. Or perhaps the God of Death was just not in the mood to tell him about the sword. Either way, Minhyuk would not be able to pry any further. So, he just handed the Sword of Aeon to the God of Death.

    ¡°It would take three days for the power of the Authority to seep in and spread in the sword.¡±

    ¡°What¡­?¡±

    It was unexpectedly long. The problem was it came at a time when Minhyuk had many urgent matters to attend to. He had to return to Edea and help the Allied Forces, whereas the unsealing of the sword was <em>Minhyuk¡¯s</em> personal situation.

    ¡°Can it be done a bit faster?¡±

    ¡°Absolutely not. If you don¡¯t like it, then give up some of your powers.¡±

    Perhaps the God of Death¡¯s <em>reinforcement</em> could make his sword truly stronger. Minhyuk estimated that the sword would unconditionally be reinforced by +1 every day for those three days. He did not think that it was correct to give up on the reinforcement and just go back to Edea like that. Besides, the reinforced and strengthened Sword of Aeon would absolutely exert a huge power once he returned to Edea with it.

    ¡°I understand.¡±

    Fortunately, Edea¡¯s Allied Forces and the Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army had not yet entered a full-on war.

    <em>¡®They can survive for three days.¡¯</em>

    He was sure that Edea¡¯s Allied Forces would be able to hold out for that long. The God of Death grabbed the de of the Sword of Aeon with both of his hands.

    <em>Drip, drip¡ª</em>

    Red blood dripped from his hands and seeped into the Sword of Aeon.

    <em>[The God of Death has triggered the Origin Authority: The One that Advances on the Sword of Aeon in your possession.]</em>

    <em>[The reinforcement of the Sword of Aeon has begun!]</em>

    <em>[0%¡­ 0.2%¡­ 0.3%¡­]</em>

    Minhyuk looked at the slowly progressing reinforcement bar. Suddenly, he felt something suddenly vibrate in his inventory. When he took out the item, he could not help but wonder. The item that was vibrating was the Puzzling Seasoning Jar where Obren always slumbered.

    ¡°Obren¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk looked anxiously at the vibrating Puzzling Seasoning Jar.

    ***

    The day that Minhyuk left Edea to go to Hell was also the day that Obren left to do something. Obren had watched Minhyuk pass through the Gates of Hell, staring at the ce where he disappeared from with a bitter smile on his face, before turning in the opposite direction.

    ¡°Have a safe trip, idiot.¡±

    The stupid idiot would have to go to Hell to greet the God of Death, he could not help but worry. Then, Xuanzang approached him.

    ¡°Shall we go?¡±

    Obren nodded. He remembered Xuanzang telling him to be the tenth Absolute God. The only way to do so was to kill the Jade Emperor and take over his throne. However, it was not as easy as it sounded.

    <em>¡®It wouldn¡¯t be easy for you to win against the Jade Emperor as you are now. And even if you win, you wouldn¡¯t be able to take his throne.¡¯</em>

    Master Xuanzang clearly knew that Obren was an outstanding character. However, that was the Obren of the past. In fact, even if it was the Obren of the past, there was a chance that Master Xuanzang would not see him as someone strong and powerful.

    ¡ª<em>You¡¯ll have to get the Absolute God¡¯s Ne. It¡¯s currently in someone else¡¯s possession.</em>

    <em>¡ªAbsolute God¡¯s Ne?</em>

    <em>¡ªIt¡¯s the ne that someone, who wanted to be an Absolute God, has taken a long time to create. If you have this ne, you will be the new Absolute God after killing the Jade Emperor.</em>

    <em>¡ªThen, who owns the Absolute God¡¯s Ne?</em>

    This was the most important thing. Who was the one that has been preparing for a very long time to take over the Absolute God¡¯s seat? Obren was absolutely sure that it was very hard to deal with this guy. After all, this guy had been preparing to be an Absolute God.

    ¡ª<em>The people call him the Great Demon Verus.</em>

    <em>¡ª¡­!</em>

    Obren groaned when he heard the name <em>Great Demon Verus. </em>If Evil God Obren was the object of fear of many in the past, then the present had Great Demon Verus.

    From what Obren had recalled, Minhyuk had sealed the Great Demon Verus a few years ago. The problem was that it was just a seal ced upon him on earth. The Great Demon had most likely already started to regain his power in the Demon World and was only waiting for the time of his awakening.

    ¡°We have to obtain the Absolute God¡¯s Ne in the Demon World.¡±

    Master Xuanzang was someone that possessed special and amazing powers. He hung the beads that he usually turned in his hands on Obren¡¯s wrist and continued, ¡°These Buddhist m beads will help to awaken your sealed powers.¡±

    <em>[You have equipped Buddhist Monk Xuanzang¡¯s Buddhist M Beads.]</em>

    <em>[You were once hailed as the Evil God. However, you are currently in a weakened state.]</em>

    <em>[You will receive rewards if you kill evil beings while wearing the Buddhist M Beads.]</em>

    <em>[You can immediately use the power of the Buddhist M Beads to remove the sealing force that has sealed your own powers. Or you can choose to wear the beads for a period of time and let it permanently absorb the sealing force and help you regain your powers.]</em>

    Master Xuanzang''s m beads could be considered as a mysterious and bizarre artifact. Obren could clearly feel a god-grade power coursing through it.

    Then, Obren asked, ¡°Why are you doing this?¡±

    Master Xuanzang smiled bitterly and answered, ¡°The Jade Emperor will definitely take advantage of the foreigners from the other continent¡¯s invasion to descend upon Edea himself. Do you think the Food God will be able to stop the Jade Emperor once that happens?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    There was a loophole in the agreement between the Battle God and the Jade Emperor. Although the descent of the Jade Emperor¡¯s envoys could be controlled, his own descent did not have any restrictions at all. Of course, if one looked at the cycle, the Jade Emperor could only descend for thirty minutes at most. However, he could easily wipe out all of Edea¡¯s Allied Forces in those thirty minutes.

    Basically, Xuanzang was supporting Evil God Obren for the sake of Edea¡¯s safety. If Obren could be the Absolute God, then he would be able to bring peace to Edea.

    ¡°What a funny little monk.¡± Obren, the dark-haired handsome man, giggled as if he found Xuanzang funny and interesting.

    On the other hand, Xuanzang just kept silent as he drummed the muyu in his hands.

    <em>Tak¡ª tak¡ª tak¡­</em>

    ¡°Namo Amitabha Buddha¡­¡±

    As someone that could make the most rational judgment out of all of the kings in Edea, perhaps it would be safe to say that the Buddhist Monk Xuanzang was the most logical, but also the harshest character of them all.

    ¡°Since you want to protect Edea, then you have toe to the Demon World with me.¡±

    ¡±Of course, I will go with you. I cane and go as I please in Edea.¡±

    ¡°What a truly interesting power. Who are you?¡±

    Master Xuanzang felt Obren¡¯s cold gaze. Obren was quick-witted, he knew right away that Xuanzang possessed powers that were beyond ordinary.

    ¡°It¡¯s just like what you said. I am a monk. So, my powers are bestowed upon me by Buddha.¡±

    ¡°Speak any more bullshit and I will twist your head off.¡±

    Obren was the type of person that did not trust other people. His trust and belief was reserved for one person and one person alone, which was none other than Minhyuk.

    ¡°Open the path.¡±

    Xuanzang and Obren went to a quiet and deserted ce. The two of them entered the door that led to the Demon World the moment Xuanzang beat his muyu.

    Thick demonic energy wrapped around the two as they crossed over to the Demon World. It was as if the thick and cloying energy was greeting them. Xuanzang, who suddenly received the pressure from the thick and heavy demonic energy, could not help but groan.

    ¡°Hey.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Xuanzang, who had closed his eyes to try and stabilize his body from the heavy demonic energy that surrounded him, opened his eyes quickly.

    ¡°You said that no one would be at the entrance.¡±

    ¡°N¡ª Namo Amitabha Buddha¡­¡±

    <em>Tak¡ª tak¡ª tak¡­</em>

    Master Xuanzang could not hide how flustered he was. What he intended to do with Obren was to take the <em>Absolute God¡¯s Ne</em> from Great Demon Verus, who was currently sealed and was in the form of an egg, without alerting anyone in the Demon World. However, there were around 300,000 demonic beasts waiting standing in front of them, as if they had been waiting for their appearance.

    ¡°The¡ª The Lord Buddha would also make mistakes sometimes¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Xuanzang knew that their ns had already gone awry and would probably go down the drain soon. From what it looked like, the demonic beasts waiting for them were at around Level 450~500. Perhaps the Great Demon Verus had set it so the Demonic Beast Army would be summoned once an intruder entered the Demon World.

    Xuanzang only had a rough estimate of the extent of Obren¡¯s power. However, even though he had been called the Evil God in the past, most of his powers were currently sealed. From Master Xuanzang¡¯s point of view, there was no way that Obren could take on the 300,000-strong Demonic Beast Army on his own.

    ¡°Shall we turn back?¡±

    They could just turn around and return. However, Obren shook his head and said, ¡°Just give me five minutes.¡±

    Xuanzang frowned. They would be very foolish if they did not run away right at this very moment. So, he persuaded, ¡°No. If we don¡¯t turn back now then¡­¡±

    However, Master Xuanzang was not given the chance to finish his words as tens of thousands of the Evil God¡¯s Books floated in the sky and shone a dark light all over the area. When Obren took a step forward, ck lightning bolts rained down upon the enemies from the books in the sky.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª!</em>

    The demonic beasts turned into ashes and disappeared without a single trace. Obren continued to walk amidst their copsing ranks. Then, another book, which looked different from the other books, slowly rose to the sky.

    <em>[Book of Restrictions.]</em>

    <em>[You have used the Book of Restrictions.]</em>

    <em>[The power of the Evil God that has been temporarily suppressed and sealed has started to be unsealed!]</em>

    <em>Vwooooooooooooong¡ª</em>

    Obren¡¯s dark hair fluttered with the wind and covered most of his handsome face. However, his dark eyes shone a dangerous glint from between the gaps of his hair.

    Only then did Master Xuanzang realized, <em>¡®I¡ª I have already measured his strength but it seems like he was still holding back?!¡¯</em>

    Most of Obren¡¯s power had been sealed. This was the <em>assumption </em>that was deeply ingrained in Master Xuanzang¡¯s head. However, even though Obren¡¯s powers had been sealed, his current strength had already reached that of an Absolute God¡¯s power. It was only natural that he could still disy this much power in a weakened state.

    Then, Obren said, ¡°Get lost.¡±

    Another Evil God¡¯s Book floated in the sky. ck mes burst out and burned the book down. Then, it turned into a huge meteor that waspletely engulfed by the very same ck mes that devoured the book.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The meteor shot down and devoured all of the demonic beasts on the ground, destroying everything until there was nothing left of them. The time it took to sweep away and destroy the 300,000-strong Demonic Beast Army was exactly five minutes.

    Obren stood in the middle of the aftermath of his one-sided ughter. Seeing him stand there, Master Xuanzang recalled the conversation that he had with Obren in the quiet and deserted ce that they went to in Edea beforeing here.

    ¡ª<em>You see, there¡¯s something I¡¯m very curious about. If you be an Absolute God, then what kind of god would you like to be?</em>

    All of the gods had a role to y. Since he was an Evil God, it seemed like it was only appropriate for him to opt for the name <em>God of Evil</em> once he became the tenth Absolute God. If not that, then it would be even better to be called the <em>God of Goodness. </em>The choice was up to him and whatever path he wanted to tread on.

    Obren thought for a moment before opening his mouth to answer that question.

    ¡ª<em>A Guardian God.</em>

 Chapter 823

    Chapter 823

    Demon World.

    Master Xuanzang and Obren made their way to where Great Demon Verus was. After Obren had wiped out the 300,000-strong Demonic Beast Army at the entrance, even more soldiers of the Demon World¡¯s Army had appeared to block their path.

    Rex had used several demons to attack the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, using the name of the God of Death. However, the demons that appeared back then were nothing but <em>empty shells</em>; they were not true demons.

    <em>¡®When members of the demon race or demonic beasts descend on earth, their power would weaken greatly.¡¯</em>

    In the Demon World, these demons would be able to exert power that could exceed someone at Level 700.

    Master Xuanzang groaned. <em>¡®We had nned to take away Great Demon Verus¡¯ Absolute God¡¯s Ne without alerting or encountering any demons.¡¯</em>

    However, Devil Uvall had appeared in front of them. A demon in the form of a ck camel, Uvall led a huge number of troops of the Demonic Beast Army, just like any other of the 72 Devils.

    <em>¡®¡­This is crazy.¡¯</em>

    Master Xuanzang reflected after realizing his evaluation of Obren was not urate before.

    ¡°Foolish bastards,¡± Obren jeered at them as an Evil God Book carrying the pattern of a sword appeared above his head.

    <em>Crackle¡ª</em>

    A ck sword appeared as the Evil God Book burned and disappeared into nothingness.

    <em>Crackleeee¡ª Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Obren moved swiftly and cut down the demonic beasts without stopping. At the same time, tens of thousands of lightning bolts fell down from the sky as the Evil God¡¯s Books floating in the sky disyed their power. As it turned out, the power of the Evil God¡¯s Book could easily trample even the demons from the Demon World.

    Still, Obren¡¯s power had been sealed and he was not invincible. Injuries, like tears, cuts and gashes, continued to appear all over his body. In the end, even one of his arms was cut off, disappearing without a trace as he shed against Devil Uvall. Unfazed, his expression remained unchanged as he stabbed his sword deep into his opponent¡¯s heart.

    <em>Crackle¡ª</em>

    Obren looked silently at the demon that disappeared in a burst of mes. Then, he recalled a conversation that he had with Minhyuk.

    ¡ª<em>Obren, I will be an emperor.</em>

    <em>¡ªThe emperor only likes to eat. Sooner orter, the empire will go bankrupt.</em>

    <em>¡ªWhat¡¯s wrong with an empire where everyone does not go hungry?</em>

    <em>¡ªAll of the people will be happy. However, it won¡¯t be easy.</em>

    <em>¡ªI know. But I have you, right? You¡¯re going to stay by my side and help me be an emperor, right?</em>

    <em>¡ªWhat are you on about? You¡¯re on your own.</em>

    <em>¡ªEeeeeeeh. Obren, help meeee~</em>

    <em>¡ªI feel like throwing up.</em>

    <em>¡ª¡­</em>

    Obren was very happy to hear that his friend had a new dream, which was to be an emperor. Although he did not say it out loud, Obren had made a vow then.

    <em>¡®I will help you.¡¯</em>

    He would help Minhyuk to be an emperor, to not be trampled by the Luvien Empire¡¯s powerhouses, and most importantly, to eat delicious dishes.

    Obren looked at his missing right arm as another Evil God Book appeared.

    <em>[You have used the Book of Recovery.]</em>

    <em>[You can only use the Book of Recovery three times!]</em>

    <em>[You have used the Book of Recovery to regenerate your broken and injured body!]</em>

    <em>[You have used a lot of mana. You are now experiencing dizziness!]</em>

    <em>Twitch, twitch¡ª</em>

    Obren¡¯s right arm, which had disappeared without a trace, started to regenerate. At the same time, another set of notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[Buddhist Monk Xuanzang¡¯s Buddhist M Beads are exerting their powers!]</em>

    The beads were an artifact that could lift the seal on Obren¡¯s power. First, they had to absorb the energy and force from the evil beings that he in.

    <em>[You have gathered 3% of Unsealing Power!]</em>

    <em>[If you keep the beads on for more than a week and continuously gather the Unsealing Power, it will help you recover your original powers permanently.]</em>

    <em>[However, if you use the Unsealing Power within that week, then all of your Unsealing Power will disappear.]</em>

    Obren¡¯s armpletely regenerated. At the same time, his vision turned white. He immediately raised his hand and pped his head to recover his senses.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    Obren raised his hand and stopped Xuanzang in his tracks. Then, he slowly leaned against a nearby rock to support his reeling and shaking body.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t we hide for a bit and take a rest? It would be impossible to move further with the state of your body right now.¡±

    ¡°No. We have to move as fast as we can.¡±

    That guy must be waiting for his return. Unfortunately, no matter how hard he tried to stand up, he still could not stand up.

    ¡°Look at yourself. You have to rest, even if just for an hour.¡±

    Obren breathed roughly, his face turning ugly when he realized that his body was not listening to hismands.

    ¡°Wait. I¡¯ll be fine after a short moment of rest.¡±

    Although cold sweat was dripping down Obren¡¯s forehead, he positioned himself to leanfortably on the rock behind him. Then, he took out a book from his pocket.

    Quickly, he became immersed in the contents of the book as soon as he started reading it. After a few moments, the cold sweat that was dripping down his face had disappeared. Even hisplexion turned rosy.

    ¡°Hoooo¡­¡±

    After a rough and long exhale, Obren¡¯s condition stabilized. His expression even became morefortable.

    <em>¡®What in the world is that book¡­?¡¯</em>

    Master Xuanzang looked at the book in admiration. It was too magical. It could instantly heal the exhaustion of someone that had lost an arm before. On top of that, Evil God Obren was someone that had the power to handle books. The power of the book that was in his hands would definitely be extraordinary. Xuanzang nced sideways at the page that Obren was reading.

    <em>[The womanid down on the magical creaking bed.]</em>

    <em>[The woman hugged her nket tightly, her body and her spirit in the throes of ecstasy.]</em>

    <em>[Creak, creak¡­ The sound of the bed was followed by her¡­ groans and moans¡­ her beautiful and slender waist¡­]</em>

    <em>re!</em>

    Master Xuanzang¡¯s eyes grew wide as he red at Obren.

    <em>¡®How can he read a book like that?! Isn¡¯t he the Evil God? Why does he have such a frivolous and perverted book?!¡¯</em>

    However, even though Master Xuanzangined in his heart, he could not tear his eyes away from the book either. For some reason, he felt like his body wasing down with a fever.

    Meanwhile, Obren, who waspletely immersed in the book, savored each sentence on the page slowly, as if he was tasting fine wine.

    ¡°Can you please turn the page quickly¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The two made eye contact with each other.

    ***

    Everything would not go as smoothly as one originally nned. These words seemed to describe Obren and Master Xuanzang¡¯s situation perfectly. After several twists and turns, the two finally reached the ce in the Demon World where Great Demon Verus was sealed. The ce was a shelter and it housed Verus¡¯ egg, which was in the form of a heart.

    <em>[You have reached Verus¡¯ Sealed Egg!]</em>

    <em>[Great Demon Verus has transferred the ownership of the Absolute God¡¯s Ne to his first ranking Devil, Demon King Baal!]</em>

    Master Xuanzang felt his heart drop into the depths of despair when he saw the first to tenth ranking Devils of the 72 Devils guarding Verus¡¯ egg.

    <em>¡®This is the end for us.¡¯</em>

    Xuanzang felt frustrated.

    <em>[Devil Baal. Level 775.]</em>

    <em>[Devil Agares. Level 739.]</em>

    <em>[Devil¡­]</em>

    <em>[Devil¡­]</em>

    <em>[Great Demon Verus¡¯ special power is protecting the Devils!]</em>

    <em>[If the Devils die inside the Demon World, they will be sealed and turned into eggs.]</em>

    <em>[With time, the seal binding them will be lifted and they will return as Devils once again.]</em>

    Xuanzang never expected that the demons of the Demon World, especially the first to tenth ranked devils of the 72 Devils would be guarding Great Demon Verus¡¯ egg.

    <em>¡®Perhaps, they had been summoned after themotion from earlier.¡¯</em>

    Regardless if they had been summoned or they were stationed here from the beginning, their appearance made Master Xuanzang feel numb. Even so, and despite his legs shaking, Xuanzang still took a step forward and followed Obren.

    ¡°I have consistently gathered enough Unsealing Power to release my sealed power while we were on our way here.¡±

    Obren had already gathered around 60% of the force to lift the seal on his power. This meant that he could use around 60% of his original power.

    ¡°Please stop your nonsense! Do you think you can be an opponent to those Devils with just 60% of your power?!¡±

    It was quite strange. Xuanzang had been in constant fear ever since they stepped foot in the Demon World. However, the man in front of him was not.

    Obren took a step forward and said, ¡°Watch.¡±

    <em>[You have used the Unsealing Power!]</em>

    <em>[The Evil God¡¯s power has awakened! 60% of the original power of the Evil God has been released!]</em>

    ¡°I am the Evil God.¡±

    <em>Vwoooooooooooong¡ª</em>

    The Devils in front of them groaned as a huge wave spread and covered the entire Demon World.

    At the same time, the first ranked Devil, Devil Baal, sent his spear straight toward Obren¡¯s heart.

    <em>[You have used your sealed power!]</em>

    <em>[You can use your power for ten minutes!]</em>

    <em>[All of your Unsealing Power has been used up!]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    However, at that moment, something unexpected happened. Baal¡¯s spear, which was moving at a breakneck speed, stopped just right before it touched the tip of Obren¡¯s outstretched finger. It was as if time stopped. Then, the spear flipped around and flew back to Baal, its sharp tip piercing through the Devil¡¯s heart.

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    ¡°I was once the supreme of an era.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Baal looked at Obren in shock.

    Just like that, both sides continued to fight for several days. Master Xuanzang underwent a rollercoaster of emotions as he watched the battle unfold in front of him. He would sometimes feel delighted, scared, and even frustrated.

    Obren sustained injuries of varying degrees as he fought for days on end. Thankfully, he was able to properly utilize his two final chances of using the Book of Recovery, allowing him tost longer.

    The problem was that Obren¡¯s Book of Recovery no longer had any avable use. On top of that, he had not been able to kill a single one of the Devils present, all because of the Great Demon Verus¡¯ egg.

    <em>[Great Demon Verus¡¯ Egg has doubled the Devils¡¯ Recovery Rate!]</em>

    The Devils were beings that originally already possessed a high recovery rate and defense. In fact, the one that was more admirable was Obren for being able to endure a fight against them for several days.

    <em>¡®If all of his sealed power had been released then¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>Gulp¡ª</em>

    Master Xuanzang gulped dryly. However, in the end, Xuanzang was left hugging Obren¡¯s body, which was littered with several severe injuries and was almost torn into pieces. The only thing that had been keeping the two of them alive for two days straight was the power of Buddha that was used to create an absolutely invincible barrier around them.

    ¡°¡­Do you still think the same way?¡± Master Xuanzang asked Obren. He was asking if the Evil God still did not have any intention of running away.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Obren, with his ragged body,y inside the barrier and looked up at the Demon World¡¯s sky. Obren no longer had the power to lift even a single finger. Although a few days had already passed, his body still remained riddled with wounds. It was not recovering at all. Meanwhile, the Devils had already recovered and were now waiting for the barrier to disappear, before attacking the two.

    The result of him forcefully utilizing the Evil God¡¯s Books had caused this situation.

    ¡°You¡¯re already dying.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go back. Let¡¯s go back and find another way, hmm?¡±

    Master Xuanzang was helpless in this ce where the power of Buddha did not have much influence. He felt that they should go back. If they did so, they would still be able to find a way to survive and live. However, Obren was far too stubborn and insistent.

    Obren tried his hardest to open his lips slightly and say, ¡°I¡­ pr¡­ promised¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡­ will¡­ pr¡­ otect¡­¡±

    Xuanzang¡¯s heart throbbed painfully.

    <em>¡®An unknown and strange fate brought about by the rtionship created by a mere human and the Evil God.¡¯</em>

    Perhaps, Obren¡¯s fate was far too great.

    <em>¡®I cannot see through his fate. My abilities arecking.¡¯</em>

    Then, Obren¡¯s eyes slowly closed.

    <em>¡®Is this the end? Does this mean that I can no longer protect the weak brat?¡¯</em>

    At that moment, the idiot¡¯s face appeared in Obren¡¯s mind.

    ***

    This story happened quite a long time ago.

    While Minhyuk was working in his office, Obren suddenly awakened from his long slumber in the Puzzling Seasoning Jar. Obren leaned on the sofa and looked at Minhyuk worriedly.

    ¡°Are you doing all of the work in the kingdom?¡±

    Minhyuk smiled faintly at Obren¡¯s question. He said, ¡°It¡¯s because I am the king. If I run and work hard like this, then everyone will definitely be happy.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re too naive. I have to stay by your side.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll protect me?¡±

    ¡°¡­What are you on about?¡± Obren said as he looked at Minhyuk in confusion.

    Minhyuk stood up and looked out of the window. Then, he asked, ¡°But you know, Obren¡­ You¡¯re quite strange.¡±

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡±

    ¡°Why do you think that you¡¯re the only one doing the protecting? I¡¯ll protect you too.¡±

    <em>Grin¡ª</em>

    Obrenughed incredulously. ¡°A weak guy like you?¡±

    ¡°Yeah! I will definitely protect you. And Obren, you have to remember this. Do not give up on your life for my sake. I would not be grateful if you do that. Besides, aren¡¯t you afraid to die?¡±

    ¡°¡­Yes, I¡¯m afraid.¡±

    Obren smiled wryly. It was natural for most to be afraid of death.

    ¡°Let¡¯s be honest. There¡¯s no one in the world that¡¯s not afraid of death, right?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Obren did not say anything. However, a bright smile appeared on his face when he returned inside the Puzzling Seasoning Jar as he recalled the words that Minhyuk told him.

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll protect you too.¡¯</em>

    ***

    There was a wide smile on Obren¡¯s face as hey down on the ground and looked up at the Demon World¡¯s sky.

    ¡°Haa¡­ Haa¡­¡±

    Although his breathing was heavy, the bright smile on his face did not diminish. Master Xuanzang knew that Obren¡¯s death was fast approaching. However, he could not help but wonder why the Evil God was smiling so brightly like this.

    <em>¡®Thanks.¡¯</em>

    Obren was grateful that he was able to live because of Minhyuk. He was grateful that Minhyuk offered to protect him, even though he was hailed as an Evil God.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m afraid.¡¯</em>

    Just like what Minhyuk had said, Obren was afraid of death, of eternal rest. s, slowly, ever so slowly, Obren¡¯s eyes started to close. Everything around him started to grow quiet.

    ¡°Obreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen!!!¡±

    Just then, a desperate and frantic voice that called his name rang in his ears. Although everything was very blurry and foggy in his head, he could still hear the notification in his ears.

    <em>[The person in possession of the Puzzling Seasoning Jar is approaching you!]</em>

    The voice sounded frantic, like the cries of a child crying for his parents.

    ¡°Obreeeeeeeeeeeeen!!! Where are youuuuuuuuuuu?!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Obren felt d that he would be able to see the owner of that voice. At that moment, he felt a strong will to live.

    As the Evil God, Obren had always pretended to be a noble and lofty being. He always made it appear as if he was greater than anybody else. However, someone still offered to protect him. For once, Obren wanted to rely on someone, on him. He wanted to let his guard down and rely on him, because it was him.

    <em>Twitch¡ª</em>

    Obren¡¯s fingers started to twitch and move. Although he was the Evil God, he still opened his mouth to say these words aloud.

    ¡°I¡­ want¡­ to¡­ live¡­¡±

    His voice sounded too soft. However, Obren squeezed thest of his strength to shout as loud as he could.

    ¡°I want to live! Please save me!!!¡±

    At that moment, zing mes appeared and devoured the entire Demon World. Even Master Xuanzang could not believe his eyes even though he was witnessing it in front of him. The source of those mes was a gigantic horse engulfed in ck mes.

    ¡°Hihihihihihihihing!¡±

    ¡°Hihihihihihihihihihihihing!¡±

    ¡°Hihihihihihihihing!¡±

    Minhyuk rode atop the gigantic horse engulfed in ck mes, with hundreds of thousands of Hell Horses galloping behind him and burning everything in the Demon World.

    Obren smiled faintly. The only person that he could trust and rely on, who he could show his weak side to, was none other than Minhyuk.

 Chapter 824

    Chapter 824

    While the God of Death was infusing the power of the Origin Authority: The One that Advances into the Sword of Aeon, Minhyuk saw the Puzzling Seasoning Jar shake and tremble.

    ¡°Obren¡­?¡±

    Before Minhyuk could voice out his doubts, notifications began to ring in his ears.

    <em>[Vassal¡¯s Voice has been triggered!]</em>

    <em>[Your vassal, Obren, is in danger.]</em>

    <em>[Obren¡¯s HP has fallen below 3%.]</em>

    Vassal¡¯s Voice was a skill attached to the Forgotten Monarch¡¯s Crown. It could report the status of three designated vassals whenever they were in danger and how his vassals got in danger.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The shock brought about by the notifications made Minhyuk feel numb all over. He was so shocked that he could not move or make a sound.

    <em>¡®Obren¡­?¡¯</em>

    Obren was the Evil God. He had disyed his might during the episode with the God of Death, where his original power had beenpletely unsealed, and swept away millions of powerful men with Kronad. Minhyuk had always regarded Obren as strong. To him, Obren was stronger than anyone else. However, this powerful Obren was now on the verge of death.

    Thanks to the Vassal¡¯s Voice, Minhyuk found out about Obren¡¯s situation.

    <em>[Your vassal, Obren, fought against the first to tenth ranked Devils in the Demon World.]</em>

    <em>[He¡¯s currently being protected by Master Xuanxang¡¯s barrier, but it would onlyst for three days.]</em>

    <em>[However, Obren no longer has any means to recover.]</em>

    Minhyuk was left confused when he read the words <em>Demon World </em>in the notifications.

    <em>¡®Why are you in the Demon World?¡¯</em>

    Of course, Minhyuk was aware that Obren left with Master Xuanxang to wee new changes in himself. However, he also knew that Obren was only willing to do so because it would help him and protect him.

    Minhyuk bit his lips. <em>¡®Obren, I will protect you too.¡¯</em>

    At that moment, Minhyuk recalled a skill that Hell Horse Velma possessed.

    <em>¡®Transcending Space.¡¯</em>

    <em>Transcending Space</em> allowed the user to go to any ce that they wanted in one breath. Basically, Velma could go anywhere, even ces that she had never gone to before.

    Minhyuk had not yet returned the ownership of Velma to the God of Death. However, if he used Transcending Space with Velma without explicit permission from the God of Death, then his already bleak rtionship with the God might fall apartpletely.

    ¡°God of Death.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The God of Death, who was still infusing the power of the Origin Authority into the Sword of Aeon, nced at Minhyuk.

    ¡°I have someone that I want to protect. May I borrow Hell Horse Velma to save him?¡±

    The God of Death silently stared at Minhyuk for a very long time. Perhaps the look in his eyes was simr to what the God of Death had when he tried to protect He, that was why he did something that he would not do normally.

    ¡°¡­Remember this.¡± The God of Death looked at Velma, who had curled in on herself as she sat down on the grass. ¡°Velma is the mother of all Hell Horses.¡±

    Minhyuk instantly understood what the God of Death meant. To call for Velma meant that he was also activating all of the Hell Horses.

    However, Minhyuk did not make a move right away even after he had received the God of Death¡¯s explicit consent. He still had three days left to prepare. Obren had left his side to obtain a stronger power. However, during the process, he was forced to his knees and copsed. This meant that Obren needed greater power.

    Minhyuk took out the three ingredients that he obtained from the first God of Farming He; the Shining Bean Sprouts, the Noble and Lofty Zhini, and the Energetic Bean. Minhyuk stared at the three God-grade ingredients before putting the zhini and the bean sprouts back in his inventory.

    Even if he used all three of the God-grade ingredients in his hand, it would not guarantee the appearance of a God-grade dish. Besides, it was hard to find a dish where all three of the ingredients could create a greatbination. Finally, as Obren¡¯s friend, Minhyuk knew that the man loved to eat tofu.

    ¡ª<em>What a strange dish. They¡¯re made from mere beans but they taste delicious whether you stir-fry them or boil them.</em>

    Minhyuk recalled the bright and happy smile on Obren¡¯s face as he ate the tofu that he gave him before.

    ¡ª<em>Obren, I¡¯ll make some sundubu-jjigae[1] next time.</em>

    <em>¡ªSundubu-jjigae?</em>

    <em>¡ªIt¡¯s a jjigae made from tofu that is softer than ordinary tofu. It¡¯s also very hot and spicy!</em>

    Obren had turned his head to hide the smile on his face back then.

    ¡ª<em>Well, I¡¯ll take your sincerity into consideration and eat it.</em>

    However, Minhyuk had been very busy since that time and had never had the chance to make some for Obren. So, Minhyuk would cook it for him now. Before everything else, Minhyuk checked the beans¡¯ information first.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Energetic Bean</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Ingredient Grade</em></strong><em>: God</em>

    <strong><em>Special Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?It restores the energy that has been lost from exhaustion.</em>

    <em>?This can help those that have grown old, those that have lost their power or those that have their powers sealed.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: It might just be a single bean but the moment it makes contact with water, it will multiply to how much is needed for your dish. The beans produced by this single bean are special beans that have restorative and anti-aging effects. It has the power to return those that consume it to their prime.</em>

    This was also one of the reasons why Minhyuk chose to cook sundubu-jjigae.

    The first thing that Minhyuk did was to ce the bean inside the aging jar. Making tofu would originally take at least eight hours. However, true to its name, the aging jar could ignore that time, and ripen or age whatever was ced inside it, like kimchi, doenjang, gochujang or soy sauce.

    <em>[Please set the amount of beans that you want.]</em>

    After hearing the prompt, Minhyuk set the amount of beans that he needed. Once he had set everything, the aging jar was almost full with beans. Then, he covered the jar and let the beans soak in water.

    Minhyuk took out the beans that had aged in an instant and took out his Gorac¡¯s Millstone. He immediately sat down in front of the millstone. Then, he ced the soaked beans inside the hole in the center of the millstone. After that, he grabbed the handle and began grinding.

    <em>Rrrrrrrrrr¡ª Rrrrrrrrrrr¡ª</em>

    At first it seemed like he was able to grind the beans well. However, a frown soon appeared on Minhyuk¡¯s brows.

    <em>¡®In the end, this ingredient is still a God-grade ingredient.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk realized something after cooking several God-grade ingredients so far.

    <em>¡®There is no God-grade ingredient that exists in the world that is easy to cook.¡¯</em>

    Little by little, the beans started to break apart, producing white bean water that dripped down the sides of the millstone.

    <em>[Grinding the Energetic Beans in the millstone will be 100x harder and longer than ordinary beans!]</em>

    Minhyuk just continued to turn the millstone and grind the beans.

    <em>Rrrrrrrrrrr, rrrrrrrrrrrrr¡ª</em>

    The beans started to struggle as he turned the millstone to grind. It might sound ridiculous but Minhyuk could clearly feel the beans trying to push the millstone away. At some point, Minhyuk, even with his high STR, was forced to hold the handle of the millstone with both hands just so he could turn it around.

    Cold sweat started to drip down his face. His arms started to tremble from the strain. However, he could not stop.

    <em>¡®I don¡¯t have much time.¡¯</em>

    Either the barrier would melt away, or Obren¡¯s HP would drop to zero. Regardless, he would die. Minhyuk had to finish cooking before any of that happened.

    Just like that six hours passed by, and bled into twelve, then into twenty-four. But Minhyuk did not stand and just continued to turn the handle of the millstone in his hands.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Although he was not showing it in his expression, the God of Death was shocked.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s the one chosen by the Battle God.¡¯</em>

    As he continued to watch Minhyuk, he thought, <em>¡®I get why chose him.¡¯</em>

    Perhaps this evaluation could be considered as the highest praise that one could get from the God of Death. However, Minhyuk did not feel the God of Death¡¯s gaze. This was because he had already fallen into a deep trance. As he lost track of how much time had passed, the notification rang out.

    <em>[You have ground all of the Energetic Beans!]</em>

    Immediately after all of the beans had been ground, Minhyuk went through several processes and began making soft tofu. The process of making soft tofu and tofu was generally the same. The only difference was that soft tofu did not harden and coagte like ordinary tofu. Because of that, soft tofu could be much easier to digest than ordinary tofu and was much morefortable to eat.

    After making the soft and jiggling tofu, Minhyuk quickly began to cook. He would use the soft tofu to make seafood sundubu-jjigae. He threw some ms, squid, and shrimps in the earthen pot together with the soft tofu.

    ¡°How many¡­ how many days have passed since I started?¡± Minhyuk, who had not taken a sip of water since he started making the tofu, asked after the contents of the earthen part had started to boil.

    ¡°It has been two days,¡¯ the God of Death answered.

    His mouth parched and lips dry, Minhyuk stood still for a moment as he chugged down a bottle of water. Then, he began to focus on the sundubu-jjigae.

    Oil from the chili pepper started to float around the pieces of soft tofu. Minhyuk cracked one open and ced it in the middle of the sundubu-jjigae.

    <em>[You havepleted the Seafood Sundubu-jjigae.]</em>

    <em>[Extreme Trance. It¡¯s a dish that contains your ¡®love for your friend,¡¯ ¡®dedication for him,¡¯ and ¡®will to never back down¡¯ poured into it!]</em>

    <em>[Due to the effects of Extreme Trance, the buff effects have be even better.]</em>

    Finally, the dish waspleted.

    Minhyuk listened to the notifications that constantly rang in his ears as he thought, <em>¡®Obren, this dish is for you.¡¯</em>

    Aside from cooking this dish, another reason why Minhyuk did not immediately take Velma and rushed to where Obren was currently at was because he did not want to put pressure on the man. Besides, Minhyuk knew that he himself would also be under extreme pressure once he went there and would not be able to cook properly in a situation where Obren was helpless.

    ¡°Hihihihihihihihihihing!¡± Velma cried loudly as Minhyuk rode on her back.

    Then, the God of Death said, ¡°Come back right away. I won¡¯t wait for you.¡±

    The Sword of Aeon¡¯s final reinforcement would soon be finished. Minhyuk nodded in response to the God of Death, despite his blunt words. He crouched down and told Velma, ¡°Velma. Use Transcending Space. Our destination will be the Demon World.¡±

    ¡°Hihihihihihihihing!!!¡±

    With Velma¡¯s loud and ferocious cry, the Hell Horses scattered all over Hell began to gather around her. Then, she charged to the sky and opened a path. Following behind were all of the Hell Horses that she had summoned. Just like that, Minhyuk and Velma ran through the path and made their way to the Demon World.

    ***

    Everything was burning. The demons and the demonic beasts tried to stop the galloping Hell Horses that run rampant inside the Demon World. However, it was to no avail. They just burned from the heat of the mes that covered the Hell Horses the moment they made contact.

    A small smile appeared on the dying Obren¡¯s face.

    ¡°Hihihihihihihihihihihihihing!¡± Velma, who stopped just right in front of the barrier, raised her hooves and threatened the Devils that were inching closer.

    ¡°Hihihihihihihihihing!¡±

    ¡°Hihihihihihihihing!¡±

    ¡°Hihihihihihihihihihihihing!¡±

    The hundreds of thousands of Hell Horses gathered around the barrier. At the order of their mother, Velma, the Hell Horses released their zing mes at the same time. Clusters of mes fell down from their bodies and exploded, forcing the Devils to retreat.

    ¡°Obren,¡± Minhyuk called out, his hands touching the barrier as he looked at the man who was slowly dying.

    Minhyuk had heard it clearly. He had heard Obren shouting that he wanted to live and that he wanted him to save him.

    ¡°¡­Why¡­ why are you¡­ sote?¡±

    Minhyuk felt relieved when he confirmed that Obren was not yet dead. Seeing him appear, Master Xuanxang hurriedly terminated the barrier. Minhyuk quickly approached the two while casting ¡®Let¡¯s Have a Meal¡¯, erecting another barrier that would protect Obren once again.

    After doing all of that, Minhyuk took out Mand¡¯s potion and poured it slowly into Obren¡¯s slightly parted mouth.

    <em>[Obren has received very severe injuries that even Mand¡¯s Potion cannot cure!]</em>

    <em>Gulp, gulp, gulp¡ª</em>

    That was what the notifications said. However, at the very least, the potion was slightly effective. After all, Obren, who did not have any energy to lift a single finger, was finally able to move.

    The pale Obren slowly sat up. He said, ¡°Why are you sote, idiot?¡±

    ¡°¡­Sorry,¡± Minhyuk answered, a small smile on his face as he looked in front of them.

    He could see Velma leading the Hell Horses to push the Devils back with their zing mes. However, he knew that this situation would onlyst for a brief moment. In fact, even if millions of Hell Horses appeared here, they would still be unable to do anything against the Devils inside the Demon World.

    ¡°Velma, let the Hell horses return.¡±

    ¡°Hihihihihihihing!

    The Hell Horses began to retreat after hundreds of them had been ughtered by the Devils. Even Velma was asked to retreat. After all, there was only one person that could fight and kill all ten Devils together.

    ¡°Obren, enjoy your meal.¡±

    Minhyuk ced the earthen pot containing sundubu-jjigae in front of Obren along with piping hot rice. Then, he held out a spoon to Obren, who was looking at the dish in front of him.

    ¡°I told you that I would make it for you before. I¡¯m sorry, it took so long.¡±

    Obren stared at the sundubu-jjigae for quite some time. Then, he heard Minhyuk¡¯s raspy voice saying, ¡°Thank you for calling out to me, Obren.¡±

    <em>¡®Thank you for not carrying it all by yourself. Thank you for calling out to me to help you.¡¯</em>

    Obren smiled faintly as he looked at Minhyuk. Then, he said, ¡°That¡¯s enough. You can go now. We¡¯re both going to get busy.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Minhyuk understood what he meant. <em>¡®I believe I can take care of this on my own now.¡¯</em>

    If someone knew about this, they would be very shocked. After all, the Devils present were ranked first to the tenth. On top of that, there was a chance that Verus might awaken. There was no way that a single person would be able to deal with the ten Devils along with the Great Demon.

    However, Minhyuk knew who the person in front of him was. He was one of the Eight Pirs, the Evil God that had once threatened the entire mankind before.

    ¡°I¡¯ll just watch you eat before going.¡±

    Obren smiled as he looked at the jiggling soft tofu in the steaming pot of sundubu-jjigae. The moment he ate a mouthful, a spicy and hot vor instantly spread in his mouth.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s¡­ delicious.¡¯</em>

    He sighed in admiration as he mixed the eggs, which were not yet fully cooked in the soup, with his spoon. Although the color of the soup turned a bit dull with the mixing that he did, a different vor spread in his mouth when he ate another mouthful.

    <em>¡®The vor has be richer. I think that¡¯s the correct word to describe it?¡¯</em>

    Obren smiled softly as he scooped a spoonful of white rice before taking a sip of the soup. Of course, he also did not forget to scoop a lot of soft tofu to go along with the rice and the soup.

    The soft tofu glided softly around his mouth before sliding easily down his throat. The faint smile on his face grew clearer and clearer with every bite of the dish. Sometimes he would eat the sundubu-jjigae with rice. There were also times where he would take the ms out and enjoy their contents one after another.

    <em>Scratch¡ª scratch, scratch¡ª</em>

    Soon, the sound of his spoon scratching the bottom of the earthen pot could be heard. Obren had finished his meal very swiftly.

    <em>Badump, badump, badump, badump¡ª</em>

    Meanwhile, Verus¡¯ egg that was in the form of a heart suddenly began to thump wildly. It seemed to have realized that Minhyuk was in its vicinity.

    <em>[Great Demon Verus is in a turbulent state!]</em>

    <em>[Great Demon Verus has noticed your existence! He is ovee with rage!]</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª!</em>

    Red blood dripped down from the egg and slowly encroached upon the Demon World.

    <em>[Great Demon Verus¡¯ Wrath has boosted the strength of the Devils!]</em>

    <em>[All of the Devils¡¯ attack has increased by 11%!]</em>

    <em>[The Devils¡¯ recovery rate has grown better.]</em>

    <em>[Great Demon Verus has summoned the Demon Corps!]</em>

    <em>Thump, thump, thump, thump¡ª</em>

    The entire Demon World shook and trembled.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s at least a million and a half troopsing this way.¡¯</em>

    That was how many demonic beasts and demons were marching toward this ce. Master Xuanxang, who realized the situation that they were in, felt numb all over.

    However, Obren just said, ¡°You¡¯re still not going?¡± Then, he smiled at Minhyuk and slowly stood up from his seat.

    In a blink, almost two million demonic beasts have arrived, their roars resounding loudly in the area. The Devils also stepped forward and red fiercely at Obren.

    <em>Swoosh¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk released the barrier created by the Let¡¯s Have a Meal skill. There was a sharp glint in Obren¡¯s eyes as he looked at the enemies beyond the slowly melting barrier.

    <em>Vwoooooooooooong¡ª</em>

    At the same time, there were countless notifications ringing in Obren¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You have eaten the Seafood Sundubu-jjigae!]</em>

    <em>[The dish is Legendary Grade!]</em>

    The seafood sundubu-jjigae that Minhyuk made might sound a littlecking. Some might even think that it was not enough for them to escape this very dangerous situation. After all, the dish was a mere legendary grade dish. However, the beans had anti-aging properties and had the power to restore one¡¯s energy and vitality. In other words, it was a dish that could rejuvenate whoever consumed it, its buff effect allowing one to return to their peak state.

    <em>[The seal on your power has been temporarily lifted! You can use your entire power during the buff duration!]</em>

    This effect was more than enough.

    <em>Rumbleeeeeeeee¡ª</em>

    Even though Obren¡¯s power had just awakened, the entire Demon World could not take on the pressure and was forced to tremble and shake from his majesty. The terrifying pressure made it harder for them to breathe while the ground shook under their feet.

    Then, at that moment, the Food God¡¯s Voice resounded all over the Demon World.

    <em>[The true Evil God¡­]</em>

    ¡°Hihihihihihihihihing!¡±

    Minhyuk rode Velma, who had opened the Hell¡¯s Gate. Before he closed the thresholdpletely, Minhyuk turned to look back at Obren, who was facing the two million strong Demonic Beast Army and the ten powerful Devils.

    At that moment, millions of Evil God¡¯s Books appeared in the sky. Then, millions of lightning bolts and streams of me shot down and ughtered the demonic beasts that were marching on the ground below them.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª!</em>

    Obren stood in the middle of the dazzling storm. He turned to look back at Minhyuk, a faint smile showing on his handsome face.

    Relieved, Minhyuk turned back and went on his way back to Hell as he finished the words that he wanted to say using his Food God¡¯s Voice.

    <em>[¡­has awakened.]</em>

    1. Spicy soft tofu stew ?

 Chapter 825

    Chapter 825

    Millions of flies would not be able to deal with a single person. That was how strength and power worked. It would not matter how many there were, they would be helpless in front of those that were truly powerful.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª!</em>

    The demons and demonic beasts were more powerful than they were on earth. After all, they were on their home turf, the Demon World. However, with every lightning bolt that fell down from the sky, a huge number disappeared without a trace. Just like that, millions of lightning bolts devoured more than two million troops of the Demonic Beast Army.

    Obren walked with elegance and grace, passing by the lightning bolts that continued to fall down from the sky. Of course, sending out millions of lightning bolts also consumed a huge amount of Obren¡¯s mana.

    Devil Marbas roared loudly when he saw how Obren had obliterated so many of them in one go, ¡°Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    Devil Marbas was a lion with a ck mane and the most hateful power. Everything that Marbas touched with his paws would rot.

    Obren stared at Marbas, who shot forward with his front paws aiming for his body. However, Marbas¡¯ front paw stopped right before it touched Obren¡¯s face. No matter how hard Marbas tried, he just could not move.

    ¡°All I need is to stop you from touching me, right?¡± Obren muttered as hundreds of Evil God¡¯s Books aimed at Marbas and shot lightning bolts at him.

    <em>Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh¡ª!</em>

    Marbas burst apart without even being able to scream, turning into a tiny egg the shape of the heart just like Great Demon Verus. Obren stepped forward and tried to crush the egg, but he received a notification.

    <em>[You cannot destroy a Devil¡¯s Egg that has started the sealing process!]</em>

    Obren smacked his lips as he began to fight against the other Devils. After fifteen minutes, the devils had all been sealed, turning into tiny eggs that spread all around him.

    ¡°¡­Ah.¡±

    Master Xuanxang was once again left in awe at the majesty and greatness of the one hailed as the Evil God.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s just like¡­¡¯</em>

    At one point, he even thought that Obren was an Absolute God. Perhaps the name <em>Absolute God of ughter</em> would even be fitting for him once he became an Absolute God. However, Xuanxang knew more than anybody else that Obren wanted to be a <em>Guardian God.</em>

    Meanwhile, Obren picked up the items that the devils dropped.

    <em>[You have acquired 32,315 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired a fragment of Devil Baal¡¯s Spear.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Ore tinium.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 23,513 tinum¡­]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the material: Marbas¡¯ Mane.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Blessed Instantaneous Movement Parchment.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Demon World¡¯s Red Pig.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Demon World¡¯s Oily Beef.]</em>

    Including the drops that he obtained after killing the demonic beasts, he had obtained around three million tinum worth of items.

    Whenever Obren picked up a cooking ingredient, a small smile would sh on his face.

    ¡°Are you going to give everything to Minhyuk?¡±

    Obren nodded slightly. Just thinking about how happy Minhyuk would be once he received everything was enough to make him feel good.

    Once he had dealt with all of the dropped items, Obren approached Verus¡¯ egg and ced his hand on it to obtain the Absolute God¡¯s Ne.

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    At the same time, a strange force flowed from his palms to his arms.

    <em>[Searching for the Absolute God¡¯s Ne inside the sealed Verus¡¯ Egg!]</em>

    <em>[The search will take more than eight hours!]</em>

    Obren clicked his tongue, his expression turning ugly after realizing that his right hand was stuck inside the egg for such a long period of time. Then, he clicked his tongue and pulled out a book from his inventory. As expected, the book was Aruvel¡¯s new work, <em>The Woman and the Magical Creaking Bed.</em>

    ***

    The Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army, led by the kings that fought actively during the Battle of Thrones, had looks of delight when they finally saw the fortress walls of Edea¡¯s Allied Forces. They might have lost a lot of troops because of the turtle ships, Minhyuk¡¯s tactics, as well as Hanwoo and the bombs, but they were still standing tall.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Episode Quest</em></strong><em>: The Fall of Edea¡¯s Allied Forces.]</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: ???</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: The ones that have crossed through the passageway and have reached the vicinity of Edea¡¯s Allied Forces</em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: EXP Acquisition and Artifact Drop Rate will quadruple. With every enemy killed, you might receive the Jade Emperor¡¯s Coins. The Jade Emperor¡¯s Coin that you receive might differ in form, depending on the strength of the opponent that you hunted.</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Failure</em></strong><em>: You will be banned from entering Edea.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: Heroes, who have marched through all of Edea, take over Edea and punish those who rebelled against the Jade Emperor.</em>

    The Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army cheered. They felt like all the hardships that they had experienced so far were being washed away by the notifications that rang in their ears.

    The quadruple increase in EXP Acquisition and Artifact Drop Rate was already a huge advantage. However, there were still the Jade Emperor¡¯s Coins. There were three types of Jade Emperor¡¯s Coins¡ªbronze, silver and gold. Bronze coins were worth 100,000 gold in the shop while Silver was a million, and Gold was one tinum. In other words, they would be able to acquire gold just by hunting one soldier and obtaining a coin.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    Loud cheers erupted from the Coalition Army.

    Meanwhile, the top high rankers¡ªMaster Archer Miao, Kentaro, Valentino, Xu Jiaqi, and many more¡ªlooked ahead with firm determination on their faces. They vowed to seed and force Edea to fall.

    This battle was apletely separate matter from the matter of <em>ethics and morality. </em>They were yers. They had to make a profit. Besides, from their point of view, this was just a quest.

    <em>Vwooooooooooooong¡ª</em>

    The loud re of a horn resounded from deep within Edea¡¯s Allied Forces and signaled the start of the war. Both sides charged forward and came to a sh.

    The remaining number of the Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army was around ten million or so. On the other hand, Edea¡¯s Allied Forces only had half of that number. On top of that, the yers had a huge advantage over NPCs in the form of <em>skills</em>.

    <em>Rumbleeeee¡ª</em>

    Master Archer Miao shot her missile-like arrows, which turned into hundreds of arrows in the air, piercing through the soldiers standing by the fortress walls before thrusting straight into the ground.

    <em>Crackleeeee¡ª</em>

    Then, the arrows which had struck the ground erupted in mes that devoured an area of three meters. In just an instant, mes covered the walls of the fortress.

    Master Reflector Xu Jiaqi looked at the tens of thousands of magic and arrows pouring down from above the fortress.

    <em>[Reflecting Mirror.]</em>

    <em>[The mirrorpresses all of the skills and attacks together. Then, it will reflect back to the opponent right away.]</em>

    A mirror the size of a gigantic Hanwoo appeared on the battlefield. All of the arrows and magic attacks sent by Edea¡¯s Allied Forces were sucked inside the mirror.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Edea¡¯s Allied Forces looked very flustered.

    Then, the next moment, the mirror shot back all of the magic attacks and arrows that it had absorbed earlier.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª!</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª!</em>

    Thementators watching the scene could only sigh.

    <em>[The Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army will win the first bout!]</em>

    <em>[The yers¡¯ extraordinary powers are pushing Edea¡¯s Allied Forces back!]</em>

    <em>[However, Edea¡¯s Allied Forces are using the fortress to defend against their attacks. As long as they can maintain a proper strategy, it is possible for the battle to move in their favor!]</em>

    The walls of Edea¡¯s fortress were suddenly crowded with the troops of the Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    The yers banged on the fortress gates like crazy. As if answering their calls, the gates opened. However, the <em>true Hanwoo</em> was right behind it.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    ¡°Moooooooooooooo!!!¡±

    This time, the Hanwoo that they were facing waspletely different from the clone Hanwoos from before. Hanwoo grew to a size of fifty meters as he pawed the ground in preparation for Hanwoo¡¯s Charge.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°A¡ª aaaaaaaaack!¡±

    <em>[With the appearance of Hanwoo¡¯s Charge, the tide of war favors Edea¡¯s Allied Forces once again.]</em>

    <em>[We can roughly estimate the number of yers crushed by Hanwoo¡¯s Charge. From what I can see, it seems to be around 400,000.]</em>

    <em>[Hanwoo is an indispensable existence when ites torge-scale battles.]</em>

    Edea¡¯s Allied Forces wanted to protect theirnds, while the Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army came to make a profit. Both sides fought in this war with their own agendas in mind. Either way, this was arge-scale battle and it wouldst for quite a while.

    The battlested for more than three days.

    ***

    ATV Broadcasting Station¡¯s PD Kim Daeguk could clearly see how their ratings began to drop after the battle with Edea¡¯s Allied Forces began.

    ¡°It¡¯s still dropping,¡± one of the employees muttered bitterly.

    ¡°It¡¯s because the situation right now is not much different from what the yers had expected. In the first ce, the viewers only wanted to see the performances of the top high rankers. Now that they have seen how they overwhelmed Edea¡¯s Allied Forces, most of them would leave the broadcast. Besides, if things continue like this, Edea¡¯s fall wille sooner orter.¡±

    The top high rankers had already revealed their presence and showed off their strength. The viewers, having seen how they wielded their AOE skills and revealed their hidden lethal skills, were already starting to leave in search of other things that could attract their attention.

    ¡°One look and it¡¯s obvious that the overwhelming advantage belongs to the Jade Emperor Coalition Army.¡±

    One of the reasons was the appearance of the Jade Emperor¡¯s Envoys during the three days of non-stop battle. The envoys did not appear all at once; instead, half an hour apart from each other. Every time one showed up, they would ughter more than 100,000 of Edea¡¯s Allied Forces before going back. Thispletely wrecked Minhyuk and Edea¡¯s Allied Forces¡¯ tactical strategies.

    There were currently nine million surviving troops of the Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army while Edea¡¯s Allied Forces only had around two million left.

    <em>¡®If there are no reversals any time soon, then they will continue on their road to their downfall.¡¯</em>

    At first, ATV Broadcasting Station¡¯s ratings had reached 15%. However, it then fell to around 11% now and was still continuing to fall. Just then, something special happened.

    <em>[Another being that has reached Level 600 is born to the world!]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The one that achieved Level 600 was enough to be a huge issue in the world. Joy Co. Ltd. had announced that there would be more than fifty people that would be able to reach Level 600 within a month.

    However, that announcement was made less than a month ago and no one had appeared as of yet. That was why the person that achieved Level 600 now was quite precious. On top of that, the yer that reached Level 600 appeared on Edea¡¯s battlefield.

    They looked at the monitor and saw the one that achieved Level 600 using a loudspeaker to st his voice and say¡­

    <em>[I have!!!]</em>

    The roar of the newly minted Level 600 yer, a new powerhouse, resounded in the battlefield.

    <em>[¡­reached Level 600!]</em>

    The one that roared in such a spectacr fashion was none other than Italy¡¯s God of Shields, Valentino.

    Whenever a yer reached Level 600, they would receive various rewards and special privileges, including stats benefits that could allow them to be 1.3x stronger than before.

    ¡°PD! Our ratings have increased to 14%!¡±

    ¡°The viewers are swarming in to see Valentino wield his new powers!¡±

    However, the surprise did not end there. Another notification rang in everyone¡¯s ears.

    <em>[Another being that has reached Level 600 is born to the world!]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    From the broadcasting station¡¯s point of view, this was a very wee notification. All of the station officials looked at the monitor silently. At that moment, one of the yers raised their hand. It was holding a bow.

    <em>[Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!]</em>

    <em>[Miao! Miao! Miao! Miao!]</em>

    The one that reached Level 600 next was none other than Vietnam¡¯s Master Archer Miao.

    ¡°The¡ª the viewership ratings have surpassed 22%!¡±

    ¡°Viewers are swarming in at an rming rate!¡±

    It was only natural. After all, two yers had achieved Level 600 at practicaly the same time. It was even on a battlefield where a lot of people were present!

    For the Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army, these notifications were almost assurances of their victory. However, for Edea¡¯s Allied Forces, they were signals of their imminent defeat.

    Then, just like everyone wanted, Valentino showed off his new powers.

    <em>[God of Shield¡¯s Cry!!!]</em>

    The monitor showed the scene of Valentino flying to the skies. Tankers were usually characters thatcked attack skills. However, that was no longer the case for Valentino. The moment he threw his square shield, it grew around fifty times its normal size and moved like a boomerang, sweeping away the troops of Edea¡¯s Allied Forces.

    Of course, Master Archer Miao could not lose to that disy. She immediately showed off her new skills.

    <em>[Guided Lethal Shot!]</em>

    <em>[Swooooooooooosh¡ª!]</em>

    Apanied by a loud and violent sound, an arrow shot forward and pierced through all of the enemies that blocked its path. Then, the arrow suddenly swerved and changed directions just when it was about to collide with the walls.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The one that the arrow aimed for was none other than the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal, Sun Wukong.

    <em>[Keheoooook!]</em>

    The guided shot pierced through Sun Wukong¡¯s chest. PD Kim Daeguk could not help but groan when he saw Sun Wukong stagger.

    ¡°It¡ª it¡¯s an attack with a 100% sess rate! The damage also seems to be incredible!¡±

    What kind of power did they get after reaching Level 600?! Just when the thought shed in their heads, Valentino triggered another powerful skill.

    <em>[Bentino¡¯s Shield Wall!]</em>

    A gigantic shield appeared and protected the Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army. It was sorge that it looked like a mountain, andpletely prevented all of the attacks sent by Edea¡¯s Allied Forces.

    ¡°This is crazy.¡±

    This was PD Kim Daeguk¡¯s honest opinion. The power might be temporary but this mountain wall-like shield was enough to thwart any attack from the enemies.

    Then, at that moment, Master Archer pulled the strings of her bows once again.

    ¡°The ratings have gone over 25%!¡±

    Master Archer Miao murmured more.

    <em>[Guided Lethal Shot!]</em>

    The arrow flew toward Sun Wukong once again!

    ¡°It¡ª it¡¯s a skill that can be used continuously?¡± PD Kim Daeguk groaned.

    Everyone was appalled when they saw the arrow fly once again. They all knew that Sun Wukong would die with this arrow. But before the arrow could pierce through Sun Wukong¡¯s heart, something unexpected happened.

    <em>Flutter¡ª</em>

    A masked man wearing a ck robe that covered his entire body flew up. At the same time, God¡¯s Voice reverberated throughout the entire battlefield.

    <em>[Since the beginning of the world, he has always been the master of all weapons.]</em>

    PD Kim looked at the monitor in confusion.

    <em>¡®Who¡¯s this person that jumped up and stopped Master Archer Miao¡¯s arrow? He dares to stop the arrow of someone that has reached Level 600?¡¯</em>

    However, something very shocking happened. The man¡¯s sword split Master Archer Miao¡¯s arrow in half.

    <em>[Thud!]</em>

    Then, as the man stood in front of Sun Wukong, tens of thousands of weapons of all kinds, from spears to swords to iron maces and arrows, appeared and floated around him. This man was the master of all weapons.

    <em>[He is the first Eight Pirs¡¯ ss, the Master of All Weapons.]</em>

    <em>[I am¡­]</em>

    The man slowly pulled the mask covering his face to reveal his identity. It was Alexander, the Supreme of the past.

    At that moment, the tens of thousands of weapons that floated around him got sucked into his sword. Alexander¡¯s sword floated lightly before shooting toward Bentino¡¯s Shield Wall.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª!</em>

    The moment it came into contact with the barrier, the power of tens of thousands of weapons ran rampant and tore apart the barrier that Valentino created. Finally, Alexander¡¯s God¡¯s Voice uttered the end of his words.

    <em>[¡­the Supreme.]</em>

    ¡°Our ratings have exceeded 40%!!!¡±

    The viewership ratings of ATV Broadcasting Station skyrocketed!

 Chapter 826

    Chapter 826

    There was no one among the Athenae yers that did not know who Alexander was. He was among the best of the top rankers and was once hailed as the Supreme.

    Alexander remembered clearly how frustrated he was in the Supremes¡¯ in after failing to clear the Eight Pirs¡¯ ss Weapon Master¡¯s ss Change Quest over and over again. The difficulty was just too high for him.

    Back then, Alexander only had one chance left. If he failed, then he would not be able to change his ss to Weapon Master. On top of that, his level would drop by at least ten levels.

    For high rankers, a decrease of ten levels was equivalent to their downfall. It did not matter how outstanding or powerful the ranker was, they would still be pushed out of the top 1,000 in the rankings and it would be extremely difficult for them to recover.

    That was when <em>he</em> approached him.

    ¡ª<em>Shall we have a meal?</em>

    <em>He</em> was the man that Alexander was chasing after. This man had been weaker and less known than Alexander before. But at some point, <em>he</em> grew rapidly. Unexpectedly, the man that Alexander was chasing after was the one that lent him a helping hand.

    ¡ª<em>What I want in return is something simple. Help me and the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.</em>

    Alexander actually wanted to say no. After all, Minhyuk¡¯s defeat in the battle in Edea and the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ fall with the war against the Luvien Empire might happen at the same time. Even if he did not make a move, the current Supreme might fall at any given moment.

    On the other hand, he did not like that. Alexander actually knew the reason why. Minhyuk¡¯s existence was giving him the determination and the driving force to run faster and to chase after him. On top of that, he might also climb to the ranks of the Supremes if he gained the power of the Weapon Master.

    So, Alexander epted Minhyuk¡¯s request and ate the meal that he prepared. After that, he cleared the Eight Pirs¡¯ trial. Back in the present, he smashed Valentino¡¯s Shield Wall.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª!</em>

    Whatever weapon it was, as long as it existed in the world, they were under the control of Alexander. Just like that, tens of thousands of weapons shot toward the Shield Wall and ripped it apart.

    Valentino looked surprised as they watched Alexander gentlynd on his feet. In fact, he was not the only one that was surprised. The entire Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army was taken aback.

    <em>[A¡ª Alexander¡­?]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s Alexander.]</em>

    <em>[Alexander, who gave up the throne of the Supreme, has¡ª has just invoked the ¡®God¡¯s Voice!¡¯]</em>

    <em>[After he invoked God¡¯s Voice, Alexander dered himself as the ¡®Supreme!¡¯]</em>

    <em>[That deration obviously has a lot of connotations. Perhaps it is a deration aimed at Food God Minhyuk. Now, the ¡®Throne of the Supreme¡¯ is mine again!!!]</em>

    <em>[From what I heard, ATV Broadcasting Station¡¯s viewership ratings have soared beyond 44% now!!!]</em>

    <em>[Aaah. That should be the natural result. Everyone is waiting to see the changes of Alexander after reaching Level 600. And that¡¯s not all. As he dered that he is a Supreme, he also dered that he¡¯s standing on Edea¡¯s side!]</em>

    <em>[We still don¡¯t know who the true Supreme is. I don¡¯t know if this is the right expression to describe the situation.]</em>

    <em>[Two Supremes are protecting Edea!!!]</em>

    <em>Mumble, mumble, mumble¡ª</em>

    Amotion broke out among the Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army.

    The notifications about the new Eight Pirs¡¯ ss, the Weapon Master, had actually rung quite a while ago. Everyone had tried to guess who it was, but none of them knew, until now.

    Then, someone said, ¡°I¡ª I knew it¡­ Alexander must be the owner of the greatest sword in the world!!!¡±

    ¡°Wh¡ª what?!¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s the owner of the sword that has cut even an Eight Pirs?!¡±

    ¡°Come to think of it, Alexander¡¯s sword has changed, right?!¡±

    Alexander¡¯s sword had definitely changed, which served to prove the assumptions of all of the people present.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Since he¡¯s a Weapon Master, then that means that he can handle the greatest sword in existence, right?¡±

    ¡°He definitely got the sword from one of the Eight Pirs when he changed his ss to Weapon Master.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s crazy. Then, does that mean that Alexander has be the true Supreme?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Alexander was left speechless. Yes, it was true that his sword was given to him by the previous Weapon Master. However, that was the only thing that they got right. Everything else was wrong.

    s, it was not just the people present that were wrong in their assumptions. Even the viewers that were watching the broadcast of this battle were cheering loudly, thinking that they had finally discovered the truth!

    <em>¡®Alexander is the owner of the greatest sword in existence!¡¯</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Was there even anything that he could say in this situation?

    Meanwhile, Valentino gulped dryly. He had awakened just now. The notifications that rang in his ears and the power coursing through his veins were proof of that.

    <em>[Congrattions! You have achieved Level 600.]</em>

    <em>[Your achievements will be known to the world.]</em>

    <em>[Rewards will be given to those that have reached Level 600!]</em>

    <em>[All five of your basic stats will increase by 16%.]</em>

    <em>[Your physical and magical defense will increase by 40%.]</em>

    <em>[Your defensive skills will get 40% better!]</em>

    <em>[You have reached Level 600 as the God of Shields!]</em>

    <em>[The God of Shields recognizes you as his sessor!]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the God of Shields¡¯ ¡®Divine Shield Arts.¡¯]</em>

    The notifications clearly told Valentino that he was almost 1.4x stronger than before. Especially with the addition of the Divine Shield Arts¡¯ Bentino¡¯s Wall, which had the following effects:

    <em>[Bentino¡¯s Wall.]</em>

    <em>[Bentino¡¯s Wall, the size of a castle¡¯s wall, will protect you and your allies!]</em>

    <em>[You have an additional 8,000% defense!]</em>

    <em>[Bentino¡¯s Wall has a duration of three minutes.]</em>

    <em>[Using the skill will destroy 1 point from your STM.]</em>

    Valentino was the new God of Shields and had a higher basic defense than any other tanker in existence. On top of that, Valentino¡¯s Bentino¡¯s Wall had an additional 8,000% defense. It would be very hard for any high rankers to even put a scratch on him.

    Although Bentino¡¯s Wall could only be activated for three minutes, it would y a huge role when used in a battlefield where every minute counted.

    Unfortunately, Alexander broke it apart so easily.

    ¡°Alexandeeeeeeeeer!!!¡±

    It was a roar of shame, a roar that made all of the troops of the Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army freeze on the spot. However, there was one thing that they kept in mind.

    ¡°We have two Level 600 yers on our side.¡±

    ¡°No matter how strong Alexander is or how he is the king of the kings in the Battle of Thrones, he would not be able to deal with two Level 600 yers.¡±

    At that moment, Master Archer Miao pulled the strings of her bow while thinking, <em>¡®Sun Wukong would have been dead if it weren¡¯t for him.¡¯</em>

    She felt like it was a pity. However, if she could just kill Alexander, the results would still be the same. Miao, with her hands pulling on the strings of her bow, walked out the crowd. Of course, the same was true for Valentino. They both know that fighting against Alexander with numbers was meaningless.

    A subtle smile appeared on Master Archer Miao¡¯s face as she said, ¡°Guided Lethal Shot.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The same skill that almost drove Sun Wukong to his death was invoked.

    <em>[Guided Lethal Shot.]</em>

    <em>[Your arrow, with a 100% certainty, will pierce through your enemy¡¯s vital point. Additional 7,000% attack will be added to the shot!]</em>

    <em>[You can shoot the Guided Lethal Shot for a total of four times within three minutes after the initial skill activation!]</em>

    As mentioned above, the Guided Lethal Shot could be shot four times in a row. In other words, it could take down four rankers upon activation.

    <em>Riiiiiiiiiiiip¡ª</em>

    The deadly arrow pierced through the Supreme¡¯s chest.

    <em>Staaaaaaaaab¡ª</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 80%!]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Alexander looked at the blood dripping down his chest.

    <em>¡®As expected¡­¡¯</em>

    He smiled bitterly. It was not just him that grew stronger. If it was the Miao from before, her one-shot kill skill would have only decreased his HP by around 8%. That was not the case right now. Still, Alexander was unafraid.

    ¡°Uwoooooooo!¡± Valentino roared, a brilliant and golden light covering his body as he charged forward with his shield.

    <em>[Bentino¡¯s Aggro.]</em>

    <em>[Two of your enemy¡¯s attacks will be forced to hit your shield!]</em>

    It was a skill that would drag the enemy¡¯s attack unto his own square shield. It could easily nullify an attack aimed for someone else and could be used effectively against stronger opponents aiming for weaker ones.

    Alexander¡¯s sword grazed Valentino¡¯s shield lightly. That was the first one.

    <em>ng¡ª!</em>

    Then, another one¡­

    <em>ng¡ª!</em>

    Regardless of where Alexander aimed, his sword still hit Valentino¡¯s shield. At that moment, Master Archer Miao moved swiftly, her arrow aiming for Alexander¡¯s back.

    <em>Ping¡ª Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    Alexander¡¯s expression remained unchanged, his amazing control allowing him to evade the arrows aiming for him.

    ¡°Exploding Shot.¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Then, Miao shot an arrow toward his feet, causing a huge explosion that sent Alexander flying through the air. Valentino did not miss the opportunity. He quickly jumped above Alexander and raised his shield to swing at him.

    ¡°God of Shields¡¯ Wrath!!!¡±

    <em>Vwooooooooooong¡ª</em>

    A shield that glittered brightly like a diamond swung down toward Alexander¡¯s head. If this attack hit Alexander¡¯s head, then it would deal critical damage and would incur twice the amount of damage inflicted. That was to say that the damage of the attack, which had an additional 6,000% attack, would double.

    <em>Tap¡ª</em>

    The tip of Alexander¡¯s sword gently tapped Valentino¡¯s shield.

    <em>[Bentino¡¯s Shield has been temporarily rendered useless!]</em>

    <em>[You will not be able to use Bentino¡¯s Shield for one minute!]</em>

    ¡°¡­Huh?¡±

    Valentino was left in shock. The only thing that made contact with his shield was the tip of Alexander¡¯s sword. However, his shield, Bentino¡¯s Shield, had lost all of its function, including its attack and defensive skills. But that was not all.

    <em>[The Weapon Master¡¯s Transcending Limits has been activated!]</em>

    <em>[Sword Mastery Skill¡¯s Level has exceeded Level 9!]</em>

    <em>[Sword Mastery Skill¡¯s Level has achieved MAX Level!]</em>

    <em>[Sword Mastery Skill¡¯s Level has transcended the limits and has reached Level 10!]</em>

    <em>[Sword Mastery Skill¡¯s Level has transcended the limits and has reached Level 11!]</em>

    <em>[Sword Mastery Skill¡¯s¡­]</em>

    <em>[Sword Mastery Skill¡¯s¡­]</em>

    <em>[Sword Mastery¡­]</em>

    <em>[Sword Mastery¡­]</em>

    <em>[Sword Mastery Skill¡¯s Level has exceeded Level 20!]</em>

    <em>[Sword Mastery¡­]</em>

    <em>[Sword Mastery¡­]</em>

    <em>[Sword Mastery Skill¡¯s Level has achieved Level 22!]</em>

    What was a weapon mastery skill? Mastery was a <em>passive skill</em> that all yers possessed. Swordsmen would have sword mastery, archers would have bow mastery, mages would have staff mastery or wand mastery and many more. Basically, every single person had a mastery skill.

    Whenever the mastery skill grew, the yer would gain additional strength in their physical and skill attacks. For example, if one had a Sword Mastery skill, then when the skill grew, it would greatly increase the power of all of the person¡¯s sword-rted skills.

    Transcendental¡¯s Mastery. This was the power of the Weapon Master. The notifications that rang before, and would rang from here on out, was proof of the greatness of this skill.

    <em>[You have temporarily achieved Sword Mastery Level 22!]</em>

    <em>[Your sword will have 75% additional attack and skill attack.]</em>

    <em>[All of your sword rted skills will be 1.4x stronger.]</em>

    <em>[Whenever you swing your sword, your critical hit rate will double!]</em>

    <em>[The Transcending Limits¡¯ duration is three minutes!]</em>

    A ck haze slowly rose from the des of Alexander¡¯s sword. Seeing this, Valentino, whose Bentino¡¯s Shield had lost all function, quickly pulled out his sub-shield. However, Alexander had already narrowed the distance between them, his sword cutting through Valentino¡¯s shield and inflicting damage upon his body.

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 80%!]</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    Valentino was very shocked. He was the God of Shields and that meant among the people present, he had the highest HP and defense. He was even almost 1.5x stronger than before. However, more than 14% of his HP was shaved off by just one of Alexander¡¯s basic sword attack.

    The problem was Alexander was swinging his sword non-stop.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab¡ª stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    Alexander moved swiftly and gracefully, his sword stabbing Valentino¡¯s body all over.

    ¡°I can¡¯t lose like this!¡±

    <em>[God of Shield¡¯s Will.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP and MP has recovered to 100%!]</em>

    Valentino¡¯s morale was greatly uplifted after his HP had recovered. In response, Alexander opened his mouth and said, ¡°Reckless Strike.¡±

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    Reckless Strike was Alexander¡¯s frequently used sessive attack skill. It could instantly unleash twenty three strikes with additional 1,500% attack. With Alexander¡¯s Sword Mastery at Level 22, the additional attack of the skill had increased to more than 3,000%.

    The Reckless Strike devoured Valentino¡¯s whole body, forcing him down on his knees.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaa¡­¡±

    Alexander swiftly swung his sword and cut off Valentino¡¯s head the moment he fell down.

    <em>Rumbleeeeeee¡ª</em>

    At that moment, Master Archer Miao sent out an arrow that turned into a tornado, which almost overturned the ground.

    <em>Cracklee¡ª</em>

    Alexander, who was in the middle of the storm, received continuous damages. Of course, Miao took this opportunity to unleash her skills relentlessly.

    ¡°Exploding Arrows.¡±

    Hundreds of arrows shot toward Alexander.

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng¡ª!</em>

    A sharp and murderous glint, like that of a hawk¡¯s, appeared in Alexander¡¯s eyes as he cut down the arrowsing his way. Then, he pointed his sword at Miao.

    ¡°Weapon Eruption.¡±

    Miao saw several weapons appear around Alexander. Then, these spears, swords, iron maces, maces, great swords, katanas, and many other weapons shot toward her.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª!</em>

    The weapons that pierced through her body immediately exploded upon contact.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    A huge pir of dust bloomed as the explosion erupted. When everything settled down, not a trace of Master Archer Miao was left.

    Alexander, who was standing in front of Edea¡¯s Allied Forces, looked at the Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army with a strange look on his face.

    <em>[A¡ª Alexander forced two yers that have reached Level 600 to log out!]</em>

    <em>[We have just witnessed a scene that will, without a doubt, prove that he¡¯s once again the Supreme!]</em>

    <em>[He¡¯s literally the ¡®Supreme!¡¯ He¡¯s Athenae¡¯s Supreme!]</em>

    <em>[Breaking news! From what I hear, ATV Broadcasting Station¡¯s viewership rating has exceeded 50%!]</em>

    There was not a shred of doubt on the faces of all of the viewers that watched Alexander fight. Now, Alexander was truly the Supreme.

    ***

    At the same time.

    <em>[The One that Advances¡¯ Authority¡¯s Bestowing Time has ended!]</em>

    <em>[Sword of Aeon has been sessfully reinforced and strengthened by +3!]</em>

    The one that was sitting on the throne of the Supreme was handed a far more stronger Sword of Aeon.

 Chapter 827

    Chapter 827

    Could one person change the tide of war by himself? The answer that Sun Wukong would give to that question was¡­ <em>It¡¯s possible</em>. However, if a battlefield¡¯s flow was filled with nerve-wracking bouts and shes, then a single person could only affect the tide of war for a <em>brief moment.</em>

    <em>¡®He took the heads of two of the enemy generals.¡¯</em>

    The man named Alexander took out two of the key figures of the Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army. Because of that, the flow of the battlefield started to lean toward Edea. However, the most important thing here was that Alexander was deep inside the Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army. In other words, he was standing among the yers.

    <em>[How many yers have Alexander cut down now?!]</em>

    <em>[I only counted up to 600 before losing count. I can¡¯t keep up anymore.]</em>

    <em>[The interesting fact here is that Alexander is not even using any of his skills to deal with the yers!]</em>

    <em>[I think there¡¯s a passive skill in action here. See there, every time he swings his sword to attack the other yers, dozens of swords would shoot out of his body and cut down the enemies around him.]</em>

    <em>[I¡¯m in awe.]</em>

    <em>[Currently, the viewers from all over the world that enjoy Athenae are tuning in their TVs or using their smartphones to watch Alexander dance in the battlefield and sit on the new Supreme¡¯s throne!]</em>

    <em>[From what I know, the average level of the yers in the Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army is over Level 450.]</em>

    <em>[At the very least, these yers can be considered to be high-level yers in Athenae. However, they are easily being cut down by Alexander¡¯s sword.]</em>

    <em>[On the other hand, our viewers have one question in mind.]</em>

    <em>[After Alexander killed two of the Level 600 yers, he has not used any of his skills.]</em>

    <em>[There are only two scenarios that could prompt this reaction. One would be because he is preparing for the appearance of the Jade Emperor¡¯s Envoys. Even if it is Alexander, there is no way for him to deal with all of them when he is already exhausted even with all of the skills in his arsenal.]</em>

    <em>[Then, what¡¯s the second scenario?]</em>

    <em>[He¡¯s probably waiting for the actual person sitting on the Supreme¡¯s throne.]</em>

    <em>[I can feel my heart beating wildly. The one challenging the throne of the Supreme and the one protecting his throne. This is very exciting.]</em>

    It was just as thementators predicted. Alexander was no fool. He did not need to show off all of his strength when fighting against the Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army, especially when the Allied Forces were sufficient to stop their advance.

    Besides, it was also true that he wanted to show Minyuk how much he had changed and how he had be the new Supreme. However, he would notpete against him here. Once he and Minhyuk fought side by side, the entire world would definitely recognize who the true Supreme was.

    There was one thing that Alexander recalled, it was something that happened in the Supreme¡¯s in. Minhyuk had not cooked for him because he merely wanted him to help Edea¡¯s Allied Forces.

    ¡ª<em>We are rivals, Alexander.</em>

    Minhyuk had no way of predicting how strong Alexander would be once he became the first yer with an Eight Pirs¡¯ ss. That was why Minhyuk put forward one condition.

    ¡ª<em>Tell me one of the best skills once you obtain your new ss.</em>

    Minhyuk needed to increase the power of his rival. However, that did not mean that he would willingly do that without any condition put forth.

    For high rankers, especially those that awakened some new powers, it was considered a huge weakness to have just one of the skills that they obtained be leaked to somebody else. However, Alexander epted Minhyuk¡¯s condition and told him about one of the special skills that he had obtained.

    The skill that he willingly shared with Minhyuk was <em>Weapon Cloning, </em>a skill that proved that there was no weapon that the master of all of the weapons in existence could not handle.

    Basically, it was a skill that could replicate the weapon equipped by the target designated by the skill user and allow him to use the replicated weapon for five minutes. It could even copy a weapon''s special ability and attack. However, artifacts that had been cloned before could no longer be replicated again.

    <em>Rumbleeeeeee¡ª</em>

    <em>[The Gates of Heaven have opened!]</em>

    The Jade Emperor could send 30,000 of the Heavenly Army to Edea once per day. However, that was only the case before the Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army arrived. A lot of changes would be implemented once the Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army reached Edea¡¯s Allied Forces¡¯ fortress. These were the changes:

    <em>1. The Jade Emperor can now send 50,000 troops of the Heavenly Army once every day.</em>

    <em>2. The envoys can descend for thirty minutes once a day and use their special powers once when attacking Edea¡¯s Allied Forces.</em>

    <em>3. The Jade Emperor can participate in the battlefield once.</em>

    <em>4. The envoys will descend all at once.</em>

    Everything was written in ordance to the agreement made with the Battle God. However, there was one thing that one should not forget. It was that Minhyuk, as Edea¡¯s Commander, had received special privileges that none of the people present here knew.

    As the Gates of Heaven opened, 50,000 strong troops of the Heavenly Army began to pour out. Seeing this, Alexander hurriedly turned around to leave the battlefield. The Heavenly Army was something that Edea¡¯s Allied Forces had to deal with.

    However, something unexpected happened.

    <em>[Edea¡¯s Commander, Minhyuk, has used the special privilege that he had obtained!]</em>

    <em>[He has used the special privilege, ¡®Mediating the Agreement¡¯!!!]</em>

    ¡°Mediating the Agreement?¡±

    ***

    Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s conference room.

    Everyone inside the room gulped dryly.

    ¡°Did it just say Mediation of Agreement?!¡±

    ¡°He hasn¡¯t used his special privileges until now¡­¡±

    As Edea¡¯s Commander, Minhyuk could use the <em>Special Privilege Shop. </em>The more Edea¡¯s Allied Forces killed their enemies, the more items the Special Privilege Shop would have. He could use the shop to reinforce Edea¡¯s Allied Forces or distribute potions to his army. However, Minhyuk had not used any of his <em>Special Privilege Points</em> and had been gathering them until now.

    The <em>Special Right to Mediate the Agreement</em> was an item with the highest price in the shop. Unfortunately, there was a problem with this item. One had to consult with both the Jade Emperor and the Battle God before any changes could be made to the agreement.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t the Production Team make it so the Right to Mediate would be meaningless?¡±

    The Production Team Leader nodded his head in agreement to Team Leader Park. ¡°In the first ce, the Special Right to Mediate the Agreement would be simr to trash. After all, one has to get the mutual consent of both sides before any changes could be implemented.¡±

    President Kang Taehoon rubbed his chin in thought. This meant that Minhyuk would be throwing something out as <em>bait</em>, which had to be something the Jade Emperor would find to be eptable.

    <em>[The Right to Mediate the Agreement and the changes that yer Minhyuk has made will be delivered to the Battle God.]</em>

    <em>[The Battle God has started to mediate the agreement with the Jade Emperor!]</em>

    <em>[The discussion for the first use to the mediated agreement has begun!]</em>

    <em>[Changes to the portion of the agreement about the Jade Emperor ¡®being able to send 50,000 troops of the Heavenly Army once every day¡¯ has been proposed. The suggested change is ¡®being able to send 200,000 troops of the Heavenly Army all at once. However, he would no longer be able to send any other troops once these troops had been sent out!¡¯]</em>

    ¡°This¡­ is he crazy?¡±

    Department Manager Kim Dae-Il was in shock. He could not believe that Minhyuk proposed that the Jade Emperor send all 200,000 of the Heavenly Army troops all at once in exchange for not being able to send anymore.

    This proposal could be said to be disastrous. However, if one looked at it in the long run, they could see that it would be very disadvantageous for the Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army. After all, the enemy would no longer be able to send any more after all 200,000 troops had been sent all at once.

    The issue was that the boost in power between the 50,000 strong troops and the 200,000 strong troops was very different. In addition, there were more than nine million troops from the Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army present on the battlefield. If the 200,000 strong troops of the Heavenly Army appeared at this point, Edea¡¯s Allied Forces would definitely fall within two days.

    <em>[The Jade Emperor has presented a counter to the suggested changes in the first use of the mediated agreement!]</em>

    <em>[The proposed change would change it to ¡®being able to send 250,000 troops of the Heavenly Army all at once. However, the Jade Emperor would no longer be able to send any other troops once these troops had been sent out!¡¯]</em>

    <em>[The first use of the mediated agreement has been discussed!]</em>

    <em>[The Jade Emperor will be able to send 250,000 troops of the Heavenly Army all at once. However, after sending out the troops he will no longer be able to send any more of the Heavenly Army Troops!]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    From their point of view, yer Minhyuk seemed to be digging his own grave. That was not the end of the changes.

    <em>[The discussion for the second use of the mediated agreement has begun!]</em>

    <em>[Since the Jade Emperor can send 250,00 troops of the Heavenly Army all at once, yer Minhyuk has requested that he be allowed to use his single-use Summoning Parchment!]</em>

    ¡°A single-use Summoning Parchment?¡±

    ¡°Who is he going to summon?¡±

    ¡°Show the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s situation on the monitor.¡±

    They hurriedly disyed the scene at the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. They were just in time to witness how the Luvien Empire appeared and were charging toward the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    Who would Minhyuk summon? Would it be Commander Brod? Or maybe Great Demon Elpis? Perhaps he would summon Spear God Ben?

    ¡°Even if he summons Brod right now, it wouldn¡¯t be enough. Brod wouldn¡¯t be able to deal with 250,000 troops of the Heavenly Army if they appear all at once.¡±

    In fact, the Jade Emperor felt the same thing. Minhyuk currently had a restriction. It was basically <em>impossible for him to summon his vassals. </em>And since he did not have the <em>Right to Summon</em> he would also be unable to bring in the NPCs from the continent. So, that brought the question of who he was going to summon once again.

    <em>[The second use of the mediated agreement has been discussed!]</em>

    <em>[yer Minhyuk is now allowed to use his single-use Summoning Parchment on the condition that whoever he summoned can only stay in Edea for thirty minutes!]</em>

    <em>[The agreement between the Battle God and the Jade Emperor will now be changed and adjusted!]</em>

    <em>[The changes will be applied right away!]</em>

    The officials of Joy Co. Ltd. could clearly see how the changes were applied. The 50,000 troops of the Heavenly Army that wereing down from the Gates of Heaven had now grown and be 250,000 in numbers.

    ¡°¡­What in the world is he thinking?¡±

    This time, even President Kang Taehoon waspletely clueless about Minhyuk¡¯s ns.

    ***

    <em>[ording to the uses of the Mediated Agreement, 250,000 troops of the Heavenly Army will now descend!]</em>

    <em>Rumbleeeeeeee¡ª</em>

    The sky was ripped apart as 250,000 strong troops of the Heavenly Army charged forward. Edea¡¯s Allied Forces had to lose 150,000 of their men just to deal with 30,000 of the Heavenly Army troops before.

    ¡°Ah¡­ aaaaaah¡­¡±

    The appearance of the 250,000-strong enemy troops was enough to plunge the Allied Forces into despair. All of them were left speechless as they watched the Heavenly Army march through the Gates of Heaven.

    <em>[The Jade Emperor looks at you with a sneer on his face.]</em>

    <em>[The God that you believe in has abandoned you.]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Did <em>he</em> make a deal with the Jade Emperor? How could he take away even the smallest odds that were in their favor?

    Even Sun Wukong had to groan. ¡°Why in the world did you do that? Why¡­¡±

    He just could not understand. They already had no means to stop the 50,000-strong enemy troops, but Minhyuk had even made it so there were 250,000 soldiers from the Heavenly Army.

    Meanwhile, the Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army were delighted. It was like a pie fell from the sky! Just like that, the Heavenly Army troops charged forward and began to ughter the troops of Edea¡¯s Allied Forces that were guarding the walls of the fortress.

    ¡°A, aaaaaaaaack¡­!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!!!¡±

    Hundreds of thousands of Edea¡¯s Allied Forces were easily swept away by the enemies.

    <em>¡®What were you thinking?¡¯</em>

    Alexander had a hard time understanding why Minhyuk decided to do it this way. He had never heard the man make use of a tactic that would put his allies at a disadvantage. He stood at the edge of the walls and looked down at the soldiers of Edea¡¯s Allied Forces being killed one after another.

    ¡°Great¡ª Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal!!!¡±

    ¡°A, aaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Give¡ª give us an exnation!!!¡±

    ¡°Can we¡ª can we really trust him?! That god?!!!¡±

    That was right. These were the thoughts that shed in the minds of all of the people of Edea. Some even thought that Minhyuk might have been on the Jade Emperor¡¯s side from the start.

    The 250,000-strong army clung to the walls of the fortress and began to climb up. In just a blink the screams of the soldiers echoed throughout the fortress as the Heavenly Army ughtered them.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Then, a harsh and unforgiving rain began to fall on the battlefield. The soldiers¡¯ screams and wails gradually grew smaller as the rain echoed loudly.

    At that moment, Sun Wukong looked up at the sky.

    ¡°¡­Why?¡±

    Was everything a lie? They already knew that foreigners were inherently greedy in nature. Perhaps <em>he</em> was truly on the side of the Jade Emperor. Or perhaps he just wanted to package himself nicely so that he could benefit off of them.

    However, Sun Wukong remembered clearly how <em>he</em> cooked for his dying wife and how he came alone to Edea.

    ¡ª<em>We will win. We will use all means and methods avable to us and win. After that, please be my people, my friends and¡­</em>

    At that time, <em>he</em> had looked at Sun Wukong with firm determination in his eyes.

    ¡ª¡­<em>my soldiers.</em>

    <em>¡ªHelp me be the emperor and make Beyond the Heavens into an empire.</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The screams of the soldiers echoed in Sun Wukong¡¯s ears despite the roaring rain and the memories that shed in his ears. Then, he shouted, ¡°He has not abandoned us! Do not give up! Do not back down! Fight back!!!¡±

    The soldiers of Edea¡¯s Allied Forces squeezed out their energy and fought back despite the rain that fell on the battlefield.

    <em>Rumbleeeeee¡ª!</em>

    At that moment, lightning struck the ground as thunder roared and rumbled in the sky above them. With a sh of lightning, the voice of Edea¡¯s Commander, Minhyuk, resounded on the battlefield.

    <em>[Summon.]</em>

    Everyone focused on the sound of his voice. ATV Broadcasting Station¡¯s PD Kim Daeguk could even be seen gulping dryly as he watched the scene on the monitor. Who was he going to summon in exchange for allowing 250,000 of the Heavenly Army to descend all at once?

    ¡°Whether it¡¯s Brod, Spear God Ben or Elpis, none of them is worth trading their small chance of winning by allowing those 250,000 troops of the Heavenly Army to descend.¡±

    One of them was not enough. Perhaps they would only have a chance if all of them came. So, that begged the question, who was he going to summon?

    <em>[Battle God.]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    With those words, ATV¡¯s viewership ratings that had stagnated at 50% began to soar once again.

 Chapter 828

    Chapter 828

    During the battle between the Destruction Monarch and the Battle God, the Battle God, who was known as the greatest Absolute God, almost crossed the brink of death. Back then, Minhyuk saved the Battle God using <em>Gaerna¡¯s Life Elixir.</em> On that day, Minhyuk received a promise from the Battle God.

    <em>[The Battle God has bestowed upon you the Summoning of the Greatest Absolute God.]</em>

    <em>[The Summoning of the Greatest Absolute God can summon the Battle God twice.]</em>

    This was the reward that the Battle God had bestowed upon Minhyuk, which had not been broadcast to others.

    <em>Rumbleeeeeeee¡ª</em>

    The sky cracked open once again as a god riding a white warhorse galloped mightily amidst the raging storm, the crackling lightning, and the rumbling thunder.

    <em>ck, ck, ck¡ª</em>

    Everyone held their breath as the greatest Absolute God made his appearance.

    <em>[This¡­ Was this what yer Minhyuk was aiming for?!]</em>

    <em>[A yer has summoned the strongest and greatest Absolute God among all of the Absolute Gods, the Battle God?!]</em>

    <em>[Perhaps yer Minhyuk was given an opportunity to summon the Battle God because the Battle God had promised himself that he would answer his call.]</em>

    <em>[Since this was something that no one knew, it will definitely be a huge variable in this battle!]</em>

    <em>[We have to pay attention to the fact that the Battle God is the ¡®God that Rules Over the Greatest and Strongest Army!¡¯]</em>

    As an individual, the Battle God boasted a force that none of the other Absolute Gods and ordinary gods could everpete against. However, that was not the only reason why the Battle God was hailed as the greatest Absolute God. It was because he was the God of All Armies and was the one that ruled over the greatest, and most powerful, army in existence.

    With the descent of the Battle God, he emitted a powerful pressure on the Heavenly Army on the ground.

    <em>[The Battle God¡¯s Majesty.]</em>

    <em>[The Battle God¡¯s Majesty takes control of all of the armies that are against him!]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have dropped by 14%.]</em>

    <em>[Your attack hit rate has dropped by 40%.]</em>

    <em>[Your physical and magical defense has dropped by 40%.]</em>

    <em>[Your resistance to abnormal statuses has dropped by 50%.]</em>

    The 9.25 million troops that consisted of the Heavenly Army and the yers all received a debuff.

    <em>Crack¡ª!</em>

    At that moment, another lightning bolt struck the ground. When the sh of light disappeared, an army of more than two million garbed in white full te armor appeared right behind the Battle God.

    <em>[The Jade Emperor has sent 250,000 strong Heavenly Army troops but yer Minhyuk has sent the Battle God!]</em>

    <em>[The greatest Absolute God, the Battle God, can summon the millions of troops under hismand.]</em>

    Not long after, the Battle God and his army began to sweep away the Heavenly Army that had invaded the fortress.

    <em>Crackleeee¡ª</em>

    A zing white me engulfed the de of the sword of the Battle God. As he swung his sword, the hundreds of thousands of enemy troops that blocked his path were devoured by white mes and turned into ashes.

    <em>[Edea¡¯s Allied Forces have defeated 700,000 of the Jade Emperor Coalition Army!]</em>

    <em>[ording to the agreement made between the Battle God and the Jade Emperor, special privileges and benefits will be given to yer Minhyuk, themander of Edea¡¯s Allied Forces.]</em>

    <em>[Edea¡¯s Allied Forces have defeated 500,000 of the Jade Emperor Coalition Army!]</em>

    <em>[ording to the agreement made between the Battle God and the Jade Emperor, special privileges and benefits will be given to yer Minhyuk, themander of Edea¡¯s Allied Forces.]</em>

    <em>[Edea¡¯s Allied Forces have defeated 810,000 of the Jade Emperor Coalition Army!]</em>

    <em>[ording to the agreement made between the Battle God and the Jade Emperor¡­]</em>

    Even the Heavenly Army that threatened and made Edea¡¯s Allied Forces shrink from fear were rendered helpless in front of the Battle God and his army. This time, it was the Heavenly Army¡¯s turn to be swiftly and easily swept away.

    Thementators had realized that Minhyuk intended to sweep away as many enemies as possible during the short amount of time that the Battle God could stay summoned in Edea.

    Only twenty minutes had passed but more than two million of the Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army had already disappeared. On top of that, the Battle God had deliberately targeted the <em>Heavenly Army</em>. Meaning, all of them had already turned to ashes and disappeared a long time ago.

    <em>[The Jade Emperor is furious!]</em>

    For the first time, the Jade Emperor was furious and could barely contain himself. He had lost 250,000 of his Heavenly Army and could no longer send anymore after he agreed to Minhyuk¡¯s proposals.

    By the time the summoning duration ended, the Battle God had ughtered three million of the enemy troops. Before the Battle God returned back to the heavens, he looked at the devastated and exhausted troops of Edea¡¯s Allied Forces.

    ¡°The one that you believe in is doing his best for you.¡±

    The Battle God¡¯s words rang in the ears of the people that denied and hated the man even for a brief moment. They cheered loudly in response. However, those cheers died down the moment the Battle God disappeared.

    <em>[The Jade Emperor is furious!]</em>

    <em>[The Jade Emperor has sent all of his envoys down to Edea!]</em>

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    The sky was ripped apart once again. At that moment, a talisman fell from the crack in the sky and shot toward the fortress.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The fortress shook.

    <em>[The battle in thend of Edea is nowing to an end.]</em>

    <em>[The Jade Emperor has used his one and only chance to send all of his envoys all at once.]</em>

    <em>[The Jade Emperor¡¯s three envoys are all gods. They¡¯re not just mere gods, they are allbat-ss gods.]</em>

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!¡±

    The Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army also charged toward the fortress after realizing that the battle was nowing to an end. The walls of the fortress, which remained sturdy despite the countless attacks from the yers, shook with one talisman from Daoist Heron.

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    With one attack from a man that wielded a woldo, the walls of the fortress were easily destroyed. The man that cut the fortress walls was none other than Envoy Ferro.

    ¡°You¡¯ve made the Great Heavenly Father furious.¡±

    Up until this point, Ferro had only stood still and watched the situation knowing that doing this would lead to a massacre. Unlike Viel, Ferro and Daoist Heron were both reluctant to massacre and ughter the residents and soldiers of Edea. They did not have any inclination or interest in killing people.

    However, the Great Heavenly Father, the Jade Emperor, was now very angry. He grew furious after he was humiliated and lost 250,000 of his Heavenly Army troops all at once.

    <em>¡®The Jade Emperor will descend soon.¡¯</em>

    Before he descended, they had to force the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal, Aaron, and Zhu Bajie, along with the soldiers of Edea, down to their knees.

    When the walls of the fortress fell apart, the soldiers of Edea charged forward. However, Ferro just looked at them nonchntly.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°You damn envoy bastards!!!¡±

    ¡°My Annie! Spare my Annie!!!¡±

    ¡°You bastards are no god!!!¡±

    Thousands of soldiers charged furiously.

    <em>Swoosh¡ª</em>

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª</em>

    However, with one swing of Ferro¡¯s woldo, the lives of thousands of soldiers ended.

    ¡°Charge!!!¡±

    ¡°Edea¡¯s fall is just around the corner!!!¡±

    At the orders of Qingdao Kingdom¡¯s King Xu Jiaqi, the yers began to charge and enter the fortress. At that moment, the yers that climbed the wall caught sight of the kingdom that Edea¡¯s Allied Forces had been protecting.

    ¡°So this is the Kingdom of Rama¡­¡±

    The yers were delighted when they saw the beautiful Kingdom of Rama that had been protected by the walls of the fortress since the war began. <em>Greed</em> stained the faces of all of the yers present. They could not even see the trembling figures of the residents of Edea that were hiding behind the walls of the fortress.

    At that moment, Zhu Bajie stabbed one of the yers that was looking greedily at the Kingdom of Rama, with his trident.

    <em>Staaaaaab¡ª</em>

    ¡°Force everyone that has climbed atop the walls of the fortress down!!!¡± Zhu Bajie hurriedly ordered the soldiers. They had to protect the people, the residents of Edea, that were hiding behind the fortress walls.

    ¡°Hey, you boar.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Zhu Bajie¡¯s expression crumpled. He might be a pig but that did not mean that being called that would put him in a good mood. However, when he turned around to look at the one that called him, he could not help but freeze.

    Standing right behind him was the most ferocious, cold-blooded and brutal envoy, Envoy Viel. He was someone that regarded the lives of all of the residents of Edea as insignificant as that of a bug¡¯s life. Meanwhile, Daoist Heron and Envoy Ferro continued to sweep away the soldiers of Edea on the ground.

    Zhu Bajie gripped the handle of his trident tightly.

    <em>¡®I promised.¡¯</em>

    He promised that he would protect the soldiers. He promised that the residents did not need to worry. However, the soldiers were dying and the residents were wailing.

    ¡°You bastaaaaaaaaaaaard!!!¡±

    Zhu Bajie was also one of Edea¡¯s powerhouses. He was a strong character that was above Level 600, possessing power that could break down mountains. In fact, legends about how he broke an entire mountain with his trident were spread all over Edea.

    <em>aaaaaash¡ª</em>

    Zhu Bajie pointed his trident at Viel.

    <em>Ping¡ª</em>

    However, Viel<em></em>stopped it with just the tip of his sword.

    ¡°Hiiiiiiiiiiik¡­!¡±

    No matter how hard Zhu Bajie pushed his trident, he could not make it move any further.

    ¡°What a savage.¡±

    <em>Thud¡ª thud, thud, thud¡ª sh¡ª</em>

    Viel used the hilt of his sword to stab Zhu Bajie¡¯s acupoints, stopping him from moving as he pleased.

    <em>Draaaaaaag¡ª</em>

    After stopping him from moving, Viel grabbed Zhu Bajie by the arm and dragged him around while cutting down the soldiers of Edea that blocked his path. Not long after, Viel dealt with Aaron, the king of the Kingdom of Eden, and blocked all of his acupoints too.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    He also dragged Aaron along before throwing the two to where the residents of Edea were.

    <em>aaash¡ª</em>

    Viel moved swiftly. He charged to where Hanwoo, the Bull Demon King, was and stopped him from attacking Ferro by blocking his acupoints too. Of course, he also flung him to where Aaron and Zhu Bajie were thrown earlier.

    Finally, he moved to where the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal was. Just like before, hepletely overpowered Sun Wukong before blocking his acupoints.

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    Unable to move, Sun Wukong helplessly fell on the ground.

    Viel looked around him. The kings of Edea were all rendered useless, unable to move with their acupoints pressed, while millions of the residents of thend wailed in fear.

    Then, he said, ¡°Remember this. You are the ones that killed all of your soldiers.¡±

    Viel turned to look at Ferro and Heron with a smirk on his face and said, ¡°Do you know why we dragged our feet in this war when it was so easy to deal with you in the first ce?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Viel looked at the four kings that he held captive.

    ¡°Because we find it interesting.¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s because we find it interesting to watch bugs like you twitch while you dream of fighting against the Great Heavenly Father and his Envoys.¡±

    It was the truth. The moment the three envoys appeared, the tide was easily turned over.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°We¡ª we can win!!! Back o¡­ Keok!!!¡±

    The four kings trembled as they watched Viel grin viciously while the screams of their people rang behind them.

    ¡°The hope to win, the resiliency and insistence to never back down, and a path, albeit small, to victory. Don¡¯t you think that it¡¯s fun to see your faces when all of these are robbed from you?¡±

    Viel giggled, hisugh sounding so strange and bizarre to anyone¡¯s ears.

    ¡°This feels good.¡±

    Yes, that was right. Viel was feeling good as he soaked in the screams of the people that he regarded as bugs.

    ¡°Haaaaaa.¡±

    A bright smile appeared on Viel¡¯s face as he savored the scent of blood that lingered on the battlefield.

    ¡°Unhand His Majesty right this instant¡­!¡±

    Viel turned to look back at the resident that dared to interrupt him from savoring the pleasure brought to him by this battlefield.

    ¡°You are all just my ythings. I can deal with you with my finger alone.¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    The head of the resident exploded. However, the explosion did not end there, like the interconnecting webs of the spider, it spread all over the ce.

    <em>Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom¡ª</em>

    Just like that, thousands of people died.

    ¡°You¡ª You bastaaaaaaaaaard!!!¡±

    Zhu Bajie¡¯s eyes grew bloodshot, his mouth bleeding as he bit his lips tightly from the frustration and helplessness. Even Sun Wukong¡¯s eyes were filled with helplessness and despair. However, the Bull Demon King¡¯s eyes were different.

    ¡°That look.¡±

    Viel took a step forward and approached the Bull Demon King. This was the man that killed Rumacar, one of the Jade Emperor¡¯s envoys. Then, he raised his sword and smacked the Bull Demon King in the face with its hilt.

    <em>Baaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡°Go on, show how afraid you are.¡±

    However, there was no fear in the eyes of the Bull Demon King. In fact, he even stubbornly raised his head.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you bow down and save your people? Nope. They¡¯re no longer your people, right?¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    ¡°Beg me. Worship me. Bark like a dog.¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª!</em>

    A madman, that was what Viel was. The crazy lunatic grabbed the face of the Bull Demon King.

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    But then, at that moment, someone was sent flying to the sky. This someone was none other than Ferro. Alexander could also be seen chasing after Ferro.

    Alexander began to push Ferro back. Perhaps out of all of the people present here, the only one that could fight against the gods was Alexander.

    ¡°Fufufufufufufufu! Look at that, someone is giving you hope over there. I don¡¯t like that!¡±

    Yes, that man was definitely strong. He was strong enough to kill one of the envoys. However, there was only one of him. Viel, who gripped the bleeding head of the Bull Demon King, giggled. Suddenly, Daoist Heron appeared right next to him.

    Why did Herone here? A talisman flew out of his hands and sucked in all of the residents of Edea that were hiding all over the ce. Just like that, he had gathered the millions of residents of Edea and forced them inside the talisman.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud¡ª</em>

    ¡°Great¡ª Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal?¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty? Your Majesty Zhu Bajie?!¡±

    The residents of Edea could clearly see how the kings that they served were rendered helpless, bound by something that made them unable to move.

    ¡°Naive kings,¡± Viel spoke coldly. ¡°Bark like a dog or I will kill everyone right here and now.¡±

    Heron took out ten more talismans.

    ¡°Ah, don¡¯t forget to shout: Long Live the Jade Emperor!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Hanwoo turned to look at the crying residents of Edea. Then, he looked at the man named Alexander, who was fighting against Ferro. However, he knew that there was no way that the situation that they were in would improve.

    The Bull Demon King stared silently at Viel. Only when Heron moved to burn the talisman containing the residents of Edea did someone open their mouth.

    ¡°I¡ª I will do it.¡±

    Zhu Bajie loved and cared for his residents. However, Viel shook his head. He was not the one that he wanted.

    ¡°He has to be the one to do it.¡±

    Viel clearly remembered the bastard named Minhyuk that attacked and injured him. He wanted the Bull Demon King, who served that bastard, to kneel and worship him.

    <em>Crackleeee¡ª</em>

    The burning talisman slowly floated in the air.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaah!!!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaah!!!¡±

    ¡°N¡ª no!!!¡±

    The Bull Demon King gently closed his eyes as he listened to the cries of the residents. Then, in a low voice, he said, ¡°Long¡­ live¡­¡±

    ¡°What? Say that again. Huh? Ahahahahahahaha!¡±

    Viel could not help but cackle when he heard the Bull Demon King¡¯s admission of defeat and praise of the Jade Emperor.

    ¡°Kuhahahahahahahahaha! Louder! Huh?! Let all of them hear!!!¡±

    ¡°Long live¡­¡± the bleeding Bull Demon King opened his mouth once again. Then, he took a big breath. Before he knew it, his acupoints that had been blocked were slowly turning loose.

    ¡°Long live His Majesty Minhyuuuuuuuuuk!!!¡± The Bull Demon King shouted as he hugged Viel¡¯s lower half and charged forward.

    ¡°That¡¯s no fun.¡±

    Viel looked down at the Bull Demon King, who held his legs and pushed him back. Then, he raised his sword and tried to stab Hanwoo¡¯s back.

    <em>Vwooooooooooooong¡ª</em>

    <em>[The Millennium Lion¡¯s Sword is resonating!]</em>

    <em>[The Millennium Lion¡¯s Sword loses its power in front of the Greatest Sword!]</em>

    That was when his sword lost its sharpness and momentum.

 Chapter 829

    Chapter 829

    The viewers all over the world that were watching the battle in Edea were more interested in what Alexander was doing, than watching Viel capture the four kings of Edea and try to kill the residents of thend.

    Alexander was the Weapon Master, the first person to have ever received an Eight Pirs¡¯ ss. The viewers firmly believed that Alexander received the <em>greatest sword</em> from the previous generation¡¯s Weapon Master.

    <em>[Alexander! Quick! Take out the greatest sword!]</em>

    <em>[If Alexander takes out and awakens the greatest sword, then he might even be able to kill Ferro, right? Hahaha.]</em>

    <em>[Woah. What are the effects of the greatest sword?]</em>

    <em>[I really want to see the item window of the greatest sword.]</em>

    <em>[As expected, the greatest sword is different. Can you see how that envoy named Ferro is being cut down by the sword? The cuts and shes are cleaner than the cuts and shes made by normal swords.]</em>

    <em>[Oh! You¡¯re right.]</em>

    When many started to speak as if it was the truth, the rest of the people began to believe them.

    God-rank weapons were divided into two different grades, low grade and high grade. It was true that Alexander¡¯s <em>Weapon Master¡¯s Morphing Sword</em> was among the best of the high grade God-rank swords. It was also because of his sword¡¯s outstanding force that everyone was led to believe that his sword was the <em>greatest sword.</em>

    Alexander, who was battling fiercely against Ferro, frowned.

    <em>¡®We might be on equal footing now but¡­ I might be the one being pushed back soon.¡¯</em>

    All of the skills of the Eight Pirs¡¯ ss Weapon Master¡¯s Skill Tree that Alexander had were still at Level 1. The fact that he could fight Ferro on equal footing despite his skills only being at this level was enough for all of the yers to admit that he was truly the best.

    Then, at that moment, Alexander suddenly could not see through Ferro¡¯s skilled moves.

    <em>¡®¡­¡¯</em>

    Alexander could tell that this attack would definitely leave him with serious injuries. However, he could not fight back against it. Ferro swung his woldo sideways to sh Alexander¡¯s back.

    <em>aaaaash¡ª</em>

    However, something very surprising happened.

    <em>¡®It doesn¡¯t hurt?¡¯</em>

    Even the decrease in his HP was far less than when he received Ferro¡¯s ordinary attacks. However, Alexander did not dilly-dally. He quickly widened the distance between him and Ferro.

    Ferro stared at his woldo, which was resonating and vibrating wildly, and eximed, ¡°¡­It¡¯s afraid?¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Ferro could tell that his woldo was afraid of something. Alexander also looked down at his sword.

    <em>[The Weapon Master¡¯s Morphing Sword is resonating!]</em>

    <em>Tremble¡ª</em>

    Alexander¡¯s sword resonated and vibrated in fear, no, in terror.

    <em>[The Weapon Master¡¯s Morphing Sword loses its power in front of the Greatest Sword!]</em>

    <em>¡®Did it just say the Greatest Sword?¡¯</em>

    Alexander¡¯s breath hitched.

    <em>¡®Does this mean that the owner of the greatest sword has appeared here?¡¯</em>

    Alexander hurriedly looked around. He could see that all of the weapons and defensive equipment of everyone that fought in the war in Edea had lost their power.

    ¡°What¡­ What the hell?!¡±

    ¡°My sword¡¯s attack dropped to 1?! Even my shield¡¯s defense has dropped to 1?!¡±

    Alexander continued to look around him as a hugemotion broke out on the battlefield. Only then did the viewers finally realize that something was off.

    <em>[It said that the greatest sword has made its appearance. But¡­ wasn¡¯t Alexander using that sword from the very beginning?]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s right. But I haven¡¯t heard any notifications like that before.]</em>

    <em>[Then¡­ does that mean that the owner of the greatest sword is not Alexander, but someone else?]</em>

    Alexander¡¯s gaze searched all over the ce. Who in the world was it? Who was the master of the greatest sword in existence?

    Then, at that moment, a very shocking notification rang in the ears of everyone present.

    <em>[Edea¡¯s Commander Minhyuk has appeared on the battlefield!]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    The entire world was left reeling in shock.

    ***

    <em>Piiiiiiiiiing¡ª!</em>

    The Jade Emperor¡¯s Envoy Viel thrusted his sword toward the back of the Bull Demon King, who hugged his lower half tightly and pushed him back. However, his sword could not pierce through the Bull Demon King¡¯s back.

    Although Viel¡¯s Millennium Lion¡¯s Sword was able to scratch Hanwoo¡¯s back a bit, it was obvious that the sharpness and momentum of the sword had disappeared.

    <em>[The Millennium Lion¡¯s Sword is resonating!]</em>

    <em>[The Millennium Lion¡¯s Sword loses its power in front of the Greatest Sword!]</em>

    Viel looked at his trembling sword in doubt. However, a grin soon spread in his mouth. Viel was fully aware of the identity of the man that took the greatest sword. It was none other than that f*cking man that was called the <em>Food God</em>, the very same god that brought him shame and disgrace.

    <em>p, p, p¡ª</em>

    <em>Caaaw¡ª caaaaaw¡ª</em>

    <em>Hihihihihihing!</em>

    The birds pped their wings and flew away while the horses raised their hooves in fear.

    ¡°Where the f*ck are you, f*cking worm?!¡±

    The cameras zoomed in on Viel¡¯s face as he looked around.

    At the same time, the viewership rating of ATV Broadcasting Station, who had the exclusive rights to broadcast the battle in Edea, soared once again.

    <em>[Currently, ATV¡¯s ratings have broken through 55.8%!]</em>

    <em>[With the notifications about the entrance of Edea¡¯s Commander in the war and the appearance of the Greatest Sword that rendered all weapons and defensive equipment useless regardless of enemy or ally, it¡¯s bound to increase, no?]</em>

    <em>[All of the viewers are focused on their screens. They are trying to determine whether it was just a coincidence or not.]</em>

    Just when Viel was looking for Minhyuk, someone made an observation.

    <em>[U¡­ Up there!!!]</em>

    Minhyuk came shooting down like a meteor from the sky above.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª!</em>

    In his hand was the Sword of Aeon carrying the symbol of <em>Destruction</em> on its de. At the same time, Destruction¡¯s explosion engulfed Viel.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    No groan escaped Viel¡¯s mouth despite the downpour of lightning strikes that fell upon his body.

    ¡°Bastard!!!¡± Viel shouted as he moved in a sh. He had been looking forward to this day. He definitely would have the Sword of Aeon in his possession. Once he got his hand on the Sword of Aeon, he would cut down the Jade Emperor and be the god of the new world.

    <em>sh, sh, sh¡ª!</em>

    Viel narrowed the distance between him and Minhyuk and swung his sword so quickly that Minhyuk was left with no chance to react.

    <em>[Viel¡¯s attack failed!]</em>

    <em>[Viel¡¯s attack failed!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 99.5%!]</em>

    Viel did not do much damage to Minhyuk. That was only natural. Even an ordinary wooden sword would have 100 attack. However, right now, Viel¡¯s Millenium Lion Sword only had 1 attack power. There was no bite. In fact, even an ordinary stone lying on the street would probably have a higher attack than his sword.

    <em>¡®It would probably be around 70 if checked.¡¯</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Viel looked at his sword in confusion. Even if his sword only had 1 attack power, he would normally be able to cut down his weapons with his strength and skills alone.

    However, the difference in power between Viel and Minhyuk was not the difference between heaven and earth. On top of that, the Sword of Aeon¡¯s passive skill <em>The Greatest Sword¡¯s </em>effect would not have an ovepping effect on weapons and artifacts. In other words, the weapons and defensive gear that Minhyuk had equipped on his body, which had lost their power in front of the Sword of Aeon earlier, had already recovered.

    To put it simply, Minhyuk blocked the attack of a master, who was using a branch, with his God-rank armor. This was actually the reason why Minhyuk could confidently appear in front of Viel like this. However, this also meant that he needed to quickly finish the war within this short time of reprieve that was granted to him.

    ¡°Snake¡¯s Bite.¡±

    Viel¡¯s sword stretched out and slithered like a snake, biting and digging through Minhyuk¡¯s defenses as he cast his skill.

    <em>ng¡ª</em>

    However, it was easily blocked by Minhyuk¡¯s armor. Viel¡¯s expression grew ugly.

    Thementators also noticed something.

    <em>[No way. It¡¯s true?]</em>

    <em>[Minhyuk is the real owner of the greatest sword in existence?!!!]</em>

    <em>[Just now, we clearly heard the loud and crisp ¡®ng¡ª¡®, right? That was the sound of yer Minhyuk¡¯s armor blocking Viel¡¯s sword.]</em>

    <em>[The fact that yer Minhyuk¡¯s armor can block Viel¡¯s sword means that his defensive equipment did not lose its power and function.]</em>

    <em>[This must be the truth. yer Minhyuk is the owner of the greatest sword in existence!]</em>

    Envoy Viel was no fool. He would not fight Minhyuk after realizing that his attacks could not do any damage to him.

    <em>¡®These effects are temporary.¡¯</em>

    Viel immediately turned away after realizing this fact. No one would say that Viel was a coward even if he did this. After all, one would be stupid to fight against an opponent when their attack did not work at all.

    However, Minhyuk would not let Viel be. He immediately chased after Viel, whoughed when he saw this.

    <em>¡®Although I can¡¯t kill you right now, that does not mean that I won¡¯t be able to evade your attacks.¡¯</em>

    The problem was the attack that Minhyuk triggered was a skill with a 100% attack sess rate.

    ¡°Sword of Absolute Death.¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    Hundreds of lightning bolts fell down from the sky and struck Viel¡¯s body.

    <em>Crackle, crackle, crackle, crackle¡ª!</em>

    <em>¡®Monster¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk looked appalled as he stared at Viel. His defensive equipment obviously only had 1 defense. However, no scream or groan escaped his mouth as the Sword of Absolute Death fell upon him.

    But Minhyuk was not aiming to kill him with the Sword of Absolute Death. What he was after was the abnormal status <em>Stun</em> that Viel would be afflicted with.

    Just like that, Viel was left in a stunned state.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Viel¡¯s expression grew ugly when he realized that he could not move. Minhyuk grinned when he saw him like that.

    There was actually a skill that Minhyuk could not use when he fought Viel thest time. That skill was the power of Minhyuk¡¯s teacher, the man that used the most outstanding swordsmanship. The skill was none other than Valen¡¯s Thousand Swords.

    Thousand Swords was a skill that would be triggered <em>upon a sessful critical attack. </em>Minhyuk grabbed the Sword of Aeon with both hands and stabbed it into the stunned Viel¡¯s chest.

    <em>Staaaaaaaaab¡ª!</em>

    One had to remember that the Sword of Aeon was the greatest sword in existence. It was the sword with the highest attack.

    Viel looked at the blood dripping down his chest as the sword pierced through his chest.

    ¡°You m*th*erf*cking bastard¡­!¡±

    <em>[Thousand Swords.]</em>

    <em>[Upon a sessful critical attack, a thousand swords with 50% of the original basic attack power¡¯s damage will randomly stab the enemy!]</em>

    A thousand swords rose in the sky and shot down toward Viel¡¯s body at the same time.

    Cold sweat dripped down Viel¡¯s forehead at the sight. His equipment¡¯s defense was still at 1. Of course, as a Named NPC, his HP volume was very high. However, the skill was affected by the effects of the Sword of Aeon.

    ¡°Sky¡¯s Guardian.¡±

    Although he was in a stunned state, his mouth could still move! At that moment, the power of the Jade Emperor appeared and surrounded Viel¡¯s body.

    <em>[Sky¡¯s Guardian.]</em>

    <em>[The Highest Sky protects you!]</em>

    <em>[All attacks'' sess rate drops by 70%. The damage that you will receive will be halved.]</em>

    Envoy Viel, who found a loophole, instantly triggered the skill to halve the damage that he would receive.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    The thousand of swords that fell from the sky pierced through his body, an act that almost turned him into a hedgehog.

    However, Minhyuk was biting his lips.

    <em>[Your attack has failed!]</em>

    <em>[Your attack has failed!]</em>

    <em>[Your attack has failed!]</em>

    As expected of a god. Minhyuk never thought that Viel could trigger a skill in that short period of time to halve the damage that he would receive.

    Minhyuk was in a hurry. While he was casting the Thousand Swords, he was also preparing to cast the Food God¡¯s Swordsmanship.

    <em>[Sky¡¯s Shield.]</em>

    <em>[You can defend against all of the enemy¡¯s attacks for one minute!]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    s, a blue pir of light fell down from the sky and wrapped around Viel¡¯s body. It was a skill that had the same effect as Minhyuk¡¯s <em>Absolute Defense.</em>

    <em>¡®Damn you, Jade Emperor!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk might not know this, but among the envoys, Viel was the only one that could borrow the power of the Jade Emperor. This was not the Jade Emperor¡¯s way of intervening in the war. This was something that only Viel could do because he had the <em>authority</em> to do so.

    ¡°Why do you think I turned around and ran from you?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Blood was spurting out of the cuts and shes that the Thousand Swords had inflicted upon Viel. However, the wounds were recovering at a speed that was visible to the naked eye.

    <em>Fwoosh¡ª</em>

    Viel walked with his sword hanging on his hand.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t I say this before, you are our ythings. I just did that to give you that ray of hope, a small hope that you can win. That¡¯s so I could revel in the delight of trampling on those hopes and dreams.¡±

    Viel did not borrow the <em>Jade Emperor¡¯s Power</em> in the beginning and only used it now. Right now, he was also showing the same behavior and actions that he showed before. He wanted to show Minhyuk that he was just ying with them.

    ¡°Even if you have the greatest sword in existence, what can you do if you can¡¯t reach my body?¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s expression grew ugly when he heard Viel¡¯s jeering.

    <em>[The Millennium Lion¡¯s Sword has started to regain its original power!]</em>

    Viel cackled. Everyone, including the viewers and Minhyuk, held their breath as they listened to himugh. Viel moved like the wind as he held his sword that had regained its sharpness and momentum.

    ¡°Beast¡¯s Charge.¡±

    Viel¡¯s movement and attack speed increased by 1.3x in an instant. He used an amazing and awe-inspiring swordsmanship that could even be said to beparable to the swordsmanship used by the Sword God.

    <em>aaash¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk did not have any time to avoid the attack. Viel had suddenly appeared behind him.

    <em>aaash¡ª</em>

    Viel¡¯s sword moved swiftly, leaving behind afterimages as he shed Minhyuk¡¯s entire body.

    ¡°Keuack!¡±

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 80%!]</em>

    Minhyuk was both in awe and terror by his shockingly high attack. Then, Viel suddenly appeared above Minhyuk.

    <em>Vwooooooong¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk hurriedly raised his Sword of Aeon. However, it was already toote. Viel¡¯s sword had already stabbed several parts of Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    <em>Stab, stab¡ª stab, stab, stab¡ª stab, stab¡ª</em>

    <em>[Your HP¡­]</em>

    <em>[Your HP¡­]</em>

    <em>[Your HP¡­]</em>

    <em>[Your HP¡­]</em>

    The Supreme was rendered helpless. Amidst his scream, the people thought that it was better to give the throne of the Supreme to Alexander. Of course, the viewers andmentators were also rendered speechless by Viel¡¯s disy of power.

    <em>[Are you saying that he is the Supreme?]</em>

    <em>[He has the greatest sword in his hands but he can¡¯t even cut down a god?]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s not that yer Minhyuk is weak, it¡¯s just Viel who is too strong, no? Viel is even being protected by the Jade Emperor. He is even using the Jade Emperor¡¯s authority while he is attacking Minhyuk.]</em>

    <em>[Come to think of it, whenever Minhyuk hunts or kills someone, there will always be people like Brod, Spear God Ben or Obren by his side. Perhaps, as an individual, he is not worth being the candidate to be an emperor.]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s true.]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s not that he¡¯s outstanding, it¡¯s the people around him that are outstanding. Is there even someone that does not know that? Hahahahahahaha. Look at him. He can¡¯t even react to Viel¡¯s sword. He even allowed Viel to attack three times per second.]</em>

    <em>[Ah¡­]</em>

    Viewers were saying that they were witnessing the fall of the supreme. Of course, most of them were just being sarcastic and instigating others because they could not evenpare to Minhyuk. However, others could be easily swayed by what was presented to them. And right now, they were witnessing how Minhyuk was being brutally abused by Viel.

    ¡°Keuhahahaha¡­ hahahahahahahaha, keuhahahahahahaha!!!¡±

    Vielughed maniacally as he watched the bleeding Minhyuk stagger on his feet.

    <em>[The Sky¡¯s Shield has ended!]</em>

    But then, the Sky¡¯s Shield that surrounded and protected Viel disappeared. Heughed andughed. He felt that there was no point to the barrier when his opponent was already bleeding and staggering on his feet like that.

    However, at that moment, the staggering Minhyuk suddenly stood still. The hurried and despairing look on his face as he bled all over his body disappeared and was reced with a calm and expressionless look.

    ¡°Hey. Are you finished now?¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°Shit. It¡¯s hard to get beaten and pretend to get hurt.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    Viel looked at Minhyuk in confusion. The truth was, Viel was someone that could be easily intoxicated by his own disy of power. He attacked and abused Minhyuk just with basic attacks because Viel firmly believed that he would be able to kill him with just his basic attacks.

    And that was the problem. If Viel had used all of his skills and attacked Minhyuk with all his might, then he would have probably forced him to log out already. However, he did nothing and just used his <em>basic attacks.</em>

    ¡°It¡¯s my turn now, no?¡±

    <em>Absolute Defense.</em>

    An absolute barrier that couldst for seven seconds appeared around Minhyuk¡¯s body the moment he recited those words. Compared to Viel¡¯s skill, the duration of Minhyuk¡¯s Absolute Defense might be infinitely shorter. However, his attack would definitely be more intense and more heated.

    <em>ck¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk took out a sword from his inventory and held it with his other hand.

    <em>[What¡ª what¡¯s that just now?]</em>

    <em>[Even though I¡¯m watching this with my very own eyes, I still can¡¯t bring myself to believe it!!!]</em>

    <em>[Is¡ª Is this even possible in Athenae?!!!]</em>

    ck energy started to flow around the Sword of Aeon in Minhyuk¡¯s right hand while a golden energy began to flow around the Continent Destroyer Sword in his left hand.

    Then, a notification rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears at the same time as he equipped the two swords.

    <em>[Dual Sword Technique.]</em>

    <em>[Your attack speed has increased by 70%!]</em>

    <em>[You can now use two swords. The swords¡¯ attack will not be affected and will not decrease!]</em>

    <em>[Your skills¡¯ power has increased by 1.4x!]</em>

    <em>[The Dual Sword Technique¡¯s effects will be triggered upon casting a sessive attack skill. The skill¡¯s damage will be doubled.]</em>

    Minhyuk held two swords in his hands as he began his judgment.

    ¡°Sword of Carnage.¡±

 Chapter 830

    Chapter 830

    yers were generally not inclined to use the Dual Sword Technique. There were reasons for it.

    The first reason was it was generally impossible for yers to equip two swords at the same time.

    The only way that it could be possible was the <em>Two-Sword Mastery.</em> However, it had a condition set in ce, where one could only replicate the sword that they had equipped, or use swords that were specifically made for it.

    However, because of that condition, the sword¡¯s attack would decrease, only disying around 40% of its original power.

    The second reason was it was actually very difficult for yers to use the Dual Sword Technique.

    yers were unlikely to handle swords in their daily lives and had only ever held swords in this virtual reality game. To put it simply, they were already having a hard time holding a single sword. How could they hold two swords when they were already having a hard time swinging one?

    Of course, there were a few exceptions. Those who were either talented and had good gaming sense, or those that had a good feel for the sword. There were also those among the ones that practiced kendo or martial arts for a long time, allowing them to have a good grasp of wielding dual swords. However, even these people had turned a blind-eye to the Dual Sword Technique.

    In the end, it all came down to the first reason. These reasons did not mean that there were no yers that did not hone their Two-Sword Mastery or utilize the Dual Sword Technique. However, due to the nature of their ss, even if these people had excellent gaming sense, they would still have less attack when using the Dual Sword Technique.

    It was no wonder thementators were all in shock.

    <em>[He has two swords in his hands¡­ One of the swords is definitely the well-known Continent Destroyer Sword!]</em>

    <em>[The Continent Destroyer Sword, as we all know, is considered as one of the highest grade swords among the God-rank swords!]</em>

    <em>[I¡¯m sure a lot of our viewers are well aware of how amazing the Continent Destroyer Sword is when used by Food God Minhyuk.]</em>

    <em>[As for the sword in his right hand¡­ It''s the Greatest Sword! The Strongest Sword among all of the swords that exist in Athenae!]</em>

    <em>[Is this even possible?! Isn¡¯t Two-Sword Mastery originally a skill that can be used by either replicating the skill user¡¯s original sword or using a sword that was originally made for it?]</em>

    <em>[But right now, yer Minhyuk is holding two different swords in his hands!]</em>

    It was not just thementators that were in shock. The same was true for the viewers.

    <em>[Is it really possible to use two different swords when using the Dual Sword Technique?]</em>

    <em>[Hey, hey. Isn¡¯t this a bnce breaker?]</em>

    <em>[No. Crazy. This shouldn¡¯t be allowed, right?]</em>

    Then, a fairly famous high swordsman ranker appeared among the viewers.

    <em>[Whether it¡¯s Two-Sword Mastery or the Dual Sword Technique, both skills incur huge penalties. Upon usage, one¡¯s attack speed and sword attack would drastically decrease. More importantly, yer Minhyuk is not a yer that uses the Dual Sword Technique in the first ce. This mean that he is unlikely to swing his swords freely. Basically this will just be counterproductive.]</em>

    <em>[Ah, that¡¯s right.]</em>

    <em>[Right. Guys, the penalty for using Dual Sword Technique is really just too much.]</em>

    <em>[Then, isn¡¯t that just useless?]</em>

    That was what everyone thought. However, Minhyuk did not care a single bit about what they thought. After all, what did the viewers andmentators think about him while he was being attacked by Viel earlier?

    <em>¡®Casting pearls before swine.¡¯</em>

    They had definitely thought that he did not deserve to hold the strongest and greatest sword in his hand. Not only that, they also thought that Viel was so strong that he could not even show off the true power of the Sword of Aeon. But now, he was showing off the power of the greatest sword.

    ¡±Sword of Carnage.¡±

    The Sword of Carnage was originally a skill that would increase his movement speed by ten times and allow him to send out thirty eight attacks in a seconds. Each strike had an additional 2,000% attack and the power to ignore all of the enemy¡¯s defenses.

    <em>[Sword of Carnage.]</em>

    <em>[The effects of the Dual Sword Technique have been added!]</em>

    <em>[Due to the use of Dual Sword Technique, the skill¡¯s consecutive attacks have doubled!]</em>

    <em>[Your enemy will be hit with seventy six sword attacks in a second!]</em>

    Minhyuk swiftly passed by Viel, both of the swords in his hands cutting his body.

    <em>Shwaaaaa¡ª</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Viel had already tasted the brunt of the Sword of Carnage¡¯s attacks. This time, it was very different from before.

    <em>Stab¡ª</em>

    Viel¡¯s eyes suddenly grew wide when the attack sessfullynded on his body. <em>¡®The¡ª the damage that I incurred back then was¡­!¡¯</em>

    It waspletely different. Minhyuk had eaten buffed dishes in Hell beforeing here just so he could deal with Viel. On top of that, Viel was receiving the damage from the +3 reinforced <em>Sword of Aeon</em>. As of this moment, Sword of Aeon had 3,089 attack power.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¡ª</em>

    Blood spurted out of Viel¡¯s body as the consecutive attacks ripped and tore apart his flesh and bones. The god that all of the yers feared was being vited and abused by the greatest sword.

    <em>[Wh¡ª what? What was that just now?]</em>

    <em>[The¡­ the Sword of Carnage just cut Viel with more than 60 shes!]</em>

    <em>[What did I just see?]</em>

    <em>[I¡¯m definitely watching it with my own eyes but I just can¡¯t understand it.]</em>

    <em>[Originally, one¡¯s attack power, speed or even their skills¡¯ power would lower if they used the Dual Sword Technique. But just now, the number of times that he cut Viel using his skill had doubled, right?]</em>

    <em>[Maybe this is the power of the greatest sword? A power that we have never seen before?]</em>

    <em>[¡­I don¡¯t know how to put it into words well. But we all have to keep in mind that using the Dual Sword Technique is something that not just anyone could use!]</em>

    Viel¡¯s entire body was filled with wounds. He was so furious that the veins in his eyes burst and made him cry tears of blood. This was a disgrace.

    <em>¡®How dare a piece of trash like you dare to hit me?¡¯</em>

    ¡°Bastaaaaaaaaard!!!¡±

    Viel could be considered a true monster in every sense. The attack from before only shaved off around 40% of his HP. He was still very much alive and well.

    He dashed forward madly and used his dazzling and majestic swordsmanship to try and overwhelm Minhyuk. Even his sword¡¯s attacking speed was beyond anyone¡¯s expectations.

    <em>ng¡ª</em>

    However, Viel¡¯s sword was easily blocked by the Continent Destroyer Sword, while the Sword of Aeon moved and shed his chest.

    <em>Spuuuurt¡ª!</em>

    ¡°Hiiiiik¡­!¡±

    Viel gritted his teeth as he continuously swung his sword. He looked like an eagle, who glided smoothly in the sky before swooping down to attack its prey. However, Minhyuk was able to block all of Viel¡¯s attacks. In fact, he even began to push the envoy back.

    As long as Dual Sword Technique was still in effect, Minhyuk¡¯s movement speed would be 70% faster than normal. As it turned out, knowing that the Dual Sword Technique was a very difficult skill for yers to use, the production team tried topensate for this shoring by increasing one¡¯s speed by 70% during the skill¡¯s duration.

    However, there was another important point.

    <em>[Th¡ª That¡¯s crazy.]</em>

    <em>[The Dual Sword Technique looks so amazing when used by yer Minhyuk!!!]</em>

    It was only at this moment that the viewers andmentators, who did not realize that Minhyuk was using the Dual Sword Technique, remembered something.

    <em>[P¡ª yer Minhyuk¡­]</em>

    <em>[He¡¯s someone that won against the Kendo Gold Medalist Carr before!]</em>

    <em>[yer Minhyuk has a record of winning against Carr in an unofficial kendo match during their middle school days!!!]</em>

    <em>[The greatest sword and the most outstanding swordsman has met! And their power has doubled!!!]</em>

    Then, one of the viewers piped in.

    <em>[Hey, where¡¯s that guy who said earlier that Minhyuk wouldn¡¯t be able to use the Dual Sword Technique?]</em>

    <em>[Let me bury your head.]</em>

    It was just like thementators had said. Minhyuk had held a sword since he was a child and had always shown how much of a genius he was with it. But that was not all. Minhyuk actually did several dozens of different exercises to go with his insane diet. Among those exercises was <em>Dual Swordsmanship.</em> In other words, having the Sword of Aeon in his possession was just like giving him wings to fly.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¡ª!</em>

    The symbol of <em>Destruction</em> was branded on the des of both the swords in Minhyuk¡¯s hands. With every swing of his sword, dozens of lightning strikes would fall down and engulf Viel. However, despite all that, Minhyuk was feeling anxious.

    <em>¡®Ah! This crazy bastard! Die. Please just die! Die!!!¡¯</em>

    s, Viel¡¯s HP volume and defense was beyond anyone¡¯s imagination. Just when he thought that it would soon be over after he had beaten Viel for three minutes, a dreaded notification rang out.

    <em>[The Sky¡¯s Warmth.]</em>

    <em>[All of your HP and MP has recovered.]</em>

    A warm light fell from the sky and helped Viel¡¯s body recover.

    ¡°¡­Ah.¡±

    Minhyuk staggered back. In just an instant, everything that he did went down the drain.

    <em>[There is only 1 minute and 30 seconds left in the Dual Sword Technique¡¯s duration.]</em>

    Minhyuk quickly estimated everything. If he gave it his all and used all of his skills and power, he would be able to kill Viel even though he was being protected by the Jade Emperor.

    He quickly looked around. Sun Wukong, Aaron, Hanwoo and Zhu Bajie were all still standing tall. However, he could tell that they would all copse soon.

    Even Alexander looked very exhausted as he fought fiercely against Ferro, unable to break away from Ferro¡¯s woldo despite being an Eight Pirs¡¯ ss. Unlike Alexander, Ferro still looked very energetic.

    <em>¡®The Jade Emperor¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>Damn it. Damn it!</em>

    The bloody Viel cackled, his smile grotesque as he said, ¡°Kghhk. Keuhahahahahahaha! Keuhahahahahahahahha! That power of yours will eventually disappear. By that time, you won¡¯t be able to kill me. Did you believe that you could win? Did you believe that you could save everyone? Did you believe that you are stronger than me? That you are stronger than us? That you are stronger than the Sky?¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s grip on his two swords tightened. It was just like what Viel said. No matter how hard he fought and struggled as long as the Jade Emperor was here, he would not be able to kill Viel. Besides, the Jade Emperor was also going to descend here. If by any chance, he was able to kill Viel, once the Jade Emperor appeared, everyone here would still die.

    <em>[Are you giving up?]</em>

    At that moment, a very familiar voice rang from the sky above them. At the same time, the Puzzling Seasoning Jar flew out of Minhyuk¡¯s inventory on its own.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk looked at the Puzzling Seasoning Jar that suddenly started to crack with a puzzled look on his face.

    <em>ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    In the end, the seasoning jarpletely broke down.

    <em>[Using his own power, Evil God Obren breaks the restriction ced upon him to forever live inside the Puzzling Seasoning Jar.]</em>

    <em>[Your vassal and lord rtionship with Evil God Obren has been cut off!]</em>

    Minhyuk could not believe the notifications that rang in his ears. But as the sky turned dark, another shocking set of notifications rang.

    <em>[The Sky is copsing!]</em>

    <em>[The man that has forced the Sky to copse is trying to be the new God!]</em>

    Then, the voice that rang before spoke again.

    <em>[Are you afraid of the Jade Emperor?]</em>

    ¡°¡­¡±

    To be honest? Minhyuk was truly afraid. He was afraid of Viel, who was being protected by the Jade Emperor. He thought that he would not be able to kill him, even if he tried his best.

    <em>[But, you know¡­]</em>

    The voice sounded warm and gentle. It felt like it was embracing Minhyuk gently.

    <em>[You should not forget that you have me.]</em>

    <em>[You are my only friend and the only one that I will trust.]</em>

    Along with that, shocking notifications rang loudly in the ears of all of the people in the entire world.

    <em>[The man squeezes the Fallen Sky out of his throne. He chooses his name as the new Absolute God!]</em>

    <em>[He will ascend to the throne of the tenth Absolute God!]</em>

    <em>[However, the tenth Absolute God has notpletely destroyed the Sky yet.]</em>

    <em>[The one that wants to be the tenth Absolute God is temporarily taking over the Sky¡¯s power!]</em>

    <em>[The tenth Absolute God has be a God for someone¡¯s sake. He became a God to help him and guide him on the right path.]</em>

    <em>[The tenth Absolute God is Guardian God Obren!]</em>

    Obren spoke warmly.

    <em>[I will protect you for all eternity.]</em>

    <em>[Absolute God Obren has be your Guardian God!]</em>

    A god that was stronger, more superior and greater than the Jade Emperor, had given strength to Minhyuk.

    <em>[The Guardian God has bestowed upon you his blessings!]</em>

 Chapter 831

    Chapter 831

    Master Xuanzang felt like he was dreaming. After Obren acquired the Absolute God¡¯s Ne, he immediately grabbed Xuanzang and stormed the ce where the Jade Emperor was currently located.

    The problem was that their timing was bad. The Jade Emperor was almost done with his preparations to descend to Edea and participate in the battlefield. However, Obren had stood toe to toe with the Jade Emperor and was not even being pushed back.

    <em>Crackleee¡ª</em>

    Obren, whose sealed powers hadpletely awakened after eating Minhyuk¡¯s buffed dishes, cast a huge pir of zing mes that devoured the Jade Emperor.

    The mes instantly incinerated the cloth that covered the Jade Emperor¡¯s upper body, revealing his bare and muscr body. He held a sword in one hand and a chained scythe with the other, resisting desperately against Obren.

    The Absolute God¡¯s Ne required the one that wanted to be an Absolute God to equip the ne. Not only that, they had to drive another Absolute God to death and taking away their <em>divinity</em>.

    ¡°Urk¡­!¡±

    The Jade Emperor¡¯s mind was not entirely focused on this battle. This was because Viel, who was in Edea, kept asking for his help. He could not turn a blind eye to this envoy of his. If his envoys died, then it would mean that they were gone for good.

    Despite being forced into several dangerous situations, the Jade Emperor continued to be distracted. As he did so, he started to show a brief gap in his defenses. Obren wasted no time in taking advantage of this gap.

    <em>Clench¡ª</em>

    Obren grabbed the Jade Emperor¡¯s shoulder tightly. At the same time, the Evil God¡¯s Books appeared and floated around them, tearing the Jade Emperor¡¯s body apart.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª!</em>

    The Jade Emperor was in disbelief.

    ¡°Howe a mere human¡­¡±

    He could not believe that someone like this was under hismand. This powerhouse could have anything that he ever wanted, anything that others would be greedy over.

    <em>¡®So, howe?¡¯</em>

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand. Why do you obey that man¡¯s orders?!!!¡±

    Obren¡¯s grip on the Jade Emperor¡¯s shoulders tightened when he heard those words.

    <em>[The Jade Emperor is dying!]</em>

    <em>[You have started to take away his divinity!]</em>

    <em>[The Jade Emperor is resisting! He is making it hard for you!]</em>

    ¡°Obey his orders?¡± Obrenughed. ¡°What a pitiful Sky you are.¡±

    Obren looked into the man¡¯s eyes. He could immediately tell what he thought of the residents of hisnd.

    ¡°You are a God and the residents of yournd are weak and pitiful. So, they must be subservient to you. They have to follow and serve you. That¡¯s what you think, no?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°Then, let me ask you this,¡± Obren asked him, a wry smile on his face. ¡°If you are truly delighted with the situation that you are in, have you ever smiled?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The Jade Emperor shut his mouth. Yes, he had everything. However, he had taken things for granted because he had everything.

    ¡°I got the chance to meet the king of a very small nation called the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. And through him, I was able to meet the people of his kingdom.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°They did not deify us or worship us. They just smile andugh, often greeting me with a<em> ¡®Hello, how are you Mr. Obren?¡¯</em>¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°I would smile andugh, enjoying the small talk and stories that we share, and I would feel warm and sweet whenever they hand me a few apples, even when they do not have much to begin with.¡±

    The Jade Emperor felt his chest throb. Those were things that he had never felt, especially since he had only ever trampled, toppled and killed the people under him. He wanted to deny the man. He wanted to say that he was standing above those mere humans and was satisfied with what he had.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    However, the Jade Emperor felt his heart break when he saw the genuinely happy smile on Obren¡¯s face.

    ¡°He is the king of the very small nation, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, that stood by his kingdom¡¯s people.¡±

    Obren grinned, his grip on the Jade Emperor¡¯s shoulder tightening even further.

    <em>[Your speed of taking away the Jade Emperor¡¯s divinity has increased!]</em>

    <em>[You are now ascending the position of the tenth Absolute God!]</em>

    <em>[However, you have notpletely ascended and be the Absolute God!]</em>

    <em>[Choose the path that you want topletely take over the position of the Absolute God!]</em>

    Obren had many paths to choose from. He could be the God of Wisdom, the God of Laziness, or continue to be the Evil God. He could be any God that he wanted to be with the ability that he had.

    ¡°Me? I am not following his orders.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°I just want to protect him, that¡¯s all.¡±

    The Jade Emperor vehemently denied it. How would an Evil God protect a mere human being? Even though he tried so hard to deny it, Obren had continued to prove him wrong.

    ¡°I¡­¡± Obren looked down at Minhyuk, who was fighting on the ground, and said, ¡°will be the Guardian God.¡±

    <em>[You have sessfully taken away most of the Jade Emperor¡¯s divinity!]</em>

    <em>[You have chosen to walk the path of the ¡®Guardian God¡¯ as the tenth Absolute God!]</em>

    <em>[The power of the Greatest God Athenae has bestowed new powers upon the Guardian God.]</em>

    <em>[The ¡®Evil God¡¯s Books¡¯ in your possession have now changed to the ¡®Guardian God¡¯s Books!¡¯]</em>

    <em>[Most of the power of the Evil God will be changed to be a power that will protect and guard others.]</em>

    <em>[The Evil God¡¯s strong power is slowly disappearing from Guardian God Obren.]</em>

    <em>[However, the Guardian God is an outstanding God that has received Athenae¡¯s recognition!]</em>

    <em>[Some of the Evil God¡¯s power will not disappear from your arsenal!]</em>

    <em>[The rest of the Evil God¡¯s power will slowly start to disappear after 24 hours.]</em>

    <em>[As per Athenae¡¯s restrictions, Guardian God Obren can only help his ¡®ward¡¯!]</em>

    <em>[Guardian God Obren cannot bestow all of the power of the Guardian God to one person alone!]</em>

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    Then, at that moment, the Jade Emperor made one final resistance. He pushed Obren away and cast a barrier around him.

    ¡°Haa¡­ haa¡­¡±

    <em>[The transfer of the Absolute God¡¯s power is temporarily stopped.]</em>

    <em>[However, you already have enough qualifications as a ¡®Guardian God.¡¯]</em>

    Even if the Jade Emperor hid behind his barrier, he would not be able to do much anymore. If anything, the only thing that he could do was help Viel. However, Obren had now be the Guardian God. As the newly appointed Guardian God, he immediately bestowed his power upon Minhyuk.

    ***

    <em>[The Guardian God has bestowed upon you his blessings!]</em>

    When Minhyuk learned that Obren went to the Demon World, he did not ask the reason why. After all, he knew that he did so to protect him.

    Now that he knew why, Minhyuk could not help but feel warm all over. Obren had abandoned his name as the Evil God and became the Guardian God, the new Absolute God, just so he could protect him.

    <em>[The Guardian God¡¯s Blessings.]</em>

    <em>[Your physical and magical attack have increased by 40%!]</em>

    <em>[All of your attack skills¡¯ damage has increased by 30%!]</em>

    <em>[Your EXP acquisition rate and item drop rate will double whenever you kill your opponent while the Guardian God¡¯s Blessings is in effect!]</em>

    <em>[The Guardian God¡¯s Endurance Buff Ability cannot be duplicated!]</em>

    All of the yers turned their attention to Minhyuk after he received the protection of the Guardian God. Meanwhile, Minhyuk turned his head and saw Obren, who seemed to be cing his hand on something.

    <em>¡®My Guardian God Obren.¡¯</em>

    Obren nodded as he shed a small smile toward Minhyuk. Then, his figure disappeared and scattered with the wind.

    <em>[You all heard that, right?! Evil God Obren is ascending to be the tenth Absolute God!!!]</em>

    <em>[Obren, who¡¯s going to be the tenth Absolute God, has chosen to be Minhyuk¡¯s ¡®Guardian God¡¯!]</em>

    The fearpletely disappeared in Minhyuk¡¯s body. Guardian God Obren was with him, there was nothing for him to fear.

    ¡°¡­Wh¡ª what?!¡±

    Viel had also heard the voices that rang from the sky. Right now, the Jade Emperor¡¯s position was being threatened. He might still be protected by the Jade Emperor, but that was the same for Minhyuk. Minhyuk was being protected by Guardian God Obren.

    Minhyuk clearly remembered how Viel mocked him earlier. Relying on the power of the Jade Emperor, Viel had told him that he would not be able to kill him and that he would not be able to fight against them and the Jade Emperor.

    ¡°It seems like your Sky has fallen.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°While my Sky has risen.¡±

    Viel¡¯s expression crumpled.

    <em>¡®My Sky has fallen?¡¯</em>

    That was impossible. His Sky¡¯s blessings still remained within him.

    Minhyuk¡¯s Dual Sword Technique only had under two minutes left. Viel, who was aware of this fact, charged fiercely. However, he had been pushed back by Minhyuk before. He was only able to stand back up thanks to the support of his Sky.

    <em>aaaaaaaaang¡ª!</em>

    Minhyuk gently raised his sword to block his attack while he swung his other sword at him non-stop.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª!</em>

    Viel, who once stood above the rest, suffered tremendous damage from the onught of attacks that came from Minhyuk, who became stronger with the blessings and protections of his Guardian God.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s sword moved fiercely and without any mercy.

    <em>¡®This is all thanks to you.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Because you are there to protect me. Because you became the new Sky for my sake.¡¯</em>

    <em>Boooooooooom¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk went after Viel, who was sent flying back from his attack.

    Both allies and foes stopped in their tracks as they watched the fight between the two. At this moment, ATV¡¯s Broadcasting Station¡¯s viewership rating had already exceeded 60%, the entire world leaning on their seats as they watched Minhyuk, the ward of the new Absolute God, Guardian God Obren.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    While Viel was trying to run away from Minhyuk, Minhyuk kneed Viel in the face and sent him flying.

    <em>Crack¡ª</em>

    Viel¡¯s face was filled with anger as his face got dragged through the ground, the words ¡®<em>My Sky has copsed?¡¯</em> ringing non-stop in his head.

    ¡°My Sky? I don¡¯t quite understand,¡± Viel jeered as he stood up with his palms clenched into fists. He never had a Sky in the first ce. ¡°I am the Sky.¡±

    Viel had never regarded the Jade Emperor with respect or admiration. He had always believed that he was just born differently. He had always thought that he would take over the Jade Emperor¡¯s position one day.

    <em>¡®I am the Sky.¡¯</em>

    ¡°The Sky is not something that the likes of a bastard like you can destroy.¡±

    <em>Crack¡ª crack, crack¡ª crack¡ª</em>

    Strange sounds appeared from Viel¡¯s body.

    <em>[The Envoy¡¯s Wrath.]</em>

    <em>[In exchange for your body¡¯s destruction, you will gain a power that will transcend your limits.]</em>

    <em>[All of your attack and defense have dramatically increased.]</em>

    <em>[During the skill¡¯s duration, your body will continuously be broken and torn apart in exchange for the amplification of your power!]</em>

    An unmeasurable force surged in the veins of the lunatic Viel, his eyes turning bloodshot as tears of blood dripped down his face.

    <em>[Your Guardian God believes in you!]</em>

    <em>[Your Guardian God loves you dearly!]</em>

    <em>[Your Guardian God hopes that you will continue to move forward!]</em>

    <em>[Your Guardian God¡­]</em>

    <em>[Your Guardian God¡­]</em>

    <em>[Your¡­]</em>

    Obren¡¯s unrelenting love, recognition, praise and support as Minhyuk¡¯s Guardian God rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears as he cheered him on.

    ¡°I am the true Sky!!!¡±

    Edea shook and trembled from the powerful force that burst out of Viel.

    Minhyuk looked at the sky that turned red and thought, <em>¡®I also care, love and believe in you.¡¯</em>

    As if to respond to what he was feeling, there was a new notification.

    <em>[The Guardian God¡¯s Compliment.]</em>

    <em>[The Guardian God¡¯s Compliment has settled in your skill.]</em>

    <em>[The first skill that you will trigger upon receiving thepliment will have 50% more power!]</em>

    Because of that, Minhyuk was going to show a power that he had never revealed to anyone. A power that would exert greater force with the Dual Sword Technique. This was the power of the Sword of Aeon.

    <em>[The Annihtor¡¯s Sword.]</em>

    <em>[Your attack with 11,000% additional damage will sessfullynd and cut down your enemy. It will also trigger an explosion with additional 4,000% damage that will devour an area with a radius of forty meters.]</em>

    <em>[You have received the Guardian God¡¯s Compliment!]</em>

    <em>[The Annihtor¡¯s Sword will disy 50% more power than normal!]</em>

    <em>[You are currently using the Dual Sword Technique!]</em>

    <em>[You have used the Annihtor¡¯s Sword while the Dual Sword Technique is still in effect. Both of your swords will disy the skill, the skill¡¯s power will be 50% stronger than normal!]</em>

    <em>[Double Skill]</em>

    <em>[Double Skill has a 1.2% chance of getting triggered. Once triggered, it will double the effects of the skill used.]</em>

    <em>[The system cannot measure your power!]</em>

    <em>[The system¡­]</em>

    <em>[The system¡­]</em>

    ¡°I AM THE SKY!!!¡±

    Viel, who had gonepletely berserk, charged forward. Thick clouds of dust bloomed as his feet left deep imprints on the ground with every step that he took. However, Minhyuk just looked at Viel nonchntly, as he raised both the swords in his hands.

    Viel aimed his sword at Minhyuk¡¯s heart. However, Minhyuk was a step faster. He raised both of his swords and swung them down, cutting Viel¡¯s body.

    Viel¡¯s eyes grew wide. His eyes, which were filled with shock, met Minhyuk¡¯s indifferent eyes. Then, Minhyuk opened his mouth and said once again, ¡°Your Sky has fallen.¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    A huge explosion erupted, its aftermath making the entire Edea shake and tremble. The explosion tore Viel¡¯s body apart.

    Minhyuk turned to look at the sky and said, ¡°Now, my Sky has risen.¡±

    The sky, which had turned red from Viel¡¯s power, slowly started to turn blue once again. Then, something fell down from the sky. It was none other than the Jade Emperor. The Sky of Edea had now truly copsed and fallen.

    <em>[The Jade Emperor has died!]</em>

    <em>[Guardian God Obren has nowpletely ascended to the Absolute God¡¯s throne!]</em>

    <em>[You have killed the Jade Emperor¡¯s Envoy, Viel!]</em>

    Notifications rang constantly in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

 Chapter 832

    Chapter 832

    The Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army, thementators, and the viewers were all left speechless as they watched Minhyuk blow away an area with a radius of hundreds of meters, with Annihtor Sword.

    When the explosion cleared out, the aftermath was finally revealed. The area around Minhyuk waspletely hollowed out. It was as if a huge nuclear bomb had dropped right where they had been. The strength of the attack could only be seen from high-leveled Named NPCs and Boss Monsters.

    <em>[Does this even make sense¡­?]</em>

    <em>[How can a single yer use a skill like that?]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s so amazing. I¡¯m actually at a loss for words.]</em>

    <em>[I¡¯m sure everyone has seen it, no? Envoy Viel has finally been put to eternal rest under the hands of yer Minhyuk.]</em>

    <em>[Anyone that gets hit by that skill will surely die. No one could survive that.]</em>

    <em>[If Minhyuk has that much power then¡­]</em>

    Everyone already knew what those words meant. So, thementators did not even opt to finish their words. However, that was not the case for the viewers. They took over the mantle and finished the words themselves.

    <em>[I think it¡¯s safe to say that yer Minhyuk has protected his ce on the Supreme¡¯s throne, no?]</em>

    <em>[I know, right? Just looking at Minhyuk wielding his swords and using the Dual Sword Technique is enough for us to know that Alexander is stillcking. That¡¯s the case even if he had already be the Weapon Master.]</em>

    <em>[I think Alexander will go straight to heaven if he gets hit by that skill? Hahahaha.]</em>

    <em>[He¡¯s really Our Lord, the Food God¡­ How far is he going to go alone? Does it even make sense to have a skill with that much damage and range?]</em>

    <em>[All I can say is¡­ All hail the Food God.]</em>

    <em>[I¡¯ve reported it as a bug. That skill definitely does not make sense.]</em>

    The viewers¡¯ opinions were varied. There were many people that praised Minhyuk as the Lord Food God, but there were also many people that were jealous and envious of his strength that opted to report him.

    In their point of view, the power was truly enough to be called a bug or a bnce breaker. However, the skill was expressed in a state where Minhyuk had already received the buff effects of his own dish. On top of that, he had received the <em>Guardian God¡¯s Blessings,</em> a buff that increased all of his attack skills¡¯ damage by 30%.

    Although Guardian God Obren¡¯s endurance buff ability could not be duplicated, Obren still had plenty of other powers that he could use. That included the Guardian God¡¯s Compliment, a skill that was not an endurance buff. With the Guardian God¡¯s Compliment, once a skill was triggered, the power that the opponent had would disappear, while their own skill would improve by 50%.

    But that was not all. By a stroke of luck, Double Skill had also activated. Although there was a very slim chance of getting triggered with a 1.2% probability, it was a skill that practically gave the Dual Sword Technique wings and allowed it to fly. After all, Double Skill could double one¡¯s own power upon use. Of course, there were also the effects of the Dual Sword Technique.

    Minhyuk¡¯s Annihtor Sword reached maximum effect with the application of a variety of things. To put it simply, bnce was not broken.

    Meanwhile, notifications following the death and fall of the Jade Emperor from the sky rang in the ears of everyone present.

    <em>[With the Jade Emperor¡¯s death, all quests rted to him have disappeared!]</em>

    The Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army still had more than five million troops in their ranks. The problem was that the target that they were pursuing had already disappeared. With the quests gone, the benefits that they would get from attacking Edea had been significantly reduced.

    ¡°Damn it.¡±

    ¡°We no longer have a reason to fight.¡±

    ¡°No. We can still force Edea to its downfall¡­¡±

    ¡°F*cking idiot. Who is Edea¡¯s God now?¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Obren. Who also happens to be Minhyuk¡¯s Guardian God. Force it to its downfall? Bullshit.¡±

    If they continued to force Edea to its downfall right here and now, then Obren, who had now be the <em>Guardian God</em>, would begin tounch overwhelming attacks upon them. Finally, many members of the Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army were not confident that they would be able to handle <em>that.</em>

    <em>¡®How can we even beat Minhyuk if he has a skill like that in his possession¡­?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®It wouldn¡¯t matter how many we have on our side.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®There is no longer a Jade Emperor that will give us rewards. We cannot take this risk.¡¯</em>

    Basically, the entire Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army was in a disadvantageous position. However, they also found this to be very surprising.

    ¡°In the end, Minhyuk did it.¡±

    Kentaro looked quite bitter. Minhyuk did not force everyone here to log out. Even so, the Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army had already lost all of its will to fight. In the end, the Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army had to retreat.

    At that moment, another set of notifications rang in Athenae.

    ***

    <em>[Evil God Obren haspletely taken over the throne of an Absolute God and has established himself as the Guardian God.]</em>

    <em>[Guardian God Obren will protect and guard the lives of many. He will personally choose who he will protect.]</em>

    <em>[The Absolute God, Guardian God Obren, cannot bestow all of his powers upon one yer.]</em>

    <em>[The Absolute God, Guardian God Obren, has be someone that cannot form a lord-vassal rtionship with any yers.]</em>

    <em>[Guardian God Obren will lose the lord-vassal rtionship that he previously had with a yer before.]</em>

    <em>[Anyone that sincerely hopes for something, works hard for something, and lives desperately for something might hear the voice of Guardian God Obren in their ears.]</em>

    <em>[Even though the Absolute God, Guardian God Obren, cannot bestow all of his powers upon a single person¡­omitted¡­]</em>

    Everyone was shocked and terrified when they heard thest of the notifications. Minhyuk, who had just killed Viel, had also heard the same notifications as above. That was why, the bitter expression on his face brightened when thest notification rang. He looked up at the sky and smiled brightly.

    Then, the notifications for killing and hunting Viel rang in his ears.

    <em>[You have killed the Jade Emperor¡¯s Envoy Viel.]</em>

    <em>[With the Guardian God¡¯s Blessings in effect, your EXP Acquisition and Item Drop rate has doubled.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 29,965 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 13,145,000,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[¡­leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Skill Book: Viel¡¯s Lion Roar.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Hermian¡¯s Swordsmanship Book.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Millenium Lion¡¯s Sword.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Viel¡¯s Puppet Doll.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Viel¡¯s Mysterious Elixir.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Sky¡¯s Golden Pig.]</em>

    <em>[¡­Sky River¡¯s Twinkling Spring Water.]</em>

    <em>[¡­Roltoe¡¯s Chains.]</em>

    <em>[¡­Thousand Sword¡¯s Skill Proficiency has reached MAX¡­]</em>

    The notifications constantly rang in his ears. All in all, Minhyuk had leveled up by at least three times. He had also acquired almost thirty thousand tinum, along with a skill book that Viel personally wrote himself. He also acquired Viel¡¯s Puppet Doll, a mysterious elixir, and the Sky¡¯s Golden Pig.

    Unfortunately, even though he had obtained so many treasures and rewards, he did not have the time to check all of the details of the items that were given to him. While the war seemed to have died down and things had already calmed down to some extent, there was still plenty of unfinished work left for him to take care of. One of them was Alexander, who was now on the verge of being forced to log out after being pushed to the limits by Ferro.

    <em>¡®Alexander must not be forced to log out here.¡¯</em>

    Alexander had dered himself to be a Supreme. That deration was made at a time when he still did not know that Minhyuk was the owner of the Sword of Aeon. However, now that he knew that, he must have started to realize that he still had to chase after Minhyuk¡¯s back, especially since all of his Weapon Master¡¯s skills were only at Level 1.

    However, Minhyuk had not only obtained Alexander¡¯s help for Edea.

    ¡ª<em>Alexander, stand by my side in Edea. And¡­</em>

    At that time, Alexander had sat and listened silently to Minhyuk¡¯s proposal.

    ¡ª<em>Once we obtain victory,e to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom with me and help me protect my kingdom from the Luvien Empire.</em>

    Alexander could not die in this ce. So, Minhyuk quickly sent Alexander a whisper.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Minhyuk</em></strong><em>: Alexander, quick¡­]</em>

    ***

    The war in Edea had basically ended.

    Daoist Heron, who was fighting against Sun Wukong, Aaron, Hanwoo, and Zhu Bajie all by himself, had given up on fighting and stabbed all of his acupoints. He killed himself, blood dripping down all of his orifices upon learning of the Jade Emperor¡¯s death.

    However, Ferro was different. Although he knew that the battle had already ended, he wanted to see the battle with Alexander to the end. This was Ferro¡¯s pride and his final courtesy toward the man that he was fighting.

    Alexander, on the other hand, was beingpletely crushed by Ferro.

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 15%!]</em>

    ¡°Ugh!¡± Alexander exhaled roughly, his body flying back as Ferro¡¯s woldo shed with his sword. The impact of the blow was so heavy that it felt like he had been hit by a heavy hammer.

    However, Ferro did not stop there. He flew up and chased after Alexander with his woldo raised in the air.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    A weak groan escaped from Alexander¡¯s lips as he struggled to lift his sword and block the attack.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Ferro turned his woldo, shing his opponent¡¯s chest just when Alexander was just about to swing his sword down. With this attack, Alexander¡¯s blood spurted out like a fountain. His HP almost hit rock bottom.

    ¡°You aren¡¯t weak. You have the will to grow stronger and an amazing potential that will allow you to spread your wings and fly even further. I dare to gander that your potential is even higher than that god named the Food God.¡±

    These words were Ferro¡¯s honest appreciation and acknowledgement. It might feel like he was showing mercy to his opponent, but for Alexander, it was nothing but a show of huge disgrace.

    Alexander had not lost yet. He was just preparing the special power of the Weapon Master, the Weapon Cloning. In fact, Alexander was looking for an opportunity to use it.

    Weapon Cloning had a lot of advantages and merit. However, there was one ring drawback. It required him to either have touched the weapon or got injured by the weapon that he wanted to replicate.

    So, the question came. Whose weapon should he clone? Of course, he wanted to clone the Food God¡¯s Greatest Sword. However, would Minhyuk allow it?

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Minhyuk</em></strong><em>: Alexander, quick! Clone my sword!!!]</em>

    <em>Swoooooooosh¡ª</em>

    Alexander quickly snatched the sword that flew toward him. At the same time, the Weapon Master¡¯s passive skill<em> Weapon Search</em> was activated and all of the information of the Sword of Aeon appeared in front of him.

    <em>¡®This is f*cking crazy¡­!!!¡¯</em>

    Alexander was left in shock. However, he had no time to dwell on it.

    The Weapon Master actually had another passive skill that allowed him to <em>ignore the artifact¡¯s equipment requirements</em>.

    <em>[You have sessfully equipped the Sword of Aeon using the passive skill: ¡®Equipment Restriction.¡¯]</em>

    <em>[However, you can only use it for three minutes.]</em>

    <em>[Once you have applied the passive skill: Equipment Restriction on a weapon, you will no longer be able to use it again on the same weapon.]</em>

    Alexander held the Sword of Aeon that he caught in one hand.

    <em>[Weapon Cloning.]</em>

    <em>[You can replicate any weapon and use it for five minutes.]</em>

    <em>[Once replicated, you will no longer be able to replicate the same weapon again!]</em>

    In his other hand, the <em>replicated</em> Sword of Aeon appeared. The <em>Dual Sword Technique</em> that Minhyuk used earlier appeared in Alexander¡¯s hands once again.

    Alexander gripped the hilt of the swords tightly as he squeezed thest of his strength and took a step back. He stared at the charging Ferro and waited for the perfect time to use the secret skill that he hid and held on to. Now, with the Sword of Aeon¡¯s Dual Sword Technique¡¯s effect, Alexander triggered this skill.

    <em>[Transcending Weapon.]</em>

    <em>[Your equipped weapon¡¯s attack power has transcended the limits!]</em>

    <em>[Your attack power has doubled!]</em>

    <em>[Your attack power has tripled!]</em>

    <em>[Your attack power has quadrupled!]</em>

    <em>[Your attack power¡­]</em>

    <em>[Your attack power¡­]</em>

    <em>[Your attack power¡­]</em>

    <em>[Your attack power¡­]</em>

    A ck stream of energy flew out of the two Sword of Aeon¡¯s in Alexander¡¯s hands.

    <em>[Your attack power has increased by eleven times!]</em>

    Then, he used another skill.

    ¡°Splitting the Castle.¡±

    It was a skill that originally had 6,000% additional power and allowed Alexander to split anything huge blocking his path in half with a single strike.

    <em>Swooooosh¡ª</em>

    Alexander, who shot forward using the Dual Sword Technique, swung his swords at Ferro.

    ¡°You will be the Supreme¡­¡±

    Not long after, Ferro, who had spoken while staring at Alexander with a bitter look on his face, was split in half.

    ¡°Haa¡­ Haa¡­¡± Alexander breathed roughly. After struggling fiercely, he finally killed Ferro. With these two swords in his hands, he was able to show the world that he could still stand side by side with the Supreme.

    Both thementators and the viewers went wild after seeing this. However, themotion quickly died down after they heard the following notifications.

    <em>[The new Sky of Edea, the tenth Absolute God, is descending!]</em>

    ***

    With the war finally ending, everyone turned to look at the sky that was now covered with a bright light. They watched as the man, who Minhyuk knew all too well, descended.

    He looked quite different from his usual appearance. He had always donned ck clothes thatplimented his dark hair. Now, his hair had turned white and even the clothes that he was wearing had also be white. Obren, who hadpletely shifted his colors, was still as handsome as ever. The difference now was that he was exuding a gentle and warm aura.

    Obrennded on the ground and approached Minhyuk slowly. He said, ¡°I promise you.¡±

    <em>[The Tenth Absolute God, Guardian God Obren, speaks to a yer!]</em>

    ¡°I will always protect you.¡±

    Obren would no longer be able to always stay by Minhyuk¡¯s side. Minhyuk knew this well. That was why tears had already started to well up in his eyes. However, he also knew that Obren had chosen to be an Absolute God for his sake.

    ¡°I will always be by your side on a good day, on a windy day, whenever youugh, whenever you cry. I will always be there.¡±

    One would even wonder if Obren was truly once hailed as the Evil God, with how bright and warm he was as he approached Minhyuk one step at a time.

    When he finally stood in front of Minhyuk, he gently raised his hand to cup the boy¡¯s cheek and said, ¡°I am Guardian God Obren.¡±

    Minhyuk recalled the notifications that made him feel delighted and relieved.

    <em>[Even though the Absolute God, Guardian God Obren, cannot bestow all of his powers to a single person¡­]</em>

    <em>[He will be able to live as the Guardian God of a nation or an empire.]</em>

    Obren could no longer live just for Minhyuk¡¯s sake. However, he could be the <em>Guardian God </em>of a nation or an empire. Every single nation or empire served, worshiped and received the protection of different Guardian Gods.

    ¡°I will be the Guardian God of the Beyond the Heavens Empire that you are going to establish.¡±

    <em>[Guardian God Obren has made a vow!]</em>

    <em>[Guardian God Obren has vowed to protect and guard the Beyond the Heavens Empire that you build!!!]</em>

    Minhyuk shed a bright smile after seeing the happy and delighted smile on Obren¡¯s face.

 Chapter 833

    Chapter 833

    The war in Edea had finallye to an end. The Jade Emperor and his envoys had all died and the Coalition Army had lost their will to fight. After the war ended, these notifications rang all over Edea.

    <em>[Edea¡¯s Allied Forces have seeded in protecting Edea from the Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army!]</em>

    <em>[Special rewards will be given to all of the yers that sided with Edea¡¯s Allied Forces!]</em>

    The residents of Edea were delighted. They cheered loudly and there was a widespread happiness and joy from obtaining this hard-fought victory. In the center of it all was Obren, who dered that he would be the Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s Guardian God, and Minhyuk, who was silently looking at him.

    Meanwhile, the viewership ratings of the Korean broadcasting station, ATV Broadcasting Station, remained fixed at 60% and had not yet dropped. In fact, it was not only ATV Broadcasting Station that recorded such high ratings, all of the broadcasting stations all over the world had enjoyed some sess at over 40%.

    With the war already over, the question remained. Why were people still tuned in? The answer to this question was exined by thementators.

    <em>[Edea¡¯s residents might have won but they are still left in a devastated state. Only 1.3 million of their troops had survived this war.]</em>

    <em>[A lot of things had been destroyed during the war between Edea and the Jade Emperor.]</em>

    <em>[The residents of Edea are in a situation where they desperately need a spiritual pir to lean on.]</em>

    <em>[The people of Edea had witnessed everything with their own eyes. Obren, the man who had personally killed the Jade Emperor in Heaven, had promised to be the Guardian God of the Beyond the Heavens Empire that Minhyuk establishes. He¡¯s the Edea¡¯s Commander that led them to victory after all.]</em>

    <em>[But that¡¯s not all. Minhyuk has definitely built up a high level of favor with the people of Edea. And the people of Edea need another Absolute Being that they could trust.]</em>

    After that, thementators promptly shut their mouths and focused their attention on Minhyuk. They had already given the viewers a good indication of what was toe. As long as one was not a fool, they would definitely not leave. Why would they miss the incredible sight that would happen for the first time in Athenae?

    Guardian God Obren, a handsome man with white hair reaching his shoulders, took a step back from Minhyuk.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Food God! We¡¯re forever grateful!¡±

    ¡°Food Goooooood!¡±

    ¡°With your help, we were able to protect Edea!¡±

    They had thought that they would not be able to protect theirnds, especially with all of the foreigners abandoning them. However, Minhyuk stood alone by their side and fought with them. The more surprising fact was the fact that Minhyuk¡¯s own kingdom was at war. The Luvien Empire had already marched in front of the walls of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom and were currently pressuring them. But he had stille to their aid.

    Then, Minhyuk looked at Edea¡¯s kings¡ªSun Wukong, Master Xuanzang, Zhu Bajie and Aaron. All four were outstanding and great kings. These kings were also looking at Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk did not say anything and only asked them with his gaze. The one that stepped forward first to answer the unasked question was the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal, Sun Wukong.

    ¡°Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King, the people of our dearly beloved Edea are left with devastation and are now impoverished. We have long been tired of the Jade Emperor¡¯s tyrannical rule and the constant pressure of war. The people of Edea and even us, the kings, need a ce to lean on. A safe haven.¡± Sun Wukong knelt on one knee. ¡°There¡¯s no one else but you. Please allow us the honor to take the first steps with your Beyond the Heavens Empire. I, the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal Sun Wukong, pledge my eternal allegiance and loyalty to you.¡±

    This was different from before. Minhyuk might have epted quite a lot of vassals and subordinates before. But this time, the kings represented their <em>kingdoms</em>.

    <em>[The Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal Sun Wukong has pledged his eternal allegiance and loyalty to you.]</em>

    <em>[Sun Wukong is the king of the Kingdom of Rama!]</em>

    <em>[The Kingdom of Rama was left devastated by the war. But with their brilliant and outstanding ruler, Sun Wukong, they will be able to rise quickly once again.]</em>

    <em>[There are 935,311 residents of the Kingdom of Rama that are eligible to move to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!]</em>

    <em>[There are 434,689 soldiers of the Kingdom of Rama that are eligible to move to Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the 194,131 tinum owned by the Kingdom of Rama.]</em>

    <em>[Everything that is owned by the Kingdom of Rama will now be transferred to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!]</em>

    <em>[The Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal, Sun Wukong, is a Named NPC beyond Level 650. You have met some of the requirements for establishing an empire.]</em>

    The three kings, who were standing right behind Sun Wukong, immediately knelt down. As he looked at them, Minhyuk recalled the requirements needed for <em>establishing an empire</em> that had been released to him before.

    <em>[To build an empire, you must secure at least thrice your current territory size, poption and military forces.]</em>

    <em>[To build an empire, you must secure at least 15 yers beyond Level 580.]</em>

    <em>[To build an empire, you must secure at least 20 NPCs beyond Level 650. Even if the NPC does not go over Level 650, as long as the system recognizes them as NPCs with special power, then they will meet the conditions.]</em>

    Prior, whether it was the number of people, the military force or the size of the territory, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had fallen short of meeting all of the requirements mentioned above.

    Since then, Minhyuk had made continuous efforts to expand his territory to amodate more people and soldiers that woulde to their side. Because of that, he was able to have enough territory to fulfill the requirements.

    Over the course of time, the number of yers by their side that have exceeded Level 580 had also grown to more than fifteen. As for the twenty NPC beyond Level 650, it was indeed a tricky requirement to deal with. Of course, the NPCs that they were looking for also included the <em>NPCs recognized by the system as NPCs with special power even though they were not over Level 650.</em>

    Then, Buddhist Monk Xuanzang turned the beads in his hands and said, ¡°Namo Amitabha Buddha¡­ I believe this is the will of the Great Buddha.¡±

    The truth was, the one that Master Xuanzang believed in was Obren. He clearly recalled how Obren ran around the Demon World and went to Heaven to kill the Jade Emperor. He also could not forget the mysterious fate between the cool yet entric Obren and Minhyuk. He could also tell that the ce, the Beyond the Heavens Empire, that the new Guardian God and the emperor that cared for each other lived in would be a ce where the people would live happily in.

    <em>[The Buddhist Monk, Master Xuanzang has pledged his eternal allegiance and loyalty to you.]</em>

    <em>[Xuanzang is the king of the Kingdom of Abeldo!]</em>

    <em>[The Kingdom of Abeldo was left devastated by the war¡­]</em>

    <em>[There are 630,411 residents of the Kingdom of Abeldo¡­]</em>

    <em>[There are 350, 309 soldiers of the Kingdom of Abeldo¡­]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the 143,100 tinum owned by the Kingdom of Abeldo...]</em>

    <em>[Everything that is owned by the Kingdom of Abeldo¡­]</em>

    <em>[The Buddhist Monk, Master Xuanzang, is a Named NPC beyond Level 650. You have met some of the requirements for establishing an empire.]</em>

    ¡°Of course, I am willing to serve you, the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ King.¡±

    ¡°As do I.¡±

    Just like the rest of them, King Aaron of the Kingdom of Eden also pledged his allegiance to Minhyuk. As for Zhu Bajie, the king of the Runt Kingdom, he had already pledged his allegiance to Minhyuk before. However, he had yet to hand over the right to rule over his kingdom to him.

    <em>[Zhu Bajie is the king of the Runt Kingdom!]</em>

    <em>[The Runt Kingdom was left devastated by the war¡­]</em>

    <em>[There are 560,145 residents of the Runt Kingdom¡­]</em>

    <em>[There are 310, 509 soldiers of the Runt Kingdom¡­]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the 120,100 tinum owned by the Runt Kingdom...]</em>

    <em>[Everything that is owned by the Runt Kingdom¡­]</em>

    <em>[Zhu Bajie, is a Named NPC beyond Level 650. You have met some of the requirements for establishing an empire.]</em>

    <em>[Aaron has pledged his eternal allegiance and loyalty to you¡­]</em>

    <em>[Aaron is the king of the Kingdom of Eden!]</em>

    <em>[The Kingdom of Eden was left devastated by the war¡­]</em>

    <em>[There are 660,145 residents of the Kingdom of Eden¡­]</em>

    <em>[There are 350,509 soldiers of the Kingdom of Eden¡­]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the 130,500 tinum owned by the Kingdom of Eden...]</em>

    <em>[Everything that is owned by the Kingdom of Eden¡­]</em>

    <em>[Aaron, is a Named NPC beyond Level 650. You have met some of the requirements for establishing an empire.]</em>

    The scene where the four kings of Edea knelt on one knee and pledged their allegiance to Minhyuk was enough to make the hearts of everyone watching thump wildly. Even Minhyuk could feel his heart thumping wildly in his chest. He had never felt this nervous since he started ying Athenae.

    Then, another set of notifications rang.

    <em>[You have met the Empire Establishment requirement of having twenty NPCs beyond Level 650!]</em>

    <em>[You have met the Empire Establishment requirement for the number of people, the size of your territories and your military force!]</em>

    The millions of people in Edea all held their breath as the notifications paused for a brief moment.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Congrattions!</em></strong><em>]</em>

    <em>[You are the first yer to have met the requirements for establishing an empire!]</em>

    <em>[You can now establish your own empire! For the name of your empire, you can either choose to have a new empire name or keep your kingdom¡¯s current name, Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, and name it as ¡®Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[You can now appoint a Guardian or a Guardian God for the empire that you will establish!]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the rewards for being the first yer to establish an empire.]</em>

    ATV Broadcasting Station¡¯s PD Kim Daeguk stared at Minhyuk with a small smile on his face.

    ¡°Finally¡­¡±

    The birth of the very first empire established by a yer in Athenae was a historic event.

    ¡°P¡ª PD¡­ the ratings¡­¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter with the ratings?¡±

    A viewership rating of 60% meant that more than half of the TVs that were currently switched on in Korea, were tuned in on their station watching Minhyuk. This meant that Minhyuk¡¯s face was also shing in countless electronic billboards all over the country. Perhaps there were also countless office workers, students, and even those that dreamt of bing dark gamers watching this scene.

    However, it seemed like PD Kim Daeguk still underestimated the influence and hold that Athenae had over South Korea.

    ¡°We have reached a new record! Our viewership ratings have exceeded 63%!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    PD Kim¡¯s breath hitched. In fact, the ratings continued to climb after reaching 63%, a rating record that Food God Minhyuk had set himself before.

    ¡°It¡¯s at 64%, 65%, 66%¡­ It¡ª It climbed to 68%!¡±

    This meant that two out of three people in Korea were watching Minhyuk.

    At that moment, all of the cameras in the surrounding area zoomed in on Minhyuk¡¯s face. Everyone was curious about the rewards that the first yer that established an empire would receive as well as what their newly established empire would obtain. After all, none of these had been revealed to the world yet.

    Then, Minhyuk dered, ¡°I will establish my empire here and now. My empire will be hailed as the Beyond the Heavens Empire.¡±

    Along with Minhyuk¡¯s derations, another set of notifications rang.

    <em>[You are the first yer to have sessfully founded and established an empire!]</em>

    <em>[The name of the first yer¡¯s empire is </em><strong><em>Beyond the Heavens Empire</em></strong><em>.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained the </em><strong><em>Title</em></strong><em>: First Emperor.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 1,000,000 tinum as a reward for being the first yer to establish an empire.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 20,000 REP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 10,000 CHA.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained the Emperor¡¯s Authority!]</em>

    <em>[All of the abilities of all of the Named NPCs, knights and soldiers of your empire will increase by 15%!]</em>

    <em>[A video for the first emperor has been made! If you say, ¡®y Video¡¯ all of the NPCs and yers will be able to watch the first emperor¡¯s great steps.]</em>

    <em>[The video is a reward prepared by Joy. Co. Ltd. You can showcase the majesty and dignity of the first emperor through this video!]</em>

    <em>[The video will disappear if you do not y it within three days!]</em>

    <em>[With the birth of the Beyond the Heavens Empire in Athenae, many will tell the tales, sing praises and recite poems about you, the emperor, and the empire that you have established.]</em>

    <em>[The First Emperor¡¯s Effect has been activated.]</em>

    The notifications constantly rang. However, most of these notifications rang only in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    At that moment, a golden crown slowly fell down from the sky andnded gently on Minhyuk¡¯s head. The moment the crown was secured on his head, all of the unpleasantness left on the battlefield disappeared. Then, the bloody-red ughterer¡¯s Armor slowly transformed and turned into a golden armor as a golden throne appeared behind Minhyuk.

    <em>Thud, thud¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk slowly walked toward the throne. At the same time, the image of Minhyuk sitting on his throne appeared in the form of an illusion all over the skies of Athenae.

    <em>[The new emperor of the new era has been born!]</em>

 Chapter 834

    Chapter 834

    <em>¡®How many days had passed since His Majesty left?¡¯</em>

    Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Commander Brod could not remember. That was how long and taxing the war against the Luvien Empire was.

    The Luvien Empire had arrived at the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom with 2.5 million troops in tow. Of course, there were also a considerable number of Sword of the Gods among them. However, what was more surprising was that it was not the dukes, which were called as the Empire¡¯s Stars, that held the baton andmanded the army, but Nerva Sephiroth himself.

    Sitting on his throne a bit further away from the battlefield, Nerva Sephiroth looked at the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom with pity.

    ¡°Heok¡­ heok¡­¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaack!¡±

    Brod looked around him. He saw one of the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ soldiers dying as a spear struck his heart.

    ¡°Ugh.¡±

    In another area, he saw Spear God Ben, who had lost one eye and was wearing an eye patch to cover it up, squeeze thest of his strength to swing his spear.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    <em>¡®How many days has it been?¡¯</em>

    All of them were struggling and breathing roughly. Even Locke, who had been forced to log out three times, was still swinging his axe and cutting down several knights that surrounded him. The Fist and Feet of Beyond the Heavens, Ares and Khan, had also died several times but they still continued to fight against the soldiers of the Luvien Empire each time they revived.

    ¡°Kghhhhhk!¡±

    Ali, who had been preventing the magic and arrows of the Luvien Empire from pouring down on them, slowly fell down from the sky with an arrow stuck deeply in his chest.

    ¡°Urk!¡±

    His Majesty¡¯s Shadow, one-armed Luo, charged fiercely with a devilish look on his face, despite the blood that almost dyed his entire body red.

    They were currently in a very bad situation. Almost 40% of the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ troops had died, while another 30% of the surviving troops were sporting serious and grave injuries. All of this made it difficult for them to hold out. On the other hand, the troops of the Luvien Empire continued to appear.

    Even Brod had started to grow exhausted. He could no longer remember how many enemies he had cut down. With the Swords of the Gods¡¯ systematic way of attacking, all he could do was fall back whenever there was danger and recover with the help of the priests, before charging forward and attacking once again.

    <em>¡®Your Majesty¡­¡¯ </em>Brod looked up at the blue sky high above them.

    To be honest, the Named NPCs of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom were already at their limits. The yers were not doing any better. Each of the yers of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, those that were hailed as high rankers, had been forced to log out at least 2~4 times during the course of the battle. Most of them had lost their rankings in the top 100 too.

    <em>sh¡ª</em>

    Brod¡¯s breath came out in rough gasps as he supported himself with his sword after he took the head of the enemy soldier that was aiming for his neck.

    ¡°Kghhk¡­!¡±

    Even the great veteran Spear God Ben seemed to have no more strength to lift his spear. They were constantly being pushed back by their enemies, until the fight reached their gates.

    At this point, Brod decided that the soldiers'' participation in this war no longer held any meaning. They opened their gates and sent all the wounded and exhausted soldiers inside. It was a sad and painful choice.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s better for them to live longer, no?¡¯</em>

    Brod, who was pushed back to the gates, continued to look around as he struggled to defend against his enemies. He could see that even the skilled and powerful Spear God Ben was shaking and struggling to remain standing up. Great Demon Elpis had also lost his left arm while Sword of the Gods Luo leaned weakly on the walls, blood dripping all over his body.

    ¡°Sir¡ª Sir Luo¡¯s condition is unusual!¡±

    ¡°Hurry and fetch some potions!¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t have any more potions left¡­¡±

    Sword of the Gods Luo looked like he was on the verge of death. The word <em>hopeless</em> barely described their situation.

    Brod was certainly a powerhouse that could take down hundreds of thousands of soldiers on his own. However, the problem was that Nerva had joined the war, and he was a figure that was on equal footing as Brod.

    With him at the helm, the Named NPCs, who were already struggling from the pressure brought about by the Swords of the Gods, were tormented even further. In fact, it was probably apt to say that the wounds and injuries that the Named NPCs suffered were mostly caused by Nerva. They had no choice but to employ a hit and run strategy, while suffering tremendously.

    ¡°Haa¡­ Haa¡­¡± Brod was breathing roughly but he continued to stare ahead and did not give up.

    At that moment, the Luvien Imperial Army split and opened a path, as Nerva walked forward. Complex emotions were swirling in Nerva¡¯s gaze. Brod just red at Nerva. If looks could kill, Nerva would have been dead many times over.

    Nerva had used a dirty trick by poisoning Brod¡¯s knight order, in order to be chosen by the Battle God. Brod hated him for what he did. However, he no longer had the strength to even lift his finger.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Nerva stared at Brod for a very long time. Then, he spoke bitterly, ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°Shut up!¡± Brod shouted, his eyes turning bloodshot. In Brod¡¯s eyes, Nerva was nothing more but an enemy.

    Nerva looked around. They were no longer fit for battle. The surviving yers stepped forward and surrounded Brod to protect him. Nerva looked at them and asked, ¡°Is there anyone here that is willing to surrender to the Luvien Empire ande under mymand? If youe under mymand, I will give you the honor of sharing the glory and honor in the new world.¡±

    Nerva truly meant those words. He wanted the talents that were being nurtured by the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. They stood tall and their eyes remained steadfast and proud, even though they were all in a situation where they might die. They did not even lose their respect and trust in their king. Nerva actually felt that it was a waste.

    ¡°Your king is nothing but a trivial vessel thatcks qualifications. He cannot be an emperor.¡±

    It was a waste for such a small vessel to hold these people in his hands.

    However, Grandpa Ben said, ¡°Hoho. I¡¯m sorry but you shouldn¡¯tpare your dirty vessel with His Majesty¡¯s vessel. How dare you discuss His Majesty¡¯s vessel, huh?¡±

    Nerva looked around after hearing Spear God Ben¡¯s sharp and scathing words. His gaze seemed to ask everyone present if they would stand by his side, even if it were just one person. However, there was no one. Aplicated expression shed in Nerva¡¯s face as he raised his hand.

    Seeing their emperor raise his hand, the soldiers of the Luvien Imperial Army raised their bows and aimed it toward them. Hundreds of thousands of arrows were now poised and ready to take their lives.

    Meanwhile, Nerva wondered if there was anyone that was afraid. s, there was no one. The foreigners that were the main pirs and executives of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom stood tall in front of all of their NPCs, who did not show any fear either.

    Then, Brod muttered, ¡°His Majesty wille back as an emperor.¡±

    ¡°We have to wee him with great fanfare then. Hoho.¡±

    Even the dying Luo opened his mouth and muttered, ¡°¡­My king¡­ <em>urk¡­ </em>said that he would be the emperor.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Nerva was left speechless. For a moment, he felt very envious. It was a pity that the man they served was nothing but a small and trivial vessel. Just when Nerva was about to swing his hand down¡­

    <em>[The new emperor of the new era has been born!]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Nerva stopped in his tracks. He was so shocked that he even forgot to breathe for a moment.

    ¡°Your Majesty, please look at the sky!!!¡±

    Nerva, who heard the shouts of someone from his army, turned to look at the sky only to see the gigantic and translucent figure of the new era¡¯s emperor sitting on his throne.

    <em>[The New Emperor¡¯s Video will now begin.]</em>

    <em>[You cannot refuse to watch the New Emperor¡¯s Video.]</em>

    Both yers and NPCs could not refuse the video that was about to y shortly. Just like that, the figure of the new emperor slowly grew clearer in front of everyone.

    <em>[His first step was swinging his sword to eat bread.]</em>

    The video that was ying in front of everyone was the advertisement video that Joy Co. Ltd. had prepared. It seemed that Joy Co. Ltd. was already certain that the first yer that would be the emperor was none other than Minhyuk.

    At that moment, everyone saw Minhyuk wielding his wooden sword to eat bread.

    <em>[The New Emperor made his way through Athenae, just so he could eat.]</em>

    Dozens of screenshots shed in their eyes. There was a screenshot showing Minhyuk smiling brightly while enjoying some soup and garlic bread with Valen in his house. There was also a screenshot where Minhyuk met with the Witch of Agony Alicia while eating spicy braised chicken. Then another, where he happily grilled and ate some samgyeopsal for the first time in a long while.

    Another notification rang as the screenshots flickered past their eyes.

    <em>[He continued to run for food. Then one day, he met them.]</em>

    A screenshot of when he met the Pinnacle Strong Men appeared. There was also the scene where he met with Legend Guild and reunited with his friends. The video showed how heughed with Genie, Khan and Locke. Then, a screenshot showed Minhyuk sitting on a boat with an old man.

    <em>[Then, he met an old man.]</em>

    Several screenshots passed by once again. A screenshot with him smiling while eating ramyeon with Spear God Ben and a screenshot showing how they both defeated the Great Mage.

    <em>[He met the queen¡¯s escort knight.]</em>

    Dozens of screenshots that showed his first meeting with Brod shed in the sky above them. Then, Elpis¡¯ figure appeared.

    <em>[He made toast for the pitiful person that he met in the Demon World.]</em>

    A screenshot showed Elpis eating toast.

    <em>[He made a grave for the poor and pitiful one¡¯s mother. The poor and pitiful one wept and knelt before him.]</em>

    The sky showed the day Elpis swore his eternal loyalty and allegiance to Minhyuk.

    <em>[He fought against the Great Demon for the sake of those that lived for him.]</em>

    A screenshot of Minhyuk flying toward Great Demon Verus to save Elpis shed by.

    <em>[In the end, he won with the countless people that stood by his side.]</em>

    Dozens more screenshots flickered in front of their eyes.

    Elpis smiling brightly.

    Brod smiling happily.

    Haze nagged at him saying, <em>¡®Your Majesty, please behave a bit¡­!¡¯</em>

    Love, Hope, Happiness grinning at him with their tongues sticking out.

    There was also one with Luo walking behind Minhyuk with a small smile on his face.

    The dozens of screenshots turned into hundreds as it showed the people that Minhyuk had built ties with, who eventually became members of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

    There was also one showing Centurion Park training the soldiers.

    A scene of Gorfido going out to fish every day.

    There was also a scene where Beanie and Luna rolled around.

    Tens of thousands of screenshots had now appeared, with more of them appearing until they reached millions. The screenshots turned smaller and smaller, turning into dots that filled the sky.

    <em>[He took the first step just to eat bread.]</em>

    <em>[Then, one day his small steps became the steps of many people as many people gathered around him.]</em>

    <em>[He was once the humblest and most trivial yer.]</em>

    <em>[But people gathered around him and now, he¡¯s beginning to take the biggest steps.]</em>

    A screenshot of Minhyuk smiling faintly as he looked at the people cheering for him shed in front of everyone.

    <em>[He was a normal human being.]</em>

    <em>[He became the king of a small kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[One day, he became a true and genuine god.]</em>

    <em>[His vassals and subjects that believed in him also became gods.]</em>

    Tens of thousands of screenshots go by quickly, just like a video.

    <em>[And now¡­]</em>

    A small smile appeared on the faces of the Named NPCs and the yers of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. They had been waiting for this moment, with utmost faith that he would achieve it.

    <em>[He became the First Emperor of the New Era.]</em>

    All of the screenshots disappeared, revealing the face of the emperor. The new emperor sat on his throne and looked at his people with a soft and gentle smile on his face. At the same time, another set of notifications rang.

    <em>[The Beyond the Heavens Empire has been established!]</em>

    <em>[The Emperor of the Beyond the Heavens Empire is </em><strong><em>Minhyuk</em></strong><em>!]</em>

    The shabby and trivial steps became the greatest and noblest steps.

 Chapter 835

    Chapter 835

    Nerva gulped dryly, looking around anxiously as his heart thumped wildly. This was how wary Nerva, the emperor of the Great Luvien Empire, was of Minhyuk. However, not long after, Nerva guffawed.

    <em>¡®How many empires and kingdoms have knelt before me?¡¯</em>

    There were far too many of them. In fact, there were more than ten empires that had pledged their allegiance to the Luvien Empire. He did not know how Minhyuk managed to be an emperor, but the Beyond the Heavens Empire was just one among the many empires that would definitely kneel in front of him.

    <em>¡®Will anything change even if you be an emperor, huh?¡¯</em>

    Nerva did not think so. That was what made it even funnier to him. Even if they became the Beyond the Heavens Empire, the talents that supported Minhyuk and his kingdom were now on the brink of death.

    <em>¡®Look.¡¯</em> Nerva wanted to tell Minhyuk this, <em>¡®Your vassals are already dying!¡¯</em>

    Sword of the Gods Luo was obviously dying. Spear God Ben had lost one eye and could not even stand without the support of his spear. Great Demon Elpis had lost his left arm because of the Sword of the Gods. The foreigners supporting the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had died several times and had all grown weaker. What difference could bing the Beyond the Heavens Empire bring?

    The Luvien Empire had trampled on Minhyuk¡¯s best subjects and forced them to copse.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    Once the Luvien Imperial Army charged through the cracks of their copsed gate, the Beyond the Heavens Empire would copse. Nerva turned to look at the people blocking the gates.

    ¡°Haa¡­ haa¡­ Urk!¡±

    The dying Sword of the Gods Luo, who was leaning on the wall on the wall, struggled to pull himself up. He almost choked from the blood that he coughed up. However, he still squeezed thest of his strength to stand up. A faint and small smile appeared on his face. Then, he raised his only hand to his forehead. And slowly, very slowly, he bowed toward his emperor, who was sitting on the throne in the sky above them.

    ¡°Your Imperial Majesty!!! Congrattions!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Nerva¡¯s face grew ugly. Sword of the God Luo, despite having one foot on the grave, stumbled and struggled to bow toward Minhyuk. Then, one after the other, the people that blocked the gates of the kingdom bowed and shouted toward the translucent image that was projected in the sky.

    ¡°Your Imperial Majesty! Congrattions!!!¡±

    ¡°Your Imperial Majesty! Congrattions!!!¡±

    ¡°Your Imperial Majesty!!!¡±

    ¡°Your Imperial Majesty!!!¡±

    ¡°Your Imperial Majesty Minhyuk!!!¡±

    The cries of the people rang from both inside and outside the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom¡¯s castle.

    Nerva¡¯s face grew uglier by the second, his face filled with embarrassment. He had never been able to win anybody¡¯s heart and loyalty like this in his life. Why did so many people decide to serve an insignificant and shabby emperor like Minhyuk? At this moment, Nerva felt infinitely insignificant.

    Thankfully, the Beyond the Heavens Empire was on the verge of copse. They no longer had any troops that could fight. Nerva raised his hand once again. Hundreds of thousands of arrows once again took aim, as Nerva slowly lowered his hand.

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping¡ª</em>

    The hundreds of thousands of arrows shot through the skies. Seeing the rain of arrowsing their way, some tried to block them, some tried to evade, while some continued to bow to Minhyuk. But before the arrows could reach them, something strange happened.

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng, ng¡ª</em>

    The hundreds of thousands of arrows lost their momentum and bounced off. It was as if they were toy arrows. Nerva frowned at the strange phenomenon. Then, he looked at the sword hanging on his waist that was shaking, as if it was resonating with something. When he looked back at his archer unit, he saw that their bows and arrows were also trembling and resonating.

    <em>[The Sun¡¯s Sword loses its power in front of the Greatest Sword!]</em>

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    <em>¡®The greatest sword?¡¯</em>

    Nerva did not know or understand what it was. It was not just him. All of the people present were affected by the appearance of the greatest sword.

    Nerva suddenly felt nervous. He could tell that something strange was about to happen. Even though his weapon had lost its sharpness and momentum, the people in front of him all had one foot in the grave. It should be easy for him to deal with them.

    Nerva stretched out his hands to grab Brod¡¯s neck. For an emperor, who wanted to maintain his dignity and grace, his disy was poor at this moment. However, he knew that Brod was the one that posed the greatest danger to him. That was why he wanted to twist his neck and kill him in one go.

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s Guardian Deity has descended!]</em>

    <em>¡®Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s Guardian Deity?¡¯</em>

    Nerva chuckled.

    Kingdoms and empires all had guardian deities, an example being how the Eivelis Empire worshiped the phoenix. Guardian deities were mighty, dangerous beings. However, that was only the case for ordinary people.

    For Nerva, these beings did not pose any danger. He had the Sword of the Gods by his side and could kill whoever Guardian Deity had appeared.

    <em>[The Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s Guardian Deity is the tenth Absolute God!]</em>

    ¡°¡­What?¡±

    For a moment, Nerva thought that his ears were ying tricks on him.

    <em>¡®The Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s Guardian Deity is an Absolute God?¡¯</em>

    There was no way that an Absolute God would willingly be a guardian deity. This was definitely not something that they would do. This was because Absolute Gods had huge influence over the world. If they became a guardian deity, then it would destroy the bnce of the world.

    <em>[The tenth Absolute God, also known as the Guardian God, has be the Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s Guardian Deity to protect them!]</em>

    However, the notification that rang after the first one jolted Nerva back to his senses.

    ¡°This¡ª this is impossible.¡±

    This meant that the tenth Absolute God himself chose to be a trivial and insignificant deity called the <em>Guardian God, </em>just to protect the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    ¡°This is impossible!!!¡±

    Nerva¡¯s face turned red as he quickly tried to crush Brod¡¯s neck.

    <em>sh¡ª!</em>

    s, before he could truly do so, the tenth Absolute God, the Guardian God appeared.

    An extremely handsome man, whose face could make any god sigh, appeared with his long white hair fluttering behind him, while wearing pure white clothes that carried the symbol of the fork and knife crossed together. The god looked at Nerva with a haughty look on his face as he stood in front of Brod.

    At the same time, countless notifications rang in Guardian God Obren¡¯s ears.

    <em>[As the Guardian Deity of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, you have the right to protect the nation and its people!]</em>

    <em>[However, the Greatest God has imposed a restriction upon you. You cannot recklessly use the Guardian God¡¯s Books!]</em>

    <em>[Since you have be the Guardian Deity of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, the range of the Guardian God¡¯s Books will be expanded. This state will continue to be in effect for just 24 hours.]</em>

    Nerva could not bring his hands any closer. The one that became the Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s guardian deity, the man that was once called the Evil God, was not someone that Nerva could deal with.

    Obren smiled softly as he looked back at the people behind him. He said, ¡°Thank you for holding on.¡±

    Along with that, a bright light burst out as one of the Guardian God¡¯s Books floated in the sky.

    <em>[Book of Recovery.]</em>

    <em>[The Book of Recovery restores 80% of your HP and MP!]</em>

    <em>[The Book of Recovery is the Absolute Authority that belongs to the Guardian God!]</em>

    <em>[The Book of Recovery heals and restores all of your injuries!]</em>

    <em>aaaaaaash¡ª</em>

    As a bright and white light spread and covered the Beyond the Heavens Empire, Brod, who had been haggard and exhausted, regained his stability and was now breathing more smoothly.

    Ben¡¯s damaged cornea was also slowly starting to heal. Elpis¡¯ lost arm was slowly being regenerated. Sword of the Gods Luo, who had been unable to move and looked like he had died after bowing, was also beginning to heal. The bodies of the soldiers that were cut and torn apart were all healed and restored.

    Nerva was very flustered. The number of the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ troops that survived was roughly at 700,000. But this man in front of him had the power to help these 700,000 men recover all at once. It was something that even Nerva had never heard of before.

    However, breaking out of his daze, Nerva burst intoughter after looking at the arrogant Obren. ¡°Guardian deities can not attack others personally.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    It was just as he said. Guardian deities could not attack others directly. Nerva might fear him if he was still the Evil God from the past, but he had now be the Guardian God and a guardian deity. He could no longer hurt him.

    ¡°Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s Guardian Deity, do you think you can change anything by appearing here?!!!¡±

    The results would not change. Even if all of the troops of the Beyond the Heavens Empire had recovered, the Luvien Empire¡¯s numbers were still far superior. Nerva believed in his own power. Besides, he also had the Swords of the Gods with him.

    Obren stared at Nerva silently for a moment. Then, he opened his mouth and said, ¡°I am not the one that will bring punishment unto you.¡±

    Then, at that moment, Nerva felt the ground beneath his feet shake and tremble. He immediately turned to look around, his gaze settling on the horizon where arge army of 1.5 million appeared.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    Nerva¡¯s breath hitched. He was not aware of who they were. All of the troops of the Beyond the Heavens Empire were right here in front of him. So, who were those soldiers?

    Standing in front of the 1.5 million strong troops was none other than <em>Alexander</em>. These troops wereposed of around 800,000 soldiers that had be the new soldiers of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. As for the remaining 700,000, they were all yers. They were the same yers who had initially joined the Jade Emperor¡¯s Coalition Army, who were subsequently seduced by Minhyuk who gave them a quest.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Waaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    Their loud roars rang loudly for the world to hear. The rain of arrows revealed by the 1.5 million strong troops put pressure on the Luvien Imperial Army. One had to remember that the Luvien Empire was an absolute existence that no one in Athenae dared confront so easily.

    ¡°Your¡ª Your Majesty¡­!¡±

    ¡°There are far too many enemies!!!¡±

    What was worse was the fact that the talents that were blocking the gates in front of them were recovering. Nerva scanned the enemies.

    The Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal Sun Wukong raised his Ruyi Jingu Bang and pointed it at the Luvien Empire and killed the enemies by creating hundreds of clones of himself. Zhu Bajie raised his trident and stabbed his enemies non-stop. There was also the Sword Saint Aaron, who left the Luvien Empire¡¯s soldiers helpless with just a swing of his sword. Then there was Alexander, who was leading the yers. He was disyed a dance that none of the Sword of the Gods could keep up with.

    However, Nerva was looking for a single man. Why was he nowhere to be found? It was none other than the Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s Emperor Minhyuk. He looked around uneasily but Minhyuk was truly nowhere to be found. Nerva felt quite relieved after seeing that Minhyuk was not around.

    <em>Rumbleeeeeeeeeeeeee¡ª</em>

    Nerva covered his sword with his divinity. All of the Sword of the Gods were able to exert divinity. However, among them, Nerva was the one that could exert a more intense and more powerful divinity. With his divinity, his sword could have the strongest cutting power. If he used a bow, his arrows could pierce through anything.

    <em>Craaaaaaack¡ª</em>

    The air around Nerva crackled the moment he raised his divinity.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Energy running rampant, a bright stream of energy burst out and soared to the skies. What Nerva intended to do here was to kill all of these people before they could fully recover. Then, he would retreat with his men.

    Using his divinity, Nerva increased the energy of his greatest Emperor¡¯s Skill, the <em>Emperor¡¯s Berserk Sword</em>. Because of that, the skill was now able to engulf an entire area of fifty meters, while his damage had increased to 20,000%.

    The divinity that had gone berserk swirled and gathered around Nerva¡¯s sword.

    <em>Rumbleeeeeeee¡ª</em>

    Nerva, whose hair had turned golden, tried to swing his sword.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you?¡± Guardian God Obren scoffed. ¡°I am not the one that will bring punishment unto you.¡±

    <em>Poof¡ª!</em>

    At that moment, apletely different person appeared right where Obren was before. Their positions were changed thanks to Sun Wukong¡¯s power.

    The man was wearing the ughterer¡¯s Armor that was shining a bright golden light, with a white cape that carried the Beyond the Heavens symbol fluttering on his back. The emperor¡¯s crown was settled nicely atop the man¡¯s dark hair, while his pure and bright eyes red sharply at Nerva.

    Minhyuk¡¯s Sword of Aeon had been sessfully reinforced by +3. Because of that, a lot of things, including his attack, had improved. But that was not all. A new <em>active skill</em> had been made avable to him.

    <em>[You have triggered the Unheble Injury!]</em>

    Minhyuk had already swung his sword before Nerva could finish casting his Emperor¡¯s Berserk Sword.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¡ª</em>

    Minhyuk, who triggered his newly avable active skill, shed Nerva¡¯s face, the attack damaging not only the Luvien Empire¡¯s face but also his left eye.

    <em>[The Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s first achievement has been made.]</em>

    <em>[You have made the first achievement: Injuring the Greatest Emperor.]</em>

    <em>Drip¡ª drip, drip¡ª!</em>

    <em>[You are the first yer to have injured the Great Luvien Empire¡¯s Emperor!]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained the </em><strong><em>Title</em></strong><em>: The One that Injured the Emperor!]</em>

 Chapter 836

    Chapter 836

    For a brief moment, the entire world was plunged into silence. Minhyuk had injured Nerva Sephiroth. For the Luvien Empire, Nerva Sephiroth was far more valuable than the sky and thend in their hearts. For the people of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, he was the Battle God¡¯s Sword, an absolute existence that reigned the world, and pushed them to the brink of their deaths.

    <em>Drip¡ª drip, drip¡ª!</em>

    ¡±Keuaaaaaaaack!¡± Nerva screamed, blood dripping through the gaps in his hand that covered his left eye.

    ¡°Aaack! Uwaaaaaaaack! Keuaaaaaaack!¡±

    It was a pain that he had never felt before in his life.

    ¡°Your¡ª Your Majesty!!!¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty!!!¡±

    Don, themander of the Sword of the Gods, hurriedly rushed forward and blocked Nerva from the enemies. He looked warily at Minhyuk and the other Named NPCs of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    Don was indebted to Minhyuk due to the events when seeking Mand before. If it was not for Minhyuk, he and the other Sword of the Gods would have already died. However, just because he was indebted to the man in front of him did not mean that he could not distinguish and separate his public and private matters.

    The emperor of an enemy nation had inflicted a serious injury on their own emperor. This was a serious matter.

    <em>Glug, glug, glug¡ª!</em>

    Knight Commander Don hurriedly pulled out a top-quality potion and poured it over the injured eyes of Emperor Nerva.

    <em>¡®The injury is not healing¡­?¡¯</em>

    The wound did not heal even after using such a high quality potion. Seeing this, hundreds of priests hurriedly rushed forward and sent their holy power upon Nerva. But even that could not cure Nerva¡¯s injuries.

    ¡°What in the world have you done?¡± Don red sharply at Minhyuk.

    This was the power of <em>Unheble Injury</em> that was attached to the Sword of Aeon.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Unheble Injury</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Artifact Skill</em>

    <strong><em>Level</em></strong><em>: None</em>

    <strong><em>Mana Required</em></strong><em>: 5,000</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty</em></strong><em>: All stats will decrease by -2.</em>

    <strong><em>Cooldown</em></strong><em>: 144 hours</em>

    <strong><em>Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?It leaves yers, NPCs, or monsters with injuries that cannot be healed or recovered by recovery skills, potions or any other means.</em>

    <em>?However, in the case of yers, the injuries would disappear once they are forced to logout.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: The greatest sword contains the power of the God of Death after he strengthened the sword using his Authority, The One that Advances.</em>

    In Athenae, the higher the Named NPCs'' levels were, the more difficult it was to deal with them. The main reason for this was because of their <em>recovery ability, </em>which waspletely different from ordinary human beings.

    Due to their high recovery ability, these NPCs could quickly recover even if a sword had dug deeply into their arms. In fact, even if their arms had fallen off, they only needed the power of an outstanding priest to attach it back. Of course, such a treatment would only be possible for the emperor of the Luvien Empire.

    Considering that the skill allowed Minhyuk to cause a permanent injury on such a high-leveled Named NPC, the skill was more powerful than he initially thought.

    <em>¡®I can¡¯t defeat Nerva right now.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk could not deny this fact. Nerva was at least equal to or more powerful than Brod. But even though he could not win against him right now, at the very least he was able to weaken him with the <em>Unheble Injury</em> skill.

    Nerva¡¯s pain finally subsided. No, to be exact, his <em>fear and terror</em> finally came under control. Nerva had reigned as the strongest for all his life and had never felt such mind-numbing pain before. Because of that, he felt great fear.

    Nerva, who covered one of his eyes tightly, red sharply at Minhyuk, ¡°Bastaaaaaaaaaaaard!!!¡±

    The divinity that wrapped around Nerva¡¯s sword earlier had already disappeared the moment a disturbance appeared in his mind. On top of that with Brod and Ben, who had already recovered from their injuries, standing on Minhyuk¡¯s left and right respectively, he could no longer repeat such a feat.

    ¡°Your Majesty, you can¡¯t.¡± Knight Commander Don hurriedly stepped forward and stopped Nerva from charging forward.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!¡±

    ¡°Take Nerva¡¯s head!!!¡±

    ¡°Kill Nerva!!!¡±

    ¡°Long live the Beyond the Heavens Empire!!!¡±

    Right behind them, therge army led by Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, and Aaron were ughtering the Luvien Imperial Army¡¯s troops. However, the biggest threat to them was the fact that Brod and Spear God Ben, the existences that even the Sword of the Gods had a hard time dealing with, had now recovered.

    The only reason why they were able to deal much damage to Brod and Spear God Ben before was because the Swords of the Gods had cleverly attacked them while they were exhausted. However, now that they no longer had any gap to take advantage of, there was no guarantee of victory if they attacked them right now.

    Nerva was also fully aware of this fact. His breath was rough and heavy, his remaining eye turning bloodshot as he looked at Minhyuk furiously.

    Then, Minhyuk opened his mouth and said, ¡°The Luvien Empire has done something that it should not have.¡± He raised his sword and pointed it at Nerva as he continued, ¡°You have attacked the Beyond the Heavens Empire without any rhyme or reason and reaped the lives of many of my people.¡±

    <em>Grit¡ª</em>

    Nerva gritted his teeth. He was the emperor of the greatest empire. The number of empires kneeling at his feet were countless. He even had hundreds of kingdoms obeying his orders. Yet, a mere emperor of a newly-established empire was showing contempt in front of him? Unfortunately, Nerva was currently helpless in front of such contempt.

    ¡°To pay for that sin, destroy all of the Luvien Imperial Army troops in this ce!¡±

    ¡°Bastaaaaaaaaaaaaaard!!!¡±

    Nerva grew even more furious. However, despite his anger, the situation unfolded in a different direction from what he expected.

    ¡°Your Majesty, you must go.¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty. Please¡ª please go quickly!¡±

    ¡°Please hurry and leave!¡±

    If the ones present here were only the Luvien Imperial Army, the Swords of the Gods. or the Empire¡¯s Stars they would not have chosen to retreat. Even if they died, they would still do their best to decimate the troops of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. However, Emperor Nerva was with them. What was worse, his eye was injured and he was still bleeding.

    ¡°Kghhk!¡± A dull pain continued to assault Nerva. ¡°I wille back to deal with you.¡±

    Nerva¡¯s words were like a signal and an acknowledgement that the Beyond the Heavens Empire had now be a newly-emerging empire. From this point, they would be known as the empire that forced the Luvien Empire to retreat.

    ¡°Order for a retreat¡­¡±

    ¡°Retreat! Retreat!!!¡±

    ¡°Retreat!!!¡±

    The Luvien Imperial Army¡¯s troops began to retreat.

    Brod turned to look at Minhyuk and asked, ¡°Your Majesty, please give us your orders.¡±

    The fact that the Great Luvien Empire had chosen to retreat was already a huge surprise. However, true to what Minhyuk said before, he ordered for their destruction.

    ¡°Do not let a single person live.¡±

    He ordered for them to chase after the retreating army and kill them. Even though he said that, Minhyuk already knew that it would be difficult to kill Nerva and the Swords of the Gods. His orders meant only one thing, he wanted to kill the rest of their troops. He wanted to teach Nerva not to even think about looking toward the Beyond the Heavens Empire ever again!

    ¡°As the emperor of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, Imand you! Do not leave a single man alive. Kill them!!!¡±

    ¡°Yes!!!¡±

    The tightly closed gates opened as the Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s soldiers, who had been hiding in fear earlier, charged forward.

    Meanwhile, thementators shouted in excitement.

    <em>[It¡ª It seems like the Beyond the Heavens Empire is not satisfied with forcing them to retreat. They want to annihte them!]</em>

    <em>[If the Beyond the Heavens Empire annihtes their enemies, then they would be able to obtain greater achievements!]</em>

    <em>[Now, the second battle has begun. Will the Luvien Empire be able to run away or will they die?]</em>

    ***

    Initially, the yers¡¯ desire and enthusiasm to win against Nerva and the Luvien Empire was strong since the start of Athenae¡¯s second era. After all, Nerva was the Battle God¡¯s Sword and the Luvien Empire was the greatest and the strongest empire.

    They nned to gradually devour Nerva¡¯s powerful army and one day, with their own power, y Nerva and take his head. Then, it would show them that <em>they </em>were the true masters of Athenae.

    However, their enthusiasm and excitement immediately copsed and disappeared just after three months. Just a few weeks after the appearance of the Luvien Empire, an entire continent fell into their hands. A few more months after that, they invaded several more continents. Several more months after that, most of the continents, with the exception of the Asgan Continent, fell into their hands.

    Under the name of an <em>Alliance Agreement with the Luvien Empire</em>, hundreds of kingdoms were forced to sign an agreement that allowed them to be exploited freely by the empire. Most of the empires also chose to side with the Luvien Empire.

    Because of that, most of the yers mored loudly.

    <em>[Knight Arlo, the one that taught me how to use the sword, diedst night in the war against the Luvien Empire. I¡¯m so sad¡­]</em>

    <em>[I am an orphan. That was why I am very happy to have met Hansen and his family. However, they were killed for no reason at all.]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s just so sad.]</em>

    <em>[Thankfully, there arews set in ce in reality.]</em>

    <em>[I¡¯m shelving Athenae.]</em>

    <em>[Is there someone, anyone, who can help me get revenge?]</em>

    <em>[I¡¯m going crazy.]</em>

    <em>[Please, I¡¯m begging someone, anyone! Take down that damn Luvien Empire!]</em>

    <em>[Take down Luvien!]</em>

    <em>[Someone, do something please!]</em>

    <em>[Rankers, please stop Luvien!]</em>

    <em>[Luvien!]</em>

    <em>[Bring Luvien down!]</em>

    <em>[Damn you, Luvien!]</em>

    <em>[F*ck you, Luvien!!!]</em>

    It was a silent outcry. In the end, some of the yers either left or just gave up on the gamepletely. The Luvien Empire, who stood at the center of Athenae¡¯s second era, eventually began to encroach upon everything.

    Now, one humble yer had forced the Luvien Empire to retreat. And he was not even satisfied with that.

    ¡ª<em>Do not leave a single man alive. Kill them!</em>

    The hearts of the people thumped loudly as they watched over two million soldiers of the Luvien Imperial Army flee.

    <em>[Right. Please do that. Please kill every single one of those bastards. Do not leave a single one of them behind!]</em>

    <em>[Kill Nerva, Food God!]</em>

    <em>[Our Lord, Food God! We believe in youuuuu!]</em>

    In Athenae, a ce where the NPCs had now taken center stage, a single yer, the Food God, had taken a stand. With his appearance, hope started to sprout in the hearts of the yers once again.

    However, the Luvien Imperial Armyughed at them.

    ¡°You? Destroy us? You have to be capable of doing something like that.¡±

    ¡°If His Majesty was not injured then we would not be retreating.¡±

    They continued tough. Even if they retreated from the fight against the Beyond the Heavens Empire, it did not mean that they were scared. They were just stepping back to ensure that their emperor was not hurt and to reorganize themselves.

    The Imperial Army thought that Sun Wukong and the coalition of yers that came at them were nothing as long as the Swords of the Gods stepped forward.

    ¡°Retreat as fast as you can! It would be better if you spread out! Make sure toe back alive in the Luvien Empire!!!¡±

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    Knight Commander Don, who was helping His Majesty Nerva, had shouted. The soldiers could not understand his reaction.

    <em>¡®Why is Commander Don acting like that?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®But we have obviously overpowered Brod, Spear God Ben, and all of the Beyond the Heavens earlier?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®No¡ª no way¡­?!¡¯</em>

    They all looked back and wondered about the changes happening in the enemy army. What was different from before? Was it the appearance of the Great Sage, Heaven¡¯s Equal and another army? However, they believed that their current numbers were more than enough to pierce through the enemy¡¯s defenses. So, what else has changed?

    <em>¡®Emperor Minhyuk¡¯s appearance?¡¯</em>

    That was all but Knight Commander Don had told them to run as fast as they could.

    ¡°What is the matter with you?¡±

    Only one person had appeared, so they could not understand the reaction of Knight Commander Don.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang¡ª</em>

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¡ª!</em>

    At that moment, a loud and violent explosion erupted amidst the ranks of the retreating Luvien Imperial Army. When they looked back, they saw Brod, Spear God Ben, Sword of the Gods Luo, Great Demon Elpis, and the rest of the Beyond the Heavens Empire charging forward and wiping soldiers away with vicious and devilish expressions on their faces.

    ¡°Hi¡ª hiiiiiiiiiik?!¡±

    ¡°What¡ª what the hell?!!¡±

    In just an instant, more than 30,000 of the Luvien Imperial Army disappeared from their joint attacks. Only then did the soldiers of the Luvien Imperial Army recall something.

    <em>¡®Food God Minhyuk is someone that can make the best buffed dishes!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had used <em>Everyone¡¯s Happiness </em>while they were busy retreating. He had also fed a total of ten people with the legendary dishes that he had prepared in advance. The ten people that he selected to feed those dishes included Brod, Ben, Elpis, Luo, Alexander, and Golden Mage Ali. Now, they had be 1.3x stronger than before.

    ¡°Haa.. haa¡­ Quick! Go faster!!!¡±

    ¡°Run faster!!!¡±

    The speed at which the Luvien Imperial Army retreated started bing faster. Following Don¡¯s orders, the soldiers scattered around. Unfortunately, even when they did so, Sword of the Gods Luo, Informant Abel and Asura Ascar chased after them and swiftly cut them down. At that point, they realized that running away scattered around like that made it harder for them to counter the enemies.

    ¡°Hi¡ª hiiiiiiiik!¡± Hanson, an ordinary soldier, screeched in terror when he looked around him.

    The almost 2.5 million troops of the Luvien Imperial Army had disappeared in just over two hours. He could also see Knight Commander Don running with the unconscious Emperor Nerva on his back.

    ¡°Sir¡ª Sir, did you give us that order because you knew that the Food God could create extraordinary buffed dishes and can make our enemies stronger?!¡±

    Hanson was just a soldier. In fact, he did not know where he got the courage to ask theirmander such a question. But even so, he still asked.

    However, Knight Commander Don gulped dryly, his head shaking in answer. ¡°¡­That¡¯s not it.¡±

    Hanson felt thrilled. Knight Commander Don answered his question! But then, he saw Knight Commander Don look back with a frightened look on his face. And <em>someone</em> was standing right where Don was looking.

    ¡°It¡¯s because I¡¯m afraid of him.¡±

    Hanson turned to look back. He saw the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor standing in front of the retreating army. Then, something strange happened.

    <em>Creak¡ª Tick, tick, tick, tick¡ª</em>

    A <em>person</em> suddenly appeared in front of the enemy emperor. His body was being supported with thin and transparent lines that looked simr to the lines used in fishing. The <em>person</em>¡¯s body twisted and creaked, just like a puppet made out of wood.

    <em>ck, ck, ck¡ª</em>

    Not long after, the wrong body parts finally aligned and fitted together. None of the soldiers of the Beyond the Heavens Empire or the Luvien Empire knew the identity of the puppet. However, that was not the case for the soldiers of Edea. They clearly recognized who it was.

    ¡°En¡ª Envoy Viel?¡±

    That was right. The one that appeared in front of Minhyuk was none other than Envoy Viel, who had be a wooden puppet.

 Chapter 837

    Chapter 837

    Edeas Envoy Viel was the most powerful among the Jade Emperors envoys. He was someone that could deal huge amounts of damage and had a defense that could rival that of Brods. Minhyuk even acknowledged his skill in swordsmanship to be so outstanding that it could be called a cheat.

    Perhaps, the only reason why the Jade Emperor did not love and care for him was because of his twisted personality. If Viels personality was not that twisted, he would have been the one left inmand of the Heavenly Army.

    Its Its Viel!

    Thats Viel!

    Hiiiiiiiik!

    How did Viel appear again?!

    To the residents of Edea, Envoy Viel was an <em>evil viin. </em>He was someone that killed theirrades without even blinking. However, they clearly remembered him dying.

    Whats this? Dont you think theres something weird?

    Why did that guy suddenly appear in front of His Majesty Minhyuk?

    Each and every single bone in Viels body twisted and turned until it cracked into ce. As it turned out, the one standing in front of the retreating troops of the Luvien Imperial Army was Puppet Viel.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Viels Puppet Doll</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: God</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: The one that owns Viels Puppet Doll.</em>

    <strong><em>Attack</em></strong><em>: 7,501</em>

    <strong><em>Defense</em></strong><em>: 6,950</em>

    <strong><em>Cooldown</em></strong><em>: 24 Hours</em>

    <strong><em>Special Ability</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>You can control Puppet Viel to show hisplete power for ten minutes.</em>

    <em>Puppet Viel can use most of the skills that Viel had in his possession.</em>

    <em>Puppet Viel had a tiny strand of ego left.</em>

    <em>You will be able to obtain 50% of the EXP and all of the item drops from whoever Puppet Viel kills.</em>

    <em>Even if Puppet Viel getspletely broken, it will restore itself within a week.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: This is a puppet that contains the soul of the Jade Emperors Envoy Viel. The owner can use Puppet Viel however he wants. However, the tiny strand of ego left within the puppet might sometimes reject the wishes of the owner.</em>

    As an enemy, Viel was a true and utter menace. However, he waspletely reliable as an ally. Just like that, the tide of war in the frontline waspletely reversed.

    The Luvien Imperial Armys strongest cavalry charged forward with their spears to take out Viel and Minhyuk, who were blocking their path.

    <em>Why the hell am I afraid of Emperor Minhyuk?</em>

    Cold sweat dripped down Knight Commander Dons face. He was recognized as the strongest knight of the Luvien Empire, and yet, the strongest knight was afraid and wary of Minhyuk.

    Then, something very shocking happened.

    <em>Creak, creak, creak</em>

    Puppet Viel jumped forward. He either evaded the spears that were aiming for his body, or moved to split the weapons apart, the movements that he disyed so close to being called divine.

    Heok!

    Just like that, Puppet Viel swept away the charging cavalry at a breakneck speed.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa</em>

    <em>Stab Stab, stab, stab, stab Stab, stab, stab, stab!</em>

    Hanson, who witnessed everything with his own eyes, could not bring himself to believe the scene in front of him. The enemy was not that different from Knight Commander Don.

    <em>Creak! Creak! Creak!</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang! aaaash!</em>

    What was worse was that Puppet Viel did not seem to feel any pain. He ignored whatever attacks they sent and just went on his own rampage. In just a few minutes, hundreds of people died by Puppet Viels hands.

    <em>Were not able to move forward?!</em>

    The only one that blocked the path of the retreating Imperial Army troops was Puppet Viel. He was moving in a straight line, looked at the enemies around him and immediately raised his divine power.

    <em>This is crazy.</em>

    Even Minhyuk, the owner of the <em>puppet</em>, was impressed by Puppet Viels performance. The truth was, Minhyuk was only barely able to beat Viel before. At that moment, Puppet Viel swung his sword that was brimming with divine power.

    Tigers Wind.

    <em>[Tigers Wind.]</em>

    <em>[The Tigers Wind will devour an entire radius of 300 meters and deal 2,000% additional damage.]</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh</em>

    A huge and ferocious wind devoured the Luvien Imperial Army. The wind sounded like a tiger as it roared and whipped around, tearing apart the imperial army. To make matters worse, the cavalry and soldiers were all in the middle of retreating. Because of that, some of them identally entered the skill''s 300 meter radius coverage.

    Minhyuk was left speechless. He had not seen the Tigers Wind skill when he fought with Viel before. Perhaps Viel had found it to be a waste to use an AOE attack skill with 2,000% additional attack on Minhyuk. It was probably also because the casting time was way too long to be used in a war.

    <em>However, the additional 2,000% attack power on top of Viels own attack is enough to wipe out the retreating troops of the Luvien Imperial Army.</em>

    It had a lower additional attackpared to Minhyuks Overlords Technique. However, the Tigers Wind made up for it with its wider radius of coverage.

    In just an instant, the Imperial Armys troops that got caught in the 300-meter radius all turned into corpses that piled high up like a mountain and dyed the ground red.

    <em>[You are currently at war with the Luvien Empire!]</em>

    <em>[You will be able to acquire 50% of the EXP and 100% of all of the gold and artifact drops obtained from the beings killed by the puppet!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1,300,010 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1,505,130 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[EXP.]</em>

    <em>[EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained 7,513,013 gold.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained 9,413,100 gold.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained 13,000,203 gold.]</em>

    <em>[gold.]</em>

    <em>[gold.]</em>

    It was amazing to the point that one might find it difficult to express with the right words.

    <em>Is this a ten minute absolute macro hunting?</em>

    <em>Macro Hunting</em> or, in other words, automatic hunting, was a way where one could obtain EXP and artifacts without lifting a single finger. Although Puppet Viel could only be used for a mere ten minutes, he was clearly very useful.

    Ughhhhh

    Crazy

    Everyone was taken aback by the might that the Beyond the Heavens Empire was showing. To be exact, they were shocked with how the situation changed drastically with just the appearance of Emperor Minhyuk. However, the most important thing to note here was the fact that Minhyuk had not even made a move yet.

    Minhyuk slowly took out a potion bottle that contained a liquid that was shining brightly with a variety of colors.

    <em>Viels Mysterious Elixir.</em>

    It was also an item that Minhyuk had obtained after hunting Viel.

    <em>Gulp, gulp, gulp</em>

    Minhyuk drank everything in one go.

    <em>[You have consumed Viels Mysterious Elixir.]</em>

    <em>[Viels Mysterious Elixir will randomly pick one of your stats and raise it by 10~50 points.]</em>

    An elixir that could raise any stat by a single point was already worth tens of millions of won. This elixir could increase a random stat from anywhere between 10 to 50 points.

    <em>[Viels Mysterious Elixir has permanently increased your STR stat by +36!]</em>

    The notification brought Minhyuk delight. He had already nned to show what the emperor of the Beyond the Heavens Empire was capable of in this battle. Obtaining a +36 permanent increase in STR was like giving him wings.

    The STR stat had a huge influence on ones basic or skill attack. A boost on such a stat was enough to increase the damage substantially.

    It had to be known that Minhyuk had acquired 200 stat points when he hunted Gaerna in the past. He had left these stat points be so that he could use them for a very critical moment. Now, he used these stat points to increase his STR and AGI.

    <em>[You have gained 100 STR.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 100 AGI.]</em>

    These 200 points added to his stats was equivalent to twenty levels.

    Hesing. Run! At full speed!!! Knight Commander Don shouted just as Minhyuk charged forward and shed with the Luvien Imperial Army.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    No matter how strong Minhyuk was, it would have been very difficult for him to kill the Luvien Imperial Army all at once. They were at least at Level 450. However, now it was possible for him to deal with them. The Sword of Aeon had an attack power that was beyond 3,000 and he was even able to level up after hunting Viel. He had also invested 250 stat points appropriately.

    <em>Watch. I will show you the majesty and dignity of the Beyond the Heavens Empires emperor.</em>

    The symbol Explosion appeared on the de of Minhyuks Sword of Aeon. With every swing of Minhyuks sword, numerous enemies died all at once.

    Keheoook!

    How can this be?!

    The Luvien Imperial Army was terrified. Bloody lightning strikes would fall and cut down dozens of their troops with every swing of Minhyuks sword.

    <em>I will take the lives of your soldiers and return what you did to my soldiers ten fold, a hundred folds.</em>

    Minhyuk was the type of person to return both favor and ill-will that he received several times back. At that moment, a set of notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[You have wiped out 313 enemy troops.]</em>

    <em>[You have met the conditions for triggering the Ten Thousand Swords.]</em>

    Minhyuk had finally achieved a 100% of the Thousand Swords skill proficiency. Now, he was finally able to obtain the Divine Swords final chapter, the Ten Thousand Swords. However, the requirements needed to trigger the skill were very tricky.

    <em>Kill 30,000 enemies with a hundred level difference with you with only your passive skills and basic attacks.</em>

    It had been a very difficult requirement to fulfill. But it was now possible for Minhyuk. The enemies numbers and levels were both high.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa</em>

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    <em>Crack</em>

    Uwaaaaaaaack!

    Keuaaaaaaaaaack!

    U Uwaaaaaaaaaah!

    The sight of Minhyuk charging forward alone as he annihted the enemies that were at the forefront was spectacr. Thousands of the Luvien Imperial Armys troops deliberately tried to bypass Minhyuk to flee, while the screams of theirrades rang out. However, Minhyuk unleashed hellish and zing mes upon them.

    Overlords Technique.

    <em>Rumbleeeeeeeee</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    The hellish mes burst out and devoured the fleeing soldiers. The attack killed thousands and turned them into ashes in an instant. But Minhyuk was not yet done. He immediately used his <em>Lightning</em> skill.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang</em>

    A huge lightning bolt fell down from the sky and devoured the Sword of the Gods that tried to restrain Minhyuk. It was immediately followed by hundreds of lightning strikes that killed the Sword of the Gods and the troops around Minhyuk, making them disappear without a trace.

    <em>[You have wiped out 33,514 enemy troops.]</em>

    <em>[You have met the conditions for triggering the Ten Thousand Swords.]</em>

    <em>Not enough. Its still not enough.</em>

    Not a single person will leave this ce alive.

    Those words were not some kind of nonsensical deration. He truly meant to kill each and every single one of them, with the exception of Nerva and his Swords of the Gods.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    Uwaaaaaaaaack!

    Aaaaaaaack!

    The Luvien Imperial Army started to tremble in fear when they saw how frightening and vicious Minhyuk was as he charged at them. The man was not showing them any mercy.

    <em>[The morale of the Luvien Imperial Army has dropped sharply!]</em>

    <em>[All of the troops abilities will drop by 20%!]</em>

    Hiyaaa! Knight Commander Don could only groan in both shock and terror as he carried Emperor Nerva on his horse and ran.

    <em>Is he really going to kill all of our troops?</em>

    It sounded like it was impossible. Of course, Don had already thought that Minhyuk and his troops might be able to catch up to them and kill around 40% of their Imperial Army. However, looking at the situation right now, it seemed like what he said earlier was not just nonsense.

    The Luvien Imperial Army had already lost 800,000 of their troops. In other words, it was 40% of the total number of their troops, while they were trying to run away from the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    In the end, the Luvien Imperial Army broke down.

    Please Please let us go!!!

    Please spare us!!!

    Arent Arent you supposed to be a benevolent and kind person?!!

    It was quite funny to hear someone spit the words <em>benevolent and kind</em> in a situation like this. Minhyuk could not help butugh. However, just in case, he unleashed Gods Voice upon those that depended and leaned on him.

    <em>[You have triggered Gods Voice.]</em>

    <em>[He was called the kind and benevolent king.]</em>

    <em>[He loved being with his people,ughing and crying along with them.]</em>

    <em>[The people served their king.]</em>

    <em>[And the king cherished and cared for his people.]</em>

    <em>[The people trusted and believed in their king up until the moment they died.]</em>

    When they heard the part <em>until the moment they died, </em>the Luvien Imperial Army realized <em>Ah. Were at war. Weughed at the people of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom when we were ughtering and trampling on them.</em>

    <em>[My king will return as an emperor.]</em>

    <em>[He vowed to the dead soldiers and people of the Beyond the Heavens Empire]</em>

    <em>[I will not let a single person leave this ce alive.]</em>

    Minhyuk took a deep breath as he stood in front of the fleeing army. At that moment, a huge amount of divine power slowly started to seep into his sword.

    <em>[The Ten Thousand Swords is now avable for use!]</em>

    <em>[Due to the penalty for triggering the Ten Thousand Swords, the skills level will drop to Level 1.]</em>

    <em>[Guardian God Obren soothes the pain that you feel over losing the people that you cherished and loved dearly!]</em>

    <em>[Obrens Embrace.]</em>

    <em>[With Obrens Embrace in effect, the skill will be 50% better than normal.]</em>

    Minhyuk finally unlocked the Ten Thousand Swords, one of the chapters under the Divine Sword that his beloved teacher Sword God Valen had left him. The moment he triggered the skill, a shocking notification rang in everyones ears.

    <em>[Ten Thousand Swords]</em>

    <em>[Pierces the hearts of the enemies.]</em>

    <em>[Ten Thousand Swords.]</em>

    <em>[Ten Thousand Swords is a skill that can demonstrate great power when ites torge-scale battles!]</em>

    <em>[Ten Thousand Swords will chase after the stronger enemies and pierce through the hearts of Ten Thousand enemies!]</em>

    <em>[Each sword of the Ten Thousand Swords has 6,000% additional attack!]</em>

    <em>[Those that had been grazed or cut by the Ten Thousand Swords in passing will receive an additional 3,000% damage!]</em>

    The Ten Thousand Swords was a skill that sounded more like a homing missile. It would go after centurions, legionsmanders, knights, and all othermander-level individuals among the hundreds of thousands of enemy and pierce through their hearts.

    Not long after, a bright sh engulfed Minhyuks sword as ten thousand swords shot out toward the hearts of the enemy troops.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab!</em>

    <em>[You have killed Luvien Imperial Armys Legion Commander Ardal.]</em>

    <em>[You have killed Luvien Imperial Armys Knight Foldo.]</em>

    <em>[You have killed Luvien Imperial Armys 13th Knight Order Commander Auburn.]</em>

    <em>[Luvien Imperial Armys]</em>

    <em>[Luvien Imperial Armys]</em>

    The notifications rang non-stop in Minhyuks ears.

 Chapter 838

    Chapter 838

    The Ten Thousand Swords skill summoned ten thousand swords made of light, which pierced through the hearts of themander-level individuals among the enemy troops. Anyone unfortunate to have been brushed by these swords even when they were not the intended targets all suffered from an additional 3,000% damage.

    It was like a disaster fell upon them. Most of the soldiers were left with serious injuries even before the swords pierced through the hearts of the outstanding warriors within their ranks. The worst part was that most of the warriors died after getting hit by the Ten Thousand Swords.

    The Luvien Imperial Army was left to deal with a huge and iprehensible loss after the Ten Thousand Swords came after theirmander-level individuals, regardless of their distance from Minhyuk. Over 150,000 soldiers of the Luvien Imperial Army had either died or were gravely injured.

    However, the pressing matter here was the state of themander-level individuals. The Luvien Imperial Armys squad leaders were around Level 480, their centurions at around Level 500, while their knights were at Level 540 or higher. Just like how yers grow, these NPCs could also grow. Compared to before, their level had definitely be higher and were all stronger.

    However, thesemander-level individuals were copsing one after the other after being hit by Minhyuks Ten Thousands Swords.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab</em>

    Dons face grew uglier as he watched themanders die one after the other. These individuals were the main pirs of the Luvien Imperial Army and were the ones in charge of leading the 2.5 million troops under the emperorsmand.

    The Swords of the Gods might be able to survive such an attack, but that was not the case for themanders. These people all had great potential and were the ones that they had hoped to be the Luvien Empires future powerhouses.

    At that moment, one of the ten thousand swords shot forward and pierced through Commander Dons heart.

    <em>Staaaaaaab</em>

    Ugh! Don groaned from the intense pain that bloomed on his chest. Then, his eyes grew wide after realizing something. He clutched his chest tightly as he looked back at Nerva.

    <em>Staaaaaaaaab</em>

    Don tried his hardest to stop the sword that flew in to attack Nerva. However, all that he did was get injured even further. He could not stop the sword and watched helplessly as it pierced through Nervas chest.

    Ughhh

    Nervas closed lids snapped open when the sword pierced through his chest. However, the intense pain instantly knocked him out cold again. They were now in a very bad situation, with Nerva in a critical situation.

    Knight Commander Don looked around.

    <em>Hes really amazing.</em>

    This was what Commander Don thought when he first met Minhyuk during their expedition to win over Mand. During that brief interaction, he was able to know what kind of a king the man was and even developed great fondness for him. Ever since Knight Commander Don had encountered Minhyuk, his memories of the past would often sh by his head.

    However, it was impossible for him to cooperate or surrender to the Beyond the Heavens Empire. In the end, he was Nervas subordinate.

    Hiyaaaaaa!!!

    Don thought that it was best that hemand the soldiers to retreat and leave this ce to save as many as possible. But now, those thoughts changed. He had to save Nerva first and foremost. So, Don rushed his horse and rode at full speed.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang</em>

    Spear God Ben tried to chase after them but Commander Don was able to swiftly block his attack, even though he had Nerva with him and was riding his horse.

    Commander!!! Go quickly!

    Please go on ahead!!!

    Two of the Swords of the Gods appeared to block Spear God Ben. Most of them were just low ranking Swords of the Gods. However, they decided to sacrifice themselves for Nervas sake.

    I acknowledge your bravery.

    Spear God Ben looked bitterly at them. He was aware that it would be very difficult to reach Nerva now that there were people willing to sacrifice themselves to protect him. Of course, the others were well aware of this too. In the end, the horse that carried Don and Nerva rode further and further away from them.

    After running like crazy, Don finally realized that there was no longer someone chasing after them. Before he knew it, he had reached the hills and the mountains. When he reached the top of one of the hills, he looked back over at the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    Commander Don stared at the Beyond the Heavens Empire for a very long time. He could see that the Beyond the Heavens Empire had already killed most of the retreating troops of the Luvien Imperial Army.

    Don pulled the reins of his horse and turned around.

    <em>The Beyond the Heavens Empire will grow rapidly.</em>

    This was what Commander Don personally thought.

    ***

    The entire world was left in turmoil.

    Everyone knew that Athenaes second era would be under the rule of the Luvien Empire. They all thought that when Athenaes third era began, they would all likely be dogs of the Luvien Empire.

    However, the small and trivial Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had grown and became an Empire. They even decimated the Luvien Imperial Armys troops.

    <em>[To be honest, its already very surprising that Food God Minhyuk has be an emperor.]</em>

    <em>[If you have seen the war in Edea, you will know that yer Minhyuk had fought against the Jade Emperors Coalition Army alone and won the hearts of the people of Edea.]</em>

    <em>[And that is the reason why he is able to obtain a huge foothold.]</em>

    <em>[yer Minhyuk must have taken everything into consideration.]</em>

    <em>[In the end, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom has be the Beyond the Heavens Empire. On top of that, they have even defeated the 2.5 million retreating troops of the Luvien Imperial Army. This is going to be a huge scoop.]</em>

    <em>[However, there are still a few small problems here and there. The Beyond the Heavens Empire were barely able to meet the requirements for establishing an empire. It was an extremely close call.]</em>

    <em>[Thats right. While the Beyond the Heavens Empire was established sessfully, they lost so many soldiers and residents today.]</em>

    <em>Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!</em>

    Loud and passionate cheers shook the Beyond the Heaven Empire. The people and the soldiers cried out and chanted Minhyuks name to celebrate their victory. Even Spear God Ben, Brod, Elpis, Luo, and many others approached Minhyuk to congratte him.

    However, they all shut their mouths not long after. Minhyuks expression did not look good. Of course, obtaining victory was a happy and good thing. However, Minhyuk could clearly see their losses through the notifications.

    <em>[The Beyond the Heavens Empire has lost 754,313 troops.]</em>

    <em>[The Beyond the Heavens Empire has lost 210,003 residents.]</em>

    <em>[You have won the war against the Luvien Empire.]</em>

    <em>[The total amount of the spoils of war obtained from the war against the Luvien Empire will now be listed.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained 954,100 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained 1 God-rank Artifact.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained 3 God-grade Ingredients.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained 231 Legendary-rank Artifacts.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained 368 Legendary-grade Artifacts.]</em>

    <em>[Epic-rank]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 5,000 REP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 200 CHA.]</em>

    Countless notifications about the rewards that they had obtained rang in Minhyuks ears. The total amount of the spoils of war that they had obtained was ridiculous. However, none of them entered Minhyuks eyes. The only thing that he could see were the deaths of more than 700,000 troops and 200,000 residents.

    Minhyuk looked around. He could see the bereaved families crying loudly as they hugged the corpses of their loved ones, whose bodies had been torn beyond recognition, amidst the other cheering citizens.

    Many of the victims of this war were soldiers. However, some of them were just ordinary citizens. There were parents crying loudly as they hugged the body of a young boy and even a man sobbing as he hugged the body of the woman that he had been set to marry. Almost a million of his people had been killed in this war.

    Minhyuk approached the crying woman that held the body of her child tightly to her chest. He ced his hand on her shoulder and spoke heavily, I promise you this. I will do my utmost to send them off peacefully andfortably to the afterlife.

    Your Majesty!

    Minhyuk looked around once again as he dered an imperial decree, Use a million tinum for their funerals. Also, bestow the bereaved families with the highestpensation and make sure to build proper graves for all of the victims of this war.

    <em>[A A million tinum!!!]</em>

    <em>[!]</em>

    Thementators were all shocked. A million tinum was worth hundreds of billions of won in cold, hard cash.

    On the other hand, Haze looked at Minhyuk and thought, <em>Your Majesty. Please tell me that you have thought of a way, Your Majesty.</em>

    Of course, Haze weed the establishment of the Beyond the Heavens Empire with open arms. The problem was that they lost almost a million people in this war.

    Minhyuk had not yet led the residents of Edea to the newly established empire. Hecked the military troops to do so. Their military troops might seem to be numerous, but that was only the case when they were still a kingdom. Now that they had be an empire, they would have to face countless enemies. Their current military forces were onlyparable to the military force of arge kingdom at most.

    They also had to expect a decrease in the number of migrants. After all, many would hesitate to move to the Beyond the Heavens Empire, knowing that they would face huge dangers in the near future.

    Although they had won the war against the Luvien Empire, they had be an empire that might copse at any given moment. The Beyond the Heavens Empire now had to find a way to entice many migrants and establish friendly connections with many kingdoms and empires. Having the reputation of <em>defeating the retreating Luvien Imperial Army </em>was not enough.

    Everyone, including the people and the troops, were aware of this fact. Rather than enjoying the fruits of their victory, they had to worry more about their future. If things continued at this rate, the Beyond the Heavens Empire would really be driven to copse. If that happened, then there was a high chance that the Luvien Empire would send troops once again.

    At that moment, Minhyuk murmured, I will seed.

    ***

    Everything happened in an instant. The people of the Beyond the Heavens were left in sorrow, worrying about what to do in the future. But then, millions of round lights the size of a fist slowly floated down from the sky. Everyone looked at the lights in doubt.

    Among these round and bright lights, there was one light that looked brighter and sharper than the rest. This light slowly grew and took the shape of a little girl that looked to be around five years old or so.

    The little girl, with wings simr to that of an angel, grabbed and threw flower petals from the basket in her hands. The petals split until there were tens of millions of them in the sky, slowly poured down upon the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    <em>[You have seen the Battle Gods Angel.]</em>

    <em>[The Battle Gods Angel isforting your sad and grieving heart.]</em>

    After that, the Battle Gods Angel disappeared while millions of lights gathered around Minhyuk. Then, the round lights gathered together and formed a throne that he could sit on.

    Both the people and the soldiers were forced to take a step back when the millions of lights suddenly brightened and each took on the form of a human carrying the symbol of the <em>Beyond the Heavens Empire</em> on their backs.

    <em>[The three million strong Battle Gods Army will stay by your side for a week!]</em>

    <em>[The three million strong Battle Gods Army will be absolutely loyal to the new Battle Gods Descendant for a week!]</em>

    <em>[Battle Gods Soldier. Level 503.]</em>

    <em>[Battle Gods Knight. Level 561.]</em>

    The lights had now turned into knights wearing silver full-te armor and soldiers wearing red armor. They all stood at attention and created a path.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud</em>

    Minhyuk slowly walked to the throne.

    <em>[You have sat on the Battle Gods Throne.]</em>

    <em>[You have met all of the requirements for the Absolute God ss: Battle Gods Descendant!]</em>

    <em>[You possess the Food God ss.]</em>

    <em>[Battle Gods Descendant will now be your subss!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 5,000 REP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 2,000 CHA.]</em>

    <em>[Since you have had a subss before, you will be able to retain your skills. The new Battle Gods Descendants skill will be added to your repertoire!]</em>

    <em>[The new Battle Gods skills are now open!]</em>

    <em>[The Battle Gods]</em>

    <em>[The Battle Gods]</em>

    <em>[The Battle Gods]</em>

    Minhyuks gaze was filled with majesty and nobility as he looked at the Battle Gods Army amidst the constant notifications that rang in his ears. This army would be absolutely loyal and subservient to Minhyuk for an entire week. The subsequent notifications also informed Minhyuk that he had acquired several of the Battle Gods Descendants skills.

    <em>[The Battle Gods Blessings has been activated!]</em>

    <em>[Everyone that belongs to the empire under themand of the Battle Gods Descendant will have a 15% increase in their EXP Acquisition Rate!]</em>

    <em>[Everyone that belongs to the empire under themand of the Battle Gods Descendant will have a 15% increase in their Item Drop Rate!]</em>

    These notifications also applied to the yers as well. The yers that belonged to the Beyond the Heavens Empire quickly announced this fact to the world.

    <em>[The Absolute Gods ss: Battle Gods Descendant has been born to the world!]</em>

    This single notification that was sent out as a world message created a huge buzz.

    At the same time, the three million strong Battle Gods Army knelt down on one knee and showed respect toward Minhyuk. Right behind them, the more than two million residents and troops of the Beyond the Heavens Empire also knelt down, before shouting.

    Congrattions on bing the new Battle God!

    Congrattions on bing the new Battle God!

    At the same time, another world message rang.

    <em>[The Battle God has chosen Beyond the Heavens Empires Emperor Minhyuk, and not Luvien Empires Emperor Nerva, as the Battle Gods Descendant!]</em>

    Minhyuk, with his noble and lofty gaze, looked straight ahead and dered, Come to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

 Chapter 839

    Chapter 839

    The Beyond the Heavens Empire was now given the time to restore the things that had been destroyed during the war. As for Minhyuk, he decided to take a day off.

    He had done quite a lot of things within a short period of time, from meeting the God of Death, to lifting the seal of the Sword of Aeon, then saving the dying Obren, and leading Edea to victory, before finally leading his Beyond the Heavens Empire to victory in the war against the Luvien Empire. It was obvious that Minhyuk was in desperate need of a break.

    While Minhyuk was fast asleep, the others once again realized the greatness and majesty of the first empire in Athenae.

    Oh Changwook, Minhyuks health trainer, saw a huge crowd of over 200 reporters, as well as countless fans outside their home.

    <em>Click, click, click, click, click, click, click</em>

    Where is Mr. Minhyuk, Athenaes first emperor, currently staying at?

    The people of South Korea are going nuts!

    In this globally acimed game, Athenae, one of our very own citizens, became the first emperor. Many of our fellow citizens are proud of Mr. Minhyuk, and want to hear his thoughts about this.

    However, what was more surprising was that there were also quite a lot of reporters from other countries mixed in with the Korean reporters in the crowd. These reporters looked like they had headed straight for this ce after their nended, without even spending the time to wash up.

    Minhyuk is resting right now. Pleasee back another time.

    Although Changwook spoke those words, he knew that none of them would go back easily. Knowing that Minhyuk was not avable at the moment, the reporters turned their attention to the people that lived around Minhyuks ce and interviewed them instead.

    How does the Beyond the Heavens Emperor Minhyuk usually act?

    Goodness. You dont even have to ask. Hes a very nice boy. He always greets me politely whenever we see each other~

    Hes different from the kids these days. Hes very humble and approachable.

    Minhyuk had deliberately bought a lot in a retirementmunity and built his mansion there. Because of that, the majority of his neighbors were elderly. Most of the elderly in themunity were not even aware that Minhyuk was a famous yer in the game called Athenae, nor were they aware that he had be the first emperor in the game.

    Beyond the Heavens Empire? Athenae? I dont know about that. All I know is that I want him to be my son-inw~ There arent that many kids these days that are humble and approachable like him.

    Rather than get frustrated, the reporters were very happy to hear these things.

    Reporter Kim, lets publish this interview as it is and use the title <em>Warm Young Man, Minhyuk</em> for the article.

    Warm Young Man, Minhyuk?

    The elderly here do not know what kind of yer Minhyuk is. However, Minhyuk had always greeted them and treated them politely. In other words, his behavior is not just some pretense. Some celebrities act differently on screen and off screen. But Minhyuk has always treated everyone kindly and politely.

    Ah!

    Minhyuk was still in the middle of sleep. However, several articles praising him had started to pour in.

    At the same time at Ilhwa Group.

    Our stock price hit an all-time high a few days ago and is still continuously rising.

    Minhyuks father, Chairman Kang Minhoo, was very surprised to hear this. By any chance did it all start when my son, Minhyuk, became the emperor of the Beyond the Heavens Empire?

    Yes, thats right. The yers of Athenae from all over the world are feeling grateful to Minhyuk after he gained victory against the Luvien Empire. Because of that, people from all over the world started to buy items produced by Ilhwa Group.

    Ho.

    Chairman Kang Minhoo was very proud of his son. Even he, the chairman, could not raise thepanys stock prices like this. However, Minhyuk could easily do so through his own worth and value.

    Then, at that moment, Secretary Park Munsoo approached Chairman Kang Minhoo and whispered in his ears, <em>Roiple</em> has proposed a coboration with us for a project.

    What? Werent they the ones that did not even look at the proposal that we sent them two years ago?

    I asked the reason why when they called me on the phone earlier. The representative said that hes a big fan of your son, sir.

    Chairman Kang Minhoo was truly proud and touched. This was no different from Minhyuk stepping forward and signing a contract that was worth hundreds of billions of won.

    Then, it started. Chairman Kang Minhoos bragging about his son!

    You know, my dear son Minhyuk is

    <em>Its this story again.</em>

    <em>Hes going to say that a child of only three months old went and called him Daddy.</em>

    <em>No. Theres no way that a three-month old child can speak, right?!</em>

    Then, Chairman Kang Minhoo said, He called me Daddy fifteen days after he was born. Hohohohohoho! My son, Minhyuk, has been a genius since he was born!

    !

    !

    !

    The board members were all bbergasted. There was absolutely no way that a fifteen-day-old baby could say <em>Daddy</em>, right? Was this son-con final boss of a man brainwashed or something?!

    Ha Hahahaha. Thats Thats really amazing.

    I cant believe he said <em>Daddy</em> fifteen days after he was born. Minhyuk must have been truly a genius since he was born!

    Hohohoho! Thats right. Right!

    This was the reality that srymen had to face every single day.

    ***

    Three days. Three days was not enough time to ovee the sadness brought forth by the war.

    However, they were also able to restore quite a few things that had been ravaged and destroyed during the war in these three days. Although they were able to sort out the most urgent matters, they would still take at least two more weeks before things could return to normal.

    At this time, Minhyuk decided to provide a meal for the people of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, which was none other than samgyeopsal. Minhyuk had given an order to give yers and NPCs alike 400 grams of samgyeopsal per person. Although he only gave 400 grams of samgyeopsal each, it still cost a huge amount of money. It was a portion for each and every single one after all.

    Because of that, Haze began to protest. Your Majesty, I understand what youre feeling. However, the situation of our Beyond the Heavens Empire is currently not that good.

    Haze was relieved when she learnt that Minhyuk became the Battle Gods Descendant and that three million of the Battle Gods Divine Army would protect the Beyond the Heavens Empire for a week. This meant that the Luvien Empire and the other empires would not dare to attack the Beyond the Heavens Empire during this week.

    However, they still had to prepare for the future. They had to save as much funds as they could in order to buy weapons and potions. The funds saved could also be used to increase the number of migrants or bring in mercenaries to their side. But instead of doing that, they were having a meat party?

    Haze, I wont give way on this. All of us are trying to live and survive. Its always better to worry when youre full.

    Haze sighed. She already knew that she would not be able to change Minhyuks decision.

    Minhyuk was sitting on the walls of the castle. From where he was, he could see some of his people and his soldiers that had already sat down and began to eat.

    If there are people that dont have enough, make sure to give them some extra.

    Yes, Your Majesty. Haze shook her head, her steps weak and faltering.

    However, Minhyuk thought differently.

    <em>What has a greater impact than me establishing an empire? Its the fact that I have be the Battle Gods Descendant.</em>

    There were two men who had been given the chance to be the Battle God. They were Nerva and Minhyuk. Nerva, who was originally going to be theplete Battle God, had failed while Minhyuk seeded. Minhyuk believed in the potential that this would bring forth.

    To be honest, it had been far too difficult for Minhyuk. He had been struggling after being forced to dobor for several days. On top of that, he had almost been driven crazy from hunger.

    Smoke floated above the piping hot grill as Minhyuk ced a thick piece of samgyeopsal on top of it.

    <em>Sizzleeeeeee</em>

    Minhyuk looked very excited as he added more samgyeopsal on top of the grill. Of course, he had already prepared the meat table right before he started grilling. The table wasplete with boiling doenjang jjigae that were usually served in meat restaurants, and volcano steamed eggs in small earthen pots.

    Today, Minhyuk had prepared a very special dish to eat with his samgyeopsal. It was none other than <em>bibimmyeon</em>. Every once in a while, it was amazing to cook instant bibimmyeon instead of making some naengmyeon to eat with the samgyeopsal.

    <em>It will be even better if I go to a valley to eat this.</em>

    However, he was still satisfied with what he had today. In a blink, the samgyeopsal was already drizzling with oil and sizzling nicely on the grill. Minhyuk quickly cut up a thick piece and dipped it in salt. The greasy vor of the meat instantly spread in Minhyuks mouth the moment he bit into the meat. Next, he dipped another piece of samgyeopsal in ssamjang.

    Kghhk

    It was a vor that could naturally evoke ones admiration.

    This time, Minhyuk grabbed a piece of lettuce, ced two pieces of samgyeopsal dipped in samjjang on it, along with some other ingredients garlic and onion, before wrapping everything up and putting it in his mouth.

    <em>Munch, munch</em>

    The various ingredients met in his mouth and produced a pleasant harmony of vors. Next, Minhyuk spread out a piece of victory onion on the te before adding a piece of samgyeopsal and a tiny dollop of wasabi on top.

    When Minhyuk put everything in his mouth, the first thing that greeted him was the fresh vor of the victory onion. It was immediately followed by the light and savory vor of the meat, then the stinging, spicy taste of the wasabi.

    A delighted smile curled at the corner of Minhyuks lips as he scooped a mouthful of rice and put it in his mouth. Just like that, he scooped a spoonful of the boiling deonjang jjigae and ate it together.

    Kghhk! Spicy!

    Since he had been under extreme stresstely, Minhyuk purposely added another cheongyang pepper in the jjigae to make it spicier.

    Then, Minhyuk scooped a huge spoonful of the volcano steamed eggs and ced it on the well-cooked white rice. After that, he pressed the steamed egg until it was crushed with the t of his spoon and mixed it with his rice. After mixing everything well, he scooped a mouthful and put it in his mouth. He thoroughly enjoyed the myriad of vors, before stretching his chopsticks toward the bibimmyeon.

    <em>Sluuuuuuuuurp!</em>

    The spicy yet sour bibimmyeon instantly washed away the greasiness that settled in Minhyuks mouth. And even though he was already eating it, its unique vor still made his mouth water.

    Of course, Minhyuk had to eat it with samgyeopsal. He ced a piece on top of the bibimmyeon. Then, he mped it with his chopsticks and ced everything in his mouth.

    <em>Sluuuuuuuuuurp!</em>

    There was no need for ssamjang. The sweet and sour bibimmyeon and the samgyeopsal was already the perfect match. However, Minhyuk actually found the instant bibimmyeon a little disappointing.

    I only grabbed two mouthfuls with my chopsticks and an entire bag is already done.

    Of course, it was still fine. After all, Minhyuk cooked ten bags. Just like that, Minhyuk enjoyed a break after a very long time.

    Meanwhile, Haze looked at him uneasily.

    ***

    Haze was fully aware of what Minhyuk was concerned about. She knew that her emperor believed that he would be able to attract many people by virtue of bing the Battle Gods Descendant.

    To be honest, Haze was also hoping for this to happen. There was a chance that the kingdoms and empires, especially the ones ravaged by the war against the Luvien Empire scattered all throughout Athenae, woulde and take the side of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    So, Haze waited. If things proceeded ording to expectations, they would havee here after a day or so. However, none of them hade. It was most probably because they were all afraid to take risks.

    <em>Your Majesty, were in trouble.</em>

    Haze looked sad as she watched Minhyuk eat his meal happily. Perhaps their empire might copse in just less than a month.

    Right then, a report came in.

    Prime Minister Haze, there are people looking for His Majesty.

    His Majesty? Whats their status?

    That They say that they cannot reveal it unless they meet with either His Majesty or the executives.

    Haze looked at the guard that came to her in confusion. His Majesty was still having his meal, she did not want to disturb him. Haze followed the guards to see who came. When they reached the walls, Haze saw dozens of people on horseback wearing ck robes and keeping their identities hidden. Actually, there were several people on horsebacking toward the Beyond the Heavens Empire from all directions.

    Who are you?

    Upon hearing Hazes question, the people in front of her slowly took off the hood that covered their heads and faces.

    I am a diplomat from the Akarron Kingdom. I came here to congratte you on the establishment of the Beyond the Heavens Empire!

    Haze was very surprised when she heard the man introduce himself. Hazes knowledge of the kingdoms and empires was not limited to that of the Asgan Continent. She was also very knowledgeable about the kingdoms and empires from all over the world. Akarron Kingdom was a kingdom that had a huge influence in one of the continents in the world. However, the surprise did not end there.

    I am the emperor of the Ruako Empire. I came here to discuss something with the newly crowned emperor, Minhyuk.

    !

    Hazes eyes grew wide as the hooded people introduced themselves one after the other.

    I am King Loic. My kingdom has been ravaged and destroyed by the Luvien Empire just recently. I have led the people and soldiers that I have hidden to migrate to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    I should be the one that spoke first! I came here first!

    What are you talking about?!

    Oho. How dare a small border nation like you speak up like that, huh?

    It was quite a sight to see. The diplomats and representatives sent by the empires and kingdoms from all over the world were arguing that they came first. But that was not the end. There were still diplomats, kings, and even emperors arriving one after the other.

    However, the question was why did they not lead an army? And why did theye sote?

    Dear noble guests, why do you all look like youre in such a hurry?

    At that question, one of the diplomats said, Did you not know? The Luvien Imperial Army has blocked all of the paths leading to the Beyond the Heavens Empire and are monitoring it strictly. Because of that, I have to be as stealthy as possible. Thats the reason why Im the only one that came here.

    Ah!

    Haze realized something that she had overlooked before. However, it seemed like Minhyuk did not overlook this matter. That was why she was in a state of awe.

    By virtue of Minhyuk bing the Battle God, countless empires and kingdoms that were spread all over the world would rush to forge friendly rtionships with him and the Beyond the Heavens Empire. If that was the case, what should Haze as the prime minister do here?

    To be honest, I dont really know

    ?

    who came first and who should see His Majesty first. His Majesty is currently eating inside. This is a problem.

    All of their ears perked up as they listened to Haze.

    With the establishment of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, we have to develop a stronger force. However, its a pity. Ha Money. Haa It would be great if theres an empire or a kingdom that can provide us with some support, no~?

    !

    !

    Well, if theres an <em>empire</em> or a <em>kingdom</em> like that, then they would probably be the first to meet His Majesty

    The moment her words ended, amotion broke out.

    I actually brought 1,000 tinum as a gift to celebrate the establishment of the Beyond the Heavens Empire!

    I I brought 2,000 tinum!

    I brought 5,000!!!

    Then, Haze said, Five thousand tinum! Is there more?!

    I I have 10,000!!!

    There, ten thousand! Is there more?!

    I have 100,000!!!

    Okay, okay. Theres a hundred thousand! If you add a bit more, then you will be able to see His Majesty first! Is there more? Let me tell you once again, His Majesty is both the Food God and the Battle God. Hes someone that has defeated seven million of the Luvien Imperial Armys troops!

    Wasnt it just 2.5 million?

    He unofficially defeated 4.5 million troops!

    !

    !

    Haze was an expert in coating her words with gold and putting worth in something that otherwise did not.

    I I have 200,000!

    Is there more?! Alright. His Majesty, the emperor of the Ardo Empire will be the first to see His Majesty Minhyuk!

    Thank thank you!

    However, for some reason, the emperor of the Ardo Empire looked listless. Somehow, an impromptu auction was suddenly held in order for them to meet Emperor Minhyuk.

    Ardos Emperor looked around and thought, <em>The Beyond the Heavens Empire is truly a formidable empire.</em>

    At this moment, the woman called Prime Minister Haze was able to snatch almost a million tinum in one go, and it was even through an auction. As expected of a woman that could sell dirt for millions of tinum. Then, at that moment, an unexpected voice rang in Hazes ears.

    <em>[The God that is Good at Lying is both in shock and in awe.]</em>

    <em>[The God that is Good at Lying has been watching you and your king.]</em>

    <em>[The God that is Good at Lying thought, That king and that vassal]</em>

    <em>[The God that is Good at Lying has made a huge decision!]</em>

    <em>[The God that is Good at Lying is offering you the God of Fraud ss!]</em>

 Chapter 840

    Chapter 840

    Haze was left in both confusion and doubt. She could not understand why the God that was Good at Lying offered her the <em>God of Fraud</em> ss.

    <em>This is not some fraud or scam. This is a pure business deal though?</em>

    Then, another voice rang in her ears.

    <em>[The God that is Good at Lying is shocked that you cant even recognize the scam that you did.]</em>

    <em>[The God that is Good at Lying shouts that you are the one and true candidate for the God of Fraud! It shows in your bones!]</em>

    ?

    Haze truly could not understand it. However, she quickly shook off all of the questions she had, instead focusing on the crux.

    <em>I I can be a God?</em>

    Haze had never considered herself someone as a candidate to be God. After all, gods were objects of worship and were beings that stood above humans. They were the great and holy ones.

    However, there were quite a few Continental Gods around Haze. Seeing those Continental Gods made Haze realize that being a God did not necessarily mean that they were pure and holy. The Gods around her had to live for eternity. Also, because of their titles, they had to live with constant danger.

    Haze believed that she did not have anything special like those other gods. She did not have excellent spearmanship like Spear God Ben, nor a talent that could cause the envy of all like God of Alchemy Mand. She also could not lead a demonic army like Elpis. Haze was just an ordinary woman.

    To be honest, the prospect of bing a God was quite scary for her. At the same time, there was another emotion.

    <em>Grip</em>

    Haze tightened her palms into a fist.

    <em>Your Majesty</em>

    She could still clearly remember that day. When she first met Minhyuk, she was nothing but a prisoner. To be honest, she could have died that day. However, Minhyuk saved a miserable girl like her and gave her a new leash in life. Haze only slept three hours per day in the position of prime minister, as she wanted to repay her benefactor, Minhyuk.

    The Beyond the Heavens Empire was now in a precarious state. She was just one person, one talent. However, if she became a God, then she would be able to shoulder a lot of His Majestys problems.

    Haze licked her lips. She was scared but she still mustered up the courage. This was so she could be a great help for His Majesty.

    <em>I will be God.</em>

    With Hazes eptance of the offer, the voice rang in her head again.

    <em>[You have epted the God of Fraud ss.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Frauds Trial will now begin.]</em>

    <em>[To be the God of Fraud, you have to use your brilliantmunication skills and flexible adaptability to gain ten million tinum in two weeks.]</em>

    <em>[If you fail the God of Frauds Trial, you will receive punishment and will no longer be able to lie!]</em>

    Haze was very relieved when she saw that the penalty for the trial was not as heavy as she thought.

    <em>I would no longer be able to lie?</em>

    It had to be known that Haze had never thought that she had lied in her life. The words that she uttered were not lies. They were words of investment! Look at the situation in front of her right now.

    <em>''Didnt these people willingly give the auction money for a chance to be the first person to meet with His Majesty and gain benefits from the Beyond the Heavens Empire? Isnt it beneficial for both sides?''</em>

    At that moment, Ardos Emperor, the one who won the right to be the first to meet His Majesty Minhyuk, sneaked up to her and asked, Are the rumors about the Emperor going to a ce called Edea and killing a God-like man true?

    Haze nodded and whispered in his ears, Your Majesty, Im only going to tell you this information. Officially, he killed one. But unofficially, he killed three.

    !

    Haze was a woman who did not know how to lie.

    ***

    After eating his fill of samgyeopsal, Minhyuk returned to his office. However, he could not help but feel puzzled.

    <em>Where did Haze go?</em>

    Haze, who was normally right next to him, was nowhere to be found. However, since they were not in the middle of a war, the fact that she was not here meant that there was something special that she had to attend to.

    At that moment, Minhyuk recalled that he was able to shoot two birds with one stone. The first was bing the very first Athenae yer to be an emperor. By establishing the Beyond the Heavens Empire and bing its emperor, he was able to meet the conditions required for the Battle Gods Descendants ss Transfer.

    Among the things that he gained by bing an emperor, as well as the sessor of the Battle God, there were quite a lot of things that would prove to be of great help to the operations of his empire.

    When Minhyuk became an emperor, he received quite a lot of rewards, including 20,000 REP, 10,000 CHA, and tinum, which appeared in his inventory right away, which was no less than one million. But that was not all. All of the NPCs of the Beyond the Heavens Empire also received a 5% boost in all of their abilities. It was a huge increase in strength for the already powerful people who protected the empire.

    The rewards sounded very grand, but this was only possible because he was the <em>first</em> yer to achieve such a feat. There was a chance that whoever became the next emperor would only receive half of what Minhyuk had received today.

    Then, Minhyuk quickly checked the details of the title that he obtained.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>The First Emperor</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Unique Title</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: The First Emperor.</em>

    <strong><em>Title Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>All of your stats will increase by 4%.</em>

    <em>The effects of all of the skills rted to CHA will increase by 12%.</em>

    <em>Passive Skill: The Sovereigns Sword</em>

    <em>NPCs and yers belonging to the Beyond the Heavens Empire will receive a 3% increase in all of their abilities, as well as a 6% increase in skill damage when they are fighting within 50 meters of their emperor.</em>

    <em>You will be able to acquire rewards if the system recognizes the achievement that you have made as the First Emperor.</em>

    It was a truly outstanding title.

    Although The Sovereigns Sword could only be triggered through a very small probability of 0.6%, it could increase his basic attack damage by fifteen times. Since the effects were way too overpowered, it was only natural that it could only be triggered with a very low possibility.

    There was also a 3% increase in all abilities and a 6% increase in skill damage for all of the NPCs and yers fighting alongside their emperor. In the first ce, the NPCs that belonged to Minhyuks empire were all outstanding individuals who could deliver shocking power. What more if their stats would increase by 3%?

    However, the most noteworthy thing out of everything was the Achievement System. Achievements could only be recognized if someone had done something very, <em>very</em> amazing, or something that no one else had. Minhyuk was very happy that there would now be a system that could recognize whatever achievement he would make and reward him appropriately.

    After checking the title, Minhyuk checked <em>Emperors Authority</em>.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Emperors Authority</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Mana Required</em></strong><em>: Will depend on the Authority used.</em>

    <strong><em>Cooldown</em></strong><em>: Will depend on the Authority used.</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty</em></strong><em>: Will depend on the Authority used.</em>

    <strong><em>Effects:</em></strong>

    <em>The Emperors Comfort</em>

    <em>Sealed</em>

    <em>Sealed</em>

    <em>Sealed</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: The Emperors Authority is the power given only to the yer who has be an emperor. Once the skill Emperors Comfort has reached 100% in skill proficiency level, the next skill would be unlocked. The only method to increase the skill proficiency level of the Emperors Authority is to interact and bond with the people of your empire or make achievements as the emperor.</em>

    It was just like the exnation said. An emperor had many Authorities. And as a rookie emperor, Minhyuk could only use one of those authorities.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>The Emperors Comfort</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Level</em></strong><em>: 1</em>

    <strong><em>Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>You can givefort to your people, your soldiers, your Named NPCs, or even the yers that belonged to your empire.</em>

    <em>The more sincere you are inforting them, or the higher your CHA is, the more likely it is for the other person who received yourfort will be able to ovee hardships and adversities.</em>

    <em>Those who receive yourfort will sometimes be able to ovee their limitations and enjoy benefits like stat effects or buff effects.</em>

    Minhyuk nodded. It seemed to be a skill that would boost the effect when heforted his people. Minhyuk did not take this skill to be that big of a deal.

    <em>Ah,e to think of it how high is my CHA now?</em>

    Minhyuk had been steadily building his CHA. Among other things, this was a stat that could only be obtained if one created achievements or showed off their charisma as amander or a king.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>CHA</em></strong><em>: 14,865]</em>

    When Minhyuk became an emperor he was able to obtain around 10,000 CHA, and around 2,000 more when he became the Battle Gods Descendant. Perhaps Minhyuk had the highest CHA in all of Athenae by now.

    Minhyuk left these things behind for now. There were far more important things that he had to look over. And that was the various skills and rewards that he had gained for bing the <em>Battle Gods Descendant</em>.

    <em>[Battle Gods Descendant will now be your subss!]</em>

    <em>[Since you have had a subss before, you will be able to retain your skills. The new Battle Gods Descendants skill will be added to your repertoire!]</em>

    <em>[You cannot obtain attack skills because you have had a subss before.]</em>

    <em>[The new Battle Gods skills are now open!]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained the Battle Gods Cry.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained the Battle Gods Summons.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained the Battle Gods Recruitment.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained the Battle Gods Communication Skills.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained the Battle Gods Immortal Knight Order.]</em>

    <em>[You will be able to acquire new skills if you meet various requirements and conditions.]</em>

    <em>[You are the Battle Gods Descendant and the Food God. You can now pick the Food Gods Swords. The Food God Swords will have a 10% increase in growth and a 3% increase in all of their stats.]</em>

    <em>[You can pick a total of thirty Food Gods Swords. These thirty Food Gods Swords will be the ones that will prove your power.]</em>

    <em>[Every time the Food Gods Swords grow, you will receive a special privilege.]</em>

    The fact that he could bring out the Food Gods Swords was very useful for Minhyuk. Perhaps these Food Gods Swords would y the same role as Nervas <em>Sword of the Gods</em>.

    As he looked at all of the skills that he gained, his eyes were particrly drawn to one skill, which was none other than the <em>Battle Gods Immortal Knight Order.</em>

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Battle Gods Immortal Knight Order</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Active Skill</em>

    <strong><em>Mana Required</em></strong><em>: 500 per second</em>

    <strong><em>Level</em></strong><em>: Master</em>

    <strong><em>Cooldown</em></strong><em>: Three Months</em>

    <strong><em>Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>You cannot summon those that belong to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.</em>

    <em>You can gather and rally everyone that you know, whether they are at the end of the world or in Hell, in front of you as long as they give you their explicit approval.</em>

    <em>Those who have been summoned can only fight for you for four minutes.</em>

    <em>Your CHA stat will permanently decrease every second upon summoning the Immortal Knights. The permanent decrease will depend on the number you summoned.</em>

    <em>Your EXP will permanently decrease every second upon summoning the Immortal Knights. The permanent decrease will depend on the number you summoned.</em>

    <em>The moment you gather the Knight Order, your HP will immediately drop to 20%.</em>

    <em>You can select themander of the Immortal Knights that you will gather.</em>

    <em>Themander of the Immortal Knights will have a 1.2x increase in strength.</em>

    <em>The Immortal Knight Order boasts highly of their covertness. They would appear with a ragged look and would wear a horned helmet on their heads. The horned helmet will cover their face making it impossible for others to see through the identity of the knights.</em>

    It was an interesting skill. He could ask for the approval of someone that he knew in advance and summon them when he needed them. Of course, he also had to ask for their approval again if he chose to summon them. However, the penalty was tremendous.

    <em>The CHA will decrease per second?</em>

    Even his EXP would drop. It seemed like it was a skill that he could not afford to use many times. However, assuming that he was in a situation where he would be able to receive quite a lot of benefits to the point that it could outweigh the losses, then it might be worth using it once.

    So, Minhyuk began to ask for the consent and approval of the people that he knew. He could not help butugh when he thought about these people.

    <em>[Requesting for Approval!]</em>

    <em>[Requesting for Approval!]</em>

    <em>[Requesting for Approval!]</em>

    <em>[Requesting for Approval!]</em>

    He constantly sent requests for approval. As for those who received his request, the notifications that rang in their ears went like this:

    <em>[The Battle Gods Descendant is asking you to be a part of his Immortal Knight Order. He requests that you be summoned whenever he needs you!]</em>

    <em>[You can either approve or reject his request upon his summons.]</em>

    On the other hand, Minhyuk was also worried. Most of the people to whom he sent the request were all arrogant and prideful in their way. However, there were still some that could evoke a small smile on his face just at the thought of them.

    Minhyuk waited nervously. Which of them would approve their request? Then, the first shot was fired.

    <em>[Saintess Loyna epts your request for her to be a part of the Immortal Knight Order!]</em>

    <em>[Pope Roacad epts your request for him to be a part of the Immortal Knight Order!]</em>

    <em>[Pope Achert epts your request for him to be a part of the Immortal Knight Order!]</em>

    The Athenae Religion views Minhyuk favorably. Perhaps they were thinking that approving this notification would prove to be of great help to the Beyond the Heavens Empire in the future. With that thought in mind, the Athenae Religion answered his call.

    <em>[Overlord Raldo epts your request for him to be a part of the Immortal Knight Order!]</em>

    A shudder ran down Minhyuks spine. The Overlord himself, Raldo, willingly joined his knight order to fight under hismand, albeit only briefly.

    <em>[Mercenary King Venteio epts your request for him to be a part of the Immortal Knight Order!]</em>

    There was also the Mercenary King who united all of the mercenaries on the continent.

    <em>[Elf King Argon eptsImmortal Knight Order!]</em>

    The ruler of all of the elves dered that he would fight by his side.

    <em>[Great Demon Gremory]</em>

    One of the three Great Demons, the most arrogant and stubborn woman in the Demon World, joined his forces.

    <em>[Sword Emperor Ellie epts your request for her to be a part of the Immortal Knight Order!]</em>

    The Continental Emperor who refused the position of the Sword God raised her sword and stood by his side.

    <em>[epts]</em>

    <em>[epts]</em>

    <em>[epts]</em>

    <em>[epts]</em>

    <em>[You have received the approval of 19 members for your Immortal Knight Order!]</em>

    Minhyuk smiled in delight. Then, there was thest knight.

    <em>[Sword God Valen epts your request for him to be a part of the Immortal Knight Order!]</em>

    <em>[You have recruited 20 members of the Immortal Knight Order!]</em>

    <em>[Themander of the Immortal Knight Order will now be chosen.]</em>

    <em>[The Immortal Knight Orders Commander is Sword God Valen!]</em>

    The strongest Knight Order was born at this very moment.

 Chapter 841

    Chapter 841

    Minhyuk smiled happily. The Immortal Knight Order proved that there were still many people that believed in him. Then, at that moment, more notifications rang out.

    <em>[Prime Minister Haze has acquired 1.12 million tinum.]</em>

    <em>[Prime Minister Haze has acquired 1.12 million tinum.]</em>

    !

    Minhyuk was shocked. That amount of money was equivalent to around 200 billion won. He could not help but smile faintly.

    <em>So, youre working very hard. Haze.</em>

    He did not know how she had acquired the funds. However, Minhyuk knew more than anybody else that Haze always thought about the best for the Beyond the Heavens Empire. Not long after, Haze came knocking on his door.

    The moment Haze came inside, she immediately briefed him on the current situation. There were many kings and emperors that had traveled across the continent and were waiting for him outside.

    This was different from the previous meetings that he had held with the kings of Asgan. When he met with the kings of Asgan Continent, he hadpletely overwhelmed them. However, the situation now was vastly different from before.

    The one that that had a significant influence in Asgan Continent was the Eivelis Empire. However, even though the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom back then was nothing but a small nation in control of a smallnd, his vassals wielded considerable power.

    However, continental empires would usually have at least around three million troops at hand. In a situation like this, the newly established Beyond the Heavens Empire was at a disadvantage. In fact, it would be correct to say that they would have a hard time handing their business card to other empires and kingdoms with the current state that they were in.

    Just when Minhyuk was about to step out to meet with them, Haze said, By the way, Your Majesty You have to meet them one by one.

    ?

    Minhyuk tilted his head in confusion when he heard the strange request. Then, Haze told him the entirety of the story.

    <em>Haze. You for real</em>

    Haze, who earned a few million tinum with just a few words, was truly very outstanding.

    ***

    The Ardo Empire was arge empire located in the American Server. Before the appearance of the Luvien Empire, the Ardo Empire and its emperor, Consteinus, were considered to be the most powerful empire and the strongest individual in the American Server.

    However, Ardo Empire was the first to be attacked by the Luvien Empire upon their arrival to the server. They were immediately brought to their knees and forced to sign an agreement with them.

    Because of that, the current Ardo Empire had grown much smaller than before, while the number of their troops had decreased significantly. But even though that was the case, the Ardo Empire was still arge empire with a military force of around twelve million troops.

    <em>That 200,000 tinum is just a small amount of money. However, I cant shake off the feeling that I have been swindled.</em>

    Emperor Consteinusughter was stuck in his throat. He felt like the woman named Haze was very cute. Regardless, Consteinus had willingly paid the 200,000 tinum on the condition that he would be the first to meet with Minhyuk.

    <em>I will absorb the Beyond the Heavens Empire.</em>

    To be exact, he would not absorb the Beyond the Heavens Empire but rather, those that belonged to the Beyond the Heavens Empire, like Spear God Ben, Brod, Sword of the Gods Luo, Fisherman King Gorfido and many more. That was right. Consteinus did not covet the entire Beyond the Heavens Empire. What he wanted were the talented people that belonged to this empire.

    <em>Ah. And that woman named Haze too.</em>

    He believed that it would be a waste of their talents if they were to stay in the Beyond the Heavens Empire. Consteinus also believed that they were looking for a savior. A lifeline that would drag them out of the precarious situation that the Beyond the Heavens Empire was currently in.

    <em>They are definitely waiting for another empire to recruit them.</em>

    If Emperor Consteinus were to be honest, he would definitely say that he could not understand why such talented individuals were all in the Beyond the Heavens Empire. Basically, Emperor Consteinus had no idea about what happened between these people and Minhyuk and the kind of bond they had built.

    Then, at that moment, Emperor Minhyuk arrived.

    <em>Looking at this young man, he truly is a good sprout.</em>

    Emperor Consteinus was in awe. The man, with his dark hair and eyes, had a sharp appearance akin to that of a westerner. For some reason, he felt like he would fall in the depths of those big and pure eyes. Even his sharp and straight nose bridge was enough to draw out a sigh of admiration from him. However, that was it. Consteinus was the emperor of the greatest empire in his own continent. He encountered people like Minhyuk all of the time.

    I guess well have to serve our precious tea, Minhyuk said. Haze, bring out Gods Petals Tea that we obtained in Edea.

    But But Your Majesty, its too precious. We only have three kilograms of such tea

    Haze. We have a very precious guest here.

    Ah I understand.

    The Gods Petals Tea was bullshit. It was nothing but chamomile tea. However, Haze served it carefully as if she was serving some very precious tea.

    Gods Petals Tea was grown by receiving Gods tears. This is very precious tea. I will only serve this to you, Your Majesty.

    A faint smile appeared on Consteinus face. He thought that Minhyuk could recognize the strong and he was willingly bending to cater to what they wanted.

    <em>''Look! Isnt he serving me, the emperor of another empire, a precious treat?!''</em>

    Consteinus took a sip of the tea with admiration in his eyes. He said, It definitely has that great vor! What a beautiful and aromatic vor this Gods Petals Tea has. It lives up to its name. I have never tasted such a delicious tea in my life.

    <em>Yep. Thats just chamomile~</em>

    Minhyuk just smiled at him.

    After that, Emperor Consteinus went straight to the point.

    How about signing a tacit alliance between my Ardo Empire and your Beyond the Heavens Empire. Im sure my Ardo Empire will be able to help your Beyond the Heavens Empire a lot.

    Then, Emperor Consteinus began to delve deeper into the details of what he wanted from them. Basically, what he wanted was for the Beyond the Heavens Empire to go under his control. And it would not only be limited to that.

    <em>In the future, we will split the Beyond the Heavens Empire in half and share it between us.</em>

    Then Emperor Consteinus told Minhyuk the most crucial point of this offer, However, there is a condition for this alliance. You have to send the vassals of your Beyond the Heavens Empire to my Ardo Empire.

    ?

    Minhyuk looked confused when the man in front of him suddenly began spouting bullshit. Then, his expression grew darker and uglier the more the man talked.

    Of course, I promise to protect the Beyond the Heavens Empire. And Im not going to ask you to send them for free. I will even give you 100 million tinum if you hand over Spear God Ben, 150 million tinum for Brod, 100 million tinum for Elpis

    He continued his speech, listing out the price one after another. It was a lot of money.

    <em>If I have that much tinum, then I will be able to buy several Groups and Corporations.</em>

    However, that amount was truly feasible.

    The Beyond the Heavens Empire will be able to live without worrying about money or funds for the rest of your lives. To top it off, you will also receive our protection.

    Emperor Consteinus held the teacup in his hand and took a sip to moisten his throat.

    The only reason why my Ardo Empiregs behind the Luvien Empire is because of the existence of the Sword of the Gods. If Ibine my military force with the power of your vassals, I am sure that I will be able to bring down the Luvien Empire.

    It was a feasible story. After listening to his proposal, Minhyuk finally put his teacup down.

    Consteinus raised his brows. Would the emperor of a newly established empire dare to reveal how offended he was with the words that he said? Today, all of the diplomats, kingdoms, and empires came here because they coveted the vassals of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. They were also thinking of obtaining benefits from the empire of this emperor that would be the Battle God.

    Then, Consteinus said to him, It might sound offensive to you. However, if you truly have the wellbeing of your subjects in your heart, then you have to let them go, no? If they want to leave, it will not be good to hold on to them.

    Consteinus was confident that all of Minhyuks vassals would want to go to a ce where they would be treated better. He was convinced that they would all follow him if he reached out an olive branch to them.

    Minhyuk, who was thinking about the matter deeply, said, I will let my people go if they want to leave.

    <em>Hes truly an emotional emperor.</em>

    Consteinus was in a good mood. He felt like things were going very smoothly for him.

    Let us talk for a moment, Minhyuk said as he stood up and went out with Haze for a while. After agreeing on some matters with her, Minhyuk went back to his seat.

    If I have any subject of mine that wishes to leave, then I will let them leave freely. I will even send them away. However, there are conditions.

    Conditions?

    You cannot take them away by force. We will also extend the same offer to selected people of your own empire. Of course, if the people of your empire ept my offer, then you have to let them go freely and in good will.

    Kghhk. <em>Cough, cough.</em>

    Consteinus had to cover up theughter that almost bubbled up from his throat with a cough. He was confident that he would be able to take away all of the talents of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    As for the people of his empire, there was no way that they would willingly leave the Ardo Empire, an empire that would be able to stand up against the Luvien Empire. Besides, his people had enjoyed the wealth and honor brought about by the Ardo Empire. Of course, Consteinus had also provided them with a lot of benefits and privileges.

    But in the end, the emperor and his subjects were in a contractual rtionship. Everything would be up to their choices.

    Ah. Theres one more thing Haze said, stepping forward. We will require you to pay a recruitment fee whenever you propose an offer to our people. This fee will be divided by their rank. For example, whenever you make an offer to Spear God Ben, you will have to pay our Beyond the Heavens Empire 20,000 tinum.

    <em>Good, good. Whatever it is, I will ept it.</em>

    Today, Consteinus would be able to get the Spear God, the Absolute Gods Sword, the Great Demon, and Shadow Luo!

    Then, Minhyuk added, Ah, Your Majesty. My vassals will definitely find this situation very unpleasant. So, do you promise not to charge my vassals with any sin if they harm those that tried to recruit them whether they are diplomats, kings or emperors?

    In the first ce, what Consteinus was trying to do here was a very rude thing. Which emperor in their right mind would visit another empire to recruit their people? If Consteinus was in Minhyuks position right now, he would blow this issue up and immediately start a war. Aware of this fact, he agreed willingly.

    Immediately after that, a notification rang in Minhyuks ears.

    <em>[The Emperors Contract has been signed.]</em>

    <em>[If you break the contract, you will face severe punishments.]</em>

    Consteinus chuckled.

    <em>I will now be able to take down Luvien!</em>

    He could see the revival of the Ardo Empire peeking through the horizon.

    After that, Minhyuk continued to sign simr contracts with the kings and emperors that were on par with the emperor of the Ardo Empire.

    ***

    Dozens of carrier pigeons flew to the skies. As if they viewed this thing as apetition, the rulers of the empires and kingdoms hurriedly ordered their nations greatest negotiators, prime ministers and diplomats alike, toe to the Beyond the Heavens Empire and make sure that they were fully prepared.

    When the diplomats of the Ardo Empire arrived, the other kingdoms and empires could not help but cower from their overwhelming momentum. There was a long line of golden carriages filled with precious artifacts, golds, silver, and treasures that arrived along with them.

    Consteinus sat gracefully as he held a teacup in his hand while sitting in a room of the house lent to him in the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    Now, Spear God Ben and Brod will kneel before me and pledge their allegiance to me.

    Consteinus had prepared a lot of things to recruit these people. He would promise Spear God Ben 200 million tinum, as well as provide him with a God-grade spear that their empire had recently acquired. He would also give him the title of a <em>Duke. </em>If someone could be the duke of an empire, then they and their grandchildren would be able to enjoy great wealth and riches.

    Confident with his preparations, Consteinus waited like that. However, no matter how long he waited, none of the diplomats that he sent out came back to him. At a certain point, Consteinus could not help the doubt that shed in his head.

    Why are they noting yet?

    Perhaps Spear God Ben wishes that His Majesty would be the one to personally recruit him?

    Ah

    Consteinus nodded. He deserved that. After all, he was someone with the title Spear God to his name. His arrogance and pride must have reached the skies. Consteinus realized that even if he could recruit such a man and bring him to his side, there was no way that he would be able to overwhelm and surpass him. Spear God Ben was a Continental God, even an emperor like him had to treat a being like him with courtesy.

    Consteinus finally realized that he had been far toocent. He had to go and bring the man to his side personally. So, he hurriedly ran to where the man was.

    When he arrived at where Spear God Ben was, he was met with quite an astonishing sight.

    Spear God. I am a diplomat from the Corell Empire. If youe to our side, we will give you three legendary ranks weapons and thirty million tinum

    ?

    While Consteinus was sipping his tea and rxing, a lot of diplomats from various empires and kingdoms had already arrived. However, an absurd situation unfolded in front of their very eyes.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang</em>

    Spear God Ben pped the diplomat in the face.

    Keheoooooooook!

    The funny thing was, the diplomat was sent flying away with just one p. As for the ce where the diplomatnded, there were countless other diplomats there. They were all piled up like a mountain. However, it was not just them. There were also other skilled negotiators as well as countless troops. All of them had fainted at that same spot.

    As for Spear God Ben, his expression was extremely distorted. It waspletely different to how he looked whenever he gave his signature ''<em>Hoho''</em> to the people that he encountered.

    As he looked at the mountain of stunned and fainted individuals behind him, Spear God Ben thought, <em>How dare these peoplee to His Majestys empire just so to tell me to be their dog?!</em>

    Spear God Ben loved Minhyuk more than anybody else. This act was both an insult and a disrespect to his beloved emperor!

    Well, even though Spear God Ben pped these people on their faces, none of them could attack or bring harm to him. After all, their kings and emperors had already signed a contract with Minhyuk. This was just a price that they had to pay for their tant disrespect.

    On the other hand, Consteinus interpreted Spear Gods Ben behavior differently, <em>Did you think that you will be able to recruit a person named the Spear God with such lousy conditions?!</em>

    The highest condition that he had heard so far was fifty million tinum along, with five legendary rank weapons, and one legendary skill book. It was no wonder Spear God Ben was angry.

    <em>Its only natural. You are denying his worth. I will give him the proper price and take him into my arms!</em>

    Consteinus smiled as he approached Ben with his hands behind his back.

    Why are they only offering you that much, am I right? I mean, you are the Spear God. Let me tell you this. I will give you 400 million tinum.

    Ben stared at Consteinus, who was walking toward him while talking. Seeing this, Consteinus could not help butugh deeply.

    <em>Thats right. You must be satisfied, right?</em>

    Consteinus continued to walk toward Ben while saying, The Ardo Empire will also grant you the title of <em>Duke</em> and bestow upon you a God-rank spear. We will give you the weapon that our empire acquired not too long ago.

    Before he knew it, he was already standing right in front of Spear God Ben. So, he reached out his hand for a handshake to signal the closing of their deal.

    <em>p</em>

    s, Consteinus cheek got hit. Unlike the other emperors and kings, Consteinus was trained in legendary martial arts. It was thanks to that that he did not fly away. However, the tremendous pain that bloomed on one side of his face forced him to raise one hand to cover it. He could not help but stammer in shock.

    The only reason why Spear God Ben had listened to his words quietly was because Consteinus was still walking toward him. Basically, Ben was waiting for him to get close enough to get pped and hit.

    How, how dare you! I am the emperor of an empire!

    Consteinus eyes grew wide. In fact, even Spear God Ben was surprised.

    You''re an emperor?

    Thats right! I am Ardo Empires Emperor Consti!

    But Spear God Ben did not let him finish. This time, he pped him on the other cheek.

    <em>aaaaap!</em>

    Keheok!

    Consteinus, who was holding both of his cheeks with his hands, looked at Ben. He could see that there was a tremendous amount of killing intent pouring out of Spear God Bens body. That killing intentpletely engulfed Consteinus, making him feel breathless. He had never felt something like this before. In fact, he had never faced so much pressure like this even when he had faced the Sword of the Gods.

    Spear God Ben opened his mouth and said, I I am more afraid of seeing a single injury on His Majestys body than losing those things that you have offered me.

    For me, it is better to see His Majesty eat until hes satisfied and full than obtain the power that you speak of.

    Even if the Beyond the Heavens Empire gets destroyed and I am left wandering the streets like a beggar with His Majesty, I will still stay by his side. As long as heughs, I will be able tough.

    And even if Im given only one option to serve another person other than His Majesty then I, in the name of the Continental God Spear God, dere

    That I would rather choose death.

    <em>Tremble</em>

    Consteinus trembled and shook from the words of the wonderful and amazing subject that stood in front of him.

 Chapter 842

    Chapter 842

    A shiver ran down Emperor Consteinus'' spine.

    Many of his subjects had offered to give up their lives for his sake. However, that was only because of their long-standing belief in his <em>power</em> and <em>authority</em>. Those that had given up their lives for him were people that were born and raised in Ardo Empire. All of them believed that their emperor was their <em>god</em>. And if their god were to die, then they might as well die instead.

    <em>But from what I heard, Spear God Ben was not even a native citizen of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.</em>

    From what Consteinus knew, he was once called Ghost Spear Ben, and was one of the Pinnacle Strong Men, a legend that wandered the continent. Yet, a man like this was devoted to the emperor that he served to such an extent!

    However, the awe disappeared not long after. Shame and disgrace washed over Consteinus. He could not believe the humiliation he was facing, in his capacity as the emperor of a great empire at that.

    Bastaaaaaaaard! How dare you treat an emperor like this?! I will twist all of your limbs on my own!

    That was what Consteinus said but then, he realized that he had signed a contract that explicitly stated that they could not cause any harm to the vassals of the Beyond the Heavens Empire no matter the insult or disgrace that they received.

    <em>[You have offered to recruit to Spear God Ben.]</em>

    <em>[ording to the contract you signed with the Beyond the Heavens Empire, you will have to pay 20,000 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens Emperor Minhyuk can now send an offer to recruit one of your empires talents.]</em>

    What a damned thing! However, Consteinus believed that it was still too early to conclude this matter. There were still quite a lot of talented people in the Beyond the Heavens Empire. The face of one person shed in Consteinus'' head.

    ''<em>Absolute Gods Sword Brod! He will be the next one!''</em>

    Consteinus vowed to pay back the humiliation that he suffered in this ce one day. The contract that he signed with Minhyuk stipted that he could not bring any kind of harm to the other party with regards to their reaction to their recruitment offer. However, he could use some other methods to deal with them.

    <em>I can wage war with the Beyond the Heavens Empire using this as a pretext.</em>

    To do that, he needed enough people. That meant that he needed to recruit Brod right away. Recruiting Brod would mean that he would also be able to recruit Spear God Ben.

    Consteinus began to move.

    ***

    Emperor Consteinus, who sported bright red cheeks, quickly ran to where Brod was. Just like before, there was also an unusual scene unfolding in that ce.

    Dozens of diplomats, prime ministers, kings and even emperors followed right behind Brod and shouted the conditions that they were willing to give if he followed them. However, Brod ignored all of them. He just hummed as he fed his pigs, chickens and cows.

    Look at the situation that you are in right now!!! How can the Beyond the Heavens Emperor order a man like you to raise livestocks like this?!!!

    However, even after shouting loudly for an hour or two, there was no response from Brod. He did not respond to their words at all. Emperor Consteinus, who was among the crowd, was also suffering from the same treatment.

    Sir Brod, Emperor Consteinus shouted politely at Brod.

    If youe to my Ardo Empire, I will immediately build a statue for you and hail you as my empires legend. I will also pay you 500 million tinum. And if you so wish it Consteinus mustered all of the sincerity that he could muster and continued, You will be the one to lead the Ardo Empire upon my death.

    In other words, he was even going to give him his throne.

    !

    !

    !

    The emperors and kings of the other kingdoms were taken aback. The session of the throne usually followed the bloodline of the imperial or the royal family. However, Consteinus was willing to go so far for someone that did not have anything to do with the Ardo Empire. They could hardly believe their ears.

    Brod was the Fallen Wretched Emperor. Consteinus was aware of this and he was fully convinced that the Ardo Empire would prosper forever if Brod became its emperor.

    Oinkies, make sure to eat a lot.

    However, despite that grand offer, Brod still treated him like air. After almost half a day had passed, Consteinus could no longer stand it. He shouted, Bastaaaaaaaaaaaaard!

    The scene where Brod lookedpletely disinterested while Consteinus veins almost popped with how loud he was shouting lookedpletely ridiculous.

    I know you are a great being, but in the end, you are still nothing but a vassal of an emperor! So, why are you ignoring us here, huh?! Kneel in front of me and apologize!!!

    Brod nced at Consteinus, as he cried loudly in front of him, and said, I belong to His Majesty. Aside from His Majesty, I do not have any obligation to answer your questions or entertain your requests. I will only listen to His Majesty and the people of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. I have no other reason. As such, I do not need to answer you.

    !

    !

    The faces of all of the kings, emperors, diplomats and prime ministers all turned red. In other words, all this time, it had been a <em>You guys can go and bark all you want, I dont care </em>situation.

    <em>Does that mean that you will not listen at all if its not your emperors words?</em>

    <em>What a really strong and close bond.</em>

    The kings and emperors were in awe.

    At that moment, one of the soldiers approached Brod and said, Sir Brod, His Majesty is looking for you.

    His Majesty? Is there a problem?

    Brod immediately looked contemtive when he heard that His Majesty was looking for him.

    His Majesty said that he misses you.

    What?! His Majesty said that he misses me?! Brods face was filled with sadness.

    Yes. His Majesty said that he hasn''t seen you for quite some time since he has been very busytely. He wants to see you as soon as possible.

    Your Majesty, please forgive this unfaithful servant of yours!

    Brod lookedpletely different from when he was dealing with them. He looked like he was about to cry, resenting himself for being unfaithful and causing His Majesty Minhyuk to miss him like this.

    Your Majeeeeeeeesty!!! This servant of yours ising right awaaaaaaaay!!! Brod ran like the wind as he cried out for Minhyuk.

    ...

    The kings and emperors looked at his retreating figure with ridiculous looks. However, they immediately dispersed. There were still many figures in the Beyond the Heavens Empire that they could recruit.

    All of them ran to the Great Pirate Gorfido, who was walking with a hanging on his back.

    If youe to our empire then!

    If youe to our kingdom then I will give you a title in the nobility!

    Do you have a death wish?

    The kings and emperors hurriedly moved to find another target. This time, they gathered around the Great Sage and Best-selling Author Aruvel.

    A best-selling author like me can only be in harmony when I am in the arms of His Majesty Minhyuk.

    He was adamant in his rejection. However, there were still some kings that had a different line of questions.

    Did did you release a new work?!

    I also want to read your new work

    Sir Aruvel, please let us read your new work!!!

    The other emperors and kings were earnestly hoping to get a glimpse of his new work.

    I will not distribute my new works to the kingdoms and empires that offered to recruit me today.

    Aaaaaaaaah!

    The kings and emperors copsed. However, they immediately picked themselves up and ran to another ce. There, they saw Pdin Corr, who once served and protected Saintess Loyna!

    Come to my Paragon Empire! If youe to my empire, I will promise you eternal wealth!

    I refuse. More importantly, emperor of the Paragon Empire, I believe that you are in dire need of my blessings.

    Blessings?

    Not long after, the emperor of the Paragon Empire felt a heat bloom on his head.

    U uwooooooooooooh! Its Its growing!!!

    Talmooooooooor!!!

    Emperor Consteinus of the Ardo Empire hurriedly moved to another location when he saw some of the other kings and emperors began to shout for Talmor.

    He tried to recruit the baby piggy, who was running around with his squishy and bulging belly.

    <em>Oiiiiiiiiiink!</em>

    However, the baby piggy just raised a middle finger at him and disappeared with a big and wide smile on his face.

    When he approached the God of Alchemy, who could make the best potions in the world, he received a firm shake of the head.

    He also tried to recruit a randomly passing knight by the street...

    I dont want to.

    only to receive a firm refusal.

    This had now be a battle of pride. Consteinus ran to the military training grounds and barracks.

    To anyone whoes to my empire, I promise to bestow upon you 100 million tinum as soon as you promise to move to my empire!

    It was a huge sum. In fact, it was enough for a soldier or a knight to spend for the rest of his life. However, not a single one of the hundreds of thousands of troops that were training in the training grounds answered him. In other words, none of them wanted to move to his empire.

    Exasperated, Consteinus asked the perfectly groomed bichon that was passing by, Will youe to my empire?

    F*ck you, the bichon Bichor replied bluntly and sharply, before turning around to leave.

    Consteinus sighed. Then, he shouted in front of the huge doghouse that had the name Love, Hope, Happiness written on it, Be the dog that protects my empire

    <em>Grrrrrrrrrrrr!</em>

    <em>Grooooooooooar!</em>

    <em>Roaaaaaaaaaaaar!</em>

    However, Consteinus was forced to run away when he saw Cerberus appear with drool dripping down their sharp canines that could rip through a lion in one swift movement.

    Finally, Consteinus even tried to ask an ordinary-looking farmer that was passing by, My Ardo

    No!

    It was a perfect defense!

    Emperor Consteinus was not able to recruit anyone. Walking around empty-handed, he looked around with a helpless and desperate look on his face. And what did he see? All of the emperors, kings, diplomats and prime ministers were sporting frustrated expressions on their faces. None of them were able to recruit anyone.

    ***

    Minhyuk gathered all of the kings, emperors and diplomats that came to his empire.

    <em>[Emperor Consteinus will have to give 110,000 tinum to the Beyond the Heavens Empire as a recruitment fee.]</em>

    <em>[You can try to recruit 29 talents from the Ardo Empire.]</em>

    <em>[Emperor Valkarra will have to give 70,000 tinum to the Beyond the Heavens Empire as a recruitment fee.]</em>

    <em>[You can try to recruit 28 talents from the Rekkad Empire.]</em>

    <em>[Emperor Rumai will have to give 67,000 tinum to the Beyond the Heavens Empire as a recruitment fee.]</em>

    <em>[You can try to recruit 25 talents from the Ars Empire.]</em>

    They were able to secure around 1.75 million from the recruitment fees. On top of that, they could extend the offer to recruit to around 400 people from various empires and kingdoms. This meant that the Beyond the Heavens Empire could approach 400 new talents from their pool of talents.

    For an entire week, the Beyond the Heavens Empire will send diplomats and executives to your respective empires and kingdoms to recruit people. As the emperor of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, I will also make a move and recruit people. Do you have any objections to that?

    Everyone was mute. Everything had already written and signed under a contract.

    Then, I will see you here in a week. If those that I recruited decided toe here, their families will have toe along with them. Please bear that in mind.

    Recruiting a talent meant that their families would also have to move and migrate to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    ***

    After a week.

    Emperor Consteinus came back to the Beyond the Heavens Empire. Of course, the same was true for all of the other emperors and kings. They all came to attend this event.

    The Beyond the Heavens Empire had been recruiting talents from their kingdoms and empires up until this point. Of course, the kings and emperors all put pressure on those that they tried to recruit.

    <em>Youre going to the Beyond the Heavens Empire? If thats the case, then I will make sure to remember you.</em>

    It was more of a threat than pressure.

    Consteinus had a wide smile on his face. He had already discussed it with the other kings and emperors. He was confident that Minhyuk would not be able to take anyone from them, just like how they were unable to take anyone from him.

    Since that was the case, then they wanted to make a second proposal. That was to deploy their military forces to the Beyond the Heavens Empire. They intended to eat away and devour the Beyond the Heavens Empire by using the pretext of deploying their military forces to protect them.

    Duke Amacar. I will force the Beyond the Heavens Empire to kneel and kiss my feet. At the end of the day, even the Luvien Empire will be absorbed by me. By then, you will be able to enjoy greater wealth and glory. Look forward to it, Consteinus said politely.

    Duke Amacar was the founder that established Ardo Empires Hound Knight Order. The Hound Knight Order was an overwhelming and shocking orderposed of 100 individuals with levels over Level 550. Prior to the appearance of the Luvien Empire and the Swords of the Gods, the Hound Knight Order was considered to be the strongest knight order in the entire continent.

    Because Duke Amacar founded and established such a knight order, he was bestowed with the title of Duke. And Duke Amacar was loyal to Conteinus. He loved, cared for, and respected the emperor of the Ardo Empire. But that was not all. Duke Amacar was also a Named NPC, and his level went beyond Level 650. Duke Amacar was the pride of the Ardo Empire.

    The huge hall was filled with countless talents as well as their families. Some of these talents were hailed as the legends of their empires or recorded as heroes that protected their kingdoms.

    Their respective kings and emperors obviously cared for them so they were sure that these people would willingly risk their lives for their sake. Would such people trulye to the Beyond the Heavens Empire? An empire that was in a precarious situation and would probably disappear at any given moment?

    At that moment, Minhyuk appeared. He said, I believe none of the kings and emperors present here will be dissatisfied with whatever decision their talents will make today, no?

    All of the kings and emperors nodded. Secretly, they did not believe Minhyuk could take away the pride and glory of their kingdoms and empires.

    Then, Haze stepped forward and began to call out the names of the talents one by one.

    Weiden Kingdoms Earl of Spears, Sir Hathor.

    Roicun Kingdoms Duke of Magic Polo.

    Epoch Empires Magic Weapon Manufacturer Emfez.

    The names were constantly being called out. Of course, there were also dozens of people from the Ardo Empire among the list. However, Emperor Consteinus remained arrogant and proud. He continued to listen with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

    <em>No one will leave my proud and glorious empire!</em>

    The Ardo Empire was thergest empire after the Luvien Empire. Besides, his bond with his people was very tight knit and close.

    Then, Haze said, Those whose names have been called, if you wish to serve the Beyond the Heavens Empire, please kneel in front of His Majesty and swear your allegiance.

    Many of the kings and emperorsughed at Hazes words. No one made a move as silence engulfed the entire hall.

    Consteinus could not help theughter that spilled from his mouth. He grinned widely and said, How dare you mention Duke Amacars name?

    As ridiculous as it might sound, Beyond the Heavens Emperor Minhyuk has also extended an offer to Duke Amacar. Perhaps they had nned it in secret. However, it was nothing but a useless and ridiculous act.

    Consteinus was somewhat disappointed that Duke Amacar did not mention this to him before. But he felt like the reason why the duke did not tell him was because there was simply no need to.

    Then, at that moment, Duke Amacar knelt in front of Consteinus.

    Hoo Duke Amacar. Howe youre kneeling in front of me in this shabby ce?

    Deep inside, Consteinus was feeling delighted. It seemed like even Duke Amacar felt humiliated after being called like that.

    <em>''How dare he receive an offer from another emperor when he is already serving me?''</em>

    Consteinus felt like Amacar was trying to apologize to him here. He could already hear what he was about to say to him. He would definitely shout it loudly so that even the Beyond the Heavens Emperor would be able to hear.

    <em>Your Majesty! You are the only one that I will serve! I will serve no one else in this life!</em>

    This was the loyalty of a vassal to his emperor. Of course, Emperor Consteinus would show how much he cared for Duke Amacar. He quickly bent down and said, I am fine. Duke Amacar, dont kneel like this here

    But then, Amacar shouted, Your Majesty!!!

    Emperor Consteinus was left dumbfounded with his loud and powerful voice.

    May you live long and healthy!!!

    ?

    Consteinus watched in confusion as Duke Amacar kowtowed to him on the ground and slowly stood up. Then, amidst the silence, Amacar walked in front of the Beyond the Heavens Emperor Minhyuk and proceeded to kneel down strongly.

    <em>Thud!</em>

    I vow to stay by His Majestys side forever and help the Beyond the Heavens Empire!!!

    !

    !

    !

    Emperor Consteinus was left speechless. Duke Amacar was the representative of the Ardo Empire. He could be considered to be the main pir of the empire too.

    At the same time, a notification rang in Minhyuks ears.

    <em>[The Hound Knight Orders Master, Amacar, has pledged his eternal loyalty to you!]</em>

 Chapter 843

    Chapter 843

    One week ago.

    Many kingdoms and empires had tried to recruit the talents of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. They not only stretched their hands to recruit the main pirs Spear God Ben, Brod, Elpis and the like of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, but they also stretched their hands toward the ordinary soldiers.

    This was obviously a show of contempt for the Beyond the Heavens Empire. However, they were unsessful, not even able to entice anyone, not even a single soldier, from the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    Now, its our time to shine.

    We have finished preparations, Your Majesty.

    Haze shook her head when she saw the serious expression on Minhyuks face. She had already mentioned the people that they had to recruit.

    We have to absolutely, without a doubt, recruit the cksmith of the Ars Empire. He might not be someone that can create legendary or god-rank weapons but from what I heard, he has a mysterious power, such that the weapons that he creates are strongerpared to other weapons in the same grade. Because of that, the artifacts and weapons that he produces will quickly sell out. In fact, the sales of his artifacts ount for more than 5% of Ars Empires trade.

    Ardo Empires archeologist, Pulse, is someone that possesses extraordinary talent. He can explore and search for a variety of things, including sealed or very old and antique items. Perhaps he will be able to find what Your Majesty likes the most, which are food ingredients.

    Haze recited the names of the people that they had to recruit one after another. With a strange glint in her eyes, she brought up thest man that they wanted to recruit.

    The master of Ardo Empires knight order, Amacar. Hes someone that we absolutely have to recruit.

    Howe?

    He is the one that established the Hound Knight Order, the strongest knight order before the arrival of the Sword of the Gods. The Hound Knight Order had reigned as the best and strongest knight order in the entire continent, yet surprisingly, they had been nothing but mere <em>ordinary knights</em> when they started.

    That means

    Thats right. Its all thanks to Amacars outstanding ability. He nurtured ordinary knights and made them into the best knights of the continent.

    They were now done discussing those that they had to recruit. All they needed to do was to win their hearts.

    Ars Empires cksmith is said to be a man that came from a family afflicted with baldness. ording to the information that we have gathered, he had poured a huge portion of what he had umted with his cksmithing work into hair care. However, not a single strand of hair grew on his head.

    Minhyuk and Hazes eyes met. It was quite a sad story.

    Actually, it was said that he had been born bald.

    Tears almost dripped down Minhyuks eyes when he heard that.

    Lets send Talmor Religions Leader Corr.

    I understand. Then theres this man named Ronweiner. He leads the Falcon Archer Corps in the Effinor Kingdom. From what we had gathered, he bought Best Selling Author Aruvels limited edition book, <em>Ners: The Maid Next Door</em> for 50,000 tinum in the ck market.

    Fif fifty thousand?

    Fifty thousand tinum was not an amount that an ordinary knight possessed.

    It is said that he used up all of his wealth and properties to buy it.

    Then, we will have to send Aruvel.

    Theres Keller, the Dragon Spearman of the as Kingdom. He considers the spear as the strongest weapon.

    Send Spear God Ben.

    Yes. <em>Murmur, murmur, murmur omitted.</em>

    Haze was able to see through each and every single one of the continents leading powerhouses. This was because shebined the information in her hand, as well as the information that Informant Abel had obtained, to determine who they would send to each and every single one of them.

    The Beyond the Heavens Empire was just a newly established empire. They were in dire need of a lot of talent and money.

    <em>We need a lot of talented people. Only by having them by our side will we be able to protect our Beyond the Heavens Empire from the Luvien Empire and the other empires.</em>

    They needed to have a solid foundation.

    And finally, theres Ardo Empires Hound, Amacar. His special characteristic is

    Special characteristic?

    His raison d''etre is to see the revival of Consteinus empire.

    The man that they coveted the most was the most righteous one.

    Ill personally go to recruit him.

    I understand, Your Majesty. After setting everything up and deploying all of the diplomats, I will also set out myself, Haze said as she stepped out.

    After she left, Minhyuk looked up at the sky with a faint smile on his face and said, Obren, do me a favor. Please.

    <em>[Your Guardian Deity is looking at you incredulously.]</em>

    <em>[Your Guardian Deity is looking at you angrily for trying to make him do that.]</em>

    <em>[Your Guardian Deity swears that he will never, ever, help you with that.]</em>

    However, Minhyuk knew him all too well.

    <em>I know you will do it for me.</em>

    Minhyuk set off for Ardo Empire with a faint smile on his face.

    ***

    Ars Empires cksmith Hansen was one of the empires pride. Although he could not produce legendary or god-rank artifacts, Hansen had a special ability. As long as he gave it his all, it would be possible for him to create items that were better than items of the same rank.

    On top of that, he was one of the top producers of artifacts in the empire. So, he was considered as one of the most profitable figures of the empire. Some would even say that all of the troops of the Ars Imperial Army were equipped with Hansens artifacts.

    There was only one reason why he worked hard and produced a lot of artifacts. This was all because of the words that his father had left him.

    <em>Son.</em>

    <em>Yes, Father.</em>

    <em>Women do not like men with bald heads.</em>

    It was all because of their curse of baldness! A curse that had been passed down from their ancestors down to him, the 28th generation descendant!

    <em>Work hard and live diligently.</em>

    Hansen had always kept those words in his heart. Because of that, he had been working really hard. Thankfully, his diligence allowed him to meet his wife, who was kind enough to see through him and not his outside appearance.

    However, because of that, Hansen had to face a new challenge.

    <em>Son</em>

    They gave birth to a son and Hansen was left in despair. He felt very sad to see that his son would have to walk the same path as him. He did not want that for his son. So, he spent the hundreds of thousands of tinum that he had earned so far to find a treatment for baldness. But not a single strand of hair grew on their heads.

    <em>Not! Even! A! Single! One!</em>

    Hansens childhood nickname was <em>Sweating Octopus.</em> His fathers nickname was <em>Sun,</em> while his grandfather was nicknamed <em>Shining Octopus.</em> As for his great grandfather? He was nicknamed <em>Bald Eagle</em>. There was also his grandfathers grandfathers grandfather.

    Hansen was truly in despair. He knew how heartbreaking and painful those words were. Unable to find a way to cure baldness even after spending hundreds of thousands of tinum, Hansen could only cry as he hugged his wife and child.

    In the end, all Hansen could do was go to the smithy today and work hard. He had to make money. If he could make money, then one day, he would be able to find a way to end this terrible curse. If he could end this terrible curse, then his son would be able to live a different life from him.

    Then, at that moment, he heard amotion.

    <em>Murmur, murmur</em>

    Whats the matter?

    Howe another empires imperial army is in our empire?

    Theyre diplomats. Theyre trying to recruit talented people.

    Talented people?! Ho! How dare they say that in another empire?!

    From what I heard, this was what they had already discussed in advance.

    A man waved to Hansen, who was walking down the street.

    Hansen, I think youre going to be recruited by that empire?

    Im not someone that can be swayed so easily.

    Hansen ignored the crowd. It was none of his business. Even if theye, he would just hit them with his hammer.

    The truth was, there was only one reason why Hansen loved this empire. This was because this empire had brought him a lot of money and they even actively cooperated with him to help him find the cure for baldness.

    Hansen arrived at the smithy just like that. He had never stopped hammering to find the cure for baldness.

    <em>Drip, drip, drip</em>

    With every swing of his hammer, a trickle of sweat would flow down his shiny head. This was the reason why Hansen was nicknamed <em>Sweaty Octopus.</em>

    Then, at that moment, the diplomats of the Beyond the Heavens Empire appeared.

    We are from the Beyond the Heavens Empire. I hope that you will listen to Sir Corr, the diplomat that our empire has dispatched.

    Not interested.

    Please dont do that, just listen to us

    You moth*rf*ckers! Cant you see that Im busy?! Hansen shouted emotionally. All of the pent up sadness and despair exploded at this very moment.

    Hansen was a tall and burly man. He started swinging his hammer and threatening the soldiers of the other empire that came to bother him.

    <em>I didnt want to go bald either!!!</em>

    <em>Why?! Why does my son have to carry on this pain?!</em>

    Tears streamed down Hansens face as he raised his hammer like a bull charging at its opponents.

    From what I can see, this is a curse that has been passed down for a very long time.

    A noble and majestic voice rang in Hansens ears. The voice sounded arrogant, like Gods Voice, but it was also filled with warmth, a warmth that seemed to embrace Hansen.

    That curse. It has been passed down in your family from one generation to another and has been making your family suffer for a very long time.

    There was a kind smile on the mans face. The man walked one step at a time as he approached Hansen.

    Hansen huffed. What do you know?! Do you know what it feels to be bald from one generation to another?! Do you even know how I felt when I learned that my son has to live his life as a bald man?!!

    In the end, Hansen fell to his knees crying.

    Corr looked at him and said, It must have been hard and painful. You must have been suffering for a very long time.

    <em>Sob, sob, sob, sob, sob</em>

    I am the leader of Talmor Religion, Corr. I came running for your sake, Corr said as he slowly ced his hand on Hansens head. Then, he continued, Follow me. Follow me and I will let your hair grow.

    The truth was, Hansen was already at his wits end. He felt that life was so sad and unfair to him that he could not even tell for a second what was happening to him. He just grasped the straws that were dangling in front of him.

    Grow, grow hair, grow.

    G row <em>Sob</em> grow h hair grow

    Louder! With more power!

    Grow, grow hair hair!

    Loudeeeeeeeer!!!

    Grow, grow hair, groooooooooow!!!

    Then, at that moment, Corr took out his flute and began to y a tune. A warm power wrapped around Hansens sweaty head.

    <em>It its warm</em>

    It was a feeling that he had never felt before. Then, not long after, a ticklish sensation spread on top of his head.

    Originally, the effect of Corrs Talmor Treatment would not appear in just a day. However, Corr had grown a lot as the leader of the Talmor Religion.

    <em>Twitch, twitch</em>

    Hair started to grow on Hansens head. The dazed Hansen rubbed his head in disbelief. It was thick and abundant!

    Oh oooooooooh Ooooooooooooh!

    Hansen was so thrilled that he could not even utter a single word. The curse of baldness that had been passed down to 28 of their familys generations was now gone!

    I am Corr, a diplomat of Beyond the Heavens Empire. I am asking you to move to the Beyond the Heavens Empire. Do you know the reason why you have to move to the Beyond the Heavens Empire? Corr spoke kindly.

    Because Im the only one that can end the curse that is afflicting your family.

    Then, Corr continued with a kind and gentle smile on his face, The One that has been freed from baldness.

    Please please speak.

    Go and buy your very first shampoo.

    !

    The teary and emotional Hansen ran out to buy shampoo for the very first time in his life!

    ***

    At the same time.

    Ronweiner, themander of the Falcon Archer Corps of the Effinor Kingdom, was a huge fan of Best Selling Author Aruvel. That was why he spent the huge amount of 50,000 tinum to buy one of his limited edition books.

    Of course, he had always been single since birth. That was why for him, Aruvels works had always been his friend and salvation. When he met Aruvel, the man that he considered God, he cried tears of joy.

    Come to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    Ronweiner was an outstanding talent with a level that went beyond Level 550. Even his skills with the bow could be said to be the best and finest in the kingdom. However, he was born and raised in Effinor Kingdom. Even though he was an orphan, he had grown up outstandingly thanks to the support and welfare given by the Effinor Kingdom. That was why he had sworn his life and body to serve the Effinor Kingdom.

    H how How can you say that to me, Sir Author! Ronweiner cried. I, Ronweiner, am an orphan born and raised in this kingdom. This kingdoms royal family has raised me and I will continue to live for their sake!

    But then, Aruvel said, You will be given the right to preview my new works forever.

    !

    This privilege will only be given to you.

    !

    Ronweiner bit his lips strongly.

    <em>How can he say that?! How can the author and the person that I admire say that to me?!</em>

    Can we go now?

    Ronweiner switched sides faster than light. Erotic novels were truly amazing.

 Chapter 844

    Chapter 844

    There was a man inside the Careon Kingdom that many empires and kingdoms coveted.

    Mortal Martial Artist Ronson was barely twenty-two years old. However, two years ago, he had defeated the Careon Kingdoms veteran and most powerful Knight Order Commander on his own.

    Everyone called Ronson a genius. There were even talks about how he would be a Continental God, specifically the <em>God of Martial Arts</em>. He still had a lot left in store for him. However, the twenty-two year old Ronson, who was leading the knights that mainly used fists, actually had a secret that he could not tell. He had a condition: <em>limited mana</em>.

    People with this condition were very rare. In fact, there were only less than ten of them in the entire continent. So, what did it mean to have limited mana? They were people that could disy an explosive increase in mana from ages ten to twenty. However, once they reached the age of twenty, they would no longer be able to increase their mana volume.

    People with limitewd mana were fortunate enough to know that their mana would not disappear. However, for the young Ronson, this meant that he would no longer be able to grow. This also meant that he would not be able to reach the level of the <em>God of Martial Arts,</em> like what everyone wished for him.

    Since Ronson could no longer make his mana grow and increase, there was only one thing left for him to do. Ronson devoted his life to training martial arts from the moment he woke up to the moment he slept.

    If Sir Ronsones, then the Beyond the Heavens Empires famous and well-known powerhouses would be able to serve as your springboard.

    Get lost.

    Im saying that Sir Ronson could truly be the <em>God of Martial Arts</em>.

    Didnt I tell you to get lost?

    Haze had led their troops to try and recruit Ronson. However, Ronson was tough and stubborn.

    Ronsons goal was never to obtain wealth, or fame, or power. All he wanted was to grow stronger. Since he knew that he could no longer grow, he continued to run and train to grow his skills and abilities. Peoplemonly refer to him as <em>The One that Only Knew How to Train</em>. If someone did not have a way to help him grow right away, then he would not bother listening to them.

    <em>I have told him so much. Why does he refuse going to the Beyond the Heavens Empire when we have Spear God Ben and Brod on our side?</em>

    If it was an ordinary empire, recruiting Ronson would be an absolutely ridiculous thought. However, the Beyond the Heavens Empire was a ce where a Continental God resided in. That was why Haze could not believe what was happening in front of her.

    <em>Why is Ronson so reluctant to be recruited to the kingdom?</em>

    Unfortunately, she could not have guessed that he had <em>limited mana</em>.

    Even when Haze hung around him all day, Ronson did not budge at all.

    Ille and visit you tomorrow morning. Please think about it one more time.

    Go back. I wont change my mind.

    Ronson continued to punch and kick the wooden puppet in front of him like crazy even after the people of the Beyond the Heavens Empire had left. After how many hours, he finally took off his gloves. His gloves were stained with blood and his hands had abrasions from the continuous impact on the wooden puppet.

    <em>If only I can grow even further then</em>

    While Ronson was a genius, he was also diligent and hard-working. If he could only grow further, then he would definitely be the God of Martial Arts.

    <em>Sob, sob, sob, sob.</em> Damn it!

    In the end, he fell on his knees crying. He wailed and cried for a very long time beforeying down on the ground in exhaustion. He wiped off the tears on his face and stared at the night sky. It was beautiful, littered with beautiful and twinkling stars. Then, at that moment, something unusual and unexpected happened.

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods, the God that Lives for Someone, Leads Someone on the Right Path and Protects Someone, is looking at you.]</em>

    <em>[The God that Lives for Someone says that perhaps he can treat your incurable disease.]</em>

    !

    Ronson leapt up from the ground, his eyes trained on the beautiful night sky. He knew what kind of existence the Absolute Gods were. They were gods that werepletely on a different stage from the Continental Gods.

    <em>God Is God feeling sorry for me?</em>

    If one thought about it deeply, perhaps that was true. After all, Ronson was a genius of his time, and yet, his condition meant that he was forced to never grow.

    <em>He must have felt pity for me, a genius that can no longer grow no matter how hard I try. Thats right. Its a waste to spoil a talented genius like me just like that.</em>

    Indeed. Ronson was also a narcissist. However, the holy, mighty and noble god waspletely different from what he thought.

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods says]</em>

    <em>[Are you going or not? Quick, say it. So annoying.]</em>

    ?

    <em>No wasnt he looking at me with pity? Wasnt he feeling sorry for me?</em>

    <em>[The Absolute God is the Guardian Deity of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.]</em>

    !

    Ronson was once again left in shock. He recalled hearing that the one called Evil God had be the Guardian God to protect the Beyond the Heavens Empire. To put it simply, it was only right for him to go to the Beyond the Heavens Empire to seek help from this god.

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods is grumbling.]</em>

    <em>[How dare you make me do something like this]</em>

    ?

    What was he grumbling about? Ronson had absolutely no idea. However, he could feel some suppressed anger in that voice.

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods says]</em>

    <em>[Ah. If you dont want toe then donte. So annoying.]</em>

    Then, the voice of the divine and great god disappeared.

    The next day.

    Haze, who had seen Ronsons stubborn and determined eyes, was fully convinced that she would not be able to recruit him. However, when they arrived to try once again, they saw that Ronson had already finished all preparation and had already packed everything.

    Lets go. Quick.

    On that day, this voice rang all over the ce.

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods is annoyed.]</em>

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods is irritated.]</em>

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods asks if youre going or not.]</em>

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods turns around to leave without any hesitation.]</em>

    It seemed Obren did what Minhyuk asked him to do even though he did not like it.

    ***

    Hound Amacar was the pride of the Ardo Empire. Perhaps he could be considered as face of the Ardo Empire himself. The tales about how he turned the most ordinary knights into the strongest of the continent was already the stuff of legends in the continent.

    The very same Amacar recalled what Emperor Consteinus told him before he left.

    <em>If Spear God Benes to our empire, then Commander Kond has to give way and give hismanders position to him. I will just have to make Kond into a deputymander.</em>

    <em>What position should I give Brod? Hmmm. All of the positions are full. Then, should I give him the position of Duke Loic, who died from the monsters not too long ago?</em>

    When he heard those words, Amacar had asked.

    <em>Your Majesty, Im sorry but Commander Kond had lived as amander all his life. Why</em>

    <em>Sir Amacar, the revival of our empire is just right around the corner. Would those things be more important than that?</em>

    When it came to giving the position of thete Duke Loic

    <em>Your Majesty, thete Duke Loic died while fighting to protect your people. Less than a week has passed since his death. Please consider the feelings of the family of the bereaved.</em>

    <em>Sir Amacar.</em>

    Consteinus called out his name with a smile on his face.

    <em>You dont have to worry. This emperor will make sure to keep Sir Amacars seat no matter what.</em>

    Consteinus looked at Amacar as if he wanted him to believe him. However, Amacar did not really want that.

    <em>Please consider those that are truly protecting the empire, Your Majesty.</em>

    All Amacar wanted was for Consteinus to return back to how he used to be. When they were very young, Amacar received Consteinus'' order.

    <em>Sir Amacar! Create the strongest and the best knight order in the entire world!</em>

    When Emperor Consteinus said that, he looked at his men with trust and faith.

    Hound Amacar was said to have only lived for the sole purpose of making the <em>revival of the empire</em> possible. However, that was not really the case. Whether they were dukes ormanders, in the end, they were still the people of the empire. What Amacar truly wanted was to safeguard the safety and peace of the people of the empire.

    However, after the battle against the Luvien Empire, Emperor Consteinus had changed. He began to persecute his people and bring them down, while he went on to recruit talented people from another empire.

    Amacar recalled the conversation that he had with Consteinus just a few days ago.

    <em>Your Majesty. Please reconsider it. You cannot increase the taxes by 10% more. The number of people going hungry is increasing by the day.</em>

    <em>Sir Amacar. We cant help it. We have to recruit Ben, Brod and the others at all costs!</em>

    <em></em>

    The only reason why Amacar protected Consteinus was because their intentions aligned perfectly. But now, Consteinus wanted to have thergest and strongest empire, instead of the safety and the peace of his people.

    The worst part was that Consteinus had sent soldiers to the homes of those that could not pay taxes. He forcibly collected money from them in order to recruit the talents from another empire. However, he came back in failure.

    That damned Beyond the Heavens Emperor! How dare the emperor of a newly established empire!

    Consteinus could not hold back his anger upon his return. In the end, he even killed a maid, who identally broke a cup, on the spot.

    Have the soldiers clean this up, Sir Amacar.

    Amacar clenched his fists tightly as he looked at the maid that had been beheaded swiftly just like that. Up until yesterday, this maid had been greeting him with a smile on her face, but now

    <em>Didnt you tell me that you will be the emperor for the people?</em>

    However, Consteinus said, The Beyond the Heavens Empire will soon dispatch people to recruit our talents. Im sure they will also approach Sir Amacar. However, I know that Sir Amacar will not leave.

    Consteinus smiled warmly at Amacar. It was a smile warmer than the smile that he used on others. However, that was probably because <em>Amacar</em> was the strongest existence in the empire, and was considered to be the representative of the empire himself.

    On that day, <em>he</em> came to find Amacar. The man looked shabby, acting differently from the other diplomats sent by the Beyond the Heavens Empire to the Ardo Empire. Contrary to what Amacar heard, his face was not handsome.

    I dont think theres any need to show my face. So, I hid it.

    Pleasee to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    Of course, Amacar did not respond. The man kept oning to him for days. However, Amacar remained silent.

    Then, one day, Amacar saw the shabby and rugged man eat with the hungry children.

    Woah! What food is this, hyung?

    This dish is called chicken porridge. If you eat this, you will feel warm,fortable and full.

    It tastes yummy!

    Theres a lot from where that came from so make sure to eat lots!

    Oppa, youre the one thats eating the most!

    No one recognized him as the emperor. Amacar unknowinglyughed when he saw him eat andugh with the children. Perhaps it was because of that scene that Amacar opened his mouth when he came back to find him.

    I saw you eating chicken porridge with the children.

    Food will always taste better if you eat it with others.

    You are the emperor of another empire, is it really alright for you to act so unbing like that?

    In a way, what he did could be considered to be lowly and vulgar. The man called the emperor of an empire was eating in a slum surrounded by rough and scruffy children.

    What makes it so something is considered to be unbing and coarse?

    I just shared a meal with the kids. Nothing more, nothing less.

    Why did you share it? They could be the children of your enemies.

    Even though they are the children of an empire that may perhaps be an enemy to me, its not in my nature to just pass by someone who is hungry. What are you trying to ask? Besides, I dont think an emperor can dere that he cares for the people if he persecutes and ignores the children of his enemies.

    Amacar realized that he asked the wrong question. The man in front of him was a righteous and upright emperor, even more than the Consteinus of the past. So, he asked, What are the people to you?

    However, instead of an answer, an unknown voice rang in Amacars ears.

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods, the God that Lives for Someone, Leads Someone on the Right Path and Protects Someone, looks at you and says]</em>

    Amacar had also heard about it. He had been very surprised when he heard that the man called the Evil God became the Guardian God, the one and only Guardian Deity of an empire, just so he could protect <em>him. </em>Amacar listened intently to the words of the Absolute God.

    <em>[He is the one that will smile at his people first.]</em>

    <em>[He is the one that will feel sad if his people are sad and grieving.]</em>

    <em>[He is considered as an emotional king, more emotional than anybody else.]</em>

    That was right. Perhaps caring for the people was attributed to emotions.

    <em>[Among his people, there was a man called the Ghost Spear.]</em>

    <em>[Among his people, there was a man named Brod.]</em>

    <em>[Among his people, there was a man named Elpis.]</em>

    <em>[Among]</em>

    <em>[Among]</em>

    <em>[Among]</em>

    <em>[For him, his subject became the Spear God.]</em>

    <em>[For him, his subject became the Commander.]</em>

    <em>[For him, his subject became the Great Demon.]</em>

    However, even though he was emotional, people still gathered around him. The people that surrounded him grew stronger and tougher despite the risks and dangers just so they could protect their weak king.

    <em>[For him, his people are his family.]</em>

    <em>[He once told me]</em>

    <em>[In my world, I am afflicted by a very rare disease and was forced to have no friends.]</em>

    <em>[So, he made a family in his small nation called the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[For him, his people were his hyungs, noonas and younger siblings. They were also sometimes his mothers and even his fathers.]</em>

    <em>[Even I, the Evil God]</em>

    <em>[became his family.]</em>

    Amacar turned to look at Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk pondered deeply about the matter. Then, with a small smile on his face, he answered Amacars question. He said, Theyre my family.

    At the same time, something else happened.

    <em>[Emperors Authority.]</em>

    <em>[The Emperors Comfort has been triggered.]</em>

    Minhyuks new power was triggered.

 Chapter 845

    Chapter 845

    Special yers Management Team.

    Employee Lee Minhwa could confidently say that she was the busiest person in Joy Co. Ltd. these days.

    The level of the current yers kept on improving and the number of new yers and subscribers were increasing on a daily basis. In fact, the number of yers that could be considered as special and outstanding was also increasing. In other words, the number of yers that the Special yers Management Team had to monitor was increasing.

    <em>When is the new recruit going toe?</em>

    They had posted an announcement but it was still hanging there. ording to Team Leader Park, the new recruits had to have a strong mentality<em>.</em>

    At that moment, a warning popped out in Lee Minhwas monitor.

    <em>[Warning.]</em>

    <em>[yer Minhyuk has triggered the Emperors Comfort.]</em>

    <em>[The target: Ardo Empires Hound Amacar.]</em>

    ?!

    Lee Minhwa looked at the screen in confusion.

    <em>Why is it considered a warning when yer Minhyuk triggered the Emperors Comfort?</em>

    At that moment, Team Leader Park, who was handling his own work, stood up after hearing the warning and came to look at her screen.

    Amacar?

    Ardo Empires Amacar was a top-level Named NPC. He was someone that even the operators of Athenae were interested in. After all, the Ardo Empire came to be because of him. That was not all. Many yers wanted to learn from Amacar and follow his path. Amacar could be said to be someone with outstanding strength. However, when it came to nurturing someone else, he could even overshadow a genius.

    <em>A transcendental.</em>

    Perhaps that was the most apt expression to describe Amacar. In fact, even the <em>God of Growth and Development</em> would not be able to nurture and develop anyone as much as Amacar could nurture his men.

    Dont tell me Is yer Minhyuk trying to recruit Amacar?

    Thats right.

    But why did you get a warning message?

    Amacar might be an outstanding talent. However, everyone was fully convinced that his life would end in the Ardo Empire. That was how much he had lived for the sake of the Ardo Empire.

    Team Leader Park hurriedly checked the Emperors Comfort. What he saw surprised him.

    What seems to be the matter heok!

    Not long after, Lee Minhwa also realized why Team Leader Park was taken aback.

    The Emperors Comfort is a skill that is influenced by CHA.

    Minhyuks CHA had already exceeded 14,000, after he had be an emperor.

    Once a stat had reached units like that, it could definitely make a huge difference in the game. This was the case for special stats like DEX, Will and many more. Of course, among these special stats was CHA. When CHA exceeded 10,000, it could easily show the dignity and majesty of an emperor.

    Among all of the yers in Athenae, Minhyuk had ranked fifth in terms of CHA.

    Initially, Minhyuk was only ranked fifth in terms of CHA. In fact, the yer with the highest CHA only had 3,200 CHA, while Minhyuk only had around 2,000 CHA back then. However, when he became an emperor, his CHA grew to 12,000. Once CHA went past 10,000, its influence on a lot of things would grow with every 1,000 unit increase.

    He gained an additional 2,000 CHA when he became the Battle Gods Descendant.

    That was why it became a problem. Basically, the Emperors Comfort would not be influenced by CHA unless it was over 12,000 CHA. But now, Minhyuks CHA had reached around 14,000. This meant that the CHA would now have a huge influence on the skill.

    Lee Minhwa gulped dryly. Then, she asked, No way yer Minhyuk would not be able to pull out the pir of an empire, right?

    ***

    <em>[Emperors Authority.]</em>

    <em>[Emperors Comfort has been activated.]</em>

    Emperors Comfort was the first power that was released for Minhyuk when he became an emperor.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>The Emperors Comfort</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Level</em></strong><em>: 1</em>

    <strong><em>Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>You can givefort to your people, your soldiers, your Named NPCs, or even the yers that belonged to your empire.</em>

    <em>The more sincere you are inforting them, or the higher your CHA is, the more likely it is for the other person who received yourfort will be able to ovee hardships and adversities.</em>

    <em>Those who receive yourfort will sometimes be able to ovee their limitations and enjoy benefits like stat effects or buff effects.</em>

    Minhyuk was shocked at the unexpected activation of the skill.

    <em>I thought this can only be triggered and used for my people or yers?</em>

    But that was obviously not the case right now.

    <em>Can this be triggered as long as they have a favorable impression of me?</em>

    It was only natural to seekfort in difficult times. Perhaps that was the reason why those that could receive Minhyuksfort were not limited to his own people. This was also proof that Amacar neededfort.

    <em>Family.</em>

    That was what the people were to Minhyuk. That was why he answered Amacar like that. However, if Amacar did not hear the Guardian Gods Voice, then he would have only thought that the man in front of him was saying those words insincerely to win his heart. However, it was undeniable that Amacar had witnessed and felt it firsthand.

    Why did the Evil God named Obren chose to be the Guardian God? Why did the man named Ghost Spear Ben, one of the Pinnacle Strong Men of the past, chose to push himself until he became the Spear God? Why did the Fallen Wretched Emperor live for a man that was only a mere king?

    Those questions clearly showed him that the sincerity in Minhyuks eyes was true. He was not lying when he said that he viewed his people as his family.

    My emperor was once like that too.

    Surprising as it might sound, the current Ardo Empire, a powerhouse among powerhouses, was founded by Emperor Consteinus.

    Is that so? Minhyuk asked, a faint smile on his face.

    The smile on Minhyuks face brought forth an unknown emotion in Amacar. He was the strong and powerful leader of the knights called the <em>Hounds</em>. The Hounds were soldiers that were far more cruel, but also the most righteous men in the empire. Somehow now, the master of these men, Amacar, was already starting to feel strange. He felt like he wanted to lean on and depend on the emperor of an empire that might be the enemy of their own empire.

    At the same time, a set of notifications rang in Minhyuks ears.

    <em>[Your high CHA is attracting Amacar, who wants to beforted.]</em>

    <em>[Emperors Comfort has already been triggered.]</em>

    I would like to hear your story, Minhyuk said, smiling softly.

    Sometimes, bringing up the words and the story that one had been keeping to themselves was the best way to reassure andfort them. Just like that, Amacar began to tell his story.

    Amacar was a war orphan. He did not know which empire or kingdom he came from. He wandered aimlessly as a child until he met with Consteinus'' carriage procession. Consteinus decided to bring Amacar along to the Ardo Empire. However, even in that ce, Amacar remained an orphan. Still, the people there provided him with food and a ce to sleep in.

    I swung my sword just so I could repay them.

    Amacar wielded his sword for the people that helped him. The first was Consteinus. He was immediately followed by a long list of people.

    They raised you, Minhyuk said.

    <em>The people are my family.</em>

    Their emperor regarded them, his people, as his family. It was the same for Amacar. He considered all of the people that helped him, including the empire itself, as his family.

    Thats why I became strong.

    Amacar swung his sword and became stronger to repay the help and care that he received from them. Then, one day, he joined the Ardo Empires swordsmanshippetition. When he won the championship, he bowed and shouted loudly to Emperor Consteinus.

    Back then, I dered loudly that it was thanks to His Majestys grace that I was able to survive and grow strong like that. I even dered that I would only live for the sake of the Ardo Empire for the rest of my life. Back then, I never imagined that His Majesty would even remember me.

    There was a faint smile on Amacars face. The memories of that day were so sweet.

    However, His Majesty said Amacar could clearly recall the smile that Consteinus had given to him back then. He said I remember. I remember the little kid that smiled at me back then. I have always been watching you. I have heard that you became a soldier. I have heard that you became a knight. And I

    There was a teary smile on Amacars face.

    ...have heard that you have truly be one of my people.

    Amacar looked genuinely pleased as he recalled those memories.

    Then, one day, the Hound Knight Order that I raised, as well as several soldiers under mymand were besieged and isted by monsters. We were on the verge of death, unable to eat and drink for days on end and exhaustion seeping through our bones.

    Back then, the Hound Knight Order had been considered as the lowest knight order. They were just beginning to grow.

    Just when I thought that we were all going to die

    That day appeared clearly in Amacars mind.

    The monsters split into pieces as arrows rained down upon them. That was when I saw Emperor Consteinus charging through the gaps within the monsters ranks and cutting them one after another.

    Amacars eyes started to turn ssy from the unshed tears.

    Emperor Consteinus cut down the enemies while shouting, <em>Are you guys alright?! No one died, right? Hold on! I will protect you!</em>

    The tears slowly dripped down Amacars cheeks.

    When all the monsters had been cut down, His Majesty threw his sword aside and ran.

    The tears that flowed down his cheeks could no longer be stopped.

    Back then, His Majesty did not even wear his boots. He came running right away when he heard the news. When all the fighting was over, he hugged me tightly and told me

    The voice that rang in his ears back then was still vivid in his mind.

    <em>-Its alright now. You have all survived.</em>

    On that day, the legend of the Ardo Empire began.

    I can still remember it clearly, Amacar said with a bitter smile on his face as he wiped his tears. His Majesty personally made some soup for those of us, who had not eaten or slept properly for days. Then, with a simple piece of bread in his hand, he sat down with us to eat andugh together.

    Minhyuk nodded. He could tell what happened after this story. The best knight order, the best before the appearance of the Swords of the Gods, was created in the Ardo Empire.

    The news of their victory spread far and wide in the Ardo Empire. Then, Ardo grew bigger and bigger until it became the strongest empire. However, with the appearance of the Luvien Empire, they became what they were now.

    You must have been very happy back then. This was Minhyuksfort. After all, theres nothing greater or more wonderful than moving forward and bing stronger for someone elses sake.

    <em>[The Emperors Comfort has covered Amacar with warmth.]</em>

    You have raised your empire for your emperor.

    Minhyuk ced his hand on Amacars shoulder.

    Your emperor ran for his people to the point that he even forgot to wear his boots.

    Minhyuk tightened his grip on Amacars shoulder.

    Even now, you still care for Emperor Consteinus more than anybody else.

    This was the truth. Although Amacar hated Consteinus after he changed, he was still his emperor.

    Emperor Consteinus also cares deeply about you.

    Minhyuk stood up. What was <emfort</em>? It was just telling someone nice words.

    <em>It did not work because you did it like that.</em>

    <em>Arent you the reason why this happened?</em>

    <em>Everyone is having a hard time.</em>

    Yes, it was saying some nice words, not the nonsense mentioned above.

    Im sure Emperor Consteinus will stille running to save you when youre in danger, even if he forgets to wear his boots.

    <em>[The Emperors Comfort has deeply moved Amacar.]</em>

    <em>[With your Emperors Comfort, Amacars hateful feelings toward Consteinus had disappeared.]</em>

    Minhyuk began to cook quickly. What he decided to cook was nothing but a simple dish. He took out a pot and began to boil some soup.

    Amacar could not forget the soup that Consteinus made for them, the soup that he ate with them as they chatted andughed together. This dish would definitely bring greaterfort to Amacar.

    Amacar looked at the soup and the dinner rolls that were ced in front of him. He clearly remembered how hungry he was back then. When he took a sip of the warm soup, the salty yet creamy soup instantly warmed his empty belly. For some reason, Amacar felt like this was the same as back then.

    Back then, they were all tired and exhausted but they couldugh and joke around the moment they sat down with Emperor Consteinus and ate together. In fact, he felt like he could see what happened back then right in front of him.

    Amacar picked up one of the dinner rolls. He tore it apart and slowly ced a piece in his mouth. He ate one, two bites of the soft and airy bread. Of course, he did not forget to take a sip of the soup every now and then.

    Then, he dipped a piece of the dinner roll in the soup and put it in his mouth. The creamy soup made the bread even softer, a delicious vor wrapping around his mouth with every bite. The meal was almost finished in no time at all.

    Amacar chuckled as he finished the dinner roll in his hands.

    <em>My emperor has changed. And yet my emperor still loves me more than anybody else.</em>

    Just like what Minhyuk had said, his emperor would definitely stille running for him if he ever came across danger.

    <em>[Amacar is responding to yourforting words!]</em>

    <em>[Your favor with Amacar has exceeded the MAX!]</em>

    <em>[The Emperors Comfort will soon end.]</em>

    Now, Minhyuk only needed to say onest thing to move Amacars heart and mind.

    Sir Amacar.

    Amacar turned to look at Minhyuk as the man gave him his finalfort and constion.

    Stay in your empire.

    These were Minhyuks final words offort for Amacar.

 Chapter 846

    Chapter 846

    Ardo Empires Duke Amacar was the one that developed the Ardo Empire, which was considered the most ordinary of the ordinary, into thergest and strongest powerhouse. He was someone that the Beyond the Heavens Empire desperately needed. If he came to the Beyond the Heavens, he would surely give wings to the empire and help it develop faster.

    However, Minhyuk left these final words offort to him, Stay in your empire.

    At the same time, the notifications rang in Minhyuks ears.

    <em>[The Emperors Comfort has ended.]</em>

    <em>[You have given Amacar peace of mind and have allowed him to empty his heart and his thoughts. This act has given him the chance to think better and make better decisions.]</em>

    Amacar was quite surprised when he heard Minhyuks words. He had thought that the reason why Minhyuk listened to his story andforted him was mainly because the man wanted to recruit him. However, this emperor was interesting.

    <em>I have absolutely no idea about whats going on in that head of his.</em>

    That was right. Amacar could not understand what was happening. But then, at that moment, Minhyuk smiled softly.

    Werent you the one that said it, Duke Amacar?

    ...

    You are still someone who would do anything and everything for Emperor Consteinus.

    That was the truth. Even though Amacar hated Consteinus now, he would still do anything for the man, even if the man ordered him to <em>kill himself.</em>

    Stay together with the man that you cherish and care for.

    ...

    To be honest, Amacar was really surprised. The emperor in front of him was different from the other emperors and kings that he knew. If it were the other emperors and kings who had been quietly waiting to take advantage of the opportunity to recruit him, they would immediately take him in.

    However, after giving himfort, Minhyuk just looked relieved. In the end, Minhyuk turned around and returned. Amacar stared at the direction that he left in before turning to look at the castle where his emperor was.

    Thanks to Minhyuksforts, the distracting thoughts that lingered in his head had already disappeared. This allowed him to think clearer. It did not take too long for Amacar to make a decision. Thus, he made his move.

    ***

    Consteinus was left reeling in shock when he saw Amacar pledge his allegiance to Minhyuk. This was impossible. What he was seeing in front of him had to be a dream or some kind of false fantasy.

    But then, Amacar told Minhyuk, I vow to stay by His Majestys side forever and help the Beyond the Heavens Empire!!!

    Consteinus, who had been denying what was happening in front of him, finally realized that this was reality.

    <em>[You have seeded in recruiting the Ardo Empires Duke Amacar.]</em>

    <em>[Duke Amacar. Level 658.]</em>

    This is not This is impossible. How Amacar, you

    Some people passed by Consteinus, who had been mumbling to himself while shaking his head. There was a man that was said to be the candidate to be the God of Martial Arts. The young man knelt on both knees and yelled loudly, Your Imperial Majesty! I vow to stay by your side and help you forever!

    <em>[You have seeded in recruiting Careon Kingdoms Ronson.]</em>

    <em>[Martial Artist Ronson. Level 592.]</em>

    Then, another man appeared. This man had been bald just a few days ago. However, his head was now filled with thick and fluttering hair as he knelt down in front of Minhyuk and said, The Beyond the Heavens Empire is the benefactor of my entire family. Your Majesty! I promise to do my best to create artifacts for the Beyond the Heavens Empire!

    <em>[You have seeded in recruiting Ars Empires Hanson.]</em>

    <em>[cksmith Hanson. Level 331.]</em>

    As time went by, the number of people that knelt in front of Minhyuk began to increase.

    A long time ago, a child, who did not know how to wield the spear properly, received a piece of advice from an old man passing by on the street. Thanks to that advice, the child grew up well and became an outstanding spearman. The very same old man that gave him advice visited him to recruit him.

    <em>[You have seeded in recruiting Hors Kingdoms Arvon.]</em>

    <em>[Spearman Arvon. Level 564.]</em>

    There was also someone who had been single since birth, and only found happiness by reading a novel. The author of that novel came to recruit him and he happily came running after hearing that he would be able to read all of the novels that the author would make forever.

    <em>[You have seeded in recruiting Effinor Kingdoms Ronweiner.]</em>

    <em>[Archer Ronweiner. Level 568.]</em>

    There were also those who were anxious about the danger that they would be exposed to with their failing kingdom, and had been taken by Hazes mboyant and confident words.

    <em>[You have seeded in recruiting Clyde Kingdoms Arabba.]</em>

    <em>[Knight Arabba. Level 564.]</em>

    The kings and emperors that they passed by looked at them incredulously. After all, these were the same subjects who had said they would even sacrifice their lives for their sake, or that they would only live for them alone.

    However, most of these rulers were simr to Consteinus. To be exact, there were a lot of them who were way worsepared to how Consteinus behaved and acted. Some had always treated their subjects as servants, reigning over them with power and even going so far as to destroy their families if their subjects irked them.

    Why?!!!

    Do you think that you would be safe if you left me, huh?!!!

    I have done everything for you!!!

    The kings and emperors shouted loudly when they saw that the Beyond the Heavens Empire was sessful in recruiting a third of the people that came with them. However, before they couldsh out in anger toward the Beyond the Heavens Empire, they had to question those who betrayed them.

    In just an instant, the entire hall was flipped upside down. Everything was in chaos. The emperors and kings tried to grab them by the cor while some even went so far as to pull their sword out. However, the soldiers of the Beyond the Heavens Empire have been prepared for this. They immediately stepped forward and stopped them from making any move.

    Even so, the emperors and kings did not stop. They continued to shout their questions. There was one person, one particr person, who approached the kneeling Amacar with disbelief in his face.

    Why Why, Sir Amacar?

    At that moment, Consteinus remembered. He remembered the memories that the two of them shared.

    When he first met him, the once young boy was smiling brightly at him. He felt a connection between them so he took in the orphan and brought him to his empire.

    I cared about you.

    He remembered the day that he won the swordsmanshippetition for him. He clearly remembered the man dering that he would live for his sake. That was why he ran, he ran to save him when he was in danger.

    Please dont go. I beg you. Please stay by my side.

    However, Amacar remained silent. As funny as it might seem, Amacar, who was about to leave him, was crying and trembling.

    <strong>WHY?!!!</strong> Consteinus shouted.

    The question opened the dam. Tears fell non-stop from Amacars eyes.

    <strong>YOUR MAJESTY!!!</strong>

    The voice resonated so loudly that everyone in the hall fell silent for a moment.

    What kind of empire did Your Majesty reign over?!!! Was it an empire that only had eyes for those with great power?!!!

    Consteinus mouth turned shut when he heard those words.

    Werent you the one that gave up on your people?!!! You discarded them and ignored their pain in order for you to recruit stronger and more talented people, no?!!!

    Amacar was confident that the decision that he had made would open one of two paths.

    Everything that I did was for the people

    None of your people hoped to have an empire that was only filled with the strong. Please open your eyes. Look at the world around you. See how your people look at you now andpare it with how they looked at you in the past. What is the difference?!

    Consteinus could no longer speak.

    The reason why I made the Ardo Empire strong was because I wanted to see many peopleugh, cry and live more prosperously alongside you, Your Majesty.

    Emperor Consteinus stared at Amacar in a daze for a very long time. His mouth cracked open as if he was about to say something but no words came out of him.

    At that moment, Minhyuk stepped forward and said, I ask that every one of you to return.

    Consteinus was left in a daze as he slowly walked out of the hall.

    ***

    Consteinus was still in a daze even after they returned to the Ardo Empire. No matter how much his aide spoke to him, he remained unresponsive. It was as if he had lost all hope.

    ...Did Sir Amacar leave the empire?

    My goodness.

    Why did Sir Amacar do that?

    <em>Shh! </em>Shut up. Be quiet. A maid has been beheaded not too long ago!

    Consteinus looked at them before turning to look at his aide with a determined look on his face.

    Summon the army.

    Your Majesty, please tell me that youre not going to try and bring down the Beyond the Heavens Empire?!! Please, reconsider! You have already signed the contract with the Beyond the Heavens Empire

    Shut up! Just summon the army for me!

    After the Luvien Empire, the troops from the Ardo Empire began to march.

    ***

    The Athenae homepage was filled with noise.

    <em>[Guys, have you seen Tallhs broadcast? The Ardo Empire left only the bare minimum number of troops in their empire and is now marching out with the rest of their entire army.]</em>

    <em>[Yep, yep. I saw that. It was amazing. That ce was the strongest empire before the Luvien Empire came to be.]</em>

    <em>[But does anyone know where they are headed to?]</em>

    <em>[Hey, you dont know? Not too long ago, the Beyond the Heavens Empire was able to recruit Duke Amacar. If you look at it in Emperor Consteinus'' view, he must have been very angry when that happened. If I were him, I would also send my troops and wipe out the Beyond the Heavens Empire.]</em>

    <em>[However, from what I heard, there was a contract signed between the rulers of the nations regarding this recruitment. Wont they receive punishment if they broke that contract?]</em>

    <em>[They will be punished. But to be honest, if Amacar was taken away from me, then I will also dly take on that punishment.]</em>

    <em>[Is the Beyond the Heavens Empire going to fall as soon as it gets established?]</em>

    <em>[Hiyaaaa I think they brought along around eight million troops.]</em>

    One of the BJs saw the Ardo Empire advancing and began to film it. The broadcasting stations, who heard of the news, immediately dispatched their broadcasting teams to cover the issue.

    <em>[I have never seen such a huge army advance like this.]</em>

    <em>[This is truly amazing. Eight million soldiers. This can only be possible for the Luvien and the Ardo Empire.]</em>

    <em>[What do you think will happen if the Beyond the Heavens Empire and the Ardo Empire went to war?]</em>

    <em>[The Beyond the Heavens Empire might have countless strong powerhouses in their empire. However, the Ardo Empire has a huge number of soldiers and knights on their side. On top of that, they are on an entirely different level from the others. The Beyond the Heavens Empire wontst two days.]</em>

    <em>[The Ardo Empires momentum is terrifying.]</em>

    <em>[Emperor Consteinus'' face looks dark too.]</em>

    <em>[Well, theres no helping it. I can understand what hes feeling. After all, this would probably feel like he had lost the Ardo Empire itself to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.]</em>

    Before everyone knew it, the army had already arrived in front of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. The Beyond the Heavens Empire had also started to prepare for war when they heard the sudden news

    Cold sweat dripped down Minhyuks back as he looked at Consteinus.

    <em>I never expected that hes willing to ignore the punishment of breaking the contract.</em>

    However, when he thought about it deeply, he felt like he could understand. After all, Emperor Consteinus trusted Amacar more than he trusted the Imperial Family.

    Minhyuk turned to look at Amacar, who was standing right beside him on the walls of the empire.

    <em>What is going on with you?</em>

    Minhyuk actually could not understand it either. Why did this man leave the emperor that he loved and cared for so much and came to his side? Minhyuk did not know the reason why.

    The troops of the Beyond the Heavens Empire stood nervously as the overwhelming momentum of the millions of troops around them engulfed them. For some reason, they felt like this was scarier than the enemies that they had faced so far. Perhaps they felt like this was scarier since they did not have the time to heal from the pain that they suffered during the war with the Luvien Empire.

    In fact, even Minhyuk was nervous. He licked his dry lips as he watched Emperor Consteinus step forward. Emperor Consteinus expression looked stiff as he stared at Amacar, who was standing on the walls of the empire.

    Meanwhile, Amacar was looking back at them with aplicated expression on his face.

    <em>It seems like the emperor came to kill me, who betrayed him, by himself</em>

    Amacar loved Consteinus with all his heart. Perhaps he was being ravaged by the pain of his heart being torn apart right now.

    At that moment, Consteinus opened his mouth and asked, Sir Amacar, let me ask you this onest question. Do you have any regrets?

    ... Amacar bit his lips tightly. He remained silent for a moment before answering, I do. I regret it even now.

    ...

    Minhyuk turned to look at Amacar. He could see that Amacar looked like he wanted to run and approach his former emperor and ask for his forgiveness.

    However, Amacar said, But I believe this is the right choice.

    Consteinus nodded his head slowly.

    I see.

    Consteinus stared at Amacar for three, then five, then ten minutes. He just stood there silently and stared for a very long time.

    <em>[He must have a lot to think about.]</em>

    <em>[The betrayal of someone who has been with him for all his life and the punishment that he will receive. Of course, he has a lot to think about.]</em>

    <em>[Because of the Beyond the Heavens Empires greed, they might lose everything, including Amacar.]</em>

    Everyones attention was focused on Consteinus arm. Once he raised that arm and lowered it, the war would begin and following that, the likely fall of the very first empire created by a foreigner.

    <em>Thuuuuud</em>

    But then, Emperor Consteinus suddenly knelt on the ground. Amacar, who was standing right next to Minhyuk, flinched. Then, the kneeling Consteinus ced his hands one on top of the other, and brought them to his forehead. After that, he slowly bowed down.

    Thank you.

    Consteinus tears dripped down and soaked the ground beneath him.

    My friend.

 Chapter 847

    Chapter 847

    Most of the yers knew who Ardo Empires Emperor Consteinus was. He was the one who ruled the strongest empire in the continent, before the appearance of the Luvien Empire.

    There were mixed reactions among the people when they saw the empire led by such a man charge forward and try to bring the Beyond the Heavens Empire to copse. Some felt that it was a pity while some, who were driven by their inferiorityplex, were very delighted.

    However, what was happening right in front of everyones eyes was something that defied all expectations. Emperor Consteinus was prostrating to the Beyond the Heavens Empire. To be exact, it was not the Beyond the Heavens Empire that he was bowing to, but Lord Amacar.

    An emperor was a figure who never bowed down to others. Perhaps they might if they were in front of a <em>God</em>, or an enemy that had destroyed their empire and pointed a sword to their necks. However, if one looked through the history of Athenae, one would never find an instance when an emperor bowed to their subject.

    Emperor Consteinus, who bowed deeply and lowly, shed tears. With a trembling voice, he said, I have always received help from you. Each and every time.

    Amacar had betrayed the Ardo Empire to be a part of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    <em>But why is he saying that he received help?</em>

    Minhyuk turned to look at the man standing beside him. Amacars fists were clenched tightly. He was crying silently as he looked at the humble back of the man who he once served.

    Now that they had lost Amacar, the Ardo Empires growth rate would infinitely weaken. Instead of thinking of <em>growing</em>, the Ardo Empire would now have to think of <em>protecting</em> themselves. If that was the case, why was Emperor Consteinus grateful to Amacar?

    <em>Thanks to you, I was able to see it.</em>

    Emperor Consteinus was left reeling in shock when he returned to his empire, Amacars words kept ringing in his mind.

    <em>None of your people hoped to have an empire that was only filled with the strong. Please open your eyes. Look at the world around you. See how your people look at you now andpare it with how they looked at you in the past. What is the difference?!</em>

    While pondering over that question in order to seek the answer, Consteinus began to look at his people carefully. When he looked at their eyes, the first thing that he saw was <em>fear</em>. Then, it was immediately followed by<em> surrender</em>.

    Emperor Consteinus had be the emperor after the death of the previous Imperial Majesty. It had been three years since he started to rule his empire. Back then, when the people looked at him, they would smile happily at him and look at him with respect and trust.

    Perhaps it was truly like what Amacar said. Nobody wanted an <em>empire filled with only the strong</em>. Consteinus just wanted an unshakeable empire so that everyone would live without experiencing much pain and sorrow. However, the only ones who wanted a strong empire to defeat the Luvien Empire were Consteinus and the nobles.

    My eyes and ears that had been closed through the years had now been finally opened. I can finally see again what kind of empire I hoped for, and what kind of emperor I aspire to be.

    The emperor, who had his head pressed to the ground, raised his head and looked up at Amacar, whose words had awakened and enlightened him.

    Amacar murmured softly, so soft that Consteinus could not hear his words, Your Majesty, please do not change. I hope that your heart will never change.

    Only then did Minhyuk realize what happened. It was true, Amacar had a favorable impression of him and the Beyond the Heavens Empire. However, the real reason why he left Ardo Empire for the Beyond the Heavens Empire was because he knew Consteinus more than anybody else. After all, he had shared a deep bond with the Ardo Empires emperor for a very long time now.

    <em>Consteinus must have been feeling very urgent because of the Luvien Empire.</em>

    The once steadfast and sturdy empire had been shaken to its core. Along the way, Consteinus had forgotten the kind of empire he truly wanted. However, even though he had forgotten the essence and nature of the empire that he wanted, Amacar was still there. And Amacar knew him more than anybody else. He knew Consteinus'' true character and nature. And that was the reason why he left. His departure served as both punishment for Consteinus actions and a lesson<em>.</em>

    Amotion rang out amidst the eight million troops standing behind Consteinus. All of them knew that Amacar had betrayed them. In fact, all of them thought Emperor Consteinus would destroy the Beyond the Heavens Empire. They had also been angry at first. After all, they believed that Commander Amacar would remain by their side for the rest of their lives. However, he left them.

    <em>Why?</em>

    <em>Did the Beyond the Heavens Empire promise you a lot of money?</em>

    <em>Or did they promise you something else?</em>

    There was undeniable anger from every single one of them. After all, the more one looked at another with good feelings, the greater the sense of betrayal if that person left them. However, the soldiers soon realized the reason why. They all knew that Amacar cared for the Ardo Empire deeply. He was someone who lived solely for the sake of the empire.

    Among them, the ones who were most shocked were the members of the Hound Knight Order. The Hound Knight Orders Deputy Commander bowed deeply beside Consteinus. Then, the members of the knight order began to bow to Amacar one after another.

    <em>[What a spectacr sight.]</em>

    <em>[Although this bow is not meant for Minhyuk, looking at it can definitely bring a thrill down your spine, no?]</em>

    <em>[Amacar. His deeds and actions will be imprinted deeply in the annals of history of the Ardo Empire.]</em>

    <em>[Theres also Emperor Consteinus. The fact that he bowed to his subject will turn him into a model figure for the countless emperors and kings in the continent.]</em>

    <em>[Some might me him for tarnishing his authority as an emperor. However, from what I can see, theres a high chance that this will bring him a much more beneficial effect.]</em>

    <em>[This shows that the emperor of the Ardo Empire knows the importance of his vassals and people. As a result, we can expect many continents all over the world to look up to the Ardo Empire.]</em>

    When the members of the Hound Knight Order began to bow deeply, the soldiers also immediately followed suit. They bowed to the hero who made Ardo Empire what it was now. They bowed deeply to the hero who tried to steer the shaken mind and thoughts of the Ardo Empire and its emperor, who he loved so much, back to its original path, even if it meant that he had to leave them. This was them showing him respect.

    <em>This</em>

    Minhyuks breath hitched when he saw the spectacr sight that unfolded in front of him. The emperor and the eight million troops of the most powerful empire were bowing deeply to Amacar.

    <em>Is he truly a vassal that I can house?</em>

    That was how great and outstanding Amacar was. Even Minhyuk began to question his own qualifications.

    Then, they heard their voices.

    Thank you, Sir Amacar.

    We promise to protect the Ardo Empire.

    We will make sure to create the empire that you wish and hope for.

    Sir Amacar, we wish you happiness.

    Ardo Empire is what it is now because of you.

    Please do not worry about His Majesty and the Ardo Empire. We will work hard to protect them and we will make sure to grow even stronger!

    The soldiers sincerely expressed their thoughts, perhaps for the final time, to Amacar. Their cries coalesced until it turned into one loud cry of

    Thank you!

    Amacars heart throbbed when he heard the cries of the millions of soldiers in front of him. He felt like his efforts were being proven here. He felt like the actions that he had done for the Ardo Empire from the past up until now were not done in vain. These people had been with him for a very long time. They also knew him better than anybody else. So, in a way, they ought to consider him a traitor. Yet they thanked him. Amacars eyes turned to look back at Emperor Consteinus.

    Emperor Consteinus knew that Amacar would not return to him after he had been corrupted by his own greed like that. Besides, he has already sworn his allegiance to the Beyond the Heavens Empire. Consteinus body shook fiercely, his head touching the ground once again. He knew that he had to let Amacar go. That he should thank him for waking him up.

    Who will I drink tea with now?

    Consteinus was more saddened by the fact that he had lost a friend, than losing the talent that was Amacar. His back trembled as he cried uncontrobly.

    Who will I share my concerns with now?

    Consteinus once again vowed to himself that he would create an empire where everyone was happy.

    <em>My empire will change. It will be just like it was in the past.</em>

    However, Consteinus was happiest when he was with <em>him.</em>

    I Who am I supposed tough with now?

    Now, <em>he </em>would no longer be by his side.

    Emperor Consteinus body trembled fiercely as he continued to cry. None of his men coulde close to him. They did not even think about lifting him up from the ground. The soldiers of the Ardo Empire knew how much Consteinus cherished and loved Amacar. No one among them could console their crying emperor. Only one person could do that.

    <em>Creaaaaaaaaaaaaak</em>

    The sobbing Consteinus heard the gates in front of him creak open. He slowly looked up at the direction of the sound.

    Minhyuk, who watched everything from above, triggered the Battle Gods Voice. In the sky above them, the image of a young emperor smiling kindly as the scruffy child looked up at him with a bright and wide smile on his face appeared.

    <em>[When they first met, the boy made up his mind.]</em>

    <em>[I will live for his sake.]</em>

    <em>Swoosh</em>

    The image disappeared, revealing another image. The image showed Amacar winning the swordsmanshippetition. The boy had now turned into a young man. This young man bowed to the man sitting on the throne as he pledged his loyalty.

    <em>[The emperor looked at him and thought that his rtionship with this young man would prove to be meaningful.]</em>

    <em>Swoosh</em>

    The image scattered once again.

    Consteinus looked toward the gates. There he saw someone in a hurry, gasping for breath as he ran toward Consteinus.

    At the same time, a new image appeared in the sky. It was the image of the emperor running toward the young man who was besieged by monsters and was in danger of dying.

    <em>[The emperor ran with all his might to save him.]</em>

    The man who was approaching Consteinus was none other than Amacar. He looked just like the emperor who was portrayed in the sky above them. He ran with all his might for the sake of the emperor who he loved and cherished. Right now, he looked more afraid to see his emperor wallow in sorrow and despair than dying on his own.

    Then, another image appeared in the sky above the running Amacar. It showed the image of the young man, who survived the ordeal, and the emperor who saved him. There were knights and soldiers sat around them, eating soup and bread while chatting happily.

    <em>[The young knight, who had just escaped from death, sat beside his emperor and looked at him as he told a joke while eating soup with them. At that time, the young knight made another vow to himself.]</em>

    <em>[I will revive this empire to protect him.]</em>

    Consteinus stood up when Amacar appeared in front of him. Amacar knelt down and shouted, Your Majesty!!!

    Amacar breathed roughly, gasping as he said, Please do not worry about those things.

    ...

    Whenever Your Majesty wants to drink tea, whenever Your Majesty needs someone to chat with and whenever Your Majesty is sad, I will always be here to greet you with a smile.

    Consteinusughed, tears dripping down his cheeks as he knelt by Amacars side. Amacar finally barked augh through his tears. He said, Whenever I want to have tea with Your Majesty, whenever theres something sad going on, whenever I want to have a chat with Your Majesty

    Amacar hid his feet underneath his legs as he continued to kneel on the ground.

    Please allow me to go and see you, Your Majesty.

    With those words, another image appeared in the sky. The image was so huge that it almost engulfed the entire Beyond the Heavens Empire. The image showed the figure of an emperor looking at the millions of people in front of him while a young man stood guarding by his side.

    <em>[The meeting between the scruffy young boy and the young emperor became the legend of an era.]</em>

    Consteinus, with a bright and wide smile on his face, replied, I give you my permission.

 Chapter 848

    Chapter 848

    Usually, ordinary kingdoms and empires would suffer from financial difficulties for several months after their sessful establishment. Not only that, theircking military force would also put them at great risk during that period. After all, they did not have anything to use to pay for anything, since they had only been established and built.

    They had to make various exchanges with the other empires and kingdoms. And it was only through those exchanges would their people be able to make profit. Once their people made profit, they would be able to receive taxes.

    In addition, they had to supply and equip their military with weapons and armor, as well as food. However, without any money on hand, it would be difficult to maintain that. And if they could not maintain that, then their military force would naturally weaken.

    However, the Beyond the Heavens Empire was different. This was considering that it had only been established less than a month ago.

    A beautifuldy announcer was currently having a conversation with an expert in ATV Broadcasting Stations program called <em>Athenae yers Exclusive Information.</em>

    Beyond the Heavens Emperor Minhyuk is a truly smart emperor. He was able to navigate the situation regarding the offers that the other emperors and kings had made.

    Can you tell our dear viewers how he dealt with it and your insights on this matter?

    Of course. Emperor Minhyuk had put forward several conditions to those that wanted to send recruitment offers to his vassals. <em>Anyone is allowed to recruit my men. However, if you want to recruit them, then you have to pay the recruitment fee which would vary depending on the person who you are trying to recruit. It doesnt matter whether it is sessful or not. You have to pay the fee.</em> The empires and kingdoms agreed with this condition and began to reach out to his men. Furthermore, each kingdom or empire had to pay the recruitment fee even if dozens of them came to recruit that one person.

    So, youre saying that if for example, five empires tried to recruit Spear God Ben, then each of those empires would have to pay the recruitment fee?

    Thats right. As far as I know, there were dozens of kingdoms and empires that tried to recruit them. From what I have gathered, they all tried to recruit the most prominent figures of the Beyond the Heavens Empire like Spear God Ben, Brod, Elpis and many more. I dont know the exact figures, but if you estimate roughly, I think the Beyond the Heavens Empire was able to secure more than four million tinum through this.

    Wow. Four million tinum? Thats quite a huge amount. Thedy announcer clicked her tongue.

    Four million tinum was worth more than hundreds of billions of won in cash.

    But thats not all. Beyond the Heavens Emperor Minhyuk was also able to sessfully increase their military forces through this maneuver.

    The expert held his pen as he pointed toward a piece of paper. Awe and admiration stained his voice as he spoke of the achievements made by the Beyond the Heavens Empire during this short period of time.

    He had put forward another condition, saying, <em>We will recruit as many talents as your empire tried to recruit from us.</em> First and foremost, this is a blow, a counter to the disrespect that the other empires and kingdomsmitted toward them.

    However, the Beyond the Heavens Empire was able to secure many talents with that move, no? Thedy announcer said, admiration also evident in her voice. What kind of impact do you think the talents recruited by the Beyond the Heavens Empire will have?

    The Beyond the Heavens Empire was able to recruit the pride of a nation and was even able to recruit the pir of an empire. Interestingly, they were very smart in their recruitment. They did not solely focus on recruiting strong talents. They also recruited a significant number of nonbat NPCs like cksmiths, famous poets, and even bards. In other words, not only were they able to strengthen their military force, they were also able toy the foundation for their future trading activities.

    The expert praised the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    The announcer pondered for a moment, before asking, Does that mean that the Beyond the Heavens Empire has be the strongest empire upon their establishment?

    It was not strange for thedy announcer to think so. In fact, it was not just her, the viewers thought so too.

    But the expert shook his head and said, Thats not the case.

    Yes? Howe? Didnt you just say that they were able to secure a lot of funds and even recruited many famous and strong talents?

    Of course, its certainly good to secure a lot of talent. However, the number of their troops is still less than half the size of the troops of an ordinary empire. Thats not all. The aftermath of this recruitment is also definitely going toe.

    Ah

    Just a few minutes ago, Emperor Consteinus bowed toward the former Hound Knight Order Commander, Amacar. However, you can consider him to be an exception.

    The announcer quickly understood what he meant. So, youre saying that even though the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was able to get away with this thanks to the contract that they have signed, in the end the other empires and kingdoms would harbor dislike for them?

    Thats right. They might have put various restrictions and conditions to prevent the other empires and kingdoms from causing them harm during this human resource recruitment fiasco. However, at the end of it all, the actions done by the Beyond the Heavens Empire would garner the <em>hate</em> of the other empires and kingdoms. This would make things difficult for them in the future. If the smallest mistake appeared in the Beyond the Heavens Empire, these empires and kingdoms would most definitely try to bring huge punishment upon them.

    Both viewers andmentators understood what the expert said. The fact that they could recruit countless talented people was obviously a good thing. However, the sweet apple that they had in their hands was not without its poison. If the Beyond the Heavens made even the smallest mistake, the others would definitely jump on the opportunity to punish them.

    Personally, I believe the greatest contributor in the human resource recruitment activity was Beyond the Heavens Empires Prime Minister Haze

    The conversation between the announcer and the expert continued just like that.

    ***

    Minhyuk, Amacar and Consteinus were all currently together.

    When Consteinus bowed deeply and Amacar came running to him, Amacar had asked his former emperor if he coulde and see him anytime. Of course, they also wanted it to happen the other way around. It would be very unpleasant for both Minhyuk and Amacar to see Amacare running to the Ardo Empire every time. However, for Consteinus toe to Beyond the Heavens Empire anytime, they would need the explicit approval of Emperor Minhyuk. After all, there was always an apanying risk if another empires emperor came strutting freely in the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    <em>Amacar goes to Ardo and Consteinus goes to the Beyond the Heavens.</em>

    However, Minhyuk saw this as a great opportunity to forge rtionships and have peace with the greater power that was the Ardo Empire.

    Of course, the current Consteinus had very low favorability toward Minhyuk. It was only natural. After all, if you remove the fact that everything was an act to help him realize what was happening around him, to Consteinus, Minhyuk was just someone who took away his empires precious talents. However, Consteinus and Amacar wanted to have exchanges. That meant that they had to talk to Minhyuk.

    Right now, Minhyuk was cooking for the two of them to raise a bit of favorability. The menu was none other than <em>chicken</em>, specifically Kyochon Chicken. Even if a person could only eat half a chicken, if they were presented with Kyochon Chicken, then they would be able to eat the entire chicken.

    Kyochon Chicken was the number one when it came to sales volume. Its bestseller and signature menu was its salty and savory <em>Kyochon Chicken </em>and<em> Soy Sauce Chicken</em>. Of course, they also had an extensive menu that included Sweet Chicken and Red Chicken. Minhyuk loved eating the lollipop chicken and was very fond of the vors Kyochon Chicken and Red Chicken. Together with some wedge potatoes on the side, the food was to die for.

    Minhyuk gently ced the chicken coated with seasonings in the hot frying pan.

    <em>Sizzleeeeeeeee</em>

    Emperor Consteinus and Amacar both turned to look at him when they heard the clear and crisp sound of the sizzling oil.

    What a mouth-watering smell.

    Does it make you hungry? His Majesty Minhyuks cooking skills are extraordinary. Please look forward to it.

    Amacar had actually stood up and said that he would do it himself. After all, he was currently under Minhyuksmand. However, Consteinus opposed it hoping that they would reminisce about their past.

    I still cant forget the dish that you made for me in the past. Consteinus smiled happily. I was surprised when I took the first bite.

    Is that so? Hoho. Amacarughed awkwardly.

    <em>Did he truly enjoy the dish that much?</em>

    You are truly good with the sword. I even cried after eating it. It was a dish where you could taste every vor in the world.

    ...

    When Minhyuk heard this, he thought to himself that he should really do this himself. He looked at the mouth-watering and crispy chicken before frying the wedge potatoes. After frying the wedge potatoes, he went ahead and seasoned the chicken. Minhyuk poured the seasoning on the frying pan before pouring in the fried chicken and stir-frying everything. Only by doing this would the seasoning be able to seep through the chicken.

    In a blink, the chicken was done. Fried to a crispy golden brown, it looked very appetizing.

    Let me say this once again, my Beyond the Heavens Empire epts the future exchanges between the two of you.

    <em>Cough</em>. If you have any shame in your bones, then you should allow it.

    Consteinus looked more rxed when he saw Minhyuk responding mildly to his words, even cooking for them.

    Then, Minhyuk said, The chefs of Beyond the Heavens Empire have also made chicken for the soldiers of the Ardo Empire, who must be tired from the marching.

    Is that so? Thank you.

    Even if the eight million troops ate only half a chicken, they still had to fry at least four million chickens. However, Minhyuk was willing to bear this cost. This was because he knew that forging a friendly rtionship with the Ardo Empire was necessary if they wanted to deal with the Luvien Empire in the future. More importantly, Minhyuk was confident that the taste and vor of the chicken would definitely impress and captivate Emperor Consteinus.

    By the way, you said that you were going to treat us but isnt this just a pretext for you to eat, huh? Beyond the Heavens Emperor? Consteinus clicked his tongue when he saw Minhyuk ce around ten whole chickens in front of him.

    Minhyuk only chuckled lightly in response. He was busy gulping down his saliva as he looked at the chicken in front of him.

    <em>Should I eat it with c instead of beer?</em>

    Minhyuk quickly dropped a couple of ice cubes in a clear ss and poured some cool and refreshing c in it.

    <em>Fwiiiiiiiiish</em>

    Minhyuk savored the sound of the carbonate escaping from the can as the c met with the ice. Of course, he made sure to gulp a few mouthfuls of c before digging into the food.

    <em>Our Lord Chicken</em>.

    Kghhk!

    The carbonated c was apanied by an electrifying feeling as it passed down his throat. Minhyuk immediately put down the ss and grabbed a piece of Kyochon Chickens signature menu, the Soy Sauce Chicken.

    The wing was well-fried and there was no dry portion at all. The moment he took a bite, the tender and soft chicken meat separated from the bone and entered his mouth, along with a salty and savory vor.

    Hiyaaa.

    Every bite was truly delicious. No matter how much Minhyuk ate, it did not seem like the chicken could fill his stomach easily. This time, Minhyuk grabbed a meaty wing. He put everything in his mouth and ate it in one go. Of course, he did not forget to take a bite of the pickled radish.

    <em>Crunch, crunch</em>

    A loud crunch rang in his ears as the sour vor of the radish rounded up the savory and greasy vor of the chicken.

    This time, Minhyuk turned his attention to the Red Chicken. When he took a huge bite, the spicy and sweet vor immediately spread out in his mouth. As expected, Minhyuk ate several pieces in one go while savoring the spiciness of the dish. However, the spiciness gradually crept up and spread in his mouth until it reached the tip of his tongue.

    <em>Sluuurp. Hooo.</em>

    Although the spiciness that spread in his mouth was stinging, he could not stop himself from eating the delicious and mouth-watering Red Chicken. Minhyuk quickly grabbed a piece of potato wedge and ced it in his mouth to ease the spiciness in his mouth.

    The saltiness of the fried potato wedge took the edge off of the spiciness. Minhyuk put one piece after another, asionally dipping it in sweet ketchup. Thebination of the saltiness of the potato wedge and the sweetness of the ketchup was fantastic.

    As he ate like that, Minhyuk also did not forget to look at Consteinus and Amacars faces.

    This is the first time that I have tasted a chicken this delicious in my entire life.

    Me too.

    <em>[Consteinus favor has increased.]</em>

    Minhyuk was quite delighted with their words.

    We Lets not think too much about this matter, no? Ill make sure to amodate the meeting between the two of you as much as possible.

    <em>Cough.</em> If you say so.

    The Ardo Empire obviously did not have any intention of waging war against the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    I also view the Beyond the Heavens Empire quite favorably.

    The biggest reason for this was probably because Amacar chose Minhyuk. Before he realized his wrongs, Consteinus thought that there must have been a reason why Amacar chose Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk, who was having a friendly conversation with the two, suddenly stopped moving. An extremely rming notification rang in his ears and forced him to stop what he was doing.

    <em>[The Forgotten Monarchs Crowns Vassals Voice has been triggered.]</em>

    <em>[Your vassal Haze is in grave danger!]</em>

    <em>Haze?</em>

 Chapter 849

    Chapter 849

    Previously, the kings and emperors that lost their talents heard the news about the departure of the eight million troops of the Ardo Empire.

    Despite their mellow rtionship, these kings and emperors gathered together. They talked about wanting to send their own troops and destroy the Beyond the Heavens Empire together.

    Lets wait and see. Emperor Consteinus will definitely bear the consequences of bringing judgment upon the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    The kings and emperors that were moring for a piece of the pie promptly shut their mouths when they heard that. That was right. They might be boiling with rage but that did not mean that they needed to stain their hands with blood.

    But our people will also be there, wont they be swept away by this war?

    Thats right. They might have made a slight error in their choices but they are still people who we love and care about. I n to send some of my knights to save them.

    The kings and emperors pretended as if they truly cared and loved their subordinates. But if they were to be honest, they would only feel a tinge of pity should the talents who were stolen from them died in the war.

    They promptly decided to send a variety of people to win back their talents once again. However, after a few hours, the kings and emperors received shocking news.

    They said that Emperor Consteinus bowed to the Beyond the Heavens Emperor.

    They said that they did not go to war. They marched all for the sake of sending Amacar off.

    The kings and emperors were left reeling in shock after they heard the reports. Then, were they supposed to send their own troops now?

    Right now, Emperor Consteinus is currently stationed in front of their empire.

    Emperor Consteinus Ardo Empire was only second to the Luvien Empire. They could not send troops when such a person was still inside the Beyond the Heavens Empire. As a result, they were at a loss. Were they just supposed to let the Beyond the Heavens Empire be?

    At that moment, the king of the Andraui Kingdom rubbed his chin and said, From what I heard, the woman named Haze was the one who contributed greatly in this talent recruitment.

    The other kings and emperors turned to look at him. They all knew of this woman. She was a woman with a smart head and a very glib tongue.

    Is there anyone here who bought something from her?

    There were quite a few things that came to mind when the kings and emperors heard it.

    I have bought some Blessed Water from the God of Life. When I drank it, I felt like my entire body was purified.

    I bought the Pure Soil bestowed by the God of Earth. I left it in my room and it felt like the air had cleared up.

    I bought quite a lot of good things.

    The emperors and kings all looked happy as they recalled the things that they bought. However, they soon realized that something was off.

    ...I obviously heard that they did not have much stock left.

    She said that theres not much water left so I shouldnt tell it to others. ording to her, the value would only go up if thepetition intensifies.

    But it seems like theres more stock than what we thought.

    The kings and emperors realized something one after another. The king of Andraui Kingdom hurriedly dumped the soil from the fancy ss bottle that he bought it from on the ground.

    After checking it Its just dirt.

    ...!

    ...!

    Even the waters just in water. Everything that we purchased from that woman is just something ordinary.

    The kings and emperors realized how dim-witted they had been. They did not even realize how eloquent the woman was. However, the most important factor here was that Haze did not push the sale unto them.

    We were the ones who asked to buy it. What can we do?

    All of them were afraid that their stupidity would be revealed to the public if they pursued the matter.

    We might be the ones who wanted to buy it but she used that glib tongue of hers to make fun of us. What should we do? The king of Andraui Kingdomughed maniacally. Shall we use her to attack the Beyond the Heavens Emperor Minhyuk?

    ...!

    ...!

    Everyone felt like they had been sshed with water when they heard those words. The reason why they were not able to attack the Beyond the Heavens Empire outright was because they did not want to get used of getting back at him for the talent recruitment fiasco.

    However, this was different. The emperors subject used lies to deceive the kings and emperors and take away their money, causing them humiliation.

    Then, if we can find out that this was ordered by Emperor Minhyuk, we will have the justification to lead our entire army to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    A vicious smile appeared on the faces of all of the kings and emperors present.

    Tell those that we have sent to the Beyond the Heavens Empire to capture that woman.

    ***

    Haze had been impatient. She was tasked to gain ten million tinum within two weeks by just using her glib tongue. Thankfully, at the perfect moment, she was given the opportunity to meet with the kings and emperors.

    <em>[You have earned 9.49 million tinum using your brilliantmunication skills.]</em>

    <em>[You need 510,000 tinum more to change your ss to the God of Fraud ss.]</em>

    She thought that if she could get a bit more, then she would be able to be a bigger help to Minhyuk. Haze wanted to do something for His Majesty, who had saved her from the brink of death. However, she was not as strong as Spear God Ben, nor as charismatic of amander as Brod. She could not even lead a Demonic Army like Great Demon Elpis to help the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    To be honest, Haze did not want to be a God. No matter how much she looked at it, it was scary to be one. After all, she was just an ordinary human, with a slightly excellent brain and a smooth, eloquent tongue. Besides, what was the God of Fraud?

    However, the temptation was that the money that she could gain once she became the God of Fraud could easily double.

    <em>I want to be of use to His Majesty.</em>

    Therefore, even though she was nothing but an ordinary human being, she decided to be a God. The problem was she had been far too greedy. And this greed had caused her to be in this situation.

    The cover that blocked Hazes vision was finally removed from her face. The kings and emperors all looked down at her with arrogant expressions on their faces.

    The emperor of Ath Empire angrily twisted open the water bottle in his hands and threw its contents at Haze, who was tied tightly with a rope.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa</em>

    She looked like a drenched rat with the water dripping down her face.

    This is the Blessed Water from the God of Life? After we checked it, it was nothing more than ordinary water!

    I have made it clear to you, Ath Empires emperor. No one knows about this. Only time will tell

    Shut up!

    The kings and emperors were left boiling in rage after seeing Haze still trying to hoodwink them despite being in danger. However, they had a goal in mind.

    The sin of humiliating all of the kings and emperors present here you will have to pay it with your life.

    The kings and emperors wanted one answer from Haze, which was, <em>Emperor Minhyuk made me do it.</em> In fact, it did not even have to be that exact answer. As long as the incident was connected to her emperor, whether it was true or false, it did not matter.

    <em>Swoosh</em>

    The Ath Empires emperor unsheathed his sword and pointed it at her neck. Blood immediately dripped down the sharp de of the sword. Meanwhile, the kings and emperors sat back and looked at her as if they were watching something fun and interesting.

    Dont you want to live?

    The answer to that question was obvious. Every human being had the will to live. As for Haze, she was not a soldier. She was just an ordinary person. For someone like her, death was something that she was terrified of. In fact, she feared death more than others.

    Hazes body trembled fiercely.

    Did your emperor make you do it? Just answer that question and I will spare your life.

    ...!

    Only at this point did Haze realize why they were doing this. They wanted to use her as an excuse to wage war against the Beyond the Heavens Empire. However, the problem was everything that she did was based solely on her discretion.

    His Majesty has never ordered me to do such a thing.

    The Ath Empires emperor grabbed her small face tightly. Say it!!!

    His Majesty never ordered me to do such a thing.

    Hearing her answer, Ath Empires emperor whispered mockingly, Thats not the answer I want. You can get out of this ce safely as long as you say yes.

    ...

    The killing intent that shed in the eyes of the Ath Empires emperor made Haze tremble more fiercely. At the same time, the other kings and emperors began to shout.

    Quick, say it!!!

    Quickly!!!

    Say it!!!

    Tell us what your emperor is like!

    Do you want to die, huh?!

    We can even throw you and turn you into prey for monsters!!!

    Haze grew more and more afraid, the pressure they were emitting too much for an ordinary woman like her. In the end, she fainted.

    Tch.

    All she needs to do is be a whistleblower.

    Just put some more pressure on her and she will spill everything.

    One of the kings present then motioned for his soldiers, gesturing for them to throw water on her and wake her up.

    ***

    Special yers Management Team.

    Lee Minhwa was very happy because she finally had a junior employee right below her! He was even one of the thousands who overcame Team Leader Parks picky and tedious interviews. From what she heard, the new junior employee had high mental strength.

    Lee Minhwa was looking at the monitor seriously with the new employee, Lee Tae-Sung, beside her.

    The hill is just right around the corner

    Lee Tae-Sung opened his mouth when he heard her murmurs. He said, Uhmm, senior.

    Why?

    Theres something Im curious about, can I ask about it?

    Of course.

    The God of Fraud is literally a scammer. So, why do you look so worried?

    A scammer. A fraud. Perhaps to Lee Tae-Sung, a neer to the Special yers Management Team, Haze was nothing but a bad seed. It was only natural. There was no one in the world who would think well of a scammer and a fraud, no? However, Lee Minhwa was different.

    Shes one of the NPCs who I admire the most.

    Yes?

    Lee Minhwa smiled when she saw how bewildered Lee Tae-Sung was. Then, she said, What do soldiers do when empires go to war?

    They fight and try to kill each other, right?

    Thats right. They fight and kill. But why do they need to fight and kill?

    So that they could defend their empire with their own power?

    Thats true. So, is it bad to lie in order to protect your own empire?

    ...

    Lee Tae-Sung looked like he understood it to some extent but that was not really the case. However, Lee Minhwa was patient and exined it to him one by one.

    She had never spent a single dime of the profits that she had earned on herself. Everything was spent for the people of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    That meant that all of the lies she told were for the sake of her empire.

    Then, what do you think about when you hear the words <em>God of Fraud</em>?

    What god? One look and you know that theyre up to no good.

    Thats true too. But do you know the conditions that one has to meet before they could be qualified to be the God of Fraud?

    Lee Tae-Sung, as a newbie, might not know but Lee Minhwa was fully aware of it.

    They have to lie not for themselves but for the sake of others. They have to lie in order to protect the people.

    There were many scammers in Athenae too. There were a considerable number of people who were better than Haze when it came to telling lies. So, why was she chosen?

    Ah. Theres a secret hidden behind the ss.

    A secret?

    Lee Minhwa turned to look at Haze, who was disyed on the monitor. She thought that it was a pity that the girl would not be able to unravel the secret of the God of Fraud ss. There was a chance that she would die today.

    Senior, whats the secret? Im so curious.

    The God of Fraud is a secret ss.

    A secret ss meant that it was a ss that was hidden, not made known to most yers.

    Its a God ss, but its also a secret ss?

    Thats right. The gods real name is not the God of Fraud. From what I know, the Athenaes Story Team had put great care and love when creating this ss.

    New employee Lee Tae-Sungs curiosity was now piqued. He asked, Whats the name of the god?

    The gods true name is

 Chapter 850

    Chapter 850

    The kings and emperors looked at Haze, who was currently on the verge of death. Their gazes were filled with surprise. She was only an ordinary petite woman, yet her will and spirit was stronger than that of a man, perhaps even that of a knight.

    She had never uttered a single word that could implicate Minhyuk. Upset, the Ath Empires emperor had cut her arm with a poisoned dagger to put even more pressure on her. The poison that he used was a very deadly one, which could kill someone within thirty minutes if not given the antidote. However, Haze was an untrained personnel. This meant that the speed at which the poison spread would be faster.

    Haze was now truly dying, herplexion pale and wan.

    Quick, say it! Say it!!!

    Come on! Say that it was your emperor who told you to do this and I will give you the antidote!

    The kings and emperors were now truly in a hurry. If things continued at this rate, then Haze would truly die. If she died at this point, then they would get nothing, nothing at all.

    <em>Urk</em>!

    Red blood dripped down Hazes mouth. She felt like all of the organs in her body were being twisted and her blood was flowing backward.

    Elise, the emperor of Ath Empire, grabbed Haze by the cor and shouted with veins popping out of his forehead, Say it!!! Say that your emperor made you do it!!! Say it now!!!

    Haze was nothing but an ordinary human being. She was not strong and there was no way for her to ovee this difficulty. There was only one thing that she could do.

    I will say it Haze struggled to speak, feeling as if she would throw up blood at any given moment. She knew that she had less than three minutes to live.

    I lied solely because of my own greed and to fulfill my own self-interest.

    There was just one thing that she was good at and that was lying. However, the fact that His Majesty Minhyuk did not instigate her was the truth. However, she had to add a little lie so as not to let these people take advantage of even the slightest gap.

    I have been using my glib tongue to mislead people and live the life of a wealthy person!

    Haze had never bought a single luxurious item for herself.

    I told lies so I can eatvishly and allow my children and grandchildren to live in abundance!

    The people ate better than her.

    I joined them to take advantage of the Beyond the Heavens emperor!

    Haze shouted like that, but that was not what she did at all.

    I am a b*tch who has gained so much by lying behind His Majestys back!

    Haze had never used her skills for her own good.

    Hazes breath slowly turned shallow. She had said all of these things to keep these people from going after her emperor. That was the final lie that Haze, the prime minister of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, an ordinary human and woman, would make.

    So, spare me! If you spare me then I will give you the Beyond the Heavens Empire as long as you give me a million tinum!

    <em>Greedy up until the very end.</em>

    At this point, even the emperors and kings could not tell if she was lying or telling the truth.

    This woman lies even until the moment of her death.

    You want us to give you money? Even at your veryst breath?!

    What a mad woman. Shes truly crazy for money.

    B*tch, do you think youre worth a million tinum?!

    The emperors and kings finally gave up.

    Haze smiled faintly, <em>Your Majesty, no one is going to touch you anymore.</em>

    She was still thinking of him, up until the moment she died.

    <em>I hope Your Majesty will be happy. Please forgive me for not being able to be a God. I hope that you will be able to eat as much as you like.</em>

    The kings and emperors slowly turned away from Haze.

    I will give you one million tinum. I will take your word for it.

    Then, at that moment, a voice rang out. It was very familiar to the dying Haze. She looked up at the ceiling, and noticed white coins raining down from the sky.

    <em>Clink, clink, clink, clink, clink</em>

    Haze stared at the rain of white coins nkly.

    <em>[You have sessfully collected one million tinum by using lies!]</em>

    <em>[You can now change your ss to God ss: God of Fraud.]</em>

    <em>[You have triggered an </em><strong><em>Easter Egg</em></strong><em>.]</em>

    <em>[You have found the God of Frauds real name.]</em>

    <em>[Everyone pointed their fingers at this god knowing that all he could do was talk.]</em>

    <em>[Most of the gods ignored this god because he did not have any special ability or strong power like the others.]</em>

    <em>[He was a god who had been subjected to severe discrimination.]</em>

    <em>[He was a god who had always been made fun of.]</em>

    <em>[He was a god]</em>

    <em>[He was a god]</em>

    <em>[He was a god]</em>

    <em>[However, this god did not leave the Land of the Gods.]</em>

    <em>[All of his lies were so he could protect the other gods.]</em>

    <em>[One day, this god became the god who all of the other gods looked up to.]</em>

    <em>[When the Eight Pirs invaded, he stood there alone and fought against them.]</em>

    <em>[He fought with what he had. He lied to protect the Land of the Gods.]</em>

    <em>[Because of his lies, the Eight Pirs were forced to give up and return.]</em>

    <em>[With just his words, he was able to save the Land of the Gods.]</em>

    <em>[He became the god who everyone loved.]</em>

    <em>[He became the god who everyone cared about.]</em>

    <em>[He became the god who earned everyones respect.]</em>

    <em>[He]</em>

    <em>[He]</em>

    <em>[He]</em>

    A voice rang constantly in Hazes ears. The voice sounded like it had recognized her and her efforts.

    The truth was, there were people who were quite reluctant to interact with her, as they viewed her as obsessed with money, in the Beyond the Heavens Empire. The children even called her <em>Haze Who Cried Wolf.</em> No one recognized her sacrifices.

    However, even if no one recognized her, she still did not leave. Why? Because it was the empire that she loved. Because the people who she loved lived in this ce. And because the emperor who she loved and cared for the most was there.

    That was right. She became the girl who cried wolf. And as the story went, the ending of the girl who cried wolf was tragic.

    <em>[He]</em>

    <em>[He]</em>

    <em>[He]</em>

    Haze looked at the man amidst the constant notifications and the rain of white coins that was walking toward her one step at a time. This man was the reason why she willingly became the girl who cried wolf. He was the reason why she never regretted all of the actions that she had taken so far. In fact, she would continue to lie for this man.

    Haze smiled brightly as the man approached her.

    ***

    This was a story from a long time ago. It was a story from when Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was just newly established.

    Back then, the people, the soldiers and even the yers would often whisper to each other whenever Haze passed by.

    I heard that she lied just to establish a trade with another kingdom?

    Our kingdom only has around 600,000 troops. However, she exaggerated her words and made it seem like we have three million troops and took money from them.

    How can someone like her be our prime minister? <em>Tch, tch.</em>

    Haze was young and beautiful, she also had an extraordinary mind and superbmunication skills. However, the people remained wary and uneasy about her. Some thought of her as someone who built the kingdom with lies, while others were just in jealous of her. After all, she was an ordinary young woman, yet she was already sitting in the position of prime minister.

    Every time she went out, people would whisper about her.

    The girl who cried wolf is passing by.

    Shell hear you!

    What? Did I say something wrong?

    These whispers spread all over the kingdom until a report finally reached Minhyuk.

    Your Majesty, the people resent and hate our prime minister, Lady Haze.

    Minhyuk learned that they called Haze the <em>Girl Who Cried Wolf</em> and that many people did not like her. Upon learning about this matter, he quickly visited her to take a walk and have a talk.

    Haze, I know that what you want is all for the good of the kingdom. However, I want you to also think for yourself.

    For me, Your Majesty?

    Haze was definitely a beauty. Her fair skin and wide and round eyes made her very attractive, despite having no essories on her body at all.

    Minhyuk, who saw the confusion on Hazes face, smiled bitterly and said, Haze, I dont want you to get hurt because of me.

    Minhyuk was fully aware that of the sacrifice Haze was willingly undertaking, for him and the Beyond the Heavens Kingdoms sake. He also received a report from one of the knights.

    <em>I have seen the Prime Minister crying in the food storage warehouse.</em>

    Haze was still young. No matter how mature she acted, she would not be able to bear the weight of countless people pointing their fingers at her and whispering about her. Minhyuk spoke those words because he was fully aware of this fact.

    However, Haze just shook her head and said, Youre wrong, Your Majesty. I am not telling lies just because of you, Your Majesty.

    She looked around the kingdom. It was peaceful with children running around and people greeting each other, as they bought their goods and went about their errands.

    I might have exaggerated my words, and will continue to do so for the sake of this nation. Why would you think that Im only doing this for you, Your Majesty?

    Its been hard on you, Minhyuk said, a bitter expression on his face.

    Haze shook her head in response. Of course, Im having a hard time. After all, the people do not have any trust or faith in me anymore. Even so, Im still happy. Seeing the children running around and the people living prosperously because of my words is enough for me. Thats all I need.

    Haze said that she was happy despite being criticized and discriminated against. Minhyuk could only stare bitterly at her back for a very long time after he heard those words.

    ***

    Quite a long time had passed since then. The once humble Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had now be a strong and powerful empire.

    Haze was very impressed with the God of Fraudno, the God who originally had a different namethat eventually received the love of all of the gods despite only telling lies. At the same time, she thought, <em>I can never be loved like that.</em> Unlike that god, she could spin her words that could save the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    On the other hand, she felt envious. Envious of the god who was able to receive the recognition of many despite only telling lies. Meanwhile, Haze could not even get out of her room much in the Beyond the Heavens Empire. She had developed a social phobia from the scathing eyes and the fingers that were constantly pointing at her.

    <em>I also want to be loved by everyone.</em>

    But then, at that moment, Minhyuk, who had been walking toward her, triggered his Gods Voice.

    <em>[She has received the dislike of everyone.]</em>

    <em>[She has always been pointed at by everyone.]</em>

    <em>[She always has a hard time talking to anyone.]</em>

    No one wanted to talk to Haze the Liar. But everything was different now.

    <em>[They heard that she copsed from overwork.]</em>

    <em>[They saw that the essories that were usually dangling in her hands had disappeared.]</em>

    <em>[They realized that they were living prosperously in the kingdom that she helped build.]</em>

    <em>[One day, they started to care about the Girl Who Cried Wolf.]</em>

    <em>[One day, they started to whisper.]</em>

    <em>[Shes the one who loves and cares for the Beyond the Heavens Empire the most.]</em>

    All of these were things that Minhyuk had witnessed himself. He saw how the people, who disliked Haze, began to care for her and show her love. Minhyuk crouched down and held Hazes slender hand the moment he reached her side.

    Haze cried.

    <em>Do the people truly love me? Are there truly many people who care for me? Even though Im just the Girl Who Cried Wolf?</em>

    I saw it myself.

    Their thoughts have changed after seeing you work so hard to the point that you forget to sleep.

    They havee to admire you after learning that you have not spent a single dime on yourself despite earning a lot of money.

    The children dream of bing <em>you</em> when they saw how dedicated you are to the empire.

    Haze felt delighted. The ending of the Girl Who Cried Wolf was tragic. Haze had already epted that fact. However, at this moment, she knew that the ending of Prime Minister Haze would be a very happy ending.

    Thank you, Haze. Thank you for your dedication and devotion to me, the empire, and the people.

    Finally, the notifications that rang in her ears ended.

    <em>[The real name of the God of Fraud will now be revealed.]</em>

    <em>[The name of the God that you have be a descendant of is God of Devotion.]</em>

 Chapter 851

    Chapter 851

    Even before the Beyond the Heavens Empire was established, Minhyuk was already aware that the most devoted person to the nation was Haze. If he knew, then the people and the soldiers would also know.

    The people who saw her whispered about how Haze studied every single day, trying to learn how to enable the people to live and prosper, to the point that she would only sleep two hours to four hours a day.

    The priest, who checked up on her, whispered about the time when she copsed from overworking. When she had woken up, she immediately stood up while saying, <em>I have work to do.</em>

    The fruit store owner whispered about how she would peel and cut a single fruit to small pieces to save money despite being able to secure more profits for the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    Several whispers reached hundreds to tens of thousands of ears, eventually changing their view of Haze. Everyone learned of Hazes hard work. Then when a boy pointed his finger at her

    Mom, look. Its Haze Who Cried Wolf.

    This rascal! You cant say that. Shes not the one who cried wolf. Shes the most respected figure in our empire.

    The people had already fallen in love with her. They knew that she represented the Beyond the Heavens Empire. They knew that she had continued to devote herself to them despite the fact that they had pointed fingers at her and criticized her. They knew that she continued to work hard for their sake, despite the overwhelming physical and mental fatigue that she had to endure.

    So, perhaps, the notifications that appeared in front of Minhyuk were the most appropriate notifications.

    <em>[Your vassal Haze has gone beyond the limits of a human and has be a god.]</em>

    <em>[She was a woman that lied. However, all her lies were filled with devotion.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Devotion has been born to the world.]</em>

    <em>[You are the Battle Gods Descendant and the Food God. You can now include Haze in the Food God Swords.]</em>

    <em>[You can only choose a total of thirty Food God Swords. The thirty Food God Swords will represent and prove your prowess and majesty.]</em>

    Minhyuk had once told Haze about how he could pick the <em>Food God Swords</em>. The Food God Swords could experience a 10% increase in growth rate and a 3% increase in all stats. These Food God Swords would be the face of the empire. They were just like the Luvien Empires Swords of the Gods.

    When Haze heard that, she said

    <em>You have to consider this carefully, Your Majesty. They will be the pirs of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.</em>

    However, Minhyuk did not hesitate.

    <em>[You have chosen the first member of the Food God Swords!]</em>

    <em>[You have chosen God of Devotion Haze as one of the Food God Swords!]</em>

    <em>[Prime Minister Haze has be the first Food God Sword!]</em>

    ...Your Majesty, didnt I tell you? The Food God Swords will represent the Beyond the Heavens Empire, Haze said, ck blood dripping down her chin.

    However, Minhyuk just held her hands gently. Fortunately, the poison that was ravaging her body was slowly being driven away the moment she became a god. After all, gods had a body that could not be damaged or killed by some light poison.

    <em>aaaaaash</em>

    Then, at that moment, a pir of light fell down from the sky and enveloped Haze. Just like that, her vitality and life was fully restored. She slowly stood up as the notifications continued to ring in her ears.

    <em>[Your total HP and MP have increased significantly.]</em>

    <em>[Your defense has increased significantly.]</em>

    <em>[Your attack has increased significantly.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Devotions skills has been revealed.]</em>

    <em>[Special stats: Dazzle (DAZ) and Faith (FTH) have been created.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained +10,000 DAZ.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained +10,000 FTH.]</em>

    Amidst the notifications, a voice rang in Hazes ears.

    <em>[The God of Devotion is looking at you with a smile!]</em>

    <em>[The God of Devotion says that youre the only one that can inherit his position!]</em>

    <em>[The God of Devotion wants you to be loved!]</em>

    Everyone viewed the God of Fraud in an unfavorable light, especially since his name contained the word <em>Fraud.</em> However, the real name behind it carried majesty, grace and nobility.

    Beyond the Heavens Emperor! You have extorted us through your prime minister!

    The kings and emperors looked embarrassed as they stared at the one million white tinum coins that littered the ground. An emperor hade here for the sake of one mere subordinate. However, they also thought that it was a good thing.

    Kneel down in front of us right now! Apologize for what you have done!

    They all knew that they could not overpower Food God Minhyuk right here and now. However, if they could force Minhyuk to apologize to them right now, then that would mean that he would admit to ordering Haze to extort them.

    However, Minhyuk was a king that knew his subordinates well. He knew the type of woman Haze was. She would definitely not give them the answer that they wanted.

    I have no idea what youre talking about.

    Minhyuk blinked, his palms clenching into a fist. These people had kidnapped, imprisoned, tortured and tried to kill his precious subordinate.

    Thats funny, I have never done anything that you are using me of. More importantly

    A cold glint appeared in Minhyuks eyes as he looked at the kings and emperors. Murderous intent shed in his eyes andpletely overwhelmed these treacherous kings and emperors. Some of them might be more powerful than the rest. However, in front of Minhyuk, who had sealed one of the Great Demon and had killed one of the Six Monster Gods, they were nothing. If Minhyuk went crazy here, then they would not be able to stop him.

    How should you pay for the crime of harming my subordinate?

    ...Hiiiik!

    How dare you use us! Shameless!

    At that moment, the powerhouses of the different empires and kingdoms began to flock in right after Minhyuk appeared. Minhyuk could tell that the situation was taking an unusual turn. He desperately wanted to grab these stupid kings and emperors by the cor and throw them on the ground. However, if he did that, then they would truly go to war.

    <em>I have to do something, but I cant figure out what to do.</em>

    However, unlike Minhyuk, Haze seemed to have figured out a way for them to get through this situation.

    Do all of the kings and emperors here want to wage war with the Beyond the Heavens Empire?

    The kings and emperors smiled widely when they heard Hazes question.

    If the need arises.

    At that moment, Haze triggered one of the skills that she received after bing the God of Devotion.

    <em>[You have triggered the skill: Inducement!]</em>

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Inducement</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: God</em>

    <em>Passive Skill</em>

    <strong><em>Level</em></strong><em>: MAX</em>

    <strong><em>Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>You can induce and lead the most influential person among those that you are conversing with to say what you want to hear with your words.</em>

    <em>They will follow your words as if they are possessed, the direction of the conversation will depend on how youmunicate and speak with them.</em>

    The most influential person among the emperors and kings present was Elise, the emperor of the Ath Empire.

    <em>I really want to say something.</em>

    Elise felt strange. There was a strong urge to say words right now, it was like his mouth was tickling and he had to say it so badly. In the end, he could not ovee the ticklish sensation in his mouth. He opened his mouth and said, Do you think your Beyond the Heavens Empire can handle us, huh? If you take out your empires prominent talents then your military force is nothing but rubbish.

    <em>[Inducement has been sessful!]</em>

    <em>[Please lead the conversation in the direction that you want.]</em>

    It was very important to be the one to lead the flow of the conversation.

    So, Your Majesty is saying that our empire is nothing but a weak empire without our talents?

    Am I wrong? What else is left if they are not in the picture?

    To some extent, those words rang true. The main reason why the other empires and kingdom could not invade the Beyond the Heavens Empire was because Ben and Brod lived there.

    <em>[You have triggered the skill: Agreement.]</em>

    <em>[They will agree with Emperor Elises words.]</em>

    With Inducement, Haze could lead the conversation and make them agree with what she wanted. However, the skill: Agreement would only be triggered if there were others around.

    Just like that, the other kings and emperors nodded.

    Beyond the Heavens Empire is a shabby and useless nation, theres nothing left to see there.

    Just what the hell does the Beyond the Heavens Empire think it can do?

    Its quite ridiculous topletely rely on and believe your talented people just so you can y around.

    We can even push back the Beyond the Heavens Empire right here and now!

    The kings and emperors voiced their agreement to Emperor Elises words.

    Then, Haze asked, Lets all be honest here. All you want to do is to get your talents back, no? That is why you are threatening me and His Majesty.

    <em>Ahem!</em>

    <em>Ahem, ahem!</em>

    <em>Hmmm</em>

    That was the truth. If the Beyond the Heavens Empire returned their talents right here and now, then they would all shut their mouths and return to their own empires and kingdoms. No, to be honest, they would even be willing to apologize.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk looked at Haze and thought, <em>Thats surprising.</em>

    They were in a situation where all of the kings and emperors present were arrogant and confident, yet they were all being forced to go along with Hazes words, which resulted in this strange yet gentle flow of conversation.

    <em>Is this the power of the God of Devotion?</em>

    Anticipation slowly built up within Minhyuk as he continued to watch Haze.

    So? Are you going to give them back?

    Are you going to return our talents?

    The moment those questions were uttered, another skill was triggered.

    <em>[Gods Negotiation has been triggered!]</em>

    It was a skill that would assist Haze into leading the negotiations in their favor. She would just be able to dazzle and seduce them into whatever result she wanted the negotiation to have.

    Sure, we can give them back.

    ...!

    ...!

    ...!

    The faces of the kings and emperors all turned bright. Would they be able to get the talents that they have lost back? There was nothing better than that.

    However, we just cant return them to you like that. We have our own conditions.

    However, Haze would never make an offer that would not bring her profits. All of the kings and emperors present here had already suffered greatly from Hazes hands, but they found themselves hooked on her words.

    <em>Why do I want to hear those conditions?</em>

    <em>If only I can get them back then</em>

    <em>I can bring them back. I can take them back to my empire!</em>

    The greed in their hearts started to boil over.

    A hundred thousand tinum per talent. Ah, each of Your Majesties also has to give one <em>Authority Herb</em> to us. After all, you have humiliated our Beyond the Heavens Empire here. Hazes expression grew stern. You even looked down on our Beyond the Heavens Empire, daring to call it shabby and useless.

    The kings and emperors all turned silent. They did not dare to refute Hazes words. After all, they all thought that they would be able to get their talents back soon.

    You even dare to say that our troops are nothing but rubbish. Then, put forward those powerful soldiers that you are proud of. If any of your soldiers can win against the people that His Majesty had summoned, then we will give you your talent back. Of course, they are free to choose whoever they want to fight amongst those that His Majesty had summoned. However, if they lose, then you will have to pay us a hundred thousand tinum.

    ...!

    ...!

    ...!

    In other words, she wanted them topete against the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    Of course, those that we will summon would not include our Beyond the Heavens Empires Spear God Ben, Brod, Elpis or any other talents that you tried to recruit.

    Greed immediately filled the eyes of the emperors and kings.

    <em>[The skill: Gods Negotiation is making their hearts waver!]</em>

    All of them believed that the Beyond the Heavens Empire was nothing without those aforementioned talents. Besides, their side could even choose their opponents. The conditions were amazing.

    And these terms for our negotiations will only be in effect for four minutes.

    Minhyuk, who listened quietly to Hazes words, could see where she was going with this.

    Let me say it again, these terms would only be in effect for four minutes.

    <em>[Through Gods Negotiation, those who are listening to you will start to feel nervous and be panicked!]</em>

    So, bring forward your chosen fighters from your empires and kingdoms. We will only summon twenty soldiers on our side. If the subordinates of Your Majesties could win against these twenty soldiers, then we will return your talents.

    Of course, Haze did not forget to emphasize the risk involved.

    Again, if your chosen fighters lose, then your talents will not be returned and you will have to pay us a hundred thousand tinum and one Authority Herb.

    The Authority Herb was a mysterious herb that could increase the CHA of the kings and emperors. These kings and emperors would often consume this herb right away the moment they get their hands on it.

    Minhyuk understood what Haze wanted to do here.

    <em>Haze, you</em>

    The twenty soldiers and the four minute time limit. Those were the conditions that she brought forth.

    In order for these kings and emperors to regain their talents, they immediately chose strong personnel from their empires and kingdoms and brought them forward. Their numbers were well over fifty.

    <em>You induced them to agree to the conditions for me to summon the Immortal Knight Order?</em>

    The Battle Gods Immortal Knight Order was something that Minhyuk had acquired when he became the Battle God. There were a total of twenty knights in this order and all of them looked shabby and rugged, like mere weak soldiers. However, the most important point here was

    <em>Themander of the Immortal Knight Order is Sword God Valen.</em>

 Chapter 852

    Chapter 852

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Battle Gods Immortal Knight Order</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Active Skill</em>

    <strong><em>Mana Required</em></strong><em>: 500 per second</em>

    <strong><em>Level</em></strong><em>: Master</em>

    <strong><em>Cooldown</em></strong><em>: Three Months</em>

    <strong><em>Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>You cannot summon those that belong to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.</em>

    <em>You can gather and rally everyone that you know, whether they are at the end of the world or in Hell, in front of you as long as they give you their explicit approval.</em>

    <em>Those who have been summoned can only fight for you for four minutes.</em>

    <em>Your CHA stat will permanently decrease every second upon summoning the Immortal Knights. The permanent decrease will depend on the number you summoned.</em>

    <em>Your EXP will permanently decrease every second upon summoning the Immortal Knights. The permanent decrease will depend on the number you summoned.</em>

    <em>The moment you gather the Knight Order, your HP will immediately drop to 20%.</em>

    <em>You can select themander of the Immortal Knights that you will gather.</em>

    <em>Themander of the Immortal Knights will have a 1.2x increase in strength.</em>

    <em>The Immortal Knight Order boasts highly of their covertness. They would appear with a ragged look and would wear a horned helmet on their heads. The horned helmet will cover their face making it impossible for others to see through the identity of the knights.</em>

    The Battle Gods Immortal Knight Order was an active skill. Due to the restriction, the skill could not be considered as a broken one.

    -<em>You cannot summon those that belong to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.</em>

    To put it simply, one could only summon outsiders. However, it was nigh impossible for yers to recruit powerhouses externally. It was also very difficult for them to gain their approval for a summoning. On top of that, there was even a severe penalty where ones CHA and EXP would permanently decrease while the knights were summoned.

    <em>A single summon can result in a one level drop.</em>

    With the decrease in CHA, summoning one Knight would most definitely decrease ones CHA by around 400.

    The use of this skill required careful consideration of the gains and losses. It would be very beneficial for Minhyuk to summon them if the Beyond the Heavens Empire was in danger. Their help would allow them to tide whatever danger they were facing. Even if Minhyuks level dropped by one and his CHA decreased by 400, as long as the situation became beneficial for them, he would still summon them. That was the case right now.

    <em>Haze You</em>

    The chosen warriors of the kings and emperors would challenge those that Minhyuk summoned. The kings and emperors were already in the midst of choosing the talent that they would send forward. The numbers of their chosen had now increased to above a hundred.

    If they could get a hundred thousand tinum for each of these one hundred men, then they would be able to gain around ten million tinum in total. That was a ridiculous amount of profit. It would be enough to fund the operations of the Beyond the Heavens Empire for half a year.

    However, the kings and emperors were proud and confident. Minhyuk could only summon twenty soldiers, while they had chosen almost a hundred men on their side.

    Once you are called, please choose one of the summoned soldiers. Now, please line up.

    <em>Ugh!</em> Why are you so slow?!

    I might miss the opportunity to bring back our talents because of you!

    The kings and emperors med their subordinates for not being able to stand at the front. As for the one standing at the front of the line, it was none other than Emperor Elise. He was currently smiling in delight. The one that he had put forward was one of his empires pride.

    The Ath Empire might not be as strong as the Ardo Empire or the Luvien Empire. However, their empire was filled with exceptional talents, and there was another name that they went by: the Empire of Martial Masters. Despite the recruitment offer from the Beyond the Heavens Empire, there were still countless talents that remained in the Ath Empire to protect Emperor Elise.

    Among those that remained in the Ath Empire was Sir Arcalso, the <em>Prince of the Sword.</em> Arcalso was a high-leveled NPC whose level had crossed Level 610, and was a genius born and raised in a prestigious and noble swordsmanship family. In fact, Arcalsos family had provided countless warriors and masters to the Ath Empire.

    Emperor Elise smiled in delight as he looked at Arcalsos dignified and majestic appearance. At the same time, he also did not forget to express his anger toward the Beyond the Heavens Empire for taking their talents away.

    Are they allowed to kill if they obtained victory?

    Emperor Elise was arrogant through and through. He, along with the kings and other emperors, had already tried to recruit the talents of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. They believed that without those talents, the Beyond the Heavens Empire had nothing.

    <em>Do they have hidden talents? Thats bullshit.</em>

    If that was the case, then they would have already seen those talents during the war with the Luvien Empire. In his eyes, this was nothing but Hazes all-in to bluff their way out of the situation. The proof of this was the flustered expression on Hazes face.

    Is is there a need to kill?

    She looked confused as if she had not expected the situation to reach this point. It was as if they were in a situation where they were trying to fend them off with lies but they ended up outright attacking them.

    However, unbeknownst to him, this notification rang in Hazes ears.

    <em>[Devoted Acting has been triggered!]</em>

    The Devoted Acting skill allowed one to act as if they were those that were worthy of the Best Actor Award, even though they were not originally good at acting. It was like giving Haze, whose acting was already on par with many A-listers, wings. She had only showed some sweat on her forehead and palms, but it made the kings and emperors believe that she was afraid.

    I will kill. Listen, Beyond the Heavens Emperor, you have taken away our talents and even used that woman named Haze to extort money from our kingdoms and empires. You have to pay for this sin! Emperor Elise roared.

    Hearing this, Haze immediately turned to Minhyuk. She was showing an expression as if she did not want him to agree to this.

    Your Your Majesty, no matter how

    Minhyuk and Haze were always in sync. They could tell what the other was thinking with just one nce. Minhyuk immediately adopted an ugly expression on his face. He looked like he was responding to their provocations as he said, Then, that means that my soldiers can also kill the strong men that you have brought forward.

    Ha Hahahahahahahaha!!! Emperor Elise guffawed. Yes. Ah, yes of course.

    Fufufufufufu!

    Sure, you can do that!

    The other kings and emperors also burst intoughter.

    Haze hurriedly cried out, Your Majesty!!!

    She looked frantic as if she wanted to stop Minhyuk right away. Then, at that moment

    <em>[Devoted Acting is currently in effect.]</em>

    <em>[Your acting will be more powerful when working with another person.]</em>

    <em>[Your emperor, Minhyuk, also possesses the power of Devoted Acting.]</em>

    Minhyuk was very capable of method acting, and he was making full use of it right now.

    Haze, they have ignored and trampled on the pride of our Beyond the Heavens Empires precious talents. Minhyuk turned to look at the kings and emperors as he continued, As the emperor of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, how can I just sit back and watch them ridicule my empire without even fighting back?!

    B But Your Majesty

    This emperor has no intention of changing my thoughts!

    Forgive this servant of yours for suggesting this thing to the other kings and emperors Haze said, bowing as if she was truly a sinner.

    Then, Minhyuk said, I will ept your condition. However, my soldiers will also be allowed to kill your talents.

    Thats only natural.

    Well, we dont know if they could truly kill one of them.

    Except for those that we have tried to recruit, the Beyond the Heavens Empire has no other talents, no?

    Of course, Minhyuk did not forget to mp down on those who mocked him and his empire.

    Just like before, I want you to sign a contract. I hope this time, you all won''t go back on your words.

    Of course.

    The same should be true for you, Beyond the Heavens Emperor.

    Minhyuk received the approval of all of the kings and emperors. Just like they have discussed, they only had four minutes to win their talents back.

    Then, I will summon them now, Minhyuk said as he activated his skill.

    <em>[You have triggered the Battle Gods Immortal Knight Order!]</em>

    <em>[It will take some time to summon the knights of the Immortal Knight Order!]</em>

    <em>[The knights of the Immortal Knight Order are now being summoned one by one!]</em>

    Just like that, the knights of the Immortal Knight Order appeared one after the other. All of them were wearing ragged and shabby uniformsa ripped and shabby robe on top of old leather armor. Their ensemble was alsopleted with a horned helmet that only showed their eyes, nose, and mouth. The only thing that distinguished them from each other was their physique. Among them, there was one who was as huge as a mountain and another who was petite and slender.

    They have been training in the mountains, Minhyuk said in embarrassment. He sounded as if he was making excuses for their unsightly outfit.

    We dont have much time. Lets get on with it.

    Elise sounded as if he did not care much for anything else. It was already disgraceful enough for their warriors to fight against these mere insignificant soldiers. However, the one he sent forward was still none other than Arcalso.

    You go on and choose for yourself.

    Arcalso was a very cautious person. He was someone who was not even willing to take on the risk for something if it had a 0.01% chance of failure. Unlike the kings and emperors, he was not misled by their unsightly appearance. Thankfully, he was in a situation where he was free to choose who he wanted to fight. So, he chose the one with the smallest body build.

    Id like to fight with this person.

    The person that Arcalso pointed at took a step forward. The long hair that was hanging through the gaps of her helmet told them that she was a woman. However, Arcalso did not choose her just because she was a woman. After all, there were cases where women were extremely talented with the sword. Arcalso was aware that he had to take the first win and the reason why he chose her was because of the difference in their physique. There would definitely be a huge power difference between him and her.

    Minhyuk, who looked at the person that Arcalso chose, thought, <em>Even if you carefully choose your opponent</em>

    Ath Empires Arcalso was also someone that Minhyuk tried to recruit. This was because he knew that he was a figure that would definitely be able to shake the entire continent in the future with his sword alone.

    However, the figure that was standing in front of Arcalso had a reputation that far exceeded his own.

    <em>Sword Emperor Ellie.</em>

    She was once chosen to be the descendant of the Sword God. These days, Minhyuk had started to call her by the name.

    <em>Attention Seeker Emperor Ellie.</em>

    There was just one tiny thing that Minhyuk was very worried about. That worry intensified when he saw the tiny smile on Ellies lips.

    <em>Look at that. Look. Ahh! That noona! Shes definitely thinking about how to get the most attention in front of all of the kings and emperors!</em>

    Minhyuk had already epted the fact that his Attention Seeker Emperor Ellie noona was a true and certified attention seeker. It was just as Minhyuk thought. Ellie could see that the kings and emperors from various continents were gathered here. Even though she could not reveal her identity, she still wanted to show off her majesty as the Continental Emperor.

    <em>Arcalso, huh?</em>

    Ellie had heard that he was an up anding swordsmanship genius. She was already thinking of showing this genius how wide the world truly was.

    <em>All of these kings and emperors will definitely be shocked because of me, no?</em>

    The Attention Seeker Emperor was thinking about the attention that she would receive from all of these people.

    Then, at that moment, Arcalso said, Ah, this I dont know how I will start to attack you. You look like you will break if I tap you.

    Ellie stood silently in front of Arcalso despite his provocative words.

    You can attack first, Arcalso said as he shrugged his shoulders.

    At this point, Ellie had already determined how she could receive <em>attention</em> by teaching this arrogant punk in front of her.

    Kekekeke. Fufufufu.

    He told her to make a move first, no?

    Go on, lets see it.

    How can she even wield a sword with those small hands of hers~?

    Ellie moved amidst the jeers of the kings and emperors. In one swift movement, her sword had already shot out. Its target was Arcalsos neck.

    ...!

    Arcalso was shocked. The speed at which the woman moved was beyond his expectations. He quickly tried to lift his sword to stop her, however, Ellie maneuvered her sword and moved it out of the way. Then, she folded her left elbow and hit him on the chin.

    <em>Craaaack!</em>

    The sound of Arcalsos jaw breaking rang loudly in the area. Ellie, someone who was a candidate to inherit the position of the Sword God, had both attack and defense that were beyond anyones imagination.

    <em>Thud!</em>

    It only took one move to knock Arcalso out. The worst part was it was with only her elbow, not even her sword. Ellie stared at Arcalso, who had fainted from the pain of his jaw breaking. Then, she asked Minhyuk, Can I kill him?

    ...

    ...

    ...

    ...

    Minhyuk grinned as he replied, Of course, you can kill him.

 Chapter 853

    Chapter 853

    The other kings and emperors were fully aware of Arcalsos reputation. He was not only a genius born in a prestigious and noble swordsman family but also a master of the sword who would lead an entire continent in the future.

    Arcalso was a high-level NPC, above Level 600, and themander of the Ath Empires First Knight Order. Although he was not yet capable of fighting toe to toe with the Swords of the Gods right now, he had great talent that would very likely allow him to surpass them shortly.

    However, that very same Arcalso had fainted from the pain of his jaw being broken. Seeing this, all of the kings and emperors present were left wide-eyed and ck-jawed. The one who was most surprised about this oue was none other than Emperor Elise.

    What What the hell is this?!

    Emperor Elise could not understand what was going on.

    The woman in a military uniform had been aiming her strike at Arcalsos neck. But in an instant, she had turned, and her elbow had made contact with Arcalsos jaw, breaking it.

    It had to be known that Arcalso had fortified his body with strict discipline and diligence. This meant that no amount of force should have been able to bring Arcalso into shock.

    <em>But in just one move?</em>

    Arcalso had been knocked out with one blow.

    The woman then pointed her sword at Arcalsos neck and asked, Can I kill him?

    The Beyond the Heavens Emperor responded arrogantly Of course.

    The negotiations had already been discussed and signed. Besides, the ones who had suggested this were the kings and the emperors. Even if the woman, Ellie, were to kill Arcalso, none of them could make a fuss or attempt to attack her.

    Just when Ellie was about to chop Arcalsos head off

    W-wait! Stop!!! Emperor Elise shouted hurriedly. He shook his head as he stood in front of Arcalso. Th-theres no need to kill him, right?!

    ???

    Ellie stopped in her tracks and turned to look at Minhyuk.

    The one who answered Ellies unspoken question was Haze. Wasnt it you, Your Majesty, who suggested this first? Didnt you say that you would kill the talents we summoned, and in return, we could also kill the talents you brought forward?

    ...

    Emperor Elise was left with nothing to say. However, Ellie frowned when she heard Hazes words.

    <em>[Gods Negotiation has been triggered!]</em>

    Even so, we, of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, are not cruel enough to kill the talents of the other empires that have gathered here.

    Emperor Elise felt delighted. Th-thank

    However, you have to pay five hundred thousand tinum.

    This is daylight robbery! Emperor Elise shouted with wide eyes.

    Five hundred thousand tinum was a huge amount even for him.

    Then, shall we kill him, Your Majesty? Haze asked with a glint in her eyes.

    Emperor Elise was rendered speechless. Nevertheless, considering Lord Arcalsos value, the five hundred thousand tinum would not be a waste.

    N-no I I will pay.

    <em>[The Ath Empires Emperor Elise promises to pay 500,000 tinum to the Beyond the Heavens Empire!]</em>

    Please take your sword away from him. However, you may continue to subdue the others who are standing in that line over there, Haze said.

    Ellie found Haze to be quite cute. She nodded slightly as she looked at the long line behind Arcalso.

    <em>sh Ping Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping Ping!</em>

    Then, she began to overwhelm and subdue those talents with a single swing of her sword.

    <em>Thud.</em>

    <em>Thud.</em>

    <em>Thud.</em>

    The kings and emperors were all rendered speechless as they watched their talents copse in just a blink of an eye.

    Ellie looked nonchntly at the fallen talents and asked, Are you going to pay, or am I going to kill them?

    ...

    ...

    <em>[The Iris Empires Emperor Crevice promises to pay 300,000 tinum to the Beyond the Heavens Empire!]</em>

    <em>[The ine Kingdoms King Bormon promises to pay 200,000 tinum to the Beyond the Heavens Empire!]</em>

    <em>[The Aeodo Kingdoms King Henia promises to pay 150,000 tinum to the Beyond the Heavens Empire!]</em>

    Minhyuk knew that his wallet was going to be thick and full as he listened to the notifications that rang constantly in his ears. As for Ellie, she felt very satisfied because she had managed to sessfully attract the attention of everyone right from the start.

    Meanwhile, the kings and emperors all looked dumbfounded after seeing Ellies fighting prowess.

    <em>Who the hell is that woman?</em>

    <em>How is such forceing out of that small body?!</em>

    They could only think of a few people who were that powerful. However, it did not cross their minds at all that Ellie might be part of Minhyuks knight order.

    Meanwhile, Emperor Elise was clenching his fists tightly. Several warriors had lost against Ellie in the blink of an eye, making them lose nine hundred thousand tinum in one go.

    Sir Hanor! Show them your strength!

    Yes, Your Majesty!

    Hanor was another of the Ath Empires prides. Everyone knew that Hanor possessed herculean strength. He had been working as a mercenary for ten years and had even been nominated as a candidate for Mercenary King. He was at around Level 600.

    The person whom Hanor had chosen to fight also had a gigantic physique.

    Emperor Elise said, That guy is huge. Seeing that the one with the smallest physique could disy such great power, its clear that their appearances are just for show.

    Yes, Your Majesty.

    Show that guy your herculean strength.

    A loud thud echoed as the mountain-like Hanor took a step forward and stood face-to-face with the man he singled out. Despite being over two meters tall, Hanors opponent looked like a child in front of Hanor, who stood at 2.4m tall and was a <em>giant</em> in the literal sense.

    Unbeknownst to Hanor, the man hed chosen to fight was <em>Mercenary King Venteio.</em> Just like Hanor, Mercenary King Venteio also used the sword as his main weapon. However, Hanor was so huge that the greatsword he wielded looked like an ordinary sword in his hands.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa</em>

    Hanor swung his sword fiercely as he waited to hear the sound of his opponents head getting brutally cracked open.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang</em>

    However, the only sound was a loud thud. The man lifted his sword with one hand and easily blocked Hanors attack. Hanor pushed his sword downward with increased force, trying to cut through the mans sword. At that moment, the man began to push back more forcefully.

    Hnggggh?

    Hanor had never been dealt such a powerful attack in his entire life. He was using both hands to press his sword down, but the man in front of Hanor was sessfully pushing back despite only using one hand.

    <em>aaaaash</em>

    The moment Hanor tried to counter with increased force, the man immediately swung his sword and cut him down. The man looked nonchntly at Hanor, who was now bent over backward from the force of his attack.

    <em>Hanor was nominated as a candidate to be the Mercenary King.</em>

    Minhyuk also knew about Hanor. However, the difference between <em>someone nominated</em> and <em>someone who became the Mercenary King</em> was like the difference between heaven and earth.

    Venteio pointed his sword at Hanors neck and said, How much for this one?

    ...

    Anger washed over Elise, making him tremble and shake. However, the problem was he was one of the ones who had suggested that the talents be allowed to kill their opponents. On top of that, he absolutely could not lose Hanor.

    Elises gaze drifted. He finally had the mind to look around him.

    N-no! Dont kill him!

    Uwoooh! Please Please spare him!

    A man with only a somewhat well-built physique waspletely overwhelming the warriors of the other kingdoms and empires with just a swing of his sword. This man was none other than Overlord Raldo.

    There was also a dark-skinned woman holding a mysterious whip. She waspletely subduing all of the warriors who chose to fight her with one crack of her whip.

    <em>Craaaaaack</em>

    Keooooooook!

    However, the problem was the woman failed to control her strength and ended up killing the warriors who fought against her. This woman was none other than Great Demon Gremory. Gremory had responded to Minhyuks summons, but she did not feel the need to spare her opponents. All she wanted was to make the humans who tried toe at her pay the price.

    Seeing Great Demon Gremorys actions made the kings and the emperors more anxious. They began to beg for the lives of their men to be spared.

    <em>[You have received the promise of a total of twenty million tinum in payment!]</em>

    This amount was enough for the Beyond the Heavens Empire to operate their empire for an entire six months while expanding their territory and influence.

    After witnessing the warriors on his side lose one after the other, Elise finally felt that something had gone wrong.

    Enough!!! Stop! We cant win!

    He realized that he had once again been fooled by the Beyond the Heavens Empire. Not only were they unable to bring back the talents that they had lost, but they were also forced to lose an enormous amount of funds.

    Elise stood up as he shouted at Minhyuk, You have once again used that glib tongue of yours to destroy us, huh?! Minhyuk answered him curtly, What seems to be the problem?

    Hiiiiiik!

    Emperor Elise could not retort, but his cries were able to stop the reckless behavior of the other kings and emperors present.

    Then, Minhyuk said, Theres only one minute left.

    After that minute was over, they would no longer be able to fight against the soldiers of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. In other words, they would be left in a situation where they had gained nothing and only lost more.

    Realizing this fact, the kings and emperors all shuddered with rage.

    However, Beyond the Heavens Emperor Minhyuk just mocked them and said, <em>Hmph.</em> Fine. I will give you onest chance.

    Minhyuk adopted a bitter look on his face as he continued, After all, what good would it bring me if Im the only one beating you up?

    ...

    First, he was going to make them listen to his sweet and tempting offer.

    Right now, this knight over here has not been chosen since earlier.

    Minhyuk pointed at the knight who looked the most ordinary out of all of the knights that Minhyuk had summoned. The knight had an ordinary physique and an average height, and that was perhaps why he had not been chosen.

    If all of your remaining warriors can win against him, then we will return all of your talents. Additionally, we will also return the tinum that you have promised to pay us as well as the recruitment fee that we received before.

    Your Majesty!!! Haze shouted hurriedly.

    Meanwhile, the kings and emperors began to murmur amongst themselves. There were around forty warriors left. These warriors had levels that ranged between Level 570 to Level 610.

    Simply put, Minhyuks offer was too sweet. He would return everything if all of the warriors who represented their kingdoms and empires won against one knight. There was a saying that when a person was lost on the road, the most terrifying thing was the fact that their mind would be filled with thoughts of wanting to go home. And right now, that was what was happening. Even though the kings and emperors were very suspicious of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, they still wanted to pin theirst hope on him and his words.

    Minhyuk nodded slightly at Haze. Whats the point of beating them up and dealing with them right here and now? It would be better for them to look at Beyond the Heavens Empire favorably in the future.

    The kings and emperors thought that had to be the case. What was the probability of the Beyond the Heavens Empire surviving after they took advantage of all of the people present here? It would be less than 1%. Besides, if the Beyond the Heavens Empire were to truly return what they had promised, then that could be the start of a friendly rtionship with the other kingdoms and empires. After all, they had already clearly proven their abilities at this point.

    However, what if the Beyond the Heavens Empire was tricking the kings and emperors again?

    <em>No. Thats impossible. It would be impossible even for the talents of the Beyond the Heavens Empire to deal with this number of people.</em>

    <em>One has to be at the level of Spear God Ben to deal with this many people. Its impossible to hide that kind of power.</em>

    <em>This is true.</em>

    One by one, the kings and emperors began to ept the suggestion. After all, no knight could deal with this many people at this level with their power alone. They judged that what Emperor Minhyuk said was very likely to be in their favor.

    Theres not much time left, Minhyuk reminded them.

    With the time ticking away, their conflicting feelings began to grow wildly. Was the Beyond the Heavens Empire acting suspiciously, or was Emperor Minhyuk telling the truth? Should they believe his words or not?

    I I will ept! Emperor Elise said.

    With someone pulling the trigger, the rest began to follow.

    I will also ept!

    I will ept it too!

    Right, lets do that then.

    Then, let me thank the Beyond the Heavens Emperor for his kindness and generosity in advance.

    <em>[All of the kings and emperors epted your proposal!]</em>

    <em>[If your knight loses, you will have to return everything that you received from them!]</em>

    <em>[If your knight wins, all of the tinum and rewards that they promised you will be paid to you!]</em>

    Since theres not much time, pleasee forward quickly.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud</em>

    The knight, who looked like the epitome of the words in and ordinary, took one step after another. He looked to be around 176 cm tall and had a well-built physique. Basically, he looked no different from any other ordinary knight.

    The kings and emperors were fully convinced that there was no way that such a knight would be able to beat all of the talents present there.

    It would be good if there was no killing involved.

    Of course.

    Whats the point in killing that poor and ordinary knight?

    They will try their best to hold back.

    Around thirty to forty warriors from each of the kingdoms and empires charged towards the lone knight.

    However, the kings and emperors were mistaken. The words that Minhyuk said earlier

    <em>It would be good if there was no killing involved.</em>

    Those words werent a plea to the other kings and emperors of the other kingdoms and empires but to his knight. After all, the knights name was <em>Sword God Valen.</em>

 Chapter 854

    Chapter 854

    <em>[Your CHA has decreased by 1 point.]</em>

    <em>[Your CHA has decreased by 1 point.]</em>

    <em>[Your EXP has dropped by 533,314 points.]</em>

    <em>[Your EXP has dropped by 568,413 points.]</em>

    <em>[Your EXP]</em>

    <em>[Your CHA]</em>

    Minhyuk, who used the Battle Gods Immortal Knight Order without any hesitation, finally experienced firsthand how drastic the penalties were. He could only summon the Immortal Knight Order for four minutes. Unfortunately, almost 300 points of his CHA and 21% of the EXP he needed to reach the next level had disappeared by the 3-minute 30-second mark. He had expected it to be bad, but facing how vicious and heinous the penalty was for using the Battle Gods Immortal Knight Order made him rethink using this skill carelessly.

    Fortunately, they were in a situation where the benefits outweighed the penalties, which Minhyuk was looking forward to.

    Elise and the other kings and emperors felt relieved as they watched the dozens of warriors charge toward the in and ordinary-looking knight.

    <em>I will now be able to get my talents back.</em>

    <em>Fortunately, we will be able to get back our funds.</em>

    <em>The Beyond the Heavens Emperor does not seem to want to beat us.</em>

    <em>It seems like we might even have to ask him to teach us a lesson properly.</em>

    <em>More than that I feel sorry for that knight. It seems like the Beyond the Heavens Emperor is working his men harder than what weve heard?</em>

    That would probably be the case from someone elses point of view. How wretched would that man be for his emperor to send him forward to get beaten like that? Of course, they did not truly care about that mans welfare at all.

    At that moment, a knight by the name of Johan could be seen running at the forefront. He was from the Pallotin Kingdom and was at Level 585. Approaching the ordinary-looking knight, Johan immediately raised his sword to hack him.

    <em>Vwooooooong</em>

    To his shock, his attack hit nothing but air. The ordinary-looking knight easily evaded his attack just by twisting one of his feet. However, what happened next was far more surprising. The ordinary-looking knight mmed the hilt of his sword on Johans face.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang</em>

    Johan soared to the sky, before hitting the ground a few meters away from where he initially was.

    Ughhhh

    At the same time, the ordinary-looking knight, in other words, Sword God Valen, finally made a move.

    <em>I was told that I should not kill.</em>

    The reason why Valen had not yet crossed the River of Reincarnation was because he felt like he still had quite a lot of things left to deal with. Besides, if he crossed the River of Reincarnation, he would no longer be able to see Minhyuk. To be honest, it was more so because he always felt happy to see Minhyuk.

    ...!

    The kings and emperors finally realized that something was wrong after they witnessed the ordinary-looking knight overpower the Knight Commander of one of the kingdoms just by mming the hilt of his sword. However, this realization came far toote.

    One of the spearmen tried to stab Valen with his spear. This spearman was hailed as the greatest since the establishment of the empire he belonged to.

    <em>Ting!</em>

    Valen easily blocked the spear''s tip with a light swing of his sword before narrowing the distance between them.

    <em>Craaaack</em>

    The spearman flew back after being hit by the hilt of Valens sword. Around fifteen warriors rushed toward Valen at the same time. However, none of their attacks reached him.

    <em>Craaaaaack</em>

    <em>ck!</em>

    <em>Crack, crack!</em>

    The kings'' and emperors mouths dropped open as the sound of flesh being hit continuously rang in their ears. How many times would mere humans be able to witness a gods momentum and might? They had only heard rumors of Spear God Bens deeds and acts. Sword God Valen was almost on par, perhaps even stronger than Spear God Ben.

    <em>Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom</em>

    In just an instant, the fifteen mighty soldiers who were the pride of their kingdoms and empires copsed all at once. But the onught on Valen did not stop, as twenty more people charged at him.

    Over overpower him somehow!

    We have to subdue him!

    We have to hold him back even if it means risking our lives!

    Everything would be over if they could not overpower that man. They would not be able to bring back their talents and huge amounts of money would be lost to the Beyond the Heavens Empire. The twenty warriors charged at Sword God Valen, filled with the determination to give up their lives. However, their numbers could not narrow the gap in skills.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    With every swing of Valens sword, a soldier would fall down. Valens attacks moved at a much faster speed than the attacks of the soldiers. Soon, the summoning time of the Battle Gods Immortal Knight Order ended.

    <em>[The Battle Gods Immortal Knight Order has ended.]</em>

    <em>[All of the knights will be sent back to where they were summoned from!]</em>

    <em>[Your CHA has decreased by 413.]</em>

    <em>[Your EXP has decreased by 26%.]</em>

    Just like Minhyuk expected, the penalty was truly too vicious and heavy. However, the gains truly outweighed those penalties.

    <em>[The Beyond the Heavens Empire was promised a price of 300,000 tinum and one Authority Herb per person that fought against the knights of your empire.]</em>

    <em>[You have been promised 15.34 million tinum!]</em>

    <em>[You have been promised 96 Authority Herbs!]</em>

    However, it did not end there. After all, Haze was now a god.

    <em>[Abundance Authority has been triggered.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Devotion will be able to get 1.5x more.]</em>

    ...!

    Minhyuk could not help but be surprised. After all, he would be able to receive 1.5x more rewards if he obtained it through Haze.

    <em>Isnt this a total scam?</em>

    Minhyuk was fully convinced that there was no other nonbat god that was more powerful than the God of Devotion.

    <em>What if this gets triggered all the time?</em>

    This wasparable to having a 1.5x increase in artifact drop rate for other yers.

    The fighters who copsed on the ground were all groaning in pain. Even if they had seen everything with their own eyes, the kings and emperors still could not bring themselves to believe the situation.

    <em>Gulp</em>

    Someone gulped dryly. At the same time, their resentment toward the Beyond the Heavens Empire grew even more. However, on the other hand, they had to think carefully before they could even make another move.

    <em>I would have to be prepared to lose everything if I ever want to bring down the Beyond the Heavens Empire.</em>

    Even though they would face a newly established empire, they knew that they had to prepare themselves to lose everything if they wanted to fight against them.

    You! You did it again!

    The kings and emperors realized that they had been in the palm of Minhyuk and Hazes hands.

    However, Minhyuk just looked coldly at them as he said, This is the price that you have to pay for touching this emperors people.

    The truth was, Minhyuk wanted to beat the shit out of all of these kings and emperors regardless of the benefits or whatever it was that he had to gain. After all, he saw Haze as his younger sister.

    A war? Sure. I can apany you for as long as you want if the need arises.

    ...

    ...

    However, I will order my men

    Minhyuk grinned before continuing.

    ...to kill all the kings and emperors present here first.

    This This bastaaaaaard!!!

    Bastaaaaaaaaard!

    Im im impudent!!!

    However, despite their enraged screams, the kings and emperors did not really dare to step forward. Their strongest men were all sprawled on the ground. Just the thought of having Spear God Ben and Broding to assassinate them should a war break out was enough to make their visions turn dark.

    Lets go, Haze.

    Yes, Your Majesty.

    Minhyuk and Haze stood up and turned around to leave.

    ***

    The following notifications rang for everyone in the Beyond the Heavens Empire:

    <em>[Prime Minister Haze, an ordinary human being, has be the God of Devotion!]</em>

    <em>[As the most devoted person to her empire, she bears the name of the most noble god, the God of Devotion!]</em>

    Despite the grandness depicted by the voice that rang in the empire, Haze was worried. It was easy for people to get jealous. Jealousy and envy were terrible, <em>terrible</em> things.

    A mere human being who was good at lying had risen to the position of a god. This was an achievement that even those who trained their whole lives, or seen everything and had pursued something for as long as they had remembered, might not be able to achieve at all. In contrast, Haze was able to achieve it because she was good at lying.

    Because of her crippling social phobia, Haze no longer went out of her room to wander around the Beyond the Heavens Empire for her private matters. It had been years since shest went out for herself. However, His Majesty told her when he grabbed her hands that the people of the Beyond the Heavens Empire had grown to love and cherish her after seeing how devoted she was to the people and the empire.

    Was that truly the case?

    After they had returned, Haze slept in her room for one whole day. Finally, after hiding in her room for several years, she gathered her courage and decided to go out. Even so, she was still very worried. What if the people looked at her with eyes filled with envy and jealousy?

    But when she walked out of the castle, she met the gaze of one of the maids. Shockingly, the gaze that the maid used to look at Haze was different from the gaze that she was very familiar with. The maids gaze was filled with genuine concern as well as respect and admiration.

    Prime Minister, isnt it better for you to get some more rest? I heard about what happened.

    Ah, Im alright.

    The maid that was now looking at her with concern was once the maid that had looked down at her.

    <em>Isnt that Liar Haze?</em>

    <em>Shes already so good at lying despite being so young?</em>

    <em>Shes nothing but a meremoner.</em>

    But now, the maids gaze was truly filled with concern and respect. Haze slowly walked out. This time, she ran into some of the soldiers of the empire.

    Prime Minister! Are you alright?!

    I will not let those goddamn bastards go!!!

    The soldiers roared furiously, their faces turning red from anger, as if they would go out to invade the kingdoms and empires right away. They were also the same soldiers who had looked down on and hated Haze before.

    <em>A young girl like that is giving us orders?</em>

    <em>Thats ridiculous.</em>

    But now, they were very worried about Haze. They were even ready to give up their life just to take revenge for her.

    Haze slowly gained confidence to go out. She took one step after another and finally stepped out of the imposing walls of the castle. At that moment, the beautiful scenery of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, a scenery that she could only get a vague glimpse of before, finally appeared in front of her eyes. She would often look down on the ground to avoid the gazes of the people around her whenever she had to leave the castle. Because of that, she failed to see the true beauty of the empire that she loved so much!

    When the people saw her, they immediately ran to her.

    Lady Haze! Are you alright?

    Did you get injured?!

    I will not let those bastards go!!!

    Aaah! They damaged your silky smooth skin!

    Are you really fine?!

    Haze kept walking amidst the concern of the residents of the empire with many of them carefully asking about her well-being.

    Noona! Are you okay?

    Haze noona, did you get hurt?

    I heard about what happened, Unnie. You endured even though those kings and emperors pointed their swords at you, right?!

    As Haze rubbed the head of one of the girls, another girl dered loudly, Noona! My dream is to be someone like you!

    Haze kept on walking.

    Haze!

    Prime Minister Haze!

    Hazeeee!!!

    People kept on calling out her name. They showed their concern and felt relieved when they saw that she was fine.

    <em>It seems like I might have cut myself off from the kingdom.</em>

    The things that she had done before when the Beyond the Heavens Empire was still the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom werepletely unknown to the world. Back then, the people did not know the purpose of her lies. Haze had been shackled by what she experienced in the past, thinking that everyone would hate and loathe her for what she did. But that was not the case at all. As time went by, the Beyond the Heavens Empire grew to care for her. They even worried for her. They would even go so far as tofort her to the best of their abilities.

    The God of Devotion was a god that did not possess Gods Voice. However, the God of Devotion had a special power called <em>The God of Devotions Story.</em> It could broadcast her achievements and the progress that she had made through the voice of Athenae, the greatest god. Through this skill, Athenae would read her achievements as if she were reading a fairy tale. And right now, this <em>God of Devotions Story</em> was triggered.

    <em>[Among the many gods, the God of Devotion was considered the most ordinary.]</em>

    <em>[Among the many gods, the God of Devotion had the least number of skills in their repertoire.]</em>

    <em>[However, the God of Devotion was the god that was loved the most by the gods.]</em>

    <em>[Among the many gods, the God of Devotion was the god that mostly lived for the sake of the other gods.]</em>

    <em>[The young and petite woman took small steps on her journey, with her first step for the benefit of the people.]</em>

    <em>[The woman took the second step in hopes of protecting her kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[The woman took the third step in hopes of bringing a life of abundance and prosperity for the empire that they had established.]</em>

    <em>[She might be the most ordinary god.]</em>

    <em>[But she is the most precious god.]</em>

 Chapter 855

    Chapter 855

    Minhyuk immediately consumed the Authority Herbs the moment he returned to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    <em>[You have eaten an Authority Herb.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1 CHA.]</em>

    <em>[You have eaten an Authority Herb.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1 CHA.]</em>

    <em>[...Authority]</em>

    Fortunately, he was able to restore some of the CHA that he lost, thanks to the Authority Herb.

    <em>Thats amazing.</em>

    The quick buck that he made with Haze this time was truly beyond expectations. What stood out more was Hazes <em>Abundance Authority</em>. It allowed her to obtain 1.5x more of what she had negotiated before! Because of that, Minhyuk was able to obtain funds that were well over twenty million tinum.

    <em>Ten million from this money can be used to rehome our newly recruited talents and help with the training costs.</em>

    The other ten million would be used for the empires maintenance funds, while the excess would be used for the empires expansion and development as well as the strengthening of the militarys training. This was the only way for the Beyond the Heavens Empire to survive.

    <em>We need to grow and develop faster.</em>

    Otherwise, the Beyond the Heavens Empire would be devoured.

    Over twenty million tinum was a ridiculous amount. However, this amount disappeared in an instant after it was divided for the empires development. Fortunately, there was no need for him to worry. After all, their empire now had the reliable God of Devotion on their side.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Haze</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: God of Devotion</em>

    <strong><em>Level</em></strong><em>: 485</em>

    <strong><em>Attack</em></strong><em>: 1,203</em>

    <strong><em>Defense</em></strong><em>: 5,431</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>Passive Skill: Inducement</em>

    <em>Passive Skill: Agreement</em>

    <em>Passive Skill: Gods Truth</em>

    <em>Passive Skill: Gods Negotiation</em>

    <em>Passive Skill: Devoted Acting</em>

    <em>Passive Skill: Abundance Authority</em>

    <em>Passive Skill: God of Devotions Story</em>

    <em>Active Skill: Truth or Lie</em>

    <strong><em>Potential</em></strong><em>: 157</em>

    <strong><em>Experience Value</em></strong><em>: 25% / 100%</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: Haze. She was a girl born with a clever mind, and devoted herself to the kingdom for the sake of others, which allowed her to gain new powers after being recognized by the God of Fraud, or the God of Devotion.</em>

    Hazes special abilities were unique. Usually, an individuals passive and active skills would have a 5:5 ratio. However, in Hazes case, most of her special abilities were passive skills. Among these passive skills, the thing worth paying the most attention to was the Abundance Authority.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Abundance Authority</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: God</em>

    <em>Passive Skill</em>

    <strong><em>Level</em></strong><em>: MAX</em>

    <strong><em>Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>Using the various skills in your possession, you can obtain 1.5x more of gold or whatever quantity of the item that you will receive.</em>

    <em>There is a 1.2% chance of obtaining double the amount of what you will receive.</em>

    It was an extremely good skill. And although there was a minuscule 1.2% probability of it getting triggered, doubling the amount that Haze would receive was nothing to scoff at.

    Finally, there was a skill that Minhyuk was very confused about.

    <em>Truth or Lie?</em>

    It was the only active skill possessed by the God of Devotion and it had a very unusual name. Of course, Minhyuk checked it right away.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Truth or Lie</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: God</em>

    <em>Active Skill</em>

    <strong><em>Mana Required</em></strong><em>: 500~2,000</em>

    <strong><em>Cooldown</em></strong><em>: 15 minutes</em>

    <strong><em>Level</em></strong><em>: MAX</em>

    <strong><em>Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>You can express a variety of thingslike what you want to create, how you want to attack the enemies and many morethrough your words and it woulde into existence.</em>

    <em>However, it could either be a truth or a lie.</em>

    <em>There is a 50% chance of it bing the truth or vice versa. The probability would vary slightly from time to time.</em>

    <em>The higher the difficulty and level of the way you want to attack your enemy, the higher the chances of it bing a lie.</em>

    <em>However, if it bes the truth, your attack skill will be able to exert whatever force you want.</em>

    <em>The skill damage would be determined by the system.</em>

    <em>If you so wish, the skill can have no damage at all.</em>

    ...?!

    Minhyuk was shocked.

    <em>She can create whatever skill she wants?</em>

    To put it simply, if Haze were to say, <em>The sea shall rise and reach heights of ten meters and engulf all of the enemies in a one-kilometer radius. </em>and it became the truth, what would happen? A ten-meter-high wave from the sea would appear and devour the enemies.

    Or if she said, <em>Strike the enemys vital point with a heavy blow. </em>and it became the truth, then a powerful skill would manifest and stab the enemies vital points.

    It was a skill with endless possibilities. Of course, it did not have a 100% chance of being triggered. After all, there was a higher chance of it bing a <em>lie</em> the more one talked about things that were well beyond their powers. However, it was obvious that this was the most cheat-like skill that Minhyuk had seen so far.

    Just in time, Haze entered Minhyuks office with a bright smile on her face. She said, Your Majesty! Your Majesty, what you told me was true! All of the people really care for me! They all like me!

    Minhyuk had actually heard the God of Devotions Story fifteen minutes ago. The Greatest God Athenaes voice ringing like she was reading a fairy tale book had the power to make those that heard her voice feelfortable. He smiled at Haze, who ran swiftly to where he was with a delighted smile stered on her face.

    I told you so. Many people care about you. They love you dearly.

    Haze was embarrassed but the happy smile on her face was unmistakable.

    Actually, Minhyuk wanted to check the skill now. So, he said, Haze, can you try using Truth or Lie?

    Truth or Lie?

    Haze was also very curious about the only attack skill that she had gained, the Truth or Lie. Hazes lips cracked into a grin when she saw Minhyuk nod.

    I understand, Your Majesty.

    At this point, Haze knew that the Truth or Lie was a much more important skill than what she originally thought. But it did not matter, the more ways there were to protect the Beyond the Heavens Empire, the better. She had determined that this power could allow her to protect the empire that she loved.

    The two went out to the balcony together. The balcony was a ce where one could see the entirety of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    Of course, there should be no actual damage.

    I understand.

    As long as Haze wished it, she could take out the attack from the skill created by the Truth or Lie. In other words, she could create something that could be considered an illusion.

    Haze, who was pondering deeply for a moment, finally opened her mouth and said, The first cherry blossom tree grew.

    <em>[You have used the Truth or Lie!]</em>

    The tree is teeming with the blooming cherry blossoms.

    <em>[The Truth or Lies skill is starting to take form!]</em>

    Tens of thousands of trees carried the vibrant pink and blooming cherry blossoms on their branches.

    <em>[The Truth or Lies skill is taking form!]</em>

    As the cherry blossom season has gone by, the petals of the cherry blossoms slowly fell down and covered the world, like snow in winter.

    <em>[Is it the truth? Or is it a lie? This will now be chosen!]</em>

    <em>[The skill does not have any attack power.]</em>

    <em>[The probability of the skill being the truth has increased.]</em>

    <em>[Truth or Lie.]</em>

    Haze and Minhyuk looked over the Beyond the Heavens Empire as they waited for the result of the skill, waiting expectantly.

    <em>[Truth!]</em>

    In the sky above the Beyond the Heavens Empire, a gigantic tree grew rapidly until a cherry blossom bloomed on its branches. The tree was soon covered with cherry blossoms while tens of thousands of trees appeared around it.

    W wooooooooah!

    Its a cherry blossom tree!

    So So beautiful

    The tens of thousands of trees that bloomed above the Beyond the Heavens Empire resulted in a stunning sight. In this stunning view, the cherry blossom season soon passed. And slowly, ever so slowly, the petals of the cherry blossoms began to fall like snow. It was just as Haze said.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaa</em>

    Minhyuks and Hazes eyes met after they watched the falling cherry blossom petals cover the entire Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    What if, for example, those falling cherry blossom petals could explode the moment theynded on the ground?

    <em>It would cause a huge amount of damage.</em>

    Or, what if those cherry blossom petals pierced through the bodies of the enemies?

    <em>Many enemies would die.</em>

    Of course, if Haze set it that way, then the probability of the skill bing the <em>truth</em> would drop sharply. However, assuming that the Truth or Lie skill could seed even once in ten times, or even once in a hundred times, it would still be aplete cheat.

    Haze said, Now, I

    ...

    I also have the power to protect you, Your Majesty.

    Haze seemed to be more pleased by that fact.

    Minhyuk smiled faintly and asked, Arent you hungry?

    Only when she heard that question did she realize that she had not eaten anything for a long time. Seeing her clutching her stomach pitifully, Minhyuk said, I will cook for you.

    You mean, youre going to cook for me, Your Majesty?

    Even though Minhyuk loved to cook, he did not cook just for anyone. He was already an emperor after all. Haze was very moved when she heard his words.

    Minhyuk took her back inside before starting to cook. He boiled the noodles and quickly stir-fried the ck bean sauce. He also fried the pork coated with batter inside the pan filled with boiling oil.

    <em>Sizzleeeee</em>

    He also boiled some soup with dashes of chili oil floating above it. At this point, one would be able to guess what Minhyuk was cooking. Yes, it was none other than Chinese Cuisine. Chinese food would always hit the spot whenever one did not want to do anything, or they were just having a day off. The dishes that Minhyuk made were jjajangmyeon, jjamppong, tangsuyuk and fried rice.

    Take your pick and eat, Haze.

    Yes, Your Majesty, Haze said, her face filled with great anticipation as she raised the chopstick in her hands. At that moment, she caught sight of Minhyuk.

    <em>You clearly told me that you would cook for me, right?</em>

    However, Minhyuk looked more excited than Haze.

    Minhyuk looked at the jajangmyeon in front of him. It looked shiny with the sauce, and the scent wafting from the bowl was enough to make ones mouth water. Minhyuk quickly mixed the jajangmyeon with his chopsticks. Then, he grabbed a huge mouthful and ced everything in his mouth.

    <em>Sluuuuuuuuuuuurp!</em>

    A pleasant smile instantly appeared on his face the moment the sweet jjajangmyeon entered his mouth.

    <em>Sluuuuuuuuuuuuuuurp!</em>

    Minhyuk personally preferred adding some kimchi and pickled radish on his jjajangmyeon. However, there were days when he would want to add some scallion kimchi on it. So, he quickly took out a huge mouthful of scallion kimchi that he had prepared before and put everything in his mouth.

    <em>Crunch, crunch</em>

    The spicy scallion kimchi made his grin grow even wider. After eating the jjajangmyeon like that, he turned his attention to the tangsuyuk. He grabbed a piece of crunchy pork and dipped it in the sweet and sour sauce.

    <em>Munch, munch</em>

    The pork, which was crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside, tasted superb.

    Kghhhhk Minhyuk eximed in admiration as he picked the bowl of jjamppong.

    Then, he immediately took a sip of the spicy and refreshing soup.

    <em>Sluuuuuuuurp.</em>

    What else could he do but shout, <em>Ho!</em> in admiration? The spicy and hot jjamppong easily washed away the greasy vor of the jjajangmyeon. And since he already finished the jjajangmyeon earlier, he now put his entire attention into finishing the jjamppong. Minhyuk quickly removed the flesh from the shell of the mussel and ate it together with a huge mouthful of the noodles that was coated with the spicy soup.

    <em>Sluuuuuuuuuurp!</em>

    Then, he picked some raw onions and dipped them in some chunjang.

    Kghhk!

    The chunjang greatly enhanced the sweetness of the raw onions. After eating the jjamppong like that, Minhyuk quickly mixed the fried rice with the remaining ck bean sauce from the jjajangmyeon.

    <em>Sluuuuuurp</em>

    Whenever his throat got dry or the greasiness got too much, he would take a sip of the spicy jjamppong soup. Minhyuk ate everything with a wide and bright smile on his face.

    <em>As expected of His Majesty</em>

    Haze could not help but look at Minhyuk in awe as she watched him devour three bowls of jjajangmyeon, two bowls of jjamppong, one serving of fried rice, and tworge portions of tangsuyuk in one sitting.

    Minhyuk sat in front of Haze as he waited for her to finish eating.

    <em>Knock, knock</em>

    Minhyuk looked at the door in doubt when he heard the loud knock.

    Enter.

    The one who knocked on the door and entered the office was none other than Brod.

    Your Majesty, theres trouble.

    Minhyuks doubt grew when he heard Brods words.

    Trouble?

    The newly recruited talents are harboring severe distrust toward Your Majesty.

    ...?

    The look of doubt and puzzlement grew even deeper on Minhyuks face.

 Chapter 856

    Chapter 856

    The Beyond the Heavens Empire had over thirty newly recruited talents. Most of them were born as <em>legends</em> or <em>heroes</em> in their previous nations. Of course, these people had heard the word <em>genius</em> from a very young age. Although their levels varied greatly, they were high, ranging between Level 570~620.

    The one in charge of their training was none other than Amacar, an incredible talent and a genius in his own right. He was also well-versed in teaching and training, possessing a passive buff skill that would help those under his tutge to grow on their own. Because of that, the talents respected Amacar.

    It had to be known that the reason why most of these talents came to the Beyond the Heavens Empire was because they all had something that they wanted to achieve. One was promised the first peek of all of Best Selling Author Aruvels new works, while another was tempted by the ck hair that grew on their shiny and twinkling heads. However, after obtaining what they wanted from the Beyond the Heavens Empire, they were ovee with regret.

    <em>Was it that important enough for me to leave the ce where I was born?</em>

    <em>Because of my greed, my daughter, who came here with me, is having a hard time adjusting to life in the Beyond the Heavens Empire.</em>

    <em>Because of my greed, I have brought pain to my family.</em>

    <em>Just this? Is this the only thing that I can receive when Ie to the Beyond the Heavens Empire?</em>

    That was just how a person was. Once they obtained what they had been craving for and wanting for a very long time, it would never be enough. That was not all, the families that these recruited talents brought with them were truly unable to adapt to life in the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    That was only natural. After all, they left the ce that they had lived in for all their lives and were forced to adapt to living in a very unfamiliar ce. In addition, the majority of the people who moved here came from ces that had conditions that were far better than those the Beyond the Heavens Empire was offering them. After all, the empires where they came from had a stronger foundation and were muchrger than the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    Of course, their distrust waspletely directed to one person alone.

    Can His Majesty make such an outstanding dish?

    His Majestymands Sir Brod, Sir Amacar, and the Spear God. However, does he truly have the qualifications to hold that much power?

    Is he truly someone who can lead us?

    The Beyond the Heavens Empire was just a kingdom not too long ago. Of course, they, the representatives of their respective empires and kingdoms, had heard of the majesty of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom before. The feats of how they had sealed Great Demon Verus, hunted the Six Monster Gods, as well as the Demigod Asura.

    However, they were also fully aware that the legends and myths of every kingdom and empire often tended to be exaggerated. It was likely that the Beyond the Heavens Empire was no different.

    Sir Amacar, you havent seen His Majestys military might and power yet, right?

    ...Thats thats right.

    Amacar could only smile bitterly as he watched the newly recruited talents chat like that during their rest in between training. One of the reasons why Amacar had chosen Minhyuk was because he could see his potential to stand toe to toe with Consteinus, perhaps even higher. Also, he could see that he was an emperor that cared for his people.

    However, that was not the case for the others. They had to be presented with a definite <em>result </em>and clear <em>profits</em> to prove that their choice to migrate to this empire was correct.

    <em>This is a situation that His Majesty will have to deal with and go through himself.</em>

    Amacars favorability with Minhyuk increased when he talked with him. However, these people had not had a chance to have a proper conversation with His Majesty yet. For them, Minhyuk was just someone who recruited them after striking a deal with their previous rulers.

    It feels like were nothing butmodities. Its as if those emperors had traded us, no?

    Sir Brod and Spear God Ben had said that Emperor Minhyuk would be different. However, it remains to be seen.

    We havent even seen the face of our new emperor.

    This was also true. Minhyuk had not met with them properly yet. In a way, this could be considered to be Minhyuks fault. However, it was mostly because he had a lot of work to deal with. Haze had been kidnapped by the other kings and emperors right after they had finished recruiting these talents, and he had only been able to return from rescuing her less than a day ago.

    However, such an excuse would not work for these people.

    Hes strong and he can make outstanding dishes? Its too exaggerated.

    They thought that this would be very difficult. How was it possible for someone to be strong, and also able to make divine and godly dishes? They thought that this was most likely a lie that God of Devotion Haze had concocted.

    At that moment, Minhyuk appeared with Brod from afar. Minhyuk had expected this to happen sooner orter.

    <em>These talents were recruited so suddenly. It would be strange if they did not have a singleint.</em>

    They all stood awkwardly, greeting Minhyuk with half-hearted courtesy when they saw him approach.

    Youre here, Your Majesty.

    Minhyuk took a careful look at these talents. These people had all been considered as the pride of their kingdoms and empires previously.

    I know that its been a while since you came to my Beyond the Heavens Empire. Forgive me for not paying much attention to your situation during that time.

    You must be very busy. However, it seems like its because you believe that things will turn out fine, no?

    The blunt and sarcastic response came from Spearman Keller, causing Minhyuks face to turn ugly.

    <em>I have to beat this bastard up first.</em>

    Spearman Keller was at Level 610. Among the newly recruited talents, he was considered one of those top-quality warriors. The reason why he came to the Beyond the Heavens Empire was because Spear God Ben came to see him. He had never thought of bowing down to anyone other than Spear God Ben.

    Unfortunately, it was not just Keller who was looking at Minhyuk with clear distrust. Most of the recruits were looking at him with the same look.

    Then, Minhyuk said, If, by any chance, there is something that you need, I will make sure to help you.

    Help us? What do you mean by that?

    Of course, I will help you with what this emperor does best.

    Everyone here knew that what Minhyuk did best was <em>cooking</em>.

    I have heard rumors about how excellent Your Majestys dishes are. However, I dont know if your dishes will truly be able to give us what we want.

    This time, the one who replied was a man named Halsen. He was well-known for being a <em>Culinary Researcher</em>, a ss that had the power to study any dish and, surprisingly, make its effects even better.

    <em>For me, hes a necessary talent.</em>

    Halsen might just be the talent that Food God Minhyuk needed to add more strength to his buffed dishes.

    Of course, there were also quite a lot of people who spoke as sharply as Halsen.

    Who knows? What I want right now is to get a foundation that would allow me to grow stronger and develop further.

    Hmmmm

    Hmm Will Your Majesty even be able to help us achieve what we want?

    Minhyuk took note of everyone who mocked and jeered like Keller in his head. Then, at that moment, a man carefully raised his hand.

    Your Majesty.

    He was the most cautious among all the talented men present. Unlike those who spoke before him, his gaze was filled with respect and admiration for Minhyuk.

    <em>Ride Kingdoms Epaule.</em>

    Ride Kingdoms Epaule was the kingdoms knightmander. Strangely enough, Epaule immediately migrated to the Beyond the Heavens Empire the moment the empire reached out to him.

    I want to gain strength and obtain a faster growth rate than what I have now.

    Epaule was the weakest among the newly recruited talents, his level being only around Level 530 or so.

    And I really, <em>really</em> want to taste the delicious dishes that Your Majesty makes.

    Epaule had heard about how the Beyond the Heavens Emperor dered that he would create an empire where no one would go hungry. From what he saw, the Beyond the Heavens Empire was truly making it happen. He had experienced what it was like to be hungry when he was younger. Because of that, he had developed a huge craving for food. He especially loved trying delicious dishes. He truly respected Minhyuk for creating an empire that was vastly different from the empire he came from, where there were many suffering from hunger.

    Good. Minhyuk nodded. I will give you a faster growth rate and a stronger body that will allow you to train harder and faster.

    Many people snorted when they heard Minhyuks words. As for Epaule, the respect in his eyes did not diminish at all.

    <em>He will give Epaule a faster growth rate? A stronger body?</em>

    <em>Its true that one can gain a faster growth rate and strength. However, is that something that a buff dish could give?</em>

    Despite their doubts, Minhyuk continued with what he wanted to do and used his Create a Recipe skill.

    <em>[Creating a recipe that the other party desires.]</em>

    <em>[You can now check the recipe for Braised Chicken.]</em>

    <em>[The amount of buff that can be used has been decreased due to creating a recipe.]</em>

    The dish that Epaule wanted the most right now was braised chicken, a dish with a sweet aftertaste.

    From what I know, those who can make pretty good buff dishes can only give others a 10% increase in their growth rate and power, Halsen said, his words pouring cold water over everyone listening.

    Although he said so, he had judged that it would be extremely difficult to increase the amount of buff by that much. A dish that could increase growth rate and power by 10% already had a value that was far beyond anyones imagination. Halsen said those words because he wanted to give Minhyuk an ultimatum. Minhyuk had to make a dish at that level to convince them.

    However, Minhyuk paid him no mind and just started cooking.

    <em>Epaule, I quite like you.</em>

    His eyes were bright and clear. When he checked the mans status, he could see that Epaule would be able to develop and be a great asset for their empire as long as people like Amacar and Ben could support him well. Since he showed respect for Minhyuk right from the very beginning, Minhyuk would make sure to give him what he wanted.

    <em>I will cook the best dish for you.</em>

    Epaule was considered the underdog. And this weak underdog hoped that one day he would have the power to ovee all of the people who stood above him. He knew that it would be a very tough fight. After all, everyone here was a genius. But Minhyuk would do his best to make it a possibility.

    Minhyuk slowly fell into a trance as he continued to cook for Epaule. Many peopleughed at the sight. The one that stood out the most among theughing and jeering men was none other than Keller.

    ***

    Keller stared at Minhyuk, who was sweating profusely as he stood in front of a pot and continued to cook. He thought, <em>The one that Im serving is Spear God Ben. Even if youre the emperor, you do not have the qualifications to have me under yourmand.</em>

    Keller was proud and arrogant. He was still in his twenties yet he was already over Level 600. He also became the first Spear Master in the empire that he belonged to before. When he came to the Beyond the Heavens Empire, it was out of respect for Spear God Ben, not Minhyuk.

    <em>To think His Majesty dered that hes going to grant more strength to that guy named Epaule?</em><em>Everyone has a limit.</em>

    Epaule was the weakest among them. Even if he became 10% stronger, it would still be very hard for him to win against them.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk, who had finally finished cooking, smiled in satisfaction as he ced the dish in front of Epaule.

    Tha-thank you for the meal, Your Majesty!

    Keller looked at Epaule with contempt, as if he was pathetic for ttering Minhyuk. That was when his gaze drifted down to the braised chicken. He could see the glossy, t potato noodles peeking from the steaming soy-based sauce of the braised chicken.

    <em>It looks delicious, at the very least.</em>

    The dish was also filled with sweet potatoes, rice cakes, and chicken meat that were covered with the sauce. It looked mouth-watering.

    The first thing that Epaule grabbed was arge chicken leg, bringing it to his mouth to take a huge bite. Immediately, his tongue could taste the amazing harmony of the sweetness and saltiness of the dish.

    ...Wow.

    Epaules eyes opened wide. This was the first time that he tasted such a delicious chicken in his life. He had been looking around carefully, but he threw all caution to the wind and began to eat as fast as he could.

    He grabbed a mouthful of the t potato noodles and quickly slurped it up.

    <em>Sluuuuuuurp!</em>

    The t noodles that had soaked the sauces well tasted amazing. It tasted even better when he ate it with the rice that Minhyuk had served together with the dish. He scooped a few spoonfuls of the braised chicken sauce, crushed some potato in his rice bowl, and mixed everything before putting a huge mouthful in his mouth.

    Woaaaah.

    Epaule felt delighted by the cacophony of vors that greeted his mouth the moment he put everything in.

    As mentioned before, Epaule was a foodie. He loved food more than anything else. He was extremely grateful to Minhyuk for giving him such delicious food.

    <em>[Epaules favor has reached the MAX level.]</em>

    <em>[Epaule is one of your newly recruited talents.]</em>

    <em>[He will do anything for you!]</em>

    Epaule even began to cry as he continued to eat the dish in front of him.

    <em>No. Is it really that delicious?</em>

    Keller found himself wondering. Was the dish so delicious to the point that one would be reduced to tears? What kind of bullshit was that?

    After finishing the meal, Epaule shouted in shock, A aaaaaaaack!

    He even fell after taking a step back in surprise. The people all turned to look at him in confusion and doubt.

    Wh-whats the matter with you?

    Th-the speed of my growth and my strength

    Your strength?

    Everyone perked their ears up. Meanwhile, Epaule stared at Minhyuk and the empty bowl of braised chicken alternately in disbelief. It was as if he could not believe what was presented in front of him.

    Then, Epaule said, It has increased by 35%.

    ...!

    ...!

    ...!

    While everyone was left reeling in shock, Keller stood up and shouted with veins popping on his neck, What bullshit!

    It waspletely ridiculous. He had never heard about something like this in his entire life.

    Even the Culinary Researcher Halsen chimed in and said, I have never heard of such a dish in my life! A dish like that would be God-grade. However, its obvious that the dish in front of you is not a God-grade dish!

    Because Halsen was a culinary researcher, his words carried the highest credibility. Kellers eyes immediately narrowed when he heard that.

    Im sorry if this offends you, Your Majesty. But you might have teamed up with Epaule to win our favor, no? Keller said so to make sense of this nonsensical bullshit.

    However, as one of the strongest, Kellers words seemed to carry some credibility. After all, why would Minhyuk feed Epaule, the weakest among them, the first? How could Minhyuk cook such an incredible dish that could allow him to grow stronger by 35%?

    If youre doubtful then

    Minhyuk turned to look at Keller with a cold and sharp re, Go and spar with Epaule, you f*cking bastard.

 Chapter 857

    Chapter 857

    Keller had always received the respect and admiration of many from the Arcas Kingdom, the empire that he belonged to before. He was indeed worthy of respect and admiration. After all, he held the position ofmander and led all of the knights at the young age of twenty.

    Go and spar with Epaule, you f*cking bastard.

    <em>Bastard?</em>

    Hearing Minhyuk call him something Keller never heard in his entire life, the veins on Kellers head popped out. Even the king that he served before did not insult him like that.

    Did you just call me a bastard?

    Minhyuk just continued to re coldly at him and the other recruits. Minhyuks CHA had already exceeded 14,000,pletely overwhelming those around him.

    <em>Wh-what heavy pressure</em>

    <em>I cant breathe.</em>

    <em>I have never felt a pressure this heavy in my entire life.</em>

    Minhyuk spat coldly, Im fully aware of what you think of Epaule. You think that hes nothing but a knightmander from a small kingdom on the frontier and that hes the weakest among all of the recruits. After all, the first thing that you did when you came here was to determine your ranks, no?

    None of them could refute Minhyuks words. It was the truth. Epaule was truly the weakest person in this ce.

    But you dare to nder me in my face and say that I conspired with Epaule to trick you? Which emperor do you think would sit still and remain quiet when they hear such words, huh?

    No matter how arrogant and proud Keller was of himself, the man standing in front of him was an emperor. Keller was the one whomitted an act of disrespect toward the emperor first. This behavior was worthy of the death penalty. That was why Keller immediately mped his mouth shut.

    Keller pointed his spear at Epaule. Unbelievable. I have to spar with Epaule? Hes the weakest among us. If he ends up getting injured in this spar, know that its not my fault.

    Epaule, are you confident?

    Epaule was stunned when he heard Minhyuks question. He pondered for a moment before slowly nodding his head in agreement. Aside from his growth rate, all of his stats had increased by 35%. Still, this effect would onlyst for two weeks.

    There were many reasons why Minhyuk was able to make a dish with such a high buff effect.

    The first one was because of the 15% increase in buff dish effects when cooking with the Bizarre Cauldron.

    The second reason was the triggering of Trance when he wanted to feed Epaule, the only person who showed respect and admiration for him, with a delicious meal.

    The third reason was that the dish was <em>legendary grade</em>. Minhyuk had used several precious ingredients when cooking earlier. He wanted the first dish of his that Epaule would eat to be special.

    There was also a reason why Minhyuk had proposed a spar between Keller and Epaule, as he watched them raise their weapons and pointed them at each other.

    <em>Epaule has a more outstanding mastery of his skillspared to Keller.</em>

    Epaule might be the weakest among them, however,pared to all of the recruits present here, he was the one with the highest mastery of his skills. This was probably because of the difference in their innate mana.

    Keller snorted. <em>This punk will be able to beat me? Thats bullshit.</em>

    Keller was one of the strongest among all of the people present here. In his eyes, Epaule was nothing but a child. Of course, he would not be foolish to let the opponent strike first. So, he immediately went on to attack Epaule.

    <em>aaaaang</em>

    However, the moment his spear made contact with Epaules sword, he knew something was off.

    <em>It feels heavy?</em>

    Under normal circumstances, Keller should have been able to push Epaules sword away easily with his spear. However, Epaules sword felt heavy and he failed to push him back. Then, Epaule began to counterattack.

    <em>Swooooosh</em>

    Epaules sword moved swiftly, his attacks targeting all of Kellers vital points.

    Heok!

    How- howe?!

    The people watching on the sidelines were both shocked and impressed. Epaules movements were swift and skillful. His sword was so fast that their eyes could barely follow its movements. Keller was soon forced to be on the defensive. In response, he immediately released the power that umted in his spear.

    Bulls Spear.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang</em>

    A force akin to a bulls charge mmed into Epaule and sent him flying back.

    Ugh!

    However, Epaule only let out a groan. He immediately stood up and blocked Kellers spear, all the while moving to sh his opponents waist.

    <em>ng</em>

    <em>aaash</em>

    Keller, who was being cut and shed by Epaules sword non-stop, felt unbearable shame and disgrace.

    <em>ng ng, ng, ng, ng ng</em>

    Keller found himself in a situation where he was being overwhelmed and pushed back by Epaules tremendous speed.

    Wow Someone in the crowd eximed unknowingly.

    After the humiliation, anger began to wash all over Keller.

    How dare you, you bastard!

    Keller had always treated Epaule as nothing but a child. For him to lose to a brat, was unfathomable. At that moment, a spark bloomed at the tip of Kellers spear. This was the power that brought Keller to where he was now.

    <em>Bulls Lightning Spear.</em>

    Bulls Lightning Spear was a skill that could instantly kill his target. Clouded by anger, Keller could only see his pride and ego being trampled on. His face was more important than the fact that this was just a mere spar.

    <em>Crackle, crackle, crackle, crackle!</em>

    Keller stabbed toward his opponent, with the power that could kill even the strengthened Epaule all at once.

    Sir-sir Keller!

    Oh no!

    Everyone was rmed by Kellers sudden move. This was supposed to be a spar, not a fight to the death.

    At that moment, the Beyond the Heavens Emperor stepped forward while holding a mixer and a bowl, and quickly whipped the mixer.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaa</em>

    <em>[Cancel.]</em>

    The overwhelmingly powerful force that was shooting toward Epaule scattered and disappeared with the wind. Minhyuk took this time to wrest away the spear in Kellers hands.

    What do you think youre doing?!

    Then, Minhyuk raised his hand and pped Keller on the cheek.

    <em>aaaaaaap!</em>

    The force of the p was so strong that Kellers face was forced to turn sharply. He even felt like he was seeing stars in front of him. However, this blow only served to anger Keller even more.

    <em>How dare this man p me?!</em>

    How dare!

    <em>aaaaap!</em>

    Minhyuk pped Keller, who tried to rebel against him, on the other cheek.

    <em>I wanted to make him lose but this is much better.</em>

    Minhyuk knew that this was an opportunity. There was no need to fear Keller trying to break free and rebel against him because it would be of no use. After all, Minhyuks stats easily surpassed Keller''s stats. Just like that, Minhyuk began to p Keller. He was doing it so easily as if he was patting the water off of himself on a rainy day. Anyway, he had enough justification to do this.

    You tried to kill yourrade because you cant contain your anger during a spar? Unforgivable. I wouldnt stand for such behavior!

    <em>p! p! p! p! p! p!</em>

    All of the recruits were frozen solid when the sight in front of them registered in their heads.

    <em>How? He easily overwhelmed Keller?</em>

    <em>Oh my God. Is it possible to beat Sir Keller like that with just your bare hands?</em>

    <em>Is the Beyond the Heavens Emperor truly as strong as they say?</em>

    What happened next was quite interesting. To be honest, Minhyuk just wanted to beat the shit out of Keller. However, this act made everyone feel both shock and awe.

    <em>[Avas favor has increased.]</em>

    <em>[Kordas favor has increased.]</em>

    <em>[Urimans favor has increased.]</em>

    Even their favorability toward Minhyuk was increasing.

    At that moment, Spear God Ben appeared. It was just when Minhyuk was about to beat Keller to a pulp.

    Your Majesty, whats happening?

    Keller wanted to die right at that very moment. Spear God Ben was the person that Keller respected and looked up to the most. Of course, Ben had recognized the boys efforts and had always treated him very well. He was very considerate of him.

    Bens expression turned ugly when he heard what happened earlier from Minhyuk. Beat him some more. How dare he say those words to you, Your Majesty?! And he even dared to kill his opponent during a spar?!

    Only after he heard Bens words did Keller realize that he had been toocent. It seemed that the old man who had cared for him deeply before was turning a blind eye to his plight.

    I am going to pass a summary judgment on you. Do you have anything to say?

    Keller, who was beaten to a pulp, could not say anything. He would not be able to say anything even if he was brought to death right here and now.

    When Minhyuk finally stopped beating Keller, he said, I will kill you. But before that, I will show you through the others, those things that you wanted me to prove to you.

    It was also a message to everyone present here.

    The first thing that they were most curious about, Minhyuks power, was already proven to some extent when he beat Keller to a pulp with his bare hands alone. As for the second one, it was whether his cooking skills were truly excellent. After all, they all said that he conspired with Epaule to trick them earlier. This was what Minhyuk was going to prove to them.

    So, Minhyuk began to cook. He used his <em>Create a Recipe </em>skill on everybody else except Keller. Then, he began to hand the dishes one after another. There was only one result for those who finished eating his dishes.

    Heok! Your- Your Majesty! You have my utmost respect!

    <em>[Avas favor has reached the MAX level.]</em>

    <em>[Ava is one of your newly recruited talents.]</em>

    <em>[He will do anything for you!]</em>

    <em>[Kordas favor has reached the MAX level.]</em>

    <em>[Korda is one of your newly recruited talents.]</em>

    <em>[He will do anything for you]</em>

    Notifications rang constantly in Minhyuks ears. With this as proof, they could no longer ignore and deny the existence of Minhyuk, the emperor of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. On top of that, the effects of the buff dishes that Minhyuk gave them were truly outstanding. It was to the point that they felt like they could reach their goals swiftly with the increase in their growth rates. Because of that, their favorability toward Minhyuk had reached an all-time high.

    I am very proud of the fact that I chose toe to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    Your Majesty, please forgive me for the disrespectful behavior that I have shown you earlier.

    Your Majesty, I will make sure to make up for the disrespect that I have shown you today, with my life!

    They immediately began to cry for forgiveness for the disrespectful behavior that they had shown Minhyuk earlier. Standing among these crying and shouting recruits was Keller, who wanted to die on the spot.

    <em>I was too conceited.</em>

    It was at this point that Keller admitted that his behavior was worthy of death. However, Keller was not really a bad seed. He was just suffering from the overwhelming pressure. Yes, it was true that he willingly came to this empire. He felt happy that he would be able to stay by Spear God Bens side. However, he had doubted if the Beyond the Heavens emperor would be able to guide him on the right path.

    Yet, His Majesty Minhyuk had proven to him that he was fully capable of doing so. It made him realize that he hadmitted a grave sin.

    <em>I still want to live longer</em>

    He wanted to grow to be more like Spear God Ben. He had made a vow to himself that he would make it happen no matter what. s, because of his behavior, it seemed that death was right around the corner.

    The others, who had eaten Minhyuks dishes, were looking at Minhyuk with eyes shining with respect and admiration. At this point, Minhyuk just continued to cook.

    Just when Keller was waiting for his death penalty, Emperor Minhyuk stood up and approached him. Keller immediately closed his eyes and waited for the strike that would take his life.

    Eat, Keller, Minhyuk said, handing over a bowl of fondue to Keller.

    Keller was very fond of fondue. However, even if that was the case, he still hesitated.

    Minhyuk growled, Eat it right now or I will kill you.

    Keller hurriedly picked up his fork and started to dig into the fondue. In that first bite, the vor and texture of the fondue was so amazing that he almost cried out in admiration.

    <em>[Emperors Comfort has been triggered!]</em>

    Minhyuk watched Keller eat the fondue in a hurry. Then, he said, Keller, I can kill you right here and now. However, I wont.

    ...

    Kellers hand stopped moving, his gaze turning nk as he looked at Minhyuk.

    I do not want to kill my people with my own hands. Also, I believe that

    ...

    ...you will be able to be a proud pir of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    ...

    The reason why I beat you up was because I wanted to make you understand that you have to cherish yourrades. And that you cant show disrespect to me. If you can do that, then I will wee you with open arms and regard you as one of my people, Keller.

    <em>[Emperors Comfort is reaching its climax.]</em>

    Keller was deeply moved. The emperor, who could regard him as a traitor and a rebel, wasforting him. The emperor even looked at him with soft and gentle eyes while patting him on the shoulder!

    I believe that you can follow in Spear God Bens footsteps and seed him. Can you make it happen?

    Keller felt his emotions boil in the depths of his heart when he heard that question.

    <em>Ah, what a cool and wonderful emperor! He even spared my life!</em>

    Keller immediately mmed his head on the ground as he shouted, Your Majesty! This Keller promises to dedicate my life to serving you!

    Minhyuk smiled kindly at him. Meanwhile, those around them looked at Minhyuk and began to rethink their view of Minhyuk. It seemed like the man in front of them was a benevolent emperor.

    Minhyuk had caught two birds with one stone.

 Chapter 858

    Chapter 858

    As he watched Keller vow eternal loyalty, Minhyuk thought, <em>The Beyond the Heavens Empire is in a very precarious situation right now.</em>

    They might have been able to recruit and win the loyalty of many talented individuals, all the while securing a lot of funds from the other kings and emperors. But, if Minhyuk were to be honest, he knew that what they did was a bit <em>too much</em>. To be fair, the Beyond the Heavens Empire would not have made such a move first if those kings and emperors had not tried to recruit their empires talents.

    <em>In the end, nothing good wille out of being at odds with those kings and emperors.</em>

    The rtionship between the Beyond the Heavens Empire and the other empires and kingdoms was definitely on the rocks. Fortunately, their rtionship with the Ardo Empire and Emperor Consteinus was on the mend.

    However, the goal of the Beyond the Heavens Empire had always been the defeat of the Luvien Empire. The number of empires under the rule of the Luvien Empire reached well over a hundred. At this point, Beyond the Heavens Empire could be considered isted and alone.

    In a situation like this, there was only one thing that Minhyuk could do.

    <em>I have to make preparations for the future.</em>

    Minhyuk turned to look at Amacar. It had not been that long since Amacar arrived in the empire. However, in those few short days, he had already made several changes in the militarys training system. But what was most interesting was that all of the changes he madeid the groundwork for the growth of the knights and soldiers. In other words, they were very beneficial to the empires troops.

    <em>Honestly, his military training system is much better than Brods.</em>

    No matter which kingdom or empire they went to, few could follow the teachings of Brod and Spear God Ben. That was why Amacar was better in this aspect. Amacars power might be slightly stronger than Keller''s, who had just sworn his loyalty to Minhyuk. In terms of his ability to lead the troops, it far surpassed the limits of a human.

    Minhyuk quickly checked Amacars information.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Amacar</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: ???</em>

    <strong><em>Type</em></strong><em>: Vassal</em>

    <strong><em>Level</em></strong><em>: 629</em>

    <strong><em>Attack</em></strong><em>: 5,969</em>

    <strong><em>Defense</em></strong><em>: 3,683</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>Passive Skill: Dream of Growth</em>

    <em>Passive Skill: Centralized Management</em>

    <em>Passive Skill: Commanding Officer that has Surpassed God</em>

    <em>Active Skill: Hounds Swordsmanship</em>

    <em>Active Skill: Hunting Time</em>

    <strong><em>Potential</em></strong><em>: 137</em>

    <strong><em>Experience Value</em></strong><em>: 64% / 100%</em>

    When Minhyuk first recruited Amacar, he had been shocked to see the <em>???</em> written beside the ranking in his information. What did it mean?

    <em>That usually only appears if one has not woken up to their full potential and power yet or the system cannot measure them properly.</em>

    Perhaps Amacar was truly standing on the threshold separating a human from a god. There was also Amacars story, which Minhyuk had heard before.

    <em>He was born a war orphan. He could not remember which kingdom or empire he belonged to before. Emperor Consteinus came across him wandering around and brought him to his empire.</em>

    It was truly interesting. He was a war orphan and did not know where he belonged, yet his ranking was listed as <em>???</em>. To top it off, all of his skills were outstanding.

    His passive skill, <em>Dream of Growth,</em> could give a 20% EXP Acquisition Rate buff to those who greatly desired growth and development. <em>Centralized Management</em> was also amazing, allowing Amacar to lead all of the knights and soldiers who weregging to be true knights and soldiers. This skill would allow him to help them to correct all the fine details and their shorings. Then, there was the <em>Commanding Officer that has surpassed God.</em>

    <em>This is the most important.</em>

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Commanding Officer that has Surpassed God</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Passive Skill</em>

    <strong><em>Level</em></strong><em>: None</em>

    <strong><em>Mana Required</em></strong><em>: None</em>

    <strong><em>Cooldown</em></strong><em>: None</em>

    <strong><em>Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>When training soldiers, knights, and stronger individuals personally, their growth rate would increase by 25%.</em>

    <em>When training soldiers, knights, and stronger individuals personally, their potential will be awakened upon leveling up. They will also be able to obtain a higher increase in their stats and skill proficiency.</em>

    <em>When training soldiers, knights, and stronger individuals personally, various buff effects would be triggered to help the soldiers, knights, and stronger individuals reach their target level at a set period of time.</em>

    <em>When training soldiers, knights, and stronger individuals personally, they will be given the courage and the will to never back down.</em>

    <em>The skill will recognize all of the candidates that can be powerhouses and will give them various buff effects that will make their growth rate increase significantly which will allow them to break through their limits.</em>

    Most of the skills in Amacars possession were extremely powerful skills that could allow others to develop further and grow even stronger.

    <em>These skills must have stacked together and allowed him to create the Hound Knight Order.</em>

    Well, there were no rules that stated that Amacar could not create the second Hound Knight Order.

    Sir Amacar.

    Yes, Your Majesty.

    I want you to lead 10,000 elite knights and 100,000 elite soldiers to undergo special training for one month.

    The only thing the Beyond the Heavens Empire could do now was to train their hardest to prepare for the invasion and attacks from other kingdoms and empires.

    Can you also bring along the rest that had been recruited by the empire and make them stronger? Minhyuk asked as he looked at Keller and the other talents.

    All of the talents had eaten Minhyuks buff dish and had gained an increase of 20% in their EXP Acquisition Rate.

    Amacar replied confidently, Of course.

    Since they became 20% stronger, they would be able to deal with stronger monsters and gain more EXP. This meant that the effect would double for them. Minhyuk could not wait to see how much they would grow under Amacars leadership.

    Then, Your Majesty, can I lead the troops you have mentioned and set out immediately for the one month of training?

    Minhyuk nodded readily in response. Of course.

    Amacar immediately left with the knights, soldiers, and talented recruits.

    Since Minhyuk wanted to know how much they would grow with this training, he made sure to record the average level of the knights, the soldiers, and the talented recruits before they left. The average level of the soldiers was around 460, the knights at 525, and the talented recruits at 570.

    <em>Will they be able to grow a lot?</em>

    The might and force of their knights and soldiers were already at a level that couldpletely overwhelm the troops of the other empires and kingdoms, even though they only had a smaller military force. All of that was thanks to the teachings of Brod and Spear God Ben.

    At this time, Minhyuk waspletely unaware of the impact and influence that the troops that Amacar had raised and developed would bring in the future.

    ***

    Two weekster.

    The kings and emperors had suffered a huge blow from the Beyond the Heavens Empire, which took away a huge amount of their finances and quite a lot of talent from them. They had gathered together once again, to discuss how they would get back at the Beyond the Heavens Empire for what they did to them.

    Im no longer worried about those talents that left my side. They abandoned me for that small and insignificant empire. Im sure theyll never be able to fulfill their dreams for as long as they stay there.

    Im just worried that their bodies and foundation will be harmed because they are staying in that dreadful and disgusting Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    Theres no way that the Beyond the Heavens Empire will be able to handle them!

    From the beginning of their gathering to the end, all they discussed was their hatred for the Beyond the Heavens Empire. However, if they tried to advance and attack them with no rhyme or reason at all, then the others would turn their unkind and hostile gazes towards them.

    Your- Your Majestyyyyyyy!!!

    Your Majeeeeeeesty!!!

    Theres trouble!

    Were in trouble!

    The kings and emperors were all surprised by the suddenmotion that broke out outside of the room. When the doors opened, their servants immediately rushed in and approached their respective kings and emperors.

    What- whats going on?!!

    Whats the matter with you?!

    Pleasee out right away!

    The kings and emperors stood up and rushed outside. What greeted them outside the doors was a red moon. It was so red to the point that one would wonder if someone had poured blood on it.

    This- Thiiiis- What is this?!

    What in the world is happening?!

    At that moment, a series of notifications rang in the ears of all the yers in Athenae.

    <em>[The </em><strong><em>Episode</em></strong><em>: Empire Invasion of One of the Six Monster Gods, the Dark Elven King, and his Dark Elven Army has begun!]</em>

    <em>[You can earn rewards if you protect the empires and kingdoms from the invasion of the Dark Elves!]</em>

    At the same time, this voice resonated in the ears of all of the kings and emperors present.

    <em>[Dark Elven King Jack, one of the Six Monster Gods, has awakened to the world!]</em>

    The kings and emperors watched as an army swarmed over the horizon before them. Their numbers were in the millions.

    Along with their appearance, another notification rang all over the world.

    <em>[Upon killing Dark Elven King Jack, yers that have been chosen as dark elves would be given the opportunity to change their race to Dark Elf!]</em>

    The voice that marked the beginning of the episode once again rang and resonated in the entire continent.

    <em>[Elves roamed thends freely in the beginning of the continent.]</em>

    <em>[The elves loved and advocated for peace. They taught the humans, who appeared one day, how to hunt. They even stayed by their sides and provided them with homes.]</em>

    <em>[Like that, the humans and elves lived together peacefully for thousands of years.]</em>

    <em>[But one day, the humans, who had a stronger and higher reproduction rate, grew in power and began to drive the elves away.]</em>

    <em>[They killed and plundered.]</em>

    <em>[Thousands of elves died.]</em>

    <em>[Then, one of the Six Monster Gods, the father of all elves, Jack, began to nurture them solely to drive away the humans that killed them. Because of the influence of the Father of All Elves Jack, the elves skin slowly turned ck. It was for this reason that they were called Dark Elves.]</em>

    <em>[The Dark Elves were born stronger and faster than humans. They could also acquire abilities faster than humans did.]</em>

    <em>[The speed of their growth was very surprising. The Dark Elves, who started to train from their birth, did not know what peace was.]</em>

    <em>[But even before Six Monster Gods Dark Elf Jack could use his army to reim his home, there was no longer a ce for the elves on the continent.]</em>

    <em>[The father of the elves, one of the Six Monster Gods, Jack led all of the Dark Elves and disappeared from the face of the earth.]</em>

    <em>[Today, they have finallye back to reim thends that had been taken away from them.]</em>

    <em>[The time has finallye for them to bring judgment upon the greedy humans.]</em>

    The kings and emperors all trembled in fear. They have also heard stories and legends about the <em>Dark Elves</em>. Fortunately, something good came out of the situation. The kings and emperors were already gathered together.

    Summon the army right now!

    ughter all of the dark elves before they could even strike at our empires and kingdoms!

    A coalition army was formed rapidly at themand of the kings and emperors. Each of them had sent around 200,000~500,000 troops, creating a huge army with troops that reached around nine million in number.

    ***

    However, a few days after this incident, the kings and emperors received shocking news.

    The entire army has been wiped out.

    The dark elves are far too strong.

    The difference in our numbers makes it hard for us to deal with them!

    But then, they received another shocking news.

    The Luvien Empire has dered they will not send any help.

    ...

    ...

    The kings and emperors groaned in frustration. The enemies were now marching towards their kingdoms and empires.

    Who- who the hell can stop them?! One of the emperors howled. This howl represented what everyone gathered was feeling at the moment.

    Someone, anyone, had to stop them.

    ***

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk weed everyone who came back from Amacars training. They only trained for a month, but their eyes carried an unmistakable sharpness by the time they came back. But that was not the end of it. A series of notifications rang in Minhyuks ears.

    <em>[Your knights, soldiers, and talented recruits who underwent the special training have grown tremendously!]</em>

    <em>[Most of their hidden potential has been awakened with their hard work!]</em>

    From what Minhyuk had recorded, the soldiers average level was around 460. But it was different now.

    <em>[The average level of the soldiers that underwent the special training has increased to 483!]</em>

    As for the knights, their average level had been around 525.

    <em>[The average level of the knights that underwent the special training has increased to 537!]</em>

    But there was something far more surprising than that. The talents they recruited from several kingdoms and empires had an average level of 570.

    <em>[The average level of the talented recruits that underwent the special training has increased to 596!]</em>

    <em>[By applying various effects from passive skills to those who have eaten buff dishes, Amacar sessfully brought out the full potential of the soldiers and knights who trained under hismand!]</em>

    The grin that spread on Minhyuks face almost reached his ears. He thought, <em>Amacar, youre freaking amazing</em>

 Chapter 859

    Chapter 859

    Ath Empires Emperor Elise felt his vision turn dark when he saw Six Monster Gods Dark Elf Jack and his Dark Elven Army appear. They had already taken down two kingdoms and were already marching toward the Ath Empire.

    The Ath Empire might begging quite behind the Ardo Empire, but they were still one of the top ten empires in the entire continent. But even the emperor of such a strong empire was left bbergasted and speechless when he saw the devastation and ughter that was unfolding in front of him.

    My- my god

    A few days ago, the nine million troops of the coalition army, established by the kings and emperors, were annihted by the Dark Elven Army all at once. There were around forty kings and emperors that had gathered back then. That was why they could assemble a massive army despite only sending a few troops. However, each kingdom and empire had different thoughts when they faced that devastating situation.

    <em>The chance of all kingdoms and empires copsing is very high.</em>

    The number of the enemies was around five million at most. However, the dark elves were inherently stronger than humans, thus quickly destroying two of the kingdoms and the coalition army.

    <em>Even the most elite of our knights can only deal with one dark elf.</em>

    However, the surprise did not end there. Not only were the dark elves closebat abilities as excellent as their knights, but they could also cast magic by borrowing the power of spirits through <em>spirit magic.</em> Because of that, the Ath Empire''s knights were having a hard time.

    The average level of the soldiers was around 440. Inparison, the average level of the dark elves was around 530, which made it harder for them to fight back. Simply put, there was a considerable gap between their powers and abilities.

    In the beginning, they had convened with a strategy.

    <em>How about gathering the mighty powerhouses of our kingdoms and empires?</em>

    However, they soon realized how foolish this thought was.

    <em>What if they get wiped out, too?</em>

    <em>Then, what would happen to us?</em>

    That was right. If they did that, there was a high chance that the pirs of their kingdoms and empires would die on the battlefield.

    A fierce battle was currently underway in front of the Ath Empire. It was a battle between the fifteen million troops gathered by the kingdoms and empires and the ten million troops sent out by the Ath Empire and the dark elves. However, only the coalition army was decreasing in number.

    All of the kings and emperors were standing atop the walls of the Ath Empire and watching this massacre unfold.

    ...What- what should we do?

    Tell us! What should we do?!

    All of the kings and emperors felt their visions go dark after seeing the Dark Elven Army speed up their march.

    ***

    The screams of the soldiers and the nging of weapons rang non-stop on the battlefield, where the fight between the dark elves and the coalition army led by the Ath Empire was happening. The strongest and most elite knights of each empire and kingdom could not believe what was happening right in front of them.

    <em>ng ng, ng, ng, ng ng, ng, ng!</em>

    The force behind the thin rapiers wielded by the dark elves was far too heavy and strong. On top of that, there was a small sphere releasing dark energy above the heads of the dark elves. These spheres were none other than the Spirit of Darkness.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaa</em>

    The spirits of darkness used their power and cast temporary debuffs on the knights that their dark elves were fighting against. It was an extremely terrible debuff that forced a 15% drop in their attack and a 20% drop in their attack speed. But that was not all. The spirits of darkness would also cast debuffs on the knights and soldiers in their vicinity.

    Kghk keuaaaaaaaaaaack! One of the knights screamed as blood spurted out of his neck.

    The skilled dark elvespletely controlled the tide of war with their rapiers in hand. However, they did not only rely on their rapiers. They would also shoot arrows from the crossbows hanging on their backs from time to time. Crossbows were weapons that generally had lower uracy. However, in the hands of the dark elves, the crossbows could urately fire arrows at the necks and other vital points of the coalition army troops.

    Hiiiiiiiiiik!

    Dont- Donte near me!

    Donte here!

    They- theyre too strong!

    Commander! The enemies are too strong!

    The coalition army built around the Ath Empire had the advantage in numbers. However, it was still challenging for them to kill the dark elves. When they saw the hundreds of thousands of spirits of darkness flying to the sky, the coalition army could tell that something unusual was about to happen.

    Then, the spirits of darkness in the form of spheres shot down toward the coalition army.

    Ahihihihi!

    Hehehehe!

    Ehe! Ehe!

    Die! Heeheehee!

    <em>Baaaaaaaang</em>

    <em>Boooooooom</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaam</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang</em>

    <em>Boooooooooooom</em>

    As these spirits of darkness fell, it was as if someone cast several Explosion Magic all at once, as several explosions erupted all over the battlefield and reaped the lives of many. This single attack raised the number of casualties to 1.5 million out of the twenty-five million troops of the coalition army. s, their nightmares were just beginning.

    Six Monster Gods Jack, sitting on the sidelines until this moment, suddenly made a move. With his ck skin and white hair, a beauty and grace that anyone could admire, Jack flew to the sky, his ck cape fluttering behind him. In his hand was a ck longsword, a weapon utterly different from those the other dark elves wielded.

    All eyes were fixed on Jack as he floated in the sky above them.

    <em>[The Great Spirit of Darkness Pero has been summoned!]</em>

    Great Spirits had not made an appearance in Athenae at all. The highest level of spirit that a yer had encountered was only a high-ranking spirit.

    <em>[The Great Spirit of Darkness Pero has descended!]</em>

    <em>[The Great Spirit of Darkness Pero is the most powerful among the Five Great Spirits!]</em>

    The great spirit that appeared was the strongest among all of the great spirits who had not yet made an appearance.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa</em>

    The three-meter-tall Great Spirit Pero, whose body was engulfed with ck mes, looked very simr to Ifrit. He was stuck behind the flying Jack.

    <em>[The Great Spirit of Darkness Pero has lent you his strength!]</em>

    The ck streams of energy that flew out of Peros hand were sucked into the ck longsword in the hands of Dark Elf Jack.

    Thieves.

    In the eyes of the dark elves, the humans who took thend away from the elves were nothing but thieves and plunderers. Dark Elf Jack had been waiting for this moment for a very long time. He even went so far as to hide himself and the other dark elves in the darkness, while drinking the Water of Life to prevent themselves from aging.

    Your judgment day has arrived.

    <em>Crackleeeeeeee</em>

    A crescent sword light shot out of Dark Elf Jacks ck longsword when he swung it. The mages hurriedly cast shields, and even high-leveled mages tried to erect barriers to block the attack, but it was of no use. Dark Elf Jacks powerpletely ignored the defenses that they tried so hard to cast.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaa</em>

    The crescent sword light that was tens of meters in length cut the coalition armys troops into two. In a single swing of Dark Elf Jacks sword, 40,000 of the troops died.

    <em>[Dark Elf Jack. Level 747.]</em>

    Dark Elf Jack was one of the Six Monster Gods. Not much was known about him since he had been hiding in the darkness for a very long time. This very same Dark Elf Jacknded on the ground and began to cut down the coalition armys troops.

    <em>aaaaaaaash</em>

    Dozens of knights died in his hands with every swing of his sword. And whenever he borrowed the power of the Great Spirit of Darkness Pero, thousands more would die. With him entering the battlefield, the dark elves began to push back the coalition army at a crazy pace.

    It only took half a day to kill more than seven million of the coalition armys troops.

    A- aaaaaaaack!

    Keuaaaaaaaaack!

    Hiiiiiiiik!

    The coalition army, who fought as far away from the empire as possible, were now pushed back with their backs against the walls of the Ath Empire.

    Then, at that moment, Dark Elf Jack raised his fingers to his mouth and whistled. <em>Fweeeeeeeet!</em>

    At his call, huge werewolves appeared in front of the dark elves. These were not ordinary werewolves either. They were the werewolves that Jack had nurtured alongside the dark elves for a long time. They had ck manes, were the size of a lion, and all had high levels.

    <em>[Dark Werewolf. Level 580.]</em>

    Around a million of them appeared. The dark elves, who immediately mounted on the backs of the dark werewolves, started to charge forward.

    All of the soldiers and knights on their path had been knocked down.

    Grrrrrr!

    Keuaaaaaaack!

    Keoooook!

    Keuhaaaaaack!

    The dark werewolves were strong. Their teeth could easily tear off the limbs of the soldiers and knights that blocked their paths, while their feet could easily crush the bones of their enemies into powder. But that was not all. The dark elves that rode on their backs would also attack and stab the troops in their necks.

    Just like that, the coalition army was pushed back, like a tidal wave receding back into the sea.

    Your Majesty! You have to order an evacuation!

    We must evacuate our people now!

    Emperor Elises face grew ugly. However, even the other kings and emperors agreed to those words.

    Emperor Elise, we will assist in the evacuation of your people as much as we can.

    Let us disperse and allow the people to seek refuge in other kingdoms and empires. Our kingdom will open our doors wide for your people.

    Elise knew that this was the best decision at the moment. The Ath Empire, one of the top ten empires, might possibly have to depend on other kingdoms and empires for their survival now.

    However, the other kings and emperors also knew.

    <em>Were going to be next.</em>

    <em>How long can we retreat like this?</em>

    <em>Will the entire continent be taken away from us like this?</em>

    At that moment, Emperor Elise asked Tactician Farrow, Is there a way for us to get through this disaster?

    Ten soldiers cannot beat a single knight. Ten knights cannot beat a single hero or legend.

    That was right. The advantage in number would only work if the gap in power was not thatrge.

    Right now, the dark elves are the knights. And us? Were just soldiers. If theres someone that can match them or even overpower them, then there is a possibility for a breakthrough.

    If there truly was someone like that, then they would be able to make a breakthrough somehow.

    Im sorry to say this, but our story is already over. All of the other kingdoms and empires do not wish to lose their talents.

    ...I see.

    If they lost their talents, then they would also lose their nations pirs. At this moment, the kingdoms and empires felt how it was such a waste for them to lose their talents to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    <em>Baaaaaaaang</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang</em>

    At that moment, the werewolves began to smash the gates. They had somehow reached the walls by charging through the gaps in the coalition army.

    Emperor Elise looked back at his empire. <em>Where will we go if we leave this ce?</em>

    Was the Luvien Empire really noting to their aid? If the Swords of the Gods appeared, then they could probably take down and drive away those dark elves. Of course, all of the kings and emperors present were of the same mind.

    Now that they were reduced to bing the <em>ten soldiers fighting desperately against a single knight</em>, the only way for them to survive was the appearance of a <em>hero or a legend that could overwhelm ten knights</em>. Otherwise, their kingdoms and empires would copse.

    With a mncholy look, Emperor Elise ordered, Heed my orders, evacuate all of the people

    Then, at that moment, a notification rang.

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods, the God that Lives for Someone, Leads Someone on the Right Path, and Protects Someone, is looking at you.]</em>

    ***

    At the same time.

    Minhyuk looked at his men lined up in front of him. His knights and soldiers had all grown sharper and more potent. As for the heroes and legends they recruited from the other kingdoms and empires? All of them had also grown stronger.

    Do any of you regreting to this emperors empire?

    We do not have any regrets, Your Majesty!!!

    We do not have any regrets, Your Majesty!!!

    A smile of satisfaction bloomed on Minhyuks face when he heard their loud cries.

    He would turn them into heroes and legends who could take on hundreds of soldiers alone. And what did he need to achieve that?

    First, the Food Gods dishes.

    Second, the Guardian God, Obren.

    The Beyond the Heavens Empire had now started their preparations for war.

 Chapter 860

    Chapter 860

    <em>Rumbleeeeeeee!</em>

    The trailer, which was very effective in makingrge batches of dishes, spewed wisps of the Eternal mes through its vents.

    Minhyuk knew it better than anybody else. <em>This is an opportunity.</em>

    He had seen the current situation of the episode during the broadcast and knew that the Luvien Empire had turned a blind eye to the plight of the other kingdoms and empires. On top of that, no high-level rankers were helping the coalition army and fighting the Dark Elves on the battlefield. Why was that the case?

    <em>A lot of the high-level rankers are now almost at Level 600. If they go there and die, then they will just move further away from Level 600.</em>

    Even the yers who had already reached Level 600 had to consider their choices carefully. They had yet to verify what would happen to them once their levels decreased after reaching Level 600. Since the high-level rankers paid no heed to the kingdoms and empires, the ordinary yers dared not go.

    As for the Luvien Empire, they disregarded them because they were aware that these kingdoms and empires had made contact with the Beyond the Heavens Empire and even tried to recruit people from there. They intended to wipe out as many kingdoms and empires that made contact with the Beyond the Heavens Empire, who had defeated them, with this opportunity.

    Minhyuk thought, <em>If the Beyond the Heavens Empire helps them, then</em>

    The Beyond the Heavens Empire, which was in a massive conflict with them, could rise to the top. They could take this opportunity to forge close rtions with them. But to do that, Minhyuk needed to make many preparations.

    The first was, of course, his dishes. Minhyuk intended to put those that Amacar had trainedst month on the field, including the talented recruits. These recruits hade back much more powerful and would grow more potent with the various buff effects. Their performance was very essential to this n. Why?

    <em>The kings and emperors will all be surprised by the stronger and more extraordinary performance of the people they once trusted and relied on.</em>

    But that did not mean that Minhyuk should stop there with the preparations.

    <em>We must capture the hearts of the kings and emperors. And these talents would be the ones to do just that.</em>

    -<em>The Beyond the Heavens Emperor is extremely worried about all of you!-</em>

    This was what Minhyuk wanted them to say and do on the battlefield. They had to make it look like that was indeed the case.

    Haze exined what the talented recruits needed to do to make that happen, and she was very good at it.

    Everyone, what you need to do is simple. You have to emphasize that the Beyond the Heavens Emperor was very worried about the situation and immediately began preparations to send troops right away the moment he heard the news. You must attract the attention of many kings and emperors upon your appearance. The n works only when you attract their attention, and they have focused on you.

    Im quite interested in that

    Hmmmm

    Hmm

    The talents looked flustered and embarrassed. How should they get attention? What kind of method was that? Minhyuk even went so far as to personally invite an instructor who would help them be proficient in gaining attention.

    Attention Seeker Emperor No, Her Majesty, Sword Emperor Ellie has arrived.

    The instructor was none other than Attention Seeker Emperor Ellie. A buzz unfolded among the talents when they saw her appear. They were all aware of Ellies reputation and fame. She was the strongest sword master of the current era who abandoned the position of the Sword God to defend and protect her empire. Of course, her appearance alone forced all of the talents to focus.

    I would appreciate it if you could exin to them how to get the most attention possible.

    Ellie immediately ran when she heard Minhyuks request.

    <em>This is likely to gain attention from the talented recruits.</em>

    It was as expected of Minhyuks Attention Seeker Emperor, Noona Ellie. She was already thinking about how to imprint her existence in their minds and how she could capture the hearts of the new legends that would emerge on the continent.

    After pondering momentarily, Ellie swung her sword in the air. Her movements made them feel like she was fighting an enemy in front of her.

    After you cut down an enemy, look at them like this, Ellie said, her expression majestic and noble as she lifted her chin. Then say, <em>The blood of my enemy will dye the entire battlefield red.</em>

    ...

    ...

    ...

    ...

    Everyone, including Haze, was rendered speechless for a moment.

    <em>Ugh. I got goosebumps.</em>

    The words were so cringy that goosebumps rose on their skin. However, Ellie thought differently. She had been researching ways to get the most attention as much as she was doing sword training.

    What do you think would happen if you appeared and cut the head of the enemy in a situation where tens of thousands of enemies surround you?

    Everyone imagined themselves standing alone, surrounded by tens of thousands of enemies. Then they would cut down their enemys head and say, <em>The blood of my enemies will dye the entire battlefield red.</em>

    ...

    ...

    ...

    The thought alone made them shudder.

    The enemies would lose their morale once they saw the killing intent in Ellies eyes and the enemy copsing in front of her. Even the words that she spoke became a deration to the enemies. It was as if she was telling them, <em>I will soak thisnd with your blood.</em>

    That- thats amazing.

    As expected of the great Attention Seeker Emperor no, Her Majesty, Sword Emperor Ellie!

    Ho- Hohohoho. Fufu.

    Ellie looked pleased by the attention given to her by the talented people who would lead the continent in the future.

    <em>Noo- Noona </em>Minhyuk could not utter a word when he saw Ellie acting like that.

    Of course, Haze did not forget to emphasize the talents needed to inform the kings and emperors that the Beyond the Heavens Emperor was worried for them while getting the attention of many.

    <em>If you can help them defeat the dark elves, the rewards will follow.</em>

    Now, all that was left for Minhyuk was to finish cooking for those appearing on the battlefield. Minhyuk did his best in cooking and did not spare any ingredients. After all, he knew that the dish would greatly help the empire''s future.

    Meanwhile, Haze continued speaking passionately to the talents, telling them how to perform fully. But simultaneously, she thought, <em>Obren is probably doing his best, right?</em>

    The one who received Hazes passionate lecture before the talents was Guardian God Obren. Guardian God Obren was probably doing his best to express the worries of the Beyond the Heavens Emperor to the kings and emperors. Right?

    ***

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods, the God that Lives for Someone, Leads Someone on the Right Path, and Protects Someone, is looking at you.]</em>

    This notification rang in the ears of Emperor Elise when he was in a crisis and was just about to order the evacuation of his people. It was not just Emperor Elise who heard this notification; all of the kings and emperors on the battlefield had heard it.

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods, the Guardian Deity of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, looks at you sadly.]</em>

    The truth was, Obren was not making a sad face at all.

    <em>I cant believe you''re making me do this. I will not let this slide.</em>

    However, Obren acted differently from what he thought.

    <em>[The Beyond the Heavens Emperor Minhyuk is worried about you.]</em>

    ...!

    ...!

    ...!

    The eyes of the kings and emperors, who stopped to listen to the voice, grew wide. Was the Beyond the Heavens Emperor worried about them?! That was bullshit. The guy they met and encountered was not that kind of guy. In their eyes, he was a shameless fraud, a thief who took everything from them.

    <em>[The Beyond the Heavens Emperor Minhyuk said he truly feels sorry for you.]</em>

    God, how can you spout lies!

    Ho! How How can you tell us such lies!

    The kings and emperors jumped and shouted in anger. However, one of the kings said, But would a god called a <em>Guardian God</em> lie? Hes even one of the most dignified and noble gods, an Absolute God.

    ...

    ...

    When they heard those words, the kings and emperors looked at each other. That was right. The god was a <em>Guardian God</em>. What kind of an existence was a Guardian God? Was he not a god as clean and pure as white that would protect someone, live for someone, and lead someone toward the right path? Even though he was an Absolute God before, he now carried the name <em>Guardian God.</em>

    The kings and emperors did not expect that they would breakmon sense. That was right. It did not even cross their minds that an emperor would dare to order an <em>Absolute God, </em>their <em>Guardian God,</em> to do something like this.

    However, the kings and emperors remained suspicious.

    Beyond the Heavens Empires Guardian God, why are you looking at us?

    Youre telling us lies again! Were you sent by the Beyond the Heavens Emperor?!

    <em>[Guardian God Obren shakes his head.]</em>

    <em>[The Beyond the Heavens Emperor sincerely wants to protect you.]</em>

    He wanted to protect them? The one that took from them, humiliated them, smiled coldly at them, was trying to protect them? That was bullshit.

    <em>[The Beyond the Heavens Emperor said he wanted to help you.]</em>

    ...!

    ...!

    The eyes of the kings and emperors grew even wider when they heard the notification. The first to react was Farrow, the Ath Empires tactician. Farrow was a talent recognized by the other kingdoms and empires, so everyone immediately focused on him when he opened his mouth.

    Heroes and legends that can beat 10,000 knights by themselves are in the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    The kings and emperors could not deny it. Spear God Ben and Brod would be able to handle not only 10,000 knights but also 100,000 dark elves.

    Perhaps the only one that can help us out of this predicament is the Beyond the Heavens Empire, Farrow hurriedly said.

    However, the kings and emperors still did not say anything. They could not bear to ask for <em>help</em> from the Beyond the Heavens Empire. Unfortunately, they were in a very urgent situation. Outside the walls, the werewolves and dark elves rammed on the gates like crazy. Their walls were about to copse. Even if they ran away now, a third of the people of the Ath Empire would die.

    However, something far more shocking happened. The sky ripped apart in the space above the battlefield only to reveal a ck hole. And from this ck hole, dark elves equipped with ck masks and ck armor appeared.

    <em>[Dark Elf Assassin. Level 637.]</em>

    Their numbers exceeded fifty. These dark elf assassins drew their daggers and immediately charged toward the soldiers. Hundreds of soldiers died with every swing of their daggers.

    <em>[Guardian God Obren says that theres no time!]</em>

    <em>[Guardian God Obren says, Youre all annoying. Ha]</em>

    <em>[Guardian God Obren immediately corrects himself!]</em>

    <em>[Guardian God Obren says he did not say anything!]</em>

    <em>What kind of Guardian God is this?!</em>

    Obren, who was ovee with his irritation, started to speak negatively. However, he immediately corrected himself.

    ...?

    ...?

    The kings and emperors were all left in doubt. However, they no longer had the leisure to question him.

    Those guys are assassins. The reason why they showed up now is probably because One of the kings said, a noticeable tremor in his voice. However, an assassin appeared before he could even finish speaking, sitting leisurely on the walls.

    When the assassin saw the soldiers and knights rush at him, he grabbed one of the kings by the cor and threw him off the walls.

    Aaaaaaaaaack!

    Fortunately, the mages could hurriedly use their <em>telekinesis magic</em> to deliver the king to the ground safely. To their horror, two assassins and ten dark werewolves were waiting. The king was none other than Arcas Kingdoms King Bao.

    S-save King Bao!

    Go and rescue King Bao right away!!!

    Quick! Hurry up!!!

    The kings and emperors hurriedly gave out their orders. However, the knights and soldiers could not pierce through the dark elves defenses in the surrounding area. King Bao was born a nerd. He had only read books and did not know how to fight or protect himself.

    Woo- woooo wooo, wooo King Bao cried, his body trembling from fear.

    Werewolves, the size of a carriage, slowly crept toward him with drool dripping down their sharp canines. Left in tears from the fear, King Bao decided to grasp on straws. He knew there was only one thing he could do right now.

    I- I- I ept. Please help me! Help me! Beyond the Heavens Empire! If you do, then I will reevaluate my views of you! I will even aid the Beyond the Heavens Empire in your internal and external affairs!

    <em>[Arcas Kingdoms King Bao is requesting help from Beyond the Heavens Empire!]</em>

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens Empires Guardian God Obren warps the people of the Beyond the Heavens Empire!]</em>

    The kings and emperors felt a bit of anticipation at that moment. Perhaps Spear God Ben or Brod would appear to save King Bao.

    However, the one that appeared was a very unexpected person.

    Have you been well, Your Majesty?

    Keller? You- how?!

    The man who appeared in a sh of light was neither Brod nor Spear God Ben. Instead, it was Keller, hailed as the Dragon Spear Man in the Arcas Empire. He had received a thorough education from Haze and Ellie beforeing here.

    He looked at King Bao and said, His Majesty, the emperor of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, said with tears in his eyes

    T-tears?

    <em>Go and save the kings and emperors you have served before</em>.

    ...!

    For King Bao, hearing those words from a subordinate he had cherished in the past was much more touching and convincing than hearing them from Minhyuk. However, King Bao knew that Keller would be unable to do anything about the two assassins and the pack of werewolves before him.

    At that moment, a dark elf assassin and a werewolf charged toward them.

    <em>[Guardian God Obren has bestowed upon you his Duplicated Blessings!]</em>

    <em>[The Duplicated Blessings can duplicate whatever buff effect is in effect!]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 12%!]</em>

    <em>[Your Dragon Spearmanship has increased by 1 level!]</em>

    <em>[Your resistance to abnormal status has increased by 12%!]</em>

    Of course, Keller remembered what Ellie had taught him: the <em>Attention-seeking Method</em> to get the attention of all the people present.

    I will break your arrogance and chop your head off with my Dragon Spear.

    <em>...K-Keller. Y-you Whats the matter with you?!</em>

    King Bao could not understand how Keller and his terrible line would be able to stop these enemies alone.

    The moment Keller swung his spear, blood spurted out from the bodies of the two charging dark elf assassins.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab!</em>

    Heoooook! King Bao shouted in surprise.

    But Keller did not stop there. He immediately used the second chapter of Ellies Attention Seeking Method. Keller looked at his enemies with his noble, majestic, and cold eyeswhich closely resembled the look Ellie had shown them beforeas he raised his spear and slowly said, Kneel before my Dragon Spear.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab!</em>

    And once again, with his spear, he stabbed the necks of the dozens of dark werewolves that surrounded them and made them copse on the ground.

    King Bao could only watch with wide-open eyes.

 Chapter 861

    Chapter 861

    King Bao could not believe what was in front of his eyes.

    Keller, the Dragon Spearman who dreamt of seeding Spear God Ben, was a legend who had be a hero in their kingdom. And from what King Bao remembered, Keller would only be able to deal with one dark elf assassin. However, the two dark elf assassins that charged at them were now spurting blood from their throats while dozens of dark werewolves fell after getting their necks pierced.

    <em>Di-did he be stronger?!</em>

    All of the kings and emperors had been worried before, that the talents that used to be by their side would grow weaker aftering under themand of the Beyond the Heavens Emperor. However, the level of Kellers growth was unimaginably high.

    Not only did Kellers level increase significantly, but he also unlocked a new pinnacle skill when he left to train under Amacar. More importantly, he also received various buff effects, including Obrens Duplicate Blessings and the buff effects of the dish that Minhyuk made for them using the <em>Create a Recipe</em> skill.

    <em>[You ate a dish from a recipe specially made for you.]</em>

    <em>[You wont be able to eat another dish from a recipe specially made for you for a month.]</em>

    <em>[You have eaten a Fried Rice Burger.]</em>

    <em>[Epic Grade.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 9%.]</em>

    <em>[All of your spearmanship skills have increased by +1.]</em>

    <em>[Your attack speed has increased by 18%.]</em>

    <em>[Your defense has increased by 25%.]</em>

    With Obrens Duplicate Blessings, Minhyuks legendary grade buff effect, and his growth with Amacar, Keller could confidently say he was no weaker than any of the lower-ranked Sword of the Gods.

    Your Majesty! I have received His Majesty Minhyuks orders and will use my life to protect you!

    Keller once insulted Minhyuk. He almost got executed for insulting the emperor. However, with Minhyuks mercy and his Emperors Comfort skills, he developed a sense of loyalty and respect toward the new emperor he was serving.

    And Keller knew they needed to turn the hostile kings and emperors into friends. These talents were the key to Beyond the Heavens Empire''s ability to forge a friendly rtionship with these kingdoms and empires.

    During this reunion between the king and his subordinate, who had not seen each other for quite some time, the subordinate told his king, Please do not forget that I was only able toe here because His Majesty, the Beyond the Heavens Emperor, had sent me here and ordered me

    Bao focused on the words of his former subordinate.

    Protect you even at the cost of my life!

    ...!

    Bao was deeply moved when he heard his former subordinate, who appeared in front of him stronger than before, say those words. Was the Beyond the Heavens Emperor truly the shameless and impudent person that he thought him to be? Bao looked at Kellers back. Keller triggered the new power that he was able to awaken thanks to Amacars help.

    Dragon Spear!

    <em>Beeeeeeeeeeeeeep</em>

    Bright light gathered at the tip of Kellers spear. This bright light carried a powerful force that grew until it was as long as a spear before shooting forward and covering an entire area with a two kilometer radius.

    The dark elves hurriedly borrowed the power of the spirits of darkness and cast a dark barrier. However, the dark barriers were as flimsy as paper, providing no protection to them against the spear of light. In the end, their bodies got pierced through by the powerful force.

    At the same time, King Bao was rescued and sent back to safety.

    M-my god

    Tha-thats Keller, right?

    King Bao, were you hiding Kellers power before?

    The kings and emperors still could not believe it even though they had seen everything happen with their very own eyes. They felt like they saw the might and momentum of a Sword of the Gods.

    However, King Bao just shook his head. Then, he turned to Emperor Elise and said, Kellers power is far behind that of Sir Arcalso, or at least, it used to be.

    ...

    Emperor Elise was in shock. The power that Keller disyed was far superior to that of Arcalso.

    However, even though Keller appeared and immediately charged toward the enemies, his appearance could not significantly change the battlefield''s flow. The assassins looked up at the walls and waited for the opportunity to make a move. Then, hundreds of assassins jumped out as a ck hole suddenly appeared on the ground. However, it did not end there.

    Roaaaaaaaaar!

    Graaaaaaaa!

    Grrrrrrrrrrrr!

    Groaaaaaaaaar!

    Around twenty gigantic dark werewolves fell from the sky. They were almost thirty-five meters in height, which was already half the height of the walls that protected the Ath Empire. On top of that, there was something unusual about their fur which was glinting brightly under the light.

    <em>[Giant Dark Werewolf. Level 639.]</em>

    At that moment, Dark Elf Jack raised his hand, then swung it down.

    N- no way

    Grrrrrrrrrrrr!

    Roaaaaaaaaaaaar!

    Graaaaaaaaaaa!

    The twenty giant dark werewolves immediately charged toward the walls. The dark werewolves did not care about who was in their path. Whether it was friend or foe, they just trampled on them and continued to charge forward.

    At this moment, the kings and emperors all shared one hunch.

    Th- those guys are going to tear the walls down.

    Theyre acting like mammoths!

    Ah- Aaaaaaaaaah Ah!

    The kings and emperors knew this would be their grave if the walls copsed. There were even assassins waiting for the opportunity to reap their lives.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud!</em>

    The kings and emperors shrieked when they saw the dozens of giant dark werewolves get closer and closer.

    U- uwaaaaaaah!

    Aaaaaaaaaack!

    Damn it!

    We should have run away as quickly as possible!

    Emperor Elise watched them shriek and scream. He was calmer and moreposed than the others. Then, he murmured, Beyond the Heavens Guardian God.

    <em>[Guardian God Obren is responding!]</em>

    Tell the Beyond the Heavens Emperor.

    <em>[Guardian God Obren lends you his ear!]</em>

    That I am begging him to save my empire.

    <em>[Ath Empires Emperor Elise is requesting help from Beyond the Heavens Empire!]</em>

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens Empires Guardian God Obren warps the people of the Beyond the Heavens Empire!]</em>

    By that time, several dark elf assassins were already in the vicinity of Emperor Elise. The giant dark werewolves were also growing nearer and nearer to the walls.

    Emperor Elise had also lost a lot of talents to the Beyond the Heavens Empire. When he thought about it, he realized there was also a time when he fought on the battlefield with his talented warriors. A time when heughed with them as they cut down their enemies together. However, these people were no longer by his side. At that moment, he recalled the promises that they had made.

    <em>Ill be more powerful to protect you, Your Majesty.</em>

    <em>Your Majesty, I will be stronger!</em>

    Perhaps they went to the Beyond the Heavens Empire because they wanted to achieve something.

    Emperor Elise asked himself, <em>Everyone, were you able to achieve what you wanted to achieve?</em>

    Was the Beyond the Heavens Emperor able to give them the things they wanted to get so much? Was he able to do what Elise could not do for them? At that moment, when the assassin shot forward with the dagger pointing at his neck, the greedy emperor sincerely spoke, I hope you guys were able to achieve what you wanted to achieve.

    In that brief moment, Elise sincerely hoped that the Beyond the Heavens Emperor was able to do what he could not do for them. But before the dagger could even touch Elises neck, a bright light shed, and a man appeared. The man grabbed the assassins wrist.

    <em>Swoosh</em>

    Your Majesty.

    Three men simultaneously appeared in that sh of light. They were the talents that promised to be stronger for him in the past. They left him because of his changes, his negligence, and his crooked policies. They left because they grew tired of his growing faults and wanted to find a greener pasture and improve even further.

    The man who grabbed the dark elf assassins wrist was Knight Edom. He was one of the knights who fought alongside Elise in the past. Elise looked at Edom and asked him silently, <em>Were you able to get what you wanted to get after leaving me?</em>

    Edom responded with his actions. He swiftly used his other hand to grab the dark elf assassins cor and m him down on the ground.

    <em>Boooooooom</em>

    The ground cracked as the dark elf assassin spat a mouthful of blood.

    <em>Shiiiiing</em>

    Edom and the two other knights that appeared with him drew their swords and cut down the charging assassins in one swift move.

    <em>Ting Ting, ting, ting, ting, ting Ting!</em>

    A smile unknowingly appeared on Elises face as he watched the man draw blood from the enemies.

    Did the Beyond the Heavens Emperor cry as he gave you his orders?

    The three turned to look at Elise when they heard his question. He was half-right. Their new emperor did not cry, but it was certain that he had asked them to win the hearts of everyone here. However, his words implied that he truly wanted them to protect their former masters.

    Have youe this far?

    ...

    ...

    The three silently stared at Elise. Then, Edom said, We also wished to protect you, Your Majesty.

    ...

    Elise looked at them and realized that the Beyond the Heavens Emperor had allowed them to grow stronger, even more than he did. At this point, Elise had to admit that his people made the right choice in immigrating to the Beyond the Heavens Empire. He could no longer deny nor curse and criticize the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    Will you follow my final order?

    Please give us your orders!

    Elise stared coldly ahead of him, knowing that they had be stronger.

    Protect the people.

    Edom and the other talents acknowledged Elisesmand.

    We will obey your orders!

    We will obey your orders!

    <em>Dash</em>

    <em>Dash</em>

    <em>Dash</em>

    The three immediately flew off of the wall. Each of them went on to fight against one giant dark werewolf. These giant dark werewolves were very hard to deal with. No scratch would appear on their skin despite thousands of arrows shooting toward them. They did not even blink when thousands of spears stabbed at their bodies.

    <em>Thuuuuuuuuuud</em>

    But the moment Edom swung his sword, the head of the giant dark werewolf that he was facing fell down and rolled on the ground.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    When another knight shot out countless magic bombs, the body of the giant dark werewolf in front of him exploded and turned into pieces. Even the remaining knight, who used a dagger to stab the neck of the giant dark werewolf that he was dealing with, was able to knock the gigantic being down.

    ...

    Elise watched them while thinking, <em>He has truly done what I couldnt do.</em>

    Would the rtionship between an emperor and his subordinate end with epting and acknowledging each other?

    Although the three talents had left Elises side, he could clearly see in their eyes that they came here on the orders of the Beyond the Heavens Emperor, but also truly to protect him.

    Thank you.

    The Beyond the Heavens Empire not only embraced his former subordinates, but he also realized their importance and their true worth.

    At the same time, Minhyuk heard these notifications.

    <em>[Emperor Elises favor has increased.]</em>

    <em>[Emperor Elises favor has increased.]</em>

    After seeing his former talents cut down the giant dark werewolves, Emperor Elise cried loudly, Beyond the Heavens Empire, please help us!!!

    This was the first shot, the signal. The kings and emperors, who had also witnessed the performance of Emperor Elises former talents, shouted together.

    Beyond the Heavens Empire, please save us.

    I beg you. Please save us!

    At that moment, more than a hundred thousand lights shed in the sky. At the same time, the talents that each kingdom and empire had once cherished and loved appeared in front of them.

    Sir Amolde!

    Marquis Vioness!

    Count Latio!

    The kings and emperors were very happy to be reunited with their former talents. However, they were also fully aware of the extent of their power. They all knew that their power was not enough to deal with a giant dark werewolf. However, the talents, who appeared on the walls, just flew up regardless of their worries and knocked down the giant dark werewolves.

    <em>Thud Thud, thud Thuuuuuuud Thuuuuuuuud!</em>

    The kings and emperors could only stare in awe as the dark werewolves copsed with a loud thud on the ground. The Beyond the Heavens Empire did what they could not do.

    As for the Beyond the Heavens knights and soldiers that appeared on the walls, everyone knew they were stronger than their own empires and kingdoms knights and soldiers. However, what they could not figure out was their numbers. What could a mere 100,000 people be able to do against such enemies? The dark elves speed at which they wielded their sword was so fast that they could even cut down arrows. It was also tough to even leave a scratch on their skins.

    However, Amacar was standing before these soldiers and knights. When Amacar raised his hand, the 100,000 knights and soldiers immediately pulled the strings of their bows. Like the talents, these knights and soldiers had also received the effects of buff dishes and had grown under Amacars training.

    <em>[You have received the Guardian Gods Power of Bullseyes Arrow!]</em>

    <em>[After receiving the buff, the first and second arrows you shoot will have an additional 1,000% attack. The arrows hit rate and pration rate will also double!]</em>

    White light gathered at the tip of the soldiers'' and knights arrows, and they released their hold on the strings.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab</em>

    Their arrows instantly pierced through the hearts of the dark elves that were running fiercely and the necks of the dark werewolves that were charging crazily.

    <em>Thud Thud Thud Thud</em>

    The jaws of the kings and emperors that watched this scene almost dropped to the ground.

    Ar-are you telling me that those are ordinary soldiers?!

    Th-this!

    The Beyond the Heavens Empire''s ordinary soldiers looked like knights who could deal with ten soldiers alone. No, perhaps they were far more than that.

    <em>[Prides Kings favor has increased.]</em>

    <em>[Affros Kings favor has increased.]</em>

    <em>[Heineks Emperors favor has increased.]</em>

    <em>[Condnis Emperors favor has increased]</em>

    Notifications rang constantly in Minhyuks ears.

 Chapter 862

    Chapter 862

    The knights and soldiers of the Beyond the Heavens Empire standing on the Ath Empire''s walls were the empires elites. However, even if that was the case, most had already started to face the limits of their growth. But thanks to thebination of Minhyuks buffed dish and Amacars growth buff effect, they were able to exceed their limits and grow even further. They also grew even more powerful thanks to the effects of the trailersrge-scale dishes.

    The kings and emperors also thought of Minhyuks buffed dishes. ording to the rumors they had heard, Minhyuks buffed dishes had ridiculous and unbelievable effects. Because the stories were too absurd, it did not even cross their minds that the power the knights and soldiers disyed was also thanks to Minhyuks <em>buffed dishes.</em>

    The elites of the Beyond the Heavens Empire pulled the strings of their bow immediately after they killed more than 70,000 of the enemy troops. They then shot their arrows once again at the dark elves that were cutting through the gaps of the coalition forces and the dark werewolves that were charging toward the walls.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab Stab, stab, stab, stab!</em>

    The kings and emperors thought their arrows became unusually more potent because of the Guardian God, Obren. Well, it was only half right.

    As more dark elves copsed, the Beyond the Heavens Empires elites quickly slung their bows on their backs and hung ropes on the pirs of the walls. Using these ropes, they swiftly descended. The knights and soldiers swiftly drove away the dark elves that crowded the vicinity of the walls of the Ath Empire the moment their feetnded on the ground.

    Keuaaaaaaaack!

    The fearsome and mighty dark elves were being cut down quickly by the des of the knights and soldiers. Perhaps it was only natural. After all, the ones that taught them swordsmanship and spearmanship were Brod and Spear God Ben.

    <em>Stab Stab, stab, stab Stab, stab, stab!</em>

    The knights and soldiers quickly dealt with the dark elves near the walls. As for the dark elves that mounted the dark werewolves? The talented recruits of the Beyond the Heavens Empire were the ones who flew up and dealt with them.

    <em>aaaaaaash</em>

    Keller cut down a dark werewolf with one swing of his spear. So far, he had three teachers. They were Spear God Ben, Amacar, and Attention Seeker Emperor Ellie.

    As long as theres a single dragons breath in my spear, none of you can reach this gate!

    Keller had learned how to gain the most attention from her. And the effects were truly outstanding. The kings and emperors immediately turned to look at him when they heard his cries. And what did they see? They saw Keller moving swiftly to kill everyone who tried to get near the walls.

    Th- thats crazy!

    Tell me! How can he wield such power?!

    The kings and emperors murmured in awe.

    Meanwhile, Kellerughed to himself. <em>Its as you say, Attention Seeker Emperor. Everyone is amazed.</em>

    If Keller was only dealing with one enemy and he said those words, then everyone would snicker at him and call him<em> nuts</em>. However, his lines were a perfect fit for the situation, so it made him shine even more.

    Everyone who received training from Attention Seeker Emperor Ellie began to speak one after another as if on cue.

    Edom gathered the man in his body and said, A bloody wind will blow.

    The mana roared as it rose from the de of his sword. Edoms secret skill, Pord Swordsmanships Final Chapter, the Beasts Charge, was a skill that could engulf an entire forty-meter radius and rip apart everyone and everything within the area.

    <em>[Guardian God Obren has activated the Skill Reinforcement Buff.]</em>

    <em>[Upon receiving the buff, the first skill you will use will have a 30% increase in attack.]</em>

    <em>[For AOE Skills, their range will increase by an additional 40%.]</em>

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    Once the pride of the Ath Empire, Edom released a sword attack that engulfed hundreds of dark elves all at once. Emperor Elise also knew about Edoms secret skill. However, he was shocked and impressed by the power it disyed right now. It was many times stronger than before.

    All of the Beyond the Heavens Empire''s knights, soldiers, and talents were protected by Guardian God Obren, who, when coupled with various factors, had gathered together and created a shocking synergistic effect.

    However, Guardian God Obren could not protect and support the Beyond the Heavens Empire for as long as he wanted. Since Athenae was a game that promoted bnce, Guardian God Obrens ability to provide help and protection to the Beyond the Heavens Empire had received several restrictions and had a limit per day.

    The Beyond the Heavens Empire''s knights, soldiers, and talents had already killed more than 500,000 dark elves. Everyone performed splendidly. And this was more so the case for the talents. They had disyed an outstanding performance that would not lose to the Luvien Empires lower-ranked Swords of the Gods. And because they performed outstandingly, even the knights and soldiers could shine even more.

    However, at that moment, the eyes of Dark Elf Jack, who was watching everything from a distance, turned ck. At the same time, Jacks voice rang in the heads of the dark elves, whose eyes had also turned ck.

    <em>Eliminate the strong ones first.</em>

    The moment Dark Elf Jack issued the order, all of the dark elves dealing with the coalition army and the Beyond the Heavens troops immediately turned their heads towards the Beyond the Heavens talents. Even the dark werewolves were doing the same thing. Then, they began to charge at them as if they had gone crazy.

    This Keller was left flustered.

    The enemiespletely ignored the attacks sent by the coalition army and the Beyond the Heavens troops. They continued to charge at the newly recruited and cultivated talents of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. Everyone was left with a sense of urgency when they suddenly saw the enemies charge at them. But that was not all. The dark elves also used the spirits of darkness to cast various spirit magic upon them.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Dozens of explosions bombed the talents.

    However, the bigger problem was Jack. A considerable spark appeared on the tip of the longsword that Jack raised high up in the sky. The spark soared even higher in the sky before splitting dozens of times. Then, the enormous sparks filled with tremendous power fell towards the talented people.

    <em>[Guardian Gods Protection.]</em>

    <em>[Guardian God Obrens Barrier has been activated!]</em>

    In this heart-stopping crisis where all the talents almost risked being wiped out, Obren cast a blue barrier that surrounded all of them.

    <em>Crackle, crackle, crackle, crackle!</em>

    A thickyer of dust bloomed as the powerful force mmed into Obrens barrier. Injuries littered the bodies of the talents while they huddled inside the barrier. No matter how strong they were, it would still be tough for them to endure such an intense and overwhelming attack and leave unscathed.

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens Empires Guardian Deity Obren strongly rmends a retreat!]</em>

    <em>[Guardian God Obren says that he might be unable to protect you anymore after this!]</em>

    The barrier that Guardian God Obren cast this time had exhausted many of the buffs he could use to protect and help the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    The talents all felt that it was a pity.

    <em>I should have fought a bit more actively.</em>

    <em>I wanted to show the person I served before that I am doing well now.</em>

    However, they all knew their lives were the most important thing here. Then, Beyond the Heavens Guardian God, Obren spoke to them.

    <em>[Guardian God Obren tells you that what you did is more than enough.]</em>

    They turned to look at the kings and emperors from within the barrier. It looked like they were looking at them in awe and admiration. They also seemed like they looked apprehensive about them.

    Come back quickly!

    Hurry!

    The situation has turned for the worst! Retreat first! The coalition army will stop them!

    Even the 100,000-strong Beyond the Heavens Empire troops had already done more than enough. They had shown the kings and emperors they could do what they could not do before.

    Just like that, the Beyond the Heavens talents and troops began to retreat. However, the dark elves and the dark werewolves did not make it easy for them. Dark Elf Jack also did not have any intention of letting them retreat. After all, he knew that they would pose another threat to them once these people recovered.

    <em>Fweeeeeeeeeeet!</em> Jack whistled loudly. His whistle, which sounded strangely simr, yet also different, from the whistle he used when he summoned the dark werewolves, echoed loudly on the battlefield.

    <em>Fweeeeeeeeeeet!</em>

    Unlike the brief whistle from before, this whistle resonated longer.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud!</em>

    Almost a thousand giant dark werewolves fell down from the sky.

    ...

    ...

    ...

    The kings and emperors were all stunned silly by their appearance. The talents had hunted around twenty giant dark werewolves just a few moments prior but now almost a thousand appeared before them. However, it did not end there.

    <em>Screeeeeeeeeeech</em>

    A gathering of 500 ck eagles the size of an elephant carrying dark elves flew out of the crack that appeared in the sky above them. Their levels were almost at the same level as the giant dark werewolves.

    Th-those are the ck Eagles from the legends, right?

    ording to the legends, these eagles could rip apart a human body with their beaks alone and even cut up anything in their path with their wings. The worst part was they were flight-type monsters.

    When they appeared, those ck eagles immediately swooped down and divided the coalition army into two.

    Quick! Run! Retreat! Amacar shouted hurriedly.

    He knew that he was on the verge of losing all of the talents and troops of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. However, the dark elves and the dark werewolves were persistent. They continued to block the path of the retreating forces.

    In just an instant, the battlefield grew chaotic. The charging giant dark werewolves looked like a herd of elephants running towards a n of hyenas. Meanwhile, the ck eagles had taken over the skies. They would swoop in from time to time and try to bite off the heads of the kings and emperors on the walls.

    I am very grateful for the help given to us by the Beyond the Heavens Empire

    However, the help that they had given was not enough to help them truly ovee the situation.

    Dark Elf Jack had dered the destruction of all kingdoms and empires. Perhaps the kings and emperors already knew that they were hiding their numbers when they heard the deration of war.

    The flock of ck eagles had already turned the sky into a sea of ck, while the thousand giant dark werewolves on the ground had forced thend to tremble and shake.

    Its over Someone murmured in despair.

    Perhaps this was the end for the kings and emperors present here, the sound and healthy people of the kingdoms and empires, and the talents and troops that the Beyond the Heavens Empire sent to help them.

    <strong>OBREEEEEEEEEN!!!</strong>

    But then, at that moment, a loud cry resounded from the sky above them. The kings, emperors, the troops of the coalition army, and the talents, knights, and soldiers of the Beyond the Heavens Empire quickly turned their heads to look in the direction where the cry came from.

    <em>[Guardian God Obren has triggered the Freedoms Blessings!]</em>

    <em>[You can now use any skill you want, regardless of their cooldown restriction or requirements!]</em>

    <em>[Guardian God Obren has used 97% of his authority to help the Beyond the Heavens Empire for this day!]</em>

    There, they saw a man falling rapidly from the sky above. All around the man, ten thousand swords made of light twinkled into existence.

    <em>[Ten Thousand Swords.]</em>

    <em>[Ten Thousand Swords is a skill that can demonstrate great power inrge-scale battles!]</em>

    <em>[Ten Thousand Swords will chase after the stronger enemies and pierce through the hearts of Ten Thousand enemies!]</em>

    <em>[Each sword of the Ten Thousand Swords has a 6,000% additional attack!]</em>

    <em>[Those grazed or cut by the Ten Thousand Swords in passing will receive an additional 3,000% damage!]</em>

    Then, the ten thousand swords made of light immediately rained down upon their enemies.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    The gathering of ck eagles fell from the skies while the hearts of the giant dark werewolves running on the ground were torn apart.

    <em>[The Highest God has appeared!]</em>

    The man who appeared with that loud cry was none other than Minhyuk.

 Chapter 863

    Chapter 863

    The kings and emperors had been in a panic. However, all stood still when they saw the ten thousand swords made of light rain down from the sky above them, forcing the ferocious convocation of ck eagles to fall from the sky, and the pack of giant dark werewolves copsed on the ground. Then, a notification rang in everyones ears.

    <em>[The Highest God has appeared!]</em>

    The kings and emperors watched as Minhyuk slowly fell from the sky.

    <em>It seems like the wild rumors that we heard were true.</em>

    <em>Everything was true.</em>

    <em>Perhaps our inferiorityplex has made us deny and ignore him.</em>

    The Beyond the Heavens Emperor has proven his abilities to them through the growth of his army and his newly recruited talents to his power. Everyones mouth turned shut when they saw the devastation left behind on the battlefield.

    <em>Vwooooooong</em>

    <em>Vwoooooooooooong</em>

    <em>Vwoooooooong</em>

    <em>[Bacalods Sword is resonating!]</em>

    <em>[Bacalods Sword loses its power before the Greatest Sword!]</em>

    <em>[The Fastest Emperors Sword loses its power in front of the Greatest Sword!]</em>

    The coalition army and the dark elves weapons and armor lost their sharpness and power.

    <em>[The Dark Elven Armys morale has decreased significantly!]</em>

    The Dark Elven Army fell into chaos.

    The ck eagles and the giant dark werewolves were battle weapons they had nurtured and developed with all their hearts and souls. But those fierce and mighty battle weapons were easily killed by a skill triggered by one man and one man alone. There was also the voice that announced the appearance of the Highest God that rang in their ears the moment the man appeared. But that was not all. The power of the armor and weapons they had equipped had lost their sharpness and strength. All of that put together would bring anyones morale down.

    <em>Tap</em>

    Minhyuknded lightly on the walls. His white cape carrying the Beyond the Heavens Empires symbol fluttered behind him as he red coldly at the enemy troops. Then, he turned his head and asked, Are you alright?

    Y- Yeah

    Y- Yes.

    The kings and emperors unknowingly felt dejected.

    The Beyond the Heavens Empire was only a newly established empire. However, just one look at the current situation showed that Beyond the Heavens growth would skyrocket. They also did not know that Emperor Minhyuk was that strong.

    <em>Is he as strong as Nerva? </em>One of the emperors entertained such thoughts. However, he quickly shook his head. They heard that Emperor Nerva had lost an eye to Minhyuk recently. Even so, Nerva was a powerful person. He was strong enough that he could transcend even the gods. The current Minhyuk could not win against him.

    I will do my best to help you.

    The kings and emperors nodded at Minhyuk.

    If things work out well in the end, then were also willing to view the Beyond the Heavens Empire in a new light and rethink the rtionship between our nations.

    The same goes for my kingdom.

    I will make sure to repay you for your help.

    What else would they need to do to repair their rtionship when the Beyond the Heavens Emperor personally jumped onto the battlefield for them?

    At that moment, the most influential emperor, Emperor Elise, stepped forward and said, Beyond the Heavens Emperor.

    Minhyuk looked back at him with his sharp eyes.

    Please kill them all. I will make sure to repay you for that!

    <em>[Ath Empires Emperor Elise has promised the Beyond the Heavens Empire a handsome and definite reward!]</em>

    <em>[The rewards would depend on your performance and the performance of the Beyond the Heavens Empire!]</em>

    Minhyuk nodded.

    All of the kings and emperors hoped that the dark elves, the race that threatened their lives, would fall apart and disappear. And right now when all of their weapons and armor had lost its power was the perfect chance for that.

    Everyone focused their attention on Minhyuk as he jumped off the walls. Because of his appearance, all of the Beyond the Heavens talents and troops that were led by Amacar had retreated safely and had entered the gates of the Ath Empire.

    The kings and emperors hurriedly gathered around Amacar, who climbed atop the walls again for a short break, and asked anxiously.

    Will the Beyond the Heavens Emperor go alone?

    Are you just sending Emperor Minhyuk out there by himself?

    They all thought that the troops led by Amacar would go out on the battlefield once again. However, Amacar just sat down and tried to catch his breath.

    Yes.

    No. Wh- what

    You should get Brod and Spear God Ben

    But Amacar just shook his head. Its fine.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang</em>

    Just when Amacars words ended, a loud explosion erupted from the battlefield. They were greeted by a bolt of bloody red lightning falling from the sky when they turned to look at the battlefield once again. Just one bloody red lightning bolt instantly decimated dozens of dark elves. The most shocking part? The bloody red lightning fell so frequently that one had to wonder if it was truly a passive skill.

    Keheoooook. He- he just swung his sword once!

    It was just like one of the kings said. Minhyuk almost killed one of the dark elves with just one simple swing of his sword and no passive skill triggered. This was possible thanks to the power of the Sword of Aeon and because their armors defense had dropped to zero.

    Then, the dark elves eyes turned ck once again, a voice ringing in their heads telling them to kill the man named <em>Minhyuk.</em> The dark elves and the dark werewolves ignored the coalition army to charge at Minhyuk. But that was not all. The spirits of darkness also created hundreds of ck spheres and sent them to Minhyuk, engulfing him in a series of explosions.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The series of attacks decreased Minhyuks HP.

    Th- this

    The kings and emperors could only shout in worry as they watched the thick cloud of dust rise in the air. However, when the thick cloud of dust settled down and revealed Minhyuks figure, they saw hundreds of bloody red beads floating around him. The injuries littering Minhyuks body recovered at a speed visible to the naked eye as the bloody red beads seeped into his body.

    ...!

    ...!

    The kings and emperors, who watched dozens of dark elves fall with every swing of Minhyuks sword, could only sigh in disbelief.

    <em>Even our ten million strong troops could not show such majesty and might</em>

    <em>How can he overwhelm an entire army by himself?</em>

    Even though there were 3.5 million dark elves surrounding him, they felt like Minhyuk was not falling behind at all.

    <em>Come out.</em>

    Minhyuk was waiting. Dark Elf Jack was one of the Six Monster Gods and he was currently still hiding. Minhyuk was fully aware that he was prepared for this war. After all, he had nurtured and fostered millions of dark elves and raised a convocation of ck eagles and a pack of giant dark werewolves. From what he could see, he still had quite a lot hidden up his sleeve. And that was what Minhyuk was waiting for.

    Of course, he would not just sit still and wait. He wanted to defeat at least 400,000 dark elves during the process of waiting.

    <em>Creak, creak Creak</em>

    At that moment, something appeared in front of Minhyuk, who was fully surrounded by the dark elves. It was none other than a puppet. The puppets joints slowly twisted into ce as its head and limbs were held up and controlled by a transparent and thin thread. This puppet was Envoy Viel.

    Puppet Viel could only be summoned for ten minutes. However, one should not forget how much damage Puppet Viel could deal, both his attack and defense could rival that of Brods own. The best part was Minhyuk could get 100% of the gold and artifact drops and 50% EXP from the ones Viel hunted.

    <em>Since there are millions of ants, lets take out the elephant Viel to trample on them, no?</em>

    Minhyuk would sit back and devour their EXP and artifacts.

    <em>Macro hunting is the best!</em>

    Finally, all of Viels joints had twisted into ce. With his sword in hand, Viel immediately jumped into the middle of the sea of dark elves.

    <em>Stab Stab, stab, stab Stab, stab, stab Stab, stab, stab</em>

    Viel moved like a ghost, his sword sweeping away all the dark elves blocking his path.

    ...! Jacks eyes grew wide from shock as he watched this unfold from a distance. And the same was true for the kings and emperors.

    Minhyuk could kill Viel because he was strong; this was an undeniable fact. However, his luck also yed a massive role in that fight. There was also Guardian God Obren. His power also contributed significantly to the defeat of Envoy Viel.

    <em>Creak, creak, creak</em>

    Viel tilted his head slowly to look at the dozens of elves that charged at him all at once. He looked at them as if he found themughable. Then, he swung his sword.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa</em>

    A sword light shot out from Viels sword and sted the dark elves, their bodies ripping apart from the force of the blow.

    <em>[You have acquired 100% gold and artifact drops and 50% EXP from the ones your Puppet has hunted!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1,300,010 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1,505,130 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[...EXP.]</em>

    <em>[...EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained 7,513,013 gold.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained 9,413,100 gold.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained 13,00,203 gold.]</em>

    <em>[....gold.]</em>

    <em>[...gold.]</em>

    Of course, Minhyuk did not stay idle. He slowly cast the Overlords Technique while he listened to the notifications that rang in his ears.

    <em>I have to kill as many enemies as possible.</em>

    Only by doing so would the man behind this army feel the danger and pull out the cards he had hidden in his sleeves.

    <em>Booooooooooooom!</em>

    The mes of the Overlords Technique erupted and devoured tens of thousands of the dark elves. The dark elves flesh burned, leaving only their bones behind. However, it did not take long for it to turn into ashes that disappeared into the wind. But Minhyuk did not stop there.

    Summon Beanie.

    Oiiiiiiiiiiiink!

    The baby piggy Beanie stood out, his thick and plump belly bulging as he pointed his Food Gods Kitchen Knife forward.

    Overlords Technique.

    Oiiiiiiiiiink <em>(Overlords Technique. Oink!)</em>!

    Minhyuk and Beanie both cast the Overlords Technique.

    Minhyuk used the skill he saved using the <em>Save</em> skill, while Beanie used the skill through his Predators Authority. A loud sound wave erupted as two Overlords Technique ovepped. The skill devoured over 100,000 dark elves, turning them into ashes that disappeared into the wind.

    There was also Envoy Viel, who was standing next to Minhyuk. He also cast several AOE attack skills and ughtered thousands of dark elves.

    Uhh!

    Keheok!

    This!

    The kings and emperors could only gape at the Beyond the Heavens Emperor. The momentum and power he disyed in front of them was something they had not seen, even in their talents.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk continued to advance.

    Intangible Sword.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab!</em>

    Hundreds of invisible swords swept away the dark elves, whose attack and defense had already returned. <em>Thousand Soldiers and Ten Thousand War Horses, </em>even that was not enough against Minhyuk. But then, at that moment

    <em>[The Great Spirit of Darkness Pero has gone berserk!]</em>

    Graaaaaaaaaaaaa!

    The Great Spirit of Darkness Pero slowly grew bigger and bigger, like a giant created by lumps of soil gathering together.

    <em>[The Great Spirit of Darkness Pero has revealed his true andplete appearance!]</em>

    <em>[The Great Spirit of Darkness Pero has forcefully used the power of the Four Spirit Kings!]</em>

    Roaaaaaaaaaaaaar!

    The loud and piercing scream made the entire battlefield, including Minhyuk, stop in their tracks.

    ***

    Dark Elf Jack was impressed by the human running rampant on the battlefield.

    <em>He is a powerhouse, the likes of which did not exist even in the past era.</em>

    Not all of the gods were strong. Quite a few humans had also transcended their limits and became gods. And it was evident to Jack that the man on the battlefield was the greatest Supreme of this era.

    Jack was confident that he would win this war. However, he knew that shing against this man would damage him significantly. So, rather than using his power, he borrowed the power of the Great Spirit of Darkness Pero.

    Among the Five Great Spirits, the Great Spirit of Darkness Pero was the most stubborn and challenging. He was also very vicious and ferocious. He could borrow the power of the other Great Spirits and use them as his own.

    Groaaaaaaaar!

    <em>[Great Spirit of Darkness Pero. Level 813.]</em>

    Great Spirit of Darkness Peros level increased sharply.

    Even his height grew higher and higher until he reached thirty meters in height. After his transformation, his eyes immediately turned to look at one man and one man alone. This man was none other than Minhyuk.

    <em>Is this a human that has transcended and be a god, or a god from the start? I cant figure out what he is exactly.</em>

    In Peros eyes, the man looked like a god and an ordinary human being. Pero gathered his power and pieced an attack that he would send to the human emperors.

    <em>[Spear of Exploding mes.]</em>

    A spear made out of zing mes appeared in Peros hands. This power initially belonged to the Spirit King of Fire Ifrit. Pero, aiming for the walls before, suddenly twisted his arm and threw the spear in the opposite direction

    Baaaaaaaaaaaaang

    A powerful spear of mes shot toward the lone man on the battlefield. The spear of mes created an explosion akin to that of a nuclear bomb and devoured an area with a radius of 250 meters.

    Kghhk

    The human named Minhyuk looked like he suffered a huge amount of damage when the aftermath of the explosion disappeared and revealed his appearance. His entire body was scorched and it seemed like his life force had dropped by a significant amount.

    <em>Even if you are the Supreme of this era, Pero will still be stronger than you.</em>

    However, Jack found that something was not right. Why did the man change directions? At this point, he realized that not much damage had been done to the walls. But there was still something off.

    <em>Crunch</em>

    It was because he saw the man chew something. Then, he saw the glint in the eyes of the disheveled man.

    Summon Brod.

    Then, he ate another almond.

    <em>Crunch</em>

    Summon Ben.

    And another.

    Summon Elizabeth.

    Summon Luo.

    Summon Elpis.

    And

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens Empires Guardian God Obren warps the people of the Beyond the Heavens Empire!]</em>

    <em>[Guardian God Obren has used 100% of his authority to help the Beyond the Heavens Empire for this day!]</em>

    Dark Elf Jack could see dozens of people surrounding Pero with gazes that looked at him arrogantly. One of those people was Spear God Ben, another was the Fallen Wretched Emperor Brod, and another was Great Demon Elpis. There were also Six Monster Gods Elizabeth, Sword of the Gods Luo, Golden Mage Ali, Beyond the Heavens Marquis Genie, Khan, Locke, Ares, and Cuhel. They all pointed their weapons at Pero, their pinnacle skills ready to be released. Jack could tell that they were all powerhouses.

    <em>The supremes of the current era are gathered together in one ce?</em>

    Dark Elf Jack had an exceptional sense of hearing. He could hear someone even when they were at the distant walls. He heard someone from over there murmur, The vassals of the Beyond the Heavens Empire have all gathered in one ce.

    ...!

    He learned that all of these people served the man named <em>Minhyuk.</em>

 Chapter 864

    Chapter 864

    The number of strong men and powerhouses who dominated an entire era was limited. There were eras with exceptionally high numbers of strong men, but their numbers remained limited.

    And Dark Elf Jack? He was once one of the leading powerhouses of his era. Back then, he fought against many people. There was a human that had be transcendental after transcending the limits of his human body. He became a god that possessed the strongest power among the gods, with a legendary ss that had already gone beyond the realms of god. A king of an entire race. Men who threatened humanity as a whole. He had fought against so many and found out somethingmon about these strong men.

    <em>They were people that would not bow down to anyone.</em>

    Why did those people, who were hailed as the supremes, fight against each other? Even though Dark Elf Jack was considered one of those strong men, he still loved peace back then. Nevertheless, he understood their reasoning. They fought against each other because of their desire to <em>possess</em> and <em>dominate.</em> The supremes would never work with each other. They were like oil and water.

    They were the type of people who had high pride and ego. They might kneel to others but never allow themselves to bow down to anyone. But what Dark Elf Jack was witnessing was something that went against that.

    The current eras supremes had surrounded Pero, who was floating in the sky and ring fiercely at him. Then, Jack heard these vassals shout, Your Majesty, please give us your orders!!!

    Those that would not mix like oil and water were all working together. And they all served a single man.

    <em>Sizzle</em>

    Minhyuk, whose HP had dropped below 10% in one go, immediately ate some choco bars and used his Absorption Conversion skill. When his HP had recovered by more than 20%, he looked up and red at Pero before giving his order, Destroy him.

    <em>Thats not it. Its probably because its been long since I appeared in this world, right?</em>

    Jack quickly denied his conjectures. Yes, they might be powerhouses, but they were most likely not the ones who stood at the peak of this current era. The true supreme was only the man named <em>Minhyuk.</em> However, that was only his wishful thinking.

    Then, a man with a massive build, Brod, made a move. Mercenarys Pinnacle Swordsmanship. Final Chapter.

    Brod looked infinitely smaller than the thirty-meter-tall Pero. However, when Brod swung his sword, hundreds of red sword lights tore through Peros body.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    Ah! Hurts! It hurts- hurts! It hurts!!! It huuuuurts!

    Pero was the Great Spirit of Darkness, so no one should have been able to inflict damage on his body. However, the red sword lights that Brod released forced a scream out of Peros mouth.

    Jack shook his head. <em>Right, lets deny the reality in front of us.</em>

    At that moment, an old man with long ck hair stepped forward. Even if he was once a legend or even if he became a god, an old man would forever be considered a weak and frail existence; it was only natural. As people grew older, they also grew more vulnerable. However, this old man was different.

    Spear Gods Bull.

    The elderly man named Ben might look weak and frail, but he had the God-rank artifact <em>God Piercing Spear</em> in his hands. When he raised this spear, the soft and feeble old man would instantly be one of the greatest gods, Spear God Ben.

    The moment he activated the Spear Gods Bull, a spearlight shot from the tip of his spear and turned into a recklessly charging bull.

    <em>[Spear Gods Bull.]</em>

    <em>[The Spear Gods Bull will charge at anything and everything within a hundred-meter radius and inflict 6,800% additional damage.]</em>

    <em>[Those that the Spear Gods Bull had grazed would receive a variety of abnormal status debuffs!]</em>

    <em>[You have equipped the God Piercing Spear!]</em>

    <em>[The one that equipped the God Piercing Spear would receive a 1.4x increase in all their skills damage!]</em>

    <em>[The Spear Gods Bull will have 9,520% additional damage.]</em>

    The Spear Gods Bull triggered right above Peros head, receiving a 1.4x increase in damage after Ben equipped the God Piercing Spear. The Spear Gods Bull pierced through Pero before charging straight toward the dark elves below them and tearing them apart.

    Keuaaaaaaaaaack! Aaaaaaaaaack! S- stop! It hurts. It hurts. It hurts!!!

    Jack grew restless when he heard Pero scream once again. Peros recovery rate was beyond anyones imagination. He could see that the injuries on Peros body were slowly recovering.

    <em>[Recovery Regtion.]</em>

    <em>[The system has taken control over Peros recovery rate. He would not be able to recover from his injuries!]</em>

    ...

    Jack turned his focus on one of the women. And he could not believe his eyes. The cold look on the girls face could not hide how pretty she was. Her clear skin and slightly raised eyes were a thing of beauty. However, those eyes were very familiar to Jack.

    <em>Elizabeth?</em>

    Of course, Jack knew who Elizabeth was. She was the god in charge of the system and a very pitiful woman who was driven away from the Land of the Gods by the Absolute Gods and trapped and sealed on earth.

    <em>Howe youre here?</em>

    Jack could not understand a lot of what he witnessed today. While he was still confused, the enemies continuously attacked Pero, whose ability to recover had been restricted.

    Giants Fist.

    <em>Boooooooooooom!</em>

    King of Fist Khans punchnded on Peros waist and almost dislocated his pelvis. But that was not the end; Ares quicklynded a kick on the back of Peros head.

    <em>Kiiiick!</em>

    Keuooooook! Aaaaaaaack!

    The kings and emperors were speechless as they constantly heard the screams from Peros mouth.

    Minhyuks Shadow, Sword of the Gods Luo, moved swiftly and skillfully. Using his daggers, he stabbed all over Peros body a hundred times per second. Then, Great Demon Elpis used the <em>Berserk</em> skill attached to the <em>Devil Judges Sword</em>.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa</em>

    Of course, Elpis did not stop there. He also triggered the Splitting the Great Demon skill, releasing a ten-meter-long sword covered with roaring ck demonic energy that cut through Peros body.

    <em>[The Great Spirit of Darkness Pero is in danger!]</em>

    <em>[The Great Spirit of Darkness Pero has triggered the Great Spirits Pinnacle Power!]</em>

    The Great Spirits Pinnacle Power appeared as a pentagon and carried the symbols representing the Great Spirits.

    Darkness was represented by a ck hole.

    Fire was represented by a zing me.

    Water was characterized by droplets of rain.

    Earth was represented by a boulder.

    Lightning was represented by a bolt of lightning.

    Seeing this, Jack was utterly flustered. Jack was a being who loved peace. He only changed because of the greedy and vicious human beings. Even earlier, the only reason Pero borrowed the power of the Great Spirit of Fire Ifrit was Peros decision and not Jack''s. It was also the case now. However, the Great Spirits Pinnacle Power would attack anyone, regardless if they were an ally or a foe.

    Pero! Stop!

    Jack shouted hurriedly.

    However, it was toote.

    The five different symbols were already starting to cast their pinnacle powers.

    <em>[Terrifying darkness fell upon the world.]</em>

    The Darkness Pinnacle Power became a ck fog that devoured the battlefield. How did the Darkness Pinnacle Power work? It would inflict a variety of abnormal statuses on everyone until they sumb to their deaths.

    <em>[Fierce and strong winds blew away all of the enemies.]</em>

    A sharp wind blew and covered an area of a hundred meters. This wind would tear apart anything and everything in its path.

    <em>[zing mes burned everything to ashes.]</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa</em>

    A gigantic lump of me that looked simr to a meteor fell from the sky to devour the enemies that surrounded Pero. The me burned everything and had the power of a nuclear bomb.

    <em>[Powerful bolts of lightning devoured everything in the area.]</em>

    <em>Crackle, crackle, crackle, crackle</em>

    Thousands of lightning bolts threatened to fall from the sky and annihte everything regardless of whether they were friend or foe.

    <em>[The earths power moved to destroy everything.]</em>

    Thousands of gigantic boulders appeared in the sky, shooting down as if they would crash and topple everything beneath them.

    Jacks expression grew ugly. Pero was a violent and ferocious Great Spirit. However, he was a friend who had stayed by his side for a very long time. And this very same Pero, who wanted to escape the terrible pain that he was being subjected to, made a choice that he should not have made.

    Ah

    Many of the dark elves who vowed to help Jack regain thend taken away from them would die from this. They might have be a race that only knew how to wield their weapons and fight, but it was only because they wanted to regain what had been taken away from them.

    However, it was not just them that would die. Pero was determined when he cast that power, he would take down those supremes. If that happened, then the situation would still fall in their favor despite the pain of losing countless of their allies.

    Compress.

    At that moment, a man with golden hair fluttering behind him made his presence known. This man had achieved what even the NPCs chosen by the God of Magic had failed to achieve. With a wave of this mans hand, all of the strong men of the Beyond the Heavens Empire were gathered together in one ce.

    Barrier.

    Then, he immediately wrapped them all within a barrier, allowing them to escape the danger.

    ...

    Jack was impressed by the mans fantastic control. That was when he saw a man escape the barrier the mage had created.

    <em>Emperor Minhyuk?</em>

    Of course, he knew the emperor was doing this to protect his people. The coalition armys troops were also interspersed with the dark elves. However, shockingly enough, the man recklessly jumped into the Great Spirits Pinnacle Power, which was slowly creating countlessrge-scale attacks. Then, he took something from his inventory.

    <em>A mixer? And a bowl?</em>

    Yes, that was right. Minhyuk took out a mixer and a bowl.

    ...?

    Jack looked at the man in confusion. This man was the man who ughtered hundreds of thousands of elves by himself. So, why did he suddenly take out a mixer and a bowl? But the moment he started to whisk the mixer in the bowl, all the attacks in the area disappeared into nothingness.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa!</em>

    Keok?! Jack spat out in shock.

    However, Minhyuk did not stop there. He quickly used the Absolute Defense skill and became invincible for seven seconds before casting another skill just below Pero.

    Sword of Absolute Death.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    Hundreds of lightning bolts fell upon the Great Spirits Pinnacle Power and began crushing it. After the Sword of Absolute Death tore apart most attacks above them, Minhyuk quickly reached for the Legendary Frying Pan in his inventory.

    Gigantification.

    A tremendous amount of mana slowly entered the frying pan and made it grow bigger and bigger. Then, Minhyuk wielded the pan and swung it toward the remaining hundreds of lightning bolts, boulders, and zing balls of mes slowly falling upon them.

    <em>Swoooooooosh</em>

    A vast number of the attacks were blocked by the gigantified frying pan. This was only possible because Minhyuks magical defense would reach a level beyond anyones imagination, especially with the frying pan in his hands. But that was not all; he could also reflect more than half of the magical attacks sent his way.

    However, even if he did so, more than half were already falling toward the surviving dark elves and coalition army troops.

    <em>Fwoooooooosh</em>

    But then, a mighty wind blew. The fierce winds power was simr to that of the Great Spirit of Winds Pinnacle Power that Pero had summoned earlier. The wind instantly tore apart the boulders, zing balls of mes, and lightning bolts falling from the sky, making them disappear into nothingness.

    Everyone, including Minhyuk, was surprised. When Minhyuk turned to look around him, he saw Elven King Argon with around ten million elves aiming their arrows at Jack and the dark elves behind him. And right beside Elven King Argon was the Wind Spirit King in the form of a woman. Argon looked like he was very exhausted and breathless after summoning a Spirit King. It seemed like he could not call her for too long since the figure of the Wind Spirit King immediately dispersed and disappeared.

    Jack, who saw the elves appear on the scene, could not hide his surprise. Then, he heard Argon ask, Father of the Elves, how were you able toe to this world?

    ... Jacks mouth turned shut.

    Minhyuk was relieved to see that the elves were showing hostility toward the dark elves. However, he also found something a bit too strange: <em>This episode is a bit weird.</em>

    Generally, <em>signs and omens</em> would appear before an episode broke out. There would usually be something happening in the game to signal the start of an episode or Athenae would release a trailer or an announcement in advance to tell the yers about arge-scale episode. Why? Because this was also a way for Athenae to entertain yers and attract new subscribers.

    However, not even a bit of foreshadowing happened before this episode started. Jack, the king of the dark elves and the father of all elves, just suddenly awakened and began the invasion of the dark elves.

    <em>No way, right? </em>Minhyuks brows furrowed.

    Jack was one of the Six Monster Gods. However, the Six Monster Gods no longer held such a massive influence in Athenae. Why? If all of the high-rankers had joined this war, they would have been able to overpower Jack and the dark elves without Minhyuk''s appearance. After all, they were all <em>talented and strong individuals</em> who could return to life even if they died in battle. Simply put, episodes rted to the Six Monster Gods no longer held any appeal to the masses. Because of that, Minhyuk and the Beyond the Heavens Empire came out to hunt them down.

    <em>Theres no way that Jack is just a smokescreen for this episode, right?</em>

    Just when the thought crossed Minhyuks head, Jack said, The one that allowed us to descend upon this world is

    Everyone, including the kings and emperors, Minhyuk, and Elven King Argon, listened carefully to Jacks words.

    Immortal Sorceress Helenia.

    ...!

    ...!

    ...!

    ...!

    Everyones eyes grew wide from shock. At the same time, a shocking world message resonated worldwide.

    <em>[The </em><strong><em>Episode</em></strong><em>: Invasion of the Dark Elven King and the Dark Elven Army has changed!]</em>

    <em>[The </em><strong><em>Episode</em></strong><em>: One of the Eight Pirs, Immortal Sorceress Helenia has started!]</em>

    Minhyuks prediction suddenly became a reality. The episode regarding the Six Monster Gods was indeed just a smokescreen. The true episode? It was the first ever Eight Pirs Episode.

    ***

    Sword God Valen had recently found a new Sword Gods Descendant.

    <em>Minhyuk.</em>

    Like Obren, Sword God Valen knew the Eight Pirs would considerably threaten Minhyuk. It was one of the reasons why he still did not cross the River of Reincarnation. He had hoped that Ellie would be his sessor and help the boy. However, she chose not to inherit his position to protect her empire.

    This time, Valen had turned his attention to a different sessor he had been eyeing for a long time. A small and faint smile was on his face as he watched his chosen one.

    <em>This boy will be the sword that will protect you.</em>

    Valen, who was in his translucent soul form, continued to watch his chosen descendant, the faint smile on his face growing by the second. And the one that he was looking at?

    I am Conir! Everyone, eat ramyeon before going!

    The story of the new Sword God was about to begin.

 Chapter 865

    Chapter 865

    When everyone was shocked by the Six Monster Gods Dark Elf Jacks connection to the first Eight Pirs Episode, another set of notifications rang in their ears.

    <em>[You can now watch the video for the new episode Immortal Sorceress Helenia.]</em>

    <em>[Would you like to watch the video?]</em>

    Yes, Minhyuk affirmed. At the same time, the scene in front of him changed.

    In front of him appeared and covered with deep and never-ending darkness. In thisnd where no sunlight could enter and no grass or grain could grow, those who had been shunned and deprived of their rich and beautifulnds lived. That was right; the Dark Elf Kingdom of Velroy existed in this darkness.

    Dark Elf Kingdom of Velroys King Jack looked at the passageway in the distance with a bitter look. Is there no other way to open that passageway?

    The dark elves came here to hide at first because the Spring of Life was flowing in thisnd. The elven race was a race that boasted a longer lifespan than that of humans. However, that long lifespan was still not enough. Dark Elf Jack needed more time. And it was because of that reason that he chose this ce.

    For thousands of years, Jack had fostered and nurtured those dark elves. He could not remember when, but one day, an unknown force suddenly cut them off from the rest of the world. Jack thought that it was probably the elves'' doing.

    Gorn, the Elven King who had ruled over the elves for quite a long time, had visited him in this ce before. Gorn had told him, Father, please stop the war against mankind.

    Jack grew furious. He looked at Gorn as if he was stupid. How dare he forget thend that those bastards had taken away from them? The countless elves that they had killed?

    However, Gorn continued to persuade Jack. Father, it will be nothing but a meaningless war. Quite a long time has passed since then. The humans and the elves of today could not even remember past grievances. Do you think everything will return to how it was in the past if you take back the home we lost? Besides, they arent the humans back then; they are their descendants.

    Even if they are their descendants, they still have their filthy blood flowing down their veins.

    They dont even know and remember. Father, in their eyes, you and your army are no different from the humans that took away ournd back then.

    Bastard! Get out of this ce! Jack sent Gorn away in a fury.

    Not long after that incident, the passageway became sealed. And over time, Jacks <em>rage</em> slowly faded away. He looked at his army and thought, <em>They They were born for the sole purpose of killing.</em>

    Jack felt his heart break a bit. Why? Because he was the one who made them that way. He wanted to teach them, at least once, what living in harmony with the spirits was like instead of using them to kill. He wanted to teach them what happiness was like.

    So, Jack ordered, Do not let any of the dark elves drink the Spring of Life anymore.

    By that, you mean

    Yes, we will no longer go to war.

    At that moment, a strange and mysterious ck stream of energy squeezed through the tightly closed passageway and seeped through the Dark Elf Kingdom. The appearance of the ck stream of energy opened the passageway.

    After hundreds of years, warm sunlight again shone upon the Dark Elf Kingdom of Velroy. Along with that, a woman walked in. The red clothes adorning the womans body highlighted her beautiful, white, and fair skin. She looked like a human, but she looked much more beautiful, ethereal, and noble than a human. The woman looked just like <em>his mother,</em> Athenae.

    Most of the Six Monster Gods and the Absolute Gods were born from Athenae. There were some exceptional cases where humans transcended their limits and rose to the position of Absolute Gods. However, most of them carried the pure blood of Athenae in their veins. Athenae was also the most excellent and noble God of all gods.

    As for this woman who closely resembled her, her soft voice seemed to embrace Jack.

    Child.

    ...

    Go out there and do what you were meant to do.

    Jack felt her soft and warm voice could embrace and ept everything. He, who hid in the darkness and dreamt of gaining revenge for thousands of years, feltforted by her words. However, Jack had already decided to take care of the dark elves here instead of focusing on killing and taking them away from others.

    The unexpected situation brought out all of the dark elves. They all looked at her. But then Jack said, We now wish to live in peace.

    Looking at the womans gracious smile, Jack felt it was rather good. Now, they would be able to go out into the world and create a kingdom of their own, and the dark elves would be able to live happily out there.

    The woman, smiling benevolently and speaking gently at him earlier, suddenly changed face. Her expression grew twisted as she said, Tch. Who cares about what you want?

    ...?

    Jack felt heavy pressure bearing down upon him. The woman had obviously looked at him gently and warmly, like Athenae. But now, she was looking at him with a vicious and fierce smile- it looked just like Satans smile.

    Then, at that moment, she raised her finger and pointed it at the dark elves. Fire.

    One would learn fire magic when changing their ss to a mage. The magic Fire could only summon a small ball of fire. However, the fire that the woman summoned looked just like hellfire, rising to a height of fifty meters and devouring thousands of dark elves in one go. Wherever her fingers pointed, a colossal pir of mes would appear and devour the dark elves.

    Keuaaaaaaaack!

    A- Aaaaaaaaaack!

    Uwaaaaaaaaack!

    Stop! Jack shouted hurriedly.

    But then, a crack suddenly appeared in the sky, revealing dozens of gigantic meteors ready to fall at any moment. Meteor was considered the highest level of magic, a skill that only a select few mages could cast. Jack had once seen what a Meteor looked like. However, the Meteor that he had seen and the Meteor that the woman in front of him cast were in entirely different leagues. Its size was about three timesrger, while its number was around five times more than the ordinary.

    At that point, Jack recalled something that he had heard in the past.

    <em>In the beginning, there were two gods. Athenae is the god who controls and rules over all worlds, and Helenia is the god who brings forth disaster and destruction upon all of the worlds.</em>

    The two gods, Athenae and Helenia, were sisters.

    Then, everyone here should die, hmm? Heehee heehee heehee!

    Jack was left stunned by her childlike and innocent smile despite the attack that was about to fall upon them. He was fully aware that they would all die once Meteor fell upon them.

    Jack hurriedly cried out, S stop!

    <em>Snap</em>

    With just a snap of her fingers, the gigantic meteors falling from the sky came to a standstill.

    What do you want? Jack was very curious. What did she want that she was willing to eradicate them all?

    Simple. Destruction.

    ...

    Death.

    ...

    And to reim my rightful throne.

    <em>Rightful throne? Is she talking about God Athenaes throne?</em>

    Unlike Athenae, Helenia was a god that <em>brought destruction and disasters.</em> She did not need any reason to kill; she would just kill. At this point, Jack realized that he could not resist her. However, even if that was the case, he could still see that some kind of force was restricting her. In other words, she was not yet fully awakened. After all, if she were truly awakened, she would have already destroyed everything with her own hands.

    However, we cannot win yet if we go out into the world right now.

    Thats fine. I will increase your beloved Great Spirit of Darkness Peros summoning time to near eternity.

    Even someone like Jack could only summon the Great Spirit of Darkness Pero for less than twenty minutes. However, Helenia was willing to extend that time to near eternity.

    Helenias eyes turned ck. Then, with a whisper that sounded like the sweet whispers of the devil, she said, Now, you can conquer and make the entire continent yours.

    The anger and greed he had slowly forgotten once again boiled deep inside Jack.

    Kill them all. Take everything away from them and make them yours.

    Not long after, Jack and the dark elves began their journey.

    ***

    One of the Eight Pirs, Immortal Sorceress Helenia, did everything. Minhyuk knew this after he finished watching the video, which made his expression grow ugly. From what it looked like, Argon, who seeded Gorn and became the new Elven King, had also learned of the entire story.

    Meanwhile, Jack knew that the Great Spirit of Darkness Pero was not fit for battle anymore. With the ten million elves here, they no longer had a chance of winning this war. He looked around sadly and said, Its over.

    Jack had been hiding in the darkness for thousands of years to raise and nurture soldiers and war weapons. Seeing those who died today stirred within him a sense of loss and guilt. Those dark elves died without even seeing and feeling the sun properly.

    Then, Argon said, Emperor Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk had a close rtionship with Argon. Argon was willing to run and help Minhyuk whenever he asked for help. As the Elven King, Argon did not wish to see the death of the dark elves.

    I want to apologize to you as the Elven King. I will control the dark elves and their king, Jack.

    However, it was different from Minhyuks point of view. The dark elves invaded ournds and killed more than ten million humans. Although we knewter on that this was all because of the intervention of one of the Eight Pirs, that sin will never disappear. Please look at the furious kings and emperors over there.

    Both Elven King Argon and Minhyuk could not back down on this. In this situation, the two had to set aside their friendly rtionship.

    And even if you say you will control them, do you think you can control them?

    We will not spare anything. We will give you enoughpensation and help you recover as much as possible from the damages brought forth by war. As for the Dark Elves, we will fit them with <em>Mothers Shackles</em> and take away their spirit magic and power.

    Hearing this, Minhyuk concluded. Then, lets settle with this. However, you have to give us his head.

    To Minhyuk, what he had seen earlier was all bullshit. Jack initially did not want to start a war. Everything that had happened because of Helenias instigations. It was all an excuse in Minhyuks ears. If they could take away the head of their leader, Jack, the anger of the kings, emperors, and Minhyuk would be appeased.

    It seemed like Jack also epted this: Lets fight. If you win, then I will give you my head.

    Alright. Minhyuk weed Jacks suggestion. If he killed Jack, then he would be able to obtain a lot of loot. After all, Jack was an enemy to him.

    However, they all overlooked one thing: Helenia''s existence<em>.</em>

    Helenia thought she could use the dark elves to wipe out at least a third of humankind. However, her ns were thwarted just like that, which made her furious. She made sure to show her wrath upon her descent.

    Shall I just kill all the dark elves and elves right here and now?

    Everyone turned to look at the sky when her eerie voice rang in their ears. She was floating in the sky using Fly magic just like in the video.

    <em>[One of the Eight Pirs, Helenia, has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[Warning. Danger!]</em>

    <em>[Warning. Danger!]</em>

    <em>[Warning. Danger!]</em>

    <em>[Helenia has not regained her full power. She can only appear for four minutes!]</em>

    <em>[The Immortal Sorceress Breath has been triggered!]</em>

    <em>[Your resistance to abnormal statuses has fallen by 60%!]</em>

    <em>[Your defense has decreased by 40%!]</em>

    <em>[Your attack has decreased by 40%!]</em>

    <em>[Your total HP and MP have decreased by 20%!]</em>

    <em>[Abnormal Status: Stiffness, Fear, and Terror have been triggered!]</em>

    Humanity had encountered countless enemies so far. They had fought against the Great Demon, the Six Monster Gods, and even the Gods. However, the humans of the present had never truly experienced or witnessed the true power of the Eight Pirs. Evil God Obren, one of the Eight Pirs, once killed hundreds of millions of humans in the past. And Helenia? She was Athenaes sister, meaning she was a level above Obren.

    <em>[Immortal Sorceress Helenia. Level 1,013.]</em>

    ...!

    ...!

    ...!

    ...!

    The yers present were all shocked when they saw Helenias level. But that was not all. All of them were frozen stiff, unable to move a single finger. She was the first NPC above Level 1,000 that they had encountered. Everyone looked at her with fear and terror in their eyes.

    Helenia looked at the dark elves gathered around Jack and told them, I allowed you to go out. You should have fought until the very end.

    ...

    ...

    ...

    A cold smile lingered on her face as she whispered, Bang.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    Explosion was a magic that mages could only learn once they reached Level 250. It was an explosion magic that could create an explosion that would engulf an area with a radius of 200 meters. But the power that appeared before them was akin to a Hellfire. The explosion devoured everything around them. In just an instant, hundreds of dark elves had died.

    Bang. Bang, bang, bang, bang. Bang, bang, bang. Bang, bang.

    But she did not stop there. Countless dark elves died as explosions bloomed wherever her delicate, slender fingers pointed. Then, her attention turned toward the humans and the elves.

    It had been a long time since shest descended upon the earth. She had lost most of her power to Athenae. For the longest time, she had hidden herself in the shadows and umted her power, much like Jack had done with the dark elves. And what she intended to do? She nned to drive Athenae out of her throne and be the <em>God of Origin </em>and <em>Destruction.</em>

    Helenia wanted to start her ns splendidly using the dark elves. But those despicable humans and elves dared to stop her.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. With every word she said, countless dark elves would die. And finally, her fingers turned toward the elves.

    A thick cloud of dust and suffocating ck smoke from the Explosions covered the entire battlefield. And with her slender finger pointed at the elves, Helenia said, Bang.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    ...!

    Hundreds of elves died. However, the explosions continued to erupt and kill the elves.

    Helenia thought, <em>Today, in this ce</em>

    During the four minutes that she was allowed to descend on earth, she would kill half of these insignificant beings. Thus began the first shot of the one believed to be the strongest among the Eight Pirs, the advent of the new God of Origin, and the world would soon see her dignity and majesty.

    <em>I am the greatest god. Just you wait, Athenae. I will kill you and take over your position as the greatest god.</em>

    But then, at that moment, someone appeared right next to her and said, Hey.

    ...?

    Helenia was shocked. The various abnormal statuses that her descent had triggered were absolute. And with the power of the <em>Eight Pirs</em> imbued upon them, there was no way that these beings could resist it. But a man was able to withstand all of those abnormal statuses. He was even able to appear right next to her.

    Cant you see that I have not finished talking?

    <em>You were angry because I stepped in while you were talking?</em>

    When Helenia turned to look at the man, she saw him holding two swords.

    F*cker.

 Chapter 866

    Chapter 866

    Helenia had never been ignored or subjected to bad treatment in her life. Why? Because those who opposed her all died before they could do that to her. Cursing and swearing were very unfamiliar concepts to her. Helenia looked at the man holding two swords in his hands. She could see soft and gentle eyes peeking through the gaps of the mans dark hair. And unlike her, he had a straight nose and a sharp jawline.

    Meanwhile, countless broadcasting stations filmed the war between the dark elves and humans and Helenias descent.

    <em>[The Supreme, yer Minhyuk, is flying toward Helenia, the greatest disaster in human history.]</em>

    <em>[If yer Minhyuk cannot stop Helenia right here and now, then all elves and dark elves will die.]</em>

    <em>[yer Minhyuk is holding two swords in his hands right now. You might already know this, but yer Minhyuks Dual Sword Technique is the ultimate technique that allowed him to cut down the envoy, Viel, before.]</em>

    The Sword of Aeon was on his left, while the Continent Destroyer Sword was on his right. The two God-ranked swords'' des glinted sharply in the sunlight.

    <em>[Dual Sword Technique.]</em>

    <em>[Your attack speed has increased by 70%!]</em>

    <em>[You can now use two swords. The swords attack power will not be affected or decreased!]</em>

    <em>[Your skills power has increased by 1.4x!]</em>

    <em>[The Dual Sword Techniques effects will be triggered upon casting a sessive attack skill, and the skills damage will double.]</em>

    Many hoped and prayed that Minhyuks ultimate skill would be able to pierce through humankinds worst enemy and force her down to the ground. Everyone on the battlefield, including thementators, kings, and emperors, focused on Minhyuk. Even Elven King Argon, who had just finished putting out the mes of the explosions, looked up at Minhyuk with a desperate look.

    Then, the skill was triggered.

    <em>[Sword of Carnage.]</em>

    <em>[The Dual Sword Technique is in effect!]</em>

    <em>[With the Dual Sword Technique, your swords consecutive attacks will double!]</em>

    <em>[You can attack your enemy 76 times per second!]</em>

    And immediately after that

    <em>[Double Skill]</em>

    <em>[Double Skill has a 1.2% chance of being triggered. Once triggered, it doubles the effects of the skill used.]</em>

    <em>[The system cannot measure the skills power!]</em>

    <em>[The system cannot measure the skills power!]</em>

    With this, he could cut Helenia down more than a hundred times per second. With this power, he felt he could also inflict grave injuries even upon the Fallen Wretched Emperor Brod and cut down one of the Eight Pirs.

    Minhyuk was thrilled. With two swords in his hands, he swiftly passed by Helenia.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    However, quite an unexpected set of notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[Your attack has failed.]</em>

    <em>[Your attack has failed.]</em>

    <em>[Your attack has failed.]</em>

    <em>[Your attack has failed.]</em>

    <em>[Your attack has failed.]</em>

    <em>[Your attack has failed.]</em>

    <em>[Your attack]</em>

    <em>[Your attack]</em>

    <em>[Your attack]</em>

    <em>[Your attack]</em>

    <em>[Your attack]</em>

    The more than a hundred attacks that he unleashed? All of them were a <em>miss.</em> Minhyuk fell into a panic.

    <em>What the hell is this </em>

    However, he quickly made an excuse for himself: <em>Its probably because I did not have the effects of my buff dish. If I had used the skill right away with Ovepping Delight, then I would have been able to deal a huge amount of damage.</em>

    Minhyuk was Athenaes Supreme. No, that was what he wanted to believe. He loved and cherished food more than anybody else, but now, he had a responsibility to uphold. He had to be the <em>Supreme</em> because he had many people by his side. However, the attacks he believed had reached the pinnacle of power could not even damage his opponent.

    <em>Ovepping Delight? Bullshit. I am insignificant whenpared to her.</em>

    At this point, Minhyuk had already reached the stage of self-awareness. From the beginning, he knew there was a more than 300-level difference between them. Minhyuk might possess outstanding artifacts and vital skills, but that was also the case for Helenia.

    A subtle blue light glowed around Helenias body. Perhaps that blue light was the shield that protected her and was probably the biggest reason why all of Minhyuks attacks had failed.

    Disappointment and helplessness began to surge within everyone. At this moment, everyone realized the difference between the Eight Pirs and the yers.

    <em>Ping</em>

    However, one attack was able to cut Helenias cheek. Helenia raised her palm and touched the blood that was dripping down the cut on her cheek. She smiled. Youre afraid.

    ...

    You must feel suffocated and pressured. After all, this is the first time you have met a being you cannot reach no matter how many times you reach out.

    There was no point denying those words. No matter how hard Minhyuk struggled, he could not win against Helenia.

    Helenia stared at the blood, the blood from the wound inflicted by Minhyuks attacks, on her palm. However, Ill acknowledge you for doing one thing. You were able to put a scratch on my body.

    Helenia stretched her hand out.

    <em>[The One That Could Not Resist has been triggered!]</em>

    <em>[You will not be able to resist even if you have an invincible body that can ignore and resist all kinds of abnormal states.]</em>

    Her cold hand touched Minhyuks cheek. An insignificant human being, a small and pitiful god and a child that leads mankind.

    ...

    Even if Minhyuk wanted to move, the activation of <em>The One That Could Not Resist</em> made him unable to do so. All he could do was shake and tremble.

    Helenia wanted Minhyuk. She needed many things to awaken the power that was sealed within her, and one of them was taking away and absorbing someone elses power.

    <em>He is a child that has received the protection of the Evil God, the Guardian God.</em>

    This child would grow even further. Now was not yet the time. This child needed a driving force to grow even stronger. Many driving forces could help humans grow further. It could be a goal that they wanted to achieve, the will to live a better life, or perhaps anger and hatred toward something or someone. Of these, the one that could stimte growth the most was anger and hatred. And Helenia intended to create this driving force for him.

    Watch. Watch and hate me.

    Helenia, who originally wanted to kill only the elves and dark elves, changed her mind. She was now thinking of killing most of the people here. She slowly waved her hand down toward the ground. Then, gravity suddenly increased by ten, twenty, a hundred, a thousand times. When her hands pointed toward the dark elves, all of them were forced to get stuck on the ground.

    Kghhhhhk!

    Ughhhh!

    Aaaaaaaaah!

    They felt like earthworms stuck writhing on the ground as the powerful force appeared and pressed them down on the ground. But Helenia was not yet satisfied, so she pressed her palm further.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack</em>

    Like that, hundreds of thousands of dark elves died, turning into paste from the pressure she exerted.

    Stop. Stooooooop! Enough! Please, stop! Jack cried out in rage and frustration.

    This time, her hands pointed toward the elves.

    ... Argon gulped dryly.

    Not long after, her hand waved, and the gravity around them increased, putting tremendous pressure upon the elves. This time, the area of effect was much more extensive than before.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack, crack</em>

    Argon felt extremely frustrated and helpless when he saw the elves die one after another. Not long after, it was his turn to get crushed by the overwhelming gravity and pressure.

    <em>Crack, crack</em>

    Argons bones cracking and breaking from the pressure rang in his ears. But it did not end there. The overwhelming force soon spread toward the humans.

    Keoooook!

    A, aaaaaaack!

    Blood dripped down their mouths as their bones slowly got crushed. Some of them even had their entire body stered on the ground.

    Helenias hands moved gracefully, like a conductor guiding an orchestra. Just like the mboyant movements of a conductor, she raised her hands to the sky. At that moment, Minhyuk knew that millions would die once those hands fell.

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods, the God that Rules Over All of the Armies, is ring at you!]</em>

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods, the God that Loves to Cook, is ring at you!]</em>

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods, the God who Does Not Know How to Back Down, is ring at you!]</em>

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods, the God who lives for Someone, Leads Someone on the Right Path, and Protects Someone, is ring at you!]</em>

    Several gazes focused and red at Helenia and ced silent pressure upon her. However, Helenia was a being that far surpassed the Absolute Gods. She did not feel anything from their threatening gazes at all.

    You should all get lost.

    A ck stream of energy shot out and engulfed the sky above her.

    <em>[The Absolute Gods vision has been blocked!]</em>

    The gods and the Absolute Gods could not intervene with the matters on earth without an <em>opportunity</em> or a <em>justification.</em> The only one that could interfere would probably be the greatest god, Athenae. However, even Athenae would not be able to use force directly. She could only lend her power or help in other ways.

    Perhaps they indeed had no other way to ovee this crisis. The low-leveled humans, elves, and dark elves began to get crushed. At that moment, Minhyuks eyes swept over Argon, whose bones were being crushed as his body got stuck on the ground.

    <em>Argon</em>

    Argon was a precious friend that had been with him for a long time. When Minhyuk looked back, he saw Brod, Spear God Ben, and the countless precious talents of the Beyond the Heavens Empire stuck on the ground and unable to resist the powerful force pressing down on them. The only way for them to stop Helenias magic was tond attacks on her sessfully.

    <em>Me? </em>Minhyuk thought. However, he soon shook his head. <em>I cant do it.</em>

    Then, something surprising happened.

    <em>[The God of Origin Athenae looks at the only knight she has acknowledged and recognized.]</em>

    <em>[God of Origin Athenae says]</em>

    <em>[Child.]</em>

    Minhyuks gaze fluttered to the sky above him as the gentle voice rang in his ears. The sky was clear and covered with darkness. However, a small gap in that darkness allowed a small light to shine on Minhyuk.

    <em>[Are you yielding?]</em>

    <em>[Are you going to give up?]</em>

    <em>[Youre not going to do anything?]</em>

    Thosest words touched Minyuk. Was he going to do nothing? Would he just let everyone here die and wait for himself to get logged out?

    <em>[If you dont do anything, then nothing will change.]</em>

    Those words struck Minhyuks heart deeply. His first few years of having an eating addiction were hell. He had put everything down and just waited for the day that he would die. But one day, he realized if he lived waiting for death like this, then he would die. Ever since then, he had done anything and everything that he could do. Even when everyone said it was impossible, he did everything he could. And finally, his eating addiction started to improve.

    Impossible. It was a word one could only say if they had tried everything they could.

    Youre right. Minhyuk looked at the sky wryly.

    That was right. He had to do everything. Even if he could not resist and was left helpless in front of Helenia, he still had to find a way to break through the situation.

    Then, at that moment, Minhyuk caught sight of Argon once again. Argons body was crumbling apart, and his breath was slowly bing weak. However, Argons eyes turned toward Jack before turning back to Minhyuk. Then, Minhyuk saw his mouth quiver as if he was trying to say something.

    <em>The elves, please</em>

    Minhyuk knew that this was a sign of sacrifice. But Dark Elf Jack was one step faster than Argon. Jack thought that he should be the one who should die, not Argon.

    <em>[Sacrifices Incantation.]</em>

    <em>[Only an Elven King or an elf with equivalent power can trigger the Sacrifices Incantation!]</em>

    <em>[The elf will sacrifice himself to bring the Four Great Spirits down to earth!]</em>

    <em>[Summoning the Great Spirits in ces not rich in spirit mana will make it hard for them to exert their full power!]</em>

    <em>[The Great Spirits are trying to borrow someones body.]</em>

    <em>[They want a body that can withstand and endure their power!]</em>

    <em>[They hope to reside in a body housing a pure soul or a body without greed!]</em>

    Four attributes appeared above thema zing me, a steadynd, a crackling lightning bolt, and a fierce blowing wind. Then, two of these attributes got sucked inside Minhyuks body.

    <em>[The Great Spirit of Wind is attempting to assimte with you!]</em>

    <em>[The Great Spirit of Fire is attempting to assimte with you!]</em>

    <em>[You are the only human that has received the recognition of the elves!]</em>

    <em>[You have sessfully assimted with the Great Spirit of Wind!]</em>

    <em>[You have sessfully assimted with the Great Spirit of Fire!]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats]</em>

    <em>[All of your attack power]</em>

    <em>[Your resistance to abnormal statuses]</em>

    <em>[All of your skills]</em>

    While the notifications constantly rang in his ears, Minhyuk felt a cool and refreshing wind blowing past him and making his hair flutter. Then, the wind swirled around Minhyuk and turned into a tempest.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa</em>

    Minhyuks hair and cape fluttered wildly. Then, his left eye slowly turned red while his right eye turned blue. Even while all of this was happening to him, he was still thinking about another body with which the Great Spirits could assimte. Finally, he made his choice.

    Please lend me your strength, Minhyuk said as he looked at the sky.

    He was the first knight chosen and recognized by Athenae. She might have called Minhyuk to lend him <em>a portion</em> of her power. Athenae responded to his call.

    <em>[God of Origin Athenae bestows upon you The One that Resists.]</em>

    <em>[You can resist and counter any abnormal statuses for two minutes!]</em>

    Of course, Athenae also knew who Minhyuk chose to assimte with the Great Spirits. He was as strong as Brod, as fast as Spear God Ben, and as skilled as Great Demon Elpis.

    <em>[God of Origin Athenae has removed Viels Puppet Dolls cooldown!]</em>

    Summon Viel.

    <em>[The Great Spirit of Lightning is attempting to assimte with you!]</em>

    <em>[The Great Spirit of Land is attempting to assimte with you!]</em>

    <em>[Viels Puppet Doll does not have any greed.]</em>

    <em>[You have sessfully assimted with the Great Spirit of Lightning!]</em>

    <em>[You have sessfully assimted with the Great Spirit of Land!]</em>

    Viels joints twisted into ce with a click. Then, his eyes opened.

    <em>Blink</em>

    The strongest and the most terrifying weapon had made his appearance.

 Chapter 867

    Chapter 867

    Dark Elf Jack was left dying after using the <em>Sacrifices Incantation </em>and handing over the authority tomand the Great Spirits to Minhyuk, who did not know about them all too well. Why did he do that? Because he thought that the only person who could stop Helenia at this very moment was Minhyuk.

    Urk!

    Jack stared at Minhyuk, who vomited a mouthful of blood but was still able to ept the Great Spirits.

    <em>Even if they have sessfully assimted with the Great Spirits, humans cannot borrow much of their power.</em>

    Great Spirits did not like people who harbored greed and envy. Only the <em>elves</em> could call for the spirits out of all the races. The reason? Because they were noble and straightforward. Jack expected Minhyuk to be able to ept only around 25% of their power.

    Not long after, the Great Spirits of Wind and Fire had assimted entirely into Minhyuks body. Then, a set of notifications rang in Jacks ears.

    <em>[Minhyuk can use 70% of the power of the Great Spirit of Fire!]</em>

    <em>[Minhyuk can use 70% of the power of the Great Spirit of Wind!]</em>

    Jacks eyes grew wide from shock. Could someone truly use the power of the Great Spirits to that extent, with the body of a human being and not an elf? Still, he could not deny that the Great Spirits had recognized him as the owner of a pure soul. A faint smile appeared on Jacks face.

    A long time ago, the humans drove away the elves from thisnd. However, just like Gorn said, the humans of the current era differed from those of the past. But Jack had fallen for Helenias temptation. He went on to invade the humans''nd and even killed plenty of them.

    <em>Someone will resent me, just like how I resented those humans in the past.</em>

    Perhaps, everyone here would die. However, Minhyuk could give them a small hope.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa</em>

    Helenia felt that something unusual was happening after seeing the fierce winds blowing around the man named Minhyuk. Because of that, she lost concentration, and the overwhelming pressure and gravity that weighed down on everyone disappeared.

    Elven King Argon, whose bones were almost crushed into powder, recovered from some of his injuries using <em>Mothers Blessings.</em> Then, he quickly approached the dying Jack and held the dark elf in his arms. Father.

    ...

    Argon looked down at the father of the elves bitterly. Jack knew that he was a sinner. However, that did not mean the elves deserved to be pointed at by others because of him; they deserved to live and be protected. That was why Jack summoned the Great Spirits, even at the expense of his own life.

    Please rest in peace.

    Even when Dark Elf Jacks breathing started to be ragged, he could not help but look back at Minhyuk. He was concerned about the elves.

    He is the purest and most noble being I have met.

    ...

    He is someone you wouldnt believe to be a human. He would sometimes show uncharacteristic strength and would sometimes show great weakness. The only greed in his body is <em>eating.</em> However, even that greed is brought about by a <em>curse</em>. So, only one thing can be considered as greed in him.

    Hearing his words alone, one could tell that Argon had a close rtionship with Minhyuk. Jack could not understand this. It should have been impossible for the Elven King to forge a close rtionship with a human being. Especially Argon, he knew the humans had driven the elves out of theirnd.

    Trying to protect the ones around him. Yes, that would be his only <em>greed.</em> To be exact, it is his <em>sacrifice.</em>

    Jack felt relieved when he heard Argons words.

    Argon.

    Yes, Father.

    Jack blinked slowly, his voice cracking from the strain as he said, Make him the greatest emperor.

    Argon nodded as he watched Jack slowly fall into his eternal rest. But before Jack died, he heard these final words.

    <em>[Viels Puppet Doll can use 90% of the power of the Great Spirit of Lightning!]</em>

    <em>[Viels Puppet Doll can use 90% of the power of the Great Spirit of Earth!]</em>

    ***

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Sudden Quest</em></strong><em>: Protect the People from Helenia.]</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: SSS</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: The One Dark Elf Jack, who had sacrificed himself, had chosen to borrow the power of the Four Great Spirits.</em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: Will depend on the number of people that you have protected.</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Failure</em></strong><em>: Pay the price for borrowing the power of the Great Spirits.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: Many humans, elves, and dark elves are already on the brink of dying. This is especially true for the elves. Most of their poption hase here, which leaves them at risk of being extinct as a race. Fend off Helenias attacks for two and a half minutes to get over this crisis and save everyone.</em>

    This quest appeared when Dark Elf King Jack summoned the Four Great Spirits. Then, another notification rang in Minhyuks ears.

    <em>[The Father of the Elves and the leader of the dark elves, Jack, has died.]</em>

    Why did Jack hand over the authority tomand the Great Spirits to Minhyuk? Perhaps it was because Jack also felt the same way as him. They both wanted to stop Helenias attacks.

    <em>Click, click, click</em>

    Minhyuk turned to look at Viel. He could see that Viels eyes had opened a few moments prior and had changed colors. The left side had turned brown, representing the earth, while the right had turned yellow, representing lightning.

    <em>Rumbleeeeee</em>

    The notifications constantly rang in Minhyuks ears as he assimted and epted the powers of the Great Spirits of Wind and Fire.

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 54%!]</em>

    <em>[Your attack has increased by 41%!]</em>

    <em>[All of your skills have be 30% stronger!]</em>

    <em>[Your resistance to abnormal statuses has increased by 60%!]</em>

    <em>[All of your skills have been imbued with the power of the Great Spirits of Wind and Fire.]</em>

    <em>[You can use 70% of the power of the Great Spirits of Wind and Fire.]</em>

    As for Viel? He could use more of the power of the Great Spirits than Minhyuk.

    <em>Crackle, crackle, crackle, crackle</em>

    <em>Rumbleeeeeeee</em>

    Lightning crackled in the gaps of the dark clouds that suddenly appeared in the sky above them as sparks danced all over Viels body.

    <em>I think its correct to say that Viel is the strongest weapon.</em>

    What Minhyuk and Viel needed to do was not kill Helenia but defend against her attacks. However, Helenia just looked at them as if she found them fascinating.

    <em>Life came back to his eyes once again.</em>

    And there was something that Helenia never expected.

    <em>The knight chosen by Athenae.</em>

    Athenae was the greatest god and the God of Origin. The fact that she chose a foreigner to be her knight was surprising in and of itself. And he was also the same guy thatnded one sessful attack on her after sending more than a hundred attacks.

    <em>Interesting.</em>

    Helenia found it quite fun. She did not expect that there would be someone who could entertain her after not showing up in the world for a very long time.

    Then, should you try and block it at least once? Helenia grinned. If you can block it, I will give you a present. But if you cant, then Helenias expression turned cold as she continued, Everyone here will die.

    Then, Helenia, who had not yet used even a tenth of her strength before, began to show the full extent of her powers. Helenia was the Immortal Great Sorceress. She was also one of the Eight Pirs and the sister of God of Origin Athenae.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaa!</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa!</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaa!</em>

    A notification rang in Minhyuks ears as dozens of Meteors appeared in the sky above them.

    <em>[If you can stop Helenia from killing everyone present, you can obtain a reward from her.]</em>

    The Meteors that had started to fall upon them were extremely huge. Their sizes, many times bigger than the Meteors cast by ck Dragon Vormon and God of Magics Descendant Golden Mage Ali, were unlike anything anyone had ever seen.

    Minhyuk red fiercely at the Meteors as he flew up to the sky.

    ***

    Lee Tae-Sung, the new Special yers Management Team employee, was selected among several thousands of candidates to be a part of the team because he had a strong mentality.

    He exited the bathroom and started to wash his hands while thinking, <em>Why do they view the Food God so highly like that?</em>

    Lee Tae-Sung had been monitoring the situation with the Food God and Helenia a few moments prior. When the episode started, Team Leader Park rushed to the conference room, leaving him alone with Lee Minhwa. However, he saw Minhyuk immediately lose his will to fight when he encountered a strong opponent like Helenia.

    When Lee Tae-Sung saw that, he immediately turned to Lee Minhwa.

    <em>I cant understand why people are so crazy about the Food God. It might be true that the Food God is Athenaes Supreme, but he is just the Supreme among the yers. If you think about it more deeply, Athenae is a game. So, it makes more sense that there are far stronger NPCs than yers.</em>

    yers could not surpass the levels of NPCs.

    <em>But look at him. He immediately lost his will to fight when he encountered a strong opponent.</em>

    This was Lee Tae-Sungs blunt and honest opinion and assessment of Minhyuk. Yes, he only viewed Minhyuk as someone who would lose his will to fight when he met someone stronger than himself.

    However, Lee Minhwa opened her mouth.

    <em>I have been watching the Food God for a very long time. I have watched him since he started ying Athenae.</em>

    Lee Tae-Sung had heard about it. Perhaps Lee Minhwa held a deep affection for the Food God because she had watched over him from the beginning.

    <em>There are times when hes as fragile as ss and times when hes stronger than steel. I know why people are going crazy about the Food God. Hes the strongest yer that I know.</em>

    When Lee Tae-Sung heard that, he just clicked his tongue and excused himself to the bathroom. He was greatly disappointed in Lee Minhwa, who continued to praise the Food God despite the current situation. Rather than praising and talking about him, he thought that they should try to find a way to ovee the crisis.

    As he washed his hands, he thought, <em>Perhaps they are all dead by now?</em>

    Helenia was a catastrophe. Her level was something that the current yers would not be able to ovee and defeat. And when Lee Tae-Sung thought about how Food God Minhyuk shook and trembled in front of her, he felt that perhaps that was the only oue.

    The moment Lee Tae-Sung opened the doors to the Special yers Management Team, he was greeted by dozens of monitors shing the same window: an enormous red <strong><em>WARNING!</em></strong>That was when he caught sight of the scene on the monitor. It showed one man flying toward the more than eighty gigantic Meteors falling from the sky.

    Lee Tae-Sung caught sight of the mans face, and what he saw made his eyes grow wide. Minhyuks face was no longer shrouded in helplessness and despair. It showed firm determination and the belief that he could do it.

    <em>[Craaaaaaaaaaackle]</em>

    A pir of zing mes shot out from Minhyuks body. The mes spread until they covered the entire sky.

    Wh- what is that? Lee Tae-Sung did not know the power that shot out of Minhyuks body because he momentarily stepped out of the department.

    However, the pir of me that served as a backdrop for Minhyuk, who showed a firm and determined expression on his face while his hair fluttered with the wind, made Tae-Sungs eyes grow round from awe. He could not help but be impressed by how incredible the scene was. At that moment, he recalled the words that Lee Minhwa told him.

    <em>There are times when hes as fragile as ss and times when hes stronger than steel. I know why people are going crazy about the Food God. Hes the strongest yer that I know.</em>

    Lee Tae-Sung did not want to hear the end of her words earlier, so he quickly excused himself and told her that he was going to the bathroom. But now? The end of the words that Lee Minhwa told him before unknowingly flowed out of his mouth.

    Hes the only true <em>Supreme</em> that I have acknowledged.

    ***

    The Meteors falling from the sky were four to five timesrger than the size of the Meteor that an ordinary mage could cast. However, all eyesincluding the viewers watching from their screens, the people of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, the coalition army, the dark elves, and even the elves on the groundwere on Minhyuk as he flew alone toward these zing and fearsome Meteors.

    <em>Crackleeeeeee!</em>

    zing mes shot out from Minhyuks body. The mes, which were emitting extreme and intense heat, covered the entire sky.

    <em>[The Great Spirit of Fires Blessings of Fire has been triggered!]</em>

    <em>[The power of the Great Spirit of Fire is imbued in the skill that you are using!]</em>

    <em>[If the skill you are using is a fire-attributed skill, it will have much stronger power than usual!]</em>

    <em>Rumbleeeeeeee!</em>

    Scorching mes roared from the de of the Sword of Aeon that was in Minhyuks hand. The mes that licked the de of his sword were several times bigger than usual. The mes danced and burned so fiercely that one had to wonder if a weak human could handle them.

    The king of all Fire Spirits, the Great Spirit of Fire, asked Minhyuk, <em>Do you think you can block everything?</em>

    Even the Great Spirit of Fire had never seen or heard about a Meteor as powerful as the Meteors that appeared above them.

    However, Minhyuk replied, I have to do it.

    <em>...</em>

    The Great Spirit of Fire lent this human that carried a will that burned brightly like fire with a stronger power.

    <em>[You can use 80% of the power of the Great Spirit of Fire!]</em>

    <em>Crackleeeeeee!</em>

    As the mes grew even hotter and raged wildly, the Great Spirit of Fire triggered Gods Voice for the small human being trying to go against all odds.

    <em>[The weak me.]</em>

    Meanwhile, Minhyuks ears continued to get bombarded by notifications.

    <em>[Helenias Meteor is a force that no human can handle!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[Danger!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[Danger!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    At this moment, Minhyuk transcended the limits of both humans and gods.

    <em>[Overlords Technique.]</em>

    <em>[The Overlords Fire, with an additional 10,000%~16,000% attack, will strike everyone within a 120~160 meter radius.]</em>

    <em>[With your assimtion with the Great Spirits of Wind and Fire, the effects of your skill have be 30% stronger!]</em>

    <em>[The Great Spirit of Fires Blessings of Fire has been bestowed upon the skill!]</em>

    <em>[The skill has been recognized as an excellent fire-attributed skill!]</em>

    <em>[The Great Spirit of Fires Blessings of Fire has allowed the skill to disy a more powerful force!]</em>

    <em>Crackleeeeeeee!</em>

    The notifications rang non-stop for Minhyuk, holding the Sword of Aeon with both hands amidst the burning mes.

    <em>[The Overlords Technique has transcended the realm of human beings!]</em>

    <em>[The Overlords Technique has transcended the realm of human beings!]</em>

    <em>[The Overlords Technique]</em>

    <em>[The Overlords Technique]</em>

    <em>[The Overlords Technique has gone beyond its limits. It has evolved into a stronger and better skill!]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Supreme Overlords Technique!]</em>

    <em>[The Supreme Overlords Technique is a God-grade skill!]</em>

    <em>[With the evolution of the new skill, you can use the MAX-leveled Supreme Overlords Technique once!]</em>

    <em>Craaaaaackleeeeeee!</em>

    The mes that covered the entire sky, and the evolved Overlords Technique,bined in Minhyuks hands.

    Supreme Overlords Technique.

    <em>Crackleeeeeee</em>

    The zing mes surged and devoured the falling Meteors. At the same time, the Great Spirit of Fires voice ended.

    <em>[The weak me]</em>

    <em>[...set the world on fire.]</em>

 Chapter 868

    Chapter 868

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Supreme Overlords Technique</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: God</em>

    <strong><em>Level</em></strong><em>: 1</em>

    <strong><em>Minimum Overlord Mana Required</em></strong><em>: 200</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty</em></strong><em>: All Stats -1</em>

    <strong><em>Cooldown</em></strong><em>: 60 hours</em>

    <strong><em>Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>The Overlords Fire, with an additional 10,000~14,000% attack, will strike everyone within a 240~260 meter radius.</em>

    <em>The Overlords Fire is a fire that cannot be easily extinguished. Once it attaches to a body, it will deal continuous damage.</em>

    <em>You are an Overlords Technique user with another King Authority. You can just choose one of the two types of mana and set it to build up the mana required for the authority.</em>

    <em>The speed at which the Overlord Mana will umte has doubled.</em>

    <strong><em>Conditions for Growth</em></strong><em>: You can develop the skill by fighting against an enemy that is leagues stronger than you are or fighting against an overwhelming number of people in a war. You can also develop it by learning under the tutge of a strong individual. Your growth will depend on how much you learn.</em>

    Overlords Technique, a <em>Kings Authority</em> and the ultimate skill of Overlord Raldo, had evolved into a God-rank skill. It had now grown to a level that far surpassed the <em>Overlords Technique</em> that Raldo possessed. Although the additional attack and damage did not change much, its radius had more than doubledpared to the previous one.

    Supreme Overlords Technique.

    And with the Great Spirit of Fires Blessings of Fire, the Supreme Overlords Techniques damage and radius increased several times.

    <em>Rumbleeeeeee</em>

    The Overlords Fire spread out and covered the sky and engulfed the gigantic Meteors.

    ...! The look in Helenias eyes changed.

    The ck mes, which moved likeva that could devour and melt the ground, consumed the Meteors she sent.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack!</em>

    Helenias mouth dropped, a small sigh of admiration escaping her lips as she watched her Meteors begin to crack.

    <em>Its like Im watching </em><strong><em>him</em></strong><em>.</em>

    Someones figure ovepped with Minhyuk in Helenias eyes.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa</em>

    Everyone looked at the scene in front of them anxiously.

    He made a mistake! We should quickly avoid it!

    Emperor Elise, we have to evacuate right away!

    Even if you evacuate right now, we will not survive if no one moves to stop that.

    ...

    ...

    ...

    The kings and emperors who were hurriedly trying to move away were rendered speechless by Elises words. After all, he was only telling the truth. The Meteors falling from the sky were sorge that the area they could cover and devour would be significant if they fell.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack! Crack, crack, crack!</em>

    Web-like cracks appeared and spread all over the surface of the Meteors as the mes that covered the sky burned hotter and brighter as if they wanted to turn them into ashes.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaa!</em>

    <em>Crack, crack Crack!</em>

    <em>A bit more. Just a bit more </em>Minhyuk stared intently at the ck mes of the Supreme Overlords Technique, hoping it would devour the Meteors falling from the sky. However, things did not work out as he wished.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa</em>

    In the end, the Supreme Overlords Technique failed. It could not destroy a single one of the Meteors. However, if the attack had been more potent, all of them would have been destroyed. Helenia had determined this after seeing the cracks that covered the surface of the Meteors after the mes had devoured them.

    <em>Thats amazing. However, if its only that much, then it wont be able to stop my magic. </em>Helenia sneered.

    He might be the foreigners Supreme, the ruler of an empire, and the one who inherited the power of an Absolute God. However, that was all.

    Aaaaaaaaaaaack!

    Ruuuuuun!

    Where will you run?! Once those Meteors fall, everyone here will die!

    I- I dont want to die! Please!!!

    Everyone fell into despair, their screams ringing loudly, as they watched the Meteors fall even further. However, it seemed like it was still too early for them to feel frustrated.

    <em>[He appeared in a sh of light.]</em>

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack</em>

    He appeared in a sh as lightning crackled in the gaps between the dozens of falling Meteors. He was the one that Minhyuk was only barely able to defeat despite having the Sword of Aeon in his hands. He was someone that everyone feared if he was their enemy, yet he was the most reliable if he was their ally. He was none other than Puppet Viel.

    <em>Click, click, click, click</em>

    Intense and powerful sparks surged and fluttered all over Viels body as he held the sword. Viels Puppet Doll carried a small fragment of his ego, which was only left there so that he could listen to and execute Minhyuks orders.

    <em>Crackle, crackle, crackle</em>

    The sparks dancing all over Viels body grew more prominent as he raised the sword.

    Among all of the attributes of the Great Spirits, the Great Spirit of Lightning was the one that boasted the highest damage.

    <em>[With one swing of his sword, hundreds of lightning bolts fell from the sky.]</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaa!</em>

    A blinding and powerful lightning bolt crackled into life and hit one of the Meteors when Viel swung his sword down.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    The lightning bolt was dozens of timesrger than the bloody red one released by Minhyuks passive skill, <em>Lightning</em>.

    <em>Crackle!</em>

    Then, another lightning bolt fell and hit the Meteor once again.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    At that moment, the Meteor, already littered with cracks, broke apart and scattered into thin air. At the same time, hundreds of lightning bolts fell from the sky and struck the Meteors.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The Meteors that threatened the lives of everyone on the ground began to shatter and disappear into nothingness in the sky above them. As for the people below? They all looked at Viel with admiration in their eyes. Then, their cheers resounded on the battlefield.

    Uwaaaaaaaah!

    Aaaaaaaaaaah!

    Helenias expression grew ugly as their cheers and shouts of admiration rang in her ears. She felt extremely disgusted with their behavior. They cheered and acted as if they had ovee everything despite only being able to block one of her spells.

    I feel like throwing up.

    Helenia had little time left. She had to go back soon. Helenia stretched her slender and fair fingers. At the same time, thousands of boulders appeared where she pointed. With one wave of her palm, parts of the boulders, the size of a carriage, were shaved off until they turned into sharp awls.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang!</em>

    The thousands of sharp and gigantic stone awls flew all at once. One stone awl killed hundreds of the coalition army the moment they stabbed the ground.

    As if to respond to the attack, Viel fell from the sky and immediately mmed his sword on the ground.

    <em>[Lions Roar.]</em>

    <em>[The deafening Lions Roar raises the ground, turning the earth into swords!]</em>

    <em>[You have received the blessings of the Great Spirit of Earth.]</em>

    <em>[The Great Spirit of Earths Pir of Growth has been triggered!]</em>

    <em>[The Lions Roar and the Pir of Growth have fused!]</em>

    <em>Rumbleeeeeeeeee!</em>

    Gigantic pirs sprung up from the ground in an instant. The ends of these pirs were all as sharp and pointed as the tip of the de of a sword.

    <em>Crack!</em>

    As the pirs rose and destroyed the falling stone awls, a man could be seen running somewhere. And with the whisper of<em> Like the Wind...</em>

    <em>[You have received the blessings of the Great Spirit of Wind!]</em>

    <em>[The Great Spirit of Winds Running One and Like the Wind have fused!]</em>

    <em>Like the Wind</em>, which usually allowed Minhyuk to travel a distance of three meters in one go, allowed him to travel a thirty-meter distance at this very moment.

    <em>aaaaash</em>

    Minhyuk quickly raised his sword and destroyed the stone awl that flew toward him.

    ...Interesting. Helenia gnawed on her lips.

    At first, she thought he was nothing but a greenhorn. But then, she learned that he was the only knight recognized by Athenae. Knowing that, she felt both interested and delighted. However, things had grown different. The man was destroying her magic in front of all the elves and humans on this battlefield. Now, her pride was being tarnished. The delight had now turned into anger.

    Every one of you will die here. Helenia dered. She was no longer in the mood to y pranks on them.

    <em>[Master of Mana has been triggered!]</em>

    <em>[The number of magic that you can cast has quadrupled!]</em>

    <em>[A tremendous amount of mana swirls around the Master of Mana.]</em>

    <em>Rumbleeeeeee</em>

    The mana swirling around Helenias body slowly condensed at the tip of her fingers as she created and cast her magic. And the spell that she was casting? <em>Diss</em>, the magic that made Golden Mage Ali famous among the yers.

    Diss, a skill that could summon spears of light that would pierce through the enemies, had the most potent damage, mainly when it only targeted a single person. The Diss that Golden Mage Ali could cast was considered a cheat-like skill with its additional 20,000% attack. One could expect Helenias Diss to have at least 50,000% extra attack.

    Just like that, more than seventy Diss appeared around Helenia. The Diss that Helenia cast created ck spears instead of the usual golden ones, which was enough to ce a greater sense of despair and pressure on everyone who saw her attack.

    However, Helenia was not yet done. She was already wholly ovee with her rage.

    <em>[Raging Mana.]</em>

    <em>[You have increased your mana volume by transcending your limits!]</em>

    <em>[You have not yet recovered and restored your body and power! A significantly huge amount of damage is to be expected!]</em>

    With Raging Mana triggered, the more than seventy ck spears floated around Helenia increased. Now, there were more than a hundred ck spears floating around her. Everyone witnessing this sight thought they would never be able to see such a scene in their life again.

    Then, these more than a hundred ck spears turned and flew toward Minhyuk. Five were enough to pierce through Minhyuks body and kill him. As for the rest? They would continue to shoot forward until they had annihted the kings, emperors, and vassals of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    However, there was one thing that Helenia had overlooked. It was the fact that <em>The One that Cannot Resist </em>was not a debuff that could be infinitely cast on one person. The One That Cannot Resist was a horrendous and terrifying abnormal status that would instantly affect those who had seen her once she made her appearance. However, the duration of this debuff was not infinite; after all, no one would want to y or live in Athenae anymore if that was the case. At most, it could onlyst for a few short minutes. Now, the people that she had ignored and forgotten began to move.

    Athenae yers suddenly felt threatened. A being that they could not even dare to fight against had appeared. And since a being that they could not reach no matter how hard they struggled seemed, they had to make them see that it was not the case. And this was something that only the most potent NPCs and yers of the Beyond the Heavens Empire could do. They had to show them that they could fight back against <em>Helenia.</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaa!</em>

    Spear God Ben fell swiftly from the sky above while he used his ultimate power.

    Absolute Pinnacle Spear.

    <em>Vwoooooooooong!</em>

    A powerful force shot out from the tip of Bens God Piercing Spear and collided with one of the Disses flying toward Minhyuk. When Minhyuk turned his head, he saw Spear God Ben smiling faintly. Minhyuk again used Like the Wind and swiftly passed by the old veteran.

    And in the sky above them, two men with gigantic builds appeared with their swords in hand.

    Mercenarys Pinnacle Swordsmanship.

    Great Demons Sword of ughter.

    Their attack skills instantly destroyed one Diss each. Just like that, they moved to block the Disses one after another. Behind them, a man with golden hair fluttering conjured dozens of Disses to stop the ck spears created by the enemys Diss.

    Frieeeeeeeeeeend!

    Then, dozens of spears made of golden light collided with the ck spears.

    <em>Stab Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab Stab, stab, stab</em>

    Some of the ck spears pierced through the mans body. However, the man did not forget to raise his left arm and show off the token of their friendship.

    <em>Like the Wind.</em>

    Minhyuk, who passed by Ali, almost got stabbed by one of the ck spears.

    <em>sh</em>

    However, someone appeared above him and pulled him up to the sky.

    Please go on.

    The one who pulled Minhyuk up was his Shadow, Sword of the Gods Luo. Luo held Minhyuks arm before spinning around and sending him flying toward Helenia.

    <em>Swooooooosh</em>

    Many Disses were flying toward Minhyuk, who was shooting straight for Helenia.

    Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk.

    Khan, Locke, Genie, Ares, Abel, and the others threw themselves before him and stopped the Disses with their bodies.

    <em>Stab Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab Stab, stab, stab</em>

    However, the Disses that passed through their bodies continued to shoot forward and reach Minhyuk.

    <em>[Vice Guild Master Genie has been forced to log out!]</em>

    <em>[Guild Member Khan has been forced to log out!]</em>

    <em>[Guild Member Ares has been forced to log out!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 70%!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 60%!]</em>

    Even though the ck spear only grazed his body, it still shaved off a huge chunk of his HP. Once again, Minhyuk used Like the Wind. Then, after Minhyuk traveled several dozen meters with the power of the Great Spirit of Wind, a man appeared before him.

    ...Go.

    The man was Cuhel. Cuhel once viewed Minhyuk as his bitter rival. However, now, he trusted and cared for Minhyuk more than anybody else. And at this very moment, Cuhel knew what the Beyond the Heavens Empire and Minhyuk needed to do.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang</em>

    Cuhel pulled out the God-rank shield that he purchased with a vast amount of money and used it to block the Dissesing their way.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack!</em>

    Even a God-rank shield could not endure the power of the attack. It slowly began to crack and break apart. The Disses pierced through Cuhels body. However, his eyes never left Minhyuks figure.

    <em>sh</em>

    Minhyuk, who used the <em>Great Spirit of Winds Sky Leap</em> to step into the sky and avoid the disses, turned to look at Cuhel. He caught sight of the mans slight smile.

    <em>[Guild Member Cuhel has been forced to log out!]</em>

    Helenia looked at Minhyuk. Many people sacrificed themselves to prevent the Disses she sent and allow this man to advance and approach her. Each time, someone would appear to help him out and prevent the Diss from piercing his body.

    Minhyuk quickly fused the Great Spirit of Winds power with his own.

    Food Gods Swordsmanship.

    It was a much weaker and even more trivial skill than the Sword of Carnage. However, it had received the power and blessings of the Great Spirit of Wind.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa</em>

    As a storm gathered at the tip of Minhyuks sword, the Great Spirit of Wind helped him again and allowed him to travel thirty meters in one go.

    Sword of Frenzy.

    <em>Staaaaaaaaab!</em>

    Helenia only blinked once, but Minhyuk was already in front of her when she opened her eyes. Minhyuk immediately grabbed her by the cor with one hand and stabbed her heart with a sword using the other.

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 96%!]</em>

    Even though Minhyuk had stabbed her vital point using a God-grade swordsmanship <em>Sword of Frenzy</em> that was fused with the power of the Great Spirit of Wind, he could only shave 4% off of her HP.

    Regardless, Minhyuk looked up and made eye contact with Helenia. Then, he looked at her arrogantly and said, Get lost.

    <em>Fwoosh</em>

    At that moment, Helenia shuddered, goosebumps rising all over her body. For the first time, she felt fear and terror.

 Chapter 869

    Chapter 869

    Get lost.

    Helenia shuddered as terror washed over her body for a brief moment. She realized that Minhyuks growth would be much greater than expected.

    <em>Perhaps he will be able to surpass him truly.</em>

    Yes, Helenia thought there was a chance that the man in front of her could surpass the one that had sealed her. The situation should have made her even more angry. However, there was no anger on her face. There was even a tiny smile tugging at her lips. Either way, there was no point in her getting angry anymore. After all, she could no longer use force.

    <em>[Helenias descension is over!]</em>

    <em>Swoosh</em>

    As she slowly started disappearing, Helenia said, You actually did it. Very well, I shall keep my word.

    Helenia had promised Minhyuk that she would reward him if he could stop her attacks. The man before her showed he had a powerhouses bravery and talent.

    But you know Helenias expression turned cold as she leaned closer to Minhyuk and whispered, The next time we meet, I will kill you.

    <em>Fwoosh</em>

    Finally, Helenias body turned into light and disappeared entirely from everyones sight. Minhyuk feltplicated as he watched her disappear. There was no sense of victory nor frustration of losing. All that remained was the helplessness and sadness.

    Minhyuk, who slowlynded on the ground, looked around and realized he was not the only one feeling the same. Both humans and elves were panicking after witnessing the overwhelming power of Helenia. The worst part? They all knew that Helenia would descend sooner orter. As if to announce that fact, the notifications rang in their ears.

    <em>[You can now proceed with the </em><strong><em>Episode</em></strong><em>: One of the Eight Pirs, Immortal Sorceress Helenia.]</em>

    <em>[Various tombs of Immortal Sorceress Helenia will appear worldwide one monthter.]</em>

    <em>[The fragments hidden inside Helenias Tombs can release Helenias sealed powers.]</em>

    <em>[Please prevent Helenias Seal from being released with Helenia''s Fragments.]</em>

    <em>[Helenia willpletely awaken a year from now!]</em>

    A year in Athenae was equivalent to four months in reality. On that day, they would have to face Helenia once again. Knowing this, the peoples teeth ttered from fear. The elves and humans were all ovee with helplessness and fear.

    It was true that Minhyuk had blocked Helenias attack. However, it was just that. <em>Blocking.</em> Nothing more, nothing less. There was a high chance that half of the continents in Athenae would be devastated once Helenia had descended with her entire power. Perhaps even the Luvien Empire would have difficulty stopping her by then.

    Just when Minhyuk looked bitter and was about to look around, the two Great Spirits that had assimted with him left his body. And the same was true for Viel. The symbols representing the Four Great Spirits appeared before him: the zing mes, blowing winds, crackling lightning, and tough, sturdy boulders.

    <em>[The Four Great Spirits have acknowledged and recognized you!]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the </em><strong><em>Title</em></strong><em>: The Warrior Acknowledged by the Four Great Spirits!]</em>

    <em>[The </em><strong><em>Sudden Quest</em></strong><em>: Protect the People from Helenia has beenpleted!]</em>

    The Four Great Spirits appeared and stood before Minhyuk, their eyes staring intently at him. The elves, particrly Elven King Argon, admired the scene.

    <em>Are you telling me that the Great Spirits have shown interest in a single human being?</em>

    The Great Spirits were the gods that ruled over the Land of Spirits. They were absolute beings that lent their power to all of the elves. Then, they spoke.

    <em>[The Four Great Spirits say it was their honor to fight with you!]</em>

    <em>[The Great Spirit of Fire praises you for having a will that burns like zing mes!]</em>

    <em>[Your Fire Attribute Resistance has increased by 20%, and all your stats have increased by 0.4%!]</em>

    <em>[The Great Spirit of Wind praises you for your sharp and cutting drive.]</em>

    <em>[Your Wind Attribute Resistance has increased by 20%, and all your stats have increased by 0.4%!]</em>

    <em>[The Great Spirit of Lightning praises you for your tenacity.]</em>

    <em>[Your Lightning Attribute Resistance has increased by 20%, and all your stats have increased by 0.4%!]</em>

    <em>[The Great Spirit of Earth praises you for remaining steadfast and sturdy as a rock.]</em>

    <em>[Your Earth Attribute Resistance has increased by 20%, and all your stats have increased by 0.4%!]</em>

    <em>[You have significantly contributed to saving the elves and the humans!]</em>

    <em>[The Great Spirits are discussing your rewards!]</em>

    <em>[The Great Spirit of Fire suggests giving you the Fire Judges Armor!]</em>

    <em>[The reward does not fit. You need to offer a higher reward!]</em>

    <em>[The Great Spirit of Wind suggests giving you the Great Spirit of Winds Boots!]</em>

    <em>[The reward does not fit. You need to offer a higher reward!]</em>

    <em>[The Great Spirit of Lightning suggests giving you the Ring that Strikes Lightning!]</em>

    <em>[The reward does not fit. You need to offer]</em>

    <em>[The Great Spirit of Earth suggests giving you the Pickaxe that Can Make Any Land Fertile!]</em>

    <em>[The reward does not fit. You need to offer]</em>

    Elven King Argon could not hide the surprise in his face. The elves were also in a buzz.

    The items that the Great Spirits had presented to Minhyuk were all items that could only be seen in myths in the Land of the Elves. However, even though they suggested handing over such things, it was still considered an insufficient reward for Minhyuk.

    <em>He saved us.</em>

    Argon had only thought of stopping the overwhelmingly strong dark elves and had never expected Helenia to descend on this battlefield. That was why he had summoned all the elves, reaching almost ten million in numbers, and came here. If all of these elves, whose reproductive abilitiesgged far behind the human race, died, then it could only mean one thing for their race: extinction<em>.</em>

    It had to be known that the elves and the spirits were in a rtionship with mutual gains. The Spirit World could only be maintained with natures mana that the elves had gathered from Earth. To put it simply, Minhyuk saved the elves, the humans, and the spirits. He was a hero.

    <em>Perhaps those mythical items truly arent enough.</em>

    Argon finally realized why. Of course, the same was true for the elves. Because of that, their gaze on Minhyuk, their hero, also changed.

    zing mes shot up from the Great Spirit of Fire at that moment.

    <em>Crackleeee</em>

    <em>[The Great Spirit of Fire Ifrit says he can protect you for one year!]</em>

    <em>[Great Spirit of Fire Ifrit. Level 799.]</em>

    The mes that burned and covered the entire body of the Great Spirit of Fire Ifrit were so intense that anyone who saw it would know it could burn anything and everything in its path.

    Perhaps it was because all of the tension in his body had escaped that Minhyuk whispered some unimaginable words to himself: If I put samgyeopsal on his back, then it will probably get cooked in five seconds, no?

    If one put samgyeopsal on a shovel and put it inside a furnace, it would be cooked in five seconds. For some reason, Minhyuk thought it would be the same if he ced it on Ifrits back. Minhyuk, who thought about that, felt it would be <em>amazing.</em>

    <em>[The Great Spirit of Fire Ifrit looks at you in confusion.]</em>

    <em>[The Great Spirit of Fire Ifrit thinks he has misheard it.]</em>

    Then, the Great Spirit of Wind stepped forward.

    <em>[The Great Spirit of Wind Elysia says she can protect you for one year!]</em>

    <em>[Great Spirit of Wind Elysia. Level 776.]</em>

    The Great Spirit of Wind Youll be instrumental when lighting up a furnace.

    The more Minhyuk thought about food, the more his helplessness and despair disappeared from his mind. As for the elves and humans around him, they were all blinking at him in confusion.

    <em>[The Great Spirit of Wind Elysia is taken aback.]</em>

    At that moment, another Great Spirit stepped forward.

    <em>[The Great Spirit of Lightning Lec says he can protect you for one year!]</em>

    <em>[Great Spirit of Lightning Lec. Level 801.]</em>

    The human kings, emperors, coalition army, elves, and surviving dark elves looked at the Great Spirit of Lightning and wondered what Minhyuk would say next. It should be impossible to associate lightning with food. However, Minhyuk was in a ss of his own.

    Theres a saying about beans being cooked with lightning. I think you can be used for making popcorn.

    <em>[The Great Spirit of Lightnings eyes popped out of its socket.]</em>

    The symbol of the Great Spirit of Lightning shook and trembled violently. Finally, thest Great Spirit appeared.

    <em>[The Great Spirit of Earth Rend says he can protect you for one year!]</em>

    <em>[Great Spirit of Earth Rend. Level 797.]</em>

    The Great Spirit of Earth waited in anticipation. Could this human associate him with food?

    Minhyuk rubbed his chin in thought. If youre the Great Spirit of Earth, then you can probably make vegetables, watermelons, and other fruits grow right away, right? Oh. If thats the case, I can make bibimbap with the crops you have grown, no?

    <em>[The Great Spirit of Earth stumbles back!]</em>

    Minhyuk''s words and how he rted them all to food and eating were said half genuinely and half in jest.

    Of course, the Great Spirits were fully aware of this, too.

    Ha- Hahahahahaha!

    The Beyond the Heavens Emperor truly rtes everything to food!

    Wow. How can hee up with ideas like that?

    My god. For some reason, I want to grill some samgyeopsal on the Great Spirit of Fire Ifrits back. It will probably be very delicious.

    And theres also the Great Spirit of Wind; she must greatly help light up a furnace.

    Argon alsoughed with them. The Great Spirits did not grow angry at Minhyuks words because he allowed these people, who had fallen into <em>despair, helplessness, </em>and<em> terror</em>, tough again.

    <em>[Great Spirit of Fire Ifrits favor has increased.]</em>

    <em>[Great Spirit of Wind Elysias favor has increased.]</em>

    <em>[Great Spirit of Lightning Lecs favor has increased.]</em>

    <em>[Great Spirit of Earth Rends favor has increased.]</em>

    The fact that Minhyuk understood the peoples feelings and allowed them to ovee such a slump despite having a hard time <em>himself</em> made the Great Spirits view him favorably. This allowed them to see why this human named Minhyuk could have a friendly rtionship with the elves. This man was as pure and clean as the elves.

    The Four Great Spirits stared at Minhyuk.

    <em>[Only one of the Four Great Spirits can fulfill and sign a contract with you!]</em>

    When the things they could offer were deemed unsuitable as a reward, the Four Great Spirits immediately offered themselves up. Besides, after watching his actions, they thought staying with this man for a year would be an enjoyable experience.

    However, unexpectedly, Minhyuk said, I refuse.

    The Great Spirits eyes grew wide when they heard his words. The Great Spirit of Fires mes burned stronger, while the wind surrounding the Great Spirit of Wind turned misty as if she were shedding tears. The Great Spirit of Earth looked down at the ground with a sigh, while the Great Spirit of Lightning looked slightly angry.

    There were many reasons why Minhyuk had chosen to refuse the Four Great Spirits offer.

    <em>They are different from ordinary gods.</em>

    In the first ce, their race was different. Also, there was a high chance that the Beyond the Heavens Empire would be mired in confusion if Minhyuk signed a contract with one of them and brought them back.

    Recruiting a strong being unconditionally like this was not necessarily a good thing. Their intentions were pure, and he even weed them. However, if they really went through with this, then a rift might just develop between the spirits and the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    Also, would these arrogant and prideful Great Spirits really listen to Minhyuks <em>orders andmands</em> just because they viewed him favorably? It was very risky to have them by his side unless it was a lord-vassal rtionship.

    <em>[The Great Spirits are left in chaos and confusion!]</em>

    Then, the Great Spirits began to discuss amongst themselves the rewards they would give Minhyuk. However, their discussion would continue slowly.

    Then, at that moment, a series of notifications rang in Minhyuks ears.

    <em>[The Spirit of Life has shown an interest in you.]</em>

    <em>[The Spirit of Life is a spirit that is as pure and innocent as a child.]</em>

    <em>[The Spirit of Life has the power to make life sprout.]</em>

    <em>[The Spirit of Life says he can protect you for one year!]</em>

    Minhyuk realized that he was the only one who heard the notifications after he saw that the Great Spirits were still busy discussing amongst themselves.

    <em>A spirit that is as pure and innocent as a child?</em>

    If that were the case, this spirit might not be as strong, noble, and prestigious as the Four Great Spirits. From what he heard, Minhyuk could surmise that the Spirit of Life was unique among the spirits. After pondering briefly, Minhyuk made his decision.

    <em>Alright.</em>

    <em>[You have chosen your reward!]</em>

    <em>[You have selected to spend a year together with the Spirit of Life as your reward!]</em>

    <em>[The Spirit of Life descends upon the earth!]</em>

    A sphere of light slowly fell from the sky. When the light finallynded in Minhyuks hands, it gradually disappeared, revealing a yawning wolf pup.

    <em>Cute.</em> Just when the thought crossed Minhyuks mind, somethingpletely unexpected happened.

    The Great Spirits eyes grew wide from shock when they saw the descent of the Spirit of Life. However, they all quickly regained theirposure and knelt to show courtesy.

    ...!

    Everyone looked at the scene in shock.

 Chapter 870

    Chapter 870

    The Great Spirits were both the gods and the rulers of the Spirit Realm. They had always acted haughtily and arrogantly, but they had every right to do so. However, these lofty and prestigious beings immediately knelt and showed courtesy toward the Spirit of Life, the same Spirit of Life thatnded on Minhyuks arms and rubbed his head on his chest before yawning and sleeping peacefully.

    The myth about the <em>Spirit of Life</em> rang in Minhyuks ears at that moment.

    <em>[If therees a day when the Spirit Realm falls into danger, the Spirit of Life will rally the entire Spirit Realm and lead the Great Spirits to save theirnd and resolve the crisis.]</em>

    Minhyuk was very shocked when he heard that. He had chosen the Spirit of Life because he thought the harmless and cute Spirit of Life would not harm the Beyond the Heavens Empire. However, it seemed like he now had something that he never even imagined obtaining in his hands.

    <em>[The Great Spirit of Fire requests that you take good care of the Spirit of Life!]</em>

    <em>[The Great Spirit of Wind deres that she would not let you go if you ever harm the Spirit of Life!]</em>

    <em>[The Great Spirit of Earth murmurs, C- Cute]</em>

    <em>[The Great Spirit of Lightning stares at the Spirit of Life.]</em>

    Minhyuk looked at the guy, who yawned as he rubbed himself on his chest before going back to sleep in his arms amidst the loudmotion around him.

    <em>[The Great Spirits promise to give you one of the Spirits Gifts they had offered earlier!]</em>

    It was a very unexpected yet wee harvest. The Great Spirits knew the Spirit of Lifes choice was unusual. However, since the Spirit of Life would depend on Minhyuk in the future, they all decided to maintain a smooth and friendly rtionship with the man before them.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk thought hard about what gift he would choose.

    The Great Spirits of Fire and Lightning thought he would choose the gifts they had proposed earlier. The Great Spirit of Fires Fire Judges Armor had a high defense against fire-attributed attacks and tremendous defense. As for the Ring that Strikes Lightning was an artifact that could trigger an AOE attack skill and summon huge and thick bolts of lightning from time to time.

    However, Minhyuks eyes were looking at the <em>Pickaxe that Can Make Any Land Fertile</em> held by the Great Spirit of Earth. Compared to the other items offered by the Great Spirits, the Pickaxe that Can Make Any Land Fertile was considered the most ordinary, perhaps even the item with the most negligible value. Just a mere pickaxe? However, the Great Spirits respected Minhyuks choice. After all, it might be a simple pickaxe, but it was still a God-rank artifact.

    <em>[You have obtained the Pickaxe that Can Make Any Land Fertile.]</em>

    When the situation finally calmed down to some extent, the kings and emperors ordered the gates to open, and they immediately ran out.

    The kings and emperors originally had an awkward and hostile rtionship with the Beyond the Heavens Empire. However, after this war, they already knew who would be able to protect their kingdoms and empires from Helenia. Besides, they were also very indebted to Minhyuk and his empire.

    Emperor Elise said, Beyond the Heavens Emperor, I would like to visit your Beyond the Heavens Empire and have a cup of tea with you. Would that be alright?

    It was a question asked on behalf of all of the kings and emperors present.

    Of course, Minhyuk readily answered, Of course.

    Once everything was sorted out, Minhyuk led the people of Beyond the Heavens Empire back home to their empire.

    When he returned, he thought, <em>The Pickaxe that Can Make Any Land Fertile and the Spirit of Life is a goodbination.</em>

    At that moment, Minhyuk believed that the strongest and greatest Spirit Farmer in history would most likely be born in his empire. If the Great Spirits had been able to take a peek into Minhyuks thoughts before they disappeared, their expressions would have turned dark and ugly.

    ***

    With a soft smile, Sword God Valen looked at Conir, who was cooking ramyeon.

    He had been observing Conir for a very long time and had known that the boy was the one that created the Faramil Swordsmanship, the swordsmanship that had been passed down in the Knights Tower from one generation to another. Although Conir had returned to his youth and was suffering from an intellectual disability, Valen recognized and acknowledged the fact that he was an outstanding knight and warrior. Besides, Valen could see that Conirs noble heart was more than enough for him to be the Sword God. Those were the reasons why Valen chose Conir.

    Valen proposed to Conir.

    <em>Wont you follow me and leave this ce for a bit?</em>

    Conir also knew about Sword God Valen. He knew he was Minhyuks first teacher and one of his hyungs most precious and cherished people.

    <em>I am Conir! If Conir follows you, will hyung like Conir more?</em>

    Sword God Valen did not wish to lie to this pure and innocent child.

    <em>At first, he will probably feel panicked and flustered when youe to find him. However, if youe with me, you can protect him once you return to his side.</em>

    Conir looked at Valen with pure and innocent eyes and replied without hesitation.

    <em>Then, Conir will follow you! But not now!</em>

    <em>Why?</em>

    <em>Conir has to cook delicious ramyeon for hyung before Conir leaves!</em>

    <em>I see.</em>

    This conversation between Sword God Valen and Conir happened around a month ago. For this past month, Valen silently watched Conir and waited for him so they could leave without any regrets. As he continued to watch, he could see Conirs pure and unsolicited love for Minhyuk.

    <em>This past month, he went to many dangerous ces by himself to collect ingredients.</em>

    And they were just ingredients for ramyeon.

    I am Conir! My hyung loves ramyeon! Conir will give hyung the most delicious ramyeon in the world!

    Sometimes, he would roll down while hiking a mountain or slip while climbing a cliff. There were also times when he struggled to fight against the high-level monsters that he had encountered. However, there were also times when he would seek those monsters out and hunt them to obtain their ingredients.

    <em>This child will be able to protect you from the Eight Pirs.</em>

    Valen could not recall how often the boy had boiled and thrown away the ramyeon he was cooking. However, Conir, with his noble and pure heart, continued to work hard for Minhyuk with only the thought, <em>I want it to be delicious. </em>running through his head.

    Valen watched Conir with a pleased smile on his face.

    ***

    <em>Minhyuk hyung does not bring Conir to the battlefield these days! Hyung doesnt hunt monsters with Conir like he used to!</em>

    Conir was very upset with Minhyuk. The two of them had always been together. They would often brave dangers and eat delicious dishes together afterward. Conirs nose turned sour. He knew the reason why Minhyuk did not bring him along these days.

    <em>Conir! Conir knows Conir knows that hyung does not bring Conir along because its perilous!</em>

    Conir was fully aware that the opponents that Minhyuk faced and were about to encounter were getting stronger and stronger. He might be a strong Named NPC that reached Level 600, but in the end, he was still a young boy with intellectual disability. He could not judge the situation rationally and think more deeply, unlike Spear God Ben and Brod. Because of that, Minhyuk decided that it was dangerous for Conir.

    Conir wiped away the tears that flowed down his cheeks. <em>Thats why Conir has to be stronger!</em>

    Only by bing stronger would he be able to keep himself safe. And if he could keep himself safe and away from danger, then he would be able to stay by Minhyuks side and fight on the battlefield happily with his hyung. That was why Conir decided to leave.

    But before he left, he wanted to treat Minhyuk to the most delicious bowl of ramyeon he had made. Conir no longer knew how many bowls he had cooked and thrown away since he started this endeavor.

    <em>Conir would be happy if hyung likes this. Even if Conir cant return, Conir hopes that hyung will not forget Conir!</em>

    This was Conirs wish. However, he still had another desire.

    <em>Conir thinks it would be good if hyung does not give up what he likes to do just for our sake.</em>

    What was Minhyuk like when Conir first met him? Back then, Minhyuk looked for delicious food and ingredients every single day. However, he was now very different from how he was back then. Perhaps it was because he became the Beyond the Heavens Emperor and felt responsible for the safety and development of the empire. However, Conir hoped that Minhyuk would relinquish his worries and burden and live for his sake again. He hoped that Minhyuk would go out and find something delicious once again.

    Once again, Conir gave out the bowl of ramyeon that he had just finished cooking to someone else. <em>Not enough! Its not enough!</em>

    Conir traveled far and wide to collect various rare ingredients. With those ingredients, he created more than a hundred new varieties of ramyeon. Of course, there were plenty of delicious ramyeon among them, but they were still not up to Conirs standards.

    Conir, who was deep in his thoughts, closed his eyes. <em>Refreshing, spicy, and hot ramyeon.</em>

    That was what he wanted to cook. Conir continued to cook ramyeon for a few days, even forgoing his sleep. But when he decided the specifics of the ramyeon he tried to cook, he felt like his mind had cleared up. Although Conir did not learn the <em>Trance Skill</em> like Minhyuk, he had fallen into a trance-like state.

    Conir chopped the green onions. Why add some green onions? They could add a refreshing aftertaste to the soup. After chopping the green onions thinly, he lit up the frying pan and began to stir-fry them. Then, he added some garlic and gochugaru to stir-fry the green onions. After that, he added a spoonful of doenjang and a dash of soy sauce.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa</em>

    A mouth-watering scent wafted out of the pot. Afterbining various ingredients, the soup base, which was very spicy at first nce, was finallypleted. Once Conir added the water, it quickly became mouth-watering ramyeon soup.

    Just when Conir was about to add the noodles to the soup, a sense of dizziness washed over him, and he stumbled on his feet. He had been cooking ramyeon for days without any sleep so that he could give Minhyuk the most delicious bowl of ramyeon he had ever cooked.

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods, the God that Does Not Know How to Back Down, is cheering you on!]</em>

    <em>[The God that Does Not Know How to Back Down is smiling faintly at you and your pure and innocent heart as you do your best for someone.]</em>

    The God of Will stared at Conir with a soft smile and cheered him on, but it was not just him.

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods, the God that Loves to Cook, is cheering you on!]</em>

    <em>[The God that Loves to Cook is smiling faintly at you, who is trying to create the most excellent dish through the most ordinary and simplest dish.]</em>

    His blurred vision slowly returned to its original state. Even his throbbing headache had disappeared.

    <em>I am Conir! The boy that cooks the most ordinary ramyeon!</em>

    Conir did not want anything else. All he wanted was for his respected and dearly beloved hyung to be able to eat the most <em>delicious ramyeon</em> in the world.

    Conir quickly added the noodles and continued to let the pot boil. The hot and spicy soup boiled up, and swallowed the noodles to the bottom likeva, devouring everything that touched it. Conir grabbed his tongs and gently loosened the noodles being boiled in the spicy soup.

    Like that, the sweating Conir finallypleted the ramyeon and turned off the gas stove.

    <em>[You havepleted Level 9. A God-grade ramyeon has been born to the world.]</em>

    <em>[You have learned the Passive Skill: The One that Cooks with a Strong Will.]</em>

    <em>[The Level 10 Quest: Someone Enjoying and Eating Your God-grade Ramyeon has been created.]</em>

    Conir possessed a different passive skillpared to others.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Tenacity</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Passive Skill</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: Legendary</em>

    <strong><em>Level</em></strong><em>: None</em>

    <strong><em>Mana Required</em></strong><em>: None</em>

    <strong><em>Cooldown</em></strong><em>: None</em>

    <strong><em>Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>You will show tremendous concentration on one thing.</em>

    <em>You will try harder than anybody else to achieve the best result.</em>

    <em>To achieve the highest level of your abilities, skills and various quests will be created.</em>

    <em>There is a possibility of receiving and awakening a unique ability when you reach the highest level.</em>

    This skill would only be triggered whenever Conir was wholly dedicated to something. And, of course, the end of Tenacity waspleting his Level 10 quest. Based on the exnation, Conir could obtain extraordinary power once he reached the highest level possible through this skill. In other words, Conir could get a new ability once Minhyuk ate his ramyeon happily.

    However, Conir didn''t care about that at all. He smiled brightly as he looked at the pir of light that fell upon the bowl of ramyeon. Although shocking notifications kept ringing in his ears, they did not register in his head. All he was thinking about was Minhyuk and his expression as he enjoyed the food that he made.

    After hepleted the ramyeon, Conir left the bowl to Haze and finally went out. Valen, who watched everything, walked by his side and looked at the rxed Conir.

    However, Sword God Valen, who saw the man approaching them, felt his heart thump wildly. <em>N, no way</em>

    The man walking toward them was Minhyuks father, <em>ck Dragon.</em> ck Dragon quickly approached Conir and asked, Conir, are you leaving?

    I am Conir! Conir will leave! Conir will see youter!

    As for the reason why Valens heart was thumping wildly

    <em>N, no. The boy that will seed and inherit my ce as the Sword God</em>

    Then, ck Dragon said, I have a gift for you! I know that saying <em>I am Conir!</em> is amazing and has a huge impact. But my dear Conir, you want to be cooler and have more impact, right? How about having a new slogan once youe back to us?

    C-Conir. Conir would love to have a cooler slogan! Conirs eyes sparkled.

    Meanwhile, Sword God Valen sported an ugly expression, his face turning pale from the sudden left hook that appeared. Conir listened intently to ck Dragon as they decided on his new and cooler slogan. Valens anxiety shot through the roof. Why? Because knowing ck Dragon, there was a chance he would make Conir say, <em>The Sword God in me is going berserk! </em>or something along those lines. The thought of Conir, who came back after a long time, appearing as the next generation Sword God while shouting, <em>The Sword God in me is going berserk!</em> was enough to give Sword God Valen goosebumps.

    With his trembling voice, Valen asked, W- what slogan did you decide on?

    After hearing his question, Conir stared at Valen for a long time. Then, in a very serious and majestic voice-pletely different from his usual child-like voice- he said, I am the Sword God.

 Chapter 871

    Chapter 871

    With the war, the peace talks with the other kingdoms and empires, the ceaseless efforts to develop the Beyond the Heavens Empire, the battle with the Luvien Empire, and meeting Helenia through the new episode, Minhyuk was exhausted. At this point, Minhyuk felt like having two bodies would still not be enough.

    Minhyuk''s face wasplex as he walked out of the Athenae Connection Capsule. Lee Jinhwan, who saw him stagger out, called out to him, Minhyuk.

    Ah, Doc. Im fine. Minhyuk smiled faintly.

    However, Jinhwan supported him and looked at him worriedly. Minhyuk, I think you need a good rest.

    Ill be fine once I nap after working out.

    No. I believe you need to take a longer break than that.

    You know that I cant take a long break. Theres so much work left to do. I have to prepare for Helenias appearance. I have to prepare for the battle against the Luvien Empire. I have to<em> mumble, mumble</em>

    Lee Jinhwan sighed as he listened to Minhyuk. How about talking for a bit?

    Mihyuk looked confused at the doctor as they sat together on the sofa.

    Do you have a lot of work to do in Athenae? Can you tell me about it?

    Lee Jinhwan knew mostly about what usually happened in the Athenae game. However, he was Minhyuks doctor and needed to understand what was happening entirely. So, Minhyuk began to tell his story. He told Jinhwan about how he felt helpless after meeting Helenia recently and the pressure and the need to go even further that started to weigh down on his shoulders.

    I dont have time. Ill take a short breather and

    Minhyuk. Lee Jinhwan, who finished listening to Minhyuks story, fixed his horn-rimmed sses and continued, What was the reason you started ying the game Athenae? Did you start ying the game so that you could build an <em>empire</em> and be Athenaes <em>supreme</em>?

    Huh? Of course not. I started ying to help curb and cure my eating addiction. However, the people that are relying on me

    Why do you think that they are only relying on you? Minhyuk, even if you put down your burden and let go for a bit, those people can handle it.

    ... Minhyuk turned silent as he listened to Lee Jinhwan.

    When we first started the game, before you established your kingdom, you would often tell us about the delicious dishes you tried. And we can see that it made you happy, Minhyuk. But now? Whenever you log out, all you say is how busy you are.

    Lee Jinhwan felt very sorry that this transition happened like that.

    Yes, your eating addiction is improving. However, its notpletely cured yet. Do you remember what you said to me when you first yed this game, Minhyuk? You said, <em>I will y this game and have fun!</em> But are you having fun now?

    Minhyuk could not open his mouth to answer that question. It wasnt fun. He wanted to argue, but the words were stuck in his throat.

    Then, a voice rang somewhere else. Doctor Lee Jinhwan is right. Minhyuk, didnt you promise me back then that you would y this game and have more fun than anybody else?

    It was Chairman Kang Minhoo. Kang Minhoo could see how the pressure on Minhyuk grew heavier as he grew even further in Athenae. As someone who became the head of a group in his early thirties, Kang Minhoo fully understood the feeling. He once thought that thepany would only be able to function if he was present all the time.

    Its okay to let things go every once in a while. Please remember that youre not the only one supposed to carry this burden alone. Its a burden everyone must carry, fair and square.

    After listening to his father''s words, Minhyuk turned to look at Jinhwan. He saw the doctor nodding in agreement, a faint smile on his face.

    Minhyuk pondered deeply. <em>Whats fun for me is</em>

    The main reason he started ying this game was what he found interesting and fun, which was food. Minhyuk soon nodded. He smiled and said, Ill try to let things go and rx every once in a while.

    Kang Minhoo and Lee Jinhwan felt relieved when they heard those words. The two watched Minhyuk stand up to return to his room and sleep.

    ***

    Minhyuk, who had taken a long and deep sleep after a long time, felt refreshed. For the first time in a long while, Minhyuk let himself breathe and rid himself of thoughts. Because of that, he was finally able to sleep well. However, that did not mean that he had let gopletely.

    <em>I still dont know what will happen once Helenia descends. Can I go out and eat something delicious? Can I have fun in Athenae once again? </em>Apanied by theseplicated thoughts, Minhyuk logged back inside Athenae.

    He still had not checked and confirmed the rewards he received from Helenia. However, the moment he essed the game, Haze immediately came to his office.

    Your Majesty. Conir has left.

    Conir did? Minhyuk felt anxious when he heard that Conir had left. He considered Conir his younger brother, whom he needed to protect and take care of.

    Seeing Minhyuks expression grow both serious and uneasy, Haze said, Your Majesty. Conir is strong.

    What?

    He is stronger than we think. He left because he also wanted to grow further.

    Only after hearing those words did Minhyuk understand.

    Haze continued, Your Majesty, I know that you feel responsible for everything. However, that does not mean that you have to do everything on your own. Just as Conir left to grow further, we are also doing our best to protect our Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    Haze''s words were simr to what Minhyuks father and personal doctor, Lee Jinhwan, had told him earlier. At this point, Minhyuk had already realized he was suffering from the pressure.

    After lightly scolding Minhyuk, Haze said, Your Majesty, Conir had left you a present just before he left.

    Then, she went out for a bit. When she came back, she was holding a bowl of ramyeon that was ted nicely inside a bowl. It was none other than Green Onion Ramyeon.

    He also told me to tell Your Majesty, <em>I hope that Your Majesty will be able to enjoy this like you used to.</em>

    Conir said the words like you used to, which meant that he had also sensed Minhyuk''s changes. Only at that moment did the facts hit Minhyuk deeply.

    <em>I see. I didnt have to carry everything on my own. I can eat delicious dishes and enjoy the game like I used to. </em>Minhyuk felt more rxed, a small smile curling at the corners of his lips.

    Since the ramyeon was a Green Onion Ramyeon, it was only natural that a generous amount of green onion was sprinkled on top of it. One could tell the soup would taste very refreshing with just one nce.

    Minhyuk lifted the bowl and took a huge gulp of the soup. <em>Sluuuuuuuuurp!</em>

    The moment he sipped, a burst of hot, spicy, and savory vors danced in his mouth. Surprisingly enough, the hot, spicy, and delicious vors were well-matched.

    Kghhhk

    As expected of the skills of the Master of Ramyeon, Conir. After tasting the soup, Minhyuk quickly grabbed his chopsticks and mped a considerable mouthful of noodles, with several chopped green onions peeking from their gaps.

    <em>Sluuuuuuuuuurp!</em>

    Just like that, he put the warm, spicy, and chewy noodles in his mouth all at once. Of course, he slurped another mouthful of noodles.

    <em>Sluuuuuuuuuuurp!</em>

    Minhyuk ate the noodles delightfully before focusing on the well-ripened kimchi beside the bowl. He quickly mped some kimchi and put it in his mouth.

    <em>Crunch, crunch, crunch</em>

    Minhyuk could not help but be in awe at the burst of vor that apanied every bite of the dish.

    <em>Sluuuuuuuuuuurp!</em>

    Just like that, he almost finished the bowl of ramyeon.

    Conir, this rascal. Minhyuk felt his nose turn sour as tears slowly welled up in his eyes.

    Conir knew that one bowl of ramyeon would not be enough for Minhyuk, so he prepared some leftover rice. The boys kindness warmed Minhyuks heart, but that was not all. Minhyuk could tell that this ramyeon was very unusual.

    <em>This tastes really, really good?</em>

    In fact, it tasted so good that Minhyuk could not help but sigh in admiration with every bite.

    After finishing the noodles, Minhyuk quickly dumped the cold leftover rice into the spicy and hot soup and pressed it down with his spoon. Once the rice was fully submerged, he scooped a spoonful and put it in his mouth.

    Kghhhk!

    As expected, cold leftover rice was perfect for ramyeon! The cold rice, which mellowed down the heat of the soup, created a fantastic harmony with the spicy soup. After he finished everything, he quickly grabbed the bowl and made sure to drink thest drop.

    Haaaa Minhyuk sighed, his eyes closing as he smiled in satisfaction. The meal was the first that he had enjoyed in a long time. He was also pleasantly surprised that Conir, the boy he thought should be cared for and cherished deeply, had made such a great bowl of ramyeon.

    Strangely enough, he felt quite rxed after eating the ramyeon. And the reason? It exined itself not long after.

    <em>[You have eaten the Green Onion Ramyeon.]</em>

    <em>[The dish is God grade.]</em>

    <em>[The chef that made this dish cooked for you with all his might.]</em>

    <em>[Cooking Masters buff effect has been added.]</em>

    <em>[Your distracting thoughts have disappeared, leaving your mind a clean te and allowing you peace of mind.]</em>

    <em>[You will earn special rewards whenever you do what you want, what you find fun and interesting, and what makes you happy.]</em>

    <em>[The buff willst for twenty days.]</em>

    <em>[You have eaten the Green Onion Ramyeon and became happier and more satisfied than anybody else.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by +1.]</em>

    ...!

    It was indeed an extraordinary and unusual dish. Among the God-grade dishes that Minhyuk knew, this was the first dish that could bestow rewards for doing something.

    Minhyuk was in awe of the God-grade dish that Conir had made for him. Thanks to the boy, Minhyuk grew more rxed and was finally able to think clearly.

    <em>Come to think of it, Im not the only one doing my best.</em>

    If he went outside, he could see the people of the Beyond the Heavens Empire working their hardest and taking their lead in developing the empire further. Even the executives were doing their best for the future of the empire. Since everyone was doing their best, it would probably be okay for him to leave some of his burdens behind.

    Your Majesty, no one will me you if you go out to find something delicious and eat to your hearts content. Everyone would be happier if they saw you do so. Hazes words gave Minhyuk more confidence.

    Minhyuk smiled softly. Once again, he hoped to y this game to have fun and eat many delicious things like before.

    <em>Poof!</em>

    At that moment, a bright light shed as a being appeared before Minhyuk. The being was none other than the new addition to their family, the Spirit of Life.

    <em>Grrrr</em>

    As mentioned before, the Spirit of Life took the form of a white wolf pup. Of course, spirits also had the power to change their appearance and could look like fairies and elves. But it seemed like the Spirit of Life was happy with this form.

    The Spirit of Life blinked his bleary eyes before flying straight into Minhyuks embrace. Minhyuk gently rubbed and caressed his fur.

    <em>I would have never thought of this if it was me a few hours ago.</em>

    A few hours ago, he had been thinking about how he could revive and revitalize the Beyond the Heavens Empire with the Spirit of Life. But now? It was different.

    <em>How can I be able to eat something more delicious?</em>

    Minhyuk named the Spirit of Life <em>Rumble because</em> he kept on releasing this rumbling purr. And just like he expected, Rumble was an exceptional being.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Rumble</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: ???</em>

    <strong><em>Type</em></strong><em>: Spirit</em>

    <strong><em>Level</em></strong><em>: 1</em>

    <strong><em>Attack</em></strong><em>: 311</em>

    <strong><em>Defense</em></strong><em>: 413</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>Active Skill: Seed Creation</em>

    <em>Active Skill: Quick Growth</em>

    <em>Passive Skill: Rumbles Wrath</em>

    <em>Passive Skill: Faerification</em>

    <em>Passive Skill: The One that Embraces Rumble</em>

    <strong><em>Conditions for Growth</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>He will grow when he does something that he truly enjoys.</em>

    <em>He will grow whenever he learns about new things.</em>

    <em>As Rumble grows, he will be able to receive special skills.</em>

    <strong><em>Potential</em></strong><em>: 201</em>

    <strong><em>Experience Value</em></strong><em>: 0% / 100%</em>

    Rumble was someone that even the Great Spirits had to show courtesy and respect. However, he was currently only at Level 1. It seemed like Minhyuk had to help him grow and develop. ording to the description, Rumble would be able to grow up if he <em>did something that he enjoyed.</em>

    Minhyuk grinned. Rumble.

    <em>Grrrr, grrrr?</em> Rumble purred, his head tilting in confusion.

    Then, Minhyuk said, Shall we go around and y with mud? Ah. Of course, if our dear Rumble finds it hard or boring, you can stop whenever. So, shall we?

    <em>Grrr, grrrr!</em>

    When Rumble heard that they would y around in the mud, the cute wolf pup puffed up his chest and pretended to look dashing and majestic.

    I will now tell you the position that you will have from today onwards.

    <em>Grrrr, grrrr!</em> Rumble purred in delight.

    Your job is

    <em>Grrrrr!</em> Rumble urged Minhyuk to tell him quickly.

    You will be the Beyond the Heavens Empires <em>Farmer Chief</em>. The Farmer Chief protects the fields and can do fieldwork better than anybody else!

    <em>Gr- Grrrrrrrr!</em> Rumbles eyes grew wide, a sparkle appearing in those dark orbs. <em>Protect.</em> The word itself carried a great and lofty meaning.

    Rumble quickly climbed up on Minhyuks shoulders. Then, like a dashing and majestic lion looking down on all the animals atop his stone hill, he roared, <em>Groaaaaaaar!</em>

    ***

    The Great Spirit of Earth Rend had the most gentle attitude among the Great Spirits. He was also the one with the most sensitive and meticulous personality. It was difficult for him to descend on Earth from the Spirit Realm. However, he made it possible by sacrificing a portion of his power.

    Rend, who transformed into a normal human being, descended on Earth. Why? Well, the reason was simple.

    <em>The Spirit of Life The Great One</em>

    The Spirit of Life was the only being to save the Spirit Realm. Even the Great Spirits, hailed as the gods of spirits paledpared to him. He might be currently in the form of a wolf pup, but in the future, he would be the greatest and the coolest Great Spirit that would unite all spirits in the Spirit Realm.

    Rend came to earth to see the Spirit of Life. He was quite worried that the wolf pup would be ufortable living in thend of humans.

    <em>My pickaxe</em>

    Rend willingly offered his Pickaxe that Can Make Any Land Fertile because Minhyuk was someone who would stay by the side of the Spirit of Life. Rend believed that Minhyuk knew about the Spirit of Lifes greatness and that the man would respect and revere the wolf pup.

    Even so, Rend was still worried. Just to make sure that nothing was amiss, Rend came here to visit the Spirit of Life. The moment he sneaked into the Beyond the Heavens Empire, Rend instantly felt the Spirit of Lifes power. He quickly followed the power and came in front of a wide-open field where the farmers were working very hard.

    <em>Howe hes here?</em>

    A noble and majestic being like the Spirit of Life should not be in a ce like this, right? Rend looked around in confusion as he held the nket he had prepared earlier in case it was cold tighter.

    <em>Grrrr, grrrrrr!</em>

    Then, he heard the Spirit of Lifes cries at that moment.

    <em>Swoosh</em>

    Rends head whipped toward the direction where the sound came from. However, what he saw shocked him to his core, and he dropped what he was holding.

    <em>Thud</em>

    The Spirit of Life, who would unite all spirits in the Spirit Realm and lead the noble and majestic Great Spirits in battle, was running around in a dashing and imposing manner. However, the thing that shocked Rend was the name that was written on the ne that was hanging on the Spirit of Lifes neck.

    <em>[Farmer Chief Rumble]</em>

 Chapter 872

    Chapter 872

    The Great Spirit of the Earth Rend, who had the mildest and gentlest personality among all the Great Spirits and was also the most timid and sensitive, dropped what he was holding and looked at the Spirit of Life in shock.

    <em>Farmer Chief Rumble?</em>

    What did the word <em>Chief</em> mean? The term <em>chief</em> referred to a person who led a group.

    <em>Right. The position of chief suits the great Spirit of Life.</em>

    However, Rend, who could not understand why the great and mighty Spirit of Life had to be the Farmer Chief, felt anger surge at the top of his head. They couldnt even wait to embrace and care for this great and noble being, yet this human dared to turn him into a <em>farmer?!</em>

    <em>Rrrrrrrrrrrrr </em>As if to prove that he had indeed be a farmer, Rumble continued to gather his strength. He looked like a beast, showing off his majesty as he searched for something.

    To others, Rumble might look like nothing but a cute wolf pup. However, in Rends eyes, he was the future king of the Spirit Realm. Rend watched their future king continue to gather his strength and power. Then, as if on cue, seeds formed around him. The seeds instantly burrowed deep into the ground the moment they were created.

    ...As expected of the Spirit of Life. Rend was in awe.

    The greatest beings in the world all have one thing inmon: the power to create new life, just like Rumble created seeds a few seconds ago.

    However, Rumble was still not done. He added some power to the seeds burrowed deep in the ground. This power was none other than the active skill: <em>Quick Growth.</em>

    <em>Grrrrrr! Grrr! </em>Rumble purred as he stared at the patch ofnd where he had nted the seeds he had created.

    Then, something unique happened. The tiny seed cracked apart as a small sprout broke from the ground. This sprout grew until lush and vibrant leaves were hanging from its stems.

    <em>What an amazing ability </em>Rend was speechless, amazed by the sight of this superb power. Nothing was more difficult than creating something out of nothing in this world. Not long after, a man came running from afar. Rends palms clenched into fists when he saw the man.

    My dear Rumble, did you make something delicious again?!

    The man was none other than Minhyuk, the emperor of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. Rend thought that the man was the owner of a pure and clean soul. However, with just one look, he could see the greed in the mans shining eyes as he ran toward the Spirit of Life.

    Good job, Rumble.

    Rend could not ept what he was watching.

    <em>Did he just pat the head of the great and noble Spirit of Life?! That is a being that someone cannot touch so carelessly like that!</em>

    After patting Rumble, Minhyuk grabbed a hoe and dug up what the Spirit of Life had created.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud</em>

    A pumpkin sweet potato came out of the ground, which looked delicious and fleshy.

    Its pumpkin sweet potato! Keuhahahahahahahahaha! My dear Rumble is the best! Keuhahahahaha!

    ...!

    Rend clenched his fists even tighter when he saw the greedy light sh in the mans eyes when he dug up the pumpkin sweet potato.

    <em>I will not let you go</em>

    The Great Spirit of the Earth was the one that ruled over millions of Earth Spirits. Although he assimted with Minhyuk, he only showed a small portion of his power.

    He could easily create a powerful earthquake andy an entire empire to waste. He could also lead the Earth Spirit Army and invade the Beyond the Heavens Empire. He could even choose to demolish all of the buildings and facilities in the Beyond the Heavens Empire. After all, they were made of earth and stones, right?

    Some of his power might have been sealed because he came down to earth, but that did not mean that his majesty and power as the Great Spirit would disappearpletely.

    <em>I wont let you go</em>

    Just when Rend was about to step forward, he saw Minhyuk wrap the sweet potato, which grew from the seeds that Rumble produced, in foil and put it directly in the fire, zing underneath a cauldron. Then, Minhyuk sat under a tree and called out to Rumble.

    Rumble!

    <em>Grrrr! Grrrr!</em>

    Rumble immediately ran and jumped into Minhyuks arms. Minhyuk rubbed and patted Rumble before asking, Rumble, are you having a hard time?

    <em>Grrrrr! Grrrrrr!</em> It was like he was saying, <em>Im strong and brave! This is not difficult for me!</em>

    Minhyuk tightened his hold on Rumble and continued to ask, Rumble, if you find it difficult or you suddenly think that its boring and you dont want to do it anymore, then you dont have to do it, okay?

    Minhyuk was very happy that Rumble became the <em>Farmer Chief</em>. After all, Rumbles ability to create and grow seeds fast was cheat-like.

    The crops produced from the seeds that Rumble created using his Seed Creation skill, like <em>Lifes Sweet Potato</em> or <em>Cabbage, </em>carried the name<em> Life</em>. These crops could also help farmers suffering from chronic fatigue regain vitality and ease exhaustion upon consumption.

    But that was not all; thanks to that, Minhyuk was also able to eat a lot of delicious dishes. And the ingredients that he tasted? Of course, they were all more delicious than regr ingredients. However, everything depended on <em>Rumble</em>. If he wanted to do it, then they would have it; if he did not want to do it, then Minhyuk would not force it.

    Rumble tilted his head cutely at Minhyuk. Then, he jumped out of Minhyuks arms and circled him a few times before jumping back into his embrace.

    <em>Grrrrrrrr!</em>

    He even stuck his tongue out and smiled as if he wanted to show Minhyuk he was having fun.

    <em>[Rumble is having a lot of fun working on the field!]</em>

    Minhyuk stroked Rumbles fur and said, Everyone has their role in life. Those roles allow them to fill each others shorings and live life morefortably. Thanks to you, my dear Rumble, many of the people in our empire will be able to eat more delicious things and live more energetically.

    <em>Grrrrr! Grrrrr!</em>

    <em>[Rumble begins to understand the logic of the world.]</em>

    <em>[He understands the logic about why people live together.]</em>

    <em>[Because he enjoys new things and understands new logic and reasoning, Rumbles EXP rises significantly!]</em>

    <em>[Rumble has leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[Rumble has leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[Rumble has leveled up]</em>

    His level increased by four in one go!

    Rumble was like a pure and innocent child. But now that he hade to the Beyond the Heavens Empire, Minhyuk would teach him many things regardless of whether he stayed with them for a few months or a year.

    <em>[The One that Embraces Rumble.]</em>

    <em>[Your total HP volume has increased by 0.2% because you have allowed Rumble to experience new and fun things and realize the world''s truth.]</em>

    ...! Minhyuk was very shocked.

    ording to the description of the passive skill, The One that Embraces Rumble, one could obtain permanent rewards once they help Rumble experience fun and interesting things in the world or help him grow even further.

    <em>This is crazy.</em>

    The 0.2% increase in his HP volume was far more valuable than anything else. This was especially true for a high-ranker like Minhyuk.

    After waiting a bit, Minhyuk removed the sweet potatoes wrapped in foil that he had grilled under the cauldron.

    <em>Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!</em>

    Despite the cotton gloves that covered his hands, Minhyuk still felt the heat pass through his hands. Even so, he still could not wait. Once he removed the foil, the slightly burnt skin of the baked sweet potato greeted him. And when he peeled the skin off? The golden yellow flesh of the pumpkin sweet potato revealed itself amidst the steam that rose because of the heat.

    After carefully peeling the pumpkin sweet potato, Minhyuk tore off a piece and handed it over to Rumble.

    <em>Grrr! Grrr!</em>

    The moment Rumble tasted the sweet potato, his eyes grew wide. He even spaced out for about five seconds. He seemed very impressed with its vor.

    Minhyuk smiled as he looked at the still steaming and mouth-watering pumpkin sweet potato.

    <em>Fwoo! Fwoo!</em> Minhyuk blew on it before taking a massive bite from its golden yellow flesh. Hot!<em> Hot!</em> Hoo

    The moment he took a bite, heat instantly filled his mouth. However, the sweetness immediately coated his taste buds once he rolled it around, and the heat dissipated. The sweetness of the baked sweet potato filled his mouth with every bite of its golden yellow flesh. After taking a few bites, he took out a bowl of chilled and frozen dongchimi and took a huge sip.

    <em>Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp</em>

    Keuhaaaa!

    Minhyuk was happy. This taste, this vor, was why he yed this game.

    <em>Thats right. I yed this game to eat and to have fun. </em>Minhyuk smiled as he rubbed his chin, his back slowly leaning on the tree behind him.

    <em>Hmmm.</em>

    Why was Minhyuk rubbing his chin? Well, there was only one reason.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Pickaxe that Can Make Any Land Fertile</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: God</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: Level 500 or higher. The one that received the approval of the Great Spirit of Earth.</em>

    <strong><em>Durability</em></strong><em>:  / </em>

    <strong><em>Attack</em></strong><em>: 650</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>The DEX stat will triple.</em>

    <em>Crop yield will increase by 60%.</em>

    <em>Vitality will increase by 30%.</em>

    <em>Active Skill: Cry, Pickaxe.</em>

    <em>Active Skill: Unconditional Harvest</em>

    <em>Active Skill: The One that Rules the Earth</em>

    <em>Passive Skill: Barren Land into Fertile Land</em>

    <em>Passive Skill: Swift Pickaxing</em>

    <em>Passive Skill: Crops with Good vor and Abilities</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: This is the pickaxe owned by the Great Spirit of the Earth Rend. This pickaxe can turn any barrennd into fertilend, allowing seeds to grow even in the driest and most barren.</em>

    This pickaxe that belonged to the Great Spirit of the Earth Rend was a God-rank artifact. However, there was a problem.

    <em>It would be great if Rumble could use it, but</em>

    If Rumbles ability werebined with the pickaxe, he would be the strongest and greatest farmer in history. The problem was the Level 500 or higher requirement. And there was another problem. Rumble had to undergo <em>Faerification</em> for him to be able to use the pickaxe. However, Minhyuk did not want to force Rumble, and from what it looked like, the pup did not want to do so.

    <em>If someone can use it, then the crops growing in the Beyond the Heavens Empire will prosper and thrive. This means I will also be able to eat more delicious dishes.</em>

    The ability that stood out the most to Minhyuk was the <em>Crops with Good vor and Abilities. </em>If this skill could be activated with its 0.8% probability and the crops were at least at a rare grade, the grade of the produce would increase by one level once it was harvested. Of course, the skill also has restrictions. It could only raise the level to Epic grade. Nevertheless, it was still the most incredible tool for the best farmer.

    Huh?

    When Minhyuk was lost in his thoughts, a man approached and stood before him. The man, who looked like a middle-aged man, reminded him of someone.

    <em>The Great Spirit of Earth? </em>And, of course, Minhyuks assumption was correct.

    I have misunderstood you. Im sorry.

    Minhyuk looked at Rend in confusion. Was he sorry because he suddenly came here?

    The Great Spirit of Earth Rend only understood what Minhyuk was doing after seeing him hold and pet the Spirit of Life Rumble in his arms. Yet, he was pondering ways to overturn the Beyond the Heavens Empire<em>.</em>

    <em>He did not force him.</em>

    Minhyuk did not force Rumble, or, in other words, the Spirit of Life, to be the Farmer Chief. The man had proposed it and exined why he suggested it to the Spirit of Life.

    The Great Spirits hoped that Rumble would grow brilliantly to lead the entire Spirit Realm. The Great Spirit of Earth had never met the Spirit of Life Rumble before. However, Rend felt grateful and delighted that the Spirit of Life was having fun.

    <em>[Rends favorability has reached the MAX level!]</em>

    This was one of Minhyuks greatest weapons. Although he only moved and acted to be able to eat something delicious, he was still able to increase his favorability with the others.

    I also want to help the Spirit of Life.

    ...

    As long as the Great Spirit was on earth, they could not exert their full power. In other words, most of Rends powers had been sealed. However, that was only the case for their <em>attacking abilities.</em> In the first ce, the Great Spirit of the Earths power and ability to affect thend was so great that it would not matter, even if he lost a small portion of his power. This point was proven by the notification that rang in Minhyuks ears.

    <em>[The Great Spirit of Earths power engulfs Beyond the Heavens Empire. The growth rate and crop yield of all the fields and farmers will increase by 20%!]</em>

    At that moment, the corners of Minhyuks lips curled. <em>Fu- fufufufufu The pickaxe seems to have found its master.</em>

    Unaware of the man in front of him''s crafty thoughts, the Great Spirit of Earth Rend looked at Rumble with a faint smile.

    ***

    The Great Spirits of Fire, Wind, and Lightning differed utterly from Rend. They were fully aware of how noble and great their existence was. Because of that, they grew arrogant. No one could make them curb their arrogance.

    However, they were also very interested in how the Spirit of Life was doing. The first one to move was the Great Spirit of Wind, followed by the rest of the Great Spirits. They all took the form of humans and sneaked into the Beyond the Heavens Empire to check if the Spirit of Life was doing well.

    Why is there no newsing from Rend, that rascal! The Great Spirit of Fire, a man with red hair, said.

    The Great Spirit of Earth Rend was timid and naive. However, instead of ostracizing him and hating him for being different from them, the other Great Spirits treated him carefully. They looked at him like a child and embraced him.

    I know, right? Where did that guy go? The Great Spirit of Wind, sporting long blue hair, added.

    However, they all threw it at the back of their heads for the moment. They quickly visited the Spirit of Life while thinking, <em>Is the great Spirit of Life doing well?</em> The three Great Spirits followed the power of the Spirit of Life and were soon greeted with the sight of the Spirit of Life running around happily while working on the field.

    <em>[Farmer Chief Rumble]</em>

    ...!

    ...!

    ...!

    Various emotions washed over their entire beings. However, the thing that surprised them the most was something else. They all turned to look at the lone man slowly digging with his pickaxe on the field. The man looked strange, with various vegetation sprouting all over his body. One look and they could tell that this man was someone that they were very familiar with. That was right. It was none other than the Great Spirit of Earth Rend. And Rend was now working diligently on the Beyond the Heavens Empire fields with his pickaxe in hand.

    Why- why are you here?

    The Great Spirit of Earth Rend scratched his head and smiled awkwardly when he heard their question. Then, he held out his pickaxe, and with his slow and sloth-like voice, he said, Do you want to join me?

    ...

    ...

    ...

    The Spirit of Life, the being that would unite the entire Spirit Realm and lead the Great Spirits in battle, and the Great Spirit of Earth, one of the great and majestic Great Spirits, were working together happily in the fields of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

 Chapter 873

    Chapter 873

    Land of the Gods.

    The Battle God, sitting on his throne, was having a headache.

    Battle God, how can you abandon Nerva as your sessor and choose the man called <em>Food God</em>?

    What kind of existence is the Battle God? The Battle God will protect the Land of the Gods for a long time.

    Battle God, he is a foreigner. Tell us! How can a foreigner lead the gods and protect the Land of the Gods?!

    The Battle Gods Descendant has to unite all of humankind and even rule and control those that have rebelled against us, gods! Do you think that man can do that, Battle God?!

    Food God? The Food God is nothing but a god that loves to eat! The worst part? Hes nothing but a Continental God! Hes less influential than the previous generation Sword God, Valen!

    The gods all kowtowed in front of him and shouted one after another. They had been doing this for days, but it seemed they were not getting tired yet.

    The Land of the Gods was turned entirely upside down when Minhyuk established his <em>Beyond the Heavens Empire,</em> and the Battle God epted him as his sessor. Just like they said, the Battle God had to lead all of the gods to battle if the Land of the Gods was ever left in danger.

    However, the main reason they kept on pestering the Battle God here was that these gods did not want to acknowledge a mere Continental God like the Food God,<em> e</em>specially when the Battle Gods Sword <em>Nerva</em> was there. Why did the Battle God ept someone like him as his sessor, who was nothing but a childpared to Nerva?

    This lord chose him because I have seen a much greater potential in him than in Nerva. The Battle God had uttered these words a hundred times over.

    However, the gods, who believed only what was presented to them, did not listen to him at all. Thus, the words of the Battle God held no sway with them since they were determined not to listen at all.

    Then, the man who led most of these gods stepped forward. Battle God!

    The Battle God frowned. The mans name was Bentley, the <em>God of Dungeons</em>. Bentley was very influential among the gods. He was the god who created almost all of the dungeons in the present world.

    How about asking the Food God to go to <em>Argalis Dungeon</em>?

    ...!

    ...!

    ...!

    All of the gods, including the Battle God, were quite surprised by the suggestion.

    What kind of ce was the Argalis Dungeon? The Argalis Dungeon was not created by Bentley but by the Third Generation God of Dungeons, Evas. Evas was a master who made remarkable and outstanding dungeons of the highest quality. ording to the records, Evas gathered several gods to create this dungeon, which resulted in bigger and better rewards for the dungeon. However, none of them knew about the dungeons rewards yet.

    <em>This was because no one has seen thest level of the Argalis Dungeon.</em>

    What did that mean? Simple.

    <em>Everyone has died.</em>

    The gods could live for eternity. Since they did not age, the only way for them to die was if they were killed. In other words, their physical body had to be damaged.

    All forty promising, excellent, and continental gods in the Land of the Gods, that challenged the Argalis Dungeon had died inside.

    Just watch. Whoeveres out of this dungeon one day will be able to receive the praise and recognition of all of the gods. Not only that, they would also be able to gain a lot there. Perhaps they could also receive whatever they longed for inside that dungeon. Bentley recited the words that the Third Generation God of Dungeons Evas had said when he looked at the Argalis Dungeon for the first time.

    Many were tempted to try the dungeon mainly because of those words that Evas had left behind. However, those who tried their hardest all failed to conquer it.

    However, if they fail then everyone would witness their fall.

    Unlike the people and gods of this world, the foreigners were immortal beings who coulde back to life even if they died. Bentley knew that foreigners would face huge penalties if they failed to conquer a dungeon.

    What Sir Bentley says seems to be the most reasonable solution.

    Argalis Dungeon, huh? Argalis Dungeon is like the tomb of the gods. I will recognize him if he cane out of that ce safely.

    The Battle God pondered for a bit as he listened to their words. <em>If he leads these gods that denied his existence in the future, they would just hold them back.</em>

    The Battle God was fully aware of that fact. However, he did not know if Minhyuk could sessfully escape that dungeon. If he could, then these gods would no longer have anything to say.

    Then, the Battle God said, Is the God of Reputation here?

    Yes, Im here, Battle God.

    The God of Reputation was a god who could reward yers and NPCs through various achievements, titles, and the like.

    The Battle God ordered him, If my sessores out of that dungeon safely, then you must prepare a title <em>for him.</em>

    ...

    The God of Reputation was rendered speechless. The Argalis Dungeon was a ce that even the gods could not break and clear. What kind of title should he prepare if the Battle Gods Descendant cleared it?

    The Battle God did not explicitly answer the moring gods. However, the fact that the God of Reputation was tasked to create an exceptional title just for the foreigner to receive was enough of an answer.

    The God of Reputation rushed out to prepare for the title.

    ***

    <em>[The Beyond the Heavens Empires crop yield has increased by 30%!]</em>

    <em>[The chances of harvesting higher-grade ingredients in the Beyond the Heavens Empire have increased by 25%!]</em>

    These were the notifications that Minhyuk heard when he returned to his office. All of this was thanks to the efforts of the Great Spirit of Earth Rend and Rumble. Rend even readily offered to protect Rumble as they worked on the field.

    Of course, Minhyuk handed the pickaxe to him and spoke.

    <em>Just imagine yourself growing and harvesting the crops produced by the seeds that Rumble created. What a wonderful sight, no? Not only that, you will also have the opportunity to get closer and be friends with the Spirit of Life.</em>

    Just like that, Minhyuk could seduce Rend with his sugar-coated words and sessfully <em>turn the Great Spirit of the Earth into his farmer</em>.

    <em>Well, then, what should I eat next? </em>Minhyuk thought, a small smile lingering on his face. He finally let go of the burden in his heart and let go of the operations of the Beyond the Heavens Empire to his friends and vassals.

    At that moment, he remembered the words that Helenia had told him before. She had graciously offered to give him a reward if he could defend against her attacks. Perhaps she only offered such an enticing offer because she stood in a very high position.

    <em>Its the blunder brought about by the arrogance and confidence of the strong.</em>

    Minhyuk quickly pulled out the notification window and scrolled through the countless notifications that he had not had time to check before.

    <em>[You have significantly contributed to protecting the human and elven races from Immortal Sorceress Helenia.]</em>

    <em>[Helenia will now fulfill her promise.]</em>

    <em>[The promised reward will now be calcted.]</em>

    <em>[You have made a phenomenal achievement and have exceeded Helenias expectations.]</em>

    <em>[You can now acquire your reward. The rewards that you can obtain are divided into three categories.]</em>

    <em>[Artifact rewards. Gold rewards. ss-specific rewards.]</em>

    <em>[Please choose one of the three categories of rewards.]</em>

    When Minhyuk saw this, he could not hide his disappointment.

    <em>Why arent there rewards rted to delicious food?</em>

    As Minhyuk expected, Helenia was a woman he did not like from the beginning to the end.

    <em>I dont need artifacts.</em>

    His weapons and defensive artifacts were already excellent enough, and the same was true for his gold. The profits that he had made from the other kingdoms and empires before were more than enough to support the Beyond the Heavens Empire for quite a long time. Since that was the case, the only appropriate reward for him to choose was the third option.

    I choose the <em>ss-specific Rewards</em>.

    <em>[Searching for ss-specific Rewards. You have two sses. Please choose between Food God or Battle God for your rewards.]</em>

    Normally, Minhyuk would have hesitated when choosing between his two sses. He would have probably thought, <em>Should I choose the Battle God-specific reward for the sake of the empire?</em> But that was not a choice for his own sake.

    Minhyuk believed that he had yet to discover all of the Food God''s skills. Of course, he already had quite a lot of the Food Gods skills in his possession. He had the Food Gods Cooking, Create a Recipe, Ingredient Search, Everyones Delight, Inversing Giddiness, Allurers Cooking, and many more. However, Minhyuk never thought that it was already the end.

    <em>The Food God has many hidden powers.</em>

    And perhaps there was a power there that would help Minhyuk enjoy his dishes more.

    Food God.

    If others heard him, they would be very shocked by the choice that he made.

    <em>[Searching for rewards rted to the Food God ss!]</em>

    <em>[Searching 2%... 7%... 15%... 28%...]</em>

    <em>[Search sessful!]</em>

    <em>[The </em><strong><em>ss Quest</em></strong><em>: Listen to the Food Gods Concerns from Pride Kingdoms Old Man Loishen has been created!]</em>

    <em>[You havepleted the </em><strong><em>ss Quest</em></strong><em>: Listen to the Food Gods Concerns from Pride Kingdoms Old Man Loishen!]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Emerald Salt.]</em>

    ...?

    Minhyuk could not understand for a moment. The quest had just been created, but it waspleted right away. However, it did not end there.

    <em>[The </em><strong><em>Linked Quest</em></strong><em>: Trying Out and Challenging the Food Gods Hard Work and Efforts has been created.]</em>

    <em>[You havepleted the </em><strong><em>Linked Quest</em></strong><em>: Trying Out and Challenging the Food Gods Hard Work and Efforts.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 1%.]</em>

    <em>[Your DEX has increased by 3%.]</em>

    <em>[Regardless of the dish grade, all the dishes you make will experience 0.4% better buff effects!]</em>

    Wait! This no way?! Only at this point did Mihyuk understand what was happening.

    <em>[The </em><strong><em>Linked Quest</em></strong><em>: Find the Food Gods Final Dish has been created.]</em>

    <em>[You havepleted the </em><strong><em>Linked Quest</em></strong><em>: Find the Food Gods Final Dish.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the First Food God Raviers Final Dish: Snack Set.]</em>

    <em>[Regardless of the dish grade, all of the dishes that you make will experience 0.5% better buff effects!]</em>

    <em>[The </em><strong><em>Linked Quest</em></strong><em>: Follow His Disappearing Figure Back to His Temple has been created.]</em>

    <em>[You havepleted the </em><strong><em>Linked Quest</em></strong><em>: Follow His Disappearing Figure Back to His Temple.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 3,000,000,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[Regardless of the dish grade, all of the dishes that you make will experience 1.5% better buff effects!]</em>

    <em>[All of your dishes will be 2% tastier and more delicious.]</em>

    Minhyuk thought, <em>Is this what you call Quest Skip?</em>

    Among all of the quest types, linked quests had much better rewardspared to ordinary quests. This was because linked quests required much more time and were more challenging to clear. Also, if, for example, a linked quest was divided into three parts, one could not continue on to the next quest if they failed at the second part. Because of that, the rewards for thest part of a linked quest would always be far greater than the rewards of a regr quest.

    However, Minhyuk was now skipping all of the quests rted to the Food God that he had to do initially. Of course, the rewards also kept on piling in. It was simply amazing.

    Finally, the quests came to an end.

    <em>[The </em><strong><em>Linked Quest</em></strong><em>: The Food Gods Achievement has been created.]</em>

    <em>[Helenias power has allowed you to reach the final quest!]</em>

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Linked Quest</em></strong><em>: The Food Gods Achievement.]</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: SSS</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: The one that haspleted all of the previous linked quests. Food God.</em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: Will depend on the achievement.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: Please watch Raviers video.</em>

    The only thing that was different was that the description had changed into a video. At this point, Minhyuk noticed, This quest probably has one of the Food Gods powers,<em> and its probably a power that far surpasses the Everyones Happiness skill.</em>

    Minhyuk had just assumed this but based on the rewards he obtained from the skipped linked quests earlier, there was a high chance that his assumptions were correct.

    Then, Minhyuk said, Start the video.

    At the same time, the scene in front of Minhyuk changed. Everything around him turned dark as a middle-aged man''s soft and gentle voice rang in his ears.

    <em>[I only love eating.]</em>

    <em>[I feel happiness, joy, and delight whenever Im eating. Eating can also allow me to capture memories, love, adoration, and sadness.]</em>

    <em>[Thats why I worked hard to be the god who loves to eat- the Food God.]</em>

    <em>[When I became a Continental God, I was invited to the Banquet of the Gods.]</em>

    Although darknesspletely covered his vision, Minhyuk felt like he could see the man''s face for some reason. The man must have been excited and delighted at the thought of being able to meet other gods. He must have thought that he could now show the other gods that even though <em>eating</em> was the most mundane and trivial thing in ones life, it could be considered the most incredible and unique.

    <em>[But when I entered the banquet, they pointed their fingers at me and told me I knew nothing but eating.]</em>

    The darkness slowly faded away only to reveal Raviers figure. Ravier was being surrounded and pointed at by many other gods.

    <em>[My face was mmed on the cold marble floor as they mocked me, saying that I was barely a god.]</em>

    Minhyuk felt like he also fell on the ground, his view changing and getting closer to the cold marble floor.

    <em>Thuuuuud</em>

    At the same time, he heard and saw the godsughing at him.

    <em>[I am the God that Loves to Eat, so they mocked me and humiliated me by dropping all of the food on their tes on my face and forcing me to pick them up and eat them.]</em>

    Minhyuks eyes opened and closed just like how Ravier opened and closed them back then. Minhyuks vision shook as many gods mocked andughed at him. Then, a god approached him and poured wine over his head. At the same time, the name of the god appeared in his head.

    <em>[God of Dungeons Evas.]</em>

 Chapter 874

    Chapter 874

    At that moment, Minhyuk felt the same things that First Food God Ravier had. He felt those gods'' mocking gazes and jeers while they told him he was a god who knew nothing but eating.

    God of Dungeon Evas giggled as he poured wine over Ravier. Then, he said, You do not have the qualifications. Dont <em>even</em> think of taking another step into the Land of the Gods.

    Ravier, driven out by the gods right after those words rang in his ears, looked at the Banquet of the Gods with helplessness and despair. Minhyuk felt all of that. He saw the world through Raviers eyes and felt the emotions that wracked his entire body at that very moment. As the sessor of the Food God, Minhyuk felt anger wash over him. He just could not understand it.

    Eating. This was one of the most important things that one, whether they were humans or gods, needed to live and survive. It could even be said to be at the same level as the air that everyone breathed in. Without food, people would die of hunger. Food could bring happiness, delight, and excitement.

    However, the gods ignored this fact and refused to ept this universal truth.

    <em>Clench</em>

    Minhyuk watched everything through Raviers eyes as he clenched the dirt beneath his palms. He could feel the anger that wracked Raviers entire being. Not long after, Ravier left the Land of the Gods.

    At the same time, the video changed. This time, Minhyuk was not viewing things through Raviers eyes. He was viewing everything from a third persons perspective.

    <em>[Food God Ravier wanted to take revenge on the gods that ignored him.]</em>

    Ravier was sitting in front of his statue, inside his shabby Food God Temple, and making something. Minhyuk could not confirm what kind of dish Ravier was making because he was stuck behind Ravier and could only view the mans busy back. Perhaps it was a poison that could kill anyone the moment it touched their mouths.

    Then, Raviers figure scattered into the air and disappeared from Minhyuks view.

    <em>[Thousands of yearster.]</em>

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud</em>

    Someone walked inside the shabby and dark temple filled with dust and cobwebs. Minhyuk could see the identity of the figure. It was <em>him.</em> Minhyuk had skipped most of this quest. That may be why this video was made and shown to him.

    Minhyuk walked inside the temple and stood in front of the statue of Food God Ravier. At that moment, Raviers voice resonated in the otherwise silent temple.

    <em>[I was ignored.]</em>

    <em>[Even after all this time, I still think the other gods will ignore and refuse to ept the Food God.]</em>

    This was a fact. If, by any chance, the one that became a Food God was not Minhyuk? What would have happened to that person? It would have been hard for that person to be as influential and as powerful as the Minhyuk of today was. Their stats might have reached quite a high level, but the chances of them not being able to get the position Minhyuk was standing at right now was high.

    Minhyuk was strong not only because he carried the Food God ss but also because his strength and power were cultivated through his efforts, various talents, and incredible luck. All of that came together to create who he is today.

    <em>[My sessor.]</em>

    The <em>other</em> Minhyuk standing before Raviers statue listened intently to the first Food Gods voice.

    <em>[Make remarkable achievements and show those who have ignored and trampled on the Food God ss how wrong they were.]</em>

    <em>[Once you receive their approval and recognition, the dish I have made will judge them.]</em>

    Then, the video ended.

    ***

    After he finished watching the video, a series of notifications rang in Minhyuks ears.

    <em>[More information on the </em><strong><em>Linked Quest</em></strong><em>: The Food Gods Achievement has been released.]</em>

    <em>[You can undertake the quest for one year.]</em>

    <em>[You must reach at least 60% in the Achievement Rate during the one-year quest period.]</em>

    <em>[Failure to reach at least 60% Achievement Rate during the one-year quest period will be considered a failure.]</em>

    <em>[If you fail the quest, one of your Food Gods skills will be randomly chosen and deleted.]</em>

    Fortunately, the quest period was quite long. Only at this moment did Minhyuk realize how amazing Helenias rewards were.

    <em>This was a linked quest that I dont know which level or what conditions I needed to meet before it could be triggered.</em>

    Since quests like this often went on for a long time, the rewards he received from Helenia were very generous. Minhyuk also estimated that this should probably be the quest rted to the Food God with the greatest difficulty, which meant that the rewards he would receive would most likely be very generous.

    <em>Maybe Ill be able to get a power that will allow me to eat more delicious dishes?</em>

    However, it was not that urgent. Minhyuk nned to take things slow and continue eating delicious dishes and ingredients with a light and unbothered heart.

    <em>Should I visit Abel to find out where God-grade dishes are located? </em>Just when the thought shed in Minhyuks head, the voice of a very unexpected person rang in his ears.

    <em>[The Battle Gods Voice wants tomunicate with you.]</em>

    The Battle God is asking to have a conversation with Minhyuk. Of course, Minhyuk epted. Not long after, the voice of the Battle God rang.

    <em>[Many gods doubt your qualifications as the Battle God.]</em>

    The Battle God began to tell him about the situation. ording to the Battle Gods words, he had been under much pressure from many gods since he had chosen Minhyuk as his sessor. Of course, as the Battle God, his position was stable enough that it would not shake even if he were put under pressure.

    However, the problem was Minhyuk was not the Battle God, but the <em>Battle Gods Descendant</em>. And this situation would most likely be a massive issue for him. After all, these gods might just create tremendous obstacles and hinder Minhyuks ns and development.

    <em>[So, they all made a vow with me. If you can sessfully attack and clear the Argalis Dungeon created by Evas in the Land of the Gods, they will acknowledge your qualifications.]</em>

    The Battle God continued to exin, telling Minhyuk that it was a dungeon challenged by many arrogant gods and that none emerged alive.

    <em>[If they acknowledge your qualifications, then a few gods might turn to your side. But for now, they are all supporting and pushing for Nerva.]</em>

    The Battle God continued.

    <em>[I tried to ignore their words as much as possible, but the God of Dungeons stepped forward and took the lead. So, I was left in a situation where I had to agree.]</em>

    Wait. Minhyuk, who listened to the Battle Gods words, suddenly noticed something unusual. God of Dungeons? God of Dungeon Evas?

    <em>[God of Dungeons Evas created that dungeon. The one Im talking about, God of Dungeons Bentley, is his sessor.]</em>

    Minhyuk recalled Evas''s face in the video as he poured the wine over Raviers face while giggling. It seemed like this dungeon was the masterpiece created by that hateful Evas.

    And that guys sessor is the one that has taken the lead in denying my existence and position, huh?

    Perhaps the sessor of the God of Dungeons had heard Evas say that the <em>Food God</em> was a <em>trash-like</em> god. It seemed like the Food Gods quest, and the Argalis Dungeon had quite a strange connection.

    <em>If I can do this well, then</em>

    If Minhyuk could clear Argalis Dungeon, he may be able to get revenge for Ravier. That was not all. He would not only be able to make excellent achievements and clear the Food Gods quest but also receive the acknowledgement and recognition of the gods.

    However, Minhyuk still had to consider the most important thing: Are you going to give me something delicious?

    <em>[...]</em>

    The Battle God was left speechless for a moment when he saw Minhyuk prioritize food over getting the recognition of the gods.

    Im just trying to earn a living here.

    The Battle God soon answered.

    <em>[The rewards of Argalis Dungeon are known to be very special. Each gate carries a reward. And ording to the records, clearing the final gate will give you the greatest reward.]</em>

    <em>[Evas called the rewards a dream.When you receive your reward, the things you imagine and dream of wille true.]</em>

    If I were dreaming of obtaining the greatest sword, would ite true and be reality? Is that how it works?

    <em>[Its pretty simr. Even if you cant be given the greatest sword in existence, the Argalis Dungeon will provide you with the best sword in the rewards list that it had.]</em>

    After hearing that, Minhyuk knew that whatever he dreamt of woulde true as a reward. It was quite a unique and thrilling reward.

    <em>Ah,e to think of it. If I think of something that I want to eat, then</em>

    What Minhyuk wanted to eat was very simple. It was none other than food from a <em>Manhwa Cafe</em>. Minhyuk could imagine himself going to a manhwa cafe on a dull day off with a few 10,000 won bills in his pocket and ordering food while reading his favorite novel, <em>The Male Lead Only Eats.</em>

    These days, manhwa cafes served delicate and exquisite dishes that could already be considered restaurants. They could make well-cooked ramyeon and chapagetti and even serve chicken mayo rice bowls with cold and refreshing c on the side.

    Minhyuk imagined himself with a book in one hand and his chopsticks in the other as he ate the dish non-stop.

    Hiyaaa

    <em>Gulp</em>

    Minhyuk gulped down the saliva that almost dripped down his chin. Just the thought alone made him look forward to it. Then, he said, I will go to the Land of the Gods. Please summon me there.

    ***

    God of Dungeons Bentley was a god that held a considerable influence among the gods. Bentley noticed that many gods were dissatisfied when they heard that the <em>Food God </em>became the<em> Battle Gods Descendant</em>. Feeling the same way, Bentley decided to rally the gods and protest.

    However, as for the reason why Bentley was so against this? It was primarily because of the words left behind by the most outstanding God of Dungeons, Evas. The previous generation of gods would often leave behind words and stories for their sessors. And Bentley had heard about the Food God from his predecessor.

    <em>The most useless and weak god in the world.</em>

    Bentley heard that Evas trampled on and mocked the useless God Ravier in front of many other gods. It did not matter if Ravier''s actions after that were outstanding. What mattered the most was that he was nothing but a trivial god that could only be trampled under Evas''s feet.

    Yet someone who sat in such a useless position became the <em>Battle Gods Descendant? </em>This could not be. So, Bentley decided to drive the man to his death. And, of course, he seeded in doing so.

    The Food God will challenge Argalis Dungeon.

    These words alone brought together many of the gods. Of course, the other gods had also heard about the Food God.

    The current Food God is said to be far superior than the previous generations of Food Gods. His might and prowess are said to be quite excellent.

    He has killed one of the Six Monster Gods.

    Of course, that was with the help of the Spear God and the Fallen Wretched Emperor.

    In the past, Minhyuk hadpletely trampled and smashed the Incarnation of Fire at the Banquet of the Gods. That point alone was enough for the other gods to acknowledge his power.

    However, Bentley said, A lot of gods at the level of the Spear God had challenged Argalis Dungeon. But what became of them?

    Many challenged Argalis, but none of them came out alive.

    Who is stronger between the Food God and the Spear God? Anyone who asked this question would know the answer, no?

    The answer that all of the gods would say was most definitely the <em>Spear God.</em>

    The stories that spread in the Land of the Gods were told exactly as they happened. They heard that the Food God had killed one of the Six Monster Gods with the help of many people. It was true that he was strong. However, the fact that the others around him had contributed significantly to that feat was undeniable. As a result, they all assumed that he had no chance of sessfully attacking the Argalis Dungeon, a ce where even the Spear God-level gods could not escape alive.

    The gods hurriedly ran to where Argalis Dungeon was. The ce had not been visited or opened for a very long time, yet they were flocking in front of it after hearing that the Food God would challenge the dungeon. And when they arrived there, they were greeted by a fantastic sight.

    The Food God was picking the mushrooms growing around Argalis Dungeon''s entrance.

    Kghhk! I bet these mushrooms would taste good if you cook them in a mushroom hotpot!

    And he was even sporting a bright and pure smile, too. The gods were frozen stiff when they saw the man discard his dignity and majesty as a god. He did not even showcase any of the pride and ego of a god as he crouched down on the side of the road and dug the mushrooms out.

    Minhyuk, who finished digging up the mushrooms, continued to pick up and harvest whatever edible ingredient he found around him.

    Hiyaaa. This would taste good in a sprout bibimbap!

    The gods shook their heads as they watched him shout in admiration after harvesting the ingredients from the ground.

    <em>This is the Battle Gods Descendant?</em>

    However, no one was as flustered as Bentley was as of this moment.

    Bentley had now reced Evas and had taken over the management of the Argalis Dungeon. So, among everyone present, he was the most knowledgeable about the Argalis Dungeon. He even had information about the dungeon that he could not reveal to anyone. He was only qualified to hear that information since he was in charge of the dungeon.

    Bentley was fully aware of the restrictions of the Argalis Dungeon. <em>Once you enter the dungeon, all potions, parchments, and other special items will be unavable.</em>

    However, certain items utterly different from those mentioned above were allowed inside. These items were none other than the mushrooms, sprouts, and greens that Minhyuk was harvesting right over there. Those ingredients contained amazing healing and recovery abilities, and plenty of others.

    At that moment, Bentley thought, <em>He knows.</em>

    The guy over there must have known the power hidden within these ingredients.

    <em>It seems like hes much more unusual than I thought?!</em> Bentley grew cautious.

    <em>Fufu. I cant believe I could harvest many high-quality mushrooms and sprouts! Hehe</em>

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk was just happy that he could eat something delicious.

 Chapter 875

    Chapter 875

    Special yers Management Team.

    The new employee, Lee Tae-Sung, was watching the Food God on his monitor. At first, Lee Tae-Sung did not like the Food God. But after watching his battle with Helenia just recently, he was won over by his strong will, persistence, and tenacity, and became very fond of him. He was very impressed with him now.

    Amazing How Lee Tae-Sung himself did not notice it, but he was growing increasingly into the Food God.

    He was also very familiar with the Argalis Dungeon, which even the gods could not clear. What were the most critical items in the Argalis Dungeon? They were none other than the mushrooms, herbs, greens, and sprouts growing around the dungeon''s entrance.

    The gods are proud and arrogant.

    However, if they could only let go of that arrogance even for a bit and looked around, they would have realized that the mushrooms, herbs, and sprouts were growing more abundantly around the Argalis Dungeon, an area where no crops could grow well. If they had realized that and harvested these ingredients, then they would have had the chance to know the power hidden within them.

    The Food God must have known about it. Thats why he harvested them.

    Lee Tae-Sung felt that he was truly amazing. How could he see something that even the gods overlooked?

    At that moment, Lee Minhwa, who appeared behind him, opened her mouth and said, The Food God must have harvested them because they look delicious, hmm?

    ...? Lee Tae-Sung looked at Lee Minhwa in confusion. Of course, he had heard himself about the Food Gods almost crazed love for food. However, was it to the point where he would willingly harvest mushrooms growing on the side of the road?

    <em>No, wouldnt it be faster just to buy some with money?</em>

    Theres nothing more delicious than eating the mushrooms that one had harvested on the side of the road. Fufufu.

    At this point, Lee Tae-Sung realized that Lee Minhwa hadpletely be <em>Food God-ified.</em> Only then did he recall that Lee Minhwa was the type of person who would order the <emrge</em> serving without any hesitation in restaurants that served dishes with choices of <em>small, medium, </em>and <emrge</em> servings.

    <em>Cough.</em> So, there werent any intentions behind the move. Lee Tae-Sung groaned lightly. He had only seen Minhyuk fight right when he joined the team, so he did not know the man too well. More than that, can he break it?

    Argalis Dungeon was said to have the highest level of difficulty and quality among all dungeons.

    Hearing his question, Lee Minhwa only replied, Who knows?

    No one could predict the results of this challenge. Then, Lee Minhwa turned to look at Lee Tae-Sung and asked, You know that the rewards that the Argalis Dungeon will give are mainly focused on what <em>one wants</em>, right?

    Yes, of course.

    Then, do you know what would happen if the Food God reached the end of the dungeon while choosing rewards rted to <em>food</em>?

    Her question tested how well Lee Tae-Sung had studied the materials provided by theirpany. And Lee Tae-Sung did not disappoint. He nodded. One can reach and enter the Field of the Gods.

    What exactly is the Field of the Gods?

    Its a ce where any ingredient could grow and thrive. Everything frommon vegetables and fruits to pork, beef, and chicken grow on those fields.

    Thats right. And what are the effects of the ingredients that grew from those fields?

    Lee Tae-Sung pondered momentarily before answering, Gold, stats, skills, HP, MP.

    The things that Lee Tae-Sung listed were all critical and essential effects for the yers of Athenae.

    A ce where you can get crops that will allow you to get that, thats the <em>Field of the Gods</em>.

    ***

    When Minhyuk came near the Argalis Dungeon, he was delighted to be greeted with plenty of mouth-watering mushrooms, appetizing herbs, and sprouts. After he harvested all of the ingredients he could, he moved to enter the dungeon. However, he felt plenty of gazes falling on his body.

    The gazes belonged to the gods. All of the gods, with the current God of Dungeons Bentley in the lead, mocked andughed at Minhyuk.

    As expected, hes truly a god that knows nothing except for eating.

    Hespletely blinded by such ingredients even though he is standing before Argalis Dungeon. How can he act so vulgar like that?

    Theres no way a god like that can clear the Argalis Dungeon.

    Minhyuk did not even bother to argue with them, deal with them, or say anything to them. All he needed to do was prove himself.

    Unbothered by the stinging gazes of the many gods behind him, Minhyuk turned to enter Argalis Dungeon.

    ***

    <em>[You have entered the Argalis Dungeon.]</em>

    <em>[Argalis Dungeon is the masterpiece the God of Dungeons Evas created!]</em>

    <em>[You cannot use items like potions and parchments inside the Argalis Dungeon.]</em>

    <em>[You can only revive for a total of three times inside the Argalis Dungeon.]</em>

    <em>[There is a strange feeling washing over you!]</em>

    <em>[You are the Food God.]</em>

    <em>[The First Food God, Ravier, hates the God of Dungeons Evas, the creator and maker of the Argalis Dungeon!]</em>

    <em>[The most outstanding God of Dungeons Evas isughing and jeering at the appearance of the shabbiest and humblest god!]</em>

    After creating something like this, Evas could also be considered a master craftsman. It seemed like the soul of Evas, the master craftsman who created this masterpiece, was embedded deeply inside this dungeon.

    Minhyuk, who watched Evas and his dungeonugh and jeer at the Food God, thought, <em>...I have decided.</em>

    Minhyuk decided the path that he was going to take regarding this matter. Even if Minhyuk died, he intended to punish the god that mocked and jeered at the Food God.

    <em>How funny.</em>

    There were various jobs that people could choose from. Some might have jobs that were harder than the rest, while some might have jobs that made them earn less than others. But it was also because of that that one could buy and eat whatever they wanted to eat or drink even if they did not go outside of their homes. Yes, that was right. The bnce of the world could only be maintained because everyone had their own job.

    However, the behavior of the God of Dungeons Evas indicated his arrogance, feeling of superiority, and tant disregard for the Food God. Because of that, Minhyuk needed to trample on whatever this dungeon had to offer. At the same time, he would take advantage of all its benefits and take it for himself.

    But before he could take a few more steps, a series of notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[You can receive an HP Recovery Effect from the Thick Shiitake Mushroom (3).]</em>

    <em>[You can receive a Skill Enhancement Effect from the Korean Thistle (2).]</em>

    <em>[You can receive an MP Recovery Effect from the Blue Water Parsley (2).]</em>

    <em>[...Stretched Bean Sprouts.]</em>

    <em>[...Abundant Shepherd''s Purse.]</em>

    <em>[The effects you can acquire from all of the items you have harvested in front of Argalis Dungeon will only take effect inside the dungeon.]</em>

    <em>Ho?</em>

    Minhyuk might be restricted from using potions and parchments, but the ingredients he had harvested before the dungeon had made up for this and even taken on their role. When he checked the Thick Shiitake Mushroom, Minhyuk saw it could help him recover his HP to 100%. With these ingredients in hand, Minhyuk realized that his chances of sessfully attacking the Argalis Dungeon had increased.

    Minhyuk walked deeper into the dungeon and stopped when he saw a man with long blond hair fluttering under his helmet and a spear in hand upfront.

    <em>[Spear God Evoque.]</em>

    When Minhyuk saw the man, he felt familiar. <em>Why does he look so familiar? Ah, right!</em>

    In the Banquet of the Gods that Minhyuk had seen through Raviers memories just recently, Evas was not the only one mocking andughing at the first Food God. There was a man among them who had been drinking wine with a sneer on his face.

    <em>[You are Food God Raviers sessor!]</em>

    <em>[You can feel Raviers wrath washing over you!]</em>

    Minhyuk could tell that the video he had seen and the creation of the Argalis Dungeon were around the same time.

    <em>Many gods must have helped Evas and have participated in the production of this dungeon.</em>

    The current Spear God, Ben, had be Minhyuks vassal. However, Ben had inherited the position of the Spear God from Aerdes. The Spear God standing before Minhyuk was most likely the previous generation Spear God.

    Evoque approached him with an arrogant smile and said, Are you his sessor?

    Even now, Minhyuk was not sure if he could win against Spear God Ben in a fight. However, he thought he could make it possible by borrowing the power of his <em>buff dishes.</em>

    The image of him scampering off after being scared away by the gods is still vivid in my memories.

    If they were talking about memories, Minhyuk clearly remembered that Ravier never ran away. They dragged him out. Ravier had always remembered and promised to get back at them in the future. And that future was now in the form of Minhyuk. If Minhyuk could see through the end of this dungeon, he would be able to reveal what Ravier had prepared for them.

    Why arent you running away just like he did?

    The only thing that Evoque knew about Minhyuk was that he was the <em>Food Gods Descendant</em>. He knew nothing of his growth process or the hardships that he encountered. Based on what the gods knew, the Food God was a god who only knew how to eat and knew nothing of fighting.

    Food Gods Swordsmanship. Power surged within Minhyuks body.

    However, Evoque just stood leisurely, one of his hands holding his spear and the other resting on his back. His stance showed how much he ignored Minhyuk.

    <em>Vwooooooooong</em>

    Minhyuk, who triggered <em>Like the Wind,</em> appeared right before Evoque in the blink of an eye.

    Ho Evoque eximed in amazement as Minhyuks sword swung at his neck. However, Evoque still had not made any moves. At that moment, a strange sound rang from behind them.

    <em>nk, nk, nk, nk!</em>

    Driven by instinct, Minhyuk stopped his attack and swiftly rolled to the sides.

    <em>Swiiiiiiiish</em>

    A chain sickle stopped just right before Evoque, the same weapon that attacked Minhyuk out of nowhere.

    <em>Wasnt he the Spear God?</em>

    Wasnt Evoque the Spear God? So, what was this chain sickle doing here, then? Minhyuks eyes quickly followed the chains connecting to the sickle and saw that it was fixed to the walls with a hard and sturdy pin.

    <em>[Win against the Ego Chain Sickle and Spear God Evoque at the entrance of the Argalis Dungeon.]</em>

    ... Minhyuk gulped dryly. He probably had a high chance of winning if he was just fighting against Spear God Evoque. But now, he also had to guard against the ambush of the Ego Chain Sickle.

    Hmm. Evoque chuckled.

    Nervous and tense, Minhyuk hurriedly ran to where the Ego Chain Sickle was connected. Then, he quickly hit the hard pin that pinned it to the walls.

    <em>aaaaaaaaang!</em>

    A loud and jarring noise echoed inside the dungeon. However, the pin remained pinned on the walls.

    <em>[The Ego Chain Sickles durability has dropped by 0.4%.]</em>

    ...

    At this moment, Minhyuk realized it would be almost impossible to destroy the Ego Chain Sickle while dealing with Evoque.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    Of course, Evoque did not stay still. He swung his spear at Minhyuks body, against which Minhyuk defended by triggering the <em>Intangible Sword</em>.

    <em>Staaaaaaab!</em>

    The first strike stabbed Evoque in the chest. However, Evoque remained unperturbed, rushing swiftly toward Minhyuk while easily evading the invisible swords of the Intangible Sword.

    <em>This is nuts </em>Minhyuk could not hide how flustered he was. However, he was still able to find a gap in Evoques defenses. <em>Now!</em>

    <em>nk, nk, nk, nk!</em>

    Just when he was about to trigger the <em>Sword of Frenzy </em>and stab his sword at Evoques heart, the chains of the Ego Chain Sickle wrapped around his ankles and destroyed his bnce, forcing his sword to prate nothing but air. Before he knew it, Evoque was already right in front of him.

    Im honestly surprised. Evoque was quite impressed with Minhyuk.

    The Ego Chain Sickle was something the guy had created by gathering the power of the gods. Minhyuk might not have been cut by the weapon yet, but Evoque could confidently say that the damage it could deal was leagues beyond his own. Most gods suffered at this point, unable to get through this first hurdle.

    Minhyuk had obviously ovee their misconceptions and prejudices about the <em>Food God</em> and was a strong individual. But

    Rampant Spear.

    <em>Stab Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab!</em>

    In one swift motion, Evoque stabbed his spear at Minhyuks body dozens of times over.

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 86%!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 77%!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 71%!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP 41%!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP 30%!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP 12%!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP 6%!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped to 0!]</em>

    <em>[You can now use one out of the three opportunities for revival inside the Argalis Dungeon!]</em>

    <em>[If you choose to give up the challenge in Argalis Dungeon, you will receive a forced log-out penalty and have one of the randomly chosen skills possessed by the Food God deleted.]</em>

    <em>[You will not receive a forced log-out penalty if you choose to use a revival opportunity. However, if you use up all three of your opportunities for revival, your penalties will be multiplied by the number of times you have been revived and resurrected in the dungeon!]</em>

 Chapter 876

    Chapter 876

    Minhyuk was left in shock after facing the Ego Chain Sickle and Spear God Evoque and being forced to log out at the entrance of the Argalis Dungeon.

    <em>Spear God Evoque is stronger than I imagined, but the bigger problem is the Ego Chain Sickle.</em>

    The Ego Chain Sickle was not only smart enough to know how to hold Minhyuk back but also fast enough to catch up to his speed. Minhyuk felt like he was not fighting a 1:1 battle but a 1:2 battle.

    Thankfully, even though he was not allowed to check Evoques status, anyone who entered the Argalis Dungeon was allowed to view the details about the <em>Ego Chain Sickle</em>. Minhyuk recalled the information he had seen earlier.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Ego Chain Sickle</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: God</em>

    <strong><em>Level</em></strong><em>: 678</em>

    <strong><em>Attack</em></strong><em>: 8,784</em>

    <strong><em>Defense</em></strong><em>: 8,237</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>With an egoparable to an outstanding knight, it could intercept and hinder enemies in a variety of ways.</em>

    <em>The Ego Chain Sickle has a 15% chance of ignoring all defenses, including Absolute Defense when attacking.</em>

    <em>The Ego Chain Sickle has an 11% chance of dealing double the critical damage when attacking.</em>

    <em>The Ego Chain Sickle can use </em>Speed Increase<em> and double its speed for five seconds.</em>

    <em>The Ego Chain Sickle carries a buff effect. All recognized allies will have a 12% increase in their powers and abilities.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: Evas, the God of Dungeons, created the Argalis Dungeon with the help of several other gods.</em>

    <em>The Ego Chain Sickle was created by the God of cksmiths at that time using all his might and power. You can obtain it if you tear it down.</em>

    The Ego Chain Sickle was genuinely crazy. Its attack and defense were already on par, even better, with Brod. Of course, considering Brods overwhelming ability and skills, the chain sickles ego would still be no match against him. However, if he were too reckless and allowed just a single attack from the Ego Chain Sickle, then he would suffer from a critical blow.

    <em>The only way to break through this situation is with the help of a buff dish.</em>

    Of course, Minhyuk had the mushrooms and herbs he had harvested from the beginning that could produce various buff effects. However, he had to think of a strategy that would allow him to deal with the Ego Chain Sickle and Evoque at the same time before everything else.

    And no matter how hard he thought about it, Minhyuk could only think of using buff dishes to break through the situation. But there was one thing that he was stuck in.

    <em>The Ego Chain Sickle has a 15% chance of ignoring all defenses, including Absolute Defense when attacking.</em>

    In other words, the Ego Chain Sickle could ignore the barrier of Lets Have a Meal. Minhyuk would always be defenseless whenever he started cooking or whenever he ate, making him very vulnerable. And the solution to that was using the barrier created by the skill <em>Lets Have a Meal.</em>

    <em>I have to deal with the two of them.</em>

    However, just because the barrier would be ineffective did not mean that there was no way for Minhyuk at all. If he had to deal with two opponents simultaneously, their side also had to be two.

    Minhyuk looked at the screen with notifications floating in the darkness and responded, I will rechallenge it.

    ***

    God of Dungeons Bentley was cackling. As expected, the Food God is nothing but a trifling god. He lost without even being able to fight properly against Evoque.

    The sessor of the Food God died without even being able to fight properly nornd a single blow on Spear God Evoque. He even died from just one strike of Evoques skill. Of course, the <em>Ego Chain Sickle</em> also yed a considerable role, with its <em>12% increase in all abilities and skills</em> buff effect.

    The first God of Dungeons, Evas, believed that any strong god could endure and beat Evoque. So, he decided to add the <em>Ego Chain Sickle</em>. ording to the records, Evas made the Argalis Dungeon to allow the gods<em> to challenge</em> something.

    However, that was not the case at all. Evas was a greedy god, and he had ensured that Argalis Dungeons difficulty was extreme to the point that no one could break it. If Argalis Dungeon could not be broken or cleared, then his name would be remembered by the gods for a <em>very</em> long time. But that did not mean Evas personality was that twisted and ugly.

    <em>He made it so clearing the dungeon was close to impossible. However, if one could sessfully clear it, God of Dungeons Evas vowed to acknowledge this god.</em>

    Gaining the recognition and acknowledgment of the God of Dungeons Evas meant that one would also receive the acknowledgment of the other gods. But that was not all. They would also have the chance to obtain the power he had hidden in the dungeon. What exactly was it? Even his sessor, Bentley, did not know about it.

    At that moment, the voice of the Battle God rang.

    <em>[The God of Reputation has finished preparing the title.]</em>

    In hopes of looking out for his descendant, the Battle God ordered the God of Reputation to create a <em>title</em> that he would add to the rewards that the Food God would obtain if he could sessfully break through the Argalis Dungeon. And that title waspleted right now. Bentley giggled as he wondered about the name of the title.

    <em>[What is the name of the title?]</em>

    <em>[God Above God.]</em>

    ...!

    Bentley grew furious when he heard the name. Were they thinking of giving a title with the name <em>God Above God</em> to a trashy insect like the Food God?!

    <em>[No god has ever broken through this ce. If he can sessfully ovee such a dangerous ce, then this title would not be wasted.]</em>

    Bentley soon came to his senses. Anyway, that god named Minhyuk would not be able to win that title. He believed that the Battle God could speak arrogantly in support of Minhyuk because he did not know that his sessor could not even endure the Ego Chain Sickle and Spear God Evoke just a few minutes ago.

    <em>[Do you approve?]</em>

    Then, the Battle Gods voice rang once again. The truth was, it would not matter if the title were created just like that. Bentley could only use it as a reward for sessfully attacking the Argalis Dungeon.

    <em>[We are also currently getting the approval of the other gods.]</em>

    The words that the Battle God uttered made Bentley realize that the title was quite an unusual one.

    <em>Its to the point that one would need the approval of the other gods? </em>But Bentley just smirked. It would not matter even if he gave his approval here. After all, that Food God Minhyuk could not get past Spear God Evoque.

    <em>[I wille and see you in person.]</em>

    Bentley had decided that there was no point in watching over Minhyuk anymore. He thought it was better just to go where the Battle God and the other gods, who approved of the title, were and let them know how wrong the Battle Gods choice was.

    ***

    When Minhyuk opened his eyes, he saw Spear God Evoque once again. When he turned his head, he saw that the Ego Chain Sickle was slowly pulling itself out of the wall.

    Youre going to rechallenge this ce? Evoque stared at Minhyuk, who came back and did not run away. I thought youd tuck your tail and run away in fear?

    He had deliberately used his Pinnacle skill to kill Minhyuk all at once. Only through that way would the god in front of Evoque realize how weak he was. And if he could recognize that, he would be forced to run away.

    It seems like youre much better than that guy; what was his name again? Ravier?

    Minhyuk did not opt to answer the man in front of him. Ravier had never run away. He had spent a long time cooped up in his temple, cooking alone as he promised to return and show them his worth.

    <em>nk, nk, nk, nk, nk, nk</em>

    The Ego Chain Sickle swiftly moved, its sharp de aiming for Minhyuks back.

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng, ng, ng!</em>

    Minhyuk turned around to evade the chain sickle, constantly attacking him rapidly. Before Evoque could aim for his back and stage another attack like before, Minhyuk used Like the Wind and narrowed the distance between them.

    Sword of Absolute Death.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    A bolt of lightning fell and hit Evoque without fail.

    Kghk! Evoque gritted his teeth, shock evident in his eyes when he saw the massive damage he received.

    The damage that could shock and terrify a god was the result of thebination of Minhyuks cheat-like stats, his skills and powers that were beyond god-level, and his outstanding and mighty Sword of Aeon.

    Then, hundreds of lightning bolts fell and struck everywhere around Evoque.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Evoque, whose vision was blocked after being stuck in the middle of the rain of lightning bolts, moved to counter, offset, or evade the attacks. If all else failed, he would try to endure it with his sturdy body.

    When the rain of lightning bolts disappeared, and the thick cloud of dust settled down, he turned to look at his opponent. And what did he see? He saw Minhyuk hiding inside a barrier and cooking as fast as he could.

    The scorched and burnt Evoque cackled. The Ego Chain Sickle can pierce through any defenses.

    Minhyuk was fully aware of that fact.

    <em>If all potions and parchments are rendered useless inside the Argalis Dungeon, then the buff effects of the dishes I have made in advance are probably also useless.</em>

    If that were the case, then all he needed to do was cook and eat as fast as he could, and then fight. However, that n was made impossible.

    <em>nk, nk, nk, nk, nk!</em>

    The sickle of the Ego Chain Sickle attacked the barrier around Minhyuk.

    <em>[The barrier has an absolute defense.]</em>

    However, it did not deter the Ego Chain Sickle. It continued to attack the barrier.

    <em>[...absolute]</em>

    <em>[...absolute]</em>

    <em>[...absolute]</em>

    <em>[The Ego Chain Sickle has ignored the barriers Absolute Defense!]</em>

    <em>Screech!</em>

    A scratch appeared on the surface of the barrier.

    <em>[The Lets Have a Meals barriers durability has dropped by 1.6%!]</em>

    As if spurned by something, the Ego Chain Sickle doubled its efforts and attacked the barrier of Lets Have a Meal non-stop.

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng, ng, ng, ng!</em>

    Although the probability of ignoring defenses was only small, it was able to inflict several scratches from its continued efforts.

    Your barrier will copse in two minutes.

    At the rate things were going, the Ego Chain Sickle could indeed force the barrier around Minhyuk to copse. Yes, it was just like Evoque said.

    Did you think youre the only one who tried to do that?

    However, Minhyuk, who was busy cooking, just sneered. Evoque was different from the other gods. He knew nothing about Minhyuk except that he was the <em>Food God.</em> The fact that he was the emperor of an empire, that he had the most talented people around him, that he was a yer, and that he had the best and strongest <em>weapon</em> in his hand were all unknown to Evoque.

    Viel.

    <em>Creak, creak, creak, creak, creak</em>

    Viel, whose joints were slowly twisting into ce, appeared right in front of Minhyuk.

    <em>Click, click, click, click, click</em>

    In a blink, all of the joints in Viels body twisted into ce. Then, he slowly walked toward the barrier and kicked away the Ego Chain Sickle hitting the barrier like crazy.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang!</em>

    The Ego Chain Sickle, pushed back a few meters by the powerful force behind Viels kick, hurriedly charged toward the barrier again.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    However, the results remained the same. After all, Viel was on par with Brod in terms of power.

    <em>nk, nk, nk, nk, nk!</em>

    Viel was able to skillfully deflect all of the Ego Chain Sickles attack despite its rapid movements. In the end, Viel, as if losing his patience, grabbed the sickle part of the flying Ego Chain Sickle. This feat was only possible because Viels hands were not made of flesh and were more like <em>hard and sturdy steel.</em>

    With the sickle tightly grasped in his hands, Viel slowly walked toward the pin that stuck the Ego Chain Sickle to the walls and struck it with all his might.

    <em>Boooooooom!</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Evoque, who saw Viel attacking the pin of the Ego Chain Sickle, moved swiftly in annoyance as he stabbed his spear at Viels back.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack!</em>

    Evoques spear went through Viels abdomen apanied by the sound of something breaking apart. However, Viel just took a short nce at him. He grabbed the spear using his left hand which was not holding onto the sickle.

    <em>Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!</em>

    He continued to m the pin and the chains like crazy.

    This moron!

    But no matter how hard Evoque tried to pull the spear away from Viels abdomen, he could not just pull it out. If it were an average person, they would not have been able to hold the spear in their hands like that. Perhaps they would have already curled up in pain. However, Viel was a puppet doll, he no longer could feel pain.

    <em>nk! nk! nk! nk!</em>

    <em>aaaaaap!</em>

    A loud noise echoed in the area as Evoque pped the head of Viel, who ignored his strike earlier and continued to strike the chains and the pin with reckless abandon.

    ...

    However, it continued just like before.

    <em>Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!</em>

    Evoque continued to kick, p and punch Viel.

    <em>Craaaack!</em>

    A loud and strong p forced Viels head to turn to the side. However, he twisted his head back until it returned to its original position.

    <em>aaaaaam!</em>

    A powerful blow on his sides caused Viel to stagger, but he quickly returned to his original position.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang</em>

    Several punches and hitsnded on the back of Viel''s head, but he continued to return to his original position.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk was cooking as fast as he could.

    <em>Viels recovery rate and durability are beyond anyones imagination.</em>

    It was only natural. After all, he was a god, a high-level boss, and a monster-ss individual. But that was not his only redeeming point; his moves were divine. The fact that he could restrict Evoke and the Ego Chain Sickles movements by holding onto their weapons was worthy of praise. Minhyuk knew he would never try something like that if he were in Viels position.

    Minhyuk nced at Viel while his hands continued to move swiftly.

    <em>Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!</em>

    Argh! Argh! Argh! Evoke shouted in fury as he smacked Viel on his head.

    And Viel? He just kept on getting hit on the back of his head.

    <em>...</em>

    For a moment, Minhyuk took pity on Viel. Viel was once the most powerful man to rule over Edea. He was so strong that he could openly covet the position of the Jade Emperor, the heavens, and the skies. But now? He was continuously getting hit on the back of his head.

    <em>Booooom!</em>

    At that moment, a notification rang in Minhyuks ears.

    <em>[The Ego Chain Sickles durability has dropped to less than 50%!]</em>

    Minhyuk knew his opportunity to stage a counterattack was just around the corner. If Viel could destroy the Ego Chain Sickle, Minhyuk could clear this gate. Then, another dull sound reverberated in the area.

    <em>Thuuuuuuuuud!</em>

    Viel, a god who once stood at the pinnacle of the world that suddenly became a tank, suddenly tilted forward. Minhyuk thought that Viel would once again raise the sickle in his hand and swing it down, just like he had done so far. But that was not the case at all.

    <em>T- tears?!</em>

    Viel only had a small fragment of his ego left in the puppet doll. Yet Viel''s eyes were growing misty. What were they if they werent tears?

    <em>[Viels Puppet Doll is feeling sad.]</em>

    <em>[Viel doesnt want to move.]</em>

    At the same time, Viels legs grew ck, firmly stepping on the chains of the Ego Chain Sickle.

    <em>nk, nk, nk, nk!</em>

    Finding the opportunity to escape, the Ego Chain Sickle immediately got out of Viels feet and wrapped itself around its opponents body.

    <em>The moment Viel breaks, this barrier will copse too.</em>

    Minhyuk was now in a massive crisis.

 Chapter 877

    Chapter 877

    <em>nk, nk, nk, nk, nk</em>

    The Ego Chain Sickles attack power was on par with Brod''s, perhaps even higher. Now that it was not being restrained, it began to strike the lifeless and listless Viel nonstop.

    <em>Bang Bang Bang Bang!</em>

    <em>[Viels durability has dropped below 75%.]</em>

    <em>[Viels durability has recovered by 3%.]</em>

    <em>[Viels durability has dropped below 72%.]</em>

    <em>[Viels durability has recovered by 3%.]</em>

    <em>[Viels durability]</em>

    Viels recovery ability was excellent. However, the damage that the Ego Chain Sickle could deal was so high that even Viel had a hard time enduring it.

    <em>[Speed Increase.]</em>

    <em>[The Ego Chain Sickles speed will double for five seconds!]</em>

    The faster Ego Chain Sickle frantically hit Viel, who continued to stand still.

    <em>[The damage received has been doubled!]</em>

    <em>[Viels durability has dropped below 52%!]</em>

    But that was not all; the Ego Chain Sickle could also trigger its double critical damage, an effect that could only be activated with a 12% chance, and tear apart Viel until he looked horrendous.

    Even if Viel was destroyed here, he would be fully restored and could be summoned once again after a week. The only problem was that if Viel fell here, the Ego Chain Sickle would definitelye after the barrier protecting Minhyuk. And once that happened, the barrier would not be able tost for two minutes. For Minhyuk, who was only about to finish cooking, his odds would disappear.

    At that moment, Evoque pulled the spear out of Viel, who was listless and defenseless. And the moment he pulled out the spear, Viels durability dropped even lower. It was literally like adding salt to an injury.

    <em>[Viels thoughts and ideas have been significantly reduced!]</em>

    Viel might only have a small fragment of his ego left, but even that tiny fragment of his ego was a part of him. He was once someone who ruled over the entire Edea and trampled on all beings. He was also someone who had dreamt of bing the <em>Sky</em>. And, to be honest, he had all of the qualifications to be one. However, Viel was now forced under someones orders to receive the damage on their behalf. Of course, he would be angry.

    <em>How did Ie to this point?</em> was probably what he, who once dreamt of bing the greatest and the best yet fell and became a puppet, was thinking.

    Viel!

    Viel, who bowed his head, heard Minhyuks voice in his ears. Although Minhyuk owned Viel now, he was the one who killed <em>Viel,</em> and that was something that even the puppet could not forget.

    You are the greatest god that I have ever acknowledged.

    This was the truth. Viel was stronger than Spear God Ben. He was as strong, perhaps even stronger, than the Fallen Wretched Emperor Brod. And Minhyuk''s words touched Viel, whose pride and ego had been hurt.

    <em>[Emperors Authority.]</em>

    <em>[The Emperors Comfort has been activated!]</em>

    The main reason why Viel, who was only left with a small fragment of his ego, could focus on Minhyuks words was because of the Emperors Comfort. Why did the Emperors Comfort get triggered? Viel might only be a puppet now; however, whether he wanted to or not, he could now be considered Minhyuks Vassal. That was why the authority was triggered. Another reason was Minhyuks CHA. Minhyuks CHA had exceeded 12,000 points, which influenced his voice and added more charm and power.

    Are you just going to be trampled by a mere god like that?! The sword and abilities I had experienced when I fought you were far beyond what that god can disy!

    Minhyuk did not lie. If one took away the Ego Chain Sickle, then Spear God Evoque was someone Viel could quickly kill.

    Do you no longer want to be the best?

    Viel nced at Minhyuk, his sharp, lifeless puppet eyes giving the emperor goosebumps. That was right. Viel still wanted to be the best, even if he was nothing more than a puppet now.

    Does someone who wants to be the best, easily fall like that against the man in front of him?!

    In Viels eyes, the Spear God was strong. However, the man could not overwhelm him.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack!</em>

    Evoque pulled his spear out of Viels body in a blink. He stepped back all at once and stabbed his spear on the ground. Die.

    <em>Rumbleeeeeeeeeeeee!</em>

    The ground rumbled and twisted as the force that stretched out of Evoques spear moved toward Viel. Viels durability had almost reached the bottom.

    <em>[Viels durability has dropped below 17%!]</em>

    Then, Minhyuk said, Show me who you are, Viel!

    Viel, staring at Minhyuk, immediately turned around and triggered his skill. And the skill that he triggered? It was Viels pinnacle skill, Skys Roar. Minhyuk did not even have the opportunity to witness it in the past. This was because Viel firmly believed he could kill Minhyuk without using this skill. Besides, he had received the protection and blessings of the Jade Emperor back then; even his ordinary skills had powerparable to that of a pinnacle skill.

    Skys Roar.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!</em>

    A gigantic greatsword fell from the sky, stabbed itself into the ground, and quickly countered and offset the Spear Gods power. Viel charged toward the greatsword.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    An AOE attack skill engulfed an area with a radius of several meters. The attack brought forth shocking damage as it bombed Spear God Evoque.

    Keuaaaaaaaaaaack!

    The Ego Chain Sickle swiftly flew toward Viels head when Evoques scream rang.

    <em>Thud</em>

    Holding onto the joints that connected the chain and the sickle, Viel turned to look at Minhyuk. In just that short moment, Minhyuk had finished cooking and was already in the middle of eating the buff dish- none other than <em>Crunch Toast.</em>

    <em>[The bond between you and Viel has increased.]</em>

    <em>[Viels ego has grown slightly.]</em>

    Minhyuk hated Viel. And, of course, the same was true for Viel. However, Viels fate was now tied to Minhyuk. It would be better for the two to cooperate than to hate each other. Minhyuk knew this all too well; perhaps even Viel, who only had a small fragment of his ego, also knew this.

    Ughh. Kghhk... " Evoque groaned. After the Sky Roar''s effects ended, his torn and ripped body was left in a haggard state. However, even if he was left in such an embarrassing state, he was still a god and still had a recovery ability beyond anyones imagination. Just like that, the injuries that covered Evoques body healed rapidly.

    Viel nced at Minhyuks once again. He knew what to do now that his summoning time was about to end.

    <em>Clink!</em>

    Skys Frenzy.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Viels sword moved swiftly, his attack speed drastically increasing with the skills activation as he attacked the Ego Chain Sickle.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack!</em>

    Minhyuk, looking at the cracks that started to appear on the surface of the Ego Chain Sickle, continued eating his crunch toast. One bite, and the unique vor of applesauce and the deep vor of the crunch toast spread in his mouth.

    <em>This is truly the best dish to eat when ones hungry.</em>

    Of course, Minhyuk never forgot his reasons foring to the Argalis Dungeon. His first reason was to eat delicious dishes. His second reason was to help Ravier let go of his resentment. His third reason was to obtain the Food Gods most significant power.

    <em>Crunch, crunch</em>

    Minhyuks mouth was filled with the fantasticbination of cabbage, cheese, and ham vors. He smiled in delight as he finished the toast in a few bites and topped it off with a cool and refreshing cider.

    <em>Gulp, gulp, gulp</em>

    As the refreshing and bubbly feeling reached his throat, a series of notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[You have seeded in destroying the Ego Chain Sickle!]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained the Ego Chain Sickle!]</em>

    At the same time, Viels figure disappeared. Another series of notifications immediately followed it.

    <em>[Double Food.]</em>

    <em>[Double Food has replicated the dish and turned it into two!]</em>

    Ovepping Delight.

    <em>[Ovepping Delight.]</em>

    <em>[You can now receive the effects of two dishes simultaneously.]</em>

    A rolling die emitting a golden light appeared above them.

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[The soul of Evas, the creator of the Argalis Dungeon, has grown furious after seeing a trivial and weak god dare to challenge his dungeon!]</em>

    <em>[The soul of Evas, the creator of the Argalis Dungeon, cannot hide his anger after witnessing the destruction of the Ego Chain Sickle!]</em>

    <em>[The soul of Evas has started the Dungeon Activation!]</em>

    <em>[The soul of Evas has made Spear God Evoque 8% stronger!]</em>

    ...

    It was ridiculously absurd. Evas immediately interjected when the Food God, a god he had mocked and jeered at, pushed him to a corner. Of course, the First Food God Ravier also did not stay still.

    <em>[The soul of Food God Ravier stares at Evas!]</em>

    <em>[Food God Ravier res sharply at the cowardly, pompous, and underhanded Evas!]</em>

    Food God Ravier was most likely ring at the Evas statue standing behind Evoque.

    <em>[Food God Ravier tells you to show it to them!]</em>

    <em>[The power left behind by the First Food God, Ravier, is now being revealed through the current Food God!]</em>

    A number finally appeared as the golden die slowly turned to a stop.

    <em>[The die has been cast! You have rolled one!]</em>

    <em>[The Ovepping Delights buff effect willst for thirty seconds!]</em>

    <em>[You have received the effects of the Epic Grade Bizarre Crunch Toast and the Epic Grade Crunch Toast!]</em>

    Minhyuk felt that he was unlucky after seeing that the effects onlysted thirty seconds. However, he believed that this was more than enough time. After all, he was a master at adding the desired effects to his dishes, choosing the ingredients that would boost those effects.

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 3%!]</em>

    <em>[Your physical and magical attacks have increased by 25%!]</em>

    <em>[The first skill you will use will receive a +3 increase in skill level!]</em>

    <em>Crackleeeee</em>

    Huge zing mes shot out from the de of Minhyuks sword. The fire covered a much longer distance than it originally could. Overlords Technique, now the Supreme Overlords Technique, had already reached the <em>God grade level</em>, meaning its power had significantly increased. But Minhyuk did not end it there. He applied the effects of the Ovepping Delight to this skill.

    <em>[The Supreme Overlords Techniques level has temporarily increased by +3!]</em>

    <em>[The Overlords Fire, with an additional 14,000~18,000% attack, will attack everyone within a 260~280 meter radius!]</em>

    <em>Crackle</em>

    Evoque, who had recovered from his injuries to some extent, stared in trepidation at the zing mes that slowly engulfed the dungeon.

    ***

    God of Dungeons Bentley was in an excellent mood after he appeared in front of the Battle God and approved the title <em>God Above Gods</em> as a reward.

    <em>The Battle Gods chosen sessor has already died once inside the Argalis Dungeon.</em>

    Of course, he did not forget to make a report while approving. It was a deliberate move to provoke and irritate the Battle God.

    Bentley wanted to be the Battle Gods Descendant himself. Although he did not have absolute and overwhelming power and might, he could create outstanding dungeons. He firmly believed his outstanding dungeons were enough to protect the Land of the Gods. And if he couldbine his power with the Battle Gods power, he would be the only candidate to protect and maintain the Land of the Gods.

    But then, the Battle God spoke.

    <em>You have approved the title as a reward because you have judged that its impossible to obtain, no?</em>

    <em>How dare I make such judgments?</em>

    Although he said those words, there was an imperceptible smile on Bentleys face. After dealing with that matter, he warped back to the Argalis Dungeon. However, Bentley was left in shock when he came back.

    <em>[Evas soul has activated the Dungeon Activation!]</em>

    Evas created this masterpiece of a dungeon. Because of that, a portion of his soul was embedded deeply in it, which could be said to be his most significant and final masterpiece.

    Bentley was fully aware that the <em>Activation</em> would only be triggered during emergencies.

    Theres an emergency?

    If there were an emergency, the gates the challengers had to pass would be reinforced and grow more difficult.

    <em>Vwoooooooooooong</em>

    At that moment, the entire Argalis Dungeon shook and trembled.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang</em>

    Ultimately, a portion of the dungeon copsed as a huge pir of mes soared to the sky. Bentley hurriedly took out the crystal ball to see the situation inside, where the Food God was facing Spear God Evoque.

    Inside the crystal ball, the figure of a man walking amidst the ck mes that devoured the entire dungeon appeared.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud</em>

    Bentley could faintly see the silhouette of the man through the zing mes. It seemed like the man was holding two swords as he walked past someone lying on the ground.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    The two swords released hundreds of sword lights that shed the person lying on the ground indiscriminately. The man subjected to the harsh and reckless attacks of the dual swords was assumed to be <em>Evoque.</em> The man that Bentley thought to be Evoque tried to struggle against the crazy onught of attacks. However, in the end, his body slowly started to copse.

    <em>Vwooooooooong</em>

    <em>Crack Crack, crack Crack, crack</em>

    Along with his fall, the gigantic statue of Evas standing behind him also began to crumble and fall.

    The ck mes slowly started to disappear. Once the fire disappeared, Bentley could finally see the entire situation. He saw the Food God standing before the copsed statue with Evoques body lying behind him.

    The Food God then moved forward, his foot stepping on the rubble left behind by the copsed statue.

 Chapter 878

    Chapter 878

    <em>Crack, crack</em>

    That was the sound of the wreckage and rubble left behind by the copsed statue being crushed under the feet of the Food God. Even after seeing it with his eyes, Bentley still could not believe it. However, the notifications that rang in his ears reminded him that this was the reality.

    <em>[The first gate of the Argalis Dungeon created by God of Dungeons Evas has been cleared for the first time.]</em>

    <em>[Argalis Dungeon, the pride of God of Dungeons Evas, is a myth and legend.]</em>

    <em>[The god who cleared the Argalis Dungeon is the god Evas ignored and despised- the Food God!]</em>

    <em>[The first reward of the Argalis Dungeon has grown better.]</em>

    <em>[No one has been able to pass through the first gate of the Argalis Dungeon for thousands of years!]</em>

    <em>[The gates challenger had made more extraordinary achievements than the dozens of other gods that challenged the gate and died before him!]</em>

    <em>[As the God of Dungeons, you must give the challenger an extra reward!]</em>

    <em>[His outstanding achievements will be known to all the gods of the Land of the Gods!]</em>

    <em>[He is a Continental God and a sessor of an Absolute God.]</em>

    Bentleys expression grew ugly when he saw that the Food Gods <em>outstanding achievements </em>would be known to all gods. That was not supposed to be the case, especially since he had emphasized to the gods that he was a <em>trashy Food God.</em>

    It was not only him. Even God Evas used to tell the other gods, The Food God is a god that knows nothing but eating As Evas sessor, Bentley took the lead in mocking the Food God and denying his qualifications as the sessor of the Battle God. Of course, part of it was because he was eyeing the same position himself.

    However, the same Food God that he mocked and ignored had cleared the first gate of the Argalis Dungeon, which no other god could break.

    <em>How in the world was he able to break through the gate? One cannot clear the dungeon just because they are strong. </em>Bentley just could not understand.

    In the first gate, Minhyuk should have felt like he was dealing with two gods: Spear God Evoque and the Ego Chain Sickle. If he tried to attack Spear God Evoque, the Ego Chain Sickle would make a move and try to attack him or tie him down. This was why even the powerful gods suffered and died at the first gate.

    However, there was something that Bentley and Evas had overlooked. And that was the fact that Minhyuk was a <em>yer</em>. yers were different from ordinary gods. Most of the yers might not even beparable to gods; there were still a select few that had the potential to surpass even the gods in the future.

    Gods were beings that were highly exceptional in <em>only one field</em>. But the yers? They could learn a <em>wide range and variety of skills</em>. And it was not only that. They could also own a variety of artifacts that ordinary NPCs could not hold, just like how Minhyuk, as a yer, owned <em>Viels Puppet Doll</em>.

    Bentleys already ugly expression grew dark at the thought of these notifications ringing in the ears of the gods and the entire worldter. However, he still shook his head. <em>He will not be able to get through the second gate.</em>

    The Argalis Dungeon had five gates in total, and the first and second gates were the most difficult to clear. This was a trick that Evas had done when creating this dungeon. Generally, one would think that the dungeons difficulty would grow as one progressed. Hence, one would always believe that the first gate was the easiest. And, of course, even the gods believe this to be the case.

    Evas took advantage of that thinking and made the first and second gates difficult. Then, he boasted to all of the gods that they <em>would not be able to cross the first gate</em> of his dungeon. There were even rumors about how <em>no one had ever been able to break through the first gate,</em> spreading among the gods. This was how the gods grew scared of Argalis Dungeon and how Evas had garnered their respect. And because of that, no one challenged it anymore.

    Even if the Food God had broken through the first gate, if he lost in the equally tricky second gate, the gods would only care that he failed to clear the Argalis Dungeon.

    <em>If that happens then </em>Bentley thought of silencing him by iming that the Food God had cleared the first gate through immoral and unscrupulous methods.

    <em>[The Argalis Dungeons challenger has chosen the first reward.]</em>

    <em>[Argalis Dungeon is also known as the Dungeon of Dreams.]</em>

    <em>[Please fulfill the dream that the challenger wants to obtain.]</em>

    God of Dungeons Bentley could see the dreams that his opponent wants in his head. Before he drew the dream of the Food God in his head, he thought, <em>Does he want to receive a reward that will allow him to jump and be the Battle God?</em>

    Or perhaps he wanted an artifact or a weapon that even the gods would fear? He did not know what type the man wanted. Not long after, Bentley confirmed the <em>dream</em> that the Food God wanted.

    ...

    Bentley doubted his eyes for a moment after he confirmed the dream.

    <em>His head is filled with nothing but food and eating!</em>

    <em>Goodness!</em> Bentley has never seen anyone dream of something like this in his entire life. Since Bentley had the power to peek at others dreams, he would sometimes look at the goals of the humans in thend below them. He had seen plenty of dreams. Some dreamt of wealth, while some dreamt of power. But Minhyuks dream? Why was it filled with nothing but food?!

    The flustered Bentley shook his head. Right. Go on. Eat a lot.

    He would have a bad time in the second gate anyway. Only the strongest of the strong could break through the first gate. However, just because one was strong did not mean they could kill and hunt two rabbits at once, no?

    Besides, Evas had used quite a lot of tricks in this dungeon. He even prevented whoever broke through the first gate from breaking the second gate. The thing that one needed the most in the second gate was none other than <em>DEX.</em>

    ***

    Minhyuk, who cleared the first gate, received several notifications as he walked toward the next gate.

    <em>[Your </em><strong><em>Linked Quest</em></strong><em>: The Food Gods Achievement has progressed!]</em>

    <em>[Your achievements are being made known to the gods of the Land of the Gods.]</em>

    <em>[Your Achievement Rate has increased by 34%!]</em>

    The Linked Quest: The Food Gods Achievement would only be consideredpleted if Minhyuk reached at least 60% Achievement Rate in one year. However, he could jump to 34% just by breaking through the first gate of the Argalis Dungeon.

    <em>Was it because its very easy to increase the Achievement Rate? No. That shouldnt be the case.</em>

    It was absolutely impossible to be that easy. After all, only if he could make an achievement that could surprise the gods would his Achievement Rate increase. As such, he had determined that it was not wrong to say that the first gate of the Argalis Dungeon was tough.

    <em>[By destroying the Ego Chain Sickle and sessfully clearing the first gate, you can acquire the Ego Chain Sickle.]</em>

    <em>[You can now obtain the rewards of the first gate.]</em>

    <em>[If you imagine the dream you want to achieve, the dungeon will make ite true!]</em>

    <em>The dream that I want</em>

    Minhyuk had not forgotten the reason why he came here. He closed his eyes and imagined what he had always been dreaming of. Minhyuk could not help the drool that started to drip down his chin at the thought of it.

    <em>[God of Dungeons Bentley is confirming your dream.]</em>

    <em>[Your dream can be made into reality!]</em>

    <em>[The God of Dungeons and the Food God are in a hostile rtionship.]</em>

    <em>[Since the Food God had broken through the dungeons first gate, God of Dungeons Bentley has to reproduce your dreams and make it even better!]</em>

    And finally

    <em>[Your dream is materializing!]</em>

    When Minhyuk slowly opened his eyes, the scene greeting him was the <em>Manhwa Cafe</em> he had always wanted to visit. Well, if he were to be honest, it was a bit different. Even if Bentley had seen Minhyuks dream, it would still be difficult for him topletely reproduce the Manhwa Cafe''s appearance<em>.</em> After all, he had never seen something like that in his life.

    <em>Maybe its more apt to call this a fantasy-themed Manhwa Cafe?</em>

    Interesting books, which could be seen on the antique shelves of the imperial library, were piled up in one corner. There were also a considerable number of manhwas among them. Of course, there was a sofa where one could lounge with a table on the side.

    Minhyuk looked at the books sitting on the shelves. <em>It seems like Joy Co. Ltd. has worked with many publishers to make it possible for people to read many manhwas,ics, and novels in the game.</em>

    Because of that, quite a lot of manhwas and novels from reality were on the shelves.

    <em>I heard that the novel in which the main character loves to eat was serialized as a webtoon. Ah, they also have it as a book here. Minhyuk quickly found his favorite book, in which the main character loves</em> to eat, and headed to the sofa. <em>I heard that the author gained nine kilograms because he ate while writing this book.</em>

    He quickly returned to his main mission, which was to eat in a Manhwa Cafe, after entertaining such ridiculous thoughts. Minhyuk really wanted to try it. That was why he quickly sat on the sofa after picking up the manhwa book. Then, the food he imagined appeared in front of his eyes the moment he sat.

    ...Wow. Minhyuk burst out in admiration.

    Sshin ramyeon with egg, chapagetti with fried egg on top, chicken mayo rice bowl with fried chicken and mayonnaise, and kimchi fried rice with spam appeared in front of him. There were also hamburgers, fries, and a ss of c with ice.

    Following the etiquette for eating in a Manhwa Cafe, Minhyuk opened his manhwa with his left hand and grabbed his chopsticks with his right. The first thing that he picked was the noodles of the steaming, well-cooked ramyeon.

    <em>Sluuuuuuuuuuurp!</em> Minhyuks loud slurp as he inhaled the noodles rang inside the quiet Manhwa Cafe. If this was in a true Manhwa Cafe, he would probably be able to hear other customers order ramyeon.

    Minhyuk blew on the spicy and chewy ramyeon noodles before taking another big bite.

    <em>Sluuuuuuuurp!</em>

    Of course, he did not forget to eat the stir-fried kimchi served alongside the ramyeon.

    <em>Crunch, crunch</em>

    The stir-fried kimchi added to the depth of the ramyeons vor. After taking another bite, Minhyuk put down his chopstick and grabbed the bowl with his hand to sip the broth.

    Kghhk Minhyuk burst out in admiration after tasting the spiciness of the broth.

    Just like that, Minhyuk finished the bowl of ramyeon. As he ced the bowl down, unexpected but very wee notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[You have chosen food as your dream reward in Argalis Dungeon.]</em>

    <em>[You have eaten Ramyeon.]</em>

    <em>[All five of your basic stats have increased by 0.7%.]</em>

    ...! Minhyuk thought that this should probably be the case. <em>Theres no way that the rewards I will receive for breaking the first gate of a dungeon with extreme difficulty will just be normal and ordinary food.</em>

    Although Minhyuk''s chosen reward might seem insignificant and trivial to most, the power hiding beneath it was beyond anyones imagination. After seeing the You have eaten Ramyeon in the notifications, Minhyuk felt like the other dishes would give him various powers.

    This time, he turned his attention to the chapagetti. He quickly picked up his chopsticks and poked the yolk of the fried egg into the noodles, its golden yellow yolk dripping down. Minhyuk mixed the noodles well before taking a huge bite.

    <em>Sluuuuuuuuurp!</em>

    The slightly sweet vor of the chapagetti delighted his taste buds. At that moment, a side dish suddenly shed in his mind: <em>When eating chapagetti, one really should also eat</em>

    Minhyuk had not yet finished his thoughts, but the side dish that shed in his head had already appeared in front of him. This side dish was <em>scallion kimchi.</em>

    <em>Kghhk. This is truly a ce where your dreamse true! </em>Minhyuk thought as he mped some of the freshly made scallion kimchi. Then, he put it on top of the chapagetti. Then, he took a massive bite of the noodles.

    <em>Sluuuuuuuuuurp</em>

    <em>Crunch, crunch</em>

    The crisp texture and refreshing vor of the scallion kimchi along with the slight sweetness of the chapagetti gently spread in Minhyuks mouth. The harmony created by these vors was so fantastic that Minhyuk could not help but shiver in delight.

    <em>[You have eaten Chapagetti.]</em>

    <em>[Your total HP and MP volume have increased by 2%.]</em>

    Minhyuk, who finished eating the noodles before they got soggy, turned his attention to the kimchi fried rice and spam. He grabbed a spoon and scooped a huge mouthful of the kimchi fried rice with a small portion of the sliced ham. Then, he put everything in his mouth.

    The crunchy and spicy kimchi met with the salty spam and created a fantastic vorbination. The taste became even more perfect when he added a fried egg to his spoonful of kimchi fried rice.

    <em>[You have eaten Spam Kimchi Fried Rice.]</em>

    <em>[The attack power of the best weapon in your possession has increased by 4%.]</em>

    It tasted good, and the rewards that apanied it were also excellent. A percentage increase in the attack power of the sword with the strongest attack power in Athenae was something that Minhyuk could not buy with money or anything else for that matter.

    Then, Minhyuk ate the chicken mayo rice bowl. It was topped with a dollop of mayonnaise and a sprinkle of seaweed powder. It also contained quite arge portion of fried chicken. When he took a massive bite of the dish, the slightly sweet mayonnaise, and the special sauce meshed well, creating this sweet and enchanting vor that spread in his mouth.

    <em>Crunch, crunch</em>

    The crispy and crunchy chicken added a dash of savoriness to the sweetbination of vors. Of course, Minhyuk did not forget to eat it with the stir-fried kimchi on the side.

    <em>Crunch, crunch</em>

    The stir-fried kimchi was a tad bit softer than regr kimchi, but it had a much deeper vor, which was a cherry on top for this dish.

    <em>[You have eaten Chicken Mayo Rice Bowl.]</em>

    <em>[The defensive power of the best defensive artifact in your possession has increased by 5%.]</em>

    Now, there was only one dish left- the hamburger, fries, and c set meal. The hamburger, with itsrge chicken patty, reminded Minhyuk of Mamas Touchs Psy Burger[1].

    <em>Thats right. Mamas Touchs burgers are the best.</em>

    The generous <em>Psy</em> Burger was so big that Minhyuk felt like his jaws creaked from the effort just by taking a bite. However, once he took a bite, his mouth was greeted with crunchy lettuce and a crispy chicken patty.

    <em>Munch, munch</em>

    After savoring the sound of the crispy patty being chewed, Minhyuk took another huge bite. The smile on Minhyuks face unknowingly grew wider with every bite of the burger. Then, he quickly grabbed some fries, dipped them in catsup, and ced them in his mouth. The salty fries and the sweet catsup created a fantastic harmony of vor.

    Minhyuk felt quite excited as he ate the burger. He was looking forward to the notifications that would ring right after. <em>I wonder what rewards I would get this time?</em>

    Along with the delight and joy of eating delicious dishes, Minhyuk also anticipated the dish''s effects on him. In a blink, Minhyuk finished the hamburger and the fries. Finally, he sipped the cold and refreshing c with the straw.

    Kghhk! Minhyuk burst into admiration as a tingling appeared in his throat after drinking everything. Then, the notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[You have eaten the Hamburger Set Meal.]</em>

    <em>[You have received the opportunity to obtain the </em><strong><em>Title</em></strong><em>: God Above Gods. The title can only be obtained uponpleting the Argalis Dungeon.]</em>

    <em>[The </em><strong><em>Title</em></strong><em>: God Above Gods that you can acquire will disappear if you fail to conquer the Argalis Dungeon.]</em>

    <em>[The God Above Gods title is not yetpleted!]</em>

    <em>[If you can create more outstanding achievements upon clearing the Argalis Dungeon, the </em><strong><em>Title</em></strong><em>: God Above Gods will grow even better!]</em>

    <em>[Once the dungeon challenger has acquired the </em><strong><em>Title</em></strong><em>: God Above Gods, their courage and will will increase dramatically.]</em>

    <em>God Above Gods?</em>

    Minhyuk could not shake off the feeling that this title was far more impressive than all the titles he had obtained. He quickly checked the detailed information of the title.

    1. , a reference to Moms Touchs Thigh Burger

 Chapter 879

    Chapter 879

    <em>(</em><strong><em>God Above Gods</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Absolute Title</em>

    <strong><em>Title Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>Canbine two God-rank skills.</em>

    <em>There is a 5% chance of a 12% increase in performance and abilities when using a God-rank skill.</em>

    <em>Passive Skill: God that Never Backs Down.</em>

    <em>All stats +4%</em>

    <em>All skills cooldown time and MP consumption will be reduced by 10%.</em>

    Minhyuk was impressed when he checked the detailed information about the God Above Gods title.

    <em>Wait, youre telling me I canbine two God-rank skills with this title?</em>

    Minhyuk had quite a lot of God-rank skills in his arsenal. If he had this title,bining the two skills wouldpensate for their shorings and make them even stronger. Of course, this did not meanbining two skills would make them twice as good. However, if he could get the rightbination, he could create a much more efficient and stronger skill.

    <em>If I canbine the Sword of Absolute Death and the Supreme Overlord Technique, then</em>

    It meant that Minhyuk would be able to create a better pinnacle skill. But there was a more interesting fact here. The titles skillbination was not limited to attack skills. He couldbine any skill that he wanted, including skills rted to the Food God.

    There was also the passive skill, God that Never Backs Down. It was a skill that could only be triggered during emergencies. It would only be triggered if the HP of the title bearer fell below 10%. Once activated, the title bearers HP and MP would recover to 50%, and their skill cooldown would reset and recover. But that was not all. If he obtained this skill, he would also receive a 4% increase in his stats and a 10% reduction in skill cooldown and MP consumption.

    <em>Of course, its already a great title.</em>

    However, there was another reason why Minhyuk believed that the God Above Gods title was far beyond the other titles he had obtained. And that was the <em>Absolute Title </em>that it carried in its name. Minhyuk had never seen or heard of such a title since ying this game. And there was also the fact that the title was still <em>not yetpleted.</em> The title would grow and bepleted once he cleared the Argalis Dungeon.

    <em>Even though I have only cleared the first gate, the title already has this much power.</em>

    Minhyuk could not even imagine how much power he would be able to obtain if this title waspleted. With a bit of expectation, he began to move again. Then, he fell into another dream filled with delicious food.

    <em>Theres a valley stretching out right in front of me</em>

    In that valley, Minhyuk would cook ramyeon and grill some samgyeopsal while eating with his friends. For some reason, Minhyuk believed that ramyeon tasted more delicious after ying around in the water. Minhyuk entered the second gate with that dream in his mind.

    <em>[You are challenging Argalis Dungeons Second Gate.]</em>

    <em>[Some gods were recorded as heroes in the Land of the Gods.]</em>

    <em>[The Land of Gods was and that was once filled with dangers and hardships. Many heroes had protected thisnd so the Land of the Gods could exist.]</em>

    <em>[Among those heroes, there was one god that everyone knew the story of. And that was War God Veyron.]</em>

    In any ce, there would always be heroes that have left their names behind in the annals of history. And if there were heroes, then there were stories. Their stories would be kept and told to the future generations.

    <em>[During that time, the Land of the Gods was at war with the Demon World.]</em>

    <em>[The 72 Devils, led by Great Demon Verus, wreaked havoc and almost destroyed the Land of the Gods.]</em>

    <em>[The warsted for days on end. At that time, another race took advantage of the war and attacked the Land of the Gods. They were none other than the greedy ck Dwarves.]</em>

    <em>[Unlike ordinary dwarves, the ck Dwarves were greedy, shallow, and petty. They also only specialized in crafting lethal weapons.]</em>

    <em>[While the Land of the Gods was left in chaos as it continued to fight the war against the Demon World, the greedy ck Dwarves took hundreds of the titans that they had created and invaded the Land of the Gods.]</em>

    <em>[Titans were war weapons created with the extraordinary cksmithing skills of the dwarves. They reached around eight meters in height, had skin as hard as the gods, and wielded weapons on par with those of the gods.]</em>

    <em>[Even the gods could not stop the Titans as they swung their gigantic swords at them.]</em>

    <em>[However, the ck Dwarves were no fools. They knew they could not conquer and take over the Land of the Gods.]</em>

    <em>[The ce they were aiming for was where the celestial dwellers lived.]</em>

    <em>[The celestial dwellers werent gods. They were ordinary people who lived in the Land of the Gods. They were superior to the people of the earth but still inferior to the gods.]</em>

    <em>[The ck Dwarves killed the celestial dwellers and took away theirnds. They tried to use them as leverage to demand many things from the gods of the Land of the Gods.]</em>

    <em>[Millions of the celestial dwellers died under the hands of the ck Dwarves. However, the Battle God, who was in the middle of the war with the Demon World, could not send the Divine Army to ward them off.]</em>

    <em>[At that time, only one god stepped forward to protect the celestial dwellers.]</em>

    The scene in front of Minhyuk changed as the exnation rang in his ears. He saw the War God, whose face was covered with a helmet, kneeling before the previous generation''s Battle God after being granted an audience.

    Battle God, please grant me the permission to go into war.

    This lord does not wish for you to go.

    <em>[The Battle God cherished the War God more than anybody else. It was to the point that he was willing to give up his position as the Battle God to him. That was why he did not want him to go there just to protect their celestial dwellers.]</em>

    Battle God! I have to go. Cant you hear the voices of our dying celestial dwellers?!

    The Battle God looked at the War God as he shouted at him.

    If you go there, you will die. The Battle God shook his head. Your life is far more precious than the lives of our celestial dwellers.

    All lives are equal. It doesnt matter if they are a god, a divine subject, or a human; their lives matter.

    <em>[However, no matter how hard the Battle God persuaded him, he could not break the will of the War God. It was because he was this kind of man that the Battle God loved and cared for him.]</em>

    <em>[The War God has an extraordinary power.]</em>

    <em>[Of course, his power and might were exceptional. However, he was the one who trained the ordinary celestial dwellers and turned them into soldiers of the Divine Army.]</em>

    <em>[The Battle God knew that the ones that the War God trained would be able to surpass his own Divine Army in the future.]</em>

    War God Veyron said, Please bestow upon me the Divine Weapon. I will use the Divine Weapon to defeat our enemies.

    <em>[The Divine Weapon was a weapon created by the God of cksmiths long ago. It might look like an ordinary cannon, but its power and destructive capabilities far exceeded the gods powers.]</em>

    <em>[However, the Battle God knew only twenty Divine Weapons existed.]</em>

    <em>This is so he could drag the time.</em>

    <em>[The Battle God immediately understood what Veyron wanted to do. He was going to sacrifice himself. Veyron decided to sacrifice himself so the gods would be able to drive out the demons and Devils ande to rescue their celestial dwellers.]</em>

    The Battle Gods lips opened slightly, but he could not bear to open his mouth to say it.

    <em>[The Battle God looked at the War God, who showed no fear even in the face of his death. The Battle God might be the greatest, but this god in front of him had his respect.]</em>

    You have my permission.

    The War God bowed deeply at the Battle God before turning around. With the ck horned helmet on his head and a ck cape fluttering behind him, the War God walked with his head held high until he stepped out of the red carpet that lined the audience hall.

    Minhyuk could not take his eyes away from the man.

    <em>[A few dayster, War God Veyron fell on the battlefield and died a heroic death.]</em>

    Minhyuk saw War God Veyron standing above the walls and looking at the Land of the Gods with a small smile.

    <em>[Using countless tactics and strategies, he fought fiercely, apanied by 350,000 celestial dwellers and the Divine Weapons in hand.]</em>

    <em>[During the battle, War God Veyron realized that the ck Dwarves and the Demon World had joined hands.]</em>

    <em>[The ck Dwarves aimed to kill all of the celestial dwellers. After doing so, they would then work with the demons of the Demon World and kill the gods.]</em>

    <em>[However, thanks to War God Veyron holding back the ck Dwarves for four days, the war ended with the victory of the Land of the Gods.]</em>

    <em>[After they drove out the demons and Devils of the Demon World, the Battle God hurriedly led all of the gods, rescued the surviving celestial dwellers, and drove out the ck Dwarves.]</em>

    <em>[Eventually, they found the body of Veyron. There were clear traces of battle on his body, showing them that he fought fiercely and bravely until he took his veryst breath.]</em>

    <em>[Veyron died with his eyes wide open. However, his eyes remained sharp and strong. A testament to his bravery and determination to stop all enemies until the very end.]</em>

    Minhyuk, looking at Veyron standing atop the walls before the battle, shuddered at the small glimpse of his future that he had seen through the notifications.

    <em>He knew. </em>Minhyuk was deeply impressed by the man standing in front of him. <em>He knew that he would die here.</em>

    However, even though he knew that he was still looking over the Land of the Gods with a small smile. It was true. He was truly deserving of the title of a hero- the hero of the gods.

    <em>Perhaps the Argalis Dungeons Second Gates task is to help Veyron and prevent him from dying?</em>

    Of course, that did not mean that Minhyuk could change the past and influence the future. This was just the dungeons trial, which recreated the fierce and glorious battles of the past.

    Minhyuk, who thought that all of the notifications regarding Veyron had already ended, suddenly heard a shocking and iprehensible notification in his ears.

    <em>[You have a connection with the War God Veyron!]</em>

    <em>[You can watch additional videos and hear exnations ordingly!]</em>

    The scene in front of Minhyuk changed once again.

    The Battle God gently ced War God Veyrons head on hisp, his hand slowly closing his eyes that remained open even after death.

    <em>[The Battle God looked at Veyrons cold corpse and remembered their conversation.]</em>

    Battle God.

    <em>Swoosh</em>

    The scene in front of Minhyuk changed in an instant. This time, he saw the two gods chatting happily as they walked in the garden.

    When he saw the Battle God turn around, Veyron said, Once the peace has been restored in the Land of the Gods, I wish to live with the humans.

    With humans?

    I have taught and helped many grow and develop in the Land of the Gods. I also want to share this power with the humans.

    You Youre a god that loves to give.

    Hahaha. Is that so?

    The scene swiftly returned to the scene from before. The Battle God hugged War God Veyrons cold body and said, I will help you achieve your dreams.

    Then, something shed in front of Minhyuk at a high speed. It felt like he was watching a zoetrope, those spinningnterns that disyed sequences of drawings. The first scene showed the image of a mother giving her all to give birth to a baby inside one of the tents set up on the battlefield.

    <em>Uwaaah! Uwaaah! Uwaaah! Uwaaah!</em>

    The second scene showed the child, who was not yet four years old, witnessing the massacre of the royal army where he was born and raised.

    The third scene showed the struggles of the four-year-old child as he wandered around the world and tried his hardest to survive.

    And the fourth scene? It was the scene of the war orphan wandering like a beggar and encountering the long procession of imperial carriages.

    The scenes that followed next shed faster in front of Minhyuk. It showed how the child, the war orphan, followed the emperor and became a citizen of his empire. A scene also revealed how he held his sword and fought for his emperor and the kingdom. The child grew, bing a soldier. The soldier then became a knight, and the knight became themander.

    There was also a scene where themander shouted at the dozens of knights before him as he trained them. It also showed how he walked the battlefield with his knights and fought until he became a legend in thend of humans.

    As he grew older, he eventually became the pir of the empire.

    Uwaaaaaaaah!

    Wooooooooah!

    Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

    The child, now a stalwart man, stood atop the walls with a small smile as he looked at his emperor and the almost ten million-strong army in front. Then, a strong wind blew as he removed the horned helmet covering his face. The wind blew his hair away from his face and revealed his figure. This man was the reincarnation of War God Veyron, the hero of the Land of the Gods. And his name was

    Hound Amacar.

 Chapter 880

    Chapter 880

    <em>[You can now view the Argalis Dungeons Second Gate.]</em>

    <em>[To clear Argalis Dungeons Second Gate, you must help War God Veyron lead the celestial dwellers to victory.]</em>

    Veyron died in the line of duty. He and the celestial dwellers under hismand fought fiercely and bravely before dying a heroic death. However, because they sacrificed themselves to hold back the ck Dwarves, the Land of the Gods could drive out the enemies. It was a pyrrhic victory.

    <em>Amacar </em>Minhyuk shuddered.

    War God Veyron, who sacrificed himself to save the Land of the Gods, was recorded in history as a <em>hero</em> for a very long time and would continue to be known as such in the future. The fact that Amacar was his reincarnation made Minhyuks heart thump wildly.

    However, he had one question: <em>If I join that battlefield, will I be able to lead them to victory?</em>

    The ck Dwarves and the Titans were mighty beings. Minhyuk estimated their level to be around Level 680 or higher. Could adding one person truly change the war''s course on this battlefield?

    <em>Argalis Dungeons level of difficulty is ridiculously high.</em>

    However, because Minhyuk could sessfully attack and break the first gate, he knew it was not wholly impossible.

    <em>I dont need to turn the entire battlefield upside down.</em>

    Minhyuk guessed that Veyron and the celestial dwellers under hismand had <em>a winning chance</em>, but an unexpected situation wiped them out. Just when the thought shed in his head

    <em>[You will now participate and enter the battlefield on the day Veyron was recorded as a hero.]</em>

    <em>[You will appear on the battlefield as an ordinary celestial dweller. However, the effects of your armor, weapons, skills, and abilities will remain the same.]</em>

    <em>[The effects of the Passive Skill: The Greatest Sword has been temporarily sealed!]</em>

    ***

    War God Veyron ran at the vanguard and traversed through the canyons with a bow slung on his back, a spear in his left hand, and a sword in his right hand.

    Retreat! Run as fast as you can!

    Veyron had always advocated and emphasized to the celestial dwellers that they should also undergo training to help protect the Land of the Gods. The celestial dwellers gathered on their own volition and trained under his guidance. War God Veyron had the power to help others unlock their potential and help them grow rapidly.

    Veyron, who had trained these ordinary celestial dwellers to the point that they could rival the Divine Army, looked around and said, ...Quick- quick! Run quickly!

    Dont look back!

    Those that were running behind him all looked like they were prepared to face death. Of course, Veyron was the same. He did not intend to live past this battle. He only thought of giving it his all to protect the Land of the Gods, even at the cost of his own life.

    Keuaaaaaaaack! A loud and piercing scream rang from behind them. It was a scream ripped out of the mouths of two celestial dwellers after they were shed by the greatsword in the hand of the eight-meter-tall titan made of hard steel.

    Some of the Titans even grabbed the ankles of the fleeing celestial dwellers, pulling their limbs apart until they died from the strain.

    Kekekekeke!

    Where are you going to run to?!

    The ck Dwarves, who looked quite simr to ordinary dwarves except for their ck skin, satfortably behind the transparent ss that protected the titans cockpit as they jeered andughed at the fleeing Veyron and the celestial dwellers.

    Veyron shot an arrow at the ck dwarf thatughed at them a few moments ago.

    <em>Hiiiik!</em> The ck dwarf flinched in surprise.

    <em>Thump!</em>

    However, the arrow failed to pierce through the transparent ss. It only left behind a tiny crack on the otherwise clear ss. The defense of the ck dwarves titans wasparable to that of most gods. They were war weapons made especially to kill the gods.

    Kekekekeke! Moron! The ck dwarf cackled at the man called War God.

    The one hailed as the War God could not pierce their defenses. However, Veyron nocked another arrow on his bow.

    Keke? The ck dwarf suddenly felt that something was wrong. A tiny crack appeared on the transparent ss in front of him. And the arrow that Veyron shot? It was aimed at that very same crack.

    <em>Fwooooooosh</em>

    <em>Craaaaaaaaaaack</em>

    The arrow, which shot urately through that tiny crack, soon pierced through the ss and stabbed straight through theughing ck dwarf''s head.

    <em>Creaaaaaaaak</em>

    <em>Thuuuuuuuuuud!</em>

    When the gigantic Titan charging at the forefront and chasing after the fleeing celestial dwellers suddenly copsed, the other Titans following right behind were forced to step on the Titan and lose their bnce. Just like that, they fell one after another. Although Titans were tough, sturdy, and strong, they were sluggish.

    Haa haa Veyron gasped as he watched the Titans run frantically after them. Although he bought some time for them, their enemies quickly narrowed their distance.

    What else could they do? Everything that they were doing was to buy more time. No one would call Veyron a coward for retreating and fighting in this manner. After all, he only had around 350,000 celestial dwellers under hismand to fight and deal with hundreds of Titans and thousands of ck dwarves. Besides, War God Veyron had already tied the ck dwarves down in this ce for four days.

    Veyron, who had been running nonstop, stopped when he reached the end of the cliff. Then, he quickly dashed through the soldiers and ran to the rear. He looked at the Titans running wildly toward them.

    If it were someone else standing in front of them, they would have probably felt like their limbs were numb from the heavy pressure and majesty that these Titans were showing off. However, the one standing in front of them was Veyron. Veyron looked at his enemies with a nonchnt and indifferent gaze as he lifted the spear.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang!</em>

    Then, at that moment, the bombs that were stuck in the cracks of the cliffs around them exploded. The explosion soon spread like wildfire in a prairie.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    A thick cloud of dust rose in the air as the canyon copsed, burying the charging titans underneath huge rubbles. The celestial dwellers cheered after seeing the titans get buried underneath the rubble.

    Waaaaaaaaaaaaah!

    Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

    Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

    A bitter and wry smile painted Veyrons face when he heard their cheers of joy. <em>I was able to buy a bit more time.</em>

    The celestial dwellers cheered. However, Veyron knew that titans were weapons that could not be broken or stopped by something like that.

    <em>Baaaaaang!</em>

    And just like Veyron expected, a titans steel arm punched itself out of the rubble. It did not take long for the rest of the Titans to crawl out of the debris.

    <em>It would take at least two hours for them to finish repairing the Titans. I will use that time to prepare for ourst battle in Aembor Fortress.</em>

    Aembor Fortress was an old fortress built around a massive dam abandoned for a long time.

    Everyone, run at full speed toward Aembor Fortress!

    Yes, sir!

    ***

    Aembor Fortress.

    Veyron stood at the fortress walls and looked around him.

    Are you alright?

    Im fine. I can still fight.

    Your leg is broken. How can you even fight in that state?

    Soldiers, who seemed to have been friends for a long time, were talking. Some helped and worried about their friends, while others closed their eyes and prayed.

    Irunie I will protect you, a soldier prayed as he recalled the face of his wife, who was waiting for him back home. There was no promise of <em>going back home</em> in his prayers. He just prayed and promised to <em>keep her safe</em> and <em>protect </em>her and their childs happiness.

    <em>We will all die here. However, we will fight until thest minute and buy as much time as possible.</em>

    <em>Booooooooooom!</em>

    The celestial dwellers began wielding divine weapons, shooting cannons through the wall gaps.

    <em>This will be our final resting ce. </em>Veyron and his celestial dwellers nned to use the divine weapons to defeat as many Titans as possible in this ce.

    The Gods Cannons could only be fired after gathering enough divine power. Once fired, even the tough and sturdy metal titans would be crushed under their might. Although they might only have twenty Gods Cannons, they were enough to kill the ck dwarves.

    When Veyron nced to the side, he saw <em>it.</em> It was a magnificent masterpiece, around five metersrger than a titan. Its structure might be simr to a titan, but its quality was different. And its name?

    <em>Bless.</em>

    Bless was one of the Weapons of the Gods. What was surprising about this was that Production ss Gods created it in the past.

    <em>They had been mocked and criticized for being weak and useless, unable to participate in war. To prove they could be as strong as the other gods, they gathered together and created this divine weapon called Bless.</em>

    However, there was one problem. No one could operate Bless. The first and foremost reason was that Bless was too old and no longer operational. The second reason was that one had to have an extremely high <em>DEX</em> to operate this weapon.

    The Production ss Gods werent fools. They knew a disaster would unfold if the Combat ss Gods could activate Bless, so they made it so they could only do so.

    <em>Thuuud Thud, thud, thud!</em>

    While Veyron recalled about Bless, the ck dwarves finally finished repairing the Titans and were already charging toward them. It was frightening and spectacr to see gigantic titans charging toward the walls of the fortress.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang!</em>

    The titans threw spears that stuck throughout the walls of the fortress.

    <em>Crack Crack, crack, crack!</em>

    <em>Booooooom</em>

    The entire fortress shook and trembled. But that was not the end. A gigantic spear soon shot toward the walls.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang</em>

    Keuaaaaaack!

    Aaaaaaaaack!

    Keheooooook!

    The impact of the spear was as powerful as that of a nuclear bomb. With just one harpoon, more than a hundred celestial dwellers were swept away and killed.

    <em>Thud Thud, thud, thud, thud!</em>

    Veyron saw a titan charging with a six-meter-long greatsword and looked around him. Everyone was prepared to die. They might be afraid, but their determination was firm and solid.

    Until the very end.

    Until the very end!

    <em>We will protect the Land of the Gods and the home of the celestial dwellers.</em>

    With all his might, Veyron said, Activate the Gods Cannons!!!

    The cannons all over the walls began gathering divine power at his cries.

    <em>Vwoong, vwoong, vwoong, vwooong!</em>

    ...

    The Gods Cannons were so powerful that even War God Veyron was terrified of them. At that moment, the titan holding the greatsword jumped toward the walls.

    <em>Vwoooooooong</em>

    The cannon immediately fired at the titan that shed at the walls with the greatsword.

    <em>Booooooooom!</em>

    The titan, who received the full force of the cannon, was forced to fly away.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    The huge impact that collided with the titan sent its body flying back. It was left stuck and crushed against the walls of a mountain a bit further away from the fortress. Sparks flew all over the titan''s joints.

    ...

    The Gods Cannons were much more potent than Veyron had expected.

    <em>Bang! Bang! Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The Gods Cannons constantly fired at the Titans charging toward the walls. Veyron was delighted when he saw the cannons render the Titans useless.

    <em>Perhaps</em>

    Perhaps they still had a bit of hope. Maybe they could live, too. And that tiny spark of hope also started to sprout in the hearts of the celestial dwellers. However, that hope was soon crushed into nothingness.

    <em>Bzzz bzzz bzzz</em>

    <em>Bzz bzzz bzzz</em>

    The cannons that were just firing divine powers non-stop earlier suddenly stopped working one after another.

    Whats going on?!

    Someone immediately reported the situation to Veyron.

    The Gods Cannons have malfunctioned. Perhaps its because theyre too old to be still operational.

    Perhaps this was only a natural oue. After all, these weapons have not been used nor maintained for thousands of years. And because they came here quickly, they could not first send them for repair and maintenance.

    Go and fix it! Hurry!

    The cksmiths hurriedly ran to repair the cannons. However, the answer that they received plunged them into the depths of despair.

    It- it cannot be repaired.

    Its impossible for us to repair the items the gods have created.

    ...We have no other way.

    Veyrons expression grew ugly. They could not fall yet. They needed to drag it longer. If they fell at this point, the ck dwarves would immediately go and fight with the gods. If that happened, the Land of the Gods would fall under the hands of the Demon World and the ck dwarves.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang</em>

    However, the Titans arrived near them in just a blink and attacked the walls. Some of the Titans even started to climb up the walls. But that was not all. The specially produced Titans also jumped up on the walls and began to sh and hack at the soldiers with their greatswords.

    Veyron heard the screams of the dying celestial dwellers, his eyes turning toward those who were waiting for hismands. They all shed a small smile at him. Veyron also shed a small smile at them as he looked up. He saw the birds flying away in the exceptionally blue sky above them. Veyron knew that this would be their final moments.

    Destroy the dam.

    The celestial dwellers nodded at his orders and began to move busily. Why did they choose this fortress? As mentioned before, it was surrounded by a massive dam. If that dam were destroyed, the river would flood and devour the fortress and the Titans charging at it.

    Titans were vulnerable to water. Once they were submerged, they lost all function. It would take the ck dwarves a few hours to repair and get them running again.

    Several celestial dwellers stood in front of Veyron with switches in their hands. Even the others fighting fiercely stopped and gathered around the War God.

    You were still young and foolish when I first saw you.

    Now, you have be a father and have matured.

    When I first met Ells, he said he wanted to be one of those amazing Divine Army soldiers. You have already be one. And you are even greater than any other Divine Army soldier.

    Its all thanks to you, Lord Veyron.

    Everyones breathing grew rough and heavy. The soldiers were all pretending to be calm and forcing themselves to smile in the face of their deathshowever, the faces of those that they wished to see shed in their heads.

    The story of War God Veyron, the hero that protected the Land of the Gods, would now end here.

    Thank you, everyone.

    Thank you.

    For War God Veyron!

    For the Land of the Gods!

    Veyron, holding a switch in his palm, closed his eyes. <em>You and I will all be heroes. Our story would turn into legends and myths.</em>

    <em>ng! ng! aaang! aaaaaang!</em>

    But just when Veyron was about to press the switch, an unknown yet piercing sound rang in their ears. The sound stopped everyone from pressing the switch in their hands, and their heads turned to look toward where the sound wasing from.

    There, they saw someone hammering away on the Gods Cannon despite their imminent deaths. The man wore ordinary armor and a helmet distributed to the celestial dwellers.

    Thats enough. You can stop now. Veyron thought it was this mansst stubbornness and perseverance to live. It felt like the man was telling him he would bet on the Gods Cannons until the end. But despite Veyrons words, the man kept hammering the cannon, his swings growing stronger and stronger by the second.

    <em>aaaaang! aaaaaaang! aaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    At that moment, a titan suddenly appeared and charged at the man hammering away. The titan tried to cut the man and the cannon in half with his greatsword.

    <em>Vwooooooooooong</em>

    But then, everyone saw a faint smile sh underneath the helmet of the soldier, who had just finished hammering. At the same time, the broken Gods Cannon began to gather divine power once again.

    ...!

    ...!

    ...!

    <em>Vwoong, vwoong, vwoong, vwoong!</em>

    The Gods Cannon shot the charging titan.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    The finished story of the heroes, who destroyed the dam as ast-ditch effort and were buried underneath the river, was beginning anew.

 Chapter 881

    Chapter 881

    Minhyuk, who started the Second Gate, stood amidst the celestial dwellers. He ran with them through the canyons and watched in awe as War God Veyron and the celestial dwellers stopped the Titans advance by destroying the canyon. As for the main reason why Minhyuk was quite impressed

    <em>[Titan. Level 681.]</em>

    It was because the level of the Titans produced by the ck dwarves was ridiculously high. Of course, the celestial dwellers that Veyron nurtured and helped develop also had high levels, high enough to reach Level 500 and above. However, the almost 200-level difference was quite a vast chasm. The fact that Veyron and the celestial dwellers could ovee that huge chasm and stop the Titans was worthy of admiration and respect.

    Minhyuk watched the flow of the battle among the celestial dwellers. How did these war heroes end up dying in the line of duty? Finally, he found the answer.

    <em>It malfunctioned?</em>

    The Gods Cannon Veyron had prepared as theirst resort malfunctioned and stopped working.

    Go and fix it! Hurry!

    Quick!

    The celestial dwellers with high DEX quickly moved to the Gods Cannons and tried to repair them. However, none of their attempts worked. Perhaps it was only natural. After all, these were divine weapons created by the God of cksmiths; they were something that mere celestial dwellers could not touch or repair.

    The Titans took advantage of the gap in their defenses brought about by the malfunctioning cannons and began to capture the fortress. Seeing this, Minhyuk quickly made a move.

    <em>As expected, the Second Gate is also very difficult.</em>

    Two conditions needed to be met to clear the Second Gate. The first condition was having strength and power. One had to be strong enough to take down a titan by themselves. The second condition was having the ability to repair the Gods Cannons. However, the problem was that neither a yer nor an ordinary god had outstanding skills in both. But Minhyuk was a different case altogether.

    <em>I yed this game so I can eat.</em>

    Because he yed this game to eat, he had been working relentlessly to increase his DEX every step of the way. In fact, his DEX reached the point where it was higher than the God of Farming. It was even higher than HyeminsDaddy, the God of cksmiths Descendant.

    Why was it so hard to raise the DEX stat? The rate at which one acquired the DEX stat did not change that much depending on ones <em>ss</em>; instead, it was entirely dependent on the amount of repetitivebor and work rted to <em>DEX</em> that one did.

    Of course, the DEX of someone like Minhyuk, who often made hundreds of dishes a day and often dug continuously in the fields, would inevitably reach an extremely high level. On top of that, he also had the 4x increase in DEX Acquisition Rate attached to Ellies Kitchen Knife.

    Not long after, Minhyuk saw Veyron and the celestial dwellers gather together in one ce.

    <em>Shit!</em>

    Minhyuk quickly understood what they wanted to do. Veyron and the celestial dwellers intended to break the dam and flood the area with the river as ast-ditch effort to ward off the enemies. He understood why they were hailed as heroes. They were true heroes who only considered protecting the Land of the Gods and the people within it, even at the cost of their own lives.

    The running Minhyuk screeched to a halt before one of the Gods Cannons. His breathing was ragged as he triggered the special privilege of someone who owned an extraordinarily high DEX.

    At that moment, countless tiny red spots appeared all over the cannon''s surface. Then, words started to appear and float above the red dots.

    <em>[Needs screw recement.]</em>

    <em>[Needs hammering.]</em>

    <em>[Needs rust removal.]</em>

    <em>[Needs parts recement.]</em>

    The first thing that Minhyuk did was to grab his screwdriver and rece the screws that were almost broken apart by the rust that ate through the metal.

    <em>[You have ideally reced the screws.]</em>

    <em>[No matter how much time passes by, rust will no longer appear in the screws.]</em>

    <em>[You have repaired 12% of the Gods Cannon.]</em>

    <em>[The Gods Cannon is still not functional and cannot be operated yet!]</em>

    Minhyuk nced at Veyron and the celestial dwellers, who were holding the switches in their palms after he reced the screws. His hands moved swiftly as he removed the rust that started to eat away at the Gods Cannon.

    <em>[You have perfectly removed the rust from the Gods Cannon.]</em>

    <em>[Rust will no longer be able to stick to the Gods Cannon.]</em>

    <em>[You have repaired 28% of the Gods Cannon.]</em>

    <em>[The Gods Cannon is still not functional and cannot be operated yet!]</em>

    However, it was still not enough.

    <em>Baaaaang! Bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The Titans swung their greatswords and cut down the celestial dwellers that blocked their paths. Veyron, who seemed no longer able to bear to watch such a devastating scene, slowly closed his eyes while his palm started to close and pushed on the switch''s button in his hand.

    However, Minhyuk moved a step faster than him, his hammer mming strongly on the metal of the Gods Cannon.

    <em>aaaaaaang!</em>

    The impact of the hammer was so strong that sparks sshed all over the ce; that was how powerful and heavy Minhyuks hammer was. Veyron and the rest of the celestial dwellers all turned to look at him when they heard the sound of his hammer. Minhyuks heart almost leaped from his chest with the urgency of the current situation.

    A war hero would always be born in every country, nation, kingdom, or empire; an example would be just like Yi Sun-Shin. At this moment, Minhyuk felt like he was fighting alongside Yi Sun-Shin.

    Thats enough. You can stop now, Veyron said. His voice sounded gentle as if he wanted to console Minhyuk, who was struggling until the end, so that they could live and survive. You already did your best.

    No. That was not the truth. Minhyuk had not yet shown his best.

    <em>aaaang! ng! ng, ng, ng!</em>

    Minhyuks grip on the hammer tightened as he continued to strike the Gods Cannon. He was hitting the metal so hard that his hands felt numb. Then, one of the gigantic titans charged at him at that moment. However, despite the looming threat, Minhyuk did not even stop. He ignored the titan that raised its greatsword to cut him and the cannon in half.

    <em>aaaaaaang!</em>

    <em>[You have perfectly hammered the Gods Cannon.]</em>

    <em>[The Gods Cannon durability has reached an excellent level!]</em>

    <em>[You have repaired 38% of the Gods Cannon!]</em>

    <em>[The Gods Cannon is now functional. You can now operate the cannon!]</em>

    Activate.

    <em>Vwoong, vwoong, vwoong, vwoong</em>

    A powerful force gathered at the mouth of the cannon and shot toward the charging titan.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang</em>

    Everyone standing atop the walls was rendered speechless from shock when they saw that the Titan was sent flying back. They could not believe their eyes.

    <em>H- how?</em>

    <em>The Gods Cannon</em>

    They had no choice but to wonder if the God of cksmiths had descended upon them. After all, no one else could repair the Gods Cannon except for him.

    <em>Phew.</em> Its so hot. Minhyuk removed the helmet, ultimately revealing his face after he had repaired one of the Gods Cannon with all his might.

    The man had deep and dark eyes, a pair they saw peeking through the strands of his sweaty hair, a straight nose, and a sharp jawline. His exceptional appearance made him stand out even more after his shocking performance.

    Whos that?

    Who is he?

    Do we have someone like that among us?

    Of course, they could not know who he was. However, they did not have the time or leisure to further question his identity. This was because the Titans, noticing that something strange was happening with Minhyuk, began to charge at him all at once.

    Veyron hurriedly ordered, Dedicate your lives to protect him!!!

    Mages! Concentrate your attacks on the Titans!

    Do not let a single one of them reach that man!!!

    The celestial dwellers began to throw themselves at the Titans.

    <em>aaaaaash!</em>

    Keuaaaack!

    Aaaaaaack!

    Even though their limbs were being cut off and torn away from their bodies, there was a rxed and easy smile on their faces. The only thought shing in their heads was that they could protect the Land of the Gods and allow many more of their brethren to live in exchange for their lives.

    ...

    Minhyuk was left in awe and admiration. The celestial dwellers fought until their veryst breath for the sake of the Land of the Gods. What else could he do for them? Of course, there was only one thing right now.

    <em>aang! aaaaang!</em>

    <em>aaaaaaaang!</em>

    Minhyuk moved rapidly, swiftly and quickly, as he repaired the Gods Cannons one after the other. His average repair time for each cannon was around three minutes.

    <em>aaaaang!</em>

    <em>Vwoooooooong!</em>

    Thank

    <em>aaaaash!</em>

    The divine subject that guarded Minhyuk, cut down by the titan, smiled brightly as he watched another Gods Cannon get repaired. As if to avenge his death, the Gods Cannon fired a powerful shot that sent the titan flying back.

    <em>Baaaaaaaang!</em>

    How many times had he repeated this process? Minhyuk no longer knew. His entire body was shaking and trembling from the impact that constantly traveled through his arms with every strike of his hammer as he repaired each Gods Cannon.

    <em>Its because I have over-exerted the muscles that I dont normally use.</em>

    The degree to which Athenae reflected reality was surprisingly high. In reality, the muscles used to swing a sword and strike a hammer werepletely different. Hence, his body was trembling like that. However, even if his muscles had started to ache and spasm, Minhyuk still clenched his teeth and soldiered on.

    <em>[The Skill: Divine Will has been triggered!]</em>

    <em>[All of your skills and abilities rted to DEX will temporarily increase by 30%.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will increase by 8%.]</em>

    <em>[Your attack power and defensive power will increase by 6%.]</em>

    Minhyuks repair speed suddenly increased. At the same time, his body''s shaking temporarily subsided, and his fatigue disappeared. He quickly resumed repairing the Gods Cannons. However, he reached his limits just as quickly.

    ...

    Veyron was very grateful when he saw how hard the man was working. Although he did not know who the man was, he could tell that he was forcing his body to move beyond its limits just by looking at his spasming muscles and trembling body.

    Aaaaaaaaargh!!! Minhyuk shouted, his teeth clenching as he continued to work.

    Thanks to his hard work and effort, all of Gods Cannons were repaired and could be operated.

    <em>Bang Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang Baaaaaaaang!</em>

    The celestial dwellers unleashed the power of the cannons on the Titans, one after another. The repaired cannons could be fired within ten seconds of activation. However, they would take a minute to reload before they could be fired again.

    Although the Titans received the brunt of the cannons attacks, they were not destroyed. With every shot of the cannon, their durability dropped by around 20%. Of course, the ck dwarves immediately swarmed to the Titans to repair the damage.

    However, Veyron would not stand still and let them be. He appropriately used the mages magic bombs and the archers arrows. Their relentless and heavy attacks stopped the ck dwarves from repairing the Titans, and as a result, the Titans began to crumble one after another.

    With the situation gradually stabilizing, Veyron approached Minhyuk. Who are you?

    Minhyuk had already expected him to ask this question. So, he answered that question with the answer that he had already prepared in advance, I am

    ***

    God of Dungeons Bentley grabbed his head tightly. What the hell? How in the world was he able to do that?!

    Bentley just could not make it make sense. Yes, he acknowledged that Minhyuk was strong enough to clear the First Gate- there was no denying it. However, what shocked him was that the man was also quite skilled at the job of a <em>production ss</em>.

    The Food God was not even remotely close to being a cksmith-rted ss. However, the fact that he was able to repair the Gods Cannons was proof that he possessed an unusually high DEX.

    If the First Gate was a test of strength and power, then the Second Gate was a test rted to production sses. It was mainly because of these two that no god had ever cleared the dungeon. However, the man who challenged the dungeonspletely broke the reckless confidence in this idea.

    I- I cant allow him to do this.

    If things continued at this rate, Minhyuk could pass through the Second Gate easily. The worst part? There was a hidden system in the Second Gate.

    <em>God Evas respected Veyron more than anybody else.</em>

    Veyron was a hero who protected the Land of the Gods. As ast-ditch effort, he broke the dam and sacrificed himself to buy time for the other gods. His respect for the man made him create the Second Gate like this.

    The truth was the Second Gate was a significant gate for the gods. This gate was made with noble and great intentions to honor the hero that Evas admired and respected the most and made the Land of the Gods what it is now.

    If the Second Gate were truly cleared, Veyrons achievements and videos left behind by Evas would be passed on to the other gods. However, the problem was that the key person who would allow them to view this video was none other than the <em>Food God.</em>

    Once that happened, Bentley, who insulted, mocked, and jeered both the Food God and the Battle God, would most definitely be demoted. So, he could not allow it.

    I wont allow you!!!

    Ultimately, the only string holding Bentleys reason snapped as a sense of urgency overwhelmed him.

    <em>Anyways, no one would know what is happening inside the dungeon right now.</em>

    No one, including the other gods, knew what was happening inside the Argalis Dungeon. Because of this safety, Bentley readily broke the rules.

    Bentley had always been interested in the Titans created in Evas Second Gate. As the Dungeon Maker and a production-ss god, he had been working for hundreds of years to reproduce another titan, and he had sessfully made one.

    The titan that he had produced was massive. Its height reached thirteen meters and was powerful enough to deal with thirty ordinary titans. Its skin was also hard because he made it using the parasitic <em>dragon</em>s things living in the Land of the Gods.

    Bentley also created this spear-wielding massive titan, his masterpiece, in case he was left in a situation where he had to fight against the Battle God.

    Just as he was about to enter the cockpit of the <em>Titan of Destruction</em>, the soul of Evas, the creator of Argalis Dungeon, sent him a warning.

    <em>[Once you enter the Second Gate with the Titan of Destruction and get killed by the Dungeon Challenger, you will be stripped of your position as the God of Dungeons.]</em>

    <em>[You aremitting a serious felony by tarnishing the noble and great heros battlefield!]</em>

    ...

    Bentley also held great respect and admiration for War God Veyron. After all, the War God was a god that received the care of all the gods. However, his greed had already taken over his body and squeezed that respect out of his consciousness. His only thought was to enter the Titan of Destructions cockpit. At the same time

    <em>[If you break into the dungeon, the Dungeon Challenger will receive extra privileges!]</em>

    However, Bentley ignored the warnings and maneuvered the Titan of Destruction.

    ***

    Who are you? was the first question War God Veyron asked the mysterious man who appeared in their moment of crisis.

    Who was he? Was he a god sent by the Battle God to help them? Or was he an unknown, hidden god who came here to save them?

    Minhyuk had prepared an answer to such a question. This man in front of him deserved all the respect in the world. Even though he had already died an actual death, he was still standing in front of Minhyuk.

    I am Minhyuk, who could not help the tears that dripped down his cheeks, said, I am someone sent by the War God.

    ...? Veyron looked at him in confusion. <em>He</em> was the War God. What was this man saying?

    I came from the future.

    Minhyuk weaved a story, his words containing both truths and lies. He had a reason for this.

    So, he began to tell his tale. He told Veyron about how he was already dead, about how the Battle God felt heartache for him and helped him fulfill his wishes by sending him to earth. He told him his name

    Amacar. Hes the one that sent me.

    ...What kind of person is he?

    Minhyuk answered Veyrons question slowly and carefully.

    Hes strong, just like you.

    Hes great, just like you.

    He cares for everyone, just like you.

    Hes a man that will be a hero, just like you.

    To be fair, Minhyuk thought Veyron would sport aplicated expression once he heard these words. However, there was no denying the truth that he <em>was dead.</em> But contrary to his thoughts, Veyron chuckled slightly.

    Thats a relief. Im quite happy that the other me can fulfill my wishes and is receiving the love of everyone around him.

    Veyron looked up at the sky. He had calmly epted the fact that he had died. Then, he turned to Minhyuk and asked a very heart-wrenching question, Did my death

    ...

    ...did my death allow many people the chance to smile once again?

    Minhyuk felt his heartache at that question. However, he shed a bright and wide smile at the great and noble hero and said, Yes. You have given many<em>, many</em> people the chance to smile again.

 Chapter 882

    Chapter 882

    Minhyuk felt an intense heartache. Veyron might have died underneath the rushing torrent of water with his eyes wide open, but because of his sacrifice, many were given the chance to smile once again. The gods that struggled to protect the Land of the Gods and the surviving celestial dwellers could all live andugh again.

    <em>A true hero.</em>

    Minhyuk wondered if he could smile while asking questions like that if he were the one in Veyrons shoes. No matter how prepared one was for their death, they would still feel shock and fear once they heard that they had died. Perhaps it would even solidify their determination just to run away and live. However, Veyron was different. He was showing a heartfelt smile on his face.

    <em>I see, one can still be happy even if they chose to sacrifice themselves.</em> Just when the thought shed in his head

    <em>[You have achieved the </em><strong><em>Easter Egg</em></strong><em>: Heros Teachings.]</em>

    This was the first time Minhyuk had heard about an Easter egg like this, so the notification was a surprise. After all, there was no case where one obtained an Easter egg just because they learned something from another.

    <em>Veyron is a hero in the Land of the Gods.</em>

    That may be why so many shocking things were happening around Veyron. Then, a soft, gentle, and warm voice that sounded like a mothers whisper rang in Minhyuks ears.

    <em>[Being happy despite choosing to sacrifice oneself its a situation that has always been within reach.]</em>

    <em>[Your beautiful and gentle mother carried you for ten months. Her flesh growing and stretching, leaving behind hideous marks on her otherwise fair and beautiful body, is a kind of pain and sacrifice.]</em>

    <em>[When your mother finally gave birth to you after ten months, she never harbored any resentment or hate towards you.]</em>

    <em>[She had a faint smile as she looked upon you.]</em>

    <em>[She had made a sacrifice, but she was happy.]</em>

    This lesson touched Minhyuks heart deeply. That was right. It was just like the notifications said. It was something that was not that far from him. Being happy despite sacrificing oneself has always been within his reach. This became a life lesson that moved the heart of Minhyuk, who was only twenty-one years old.

    <em>I will also strive to be a person that can smile and be happy even if I choose to sacrifice something.</em>

    He aimed to be a person just like that, just like a mother who smiled brightly at her child despite the pain and suffering brought about by childbirth.

    Another series of notifications rang in Minhyuks ears at that moment.

    <em>[You have acquired the </em><strong><em>Title</em></strong><em>: The One with a Faint Smile.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by +1.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 200 REP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1,000 CHA.]</em>

    Minhyuk did not have the time nor the leisure to check the title. Even the emotional Veyron, looking up at the sky, also returned to his senses. They had to stop the Titans right here and now. Although Veyron had learned about their future and their fate, he intended to avoid sitting and watching by the sidelines. The future was the future, and the present was the present. For the present Veyron, he had to prevent the Titans from advancing further and minimize the damage to the celestial dwellers as much as possible.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang</em>

    The celestial dweller mages interrupted the ck dwarves from repairing the titans by sending magic attacks non-stop.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Gods Cannons were also continuously gathering divine power and bombarding them, preventing the Titans from advancing. The asional ones who could run despite receiving the brunt of the Gods Cannons attacks were blocked by magic and the crowd of celestial dweller soldiers as much as possible.

    War God Veyron also joined in the fray, jumping out and shooting a spear towards the transparent ss covering the titans cockpit to kill the ck dwarves driving them. One of the titans weaknesses was that the enemies could kill the <em>pilot.</em> Of course, the other dwarves could take the opportunity to jump into the cockpit and operate it, but no one was foolish enough to allow a gap that would let them do so.

    With the appropriate tactics and strategies, Veyron and the celestial dwellers could push back the Titans.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang!</em>

    In the end, some of the Titans exploded, damaging the other Titans in their vicinity and forcing them to explode. Why did a chain of explosions erupt? Titans were weapons that needed fuel before being operated.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Veyrons fists clenched as he watched the Titans explode one after the other.

    <em>We can win.</em>

    His heart sprouted with hope that they could win while preventing any more damage to his and the celestial dwellers bodies.

    <em>Thud Thud, thud, thud, thud</em>

    Just then, an unknown sound reverberated on the entire battlefield. Veyrons eyes immediately flew to where the strange and unusual sound wasing from. He caught sight of a towering titan that suddenly appeared above a small cliff quite a distance away from them.

    ...!

    The towering Titan, twice asrge as the ordinary titans, jumped down and trampled on the fallen titans, forcing sparks to erupt from their already damaged bodies.

    <em>Crackle, crackle, crackle!</em>

    The trampled Titans did not take too long to explode from the strain and pressure above them.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang!</em>

    The gigantic titan quickly swept away the explosion and stomped on the mes that erupted beneath its feet before stepping forward.

    Minhyuk, who was watching the situation on the battlefield with the rest of the army, also looked at the titan that stepped out of the zing mes.

    <em>[Titan of Destruction. Level 813.]</em>

    <em>[God of Dungeons Bentley. Level 771.]</em>

    Minhyuks face grew ugly. <em>There was no mention of Bentley in the description at all.</em>

    In other words, God of Dungeons Bentley had ignored the rules of the existing Argalis Dungeon and broke in by himself. Then, a notification rang in his ears that proved this assumption.

    <em>[The God of Dungeons had broken inside the Argalis Dungeon by himself!]</em>

    One look and Minhyuk could tell that the god was both a moron and a small-minded individual.

    <em>He willingly broke the rules in fear that I might be able to break and clear the Argalis Dungeon.</em>

    What a ridiculous god, no? The God of Dungeons jeered and mocked him so much, but when cornered, he immediately resorted to petty tricks and foul y. Then, at that moment

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Sudden Quest</em></strong><em>: In the Name of the Food God.]</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: SSS</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: The One that Challenged the Second Gate of Argalis Dungeon.</em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: Skipping Argalis Dungeons 3rd~5th Gates.</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Failure</em></strong><em>: Everything that transpired in the Argalis Dungeon will be hidden.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: God of Dungeons Bentley broke the rules of the Argalis Dungeon and entered its gate. If you can stop Bentley and clear the Second Gate safely, you can skip the remaining gates and earn all of the rewards. However, if you fail, everything that has transpired inside the Argalis Dungeon will be buried and hidden.</em>

    All the quests that were mostly avable to yers had choices. The same was true for this quest. The fact that one could skip the remaining gates was quite a tempting and sweet reward.

    <em>Anyway, once Im forced to log out here, no one would believe whatever I sayter.</em>

    Whether he epted the quest or not, the penalty would remain at Bentleys discretion. If that was the case, epting it was far better. However, even after epting the quest, Minhyuk still felt nervous.

    <em>That guy is over Level 800.</em>

    The worst part? God of Dungeons Bentley was the one manning the cockpit of that Titan. The risks, dangers, and anomalies the two would bring to this field remained unknown.

    Veyron, who was standing by the side, took off his helmet and revealed the face of a handsome middle-aged man. He turned to Minhyuk and asked, Do you have a way to get out of this ce?

    Yes?

    If you can run, then run away. We can handle the rest, Veyron said, his eyes turning to look at the dam again.

    <em>Of course, that can certainly work.</em>

    No matter how strong the titan was or how excellent Bentley was as its pilot, they would still be unable to handle the raging waves of the river once the dam was broken. Of course, that would only be theirst resort.

    This is not something that a production ss god can handle.

    ...

    Just hearing those words, Minhyuk could tell that Veyron was not even bothered about his title. The only thing he believed from his words was most likely the part when he said to Veyron that he came from the future.

    Theres no way that the War God or any otherbat ss god would be good at hammering like that.

    This was a bit of apse in Minhyuks judgment. The fact that he talked about the <em>War Gods Descendant</em> in front of the War God himselfpletely removed the possibility that the hero would think he was abat-ss god.

    What kind of god are you?

    I am the Food God.

    Veyron smiled lightly. He could tell that the young man in front of him was different from the other stupid gods. However, gods were beings who excelled in their respective fields. In other words, he believed that the Food God would also have a ce where his power could shine.

    You can shine brighter in another ce, not in a ce like this. This was Veyrons honest opinion. Based on what he had seen so far, he had judged that Minhyuk was most likely weaker than other ordinary gods. He wanted to tell Minhyuk, <em>You can be more helpful there.</em> but he was not allowed to do so.

    The Titan of Destruction moved a step faster than him.

    <em>Creaaaaaaak!</em>

    <em>nk, nk, nk</em>

    The Titan of Destructions body creaked, opening throughout to reveal dozens of miniature cannons. The cannons fired dozens of missiles thatnded all over the fortress walls.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    One missile alone could bring an entire area with a fifty-meter radius into ruins, let alone dozens. The sudden bombing killed a significant number of celestial dwellers and forced a portion of the fortress walls to copse. It also brought two Gods Cannons that were sitting perfectly in the gaps of the now copsed fortress walls to be destroyed.

    Minhyuk, who could only regain his bnce after a short while, looked back only to see that Veyron was already flying forward. At the same time, a notification rang in Minhyuks ears.

    <em>[God of Dungeons Bentley has broken the rules of the dungeons. You will be given a special privilege!]</em>

    ***

    With a bow slung on his back, a spear in his left hand, and a sword in his right hand, Veyron shot forward while thinking, <em>I hope that you can run, God who Loves to Eat.</em>

    He was very grateful that Minhyuk repaired the Gods Cannons for them. However, now that an unexpected variable has appeared, he believed he no longer needed to stay with them. They had to endure this themselves.

    If they could not stop the Titan of Destruction, they would have no choice but to return to square one. They just needed to break the dam.

    Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

    Woaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

    Sensing that the final battle was about to take ce, the celestial dwellers immediately jumped out of the gaps of the crumbling fortress walls. They ran to protect Veyron, ensuring he was not interrupted or held back by the ordinary Titans.

    Veyron was the <em>War God; he</em> could exert the most potent power whenever he was on the battlefield.

    Comrades Roar.

    <em>Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!</em>

    A roar resounded and shook the world. This roar gave courage and strength to the charging celestial dwellers, their determination to never back down rising to an all-time high.

    War God.

    An overwhelming amount of divine power surged out, the divine power staining all of his weapons with a brilliant and blinding light.

    <em>Creaaaaaaaaaaaaak!</em>

    The Titan of Destruction raised its hands, holding the spear, and threw it with all its might.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    The gigantic spear, apanied by a booming sound, shot toward War God Veyron. Veyron also threw his spear to counter the attack. The giant spear and the tiny spear met and created a huge wave.

    <em>Booooooooom!</em>

    However, the difference in power was too big. Veyron, who was slowly being pushed back, twisted his body and moved to escape the trajectory of the gigantic spear. Then, he jumped on the chains that connected the spear while swinging his sword.

    Enemy ughter.

    <em>sh, sh sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    Hundreds of sword lights shot out from Veyrons sword, wreaking havoc all over the Titan of Destructions body.

    <em>ng, ng ng, ng, ng, ng!</em>

    shes appeared all over the body of the Titan of Destruction, which was made from the parasitic dragons living in the Land of the Gods.

    ...

    God of Dungeons Bentley was shocked. <em>Even the other gods would find it hard to damage this titan. </em>As expected of the hero of the Land of the Gods, no? However, now that Veyron had approached him, he had already won.

    <em>Crackleeeee!</em>

    Veyron quickly sheathed his sword and held the spear with both hands. At the same time, the tip of his spear started to rotate wildly.

    Splitting the Battlefield.

    Splitting the Battlefield was Veyrons secret skill. It was also the most potent skill in his arsenal and could deal with an attack with 30,000% additional damage the moment his spear pierced through their bodies.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaa!</em>

    Veyron stabbed his rotating spear up. He intended to prate the Titan of Destruction from the bottom. However, the Titan of Destruction moved a step faster than him.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    A punchnded straight on Veyrons head. Veyron did not even have time to scream. His head instantly curled in on his body, and his vision blurred from the intense pain of the attack. At the same time, the power that was brewing in his spear disappeared.

    ...

    The Titan of Destruction grabbed Veyron by the head.

    <em>I will be the Battle God. </em>Bentley gritted his teeth.

    He also had immense respect for Veyron, more so than the previous generation of God of Dungeons. However, his greed and selfishness forced him to abandon this respect.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Bentley operated the Titan of Destruction to p and punch Veyrons face crazily. The force of the attacks made Veyron stumble and stagger, fluttering around like a paper doll. The celestial dwellers tried their best to run through the gaps of the ordinary titans to save Veyron.

    Everyone knew that Veyron''s fight against the Titan of Destruction was reckless. Veyron had been fighting for days on end. He was exhausted. If he had been in peak condition, he might have been able to destroy the Titan of Destruction. However, just like an exhausted and injured apex predator could be prey to a herd of hyenas, Veyron could also prey on those weaker than him.

    Haa Haa

    Blood dripped down Veyrons head. There was so much blood that it had already clouded his vision. At that moment, Veyron pulled the switch out of his pocket with trembling hands.

    <em>Tremble, tremble</em>

    Then, he turned to look at the celestial dwellers that were fighting behind him.

    Lord Veyron!

    Lord Veyroooooooon!!!

    They all cried, running towards Veyron while pulling the same switch out of their pockets.

    The man''s previous appearance gave Veyron hope that many more celestial dwellers could live and survive this ordeal. However, that hope was quickly dashed. Nevertheless, a smile still lingered on Veyrons face. The crying celestial dwellers running towards Veyron also understood the meaning of Veyrons smile.

    <em>No matter what happens here, I know what will happen.</em>

    At this moment, Veyron could confidently say that he was pleased. Because of their death, they could protect the Land of the Gods and allow many more celestial dwellers tough and live. For the sake of that future, Veyron would willingly push the button of this switch.

    <em>Click, click, click, click, click</em>

    However, when the Titan of Destruction waved his hand, all of their switches stopped working.

    <em>ck!</em>

    No matter how hard they pushed the switch''s button, it would not work. Veyron and the celestial dwellers'' expressions grew ugly.

    The greedy Bentley did not want to see his Titan of Destruction flooded and destroyed. He manipted the other rough and sturdy hand of the Titan of Destruction towards Veyrons neck. Bentley intended to twist Veyrons head whileforting himself by thinking that this was a way for him to offer a final courtesy to the hero.

    Lord Veyron!

    No!!!

    Veyrons vision turned dark. He had fought until the very end. Thankfully, the future that he was made aware of would not change. However, even if he thought like that, he still could not shake off this unknown sense of helplessness gnawing at his soul.

    Veyron felt the cold touch of the Titan of Destructions hands on his neck. As he thought the gradually tightening force on his neck, he finally understood that he was going to die right here and now.

    <em>nk, nk, nk, nk, nk!</em>

    At that moment, an unknown sickle flew in. The sickle, connected to a chain, grabbed the Titan of Destruction by the neck and pulled it away from Veyron.

    <em>Creaaaaaaaaaak Thuuuuuud!</em>

    The Titan of Destruction was forced to let go of Veyron to regain its bnce. At that moment, Veyron opened his eyes and saw a man standing before him, blocking him from the Titan of Destruction.

    Im not yet done talking. How can you just go and leave me like that?

    He was a god called the <em>Food God,</em> a <em>production ss</em> god.

    I am the Food God. And Minhyuk, with his tall body and strong and wide back protecting Veyron from the threat before them, looked back at Veyron and said, ...I am the Battle God.

 Chapter 883

    Chapter 883

    Who was the most respected and revered god in the Land of the Gods? Was it Athenae? No. For the longest time, the god that received the most tremendous respect and admiration from all the other gods in the Land of the Gods was the Battle God.

    Why was this the case? This was because Athenae did not intervene in the affairs of the Land of the Gods. On the other hand, the Battle God was the only god that could lead all of the gods if and when something happened in their realm. He was a god that could rule all of the gods.

    The- the Battle God? Veyron could not bring himself to believe it even after hearing it. The man had identified himself as the <em>Food God</em>. He was the one who said it. So, how could he suddenly be the Battle God?

    <em>Are you telling me that the Battle God has given his position to this man called the Food God?</em>

    Even Veyron could not believe the thoughts that shed in his head. The Battle God was a name carried by someone noble, majestic, and grand. But that name was given to a god called the Food God?

    At that moment, the Titan of Destruction grabbed the chains that tied its neck with both hands.

    <em>[The Ego Chain Sickles usage duration is one minute!]</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa</em>

    The Titan of Destruction grabbed the chains and began to control it by force. At the same time, its chest opened, and a giant cannon appeared.

    Its all because of you! Bastard!!! Bentley was a petty and small-minded individual down to his very core. Even though his ns had gone wrong, he med the Food God.

    Dodge!!! Veyron hurriedly shouted.

    However, Minhyuk moved faster than Bentley. With the Sword of Aeon in his hands, he immediately narrowed the distance between him and the Titan of Destruction.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The moment Minhyuks first strikended, the lightning bolt brought forth by <em>Destruction</em> fell upon the Titan of Destruction, forcing it to a standstill. With every swing of Minhyuks sword, a lightning bolt would swiftly fall upon the towering titan.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    <em>Bzz, bzz! Crackle, crackle, crackle!</em>

    Sparks fell and covered the entire body of the Titan of Destruction, the attacks forcing it to lose its bnce and fall on one knee. However, Minhyuk did not stop there. He quickly cast his strongest skill.

    <em>Crackle!</em>

    ...! Veyron groaned when he felt the tremendous power overflow from the sword covered in mes in Minhyuks hand.

    <em>A decisive strike.</em>

    With this, the battle would end quickly.

    Supreme Overlords Technique.

    The Supreme Overlords Technique wreaked havoc upon the Titan of Destruction. However, something shocking happened.

    <em>ck</em>

    A void circle appeared above the hand that the Titan of Destruction had opened. The void devoured and sucked the raging mes of the Supreme Overlords Technique. Minhyuk was very flustered when he saw this happen.

    <em>Is he just going to suck up the Supreme Overlords Techniquepletely?</em>

    But the Titan of Destruction did not stop there. The Titan of Destructions hand, struggling earlier to help keep its bnce, suddenly stretched towards Minhyuk.

    No way

    Minhyuks ominous prediction suddenly became a reality. The zing mes roared from within the circle. Not long after, the power of the Supreme Overlords Technique that was sucked in and condensed by the titan was shot toward Minhyuk.

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 80%!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 70%!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 50%!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP]</em>

    The mes of the Supreme Overlords Technique were intense. It only took an instant for it to burn Minhyuks entire body and force his HP to drop below 10%. After sending the mes of the Supreme Overlords Technique back, the Titan of Destruction also continued to assault Minhyuk. And the force of the attacks? It was almost equivalent to the power of the remaining mes devouring his HP.

    <em>The radius might have be smaller, but the power of the attack has grown stronger.</em>

    The amount of power packed in that attack was shocking beyond belief. Minhyuk tried his hardest to restore as much HP as possible by eating the ingredients he acquired from the dungeon, but he could not keep up with the speed at which his HP had dropped.

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 10%!]</em>

    <em>[God that Never Backs Down.]</em>

    <em>[You are the candidate for being the God above all of the Gods. You will have all of the gods lying prostrate under your feet!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP and MP have recovered by 50%. Your stats will increase by +4% while your skill cooldown and MP consumption will decrease by 10%.]</em>

    However, the mes of the Supreme Overlords Technique continued to devour and gnaw at Minhyuks HP.

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 13%!]</em>

    <em>[Your entire body has been burned! A strange and ufortable feeling wraps around your whole being!]</em>

    Although Minhyuk could not exactly feel the burning pain, there was this strange and unpleasant feeling that wrapped around his entire body.

    Ugh Minhyuk groaned as his entire body grew scorched and burned.

    However, the biggest problem was not that. It was the fact that the Titans were not <em>living beings</em>.

    <em>Its tough for me to recover from my injuries.</em>

    Minhyuk was hailed as an inexhaustible damage-dealing bomber because of the ughterers Armors ughterer Absorption skill. This skill allowed him to absorb his enemies blood after he attacked them to restore his HP. However, that was impossible now. In other words, Minhyuk had lost much of his recovery ability.

    <em>Thud</em>

    To make matters worse, the Ego Chain Sickles usage duration had already ended. The chain sickle slowly fell to the ground and disappeared back into his inventory.

    Bentley sneered as he looked at Minhyuks scorched body. This guy is made from the skin and bones of the dragons living in the Land of the Gods. Nothing can cut through it.

    That was true. The Titan of Destruction had not suffered much damage even after being bathed by the rain of bloody lightning strikes.

    And its destructive power is enough to punch quite a few gods to their deaths.

    Minhyuks mind immediately whirred, his thoughts running to find a solution as he listened to Bentley bragging around. <em>I received a special privilege. I know I should take advantage of this special privilege and use it. But will it work?</em>

    Then, another thought shed in his head: <em>Just like Bentley said, the Titan of Destruction is really tough. Its durability has only fallen by 3% despite my attacks. It might just be too hard to destroy.</em>

    And that was with Destruction equipped too. If it was normal, thebination of the Sword of Absolute Death and Minhyuks various skills should have already reduced its durability as much as possible. The only disadvantage of the Titan of Destruction, which was currently on par with Minhyuk''s strength, was that it <em>could not be repaired.</em>

    At that moment, Minhyuk felt Veyron struggle to raise his body despite his bones and flesh being crushed and beaten by the fists of the titan earlier. Minhyuk shook his head lightly. It was a signal asking Veyron not to enter the battlefield.

    Veyrons mouth twitched. He looked like he wanted to say something. However, he closed his mouth in the end. <em>With how I am right now I will only be a drag.</em>

    Indeed, Veyron could not be much help with his current state. All he could do was talk. So, he said, In the future, I will be a hero.

    Veyron was a hero who had sacrificed himself for the good of many. However, he was far too weak now.

    If I became a hero with the state I am in right now, then wouldnt that mean you can also be a hero?

    ... Minhyuk turned to look at the hero, his heart thumping wildly in his chest. However, it was not only those words that made his heart pound. The notifications also contributed a lot to this feeling.

    <em>[The most significant and mightiest hero is looking at another hero.]</em>

    <em>[Perhaps, today, your name will be marked in history as the greatest hero.]</em>

    Athenae had a set system. However, it was a free game in which new scenarios could pop up based on the actions of the NPCs inside it. This was what made Athenae fun and exciting to y.

    <em>Then, lets try it. Shall we? </em>Minhyuk quickly organized his n of action.

    The Food God can never be a hero. Bentley gritted his teeth. He is nothing but a bug! He is the weakest and most trivial god in existence!

    God of Dungeons Evas even said he was nothing but a god that only liked eating. And, of course, that was what Bentley believed in. As someone who believed in those words, hearing that a god like that would be named a hero was utterly preposterous.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Small cannons appeared all over the Titan of Destruction''s body and fired several dozens of missiles at Minhyuk.

    <em>Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!</em>

    Minhyuk quickly activated <em>Absolute Defense</em> and sent the missiles flying back. At the same time, he looked at the enemy with eyes glinting sharply like a beast as he triggered the Sword of Frenzy and shot it toward its towering body. And the ce that he was aiming at? It was none other than the knee joint connecting its legs from the rest of its body.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang</em>

    A loud explosion bloomed as the Sword of Frenzynded straight on the titans knee joint. At the same time, the titans gigantic greatsword swung down on Minhyuks head.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    However, the effects of the Absolute Defense protected Minhyuk from this devastating blow.

    Sword of Absolute Death.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    The first lightning bolt fell from the sky and hit the Titan of Destruction.

    <em>Bzzt! Crackle!</em>

    ...! Bentleys eyes grew wide from shock. The lightning strike devoured 5% of the Titan of Destructions HP. This meant the titan received a shockingly vast amount of damage just by that one strike alone.

    Then, hundreds of lightning bolts rained down upon the Titan of Destruction.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    However, the titan remained persistent. It used its wicked and vicious hands to grab Minhyuk by the cor and prevent him from running away.

    Intangible Sword.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa!</em>

    Minhyuk continued to trigger his skills despite beingtched onto by the towering titan. Like that, a powerful force that ignored the enemys defenses wreaked havoc upon the Titan of Destruction.

    <em>[The Titans Durability has dropped below 85%!]</em>

    <em>[The Titans Durability has dropped below 84%!]</em>

    <em>[The Titans Durability has dropped below 83%!]</em>

    Even if the Titan of Destructions defenses were ignored by Minhyuks skill, its durability, which rivaled several godsbined, was still extremely high.

    What a joke! This titan would never break!

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Bentley, who waspletely ovee by anger, punched Minhyuk in the head several times. He hadpletely forgotten that Minhyuk was being protected by his Absolute Defense skill and would not be harmed at all. Only after venting a few times did Bentley regain his senses.

    ...

    Anyway, he had already won this battle. He no longer needed to stand at the forefront. However, even if he could not do any damage, Bentley could still grab on to Minhyuks cors and do this. So, what did he do? Of course, he threw Minhyuk away.

    The Food God can never be a hero. A trashy, weak, and stupid god cannot be a hero. Only you can be a hero, Bentley said, his gaze turning to Veyron. Bentley no longer wanted to look bad in front of the hero he admired and respected the most, so he said those words.

    After throwing Minhyuk away, Bentley saw that he had run somewhere hurriedly. However, he did not mind it. This battle has already ended. He pulled out a switch and pressed the red button on it.

    <em>ck!</em>

    At the same time, the Titans scattered all over the ce immediately jumped up and ran to where Veyron was. The approaching Titans soon caused a massive explosion.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    The explosion was as powerful as the explosion caused by a nuclear bomb and engulfed hundreds of meters, killing many celestial dwellers in the process. Then, not long after, several explosions erupted one after another.

    <em>Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!</em>

    Veyron, who saw the explosions erupt all over the battlefield, turned to look at Bentley. Even though he knew that he was hailed as a <em>hero</em>, it was something that he could not ept so easily. He felt humiliated, knowing he was stillcking, yet was given such a great and noble title. However, even though he was ashamed, there was one thing that he was sure of. He could tell this god in front of him about the hero he had always envisioned.

    Foolish god.

    ...

    Do heroes necessarily have to be strong?

    ...

    Bentley was rendered mute by the question. A hero was not hailed a hero just because they were great, mighty, or strong. Amidst the explosions, Bentley felt regret for suddenly intruding in the dungeon for a brief moment.

    ***

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The Titans exploded one after another, sweeping everything and anything in their path. Veyron looked up at the sky as the mes raged and rose all over the battlefield.

    <em>Im sorry.</em>

    He and the celestial dwellers who fought with him were said to have been recorded as heroes. However, now they were forced to die without achieving any result.

    <em>I will forever remember your names.</em>

    Relson, Floe, Carro, Edben, Heidio. They were nothing but mere celestial dwellers. But if they said they were true heroes, they were heroes.

    And amidst the towering explosions, another hero had not yet given up and continued running to save them. Even after a st swept him away, he would jump back on his feet and continue running.

    Where was he going? The ce that he was fighting so hard to reach was extraordinary. It was where one of the divine weapons, a weapon resembling a titan, was located. This divine weapon was the most potent weapon created by countless production-ss gods.

    The Gods of Farming, cksmiths, Sculptures, Cooking, Sewing, Paintings, Bards, and many other weaker gods were criticized and ignored by the other gods for not being able to protect the Land of the Gods, gathered together to create this divine weapon called <em>Bless</em>.

    The condition to operate Bless was simple: having an extremely high DEX. DEX represented the production ss individuals. However, the gods had made sure to set the DEX requirement very high.

    This was so no other god could operate Bless without their explicit consent. Bless could only be operated when three or more production ss gods gathered together. For that reason, Bless had remained stagnant and slumbering for thousands of years.

    Veyron, who watched Minhyuk ce his hands on Bless, shook his head. <em>Its impossible. One production ss god is not enough to operate Bless.</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    Then, at that moment, a titan exploded beside Veyron, sweeping and sending him flying away. He was unable to see what happened next to Minhyuk. After all, he no longer had the time or leisure to look after; he was sent flying towards the walls of the cliffs.

    He was about to get mmed into the walls of the cliffs, but the thought running through Veyrons head was, Well, didnt he say that I was also able to make the impossible possible<em>?</em>

    ording to what the Food God said, he, together with the 350,000 celestial dwellers, was able to tie down the hundreds of titans in this ce for four days and be heroes of the Land of the Gods.

    ...

    As he looked at the walls of the cliffs that he was gradually approaching, he could not help but wonder if it was foolish of him to think that it waspletely impossible.

    <em>Woosh</em>

    But at that moment, something cold and huge snatched Veyron out of the air.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack</em>

    Then, with one hand hanging on the cliff, the huge being slowly climbed down.

    <em>Booooooom</em>

    Once theypletelynded on the ground, whatever caught Veyron slowly ced him down. At that same time, a series of notifications rang in the man''s ears as he was manipting this towering weapon.

    <em>[You have exceeded 60% of the Food Gods Achievement Rate!]</em>

    <em>[You have sessfully operated Divine Weapon Bless.]</em>

    <em>[Divine Weapon Bless has been left unattended for an extended period. You can only operate Bless for one minute!]</em>

    <em>[Once the duration is over, Bless will be destroyed!]</em>

    <em>[You are the greatest hero chosen by another great hero, Veyron!]</em>

    <em>[By achieving more than 60% of the Food Gods Achievement Rate, your achievements will be broadcasted to all of the gods residing in the Land of the Gods.]</em>

    <em>[The God that Loves to Eat.]</em>

    <em>[The God that many of the Godsughed, jeered, and mocked.]</em>

    <em>[This God has be the master of Divine Weapon Bless.]</em>

 Chapter 884

    Chapter 884

    Despite forcing Minhyuk to challenge the Argalis Dungeon, the gods continued to doubt Minhyuk. Some even began to say, <em>Id rather you give Bentley the Battle Gods position. </em>While looking at these gods, the Battle God summoned one god. Which god did he summon? It was none other than the God of Bards.

    The God of Bards stood before them and said, The first time I met the god called Food God was at the Banquet of the Gods.

    Gods often allowed others to inherit their positions. There were many reasons for a god to let their position go and let someone else inherit it. The main reason was that a sessor superior to them had appeared. In such cases, they would often be forced to pass the position.

    However, one of these gods had never left his position. And that was the God of Bards. He was the god who had sat in his position for the longest time and had received the respect of many of the gods.

    When I first met him, the first thing I saw was his excited smile.

    That excited and happy smile made my face grow ugly. I also felt a sense of mischievousness grow in me. It made me feel so upset that a man who was nothing more than a trivial and weak Continental God woulde to the Banquet of the Gods with such a smile.

    I also have a more arrogant and twisted personality than others. The gods pointed their fingers at him. And me? I stood there with a happy smile on my face as they forced him toy t on the ground with some of the gods pouring wine over his head.

    We kicked him out, leaving him alone in his despair and agony. And all I did was cross my arms andugh at him.

    However, the God of Bards had lived for a long time. As he continued to sing his songs and poems, he would asionally suddenly remember him.

    But I did not have the right to do that. Only after living for a long time did he realize that what they did back then was wrong. And the other gods did not have the right to do that either.

    They had made a colossal mistake and wronged a god because of their <em>arrogance.</em>

    The God of Bards words and song had the power to persuade people. As the gods listened to a story that had happened after a very long time, they unknowingly sympathized with it.

    Thats too much.

    The gods of the past really did something that they shouldnt have done.

    Is that how one should treat another god?

    Of course, that still did not mean that they recognized the Food God as the Battle God.

    I searched for him for a very long time. Finally, I found him at his old and worn temple. There, I saw him preparing something for the gods, something that he had been preparing for a very long time.

    ...Is it for revenge?

    If it were me, I would have prepared something to take revenge.

    Hes the God who loves to Eat. From what I heard, hes also a god who can make special dishes. Maybe he made a dish that would make others lose their divine power when they ate it.

    Maybe a dish that would kill someone when they eat it?

    Or maybe it was a dish that could instantly cause an epidemic? He could have distributed it to all tribes and races to kill them, then tell us, <em>Its all because of you.</em>

    The gods voiced out countless assumptions and spections. However, the God of Bards only smiled faintly when he heard their words, his hands plucking the strings of his harp.

    <em>Diriririring</em>

    The beautiful melody that rang from the harp grabbed the gods'' attention and made them feel happy.

    I asked him, <em>What are you making?</em>

    The gods immediately perked their ears up. Which of them guessed correctly? Did he make a dish that could take away ones divine power, a dish that could cause an epidemic, or a dish that could kill anyone once they ate it?

    At that moment, the Food God looked back at me with a smile. His smile ovepped with his excited smile during the Banquet of the Gods. And with that big smile on his face, he said The God of Bards looked around. ...dish.

    The eyes of all the gods present grew wide when they heard the God of Bards words, aplicated expression shing on their faces. However, some of the gods wondered about the connection between this and the matter regarding the Battle Gods sessor. Was the God of Bards saying this because they should feel sad and have respect for that man because he was that kind of god?

    Some of the gods even thought like this:

    <em>However, that does not mean he can be a candidate to be the Battle God.</em>

    <em>The Battle God is a god that must receive the recognition of all.</em>

    <em>The Battle God is the god that will lead us all in danger.</em>

    The God of Bards knew that the other gods were thinking that way. After all, the one that needed their recognition was not the Food God of the past but the current Food God. However, the God of Bards wanted them not to repeat what happened in the past. While they have not confirmed whether the Food God had sessfully attacked the Argalis Dungeon or not, he hoped that they would stop criticizing and cursing him as the most pathetic and weakest god.

    <em>[The God that has made an achievement that can surprise even the gods has appeared!]</em>

    ...!

    ...!

    ...!

    All of the gods present were left shocked. A few days ago, after Food God Minhyuk had entered the Argalis Dungeon, a notification simr to this rang in their ears. The notifications rang about the clearance of the dungeons first gate. He was the only god to have ever cleared the Argalis Dungeons first gate after thousands of years.

    Many of the gods were shocked. They were hemming and hawing, trying to deny the reality of the matter. However, what they had feared had already be a reality.

    <em>[The God is the sessor of the God Who Loves to Eat, the same god that has been criticized and humiliated by the other gods in the past!]</em>

    The gods shock grew even more. When someone made an outstanding achievement, a notification would ring to everyone, including gods and humans. Many gods had made their names known to the world with their achievements. However, very few gods could make two achievements in a row.

    <em>[The God is the God that had made an amazing achievement by clearing Argalis Dungeons First Gate for the first time.]</em>

    <em>Murmur, murmur</em>

    The buzz grew among the gods. They already knew about the Food Gods first achievement. Not long after, the notification about the Food Gods second achievement rang in their ears.

    <em>[The God has made an amazing achievement by sessfully operating Bless, a divine weapon that has remained inoperable for thousands of years!]</em>

    ...!

    ...!

    ...!

    Among those present, the one who was shocked the most was the God of Bards. Why? because the God of Bards was at the scene when Bless was being produced. That was also why he wanted to deny the reality in front of him: Thats impossible.

    Several production ss gods had to gather before they could operate Bless. And not only that, Bless waspletely destroyed on the day War Hero Veyron died after it waspletely submerged in water. So, how could he operate Bless?

    ...I dont know what exactly is inside Argalis Dungeons Second Gate. However, God Evas had mentioned that one could meet War Hero Veyron at that gate. Perhaps he had recreated the battlefield back then?

    ...

    This was the most realistic and logical assumption. However, it still begged the question: Could he operate Bless?

    At that moment, one of the gods asked, God of Bards, what are the conditions and requirements to operate Bless?

    Still sporting an expression of disbelief, the God of Bards answered, You need 30,000 DEX.

    ...

    ...

    The gods all turned mute.

    DEX was ssified as a special stat and was different from ordinary stats. It was a skill that required huge amounts of <em>effort.</em> Basically, one had to do something repeatedly for them to obtain one point of DEX. Even production-ss gods only had around 10,000 DEX.

    However, a few momentster, a series of notifications rang, causing all of the gods to grow even more shocked.

    <em>[...sessfully!]</em>

    ***

    <em>[God of Dungeons Bentley has broken the rules of the dungeons. You will be given a special privilege!]</em>

    <em>[You can choose one among the special privileges!]</em>

    <em>[Please choose from: Double Chosen Stat, Increase Attack Power by 1.5x, Increase Total HP and MP by 1.6x, or Double Skill Damage.]</em>

    These were the notifications that Minhyuk heard when Bentley broke into the dungeon and was also what Minhyuk had been agonizing over when Veyron suddenly flew out of the walls of the fortress and engaged Bentley in battle.

    At that moment, a colossal war weapon resembling a titan caught his eye. He saw the celestial dwellers pressing their bodies on the divine weapon to prevent it from getting damaged by the attacks that made the fortress shake and tremble. And since Minhyuk was near, he stretched his hand towards the towering war weapon and checked its operating conditions.

    <em>[To operate Bless, you need 30,000 DEX stat points!]</em>

    <em>[Breath is a divine weapon that has remained inoperational for a long time!]</em>

    <em>[If you can get Bless running and operate it, it will be destroyed immediately!]</em>

    Achieving the requirement of 30,000 DEX was rtively easy for Minhyuk. In addition to having a DEX that exceeded 10,000 points, he also had a variety of artifacts and titles that could increase his DEX by a certain percentage. He could also have one of his chosen stats doubled as a special privilege because Bentley broke into the dungeon.

    ...Bless is a divine weapon created by the production ss gods. From what I heard, it can cut through the sky, topple mountains, and turn thend if it can be operated, one of the celestial dwellers pressing down on Bless exined when he saw Minhyuk show interest in the weapon.

    Minhyuk was now left conflicted. What should he choose as a special privilege?

    <em>Before everything else, I must first determine how much damage the Titan of Destruction could deal and how high its defenses are.</em>

    Minhyuk jumped down and immediately fought against the said titan. Then, he concluded. <em>Its not something I can deal with even if my attack power or skill damage gets doubled.</em>

    He ran across the battlefield, maneuvering around the exploding titans to get through Bless.

    I choose to double my DEX stat as a special privilege!

    <em>[Your DEX has temporarily doubled!]</em>

    Then, Minhyuk stretched his hand out and reached for Bless.

    <em>[You have met the conditions and requirements for operating Bless!]</em>

    <em>[Bless has been activated!]</em>

    <em>[You can use your skills and disy them through Bless!]</em>

    <em>[Your weapon can be applied and used with Bless!]</em>

    <em>[Your basic attack is 54,313!]</em>

    <em>[Bless basic attack is 233,313!]</em>

    <em>[Your basic defense is 64,365!]</em>

    <em>[Bless basic defense is 303,100!]</em>

    ...?

    Minhyuk was shocked and appalled when he heard the notifications that graciously and kindlypared him to the Divine Weapon Bless.

    ***

    Minhyuk saved Veyron, who was about to crash on the walls of the cliff after being sent flying by the exploding titans, and gently put him down and let him lean and rest at the foot of the cliff.

    Dual Sword Technique, Minhyuk said as two swords appeared in Bless hands.

    At that moment, the Titan of Destruction chased after Veyrons flying figure and appeared right before Minhyuk. Bentley had also heard the notifications about Minhyuk.

    <em>H- How?! </em>Bentley could not believe it. After hearing Evas'' stories, he was made to believe that the Food God was the weakest and shabbiest god.

    That was why hepletely denied the notifications about the Food Gods achievements and aplishments that rang in his ears. <em>Thats impossible!</em>

    However, at one point, he was pped by the reality in front of him.

    <em>Perhaps it was me and you all along acting foolishly?</em>

    Yes, Bentley realized that he and God Evas had been stupid. It was them that was foolish enough to do something as denying and ignoring the existence of the same god that stood on the same level as them. At the same time, Bentley realized that Minhyuk would be epted as the Battle God if he lost in this battle, and Bentley himself would also receive punishment. However, for some reason, he felt relieved.

    Bentley, who operated the Titan of Destruction to clutch the sword in its hands tightly, opened his mouth and said, ...Im sorry. I am sincerely apologizing for the atrocities and despicable acts that I have done. I am also apologizing on behalf of God Evas.

    It was not a wish to survive this battle and live. It was a thank you to Minhyuk for allowing him to realize the truth even though it was already far toote. Even if it was only for thest minute, Bentley wanted to be at least honorable as a god.

    Bentley held the sword tightly and charged at Bless.

    <em>Baaaaaaaang!</em>

    Through the Titan of Destruction, he could feel that Bless, who had easily blocked his sword, had some sort of heaviness and weight that the titan he was operating would not be able to ovee.

    Then, Bless swung its sword fiercely and shed against the Titan of Destruction. However, the Titan of Destruction was no match against Bless.

    <em>aaaaaash!</em>

    When Bless sword swung down, the Titan of Destructions arm was quickly cut off. It only left behind sparks that danced along joints where the arm was cut off.

    <em>Bzz, bzz, bzz, bzz</em>

    Several cannons appeared all over the Titan of Destructions body and fired missiles at Bless.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang</em>

    However, only a small dent was left on Bless body.

    <em>Staaaaaab!</em>

    One of the swords in Bless hands stabbed through the Titan of Destructions abdomen. Even so, Bentley did not feel any regret. For some reason, all he wanted to do was to atone for his mistakes.

    <em>[God of Dungeons Bentley, who broke the rules of Argalis Dungeon and broke in just to deal with you, is rewarding you!]</em>

    <em>[The God of Dungeons has bestowed his blessings upon you!]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 1%. Your total HP and MP volume have increased by 3%!]</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa</em>

    As Bless pulled out the sword in the Titan of Destructions abdomen, Bentley immediately triggered the titans hidden skill, <em>Consecutive Explosions.</em> With a swing of the Titan of Destructions sword, dozens of explosions struck Bless colossal body.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The attack obviously caused Bless a lot of damage. However, Bless ignored the damage and continued to sh the Titan of Destructions body with the sword in its hands.

    <em>[Warning! Danger!]</em>

    <em>[Warning! Danger!]</em>

    <em>[The Titan of Destruction will explode at any given moment!]</em>

    However, Bentley did not escape.

    <em>[God of Dungeons Bentley is rewarding you!]</em>

    <em>[You have been given 357,413 tinum!]</em>

    <em>[God of Dungeons Bentley is rewarding you!]</em>

    <em>[You have been given 5 kg of the bones of the dragons that live in the Land of the Gods!]</em>

    Bentley gave Minhyuk quite a lot of the things that were in his possession. However, Minhyuk did not let up with his attacks. He just red at Bentley as he swung the two swords in Blesss hands.

    Come at me!!! Bentley roared.

    Sword of Carnage!

    Bless swung the two swords in its hands and swiftly passed by the Titan of Destruction.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    The Titan of Destruction received huge damage from the shes that continued to wreak havoc on its body. However, Bentley did not do anything. He just looked back at Minhyuk, who had passed by him.

    There was a bitter smile on Bentleys face. He could only resent himself for realizing it all toote.

    I acknowledge you.

    The Titan of Destruction would explode any time now.

    You are the Battle God.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang!</em>

 Chapter 885

    Chapter 885

    Bentley apologized because, even at thest minute, he no longer wanted to remain a vulgar and lowly god. Besides, the Food God that he had encountered was quite amazing andpletely unlike the figure that he had envisioned, ridiculed, and jeered at.

    You are the Battle God.

    Light started to spill from the cracks that appeared all over the surface of the Titan of Destruction.

    <em>[The Titan of Destruction is going to explode!]</em>

    Despite the frightening sound that rang in his ears, Bentley remained calm, his eyes closing in relief and resignation. But at that moment, a rough and callous hand mmed on the transparent ss and broke it apart. The hand immediately grabbed Bentley by the cor and dragged him out.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa</em>

    Bentley opened his eyes and stared at Minhyuk, who was operating Bless. He watched as the man manipted Bless to hug his body tightly and protect him.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    At that moment, an earth-shattering explosion erupted and swept the entire area. With Bless protection, Bentley was able to avoid the explosion. As he watched the explosion, he could not help but wonder, <em>Why? </em>Why did this man save him? He just could not understand.

    As for Minhyuks thoughts, it went like this, <em>I cant let you die here just like that.</em>

    Was it because Bentleys apology deeply moved him? However, Minhyuk was not a fool who would think, <em>Its a pity to let him die like that after he had realized his wrongs.</em> after hearing his enemy apologize to him. Bentley had admitted that he was qualified to be the Battle God.

    <em>Besides, the God of Dungeons is a god that has a huge influence in the Land of the Gods.</em>

    That was right. The God of Dungeons faction was quiterge. So, if God of Dungeons Bentley went out of the dungeon and exined to the other gods, their trust and faith in him would be more substantial.

    <em>Anyway, this guy is done for.</em>

    Minhyuk knew that the punishments the Argalis Dungeon would bestow upon him would be severe. He nced lightly at Bentley, who was being protected in Blesss hands.

    <em>Why is he looking at me like that?</em>

    Bentley was looking at him with sparkling eyes. Minhyuk slowly put him down and said briefly, You cannot die yet.

    ...!

    Then, Minhyuk turned around after leaving those words. And Bentley? He felt very moved when he saw him like that.

    <em>He has a heart as big and wide as the ocean. Is there a god like that? </em>Bentleys thoughts ran wild,pletely unaware of Minhyuks. <em>Did he forgive me because I realized my wrongdoings?!</em>

    Bentley took the lead in ndering the Food God. However, he did not end it there. When the Food God was just about to pass through the Second Gate more easily than he expected, Bentley broke in by himself and even threatened him.

    ...

    Bentley looked at Blesss back, carrying Minhyuk. Unknowingly, he had already started respecting Minhyuk. He watched Minhyuk walk silently for a bit before climbing out of Bless. Then, Bless copsed the moment Minhyuk got out of the cockpit.

    The colossal divine weapon copsed, and standing right next to it was a tall man with a wide and sturdy back! For some reason, Bentley felt his heart pounding when he saw this scene.

    Then, Minhyuk immediately squatted down to pick up Bless parts. The charismatic figure earlier was nowhere to be seen as he scrambled for the pieces of the divine weapon!

    ***

    <em>[Bentleys favor toward you has increased!]</em>

    <em>[Bentleys favor toward you has increased!]</em>

    <em>[Bentleys favor!]</em>

    ...? A sh of doubt appeared on Minhyuks face as he squatted down and picked up the fragments of the broken Bless. All he did was spare him and look at him with a hateful(?) gaze, so howe his favor toward him was rising? Either way, it did not matter to Minhyuk.

    <em>Bentley will go out of this dungeon and say words that would praise me.</em>

    Of course, Minhyuks hands did not stop moving and continued to pick up Bless fragments.

    <em>[You have acquired Gods Tough Screw.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 534 kg of Bless Tough Armor.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Bless Heart.]</em>

    <em>[...Bless...]</em>

    <em>[...Bless...]</em>

    Although Bless was destroyed, the essories and fragments it left behind remained priceless.

    <em>If I can also use these materials to make a titan of my own, then</em>

    It would significantly boost the Beyond the Heavens Empires military might.

    Minhyuk, quickly picking up Bless fragments, looked up only to see that the exploding titans had stopped. Although there were still a considerable number of surviving celestial dwellers, that also meant that quite a huge number of ck dwarves and titans were still on the battlefield.

    <em>How can I stop them? </em>Minhyuk heaved a sigh.

    <em>Vwoooooooooong</em>

    <em>Vwoooong</em>

    <em>Vwooooooooong</em>

    All of the operational titans stopped all at once.

    <em>[God of Dungeons Bentley has stopped the Titans!]</em>

    Run!!!

    Kyaaaaaaaaack!!!

    When the titans stopped working, the ck dwarves immediately began to flee, and the surviving celestial dwellers were all shedding tears. At this moment, Minhyuk realized that the Second Gate had ended.

    ...

    Minhyuk looked at them with a bitter smile. They had already died and had be heroes that the living had embraced in their ordinary lives.

    <em>Because of them, I am who I am now.</em>

    Of course, this was just a virtual reality game. However, their existence made Minhyuk think about the heroes in reality once again.

    At that moment, Veyron, who was leaning against the cliff''s walls, stood up and approached him.

    We are the gods heroes.

    Veyron felt very happy that their sacrifice had reached those they wanted to save.

    But for us, you are our hero.

    The celestial dwellers cheered loudly as they looked at Minhyuk. Perhaps it was truly as Veyron said. He might truly be their hero, just like everyone has one small and ordinary hero in their lives.

    <em>It might not be as difficult to be a hero as one would think.</em>

    Then, the notifications immediately rang in his ears.

    <em>[The </em><strong><em>Linked Quest</em></strong><em>: Food Gods Achievement is in progress!]</em>

    <em>[You have cleared the Second Gate!]</em>

    <em>[God of Dungeons Bentley has broken the rules of the dungeon and broken into the Second Gate.]</em>

    <em>[Even so, you have cleared the gate with excellent results!]</em>

    <em>[...the </em><strong><em>Title</em></strong><em>: God Above Gods.]</em>

    <em>[...rewards]</em>

    <em>[...cleared the Third Gate!]</em>

    <em>[...the </em><strong><em>Title</em></strong><em>: God Above Gods.]</em>

    <em>[...cleared the Fourth Gate!]</em>

    Minhyuk had already confirmed through the Sudden Quest that he could skip all the remaining gates if he could stop Bentley here and clear the Second Gate safely. So, this was something that he had already expected. That was why his attention was drawn entirely by another set of notifications that had rung while the gate-skipping notifications were still ringing.

    <em>[You have reached a 67% Achievement Rate!]</em>

    <em>[You have reached a 71% Achievement Rate!]</em>

    <em>[You have reached a 73% Achievement Rate!]</em>

    <em>[...Achievement Rate!]</em>

    <em>[The final Achievement Rate that you have reached is 93%!]</em>

    <em>[Since you have surpassed the required 60% Achievement Rate, you canplete the </em><strong><em>Quest</em></strong><em>: Food Gods Achievement whenever you want!]</em>

    Minhyuk did not even hesitate and said, Complete the quest.

    He was very curious about the rewards of this quest, but at the same time, he was also terrified. Before he proceeded with the Food Gods Achievement Quest, he had seen the video of Food God Ravier cooking silently in his temple while nning his revenge against the gods that trampled on him. Minhyuk also knew that the gods that mocked and jeered at the Food God would receive the price for their crimes once the Food Gods Achievement Quest waspleted.

    When Minhyuk was about to sumb to nervousness, <em>his</em> voice resonated in the entire Land of the Gods.

    <em>[They pointed their fingers at me and criticized me during the Banquet of the Gods, saying, You know nothing but eating.]</em>

    <em>[They pushed my face on the marble floor and told me, You are nothing but a trivial and useless god.]</em>

    Minhyuk silently listened to the same voice he had heard when he first received this quest.

    ***

    The gods were shocked to hear the notification about the Food Gods achievement in sessfully operating Divine Weapon Bless. However, the notifications that followed not long after rmed them.

    <em>[The God that has made an achievement that can surprise even the gods has appeared!]</em>

    The Food God has made another remarkable and shocking achievement.

    <em>[The God has broken through Argalis Dungeons Second Gate and made an outstanding achievement while fighting against Bentley, who broke the dungeon''s rules!]</em>

    They could not believe what they were hearing. God of Dungeons Bentley broke the rules of Argalis Dungeon and stormed in himself. But he still cleared the gate?

    How in the world

    Is he telling us that hes not a god we can dare to judge?

    The gods had no other choice but to recognize him. If the God of Dungeons Bentley had stormed inside the Argalis Dungeon, then it was practically the same as the Food God dealing with an additional god inside the gates of the dungeon. However, that was not the end.

    <em>[The God that has made an achievement that can surprise even the gods has appeared!]</em>

    ...?

    ...?

    Everyone was rendered speechless. They were still doubting the authenticity of the notification, but another notification had already rang in their ears again.

    <em>[The God has made a phenomenal achievement by clearing the gates of Argalis Dungeon, a dungeon that has never been broken in the Land of the Gods for thousands of years!]</em>

    Now, no god was foolish enough to deny the qualifications of the Food God. However, their shock was not yet over. A voice suddenly resonated all over the Land of the Gods.

    <em>[They pointed their fingers at me and criticized me during the Banquet of the Gods saying, You know nothing but eating.]</em>

    <em>[They pushed my face on the marble floor and told me, You are nothing but a trivial and useless god.]</em>

    Ravier

    It was none other than the God of Bards who knew the owner of the voice the best. He was the only god that came to see the final moments of the Food God. Raviers voice continued to ring all over the Land of the Gods, speaking about how hard he suffered back then and how long and much effort he had put in.

    And the gods? They all listened intently to his story. It was the previous generation''s gods that had wronged him. However, they all thought that they were no different from their predecessors. After all, they also mocked, jeered, and criticized the Food God, saying that he was not qualified to be the Battle God.

    Back then, the God of Bards had asked the Food God Ravier in his temple, <em>What are you making? </em>And it was this voice that answered his question instead.

    <em>[Finally, I was able to make it.]</em>

    The dish that Ravier made was not a dish that could poison others; it was also not a dish that could cause an epidemic or a dish that could take away ones divine power.

    <em>[A dish that everyone can eat and bring happiness to all.]</em>

    ...

    ...

    These gods had already heard about the answer from the God of Bards. However, they once again heard it through Raviers voice.

    <em>[A dish that can show you that eating is an act that is not light and can be ignored.]</em>

    <em>[A dish that can let you know that eating is an act that can make you very happy.]</em>

    <em>[And after years and years of hard work, I finally seeded in making this dish.]</em>

    <em>[To those gods, I just hope]</em>

    All of the gods sincerely admired Ravier. Someone evenmented losing a god whose generosity knew no bounds. Ravier was a noble and pure god that gods like them, with a twisted and ugly heart, dared not reach. For some reason, they felt what happened to Ravier was their fault.

    <em>[...that you can eat this and admit those facts.]</em>

    At that moment, a series of notifications rang for all the gods.

    <em>[A new Absolute Gods Secret has been born to the world!]</em>

    <em>[The Absolute Gods Secret: Dish of Satisfaction has been triggered!]</em>

    <em>[Please think of a dish you want to eat the most!]</em>

    <em>[This dish will appear in front of you!]</em>

    ...!

    ...!

    ...!

    The fact that he could turn someones imagination into reality was a very shocking power. Why? Because there was no ability in the world that was as difficult.

    The gods thought about the dishes they wanted to eat the most.

    I want to eat a sandwich. Its a very meaningful dish that the human woman I have loved had made for me.

    I want to eat steak. I still cant forget the steak that the God of Cooking used to make for us.

    I want to eat the first dish I ate when I became a god

    Everyone began to think of the dishes they wanted to eat or the ones they could not forget from their memories. And whatever dish they chose appeared in front of them.

    The God of Bards chose carbonara. He rolled the pasta with his fork and ate a mouthful. The moment he put it in his mouth, a rich and deep vor immediately spread out.

    ...Delicious.

    This was the most delicious carbonara the God of Bards had ever tasted. Surprisingly, the dishes Ravier had left behind for them had wholly won over their taste buds.

    Its truly a dish that can bring you satisfaction and delight.

    Come to think of it, the only thing that I look forward to every day is eating.

    <em>[I dont want much.]</em>

    Raviers gentle voice enveloped them.

    <em>[I just want you all to know and learn about the joy of eating.]</em>

    That was the greatest wish of the heavily mocked Food God.

    All of the gods'' faces disyed happy and satisfied smiles. In that delighted smile, one could see both respect and pity for the Food God Ravier.

    At the same time, a series of notifications rang in Minhyuks ears after he found out that the dish that Food God Ravier prepared would allow the gods to realize the importance of food and eating.

    <em>[You havepleted the </em><strong><em>Linked Quest</em></strong><em>: Food Gods Achievements.]</em>

    <em>[You havepleted the quest with a surprisingly high Achievement Rate!]</em>

    <em>[The first Food God, Ravier, is bestowing upon you his rewards!]</em>

 Chapter 886

    Chapter 886

    Minhyuk was deeply impressed by the first Food God, Ravier.

    <em>Even though he was humiliated like that</em>

    Minhyuks thoughts were simr to those of the other gods. He also thought that the Food God Ravier would make a dish to avenge himself and get back at the gods that mocked and humiliated him.

    <em>However, my thoughts and predictions werepletely wrong.</em>

    Ravier chose a path other than revenge. A way that would allow those gods to see and recognize that <em>eating </em>could bring happiness and satisfaction to all.

    Meanwhile, God of Dungeons Bentley also saw the dish he desired the most, appear in front of him, thanks to the <em>power of the Dish of Satisfaction</em>.

    ... Bentley was rendered speechless. At this moment, he felt infinitely ashamed of the behavior and the nefarious acts that he and the first God of Dungeons, Evas, had done toward this god.

    The current Food God had cleared Argalis Dungeon, a dungeon that no god could break for thousands of years, while the first Food God did not even think of getting revenge on them. All the god did was prepare a dish that he hoped everyone would <em>recognize and ept</em> for the longest time. It was proof that the god was not a small-minded and petty person.

    Ha- Haha

    Perhaps the most cowardly god and the god who deserved those mocking jeers was the God of Dungeons, Evas, and himself. With thoughts like that running through his head, Bentley began to eat.

    Minhyuk, who saw Bentley eat, recalled the notifications he had heard earlier.

    <em>[The </em><strong><em>Linked Quest</em></strong><em>: Food Gods Achievement is in progress!]</em>

    <em>[You have cleared the Second Gate!]</em>

    <em>[God of Dungeons Bentley has broken the rules of the dungeon and broken into the Second Gate.]</em>

    <em>[Even so, you have cleared the gate with excellent results!]</em>

    <em>[The </em><strong><em>Title</em></strong><em>: God Above Gods has grown even more outstanding!]</em>

    <em>[The rewards for clearing the Second Gate will be reced with the rewards you will receive in the Final Gate!]</em>

    <em>[You have cleared the Third Gate with excellent results!]</em>

    <em>[The </em><strong><em>Title</em></strong><em>: God Above Gods]</em>

    <em>[The rewards for clearing the Third Gate]</em>

    <em>[You have cleared the Fourth Gate with excellent results!]</em>

    <em>[The </em><strong><em>Title</em></strong><em>: God Above Gods]</em>

    <em>[The rewards for clearing the Fourth Gate]</em>

    <em>[You have cleared the Fifth Gate with excellent results!]</em>

    <em>[You have cleared the final gate of the Argalis Dungeon!]</em>

    <em>[Argalis Dungeon is a dungeon that can make your dreamse true!]</em>

    <em>[Most of your dreams are rted to eating!]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the ticket to the Field of the Gods! You can ess the Field of the Gods for three minutes!]</em>

    <em>[In the Field of the Gods, you can harvest as many ingredients as you can for three minutes!]</em>

    <em>[The rewards for clearing the Third and Fourth Gates have made the Final Gate rewards improve!]</em>

    <em>[You can now ess the Field of the Gods for six minutes!]</em>

    <em>[The effects and abilities of all the ingredients that you harvest in the Field of the Gods will improve greatly!]</em>

    <em>[The </em><strong><em>Title</em></strong><em>: God Above Gods in your possession is nowpleted!]</em>

    <em>[You have broken through all of the gates of the Argalis Dungeon. The dungeon will copse in five minutes!]</em>

    <em>[Evas soul, the soul of the creator of the Argalis Dungeon, admits the mistakes and wrongdoings that he has done. He also recognizes the identity of the Food God!]</em>

    <em>[Argalis Dungeons creator, Evas, gives you the authority to run a God-rank Dungeon once!]</em>

    Minhyuk had obtained many rewards. However, he could not hide his disappointment.

    <em>The rewards that will grant our dreams</em>

    He was very pleased when he chose the Manhwa Cafe as a reward for clearing the First Gate. He even enjoyed the meal he had during that time very well. However, he skipped this reward from the Second to the Fourth Gates.

    <em>Hnggh</em>

    Fortunately, there was still hope. ording to the rewards notifications, he could enter the <em>Field of the Gods</em> and harvest the ingredients grown there. Should he make a delicious meal with the superb ingredients that he would harvest from that ce?

    <em>Field of the Gods, huh?</em>

    Based on its name alone, Minhyuk could already tell that it was a ce that was filled with countless special and delicious ingredients. He thought that maybe it would be enough to soothe and relieve him of his disappointment.

    After that, he immediately checked theplete version of the <em>God Above Gods</em>.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>God Above Gods</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Absolute Title</em>

    <strong><em>Title Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>Canbine two God-rank skills.</em>

    <em>Canbine three God-rank skills.</em>

    <em>There is a 10% chance of a 20% increase in performance and abilities when using a God-rank skill.</em>

    <em>Passive Skill: God that Never Backs Down.</em>

    <em>All stats +7%</em>

    <em>All skills cooldown time and MP consumption will be reduced by 20%</em>

    The title had truly be much better and more shocking than before. The increase in his stats from 4% to 7% was enough to make it more shocking.

    But that was not all. There was also the passive skill: <em>God that Never Backs Down</em>. It was originally a skill that would reduce all skill cooldowns by 50% and recover 50% of the skill user''s HP and MP once their HP fell below 10%. Although the skill cooldown reduction remained at 50%, the amount of HP and MP that it could recover had increased to 70%. It also increased his stats by 9% and reduced his MP consumption by 20%.

    <em>Its an amazing title.</em>

    Titles in Athenae were obtained when someone aplished a particr action or did something that others had not yet done. These titles were given as a form of celebration for their achievements. Simply having a title was of great significance, so most of the special abilities attached to the title were not as good as expected.

    However, this title was different. Minhyuk was confident that this title was the best in existence because he could simply obtain effects at this level by acquiring it.

    <em>Rumble</em>

    The Argalis Dungeon began to crumble just as Minhyuk was about to finish checking most of the rewards he had received.

    ***

    God of Dungeons Bentley was left in tears after eating the dish left behind by the Food God and God of Cooking Ravier. Why was he crying? The dish that Ravier left behind was extremely delicious, and he was able to learn about the pleasure of eating.

    <em>You can get the greatest happiness from the smallest of things.</em>

    It was something that one could not buy with money or treasures.

    <em>Rumble</em>

    Bentleys heart started to pound wildly when he saw the Argalis Dungeon begin to crumble. As he cried on the ground, someone reached out a hand to him. When he looked up, he saw War God Veyron standing before him.

    The War God did not look at him in pity. Instead, he looked at Bentley solemnly, saying, Do you think you can erase your mistakes with your tears?

    Veyron was the hero Bentley respected and looked up to the most. He could easily understand what the man meant with just his question. Bentley grabbed his outstretched hand and stood up. Veyron, who was about to disappear with the copse of the Argalis Dungeon, still took his time to teach him until the very end.

    <em>Thats right. My mistakes cannot be erased by my tears.</em>

    ***

    The copse of the Argalis Dungeon, a dungeon that had remained standing for thousands of years, was enough to garner the attention of everyone in the Land of the Gods. Countless gods stood in front of the copsing dungeon and waited there. At that moment, they saw a man walk out of the dungeon. This man was none other than God of Dungeons Bentley.

    Bentleys faction was quiterge. Many gods relied on him and pushed him to be the Battle God candidate. These gods turned to look at him, wondering if he had another trick up his sleeve even though the Argalis Dungeon had been cleared and was copsing.

    Lord Bentley.

    What dirty tricks and unscrupulous methods did the Food God use to clear the Argalis Dungeon?!

    Lord Bentley, please tell us the truth.

    Bentley stood in front of the copsing Argalis Dungeon and looked at the countless gods that had gathered here. He could see many gods, including the Battle God, the God of Cooking, the God of Will, the God of Bravery, and many more. And in front of these gods, Bentley

    <em>[In the holy and divine name of Athenae, God of Dungeons Bentley, who broke the rules of Argalis Dungeon, will be deprived of his qualifications as a god!]</em>

    heard a notification that plunged him into the depths of despair. However, Bentley said, The Food God did not use dirty tricks or unscrupulous methods to clear the Argalis Dungeon.

    <em>[Bentley, deprived of his qualifications as a god, will be exiled to the human world and left to live the life of a human!]</em>

    A blinding light fell upon Bentley and drew out the divine power in his body. The light''s appearance marked the end of the once noble and great God of Dungeons.

    Bentley squeezed thest divine power in his body and used one final power as a god.

    <em>[God of Dungeons Bentley uses his body''sst traces of divine power to trigger Gods Voice!]</em>

    When Bentley opened his mouth, his Gods Voice rang in everyones ears.

    <em>[He is the strongest god that I have seen in my life.]</em>

    <em>[Despite the harsh criticism, sneers, hardships, and adversities, he never gave up.]</em>

    <em>[Today, I will be deprived of my qualifications as the God of Dungeons to pay the price for my sins. But before I leave, let me say this]</em>

    Gods Voice was a special ability that only the gods could wield. Bentley could no longer use his Gods Voice with thest of his divine power taken away. Nevertheless, he continued to make eye contact with the gods.

    He is the true Battle God. He will be the one who can lead us all. He is the one that can lead all of the gods and fight to save the Land of the Gods once it falls into crisis.

    Bentley no longer said anything after leaving those words. Many of the gods were rendered mute after hearing those words. Why? because Bentley was the one who said it- the same Bentley who took the lead in criticizing the Food God and his qualifications. Then, at that moment

    <em>[The power of the reward that Evas had left behind in the Argalis Dungeons Second Gate is making its presence known!]</em>

    Bentleys words still left many gods in a daze, wondering how he could suddenly raise the Food God to such a high pedestal.

    <em>[With only a few hundreds of thousands of Divine Troops, the hero created an astonishing achievement by stopping the ck Dwarves invasion in the Land of the Gods.]</em>

    <em>[For the sake of the Land of the Gods, the hero fought until his body was devoured and submerged in water.]</em>

    All of the gods present focused on the voice. Why? because they all knew who the voice was talking about. Even the newborn children in the Land of the Gods knew the hero''s name. He was the greatest hero who sacrificed his life to protect thisnd.

    The Battle God took the lead, kneeling on one knee and showing courtesy upon hearing the voice. He was immediately followed by the Absolute Gods, which included the God of Cooking and the God of Will. Following their example, the thousands of gods gathered in this ce began to kneel and show courtesy.

    <em>Veyron.</em>

    It was a name that could make any of them feel great respect and be deeply moved just by hearing it.

    <em>[Today, I leave this voice to honor the great and noble hero.]</em>

    Did the greatest God of Dungeons, Evas, know? Did he have an inkling that the Food God, the god that he had ignored and trampled on, would be the one that would meet the requirements that would trigger this voice?

    Immediately after that, a video appeared in front of the gods. The video showed the scene inside the crumbling Argalis Dungeon. Everyone felt a deep throbbing in their hearts when they saw the figure of War God Veyron standing atop the walls of the fortress.

    Then, their attention turned toward the man standing beside Veyron and wearing a white cape that carried the symbol of the fork and knife crossed together. And when his face fully appeared on the video, they saw the face of none other than Food God Minhyuk.

    ...!

    ...!

    The Food God was standing side by side with the great hero. Many of the gods felt like warmth suddenly bloomed in their chests, choking them and even threatening toe out of their mouths.

    Meanwhile, Food God Minhyuk, being shown in the video, was now being controlled by AI. He turned toward the hero and asked.

    <em>[Do you regret sacrificing yourself to protect thisnd?]</em>

    Veyron, standing atop the fortress walls and watching the cheering and crying celestial dwellers, turned to look back at Minhyuk. His answer seemed to be spoken for the gods watching.

    <em>[If youre talking about regrets, I have them. I regret being unable to protect the Land of the Gods longer.]</em>

    <em>[I regret not being able to see the children of the celestial dwellersughing and running around.]</em>

    <em>[I regret not being able to serve the god, who is more charismatic than anyone else but would cry in sadness at losing his subordinates once he turned around, any longer.]</em>

    When the gods saw Veyron''s eyes turn red, they focused on him. But then Veyron chuckled lightly.

    <em>[Even so, Im still the happiest man right now.]</em>

    <em>[Knowing that the children of the celestial dwellers can smile and run around like that because of me is enough for me.]</em>

    <em>[Knowing that I was able to protect the Land of the Gods that many of the gods love and cherish is enough for me.]</em>

    <em>[Knowing that the Battle God, who would cry sadly at the loss of his subordinates, was not seriously hurt because of my sacrifice is enough for me.]</em>

    Veyron looked up at the sky.

    <em>[I still have lingering regrets.]</em>

    Then, a broad and bright smile appeared on his face.

    <em>[But I also do not regret it.]</em>

    Many of the gods were deeply moved by his words. Then, at that moment, the video showed a bright light shot down near Veyron. And Food God Minhyuk stood there and saw him off, watching his back as he walked toward the light. Then, Veyron suddenly turned back and said

    <em>[Now, you]</em>

    Veyrons smile grew even brighter.

    <em>[Are you willing to be a hero?]</em>

    Minhyuk, who watched as the light engulfed Veyron, answered, Of course.

    And with that answer, a notification rang in his ears.

    <em>[You have acquired the </em><strong><em>Title</em></strong><em>: The One Carrying the Heros Pride!]</em>

    Minhyuk walked in the opposite direction after watching Veyron disappearpletely into the light.

 Chapter 887

    Chapter 887

    Just like usual, discussions about the special yers and the future direction of Athenaes story took ce inside Joy Co. Ltd.s conference room.

    Then, lets do it this way for that part. Kang Taehoon gave his approval after silently listening to the discussions and suggestions of each team leader and director. However, as he sat calmly in his chair, he recalled one of the yers.

    So, he asked, yer Minhyuk he has received the recognition of quite a few gods, no?

    Kang Taehoons eyes turned to Team Leader Park Minggyu. He was confident that Team Leader Park had already checked and confirmed the situation from the beginning until the end.

    Thats right. Minhyuk has received the recognition of the gods that did not believe and trust in him after he sessfully attacked Argalis Dungeon, a dungeon that not even the gods could clear in the Land of the Gods.

    Thats amazing. President Kang Taehoon was impressed.

    What kind of beings were the gods? They were the most arrogant and prideful beings in Athenae. Ordinary yers would probably never meet a <em>God</em> for the rest of their lives. But these very same gods had recognized the Food God as the rightful descendant of the Battle God.

    Then, Minggyu suddenly said, President, I have some additional things to report to you.

    President Kang Taehoon looked at him in doubt. Based on Team Leader Park Minggyus personality and nature, if he had something to report, he would have already said it right after the meetingmenced. But he only opened his mouth right when the meeting was about to end.

    I was hesitating if I should report this or not.

    Huh? What is it?

    We have confirmed that yer Minhyuk has obtained the <em>authority to run a God-rank dungeon once.</em>

    The authority to run a God-rank dungeon

    Some people, including President Kang Taehoon, were startled when they heard those words. However, even though they were pretty shocked, it was still debatable whether this topic was important enough to be discussed in the <em>conference room</em>.

    The level of Athenae yers had soared tremendously. God-rank artifacts? God-grade skills? Over a hundred yers in the game had obtained those that carried the name of <em>God</em> now. That was even more so the case for cooking ingredients. Since this type of item was a consumable, more than 300 of them had been released in the game.

    Its possible to obtain the authority to run a God-rank dungeon somewhere other than Argalis Dungeon, no?

    No authority to run a God-rank dungeon was listed among the rewards for Argalis Dungeon. This reward allowed those pursuing quests rted to God of Dungeons Evas to proceed further, and it was not that umon.

    Team Leader Park exined the exact details of the story to the rest of the people in the conference room.

    So, youre saying that Evas soul gave the authority to run a God-rank dungeon once to the Food God as an apology?

    Thats right.

    Evas would not consider it a waste to give this reward to Minhyuk. After all, Minhyuk was the one who cleared the extremely difficult Argalis Dungeon.

    If its a problem, then it would be a problem. But if it is not, then it wouldnt matter at all.

    Hence, Team Leader Park Minggyu was conflicted and wondered if he should report the matter.

    Evas authority to rule a God-rank dungeon is better than ordinary authority to rule God-rank dungeons.

    Team Leader Park nodded.

    Even if an ordinary yer obtained the authority to rule a God-rank dungeon, they would not be able to use it properly.

    Hearing what Kang Taehoon said, Park Minggyu added, Ordinary yers could use the mobs that are given in God-rank dungeons. However, for named monsters or Named NPCs that would be quasi-boss and boss-level beings, they had to be those tamed by the yer themselves or those working under them.

    A collective groan rang out when they heard the word <em>vassal.</em>

    <em>Hnggh</em> What would happen if Spear God Ben bes the boss mob? asked one of the team leaders, who btedly realized the seriousness of the matter.

    Minggyus face shed with a bitter expression. If thats the only problem, then we should all be relieved. However, there is a high chance that the Spear God, the Fallen Wretched Emperor, the Great Demon, and many more will only be a quasi-boss mob.

    ...

    ...

    Well the boss mob will most likely be yer Minhyuk.

    ...

    ...

    Everyone in the conference room looked like they had been hit on the head.

    President Kang Taehoon sighed lightly. All we can hope for is yer Minyuk to run the dungeon <em>normally</em>.

    Everyone agreed with the presidents words. However, Team Leader Park, whose face had grown even more bitter, said, President, I still have one more problem.

    Another problem?

    Yes.

    Everyone here knows yer Minhyuk has obtained a ticket to allow him entry to the Field of the Gods, right?

    This was still within Kang Taehoons expectations. The Argalis Dungeon was a ce that could make ones dreamse true.

    <em>And yer Minhyuks dream is, without a doubt, rted to eating.</em>

    Because of that, he already expected the man to be able to reach the Field of the Gods. However, even if that were the case, the duration at which he could stay inside the Field of the Gods would be very short. Furthermore

    Arent the crops growing in the Field of the Gods much harder to harvest than ordinary crops?

    That was right. In addition, the much harder-to-harvest part here did not mean that it was because the crops had a higher grade than normal. Assuming that the same God-grade ingredient was nted in the Field of the Gods and an ordinary field, the crops that grew in the Field of the Gods would be 1.5x harder to harvest.

    Well, considering yer Minhyuks high level of DEX, he would definitely be able to harvest quite a lot.

    However, God of Dungeons Bentley broke the rules and stormed inside the dungeon. Because of that, the <em>all-quest skip</em> condition was added to the clearing conditions of the dungeon. For that same reason, the duration of his stay in the Field of the Gods has increased significantly.

    A solemn expression appeared on President Kang Taehoons face.

    Just as its name suggested, the Field of the Gods was and filled with <em>God-grade</em> ingredients. Of course, not all of them were categorized as God-grade ingredients, but there were quite a few low-quality ingredients that could only exert powers and abilities on par with legendary-grade ones in the field.

    With cold sweat dripping down his back, Park Minggyu said, What if What if yer Minhyuk does something big bybining the ingredients that he will acquire from the Field of the Gods and the authority to rule a God-rank dungeon? he gulped dryly and continued, If that happened, then our overtime is as good as sealed.

    A dark and solemn expression shed in the faces of everyone present. Some of the team leaders even started to shed tears at the thought.

    ***

    <em>(</em><strong><em>The One Carrying the Heros Pride</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Unique Title</em>

    <strong><em>Title Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>Additional 2% for all stats.</em>

    <em>Additional 5% on CHA.</em>

    <em>The Heros Story.</em>

    The One Carrying the Heros Pride was the title that Minhyuk had received when the AI was controlling him to see off War God Veyron. If one looked at its description, one would say that <em>The One Carrying the Heros Pride</em> was not such a great title. However, there was something noteworthy in this title. And that was none other than <em>The Heros Story.</em>

    <em>[Whenever the system recognizes a hero, the Heros Story will be triggered. Once the Heros Story has been triggered, the title''s effects will improve based on the recognized heros achievements.]</em>

    To put it simply, it was a growth-type title. At present, this title might seem insignificantpared to the God Above Gods title.

    <em>However, The One Carrying the Heros Pride has a much greater potential.</em>

    To be exact, The One Carrying the Heros Pride was a title with infinite potential.

    <em>Rumble</em>

    When the sky of Argalis Dungeon started to crumble, a bright light engulfed Minhyuk and warped him away from the ce.

    <em>[You will now be sent out of Argalis Dungeon.]</em>

    Minhyuk opened his eyes and breathed a huge sigh of relief. <em>Thank goodness I did not show up there.</em>

    Based on what Minhyuk had personally gathered, he assumed that many gods would gather in front of Argalis Dungeon. If he warped in that ce, he would have to deal with them, which would be exhausting. Thankfully, that was not the case.

    After sending the thought to the back of his head, excitement suddenly washed over him.

    <em>Kghhk! The Field of the Gods!</em>

    The thought of the ce, which must be filled with countless mouthwatering ingredients, alone was enough to delight him. However, before entering, he checked the ticket that would allow him entry to the <em>Field of the Gods.</em>

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Field of the Gods Entry Ticket</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: God</em>

    <strong><em>Entry Details</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>The duration of your stay inside the Field of the Gods is six minutes.</em>

    <em>You can take away the ingredients if you can sessfully harvest them.</em>

    <em>You can use all of the skills that you own inside.</em>

    <em>Even if the crops are of the same grade as those from the outside, harvesting the crops from the Field of the Gods is 1.5x more difficult than usual.</em>

    As he looked at the tickets description, Minhyuk thought, <em>Is there a way for me to take as many delicious ingredients as I want?</em>

    If he could harvest for six minutes, he would take all the God-grade ingredients. However, he wanted more. At that moment, Minhyuks concentration reached a terrifying level. This was how tenacious he was when it came to food and eating. As he pondered deeply, Minhyuk recalled a method that would probably allow him to do what he wanted there.

    Ah!

    This was none other than the <em>skillbination.</em> When his God Above Gods title waspleted, Minhyuk acquired the chance tobine two skills and another chance tobine three skills. He quickly clicked on the detailed description of the skillbination.

    <em>[You have to choose the skills that you want tobine.]</em>

    <em>[You have to exin in detail how the skills will bebined and how they will be used.]</em>

    <em>[The system will determine if the skills are suitable and if they can bebined.]</em>

    <em>[If it is determined to be suitable, the sess of thebination of the skills would depend on their suitability.]</em>

    <em>[The Two Skill Combination can only try tobine the two selected skills twenty times.]</em>

    <em>[If the skillbination fails, you can no longer try anybination of the skill 1 + skill 2 varieties you have attempted.]</em>

    Just because Minhyukbined two skills did not necessarily mean thebination would work. He had to determine if the skills would fit together. Also, based on what he could see with thebination sess rate, a considerable portion depended on luck.

    <em>Of course,bining two or three attack skills will greatly help me.</em>

    However, what would happen after that? Was everything about increasing his attack power? At this moment, Minhyuk thought he should at least use one chance to help him eat something delicious.

    <em>Whatbination will allow me to increase my harvest yield significantly?</em> Minhyuk pondered.

    In his head, Minhyuk began tobine various God-rank skills, the minimum requirement for the rank of the skills he couldbine with his God Above Gods title.

    <em>It should be a skill that will help me harvest more crops from here on out.</em>

    Various skillbinations popped up in Minhyuks head. However, the most crucial thing that popped up was

    Can Ibine artifact skills with the skills in my possession?

    He hoped tobine Divine Will with the Dual Swordsmanship Technique. Minhyuk already imagined himself holding two pickaxes as he worked through the field!

    <em>I will be able to harvest more quickly.</em>

    However, Minhyuks fantasy was instantly shattered.

    <em>[Artifact skills cannot bebined.]</em>

    Minhyuk sighed ruefully. He had been very excited when he imagined himself holding two pickaxes, but the dream was instantly shattered, and he was left sad and depressed.

    <em>Then, how should Ibine my skills? </em>Minhyuk thought, his eyes closing as he pondered about this matter deeply.

    Suddenly, his eyes blinked open. This is it! Two Skill Combination.

    At that moment, a hologram screen appeared right in front of Minhyuk.

    <em>[Please select the skills you want tobine.]</em>

    Minhyuk quickly clicked the two skills that he wanted tobine.

    <em>[Passive Skill Lightning: Destruction.]</em>

    <em>[Passive Skill: Divine Will.]</em>

    <em>[You have selected two skills.]</em>

    There was something significant to take note of about these two skills.

    <em>Both of these skills are Absolute Gods Secrets.</em>

    If thisbination seeded, Minhyuk was confident he would have a jaw dropping harvesting skill.

    <em>[Please exin in detail how thebined skill will be cast and what it is used for.]</em>

    The hologram screen quickly filled with letters as he typed. How would the skill be used? Well, he intended to use it to harvest crops. How would it be cast or used once triggered?

    <em>The Destruction skill sends sixteen lightning strikes and inflicts additional damage once triggered.</em>

    What if Minhyuk applied that to harvesting crops?

    <em>One harvest attempt would turn into sixteen harvest attempts. Then, the buff effects of Divine Will would be added.</em>

    Minhyuk suddenly stopped typing.

    <em>Isnt this going to be very crazy?</em>

    If this skill could bebined, then it would definitely produce a very ridiculous and crazy skill. Finally, Minhyuk clicked the <emplete</em> button.

    <em>[The suitability of the skillbination is being determined.]</em>

    <em>[Determining 6%... 15%... 25%... 38%...]</em>

    <em>[The skills can bebined!]</em>

    <em>[Thebination sess rate will now be determined!]</em>

    <em>[Thebination sess rate is at 3%!]</em>

    <em>[You have twenty attempts tobine the skills!]</em>

    <em>[If the skillbination fails, you can no longer try anybination of the skill 1 + skill 2 varieties you have attempted.]</em>

    Minhyuk took a deep breath. It has been a while since he found something that he truly wanted to obtain. He stared at the hologram screen momentarily before clicking the <em>attemptbination</em> button.

    <em>[Attemptingbination.]</em>

    Light engulfed the two skills shing on the hologram screen. However, a red light suddenly covered the entire screen.

    <em>[Combination failed!]</em>

    However, it did not stop there.

    <em>[Attemptingbination.]</em>

    <em>[Combination failed]</em>

    <em>[Attemptingbination.]</em>

    <em>[Combination failed]</em>

    <em>[Attemptingbination.]</em>

    <em>[Combination failed]</em>

    <em>[Attemptingbination.]</em>

    <em>[Combination failed]</em>

    Keuaaaaaaack!

    Ten failed attempts in a row. Perhaps this was only the natural oue. After all, thebination sess rate was only 3%. Even so, the loss that wrapped around Minhyuks entire being was too great.

    <em>This skill will help me eat more delicious food!</em>

    Minhyuk steeled his heart as he tried to calm himself. Then, he tried tobine the skills once again.

    <em>[Attemptingbination.]</em>

    <em>[Combination failed]</em>

    <em>[Attemptingbination.]</em>

    <em>[Combination failed]</em>

    <em>[Attemptingbination.]</em>

    <em>[Combination failed]</em>

    <em>[Attemptingbination.]</em>

    <em>[Combination failed]</em>

    Minhyuks expression grew ugly as continuous failure rang in his ears.

    At the same time, most people sitting inside the Joy Co. Ltd.s conference room were tightly sping their sweaty hands.

    <em>If yer Minhyuk can sessfullybine those skills, he will be able to harvest more ingredients in the Field of the Gods.</em>

    <em>If that happens, our fate of doing overtime will be sealed.</em>

    They never know what Minhyuk, who always did something new and unprecedented, would do if he obtained such a skill! That was why everyone was praying for the failure of the skillbination.

    However, Minhyuk was roaring for the sess of his skillbination. Combiiiiiiiiiiiine!!!

    <em>[Combination failed]</em>

    Combiiiiiiiiine!!!

    <em>[Combination failed]</em>

    <em>Combiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine!!!</em>

    <em>[Combination failed]</em>

    <strong>COMBINE!</strong>

    <em>[Combination failed]</em>

    Minhyuks face shed with disappointment when his 19th attempt atbining the skills failed. On the other hand, the faces of all the team leaders present inside Joy Co. Ltd.s conference room were smiling.

    Team Leader Park said, It seems like well prevail this time.

    Hope bloomed in their hearts. It seemed like they would not work overtime for this.

    Minhyuk sighed, his face dejected. It would be more strange if everything went<em> well for me.</em>

    With a click of his tongue, Minhyuk pressed the <em>attemptbination</em> button one final time. He was thinking, <em>Lets do this so I wont have any regrets. </em>but his eyes were closed tightly, his heart thumping wildly and even his breathing had turned almost non-existent. And finally, a very happy tune rang in his ears.

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[Combination sessful!]</em>

    <em>[The Passive Skill: Striking Will has been created!]</em>

    Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!! Minhyuk cheered loudly.

    ...

    ...

    ...

    The Joy Co. Ltd.s conference room was plunged into deep silence.

 Chapter 888

    Chapter 888

    <em>[Combination sessful!]</em>

    <em>[The Passive Skill: Striking Will has been created!]</em>

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Striking Will</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Passive Skill</em>

    <strong><em>Level</em></strong><em>: None</em>

    <strong><em>Mana Required</em></strong><em>: None</em>

    <strong><em>Cooldown</em></strong><em>: None</em>

    <strong><em>Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>There is a 12% chance of triggering Striking Will. Upon triggering, the action you are taking will be replicated fourteen times when you do work rted to DEX.</em>

    <em>Upon triggering Striking Will, DEX increases by 20%, and all stats increase by 6%. The buffsts seven seconds.</em>

    <em>There is a 2% chance of triggering Divine Striking Will.'' Upon triggering Divine Striking Will, DEX will increase by 40%, and all stats will increase by 10%. The duration of the buff is twelve seconds.</em>

    Minhyuk was deeply moved when he read the skills description.

    The demon-like operators of Athenae made it very hard to harvest ingredients. Because of that, even Minhyuk, who had an overwhelmingly high DEX, had a hard time on the field. But with this cheat-like Striking Will, everything would be fine.

    <em>One strike would multiply into fourteen strikes.</em>

    But the most important thing to note here was that the skill, aside from being unable to be applied to <em>attack skills,</em> had no other limitations. If Minhyuk did cksmithing work, one hammer strike would turn into fourteen strikes. And if he went out on the field to harvest crops, one strike of his pickaxe would turn into fourteen strikes. Because Minhyuks striking speed was already breakneck, this skill would significantly boost him.

    After confirming the skill, Minhyuk took out the ticket to the <em>Field of the Gods</em> immediately.

    <em>[You have entered the Field of the Gods.]</em>

    ***

    Hiyaaaaa Heartfelt admiration escaped Minhyuks mouth.

    When he entered the Field of the Gods, he was greeted by a vast field with all the crops buried deep underground. But since the names of the crops were marked right above them, Minhyuk thought it would not be that difficult to harvest what he wanted.

    <em>[Gods Juicy Samgyeopsal.]</em>

    <em>[Gods Amazing Ribs.]</em>

    <em>[Gods Fist-sized Sweet Potato.]</em>

    <em>[Gods Fresh Bean Sprouts.]</em>

    <em>[Gods Waxy Potato.]</em>

    A thrill ran down Minhyuks spine. All of the ingredients here were equivalent to God-grade ingredients. He was sure that the taste would be highly vorful and fantastic. The first ingredient that Minhyuk approached was the Gods Juicy Samgyeopsal.

    <em>[5 minutes 48 seconds.]</em>

    <em>[5 minutes 47 seconds.]</em>

    <em>[5 minutes 46 seconds.]</em>

    Even at this very moment, the time he could stay inside the Field of the Gods was passing by swiftly. Seeing this, Minhyuk hurriedly grabbed his pickaxe and struck the ground as hard as possible.

    <em>Thud!</em>

    <em>[Your harvest yield has increased by 2%!]</em>

    <em>Thud!</em>

    Since Minhyuk could swing his pickaxe around three to four times per second, he could increase his harvest yield by around 8% every second.

    <em>Harvesting just one ingredient would take two to three minutes. Can ordinary yers even harvest these?</em>

    Minhyuk might not know this, but the operators of Joy Co. Ltd. created this opportunity to allow yers to harvest the crops in the Field of the Gods freely<em>.</em> However, although they could gather whatever ingredients they wanted, it would still have to depend on their skills and abilities. Even though the yers could enter the Field of the Gods, ordinary yers with average DEX would probably only be able to harvest around one or two God-grade ingredients here.

    <em>Thuuuud!</em>

    <em>Thuuuuuud!</em>

    Minhyuk increased the speed of swinging his pickaxe.

    <em>[Striking Will.]</em>

    <em>[One strike bes fourteen!]</em>

    <em>[Your DEX will increase by 20%. All of your stats will increase by 6%!]</em>

    <em>[The effect willst for seven seconds.]</em>

    At that moment, a bright golden stream of energy appeared and covered the de of Minhyuks pickaxe.

    Minhyuk looked very dashing. His white cape carried the symbol of the fork and knife crossed together, and his handsome face and pickaxe were covered with a golden energy.

    <em>Thud!</em>

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud!</em>

    <em>[...harvest yield 14%.]</em>

    <em>[...harvest yield 16%.]</em>

    <em>[...harvest yield 18%.]</em>

    <em>[...harvest yield 20%.]</em>

    The crops harvest yield increased tremendously in such a short period of time, reaching 30% in one go. But it did not end there; the Striking Will was continuously triggered.

    <em>[...harvest yield 42%.]</em>

    <em>[...harvest yield 44%.]</em>

    <em>[...harvest yield 46%.]</em>

    The passive skill Striking Will had a 12% chance of getting triggered. Although the probability was small, there was still a high chance of getting triggered by how fast Minhyuk moved. It has been mentioned that Minhyuk could swing his pickaxe around four times per second. This meant that Striking Will was being triggered every 2.5 seconds. Which, of course, brought about shocking results and overpowered effects.

    A 20% increase in DEX also urred,sting seven seconds. This effect greatly increased the harvest yield with every swing of Minhyuks pickaxe. With the help of this skill alone, Minhyuks harvest yield more than doubled.

    At that moment, a notification rang in his ears.

    <em>[You have harvested Gods Juicy Samgyeopsal.]</em>

    <em>Shall we try checking God''s Juicy Samgyeopsal?</em>

    When Minhyuk checked the information of the samgyeopsal, he saw that it could be considered to be the highest grade if it was legendary. But for God-grade, it could only be considered the lowest grade.

    But once he had chosen the amount of buff needed and consumed the ingredient, his attack power and physical STR would greatly increase. If Minhyukbined this with his Food Gods Cooking skill, he could probably increase his attack power and STR by more than 30%.

    The fact that the word <em>God-grade </em>was attached to it meant that it would be very delicious, which made Minhyuk very happy.

    Of course, Minhyuks hands had never stopped moving. He continued to harvest the crops around him, his speed increasing tremendously.

    <em>Thud!</em>

    <em>Thud!</em>

    <em>Thud!</em>

    <em>[You have triggered Striking Will!]</em>

    <em>Thud!</em>

    <em>Thud!</em>

    <em>[You have triggered Striking Will!]</em>

    <em>[You have harvested Gods Amazing Ribs!]</em>

    <em>[You have gathered Gods Fist-sized Sweet Potato!]</em>

    <em>[You have harvested Gods Waxy Potato!]</em>

    As mentioned, the Field of the Gods was filled with countless God-rank ingredients. One nce revealed that more than 400 ingredients were nted all over the fields. In other words, if Minhyuk could move faster, he would be able to bring back as many as possible.

    <em>[...Gods]</em>

    <em>[...Gods]</em>

    <em>[...Gods]</em>

    <em>Thud!</em>

    <em>Thud!</em>

    <em>Thud!</em>

    Keuhahahahahaha!

    The bright and wide smile on Minhyuks face grew deeper and broader.

    <em>[The duration of your stay in the Field of the Gods has ended!]</em>

    <em>[You harvested more than ten crops during your six-minute stay in the Field of the Gods!]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Easter Egg</em></strong><em>: The One That Made an Outstanding Harvest.]</em>

    <em>[The duration of your stay in the Field of the Gods has been extended by four minutes!]</em>

    Lucky!!!

    The operators of Joy Co. Ltd. had expected that more than 80% of the yers that would be able to enter the Field of the Gods would be chefs or other production-ss yers. They had estimated that these yers could only harvest around two crops at most and that it would only be possible to harvest up to ten in such a short amount of time. That was why they confidently ced an easter egg inside. However, that easter egg had now given Minhyuk wings.

    <em>Thuuuuuuuud!</em>

    Even during the four-minute extension, Minhyuks pickaxe still had a golden energy swirling around it. And when his stay had finally and truly ended

    <em>[The duration of your stay in the Field of the Gods has ended!]</em>

    <em>[The total duration of your stay is ten minutes. In that time, you have been able to harvest 17 Gods crops!]</em>

    One reason Gods crops were considered among the best was that each crop had different outstanding effects. Some of the effects of these Gods crops included a 4x increase in EXP Acquisition Rate, a significant boost in attack power, an increase in potential, or even improvement in all of the skills in ones possession.

    Keuhahahahahahaha!

    Minhyuksughter pierced through the ears of everyone in Joy Co. Ltd.s conference room.

    ***

    Haze was just listening to a very terrible report.

    Around 10,000 of the support troops, including Duke Locke, that went out to battle were killed.

    ...And the Luvaldi Kingdom?

    ording to the reports, they were eventually captured by the Luvien Empires Duke Ruffiso and the army he led.

    ... Haze was left speechless.

    The Luvaldi Kingdom had recently forged a great rtionship with the Beyond the Heavens Empire after the incident with the human resource negotiations and the war with the Dark Elves. It was a tiny kingdom and needed someone''s backing. And the support that they chose was none other than the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    Of course, knowing this, the Luvien Empire immediatelyunched an offensive against them. The empires and kingdoms that were against the Luvien Empire directly sent reinforcements. However, all of them died.

    Duke Ruffiso, one of the Stars of the Luvien Empire, contributed significantly to this. The empires dukes were powerful. Their power easily surpassed the power that the Swords of the Gods could wield. They were monsters whose level might shortly exceed Level 800.

    Thats not all. ording to the reports, many of the foreigners are killing the foreigners that belonged to the Beyond the Heavens Empire and foreigners that belonged to the empires and kingdoms that had friendly rtionships with our empire. And just yesterday, Brachans Dungeon, the dungeon that our Beyond the Heavens held the monopoly over, had been taken away. They had removed our authority to operate the dungeon.

    Several foreigners were leaving the Beyond the Heavens Empire because of the pressure brought about by the Luvien Empires tyranny. The worst part? A significant number of the prominent figures among the foreigners had be the dogs of the Luvien Empire.

    <em>Your Majesty, I am missing you right now.</em>

    Haze and the other executives had told Minhyuk to go and get a good rest. They encouraged him not to lose the main reason he yed this game, which was to eat. Of course, Hazes thoughts on this matter had not changed. She did not want her emperor to forget the joy of eating.

    However, there was an <em>implicit promise</em> that came along with this. In the end, he was the emperor. If something happened outside of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, he still had to take the lead andmand them.

    <em>We have to let the Luvien Empire and those foreigners who turned their backs on us take a huge shot.</em>

    Otherwise, they would have no other way to stop the others from leaving. At that moment

    Haze! How have you been? Minhyuk returned after harvesting all the crops he could gather from the Field of the Gods and shed a small smile toward Haze.

    Your- Your Majesty! Hazes eyes turned misty. She was really, <em>really</em> happy to see him right now. I have something to report

    I have already confirmed the situation.

    Although Minhyuk had left to eat and be happy and merry, that did not mean he was out of the loop. He would always talk with his friends on the phone and listen to their stories.

    I havemitted a crime worthy of death, Your Majesty!

    Today, Duke Locke had been forced to log out. But that was not all. They had also lost 10,000 of their soldiers. However, Minhyuk shook his head when he heard Haze pleading guilty for this mistake.

    I know that you and my friends have done everything to the best of your abilities.

    Minhyuk knew that the damage had onlye to this point because Haze and his friends were doing their best. However, if they remained on the sidelines, the damage would increase. The Luvien Empire would continue to take over the Beyond the Heavens authority over their dungeons, strike at the empires and kingdoms that would forge friendly rtionships with them, and use the yers to take advantage of their gaps. And one day, they would invade the Beyond the Heavens Empiresnds.

    Well, its time for us to retaliate.

    Haze nodded in agreement to Minhyuk. However, her expression remained dark and solemn. She had no idea how they were going to retaliate.

    Then Minhyuk said, You see, I have something very interesting and fun here. Its called Authority to Run God-rank Dungeon. Let me share it with you.

    Haze, whose interest was piqued, looked at it and saw that it was an authority to run a dungeon. This was something that many of the foreigners and NPCs also had. However, the only thing that made it special was that it was an <em>authority to run God-rank Dungeon.</em>

    Hazes eyes grew wide in shock. ...Ah!

    She could tell that no other authority to run a dungeon could light a candle to this.

    Even though this is an authority to run a God-rank Dungeon, is this really even possible?

    The person that gave me this authority to run a God-rank Dungeon is God of Dungeons Evas, the greatest God of Dungeons in history.

    When it came to authorities running God-rank dungeons, the most critical aspect was the kind of god that bestowed it. The one who gave this authority to Minhyuk was God of Dungeons Evas, the most outstanding God of Dungeons in history. Of course, the authority to run a dungeon he bestowed would have great power, right?

    Your Majesty, by any chance, can I glimpse whats going on in your mind?

    Minhyuk, who was pondering over their situation, chuckled. I n to trigger an <em>episode </em>rted to this dungeon and use it against the Luvien Empire.

    ...!

    I also n on bing the boss monster in this dungeon.

    A thrill ran down Hazes spine. She could already imagine when the imperial army and the foreigners led by the Luvien Empire ventured inside the dungeon to clear it, only to be met with Boss Monster Minhyuk and his vassals.

    However, this would be difficult with our current power alone.

    That was certainly the case. No matter how strong they were, the Beyond the Heavens Empire would not be able to deal with all of them inside the dungeon. To be honest, Haze believed it would be even quite difficult for them to stop the powerful troops and forces of the Luvien Empirepletely.

    That was when Minhyuk suddenly started to take out unknown and mysterious items from his inventory.

    <em>Thud</em>

    <em>Thud</em>

    <em>Thud</em>

    Among the items were things like steel bars and even something that looked like dragon bones. There were even some screws, iron tes, and a whole lot of items.

    What would happen if we recreate Divine Weapon Bless and use it to stop our enemies?

    However, the big picture that Minhyuk was painting was not yet over. He was still not done taking out items from his inventory. This time, he took out the ingredients he had acquired from the Field of the Gods.

    What would happen if I feed my vassals with dishes made from God-grade ingredients and allow them to grow stronger?

    Haze waspletely at a loss. She just did not know what to say. However, rather than banking on their ability to do these things, she wanted to see if they could unconditionally do it.

    Your Majesty, I know that this authority to run a God-rank dungeon is amazing. However, not just anyone can utilize this properly. From what I can see, only the God of Dungeons will be able to utilize it properly and manage it easily.

    That was right. Minhyuk had only talked about how he would strengthen his vassals by feeding them dishes made from God-grade ingredients and recreating Divine Weapon Bless. He never mentioned anything about the one who would operate the dungeon. After all, no one other than the God of Dungeons would probably be able to freely and properly utilize the authority to run a God-rank dungeon at this caliber.

    However, there was a very faint smile that appeared on Minhyuks face.

    What if the God of Dungeons became a human?

 Chapter 889

    Chapter 889

    Bentley, deprived of his divine power and exiled from the Land of the Gods, was stripped of his title as the God of Dungeons and left wandering.

    However, even if his qualifications as a god had been taken away from him, the fact that he was once the God of Dungeons remained. Even as a human, he was still as powerful as ever. Also, the dungeon production methods and everything rted to dungeons that had been ingrained in his head would never be imitated and copied by anyone currently. But he was left with nowhere to go in thend of the humans and could only keep walking.

    <em>Do I have to make a dungeon and live in it?</em>

    He could probably build a cabin and live like any other human being. However, even though Bentley admitted and recognized the mistakes and wrongdoings that hemitted, he still did not want to stoop so low.

    ...Damn it.

    In the first ce, Bentley was not one of the Continental Gods. He was born a pure-blooded god. He could not fit in thend of humans or hide in the dungeons.

    If he had to be honest, former God of Dungeons Bentley had already given up on living. That was why he deliberately did not drink a sip of water even though he was walking in a desert under the sun''s ring light.

    <em>I truly became a human, huh?</em>

    Bentleys head felt dizzy, and his body was covered with sweat. His throat was so dry that he felt like they were burnt; he could not even spit saliva from his mouth.

    <em>Thud</em>

    Bentley, who had no will to live from the beginning, allowed himself to lie on the hot desert ground and looked up at the bright and scorching sky above him. What a tragic ending, no? He felt like it was better to die than to live like this.

    But then, at that moment, a small shadow covered his body. When Bentley turned his eyes, he was greeted by a familiar face. With a straight nose, sharp jawline, and bright eyes, this familiar face stretched his hand toward him.

    Bentley, who was thinking about how freaking handsome this man was, suddenly wondered why the Food God came to see him.

    Bentley. I need your help.

    ...?

    Did he need his help? Bentley could not help but look at the Food God in confusion. Why would he need the help of someone like him, who had been deprived of his divine power and stripped of his position as a god?

    Why would a great man like you need my help? Thats nonsense. Cant you just let me go and die in peace? Bentley ignored Minhyuk and proceeded to close his eyes.

    But then, at that moment, Minhyuk pushed something into his mouth.

    <em>Mmmph! Hmmmph! </em>What in the world?!

    <em>Gulp, gulp</em>

    Bentley, forced to gulp whatever was in his mouth, looked at Minhyuk with wide-open eyes. Whatever he swallowed tasted sweet and refreshing and smoothly went down his throat.

    Although he had adamantly refused Minhyuk earlier, Bentley grabbed the stic bottle and gulped its contents. He felt delighted as if he had found the oasis inside this hot and dry desert. After drinking the bottle''s contents, Bentleys hazy and blurred consciousness finally returned to rity.

    H- how can it be like this? Can water taste this sweet? When Bentley looked at the bottle, he saw the word <em>pocarist</em> written on it.

    Bentley, whose senses were finally back, stood up. He had already lost his motivation to live. There was nothing left for him to do here.

    It seems like I have to die somewhere else.

    But just when he was about to turn around and live, Minhyuk said, There is a dungeon that only you can run.

    ...

    A dungeon that only he could run? Bentley turned to look at Minhyuk.

    God of Dungeons Evas had given me the authority to run a God-rank dungeon once.

    ...! Bentley was quite shocked to learn that God Evas had given Minhyuk the authority to run a dungeon.

    This authority was much more significant than what Minhyuk or Haze believed it to be. Compared to other ordinary authority to run dungeons, the one that Evas bestowed had limitless potential. However, it would be difficult for ordinary people to utilize even a tenth of the dungeons true power.

    Bentleys heart thumped wildly.

    <em>Something that belonged to God Evas</em>

    The truth was, Bentley thought it would be better for him to run a dungeon of his own, even though his talent in dungeon productiongged behind that of Evas. If it was the dungeon that Evas had left behind, then an outstanding and shocking dungeon might have been born if he had added his skills and talents in operating and managing dungeons.

    <em>Haa haa</em>

    Bentleys breathing turned ragged. What do you intend to do with that dungeon?

    Minhyuk exined the step-by-step process of his nned use of the dungeon to Bentley.

    <em>Sounds fun.</em>

    This was the first thing that Bentley thought of when he heard Minhyuks exnation. Although he was no longer a god, he felt he could make an achievement far better than what a god could make.

    Then, Minhyuk asked him again, Bentley, will you run and manage dungeons for the Beyond the Heavens Empire?

    This time, Bentley did not hesitate. He now had a new goal in his life.

    <em>I will make a dungeon that no other god has ever made.</em>

    Bentley grabbed Minhyuks outstretched hand.

    At this moment, two big shots, who could not mix like oil and water, cooperated.

    ***

    HyeminsDaddy, the God of cksmiths Hepas Descendant, and Dwarf Olger, the Golden Hammers descendant, were considered the best cksmiths. They were beings that all the other empires and kingdoms coveted but dared not make a move on.

    But right now, HyeminsDaddy was facing a considerable challenge. <em>The level of the materials is far too high. I have no idea how I can make them into that.</em>

    Although excellent tools for war, armored weapons rarely appeared in Athenae. One reason was that operating just one armored weapon would cost a lot of money. Another reason was that the world''s craftsmen had yet to create a proper and working armored weapon. So, most of the armored weapons that were being used were those that had been made in the past.

    This was why HyeminsDaddy and Olger, who were trying to recreate Bless with the blueprint they were given, were facing difficulties.

    How on earth did they make this?

    This is very difficult. On top of that, this is the masterpiece created by the production ss gods in the past.

    Of course, what they were trying to make here differed from Bless. It was nothing but a lower-quality version of Bless. However, even the level of something like that was still far too high for them to make from scratch. They tried to manufacture and produce it, but they failed repeatedly because of the extremely high level of the materials and the problem with the blueprint.

    Then, at that moment

    Let me see that. An unknown yet rtively handsome man, who appeared with Minhyuk, took the blueprint that they were making and looked at it sharply.

    HyeminsDaddy and Olger had been basing the blueprint they had been drawing on the materials they had been given. However, for them to be able to produce aplete product, they had to finish andplete the design first. However, Bless was a divine weapon; itsposition could not bepleted even if they referenced it from the other armored weapons. HyeminsDaddy and Olgers design only ounted for 12% of theplete structure.

    The man, Bentley, grabbed the pen and began to draw on the blueprint that they had drawn.

    <em>[Bless design is 15%pleted!]</em>

    <em>[Bless design is 18%pleted!]</em>

    <em>[Bless design is 21%pleted!]</em>

    ...!

    ...!

    HyeminsDaddy and Olger were both very shocked. They put their heads together and worked without rest but could onlyplete 12% of the blueprint.

    <em>[Bless design is 42%pleted!]</em>

    <em>[Bless design is 52%pleted!]</em>

    However, that was where it ended. It looked just like Bless. As for the mechanisms inside, it was something that even Bentley dared not touch.

    Bentley was the God of Dungeons. However, he was very fond of creating something and nurtured his DEX, which allowed him to make a monstrous weapon like the Titan of Destruction. However, he could not even dare to touch Bless.

    Even so, what he had achieved right now was something that even HyeminsDaddy and Olger could not achieve. That was why the two of them were very shocked.

    Is- is this what Bless looks like?

    Amazing.

    While the two were busy admiring how Bless looked, Minhyuk asked, Is it impossible toplete the blueprint?

    It can bepleted. However, even if we can reach 100% of the blueprint and make it, we can only produce a titan with only half of Blesss original power.

    Is there no other way?

    Having only half of Bless power was not enough.

    <em>If we can only produce that, then many of the Beyond the Heavens troops would be sacrificed under the onught of attacks from countless enemy troops. We must kill as many enemies as possible with as little damage as possible.</em>

    Bentley, who had been pondering for a long while, opened his mouth and said, The ck Hammer Dwarves.

    ...!

    The one that responded to Bentleys words was Golden Hammer Dwarf Lants disciple, Olger. Do you know where they are?

    Bentley nodded.

    Who are the ck Hammer Dwarves?

    They are dwarves born from the union of ordinary dwarves and ck dwarves. The ck dwarves are already extinct, but I have heard that the ck Hammer Dwarves have been living in seclusion.

    They were the ones that helped me in producing my Titan of Destruction. And from what I heard, they were extremely outstanding talents that have helped produce Bless in the past.

    In other words, they were part of the group that had produced Bless.

    If they are here, can you produce aplete Bless?

    Even if we cant reproduce Bless, we might be able to produce an outstanding weapon that can rival Bless in power. Perhaps we can also make a few more armored weapons, too.

    Hearing that, Minhyuk knew that there was no longer any need to hesitate. After he heard of the location from Bentley, he immediately sent one of his vassals to discuss it with them.

    ***

    The one that was dispatched to meet and persuade the ck Hammer Dwarves, the only beings that could optimize an armored weapon to exert more power, was none other than Locke.

    As for Minhyuk, he had somewhere to go, so he posted about this on the guild chat room. When Locke saw the message, he volunteered himself.

    Locke still could not forget how the Luvien Empires Duke Ruffiso had wiped out 10,000 of the Beyond the Heavens Empires troops and stabbed a sword in his heart. That was why he volunteered himself. And, of course, he vowed to do his best in this operation.

    But Locke, who had done his best and given his all, was tied up and dragged by the ck Hammer Dwarves.

    ...

    Locke deliberately left the troops behind and only went there by himself. He thought the ck Hammer Dwarves might feel threatened by their presence and would probably think they would attack them, ending in a war. Besides, he came here to make a deal, not to fight.

    Minhyuk had told Locke to tell the ck Hammer Dwarves that <em>they would listen to whatever they wanted. </em>This was because the Beyond the Heavens Empire''s life and death depended on this.

    The ck Hammer Dwarves, with their rugged and rough appearance, looked like ordinary dwarves on the outside. The only difference was that they were all wearing ck armor and a cape carrying the symbol of a ck hammer on their backs.

    <em>Fwoooosh</em>

    <em>Fwoooooooooooosh</em>

    The rush of heat from the bellows that the dwarves were manning covered the entire area and made it seem like they were being enveloped byva. If Locke were to be honest, he was terrified of the ck Hammer Dwarves.

    <em>Look at their tough and ugly looks! And what kind of arm is that?!</em>

    Their arms were as big as <em>Ma Dong-Seoks</em> and looked like they could easily twist Lockes neck in a heartbeat.

    After being dragged for quite some time, Locke was forced to face the dwarf standing atop the long and high staircase. Wearing silver armor, he looked cool. However, the fact that he was 140 cm tall took away his majesty.

    <em>[ck Hammer Dwarven King Vernon has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[The ck Hammer Dwarfs Overwhelming Momentum has been triggered!]</em>

    <em>[The Overwhelming Momentum has restricted your breathing!]</em>

    <em>[Your resistance against abnormal status has decreased by 40%!]</em>

    Keheok!

    The overwhelming momentum emanating from the small stature of the Dwarven King was far stronger than expected and had weighed down upon Locke. If someone weaker than Locke, like the soldiers, came here, they would have already fainted.

    ck Hammer Dwarven King Vernon turned to look at him and said, The Beyond the Heavens Emperor sent you?

    That- thats right. His Majesty is requesting your help. We hope the ck Hammer Dwarves can help us recreate <em>Bless.</em>

    Bless?!

    Did he just say, Bless?!

    That divine weapon?!

    Even Vernon was quite surprised when he heard what Locke said. Bless was an armored weapon that was born thousands of years ago from the hands of their great ancestors. And they wanted to recreate it with their help? However, they knew it would still beplicated even if they were skilled.

    Then, Locke said, His Majesty told me that he is willing to grant whatever the ck Hammer Dwarves want.

    ...Whatever we want? Kikiki Kikikikikiki Kikikiki! Vernon covered his face, an evil and wildughter escaping his lips.

    <em>Hes this type of character? No way. Is he going to ask us to help them conquer thends? </em>Locke grew increasingly nervous.

    He could tell that what they would ask of them would not be small. After all, they were asking the ck Hammer Dwarves to help them recreate Bless.

    Then, Vernon said, The ck Hammer Dwarves have lived in the shadows for a long time. These hands that had produced countless armored weapons could easily drown the world in blood. However, we did not do so. Because we needed something, something thats far greater than that.

    ...

    <em>Gulp</em>

    Locke gulped dryly, a groan escaping his lips when Vernons sharp eyes turned to look at him.

    I will tell you what I, no, what we need. Perk your ears up and listen closely.

    Locke immediately focused all of his attention on Vernons charismatic face. <em>What in the world do you want?!!!</em>

    Vernons eyes almost turned green with <em>greed</em> as he looked at Locke. Then, he took a deep breath and said, We want to grow taller.

    ...?

    Just three centimeters taller

    ...?

    Locke was utterly taken aback. Looking around, he heard the other ck Hammer Dwarves talking among themselves.

    If were three centimeters taller, then we can wear other clothes and look a bit more different

    Wow. If Lord Vernon grew three centimeters taller, wouldnt he be 140 centimeters tall?

    Kghhk~ If were 140 centimeters tall, wouldnt we fit perfectly into whatever clothes or armor we want?

    My god 140 centimeters~!!!

    If were 140 centimeters tall, we will look great in anything.

    A hundred and forty Woaaaaaaah

    ...

    At this point, Locke realized that he was facing the most significant challenge in the world.

 Chapter 890

    Chapter 890

    At least once in their lives, ordinary men who were not on the taller side would dream and think,<em>¡®I¡¯m 177 centimeters tall. If I can only grow three centimeters more¡­¡¯</em>or<em>¡®I¡¯m only 170 centimeters tall. I wish I could grow three centimeters taller!¡¯</em>

    Like these ordinary men, the ck Hammer Dwarves also had the same dream. ck Hammer Dwarves were the offspring born from the union of an ordinary dwarf and a ck Dwarf. They were skilled cksmiths who were powerful and talented enough to create armored weapons easily. And Vernon, the one leading them, had this grand dream.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m 137 centimeters tall. If I grow three centimeters taller, I will be 140 centimeters tall.¡¯</em>

    If that happened, he would be the tallest among all the ck Hammer Dwarves. More importantly, if he became 140 centimeters tall, he could breathe new life into whatever clothes he wanted to wear, just like how those humans looked good while wearing the coats they liked or the armor they would wear to go to the battlefield. In the first ce, dwarves were short beings. So, it was only natural that they would harbor an inferiorityplex and be insecure about their heights.

    However, the most crucial takeaway here was that Vernon was a master craftsman who had talent that did notg behind the ck Hammer Dwarves who helped build Bless back in the day. He also had some of Bless''s blueprints in his hands, although a bit damaged.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want much. I just want to grow three centimeters taller!!!¡±

    <em>¡®N- No¡­ You¡¯re saying you don¡¯t want much when asking for the impossible?!¡¯</em>Locke felt like he was going to be crazy.

    When he looked around him, he saw the shining eyes of all of the dwarves present. All he could do was gulp dryly and bite the bullet.

    ¡°...I- I will try my best.¡±

    Locke hurriedly sent a whisper to Minhyuk.

    ***

    After finishing what he had to deal with, Minhyuk hurriedly checked what Locke had sent him via whisper.

    <em>¡®They want to grow taller¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk did not mock orugh at their wishes. No matter what race they belonged to, everyone had aplex that they were very insecure about. And apparently, dwarves had a severe inferiorityplex about their heights.

    Thankfully, their dreams were not necessarily impossible for Minhyuk.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Beef Shank of Growth</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Ingredient Grade</em></strong><em>: God</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?This is a God¡¯s Ingredient that will help you grow whatever you want.</em>

    <em>?It has the power to allow hair to grow to someone who does not have hair or to allow someone who wants to grow tall to grow taller.</em>

    <em>?Unlike ordinary beef shanks, this can be boiled and made into a soup dozens of times.</em>

    <em>?Many would be able to receive the effects by sharing the well-boiled and vorful beef shank soup.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: The Beef Shank of Growth may help resolve someone¡¯s inferiorityplex. The well-boiled soup boiled from this beef shank will allow one to grow whatever they want to grow fast.</em>

    Minhyuk harvested this ingredient from the Field of the Gods. When he first got his hands on it, he wondered if he would ever have the chance to use it. However, now that it was in his hands, he unexpectedly met a situation where its worth would shine the brightest.

    But then, Minhyuk thought,<em>¡®ck Hammer Dwarven King Vernon¡­ was what he wanted just that? Growing taller?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk could not help but doubt. Of course, it waspletely understandable that the dwarf wanted to ovee his inferiorityplex. However, he could not help but think there was something else besides getting taller.

    <em>¡®We will forge a deal with ck Hammer Dwarven King Vernon. However, I want to turn this rtionship into a deeper and more solid one,¡¯</em>Minhyuk thought as he finally made a move.

    ***

    ck Hammer Dwarven King Vernon was, in all honesty, an arrogant and prideful man. Of course, he had the qualifications to be one. After all, he was a master craftsman who could produce the world¡¯s most potent armored weapons and create the greatest siege weapons. The gods even visited him several times because of that.

    So, when Vernon looked at Minhyuk, standing politely before him, he thought,<em>¡®Anyway, we just have a strictly business rtionship.¡¯</em>

    They only had to get what they wanted to get from each other.

    ¡°Is it possible?¡± King Vernon asked. Hearing this question, the other dwarves turned to look at the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor Minhyuk, eyes shining with desperation.

    The dwarves¡¯ inferiorityplex concerning their heights had existed for as long as they could remember. However, no one had been able to help them solve this problem.

    ¡°I will do my best.¡±

    And Minhyuk did his best. He stood in front of the cauldron of the tricky Beef Shank of Growth, an ingredient that needed to be boiled for several days in a row and did not leave it at all even though he was sweating buckets.

    ¡°Kihyaa! Pocarist is yummy!¡±

    He would smile like an innocent boy while gulping down some unknown drink.

    <em>[Your favor with Rubanan has increased.]</em>

    <em>[Your favor with Cord has increased.]</em>

    <em>[Your favor with Aegedo has increased.]</em>

    They could see that Minhyuk was doing his best. So, the dwarves, moved deeply by his dedication and determination, grabbed adder and climbed up to wipe the sweat off his head.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Minhyuk responded with a small smile.

    The dwarves, who were ignored by the other races because of their square faces and bulky and rugged bodies, realized after watching Minhyuk for a few days that what he was doing was not just a pretense. As a race that had only known cksmithing, they had always been under threat because of their<em>abilities</em>. That was why they could tell that Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor Minhyuk respected them and was doing their best for them.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s an excellent emperor.¡¯</em>

    Just when the dwarves thought like that, they saw Minhyuk sigh of relief. It seemed like the few days of hard work in boiling the beef shank had finally ended.

    ¡°It¡¯s only at legendary grade, but I believe this should be more than enough,¡± Minhyuk said, looking at the dwarves with his entire body drenched in sweat.

    ¡°What¡¯s this noodle?¡±

    ¡°Beef noodle soup. Noodles taste delicious, but even more so when eaten with beef shank soup. Wouldn¡¯t it taste more delicious if you mix two delicious things?¡±

    ¡°Oooh! That¡¯s great. It¡¯s better to eat something more delicious!¡± ck Hammer Dwarven King Vernon smiled without realizing it as he looked at Minhyuk. However, Vernon¡¯s face turned stiff again after catching Minhyuk¡¯s eye.

    ¡°Please give it to me! Hurry!¡±

    Vernon was in a hurry. He wanted to eat the dish right away and grow taller. However, Minhyuk shook his head and said, ¡°No. Shall we talk?¡±

    Vernon looked at Minhyuk in confusion. What in the world did they have to talk about? Couldn¡¯t this emperor see that he was in a hurry and wanted to down that beef noodle soup right away?! However, Vernon had no other choice but to keep it all in. He still had to be polite in front of others.

    ***

    Vernon, who sent everyone out, listened to themotion outside. And Minhyuk? He was looking at the dwarven king while standing a few meters away.

    ¡°You will grow taller slowly. It needs a step-by-step process and would take two weeks.¡±

    ¡°It would be good if what you said is true,¡± Vernon said. At the same time, he wondered why the man wanted to talk with him even though he had already finished what he had to do.

    However, the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor stared at Vernon for a while. Only after a few minutes had passed did he open his mouth. ¡°ck Hammer Dwarven King.¡±

    ¡°???¡± Vernon looked at the man in confusion.

    ¡°Did you ask for this just because you wanted to grow taller?¡±

    Vernon felt it to be quite strange. The man¡¯s gentle voice and faint smile seemed to melt Vernon¡¯s tough and cold heart.

    ¡°Us dwarves are born short. Because of that¡­¡± Vernon started. However, he soon sighed. He felt like telling this story was not really that necessary. ¡°There¡¯s someone that I love.¡±

    It was just like what Minhyuk expected. It was not about just wanting to grow taller. There was something that Vernon believed he would only be able to do if he grew taller.

    ¡°She¡¯s a very beautiful High Elf.¡±

    Minhyuk had seen who Vernon talked about a few times while making the beef shank noodle soup. Even so, the story of a high elf and a dwarf falling in love still sounded surreal, just like a fairy tale. However, fate was just like that. No one could know when their future and destinies would start to intertwine.

    ¡°Unlike me, she¡¯s tall and beautiful.¡±

    That should certainly be the case. After all, high elves were born slim, tall, and very beautiful.

    ¡°I want to propose to her. But look at me. I¡¯m twenty centimeters shorter than her.¡± Vernon resented his short stature.

    Suppose he could just be a bit taller, just a tad bit taller. This was how people withplexes were. They would care and think more about things that others might not care about.

    ¡°I also know that I can¡¯t grow anymore. However, if I can just grow three centimeters taller, then I¡¯m sure that she will be able to ept my proposal!¡±

    The worst part? Theirplex would constantly gnaw and tear away at their self-esteem. More often than not, it would also force them to run away.

    Minhyuk, who stood there facing Vernon, smiled faintly. ¡°Your Majesty, please eat this beef shank noodle soup a bitter.¡±

    ¡°...Wh- what?!¡± Vernon¡¯s expression grew ugly, his face growing redder by the second.

    Was Minhyuk ying with him?! Did he not hear what he just said?! He said she would ept his proposal if he grew three centimeters taller! But here Minhyuk was, telling Vernon to eat this dish that would allow him to grow taller a bitter?!

    Minhyuk said, ¡°Your Majesty, why do you love that high elf? Is it because she¡¯s beautiful?¡±

    ¡°...¡± After a few moments of reflection, Vernon said, ¡°At first, it was because she was beautiful. But as we grew closer and spent more time together, I fell in love with her beautiful and kind heart. She is someone that loves me and cares for me deeply. It wouldn¡¯t matter how she looks; I will still love her even if she¡¯s no longer beautiful.¡±

    ¡°Then, let me ask you a different question. Why do you think she loves you, Your Majesty?¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Unlike her, Vernon did not look handsome or tall. He was stubby, bulky, rugged, and ugly. However, she still loved him with all her heart. His inferiorityplex prevented him from seeing why she loved him. Perhaps hisplex about his short height had made him into a coward.

    The ck Hammer Dwarven King, who ruled over all of the ck Hammer Dwarves and the master craftsman who could make the best-armored weapon in the world, began to cry.

    ¡°Your Majesty, she had also fallen in love with you, not your short stature, bulky body, or rugged face. Like how you have fallen in love with her beautiful heart, she must have also definitely fallen in love with your unchanging and unyielding heart. It wouldn¡¯t matter what you looked like. From what I saw these past few days, she is also madly and deeply in love with you.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right¡­ You are absolutely right¡­ Everything you said is right¡­¡± Vernon, with tears dripping down his face, finally realized the truth. Heughed and cried after learning he had run away because of hisplex. And finally, Vernon gathered his courage and took a step forward.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be waiting for you here.¡±

    However, Vernon no longer heard Minhyuk¡¯s words. Vernon ran out with the bouquet and the ring he had prepared for his proposal once he grew three centimeters taller. He ran with his short and stubby legs and dashed across the ce filled with hot steam until he found her figure.

    ¡°Allei!¡± Vernon shouted at the top of his lungs as he knelt before her.

    However, he suddenly felt afraid. He felt like running away again even though he had already knelt before her. It seemed like hisplex was about to rear its head again and force the turtle back into its shell again.

    But Vernon persevered. He gathered all the courage he could muster and said, ¡°Will you allow me to stay by your side for all eternity?!¡±

    The scene where a stubby, bulky, and rugged dwarf kneeling and proposing in front of a beautiful, slim, and tall high elf might look like a joke to some. Vernon also knew that it was aughable scene. That was why he also felt a bit scared.

    However, there was no need for him to fear. The high elf Allei smiled brightly as she bent down and hugged Vernon tightly. ¡°I have been waiting. I have always¡­ always been waiting for you to say those words.¡±

    ¡°I love you. I am madly and deeply in love with you. You are the only one that owns my heart,¡± Vernon said, smiling brightly. He was the happiest man in the world as long as he was in the arms of his beloved Allei.

 Chapter 891

    Chapter 891

    Minhyuk prepared to return the day after Dwarf Vernon proposed to High Elf Allei.

    <em>The power of the Beef Shank of Growth needs to seep in through their bones and would take two weeks before it could show its full power.</em>

    In other words, it would take two weeks before the dwarves grew in height. Only after that time would they be able to get the ck Hammer Dwarves help. So, for the time being, Minhyuk had to return to the Beyond the Heavens Empire and make preparations.

    At that moment, ck Hammer Dwarven King Vernon appeared hand in hand with High Elf Allei in front of Minhyuk. There were also a few ck Hammer Dwarves carrying their ck hammers right behind them.

    Minhyuk could see that the dwarves carrying ck hammers looked five centimeters taller than when he first met them. This was all thanks to the magic tool that Minhyuk had handed them toplement the Beef Shank of Growth. What was the magic tool in question? It was none other than <em>insoles</em>. And the dwarves that were given these insoles looked very<em>, very </em>satisfied.

    These dwarves are the best-armored weapon craftsmen among the ck Hammer Dwarves. They will be able to help youplete Bless blueprint and make additional armored weapons for you. Vernon smiled.

    Vernon was very grateful for Minhyuks help. Because of this man, he was able to ovee his inferiorityplex. It was also thanks to Minhyuk that Vernon realized that Allei truly loved him and that getting taller and everything else was just because hecked the confidence and felt he did not have the qualifications to receive her love.

    On the other hand, Minhyuk was very happy. He initially thought that the ck Hammer Dwarves would only help them recreate Bless after their heights had increased. But now, Vernon personally said that they would help him create additional armored weapons.

    Minhyuk reached his hand out and held ck Hammer Dwarven King Vernons stubby hands in a handshake.

    ***

    This story happened after Beyond the Heavens Empire sent Locke to negotiate with the ck Hammer Dwarves.

    Whenever Athenae was in danger, the high-rankers of the virtual reality game Athenae would stand at the forefront of the battlefield and lead all the other yers to fight on the battlefield. Seeing this scene, Ethan would always recall the dream that he had dreamt at least once in his life.

    Ethan had hoped that one day, he would climb the robot''s cockpit, the robot he had dreamt of since he was a child, hold a fantastic sword in his hand, and stand at the forefront of the battlefield to defeat the enemies. Yes, this was the dream of Ethan, the number one ranker in the <em>Armored Pilot</em> rankings.

    Ethan wanted to pilot an armored weapon with a stronger fist and a defense that was sturdier than any other yer so that no one could stop him. However, his dreams were shelved, and was left gathering dust in the corner when he became one of the lowest-ranking knights of the Luvien Empire.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud thuuuud!</em>

    Ack! Kghhk! St- stop stop!

    Well, he was one of the knights of the Luvien Empire up until yesterday. However, today, his qualifications as a knight had been revoked.

    The ones that recruited Ethan first were the Luvien Empire. They promised him these.

    <em>We will make your dreamse true.</em>

    <em>We will build an armored weapon for you, put you at the forefront, and allow you to fight in the vanguard of the battlefield.</em>

    <em>We will do our best to help you.</em>

    Ethan, a yer, had been rolling around, tinkering, and piloting old armored weapons. However, Ethan could not fully showcase his power because the armored weapons were too old and decrepit. At that time, the Luvien Empire came to him and promised to create a new armored weapon. That was why he came here. But what was the result in the end? Just today, he received this notification.

    <em>The ns for the Armored Weapon Knight Order have been revoked.</em>

    <em>The Luvien Empire will not produce any armored weapons.</em>

    Of course, Ethan immediately asked the reason.

    <em>Why?</em>

    <em>Of course, its because making armored weapons is too expensive. And even if we can produce one, it would be inefficient. Then, wouldnt that put us at a loss?</em>

    It was expensive, and operating it would be inefficient. Ethan knew that those were nothing but excuses. This was because the Luvien Empire could not make any outstanding armored weapons.

    An excellent armored weapon could produce mana on its own. And when an excellent armored weapon met with an equally fantastic pilot? They would create a synergy and be several times more potent than usual.

    And that was what the Luvien Empire also had in mind. That was why they recruited Ethan in their knight order. But they abandoned him when they failed to create an excellent armored weapon.

    <em>You are no longer a part of the Armored Weapon Knight Order.</em>

    <em>Then- then where would I go?!</em>

    <em>How should I know?</em>

    This was how Luvien was. If they needed you, they would use any means to entice you to their side. However, once you no longer had any use for them, then they would throw you away.

    The worst part? The knights of the Luvien Empire mocked and trampled on Ethan, who had been recruited as a part of the knight order because of his superb talent in operating armored weapons.

    What- What did I even do wrong?!

    Shut up! The fact that a bastard like you with no qualifications joined the Great Luvien Empire is your mistake!

    I- I am the best and strongest pilot!

    Thats what they said. Yes. But whats the point of being the best and the strongest pilot when you dont even have any proper armored weapon? Theres nowhere in the world that operates and maintains armored weapons.

    Keooooook!

    They punched and beat Ethan as if he were some kind of dog that did something wrong.

    Ethan felt that everything was unfair. He always believed that someday, he would be able to meet an armored weapon that suited him and that he would be able to stand at the vanguard and fight on the battlefield, receiving the admiration of many.

    He never gave up on his dreams, and he even continued to work hard and operate the old and decrepit armored weapon given to him when he changed ss to Armored Weapon Pilot. Even when a thousand armored weapon pilots ended up giving up on their courses, he continued to increase his level and establish himself as an excellent armored weapon pilot.

    <em>One day, I will make you regret that you cast me, an armored weapon pilot, away!</em>

    But at this moment, Ethan felt like it was him that was stupid. Even the Luvien Empire gave up on producing armored weapons. So, who in the world would be willing to do so?

    Ethan might be the number one-ranked armored weapon pilot. However, with just his old armored weapon in hand, he would not be able to win against the top one million rankers. What use was being excellent and talented when his armored weapongged far behind in performance?

    <em>Sob, sob, sob Sob, sob, sob</em> Ethan choked in his tears as he got beaten up and dragged like a dog and eventually got thrown out of the walls of the empire.

    Ethan clenched his fists. <em>Never again I will never y Athenae again!</em>

    This dream started when Ethan first yed and put together Lego pieces as a kid and watched the robots transforming on the TV in front of him. He clenched his fists tightly, vowing to make that dreame true. However, Ethan was now entertaining the thought of abandoning his n.

    But at this moment, the figure of a man shed in his head. Unlike himself, this man stood at the forefront of the battlefield and never backed down, even though he had to face the Luvien Empire. This man was a man who received the respect and admiration of many. And this was none other than Minhyuk.

    Ethan. The best-armored weapon pilot. From what I heard, you are a very skilled and talented man that even the NPCs cannot match, no?

    While Ethan was staring at the ground and sobbing, someones voice rang above his head. The voice was booming yet warm; it embraced him as if soothing the exhausted Ethan. However, Ethan could not bear to raise his face, which was covered with tears. The man leaned down and stretched his hand out toward him.

    The Beyond the Heavens No, I need and covet your talents.

    And when Ethan raised his head? He saw the man he aspired to be, the same man he watched through videos, standing before him. The man even told him that he coveted and needed his talents. This man was the Supreme yer and the Beyond the Heavens Empire emperor, the only empire that stood and fought back against the Luvien Empire.

    Will you join my side?

    Ethan was deeply moved. This was the first time that he had heard such heartfelt words during his entire time ying Athenae.

    <em>I need and covet your talents.</em>

    The crying Ethan nodded as he grabbed the mans hands.

    Come to the Beyond the Heavens Empire once youre ready.

    After leaving those words, Minhyuk turned and left with his white cape carrying the symbol of a fork and a knife crossed together, fluttering behind his tall and broad back. Ethan, who watched his sturdy and reliable back, continued to cry.

    Minhyuk-chan! I will live my life for your sake!!! Thank you for believing in me! <em>Aishiteru!</em>

    That was right. Ethan was a full-fledged <em>Gundam otaku</em>.

    ***

    Minhyuk looked at Vernon and the ck Hammer Dwarves, smiling happily as they swung their ck hammers to reproduce Divine Weapon Bless and created six other armored weapons by themselves.

    <em>[You have sessfully reproduced Divine Weapon Bless!]</em>

    <em>[Compared to the original Bless, this divine weapon performs 25% lower. However, the fact that it is the strongest armored weapon cannot be denied!]</em>

    A faint smile curled at the corners of Minhyuks lips when he heard the notification. Even though they could not wholly reproduce the Bless of the past, he believed this was more than enough. After all, they had Ethan with them. The same Ethan had closed his eyes and ced his hands on Blesss body.

    Bless-chan I can hear your heartbeat. Please take down and tear apart the Luvien Empire with me, okay?

    ...

    The words that Ethan said soundedpletely like those cringe-y <em>otaku</em> lines. However, they were reliable words. As the strongest and best armored weapon pilot, Ethan could make up for Blesss shorings.

    While Bless and the other armored weapons were being created, Minhyuk took the time to cook some pretty decent and amazing dishes from the ingredients he had harvested from the Field of the Gods.

    At that moment, Haze entered. Your Majesty! This time, they are attacking the Lonstrei Empire. And thats not all. After observing their movements, we concluded they were moving to invade the Ardan Territory, which our Beyond the Heavens pioneered and opened!

    ...Alright.

    The oppressive acts of the Luvien Empire did not seize. However, the Beyond the Heavens Empire was already fully prepared this time.

    Haze, start spreading the rumors. Say that there is a dungeon housing an extremely outstanding and excellent reward.

    ***

    Levard, the number four in the Archaeologist Rankings, migrated to the Luvien Empire. When he came to the empire, he heard some information in the streets. From what he had heard, there was an old book amongst the ancient relics that the Luvien Empire had acquired. This book contained detailed information about a ce called <em>The Transcendentals Holy Land.</em>

    <em>They said it was a ce where the boss is a transcendental being. However, it was also a ce housing a myriad of treasures.</em>

    Immediately after that, the Luvien Empire summoned Levard. He was tasked to lead the minimum number of troops and head to the Transcendentals Holy Land.

    There had been several cases where information regarding dungeons was written in ancient relics and artifacts. However, the information regarding these dungeons was false 90% of the time. And if the information were not wrong, it would usually be cleared by someone else. Because of that, archeologist yers, people who could revive even after dying inside those dungeons, were sent to check the situation. Of course, if they were forced to log out, the Luvien Empire wouldpensate them for as much as they had lost.

    <em>Im begging you. Please let this be a dungeon that someone else has not robbed clean!</em>

    Following what was written in the ancient book, Levard led a hundred troops. They took only a short time to reach the dungeon''s entrance.

    <em>Its name is The Transcendentals Holy Land</em>

    What were transcendental beings? They were beings that surpassed the limits of a human being and held power far beyond the power that an ordinary god could wield. Knowing this fact, Levard believed that the rewards of this dungeon would be highly excellent and valuable.

    The Transcendentals Holy Land entrance was hidden behind a thick curtain of vines, which Levard and his troops easily cut down to enter. Once they stepped foot inside the dungeon

    <em>Rumble</em>

    The ground beneath their feet gave way, and Levard and his men began to fall.

    A- Aaaaaaaaaaaack!

    <em>Thud!</em>

    Fortunately, Levard was not forced to log out even after falling from such a steep height. Levard, who returned to his senses after a while, looked around. However, the notifications that rang in his ears shocked him.

    <em>[You have entered the Transcendentals Holy Land!]</em>

    <em>[The Transcendentals Holy Land is a God-rank Dungeon!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 500 REP!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 50 CHA!]</em>

    <em>[The one that can clear the Transcendentals Holy Land sessfully will be able to obtain the Transcendentals Treasure!]</em>

    <em>[The dungeon has an entry limit. Only one million people can enter the dungeon!]</em>

    <em>[The </em><strong><em>Episode</em></strong><em>: Transcendentals Holy Land has started!]</em>

    <em>[The transcendental beings wish topete with this eras strongest and greatest empire!]</em>

    <em>[The transcendental beings hope the Luvien Empire will enter their dungeon!]</em>

    <em>[Those that will enter and clear the Transcendentals Holy Land with the Luvien Empire will be able to receive ample rewards!]</em>

    Archeologist Levard felt like he was going to choke on his spit. He could not breathe at the fact that the Transcendentals Holy Land truly existed and remained undiscovered and that it was a God-rank Dungeon. Based on what had been revealed to him, he could tell this was the most challenging dungeon among all the dungeons released.

    <em>And theres also the fact that an episode has been triggered the moment we entered the dungeon.</em>

    However, the most surprising fact was that they could obtain the <em>Transcendentals Treasure</em> if they could clear this dungeon. Luvien Empires Emperor Nerva dered they would use any means necessary as long as they could obtain anything that belonged to the transcendental beings.

    <em>Isnt this amazing?!</em>

    The best part? Only yers rted to the Luvien Empire were allowed to enter the Transcendentals Holy Land.

    Levard calmed his tense and excited nerves and slowly entered deeper into the dungeons. However, he only wandered inside the dungeon for a minute before he was forced to log out. Even so, Levard was still very happy.

    <em>What a challenging dungeon! Hahahaha! Amazing!</em>

    Levard immediately went to report to Nerva when he could log back into the game.

 Chapter 892

    Chapter 892

    The entire world was left in a buzz. Everyone, including yers, broadcasting stations, andmentators, continued to talk about the episode about the Transcendentals Holy Land.

    <em>[This is wild. An episode has been triggered just because of one single dungeon? How high is the difficulty of this Transcendentals Holy Land?]</em>

    <em>[Guys, only one million people can enter this dungeon. However, whats more surprising is that there was no limit to the level of the one million people that would enter this dungeon.]</em>

    <em>[Keke. If theres no limit for the level, then does that mean that all of the rankers of the Luvien Empire can enter the dungeon?]</em>

    <em>[Think about it; this is not just for rankers. The Luvien Empire has the strongest army with the most significant military might. Only the elite of Luviens troops would enter this dungeon. The Luvien Imperial Army had recently revamped itself. The minimum level of their soldiers was at Level 560, and their knights have since grown and reached Level 600. But do you know whats more interesting?]</em>

    <em>[What?]</em>

    <em>[Almost half of the poption of the yers in the Luvien Empire are yers that have achieved Level 600.]</em>

    <em>[I will go to the Luvien Empire once I achieve Level 600.]</em>

    <em>[Yep, yep. Thats right. The conditions that they present are just that good.]</em>

    Most of the yers that have reached Level 600 were people who once represented their countries during the Battle of the Thrones and easily exceeded fifty. And nearly half of that number belonged to the Luvien Empire.

    The biggest reason for this was because the Luvien Empire had given their all to help those who had received quests rted to achieving Level 600 and those who had already reached Level 600 to gain more power. However, there was something far more interesting than that.

    <em>[At Emperor Nervasmand, a Second Order of the Sword of the Gods has been created.]</em>

    And the knights of the Sword of the Gods Second Order? They were none other than yers. The most surprising fact was that the Second Order did notg behind the First Order.

    The difference between Level 599 yers and Level 600 yers was like the difference between heaven and earth. The rankers that have achieved Level 600 have proven this fact when they joined the Sword of the Gods Second Order.

    However, they werent the only ones who joined the Second Order. Countless yers had built their kingdoms, only to join the Second Order by handing over the management of their domains to their sessors.

    Because of these reasons, the Luvien Empire grew even more powerful.

    <em>[The Sword of the Gods Second Order knights are genuinely impressive. The problem is that I dont want to look at them or see them.]</em>

    <em>[What do you mean by you dont want to look at them or see them? They''re just taking advantage of their profits.]</em>

    <em>[But you know, dont they find it a bit awkward? The Second Order is standing at the vanguard and destroying all of the forces going against the Luvien Empire.]</em>

    However, the yers that made up the Second Order also had to pay a price. They had to be the dogs of the Luvien Empire and be at their beck and call. And now, they were working with Duke Ruffiso and standing at the forefront of destroying the forces against the Luvien Empire. The yers against the Luvien Empire hated them, while those who stood in line with the Luvien Empire strongly supported them.

    <em>[Wow, shit. I cant wait to see their dungeon attack strategy.]</em>

    <em>[Me too! +2!!! How many strong monsters will be there? Ah, what kind of rewards will be there? How many amazing rewards will they get? Kghhk!]</em>

    While the yers were having a heated discussion in themunity sites

    <em>[Guys! The Luvien Empire has decided to send Duke Ruffiso and all of the Sword of the Gods Second Order members!]</em>

    <em>[Thats unbelievable Luvien is going all out, huh?]</em>

    <em>[Wow. Are Duke Ruffiso and the Sword of the Gods Second Order going to fight together? Keke. Thats going to be freaking amazing. Ive heard that Duke Ruffisos level is over Level 800.]</em>

    <em>[I think his level is really over Level 800, though. If you watch his videos, you can see that Duke Ruffiso is very strong.]</em>

    <em>[Since Duke Ruffiso will be there, dont you think the Transcendentals Holy Land is already in the bag?]</em>

    <em>[Well, thats not for sure, right? The Transcendentals Holy Lands boss, the Transcendental Being, might be stronger than Duke Ruffiso. After all, this dungeon is already an episode, right?]</em>

    <em>[Hmm. Is that so?]</em>

    <em>[Theyre going to enter the dungeon tomorrow at 6:00 PM.]</em>

    With Duke Ruffiso and all of the Sword of the Gods Second Order members added to the mix, more yers,mentators, and broadcasting stations began to pay attention to the Transcendentals Holy Land.

    ***

    Minhyuk, the Transcendentals Holy Lands boss monster that received the attention of many, was busy checking the authority''s rules to run a God-rank dungeon.

    <em>1. The Manager who used the right to run a God-rank dungeon can receive help from yers. The manager has to be the lord of a territory or the ruler of a kingdom. If youre an emperor, you can get your vassals'' help.</em>

    <em>2. yers participating as dungeon monsters will receive 50% of the forced logout penalty upon death. In the case of NPC vassals, they will be revived outside of the dungeon and will receive no penalty whatsoever. However, the dungeon manager would shoulder the penalty the vassals would receive. The penalty would depend on the level of the vassal and is mostly just a loss of EXP.</em>

    <em>3. The yers and vassals that will follow the manager and participate in the dungeon will appear as monsters following the settings of the dungeon. You can only have three exceptions to this rule.</em>

    <em>4. When the dungeon''s difficulty is set to the highest, the total number of yers, vassals, and soldiers can participate is 200,000. ording to the dungeon settings, you can also use 300,000 monsters as mobs.</em>

    <em>5. The Dungeon Manager can also weaken the enemy using the debuffs provided by the dungeon. The manager can only use this once.</em>

    <em>6. The Dungeon Manager can give buffs to his allies using their abilities. However, the buffs that can be applied must only be up to the extent permitted by the dungeon.</em>

    <em>7. The Dungeon Manager will be the boss monster and must set the rewards corresponding to their capabilities. If the rewards are insufficient, the dungeon will not be produced.</em>

    <em>8. As for the monsters provided by the dungeon, they will have their respective rewards. However, for yers and vassals brought by the manager, the manager has to set it so that the appropriate rewards corresponding to their abilities will drop whenever the enemies hunt them.</em>

    <em>9. When hunting enemies, the manager, the vassals, and the yers can acquire EXP and loot.</em>

    <em>10. The Dungeon Manager can modify and set the contents of the notifications sent out.</em>

    <em>11. The Dungeon Manager can set their appearance as they appear in the dungeon.</em>

    <em>12. The Dungeon Manager, vassals, and yers skills will change ording to the changes made to their appearance.</em>

    <em>13. The Dungeon Manager</em>

    <em>14. The dungeons difficulty can only be set to the highest level if it approves it. Upon confirming the approval and operational status of the dungeon, the manager can trigger an episode rted to the dungeon and set a restriction on the number of people that can enter the dungeon.</em>

    <em>15. Vassals can also enter the dungeon and be mini-bosses. Only three vassals can act as mini-bosses.</em>

    <em>16. </em>

    <em>17. </em>

    Minhyuk, who looked through the exnations, smiled faintly when he saw the 15th use.

    <em>...I dont know when youll be back, but Ill always leave a spot for you, Conir.</em>

    Conir, the boy with an intellectual disability, left the nest to be stronger. Minhyuk wanted to leave a spot open for him. After all, he mighte back at any given moment.

    The boss monster, the <em>Transcendental Being,</em> sitting at the end of the Transcendentals Holy Land, was now waiting for his enemies toe.

    ***

    <em>Boom!</em>

    <em>Boom!</em>

    <em>Boom!</em>

    The booming sound of the drums echoed loudly worldwide as the long procession of the Luvien Imperial Army started their march. The procession was spearheaded by Duke Ruffiso, one of the Stars of the Luvien Empire. He was immediately followed by the members of the Sword of the Gods Second Order and the countless numbers of rankers, knights, and soldiers that belonged to the Luvien Empire.

    The Transcendental Being was not a god. But he might just be someone who wielded power that was beyond that of a gods own. This was why the Great Luvien Empire was very interested in the Transcendentals Holy Land.

    Meanwhile, Duke Ruffiso led the long procession with a nk expression.

    <em>I couldnt wring and snap all of the necks of the people of the Beyond the Heavens Empire and the nobles and aristocrats with a friendly rtionship.</em>

    Duke Ruffiso was the one who personally chopped the heads off of the nobles of the Lonstrei Empire, the empire that forged a friendly rtionship with the Beyond the Heavens Empire, and hung them on their walls.

    <em>But since this ce is called the Transcendentals Holy Land, I hope to obtain the transcendentals weapon. If I get that, I will set out alone and punish the Beyond the Heavens Empire. Perhaps I will also be able to unveil the secrets behind my birth.</em>

    Once Duke Ruffiso cleared the Transcendentals Holy Land, he would be the major contributor and would be able to obtain one of the dungeons rewards. If that happened, Duke Ruffiso, who held the slightest sway and influence in the empire, might be the most influential among the three dukes.

    <em>[I feel like Im choking just by looking at Duke Ruffisos momentum and dignity.]</em>

    <em>[To be honest, Duke Ruffiso could be considered the real transcendental being of this era, no?]</em>

    <em>[There are a lot of stories about transcendentals in Athenae. Theres a story that says that they are human beings who have refused to walk the path of a god but eventually surpassed them. There was also a story that says that they are born with the body of a transcendental and have already exceeded the limits of a human and a god at birth. I have also heard a story about a kingdom where all the transcendentals have gathered. Overall, there are plenty of stories about them and their origins.]</em>

    <em>[I have heard the story about Duke Ruffisos birth. It goes, On that day, the sky opened and the angels, with their wings spread out, came down to Luvien with him in their arms.]</em>

    <em>[Duke Ruffiso is so powerful that he can be considered someone who has exceeded the limits of a human being and a god. There are a lot of assumptions and spections regarding Duke Ruffisos birth. There are even rumors about how he was born from transcendental beings.]</em>

    <em>[Perhaps the secret of Duke Ruffisos birth will be revealed inside the Transcendentals Holy Land.]</em>

    <em>[As we speak, the Luvien Imperial Army has now arrived before the Transcendentals Holy Land.]</em>

    <em>[They did not even hesitate. With one gesture of Duke Ruffisos hand, the knights and soldiers began to enter the dungeon!]</em>

    <em>[At this moment, ATV Broadcasting Stations viewership ratings have reached 30%!]</em>

    <em>[Thats how many viewers pay attention to the match between Athenaes most challenging dungeon and the Luvien Empire.]</em>

    <em>[The broadcasting stations cameras and drones are nowing in. We will now show you the inside of the dungeon with the highest level of difficulty in the history of Athenae.]</em>

    ***

    The total number of the knights of the Luvien Empires Sword of the Gods Second Order was sixteen. By partnering with those that were somewhatcking, like the 15th and 16th ces, Duke Ruffiso could divide the imperial army into ten divisions. Each division was led by the knights of the Second Order and had around 100,000 soldiers each.

    The Tenth Division was led by God of Shields Valentino and Mage Alex, who were in 15th and 16th ce in the Second Order. Even though they were just in 15th and 16th ce, thebination of these two high rankers was enough to take down and trample on the orders 5th ce. The Tenth Division was marching forward and acting as the vanguard.

    <em>[Abyssal Knight. Level 586.]</em>

    <em>[Abyssal Mage. Level 599.]</em>

    Just as expected of the dungeon with the highest difficulty level, their basic mobs level was already very high. The more shocking part? Almost 20,000 Abyssal Knights and 5,000 Abyssal Mages appeared at the same time.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Valentino stood at the forefront and defended against the Abyssal Mages high-tiered magical attacks.

    Dont let them reach us!

    But it was not just him. Several tankers built a wall with their square shields and blocked the enemies from advancing further. At the same time, Alex led the other mages and began to cast their magic.

    Fire Storm.

    Fire Storm.

    Fire Storm.

    <em>Rumble</em>

    Countless magical attacks poured down upon the charging Abyssal Knights and inflicted them with constant damage.

    This is just the beginning, so this should be more than enough.

    Even so, the damage the enemies can deal is much higher than we expected. Please be careful.

    This was the conversation that unfolded between Alex and Valentino. Just when they hunted nearly half of the 25,000 enemy knights and mages and finally moved forward gradually, they were greeted by a terrifying sight.

    Waaaaaaaaaaaaah!

    Woaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

    Around 30,000 more Abyssal Knights ran out from the dungeon''s depths and began to charge toward them. At that moment, Valentino immediately used the strongest shield he had acquired when he reached Level 600.

    <em>[Bentinos Wall.]</em>

    <em>[Bentinos Wall, the size of a castles wall, will protect you and your allies!]</em>

    <em>[You have an additional 8,000% defense!]</em>

    <em>[Bentinos Wall has a duration of three minutes.]</em>

    <em>[Using the skill will destroy 1 point from your STM.]</em>

    Valentino had already decided to risk his life early during this dungeons attack. After all, he would receive a considerable reward from Nerva if he could be one of the contributors to the clearance of this dungeon.

    Bentinos Wall, asrge as a castle, rose inside this vast dungeon, preventing all enemies from charging forward. No matter how hard the knights charged at Bentinos Wall, they could not pierce its defenses.

    Kehahahahahahaha! Valentino cackled.

    <em>Viewers! Are you watching me?! Duke Ruffiso! Can you see this?! </em>Hisughter seemed to convey those words. It seemed like he was boasting that only a single yer was blocking the mobs of the most challenging dungeon. Of course, the troops did not stay idle. They took the time to take down the knights with their arrows and magic.

    Meanwhile, all thementators were watching Valentino, who wasughing like crazy, in awe.

    <em>[The knights and mages close to Level 600 continuouslyunch attacks, but Bentinos Walls remain impregnable!]</em>

    <em>[It still has around 50% of its durability left!]</em>

    <em>[Thats truly amazing! This proves that Italys God of the Shields, Valentino, is worthy of his position as one of the knights of the Luvien Empires Sword of the Gods Second Order]</em>

    But then, at that moment

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang</em>

    The sound of an explosion rang in everyones ears. Valentinos eyes immediately turned to follow the sound of the st and were greeted by the sight of a <em>bloody and</em><em>hideous spear</em> stuck gobsmack in the middle of Bentinos Walls.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack</em>

    At the same time, web-like cracks appeared all over the shield''s surface.

    <em>Swoosh</em>

    The bloody spear pulled itself out of the wall and flew back to the hands of someone. Like that, Bentinos Walls, which still had 50% durability left, began to fall. A man carrying the bloody spear from earlier was right beyond the copsing wall. The man rode atop a ten-meter horse. Both beings were sporting scorched skins and a grotesque appearance.

    <em>[A fragment of the Transcendental Being has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[Transcendental Beings Fragment Hanu. Level 654.]</em>

    <em>[Transcendental Beings Fragment Bein. Level 774.]</em>

 Chapter 893

    Chapter 893

    Thementators immediately turned their attention to the new arrivals. Even the viewers were very interested in the Transcendental Beings Fragments, Bein and Hanu, which appeared in the form of a man and a horse, covered with skin that was scorched and burnt to coal.

    <em>[This was the first time since the release of the virtual reality game Athenae that a dungeon, the Transcendentals Holy Land, with the highest difficulty level has appeared.]</em>

    <em>[And inside this dungeon, mobs called quasi-bosses or mini-bosses have appeared.]</em>

    <em>[Their momentum is jaw-dropping. And with just one spear, that man broke the number one in the tanker rankings, the Level 600 God of Shields Valentinos Bentinos Walls.]</em>

    <em>[That mans skin is scorched and bloody. He looks very grotesque. However, the most important thing to note is that he has the words Transcendental Beings Fragment in his name.]</em>

    Everyone was nervous yet thrilled, including Valentino and Alex, who were present on the battlefield. What made them nervous was that the man could break Bentinos Walls all at once. However, the mere thought of the <em>rewards</em> they would obtain once they killed this man thrilled them.

    <em>And its just a fragment of the Transcendental Beings Fragment.</em>

    <em>I wonder how high the EXP and how awesome the drops would be from the most difficult dungeons mini-boss level mob monster would be?</em>

    Alex and Valentino looked at each other, sweat trickling down their spines. As if on cue, Valentino immediately cast a shield while Alex bombarded the two with his AOE magical attacks. And with them at the lead, the Luvien Imperial Army would pour attacks on them and push them back.

    Now!

    Just when Valentino was about to cast another skill, Bein, sitting atop Hanu, pulled the reins and ran away.

    ...?

    At that moment, Valentino and the other troops were left in a trance.

    <em>[The Transcendental Beings Fragments that have appeared just a few minutes prior are set up as the mini-bosses of the Transcendentals Holy Land. Because of that, I believe they were made to show some of their prowess at the beginning before returning.]</em>

    <em>[Ordinary dungeons would usually have one or two mini-bosses in them. This means that the existence of these fragments is significant to the Transcendentals Holy Land. Perhaps this oue was only natural.]</em>

    <em>[My heart is already trying to get out of my chest. The Transcendental Beings Fragments Bein and Hanus levels are already impressive. I wonder how strong the Transcendental Being truly is?]</em>

    <em>[However, ording to experts: The levels of these mini-bosses are quite disappointing, especially since this is the dungeon with the highest level of difficulty in Athenae.]</em>

    <em>[Once one reached Level 700, a ten-level difference would mean the difference between heaven and earth. The experts had assumed that the level of the mini-bosses in the Transcendentals Holy Land should have been around Level 785 or higher.]</em>

    Knowing that a dungeon should only have around one or two mini-bosses, the viewers andmentators believed that the Luvien Empire would be able to clear this dungeon. After all, the level of the mini-bosses that appeared in front of them was much lower than they had expected.

    Meanwhile, the Tenth Division, led by Valentino and Alex, continued to march forward. And, of course, their hunting method remained the same. Valentino would cast a giant shield to stop their enemies, while Alex and the mages would bomb them with their magic. It was a method that allowed them to nibble away at their enemy''s numbers. However, a variable had suddenly appeared.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    A bloody spear was once again lodged in the giant shield that Valentino had just created.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack!</em>

    Beins bloody spear, boasting massive damage, instantly smashed the newly erected shield.

    Hiiik!

    Then, just like before, he immediately ran away. The two fragments of the Transcendental Being would appear every time Valentino cast his defensive skill and turn them into smithereens. And the more they did this, the more Valentino grew worried. After all, he was losing out while utilising his essential skills one after another.

    As for thementators? They quickly began to analyze the situation.

    <em>[From what it looks like, there will be at least two or three Transcendental Beings Fragments here in the Transcendentals Holy Land.]</em>

    <em>[Because hes an essential factor in this battle, I think the fragment that uses the spear is attacking Valentino, who is responsible for setting up the troublesome shield.]</em>

    <em>[Since there would be only three zones for this dungeon, it is best for the fragments to defend the first area as much as possible!]</em>

    After witnessing the appearance of the first fragments, many judged that it would be easy to conquer the Transcendentals Holy Land. Then, anothermentator shared his analysis.

    <em>[In fact, most dungeons are essible to yers and NPCs alike. If they entered a dungeon and died every time, then who would want to join it, no?]</em>

    <em>[Thats right. To be honest, I think theres an 80% chance that this attack would be sessful. Theres nothing much we can do about it unless this is a unique dungeon.]</em>

    As thementators said, the attack rate of the dungeons in Athenae was usually around 80% or higher. This was because the yers used these dungeons to level up and grow. What would happen if a yer''s probability of sessfully attacking a dungeon fell below 80%? The answer was simple. The yers would immediately lose interest in the dungeon. As for those who wanted a higher level of difficulty in dungeons? They would often just go and find a dungeon with a higher ranking.

    The intense heat and excitement finally cooled down. Although the Tenth Division suffered considerable damage, they could still advance safely. At that moment, a notification rang in their ears.

    <em>[You have sessfully hunted 10% of the monsters inside the Transcendentals Holy Land!]</em>

    Valentino and Alexughed.

    It seems like the number of monsters inside this dungeon is around half a million, huh?

    Weve killed around 50,000 while we were advancing. So, I think your estimate is correct.

    On the other hand, the Luvien Empire had brought in troops that numbered no less than a million. Easy. Conquering the Transcendentals Holy Land, a dungeon they believed to have the highest difficulty level, was much easier than they thought.

    No. Isnt it because the Luvien Empire is the one that stepped up to conquer this dungeon?

    Theres a high probability that thats the case.

    They finally entered a vast hall, discussing how easy it was to conquer the dungeon. And what greeted them inside the hall were towering walls. However, they were not ordinary walls. The towering walls were moving and shifting constantly.

    ...Everyone! On guard!

    Everyone sensed that something strange and unusual was about to happen.

    <em>[The Labyrinth of Death has been activated!]</em>

    <em>[All people who entered the Transcendentals Holy Land will simultaneously be warped inside the Labyrinth of Death!]</em>

    <em>[You can only escape the Labyrinth of Death in two ways. One would be dying, and the other would be clearing thebyrinth itself!]</em>

    <em>sh</em>

    <em>aaaaaash</em>

    <em>aaash</em>

    A blinding light enveloped the entire Luvien Imperial Army.

    ***

    ...

    ...

    Valentino and Alex immediately changed their tune as they looked ahead of them.

    Alex.

    Stop calling my name. Im agitated and nervous here.

    Even though it is said to have the highest difficulty level, dont you think this is too high?

    Yeah. Thats really how it looks. But if you think about it, these guys are only half a million in numbers while we have a million on our side.

    But this is still a bit

    The two were still left speechless. Some beings resembled the earlier bloody and grotesque Transcendental Beings Fragment. One of them looked ordinary. However, the two bloody red daggers hanging in his hands made those who looked at him shudder in fear.

    <em>[Transcendental Beings Fragment Rho. Level 756.]</em>

    In other words, this being was different from the fragment that wielded a spear they saw earlier.

    The Tenth and Ninth Divisions had appeared together in this ce. The remaining divisions leading the 800,000 remaining troops were also probably left dealing with a fragment of their own. This meant at least eight Transcendental Beings'' fragments were inside this dungeon. It was a number that went far beyond their expectations. However, that was not all. There were more things that they had to worry about.

    <em>[Transcendental Beings Broken Fragment Arie. Level 601.]</em>

    <em>[Transcendental Beings Broken Fragment Ruk. Level 599.]</em>

    <em>[Transcendental Beings Broken Fragment Hydra. Level 586.]</em>

    There were too many broken fragments. The broken fragment named Arie held a staff, indicating that he was a mage. On the other hand, Ruk had a massive axe in each hand while sitting on top of one of Hydras enormous heads.

    At that moment, Fragment Rho made a move.

    Damn!!!

    The Labyrinth of Death was a terrible ce. This was because there were towering walls blocking their paths. They could also expect countless Abyssal Knights and Mages waiting for them throughout thisbyrinth. However, they had a bigger problem to worry about. Thebyrinth most likely sent them to fragments after assessing the strengths and weaknesses of each of their groups.

    The Tenth Divisionprised mages and tankers, while the Ninth Division had a proper bnce of archers and knights. However, the greatest nemesis of all archers, mages, and tankers were assassins. Tankers were generally slow and were unable to keep up with the speed of the assassins. Archers, conversely, would find it difficult to hit the assassins with their arrows. As for mages, they had lower physical defenses and HP levels, so they were highly vulnerable to the assassins attacks.

    <em>sh</em>

    At that moment, Fragment Rhos figure disappeared from their very eyes. At the same time, dozens of mages in the rear copsed with blood spurting out of their necks. One strike, and they were dead. However, Rhos attack seemed to be the first shot.

    <em>[The Transcendental Beings Wrath!]</em>

    <em>[You have been subjected to abnormal statuses after being exposed to the Transcendental Beings Wrath!]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have dropped by 15%!]</em>

    <em>[Your physical and magical defenses have dropped by 20%!]</em>

    <em>[Your skill casting time has increased by 20%!]</em>

    <em>[You cannot use any parchment or potion!]</em>

    <em>[The Transcendental Beings Wraths duration is twenty minutes!]</em>

    ...!

    One look and they could tell that the Transcendental Beings Wrath had engulfed all of the Luvien Imperial Army. A notification rang in their ears while Alex and Valentino were staring at the debuff in horror.

    <em>[1,311 troops from the Ninth and Tenth Divisions have died!]</em>

    What?

    This is crazy!

    Everywhere the Transcendental Beings Fragment was in the form of an assassin passed by, blood would spill and rain. It all happened in the blink of an eye. However, shockingly enough, the power that the fragment was showing was far stronger than his level, which was Level 755.

    They might not know this, but the Transcendental Beings Fragment they were facing now was Minhyuks Shadow Luo. And Luo had eaten a dish made with the ingredients harvested from the <em>Field of the Gods,</em> which boosted his AGI significantly.

    However, it did not end there.

    Kihyeeeeeeeeeeeck!

    Kihyaaaaaaaaack!

    A pir of zing me and a stream of bone-chilling frost shot out of the mouths of the Hydra that the Fragment Ruk was riding on.

    <em>Crackleeee!</em>

    The zing mes melted the mages, while the bone-chilling frost froze the archers.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack!</em>

    Then, at that moment, Ruk jumped from above the Hydra.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    With every swing of Ruks axe, the knights fell one after another. But the disaster that the Luvien Imperial Army faced had not yet ended. But what was it? <em>A tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye</em>? Arie, the broken fragment wielding a staff, then raised his staff to the sky.

    <em>Rumbleeeeee!</em>

    The most extraordinary AOE magical attack, Meteor, began to fall.

    ...Ha- haha. Alex could onlyugh at how absurd the situation was.

    Before they knew it, another one of the Sword of the Gods appeared beside them.

    Can you break this?

    The Second Orders Sword of the God that appeared in front of them was none other than the 8th-ranked God of Archery Miao.

    ***

    At the same time.

    Duke Ruffiso, sitting atop a horse, looked at the Transcendental Beings Fragments in front of him with a lofty expression. The two fragments had massive builds and tall statures.

    <em>[Transcendental Beings Fragment Brood. Level 779.]</em>

    <em>[Transcendental Beings Fragment Effis. Level 754.]</em>

    At that moment, the fragment named Brood leaped forward, a powerful sword light shooting out of his sword and annihting 20,000 of the imperial army in this narrowbyrinth in one go.

    Duke Ruffiso climbed down his horse while analyzing the current situation that they were in. <em>I dont know why, but the number of fragments isrger than expected. Theyre even stronger than their level.</em>

    However, after thinking about it deeply, he realized it did not mean they had to be nervous just because the dungeons mobs and monsters were strong. The bosses and mini-bosses of most dungeons were much stronger than usual. Even so, the attack rate of dungeons was maintained at 80%. Why was that the case? Well, the reason was very<em>, very</em> simple.

    <em>Anyone that entered the dungeon can use potions and parchments</em>on the other hand,<em> Mobs are not allowed to use any of that.</em>

    This was an establishedw and was the reason why the dungeons attack rate was very high. Just when this thought shed in Ruffisos head, the other tall fragment moved. No, it was not correct to say that he <em>moved</em>. The space behind the fragment ripped open, and countless high-level monsters poured out. Their number? It easily exceeded 100,000.

    <em>A summoner? </em>Duke Ruffiso thought.

    But at that moment, the fragment that summoned the hundred thousand monsters suddenly shielded his sword.

    <em>Splitting the Devil.</em>

    The sword, which was not as powerful as the swordlight that Fragment Brood had released but was still powerful enough to cut down the Sword of the Gods, engulfed thousands of the troops of the Imperial Army.

    <em>...Attacking this dungeon will not be easy. </em>This was Duke Ruffisos honest assessment.

 Chapter 894

    Chapter 894

    Bastien, the number one in the summoners rankings and the seventh among the Sword of the Gods Second Order, had recently drawn the attention of the masses. Why? Because he achieved Level 600 and obtained a God-rank monster. This God-ranked monster was none other than a Divine Dragon. The Divine Dragon boasted a tremendous attack power, with its level surpassing Level 660.

    However, other things drew the attention of the masses. Bastien was a summoner, and summoners specialized inrge-scale battles. He could summon the Divine Dragon and countless other high-level monsters.

    <em>This is an opportunity. I will show the Great Luvien Empire my greatness and make them remember my face. I will also use this opportunity to show the other yers what I am like.</em>

    The Luvien Empire had immediately approached Bastien the moment he achieved Level 600. They offered to help Bastien, who struggled with the challenging Level 600 quests. And thanks to their help, they were able to obtain the Divine Dragon.

    So, Bastien wanted to show the world once again how he was after achieving Level 600 and obtaining a Divine Dragon! However, Bastien faced a significant challenge inside the Labyrinth of Death. The Transcendental Beings Fragment wielding the spear, the same one they saw earlier, was before him.

    But that was not all. A Transcendental Beings Broken Fragment sporting arge horn that could rival the Demon Lord and a scythe in hand had also appeared.

    <em>[Transcendental Beings Broken Fragment Deis. Level 609.]</em>

    Standing atop an Evil Dragon, the level of the broken fragment was not that high. However, the space behind him suddenly opened, and more than 100,000 demons poured out. Their numbers already far exceeded the number that Bastien could summon. The worst part? They were stronger than his summons, too.

    Kihyeeeeeeeek!

    The Divine Dragon he acquired was not shining as brightly as he imagined. However, the surprise was not yet over.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    When Bastien turned his head, he saw 20,000 of the Luvien Imperial Army slowly melting into nothingness. The sight was utterly unbelievable. Bastien knew that the level of Fragment Bein was high. But was this feat even possible? Although the knights in Bastiens division were the most outstanding in existence, Bein was able to ughter hundreds of them per second.

    Kghhk!

    However, Bastien did not have the leisure to care about them. The demons looked like they had lost their sanity as they mindlessly ughtered the monsters that were in their vicinity.

    At that moment, Bastien triggered his Divine Dragons ability. The Divine Dragon could trigger a Breath with four attributes. However, it was an ability that was apanied by a considerable penalty. Bastien did not n to show off all of his cards in this dungeon. But the Transcendentals Holy Land had gone beyond his expectations. So, he immediately changed his mind.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaa!</em>

    The Divine Dragons four-attributed breath devoured the demons charging towards them.

    ***

    Our viewership ratings have reached 45%!

    ATV Broadcasting Stations viewership ratings were only 30% when the Luvien Imperial Army first entered the dungeon. This rating fell to 26% when they saw how easily the Luvien Imperial Army had taken care of the dungeons mobs.

    The yers tuned in because they were excited to see the most challenging dungeon. However, they immediately changed the channels after seeing how disappointing the true level of the mobs inside the dungeon was.

    However, when they entered the Labyrinth of Death, everything was turned upside down.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh</em>

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh</em>

    The first camera showed the scene in thebyrinth where the Ninth and Tenth Divisions, led by Miao and Valentino, were. It showed how the Ninth and Tenth Divisions, made up mostly of mages, archers, and tankers, struggled hard against the dungeon elites and mini-boss.

    With every sh of Broken Fragment Aries staff, hundreds of magical attacks would appear and rain down on the troops of the Luvien Imperial Army. Fragment Rho, an assassin ss, also swept away the archers and mages with low HP volume. Rho moved like the wind, blood spurting out like fountains everywhere he passed. There was also Ruk, the broken fragment wielding axes in his hands, sitting atop Hydra. The twobined their powers and melted away the troops of the imperial army.

    The second camera showed the scene where Bastien, the number one in the summoner''s ranking, ordered his Divine Dragon and sted 30,000 demons simultaneously with its breath. It was a jaw-dropping force. However, surprisingly enough, the broken fragment called Deis summoned another wave of demons and dragged Bastien to the pits of despair.

    <em>aaaaaash sh</em>

    Fragment Bein was also wielding his spear and ughtering the best knights of the Luvien Empire with skills that could be said to be on par with the Spear Gods own.

    With the sudden increase in difficulty, the viewers that left in disappointment quickly came back. Then, at that moment, a notification shed on their screens.

    <em>[213,677 of the Luvien Imperial Army troops have died.]</em>

    The Luvien Empire lost around 20% of its troops in just ten minutes. Because the Transcendental Being had not yet appeared, the Luvien Empire might be in a crisis.

    At the same time, on another screen. A dungeon expert invited by the ATV Broadcasting Station was conversing with an announcer.

    <em>[As you can see, the Transcendentals Holy Land is a rare dungeon. There has never been a dungeon with more than seven mini-bosses beyond Level 700.]</em>

    This was a fact. The strength of the Transcendental Beings Fragments, a mini-boss level monster, easily went beyond Level 700. But was that all? Of course not. The Transcendental Beings Broken Fragments were also on par with the Sword of the Gods Second Order members, with more than ten of them in that dungeon.

    <em>[Then, theres a chance that the Luvien Empire might fail to attack the Transcendentals Holy Land sessfully?]</em>

    This was what one would think of when viewing what was being broadcast on their screens. PD Kim Daeguk and the rest of the viewers also shared that thought.

    <em>[Ten minutes.]</em>

    The dungeon expert repeated his words.

    <em>[The flow of the game would change in ten minutes.]</em>

    <em>[Yes? But looking at the current situation]</em>

    The announcer looked at the expert in confusion. And the same was true of PD Kim Daeguk.

    <em>[Because the Transcendental Beings Wrath will end after ten minutes.]</em>

    <em>[Ah]</em>

    The announcer nodded. The debuff from the Transcendental Beings Wrath left the Luvien Imperial Army miserable, mainly when the debuff was applied to all of the troops of the imperial ar. However, it still made everyone tilt their heads in confusion. Was the release of the debuff truly enough to change the game''s flow?

    <em>[The most important thing to note is not the Transcendental Beings Wraths debuff effect. Once the Transcendental Beings Wrath is released, the restriction on using parchments and potions will also be lifted.]</em>

    The announcers eyes grew wide when he heard those words from the dungeon expert. PD Kim Daeguk also had the same reaction.

    <em>[You should know that the yers had a high rate of attacking dungeons, right? Usually, the dungeons boss mobs had higher levels and were stronger than yers. However, a dungeons attack rate remains at 80% or even more. yers and NPCs can use potions and parchments, unlike dungeon mobs.]</em>

    This was the truth. The dungeons attack rate would drop below 50% if the yers could not use potions and parchments.

    <em>[And you have to know that each of the soldiers and knights of the Luvien Empire would drop something whenever they died.]</em>

    <em>[What do they drop?]</em>

    <em>[Its Elven Tears. Elven Tears can restore 30% of ones HP and MP and slightly increase ones defensive power. Its effects can be duplicated. However, one could only consume two bottles. It is a very precious resource. Even high-rankers would be unable to finish something like this because one bottle costs hundreds of tinum.]</em>

    However, that was the case for yers. PD Kim Daeguk thought, <em>But if its the Luvien Empire, then</em>

    <em>[The Luvien Empire is the richest and the strongest nation in Athenae. And it shows. After all, it distributed Elven Tears to its ordinary soldiers and knights. That means they would have also paid the price for excellent parchments. Of course, among the potions in existence, a few rare ones are far superior to the Elven Tears. However, it would be difficult for them to arm the high-rankers and Duke Ruffiso with that many high-grade and rare potions.]</em>

    The dungeon experts words were very convincing.

    <em>[The Luvien Imperial Army has sacrificed a lot; most are severely injured. So, what would happen if the Transcendental Beings Wrath is released? Would the situation remain the same as before?]</em>

    The announcer thought for a moment before replying.

    <em>[The Transcendental Beings Fragments would be exhausted. Since they are mobs, they wouldnt be able to take potions. So, the flow of the game would change.]</em>

    <em>[That''s right.]</em>

    However, a quick-witted announcer was able to pick one point and ask.

    <em>[But Mr. Expert, theres something that I dont understand. Why didnt the Transcendental Beings Fragments attack the Sword of the Gods from the beginning?]</em>

    It was a very sharp and to-the-point question. Wouldnt the fragments have a higher chance of winning if they first attacked the Sword of the Gods?

    <em>[They are doing their best to attack. However, they also know it would be difficult to kill them while dealing with hundreds of thousands of troops simultaneously.]</em>

    The dungeon expert took a sip of water and continued to exin.

    <em>[For example, the Ninth and Tenth Divisions face the assassin ss fragment, Rho. He could attack Miao, but hes not doing so. Why? Because he instinctively knows Miao has a skill that can deal with assassins, no?]</em>

    <em>[Ah]</em>

    <em>[They would die the moment they focus on them. The Transcendental Beings Fragments were not tasked to hunt the Sword of the Gods in the first ce.]</em>

    While the expert was exining earnestly, a notification rang in the ears of everyone present.

    <em>[The Transcendental Beings Wrath has ended!]</em>

    At that moment, the screen captured the small smiles on the faces of the Swords of the Gods. Then, the dungeon expert ended his exnation.

    <em>[Their mission is to stop the small fries from reaching the Transcendental Being.]</em>

    By the end of his words, the situation with the Ninth and Tenth Divisions had turned around. Miao, who endured the asional attack from Assasin Rho, consumed the Elven Tears while tearing a <em>parchment</em> at the same time. At that moment, her arrowss attack power increased by 40%.

    Guided Lethal Shot, Miao said while pulling her bow strings.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    An arrow flew like light and followed Rho, who was running around the mages, and stabbed through his back.

    <em>Staaaaab!</em>

    Rho stumbled after getting hit by the arrow. Then, Miao pulled the strings of her bow once again. This time, her target was Arie, who was bombing them with magic from the sky.

    <em>Fwooooooosh!</em>

    Then, another arrow flew out and pierced through Aries heart. Just like that, Arie fell to the ground.

    <em>Thud</em>

    And in another ce

    Bastien tore a parchment and immediately jumped on the back of his Divine Dragon. His Divine Dragon began to prepare a lethal skill as he flew above the sky. The moment the Divine Dragon opened its mouth, the 50,000-strong demons charging toward the imperial army were devoured and killed by the divine power it spewed out.

    ***

    The Transcendentals Holy Lands Transcendental Being looked at the Labyrinth of Death with a sad expression even though he had already expected this to happen.

    The Transcendental Being murmured, Everyone, thank you, and Im sorry.

    Then, he looked at another ce. In that ce, Duke Ruffiso, Brood, and Effis were there. Duke Ruffiso had been preventing Brood and Effis from working together. Right now, Effis had one of his arms cut off, and he was even coughing up blood. The worst part? Duke Ruffiso immediately recovered his HP and MP by taking potions when the debuff ended and taking down Fragment Brood.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    ***

    Haze was walking with a bitter look on her face.

    <em>Your Majesty</em>

    She could never forget the expression on Minhyuks face when he left for the Transcendentals Holy Land. She knew that he was feeling very sorry for his vassals. However, his vassals only told him.

    <em>I will try to stop the small fries from going deeper.</em>

    <em>We will make sure to kill as many troops as we can and fight for as long as we can.</em>

    <em>Hoho. Please dont worry, Your Majesty. After all, death in that ce is not an actual death, right?</em>

    Minhyuk could onlyugh bitterly as he watched them try tofort him. However, Haze was still very worried about them.

    <em>Will they be able to do it?</em>

    Even at the expense of their vassals, they were still unsure what would happen in this fight against the Luvien Empire. She regretted, thinking, It would be better if we had stronger<em> people with us. It would have been better to equip them with stronger power.</em>

    The bitter Haze opened the door to her office only to be met with the back of someone who was waiting for her. The man was around Hazes height. However, he wore a blood-stained robe while holding a sharp and curved katana. The man slowly turned his head, revealing arge bruise marring the side of his young face right next to his eyes. He was the one that Haze missed the most.

    And this young man said, I am the Sword God.

 Chapter 895

    Chapter 895

    It was like the dungeon expert said; the game''s flow instantly changed. The viewers andmentators all grew excited after seeing the changes on each screen. Right now, the Luvien Empire was fighting back. However, God of Archery Miao could still be seen shaking her head.

    <em>Why?</em>

    Miao had hit Assassin Rho with her Guided Lethal Shot. She did not even give him any room to breathe and continued to shoot her arrows through his back.

    <em>Fwooooosh!</em>

    The pain was enough to twist and force Rho to bend back, his face turning toward the sky. However, Rho did not scream or fall even once.

    <em>Why isnt he falling?</em>

    Just like archers and mages, assassins also had low HP volume. But more importantly, NPCs and monsters would feel pain, unlike yers. It was proven by the fact that Rhos back bent back from the pain. So, why was he not copsing?

    That was not all; the quick-witted archers had also shot as many as nine arrows on his back during that time. Although Rho reeled back and staggered from the pain of the arrows that almost turned him into a hedgehog, he still jumped back among the mages and continued to ughter them. The more shocking part? He was moving even faster than before.

    Please! I beg you, fall! Miao bit her lips tightly as she continued to shoot her arrows.

    However, Rho either defended against the attacks or received their brunt. He never stopped moving and continued killing the Luvien Imperial Army troops. Rho, or Minhyuks Shadow Luo, recalled the words he told Minhyuk as he continued reducing the number of enemies in front of him.

    <em>Your Majesty, I will never let the small fries get to you!</em>

    Luo had promised him. That was why he could live with this much pain. If he couldnt kill more people here, then they would juste to bite his emperor.

    A glint shed in Rhos eyes. Like a beast stalking for prey, he ran faster and killed his enemies even quicker.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    Miao turned her head to look at the source of the sound. There, she saw Broken Fragment Arie, who crashed to the ground after being shot by her arrow, receiving the bombing of countless magical attacks. However, when the explosions disappeared, what greeted them was a nightmare.

    <em>You were casting even while being bombarded like that?</em>

    Broken Fragment Arie was hiding safely behind a barrier. And the moment the barrier lifted, a tremendous amount of mana started swirling around him as he chanted a spell and turned it into magic.

    Arie, who was left kneeling on one knee and was supported only by his staff, looked like he was about to keel over. It would not be strange if he died right away. However, he was still holding on and casting hundreds of magic spells with the help of his staff, which was shining brightly.

    Arie''s real name was Golden Mage Ali. He also hated how tyrannical the Luvien Empire was. He even lost the NPCs that were close to him because of them. So, he wrung every ounce of energy left in his body for them.

    Uwoooooooooooooooh!!!

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Hundreds of magical attacks bombed the enemies.

    ...Ha. He- Again? Miao was rendered speechless.

    This time, she turned to look at where the Hydra was. Quite a lot of its head had already been cut off, and it also had quite a lot of cuts and tears all over its body. Hydra was none other than the Cerberus Love, Hope, and Happiness. Even they knew that these people would attack their master if they did not bite them down right here and now.

    Kihyeeeeeeeeck!

    Kihyeeeeeeeeck!

    Graaaaaaaaaaaa!

    Love, Hope, and Happiness roared and squeezed out thest of their strength to release one final Breath.

    Broken Fragment Ruk, who was sitting atop the Hydra, jumped down.

    <em>Minhyuk.</em>

    He smiled bitterly. Of course, he also did not like the Luvien Empire. Sometimes, he also wished to be just like Minhyuk. He hoped to be the best person and receive the love and attention of many people. However, he knew it would not work out for him.

    There were times when he would grow jealous of Minhyuk. However, it was fine. It was okay because it was Minhyuk.

    <em>Im leaving the rest to you.</em>

    Ruk jumped among the tankers as he squeezed thest of his strength to swing his gigantic axe.

    ***

    Bastiens body was shaking. <em>What the hell is that?!</em>

    His Divine Dragon had melted more than half of the demons with the divine power that it had gathered. On top of that, the most outstanding knights of the Luvien Empire had also recovered their injuries with the help of their potions. Victory was obviously in their hands now.

    However, Bastien was left speechless as he watched Fragment Bein, the fragment wielding a spear.

    <em>Why arent you falling?!</em>

    Bein had already been shed a dozen times and stabbed a hundred more by the knights. Yet he was still standing and killing the knights around him.

    <em>Staaaaaab</em>

    A young knight sessfully stabbed his spear just right next to Beins heart.

    Ha- Haha. I did it. I finally did it! Now, youll finally di the young man trailed off when he caught sight of Beins eyes. The fragment still had the same fierce and beastly look in his eyes as he stared at the young soldier.

    Hi- hiiiik!

    Bein pulled out the spear from his chest and used it to stab the knight in the neck. He knew that he had to kill as many enemies as possible.

    <em>His Majesty will have a hard time.</em>

    That was his only reason. Bein did not want much. All he wished was that His Majesty would not carry any more burden on his shoulders.

    The knight near him hurriedly cried out, All- All together! Do it all togetheeeeer!!!

    At that moment, dozens of knights stabbed Bein with their spears. Some of the spears were broken and blocked by Bein, but some could pierce through his thighs, shoulders, and abdomen. However, the look in his eyes as he stared at the knights did not change.

    Hi- hiiiiiiik!

    Heok!

    R- Run!!!

    The mighty troops of the Great Luvien Empire began to flee. However, none of them were able to escape. Their fate was sealed by Beins spear that stabbed through their necks. Hundreds of troops died every second under the de of Beins spear.

    On the other hand, thousands of the troops of the Luvien Imperial Army died with every cast of the Transcendental Beings Broken Fragments skills. However, what was surprising was the fact that the broken fragment that looked like a Demon Lord already looked like a mess. He had already copsed on the ground but still struggled to get up, squeezing thest of his strength to summon more demons. And if that failed? Then, he would swing the scythe in his hands to the best of his abilities.

    At that moment, the Transcendental Beings Fragment, who had been stabbing the knights of the Luvien Empire, suddenly stopped. Dozens of spears and broken sword des were embedded all over his body. This grotesque and devilish appearance would scare away most of the knights. However, Bastien could tell that the fragment was already dead. He died with his eyes wide open.

    <em>Fwoosh</em>

    Bastien felt goosebumps rise all over his body. <em>What the hell is this dungeon?!</em>

    At this moment, Bastien firmly regretted evering to the Transcendentals Holy Land.

    ***

    Duke Ruffiso found the situationpletely ridiculous.

    <em>[A total of 584,341 troops of the Luvien Empire have died!]</em>

    His prediction was entirely off the mark. He had expected to lose only around 270,000 troops of the imperial army. However, they have already lost 300,000 more than his estimate. Then, a series of notifications rang in his ears at that moment.

    <em>[You have sessfully killed Transcendental Beings Fragment Rho.]</em>

    <em>[You have sessfully killed Transcendental Beings Fragment Bein.]</em>

    <em>[You have sessfully killed Transcendental Beings Broken Fragment Arie]</em>

    <em>[You have sessfully killed Transcendental Beings Broken Fragment Ruk]</em>

    <em>[...Transcendental Beings Fragment...]</em>

    <em>[...Transcendental Beings Fragment...]</em>

    <em>[...Transcendental Beings..]</em>

    The notifications were about their sessful hunt of the mini-bosses and elites. However, Duke Ruffiso still had an incredulous look on his face. Why? Because he was fully aware of what they had done before they finally sumbed to their death.

    <em>Did these guys fight desperately to reduce our numbers?</em>

    Duke Ruffiso had acknowledged Brood and Effis prowess and tactics. The two had forced him to take several bottles of potions far more precious than the Elven Tears. Because of that, he could no longer use any more potions.

    Brood and Effis looked like they could no longer fight. However, the two endured and persisted, trying their hardest to deal a blow to him.

    <em>Grab</em>

    Effis approached and grabbed Ruffiso tightly by the ankle.

    <em>Baaaang</em>

    When he kicked Effis away, Ruffiso saw Brood stumbling before him. He knew that he would not be able to win against this man if he fought against him one-on-one and without being able to use potions.

    Thankfully, Duke Ruffiso, powerful himself, was leading an army of talents. And with their joint attacks, they could make Brood and Effis suffer miserably.

    Are you doing this for the Transcendental Being?

    ...

    Duke Ruffiso understood even if they did not say anything. After all, Broods right hand was already crushed and broken, while his left hand was filled with gashes and tears. Yet he still stared at him unblinkingly with his swollen eyes. Even though his face was bloody, battered, and bruised, his eyes were still filled with venom.

    Too bad. I intend to tear apart that Transcendental Being today.

    <em>Grab</em>

    At that moment, Effis, who had been kicked away, dragged his body and hugged Duke Ruffiso tightly. Duke Ruffiso had realized he had let his guard down for a moment. He struggled to get out of the firm hold of Effis, who was gritting his teeth so that he could buy one more second.

    Brood gritted his teeth, his entire body that was filled with gashes, starting to drip blood once again as he lifted his sword. You wont You wont be able to beat him.

    Dozens of swordlights shot out of Broods sword and shot toward Duke Ruffiso.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh</em>

    Blood spurted out of Duke Ruffiso''s and Effiss bodies. It was a very reckless and stupid move. However, they could still inflict a severe injury on Duke Ruffiso with such a move.

    <em>Thud</em>

    The exhausted and drained Effis copsed on the ground. Duke Ruffisos eyes grew bloodshot at the absurdity of the situation. However, when he deigned to look down at Effis, he saw a faint smile on the fragments face.

    <em>[You have sessfully killed Transcendental Beings Fragment Effis.]</em>

    Brood immediately copsed right after Effis. It was only natural. After all, the two were just working on fumes. They had long reached the limits of their bodies.

    <em>[You have sessfully killed Transcendental Beings Fragment Brood.]</em>

    ...Bastards!!! Duke Ruffiso roared in anger. However, his roars soon turned into maniacalughter. Kihihihihi kihihihihihi Very well. I will show you two to that Transcendental Being you loved so much.

    Duke Ruffiso immediately pulled out a rope.

    ***

    PD! Our viewership ratings have reached 38%!

    ATV Broadcasting Stations ratings were steadily increasing. Perhaps it was only natural, no? Duke Ruffiso, currently being disyed on their screens, was considered one of the strongest existences in the Athenae worldview. His appearance was more than enough to pique the interest of the viewers.

    However, PD Kim Daeguk was now considering whether he should change the view that was being broadcast. Why? Because Duke Ruffiso had dragged the bodies of the already dead fragments, Brook and Effis, while taking out some rope.

    <em>What a truly f*cked up bastard.</em>

    Duke Ruffiso was known for tying up the kings, emperors, nobles, and aristocrats that he had killed and hung them on the walls of the kingdoms and empires that he had sessfully invaded. His actions had a lot of intended meanings. One was to sow frustration in the people''s hearts, and the other was to show the end of those who those people had considered gods.

    Duke Ruffiso reveled in the frustration and despair that shed on the faces of the people after he had tied and hung those that he had killed by their necks. And that was what he was trying to do now, too.

    <em>Of course, the fragments are just monsters. But even so</em> PD Kim Daeguk thought.

    Duke Ruffiso, who was very familiar with and skilled in this aspect, did not take too long to finish tying the rope around the necks of Brood and Effis. Then, he dragged them toward the walls and pulled them up as if raising gs on a gpole.

    PD Kim Daeguk shook his head when he saw this scene. <em>This is not it.</em>

    They might have high ratings, but they would surely suffer from the bacsh of presenting such a scene.

    Change the scene

    However, PD Kim Daeguk could not finish his words. This was because a notification appeared on the monitor.

    <em>[The Transcendentals Holy Lands Boss Monster, the Transcendental Being, has appeared!]</em>

    PD Kim Daeguk could see the man who appeared in the blink of their eyes. The man was around 185 centimeters tall and sporting silver hair that reached his waist. He was also wearing a white robe and holding a single sword. He had smooth and fair skin, a sharp jawline, a straight nose, and a clear and bright pair of eyes underneath his wrinkled brows. The man looked old. However, he was so handsome that even PD Kim Daeguk felt his heart skip a beat.

    He appeared in a blink and cut off the rope that tied his fragments, allowing them toy downfortably in their eternal rest. Then, he turned his head to look at Duke Ruffiso as he took one step forward. The moment he took that step, the air grew tense and sharp, and the ground shook and trembled. Even PD Kim could feel it through the screen.

    <em>This is unbelievable I can already tell that the ratings will soar after this</em>

    This was the appearance of the Transcendental Being, a man so handsome that even another man could fall in love with him.

 Chapter 896

    Chapter 896

    The entire world was stunned.

    Some people had already started imagining what the Transcendental Being looked like even though they had not seen even a shadow of him. The Transcendental Being probably sported a lovely figure and handsome face in their imagination. However, what they saw right now was far beyond what they had imagined.

    He was an older man, but he still looked 185 centimeters tall. That was not all. His skin was so fair, and even his face was small enough that itplemented his long silver hair and broad shoulders perfectly. Sighs flowed out of everyones mouths when they saw the Transcendental Being, wearing a white robe and holding a sword in his hand, take a step toward Duke Ruffiso.

    Even ATV Broadcasting Station got a piece of the pie, their ratings increasing significantly at his appearance.

    Our ratings have reached 40%!

    It has already reached 41%!

    The viewers message board is going crazy!

    Theyre just making a fuss.

    Even PD Kim Daeguk agreed that the figure of the Transcendental Being was indeed too cool and handsome. However, there was something that was far more important than that. Was his strength proportional to his appearance?

    Everyone watched with bated breath, waiting for the confrontation between Duke Ruffiso and the Transcendental Being.

    ***

    Duke Ruffiso stared at the Transcendental Being, who had turned to look at him after gentlyying down the fragments that he was just about to hang like a g with his rope. He gripped his sword tightly.

    <em>My wounds are burning.</em>

    The injury inflicted by Brood was quite deep. However, Duke Ruffiso felt somewhat disappointed.

    <em>Is he strong?</em>

    Duke Ruffiso could not tell. He could not feel <em>fear</em> just by looking at the Transcendental Being before him. Duke Ruffiso had only felt fear once in his life.

    Finally, the boss monster Duke Ruffiso said, wondering if the dungeon attack would end once he hunted the Transcendental Being.

    <em>[The Transcendental Being has temporarily left his throne!]</em>

    <em>[The Transcendental Being will now return to his original position!]</em>

    ...

    The Transcendental Being, who took one step forward, was suddenly engulfed in a bright and blinding light when he tried to take another step forward. But before he disappeared in the sh of light, his fierce and sharp gaze turned to look at Duke Ruffiso.

    Duke Ruffiso lost his steam when the Transcendental Being suddenly disappeared.

    <em>Did he just appear to protect his fragments? It seems like the Transcendental Being is quite an emotional being,</em> Duke Ruffiso mocked his enemy while he listened to the notifications that rang in his ears.

    <em>[You have sessfully killed all the Fragments inside the Labyrinth of Death!]</em>

    <em>[The entire Luvien Imperial Army will be warped to the path leading to the Transcendental Being!]</em>

    ***

    The wide path leading to the Transcendental Being was covered with an old red carpet lined with candles on the sides. The candles, which never go out, were ced every two meters of the path. The walls of the path also lined up several towering statues.

    The Luvien Imperial Army appeared in a bright sh of light. Initially, they had marched with one million troops but were left with only around 400,000 soldiers. Fortunately, most of the Swords of the Gods were still alive. And although Duke Ruffiso suffered a grave injury, he was still very much alive.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud</em>

    As they continued advancing, the entire Luvien Imperial Army was left nervous and tense.

    <em>The Transcendentals are beings that might have power that went beyond gods.</em>

    <em>Perhaps Duke Ruffiso was born from these transcendentals?</em>

    <em>I wonder how strong the Transcendental Being is?</em>

    At first, they appeared very arrogant and confident. However, their confidence and arrogance were utterly torn apart after entering the Labyrinth of Death. To shake off their fear and nervousness, the knights immediately tried to talk about something else. The Luvien Empires Third Knight Orders Commander Edgar stood among these knights.

    I wonder what Ethan, that moronic bastard, is doing now?

    Hes nothing but an armored weapon pilot bastard. He probably hasnt left Athenae and is still wandering around somewhere.

    The concept of yers <em>shelving the game </em>was familiar to the NPCs. They were fully aware that some yers would suddenly disappear and not return. Hence, they coined the expression <em>Leaving Athenae </em>to describe this phenomenon. And most NPCs would consider those that have Left Athenae to be losers.

    In the first ce, that bastard did not have the qualifications to join the knight order of the Great Luvien Empire.

    There was nothing better in dispelling fear and nervousness than gossiping about others.

    Then, Edgar said, I heard something interesting.

    What is it?

    I once spoke with Marquis Ebdaem. Hes the one that recruited Ethan.

    Marquis Ebdaem was in charge of managing the Luvien Empires personnel and human resources. He possessed keen eyes and could quickly determine the condition of the empires knights and soldiers. He could also see through ones potential with just one nce. Words were circting that the Luvien Empire was only filled with talents because of him.

    He said that Ethan is an outstanding armored weapon pilot that even the past or the present Luvien Empire will not be able to produce.

    However, such an outstanding armored weapon pilot was beaten by their hands and thrown by the cor, discarded, and kicked out of their army. However, the most surprising fact was that the knights werent surprised by those words.

    Well, we already knew it.

    But in the end, he was still nothing but a foreigner, a foreigner who piloted and maneuvered armored weapons. He could only grow stronger by borrowing the power of an armored weapon. He was someone who did not use his ability to grow stronger.

    Most of the knights in the same order as Ethan had heard about him. He was the man that the Luvien Empire needed. And that was true. The Luvien Empire had tried to promote the production of armored weapons. However, the knights protested and forced the production to stop.

    Hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of knights protested, saying that Ethans behavior was poor and did not deserve such treatment. They even said using that amount of funds to train better knights would be much better. It was aughable unity created by their jealousy toward <em>Ethan</em>, not because they were genuinely united. They did not like him, so they belittled and bullied him.

    Anyway, that fool is just muddying the waters, right? It would be better for us if we didnt have a bastard like that. Am I right?

    Thats right.

    Yeah, yeah. Of course.

    I cant forget how that bastard twitched and wriggled on the ground. Fufufufufufu.

    Hahaha! Yeah. I also feel thrilled whenever I remember that.

    I dont like that bastard and his disgusting manner of speaking. You know when Edgar excitedly ndered Ethan.

    <em>Thump</em>

    But then, at that moment, someone suddenly grabbed Edgars shoulder. Edgar turned his head to check if a superior was sending a signal to them to stop their small talk. However, the one that he saw was apletely unexpected person.

    The man was wearing the armor of the knights of the Luvien Imperial Army. However, he had already thrown his helmet and sent it to the ground. This man was none other than the protagonist of their gossip, <em>Ethan.</em>

    E- Ethan. Why are you here?!

    You bastard! What the hells wrong with you?!

    How did you get in here?!

    ...

    The knights who knew him were looking at him in doubt. A million troops were advancing together, and all of them were wearing helmets. That was why they did not know that Ethan was among them. Did he hide himself among them during the battle?

    No way! Did you think that Marquis Ebdaem would recruit you again and bring you back to the knight order if you contributed to this battle?! Edgar mocked Ethan, his words guessing what the man in front of him was probably thinking.

    However, Ethan, who looked at him coldly, said, Didnt you say that the Luvien Empire will not make an armored weapon for me because I wascking?

    <em>Tighten</em>

    Ethan tightened his hold on Edgars shoulder. However, Ethan was nothing but a mere armored weapon pilot, and his force was just something that a knightmander like Edgar could quickly scoff at.

    Did you do it because you just did not like me? You ostracized and ndered me for no reason?

    Why? Are you themander, huh?

    Youre nuts.

    Ethans eyes turned bloodshot. You all know it best. When you guys were cking off, I stayed by that old armored weapon and repaired it myself. When you guys drank, I stayed and trained alone with that old armored weapon.

    Did he behave poorly? Not at all. Ethan had treated them politely. Why? Because he aspired to be like them. Even if they mocked and cursed at him, Ethan tried to get closer to them; he wanted to befriend them.

    Since many knights and soldiers were here, Edgar had no choice but to whisper his rebuttal. In the first ce, an armored weapon pilot cannot be an outstanding warrior of the Great Luvien Empire. How dare you show up to fight in this battle? His words were evil as he continued to whisper in Ethans ears, You? I will kill you. Yeah? Fufufufu. What the hell? I dont care if you are a genius armored weapon pilot. Whats the point if you do not have an armored weapon? Ahahahahahaha!

    Ethan did not expect much from them, especially after hearing that creepyughter.

    To be honest, he did not wish for much either. He just wanted everyone to acknowledge his hard work and the dream that he was pursuing. Ethan hoped that one day he could save the Luvien Empire, which recruited him with the armored weapon they should have produced for him, and fight in the vanguard for their sake.

    I have an armored weapon.

    What? That hundred-year-old armored weapon of yours?!

    Ahahahahaha!

    That junk?!

    The knightsughed at Ethan. The knight standing next to him even pointed at him and hollered at the other knights that Ethan was there, prompting loudughter, countless jeers, and mockery from the rest of the troops. However, Ethan did not mind them. He just walked forward step by step.

    When he heard themotion, Duke Ruffiso turned his head and tried to keep them quiet. But then, he saw Ethan walk out of theughing and mocking crowd. He watched as Ethan removed his armor that carried the symbol of the Great Luvien Empire one after another.

    <em>nk!</em>

    Ethan took off the general boots that the Luvien Empire had supplied everyone, the same boots he had worn excitedly when he first received them.

    <em>Thud, thud</em>

    He threw away the <em>Luvien Knights Ring</em>, which was only given to the knights of the Luvien Empire.

    <em>tter</em>

    The troops giggled andughed when they saw Ethan walking barefoot and without any armor on his body. On the other hand, Duke Ruffiso and some of the Sword of the Gods frowned when they looked at him.

    But Ethan ignored them all as he slowly began wearing the new items bestowed and gifted upon him. Now, he was no longer wearing the old armor and gear that the Luvien Empire supplied to everyone in their troops. Now, he was wearing a new sword, shining armor, and a new pair of boots that had never been worn by someone else before. Then, he wore the ring <em>he</em> gave him to thank Ethan foring to his side.

    <em>Thud</em>

    Finally, Ethan stopped walking. Then, he turned around and said, I have an armored weapon.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack!</em>

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack!</em>

    <em>Thud Thud!</em>

    The statutes that lined both sides of the path cracked and turned into rubbles.

    <em>Thuuuuuuuuuuuud!</em>

    A ck light shed, and several towering seven-meter-tall armored weapons appeared in front of everyone. The armored weapons stood majestically in front of the Luvien Imperial Army. Then, a huge missile shot out of one of the armored weapons chests andnded gobsmack in the middle of the troops.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    ...!

    ...!

    One missile wiped out 2,000 of the Luvien Imperial Army troops and left no trace of them at all. However, that single missile was not the end. Several missiles shot out and bombarded the imperial army and continued to sweep away their troops.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Huh- huh what? Edgar stuttered, unable to form words.

    At the same time, the armored weapons finally stopped shooting missiles and pulled out the enormous greatswords attached to their legs.

    <em>Swoosh</em>

    <em>Swoosh</em>

    <em>Swoosh</em>

    Then, they raised the greatsword and pointed it toward the Luvien Empires troops. At the same time, something huge fell from the sky.

    <em>Thuuuuuuuuuud!</em>

    Unlike this armored weapon, the armored weapon that fell from the sky was covered with a white light.

    <em>[The Transcendental Beings Weapon has been revealed!]</em>

    The armored weapon that appeared looked much bigger and stronger than the other armored weapons.

    <em>Fwiiiiiiiiish</em>

    Then, the enormous armored weapons cockpit opened.

    <em>[Only the armored weapon pilot chosen by the Transcendental Being will be able to use the Transcendental Beings Weapon!]</em>

    The white armored weapon stretched its hand out and gently lifted Ethan, allowing him tond safely in its cockpit.

    <em>Thuuuud!</em>

    <em>[The Transcendental Beings Weapon has been activated!]</em>

    <em>[With the best-armored weapon pilot of the current era manning the cockpit, the Transcendental Beings Weapon shows a stronger power!]</em>

    The Transcendental Beings Weapon held a greatsword that was two timesrger and sharper than the greatswords in the other armored weapons hands. And Ethan, who was sitting inside its cockpit, said, An armored weapon that is stronger than any other armored weapon in existence.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang</em>

    And the moment he swung the greatsword? A gigantic sword light shot out and ripped apart thousands of the knights who hadughed and mocked Ethan just a few moments prior.

    Duke Ruffiso, who found the situation extremely unusual, hurriedly swung his sword and shot a powerful sword light toward the white armored weapon. But then, a hand shield, which was mounted on the armored weapons left arm, popped into existence and prevented the sword light from damaging its body.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    An armored weapon stronger than any other armored weapon in existence.

    Ethan had a dream. He dreamt of protecting people and aplishing great things. He dreamt of standing at the vanguard, saving his allies, and killing all the enemies before him. However, Ethans dreams had now changed.

    Our goal is to ughter and annihte the Luvien Imperial Army.

    Sporting the same arrogant and noble look that Minhyuk wore before, Ethan said, And I will stand at the forefront of this battle.

 Chapter 897

    Chapter 897

    The knights of the Luvien Empire looked incredulously at the scene in front of them. After operating his hundred-year-old decrepit armored weapon, Ethan could not even beat a knight. However, this was only because his armored weapon was old.

    Now? Ethan was operating a new and fancy armored weapon bathed in a white light.

    And I will stand at the forefront of this battle.

    Ethans charisma instantly overwhelmed his enemies. With hismand, the ck armored weapons around him raised their left arms simultaneously.

    <em>Creaaaaaak</em>

    <em>ck!</em>

    Their left arms were fitted with a crossbow loaded with thousands of arrows. And these crossbows immediately shot out dozens of arrows every second.

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh</em>

    The crossbows that shot arrows like machine guns began to sweep away the troops of the Luvien Imperial Army.

    E- Ethan You bastard!!! Edgar shouted in fury when he saw the knights standing right next to him fall one after the other. It was only natural. After all, the person he used to ignore and mock threatened his existence with an excellent armored weapon.

    How dare you put your trust in a mere armored weapon? You bastard! Youre nothing without that armored weapon!

    Ethan could hear Edgars shouts. He turned his cold gaze toward him and said, I am nothing without my armored weapon. This was the truth; Ethan did not deny it.

    But I am the only one in the world that can operate and man <em>this</em> armored weapon.

    ...!

    <em>Swooooooooooosh!</em>

    The Transcendental Beings Weapon that Ethan piloted slid forward, the wheels on its feet helping it to move at high speeds. The gigantic greatsword in Ethans armored weapons hands swung and sliced through the disoriented knights, finally falling down upon Edgars head.

    A- aaaaaaaaaaack!

    <em>Fwooooosh!</em>

    The Transcendental Beings Weapons greatsword easily split Edgar in half.

    <em>Fwiiiiish!</em>

    <em>Fwiiiiiiiiiiiish!</em>

    <em>Fwiiiiiiiish!</em>

    After finishing all the arrows loaded in their crossbows, the other armored weapons immediately grabbed the greatswords in their hands and mmed them firmly on the ground.

    <em>Booooooom</em>

    The vast wave created by the swords instantly separated the knights.

    Mages!!!

    Fire!!!

    <em>Bang Bang, bang, bang Bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Explosions from the magic that the mages of the Luvien Empire sent devoured the armored weapons.

    Hi- Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiik!

    They- theyre too hard!

    I cant even leave a scratch!

    However, the armored weapons were unexpectedly formidable. This was more so the case for the Transcendental Beings Weapons that Ethan was manning. Since it was the recreation of the <em>Divine Weapon Bless</em>, it was far superior to the other armored weapons.

    <em>Swoosh Swoosh Swoooooooooooosh</em>

    With every swing of Ethans greatsword, dozens of the imperial army troops would be swept away.

    <em>[A total of 732,716 troops of the Luvien Imperial Army have died!]</em>

    After seeing the number of their troops decrease rapidly, the knights finally felt regret.

    <em>We should never have ignored Ethan.</em>

    <em>The armored weapon is truly a weapon of war with amazing power.</em>

    <em>If the armored weapon pilot like Ethan stood at the forefront of our troops, then the Luvien Empire would have be a more outstanding nation.</em>

    However, it was far toote.

    <em>ck</em>

    A colossal force started to gather in front of the now-opened chest of Ethans armored weapon. This was none other than the Transcendental Beings Weapon Breath.

    <em>Vwooooooooooooong</em>

    A light stretched out from the armored weapons chest as Breath was activated. It instantly burned down 4,000 of the Luvien Imperial Army troops to nothingness. Perhaps the only thing that could quickly create so much damage and devastation was armored weapons like these.

    <em>Bzz, bzz, bzz, bzz</em>

    Then, God of Archery Miao made a move. She pulled the strings of her bow and shot arrows that stabbed through the spinal area of the armored weapon. Sparks flew all over the ce when Miaos arrows pierced the armored weapon, forcing it to stagger and almost lose its bnce. In the end, armored weapons were <em>machines.</em> If something went wrong in one portion of its body, then malfunction would happen all over its body.

    The Luvien Imperial Army had learned how to fight against armored weapons. Of course, thebat methods used against armored weapons were something that they had all neglected back then. However, they could still turn the tides of war in their favor just because they had the most basic knowledge of dealing with these weapons of war. And what was the most basic knowledge? It was none other than attacking the <em>cockpit.</em>

    <em>Crack!</em>

    The transparent ss that protected the cockpit of one of the armored weapons broke apart, taking down the pilot that operated it and forcing it to a stop. The Luvien Imperial Army did not let go of the opportunity and immediately moved to destroy the armored weapon.

    The Sword of the Gods and the Luvien Imperial Army began to work seamlessly together to pull down more armored weapons and reduce the number of their formidable enemies. And the appearance of one man also helped elerate their pace.

    <em>Blink!</em>

    The man swung his sword while looking at the armored weapons pilot.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack!</em>

    The swing of his sword quickly broke the transparent ss that protected the cockpit and also killed the pilot inside. This man was none other than Duke Ruffiso.

    <em>These things are all the same,</em> Duke Ruffiso thought as he hurriedly moved to reduce the number of armored weapons in front of them. And amidst the destruction and chaos around him, another thought shed.

    <em>The pilot named Ethan is not a monster.</em>

    Anyone who was not a fool would realize this matter. And Duke Ruffiso was no fool. He understood that something was wrong with the Transcendentals Holy Land.

    <em>Come to think of it, the bond between the Transcendental Being and his fragments runs ridiculously deep.</em>

    Could monsters genuinely have such a deep andsting bond? At the same time, Duke Ruffiso coveted Ethan and his talents.

    Did you say your name was Ethan?

    Duke Ruffiso looked around. Before he knew it, there were only approximately 190,000 surviving Luvien Imperial Army troops.

    Come back to the Luvien Empire. I will let you be a member of the knight order under mymand.

    ...!

    ...!

    ...!

    Under Duke Ruffisosmand, this order was known as the <em>Star Knights</em>, second only to the Sword of the Gods. That was how powerful they were. But his offer did not end there.

    I will also grant you the title of a count.

    Any yer would dream of being granted the title of a count inside the Luvien Empire.

    Ethan had once hoped that he would stand at the forefront to defend his allies, kill all of the enemies, lead them to victory, and receive the praises and love of the many. Perhaps Duke Ruffisos offer was a reception worthy of his talents and would allow his dreams toe true. However, something far more important than that dream had appeared for Ethan.

    <em>The only person that reached out a hand to me when I was at my lowest.</em>

    That man handed over the ring to Ethan and told him.

    <em>I know that Im just me. However, thank you for choosing to stand by my side, Ethan.</em>

    His eyes were filled with sincerity. He was different from those people who coveted his talents yet despised him.

    <em>The only one that held me tight in his embrace.</em>

    Ethan had now realized that protecting the man who put his trust and faith in him was more enjoyable than pursuing wealth, fame, honor, or even his own precious dreams.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang</em>

    Missiles shot out from all over the Transcendental Beings Weapons body and rained down upon Duke Ruffiso.

    <em>Dash, dash, dash, dash</em>

    Duke Ruffiso moved like a ghost, rushing forward while evading the missiles aiming for him.

    The biggest problem with armored weapons is their reaction speed.

    Duke Ruffiso was fully aware of the problems of the armored weapons. No matter how outstanding its pilot was, the armored weapons reaction speed would never be as good as that of a persons reaction speed.

    <em>Boooooooom!</em>

    Duke Ruffiso evaded the armored weapons swinging greatsword and used this opportunity to plunge his sword into the Transcendental Beings Weapons arm.

    <em>Craaaaack!</em>

    Then, Ruffiso ran along the armored weapons arms andpletely smashed the arm until it was no longer functional.

    <em>Bzz, bzz, bzz, bzz</em>

    Sparks once again appeared all over the Transcendental Beings Weapons body. Although it grew stronger after meeting an excellent master and pilot, the fact that it could not produce a power that was as strong as its power in its heyday remained.

    Although ck Hammer Dwarven King Vernon could choose to make it so it would have a greater force and power, he decided to do something else. Vernon chose to recreate Bless topletely restore itself in two weeks, even if it were smashed and broken to smithereens. Instead of having enormous power, Bless was able to be functional forever.

    <em>Vwooooooooooong!</em>

    Although Ethan controlled it so the armored weapon in his hands could swing its arms, it needed to be faster.

    <em>Bang Bang, bang, bang, bang Craaack!</em>

    Every swing of Duke Ruffisos sword would create sparks and break a portion of the Transcendental Beings Weapons body. However, Ethan had never even entertained the thought that he could defeat all of them here.

    Emergency Power Operation.

    <em>Vwoooooooooooooong!</em>

    Bless, already left staggering and creaking by its joints, suddenly regained vitality and original speed. Then, Ethan pulled one of the levers inside as hard as possible.

    elerate.

    <em>Fwiiiish!</em>

    zing mes shot out of Bless vents. And at that moment, the <em>armored weapons slow reaction speed,</em> the weakness that Duke Ruffiso was talking about, disappeared. Bless moved so fast that it only left afterimages behind.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    Bless punched Duke Ruffiso with its remaining hand.

    <em>Fwoooooooosh!</em>

    After sending Duke Ruffiso a bit further away, zing mes shot out of Bless vents again.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    The weapon in Bless hands mmed straight into Duke Ruffiso.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    ...!

    D- Duke!

    Dukeeeee!

    The entire world was left in shock after seeing Duke Ruffiso get beaten up by someone. No one in the Luvien Imperial Army could evennd a strike on the man, but here he was getting beaten up.

    <em>Creaaaaaaak! nk, nk, nk, nk, nk!</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    They watched as the armored weapon clenched its only remaining fist and quickly punched Duke Ruffiso.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud!</em>

    Duke Ruffiso was furious after being forced to kneel on one knee. He was fully aware that this was Ethans final struggle. However, he grew angry at the fact that the man was trying so hard to stop him, even until his veryst breath.

    <em>Boooooooooom!</em>

    The power Duke Ruffiso could use because he was born from transcendentals was triggered at this moment.

    <em>Cliiiiiink</em>

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    With just one light swing of his sword, a powerful force born from the divine energy he had triggered mmed straight into Bless.

    <em>Creaaaak! Creaaaak!</em>

    Sparks appeared all over Bless body. At this point, Ethan knew that he could no longer operate Bless.

    <em>nk, nk!</em>

    Although Bless staggered back, there was a bright smile on Ethans face.

    <em>[A total of 904,513 troops of the Luvien Imperial Army have died!]</em>

    Why was Ethan smiling? Because he hadpleted his mission. All of the armored weapons, except Bless, had already been destroyed.

    <em>However, its not over yet. </em>Ethan had something else that he needed to do.

    Duke Ruffiso walked toward the staggering and reeling Bless. I will hang you alive.

    Ruffiso wanted to interrupt Ethans glorious end.

    <em>[The Transcendentals Holy Lands Boss Monster, the Transcendental Being, has appeared!]</em>

    At that moment, the rusty door at the end of the red carpet slowly creaked open. The boss appeared behind the armored weapon before Duke Ruffiso could reach Ethan. Then, with his long silver hair, the Transcendental Being swung his sword.

    <em>Vwooooooooooooong!</em>

    A fierce wind engulfed Duke Ruffiso and the entire Luvien Imperial Army behind him.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!</em>

    ***

    The entire world was watching the situation inside the dungeon with rapt attention.

    Duke Ruffiso was sent flying backward, his body easily torn and ripped apart when the Transcendental Being appeared. All the viewers held their breath as doubts shed in their heads.

    <em>[Why did a yer like Ethan appear as a mob inside the Transcendentals Holy Land?]</em>

    <em>[Dont you feel that theres something wrong going on here?]</em>

    <em>[If theres something wrong, then Do you think someone made a dungeon?]</em>

    <em>[Guys, just think about it. Even if someone made a dungeon, do you think a yer can make a dungeon with such difficulty?]</em>

    That was right. Common sense would dictate that it was impossible. Even thementators denied this hypothesis. It was just that impossible.

    At that moment, the Transcendental Beings Weapon finally started to copse. However, before it couldpletely copse, Ethan did thest thing he needed to do. Ethan took something out of the copsing armored weapon. He squeezed thest of his strength and put it on his back. He smiled faintly as he looked at the Transcendental Being behind him. After that, the armored weapon copsed utterly.

    ...

    ...

    ...

    Everyone was left speechless at that moment. The thing that Ethan took out and put behind his back was none other than a white cape carrying the symbol of a fork and knife crossed together, a white cape that symbolized the empire that everyone was very familiar with.

    Then, at that moment, the Transcendental Beings Weapon exploded.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    The Transcendental Being walked through the zing mes caused by the explosion. And when he appeared, the symbol of the fork and knife crossed together appeared on the back of his white robe.

 Chapter 898

    Chapter 898

    The entire world was now thrown into deep chaos.

    The Transcendentals Holy Land was the dungeon with the highest level of difficulty ever recorded in the history of Athenae. But at the beginning, everyone dismissed it, saying, <em>Its nothing.</em> after seeing the level of its mini-bosses. However, their thoughts immediately took aplete 180 after seeing the Labyrinth of Death.

    After seeing the Labyrinth of Death, they firmly believed that this dungeon, with its elite mobs and mini-bosses with ridiculously high levels, was the most difficult. After all, it was a ce where even the Great Luvien Empire was suffering.

    However, something extraordinary happened. <em>yer</em> Ethan suddenly appeared and led a group of armored weapons to attack and ughter the troops of the Luvien Imperial Army. Because of that, there was a lot of buzz among the viewers.

    <em>[Ethan is one of the Transcendentals Holy Land mobs?]</em>

    <em>[No. Ethan is an armored weapon pilot. He is a yer.]</em>

    <em>[So why is he leading those armored weapons inside that dungeon?]</em>

    There were quite a lot of spections going around. However, this one stood out the most among the people''s wildest beliefs. Why? Because it was the most realistic.

    <em>[Ethan had been kicked out of the Luvien Empire just recently. However, he wasnt removed and excluded as a member of the empire just yet. After being kicked out, Ethan wanted revenge and probably searched for armored weapons.]</em>

    Everyone turned their attention to focus on this story.

    <em>[Ethan, who searched for armored weapons, found them inside the Transcendentals Holy Land and signed a contract with the Transcendental Being.]</em>

    <em>[Oh. That makes sense.]</em>

    <em>[Yes, thats the most realistic exnation.]</em>

    <em>[Ethans not yet excluded from the Luvien Empire. Yes. That exins why he can enter the dungeon and why he is standing among the Imperial Army.]</em>

    <em>[He must have been hiding among them.]</em>

    However, that theory was soon torn apart. Why? Thest thing Ethan did before he copsed was put on the cape carrying the Beyond the Heavens Empire symbol.

    <em>[...?]</em>

    <em>[...?]</em>

    <em>[...?]</em>

    Everyone was at a loss for a moment. They just could not understand what just happened.

    Then, the Transcendental Being that appeared and sent Duke Ruffiso flying away with one swing of his sword emerged from the mes left behind by the armored weapons explosion. And just like Ethan, he was also wearing the Beyond the Heavens Empire symbol.

    <em>[Dont tell me]</em>

    <em>[Ey.]</em>

    <em>[Thats impossible.]</em>

    <em>[Thats a bit]</em>

    <em>[No. That doesnt even make any sense.]</em>

    <em>[Then, lets all think about it for a moment. Does this mean that Beyond the Heavens Emperor Minhyuk also came to the Transcendentals Holy Land and signed a contract with the Transcendental Being?]</em>

    <em>[Didnt we discuss that the Transcendental Being signed a contract with Ethan?]</em>

    <em>[Thats right.]</em>

    <em>[Ill just believe this one and leave it be.]</em>

    <em>[No. Im telling you, this is impossible!]</em>

    The viewers went wild and flooded thements section as they focused on their screen to watch the confrontation between the Luvien Empire and the Transcendental Being.

    ***

    Everyone was tense and nervous. The 185-centimeter tall and silver-haired Transcendental Being looked like an older man. However, he gave off a fresh and energetic feeling with the white robe on his body and the sword in his hand.

    <em>Gulp</em>

    Bastien gulped dryly and asked the man standing beside him, How high are the chances that the guy over there is Minhyuk?

    Maybe 15%? No, 20%? Ah, no. Maybe 4%?

    What bullshit are you talking about?

    I dont know either.

    Right. To be honest, I also dont know.

    All of them were left in doubt with the situation in front of them. They almost entertained the idea that Minhyuk might have identally received a quest rted to the Transcendentals Holy Land, which was why the Transcendental Being was wearing a robe carrying the Beyond the Heavens Empire pattern on his back.

    <em>No. That doesnt make any sense.</em>

    However, the theory that Minhyuk was the Transcendental Being also did not make any sense.

    The Sword of the Gods looked around. They saw that approximately 15,000 troops of the Luvien Imperial Army had disappeared from the Transcendental Beings previous attack. Now, there were only about 80,000 troops left. However, thankfully enough, the remaining forces were the most prominent figures of the empire. Most of the Sword of the Gods were also alive and well.

    Its impossible to be Minhyuk, right? Even if Minhyuk is very strong, do you think he can deal with Duke Ruffiso and us alone?

    Right?

    Although they did not know why the Transcendental Being wore a robe carrying the Beyond the Heavens Empire symbol, this fact remained.

    Meanwhile, Duke Ruffiso was frowning. <em>What the hell is happening?</em>

    There were quite a few things that Ruffiso could not understand. However, he decided that killing the Transcendental Being was far more critical than figuring it out immediately.

    Bastien, the number one summoner, rode on top of his Divine Beast.

    Lets beat him up first!

    With those words, more than 30,000 summoned beasts jumped out and charged forward to kill the Transcendental Being.

    <em>Click</em>

    Yeah. Its not that important. We just have to kill whoevers in front of us, God of Archery Miao was already prepared for battle. Then, she exined, Its either one of the two. If we can kill him easily, then hes Minhyuk. If its difficult, then hes the Transcendental Being.

    ...!

    That was right. That would give them the most evident answer. This was because Minhyuk was just a lone yer. No matter how strong he was, there was no way that he could deal with all of the Level 600 Sword of the Gods present here, together with Duke Ruffiso and the almost 80,000 surviving Luvien Imperial Army troops. Besides, the Transcendental Being only had one advantage over them right now; he was not exhausted.

    Then, at that moment, the Transcendental Being made a move. A zing hot me shot out from his sword and covered the sky.

    <em>Sword of Absolute Death.</em> This was the skill that Minhyuk used. However, because he became the Transcendental Being, the way his skill manifested changed. At that moment, hundreds of feathers made from light turned into sharp knives and rained down upon the Luvien Empires troops.

    <em>Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping!</em>

    The sharp feathers made of light pierced through the bodies of the troops of the Luvien Imperial Army.

    <em>Staaaaaaab!</em>

    A- aaaaaaaaaack!

    Keuaaaaaaaaack!

    My- my eyeeeees!!!

    But that was not the end; the feathers immediately exploded when it made contact with something.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Powerful explosions engulfed the army one after the other.

    Huh Valentino uttered in a daze. I vote for him being the Transcendental Being.

    Even if Minhyuk was strong, Valentino had judged that there was no way for the man to deal such a tremendous amount of damage by himself. There was no way that Minhyuk could release an attack that could easily kill these high-leveled and outstanding tankers all at once.

    You should consider Minhyuks buffed dishes, too, Alex piped up.

    However, Valentino thought differently from him. No matter how fantastic the effects of the buffed dishes were, there was no way to bring this much effect. He could tell the opponents basic power was much stronger than they had imagined.

    However, It wasnt really that impossible. After all, Minhyuk had cooked dishes using the best ingredients he had harvested from the Field of the Gods and had received the buff effects from these dishes.

    After unleashing those sharp feathers and devouring thousands of the Luvien Imperial Army, the Transcendental Being leaped forward and began to cut them down one after another. The Transcendental Being looked so cool and handsome with his silver hair and white robe fluttering with the wind that everyone could not help but sigh in admiration.

    <em>Baaaaaaang</em>

    However, God of Archery Miao and Alex immediately shot their arrows and magic toward such a being.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang</em>

    Valentino also mmed his shield down while Bastienmanded his Divine Dragon to release its Breath, which could melt tens of thousands of enemies in one go upon the Transcendental Being.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaa</em>

    However, the Swords of the Gods were left stunned and speechless when they heard a voiceing from the thick cloud of dust that bloomed from the explosion caused by their attacks.

    Disappear.

    ...!

    ...!

    ...!

    <em>Disappear</em> was the Supreme Overlords Technique. Because Minhyuk became the Transcendental Being, the Overlords mes changed in appearance and turned into white mes that exploded and devoured its surroundings.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    The mighty white mes exploded and spread in the area, devouring the Swords of the Gods and the troops of the Luvien Empire.

    Keheuuuk!

    Keheup!

    Keok! <em>Cough, cough</em> Thats not Minhyuk. Thats the Transcendental Being.

    <em>[A total of 954,513 troops of the Luvien Imperial Army have died!]</em>

    With just one attack, 25,000 of the Luvien Imperial Army disappeared. The worst part? Transcendental Being Minhyuk suffered no damage because he used <em>Absolute Defense</em> on time.

    <em>Crackle</em>

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack</em>

    The white mes licked the area clean and revealed a harrowing scene. However, Minhyuk, standing at the center of it all, knew he was running out of time.

    <em>If I fail to kill as many as I can with the little time I have left, then that means I lose.</em>

    Minhyuk had received special privileges by bing the boss mob. This unique privilege was a 1.5x increase in his total HP and MP. However, that was all. This meant that he had a clear limit to how much damage the enemies could deal upon him he could endure.

    At that moment, Minhyuk heard Valentinos voice.

    If that guys Minhyuk, then I will be Minhyuks dog from now on!

    We already know! So, shut up for a bit! Ugh

    Minhyuk did not me them for their choices. After all, a yer would always take the path that would bring them the most significant benefits. However, the problem was that they were now clearly standing on the side that opposed the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    <em>Lets take out the Swords of the Gods first.</em>

    For Minhyuk, the most difficult enemy to deal with was Duke Ruffiso. However, if he dealt with Duke Ruffiso, he would be unable to deal with the Swords of the Gods simultaneously.

    <em>Thousand Swords. </em>The skill that could release a thousand swords that would target the enemies vital points. And it was not just that. It could also determine who was strong among the enemies and concentrate the attacks upon them. Just like before, the manifestation of the skill changed. Instead of a thousand sword lights, a thousand awls made of stone appeared. But a powerful force came behind him just before these thousands of awls rained down upon the Luvien Empire.

    <em>aaaaash!</em>

    It was Duke Ruffiso.

    <em>Ugh!</em>

    It seemed like it was timed perfectly when the duration of the Absolute Defense was lifted. Minhyuk immediately turned around, his sword shing against Duke Ruffisos own. The two engaged in a fierce sh of swords.

    <em>I already received the effects of my buff dishes, but I still cant overwhelm you?!</em>

    The power that one of the strongest in the world, Duke Ruffiso, could wield was stronger than Minhyuk had expected. However, there was a bigger problem at hand.

    <em>Staaaaaaab</em>

    An arrow stabbed through Minhyuks back as he fought against Duke Ruffiso.

    Ugh!

    Duke Ruffiso quickly took advantage of the moment Minhuks bnce was broken to drive his sword through him.

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 65%!]</em>

    Alex and the mages immediately followed up with a bombardment of magical attacks.

    <em>Bang Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 45%!]</em>

    If Ruffisos power were within Minhyuks expectations, then the winner of this battle would most definitely be Minhyuk. However, the dukes power went beyond his expectations.

    <em>Damn it! If only I could summon the puppet doll..!</em>

    Viels Puppet Doll was Minhyuks strongest damage dealer. His presence would be enough to deter and block the Swords of the Gods from interfering with his fight against Duke Ruffiso. However, when Minhyuk became the boss monster, he was only allowed to get the help of the yers and his vassals. Even though his puppet and pets were under his ownership, he still could not use them inside the dungeon.

    Although he was stuck in a very desperate situation, Minhyuk could not back down. Why couldnt he back down? This was because some people tried their hardest for his sake and endured being called the awkward name of <em>Fragment</em> in this ce. And if they could not win this battle, then there was a high chance that the Beyond the Heavens Empire would continue to be pushed back by the Luvien Empire. If that happened, the only future for them was their downfall.

    <em>Baaaaaasaaaang!</em>

    Minhyuk was sent rolling on the ground after he received another bombardment of magic.

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 30%!]</em>

    <em>[Controlling your body will be harder!]</em>

    Duke Ruffiso knew that victory was close when he saw his enemy stumbling and struggling to stand. Dont give him any room to breathe! Just push him a bit more, and this battle will end!

    As long as they did not give the Transcendental Being enough room to cast his skills, they could kill him. However, at that moment, a notification rang in Minhyuks ears.

    <em>[...has entered!]</em>

    ...!

    A smile slowly formed on Minhyuks face, a smile that appeared on the old face of the Transcendental Being. He squeezed thest of his strength and ran in the middle of his enemies. Then, he immediately cast the <em>Supreme Overlords Technique </em>that he had saved using his Save skill.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    At that moment, another storm of zing white mes engulfed the enemies around Minhyuk.

    <em>[A total of 979,890 troops of the Luvien Imperial Army have died!]</em>

    ***

    Hundreds of cameras turned to focus on the white mes that appeared once again and devoured the Luvien Imperial Army. The camera showed how the fire killed 20,000 of the troops all at once. However, the mes soon died down and disappeared.

    Seeing this scene, thementators hurriedly shouted at the top of their lungs.

    <em>[Look! The Swords of the Gods escaped the attack''s aftermath by squeezing behind Valentinos massive shield!]</em>

    <em>[They are high rankers! They are not fools that would be hit by the same attack twice!]</em>

    <em>[The Transcendental Being has burned tens of thousands of enemies. However, you have to know that the only thing he could do was reduce the number of his enemies. Nothing more, nothing less.]</em>

    <em>[Duke Ruffiso was able to pull himself out of the range of the mes quickly!]</em>

    <em>[Now, all thats left is to wait for the death of the Transcendentals Holy Lands boss monster, the Transcendental Being.]</em>

    That was right. They could tell that the Transcendental Being had squeezed thest of his strength to burn tens of thousands of the imperial armys troops. However, this previous hurrah did not damage the Swords of the Gods or Duke Ruffiso.

    Its only a matter of time before we kill the Transcendental Being.

    The remaining Swords of the Gods ultimately agreed with Valentinos deration. However, at that moment, the hundreds of cameras floating all over the ce caught something entering the dungeons in a sh.

    <em>[Wh- what was that?!]</em>

    <em>[What was that thing that moved so swiftly like that?!]</em>

    Thementators could only catch the sh of movement because they could see the overall situation with the cameras. As for the Swords of the Gods? They were utterly clueless, waiting quietly for the white mes to disappear around them.

    <em>Spurt!</em>

    Then, at that moment, blood suddenly spurted from all over God of Archery Miaos body.

    Huh? Before she could even realize what happened, Valentino appeared right in front of her.

    Whats the matter?

    <em>Spurt!</em>

    But before he could even finish his words, blood had already started spurting out of his body. Well, to be exact, blood spurted from the bodies of the Swords of the Gods hiding behind Valentinos huge shield.

    The cameras did not take too long to show the figure of the unknown being that attacked the Swords of the Gods in a sh. Just like the Transcendental Being, the man, whose face was covered except for his eyes, had long ck hair that reached his waist, was wearing a white yet blood-stained robe, and held a sword in his hand. However, they could tell that the man was rtively shortpared to the Transcendental Being, reaching only 160 centimeters in height.

    Meanwhile, these notifications rang in the ears of the Transcendental Being.

    <em>[Sword God Conir has entered the Transcendentals Holy Land!]</em>

    <em>[Sword God Conir is recognized as a mini-boss level being!]</em>

    <em>[Transcendental Beings Fragment Goneir. Level 776.]</em>

    Through the gaps in the mysterious beings long ck hair, they could see that his eyes were cold and sharp. He red at the enemies and said, I am the Sword God.

 Chapter 899

    Chapter 899

    The Sword God was a symbolic figure in Athenae. The Sword God was the one that appeared suddenly when the entrance to the Demon World opened. He swept away the rampant demons, closed the entrance, and promptly disappeared. And because of this feat, the Sword God became Athenaes symbol of peace. Almost 50% of the yers in Athenae used the sword to follow the Sword Gods example.

    Valen was fully aware of this fact. He looked at Conir, who descended from the massive fortress, and asked, What will you say when you appear in front of Minhyuk?

    I am Conir! Lets eat ramyeon!

    ...

    Valen looked like he wanted to cry. This was the spectacr appearance of the new generation Sword God, but would he shout, Lets eat ramyeon! to announce his presence? This could not happen at all.

    Then, at that moment, Valen looked up at the broad walls of the fortress before him.

    <em>Hes quite amazing,</em> Valen thought in admiration.

    Valen was looking at the <em>Fortress of the Transcendentals Fantasy, </em>which housed a monstrous man. Valen could only meet this man after a series of fortunate events while he was still wandering around the world. However, the most shocking part was this.

    <em>I never expected that I would lose against him.</em>

    Valen lost against that monstrous man by a minimal margin back then. However, it must be known that the Sword God was the strongest god among all of the Continental Gods. As for this fortress, if one sessfully cleared its gates, the transcendentals living inside would help them gain whatever they wanted.

    <em>I did not expect that he would be able to clear the Second Gate, </em>Valen admired Conir. <em>I dont have the power to let you grow.</em>

    The power that Valen used to get the position of the Sword God was a power that he nurtured and grew with the help of this very same fortress. Although only a day had passed in the outside world, for Conir, who stayed inside the fortress, five years had already passed.

    And that brought Valen back to his problem. How could someone who gained the qualifications to be the Sword God return handsomely yet say, <em>Lets eat ramyeon!</em>?

    So, Valen tried his hardest to exin calmly, Conir. Why do you want to be stronger?

    Conir! Because Conir wants to help hyung!

    Thats right. Valen smiled at the boys pure and noble heart. Right now, your hyung might desperately need your strength. However, listen to me carefully; people would only believe what they see.

    What they see?

    Thats right, Conir. If you can make a cool and outstanding show when you appear, it would be a great help for your hyung. Now, follow me. <em>I am the Sword God.</em>

    Conir! Conir will do it! I- I am the Sword God!

    The only person in Conirs mind, while doing his best training inside the fortress, was his hyung, Minhyuk. Conir looked very excited that he would be of help to his beloved hyung.

    When Conir meets hyung, Conir will make hyung his favorite dish from <em>Gimbap Heaven</em>!

    Why was Conir mentioning <em>Gimbap Heaven?</em> It was because he heard Minhyuk mumbling to himself before he left.

    <em>Kghhhk. I want to go to Gimbap Heaven. Jjolmyeon, ramyeon, tteokbokki, tuna gimbap, tonkatsu. I want to order several servings at the same time!</em>

    Conir had always remembered those words that Minhyuk uttered to himself. He initially only liked to cook ramyeon. But before leaving, he tried to learn how to cook these dishes. And he practiced making these dishes in the five years he trained inside the fortress.

    Lets go. Its time to go back. I have a feeling that your hyung needs you.

    Conir! Conir will help hyung!

    ***

    I am the Sword God. As Conir finished uttering these words, the notifications that Minhyuk could not hear before began to ring one after another.

    <em>[You have several unread notifications from your vassal Conir. You couldnt hear the notifications because Conir stepped inside the Unknown Land!]</em>

    Minhyuk had absolutely no idea where Valen took Conir. Vassals at Conirs level would usually be linked to Minhyuk. This meant that Minhyuk would hear notifications whenever they grew or leveled up.

    <em>[Conir has leveled up!]</em>

    <em>[Conir has leveled up!]</em>

    <em>[Conir has leveled up!]</em>

    <em>[Conir has leveled up!]</em>

    <em>[Conir!]</em>

    <em>[Conir!]</em>

    <em>[Conir has gone beyond his limits and has exceeded the number listed in his potential!]</em>

    <em>[Conir has gone beyond his limits and has exceeded the number listed in his potential!]</em>

    <em>[Conir!]</em>

    <em>[Conir!]</em>

    <em>[Conir has taken over the position of the Sword God!]</em>

    <em>[Sword God Conir. He is the Sword God that has received the respect and admiration of many and will cut down the world with a single swing of his sword!]</em>

    Minhyuk smiled faintly when he saw Conir sporting a simr smile, looking back at him through the gaps of his long, dark hair.

    Meanwhile, the Sword of the Gods were all left flustered.

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 60%!]</em>

    This notification rang in the ears of God of Archery Miao. However, considering her HP was initially 72% before the attack, the damage was considerably huge. Even though her HP was lower than closebat ss yers at her level, she wore many high-leveled and high-quality artifacts. So, this amount of damage was unreasonable.

    And she wasnt the only one panicking. God of Shields Valentino and the number one summoner, Bastien, were also panicking. However, Valentino gritted his teeth and mmed his square shield down.

    Bastard! What the hell is this again?! Get behind me! Bentinos Final Shield!

    The Swords of the Gods were also very tired now. And that was not all; most of their skills were still in cooldown. And Valentinos Bentinos Final Shield was a shield skill that could ignore the skill cooldown. However, it would use 50% of his current MP to be cast.

    <em>[Final Shield.]</em>

    <em>[You have consumed 50% of your current MP to cast the Final Shield!]</em>

    <em>[Your current MP is around 62% of your total MP volume.]</em>

    <em>[The Final Shield will have an additional 4,100% defensive power and can protect you from attacks by dragging it to the shield!]</em>

    The most significant advantage of this skill was that it could draw all of the attacks in the area toward it. In other words, if the enemys attack was aimed at Valentinos waist, it would swerve and hit his shield.

    However, there was one thing that the Swords of the Gods were not aware of. And that was the fact that the Transcendental Beings Fragment that appeared in front of them had inherited the position of the Sword God and had also thoroughly learned the skills of the said god. That was not all. Conir had also received the training of the unknown man inside the Fortress of the Transcendentals Fantasy. These were some snippets of what happened during Conirs training.

    <em>Conir, you will not be able to fully digest all of the skills of the Sword God yet. Even if you can learn it now, they will be sealed, and you cannot use them.</em>

    <em>I am Conir! Conir needs to be stronger!</em>

    <em>However, there is always a way. All you need to do is make it your own. I will help you with that.</em>

    Conir was taught how to turn the skills of the Sword God into his own.

    The Transcendental Beings Fragment, with his long ck hair, raised his sword and cast his skill.

    <em>[Hundred Swords.]</em>

    <em>[Enemies within a three-meter radius will receive a hundred sword strikes with an additional 10% attack power when you swing your sword. The strikes will cover a hundred meters and wreak havoc upon your enemies.]</em>

    Although it only had 10% additional attack power, the hundred strikes more than made up for it. It was already a very overpowered skill.

    At that moment, a white light shed from Conirs sword as he swung it toward the Final Shield.

    <em>Booooooooom!</em>

    Then, a hundred consecutive strikes began to rain down upon the shield.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Heok! Wh- what the hell?! Valentino shouted in shock as he watched the durability of his Final Shield drop rapidly.

    Ultimately, the Final Shield broke down, and its aftermath wreaked havoc and attacked everyone within a hundred-meter radius.

    The Luvien Imperial Army had gathered behind Valentino. This formation was easy enough for the Conir-style Hundred Swords to deal with. Just like that, the troops were torn and ripped apart.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    Keuaaaaaack!

    Uwaaaaaack!

    Keheuk!

    Keheok!

    Screams rang rampant among the Swords of the Gods and the troops of the Luvien Imperial Army.

    <em>[Sword of the Gods Miao has been forced to log out!]</em>

    <em>[Sword of the Gods Alex has been forced to log out!]</em>

    At that moment, Miao and Alex, the ones with the lowest HP, were hit and forced to log out. This made the faces of the surviving Swords of the Gods grow ugly.

    Its already within our reach

    We were just about to seed in killing the Transcendental Being!

    However, they remembered that they still had Duke Ruffiso on their side. They believed that Duke Ruffiso would have already taken the head of the Transcendental Being by now. But when they turned their heads, they were all left in shock. The Transcendental Being, who had recovered from his injuries, fought on equal foot with Duke Ruffiso.

    <em>Wasnt the Transcendental Being inferior to Duke Ruffiso?</em>

    However, as they thought about it, they realized that the Transcendental Being was only in a disadvantageous position earlier because he had to deal with his enemies alone. But now? He was dealing with Duke Ruffiso alone. The problem was Duke Ruffiso was also very exhausted since he had to deal with the joint attacks of the fragments Brood and Effis earlier.

    <em>Baaaaaaaang!</em>

    At that moment, Duke Ruffiso made a careless mistake and was pushed back by the Transcendental Beings attack. When Minhyuk looked at Duke Ruffiso, he realized he no longer had to hide his identity.

    <em>There will be repercussions if I reveal my identity here after killing them.</em>

    Minhyuk was fully aware of this fact. However, he was determined to kill the most excellent and most brilliant.

    <em>The longer this drags on, the more disadvantages I will have.</em>

    The Operators Voice, or the Battle Gods Voice, was triggered.

    <em>[Many had been trampled on.]</em>

    A scene appeared on the ceiling of the dungeon. The expression that shed on the face of Duke Ruffiso, who was wiping the blood from his chin, grew increasingly ugly. And the same was true for the Swords of the Gods.

    Damn it!

    Wheres the bastard that said that hes not Minhyuk?!

    Its Alex. Hes dead.

    The effects of the Battle Gods Voice were something that everyone was very familiar with. This was the power that only the Beyond the Heavens Emperor and Battle God Minhyuk could use. Because of this, the entire world realized that the Beyond the Heavens Empire had yed them. However, no one pointed their fingers at him. In fact, instead of pointing their fingers, they were just watching him in awe.

    The scene above them showed a family sitting together and eating happily. The scene showed how lively and happy the family was.

    <em>[A happy family.]</em>

    Not long after, the middle-aged man heard a disturbance outside. He stopped eating and went out of the house with his family. However, the moment they went out, they were greeted with the scene of the mountains of corpses left by the Luvien Empire. When the father hurriedly turned around to urge his family to run, a spear stabbed straight through his heart. The family was helpless and could only watch the father die with their pupils shaking.

    <em>[...was destroyed by your hands.]</em>

    <em>[The friends whoughed with each other.]</em>

    This time, another scene appeared above them. The scene showed someone who seemed to be a yer, drinking with NPCs all night. The mans time with the NPCs shed and turned into screenshots spread over the ceiling.

    The screenshots showed scenes from the first meeting between the NPC and the yer, to even when they went on a battlefield together. Then, it showed how the NPC waved goodbye to his friend who was logging out of the game. And the yer? He smiled happily and waved his hand vigorously before disappearing.

    The next day, the yer, who logged back inside the game with a happy smile, found the corpse of his NPC friend. The yer embraced the NPC and cried sadly and bitterly, frustration marring his face deeply.

    All of these could happen to someone, to anyone, at any given moment. Someone had already gone through it.

    <em>[They died at your hands.]</em>

    <em>[You took away theirughter and killed them without mercy.]</em>

    The scene showed hundreds of nobles from the Luvien Empire watching the cavalry in front of them kill and ughter the masses. The nobles, who watched themoners die, covered their noses with their handkerchiefs, only showing their brows twitching as if they found this manughter fun.

    At the same time, tens of thousands of gold and silver treasures fell from the sky. Some knelt, their eyes glowing green from greed as they smiled at the falling treasures. Some fell crying, their arms hugging the bodies of their loved ones tightly.

    And among those that wept bitterly, someone grabbed the spear and slowly stood up. With the old spear in hand, he trudged forward. As he took one step after another, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, and hundreds of thousands of people stood up and held old weapons until they formed a coalition. The man holding the old spear lifted it to the sky.

    Uwaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!

    Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!

    <em>[However, keep this in mind.]</em>

    <em>[They will never back down.]</em>

    A deafening roar resounded inside the Transcendentals Holy Land. Then, the scene changed in an instant. It showed the man with his rusty and old spear standing at the forefront and charging toward the walls of the Luvien Empire. And right behind him? Millions of people with their old weapons in hand ran with him.

    <em>[Even if they fall, they will continue to stand and rise.]</em>

    The scene above them showed how the Luvien Empire swept them away and forced them to fall. However, no matter how often they fell, they stood and advanced.

    <em>[They will continue to move forward even if it means they would have to use the bloody weapon theirrades left behind.]</em>

    Many ran forward with the bloody weapons that their deadrades once used.

    <em>[They will do so until they finally slit your throats.]</em>

    Amidst the countless people being swept away, some were finally able to cut the heads off of their enemies. Then, the scene changed. It showed the Luvien Imperial Army running away from them in fear.

    <em>[I, Minhyuk, the Emperor of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, solemnly dere that]</em>

    Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!

    Waaaaaaaaaah!!!

    The roars of the millions of the allied forces shabby and rugged troops that fought against the Luvien Empire echoed. shes of light appeared among them.

    With his white cape fluttering behind him, the emperor rode atop his white warhorse and raised his sword.

    Standing beside him was a gray-haired older man who mmed his sword on the ground, ring at the enemies.

    Two men of huge stature stood on the emperors other side and stared coldly at the Luvien Imperial Army.

    A three-headed beast roared loudly as it stood menacingly at the forefront of the allied troops.

    In the sky, a Bone Dragon could be seen flying.

    There was also the Dragon Lord descending swiftly to the ground, followed by hundreds of dragons.

    The people of the Beyond the Heavens Empire appeared among the allied forces'' bare, shabby, and weak troops.

    <em>[...I will stand at the forefront of this battle.]</em>

    ...!

    ...!

    The Swords of the Gods could not help the shiver that ran down their spines. At the same time, they finally realized why Beyond the Heavens Emperor Minhyuk lured them here. He wanted to crush his enemies and show this to everyone. He wanted to gather the scattered forces worldwide and gather them by his side.

    They knew that they had to stop him. They had to stop the Battle Gods Voice. However, the scene above them had already changed. The Beyond the Heavens Emperor, standing in front of the millions of allied troops that went against the Luvien Empire, was already flying through the sky with his sword, roaring.

    <em>Rumbleeeeeeeee!</em>

    A sword that was tens of meters long appeared and split the great wall of the Luvien Empire in half.

    <em>Swooooooosh!</em>

    As the walls crumbled apart, the scene above them slowly scattered into nothingness. Then, the Transcendental Being, the Beyond the Heavens Emperor, appeared and said, To those that wish to tear apart and bring down the Luvien Empire,e to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

 Chapter 900

    Chapter 900

    When Athenaes Second Era began and the strongest empire, the Luvien Empire, emerged, all yers harbored the same dream. They believed that they had the power to protect what was precious to them and that they could win against them.

    However, that was their miscalction. The Luvien Empire quickly devoured Athenae. Since that day, the yers had been ying the <em>Athenae controlled by the Luvien Empire.</em> Many high-rankers associated themselves with the Luvien Empire to enjoy wealth and honor.

    However, many yers wanted to stay in the game, where they had memories with their precious someone. They fought against the world, but they eventually copsed. They realized that they could notpare with the Luvien Empires power. Ultimately, they were forced to hide like rats and avoid the Luvien Empire.

    However, the most important part here was this.

    <em>[The Transcendental Being is none other than Minhyuk!]</em>

    <em>[Minhyuk is recruiting the yers openly.]</em>

    <em>[The thing that we need to pay attention to here is the fact that Beyond the Heavens Emperor Minhyuk has betted everything on the line.]</em>

    That was right. Minhyuk had put everything on the line. This was an undeniable fact.

    Before, the Beyond the Heavens Empire had not shown any hostility or openly antagonized the Luvien Empire. They had always defended against them and waited for them to attack first. Either that, or they would just feed them shit whenever possible. But now? They had openly dered war against them and were trying to do something that no one had ever done, something everyone feared.

    Its time for us to take that step forward instead of running away.

    The main reason why they yed Athena was because they wanted to enjoy their time. How long would they remain victims?

    Its time to rally our forces and gather our strength. We must fight back, take down the Luvien Empire, and open a new era.

    Everyone turned their attention to Minhyuk, who was in the form of the Transcendental Being, as he uttered sharp words directed towards the Luvien Empire.

    Our viewership ratings have gone beyond 50%!

    ATV Broadcasting Stations PD Kim Daeguks sweat started to pool in his hands.

    <em>Dont tell me Is this what I think it is? If this is truly the case, then theres no turning back. But why do I wish for him to make it happen?</em>

    The ratings went beyond 54%!

    The viewersment board is going crazy!

    Countlessments about joining the Beyond the Heavens Empire started to pop out frommunity sites worldwide.

    Ourmenting rate has increased by around 130 times more than usual!

    Our servers are paralyzed with all the overseas yers trying to ess it!

    And Minhyuk? He said, The Third Era.

    A powerful force erupted from Minhyuks sword as hundreds of swords rose to the sky. This was a power that he had never used before to check the enemies. These swords, which contained the power of the Intangible Sword, shot straight towards the Swords of the Gods fighting against Conir and extended towards the Luvien Imperial Army behind them.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab!</em>

    The outstanding Swords of the Gods were helpless, falling one after the other from the swords. Duke Ruffiso ran and leaped up to stop Minhyuk. However, the dozens of swords pierced through his body and prevented him from going any further.

    After swinging his sword and cutting down countless men, Minhyuk said, The yers Era.

    He looked at the hundreds of cameras floating above him.

    We are the masters of thisnd.

    That was right. It was because they were the masters of thisnd.

    I, Minhyuk, the Emperor of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, solemnly dere that

    No one had dared say these words, but someone had to say it.

    <em>[The Beyond the Heavens Empires Emperor swears under his name.]</em>

    I will tear down the Luvien Empire.

    <em>[The Emperor of the Beyond the Heavens Empire has dered war against the Luvien Empire!]</em>

    <em>[Only if one of the two nations surrenders or copses will this war end!]</em>

    <em>[yers that belong to the Beyond the Heavens Empire and the Luvien Empire will not get Chaotic or receive penalties even if they PK each other!]</em>

    Valentino, hit directly by the Thousand Swords, fell to the ground, his HP dipping below 5%. Even though he was in a precarious situation, he still looked at Minhyuk and shouted, Are you nuts?!

    Dering a war against the Luvien Empire was suicidal. However, Valentino felt envious.

    <em>To have the guts to stand up to an empire like that?</em>

    In fact, the Swords of the Gods acknowledged that Minhyuk did notck any qualities that an emperor should possess. It was quite a strange thing. Although they did not realize it, their heart had already supported him.

    By now, the Beyond the Heavens deration of war would have been spread worldwide through a world message. People would either say that they were stupid or admire them. But that was not all. Those who wanted to fight the Luvien Empire but had nowhere else to go woulde knocking on the doors of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    Ke- kehehehehehehehehe! Keuhahahahahahaha! Duke Ruffisoughed loudly and wildly as he stood up from the ground. Heughed like a madman. Do you think were the only ones the Beyond the Heavens Empire has to deal with?

    Far too many people and ces wanted to get in the Luvien Empires good graces.

    <em>[The Peiro Allied Nations has dered war against the Beyond the Heavens Empire!]</em>

    The Peiro Allied Nations was an alliance made by gathering several small kingdoms that fawned over the Luvien Empire and promised to help them. This was just the beginning. And this would continue to happen with the Beyond the Heavens Empire showing their fangs to the Luvien Empire.

    Your people will me and resent you.

    <em>[The Azmant Empire has dered war against the Beyond the Heavens Empire!]</em>

    Your people will lose their homes.

    <em>[The Farrod Kingdom has dered war against the Beyond the Heavens Empire!]</em>

    They will die on the road, not knowing the reason why.

    <em>[The Affar Kingdom has dered war against the Beyond the Heavens Empire!]</em>

    Those vassals and retainers that praise and fawn over the Luvien Empire will ughter you all.

    <em>[The Cairun Empire has dered war against the Beyond the Heavens Empire!]</em>

    <em>[The Ardei Allied Nations has dered war against the Beyond the Heavens Empire!]</em>

    <em>[The Corrin Empire has dered war against the Beyond the Heavens Empire!]</em>

    <em>[...dered war!]</em>

    <em>[...dered war!]</em>

    <em>[...dered war!]</em>

    The entire world grew chaotic as countless world messages rang in their ears non-stop. The yers that were given a small hope shook their heads when they heard the dozens of empires and kingdoms dering war against the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    At that moment, the yers who chose to side with the Beyond the Heavens Empire all regretted their choices.

    Ke- kehehehehehehehehe! Keuhahahahahahaha!

    Sword of the God Bastien shook his head when he heard the notifications that rang constantly in his ears.

    Youre just one single empire. Theres nothing that you can do.

    This era was Luviens era. The entire world would turn its back on whoever turned their back on Luvien.

    Now, the Beyond the Heavens Empire will have nowhere to go. Duke Ruffiso guffawed. He looked like aplete madman. Heughed and jeered at Minhyuk as if he did not expect such a pie in the sky.

    Thats where youre wrong.

    ...Kiki? Keek?

    I am not alone.

    Once again, Minhyuk triggered the Battle Gods Voice.

    <em>[He has someone by his side who can rally the emperors and kings all over the continent.]</em>

    A picture appeared in the air showing the image of a woman sitting on her throne with her long hair fluttering behind her as she held her sword in hand. And right in front of her? Millions of troops stood at attention.

    <em>[The Eivelis Empire has dered war against the Luvien Empire!]</em>

    The picture immediately disappeared in the air, only to be reced by another image.

    <em>[He is close friends with the one that leads the smallest yet the strongest nation.]</em>

    A man with considerable stature jumped in the middle of the Luvien Empires army and ughtered tens of thousands of their troops with his sword, spewing out ck zing mes.

    <em>[The Lumae Kingdom has dered war against the Luvien Empire!]</em>

    <em>[He has the king of all mercenaries by his side.]</em>

    <em>[Mercenary King Venteio and the millions of mercenaries by his side have dered war against the Luvien Empire!]</em>

    <em>[He has the purest and most genuine race, the race that could create the most significant weapon and armor by his side.]</em>

    <em>[The ck Hammer Dwarves have dered war against the Luvien Empire!]</em>

    <em>[The Elves have dered war against the Luvien Empire!]</em>

    <em>[The Dragon King has dered war against the Luvien Empire!]</em>

    After the notifications from the empires and kingdoms that wanted to buy the favor of the Luvien Empire rang, a new set of world messages resonated worldwide, one after the other.

    <em>[Great Demon Gremory has dered war Luvien Empire!]</em>

    <em>[Lu Bai, the leader of the Saviors, has dered war Luvien Empire!]</em>

    <em>[Saintess Loyna has dered that the Athenae Religion will cease all interactions with the Luvien Empire after witnessing their tyranny!]</em>

    Duke Ruffisos face grew uglier the more the notifications rang in his ears. Finally, after a bit of thought, some of the emperors made their decisions.

    <em>[The Ardo Empire has dered war against the Luvien Empire!]</em>

    The Ardo Empire was the empire that Hound Amacar nurtured and was the second strongest after the Luvien Empire. The fact that this empire stood by the side of the Beyond the Heavens Empire has given them an enormous boost.

    <em>[Bard Erwell has started to sing about the bravery of the Beyond the Heavens Empire!]</em>

    <em>[His song resonates worldwide and shakes the hearts of many!]</em>

    Erwell was the most famous bard in Athenae. Although he started singing for their sake, Minhyuk did not know him. However, it could also be seen as an act of revolt against the Luvien Empire.

    Bastaaaaaaaaard!

    Duke Ruffiso felt a sense of urgency. He knew that he had to kill Minhyuk right here and now. He feared Minhyuks rising status would damage the Luvien Empires reputation and prestige. And if he did not trample on him, more empires and kingdoms would join the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    <em>Rumbleeeeeee!</em>

    Divine power, which belonged only to the gods, could exert a much stronger force than sword lights. Duke Ruffiso, whose one eye had turned ck along with half of his body, could release a power equivalent to or perhaps even greater than the divine power. This <em>ultimate </em>power that Duke Ruffiso had just used was why rumors about him being a transcendent started circting. Duke Ruffiso used all of his power in hopes of erasing the man in front of him.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    A power that could easily wipe out a 200,000-strong army without leaving any trace erupted inside the dungeon. Everyone turned their attention to the power that extended like a sea of ck.

    Minhyuk stared at that power and said coldly, You did not expect that, huh? That I will lure you in here?

    None of Minhyuks skills could offset the power stretching towards them. However, the power that he acquired recently was different. Using the title God Above Gods, Minhyuk created a new skill. And it has to be known that the title God Above Gods could onlybine <em>God-rank</em> skills. And the skills that hebined?

    <em>[Thousand Swords.]</em>

    <em>[Supreme Overlord Technique.]</em>

    <em>[Lightning. Crazy.]</em>

    Minhyuk was highly delighted when hebined these three skills sessfully.

    <em>[Thebination is sessful.]</em>

    <em>[The Active Skill: Cmity has been created.]</em>

    <em>[The power of this skill cannot be measured!]</em>

    <em>[The power of this skill cannot be measured!]</em>

    <em>[...cannot be measured!]</em>

    <em>[...cannot be measured!]</em>

    <em>[You cannotpletely use the entirety of this power right now!]</em>

    <em>[Cmity has been weakened!]</em>

    <em>[Cmity has been weakened!]</em>

    <em>[Cmity has been weakened!]</em>

    <em>[You can now use the weakened Cmity!]</em>

    <em>[The rank of the weakened Cmity is now being measured!]</em>

    <em>[The rank of the weakened Cmity!]</em>

    <em>[Using Cmity will be apanied by a considerable penalty. The higher the level and the skill proficiency, the less penalty you will receive!]</em>

    <em>[As your level and skill proficiency increase, you can regain Cmitys original power!]</em>

    And this was the very same power that Minhyuk had just used.

    <em>[Cmity.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have decreased by 15.]</em>

    <em>[Your level will go down by one.]</em>

    <em>[Your total HP and MP volume will decrease by 1% permanently.]</em>

    <em>Swooooooosh!</em>

    The sky cracked open. And in that crack, a sword engulfed in fierce and zing mes fell upon the power that Duke Ruffiso released.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaa!</em>

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    That single sword instantly weakened the power that Duke Ruffiso released. But that was not all. Nine hundred ny-nine swords engulfed in mes fell upon the Luvien Imperial Army.

    <em>Crackle!</em>

    mes shot out from the swords, engulfing the area around them. They tore and burned everything that was in their way apart. The rank of the skill <em>Cmity </em>was then revealed.

    <em>[The skill Cmity has power that can ovee an Absolute Gods Secret!]</em>

    <em>[The Eight Pirs possess a skill that could represent themselves. These skills are called the Eight Disasters!]</em>

    <em>[You are an Eight Pirs Candidate!]</em>

    <em>[The skill Cmity can be the Ninth Disaster!]</em>

 Chapter 901

    Chapter 901

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Cmity</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: Ninth Disaster</em>

    <em>Active Skill</em>

    <strong><em>Level</em></strong><em>: 1</em>

    <strong><em>Mana Required</em></strong><em>: 5,000</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Use</em></strong><em>: All stats -15, Level -1</em>

    <strong><em>Cooldown</em></strong><em>: 48 hours</em>

    <strong><em>Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>A thousand swords engulfed in fierce and zing mes carrying an additional 2,000% attack power will fall from the sky.</em>

    <em>The swords engulfed in mes will shoot out mes with an additional 1,300% attack power and devour an area with a five-meter radius. Around 30% of the thousand swords will explode in fire and tear the enemy with an additional 1,000% attack power four times in a row.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: If you can recover the entirety of this power, then it will have the power that can rival the Eight Pirs Eight Disasters.</em>

    <strong><em>Growth Requirements</em></strong><em>: The skill level will increase by one whenever your level increases by thirty. The skills level will also increase by one whenever you receive the protection or kill one of the Eight Pirs. You can also develop and grow the skill if you receive the level of someone as strong or as special as the Eight Pirs.</em>

    The skill was just at Level 1, but it was already ridiculously overpowered. Not only that, it could also shoot out mes and devour an entire area within a five-meter radius.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang!</em>

    <em>Booooooooom!</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Keuaaaaaaaaaaack!

    A- aaaaaaaaaack!

    Even now, the swords engulfed in mes continued to fall upon and devour the Luvien Imperial Army. The enemies that were consumed by the fire received 1,300% damage. The troops that survived the initial attack? They struggled to escape the mes. However, wind des flew four times in a row and ripped their bodies apart.

    <em>Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!</em>

    The Luvien Imperial Army copsed in just a blink of an eye.

    <em>[Bastien has been forced to log out!]</em>

    <em>[Bastien is one of the Luvien Empires Swords of the Gods!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 333,054,000 EXP!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 664 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Summoners Flute.]</em>

    <em>[You have killed Commander Ellen!]</em>

    <em>[Commander Ellen is a precious talent that the Luvien Empire cherishes!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 163,000,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 210 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have killed Knight Koroin.]</em>

    <em>[Knight Koroin is a precious talent that the Luvien Empire cherishes!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 64,000,013 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 31 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Luvien Empires Knights White Sword.]</em>

    The dungeon manager could obtain EXP from those who died inside the dungeon. They could also collect the drops that the dead left behind. Of course, following the rules of the dungeon, Minhyuk should also be able to take out a reward worthy of the level of the dungeons mobs whenever they were killed.

    However, they were being swept away. The troops of the Great Luvien Empire and their Swords of the Gods died either from being burned by the mes or torn apart by the des. And in just a blink, the powerful wave of power that Duke Ruffiso sent had beenpletely offset, disappearing into nothingness.

    <em>The only thing that I find regrettable is that Cmity does not distinguish between friend or foe and will kill whatever is in its path.</em>

    Because of that, Minhyuk could not concentrate this attack on a specific target. However, Duke Ruffiso could not understand this. He could not return to his senses after receiving the brunt of the thousands of swords. The worst part? There was still a powerful force that tore his entire body apart and forced a groan out of his mouth.

    <em>Crackle!</em>

    Then, at that moment, Minhyuk walked through the remnants of the mes and swung his sword with both hands as he passed by Ruffiso.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    The Sword of Carnage, which received the effects of the Dual Swordsmanship Technique, cut up, tore apart, and made blood spurt all over the body of Duke Ruffiso, the Luvien Empires Star.

    Keughhhk! Duke Ruffiso groaned as he fell on the blood that spurted out of his body. He struggled to remain standing and supported his body with a sword.

    <em>If Brod and Elpis did not inflict such a severe injury on him, then I would have certainly lost this fight. The oue would have been the same had Conir not be a Sword God and appeared here.</em>

    Several things have ovepped and allowed Minhyuk to obtain this victory.

    Do you think that you can dere that the Luvien Empire will copse just because you killed me?!

    Duke Ruffiso was fully aware of what kind of empire the Luvien Empire was. They still had two more dukes that were far stronger than him. And Nerva Sephiroth? He was as strong as them. No, perhaps he was even stronger than them.

    Kneel and admit the mistakes that your Beyond the Heavens Empire hasmitted! Kghhk!

    When death was close, Duke Ruffiso became an ordinary man out there. He still had something to do.

    <em>The secrets of my birth.</em>

    Duke Ruffiso wanted to know the truth. Was he truly a child slumbering inside a basket lowered by the angels from the sky into the Luvien Empire? Because of that, the people began to say that Duke Ruffiso was born from the transcendents. He had never met his parents, and he wanted to meet them. Or at least hear news about them.

    <em>Thats right. So I can tear them to death!</em>

    Frankly speaking, Ruffiso knew that he was just abandoned. He had been an orphan ever since he was a child. As for the angels bringing him down on the ground? That was just him trying to meet the expectations of others.

    Ruffiso hated them, the damn bastards that abandoned him. So he could not die yet. He still had to live so he could spit on their faces and tear them apart.

    <em>Just a bit more, and I could have found them</em>

    He was just about to find the traces of the Transcendentals!

    The Beyond the Heavens Empire will never be able to defeat the Luvien Empire!

    Perhaps so. Minhyuk looked down at Ruffiso with a cold gaze. However, sitting back and doing nothing would be more foolish. This is us taking that first step.

    Duke Ruffisos eyes were wide open, his gaze sharp as he looked at Minhyuk until his final minute.

    <em>Swoosh!</em>

    But Minhyuk did not show him any mercy. The number of people that Duke Ruffiso had killed was high enough to build a mountain.

    <em>Thud</em>

    The sound of Duke Ruffisos head rolling on the ground signaled the end of the battle. When Minhyuk looked around, he saw everyone, with Conirs exception, had died.

    <em>[Duke Ruffiso has died!]</em>

    <em>[This sad news will be delivered to the Luvien Empire!]</em>

    <em>[You have killed Duke Ruffiso!]</em>

    <em>[You have received the </em><strong><em>Title</em></strong><em>: Star Killer!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 2,866,413,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 113,310 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Something that He was Chasing containing Duke Ruffisos resentment and hatred.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Seven-Colored Elixir.]</em>

    <em>[...acquired the Stars Armor.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Suns Salt.]</em>

    The notifications rang constantly in Minhyuks ears. It was immediately followed by the notifications from the Right to Rule a God-Rank Dungeon Once.

    <em>[The </em><strong><em>Episode</em></strong><em>: Transcendentals Holy Land has beenpleted.]</em>

    <em>[The losses incurred during the operation of the dungeon will now be listed.]</em>

    <em>[You have dropped a total of 98,513 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have lost a total of 6,545,000,001 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have lost three God-rank Artifacts.]</em>

    <em>[You have lost four God-rank skill books.]</em>

    <em>[You have lost 42 Legendary rank Artifacts.]</em>

    <em>[you have lost 16 Legendary rank skill books.]</em>

    <em>[...lost]</em>

    <em>[...lost]</em>

    The items, EXP and gold, that mobs would drop inside the dungeon would be shouldered by the dungeon manager, who, in this case, was Minhyuk. The notifications alone were enough to break his heart.

    <em>[The profits you have gained during the operation of the dungeon will now be listed.]</em>

    <em>[After considering the tinum you have dropped, you have gained a total profit of 76,564 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[After considering the EXP you have lost, you have gained a total of 55,444,000,010 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[...leveled up]</em>

    <em>[You were able to recover two out of the three God-rank Artifacts that you have lost and were able to obtain two more God-rank Artifacts.]</em>

    <em>[You were able to recover two of the God-rank skill books obtain three]</em>

    <em>[You have recovered all sixteen Legendary rank skill booksobtain 31]</em>

    As it turned out, his benefits outweighed the losses. Of course, it was only natural. They were the best of the Luvien Empire. They would drop more special, valuable, and outstanding items than others. Not only that, but they recovered most, if not all, of the items they had lost, too.

    Additional notifications rang.

    <em>[You have used your right to rule a God-rank dungeon once. The Transcendentals Holy Land will now disappear.]</em>

    <em>[The Transcendentals Holy Land has started to crumble and copse!]</em>

    Everyone bore witness when Minhyuk dered war against the Luvien Empire. Surprisingly enough, they could also witness how Minhyuk killed Duke Ruffiso and wiped out the troops sent by the Luvien Empire in the dungeon. They were all curious about what future steps the Beyond the Heavens Empire would take.

    Minhyuk was warped out of the dungeon and disappeared from everyones eyes. When he reappeared, he said, Im hungry

    ***

    The Fortress of the Transcendentals Fantasy.

    The amazing man, the transcendental man who helped Conir grow into a Sword God, even though he was only a legendary ss figure, was drooling himself.

    <em>I cant forget it.</em>

    He could not forget the ramyeon that the boy cooked for him. He clearly remembered how he <em>slurped</em> the noodles and drank the spicy soup until his nose turned sweaty.

    <em>I liked the taste of that ramyeon. A pity I cant get out of this fortress.</em>

    Conir was only supposed to reach a certain point. He was just deliberately allowed to enter the Second Gate. Why? Well, the reason was simple.

    <em>Its because he had food.</em>

    He could not leave this fortress. And it has been thousands of years since they had been here. What did they eat inside this ce?

    Ugh I dont want to eat any more of those shitty bugs.

    The only reason the man survived for that long was because he killed and ate the mobs that lived on the first floor of the fortress. For thousands of years, he ate those mobs so that he almost felt like his taste buds were growing numb and no longer working.

    But then, a boy who was good at making ramyeon appeared before him. And that was not all. The boy was studying how to make dishes from <em>Gimbap Heaven</em> and making plenty of rted dishes. With every dish that the boy made, his awe and admiration grew more and more.

    In the end, he could not endure. The desire that he had been reigning in exploded! At that moment, the shitty bug in front of him exploded.

    Im sick of these bugs. Id rather fight against High Sorceress Helenia again than eat them!

    Surprisingly enough, the man was one of the main contributors to sealing the Immortal Sorceress Helenia.

    I dont want to eat dishes made out of these shitty bugs, the snout of the basilisk, or scorpion brains anymore. Every time I eat those dishes made from the snout of the basilisk, I feel like Im kissing a crocodile!

    The worst part? The mobs that they could eat or the parts of the mobs that they could eat were extremely limited. The man who fought against one of the Eight Pirs was fighting against his supposed side dish of the day.

    Conir said that his hyung makes <em>very</em> delicious dishes.

    Just thinking about an ordinary dish was enough to make the man feel really good and happy.

    I want to eat the food that he makes!

    <em>Groooowl!</em>

    The unidentified transcendental hugged his grumbling stomach as he continuedining about the dishes he was eating.

    ***

    At the same time.

    Minhyuk smiled happily as he looked at Conir. This was because a table filled with dishes from <em>Gimbap Heaven</em> was spread out before him. There were servings of tteokbokki, tuna gimbap, ramyeon with eggs, jjolmyeon, tonkatsu, and even udon in front of him.

    He excitedly scooped up a mouthful of the still-steaming ramyeon noodles and put it in his mouth.

    <em>Sluuuuuuuuuuurp!</em>

    The noodles were chewy and spicy. Conir was truly the best ramyeon chef in the world! Then, Minhyuk scooped up the well-cooked egg that had not dissolved into the soup and put it in his mouth. Delight overcame Minhyuk when the egg touched his taste buds.

    Kghhk! Minhyuk moaned in admiration as he grabbed the tuna gimbap off the table. Wow Conir, youre quite good at making gimbap!

    Minhyuk was amazed. If one went to <em>Gimbap Heaven</em>, they would see that the tuna inside their gimbap was so little to the point that they wondered if they were eating tuna gimbap or just in gimbap. But the cheap tuna gimbap that Conir made was filled with tuna!

    Conir studied this for five years so that Conir could make it for hyung!

    That was right. Conir practiced making those <em>Gimbap Heaven</em> dishes during the five years he spent training in that fortress. Of course, he used up a lot of ingredients to make them. He even went so far as to imagine the process when he ran out of ingredients to use. And these dishes in front of Minhyuk resulted from all that hard work.

    A happy and contented smile appeared on Minhyuks face when the rich vor of tuna entered his mouth when he took a bite of the tuna gimbap. There was also the mild mayonnaise and the distinct taste of the peri leaves thatplemented the various ingredients that were mixed in this roll.

    Wow

    The vor was worthy of admiration. Minhyuk took several bites out of the gimbap in quick session. When he grew thirsty? He would grab the bowl of ramyeon and take a sip of the refreshing and spicy soup.

    <em>Sluuuuuuuuuurp!</em>

    The spicy soup helped ease the food down his throat.

    Kghhk! Minhyuk burst out in admiration.

    Without realizing it, Minhyuk had focused almost all of his attention on the tuna gimbap. That just went to show how delicious the tuna gimbap was. Because of that, the tuna gimbap disappeared in a blink.

    <em>Munch, munch </em>Ah, what a pity

    Then, notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[You have eaten the Tuna Gimbap made by someone who has studied the art of making tuna gimbap for five years!]</em>

    <em>[Your STR has increased by 0.7%!]</em>

    Lucky?

    It was an incredibly amazing tuna gimbap.

 Chapter 902

    Chapter 902

    Conir heard Minhyuk mumbling about <em>Gimbap Heaven</em> before he left with Sword God Valen. So, as an innocent and pure boy, Conir had vowed to make those dishes for his beloved hyung once he returned.

    NPCs did not have the inventory function. However, countless artifacts could y this role for them, just like the <em>Hefty Pocket </em>that was distributed to some of the vassals of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. The Hefty Pocket was an artifact that could hold around a hundred kilograms and was quite expensive. They were around a hundred tinum each.

    Conir had brought a Hefty Pocket filled with cooking ingredients. For five years, whenever he finished training, he would use these ingredients to practice making the dishes from <em>Gimbap Heaven.</em> Conir only sold ramyeon because he liked ramyeon. However, he started trying to learn other dishes.

    Conir worked hard for five years to make hyung happy! Conir ran out of ingredients during the process, but I practiced in my head! Conir happily shared his experience when he saw Minhyuk finish the tuna gimbap.

    <em>Conir is a very special NPC. He has the power to create quests on his own.</em>

    This was all thanks to Conirs passive skill, <em>Tenacity.</em> Minhyuk felt his eyes grow misty. He could tell that Conir had gone through dozens of quests through this passive skill so that he could make dishes from Gimbap Heaven that could give him something whenever it was eaten.

    So, what should Minhyuk do to reciprocate Conirs care and love? Of course, it was to eat it more happily and enthusiastically.

    Maybe its because my dear Conir is the one that made it; that''s why it tastes even better?

    Conir is happy! Conir feels very happy!

    Minhyuk smiled faintly when he saw Conir looking all happy. There was still a lot of food left.

    Minhyuk quickly stretched his chopstick toward the chewy jjolmyeon covered with halved eggs and shredded cucumbers, carrots, lettuce, and bean sprouts. After mixing everything, the jjolmyeon looked quite glossy and very tasty. He quickly picked up a mouthful of noodles and vegetables covered with the red sauce.

    <em>Sluuuuuuuuuurp!</em>

    The spicy and chewy noodles immediately greeted his mouth when he took a bite.

    <em>Jjolmyeon should have a lot of vegetables.</em>

    The crunchy vegetables added a touch of vor to the chewy noodles. Minhyuk continued to eat jjolmyeon while pouring some sauce over the tonkatsu and cutting it.

    <em>Kghhk. As expected of Gimbap Heaven, its really worth every penny.</em>

    Wasnt it amazing? Even if he ate all these, he would only need to pay around 25,000 won. After cutting the tonkatsu, he picked up his fork, took arge piece into his mouth, and mumbled, Kghhk

    The tonkatsu had turned slightly soggy with the sauce, but the taste was still excellent. When Minhyuks mouth felt dry, he gulped down the remaining soup from the ramyeon bowl he had finished earlier.

    Keuhaaaa!

    Unfortunately, the ramyeon had no special abilities like the tuna gimbap earlier.

    <em>Well, Conir was originally already a master of ramyeon. He did not need to study it anymore.</em>

    Of course, whether those special effects were there did not matter. Minhyuk was just grateful for the chance to eat this meal. He had already finished eating the jjolmyeon before him in just a blink.

    <em>[You have eaten the Jjolmyeon made by someone who has studied the art of making jjolmyeon for five years!]</em>

    <em>[Your attack skills attack power has increased by 1.6%!]</em>

    And the same was true for the tonkatsu.

    <em>[You have eaten the Tonkatsu made by someone who has studied the art of making tonkatsu for five years!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP and MP volume have increased by 0.8%!]</em>

    <em>[You have eaten the Tteokbokki made by someone who has studied the art of making tteokbokki for five years!]</em>

    <em>[Your skill cooldown has decreased by 2%!]</em>

    The meal was very satisfying, both the taste and the rewards.

    Just then, Haze entered, saying, Your Majesty, our migration rate has increased by around three times more than usual. We expect this rate to be maintained for the time being.

    Is that so? Minhyuk sounded as if he expected this to happen.

    They not only meant to weaken the Luvien Empire by killing all of the Luvien Imperial Army with this dungeon attack but also to make the Beyond the Heavens Empire grow stronger. Before Minhyuk had triggered the episode rted to the dungeon, he had already met several empires and kingdoms. They had already promised to confront the Luvien Empire with the <em>Beyond the Heavens Empire</em> standing at the forefront and acting as their main pir.

    The Luvien Empire is currently in the process of Duke Ruffisos funeral. The nations that have dered war against the Beyond the Heavens Empire are still silent.

    They expected that this situation would remain for quite some time. Now that many people had joined hands with the Beyond the Heavens Empire, the other nations that had dered war against them would not be able to take any reckless and hasty actions against them. The Luvien Empire had lost Duke Ruffiso and many elite troops. They desperately needed reorganization.

    Meanwhile, the nations that were hostile to the Luvien Empire were all prepared for war and were ready forbat. Of course, the same was true for the Beyond the Heavens Empire. If the Luvien Empire gathered their troops immediately andunched an attack, they might win but suffer huge damages.

    I also found the whereabouts of the person that you told me to find.

    Well done, Haze.

    Will you be going in person?

    I have to go in person and show our gratitude.

    Also, Your Majesty. Haze smiled faintly at Minhyuk. I think Your Majesty can eat something delicious just like usual.

    Mhm Minhyuk groaned.

    The probability of the Luvien Empire attacking them was very low, even if the Beyond the Heavens Empire was obviously at war<em>.</em> But Haze was thinking differently.

    Your Majesty always brings something back whenever youe back, right?

    Every time Minhyuk left to eat something delicious, he woulde back stronger or perhaps bring something special back, just like the right to rule the God-rank dungeon they used this time.

    Haze and the executives had talked about this matter before.

    <em>Minyuk should go out and look for delicious food rather than stay here and do his job as an emperor.</em>

    <em>Yes. Even if he only eats delicious food, he will still be able to help the Beyond the Heavens Empire.</em>

    <em>Haze. I have checked the ounts. Strangely enough, when Minhyuk leaves his throne and returns, our Beyond the Heavens funds will always experience a significant jump. Not only that, the number of migrants would also increase.</em>

    That was certainly the case. Whenever Minhyuk went out, he would attract migrants or bring huge funds back. It would be a waste of time for them to keep Minhyuk back here to run the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    I believe in you, Your Majesty. Fufufufufu. Haze left the office, a crafty smile on her face.

    Conir! Its been a while since Conir greeted the people! Conir shouted as he stepped out of the office with her.

    Minhyuk leaned back on his chair as he watched the two leave. He ate the <em>Gimbap Heaven</em> dishes that Conir made for him when he returned from the Transcendentals Holy Land. Because of that, he could not check the rewards he received earlier.

    <em>We were able to secure additional God-rank artifacts and several legendary ones and skill books.</em>

    Many legendary rank artifacts and skill books they obtained would be sold. As for the God-rank artifacts and skill books, they would try to distribute them, but it was likely they would need help to meet the conditions to use them. One of the God-rank artifacts that he had obtained was the Summoners Flute.

    <em>This is an artifact that Bastien dropped.</em>

    It was even one of the excellent ones among the God-rank items. But even if Minhyuk gave this to someone, they would be unable to use it because of the requirements and restrictions.

    <em>I think we can use it in a different wayter.</em>

    The next best thing to the artifacts were the Stars Armor and the Seven-colored Elixir. Minhyuk was left speechless when he saw the Stars Armor Set.

    <em>This is amazing</em>

    However, he shook his head. In the first ce, it was a set artifact that Minhyuk could not equip. However, one thing was for sure. The Stars Armor exceeded the ughterers Armor. And the description written in the armor?

    <em>This is a set of armor gifted by the God of cksmiths to the Stars.</em>

    In the first ce, the craftsman was already ridiculous enough. The requirements written in the description were on another level.

    <em>This Set Armor for the Stars can only be equipped by those that received Duke Ruffisos recognition. Dismantling and reassembling this equipment is only possible if you receive Duke Ruffisos explicit permission.</em>

    It was ridiculous, especially since Duke Ruffiso had already died.

    <em>In the first ce, its nigh impossible to disassemble and reassemble this artifact, right?</em>

    The armor that far surpassed the ughterers Armor had be something he could not devour or use. Since that was the case, Minhyuk quickly threw this to the back of his head and left behind the regret to check something else.

    The next thing that he checked was the <em>Seven-colored Elixir</em>. A liquid shing with seven colors sloshed inside the potion bottle.

    ...?

    Minhyuk was left in shock when he saw the potion bottle.

    Are you telling me that the Luvien Empires Stars only drink things like this?

    <em>So thats why they were so strong.</em> This thought crossed Minhyuks mind as he popped the bottle open and drank the contents.

    <em>[You have consumed the Seven-colored Elixir.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 2 STR.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 2 STM.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 2 AGI.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 2 INT.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 2 WIS.]</em>

    <em>[Two random stats will be chosen.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 2 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 2 CHA.]</em>

    The elixir was a precious item that could increase seven stats in total by two. Then, Minhyuk checked the remaining two <em>Something that He was Chasing </em>and <em>Suns Salt.</em> Minhyuk opened <em>Something that He was Chasing,</em> in the form of a book. The information immediately shed in his head when he opened the first page.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Something that He was Chasing</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: None</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: This is the archive of all of the data that Duke Ruffiso had gathered in his long pursuit to unravel the secrets of his birth.</em>

    Below were the words, letters, and records that Duke Ruffiso had written.

    <em>[The Transcendentals exist. The world has hidden them. However, I found some clues and traces that the transcendentals have stopped High Sorceress Helenia in the past.]</em>

    <em>[From what I have gathered, they seemed to have hidden themselves somewhere that no one could find them.]</em>

    <em>[Not too long ago, I was able to find an artifact. ording to the artifact, it was produced by Transcendental Runevur. The artifact was thousands of years old and had lost its function. However, I estimate that this artifact could easily exceed God-rank artifacts.]</em>

    <em>[I estimate that there are around twenty transcendentals.]</em>

    <em>[I dont know how many transcendentals are currently left in existence.]</em>

    <em>[Perhaps my parents are among these transcendentals.]</em>

    <em>[I cant find any more traces. If I find them alive, I will make sure to twist their necks with my bare hands. If theres a tomb, I will crush it into powder.]</em>

    <em>[Transcendentals Transcendentals. Transcendentals. Someday, I will find them all, wring their necks, tie them up with a rope, and hang them to dry out in the open air.]</em>

    The item was in the form of a diary. Minhyuk knew about Duke Ruffisos story. And from his words, he had assumed that the <em>transcendentals had abandoned him</em> and bred resentment and anger toward them. However, in the end, he was already a dead man.

    Minhyuk closed the book and thought, <em>Transcendentals. Those who have gone beyond even the gods. So, they exist.</em>

    This was more than enough information. Then, Minhyuk looked at the red salt inside a tiny bottle. Duke Ruffiso had made it into a ne and hung it around his neck. When Minhyuk lifted it toward the sun, the salt would glow a bright red.

    <em>Slurp</em> Minhyuk gulped his saliva down.

    Sometimes, a good seasoning could determine the overall vor of the dish. Minhyuk quickly checked the salts information.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Suns Salt</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Ingredient Grade</em></strong><em>: ???</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>You can trade one gram of this salt for 10,000 tinum at the Events Merch Store.</em>

    <em>The Suns Salt tastes the most delicious when used as a dip for meat.</em>

    <em>Even if you eat some of it, you can still sell it.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: This is a unique salt that Duke Ruffiso hung around his neck.</em>

    ???

    Minhyuk was shocked.

    <em>Its worth 10,000 tinum per gram?!</em>

    The total weight of the salt was thirty grams, and it could be sold at the Events Merch Store, where people could trade like they were in an event. If he sold them all, then he would be able to get 300,000 tinum. If ordinary yers acquire this, then they will be able to receive money that could allow them to cruise freely for the rest of their lives. However, that was not what made Minhyuk so shocked.

    It tastes best when used as a dip for meat?!

    This item arrived at just the right time. Minhyuk was just about to go to a ce that was selling beef. He stood up and followed the directions written on the information that Haze had found out about the man he was looking for.

    ***

    Bard Erwell was an old man. However, he was once and still is the most influential bard in Athenae. Around fifteen years ago, he felt skeptical about how his life was going, so he hid his identity and opened a store. The store was none other than a beef restaurant.

    s, this store also closed. Erwell recently sang a song that criticized the Luvien Empire. He had grown a lot older, unable to look silently as the Luviens tyrannical acts ran rampant; he decided to sing his <em>Final Song</em> despite knowing that the Luvien Empire woulde to find him.

    <em>Im going to die soon anyway.</em>

    Erwell knew that he was going to die soon. He was suffering from a severe illness. Didnt they say that people knew how long they would live? Erwell could tell that he only had around three days left. Because of that, he did not intend to avoid them or even run away.

    <em>On the other hand, my death will further drag down the Luvien Empire.</em>

    Many would me the Luvien Empire for his death. And that was more than enough. However, it was pretty strange. Although his mind was at ease, his entire body was shaking. Then, he saw a young man sitting down in front of him.

    You can have this for free. This is thest meal that I will serve.

    Wow! Really? Thank you! The young man spoke politely to Erwell. He sounded grateful.

    ording to him, he came here from afar because he heard rumors about how delicious the beef was in this beef restaurant. The young man was around 178 centimeters tall and dressed in a shabby outfit, his stomach rumbling as if famished.

    Thats one kilogram. Are you sure that you can eat it all? Erwell asked, showing the meat on the te. The te had a lot of sirloin, chuck p tail, t iron steak, and ribs with a bright red color.

    Of course!

    Hoho. Ive given you a lot since youre myst customer. So, eat a lot.

    Then, Erwell thought,<em> The Beyond the Heavens Emperor.</em>

    Erwell gained courage because of him. Wasnt he the one who dered war against the Luvien Empire and risked his everything?

    <em>I hope you dont give up.</em>

    Erwell smiled faintly as he finally snapped out of his thoughts. He watched the man put arge piece of sirloin on the hot grill.

    <em>Sizzle!</em>

    Erwell watched the steam rise from the grill as the meat sizzled. Then, he saw the young man take something out and ce it in front of his te.

    A red salt?

 Chapter 903

    Chapter 903

    Special yers Management Team.

    Team Leader Park Minggyu and Lee Minhwa looked at the monitor with grave expressions.

    yer Minhyuk was the one that obtained the Suns Salt.

    And just like they expected, Minhyuk would eat the Suns Salt. At this point, they no longer found it surprising that Minhyuk was willing to eat an item that could fetch 300,000 tinum, easily allowing someone to eat and y for the rest of their lives.

    However, upon closer inspection, Minhyuk was the heir of the Ilhwa Group. It was not only that. The wealth that he had umted in Athenae was more than enough to catapult him into the top 20 of Koreas business rankings. Furthermore, Minhyuk yed Athenae for eating and treating his eating addiction. Something worth <em>300,000 </em>tinum would not be able to shake this desire.

    Ordinary yers that obtained the Suns Salt would most likely suspect an easter egg or a hidden quest would be hidden in the item.

    <em>However, even if they suspected something hidden in it, they would still choose to sell the Suns Salt decisively.</em>

    The reason was simple. Few could resist the allure of 300,000 tinum. It was too much of a reward for them to gamble on something they only suspected.

    This is a problem, Team Leader Park said, with Lee Minhwa nodding.

    Yeah. This is a huge problem Lee Minhwa rubbed her chin in thought, a serious expression still stered as she continued, The beef will taste good if you dip it in the Suns Salt this is truly a problem.

    <em>Huh? Something is weird.</em>

    Team Leader Park turned to look at Lee Minhwa, who was looking back at him with a puzzled expression on her face.

    ???

    ???

    <em>I see. She haspletely been Minhyuk-ified.</em>

    That was right. Lee Minhwa hadpletely be Minhyuk-ified. However, she would still pay attention to her job.

    Team Leader Park asked, What would happen if you eat the Salts Sun?

    Employee Lee Minhwa straightened up and answered, You will probably be able to find the traces of the transcendentals. Her eyes grew wider as she opened her mouth again and said with some hesitation, And it would taste very, <em>very</em> delicious.

    ...

    Team Leader Park could only sigh as he looked at the two Food Gods before him.

    ***

    A red salt? Erwell mumbled, looking confused at the salt the man ced before his te. The salts color looked quite intense like it contained the mes of the zing sun.

    I specifically brought this here to eat beef. Fufu.

    Erwell turned to look at the sirloin ced on the heated grill.

    <em>Sizzle</em>

    When the young man flipped it again, a loud sizzle rang as steam rose again. Erwell could not help but look at the young man in confusion as the young man smiled happily while grilling the meat that the bard had cut smaller to make it easier to eat.

    <em>What the hell? Why do I feel like I want to eat it?</em>

    That was right. Erwell craved the beef when he looked at the young man before him. Why was this the case? Wasnt he the owner of this beef restaurant?! He had long grown sick from the smell of meat! Erwell shook his head and focused his attention on the man.

    The young man picked up a thick piece of sirloin. The outside was grilled perfectly, while the inside was still filled with juices and a bit of blood.

    <em>Yes. Beef doesnt taste good if cooked fully.</em>

    The young man did not dip the beef in any seasoning and just put it inly in his mouth. The juices instantly burst and coated his mouth as he gently chewed the meat.

    Kghhk! Amazing! This is unbelievable!

    Erwell felt like he was going crazy when he saw the man gulp down the meat in his mouth. He wanted to eat the meat that the man was eating, too! A smile shed on his face as saliva started to pool in his mouth.

    This time, the man dipped the thick slice of beef sirloin in the red salt, some of the salt dissolving and seeping deep into the thick portion of beef. Then, the young man pushed the slice into his mouth.

    <em>Chew, chew</em>

    The taste of the salt bnced out the greasy aftertaste of the meat, his mouth chewing faster as he finished eating the sirloin right away. The young man continued to grill the beef under Erwells dazzled gaze. He grilled the t iron steak and the ribs right away.

    <em>Sizzle</em>

    The t iron steak turned golden brown. When the young man put it in his mouth, its savory vor exploded as he took a bite of the chewy meat. Then, the young man ced a piece of lettuce on the palm of his hands, cing two pieces of t iron steak, garlic dipped in ssamjang, and some Cheongyang red pepper on top of it.

    ...S- scallions! Add some seasoned scallions, too!

    Of course.

    The young man gently added some scallions covered in red pepper powder and sesame oil when he heard Erwells passionate cries. Then, he wrapped everything up and put it in his mouth. Erwell could already imagine the fantasticbination of vors that would explode in ones mouth from thebination of ingredients!

    This time, the young man spread some wild garlic on his palms and ced two pieces of ribs on top of it. After cing a small dollop of wasabi, he rolled the wild garlic and put everything in his mouth. The slight sweetness of the wild garlic, the intense spiciness of the wasabi, and the savory juices of the meat met and created a beautiful harmony of vors!

    ...

    <em>Slurp</em>

    Erwell unknowingly started to wipe away the drool dripping down his chin.

    Then, the young man turned and grabbed a thick piece of chuck p tail, which he gently ced down on the grill.

    <em>Sizzle</em>

    Chuck p tail had a soft texture, making it a favorite for grilling. After cooking the slice, the young man cut it into smaller pieces, grabbed one, and dipped it in the red salt.

    Wow. This salt is really amazing! The young man shouted in awe as he scooped a huge spoonful of white rice and put it in his mouth.

    After that, he began to eat and sip the spicy soup of the doenjangjjigae, his spoon scooping out the various ingredients inside, like the tofu and zhini that garnished it. Then, he quickly grabbed his rice bowl and began mixing it with the doenjangjjigae.

    <em>He really knows how to eat. </em>Erwell admired the young man.

    The young man scooped a huge mouthful of the mixed doenjangjjigae and white rice and pushed it into his mouth. Erwell watched as the eyes of the young man grew the size of saucers when he finished his meal. He looked at the young man in confusion and thought, <em>Whats the matter with him?</em>

    Erwell looked at the man for a moment. However, he knew that it was time for the man to go. He had to let the man leave right away.

    <em>If theyre quick, they might arrive here by tomorrow.</em>

    Erwell would have to greet them by himself. Of course, it was still uncertain if they woulde for him. Bards would sing whatever they felt or heard. They were free to sing whatever songs they wanted, and it would usually be hard for nations to take away that right from them. However, after hearing what the Luvien Empire had done so far, Erwell expected they woulde for him soon.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud</em>

    Then, at that moment, several footsteps rang from outside the restaurant.

    <em>Theyre truly acting within expectations. </em>Erwell smiled bitterly. Then, he hurriedly said to the young man in front of him, Go to the kitchen; theres a backdoor there.

    However, there were still some things that went beyond Erwells expectations. He expected them toe for him tomorrow. But now that they were here, he assumed Nerva sent them here when he learned he sang for the Beyond the Heavens Empire. After all, this was quite far from the Luvien Empire.

    Even so, nothing would change. Erwell was already prepared to die and no longer held fear for whatever wasing his way.

    <em>Baaaaaaaang!</em>

    Sinner Erwell! Get on your knees and surrender!

    Knights carrying the symbol of the Luvien Empire broke down the doors of Erwells restaurant and stormed inside. Erwell nced at the young man sitting at the table not too far away from him.

    <em>No matter how much of a bastard the dogs of the Luvien Empire are, they wouldnt kill someone that is not involved, right?</em>

    Erwell smiled bitterly. Im d that I was able to bring happiness to myst customer.

    He slowly stepped forward.

    Sinner Erwell. You are charged with the sin of singing a song that tarnished the name of the Great Luvien Empire!

    Get out.

    Erwell had already let go of everything. After all, he was now just a weaker version of himself, gued by an illness that was slowly killing him. Whether he died at their hands or because of his illness, it would still be death all the same.

    No. If he died under the hands of these knights, then the Luvien Empire would be condemned by the masses. Erwell knew that his songs had already reached the ears of many people. This knowledge was more than enough for him.

    However, the Luvien Empire exceeded Erwells low views of them. They wereplete and absolute scum.

    His Majesty Nerva has ordered us to punish and kill Sinner Erwell and his family!

    ...?!!

    Erwell felt like he had been hit on the head. Executing the criminal and his family was a punishment that was given only to the traitors of the nation. However, Erwell did not belong to the Luvien Empire at all.

    Sebastian, themander of the Sixteenth Knight Order that convicted Erwell,ughed deeply. This is the greatest punishment for an old man with little time to live. You should be grateful and humbly ept it.

    Erwell had a son who hoped to be a part of the royal knights and worked hard until he became one. He saw his son tied tightly by a rope behind theughing Sebastian.

    Why? Whyyyyy?!!!!

    His fury reached the skies. He could tell that the Luvien Empire demanded this kingdoms cooperation, and this kingdom willingly handed over his son. Hatred rose in Erwell when he realized this kingdom could not protect a single knight. There was also resentment toward the Luvien Empire for doing tyrannical acts and crossing all the bottom lines they should never have crossed.

    Father

    Erwells child was only twenty years old. The child worked harder than anybody else and finally became a knight at a young age. Even though he would be the reason for this childs death, his son said, Father. I am very proud of you.

    ...Evan. Evaaaaaaaan!!!

    Sebastian felt like it was a pity, especially when he saw Evan telling his father that he was proud of him, knowing his father would be the cause of his death.

    Like father, like son. Both are rotten to the core. Sebastian snickered.

    Keheok! Erwell gasped, his breathing turning ragged. His body was already in a terrible condition. It could not bear any more agitation, which he had just been subjected to.

    Urk! Bright red blood dripped down Erwells chin. He could hear the voice of the knight named Sebastian ringing above him as he fell to his knees.

    In the name of the Great Luvien Empire, allow me to tell you this. Sinner Erwell, you should never forget this, even if you die. Your sin killed your son. You are the reason for his death.

    Stop! Erwell clutched his chest, crawling forward with his hand stretched out as they forced his son, Evan, to kneel on the ground. He watched as the knights cold de hung over his beloved sons neck.

    If not for his limited time, the Luvien Empire would also go to recruit Erwell. They coveted his talents. That was how amazing Erwell was.

    Go on, let us hear you praise the Beyond the Heavens Empire, old man.

    However, this was where Sebastian was wrong. Erwell did not praise the Beyond the Heavens Empire. He praised their bravery.

    The sword aiming for Evans neck slowly rose in the air. Erwell, with his dying voice, rasped, Please please. Someone- anyone please!

    At that moment, a warm hand held Erwells outstretched one. With a gentle smile, the man looked at Erwell and said, This is the<em></em>payment for the beef you gave me.

    Minhyuk knew that Erwell did not praise the Beyond the Heavens Empire. Perhaps Erwell sang that song because he was just trying to give hope to those tired and in pain from the Luvien Empires persecution. Or perhaps because he wanted to enlighten those blinded by their greed and self-interest, they could not see the truth behind his songs.

    Minhyuk came here precisely because he expected that this would happen. Also, he wanted to show his <em>gratitude</em> to the man even if the song he sang was not for the sake of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    Please! Erwell cried, his voice hoarse as he grasped the hands of hisst customer.

    <em>Roll</em>

    A head then fell and rolled away.

    ...

    Erwells eyes grew wide. The head that was on the floor, the neck that was spurting blood, the body that copsed on the ground; it was not Evan. Instead, it was the knight who raised the sword on his son.

    You guys you just act like I expected, huh?

    It seemed like this was done by the young man who smiled gently at Erwell. The same young man ate the beef he served with a pure and bright smile.

    Sebastian led a total of thirty knights. Only after recalling this fact did Erwelle back to his senses. He knew that Evan and this young man had to run away. However, the young mans appearance slowly changed as he took one step forward after another.

    Grandpa, I will remain the same as I am today.

    ...

    A bright light engulfed the young mans body as he walked forward. One nce and Erwell could tell that the young man had grown taller. With the light slowly disappearing, the young man turned to Erwell and said, Whatever Luvien tries to take away and plunder, I will stand there to stop them and protect them. Like the song you sang, I will bet everything on the line, Grandpa.

    Erwell could not take his eyes off of the man. When the light finallypletely disappeared, he saw a white cape carrying the symbol of a fork and knife crossed together, fluttering behind the handsome young man holding a sword. Erwell had heard a lot about what the man looked like. He knew that the man before him was none other than the Beyond the Heavens emperor, Minhyuk.

    Why- why is the emperor here..?! Sebastian shouted in a fluster. However, he could no longer finish his sentence, as his head was already flying away. Did the emperor who ruled the empiree here personally to save a trivial old man?! Who would believe that?!

    Erwell, staring at Minhyuk, murmured, Perhaps its because he cherishes every single life that he encounters.

    A faint smile appeared on Erwells face. When he sang the song praising the bravery and courage of the Beyond the Heavens emperor, he hoped he was a good man.

    An emperor that cares and cherishes even the life of a lone and ordinary man must be a good man.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa!</em>

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab!</em>

    The heads of the Luvien Imperial Army knights fell one after the other. Erwell, who watched the emperors back, suddenly received enlightenment.

    <em>Thest light of a setting sun.</em> This phenomenon was when the sky would turn bright just before the sunset.

    Erwell could tell, <em>I will die in less than an hour.</em>

    However, before his death, he wanted to make his final artwork. His masterpiece. Erwell was the greatest bard of the continent. Although he did not be a god, he received the love and care of many.

    Erwell stretched his wrinkled hand in the air, a music sheet apanied by notes appearing above him. He stared at the sheet and notes and slowly waved his hand. And just like a conductor leading his orchestra, the notes followed the movements of his arms and slowly filled the music sheet until it created a score.

    At the same time, notifications rang in Minhyuks ears.

    <em>[Erwell, the Greatest Bard of the current era, has begun writing andposing the Beyond the Heavens Empires National Anthem!]</em>

    <em>[Erwell, nearing his death, is showing extreme concentration!]</em>

    <em>[Erwell was inspired by the Beyond the Heavens Emperors love and care for everyone he encounters!]</em>

    <em>[Erwell thinks of you and your Beyond the Heavens Empire. His speed ofposing the national anthem increases significantly!]</em>

    <em>[The God of Bards has bestowed Erwell more power to allow him to finish this score at his final moment!]</em>

    <em>[Erwell, with his final burst of talent, created a beautiful melody that shocked even the God of Bards!]</em>

    <em>[Erwell!]</em>

    <em>[Erwell!]</em>

    <em>[Erwell!]</em>

    <em>[Erwell!]</em>

    The beautiful melody slowly escaped Erwells lips as he hummed while he continued topose his music. The God of Bards, listening to the old mans final burst of talent, turned Erwells hums into a beautiful performance performed by musical instruments and ryed it to Minhyuks ears.

    ...

    <em>Thump</em>

    Minhyuk stopped in his tracks.

    Meanwhile, Erwell smiled happily as he drew the final note of his score.

    <em>[Bard Erwell has created a masterpiece that exceeded his limits!]</em>

 Chapter 904

    Chapter 904

    Every empire and kingdom had a national anthem<em>.</em> It was like the symbol of that nation. Usually, kingdoms and empires would not change once they had designated a national anthem. That was why the national anthem was deemed much more important than it seemed.

    Many nations had tried to create an outstanding national anthem. Often, dozens of famous bards, even the best of the current era, would sit together and create a national anthem. However, no nation had produced a jaw-dropping and outstanding national anthem for decades.

    Among the production sses, the bard was a ss that was greatly influenced by their emotions and inspirations. Because of that, the kingdoms and empires realized that making an outstanding national anthem was not in their hands. They knew that they would only be able to get an empty shell of a national anthem with a beautiful and colorful melody if they forced it. So, in the end, everyone gave up on it.

    Likewise, Minhyuk had always understood the importance of having one. However, he also knew that it was impossible to force it. So, the national anthem was left empty until now.

    <em>[Would you like to register the Valiant Warriors as the Beyond the Heavens Empires </em><strong><em>National Anthem</em></strong><em>?]</em>

    Minhyuk nodded his head.

    <em>[Valiant Warriors has been registered as the Beyond the Heavens Empires </em><strong><em>National Anthem</em></strong><em>.]</em>

    <em>[The masterpiece Valiant Warriors was born from what Bard Erwell had heard, seen, and felt!]</em>

    <em>[This song contains Bard Erwells soul, his anticipation for the Beyond the Heavens future, and his praise for the Beyond the Heavens Empire!]</em>

    <em>[A Legendary grade song has been born, the first in decades!]</em>

    <em>[The Beyond the Heavens Empires National Anthem, Valiant Warriors, resonates in the empire!]</em>

    <em>[Everyone from the Beyond the Heavens Empire who heard the Valiant Warriors will receive double EXP Acquisition and Artifact Drop rates for one week!]</em>

    <em>[The ordinary citizens of the empires that heard the song will not be tired. Their vitality would remain at an all-time high for one week!]</em>

    After killing all of the knights of the Luvien Empire, Minhyuk turned to look at the dying Erwell, who was leaning on his son, Evan. Erwell had turned everything he saw and felt and his expectations into a national anthem for the Beyond the Heavens Empire. A magnificent melody escaped from the lips of the dying man.

    <em>Thud! Thud! Thud!</em>

    A song slowly came into existence from Erwell''s lips.

    <em>[Aah~ Advance. Advance. Let us advance.]</em>

    Erwell saw the Beyond the Heavens Empires emperor, who would lead his empire to stand up against hardships and adversities.

    <em>[Strong winds and typhoons might try to stop them.]</em>

    But they would survive these storms and winds.

    <em>[But were brave and valiant warriors. We will go through the fierce winds and raging typhoons. We will go over high hills and march under the zing sun.]</em>

    They would march over a high hill and brave the heat of the zing sun. But it would be fine. Erwell had seen that the Beyond the Heavens emperor would be their <em>shade.</em>

    <em>[Even if we fall in battle, we will continue to stand back up!]</em>

    They would be able to get back up. The Beyond the Heavens Emperor would hold their hands with his warm and gentle hands and help them stand.

    Erwells voice continued to slip out of his dry and cracked lips.

    <em>[Aaah~ We~ are valiant warriors!!!]</em>

    And finally, the song ended. Erwell raised his hands, hugging and patting his crying son.

    Evan.

    Yes, Father.

    Go and live a new life, serve a new person.

    At the moment of his death, Erwell felt extremely happy and relieved. This was because he could entrust his son to the Beyond the Heavens Emperor, someone who woulde running even for the sake of one person, and not to a kingdom that abandoned them for profits.

    Erwell did not have any regrets. He did not regret the fact that he sang praise for the Beyond the Heavens Empire. Erwell, who left his final masterpiece, closed his eyes in thefort of his sons arms.

    Minhyuk paid Erwell his final courtesy with a slight nod of his head.

    ***

    Minhyuk returned to the Beyond the Heavens Empire with Evan, who was carrying Erwell on his back. The moment they returned, Minhyuk ordered Erwells funeral and held it with great sincerity.

    After doing that, Minhyuk checked the song Erwell made for them.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Valiant Warriors</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Type</em></strong><em>: Beyond the Heavens Empires National Anthem</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: Legendary</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>Effects only apply to those from the Beyond the Heavens Empire who have heard or sung this song.</em>

    <em>Can only be applied once a week.</em>

    <em>You will receive a 3.5% increase in your physical and magical attack power.</em>

    <em>You will receive a 4% increase in your physical and magical defensive power.</em>

    <em>You will receive a 5% increase in resistance to abnormal statuses.</em>

    <em>Your fear will disappear, and courage will resonate with you.</em>

    <em>The song duration is two hours.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: This is the final work and masterpiece that Erwell left behind after meeting the Beyond the Heavens Empires emperor and getting inspired by the man.</em>

    Minhyuk was left shocked.

    <em>The effects apply to everyone from Beyond the Heavens that sing or hear the song?</em>

    In other words, they could obtain these buff effects permanently. Any citizen from the Beyond the Heavens could receive this buff effect by simply humming the tune of the national anthem. If the Beyond the Heavens Empire soldiers marched to battle and sang this song together, then all of them would receive the buff effects.

    <em>This level is beyond Legendary, no?</em>

    Minhyuk was highly grateful to Erwell. However, there were still quite a lot of things that Minhyuk had to check. He had dipped the beef set that Erwell gave him in the Suns Salt. Because he was so into the food, he failed to check the notifications that rang in his ears. So, now, he was scrolling back to the notifications he did not hear. But after checking everything, he sat frozen in his spot for a long time.

    <em>[You have eaten the Suns Salt.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained the </em><strong><em>Easter Egg</em></strong><em>: The One that Pursues the True Seasoning.]</em>

    <em>[The ability hidden within the Suns Salt is being revealed!]</em>

    <em>[You ate more than one gram of Suns Salt.]</em>

    <em>[Your Fire Attribute has increased by 2%.]</em>

    <em>[Your Fire Attribute will increase by 2% if you eat one gram of Suns Salt for a week.]</em>

    Minhyuk was very shocked when he heard the first set of notifications. Did just eating a gram of the Suns Salt increase his Fire Attribute by 2%? A 2% increase in fire attribute would typically increase Minhyuks attack power by 1% when using a fire-attributed skill.

    The surprise did not end there.

    <em>[You can now hear the story about the birth of the Suns Salt. Would you like to listen to it?]</em>

    Earlier, before he could confirm this, Sebastian and his knights had stormed into the restaurant.

    Lets listen to the exnation.

    <em>[The Suns Salt was originally one of Helenias Ores, far surpassing Gods Ores.]</em>

    ...!

    Minhyuk was extremely shocked.

    <em>This is one of Helenias Ores?!</em>

    Minhyuk had met Immortal Sorceress Helenia once before. She was one of the Eight Pirs, a monster that not even the Luvien Empire and the current yers could not go against.

    <em>[Helenias ores each correspond to the four attributes. When put together, these ores allow her to express far greater magic.]</em>

    Mages put great attention into increasing all four typical attributesfire, water, earth, and windin their stats. Some of the mages would end up focusing on increasing only one attribute. However, that did not necessarily mean they were on the wrong path. Why? Because when mages that focused on their fire attribute use fire-rted magic, the damage they could deal would be much higher.

    <em>[High Sorceress Helenia used the power of the four-attributed ores to threaten the earth and the Land of the Gods.]</em>

    Helenias Ores were believed to have the power to increase the power of the four attributes significantly. The worst part? It was not just one. She had all four of the attributes.

    <em>What the hell? How strong was she in the past?!</em>

    <em>[Then, someone took away and ran away with two of her ores. One was the Sun Ore, and the other was the Mountain Ore.]</em>

    <em>[With two of her ores lost, the power of Helenias fire-attributed and earth-attributed magic had also weakened.]</em>

    <em>[And the one that stole the two ores? He realized that the heat from the Suns Ore was enough to burn almost everything around it. While the Mountain Ore frequently caused earthquakes.]</em>

    <em>[The man seeded in sealing the Mountain Ore using the sealing stones in his hand.]</em>

    <em>[However, he had no way to seal the Suns Ore. He tried to put the Suns Ore, the ore with the heat that could burn through anything, into the Eres River that could freeze anything and everything.]</em>

    <em>[However, the Suns Ore began to melt the river, which could freeze anything. Worse still, he only had one week left.]</em>

    <em>[So, he ran to the vige where he lived.]</em>

    ...?

    Minhyuk was confused at the iprehensible description.

    <em>Why did he go to his vige?</em>

    A vige was a ce where people lived together. Was there a way for him to seal the Suns Ore in the vige that he used to live in? Was that why he went back there?

    <em>[They tried various ways to seal the Suns Ore. Also, they had to find ways to erase the energy that it emitted so that Helenia could not track it down.]</em>

    <em>[However, it wasnt that easy to break apart. The cksmith that tried to smash the Suns Ore burned one of his arms, and it was rendered permanently crippled.]</em>

    <em>[But finally, they found the answer.]</em>

    ...?

    Minhyuk found it more surprising that they found the solution. <em>In an ordinary vige?</em>

    <em>No. Wait. What kind of guy was the guy that stole the ores?</em>

    The question shed in his head while the exnations continued.

    <em>[With the help of the chefs and alchemists, the vige''s cksmiths began to make special artifacts.]</em>

    <em>[The artifact could break down the Suns Ore and suppress the energy that flowed out of it to prevent Helenia from discovering where exactly the ore was, even if she could find them.]</em>

    <em>[They decided to change it into apletely different type of material.]</em>

    <em>[What they created was none other than the Transcendentals Grinder.]</em>

    <em>[They put the ore into thepleted Transcendentals Grinder and ground it from an ore into apletely different material called salt.]</em>

    <em>[They named it the Suns Salt and hid it in a small ss bottle where no one could find it.]</em>

    ...Transcendentals Vige, Minhyuk murmured.

    In <em>Something that He was Chasing</em> Duke Ruffiso dropped when he died, there was a portion that stated that a Transcendentals Vige existed. And from what it seemed like, they were the ones that ground the ore into salt form. So, even if Helenia found the ore, she could not see that it was the Suns Ore. The salt was then ced in a small bottle and turned into a ne hung on the neck of the baby Ruffiso.

    The two pieces of the puzzle, the piece that assumed that Duke Ruffiso was born from the transcendentals and the piece that stated that the Transcendentals Vige existed, were finally put together.

    Just when he was pondering the matter, he received a notification.

    <em>[You have obtained the </em><strong><em>Easter Egg</em></strong><em>s reward: Transcendentals Grinder!]</em>

    The smile on Minhyuks face deepened as he thought, <em>Theres another one in the Transcendentals Vige.</em>

    The ore was none other than the earth-attributed ore, the Mountain Ore. ording to the exnation, the Mountain Ore had been sealed by the one that stole the ore from Helenia. From what he could tell, the power of the Mountain Ore was enormous. However, that was not what Minhyuk was excited about.

    <em>The Salts Sun is the best salt I have ever tasted.</em>

    It was so delicious that Minhyuk felt a thrill run down his spine. And after checking the Transcendentals Grinder, the smile on Minhyuks face grew wider.

    <em>Its called the Mountain Ore, right? I wonder what it will taste like if I make it into soybean paste?</em>

    Then, what would happen if he turned that soybean paste into doenjangjjigae?

    <em>Im already drooling at the thought.</em>

    At this moment, Minhyuks new goal was set.

    <em>I already have salt. So, I only need some sugar, soybean paste, and gochujang, and I will have all the best condiments in the world!</em>

    And from what he could tell, these condiments would have the same enormous power as the Suns Salt.

    <em>[The secret behind the birth of the Suns Salt has finished.]</em>

    <em>[You will be guided to the Path to the Transcendentals Vige for your </em><strong><em>Easter Egg</em></strong><em>s reward.]</em>

    <em>[Fixing the reward!]</em>

    <em>[The Transcendentals Vige has already disappeared!]</em>

    <em>[Searching for the traces of the Transcendentals Vige!]</em>

    <em>[Cannot find any traces of the Transcendentals Vige because of your low level!]</em>

    <em>[Searching!]</em>

    <em>[Cannot find any traces of the Transcendentals Vige because of your low level!]</em>

    <em>[The Level Requirement is Level 700!]</em>

    ...

    Minhyuks expression grew ugly. Indeed, the Transcendentals were probably at a point where no yers could meet them yet. Minhyuk wondered if his dreams of making <em>soybean paste</em> using the Mountain Ore were ending right before they started.

    <em>[An unknown being gives you a hint so you can find the Transcendentals Vige!]</em>

    ...?

    Minhyuk stared at the notification in confusion. <em>An unknown being?</em>

    <em>[The hints are Conir and Sword God Valen!]</em>

    <em>[The secrecy and disclosure ban on Conir and Sword God Valen will now be lifted!]</em>

    Minhyuk realized, <em>Is the transcendental summoning me?</em>

    <em>***</em>

    At the same time.

    Immortal Sorceress Helenia was creating her dungeons all over Athenae in preparation for her attack on Earth.

    <em>I must hurry and find the Suns and Mountain Ore.</em>

    Her attribute magic could only exhibit around 70% power with only two ores.

    <em>Where the hell are they?!</em>

    The woman was deeply troubled by this problem. However, she was unaware that the Suns Ore had already turned into salt that Minhyuk had used as a dip for beef, or that Minhyuk had already entertained the idea of turning the Mountain Ore into soybean paste using the <em>Transcendentals Grinder.</em>

 Chapter 905

    Chapter 905

    Conir wanted to tell Minhyuk about the strange encounters he had during his journey. However, Athenaes power prevented Conir from revealing anything that he experienced. However, a notification suddenly rang in his ears.

    <em>[An unknown force lifts the secrecy and disclosure ban ced on you!]</em>

    <em>[The only thing you can reveal is the location of the Fortress of the Transcendentals Fantasy.]</em>

    The disclosure ban was being lifted, but the only thing that they were allowed to disclose was the location of the Fortress of the Transcendentals Fantasy. Not long after, Minhyuk came to see Conir.

    Conir, can you tell me about what you know?

    Minhyuk knew that Valen and Conir had hints about where the Transcendentals Vige was.

    <em>Conir, who suddenly came back strong, followed Valen to meet with the transcendentals.</em>

    Minhyuk found it very shocking. It was a while ago when Conir left. However, when he returned, he was more than 100 levels stronger than before. This meant that the transcendentals helped Conir grow stronger.

    Conir quickly recalled the things that he encountered before. He had a good memory and would usually always remember what he had seen once or the ces where he had been. He quickly began to draw a map.

    <em>[You have acquired the Map Drawn by Conir.]</em>

    After receiving the map, Minhyuk moved without any hesitation.

    ***

    The man who helped Conir grow stronger and gave Minhyuk a hint was one of the few survivors of the <em>Albraim Race,</em> born from humans, but they possessed special powers.

    As the members of the Albraim Race grew older, they realized that they were far more special than ordinary humans. The members of the Albraim Race possessed extraordinary powers that only those from the realm of the gods possessed. They realized they had nowhere to stand among the humans or the gods.

    They tried to be gods, but the gods grew jealous and tried to kill them. When they tried to blend in with the humans, the humans refused them because they were far too strong. Because of that, the transcendentals could only seek those who were the same as them, those with transcendental powers. They gathered and created a vige together, naming it Avanber Vige.

    There were originally around 200~300 people living in the small vige of Avanber. However, most of the Albraim Races had died. Only five of them had survived up to this day. The Albraims that survived were one of the strongest and most special ones among the transcendentals.

    Surprisingly enough, the man who stole the Suns Ore and Mountain Ore from Helenia was the very same man who helped Conir grow stronger. This man told the other transcendentals, What do you think? I did well, right? Conir said that person is the one that can make the most delicious food in the world.

    R- really?

    Are you saying we wont have to eat centipede innards?

    These transcendentals might have the power that could go beyond the gods. But now, they would be so happy if they could just see proper food.

    Had it been hundreds no, thousands of years? I have only eaten centipede innards ever since then. I cant believe I can eat human food again.

    Bender did a good job? Which job?

    However, it waspletely understandable. They had been locked up inside this fortress for hundreds, no, thousands of years.

    Helenia wille after us once we get out of this ce. So, even if we want to get out, we cant.

    It was just like they said. However, some of them were exceptionally rational.

    Did a good job? Bender, you did it again. I told you not to do this, even with that boy, Conir. A tall, bald, and muscr man shook his head at Bender.

    In Conirs case, I didnt say anything because you had to do it at Sword God Valens request. I said nothing when you allowed him to enter the Second Gate or started training him. However, didnt I give you a warning back then? I told you that you are not allowed to let someone unqualified to set foot in here. They have to be able to block the Eight Pirs on our behalf before they can set foot in here.

    The man scolded the others with a serious expression. He shook his head and continued, Pathetic. Youre all blinded by the food that youre willingly bringing in a kid without qualifications to enter this ce.

    Bender looked at him in confusion. But Nekk Werent you the one that hugged Conir and told him thank you when the boy cooked ramyeon for you?

    Youre also the one that mixed some rice in that bowl of ramyeon, right?

    I believe you cried while eating it.

    Nekk was rendered speechless. He looked embarrassed. Its not that Nekk couldnt understand what they were feeling right now. They had been eating shitty bugs, centipede innards, and basilisk mouths for thousands of years in this ce. Just looking at it was enough to make them think they were going to vomit. However, they had to eat so they could live.

    Even so, you know that this isnt right.

    All of the transcendentals smiled briefly when they heard Nekks eptance. However, they understood the reality of the matter, too. That was right. They werent supposed to do that. They had the duty to protect both the Land of the Gods and the Earth. That was why they could not let any unqualified person enter this fortress.

    Yes, Nekk. I agree with you. I want to eat something delicious, but that doesnt mean he cane to this fortress yet, a woman said. She looked like she was a mage.

    They all looked sullen. However, Benderughed. As expected. I really shouldnt have done that, right?

    Even though they saved the world in the past, they were left here, unable to eat anything delicious.

    Then, Nekk said, He must have already found his way here. So, I think we should use other means to send him back.

    The Fortress of the Transcendentals Fantasy had many gates. Before letting a new transcendental enter their vige, they would first let them enter this fortress and undergo its trials and ordeals.

    Most transcendentals that entered the fortress were inexperienced ones who did not know how to control and wield their powers. However, once they cleared one of the gates here, they would receive the teachings of the other transcendentals and grow further. Among the transcendentals here, the one with the highest record in breaking through the fortress''s gates was Bender.

    Bender. Whats your First Gate clearing time?

    I think its around six minutes.

    The path that would allow one to enter the Second Gate was straightforward. All they had to do was to break through the First Gate. However, to prevent unqualified people from entering the fortress, Nekk proposed a trick, Benders clearing time is six minutes. So, from this moment on, only those that can clear the First Gate in seven minutes or less will be able to enter the Second Gate.

    ...Are you telling them to send themselves away kindly? Mage Bernie asked.

    Bender was thest among the transcendentals to enter the fortress. However, he had the highest position among them regarding power and strength. In other words, Bender was already a strong powerhouse before he came to the fortress and became a transcendental. While he only took six minutes to clear the First Gate, others would take around ten or eleven minutes at the very least.

    That guy hasnt even crossed the <em>wall</em> yet.

    The wall that they were talking about was the Level 700 threshold. Simply put, it was impossible for Minhyuk, who was only at Level 620, to get close to, or even break Benders record.

    Then, will you just let those unqualified ones enter this fortress? In the first ce, he should not have been allowed to enter the First Gate yet, Nekk spoke coldly. However, this was the most logical and realistic take on this matter.

    Im sorry. I brought harm to you with my reckless behavior again, just like I did in the past. Bender smiled bitterly.

    Bender was the one who stole the Suns Ore and the Mountain Ore, and he med himself for causing them trouble. However, everyone shook their heads.

    We all know that the choices you made back then and this time are for our sake.

    They all knew that Bender did this because he wanted them to eat something delicious.

    Nekk soon changed the restrictions and content of the Fortress of the Transcendentals'' Fantasys First Gate. After a while, a notification rang in everyones ears.

    <em>[An unknown being has entered the Fortress of the Transcendentals'' Fantasy!]</em>

    Bender looked at the person who entered their fortress with a bitter smile. He thought,<em> My mistakes have brought harm upon you. Im sorry.</em>

    ***

    Minhyuk followed the map that Conir drew for him and finally entered the Fortress of the Transcendentals'' Fantasy. The moment he stepped foot inside, a series of notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[You have entered the Fortress of the Transcendentals'' Fantasy!]</em>

    <em>[You are not qualified to enter the Fortress of the Transcendentals Fantasy!]</em>

    <em>[You can turn back and leave the Fortress of the Transcendentals Fantasy!]</em>

    <em>[If you do not leave, you must challenge a much higher difficulty level when challenging the fortress''s gates!]</em>

    <em>[If you choose to challenge the higher-leveled Fortress of the Transcendentals Fantasy, then you will be able to receive greater rewards!]</em>

    Although the notifications warned Minhyuk that he would have to face a much more difficult fortress if he chose to enter, it did not stop him. Nothing could stop Minhyuk, especially after acquiring the Transcendentals Grinder and knowing that the one that obtained the <em>Mountain Ore</em> was inside.

    <em>Its ridiculous to judge me based on my level alone.</em>

    That was right. The ce where the transcendentals were living had a strict requirement regarding <em>levels</em>. However, there were a few yers whose powers could never be measured by their levels alone. After all, some yers could easily win against a Level 599 opponent even though they were just at Level 500. A prime example of this was Minhyuk.

    Im not leaving. I will challenge the fortress.

    Minhyuk did not hesitate at all. When he walked inside the fortress, he was greeted by a vast hall that reminded him of a colosseum.

    <em>[The trials and ordeals you will face inside the Fortress of the Transcendentals Fantasy will vary depending on your ss!]</em>

    <em>[The system is checking you. The system will guide you to the appropriate trial!]</em>

    <em>[You will take the mostmonbat ss trial!]</em>

    <em>[You will now be guided toward the First Gate.]</em>

    <em>[In the First Gate, you must kill 150,000 Level 500 monsters!]</em>

    <em>[You can also bring in additional monsters after killing the initial 150,000 monsters. The more monsters you hunt, the better the reward you will obtain!]</em>

    <em>[If you wish to bring in additional monsters, all you have to do is say Summon Monsters. 20,000 additional monsters will be summoned.]</em>

    <em>[Boss-ss monsters will appear from time to time. Please practice caution!]</em>

    The level requirement for the fortress was originally at Level 700. However, even for a Level 700bat ss that possessed outstanding skills and significant damage, hunting 150,000 monsters at that level would still be extremely difficult. Minhyuk thought, <em>Even if one million Level 700 yers challenged this gate, they would still find it hard to clear it.</em> But the worst was not yet over.

    <em>[The level of difficulty has been raised! You need to hunt 150,000 Level 500 monsters within seven minutes!]</em>

    <em>[The level of difficulty has been raised! The monsters have grown 10% stronger!]</em>

    <em>[A ranking system exists inside the Fortress of the Transcendentals Fantasy!]</em>

    <em>[The ranking list for the 1st~3rd ce will now be revealed!]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Rank 1</em></strong><em>. Bender. 6 minutes 46 seconds. Total Number of Monsters Hunted: 198,513.]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Rank 2</em></strong><em>. Beiss. 7 minutes 29 seconds. Total Number of Monsters Hunted: 156,413.]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Rank 3</em></strong><em>]</em>

    <em>[You are challenging a trial with a higher level of difficulty. You will receive better rewards once you clear the gate.]</em>

    Minhyuk smiled faintly.

    ording to one of the Athenae experts analysis, Minhyuk, who possessed various powerful AOE skills, was strong enough to stand among the top three strongest in the world. And this was the truth.

    It had to be known that the number of yers that possessed skillsparable to the power of Minhyuks <em>Overlord Technique</em> could easily exceed a hundred. However, yers with skillsparable to the Supreme Overlords Technique, Sword of Absolute Death, and Intangible Sword were extremely few and far between. And there was also the fact that Minhyuks skills could create great synergy.

    <em>Creaaaaaak!</em>

    <em>Thuuuuuuuuud!</em>

    <em>Creaaaaaak!</em>

    <em>Thuuuuuuuuud!</em>

    Hundreds of iron cages were ced over the wide colosseum that Minhyuk entered. At that moment, the doors of the cages slowly rose on their own and released more than a hundred thousand monsters out in the open.

    Minhyuk quickly made calctions. <em>The more I kill and the faster I finish, the better the reward, right?</em>

    From what he could gather, he would be able to receive a better reward if he could break the record and create a new one. Minhyuk quickly weighed his options, taking into ount the better rewards that he would receive from the transcendentals and the 150,000 monsters charging at him at a fast speed.

    ***

    The transcendentals all looked puzzled.

    Why isnt he moving?

    Maybe he got frozen?

    Nekk shook his head. It would be strange if someone did not freeze on the spot when faced with 150,000 ferocious monsters charging at them, especially if someone had not yet crossed the wall.

    Did he give up already?

    Nekk shook his head once more. It seemed like his ns went well. He is not qualified. And from the looks of it, he has no courage. This is good. We already know that he wont be able to carry on our pride.

    A bitter expression shed on everyones face when they heard Nekk. However, they still nodded in agreement. A man who would freeze at such a level of fear did not have the qualifications to enter their fortress.

    But then, not long after, the man that was being reflected on the crystal ball that was floating in front of them smiled. Then, he spoke.

    <em>[As expected. This would be the best course of action.]</em>

    Everyone looked confused. What was he talking about? Then, they heard the man murmur.

    <em>[Summon.]</em>

    ...?

    ...?

    ...?

    The confusion deepened on their faces. Did he just say <em>Summon?</em> The man wielded a sword. Besides, from what they heard from Conir, he had the <em>Food God</em> ss and was one of the strongest of his era. Of course, they were also aware that he was an emperor. However, it was impossible to summon his vassals in this ce.

    Maybe if its a skill?

    They were left more confused when they heard someones murmur.

    What are you going on about? Hes not a summoner.

    And hes not a necromancer either, right?

    And hes also not a trainer.

    Not long after, the man finished his words.

    <em>[Immortal Knights.]</em>

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh</em>

    At that moment, several people, apanied by bright light shes, appeared around the man. They were wearing shabby armor, helmets, and weapons in their hands. When the transcendentals saw this, they felt very relieved.

    I thought he had some kind of shocking summoning skills, but its just a skill to summon soldiers.

    Well, there are kings and emperors with several misceneous skills in their possession.

    Right. Besides, even if theyre excellent human soldiers, at most, they could only be on par with the monsters.

    They all clicked their tongues. However, the man who summoned the ordinary soldiers looked strangely rxed as he looked at the 150,000 monsters before him. They saw him talk with the soldiers he summoned and wondered what they were whispering about. But then, the man pointed his sword at the monsters and spoke.

    <em>[Destroy.]</em>

 Chapter 906

    Chapter 906

    The Battle Gods Immortal Knight Order was a skill that allowed Minhyuk to select twenty outstanding knights. Minhyuk considered this the best skill in his arsenal. However, it was also the skill he was most reluctant to use, as it would permanently devour and decrease his EXP and CHA depending on how many people responded to his summons.

    The yers feared the permanent destruction and decrease of their stats in this game. This was especially true for high-rankers like Minhyuk, who had difficulty increasing their EXP by even 1%. However, just by using one skill, the EXP that Minhyuk had worked so hard for would disappear by the dozens.

    Then, there was also CHA. The yers have acknowledged that CHA was the trickiest stat to increase. Because it was a particr stat, simple SP could not increase it. CHA could only be acquired by exemry leadership or making various achievements.

    Hence, Minhyuk did not want to use this skill as much as possible. However, there were exceptions.

    <em>I am willing to use this skill when the rewards are amazing enough to offset the permanent destruction of my CHA and EXP.</em>

    This situation was exactly that. The difficulty level of the Fortress of the Transcendentals Fantasy had been increased, and because of that, the rewards were much better than normal.

    <em>If I can hunt more than 150,000 monsters, the rewards will grow even better.</em>

    A total of twelve people appeared around Minhyuk after the shing lights disappeared. Minhyuk quickly averted his eyes when he saw the shabby armor, helmets, and torn and ragged cloaks on their body.

    There was another reason why Minhyuk refrained from using the Battle Gods Immortal Knight Order.

    <em>Ill have to trouble my busy hyungs, noonas, and uncles</em>

    He knew this and was very grateful they responded to his summons. However, all these people were arrogant, and gathering them in one ce was challenging. After all, they often kept each other in check whenever they gathered. Minhyuk understood that fact perfectly. Thankfully, Minhyuk thought of a trick.

    <em>Since the strong had gathered together, they must all be curious about one thing. They must be wondering who is more special and stronger, right?</em>

    Yes, that was right. They were all curious about that, but they were all very frustrated because they could not fight it out. But now, they were given a perfect opportunity to find out.

    <em>Fufufu. And its also a chance for me to be able to hunt more monsters.</em>

    How about we decide right here and now who the most superior is?

    And it was just right in time. Their frustration almost reached its peak, evident from their continued ncing at each other.

    Who is strong? Who is special? Minhyuk asked, hoping someone would say something to follow up.

    And just like he expected, someone opened their mouth and said, Minhyuk. Dont ask the obvious.

    The one that spoke was the soldier with a slight build, Sword Emperor Ellie.

    Everyone here must have already known who is the most special and strongest, no? The voice sounded very confident that it was him.

    Then, a powerful and deep male voice rang, Thats right. Everyone should know whos the most special. Fufu.

    The one who spoke was a man of great stature. He was the man who built a kingdom of his own, the Overlord Raldo.

    Then, someone else said, Thats right. Everyone here should know.

    Everyone believed they were the best, strongest, and most remarkable.

    Well, you guys dont need to tell me. You should know that Mother Athenae loves me the most, right? Saintess Loyna said.

    After speaking their mind, they began to keep each other in check. That was right. In the end, they believed themselves to be the most special. Someone scoffed.

    Hoho

    They asked each other how they could not know this while exchanging incredulous looks.

    And this was an opportunity. And who was Minhyuk? A man who always took advantage of all the opportunities presented before him. He said, Then lets settle it here once and for all. Lets decide whos more special and whos stronger. The one that kills the most monsters here is the strongest and most special.

    Okay, lets do that.

    Well, thats not too bad.

    Alright, lets try that. Wait for a bit.

    Minhyuk realized that it would be much easier than he thought. The powerful and frustrated Immortal Knights would give it their all. As the monsters got closer, Minhyuk raised his sword and said, Destroy.

    When his words ended, a woman stepped forward and led the way.

    <em>Swish</em>

    With a flick of her hair, the woman with the smallest stature made her move.

    <em>Show em, noona!</em>

    Minhyuk knew better than anybody else how talented Attention Seeker Emperor Ellie was.

    <em>This is fun.</em>

    Ellies talents were ridiculously absurd. Except for Sword God Valen, no one was more special than her among those present. After thinking about it, she was the person who refused the position of Sword God Descendant. And that was not all; she was the emperor with the power to unite the entire continent.

    <em>You think youre more special when Im this type of person?</em>

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud</em>

    With her shabby armor and weapon, Ellie took one step after another. And right in front of her? There was a herd of Level 540 Raging Water Buffalo charging towards her.

    Raging Water Buffaloes had high HP and mainly used their bodies to m into their opponents, dealing massive damage. However, they were challenging to deal with because they attacked their opponents in herds. Each herd tended to have at least fifty. But now? The herd had around 2,000 Raging Water Buffaloes charging forward.

    Ellie slowly raised her sword and swung it down at the Raging Water Buffalo which was leading the herd of water buffaloes.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh</em>

    At that moment, the leading water buffalos body was torn and ripped all over, blood spurting all over the ce. But it was not just the foremost buffalo; more than a thousand Raging Water Buffaloes fell and made blood rain.

    With the herd of Raging Water Buffalo falling, the monsters charging from behind got tangled up, losing their bnce and falling. Seeing this, Ellie began to run.

    <em>I am the most special!!!</em>

    Several hundreds and thousands of monsters fell wherever the running Ellie passed by.

    <em>[You have 1,725 monsters.]</em>

    <em>[You have 543 monsters.]</em>

    <em>[You have 15 monsters.]</em>

    Minhyuk was delighted when he heard the notifications constantly ringing in his ears. After a moment, another person stepped forward.

    <em>The one that hunts the most monsters will be standing at the top.</em>

    He chuckled at the young mans childishness. Even if he found it childish, he still wanted to show off and prove that he was the superior one among them. With a slight smile on his face, zing mes shot out from his sword.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaa!</em>

    The man pointed his sword and shot the raging ck mes towards the enemies charging at him.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!</em>

    In the blink of an eye, more than 10,000 monsters were devoured by the ck mes and disappeared. Then, one of the knights jumped over the giant man who shot the zing mes. The man was as huge as Overlord Raldo, and this very same man held a gigantic greatsword as he leaped to the skies. This man was none other than the king of millions of mercenaries, Venteio.

    Mercenarys Pinnacle Swordsmanship.

    A roar resounded.

    The manifestation of the sword attack differed between Brod and Mercenary King Venteio. If Brod used the attack, hundreds of wolves would appear. And if Venteio used this attack, a huge and powerful bear would appear.

    Final Chapter.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    The sword attack looked like the bear swung its front paw down. The thick and massive sword lights fell and destroyed the monsters.

    <em>[You have hunted 42,313 monsters.]</em>

    <em>[You have hunted a total of 60,000 monsters so far.]</em>

    <em>[A total of 1 minute and 43 seconds have passed.]</em>

    One of the soldiers smiled as he watched the monsters being swept away at a tremendous pace.

    <em>The most outstanding race is the elven race.</em>

    The <em>soldier</em> was none other than the Elven King, Argon. He readied five arrows on his bow and released them all at once. The arrows flew straight towards the monsters. The moment theynded? The arrows exploded.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    However, a gigantic eagle swooped down and tried to attack him with its beak.

    Oops. Argon quickly escaped the eagles beak, grabbed its legs, and climbed on its back.

    Kihyeeeeeeeeeek!

    Argon, who grabbed the eagles leg, centered himself on its back and flew to the skies. Then, he began to shoot his arrows like crazy. He could shoot three arrows per second, uratelynding on the enemies and killing them in the process.

    One of the <em>soldiers</em> abandoned her sword, put her hands together, and took one graceful step forward after another.

    A variety of monsters appeared in this ce, and, of course, some of them released demonic energy. They were the undead and beings from the demon world, around 24,000 of them present. Seeing the defenseless soldiers, the undead and demons immediately charged at her.

    Saintess Loyna looked around her and prayed, Mother, please give me the power to protect myself from evil.

    At that moment, a bright light shot out from Loynas gathered hands. The moment the bright light came into contact with the undead and demons, their flesh burned and turned into ashes.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaa!</em>

    A soft, gentle smile appeared on Loyna as the evil before her burned. It looked just like a movie scene.

    <em>[You have hunted a total of 80,000 monsters so far.]</em>

    <em>[A total of 2 minutes and 12 seconds have passed so far.]</em>

    Keuhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!!!

    Then, at that moment, a loud roar rang loudly.

    <em>[An Armored Ogre has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[Armored Ogre. Level 617.]</em>

    <em>[The gates level of difficulty has increased. The Armored Ogre has gotten 10% stronger!]</em>

    Ten giant ogres, with iron-like skin and not their normal green skin, appeared with axes in both hands.

    Armored Ogres had tough skins and high HP. And with their axes in hand, they were also given an extreme, destructive power. They were monsters that would only asionally appear on the continent. Usually, it would take at least ten yers at Level 550 to hunt such a monster. And it would take around five to ten minutes before they could take them down.

    This very same monster had be ten percent stronger. In other words, it would need at least fifteen Level 550 yers to hunt it. The problem was that they were unable to do average damage.

    They were huge enough to reach six meters, but two people immediately charged forward and simultaneously attacked one of the armored ogres. One of them ran towards its legs.

    So noisy.

    The one that charged at the ogres legs was Mercenary King Venteio.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang</em>

    With one swing of Venteios greatsword, he cut off the knee of the sturdy and tough Armored Ogre.

    <em>Thuuuuuuuud</em>

    Kihyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!

    Sword Emperor Ellie leaped up and cut the head of the screaming ogre, which had lost its bnce and fallen.

    <em>Thuuuuuud!</em>

    <em>[You have killed an Armored Ogre!]</em>

    It took three seconds and two people to hunt a boss-ss monster, and at least ten yers at Level 550 could only take it down after five minutes or more.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang</em>

    At that moment, hundreds of arrows fell from the sky and shot towards the Armored Ogres neck. The arrows constantly attacked the Ogres rtively weak neck area, eventually causing it to copse.

    <em>Boooooooom</em>

    Then, Overlord Raldo moved and cut off one of the ogres Achilles tendons, forcing it down as he removed its head.

    It only took two seconds.

    Saintess Loyna, triggered by Raldos words, immediately gathered her hands in prayer and looked up at one of the gigantic Armored Ogres.

    Please put the sword in the heart of thy enemy.

    Then, dozens of swords covered in dazzling white light shot from her hands, stabbing the Armored Ogre and killing it.

    <em>[You havepletely hunted 150,000 monsters!]</em>

    <em>[A total of 3 minutes and 37 seconds have passed so far!]</em>

    <em>[You have broken the record of the Combat ss Gate of the Fortress of the Transcendentals Fantasy.]</em>

    <em>[As a reward for breaking the record, your stats will increase by 1%, and your CHA will increase by 2%!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1,000 REP.]</em>

    <em>[You can keep on doing the trial.]</em>

    <em>[If you continue the trial and say Summon Monsters, you will summon 20,000 more monsters!]</em>

    ***

    ...

    ...

    ...

    ...

    ...

    The transcendentals were all left speechless when they saw the scene that unfolded in the crystal ball.

    No. Whats this

    The Albraim Race was unique. They once lived among humans and stood above everybody else. However, the ones Minhyuk summoned were strong enough to match themselves when they first entered the fortress.

    Those guys are humans, right?

    Thats right. They arent born with special blood like us.

    He broke Benders record way too easily.

    This

    It was pretty funny. They were born with a power that could rival even the gods; that was why it was amazing to see humans born with ordinary bodies fight like that.

    But then, Nekk, who was dripping with cold sweat, said, However, do you know whats more surprising?

    Nekks gaze was fixed on the crystal ball, and he looked at the man standing silently amidst all the fighting.

    He hasnt made any move yet.

    ...

    ...

    All of them let out a groan. But then, a voice suddenly rang in their ears, leaving them in shock.

    <em>[Summon Monsters.]</em>

    <em>[Summon Monsters.]</em>

    <em>[Summon Monsters.]</em>

    <em>[Summon, summon, summon, summon, summon, summon, summon, summon]</em>

    Monsters were constantly being summoned. The total number of additional monsters that showed up was around 200,000. Finally, <em>he</em> began to move.

 Chapter 907

    Chapter 907

    <em>[You have summoned a total of 200,000 monsters!]</em>

    <em>[You have already killed 150,000 monsters and can pass through the gate!]</em>

    <em>[You can continue killing monsters until the previous record holders 6-minute and 46-second record has been reached!]</em>

    <em>[The more monsters you kill, the better the reward you will receive!]</em>

    <em>Kihyeeeeeeeeeeeck!</em>

    <em>Graaaaaaaaaack!</em>

    <em>Graaaaaaaaaaaaa!</em>

    The roar of the additional 200,000 summoned monsters resonated throughout the world. Minhyuk watched as the Immortal Knights ughtered the 150,000 monsters themselves.

    <em>I dont think I should get caught up in that now.</em>

    Minhyuk said they should determine who was superior in this ce. Besides, the Immortal Knights'' summoning time was just four minutes.

    <em>The members of the Immortal Knight Order can kill all of the 150,000 monsters in just four minutes.</em>

    Minnyuk had confidence in them. He wanted to save his strength for those few minutes rather than kill those monsters with his basic attacks.

    <em>While inside the gate, I wont be able to receive cooking buffs or use parchments, potions, or special buffs.</em>

    If this were the usual, Minhyuk would have already eaten a dish he cooked while they were killing the monsters. But that was not the case right now. To put it simply, Minhyuk couldn''t grow stronger by using <em>consumables</em>. Knowing this, Minhyuk quickly tried to use the <em>Food Gods Swordsmanship</em>.

    <em>I can use the Food Gods Swordsmanship.</em>

    This meant that only buff effects from consumables were restricted. Right now, someone who could cast the greatest buff in Athenae was presentSaintess Loyna.

    Miss Loyna, can you please give me a buff? Being strong does not necessarily mean that youre the best. You can also show them your greatness by disying outstanding buffs, right? Minhyuk tried to glib his way out.

    Loyna nodded. She was not abat ss, so the impact she could make here was the least out of everyone present. But the fact that she was the saintess that Athenae bestowed upon the world remained.

    <em>Mother, please allow me to show your power to the world, </em>Loyna prayed as she prepared to cast the best buffs she could.

    A powerful wind blew and wrapped around her as she began her prayers. Then, a bright light burst out of the hands that she had sped together. Then, a golden armor and sword slowly fell from the sky.

    <em>[Athenaes Sword and Shield has appeared!]</em>

    ...!

    ...!

    ...!

    The Immortal Knights turned to the sword and shield Athenae sent down. They could not help but groan when they realized those items hade from the greatest god in thends. Then, Athenaes Sword and Shield stopped right above Minhyuk and slowly seeped into his pores.

    <em>[Your sword and shield will receive the effects of Athenaes Sword and Shield.]</em>

    The effects of Athenaes Sword and Shield ovepped with the buff effect that Minhyuk was already wearing.

    <em>[Athenaes Sword and Shields duration is three minutes.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 7%.]</em>

    <em>[Your physical and magical attack power has increased by 22%!]</em>

    <em>[Your physical and magical defensive power has increased by 17%!]</em>

    <em>[Your attack and movement speed have increased by 20%.]</em>

    <em>[All of your skills levels have increased by +1.]</em>

    <em>[Recall will randomly be triggered when using your skills!]</em>

    When Minhyuk checked what <em>Recall </em>was, he saw it couldpletely reset the skills cooldown time when triggered. In other words, if he cast his skill and this was triggered, he could use it again. Just one look at the +1 in all skills levels and the Recall was enough for Minhyuk to realize that Athenaes Sword and Shield was a cheat-like buff effect.

    As expected of Miss Loyna. You look like youre the best and the greatest here.

    Hoho. Of course. Loyna shrugged her shoulders. It was only natural. After all, she was everyones role model and was the one that received the love of everyone.

    In just a blink, the four minutes were about to end. The notifications that rang around thirty seconds ago had announced that they had killed all the 150,000 monsters before. The Immortal Knights took down 10,000 more monsters in the thirty seconds that followed. Now that their summoning time was almost up, dealing with the newly summoned 200,000 monsters was left solely to Minhyuk, who was staring at the charging mobs.

    He knew it was only natural for the Immortal Knights to have some infighting, but Minhyuk greatly appreciated that they would alwayse when he summoned them.

    Minhyuk, while feeling immensely grateful, stretched out the two swords in his hands.

    <em>[Dual Sword Technique.]</em>

    <em>[Your attack speed has increased by 70%!]</em>

    <em>[You can now use two swords. The swords attack power will not be affected or decreased!]</em>

    <em>[Your skills power has increased by 1.4x!]</em>

    <em>[The Dual Sword Techniques effects will be triggered upon casting a sessive attack skill, and the skills damage will be doubled.]</em>

    The Immortal Knight Orders summoning was not yet over, but Minhyuk already made a move. zing mes shot out from the two swords, emitting a golden hue in his hands.

    <em>Four seconds, three seconds, two seconds</em>

    Minhyuk looked like he was about to attack everyone, including his allies. However, he only cast the skill after thorough calctions.

    <em>This is the most important moment. While they still have the 200,000 strong mobs aggro.</em>

    This was because the mobs were still intent on killing the Immortal Knights. Then

    <em>[The Battle Gods Immortal Knight Order has ended.]</em>

    <em>[All of the knights have returned to where they were before!]</em>

    Thank you, everyone! Of course, Minhyuk did not forget to thank them for making time for him.

    Minhyuk briefly looked at their disappearing backs before he shot the zing Overlords mes.

    The Supreme Overlords Technique could originally deal damage of 10,000~14,000 while devouring an area with a 240~260 meter radius. But now, the effects of the Dual Swordsmanship Technique and several other buffs had been added onto it.

    <em>[Athenaes Sword and Shields buff has been applied!]</em>

    <em>[The Supreme OVerlords Techniques power has gotten even stronger!]</em>

    A storm of fire engulfed an area with a 300-meter radius and swept away the monsters still tangled up and charging toward their targets that had disappeared.

    <em>[You have killed a total of 200,000 monsters so far!]</em>

    Minhyuk burned around 50,000 monsters in the blink of an eye. But the greatest charm of the Supreme Overlords Techniqueid in the embers of the mes, which continued to burn and cast neverending damage to the enemies nearby.

    <em>[You have killed a total of 210,000 monsters so far!]</em>

    Around 50,000. That was the total number of monsters that died from the mes of the Supreme Overlords Technique. And only four minutes and ten seconds have passed.

    ***

    Nekk and the rest of the transcendentals were left in stunned silence.

    What the hell is that power?

    How..?!

    Ho

    This is impossible

    Their reactions werepletely reasonable.

    How can someone that has not even crossed the wall yet

    Crossing the wall was a very important breakthrough point. No matter how hard someone tried, if they had not yet crossed the wall, they would not be able to stop or ovee someone who had. But now, the man shown on the crystal ball had killed around 50,000 monsters all at once, even though he had not yet crossed the wall.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>psed Time</em></strong><em>: 4 minutes, 13 seconds.]</em>

    What was even more shocking to them was the fact that the man still had plenty of time left.

    Thats impossible. Are you telling me that he doesnt need the help of those soldiers from before? That he can deal with 150,000 monsters on his own?

    Bender shook his head at Nekks words. He said, We have to wait and see for now. Its too early for us to pass judgment, especially when he had only used one skill.

    Everyone turned to look at Bender when they heard his words. Then, Mage Bernie said, Well, if were talking about some pinnacle power, everyone has one, right?

    That was right. Everyone here had one of those skills.

    More importantly, we have to discuss the rewards he should receive.

    He killed 50,000 more monsters and easily broke Benders record.

    We should give him the Spinning Wheels Ring at this rate.

    The Spinning Wheels Ring?

    The Spinning Wheels Ring was an overpowered artifact that could permanently increase the amount of EXP acquired just by wearing it. But it was still too early for them to decide on this for the rewards.

    Nekk stared at Minhyuk through the crystal ball. He could see the monsters grow angry because of the mes that almost devoured them. The monsters quickly turned around and started to charge at Minhyuk. Nekk could see the young man smiling at them as he raised his sword.

    <em>[Intangible Sword.]</em>

    At that moment, something very shocking happened.

    <em>Stab Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab Stab, stab, stab, stab!</em>

    The monster charging at the forefront was torn and ripped apart while the monsters behind it began to get swept away by an invisible and intangible force.

    <em>[You have killed a total of 230,000 monsters so far!]</em>

    ...

    ...

    I think we need to change our reward. Im sure he no longer has any power that will allow him to kill more monsters simultaneously. If he uses his basic attacks to kill those monsters, at most, he would only be able to kill around 250,000. Lets give him the Spinning Wheels Ring and the Transcendentals Reinforcement Parchment

    But before Nekk could even finish his sentence

    <em>[Heaven Tearing Sword.]</em>

    A huge sword light stretched out from the mans sword and split all the enemies within a five-meter radius into half. Once again, around 2,000 monsters concentrated in that area died on the spot.

    Right. He should have run out of those skills by now. Now, as I was saying

    <em>[Sword of Tempest.]</em>

    ???

    ???

    ???

    ???

    This time, a sword appeared and hovered around the man. Then, hundreds of des appeared and flew crazily around that one sword. The sword shot forward as if it had an ego, with hundreds of des around it, killing dozens of monsters every second.

    R- right. Thats not an AOE skill. So, like I said Nekk said, looking at the man with doubt.

    But then, mes rose once again on the swords in the man''s hands. The power of the <em>Supreme Overlords Technique</em> they had witnessed earlier shot out again and devoured 30,000 monsters in one go.

    F*ck.

    Nekk eventually gave up. No. Which human had this many AOE skills?! Then, the man finally stopped using his skills. He tightened his hold on both of his swords and charged towards the monsters.

    Hope filled Nekk once again. <em>Right! Finally! We can calcte and assess now!</em>

    So far, the man has killed a total of 250,000 monsters and there was around a minute and thirty seconds left. It was unlikely for him to kill more than 500 monsters in that time. But Nekk was left stunned once again when he swung his sword.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    The word <em>Crazy</em> was inscribed on the des of both swords. And the moment the man swung his swords, an explosion erupted, tearing apart the monsters around him. But that was not all. With each swing of the two swords in the mans hands, dozens of monsters would be torn apart. Either that or they get swept away by explosions.

    <em>[The First Gate has ended.]</em>

    <em>[The Challenger has sessfully killed 350,000 monsters in 6 minutes and 46 seconds!]</em>

    <em>[The rewards are being gauged and measured!]</em>

    The transcendentals were all rendered speechless for a moment. The man was able to kill 350,000 monsters. Of course, the present Bender could easily kill 500,000 here and now. But the past Bender could not. He took 6 minutes and 46 seconds back then to kill a little over 150,000 monsters.

    And this man? He had killed more than twice that amount. It was a feat that was both shocking and awe-inspiring. However, they did not have the time to gawk in admiration. They quickly started their discussion.

    Why not give him the Spinning Wheels Ring, the Transcendentals Reinforcement Parchment, and the Pinnacle Growth Elixir?

    The Pinnacle Growth Elixir? Thats very precious. We only have two bottles of them left.

    But I think we should give him at least that much, no?

    Right. We dont have any other choice.

    Something unusual happened while they were trying to discuss the rewards they would give.

    <em>[The Fortress of the Transcendentals Fantasy has judged that the rewards you have chosen are unsuitable!]</em>

    <em>[You need to present rewards of a higher level!]</em>

    ...!

    ...!

    The rewards they had chosen were among the most valuable items the transcendentals had on hand. That was why they could not believe it when they were judged to not be enough.

    Then, how about a set of armor that Nekk made?

    Nekk was the only cksmith remaining among the transcendentals. He was skilled enough to be on par with the God of cksmiths. However, the notifications that rang in their ears remained the same.

    <em>[You need to present rewards of a higher level!]</em>

    Even though they put their heads together, they still could not figure out a solution. Then, Bender, thinking for a while, said, The leaders treasure chest.

    ...!

    ...!

    ...!

    ...!

    Everyones eyes grew wide when they heard his words.

    What?!

    The leaders treasure chest should only be given to <em>that child</em> once he passes through that gate!

    The leaders treasure chest is the final legacy that they have left behind. And not only that, some other powerful force might be hidden inside that chest.

    But at this moment, the most rational and objective of them was Bender. He said, That child wonte back. It has been too long. Besides, I dont think theres any reward that we can give that man aside from this.

    ...

    ...

    Everyone grew silent at those words. Some of them opened their mouths, but they could not say anything.

    Lets do it this way.

    Theres no helping it.

    Thats right. Perhaps that man can rece the leader instead of <em>that child</em>.

    They finally decided on the rewards. Inside that crystal ball, the man looked excited as he waited for the rewards he would receive.

    Maybe hell faint if he saw that huge reward?

    Soon, the notifications for the rewards they had set rang nonstop in the mans ears. Not long after, they saw the mans eyes grow wide when he saw the leaders treasure chest.

    ...What kind of power did it have?

    The transcendentals had two leaders. They were a couple, and that treasure chest was the final gift they had left for their child. Perhaps there was a power in that treasure chest that the transcendentals here would be shocked with.

    Then, with a sparkle in his eyes, the man cried out.

    <em>[Please, let something deliciouse out! </em><strong><em>COME OOOOOON</em></strong><em>!!!]</em>

    ???

    ???

    ???

    ???

    ???

    <em>Is that guy crazy? Maybe thats right.</em>

 Chapter 908

    Chapter 908

    <em>[Your rewards are being discussed!]</em>

    <em>[Your rewards are being discussed!]</em>

    It took Minhyuk quite a while to clear the First Gate; hence, he was pleased to rest while the discussion was ongoing. After a lengthy debate, the notifications once again rang in his ears.

    <em>[The discussion for your rewards is over!]</em>

    <em>[You have killed a total of 350,000 in 6 minutes and 46 seconds!]</em>

    <em>[You have broken the record inside the Fortress of the Transcendentals Fantasy!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 100,000 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1,000 REP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 500 CHA.]</em>

    <em>[After a discussion, you will be rewarded with the Leaders Treasure Chest.]</em>

    <em>The leaders treasure chest?</em>

    Minhyuks attention was immediately drawn toward the <em>Leaders Treasure Chest</em> that the Fortress of the Transcendentals Fantasy had given him.

    <em>Is he the one who led the Transcendentals?</em>

    Every group had a <em>leader</em> who led and managed the members. And since the leaders stood above the group, they likely possessed something special.

    <em>Fufu.</em>

    Perhaps there was something delicious inside of that treasure chest. Maybe there were dishes that the Transcendentals enjoyed hidden there?

    Please, let something deliciouse out! <strong>COME OOOOOON</strong>!!! Minhyuk shouted at the top of his lungs, praying desperately for something delicious toe out as he opened the leaders chest without hesitation.

    <em>tter tter!</em>

    The leaders treasure chest, made from old and sturdy wood, began to shake and tremble like crazy.

    <em>ck!</em>

    Finally, the treasure chests lock opened. Surprisingly enough, there were two items inside the treasure chest. When he saw the contents, Minhyuk could not help but shout happily, Lets go!!!

    This was because one of the items inside the treasure chest was food.

    <em>[You have acquired 1 kilogram of pork ribs marinated and preserved with the Pinnacle Growth Elixir.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Note They Left for That Child.]</em>

    Minhyuk did not know the Pinnacle Growth Elixir, but it was okay. Everything was fine as long as it tasted good. However, before he could check the items thoroughly, something very unusual happened.

    Usually, treasure boxes would disintegrate and disappear after the contents inside had been taken away. But the leaders treasure chest did not disappear at all.

    <em>[The Leaders Treasure Chest will give you additional rewards whenever your level increases!]</em>

    <em>[You must be at Level 700 before obtaining additional rewards from the Leaders Treasure Chest!]</em>

    ...?!

    The fact that Minhyuk could obtain additional rewards every time he leveled up was enough to show how rare and precious this item was.

    <em>More importantly, it might give me something delicious for the next reward too, right?</em>

    Minhyuk hid the treasure chest. Before he ate the pork ribs, he checked the note they left for <em>that child.</em>

    <em>[We love you, Ruffiso. More than anyone else in this world.]</em>

    ...!

    Minhyuk was shocked when he saw the note. Why? Because the child was named Ruffiso. Was it such a coincidence that he had recently taken the life of Duke Ruffiso as a punishment for his evildoings?

    <em>[And were sorry.]</em>

    At this moment, Minhyuk finally grew sure of one fact. Duke Ruffiso was one of the transcendentals. And from the looks of it, he was the child of whom Minhyuk presumed to be their leader. Then, at that moment, something happened.

    <em>[Duke Ruffisos Something that He was Chasing is reacting to the note!]</em>

    <em>[Duke Ruffiso might have died, but he still wonders why his parents abandoned him!]</em>

    <em>[The </em><strong><em>Sudden Quest</em></strong><em>: The Secret of Duke Ruffisos Birth has been created!]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Sudden Quest</em></strong><em>: The Secret of Duke Ruffisos Birth.]</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: S</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: The one that obtained Duke Ruffisos Something that He was Chasing filled with his grudge and resentment.</em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: ???</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Failure</em></strong><em>: Something that He was Chasing will burn and disappear.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: The grudge and resentment that Duke Ruffiso had left behind after his death was left in the form of the Something that He was Chasing. And it wants to find the secret of his birth even after his death. Find out the secret of Duke Ruffisos birth and reveal it to his soul filled with grudge and resentment, and you might receive rewards.</em>

    <em>Hmm.</em>

    Duke Ruffiso was already dead. If it were any ordinary yer, they would not expect any rewards from the dead. However, Minhyuk was different.

    He had recently obtained the Stars Armor Set, an artifact he could not equip because it was customized for Duke Ruffiso. But that was not all. It was also impossible to dismantle the armor and turn it into other artifacts unless he hadpleted the requirements. One requirement was to receive<em> Duke Ruffisos recognition and acknowledgment.</em> But how would one receive the recognition and acknowledgment of the dead? Minhyuk believed it to be impossible.

    Minhyuk had asked Hepas Descendant HyeminsDaddy about the Stars Armor Set; he said that it was made from artifact materials that were one of the rarest in Athenae. Minhyuk thought that he would have to throw the armor set away. But perhaps he would have the chance to obtain Duke Ruffisos recognition with this sudden quest.

    Minhyuk gently folded the note and hid it in his inventory. There were far more important things that he needed to do before that. He was very hungry after hunting all of those monsters earlier, so he quickly prepared the pork ribs he had obtained as a reward. In just a blink, he had finished preparing the table. The vegetables for the wrap, including the parsley and the pickled onions, were ready and served beside the hot grill.

    Minhyuk grabbed the tongs and quickly lifted arge piece of marinated pork ribs.

    <em>Sizzle</em>

    Smoke rose as the seasonings that covered the ribs flowed out of its sides and burned on the piping hot grill. After grilling one side for a bit, Minhyuk flipped it over and let it grill for a few more minutes. Then, he grabbed his scissors and began to cut the ribs.

    Minhyuk picked up one of the pork ribs and ced it in his mouth. Then, a sweet vor immediately burst out from the meat and coated the insides of his mouth. The more he chewed, the more vor spread out in his mouth and the better the texture of the meat.

    Kghhk!

    Minhyuk liked to cut the meat on the bigger side when eating meat.

    <em>Eating it like this makes the texture much better and the vor richer.</em>

    He clipped another piece of ribs and dipped it in the <em>galbi sauce</em> before putting it in his mouth.

    Wahahahaha!

    The galbi sauce added another sweetness to the meat, filling his mouth. After that, he added some pickled onions to the pork ribs before grabbing them with his chopsticks and putting them in his mouth.

    <em>Crunch, crunch</em>

    The pickled onions'' sweetness and sourness perfectlyplemented the pork ribs'' slightly greasy vor. This time, he spread some pickled radish on top of a piece of ribs and wrapped everything together.

    <em>Munch, munch</em>

    Kghhk Minhyuk sighed in admiration, his hands moving to take something out of his inventory. What did he take out of his food storage inventory? It was none other than <em>bibim naengmyeon.</em>

    <em>Bi-naeng is definitely the perfect side dish for ribs!</em>

    Minhyuk poked the yolk on top of the bibim naengmyeon and mixed it with the rest of the noodles.

    <em>Naengmyeon tastes best when it has a lot of pears.</em>

    The sweet, refreshing pear added to the bibim naengmyeon could easily mellow the dish''s spiciness. Minhyuk first took a huge bite of the pears, cucumbers, and noodles.

    <em>Sluuuuuuuuuurp!!!</em>

    The spicy and refreshing vor of the bibim naengmyeon washed away the greasiness left behind by the ribs.

    <em>Crunch, crunch</em>

    Also, the sweet and cold pears and the crunchy cucumbers added more depth to the dish''s vor. Then, Minhyuk added a piece of ribs to a mouthful of bibim naengmyeon that he immediately ced in his mouth.

    Kihyaaa!

    The sweet ribs and the spicy bibim naengmyeon met and created a fantastic harmony of vors. In just a blink, Minhyuk finished his meal, his tes and even the grill clean and without a morsel of food left behind.

    Then, the notifications rang one after the other.

    <em>[You have eaten the Pork Ribs Marinated in Pinnacle Growth Elixir.]</em>

    <em>[Three bottles of Pinnacle Growth Elixir had been used on the ribs.]</em>

    <em>[A bottle of Pinnacle Growth Elixir can increase ones level by one.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    Thats crazy?

    Minhyuk was in awe. He had just eaten some pork ribs, but his level had increased by three. For yers at Minhyuks level, it would take at least three to four weeks for them to be able to increase their level by one.

    <em>They used three bottles of Pinnacle Growth Elixir?</em>

    What in the world was a<em> Pinnacle Growth Elixir</em>?

    <em>Consuming one bottle of that elixir can increase someones level by one without fail?</em>

    If that were true, then that elixir would be extremely cheat-like. Why? For example, if someone had reached Level 699, a threshold to ovee, and taken that elixir, they would reach Level 700 in one go.

    <em>This is a precious potion. Money cant buy this.</em>

    Even though it was a precious potion, the leader of the Transcendentals used it to marinate pork ribs.

    At this point, Minhyuk realized, <em>The leader is a chef.</em>

    Minhyuk could tell that using the Pinnacle Growth Elixir in cooking was extremely difficult. That was why he knew only an outstanding chef could use it as a marinade.

    <em>This is an extraordinary reward.</em>

    Minhyuk could eat some delicious pork ribs and increase his level by +3. Was there anything better than this? Then, there was the Leaders Treasure Chest, which would give him additional rewards every time his level increased.

    <em>And all of these were supposed to be for Ruffiso.</em>

    Assuming that <em>the leaders child</em> was indeed Ruffiso, they expected and believed that Ruffiso would return to them and be their leader. In other words, these rewards were left here to allow them to help Ruffiso reach the <em>leader''s level.</em>

    <em>They are the Transcendentals. Thats why the rewards are</em>

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[Danger!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[Danger!]</em>

    <em>[The Transcendentals Battle Energy is suppressing you!]</em>

    Ugh!

    A tremendous amount of pressure appeared and weighed down on Minhyuk.

    <em>What the hell is this?</em>

    This was far more overwhelmingpared to the time when he met Helenia. And when Minhyuk was left struggling hard to endure the pressure, simr notifications rang several times in a row.

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[Danger!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[Danger!]</em>

    This meant that several Transcendentals appeared in this ce. Not long after, Minhyuk caught the gaze of a bald man with a gigantic build. The man was just walking but was releasing overwhelmingly heavy pressure on Minhyuk.

    <em>[The Transcendentals Battle Energy is suppressing you!]</em>

    Minhyuk realized, <em>Are you telling me that the Transcendentals have a passive skill called Battle Energy?!</em>

    It was an overwhelmingly powerful force. Nerva Sephiroths Emperors Authority was like a childs ypared to the Transcendentals passive skill that was weighing down on him right now.

    Finally, the Transcendentals made their appearance.

    <em>[Transcendental Bender. Level 1,275.]</em>

    <em>This is crazy!</em>

    Minhyuk was appalled. This was the first time he had encountered an NPC whose level was over Level 1,200! Even Helenia, whom he had met before, was only around Level 1,000. Of course, that was only the case because most of her powers had been sealed.

    <em>[Transcendental Nekk. Level 1,107.]</em>

    <em>[Transcendental Bernie. Level 1,130.]</em>

    <em>[Transcendental Cochnus. Level 1,086.]</em>

    <em>[Transcendental Vaghan. Level 1,009.]</em>

    The rest of the Transcendentals had surpassed Level 1,000. This was very rare, even for the gods. Only a few of the gods had surpassed Level 1,000.

    <em>No. I dont think any of the gods I know have surpassed that level?</em>

    At this moment, Minhyuk realized what kind of existence the Transcendentals were. He could not help but grow tense when he saw them walk towards them.

    <em>Theres no guarantee that they will view me favorably.</em>

    That was why Minhyuk was very nervous. He might be nervous, but he never intended to lose to them.

    <em>Thuuuuuuud!</em>

    His knees, about to fold and force him to kneel, stretched out again. This was one of the effects of the Eight Pirs Candidate title, The Unyielding One. The Unyielding One could help him resist any forces that tried to suppress him once.

    The expression on the faces of Nekk and Bender, the two Transcendentals walking upfront, changed when they saw Minhyuk remain standing.

    <em>Someone with that measly strength can resist the pressure from our power?</em>

    <em>How?</em>

    They could not understand the man at all. In just a blink, they had already arrived in front of Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk looked apprehensively at the people standing before him, who were wearing serious expressions. Then, the man named Bender raised his hand and smiled awkwardly.

    Hi?

    ???

    Why was this man acting as if they were close? Minhyuk nced at the other Transcendentals. He could see that the Transcendentals who had been looking at him with solemn expressions before were now sporting awkward smiles, just like the woman mage named Bernie. The guy named Nekk coughed while awkwardly asking him how he had been. Even the guys named Vaghan and Cochnus were smiling softly at him.

    <em>Why are they acting as if we are close?</em>

    That was when Minhyuk saw them ncing at one spot. What spot were they secretly taking a peek at? It was none other than the ce where Minhyuk had eaten the pork ribs earlier. As someone who had been hungry most of his life, he knew the tell-tale signs and actions of someone hungry.

    Although Bender was trying his hardest not to show it, he gulped dryly as he licked his lips while ncing at that exact spot. Nekks nose was twitching. He looked like someone who had not seen nor smelled the scent of meat in a long while.

    Minhyuk, who understood the situation quickly, grinned widely. <em>This</em>

    If he did this correctly, he might find himself in a situation in which both parties would benefit each other.

 Chapter 909

    Chapter 909

    Bender and the other Transcendentals could not stop the drool that dripped down their chins when they saw Minhyuk eat the pork ribs through the crystal ball.

    It had been a long time since they hadst seen proper food! Just one look, and they could already imagine the sweet vor of the ribs that would spread and delight their taste buds the moment the well-seasoned and sizzling pork ribs entered their mouths.

    Although they allowed Conir to challenge the Second Gate, they could not allow this man to do so.

    First, there was a Level 700 level requirement before one could challenge the fortress''s gates. They only allowed the man to challenge the First Gate because Bender made the mistake of dragging him here.

    As for the Second Gate? It also had a Level 700 level requirement. Why was Conir allowed to challenge the Second Gate? It was mainly because Bender could not turn down a direct request from Sword God Valen but also because he could not ovee his desire to eat good food.

    Simply put, Minhyuk could no longer challenge any of the gates of the Fortress of the Transcendentals Fantasy.

    <em>What a delicious smell.</em>

    <em>Kghhk This is the smell of meat.</em>

    <em>Smells good.</em>

    Since the man in front of them had just finished eating, the smell of the pork ribs still lingered in the mans clothes and whetted the appetites of all of the Transcendentals present.

    Hello, everyone! The man called Food God greeted them politely. After Bender''s awkward greeting, the man stared at them for quite a while before he greeted them with a small smile.

    The five Transcendentals hesitated. They were Transcendentals, the proud beings that sealed the Immortal Sorceress Helenia! How could they ask someone that they had first met for something to eat, right?! But they had been hungry for far too long. It was an extremely unbearable pain that they had been carrying for a long time now.

    That uhm, you know? Bender chirped. After all, he was the most friendly of them all.

    Yes? Please go on ahead. Minhyuk shed a bright and lovely smile.

    Can you share some of your food with us?

    Food?

    Thats right, food. We cant leave this ce, and theres no way for us to obtain any cooking ingredients here. It has already been thousands of years.

    Hmm

    Minhyuk looked worried. At that moment, Bender recalled some of Conir''s stories about his hyung. He heard that Food God Minhyuks appetite was bigger than anybody else''s. He also heard that whoever wanted to take away his food would die right away. ording to Conir, he had a disease that made food very precious to him.

    The Transcendentals did not intend to just ask him for food. They wanted to give him something in return for the food. Of course, this would only be possible if Minhyuk agreed to their request.

    <em>Im asking him gently,</em> Bender thought.

    But then, Minhyuk smiled softly and said, Alright.

    Huh?

    Hmm?

    Minhyuk epted it way too readily than they had expected. The Transcendentals were aware of Minhyuks story. They knew that he had a disease that made him want to eat and eat and <em>eat</em>. But a man suffering from such a disease willingly agreed to share his food with them?

    I cant turn a blind eye to someone hungry. Minhyuk smiled faintly.

    A situation where everyone benefits. This was what Minhyuk thought as he looked at them. After all, he had experienced more deep-seated hunger than anybody else. That was why he knew better than anyone how horrible the feeling was. Of course, if he were his usual self, then he would have made sure that he squeezed them dry and got all of the benefits that he could from them.

    <em>But I know how they feel better than anybody else.</em>

    Minhyuk knew the joy and gratitude that one would feel once someone fed them. He was confident that doing this would increase his favor with the Transcendentals.

    <em>It will be very beneficial and valuable for me to build favor and intimacy with the current strongest beings in Athenae.</em>

    Besides, Minhyuk had reached a level where he could control his eating addiction to some extent.

    Its been a while since youst ate a proper meal, so Ill give it my all when cooking.

    The Transcendentals stared at Minhyuk, who was smiling softly at them. At this moment, Minhyuks actions create a synergistic effectpared to the words that Conir had told them before.

    <em>I heard he has a disease that makes him hungry all the time.</em>

    <em>He has a huge appetite and was shouting for food when he saw the former leaders treasure chest earlier.</em>

    <em>But hes giving us food this easily?</em>

    The Transcendentals felt both admiration and gratitude toward Minhyuk.

    <em>[Transcendental Benders favor has increased!]</em>

    <em>[Your swords attack power has increased by 0.2%!]</em>

    <em>[Transcendental Nekks favor has increased.]</em>

    <em>[Your DEX has increased by 0.3%.]</em>

    <em>[Transcendental Bernies favor has increased.]</em>

    <em>[Your Total MP Volume has increased by 0.4%.]</em>

    <em>[Transcendental Cochnus favor has increased.]</em>

    <em>[Your DEX has increased by 0.2%.]</em>

    <em>[Transcendental]</em>

    It was only their favor that increased, and quite a variety of Minhyuks stats also increasedand considering Minhyuks high stats? Well, this would be a massive boost to his power.

    <em>Its like that time with Ellie noona.</em>

    That was right. There were cases where some stats would increase along with the favor. The best example of this was Ellies case in the past. However, this was very rare. After all, for most people, increasing favor was close to impossible.

    <em>The fact that I can increase my favor with them with just one meal is an excellent reward.</em>

    Minhyuk began to prepare a meal for them. He boiled some chicken inside the Bizarre Cauldron and began to cook chicken porridge.

    <em>Theyre going to eat something after such a long time. If they eat something oily, theyll probably get a bad stomach.</em>

    The warm and soft chicken porridge soothed some of their hunger. Minhyuk did his best to cook the chicken porridge for these hungry Transcendentals.

    ***

    Bender and the other Transcendentals looked very emotional as they stared at the still-steaming chicken porridge before them. The thinly julienned carrots, chopped green onions, and onions created the perfect harmony of colors that decorated the light color of the chicken porridge.

    Please dont be in a rush. Here, have some kimchi, Minhyuk said as he ced a well-ripened kimchi in front of them.

    Thanks, Bender gave his heartfelt thanks to Minhyuk as he immediately scooped a huge spoonful of the warm chicken porridge. Steam rose from the spoon that he raised. Hoo! Hoo!

    No matter how hungry he was, Bender knew that eating the porridge just like that would burn the roof of his mouth. So, he blew on it as much as he could before taking a huge bite.

    <em>Chew, chew</em>

    The chicken porridge''s unique, rich, savory vor spread in his mouth the moment he ate it. This was the result of thebination of various ingredients!

    Kghhk!

    How long has it been since hest had a proper meal? It was just like what Conir said. His cooking skills were indeed the best.

    This time, Bender grabbed a piece of kimchi on a spoonful of chicken porridge and pushed it into his mouth.

    <em>Wow</em>

    The kimchi''s sweetness and sournessplemented the chicken porridge''s nd and slightly greasy vor.

    <em>Munch, munch, munch, munch</em>

    The slight spiciness of the kimchi also brought delight to ones mouth.

    <em>Chomp, chomp, chomp, chomp!</em>

    Not only was Bender frantically devouring the chicken porridge, but the others were also doing the same thing. Minhyuk watched the Transcendentals eat, moving to fill their bowls with more chicken porridge whenever he saw their bowls empty.

    <em>Sparkle Sparkle</em>

    A shine appeared on his smooth head when Nekks bowl was filled with chicken porridge. It seemed like his body was heating up from finally being able to eat a hot meal. Minhyuk gently wiped the sweat off of his head.

    <em>It feels smooth</em>

    The sweaty Nekks head was glowing. No, it was shing brightly, just like the sun.

    Minhyuk cooked more chicken porridge so everyone could have enough. And everyone had their fill.

    <em>ck</em>

    Sweat pooled at the tip of Benders nose as he ced his spoon down. He exhaled loudly before gulping down a few mouthfuls of cold water. When Minhyuk saw the smile on their faces, he realized that they were now full and satiated.

    Then, Bender approached Minhyuk. He said, I was finally able to eat something delicious. Here, Ill pay you back. Heres some money for your carriage.

    Ah. Its fine. Well, this

    Bender pushed something crumpled inside Minhyuks pocket!

    <em>[You have obtained a crumpled bunch of money from Transcendental Bender!]</em>

    <em>[You can sell this for 30,000 tinum in the Event Merch Store!]</em>

    ...?

    A sh of doubt appeared on Minhyuks face. Bender had just stuffed it in his pocket, saying it was money for his carriage.

    <em>Thirty thousand tinum is enough to run a territory with a lot still left over.</em>

    And that was not all. It was rare for high-rankers to have 30,000 tinum in their hands. Then, Nekk approached and put something in Minhyuks hands.

    Here, some money for tea.

    <em>[You have obtained a crumpled bunch of money from Transcendental Nekk!]</em>

    <em>[You can sell this for 20,000 tinum in the Event Merch Store]</em>

    <em>Are you saying hes giving me 20,000 tinum for a cup of tea?</em>

    Bernie shrugged her shoulders, sidled up to Minhyuk, and slipped something in his hands.

    Here you go. Food money.

    <em>[...crumpled bunch of money from Transcendental Bernie!]</em>

    <em>[You can sell this for 20,000 tinum]</em>

    <em>If were talking about food money, 20,000 tinum is not enough, though?</em>

    Get some meat with this.

    <em>[...Transcendental Cochnus!]</em>

    <em>[...25,000 tinum]</em>

    Use this to buy your babys diapers.

    <em>[...20,000 tinum]</em>

    Minhyuk made diaper money for a baby that he did not have. He had spent around 100,000 gold to make chicken porridge. But turning that 100,000 million gold to 100,000 tinum? That was worthwhile!

    Minhyuk grinned widely. <em>Fufu.</em>

    However, after thinking about it, he realized that this money was a small change for them. Also, money was meaningless to them since they could not go outside. Before pondering all that, Minhyuk had one thing he was very curious about.

    But why cant you eat? I think you can farm by yourselves, right?

    Thend is barren. Weve tried for hundreds of years, but we realized that farming in thesends is impossible, Nekk answered.

    In the first ce, this fortress was where people who realized they were Transcendentals entered. Thisnd was filled with monsters and was utterly barren.

    You cannot use seeds from outside in this ce.

    We cant use the seeds from the outside?

    Thats right. This fortress does not ept anything thates from the outside. The moment we nt the seeds, they will immediately rot. And even if we nt them, we wont be able to eat any meat, right?

    Hmm

    When nting seeds, one would mostly expect vegetables and fruits to grow. But that was mostly the case for their standards, not Minhyuks.

    <em>If its not possible with seeds brought from the outside, then perhaps its possible if theyre seeds created inside.</em>

    Minhyuk realized early on that he could gain significant rewards from the Transcendentals.

    <em>Maybe its going to be easy for me?</em>

    A barrennd? A fortress that rejects seeds from the outside? And people who give generous rewards?

    By any chance, if I can turn this barrennd into fertilend and get meat to grow from seeds, what would you do?

    The Transcendentals were over the moon just by imagining those things happening. Even though they were talking with Minhyuk, they wanted to shove food down their throats even if they had to vomit it out right after. If Minhyuk had left now, there was a high chance they would have to endure hundreds of years of hunger again.

    But their expressions turned dark not long after.

    Its impossible.

    Its not something that could be done in the first ce.

    We are a superior race. Were different from you. But even we cant make it happen.

    They have <em>tried</em> thousands of times. However, even if the Transcendentals were from a superior race, that did not mean they were exceptional in all fields. Minhyuk licked his lips.

    Of course, it would be challenging for me too. I probably must sweat blood and tears to turn this barrennd into a fertile one. Minhyuk clenched his fists tightly. I might have to vomit blood just to ensure that these seeds, which this fortress rejects, would grow and prosper. However, I know what hunger feels like more than anybody else.

    Minhyuk looked at all of them with a serious expression on his face. Everyone was aware of that. They all knew that this young man in front of them suffered from a disease.

    <em>Aaaah. One look at that expression, and you can tell he understands us.</em>

    <em>He understands us and cares about us.</em>

    <em>He looks serious. He definitely will do his best.</em>

    Everyone, I will give it my all so you wont get hungry. But of course, I would need some driving force to help me do my best. So, please trust me for once.

    They all looked emotional as they stared at Minhyuk. It was as if they hadnt seen him licking his lips earlier. Then, Nekk said, I will make an armor for you. And if you dont like it, I will reinforce your current armor and improve it.

    <em>[Transcendental Nekk vows to either make an entirely new armor for you or reinforce the armor that you currently own!]</em>

    Ill give you a magic book that has never been seen before.

    <em>[Transcendental Bernie vows to give you the magic book she created, the Transcendental Magic Book!]</em>

    I will give you all of the money that I have. Anyway, theyre just like sheets of paper to me.

    <em>[Transcendental Cochnus vows to give you 760,000 tinum!]</em>

    I will bestow upon you our Races Blessings.

    <em>[Transcendental Vaghan vows to bestow upon you the Transcendentals Blessing.]</em>

    Finally, Minhyuk turned to look at Bender. Bender was thinking deeply. But before he could think of anything, Minhyuk stepped forward and opened his mouth: Theres this one thing that I really want to get. Also, theres something that I want to know. Can I request of you?

    Bender nodded readily.

    The Mountain Ore. Also, please tell me about Ruffisos birth.

    ...!

    ...!

    ...!

    ...!

    ...!

    The expression on the faces of all of the Transcendentals grew solemn when they heard Minhyuks words.

    <em>The Mountain Ore and Ruffiso?</em>

    <em>He wants the Mountain Ore?</em>

    The Mountain Ore was something that they vowed to keep for the rest of their lives and make sure to keep out of Helenias hands.

    Bender looked at Minhyuk sharply and said, What will you use it for?

    The other Transcendentals also turned to look at him, their gazes demanding answers from him.

    <em>I- I want to make soybean paste with it?</em>

    Minhyuk opened his mouth, but he could not get the words out.

 Chapter 910

    Chapter 910

    The Mountain Ore was a dilemma that would not leave the Transcendentals forever. Although they could seal it using a sealing stone, it would be broken in fifty years. Once the sealing stone was broken, the Mountain Ore would appear again.

    <em>¡®Back then, we had no idea what to do about the Mountain Ore.¡¯</em>

    And once the Mountain Ore escaped its seal, it would cause continuous earthquakes.

    Bender turned to look at Minhyuk, hesitating whether to say that he would use it to make soybean paste, and said, ¡°I don¡¯t know why you¡¯re asking about it, but the Mountain Ore is a hazardous item. If you take it back to your empire, your empire will most definitely copse in a single day.¡±

    "If only we had his Transcendental Grinder.¡±

    "Stop that, Nekk. You sound like you¡¯re cursing him for sacrificing himself for our sake.¡±

    "I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    <em>¡®...?¡¯</em>

    As Minhyuk continued to listen to their conversation, he realized,<em>¡®They also want to grind the Mountain Ore.¡¯</em>

    This was a good sign. Besides, who was Minhyuk? His glib tongue could sway anyone to his side, right?

    "The Mountain Ore can cause earthquakes! If I use the power in that ore, then I will be able to strengthen the Beyond the Heavens Empire!¡±

    The Transcendentals frowned when they heard Minhyuk¡¯s words. They knew it was an item they could not easily hand over. Then, they saw Minhyukugh.

    "However, seeing that you¡¯re all very concerned and worried about this iteming out to the world, I know that I should not covet it just to satisfy my greed,¡± Minhyuk said, looking up at the sky with a bitter look. He sighed deeply as he closed his eyes and clenched his fists tightly, a conflicted expression shing.

    "No, that¡¯s not it, Minhyuk. Just let go of your greed and help the Transcendentals live morefortably. No, that¡¯s not it, either. Either way, there shouldn¡¯t be any crazy lunatic wanting to grind something like that in the world, right?¡±

    But Minhyuk¡¯s face remained conflicted. Then, as if he had finally decided, he opened his mouth and spoke tremblingly, ¡°I¡ªI have the Transcendental¡¯s Grinder.¡±

    "What?!¡±

    "Did you just say you have the Transcendental¡¯s Grinder with you?!¡±

    "Are you telling the truth?!¡±

    The impact of his words was huge. This was mainly because the Transcendentals badly needed the Transcendental¡¯s Grinder. On the day their leader died, the Transcendental¡¯s Grinder also disappeared. They firmly believed that the cksmiths who participated in its production ran away with it and disappeared from existence.

    "How in the world did it get in your hands?!¡±

    Minhyuk promptly told them about the Sun¡¯s Salt.

    ¨C<em>The Transcendental¡¯s Grinder appeared after I ate the salt. It must have been hidden inside it.</em>

    <em>¨CEven until the moment that they had died, they still tried their best to hide the Transcendental¡¯s Grinder.</em>

    After hearing this part of Minhyuk¡¯s story, the Transcendentals all made eye contact and nodded. Then, Bender said, ¡°Okay. We will listen to your request. However, we have conditions. You can only take the Mountain Ore after it has been ground with the Transcendental¡¯s Grinder.¡±

    ¡°...¡± Minhyuk nodded in agreement. ¡°I understand.¡±

    Unbeknownst to them, he was jumping in happiness deep inside.

    <em>¡®Delicious doenjang jjigae, here Ie. Hihi.¡¯</em>

    Meanwhile,pletely unaware of the truth, the Transcendentals immediatelyforted him.

    "I¡¯m sorry. You probably came here to find it.¡±

    "We also don¡¯t feelfortable grinding it.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s lips twitched as he tried to form a smile. Then, he said, ¡°It¡¯s alright. It¡¯s all for your sake, so there¡¯s no helping it.¡±

    "You¡¯re very kind and understanding.¡±

    "You are truly qualified to be the ruler of an empire.¡±

    <em>[Transcendental Bender¡¯s favor has increased!]</em>

    <em>[Your sword¡¯s attack power has increased by 0.2%!]</em>

    <em>[Transcendental Nekk¡¯s favor has increased.]</em>

    <em>[Your DEX has increased by 0.3%.]</em>

    <em>[Transcendental Bernie¡¯s favor has increased.]</em>

    <em>[Your Total MP Volume has increased by 0.4%.]</em>

    <em>[Transcendental Cochnus¡¯ favor has increased.]</em>

    <em>[Your DEX has increased by 0.2%.]</em>

    <em>[Transcendental...]</em>

    As expected of Minhyuk, he got the most benefits from a few simple words.

    "But we¡¯ll only give you everything that we have promised after you have done what you promised us.¡±

    "I understand. On another note, is it possible for me to bring the vassals from my empire?¡±

    "Here. Use this to bring them here,¡± Bender said as he handed Minhyuk a flute.

    The flute that Bender handed to Minhyuk was none other than the ¡®Transcendental¡¯s Summoning Flute.¡¯ Minhyuk could bring any of his vassals or summons into the fortress with this flute.

    The Transcendentals all looked at Minhyuk in anticipation.

    <em>¡®This is something we haven¡¯t aplished even after trying for thousands of years.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Is he going to bring in amazing people to help him do this?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I wonder what they look like?¡¯</em>

    Then, Minhyuk gave it his all in ying the flute.

    <em>Diriririri~</em>

    <em>[The Transcendental¡¯s Flute can summon any of your vassals or summons and bring them into the Fortress of the Transcendental¡¯s Fantasy!]</em>

    A bright light shed in front of the Transcendentals. When the light faded away, they were greeted by the sight of those that Minhyuk had summoned.

    The first one they saw was a human stretched out and sleepingfortably. He<em>looked</em>like a human, but countless roots were growing all over his body. This was none other than the Great Spirit of Earth, Rend.

    Then, the white and fluffy wolf pup was curled up right on top of Rend¡¯s belly. The wolf pup raised its cute paws and rubbed its face as it yawned and rumbled.

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    The Transcendentals looked confused. However, the confusion continued. A presence caught the attention of everyone present. This being was curled up like a shrimp and lying snuggly on Rend¡¯s arm.

    ¡°<em>Oink- oink, oink¨C oiiiiiink...</em>¡±

    His snout and mouth twitched asionally as if he was eating something in his sleep. He even scratched his butt, his face contorting into what seemed like pain. It seemed like his stomach was feeling a tad bit ufortable.

    <em>Poot¨C!!!</em>

    After releasing a loud and resounding fart, the guy chuckled in his sleep.

    "Oiink... (<em>He...</em>)¡±

    The Transcendentals were all left speechless.

    <em>¡®Are these guys the ones that will turn the fortress¡¯ barrennd into fertilend...?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®We¡¯re doomed. We¡¯re all going to die here of hunger.¡¯</em>

    ***

    Minhyuk brought along the talents that would pioneer thends inside the Fortress of the Transcendental¡¯s Fantasy with him. He toured the barrennds that they would turn into fertilends with them.

    <em>¡®They are all very reliablerades.¡¯</em>

    Rumble, the Spirit of Life, possessed the skill called ¡®Seed Creation.¡¯ This skill would benefit them, especially since the fortress would always reject seeds from the outside world. Not only that, this skill also allowed Rumble to create a variety of seeds, including sweet potatoes, potatoes, onions, green onions, watermelons, and many more. Rumble could create seeds that would produce whatever it was that he wanted. So, if Rumble wanted it, he could make meat grow from the seed he created.

    <em>Scratch, scratch¨C</em>

    Then, there was the Great Spirit of the Earth Rend. Although he looked a bit stupid scratching the back of his head like that, he was most definitely the Great Spirit of the Earth.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s no way that Rend, someone with the power to rule and govern the earth, would not be able to turn a barrennd into a fertile one.¡¯</em>

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Pickaxe that Can Make Any Land Fertile</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: God</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: Level 500 or higher. The one that received the approval of the Great Spirit of Earth.</em>

    <strong><em>Durability</em></strong><em>: ¡Þ / ¡Þ</em>

    <strong><em>Attack Power</em></strong><em>: 650</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?The DEX stat will triple.</em>

    <em>?Crop yield will increase by 60%.</em>

    <em>?Vitality will increase by 30%.</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Cry, Pickaxe.</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Unconditional Harvest</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: The One that Rules the Earth</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Barren Land into Fertile Land</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Swift Pickaxing</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Crops with Good vor and Abilities</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: This is the pickaxe owned by the Great Spirit of the Earth Rend. This pickaxe can turn any barrennd into fertilend and allow seeds to grow even in the driest and most barrennd.</em>

    But the most important part was this: Minhyuk was confident about turning any barrennd into a fertile one because he had this God-rank pickaxe, which Rend once owned.

    After clicking on the detailed exnation of the barrennd, he could see the words ¡®Land Recovery Rate¡¯ among them. Thend recovery rate was a stat that only existed in barrennds where no crops could ever grow. Only if they could bring thend recovery rate to 100% would they be able to transform the barrennd into fertilend.

    Minhyuk stood before a patch of barrennd and swung the Pickaxe that Can Make Any Land Fertile with all his might.

    <em>Thuuuuuud¨C</em>

    <em>[Recovery has increased by 0.3%.]</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    A small smile appeared on Minhyuk¡¯s face, which also promptly disappeared.

    <em>[Recovery has returned to 0%.]</em>

    <em>[The soil that made up thends of the Fortress of the Transcendental¡¯s Fantasy is an ancient cursed soil!]</em>

    <em>[No one has sessfully turned thesends into fertilends!]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Simply put, even if Minhyuk used the Pickaxe that Can Make Any Land Fertile and recovered some of thend, it would still return to its original state. But who was Minhyuk? He was someone that would never give up. He quickly struck the ground in front of him in quick session.

    <em>[Recovery has increased by 0.3%.]</em>

    <em>[Recovery has increased by 0.3%.]</em>

    <em>[Recovery has returned to 0%.]</em>

    <em>[Recovery has increased by 0.3%.]</em>

    <em>[Recovery has returned to 0%.]</em>

    <em>[Recovery...]</em>

    <em>[...returned...]</em>

    Then, Minhyuk¡¯s pinnacle passive skill, which he created bybining Divine Will and Lightning, was triggered.

    <em>[Striking Will.]</em>

    <em>[One strike bes fourteen!]</em>

    <em>[Your DEX will increase by 20%. All of your stats will increase by 6%!]</em>

    <em>[The effect willst for seven seconds.]</em>

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud¨C!</em>

    <em>[Recovery has increased by 1.3%.]</em>

    <em>[Recovery has returned to 0.4%.]</em>

    "Rend! Come and help me!¡±

    Rend was the Great Spirit of the Earth. Even if he used an ordinary pickaxe, he could still turn any barrennd into fertilend.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud¨C!</em>

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud¨C!</em>

    The two of them began to hit the ground with their pickaxes with all their might. Even Beanie, who looked like he could not bear to watch them do it like this, grabbed a pickaxe and joined them. The three of them hit the ground like crazy for one straight hour.

    <em>[The Recovery Rate has been fixed at 0.9%!]</em>

    <em>[If you don¡¯t hit the ground with your pickaxe within ten minutes, the Recovery Rate will return to 0%!]</em>

    This was the worst of all the trials and gates that required intensebor that Minhyuk had done so far. And to think that Minhyuk had Striking Will with him this time around, too.

    "If you take a breather, the recovery rate will return to 0%...¡±

    Minhyuk held his pickaxe and stood there for a long time without doing anything. Seeing him like that, the Transcendentals approached him one after the other.

    "Do you understand now? It¡¯s impossible. This is also why we promised to give you such huge rewards,¡± Nekk said.

    Those who hadn¡¯t experienced it would say that turning this barrennd into fertilend was easy. Minhyuk firmly believed he could do it since he believed in the name of the Food God, the Pickaxe that Can Make Any Land Fertile, and the Great Spirit of the Earth Rend. However, the Transcendentals knew he would give up from fear once he experienced it, just like they gave up on growing and eating something delicious from thesends.

    "You should go back to yournd now. Let us meet once you have crossed over the wall,¡± Nekk said as he turned around to leave. Bender and the other Transcendentals also agreed, although they looked very bitter.

    But then Minhyuk said, ¡°If I can do this, will that make me a ¡®Transcendental,¡¯too?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Nekk turned to look at Minhyuk, who was smiling faintly at them.

    "If I achieve something you have given up on, then doesn¡¯t that mean I will also be a Transcendental?¡±

    Nekk¡¯s pupils shook and trembled. He could see the willingness and will to do it underneath the small and faint smile on Minhyuk.

    What was a Transcendental? The original Transcendentals'' strength came from the blood they were born with. But, of course, they also knew the meaning of transcendence.

    <em>[A small human and god has reminded you anew of the meaning of transcendence!]</em>

    <em>[If he can achieve what you can¡¯t, then you will have to acknowledge his ¡®transcendence¡¯ and apud him for his efforts!]</em>

    "I will do it. I will give it my all. That¡¯s why I ask you with all due respect...¡± Minhyuk turned to look at Nekk and said, ¡°Can you please fix my armor? So that all of my efforts will not be in vain?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Nekk felt his heart thump wildly.

    <em>[A small human and god is suggesting a deal with you!]</em>

    The man in front of Nekk asked him to give it his all in fixing his armor, just like he would give it his all for them. So, Nekk answered, ¡°I promise you. I will make sure to pay back your hard work and effort.¡±

    <em>[Transcendental Nekk puts his name on the line and promises you!]</em>

    <em>[He will put everything on the line so your efforts will not be in vain!]</em>

    It was quite a strange feeling. One look at the man¡¯s eyes, and he felt he could trust and count on him.

    Bender and the other Transcendentals turned to look at Nekk and asked, ¡°Nekk, do you think he will be able to do it?¡±

    "We¡¯ll just have to wait and see.¡±

    That was right. All they could do was watch. Nekk watched as Minhyuk and his vassals gathered to eat the dish Minhyuk had prepared. After eating, they all stood up and swung their pickaxes with all their might. He stood there and watched them work.

    Day one. The skin on Minhyuk¡¯s palms started to peel off. However, he pped on a bandage and continued swinging his pickaxe.

    Day two. The baby piggy, turning thend with them, fell. He could no longer endure the hard and strenuousbor that they were doing.

    Day three. Even the human with roots growing all over his body fell and copsed.

    Just like that, the sun rose and set. The day turned into night, turning into day and night again. However, no matter how many times the days changed, one light did not go out. And that was the light of the will flowing out of Minhyuk¡¯s eyes.

    Day four. All of the Transcendentals stood beside Nekk and watched him work.

    Day five. Minhyuk almost copsed from exhaustion. However, he was able to continue standing, staggering on his feet, but still eventually able to ovee his fatigue.

    Day six.

    Minhyuk might have been exhausted, but his eyes were still filled with vitality.

    It was day seven. On this day, Bender told him, ¡°You can stop now. Why are you doing this?¡±

    Minhyuk continued to swing his pickaxe as he answered, ¡°Because I have been there. I was hungry.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    "I know how terrible it is. I know how it feels to be hungry to the point that one wants to die!¡±

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud¨C!</em>

    Day eight.

    Day nine.

    The Transcendentals stood there and pondered deeply about the man¡¯s thinking.

    Day eleven.

    Day twelve.

    Day thirteen.

    Moisture slowly started to appear in the once dry and barrennd.

    Day fourteen.

    Day fifteen.

    Sprouts started to grow in thend where nothing had ever grown before.

    Day sixteen.

    Day seventeen.

    The man who carried a<em>¡®Transcendental¡¯</em>Will made thend before them bear fruit.

    <em>[A small human and god has reminded you, the ¡®Transcendentals,¡¯ anew of the meaning of transcendence and created a new name carrying transcendence in front of you!]</em>

    <em>[The Transcendence that he has created is the Effort and Will to Never Back Down or Give Up!]</em>

    <em>[His transcendence is so great and noble that no one can overlook and belittle him!]</em>

 Chapter 911

    Chapter 911

    Hunger. It was something that Minhyuk was very familiar with. He, out of all people, was fully aware of how painful hunger was. It was so painful to the point that he felt like he could shove anything that he could get his hands on down his throat.

    <em>If I give up everything and die, would I be able to escape this terrible hell?</em>Minhyuk was just a human being. He once had a moment when he felt like dying and almost gave up on everything.

    Then, he appeared in front of the Transcendentals.

    <em>¡®The next few decades... perhaps a few hundreds of years...¡¯</em>

    He could tell that the Transcendentals had been suffering from hunger for a long,<em>long</em>time. Minhyuk could also tell that they would give it their all if he gave it his all for them.

    <em>Thud¨C!</em>

    <em>Thuuuuud¨C!</em>

    <em>Thuuuuuuuud¨C!</em>

    That was why he never gave up and never backed down. Even if he was about to keel over from exhaustion, he continued to swing his pickaxe and endured, with only his indomitable will powering him through. He continued to work for one, two, three, four, five, eleven, twelve, thirteen, and fifteen days. He only worked hard for fifteen days, but all of this effort would ensure that these people would be full and satiated for a very long time.

    <em>Thuuuuuuuud¨C!</em>

    Moisture began to appear in the barrennd¡¯s soil.

    <em>Thuuuud¨C!</em>

    Tiny sprouts began to grow in the soil.

    <em>Thuuuuud¨C!</em>

    Finally, all of his efforts came to fruition.

    <em>[The barrennd of the Fortress of the Transcendental¡¯s Fantasy has turned into fertilend!]</em>

    <em>[You can now grow any seed in thesends!]</em>

    <em>[You have reminded and imprinted what ¡®transcendence¡¯ truly means in the minds of the Transcendentals!]</em>

    <em>[The transcendence you have imprinted upon them is the transcendence of ¡®Will¡¯ and ¡®Effort¡¯!]</em>

    After hearing these notifications, Minhyuk copsed from exhaustion. He fainted after murmuring, ¡°I did it!¡±

    ***

    Nekk was extremely against Minhyuk¡¯s entrance to the Fortress of the Transcendental¡¯s Fantasy. However, despite his negative perception, Minhyuk remained steadfast and strong. He even served them some warm and delicious chicken porridge. When Minhyuk was left startled, and in a daze after using his pickaxe for an hour or so, Nekk advised him to give up and return.

    But Minhyuk told them that he would do it. He would do it, so he asked Nekk to make armor for him with as much effort as he used for them. And Nekk, who denied his qualifications when he first saw him and advised him to give up when they finally met, agreed.

    Nekk watched Minhyuk work for one day, two days, three days, four days, and thought,<em>¡®I did not know a thing about him, but I said that he did not have any qualifications and did not deserve to enter this ce.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I told him that he would never be able to turn the barrennd into fertilend.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I have been watching you.¡¯</em>

    He made two mistakes, but he also made a promise to him after that. At this moment, Nekk felt his heart grow warm. He watched him, who never gave up, and cheered him on.

    After looking at him for a long time, Nekk moved forward and picked up Minhyuk, who had fallen asleep on the ground. Then, he said, ¡°I promise you. I will do my best and work as much as you have worked for us.¡±

    Nekk was a man of his word. It was one of his strongest points.

    At that moment, he heard Minhyuk mutter, ¡°Hmm. Mountain Ore doenjang jjigae. Yummy...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Nekk decided to pretend that he did not hear that.

    ***

    Minhyuk woke up on Transcendental Bender¡¯s bed. Bender, who sat before him, said, ¡°As promised, I will tell you the story about the child named Ruffiso.¡±

    <em>[You can now watch the video of the story of the Leader¡¯s Child.]</em>

    <em>[If you do not wish to watch it, you can just say ¡®Decline.¡¯]</em>

    Minhyuk did not even hesitate. He said, ¡°ept.¡±

    Immediately after that, the scene in front of him changed. It showed a vige as Bender¡¯s voice started the narration of the story about Ruffiso¡¯s birth.

    <em>[There were no rules in the first Transcendentals¡¯ Vige. Most of the people who lived there were extremely arrogant. No man could everpare with them. Among the people who lived in the Transcendentals¡¯ Vige was a woman named ine.]</em>

    <em>[ine was the most beautiful and the wisest woman in the vige. She insisted on making rules. However, even after countless arguments, many still denied and refused her proposal. Then, one day, he appeared.]</em>

    <em>[He was the strongest Transcendental in the vige. And he was in favor of ine¡¯s suggestion to make rules. The two immediately began to make rules.]</em>

    <em>[The fights slowly started to dwindle, and the vige regained its peace and tranquility. If someone tried to cause trouble and break the rules, Gerram, the strongest, would stop them.]</em>

    The vige that was once filled with fighting every single day slowly disappeared. It was reced with a peaceful and tranquil vige.

    <em>[But one day, she descended upon the earth.]</em>

    It was Immortal Sorceress Helenia.

    <em>[She started killing the humans and even the gods who tried to stop her non-stop. Her existence threatened the survival of the entire world. And our leaders? They looked for ways to stop her.]</em>

    <em>[At that moment, a very reckless Transcendental suddenly made a move.]</em>

    That Transcendental¡¯s name was Bender.

    <em>[Yes, that was me. Gerram createdw and order in the vige, but as time went by, I grew stronger. I grew to the point that I surpassed Gerram in his heyday. And I have done something reckless and stupid that affected all gods, humans, and Transcendentals.]</em>

    The scene in front of Minhyuk changed. It showed Bender running away with two of Helenia¡¯s ores in his hands.

    <em>[But because of my reckless act, Helenia grew weaker, and her tyrannical acts slowly died down. The next thing that we did was exactly as you know it. We sealed the Mountain Ore using a sealing stone and turned the Sun¡¯s Ore into the Sun¡¯s Salt. I thought everything would be over after that.]</em>

    The scene now showed ine holding her newborn child and looking at him with love and adoration. Gerram stood beside her, carefully caressing the child¡¯s head with a loving smile.

    "He¡¯s the only child born among the Transcendentals.¡±

    Gerramughed when he heard ine¡¯s words: ¡°This child will grow to be a wise and strong man who will lead the Transcendentals as their leader. I¡¯ve already thought of a name for this child.¡±

    "What is it?¡±

    "Ruffiso.¡±

    ¡°...It¡¯s a good name.¡±

    The two smiled at each other.

    <em>[Their happiness was short-lived. Helenia came after me and followed me, the one who stole her ores, to the Transcendentals Vige.]</em>

    The scene changed once again. Although Helenia had lost two of her ores and had considerably weakened, she still possessed a power that no Transcendental could resist. However, ine, Gerram, and the rest of the Transcendentals confronted her.

    <em>[We fought for days on end.]</em>

    <em>Rumbleeeee¨C</em>

    A thick bolt of lightning fell from the sky. The Transcendentals immediately fought back and blocked the bolts of lightning that fell one after another. Then, at that moment, Helenia waved her staff and released a bright light as she unleashed hundreds of magical attacks upon them.

    However, the Transcendentals were no pushover. They were also strong. They would lift a gigantic shield to prevent her magic or use a spear to stab Helenia. They would also sometimes unleash powerful spells to confront Helenia¡¯s own.

    <em>[However, as time went by, we realized that we were going to ¡®lose.¡¯]</em>

    But at the moment before they sealed Helenia, her powers seemed to have gone beyond their imaginations.

    <em>[She was the epitome of the word disaster. I felt frustrated. This was the consequence of my reckless and stupid actions.]</em>

    Bender¡¯s voice sounded bitter. But the humans and gods could survive thanks to his reckless and stupid actions.

    <em>[In the end, they made a decision.]</em>

    The Transcendentals continued to die one after another as they continued to fight against Helenia. The scene changed once again. This time, it showed Gerram and ine with blood dripping all over their bodies. The two were rushing into the house where their child was.

    "Uwaa! Uwaa! Uwaa! Uwaa!¡±

    They looked at the crying child. Gerram forced a smile on his face and told his crying child, ¡°Don¡¯t cry, Ruffiso.¡±

    ine reached out and held Ruffiso tightly. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m so sorry, Ruffiso... I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    They knew that there was only one way for them to save Ruffiso. But this method made the two feel heartbroken. ine gently caressed Ruffiso¡¯s small head as tears started to drip down her cheeks.

    "Ruffiso... Mommy loves you very,<em>very</em>much.¡±

    "We don¡¯t have any more time.¡±

    ine lowered her trembling lips and gently kissed Ruffiso¡¯s forehead while Gerram hung the small ss bottle containing the Sun¡¯s Salt on his son''s neck.

    "The angels will take you to a safe ce where Helenia cannot find you. Time will stop for you in that world. Ruffiso, I hope you can be a good leader.¡± Gerram stroked his son¡¯s head sadly.

    A basket appeared and carried Ruffiso immediately after the couple gave their order.

    <em>Crack¨C</em>

    The basket slowly ascended until it passed the ceiling that Gerram had pierced and broken earlier. The couple could not take their eyes off Ruffiso as the child slowly disappeared.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¨C</em>

    At the same time, a huge explosion erupted and blew the cabin and the couple away.

    <em>[The two Transcendentals knew that they would die soon. They had to send their beloved child, Ruffiso, away.]</em>

    "Bastards! Is that your child?! Will you only tell me the location where the ores are if I tear that child apart, huh?!¡±

    Helenia was cruel and vicious. She went so far as to go after the child ascending to the sky. However, Gerram and ine would not let her. They held onto her and stopped her from moving.

    "Go, Ruffiso.¡±

    The video continued to show the battle where the two Transcendentals fought desperately so that Helenia could not touch the child. Even if their heads got smashed to the ground, they stood back up and held onto Helenia. They even went so far as to hug her ankles to stop her. Even when their arms were broken, and their entire bodies were torn and ripped apart, they continued to fight to protect their child from Helenia.

    <em>[Back then, they told us to run away.]</em>

    Bender took the other Transcendentals and fled from the vige at the sacrifice of their leaders. Once the two Transcendentals confirmed that Ruffiso had safely disappeared from the vige, they allowed the mes to burn through them. Even until the moment of their deaths, their eyes looked bitterly at the ce where Ruffiso had disappeared.

    Then, the notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The secret of the birth of Duke Ruffiso has been revealed!]</em>

    <em>[You havepleted the</em><strong><em>Sudden Quest</em></strong><em>: The Secret of the Birth of Duke Ruffiso!]</em>

    <em>Crackle¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk, who had been watching the video from the third person¡¯s point of view, appeared on the video with the ¡®Something that He was Chasing¡¯ in his arms. The old book flew away from his hold and burned. Then, the entire world turned white. In that world, Duke Ruffiso, wearing an all-white ensemble, appeared before Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®Ruffiso hated and resented his parents for abandoning him even until his death.¡¯</em>

    But Ruffiso¡¯s parents fought desperately to protect him. They only sumbed to their deaths after confirming that Ruffiso had disappeared safely. It was clear that they loved Ruffiso dearly. And Ruffiso? He was already a dead man. Minhyuk could see that there was no longer any resentment or regret in his eyes.

    Ruffiso smiled softly and turned around. There, where he was headed, was ine, his mother. She smiled warmly at him as she held the hands of his father, Gerram. Then, Gerram raised his free hand and waved at Ruffiso. Ruffiso smiled brightly as he ran towards his parents.

    Minhyuk triggered the Battle God¡¯s Voice as he watched Ruffiso¡¯s back.

    <em>[The brightest and most brilliant star finally returns to heaven.]</em>

    Just like how Ruffiso did not hold any grudge towards him, he did not have any grudge or resentment.

    Ruffiso, finally back in his parents'' arms, turned to look back at Minhyuk with a bright smile. Then, with a sh of light, their family slowly disappeared.

    <em>[You have received Duke Ruffiso¡¯s acknowledgment and recognition.]</em>

    <em>[The restriction on the Star¡¯s Armor has disappeared!]</em>

    <em>[The Star¡¯s Armor can only be disassembled and assembled by someone you have chosen and designated!]</em>

    Thus, Minhyuk possessed two outstandingponents: the Star¡¯s Armor Set, which could now be disassembled and assembled, and ¡®Nekk,¡¯ who would try his best.

 Chapter 912

    Chapter 912

    Nekk was the most outstanding cksmith among the three Albraim cksmiths and the best among all of the Transcendentals. His special powers were the main reason why he was viewed favorably.

    "Are you going to summon the Forge¡¯s Hellfire?¡±

    Nekk nodded, his face remaining nonchnt toward the concerns of the other Transcendentals.

    "Nekk, wouldn¡¯t it be hard for you?¡±

    "I can do it. After all, I also carry<em>¡®Transcendence¡¯</em>in my name.¡±

    Nekk was the only cksmith who could summon the Forge¡¯s Hellfire. Whenever the forge''s hellfire was summoned, the surrounding area''s temperature increased to ny degrees. Not only did he have to endure that heat, but he also had to endure the zing mes, which were as hot asva and erupted every once in a while.

    Nekk was the only one who could melt iron and forge using the Hellfire from the Forge¡¯s Hellfire. As the maker, he would have to endure extreme pain and be extremely hard to move. However, the results would be outstanding.

    The Transcendentals looked at Nekk as he held the hammer in his hands. None of them asked him,<em>¡®Why are you willing to go that far?¡¯</em>

    He was Nekk. They also knew how hard Minhyuk had worked for them.

    While the other Transcendentals were talking, Bender and Minhyuk came out of one of the cabins together. Nekk immediately went to Minhyuk and tried to get the man''s armor so he could start working. But Minhyuk stopped him and handed over another set of armor. The armor was none other than the Star¡¯s Armor Set, a set that wasplete with armor, pauldrons, a helmet, and a pair of boots.

    "If you dismantle this armor set, can you use the materials from here and make an armor that is better than the armor that I¡¯m wearing?¡±

    This was Nekk¡¯s most significant concern. He wanted to give Minhyuk a good present, but the fortress had a severe shortage of good materials.

    A master craftsman would never depend on or me the materials he used. However, no matter how outstanding they were, they would not be able to produce high-quality equipment with just normal materials. However, it was also true that the Transcendental Nekk could make God-rank artifacts from legendary-rank materials.

    Nekk quickly checked the details of the armor that Minhyuk handed over to him.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Star¡¯s te Armor</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: God</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: Level 700. The One that Received Ruffiso¡¯s Recognition.</em>

    <strong><em>Durability</em></strong><em>: ?¡Þ / ¡Þ</em>

    <strong><em>Defensive Power</em></strong><em>: 2,004</em>

    <strong><em>Special Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?All of your stats will increase by +26%</em>

    <em>?Your Magical Defensive Power will double</em>

    <em>?Your Skill Attack Power will increase by 1.2x</em>

    <em>?Upon equipment, the armor will only feel as if you¡¯re wearing 500g light armor.</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: The Unapproachable One</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Rising Star</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: This is te armor made by the God of cksmiths for one of the Stars of the Luvien Empire, Ruffiso. It is made from the best materials that the Luvien Empire sourced and transported worldwide. When wearing the rest of the Star¡¯s Armor Set, You Can Obtain the Artifact Set Effect.</em>

    ¡°...?!¡±

    Nekk¡¯s eyes grew wide when he saw the description written under the Star¡¯s te Armor. Even someone like Nekk, who had seen many outstanding armor, could tell that it was amazing.

    <em>¡®The materials are ridiculously amazing.¡¯</em>

    One of the materials used on this armor was the<em>¡®Wind¡¯s Feather.¡¯</em>The Wind¡¯s Feather was extremely hard to forge and integrate into an artifact. However, if applied sessfully, the weight of a full-te armor, which usually exceeds six kilograms, would be reduced by a significant amount.

    Although a full-te armor could provide high defensive power and protect all of the artifact user¡¯s vital points, it was cumbersome, which made it more of a burden and a penalty to the one that equipped it.

    However, this armor only weighed 500 grams. From what Nekk could tell, it had the highest defensive power among all the armor he had seen before. Nekk was even rendered speechless after checking the boots and the helmet.

    <em>¡®This armor is truly made with excellent materials.¡¯</em>

    To be honest, Nekk also wanted to praise the<em>¡°human¡±</em>who created a set artifact using materials like that. But that was all there was to it.

    <em>¡®Because he was a human, he could only use the materials to this level,¡¯</em>Nekk concluded.

    There was also one thing to note: the set artifact effects that would be triggered when wearing all of the artifacts together.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>When Star¡¯s Armor Set is Equipped</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Set Effects:</em></strong>

    <em>?Your CHA will increase by 2,000.</em>

    <em>?Your Defensive Power will increase by 700.</em>

    <em>?All of your stats will increase by 10%.</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: The One that Walks the Path of the Stars.</em>

    <em>?The weight of the entire armor set will only be at 100 grams.</em>

    Nekk was quite impressed. After checking the ughterer¡¯s Armor, he quickly began to imagine a design.

    <em>¡®I can use this material to supplement this part. This part can be discarded.¡¯</em>

    However, there was one problem.

    <em>¡®The requirements are already set. Even if I make a new armor out of the ughterer¡¯s Armor and the Star¡¯s Armor Set, I don¡¯t think he will be able to equip it immediately.¡¯</em>

    This was the thing that Nekk was stuck on. But Nekk smiled not long after.

    <em>¡®As long as I work hard, my efforts will definitely bear fruit, just like they did with yours.¡¯</em>

    Nekk looked at Minhyuk and said, ¡°I will do my best.¡±

    "Thank you.¡±

    Nekk, who received everything he needed, slowly walked toward the smithy.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¨C</em>

    Then, a zing hellfire rose from the depths of the forge and lit up the entire smithy. The mes flew out and surrounded Nekk, who was approaching the smithy''s doors.

    <em>[The Forge¡¯s Hellfire has been triggered!]</em>

    <em>[Only if you sessfully produce an artifact or die will you be able to escape the mes of the Forge¡¯s Hellfire and leave this smithy!]</em>

    <em>[The zing and intense mes of the Forge¡¯s Hellfire will not affect your vitality and life. However, you will feel a burning heat that will bother you while working!]</em>

    <em>[Once you enter the smithy, you can control all the mes of the Forge¡¯s Hellfire and start making the artifacts!]</em>

    <em>[Artifacts made with the Forge¡¯s Hellfire will have effects that are 10% stronger than usual!]</em>

    <em>aaaaang¨C!</em>

    The most outstanding cksmith among the Transcendentals, Nekk, raised his hammer and hit the materials as hard as he could as he tried to create a new armor set using the Star¡¯s Armor Set and the ughterer¡¯s Armor.

    ***

    The Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s conference room was almost turned upside down with themotion.

    President Kang Taehoon stared at Nekk through the monitor. He thought,<em>¡®It¡¯s already been four days. He has been working non-stop to dismantle those artifacts. He¡¯s even forgoing sleep.¡¯</em>

    He could not help but be in awe of his mental strength. Finally, he finished dismantling the artifact.

    <em>[The Star¡¯s Armor Set has been sessfully dismantled!]</em>

    <em>[With the Transcendental¡¯s tenacity, passion, skill, and meticulousness, the material¡¯s damage rate is only 8%!]</em>

    When dismantling an artifact, most cksmith yers had a 50% or more damage rate. This just shows how great a cksmith Nekk was.

    Meanwhile, the executives mored to voice their opinions.

    "Please look at this! Nekk has dismantled this artifact and extracted outstanding materials with minimal damage rates!¡±

    "The materials are extremely outstanding! Even the guy who handles the materials is also outstanding! Whatever armor is produced will definitely upset the bnce of the game!¡±

    The conference room was in such a messy state because everyone was concerned about the bnce break that Minhyuk was about to make.

    One of the key figures, Manager Kim Dae-Il, said, ¡°There are more than 2,400 articles and over 3,000 phone calls about how yer Minhyuk could cause a bnce break in just one day. We need to restrict the production of that artifact right away.¡±

    The discussions about how Minhyuk always caused a bnce break never stopped. This was a never-ending problem for them, too. Why? The more outstanding the artifacts that Minhyuk acquired, the more high-quality artifacts they had to release in the market to ensure that the bnce would be maintained to some extent.

    Because of that, the difference between the rankers and the ordinary yers also became more prominent. This was mainly because the items that they originally expected to appear only a year or twoter had already been released.

    "Athenae is the yers¡¯ world. We cannot intervene,¡± Team Leader Park Minggyu said.

    Manager Kim Dae-Il and Team Leader Park Minggyu¡¯s opinions were shing since earlier. And President Kang Taehoon? He fully understood everyone¡¯s opinion.

    <em>¡®This is a scenario we only expected to happen a yearter.¡¯</em>

    <em>[Crackleeeeee¨C!]</em>

    Nekk worked on the bellows as he controlled the whirling mes of the Forge¡¯s Hellfire and sent them straight to the furnace.

    <em>[aaang¨C!]</em>

    <em>[aaang¨C!]</em>

    <em>[aaang¨C!]</em>

    <em>[The Transcendental¡¯s Crazy Tenacity has been triggered!]</em>

    <em>[His tenacity will help him create a more outstanding artifact than any other!]</em>

    <em>[Right now, a Transcendental is transcending his limits!]</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Everyone was rendered speechless, but they soon began another round of bickering and arguing. After the meeting ended, they all left work. But when they came back the next day, they continued to argue over the same matter. And just like yesterday, the same notifications rang in their ears.

    <em>[The Transcendental¡¯s Crazy Tenacity has been triggered!]</em>

    <em>[His tenacity will help him create a more outstanding artifact than any other!]</em>

    <em>[Right now, a Transcendental is transcending his limits!]</em>

    Manager Kim Dae-Il said, ¡°Please look at this. If things continue at this rate, an extremely outstanding armor set that no one could beat or steal will appear. We must put a Level 800 requirement at least before he can equip it!¡±

    Manager Kim Dae-Il firmly believed that the bnce in Athenae needed to be adjusted so that all yers could love the game for a very long time. However, President Kang Taehoon, who was watching the monitor in a daze, was of a different mind.

    "How many days has it been? How many days has Nekk been working inside that smithy and controlling the Forge¡¯s Hellfire?¡±

    "He has been working for around eight days in-game time.¡±

    "Is that so? Then, what do you think about this cksmith named Nekk?¡±

    <em>[aaaaaaang¨C!]</em>

    <em>[Crackleeeeeee¨C!]</em>

    <em>[aaaaaaang¨C!]</em>

    <em>[Crackleeeeeee¨C!]</em>

    Nekk¡¯s HP would not decrease even if he were inside the mes of the Forge¡¯s Hellfire. However, he had to suffer from the heat of the fire, around eighty degrees in temperature, which continued to burn and lick his skin. But that was not all.

    "I think it¡¯s amazing that he can continue to swing his hammer and do cksmithing work for eight straight days without a wink of sleep.¡±

    "Transcendental. He deserves that name.¡±

    "That¡¯s right. No sane man will swing his hammer and do cksmithing work for eight straight days, no?¡±

    "From what I know, the Transcendental¡¯s Tenacity that Nekk has triggered several times in a row has the power to clear his mind. This allowed him to work without sleeping. However, I think he is still amazing for persevering for that long.¡±

    For now, the executives stopped throwing their opinions around to sing praises for Nekk.

    ¡°...I see. As expected.¡± Kang Taehoon smiled.

    He was also conflicted after watching the men under him argue and sh in this meeting room. But now, he was sure of the decision that he had to make.

    "Athenae is a world created by yers.¡±

    <em>[aaaaaang¨C!]</em>

    Nekk continued to swing his hammer, and the artifacts that he was making finally started to take shape.

    "So, there will be no bnce adjustment on this artifact. I want to respect his efforts as much as possible.¡±

    <em>[Crackleeeeee¨C!]</em>

    One by one, the artifacts appeared from within the zing mes.

    <em>Drip, drip¨C</em>

    Sweat started to drip down Nekk¡¯s forehead.

    "Didn¡¯t you say that Nekk is amazing?¡± President Kang Taehoon asked as he made eye contact with the executives, who were moring for bnce adjustment.

    All of them nodded.

    Unless they had permission, none of the people present here, including President Kang Taehoon, could check the footage of the yers that the Special yers Management Team was monitoring. One reason the executives needed explicit permission to check it was that a yer¡¯s ying time was a private matter that no one should be able to check at any given moment.

    "Is there anyone here who can achieve what Nekk is currently doing?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    The executives were all sessful people. They spent several days and nights, with only naps powering them, just to make Athenae. However, none of them could reach that level.

    <em>[aaaaang¨C!]</em>

    <em>[aaaaaaaaaaang¨C!]</em>

    The ng of the hammer rang in the conference room and made their hearts beat wildly.

    President Kang Taehoon continued to stare at the monitor and said, ¡°yer Minhyuk swung his pickaxe for fifteen straight days to turn the fortress¡¯ barrennd into fertilend.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    The executives looked at Kang Taehoon in confusion. They knew that Minhyuk was a master of diligence and could work non-stop even though it was just repetitivebor. However, wasn¡¯t that just some kind of rumor? An unfounded myth?

    "President. It¡¯s still a bit too much, don¡¯t you think so...?¡± Manager Kim Dae-Il said. He was thinking that it was still a bit too much.

    "Team Leader Park, show them the video. I¡¯ll take responsibility.¡±

    Team Leader Park Minggyu took out a USB and connected it to the screen. Then, the screen split in two. One half showed Nekk, while the other showed what Minhyuk had done recently. Team Leader Park clicked on something and set the video speed on the video showing Minhyuk at 128x.

    Like that, they watched as one day, two days, three days, four days, five days, six days, and eleven days passed. Minhyuk would only asionally leave his pickaxe to the baby piggy or the Great Spirit of the Earth Rend. He would use that time to take an hour-long nap before getting up and working on the field once again.

    The executives were speechless as they watched the sweat soak Minhyuk¡¯s body. Their lips turned dry as they continued to watch him with admiration.

    "Are you telling me this will cause the bnce to copse?¡±

    Everyone continued to stare at the videos side by side on the gigantic screen when they heard Kang Taehoon¡¯s words. The other side showed Nekk, now on the verge ofpleting the artifact.

    "Is there anyone who can do what yer Minhyuk has done?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    "Or is anyone among the jealous yers who keep moring about bnce copse capable of doing something like that?¡±

    None of them could answer.

    "What should we do if the bnce copsed because a yer did his best and gave it his all?¡±

    At that moment, the screen showed Nekk and the mes that licked the artifacts he was working on.

    <em>[Vwooooooooooooooong¨C!]</em>

    The mes shot up to the sky. And with the touch of Nekk¡¯s hands, the fire that rose to the sky slowly seeped into the artifacts. And when the fire cleared, the artifacts he had made from the materials he disassembled from the Star¡¯s Armor Set and the ughterer¡¯s Armor revealed itself.

    "It¡¯s simple.¡±

    Warning notifications blinked non-stop, turning the screen in front of them red.

    <em>[Transcendental Nekk has sessfully created a masterpiece that surpasses all the masterpieces he had made with his hands before!]</em>

    "He¡¯s cool. He deserves it. We have to acknowledge that fact.¡±

    President Kang Taehoon smiled as he looked at the executives who had been left in a daze while watching Nekk¡¯s video.

    "That¡¯s the only thing we can do for yer Minhyuk.¡±

 Chapter 913

    Chapter 913

    Manager Kim Dae-Il was one of the pioneer members of Joy Co. Ltd., who made Athenae what it was. He was one of the few people who could insist on and push his opinion regarding Athenae to his boss, President Kang Taehoon. He often shed and argued with the man. But Dae-Il knew that President Kang Taehoon was also just a human being. There were also times when he agreed with the mans opinion.

    Although Dae-Il often argued with the president, this did not mean he hated him. For the first time in a long while, Manager Kim Dae-Il felt warmth gushing in his chest.

    Hes cool. He deserves it. We have to acknowledge that fact.

    <em>Bathump, bathump, bathump</em>

    Thats the only thing we can do for yer Minhyuk.

    The remodeled armor set appeared on the monitor in front of them while yer Minhyuk, who had worked hard for fifteen days, continued to y on the side. Manager Kim Dae-Il, who mored for a quick patch because of a suspected bnce break, could no longer insist on it.

    <em>Is there someone that can still curse and mock a yer like that?</em>

    Many were already aware of how hardworking yer Minhyuk was. However, his effort and willingness to work were so great that everyone here could only stare at the screen in admiration.

    <em>Im a bit jealous. Is there any other young man out there that has this much passion and could work this hard?</em>

    At this moment, Manager Kim Dae-Il realized that they genuinely could not put a heavier restriction on yer Minhyuks artifacts. Even so, they still had a huge problem to deal with.

    When ites to high rankers, especially in yer Minhyuks case, everything bes a big deal. Even a haircut that chops off two centimeters of their hair could also be a huge issue when ites to them.

    This was the truth. So, if the armor set that yer Minhyuk was wearing changed, then yers andizens would continuously talk about his armor and artifacts. And it would grow worse once Minhyuk disyed a fantastic performance using that armor.

    Because of that, the other yers will point fingers again. They will criticize both yer Minhyuk and us for another bnce break because yer Minhyuk obtained a set of outstanding armor.

    Manager Kim Dae-Il had now switched positions. He now wanted to protect Minhyuk from maliciousments. That was why he brought these words to the table.

    Once he disyed the amazing power of his armor, the malicious rumors about Ilhwa Group and Joy Co. Ltd. striking a deal to give him artifacts would spread once againand they would definitely spread fiercer than ever.

    Everyone should put their heads together and think of a way to deal with this matter.

    Then, President Kang Taehoon said, Is anyone here unhappy about yer Minhyuk obtaining that artifact?

    Kang Taehoon looked at the people, who had been shouting with veins popping on their necks just an hour earlier. These people immediately shut their mouths, which prompted a small smile on his face.

    After watching the video, most people here thought it was only reasonable. In fact, some even thought Minhyuk was qualified to receive better rewards for his work.

    Lets make a Ztube video after discussing this with yer Minhyuk.

    ...!

    Manager Kim Dae-Ils eyes grew wide. Even the other executives looked at Kang Taehoon in shock.

    If were doing it like that, lets use the title The Burden an Emperor Carries. Then, edit a shortened version of Minhyuk swinging the pickaxe for fifteen days and add it to the video.

    Kim Dae-Il was in awe.

    The emperor standing at the highest position and why the emperor has reached that point

    The executives looked at President Kang Taehoon in awe, who devised such a n quickly.

    Then, Manager Kim Dae-Il said, The impact this video will bring will be huge.

    ***

    Minhyuk stayed by Nekks side for a few days.

    <em>Amazing.</em> This was Minhyuks honest impression of the man.

    He had also cooked several dishes using unique God-grade ingredients apanied by danger. He had cooked in blistering heat and had been stabbed by hundreds of des while cooking. However, he could only endure because he was taking advantage of a loophole of some sort. Yes, Minhyuk was mainly able to endure because he was a yer. Minhyuk felt strange, but there was not much pain during the process. But Nekks situation was different. He knew that Nekk must be feeling intense pain right here and now.

    One day, two days, three days, four days had passed. But Nekk, whose sweat covered his entire body, continued to swing the hammer in his handsthe fifth day, sixth, seventh, then eighth day passed. From how Nekks muscles spasmed and strained, anyone could see that he was nearing his limit.

    <em>Crackle!</em>

    Not long after, a huge pir of zing me, a testament to Nekk''s passion, effort, and tenacity, shot to the sky before retreating and seeping into the artifacts he was working on. When the mes gradually disappeared, a set of armor appeared, reflecting the color of the ck mes that had erupted earlier.

    <em>[Nekk has gone beyond his limits and sessfully created a masterpiece among all of the masterpieces he has created before!]</em>

    <em>[Only the owner of the new armor set can bestow a name upon it!]</em>

    <em>[The armor is of Transcendental Rank!]</em>

    <em>[The boots are of Transcendental Rank!]</em>

    <em>[The leg gaiters are of Transcendental Rank!]</em>

    Minhyuk smiled when he saw the armor set that Nekk created.

    Not long after, the Forges Hellfire disappeared into nothingnessit was as if it had never appeared in the first ce. Once the mespletely disappeared, Nekk beckoned Minhyuk. Minhyuk entered the smithy and looked at the newly born silver armor set.

    <em>Its amazing.</em>

    This was Minhyuks first impression. Minhyuk turned to look at Nekk. When he saw the man nod along, he went ahead and named the armor and the other artifacts that belonged to the set. Only after he finished naming the set would he check the details.

    <em>[You have named the armor Transcendentals Armor!]</em>

    <em>[You have named the boots Transcendentals Boots!]</em>

    <em>[You have named the leg gaiters Transcendentals Leg Gaiters!]</em>

    These artifacts contained the power of Transcendental Nekk. Furthermore, none of the yers had a transcendental rank artifact yet, so Minhyuk thought it was only right to name this set Transcendentals Armor Set.

    <em>[You can now check the details and information of the Transcendentals Armor Set.]</em>

    But there was one thing that caught Minhyuks attention.

    <em>The Stars Armor Set can only be equipped at Level 700.</em>

    The ughterers Armor was also excellent. This meant that this problem could not be easily dealt with.

    <em>From what I heard, lowering an artifacts requirements and restrictions is almost impossible even among the best and the greatest cksmiths.</em>

    Of course, it was possible. However, the artifact''s ability would also be significantly lowered. Most of the time, low-rank artifacts would be produced using suitable materials. So, cksmiths could often create artifacts without even touching the restrictions and requirements.

    I know what youre worried about, Nekk said, crossing his arms and smiling smugly.

    Alright, Ill go and check it first. Minhyuk excitedly checked the artifacts details.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Transcendentals Armor</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: Transcendental</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: The One that Received Ruffisos Recognition. Level 600 or higher.</em>

    <strong><em>Durability</em></strong><em>: /</em>

    <strong><em>Defensive Power</em></strong><em>: 2,302</em>

    <strong><em>Special Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>All of your stats will increase by +25%.</em>

    <em>Your magical defensive power will triple.</em>

    <em>Your skill attack power will increase by 1.3x.</em>

    <em>Your armors recovery rate will quadruple.</em>

    <em>The armor is as light as a cloth that weighs 50 grams.</em>

    <em>Transforms to ck Dragon Armor</em>

    <em>Passive Skill: ughterers Absorption</em>

    <em>Passive Skill: Asuras Shield</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: The Transcendentals Armor is reborn by the cksmith Transcendental Nekk. It is tough and solid yet as light as cloth. It does not limit the body''s movements upon equipment.</em>

    The Transcendentals Armors defensive power was slightly lower than that of the ughterers Armor. However, this armor carried all of the advantages of the ughterers Armor and the Stars Armor Set and discarded all unnecessary parts.

    Its level requirement had dropped to Level 600. Did that mean that Nekk sacrificed some of the artifacts performance so he could lower the level requirement and allow him to equip it right away?

    <em>But Im already delighted with it.</em>

    Not to mention how heavy the armor set was, the boots, leg gaiters, and armor thatprised it would also restrict the movements of the one who equipped it. Minhyuk had not expected to see any particr changes to the Transcendentals Armor.

    <em>Theres also the artifacts set effects.</em>

    At that moment, Minhyuk saw something that piqued his curiosity.

    ck Dragon Armor?

    You havent checked it yet?

    Eh? Minhyuk looked at Nekk in confusion.

    Theres no way that those excellent materials will weaken just by lowering the restrictions and requirements, you know?

    Minhyuk checked the ck Dragon Armor with a curious look on his face.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>ck Dragon Armor</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: Transcendental</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: The One that Received Ruffisos Recognition. Level 620 or higher.</em>

    <strong><em>Durability</em></strong><em>: /</em>

    <strong><em>Defensive Power</em></strong><em>: 2,654</em>

    <strong><em>Special Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>All of your stats will increase by +31%.</em>

    <em>All your attack and defensive power will increase by 4%.</em>

    <em>Your magical defensive power will quadruple.</em>

    <em>Your skill attack power will increase by 1.3x.</em>

    <em>Your armors recovery rate will quadruple.</em>

    <em>The armor is as light as a cloth that weighs 50 grams.</em>

    <em>Armor can only be equipped for five minutes.</em>

    <em>Passive Skill: ughterers Absorption</em>

    <em>Passive Skill: Asuras Shield</em>

    <em>Passive Skill: The Unapproachable One</em>

    <em>Active Skill: Transcendence</em>

    Wh- what is this?

    Minhyuk was very shocked.

    <em>There are two sets of detailed information in one armor?</em>

    In other words, the armor was divided into two. It contained both the Transcendentals Armor and the ck Dragon Armor.

    Come on. Say, ck Dragon Armor.

    ck Dragon Armor.

    <em>[The Transcendentals Armor has transformed into the ck Dragon Armor!]</em>

    <em>Creak, creak, creak!</em>

    ck feathers appeared, starting from the back of Minhyuks hands, before covering his entire body. The feathers soon changed and turned into hard te armor that covered everything beneath Minhyuks neck. To be honest, Minhyuk found the ck Dragon Armor, which waspletely ck, to be very cool.

    <em>[You have equipped the ck Dragon Armor!]</em>

    <em>[You can only equip the armor for five minutes!]</em>

    It looked like he was wearing apletely different set of armor. Of course, it was based on the Transcendentals Armor, but it was much superior to the main armor. The passive skill The Unapproachable One was enough to put the armor on a pedestal. Although the skill only had an 8% chance of being triggered when being attacked by the enemy, it could increase ones evasion rate by nearly five times.

    There was also the active skill Transcendence, which allowed the ck Dragon Armor to take a bit and umte the damage from the enemies. Once a set amount was absorbed, it would enable the one that equipped the armor to use the buff ability, Transcendence.

    In addition, ck Dragon Armor could increase ones stats, attack, and defensive power.

    <em>Although the level requirement has been lowered, the power of the materials wasn''t lowered.</em>

    Minhyuk realized how amazing the thinking of the cksmith named Nekk was. After all, who would even think ofbining two armors in one, right?!

    He quickly checked the information on the boots and leg gaiters. Unfortunately, it seemed like the main focus was on the armor. But it did not matter. The real power of the Transcendentals Armory in the effects when the set was equipped. Minhyuk quickly wore the boots and gaiters.

    <em>[You have equipped the Transcendentals Armor Set!]</em>

    <em>[You will now receive the set effects of the Transcendentals Armor Set!]</em>

    <em>(</em><strong><em>When the Transcendentals Armor Set is Equipped.</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Set Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>Your CHA will increase by 5,000</em>

    <em>All of your defensive power will increase by 1,100.</em>

    <em>All of your stats will increase by 12%.</em>

    <em>Active Skill: The One that Walks the Path of the Stars</em>

    <em>All the armor, including the cape, helmet, and currently equipped essories, will only weigh 10 grams.</em>

    <em>The durability of all the artifacts you equipped will be set to .</em>

    Wow

    Minhyuk was speechless at how crazy the effects of the artifact set were.

    <em>Its just as heavy as an epic-rank armor?</em>

    One could not equip two armor pieces at once, just like one could not wear two nes at once. However, this armor set''s artifact effect was extremely overpowered, to the point that one would feel as if they were wearing another set of armor.

    <em>I want to test it out right away.</em>

    Yes. Minhyuk wanted to test this artifacts cheat-like and overpowered effects.

    ***

    At the same time.

    A yer, who was carrying a bloodied man behind him, was riding desperately toward the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    <em>The Louvard Kingdom, the Caino Kingdom, the Kailde Empire, and even the Eivelis Empire have all rejected my request.</em>

    Carron was a Level 500 yer who belonged to the Roarke Kingdom. Although he might be a fairly high-level yer among ordinary yers, he also had another identity. He was the Godly Editor Jackson, who made a name for himself in Ztube.

    Although Carron was a yer, he loved the Roarke Kingdom deeply. But the kingdom was now on the verge of copse, so he was running like this for them. And the bloodied man riding behind him? He was none other than the kingdoms first prince, Beynan.

    He had heard plenty of stories from the king of the Roarke Kingdom before.

    <em>I had lent some help to the Beyond the Heavens Empire when they had just founded their nation and were still suffering from financial difficulties. It was nothing but a small help. I dont know if he remembers it. Hoho.</em>

    A benevolent ruler; that was who the king he had always served was.

    All the kingdoms and empires had turned down the copsing Roarke Kingdoms request for help. Carron, who was running toward the first empire built by a yer, finally caught sight of the walls of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. They were Roarke Kingdoms final hope.

 Chapter 914

    Chapter 914

    Minhyuk was extremely satisfied with the Transcendentals Armor Set that Nekk had made without sparing any effort.

    Im truly grateful to you.

    Nekk only smiled faintly in answer.

    He had already handed over hundreds of the seeds that Rumble had created over his twenty-day stay inside the fortress. With this, the Transcendentals would no longer grow hungry. It was time for Minhyuk to receive the other rewards promised to him.

    <em>[You have obtained 760,000 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Transcendental Bernies Transcendentals Magic Book.]</em>

    <em>[You have received the Transcendentals Blessing!]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 2%.]</em>

    <em>[All of your attack and defensive power will increase by 2%.]</em>

    <em>[Your resistance against abnormal statuses will increase by 5%.]</em>

    Then, there was his final reward, the Mountain Ore. Bender brought over an old wooden box wrapped several times with a thick chain. Before handing it over to him, Bender said, Before I give you this, can you tell me about your rtionship with Ruffiso?

    The Transcendentals did not know much about Ruffiso. All they knew was that their leaders tried their hardest to keep him safe even until their deaths and that he was the man who would probably lead them in ce of their leaders in the future.

    Minhyuk slowly told them Ruffisos story. As they listened, the Transcendentals could not help butment. They also expressed a bitter expression when they heard that Minhyuk had killed Ruffiso.

    Ruffiso had grown out of their reach, bing the duke of an empire, and killed countless people. He was killed in the fierce battle against the Beyond the Heavens Empire. They werent stupid. The human world was like a jungle. It was a ce filled with war, where only the strongest would survive. Even if Minhyuk killed Ruffiso in that world, there was no way for them to me and resent him for that.

    Dont be surprised, Bender told Minhyuk, who was preparing the Transcendentals Grinder.

    <em>ng!</em>

    Not long after, the chains fell and ttered from Benders hands. At the same time, Bernie cast a barrier that trapped Minhyuk and Bender inside.

    <em>Rumbleeeeeee!</em>

    The moment Bender opened the box, the ground beneath his feet began to twist and break rapidly. It quickly extended and devoured an area with a 200-meter radius.

    <em>In just a second?</em>

    The worst part? The earthquakes intensity was so strong that Minhyuk felt it could break apart everything in its path in just a short amount of time.

    You are seeing this, right? This is what you have to grind.

    Who wouldnt be disappointed, right? It carried such enormous power, yet he had to change its form so Helenia could not find it.

    <em>But I dont feel disappointed at all.</em>

    Indeed, Minhyuk did not even feel a shred of disappointment. Just like that, the Mountain Ore, which was covered with a shining bright light and felt like a living and breathing heart, slowly entered the grinder.

    <em>Thud</em>

    Once the lid was closed, the Transcendentals Grinder started to run.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Transcendentals Grinder</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: Transcendental</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: None.</em>

    <strong><em>Special Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>It can grind any ore or minerals.</em>

    <em>The ground ore can change into whatever condiments or sauce you want. It will all depend on the artifact owner.</em>

    <em>The better the ore, the better the vor and the more special its power.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: This is one of Transcendental Nekks masterpieces. You obtained it as a reward from an Easter egg.</em>

    <em>Grind, grind, grind!</em>

    Then, a notification rang in Minhyuk''s ears as he watched the Transcendentals Grinder ground the Mountain Ore at a crazy speed.

    <em>[Please choose the condiment, seasoning, or sauce you wish to obtain from the Transcendentals Grinder.]</em>

    <em>Doenjang.</em> (Soybean Paste)

    Bernie looked at Minhyuk sadly when she heard his words. <em>Did he just say damn[1]? Well, itspletely understandable.</em>

    Bernie looked extremely sad. She felt unfortunate for Minhyuk, who seemed to have cursed while grinding the Mountain Ore. Since the ore was being ground, Bernie released the barrier and approached Minhyuk. She gently ced her hand on his shoulders. With a sad smile, she said, ...Its alright. I understand.

    ??? Minhyuk looked at her in confusion. Not long after, the grinder stopped vibrating.

    <em>[You have acquired 2 kilograms of Mountain Doenjang!]</em>

    Minhyuk smiled happily when he saw the doenjang sitting snugly in his inventory.

    Thank you! Thank you! Ill get going now! Minhyuk shouted, quickly running away. This was so no one would ask him to share some of the doenjang with them.

    Bender watched Minhyuk disappear after bidding them goodbye, and said, Ruffiso is already dead. And the man who killed him has the leaders treasure chest with him.

    Perhaps that child will be the one to lead us, just like the leader wanted.

    Their eyes lingered at the ce where he disappeared for a very long time.

    ***

    When he lifted the lid of the earthen pot, Minhyuk was greeted by boiling doenjangjjigae. Right next to the pot were several side dishes, such as grilled hairtail, unseasonedver, kimchi, and others.

    Kghhk Minhyuk sighed in admiration as he held a bowl of steaming white rice.

    The first thing that Minhyuk tasted was a spoonful of ms and the refreshing doenjangjjigaes soup.

    Keuhaa!

    The doenjang jjigae, filled with the spicy vor of the Cheongyang red pepper, stimted his appetite. Minhyuk quickly blew on a considerable spoonful of rice and pushed it into his mouth.

    Yes! Doenjang jjigae is aplete rice thief!

    Minhyuk scooped another spoonful of rice and pushed it into his mouth. Then, he scooped a spoonful of stew with various ingredients like tofu, zhini, and onions.

    <em>Fwoo! Fwoo!</em>

    After blowing on it, he opened his mouth and ate the spoon''s contents. The jiggly tofu, soft zhini, and onions danced along with the deliciously spicy and refreshing soup in his mouth.

    Next, he turned his attention towards the grilled hairtail. Using his divine hands, Minhyuk removed the bones of the grilled hairtail. Then, he mped a piece of the chubby meat and put it in his mouth. The salty and savory grilled hairtail met with the sweet and soft white rice, creating a pleasant vor in his mouth.

    Wow

    It was unbelievable. It was so delicious that Minhyuk felt like his mouth was filled with ecstasy. With a happy smile, Minhyuk wrapped some rice with the unseasonedver. Then, he dipped it in a sauce made with chives, garlic, soy sauce, sesame oil, and the like. The crunchyver, sauce and the rice met, bringing a harmony of vors that brought even more delight to Minhyuks mouth.

    This time, he scooped out the ms from the soup of the doenjang jjigae and added their meat to the rice. Then, he scooped some tofu, zhini, and a bit of the soup. After that, he mixed them all and ate a huge mouthful.

    Minhyuk finished three bowls of rice in an instant and smiled with satisfaction.

    <em>[You have consumed more than 200 grams of Mountain Doenjang.]</em>

    <em>[Your Earth Attribute increased by 2%. Your EXP Acquisition Rate will increase by 20% for one week.]</em>

    <em>[Your Earth Attribute will increase by 2% if you eat 200 grams of Mountain Doenjang for a week. You will also obtain a 10% EXP buff.]</em>

    It was a very satisfying meal. Because he had two kilograms of the Mountain Doenjang, Minhyuk could increase his Earth Attribute by around 20% and have a 20% increase in EXP Acquisition Rate for 70 days.

    <em>Im tired.</em>

    He had been staying in the Fortress of the Transcendentals Fantasy for quite a long time and had umted quite a lot of tension in his body. He was pretty exhausted. So, he logged out and rested.

    ***

    Minhyuk, who woke up after a very refreshing sleep, checked the phone calls he had received before exercising. The call was from Joy Co. Ltd.s President Kang Taehoon. President Kang Taehoon immediately discussed with him the moment he answered the call.

    <em>Yes. Itspletely understandable.</em>

    Minhyuk also knew that the Transcendentals Armor he obtained this time would create another ruckus about how he forced the bnce to copse.

    <em>[Thats why our Joy Co. Ltd. hopes for your cooperation, Minhyuk. We want to coborate with you and release a video on Ztube.]</em>

    Minhyuk needed rification. They wanted to upload a video about him on Ztube? Minhyuk had uploaded quite a lot of videos to Ztube. Most were mukbangs, but each of his videos easily exceeded forty million views.

    <em>But will they find my daily life interesting? Will the world''s people understand this bnce copse just because they watched how my daily life goes?</em>

    Surprisingly enough, Minhyuk, who tried and worked harder than anybody else, did not think he was working harder<em></em>than the others.

    <em>[We will split the videos about your daily life into a few. Then, we will edit them and post them. Of course, Joy Co. Ltd. will try to bring the best editor to edit them.]</em>

    Ztube editor. This was an emerging upation. Depending on the editor''s skills, the viewers who watched their videos would either feel the thrill or sadness from the video. These editors worked simrly to the authors. They created apletely different image and vision while using the same material as others. They needed a brilliant and outstanding editor to make it work.

    <em>Not bad.</em>

    To be honest, Minhyuk thought that it was also necessary for them to help them improve the image of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. Only by doing that would they be able to increase their migration rate.

    Will the profits for the Ztube video be 9:1?

    <em>[...]</em>

    Its going to be a video about me, no?

    President Kang Taehoon grew silent for a moment. Then, he said

    <em>[You can only get what we can give, you know?]</em>

    Im sure you have quite a lot, no?

    <em>[Thats not what I mean Fine. I get it.]</em>

    After discussing the temporary division of profits with Taehoon over the phone, the president ended the call by saying, <em>I will stop by with a contract soon.</em>

    Just when he was about to exercise, Genie or Jihye, Minhyuks girlfriend, called him.

    <em>[Minhyuk, are you free? Can youe to the empire? If youre busy, well deal with it alone.]</em>

    No. Its fine. Iming back to the Empire today either way. Alright.

    After hanging up, Minhyuk quickly went and essed Athenae. He returned to the Beyond the Heavens Empire and walked to their conference room. While walking to his destination, Minhyuk saw a bloody yer restlessly pacing around in front of the door.

    One of the guards told the man, You should go and get some rest. Wait for a minute. Well notify you of the results.

    Please go back now.

    You wont be able to hear what theyre discussing in the meeting here anyway.

    I understand. The yer sighed and turned away. That was when he saw Minhyuk.

    The yer was none other than Carron, who rode his horse and carried Roarke Kingdoms First Prince Beynan here. In reality, Carron might only be a yer from a small kingdom in Athenae, but in reality, he was the Godly Editor Jackson.

    He quickly rushed towards Minhyuk and said, Please. I beg you, do not ignore the Roarke Kingdoms plight! Please!

    ...

    Minhyuk, stillpletely unaware of the situation, bent down, gently ced his hand on Carrons shoulder, and said, I dont know the situation yet. Ill go inside the conference room first, so please return and get some rest first.

    ...

    Carron stared nkly at Minhyuks back. Minhyuk had been warm and gentle toward him, an ordinary yer.

    Minhyuk finally entered the conference room, sat on his seat, and heard the report.

    The Peiro Allied Nations?

    The Peiro Allied Nations was an alliance created by several small kingdoms. They have also dered war against the Beyond the Heavens Empire to tter and curry favor with the Luvien Empire.

    Theyre attacking a kingdom because the kingdom refused to join their allied nations?

    Minhyuk rubbed his chin in thought. Then, he recalled something. Minhyuk was one of the few people with an excellent memory.

    Wasnt the Roarke Kingdom the kingdom that sent us some small gifts when we first established our Beyond the Heavens?

    Haze nodded. Theirte king, who died from this war, was very kind and benevolent. He was a pacifist who tried to maintain a good rtionship with the other kingdoms and empires around him. That is also why they did not want to join the Peiro Allied Nations.

    ...

    As Minhyuk continued to listen, he realized that Haze wanted to avoid helping the Roarke Kingdom.

    Haze, I believe its better to speak straightforwardly. What they gave us back then might be a small gift, but it was a huge help.

    ...

    This was the truth. That gift might be too small for the current Beyond the Heavens Empire, but it was a massive help for them, who were struggling with financial difficulties back then.

    But Minhyuk The movement of the Luvien Empire these days is very unusual.

    Well have to deploy troops to each of our Beyond the Heavens fortresses and watch the situation.

    I think giving back as much as we got is better. Nothing more.

    Most of the executives reacted negatively. And Minhyuk, who listened to everyone, finally made a decision.

    ***

    Joy Co. Ltd.

    President Kang Taehoon heaved a sigh as he ended his call with Minhyuk. Hes someone that will squeeze every benefit he can get.

    But considering the high views of Minhyuks YouTube videos and the effects on promotions that would result from them, Taehoon knew that theirpany would be able to reap more than tens of millions of profit from them. Of course, Minhyuk and the Beyond the Heavens Empire would also benefit greatly from this.

    Kang Taehoon moved and discussed this with the Recruitment and Proposal Team.

    Of course, the best choice would be Editor Jackson. He is the most sought-after editor on Ztube, whether by Ztubers or businesses. However, his face, name, and address arepletely unknown.

    He is like a god among the editors. He edited only one video for a small hamburger restaurant in America, but it helped them open dozens of franchises and chains.

    Is that so? Then, did you offer a proposal?

    Of course, I reached out, but I cant really contact him. Editor Jackson is actually someone who cannot be moved by money. Hespletely different from the other Ztube editors, who are driven by money. He will only jump in and edit forpanies and Ztubers once he sees their value.

    If thats the case, we better find another editor.

    An editor is making a name for himself in Japan. Hes not as good as Jackson, but hes still quite good

    An editor from the United Kingdom is also quite good.

    We also have a good editor from our country

    The video that they had to produce this time was critical. This was an opportunity to quell the malicious rumors about Ilhwa Group and Joy Co. Ltd. making a deal and the controversy over the bnce copse.

    After conducting this meeting, President Kang Taehoon had no choice but to sleep at Joy Co. Ltd. When he woke up the next day, he received a call from Minhyuk. What he heard from Minhyuk shocked him.

    <em>[President, I believe we have to change the contract terms. I should get all of the profits, no?]</em>

    ...?

    A 9:1 profit division was already considered to be a good contract. But Minhyuk wanted to obtain all of the profits.

    <em>[I will also ask you for an additional 10 billion won payment.]</em>

    <em>This- this thief!</em>

    But then, he heard what Minhyuk said next.

    <em>[And as for the editor, we want to use the editor we invited.]</em>

    ...?

    Kang Taehoons expression was filled with confusion, doubt, and anger. But with one word from Minhyuk over the phone, his expressionpletely changed. A smile appeared on his face as he replied, Alright. Lets sign a contract.

    1. A y on words.  (soybean paste) sounds like  (damn, damn it, shit).

 Chapter 915

    Chapter 915

    Carrons vision grew dark. <em>If the Beyond the Heavens Empire chooses to turn a blind eye to us, then the Roarke Kingdom would truly copse.</em>

    This was because they had nowhere else to go. But why was Carron so obsessed with the survival of the Roarke Kingdom? It was because this kingdom was his only joy. To put it in a more vulgar and coarse way, it was because he was suffering from severe social withdrawal, and the kingdom was his only salvation.

    Carron lived a lonely life, devoid of any friends. Only after he joined the Roarke Kingdom did he have the chance to make many friends. When he came to that kingdom, he wondered why these people were so friendly and kind. Perhaps it was because their king itself was a man of such virtue.

    Carron held the bloody key the first prince had handed him before he copsed.

    <em>Our kingdoms warrior If, by any chance, there is a ce that will ept and help our kingdom, please give this to them.</em>

    <em>What- what is this?</em>

    <em>This is the key to the ce where the power left behind by the predecessors of our Roarke Kingdom.</em>

    <em>...!</em>

    Carron was shocked. There was a legend in the Roarke Kingdom about an item left behind by the Roarke Kingdoms ancestors that contained an extraordinary power that could help someone grow further. Even Carron was not aware that it existed.

    <em>Why dont we use this to negotiate with the other empires and kingdoms?</em>

    The first prince smiled faintly.

    <em>His Majesty, thete king, was kind and merciful.</em>

    <em>...</em>

    <em>I want to give this key to someone like him. Have to</em>

    In the end, the first prince fainted.

    However, none of the ces they had gone to weed them with open arms. They were just like that alliance. And the worst part? The Luvien Empire stood behind that alliance.

    <em>The Roarke Kingdom had given a mere hundred tons of rice, hundred tons of flour, and five tons of beef and pork as a gift to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom in the past.</em>

    After hearing that the king of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom loved food and was suffering from financial difficulties, thete king of the Roarke Kingdom sent some support with a kind smile, saying, <em>We cant let his people grow hungry, no? Hoho.</em> But now, the Beyond the Heavens had grown into an empire with tens of thousands of tons of rice and flour at hand.

    <em>In the end, perhaps Beyond the Heavens Empire too</em>

    Standing at the end of the hallway, Carron saw the conference room doors open.

    Haze immediately went outside, saying, But Your Majesty,pared to the help we received

    Back then, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom suffered financial difficulties, and many of our people were hungry. And who helped us then? It was the Roarke Kingdom. I will go out there alone to repay them.

    The other executives rushed out and stood next to Haze.

    I know that everyone here does not like the idea, but if we can resolve this problem, we will gain a strong ally in the form of the Roarke Kingdom.

    ...

    Carron stared at Minhyuk from the end of the hall. He could feel the weight on his shoulders with just one look.

    <em>This man carries the life and death of an entire empire on his shoulders.</em>

    He was the idol of all of the yers. Because of that, the choices that he had to make always carried heavy weight and solemnity.

    Even though the rest dissuaded him, the man said, This is how I will repay them, and this is my way. I hope everyone can understand this.

    I understand, Your Majesty.

    Hoo If thats what you think, then fine.

    Ah. I will cooperate with Joy Co. Ltd. and make a Ztube video this time, I think?

    At this moment, Carron, who was pondering over the weight that Minhyuk carried, realized something.

    <em>What?</em>

    It seemed like the Beyond the Heavens emperor would help them. But there was something far more surprising than that.

    <em>Hes going alone?! Is he crazy?!</em>

    Even Carron knew that the Luvien Empire''s movements were highly unusual. Perhaps that was why he was going to do it like this.

    <em>But, isnt he being too reckless?!</em>

    Minhyuk, well fulfill our duties and missions in the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    I guess Ill have to wait at the fortress and prepare for battle.

    Everyone greeted Minhyuk with a <em>Fighting!</em> yet no one said, <em>Lets go together.</em>

    My dear, fighting~ Even Minhyuks girlfriend, Genie, said the same thing.

    Alright. Ill be back, Minhyuk said, walking forward as if what he was about to do was no big deal. Then, he made eye contact with Carron and said, Lets go.

    <em>He- hes really going to go alone?</em>

    When Carron turned to look at the other end of the hallway, he saw the members of the Beyond the Heavens waving their hands at them.

    <em>What is this?</em>

    The Beyond the Heavens executives werepletely different from Carron. Once Minhyuk disappeared, they began to talk to each other.

    If its just the allied nations, then Minhyuk alone is enough.

    I know, right? Thats what I thought, too.

    Minhyuk going alone is better than all of us going together, no?

    They weren''t too worried about him.

    ***

    Contrary to the easygoing executives of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, Carrons head was filled with countless thoughts.

    <em>Is he really going alone?</em>

    On the other hand, he also felt how amazing the man in front of him was.

    <em>He is this bold and ambitious?</em>

    Carron was fully aware that Minhyuk was a powerful yer. Even so, the troops of the allied nations easily exceeded a million.

    <em>But its also impossible to take the talents of the Beyond the Heavens Empire just because of his reckless decision.</em>

    But he remembered the grace and favor that the Roarke Kingdom had given him in the past.

    <em>Is he going to return the favor by himself?</em>

    Even though he knew that it was a reckless choice? This man was indeed a sincere person.

    Minhyuk met the prince, who had recovered to some extent.

    I havent forgotten... Minhyuk smiled softly. ...the help that thete king had given us back when we were still helpless, and I could not do anything as I watched my people go hungry. I will do my best to help you.

    Carron had a lot on his mind. In front of him was the prince of a copsing kingdom and the emperor of an emerging empire. Even though they were of different statuses, Minhyuk did not belittle or ignore the prince and even showed him courtesy and respect.

    ...

    An unknown feeling bloomed in Carrons chest.

    Please rest some more. Youre not yet back to full health, Minhyuk said as he left the room with Carron.

    Once outside, Carron asked, Is it alright for you to go alone? Minhyuk, going to the battlefield ispletely iparable to the few hundred tons of rice and food they have sent in the past, you know?

    That was right. Minhyuks worth was at that level now. Minhyuk just smiled faintly.

    Its too much.

    Minhyuk did not say anything in the end. Carron just stared at Minhyuks back as he walked ahead of him. After a few moments, Carron hurried forward and caught up with him. Then, he asked, I cant help but overhear earlier that youre going to make a Ztube video with Joy Co. Ltd.?

    ...Eeeek! My bbermouth is a problem.

    Minhyuk had mentioned those words because he did not realize that Carron could hear what he was saying. However, it did not matter that much whether the man heard or not.

    Yep. Thats right. Were going to make a video.

    Carron continued to stare at Minhyuk. Then, he asked, Do you already have an editor?

    ***

    Minhyuk realized who Carron was. He might be an emperor, but because he wanted to eat a lot of delicious food, he constantly studied Athenae and the changes that happened in the game. Because of that, he knew how influential Carron was and his identity.

    Carron said, I recently received an email from Joy Co. Ltd. I havent checked it yet with everything that has happened in the Roarke Kingdom.

    Perhaps Joy Co. Ltd. had offered him a considerable amount of money so that they could hire him for the video production.

    And the bigshot Carron said, Ill edit the video for you, Minhyuk. Do you have any of your videos from when you started Athenae and those from when you started until now?

    I believe Joy Co. Ltd. has them. But why are you suddenly offering to help me edit the video?

    Carron answered without hesitation, Because I think its interesting and fun.

    <em>Also, your worth is high</em>.

    That was what he wanted to say but held back.

    The emperor of an emerging empire; the only one who stepped forward to save a copsing kingdom.

    Carron was sure that this would get a ton of views.

    On top of that, the person in the video is someone who suffers from a rare disease called eating addiction. It will also send a message of hope to those suffering from rare diseases.

    There were just so many things that would create a synergy. While Carron was talking with Minhyuk, he was confident of one thing.

    <em>This video will be my lifes work. My masterpiece.</em>

    Also, he wanted to help Minhyuk somehow.

    Minhyuk talked a lot with Carron. Then, he logged out, mailed him, and agreed on a verbal contract they would sign once they met. After that, Minhyuk immediately contacted President Kang Taehoon. Since he now had the best editor, Joy Co. Ltd. could just sit there and do nothing. If that was the case, then the profit distribution was distributed unfairly. He had to revise it. He logged back inside the game only after he obtained Kang Taehoons approval.

    When he reconnected, Carron was already there. Carron said, While were on our way, will you tell me how and what you felt when you first started Athenae and what happened in between?

    Carron had told Minhyuk earlier, <em>I will frame your story in a new light.</em>

    I Minhyuk began to tell his tale.

    ***

    It was copsing.

    <em>Booooooooooom!</em>

    The wall that had firmly stood for countless years copsed in the end.

    <em>Thuuuuuuuud!</em>

    The Peiro Allied Nations was an alliance created by the union of at least five small kingdoms. Each of the kingdoms gs fluttered in the wind as their soldiers charged toward the thick cloud of dust that bloomed from the copse of the walls.

    On the other hand, the Roarke Kingdom remained alone, with no reinforcement troops by their side.

    Commander Ed shouted, Protect the gates! Do not let them enter the kingdom!!!

    No nation hade to repay the grace and favor that thete king of the Roarke Kingdom had given them in the past. The help he had given them back then was small, but the situation was entirely different from what they had said before. Didnt they tell their king, <em>Its good for us to help each other, no? Hoho.</em>

    Now, these greedy bastards were trying to trample on their kingdom just because they refused to be a part of the Peiro Allied Nations. They would kill their men and take their women and children as prisoners.

    <em>Rumble</em>

    Ed, who watched the enemies flock like rabid dogs toward the broken section of their walls, could not help but resent their king.

    <em>Why did you have to show mercy and give them kindness?!</em>

    Everyone had abandoned them, yet almost two million soldiers from the allied nations were charging at them. And their forces? They only had 350,000 exhausted soldiers left to protect their families from the charging troops of the allied nations.

    Keuaaaaaaack!

    Aaaaaaaaack!

    A- aaaaaaaaaaack!

    Ed felt a numbness in his chest as he watched the Roarke Kingdoms royal army get swept away. He watched as their necks got cut, their abdomens got pierced, and the magic raining down upon them and forcing them to disappear without a trace.

    All Commander Ed could do was pull his sword out and defend this ce until his veryst breath.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    But then, a catapult shot a huge rock that mmed into the wall he was standing on. The resulting shockwave swept Ed away, and he flew toward the wall behind him.

    <em>Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep</em>

    Eds ears were ringing while his vision was spinning.

    <em>Drip, drip</em>

    Red blood dripped down his forehead and further clouded his vision.

    Whyyyyyyy?!!! Ed wanted to ask so badly. Why did you have to live like that?!!!

    Why did he have to live so kindly and graciously if you would die just like this?!

    Why the hell why the hell?! Whyyyyyyy?!!! Ed knelt and screamed helplessly. But at that moment

    He was an admirable person.

    ...

    Ed turned his head and followed the direction of the voice that rang in his ears. There, he saw a tall man standing beside a very familiar foreigner.

    I can never forget the warmth he has shared with me and my people.

    Ed clearly remembered this man. After all, he was the one who went to this mans kingdom under the order of his king to give them rice and flour. Before he left, Ed told his king this.

    <em>Your Majesty, the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom is a kingdom that might perish and copse soon. Why would you send such precious food and resources to this kingdom?</em>

    His king just chuckled.

    <em>Every favor and grace we shared would return to us.</em>

    Back then, Ed could not understand what his king was talking about. He could not understand him even now. But

    <em>Thump, thump, thump, thump</em>

    The man walked in front of him with his sword raised.

    The grace and favor that I have received a long time ago I will pay it back today.

    ...

    Ed stared at the man nkly as he jumped through the cracks of the broken walls and swept away the troops of the allied nations.

    Meanwhile, Carron, who was watching everything, was thrilled to see Minhyuk charging forward despite the troops of the Allied nations surrounding him.

    On their way here, Carron had heard a lot from Minhyuk. Carron thought that he should use the first words that Minhyuk told him as the opening phrase for the video that he would edit.

    <em>[I I want to live.]</em>

    He could tell that this video would make the world tremble and shake.

 Chapter 916

    Chapter 916

    Peiro Allied Nations barracks.

    Themanders of the alliance nations leisurely watched the situation from the barracks. After all, the Roarke Kingdoms downfall was just around the corner, so there was no need for them to be vignt anymore.

    I feel sorry for the people of that kingdom. They have met with a very foolish king, Commander Arken said while the rest of themanders nodded in agreement.

    The Peiro Allied Nations was an alliance made of several small kingdoms. The alliance was created to support the Luvien Empire. But that was pure bullshit. Why? Because the alliance was just a gathering of weak nations. They just held hands to tter and curry favor with the Luvien Empire.

    Their alliance extended an olive branch to the Roarke Kingdom, but the kingdom refused their offer. But they had nothing to fear since they had the Luvien Empire as their backing. They immediately moved, hoping to take down the Roarke Kingdom and split it amongst themselves.

    In two hours, the Roarke Kingdom will

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang</em>

    Just when Commander Arken was about tough, explosions suddenly erupted near the walls of the Roarke Kingdom, pushing out and sweeping away the alliance''s soldiers.

    They still have that much power left?

    Were they the royal mages? That was what Arken wanted to ask.

    The- The Beyond the Heavens Empire! The Beyond the Heavens emperor is here!

    Their faces grew ugly when they heard one of the soldiers cry.

    What?!

    The Beyond the Heavens Emperor?!

    But if the Beyond the Heavens moves against us, the Luvien Empire will definitely not stand still.

    Surprisingly, the Roarke Kingdom was not even allied with the Beyond the Heavens Empire. In other words, the Beyond the Heavens Empire did not have a justification to insert themselves in this war and attack the Peiro Allied Nations. Was it because they dered war on the Beyond the Heavens Empire? No. That should not be right. Although they dered war on them, it was just to keep them in check.

    Bring me the <em>All Creation Telescope</em>.

    The All Creation Telescope could see through long distances and hear the voices of the chosen target. Arken was left in doubt and confusion when he saw the Beyond the Heavens'' Emperor through the All Creation Telescope.

    Hes alone?

    ...Wh- what?

    Did you say that hes alone?!

    ...Ho.

    That I have never seen someone so crazy.

    Confusion shed on the faces of all of themanders present.

    They found it more embarrassing that the Peiro Allied Nations had no justification to attack the Roarke Kingdom. But the Beyond the Heavens emperor who came alone? He now had plenty of justification. After all, he was just helping the Roarke Kingdom. The world would only criticize and mock them now that the situation hase to this.

    What a shallow trick.

    Perhaps this was why the Beyond the Heavens Emperor came alone. Even so, they have more than two million troops in this ce.

    If we can kill the emperor of Beyond the Heavens, then His Majesty Nerva will definitely reward us greatly.

    Thats right. Besides, hes alone. I think we can do it, no?

    But before they could finish what they were saying, something gigantic suddenly appeared in front of the walls of the Roarke Kingdom. This enormous being was Hanwoo.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Around 70,000 troops of the Peiro Allied Nations that had gathered near the gates of the Roarke Kingdom were easily trampled to death.

    ...

    ...

    They had just been bbing about killing the Beyond the Heavens Emperor just a few minutes prior. But now? Their mouths were all wired shut.

    ***

    <em>[You are currently at war with the Peiro Allied Nations!]</em>

    <em>[You will receive EXP and some spoils of war upon killing the enemy.]</em>

    <em>[You will not be ced in a Chaotic State!]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained 132,310 gold.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 112,310 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained 84,699 gold.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 165,300 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained 86,699 gold.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 240,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained 59,100 gold.]</em>

    <em>[...EXP.]</em>

    <em>[...gold.]</em>

    <em>[...EXP.]</em>

    These notifications rang in Minhyuks ears as Hanwoo swept away and trampled the soldiers of the Peior Allied Nations who had gathered in front of the Roarke Kingdom gates.

    <em>Anyway, the Luvien Empire will not be able to barge in and go to war with me with just this alone.</em>

    Minhyuk''s thoughts were quite simr to those of themanders earlier. That was right. The Peiro Allied Nations had no justification for attacking the Roarke Kingdom.

    <em>I will repay all of the grace and kindness I have received from them while taking everything I can from the enemies.</em>

    He would have a Ztube video and harvest a lot of funds and EXP. The more active he yed here, the more the viewers will flock.

    <em>I will end this war in two hours.</em>

    Minhyuk was confident. After all, the Peiro Allied Nations was just an alliance of weak nations. The average level of their soldiers was at Level 420, while their knights were only at Level 450~500.

    Puppet Doll Viel.

    <em>Creak, creak, creak, creak</em>

    The Level 650 Puppet Viel, whose joints creaked until they lodged into ce, quickly jumped onto the battlefield and easily swept away twenty of the troops of the Peiro Allied Nations with just a simple swing of his sword.

    <em>Crackle, crackle, crackle</em>

    Of course, Minhyuk was not to be left behind. He unleashed the Overlords mes and let it wreak havoc on the battlefield, killing more than 100,000 enemy troops gathered in front of the walls of the Roarke Kingdom.

    <em>Crackle, crackle!</em>

    ***

    A quick-wittedizen immediately reported on themunity site when Minhyuk entered the battlefield.

    <em>[Is Minhyuk killing everyone by himself in the battle between the Peiro Allied Nations and the Roarke Kingdom?]</em>

    <em>[Woah. For real?]</em>

    <em>[I left because I felt that it was too boring.]</em>

    The appearance of the strongest yer was more than enough to attract plenty of yers and viewers. The moment the viewers entered, they witnessed Hanwoo and the Overlords mes sweeping away and killing more than 100,000 of the troops of the Peiro Allied Nations.

    <em>[Freaking amazing.]</em>

    <em>[Wow]</em>

    Then, more and more issues began to attract viewers.

    <em>[Wait. Did Minhyuk change his armor?]</em>

    <em>[Huh? Oh, youre right. His armor really changed!]</em>

    <em>[What? What the hell?!]</em>

    More viewers began to flock, and the journalists quickly wrote articles about the situation.

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens Emperor: What armor did he choose?]</em>

    <em>[Shiny and sparkling: Does Minhyuks new armor surpass his previous one?]</em>

    The ratings were slowly starting to rise.

    <em>[Crackle!]</em>

    At that moment, Minhyuk used his skill Save, as he released the Supreme Overlords Technique that he had saved before and once again killed more than 100,000 of the troops of the Peiro Allied Nations.

    <em>[???]</em>

    <em>[???]</em>

    Of course, the mes from the technique''s initial explosion continued to gnaw and devour the troops nearby.

    <em>[How long has it been since Minhyuk appeared?]</em>

    <em>[Maybe 25 minutes? Give or take.]</em>

    <em>[But he already killed more than 300,000 troops? Isnt this a f*cking bal-break?]</em>

    <em>[Well, the level of the troops of the Peiro Allied Nations is just much lower than Minhyuks level. Yep, the soldiers and knights would also grow the more the yers develop. But in this case, the Peiro Allied Nations are just freaking weak]</em>

    <em>[Saying its a bal-break is too much in this case.]</em>

    <em>[+22222]</em>

    <em>[+333333]</em>

    <em>[Ah. But what about that armor]</em>

    <em>[If that armor is really f*cking amazing, then it proves that theres a deal between Ilhwa and Joy Co. Ltd. Agree?]</em>

    <em>[Agreed]</em>

    All the viewers waited for Minhyuk to jump in the middle of the battlefield.

    ***

    Minhyuk had killed more than 300,000 of the Peiro Allied Nations troops in just a little under twenty-five minutes. There were two reasons why Minhyuk chose to kill the troops of this alliance at such a fast pace.

    <em>The Peiro Allied Nations, which lost quite a lot of their troops in just a blink, will be forced to retreat.</em>

    The second reason was what Carron had told him before.

    <em>If you want to exin the bnce break through the Ztube video we will release, you should y a more active role in this battlefield and kill as many allied troops as possible.</em>

    Minhyuk looked at the man in confusion when he heard that

    <em>Wouldnt the bnce break issue be blown up with this?</em>

    <em>Thats right. They will keep discussing it for one, two, or three days. The yers that usually shout, Of course, hes the Supreme. will be swayed by the instigation of the masses and change their tunes. They will shout, Its a bnce break! The bnce is copsing. But it will only take a moment for the public to turn around.</em>

    Carron calmly exined.

    <em>Then, once the bnce break has been exined, the overflowing and non-stop criticisms would quickly turn into cheers and support.</em>

    Minhyuk slowly prepared to jump on the battlefield.

    <em>I will not reveal the ck Dragon Armor here.</em>

    Minhyuk might be the Supreme, but that did not mean that he would justy all of his cards out in the open, did it? Sometimes, having something hidden up his sleeves would be of great help to him in the future. Besides, the Transcendentals Armor had an armor set effect, so it would still be leagues better than the armor that he wore before.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang</em>

    When he entered the battlefield, Minhyuk was immediately met with an onught of magical attacks.

    Arrogant and impudent bastard!

    More than 330,000 of our troops have already died!

    Before Arken knew it, he was already standing on the battlefield with the othermanders. He had gathered all of the high-tiered royal mages and ordered the rain of magical attacks that devoured Minhyuk.

    No matter how strong the Beyond the Heavens emperor was, he would suffer considerable damage from this round of attacks. However, Arken and the rest of themanders all turned ck-jawed when they saw Minhyuks figure appear once again.

    ...

    The armor on Minhyuks body was littered with dents and scorch marks when he walked out of the explosion. But one look and they could tell that the man did not suffer much damage at all. Of course, Minhyuk was but a human. So, he suffered a 20% decrease in his HP. Still, there was no denying that it was not that much damage.

    The Transcendentals Armor Set could increase Minhyuks defenses by 1,100. On top of that, it also increased his magical defensive power by three.

    <em>Twitch, twitch, twitch</em>

    In addition, the scorched and dented Transcendentals Armor began to expand and contract until it returned to its original appearance. The Transcendentals Armors durability was infinite. This meant it could repair itself slowly, even if destroyed. But it had to be known that the armor itself had a recovery rate, and the speed of this recovery rate was beyond imagination.

    Minhyuk red coldly at Commander Arken as he jumped into the battlefield.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The word <em>Explosion</em> appeared on the de of Minhyuks sword, which triggered several massive explosions that swept away the troops around him.

    <em>Boom, boom, boom!</em>

    The Sword of Tempest also appeared as hundreds of sword des shot out and cut down the enemies non-stop. Minhyuk had only stood in the middle of the battlefield for eight minutes.

    He has killed around 8,000 of our troops!

    We cant get any damage in! No matter how many attacks we send him, it just doesnt work!

    Its that armor! I think its because of his armor!

    Amotion broke out amidst the Peiro Allied Nations army.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk unleashed his Intangible Sword and sent it flying toward his enemies. Hundreds of invisible swords shot out and pierced through the hearts of the enemy troops around him.

    Fhaas Knight Order! Charge!

    A 120-strong knight order solely made up of the kingdoms legends and elites marched forward.

    Thousand Swords.

    A thousand swords made of light rose to the sky and flew toward the strongest of the enemy troops.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab!</em>

    The swords pierced the hearts of the legends and the elites and forced them to disappear all at once.

    Keheok!

    Of course, the attack also included themanders. Themanders, who fell off their horses, screamed as they clutched their injuries. Right now, Commander Arken was left in charge of the entire army. However, he also suffered from the attacks of the Thousand Swords. The soldiers, who anxiously rushed to Arkens aid, saw him crawling backward as he looked at Minhyuk in fear.

    Hiiiiiiiiiik!

    Only forty minutes had passed since Minhyuk made an appearance on this battlefield. But in that short amount of time, almost 420,000 of the troops of the Peiro Allied Nations had died. The worst part? One of themanders instantly died, while three were suffering from grave injuries.

    <em>Fwoosh</em>

    Heok

    C-mander?

    Faced with a power he could never dream of reaching, Commander Arken felt fear, which caused him to lose control of his dder.

    Commander Arken hurriedly gave his orders, R- retreat! Quickly, retreat!!!

    Retreat!!!

    More than 400,000 of the two million troops of the Peiro Allied Nations had been killed in battle. The sight of Minhyuk standing with his back to the Roarke Kingdom as the enemies retreated was quite spectacr.

    Carron, who witnessed this from beginning to end, did not forget to film the view. At this moment, he could tell, <em>The entire world must be going crazy</em>

    ***

    The entire world was indeed in an uproar.

    The BJs, who specialized in fabricating stories and discussing famous peoples controversies, were talking nonstop about Minhyuks performance in that battle.

    <em>[Even if the Peiro Allied Nations is an alliance of weak nations, its definitely impossible for a single ordinary yer to do that much damage.]</em>

    <em>[I believe Joy Co. Ltd. must hurry up and give us an exnation about the armor Minhyuk got.]</em>

    <em>[This incident proves a contractual rtionship between Ilhwa Group and Joy Co. Ltd.]</em>

    And that was not all. The jealous viewers began to add more fuel to the fire.

    <em>[Who would even want to y a game like this? Yeah?]</em>

    <em>[To be honest, I dont think this is right.]</em>

    <em>[I reported a bug to Joy Co. Ltd. Keke.]</em>

    <em>[Me too! I also sent a suggestion to Joy Co. Ltd.]</em>

    Two days had passed since the battle. During those two days, Godly Editor Jackson had been busy sifting through the stories that Minhyuk had told him and the videos of Minhyuk that Joy Co. Ltd. had sent him to pick the important ones and make the video.

    Then, Minhyuk received a phone call from President Kang Taehoon.

    <em>[The number of messages asking about the bnce copse has increased by 154 times in just two days.]</em>

    ...?

    <em>[The number of calls has also increased by around 250 times.]</em>

    ...?

    At that moment, Minhyuk thought, <em>Are we going to be fine like this?</em>

    On the third day after the battle, Minhyuk received Jacksons call.

    <em>[I have finished the video.]</em>

 Chapter 917

    Chapter 917

    In four days, the discussions about Minhyuk and Athenaes bnce copse continued to brew and boil over. The public had only seen one side of the story. It was only interested in Minhyuk''s ability to kill more than 400,000 enemy soldiers and whether his new armor was indeed a copse in the game''s bnce.

    The Peiro Allied Nations was an alliance of small and weak nations. And Minhyuk? He listened to what Carron said and worked at an incredibly unreasonable speed when he fought against them. Meanwhile, quite a few people took advantage of this incident and used it skillfully to benefit themselves.

    The world-famous Ztuber Donald was a Westerner who had surprisingly obtained Korean nationality and was very fluent in Korean. He attracted many viewers as a foreigner who spoke thenguage fluently and smoothly. He often shared his criticisms regarding various topics, including celebrity controversies and Ztuber fake videos and maniptions. For Donald, Beyond the Heavens Emperor Minhyuk was a tasty prey.

    <em>[Everyone, this definitely does not make any sense.]</em>

    Donaldpiled various materials. After gathering everything, he edited it into a video and published it. The viewers found his ims extremely credible because he hadpiled one of the videos that a paparazzi had caught. This video was of President Kang Taehoon and Team Leader Park Minggyu visiting Minhyuks home.

    <em>[Its obvious that Ilhwa Group and Joy Co. Ltd. have a business deal going on here. After all, every time Minhyuk did something like build a kingdom or an empire, the stock price of Ilhwa Group skyrockets, right?]</em>

    His words might sound simple, but they fleshed out the idea that a deal was going on. And since Donald was a world-famous Ztuber, his videos easily exceeded a hundred million views. Of course, other Ztubers immediately jumped on his video and began criticizing Minhyuk. Some of the public also liked to ride the bandwagon, so they jumped in and took the lead in shouting and moring.

    <em>[Joy Co. Ltd. and Ilhwa Group! Exin yourselves!]</em>

    <em>[If you were in our shoes, would it be fun to y games like this, huh?!]</em>

    <em>[Im so f*cking angry Some of us work hard to level up and get items, yet others get it from the gamespany.]</em>

    <em>[I thought that Ilhwa Group was the best and cleanestpany in our country, but in the end, its just apany that likes making money. Ill boycott them.]</em>

    <em>[+2222]</em>

    <em>[+3333]</em>

    Just like that, the Ilhwa Group and Joy Co. Ltd. stock prices fell. On the other hand, the views on Donalds single video continued to climb, helping him generate a considerable profit.

    <em>[Hyungs, I wille back tomorrow.]</em>

    <em>Bow</em>

    Donald bowed politely before ending his broadcast. He thenpletely changed his tune in private. He clicked his tongue and said, <em>Phew</em> Those f*ckers.

    He could not help but chuckle deeply when he saw his profits from the issue he had created.

    At that moment, his girlfriend, browsing on her phone, jumped in surprise and said, Donald. Ilhwa Group has published a statement. They said they will maintain a hard stance and respond strongly against all people posting maliciousments and baseless articles, including Ztubers.

    But Donald just guffawed. Bwahahahahahaha! A hard stance? Do they think they can put out the spark that had started to catch fire with just that?

    Are you going to be fine? Ilhwa Group and Joy Co. Ltd. are the bestpanies in Korea.

    Its going to be fine. Celebrities, famous influencers, and business tycoons often say they will maintain a hard stance and respond strongly against maliciousments and baseless and spective articles. But in the end, all those things turn out to be real, no?

    Even so, you dont have any clear evidence that Ilhwa Group has a deal with Joy Co. Ltd. and have truly received artifacts from them

    Donald just chuckled and ignored his girlfriends concern.

    Thats not the point here. Donald wagged his index finger. If they cant prove anything, then this will eventually be the truth.

    That was what the public was like. They would not believe it unless Minhyuk could provide clear and concrete evidence. However, from what Donald could tell, there was no way for them to prove and convince the public that this was not a copse in bnce. In other words, it did not matter whether his publication was true. Either way, it would bring him more money.

    <em>Well then, lets see if were getting more viral?</em>

    Whenever someone became a big hit with their posted content, most Ztubers would make simr content and hype the issue more. As the issue grew, most viewers would flock to the video with the most views. In this case, it was Donalds video.

    But then, Donald suddenly paused. Whats this?

    A video popped up whose views were climbing up at an absolutely ridiculous rate. The uploader? It was none other than Joy Co. Ltd., and its title was <em>The Burden an Emperor Carries.</em>

    <em>Click</em>

    The video yed the moment Donald clicked on it.

    ***

    To be honest, Minhyuk was growing extremely anxious.

    <em>The number of yers that have left the Beyond the Heavens Empire has increased.</em>

    And that was not all. Many yers had been asking the Beyond the Heavens Empire to exin the bnce break. But the most significant contributor to his anxiety was Ilhwa Groups falling stock prices. The damage he caused himself was much more substantial than he expected, so he could not help but feel anxious.

    But Minhyuk still did what he had to. He quickly instructed Ilhwa Groups legal team and called Ilhwa Daily, a subsidiary of Ilhwa Group and one of the country''s top three newspaper publishers.

    Immediately after, articles about how he would take a hard-line stance against those who posted maliciousments and baseless articles poured out. But before long, jeering and mockery began to rain down on the articles. Even another Ztuber immediately made a video mocking and belittling Minhyuk.

    But at that moment, he finally received a message from Godly Editor Jackson.

    <em>[I have already uploaded the video.]</em>

    Minhyuk walked toward theputer to watch the video.

    ***

    Anyone could watch videos on Ztube. They could watch those videos even while they were on their phones, which made it easier for people walking on the street, riding on subways, buses, and trains, and eating lunches at schools and offices to enjoy their leisure time.

    Many people quickly clicked on the video The Burden an Emperor Carries. The moment they clicked on the video, the steady, low baritone of a male voice actor rang in their ears as words appeared on the ck screens of their phones and monitors.

    <em>[I wanted to live.]</em>

    The words disappeared quickly as another appeared to rece it.

    <em>[Eating Addiction. Current estimated survival rate: less than 2%.]</em>

    Another set of words appeared just as quickly as the previous one disappeared.

    <em>[I started ying Athenae because I wanted to live.]</em>

    Then, the figure of a man appeared on their screens. The man was holding a wooden sword in his hands while looking at the hard bread given to him by an instructor.

    <em>[I swung the sword because I wanted to eat and live.]</em>

    The video sped up, the scene passing by at dozens of times the original speed. Several days and nights passed, yet the man continued to swing his sword. This was because he wanted to eat bread.

    <em>[I was happy.]</em>

    The video of Minhyuk smiling widely as he ate the hard bread in his hands appeared briefly on their screens.

    Then, a screenshot of the scene when the instructor handed a sword over to Minhyuk also appeared. This was immediately followed by the appearance of several other screenshots. One showed Minhyuk happily eating samgyetang for the first time, and another showed him continuously training his swordsmanship under the tutge of Instructor Roina.

    Screenshots showing how moved he was when he first grilled samgyeopsal, when he worked as a chef in the subjugation corps, when he met Sword Emperor Ellie and ate spam with her, and when he reunited with his friends and joined the Legend Guild appeared on their screens.

    A screenshot showed dozens of guild members with Minhyuk standing at the center with a bright smile.

    <em>[I was delighted. And I continued walking the path I was walking on because I was thrilled that I could continue eating to my hearts content. I did not realize it, but many people were already standing by my side at one point.]</em>

    Several dozens of screenshots appeared once again. His first meeting with Ben, Brod, Elpis, Gorfido, Luna, and others appeared on the screen. These screenshots slowly disappeared as the image of a kingdom appeared on the screen. Then, Minhyuk, standing on his kingdom''s walls and looking at his people, appeared.

    <em>[I wanted to protect them.]</em>

    There were dozens of videos ying simultaneously. The videos showed Minhyuk swinging his pickaxe, wielding his sword, or cooking a dish for days. The speed at which the videos were yed had been increased several times. However, everyone could tell each footage was at least four days long. Suddenly, the yback of the videos stopped. Then, one of the videos was greatly magnified.

    Haa Haa Haa Haa

    A close-up of Minhyuks exhausted face appeared. Sweat soaked his entire being as he staggered to his feet. He looked like he was about to copse at any moment, but he continued to raise his arms and swing.

    <em>[I promised them that I would never copse and fall.]</em>

    He gritted his teeth, his eyes zing with mes as he continued to move.

    <em>[I promised to protect them.]</em>

    <em>[I promised that I would live and survive.]</em>

    <em>[And I will keep those promises.]</em>

    Finally, videos showing Minhyuk with a bright and lively smile as he received the rewards appeared on the screen. Finally, thest video appeared on the screen. From its looks, the video seemed to be thetest of all the videos. It showed Minhyuk swinging a pickaxe non-stop in an unknown yet barrennd. Then, words appeared in the video.

    <em>[Day one.]</em>

    With the fast yback speed, the bright sky above him turned dark quickly.

    <em>[Day two.]</em>

    The videos yback speed grew faster and faster.

    <em>[Day three.]</em>

    <em>[Day four.]</em>

    <em>[Day five.]</em>

    <em>[Day six.]</em>

    The thought of continuous, intense, and hardbor was enough to make the viewers'' expressions grow ugly, but Minhyuk did not stop.

    <em>[Day seven.]</em>

    <em>[Day eight]</em>

    <em>[Day twelve]</em>

    <em>[Day fourteen.]</em>

    <em>[And.]</em>

    The video of Minhyuk swinging his pickaxe like crazy gradually slowed as the final words appeared on the screen.

    <em>[Day fifteen.]</em>

    Minhyuk smiled a small smile. Then, his eyes fluttered close as he fainted on the spot. Everyone watching the video felt the sweat pooling in their hands.

    The scene on their screen changed once again. It briefly showed the cksmith, who stood beside Minhyuk earlier, swinging his hammer like crazy. Then, the scene where the cksmith handed over the controversial armor set to Minhyuk appeared on everyones screens. Everyone saw Minhyuks small smile just before the scene changed once again.

    On their screen, the video that Carron took himself was being disyed. It showed the figure of a single man rushing toward an alliance of almost two million troops. Anyone who saw the mans back could feel the weight and burden that he was carrying as an emperor and someone who suffered from eating addiction.

    <em>[I will protect my empire.]</em>

    <em>[I will never fall.]</em>

    <em>[I will continue to move forward on my path.]</em>

    The white cape on his back fluttered as he ran toward the enemies that flocked toward the broken walls. Then, everything turned dark as the final words appeared on everyones screens.

    <em>[I am alive.]</em>

    ***

    After watching the video, Donald realized that his hands werepletely covered with sweat. It was not only his hands; his back was dripping with sweat, and goosebumps appeared all over his body.

    Ccan a person truly do something like that? This is fabricated, right?

    No, there was no way that Joy Co. Ltd. would upload a fabricated video. After all, experts could see this and quickly determine if the video had been manipted and manufactured.

    Donald raised his trembling hands to check the current situation with his mobile phone. He could see that the most searched keyword in portal sites worldwide was The Burden that an Emperor Carries.

    And along with that, the publics opinion turned aplete 180.

    <em>[Shit, thats crazy I feel very disappointed and resentful of my past self, who criticized the Food God fiercely.]</em>

    <em>[Can a person really handle all that?]</em>

    <em>[Wow After watching this, I must admit that the bnce break is understandable. Tbh, I think its not enough. I think they can give him more, you know?]</em>

    <em>[This video fully shows how the Food God, even though he is suffering from eating addiction, has reached his position. I believe this will give hope to many patients suffering from rare diseases.]</em>

    <em>[I was very touched when I saw the phrases I wanted to live at the beginning and I am alive at the end.]</em>

    <em>[Our Lord, the Food God He ]</em>

    <em>[What we consider a bnce break appeared because of his efforts.]</em>

    Yes, the publics opinion has turned. And Donald? He was left in a very panicked state.

    Joy Co. Ltd., Ilhwa Group, and Minhyuk had proven how he had obtained those artifacts. Everything was because of his efforts and hard work, which no other yer would want to replicate even if asked to do so. Among those who had watched Minhyuks video, was there anyone who could do it like him?

    Meanwhile, Donald posted a video containing the evidence and his confident remarks about an under-the-table deal that caused immeasurable damage to the image of Minhyuk and the twopanies.

    At that moment, Donald recalled the article that said Minhyuk and his team would take a hard-line stance against those who posted maliciousments and baseless and spective articles. He realized that he had to move quickly and fix things. Donald hurriedly filmed and uploaded an apology video. Of course, the Ztubers who joined in on the fun and muddied the waters also immediately posted apology videos.

    Around three hourster.

    The- the Food God has posted a message on his SNS! Donalds girlfriend shouted.

    Donald could only hold his trembling hands together and chuckle as cold sweat started to drip down his forehead.

    <em>From what I heard, the Food God has quite a good personality. I apologized and even knelt on my knees. Im sure hell ept it.</em>

    However, Donald copsed the moment he checked what Minhyuk posted.

    <em>[I will not be lenient.]</em>

 Chapter 918

    Chapter 918

    Countless articles were published in the three days since the The Burden an Emperor Carries video was released.

    <em>[Joy Co. Ltd.s stock prices have recovered.]</em>

    <em>[Ilhwa Groups stock prices recovered and even rose slightly.]</em>

    <em>[Minhyuk has submitted aint against the maliciousmenters and Ztubers that targeted him.]</em>

    <em>[He dered: I will not be lenient.]</em>

    <em>[How much should world-famous Ztuber Donaldpensate Minhyuk and the two globalpanies, Ilhwa Group and Joy Co. Ltd., for the damage that he had caused to their images?]</em>

    Minhyuk clearly stated in an article that he would take a hard-line response against these people before the The Burden that an Emperor Carries video was released. But he did not sue all of the people who joined in muddying the waters and posting malicious content against him.

    There were two kinds of people who spoke against Minhyuk back then: Ztubers and maliciousmenters who talked nonsense and criticized and ndered Minhyuk without any solid evidence, and those who stopped posting or deleted theirments when he published articles that he would take a hard-line stance. Of the two, Minhyuk only filed aint against the former.

    <em>If I dont do this now, these people will continue to appear in the future.</em>

    Minhyuk was the type of person who would step on those who acted maliciously against them to make sure that they would never crawl back up again. If he had eliminated such people from the scene in advance, people would no longer create baseless and spective articles about Ilhwa Group and Joy Co. Ltd. having under-the-table deals because of a bnce break he supposedly created. And there was nobody who criticized Minhyuk for not giving in and maintaining his stance on this matter.

    And now? Minhyuk was reading the publics opinion on the matter.

    <em>[Dont you guys think its too much? Why does he have to take down the Ztubers, too? Cant he just let them go? Im Donalds true fan.]</em>

    <em>[Thementer above is really f*cking crazy, huh? Hahaha.]</em>

    <em>[Whats wrong with going hard on them? Minhyuk was the one that held back the most, you know?]</em>

    <em>[Didnt you see? He only sued and filedints against the ones that did not delete their videos andments and continued to post and spread rumors through their malicious content even after he sent out those articles?]</em>

    <em>[If I were in his shoes, I would just sue and fileints against everyone who ndered me.]</em>

    The people were quick to write and reply to thementer, who was not aware of the seriousness of the situation. But even after all that effort, onementer did not understand the situation.

    <em>[Is this really something that has to be taken seriously?]</em>

    <em>[Yep. This is a grave matter. After Donald posted his video, the stock price of Ilhwa Group, apany with a market capitalization of 200 trillion won, fell by more than 3%. Theres also Athenaes Beyond the Heavens Empire, which is already considered Minhyuks property. During that period, more than 2% of their people left. The damage that video alone caused could be said to be over a hundred billion. If Joy Co. Ltd. and Minhyuk did not cooperate and posted a video together, the rumors that Donald had started would be considered as the truth and would cause more damage.]</em>

    <em>[Hmmm. Is a hundred billion a considerable amount of money? My dads assets are around five hundred trillion won.]</em>

    <em>[Hey, how old are you, btw?]</em>

    <em>[Im in 2nd grade.]</em>

    <em>[...]</em>

    <em>[...]</em>

    <em>[Ah. My Kumon workbooks just came in. Bye!]</em>

    Even if Minhyuk did not step forward to exin, many people spoke up for him. Of course, Minhyuk and the Ilhwa Group did not lose that much money, as mentioned above. However, that would not have been the only oue had they not rified the situation. Thankfully, Minhyuk was able to take advantage of the situation and turn the crisis into an opportunity.

    <em>But more importantly I wonder how many views it already has? Also, what ranking is the video at now?</em>

    When Minhyuk went to check the video on Ztube, he deliberately avoided looking at the views and the rankings. Of course, he had a gut feeling about it.

    <em>Around 2% of the yers left us, but more than 5% migrated in.</em>

    Besides, the 2% of yers who left were mostly those who did not believe in the true potential of Beyond the Heavens Empire and Minhyuk.

    <em>I think the number of members of my fan club increased by 1.3 million in three days?</em>

    That was right. He was experiencing the video''s impact firsthand. After all, his overseas fans had also increased in that short amount of time.

    However, the reason why he did not check the views and the ratings was that Editor Jackson woulde soon. Minhyuk was sitting in a cafe and waiting for him to arrive. After a while, a taxi stopped outside, and a very familiar foreigner got off and stepped inside the cafe.

    Minhyuk smiled brightly, looking like the happiest person in the world, as he waved at Jackson.

    ???

    Jackson could not help but look at him in confusion.

    ***

    In a tranquil cafe.

    Minhyuk stood by the counter and quickly ced his order: Can I please have two iced Americanos and two tiramisu?

    After paying the bill, Minhyuk happily hummed, Hehe. You have to eat tiramisu with iced americano.

    By any chance Jackson, seeing Minhyuks bright smile, asked, Were you looking forward to the drinks and the dessert when I arrived?

    Yep. Thats right! Iced americano and tiramisu is the perfectbi!

    ...

    Even though Jackson knew that Minhyuk was suffering from eating addiction, he still found the man in front of him to be very entric.

    <em>I have never seen this expression on him even after he forced the troops of the Peiro Allied Nations to retreat by himself.</em>

    Jackson could tell that Minhyuk was sincerely and genuinely happy right now. However, when he looked at him, waiting nervously and excitedly by the counter, he could not help but wonder if this man was indeed the worlds best yer.

    Heres your drink.

    Minhyuk received the drinks and the cake and quickly returned to his seat.

    Come quickly. It will not taste good once it loses its cold!

    Ah. Yes.

    Minhyuk smiled happily, looking at the iced Americano and tiramisu before him. A faint light shimmered underneath the dark Americano after the bright light from the cafe shone on the ice that clinked inside the ss. On the other hand, the tiramisu looked divine, with the dark brown cocoa powder sprinkled on top.

    He quickly grabbed a fork and scooped up a mouthful of the soft, sweet tiramisu.

    Hiyaaa. Minhyuk sighed as his smile grew even deeper.

    The cake gently melted the moment it entered his mouth. The tiramisu, a dessert that properlybined the vors of coffee and cocoa, had a slight yet soft creamy vor. Of course, Minhyuk did not forget to take another sweet bite.

    Kghhk

    The name of the delightful dessert, tiramisu, literally meant to cheer you up. And it did.

    Minhyuk quickly took several sips of the slightly bitter yet cold and refreshing iced americano the moment he felt the somewhat greasy sweetness from the tiramisu start to overwhelm him.

    <em>Sluuuuuuurp</em>

    Kghhhhhhk

    Minhyuk felt extremely refreshed with the treat that he had just devoured.

    After confirming that Minhyuk had finished enjoying his coffee, Jackson asked, Have you checked the videos number of views? How about the number of your subscribers?

    No. I deliberately avoided it and have been waiting for you.

    Minhyuk knew he couldnt do anything but check the number of views if he looked at it.

    The one in charge of editing the video was Jackson, an editor who had edited a video that ranked 243rd in the world regarding Ztube views. It had to be known that the current number one Ztube video had 7.5 billion views.

    Our total number of views in just three days has reached 380 million.

    ...!

    Minhyuk was very surprised when he heard the results. The current worlds poption was around eight billion. In other words, almost 4% of the current poption had seen the video in the three days since its release.

    Athenae also experienced a 5% increase in new subscribers during these three days. Your subscriber count has increased from the previous 610,000 to 2.02 million.

    Minhyuk, who only sometimes broadcast what he did, still had around 610,000 subscribers. But now, that number had more than tripled.

    The speed at which our number of views is increasing far exceeds Koreas Oppa, Hongdae Style. This video will reach the top ten in the charts and rankings within a year.

    Oh

    Im confident this video will generate hundreds of billions in profits. And as the number of views continues to grow, the migration rate of the Beyond the Heavens Empire will also grow.

    Woaaaaah, thats really amazing! Minhyuk said. However, his eyes were not on Jackson but the empty te of tiramisu in front of him. ...<em>Slurp.</em>

    ???

    <em>No, whats this?</em>

    Jackson could see that Minhyuks facial expression had not changed much. The only thing Jackson could see on the mans face was regret for the tiramisu. Based on what he had seen earlier, the tiramisu seemed worth more than the hundreds of billions of profits he would gain in a year.

    Jackson quickly left the thought behind. Then, he said, Ah. I also have a favor to ask of you. His tone grew cautious. Please ally with the Roarke Kingdom.

    Jackson was aware that the Roarke Kingdom had nothing to offer for an alliance to be formed. If the two nations became allies, they had to provide reinforcement when the other was in danger. If they truly allied, it was no different from putting the Roarke Kingdom under the rule of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. To put it simply, they would just be a burden.

    Even so Minhyuk still viewed this in a positive light. After all, if he took the Roarke Kingdom under his care, he would receive territories and migrants. But at times like this, there was one thing that Minhyuk had to do.

    The conditions?

    Godly Editor Jackson answered, I will sign a contract with the Beyond the Heavens Empire and be your exclusive editor.

    ***

    Editor Jackson, or Carron, was riding a taxi headed to Joy Co. Ltd.

    Haha. Carron unknowingly chuckled when he recalled Minhyuk eating his tiramisu happily. He truly enjoyed his meeting with Minhyuk. Not only that, but he was also able to confirm something.

    <em>This contract with Beyond the Heavens Empire</em>

    Before he knew it, the taxi stopped before Joy Co. Ltd.

    <em>...And this cooperation with Joy Co. Ltd. is very good for me.</em>

    That was right. Carron did not only sign a contract with Minhyuk. His contract also included Joy Co. Ltd., which he detailed to Minhyuk.

    Team Leader Park Minggyu, who came from the headquarters, greeted Carron. I will say this in advance. Thank you for epting our offer.

    But after hearing those words, Carron, with a firm tone, said, I did not sign a contract with Joy Co. Ltd. because of your offer. I signed it because of Minhyuk.

    He drew a firm line on this. Of course, Joy Co. Ltd.''s proposal was strict but also very generous. However, Carron would not sign an exclusive contract with anyone. He only epted their offer because the target was Minhyuk. This contract was quite a huge deal for all parties involvedBeyond the Heavens Empire, Joy Co. Ltd., and Carron.

    Although Carron''s words could be considered ungrateful and harmful to the one who offered the proposal, Team Leader Park Minggyu said, Ah. Even so, it is still very worth it for us.

    Team Leader Park Minggyu seemed to readily agree that Carron only signed the contract with them because of Minhyuk. After walking with him for quite a while, Carron finally entered Joy Co. Ltd.s conference room.

    President Kang Taehoon and several executives were already waiting inside. The moment they entered, Team Leader Park handed over the materials for this project to everyone while Carron sat in his designated seat.

    Team Leader Park then turned off the lights and began his presentation, using aser pointer to highlight the details of the project. Our stock prices fell by -5% while the controversy regarding the bnce break was at its height. But after publishing the video The Burden an Emperor Carries, our stock prices recovered and increased by 3%. Please look at the table over here. Thanks to The Burden an Emperor Carries, our sales have drastically increased.

    The executives did not know the exact details of the conversation between President Kang Taehoon, Carron, and the Beyond the Heavens Empire. However, they were still amazed at Minhyuks videos impact.

    <em>I want to be a yer like Minhyuk.</em> This sentiment has brought back many yers to our game. And thats not all. Thanks to the well-made and edited video we published, our new subscriptions have also increased greatly.

    Finally, Team Leader Park presented the critical point of this meeting: Our Joy Co. Ltd. has decided to produce advertisement videos centered on the Beyond the Heavens Empire. Mr. Jackson, over here, would be in charge of editing the videos.

    ...!

    ...!

    ...!

    The executives of Joy Co. Ltd. were very shocked when they heard that. Some even raised their hands to voice their concerns.

    But if we make ads centered on Beyond the Heavens Empire, wouldnt it negatively impact us? This time, its no longer a rumor. There will truly be a transaction between Beyond the Heavens Empire and Joy Co. Ltd.

    Team Leader Park smiled. I believe theres nothing for us to worry about regarding that matter, no? Various celebrities often filmmercials shown on TV, right? I believe its only natural that a gamepany would advertise with its best yers and an emerging empire. Would we be med for doing something like that?

    The executive immediately realized his concern was too shallow and could only cough to hide his embarrassment.

    Minggyu continued, Many people havemented that our Joy Co. Ltd. is apany that is good at making things and gimmicks but is not good at making advertisements.

    It was the truth. Joy Co. Ltd. had always topped all viewers consumption ratings categories. But ironically, plenty of rumors said they were terrible at making ads.

    Kim Dae-Il raised his hand and asked, What are our next steps?

    In response to his question, Team Leader Park pointed to someone else. Mr. Jackson will be the one to exin this part.

    Jackson stood up and exined, In the first phase of this project, the ads that we will make will tell the stories of the people many of the yers are very curious about, Minhyuks vassals.

    ...Oh. Manager Kim Dae-Il sighed in awe.

    That was right. All of the yers were very, <em>very</em> curious about Minhyuks vassals.

    Then, Jackson continued, Once were done making the ads about them, we will continue with arge-scale ad that will use the entire Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    So, were going to tackle it one step at a time?

    Thats right. We will make an advertisement that will generate curiosity in our viewers. Were going to produce ads that raise the question, Wow, I wonder what the next ad will be? When will ite out? and not the question, Ah, this ad again?

    A sh of interest appeared on all of the faces of the executives present in the conference room.

    Meanwhile, Manager Kim Dae-Il raised the most important question. Who will be the first target?

    Jackson looked at each of the executives before pointing at one of the graphs in front of them.

    Our first target is the one that has an overwhelming amount of yer votes and has sat on the number one rankings for a very long time. Jackson continued calmly, He is an NPC that has sat on the number one in rankings in several categories, including NPCs that yers wanted to keep as their vassals, NPCs that yers are most afraid of, and NPCs that can deal an attack with the greatest damage.

    So, who is it? Kim Dae-Il asked in frustration.

    On the other hand, Jackson remained calm as he said, Its Spear God Ben.

 Chapter 919

    Chapter 919

    These days, Haze could be seen with a perpetual look of concern.

    <em>Amacar has been helping the soldiers grow rapidly. Theres also Brod and Spear God Ben, whomands them.</em>

    Haze was left pondering about the report that Amacar had sent him.

    Compared to their growth and potential, the empire''s soldiers and knights cannot disy much power individually. And while they possess incredible strength, they are severelycking in skillspared to other imperial knights and soldiers.

    The Beyond the Heavens Empire was established from the rapid growth of a small kingdom. The main contributors to this were Minhyuks vassals. It was also thanks to them that the knights and soldiers could grow significantly.

    The problem was that the only growth they experienced was in what the yers called stats and levels. As for their skills and proficiency, they werent up to par. Why did something like this happen when Spear God Ben, Brod, Sword of the God Luo, and the others were here?

    <em>It does not mean that the army will be able to exert a powerful force just because theirmanders are outstanding.</em>

    Of course, themanders power and strength were vital. However, in an army, what mattered the most was bnce. Most imperial armies were divided into several corps, like the First Corps, Second Corps, Third Corps, Fourth Corps, etc. Take, for example, the First Corps. It would also have several divisions,panies, and battalions inside it.

    Thesepanies would produce outstanding individuals who might not be as good or strong as thepany''s armymander. In other words, they werepanymander-level individuals.

    <em>Our Beyond the Heavens Empirecks people who can lead our soldiers once divided intopanies, divisions, and corps.</em>

    Yes, the vassals of the Beyond the Heavens Empire were known to be the strongest. However, they needed more time to train eachpany. They required panymander-level'' individuals before they could divide their army into corps, divisions, andpanies.

    At that moment, the door of her office opened. The one who entered was none other than Ben.

    Hoho. Whats got you so serious today?

    Ah. Grandpa, youre here? Haze said as she looked up at Ben. The older mans entrance had stirred her up from her thoughts. You said that you were going out to get some ingredients for coffee, right?

    Thats right.

    Ben was Minhyuks strongest vassal. However, the older man also wanted to make Minhyuk the most delicious cup of coffee. Because of that, he reached a fantastic level as a barista.

    <em>Perhaps I will be able to reach a new height soon, </em>Ben thought excitedly. However, he was not excited because he would reach a new level. What excited him was the thought of serving his emperor the first cup of coffee he would make on that level.

    What has got you so deep in your thoughts this time?

    That Haze told Spear God Ben the report that Amacar had given her.

    Thats true. However, its not that easy for us. The Beyond the Heavens Imperial Army now has over a million troops. We must divide them by at least 50,000 troops per division, and we need people to manage and lead them once we go to war.

    Haze looked down at the report in her hands. But the spear masters, in particr, seem to grow both in their skills and proficiency as well as their strength. As expected of Grandpa, youre amazing.

    Yes, only the spear masters showed such bnced growth. And, of course, Ben told her the answer, Hoho. Its because many of the spear masters who trusted and followed me back when I was still one of the Pinnacle Strong Men had followed me in the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    Ah! Haze recalled that Spear God Ben was once one of the Pinnacle Strong Men.

    The Pinnacle Strong Men are the strongest men on the continent. However, they do not belong to any empire or kingdom. And to protect and defend themselves from the kingdoms and empires, they would receive disciples with outstanding abilities and train them well.

    Ben chuckled. Thats right. Im very grateful that they still chose toe back to me even after I left the Pinnacle Strong Men and wandered around the seas for a very long time.

    An idea shed in Hazes head when she heard Bens words. Ah. By any chance, do you know anything about where we can find Pinnacle Strong Man Farraden?

    They shed with the Pinnacle Strong Men in the Continental Cloud when they were still the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. Amoure and Loki, the first and second Pinnacle Strong Men, died in the encounter. Because of that, the surviving Pinnacle Strong Men had to find a new leader who wouldmand and lead them. They chose Farraden, who was ranked 6th at the time.

    The Pinnacle Strong Men were not necessarily bad people. Most moved for the money, but some chose not to. And Farraden was one of thetter. And with Farraden leading the Pinnacle Strong Men, they had walked apletely different path from the past.

    Haze believed it would greatly benefit the Beyond the Heavens Empire if they could bring the Pinnacle Strong Men to their side. However, Bens expression turned dark when Farradens name was mentioned.

    I dont have contact with any of them.

    Howe? Haze asked cautiously.

    However, Ben justughed hollowly. Haze. Before I met His Majesty, I was a horrible person.

    ...

    At this moment, Haze realized she had touched on a sensitive and sore spot for Ben. She had breached a topic that should never have been discussed.

    It wasnt until the death of my son that I realized how stupid and foolish I was.

    Why was Ben called Ghost Spear Ben? Was it because he swung his spear in a ghost-like manner? Well, it was true to some extent. However, it was mostly because he had killed many of the strong men of the continent and was considered an evil spirit.

    Ben, the eighth member of the Pinnacle Strong Men back then, wanted to climb higher. Because of his greed, he had killed many good men. The deeper Haze delved into Spear God Bens past, the more she wondered if he was indeed the same person as the person he was in the past.

    There were two turning points in Bens life. The first was the death of his son, and the second was his meeting with Minhyuk.

    Alright. Ill be back, Ben bid his goodbye and stepped out of the office after a very bitter and sad conversation.

    When he came out of the door, he could not help but stare at the sky outside the window. It had been quite a long time since he heard that familiar name.

    <em>Farraden, Im sorry.</em> Ben thought, a bitter smile on his face.

    <em>I must continue living for His Majesty and the Beyond the Heavens Empire. Once peace finds thisnd and the Luvien Empire has copsed, then</em>

    Ben sighed lightly.

    <em>...I will dly pay for the crime that I havemitted.</em>

    ***

    The Pinnacle Strong Men were the eight strongest men that reigned over the continent. After Amoures death, they chose Farraden as their new leader and took a different path from the past.

    The only reason the Pinnacle Strong Men were able to change was that they had quite a lot of new people sitting on their throne. After all, most of their members had died during the battle in the Continent Cloud in the past.

    The NPCs would also grow just as the yers grow. And the Pinnacle Strong Men had now grown stronger. Although they could not stand on par with the Swords of the Gods First Order, they could still easily fight against the Swords of the Gods Second Order, an order built by yers.

    But right now, the Pinnacle Strong Men were being pressured and threatened. One of the Stars of the Luvien Empire, Duke d, visited them. Hepletely overwhelmed the Pinnacle Strong Men and all of their disciples. Then, he dered.

    <em>Receive judgment for your evil and wicked deeds.</em>

    Ironically, those whomitted those evil deeds from the Pinnacle Strong Men had all died. All those who sat in the position of the Pinnacle Strong Men were fresh and new blood. Yet Duke d still swung his sword against them because <em>they carry the same name.</em> Farraden was not stupid. He knew the man did note to them for such a reason.

    <em>What do you want with us?</em>

    Farraden knew that Duke d needed something from them. d, who finally sheathed his sword, replied.

    <em>Are you going to acknowledge your mistakes and your crimes? Are you willing to live and survive?</em>

    And finally, he revealed his true <em>goal.</em>

    <em>Spear God Ben. I want you to kill him, thene to our Luvien Empire. If you follow His Majesty Nervas orders</em>, <em>he promises to rid you of all your sins.</em>

    Only after leaving those words did Duke d leave.

    Farraden stood at a distant hill and watched an old man and a foreigner walk side by side. At this point, he realized that the Luvien Empire was aware of what happened between him and Ben.

    <em>Today will be the day you will pay for your crimes.</em>

    Farraden would kill Ben.

    ***

    Special yers Management Team.

    Team Leader Park Minggyu was sitting in front of the monitor with a severe expression.

    Lee Minhwa went on vacation today. As for the new employee, Lee Tae-Sung, he eventually failed to endure the pressure and intensity of the work and left thepany. Of course, they needed someone to sub for Lee Minhwa, and this sub finally arrived.

    Lets work hard today.

    The sub was none other than Manager Kim Dae-Il. He subbed for Team Leader Park Minggyu when he went on vacation in the past. Back then, he vowed that he would never return, saying, The Special yers Management Team is a team from hell.

    But after learning the truth about the bnce break that Minhyuk had caused, Dae-Il said that he wanted to know more about their yers and even volunteered to fill in for Lee Minhwa. Simply put, Dae-Il wanted to learn more information from the yers to try to change and veer Athenae into the right path.

    Whats got you looking all serious?

    Kim Dae-Il could not help but sigh when he saw the scene on the monitor. Ah, its Ben. Every operator in Joy Co. Ltd. knows that he is a very unlucky and pitiful NPC.

    It was the truth. Ben was originally an NPC that was supposed to die a tragic death.

    He was supposed to wander the Dragon Kings Seas and die under the sword of his closest friend, Farraden, and sink to the depths of the seas. But now he has be the Spear God and started living a new life.

    Manager Kim Dae-Il realized how great the yers'' power was. However, he was very curious about why Team Leader Park Minggyu was sporting a serious expression.

    Whats going on?

    I was just thinking about what would happen if Farraden and Ben reunited.

    What would happen? Kim Dae-Il looked confused and puzzled. Farraden and the Pinnacle Strong Men were but mere human beings. They wouldnt be able to kill Spear God Ben, no?

    No. They can.

    What?

    Manager Kim Dae-Il was different from Team Leader Park Minggyu. He did not know much of the details.

    Before joining the Pinnacle Strong Men, their members would be branded with the Pinnacles Stigma. A punishment will be brought down upon those carrying the stigma if they break the rules of the Pinnacle Strong Men, Team Leader Park exined, the graveness of the matter evident in his tone. The stigmas power is absolute. Even if he became a god, he could not go against it. And one of their rules was Do not belong to an empire. But now, Ben has joined the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    Hmmm Kim Dae-Il groaned. On the other hand, he found it amazing. Did he be Minhyuks vassal despite knowing that he would risk his life like that?

    Thats right. And yer Minhyuk is not even aware of this.

    Is the reason youre looking all serious? Youre thinking about what would happen once Ben dies.

    Team Leader Park nodded. But more than that, I was thinking about a number of possibilities that would happen once Farraden and Ben met and shed.

    Then, can you tell me those possibilities?

    Team Leader Park nodded once again. As you mentioned, one of the possibilities is Spear God Bens death. Or maybe a special reward will be given because of the deep bond between yer Minhyuk and Ben.

    A special reward? Ah, that?! Manager Kim shouted. He seemed to recall what Minggyu was talking about.

    Thats right. Its a reward that will only be given to one yer and one yer alone in Athenae.

    That reward was created with a very symbolic meaning.

    This reward will only appear once a tremendously deep bond has been created between an NPC and a yer. And right now? The bond between yer Minhyuk and Ben is already close to that level.

    Then, why did you look so serious?

    From what Manager Kim Dae-Il could gather, the situation did not seem that serious for Minggyu to look that serious.

    But then, Team Leader Park said, I mentioned before that I have been thinking about some possibilities that would happen, right?

    Right.

    I believe the story''s ending between Spear God Ben and the Pinnacle Strong Men is one of two.

    Team Leader Park turned toward the monitor, the serious expression on his face growing increasingly severe.

    Either the Luvien Empire gets the Pinnacle Strong Men, or the Beyond the Heavens Empire gets the Pinnacle Strong Men.

    ...!

    Manager Kim Dae-Il could not understand how Park Minggyu came to those conclusions.

    Then, Team Leader Park said, Werent you aware of why Ben was supposed to die at the hands of Farraden?

    Of course, Dae-Il was aware of the reason why Ben had to die a tragic death. He was also aware of the reason why Farraden hated him.

    The serious expression on Team Leader Parks face as he looked at the two monitors before him turned bitter. One of the monitors showed Ben, while the other monitor showed Farraden.

    Minggyu licked his dry lips and said, Its because Ben killed Farradens daughter.

 Chapter 920

    Chapter 920

    Ben and Farradens story was unfortunate and tragic.

    Ben, who was intoxicated by power, fought and killed many powerful men on the continent. However, even if Ben was like that, many people stayed by his side,ughing and chatting. One of them was <em>Farraden.</em>

    Farraden had always criticized and tried to restrain Bens unsightly behavior. Ben found Farraden disgusting. However, he maintained his friendship because he knew Farraden was only thinking about him. When their friendship grew stronger, Ben started listening to Farraden and examining himself and his actions. But then, things happened one after another.

    News about Bens son dying in the Dragon Kings Sea reached him. Ben wallowed with grief and spent his days under the influence of alcohol as he med and resented himself.

    He murdered Farradens daughter, right?

    When Farraden arrived, he saw Ben holding a bloody spear while her daughtery dead on the ground. The two immediately fought fiercely. But after dealing a severe injury to Farradens eye, Ben ran away.

    Thats the reason why he left the Pinnacle Strong Men. But why would the Pinnacle Strong Men rte the death of Farradens daughter to the fact that Ben came to the Beyond the Heavens Empire? Kim Dae-Il asked. If its like that, then could this be considered a bug? Why would Minggyu think like that?

    Yes, Ben killed Farradens daughter. However, he did notmit murder.

    This was also true.

    Amoure felt that Ben''s rapid growth in power threatened his position. So, he took advantage of Ben, who was left weakened and drunk, and cast an illusion upon him.

    This was also a fact. Ghost Spear Ben was ranked eighth among the Pinnacle Strong Men only because he had the fewest disciples. Bens power was actually on par with, or perhaps even more significant than, Amoures.

    Team Leader Park stared at the monitor and asked, Do you think Farraden was unaware of this?

    ...

    Kim Dae-Il remained silent. Even he, an insider, was unaware of what was happening inside the game. But what if he was in the same position?

    He might have some suspicions. His close friend, who was drunk, suddenly murdered his daughter?

    That was highly unlikely, no?

    If you look at it, there are various irregrities that can help clear the misunderstandings between the two and help guide them to a new path.

    Manager Kim Dae-Il looked at the monitor and pondered about these irregrities. That was when he remembered the game''s most significant irregrity.

    <em>yer Minhyuk?</em>

    Then, something suddenly urred to him. Manager Kim Dae-Il always strived to make Athenae prosper and help steer it in a better direction.

    You said earlier that the bond between yer Minhyuk and Ben is almost at the level where he could receive a reward, right?

    Thats right.

    There was also Jackson, who was familiar with Bens story and was already almost at the final stage of Bens advertisement video production process.

    <em>A way to get more yers to watch our ads</em>

    If they wanted more yers to see their ads, broadcasting it on Ztube and the TV might still becking.

    ...The moment Minhyuk and Bens bond reaches the highest level Lets make it so the You can now view the advertisement video notification rings in the ears of all of the yers currently ying Athenae at that time.

    Yes?

    This will be amazing! The story of Ben and Minhyuk will unfold and y in front of every yer inside the game!

    ???

    Team Leader Park could not understand what came over Dae-Il. But he did not have the time to question it. Manager Kim Dae-Il quickly jumped to his feet and ran out.

    Ill have to hurry and report this to the president! Kim Dae-Il shouted as he rushed out of the Special yers Management Team.

    ***

    <em>[The Beyond the Heavens Empire and the Roarke Kingdom have signed an alliance.]</em>

    <em>[The Beyond the Heavens Empire and the Roarke Kingdom will help each other with material and emotional support. You will be disadvantaged if you break the alliance at will!]</em>

    After talking with Carron andying down their terms and conditions, Minhyuk dly epted their request for an alliance.

    <em>Theyre going to make advertisement videos about our Beyond the Heavens Empires vassals.</em>

    The Beyond the Heavens Empires vassals were all famous and well-known. So, there wasnt anything that they could hide about them. Besides, he did not need to worry since the advertisement videos that they would produce would not reveal their current level or power.

    After signing the alliance, Minhyuk had a moment to himself. He looked down at the bloody key that Carron had given him and thought it would be nice if the ce where this key led housed something delicious.

    <em>It is said that this is the key that will lead you to the ce mentioned in the Roarke Kingdoms legends. From what I heard, that ce has the power that can help you grow further. The first prince asked me to give this to Your Majesty as a gift.</em>

    Minhyuk then climbed the empire''s walls and looked out in the distance.

    <em>Thank you, Grandpa.</em>

    Sporting a flushed and excited face, Ben came to visit Minhyuk before leaving the empire.

    <em>Your Majesty. I finally found where the coffee beans blooming among ten thousand flowers. I can serve Your Majesty delicious coffee with a deeper vor and aroma using these superior coffee beans.</em>

    Ben looked extremely delighted, like a child who had received a gift. Minhyuk was very, <em>very</em> grateful to him. He knew that the old man was doing his best because he wanted to make him happy.

    <em>Please wait for me. In a few days, I will find you and serve you with the most delicious and aromatic coffee in the world, Your Majesty.</em>

    Ben left after leaving those words to him. Minhyuk shed a faint smile as he watched the older man''s path.

    <em>It seems like I dont have much to do now.</em>

    Ever since the video <em>The Burden an Emperor Carries</em> was broadcast, the Beyond the Heavens migration rate had witnessed a steady increase. And as strange as it was, even the Luvien Empire, which was showing several signs that it was preparing to go to war, calmed down.

    Since he had nothing else to do for the time being, Minhyuk, who held the bloody key tightly in his hands, left a message in the guild chat and told his guild members that he would go somewhere.

    <em>[You will now be warped to the ce mentioned in the legends of the Roarke Kingdom.]</em>

    Minhyuk disappeared in a sh of bright light. Opening his eyes, he was greeted by a gushing waterfall and a sparkling, clear, and mesmerizing river.

    <em>[This is the ce where the Roarke Kingdoms treasure lies.]</em>

    <em>[You have entered the ce where the water of the River of Growth flows!]</em>

    <em>[All chats, including whispers, will be restricted in the River of Growth!]</em>

    <em>[If you soak in the River of Growth for two days, your level will increase by 1% of your current level!]</em>

    ...!

    Minhyuk could not help but be shocked.

    <em>What this</em>

    The reward was truly beyond anyones expectations. If his level would increase by 1% of Minhyuks current level, then that meant that his level would increase by at least six.

    For rankers at Level 600 or above, it would take at least two months of clearing high-risk, high-reward quests while drinking countless bottles of EXP buff potions to increase their level by that amount. But that was only the bare minimum. Usually, it would take them more than three months to achieve such an increase.

    <em>And because Im the one who received this reward, it bes even more special.</em>

    Of course, this reward would be special for all yers over Level 600. But the rewards became even more special because Minhyuk received them. Why? Because Minhyuk was the current number one in the official global rankings. He was the strongest, excluding the unofficial rankers. This meant that thebination of the best reward and the strongest yer would create a tremendous synergy effect. However, there was a problem.

    <em>[Once you enter the River of Growth, you cannot leave. You can only stay inside for two straight days!]</em>

    <em>[Even if you log out, your character will remain submerged inside the River of Growth. The time that has psed will be applied to your character.]</em>

    His movements would be restricted to the River of Growth for two days.

    <em>Hmm.</em>

    However, that did not mean he could not do anything while submerged in the waters of the River of Growth.

    <em>I can still eat things I love, like hot bars and the like, right?</em>

    The only thing that made it difficult was not being able to contact the outside world. But since he left a message in the guild chat and the executives were there, he did not need to worry too much and could confidently enter the River of Growth. At the same time, he wondered if something special would happen three dayster.

    Then, Minhyuk slowly submerged his body in the waters of the River of Growth.

    <em>[You have started to absorb the energy from the River of Growth.]</em>

    <em>[Your EXP will continue to increase until your total level has risen by 1% of your current level!]</em>

    ***

    Spear God Ben looked at the dark, gloomy forest that spread before him.

    <em>The coffee beans that bloom among ten thousand flowers. </em>Those coffee beans were growing in that ce. Ben wanted to obtain those coffee beans, not to reach a much higher realm or live a better life. He just wanted to be able to make the worlds most delicious coffee with those beans and serve a cup to Minhyuk at least once in his life.

    The moment Ben stepped inside the forest, the dreary voice of a woman rang in his ears.

    <em>[An old veteran.]</em>

    Ben was aware of the story of this forest that had remained hidden for a very long time.

    Hundreds of years ago, a beautiful woman was born with a strange power. The woman was said to have the power to control and rule over the forest. But because of this power, one of the kingdoms called her a witch and almost burned her at the stake. This incident made the woman furious with the entire world. ording to the records, the woman stabbed the neck of the king, who tried to kill her, with a branch of a tree and killed all of the people who scoffed and threw stones at her before she fled.

    But even after hearing this story, the worlds strongest men continued to hunt and challenge her, hoping to obtain the name: Witch Hunter. And the woman? She had been forced to kill those challengers time and time again.

    From what Ben had gathered, the woman grew disillusioned after witnessing the ugly and dirty side of the human race and had hidden herself in this forest. Everything that Ben knew about the woman and this forest ended here. Anyway, he only wanted the coffee beans that bloomed among ten thousand flowers from this ce.

    <em>[This forest is mine.]</em>

    <em>[Even if you possess a strong power, that power will disappear once you enter this ce.]</em>

    <em>[Go back.]</em>

    <em>An ordinary human? No. Hes just good at using spears?</em>

    Ben understood what the woman meant. However, he chuckled and said, I have never learned how to back down.

    Ben continued to march forward with a faint smile. The moment he reached the small entrance leading to the depths of the forest, vines sprung up and blocked his path.

    <em>[I told you to go back!!!]</em>

    The womans voice turned vicious. It sounded just like the voice of a real witch.

    At the same time, Bens strength left his body. Because of that, he was also restricted from using the God Piercing Spear he held in his hands. At that moment, Ben became an ordinary human beingan ordinary human being who was outstanding in wielding his spear. If Ben were a yer, he would have heard the notification saying, Your level has been set to Level 1.

    Ben hung the God-piercing Spear on his back before grabbing a long branch to use as a makeshift spear. Then, he ran swiftly through the long and winding forest with no end in sight as the trees, vines, roots, and branches grew thorns and stretched out to put pressure upon him.

    <em>Thwack Thwack!</em>

    Ben swung the branch in his arms and continued running deeper inside the forest. Hepletely ignored the thorns that were stabbed all over his body.

    <em>Creaaaaaaaak</em>

    Then, at that moment, one of the vines wrapped around Bens legs and restricted his movements while a colossal tree fell from the sky and smashed him down.

    <em>Thud</em>

    <em>Creaaaaaak</em>

    Everything happened in an instant. Just like that, Ben, who was ttened by the tree, died with blood all over his body.

    <em>[The Witch wants to see the greedy human suffer!]</em>

    <em>[You will suffer and die the most painful deaths a hundred times over!]</em>

    Hoho

    Ben, revived and reappeared by the tree that fell upon him, realized that the witchs resentment toward the humans was greater than he had expected. A bitter smile shed on his face. However, he kept on running and dying. He died standing, hanging in the air, and being stabbed by hundreds of thorns.

    <em>[You have suffered the most painful!]</em>

    Yet he would continue to run and move forward every time he reappeared.

    <em>Your Majesty, just wait for me.</em>

    Tree branches that were as sharp as the de of a sword shot out and tore Bens body apart.

    <em>[You have suffered the most painful]</em>

    When he appeared once again, a boulder fell from the sky and ttened him to a bloody pulp.

    <em>Thud</em>

    <em>[You have suffered the most painful!]</em>

    There were even times when the vines grabbed all of his limbs and pulled them away from his body.

    <em>Creak</em>

    <em>[...painful!]</em>

    There were times when the vines would grab him by his legs and drag him to the river until he choked and drowned to his death.

    <em>[...painful!]</em>

    Ben continued to die one tragic and painful death after another.

    <em>[...painful!]</em>

    <em>[...painful!]</em>

    <em>[...painful!]</em>

    <em>[...painful!]</em>

    However, there was no fear in his body. He just continued to move forward as if the deaths that he experienced were nothing. He did not even get exhausted.

    <em>I wonder if a cup of the drink I will make from that will bring a smile to His Majestys face?</em>

    He only thought about the cup of coffee that would bring joy to Minhyuk.

    <em>As long as it makes him happy, even if its a hundred or a thousand times, I will still be fine.</em>

    Ben was not aware that the reward created specially under President Kang Taehoons instructions, which could only be obtained when the bond between a yer and an NPC reached its peak, was showing signs of being triggered.

 Chapter 921

    Chapter 921

    Ben was dying horrible deaths inside this unknown forest where the witch was hiding. After pondering why the witch was this furious, he realized she was being hunted and targeted by countless strong men to gain fame and fortune by killing her when she earned the name Witch. Ironically, Ben had been one of those men. He had also been someone who inflicted pain like this on others so that he could make a name for himself.

    <em>Fwooooosh!</em>

    A thick branch stretched out from somewhere. It pierced Bens heart and pinned him to a wall.

    <em>Crack!</em>

    Ben awakened from his thoughts. Although he was vomiting blood, his eyes were still filled with determination.

    ...This subordinate of yours will be back soon. Ben chuckled lightly. He could not even remember how many deaths he had experienced in this forest.

    <em>[Humans! All of you are ugly, dirty, and greedy! Suffer in pain! Experience pain like no other! Beg and scream for me to spare you!]</em>

    The witch could not understand why this man did not even scream once. Was he not scared of her? Anyway, she would not give him what he wanted for this ugly and dirty human being.

    <em>Fwoosh</em>

    <em>Fwoosh</em>

    When Ben returned to life, hundreds of vines stretched out and wrapped all over his body. The vines tightened their hold on him as if they wanted to choke them to death.

    You see, someone is waiting for me to taste the coffee I want to make with the coffee beans you have in your hands.

    <em>[Lies! Youre telling me that youre willingly taking on the risk and the pain for the sake of someone else?!]</em>

    The witch''s voice rose, almost reaching a scream. However, a smile appeared on her face when she saw Bens face turn red as the veins continued to tighten around his body.

    Im sorry.

    <em>[...]</em>

    Im sorry. I was one of the greedy humans who called you a witch. I was also one of the dirty humans who dered that they would kill the witch to get a name for themselves.

    Ben tried to console the witch by telling her his story. I- I was an orphan. I swung my spear to survive and continued on a reckless path so no one would ignore me.

    But at the end of his path, the only thing he could see was blood. He told her how he killed a lot of people so that he could make a name for himself and the tragedy that soon followed it. He also told her about the person that made him want to stand up and move forward once again. He, tied up by the vines, talked for a long time.

    Now, I live for him and him alone. Ben, who sported a bitter expression, spoke to the witch warmly and gently: Child, the one that should be punished is not you. It should be me.

    <em>[...]</em>

    Why? We were the ones that turned you into a real witch and hurt you, yet you were the one to run away and hide. You are not a witch. And we should be the ones to receive this kind of punishment.

    Ben felt genuinely sorry for her. The ones in the wrong were people like him, yet the one who suffered was her. Why did she have to hide in the dark and be an ugly and dreary witch? They should have paid for that crime.

    <em>Swoosh</em>

    The vines that had a firm hold on him slowly began to unravel. Ben momentarily looked down at the loose vines hanging on him before stepping out of them and walking slowly. Then, the forest started to open up a path for him. At the end of the path stood the witch, who had a head full of tangled hair that covered her bloody face. The witch held a weird and strange staff as she looked at Ben.

    The witch cried as she watched Ben slowly walk toward her. It- Its really not my fault?

    A greedy human being was jealous of her powers and began calling her a witch. Because of that, many people came to kill her. At one point, she <em>indeed</em> became a witch.

    <em>I am a cruel and cunning witch. Often, I find myself resenting what I have be. Did everything that happened to me happen because I did something wrong?</em>

    Ben continued to walk toward her.

    Those that hurt you, Ben, who had killed a lot of people in the past, continued, Those that made you sad.

    Ben had left many people in despair and sadness because of his greed. And the people who were just like him? They were the ones who turned the girl in front of him into a witch. Slowly approaching the crying girl, he bowed until his forehead hit the ground. Then, sobbing, he said, The true witch is us.

    This image was something he had never shown to anyone. It was also a sort of apology to all the people who have fallen victim to him.

    Ben could only cry when he heard the girl ask him if she was not a witch. Then, a small chuckle escaped his lips as he looked up at the girl and said, Hey, where can you find such a pretty witch in the world, huh?

    A bright light burst out from the girls body at that moment. The blood that stained her face and made her look hideous slowly disappeared while her tangled hair straightened itself out. The weird staff in her hands also turned to dust, returning to the earth beneath her feet. Her red clothes, which seemed to have been made from blood, turned into shabby yet ordinary garments.

    When the light disappeared, a beautiful and pure girl appeared before Ben. When she shed a bright smile at him, tens of thousands of red roses bloomed around her. At the same time, a ck flower bloomed in front of Ben. Sitting atop this ck flower was a coffee bean as beautiful as a ck gemstone.

    <em>Swoooooosh</em>

    <em>Fwooooooooosh</em>

    Everything that had turned this bright and innocent girl into a witch over the hundreds of years that she was persecuted and left in this forest slowly disappeared. The rotten and broken trees became ashes scattered with the wind while the sharp and thorny vines retreated to who knew where. Only the ten thousand blooming red roses and the bright and beautiful girl were left after the dark and dreary forest disappeared.

    Ben slowly reached out his hand as he harvested the coffee bean. He held the coffee bean dearly in his hands before slowly turning around. The girl was no longer a witch. Although he was happy that his words had meaning for this girl and allowed her to return to her true self, he knew there was nothing else he could do for her. That was why he was going to leave.

    <em>Grab</em>

    Ben paused in his tracks. When he turned around, he saw the girl with her head lowered and her hands holding tightly on the hem of his shirt. Ben smiled faintly. He patted her head and said, Alright. Come with this grandpa. Im sure he will wee you warmly.

    Then, Ben finally took a step forward. Walking right next to him with her short and quick steps was the girl, whose name was Andrea.

    ***

    Ben and Andrea shared many stories as they went on their merry way. Most of the questions Andrea asked the old man were about him and the man he served.

    Hes the kind of guy that likes to stack his food like a mountain before eating everything in one go.

    Thats impossible.

    Hoho. But you know, watching him eat like that always makes me smile.

    Andrea listened to Ben, and she could hear his respect and affection for Minhyuk. Because of that, the girl grew ever more curious about the man. At the same time, she also felt terrified. What if she got called a witch again?

    You dont have to worry. No people like me are in the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    Ben, smiling as he walked with Andrea, suddenly stopped in his tracks.

    Andrea, Ben said bitterly as he looked back at the girl. This is happening because this grandpa did not pay the price of his crimes.

    Andrea hurriedly hid behind Ben as Farraden, the Pinnacle Strong Men, and their thousands of disciples appeared before them.

    ***

    Farraden would never be able to forget that day. He had been cooking soup for Ben, who was left in grief after losing his son and had turned to alcohol. When he opened the door of the room where his friend was sleeping, he saw Ben holding a bloody spear in his hands and his daughter lying on the ground with only a breath left in her.

    At that moment, rage devoured Farraden, and his head turned nk, and his vision turned white. He immediately pounced on Ben, who stood silently as if he was still drunk.

    <em>Whyyyyyyy!!!</em>

    But Ben remained silent. He raised his spear and parried his attacks. Consumed by his fury, Farraden was able tond an attack on Ben. However, he suffered an injury, ending with a huge cut across his eye. Then, Ben ran away.

    Why did you run?

    ...

    Ben did not speak. Honestly, Bens memories of that time were hazy and vague. He only remembered Amoureing tofort himself, who was already drunk, and giving him a ss. When he opened his eyes, his hands were already stained with blood, and Farradens daughter was lying on the ground. After that, he lost his consciousness once again. When he woke up, he was already in front of the sea where his son, whom he missed so much, lived and died.

    Should he be honest? Ben had thought he was just being punished for all his wrong actions. And that was not all. He was also scared. The fear made him immobile, so he could not find Farraden and exin himself.

    Could he even tell his friend, <em>I killed your daughter, Please forgive me, </em>or <em>It was all because of Amoure. </em>Ben had lost his son. That was why he knew better than anybody else how painful it was to lose someone they loved dearly.

    So, Ben did not answer him. He just turned around and gave Andrea a return scroll that would bring her straight to the Beyond the Heavens Empire. This scroll could allow the user to get them directly to the empire, kingdom, or wherever it was set, even if they had never been there.

    Andrea. Go there and wait for me.

    But

    Ben just smiled kindly at her. Andrea wanted to use her powers, which helped her rule andmand the forest, and fight alongside Ben.

    Im sorry, Farraden.

    Everything happened in a blink of an eye. Three Pinnacle Strong Men were instantly subdued and left rolling around on the ground.

    ...!

    I- I promised not to die.

    Ben could not break the promise that he had made to his emperor.

    Meanwhile, Andrea was very shocked by what she saw. Only at this point did she realize that she would only get in the old mans way if she continued to stay here. So, she chose to leave.

    And the moment Andrea disappeared? Ben darted through their midst as he fought against the Pinnacle Strong Men.

    <em>sh- sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    The Pinnacle Strong Men had grown a lot stronger than before. Even their disciples had an average level of Level 550. However, they all fell like helpless children before Spear God Bens spear. But Ben did not kill them. He did not use his spears spearhead and only used its pole when dealing with them.

    Farraden looked at the sight in shock. <em>Is the Spear Gods level this high?</em>

    They were also people who had made a name for themselves on the continent. However, from what Farraden could see, Ben was at a level where he could kill everyone present if he so decided. But the Luvien Empire and the Pinnacle Strong Men werent fools. Why did the Luvien Empiree to find the Pinnacle Strong Men? It was because they were aware of the Pinnacles Stigma. The Pinnacles Stigma was a testament to a vow. And this vow was something that even gods could not resist. It was an absolute existence.

    A Pinnacle Strong Man cannot belong to any empire or kingdom.

    Of course, this was just a rule from their ancient days. However, Ben had been branded with the stigma and had to follow whatever rule was set for them. And the one that branded this stigma on all the Pinnacle Strong Men? It was none other than Farraden.

    At that moment, the invisible stigma branded on Bens back shone with a bright red light. Ben felt the stigma grow hot from the power coursing through it.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa!</em>

    In just an instant, the powerful force that was inside Bens body began to dissipate. And as if he had been doused with poison, a burning pain began to spread throughout his body.

    Urk! Ben vomited a mouthful of blood.

    The irresistible force made even Ben, who had powerful mental prowess, copse. But even though he was forced to his knees, Ben endured.

    Farraden looked at him and said, Two hours. You will die in two hours. And I will watch you die a horrible and tragic death.

    Hoho, Benughed bitterly. He felt like his blood was flowing backward. The once great and mighty Spear God was now helpless. Just one tiny move, and he would stagger and fall. Then, he looked up at Farraden and said, Farraden, my dear friend.

    ...

    When Farradens eyes met with Ben, he felt like the old man had seen through him. Yes, Farraden knew that Ben had killed his daughter because of Amoure. But whenever a person was consumed by their anger, they would always find something to help them quell the burning rage coursing through their bodies. And for Farraden, that was Ben. Farraden had continued to live because he had vowed to kill Ben. But with just one nce, he felt like Ben had seen through his entire being.

    Im sorry.

    In the end, it was his hands that were used to kill Farradens daughter. Farraden frowned. Why did he not make an excuse? Why did he not say that Amoure was behind everything?

    Ben took something out. It was the bag containing a single coffee bean blooming among ten thousand flowers and countless other rare coffee beans that Ben had previously obtained. He also pulled out a coffee bean grinder and began the long and tedious process of grinding and extracting coffee beans.

    Then, Ben looked bitterly at Farraden before opening his mouth and saying something absurd. Will you please deliver this coffee to His Majesty?

    Even until his veryst moments, Ben only thought of one person and one person alone.

 Chapter 922

    Chapter 922

    Ben pursed his lips, his face turning whiter by the second. Despite his shaking and trembling body, he continued to kneel and grind the beans in his hand.

    ...

    This was also one of the reasons why Farraden was extremely furious with Ben. It was because of the man that he served.

    One day, he heard that Ghost Spear Ben had disappeared and had decided to serve the lord of a small territory. After that, he heard stories about how his lord became a king. Farraden even heard that he became the Spear God just for that mans sake. Why? Why would one of the Pinnacle Strong Men live for the sake of another like that? Shouldnt he live like that for himself?

    Urk! Ben spat out another mouthful of blood, his breathing turning ragged. Haa Haa

    Farraden watched Ben continue to grind the coffee beans and said, I know that youre crazy, but it seems like you have gone crazier in the time that we havent seen each other. Youll still make a cup of coffee for that emperor even with your dying breath?

    Among the people Farraden met and known, Ben was the most self-respecting. He did not know how to bend to anyones will and did not know how to back down. But such a man was trying to make a cup of coffee that he would serve to the man he served even though he was on the brink of death.

    Ben smiled faintly at the question. Then, he began to tell his tale and exin why he chose to serve that man and that man alone.

    I

    ***

    <em>[You have submerged and soaked in the waters of the River of Growth for two days!]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up!]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up!]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up!]</em>

    <em>[...leveled up!]</em>

    When Minhyuk stepped out of the River of Growth and saw the six level-up notifications, a wide smile appeared on his face.

    <em>[You have experienced growth after submerging yourself in the waters of the River of Growth, a ce mentioned in the legends of the Roarke Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[You will now be warped back to the ce you were in before.]</em>

    When Minhyuk opened his eyes, he had already reappeared on top of the walls, at the same ce where he had held the bloody key tightly before. As he stood on the walls and looked at the familiar scenery, Minhyuk remembered someone.

    <em>Is Grandpa Ben not back yet?</em>

    On the day Ben left to harvest the coffee bean that bloomed among ten thousand flowers, Minhyuk stood in the same spot and looked where he had disappeared for a long time.

    <em>His journey must be challenging. I should treat him to a very delicious meal.</em>

    Minhyuk chuckled when he thought of Ben. He wanted to repay the old man, who suffered for two days, with a delicious meal andpany. However, Minhyuk heard something that made him stop in his tracks.

    <em>[The Forgotten Monarchs Crowns Vassals Voice has been triggered!]</em>

    <em>[Your vassal Ben is in danger!]</em>

    ...What? Minhyuk blurted. He could not help but be flustered by the notification.

    Spear God Ben was a strong powerhouse that no one in Athenae could deal with recklessly. Even the Luvien Empire would need at least three Sword of the Gods First Order members to deal with him. However, by the off chance that the Swords of the Gods brought Ben to the brink of death, it did not mean that they would leave unscathed. They would sustain severe injuries.

    Because of that, Minhyuk was flustered and unable to understand the notifications he had heard. But he quickly calmed himself down. He could not be left in such an embarrassing state. He had to go and check Bens status through Vassals Voice.

    The door swung open at that moment, and Haze appeared with an unknown little girl in tow.

    Your Majesty! Grandpa Ben is in danger!

    Unlike Minhyuk, Haze did not have the Vassals Voice, which meant that she knew about this through someone. He realized that the unknown girl who appeared in front of him was someone sent by Ben. But the girl did not have the time to introduce herself.

    It- it was Farraden! There was this guy named Farraden and so many other people!

    Farraden? It did not take too long for Minhyuk to learn who Farraden was. The Pinnacle Strong Mens Farraden?

    Minhyuk more or less knew about Bens past. He had once asked the old man about his story in the past. He could only hear his story because the two of them had reached a stage where they had opened their hearts to each other.

    Back then, Ben had replied to him with a bitter smile.

    <em>Hoho. Your Majesty, everything happened the way it was because your subordinate hadmitted many sins.</em>

    Minhyuk did not delve deeper into his answer. He only believed in the Ben he had met and known all this time. He knew that something like that would not happen because the old man wanted it to happen.

    Then, Haze said, Your Majesty, the Pinnacle Strong Men of the past have been branded with the Pinnacles Stigma on their bodies. The person who branded the stigma on their bodies was Farraden. Because he was the one with the special power that allowed him to do so. All of the Pinnacle Strong Men branded with the stigma that Farraden had created had to follow the rules he had set.

    Minhyuk listened silently and intently.

    First, do not betray the Pinnacle Strong Men. Second, they cannot belong to any kingdom or empire. I have gathered that the Pinnacles Stigma would be triggered if they appeared within fifty meters of Farraden. Once triggered, the Pinnacles Stigma would slowly lead them to death. It is estimated that they would die in around an hour or so.

    Then, I have to go right away.

    Minhyuk was in a hurry. Ben had onlye out to fetch the coffee beans for him. But surprisingly enough, Haze stopped him.

    Your Majesty, you can see or hear what is happening to Grandpa with the Vassals Voice, right?

    This was a fact.

    Your Majesty, if you go there and threaten the Pinnacle Strong Men, or Farraden to be exact, do you think they will willingly remove the stigma on Grandpa Ben?

    ...

    <em>Bathump, bathump, bathump</em>

    Minhyuks pounding heart slowly returned to calm when he heard Hazes words. Although he did not know what exactly happened, he knew that Farraden had lost his daughter because of Ben. Then, what would happen if Minhyuk threatened Farraden to remove the stigma from Ben? Well, the situation would probably take a turn for the worse.

    So, Minhyuk decided to follow Hazes words. He checked the situation through Vassals Voice. He was immediately met with it when he closed his eyes.

    <em>Thump!</em>

    Minhyuks heart trembled and shook when he saw a pale Ben, who was covered with blood, pouring the ground coffee beans onto the filter. Then, he heard the man, most likely Farraden, say.

    <em>[I know youre crazy, but it seems you have gone crazier when we havent seen each other. Will you still make a cup of coffee for that emperor even with your dying breath?]</em>

    ...

    Minhyuk felt his heart constrict as a lump formed in his throat, and tears threatened his eyes. Yes. Ben was dying. But even though he was dying, he was still trying his hardest to make a cup of coffee using the beans he obtained for him.

    At that moment, Ben looked up at Farraden bitterly before opening his mouth.

    <em>[I wanted to die.]</em>

    Minhyuks heart throbbed.

    <em>[I did not know the pain and sadness of losing someone until I lost my son.]</em>

    Ben poured the ground beans into the filter and gently lowered it to the coffee cup. Then, he slowly poured hot water on it.

    <em>[I have made so many people experience that pain and sadness. Thats why I wanted to die. And its also because I feel very sorry for you.]</em>

    The man named Farraden frowned. Then, Ben chuckled lightly.

    <em>[But I]</em>

    He stared nkly in front of him for quite a while before speaking again.

    <em>[I wanted to live again.]</em>

    ...

    Minhyuk could see the faint happiness in Grandpa Bens eyes.

    <em>[When I first met him, I wondered, What the hell is this bastard? He could not help himself whenever he saw food. But strangely enough, his behavior and actions made meugh.]</em>

    <em>[He avenged my son for me. It felt quite bittersweet. My final motivation had disappeared. At that time, I thought, Ah, I can die now. But]</em>

    Ben smiled at the memory.

    <em>[The young man, who was only twenty years of age, smiled at me.]</em>

    <em>[Im d. Im thrilled for you, Grandpa. He told me those words so many times. I felt like I was possessed. I had wanted to die after avenging my son, but I stood up and followed him.]</em>

    <em>[He would smile whenever he found something delicious to eat, and me? I would also smile.]</em>

    <em>[Whenever he was sad, I would also feel sad.]</em>

    <em>[And suddenly, I realized I had stayed by his sideughing and smiling for a long time.]</em>

    <em>[It was quite a strange feeling. Andter, I remained standing by the side of the man who became a king. I looked down at his people and looked at him again.]</em>

    <em>[It was at that moment that I realized]</em>

    A smile graced Bens lips as he recalled that moment.

    <em>[Ah, I want to live.]</em>

    <em>[I want to live and stand by his side for a long time.]</em>

    <em>[I want to live and help him get whatever he wants.]</em>

    Then, Farraden shouted with his veins popping on the side of his neck.

    <em>[You have really gone crazy! He is a foreigner! Hes nothing but a man who wants someone strong by his side! And you? You just wanted to find someone to lean on! In the end, youre nothing but a mere servant. And him? Hes just the emperor that you serve!]</em>

    <em>[I have never once viewed him as my lord, my king, or my emperor.]</em>

    <em>[...!]</em>

    Warm coffee slowly started trickling down the filter Ben had poured hot water on. This coffee was the most precious in the world.

    <em>[Fwooooosh!]</em>

    The trickling coffee slowly turned into drops that fell one after the other. A bright and happy smile shed on Bens face when the final drop fell.

    <em>[I have always thought of him as my son.]</em>

    ...

    Tears started to drip down Minhyuks cheeks. He had never seen the rtionship between him and Ben as the rtionship between an emperor and his vassal. He had always treated Ben like his grandfather, while Ben treated him like his son. The two had always been there for each other because they treated each other like family. The thought of bringing harm to the other did not even cross their minds at all. The two acted as if this was only natural. And because of that, they always wanted to do something for the other. They always wanted to be by their side and protect each other.

    I have to go.

    Did you find a way?

    However, Minhyuk did not answer Hazes question. He wanted to tell her that he was going to try the only thing he could, but he swallowed those words back into his stomach.

    <em>[...has been triggered!]</em>

    Minhyuks eyes grew wide. Then, he was immediately teleported to where Ben was.

    ***

    Sir Farraden, why are we not killing that old man right away? Rhoa asked. Rhoa was the second in the rankings of the Pinnacle Strong Men.

    And just like Rhoa, all the other Pinnacle Strong Men present were in a hurry. They had to kill Spear God Ben and head to the Luvien Empire right away so they and their disciples could survive and live. So, why was Farraden waiting for him to die this slow death? And why was he looking at the old man with such a <em>sad look</em> when this very old man was the man who killed his daughter?

    But unlike the other Pinnacle Strong Men, Farraden knew Ben. He was the one who knew him best. And he had already realized that Amoure orchestrated everything. But there was one thing that Farraden could not understand. Why was Ben so dedicated and loyal to his emperor?

    From what he could tell, Ben, who had lived in guilt after he lost his son, had only stayed by the mans side because he wanted someone to rely on. Truth was, Farraden wished to return to how they were in the past. After all, he already knew the truth. But Ben only spoke and thought of his emperor now.

    Sir Farraden, if youre not going to do it, I will. Were still in danger. Dont you know that the Beyond the Heavens emperor can appear any moment? Rhoa said as he pulled his sharp dagger out. Slowly, he walked toward Ben, who was pouring the coffee he had made inside a vacuum-insted bottle.

    Farraden turned away. He did not want to see it happen.

    ...

    Rhoa was forced to take a step back.

    The Beyond the Heavens emperor?

    Farraden turned his head back when he heard his disciples murmur. That was when he saw the emperor of Beyond the Heavens standing in front of Ben.

    Your Majesty Ben called out, his voice hoarse as he slowly neared his death.

    Minhyuk looked back at Ben with a very sad look on his face. Then, Farraden said coldly, Youre toote. Even if you kill me here, the stigma on his body will not disappear.

    The only one who could remove the stigma was Farraden, who believed that Minhyuk would only act this way.

    <em>He will use his power.</em>

    He was sure the man would overpower them until he released the stigma. But even if he killed Farraden here, he would never remove the stigma on Bens body.

    At that moment, the emperor, whom Ben cherished and loved so much, bowed his head without hesitation. Im begging you. Spare Grandpa Ben. The price of his crimes? Let me take it in his stead.

    ...!

    ...!

    ...!

    A buzz rose among the Pinnacle Strong Men.

    The emperor represented the empire and was often proud and arrogant. It was only natural. After all, they ruled over millions of people and evenmanded and led millions of troops. For someone to be an emperor, they had to gather several kingdoms and create an empire.

    Even if they could not kill Ben, the Luvien Empire would spare them if they could kill the Beyond the Heavens emperor.

    Rhoa said, Then, go die in his stead.

    It was both a mockery and a reproach for the pretentious emperor before him. They knew that people like him would often want their subordinates to do anything and everything for them but would never want to lose anything for their subordinates. Besides, the Beyond the Heavens emperor was a foreigner. Even if he died here, he would still revive and survive.

    But if he died at their hands, it would be recognized as a death caused by the Luvien Empire, and it would spell the fall of their emerging empire. Perhaps it was because he knew this fact that the Beyond the Heavens emperor remained standing there with his head bowed down.

    <em>Ben. For someone like that? </em>Farraden thought. He thought Bens life was miserable and tragic because he served such a man.

    That was when the Beyond the Heavens emperor raised his head and stared straight at Farraden. Then, he said, Even if I die a hundred or a thousand times. I will do it for his sake.

 Chapter 923

    Chapter 923

    <em>[The God and Knight has been randomly triggered!]</em>

    <em>[The God and Knight shows its power upon Minhyuk and Farraden!]</em>

    These notifications rang in Minhyuks ears before he went to where Ben was, cementing his thoughts of wanting to do the only thing he could do.

    Minhyuk did not want to threaten Farraden and the Pinnacle Strong Men. He knew better than anybody else that Ben would not want him to do this. So, the only thing he could do was beg on Bens behalf. If all else failed, he would insist on taking the punishment in the old mans stead.

    <em>I dont think its something I should be ashamed of.</em>

    Minhyuk would make the same choice for anyone in the Beyond the Heavens Empire. If he could keep and protect his precious people by just bowing once, he would do so repeatedly.

    But one question was running through his head: <em>Why did the God and Knight get triggered with Farraden?</em>

    The God and Knight was a skill that would randomly trigger whenever he met someone who had the potential to be his <em>knight</em>. The fact that this skill got triggered meant that <em>Farraden</em> could be his vassal.

    Right now, Farraden could be said to be the central pir and the representative of the Pinnacle Strong Men. After Amoure and the Pinnacle Strong Men and the disciples that followed him, Farraden took control of most of the new Pinnacle Strong Men and led them to a different path.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk heard Rhoas voice when he arrived at where Ben was.

    Then, go die in his stead.

    Minhyuk, who bowed his head, was not afraid of dying, especially since he had increased his level by six. But even if his level did not increase, he would still not be afraid of dying.

    As he bowed, Minhyuk thought, <em>How can I show my sincerity to Farraden?</em>

    When it came to Ben, there was no question. Minhyuk could do anything for the old man. Only this question stumped him. As he pondered and agonized over the matter, he replied, Even if I die a hundred or a thousand times. I will do it for his sake.

    ***

    When Minyuk raised his head, Farraden saw the sincerity on his face.

    <em>Is it because he does not want to lose the Spear God?</em>

    Or perhaps this man cared for Ben just like Ben cared for him. Farraden was truly quite surprised by this turn of events. A ruler who ruled andmanded an empire bowed his head and dered that he was willing to die a hundred or a thousand times for the sake of his vassal.

    Then, Rhoa, the second-ranked Pinnacle Strong Man, said, Arent those words that anyone could say?

    Rhoa did not have a shred of trust in kingdoms and empires. Why? Because his family, which waspletely devoted to the empire to the point that they swore their eternal allegiance to it, was used of treason and murdered. The usation was false, and it was made up by the imperial family that they devoted themselves to.

    There were quite a lot of the Pinnacle Strong Men and their disciples who experienced the same thing. This was also the reason for a use that said, <em>You cannot belong to an empire or a kingdom. </em>listed in the Pinnacle Strong Mens rules.

    Although the current Pinnacle Strong Men did not have the <em>Pinnacles Stigma</em> branded on their bodies now, most still chose not to belong to the kingdoms and empires for the same reason.

    However, the situation with the Luvien Empire was different. The Luvien Empire, known as the strongest empire on all continents, threatened them with its lifeblood.

    Farraden listened to Rhoa mock Minhyuk and took a dagger out. He possessed a very shocking and unusual power. Farraden was hailed as the King of Vows because if someone promised or epted his offer, this promise would be fulfilled.

    You will die if this dagger enters your abdomen fully. That death will be equivalent to twenty deaths. Will that be okay? If youre fine with that, I wont kill Ben.

    Farraden was fully aware that death would cause huge damage to foreigners. This damage could be considered fatal for Minhyuk, an emperor and an existence who stood on top of everyone.

    At the same time, the notifications rang in Minhyuks ears.

    <em>[If you get stabbed by the dagger in Farradens hands, you will be forced to log out twenty times in a row.]</em>

    <em>[If you get stabbed by the dagger in Farradens hands, he would have to remove the Pinnacles Stigma that was branded on Bens body as the contractor!]</em>

    <em>[However, these will only take effect once you agree!]</em>

    It was truly a surprising and special skill. However, there was just one thing: Farradens ability would only be triggered if the other party epted his conditions. In other words, it was not very easy to trigger.

    Farraden looked at Minhyuk. Twenty deaths was no small matter. Minhyuk would be pushed out of the top spot if he died twenty times. However, Minhyuk did not even hesitate to answer, Alright.

    ...

    <em>No way</em>

    Farraden approached Minhyuk the moment he heard the mans agreement. He looked at Minhyuk as he slowly removed his Transcendentals Armor before stabbing him with the dagger.

    <em>Stab</em>

    The dagger slowly dug deep into Minhyuks abdomen. The dagger, constantly being pushed in, stopped at some point.

    ...

    When Farraden looked up at Minhyuk, all he saw was Minhyuk staring straight at Ben. He could see the bitter smile on the mans face. However, there was also relief on his face.

    <em>Hes truly sincere?</em>

    <em>Drip drip</em>

    His warm blood dripped down the ground, but Minhyuk did not take his eyes off Ben.

    Farraden was furious. He was furious at Ben, who sinned against him and his daughter and served someone else. Of course, he wouldnt have gone to find Ben himself if the Luvien Empire had not sent them here. This was because he knew that everything was because of Amoure.

    Even so, Farraden was still angry. He believed that Ben, who seemed to be only trying to find someone to lean on, became a madman obsessed with his emperor. However, he was the one who was mistaken.

    ...

    Farraden slowly pulled out the dagger that he had stabbed halfway through Minhyuks abdomen. Minhyuk looked back at Farraden in doubt. However, Farraden just turned around and walked away. When Farraden opened his hands, the <em>hanja</em> engraved on Bens back surfaced. Then, they floated in the air and slowly disappeared into nothingness. At the same time, Ben, whose face had turned a pale white, slowly returned to normal. Even his ragged and weak breathing had already started to regain its vitality.

    Sir Farraden, why?

    Farraden did not fully stab Minhyuks abdomen with the dagger in his hands. And ording to the vow, the effects would only take effect if the dagger was fully inserted into Minhyuks abdomen.

    Amotion broke out among the Pinnacle Strong Men and their disciples.

    What do you think youre doing?

    If you dont kill Ben or that emperor, then we will all die.

    Farraden remained silent, opting to only stare at Minhyuk for a moment.

    I no longer harbor any resentment against him. Then, he opened his mouth and told Minhyuk what he wanted to say to Ben: Once he wakes up, please tell him that he no longer has to feel sorry for me.

    The two of them were once the best of friends in the world. Although Farraden knew everything happened because of Amoure, he was still angry at Ben. Why? Because he believed that Ben was serving the wrong man. However, he fully understood why Ben stood by this mans side.

    And please tell him not to miss me.

    Seeing Farraden acting like this, the Pinnacle Strong Men immediately shouted, the veins on their necks popping with the volume of their shouting.

    No!

    This dogmatic choice of yours will bring us all to our deaths!

    In the first ce, we do not have the right to kill Beyond the Heavens Ben and his emperor.

    ...!

    ...!

    ...!

    And the Luvien Empire does not have any intention of sparing us. If Ben truly dies, do you think that man over there, who cares deeply about his subjects, would truly let us go and keep us alive?

    That was the truth. If Ben died, then Minhyuk would kill everyone here.

    The current Pinnacle Strong Men were different from the Pinnacle Strong Men of the past. They only came to kill Ben because they branded him as <em>Farradens enemy.</em> However, as Farraden had implied, the Pinnacle Strong Men no longer had a ce in this world. This truth would not change no matter what choice they made.

    But Farraden still found the results of his capricious choice to be very heartbreaking, especially since they would harm hisrades.

    Im sorry. I will pay the price for this crime. Lets go back now.

    The Pinnacle Strong Men and their disciples looked at Farraden nkly. Rhoa broke the silence. He said, I will follow whatever you say, Sir Farraden.

    Rhoa loathed the kingdoms and empires but respected and followed Farradens orders. It was proof of how good a leader Farraden was. No one spoke against him. After all, it was not Farradens fault. It was the Luvien Empires fault for forcing them into a situation where they would kill them if they did not choose to kill who they wanted them to kill.

    Just when they were about to turn around and leave, a voice rang out.

    If you go just like that, Ben will feel sad and miss you more for the rest of his life, the Beyond the Heavens Emperor said as he helped Ben lie on his legs.

    ...

    At that moment, the notifications for the God and Knight rang in Minhyuks ears.

    <em>[Origin Authority God and Knight has the power to help you obtain the loyalty of the Gods Knight of your choice through various methods.]</em>

    <em>[If you can show Farraden, the Pinnacle Strong Man that had lost the ce he could lean on, what kind of emperor you are, you might win his heart!]</em>

    However, this was not the reason Minhyuk was determined to lose his life twenty times in a row. Even without these notifications, he would still trade his life for Bens life, even if he had to die twenty or a hundred times over. But his actions made the Pinnacle Strong Men, who harbored distrust toward empires and kingdoms, realize something.

    <em>Hes not someone who abandons his subjects.</em>

    <em>Hes someone that puts his vassals before himself.</em>

    The Pinnacle Strong Men have never seen an emperor like this.

    Come to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    ...!

    ...!

    ...!

    Everyones eyes grew wide when they heard his words. This was the only way for them to live now. At this moment, Rhoa felt a cold sweat break on his forehead.

    <em>Was he able to read the flow in just this short moment?</em>

    Did he figure it out just by hearing their short conversation? Or perhaps it was another way? In any case, it would be a surprise. Maybe he led them toward this path and forced them to choose.

    Then, Farraden asked, I- I was going to kill your vassal.

    I understand that.

    ...

    I might have done the same thing.

    ...

    Farraden clenched his fists. However, this was not something that Minhyuk and Farraden had to discuss and agree on.

    Ben, who had already recovered from the effects of the damage caused by the stigma, said, Im sorry.

    ...

    Farraden turned to look at Ben silently. As someone who knew Ben well, Farraden could tell that the apology was his apology for killing his daughter and an apology for asking him toe with them.

    Farraden looked up at the sky for a moment. Then, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He did not me Ben for what happened with his daughter. He knew that Ben cared for his daughter as his own, and he also knew that his daughter would not want him to resent Ben for what happened, either.

    Ill go with you.

    <em>[The God and Knight has seeded!]</em>

    <em>[Gods Knight Farraden has the power to make any vow made before him take effect!]</em>

    <em>[Gods Knight Farraden will not hesitate to risk his life for God!]</em>

    Farraden agreed to go with them. Meanwhile, the sudden turn of events left the Pinnacle Strong Men looking confused. At this moment, Minhyuks high CHA showed its strength once again.

    I will destroy the Luvien Empire.

    ...

    ...

    ...

    These were words that no one could say carelessly like this.

    Then, I will join you.

    We will also join you.

    They all knelt and swore their allegiance to Minhyuk.

    ***

    At the same time in Joy Co. Ltd.

    A sigh rang loudly inside the conference room. With a sad and bitter voice, Team Leader Park said, Love and care for each other. This is the bond between Minhyuk and Ben. I thought it would be enough for yer Minhyuk to receive the rewards and release the ad today. But it seems like it''s a bitcking now.

    Carron boasted that the effects of the advertisement video about Ben would be beyond their imaginations. Everyone was waiting in anticipation for it to be triggered. However, there was a slight difference that made it unable to be triggered right now.

    And on the monitor they were watching, they saw Ben and Minhyuk walking toward the sunset.

    ***

    Minhyuk had heard through the Vassals Voice that Ben saw him as his <em>son.</em> He also saw how the old man did his best to grind the coffee beans and make coffee for him even though he was already on the brink of death.

    As they walked toward the sunset, Ben carefully handed the thermos with the coffee he had made to Minhyuk and said, Your Majesty, actually Ben smiled kindly. The stigma wont be able to kill me. Arent I a god? The power that a god possesses can restrain Farradens power of vows.

    Minhyuk just listened silently to Bens ramblings. He knew the old man was just saying it so he would not be worried or sad. At that moment, the words that Ben said when he was dying shed in his head.

    <em>I I wanted to die.</em>

    Hoho. It seems like this old mans acting is quite good, huh? Hoho. I was even able to deceive you, Your Majesty. Ben smiled in satisfaction.

    As Minhyuk listened to Bensughter, the old man''s words shed again in his head.

    <em>But I wanted to live again.</em>

    Minhyuk sported a surprised look on his face as he continued to walk with Ben. Then, he said, Grandpa, youre telling me all that was just acting? My god. You got me there! I waspletely fooled!

    All Minhyuk could do now was let Ben feel at ease. Then, Bens words once again shed in his head.

    <em>I have never once viewed him as my lord, my king, or my emperor.</em>

    <em>I have always thought of him as my son.</em>

    The two showed their care and love for each other in their ways. Minhyuk pretended he was deceived by the rambling Ben, who did not want him to feel sorry or sad. And Ben? He acted as if he was not going to be killed a few moments prior. Ultimately, everything they did was because of their love for each other.

    Then, at that moment

    <em>[The bond between you and Ben has reached its peak!]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained the </em><strong><em>Title</em></strong><em>: The One with His Friend.]</em>

    <em>[You can now view the advertisement video Old Man and Young Man.]</em>

    <em>[Would you like to watch it?]</em>

 Chapter 924

    Chapter 924

    Joy Co. Ltd. executives gathered when they learned that Spear God Bens advertisement video had beenpleted. Their reason was simple: They wanted to discuss the final line appearing on the video.

    These were the things that Joy Co. Ltd. had heard from their consumers every single time:

    <em>The ads budget was ten million won, but it feels like its just worth five million won.</em>

    <em>Joy Co. Ltd. might have produced Athenae and cannot be rivaled when ites to the capsule and the game, but their ads andmercials are trash.</em>

    <em>God is fair. They did not give everything to Joy Co. Ltd.</em>

    Joy Co. Ltd. was a globalpany that continued to grow by the day. However, every time they released an advertisement or amercial, they received everyones criticism. The culprit? It was none other than President Kang Taehoon, who was going Fufufu inside the conference room right now. Just like someone said, God was fair. In other words, God was not biased and did not give everything to Kang Taehoon.

    The faint chuckle that escaped President Kang Taehoons mouth engulfed everyone inside the conference room with anxiety.

    <em>What kind of line did he prepare this time again?</em>

    <em>The viewers will definitely say that we have ruined the advertisement with this line.</em>

    That was right. Right now, the executives were all busy making eye contact. Even though Kang Taehoon had always listened to his executives opinions, he had always ignored them when it came to this. This was because he was extremely proud of his <em>lines.</em>

    Even Manager Kim Dae-Il, who often opposed and rebuked him, was entirely on board. He said, President Kang Taehoons line in ourst advertisement was truly outstanding. Everyone who saw it got goosebumps all over their bodies. <em>Fufu.</em>

    ...

    ...

    Indeed. Manyments on themunity sites said they got goosebumps from the ads they made. The goosebumps were not the good kind, but those that one would get when they were very, <em>very</em> embarrassed.

    That line has been in my head for a month.

    As expected of the president.

    After all, it was very rare for people to ruin an excellent advertisement with just a single line. But President Kang? He just smiled in satisfaction and delight.

    Of course, I prepared a line for the ads this time, too. Amidst everyones anxiety, Taehoon cleared his throat and continued, Hopes, dreams, friendship, and love. Come to Athenae, where happiness is aplenty!

    ...

    ...

    ...

    All of the executives were frozen on the spot. No! Why did it sound like he was trying to lure them into an amusement park?! It also felt like a line from a manhwa for children of all ages.

    Kghhk Youre really amazing, president.

    Fu- Fufufu. President Kang Taehoon shrugged his shoulders.

    Then, at that moment, their savior appeared.

    This line is the worst line I have ever heard. Ive worked hard to edit this video, and youre just going to p on such an old-fashioned line like that?

    ...

    ...

    The savior was none other than Jackson.

    From what I heard, the influx of customers does not change much even after an advertisement is released in Korea. So, this is the case. Children nowadays would not even like to hear such lines, you know?

    I dont understand.

    I really dont understand.

    Both President Kang and Manager Kim could not understand why Jackson said so.

    Jackson could not stand the work he worked hard to edit being turned to waste. Besides, he did not need to worry about President Kang Taehoon and Manager Kim Dae-Ils opinions since he was hired externally.

    I understand why the executives have approved this line for the advertisement. However, this ad features Beyond the Heavens Minhyuk and Ben. I believe yer Minhyuks opinion is the most important in determining which line to use.

    President Kang was embarrassed when he heard Jacksons words. However, he still believed in the line he had thought of. There was no way that Minhyuk would hate such a shocking and amazing line, right? So, he pulled out his phone and called Minhyuk, putting it on speaker.

    <em>[Yes, President?]</em>

    Not long after, Taehoon enthusiastically ryed the situation about the line he had thought of.

    <em>[...Who in the world picked that nasty line? That line sounds like you want robots to join together and fight.]</em>

    ...

    <em>[I think even Beanie cane up with a better line than that.]</em>

    <em>Ahem, ahem.</em> Is- is that so?

    Only then did President Kang and Manager Kim realize the situation. The two could only cough to hide their embarrassment. However, President Kang did not want to give up just yet.

    Then, do you think your lines will have a bigger impact than this line?

    Of course. I will put the line I have prepared and submitted to the president and the executives previously.

    Its too provocative, President Kang Taehoon said as he nced at his executives. Lets vote then. Those who think that my line should be included in our advertisement video, please raise your hand.

    Only Kim Dae-Il raised his hand. The rest? Well, none of them raised their hands.

    Its decided, then. Jackson chuckled.

    This time, Joy Co. Ltd. selected a very good advertisement video. Of course, Jacksons ability to edit videos also yed a huge role, so the executives had high expectations.

    <em>Jacksons line is truly the best!</em>

    <em>A lot of viewers will surely be thrilled by that line.</em>

    To put things into perspective, this was the line that President Kang Taehoon had thought of before:

    <em>Come, lets all venture into an unknown world filled with love, hope, and dreams!</em>

    Just thinking about it could give the executives goosebumps.

    ***

    The same notifications rang in the ears of the yers in Athenae worldwide.

    <em>[You can now view the advertisement video Old Man and Young Man.]</em>

    <em>[Would you like to watch it?]</em>

    <em>[If you choose to watch the advertisement video, your character will be protected during the entire video!]</em>

    Some agreed, while others disregarded it. And for those who decided to watch the advertisement video in Athenae, a line appeared before them.

    <em>[I didn''t even have a shred of hope left.]</em>

    At the same time, an old man''s gloomy and dark voice rang in their ears.

    <em>[I went around the world and killed many people. But when news of my sons death reached me? I was left in despair.]</em>

    Amidst the darkness, they could see an old man crouching down and holding his head in pain. This old man was the man who they call <em>Spear God Ben</em> now.

    Then, at that moment, the scene in front of them changed. They saw the dazzling blue sea as the old man tried to board his ship while a young man stood before him. The young man smiled brightly at the old man and enthusiastically greeted him, Hello!

    <em>[That was the first time I met him.]</em>

    The young man had a wide and bright smile, and the old man stood still in front of him. A faint smile appeared as the old man looked at the young man.

    <em>[Its fun staying by his side.]</em>

    <em>[Thanks to him, I was able to find the will to live once again.]</em>

    <em>[I am not afraid of anything as long as I stay by his side.]</em>

    <em>[I made a vow to myself.]</em>

    The scene changed again, showing an episode from a long time ago. It was the episode in the Continental Cloud. ck Dragon Vormon appeared and moved to kill the young man.

    <em>[I will protect him.]</em>

    <em>[I will risk everything and put everything on the line to protect him.]</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaa!</em>

    The old man shes ck Dragon Vormons neck. As hended, he stabbed his spear on the ground and stretched his hand toward the young man.

    Please dont give up, my King.

    Then, the old man slowly turned into ashes that disappeared with the wind, changing the scene. In this scene, they saw the old man facing a woman. The name <em>Spear God Aerdes</em> was floating above this womans head.

    Aerdes asked the old man, Once your soul falls into hell, you will be forced to walk into a mountain of knives and feel the evesting pain of being stabbed by their des. You will also feel the pain of being cooked in a hot pot, the pain of being stuck in a cold block of ice, the pain of your tongue being pulled out, the pain of vipers wrapping around your body and biting you with their poisonous fangs, the pain of your bones being cut with a jagged saw, the pain of facing the biting wind with your bare body, the pain of being stuck in the dark and feeling despair and solitude with nothing on your body. You will remain in this void and continue to do so for thousands of years. You will even lose your shot at reincarnation. Will that be alright?

    <em>[He was worried about me when I chose to be the Spear God after knowing that it would be hard and painful and that I also face the risk of my soul being destroyed.]</em>

    <em>[But I have already made my decision. I have already decided to protect </em><strong><em>him</em></strong><em>.]</em>

    I have never learned how to back down, the old man replied, a small smile on his face.

    The scene changed once again. White snow fell upon the bleeding and dying old man while tears streamed down his face.

    <em>[I did not retreat. I endured the pain as I died over and over again.]</em>

    <em>[And one day, just when I was standing on the brink of death, I suddenly realized what I thought of </em><strong><em>him</em></strong><em>.]</em>

    <em>[Although I was in pain, I felt d that it was me who was hurt and not him. I felt d that I was doing this for him.]</em>

    Ben smiled, the tears dripping down his cheeks as he looked up at the snow falling from the skies above him.

    <em>[He is my light.]</em>

    Thousands of screenshots appeared in front of everyone watching. One picture showed the first meeting between the old man and the young man, during which they ate some flower crab ramyeon on a small boat.

    <em>[Sometimes, he is mypanion.]</em>

    There was a picture of the old man peering under a cat''s tail to harvest some coffee that he would use to make a cup for the young man.

    <em>[Sometimes, he is my lord.]</em>

    There was a picture of the two of them standing atop the walls as they looked at the millions of troops gathered before the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    <em>[And sometimes]</em>

    Various screenshots of the young man smiling brightly as the old man passed by him shed in front of everyone.

    There was a picture of the young man smiling widely as the old man handed over the coffee he had brewed and extracted. A picture of the young man showing an embarrassed smile when the old man caught him stealing some of his food. A picture of the young man waving excitedly on the walls as he called out to the old man. A scene of the two of them walking together on days when the night was cool and refreshing. There was also a picture showing the old man watching over the young man worriedly when he was hurt and sick.

    Finally, the old man spoke once again.

    <em>[He is my son.]</em>

    The screenshots disappeared as darkness stained everything in front of the viewers. In this darkness, the sound of weapons shing resonated.

    Everyone! Do not back down! The young man shouted.

    He had now be an emperor and was watching over the enemy troops pouring out of the huge castle gates. On one side of the wall, the name <em>Luvien Empire</em> was floating. There were only 200,000 troops left under the young man''smand. Even the young man was bloodied and bruised.

    In that short moment, all the viewers saw the battlefield through the eyes of the young man. They watched as theirrades died while fighting frantically against the enemies. Then, the young mans view, the same view that the viewers saw, suddenly grew erratic as he fell off his horse.

    Haa Haa

    The young mans ragged breathing echoed in everyones ears. The viewers watched as everything turned into slow motion.

    <em>[I will always protect him.]</em>

    Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

    Waaaaaaaaaaaah!

    Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

    A roar resounded as 300,000 cavalry charged forward. And leading them was none other than the old man. The old man rode atop a ck horse, his re piercing the enemies sharply through the gaps of his loose hair.

    <em>[I will alwayse to save him.]</em>

    The appearance of the old man and his cavalry swept away the soldiers of the <em>Luvien Empire.</em> Spear God Ben slowly stood on top of his horse and leaped forward.

    <em>Vwooooooooooong</em>

    The power of God wrapped around Bens spear, seemingly able to wreck everything. It flew from his spear and shot toward the gigantic walls before them.

    <em>[I will always fight alongside him.]</em>

    <em>Beeeeeeeeeeeeeep</em>

    Everything turned white just before the force the old man sent collided with the walls. All of the viewers watching the advertisement were left curious. What would they see next? The scene slowly changed once again. It was the scene they saw at the start of the advertisement. It showed them the old man and the young man meeting at sea, where the young man enthusiastically greeted the old man. Then, the scene that was cut off at the beginning resumed.

    Boy, who are you?

    Everyone felt that the magnificent and booming voice that decorated the video''s climax was about to recite his final line.

    <em>[On that day]</em>

    My name is Minhyuk. Whats your name, grandpa?

    The old man smiled as he replied, Ben.

    <em>[...a legend has begun.]</em>

 Chapter 925

    Chapter 925

    Variousmunity sites were paralyzed after Joy Co. Ltd. released their new advertisement video. The Old Man and the Young Man ranked first, followed by Ben, Minhyuk, and the Beyond the Heavens Empire, ranked fourth on countless portal sites worldwide. It was a hot issue that everyone was talking about.

    <em>[I felt like I watched a short music video.]</em>

    <em>[This is wild. I spaced out after the video ended, so I ended up dying from the mob that I was fighting.]</em>

    <em>[I remembered something President Kang Taehoon said when they first released Athenae. He wanted to create a world where yers and NPCs lived together. After watching this video, we can tell he had already made such a world.]</em>

    <em>[Thats right. At least one yer in Athenae is very close to an NPC.]</em>

    <em>[Spear God Ben is one of the founding fathers of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. Hes also the NPC that everyone is most curious about. After all, he is the first NPC to be a god after the release of Athenae.]</em>

    <em>[Hes a vassal, but hes also a god. Everyone must be thinking the same thing, right?]</em>

    Everyone turned their attention to one of thements. What were they thinking?

    <em>[How on earth did Ben be the Spear God?]</em>

    That was right. Everyone was curious: What blessing was Minhyuk born with, for him to be surrounded by so many strong and unique people?

    <em>[This video shows that yer Minhyuk has yed a considerable role. They have only gathered and edited Ben and Minhyuks highlights to turn them into advertisements. Ah. Of course, the scene where they were at war with the Luvien Empire and the line, On that day, a legend has begun, appeared was staged and produced separately.]</em>

    When one of the yers pointed out that most of the scenes that Joy Co. Ltd. used for the video truly happened in real life, the effect of the advertisement grew. The real-time search terms even weed two fast-emerging topics.

    <em>#1. Athenae capsules price.</em>

    <em>#2. How to start in Beyond the Heavens Empire.</em>

    Immediately after the ying yers watched the video, Joy Co. Ltd. published the advertisement video on ZTube and several broadcastingworks. Of course, the video was cut short and only showed the highlights of the advertisement for TV consumption. But surprisingly enough, those who watched the ad on TV quickly boarded the inte and added views to the video uploaded to ZTube. These were what the yers felt when they saw the advertisement video:

    <em>[I also want to create a legend and form a strong bond with an NPC in Athenae.]</em>

    <em>[My dad also wants to try Athenae now. So, he asked me how to do it.]</em>

    <em>[Yep, yep. My mom and dad also want to go on a date in Athenae. When we saw the ad, they asked me, Is that really how it looks?. And when I told them its the same, they immediately bought capsules!]</em>

    On the same day, Minhyuk received a call from President Kang Taehoon.

    Our Athenae capsule sales have increased fortyfold. You must also feel the effect of the advertisement video, right?

    Hearing that question, Minhyuk answered, Yes, very much so.

    ***

    The moment Minhyuk essed Athenae, these notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[Today, 43,311 new yers have created their characters and chose to start in Beyond the Heavens Empire.]</em>

    <em>[They will all be precious talents of the Beyond the Heavens Empire!]</em>

    Whenever new yers created their characters for the first time, they would be asked to choose the empire or kingdom where they wanted to start. Considering the future, these new yers would be very important and precious talents to their chosen nation.

    These yers would often choose to remain in their chosen nation. In this case, they would stay with the Beyond the Heavens Empire. Why? The reason was simple. This was because these yers would have built bonds and ties to the Beyond the Heavens NPCs, whom they benefited from through various quests and tasks.

    With the newly created characters, the number of yers who chose to join the Beyond the Heavens Empire increased by around 87 times. And that was not all.

    <em>[Today, the Beyond the Heavens Empire has weed more than three million visitors!]</em>

    <em>[You can expect to receive abundant taxes from the inns, restaurants, and various attractions visitors frequent!]</em>

    If the yer belonged to a nation not at war with the Beyond the Heavens Empire, they could visit their empire after quickly checking their identities. The Beyond the Heavens Empire''s streets were bustling and lively.

    <em>As long as we continue to release the ads, we will experience the same effects, if not more.</em>

    Although Joy Co. Ltd. had yet to reveal its ns, Minhyuk knew this advertisement gig was arge-scale n. Both Jackson and Joy Co. Ltd. would review and follow a step-by-step process before releasing the videos of their NPCs with tremendous stories. Based on what Minhyuk had heard, the final advertisement video would focus on him and the entire Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    Minhyuk stood atop the walls and looked out of the castle. A small smile appeared when he looked down at the insted vacuum bottle he was holding. Then, he checked the title he had received: The One with His Friend.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>The One with His Friend</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Unique Title</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: The One with Ben</em>

    <strong><em>Title Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>When fighting within one kilometer of Ben, your stats, attack, and defensive power will increase by 5%.</em>

    <em>When fighting within one kilometer of Ben, your HP will recover by 15% if either of your HPs drops to 10%.</em>

    <em>Your CHA increases by 10%.</em>

    <em>Passive Skill: Friend</em>

    Minhyuk could tell it was an excellent title with just one look. Of course, he also checked the detailed information of the passive skill named Friend.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Friend</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Passive Skill</em>

    <strong><em>Level</em></strong><em>: None</em>

    <strong><em>Effects</em></strong><em>: If you say Friend., you can summon Ben. However, summoning will not be possible in a ce where summoning is restricted.</em>

    ???

    Minhyuk was left stunned. He usually summoned Ben and his other vassals using the Almond of Subordinates, but with this skill, he could now summon Ben without using the almonds. The only question was why the skill would only be triggered if he said the word <em>Friend</em>.

    <em>I think Ali will really like this?</em>

    Perhaps Ali would be envious of him once he knew that Minhyuk had a skill like this. Although Minhyuk was not aware, this title was personally and specially created by President Kang Taehoon himself. He, who had always been the main reason why Joy Co. Ltd.s ads always had bad lines, felt a new hope and dream bloom in his chest when he saw Ali crying, <em>Frieeeeeeeeend!!!</em>.

    That was why he made it like this.

    After checking the title, Minhyuk opened the insted vacuum bottle and poured its contents into a clear ss filled with ice.

    <em>The best coffee is iced americano!</em>

    Even if he froze to death, Minhyuk was the type of person who would insist on drinking iced Americano. After making an iced Americano with the coffee Ben had made for him, Minhyuk gently put the ss on the table to take out the delicious snack that could be considered its perfectbi!

    This snack was none other than chocte-vored Diguet[1]<em>.</em> Diguet was a round biscuit with a thick coat of chocte on the other side. It had a sweet vor and a crispy texture that would spread in ones mouth and bring delight.

    <em>From what I recall, this is called the calorie snack from hell.</em>

    But it was fine. If it was delicious, then it was worth zero calories. Minhyuk even deliberately made himself grow exhausted before he drank Bens coffee.

    <em>Coffee tastes best when youre extremely stressed and craving caffeine!</em>

    The ice of the iced Americano clinked loudly as Minhyuk took a sip with his straw.

    <em>Gulp, gulp</em>

    The cold and bitter iced Americano gently flowed down Minhyuks throat on this hot and exhausting day. A sigh of admiration would often follow when drinking a genuinely refreshing and delicious coffee.

    Haa Minhyuk sighed as he picked up a Diguet and took a bite.

    <em>Crunch, crunch</em>

    The thick Diguet biscuit''s texture was to die for. Minhyuk wondered if he would first feel the texture of the biscuit, but the sweetness of the chocte was the first thing that filled his mouth. It was sweetso sweet that Minhyuk felt like his mouth was sticky with sugar. However, Minhyuks mouth did not stop. He continued to chew through the whole pack of Diguet just like that.

    Didnt they say that eating sweets would make one happy? That was the case right now. Minhyuks smile grew deeper with every bite of the Diguet. And whenever he felt like the sweetness was too much, he would take a sip of the cold iced Americano and cleanse his pte for a bit.

    <em>Sluuuuurp</em>

    Kghhhk! Minhyuk eximed as he finished the Diguet and drank thest sip of his coffee. Thank you, grandpa!

    The moment his word of thanks to Ben, who was far away and could not hear them, fell, a notification rang in his ears.

    <em>[You have drunk the Coffee made from the Coffee Bean that Bloomed Among Ten Thousand Flowers.]</em>

    <em>[The one that extracted and brewed the coffee has the love, effort, and passion toward you.]</em>

    <em>[It exerts more power than any other ordinary coffee beans.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 200 Will.]</em>

    <em>[The exhaustion and fatigue you experience will decrease by 20%.]</em>

    The special stat <em>Will</em> could only be increased after continuous and repetitivebor. The fact that he could gain 200 just by drinking a ss of coffee was a truly remarkable and shocking reward.

    Minhyuk looked down at the Beyond the Heavens Empire with a satisfied smile.

    <em>[You have received the invitation to the Gods Session Ceremony!]</em>

    Huh? Minhyuk mumbled as he looked at the notification in confusion.

    ***

    Special yers Management Team.

    Team Leader Park Minggyu and Lee Minhwa, who recently returned from her vacation, were sitting side by side and looking at the monitor in front of them.

    It has finally begun.

    This was an episode that Joy Co. Ltd. had prepared for a very long time. The yers who have personally met and interacted with the gods could be counted on one hand; to be exact, just three fingers would be needed. Considering at least 1,000 God-ss yers, that number was far too small.

    But even now, God-ss yers still carried the same name, <em>XXs Descendant.</em> If their names still carried the word <em>descendant</em>, then the god had not yet allowed them to seed their position. In other words, the god was still alive or had not given up their position.

    Its a different case for the Food God.

    Thats right.

    The Food God was a Continental God and a unique case among gods. Since he was considered a Continental God, his influence and impact were significantly smaller than the other gods. However, being the Food God also had its perks. Unlike the others, he could receive the full power of the Food God through level-ups, quests, or just in receiving it. But for the ones carrying the name <em>descendant</em>? It was different.

    Unless they have fully inherited the position, they will only be considered half-baked gods.

    There were quite a few God-ss yers at Level 600. However, for the sessors to show the true power of their God ss, they must be at least Level 650.

    That is assuming that they could receive the recognition of the gods during the session ceremony.

    The session ceremony was a banquet where the gods invited and interacted with their sessors. The sessors, who could only hear their voices during their stay in Athenae, were happy to meet and interact with those gods. However, that was only because they did not know the real meaning of the session ceremony.

    The session ceremony would determine whether their path would end here or they would continue to move forward.

    Team Leader Park and Minhwa looked at each other. But then, someone watching from behind them said, Is yer Minhyuking too?

    This man was none other than Jackson. Even executives would be required to give explicit approval before they could enter the Special yers Management Team, and this should be the case for Jackson, a contractual employee, too. However, Jacksons contract included the use, <em>You cannot disclose anything that you have seen or heard inside Joy Co. Ltd. It will be considered a breach of contract if you disclose even the tiniest detail that you have witnessed inside.</em> So, it was not a problem for him to stay here.

    As someone who personally met Minhyuk and watched his videos when ying during the editing process, Jackson became a huge fan. That was also the reason why he was here.

    Maybe? I think helle, Team Leader Park said.

    Lee Minhwa also added, Yeah. Theres a lot of delicious food served during the session ceremony.

    With interest shing on his face, Jackson asked, yer Minhyuk had attended the Banquet of the Gods and recently cleared the Argalis Dungeon. Hes also very familiar with many gods. Hell probablye, no? Ah. Since the sessors will attend, does that mean Nerva will also attend?

    Nerva might be an NPC, but he was still the Battle Gods Sword. His position was somewhat simr to a sessor''s, and he would have received an invitation, too.

    <em>Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap</em>

    Jacksons finger tapped the desk in front of him rhythmically. He was expecting a lot of exciting things to happen.

    There are the high-rankers who are excited to meet the gods for the first time. On the other hand, theres a yer who has already met with the gods and received their recognition.

    Closing his eyes, he drew a scene in his head. A grin appeared on Jacksons face as he imagined what would happen.

    Theres also the Battle Gods Sword and the emperor of the strongest empire, who was not chosen as the sessor and was set aside for someone else.

    Jackson continued with his eyes still closed, The genre of this session ceremony is face pping.

    1. A reference to Diget, a whole wheat biscuit produced by Orion

 Chapter 926

    Chapter 926

    Minhyuk had received a notification about the arrival of an invitation to the Gods Session Ceremony. And when he checked his inventory, he saw an invitation tied with a bright red ribbon sitting silently inside. When he clicked on its information, this was what appeared:

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Invitation to the Gods Session Ceremony</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: The session ceremony will soon begin, and qualified descendants could be real gods. You will be sent to the Gods Session Ceremony if you ept. If you choose to refuse, the invitation will burn down and disappear.</em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: You will be given a gift to those participating in the Gods Session Ceremony. You can choose one among the following:</em>

    <em>1. Ten tinum.</em>

    <em>2. Ingredients for Chobok[1] Samgyetang.</em>

    <em>3. Session Ceremonys Congrattory Ring.</em>

    <em>4. Fantastic Potion</em>

    <em>The qualified descendants can be real gods? </em>Minhyuk pondered over the matter.

    Joy Co. Ltd. was apany that could maintain and adjust the bnce of the game very well. The only exceptions were monsters like Minhyuk, who were so strong that they could not do anything except let him be.

    Even though many yers reached Level 600, none of them could be said to be able topete with Minhyuk. However, there was a high chance that this session ceremony could be a turning point for them.

    <em>Ali and Death are both excellent people. However, they arent showing much change from before.</em>

    The only growth they experienced was due to an increase in level. But if they could sessfully inherit gods position during the Gods Session Ceremony, then they might be able to gain new skills or obtain high stats with effects that could help increase their power.

    Of course, Minhyuk was the exception to this.

    <em>The Food God is already dead.</em>

    Minhyuk was not a sessor. He was the current <em>Food God,</em> who possessed the subss Battle Gods Descendant. Although he was not explicitly invited, he thought he could still get something if he attended in the name of the Battle God.

    <em>Ingredients for Chobok Samgyetang?</em>

    The temperature was getting increasingly hot. Anyone subjected to this hot weather would grow unknowingly exhausted and sticky with sweat. Minhyuk imagined going home and eating some samgyetang with ginseng, jujube, and garlic. Just one sip would definitely energize him.

    <em>Alright! Since the weather is hot, lets have a bowl of samgyetang!</em>

    At this moment, Minhyuks next destination was finally settled.

    ***

    The entire world was turned upside down by the sudden appearance of the session ceremonys invitation, with people moring that the yers could now finally meet and interact with the gods.

    Divine and spiritual beings! Gods were absolute beings who ruled and governed their respective fields. But the yers carrying the name <em>descendant</em> were not stupid. They were aware that this session ceremony was not simply that.

    The session ceremonys atmosphere was fancy. It was held in a fancy dining hall with a beautiful chandelier hanging above the yers'' heads. One look and a person would feel transported to a nobles dining hall. The gods were all gathered together and talking harmoniously amongst themselves as the yers warped in the dining hall one after another.

    Among these yers stood Reporter Go Eun-Ah. Go Eun-Ah was not a God-ss yer, but she was allowed to attend this session ceremony because she was a broadcasting station official. She was the only reporter present in this session ceremony.

    Joy Co. Ltd. knew that the scene where the yers met with the gods would attract many of the yers curiosity and interest. And that was not all. Most of the yers would be delighted to witness such a historic moment, which was why Go Eun-Ah was here.

    <em>[Wow. I never expected that I would be able to see the gods faces.]</em>

    <em>[Look at how luxurious and ssy that is]</em>

    <em>[The yers that can meet with the gods are only a few and far between. Me? Im very jealous~]</em>

    The viewers watching the broadcast were all excited. Then, one of the yers appeared at that moment and attracted all the viewers'' attention. This yer was affiliated with the Luvien Empire, a member of the Swords of the Gods Second Knight Order, and a high ranker who received the admiration of many.

    <em>[God of Shields Valentino!]</em>

    <em>[Kghhk~ The real thing is here!]</em>

    <em>[Wow! Its really Valentino! Did Valentinoe here to meet the God of Shields?]</em>

    The viewers, who watched the yers appear one after another, expected them to approach the gods and shake their hands. However, the scene that unfolded in front of their eyes waspletely different. They could see that Valentino was suffering from heavy and enormous pressure.

    <em>[You have encountered the gods!]</em>

    <em>[Kneel and worship them!]</em>

    Cold sweat dripped down Valentinos forehead when he appeared near the gods. Just when he was about to stagger and copse, a man approached him.

    Valentino was the idol of all tanker yers, and because of that, he often wore gorgeous and stylish armor on his body. However, the armor that adorned the body of the man walking toward him took far more attention than the armor on Valentinos body. The fact that the armor also had a remarkable effect called <em>Fantasy</em> added to its charm and made those looking at the man more interested in him. The man, the God of Shields, walked silently. The man just looked at Valentino with that deep, arrogant, calm look as if he was nothing but a lowly being.

    The gods descendants were the people that these gods had chosen. They wouldnt spare them, give them their love, or treat them dearly. Of course, there were quite a few exceptions. If someone achieved something that satisfied the gods, they would be an exception.

    Valentino was staggering on his feet, and cold sweat covered his face. Forced to kneel on one knee, he said, Valentino has seen the God of Shields.

    With his hands behind his back, the God of Shields remained silent and stared calmly and arrogantly at Valentino. After a while, he slowly, ever so slowly, nodded.

    Haa! Haa!

    Only at that moment did the pressure weighing down on Valentino disappear, allowing him to breathe more easily.

    Get up. Stand beside me.

    Y- yes!

    Valentino was well known for his arrogant personality. However, no one criticized him because he stood in such a high position. But this very same Valentino was now lowering his pride and standing meekly beside the God of Shields.

    <em>[Thats a real god]</em>

    <em>[Wow. So freaking cool!]</em>

    <em>[Valentino looks like he doesnt know what to do]</em>

    In the first ce, gods ruled, created, and dominated their fields. Their arrogance knew no bounds.

    <em>This is no joke.</em>

    Meanwhile, Reporter Go Eun-Ah received a special buff as a broadcasting station official, allowing her to resist everything from the gods. Looking around her, she realized that almost everyone reacted like Valentino did. The yers all knelt on one knee, some even kissing the back of their gods hands, in worship. But even if that was the case, no one felt a sense of incongruity in this situation. They even felt like this should be the case. After all, the gods were beings that epassed all of Athenae.

    Most of the gods did not really care about their sessors and just let them be, opting to talk among themselves. At this point, even the yers started to think that they were just the extras of this session ceremony with how they were acting. Some even found the gods annoying. But all of the yers gathered in a united front.

    I didnt expect something like this to happen.

    The yers had also imagined the scene where they proudly showed up and shook the hands of the gods, but the reality in front of them waspletely different.

    But theres nothing that we can do. Besides, we will be stronger if we get recognized in this session ceremony.

    The yers talked andforted themselves. Then, a man appeared. The noisy dining hall suddenly turned quiet.

    Go Eun-Ah, who watched the scene, was left in awe. <em>Just by appearing?</em>

    Nerva was not a god yet. However, he was still the Battle Gods Sword and the emperor of the strongest empire on earth. And, to be honest, ordinary gods could not threaten Nerva.

    The man, Nerva Sephiroth, took one step after another and did not avoid the gazes of the gods, who looked at him with their mouths closed. He walked proudly and took a seat on his own. Then, the gods looked at Nerva.

    <em>What was that just now? Did they just fight a war on nerves? </em>Go Eun-Ah felt the undercurrents of a war on nerves between Nerva and the gods.

    The Battle God once favored Nerva. But right now, he was in a situation where he was no longer in the sight of these gods.

    Meanwhile, some of the knights of the Swords of the Gods Second Knight Order rushed up to Nerva and showed their courtesy. Nerva waved his hand and signaled them to retreat as he looked at the gods.

    <em>These f*cking god bastards.</em>

    In the past, these gods mored to please him. But now? They were trying their hardest not to be conscious of his presence.

    As the session ceremony heated up and the yers began to gather one after another, minormotions started to appear in some ces.

    ***

    Some of the members of the Swords of the Gods Second Knight Order, including Valentino and Bastien, were sessors of the gods. They gathered together and found two men in this session ceremony. These two men belonged to none other than the Beyond the Heavens Empire and were busy talking with each other.

    Since the Luvien Empire and the Beyond the Heavens Empire were at war, it was only natural that their yers wouldpete for pride. And with Valentino, Bastien, and the rest of the Second Knight Orders petty and lowly characters, they would not miss this opportunity. Valentino and Bastien sidled up to the two men.

    Hiik! Oh, what a blunder! Sorry, sorry! Valentino pretended it was a mistake as he poured wine on one of the mans clothes.

    The man was none other than Golden Mage Ali, who said, I dont think its a mistake, though?

    You should have avoided it, then. Didnt I say that Im sorry? Why are you getting so worked up? Valentino shrugged.

    Worked up? Ali did not even react that much to his provocations. All he did was sigh.

    <em>Lets avoid any unnecessary conflicts.</em>

    And standing right next to Ali was Death. The two knew nothing good woulde out if they shed with these childish and immature people. Did people avoid shit because they were scared of it? No. They avoided it because it was dirty. So, they moved away and distanced themselves from Valentino and his group.

    But Bastien did not want to stop. He spoke loudly as if he wanted them to listen to his words. He said, Hey, did you hear? I heard that one of those bastards has a disability with social phobia. He acts high and mighty here but cant even make eye contact with someone in real life. Kyaa~! Athenae truly changes peoples lives.

    Haha! And thats not all, you know? Didnt they say that birds of the same feather flock together? Do you see that other guy? Hes an otaku. But do you know? Valentino put his mouth near Bastiens ears as if he was whispering as he spoke loudly, One of those bastards has a brother who cant even use his legs properly. Dont you think his brother shoulde and y Athenae? Hell probablyugh since he will be able to run around happily. Hahahaha!

    H- Hey. Thats going a bit overboard.

    Why? Did I make things up? Valentino arrogantly dered. After all, His Majesty Nerva was present in this session ceremony.

    Didnt everyone see? Nerva had proudly made eye contact with all of the gods here! No, he overwhelmed them with his gaze alone. Besides, even if Minhyuk came to this session ceremony, he was still a yer through and through. Would he be any different from them? He would bow his head to the greatest Absolute God, the Battle God, and probably even kiss the gods foot.

    Death, who couldnt stand their words, moved to try to grab Valentinos cor. But Ali stopped him. Ali believed that they should not cause anymotion here. If they did, they would probably harm Minhyuk. Ali was holding back. He loved all of the people that he called Frieeeeeeend! and he did not want to harm his favorite friend, Minhyuk.

    When amotion broke out amongst them, the God of Shields approached them and gave them a scolding, Youre noisy.

    We- Were sorry! Valentino answered politely as he hurriedly bowed his head.

    What are you all being noisy about, huh?

    We were just talking about how pitiful some sessors are.

    The God of Shields was no fool. Whether they were humans or gods, there would always be a war of nerves and a contention of pride everywhere.

    Whose sessors are they?

    Valentino listened to the God of Shields and politely answered, The descendant of the God of Magic, Ali, and the descendant of the God of Death, Death.

    Is that so?

    The God of Magic and the God of Death were among the high-ranking gods. However, the God of Shields did not care that much because they were just their sessors. But then, something shed in his head. The God of Shields, who was about to leave, turned back again and asked, By any chance, are they <em>Minhyuk</em>s friends?

    Eh? Ah. Yes, thats right, Valentino answered in confusion. He wondered why the God of Shields asked him such a question.

    <em>Thud</em>

    But then, Valentino saw the God of Shields raise his hands and grab him by the shoulders.

    You crazy bastard?! What have you done?! How dare you

    Eh?

    Then, the final yer entered the session ceremony. And at that moment, something very shocking and amazing happened.

    ...

    ...

    ...

    A silence far deeper and greater than the silence Nerva had evoked in his entrance swept the entire dining hall where the session ceremony was being held.

    The yer who entered was 185 cm tall and wore a white cape bearing the symbol of a fork and knife crossed together. His handsome face looked like it had been carved in stone, and he did not look inferior to the gods present at all.

    All of the gods and yers present turned to look at him. And Reporter Go Eun-Ah? She was shocked.

    <em>What? Why</em>

    Why was the man not affected? Why was he not bowing under the pressure of the gods? Then, she saw the gazes of the gods looking at him. They were looking at him softly with smiles lingering on their faces.

    <em>Why are they smiling?</em>

    At the same time, Valentino, being grabbed by the God of Shields, saw the god before him, quickly let go, and rushed out with a chuckle. The God of Shields, with a delighted smile on his face, spread his arms wide and approached the man, Minhyuk.

    I, the God of Shields, feel very delighted today! The God of Shields stood in front of Minhyuk and looked at the other gods before saying, It is a delight that the man, who would lead us andmand us in battle on behalf of the Battle God, has shone his light and graced us with his presence during this session ceremony!

    The God of Shields enthusiastically shook Minhyuks hands. At that moment, the other gods rushed out and flocked around Minhyuk. Meanwhile, the yers were gobsmacked. They watched with wide eyes.

    Wh- what is happening?

    Even though they witnessed it with their own eyes, Valentino and the other yers could not bring themselves to believe it. Were the gods trying to curry the yers'' favor?

    But then, at that moment, Minhyuk said, God of Shields.

    Please speak, haha! The God of Shieldsughed loudly. He wanted to maintain a close and friendly rtionship with Minhyuk.

    Then, Minhyuk said, I heard that your sessor hadmitted a great offense against my dear friend?

    Yes, that was right. Minhyuk received a whisper from Death just when he arrived at the session ceremony and was made aware of the mocking and over-the-line words that Valentino said.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Death</em></strong><em>: Im alright, but Valentino told Ali]</em>

    At that moment, the expression of the God of Shields immediately turned dark. He had also just learned about what his sessor had said to Minhyuks friends and how he mocked someone with a disability who could not walk with their legs. Even the God of Shields would be angry if something like this happened to someone under his wing. On top of that, he wanted to maintain a friendly rtionship with Minhyuk. So, he did not say anything against Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk strode toward where Valentino was.

    ...

    Valentino gulped, his mouth suddenly turning dry.

    <em>W- what the hell? How did the situation turn out like this</em>

    He could not understand it. Well, it was only natural. The information that Minhyuk challenged and cleared Argalis Dungeon and received the gods'' recognition was not spread to ordinary yers or anyone not from the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    Minhyuk hollered, He is my close friend, but he is also my vassal. As an emperor, protecting my vassals and subordinates is only natural!

    He clenched his fists and turned to look at the God of Shields. Then, he looked at another person, Nerva Sephiroth, and said, Can I punch this guy in the face?!

    1.  is a part of the  (the three hottest days in the lunar year) and is the beginning of . During , Koreans tend to eat nutritious food that boosts their stamina, like samgyetang

 Chapter 927

    Chapter 927

    The Battle God watched the session ceremony in interest. The war of nerves between Minhyuk and Nerva was fierce.

    Latte, the Battle Gods aide, rubbed his chin and said, It will start in an hour.

    The Battle God nodded slowly. Nerva or Minhyuk. This will determine who will gain the power of the Battle God.

    He had chosen Nerva as his sessor in the past, which was why he had given the man the position of the Battle Gods Sword, a position on par with that of a descendant. However, in the end, Minhyuk became his descendant. But during this session ceremony, they could finally determine who would obtain the <em>Battle Gods Authority.</em>

    The Battle God was fair and impartial. He did not give Nerva the position of his descendant because he saw more potential in Minhyuk then.

    Ultimately, Minhyuk was in a simr situation to the other descendants. If Minhyuk could not prove his qualifications and show them that he had the ability to be the Battle Gods descendant, then he would be deprived of this position. On the other hand, if Nerva could show him satisfactory performance, then Nerva might be able to receive the Battle Gods Authority and be the Battle Gods Descendant.

    Latte immediately understood what the Battle God meant after seeing that he did not respond to him.

    <em>It seems like even the Battle God cannot determine the oue, too.</em>

    An emerging emperor and the emperor of the strongest empire, only one among the two would be able to receive the <em>Power of Development.</em>

    ***

    Minhyuk went out to finish his workout before the session ceremony. Before he started his workout, he specifically reached out to both Ali and Death and told them:

    <em>If, by any chance, something happens there, you should contact me right away.</em>

    Ali and Death just chuckled at him.

    <em>Were not children, you know?</em>

    <em>You dont have to be so worried over us.</em>

    <em>Why? Do you think its too annoying and burdensome for a friend to care about his friends?</em>

    The two immediately turned to look at Minhyuk when they heard the word <em>friend.</em> They thought simultaneously, <em>Ah, its so nice to be friends with him.</em>

    And Minhyuk? He grew furious when the thing he worried about became a reality. He wondered if there indeed was someone so petty and immature at their age. But lo and behold, there truly was one. The worst part? They made fun of Alis older brothers legs and disability.

    Minhyuk looked at everyone before turning to Nerva and saying, Can I punch this guy in the face?!

    Nerva frowned. He immediately grasped the situation, especially because the gods had spoken up and confirmed the situation.

    Itspletely understandable. And knowing that youre an emperor who cares about your subject, I feel very ashamed.

    You deserve to be angry.

    The whispers of the gods grew louder. And Valentino? He could feel Nervas cold and piercing re.

    <em>Im- Im in trouble</em>

    Minhyuk had been superficial when he asked Nerva if he could seek justice for his friends and sought Valentino''s insult. Valentino knew Nerva would unleash his anger upon him once they returned to the empire. He could see a future that was far more terrifying than dying right away.

    As for Nerva, he could tell that the crowd was starting to me him. But as the emperor of the most substantial empire, he remained calm. He stood up and looked at Minhyuk and Valentino.

    I understand. But he is also my subordinate. Do you think its proper for the emperor of an empire at war with us to punish my subordinate in front of me like that?

    ...

    ...

    Themotion among the gods suddenly died down. They could not overlook the fact that the two nations were at war, and because of that, the gods understood that they could note forward.

    Does the Beyond the Heavens Emperor wish to obtain an apology from me by using this as a pretext? If thats the case, then youre being petty. Nerva thought of a way to turn the situation in his favor. However, this emperor also understands your love for your subordinate. I believe it would be better for them to solve the matter between them amongst themselves.

    Perhaps this was the best solution. As for Minhyuk? He was very delighted with this turn of events.

    <em>This is much better.</em>

    Minhyuk nodded and said, Then, one shot. Allow us to send one attack.

    Nerva looked at Valentino and Ali before nodding in agreement. He thought it would be better for him to concede this much rather than continue to avoid it by saying they were two nations at war. Unfortunately, this was Nerva''s biggest mistake.

    Ali and Minhyuk shared a smile. The only reason why Ali endured the humiliation was because he was afraid that it would harm Minhyuk since all of the gods were here. But they have now fully convinced the gods.

    The gods slowly moved and opened a small space inside the dining hall. The God of Shields even provided a thick and solid barrier that surrounded Ali and Valentino.

    With this barrier in ce, your powers will not be able to affect us, the God of Shields said as he turned to Ali. He waspensating him because he felt extremely sorry that his sessor had created this mess.

    Valentino looked at the God of Shields, the man whose position he would inherit, and Nerva, the emperor of the empire he served. There was only one thing that he could do.

    Can I block it?

    Nerva turned to look at Minhyuk when the question was raised. Minhyuk nodded.

    <em>I need to defend myself from the magic of the God of Magic so I can receive their recognition.</em>

    Indeed. This might be an opportunity for him, too. Valentino immediately removed an armor set specialized in magical defense from his inventory.

    This is the God of Shields Dragon Armor.

    The thick and scaly armor could increase ones magical defensive power by at least 200%.

    I cant believe it. He has already obtained the Dragon Armor.

    The God of Shields just shrugged his shoulders. The gods often guided their sessors on the right path and even bestowed upon them items they owned once they reached the right path. And this Dragon Armor that the God of Shields had bestowed was powerful enough to stop a dragons Breath.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    Golden light instantly shot out and covered Valentinos body when he mmed his square shield on the ground.

    <em>[God of Shields Magic Blessing.]</em>

    <em>[Your magical defensive power will increase by 150%.]</em>

    <em>[Your magical attack power will increase by 20%.]</em>

    <em>[Your total HP will increase by 10%.]</em>

    Oh

    Ho.

    The God of Shields is truly reliable.

    The gods marveled at the scene quietly. The shield that could defend against almost any magical attack was like an iron castle in front of them.

    Valentino, who had equipped the magic-resistant armor and hid behind his shield,ughed at Ali. Meanwhile, Ali was on edge with so many gods surrounding them, and the God of Magic was watching him. However, Valentino mocked his brother. He could not fold here.

    Frieeeeeeeeend!!!

    At that moment, a loud cry erupted behind him. Regardless of the gazes the others shot at him, Minhyuk raised his left arm and stood proudly. Death, who was shocked by Minhyuks sudden outburst, also hurriedly raised his left arm, which was carrying the <strong>X</strong> symbol.

    Frieeeeeeeeeend!!!

    Minhyuk smiled as he nodded slightly at Ali. For a moment, Ali felt like Minhyuk was telling him it would be alright even if he did not meet the expectations of the people around him.

    Ali chuckled. Then he asked, Sir Valentino has received the buff effects of a magic-resistant armor set. However, I am only allowed to use one magical attack. May I borrow the power of several other spells for this attack?

    Nerva nodded when he heard the question. With explicit permission, Ali grabbed the staff he summoned with both hands and mmed it on the ground.

    <em>aaaaash</em>

    A golden and blinding light shed, the wind brought forth by the light making his hair flutter.

    Friend, Ali responded to Minhyuk and Deaths calls. Then, he raised his left arm high. Like the two, the X symbolized their friendship. Then, he said, Meteor.

    <em>Rumbleeeeee!</em>

    Ho

    The human summoned a Meteor.

    Hoho.

    The sky was torn apart as meteors began to fall. However, the gods were not impressed by the size or number of meteors that appeared. They were only impressed that a human cast the spell. After all, only five meteors were falling from the sky.

    Magic Duplication.

    <em>Rumbleeeee!</em>

    The meteors that were falling from the sky doubled. The gods, watching the scene, gawked when they saw the five meteors turn into ten as they continued to fall toward Valentino. But the surprise did not end there.

    Magic Compression.

    <em>[Meteor is being gathered andpressed!]</em>

    ...!

    ...!

    ...!

    Gather was a magic that Ali had been using since he was a low-tier mage. Gather, a magic that gathered everyone or everything in one ce, was not used by most of the mages. Why? Because they could not utilize it properly. But Ali continued to use it, applying it in many ways. And just like that, Ali mastered Gather magic and seeded in developing and creating a new magic called <em>Magic Compression.</em> This was a power that not even the God of Magic had.

    <em>[Meteor has beenpressed!]</em>

    The meteor located at the center of the formation of meteors sucked in one of the meteors falling beside it.

    <em>[The current falling Meteors power can deal an additional 6,000% magical attack power and devour an area with a radius of 70 meters!]</em>

    <em>[Meteor has beenpressed! The current Meteor has received a 30% increase in power!]</em>

    <em>[An additional 2,000% magical attack power will be applied, and the radius of effect will also increase by 21 meters!]</em>

    If Meteor was gathered, then it should have weakened in power.

    However, there was one crucial factor to consider here. Meteor was the strongest AOE magic attack skill, and if appropriately used, it could ughter almost 100,000 enemies. Now, the strongest AOE magic attack skill had been turned into a single magic attack skill.

    Then, another meteor was sucked in by the central meteor.

    <em>[An additional 2,000% magical attack power will be applied, and the radius of effect will also increase by 21 meters!]</em>

    Just like that, the meteors were sucked in by the central meteor one after another. And the central meteor? It slowly grew bigger and bigger.

    <em>[...magical attack power!]</em>

    <em>[...magical attack power!]</em>

    <em>[...magical attack power!]</em>

    Now, the central meteor had turned into a gigantic meteor twice the size of the meteor that the God of Magic could summon.

    The God of Magic gasped. <em>This is stronger than my own Meteor.</em>

    The other gods were also shocked and overwhelmed by the gigantic meteor falling from the sky above them. They watched in trepidation as Ali raised his fair and slender finger and pointed it at Valentino.

    <em>This- this- shit</em>

    Valentino hurriedly lifted his square shield above him. Then, the attack collided with his shield.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    The ground on which Valentino was standing cracked, forcing his feet to go deeper and deeper under the ground.

    A- aaaaaaaaaaack!

    But the gigantic meteor continued to crush him with its overwhelmingly heavy and colossal force. High magical defensive power? The highest total HP among the tankers? Those counted for nothing. They were all useless in front of Alis Meteor. The damage that Alis magic dealt him was beyond imagination. To put a rough estimate, the Meteor Ali cast had over 20,000% additional magical attack power. It was something that he could not deal with what he had.

    Keuhaaaaaaaack!

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang!</em>

    In the end, Valentino was crushed by the meteor. He was almost ground to dust by the attack, and he heard an extremely ridiculous set of notifications in his ears.

    <em>[Your HP has reached 0!]</em>

    <em>[The God of Shields Will has been triggered!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has recovered to 10%. Your defensive power will increase by 100% for ten seconds.]</em>

    The gods turned mute when they saw the aftermath left behind by the meteor after it devoured the ground in front of them. They watched as Valentino, who managed to recover to some extent, stumbled and struggled to stand up.

    ...

    Nerva clenched his fists tightly when he saw Minhyuk standing across from him. He could see the mirth in the mans eyes and the smile teasing the corners of his lips.

    Meanwhile, Valentino made eye contact with Ali after he finally stood on his shaking feet. He saw Ali mouthing something at him. It seemed like he was saying, <em>F*ck you.</em>

 Chapter 928

    Chapter 928

    Valentino, the global number one in the tanker rankings, was an icon and an idol for all tankers worldwide. Why? In Athenae, the tanker ss had never been in the spotlight. But the tankers status seemed to rise whenever Valentino appeared on the screen. And this very same Valentino was now left facing a tall and high wall he could not reach.

    <em>F*ck you,</em> Ali mouthed to Valentino.

    <em>Damn it!</em>

    Despite suffering such great humiliation, Valentino could not attack or show anger at him. His eyes shifted as he realized Minhyuk had created this situation before the gods for Ali''s sake. Although embarrassing, he even shouted, Frieeeeend!!! to show his trust in his subordinate. His gazended on his emperor. However, Nerva acted entirely differently from Minhyuk.

    This emperor is very ashamed to have you as a subordinate.

    ...

    You dare to criticize others, yet you act like a wet rat in front of the one you criticize? It seems like you need to share the conversation that you had earlier. If I find you guilty, then I believe you deserve such treatment, no?

    Nerva judged that it was better for his image to scold his subordinate, who had been trampled on, rather than protect and show care for him. He had decided that Valentino deserved criticism and me in this ce.

    When Nerva said, <em>I will talk to him and advise him well, Valentino thought he would not receive any more punishment. But the reality </em>waspletely different.

    <em>[You have tarnished the reputation of the Great Luvien Empire!]</em>

    <em>[Emperor Nerva Sephiroth removes your qualifications and dismisses you as a member of the Swords of the Gods Second Knight Order!]</em>

    <em>[Emperor Nerva Sephiroth has deprived you of your title in his empire. You are no longer a Count of the Luvien Empire!]</em>

    <em>[Once you go back to the Luvien Empire, you will be executed as punishment for your crimes!]</em>

    Valentinos head turned nk. He could see Nervas contempt. It was as if he were looking at a bug despite his kind, gracious, gentle words.

    <em>N- No</em>

    He was the idol of all tankers. When he joined the Swords of the Gods, tankers from all over the world cheered. Some of his fans were so happy that they even held parties amongst themselves.

    Valentino was a greedy man who loved attention. Because of that, he had already thought and nned his future, which was also why his head had turnedpletely nk. He wanted to scream. However, he could only mp his mouth shut in front of Nerva. He might fall even further if he said the wrong thing here.

    Meanwhile, Ali raised his left arm and showed off the symbol on his arm as he walked toward Minhyuk. And Minhyuk? He greeted Ali with a wide and bright smile on his face.

    <em>Damn it! Shit! Shit! Shit!</em>

    Everything had a price; this was how Valentino paid the price for his actions.

    ***

    Reporter Go Eun-Ah turned her head after looking at Valentino, who finally got up after stumbling on his feet.

    <em>The session ceremony,</em> she thought, her mind turning as she tried to figure out its meaning.

    <em>Session</em> was a process where one gave up their position and allowed someone to take over for them. However, she had one question.

    <em>Will everyone present here inherit and sit on the gods thrones?</em>

    Of course, everyone who had received the invitation to the Gods Session Ceremony had something inmon. First, they were all yers who had achieved Level 600. Second, there were no production-ss yers; Minhyuk was the exception since he was unique. And third, all of them were God-ss yers.

    <em>Will those who have met these conditions but werent invited this time be able to inherit the position in the next session ceremony sessfully?</em>

    But would the gods truly hand over their positions so easily? Go Eun-Ah understood that the God-ss yers would grow stronger once they inherited their respective gods positions. However, she wanted to know if the gods were willing to give their positions easily.

    <em>Crackle</em>

    <em>Crackleeeee</em>

    <em>Crackle, crackle</em>

    Suddenly, zing mes shot up and lit the entire hall where the session ceremony was being held.

    <em>Rumbleeeee</em>

    Then, the entire hall began to shake.

    Wh- what?

    What the hell?

    What is happening so suddenly?

    The yers were highly flustered as the hall slowly floated to the sky. At that moment, a familiar man wearing gorgeous silver armor and overflowing with charisma appeared standing in front of the podium. The gods immediately gathered around him as they all looked at the yers.

    The session ceremony will nowmence.

    This man was none other than the Battle God.

    Kihyeeeeeeeeck!

    Kyahaaaaaaack!

    Graaaaaaaaaa!

    Roars resonated from a distance. When they turned to look in the direction where the sound came from, they saw thousands of bone dragons and tens of thousands of wyverns charging toward them. And from the looks of it, death knights and liches were riding atop them. Then, a bright light shed, and the space by the side of the gods cracked open. Through this crack, hundreds of pegasi, followed by thousands of white horses carrying the knights of the Divine Army<em>,</em> ran out. But that was not the end of it all.

    Kihyeeeeeeeeeck!

    Kyahaaaaaaaaaack!

    <em>Thump, thump, thump</em>

    The God of Summoners stepped forward and raised his arms to the sky.

    <em>p! p! p!</em>

    Millions of flying monsters poured out from the sky.

    What- what the hell

    The yers, who could not understand the situation, were all moving like headless flies. At that moment, the Battle God and the gods gathered around him disappeared in a sh of light. Where did the gods go? They appeared standing or riding atop some of the bone dragons and the pegasi.

    Finally, the notifications rang in the ears of the flustered yers.

    <em>[The Session Ceremony has started!]</em>

    <em>[Those who fail to prove their qualifications during this Session Ceremony will be stripped of their sses!]</em>

    <em>[If you ever get stripped of your ss, the stats and skills that you have obtained will be retained.]</em>

    <em>[But the effects of the skills that you have obtained with this ss will be reduced by 50%. You will no longer be able to level up the skills!]</em>

    <em>[The effects of all the titles you have obtained with this ss will be reduced by 50%.]</em>

    ...!

    ...!

    ...!

    Everyone was left speechless when they saw that the penalty was too big. Notifications also rang for each individual, and these were the notifications that rang in Valentinos ears.

    <em>[If you die during the Session Ceremony, you will lose your qualifications and be stripped of your title as the God of Shields!]</em>

    <em>[You are the descendant of the God of Shields. Protect your allies from the enemies to prove your qualifications as the God of Shields!]</em>

    <em>[Various factors will affect your Credibility Rating as the God of Shields. Do not lose your pride as a god!]</em>

    <em>[Your current Credibility Rating is 0%!]</em>

    <em>[If your Credibility Rating reaches 50%, your qualifications will be recognized. If you can achieve a higher rating, you will receive outstanding rewards from the gods!]</em>

    <em>[All damage you received before the Session Ceremony will be recovered!]</em>

    Most of them heard simr notifications. And, of course, the same was true for Minhyuk.

    <em>[If you die during the Session Ceremony, you will lose your qualifications and be stripped of your title as the Battle Gods Descendant!]</em>

    <em>[You are the descendant of the Battle God. Command your allies and lead them to the right path. Your qualifications will be questioned whenever an ally dies!]</em>

    <em>[Various factors will affect your Credibility Rating as a god. You are the sessor of the Battle God; you have to prove that you are better than the others!]</em>

    <em>[Your current Credibility Rating is 0%!]</em>

    <em>[If your Credibility Rating is 50%...]</em>

    Minhyuk was also left flustered when he saw that his skills'' effects would be reduced by half if he died or failed to prove his qualifications in this Session Ceremony. However, the most significant damage he could receive here was that he would be unable to develop and grow further as the Battle Gods Descendant.

    We have to survive against the onught of the gods attacks?

    Stop the gods? This is wild. How can we?!

    The yers were plunged into even deeper confusion. They were just yers. That was not all. They were also forced to kneel and worship the gods the moment they arrived here and subjected to the gods momentum and presence.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang!</em>

    Immediately after that, a huge explosion erupted and devoured the yers.

    Keheok! <em>Explosion</em> is this strong?!

    Shit

    A- aaaaaaaack!

    The yers quickly saw the hundreds of magic the God of Magic sent hurtling down at them. But was that all? Of course not. The soldiers and knights of the Divine Army also shot thousands of arrows.

    <em>Crackle!</em>

    The Battle God also sent mes flying toward them along with the bone dragons Breath.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa!</em>

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack!</em>

    <em>Rumbleeee!</em>

    The session ceremonys hall, which floated to the sky, shook fiercely. In just an instant, the narrow space was turned upside down. Some unlucky yers were even sprawled on the ground and forced to log out.

    N- no

    The yers faces twisted when they saw the expression on their faces before theypletely turned into ashes and disappeared. And what expression did they see? They looked desperate. It was as if their worlds fell apart, and they lost everything. Anger red up within them. Perhaps it was only natural. After all, their pride as one of the God-ss yers was trampled upon.

    F*ck this! Is this the reason why there arent any production ss yers among us?!

    Only then did the yers realize that among all the God-ss yers, there werent any yers with a production ss. This was because they wouldnt be able to survive this hell. But what if they were here? What would happen then? Although the production-ss yers might face enormous risks, they would still greatly help the other yers. After all, they could help reinforce and strengthen the other yers so that they could reach the gods and be on the same ground.

    <em>[After 30 seconds, the Second Wave will begin!]</em>

    <em>[After 20 seconds, the Second Wave will begin!]</em>

    Tension ran high among the yers as the notifications rang in their ears. Many of them even lost their will to fight. Even Minhyuk frowned when he heard the same notifications.

    <em>[One of your allies has died!]</em>

    <em>[Your Credibility Rating has decreased by -2%!]</em>

    Minhyuk suddenly felt a sense of urgency when he realized that his qualifications would still be questioned even if the ones that suffered damage were others and not him. Be that as it may, he had already epted this situation. However, the problem was that most yers lost their will to fight.

    <em>[Your allies morale has decreased sharply!]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have decreased by 12%!]</em>

    <em>[Your physical defensive power has decreased by 20%!]</em>

    At that moment, the gods began to prepare for the second wave of attacks. Meanwhile, Minhyuk, who was located on the opposite side of where the gods were, heard another series of notifications.

    <em>[After 5 seconds, the Second Wave will begin!]</em>

    <em>[The Second Wave will be far more menacing than the First Wave!]</em>

    U- Uwaaaaaaaaaah!

    Run!!!

    Damn it!!!

    The yers hurriedly ran in the opposite direction, trying to get as far away from the gods as possible. It was quite a funny sight. These people were the envy of many. However, now that they were facing great danger and were at risk of losing their God ss, they all tried to run away.

    Valentino stood nkly amidst the panicking crowd. Then, someone shouted at him, Activate your shield and protect this emperor!

    This someone was none other than Nerva. Nerva did not look flustered at all. He stood there calmly and gave orders to Valentino. And Valentino? He looked at the crowds of yers running away in the opposite direction.

    ...

    Valentino continued to look at them nkly. At that moment, Minhyuk, who was about to pass by him, said, Valentino, activate Bentinos Wall in front. I am in desperate need of your help. If we have your walls, then we will be able to defend against this attack.

    ...What?

    <em>You crazy bastard!</em> Valentino almost blurted out these words. Could one yer indeed defend against the onught of attack from the gods? No more than that, did he just say that he desperately needed Valentinos help? Then, at that moment

    Come here in front of me and protect me right away!!!

    Nervas grating shouts rang in his ears. This was the very same person who had said that he would execute him and remove him as a member of his knight order. The worst part? He looked at Valentino with contempt as he shouted louder at him.

    Nerva shouted because he did not want his subjects to heed the orders of the Beyond the Heavens Emperor.

    If you donte before me right now, I will make it so you cannot set foot on Earth!!!

    Valentino was left speechless as he looked at Nerva, who kept on threatening him.

    <em>I am not a good person. I am very greedy and love to get the attention of everyone. If I find someone better than me, I will be jealous of them, bite them, and curse at them.</em>

    Yes, he was that kind of guy.

    <em>[Sir Valentino is the pride of all the tankers in the world!]</em>

    <em>[Kghhk~ Godlentino! Hes our pride!!!]</em>

    <em>[Hes the one with the greatest qualifications as a god! Hes the one who will show the world what we tankers are like!]</em>

    He was also the subject of peoples admiration.

    <em>I have already lost everything. I lost my qualifications as a member of the Swords of the Gods and even my position as a count. Do I still have anything more to lose?</em>

    The notifications that rang in his ears earlier said:

    <em>[Do not lose your pride as a god!]</em>

    That was right. There was still something he had not lost. Valentino was the pride of all the tankers in the world.

    <em>I am the God of Shields. I can summon the biggest, sturdiest, and greatest shield in existence!</em>

    Valentino turned his gaze away from Nerva and ran in the opposite direction, toward where Minhyuk, Ali, and Death were running.

    Make way!

    <em>[The Second Wave has started!!!]</em>

    Valentino beat them to the chase. Then, he mmed his square shield on the ground with all his might just as the thousands of magic sent by the God of Magic and the tens of thousands of arrows shot by the Divine Army flew toward them along with thousands of Breaths.

    The moment the Session Ceremony truly started, all the damage they had received had recovered. This was also the case for their skill cooldown, which meant Valentino had something to rely on.

    Bentinos Wall!!!

    A colossal shield that looked like a wallparable to Mount Tai''s appeared in front of the running yers.

    The entire world held its breath as it watched Bentinos Walls unfold as the attack of the gods fell upon the God-ss yers.

 Chapter 929

    Chapter 929

    <em>[Bentinos Wall.]</em>

    <em>[Bentinos Wall, the size of a castles wall, will protect you and your allies!]</em>

    <em>[You have an additional 8,000% defense!]</em>

    <em>[Bentinos Wall has a duration of three minutes.]</em>

    <em>[Using the skill will destroy 1 point from your STM.]</em>

    Bentinos Wall was a skill that Valentino acquired when he reached Level 600. It was named after Bentino, the greatest God of Shields. The power of this skill depended on the skill user since it gave an additional 8,000% defensive power to ones defensive power.

    For yers, there was a vast difference between the defensive power that ten yers could express and the defensive power that a hundred yers could express. Of course, this included all of the things that boosted ones defensive power, like armor, skills, essories, and stats.

    And Valentino? He had a total defensive power 1.7 times higher than the total defensive power of the yer standing second in the tanker rankings.

    Bentinos Wall stretched out, creating a shield akin to a long stretch of walls. However, even though Valentino was able to disy such a vast and wide stretch of wall, he still doubted if he could stop the thousands of magic attacks that the God of Magic unleashed along with the tens of thousands of arrows shot by the Divine Army and the Breaths of the bone dragons.

    But, of course, Valentino was not alone. There were still those who supported him from behind.

    Golden Mage Ali was one. He stepped forward and unfolded his fair and slim fingers. Then, he pointed his fingers, now covered with a bright golden light, toward the magic about to rain down on them.

    Dispel.

    <em>sh</em>

    It was as if a wave had appeared and swept the magic away. In an instant, a third of the magic sent by the God of Magic disappeared into nothingness.

    At the same time, tens of thousands of skeletons appeared in the air as Death, the God of Death, mmed his staff on the ground. The summoned skeletons immediately gathered together until they formed another huge wall.

    <em>Booooooooom!</em>

    The remaining magic mmed on the bone wall and pounded it until it destroyed the skeletons of the bone wall, turning them into ashes.

    <em>Baaaaaaaang</em>

    The attacks continued until they mmed into Bentinos Wall, which everyone believed in.

    <em>Boooooooom!</em>

    The first to make contact with Bentinos Wall was the magic attacks. The bombardment of magic mmed into the walls constantly and was immediately followed by a shower of arrows and Breaths.

    Valentino, who held on and endured the attack with sweat dripping down and covering his entire body, roared, Uwooooooooooh!!!

    Even though Bentinos Wall was about to copse, it continued to hold on and stop the gods attacks.

    This is crazy

    Valentino! Youre so cool!

    Youre the best, Valentino!!!

    The yers burst into cheers.

    When the vibrations crawling up his arms disappeared, Valentino realized that his Bentinos Wall could defend against the gods'' attack.

    <em>[You did not lose your pride as a god and could defend your allies sessfully!]</em>

    <em>[You have proven your qualifications as the God of Shields!]</em>

    <em>[Your Credibility Rating has increased by 42%.]</em>

    His credibility rating soared.

    Valentino felt his heart thump like crazy. For the first time, he had done something against that man, Nerva. Despite that, the rewards that he received were sweet. There was also an unfamiliar sense of excitement thrumming in his veins from when he walked in the opposite direction from those fleeing. He was in awe of himself that hed been able to stop the attack from the gods.

    He looked back at Minhyuk. Valentino knew that he would not only be removed from the Swords of the Gods and stripped of his status as the Count but also executed once he returned to the Luvien Empire. But if he joined Minhyuk and the Beyond the Heavens Empire that he had created, then perhaps his situation would be different. Perhaps his second life would finally begin!

    So, Valentino looked at Minhyuk and said, Please allow me to join the Beyond the Heavens

    Are you done talking bullshit?

    ...

    Valentino secretly nced back at Nerva.

    <em>Ah, Im f*cked</em>

    ***

    Are you done talking bullshit? Minhyuk growled, confused by Valentinos unexpected words.

    Minhyuk wouldnt ept someone who had spoken ill of Ali just a few moments prior. Werent they supposed to ept the strong? No. The Beyond the Heavens Empire chose people based on their personality and attitude, especially if the person in question was someone like Valentino, who stood at the top.

    Seeing Valentinos ugly expression, Minhyuk said, Things have already reached this point. I think it would be better if you helped me out here. After all, you have already fallen out with Nerva, no?

    That was right. Valentino could already tell his fate by the notifications alone.

    <em>[You have defied an imperial decree!]</em>

    <em>[The penalty of one execution will be equivalent to the penalty of three forced logouts!]</em>

    Valentino agreed with Minhyuks words. Things had already developed to this point.

    <em>If I stayed by Nervas side, my credibility rating would likely plunge into the negative.</em>

    Valentino was a tanker. And what is a tankers main task? It was to protect and guard his allies. If, during this trial where his qualifications were being tested, he chose to stay by Nervas side and protect him as his subordinate and not as a god, Valentino would not be able to avoid a negative rating.

    Anyway, Valentino was already doomed to die once he returned. So, why did he have to suck up to Nerva? He thought it would be better for him to keep his pride and be the true God of Shields.

    Valentino quickly looked back.

    Valentino! Youre amazing!!!

    Its all thanks to you!

    The other yers were giving him a thumbs up.

    Nerva, who saw the scene, took this as an opportunity and said, Did you see that? You can also face the gods. And do not forget, I am with you.

    The morale of the allied yers slowly rose once again. Because of that, abnormal status and stat decrease also disappeared. Then, Nerva quickly used this moment to trigger the ability that he possessed as an emperor.

    <em>[You have been bestowed with the Greatest Emperors Blessings!]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 22%!]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained the courage not to back down!]</em>

    <em>[Your resistance to abnormal statuses has increased by 50%.]</em>

    <em>[Your magical and physical defensive power have increased by 20%.]</em>

    If we join forces, we can stop the gods.

    Nerva was also working under the same conditions as Minhyuk. As the Battle Gods Sword, he would only receive the Battle God''s recognition if he could properly lead his allies. He could also use this opportunity to deprive Minhyuk of his position as the Battle Gods Descendant and take the seat for himself.

    That was right. After all, it wasnt necessary for both Nerva and Minhyuk to survive; just one was enough.

    Crazy

    We can receive such buff effects just by fighting with him?

    We can do it. We can stop them!

    Hope bloomed on the faces of the yers.

    <em>Shiiiiiiing</em>

    Nerva drew his sword.

    No one here did not know who Nerva was. He was the emperor of the strongest and greatest empire, the Luvien Empire, which was his advantage. Also, Nerva had the highest level among the NPCs known to all yers.

    Please give us your orders!!!

    Your Majesty! Please allow me to be a part of your empires Sword of the Gods!

    As expected of the yers. They were all greedy beings. And, of course, Nerva, who was smiling kindly at them, knew this. He chose to use his smarts and exploit the greed that was almost overflowing from these yers.

    Of course. This emperor has already considered creating the Swords of the Gods Third Knight Order. Those who can stop the gods'' attacks better than anybody else, those who move without fear, and those who can establish themselves as gods in this ce will all be qualified to be members of the knight order.

    Those words boosted the morale of the yers.

    Your Majesty! I will risk my life to protect you!

    They began to talk nonsense as they gathered around Nerva, treating him as their main axis and center ofmand. Valentino turned around after watching them and looked at Minhyuk. He had already taken his path. He could no longer go back to Nervas side.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk received a notification that only he could see.

    <em>[Your Credibility Rating is -4%!]</em>

    Nerva had boosted the morale of the other yers and given them a buff, which was why Minhyuks credibility rating had dropped significantly.

    At that moment, some of the yers approached Minhyuk.

    We wish to fight by your side, Minhyuk.

    We dont want to be the Luvien Empires dogs.

    Only three yers approached Minhyuk. Of course, the most important thing for them was their survival. The yers would always choose the path where their survival was guaranteed and where they could obtain a power that would allow them to exert a stronger power as gods.

    Minhyuk looked at the three yers and asked, What are your sses?

    Im Bedman, the God of Fetters. I can restrict and bind everyone. Fufu.

    Minhyuk turned silent when he saw the man lick his lips. He hurriedly turned to look at the next person. You?

    Im the God of Animals. I can transform into any animal. My character name is Bahalt.

    Minhyuk nodded as he turned to thest person with a hammer hanging on his waist. The man reminded him of HyeminsDaddy.

    My name is Alvarr. I am the God of Siege Weapons. I can summon any siege weapons and use them to strike my enemies.

    Minhyuk nodded as he looked at the three. That was when he realized, You three are friends.

    Thats right.

    The three conveniently left out how they became friends.

    The empire that we used to y in the past lost to the Luvien Empire.

    Minhyuk nodded.

    Meanwhile, Valentino, who saw them like that, thought, <em>All of them are people I havent heard of</em>

    Even though they were God-ss yers, none had heard about these three. Of course, they were here because they had met the requirements and had the qualifications to stand here. Even so, there was a high chance that they were gods without influence.

    <em>[After 30 minutes, the Third Wave will begin!]</em>

    <em>[The Third Wave willst for 40 minutes. The Session Ceremony will end if you can defend against the third wave of attacks!]</em>

    Is there a way? Valentino asked.

    He knew he and Nerva had already turned their backs against each other. Since that was the case, Valentino wanted to be the God of Shields and make the emperor eat shit. However, looking at their current manpower, it seemed like this would be very difficult.

    Of course, their side had Death, Ali, and Minhyuk. And Valentino was also confident that he could continue to maintain his shield to defend them. As for the other three? Well, Valentino did not know.

    Valentino thought, <em>One of them can turn into any animal. Another is a pervert who likes rope-binding. And thest one is the God of Siege Weapons, who is useless unless hes on a battlefield.</em>

    On the other hand, the other side has powerful and skilled yers.

    <em>The bullets sent by the God of Shooting areparable to the arrows sent by the God of Archery Miao. On their side, theres also the God of Disasters, known for being the best regarding AOE attacks. </em>

    Valentino sighed. <em>The God of Lightning can stop the enemies by sending fifty lightning bolts in one go. The God of Ice can control the enemies movements by freezing an area of 200 meters. If Nerva joins the other gods, then</em>

    Of course, as the God of Shields, Valentino could steadily increase his credibility rating by protecting his allies. However, he didnt want Nerva to obtain anything good from this situation.

    Then, Minhyuk said, There is.

    What is it?

    Since that side chose to defend, well just attack.

    ...?

    Valentino doubted his ears for a moment. He felt like he had just misheard what Minhyuk said.

    <em>Did he just tell us to attack the gods?!</em>

    Was that even possible? The gods had given them the task of defending against the gods attacks. But Minhyuk was telling them that they were going to attack the gods?

    Minhyuk said, Anyway, it wouldnt matter. This is the Session Ceremony. So, even if the Divine Army or anyone else dies, they would just be revived and will be able to survive. I n to have you protect us, and once the other side moves to defend, we will do our best to deal damage to the gods.

    Do we even have a chance to fight back?

    Were the gods just simple gods? Besides, would the damage they could dish out even put a chip on the gods?

    Dont forget that Im the only production-ss yer here.

    ...!

    Valentinos eyes grew wide. Indeed, Minhyuk was the only production-ss yer present in this ce. And from what he heard, the effects of the buff that Minhyuk could give to others were far superior to any other buff effects. It was only natural. After all, the effects of a buff created bybining skills, ingredients, and abilities would be vastly different from a mere ordinary buff.

    Thats why you have to give me all of the ingredients in your hands. Ah, it has to be at least epic grade.

    <em>Youre suddenly extorting ingredients from us?</em>

    Valentino blinked nkly at Minhyuk, who had already stretched his hand. Valentino was a bit reluctant but knew that what they needed the most right now was Minhyuks cooking. So, he handed over all of the God-grade ingredients that he had saved and the legendary-grade and epic-grade ingredients that he had on hand.

    Minhyuk remarked, I dont think I would need this now, and this one, too. This God-grade ingredient is the only one that looks best.

    Even though Minhyuk said these things, he did not return the ingredients he had obtained.

    <em>I- I think Im being extorted?</em> Valentino thought.<em></em>

    Nevertheless, he was not the only one being treated that way. The others also had some rare and mysterious ingredients on hand. And Minhyuk? He just smiled widely and epted them.

    <em>Nowhat?</em>

    Now that everything has been decided, we should do the most important thing, Minhyuk said.

    Then, a man grabbed Valentinos wrist. The man was none other than Ali.

    Valentino began, About earlier

    Ali cut him off. Shut it, or Ill rip you a new one. Im not giving you this token because I like you. Im giving this to you only because were fighting together in this ce.

    Just like Minhyuk, Ali treated Valentino coldly. He was making it clear that they only formed a brief alliance. Nothing more, nothing less. But even though it was just a brief alliance, he still drew the <strong>X</strong> symbol on Valentinos wrist. Of course, Ali didnt just do it for Valentino; he drew the token on the others too.

    Ali did not want to be tagged as narrow-minded and petty. He also did not want to iste Valentino by not drawing the token on his wrist because of what happened earlier, so he also drew it on Valentinos wrist.

    Inside the session ceremonys hall that floated high up to the sky, Ali raised his left arm and shouted, Frieeeeeeeeeend!!!

    Minhyuk also raised his left arm and shouted, Frieeeeeeeeend!!!

    O-ooh. We always wanted to try this too. Frieeeeeeeeeeend!!!

    Frieeeeeeeeeend!!!

    Frieeeeeeeeeeeeeeend!!!

    Valentino could feel his face heating up as he muttered, F-f-f-fr-fr-fr

    Ali, Minhyuk, and the rest of the gods red at him.

    Frieeeeeeeeeend!!!

    With seven arms raised to the sky, one word resonated loudly throughout the area. <em>Frieeeeeeeend!!!</em>

    At this moment, Valentino felt like he wanted to go home.

 Chapter 930

    Chapter 930

    Seven men raised their left arms to the sky while shouting as loud as they could.

    Frieeeeeeeend!!!

    Frieeeeeeeeeeeeend!!!

    Frieeeeeeeeeend!!!

    Frieeeeeeeend!!!

    ...

    ...

    Nerva, who was watching the scene from a distance, was speechless. Even the other yers looked at them nkly.

    Then, one of the yers murmured, Its so f*cking cringy, but it also looks so cool

    The mumbling yer''s expression was awkward and embarrassed when all the people, including Nerva, turned to look at him.

    We dont have to worry too much about that side.

    Thats right.

    What is there to be afraid of when we have His Majesty Nerva on our side?

    Of course, Minhyuk was the envy of all of the yers. But if they were asked to choose between Minhyuk and Nerva, they would not hesitate to choose Nerva. The yers were all aware of Minhyuks situation.

    <em>Maybe Death and Ali are also feeling the same thing.</em>

    <em>But they can no longer separate from Minhyuk, so theres nothing else that they can do.</em>

    <em>Even the gods, who chose Minhyuks side, are all trivial and insignificant gods.</em>

    <em>Although I feel sorry for him, I will do my best to ovee this trial.</em>

    They all turned to Nerva and soon refocused on their tasks.

    Did you say that youre the God of Shooting? Your task is to keep the God of Magic, the God of Archery, or any god capable of long-range attacks in check.

    Nerva calmly began to give his orders: Use your bullets and shoot at their powers before they can fully unleash them. As for the God of Lightning, release your lightning bolts to counter the attacks that are about to fall on us. Lightning strikes faster than any other attack, so it is more effective to use it to prevent those attacks froming at us.

    Of course, these weremon tactics that anyone could think of. However, it was different since Nerva gave themand. And because Nerva, who gave them an extremely ridiculous buff, was here, the proud and arrogant yers could unite.

    <em>With this, I will not be afraid of anything.</em>

    The yers were all intoxicated by the power that coursed through their veins.

    Just like that, they followed Nervas orders and used the remaining twenty minutes before the next wave of attacks to start preparing. That was when they heard a loud thud, and something heavy fell on the ground. When they turned to look at the direction of the sound, they saw Minhyuk opening the lid of a huge cauldron.

    ***

    After removing the cauldron lid, Minhyuk again checked the ingredients he had ripped off of Valentino.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Gods Chicken that Grew Up Watching the God of Herculean Strength</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Grade</em></strong><em>: God</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>All of your attack power will increase.</em>

    <em>Your skill level will increase.</em>

    <em>Your probability of ignoring your enemies defenses will increase by 30%.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: This is a chicken raised by the God of Herculean Strength. Although it was raised to be very healthy, it is quite tough because of its insane amount of muscle mass. But its vor is guaranteed to be light and savory. The problem is its a bit too tough to eat. The meat should be cooked until it has softened enough.</em>

    <em>If you can cook this chicken until it is soft and tender, you will taste a very light, savory, and delicious chicken. The buff effects that you will receive will be much better than ordinary. But the buff effects will be reduced if you fail to cook this well.</em>

    The Gods Chicken that Grew Up Watching the God of Herculean Strength was quite a special ingredient. Most God-grade ingredients would subject the person cooking them to various torments the moment they started to process and cook them. However, this chicken was different. It did not have any of that.

    The problem was that if the one cooking failed to cook the chicken until it was soft and tender, it would remain tough because of its muscle mass. There was also the fact that the buff effect that one would receive upon failure in cooking the chicken well would be worse than the buff effect of an epic-grade dish.

    And from what Minhyuk could see, this chicken seemed to focus on increasing ones attack power. Perhaps it was because its name included the words Herculean Strength.

    Minhyuk briefly considered how he would cook this embarrassingly tough chicken. It did not take too long for a dish to pop into his mind.

    <em>Ah If its like this, then</em>

    The dish that came to Minhyuks mind was spicy braised chicken. But it wasnt a simple spicy braised chicken. It would be made with exceptional equipment. The dish was none other than <em>Cauldron Lid Spicy Braised Chicken.</em>

    This spicy braised chicken was not cooked on a gas range but on a wood fire. It was soft enough that the flesh would fall off the chicken leg the moment it touched ones mouth. That was how delicious it was. And with wood fire, the better and stronger the fire, the deeper the vor, and the softer the meat would seep inside.

    Minhyuk quickly ced a lot of firewood under the cauldron lid.

    <em>We dont have much time.</em>

    He had to move as fast as he could to boil the meat well.

    Ali, Valentino. I will give you two a critical mission.

    Valentino wanted to go home already. However, since he was already here, he decided to do his best and give it his all. As for the three other God-ss yers, they were watching everything with shining eyes.

    <em>Oh my god. What will be his firstmand to the worlds greatest mage and tanker?!</em>

    This was Athenaes Supreme! What would hismand be?

    Then, Minhyuk said, Use some fire magic here. Valentino, use your shield to fan the fire so we can maintain its intensity and help it grow stronger.

    Fire! Ali immediately cast his spell. He did not even hesitate, as if he was very familiar with this scenario.

    Fire shot toward the firewood, causing it to burst into mes.

    ...

    Valentino was the idol of all tankers in the world. How dare someone ask him to fan the mes with his shield? However, Valentino only hesitated for a moment. In the end, he squatted down and began using his square shield as a fan to blow wind to the mes.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk, who had quickly finished chopping and preparing the ingredients, began to cook. He added the Gods Chicken, potatoes, gochujang, and the ingredients on the cauldron lid. Then, he pulled out another pot lid and covered the cauldron lid to allow the ingredients to boil.

    <em>Fwiiiiiiish!</em>

    After ten minutes, steam began to escape from the seams of the pot. When Minhyuk lifted the lid, the boiling red sauce that covered the chicken appeared.

    Valentino, go faster. The fire is going out.

    Huh? Ah, y- yeah!

    But youre good at fanning, huh?

    Ha- Haha. Im quite good, huh? Valentino smiled as his hands moved faster to fan harder. This was the prime example of the carrot and the whip! And the sauce that had filled the entire cauldron lid had decreased significantly in no time. It was boiling down really, <em>really </em>well.

    Just like that, the thirty-minute countdown ended.

    <em>[The Third Wave has started!]</em>

    <em>[The Third Wavests forty minutes and will be immediately followed by an all-out attack from the gods!]</em>

    At that moment, dozens of meteors began to fall from the sky. They were the God of Magics Meteor.

    We have to hold on until I finish cooking this meal. Ali!

    Ali created a huge golden barrier that covered him and his allies in a split second. Minhyuk turned his head to look at the situation.

    <em>Shit, thats crazy.</em>

    The Divine Army sent tens of thousands of sword lights while the death knights and bone dragons summoned by the God of Death charged at them from a distance.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack!</em>

    Then, at that moment, diamond-like ice began to form through the gap in the bone dragons formation. The ice, cracking finely like a spider web, froze an entire area at a very high speed. The yers cheered when they saw a whole area of 350 meters turn frozen.

    Sir Nervas power is truly amazing, the God of Ice sighed in admiration. The effects of Nervas buff had made him 1.3x stronger than usual. And thanks to that, the God of Ice could slow down the charge of the bone dragons and the other enemies.

    Meanwhile, the meteors falling at the session ceremony hall were suddenly struck by hundreds of lightning bolts.

    <em>Crackle, crackle, crackle!</em>

    <em>Crack crack, crack!</em>

    At the same time, a man flew up toward these meteors. This man was Nerva. As Nerva flew up with his sword, powerful sword lights rivaling the meteors'' number also appeared.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    The moment these sword lights made contact with the meteors, the meteors shattered into pieces. Just like that, Nerva continued to destroy the meteors. The yers, encouraged by this scene, stepped on the debris of the meteors that Nerva destroyed and moved to help him. A faint smile appeared on Nervas face when he saw this scene. Perhaps his credibility rating had already experienced a significant increase.

    <em>[Unlike the Battle Gods Sword, you have not moved to prove your qualifications as the Battle Gods Descendant!]</em>

    <em>[Your Credibility Rating is -18%!]</em>

    ...?

    Minhyuk, who was busy cooking, experienced a sharp decrease in his credibility rating. And that was not all. The others have also heard a simr set of notifications.

    <em>[Even though you used your strongest defensive magic, you still failed to protect your allies from your enemies!]</em>

    <em>[Your Credibility Rating is -22%!]</em>

    <em>[As the master of the undead and the ruler of the kingdom of the dead, you failed to stop your enemies from advancing!]</em>

    <em>[Your Credibility Rating is -19%!]</em>

    <em>[As the owner of the greatest and strongest shield, you failed]</em>

    <em>[Your Credibility Rating is -1%!]</em>

    The credibility ratings of those who chose to side with Minyhyuk also fell. Why? Because they decided to hide behind the barrier while the others were fighting fiercely to defend against the attack.

    Immediately after that, the gods began to attack more fiercely, forcing many yers to log out and causing a sharp decrease in Valentinos credibility rating.

    <em>[Your Credibility Rating is -12%!]</em>

    <em>[Your Credibility Rating is -16%!]</em>

    Still squatting down and fanning the mes, Valentino turned to look at Minhyuk.

    Until when

    At that moment, Valentino saw the bright and happy smile that shed on Minhyuks face.

    Its done.

    <em>[Everyones Happiness.]</em>

    <em>[One dish turns to ten.]</em>

    Immediately after those words left Minhyuks mouth, a dish wrapped in a bright golden light appeared in front of Valentino. He couldn''t help but smile at the dish. But then, he suddenly fell in doubt, thinking, <em>From what I recall, the Food Gods Everyones Happiness can create ten dishes out of one single dish.</em>

    But the only ones on their side were Minhyuk, Ali, Death, Valentino, and the three other God-ss yers. This meant that there were three bowls of this meal left. Who was going to eat these three bowls?

    The answer came not long after. Valentino saw the three other dishes appear in an absurd ce.

    <em>This- this crazy bastard. </em>Valentino was both shocked and amazed by Minhyuks guts. <em>Hes not doing an item or a mob steal, but a talent steal?</em>

    The three dishes appeared before the God of Shooting, the God of Ice, and the God of Lightning, all fighting alongside Nerva.

    ***

    <em>aaaang!</em>

    <em>ck!</em>

    God of Shooting Rudolph aimed and fired at the God of Magic, who was busy casting his magic upon them. He was delighted when he saw the God of Magic stop casting his spell and choose to erect a shield in front of him.

    <em>Im stopping the gods and holding them back!</em>

    Rudolph was intoxicated with the power coursing through his veins. The Greatest Emperors Blessing was such an impressive buff. He had never received such an amazing buff in his life. For a yer who suddenly received an amazing buff, the reinforcement of their abilities and the power that came along to help them hunt or catch a mob that they could not usually deal with was enough to make them drunk on power.

    <em>All of my stats increased by 22% while my magical and physical defensive power increased by 20%.</em>

    Since all of Rudolphs stats had increased, his magical and physical attack power would also increase rtive to his stats. The buff was enough to increase his attack power by 20%. But it wasnt the only thing that increased along with his stats. Even his <em>Hit Rate</em> increased.

    However, no matter how good a buff effect is, there would still be something that they would find disappointing.

    <em>The fact that all of my stats have increased was already good. But if my attack power were increased by leaps and bounds, then I would probably be able to shoot through the gods.</em>

    If that was the case, then he might have passed out from delight and ecstasy. Of course, the current buff that he received was already the greatest buff that he had ever seen in his life. So, he felt like it was already more than enough.

    <em>Once this Session Ceremony ends and I inherit the position of the God of Shooting, shall I join the Luvien Empire?</em>

    Just when the thought shed, a dish appeared before him. Rudolph could see that the dish seemed not only in front of him but also in front of the God of Ice and the God of Lightning. He knew who sent this to them right awayit was none other than the Food God.

    Rudolph nced at the Food God and saw that he was smiling faintly at him.

    <em>Unbelievable.</em>

    Rudolph had already raised his score by siding with Nerva to the maximum. Even if this dish had buff effects that were far superior to Nervas buff, would someone be crazy enough to eat it? However, Rudolph could not resist the curiosity that started to eat at him.

    Hmm

    Rudolph thought, <em>Its okay to check it, right?</em> as he quickly checked the information of the braised chicken dish that appeared in front of him. But when he saw the information, he could only blink nkly.

    <em>Huh? I think theres something weird here?</em>

    Rudolph, who had already turned off the dish information window, quickly opened it again to check the details.

    <em>Theres a 16% increase in all stats, a 28% increase in magical and physical attack power, a +2 increase in all skills levels, and a +4 increase in a chosen skills level.</em>

    Rudolphs eyes brightened considerably as he pondered over the effects of the dish.

    <em>If I eat this dish, my attack power will be 1.4x stronger!? </em>Rudolph thought as he reached for the dish without dy.

    Talent steal? Sess!

 Chapter 931

    Chapter 931

    Minhyuk saw the God of Shooting Rudolph consume the dish produced by Everyones Happiness that appeared in front of him. And it was not just him. The God of Lightning also chose to eat the dish that Minhyuk had sent over.

    In this Session Ceremony, everyone could choose whatever side they wanted to stay on. No matter what they decided, they would not belong to the Luvien Empire or the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    The original purpose of this session ceremony was to focus on how they could use their abilities and show that they could lead their troops well. It was not supposed to be apetition on how active each side could be.

    Of course, choosing Minhyuks side would prevent them from joining the Luvien Empire. However, if they could achieve a credibility rating that exceeded 50%, then they would be able to receive additional rewards.

    These two people felt the rewards would be far sweeter if they joined Minhyuks side. Of course, it was just these two. Among the people Minhyuk chose, the God of Ice was the only one who refused the dish before her.

    <em>[Unlike the Battle Gods Sword, you have not moved to prove your qualifications as the Battle Gods Descendant!]</em>

    <em>[The damage your allies are receiving has already umted, yet you remain on the sidelines!]</em>

    <em>[Your Credibility Rating is -36%!]</em>

    Meanwhile, the attacks of the gods grew even fiercer, forcing their credibility rating to fall even lower. However, Minhyuk did not care about it. He stared at the glossy and red spicy braised chicken that was sitting nicely inside the cauldron lid.

    <em>Hiyaaa</em>

    After seeing how well the sauce had boiled, Minhyuks saliva was about to drip down. The first thing he did was grab a chicken leg. A small smile appeared when he took a bite of the tender meat, which had been cooked over high heat. He only took one bite to separate the bones from the meat.

    Kghhk Minhyuk sighed in admiration as he gobbled up the chicken leg.

    Next, he turned his attention to the potatoes. He gently scooped some of them, put them in his bowl filled with rice, and sprinkled some of the red sauce on top. Then, he quickly mashed the potatoes and mixed everything in the bowl. After that, he scooped a considerable mouthful and put it in his mouth. The spicy and slightly sweet sauce, the well-mashed potatoes, and the rice met and created a fantastic harmony of vors.

    While Minhyuk was busy trying to finish his food swiftly, a notification rang in his ears.

    <em>[Twenty minutes have passed since the start of the Third Wave!]</em>

    Minhyuk quickly looked around. The entire hall had almost turned into ruins with the fierce attacks from the gods. As a thick cloud of dust flew and covered the area, another notification rang in Minhyuks ears.

    <em>[Your Credibility Rating is -54%!]</em>

    The worst situation hade. But all hope was not yet lost. Minhyuk saw that everyone had finished eating the dish created by Everyones Happiness.

    Ali.

    Roger! Ali shouted as he immediately used his Compression Magic, gathering together everyone who ate the dish that Minhyuk had cooked.

    A bright light appeared and enveloped those that had been gathered, hiding them from everyones sight.

    ***

    The God of Magic said, Alis credibility rating has dropped to -50%.

    Deaths the same too.

    The Session Ceremony was also very important to the gods. This was because this ceremony was a way for them to give their chosen sessors their position. The God of Magic and the God of Death were very fond of their chosen. But there was nothing that they could do; their descendants credibility rating was at -50%.

    I understand that they wanted to use the Food Gods cooking to receive cooking buffs to help them defend against our attacks. But I believe that was the wrong choice. The God of Magic sighed sadly.

    After eating what Minhyuk cooked, they could genuinely increase their credibility rating. However, there were only twenty minutes left. Even if they could defend against their attacks well, there seemed to be nothing else they could do.

    And, of course, the Battle God could also see this. He thought, <em>It was a foolish choice. This is more so the case for Minhyuk. Even if they can sessfully defend against our attacks from now on, it will be tough to restore their credibility rating, especially since they have -50%. Furthermore, Nervas credibility rating has already reached 35%. Theres a clear difference between yours and his.</em>

    Minhyuk was an unusual case during this session ceremony. Unlike others, he was set topete against Nerva. And in this current situation, even if he tried his hardest to increase his credibility rating, Minhyuk would be deprived of his position as the Battle Gods Descendant if it fell below Nerva''s rating.

    <em>I have no idea what youre thinking.</em>

    The Battle God truly could not understand. But a puzzled expression appeared on his face when he tried to look for Minhyuks figure through the thick dust cloud covering the hall from the explosion caused by the attacks sent by the God of Magic.

    ...Huh?

    Minhyuk could not be seen anywhere in the hall. Confused, the Battle God looked around.

    Whats that?

    Dozens of huge boulders engulfed in mes could be seen flying toward the flight of bone dragons.

    <em>Boom, boom, boom!</em>

    <em>Crack!</em>

    <em>Crack!</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Kyaaaaaaaack!

    Graaaaaaaaack!

    Keuhaaaaaaaack!

    Some bone dragons plummeted to the ground after their wings broke apart. Several death knights who rode on top of these bone dragons immediately moved to ride on top of the other bone dragons.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    ...!

    ...!

    The gods focused their attention on the death knights. That was when they saw a bullet shooting through the head of the death knights, who were trying to transfer to other bone dragons.

    <em>Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!</em>

    Apanied by the continuous sound of a gun being fired, bullets pierced through the heads of the death knights and forced them to fall one after another.

    ...

    The God of Shooting groaned.

    What?

    The sound of gunshots and this uracy; his sessor did this. But somehow, the damage that the God of Shootings Descendant dealt was strong enough to pierce through the defenses of a death knight. And the more shocking part?

    The bullets do not contain any power.

    The yers often refer to this kind of attack as a <em>basic attack</em>. In other words, the God of Shootings descendant was making quick work of the death knights with only regr bullets. But the shocking thing did not end there. The sky was filled with dark clouds. This was the sign of the God of Lightnings pinnacle skill.

    Rampant Lightning?

    The Rampant Lightning was an AOE Attack skill that would drop around two hundred lightning bolts and cover an entire area with a fifteen-meter radius. And it was not only that. The ones struck by those lightning bolts would fall into a two-second stunned state. Of course, these effects were only based on the God of Lightning''s current stats and skill level<em>.</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang!</em>

    But when a lightning bolt fell, it swept an entire thirty-meter radius. And those who were struck by the lightning bolt? They all fell into a five-second stunned state. Six hundred more lightning bolts immediately followed the first lightning bolt.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The pegasi carrying the Divine Army troops continuously fell from the sky. But that was not the end; thousands of Tier One Magical Attacks poured out and rained down upon the trembling and shaking Divine Army troops.

    Energy Bolt.

    Energy Bolt was the most basic magic that anyone who changed their ss to mage in Athenae could learn. Its power would solely depend on who was the one using it.

    The thousands of Energy Bolts that covered the sky fell upon the stunned and defenseless troops of the Divine Army.

    <em>Bzzt Bzzt!</em>

    <em>Bzzt Bzzt Bzzt Bzzt!</em>

    <em>Bzzt Bzzt!</em>

    Uwaaaaaaaaack!

    Keheoooooook!

    A- Aaaaaaack!

    Screams were ripped off of the mouths of the fallen Divine Army troops as their bodies slowly disintegrated and disappeared in a sh of light. The gods hurriedly moved to locate the source of the sudden attacks that fell upon them.

    <em>Fweeeeeet!</em>

    Then, with his sharp eyes, the God of Shooting saw a gigantic hawk flying at breakneck speed.

    Is that a hawk?

    The hawk, which was covered with fiery red feathers like that of a phoenixs own, was sorge that it could engulf the entire hall where the Session Ceremony was being held. Its speed was breakneck.

    On the back of the gigantic hawk were the God candidates that disappeared from the ground. Death stepped forward and brandished his staff. At the same time, almost half a million ordinary skeletons began to fall. Death watched the skeletons fall. He clenched his fists immediately when these skeletons reached the area where the bone dragons and the Divine Army troops were.

    Corpse Explosion.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Explosions began to erupt all over the ce. Then, the gods saw their sessors rapidly increasing credibility ratings.

    <em>[The God of Deaths Descendants Credibility Rating has increased by 20%.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Magics Descendants Credibility Rating has increased by 25%.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Siege Weapons Descendants Credibility Rating has increased by 1%.]</em>

    <em>[The Battle Gods Descendants Credibility Rating has increased by 19%.]</em>

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud!</em>

    Five gigantic arrows that could pierce through the thickest walls were shot per second from above the flying hawk. This was the handiwork of the God of Siege Weapons Descendant. His primary ability was to summon siege weapons.

    <em>So freaking cool!</em>

    He was only originally able to fire around 1.5 shots per second, but now he was firing his siege weapons like a machine gun.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The arrows shot down the flying bone dragons swiftly and cleanly. The Battle God could only bark augh after seeing the scene.

    I did not expect he would do something like this to increase his credibility rating.

    The task given to them for this Session Ceremony was to <em>prevent the gods attacks.</em> That was their threshold. But what if they chose to attack? Not only would they be able to protect their pride as gods, but they would also be able to increase their credibility rating faster than defending themselves.

    <em>[The Battle Gods Descendants Credibility Rating has increased by 2%.]</em>

    <em>[The Battle Gods Descendants Credibility Rating has increased by 1%.]</em>

    <em>[The Battle Gods Descendants Credibility Rating has increased by 2%.]</em>

    Not only that but the courage and power that these people disyed all stemmed from Minhyuk. As a result, Minhyuks credibility rating, which had plummeted to -50%, had already started to recover rapidly.

    But Nerva was no fool. He quickly understood the situation''s flow and hurriedly shouted, Attack the gods!

    He ordered the men who chose to side with him during this session ceremony to attack. Like that, Nerva began to rack up his credibility rating by attacking the gods, too. But of course, he was slower than Minhyuk, who took the initiative to attack. And since Minhyuk was the one who influenced Nerva to issue an attack order, it had its benefits.

    <em>[The Battle Gods Descendants Credibility Rating has increased by 10%.]</em>

    The attacks, which consisted of the siege weapons flying from the hawks above them, the thousands of magical attacks sent by God of Magic Ali, and the bullets shot by the God of Shooting, killed the Divine Army and those sent by the gods swiftly. And they were moving faster than Nerva and his allies. Why? Because they were at the center of the battlefield.

    <em>[The Battle Gods Descendants Credibility Rating has increased by 44%.]</em>

    <em>[The Battle Gods Descendants Credibility Rating has increased by 13%.]</em>

    Minhyuk was doing his hardest to chase. However, unfortunate news struck him.

    <em>[Thirty-seven minutes have passed since the start of the Third Wave.]</em>

    This meant that there were only three minutes left. However, the difference in credibility rating between Nerva and Minhyuk was still at around 30%.

    Interesting. The God of Summoners smiled faintly at Minhyuk and his allies, whounched a counterattack as the sky above them cracked open. At the same time, millions of monsters fell from the sky and hit those who were riding atop the hawk.

    <em>What will you do now?</em>

    The rise in their credibility rating also began to slow down with the appearance of the monsters. At that moment, Minhyuk, who had been using various skills and fiercely attacking the Divine Army troops and the undead, jumped down from the hawk. He fell on top of the bone dragons and used them as stepping stones. However, many monsters and undead blocked Minhyuk''s path, but that did not stop him.

    Viels Puppet Doll.

    The puppet that could deal the most damage appeared before Minhyuk and paved the way for him.

    <em>[The Battle Gods Descendants Credibility Rating has increased by 45%.]</em>

    <em>[The Battle Gods Descendants Credibility Rating has increased by 18%.]</em>

    Minhyuks credibility rating rose rapidly once again. However, the gods soon became puzzled.

    But, wait

    Why does it feel like hesing this way?

    The gods looked at each other.

    Meanwhile, cold sweat broke out of the God of Deaths forehead. He murmured, ...You always exceed my expectations.

    The God of Death had encountered and interacted with Minhyuk before. So, he could tell to some extent what the man nned. He quickly said, That guys real target is <em>us</em>!!! God of Magic! Focus your bombings on him!

    No matter what happened, they were gods. They had to maintain their pride as a god. This meant that they could not allow their descendants tond an attack upon them.

    Realizing what was happening, the Battle God broke out in cold sweat. He thought, <em>If you attack us, then your credibility rating will experience an exponential increase. But do you think that its possible?</em>

    It was an interesting thought, a scary one, but interesting nheless.

    At that moment, the God of Magic sent all his magical attacks on Minhyuk, and the God of Archery also moved to fire his arrows at him.

    <em>Baaaaaaaang!</em>

    Powerful explosions engulfed Minhyuk as sharp arrows dug into him. And it was not only them. Even the Divine Army had used their swordsmanship skills and focused their attacks on them.

    The Battle God sighed, <em>Your idea was great. However, theres no way that you would be able to survive such an attack.</em>

    A wry smile painted the Battle Gods face, while a triumphant one was on Nerva, who was standing below them.

    ***

    The viewers watching through Reporter Go Eun-Ahs broadcast sighed as they watched Minhyuk get devoured by the gods intense attacks.

    <em>[Wow. Will it end like this?]</em>

    <em>[If Minhyuk is deprived of his title as the Battle Gods Descendant, Nerva will swoop in and push him back immediately.]</em>

    <em>[This is the end of an emerging empire.]</em>

    <em>[It doesnt matter how strong Minhyuk is. The gods attacks were all focused on him. Do you think he will be able to survive that? Hes far too reckless.]</em>

    <em>[In the first ce, attacking the gods was already way too much for them.]</em>

    <em>[But Minhyuk had received a new armor set, right? Wasnt that armor set really powerful?]</em>

    <em>[Lol. Even if its defensive power is high, it cannot endure that much.]</em>

    Reporter Go Eun-Ah and the viewers all sighed in tandem. However, Eun-Ah found it a bit strange.

    <em>Why did he act so recklessly like that?</em>

    Even though he knew he would be the focus of all the attacks, why did Minhyuk continue to run? Why didnt he stop? Why? Did he make such a reckless choice because he feared being deprived of his title as the Battle Gods Descendant?

    At that moment, Go Eun-Ah caught sight of a shadow of a figure within the thick cloud of dust. The figure stood firmly and rtively fine despite the onught of attacks.

    His appearance was revealed with one wave of the God of Magics hands, who used <em>Wind </em>magic to clear the dust away. Minhyuks appearance waspletely different from what he looked like earlier. There were ck feathers in the form of a full te armor covering his entire body. From what it looked like, the ck armor, which was crushed and dented all over, seemed to have the ability to regenerate. It twitched and shook like flesh regenerating as it repaired itself swiftly and quickly.

    Go Eun-Ah saw Minhyuks lips move. From what she saw, he seemed to be saying the word<em> </em>Transcendence.

 Chapter 932

    Chapter 932

    Athenaes Supreme, Minhyuk, was the focus of everyones attention. The slightest change in his being, like the parting of his hair, was enough to make an issue to the world.

    Even if there were the tiniest change in his essory, armor, or sword, the experts would already be busy analyzing and discussing what kind of equipment it was and what it could do. Of course, the yers were waiting and expecting such an analysis.

    This was also why the Transcendentals Armor, which debuted during Minhyuks fight against the Peiro Allied Nations, created a huge issue and was said to have caused bnce copse.

    Why? The experts had analyzed that Minhyuk would not be able to receive much damage from the attacks sent his way because his Transcendentals Armor had high defensive power and the ability to self-regenerate. Not only that, even though it was full te armor, a set known for its heaviness, he could move more freely and swiftly than before.

    <em>No armor set that is better and more amazing than this exists!</em>

    Everyone agreed with the words of one of the world-famous experts.

    But Minhyuk was no fool. He knew the Transcendental Armor would be a huge issue once exposed to the masses. Disclosing an artifacts information would also be ones weakness. That was why he hid the armors ability as much as possible.

    Of course, this problem also applied to the gods. The gods were unaware that Minhyuk had a Transcendental-ranked artifact in his possession and that this Transcendental-ranked artifact was two armors in one.

    Minhyuk had quickly equipped his ck Dragon Armor when he saw the God of Magic turn toward him and send a barrage of attacks his way.

    <em>[You have equipped the ck Dragon Armor!]</em>

    <em>[You can only equip this armor for five minutes!]</em>

    <em>(</em><strong><em>ck Dragon Armor</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: Transcendental</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: The One that Received Ruffisos Recognition. Level 620 or higher.</em>

    <strong><em>Durability</em></strong><em>: /</em>

    <strong><em>Defensive Power</em></strong><em>: 2,654</em>

    <strong><em>Special Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>All of your stats will increase by +31%.</em>

    <em>All your attack and defensive power will increase by 4%.</em>

    <em>Your magical defensive power will quadruple.</em>

    <em>Your skill attack power will increase by 1.3x.</em>

    <em>Your armors recovery rate will quadruple.</em>

    <em>The armor is as light as a cloth that weighs 50 grams.</em>

    <em>Armor can only be equipped for five minutes.</em>

    <em>Passive Skill: ughterers Absorption</em>

    <em>Passive Skill: Asuras Shield</em>

    <em>Passive Skill: The Unapproachable One</em>

    <em>Active Skill: Transcendence</em>

    When equipped, the ck Dragon Armor would give him an additional 350 in defensive power. All of his stats would also increase by 6%. Even his magical defensive power would quadruple, and a different set of skills would be avable to himpared to when he had the Transcendentals Armor equipped.

    These skills were none other than <em>The Unapproachable One</em> and <em>Transcendence.</em>

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Transcendence</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Artifact Skill</em>

    <strong><em>Level</em></strong><em>: None</em>

    <strong><em>Mana Required</em></strong><em>: None</em>

    <strong><em>Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>You can umte Transcendence from the attacks you receive from your enemies for one minute.</em>

    <em>The higher your enemys level, the more Transcendence you will umte.</em>

    <em>The higher the damage, the more Transcendence you will umte.</em>

    <em>The skill can only be triggered once you exceed 20% of the umtion rate.</em>

    <em>The amount of buff you will receive will be determined by the umtion rate you achieved by the time Transcendence was triggered.</em>

    <em>The skill will be activated for thirty seconds.</em>

    <em>(</em><strong><em>The Unapproachable One</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Artifact Skill</em>

    <strong><em>Level</em></strong><em>: None</em>

    <strong><em>Mana Required</em></strong><em>: None</em>

    <strong><em>Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>There is an 8% chance of triggering this skill when the enemy attacks.</em>

    <em>The skill willst for three seconds upon activation.</em>

    <em>Upon activation, your evasion rate will increase by five times.</em>

    <em>The skill wont be activated for one minute of the initial triggering.</em>

    Of course, there was one very important thing that Minhyuk could not forget. The Transcendentals Armor was a <em>set artifact,</em> and it could increase his defensive power by 1,100 just by being equipped. He should also highlight the fact that the ck Dragon Armor had this amazing effect: it quadrupled his magical defensive power.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang!</em>

    <em>Booooooooooooom!</em>

    The fierce and heavy bombing of magical attacks forced a groan out of Minhyuks mouth.

    <em>Amazing.</em>

    As expected of the God of Magic, Ali was utterly iparable to him. Of course, even if Minhyuks defensive power had increased by leaps and bounds, he still would be hit hard by the attack.

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 85%!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 80%!]</em>

    <em>[...HPbelow 77%...]</em>

    Immediately after that, the God of Archerys arrows squeezed through the explosion and aimed for Minhyuks body.

    <em>[The Unapproachable One.]</em>

    <em>[Your Evasion Rate will increase by 5x for three seconds.]</em>

    <em>[This cannot be triggered again for one minute.]</em>

    The evasion rate was the stat that helped the person avoid attacks that could be avoided, escaped, or missed,<em></em>even if the attack should have hit them.

    Several arrows boasting tremendous uracy surprisingly passed by Minhyuk and left him unscathed. Even the magic that the God of Magic had fallen right beside him, unable to exert any of its power on its intended target.

    At the same time, another set of notifications rang in Minhyuks ears.

    <em>[You have umted Transcendence!]</em>

    <em>[The system recognizes the attacker as a strong man!]</em>

    <em>[You have umted Transcendence!]</em>

    <em>[The systemthe attacker!]</em>

    <em>[...Transcendence!]</em>

    <em>[...Transcendence!]</em>

    Minhyuks power of Transcendence was quickly being filled up.

    <em>Is it this easy? Is umting Transcendence this easy?</em>

    He could not help but wonder. After all, his Transcendence had jumped fiercely and had now exceeded 43%. But as he continued to receive the baptism of attacks, Minhyuk realized something.

    <em>The hundreds of sword lights sent by the Divine Army troops only helped me increase my Transcendence by around 4%.</em>

    Transcendence was a skill that could only be triggered once its umtion rate had reached 20%, and this umtion rate would be reset once every minute. Simply put, no matter what kind of attacks the Divine Army would unleash upon Minhyuk in one minute, it would be tough for these attacks to help him trigger Transcendence.

    Considering that the average level of the Divine Army''s troops was slightly higher than the average level of the knights of the Luvien Empire, Minhyuk concluded that it was extremely difficult to meet the Transcendences triggering condition. But with the gods intense attacks, the skills triggering condition was easily met. It surpassed his expectations.

    <em>[...Transcendence!]</em>

    <em>[...Transcendence!]</em>

    The damage dealt to him allowed him to constantly umte his Transcendence, but it also shaved off 65% of his total HP.

    <em>Vwoooooooong!</em>

    A few moments after the attacks subsided, a strong wind blew and scattered the thick dust cloud covering him.

    <em>[You have umted a total of 61% of Transcendence!]</em>

    Transcendence, Minhyuk murmured as a strong power surged through his veins. ck wisps of energy, a feature very much in line with the name ck Dragon Armor, also appeared and swirled all over his body.

    <em>[You have activated Transcendence!]</em>

    <em>[You have gone beyond your limits and transcended to another realm!]</em>

    <em>[You have gone beyond your limits and transcended to another realm!]</em>

    <em>[You have gone beyond your limits!]</em>

    ...?

    Minhyuk was quite puzzled when he heard three of the same notifications ringing in his ears. The results had gone beyond what he had expected.

    <em>[The buff effect of the Spicy Braised Chicken will not be in effect during the thirty seconds of the Transcendences activation!]</em>

    <em>[The Transcendences buff effects have now been applied!]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 67%!]</em>

    <em>[All of your attack power has increased by 34%!]</em>

    <em>[All of your defensive power has increased by 37%!]</em>

    <em>[All of your skill levels have increased by +3!]</em>

    <em>[Your resistance to abnormal statuses has increased by 50%!]</em>

    <em>[Your total HP and MP have increased by 40%!]</em>

    <em>[Transcendence will remain in effect for thirty seconds!]</em>

    ...!

    Minhyuk was quite shocked. The effects were truly outstanding.

    <em>It will be hard to achieve an umtion rate like this again.</em>

    This was only possible because he had received the full brunt of the attack of the gods.

    Meanwhile, there was one thing that the gods were wondering about.

    Whats that armor?

    Did you give that armor to the Food God?

    The God of Magic and the God of Archery were both shocked and appalled when they saw that a normal human being, a human who had not yet be aplete god, was able to deal with and endure their constant attacks. The more shocking part was that the armor on this very same humans body was repairing itself.

    No. I dont know what that armor is either.

    Even the Battle God could not understand what had just happened. He stared at the mysterious and unusual wisps of ck energy flowing from the ck armor covering Minhyuks body.

    <em>[Thirty-eight minutes and fifty seconds have passed since the start of the Third Wave!]</em>

    The notification rang, awakening everyone from their stupor. There were only one minute and twenty seconds left. However, there was still a 30% gap between Nerva and Minhyuks credibility ratings.

    The Battle God thought, <em>Whatever that power is, it will be hard for you to ovee this situation.</em>

    <em>Booooooooooom!</em>

    Minhyuk dug his feet into the bone dragon he was standing on and catapulted toward them. The gods were left gawking at the sight. The speed at which Minhyuk was flying was also considered explosive, even for the gods.

    Stop him!!!

    <em>Bang, bang Bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Another rain of attacks fell on Minhyuk. However, Minhyuk did not stop. He either evaded the attacks or received them with his entire body until he broke out of their attacks. In just an instant, Minhyuk appeared in the vicinity of the gods.

    The Battle God tried to step forward and restrain Minhyuk, who was now directly approaching them.

    <em>What?</em>

    To his shock, his body could not move. That was when he saw the faint smile on Minhyuks face. The Battle God hurriedly looked at the other gods and saw they could not move as well. As he looked around, he saw a mysterious golden rope wrapped tightly around the waist of the God of Magic.

    ...!

    Only then did he recall that everyone who ate Minhyuks dish had shown tremendous power, except for one man. This man, who had not shown any outstanding performance since earlier, was none other than the <em>God of Fetters.</em>

    <em>[Gods Absolute Bondage has restricted the movement of your entire body!]</em>

    <em>[Gods Absolute Bondage will restrain your movements for ten seconds!]</em>

    The God of Fetters appeared with Golden Mage Ali above the gods. He could not help but shudder when he saw his credibility rating jump to 30% the moment he bound the gods. Then, he tugged the golden rope that bound the gods tightly as hard as he could.

    <em>[You have triggered Tug!]</em>

    <em>[An irresistible force will force those you have bound to gather together!]</em>

    Like fish in the, the gods were dragged and pulled together. Minhyuk, who had already approached them, shouted, Ego Chain Sickle!

    There was a power that Minhyuk had never used on purpose earlier. He had been saving it for this moment alone. After all, if he had used that power earlier, the gods would have either stopped or destroyed it.

    Immortal Knight Order!

    Around a dozen soldiers dressed in shabby armor appeared.

    Mass Teleport! Ali shouted as he teleported the other descendants to surround the gods.

    Meanwhile, Death, who had been preparing the summons since earlier, summoned his death knights and sent hundreds of sword lights toward the gods.

    <em>[Thirty-nine minutes have passed!]</em>

    These people, who had waited for this very moment, surrounded the gods and red at them. Today, for once in their lives, they were given the chance to attack the gods. It was something that they knew would never happen again, so they were thrilled.

    And Minhyuk, who had be twice as powerful thanks to the power of Transcendence, looked at the Battle God.

    No way

    The Battle Gods expression screamed, <em>Theres no way that youre going to kill me.</em>

    Of course, any death incurred during the Session Ceremony was not real. However, the Battle God and Minhyuk were supposed to be quite close to each other.

    You were the one who attacked first, you know?

    ...

    <em>Ah, seems like I wont be spared.</em>

    Sword of Absolute Death.

    With the +4 increase in level, the Sword of Absolute Deaths additional attack power had increased significantly. Even the area it could cover had widened considerably. Just like that, lightning bolts fell and struck the gods fiercely.

    <em>Crackle, crackle, crackle!</em>

    The God of Shooting, who had been preparing for this skill and refraining from using it since earlier, immediately unleashed his <em>Carnival of Rapid Fire</em>.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    Hundreds of bullets were fired, striking the gods all over their bodies.

    Graaaaaaaaaaa!!!

    The God of Animals also moved, transforming into a gigantic bear and lunging toward the gods. He used hisrge ws and pped the gods like crazy.

    At that moment, the ropes that bound the gods began to loosen. Of course, the gods realized this too.

    <em>[You have fallen into a six-second stunned state!]</em>

    But Minhyuks lightning strikes have plunged them into a stunned state and left them unable to move again.

    <em>[Transcendence has ended!]</em>

    Minhyuks Transcendence ended immediately after that. But the attacks were not over yet. The Ego Chain Sickle continued to attack and abuse the gods.

    Explosion! Explosion! Explosion! Explosion! Explosion!

    Explosions continuously bloomed from among the gods.

    <em>[The Battle Gods Swords Credibility Rating is 47%!]</em>

    <em>[The Battle Gods Descendants Credibility Rating is 26%!]</em>

    <em>[The Battle Gods Descendants Credibility Rating is 28%!]</em>

    <em>[The Battle Gods Descendants Credibility Rating is 30%!]</em>

    The members of the Immortal Knight Order, realizing the situation they were summoned to, immediately ravaged the gods as they unleashed their Pinnacle Skills upon them.

    <em>Vwoooooooong!</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang!</em>

    Keheuuuuk!

    Ugh!!!

    Keuhaaaaaack!!!

    The viewers wondered if they were in a dream when they saw the gods scream and shriek on their screens.

    <em>[Thirty-nine minutes and fifty seconds have passed!]</em>

    <em>[The Battle Gods Descendants Credibility Rating is 38%!]</em>

    <em>[There are only ten seconds left before the Session Ceremony ends!]</em>

    <em>[10 9 8]</em>

    Supreme Overlords Technique.

    <em>Crackleeee!</em>

    zing ck mes erupted from Minhyuks sword.

    The force that tied the gods was slowly disappearing. They were now gearing up for a counterattack. But before they could do so, the quick-witted Ali immediately gathered the descendants and members of the Immortal Knight Order while Valentino mmed his huge square shield in front of them.

    At that moment, the zing ck mes shot out and struck the gods.

    <em>[The Battle Gods Descendants Credibility Rating is 42%!]</em>

    <em>[The Battle Gods Descendants Credibility Rating is 43%!]</em>

    <em>[The Battle Gods Descendants Credibility Rating is 45%!]</em>

    Minhyuks face grew ugly when he saw the mes quickly scattered around. However, the scariest part of Supreme Overlord Techniques fire was that it could inflict continuous damage upon his enemies.

    <em>[2 seconds.]</em>

    <em>[The Battle Gods Descendants Credibility Rating is 48%!]</em>

    <em>[1 second.]</em>

    <em>[The Battle Gods Descendants Credibility Rating!]</em>

    <em>[The Battle Gods Descendants Credibility Rating!]</em>

    <em>[The Session Ceremony has ended!]</em>

    <em>[Your final Credibility Rating will now be determined!]</em>

 Chapter 933

    Chapter 933

    The Overlords mes, which ravaged the gods, disappeared as if they had never existed. Even the bone dragons swarming the skies and the Divine Army troops covering the ground vanished with a sh of light.

    <em>[The Session Ceremony has ended!]</em>

    <em>[Your final Credibility Rating will now be determined!]</em>

    The moment the Session Ceremony ended, all of the damage that the yers and the gods suffered immediately disappeared as they recovered back to their original state from before the ceremony started.

    Everyone held their breaths. Whether the descendants could meet the required credibility rating was important for the yers and the gods. Then, the very first notifications rang.

    <em>[The God of Shields Descendant has achieved a 63% Credibility Rating!]</em>

    <em>[He is nothing short of the God of Shields!]</em>

    Valentino was very thrilled. Perhaps many of his fans were cheering for him at this very moment. This was a turning point for him. It would give him a stronger power and make his name known more. When the God of Shield first met him, he viewed Valentino as insignificant andmanded him to worship him. But now, everything would be different.

    <em>Vwoooooooong</em>

    The hall where the Session Ceremony was being held searched for its original position and slowlynded on the ground. In a blink, Valentino, who had a tinum crown floating above his head, and the God of Shields appeared in the Session Ceremony hall in a sh of light.

    <em>[You have inherited the position of the God of Shields!]</em>

    <em>[You can now build a temple and a religion that praises and worships the God of Shields!]</em>

    <em>[The 1st Level of the God of Shields'' power will be released once the inheritance ends. The 2nd Level will open once you reach Level 660, and the final level will open once you reach Level 700!]</em>

    <em>[The God of Shields will remain with you for a year to fill in any gaps, ws, or insufficiencies you might have!]</em>

    <em>[The God of Shields 1st Level of power will now be opened!]</em>

    <em>[All of your defensive power will increase by 24%!]</em>

    <em>[Your total HP will increase by 18% while your total MP will increase by 5%!]</em>

    <em>[All of your shield-rted skills levels will increase by +1!]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Active Skill: Charging Gods Shield.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Shields is the God who protects his allies and his troops with the greatest and sturdiest shield!]</em>

    Valentinos heart thrummed in excitement when he heard the notifications in his ears. He looked at the outstretched hand of the arrogant God of Shields before him.

    Congrattions. I hope you will never lose your pride from here on out.

    Valentino sped the God of Shields hands tightly. This was a noble, glorious, and touching moment for him.

    <em>I regret nothing.</em>

    Valentino knew he would lose everything he had built when he returned to the Luvien Empire. After all, he had angered Nerva. He still did not and would not regret what happened here today. In a way, it was his retribution.

    <em>[The God of Magics Descendant has achieved a 55% Credibility Rating!]</em>

    <em>[He is nothing short of the God of Magic!]</em>

    When Valentino turned to look beside him, he saw Golden Mage Ali inheriting the power of the God of Magic. And it was not just him. All of the godsthe God of Animals, the God of Siege Weapons, the God of Fetters, the God of Lightning, etc.who chose to side with Minhyuk had achieved a satisfactory credibility rating and sessfully inherited the position of their respective gods.

    Ali and Death, inheriting the power of their respective gods, would be able to tremendously boost Minhyuks empire. They had only opened the first level of their powers, but they were already 1.2x stronger than before.

    <em>And those that were able to inherit the position of god sessfully? They will grow even more prominent the more they approach Level 700.</em>

    Even Minhyuk could not imagine what heights Ali would be able to reach once he reached Level 700.

    <em>Maybe hell grow stronger than me?</em>

    This was not Minhyuk babbling. Minhyuk was already in a state where he had opened most of his power as the Food God. After all, the Food God was a god that had no power that he could let his sessor inherit. Minhyuks thoughts would not change even if he inherited the position of the Battle God.

    The Battle God was considered the greatest god because he was strong. However, he was hailed as the greatest and most outstanding god because he was the <em>God Who Ruled All Armies.</em> That was his advantage, which no god could match orpare with.

    Also, Minhyuk waspletely unaware of his and Nervas credibility ratings.

    This?! Damn it!

    At the same time, Minhyuk heard curses all over the ce.

    No way

    H- How

    I followed Nervas orders and even did a great job. So, why?!

    Those were the yers who were notified that they were unqualified. The gods knew that some of them had enough powers and abilities. However, these people failed to take the opportunity during the Session Ceremony. As if to console them, a notification rang in their ears.

    <em>[The gods will give those who achieved more than 30% Credibility Rating a final chance. You will be granted the opportunity to take a separate trial.]</em>

    <em>[However, those who fall under this category will no longer receive the preferential treatment of having the 3rd Level of power opened even if they became gods.]</em>

    It was quite a relief for these people. However, even if they passed the subsequent trial, there would still be a noticeable difference between them and those who sessfully passed the Session Ceremony once they hit Level 700.

    Around 20% of the yers had appeared here and were disqualified from bing gods after they were forced to log out during the Session Ceremony. Among those who werent forced to log out, around 65% failed to meet the required credibility rating and had to take a second trial.

    Joy Co. Ltd. never intended the Session Ceremony to be a ceremony where the gods would just hand things over to their sessors easily. The primary purpose of the Session Ceremony was to screen out the unqualified ones and give rightful power to those who were qualified.

    Only 15%. That was the number of people who have won the honor of inheriting the position of God during this Session Ceremony.

    Finally, it was Minhyuks turn, and he heard the loud ring of the notification window that appeared in front of him.

    <em>[The Battle Gods Descendant has achieved a 52% Credibility Rating!]</em>

    <em>[He is nothing short of the Battle God!]</em>

    Minhyuk trembled. Of course, he also hoped to be the true Battle God and boost the power of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. However, his face grew ugly not long after.

    <em>[Youinherited the position of Battle God]</em>

    <em>[Correction in progress!]</em>

    <em>[You cannot inherit the power of the Battle God!]</em>

    It was not just Minhyuk; even the Battle God was confused by the situation.

    <em>Of all things</em>

    The Battle God never expected things to turn out this way. Even Nervas face, sporting a faint smile earlier, grew twisted. Minhyuk and Nerva hurriedly averted their gazes when they identally made eye contact.

    At that moment, another notification rang in Minhyuks ears.

    <em>[Your Credibility Rating is the same as the Battle Gods Swords Credibility Rating!]</em>

    ...!

    Minhyuk immediately understood why he could not inherit the Battle God''s position and powers right away.

    <em>What a f*cking awful situation</em>

    Only 1%. If Minhyuks credibility rating were just 1% higher, he would have already be the Battle God. And if he became the true Battle God, he would probably be able to obtain enough power once he reached Level 700 to wage an all-out war against the Luvien Empire. But those ns were nowpletely dashed.

    But Minhyuk and Nerva fought hard to increase their credibility rating to 50%. Would they be left without receiving anything?

    <em>That cant be.</em>

    The Battle God was about to lose his mind. He had two more things to worry about: what he should give the two as a reward and who would inherit his position.

    <em>If I allow one of the two to inherit my position now, I will be considered biased.</em>

    That was not an appropriate behavior for the most extraordinary Absolute God.

    The other yers were also made aware of the situation and had now begun to mumble and whisper among themselves. Even the viewers watching the broadcast through Go Eun-Ah could not hide their confusion and shock when they realized the situation.

    The Battle God hurriedly summoned the Absolute Gods for an impromptu meeting.

    ***

    The Absolute Gods looked serious. The Battle Gods position was the most important one. He was the only god who could lead the gods and even the Absolute Gods in an emergency. Because of that, it was hard for them to choose between the two emperors, who obtained the same credibility rating.

    If thats the case, then we can only send them back first, the God of Will said.

    Yes, we will send them back. But if we send them back from the Session Ceremony without them receiving any kind ofpensation and reward, then we will certainly receive a huge bacsh. You have to understand that they tried to kill us just a few moments prior, the God of Death immediately refuted.

    No. We have to send them back for now. Because theres nothing that we can do right here and now. However, the Battle God ruled in favor of the God of Will.

    Yes, they had to send them back. After all, they could not keep them here forever. But it was also true that they had to give them something and satisfy them before they could do that.

    Then, its decided. Lets first give them a satisfactory reward and send them back. We have no choice but to throw something together and let Minhyuk and Nervapete with something else.

    The Battle God decided to think about what Nerva and Minhyuk couldpete with once he sent them back. Now, the gods were left agonizing over what rewards they could give the two.

    How about the Swords Tribute? The God of Cooking said.

    The Swords Tribute was a fantastic power that could increase the attack power of the swords held by the soldiers under themand of the skill user.

    That wont work. If youpare the Luvien Empire and the Beyond the Heavens Empire, then the Luvien Empire has a greater advantage. After all, they have the advantage of numbers. This would benefit the Luvien Empire greatly, and it would be very unbnced.

    The rewards andpensations that the two would receive should be fair and equal.

    Then, what about the Battle Gods Running Warriors?

    This reward was a song. If one sang this song, they could give a buff to the army they were leading.

    The Beyond the Heavens Empire already has a great national anthem. The Battle Gods Running Warriors will be unnecessary for him.

    They talked for a long time, but they still could not conclude.

    Then, the God of Cooking opened her mouth and said, I think its better to get the approval of the two and give them whatever reward they want.

    Give Minhyuk and Nerva the reward that they want and approve of. If they did that, the two would have no otherints.

    Alright, lets do that.

    After finishing their talk, the Battle God appeared again and looked at Nerva and Minhyuk standing before him.

    ***

    A sense of shame washed over Nerva Sephiroth.

    <em>I have achieved the same credibility rating as the Beyond the Heavens Empire emperor?</em>

    He was the emperor of the strongest empirethat was who he was. Yet he could not believe he had achieved the same ranking as the lowly emperor of the Beyond the Heavens Empire!

    Then, the Battle God stepped forward and said, Come forward.

    Nerva was extremely ufortable. He did not like standing side by side with Minhyuk one bit.

    Im sure the two of you know the current situation. It would be better to determine who bes the next Battle Godter.

    <em>Damn it. </em>Nerva kept on cursing in his head, although he nodded in agreement. He also knew this was the best solution for their current situation.

    Next came the most important thing.

    However, both emperors have shown me outstanding and remarkable performances. So, Im willing to give you both reasonable rewards. First and foremost, all of the participants of the Session Ceremony were promised certain rewards. You were given the following choicesten tinum, ingredients for Chobok Samgyetang, Session Ceremonys Celebration Ring, and Fantastic Potion. If you choose one of these rewards, I will give you a much better reward. For example, we were originally set to give you ten tinum, but I will give you 20,000 tinum as a reward.

    Of course, Nerva chose to receive the 20,000 tinum as his reward. It was enough to fund and run a decent-sized kingdom for a few months. For Nerva, this was just like a penny, but he is not an idiot who would refuse any reward.

    I choose to receive the 20,000 tinum reward, Nerva answered, taking the initiative to choose. When he turned his head, he could see Minhyuks bright smile.

    ...I dont need to hear it. I already know.

    Hehe. Thank you very much!

    Of course, Minhyuk chose the ingredients for Chobok Samgyetang. Minhyuk smiled in delight at the thought of receiving ingredients guaranteed to be at least at legendary grade. It was sure to be delicious!

    <em>How can such an idiot</em>

    Was this really the person ruling a newly emerging empire?

    Then the Battle God said, Nerva is the Battle Gods Sword; he is the sword that will protect me. And Minhyuk? He is my sessor and will eventually inherit my position. Since both of you are equal, Im sure you have obtained some of my power.

    Indeed, this was the case. Both Minhyuk and Nerva had received some of the Battle Gods power. And it was mostly simr in strength or effect. Of course, there was a probability that one of them had received a better power. And that was most likely Nerva. After all, he had been the Battle Gods Sword for quite a long time.

    Then, choose one of the Battle Gods powers you possess, and I will increase it by two levels.

    ...!

    Nerva was highly delighted when he heard that. Even for him, the emperor of the strongest empire, this was an astonishing and great reward. Why did he think that this was a great reward? There was one reason. And that was because, among the powers of the Battle God in his possession, he had this special authority called <em>The One Who Breaks Through Limits.</em>

    How could the Sword of the Gods have powerparable to the gods when they were not even gods? Even talented people would reach the limits of their talents. So, how were they able to reach such heights? It was because they grew with this power.

    If <em>The One Who Breaks Through Limits</em>, a power that could no longer grow and had a limit on the number of people he could help, were strengthened, it would be amazing.

    <em>I will be able to obtain a stronger and more superior knight order.</em>

    Nerva turned to look at Minhyuk.

    <em>He might be the sessor, but unlike me, he has not been one for a long time.</em>

    He was sure Minhyuk had taken significantly fewer missions and things from the Battle God than him. The Battle God had also given a lot of power to him before. Nerva was sure he had taken most of the Battle Gods outstanding powers for himself.

    So, no matter what Minhyuk did here, Nerva was sure he would still be the one with greater benefits. The only problem was that he had to receive the approval of the Beyond the Heavens Emperor. After all, there was no way that he would agree and help the Luvien Empire gain such a considerable foothold. Nerva nced at Minhyuk and made eye contact with the man.

    Minhyuk opened his mouth and said, Battle God, from what I understand, this will only be done after obtaining Emperor Nerva''s and my agreement, no? Then, can we settle on this agreement between ourselves?

    The Battle God immediately understood. He thought, <em>He wants to negotiate given that Nerva will be at an advantage here. Hes truly sly and calcting.</em>

    Seeing the Battle God nod, Minhyuk said, Emperor Nerva, I demand two million tinum from you.

    ...!

    ...!

    ...!

    I also want your territory up north, the Aveid Territory. Also, let me recruit three of the Luvien Empires talents. Of course, I will not recruit anyone thats a part of the Swords of the Gods.

    Minhyuks words caused a stir among the yers. The initial demand of two million tinum was enough to supplement the Beyond the Heavens Empire for quite a while. The Aveid Territory was a barrennd that the Luvien Empire had recently pioneered with many of its talents after determining that it was an excellent ce to live.

    <em>Rumor has it that the Aveid Territory has plenty of untapped resources and has many hunting grounds.</em>

    In other words, Minhyuk demanded not two million but more than ten million worth of tinum from Nerva. But Nerva, without hesitation or change in expression, responded, I agree.

    ...!

    ...!

    Nervas face remained expressionless, but he wasughing deep inside.

    <em>What a stupid emperor.</em>

    If Nervas <em>The One Who Breaks Through Limits</em> grew by two levels, he could set up a knight order far more extraordinary than the Sword of the Gods of today. Of course, it would be hard to manage people once they were stronger. But Nerva only nned to increase his knight orders to the Third Order. He could manage it well on his own.

    The difference in value between that and what Minhyuk asked for could not be determined with money alone.

    <em>You lost, you f*cking bastard.</em> Nerva chuckled to himself.

    At that moment, the notifications rang in Minhyuks ears once again.

    <em>[The Battle Gods Sword and the Battle Gods Descendant had agreed and approved the Battle Gods proposal.]</em>

    The corners of Nervas lips twitch in joy. He just could not hide the delight that he was feeling.

    <em>My Swords of the Gods Third Knight Order will soon destroy your puny empire.</em>

    Nerva looked smugly at Minhyuk. Then, Minhyuk looked back at Nerva and said, Emperor Nerva.

    ...

    By any chance, do you know about the Origin Authority?

    Of course, Nerva was aware of the Origin Authority. He could almost obtain one in the past, but the Battle God lost it, so he did not get it. The Origin Authority was also a power that only three of the most powerful Absolute Gods had.

    <em>How did this guy know about the Origin Authority?</em>

    Only after seeing the grin on Minhyuks face did Nerva realize something was wrong.

 Chapter 934

    Chapter 934

    Compared to other people, Nerva was more knowledgeable about the Origin Authority. The reason was simple: He longed for it and wanted it more than anybody else. In the past, Nerva had the opportunity to obtain the Battle Gods Origin Authority<em>, </em>a power that belonged only to the three greatest Absolute Gods.

    Back then, the Battle God had told him to stand before his statue, and he would bestow it upon him. However, a bizarre and absurd situation unfolded. The Battle God suddenly told him he had lost his Origin Authority. Nerva remembered feeling indescribably lost at the time. From what he heard, the Battle Gods Origin Authority was incredible.

    <em>It helps the gods recognize and obtain knights.</em>

    It waspletely different from the power that could help strengthen someone else. From what he had heard, it had the power to allow whoever used it to recruit new and strong subordinates.

    <em>This authority can develop and grow to six levels.</em>

    And from what Nerva knew, the effects of the authority were shocking enough, even if it only experienced the first development.

    The One Who Breaks Through Limits was the power that the Battle God had given him since he lost the Origin Authority. To break through ones limits, the only thing that they needed to do was to break down their walls. Since the Battle God could not give him the Origin Authority, he opted to provide Nerva with the power to develop and obtain a strong knight.

    Just recalling that time was enough to make Nerva feel highly regretful. It had always been running around his head since that time. He often thought, <em>World did the Origin Authority disappear to?</em>

    But now, the Beyond the Heavens Emperor Minhyuk smirked and asked him, By any chance, do you know about the Origin Authority?

    ...

    Nervas anxiety soared when he heard the question. He thought that perhaps Minhyuk knew about it because he was friendly with the Absolute Gods or learned about it from Obren. But then, a thought shed in Nervas head that made everything nk.

    <em>Why did he start talking about the Origin Authority here?</em>

    But Minhyuk opted to remain silent at this moment. He did not say anything anymore.

    The Battle God also realized that something very unusual was happening. He had beenpletely unaware of the location of the God and Knight since the day he lost it.

    Not long after, the Battle God said, Tell me your chosen ability.

    Nerva, who was unable to hide his anxiety, said, Please allow The One Who Breaks Through Limits to grow.

    The Battle God nodded before turning to look at Minhyuk. Minhyuk smiled faintly and said, Battle God, based on what you said, the only thing that you can help me grow is the power you own. Am I right?

    Thats right.

    Minhyuks grin widened. When Nerva saw the smile that almost ripped Minhyuks face, he realized, <em>I was tricked!</em>

    Nerva had promised to give Minhyuk two million tinum in exchange for his agreement to the Battle Gods proposal. He also pledged to turn over the authority over a territory that was probably worth millions, perhaps even tens of millions, of tinum. But was that all? Of course not. He also approved the recruitment of talents from his empire, except for the Swords of the Gods. All of these would deal a massive blow to the Luvien Empire.

    Even so, Nerva still promised without any hesitation. This was because he knew that he would be able to obtain a much better <em>reward</em> than Minhyuk. But all of his assumptions were wrong.

    Then, please allow the Origin Authority: God and Knight to grow.

    ...!

    Nervas eyes almost rolled when the thing he had dreaded turned into reality. He could tell Minhyuk had already finished setting up the board for him when he heard the Battle Gods proposal. Between Nerva and Minhyuk, the one who should not have agreed and epted the Battle Gods offer should have been him, not Minhyuk.

    <em>I shouldnt have agreed and epted!</em>

    Even the Battle God was quite shocked. Why was the Origin Authority: God and Knight, which he had lost before, suddenly appearing here? But Minhyuk just shrugged his shoulders in answer.

    Just like that, the rewards for both Minhyuk and Nerva were given out.

    <em>[You have obtained the Chobok Samgyetangs Ingredients Infused with Gods Power.]</em>

    <em>[God and Knight has leveled up!]</em>

    <em>[God and Knight has leveled up!]</em>

    ***

    Joy Co. Ltd.s Special yers Management Team.

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!!!]</em>

    <em>[The yer who has leveled up an Origin Authority has appeared!]</em>

    Team Leader Park Minggyus pupils were shaking, while Lee Minhwa was ck-jawed from shock. They stared at the dozens of monitors that shed red from the warning.

    At that moment, the doors to the Special yers Management Teams office mmed open as President Kang Taehoon rushed in.

    Whats going on?!

    President Kang Taehoons phone had an app that connected him to Joy Co. Ltd.s various teams. This app would immediately notify Taehoon if a warning were issued and which department it came from.

    Team Leader Park turned to look at him and said, God and Knights level has increased by two.

    What?! President Kang Taehoon, who was not easily shocked, was left astonished when he heard this.

    They had expected the Origin Authority: God and Knight to only increase by two levels in two and a half years, and this was already an adjusted assumption. They had advanced their assumptions since the one who obtained the authority was yer Minhyuk. They judged this power impossible to level up for at least four years, perhaps even forever. Why did they judge it to be that way? The reason was simple: the God and Knights condition for growth was utterly absurd.

    The God and Knight would be at Level 1 and could experience five level-ups. If one went from Level 1 to Level 2, the God and Knight would be slightly better. For example, the current God and Knight in Minhyuks possession would be triggered randomly. Even if he did not want to, this skill would trigger by itself. But once it grew? Then, he would be given the control over it. But the conditions for this simple level-up werepletely and utterly ridiculous.

    He needs to have five God-rank and twenty Legendary-rank NPCs just to increase its level by one

    President Kang Taehoon had deliberately set the difficulty of the Origin Authoritys condition for growth to be the worst. He made it so it would be unable to be leveled up forever. Most people could not achieve the conditions to increase the Origin Authority above Level 1. Of course, Minhyuk was the only exception to this rule.

    But the following condition for leveling up was far more shocking than the first.

    <em>He would need eight God-rank and 50 Legendary-rank NPCs. He also needs to achieve Level 800.</em>

    It was utterly impossible. Even though these conditions were harsh, Minhyuk had already reached the point where he was about to increase its level by one. But he went above and beyond their expectations. He ignored these conditions and jumped two levels, reaching Level 3 in one go.

    Then, they saw Minhyuk checking the Origin Authority: God and Knight on the screen.

    Open the information window President Kang Taehoon sighed in defeat while Team Leader Park hurriedly opened the skills information window.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>God and Knight</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Origin Authority</em>

    <strong><em>Current Status</em></strong><em>: Sealed</em>

    <strong><em>Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>If you find a talent that you truly covet, the God and Knight will guide you or develop a situation where you can obtain the talent as your own. yers are also included. This can only be used once every two months.</em>

    <em>The system will search and recognize strong men and powerhouses that can shock the world once every six months.</em>

    <em>It will provide a method and guide you or create a situation that will help you attract the talent to be your knight.</em>

    <em>Obtain more than fifteen God-rank NPCs to unseal.</em>

    <em>Obtain more than 400 Legendary-rank NPCs to unseal.</em>

    <em>Reach Level 1,000 to unseal.</em>

    Haa President Kang Taehoon could only sigh when he saw the newly reborn God and Knight. When he looked at it again, he realized how crazy of an authority it was.

    Team Leader Park Minggyu smiled bitterly. This is like another version of yer Minhyuks<em></em>Ingredient Tracking<em></em>skill. This time, its a Talent Tracking skill.

    Minggyu also thought, <em>Will he be given guidance on how to obtain the talent that he covets once every two months, and will he even be given assistance in searching and tracking down a strong talent once every six months?</em>

    Simply put, Minhyuk had obtained the most powerful weapon that would allow him to chase and catch up to Nerva.

    ***

    Minhyuk was amazed by the changes in the God and Knight.

    <em>[The Luvien Empire has to pay two million tinum to the Beyond the Heavens Empire!]</em>

    <em>[The Luvien Empire has to hand over the authority and ownership of the Aveid Territory to the Beyond the Heavens Empire!]</em>

    <em>[The Luvien Empire has to give away three of the Beyond the Heavens Empires chosen talents!]</em>

    <em>[This can only be done if the empire approves of the migration!]</em>

    It was pretty sweet. Minhyuk felt that the rewards that he obtained were extremely sweet. After all, he was able to one-up the arrogant Nerva, who had dered that he would be able to get a much greater Battle Gods power.

    Emperor Nerva, thank you for willingly agreeing and epting this offer!

    ...

    Unlike Nerva, who looked like he had eaten shit, Minhyuk wasughing cheerfully and happily. Seeing this, the Battle God hurriedly ended the Session Ceremony and sent everyone back. He felt something might happen if he left the two as they were.

    Everyone present turned to light and disappeared. After the Session Ceremony ended, Minhyuk, who had returned to the Beyond the Heavens Empire, logged out for a moment to sleep.

    After resting, he quickly returned and began to cook his samgyetang using his cauldron.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa</em>

    When he lifted the cauldron lid, he was greeted by the boiling samgyetang with oil floating on top of it. After turning off the fire, Minhyuk quickly grabbed the huge chicken leg and tore it off the chicken from the cauldron.

    <em>Hot! </em>Hot!

    He hurriedly removed the chicken leg from the freshly boiled samgyetang and transferred it to a te. Then, he blew on it briefly before dipping it in sauce and taking a huge bite.

    <em>Chew, chew</em>

    The light yet chewy meat made him smile in satisfaction when it entered his mouth. This time, he added some of the sour, well-ripened kimchi after taking another massive bite of the chicken leg.

    <em>Crunch, crunch</em>

    The sourness of the kimchi washed away the greasiness of the samgyetang. It was indeed the perfectbination of vors! Minhyuk finished the meat instantly, but he was not yet done cooking.

    He immediately poured sliced carrots, onions, scallions, and glutinous rice into the samgyetangs soup and left it to boil. It did not take too long for him to finish cooking a delicious and savory chicken porridge. Minhyuk quickly blew on the chicken porridge filled with colorful vegetables and took a huge bite.

    <em>Munch, munch </em>Kghhhk!

    The thick yet lightly vored chicken porridge delighted his mouth. Then, he added some chopped kimchi to his porridge before eating again.

    <em>Munch, munch</em>

    Minhyuk smiled happily. <em>I have been listless since summer started, but I feel like I have regained my energy!</em>

    The notifications immediately came after that.

    <em>[You have eaten the ingredients for Chobok Samgyetang.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 3,000,000,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[Your charisma has increased by 10%.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 0.8%.]</em>

    <em>[For one week, your energy and vitality will not decrease, and you will not tire.]</em>

    Although Minhyuk failed to inherit the Battle Gods position as his descendant this time, he felt that the rewards he received were still reasonably satisfactory, mainly because his God and Knights level had increased by two.

    At that moment, Haze said, Your Majesty, the Luvien Empire has sent over two million tinum and a contract transferring the ownership of the Aveid Territory.

    Minhyuk nodded and thought, <em>So, all thats left is recruiting those three talents, huh?</em>

    There was one talent in Minhyuks mind. This man was none other than themander of the Swords of the Gods First Knight Order, Commander Don.

    At the same time.

    Valentino, who was covered in blood, was dragged by the ropes that tied his wrists and sent floating above the Luvien Empires za.

    <em>[You have been deprived of your qualifications as a member of the Swords of the Gods Knight Order!]</em>

    <em>[You have been stripped of your title as a Count of the Luvien Empire!]</em>

    <em>[Your execution willmence soon. One execution will be equivalent to three deaths!]</em>

    Valentino was now being publicly executed. He had already been prepared for this. After all, he had chosen to be the God of Shields instead of obeying Nervas orders.

    <em>Three deaths and my removal from the Swords of the Gods? Thats funny.</em>

    Valentino chose to obey Minhyuks order. He used Bentinos Wall to prevent damage from reaching many people, which was far more beneficial than protecting only Nerva. If the emperor he served was a proper and righteous one, they might have said that their judgment was wrong and that what Valentino did was right. But this was Nerva. And Nerva chose to execute him for this reason. In Nervas eyes, even the Swords of the Gods were expendable.

    <em>Id rather go to another empire. No, Ill gather all the tanker yers and build my kingdom!</em>

    Since bing a god, Valentinos dreams had grown bigger. But then, Nervas aide stepped forward and said, This man, Valentino, is guilty of disobeying His Majesty Nervas orders!

    <em>Murmur, murmur</em>

    Valentino listened to the crowd''s murmurs and waited for his judgment with closed eyes.

    He is guilty of treason!

    ...?

    That was when he realized that something was wrong.

    He is guilty of exchanging secret information with the Beyond the Heavens Emperor!

    ...!

    Valentinos eyes snapped open.

    <em>What- what- what is this bullshit?!</em>

    That was right. Nerva was trying to cut Valentinos path of survival and trampling on him so he could not be the true God of Shields<em>.</em>

    You will be executed for your crimes. And since you are a foreigner, you are sentenced to prison and will be left inside the Luvien Empires Prison of Indolence for one year!

    ...!!!

    The Prison of Indolence was considered hell for both yers and NPCs alike. Ones HP would slowly be eaten away once they were sent inside that ce. Being sentenced to this prison was a punishment given to traitors and felons.

    Proceed with the execution!!!

    God of Shields Valentino, the greatest tanker in existence, seemed to be set to disappear from Athenae forever.

 Chapter 935

    Chapter 935

    Godly Editor Carron coborated with Joy Co. Ltd. and recently produced an advertisement video with Spear God Ben as the focus.

    His video helped the gamingpany''s sales jump more than a few times. Gaming experts and viewers alike selected that video as the best advertisement video. Even though Spear God Bens video that the yers watched while ying was quite long, it garnered a total of 150 million views in just a week when it was uploaded to Ztube.

    Because of that, a constant stream of yers moved to the Beyond the Heavens Empire. Most of them went there to see Spear God Ben or join the empire of a great emperor who had built such a tremendous and deep bond with an NPC.

    At this time, Carron went to find Minhyuk, who was very busy.

    Minhyuk was actually in the middle of listening to Hazes report.

    We have found strong monsters believed to be at least Level 600 in the southernmost region of the Aveid Territory. I believe we should send a subjugation force to eliminate them.

    Send the Pinnacle Strong Men and their disciples so they can show their power and strength to the Beyond the Heavens Empire soldiers.

    I understand.

    Minhyuk, who had been discussing with Haze, could finally take a breather when he saw Carron enter his office. He sighed and said, <em>Phew.</em> Is something the matter?

    Youre quite busy.

    Theres a lot of things that I have to take care of in Aveid Territory.

    The Aveid Territory was a considerable piece ofnd that the Luvien Empire spent much time and effort developing. This vast territory, abundant resources, and diverse hunting grounds were sure to benefit the Beyond the Heavens Empire, so they were swamped sorting it out.

    Minhyuk set the matter aside and sat face-to-face with Carron.

    Talks about Your Majesty have been boiling on the inte since the Session Ceremony ended.

    Although Minhyuk did not defeat Nerva, he got an equal score with him and stood on the same footing. The fact that Minhyuk could record the same credibility rating as Nerva when the yers had deemed it impossible for anyone to deal with the emperor and be on the same ground as him was already enough to cause an issue.

    Whenever I turn on the TV, all they talk about is you, Your Majesty. I believe all the channels talk about you.

    Minhyuk shook his head. He felt both happy and undeserving of such things.

    Then, Carron continued, A lot of people want to see Your Majestys advertisement video right after Bens advertisement video.

    Of course, that was a given. This was mainly because everyone saw how Minhyuk yed a considerable part in Bens ads. Even those who did not know of Athenae were curious about Minhyuk.

    Didnt you decide to leave the advertisement video about me to be released at the end?

    They recently released a video about Minhyuk on Ztube. Of course, it addressed the bnce copse that people were moring about. Since they had just recently released this video, Minhyuk thought they would not be able to achieve the best effect if they released the advertisement video centered on him.

    Thats right. Your Majestys advertisement video will still be releasedst. What I want to suggest to you right now, Your Majesty, is a Q&A interview.

    Carron signed a contract with Joy Co. Ltd., but this contract also included Beyond the Heavens Empire. Carrons job and responsibility was to give his all to promoting Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    I would like to involve some of the hottest figures from the Session Ceremony this time. That includes you, Your Majesty, Death, and Ali.

    Of course, discussions about other yers aside from them who had be gods were also on the rise since they were disying a better performance than before. But Ali and Death had rapidly risen in the Beyond the Heavens Empire. Although they had not yet wholly inherited the gods'' power, many people still wished to join their religion.

    With the Q&A interview of Ali, Death, and you, Minhyuk, we will be able to recruit more people to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    Will an interview have a huge effect?

    There will be some influx with your interview, Your Majesty. However, there will definitely be more influx from Ali and Deaths side.

    Ah

    You just need to answer one question, Carron said as he raised one finger. Why did you choose the Beyond the Heavens Empire?

    Minhyuk was in awe. He was aware that there were quite a lot of necromancers and mages who were hesitating on whether they would join their religion. This was because joining Ali and Deaths religion was likeing under the rule of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    There will only be one video. However, it will consist of three interviews. The first would be Ali, then Death, and finally you, Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk nodded. He could tell that the final interview would have the most impact. So, he asked, Should I exaggerate my answers?

    But Carron shook his head. Its best for you to be honest. I have already received Ali and Deaths approval for the interview. Once I get Your Majestys approval, I will immediately proceed with the interview.

    Alright. You can go ahead with it.

    Carrons words fully convinced Minhyuk. The moment Carron received the go signal, he immediately went to find Ali and Death and conducted an interview. During the interview, a bright light shed in Carrons eyes.

    <em>Yes, this is it</em>

    Carron was left in admiration. Ever since the beginning, he had encouraged Ali, Death, and Minhyuk to be very honest, and there was one reason for that.

    <em>They are not actors.</em>

    Their sincerest expression would only be shown if they spoke honestly.

    After interviewing Ali and Death, Carron returned to Minhyuk and started another round of interviews.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Q</em></strong><em>: What kind of person were you before you started Athenae?]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Q</em></strong><em>: when you first started Athenae?]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Q</em></strong><em>: In your life]</em>

    Questions were constantly asked.

    ...

    While Minhyuk answered, Carron looked at him with a faint smile.

    <em>Amazing. </em>Carron had confirmed everything. <em>Ali, Death, and Minhyuks answers to this interview would have a huge effect.</em>

    ***

    Valentino, who was forced to suffer three forced logouts after one execution, stared nkly at his bloody feet chained to the walls of the Prison of Indolence.

    <em>[You are detained inside the Prison of Indolence.]</em>

    <em>[Your EXP is decreasing little by little!]</em>

    <em>[This state will continue until you are forced to logout!]</em>

    This was apletely terrible punishment. Usually, yers would hunt monsters the moment they connected to the game. Why? So they could level up and grow stronger. But now, Valentino was imprisoned in the Prison of Indolence for a year. Not only would his growth be stopped, but it would also eat away at his EXP and level.

    These were all of the assumptions that Valentino had made in a short amount of time:

    <em>I will lose my position as the top tanker in the rankings in just a month.</em>

    <em>I will be pushed out of the top ten thousand in the rankings in three months.</em>

    <em>The people will forget me in six months.</em>

    <em>I will have no more ce to stand and stay in a year.</em>

    Valentino grew even more despondent the longer he stared at the chain on his feet. He probably would not be able to ess Athenae for a while, so Valentino, also known as Valentino in reality, logged out.

    He grabbed a bottle of whiskey and chugged it before cradling it to his chest for a very long time as he sat in front of hisputer. However, his eyes remained unfocused after seeing that his public execution was among the top ten in the real-time search term rankings. There were even several videos circting on websites like ZTube. Not only that, there was also the <em>Ali vs. Valentino</em> search term sitting snugly on the 16th ranking of the real-time search term rankings.

    <em>Damn it.</em>

    In just a moment, a ranker copsed. His expression remained downcast as he checked the top three in the real-time search rankings. He confirmed that the first was <em>Minhyuk,</em> the second was <em>Ali</em>, and the third was <em>Death.</em>

    He found it a bit strange, but it only took a moment before he grinned to himself. The shouts of Frieeeeeeeend!!! during the Session Ceremony were still fresh in his ears. But now that he reflected on it, he found it fun and exciting.

    Valentino had also taken his chances before the Session Ceremony had ended. He had gone to Minhyuk and asked.

    <em>I really cante and join the Beyond the Heavens Empire?</em>

    Minhyuk frowned at him before he replied.

    <em>Maybe youll have a chance if you be the Beyond the Heavens Empires loyal dog. Otherwise, my answer will remain no.</em>

    The words were scathing, but Valentinopletely understood where Minhyuk wasing from. He had fought and shed with the Beyond the Heavens Empire time and time again. The worst part? He made a terrible mistake toward Ali, a deed that he should never have done in the first ce. He had to throw away at least everything for them to ept him. And even if he threw everything away, they would only look at him if he epted being treated like their dog.

    He chugged his whiskey once again as he wondered why those three had topped the real-time search rankings again. Then, he soon found the words Gods Interview rising to fourth ce. He was sent to a ZTube video when he clicked on the term. Valentino stared nkly at the screen as he yed the video.

    <em>Crackle, crackle, crackle, crackle</em>

    The video showed a static screen for a moment before revealing the figure of a beautiful man with golden hair. This was Ali. Then, words appeared in the middle of the screen.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Q</em></strong><em>: What kind of person were you before you started Athenae?]</em>

    The man hesitated momentarily before saying, Can I be honest?

    The scene swayed as if the camera was nodding in answer to the mans question.

    Im a patient with severe social phobia, an otaku, an orphan, and a loner.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Q</em></strong><em>: What was it like when you first started Athenae?]</em>

    I think its the same with everyone. Everything was fascinating to me. It was fun

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Q</em></strong><em>: Was there something that you really, really wanted to do when you started ying Athenae?]</em>

    There was a twinkle in Alis eyes as he answered, I wanted to have more friends. Frieeeeeeeeeeend!!!

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Q</em></strong><em>: Were you able to do what you wanted to do?]</em>

    Ali chuckled when he heard those words. His face was devoid of pretense as he stared at the camera silently with a shy smile. Then, after a few moments, he nodded.

    I believe I have the most precious friends in the world.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Q</em></strong><em>: What is your life like after you started ying Athenae?]</em>

    Alis smile deepened. As he had mentioned before, he was suffering from severe social phobia, an otaku, and a loner. But now?

    I have be an otaku who has ovee his severe social phobia, a person with precious friends who treat me like family, and someone who is no longer a loner.

    The video showed a series of questions and answers.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Q</em></strong><em>: Why did you choose the Beyond the Heavens Empire?]</em>

    Ali confidently answered, Because thats where my friends and family are. Because thats where the people I want to protect, even if I lose everything, are.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Q</em></strong><em>: How does it feel like to be the God of Magic?]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Q</em></strong><em>: As the God of Magic, do you have confidence that you can lead the mages?]</em>

    Several questions passed by once again.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Q</em></strong><em>: How do you feel right now?]</em>

    I am happy.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Q</em></strong><em>: Lastly, would you]</em>

    After thest question, the screen turned static once again.

    <em>Crackle, crackle, crackle</em>

    Then, the static disappeared to reveal the figure of a slim man with dark and dreary eyes. This man was none other than Death.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Q</em></strong><em>: What kind of person were you before you started Athenae?]</em>

    Death remained impassive; there was no sadness or joy in his expression as he answered, I was a monster with half of my face covered in burns.

    The first question was the same as the question that Ali answered. However, the following ones were different.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Q</em></strong><em>: How did you get to know the Beyond the Heavens Emperor Minhyuk?]</em>

    With no expression, Death said, He he was the first one. Then, he turned to look at the camera and continued, He called a monster, with half a face covered in burns, like me a friend. And he was not being pretentious. He called me every single day saying that he was bored. He even came to my house and dragged me to a PC room.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Q</em></strong><em>: What kind of person is the emperor of the Beyond the Heavens Empire?]</em>

    The nonchnt Death could not form his words for a long time. He sat there with his eyes misting and a lump in his throat. He even needed to cough to speak as he choked up with emotions.

    Hes a wonderful friend that I am very grateful to have. One day, I received a call from this dear friend of mine. He sounded delighted, as if it was his sole purpose, as he said, <em>I got you a doctor! A doctor that will treat your burns!</em> He was even more excited than me, so much so that he nagged and chatted on the phone for an entire hour. It was quite ridiculous, no? He was more excited than me, the person in concern.

    Then, the final question came. This question was the same for both Ali and Death.

    Valentino, who had been watching the video, had already watched Alis answer earlier.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Q</em></strong><em>: Lastly, would you Can you say its okay even if the Beyond the Heavens Empire gets destroyed and you lose everything?]</em>

    Ali, who appeared in the video earlier, did not hesitate to answer, I have no regrets. He stared at the screen and emphasized, Not even one bit.

    <em>Bzz, bzz, bzz, bzz</em>

    The screen turned static once again. Just like before, a new face appeared when it disappeared. The person that appeared was Minhyuk.

 Chapter 936

    Chapter 936

    Minhyuk had a faint smile when he appeared on the video. As everyone expected, the first question was the same question that Ali and Death had been asked before.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Q</em></strong><em>: What kind of person were you before you started Athenae?]</em>

    Minhyuk sighed lightly as he answered, I lived like there was a time limit on my life. Every day, I would pray and beg that I live one more day, just one more day.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Q</em></strong><em>: What was it like when you first started Athenae?]</em>

    It was enjoyable. I cant eat what I want to eat because of my eating addiction, but I could eat something delicious in Athenae.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Q</em></strong><em>: What is your life like after you started ying Athenae?]</em>

    Minhyuk hesitated, pondering the question momentarily before answering, I am having fun. I feel very happy. Its to the point that I feel like I dont deserve it.

    After a few simr questions were asked, questions specifically tailored for Minhyuk finally appeared.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Q</em></strong><em>: What is the Beyond the Heavens Empire to you?]</em>

    Minhyuk was the emperor. However, even though he was the emperor, he still answered the question sincerely and honestly. There was not a shred of lie in his answer.

    Its the ce where I can feel alive, Minhyuk chuckled as he stared straight at the camera. I dont know when Im going to die. But whenever I ess Athenae, many people wille to wee me: the nagging Haze, the grumpy yet adorable Beanie, my grandfather figure, Ben

    The thought of these people alone was enough to put a smile on Minhyuks face.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Q</em></strong><em>: What will the Beyond the Heavens Empire be like from here on out?]</em>

    It will grow bigger and stronger. It will be an empire without losing or falling behind the Luvien Empire.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Q</em></strong><em>: Would you be able to say that its okay even if the Beyond the Heavens Empire gets destroyed and you lose everything?]</em>

    This question was also a question that Ali and Death were asked earlier.

    As long as I gave it my all, I would not have any regrets. Its just

    Minhyuk did not know the answers Ali and Death gave to this question. The only thing he did right at this moment was to express his thoughts.

    ...I will feel sorry to everyone.

    But if the members and the people of the Beyond the Heavens Empire heard Minhyuks words, they would surely shake their heads at him. Ali and Death would not regret it, just like how they answered before.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Q</em></strong><em>: Lastly, do you have anything to say to the people of the Beyond the Heavens Empire?]</em>

    Minhyuk remained silent for a very long time. He was at a loss for words and did not know what to say. He hesitated, stared at the monitor, and said, Everyone, thank you very much.

    <em>Crackle, crackle, crackle</em>

    Finally, the video ended.

    Valentino returned to his senses and murmured, Im so jealous

    He envied Minhyuk as the emperor and Ali and Death, who were with him. After watching the video, he picked up his phone.

    Yes! Id rather be his dog!

    He would be a dog that barks when asked to bark and bites when asked to bite. After all, Minhyuk told him he had to be a dog to join the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    Valentino quickly recalled the phone number Minhyuk had told him before he disappeared from the Session Ceremony in a sh of light. Having made a decision, he called the number in a hurry. However, no matter how often he called, there was no answer, so Valentino switched to texting.

    <em>[Minhyuk, this is Valentino. Im willing to be your dog. If you tell me to bark, then Ill bark!]</em>

    Valentino immediately tried to call Minhyuk again after sending the text message. This was already his fifth attempt.

    <em>[The number youre calling is currently unavable]</em>

    <em>[The number youre calling is currently unavable]</em>

    The call ended with a beep just two seconds after he dialed the number. Yes, the other person had already blocked him.

    Haha

    Valentino understood. Was there someone that was more vulgar and lowly than him right now? He immediately went to beg the Beyond the Heavens Empire when the Luvien Empire threw him away?! The worst part? Minhyuk had yed a trick on him by throwing him a rotten rope, not a golden rope, that he could cling to. Even so, Valentino still did not hate him. He knew this was only natural after all the atrocities and wrongdoings he had done so far.

    After drowning himself in alcohol and dering that he would not call or text Minhyuk anymore, Valentinoy in his bed and began to fiddle with his phone. What was he doing? He was carefully typing out the words that he wanted to send over.

    <em>[Are you sleeping?]</em>

    His text looked like the text that an ex-boyfriend would send.

    ***

    <em>[1,413 mages moved to the Beyond the Heavens Empire!]</em>

    <em>[310 necromancers moved to the Beyond the Heavens Empire!]</em>

    The impact of Minhyuk, Ali, and Deaths interview was immediately evident when Minhyuk logged into the game.

    Sitting inside the conference hall with him, Carron said, Ali and Deaths sincere words have raised the peoples trust and expectations toward Your Majesty. At the very least, these people can tell that they will not regret it if they moved to the Beyond the Heavens Empire right here and now.

    Minhyuk turned to look at Ali and Death in delight. He had asked Carron something before he was interviewed.

    <em>But Carron, dont force them to answer if theyre reluctant to answer the question. Alright?</em>

    Ali and Death had lived rough and difficult lives like him. Sometimes, people were either ashamed of their past or afraid to be exposed to the public. Minhyuk did not want his friends to sell themselves short just for the benefit of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. But the two did not shy away at all. They answered everything that they could.

    <em>Because they are the ones who overcame their difficulties and got through life.</em>

    Those who overcame their difficulties with their efforts would receive great praise from the masses.

    Then, Haze said, Have you heard from him yet?

    Not yet.

    Thats strange. Considering Valentinos current situation, I was sure he would have already contacted you by now.

    They had heard that God of Shields Valentinos public execution had been held just a few days before. Although Minhyuk had secretly given the man his number, he hadnt heard from him. Haze suggested that they sign a contract with Valentino.

    Minhyuk went out of his way and even gave a slight excuse for this move. He said, Some will harbor dislike toward Valentino, but we need to recruit him to develop the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    Minhyuk was allowed to recruit three talents from the Luvien Empire. He knew that the Beyond the Heavens Empire could not continue recruiting people who suited their taste forever. Now, Valentino, who they did not really like, was on the table. He became a talent that they could take away from the Luvien Empire.

    If hees here, then we can punish him for his actions, Minhyuk said as he cautiously nced at Ali. He specifically said this because the two had recently had some altercations.

    But then, Ali said, Minhyuk, you dont have to worry too much about me. Honestly, do I have to care about someone I can easily kill in one shot?

    Everyone nodded in agreement to Alis words. This was the calmness of the strong.

    For Ali, who hadpletely taken down and neutralized Valentino with Meteor in just one attack, the others provocations were nothing but a dogs barking. It did not bother him at all.

    Even so, Minhyuk insisted, If Valentino chooses to join us, I intend to take all the artifacts and gold he will obtain in Athenae for half a year. Of course, the Beyond the Heavens Empire will also not pay him anything during this time.

    Ultimately, the Beyond the Heavens Empire would still not treat Valentino kindly.

    I will also ask him for three billion to migrate to our empire. I intend to send him to Aveid Territory and make him the territory''s lord.

    Ho

    That sounds good.

    The Beyond the Heavens executives all burst out in admiration when they heard that. Aveid Territory was the territory that they had received from the Luvien Empire. The Luvien Empire had only started pioneering it and had not yetpleted the process. Because of that, they had to continue sending troops to subjugate the monsters and finish pioneering the entire territory.

    In the meantime, they sent the Pinnacle Strong Men to lead their troops. However, they were excellent talents who needed to train their soldiers, so sending Valentino instead of them was a great move.

    So, that means you will make him work until we havepletely squeezed out everything from him?

    Thats right.

    Bing the lord of such a deste and dangerousnd would be very difficult. But Valentinos hard work would benefit the Beyond the Heavens Empire once he fully pioneered and developed the Aveid Territory.

    Alright. Lets move on to more important things, Haze said as he looked at the guild members.

    Our Beyond the Heavens Empirecks soldiers specializing in shields.

    The number of the Beyond the Heavens shield-ss soldiers was only around 30% of an ordinary empire''s soldiers.

    Valentino, who has be the God of Shields, will stand out more as he levels up. On top of that, he had be not only the source of envy but also the idol of many of the shield-ss soldiers when he became the God of Shields. Now that he is imprisoned, if our Beyond the Heavens Empire takes him in, many shield-ss soldiers would migrate to our empire. Haze continued, making sure to emphasize the most important thing. By recruiting Valentino, our Beyond the Heavens Empires worth would jump. We would be worth millions of tinum.

    Those words werent an exaggeration. Perhaps their empire would be worth more than millions of tinum if they did that.

    But then, Minhyuk said, Theres that. But the most important thing is that he hasnt contacted me.

    ...

    ...

    The entire conference room turned silent when they heard Minhyuks words. Minhyuk was about to open his mouth to break the silence when he suddenly received a notification.

    <em>[God and Knight!]</em>

    <em>[Knight Commander Don is currently!]</em>

    Minhyuk was left in shock when he checked the notifications.

    He hurriedly jumped up and said, If Valentino does not reach out to us and give us his offer first, then theres no need for us to reach out to him and propose a contract. Lets talk about thister. I have to hurry and go to the Prison of Indolence first.

    Minhyuk finished the meeting in a hurry. He was so hurried that he ended such an important meeting so suddenly.

    Not long after, he appeared in the Luvien Empire with Brod beside him.

    ***

    Valentino finally woke up after passing out drunkst night. The first thing he did when he woke up was check his phone.

    <em>[Are you sleeping?]</em>

    <em>[You told me to contact you]</em>

    <em>[Were you just ying with me?!]</em>

    He sent messages that would look pathetic to anyone who read them, and he was very disappointed when he realized he had not received a reply. But now that this had happened, Valentino thought of another way. Perhaps whispering to Minhyuk might work.

    <em>A dog? No. I dont care anymore. Id rather go to the Beyond the Heavens Empire even if I get stoned there.</em>

    It was much better than being dragged down from his position and abandoned in this ce for a year. Going to the Beyond the Heavens Empire was better, even if he was sure he would get stoned in the streets.

    When Valentino logged back into the game, he appeared inside the Prison of Indolence, his ankles still tied to a chain. The first thing he saw was his current EXP. One look, and he could tell that almost 20% of his current EXP had already disappeared.

    Valentino bit his lips. Once again, he was made to realize that he was in a very desperate and shitty situation. He quickly opened his whispers so he could contact Minhyuk. However, he was forced to stop in his tracks. He did not know Minhyuks whisper code.

    Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!

    Even though he was willing to give everything away, his attempts to join the Beyond the Heavens Empire always failed.

    <em>Creaaaaaaaaaak</em>

    Then, at that moment, the prison gates opened. Someone came in and stood in front of Valentino. This person was none other than Minhyuk. Minhyuk stood in front of him just to show him his face. Valentino hade to the Prison of Indolence because he had something to do.

    In the first ce, Minhyuk did not intend to give Valentino an offer. He was aware that someone who did not want to offer something and reach out to them would never ept any proposal or suggestion the Beyond the Heavens Empire provided.

    Valentinos eyes grew wide when he confirmed that Minhyuk hade inside. He stuttered, Youyou!!! Did youe here to make fun of me, huh?! I called you many times, but you did not answer me! You even blocked me!!!

    ???

    But Minhyuk did not receive any calls.

    Right. You must find me disgusting, huh?! I have done all those things to the Beyond the Heavens Empire, yet here I am begging you to take me in after falling into the abyss!

    Well, thats right.

    That was right. However, the Beyond the Heavens Empire was willing to take him in for a price. But Minhyuk could not even interject and tell this to Valentino, who kept yapping himself.

    Wa- wahahahahahahaha! I cant believe I, Valentino, the greatest tanker in the world and the God of Shields, am being humiliated like this. Right. Id instead be Valentino, the Beyond the Heavens Empires dog. No. Im even willing to be the person who gets stoned, punched, and kicked.

    ???

    Take it all! Im even willing to sign a Contract of Submission. Here, Ill even give you five billionno! Ten billion!

    Minhyuk initially intended to ask for only three billion from him.

    Ill even give everything I obtain to the Beyond the Heavens Empire for a year. I will not receive anything in return for that time frame!

    Minhyuk had only wanted him to sign a half-year ve contract.

    And if you ask me to bark, I will bark. If you ask me to bite, then I will bite. I will obey your orders. Fufufufufufufufufufu! I will also build my God of Shields Temple inside the Beyond the Heavens Empire. Of course, I will shoulder everything!

    If that happened, the yers and NPCs, who worshiped the God of Shields, would gather in the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    Fufufufufufu! Yes! Im offering you a contract of submission and obedience!

    The sound that escaped Valentinos mouth was strange. Even if one listened to it closely, one would have difficulty determining whether he wasughing or crying.

    ???

    Minhyuk just stared at Valentino as the notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[God of Shields Valentino is offering you a Contract of Submission and Obedience!]</em>

    <em>[He will surrender everything he obtained to the Beyond the Heavens Empire and will not be given any ie for one year!]</em>

    <em>[He will shoulder all the expenses and use his money to build the God of Shields Temple inside the Beyond the Heavens Empire!]</em>

    <em>[He will obey all of your orders!]</em>

    <em>Such a piece of cake?</em> Minhyuk thought as he agreed right away.

    Only after receiving Minhyuks agreement did Valentino, who was grabbing onto the iron bars, copse in relief. Yeah, he believed that this was indeed the better choice. Hed rather live like this than rot in here.

    At that time, Minhyuk, who had not said much since earlier, opened his mouth and said, I never received any of your calls, Valentino.

    Bullshit! 010 1234 5678, wasnt that your number?! I have been calling that number! What?! Are you making fun of me again?!

    Its 1234 5679. The other party must have blocked you because a number from overseas kept on calling them.

    ...

    Valentino was rendered speechless for a very long time.

 Chapter 937

    Chapter 937

    Minhyuk hurriedly ended the critical meeting that they were holding, heading straight to the Luvien Empires Prison of Indolence after a series of notifications popped up in front of him.

    When he arrived at the Prison of Indolence, he immediately saw Valentino, who yapped and chattered nonstop by himself. This made it extremely easy for Minhyuk to recruit the man worth millions of tinum to their side.

    Right. The fact that you came here to find me personally means that you also covet my talents, Valentino spoke desperately. He sounded like he was grasping at straws.

    But unfortunately, that was not the case at all. Minhyuk came to the Prison of Indolence because he had something to do with someone else. And there was a decisive reason why Minhyuk ended the meeting hastily and ran here.

    He had recently leveled up his God and Knight skill by two levels. Thanks to that, the God and Knight could now give him the ways or create a situation where he could recruit the talented person he had chosen as his knight. Although it could only be triggered once every two months, it was still very useful.

    But was that all? No. The God and Knight had developed to the point that the system could help him find the strong and inform him about them once every six months. Of course, as an overpowered and cheat-like skill, the God and Knight also provided the way or the situation that would help him obtain the strong talent as his knight.

    Minhyuk chose Knight Commander Don, themander of the Luvien Empires Swords of the Gods First Order, as the target for the God and Knight skill, which could be triggered once every two months.

    These notifications rang in Minhyuks ears the moment he chose Don.

    <em>[Knight Commander Don is a member of the Luvien Empire!]</em>

    <em>[There is currently no method to win over and recruit Knight Commander Don to your side!]</em>

    <em>[You will be able to choose another talent that you want in two months!]</em>

    Minhyuk sighed. Was the God and Knight truly doomed to fail this way? Was there no way to recruit Knight Commander Don to their side? When these disappointing thoughts shed in his head, a new set of notifications appeared.

    <em>[The God and Knight has found a method to win over Knight Commander Don!]</em>

    Minhyuk realized at this moment that even though the skill failed to find a method right away, as long as the selection had not yet been refreshed, the effects would still be valid, and the skill would continue to find a way.

    And Minhyuk was left in shock when he received the exnation about the current situation with Don.

    <em>[Nerva tried to appoint Knight Commander Don as the new Star of the Empire to rece thete Duke Ruffiso. However, it fell through when Don tried to assassinate Nerva during his appointment ceremony to be a duke. The problem was that Don tried to assassinate Nerva before the Swords of the Gods. This meant that his ns to assassinate the emperor failed.]</em>

    <em>[Before Don was caught and thrown to prison, he shouted and announced to the world that Nerva rose to the throne and became an emperor using evil means.]</em>

    <em>[However, no one believed Dons words.]</em>

    <em>[The Swords of the Gods imed that this was all because the Beyond the Heavens Empires emperor had saved Dons life in the past.]</em>

    <em>[Don was falsely used of attempting treason and assassination under the orders of the Beyond the Heavens Emperor.]</em>

    Minhyuk had received this quest, <strong>Sudden Quest</strong>: Knight Commander Dons Memories. This quest happened in Mands Prison. From what it looked like, Don had recovered his lost memories. But back then, he did not say anything about it. Seeing that he remained silent, Minhyuk did not even bother to ask him about it. But now, something like this has happened.

    And the notifications did not end there.

    <em>[To win over Knight Commander Don, you will need </em><strong><em>Rlszd</em></strong><em>, trapped inside the Prison of Indolence.]</em>

    Minhyuk wondered who in the world Rlszd was and why he needed the man. However, no notifications came to answer his question.

    <em>Youre already a nasty skill. Why not tell me until the end? </em>Minhyuk thought. But when he came out and asked Brod if he knew someone named Rlszd, he immediately answered.

    <em>I knew him back when I was stillpeting with Nerva for the position of emperor. He was themander of the knight order under Nervasmand.</em>

    Why was such a man left rotting inside the Prison of Indolence? The answer to that question and why Minhyuk needed Rlszd to bring Knight Commander Don to the Beyond the Heavens Empire was right around the corner.

    Minhyuk slowly moved toward the figure hidden in the darkness. As he moved closer, the figure of the man sitting right behind the iron bars grew clearer and clearer. The mans hair was long and unkempt, his body bare and thin to the point that one would think he only had skin and bones left. But what impressed Minhyuk deeply was his eyes. His eyes were glowing dangerously like the eyes of a wild beast.

    The man, Rlszd, looked at Minhyuk in confusion. His eyes grew wide when he saw Brod standing right behind Minhyuk. Then, he said, The Other Sun. So, youre still alive.

    Brod smiled wryly at Rlszds words. The title <em>Sun</em> was given to him in the past. He only knew Rlszd because they were fighting against each other. Why? Because he and Nerva werepeting.

    I dont understand why you havee to this ce?

    Brod also could not understand why Don, the knight who followed him, became the knightmander of the Swords of the Gods and Rlszd, the knight who followed Nerva, was left rotting in prison.

    Rlszd chuckled bitterly.

    Its not because of you. An unpleasant sound, simr to metal grating against each other, left Rlszds mouth as he continued, This was so I could help lead the emperor, who had always wished to rule for the sake of his people andnd, back to the right path.

    Minhyuk immediately understood the mans words. He asked, You found out that Nerva had used poison to kill the Red Sword Knights and tried to bring him down, didnt you?

    Nerva used unscrupulous means to be the emperor and receive recognition from the Battle God. Yes, this was true. And just like Minhyuk had said, Rlszd was made aware of Nerva''s atrocities and tried to take his emperor down.

    Nerva had locked me up in this ce when I refuted him and told him toe down from his throne alone. To prevent my strength and power from disappearing, I let this ce gnaw on my strength. Now, I only have two or three days left to live, Rlszd said with a bitter smile.

    At this moment, Minhyuk understood why the God and Knight had guided him to this man named Rlszd. He recalled his conversation with Brod before they arrived at this ce.

    <em>Your Majesty, Rlszd was the very person who created the Swords of the Gods that we know now. The loyalty of the members of the Swords of the Gods to him is no less than their loyalty to Nerva.</em>

    Minhyuk pondered deeply about the matter. Don was now considered a traitor of the Luvien Empire. In a situation like this, it would be very difficult for them to take him as a talent of their own. In other words, they needed someone to prove the atrocities Nerva hadmitted and the words Don had dered before.

    <em>I also have the Sword of the Gods who delivered the poison under my wing.</em>

    That was right. This man was once a member of the Swords of the Gods but now, he was Minhyuks shadow. The puzzle pieces slowly started to click together in Minhyuks head.

    Even Brod also understood the situation. He stepped forward and said, Please help us. Don will probably be executed soon.

    If youre talking about Don, then youre talking about the knight who served under you?

    Brod nodded as he exined the situation. Of course, Minhyuk did not forget to add that Don was now the current knightmander of the Swords of the Gods and was serving the Luvien Empire and Nerva.

    Its because of ck magic.

    Don was brainwashed using ck magic. Brod, who looked straight at Rlszd, said, Please give one final teaching to your emperor, who chose the wrong path.

    HoHohoho Rlszd''s helplessugh trailed off as he asked, Do you think theres a way for me to get out of here? I will never be able to get out. I have tried hundreds and hundreds of times before.

    At that moment, Minhyuk turned to look at the guard and said, Open the doors. I choose this man as one of my talents.

    <em>Creaaaaaak</em>

    ...? Rlszd looked in confusion at the door, which opened in just three seconds. Then, he said, Even if Ie out of this ce, youre now the Sun at the lowest point. And isnt Nerva the brightest Sun now?

    Hearing Rlszds words, Brods face faintly smiled as he said, Youre wrong. Then, he turned to look back at Minhyuk. This young man is the brightest Sun in the sky.

    ***

    Knight Commander Don had died before and was only revived, thanks to Minhyuk. When he died back then, the tight hold that the ck magic had on him loosened. Because of that, he could regain the memories of his past that he had lost before.

    His master was the emperor, who jumped in alone to save him despite being surrounded by tens of thousands of enemies. He also led the Red Sword Knights andmanded the world! His true master was none other than His Majesty Brod! But Nerva brainwashed Don and made him believe that the one he truly served was him.

    After returning safely from Mands Prison, the only thing that kept him sane was the thought of stabbing his sword into Nervas heart. He judged that he had the chance during the appointment ceremony, so he raised his sword and tried to stab Nerva in the neck when he approached him the moment he went to grant his ducal title. However, Duke d moved faster than him. Don was unaware that Duke d, one of the Luviens Stars, had that much power. Right now, the bleeding Don was brought in front of the knights of the Swords of the Gods and the dukes with a rope tied tightly around him.

    Nerva could not hide the bitterness on his face as he looked at Don.

    <em>Why?</em>

    Nerva thought back on the people who left his side one after another. The first was Knight Commander Rlszd. Rlszd had told him to step down alone even though he had only sat on his throne.

    <em>Is it because I became stronger? Because I became the emperor of the strongest empire?</em>

    The second was Sword of the Gods Luo. He turned his back on him and served Minhyuk after being captured by the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    The third was the most promising knight of the Red Sword Knights, Don. In fact, the Red Sword Knights followed Brod with love and care. Perhaps Nerva was very jealous of this rtionship, and that was why he wanted to show them at least once that these people would also turn their backs on their masters and follow the greatest and strongest emperor.

    Nerva believed that Don would continue to follow him even if he regained his memories. He thought that the man was already intoxicated by the power, position, and wealth that Don had given him.

    Like that, everything between him and Don shed in Nervas head. Dons master was Brod. However, he brainwashed him and made it seem like he was the one that the knight was serving. And they had been very happy.

    <em>I never knew that loyalty could also be expressed this way.</em>

    Don showed Nerva genuine care. Not only did he care for him, he also loved him dearly. He often had tea with him, and they would chat and rx whileughing together. At the same time, he felt very jealous. After all, Don was genuinely loyal to Brod, and not himself.

    This was also the reason why he was angry.

    You sinner! How dare you collude with the Beyond the Heavens Empire to assassinate this emperor!

    Nervas killing intent flooded the entire pce. Nerva, who started everything with a lie and would end everything with a lie, was a monster. However, even if a monstrous existence stood before him, Don smiled through his bloody mouth and said, Did you hope you could gain my heart like that?

    ...

    Did you look at me and think that everything would be fine despite all the atrocities that you have done in the past?

    ...

    Thats right! Were you happy that you poisoned all of the members of the Red Sword Knights that stood by my side so that you could be the emperor?! Don shouted, his anger boiling over.

    <em>Who I want to protect, save, and love is Brod. How dare you manipte it so that you could take me and force me to serve you?!</em>

    Nerva jumped up from his seat and went wild.

    <em>Beyond the Heavens! Beyond the Heavens! Beyond the Heavens!!!! All of these damned bastards always had this name at the tip of their tongues.</em>

    <em>I am the emperor of the greatest and strongest empire!</em>

    <em>I am the emperor that epasses anything and everything!</em>

    But Don justughed at him. You are the one left with nothing.

    Nerva picked up the sword next to his throne and took one step after another. He said, Knight Commander Don, I am depriving you of your position as the knightmander of the Swords of the Gods.

    <em>Thump, thump</em>

    But the only thing shing in Dons head now was Brod.

    <em>Im sorry, Your Majesty.</em>

    Don believed that killing Nerva was a reward for him and some sort of apology.

    I deprive you of everything that you enjoyed in the Luvien Empire. The gold, the silver, the treasures, your ducal position, everything! I am taking it away from you!

    But the grin on Dons face just grew more profound. He did not need for any of those. The only one that he needed was Brod.

    Nerva finally stopped in front of Knight Commander Don. Using both hands, he lifted the sword high into the sky.

    And I am bringing judgment upon you for the crime of treason!

    Don chuckled dryly. <em>Now, I will be together with my truerades.</em>

    For a moment, Don felt like he had seen his friends andrades from the Red Sword Knights waving at him beyond the white light. When he saw that, he hoped, <em>Your Majesty Brod, I hope you will remain happy by his side for a long time!</em>

    The Emperor Minhyuk that he had seen and encountered was a good man.

    <em>ng!!!</em>

    A man fell from the sky and struck down Nervas sword. Then, he immediately grabbed Nervas wrist before stopping entirely and standing there while staring at him. This was Brod. At the same time, another man walked briskly and entered through the open doors of the hall. This man was none other than Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk stood inside the hall and dered, I have already chosen two talents. One of them is Valentino, while the other one is Rlszd. As for thest one

    ...

    I believe hes no longer the Luvien Empires knightmander nor your duke. Hes nothing but amon knight, no?

    Minhyuk fixed Nerva with a cold re and said, I choose Don.

 Chapter 938

    Chapter 938

    Nerva did not care whether Minhyuk came to choose the talents he wanted to recruit or not. Knight Commander Don had tried to assassinate him, turning the entire Luvien Empire upside down.

    Besides, although Minhyuk and the Beyond the Heavens Empire could choose three talents from his empire, there were conditions that he had to follow. First, Nerva had to approve his chosen talent. Second, Minhyuk could not choose among the knights of the Swords of the Gods or anyone who had a title and a position.

    After considering these two conditions, Nerva judged that the Beyond the Heavens emperor would not have an infinitely smaller pool of talents to choose from and would not be able to hire anyone useful to them.

    Left in a chaotic state, Nerva did not even care about Minhyuk and threw him to his aide. But Minhyuk appeared before him now and said, Don.

    ...Bastaaaaaaaard!!! Nerva roared in anger, his voice rising along with his killing intent and covering the entire area.

    Nervas knights and dukes, including Duke d, were gathered in this ce. It was also the capital of the Luvien Empire, a nation at war with the Beyond the Heavens Empire. The moment Minhyuk entered the hall, these notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[You have entered the Luvien Empires Imperial Pce!]</em>

    <em>[You cannot use a Return Parchment inside the Luvien Empires Imperial Pce!]</em>

    <em>[You cannot leave the Luvien Empires Imperial Pce until Nerva gives explicit permission!]</em>

    <em>[If you are forced to log out, you can leave the Luvien Empires Imperial Pce!]</em>

    That was right. Minhyuk could only leave this ce if he was given Nervas explicit permission. Otherwise, he could die, and he would be able to leave. In other words, he could enter as he pleased, but he would not be able to leave as he pleased.

    And now, Minhyuk had entered the center of a nation at war with him. Not only that, but he was alsomitting an outrageous act by taking a traitor under his wing.

    <em>Shiiiiiiiiing</em>

    <em>Shiiiiiiiiiiiiing</em>

    <em>Shiiiiiiing</em>

    The dozens of Swords of the Gods raised their swords. And Duke d? He watched the situation with his arms crossed.

    <em>Was it true? Did the Beyond the Heavens Emperor truly use Don to kill His Majesty?</em>

    <em>Will a war truly begin?</em>

    In the past, the members of the Swords of the GodsBeloch, Revor, Grat, and the resthad be favorable to Minhyuk when they went to conquer Mands Prison. Minhyuk had saved the dying Knight Commander Don andmanded and led them well until they came out of the dungeon.

    But when Don suddenly moved to assassinate Nerva, each and every one of them threw a hypothesis and reported it to Nerva. Among those reports, there was naturally one that stated, <em>Minhyuk saved Dons life.</em> When Nerva saw this report, he added more flesh and used it as the reason to use Don of treason. Even though it was a lie, it had now be the truth in the eyes of Duke d and the Swords of the Gods.

    <em>I did not expect that he was like that.</em>

    This was a grave matter. Although the Luvien Empire and the Beyond the Heavens Empire were at war, things had not yet blown up. The two nations would now engage in an all-out war with this new development. Immediately after this, the troops of the Luvien Empire would be gathered, and all their allies would be ordered to invade their enemy''snds. Now that they had a justification, the Luvien Empire could take down the Beyond the Heavens Empire in just one day.

    Minhyuk said, The emperor that you believe in has risen to his throne by poisoning the members of Brods knight order!

    Bullshit!

    His Majesty Nerva had rightfully inherited his throne!

    Of course, none of the people present believed Minhyuks words. But Brod, holding on to Nervas wrist, said, How far are you going to fall?

    There was a time when the Nerva, who Brod knew was a good and upright man. He was once a young man who dered that he would build a peaceful, rxed empire without war. But now? This young man had turned into a monster.

    Youre the one who fell, Nerva growled at Brod. How dare you?! Do you know whose wrists you are holding onto, huh?!

    Nervas killing intent surged once more. Brod, extremely sensitive to killing intent, hurriedly raised his sword. Watching the scene, the Swords of the Gods thought that perhaps the Beyond the Heavens Empire was genuinely crazy. Did they think that they could survive like this?

    But Brod stepped back and cut off the ropes that bound Don. This was the first shot. The Swords of the Gods, who had power close to that of a god, charged toward Brod. Those who were aware of the situation hurriedly closed the hall doors.

    Don! Minhyuk shouted, throwing a sword toward the man.

    <em>Swoooooosh</em>

    <em>Thump</em>

    Don swiftly grabbed the sword and parried the attack of the Swords of the Gods that charged at them.

    <em>aaaang</em>

    ...Your Majesty, please forgive me, Don said. The person that Don felt sorry for the most was Brod. He couldnt even kill Nerva, who turned him like this. And that was not all. He even served Nerva for a very long time.

    Brod smiled faintly at him and said, Im very happy now.

    ...

    Brod had already realized he could be happy even if he did not be an emperor. And this was all thanks to the master that he served now.

    I I will make sure to protect your happiness.

    Knight Commander Don was the strongest knight among the Swords of the Gods, which is also why he was appointed one of the dukes of the empire. Even though his entire body was littered with injuries of varying degrees, he was still strong enough to deal with three Swords of the Gods simultaneously.

    As for Brod? He was one of the strongest beings. Even Spear God Ben would not dare to fight against him.

    <em>ng ng, ng, ng, ng, ng ng</em>

    The battle between Brod, Don, and the Swords of the Gods continued fiercely. At that moment, Minhyuks gaze passed by the Swords of the Gods built by yers, including the God of Archer Miao. There were no less than ten people and they were all at Level 600.

    <em>When is heing?</em> Minhyuk thought as cold sweat started to drip down his back.

    Although Brod and Don were both strong individuals, the three of them alone could not deal with Nerva, Duke d, and the close to thirty Swords of the Gods present here.

    Amidst this strange tension, God of Archery Miao raised her bow and nocked an arrow swiftly. Minhyuk immediately jumped toward where Summoner Bastien was.

    <em>I have to take the initiative and control the flow.</em>

    Guided Lethal Shot Before God of Archery Miao could finish casting her skill, Minhyuk had already wielded his swords and cut down Bastien.

    <em>sh sh, sh, sh, sh sh!</em>

    Bastien, who was trying to summon his divine dragon, was cut and shed 76 times in just one second.

    A- aaaaaack! Keuaaaaaaaack!

    It only took one second, and one hit to kill him.

    Come, Minhyuk said, his fingers curling in ae-hither motion as God of Archery Miaos Guided Lethal Shot tore through the air and hit his chest. Ugh!

    Despite the Transcendental Armor protecting his body, Minhyuk suffered considerable damage from the attack. Seeing this, the Swords of the Gods, who faltered for a moment, immediately returned to their senses and lunged at Minhyuk. Alex immediately cast magic and bombarded Minhyuk with attacks.

    However, Minhyuk leaped to the skies, saying, Ego Chain Sickle.

    <em>ng, ng, ng!</em>

    The Ego Chain Sickle fixed itself on the ground and moved at high speeds to attack Minhyuks enemies. Of course, Minhyuk did not stay idle.

    Sword of Tempest.

    A sword with ego appeared as hundreds of des appeared and blocked the Swords of the Gods. Minhyuk was doing an excellent job in dealing with the Swords of the Gods Second Knight Order in a way.

    Keuhaaack!

    A scream rang out in the hall. Minhyuk immediately turned to look in the direction where the sound came from. What he saw made his face turn ugly. Nervas sword had pierced Dons abdomen. Meanwhile, Brod could not break away from the constant attacks of the Swords of the Gods and Duke d. This was because Duke d was said to be much stronger than Duke Ruffiso.

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng</em>

    Brod could not even create a small gap to escape Duke d''s fierce attacks. But just when Minhyuk was about to move, another Guided Lethal Shot struck his back.

    <em>Baaaaaaang!</em>

    Another bombardment of attacks from the other Swords of the Gods immediately followed this attack. Minhyuk, forced to deal with the other yers, watched as Nerva pulled his sword out of Dons abdomen. Blood spurted out of Don as Nerva raised his sword and shed at his former knightmanders chest.

    Keuhaaack! Don screamed, his feet staggering from the blow.

    At this moment, Minhyuk thought, <em>If our ns go wrong at this point</em>

    If Don died here, their ns would be thrown out the window. If that happened, the Beyond the Heavens Empire would face an all-out war against the Luvien Empire.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang!</em>

    But at that moment, a spear pierced through the tightly closed doors and struck Nervas sword.

    <em>ck</em>

    The doors were forced open, and two men strode in. One of the men was Valentino, who had now be the Beyond the Heavens Empires dog. The other one was Rlszd, who had been imprisoned inside the Prison of Indolence for a long time and sacrificed his vitality to survive longer.

    Rlszd was supposed to lead the Swords of the Gods; he was their knightmander before Don came. He was even called Divine Spear Rlszd and was the only one who could wield the Guardians Spear, the same spear that he threw earlier.

    However, for some reason, he was suddenly used of treason and thrown into prison.

    <em>Rumble!</em>

    The ground shook as nine spears appeared around Rlszd.

    <em>[Rlszd. Level 767.]</em>

    He was not with Minhyuk after leaving the Prison of Indolence because he went somewhere to retrieve the Guardians Spear.

    Sir Rlszd?

    Rlszd, why are you here?

    As mentioned, Rlszd was known as a traitor by the public and was sent to prison. That is why everyone was shocked to see him here. However, Nerva was the one who was most shocked.

    <em>How can someone stuck inside the Prison of Indolence be this strong?</em>

    Nerva was utterly unaware that Rlszd had sacrificed his vitality to endure and hold out inside the Prison of Indolence.

    Then, Rlszd opened his mouth and said, Your Majesty, until when will you act like a monster? Cant you see? Youre the one eating away at yourself.

    Rlszd had decided to lend Minhyuk a helping hand because, just like Brod, he remembered what kind of person Nerva was before he gained power and became a greedy monster.

    Bastard! How dare a traitor like you talk to His Majesty like that?! One of the Swords of the Gods shouted.

    However, Rlszd just turned to him and answered, Emperor Nerva had poisoned the Red Sword Knights and used such despicable and unscrupulous methods to climb his throne. Why do you think this young man over here has won the heart of the Battle God, huh?!

    Rlszd was once the idol of all the Swords of the Gods. He and Don both showed enough power and strength to gain the trust of all the knights. But suddenly, both of them were dubbed traitors.

    The Swords of the Gods wavered and shook. They no longer knew what was true or what was false. They immediately turned to Nerva to seek for answers.

    Are you telling me that you believe the words of a traitor? And hes even on the side of the Beyond the Heavens Emperor.

    However, Rlszds words failed to awaken Nerva from his stupor. Nerva continued to insist on his lies, leaving the Swords of the Gods at aplete loss.

    <em>Crack</em>

    While Minhyuk chewed an Almond of Subordinate, Rlszd made a move. With a wave of his hand, ny-nine spears glowing with ck light appeared and floated around him.

    You are no longer the Sun, Rlszd spat coldly as he sent the spears flying toward Nerva.

    Just when everyone thought that the spears would stab through Nerva, they flew past him and mmed straight into his statue, holding the sun that was standing right behind him.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!</em>

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack!</em>

    The statue of the greatest emperor, a statue that no one could break, fell and copsed. And Nerva? He was left shaking as he stood in front of it.

    Summon. Minhyuk opened his mouth and whispered, Luo.

    <em>sh!</em>

    With a sh of light, Luo appeared, standing right next to Minhyuk. Now, there were three witnesses present in this hall. Of the three, Luo, who was one of the Swords of the Gods up until recently, was the one who received Nervas orders to poison the Red Sword Knights. In other words, he was the living and breathing witness of the scene back then. If Luo testified here, the credibility of the words Rlszd and Don dered would be much stronger.

    Minhyuk looked at Nerva and asked him once again, Can I take Don with me?

    Nerva stared at Luo, Rlszd, and Don silently for a long time. Then, he finally opened his mouth and said, You have my permission.

 Chapter 939

    Chapter 939

    The Swords of the Gods grew even more shaken when they heard Nerva give his permission to Minhyuk. God of Archery Miao even murmured to herself, No way. Its not true, right?

    Of course, there was a chance it was not the truth. But what was Nerva so afraid of right now? Why was he willing to send Minhyuk and his men away when they tried to kill him?

    This might be the only natural course of action. There were already three living and breathing witnesses present in this hall. If Sword of the Gods Luo opened his mouth and said, <em>Nerva personally ordered me to put poison in their food.</em> then the words that Rlszd and Don said would gain more credibility.

    Luo was naturally Minhyuks man. However, he was also once a member of the Luvien Empire. The same was true for Rlszd and Don. If all three of them turned against the Luvien Empire and told the people what Nerva had done, chaos would ensue.

    But even if Nerva told them, <em>Kill everyone.</em> none of the Swords of the Gods would move. Even though he was an emperor, the thought alone that the man they served used immoral and despicable means to reach that height was enough to confuse them. To top it off, Rlszd and Don, the two people they trusted and followed, might not actually be traitors added to their confusion.

    Meanwhile, Duke d, sitting on the sidelines, suddenly had an idea. He thought, <em>Things are going quite well, huh?</em>

    Minhyuk helped Don up while Sword of the Gods Luo protected him on the side. Before leaving with his men, Minhyuk turned to look back at Nerva Sephiroth.

    Your Majesty! How can you let them go just like that?!

    Is it true?! Did you really sit on your throne by using such immoral, despicable, and evil means?!

    Duke d stopped them from questioning Nerva. He stepped forward and said, Enough. Even if that is true, it does not remove the fact that he is the emperor you serve, right?

    Minhyuks eyes narrowed as he looked at Duke d. <em>He did not say that for Nervas sake.</em>

    Of course, Duke ds words were valid. After all, nothing would change even if they knew that Nerva ascended to his throne using such despicable methods. Ultimately, the Swords of the Gods would continue to fight for the Luvien Empire and follow behind their emperor, Nerva.

    However, there would be no end to the hushed conversations that they would have amongst themselves.

    <em>Given the chance, the emperors throne will definitely be shaken.</em>

    Duke d and Minhyuks eyes met. Minhyuk realized that he could not read anything through the mans expression.

    Meanwhile, Nerva stood still as he looked at the debris of his statue on the floor. Minhyuk was about to step outside and saw Rlszd looking at Nerva.

    Sir Rlszd?

    Rlszd was now Minhyuks talent. Of course, just like he said before, he only had a few days left to live. Perhaps he would die today, or if not, maybe tomorrow. But with the help of Saintess Loyna or the God of Alchemists Mand, his lifespan could still be extended for at least a year or two.

    However, Rlszd just turned to look at Minhyuk with a bitter smile before shaking his head slowly.

    ...

    Minhyuk could not say anything. In the first ce, it seemed like Rlszd did not want to live any longer. It was purely Minhyuks greed to take him in so he could reinforce his military power.

    Brod gently ced a hand on Minhyuks shoulder. There was also a bitter smile on his face. Rlszd should have had a very rxed andfortable death. But he chose to help them get Don out of his predicament even if it cost him his life.

    Right now, Rlszd was like the brightest Sun. The only thing that Minhyuk could do was bow to him.

    <em>...You are a good and kind emperor. I beg you, please do not stray and walk the same path that Nerva has walked, </em>Rlszd thought, greeting Minhyuk with his own small bow.

    Minhyuk left the imperial pce with his men, leaving Rlszd behind. Then, Duke d said, We should go out, too. It seems that His Majesty and the traitor have something to discuss.

    ...

    Those words were not said for the sake of Nerva and Rlszd. They<em></em>had something to talk aboutan emperor and a traitor? That was already enough to cast doubts among the people. But Nerva did not make any excuses, and this was also why the previous words gained more credibility. At this moment, the trust and faith of the Swords of the Gods in Nerva were slowly copsing.

    After Duke d took everyone out, Rlszsd continued to look at Nerva, standing in a daze in front of the wreckage of his copsed statue.

    Why? Why did you do it?

    ...

    Nerva did not regret what he had done. However, for some reason, a sense of dejection slowly flooded his senses. He could also tell that Rlszds days were numbered. Perhaps it was because he knew this fact that he was willing to speak his heart out to this subordinate, who once trusted and followed him.

    I was jealous of <em>him,</em> Nerva said as he stared at where Brod disappeared from. I knew it right from the beginning. Ick the qualifications to be the Sun. But even so, I still wanted it more and more. I did not want to disappoint you and the others.

    ...

    After trying it once, it became much easier. Since then, I have lived a life of taking things when I need them and throwing them away when they are useless to me. It was very convenient.

    ...

    You must think that Im dirty and hideous too, huh? Nerva asked, his gaze focused on Rlszd.

    At that moment, Rlszd suddenly keeled over and vomited a mouthful of blood. Urk!

    Down on the ground, he looked up at Nerva and said, You might be dirty and hideous, but you are the emperor I served.

    Just like Minhyuk had Ben, Nerva once had subordinates who were willing to risk everything for his sake. There were even some who were willing to give their lives just so they could protect him. And one of them was Rlszd.

    I still cant forget it. You told me that you would create a peaceful world and build a ce without war and fighting. You even told me that you would live with me there.

    This was the Nerva of the past. But now, not even a shadow of this man was left behind in Nerva. Even so, Rlszd stretched out his trembling hand and held Nervas. He said, Your Majesty.

    ...

    Nervas eyes reddened. Perhaps it was because he was facing a dying subordinate, and that was why the pureness he had left behind in the past had reappeared. Rlszd was very much aware that Nerva had alreadye a long way and could never return to how he was before.

    You have be bigger, stronger, and more powerful. So, why does it look like youre unhappy? I hope that you can shine brightly and The light in Rlszds eyes slowly dimmed. As his head slowly fell, he used thest of his strength to say, ...be able to smile.

    Nerva held Rlszds hand tightly and could not let go for a very long time.

    ***

    The moment Minhyuk led his men out of the pce, he warped back to the Beyond the Heavens Empire. Not long after he returned, he heard a notification.

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens Empires Rlszds had died.]</em>

    Although they hadnt been together for a long time, Minhyuk still found the man to be unfortunate and pitiful. Seeing that he had died, Minhyuk still felt a sense of bitterness well up in him.

    Sir Rlszd has died, Minhyuk said.

    Brod said, Please dont take it too much to heart. Sir Rlszd might have hated Nerva, but he was loyal to his very core. He must have been happy that he was able to fall into eternal sleep in Nerva''s arms.

    Minhyuk nodded, recalling the bittersweet scene. However, he still put it behind him and immediately summoned the Beyond the Heavens priests. He also ordered someone to bring him some of Mands Recovery Potion. The moment they came, they immediately began to heal Don, who was suffering from several severe and life-threatening injuries.

    How is he?

    Hell stabilize soon, one of the priests answered.

    Minhyuk nodded. Now, all that was left for him to deal with was Valentino. He turned to the man and said, Valentino, immediately set out for Aveid Territory. Pioneer and develop this barrennd.

    I understand. Valentino did not say anything more. He was very much aware of the situation that he was in. He immediately left after receiving his orders.

    Minhyuk, who watched him leave, checked out the status of their newly recruited talent, Don.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Don</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: ???</em>

    <strong><em>Type</em></strong><em>: Vassal</em>

    <strong><em>Level</em></strong><em>: 689</em>

    <strong><em>Attack Power</em></strong><em>: 6,603</em>

    <strong><em>Defensive Power</em></strong><em>: 4,511</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>Passive Skill: Time Reader</em>

    <em>Active Skill: Eyes That Can See Through All Creations</em>

    <em>Active Skill: Alvarrados Swordsmanship</em>

    <strong><em>Potential</em></strong><em>: 170</em>

    <em></em><strong><em>Experience Value</em></strong><em>: 46% / 100%</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: After bing the Duke of the Luvien Empire, he was stripped of his qualifications, titles, and positions. However, with his Eyes that Can See Through All Creations, he could check his opponents information and create a battlefield that is much more advantageous for him.</em>

    Don was a more powerful talent than Luo. However, based on what he had experienced, he looked like he needed to take a break first. Besides, even though Minhyuk was highly favorable to him, he could not say that they had a close rtionship as an emperor and a vassal. That was also why he intended to leave Don by Brods side for now.

    Minhyuk was feeling quite hungry. Perhaps it was because he had been working hardtely?

    <em>I want to go out to search for something delicious. I havent done it for quite some time.</em>

    But didnt the others say that people would go and find something delicious whenever they were sad, too?

    At that moment, someone knocked on the door.

    Come in, Minhyuk said, only to see Carron entering his office.

    Minhyuk met and talked with Carron a lot these past few days. After recruiting the man to their side, Minhyuk saw a significant increase in migrants joining Beyond the Heavens Empire. And this was all thanks to Carrons efforts.

    Im thinking of uploading Valentinos interview next. I came here to ask for your approval. Is that okay?

    You interviewed Valentino too?

    Yes. Aside from Your Majesty, Ali, and Death, I believe it would help us recruit more tankers if Valentino was interviewed. After all, it would give them insight into why a person from the Luvien Empire decided to change sides and join the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    I see.

    You look quite exhausted, Carron suddenly said.

    Minhyuk could not deny those words. Thats right. I think I would feel better after eating something delicious. Do you have any good ingredients with you?

    Dont we have a lot of ingredients here in the empire?

    That was right. There were plenty of ingredients for Minhyuk to choose from and eat in the empire. But what Minhyuk wanted were not those ingredients but something special, something a bit more delicious.

    Seeing the expression on Minhyuks face, Carron realized that Minhyuk wanted some special ingredients. So, he thought long and hard about where Minhyuk could find some. Then, he said, Your Majesty, why dont you try and participate in the Infinite Battlefield?

    ***

    The executives were currently in the middle of a meeting inside one of Joy Co. Ltds conference rooms.

    We have seen a slight increase in stock prices after experiencing positive effects from our recent events and ads.

    President Kang Taehoon nodded in understanding. The Event Teams leader used the light from the projection screen, the only light in the room, and pressed a button to shift to the next slide of the presentation.

    Next, were going to talk about the Infinite Battlefield.

    Simply put, the Infinite Battlefield was a ce where anyone could duel. yers could freely join and fight to their hearts'' content, and this had existed since the start of Athenae.

    Kang Taehoon nodded as he listened to the report about the Infinite Battlefield.

    Ever since the update, the utilization rate of the Infinite Battlefield could be said to have increased by almost five times the normal utilization rate.

    Thats right. Thanks to the update we made two months ago, the yers could nowpete freely against each other regardless of the yers level.

    President Kang Taehoon looked at the next slide of the presentation and eximed in admiration, Thats amazing.

    Then, he saw a familiar yers name on the list of participants. This yer was Alexander, the Weapon Master and the first Eight Pirs-ss yer.

    He has won 786 matches out of 786 in just two months

    The executives were left stunned when they saw the report.

    This is proof that the Weapon Master is the best.

    The main reason why Alexander decided to participate in the Infinite Battlefield was because of his ss. That was right. This was rted to how he could acquire additional skills from his Weapon Master ss.

    If he could win 100 consecutive wins in the Infinite Battlefield, his qualifications would be recognized, and he would be able to obtain more skills. After receiving those skills, Alexander had grown rampant inside the Infinite Battlefield.

    From what it looks like, we can say that Alexander is undoubtedly going to be the Infinite Battlefield MVP this year, President Kang Taehoon said. And, of course, no one could deny that.

    Lets first discuss the Infinite Battle and the Battle of the Stars, which will both be held inside the Infinite Battlefield.

    The Infinite Battle and the Battle of the Stars were events that Joy Co. Ltd. had prepared. However, disregarding the Infinite Battle, everyone knew that the Battle of the Stars would only be fun and exciting if excellent people like Alexander participated.

    <em>Otherwise, not only will Alexander fail to break through, but this event will also end up as a dud. Of course, we can obtain good responses for the Infinite Battle. </em>President Kang Taehoon smiled bitterly. <em>Winning 786 out of 786 total matches. I dont think theres someone who can break this record.</em>

    President Kang Taehoon left the conference hall after entertaining such thoughts. When he walked out, he saw Team Leader Park Minggyu at the other end of the hallway. Why was Team Leader Park Minggyu not present during the meeting? His work had nothing to do with what they discussed in the meeting.

    Team Leader Park rushed to Kang Taehoon and said, President, I have something to report.

    What is it?

    Minggyu said, yer Minhyuk has created a character in the Infinite Battlefield.

 Chapter 940

    Chapter 940

    Your Majesty, why dont you try and participate in the Infinite Battlefield? Carron said.

    Minhyuk, listening silently to him, piped up, Even if I participate in the Infinite Battlefield, theres no yer in there that would ept a duel with me.

    Minhyuk was also very interested in the Infinite Battlefield, where yers could bet as much money as they wanted on a match. The other side would then bet the same amount, and whoever won would take everything.

    Many yers have distinguished themselves and made a name in the Infinite Battlefield. Even the skilled ones with excellent control could obtain much more gold in this ce than doing quests or hunting monsters.

    The only problem was that if he had set a condition, an opponent with a simr set condition would be chosen randomly. Only after they had given their approval would a match be set. And just like Minhyuk said, if someone saw Minhyuks name there, they would never approve of it. Who would even dare to fight the Supreme?

    Ah. Ipletely understand what youre concerned about. But Carron shook his head. You must have missed it since you have been so busy. There has been much improvement in the Infinite Battlefield since the update two months ago.

    Minhyuks concerns were a problem that many rankers faced. Yes, none of them could fully enjoy the Infinite Battlefield.

    yers are now given the right to create their unique nickname inside the Infinite Battlefield. They can also change their sses and choose one among the dozens of new sses avable there.

    Dozens of new sses?

    Yes. yers would often have the urge to develop a new ss every once in a while, right? Lets take Your Majesty as an example. If you choose the swordsman ss, all your skills as a Food God would automatically be modified and applied as a swordsmans skill. You will also be given the basic skills of a swordsman fit for your level, like Enchant. If you choose the swordsman ss, then you will also be able to use Enchant. However, using only those basic skills wouldnt be the right choice.

    Minhyuk listened to Carrons exnations intently.

    This is because you will only have the effects of Enchant. And what about the other outstanding yers? Of course, they would have something more. Their transformed skills would have far better effects than Enchant alone.

    Minhyuk nodded in understanding as Carron continued, Anyway, the point here is that you can choose a new ss and change your nickname to hide your identity in the Infinite Battlefield. And theres one more important thing. Lets say this is the Infinite Battlefield of the past. If your opponent is Minhyuk. Level 643, would your majesty ept it?

    This assumes that Im a regr yer, right?

    Yes.

    I will never ept it.

    Yes, that was right. No one would ever ept him as an opponent. Of course, the system would match him with someone at a simr level. However, no one would want to fight Minhyuk head-on by themselves.

    Because of that, they have updated it so yers participating in the Infinite Battlefield can lower their level.

    Lower my level?

    Yes. For example, if a yer at Level 600 lowered their level to Level 300, all their stats and skills would be lowered to match Level 300.

    But even if you do that, a ranker would still be a ranker, right?

    Rankers werent called rankers for nothing.

    Many people think that way. However, the desire and urge to win, even if faced with a ranker, is the essence of the Infinite Battlefield.

    Minhyuk felt like his participation was bing more and more tangible the more Carron, who was very reliable and trustworthy, continued.

    Also, yers going to battle rankers of the same level can also choose to use the <em>High Risk, High Return </em>option<em>.</em> This option would also allow the yers to match with yers with a 10-150 level difference with them. However, if the yer bet 10,000 gold for the match, the chosen opponent would have to offer a higher gold. Thispensated for their higher chances of winning against the yer who initiated the match.

    Minhyuk momentarily pondered this option and realized that it could be pretty amazing. The fact that one could choose to match against opponents who were 10-150 levels higher than them would either mean that they were confident or that they had huge pride backing them up.

    Theres also this. If you win against opponents with a higher level than your current level, you can obtain special points called <em>Infinite Points</em> after winning ten consecutive matches. It is a testament to how one continuously fights and wins against those with a high winning rate. Simply put, it is a special privilege given to those who achieve something others dont dare to do. The most important thing here is that you can gather and umte Infinite Points and use them to buy various things in the Infinite Store like artifact materials, gold, or cooking ingredients.

    Minhyuk looked like he was now very, <em>very </em>tempted. But then, he thought of something. Then, he said, The Infinite Battlefield also has disadvantages, no? Say, if I choose another ss, then I wouldnt be able to get much benefit. As a Food God, I do not have many attack skills. I dont think I will be able to have any clear advantage when fighting against yers of the same level if I choose to take on a new ss there.

    Of course, his current attack skills would be transformed. However, Minhyuk was concerned about whether he could match yers'' skills around a hundred levels higher than him and win with just the Food Gods skills.

    Then, Carron said, I think the Food God ss is the best ss among all the existing PVP sses when the level is lowered.

    Minhyuk immediately perked his ears up and focused on Carron.

    ***

    President Kang Taehoon was delighted when he heard yer Minhyuk decided to participate in the Infinite Battlefield.

    A powerful and influential yer, considered the Supreme, will participate in the Infinite Battlefield.

    Of course, Kang Taehoon was aware that the Food Gods level would be lowered so he could participate in the PVP matches. In the others eyes, the Food God ss seemed to be a ss that would never be able to exert any shocking power in PVP. However, this was only the case because no one knew the exact advantages that the Food God had.

    The ss with the highest stat for their level in Athenae is none other than the Food God.

    That was right. Among all the yers in Athenae, the one with the highest stat-to-level ratio was the Food God. The Food God had around 1.5x more stats than the general yers.

    Why? Initially, the Food God had a skill called Food Gods True Worth<em>,</em> which allowed him to raise his stats by eating. Minhyuk, who only looked for delicious things to eat every single day, experienced a high increase in statspared to other yers, even without meaning to.

    This is good.

    President Kang Taehoon could already see it. He could predict that the somewhat dull events held for the Infinite Battlefield would be very interesting this time.

    ***

    The Infinite Battlefield also had a ranking system. This ranking system was determined by ones total wins and winning rate. Even lower-level yers could be rankers if they had excellent skills and control.

    Logan, who ranked 1,320th in the Infinite Battlefield rankings, had been active since the early days of the Infinite Battlefield. He also boasted a high winning rate, with 11,375 wins out of 13,313 matches. It was so high that it was enough to make him shine. Logan was also a BJ and had a rtively stable number of audiences he had attracted with his funnyments and ability to overwhelm and defeat his enemies.

    Bros, I really cant get a good match today.

    Countless viewers jumped in toment when they heard Logan sigh.

    <em>[You crazy bastard. Kekekeke. Can you really do it like this?]</em>

    <em>[Hey, wheres your conscience?]</em>

    <em>[Dont you think expecting a match with your high winning rate is too much?]</em>

    Logan smacked his lips. Indeed, his winning rate was truly too high. He could only either find yers who bet low or fight against someone with a higher level than him.

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[You have a match! Please check your opponent for the match!]</em>

    The notification for a sessful match rang. Logan immediately went to check who he was matched with.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Nickname</em></strong><em>: Captain Rice</em>

    <strong><em>Matches</em></strong><em>: 0 </em><strong><em>Wins</em></strong><em>: 0 </em><strong><em>Losses</em></strong><em>: 0</em>

    <strong><em>Bet Amount</em></strong><em>: 10 tinum</em>

    <strong><em>ss</em></strong><em>: Assassin. Level 341]</em>

    Logans eyes grew wide. B- Bros! This is a pushover, right? We got a pushover, right?!

    The guy that he matched with had 0 wins and 0 losses. However, the bet amount made Logan think his opponent was a pushover. It was in tinum!

    <em>[Wow! It''s a real pushover. Guaranteed!]</em>

    <em>[Those people entering the Infinite Battlefield for the first time would always think that their skills in hunting monsters would work for PVP. Lol.]</em>

    <em>[The bet amount is huge!]</em>

    <em>[Maybe hes a chaebol?]</em>

    Logan immediately realized that he would be able to film some fun and exciting content today. He had already imagined the title of his ZTube video. It would go like this: <em>I showed a newbie who knows nothing about what the world is like.</em>

    Logan and the viewers felt like the opponent was too cheeky and pretentious.

    <em>Is there really a yer who will bet ten tinum for their first match alone?</em>

    The bet amount of ten tinum presented to Logan right now was truly too high. In fact, it was an amount that he could only see once a month.

    Of course, there was also a chance that the opponent was a famous <em>ranker</em>. But inside the Infinite Battlefield, it wouldnt matter if one was a ranker. If they challenged others recklessly like this, then they would suffer. Why? There was a vast difference between high-level rankers and Infinite Battlefield rankers, who specialized in doing PVP.

    Ill make sure to do a good job inforting him. Haha!

    Logan immediately agreed to the match. All that was left was to obtain the other party''s consent.

    <em>Come on, fish. Bite! Bite! Bite! Bite!</em> Logan desperately prayed.

    <em>[The opponent has approved the match!]</em>

    <em>[The Infinite Battlefield begins!]</em>

    A sh of light engulfed Logan. When he opened his eyes, he appeared inside the Infinite Battlefield. The Infinite Battlefield would appear in different forms.

    <em>So, its a desert this time.</em>

    Logan chuckled. Just like he told the viewers, he intended to cut down the yer who knew nothing about the Infinite Battlefield andfort him immediately. He boasted, Gosh. He made a huge mistake in his first match in the Infinite Battlefield. Ill make sure to go easy on him.

    <em>[Lolololol.]</em>

    <em>[Youll go easy on him?]</em>

    <em>[He sounds kind, but he doesnt look like it. Bwahahahaha!]</em>

    <em>[Yep! Hell cut the opponent down in ten seconds. Kekeke!]</em>

    Ah, bros! Im not that kind of person.

    At that moment, Captain Rices figure appeared in front of Logan. He was dressed as an ordinary assassin, with his face covered with a mask. Captain Rice was constantly changing the weapon in his hands.

    Dagger.

    Longsword.

    Axe.

    Dual sword.

    Oh this is fascinating.

    <em>[No. pfft. Lololol. This is his first time!]</em>

    Inside the Infinite Battlefield, one could equip whatever weapon they wanted and use any equipment they had. They could also transform their weapon and equipment into whatever form they wanted. Just like how their character was adjusted, their artifacts abilities would also be changed and tailored to the level that they were currently in. Of course, God-rank artifacts could exert much stronger power even if transformed.

    But since Im an assassin, then I should use the dagger, the man said as he stood before Logan.

    At this point, Logan understood that the man did not use a dagger and was not an assassin-ss yer.

    <em>Hes full of mistakes. Well, anyway, hes just a newb.</em>

    yers would always have this thought in mind, <em>I think I will be good in that ss?</em>

    But the reality was different. Their chosen ss would be less powerful than the one they had yed for years. This was especially the case for assassins, a ss that required a high amount of control.

    Pleasee at me first. I will be as gentle on you as I can.

    ???

    And... Please dont feel too heartbroken even if you lose. This is the only way for you to learn.

    Ah. Thanks! I will ept your kindness wholeheartedly! The man answered cheerfully.

    Meanwhile, Logan firmly believed that he would be teaching an Infinite Battlefield newb today.

    <em>sh</em>

    ...?

    Logan could not see where his opponent went.

    <em>Spurt</em>

    Then, blood spurted out from Logans side.

    <em>What the hell is this?</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 75%!]</em>

    Logan could not understand what just happened. Even if the yers of Infinite Battlefield had good artifacts with them, there had been no case where they could deal this much damage with a basic attack. Besides, he and his opponent were clearly on the same level. To put it simply, this amount of damage should have been impossible.

    The flustered Logan finally found out the reason. <em>Stats?!</em>

    If the opponent possessed incredibly high stats, the story would be different.

    Logan was a fighter-ss yer. In reality, he was also a practitioner of mixed martial arts and was versed in various martial arts used worldwide. He could not be easily dealt with. So, he tried to move to defend himself from his opponents attack.

    <em>sh sh, sh, sh sh</em>

    A fierce battle ensued.

    <em>Are you telling me this is his first time being an assassin?! No. Wait. This!</em>

    Gnawing Assassination.

    Unfortunately, before Logan could finish the thought, blood spurted out all over Logans body as his opponent stabbed him with his dagger thirty times in just two seconds.

 Chapter 941

    Chapter 941

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 60%!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 50%!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 30%!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP!]</em>

    <em>[You have lost in the Infinite Battlefield.]</em>

    <em>[Your opponent has gained ten tinum.]</em>

    ...?

    Logan copsed in a pool of his blood. Then, he reappeared once again. Once defeated inside the Infinite Battlefield, the yer would reappear right away. This system was set so that both yers, who yed fairly, could greet each other and show courtesy.

    The viewers watching Logans live broadcast went nuts.

    <em>[What?]</em>

    <em>[Am I dreaming? Did Logan really not get the chance tond a single hit?]</em>

    <em>[No, wait. What?]</em>

    <em>[Thats MUSAT[1], right? The one used by the UDT[2]??].</em>

    Not long after, everyone turned their attention to the words one of the viewers said after seeing Captain Rices movements.

    <em>[MUSAT is a technique introduced by Koreas UDT and is also the dagger technique taught and used by special forces members. You will know this even if you just type it on the inte. To be honest, I have also learned this before. But the way he uses it, I can tell that he has incredible talent.]</em>

    <em>[Then, are you saying hes a fantastic talent that belongs to the UDT?]</em>

    <em>[Woah Logan ignored him because hes an Infinite Battlefield newb, but in the end, hes the one that got K.Oed.]</em>

    <em>[But what would happen if Logan did not give the yer from before the first hit?]</em>

    <em>[Didnt you see that Logan got defeated by the Gnawing Assassination Skill?]</em>

    <em>[You have seen how Logan was stabbed twenty-five times in a row, right?]</em>

    <em>[Mhhm]</em>

    And Logan, the one who was involved, felt highly ridiculous.

    <em>Even if I gave it my all, it would still be hard for me to win. Why is his damage so high?</em>

    The skill was scary in its own right. Of course, assassins also have a lot of those types of skills. But the problem was that his opponent was not an assassin.

    Logan wanted to try to strike up a conversation with the man.

    Thanks for the hard work!

    <em>[Captain Rice has left the Infinite Battlefield!]</em>

    But just when he was about to try his luck, he disappeared in a sh of light. Logan, filled with a sense of helplessness, logged out after the man left. Meanwhile, his viewers said that this resulted from Logans conceit.

    ***

    <em>Phew</em> Logan sighed. He was actually Lee Tae-Sung, a person born and raised in Korea.

    <em>I have never seen a person who has reached expert level in MUSAT until today.</em>

    As mentioned before, Lee Tae-Sung was a mixed martial arts practitioner and was versed in several martial arts. That was why he also knew about the MUSAT.

    Lets not upload this video, Lee Tae-Sung muttered. He also knew that it would not benefit him even if this video garnered views.

    But then, his phone rang. It was a call from an unknown number. Puzzled, Tae-Sung answered the call. His face, however, gradually grew twisted as he continued talking with the person on the other end of the line.

    You want me to upload the video? Tae-Sung asked, confusion marring his tone.

    The person on the other end was making an extremely absurd request. They asked him to upload a video that could easily undermine his image.

    What did you just say? Youre going to pay a hundred tinum? The confused Tae-Sung immediately changed his tune and said, Ill upload it immediately.

    ***

    Minhyuk recalled the notifications that rang in his ears after finishing his first Infinite Battlefield match.

    <em>[You have won in the Infinite Battlefield!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained ten tinum.]</em>

    <em>[Your opponent has a record of 17 consecutive wins.]</em>

    <em>[Your opponent was a master of the Infinite Battlefield.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1,303 Infinite Points.]</em>

    The results were quite satisfactory.

    Minhyuk was the type of person who would not do anything if he could not produce the most outstanding efficiency and results. This was also why he ended up choosing the ss he has now in the Infinite Battlefield. Why did Minhyuk choose the assassin ss? It was a ss that had a strict requirement for dagger techniques.

    Minhyuk had tried a variety of things to work out and exercise his body ever since he started the treatment of his eating addiction. Among the things he tried, the best fit for him and his hands was the MUSAT, a technique used by Koreas pride, the UDT, and asked one of the organization''s former instructors to teach him.

    He judged that an assassin, with its quick movement and sophisticated dagger skills, would be the best fit for him. After all, he was constantly using the MUSAT, and a dagger would also be a suitable recement for the sword.

    Minhyuk saw Carron log back into the game after talking on the phone with a man named Logan. Carron immediately approached him and said, I gave him an offer, and he agreed. He will soon upload a video with the title <em>Careless! I lost to a MUSAT Expert! </em>on ZTube.

    Minhyuk was left in awe every time he saw Carron y with the media as if they were in his hands. Of course, he was doing this because they could maximize the effects of their advertisements.

    Understanding what Carron wanted, Minhyuk said, If I continue to win against people at Logans level with the nickname Captain Rice, then I will not have any challengers. But if Logan draws the people''s attention by saying he was careless, then the other yers of the Infinite Battle will flock and challenge me.

    Its the only natural oue. After all, the yers of the Infinite Battlefield will only be able to see Logans carelessness. And if they beat the guy who won against Logan easily, they could gain fame. Also, Your Majestys MUSAT will y a huge part here.

    The MUSAT?

    Yes. Theres this long-standing controversy among yers. <em>Who will have the upper hand? Real-life masters or PVP masters?</em>

    Ah. Minhyuk nodded.

    The veteran yers of Infinite Battlefield had been repeatedly told, <em>You cant put whatever you know into practice.</em> So, we will take this opportunity to charge forward and end the controversy.

    Minhyuk nodded in understanding. If it indeed was, as Carron said, then he no longer needed to worry about having no matches in the Infinite Battlefield.

    This will also end the controversies regarding your qualifications as the Supreme.

    Carron smiled wryly at Minhyuks words.

    There was one unrivaled existence in the Infinite Battlefield right now. This was none other than Alexander. After he became the first Eight Pirs ss, he fought in hundreds of Infinite Battlefields and had never lost.

    Because of this, plenty of people said that Minhyuk would quickly lose against Alexander if his titlesBattle God, Food God, and Beyond the Heavens Emperorwere taken out of consideration. Although Minhyuk did not care about their words, he still could not help but be conscious.

    Is that why you hid your name and changed your ss?

    Minhyuk nodded when Carron saw through his thoughts. If he yed as Captain Rice and not as Minhyuk, they would have a more significant impact once it was revealed that the two were the same people.

    Ah! Ill give you a gift after you finish the Infinite Battlefield.

    A gift? Is it something yummy?! Minhyuk looked at Carron with shining eyes.

    Carron turned silent momentarily before saying, Ththats not it.

    Hmm Minhyuk hummed, obviously disappointed.

    But youll soon get your hands on delicious ingredients, no?

    Minhyuk nodded. It was the truth. He saw an Assorted Pork Set being sold in the Infinite Store for just 10,000 Infinite Points. And it was no less than a God-grade ingredient. It was an overpowered ingredient that could permanently increase the consumers stats by roasting and eating it. But the most crucial part was the part that said that it tasted divine.

    Alright. Ill go and prepare your gift.

    Thanks, Carron.

    Carron, who went outside, looked back to where Minhyuk was. His gift would be finished after he collected all of the videos of Minhyuks fights in the Infinite Battlefield. He would not make it for a publicity stunt or an advertisement.

    Carron had directly experienced the heaviness of Minhyuk''s weight and the impact and influence that he had on the world. So, to show his admiration, he wanted to give back to him. And what could he give him? Of course, he could give him the thing that he was good at: a video.

    Whether the video will be uploaded depends entirely on Minhyuk.

    ***

    Everything was just as Carron said. When Minhyuk returned to the Infinite Battlefield, countless match requests flooded him. Among these requests, Minhyuk deliberately epted the ones from famous individuals. Following the name of this ce, an infinite number of battlefields were created as Minhyuk fought them one after another.

    <em>[You have won in the Infinite Battlefield!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 25 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[Your opponent has a record of 7 consecutive wins.]</em>

    <em>[Your opponent was a master of the Infinite Battlefield.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1,213 Infinite Points.]</em>

    <em>[You have won in the Infinite Battlefield!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 50 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[Your opponent 3 consecutive wins.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 603 Infinite Points.]</em>

    <em>[You have won in the Infinite Battlefield!]</em>

    <em>[...won in the Infinite Battlefield!]</em>

    <em>[...won in the Infinite Battlefield!]</em>

    Minhyuk''s winning streak continued.

    <em>[You have achieved ten consecutive wins!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1,000 Infinite Points.]</em>

    <em>[...achieved 20 consecutive wins!]</em>

    <em>[...gained 2,000 Infinite Points.]</em>

    <em>[...achieved 30 consecutive wins]</em>

    Many came to challenge Captain Rice, who appeared like a gust of wind on these battlefields. Those who came to challenge him after watching Logans video were all defeated. And now, as the new rookie, he was the talk of all the ZTubers in town.

    After that, Minhyuk decided to increase the number of opponents he would fight by a hundred. Then, he continued to sweep through everything like a whirlwind. Because of that, the number of match requests that came Minhyuks way increased significantly. Why? Because they all thought that there was no way they would lose to someone who was a hundred levels lower than them.

    <em>[...achieved 40 consecutive wins]</em>

    <em>[...achieved 50 consecutive wins]</em>

    <em>[...achieved 60 consecutive wins]</em>

    Minhyuk began fighting more than fifty people a day in the Infinite Battlefield. At the same time, the name Captain Rice appeared and soared in the real-time search rankings of various portal sites worldwide. Those who saw him fight immediately made a lot of noise.

    <em>[Captain Rice vs. Alexander. Who do you guys think will win?]</em>

    <em>[Alexander.]</em>

    <em>[No one can keep up with the Weapon Master.]</em>

    <em>[Alexander has fought and won more than 500 matches in a row. What he achieved is literally a legend, and it will not be broken in the future.]</em>

    <em>[Then, Food God vs. Captain Rice. Who will win?]</em>

    <em>[To be honest, the Food God is too strong because he has his ss, empire, and friends.]</em>

    <em>[Hes strong. But I think its impossible to deal with Alexander regarding PVP. Alexander alone can handle dozens of weapons.]</em>

    <em>[No. Were talking about Food God vs. Captain Rice. So, who?]</em>

    <em>[But dont you think the Food God will win? Hes an expert in kendo.]</em>

    <em>[Kendo cant be used in real life. MUSAT will win. Lol]</em>

    <em>[Assuming theyre on the same level, I think it will be Captain Rice. But I wonder who Captain Rice is. Is he a nonmissioned UDT officer?]</em>

    <em>[Captain Rice is not revealing his identity because he is currently one of the active officers of the UDT. Yep, yep.]</em>

    <em>[Where did you get that info?]</em>

    <em>[In my head.]</em>

    <em>[...?]</em>

    The thought of Minhyuk as Captain Rice did not even cross the people''s minds. This was because they had yet to see Minhyuk use MUSAT.

    Minhyuk didn''t have to use a dagger since he was both the Food God and the Battle God. After all, most of his skills were geared toward a sword. But now? He was using MUSAT in the Infinite Battlefield and showed explosive prowess and skill.

    It took Minhyuk only a short time to reach the milestone of 200 consecutive wins. He was delighted to see the thick Infinite Points he had umted.

    <em>If I can gather 10,000 Infinite Points, then I will be able to eat the Assorted Pork Set!</em> Minhyuk thought as he increased his pace.

    At the same time in Joy Co. Ltd.

    President Kang Taehoon said, Lets ensure we are all fully prepared for the Infinite Battles that will start in thirty minutes.

    The events for the Infinite Battlefield, events that many viewers would enjoy, were about to begin.

    ***

    Today would mark Alexanders 600th consecutive win in the Infinite Battlefield. As of now, he had umted around 910,000 Infinite Points.

    <em>If I can collect 90,000 more, I can unlock the Weapon Masters additional skills.</em>

    Alexander participated in the Infinite Battlefield mainly because of the Weapon Masters skills. After he achieved 100 consecutive wins, he acquired one strong skill. Then, the requirements for the acquisition of the second skill appeared immediately.

    The requirement for acquiring the second skill was umting 1,000,000 Infinite Points in the Infinite Battlefield. The number was staggeringly high, and people would say it was crazy if they heard the requirement. Fighting was no problem. The problem was that the number of matches that Alexander fought in per day had significantly reduced since he started.

    <em>[You have a match! Please check your opponent for the match!]</em>

    Someone finally epted his matching request! Alexander immediately checked the information of his opponent.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Nickname</em></strong><em>: Captain Rice</em>

    <strong><em>Matches</em></strong><em>: 200 </em><strong><em>Wins</em></strong><em>: 200 </em><strong><em>Losses</em></strong><em>: 0</em>

    <strong><em>Bet Amount</em></strong><em>: 50 tinum</em>

    <strong><em>ss</em></strong><em>: Assassin. Level 441]</em>

    1. Multi UDT/SEAL Assault Tactics, closebat tactics trained and used by the UDT/SEAL and the Korean Navy

    2. Underwater Demolition Team

 Chapter 942

    Chapter 942

    Alexander did not like browsing the inte or watching TV. He had already set his goals and would rather put the time he spent on these activities into helping him reach his goal of reaching a higher ce in Athenae. But even Alexander knew about Captain Rice, the hottest issue in the Infinite Battlefield.

    <em>¡®They have been talking all about this in the whispers.¡¯</em>

    As one of Athenae¡¯s top figures, Alexander often talked with the other rankers, who told him about Captain Rice.

    <em>¡®He has never lost once, just like you. And he has won a hundred consecutive matches in a row.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He¡¯s going to reach 200 consecutive wins soon.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Because he became famous on Ztube, the match requests that came his way are never ending even though he had hidden his character name under a nickname.¡¯</em>

    Alexander fully understood how a never-ending stream of match requests came the man¡¯s way.

    From what he had heard, Captain Rice matches were set at Level 300~400 on average. This was probably because the average level of Athenae yers was around Level 320. Finding a game would be easy since there were so many yers at that level. Based on what the others told him, Captain Rice would increase the levels of his matches by 50~150 immediately if he could not find a match.

    <em>¡®If I defeat a yer who has won 200 consecutive matches in a row, then I will be able to obtain at least 150,000 Infinite Points.¡¯</em>

    Alexander was the only person who achieved 200 consecutive victories in the Infinite Battlefield. And right now, it seemed like his opponent had broken that record.

    The moment Alexander approved of the match, a bright light shed, and Captain Rice appeared in front of him. The man was as tall as Alexander, and his eyes were only visible through the ck mask that covered his face.

    ***

    Everything was a coincidence. Minhyuk had been spinning for a random match when the notification that he could fight a match with Alexander popped up.

    <em>[Alexander holds a record in the Infinite Battlefield!]</em>

    <em>[If you win the battle against Alexander, you will obtain 500,000 Infinite Points, a +20 increase in all stats, and 1,000,000,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[If you win the battle against Alexander, you can obtain a title.]</em>

    <em>[If you win the battle against Alexander, you will earn an additional 1,000,000 tinum on top of the bet amount that you have ced.]</em>

    When Minhyuk appeared, he saw Alexander with a crossbow fastened on his forearm, a spear hanging on his back, a sword in his hand, and a dagger tied to his waist.

    <em>¡®This is why I need to try even though I¡¯m unsure if I can win.¡¯</em>

    For Alexander, who had won 500 consecutive matches, there should have been no more challengersing to find him. But the rewards were highly ridiculous. If Minhyuk won this battle against Alexander, he could quickly obtain God-grade ingredients for himself.

    Minhyuk¡¯s heart trembled in nervousness. But there was also a tiny bit of delight present there.

    <em>¡®We¡¯re equals.¡¯</em>

    Right now, Alexander and Minhyuk were standing on equal ground.

    Of course, Alexander¡¯s Weapon Master¡¯s skills were extremely overpowered. But Minhyuk¡¯s Food God skills, which were transformed into assassin skills, were also highly overpowered. To put it simply, the two would fight a battle of abilities.

    <em>[The Infinite Battlefield begins!]</em>

    Minhyuk looked at Alexander calmly as he listened to the notification. Everything was currently being recorded. Why? Because Carron had told him to make it a habit to record everything whenever he connected to Athenae.

    ¨C<em>Because I will definitely have a use for it one way or another.</em>

    Even though Minhyuk fought in countless battlefields here as Captain Rice, he still had not revealed the entirety of his powers. As mentioned before, many of his skills had been transformed into the skills of an assassin, which was also why no one had guessed it was him.

    While he stared at Alexander, the man immediately made a move.

    <em>Fwoosh¨C Fwoosh, fwoosh¨C Fwoosh¨C</em>

    Alexander waved his hands, and small bolts shot out from the crossbow fastened to one of his arms toward Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®This is crazy¡­!¡¯ </em>Minhyuk was left in shock.

    There were two decisive reasons yers ignored the crossbow even though it could continuously shoot bolts. The first reason was because it had low uracy, and the second was that it could only deal 60%~70% damagepared to the bow and arrow.

    But Alexander¡¯s crossbow was different. Its bolts flew precisely toward Minhyuk¡¯s neck.

    <em>ng¨C!</em>

    The worst part? It continuously fired bolts that attacked Minhyuk¡¯s vital points.

    <em>ng, ng, ng, ng, ng¨C!</em>

    <em>¡®Did he reach mastery in the crossbow? No. Is it higher?¡¯</em>

    The Weapon Master was the master of all weapons. He could handle any weapon. This time, a rope stretched out of Alexander¡¯s hands and shot toward Minhyuk. But Minhyuk moved fast. He quickly avoided the ropes aiming for his ankles.

    ¡°Shadow Steps.¡±

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk, who used the assassin version of Like the Wind, left only an afterimage as he disappeared in a sh. But just like a ghost, Alexander appeared falling in the sky above him.

    ¡°Weapon Attack.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes widened when he saw a gigantic axe with several daggers swinging down at his head. That was not all. There were also several bolts flying alongside them.

    <em>¡®What? Isn¡¯t this too overpowered¡­?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had heard of Alexander¡¯s reputation as the Weapon Master. But this was his first time actually fighting him.

    <em>¡®I can¡¯t avoid this,¡¯</em> Minhyuk thought, moving to block the axe, which would cause him the greatest damage.

    <em>aaaaaaaaang¨C!</em>

    A loud sound rang loudly as Minhyuk deflected the axe away. He let a sword attack his nks, which allowed him to roll to the side and avoid most of the attacks that came his way.

    Alexander watched the man in awe. <em>¡®That¡¯s amazing.¡¯</em>

    This was the first time he had seen a yer reduce the damage caused by Weapon Explosion to such a low level.

    <em>¡®What if I was in his position?¡¯</em> Alexander thought. However, he was unsure if he could do it as easily as the man before him.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s counter-attacking.¡¯</em>

    The Food God¡¯s biggest advantage was his cooking buffs. After being transformed into an assassin¡¯s skill, its power was reduced by half. In exchange, it could be activated right away without using any ingredients or cooking.

    <em>[Assassin¡¯s Blessings.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 16%.]</em>

    <em>[All of your attack powers have increased by 19%.]</em>

    <em>[All of your defensive powers have increased by 20%.]</em>

    <em>[Your speed has increased by 25%.]</em>

    Immediately after that, Minhyuk used his greatest secret skill.

    <em>¡®Dual Sword Technique.¡¯</em>

    <em>[Quick Dagger Technique.]</em>

    <em>[Your dagger¡¯s speed has doubled.]</em>

    <em>[If you cast a skill, its effects would double.]</em>

    The Dual Sword Technique was modified to fit an assassin. Now, he did not need to wield two daggers. Minhyuk only needed to swing one dagger, and it would disy twice its speed and effects. The fact that the dagger¡¯s speed could double for an assassin, who could already move and swing his dagger at a breakneck pace, was already unusual. And it was not only that. Even Minhyuk¡¯s speed had significantly increased.

    <em>Boooooom¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk kicked the ground and shot forward.

    <em>Vwoooooooooong¨C!</em>

    At the same time, a huge cannon appeared right in front of Alexander and fired at him. However, Minhyuk simply twisted his body to avoid the attack. Of course, he would not let the opportunity slip by. Hundreds of daggers appeared around his body.

    <em>¡®Sword of Tempest.¡¯</em>

    The Sword of Tempest changed into daggers, which moved to protect Minhyuk and attack his opponents. Seeing this scene, Alexander tried to raise his crossbow and shoot.

    ¡°Shadow Steps.¡±

    With a whisper, Minhyuk quickly arrived in front of Alexander.

    ¡°...¡±

    The two made eye contact. The hundreds of daggers surrounding Minhyuk pointed at Alexander while he disyed a short and straightforward dagger technique.

    <em>Swooooosh¨C</em>

    Minhyuk caught the dagger he threw in the air and held it in reverse, the sharp side of its de aiming for Alexander¡¯s neck.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    He immediately swung his dagger and targeted Alexander¡¯s bottom half, abdomen, and nks. Alexander tried to escape quickly, but Minhyuk held on to his wrists.

    ¡°...!¡±

    Minhyuk dragged Alexander back with all his might as he cast the <em>Sword of Carnage.</em>

    ¡°Gnawing Assassination.¡±

    The dagger in Minhyuk¡¯s hands moved in a sh of light and stabbed Alexander¡¯s body more than sixty times in a row.

    <em>Stab¨C Stab, stab, stab, stab¨C stab, stab, stab¨C!</em>

    <em>Stab, stab! Stab!</em>

    Alexander was dumbfounded when he realized he could not avoid or stop the attack. However, Alexander stood at the top, too. He raised his other hand and grabbed Minhyuk¡¯s wrist.

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°Weapon Explosion.¡±

    <em>Dididididi¨C</em>

    The spear on Alexander¡¯s back pulled itself out and shot toward Minhyuk.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang¨C!</em>

    Of course, that was just the beginning. Dozens of weapons, like daggers, spears, maces, swords, dragon cannon artillery shells, arrows, and many more, jumped out of Alexander¡¯s body and shot toward Minhyuk.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    Like the spear, everything blew up and exploded in just one second.

    If Minhyuk had the Sword of Carnage, then Alexander had the Weapon Explosion. The best part about Alexander¡¯s skill was that it did not cause damage to the skill user.

    Alexander took advantage of the opportunity presented to him right after the explosions ended. He swiftly summoned a sword while calcting the situation swiftly. He thought, <em>¡®His dagger will not be able to reach me at this range.¡¯</em>

    Then, he swung his sword at Minhyuk¡¯s neck.

    <em>¡®I won¡­¡¯</em>

    When Alexander was confident of his victory, the dagger in Minhyuk¡¯s hand changed into a sword.

    As mentioned before, yers could freely change the weapon they wielded inside the Infinite Battlefield. However, if they chose to change their weapon into something other than the weapon they used, its effects would not increase. This is why most yers viewed this negatively and would opt not to change their weapons.

    <em>aaaaaaang¨C!</em>

    Alexander¡¯s sword was blocked.

    ¡°...!¡±

    <em>ng! ng, ng, ng, ng, ng¨C ng!</em>

    Captain Rice¡¯s sword, which did not eveng behind his dagger, moved swiftly and shed repeatedly with Alexander¡¯s sword.

    Alexander¡¯s eyes grew wider and wider as they continued to fight. In the end, he said, ¡°You¡­!¡±

    ¡°...Sorry.¡±

    Alexander was no fool. There was only one yer in Athenae capable of disying this level of swordsmanship. Some might say that Minhyuk was only strong because he was the Food God, the Battle God, and the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor. However, the true rankers knew full well that he was truly the best of the best.

    Alexander and Minhyuk quickly pulled away from each other.

    After realizing who his opponent was, Alexander quickly checked his condition.

    <em>¡®My HP has decreased by almost 50%...?¡¯</em>

    Each of the attacks that Alexander hadnded could be considered fatal. However, between the two, the one who received more damage was Alexander. Why? Because the amount of damage that Minhyuk could deal was beyond anyone¡¯s imagination.

    <em>¡®MUSAT, huh? I have to keep a constant eye out.¡¯</em>

    Alexander had also practiced various martial arts in reality. From what he had heard, Korea''s MUSAT was a closebat technique that applied Krav Maga¡¯s core. This meant that it was highly murderous and lethal, even more so because the one using the technique was Minhyuk<em>.</em>

    After realizing that his opponent was Minhyuk, Alexander decided to go all out. He knew he would never win against this opponent if he tried to hide and save something.

    <em>¡®Transcending Limits.¡¯</em>

    <em>[The Weapon Master¡¯s Transcending Limits has been activated!]</em>

    <em>[Your Sword Mastery has gone beyond Level 9!]</em>

    <em>[Your Sword Mastery¡¯s skill level has reached MAX!]</em>

    <em>[Your Sword Mastery has transcended its limits and reached Level 10!]</em>

    <em>[Your Sword Mastery has transcended its limits and reached Level 11!]</em>

    <em>[Your Sword Mastery¡­]</em>

    <em>[Your Sword Mastery¡­]</em>

    <em>[Your Sword Mastery has reached Level 27!]</em>

    In one breath, Alexander¡¯s Sword Mastery reached Level 27. Now, his sword could deal huge damage and have a speed that would put pressure on Minhyuk. But even so, his odds were still unknown.

    <em>¡®All of Minhyuk¡¯s attack skills are superb.¡¯</em>

    And the most troublesome part? He did not know when or how the skills would strike him since they had been transformed into an assassin¡¯s skill.

    The two shed a smile as they looked at each other. Alexander said, ¡°This is fun.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. You¡¯re right, Alexander. You¡¯re powerful.¡±

    The two were of the same mind, thinking it was fun to fight a battle filled with nerve-wracking tension. Indeed, there would always be this inexplicable thrill whenever two unrivaled beings in Athenae fought and shed.

    While the two kept each other in check, a series of notifications rang in their ears.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Surprise Event</em></strong><em>: Infinite Battles has started!]</em>

    <em>[yers of the Infinite Battlefield who have won ten consecutive matches will be </em><strong><em>Defenders</em></strong><em>, while those who challenge them will be </em><strong><em>Challengers</em></strong><em>!]</em>

    <em>[In the Infinite Battles, you willpete with two opponents afterpeting and winning against one opponent!]</em>

    <em>[In the Infinite Battles, afterpeting and winning against two opponents, you will then proceed topete with four opponents!]</em>

    <em>[In the Infinite Battles, afterpeting and winning against four opponents, you will thenpete with eight opponents¡­!]</em>

    <em>[In the Infinite Battles¡­]</em>

    <em>[In the Infinite Battles¡­]</em>

    <em>[In the Infinite Battles¡­]</em>

    <em>[In the Infinite Battles¡­]</em>

    <em>[The Defender will earn 50 Infinite Points with every challenger they defeat.]</em>

    <em>[This is an Infinite Battlefield Event; the broadcast will begin immediately after you approve and consent.]</em>

    Alexander and Minhyuk looked at each other. They both understood the rules of the event. <em>1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128. </em>The number of their challengers would increase in this manner.

    <em>[The Infinite Battlefield¡¯s MVP will receive 500,000 Infinite Points!]</em>

    <em>[The Infinite Battlefield¡¯s MVP will receive 100,000 tinum!]</em>

    <em>[The Infinite Battlefield¡¯s MVP will receive a title!]</em>

    The two looked at each other once again before giving their approval. And just like the notification said, the broadcast immediately started.

    Joy Co. Ltd. was not stupid. They knew how to attract most viewers to their broadcast. When the Infinite Battles¡¯ broadcast started, they transmitted the video of Alexander and Captain Rice, the rapidly emerging powerhouse of the Infinite Battlefield, side by side. Because of that, their viewership ratings soared to the skies.

 Chapter 943

    Chapter 943

    Most of the Athenae yers have participated in or encountered the Infinite Battlefield at least once in their entire gamey. There were even times when some of them would disappear for a few days so that they could y in the Infinite Battlefield.

    Why was the yers¡¯ interest in the Infinite Battlefield so high? This was mainly because of the thrill they could get from it. Fighting against someone at the same level would be thrilling and allow them to know and learn how good they werepared to others. There was also the fact that they could gain wealth the more they participated in matches in the Infinite Battlefield. After all, they could obtain double the amount they betted if they won. These were also a part of why Captain Rice¡¯s videos uploaded on ZTube became such a huge hit.

    The one bearing the name of the strongest in the Infinite Battlefield was Alexander. No one did not know about Alexander, the one who had never been defeated. He participated in 500 matches and won all 500 of them. Although Alexander did not own an empire like Minhyuk, some people imed that he alone could devour andy several small kingdoms to waste.

    All the yers were curious: ¡®Will we be able to see Alexander¡¯s winning streak be broken?¡¯ The one with the highest probability of making this happen was Captain Rice. After all, he had won 200 matches in a row, just like Alexander.

    Many waited and hoped Alexander and Captain Rice would fight on the battlefield once. However, even if the two matched and fought, they had the right to decide whether to publish their match.

    The people found it a pity that they would not be able to see the battle between the two, even if they fought. Theymented that they would only be able to see the results.

    <em>[The </em><strong><em>Event</em></strong><em>: Infinite Battles has started in the Infinite Battlefield!]</em>

    When the notification rang, several broadcasting stations had signed a contract with Joy Co. Ltd. before ZTube began broadcasting. On their screens, they saw Alexander and Captain Rice, the two people that they longed to see fighting, appear facing each other. There were even apparent signs of a fierce battle before the broadcast started.

    <em>[Wow, shit! Look over there! Alexander and Captain Rice must have fought against each other!]</em><em>[Is it over? Did they determine who won and who lost?!]</em>

    <em>[Nope. It looks like they¡¯re going to participate in the Infinite Battles?]</em>

    <em>[OMG! This is going to be freaking amazing!]</em>

    <em>[Yep, yep! I wonder how many Alexander and Captain Rice can defeat by themselves?]</em>

    For yers, the Infinite Battles was like a fresh take on fighting. As they continued to fight and win against their opponents, the number of yers they had to deal with would double. Since it depended on how many one defeated, they could fight against 10,000 or even 1,000,000 opponents. Of course, everyone was aware that it was an impossible number. Even so, there was no harm in dreaming.

    Just like that, word of mouth spread, and viewers began to flock to watch the broadcast of the Infinite Battles, in which Alexander and Captain Rice duke it out and fight nonstop.

    ***

    Alexander and Minhyuk both looked quite disappointed.

    Although they had yet to start and were yet to determine who the winner or the loser was, they could tell that the rewards from the event that Joy Co. Ltd. had prepared were too unconventional. They would obtain fifty Infinite Points for every Infinite Battle challenger they defeated. Not only that, if they became the MVP, they would also be able to get 500,000 Infinite Points and 100,000 tinum.

    Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°Alexander, shall we see who could defeat more?¡±

    ¡°...Interesting.¡±

    They did not need to finish their battle to determine the winner or the loser. All they needed to do was defeat more enemies.

    The two disappeared in a sh of light and appeared in a new ce.

    <em>[You will now be transferred to the Infinite Battles¡¯ Combat Zone!]</em>

    Minhyuk quickly looked around. Thebat zone was a barren and deste field surrounded byrge, transparent walls in all directions. On the other side of the transparent walls were Alexander and the other yers, who had won ten consecutive matches in the Infinite Battlefield and were now participating as the <em>defenders</em> in the Infinite Battles.

    ¡°Were they aiming for this?¡±

    ¡°They are. 100%.¡±

    They were talking about the fact that Minhyuk and Alexander appeared in the same ce and were standing right next to each other. They were sure that this was what Joy Co. Ltd. aimed for. Thepany held events to entice yers who had left the game toe back and recruit new yers. Putting Minhyuk and Alexander side by side was an intentional move since they would create the hottest issue.

    <em>[Alexander and Captain Rice are in the same area!]</em>

    <em>[This is going to be interesting¡­]</em>

    <em>[OMG¡­]</em>

    <em>[Joy Co. Ltd. I love you!!!]</em>

    And just like they expected, the viewers¡¯ response to their arrangements was hot!

    <em>[The Infinite Battles are starting!]</em>

    Immediately after that, a light shed in front of Minhyuk, revealing the presence of a yer. The same happened for Alexander and the other yers who appeared earlier. The moment the opponents appeared, Alexander and Minhyuk moved.

    After circling the opposing yer, Minhyuk swiftly knocked their Achilles¡¯ heel.

    ¡°Urk!¡±

    Minhyuk pulled him by the ankle, effectively knocking him to the ground. Then, he stabbed the opponent in the chest once before shing their throat.

    ¡°Urk! Ack! Ugh! Y- You¡¯re too much¨C¡±

    It only took a second for the first yer to disappear. When Minhyuk turned around, he saw that the yer who had appeared before Alexander had also been forced to log out and disappear.

    <em>[You have defeated one opponent!]</em>

    <em>[Summoning two opponents!]</em>

    At the same time, two people¨Cone mage and one swordsman¨Cappeared in front of Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk leaped forward and mmed his knee on the mage¡¯s chest, stopping him from finishing his casting.

    ¡°Ugh!¡± The mage groaned as Minhyuk¡¯s dagger stabbed him swiftly and quickly all over his body.

    He easily dodged the swordsman, who attacked him on the side. Then, he raised his hand and stabbed the man on his nks.

    <em>Stab¨C!</em>

    The power of <em>Destruction</em>, a passive that could strike the enemy with sixteen thick and bloody lightning bolts in a row, appeared as an assassin¡¯s skill. One stab turned to sixteen shes that mutted and forced the swordsman to log out.

    <em>[...2 opponents!]</em>

    <em>[Summoning 4¡­]</em>

    This time, four people appeared in front of Minhyuk. However, neither Minhyuk nor Alexander used any active skill to deal with them. Was it because they felt like their opponents were beneath them? Of course not.

    Even if Minhyuk and Alexander won against their opponents, their HP, MP, and skill cooldown would not reset. In other words, the defenders would get increasingly exhausted the more they won. And it was not only that. The number of their enemies would also continue to increase. This meant that they would have to reveal their skills sooner orter.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¨C!</em>

    ¡°Heup¡­!¡± Minhyuk groaned as his body was sent flying by a mage¡¯s Explosion.

    Seeing this, the mage¡¯s face immediately lit up. ¡°Quick! Beat him up!¡±

    It seemed difficult to deal with four yers all at once without using any skills. Of course, this was only on the general audience¡¯s standards.

    Minhyuk, who was flying in the air, triggered Shadow Steps. Although Minhyuk suffered some damage, it was not serious, thanks to the afterimage left behind by his movement skill. He also created another variable after he stabbed the mage with his dagger. This variable was none other than the ughterer¡¯s Absorption. Transformed into an assassin¡¯s skill, it now could absorb the blood of the opponent that his dagger had stabbed into and use it to treat his injuries.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¨C!</em>

    His passive skill Explosion, which was also transformed, gained a new form. The body of the mage that Minhyuk stabbed exploded, sweeping the surrounding area.

    Now, eight enemies were standing in front of both Alexander and Captain Rice. The speed at which they summoned enemies was almost neck to neck.

    <em>[This is nuts. They¡¯re all on the same level, but¡­ How can there be such a huge difference?]</em>

    <em>[They might be on the same level, but rankers are in an entirely different realm. Even though their levels were lowered, rankers generally have higher stats, greater titles, and better skills than others.]</em>

    <em>[Above, then you¡¯re saying that they can deal with that much because they are rankers?]</em>

    <em>[Sry.]</em>

    As the viewers continued to watch the broadcast, they slowly realized that a truly skilled powerhouse might be able to deal with ten opponents at once.

    <em>[You have defeated 32 opponents!]</em>

    <em>[Summoning 64 opponents!]</em>

    After winning against sixteen and thirty-two opponents, they have now reached sixty-four opponents. Minhyuk pulled his mask up higher. He was not fighting without using any skills at all. He was fighting by mixing skills with quick cooldowns and basic attacks. Minhyuk took a deep breath after dealing with sixty-four opponents with just two of his skills.

    <em>[You have defeated 64 opponents!]</em>

    <em>[Summoning 128 opponents!]</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    Minhyuk could tell that he had used the fewest skills to deal with his opponents up until this point.

    Meanwhile, the viewers from all over the world felt a shudder run down their spines.

    <em>[So cool¡­]</em>

    That was the only word that came to them to describe what they were feeling when they saw one lone assassin raise his mask while being surrounded by 128 opponents.

    Minhyuk charged toward his enemies.

    <em>Stab¨C!</em>

    <em>Boooooooom¨C!</em>

    Explosion¡¯s power triggered and devoured the area just as several arrows shot through Minhyuk¡¯s back. Minhyuk hurriedly cut the arrows, pulling one in the process and using it to stab the neck of one of the knights next to him. Then, he continued to move around them like the embodiment of the assassin, focusing only on the <em>necks</em> of his enemies.

    <em>ng¨C ng, ng, ng¨C sh, sh¨C sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    The world went wild at the sight of an assassin moving at lightning speed and shing the necks of his opponents one after another.

    What about the damage he was incurring and the skills attacking him? The others only saw Minhyuk wearing light, thin ck clothes and a mask. But the truth was different. Minhyuk had the Transcendental¡¯s Armor equipped now. Although its defensive power had been lowered to match its current level, it still had more than twice the defensive power that ordinary yers had.

    <em>Stab¨C!</em>

    Of course, Minhyuk would also refill his declining HP using the ughterer¡¯s Absorption from time to time as he stabbed his dagger into the hearts of his enemies.

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°K- Keuaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaarghhh!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s enemies continued to drop to the ground while grabbing their necks. It did not take too long for thements, which had turned speechless, to be noisy again.

    Alexander also disyed a pattern simr to Minhyuk''s. But between the two, it was the newly emerging Captain Rice who the people deemed as the strongest both in control and skills in reality. Everyone gulped dryly as they watched Captain Rice cut the throats of his enemies as he passed by them. It was just like the scene in the movies.

    After 128 people fell, Minhyuk said, ¡°Next.¡±

    Immediately after his word fell, 256 people were summoned. Like the previous opponents, they bombarded Minhyuk with attacks to eat away at his HP. However, the moment he came near them, it was clear that they were no match for Minhyuk.

    What were the strengths and advantages of Minhyuk¡¯s original ss? Cooking buffs. And these cooking buffs had been converted and transformed into a variety of assassin buffs. Even though his level was lowered to Level 400, his strength was on par with Level 500 yers, thanks to his buffs alone. There were also the artifacts he had equipped and the stats, which were much higher than ordinary Level 400 yers, that he had built early on in the game, contributing to his power.

    ¡°Next,¡± Minhyuk said after knocking down and eliminating 256 enemies.

    <em>[Crazy¡­]</em>

    One of the viewers who heard him could not help but voice out.

    Minhyuk charged at the 512 enemies and went on a rampage. He looked like a lion left amidst a flock of sheep as he cut their throats and forced them to log out. And Alexander? He was also moving at a pace simr to his own.

    Minhyuk looked coldly at thest of the 512 enemies and stabbed him in the heart with his dagger.

    Many people were moring and saying that between him and Alexander, it was Alexander who would have the upper hand when it came to individual skills. This was partly because he had the enthusiastic support of the Americans and partly because he was abat-ss yer.

    This was a considerable pressure and burden to Minhyuk, the first emperor and yer to build an empire. There was even a time when he thought that he wanted to have a properpetition with the man every time he watched Alexander¡¯s videos. He wanted to break the man and receive everyone¡¯s attention.

    ¡°Next.¡±

    One thousand and twenty-four. This was the overwhelming number of enemies that appeared and stared at Minhyuk.

    <em>Swooooooosh¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk threw his dagger toward the 1,024 enemies that appeared in front of him. The dagger, which shone a dark light, carried the skill Supreme Overlord¡¯s Technique. The AOE attack skill Supreme Overlord¡¯s Technique transformed and turned into tens of thousands of daggers, rotating fiercely and tearing through the 1,024 enemies like frail papers.

    <em>¡®There is only one sky epassing the world. And that sky will be me.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk looked coldly at his fallen enemies and said, ¡°Next.¡±

 Chapter 944

    Chapter 944

    Joy Co. Ltd.

    The executives did not exchange words for a long time as they focused on the massive screen before them.

    <em>Gulp¨C</em>

    The only sound in the room was someone gulping their saliva. That was just how eye-catching the scene being disyed on their screen was.

    <em>[Next.]</em>

    It was just one skill. But with that single AOE attack skill that sent thousands of daggers spinning fiercely, all 1,024 enemies died and disappeared.

    Meanwhile, Team Leader Park Minggyu, who had an earphone plugged into one of his ears, picked up his phone and checked the viewers'' reaction to the broadcast.

    <em>[Guys! You can breathe now!]</em>

    <em>[Fwaaaaaa! Wow. I forgot to breathe while I was watching.]</em><em>[+2222]</em>

    <em>[+3333]</em>

    <em>[He fought against as many opponents as he could without using much skill, and then he made more than 1,000 people disappear all at once.]</em>

    <em>[What¡¯s even more surprising is that Captain Rice and Alexander moved at almost the same speed. They only have around a 10 to 30-second difference.]</em>

    <em>[This is interesting! This is really freaking amazing!]</em>

    <em>[Who in the world is Captain Rice?]</em>

    <em>[He¡¯s definitely an unofficial ranker. Wow, there¡¯s another ranker that¡¯s on par with Alexander!]</em>

    <em>[This is wild! I¡¯m so d I was born at this age. I can¡¯t believe we can watch Alexander and Captain Rice¡¯s battles on video!]</em>

    Team Leader Park pulled out the earphones and said, ¡°The responses are great. ATV Broadcasting Station¡¯s current viewership rating has exceeded 45%. Even the video we uploaded of Alexander and Captain Rice¨Cno, of Minhyuk¨Con ZTube is recording a ridiculously high number of views.¡±

    Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s move was brilliant. They broadcasted the videos of all yers participating in the Infinite Battles together on one massive screen on game channels on TV. As time passed by, the number of Infinite Battle Defenders would decrease.

    Once the number of defenders had decreased to ten, they immediately broadcast their videos on ZTube. This allowed the viewers to watch the battle of the yer they wanted to see among the remaining ten participants.

    Meanwhile, Alexander and Minhyuk¡¯s videos were broadcast on the same screen. But the most surprising part was that Alexander and Captain Rice¡¯s Infinite Battles live video received almost 97.4% of the views while the rest watched the other videos.

    That was right. Almost everyone had tuned in to watch how the two fought and battled against countless opponents.

    ¡°I did not expect it to be this huge.¡± President Kang Taehoon was genuinely surprised and impressed.

    But the most crucial takeaway was that the event Joy Co. Ltd. prepared this time was still ongoing. The ten defenders with the most defeated opponents would immediately be sent to participate in the Battle of the Stars. Unlike the Infinite Battles, the Battle of the Stars would have all ten yers together.

    ¡°The ten remaining yers would face all the challengers on the same battlefield.¡±

    The thought alone was thrilling.

    Then, President Kang Taehoon chuckled. ¡°Everyone would pass out once they learned that Captain Rice is Minhyuk.¡±

    ***

    After forcing to log out 1,024 people all at once, Minhyuk said, ¡°Next.¡± before ncing at Alexander by the side.

    Alexander seemed to share Minhyuk''s thoughts that dealing with more than 1,000 people with little to no skill use was impossible. Like Minhyuk, he had also used a single skill to wipe out the 1,024 enemies before him.

    Then, 2,048 people appeared. If it were someone else, they would have already felt numb just by facing 2,048 enemies. Most of these challengers had also tuned in on their broadcast to monitor the current situation on the battlefield. They knew they should not hesitate to give their all when faced with Captain Rice or Alexander.

    It took only a short time for Minhyuk to be bombarded by attack skills. He used Shadow Steps to narrow the distance between himself and his enemies and to avoid the attacksing his way. Everyone was shocked to see Minhyuk still able to narrow the distance between them despite the barrage of skillsing his way.

    Minhyuk finally stood in front of his enemies and used the Intangible Sword. At that moment, a dagger flew toward the 2,048 enemies. The yers snickered when they saw a single dagger flying their way.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    The yers standing in the ces that the dagger passed by were either stabbed or cut down so suddenly. Everyone looked confused by this unidentified and mysterious power that began to take them down.

    The Intangible Sword unleashed hundreds of invisible sword lights and ignored the enemies¡¯ defenses. This same Intangible Sword was transformed into an assassin¡¯s skill and took down over 1,000 yers who had gathered together in one go.

    Minhyuk once again picked up his pace and continued to log out the yers in front of him. He dealt with the yers surrounding him solely with the power of Explosion. He believed it was better to deal with as many enemies as possible using a single skill at the beginning and deal with the rest with his strength and passive skills.

    ¡°Haa¡­ Haa¡­¡± Minhyuk started to gasp as time continued to pass by. He, who had ughtered countless enemies alone, almost stumbled on his feet when he finally stabbed the final yer in the chest with his dagger. But he still said, ¡°Next.¡±

    As soon as his word fell, 4,096 yers appeared. Now, he had to deal with almost 5,000 enemies. Minhyuk flew to the skies, swapping his dagger and throwing it at the center of the group of yers.

    <em>Crack¨C</em>

    An unknown golden dagger stabbed straight into the ground. This dagger was none other than the Continent Destroyer Sword. Why was it in the form of a dagger? Because once a weapon was transformed, it would remain in that form whenever its owner was inside the Infinite Battlefield.

    Then, with the Continent Destroyer Sword at the center, a violent earthquake spread and wreaked havoc. The Continent Destroyer was the AOE attack skill attached to the Continent Destroyer Sword, and it released hot moltenva to devour a considerable area.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¨C!</em>

    The power of the Continent Destroyer, in the form of flowing hotva, transformed intova explosions that erupted from deep within the ground and devoured Minhyuk¡¯s enemies. The Continent Destroyer¡¯s power alone forced all 4,096 enemies to log out.

    ¡°Next.¡±

    <em>[You have defeated 4,096 opponents!]</em>

    <em>[Summoning 8,192 opponents!]</em>

    Minhyuk slumped down as he tried to catch his breath. The new yers who have appeared on the battlefield gained hope when they saw the sight.

    ¡°He¡¯s exhausted!¡±

    ¡°We can win against him!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s gooooooo!!!¡±

    But then, at that moment, they saw a ck dagger flying toward them.

    <em>Swoooooooosh¨C</em>

    Everyone could still remember this skill clearly. This was the very same skill that sent thousands of fiercely spinning daggers that tore apart and made 1,024 people disappear without a trace.

    ¡°...This is impossible!¡±

    They could not believe this power was activated again, even though only less than twenty minutes had passed.

    <em>Rip, rip, rip, rip, rip, rip¨C!</em>

    All 8,192 yers were forced to log out without a trace.

    ¡°Next.¡±

    <em>[You have defeated 8,192 opponents!]</em>

    <em>[Summoning 16,384 opponents!]</em>

    Minhyuk, with renewed vigor, charged toward the new enemies who appeared before him.

    ***

    Alexander also had to deal with 16,834 opponents alone. Based on his estimates, several high-level yers should also be among the enemies.

    Turning to look at his side, he saw Minhyuk leaping to the skies and falling in the middle of the enemy ranks while unleashing his skill. The skill sent daggers engulfed with zing mes toward the ground and unleashed explosions that swept away the area around him. The number of daggers covered with fire and explosions that were enough to devour and ughter tens of thousands of people was too much.

    <em>¡®Is that the Sword of Absolute Death?¡¯</em>

    That was Minhyuk¡¯s representative skill. Initially, it involved countless lightning bolts falling from the sky and simultaneously killing all the enemies around him.

    At this moment, Alexander realized: <em>¡®He¡¯s reaching his limits.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk''s taking out of his Sword of Absolute Death was a testament to this. However, Alexander also had few AOE attack skills left. Even so, he had a faint smile on his face.

    <em>¡®This should be the first time, no?¡¯</em>

    He still had a power that he had not revealed to anyone. His showing this power whilepeting with Minhyuk proved that he was also giving it his all. He wanted to use the skill to recognize Minhyuk¡¯s strength. That was just how outstanding and powerful hispetitor was.

    ¡°Weapon Corps,¡± Alexander said, exhaustion evident in his voice.

    At that moment, a sword was summoned and appeared right in front of him. The appearance of a gigantic greatsword and a pair of katanas followed it. Various weapons¨Cincluding crossbows, bows, iron maces, multiple types of spears, and many others¨Cappeared in front of Alexander with a sh of light. The weapons floated in the air and lined up neatly. This was the skill that Alexander had acquired after he had won 100 consecutive matches in the Infinite Battlefield.

    <em>[Please give us your orders.]</em>

    The enemy yers immediately grew cautious when they saw the weapons, which surprisingly possessed basic ego, pop out.

    Alexander looked at the weapons before him and said, ¡°ughter them.¡±

    <em>Fwooooooosh¨C!</em>

    One of the swords floating in front of him turned around and flew straight toward the heart of one of the yers. The bows nocked arrows, pulled their strings on their own, and eventually shot the hearts of the yers. The various types of spears also jumped to the sky and flew fiercely toward the other yers.

    Just like the troops of an army, the hundreds of weapons with egos of their own charged forward and ughtered the enemies.

    <em>¡®Now, it¡¯s only a matter of who willst longer.¡¯</em>

    It was no longer apetition of who hunted the enemies faster. Their situation had changed. They now needed tost as long as possible and kill as many yers as possible. The one with the most kills would win thepetition.

    Alexander¡¯s Weapon Corps was considered an overpowered and cheat-like skill because each weapon possessed the same attack and defensive power as a yer. The best part was that itsted one hour.

    Alexander smiled. Of course, he knew that Minhyuk was the Battle God¡¯s Descendant, and as such, he undoubtedly possessed several summoning skills.

    <em>¡®It will onlyst for a few minutes.¡¯</em>

    During the recent Session Ceremony, Minhyuk had summoned five unidentified soldiers. The soldiers were powerful and had enough power to pressure the gods. But from what Alexander could see, Minhyuk could only summon them for five minutes at most. And in these Infinite Battles, a short summoning time of five minutes would be of little help.

    <em>¡®If he genuinely has a summoning skill, it would be a different story. But as far as I know, Minhyuk doesn¡¯t have a skill like that.</em>

    Minhyuk had the advantage of being the emperor of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. However, that was not his ss. If Minhyuk could use his advantages as an emperor and summon his vassals, things would unfold in a different direction.

    Alexander was also very conscious of Minhyuk and had studied a lot of information and data about him. From what he recalled, Minhyuk could only summon his vassals using the Almonds of Subordinates. And they could only use consumables in the Infinite Battles if it was a particr case. So he would not be able to summon any of his vassals. In other words, the only advantage that Minhyuk had over everyone here was his advantage as the Food God.

    Alexander''s weapons took only a short time to force the more than 16,000 enemies to log out. Of course, Minhyuk had also moved on to the next level.

    <em>[You have defeated 16,384 opponents!]</em>

    <em>[Summoning 32,768 opponents!]</em>

    Over 30,000 opponents appeared before Alexander, who had already predicted his victory.

    ***

    Minhyuk continuously fought against more than 30,000 enemies. Although he was exhausted, he still had enough AOE attack skills left. However, he judged that there was a better time to use them.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¨C!</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡± Minhyuk screamed, his body flying away from the yers¡¯ overwhelming attacks.

    There were just too many enemies. Even though Minhyuk had the ughterer¡¯s Absorption with him, its recovery could not keep up with the damage he received.

    ¡°Haaa¡­ Haaa¡­¡± Minhyuk¡¯s breathing gradually grewbored.

    The yers immediately charged forward when they saw him staggering on his feet. The scene was enough to make cold sweat drip down anyone¡¯s back.

    <em>[Good job Captain Rice.]</em>

    <em>[We acknowledge your strength and power, Captain Rice.]</em>

    <em>[Wow. To think that he can fight against that many. The best. You have my recognition.]</em>

    <em>[He¡¯s reached his limits. Look. His body is shaking and trembling.]</em>

    <em>[He¡¯s someone who¡¯s on par with Alexander. I can¡¯t wait for what¡¯s next!]</em>

    Everyone praised Captain Rice. From what they could see, no one except Captain Rice could fight on equal grounds with Alexander.

    Then, at that moment, the yer who was hailed as the world-renowned skill analyst appeared in thements. He had dered before that he would analyze the skills of Captain Rice, who was on the rise these days.

    <em>[Hello, everyone. I am Skill Analyst Ekkan.]</em>

    <em>[Oh! Did you find out who Captain Rice is?]</em>

    <em>[Are you done analyzing Captain Rice¡¯s skills?]</em>

    <em>[As you guys know, when someone chooses a ss other than their own in the Infinite Battlefield, their skills are modified and transformed ording to that ss. Following that principle, we have selected hundreds of yers with skill sets simr to those disyed by Captain Rice.]</em>

    Everyone held their breath. Was Captain Rice a famous ranker? Or was he a reclusive master whom Ekkan did not even know about?

    <em>[We further narrowed our selection by finding yers with many AOE attack skills. Afterparing various conditions and numbers, the results showed that only one yer fits the conditions.]</em>

    The entire world focused on Ekkan¡¯s words. The fact that only one yer met the conditions meant that Captain Rice was a well-known yer.

    <em>[This yer is none other than the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor, Minhyuk.]</em>

    <em>[Eh? That¡¯s impossible.]</em>

    <em>[Minhyuk? Why did you suddenly mention Minhyuk?]</em>

    <em>[I call bullshit. Nope. Nope.]</em>

    <em>[We request a reasonable analysis. The Food God doesn¡¯t use daggers.]</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¨C!</em>

    At that moment, Minhyuk was sent flying away by the bombardment of the yers¡¯ pinnacle skills. The yers had surrounded him, ready to send another bombardment of their most lethal pinnacle skills. Cornered, Minhyuk gasped heavily. His path of survival was no longer essible. In other words, he was in a situation where his ughterer¡¯s Absorption could no longer be used.

    But when the yers were about to send their skills, Minhyuk muttered a single word.

    ¡°Friend.¡±

    At the same time, a white-haired old man appeared from above in a burst of white light.

    <em>[Everything that Vassal Ben possesses will lower to match your level!]</em>

    As the old man fell from the sky, he said, ¡°Absolute Pinnacle Spear.¡±

 Chapter 945

    Chapter 945

    Inside the Infinite Battlefield, the rising rookie, Captain Rice, did a spectacr job of fending off his opponents. However, his performance significantly dropped when Alexander summoned his Weapon Corps.

    But then, at that moment, Captain Rice murmured, <em>¡®Friend,¡¯</em> and someone with long hair fluttering behind him fell from the sky.

    This man was a very famous NPC that everyone in Athenae knew of. Some even people dered that this NPC was much stronger than the yers they called Supremes. And this NPC was the vassal of a yer, which in turn made that yer the envy of the masses.

    ¡°Absolute Pinnacle Spear.¡±

    Hundreds of spears appeared to punish and ughter those who tried the NPC¡¯s master.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    A massive explosion erupted and wiped out almost 20,000 of the yers gathered in one ce as Vassal Ben appeared in front of Captain Rice, or to be more exact, Minhyuk.

    Meanwhile,ments began to pour out from the viewers tuned in on the broadcast.

    <em>[Minhyuk is really Captain Rice?!]</em><em>[OMG¡­ Then, the shocking MUSAT expert is Supreme Minhyuk? Scary.]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s freaking awesome.]</em>

    <em>[Minhyuk participated in the Infinite Battlefield at the same level as the other yers. There¡¯s no other choice. We have to admit that he is the Supreme.]</em>

    <em>[Supreme Minhyuk¡¯s skills are really superb and outstanding.]</em>

    <em>[He won 200 consecutive matches in a row just with his control¡­ He can even deal with more than 20,000 yers at the same level independently. That¡¯s freaking crazy.]</em>

    The people were impressed. Many yers believed that they could not deal with rankers because they were at a different level from them. But Minhyukpletely broke their preconceived thoughts and broke through the mold. He showed them that the Supreme¡¯s skills were beyond their imaginations.

    On the other side, Alexander, who was also engaged in an infinite battle, gulped dryly.

    <em>¡®He has a summoning skill¡­?¡¯</em>

    That was right. Minhyuk possessed a skill that allowed him to summon his vassal, Ben.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Friend</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Passive Skill</em>

    <strong><em>Level</em></strong><em>: None</em>

    <strong><em>Effects</em></strong><em>: If you say ¡°Friend,¡± you can summon Ben. However, summoning is not possible in a ce where it is restricted.</em>

    Minhyuk received this skill after the bond between him and Ben reached the extreme. But that was not all.

    <em>[The Assassin God¡¯s Blessings.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 17%.]</em>

    <em>[All of your attack powers have increased by 28%.]</em>

    <em>[All of your skill levels have increased by +1.]</em>

    Food God Minhyuk¡¯s cooking buffs, akin to assassin¡¯s buffs, gave Ben a boost in power. Spear God Ben¡¯s level might have been lowered to match Minhyuk and Alexander¡¯s, but his skills and abilities easily overwhelmed the two.

    Ben had wielded his spear since he was young to survive. He had always held and trained in his spear for a few hours daily, without fail. Just because Minhyuk was a genius in kendo and had learned MUSAT or just because Alexander ventured and learned various martial arts did not mean they could win against Ben.

    And now, with the most outstanding skills and abilities in Athenae, Ben jumped among the enemies. His addition caused the yers to fall rapidly.

    <em>¡®Crazy.¡¯ </em>This was Alexander''s honest evaluation.

    Alexander had summoned hundreds of weapons with the same power level as Ben. However, none of his weapons could catch up with Ben. Why? Because their ego was only at the most basic level.

    Minhyuk, whose pace increased once again, quickly caught up with Alexander. Within a five-minute difference, the notifications rang in his ears again.

    <em>[You have defeated 32,768 opponents!]</em>

    <em>[Summoning 65,536 opponents!]</em>

    Now, the number of their opponents has exceeded 60,000. Even so, they did not back down. Alexander¡¯s Weapon Corps had attack and defensive power on par with the enemies. And Minhyuk? He overcame more than 60,000 opponents just by having Ben by his side.

    ¡°Next.¡±

    <em>[You have defeated 65,536 opponents!]</em>

    <em>[Summoning 131,072 opponents!]</em>

    The entire battlefield was crowded, and all yers were speechless. The performance of the two was proof.

    <em>[Even if our level reaches a higher level, there will still be a massive gap between us and the high rankers.]</em>

    <em>[Wow. So it¡¯s really possible to deal with 100,000 enemies alone.]</em>

    <em>[Of course, if their artifacts, titles, and skills are the same as ours, then it would be impossible for them to deal with 100,000 enemies alone.]</em>

    <em>[But their artifacts, titles, and skills are the result of their hard work. So, in the end, we have to admit that there is such a huge gap between them and us.]</em>

    It was just as thements said. Minhyuk and Alexander could deal with more than 100,000 enemies by themselves because of the artifacts they had equipped, their skills, and the various title effects that boosted their power. Compared to the general poption, they have many more skills. Also, most of the artifacts that they have equipped were God-rank artifacts.

    Still, the more than 130,000 enemies were too much for Minhyuk and Alexander. Even though Ben was by Minhyuk¡¯s side, he was already fatigued.

    Minhyuk was saving one skill for this very moment. He stared at the 130,000 enemies before charging toward them. Minhyuk had a skill that resulted in the worst penalty. Using the skill would immediately force his level to drop by one and destroy 1% of his HP and MP. It was indeed a ridiculously horrible penalty.

    <em>¡®There will be no penalty incurred during the Infinite Battles.¡¯</em>

    That was right. This was because the Infinite Battles was an event.

    Although the skill had the worst penalty, its power was on par with the overwhelming power of the Eight Pirs and could easily surpass the Absolute Gods¡¯ Secrets. Of course, Minhyuk still could not fully disy the true extent of the power since his level was still low, but just as its rank¨CNinth Disaster¨Csuggested, its power was the epitome of the word ¡°disaster.¡± This skill was none other than Cmity.

    <em>¡®Cmity.¡¯</em>

    ¡°Assassin¡¯s Massacre.¡±

    Although triggered under a different name, the effects remained the same. Its power could cover an entire area within a four-kilometer radius.

    Countless throwing daggers covered with zing mes flew over the heads of the more than 130,000 yers.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¨C!</em>

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    The moment one of the throwing daggers stabbed one of the yers, a massive explosion of mes erupted and devoured an area within a five-meter radius. It was immediately followed by the other throwing daggers engulfed in fire that fell from the sky and ughtered the more than 130,000 yers standing before Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk was delighted. He thought, <em>¡®I am the Supreme.¡¯</em>

    He had conquered everything, even Alexander. However, it was not just him. Alexander also hid at least one of his powers.

    ¡°Corps Charge.¡±

    The hundreds of weapons of the Weapon Corps might only have the most basic level of ego, but they could unleash one powerful skill, including his own. They could also use AOE attack skills!

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    The power pouring out of the weapons ughtered the yers at a speed on par with Cmity.

    <em>[You have defeated 131,072 opponents!]</em>

    <em>[Summoning 262,144 opponents!]</em>

    An exhausted breath escaped the mouths of both Minhyuk and Alexander simultaneously.

    ¡°Haaaaa¡­¡±

    ¡°Hoo¡­¡±

    ***

    Minhyuk and Alexander slowly reduced the more than 260,000 opponents standing before them. They either used the skills they could still trigger or fought head-on to eliminate the yers before them. However, the fact that the two of them had reached their limits remained the same.

    Comparing the two sides, Minhyuk and Ben were exhausted. This was because Alexander¡¯s Weapon Corps did not grow tired¡ªthey weren¡¯t humans in the first ce. On the other hand, Minhyuk and Ben, dealing with the enemies nonstop, were bound to grow increasingly exhausted.

    Thankfully, the number of yers they defeated was simr to Alexander.

    <em>[The Skill: Assassin¡¯s Tenacity has been triggered.]</em>

    <em>[All of your skills and abilities rted to DEX will temporarily increase by 30%.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will increase by 8%.]</em>

    <em>[Your attack power and defensive power will increase by 6%.]</em>

    The Divine Will skill¡¯s name was changed to the Assassin¡¯s Tenacity. But even though the skill was triggered, Minhyuk was still left struggling. Minhyuk was even left facing a crisis when the yers continued to send their pinnacle skills flying toward him.

    <em>¡®Just a bit longer¡­</em>

    <em>¡®Just a tad bit longer¡­!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk wanted to be the sky. He wanted to be everyone¡¯s icon, not only because he was the ruler of an empire. This was natural, innate.

    The yers watched Minhyuk in awe as he continued to stand and move forward even though he had stumbled and copsed several times.

    <em>[Is it really possible for someone to have this much mental power?]</em>

    <em>[He¡¯s really amazing¡­]</em>

    However, Minhyuk did not know that the yers and the viewers watching the broadcast had already recognized him as the <em>Sky.</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¨C!</em>

    Then, Minhyuk copsed on the ground after being hit by one of the yers¡¯ pinnacle skills. Ben also copsed on his knee right next to him.

    ¡°Haa¡­ Haa¡­ Haa¡­ Haa¡­¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s loud and harsh breathing resounded in the area. Even though he fell a hundred times, he continued to stand up. But when his staggering body was about to stand up, hundreds of pinnacle skills rained upon him and Ben.

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¨C!</em>

    Not long after that, Alexander, who was right next to Minhyuk, seeded in killing around 110,000 yers before being forced to log out.

    <em>[All Defenders of the Infinite Battles have been forced to log out!]</em>

    <em>[The Infinite Battles have ended!]</em>

    <em>[The rankings will be determined by adding up the scores you have racked up during the Infinite Battles! It will soon be determined.]</em>

    As the viewers watched the two figures disappear from their screens, they felt this lingering feeling digging into the corners of their hearts.

    At the same time, Minhyuk and Alexander reappeared in the same ce where they were fighting their match in the Infinite Battlefield. Of course, the challengers disappeared at that moment, too.

    The two looked at each other silently. Even though they did not speak, Minhyuk already knew who would be the MVP of the Infinite Battles.

    ¡°Congrattions.¡±

    ¡°Thanks,¡± Alexander answered. But he knew he had only a slight advantage over Minhyuk when it came tosting longer on the field.

    Just when the two thought that everything was over, notifications rang.

    <em>[The </em><strong><em>Bonus Event</em></strong><em>: Battle of the Stars is starting!]</em>

    <em>[All yers who applied as challengers would participate in the Battle of the Stars!]</em>

    <em>[The ten yers with the highest score in the Infinite Battles will face all the challengers. The one with the highest number of challengers forced to log out will receive a special reward.]</em>

    Alexander sighed when he listened to the notifications.

    <em>¡®They¡¯re not going to give us any rest, huh?¡¯</em>

    Their surroundings changed once again. Ten people with the highest score stood on a long, wide bridge this time.

    <em>[The challengers of the Battle of the Stars have entered!]</em>

    Almost 600,000 challengers appeared before them and flooded the bridge with a sh of light. The already exhausted defenders sighed. Thankfully, there was a silver lining for them.

    <em>[The HP, MP, and skill cooldowns of all the defenders who participated in the Infinite Battles will be restored and recovered!]</em>

    Their conditions were restored, and they recovered back to their peak. However, Alexander, who was standing among them, was left speechless when he saw that the enemies that they had to face were still not yet done being summoned.

    Alexander turned to look back at Minhyuk and tried to say, ¡°They did not even give us any time to res¡­¡± But Minhyuk was no longer behind him.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    One yer charged alone, daggers in hand, and ran toward the millions of yers charging on the long and wide bridge. It looked like a scene from the movies.

    Minhyuk''s face was painted with a faint smile as he thought, <em>¡®I haven¡¯t lost yet.¡¯</em>

    ***

    Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s conference room.

    President Kang Taehoon remained silent as he looked at the monitor before him. He had watched how the ten defenders fought against the millions of yers, who charged like crazy and moved like a machine.

    Surprisingly enough, yer Minhyuk achieved the highest score after the battle, whichsted more than an hour. Since the events had ended, the yers were all warped to the awards ceremony hall.

    Taehoon looked at Minhyuk and Alexander standing together and said honestly, ¡°It was really¡­¡±

    The entire conference room turned their attention to him.

    ¡°...fun.¡±

    They had all watched the thrilling battle andpetition between the two individuals and could only nod in agreement with Taehoon¡¯s words. After all, it was the truth.

    ***

    At the same time.

    Carron watched the footage of the Battle of the Stars and smiled as he looked at the video that would be the highlight of his gift for Minhyuk. The highlight of his gift was the video of Minhyuk running on the long and wide bridge and charging alone toward the millions of enemy yers.

 Chapter 946

    Chapter 946

    Awards ceremony hall.

    Alexander and Minhyuk had indeed won against many challengers. This was especially the case in the Infinite Battles, where the two only had the slightest differences in the number of opponents they dealt with.

    Of course, the same was true for the Battle of the Stars. Minhyuk took the lead initially by firing all his skills at the challengers who flocked to the bridge. He even summoned his Immortal Knight Order to deal with more enemies than Alexander.

    However, as mentioned before, the two still slightly differed in the number of opponents they dealt with. These were the notifications that rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You have won 2nd ce in the Infinite Battles!]</em>

    <em>[You will earn 50 Infinite Points for every yer you defeat, calcted as the amount you have umted.]</em>

    <em>[Unable to calcte the total amount of Infinite Points!]</em>

    ¡°??¡± Minhyuk looked at the notification window in front of him in doubt. He kept receiving notifications about how his Infinite Points could not be calcted.

    Alexander was also standing right next to him with a simr expression. The two were experiencing simr situations. Joy Co. Ltd. thought a yer could only fight and win against 100,000 enemies. But the two of them dealt with over 300,000 yers by themselves.After receiving the notification about his Infinite Points, the notifications about his rewards immediately rang for Alexander.

    <em>[You are the Infinite Battles¡¯ MVP! You will now receive 500,000 Infinite Points!]</em>

    <em>[You are the Infinite Battles¡¯ MVP! You will now receive 100,000 tinum!]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the </em><strong><em>Title</em></strong><em>: Infinite Battles¡¯ MVP!]</em>

    <em>[You will earn 50 Infinite Points for every yer you have defeated!]</em>

    <em>[You will be rewarded with more points!]</em>

    <em>[You have earned 700,000 Infinite Points!]</em>

    <em>[You have met the requirements to obtain the additional skills of the first Eight Pirs¡¯ ss: Weapon Master!]</em>

    Alexander had to gain 1,000,000 Infinite Points to obtain additional skills for his ss. Now that he had heard the notification, he was delighted.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk stood beside him, still listening to his notifications.

    <em>[You have made a shocking feat of fighting and defeating more than 500,000 yers!]</em>

    <em>[Even though you have not won the MVP title, you have made an outstanding achievement that shocked everyone!]</em>

    <em>[You will be rewarded with more points!]</em>

    <em>[You have earned 800,000 Infinite Points!]</em>

    Minhyuk gained more points per person he defeated than Alexander. Alexander could take home arger pool of rewards as the MVP, so this was nothing to him.

    <em>¡®Fufu¡­ I can eat that Assorted Pork Set with this,¡¯</em> Minhyuk thought. This was the same Minhyuk who had difficulty dealing with many enemies just a few minutes prior. But now? He was looking forward to eating samgyeopsal. He even started to fantasize.

    <em>¡®Just imagine it. After a long and exhausting day, you, your friend, or maybe your co-worker go to a nearby samgyeopsal restaurant. Imagine gently cing a row of samgyeopsal on that hot grill and¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>Sizzle¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk gulped as he imagined the white smoke rising from the grill.

    <em>¡®Then, you take a sip of whatever drink¨Ca shot of soju, a ss of beer, or a can of coke¨Cis beside you.¡¯</em>

    The thought alone made him shiver in excitement. This time, the notification for the rewards for the Battle of the Stars rang.

    <em>[The rewards for the Battle of the Stars have been calcted!]</em>

    <em>[You have forced a total of 720,000 yers to log out!]</em>

    <em>[Among the ten Defenders, you are the one who forced the most number of yers to log out!]</em>

    <em>[You will be given 800,000 Infinite Points as a reward for winning first ce!]</em>

    As far as Minhyuk knew, the second ce would receive around 400,000 Infinite Points as a reward for the Battle of the Stars. It was a significantly lower reward than the reward received in the first ce.

    At that moment, an unexpected additional notification rang in his ears.

    <em>[The Infinite Store¡¯s tinum ss has been opened!]</em>

    <em>[This ss is only open to those with more than one million points!]</em>

    Minhyuk looked at the notifications in doubt. When he looked up, he met with Alexander¡¯s simrly confused gaze.

    <em>¡®tinum ss¡­¡¯</em>

    A yer who had reached one million points was special. Currently, only Minhyuk and Alexander have umted one million points. As for the future, one had to wonder if there would ever be another yer who could umte that much.

    Immediately after the awards ceremony ended, another notification went off.

    <em>[You will now be sent out of the Infinite Battlefield!]</em>

    Minhyuk disappeared with a sh of light.

    ***

    After returning to the Beyond the Heavens Empire, Minhyuk rushed to the walls.

    <em>¡®Meat tastes even better if you eat it out in the open,¡¯</em> Minhyuk thought, smiling faintly as he opened the Infinite Store.

    The upgraded Infinite Store was now divided into a regr and tinum-ss store, which Minhyuk could change to with just a click. Minhyuk first looked through the items being sold in the tinum-ss store. However, there was a slight variation in the items being sold.

    <em>50,000 to 300,000 tinum Pouch (15,000 points)</em>

    <em>Single Target EXP Increase Potion (20,000 points)</em>

    <em>One-hour EXP Explosive Increase Potion (20,000 points)</em>

    <em>One-week EXP Triple Increase Potion (150,000 points)</em>

    <em>One-level Level Up Potion (150,000 points)</em>

    <em>Amazing Artifact Reinforcement Parchment (300,000 points)</em>

    <em>Any Artifact Material (200,000 points)</em>

    <em>S-rank Quest in Your Desired Course (150,000 points)</em>

    <em>Fantastic Cooking Spray (400,000 points)</em>

    There were around fifteen such items listed above in the tinum-ss store. Minhyuk browsed through the items and clicked through every single one to check their information.

    The One-hour EXP Explosive Increase Potion was an item with remarkably shocking power that could increase one¡¯s acquired EXP by as much as fifteen times during the one-hour duration that it was in effect. The Single Target EXP Increase Potion could be applied to one monster to increase its value by around fifty times when hunting.

    <em>¡®I can¡¯t use the Amazing Artifact Reinforcement Parchment on any of my artifacts. I also can¡¯t use the Any Artifact Material since I don¡¯t need anything immediately. As for the 50,000 to 300,000 tinum Pouches¡­ It will give me a random amount and is not very useful either.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk''s attention was already drawn to the end of the list, where the words ¡°cooking spray¡± appeared. He looked at the description of the item with wide eyes. Why did he not check it earlier? Well, he only had one reason.

    <em>¡®Fufu. Save the best forst. It¡¯s fun to check what you¡¯re looking forward to the most.¡¯</em>

    This was what he saw when he checked the content.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Fantastic Cooking Spray</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Type</em></strong><em>: Infinite Store¡¯s tinum Store Item</em>

    <strong><em>Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?One spray can increase all the effects of the ingredients sprayed on by 15%.</em>

    <em>?One spray and the ingredients'' vor and taste will significantly increase.</em>

    <em>?Can only be used ten times. Sprays cannot be ovepped.</em>

    ¡°Kghhk~¡± Minhyuk was in awe.

    The Fantastic Cooking Spray was powerful and could be used ten times. Just the 15% increase in the effects of the ingredients upon spraying was powerful enough. After all, the better the ingredients were, the better the effects were, and the higher the increase.

    Minhyuk bought the Fantastic Cooking Spray without any hesitation. He also made sure to purchase some items he thought he would need.

    <em>[You have purchased the Fantastic Cooking Spray.]</em>

    <em>[You have purchased the Single Target EXP Increase Potion.]</em>

    <em>[You have purchased the One-hour EXP Explosive Increase Potion.]</em>

    <em>[You have purchased the One-week EXP Triple Increase Potion.]</em>

    <em>[You have purchased the One-level Level Up Potion.]</em>

    Although Minhyuk still had many points, he quickly closed the tinum store after purchasing what he needed and moved back to the regr store.

    <em>¡®I have to save some points. Some new items might be added to the tinum store in the future.¡¯</em>

    Since he did not necessarily need them yet, Minhyuk felt there was no need to buy them immediately.

    <em>[You have purchased the Assorted Pork Set.]</em>

    Minhyuk stared at the pork set that appeared in front of him. He wanted this Sorted Pork Set because each part had different effects and attributes.

    For example, if he ate the samgyeopsal, his STM would increase by 1% permanently. His total MP would increase by 0.5% if he ate the pork neck.

    But Minhyuk found that each part was thick and heavy, weighing around 600 grams per part, to be highly satisfying. Of course, Minhyuk did not forget to use the cooking spray on the samgyeopsal before he ate them.

    <em>Fwish¨C Fwish¨C</em>

    The samgyeopsal was covered with tantalizing gloss as he gently lined them up on the slippery, hot cauldron lid.

    <em>Sizzle¨C!</em>

    White smoke and the delicious sizzling sound slowly rose to the sky.

    Participating in the Infinite Battles and the Battle of the Stars was extremely fun but exhausting for Minhyuk. He poured c into a ss filled with ice and immediately gulped it down.

    ¡°Kghhk!¡± Minhyuk eximed as he flipped the samgyeopsal on the cauldron lid.

    Then, he pulled out his scissors and cut some of the well-ripened kimchi, which he ced gently on the area where the oil flowed.

    <em>Sizzle¨C!</em>

    The kimchi was slowly being grilled with the oil from the samgyeopsal, which looked like it had already been cooked well. Seeing this, Minhyuk grabbed a piece and put it in his mouth. The juices of the thick samgyeopsal immediately coated the inside of his mouth when he took a bite.

    <em>¡®Kghhk¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk admired the vor briefly before spreading a lettuce leaf on his palm. He added half a spoon of rice, two pieces of meat, ssamjang, some garlic, Cheongyang peppers, and some pickled green onions on top of the lettuce before wrapping everything up and putting it in his mouth.

    <em>Munch, munch¨C</em>

    The different ingredients brought a delightfulbination of vors to his mouth. Next, Minhyuk dipped a piece of samgyeopsal in the ssamjang and ate it as it was.

    ¡°A thick slice is truly much better.¡±

    That was right. Minhyuk preferred eating thick slices of samgyeopsal than eating thin ones. The samgyeopsal he was eating right now was thick and filled with plenty more juices than the thin ones.

    A happy smile hung around the corners of his lips as he scooped a mouthful of doenjang jjigae and put it in his mouth. He immediately followed it with a considerable spoonful of rice, its sweet vor deepening the smile on his face.

    Before Minhyuk knew it, the notifications telling him he had finished eating rang in his ears.

    <em>[You have eaten the Assorted Pork Set.]</em>

    <em>[You have applied the Cooking Spray on the samgyeopsal.]</em>

    <em>[Your STM has increased by 1.15%!]</em>

    Minhyuk smiled in satisfaction. At that moment, another notification rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The God of Magic¡¯s Temple has been built!]</em>

    ***

    ck-robed yers worldwide began to gather in dark and gloomy ces regardless of ss or nationality.

    ¡°Finally. He¡¯s finally ready to lead us all.¡±

    ¡°Fu¨C fufufu¨C Fufu.¡±

    ¡°Kukuku¨C kuku.¡±

    Then, one of them said, ¡°It has beenpleted!¡±

    ¡°Ho! Oh my god!¡±

    ¡°We have to hurry!¡±

    Around a thousand yers of varying levels¨Cnovices, mid-levels, and even masters¨Cbegan to move. The almost a thousand ck-robed yers running in one direction immediately took the public''s attention.

    Finally, they reached an empire. After they identified themselves, the guards readily let them in. The people inside the empire looked at them with fear when they saw them enter. Who wouldn¡¯t? After all, they were strangers wearing ck robes.

    However, they continued to move until they reached their destination. And what was their destination? It was a massive temple with a man standing on a tform right before it. There was already a crowd of more than a thousand people dressed in ck robes standing in front of the temple.

    ¡°Ah- aaaaaaaah¨C aaaaaaah¡­!¡±

    The almost a thousand newly arrived yers pulled their hoods back and looked at the man standing before the temple. They all looked very emotional as they stared at the handsome man with beautiful golden hair fluttering behind him.

    ¡°You have been waiting for so long!!!¡± Everyone nodded solemnly as the man continued, ¡°This is the moment we have all been waiting for!!!¡±

    That was right. They had all been waiting for this very moment.

    Unable to contain his joy, one of the men in the crowd shouted, ¡°A¡ªAli-<em>chan</em>! We have been waiting for this! We have always hoped that you would lead us!¡±

    ¡°A- Ali-<em>sama</em>!¡±

    Die-hard manhwa and manga fans from all over the world had gathered together to witness this very moment, this moment that they had been waiting for for a very long time.

    ¡°On this day, I will dere the name of the religion that will worship me, Ali! My religion will be <em>¡®Friend Religion¡¯</em>!¡±

    ¡°A- Aaaaaaaaaah¡­!¡±

    ¡°So- So cool¡­¡±

    ¡°Your coolness is exploding!!!¡±

    Everyone was in awe. They watched as Ali turned around the tform. Then, he ced his right hand on his waist and raised his left arm. Everyone saw the <strong>X</strong> mark on his left wrist. The crowd immediately followed his example and raised their left arms, hidden under the sleeves of their robes.

    ¡°Frieeeeeeeeeend!!!¡± Ali cried loudly.

    Following his cries, the crowd raised their left arms as high as possible. Then, they shouted at the top of their lungs.

    ¡°Frieeeeeeeeeend!¡±

    ¡°Frieeeeeeeeeeeeeend!¡±

    ¡°Frieeeeeeeeeend!!!¡±

    Hot tears streamed down Ali¡¯s face as the notification rang.

    <em>[The name of the God of Magic¡¯s religion is Friend Religion!]</em>

    Minhyuk, who went to congratte Ali after hearing that the God of Magic¡¯s Temple had finished building, was rendered speechless when he witnessed Ali and his religion¡¯s glorious and greatest moment.

 Chapter 947

    Chapter 947

    Ali had a dream. He wanted to find precious friends, who he could leave his back to and even risk his life for. He wanted to be just like the main character from that famous anime, who ventured out to sea and gathered precious friends by his side. Ali achieved that dream with the help of Minhyuk and the people of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    After achieving his dream, Ali had another dream. This time, he wanted to lead those who also dreamt of having friends like him. And today, Ali finally created the Friend Religion and became the leader of these people. He could not help but cry from the overwhelming emotions that he was feeling.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk heard several notifications in his ears.

    <em>[703 mages migrated to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.]</em>

    <em>[307 swordsmen migrated to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.]</em>

    <em>[103 assassins migrated to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.]</em>

    <em>[...Beyond the Heavens Empire.]</em>

    Surprisingly enough, Ali¡¯s Friend Religion included a variety of sses of yers, not only mages. Well, just because he was the God of Magic did not mean that his worshippers should only be mages, did it?

    The swordsmen could be the Friend Religion¡¯s pdins, while the assassins could be Ali¡¯s shadows. Of course, considering the steady flow of magesing to the Beyond the Heavens Empire before thepletion of the temple¡¯s construction, the Friend Religion¡¯s worshippers¡¯ poption would probably have around 75% mages.<em>¡®The gods will build their religions. And if they could lead their worshippers well, they would have power on par with a kingdom.¡¯</em>

    Ever since the Session Ceremony ended, yers have started establishing their own religions all over the world. The gods also helped them grow by giving quests to the worshippers who came to serve them.

    For ordinary yers, it felt a whole lot easier to enter the religion knowing that the gods that they would worship were yers, too. Why? Gods were omnipotent. But if a god was a yer, then they were far more familiar with them and at ease.

    Perhaps Ali¡¯s Friend Religion might be a constant help to the Beyond the Heavens Empire in the future.

    <em>¡®It would be nice if my Minhyuk Religion could recruit more worshipers, too.¡¯</em>

    The first yer to ever create their religion in Athenae was Minhyuk. However, now that there were quite a lot of religions that had started to pop out one after another, the Minhyuk Religion had been left behind. Perhaps it was safe to say that the Minhyuk Religion was the most uninfluential one. The reason? Well, it was simple.

    <em>¡®The Food God ss is not abat ss. And it¡¯s also quite hard to categorize it as a production ss.¡¯</em>

    The yers were free to choose whatever religion they wanted to serve and worship. So, for chefs, it was probably a much better choice to serve the religion of the God of Cooking, one of the Absolute Gods. Then, what about thebat ss yers? Would theye to the Minhyuk Religion? They wouldn¡¯t either.

    <em>¡®Only if I take over the position and be the true Battle God will I be able to gather people under my religion and lead many more people.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was looking forward to it. After all, the Battle God was the greatest god among the Absolute Gods. He was also the god who had be the subject of envy of most of the yers. The day that he would sit on the throne of the Battle God would be when he would be the master of thergest and most significant religion in Athenae.

    The Battle God had told them he would decide between Minhyuk and Nerva through apetition. He said he would decide who would be the true Battle God¡¯s Descendant through this.

    At that moment, another set of notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The God of Shields¡¯ Temple has been built in the Aveid Territory!]</em>

    <em>[The God of Shields¡¯ religion bears the name ¡®Guardian Religion¡¯!]</em>

    God of Shields Valentino also built his temple in Minhyuk¡¯s territory. Minhyuk gave Valentino money on purpose and ordered him to build his temple in the Aveid Territory.

    One reason was that there were still some people in the Beyond the Heavens Empire who were not happy with Valentino. Also, he needed God of Shields Valentino in the Aveid Territory, which was teeming with monsters.

    Of course, establishing Valentino¡¯s religion and temple would encourage the tankers to gather in his empire. But that would be just a shot in the dark.

    <em>¡®It would already be nice if at least 300 tankers were moving to the Beyond the Heavens Empire or joining the Guardian Religion.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk believed that the public¡¯s current evaluation of Valentino was not good. There were two reasons for this: one, he was kicked out of the Luvien Empire, and two, his usual attitude and behavior weren¡¯t good.

    But then, at that moment, a shocking notification rang.

    <em>[16,543 tankers migrated to the Beyond the Heavens Empire!]</em>

    ¡°...?¡± Minhyuk could not help but look doubtfully at the notification.

    <em>¡®A huge number of tankers are migrating to the empire all at once?¡¯</em>

    It was unbelievable. Valentino¡¯s position was falling rapidly. Even so, many tankers immediately migrated to the Beyond the Heavens Empire when the Guardian Religion was established. To join the religion of a yer belonging to the Beyond the Heavens Empire, they also had to move and join the empire. They all moved to the Beyond the Heavens Empire for Valentino¡¯s sake and not because they preferred the empire.

    Just when Minhyuk was sporting a confused expression and was about to go to the Aveid Territory, Carron approached him and said, ¡°Your Majesty, the gift that I was telling you about before is now finished.¡±

    ***

    Aveid Territory was a barrennd teeming with masters. It was in thisnd where Valentino built his temple under Minhyuk¡¯s orders and led subjugation troops to keep the monsters away and continue pioneering thend day after day despite there being no rewards.

    Not too long ago, articles with titles like ¡°Valentino¡¯s Fall¡± began to pour in. There were also manyments saying, ¡°He grabbed hisst lifeline.¡± when he migrated to the Beyond the Heavens Empire. Seeing these articles, Valentino could tell that the reputation and fame he had protected in the past had all been lost.

    Valentino also said in the Q&A interview that he would be the dog of the Beyond the Heavens Empire and be loyal to it. He also dered that he would try his best to correct the mistakes that he hadmitted in the past. When the people saw the video, they pointed their fingers at him.

    ¨C<em>Did you only realize your mistakes after you fell?</em>

    <em>¨CHow funny! You ran to the Beyond the Heavens Empire with your tail tucked behind you.</em>

    However, Valentino had been the idol and the role model of the tankers for a very long time. The countless tankers who watched him back then saw something different.

    During the Session Ceremony, they saw how Valentino ignored Nerva¡¯s orders for him to protect his pride as a god. This action helped him protect and keep more people alive. That was the pride of a tanker. It was not Valentino who did wrong; it was Nerva. That was how the tankers saw what happened back then. Despite having a hot-tempered and weird personality, the tankers had also seen how Valentino worked hard to revive the tanker ss that had always been hidden away from the spotlight.

    So what if he has a hot-tempered personality? He would always be the icon and the idol of all tankers. That fact would remain unchanged.

    Valentino, exhausted from stopping the monsters froming forward, had finished the construction of his temple and established his Guardian Religion. He thought, <em>¡®Now, my dream of creating a kingdom for tankers is already impossible.¡¯</em>

    A bitter expression shed on Valentino¡¯s face. Who would even follow someone like him? But, to his shock, more than ten thousand tankers came. Seeing this scene, he could not understand what was happening.

    ¡°We have always been waiting for you to build a kingdom or a temple!¡±

    ¡°You are the only master who will lead the tankers like us!¡±

    ¡°If you choose to be the shield of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, then we will also be the shield of the Beyond the Heavens Empire!¡±

    ¡°Now, we will be your strongest and sturdiest shield!¡±

    Valentino looked at them and realized he was not necessarily threading on the wrong path.

    ¡°The Guardian Religion is a religion that will protect and sacrifice itself for the sake of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. Even so, will that be alright with you?¡± Valentino asked them.

    The tankers answered in unison.

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    Valentino smiled at them in satisfaction when he saw them answer without hesitation, their will unshaken.

    At that moment, the monsters appeared, again charging toward the Aveid Territory. Their number was higher than usual. Usually, Valentino would stand alone in front of the subjugation troops to stop a blood bath from happening.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Over ten thousand tankers stood behind Valentino, took out their gigantic square shields, and stood in formation.

    ***

    Minhyuk logged out for a bit when he heard that Carron had finished the gift he had prepared and sent it to his mail. He checked his email and found an email with the subject written as ¡°Gift~^^¡± and promptly clicked on it.

    <em>¡®A video?¡¯ </em>

    A confused Minhyuk clicked the y button and started the video.

    <em>[Haa¡­ Haa¡­ Haa¡­]</em>

    The countless enemies charging at Minhyuk almost filled the screen. Minhyuk, with his hands on his knees and ragged breathing, looked at them.

    <em>[It¡¯s exhausting¡­]</em>

    The voice that rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears was someone else¡¯s, not his own. On the screen, his figure, covered in sweat, stared at the throngs of enemies charging at him.

    <em>[I want to quit.]</em>

    Along with the voice, a different screen recording showed Minhyuk breathing harshly. It was then covered with screenshots of the sarcastic remarks aimed at the Food God.

    <em>[Isn¡¯t the Food God strong only because he has his empire, ss, and vassals? Lol.]</em>

    <em>[Agree! Agree! And agree!]</em>

    <em>[Without his empire, ss, and vassals, he¡¯s nothing.]</em>

    Hundreds of mocking, jeering, and malicements covered the screen.

    <em>¡®Is this my gift?¡¯</em> Minhyuk thought, a frown marring his face.

    The truth was that Minhyuk was aware of most of the maliciousments. He believed the best way to deal with suchments was to ignore them and not look at them.

    But even if Minhyuk¡¯s mentality was strong, there were times when he could not pretend he did not care. Indeed. In the end, Minhyuk was still human. Perhaps that was also the reason why he was very conscious of Alexander.

    Anyway, Minhyuk decided to continue watching.

    <em>[But I will not give up.]</em>

    As the voice rang, one screen recording broke through the hundreds of maliciousments and floated in front of the screen. The screen recording showed Minhyuk¡¯s exhausted figure slowly recovering his strength and standing up.

    Minhyuk recognized the ce where the recording was showing. It was one of the recordings of histest battle in the Infinite Battles.

    In the video, Minhyuk loudly and powerfully said, ¡°Enough!¡± and all of the screenshots began to crack.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack¨C!</em>

    When the screenshots broke apart, it revealed Minhyuk charging at the countless enemies before him with a sharp and piercing re despite his ragged breathing.

    <em>[I will show you...]</em>

    Fast-paced music suddenly rang as Minhyuk, with his sharp re, cut through his enemies. As if following the music, Minhyuk increased his pace and swung his sword against his enemies in the Infinite Battlefield.

    <em>[...what kind of person I am.]</em>

    Minhyuk felt his heart start to speed up as the beat of the music and the cool, jaw-dropping video shed on his screen.

    <em>[I will not fall.]</em>

    He could tell that this was Carron¡¯s message and way of showing him his support.

    <em>[Even if I fall, I will stand back up again.]</em>

    At that moment, a screenshot, utterly different from the screenshots of the maliciousments earlier, appeared on the screen.

    <em>[The Food God is indeed the Supreme.]</em>

    <em>[Even if the Food God has only his empire, his ss, and his vassals, we still love him for who he is.]</em>

    <em>[Everyone in Athenae loves him because he¡¯s the Food God. Because he¡¯s Minhyuk.]</em>

    <em>[Thank you for showing the world what our South Korea is like, Food God!]</em>

    <em>[Food God, you look so exhausted these days. It¡¯s okay to rest; don¡¯t tire yourself so much!]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s okay to put everything down for a moment and rest. Even if you¡¯re not the Supreme, we will continue to support and cheer for you!]</em>

    A smile unknowingly curled at the corner of Minhyuk¡¯s lips when he saw hundreds of screenshots like that.

    <em>[Because there are people who believe in me.]</em>

    The camera panned to the sky as if signaling that the video was about to end.

    <em>Crackle¨C Crackle¨C</em>

    The sound of static rang as a new video appeared on the screen again. The footage showed one man and one man alone charging toward the millions of enemies that were running on a long and wide bridge.

    Then, the final words appeared as the video finally ended.

    <em>[I will stand at the highest position and be the Sky.]</em>

 Chapter 948

    Chapter 948

    Minhyuk remained still for quite a long time after the video ended. As the video showed, many trolls and keyboard warriors were bashing him on the inte, even if he did nothing wrong. But because Minhyuk had taken a hard stance about them, their numbers had dwindled considerablypared to the past. And because of them, Minhyuk grew obsessed with getting ahead of everybody else.

    Now, he realized that more people were cheering and supporting Minhyuk than his trolls, keyboard warriors, and haters. After watching this video, Minhyuk felt the burden that the maliciousments had ced on his shoulders grow lighter.

    <em>¡®Let¡¯s keep this for myself.¡¯</em>

    Carron also left a message on the email.

    <em>[If you want to keep it for yourself, then keep it. If you want to post it on ZTube, then post it. It¡¯s your gift. You¡¯re free to do whatever you want with it~]</em>

    Minhyuk had no intention of using this video to gain support or benefits. So, he would keep it for himself.

    Thanks to Carron, Minhyuk went back to Athenae with a faint smile on his face.

    ***

    The Maserrati Kingdom, led by Absolute Monarch Richard, was founded by a yer and once stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the Beyond the Heavens Empire. Even to this day, the Maserrati Kingdom remained the best and strongest kingdom among all the kingdoms established by yers. It was said that if another yer established an empire, the kingdom would be the Maserrati Kingdom.At this moment, the elites of the Maserrati Kingdom had gathered together. The elites included five yers, hailed as the Pirs of Maserrati, over level 600, and five legendary NPCs, with one trying to take over one of the gods¡¯ seats. Nine hundred of the Maserrati Kingdom¡¯s best knights,prised of yers and NPCs, stood behind them.

    ¡°There¡¯s a high chance that this is Helenia¡¯s dungeon¡­¡±

    One of the Maserrati Kingdom¡¯s explorers discovered this dungeon not too long ago. Although nothing was known about it, the Maserrati Kingdom came here to clear it.

    Unknown and unidentified dungeons were essential. They could bring new resources, new hunting grounds, or new rewards. They could even give huge rewards that could satisfy a kingdom.

    The dungeon also restricted the number of people entering. It could amodate a thousand people at most. Although various dungeons in Athenae could amodate multiple people, only some had restrictions like this with such a vast number of people. Because of this, Richard believed that there was a chance that this was Helenia¡¯s dungeon.

    On the day Helenia descended on Earth, she dered that her dungeons would appear worldwide in a month. She also stated that her fragments would reside in these dungeons and work to pave a path for her descent.

    The yers were tasked to prevent her descent as much as possible. Of course, they would be able to obtain rewards during the process. And the best part? The rewards woulde from Immortal Sorceress Helenia herself.

    If this were Helenia¡¯s dungeon, they could obtain tremendous rewards by being the first attackers. However, Richard was worried about one thing.

    ¡°It¡¯s near Aveid Territory.¡±

    The dungeon was located near the barren territory that the Beyond the Heavens Empire had received from the Luvien Empire not long ago. Thankfully, the dungeon was not situated within the Aveid Territory.

    Richard could only chuckle wryly to himself.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m too conscious of him.¡¯</em>

    He believed it would not harm the Beyond the Heavens Empire even if they failed to attack the dungeon. After all, there were no cases where monsters ran out of the dungeons because someone failed to clear them.

    Richard led the elites of his kingdom to try and enter the dungeon.

    <em>[Helenia¡¯s Dungeons have started to appear all over the world!]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    They had yet to enter the dungeon. To be exact, only one person had entered the dungeon before, and that person was none other than the Maserrati Kingdom¡¯s dungeon explorer. The dungeon explorer had only visited this ce yesterday. He even returned right away when he saw that it was possible to use a Return Scroll.

    ¡°Impossible¡­!¡± Richard hoped against hope that his conjectures were wrong.

    Right in front of the dungeon, the statue symbolizing Helenia swiftly emerged. The newly made statue depicting Helenia¡¯s figure seemed to be holding a staff with her arm right in front of her. Then, Richard saw the staff slowly begin to squirm and wriggle.

    <em>[The dungeon¡¯s timer has reached 0!]</em>

    <em>[The monsters inside Helenia¡¯s Dungeon will now begin to rush out!]</em>

    At this moment, Richard¡¯s conjectures had be a reality. An unknown and hidden timer had begun to tick the moment their dungeon explorer entered the dungeon yesterday.

    <em>¡®What a f*cked up situation, huh?¡¯</em>

    Richard guessed this timer had also triggered the other timers worldwide to start ticking. And the worst part? The monsters would pour out of the dungeon if they failed to clear it before the timer ran out.

    Of course, this conjecture might not be urate. There was a chance that the timer would only begin ticking if someone pushed the first button, which in this case was the entry of their dungeon explorer. But what if the timers worldwide had already started ticking now?

    <em>¡®Shit. This is crazy.¡¯</em>

    However, Richard knew he did not have the time to care about those things. The wriggling and squirming staff in front of them had now be the shape of a snake, which was getting bigger and bigger.

    The once small snake had grown so massive that its shadow hadpletely engulfed Richard and his kingdom¡¯s elites. Richard, who could check the opponent¡¯s level right away, groaned.

    <em>[Helenia¡¯s Fragment. Level 711.]</em>

    ¡°Crazy shit¡­!¡± Richard¡¯s face grew ugly.

    It was a fragment, but the bastard¡¯s level was far too high. There was even an unpleasant hissing sounding from deep within the dungeon, which signaled the arrival of the monsters rushing out of the dungeon.

    <em>Hiss¨C</em>

    The gigantic snake flicked its tongue as it looked at them. One look and Richard decided that they should avoid this situation for now.

    <em>¡®It will be hard for us to deal with the dungeon monsters if they rush out from the dungeon all at once.¡¯</em>

    The dungeon was initially built to allow those who challenged it to gradually eliminate the monsters in their path as they moved forward. If what they were going to face was still set to follow a dungeon¡¯s original structure, then the troops that Richard brought here would probably be enough to clear it. After all, they needed to cut down and chop the monsters step by step before killing Helenia¡¯s fragment, the boss mob, at the end.

    But now? It was too dangerous. Especially since the monsters were all charging out of the dungeon in one go.

    At that moment, a bright light shed from the tip of the gigantic snake¡¯s tail.

    <em>[You cannot use the Return Scroll for 20 minutes!]</em>

    Richard¡¯s face grew even uglier. The yers might be able to revive if they were forced to log out here, but that was not the case at all for the NPCs. The problem was that there were quite a lot of NPCs among the elites that he brought here. If all of the NPCs here died, there would be a significant decrease in the number of people leading the Maserrati Kingdom.

    ¡°Retreat! Run as fast as you can!¡± Richard ordered. He had no other choice.

    But just when they were about to run away, the snake overtook them with one swift move.

    <em>aaaap¨C!</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!¡±

    The snake spat out the elite knight as fast as it devoured it. The elite knight¡¯s armor corroded, and his flesh melted away. In just one breath, one of the precious talents of the Maserrati Kingdom disappeared.

    <em>Baaaaaaang¨C!</em>

    <em>Booooooooom¨C!</em>

    The knights tried to attack the snake, but its scales were too harsh. They could not evennd a nick on it. What was even crazier was that every swing of the snake¡¯s tail, the bones of the knights, who were beyond Level 570, broke. As if things weren¡¯t bad enough, more than 3,000 anacondas appeared from the dungeon.

    <em>[Venomous Anaconda. Level 597.]</em>

    Anacondas were originally non-venomous snakes that reached six to ten meters long and weighed a tremendous amount. Thanks to their powerful muscles, they could wrap around their prey firmly and break their bones. But the anacondas that appeared here were venomous.

    Richard decided they had to escape as fast as they could, even if they had to give up protecting their backs.

    ¡°Hurry up!¡±

    The elites of Maserrati Kingdom immediately ran after Richard without looking behind them.

    ¡°Hiss¨C¡±

    As they ran, one of the anacondas grabbed a hold of one of the knights. It immediately clung and wrapped around the knight¡¯s body until it broke the knight¡¯s bones with its weight. And finally, it bit the man¡¯s neck.

    <em>Swooooosh¨C</em>

    The knight, bitten on the neck, became dry like a mummy and eventually crumbled away like dirt.

    <em>¡®Are you telling me countless dungeons like this are being created worldwide?¡¯</em>

    The thought alone brought chills down Richard¡¯s spine. However, he shook his head. This was a different case. This was the first dungeon discovered, so there was a high chance that its level would be higher than usual. However, it was still enough of a headache for Richard to think that the other dungeons appearingter would only be slightly weaker than this.

    Richard, who was running away just like that, felt his heart constrict after knowing he had already lost nearly 200 elite knights.

    Even though the pride of his kingdom bombarded the anacondas with their AOE attack skills, they still failed to break through the monsters¡¯ defenses. This meant the anacondas¡¯ defensive power was too high for their attacks to work. It seemed like their AOE attack skills were only strong enough to deal with Level 500 monsters.

    Richard, who was running away like crazy, suddenly felt weightless.

    ¡°???¡±

    He looked around in confusion and soon understood the reason. Helenia¡¯s fragment followed him and climbed a tree before stretching its tail and pulling him out. Then, it began to tighten its hold around Richard.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¨C!</em>

    ¡°K- keuaaaaaaaaaaack!!!¡± a scream was ripped out of Richard¡¯s mouth.

    ***

    At the same time.

    After thanking Carron in person, Minhyuk went to visit the Aveid Territory. Why was he visiting the Aveid Territory at this moment? The increase in the number of tankers in their kingdom after the appearance of the newly established Guardian Religion. After hearing Valentino¡¯s words, Minhyuk was fully convinced about his addition to the empire.

    <em>¡®Valentino is the idol of all of the tankers. His position in the hearts of all tankers here is solid. It will be alright even if I leave him be.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk looked at them in satisfaction. Since he had already visited the Aveid Territory, he decided to help them in their subjugation. Just as he stepped forward and took the lead with Valentino, there was a notification.

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>ss Inheritance Quest</em></strong><em>: Hunting Helenia¡¯s Fragments.]</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: SSS</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: Battle God¡¯s Sword and Battle God¡¯s Descendant</em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: Inheriting the Battle God¡¯s position.</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Failure</em></strong><em>: You will be disqualified from being the Battle God¡¯s Descendant or being the Battle God¡¯s Sword.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: The fiercepetition between the Battle God¡¯s Sword and the Battle God¡¯s Descendant during the Session Ceremony resulted in no clear winner. The Battle God, troubled by choosing between the two emperors, suggested that theypete by hunting Helenia¡¯s Fragments. The one who hunts more of Helenia¡¯s Fragments will be the one sitting on the true Battle God¡¯s throne.</em>

 Chapter 949

    Chapter 949

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaaaaack!!!¡± Richard screamed. He felt like every inch of his bones was breaking and turning into dust as Helenia¡¯s Fragment wrapped around him tightly like a snake.

    Richard, the king of the Maserrati Kingdom, had also reached Level 600 over time. As the yers often said, he had gone beyond the wall once. However, Helenia¡¯s Fragment was just far too high. Simply put, she was far too strongpared to him.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¨C!</em>

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 60%!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 50%!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 40%!]</em>

    As the notifications rang constantly in his ears, Richard hurriedly issued his order, ¡°G¡­ o¡­¡±

    Richard was a yer. Even if he were forced to log out here, he would only receive a bit of damage, so he thought it would be better for him to be left behind like this.<em>[The Absolute Monarch¡¯s Battle Intent forces the enemies down to their knees!]</em>

    <em>[Your MP will be consumed to suppress the enemies during the skill¡¯s activation time!]</em>

    The Absolute Monarch¡¯s Battle Intent was a skill that opened for Richard when he reached Level 600. It forced one¡¯s MP to drop constantly for as long as it was activated. However, Richard could force his enemies to their knees.

    <em>Rumbleeeeeeee¨C!</em>

    ck energy exploded from Richard¡¯s bound body and released a pressure that weighed down upon the thousands of Venomous Anacondas chasing after the troops of the Maserrati Kingdom.

    <em>Hiiiiiiiiss¨C</em>

    <em>Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiss¨C</em>

    Even the strong force Helenia¡¯s Fragment used to tie and press Richard down loosened slightly.

    ¡°Hurry¡­!¡± Richard urged them once again.

    Unfortunately, Richard was a king who was greatly loved and respected by the people of the Maserrati Kingdom.

    ¡°Your Majesty, forgive us. For the first time, we will not follow your orders.¡±

    The Maserrati Kingdom housed a legendary NPC who walked a path infinitely close to god. When this man was branded with Absolute Monarch Richard¡¯s Absolute Monarch¡¯s Stigma, he could deal with two of the Swords of the Gods. This man¡¯s name was Rhode, and he spoke about disobeying orders. It was not just him. Even the other elites of the Maserrati Kingdom stopped when their king was caught.

    ¡°These idiots¡­!¡± Richard shouted. He felt happy knowing they respected him to the point that they would willingly risk their lives for his sake. And he felt sad knowing there was a high chance he would lose them all here today.

    ¡°You already know that we will not listen. That¡¯s how much of a good king you are, Your Majesty Richard,¡± Disaster Specialist Ricor said as he stepped forward. And as one of the main pirs of the Maserrati Kingdom, he took it upon himself to give orders on behalf of Richard. He said, ¡°Rescue His Majesty and ughter all the enemies!¡±

    <em>Rumbleeeee¨C!</em>

    Ricor, who could send various disasters just by raising a finger, sent dozens of lightning bolts.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    The lightning bolts struck the Venomous Anacondas trapped by Richard¡¯s Absolute Monarch¡¯s Battle Intent while the elite knights charged forward and ughtered them. Meanwhile, Rhode and the other legendary NPCs leaped forward and began attacking Helenia¡¯s Fragment.

    Rhode was currently at Level 620. Since he had received the Absolute Monarch¡¯s Stigma, he could exert a power close to or maybe surpassing Level 700. But even if he had that much power, everyone believed it was stillcking.

    The difference between an ordinary mob and a boss mob was still huge. A boss mob at Level 700 could easily overwhelm ten regr mobs of the same level. This was the typical example of being on the same level but having different powers. First, once a monster was ssified as a boss mob, one should expect them to possess various attributes and characteristics, such as high HP and almost infinite MP.

    <em>aaaaaaaaaash¨C!</em>

    However, Rhode¡¯s cutting power, which had reached the extreme, could rip off one of the scales of Helenia¡¯s Fragments, making her drip blood all over the ce.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeck!¡± Helenia¡¯s Fragment shrieked.

    Seeing this, Rhode immediately moved and stabbed her body with all his might.

    <em>Stab¨C!</em>

    While Helenia¡¯s Fragment twisted, turned, and struggled fiercely against Rhode¡¯s de, someone hurriedly rushed in and saved Richard. Immediately after that, the pride of the Maserrati Kingdom, who could produce powerparable to those at Level 640-660 thanks to the Absolute Monarch¡¯s Stigma, jumped in and put pressure on Helenia¡¯s Fragment.

    <em>aaaaaash¨C!</em>

    <em>Boom, boom, boom, boom¨C!</em>

    <em>Rumbleeeeee¨C!</em>

    Ricor created several gigantic rocks in the air and sent them flying down on Helenia¡¯s Fragment. Rhode also took this opportunity to sh at the snake¡¯s body once more and inflict moresting damage upon the monster.

    Richard finally returned to his senses and looked around him hurriedly. Even though his MP was dropping quickly, his Absolute Monarch¡¯s Battle Intent had kept the Venomous Anacondas suppressed and allowed the troops to take them down and gradually reduce their numbers easily.

    <em>¡®If things continued at this rate, then¡­¡¯ </em>Richard saw a glimmer of hope as he gulped down a potion.

    Perhaps he and his allies, fighting actively against the enemies, would be the first to hunt Helenia¡¯s Fragment and clear the first of Helenia¡¯s dungeons. Even a fool would know they could obtain rewards far higher than those from an ordinary boss mob if they could hunt Helenia¡¯s Fragment here.

    <em>¡®Given the enemies¡¯ speed, we would have a higher chance of dying if we ran away again.¡¯</em>

    Fighting amidst the enemies¡¯ ranks and getting out of their way were two entirely different things.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    It did not take too long for them to decrease the number of Venomous Anacondas by 1,300. Now, there were only around 1,500 of them left. It was not that difficult for the elite knights, who were seasoned with the sword of the Maserrati Kingdom, to hunt down the Venomous Anacondas since they were rendered immobile by the Absolute Monarch¡¯s Battle Intent.

    If things continued at this rate, then everything would be okay.

    But then, at that moment, Rhode saw a small light shining from the tip of the tail of the wounded and injured Helenia¡¯s Fragment.

    <em>[Sprint.]</em>

    <em>[Helenia¡¯s Fragment can sprint at a speed that is three times higher than its original speed!]</em>

    Helenia¡¯s Fragment suddenly raised its body and sprinted until it collided with Rhode. It did not stop and continued to run forward, its body mming against the elite knights dealing with the Venomous Anacondas.

    <em>Crack¨C</em>

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¨C!</em>

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    The attack made by Helenia¡¯s Fragment quickly swept away the elite knights, killing more than 150 instantly.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be holding on to these bastards. Go and hunt the fragment first!¡± Richard shouted. He judged it better to prioritize hunting the fragment than dealing with the Venomous Anacondas.

    Hearing his orders, the troops hurriedly bombarded Helenia¡¯s Fragment with their attacks.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeck!¡±

    Rhode stepped forward and pressed down on the struggling fragment while Disaster Specialist Ricor bombarded it with the disasters he summoned.

    <em>¡®I can endure and hold on until they hunt the fragment,¡¯</em> Richard thought, his eyes constantly checking his MP.

    His MP was currently at 40%. They could hunt Helenia¡¯s Fragment before the Venomous Anacondas could move if it were still this much. Once they finished hunting the fragment, it would be easier for them to finish the anacondas. Wounds and scratches continued to appear one after another on the body of Helenia¡¯s Fragment. Just a bit more, just a bit more, and they would be able to kill it.

    Richard felt delighted when he saw the wounds covering the entire body of the struggling fragment. However, Rhode, pressing down on the struggling fragment, saw clearly how the corners of the snake¡¯s mouth stretched out and curled into a grin. Rhode¡¯s mind turned as several conjectures shed in his head.

    <em>¡®This bastard went for His Majesty with its first attack.</em>

    <em>¡®There¡¯s a high chance that it has wisdom and intelligence.</em>

    <em>¡®This bastard deliberately waited for us to gather together.¡¯</em>

    Rhode immediately tried to order everyone to disperse, and back away the moment the crazy thought shed in his head.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaa¨C!</em>

    Helenia¡¯s Fragment started to spit green poison all over the ce. The poison swiftly entered the lungs of the elite knights of the Maserrati Kingdom the moment they inhaled it.

    <em>[Your nerves have been paralyzed!]</em>

    <em>[You will be unable to control your body!]</em>

    Richard also inhaled the poison. The moment the poison entered his body, he lost strength and was rendered immobile. No matter how hard he tried, he could not move his body. But that was not all; the veins on their bodies had also grown swollen, which made them look grotesque and horrifying.

    ¡°Haa¡­ Haa¡­ Haa¡­¡± Richard¡¯s breathing started to growbored.

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¨C!</em>

    Richard, who could only look straight ahead with his immobile body, saw Rhode get struck by the fragment and sent flying back with a broken leg.

    stered on a nearby tree, Rhode stretched his hand toward Richard while struggling to say, ¡°Your¡­ Majesty¡­¡±

    Helenia¡¯s Fragment immediately stretched its body out and wrapped all of the elite knights, who tried to stop and kill her, all at once.

    <em>Craaaaaack¨C!</em>

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¨C!</em>

    The fragment crushed them like it was crushing a tomato. It did not even take one second.

    <em>Crack¨C</em>

    <em>Crack, crack¨C</em>

    <em>Spurt¨C!</em>

    Richard fell into the pits of despair as he was forced to watch his precious elite knights die so quickly like that, one after another. These people had stayed with him ever since he built Maserrati. The worst part? He knew that he would not be able to see most of the NPCs who died in this ce again.

    The Venomous Anaconda, now free from Richard¡¯s hold on them, immediately gathered around Helenia¡¯s Fragment. At that moment, a small ball of light gathered at the tip of the fragment¡¯s tail. Following the fragment¡¯s lead, the gigantic anacondas¡¯ tails began to glow with a small ball of light.

    This was the <em>Sprint</em> that they had seen just a few moments prior, the skill that allowed Helenia¡¯s Fragment to sprint at a speed that was three times faster to attack her enemies. When Helenia¡¯s Fragment and these 1,500 Venomous Anacondas used Sprint, Richard was sure everyone here would be wiped out.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeck!¡± Helenia¡¯s Fragment screeched, delight evident in its voice as it charged forward with the anacondas following right by its tail.

    While charging toward him, Richard saw Helenia¡¯s Fragment kill more than fifty of his elite knights. In just a blink, it appeared right in front of him.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on here?¡±

    But then, at that moment, an unidentified voice entered Richard¡¯s ears. At the same time, a man, Valentino, fell from the sky. When hended, he mmed his gigantic square shield on the ground right in front, where Richard was immobile.

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¨C!</em>

    The gigantic square shield stopped Helenia¡¯s Fragment and the more than a thousand anacondasing their way.

    <em>Booooooooom¨C!</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    Richard heard the sound of the enemies colliding against the huge, sturdy, and broad shield. Surprisingly, the shield did not shake or tremble despite the earth-shattering collision with Helenia¡¯s Fragment and the heavy and powerful gigantic anacondas.

    At that moment, a man appeared beside Richard. The man, who was none other than Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor Minhyuk, asked, ¡°Hey, can I kill that?¡±

    In a way, it could be considered stealing if Minhyuk indeed killed Helenia¡¯s Fragment right here and now. After all, the Maserrati Kingdom was the one that initiated the hunt. However, Richard considered this an excellent steal, not a bad one.

    Richard jerked his heavy head and nodded. Then, he said, ¡°Pl-please hurry and summon Ben!¡±

    The level of Helenia¡¯s Fragment was beyond Level 700. And that was not all. There were also more than a thousand Venomous Anacondas present. It would be tough for them to deal with the enemies with just the two of them.

    But Minhyuk just chuckled. ¡°Grandpa Ben is busy. He told me he would research how many cups of coffee he could extract from an elephant¡¯s dung today.¡±

    ¡°...?¡± For a moment, Richard had to wonder about the crazy shit that this man in front of him was spewing.

    Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°Besides, there¡¯s no need for Grandpa Ben to step out to deal with something at this level.¡± He paused momentarily before continuing, ¡°Put away the shield.¡±

    Just like an obedient dog, Valentino immediately removed the shield. At the same time, the countless enemies on the other side of the shield immediately pushed forward. The situation suddenly blew up and turned into an immediate crisis.

    However, one of Minhyuk¡¯s swords was already covered with the mes of the Supreme Overlord¡¯s Technique.

    <em>Crackle¨C!</em>

    The Venomous Anacondas, which the elites of the Maserrati Kingdom had a hard time dealing with because of their high defensive power, melted away when the mes licked their bodies. Even Helenia¡¯s Fragment started to melt from the intense heat of the fire slowly.

    Richard had stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Minhyuk in the past. But now, he realized that Minhyuk had reached a height so high that he could not even chase after him.

 Chapter 950

    Chapter 950

    <em>[You have hunted Helenia¡¯s First Fragment.]</em>

    <em>[Your EXP acquisition and item drop rate will double.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained 1005 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 120,001,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained six Helenia¡¯s Fragment Tokens.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained 479 Helenia¡¯s Dungeon Monster Tokens.]</em>

    These were the spoils that Minhyuk had obtained after hunting Helenia¡¯s Fragment and the Venomous Anacondas. The rewards might seem shabbypared to the artifacts, monster parts, and parchments that would often drop when hunting ordinary monsters and boss mobs. But that was not the case at all.

    When the quest notification rang out, a world message stating, ¡°Helenia¡¯s Fragments¡¯ Episode has started.¡± also rang in everyone¡¯s ears. This was the information they could view after the world message rang.

    <em>[If you can hunt Helenia¡¯s Fragment and her dungeon monsters, you can obtain fragment tokens and dungeon monster tokens!]</em><em>[You can use both tokens to exchange for various items in the Heroes¡¯ Tree ced in each kingdom and empire!]</em>

    Simply put, the Heroes¡¯ Tree was a store where they could exchange items for their tokens. And from what Minhyuk had guessed, he could exchange many items the more fragment tokens he had on hand.

    The following notifications also rang for Minhyuk:

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Fragments Hunted by the Beyond the Heavens Empire</em></strong><em>: 1]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Fragments Hunted by the Luvien Empire</em></strong><em>: 0]</em>

    When he heard the notification about his ss Inheritance Quest after hunting Helenia¡¯s Fragment, Minhyuk realized, <em>¡®This will decide who will have the upper hand between Nerva and me.¡¯</em>

    If Minhyuk were the true Battle God and inherited his throne, he would grow rapidly. Although it might take a long time, he could bring the Beyond the Heavens Empire to higher heights and turn it into an empire that could rival the Luvien Empire.

    It would also solve his problem with Minhyuk''s Religion, which worshipped the Food God, and itsck of followers. If he could sessfully take the Battle God¡¯s position, then he would be able to boost his own religion once he built the Battle God¡¯s religion. Minhyuk could not build the Battle God¡¯s Religion because he was still not yet the true Battle God.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Richard greeted Minhyuk. Despite having high casualties among their group, he was relieved to see that the pirs of the Maserrati Kingdom remained alive.

    ¡°I obtained 1,005 tinum, six fragment tokens, and around 470 dungeon monster tokens. Do you want them back?¡±

    Of course, Minhyuk hunted Helenia¡¯s Fragment all at once by using his Supreme Overlord¡¯s Technique. However, unbeknownst to the members of the Maserrati Guild, the Supreme Overlord¡¯s Technique¡¯s mes might be able to melt the Venomous Anacondas. Still, it could not do the same to Helenia¡¯s Fragment.

    It was often obvious whenever a mob¡¯s HP had dropped below 10%. When Minhyuk made a move to hunt Helenia¡¯s Fragment, the gigantic snake was already glowing. Therefore, he thought giving back some to them was only fitting.

    ¡°No, it¡¯s fine. We have already gained a lot. Besides, if it wasn¡¯t for you, Minhyuk, then¡­¡± Richard trailed off; the thought alone made him feel dizzy. ¡°Thank you for your kindness.¡±

    At this moment, Richard felt like the Maserrati Kingdom had grown infinitely shabby.

    <em>¡®How far will you continue to go?¡¯</em>

    Richard wondered what Minhyuk had done to cause him to grow so much that he could no longer reach him.

    Minhyuk replied, ¡°I have shown kindness to the powerful kingdom of Maserrati. It seems like I will be rewarded greatly for this kindness.¡±

    Minhyuk did not act arrogantly. He even praised the Maserrati Kingdom. And this praise was by no means an exaggeration. Minhyuk understood the current situation. One look and he could tell that all of the dungeon monsters had rushed out of the dungeon. In a situation like that, it did not matter whether those who faced them were a small kingdom or a thousand of an empire¡¯s elites; they would still be wiped out. And there was also the Level 700 Helenia¡¯s Fragments. Most yers would find it very difficult to handle a boss mob at that level.

    ¡°I will make sure to repay you someday,¡± Richard replied.

    A faint smile appeared on Minhyuk¡¯s face when he heard that. Richard, who possessed the unique power called Absolute Monarch¡¯s Stigma, would greatly help him.

    With the situation finally settling down, Richard and Minhyuk finally calmed down.

    ¡°Everything¡¯s a mess.¡±

    ¡°Yep.¡±

    The two looked at their guild chatting windows, which had been turned upside down by the sudden events.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Vice Guild Master Genie</em></strong><em>: There are more than 60 Helenia¡¯s Dungeons that have currently appeared all over the world. Every single one of the dungeons has a timer.]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Locke</em></strong><em>: It seems like Helenia¡¯s Fragment and the dungeon monsters all charged out of the dungeon when the five-minute timer went off. The level of Helenia¡¯s Fragment is around Level 660, while the mobs are around Level 590. Don¡¯t you think the level is a bit too high?]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Abel</em></strong><em>: ording to the information I have received and gathered, the timers on each dungeon are set at random. There¡¯s also the number of dungeons. Based on the information, their number will continue multiplying as time passes. We must remember that Helenia¡¯s Fragments¡¯ goal is theplete descent and advent of Helenia. The problem here is what¡¯s needed for her advent.]</em>

    Minhyuk immediately focused on the words that Abel, the one with the most excellent informationwork in the Beyond the Heavens Empire, said.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Abel</em></strong><em>: If you look closely at the fragments, you will see a little gem embedded somewhere in their bodies.]</em>

    The moment he read that, Minhyuk hurriedly examined Helenia¡¯s Fragment, which was in the form of a snake. Only after looking closely did he see the small red gem, which was only as big as a baby¡¯s nail, at the tip of the snake¡¯s tail.

    ¡°A gem¡­?¡±

    ¡°That gem is the one that was shing with light earlier,¡± Rhode piped up after drinking some potions and recovering to some extent. He could tell since he was the one who was fighting closely with Helenia¡¯s Fragment earlier. Then, he said, ¡°But there¡¯s something strange. I¡¯m sure it was bigger than that when I first saw it?¡±

    At the same time, Abel¡¯s message popped up in the guild chatting window once again.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Abel</em></strong><em>: It is estimated that the gem will grow bigger as they kill more powerful people. Simply put, Helenia¡¯s Fragments will help Helenia descend to this world by killing more of mankind and giving their power to her.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s expression grew solemn. If they allowed Helenia¡¯s dungeons and her fragments toe out and spread into the world, then Athenae would be plunged into chaos. The worst part? The number of dungeons that appeared seemed higher than he expected.

    Richard seemed to have received a simr report from his guild as he said, ¡°We will go back for now.¡±

    ¡°I should go too,¡± Minhyuk agreed as he hurriedly returned to the Beyond the Heavens Empire to devise specific measures against Helenia and her dungeons.

    ***

    The slumbering Nerva was plunged into deep darkness as he fell into a dream.

    In his dream, Nerva was leading hundreds of people through training. When he turned, he saw a young Brod running beside him and leading his group.

    <em>¡®Nerva, can you beat me and take first ce today?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Of course! I¡¯ll take first ce today!¡¯</em>

    Nerva looked happy even though he ran past the finish line simultaneously with the young Brod. The two young men fell to the ground and looked up at the sky as they tried to breathe.

    <em>¡®Brod.¡¯</em>

    Brod turned to Nerva in confusion when he heard Nerva speak.

    <em>¡®I¨C If I receive the recognition of the Battle God, I will make sure to create the biggest, the strongest, and the most peaceful empire in the world.¡¯</em>

    Back then, the still pure and innocent Nerva harbored such a grand dream.

    <em>¡®Once I create the greatest empire, I will restore the peace in the war-riddled human world and rule them all.¡¯ </em>Nerva raised his fist to the sky as he continued, <em>¡®I will build an empire where everyone would want toe and join.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®An empire that everyone wants to visit and join.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®An empire that everyone loves.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®An empire that supports peace.¡¯</em>

    That was the dream of the young Nerva. But when he turned to his side, he saw Brod with an ugly look on his face.

    <em>¡®Liar.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®...?¡¯</em>

    Nerva looked at Brod in doubt. Then, Brod reached both hands and grabbed him by the neck. At the same time, the bloody members of the Red Sword Knights, the same people whom Nerva ordered to kill, appeared and jumped at him.

    <em>¡®You have be a monster, Nerva.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Uwaaaaaaaaack!¡¯</em> Nerva shrieked as he broke free from Brod¡¯s hold and ran away from them.

    As Nerva ran toward the darkness to escape from them, he caught sight of the dying R?lszd kneeling in front of his figure with a bitter smile on his face.

    <em>¡®I hope you will be able to smile.¡¯</em>

    ¡°Haa¡­ Haa¡­!¡± Nerva gasped. He woke up from his drunken slumber amidst countless strewn bottles of alcohol inside the Luvien Imperial Pce. His heart ached. And the only thing that could numb the pain was the numerous bottles of alcohol around, which he promptly picked up and chugged again.

    <em>Knock¨C Knock¨C</em>

    ¡°Your Majesty, this is Duke d,¡± he announced as he entered the room.

    There was no change in his expression, even though the stale and disgusting smell of alcohol flooded his senses the moment he entered. He just reported, ¡°Helenia¡¯s Dungeons have appeared worldwide. This is Your Majesty¡¯s chance to take and inherit the position of the Battle God.¡±

    Nerva, engulfed by guilt, anger, sadness, and several other indescribable emotions, had been in a drunken stupor ever since the day he lost both R?lszd and Don. The Swords of the Gods were left buzzing inside the pce while what happened that day spread throughout the empire.

    ¡°Are you talking about this emperor? You¡¯re saying that this emperor will be the Battle God?! Keuhahahahahahaha!¡± Nerva cackled.

    An emperor¡¯s downfall could happen in just a blink. How many more people woulde and bother him in his dreams once he inherited the Battle God¡¯s throne? And how many more people woulde to mock andugh at him?

    ¡°You think that it¡¯s a good thing, huh?!¡±

    ¡°...Your Majesty, the Beyond the Heavens Empire is about to make a move. The dungeons that have appeared worldwide are wreaking havoc and bringing chaos to countless empires and kingdoms. We have to move quickly and destroy Helenia¡¯s Fragments. Please give me the authority to decide on this matter.¡±

    Duke d was fully aware of the situation.

    ¡°In the first ce, the Beyond the Heavens Empire is no match to us. The difference between our Luvien Empire¡¯s military power and the Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s is around fourteen times. I believe there¡¯s no need for Your Majesty to step forward. And with the support of our allies, Your Majesty will be able to inherit the Battle God¡¯s Throne safely.¡±

    This was not an individualpetition. The number of Helenia¡¯s Fragments that would determine who would take on the Battle God¡¯s position was not dependent on how many Minhyuk and Nerva hunted on their own. This was apetition and a battle between the two empires.

    ¡°Fufufufu. That¡¯s right, that¡¯s right. Ah, I will be the Battle God, huh? Then, so be it!¡±

    Duke d nodded before bowing his head expressionlessly and saying, ¡°I will set out right away.¡±

    ¡°But.¡± Seeing him turn around and leave, a glint appeared in Nerva¡¯s gloomy eyes. He said, ¡°What do you think you¡¯re doing?¡±

    Duke d turned his head and looked Nerva in the eyes.

    Duke d was a talent who had been with the Luvien Empire for a long time. He did not fall from the sky like Duke Ruffiso, but he was strong on his own. However, at some point, Duke d had grown more restrained, and no one could read his thoughts through his face anymore.

    ¡°I am just thinking and moving for the sake of the empire. I hope to revitalize our empire and make it grow bigger.¡±

    Not only was Duke d¡¯s influence huge, but he also possessed great power. He did not expect his position in the people''s hearts to be higher than Nerva¡¯s just because of the nderous and fierce rumors spreading about their emperor.

    Killing intent shed in Nerva¡¯s eyes.

    <em>¡®Even if he¡¯s not in the right state of mind, an emperor is still an emperor, huh?¡¯ </em>Duke d was impressed when his hair stood on end from the immense pressureing from Nerva¡¯s body in waves.

    Nerva¡¯s gaze soon drifted away from him as he tipped the bottle and chugged its contents. ¡°Is that so? Fufufufu. Then, I will thank you for thinking that way!¡±

    Not long after, Duke d stepped out of the room. He chuckled and thought, <em>¡®Please don¡¯t worry. I do not want to take away your throne.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I will help you be the Battle God. I will use you and hold you in the palm of my hands to squeeze you dry of your worth until you die.¡¯</em>

    A nasty smile almost ripped Duke d¡¯s face. His smile looked terrifying, like the smile painted with dark red paint on a clown''s face.

    ***

    Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    A meeting was held to discuss their next steps regarding Helenia¡¯s Fragments.

    ¡°Based on our estimates, there will be around 300,000 monsters that will rush out of the dungeons all at once.

    ¡°The level of Helenia¡¯s Fragment and the Venomous Anacondas that would appear would be much lower than the one Minhyuk faced earlier. However, even if their level has lowered, 300,000 is a number that could threaten an entire kingdom.

    ¡°And if two such dungeons appeared in the same vicinity, then there is only one result¡­ and that is the destruction of whatever is in their path.¡±

    The number of Helenia¡¯s Dungeons that appeared had exceeded the number that the yers had estimated. Less than half a day had passed, and there wasn''t that many monster rushing out of the dungeons, but the entire Athenae had entered a state of emergency.

    Haze said, ¡°This is an unexpected situation, and it has already alerted the entire world. We can expect that several of the nations allied to us will send requests for support. We must also dere an emergency in our Beyond the Heavens Empire.¡±

    That was right. The entire Athenae was now on the brink of a crisis. While discussing the state of emergency, Minhyuk, who had been pondering about something, took something out. It was none other than several bottles of potion that he had recently purchased from the Infinite Store.

    The entire world was in a state of emergency. The fragments, ssified as boss-ss monsters, would give an unusual amount of EXP. However, this also meant they were at a level where it would take a lot of work for others to handle. Because of this, their allies would most definitely send several requests for support.

    Since that was the case, these potions would y a huge role. And the name of these potions?

    <em>¡®Single Target EXP Increase Potion.¡¯</em>

    This potion could help him obtain twenty times more than the usual amount of EXP upon sessfully hunting the designated target.

    <em>¡®One-hour EXP Explosive Increase Potion.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®One-week EXP Triple Increase Potion.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®One-level Level Up Potion.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s father, the Chairman of Ilhwa Group, had often advised.

    ¨C<em>Crisis can always be turned into opportunities.</em>

    Yes, Minhyuk wanted to turn this crisis into an opportunity.

 Chapter 951

    Chapter 951

    When Helenia descended to the world, albeit only briefly, she dered that her dungeons would appear with her fragments and assist her in herplete and final descent.

    The experts immediately predicted that there would be around 300 Helenia¡¯s Dungeons that would appear. With the dungeons¡¯ standard, they expected that high-rankers would attack it by the time they appeared. Everyone firmly believed that the appearance of Helenia¡¯s dungeons and her fragments would be an unprecedented yet exciting and fun event.

    But they were only half right. They believed the current high-rankers were strong enough to deal with the dungeons. However, that was an assumption that was only made with conditions. They would only be able to deal with the dungeons if no timers and monsters were pouring out of them like what was happening now.

    There was also the expected number of dungeons. They expected there would only be around 300 Helenia¡¯s Dungeons that would appear worldwide. However, only half a day had passed, and there were already around 200. They did not know how many more would be created after this day.

    Beyond the Heavens Empire and the Luvien Empire, the two empires that received the world¡¯s attention would be flooded with overwhelming requests for support troops, likely termed ¡°Helenia¡¯s Fragments¡¯ Hunt Request.¡±

    Of course, the Luvien Empire, with its strong troops that were ten times the number of Beyond the Heavens, would be the ones that would receive far more requests for support. After all, they would be able to fight this battle rapidly.

    In other words, Minhyuk was left in a crisis. He might be deprived of his title as the Battle God¡¯s Descendant. However, giving up and letting things go like that just because they were in a crisis would be the most foolish thing to do.

    Only those who do their best to continue moving forward despite being faced with a crisis are considered the best of the best. This was also why Minhyuk was going to try to turn this crisis into an opportunity.

    ¡°Those are the rewards that Your Majesty has received from the Infinite Battlefield, right?¡±Minhyuk nodded. At this moment, Haze wanted to be given a chance to take a peek at how Minhyuk¡¯s head was working.

    <em>¡®You¡¯re given far worse conditions than the Luvien Empire in this battle for the position of the Battle God, yet you haven¡¯t lost the will to fight at all?¡¯</em> Haze thought, marveling at how amazing her emperor was.

    The reason why Minhyuk thought of using these potions was straightforward.

    After having a conversation with Valentino and Ali, who had be the Gods of Shields and Magic, respectively, he realized that even though they had be gods, they had not yet taken over their powerspletely and that the gods would stay with them for a few years to make up for their shorings.

    And from what he heard from the God of Shields Valentino, there was something that he and the God of Magic Ali had inmon. First, they received additional skills and stats the moment they sessfully inherited the throne of their respective gods.

    <em>¡®The second level of their powers will open by Level 660.¡¯</em>

    And the third would be the opening of their final power level, which would only happen once they reached Level 700.

    Of course, Minhyuk was already the Food God. Since he had already inherited the position, there was a chance that he would not receive any more powers. But what if?

    <em>¡®What if I can also open up new powers once I reach Level 660?¡¯</em>

    It was not entirely impossible. The Food God was a Continental God, and no session happened. However, did that mean he would receive no rewards once he reached Level 660? That should not be the case, mainly because Joy Co. Ltd. was apany that gave fair rewards to its yers.

    Either way, it would still be alright even if Minhyuk did not open any new power as the Food God once he reached Level 660.

    <em>¡®If I take this opportunity to increase my level, then I will still be able to grow even stronger. Furthermore, if I be the Battle God, what would happen if I¡¯m already in a situation where my Level has reached Level 660?¡¯</em>

    Even if the Food God did not have any hidden power, he would still be able to inherit some of the powers of the Battle God. In other words, no matter the result, it would still open up a new path for further growth and development.

    That was right. Minhyuk had found a way to grow further even though he was in the middle of a crisis. Now, he only needed a way to help the Beyond the Heavens Empire hunt more of Helenia¡¯s Fragments.

    Minhyuk said, ¡°Once the Luvien Empire starts attacking Helenia¡¯s dungeons and fragments, they will move ten times faster than us.¡±

    This was an undeniable fact. They needed reinforcements if they wanted to close this gap.

    <em>Knock¨C Knock¨C</em>

    Just in time, someone knocked on the door.

    ¡°That¡¯s why I called for two reinforcements.¡±

    Two people entered just as the doors opened. One of them was Richard, who received Minhyuk¡¯s help just a few hours prior. Richard not only possessed the skill Absolute Monarch¡¯s Stigma but also a variety of AOE attack skills. He would be of great help to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    ¡°A- Alexander¡­?¡±

    ¡°...?!¡±

    Alexander, the hottest issue these days, was waiting for Minhyuk to contact him. He did not join the Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s hunt for Helenia¡¯s Fragment for their sake.

    Alexander also knew he could receive enormous rewards and EXP if he hunted Helenia¡¯s Fragments. And he needed to find a way to elerate the process to obtain a lot. He thought of the method of taking advantage of Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Minhyuk¡¯s buffed dishes and the support request that their allies would send them.

    With Alexander¡¯s help, Minhyuk could now increase the number of fragments that his Beyond the Heavens Empire could hunt by a significant amount.

    ¡°Grandpa Ben and the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ troops will attack all of the dungeons in the vicinity of our empire and prepare for monsters that maye charging out of the dungeons at any given moment.¡±

    After all, there was a chance that more than 300,000 monsters coulde rushing out of the dungeons all at once.

    ¡°As for the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ high rankers, go and form teams of your own so we can hunt Helenia¡¯s Fragments quickly.¡±

    Everyone perked their ears up and listened to Minhyuk¡¯s orders.

    ¡°Brod, Elpis, and Luo, you three will move individually.¡±

    Minhyuk believed that no fragment could threaten the three people he mentioned, especially if they were in a state where they had his dishes.

    ¡°Everyone has to eat my buffed dishes first before hunting and attacking Helenia¡¯s Dungeons.¡±

    With this, the meeting ended. He would make sure that they turned this crisis into an opportunity.

    Minhyuk looked at the Beyond the Heavens Empire executives and said, ¡°There¡¯s one thing that you all have to keep in mind.¡± A faint smile appeared as he continued, ¡°Hunting Helenia¡¯s Fragments is the only time we can technically steal dungeons and monsters. This opportunity will note knocking at our doors twice.¡±

    ***

    The entire world was plunged into chaos.

    The experts immediately realized that their earlier predictions were wrong. However, they dered that even though the numbers were much higher than expected, the dungeons that would appear would only be around 400 at most. But just half a dayter, the number of dungeons that appeared worldwide had already reached 350.

    After several calctions and estimates, they determined the fragments¡¯ level would be around Level 630~660. However, the funniest thing was that there were rare cases where a single dungeon had around two or three fragments inside. There were just far too many anomalies that appeared alongside Helenia¡¯s Dungeons.

    Thementators started weighing in.

    <em>[The Luvien Empire has dered they will focus on hunting Helenia¡¯s Fragments. Currently, they are organizing dungeon attack parties and deploying the Swords of the Gods and their elites to deal with the dungeons and the monsters that charged out of the dungeons once the timer ran out.]</em>

    <em>[In just three hours, the Luvien Empire could sessfully hunt seven fragments. Their pace will go faster once they have deployed theirrge armies.</em>

    <em>[On the other hand, the Beyond the Heavens Empire is said to have only started targeting the dungeons in their vicinity.]</em>

    <em>[As of today, there are a total of 675 territories that were unable to stand against the onught of monsters and had copsed.]</em>

    <em>[There are also several kingdoms left in precarious situations.]</em>

    <em>[These kingdoms have onemon factor. And that is the appearance of several dungeons near their territories. The ones that had it worst were those with dungeons appearing right in the middle of their kingdoms¡¯ capitals.]</em>

    <em>[The greatest example is the Revsen Kingdom, which copsed today.]</em>

    <em>[The Revsen Kingdom might be a small nation. However, they weren¡¯t a kingdom that would easily copse and fall under the monsters¡¯ attacks.</em>

    <em>The Revsen Kingdom fell most because two of Helenia¡¯s Dungeons appeared inside their capital. When the timer of these dungeons ran out, more than 400,000 monsters came pouring out. Even the outstanding NPCs of the Revsen Kingdom could not handle such a vast number of enemies.</em>

    <em>The problem is that the kingdoms could not respond appropriately to the various variables apanying Helenia¡¯s Dungeons.]</em>

    <em>[Many nations worldwide are in the same situation as the Revsen Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[And it¡¯s not just one or two kingdoms; many kingdoms and empires are in danger.]</em>

    <em>[And we are ¡°expecting¡± many more nations to be in danger too.]</em>

    <em>[This is not an episode event. This is quite literally a disaster.]</em>

    <em>[South Korea, China, Russia, Japan, America, Vietnam, France, Greece, and various other servers are in a simr situation. In other words, the kingdoms and empires from various continents could not respond appropriately to this disaster and are now seeking help from empires and kingdoms from their neighboring continents.]</em>

    <em>[News just came in. Two Helenia¡¯s Dungeons appeared in the capital of the Ruwado Kingdom, located on the Cairon continent in the Chinese server. From what we have received, one of the dungeons had a timer set at one hour, while the other had a timer set at only ten minutes. They are trying their best to keep Helenia¡¯s Fragment and the expected 250,000 monsters that would pour out of the dungeons.]</em>

    As thementators said, the Ruwado Kingdom was now in danger. The worst part? Two of Helenia¡¯s dungeons appeared in the middle of the capital at a time when almost 40% of their elites and 60% of their troops had gone outside to attack the dungeons that appeared in the vicinity of their kingdom.

    The two dungeons had different timers, one set at one hour and the other at ten minutes. Just one look revealed that the Ruwado Kingdom would not be able to sessfully clear this dungeon.

    When the ten-minute dungeon timer went off, around 80,000 monsters immediately rushed out. The kingdom immediately ordered the troops to evacuate the people so they could focus on stopping the monsters.

    However, the results were not looking too good. The troops had to stop the monsters while helping the civilians evacuate safely. But the worst was yet toe. They could see that the timer on the other dungeon was ticking, and monsters would once again pour out and wreak more havoc in the capital.

    <em>¡®Damn it! How did thingse to this¡­?!¡¯</em>

    Surprisingly, the Ruwado Kingdom¡¯s First Knight Order Commander was a yer. After all, even though the Ruwado Kingdom was not huge, it was by no means weak.

    Bo Jing, themander of the First Knight Order, had been a soldier of the Ruwado Kingdom since he was Level 10. He had been active in the kingdom¡¯s army and had put his all into this kingdom. He was currently at Level 599, which was not that impressivepared to the rankers but was undoubtedly high.

    Despite being gathered in a hurry, the troops were doing an excellent job of stopping the more than 80,000 monsters pouring out of the first dungeon while protecting the evacuating civilians. The problem was Helenia¡¯s Fragment.

    <em>[Helenia¡¯s Fragment. Level 618.]</em>

    The level of this Helenia¡¯s Fragment, which was a minotaurus, was high. They would need the aid of high-rankers.

    One swing of the fragment¡¯s axe and countless soldiers died. In a situation like this, many would abandon their kingdom and flee. However, Bo Jing was blessed with a fabulous king. Although the king had ordered the evacuation of his people, he did not run away. He was even running around and sending carrier pigeons to request support where he could.

    ¡°Commander, there are just far too many enemies! If things continue at this rate, we will all be wiped out¡­!¡±

    ¡°We will protect and defend our people and kingdom until the end!¡± Bo Jing shouted at the knights, who were deep in their thoughts.

    Many of Bo Jing¡¯s friends hadughed at him when they heard that he started as a kingdom¡¯s soldier in the game.

    <em>¡®You¡¯re ying as a kingdom soldier in the game?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Even if you increase your level, what will happen next?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Haa¡­ You can¡¯t hunt as you please, you can¡¯t work as a mercenary, and you can¡¯t even take on quests whenever you like. What¡¯s the point of ying like that?¡¯</em>

    Back then, Bo Jing vowed to ensure he stood in a high position in the kingdom and showed everyone what he could do. And thanks to that, he obtained good results and was even at the point where he was only one step away from reaching Level 600.

    Once Bo Jing filled in the remaining 20% of his EXP, he would be themander of the kingdom¡¯s first knight order and a Level 600 yer. However, all of the effort and hard work that he had done was about to fall apart.

    This was not just about one¡¯s effort or hard work. He started his game here. From Level 1 to Level 10, when he became one of the kingdom¡¯s soldiers, to Level 599, he had always stayed here. He did not want to see the people of this kingdom die.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    There was only one way for them to survive, and that was to hunt the fragment in front of them before the timer of the other dungeon ended. If he could do that, then he would be able to reach Level 600 and obtain greater power that would boost his strength and help him respond appropriately to the other dungeon.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    When fear started to gnaw on the soldiers'' nerves, Bo Jing showed them why he became the kingdom¡¯s knightmander as he shed the minotaurus with his sword.

    ¡°d¡¯s Swordsmanship. Fifth Chapter.¡±

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    Blood spurted out as a total of thirteen consecutive shesnded on the fragment¡¯s body.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Dungeon Timer</em></strong><em>: 50¡­ 49¡­ 48¡­ 47¡­ 46¡­]</em>

    ¡°<em>Kuhwiiiiik!</em>¡± Helenia¡¯s Fragment shrieked.

    A ray of hope, hope that he could protect the Ruwado Kingdom, bloomed in Bo Jing¡¯s chest when he saw this.

    <em>aaash¨C</em>

    He quickly moved and stabbed his sword in the fragment¡¯s abdomen. But when he was about to pull his sword out, the fragment swung his axe and almost cut down Bo Jing¡¯s shoulder.

    ¡°Aaaaaaaack!¡±

    The fragment raised its free hand to punch and pound Bo Jing¡¯s head non-stop. Helenia¡¯s Fragment kicked the now bloodied and bruised Bo Jing away. As he rolled on the ground, he saw the screaming people and soldiers. He realized everything was falling apart and crumbling right before his eyes. If he could just reach Level 600, he would be able to protect them. He would be able to do it!

    <em>[The dungeon¡¯s timer has reached 0!]</em>

    <em>[The monsters inside Helenia¡¯s Dungeon will now begin to rush out!]</em>

    At that moment, the monsters in the other dungeon began to rush out. Bo Jing blinked as his consciousness began to fade away. In his blurred vision, he seemed to see a man passing by him.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¨C!</em>

    Helenia¡¯s Fragment shrieked. It died with just one swing of the man¡¯s sword. And immediately after that, the notifications rang out.

    <em>[Congrattions! You have achieved Level 600.]</em>

    <em>[Another Level 600 has been born to the world!]</em>

    <em>[Your ss Knight will change to Legendary ss ¡°First Foreigner Commander¡±!]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 28%!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 2,000 CHA.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP and MP have recovered.]</em>

    <em>[New skills for yourmander ss have opened!]</em>

    Bo Jing was very emotional. He could now protect his kingdom even more. He was happy that he patiently endured the harsh looks and the fingers that pointed at him when the others ignored and mocked him. Everything has paid off now.

    Strictly speaking, Bo Jing could almost hunt the monster before him. What the man, who swung his sword once to kill the fragment, did could be considered a steal. However, given the circumstances, he would notin.

    Meanwhile, the man who killed the fragment looked at him and said, ¡°I can¡¯t believe that you rose to the position of amander from only being a mere soldier. And you even did it as a yer. That¡¯smendable. You have my respect.¡±

    The words that this man, a yer everyone in Athenae knew, uttered were utterly different from those that the people who mocked him and called him a mere dog of the kingdom said to him. He even gave him a thumbs-up.

    ¡°They¡¯re all yours.¡±

    Bo Jing, whose entire body was covered with bright light, grabbed his sword tightly with both hands as he looked at the man in front of him before turning to the mobs rushing out of the other dungeon. Using his newly acquired power andmander¡¯s skills, Bo Jing ughtered all the enemies rushing out of Helenia¡¯s Dungeon and became his kingdom¡¯s legend.

    On this day, the figure of Minhyuk was engraved deeply in Bo Jing¡¯s heart. This was the man who recognized his efforts and helped him find the new path he would walk on.

 Chapter 952

    Chapter 952

    The Ardo Empire, the empire raised and developed by Hound Amacar, was the nation that was only second to the Luvien Empire. Ardos Emperor Consteinus, who became a fierce and tyrannical emperor who dreamt only of making his empire rise back up again, was pped back to his senses when Duke Amacar decided to move to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    Emperor Consteinus also stopped taking away things from the empires and kingdoms he made alliances with solely for his benefit. He even provided his allies with as much help as possible. And now, the Ardo Empire had returned to the peaceful and magnificent empire it once was.

    <em>Lets live and prosper together. And lets all unite and fight against the Luvien Empire.</em>

    Consteinus change had a far more beneficial effect than they had expected. The kingdoms and empires did not spare anything and supported the Ardo Empire.

    People were fascinating creatures. When a kind and good-hearted person exploded in anger once, they would say, <em>Hey. This bastards personality is twisted.</em> On the other hand, if someone with a lousy personality suddenly did something good, they would say, <em>Hey, this guy is fine~.</em>

    Because of this change, each of the kingdoms and empires that had allied themselves with the Ardo Empire felt like this was not an alliance based on materialistic needs alone but an alliance where they had to care, stay, and help each other for a long time. Of course, Consteinus did not just stay idle. He had been doing his best to meet the expectations of the people around him.

    But Consteinus, the emperor of a strong empire and a powerhouse, groaned. <em>It seems like the era of chaos has arrived.</em>

    He looked at Helenias Fragments and the countless dungeons charging toward the empire''s walls. The worst part? Around four dungeons suddenly appeared in the vicinity of his empire. Of course, they had already moved to attack and quickly deal with these dungeons.

    The entire world was left in chaos with the appearance of Helenias Dungeons. Even the allies of the Ardo Empire had been sending requests for support non-stop. The problem was that the Ardo Empire was also having a hard time and could not send more troops to help them. So, they all decided to stop as many monsters as possible and lure the fragments and the rest of the monsters that they could not deal with to the walls of the Ardo Empire. The greatest reason empires and kingdoms fell apart was that the fragments were just too strong. The number of strong individuals who belonged to their nations was significantly less than that of the Ardo Empire, an empire teeming with great talents.

    However, the empires and kingdoms had at least one high-tiered mage among their ranks. These mages risked their lives to mass teleport the fragments near the Ardo Empires walls. If it were just this, then it would be fine. The problem was the number of fragments that appeared in front of the walls of the Ardo Empire. It was enough to make Consteinus groan.

    Ten fragments have already been sent in And even nations with no high-tiered mages cannot send the fragments here.

    How many dungeons have already appeared all over the world?

    <em>If we cant stop this, then perhaps more than 20% of mankind will die.</em>

    Consteinus was already taking the situation very seriously. However, the more fragments there were, the more the Ardo Empire would have difficulty dealing with them. They could fall behind. The problem was they werent given enough room to breathe. A more shocking report was immediately ryed to him.

    Your Majesty, three dungeons have been created within the empire. The timers set for the three dungeons are twenty minutes, one hour, and four hours, respectively.

    Consteinus had already judged that they could no longer handle the situation. He knew stopping the fragments charging toward the wall was already too much for them. And they were telling him that three more dungeons had been created inside their empire? But what happened in the Ardo Empire was not the most crucial part here.

    Then, does that mean that more Helenias Dungeons are being created?

    Thats right.

    If three more dungeons appeared in their empire, more would be created worldwide. Consteinus vision already started to turn dark after hearing those words. Then, at that moment, he saw more magesing over with several fragments behind them through the mass teleport.

    Exhausted after teleporting through a very long distance, one of the kingdom mages begged, Your Majesty, please gain victory

    <em>Boom</em>

    One of the fragments that were sent via mass teleport killed the pleading mage by blowing his head up. Everyone was trying their hardest to stop the fragments to survive and live. But Consteinus knew that they had to stop now.

    Go and send carrier pigeons to our allies! Tell them to stop sending more fragments to our side! Quick!

    Right now, the Ardo Empire was starting to get overwhelmed. No, they were already having a very, <em>very </em>hard time. The fragments stretched out in front of them were all above Level 625. And even more than 700,000 monsters wereing at them from all directions. With the increasing number of fragmentsing their way, the Ardo Empires troops began to get pushed back faster than before.

    Consteinus choked on his breath when he saw this.

    Your Majesty! We must quickly attack the dungeons that have appeared inside the empire!

    Your Majesty! The enemies attacks are too powerful!

    Your Majesty!

    Emperor Consteinus!

    Your Majesty!

    Consteinus, confused by their chaotic shouts, was left unable to determine what orders to give his men.

    At that moment, a soft and gentle voice, utterly different from the urgent and desperate calls from earlier, rang in Consteinus ears. I have seen Your Majesty.

    Amacar, now a member of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, appeared before Consteinus. Standing right next to him was another member, Brod.

    I have received my emperors orders to help Your Majesty and lead the Ardo Imperial Army.

    Consteinus face finally turned bright. The situation on the battlefield would change for the better just by having Amacar lead the Ardo Empires troops. That was not all. Beyond the Heavens Empire, which maintained a friendly and close rtionship with the Ardo Empire, would alsoe to help them.

    When will the Beyond the Heavens Imperial Army arrive?

    No, they will not arrive.

    Consteinus looked at Amacar in confusion.

    Its just the two of us.

    Consteinus grew even more confused. Their situation was dire. It was not certain they could win even if an empire aided them. Wasnt the Beyond the Heavens Empirepeting with the Luvien Empire? This was an opportunity for them to hunt plenty of fragments simultaneously. How could they send only two people to deal with this?

    Of course, Consteinus had also heard how mighty Brod was. Even so, how much help could he give them just by himself? He could not help the slight disappointment that shed on his face.

    Can I take all the spoils that the fragments will drop? Brod asked. He was thinking of giving everything he would obtain from this to Minhyuk.

    Consteinus waved and said, If you can get it, its yours.

    Brod heard Consteinus agreement and the soldiers urgent report, saying, Your Majesty. We have to hurry and send reinforcements to the empire

    Brod instantly understood the situation. He said, I will take down the dungeons inside the empire first.

    Helenias Dungeons were set to crumble and disappear if it was sessfully attacked and cleared before the timer ended. This was what Brod was aiming for as he disappeared. Consteinus just sighed as he watched the man leave.

    Meanwhile, Amacar joined the imperial army and began to push back the monsters in this tight race against time. Despite sending carrier pigeons to their allies, more fragments were still being sent through mass teleport.

    <em>This</em>

    The situation was quickly turning bleak. Now, seventeen fragments were charging toward them. They no longer had any solution, and this was even more so once the dungeons inside the empire exploded.

    It did not take too long for Amacar, who was fighting fiercely just a few moments prior, to return to Consteinus side to look at the situation of the battlefield.

    Consteinusughed bitterly. Im a bit disappointed. The Beyond the Heavens Emperor seemed to have wanted to maintain a close rtionship with us, but he only sent Sir Brod to our aid.

    Amacar remained silent, opting to listen silently to Consteinus ramblings.

    Of course, I know that the Beyond the Heavens Empire is also in a hurry since they need to deal with many dungeons. But you all should know that many fragments are now flocking toward the Ardo Empire.

    In the end, Consteinus just shook his head. He realized it was pathetic to ramble and share his grievances with his old subordinate, who had be someone elses subordinate.

    Im sorry. I shouldnt have said that.

    But Amacar just smiled at him. Your Majesty.

    Consteinus turned to look at Amacar.

    The Beyond the Heavens Emperor had told me to help in the Ardo Empires physical and spiritual matters.

    Amacars words distorted Consteinus calm expression. He was aware that Amacars help would bring him enormous relief. And he also could not ignore the impact that Sir Brod could bring. But even if the two of them came here, what good would it do for their situation? No matter how hard he looked at it, the situation would not change. They were just words. Nothing more, nothing less.

    Then, at that moment, Brod came back to their side.

    ??? Consteinus looked at the man in confusion. It had only been twenty minutes since the man said he would go down and take down the dungeons that appeared inside the empire.

    <em>Did he stop attacking the dungeons to rest for a while?</em>

    Your Majesty! All three of the dungeons have fallen!

    We- we have no idea about whats going on!

    All of Helenias Dungeons suddenly started to crumble!

    A huge man just went in. Then, the dungeons began to fall apart when he came out!

    Consteinus eyes grew wide, his gaze turning to look at Brod, standing at the edge of the walls.

    Emperor Consteinus, by themand of the Beyond the Heavens Emperor, I will be dealing with all of the fragments present, Brod dered as he leaped out of the walls.

    Brod was once someone whopeted with Nerva for the position of emperor. But now? He was the sword of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. With one swing of his sword, he took the head of the fragment nearest to him.

    <em>Staaaaaaab!</em>

    After hunting the fragment with just one strike, he stepped on one of the monsters and leaped to the skies again. Then, he used his Mercenaries Pinnacle Swordsmanship and hacked three of the fragments gathered together to death.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!</em>

    The fragments, whose level exceeded Level 600, were quickly torn apart under Brods de. Of course, these fragments had already suffered considerable damage from the attacks of the Ardo Imperial Army.

    <em>sh!</em>

    <em>Vwoooooong</em>

    <em>ck!</em>

    <em>Stab!</em>

    Consteinus jaw dropped, his gaze nk as he looked at the fragments that were either forced to copse or got their heads cut off with just a single swing of the mans sword.

    Then, Amacar said, Your Majesty, Sir Brods power alone is equivalent to that of a million troops. He can deal with a single empire on his own.

    ***

    The Ambro Allied Forces was an alliance created quickly andprised six kingdoms and one empire. Why did they form an alliance? Because around thirty dungeons were made in one ce. This was the most significant number of anomalous Helenias Dungeons created in a single area. The worst part? All of the dungeons had a timer set for five minutes.

    To stop a tide of monsters flooding out of the dungeons, the alliance, with its almost two million troops,unched an all-out attack. It looked like Helenias Fragments suffered much damage from their attacks and were about to die. But the truth was they werent even close to dying.

    There were around thirty dungeons in the area, but sometimes, there were two or three fragments inside a dungeon. The worst part was that the thirty dungeons here were considered to be among the worst ones. The total number of fragments present was no less than fifty.

    At this moment, the Allied forces, who had been in a constant state of crisis, finally sessfully hunted down one fragment. This meant that they could finish off the fragments one by one as long as they could deal a huge amount of damage to them. The problem was that the Allied forces would definitely have a hard time enduring the process.

    The man, who had not moved while watching the situation, raised his mask. He recalled the words that his emperor told him earlier.

    <em>This is the only time we can legally steal dungeons and monsters.</em>

    Assassins possessed a high basic damage and were more than 1.5 times faster than ordinarybat sses. And the masked man, Luo, could even be considered the God of Assassins. He used this opportunity exquisitely to his advantage. He moved in a sh and sessfully stole(?) one of the fragments, who was about to take the neck of the allied forcesmander.

    <em>Stab Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab Stab, stab, stab</em>

    Wherever Luo passed by, Helenias Fragments, whose HP had been reduced to the minimum, died.

    Assassins Onught.

    Luo threw five daggers to the sky. When they fell, they instantly pierced through the necks of the fragments scattered all over the ce. He quickly cut down and killed the fragments the allied forces had been trying to kill by gnawing on their HP for days.

    After cutting down all of the fragments present, Luo turned to the allied forcesmander and said, I have cut down all of the fragments. With this, you can now deal with the monsters and subdue them. I will take all of the spoils from the fragments as promised.

    Then, Luo disappeared in a sh of light. The allied forcesmander stared silently at where he disappeared, a strange feeling washing over him.

    <em>Im thankful, but for some reason, I also feel like I shouldnt be grateful</em>

    Why was that the case?

    ***

    At the same time.

    Minhyuk also used this opportunity to legally steal dungeons and monsters. He was going to the kingdoms that had requested support from the Beyond the Heavens Empire and was constantly hunting Helenias Fragments.

    Of course, he had also been drinking the <em>One-week EXP Triple Increase Potion.</em> In just one day, Minhyuk was able to increase his Level 639 EXP value for level up from 22.9% to 98.9%. Minhyuks pace could be considered ridiculous since he needed to work hard for at least one month before he could even increase his level by 1.

    When he cut down another fragment, there was a notification.

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have achieved Level 640!]</em>

    <em>[You can check the Food Gods ss Quest once you reach Level 650!]</em>

    A faint smile appeared on Minhyuks face.

    <em>Isnt this way off from what I expected?</em>

 Chapter 953

    Chapter 953

    <em>[You can check the Food Gods ss Quest once you reach Level 650!]</em>

    Minhyuk nodded when he heard the notifications. He was just hunting Helenias Fragments as quickly as he could to follow his father''s words and turn this crisis into an opportunity, and it truly became an opportunity.

    <em>Maybe Ill be able to reach Level 650 once Helenias Dungeons episode ends.</em>

    Of course, the process would be challenging. Even though Helenias Fragments were considered boss mobs, many people would be shocked and say that Minhyuks pace was ridiculously crazy if they saw that he could increase his level by around 2~3 in a week.

    But Minhyuk could make it possible. How? First and foremost, Minhyuks level was almost simr to Helenias Fragments. And second, he had a triple EXP acquisition buff applied to himself.

    Minhyuk warped somewhere once again. This time, he was met with two dungeons inside a kingdom. One of the dungeons had only five minutes left on the timer, while the other had ten minutes left. This kingdom was none other than the Roths Kingdom.

    After issuing an evacuation order, the Roths Kingdoms king immediately rushed to where Minhyuk was.

    ...? Minhyuk looked at the man in confusion.

    Although they werent allies, they maintained a smooth and amiable rtionship. However, after all the civilians had been evacuated, their king, knights, and soldiers remained on site. Why didnt you evacuate?

    ...Because we want to fight and protect our kingdom until the end. My people have already run to safety. However, I want to ensure they have a ce to return to at any given time.

    The Roths Kingdoms king had a good heart. And although he found it embarrassing, he still asked Minhyuk, If, by any chance, we fail to stop the dungeons here. Then I hope that you can take in our people.

    During this period, when he ran to answer the request for support to hunt Helenias Fragments, Minhyuk met two kinds of rulers. One was a king who valued their life more than his people and his kingdom, while the other was a king who valued the life of his kingdom and his people more than their own life.

    Minhyuk saw the various faces of a leader facing unexpected and life-threatening situations. Witnessing this situation would undoubtedly be of huge help to Minhyuk in the future.

    With the Beyond the Heavens Emperor by our side, we can stop and ovee this crisis today.

    The king, his knights, and his troops all looked very exhausted. From what Minhyuk had heard, they had been working tirelessly to stop as many mobs as possible. Seeing them like this, Minhyuk said, Please go and get some rest. I will be done with this in a minute.

    Yes? King Rhodora, the king of Roths Kingdom, looked at Minhyuk confusedly.

    Wasnt this all about joining forces and working together to stop the dungeons whose timers were about to end? Their conversation had shaved off a huge chunk of time, reducing the initial five minutes to around three minutes.

    King Rhodora hurriedly said, What are you waiting for?

    Please do not be too anxious and nervous; just wait here.

    Even though the color had drained from King Rhodoras face as he hurriedly urged him to move, the Beyond the Heavens emperor remained still. He even took out some chocopie and began to nibble on it.

    <em>Fuwaaa</em> I feel alive again, Minhyuk muttered. He had been tired from running around like crazy and hunting Helenias Fragments.

    ...

    ...

    ...

    Meanwhile, King Rhodora, his knights, and his troops stood anxiously. Ultimately, the king could only order his men to stand back.

    <em>What on earth is he thinking?</em>

    As time continued to tick by, King Rhodoras anxiety made him feel as if he was in a hurry. In the end, he could not stand still. He approached Minhyuk with only a minute left and said, The monsters wille charging out soon.

    I know that.

    But why didnt you go inside? King Rhodora asked, strange and weird thoughts shing in his head.

    Was the Beyond the Heavens emperor trying to lure out the monsters so that he could kill them? Was he going to try and take over their kingdoms territory? Since King Rhodora did not understand the situation, his imagination ran wild. It was to the point that he could even write a novel with his thoughts alone.

    At that moment, Minhyuk, looking at the thirty-second countdown on the timer, said, Its easier to kill them if theye out all at once.

    Yes?

    This was Minhyuks first time trying this, too, but he was quite confident about it. Then, at that moment, a notification rang out.

    <em>[The dungeons timer has reached 0!]</em>

    <em>[The monsters inside Helenias Dungeon will now begin to rush out!]</em>

    <em>Rumble!</em>

    King Rhodora and his men clenched their fists as they groaned from the deafening roars that shook the ground. Meanwhile, Minhyuk just stood in front of the dungeons inplete ease as he waited for the monsters toe out.

    Minhyuk silently pulled out the frying pan hanging on his back as he watched the monsters, which were mammoths, running like crazy. They looked like a herd of wild buffalo jumping around and wreaking havoc everywhere.

    Frying Pan Gigantification.

    Minhyuk swung the frying pan, which grew asrge as the entrance to the dungeon, in his hand and collided with the herd of crazy mammoths.

    <em>Baaaaaang!</em>

    Minhyuk was forced to step back when the mammoths collided one after another with the frying pan in his hands. Although he was being pushed back, Minhyuk was entirely at ease. He nodded to himself after estimating the time. Two minutes had passed since he started blocking the mammoths.

    <em>Are we done for?</em> King Rhodora almost groaned out from this strange and weird situation. Then, he saw Minhyuk take the frying pan away.

    What!

    If he did that, then wouldnt the monsters from behind grow crazier and charge forward more recklessly?

    But this was the moment that Minhyuk had been waiting for. When he saw that most of the monsters had gathered together, he quickly used Like the Wind and jumped in the middle of the monsters ranks. Immediately after receiving damage from the monsters attacks, Minhyuk again used Like the Wind and went deeper into their ranks.

    Not long after, Minhyuk triggered the Continent Destroyer Swords skill, <em>Continent Destroyer.</em>

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang!</em>

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack!</em>

    The moment his sword mmed into the ground, the ground twisted and cracked, spitting out fountains ofva. In an instant, the massive herd of monsters either got burned to ashes or devoured by the splitting ground beneath them. The only one that survived the few minutes of the attack was Helenias Fragment, which had a rtively high HPpared to the other monsters.

    The word Destruction appeared on the de of Minhyuks sword, the mark that allowed him to trigger sixteen consecutive strikes. Minhyuk, who could swing his sword three times per second, took advantage of this and hit the fragment as if possessed.

    <em>Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!</em>

    A rain of bloody lightning bolts fell from the sky and mmed into Helenias Fragment, which was in the form of a huge elephant. After around five seconds, the fragment fell to its demise.

    What was the time it took for Minhyuk to take down one dungeon? Around two minutes and thirty seconds.

    <em>Oh. Thats quite easy.</em>

    So far, Minhyuk had only hunted Helenias Fragments by clearing the dungeon and dealing with the mobs inside. Although it was easy for him, it took longer and increased his physical fatigue to the extreme. But now that he realized that this method was more essible and morefortable to use, he would begin applying this method to all of the other dungeons he was hunting and going to hunt.

    ...

    Meanwhile, King Rhodora was speechless when he saw Minhyuk charging and wiping out all of the enemies by himself after stopping them from recklessly charging forward.

    <em>Hic Hup!</em>

    King Rhodora was so surprised that he ended up huping.

    Minhyuk, who had finished clearing all of the dungeons in Roths Kingdom, looked at the rewards he had received.

    <em>One gave 3,704 tinum while the other gave 5,438 tinum.</em>

    Even his total EXP value had increased by around 17%. Minhyuk looked up at the remains of the dungeons that he hunted.

    <em>If I use this well, then</em>

    Minhyuk, recalling the method he just used, heard a notification in his ears.

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[The </em><strong><em>ss Inheritance Quest</em></strong><em>: Hunt Helenias Fragments is underway!]</em>

    <em>[The Luvien Empire has hunted 268 Helenias Fragments!]</em>

    <em>[The Beyond the Heavens Empire has hunted 58 Helenias Fragments!]</em>

    Minhyuk groaned. He, along with Brod, Elpis, Luo, and the teams created by the Beyond the Heavens Empire yers, had been working tirelessly to hunt Helenias Fragments. However, the Luvien Empire could still easily hunt around five times more than them.

    This was expected. After all, their military forces were quite different. Even the Swords of the Gods'' first and second knight orders disyed excellent performances.

    Then, another notification rang.

    <em>[The creation of Helenias Dungeons has started to grow faster!]</em>

    The current speed of creation of the dungeons was already very overwhelming. To their horror, it became even faster. Minhyuks expression turned ugly.

    <em>We need to take other measures.</em>

    Minhyuk hurriedly ordered the Beyond the Heavens executives to convene for an emergency meeting. Just when he was about to warp, he caught sight of the two dungeons that he just dealt with. Then, a trick suddenly shed in his head.

    <em>Shall we try doing this?</em>

    ***

    Joy Co. Ltd.s Customer Center was being flooded by calls from the yers who had been forced to log out from the insane number of Helenias Dungeons created inside Athenae. Even themunity sites were in an uproar because of this.

    <em>[Guys, dont you agree that this is more of a disaster than an event?]</em>

    <em>[If the Luvien Empire were not here, many more people would have died.]</em>

    <em>[Pay for the EXP and artifacts that I have lost.]</em>

    <em>[This is crazy. After the world message about Helenias Dungeons being created faster, the number of dungeons that have appeared worldwide has already reached 1,500.]</em>

    <em>[How can we live through the Third Era of Athenae after it has copsed?]</em>

    The viewers were moring about how excessive Helenias Dungeons were. And President Kang Taehoon? He never expected that things would develop like this.

    They were initially scheduled to release only 1,200 dungeons in total. However, with the rate things were going, they estimated that there would be around 4,000 dungeons that would be created in total. That would be more than three times the amount they nned to release. And there was also the number of Helenias Fragments. It was also much higher than the 1,500 that they initially expected. This was not what Joy Co. Ltd. intended at all.

    President Kang Taehoon stood before Supeputer Athenae and asked, How did things reach this point?

    <em>[Helenia felt threatened.]</em>

    ...?!

    Kang Taehoon was extremely shocked by what he heard.

    Who was Helenia? She was an existence that was superior to the gods and was someone who threatened even the outstanding transcendentals. She even dismissed the Absolute Gods and treated them asughable existences. But that very same Helenia was feeling threatened?

    At that moment, a groan escaped Taehoons lips. He said, Dont tell me is it because of yer Minhyuk?

    When Helenia descended on Earthst time, Minhyuk was able tond an attack on her sessfully. Taehoon had already judged that Minhyuk would affect Helenias descent. However, he never expected it would lead to such a huge problem.

    I see. So, the overwhelming amount of fragments would aid Helenia in herplete descent.

    Helenias Fragments were tasked to kill humanity and help Helenia awaken her full powers. If they could indeed do this, then

    Helenia will descend with her full power.

    The problem was how they would go forward from this point.

    How much damage will Athenae suffer if Helenia descends with her full power?

    Athenae quickly answered the question.

    <em>[Based on our estimations, half of Athenae will disappear.]</em>

    <em>[The damage would take down around 30% of the NPC poption, 45% of the yer poption, and 30% of the god poption.]</em>

    Kang Taehoon felt his vision turn dark. He tried to calm himself down and hurriedly convened a meeting to discuss countermeasures.

    We have to increase the rewards that the yers would receive so that they would all focus on hunting Helenias Fragments.

    That would be impossible. Even now, the low, middle, and advanced level yers are moring and criticizing us, saying that this is a feast for the masters. Were already in a situation where more than 70% of the high-level yers have joined the hunt for Helenias Dungeons.

    Then, another person stepped forward and offered his suggestion: Then, why dont we just delete the NPC named Helenia right here and now?

    ...Do you even think that your suggestion is possible?

    Kang Taehoon had firmly advocated that they should not be directly involved in altering the workings of the Athenae worldview. That was why they had to find a way to solve the problem while maintaining distance and not getting directly involved with the worldview. However, it was a challenging feat.

    If we delete Helenias character, the yers would lose interest in Athenae. Who would even want a game where the operator could freely delete and create the NPCs as they pleased after advertising that it works just like the real world?

    The executives also nodded. However, no matter how often they set up a meeting to find a countermeasure, they were still waiting for an answer. At that moment, Department Head Kim Dae-Il proposed what they deemed as the best suggestion.

    Why dont you give the quests to the NPCs, not the yers? The one who will give the quest is the greatest god, Athenae. If its her, then Athenaes strongest NPCs, the gods, would join the dungeon attack.

    This suggestion could also be impossible nonsense. However, it sounded the most realistic and achievable.

    Even the yers would not resist the NPC''s sudden increase in activity. After all, there was also a setting in Athenae where the NPCs could receive revtions and oracles from God Athenae. That was not all; the operators would not directly intervene with the workings of Athenaes worldview.

    President Kang Taehoon, who had always been unyielding and adamant with his beliefs, started to feel his resolve shake when he heard those words.

    President, you have to make a decision now.

    If the president agrees, we will immediately create a team and implement the countermeasures tomorrow at thetest.

    Kang Taehoon closed his eyes for a moment to ponder. In the end, he could only sigh. The fate of the entire Athenae was at stake. The full-powered Helenias descent was that dangerous. Thend of Athenae would turn deste to the point that one had to wonder if they could survive the Third Era of Athenae, just like one of the yers said before.

    Ill give you an answer by the end of today.

    Even President Kang Taehoon could not say, <em>Its absolutely impossible.</em> to disregard the suggestion. The meeting ended shortly after that. Everyone exited the conference room to go back to their stations.

    President Kang Taehoon walked out with Team Leader Park Minggyu. He turned to the team leader and asked, How about you? What do you think?

    Using Athenae and the NPCs, including the gods, to stop Helenias Dungeons? I dont think it''s bad. But, President, are the gods of Athenae existences that we, operators, could control as we please? And personally, I think theres a high chance that Athenae will not approve of this.

    ...

    Taehoon liked Minggyu because he was far more steadfast and unyielding than him. He held onto his beliefs more firmly than him and could bring him back to the right path when he was shaken to the core.

    Kang Taehoon nodded. However, even though he understood what Minggyu said, he still could not tell Kim Dae-Il that they could not set up an emergency team for his suggestion. The only thing he could do was see if the other teams could offer any other suggestions to deal with this matter.

    The two entered the Special yers Management Team and saw Lee Minhwa monitoring Minhyuk on her screen. On the monitor, they saw Minhyuk during an emergency meeting with his guild members. However, they did not have the leisure to care about what Minhyuk was doing.

    Rather than focusing on the Third Era of Athenae, how about we take over the system from now on so that we can lead the future of Athenae and bring it to a more advantageous situation by the time the destroyed Athenae that the yers were talking about came to be?

    That might probably be better than Athenae intervening. If that does not work, then how about doing this

    No can do. Thats too dangerous. Then, how about this?

    Team Leader Park and President Kang Taehoon threw out and discarded suggestions as they continued their conversation. After a long and fruitless conversation, Taehoon raised his hand. Wait.

    Minggyu stopped talking, his face confused. Then, he saw Taehoon looking at Lee Minhwa and saying, Can you turn up the volume?

    Yes, sir, Lee Minhwa agreed as she hurriedly increased the volume of herputer.

    At the same time, the meeting being held by the Beyond the Heavens Empire rang in the Special yers Management Teams office. They heard Genie ask Minhyuk.

    <em>[Minhyuk, what youre saying is that the fragments would gather in one ce to give the power they have umted to Helenia? Is that right?]</em>

    <em>[Correct. The power that the fragments have umted will not disappear into nothingness. They would gather in one ce to give Helenia that power.]</em>

    ...Hmm.

    This was a fact. Helenias Fragments had to give Helenia the power they had umted in the jewels in their bodies.

    <em>It should be around five days at the least. In five days, the fragments would gather where Helenias sculpture is and give her the power they have umted.]</em>

    Kang Taehoon, who was lost in his thoughts, nodded along.

    <em>[What I want us to do is to attack the gathering fragments. We will go to where Helenia is and get rid of the fragments thate to that ce.]</em>

    ...!

    President Kang Taehoon was very shocked when he heard Minhyuks n. Even Team Leader Park Minggyu was looking at the monitor in shock. Then, the two looked at each other.

    Taehoon felt like his heart was going to beat out of his chest. He thought, <em>Its possible.</em>

    If they prepared for the attack in advance, they could deal with the fragments that would gather all at once.

    <em>We, the operators and developers, could not even think of any solution, but a yer was able toe up with a solution to prevent Helenias descent.</em>

    Taehoon was genuinely impressed. He quickly pulled out his phone and made a call.

    Its me. About making an emergency team, hold that thought for a moment.

    Then, Kang Taehoon looked at Minhyuk through the monitor with a faint smile.

    <em>Perhaps this is the only way for the Beyond the Heavens Empire to surpass the Luvien Empire.</em>

 Chapter 954

    Chapter 954

    <em>Unfair.</em> This word did not apply to Athenae. What about the high-level yers getting better and greater rewards? They had yed the game longer than novice and middle-level yers. They deserved that much for devoting time and working so hard in Athenae.

    It was like how Minhyuk never considered Helenia¡¯s Fragments¡¯ Hunt unfair even though there was such a massive gap between the Beyond the Heavens Empire and the Luvien Empire.

    <em>¡®If I can¡¯t do this, then I don¡¯t have the qualifications to sit on that throne.¡¯</em>

    One look and anyone could tell that Luvien Empire¡¯s Nerva would be the next Battle God. But Minhyuk found a way to break through. Their opportunity to round up the situation woulde once Helenia¡¯s Fragments gathered to give her the power they had gathered.

    Minhyuk called for a meeting and said, ¡°It¡¯s going to be dangerous. I don¡¯t know how many variables would appear there either.¡±

    What he wanted to do was to hunt all of Helenia¡¯s Fragments at once. This n was hazardous. There would be thousands of fragments with levels exceeding Level 600. And there was one thing that they had to be most wary of.

    ¡°Just like you said, this would be a perilous venture. ¡®Helenia is slumbering.¡¯ This is nothing but an assumption on our part. If she is not slumbering, she will disturb us, bing even more dangerous. The worst part would be the Luvien Empire joining in. After all, as a nation at war with us, they would not pass up the opportunity and remain on the sidelines.¡±

    Since the enemies woulde in droves, the Beyond the Heavens Empire would have to bring their powerhouses to lie in wait. This meant that most of the pirs of the empire would be concentrated in just one ce.

    In response to that, Minhyuk said, ¡°That¡¯s also true. Because of that, this n would be centered on the yers.¡±

    His expression was bitter. He felt very sorry for them, perhaps because he felt like he would push them to their deaths for his ss session.

    The high-rankers of the Beyond the Heavens Empire would have to face huge penalties when forced to log out. If they dropped the best artifact in their possession, then they would not be able to recover that.

    However, Locke suddenly said, ¡°Minhyuk, the Beyond the Heavens Empire belongs to ¡®us.¡¯

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    His words meant that they all had to carry that burden. Everyone looked at Locke in awe. This was the first time in a very long time that they hadst heard him say something so unique and cool.

    ¡°Keuhahahahahahaha! How is it? I sounded cool, right?!¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Just as they expected, Locke was indeed far from being cool.

    Then, Ali also said, ¡°We have all worked together to start the Beyond the Heavens Empire. The Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s development is equivalent to our growth and development. Besides, even if things go wrong, no one here would hate or resent you, Minhyuk.¡±

    Minhyuk smiled faintly. It was because of these people that he was able to gain the courage and will to never back down. He began to give his orders, ¡°Haze, go and tell Bichor to manufacture a mighty bomb. Also, tell Mand to prioritize creating high-ss potions for Beyond the Heavens Empire yers.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty,¡± Haze answered in the affirmative.

    ¡°I¡¯m also going to ask for the help of the trio who fought by my side during the Session Ceremony.¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re talking about the trio, then¡­¡± Valentino trailed off.

    Since this was an emergency meeting, Valentino was also asked to attend. And Valentino knew perfectly well who Minhyuk was talking about. The trio was none other than the God of Animals, the God of Siege Weapons, and the God of Fetters.

    Valentino had ignored them before. Why? One, because he had never heard of them before. And two, because their sses were strange. However, the trio¡¯s teamwork was perfect. And when it came torge-scale battles, the three gods would greatly help.

    ¡°They will certainly be a huge boost to our military power. But if we¡¯re going to fight without the pirs of the Beyond the Heavens Empire like Ben, Brod, Elpis, Luo, and the rest, we would still be considered to be unprepared even if our opponent, Helenia, is in slumber,¡± Valentino stated,ying out the fact that everyone was fully aware of.

    This was the truth. Their battle would be very tough, and no one denied this.

    ¡°Even so, I will do my best to protect you with my shield so you don¡¯t have to worry too much.¡±

    The reliable and sturdy shield, Valentino, was showing off his tremendous will. Since he decided to be the Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s dog, he would do his best to protect them and receive their eptance.

    ¡°Also, tell Brod, Luo, and the others, who are hunting for Helenia¡¯s Fragments, to continue doing what they are doing.¡±

    And finally, they had to tackle the most important thing¨Cfinding out where Helenia was. Thankfully, the Beyond the Heavens Empire had a precious talent that could help them find her. This talent was none other than Dungeon Explorer Bran.

    ***

    Dungeon Explorer Bran was once ced second in the Dungeon Explorer Rankings. As someone who did not belong elsewhere before, many kingdoms and empires once treated him as a tool. But his life changed once he moved to the Beyond the Heavens Empire. And it was all thanks to Minhyuk.

    Of course, it was not only thanks to Minhyuk. Part of it was also because of the many extraordinary skills that Bran had in his possession. One of these skills was the ability that contributed the most to his jump from second ce to first ce in the Dungeon Explorer Rankings. This ability was none other than the <em>Ancient Relic Tracker</em> skill.

    The Ancient Relic Tracker was a skill that allowed him to check the information about the artifacts and relics that he wanted to find once every five months. And if the relic was found inside a dungeon, he could scan the dungeon for an entire minute.

    Of course, Bran continued to grow in the empire and eventually joined the ranks of the yers who had achieved Level 600. Thanks to that, he learned new skills from his Dungeon Explorer ss, one of which was called ¡°Traces of Fleeting Encounters.¡±

    This new skill of his was an awe-inspiring and jaw-dropping skill. Why? Because he could track down the traces of any monster or NPCs with which he or his allies hade in contact.

    Since Minhyuk hade in contact with Helenia, Bran could track her down. However, this skill would only give him clues about his target¡¯s traces. In other words, he would be going after Helenia¡¯s trail and would only be able to find the ces she had graced with her presence.

    Bran, who had kept going from one ce to another, ended up without any wink of sleep. Of course, the ces yers were not allowed to enter or could not reach were not marked during the tracking process.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s not like the fragments can go and fly to the sky, right? I¡¯m sure she¡¯s somewhere nearby, '' </em>Minhyuk told him before.

    Although it was nothing but mere spection on his side, Bran trusted and respected Minhyuk more than anybody else. So, he kept on going.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s almost been three days since then.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had asked him to locate Helenia¡¯s whereabouts almost three days ago. While he was busy looking for Helenia¡¯s location, dungeons emerged. It was to the point that both the Luvien Empire and the Beyond the Heavens Empire could no longer handle.

    <em>¡®The others are all fully prepared now too.¡¯</em>

    Brod, Luo, Elpis, Ben, and the rest were also without any rest as they continued to take down dungeons. Even Minhyuk continued to attack the dungeons while preparing dishes for his friends andrades to eat on the day the fragments would gather together.

    How many ces had Bran visited already? He could not remember. He just continued to move forward with his search. Finally, he reached the Beauden Fortress, located in the ruins of the Alvard Kingdom.

    <em>¡®Helenia went to a ce like this?¡¯</em>

    Beauden Fortress was ced in a very remote area where plenty of high-level monsters roamed the path that led to its gates. One reason it was deserted was that the amount of EXP and artifacts that dropped in this area was significantly less than what the yers could obtain from other areas.

    Bran continued to follow the traces and entered the Beauden Fortress. What greeted him inside made his eyes grow wide.

    ¡°Helenia¡­¡± Bran murmured. He finally found her! She was currently slumbering inside a transparent sphere made of ss. He approached and ced his hand on the ss.

    <em>[No power can destroy Helenia¡¯s Transparent Barrier!]</em>

    <em>[Helenia¡¯s magic is protecting her!]</em>

    <em>[Helenia¡¯s magic has been triggered!]</em>

    <em>[Anyone within Helenia¡¯s three-kilometer radius would receive triple the penalty for a forced log out!]</em>

    <em>[With Helenia¡¯s magic activated, the number of people that can enter Beauden Fortress will be restricted! Only 300 people can enter the fortress!]</em>

    <em>[With Helenia¡¯s magic activated, anyone within Helenia¡¯s three-kilometer radius will not be able to receive any buffs!]</em>

    Bran¡¯s face grew ugly when he heard Helenia¡¯s magic protected her. This might be a variable while they hunted for the fragments. The worst part? Helenia had set a restriction that only three hundred people could enter the fortress. She also tacked on a triple penalty to prevent someone from interfering with what she wanted to do.

    <em>¡®She knew that there would be someone like us who would think in this direction.¡¯</em>

    Bran also found it a bit surprising.

    <em>¡®Although she had limited the number of people, she still allowed entry inside.¡¯</em>

    Perhaps it was also Helenia¡¯s arrogance and self-confidence, telling them, <em>¡®If you can bear to take on that penalty, thene at me.¡¯</em>

    Bran immediately sent a whisper to Minhyuk.

    ***

    <em>[The </em><strong><em>ss Inheritance Quest</em></strong><em>: Hunt Helenia¡¯s Fragments is underway!]</em>

    <em>[The Luvien Empire has hunted 2,049 Helenia¡¯s Fragments!]</em>

    <em>[The Beyond the Heavens Empire has hunted 364 Helenia¡¯s Fragments!]</em>

    The situation was extremely dire. Cries and wails rang worldwide as Helenia¡¯s Dungeons exceeded 6,000 in several days.

    As for the difference between the number of fragments hunted between the Beyond the Heavens Empire and the Luvien Empire? It had already reached an almost six-fold difference.

    Of course, Minhyuk, who had always considered using this crisis as an opportunity, had already reached Level 643 during the process. However, that did not mean that the worries in his head had disappeared.

    At that moment, Bran¡¯s whisper finally arrived. Minhyuk immediately went to Beauden Fortress with the other yers to prepare for the battle that was toe. He had also heard the notifications when he entered the fortress.

    ¡°What an unyielding bastard.¡±

    Minhyuk had expected this much. After all, he knew how much the shrewd Helenia loved to drive someone to the brink of despair. Allowing the three hundred people to enter must have been because she wanted them to feel that there was a chance so that the despair that they would feel once they realized that it was futile would be immense.

    However, Minhyuk tried to look on the brighter side. The primary purpose of a fortress was to prevent enemies from flooding in, something they could use to their advantage.

    ¡°As long as we can set up Bichor¡¯s bomb and detonate it, then everything would be over.¡±

    That was right. The bomb that Bichor created this time was strong enough to blow up and erase a fortress like this from the map. The n was to nt the bomb, gather all of the fragments inside, use Mass Teleport to take out all of the yers, and detonate the bomb. If they could do this, then the game would be over.

    However, the n was straightforward. Anyone could do it. So, what was different in their ns?

    ¡°Maybe there¡¯s magic that will prevent the bomb from detonating,¡± Bichor said as he groomed his white and fluffy hair.

    But who was Bichor? He was someone who had reached the level of the gods. With a vicious smile, he said, ¡°But who do you think I am? I am Bichor. I can make a bomb that can ignore that magic and eventually explode. All I need to do is tweak the bomb a bit. Fufufufu.¡±

    Even so, far too many unknown variables were still waiting for them.

    ¡°Who does this set of footprints belong to?¡±

    Bran had found a set of footprints. It was proof that someone had entered this long-forgotten and abandoned fortress before Bran. When he saw this, he was sure that this set of footprints did not belong to Helenia. In the first ce, Helenia was barefoot. Also, the footprints looked simr to the prints left behind by a knight''s boots.

    Even though there were too many variables, they could not back down. Minhyuk¡¯s inheritance of the Battle God¡¯s throne, leveling up, and the driving force that would help the Beyond the Heaven''s Empire go further than the Luvien Empire depended on this n.

    <em>¡®We don¡¯t know what Helenia would do to Athenae in the future if we don¡¯t stop the fragments right here and now.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk also had a hostile rtionship with her. On the day Helenia descended with her full power, the first nation she wouldy to waste would be the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    ¡°Everyone, make sure that you¡¯re all fully prepared. Get ready to move.¡±

    ***

    PD Kim Daeguk, who was nursing a cup of coffee after taking his lunch, sighed. ¡°Haa¡­¡±

    His chest felt stuffy. And this was all because of Athenae. PD Kim Daeguk was also one of the people ying Athenae. But these days, whenever he entered Athenae, the only words that entered his ears were either the death of someone or the destruction of somece.

    <em>¡®Things are getting way too out of hand.¡¯</em>

    ording to rumors from the grapevine, this situation was different from what Joy Co. Ltd. had intended to happen. But if things continued at this rate, Athenae might fall into the hands of Helenia.

    ¡°Team¨C Team Leader! Come, quick!¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Kim Daeguk immediately stood up and ran when he heard the unusualness in the voice of the new producer, who suddenly called for him. When he arrived, he saw the notification that appeared on their screen.

    <em>[Helenia¡¯s Fragments have begun their journey to return to her arms!]</em>

    Most TV screens disying what was happening inside Athenae showed people fighting against the fragments. But suddenly, fragments started to run like crazy to somewhere else simultaneously. The moment they ran, magic circles appeared right in front of them.

    <em>[Helenia¡¯s Warp Gates have been created!]</em>

    Helenia¡¯s Fragments ran straight toward the magic circles and disappeared from their screens.

    PD Kim hurriedly turned on his phone. He knew that yers passed information faster than anybody else.

    ¡°Alvard Kingdom? Where is that ce?¡±

    ¡°If it''s the Alvard Kingdom, then it¡¯s a nation that has been destroyed before!¡±

    ¡°Quick! Send all of our correspondents to the Alvard Kingdom!¡±

    Daeguk grew anxious. This was the first time he had gotten anxious since starting to work as a producer.

    <em>¡®Were we able to stop them well?¡¯</em>

    Hunting as many fragments of Helenia as possible would prevent herplete descent. Were they able to do that?

    Not long after, their correspondents started transmitting what they were seeing on their monitor screens. They saw thousands of magic circles appearing in the vicinity of the ruins of the Alvard Kingdom, in the forest, in the river, and even in the skies. Then, the fragments, which came from all over the world, began to pour out.

    PD Kim Daeguk and the other officials of the ATV Broadcasting Station jumped when they saw the scene on the screen. They were all rendered speechless. Despite the efforts and hard work the people had put in, the number of Helenia¡¯s Fragments running like crazy on their screen easily exceeded four thousand.

    ¡°...It¡¯s over.¡± PD Kim huffed in despair.

    The total number of dungeons created during this episode was 7,104. This information should be urate since it was published on Athenae¡¯s official webpage. The problem was that they could only hunt and kill less than half of that number. Now, the yers would have to think of ways to survive against Helenia once the ten months were up.

    Dozens and dozens of drones appeared in the sky, showing thousands of fragments charging toward what seemed to be a fortress. The fortress was shining a bright yet eerie red light. This light was the sign that Helenia was inside and was the one calling for her fragments to enter the fortress.

    PD Kim, watching the fragments continue to charge like crazy, suddenly felt the urge to light a cigarette. Not only would the users have to prepare for the worst and find ways to survive in ten months¡¯ time, but they would also have to prepare to say goodbye to the NPCs that they cherished and loved.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    A confused voice rang in the ears of everyone present.

    ¡°What was that?¡±

    ¡°Look at the fortress. Why¡­?¡±

    The fragments were breaking trees and trampling on mountains just to get to the fortress. Then, Daeguk turned to look at the fortress once again after hearing the doubt and confusion in his subordinates¡¯ voices.

    ¡°...?¡±

    PD Kim¡¯s eyes grew wide in confusion when he saw the fortress. Why? People who had hidden themselves amidst the trees and the mountains began to appear one after the other.

    He saw a woman holding a whip and a fighter cracking his knuckles. Even Athenae¡¯s most outstanding Kick Master appeared alongside the assassin, hailed as the Informant and the little boy who could not get a girlfriend. They showed up one by one.

    At the same time, gs fluttered with the wind as they were pulled up on the walls of the fortress, which looked like it would copse with a single breath. The g carried the symbol of a fork and knife crossed together.

    Then, at that moment, the man known by everyone appeared on the walls of the fortress. He red coldly at the fragments charging frantically toward the fortress, raised his sword to the sky, and spoke.

    <em>[Destroy them.]</em>

 Chapter 955

    Chapter 955

    The Beyond the Heavens Empire had been preparing for a long time, way before Helenia summoned her fragments.

    Helenia had ced way too many restrictions in this ce. The biggest concern would be the restriction of Minhyuk¡¯s buffed dishes. With Minhyuk¡¯s buffed dishes, he could allow Level 600 yers to disy power rivaling a Level 700 one. However, no buff could take effect inside Beauden Fortress because Helenia had restricted it.

    Then, there was Bichor¡¯s bomb. Bichor had mentioned the possibility that Helenia¡¯s magic could stop his bomb from exploding. Thankfully, he was able to think about it before and hurriedly changed it so that they could still detonate the bomb. Of course, he also did not forget to add a new power to the bomb that they would install in the fortress. After that, he handed the operating switch to Minhyuk.

    ¡°A switch?¡±

    Most of Bichor¡¯s bombs were made so that they would explode with just a thought from him. This was probably the first time that Bichor made one with a switch. He said, ¡°Even if Helenia¡¯s magic could stop the bombs, you would be able to trigger one of the bombs that we have nted with this switch. As long as that bomb could go off, then the rest would soon follow. In the end, Helenia would not be able to stop it.

    ¡°But there¡¯s a catch. This bomb is created so that Helenia¡¯s magic would not reach it. A strong force protects it. Because of that, you have to get close to it for the switch to work. And if you put a barrier around you before pressing the switch, the barrier would affect the switch, and it would not work.¡±

    ¡°We have to get close to the bomb?¡±

    Bichor nodded. ¡°You have to be within the bomb¡¯s five-meter radius. Also, the bomb would explode the moment you pressed the switch.¡±

    Minhyuk understood what Bichor was trying to say. But just in case, he still confirmed it. ¡°What you¡¯re saying is that whoever presses the switch has to receive the brunt of the damage?¡±

    Bichor nodded once again. After receiving confirmation, Minhyuk thought that he should be the one to press the switch. He would not be making any sacrifices. After all, he had the skill Absolute Invincibility. If he pushed the switch and used the skill immediately, the problem would end there.

    ¡°Ali, please use Mass Teleport and take all of the surviving members of our guild away when the time to detonate the bombes.¡±

    ¡°I understand. But¡­ what if Helenia¡¯s magic also restricts our magic?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Minhyuk was rendered speechless. He looked at the rankers of the Beyond the Heavens Empire and the yers from whom he had requested support. Minhyuk did not know what to say to these people. In the end, they had to detonate the bomb somehow.

    Of course, if they could kill her, then they did not need to resort to detonating the bomb. However, there were far too many variables, and the situation they were about to face was too unpredictable. If things went south, then they might just have to press the switch with all of the yers still present inside the fortress.

    At that moment, Alexander said, ¡°Don¡¯t hesitate to press the switch when ites down to it. It would be better than having Helenia descend in ten months.¡±

    Even the God of Animals, the God of Siege Weapons, and the God of Fetters, the people whom Minhyuk asked to support them, seemed to agree with Alexander¡¯s words.

    ¡°It¡¯s already a pleasure to share such a glorious and monumental event with the Beyond the Heavens Empire.¡±

    ¡°Even if we get forced to log out because of the bomb, our losses would still be negligible. You don¡¯t have to worry; we still have more to gain.¡±

    In fact, even if they were forced to log out, the benefits they would receive would be a whole lot more than their losses. After all, they literally helped block Helenia¡¯s Fragments and stop herplete descent.

    After their discussion, Minhyuk moved to prepare some more.

    <em>[Helenia¡¯s Fragments have begun their journey to return to her arms!]</em>

    But the notification rang in everyone¡¯s ears. The expression on everyone¡¯s faces grew ugly. The notifications came a few days earlier than they had expected. The enemies would soon arrive here. Everyone quickly gathered briefly for onest meeting before the impending battle.

    ¡°No matter what happens, you must stop the fragments from reaching Helenia.¡±

    Everyone looked tense.

    ¡°You have to remember that no Brod or Ben wille to protect us.¡±

    The Beyond the Heavens Empire always received the help of many NPCs. This was a fact. Because of them, they could hunt boss mobs that they would usually have difficulty dealing with. But that was not the case today.

    Khan rolled his wrists and said, ¡°I have been waiting for this moment.¡±

    Whenever Beyond the Heavens Empire was mentioned, everyone would only talk about their NPCs. They often said that Beyond the Heavens Empire only reached this point because of their NPCs. But that was only half correct.

    They could show the world that their empire¡¯s high-rankers were as strong as their NPCs.

    At that moment, Minhyuk received a whisper.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Carron</em></strong><em>: We will discuss with several broadcasting stations to broadcast the scene using the yers¡¯ point of view.]</em>

    Carron believed that this moment should be known to all. And, of course, Minhyuk agreed with that idea.

    In just a blink, Minhyuk and the other yers finished their preparations andy in wait.

    ***

    Athenae yers worldwide wailed andmented when they heard that Helenia was summoning her fragments back to her arms.

    <em>Ah, it¡¯s over.</em>

    They could not even hunt half of Helenia¡¯s Fragments.

    <em>[What will happen to Athenae in ten months?]</em>

    <em>[In ten months, we can expect that many yers and NPCs will die. Perhaps many would also leave Athenae.]</em>

    <em>[We have to find ways to survive the ruined and destroyed Athenae. Hoo¡­]</em>

    A heavy lump unknowingly settled in their chests as frustration and bitterness rose.

    Meanwhile, the broadcasting stations hurriedly chased the fragments that moved through the magic circles Helenia had triggered earlier. While many chose to sigh in resignation at the sight of the thousands of fragments charging toward Helenia, some still chose to fight.

    The fork and knife symbol crossed together rose above the fortress as the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ high rankers, who had hidden themselves among the trees and the rocks, appeared.

    Many who saw this scene felt their hearts thump like crazy. <em>Now, everyone has no more ce to go.</em> This was the thought that was running through everyone¡¯s heads. But when everyone was wallowing in despair, these people stood up and found a way to stage a fight for thest time and stop the fragments.

    Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s President Kang Taehoon also watched the scene with his sweaty hands. This was a method that they could not even think of. Perhaps even if they had thought of this, they would not have been able to try it. However, there was one thing that Joy Co. Ltd. could give to these brave challengers.

    <em>[The names of the most outstanding members of the Forlorn Hope[1] will now be revealed to the world!]</em>

    <em>[Genie.]</em>

    <em>[Khan.]</em>

    <em>[Locke.]</em>

    <em>[Ares.]</em>

    <em>[Ace.]</em>

    <em>[Crow.]</em>

    <em>[Mei Wei.]</em>

    <em>[Valentino.]</em>

    <em>[Alexander.]</em>

    <em>[Bahalt.]</em>

    <em>[Alvarr.]</em>

    <em>[Ali.]</em>

    <em>[Death.]</em>

    <em>[Cuhel.]</em>

    <em>[Root.]</em>

    <em>[Evron.]</em>

    <em>[Kent.]</em>

    <em>[Ascar.]</em>

    <em>[Farrow.]</em>

    <em>[Ercel.]</em>

    <em>[Kentaro.]</em>

    <em>[Abel.]</em>

    <em>[Kendra¡­]</em>

    <em>[Rabu¡­]</em>

    <em>[Lucia¡­]</em>

    <em>[Alicia¡­]</em>

    <em>[And¡­]</em>

    <em>[Minhyuk.]</em>

    The names of the people who chose to stand at thest frontline resonated loudly worldwide. Many who heard their names felt something in their chests.

    <em>I also want to be there.</em>

    <em>I also want my name to be written beside their names.</em>

    A gust of wind blew their way.

    ¡°Destroy them,¡± Minhyuk said as he stood tall at the walls of the fortress.

    No matter how many yers achieved Level 600, the mobs they would have to deal with were at least at Level 600. Even Helenia¡¯s Fragments¡¯ average level was at Level 600. The worst part? As the boss-level beings, they were far too strong and were too much for the yers to handle. However, the brave heroes did not back down.

    Khan was the first to make a move. He jumped down from a tree and unleashed the pinnacle skill he had obtained after reaching Level 600 upon the frantically running fragments.

    ¡°Giant¡¯s Onught.¡±

    Hundreds of fists the size of a boulder appeared around Khan. Then, the fists rained down upon the fragments as if on cue.

    <em>Boooom¨C!</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    The fists punched and struck the running fragments like there was no tomorrow.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Kiyaaaaaaack!¡±

    However, their defensive power and HP were extremely high, making hunting a boss mob difficult.

    At that moment, another person appeared. He leaped to the sky and joined the fray. This man was someone who stayed caught up to Khan. He was also ranked first in the global fighter rankings. He and Khan were called ¡°The Dragon and the Tiger.¡± This man was none other than Ares.

    Ares shot toward the ground, the powerful force surrounding his feet creating waves that made the air vibrate.

    <em>Rumble¨C!</em>

    Hended gobsmack in the middle of the charging fragments in a blink.

    <em>Booooooom¨C!</em>

    Aresnded one powerful attack, which caused an explosion that broke the bnce of hundreds of the charging fragments. But even if they tripped and fell, they did not slow down.

    At that moment, a woman appeared just ahead of the frantically running fragments. The woman¡¯s silver hair fluttered behind her as a red stream of energy surged from the de of her greatsword. The beads wrapped around her sword''s hilt also began to glow with an eerie red light.

    <em>Asura </em>Ascar. She was one of the Absolute Demigod ss yers and was hailed as the best dealer among the Athenae yers.

    ¡°Blood Explosion.¡±

    <em>Vwooooooooooong¨C</em>

    She raised her greatsword and pointed it at the fragments.

    <em>Baaaaaaang¨C!</em>

    A vast and powerful explosion erupted and devoured the fragmentsing her way. But the fragments remained unfazed. They did not even slow down and continued on their way. They did not even avoid the woman who blocked their path.

    Ascar gripped the hilt of her greatsword, pointing at the fragments, and said, ¡°ughterer¡¯s Reckless Strike.¡±

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    The fragments running at the vanguard were shed and cut down by her attack.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaack!¡±

    <em>Thuuuuuud¨C</em>

    Finally, the first fragment fell. But, of course, her attack was not yet over. Just like a spider web, her reckless strikes wreaked havoc and continued to spread. The problem was that the attack¡¯s damage would primarily focus on the first target. The damage would continue to decrease as time passed by.

    The viewers watched in admiration. No one dared to say that <em>it was just one</em>. After all, a few kingdoms struggled to hunt even just one of those fragments.

    And they were just getting started, too. Another man jumped out. This man¡¯s name was Alexander, and everyone hailed him as Athenae¡¯s greatest ranker alongside Minhyuk.

    ¡°Weapon Explosion.¡±

    Hundreds of weapons appeared around Alexander, shooting toward the fragments and exploding simultaneously.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    ***

    Haze did not stop researching. She had been looking through the ancient books to learn more about Helenia. This was because she found something disturbing during the meeting that they held among the people of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    ¡°There was a set of footprints¡­¡± Haze mumbled as she pondered over the words over and over again.

    The fact that there was a set of footprints meant that someone visited the ce first. It also meant that whoever that was would be aiding Helenia. However, she could not figure it out, no matter what she did. She searched the ancient textbooks for clues regarding this mysterious helper.

    Haze opened another book and focused her attention on its contents. Helenia¡¯s Fragments also existed in the past, which was the gist of the book''s contents. As she read the information, Haze increased her pace. Then, she stopped.

    ¡°...Helenia¡¯s Fragments might seem like her power created them, but this is not the case.¡±

    Haze¡¯s pupils constricted.

    ¡°Helenia¡¯s Fragments were beings that her disciple, Arumbe, had created for her.¡±

    A disciple. Helenia had a disciple. As she continued to read aloud, her voice started to shake and tremble.

    ¡°If a fragment of Helenia truly existed, then it would be none other than her disciple, ¡®Arumbe.¡¯¡±

    Haze immediately jumped when she finally turned over thest page.

    The owner of the set of footprints was the actual fragment, ¡°Arumbe.¡±

    ***

    <em>Knock, knock¨C</em>

    Someone knocked on the doors leading to Nerva Sephiroth¡¯s room. A man immediately came in when Nerva acquiesced and allowed them to enter. It was Duke d.

    1. ]a group of people that will take the vanguard position and carry out their mission even at the risk of death. A group willing to take on a suicidal mission. ?

 Chapter 956

    Chapter 956

    The disgusting smell of liquor and the countless empty bottles rolling around on the ground made Duke d turn silent for a moment upon entering Nerva Sephiroth¡¯s bedroom. However, his expression remained unfazed and expressionless as he began to report to Nerva.

    ¡°Your Majesty, our Luvien Empire has hunted more than 2,000 of Helenia¡¯s Fragments while the Beyond the Heavens Empire was only able to manage to hunt around 400.¡±

    Nerva, who listened to Duke d¡¯s report with half-open eyes, raised the liquor bottle in his hands.

    ¡°Oho. That¡¯s excellent news. It seems like this emperor will finally be able to be the true descendant of the Battle God, huh? Fufufufufufufu!¡± Heughed like a maniac as he took another swig from the bottle.

    ¡°However, based on the information we have received, it seems like the Beyond the Heavens Empire has been lying in wait in the ce where Helenia is slumbering to hunt the fragments.¡±

    ¡°So what?! I will be the Battle God anyway!¡±

    ¡°I believe that we should be mindful of the what-ifs. I want to lead the Swords of the Gods and go there.¡±

    In other words, Duke d wanted to interfere with the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    ¡°I know, I know. We should, we really should. Since Duke d will be the one going, I can trust and leave the matter to you.¡±

    Just when Duke d was about to bow and leave, Nerva staggered to his feet and said, ¡°However, I believe the Beyond the Heavens Empire had received the support of the masses. Do you still think it¡¯s okay to do that?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Duke d understood what the drunk Nerva was concerned about. If they genuinely went with this, the Luvien Empire would be drowned in spit while the Beyond the Heavens Empire would be heaped with praises.

    The Beyond the Heavens Empire was doing this not solely for their good but for the good of everyone. What would happen if the Luvien Empire appeared and interfered with what they were doing? If Helenia descended with her full powers in ten months because of this, then it would still be very hard for the powerful Luvien Empire to survive.

    Duke d¡¯s expression changed. He said, ¡°Before worrying about all that, it is better to ensure that Your Majesty bes the Battle God first.¡±

    It was like Duke d was saying, <em>¡®I will give you the position you have been coveting for so long, so just shut up and do as I say.¡¯</em>

    Nerva, who looked suspicious earlier, pped, shouting loudly, ¡°Right! That¡¯s right! I just need to be the Battle God! Fufufufufu!¡±

    A faint smile appeared on Duke d¡¯s face when he saw Nervaughing maniacally.

    ¡°Aaah. I shouldn¡¯t miss this historic moment, no?¡±

    Duke d¡¯s brows furrowed slightly when he heard that.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go with you too.¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty, you¡¯re very intoxicated.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m quite sober, though?¡± Nerva said, trying to stand still to pretend that he was fine. However, he still ended up stumbling on his feet. ¡°Let me get my armor and my sword. Ah, I can finally see the ugly and wretched expression of the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ emperor!¡±

    ¡°...I see.¡± Duke d shook his head as his face grew expressionless once again.

    <em>Thud¨C</em>

    Nerva spat the liquor in his mouth on the floor, wiped the foolish smile off his face as he stood in perfect bnce, and red sharply at the closed doors.

    Although Duke d did not show any signs, Nerva could tell that the man was highly ufortable when he learned that the Beyond the Heavens Empire would block and hunt Helenia¡¯s Fragments. Why? Was it because he was an extreme loyalist who wanted to see him be the Battle God?

    No, there was something far more important than that. If Helenia descendedpletely ten monthster, the one most likely to be targeted would be the strongest empire in existence, the Luvien Empire.

    <em>¡®What in the world are you hiding from me?¡¯</em>

    R?lszd¡¯s final wish for him had been unexpected.

    ¨C<em>I hope you can smile brightly.</em>

    And Nerva, who had been wallowing in despair while pondering over his beloved subordinate¡¯s words, finally overcame his grief. It had been a few days since Nerva hadst sipped alcohol. Compared to a few days ago, he could make rational judgments.

    Not long after, the maid brought over Nerva¡¯s sword and armor.

    ***

    Alexander, who watched Helenia¡¯s Fragments charge forward like crazy, triggered his Weapon Explosion. Spears, swords, daggers, greatswords, arrows, axes, and iron maces sprang out and surrounded him. Then, one of the spears shot forward and stabbed through the head of one of the fragments at the vanguard before exploding.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¨C!</em>

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud¨C!</em>

    Like a chain reaction, explosions erupted as the hundreds of weapons pierced Helenia¡¯s Fragments. Alexander, who was confident that the aftermath of his Weapon Explosion was enough to kill almost a third of the fragments here, smiled faintly.

    <em>[Helenia¡¯s magic has been triggered.]</em>

    <em>[Helenia¡¯s Barrier is protecting her fragments!]</em>

    <em>[The HP of all of Helenia¡¯s Fragments has been restored!]</em>

    ¡°...!¡± Alexander¡¯s expression grew ugly when he saw a red barrier appear to protect the bodies of the fragments.

    This meant that Alexander¡¯s Weapon Explosion had been used in vain. The worst part? The ones that received the damage from the attacks that Ares, Khan, and Ascar had inflicted had recovered, too.

    <em>¡®It seems like what we have been worried about has be a reality.¡¯</em>

    Helenia¡¯s magic was protecting her fragments. This meant that there was also a high chance that her magic might interfere and attack the Beyond the Heavens Empire members and the rest of the people present here at any given moment. But the worst was not yet over.

    <em>[Helenia has bestowed her blessings upon her fragments!]</em>

    <em>[The level of Helenia¡¯s Fragments has increased by 5%!]</em>

    <em>[All of the abilities and unique characteristics of Helenia¡¯s Fragments will increase to match their levels!]</em>

    <em>[The defensive power of Helenia¡¯s Fragments has increased by 30%!]</em>

    <em>[Helenia¡¯s Protection has been triggered!]</em>

    <em>[There is a 20% chance of the invincible barrier being triggered to protect the fragments!]</em>

    Everyone¡¯s expression grew ugly when they heard the notifications.

    The viewers andmentators watching the scene all sighed when they saw this. The fragments¡¯ level was already high at around Level 620 on average.

    But now? Their levels had increased by 5%. This meant that their average level would be at around Level 650. There weren¡¯t even any yers that had reached Level 650 as of the moment. NPCs that had exceeded this level were also quite rare. Then, their defensive power increased by 30%. Worse, the Beyond the Heavens Empire only had around 300 men present at most.

    However, it wasn¡¯t as if the Beyond the Heavens Empire did not expect this to happen.

    Bright light spread from the tip of the staff in the hands of Golden Mage Ali, the greatest mage among the yers, as he summoned a disaster in the skies above them. Dozens of gigantic meteors appeared and gathered with a wave of Ali¡¯s hand as he triggered the power that forced God of Shields Valentino¡¯s HP down to zero in just an instant.

    ¡°Magic Compression.¡±

    A gigantic meteor fell upon the running fragments.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¨C!</em>

    Even though their defensive power had increased by 30%, the attack seemed to have inflicted considerable damage on the fragments.

    As for Minhyuk? He stood still and waited by the walls of the fortress.

    <em>[The number of Helenia¡¯s Fragments that the Beyond the Heavens Empire has hunted has reached 370!]</em>

    <em>[...Helenia¡¯s Fragments that the Beyond the Heavens Empire¡­reached 371!]</em>

    <em>[...Helenia¡¯s Fragments that the Beyond the Heavens Empire¡­reached 372!]</em>

    <em>[...Helenia¡¯s Fragments that the Beyond the Heavens Empire¡­reached 393!]</em>

    <em>[...Helenia¡¯s Fragments that the Beyond the Heavens Empire¡­reached 398!]</em>

    With the Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s high rankers triggering their pinnacle skills, they rapidly closed the gap with the Luvien Empire.

    <em>Rumble¨C!</em>

    <em>Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom¨C!</em>

    A thick cloud of dust covered the entire area as explosions erupted.

    However, despite the joint efforts by the Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s top rankers, it was still quite challenging for them to hunt the fragments, whose defensive power had increased by 30%.

    There was also the absolutely invincible barrier, which only had a 20% chance of getting triggered. It appeared asionally and reduced the amount of damage that the fragments received.

    <em>[Helenia is calling for her fragments!]</em>

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaaaa!¡± One of the fragments roared wildly. The fragment, which was in the form of the gigantic ck-furred wolf, grew even fiercer as its eyes turned red.

    <em>[The fragments¡¯ AGI has increased by 1.2x!]</em>

    Most of the fragments were already moving at an extremely high speed. But now? They grew more agile and took several detours to evade the Beyond the Heavens Empire members that blocked their path. After all, their numbers were far higher than their enemies.

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Everyone groaned. They had gathered here to prevent them from entering the fortress and reaching the slumbering Helenia.

    <em>Dash, dash, dash¨C Dash, dash, dash¨C!</em>

    The wolf-shaped fragment increased its speed and charged forward like crazy while the rest moved agilely and evaded those who blocked their path so they could reach the fortress gates as quickly as possible.

    Even so, Minhyuk remained standing still and did not make any moves. He just watched them atop the walls.

    ¡°Roaaaaaaaar!¡± The wolf roared as it jumped toward the gates.

    However, something fell from the sky and moved faster than the wolf. This gigantic existence that was made of solid iron was none other than the Transcendental¡¯s Armored Weapon, the armored weapon that Ethan was piloting.

    <em>aaash¨C!</em>

    The Transcendental¡¯s Armored Weapon, which performed splendidly under the hands of Ethan, immediately pressed down the wolf.

    ¡°<em>Hing! Hing!</em>¡±

    Ethan maneuvered the armored weapon and threw the wolf to the sky. Then, he raised the gigantic greatsword and cut the fragment in two.

    Minhyuk looked indifferently at the fragments running everywhere and slowly raised his hand. He then swung his hand down.

    <em>Staaaaaaab¨C!</em>

    A spear shot out from one of the siege weapons on the walls and pierced through the body of a fragment shaped like a mantis. The force of the spear sent the fragment flying back until it got stuck in the tree.

    <em>Staaaaaaaab¨C!</em>

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeck!¡±

    Gigantic spears shot out from the siege weapons mounted on the walls of the fortress, stabbing the fragments that evaded the members of the Beyond the Heavens Empire and keeping them in check.

    However, as Minhyuk watched the battlefield, he could not help but feel something strange. He saw the jewels, which were supposed to growrger the more people they had killed, fall from the fragments that had died.

    <em>[Helenia is calling for her fragments!]</em>

    <em>[Helenia is calling for her fragments!]</em>

    <em>[Helenia¡­fragments!]</em>

    Minhyuk turned to look at the fortress where Helenia was slumbering when he heard the notifications ring non-stop. Like before, the fragments seemed to have been injected with something as they roared and charged forward like crazy.

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°<em>Click, click, click, click¨C!</em>¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaack!¡±

    Despite the rain of attacks sent by the Beyond the Heavens Empire, the fragments continued to charge recklessly forward. They moved as if they could not feel pain and continued moving faster. From what Minhyuk could see, they had grown twice as fast as their original speed.

    In just a blink, the fragments, which moved like a tidal wave, bypassed the Beyond the Heavens Empire members and approached the fortress''s walls.

    ¡°Damn it!¡±

    ¡°Shit!¡±

    None of them could catch up with the fragments¡¯ speed.

    Guarding the gate, Ethan jumped and shed the fragments at the forefront of the wave of monsters.

    <em>Shwaaaaaa¨C!</em>

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    But even though Ethan cut them down with his greatsword, kicked him with his fee,t and used the body of his armored weapon to block their charge, it was still not enough.

    In the end, the fragments reached the fortress''s gates. One gate looked like an ordinary wooden gate. With the fragments'' size, speed, and power, one could immediately tell that this gate would be broken in just five seconds.

    <em>[It¡¯s over.]</em>

    <em>[They weren¡¯t enough to stop Helenia¡¯s Fragments.]</em>

    People from all over the world sighed when they heard thementators¡¯ words.

    <em>[It¡¯s over¡­]</em>

    <em>[Even if Minhyuk used all of his pinnacle skills, there would still be at least around 30% of fragments that would return to Helenia¡¯s arms. Perhaps he¡¯s not making a move even now because they nned to have his guild members shave off most of the fragments¡¯ HP so that he could sweep them away with his AOE attack skills.]</em>

    <em>[But the fragments¡¯ speed, strength, and defensive power are far too excellent. They will never be able to protect that gate.]</em>

    <em>[Is this going to be the end?]</em>

    <em>[Everything was in vain.]</em>

    <em>[Ha¡­]</em>

    But while everyone was shouting, <em>¡®Why aren¡¯t you doing anything?!¡¯</em> in their heads, Minhyuk continued to watch the fragments. So, why was Minhyuk not doing anything? It was because he was waiting for his turn.

    The average level of the fragments after they received the buff from Helenia almost exceeded Level 650. With the 30% increase in defensive power and the barrier effect, they could be considered Level 680 boss monsters based on their defense alone. Furthermore, there were around 4,000 fragments, and only 300 people participated in the battle. The numbers were just far too unfavorable to them.

    Minhyuk could draw several simtions of all the situations that could happen just by looking at the area''s topography. By using those simtions, he could create a n.

    They had prepared something to kill all of them as they gathered in one ce, one of hundreds of ns that the Beyond the Heavens Empire had prepared.

    The members of the Beyond the Heavens Empire quickly moved into position. As they watched the flood of fragments charged toward the gates, they began executing one of the hundreds of ns they had in mind.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    The idol of all tankers, one of the few yers that had risen and taken over the position of a god, flew from the walls of the fortress.

    The experts discussed Valentino and the new skills that he had obtained by bing a god.

    <em>[His shield will be at least 1.5x stronger and sturdier than before he inherited the position of god.]</em>

    <em>[We haven¡¯t seen him use his newly acquired skills.]</em>

    <em>[But as far as we know, there¡¯s a God-rank skill among those skills. As someone who has inherited the God of Shields''s position, the shield he obtained would definitely be invincible.]</em>

    Valentino held the gigantic square shield with both hands as hended before the frantically charging fragments. Then, he showed the world the power of the true God of Shields.

    ¡°Shield¡¯s Charge!¡±

    This was Valentino¡¯s pinnacle skill, a power fused with the God of Shield¡¯s most incredible skill, Bentino¡¯s Walls. Like Bentino¡¯s Walls, his shield grew until it was as huge as a wall.

    <em>Rumble¨C!</em>

    <em>Thud! Thud, thud, thud, thud¨C Thud, thud, thud¨C!</em>

    The charging fragments collided with Valentino¡¯s wall-like shield. But surprisingly enough, Valentino was not pushed back in the slightest despite the frantic charge of the fragments.

    All thementators and viewers were shocked by the incredible sight. However, their shock grew even deeper as they watched Valentino flex his muscles and shout, ¡°Hyaaaaaaaa!!!¡±

    The Shield¡¯s Charge was a skill that allowed Valentino to charge forward while holding his shield. This power allowed him to instantly send the fragments that collided with his walls seventy meters away from him.

    Valentino was an ill-tempered yer who did not have a shred of kindness in his body. His arrogance, which knew no bounds, made him gain anti-fans from all over the world. Even so, there was one undeniable fact. Valentino was the greatest tanker in the world. And currently, he was paving the path and leading the yers in creating their future. Valentino was a hero.

 Chapter 957

    Chapter 957

    The viewers were left in awe when they saw the God of Shields, Valentino, use his Shield¡¯s Charge to push the fragments around seventy meters from the fortress''s gates. Even Valentino felt his heart swell with pride. This was something that the others could not even attempt to do.

    The triple penalty for a forced logout was too huge, even more so for high-rankers like Valentino. However, Valentino, as a member of Beyond the Heavens Empire, took the risk and bet everything on the line to defend the fate of Athenae and live up to the name of the God of Shields.

    And waiting right behind the fragments were none other than thebat ss yers. They were all holding potion bottles as if they were carrying grenades.

    As mentioned before, the Beyond the Heavens Empire had thought of hundreds of ns before the fragments arrived. And one of those ns included using the Shield¡¯s Charge to push back the fragments.

    Golden Mage Ali clenched his fists and said, ¡°Compress.¡±

    <em>Fwooooooooosh¨C!</em>

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Kihiiiiiiiik!¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaack!¡±

    The fragments, which had been scattered around, were gathered together in one area. However, that was not the end.

    God of Fetters Bedman, who once disyed an incredible feat by binding the gods during the Session Ceremony, threw a rope that spread like a and wrapped tightly around the fragments¡¯ bodies. When he pulled, the fragments were dragged until they were concentrated in the middle of the clearing.

    They raised the Explosive Potion that God of Alchemists Mand had created. The effects of the potions were not that great, considering that they were made in such a short amount of time. However, even though the number of potions and their effects were not that huge if thrown all at once, the aftermath would still be highly disastrous and inflict massive damage upon the fragments.

    <em>[Helenia is protecting her fragments!]</em>

    Perhaps it was because they felt the danger; the slumbering Helenia createdyers of red shields around her fragments¡¯ bodies.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¨C!</em>

    The shields collided with the potions and began to crack after the fiftieth one fell upon them. No matter how strong or sturdy Helenia¡¯s shields were, they could not withstand the continuous explosions triggered by the Explosive Potions that were being thrown nonstop.

    <em>Crack¨C Boom¨C!</em>

    Ultimately, the shields broke apart, leaving the potions free to devour the fragments.

    <em>Boom! Boom! Boom! Bang¨C!</em>

    <em>[You have hunted 537 Helenia¡¯s Fragments.]</em>

    <em>[You have hunted 575 Helenia¡¯s Fragments.]</em>

    <em>[You have hunted 601 Helenia¡¯s Fragments.]</em>

    <em>[You have hunted 609 Helenia¡¯s Fragments.]</em>

    As the notifications rang constantly, the Beyond the Heavens Empire yers followed their ns and gathered in one ce. Then, Ali used Mass Teleport and immediately moved them to the front of the fortress walls.

    Seeing this, Valentino quickly retrieved his shield, which he left stuck on the ground, and rushed back to the walls of the fortress. Minhyuk, on the other hand, could be seen running toward the fragments that had fallen into a state of confusion.

    Since the number of fragments was overwhelmingly high, using AOE attack skills would be very effective only when they were gathered. Of course, the Beyond the Heavens Empire had also considered the possibility of Helenia having and using Recovery Magic.

    So, what they were trying to do here was to inflict colossal damage and kill them before they could recover. This was also why Minhyuk waited atop the walls of the fortress.

    <em>Crackle¨C!</em>

    The running Minhyuk triggered the Supreme Overlord¡¯s Technique and unleashed zing ck mes from the de of his sword upon the fragments that were yet to recover from the aftermath of the explosions.

    <em>Rumble¨C!</em>

    The ck mes roared to life and devoured the fragments.

    <em>[You have hunted 607¡­]</em>

    <em>[You have hunted 708¡­]</em>

    <em>[You have hunted 971¡­]</em>

    <em>[You have hunted 1,108¡­]</em>

    <em>[You have hunted 1,277¡­]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    Minhyuk could level up twice in a row not only because of the extremely high amount of EXP that the fragments gave but also because he drank a new potion, a potion different from the <em>One-week EXP Triple Increase Potion.</em> This potion could allow him to increase his EXP acquisition rate by fifteen times in an hour. However, it still fell behind Minhyuk¡¯s expectations.

    <em>¡®The walls of Level 650 are very high.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk felt the total amount of EXP he needed to level up increased by 20% whenever his level increased by one. However, if he did well here, there was a high chance that he would be able to reach his target level today.

    The fragments fell one after another as the mes continued to devour them. But nothing was that easy.

    <em>[The HP of Helenia¡¯s Fragments has been restored.]</em>

    Helenia doused their hopes of ughtering and killing the fragments, which seemed to be feasible if only they were given another minute with cold water. Just like that, the HP of the struggling fragments quickly increased once again. Fortunately, the mes of the Supreme Overlord¡¯s Technique could deal continuous damage and shave off vast chunks of their HPs once again.

    Minhyuk frowned when he saw the <em>jewels</em> fall from the hundreds of fragments he had killed in that attack. Every time he saw the jewels fall, he felt strange, and it bothered him.

    Meanwhile, thementators were in awe and admiration as they watched the Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s performance.

    <em>[Amazing. Clearly, the members of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, who had been lying in wait in this ce, had worked together and practiced their ns several times.</em>

    <em>[Yes. It only took a split second for Valentino to retrieve his shield and for Minhyuk to charge forward and unleash his Overlord¡¯s Technique.]</em>

    But Minhyuk was shaking his head. <em>¡®It¡¯s too easy.¡¯</em>

    Of course, if things ended like this, it would result in a sweet victory for the Beyond the Heavens Empire. They would also not need to sacrifice anyone to detonate the bombs that they had installed inside the fortress. However, there was no way that it was this easy. And this ease was stirring up an overwhelming sense of anxiety in Minhyuk. The problem was that ominous premonitions often tend to be a reality.

    Until now, the fragments had foregone attacking to reach Helenia as quickly as possible. But now? The Level 650 boss mobs had changed their postures.

    <em>[Helenia has given the order to attack!]</em>

    It seemed like Helenia had decided it would be much better to kill everyone here than break through their defenses. Minhyuk quickly shook off the ominous premonition that almost devoured him.

    ¡°Viel¡¯s Puppet Doll. Ego Chain Sickle.¡±

    <em>[You cannot use any of your skills or magic for two minutes!]</em>

    Minhyuk responded extremely quickly. He immediately read the flow and summoned Viel and the Ego Chain Sickle before Helenia could impose a restriction. Many expressed their shock and admiration at this.

    Meanwhile, the Beyond the Heavens Empire members looked at the fierce and angry beasts charging toward them with a terrible look on their faces. With their skills and magic restricted for two minutes, they would have no way to stop these charging bastards.

    ¡°Hurry! Get inside the fortress-!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s toote!¡±

    They tried to have those whose HP and physical abilities were lower, like the mages, get inside the fortress, but the fragments moved faster than them.

    A fragment in the form of a leopard swiped Ali¡¯s back with its w.

    <em>Swoosh¨C!</em>

    <em>Spurt¨C!</em>

    Viel moved and cut down the leopard with his sword. Following right behind him, the Ego Chain Sickle moved freely and cut down the iing fragments.

    ¡°Prepare to attack,¡± Minhyuk ordered as he arrived right in front of the walls of the fortress.

    Minhyuk gulped. Even he, who possessed an invincible body, would find it hard to resist such a force without any skills or magic. And for two minutes at that, too. It did not take long for them to sh against the charging fragments.

    ¡°Grrrrrr!¡±

    ¡°Kyaaaaack!¡±

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    Using only their basic attacks, the Beyond the Heavens Empire members kept the crowd of fragments at bay. However, three hundred people were not enough to stop them.

    ¡°...Hyung.¡±

    Minhyuk, who had been attacking the fragments, stopped when he heard someone call out to him.

    ¡°...¡±

    When he turned around, he saw Ace, the youngest member of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, standing right in front of the wide-open jaws of a fragment in the form of a gigantic shark with his hands raised. He was giving Minhyuk a thumbs up.

    <em>Crunch¨C!</em>

    <em>[Ace has been forced to log out!]</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    Minhyuk bit his lips tightly. It was far too much for them, who could not use any skills, to deal with the fragments whose numbers far exceeded their own. They were already fortunate enough to have Viel and the Ego Chain Sickle, cutting down the others and lowering the numbers they had to deal with.

    But it only took thirty seconds. In just thirty seconds, they were already starting to get pushed back. Each yer had to deal with at least six or seven fragments.

    <em>[Lucia has been forced to log out!]</em>

    <em>[Crow has been forced to log out!]</em>

    <em>[Bedman has been forced to log out!]</em>

    <em>[Root has been forced to log out!]</em>

    <em>[Purcell¡­]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s heart ached with the notifications that constantly rang in his ears. They had all been working hard for days to gain more EXP and obtain better artifacts, yet they still stood here with those precious things about to be taken away.

    Thirty Beyond the Heavens Empire yers were forced to log out in just under a minute. Minhyuk gnawed on his lips while the viewers discussed this disastrous battle.

    <em>[But why didn¡¯t the Beyond the Heavens Empire bring their NPCs? If the NPCs of Beyond the Heavens Empire had been here, they would have been able to hunt all the fragments in one go, right?]</em>

    <em>[Just hunt? No, even if their magic and skills had been restricted, they could still overwhelm the fragments.]</em>

    <em>[Do you want to know why they did not bring their NPCs? It¡¯s simple. yers would only end up with penalties for being forced to log out. But NPCs? They would die an actual death.]</em>

    <em>[The battle against Helenia¡¯s Fragments has a lot of unpredictability and variables. It¡¯s far too dangerous to bring their NPCs here. It¡¯s nothing but our greed to think of having the Beyond the Heavens Empire bring out their precious people to fight for us.]</em>

    <em>[Now, we can see that they are fighting even at the risk of a penalty for being forced to log out. It¡¯s safe to assume that Helenia had adjusted and increased that penalty. So, we should all be grateful that they are willing to sacrifice for our future.]</em>

    The viewers cheered for them in their hearts.

    <em>Hang in there; you can do it! You are all the leading forces that will carry the Third Era of Athenae!</em>

    Nevertheless, the notifications for forced logouts continued to ring. In that short moment, the initial 300 yers had decreased to 200.

    And Minhyuk? He began his countdown, <em>¡®Eight¡­ seven¡­ six¡­ five¡­¡¯</em>

    Of course, all of the Beyond the Heavens Empire members were also counting down along with him. They would make sure to repay them for their brave and noble sacrifice.

    Bichor told them, <em>¡®If Helenia sees any signs of a bomb going to explode, she might use her magic to put restrictions upon you.¡¯</em>

    They did not only install bombs inside the fortress. They also installed a bomb at the entrance in case of an emergency.

    <em>¡®Two seconds. We only have enough time to detonate the bomb and leave the radius of effect.¡¯</em>

    The Beyond the Heavens Empire had been working together for a long time. Even if others only met them briefly, everyone remembered what Bichor had told them.

    <em>We will not end just like this in this ce.</em>

    They only had one shot. Everyone counted down to make that one shot work.

    <em>¡®Four¡­ three¡­¡¯</em>

    The viewers andmentators sighed as they watched the increasing number of people with severe injuries and the staggering numbers of people who had been forced to logout.

    <em>¡®Two¡­¡¯</em>

    At that moment, the yers fighting the fragments ran toward Ali as if they had been waiting for this moment.

    <em>¡®One.¡¯</em>

    <em>Beeeeeeeeeeeeep¨C!</em>

    With only one second left, the bomb that they had buried deep underground began to ring, signaling the fact that it was about to explode.

    ¡°Mass Teleport!!!¡±

    A bright golden light engulfed all of the yers. There were only 0.3 seconds left. Their timing was too narrow, but they made it. As the light disappeared, the bomb that Bichor had started to explode.

    <em>[Helenia¡¯s magic restricts¡­]</em>

    It was just as Bichor had expected. However, the bomb buried underground had already exploded even before the notification ended.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¨C!</em>

    Just like a nuclear bomb exploding, the bomb blew away the fragments that crowded around the gates of the fortress. The best part about this bomb was that Bichor focused on increasing its explosive power instead of increasing its radius of effect.

    Although the explosion blew the fortress''s gates into smithereens, it did not spread inside.

    <em>Boom, boom, boom, boom¨C!</em>

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud¨C</em>

    <em>Thump, thump, thump, thump¨C</em>

    <em>[...the use of bombs!]</em>

    When Helenia¡¯s notifications ended, around a third of the fragments had already died. Many of the surviving ones were also ripped and torn apart to the point where they couldn''t move.

    <em>[The number of Helenia¡¯s Fragments that the Luvien Empire has hunted has reached 2,109!]</em>

    <em>[The total number of Helenia¡¯s Fragments that the Beyond the Heavens Empire has hunted has reached 1,975!]</em>

    Minhyuk grew closer and closer to taking the position of the true Battle God.

 Chapter 958

    Chapter 958

    Minhyuk¡¯s heart was filled with hope when he saw that the damage the fragments had received was much more than the damage his men had received. Many of the fragments received severe injuries that made it hard for them to move.

    The difference in the fragments hunted between the Beyond the Heavens Empire and the Luvien Empire was only at a hundred or so. It seemed like Minhyuk had finally taken one step closer not only to the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ victory in this battle but also to the position of the true Battle God.

    Once the restrictions were lifted, the yers of the Beyond the Heavens Empire immediately tried to cast their skills. However, somethingpletely unexpected happened.

    <em>Thump, thump, thump, thump¨C!</em>

    Arrows and sword lights from afar rained down upon the fragments, shooting and cutting them down. When Minhyuk looked at the direction from which the attacks came, he saw the Swords of the Gods riding on their horses, with Duke d and Nerva leading them,ing toward this fortress.

    ¡°...What the hell?!¡±

    The yers of the Beyond the Heavens Empire were all flustered. Most of the members of the Swords of the Gods exceeded the level of the Beyond the Heavens Empire yers. The worst part was that the Beyond the Heavens Empire had shaved off most of the HP of the fragments when they swooped in, effectively taking away the fruits of their hardbor. Perhaps this was only natural since the two empires were at war.

    ¡°Guys, don¡¯t stop attacking,¡± Minhyuk said when he saw that the gap between their empires¡¯ hunted fragments that they had narrowed painstakingly began to widen again.

    The Beyond the Heavens Empire yers acknowledged his words and began to use their skills to attack and kill the fragments as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, Minhyuk jumped down from the fortress and walked toward the troops approaching the Luvien Empire.

    Nerva and Duke d stepped forward to meet with him. However, it was Duke d who spoke on Nerva¡¯s behalf. He said, ¡°The Beyond the Heavens Empire and the Luvien Empire might be at war, but with the current situation, I believe we shouldn¡¯t quibble and work together.¡±

    Duke d was quite crafty. Like Nerva, he was also aware that the Luvien Empire would face criticism and be affected negatively if they attacked the Beyond the Heavens Empire, which was fighting for the world''s future right here and now. So, he chose not to attack them. At the same time, he was also paving the way for Emperor Nerva.

    ¡°Underhanded bastards,¡± Minhyuk muttered. He suddenly found himself to be in a dilemma.

    Hecked the troops even if he wanted to fight the Luvien Empire right here and now. Fighting against the fragments was already too much for them.

    Of course, it would be much easier to hunt the fragments if they joined hands with them. However, the fact that the Luvien Empire and the Beyond the Heavens Empire were at war meant they had to consider that they would be hit at the back at any given moment. It was a risk they had to take if they had to fight side by side with them.

    ¡°Underhanded? This is for the future of the world. Saying that we¡¯re underhanded seems to be a bit too much, no?¡± Duke d snorted.

    Minhyuk clicked his tongue. ¡°You bastards only know how to take away what others had fought so hard and struggled to hunt. If you were truly worried about the world''s future, you should have made the same choice as mine and had your troops lie in wait. I¡¯m calling you underhanded, so what? Isn¡¯t it because the Luvien Empire, which boasts that they are the strongest empire in the continent, is doing something underhanded? And all this so that you can put Emperor Nerva on the throne.¡±

    ¡°Let me say it once again: the Luvien Empire is¡­¡±

    ¡°Stop making excuses¡­¡±

    As their conversation dragged on, the expression on the face of Duke d, who had always sported a neutral expression, grew darker and darker.

    Nerva, who was utterly sober despite looking extremely drunk, thought, <em>¡®The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor is not someone who will openly mock and criticize someone to their face. He is also not the type of person who will argue and raise his voice in agitation like he is now.¡¯</em>

    Nerva looked at the two bickering people with wide-open eyes.

    ¡°Fine. That¡¯s it.¡± Minhyuk suddenly stopped bickering with him. ¡°I hope you will do your best to hunt the fragments <em>in. Cooperation. With. Us.</em>¡±

    Duke d exhaled roughly. Why was the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ emperor in front of himpletely different from the image he had heard of before? With every word he said, d could feel how fiery his personality was and how easy he was to provoke. He looked like he could not control his anger well.

    Duke d then ordered the knights of the Swords of the Gods to charge forward.

    ¡°...¡±

    Duke d was suddenly rendered speechless. It only took a few minutes, but over half of the fragments disappeared. At the same time, these notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The number of Helenia¡¯s Fragments that the Luvien Empire has hunted has reached 2,109!]</em>

    <em>[The total number of Helenia¡¯s Fragments that the Beyond the Heavens Empire has hunted has reached 2,215!]</em>

    Only at this moment did Duke d realize why Minhyuk hadtched on to them and stretched out their conversation for as long as possible.

    The knights of the Swords of the Gods could not just go past Minhyuk to hunt the fragments while the two emperors were still discussing. On the other hand, the Beyond the Heavens Empire members had already been fighting against them earlier and were free to deal with them as much as they wanted. To top it off, they only focused on hunting the fragments that were rendered immobile and littered with severe injuries from the bomb that exploded.

    In other words, Minhyuk bought time for the Beyond the Heavens Empire members to hunt the fragments.

    ¡°This underha¡ª¡± Duke d trailed off; he could not bring himself to finish the words.

    He said earlier that the most important thing right now was to hunt the fragments for the sake of the world''s future. To put it simply, he was not in a position to criticize Minhyuk and call him underhanded.

    ¡°...¡±

    Duke d¡¯s expression grew ugly while Minhyuk looked at him expressionlessly. Only when Minhyuk turned around did he reveal a smug smirk.

    ¡°Swords of the Gods, what are you doing?! Hurry up!¡± Duke d shouted, rushing the knights of the Swords of the Gods to move. ¡°How dare a mere emperor¡­¡±

    Anyone could see by d¡¯s ugly expression just how offended he was.

    <em>¡®However, the n is still on track.¡¯</em>

    Duke d saw that the gap between them began to close again as the Swords of the Gods stormed in to hunt the fragments. He would make sure to let Nerva sit on the throne of the Battle God.

    <em>¡®I will make sure that the teacher can descendpletely.¡¯</em>

    Duke d¡¯s real name was none other than <em>Arumbe.</em> He was Helenia¡¯s only disciple who had long been forgotten with time. Arumbe had taken over Duke d¡¯s body a few years ago and had been waiting with bated breath for this moment.

    Arumbe intended to allow Nerva to seed the throne of the Battle God and make him into his puppet, especially now that Nerva had turned into an ipetent emperor who had been left dwelling in the past and addicted to alcohol.

    If Arumbe could manipte Nerva, who had be the Battle God, he would have control over the Land of the Gods and the human world. Once that happened, then the world as a whole would kneel in front of Helenia.

    The fragments? A lot of them had died at this point. But would this disrupt Helenia¡¯s descent? No. In the first ce, Arumbe, who was in the body of Duke d, had already prepared for this scenario. Soon, the real battle would begin.

    Duke d rushed forward to hunt the fragments. However, there was one man who was ring sharply at his back. And this man was none other than Nerva.

    ***

    <em>[The number of Helenia¡¯s Fragments that the Luvien Empire has hunted has reached 2,433!]</em>

    <em>[The total number of Helenia¡¯s Fragments that the Beyond the Heavens Empire has hunted has reached 2,449!]</em>

    The performance of the Swords of the Gods, especially the first knight order and Duke d, was outstanding. They were able to close the gap in just one breath.

    Minhyuk stood atop the fortress walls and looked at the fragments. He thought, <em>¡®It¡¯s finallying to an end.¡¯</em>

    There were only 300 fragments left now. He believed that this was enough. Helenia would no longer be able to descend at full power with this number. He thought all that was left was to determine who would be the next Battle God.

    However, that was a mistake. Just when everyone was busy hunting the fragments, something happened.

    <em>[Helenia¡¯s Disciple Arumbe has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[Arumbe is trying to facilitate Helenia¡¯s full descent by using ¡®his shards¡¯!]</em>

    <em>[Arumbe has started to awaken the true power of the shards that have lost their shells!]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Everyone stopped for a moment. They were all left dumbfounded by the notifications.

    <em>Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep¨C!</em>

    A loud noise rang in the area.

    <em>¡®What the hell¡­?¡¯</em>

    Shards? Weren¡¯t they supposed to be fragments? What did they mean by the true power of the shards? Were the notifications telling them that what they had been dealing with were mere shells? Decoys?

    Minhyuk¡¯s breath was stuck in his throat. He thought that it was all rted to the red jewels. It had always given him this strange and uneasy feeling since earlier. The jewels were supposed to grow bigger and bigger as the number of people that they had killed increased. And whenever a fragment died, these jewels would fall off their bodies.

    The shards started to twitch as they slowly raised their bodies. Their forms looked simr to humans'', except their skin was as ifva had melted it and showed several traces of blood. Even their eyes werepletely ck. One look could give someone goosebumps.

    One of the Swords of the Gods swung his sword and cut down the shard trying to stand up.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    However, the shard did not fall even after receiving the brunt of the attack.

    <em>[Arumbe¡¯s Shard. Level 676.]</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    Minhyuk was left speechless when he saw the level of the shard.

    Just like that, shards began to arise from where the fragments had died before.

    <em>[Helenia is calling for the shards.]</em>

    <em>[The defensive power of Arumbe¡¯s Shards has increased by 1.5 times.]</em>

    <em>[The AGI of Arumbe¡¯s shards has doubled.]</em>

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaaack!!!¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kekekekekekekeke!¡±

    ¡°Ahihihihihihihihi!¡±

    ¡°Kyahaaaaaaa!¡±

    The shards'' maniacalughter roared. At that moment, the yers and the Swords of the Gods felt like everything around them had turned into slow motion. They tried to attack the shards with all of their might to subdue them. But their high defensive power made even the Swords of the Gods helpless.

    The Sword of the Gods that tried to cut down one of the shards failed to even leave a nick on the skin of the shard. The worst part? He was the one that got caught in the neck and was mmed into the ground.

    Locke, who tried to swing his axes, was punched by one of the shards and sent flying back.

    Ascar tried to cut them down with her greatsword, but the shards retaliated by cutting down the hands that held her des.

    ¡°Kihyahahahahaha!¡±

    ¡°Keuhyahyahyahya!¡±

    ¡°Ahihihihihihi!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s breathing turned ragged as he watched the shards simultaneously charge.

    <em>Thwack¨C!</em>

    One of the shards reached the fortress''s gates and easily pierced through them with its arms. Thankfully, the iron gates that the Beyond the Heavens Empire had prepared in advance had been lowered, preventing it from going further.

    <em>Thud¨C!</em>

    However, even that was only like a piece of paper to the shards. The iron gates were quickly crushed and torn apart as the shards rammed, punched, and tore at it with all their might.

    ¡°Stop¡­¡±

    The average level of the yers was at Level 610, while the Swords of the Gods was at Level 660. They had no way to stop the more than 4,000 shards that were charging in at full force.

    Minhyuk saw dozens of beasts running inside the fortress walls and charging toward Helenia, who was slumbering inside the clear spherical ss. Not long after, one of the shards rushed at her with open arms, its mouth releasing roars of unprecedented joy. It looked like a child extremely happy to have met its mother once again.

    ¡°Kihyehyehyehyehye!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s legs grew soft when he saw the creepy scene. And one thought shed in the heads of everyone present. <em>¡®It¡¯s over.¡¯</em>

    Then, at that moment, someone stepped through the gates. The man moved extremely fast.

    In this game, a yer at Level 300 would not be able to beat an NPC at Level 400, even if ten yers had gathered together to fight against the NPC. Simrly, yers at Level 300 would also not be able to beat an NPC at Level 500, even if hundreds of them gathered together. This was all because of the difference in their strength.

    The shardsughed maniacally as they ran with open arms.

    ¡°Ahihihihihihihi!¡±

    But then, someone appeared and cut their heads off.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    <em>Roll, roll, roll¨C!</em>

    The man looked briefly at the head that rolled on the ground. Then, he turned to look at the shards running toward Helenia¡¯s transparent wall from all directions as he moved.

    <em>One, two, three, four¡­ nine, ten¡­ fifteen¡­ twenty¡­ forty¡­</em> With every swing of the man¡¯s sword, a head would fall and roll on the ground. And when hundreds of the shards had finally crowded from the inside, the man said, ¡°Mercenary¡¯s Pinnacle Swordsmanship. Final Chapter.¡±

    If someone asked who among the NPCs would be considered the Supreme, just like how the yers¡¯ Supreme was Minhyuk, everyone would answer the same thing.

    ¡°Death Wolf.¡±

    And their answer would be <em>Brod.</em>

    Just like that, hundreds of wolves ran and tore the shards apart.

 Chapter 959

    Chapter 959

    Sleep had left Brod since Minhyuk led a group of foreigners and left for Beauden Fortress.

    Minhyuk had met with his vassals. He ordered, ¡°I am leaving for Beauden Fortress. None of you are allowed to follow me there. This is an imperial decree. If any of you defies this order, it is the same as ignoring my will.¡±

    Minhyuk had spoken to them with an uncharacteristically harsh attitude. However, everyone knew that he gave this order for their sake¡ªthe Beyond the Heavens Empire had epted and embraced a variety of NPCs. Of course, just like Brod, there must be quite a lot of them who had lost sleep in anxiety.

    The anxious Brod looked at the stars before moving on to find Haze for a chat. But when he came to find her, he heard something extremely shocking.

    ¡°There¡¯s a problem! Helenia¡¯s Fragments did note from her. They belong to her disciple, Arumbe.¡±

    The fragments they believed belonged to Helenia were not hers but someone else¡¯s. If one thought about it a bit more carefully, one would understand what this meant.

    ¡°Then, does that mean Arumbe has another way to awaken Helenia?¡±

    Haze nodded quickly, anxiety filling her face. ¡°Perhaps he¡¯s the owner of the set of footprints that we discovered in the Beauden Fortress not too long ago.¡±

    Brod immediately jumped to his feet. However, Haze shook her head at him.¡°No, Sir Brod. You can¡¯t go.¡± Haze sounded so resolute. ¡°Do you want to disobey His Majesty¡¯s orders right now?¡±

    The bond between the emperor and his vassal was a two-way street. They both had to have trust, care, and respect for each other. Of course, this bond also included that the vassals had to obey their emperor¡¯s orders. A faithful vassal would abide by their liege¡¯s orders. Minhyuk only gave them this order because he was extremely concerned about them.

    ¡°You clearly understand why His Majesty gave this order, right? His Majesty and the others are all immortal beings. They would be resurrected even if they died there. But¡±¨C Haze¡¯s lips trembled¨C¡°that¡¯s not the case for us. If something goes wrong, then we will die.¡±

    She was apprehensive about Minhyuk and the others but stopped Brod. However, even though she stopped him, her body was trembling and shaking from anxiety.

    <em>They wille back to life even if they die there.</em> If it were put like that, then their worries would be useless. However, even after knowing he would return to life, all the NPCs rted to Minhyuk were not at ease. The pain that Minhyuk would suffer mentally from his death was enough to break the hearts of all of the NPCs who cared for him.

    Brod said, ¡°Lady Haze. Today will be my first time breaking His Majesty¡¯s orders.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Brod was a fool. To him, seeing even a minor injury on Minhyuk could make his heart ache. To him, such a trivial injury was more painful than his death. Besides, the only reason he lived there was because of Minhyuk. Brod thought he would receive a severe punishment from Minhyuk this time. But it was fine.

    Just as he was leaving, Haze said, ¡°Pleasee back alive.¡±

    Brod just chuckled in response.

    ***

    Arumbe¡¯s Shards, whose level increased to Level 660 and had received a 1.5x increase in defensive power and double AGI, madly charged toward the fortress. It was already problematic for the rankers¨Cno, for Athenae¡¯s greatest¨Cto deal with them before, but now it was impossible to kill them. However, for the most excellent NPC standing at the peak of Athenae? That should not be the case.

    This NPC was once hailed as the Fallen Wretched Emperor. He was once the ruler of all of the mercenaries. And he was once the escort knight of a queen. And right now? He lived solely for the sake of one emperor and one emperor alone.

    ¡°Death Wolf.¡±

    The hundreds of charging shards were torn apart by the wolf-like sword lights that shot out from his sword. It was an incredibly shocking sight to see. After all, these shards were the same shards that the rankers were barely able to stop and the ones that the Swords of the Gods had a hard time dealing with.

    The pieces of the shards shot to the sky. But that was not the end of it. He, who decided to block the entrance to the fortress alone, cut down the frantic shards charging toward him with his sword. The people present were rendered mute by his overwhelming disy of power.

    And the Swords of the Gods? Some rumors had been circtingtely that Brod, the vassal of the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor, oncepeted with Nerva for the position of the emperor. There was also a rumor that Nerva used underhanded and vicious methods to push him out of thepetition.

    It did not matter if the rumors were true or not. The Swords of the Gods still watched the man in admiration.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s crazy¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Is he a human?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Unbelievable¡­¡¯</em>

    If Duke Ruffiso was alive, would he be able to win against this man? That was just how outstanding Brod¡¯s performance was. He did not even give the shards a chance to enter the fortress.

    However, although Brod performed exceptionally well, Minhyuk¡¯s face was distorted. ¡°Brod!!!¡±

    Of course, Minhyuk was thankful to him. He knew Brod fully well; he was someone who knew what this considerable man was feeling at this very moment. However, he was also worried about Brod. After all, Brod was the type of person who would push forward despite knowing how reckless his actions were.

    Minhyuk had already thought that there was a chance that Brod woulde here despite his orders. But he was highly conflicted when it truly happened. He felt both happy and angry at the same time.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Your Majesty. I will graciously ept whatever punishment you deem fit once we return.¡±

    Brod was fully aware that he had done something he shouldn¡¯t have done. That was why he was prepared to receive whatever punishment Minhyuk would give him.

    Minhyuk understood that getting angry right now would not make any difference. To be honest, they could only escape this crisis because Brod came here.

    Brod continued to stand by the entrance to the fortress and disposed of the shards that were charging in.

    The yers and the Swords of the Gods rushed forward and began to help him deal with the thousands of shards gathered around the entrance. However, everyone was left in a daze.

    <em>¡®We¡¯re not dealing any damage¡­?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®What the hell is this¡­?¡¯</em>

    The high-rankers all turned to look at Brod in disbelief. This man used to joke andugh around with them while herding the pigs and cattle in the empire. But while this man tore apart the shards into tens of thousands of fragments, they could not even deal the slightest damage.

    As for the Swords of the Gods? They were in a much better position than the yers. However, it was still tough for them to take down a single shard. But Brod dealt with the madly charging shards in front of the entrance alone.

    Just when they were in a daze between shock and amazement, notifications urred.

    <em>[Arumbe, the master of the shards, gives the order to attack!]</em>

    <em>[Arumbe, the master of the shards, activated his magic!]</em>

    Everyone grew tense. At that moment, thousands of bloody red spears fell from the skies.

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Everyone could tell that Arumbe, Helenia¡¯s only disciple, was here somewhere.

    ¡°VALENTINOOOO!!!¡±

    Valentino immediately dashed forward at Minhyuk¡¯s shout. The ce that he was tasked to protect? He was not ordered to raise his shield to the sky. He immediately went past Brod and entered the fortress.

    The yers did note here to level up. It would be great if they were not forced to log out here, but their most important task was to prevent Helenia from absorbing the fragments.

    Valentino moved to ensure the best possible oue. He immediately stood before the slumbering Helenia and mmed his huge square shield down.

    Shortly after bing a god, the God of Shields bestowed upon him a unique artifact. This artifact was none other than the Guardian¡¯s Shield that was in his hands right now. The Guardian¡¯s Shield was an artifact that belonged to the most incredible God of Shields, Bentino. And it was a gift that the God of Shields gave him who chose to defy Nerva¡¯s order to protect the other descendants.

    ¡°Shield Fortress!¡±

    Of course, this shield also has an exceptional skill attached to it. The shiny square shield stretched until it circled itself and caged Valentino and Helenia inside the transparent wall. Before the shield closed off, Valentino and Minhyuk made eye contact.

    ¡°...¡±

    Minhyuk nodded at him. In the first ce, Minhyuk wanted Valentino to do this. So, there were no regrets.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    Thousands of Disses fell upon the yers.

    ¡°Dispel! Dispel! Dispel! Dis¨C Keuheuk!¡±

    One of the shards pierced through the chest of Ali, who was busy dispelling the Disses that were falling upon them.

    ¡°Urk!¡± Ali vomited a mouthful of blood. However, he opened his mouth and muttered shakily, ¡°Dis¡­ pel¡­!¡±

    A Diss fell from the sky and tried to force Ali to log out. However, Minhyuk was one step faster. He hurriedly grabbed Ali by the cor and threw him inside the fortress. After saving Ali, Minhyuk looked around. Just as he expected, it was a tough battle to fight.

    Death fought alongside his death knights and ran toward the shards. He had already reached the limits of his HP and MP. And, of course, the same was true for his death knights. Fortunately, he could still summon his death knights even if they were utterly broken and torn apart. So, everything was fine.

    ¡°Explode.¡±

    Death and his death knights exploded all at once. The resulting explosion engulfed the shards in their vicinity.

    <em>[Death has been forced to log out.]</em>

    The falling Disses instantly made almost two-thirds of the yers disappear. However, Minhyuk still saw hope. Brod killed a fourth of the thousands of the charging shards, shocking even Minhyuk, who had been around him the longest.

    Before long, the surviving yers pulled themselves out desperately. Meanwhile, the Swords of the Gods had already pulled back and watched the situation.

    Minhyuk cast his greatest and most powerful skill toward the shards crowded before Brod.

    ¡°Cmity.¡±

    <em>[Cmity.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have decreased by 15.]</em>

    <em>[Your level will go down by one.]</em>

    <em>[Your total HP and MP volume will decrease by 1% permanently.]</em>

    Thousands of swords covered with zing mes fell from the sky. mes surged and devoured a vast area when the swords struck the ground. Minhyuk had been hiding this power to use it in an emergency. But now, he deemed it the right time to use it.

    The swords constantly fell from the sky, their zing mes devouring the shards in the area. <em>Melting</em>. This word best described what was happening around them.

    But Minhyuk continued. He moved with the thought that he would give it his all and pour everything he had. He said, ¡°Thousand Sw¡­¡±

    <em>[Dispel.]</em>

    When Minhyuk activated the skill, a bright red light shed and spread from the sky above them. Surprisingly enough, this red light also devoured Minhyuk¡¯s Cmity. Even the Thousand Swords that Minhyuk had just activated was easily offset and disappeared into nothingness.

    There were still around 3,000 shards left. The worst part? The shards were attacking the yers and reducing their numbers rapidly. Minhyuk was left flustered and in a rush.

    <em>¡®It seems like we still have to use the bomb in the end¡­¡¯</em> Minhyuk thought as his gaze drifted toward Brod, guarding the entrance firmly.

    Although Brod looked a bit exhausted, he was still standing strong. Minhyuk hurriedly rushed to Brod¡¯s side and triggered his Dual Sword Technique. Standing right next to Minhyuk was Alexander.

    At this point, most of the Beyond the Heavens Empire yers had already been forced to log out. At the very least, two yers should support this one NPC in blocking the entrance to the fortress.

    ¡°Let¡¯s do this.¡±

    ¡°Right.¡±

    ¡°Of course, Your Majesty.¡±

    There were only three of them, but they could keep the madly rushing shards at bay with the swing of their swords.

    As they watched this scene, many viewers felt their blood boil. Thementators were also left in awe.

    <em>[Crazy.]</em>

    <em>[The three are not being pushed back despite fighting against almost 3,000 shards.]</em>

    <em>[We can see that Arumbe¡¯s magic is constantly being sent toward the three of them.]</em>

    <em>[Minhyuk has removed his mixer and bowl and canceled some of the magic.]</em>

    <em>[Alexander has split some of the magic in two.]</em>

    <em>[Brod also offsets the magic while blocking the shards with a swing of his sword.]</em>

    Sweat pooled in the hands of all of the viewers. Everyone could see that the magic was moving shrewdly and targeting Brod, the strongest among the three. Even so, the three did not let a single shard past them.

    At that moment, one man could be seen moving toward them. Thementators were very excited when they saw the man.

    <em>[It seems like Duke d will also be joining them.]</em>

    <em>[Based on their performances, Duke d seems much stronger than Brod. If Duke d fights alongside them, they might be able to defend the fortress even with Arumbe, who has yet to show himself.]</em>

    <em>[Look at Duke d¡¯s momentum! He¡¯s moving alone without the Swords of the Gods. Maybe it¡¯s because he believes that they would only be a nuisance to him!]</em>

    The viewers smiled when they realized the Duke of the Great Luvien Empire would fight alongside the three people. Then, Duke d stood before Brod and swung his sword as hard as possible.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    ¡°Urk¡­!¡±

    Red blood spurted out from the chest of the one that Duke d cut down. However, the one that Duke d cut down was not the shards but Brod.

 Chapter 960

    Chapter 960

    Duke d¨Cno, Helenia¡¯s only disciple, Arumbe¨Ccould see that his shards failed to reach his teacher¡¯s arms. This was entirely out of his expectations.

    Brod contributed the most to preventing his shards from moving forward. One look at the man, and Arumbe could tell that as long as Brod was alive, he would be a threat to his teacher even if she descendedpletely to the world.

    Arumbe, who was in the form of Duke d, slowly approached those blocking his shards. None of them suspected him. After all, with the current situation that they were in, it wouldn¡¯t make sense for the two empires to fight just because they had been at war before. And because of that, d could freely sh the unguarded Brod¡¯s chest.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    Blood spurted out of Brod¡¯s chest. Although it was just one sh, it was enough to inflict a severe injury upon the man. Everything happened so fast that even Minhyuk and Alexander were still unaware of the fact that Brod was already vomiting blood beside them.

    Minhyuk, who finally realized what was happening beside them, saw Duke d stabbing the staggering Brod in the abdomen.

    <em>Stab¨C!</em>

    Duke d pulled his sword just as quickly and shed Brod¡¯s body non-stop.

    It must be known that Duke d was most likely on par with Brod in terms of strength and power. There was also the fact that a person who was inflicted with a severe injury and was stabbed in the abdomen at the same time would have no way to evade whatever attack came their way. It wouldn¡¯t matter how strong one was; that would still be the oue.<em>Thump, thump¨C</em>

    Duke d kicked the stumbling Brod away. With Brod gone in the equation, the shards swarmed and pressed Minhyuk and Alexander harder. The two tried their hardest to stop the shards with their skills, but it was not enough.

    The worst part? Minhyuk was forced to an impasse. He could not make a choice. If he ran to where Brod was, then the shards would pour inside the fortress. But if he did not go there, then Brod might die.

    Then, at that moment, Duke d shouted, ¡°Finally! The chance to kill the puny emperor and his vassals that go against Emperor Nerva hase!¡±

    Duke d turned to look at the Swords of the Gods. ¡°Quick! Attack the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor and kill him! Stop the shards after killing him!¡±

    The two empires were definitely at war. However, the Swords of the Gods could not move despite the orders that they received.

    Minhyuk, looking at the shards still charging forward, thought, <em>¡®That¡¯s so unreasonable. What the hell is wrong with him?¡¯</em>

    Did he want to retaliate against them in this situation? That did not make sense at all. Even the Luvien Empire would be in danger if Helenia descended with her full powers in this world.

    ¡°Idiots! This is His Majesty Nerva¡¯s chance to rise, sit on the throne, and be the true Battle God. As long as His Majesty Nerva bes the Battle God, he could stop Helenia even if she came here at full power!¡± Duke d bbered, wrapping his reckless and unreasonable actions as if they were for the sake of Nerva.

    Then, Duke d walked toward the fallen Brod.

    <em>¡®No¡­!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s expression grew ugly. Brod was one of the people that he cherished and loved. The thought of something happening to him here broke his concentration for a brief moment. Because of that, his bnce broke off, and some of the shards¡¯ attacks hit him.

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 55%!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 50%!]</em>

    The reason why Minhyuk was having a hard time dealing with the shards was because the ughterer¡¯s Absorption could not be triggered no matter how many of them he killed. After all, they were already dead and were only resurrected.

    Fortunately, Minhyuk could quickly regain his bnce, his sword swinging swiftly to deal with the shards in front of him again.

    Minhyuk felt highly disappointed and frustrated with himself at the moment. He wanted to protect Brod but could not even move away from this ce.

    <em>¡®Hang in there, Brod. Just hold on for a bit.¡¯</em>

    When Minhyuk nced back, he saw Brod staggering on his feet. However, he knew Brod as a powerful man, and that one look made him realize that Brod would not be able to endure for long.

    Someone standing among the Swords of the Gods stepped forward at that moment.

    ***

    Brod¡¯s entire body felt heavy while his chest and abdomen, which had been cut and stabbed, were burning hot. The strength in his hand holding onto his sword was already lost, and his legs buckled under his weight. However, he did his best to grip his sword tightly and stand up again.

    <em>¡®I can¡¯t die yet.¡¯</em>

    The glint came back to Brod¡¯s eyes. His emperor had strictly ordered him not toe to this ce. But he defied those orders and went here anyway. And he was going to die just like that? That should not happen. The thought of his emperor grieving was enough for Brod to stand up again.

    <em>¡®I already defied his orders; I can¡¯t die here.¡¯</em>

    That would bepletely irresponsible. Brod exhaled roughly as he used his sword to help him stand up. The situation was extremely dire. He could see that his emperor was also suffering from several injuries all over his body. Even the powerful Alexander seemed to be in a very dire and desperate situation. That was why Brod could not fall here. Slowly, strength returned to his limbs.

    Duke d, who watched the man, was frankly impressed.<em> ¡®That¡¯s crazy.¡¯</em>

    He had stabbed the man at a vital point, yet here he was, surprising him and standing up on his own once again. It also made Duke d realize, <em>¡®I have to kill him here.¡¯</em>

    If he did not do that, this man wouldter be a threat to Helenia.

    <em>ng¨C ng, ng, ng, ng¨C!</em>

    The two shed several times. And in their confrontation, Duke d was left shocked.

    <em>¡®What?¡¯</em>

    Goosebumps rose all over his skin when he realized how amazing Brod was. Although he looked like he had already lost his strength and was running on fumes, Brod could still urately target Duke d¡¯s vital points. Not only that, he could also easily block d¡¯s attacks.

    Duke d raised his empty hand and cast <em>Slow</em> upon Brod. d did not miss the opportunity and swiftly shed Brod, whose movements had slowed down, on the shoulder.

    <em>aaaaash¨C!</em>

    Duke d chuckled viciously when he heard the sound of Brod¡¯s bone and flesh being torn apart. Theughter sounded like theughter of a vicious clown. But then, Duke d heard Brod say, ¡°It¡¯s magic.¡±

    Brod¡¯s voice still sounded lively despite a deep sword in his shoulder. Only at that moment did Duke d realize that something was wrong. Brod, who was supposed to be dying and whose shoulder was supposed to be rendered useless, was still alive and well.

    ¡°Mercenary¡¯s Pinnacle Swordsmanship.¡±

    d¡¯s expression twisted when he heard Brod¡¯s words.

    ¡°Wolf King¡¯s Hunt.¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    Blood spurted out from Duke d¡¯s body as a strong wolf emerged and ripped him apart with its fangs.

    ¡°Kghhk!¡± Duke d groaned, shocked and appalled by the unimaginable damage he had received.

    However, Duke d believed that even if Brod could inflict such massive damage on him with his Wolf King¡¯s Hunt, it would be tough for him to move correctly from this point on.

    But Brod was walking. He took one step, two¡­ three steps, and said, ¡°Who are you?¡±

    The moment Brod reached Duke d, he raised his sword and tried to stab his heart with a sword.

    <em>Shudder¨C</em>

    <em>¡®How can he inflict that much damage¡­?¡¯</em>

    d had only felt fear once in his life. And that was when he saw Helenia¡¯s wrath. From what it looked like, this was the second time he would experience that wrath. However, Duke d moved a step faster than Brod and could evade the sword that was about to pierce through his heart.

    <em>Baaaaaang¨C!</em>

    A massive explosion erupted right in front of Brod. The magic of the same name, Explosion, caused this explosion. The problem was that it waspletely different from the ordinary Explosion. This Explosion condensed the explosive power of the magic and reduced its radius to inflict much more significant damage.

    ¡°Ugh!¡± Brod groaned, blood dripping down his body as he was sent flying back by the aftermath of the explosion.

    A grotesque smile appeared on Duke d¡¯s face.

    Helenia did not have or want any disciples. However, she epted Arumbe because he was an unusual man. Arumbe was born into a noble and prestigious swordsmanship family. He was even praised as his family¡¯s greatest swordsman. But surprisingly enough, he was also a genius in magic.

    It was not easy for someone to be talented in magic and the sword. It was mainly because magic wasplicated to master. However, born as a genius in both fields, Arumbe used both his swordsmanship and magic appropriately and was reborn as a <em>Magic Swordsman.</em> That was right. Not only did Arumbe, or Duke d, possess swordsmanship on par with Duke Ruffiso, but he also had a firm grasp on magic.

    Brod, whose entire body was covered with blood, stood up once again. But Duke d? He raised his hand and said, ¡°Bang!¡±

    <em>Boooooom¨C!</em>

    Another explosion sent Brod flying back. The condition of Brod¡¯s body was utterly terrible now. However, despite his battered body, he still stood up with the support of his sword.

    <em>I can¡¯t die here. His Majesty will be sad.</em>

    ¡°Bang.¡±

    <em>Baaaaaang¨C!</em>

    Brod was sent flying back with another explosion. This time, he vomited a mouthful of blood. Even so, he still stood back up.

    ¡°Bang¨C Bang, bang, bang, bang¨C Bang, bang, bang, bang.¡±

    Duke d sent Explosions non-stop as if he were just ying with Brod.

    The continuous explosions charred Brod¡¯s entire body.

    <em>Fwoosh¨C</em>

    Nevertheless, he still raised his charred hands to hold his sword and support his body. Brod, who was forced to kneel with his bleeding and battered body, turned to look back at Minhyuk.

    ¡°BROOOOOOOD!!!¡± Minhyuk shouted anxiously.

    At this moment, Brod felt like he was the most pathetic vassal in the world. Not only did he defy his emperor¡¯s orders, but he even made him sad.

    Duke d looked like he was finally bored ying around with Brod. He said, ¡°There¡¯s still a lot to be done.¡±

    He needed to kill not only Brod but also Minhyuk and Alexander. So, he raised his hand. A ck me appeared at the tip of his fingers. <em>Hellfire. </em>This was a magic that only a select few mages could cast.

    The tiny spark, which looked like a simple Explosion, flew toward Brod with a wave of d¡¯s hands.

    <em>Spurt¨C!</em>

    ¡°Hmm¡­?¡± Duke d hummed as he felt his blood spurt from his back after releasing the Hellfire at Brod.

    Brod, who looked at the approaching Hellfire, felt infinitely sad at the thought of leaving Minhyuk in grief. But then, someone approached him, who had fallen on the ground, and protected him in their embrace.

    ¡°Sorry.¡±

    A familiar voice rang in Brod¡¯s ears. This voice belonged to the person who took away his preciousrades and knights¡ªthe one who made Brod live with anger toward him for the rest of his life. Brod had made a vow to kill this man one day and make him pay for his crimes. And now, this man, the object of his anger, appeared right before him.

    When he moved away from Brod, his left arm had disappeared. It was devoured and melted away by the Hellfire flying toward the man he embraced and protected.

    He knew that Brod would not forgive him. He knew that they could no longer be friends, and he knew that Brod wanted to kill him. But perhaps he stepped forward because of the will that his precious and dear vassal had left behind.

    <em>¡®I hope that you can smile brightly.¡¯</em>

    But even though his vassal wished for it, Nerva could not smile orugh. He stared at Brod before slowly turning around.

    <em>Rip¨C</em>

    The most vicious and greedy emperor of the greatest and most powerful empire in Athenae tore his clothes apart. Then, using his teeth, he pulled the cloth and tied the stump left behind on his left arm to stop it from bleeding. Then, he picked up his sword and walked to where Duke d was.

 Chapter 961

    Chapter 961

    Nerva was considered a nerd in his youth. He liked to read books just as much as he exercised. He possessed a calm, beautiful, and kind heart and was excellent at everything he did. Because of that, he drew the envy and jealousy of the other Battle God prospects training alongside him.

    Even though Nerva was kind and good-natured, everyone still tried to harass him just because he was good at everything. And the same thing happened on that day. One of the trainees raised his leg and tripped Nerva, who was quietly reading his book. Another trainee threw an egg at him as if he found the confused Nerva funny.

    <em>Crack¨C</em>

    Nerva grew furious when he saw the egg trickling down his forehead. ¡°You! What are you guys doing¡­¡±

    But several eggs rained down on him before he could even finish his words. It was as if they had been waiting for him. Now covered with raw eggs, Nerva could not understand why the other trainees did this to him. He could only look at them nkly while thinking sadly, <em>¡®Why am I being treated like this?¡¯</em>

    <em>Crack¨C</em>

    <em>Crack¨C</em>

    The trainees stopped throwing eggs when they suddenly realized that a man had appeared before Nerva. The man red coldly at them and said, ¡°Do you want me to break your legs?¡±

    ¡°...N¨C No.¡±¡°Sorry, Brod.¡±

    Brod, just like Nerva, also excelled in everything. No, he was even more outstanding than Nerva. However, his character and attitude were utterly different from Nerva''s. If Nerva were the typical nerd, Brod would be the type of person who could not stomach seeing injustice and would crush it if he witnessed one.

    ¡°Let me see you doing this again, and I won¡¯t let you go.¡±

    Everyone ran away after hearing Brod¡¯s bluff. Once they disappeared, Brod and Nerva went to the showers to wash.

    ¡°Hey.¡±

    When Brod was about to leave after washing up, he heard Nerva call him from behind.

    Nerva, in a roundabout way, said, ¡°Someday¡­ Someday, I will also save you when you¡¯re in danger.¡±

    That day, Nerva made a vow to Brod, who was smiling at him. From that day forth, the two became close friends.

    ***

    Nerva, whose left arm was now missing, slowly approached Duke d.

    Brod¡¯s eyes widened when he saw Nerva¡¯s back going further away. He shouted, ¡°Nerva! Nerva! NERVAAAAAAA!!!¡±

    Brod was furious. It did not matter what he would do; even if Nerva died for his sake, he would never forgive him. And even if he died, Brod would make sure to chase him down in hell and torment him. He was sure that Nerva knew this. So, why was he doing this?

    Nerva did not answer. He continued to walk toward Duke d, recalling his memories and the vow he had made in the showers.

    ¡°Your¨C Your Majesty¡­ Why are you attacking me?¡± d stuttered as he hurriedly tried to stop the bleeding from the severe injury inflicted on the back of his head. At the same time, he was confused and dumbfounded. He was sure that Nerva was drunk, but there were no signs of intoxication on his face at all.

    Nerva was a powerhouse that wasparable to Brod and Duke d. He did not be the emperor of the Luvien Empire and the Battle God¡¯s Sword for nothing.

    ¡°Wiping out all of the Beyond the Heavens Empire members for your sake, Your Majesty¡­¡±

    ¡°How long are you going to continue with this act?¡± Nerva said coldly as he looked deeply at Duke d.

    Nerva witnessed Duke d¡¯s fingers moving as thousands of Disses fell from the sky. He already harbored doubts about Duke d, which was why he could see it. He knew full well that Duke d could not use any magic. Even the Swords of the Gods were confused when they saw Duke d use magic.

    But Duke d continued with his act. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about. Everything that I¡¯m doing is for your sake, Your Majesty.¡±

    With those words, Nerva said, ¡°My beloved faithful vassal, Duke d. As the emperor of the Luvien Empire, Imand you to offer your neck to me.¡±

    If he were Nerva¡¯s faithful servant, he would give his neck to his emperor without any doubt. Was it unreasonable? Yes. The rtionship between an emperor and his vassal could be this unreasonable.

    Nerva continued to walk toward d. When he reached him, he stopped and swung his sword at d¡¯s neck without hesitation.

    Then, Duke d cackled. ¡°It seems like I have to change my ns.¡±

    A st of electric current surged from Duke d¡¯s left hand, which he used to block Nerva¡¯s sword.

    <em> sh¨C!</em>

    Nerva moved his sword and cut Duke d¡¯s back.

    Meanwhile, the confused Swords of the Gods only understood the situation when they saw Duke d attack Nerva.

    ¡°Protect His Majesty!¡±

    ¡°Hurry! Move!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s treason!¡±

    No, perhaps it could not be considered as treason.

    Duke d¡¯s body was engulfed in mes.

    <em>Crackle¨C!</em>

    When the mes disappeared, what appeared was apletely different face from Duke d. The Magic Swordsman Arumbe, who was in the form of an old man, appeared in front of everyone.

    <em>[Magic Swordsman Arumbe. Level 837.]</em>

    The most significant reason why Brod suffered severe injuries from Arumbe was because he had been careless. Nevertheless, his level was still astonishingly high. But Nerva did not even flinch or shrink in front of him. Of course, he was at a significant disadvantage, especially since he had lost an arm. But this did not change that he was the emperor of the most substantial empire.

    <em>Rumble¨C!</em>

    Five Hellfires shot out of Arumbe¡¯s fingertips. However, Nerva took two simple steps to avoid them and split the rest with his sword. The only reason why Nerva lost his left arm from the Hellfire earlier was because he saved Brod. But now that he did not need to protect someone? The rate at which Arumbe cast his Hellfires could not keep up with his movements.

    If Brod had been hailed as the <em>wolf</em> in the past, then Nerva would have been the <em>hawk.</em> This was because his swordsmanship was closely rted to and took on the form of a hawk.

    ¡°de Swordsmanship. Chapter 3.¡±

    The Luvien Empire¡¯s Emperor rarely jumped on the frontlines. However, that would not change the fact that he was one of the NPCs at the highest position in the current era.

    ¡°Hunting Prey.¡±

    <em>Boooooooom¨C!</em>

    A sword light stretched out from Nerva¡¯s sword and instantly pierced through Arumbe¡¯s chest. It was as fast and as strong as a hawk.

    Arumbe¡¯s face grew ugly when Nerva narrowed the distance between them, putting pressure on him like no other.

    <em>Crackle¨C!</em>

    The power of the Fire Storm appeared and wrapped around Arumbe¡¯s sword. The rampant fiery energy tried to drag Nerva as it danced on the de of his sword. But when the fiery energy was about to drag him in, something pecked and tore Arumbe¡¯s neck.

    ¡°Cast Hunting.¡±

    Dozens of hawks flew out of Nerva¡¯s sword and soared to the skies.

    ¡°Kree-eee-eear!¡± The dozens of hawks screeched loudly as they circled in the sky.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¨C!</em>

    And then, they shot toward Arumbe before he could even drag Nerva to his side.

    The entire world was left in shock, their breaths reeling as they witnessed the dignity and majesty of a true emperor.

    But contrary to everyone¡¯s hope, there was a frown on Nerva¡¯s face. He thought, <em>¡®The situation is dire.¡¯</em>

    Meanwhile, Arumbe had created several shields to defend against the dozens of hawks that shot toward him from Nerva¡¯s Cast Hunting.

    And Arumbe? He was extremely furious. He shouted, ¡°Trash!¡±

    Arumbe had been waiting for a long time for Helenia¡¯splete revival. He thought he could be one of the gods in the new world with the mad Battle God firmly held at his hands. This was why he could stomach staying in the shell of Duke d for a very long time.

    But now? All of his ns had gone awry. He had to kill everyone here to allow Helenia to descendpletely.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¨C!</em>

    An enormous magic circle appeared with a swing of Arumbe¡¯s sword. The magic circle was so vast that it included the fallen and gasping Brod. This magic circle was the Magic Field. Once the Magic Field has been cast, a mage¡¯s casting time would be reduced in half while his magical damage would increase by 1.5x. Since the one that cast the Magic Field was none other than Helenia¡¯s disciple, the effects were much more shocking.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    Hundreds of magical attacks flew toward Nerva. Their speed, size, and number were far more significant than before.

    <em>¡®This is dangerous.¡¯</em> This was what Nerva¡¯s gut was telling him.

    ¡°Hawk¡¯s Plight.¡±

    Nerva¡¯s steps were light, but he moved at a fast speed. This movement allowed him to escape from the onught of the magical attacks. However, he still failed to evade some magical attacks. This was because they were the type of magic that would hit their target no matter what.

    ¡°Ugh!¡± Nerva groaned when he was hit with a powerful explosion. But instead of going away, he turned around and looked at Brod.

    He could see that Brod was also receiving the brunt of the attacks. Perhaps Brod might die anytime soon. Just when Nerva thought that he had to kill Arumbe quickly, Arumbe appeared behind Nerva and stabbed him in his chest after weaving through the explosions.

    ¡°Urk!¡± Nerva groaned as he staggered on his feet and vomited a mouthful of blood.

    Of course, Arumbe did not miss the opportunity and stabbed Nerva continuously with his sword imbued with lightning magic.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab¨C!</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!¡± screams were ripped out of Nerva¡¯s mouth. He suffered severe and irreparable damage from the attack. The worst part? The power of lightning put him in a stunned state.

    <em>Crackle, crackle, crackle¨C!</em>

    After inflicting severe damage on Nerva and Brod, Arumbe moved to finish this battle. He summoned tens of thousands of fireballs all around him. The fireballs glittered and sparkled like fireflies flying in the dead of the night.

    The sight was extremely shocking. This was Arumbe¡¯s innate ingenuity that even Helenia coveted. He could cast countless Explosion magic, keep them still, and only allow them to explode at his will. If all of them exploded at the same time, they would be able to exert power that wasparable to Helenia¡¯s Meteor or Hellfire. However, these suppressed fireballs should remain neutral for ten seconds.

    Magic spread out from Arumbe¡¯s fingertips as he raised his hand and cast a Fire Wall that enclosed the area around them. With this, no one could interrupt him for ten seconds.

    Arumbe pointed his finger at Nerva, who was finally released from his stunned state and was about to move.

    ¡°Bang¨C Bang, bang, bang, bang.¡±

    Nerva was sent rolling on the ground and coughing up blood.

    <em>Eight¡­ Seven¡­ Six¡­</em>

    This countdown would also signal the triumphant arrival of Arumbe¡¯s shards to Helenia¡¯s embrace. Now that all the troublesome and annoying ones were gone, things would be easier for Arumbe.

    ¡°Fufufufufufufufufu¡­!¡± Arumbe, the old mage, cackled. He was a human but wanted to be a god and stand by Helenia.

    <em>Five.</em>

    But there was one thing that Arumbe should not have overlooked. He was only wary of Nerva and Brod because they were the strongest out of everyone present.

    A whisper was heard from the fortress''s entrance saying, ¡°Transcendence.¡±

    Everyone received a restriction wherein they could not receive any <em>buffs</em> whenever they were around Helenia¡¯s Fragments. Of course, this was the only power that she had restricted. But Transcendence was an entirely different concept from buffs.

    Transcendence was a skill that allowed Minhyuk to absorb the amount of damage that he had received and give him a burst of power in one go. The amount of transcendence that he could gather would depend on the level and strength of the enemy, and it could give him a buff equivalent to buffs given by God-grade dishes once triggered.

    And these were the notifications that rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears when he tried to activate the skill:

    <em>[Helenia¡¯s magic has restricted any use of buffs!]</em>

    <em>[Transcendence is a power that cannot be restricted and suppressed!]</em>

    <em>Rumble¨C!</em>

    ck energy sted and engulfed Minhyuk¡¯s entire body as he left the entrance to the fortress. As if Alexander was waiting for this moment, he swiftly summoned his Weapon Corps to fill the gap that Minhyuk had left behind. Alexander only had a few minutes to fill in this gap. And this was only made possible because the Swords of the Gods jumped into the fray.

    <em>[You have activated Transcendence!]</em>

    <em>[You have gone beyond your limits and transcended to another realm!]</em>

    <em>[You have gone beyond your limits and transcended to another realm!]</em>

    <em>[You have gone beyond your limits¡­!]</em>

    <em>[You have gone beyond your limits¡­!]</em>

    But the notifications did not end there.

    <em>[The Transcendence¡¯s buff effects have now been applied!]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 59%!]</em>

    <em>[All of your attack power has increased by 37%!]</em>

    <em>[All of your defensive power has increased by 45%!]</em>

    <em>[All of your skill levels have increased by +3!]</em>

    <em>[Your resistance to abnormal statuses has increased by 40%!]</em>

    <em>[Your total HP and MP have increased by 50%!]</em>

    <em>[Transcendence will remain in effect for thirty seconds!]</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk, who had not used any defensive skill even in the face of danger, quickly triggered his Absolute Defense, which wouldst for seven seconds. He had been saving his defensive skills just in case the owner of the mysterious footprints arrived, and he arrived.

    Minhyuk took out a potion while running.

    <em>Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp¨C</em>

    Arumbe, who caught sight of Minhyuk trying to get past his Fire Wall, shot dozens of magical attacks at Minhyuk. Among those magical attacks was Hellfire. However, none of the attacks that he sent inflicted any damage on Minhyuk.

    Arumbe looked at Minhyuk in doubt while continuing the countdown in his head.

    <em>Three¡­ two¡­</em>

    However, a mage''s most significant disadvantage was that the attack would fail if their casting were interrupted.

    ¡°Sword of Frenzy.¡±

    <em>Spurt¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s sword went straight through Arumbe¡¯s chest. At the same time, the notifications from the potion that he drank rang in his ears.

    <em>[You have consumed the Single Target EXP Increase Potion!]</em>

    <em>[You can obtain 50 times more EXP if you kill your target!]</em>

    The time to level up like crazy had arrived.

 Chapter 962

    Chapter 962

    Before Arumbeunched tens of thousands of fireballs, Minhyuk had a bitter conversation with Alexander. He said, ¡°How long can you hold on?¡±

    ¡°Two minutes at the very least and three minutes at most,¡± Alexander replied.

    Alexander had shown Minhyuk the excellent skill <em>Weapon Corps</em> during theirpetition in the Infinite Battlefield. That was why Minhyuk knew he could hold on for a few minutes even if he left the entrance to the fortress. On top of that, Alexander intended to use all of his powers to deal with the fragments once Minhyuk left.

    Minhyuk said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Alexander.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± Alexander shook his head.

    He knew why Minhyuk was apologizing. It was because the man was pushing him out so that he could protect Brod. But that was not all. His ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± had an entirely different meaning. But that was fine. Arumbe was someone that they had to kill right here and now.

    ¡°I¡¯ll do my best.¡±

    They needed to stop Arumbe, but they also could not forget to stop the <em>shards</em> from reaching Helenia¡¯s arms. Minhyuk analyzed the current situation with a clear and rational mind. He and Alexander were already very exhausted. It would not be strange for them to be forced to logout at any given moment. The Swords of the Gods were also in chaos, not to mention Brod, who was still lying on the ground. And the same was true for Nerva.

    <em>¡®I don¡¯t know why they¡¯re helping us.¡¯</em>But even if they killed Arumbe, Minhyuk knew they would still be in danger. That was why Minhyuk nned to detonate the bomb that Bichor had installed inside the fortress.

    ¡°Then, I¡¯m leaving him to you,¡± Minhyuk said. He was referring to Brod. What Minhyuk wanted Alexander to do was to protect Brod if ever he was in a ce where the aftermath of the bomb¡¯s explosion could reach him.

    Of course, Minhyuk would not miss this opportunity. He took the Single Target EXP Increase Potion. No one had reached Level 650 yet. A rough estimate said it would take at least half a year for someone to reach that level. Not only would he be the first to reach it, but he was also in a situation where he could obtain the Food God¡¯s new power if he couldplete his ns.

    However, the truth was that Minhyuk, who was running toward Arumbe with his Absolute Defense, was afraid.

    <em>¡®If we can¡¯t stop them, then¡­¡¯</em>

    The future waiting for the yers was where Helenia destroyed Athenae.

    <em>¡®If we can stop them, then¡­¡¯</em>

    The yers would grow rapidly to kill Helenia, who failed to descend with her full powers.

    <em>Stab¨C</em>

    The Sword of Frenzy stabbed Arumbe¡¯s heart. And because he could urately and sessfully hit a vital point, the effects of the skill were triggered. Twelve additional attacks with 500% more damage that has an 80% chance of ignoring an enemy¡¯s defense ran rampant in Arumbe¡¯s body.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡± Arumbe screamed. The gruesome sound resonated all over the world.

    <em>One.</em>

    The tens of thousands of Fire Balls slowly disappeared from the air. Seeing this, Arumbe grew furious. He was angry that a human, which he assumed he need not be wary of, sessfullynded an attack on him.

    ¡°Bastard!¡± Arumbe shouted as he tried to attack Minhyuk with his magic, just as he was about to pull out his sword.

    But Minhyuk moved a step faster. Right now, Minhyuk had the power of Transcendence coursing through his veins. At this very moment, neither Brod nor Nerva was his match. Perhaps he even possessed the power to cut down Helenia.

    <em>Swoosh¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk flew past Arumbe. And the skill that he used? The Sword of Carnage. With the power of Transcendence amplifying its effects, this skill, which could cut the enemy dozens of times in just a split second, exerted a greater power.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    Screams were ripped out of Arumbe¡¯s mouth as the countless sword lights attacked him non-stop.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    As the attacksnded on Arumbe¡¯s body, a very unusual force allowed him to automatically send a magical attack toward his enemy, which came at Minhyuk.

    <em>Rumble¨C!</em>

    A powerful lightning bolt fell from the sky and devoured Minhyuk.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    Although the attack created a massive explosion, it did not inflict any damage on Minhyuk. When Arumbe, the genius mage, and swordsman, saw this, he could not help but be dumbfounded.

    <em>¡®What the hell is this bastard?!¡¯</em>

    Arumbe had only heard about this human as a god who loved to eat. He was the emperor who went against the Luvien Empire, and the Battle God favored him. To him, it was just <em>that.</em> He believed that this human was nothingpared to him, who would trample and put the gods under his feet, and Helenia, who would destroy everything that she would hold in her palms. That was why he did not even pay attention to him.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk shed the staggering Arumbe.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡±

    The genius Arumbe, who did not allow anyone tond a sessful attack on him, was screaming constantly from Minhyuk¡¯s non-stop attacks.

    <em>Two¡­ One. </em>And with that, Minhyuk¡¯s Absolute Defense was lifted.

    The look in Arumbe¡¯s eyes changed when he saw the invincible force surrounding Minhyuk¡¯s body disappear. He stretched out his hands and spread his thin and slender fingers. At the same time, dozens of bloody red Disses fell from the sky. They were much stronger and more prominent than the Disses that Ali usually cast, falling straight toward Minhyuk.

    ¡°Keuhahahahahahaha! Ahahahahahaha! Impudent bastard!¡±

    The power that allowed the man in front of Arumbe to use an unknown barrier was a fantastic power he had never seen or heard. However, Arumbe was confident that once that power was gone, this man in front of him would be no match against him.

    <em>Stab¨C Stab, stab, stab, stab¨C Stab, stab, stab, stab¨C!</em>

    But even though Minhyuk was constantly stabbed by the Disses falling from the sky, he did not falter. He continued to walk toward the staggering and stumbling Arumbe.

    <em>Stab¨C!</em>

    A Diss shot through Minhyuk¡¯s chest. However, he continued with a nk look on his face.

    ¡°...?¡±

    Arumbe could not understand why his magic was not doing much damage to the man in front of him.

    With the current state that Minhyuk was in, perhaps it would be safe to say that he was every bit of an opponent to both Helenia and Arumbe.

    Minhyuk had consumed countless excellent elixirs, medicines, and ingredients that increased his magical defensive power to a level that was beyond anyone¡¯s imagination. Such magical defensive power would triple with the equipment of the Transcendental¡¯s Armor and quadruple with the ck Dragon Armor.

    To top it off, Minhyuk could recover some of his HP, which had already fallen below 20%, by attacking Arumbe. Unlike the fragments turned shards, Arumbe was a living and breathing person. Because of that, he was able to trigger his ughterer¡¯s Absorption.

    <em>Boom¨C Boom, boom, boom, boom¨C!</em>

    Arumbe swung his arm like crazy as he tried to bomb Minhyuk with his magical attacks. However, Minhyuk just continued to press forward. Of course, the magical damage that Minhyuk was receiving was instantly reduced. However, he still suffered greatly from the non-stop attacks that came his way. If Arumbe had not been a living and breathing person, he would have been forced to log out a long time ago.

    ¡°Don¡¯t¨C Don¡¯te here¡­!¡± Arumbe shouted, fear coloring his eyes.

    Arumbe knew fear. He had felt it when he faced Helenia and Brod. But what he was feeling this time was apletely unfamiliar feeling. It was a feeling that was far worse than fear. It was his instincts screaming at him to run so he could survive.

    <em>Crackle¨C!</em>

    Three Hellfires fell and devoured Minhyuk all at once. Minhyuk simply walked out of the Hellfires and grabbed Arumbe by the cor. Then, he said, ¡°Cmity.¡±

    ¡°...!¡± Arumbe¡¯s eyes grew wide.

    Cmity was a skill that Minhyuk had used once earlier. But he was using it again now? This was only possible because Minhyuk had used his Save skill to store Cmity. Why? Because Minhyuk had judged earlier that it was necessary to use Cmity, a skill with terrible penalties, twice.

    Of course, Cmity was a power that could be dispelled. But even if someone sessfully used Dispel on it, they could not erase everything. Only some of the swords from this attack would disappear, and the rest would remain.

    A burning sword fell from the sky and mmed straight into Arumbe, who was being held by the cor.

    <em>Stab¨C!</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Minhyuk finally let go of Arumbe¡¯s cor and increased the distance between them using Like the Wind as Arumbe screamed his lungs out.

    <em>[Helenia¡¯s magic protects Arumbe!]</em>

    Around a hundredrge and sturdy shields appeared to protect Arumbe. But the fiery swords mmed into the shields and broke them one after another.

    <em>ng¨C!</em>

    <em>ng¨C!</em>

    <em>ng¨C!</em>

    <em>Crackle¨C!!!</em>

    <em>Crackle¨C!</em>

    A zing me erupted and devoured the surrounding area. Ali, who Minhyuk had thrown inside the fortress earlier, quickly ran before Brod and cast a barrier that protected him and the man.

    <em>¡®Ali¡¯s there.¡¯</em> Minhyuk breathed a sigh of relief. With Ali¡¯s barrier, Brod would be protected.

    However, Minhyuk¡¯s expression grew twisted when he saw Arumbe.

    <em>¡®Shit¡­ He¡¯s a mage, but his HP is this high?!¡¯</em>

    Even after receiving Cmity directly, Arumbe did not die and was still alive and well. Of course, he looked utterly horrendous. His entire body was charred ck, with some ces cracking and oozing blood.

    As he walked forward to finish the twitching Arumbe, he was greeted with a notification.

    <em>[Helenia protects her disciple, Arumbe!]</em>

    <em>Swoosh¨C!</em>

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    A Diss shot out from within the fortress and pierced through Minhyuk¡¯s chest. Minhyuk groaned louder when his HP fell below 20% with just that one attack. The damage was ridiculous to the point that it overshadowed the armor effect of the Transcendental¡¯s Armor.

    <em>[Helenia has cast Dispel!]</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s face grew even uglier when he saw Ali¡¯s barrier disappear without a trace. He gritted his teeth as he pulled out a switch from his inventory.

    ¡°Minhyuk!¡± Alexander shouted. His entire body was covered in blood as he ran inside the fortress.

    Minhyuk grabbed Arumbe by the cor and started to run toward the fortress. He was no hero. All he wanted was to protect those who were precious to him. He wanted to protect the world of Athenae, the world that gave new hope to someone like him who was dying from his eating addiction. The very same world that shone a bright light on his world, which was filled with gloom and darkness.

    ¡°Uwooooooh!¡± Minhyuk shouted. He turned to look at Brod as he continued to run to the fortress.

    If all their ns worked out, then he would also be able to save Brod. However, not everything would go as nned. Such was a human¡¯s life.

    ¡°Ke¨C Kekekekeke!¡± Arumbe cackled despite being held by the cor. Then, without missing a gap, he triggered an Explosion. He risked it even though he would receive damage, too.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk, swept away by the explosion, was sent flying far away. As for the switch in his hands? It was also sent flying in another direction. Then, Arumbe targeted Alexander, who was running toward Brod. Alexander was also on the verge of being forced to log out.

    <em>Ping¨C!</em>

    A Diss shot out and pierced through Alexander¡¯s chest in just a split second.

    ¡°Urk!¡± Alexander groaned. His pupils were shaking as he looked toward Minhyuk. Not long after, he turned gray and disappeared from everyone¡¯s sight. At the same time, the remaining 2,000 shards began to pour inside the fortress like a river flowing from a copsed dam. They all rushed toward Helenia.

    Minhyuk, still lying on the floor, looked for the switch. The switch fell near the fallen Brod. Brod, gasping for breath, used thest bit of his strength to reach for the switch.

    ¡°Brod! This is an order! Do not touch that switch!¡±

    If the bomb exploded immediately, even Brod would not be spared. And Minhyuk? He would be able to survive. After all, he could use Let¡¯s Have a Meal¡¯s barrier and get away with it. But it was different for Brod. Brod was one of Minhyuk¡¯s most beloved and precious vassals. The man was aplete fool when it came to Minhyuk. And if he pushed that switch, he would die.

    Brod¡¯s hands were almost at the switch.

    Arumbe, who had fallen on the ground,ughed maniacally when he saw his shards almost reaching Helenia¡¯s transparent wall.

    ¡°Ke¨C Kekekekekekkeke! Keuhahahahahahaha!¡±

    But then, someone appeared and kicked Minhyuk away.

    ¡°Kghhk!¡± Minhyuk groaned. The kick sent him flying out of the fortress.

    As for the one who kicked him? Well, he also did not know why he did that. Why did he protect the emperor of the Beyond the Heavens Empire?

    <em>¡®Maybe it¡¯s because he¡¯s the one that he wants to protect.¡¯</em>

    The man was bleeding all over his body. However, it was much worse with his missing left arm. His wound had reopened, and blood flowed non-stop from what was left of his left arm. However, he continued to move forward and arrived one step faster than Brod to the switch.

    He knelt and stared at Brod for quite some time. Brod looked at the man before him with confusion and doubt. But without any expression on his face, Nerva grabbed Brod by the cor and threw him out of the fortress.

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    Nerva quickly picked up the switch that fell on the ground. Then, he turned to look at Brod, who was still staring at him from outside the fortress. Honestly, he did not even know why he was doing this.

    <em>Vwoooooooooong¨C!</em>

    A powerful force soared from Nerva¡¯s body and destroyed the entrance to the fortress.

    <em>Rumble¨C!</em>

    As the rubble fell and slowly closed off the entrance, Nerva saw Brod¡¯s expression. Nerva could sense the question, <em>¡®Why are you doing this?¡¯</em> in Brod¡¯s expression aside from the confusion.

    At that moment, Nerva recalled the words of his most precious, hardworking, and beloved vassal, R¨¡lszd.

    ¨C<em>I hope you can smile brightly.</em>

    Nerva stared at Brod until the rubble blocked the entrance, and his figure disappeared. However, a bright smile was stered on Nerva¡¯s face, a smile that had now beenpletely hidden from everyone else¡¯s view.

 Chapter 963

    Chapter 963

    The entrance to Beauden Fortress had copsed, trapping the shards that had rushed inside the fortress to get to Helenia¡¯s embrace.

    Brod, who watched the rubble fall until itpletely covered the entrance, had caught a glimpse of the bright smile on Nerva¡¯s face. The sight left him staring nkly at the copsed entrance for quite a long time.

    ¡°Your Majesty!!!¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty!!!¡±

    ¡°N- No. This can¡¯t be!!!¡±

    The Swords of the Gods were all shocked and disconcerted by the sudden events. And the same was true for Minhyuk.

    Nerva was the greatest viin during Athenae¡¯s Second Era. He was a greedy emperor who had taken and plundered many things to establish his empire as the greatest. He was the type of person who was willing to do anything and everything that he could just to achieve his goals. But now, this man has done somethingpletely ridiculous. He had chosen to <em>sacrifice</em> himself for the sake of others.

    Minhyuk gulped dryly as he stared at the fortress''s entrance with a puzzled expression.

    <strong><em>BOOM!</em></strong>A massive explosion engulfed the entire fortress.

    ***

    Right before the bomb exploded.

    <em>Rumble!</em>

    A sense of relief washed over Nerva as he leaned his back on the walls of the copsing fortress. He felt so rxed as if he had put down the heavy baggage he had been carrying.

    However, Nerva¡¯s body still trembled and shook as he looked at the switch in his hands. No one in the world was unafraid of death. And the emperor of the most significant and strongest empire was no exception to this.

    The leaning Nerva slowly slid down from the fortress walls. Not too far from him, Arumbe, the mage they had been fighting earlier, was gasping and trying to catch his breath. He was looking at Nerva. The two of them could see the shards struggling to break down the small fortress made of shields that trapped Helenia inside.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¨C!</em>

    Not long after, the fortress made of shields began to crack. Nerva closed his eyes and murmured, ¡°It seems like this will be my end?¡±

    Death woulde to him soon. It mighte in a few tens of seconds at the least or perhaps in a few minutes at most. The thought brought forth aplicated feeling in Nerva. He was Nerva, the greedy tyrant who plundered everyone and tried to bring the entire continent under his rule. Yet this very same emperor would end up killing himself.

    Nerva hoisted himself up, murmuring, ¡°I thought I would create an empire that would help the world be peaceful.¡±

    He did not want to build an empire that caused wars. He wanted to build an empire that would stand at the center of the continent and prevent all wars so that he could bring peace to all of the kingdoms and empires in the world.

    ¡°I wanted to build a world where all humans would help each other in need. A world where kingdoms and empires would hold hands and be at peace.¡±

    However, all these were just things hemented before his death.

    ¡°One day, I realized¡­¡±

    He could not create such a peaceful world. If such a strong empire existed, the kingdoms and empires would try to chip away at that empire instead of holding hands and promoting peace. So, what should he do, then?

    ¡°I thought I had to use force to pressure them.¡±

    It was so they would not even think about taking away what was in his empire. And that was how Nerva created the Luvien Empire. However, his essence and the main reason he made such an empire grew blurred as time passed. He grew greedier the more his empire grew stronger.

    He wanted to get more. He tried to stand at a higher ce. His wish to create a peaceful world slowly faded away.

    ¡°I became a monster.¡±

    It was just as Brod said. He had be a monster that could no longer turn back to how he once was.

    A bitter smile shed on Nerva¡¯s face. He was pretty fortunate that he would have this kind of death even though he had be such a monster.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¨C!</em>

    The cracks on the small fortress of shields grewrger andrger. Nerva trembled. He exhaled as he looked at the growing cracks. And with a faint smile, he raised his hand and tried to press the switch.

    ¡°That¡¯s f*cked up.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    An unknown voice rang in his ears. When Nerva turned to look in the direction of the voice, he saw a very familiar face. The man was standing atop the shield-made fortress and sporting a frown as he looked at the shards banging frantically on the walls that he had created.

    The man jumped off of the fortress and went past the crazy shards. The fragments, who only thought of reaching Helenia¡¯s arms, did not attack him. They did not even pay him any mind.

    ¡°It¡¯s so revolting. I can¡¯t stand it. You¡¯re a monster, but in the end, you will be hailed as the unfortunate emperor who died a beautiful death. Is that what you intended to do?¡±

    This man was once a member of the Swords of the Gods¡¯ Second Knight Order. But now, he has blended in and joined the Beyond the Heavens Empire. This man was none other than Valentino.

    The rtionship between Nerva and Valentino was filled with resentment and hate.

    Nerva, who had already put everything down, looked at Valentino bitterly. He said, ¡°Congrattions on sessfully bing the God of Shields.¡±

    Even though a vassal of another empire was cursing at him, Nerva graciously forgave him and was even very understanding of his words and actions. After all, if he considered the wrongs that he had done, then it was given that this would be how he felt about him.

    ¡°You f*cking bastard. I can¡¯t stomach this sh*t. This is so disgusting.¡±

    Valentino, who sounded so cold-hearted then, was trying to think quickly. He had learned a lot since joining the Beyond the Heavens Empire. He had learned quite a lot while watching Minhyuk. As he watched Minhyuk, he realized why he, a single yer, became the emperor who led millions of troops and was respected by all of his subjects. He was trying to think like <em>Minhyuk</em> and analyze the current situation.

    <em>¡®If Nerva dies here, then will the Beyond the Heavens Empire and the entire world of Athenae wee it?¡¯</em>

    Valentino knew he should not look at it with just a single perspective. He had to look at it from both sides.

    Many would rejoice. That was for sure. The kingdoms, empires, and yers who held death grudges and resentment against Nerva would be happy. Perhaps they would even cheer, saying, <em>¡®He died to block Helenia.¡¯ </em>But after that? Then, what?

    <em>¡®Perhaps the entire world would be even more chaoticpared to now.¡¯</em>

    If the emperor of the Luvien Empire died without leaving a will, then his empire would be thrown into chaos. Perhaps cries and shrieks would ring loudly in the Luvien Empire as they tried to fight over the emperor¡¯s throne.

    Of course, the other kingdoms and empires would take advantage of this and try to trample on the Luvien Empire. First, the kingdoms and empires that had allied with them only agreed because they forced them. People like them would do anything to eat away at the Luvien Empire.

    There would be no end to the war in Athenae. And the damage? The yers would most likely shoulder it.

    <em>¡®It will be far more disastrous than when the Luvien Empire first appeared.¡¯</em>

    Valentino pondered deeply. He tried to imagine how he would approach the situation if he were in Minhyuk¡¯s shoes.

    <em>¡®Then, what if Nerva does not die?¡¯</em>

    This would also be a problem. Would he clean up his act and begin anew? Valentino did not know that. There was a chance that if Nerva came back alive, he would reign just like he had in the past.

    Whatever choice he picked, the results would still be disastrous. So, to turn the situation in their favor, Valentino thought of a trick.

    <em>¡®I feel like my head¡¯s going to explode.¡¯</em>

    Was Minhyuk like this every single day? Did he have to go through countless situations and oues before he made a decision? To be honest, Valentino was in awe.

    Then, he turned to Nerva and said, ¡°If you want to apologize and have them forgive you, you must live.¡±

    Although Valentino said those words, he wondered if Nerva would genuinely change. But what if he could suggest a way to get through this without dying? After all, it was natural for people to want to live in the first ce.

    Nerva also understood the situation. There was the mage, who had almost zero mana, and Valentino. There was no need for Nerva to press the button himself. The fact that there was no need for him to die started to sprout in him. This was a human¡¯s instinct for survival.

    ¡°However¡­¡±

    Was it better for Nerva to live or to die? Valentino, who had been pondering this matter, finally gave the answer he had thought of.

    ¡°Step down from your position as the emperor.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    The thought that Valentino came up with this idea was shocking. The emperor would not die but would have to step down from his position and name another sessor. If Nerva had been left to live, then he would have been able to prevent the chaos that woulde in the Luvien Empire and the world.

    Of course, the foundations of the Luvien Empire would be greatly shaken. After all, their emperor would suddenly be changed. They would need a period where they had to adapt. But as long as Nerva was alive, the Luvien Empire would continue to stand as a nation and maintain its processes.

    <em>¡®The Beyond the Heavens Empire will develop quickly.¡¯</em>

    The shaking of the foundation of the Luvien Empire would set the stage for the growth of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. If the Beyond the Heavens Empire took this opportunity to develop further while the Luvien Empire was still in the adaptation period, then they could create an empireparable to Luvien.

    Valentino¡¯s solution was an idea that looked exceptionally far into the future. But that was not the end. At this moment, he had be ¡°Minhyuk.¡±

    ¡°Compensate the Beyond the Heavens Empire with fifty million tinum and give them one chance to use the Luvien Empire¡¯s Treasure House.¡±

    Unless one was a fool, there was no way that they did not know that there were shocking items inside the Luvien Empire¡¯s Treasure House.

    ¡°And before stepping down from your position as an emperor, sign a decree that will dere a brief cease-fire with the Beyond the Heavens Empire. Andpensate me, Valentino, with a God-rank artifact made by the finest cksmiths of the Luvien Empire.¡±

    Valentino did not even forget to seekpensation for what he was about to do. All of the things that he asked were of enormous value.

    ¡°That¡¯s quite a huge price for someone who would live even if they died.¡±

    That was true. Valentino demanded all the things that were thousands of times greater than the worth of his death. However, this decision had greatly shaken Nerva¡¯s own decision. Nerva gently caressed the switch in his hands.

    But the thing that helped his decision immensely was something else.

    <em>¡®I haven¡¯t repaid everything yet.¡¯</em>

    If he died now, then Brod would only see this as him running away from his sins.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¨C!</em>

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Khieeeeeeek!¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaack!¡±

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud¨C!</em>

    The Shield Fortress was now on the verge of copse. Nerva, who had been caressing the switch, finally made a decision. He slowly stood up and handed the switch to Valentino.

    Valentino exhaled a trembling breath, thinking, <em>¡®This feels far too realistic for a game.¡¯</em>

    Valentino felt like he was genuinely going to die at this very moment. Then, walking toward Mage Ali, Nerva looked back at him and said, ¡°...You have grown.¡±

    Nerva knew the character, skills, and everything rted to the knights of the Swords of the Gods better than anybody else. Although he was a tyrant, he had climbed to his position because of how observant he was.

    Valentino grinned. ¡°Because I now serve a better emperor.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Nerva looked at Valentino for quite a while before nodding his head.

    <em>¡®So this is Emperor Minhyuk¡¯s power?¡¯</em>

    The man waspletely different from him. Nerva leaned his exhausted body on Ali. Fortunately, Ali had already recovered enough MP to cast a Mass Teleport. Ali held Nerva¡¯s hand.

    <em>[Sharing your perspective with the broadcasting stations!]</em>

    Valentino knew that at this very moment, he was the protagonist of the story. He would be the one who received the attention of the entire world. The moment the notification rang, his perspective was broadcast to the screens of viewers worldwide.

    <em>¡®Perhaps someone will be very disappointed in me.¡¯</em>

    When Valentino was executed in the Luvien Empire and thrown into the Prison of Indolence, many who believed in him must have grown disappointed. When he joined the Beyond the Heavens Empire, many people pointed their fingers at him and said, <em>¡®He¡¯s someone that will betray his friends so that he could live.¡¯</em>

    But at this very moment, Valentino was the one who was most faithful to his duty.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Kihiiiiiiiik!¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaack!¡±

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud¨C!</em>

    Everyone following his perspective saw his Shield Fortress start to crumble and copse. And in this ce where he stood alone, Valentino did what he was supposed to do. He became their shield that would protect and defend them from harm.

    ¡°I¡­¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¨C!</em>

    The walls of the Shield Fortress slowly copsed. The shards opened their arms wide and cackled with joy as they ran to Helenia¡¯s arms.

    ¡°Kirerererereck!¡±

    ¡°Kiheeheeheehee!¡±

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaaack!¡±

    With a slight smile on his face, Valentino mumbled, ¡°...the God of Shields.¡±

    <strong><em>BOOM!</em></strong>

    A massive explosion erupted and devoured the entire Beauden Fortress.

 Chapter 964

    Chapter 964

    <em>Rumble¨C!</em>

    Beauden Fortress slowly started to fall and copse. With this explosive power, even Helenia, at her full power, would be blown away all at once.

    One of the reasons why Bichor¡¯s bombs were so amazing was because no matter how powerful the explosion was, it would never go beyond the Beauden Fortress. He reduced the bombs¡¯ radius of effect to create a more powerful and destructive bomb.

    ¡°Your Majesty¡­?¡± One of the Swords of the Gods mumbled in disbelief as he copsed. It seemed like he had lost strength in his legs.

    ¡°Your Majesty!!!¡± Another Swords of the Gods member cried out loud as he watched the fortress fall.

    Minhyuk was also very surprised when he saw the fortress copse. He thought, <em>¡®There¡¯s no way that Nerva would sacrifice himself.¡¯</em>

    To be honest, Minhyuk did not feel like everything happening before him was real either. However, the notifications ringing in his ears made him realize it was the truth.

    <em>[You have killed Arumbe!]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained 129, 965 tinum.]</em><em>[The Single Target EXP Increase Potion¡¯s effects had been applied! EXP acquired will increase!]</em>

    <em>[EXP acquired cannot be measured!]</em>

    <em>[EXP acquired cannot be measured!]</em>

    Minhyuk looked at the notifications in confusion. But then, he thought, <em>¡®That¡¯s quite understandable.¡¯</em>

    Arumbe was the main antagonist in the hunt for Helenia¡¯s Fragments. He was also an NPC with a high level exceeding Level 800. With the potion¡¯s effects, the EXP he could acquire from Arumbe had increased by fifty times. That was why it was hard to measure the exact amount.

    Minhyuk¡¯s notification window, which had grown quiet for a moment, suddenly rang loudly again.

    <em>[The system has estimated the total number of EXP you have acquired!]</em>

    The fact that the word ¡°estimated¡± appeared meant that they just assumed the total number.

    <em>[After a rough estimate by the system, you can acquire more than eight billion EXP!]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the </em><strong><em>Title</em></strong><em>: The One who Soared to the Skies.]</em>

    <em>[The special effects of the </em><strong><em>Title</em></strong><em>: The One who Soared to the Skies will be applied to help measure the total EXP you will acquire once again!]</em>

    <em>[EXP acquired cannot be measured!]</em>

    While the notifications rang repeatedly in his ears, Minhyuk checked the new title he had acquired.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>The One who Soared to the Skies</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Unique Title</em>

    <strong><em>Title Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?Your EXP Acquisition Rate will increase by 15%.</em>

    <em>?Your EXP Acquisition Rate will increase by 20% when hunting boss-ss monsters.</em>

    <em>?An additional 30% increase in total EXP acquired will be applied to The One who Soared to the Skies once after receiving the title.</em>

    The title was perfect. The 30% increase in total EXP acquired that he would receive once was a very sweet effect for Minhyuk, aiming to reach Level 650 by the end of this.

    Minhyuk asked the system, <em>¡®So, how much will I level up?¡¯</em>

    <em>[The system has given up on measuring the exact EXP acquired and opts to apply the rewards to level-ups!]</em>

    <em>[You will receive ten level-ups!]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up!]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up!]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up!]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up!]</em>

    <em>[...leveled up!]</em>

    <em>[...leveled up!]</em>

    <em>[...leveled up!]</em>

    <em>[Congrattions! You are the first yer to achieve Level 650!]</em>

    <em>[...leveled up!]</em>

    <em>[...leveled up!]</em>

    Minhyuk was left shocked by the notifications that rang constantly in his ears. He leveled up ten times all in one go? It had to be known that once Level 650 had been reached, the amount of EXP that Minhyuk needed to level up would increase by 1.5x. He would have to work hard for at least half a year to level up ten times to gain the corresponding EXP.

    Then, another series of notifications rang.

    <em>[You have acquired Mage Arumbe¡¯s Heart.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Arumbe¡¯s writings about swordsmanship and magic.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Sealed Tempest Ore.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the 9th Tier Magic Growth Book.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 8,519 Helenia¡¯s Fragment Tokens.]</em>

    Simply put, Arumbe was considered the king of Helenia¡¯s Fragments. Because of that, Minhyuk could obtain a considerable number of fragment tokens. It was around five to six times more than he could get when hunting the previous fragments. However, he found the things he had acquired quite unusual.

    <em>¡®I was even able to obtain the Tempest Ore.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk could see that the Tempest Ore was just like the Sun¡¯s Ore and the Mountain Ore, which was why Helenia was so strong. The best part? Minhyuk had the Transcendental¡¯s Grinder with him and could turn this ore into a seasoning.

    The notifications continued to ring. But Minhyuk decided not to worry about this for now.

    Meanwhile, Brod, sitting in a daze after seeing Nerva¡¯s bright smile as he disappeared from the rubble, felt anger rise in his chest. His eyes slowly turned red and bloodshot as he shouted, ¡°Nerva! You f*cking bastaaaaaaaaard!!!¡±

    Did Nerva think Brod would be happy because he sacrificed for his sake? Did he think that he would forgive him for all of the mistakes that he had made in the past? No. That was not the case at all. Brod¡¯s fury had reached its peak now. For him, what Nerva did was to escape.

    Brod gritted his teeth. He vowed to make the man pay the price for his sins, even if he had to chase him to the depths of hell. However, despite his anger, a single tear dripped down his cheek. Perhaps this was thest tear he would shed for his dear and pure friend, the Nerva of the past.

    Minhyuk fully understood Brod''s sense of loss. <em>¡®It¡¯s because he had been holding on for so long with only revenge fueling him.¡¯</em>

    Then, a notification, which arrived a bitter than the rest, rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[Valentino has died.]</em>

    Valentino was left inside the fortress, so Minhyuk thought it was only natural. But then, there was something that he found weird.

    <em>¡®Ali was inside too¡­?¡¯</em>

    But there were no notifications about Ali being forced to log out. Then, another set of notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[Valentino has signed a contract with Luvien Empire¡¯s Emperor Nerva!]</em>

    <em>[The contract contains the conditions he offered in exchange for sacrificing his life on behalf of Nerva!]</em>

    ¡°...?!¡± Minhyuk¡¯s eyes grew wide from shock.

    The notifications meant that a contract had been signed between Valentino and Nerva inside the fortress.

    Then, Nerva¡¯s voice rang from behind everyone. ¡°It would be a waste for you to shed tears for someone like me.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Brod slowly turned his head. That was when he saw Nerva, who was exhausted, leaning on Ali as they got warped to this ce. Brod immediately stood up and dragged his battered body toward Nerva.

    ¡°How dare you!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯te near!¡±

    The Swords of the Gods hurriedly shouted as they rushed to Nerva¡¯s side. However, Nerva stopped them with just a word.

    ¡°Stay back.¡±

    The moment Brod reached Nerva, he swung his fist and punched him.

    <em>Thud¨C!</em>

    Nerva fell on the ground while Brod punched him wildly like a ferocious beast releasing anger.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud¨C!</em>

    Blood dripped down Nerva¡¯s mouth as Brod continued to punch him.

    ¡°You f*cking bastard! You have to pay the price for your sins before you die!¡±

    As the Swords of the Gods watched Brod pummel Nerva, they thought their emperor would be beaten to death if they left them as they were.

    ¡°S- Stop!¡±

    ¡°Bastard!¡±

    But the Swords of the Gods could not stop Brod. And because Nerva had ordered them to step back, they could not even make a move and could only stomp their feet in anger.

    <em>Thump¨C</em>

    ¡°Enough. That¡¯s an order,¡± Minhyuk said as he touched Brod¡¯s shoulder. And just like that, Brod stopped punching Nerva. Although his raised fists were shaking from anger, hearing Minhyuk¡¯s voice had brought reason back to him.

    Of course, Minhyuk also wanted Nerva dead. But if Brod killed Nerva in front of everyone right here and now, then they would be forced into an all-out war. Even without Nerva, the current Beyond the Heavens Empire could not hold a candle to the Luvien Empire.

    And the Swords of the Gods? All of them were left shocked.

    <em>¡®How¨C With just one word, the person that had lost his reason¡­¡¯</em>

    This just showed how loyal Brod was to Minhyuk.

    ¡°Urk. The price that I have to pay for those crimes, I will ept them. Yes, I will wait for your judgment,¡± Nerva said as blood dripped down his bloody mouth.

    The Swords of the Gods rushed to help Nerva when Brod stood up. Minhyuk looked around and thought, <em>¡®Many have died, but we were able to do what we needed to do.¡¯</em>

    Fortunately, they prevented all fragments and shards from reaching Helenia¡¯s embrace. Only the most essential thing remained. Who would inherit the Battle God¡¯s power?

    Not long after, another notification rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You have failed the </em><strong><em>ss Inheritance Quest</em></strong><em>: Helenia¡¯s Fragments¡¯ Hunt.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s face twisted when he heard the notification.

    <em>¡®The number of shards that we hunted were not counted¡­¡¯</em>

    When Arumbe was still in Duke d¡¯s shell, he stole the mobs that the Beyond the Heavens Empire had struggled to bring down with the Swords of the Gods.

    A sense of helplessness washed over Minhyuk. Shockingly enough, the difference between the number of fragments hunted by the Luvien Empire and the Beyond the Heavens Empire was only five. If Nerva became the true Battle God, then would they be able to defeat his empire?

    A notification rang again for Minhyuk, who had won the battle but lost the war.

    <em>[You will now be warped to the Battle God¡¯s Descendant¡¯s Session Ceremony.]</em>

    Nerva and Minhyuk were warped at the same time.

    ***

    Today would be a historic day. This would be the day when the new Battle God was born to the world.

    Just like well-trained knights, the thousands of gods stood at attention. They all wore silver armor carrying the symbol of the Battle God, a sword. Behind them were the millions of troops of the Heavenly Army, who knelt on one knee and waited for the birth of the new Battle God. Standing at the lead was the greatest god, the Battle God.

    Two men walked toward the Battle God. The one on the left was Luvien Empire¡¯s Nerva, while the one on the left was Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s Minhyuk.

    The Battle God looked at the two men. They both looked haggard and were in a mess. This was especially the case for Nerva. He waspletely covered in blood to the point that one would not be able to recognize him.

    A bitter smile shed on the Battle God¡¯s face as he looked at the two. He thought, <em>¡®In the end, Nerva will be my sessor¡­?¡¯</em>

    No matter how he felt, thepetition was already over.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¨C!</em>

    Of the two men, the one that was covered with a bright light was none other than Nerva. As the light engulfed his body, his missing left arm slowly regenerated while the blood on his face cleared away. Even his dented and scorched armor returned to its original pristine condition. On the other hand, Minhyuk¡¯s appearance remained unchanged. Everyone knew on the spot that the next generation Battle God was Nerva.

    Holding a silver crown, the Battle God stepped forward to ce it on Nerva¡¯s head. At that moment, Nerva turned to look at Minhyuk. He thought, <em>¡®Perhaps this was how it was supposed to be?¡¯</em>

    Although there was a bitter smile on his face, it was evident that Nerva felt relieved.

    He had betrayed Brod¡¯s trust in him and killed his friend¡¯s knights just because he wanted to be the Battle God. Because of that, Brod was deprived of the opportunity to be the Battle God, and he seeded in obtaining the Battle God¡¯s Sword position. Now, Brod looked happier serving Emperor Minhyuk than bing an emperor himself. He even said that Minhyuk was the brightest Sun in the sky.

    <em>¡®If I ask him now if he wants to return to the past, perhaps he would firmly decline me.¡¯</em>

    If Nerva had not betrayed Brod and he had be the emperor, then he would not have been able to meet Minhyuk. Fate. Although it sounded ridiculous, perhaps this was what fate weaved for them. At this moment, Nerva understood his options.

    ¡°Battle God.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    At his call, the Battle God stopped in his tracks.

    ¡°From this day forth, I, Nerva Sephiroth, will step down from my position as the emperor.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Both the Battle God and Minhyuk were shocked by Nerva¡¯s deration. Of course, Nerva had already signed the contract with Valentino. However, he would still make the same decision even if he did not sign that contract. This was the fate that he wanted to weave. Brod and Nerva¡¯s story would eventually reach its ending.

    ¡°Also¡­ I, Nerva, admit that I have used unscrupulous methods to ascend to my throne. I poisoned Brod¡¯s subjects.¡±

    <em>Murmur, murmur¨C</em>

    A buzz slowly grew among the gods. Everyone had heard rumors about it. However, it had been confirmed and was now the reality.

    The Battle God remained silent as he looked at Nerva. He respected what Nerva wanted to do.

    <em>Shwaaaaa¨C!</em>

    With those words, Nerva returned to his appearance from before. His left arm disappeared as the blood that stained his face appeared once again. He looked so fragile that it would not be strange if he copsed and died on the spot.

    On the other hand, a bright light surrounded Minhyuk¡¯s body and healed him of all his injuries. Nerva looked at him before turning around without any regrets.

    <em>Thump, thump, thump¨C</em>

    Nerva held his left arm as he limped away. Although the gods looked at him in disgust, a slight smile was on his face. It looked like he was delighted with the choice that he had made. He felt like this was the right choice.

    Then, he stopped in his tracks. Nerva knew how the foreigners viewed the Luvien Empire and what they said about it. He pondered over their words briefly before turning to look at Minhyuk. Relief was evident on his face as he said, ¡°Athenae¡¯s Third Era now belongs to you.¡±

 Chapter 965

    Chapter 965

    Nerva turned around once again and limped away after leaving the words, <em>¡°Athenae¡¯s Third Era now belongs to you.¡±</em>

    Minhyuk felt his heart thump wildly at those words. And as he watched Nerva¡¯s back slowly disappear into the distance, the notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[You have met all the qualifications to be the Battle God!]</em>

    <em>[You will now inherit the throne of the Battle God!]</em>

    <em>[You can now create a temple where people could worship and praise the Battle God!]</em>

    <em>[The 1st Level of the Battle God¡¯s power will be released upon inheritance. The 2nd Level will open once you reach Level 700, and the final level will open once you reach Level 800!]</em>

    <em>[The Battle God will remain with you for five years to fill in any gaps, ws, or insufficiencies you might have!]</em>

    <em>[The Battle God¡¯s 1st Level of power will now be opened!]</em>

    <em>[Your CHA has increased by 40%!]</em><em>[Your total HP has increased by 5%. Your total MP has risen by 3%!]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Active Skill: Battle God''s Order.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the </em><strong><em>Growth Authority</em></strong><em>: The Ever-growing One.]</em>

    <em>[The Battle God is the god that leads all of the armies and troops in war and into victory!]</em>

    The notifications ended with that.

    Minhyuk had already known from Ali and Valentino that the 1st Level of their respective gods¡¯ power would open for them the moment they inherited the position of their gods. He had also learned from them that the notifications would tell him about the level he needed to achieve to open the next level. However, despite all of his calctions, he still missed.

    <em>¡®The other gods only needed to reach Level 660 to open the 2nd level of their power. But my 2nd Level will only open at Level 700 and my final level at Level 800.¡¯</em>

    The walls that he had to face were extremely high. It took almost half a year to reach Level 650 from Level 600. The worst part? It would have been impossible to achieve that without taking the Single Target EXP Increase Potion and the One-week EXP Triple Increase Potion that he bought from the Infinite Shop.

    <em>¡®Conversely, the Battle God will stand by my side and protect me for five years.¡¯</em>

    From what he knew, most gods would only stay with their sessors for a year. This just meant that the position of the Battle God was apanied by heavy responsibilities and duties. Minhyuk fully understood that point.

    <em>¡®Once I reach Level 800, I will be able to receive a far more valuable reward.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was not too disappointed with the rewards he had received. Unlike the other gods, the Battle God was an Absolute God. And that was not all; he was even hailed as the strongest and greatest Absolute God. Because of that, he was curious. He hurriedly checked the new skill that he had received.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Battle God¡¯s Order</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: God</em>

    <em>Active Skill</em>

    <strong><em>Level</em></strong><em>: None</em>

    <strong><em>Mana Required</em></strong><em>: 10,000</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Use</em></strong><em>: CHA will decrease by ten permanently.</em>

    <strong><em>Cooldown</em></strong><em>: 24 hours</em>

    <strong><em>Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?You can disable all buff effects and abnormal statuses on your target.</em>

    <em>?Can be used on NPCs, yers, monsters, etc., with levels higher than yours. It will depend on the amount of CHA you possess.</em>

    The Battle God¡¯s Order was quite an unusual yet unique skill.

    <em>¡®I can use this to decide if someone would be at an advantage or a disadvantage.¡¯</em>

    If Minhyuk cast the Battle God¡¯s Order, he could also remove any abnormal status afflicting his target. On the other hand, he could also remove any buff effects that they have applied on themselves. If he could use this properly on his enemies and allies, he could exert tremendous power.

    Next, he checked the authority that he received. Minhyuk had some expectation of this authority since he already had the Origin Authority: God and Knight in his possession.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>The Ever-growing One</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Growth Authority</em>

    <strong><em>Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?You can speed up your designated target''s EXP Acquisition Rate and Growth Rate by 1.5~10x faster.</em>

    <em>?You can bestow the power of growth to those who grow slowly, have reached their limits, or to those who could not grow because of various factors.</em>

    <em>?Whenever your designated target reaches 100% Growth Level, the speed of their growth will double.</em>

    <em>?Whenever your designated target crosses over a wall, this will help you present various things that will give them more power and aid their growth.</em>

    <em>?Current Allowed Number of Targets: 1</em>

    <em>?The things that you will give to aid in your target¡¯s growth might sometimes be changed by the system.</em>

    <em>?Sealed.</em>

    <em>?Sealed.</em>

    <em>?Sealed.</em>

    <em>?To unseal the other effects, your target must achieve 100% growth level three times first.</em>

    <em>?If your designated target fails to reach 100% growth level three times, you can terminate the authority one year after the date of designation.</em>

    <em>¡®It¡¯s a skill that can help someone else grow.¡¯</em>

    From what he could see, it was a skill that could be applied to yers and NPCs. Based on the description, he could increase their speed of growth by up to ten times.

    <em>¡®Isn¡¯t this skill nuts?¡¯</em>

    yers would already jump in joy if they could get an EXP buff potion that could increase their EXP Acquisition Rate by 10%. But this skill could allow anyone to increase their speed of growth from 1.5~10 times. And that was not all; it was also possible for Minhyuk to nurture several more people once he released the seal by helping someone grow well.

    <em>¡®What¡¯s certain here is that whoever I designate as my target would feel like they had won the lottery.¡¯</em>

    After checking all the skills, Minhyuk turned to look at the approaching Battle God. At the same time, another notification rang in his ears.

    <em>[AI will now control your character.]</em>

    Then, the world message rang.

    <em>[You can now bear witness to the birth of the new Battle God!]</em>

    The people quickly clicked on the notifications one after another.

    ***

    Many of the viewers felt their hearts thump wildly. The Battle God was the greatest and strongest Battle God. So, who would inherit his position? And when Minhyuk¡¯s figure as he stood in front of the Battle God appeared in front of everyone, the crowd cheered.

    Minhyuk, who the AI controlled, flinched when the Battle God gently ced the silver crown on his head.

    ¡°Are you afraid?¡±

    The AI-controlled Minhyuk nodded in answer to the Battle God¡¯s question. Then, a magnificent and imposing voice resounded all over the ce.

    <em>[Battle God. It is a position with heavy duties and responsibilities. The Battle God is the one that will stand at the vanguard and lead all of the gods in war.]</em>

    <em>[For a human, climbing to such a position might feel too much and scary.]</em>

    ¡°Do you feel like running away?¡±

    Minhyuk could not answer the Battle God¡¯s question and remained standing there.

    ¡°Then, the Battle God said, ¡°I have watched you from the beginning to the present. At first, you¡­¡±

    <em>[You wanted to live.]</em>

    <em>[As a human, you wanted to achieve a dream that no one in the world has ever aplished.]</em>

    <em>[Youughed and enjoyed all the delicious delicacies in the world and continued to live on.]</em>

    ¡°And¡­¡±

    <em>[You worked harder than anybody else. Just like a farmer who plows his field, sows his seed, and cares for them until they bore fruit, you have been working hard and giving it your all.]</em>

    <em>[All of the effort and hard work that you have done are things that not even the greatest god, the Battle God, could not dare to imagine doing.]</em>

    ¡°I have been watching you the whole time.¡±

    <em>[Even if you weren¡¯t born with the blood of the gods, even if you¡¯re not special, all the effort and hard work you invested will definitely pay off.]</em>

    ¡°I had always hoped that you would be the one to seed and inherit my throne.¡±

    <em>[Your hard work, will to never back down, firm determination, and consideration of others. You¡­]</em>

    ¡°I acknowledge and respect that.¡±

    <em>[I am fully aware.]</em>

    ¡°How hard it must have been for you, hmm?¡±

    At that moment, Minhyuk raised his hand and wiped away a tear on his cheek with a bitter smile.

    The Battle Godforted him. ¡°How difficult it was, no?¡±

    <em>[Everyone was aware. That¡¯s why the Battle God said, ¡°Only you.¡±]</em>

    ¡°You will be the only candidate that will inherit the throne of the Battle God.¡±

    <em>[Only you.]</em>

    ¡°You will be the emperor that will lead Athenae.¡±

    <em>[You are the only one.]</em>

    ¡°From the lowest position.¡±

    <em>[You will be the god standing at the highest position.]</em>

    ¡°Then, are you still afraid?¡±

    It would be a lie for Minhyuk to say he was no longer afraid just because the Battle God said a few words to him.

    <em>[The you now¡­]</em>

    <em>[...have hundreds of gods and millions of Heavenly Army troops just like the Battle God.]</em>

    <em>[But even though you have be the Battle God, in the end, you can only lead them if you win their hearts.]</em>

    ¡°Is it even necessary?¡±

    The Battle God asked as he looked around. Minhyuk looked at the countless gods standing around him.

    ¡°Do you need to win their hearts?¡±

    <em>[For hundreds, thousands of years, the Battle God had always worked hard to try and win the hearts of the gods and the Heavenly Army troops.]</em>

    <em>[However, that does not mean that you also need to win the hearts of everyone present here.]</em>

    ¡°Don¡¯t you already have it?¡±

    <em>[Your very own Heavenly Army. Your very own Land of the Gods.]</em>

    Then, at that moment, shocking notifications rang worldwide, one after another.

    <em>[Sword Emperor Ellie deres that she will sometimes join and be a part of your Heavenly Army!]</em>

    <em>[Mercenary King Venteio deres that he will sometimes join and be a part of your Heavenly Army!]</em>

    <em>[Overlord Raldo deres that he will sometimes join and be a part of your Heavenly Army!]</em>

    <em>[Great Demon Gremory deres that she will sometimes join and be a part of your Heavenly Army!]</em>

    <em>[Dragon King deres¡­sometimes¡­!]</em>

    <em>[Elven King Argon deres¡­sometimes¡­!]</em>

    Hundreds and thousands of notifications rang all over the world.

    ¡°All of your hard work and consideration¡­¡±

    <em>[...have helped you create your very own Heavenly Army.]</em>

    ¡°Your kindness, mercy, and love¡­¡±

    <em>[...have helped you create your Land of the Gods.]</em>

    At that moment, the Battle God¡¯s body turned into light and disappeared before Minhyuk. Minhyuk hurriedly followed the light and saw the Battle God appear before the gods and the Heavenly Army.

    On the other hand, Minhyuk was left alone. There was no one standing behind him.

    ¡°The one step that you took¡­¡±

    <em>[I have sent the most remarkable man to wield a spear.]</em>

    Spear God Ben appeared right behind Minhyuk. He stabbed his spear on the ground and looked at the gods and the Heavenly Army troops with an arrogant and noble look in his eyes. He looked at them as if he was looking at his enemies.

    ¡°With another step that you took¡­¡±

    <em>[I have sent the candidate to be the greatest emperor in the continent.]</em>

    Brod appeared right next to Minhyuk.

    ¡°With another step and another¡­¡±

    <em>[You have embraced many. And now, they have be your very own Heavenly Army and will be the ones that you will lead in your very own Land of the Gods.]</em>

    Unlike the gods and heavenly army troops standing behind the Battle God, the ones appearing behind Minhyuk were wearing white armor and carrying the symbol of a fork and knife crossed together on their backs.

    Many others appeared behind him. Not only were Elpis, Gorfido, Mand, Bichor, Beanie, Luna, Luo, Elizabeth, and Don appeared, but even Genie, Locke, Khan, Abel, Lucia, Alicia, Ascar, Ruth, Mei Wei, Carr, Ali, and the rest of his guild members also stood behind him. Minhyuk felt overwhelmed as he turned to look at them. Then, a white space opened behind them and revealed the millions of troops of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    From their position, it seemed that they were about to confront the current Battle God and his army.

    Minhyuk felt his heart thump wildly again as he watched the Battle God move and said, ¡°We have been protecting this ce for a very long time.¡±

    <em>[That¡¯s just how old and rusty we all are. Every single god and member of the Heavenly Army knows this.]</em>

    ¡°Now, the world¡­¡±

    <em>[The world needs someone new.]</em>

    The Battle God asked Minhyuk once again. ¡°Are you still afraid?¡±

    And Minhyuk answered, ¡°Yes. I¡¯m afraid.¡±

    <em>[But there¡¯s a slight smile on his face.]</em>

    <em>[Like the Battle God had said, he could climb to this position because of his efforts, hard work, will, consideration, kindness, mercy, love, and firm determination.]</em>

    <em>[Even though the seasons would change¡­]</em>

    <em>[He would not change and would continue to work hard.]</em>

    <em>[Just like he always did, he would continue plowing his fields and seeds. He would continue to care for them until they bloom and finally bear fruit.]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s why it would be fine.]</em>

    ¡°Just continue to take one step forward. Take one step after another just like you did before.¡±

    The words that the Battle God uttered earlier once again rang.

    <em>[Only you.]</em>

    ¡°You will be the only candidate that will inherit the throne of the Battle God.¡±

    <em>[You are the only one.]</em>

    ¡°From the lowest position.¡±

    <em>[You will be the god standing at the highest position.]</em>

    The Battle God walked toward Minhyuk and gently ced the silver crown on his head as he finished his words.

    <em>[Because you¡¯re the only one.]</em>

    ¡°That¡¯s why you can do it.¡±

    <em>[You are none other than the Great Sovereign that will lead all of the gods.]</em>

    ¡°You are the Battle God.¡±

    With that, the world message resonated all over the world.

    <em>[The new Battle God has been born to the world!]</em>

    <em>[The name of the new Battle God is ¡°Minhyuk¡±!]</em>

    The entire world cheered.

 Chapter 966

    Chapter 966

    The entire world was in an uproar.

    Articles were being written and published non-stop all over the world. That was not all; news and other media outlets had been sharing stories about Minhyuk and the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens Empire: The ones who did not give up when everyone else had given up.]</em>

    <em>[All of Helenia¡¯s Fragments have beenpletely swept away and cleared. The chances of yers sessfully being able to hunt Helenia in the months toe have significantly increased.]</em>

    <em>[Changes in Athenae: The Sun has fallen and given way to a new Sun''s birth.]</em>

    <em>[Is the Second Era over? Will this be the start of the Third Era?]</em>

    <em>[Minhyuk had received overwhelming votes for ¡°The yer I Want to Be the Most¡± with 73% of the total votes.]</em>

    <em>[Minhyuk became the Battle God. Ilhwa Group¡¯s stock prices had reached an all-time high by the end of the trading session.]</em>

    <em>[Minhyuk¡¯s level increased by ten?! What in the world happened?]</em><em>[Beyond the Heavens Empire saved Athenae. Love calls from various advertisingpanies are being sent to their yers. Their worth? It has increased by 1.5x.]</em>

    <em>[God of Shields Valentino: Dominating the number one entry in all portal sites.]</em>

    They not only dominated the articles and media reports, but they were also the main topic of discussion in all of themunity sites worldwide.

    <em>[He¡¯s Our Lord, the Food God. I can¡¯t believe a yer has climbed to the position of the Battle God, an Absolute God.]</em>

    <em>[Hehe. Agreed. But what¡¯s more surprising is that the Battle God is only Minhyuk¡¯s sub-ss.]</em>

    <em>[Wasn¡¯t the Battle God Minhyuk¡¯s original ss?]</em>

    <em>[Nope, nope. It¡¯s Food God.]</em>

    <em>[Woah. His sub-ss is Battle God. Pfft. Shit, that¡¯s crazy sick~]</em>

    <em>[Hey guys, did you notice? In this inheritance video, Minhyuk¡¯s vassals did not kneel despite facing the Battle God and the other gods. It¡¯s so cool~]</em>

    <em>[Ah. That¡¯s right! The Spear God, Sword of the Gods Luo, Brod, Elpis~ Kghhk. Even the gods will have a hard time dealing with them.]</em>

    <em>[The Beyond the Heavens Empire has a lot of different NPCs. And they all have their personalities and attitudes. They¡¯re overwhelming with coolness!]</em>

    <em>[To be honest¡­ I want to see how the NPCs live their daily lives. Agree?]</em>

    <em>[Agreed!]</em>

    <em>[Then, move to the Beyond the Heavens Empire. Or join the Minhyuk Religion.]</em>

    <em>[But I¡¯m so attached to the kingdom where I belong now¡­ *sigh*¡­]</em>

    <em>[Me too. ¡®Sides, an empire is too big andplicated for me. I should remain active in a small kingdom and grow quietly.]</em>

    Many yers were curious about the Beyond the Heavens Empire. It was only natural. After all, the ones who actively hunted Helenia¡¯s Fragments while they were all in despair were the Beyond the Heavens Empire. And it was even the empire ruled by the new Battle God.

    After the session and inheritance ceremony ended, Minhyuk checked all of the articles andments published about him and the Beyond the Heavens Empire before again essing Athenae.

    Once connected, Minhyuk looked up and said, ¡°Do me a favor, Obren.¡±

    <em>[You always bother me. So annoying, for real.]</em>

    Minhyuk had obtained the Growth Authority. He needed to find someone who could meet the conditions of <em>The Ever-growing One.</em> And Obren, the guardian deity of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, had a keener eye than Minhyuk regarding things like that. That was why he was asking him a favor.

    <em>[Even though you became the Battle God, nothing much has changed. Haa¡­ I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re using me just to try and find a single person.]</em>

    A faint smile appeared on Minhyuk¡¯s face when he heard that. Then, he said, ¡°Fortunately, you¡¯re by my side, Obren.¡±

    <em>[Ahem, ahem. Although I¡¯m very reluctant, I¡¯ll try and look for one. But! Only if I have the time.]</em>

    Minhyuk chuckled deep inside when he heard Tsun-Bren¡¯s answer. This was a testament to the fact that he had reached the maximum level of training when it came to Obren.

    At that moment, a notification rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The Luvien Empire has proposed a six-month ceasefire. Once approved, the Luvien Empire and the Beyond the Heavens Empire will enter a truce for six months.]</em>

    Minhyuk did not hesitate to answer, <em>¡®Yes.¡¯</em>

    <em>[The Luvien Empire and the Beyond the Heavens Empire have entered a truce for six months.]</em>

    Haze entered the office with a brief knock and began reporting, ¡°Your Majesty, the Luvien Empire has sent fifty million tinum. We already have the list of the selected yers among those who have lost their valuable artifacts.¡±

    Some of them could notugh even though they had won. Most of the 300 yers who had participated in the battle had lost their precious artifacts and EXP. They had selected the ones who had suffered the greatest loss in terms of artifacts and would send them to the Luvien Empire¡¯s Treasure House.

    Then, Haze said, ¡°We only have six months. During this time, the Luvien Empire will try to find a new emperor and quickly regain their stability. We have to use this time to grow as quickly as possible.¡±

    Fifty million tinum was a considerable amount of money. There were even some empires that could not dream of managing a vast sum. They could only use the money left over from buying and managing their hundreds of territories. However, this money was still insufficient for the Beyond the Heavens Empire to catch up with the Luvien Empire.

    ¡°We have to secure more funds. We also have to strengthen the Minhyuk Religion.¡±

    ¡°I know, Haze.¡± Minhyuk nodded.

    Haze, who was about to leave, said, ¡°Sir Valentino¡¯s evaluation has improved greatly.¡±

    Minhyuk had also watched the video. Valentino, who hurriedly connected with the broadcasting station, sacrificed himself to save Athenae. During the process, Valentino¡¯s level dropped, and he lost many of the artifacts he cherished. It was evident in the video that Valentino had sacrificed himself for the sake of the Beyond the Heavens Empire and Athenae. And from what it looked like, Haze was also aware of it.

    ¡°Because of that, I think it would be better for the Beyond the Heavens Empire to rx some of the restrictions we have ced upon Sir Valentino and give him a small portion of the profits that he would gain from here on out.¡±

    Minhyuk found itpletely unexpected that Stingy Haze was the first one to propose giving Valentino money. Well, Valentino of today was the type of person who deserved this much.

    ¡°We¡¯ll give back 4% of his profits.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    But just as expected, Haze was extremely stingy.

    With an awkward smile, Minhyuk said, ¡°Let¡¯s keep it clean and make it 5%.¡±

    Haze, sporting a solemn look, pondered the matter for a long time before nodding and agreeing. ¡°I understand.¡±

    With that, she left.

    At this moment, Minhyuk was about to check the Food God¡¯s quest that he received when he reached Level 650. But before he could do so, someone knocked on his door again. This time, it was Godly Editor Carron.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry for barging in; I was in a hurry.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±

    ¡°How about doing a broadcast showing off the NPCs of the Beyond the Heavens Empire?¡±

    ¡°Do a broadcast that shows off the NPCs of the Beyond the Heavens Empire?¡±

    ¡°Yes. After Your Majesty has sessfully inherited the position of the Battle God, many have grown curious about the daily lives of the NPCs of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. Isn¡¯t it good to strike while the iron is hot? I think this will generate quite a lot of revenue for us.¡±

    ¡°But I¡¯m busy¡­¡±

    Minhyuk wondered if such a brief live broadcast would truly give him huge profits. To be honest, he was very busy.

    ¡°I have to go and eat something delicious. I also have to check the Food God¡¯s quest.¡±

    ¡°But you¡¯re not in any hurry, no?¡±

    Minhyuk was actually in a hurry to eat something delicious. But Carron had always performed beyond his expectations and given them outstanding results. Besides, he had not been telling him to do a broadcast for a long time. He just wanted him to do it today.

    ¡°Do I only need to focus on the lives of the NPCs? Will I even have viewers? Aren¡¯t the profits for broadcasts dependent on the number of views?¡±

    Then, Carron said, ¡°The money would roll in via a sponsorship system. The number of views wouldn¡¯t matter.¡±

    ¡°Carron. How much do you think we can gather from sponsor donations?¡±

    ¡°More than half a billion.¡±

    ¡°...?!¡±

    Minhyuk was beyond shocked. Could a broadcast done in just a single day truly earn more than 500 million in profits?

    ¡°Right now, there are a lot of people in the world that are grateful to the Beyond the Heavens Empire. I¡¯m very sure that we will be able to reach this estimate.¡±

    The Beyond the Heavens Empire was in dire need of funds.

    <em>¡®Well, even if I do those things tomorrow, it would still not be toote.¡¯</em>

    And just as Carron said, this was when the Beyond the Heavens Empire was in the spotlight. They had to strike while the iron was hot.

    So, Minhyuk went out with Carron to continue their conversation.

    ***

    The entire world was still buzzing. The yers who loved Athenae dearly were extremely grateful to the Beyond the Heavens Empire and moring to show their gratitude.

    <em>[I¡¯m thankful. Thank you for protecting my onlyfort zone after work. ??]</em>

    <em>[Agreed¡­ I¡¯m still currently in the process of finding a job. Every day has been exhausting, but ying Athenae for an hour every day has given me joy.]</em>

    <em>[Even our country¡¯s politicians and businessmen all enjoy ying Athenae after work. Ho.]</em>

    <em>[Thank you, Beyond the Heavens Empire! Thank you, Minhyuk!]</em>

    People had been heaping praises on Beyond the Heavens Empire on variousmunity sites worldwide. Even Ilhwa Group¡¯s stocks had soared by 30% today. Then¡­

    <em>[Hey, hey! I think Minhyuk is doing a live on ZTube?]</em>

    <em>[Don¡¯t f*ck with me.]</em>

    <em>[Minhyuk¡¯s probably eating, no?]</em>

    <em>[Yep, yep. Minhyuk¡¯s most definitely having a meal. Right?]</em>

    <em>[How do you guys know that?]</em>

    <em>[The Food God would eat eight out of the fourteen hours he was logged inside the game¡­]</em>

    <em>[...?]</em>

    <em>[What about the remaining six hours?]</em>

    <em>[He drank for six hours. Hehe.]</em>

    <em>[???]</em>

    A spark was lit in themunity sites. Most of them were talking about how ridiculous Minhyuk was regarding eating.

    <em>[Hey. Is this for real¡­?]</em>

    <em>[Go and check ZTube.]</em>

    <em>[Minhyuk¡¯s live is called ¡®Emperor¡¯s Vlog.¡¯]</em>

    <em>[For real?!]</em>

    <em>[Hey! Shit. Wait, let me go and sponsor him!]</em>

    <em>[Hiyaa! It¡¯s on a sponsorship system.]</em>

    The people began to flock to Ztube, clicking on the live video named ¡°Emperor¡¯s Daily Life Vlog¡± as quickly as they came. Then, the scene on the live unfolded in front of them.

    ¡°Good meal!¡±

    <em>[What does he mean by ¡°good meal¡±?]</em>

    <em>[I think it means ¡°Good morning, let¡¯s have a meal¡±???]</em>

    <em>[Yep, yep. You got that right. It¡¯s so awkward but¡­ so cute¡­]</em>

    Thements exploded the moment Minhyuk appeared on their screens. Minhyuk said, ¡°Today, I¡¯m going to show you how the people of my empire go about their daily lives. To be honest, I don¡¯t think it¡¯s anything special. It¡¯s just everyone¡¯s normal daily routine. I don¡¯t know if many of you will like seeing it.¡±

    <em>[Kghhk! I¡¯ve been waiting for this! Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s daily life, let¡¯s go!]</em>

    <em>[We have been waiting for a Beyond the Heavens¡¯ vlog for a very long time ??]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Bean¡¯sDad</em></strong><em> has donated 1,000,000 won.]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Delicious Meat</em></strong><em> has donated 10,000 won.]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>HoorayChubby</em></strong><em> has donated 200,000 won.]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>500FrozenRunnyNose</em></strong><em> has donated 2,000 won.]</em>

    The broadcast had just started, and many people had already begun donating through the sponsorship system.

    Although the viewers could not tell if the amount was already huge, everyone could see a constant stream of donations. These donations came from young students, college students, office workers, professionals, and others who were grateful to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    To top it off, the vlogger¡¯s face was extremely handsome. So, even those who did not know about Athenae started to join the live broadcast.

    Minhyuk nned to just walk through the Beyond the Heavens Empire and capture anything and everything that he could see in the empire. As he walked, the first NPC finally appeared on the screens of all curious viewers. The first NPC was in the middle of the street and spread out on a sunbed with a tray table carrying a ss of mojito right next to it. This was none other than Beanie.

    Beanie had a pair of sunsses perched on his snout, was lying down on the sunbed, and was working on his tan. When he saw Minhyuk, he raised one of his paws arrogantly in greeting. Then, he stopped paying attention to him and turned to the mojito beside him. He grabbed the straw and drank everything in one go.

    <em>[No. Lolololol. He¡¯s so freaking chic. Lmao.]</em>

    <em>[Did you see that? He just raised one paw in greeting, then ignored Minhyuk again. Lololol.]</em>

    <em>[What¡¯s even funnier is that the people around him look used to it and don¡¯t even care. Hahahahaha.]</em>

    <em>[So cute¡­ A pig is getting a tan¡­]</em>

    <em>[A ck pig¡­?]</em>

    <em>[Lmao. What¡¯s with the sudden ck pig joke?]</em>

    <em>[If a pig gets tanned, then it bes a ck pig¡­ True¡­]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>CutieBeanie</em></strong><em> has donated 5,000,000 won.]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>TigerKiWon</em></strong><em> has donated 30,000 won.]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Beanie¡¯sBellyMeme</em></strong><em> has donated 50,000 won.]</em>

    Donation notifications continued to ring. On everyone¡¯s screens, they saw Minhyuk walk past Beanie to find the next person.

    ***

    One of the richest men in the world, Jeep, owned apany called <em>Blue</em>. He used to run a small site where he sold books and finally created his own sess story after he dipped his toes into various businesses.

    Jeep¡¯s estimated assets were worth around 200 trillion won, making him one of the top ten wealthiest men in the world. Although he became one of the world¡¯s wealthiest at such a young age, there was something that he could not achieve no matter what he tried.

    As he sat in his private jet, Jeep looked at the articles about him on various socialworking sites.

    <em>[Jeep¡¯s Assets: 100 points.]</em>

    <em>[Jeep¡¯s Abilities: 100 points.]</em>

    <em>[Jeep¡¯s Hair: 0 points.]</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    That was right. Jeep might have everything he ever wanted, but he just could not eliminate the curse of baldness. Of course, he had learned not to pay too much attention to it now. But in that small corner at the back of his mind, there was still this lingering heaviness and sadness.

    Then, at that moment¡­

    ¡°It seems like Mr. Minhyuk is doing a live vlog.¡±

    ¡°A vlog?¡±

    Jeep was a young entrepreneur, not like those old-fashioned chairmen. As a young chairman of the new generation, he also went and yed Athenae to relieve his stress. He was Minhyuk¡¯s fan and was very grateful to him for what he and his people had done for Athenae.

    Hearing that Minhyuk was doing a live, Jeep hurriedly pulled out his tablet and clicked on the vlog. Jeep chuckled when he saw the baby piggy lying on the sunbed and working on a tan.

    Then, he heard Minhyuk speak.

    <em>[It seems like they¡¯re in the middle of a sacred ceremony now. We have to be quiet. Got it?]</em>

    Jeep tilted his head in confusion when Minhyuk started to whisper. Then, he turned the camera and showed the scene before him.

    He saw a kneeling man crying loudly as a man stood in front of him and gently held his head. Jeep jumped from his seat when he saw this. Why? Because the crying man on his knees was bald.

    Although Jeep yed Athenae and was a fan of Minhyuk, he was not clear about the intricate details of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. After all, he was too busy to pay attention to everything and anything.

    The man, who looked like a pdin, asked on his screen.

    <em>[Was it hard?!]</em>

    ¡°It¡¯s hard.¡±

    Jeep started to lose his hair in his early twenties. He might have everything, but he could empathize with the person.

    <em>¡®You have no hair, huh?¡¯</em> He had heard these words so many times that he felt like he would have calluses in his ears.

    Then, the kneeling man shouted, despair tinting his voice.

    <em>[It was hard!]</em>

    <em>[Have faith!!!]</em>

    <em>[I have faith!]</em>

    <em>[Do you want them to flutter with the wind?!]</em>

    <em>[Y¨C Yeaaaaaaaah!!!]</em>

    <em>[Then, follow me. Grow hair! Grow! Grow!]</em>

    <em>[Grow hair! Grow! Grow!]</em>

    <em>[Louder!]</em>

    <em>[GROW HAIR! GROW! GROW!]</em>

    Sweat pooled in Jeep¡¯s hands. His throat had gone dry, and he could feel the tension in his body. Then, he saw a bright light shine from Corr¡¯s hands as ck hair grew from the kneeling man¡¯s once shiny head.

    <em>¡®U¨C Uwooooooooooh!¡¯</em>

    The kneeling man shed tears of joy. And Jeep? A tear trickled down his chin as he watched the scene. Jeep empathized with the man''s hardships, adversities, and pain.

    People yed games, read fantasy novels, and watched ZTube so they could live vicariously through others and feel the same satisfaction they felt. And right now, Jeep wasughing in delight and satisfaction when he saw the man obtain something he could not even get in this world.

    With tears dripping down the delighted smile on his face, Jeep donated to the live.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>BaldEagle</em></strong><em> has donated 5,000,000,000 won.]</em>

 Chapter 968

    Chapter 968

    With just one live broadcast on ZTube, Minhyuk earned around 26 billion won. This was a ridiculouslyrge donation that easily broke through the previous highest one-day donation record.

    Minhyuk, who reconnected the next day in Athenae, went to the forest near the Beyond the Heavens Empire and thought, <em>¡®BaldEagle yed a huge part in the amount of donations.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk did not know who BaldEagle was, but when he ended his live, the man said that he woulde back and watch if he went on live again. The donation that BaldEagle had sent alone exceeded ten billion won. As for the others, the umtion of their donations also exceeded ten billion won.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s just like Carron said. It¡¯s because my worth has reached an all-time high during this period.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was the one who saved Athenae. And nearly half of the world''s poption has an Athenae ID. Even the world¡¯s leading political figures were ying this game. It was only natural that, as the hottest figure, he could earn that much. Of course, he intended to use the donation amount of more than twenty billion won that he had received as funds for the development of their empire.

    And now, onto the most crucial part. The corners of his lips could not stop twitching when he took out a blue-colored ore. It was none other than the Tempest Ore, one of Helenia¡¯s Ores. There were four of Helenia¡¯s Ores in total, and each one could significantly enhance the power of her attributed magic.

    The Sun¡¯s Ore and the Mountain Ore were both ores that Minhyuk had already obtained. One was already in the form of salt, while the other was turned into <em>doenjang</em>. And with the Tempest Ore in his hand, Minhyuk hoped to obtain the best seasoning again.

    Minhyuk quickly pulled out the grinder from his inventory.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Transcendental¡¯s Grinder</em></strong><em>)</em><strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: Transcendental</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: None.</em>

    <strong><em>Special Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?It can grind any ore or minerals.</em>

    <em>?The ground ore can change into whatever condiments or sauce you want. It will all depend on the artifact owner.</em>

    <em>?The better the ore, the better the vor and the more special its power.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: This is one of Transcendental Nekk¡¯s masterpieces. You obtained it as a reward from an Easter egg.</em>

    Minhyuk immediately held the sealed Tempest Ore in his hands. ording to the ore description, the owner could seal and unseal it at any moment.

    <em>¡®When the Mountain Ore was unsealed, the ground twisted and turned, and heaven and earth shook.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk, in the presence of the transcendentals, had once witnessed what it was like to unseal one of Helenia¡¯s Ores and the extent of its power. That was why he came out to the forest like this.

    ¡°Release the seal,¡± Minhyuk said. At the same time, a mighty wind sted out of the ore. Its power could rival even that of a typhoon.

    <em>Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh¨C</em>

    The strong wind blew Minhyuk¡¯s hair and pulled out the trees around him until they were flying in the air. Minhyuk grabbed the ore tightly and hurriedly pushed it into the grinder. The blowing wind quieted down the grinder when he put it in the grinder.

    ¡°<em>Phew¡­</em>¡± Minhyuk chuckled.

    If Helenia saw him like this, she would not let him go.

    <em>Grind, grind, grind¨C!</em>

    The Transcendental¡¯s Grinder shook like crazy. And not long after, the notification rang.

    <em>[Please choose the condiment, seasoning, or sauce you wish to obtain from the Transcendental¡¯s Grinder.]</em>

    Minhyuk was already in possession of salt and <em>doenjang</em>. So, he no longer needed those two.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s this condiment I have wanted to obtain for a long time.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk grinned and said, ¡°Sesame oil.¡±

    When one opened the lid of a can of sesame oil, one would be greeted with the savory, delicious, and mouthwatering smell that could stimte one¡¯s sense of smell and appetite.

    <em>Grind, grind, grind¨C!</em>

    The Transcendental Grinder began grinding the Temperate Ore to create sesame oil. Finally, a notification rang.

    <em>[You have obtained 500 mL of Tempest Sesame Oil!]</em>

    ¡°Kghhk~¡± Minhyuk eximed.

    He had not had a proper meal these past few days. The sesame oil was like the icing on the cake of the simplest dish that one could make using only the avable ingredients at home when one was hungry. This dish was none other than soy sauce egg rice.

    Minhyuk immediately removed hisrge cauldron lid and evenly spread a thinyer of cooking oil on it. Once heated, He cracked open an egg on top of it.

    <em>Sizzle, sizzle¨C!</em>

    A mouthwatering smell wafted from the lid as the egg danced around in the oil and slowly got fried. He let the egg cook until it was half cooked before scooping it out and gently putting it on top of a bowl of steaming hot rice. Then, Minhyuk sprinkled a few spoonfuls of soy sauce and some sesame oil on top of it.

    The savory smell of the sesame oil had already started to tease and tickle his nose as he pressed the egg with his spoon and let the yolk flow down to the rice.

    ¡°<em>Hoo¡­</em>¡± With a small exhale, he smiled and began mixing the egg, rice, and soy sauce evenly.

    The dark and tasty soy sauce egg rice was finally done. The best way to eat this dish was to scoop one huge spoonful and push it into one¡¯s mouth in one go. So, Minhyuk scooped a massive mouthful of the soy sauce egg rice and put it in his mouth.

    ¡°<em>Munch, munch, munch.</em>¡±

    The savory and slightly salty vor of the soy sauce egg rice immediately spread in Minhyuk¡¯s mouth. The rich vor of the egg followed immediately. Then, he took another bite.

    <em>Munch, munch, munch¨C</em>

    Minhyuk continued to enjoy his dish with the asional crispy and well-ripened kimchi added to his spoon.

    <em>Crunch, crunch¨C</em>

    The soy sauce egg rice and the kimchi were a fantasticbination. Of course, it would also be good with some <em>kkakdugi</em>.

    <em>[You have consumed more than 5 mL of Tempest Sesame Oil.]</em>

    <em>[Your Wind Attribute has increased permanently by 2%. Your EXP Acquisition Rate and attack power will increase by 3% for one week.]</em>

    <em>[Your Wind Attribute will increase by 2% if you consume 5 mL of Tempest Sesame Oil in a week. You will also obtain a buff to increase your EXP Acquisition Rate and attack power by 3%.]</em>

    Tempest Sesame Oil could also be eaten ten consecutive times. Since it could increase the wind attribute by 2%, this meant that one could obtain a total of 20% increase in wind attribute.

    After eating well, Minhyuk finally decided to check on the quest that he received after reaching Level 650.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>ss Quest</em></strong><em>: The World of Hybrids]</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: ss</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: Level 650</em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: Creation of skill rted to the Food God (uponpleting all quests.), ???</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Failure</em></strong><em>: Unable to unseal the final power of the Food God.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: Travel to the world that only existed in rumors, a world where hybrids, who were called half-beings, live.</em>

    Minhyuk looked at the quest window in confusion. <em>¡®Hybrids?¡¯</em>

    Hybrids meant half-human beings. However, the scope of the world of hybrids was far too broad than what Minhyuk initially expected.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s even a half-human, half-elf there?¡¯</em>

    Yes, although humans and elves no longermunicated, some humans and elves still developed a love for each other and bore children.

    <em>¡®It also says that half-dragon, half-human beings are among the dragon race.¡¯</em>

    And if Minhyuk went a bit deeper, then there should also be half-human, half-god beings.

    <em>¡®Half-human, half-god¡­ perhaps there are also half-human, half-transcendental beings among them?¡¯</em>

    The world of the hybrids was far too wide and broad for him to predict and assume things. And since this was yet to be revealed, it would give him better rewards.

    <em>¡®There must be many delicious things in the World of Hybrids.¡¯</em>

    A delighted smile bloomed on Minhyuk¡¯s face. From what Minhyuk could see, this quest was quite generous and considerate.

    <em>¡®The right to create skills rted to the Food God, huh?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk could obtain this reward once hepleted the final quest. There was also an additional reward listed as ¡°???¡±. This mainly was why he thought the quest was quite generous.

    Minhyuk quickly sent a whisper to Abel.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Minhyuk</em></strong><em>: Abel, can you look for information about the World of Hybrids?]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Abel</em></strong><em>: Of course. I¡¯ll contact you within three days.]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Minhyuk</em></strong><em>: Thanks.]</em>

    Not long after, a very wee voice rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[Annoying brat, I found your candidate.]</em>

    ¡°Oh¡­!¡±

    It was none other than the voice of Guardian God Obren.

    Minhyuk knew he had to carefully select the person who would receive the special privileges of the Growth Authority: The Ever-growing One.

    <em>¡®If your designated target fails to reach 100% growth level three times, you can terminate the authority one year after the date of designation.¡¯ </em>This was one of the exnations attached to the skill: The Ever-growing One. In other words, the skill would be tied up for one year of Athenae time. And it would be deemed useless if the designated target could not grow as much as the exnation required.

    However, the best part was that the effects of this skill would prove to have more significant effects if they could find people who either could no longer grow or had faced limitations in their growth. If one looked at the skill closely, one would see that it could increase the target¡¯s EXP Acquisition Rate by 1.5 to 10 times, an outstandingly high increase in number. It could also direct and guide the designated target in a direction that would allow them to grow faster.

    Minhyuk had told Obren all of this before when he asked him for help, which meant that Obren had also considered everything.

    <em>[The target is a bit special. His name is Ralsden. He is one of you, currently at Level 50.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s expression morphed into that of doubt. Is the yer that Obren rmended only at Level 50?

    ¡°What are you talking about, Obren? Someone at Level 50 means he has only stepped into the world of Athenae. There¡¯s no way such a yer can be considered special, right?¡±

    <em>[No. He¡¯s exceptional. I was torn between this man named Ralsden and the man named Brochen.]</em>

    ¡°Desert¡¯s Brochen?¡±

    Minhyuk had heard about the man named Brochen. He was growing at a tremendous speed and was considered one of the emerging powerhouses. Although he was only at Level 450, it was said that he could fight and win against yers at Level 550. These days, Brochen was in the spotlight for his excellent use of the desert eagle he had summoned in battle.

    If they could apply The Ever-growing one to this person, he could develop quickly and be one of the high rankers. He would even be able to significantly boost the military power of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    But Obren chose a yer at Level 50 instead of the man named Brochen. However, Minhyuk did not argue with him and decided to listen first.

    <em>[Ralsden might be at Level 50, but his DEX is at 301.]</em>

    ¡°...?!¡± Minhyuk was extremely surprised when he heard Obren¡¯s words. ¡°What¡­?¡±

    <em>[And if youbine his STR, STM, AGI, and other stats, his power would be equivalent to a Level 150 foreigner.]</em>

    Minhyuk could not understand how that was possible. His level was so low, but his stats were ridiculously high.

    <em>¡®Is his ss Food God or something along those lines?¡¯</em>

    He felt like the man was just like him when he leveled up by eating all kinds of delicious dishes. No, perhaps he was far more impressive than him back then.

    <em>[I chose him because I saw his vast growth potential. But he¡¯s a bit strange. He does not hunt monsters like you or the other foreigners. No, perhaps it would be more apt to say that he could not kill them?]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s doubt grew even more profound when he heard Ralsden could not kill monsters.

    <em>[I assume that he¡¯s been increasing his level bypleting the tasks that you guys receive. Nevertheless, his hard work makes his DEX, STR and the likes so high.]</em>

    <em>Hard work.</em> Minhyuk liked these words.

    <em>[Sometimes he would dig trees, sometimes pick up those things that you call misceneous items, and sometimes hit the scarecrow all day. He is trying and working so hard that I cannot understand it with mymon sense. But what¡¯s most interesting is that he would sell the trees and the items he collected daily.</em>

    <em>[To be honest, at his level, he should have good artifacts on his body. But he only has the things given to the novice foreigners equipped on his body.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s mind started to spin quickly. He guessed as to why Ralsden might not be able to hunt.

    <em>¡®Perhaps¡­¡¯</em>

    There were very, very few people who could not adapt to Athenae because it felt too real.

    <em>¡®Even though he sold everything he acquired every time, his artifacts and equipment did not change.¡¯</em>

    The fact that he would sell what he collected meant that he was trading the gold that he acquired for money. Perhaps he needed quite a huge sum of money.

    Minhyuk realized, <em>¡®He¡¯s making a living in Athenae.¡¯</em>

    <em>[He cuts thousands of trees, collects thousands of grasses and misceneous items, and even strikes scarecrows to train and strengthen himself daily. I believe he is the person you are looking for. With his hard work and perseverance, once you give him the chance to grow, Ralsden will grow the fastest. This is what I have judged.]</em>

    However, it still did not make sense to him, even after putting all the puzzle pieces together.

    <em>¡®Wouldn¡¯t it be much easier for him to gain more money if he increased his level? And with that much passion and hard work, there¡¯s no way that he would not be able to hunt monsters just because he found them gross. So, why?¡¯</em>

    There was no way that someone with that much perseverance and endurance could not hunt monsters just because they were scared.

    <em>[However, at the end of it all, you will still be the one who will make the decision.]</em>

    But Obren¡¯s opinion had piqued Minhyuk¡¯s interest.

    <em>¡®If we can give him the chance to grow, then we might just be able to have a great powerhouse in just a few months.¡¯</em>

    Ralsden was a Level 50 yer with the stats of a Level 150 yer.

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll have to find out about him quickly.¡¯</em>

    With his informationwork, Minhyuk could find out why Ralsden could not kill monsters.

    ***

    <em>Tap¨C Tap¨C Tap¨C</em>

    The white cane rhythmically tapped the ground.

    Han-Seong had already gone to three interviews today. However, he was left heartbroken after hearing the interviewers¡¯ responses.

    ¨C<em>I¡¯m not being sarcastic here. But if you can¡¯t see it, I think you will have difficulty working at ourpany.</em>

    <em>¨CI think other people will be ufortable with your presence.</em>

    <em>¨CHow about looking for a job that caters to the disabled?</em>

    <em>¨CI¡¯m very sorry to be the one to say this, but aren¡¯t you being too greedy? It would be much easier for you to give up, right?</em>

    A visually impaired and blind person would have a bad perception of the world. However, Han-Seong was a bit special.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m just having a bit of inconvenience. I¡¯m no different from anybody else.¡¯</em>

    Han-Seong performed well during his studies at Korea University, one of the most prestigious universities in South Korea. As someone who lived excellently, he had a dream.

    <em>¡®I want to live a cool and honorable life.¡¯</em>

    However, the reality was more challenging than he thought.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s also a limit to how much one can make for a living in Athenae.¡¯</em>

    This was because he had to care for his mother, who also had special needs.

    <em>¡®If only I could hunt¡­¡¯</em>

    Han-Seong did not have congenital blindness. He only became visually impaired after suffering from a car ident. The only world where he could see was Athenae.

    He was pretty lucky.

    <em>¡®I was fortunate to be one of the few selected by Joy Co. Ltd. to join their project that supported the disabled.¡¯</em>

    The capsule that he had received was quite good. However, after the ident, he developed a post-traumatic stress disorder, which made it impossible for him to harm or kill anything.

    However, Han-Seong enjoyed living in that world so much. Not only could he see it, but he could also get anything just with his own effort and hard work. But now, he was thinking of stopping. It seemed like he could no longer y the game that he loved.

    <em>¡®Money. I need money.¡¯</em>

    He was not living in this world alone, only for his sake. There were others that he needed to care for. Nevertheless, his thoughts of living a decent and honorable life remained unchanged. He even promised to gain the money that would help him go abroad and get new corneas that would allow him to see the world again.

    Han-Seong, who participated in three different interviews today, finally stopped walking. He asked, ¡°Is this the Ilhwa Group?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s correct.¡±

    He politely asked for directions. And when he finally reached his destination, he let out a trembling breath. Han-Seong knew that the Ilhwa Group had epted and employed many disabled people.

    <em>¡®Of course, I think it¡¯s just for show.¡¯</em>

    It was not just Ilhwa Group; mostpanies hired the disabled, but most of them did it for show.

    Although he was nervous, Han-Seong was not afraid. He walked until he reached the waiting room for the interview and waited for his turn. Not long after, he was guided to sit on a chair.

    Then, the voice of a young man rang in his ears. The young man said, ¡°I¡¯m a bit inexperienced, so I hope you will understand. Is that alright?¡±

    Han-Seong might not be able to see, but he was sure that the interviewer''s voice in front of him was <em>very </em>familiar.

    <em>¡®Where have I heard this voice?¡¯ </em>Han-Seong thought, confusion shing on his face.

 Chapter 969

    Chapter 969

    Minhyuk immediately went to his Uncle Munsoo to learn about Ralsden, the candidate who received the effects of the skill: The Ever-growing One. Park Munsoo, his father¡¯s secretary, was quite versatile with his work and brought him the information he required in just half a day.

    When he read the information, he found one thing very surprising.

    <em>¨CHe applied for Ilhwa Group¡¯s new recruitment and is set to be interviewed today.</em>

    Minhyuk immediately ran to Ilhwa Group¡¯s headquarters when he saw that. Currently, Minhyuk was not only in charge of his empire in Athenae but was also in charge of the Royal Department Store and many other subsidiaries as training to be the next chairman. Because of that, he could sit inside the interview room as a particr interviewer.

    He watched as one of their employees helped a man sit in the chair before them. The man sat still, his gaze unfocused.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s Kim Han-Seong,¡¯</em> Minhyuk thought as he recalled the information, which included his resume, that he had obtained from Uncle Munsoo.

    <em>¡®During his student days, his interpersonal rtionships and leadership skills were so outstanding that he went from an ordinary student to ss president. However, when he turned eighteen, he got caught in an ident. He became blind and is now suffering from PTSD.¡¯</em>

    One of Minhyuk¡¯s questions, why he could not hunt even though he was trying and working so hard in Athenae, had probably been solved by that information.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s most likely because of his PTSD, no?¡¯</em>The probability of that being the case was extremely high. PTSD, or post-traumatic stress disorder, was kind of an after-effect that people who had experienced life-and-death situations suffer from.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s amazing.¡¯ </em>Minhyuk looked at Kim Han-Seong¡¯s resume in admiration.

    A year after the ident, he returned to school and maintained the grades he usually had before the ident. That was not all. The rewards that he had received were also great.

    Minhyuk was not sure if he could say something like this. But he thought, <em>¡®He¡¯s like me.¡¯</em>

    Yes, they were simr. The thought brought a small smile to his face.

    Then, one of the other interviewers asked, ¡°What was your reason for applying to ourpany?¡±

    This question was one of the usual questions asked during interviews. Since it was that kind of question, the answer that they would receive would naturally be just like the usual.

    ¡°Ilhwa Group is one of the leadingpanies of South Korea¡­¡±

    ¡°If you ever encounter these situations, what will you¡­¡±

    ¡°If I am put in that situation, I will¡­¡±

    Minhyuk nodded as he listened to the conversation. After some questions, one of the other interviewers asked, ¡°You will face many inconveniences as you live your life in thepany. This would especially be the case for someone like you, who is visually impaired. It would be quite disadvantageous for you to work in a hectic and bustlingpany. Moreover, the other employees must be more considerate and careful around you.¡±

    This was whypanies were reluctant to hire disabled people even though they had extraordinary talents. These talents would need the help of their colleagues and co-workers.

    ¡°Of course, I would receive a lot of help. I believe I would still need the help of someone else to navigate myself and go to the bathroom at the beginning,¡± Han-Seong answered calmly.

    ¡°But I¡¯m sure I will help them someday, too.¡±

    Han-Seong was very confident of that. When he won those awards, he also needed the help of many people. However, he was confident that he could help them in turn.

    The interviewers nodded, satisfied smiles shing on their faces. However, Han-Seong could not see their expressions and grew anxious by the second.

    <em>¡®What if this ce is no different from the otherpanies?¡¯</em>

    Manypanies hire people with disabilities just for publicity. Thesepanies would often just put the employed disabled people into positions that would remain at the corner of their respectivepanies.

    Just as he was about to spiral down into his anxiousness, Han-Seong heard the very familiar and young voice ask him, ¡°I want your real answer, not just a superficial and practiced answer. Can you answer me like that?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    ¡°What is the real reason that you applied to Ilhwa Group?¡±

    There were many practiced answers to this question.

    <em>I have dreamt of joining the Ilhwa Group for a long time.</em>

    <em>I am determined to help make the Ilhwa Group the best corporation in the world.</em>

    However, Han-Seong was asked to throw away all of these things. He remained silent as he pondered over the question. But it did not take too long for him to answer.

    ¡°I wanted to live.¡±

    At that moment, Minhyuk recalled the introduction that Carron had used in the video titled ¡°The Burden an Emperor Carries,¡± which he had previously edited.

    ¨C<em>I wanted to live.</em>

    That was right. Minhyuk wanted to live. That was what made him what he is now.

    It was said that the world would not be able to win against someone who enjoyed what they were doing.

    <em>¡®As long as you enjoy your work, you can grow even further.¡¯</em>

    Wasn¡¯t that what people wanted to live for?

    Minhyuk shuddered. <em>¡®I can¡¯t wait to see how he will perform in Ilhwa Group and Athenae a year from now.¡¯</em>

    ording to the details of The Ever-growing One, it could help nurture and develop those who had reached their limits or could not grow for some reason.

    <em>¡®In other words, it might help him increase his level without hunting monsters. Since he has PTSD, there¡¯s no need for him to deal with the enemies by himself.¡¯</em>

    The Ever-growing One would likely guide Kim Han-Seong to the ss best suited for him. If one considered his effort, patience, and perseverance, no one would be able to estimate how much growth he would experience in that year.

    Meanwhile, Han-Seong gulped dryly after no longer hearing any questions. <em>¡®As expected, everything is the same¡­¡¯</em>

    ¡°I like you the most out of all the people we have met today.¡±

    ¡°Me too. If I were to pick one today, I would pick you.¡±

    ¡°You might need help from others, but you will be able to help others, too. That¡¯s cool and nice.¡±

    Contrary to his expectations, the interviewers began to heappliments on him.

    For the first time, Han-Seong was puzzled and confused. Usually, people would not get any notice of eptance during the first interview. However, the interviewers said that Han-Seong was extremely close to passing their recruitment.

    ¡°Chairman Kang Minhoo has always advocated giving everyone a fair chance,¡± the familiar voice said. ¡°And based on the hard work, passion, and confidence that Mr. Kim Han-Seong has shown us so far, I believe we will receive good results if we have you in our ranks.¡±

    Minhyuk firmly believed that Han-Seong would pass Ilhwa Group¡¯s recruitment and join thepany. This was not only because of his judgment and opinion. All of the interviewers were most likely of the same mind as him just by hearing the positive responses that they had given. So, he struck while the iron was hot.

    ¡°And Mr. Kim Han-Seong, I would like to offer you a special recruitment personally¡­¡±

    ¡°A special recruitment?¡± Kim Han-Seong¡¯s doubt grew even more when he heard that.

    He just could not understand. Wasn¡¯t he just about to pass the Ilhwa Group¡¯s recruitment? Why was he suddenly being offered a special recruitment?

    Minhyuk smiled faintly and said, ¡°...in Athenae.¡±

    ***

    Ralsden, who had essed Athenae, was left in doubt and confusion.

    <em>¡®Is this some sort of hidden camera prank?¡¯</em>

    The young man''s familiar voice introduced himself as Minhyuk in the interview room. He said that he wanted to hire him in Athenae¡ªor, to be exact, to bring him into the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    At that moment, Ralsden could not help but question himself. <em>¡®Why? Why on earth do you want to take in someone like me?¡¯</em>

    The Beyond the Heavens Empire was a haven filled with high-rankers. It was a nation all yers hoped to join and was the subject of everyone¡¯s envy. It was also the only empire that bravely stood against the Luvien Empire. And the emperor of a ce like that said that he wanted to scout him and bring him to their ranks?

    <em>¡®Isn¡¯t this a bit too much?¡¯</em>

    If this were a hidden camera prank, then Ralsden would be furious. Were they doing this to him, who was already inconvenienced and living ufortably? Of course, this also wouldn¡¯t make sense. But between the two, Minhyuk scouting the Level 50 him was the one that did not make any more sense.

    <em>¡®After all, he became the greatest Absolute God, the Battle God.¡¯</em>

    Although he had yet to obtain the Battle God¡¯s full power, he was already the holiest and noblest existence.

    At that moment, someone came out to personally meet and guide Ralsden, who had arrived at the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    ¡°...¡±

    <em>¡®It¡¯s true?¡¯</em>

    In the world of Athenae, Ralsden could see. Although Athenae could not cure mental illnesses, including PTSD, yers could ovee inconveniences like blindness and other physical disabilities inside virtual reality.

    And right now, Ralsden was standing face to face with the noble and majestic Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor Minhyuk. Ralsden¡¯s heart was thumping like crazy as he uttered the question he had asked himself repeatedly.

    ¡°Why¡­¡±

    <em>Why someone like me?</em>

    Not only was he blind, but he was also someone who could not hunt monsters in Athenae because of his PTSD.

    Aristotle said,<em> ¡°Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.¡±</em>

    Someone also left a quote saying, <em>¡°Will and determination, hard work, and patience are the keys to sess.¡±</em>

    Because of those words, Ralsden had been able to endure, even when people around him told him otherwise.

    ¨C<em>Why don¡¯t you stop now?</em>

    <em>¨CIsn¡¯t it hard? If it¡¯s hard, then you should just give up.</em>

    But Ralsden remained consistent. He never changed.

    ¨C<em>No. I will not give up and fall apart. There wille a day when my flower road will bloom, too.</em>

    Unfortunately, someone told him to his face.

    ¨C<em>But¡­ you cannot see.</em>

    Those words shocked him greatly. That was right. Perhaps effort and hard work would bear fruit, but that would only apply to ordinary people. Maybe he could not achieve what he wanted, no matter how hard he tried. After failing interviews with dozens ofpanies, he had been painfully aware of this fact.

    Minhyuk looked at him and said, ¡°I¡¯m considering hiring you as a special employee for two years. Your annual ie would be 200 million won.¡±

    High rankers could earn billions of won in a year. Although Minhyuk was a good man, he was also the emperor and the next chairman of the Ilhwa Group. The Beyond the Heavens Empire could be considered apany now. That was why he had to consider the profits and losses he would incur.

    ¡°Of course, there are conditions. In those two years, you must turn over 90% of your revenue in Athenae to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.¡±

    Minhyuk was thinking about Ralsden¡¯s growth and development in the future. He was sure he would be equivalent in prowess to some of their high-rankers. In other words, he bought a fantastic talent for such a small price. However, this was not considered as him wringing Ralsden out. After all, he would be the only one to open up his potential and help him grow.

    ¡°After the contract ends, you must live in the Beyond the Heavens Empire and serve under my rule.¡±

    The conditions were ridiculous. This was because Minhyuk wanted to make it so Ralsden would be one of his people as quickly as possible.

    ¡°Will you ept it?¡±

    <em>[The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor Minhyuk proposes that you move to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.]</em>

    Ralsden hurriedly epted. He even moved as if he were willing to fulfill all of the uses of the contract that were presented to him.

    <em>¡®Is this a dream?¡¯</em>

    Just when the thought shed, he saw Minhyuk pointing at him with a small smile. Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°The Ever-growing One.¡±

    Immediately after that, a notification rang in Ralsden¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The Growth Authority rests upon you!]</em>

    <em>[Your EXP Acquisition Rate will increase by at least 1.5x to at most 10x!]</em>

    <em>[The Growth Authority: The Ever-growing One is observing you.]</em>

    <em>[The Growth Authority is shocked after observing you!]</em>

    Ralsden¡¯s face was filled with confusion when he heard the notifications. Of course, Minhyuk, who used the skill on him, could also hear a simr set of notifications.

    <em>¡®As expected, choosing him was not wrong.¡¯</em>

    The Ever-growing One was a skill that allowed those who worked hard, had passion, and had perseverance to grow further.

    <em>[The Growth Authority: The Ever-growing One will exhibit more special power!]</em>

    <em>[Your EXP Acquisition Rate will increase by three times right away!]</em>

    <em>[The Growth Authority: The Ever-growing One wonders why you failed to grow and develop!]</em>

    <em>[The Growth Authority: The Ever-growing One begins to search for a new ss that will help you grow and develop!]</em>

    The notifications above made Minhyuk¡¯s eyes grow wide. <em>¡®It¡¯s going to give him a new ss right away?!¡¯</em>

    This skill was one of the godly and divine powers in the Battle God¡¯s possession. He did not expect that it would exert this much power.

    <em>¡®Was it because Ralsden is just that special? I wonder how it would solve Ralsden¡¯s aversion to hunting monsters, hmm?¡¯</em>

    However, thinking about it was no use. The Ever-growing One had already found a ss that suited Ralsden among the tens of thousands of sses.

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[Changing the legendary ss: Master of Hard Work and Labor!]</em>

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[The conditions for promoting the legendary ss: Master of Hard Work and Labor have been met!]</em>

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[You have been transferred to the God ss: Descendant of the God of Hard Work and Labor!]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk and Ralsden were both stunned, speechless at the whirlwind of events that happened so suddenly.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s crazy¡­¡¯</em>

    This situation was also wholly unexpected for Minhyuk. But the notifications were not yet over.

    <em>[The </em><strong><em>ss Quest</em></strong><em>: Life Summoner¡¯s Path has been created!]</em>

    <em>¡®Does this mean that Ralsden has already met all of the requirements for bing the God of Hard Work and Labor, which is why it''s guiding him to the Life Summoner¡¯s Path?¡¯</em>

    Ralsden had developed his DEX to a high degree by repeatedly doing hardbor. That probably satisfied the conditions for the Descendant of the God of Hard Work and Labor. On the other hand, he still had not met the conditions for bing a Life Summoner.

    <em>¡®If he bes a summoner, he would not need to kill the monsters alone.¡¯</em>

    It even solved his problems because of his PTSD.

    ¡°How can I get a subss all at once?¡±

    It was so shocking that even Ralsden, who was involved himself, could not understand the situation.

    ¡°Why did my ss suddenly be a God ss¡­? And there¡¯s also the Life Summoner ss, which is legendary.¡±

    Ralsden once again questioned everything that happened to him.

    <em>¡®Why? Why someone like me?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk smiled at him and said, ¡°Because you tried and worked hard.¡±

    Ralsden pondered over Minhyuk¡¯s words. Then, he quietly recited, <em>¡®Will and determination, hard work, and patience are the keys to sess.¡¯</em>

    That was right. Ralsden was now finally receiving the rewards for his hard work and patience.

 Chapter 970

    Chapter 970

    After Ralsden turned blind, no one recognized his hard work, effort, and patience anymore. But Minhyuk, who stood at the highest position in Athenae, said, ¡°Because you tried and worked hard.¡±

    When he heard those words, tears started to flow down Ralsden¡¯s cheeks. He had been enduring and holding on by mulling over the quotes those famous people had left behind.

    He felt pleased and grateful because the person in front of him differed from the others, who told him to give up and no longer try. After all, he could no longer see. Ralsden bit his lips tightly.

    ¡°Forever¡­¡± He wiped his tears and continued, ¡°...I will forever do my best in Athenae for you and the Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s sake.¡±

    Minhyuk knew that the vow that Ralsden, who had a firm belief and strong will that far surpassed others, would never be broken.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s because you¡¯re just like me,¡¯ </em>Minhyuk thought.

    There was something he wanted to do for Ralsden. Why?

    <em>¡®Because you have probably tried and worked harder than anybody else.¡¯</em>

    This act was purely because he wanted to help. This was not done to help enhance his empire¡¯s power, nor because he wanted to profit off Ralsden. Minhyuk was doing this purely of his own ord. He only used his funds, the same funds he had earned and saved in Athenae.¡°We¡¯re already looking for a cornea donor match for you at Seoul Hospital. I believe things are moving smoothly and quickly, so we will hear from them soon.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Seoul Hospital was hailed as one of the best hospitals in South Korea and was an affiliate of Ilhwa Group.

    ¡°This is just because I like you as a person. It¡¯s not because I want to receive something from you.¡±

    Ralsden copsed when he heard Minhyuk¡¯s words. He vowed to do everything for Minhyuk and the Beyond the Heavens Empire. But now, he changed his mind.

    ¡°Even if I have to die, I will do so as long as it is for your sake¡­!¡±

    If he were asked to die, then he would die. If he were asked to live, then he would live. If anyone dared to touch this man in front of him, then he would be the one to kill that person personally. This was the vow that One-man Corps Ralsden, who would surprise the world one yearter, had made.

    ***

    When Ralsden¡¯s cries finally subsided, Minhyuk thought, <em>¡®He worked hard enough to have powerparable to Level 150 even though he was only at Level 50 to the point that he became the God of Hard Work and Labor.¡¯</em>

    Perhaps they had helped him awaken much earlier. But it was primarily thanks to his efforts.

    Minhyuk was curious about what Ralsden had obtained after he was given a new ss and direction for growth.

    ¡°By any chance, have you received special privileges by bing the God of Hard Work and Labor?¡±

    Minhyuk had now be Ralsden¡¯s master. So, this question did not offend him at all. He replied quickly and without hesitation, ¡°A five-times basic DEX effect has been applied to me.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°It also said that my DEX Acquisition Rate has increased five times.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°Ah! There¡¯s also a special skill. It¡¯s a passive skill called ¡®The One who Receives Rewards,¡¯¡± Ralsden said as he checked the skill carefully.

    Then, he began to ry the information. ¡°Whenever I do hard work andbor, my yield and acquisition rate will increase by 0.5x. It also says that monsters hunted by the God of Hard Work and Labor will have a 0.3x increase in artifact drop rate and EXP acquisition rate.¡±

    ¡°...?¡± Minhyuk, in awe, asked, ¡°By any chance, does it say that the skill is at Level 1?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Ah. Every time the level increases, everything rted to hard work andbor would increase by 0.2x.¡±

    Minhyuk was now indeed left in shock. <em>¡®I feel a bit jealous¡­?¡¯</em>

    This meant that if the skill <em>The One who Receives</em> reached Level 9, then all of the rewards Ralsden would receive through hard work andbor would double.

    <em>¡®The more shocking part is that there are skills that can go beyond Level 9.¡¯</em>

    What if the skill evolved after reaching that point?

    <em>¡®Isn¡¯t this cheat-like?¡¯</em>

    To put the skill in a more straightforward perspective, imagine Minhyuk harvesting one potato, but he could obtain two. That was how the skill was.

    Then, Minhyuk suddenly thought, <em>¡®If I had that skill, then I would probably be able to double the number of dishes I want to obtain.¡¯</em>

    Perhaps it would also answer his recent Food God¡¯s Quest.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>ss Quest</em></strong><em>: The World of Hybrids]</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: ss</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: Level 650</em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: Creation of skill rted to the Food God (uponpleting all quests.), ???</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Failure</em></strong><em>: Unable to unseal the final power of the Food God.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: Travel to the world that only existed in rumors, a world where hybrids, who were called half-beings, live.</em>

    ording to the reward, he could have the right to create a skill rted to the Food God. The word ¡°create¡± meant that he had to make one. In other words, Minhyuk would have to create a new Food God skill.

    <em>¡®Most of the Food God¡¯s skills are rted to buffs or for the sake of just eating.¡¯</em>

    Of course, Minhyuk always wanted to find a way to help him eat more delicious dishes and give him happiness and satisfaction. He continued to ponder over the matter as he looked at Ralsden.

    <em>¡®I can work as a farmer, sow seeds, and cultivate the field. But what if the yield bes better?¡¯</em> Minhyuk shook his head at the thought. <em>¡®That¡¯s Rumble¡¯s role.¡¯</em>

    Since Minhyuk had Rumble, the Spirit of Life, and the one who possessed the skill to increase the crop yield, this was an effect that could be considered unnecessary for Minhyuk. So, he tried to think a bit differently.

    <em>¡®Every time I finish eating delicious dishes, I feel it¡¯s a pity.¡¯</em>

    God-grade ingredients were very delicious. Minhyuk felt it was a pity that so many God-grade ingredients would be gone after one single dish. After all, once they had disappeared, one could never obtain something like that again. Simply put, he would not be able to eat it again.

    <em>¡®And it¡¯s even more painful because I already know what they tasted like.¡¯</em> This thought had constantly gued Minhyuk¡¯s mind. And, of course, he also thought, <em>¡®I want to get my hands on them again.¡¯</em>

    However, there was no such method in Athenae up until a minute ago.

    <em>¡®Creating skills rted to the Food God means that I can also make skills rted to cooking and ingredients, no?¡¯</em> a sparkle appeared in Minhyuk¡¯s eyes. <em>¡®What if I could extract some of the God-grade ingredients I have obtained and turn them into seeds?¡¯</em>

    And what if God-grade ingredients would grow again once he nted and cultivated that seed?

    ¡°...!¡±

    A glint appeared in Minhyuk¡¯s eyes.

    <em>¡®That would be crazy.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s heart started to throb from the excitement.

    <em>¡®An ability that will help me grow God-grade ingredients!¡¯</em>

    No, it did not have to be limited to God-grade ingredients. It could include medicines and elixirs that could permanently increase stats.

    If Minhyuk couldplete his quest and create a skill like this, then it would not necessarily be a dream.

    <em>¡®A field of God-grade ingredients!¡¯</em>

    It has been a long time since Minhyuk felt this excited.

    And finally, Minhyuk¡¯s long-awaited whisper came in.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Abel</em></strong><em>: I found a hint about the World of Hybrids.]</em>

    Minhyuk, who had received Abel¡¯s whisper, immediately told Ralsden to show off the new abilities that he received as the new Descendant of the God of Hard Work and Labor before leaving.

    ***

    Minhyuk sat in front of Abel. Abel immediately ryed the information he had obtained the moment he appeared.

    ¡°ording to the information I have gathered, the World of Hybrids has existed for a long time. Based on the records, the highest number of hybrids living there were half-human, half-elves. But it was not only them. There were a variety of hybrids among them, too. There were special ones among them like half-human, half-god and half-human, half-transcendentals.¡±

    Abel admitted that he was not sure about the following information either.

    ¡°I think their world used to have exchanges with the human world. But I have now confirmed that our connection with them no longer existed.¡±

    Abel¡¯s face was wry when he looked up at Minhyuk. He said, ¡°It seems like you expected this much, huh?¡±

    As Abel had guessed, most things he had said were what Minhyuk had already expected. The fact that Abel could only obtain this much information meant that the World of Hybrids was still hidden under a thick veil.

    When it came to worlds like this, it usually gave plenty of exceptional rewards. But it also meant that it was a very dangerous world.

    ¡°It¡¯s a world where half-human, half-gods and half-human, half-transcendentals lived. Although their exact numbers were not confirmed, it proved that it is a perilous ce.¡±

    Even if they were only half-god, they would still be beings that possessed divine power. And the same would be true for half-transcendentals with the power of the transcendentals.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± Abel said when he saw Minhyuk shaking his head. Then, he continued to exin, ¡°I found a way to get there. Have you heard about Continental Master Aesden?¡±

    ¡°Of course, I have heard about him.¡±

    Continental Master Aesden was one of the Continental Mages and was known to be someone capable of sending anyone anywhere on the continent.

    ¡°From what I had gathered, he¡¯s a very stubborn, picky, and greedy old man.¡±

    Aesden not only could send anyone anywhere on the continent, but he could also send them to various hidden quests and new hunting grounds. Of course, this would only be for those who had received the opportunity or those who had received Aesden¡¯s recognition and permission.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that picky and stubborn old man would send you to the World of Hybrids. Especially since no one had ever been sent there before.¡±

    This was Abel¡¯s most significant concern. However, Minhyuk paid no heed and immediately stood up from his seat. Since there was a way for him to reach the World of Hybrids, Minhyuk could take one step closer to his dreams of creating a field brimming with God-grade ingredients.

    ¡°Thanks, Abel! I¡¯ll buy you a mealter!¡± Minhyuk greeted him with the mostmon Korean greeting and hurriedly left.

    Meanwhile, the words that Abel wanted to tell him got stuck in his throat. He could not say it to his face and could only murmur sadly, ¡°You said you¡¯d buy me a meal, but you ended up eating my share, too¡­¡±

    ***

    Many had said that Continental Master Aesden was Athenae¡¯s chosen <em>guide</em>. Just like what was mentioned before, Aesden could guide yers to hidden quests or any other ces they wanted to go, even to another world. Even the locations of new and undiscovered dungeons. There was no ce in this world that he did not know of.

    However, it was said that Aesden had the power to see through people¡¯s inner thoughts. Because of this, even the kings and emperors had to be courteous to him even though he charged more than ten times the price of a typical warp. To be exact, the price that he set would be entirely up to him.

    The Warp Tower¡¯s tower master, Aesden, once again looked at the long line of people before their gates.

    ¡°I found a hint about the Heavenly Archer. It is said that the Heavenly Archer is slumbering in a tomb hidden deep below the ground. Do you know where it is?¡± One of the yers asked when he finally got his turn.

    Aesden, a gray-haired old man, narrowed his eyes as he stroked his long beard. Then, he said, ¡°I know everything.¡±

    ¡°Is that true?!¡±

    The man had spent hundreds of days trying to find information about the Heavenly Archer. However, he failed to find anything useful. But Aesden knew about the Heavenly Archer.

    ¡°How much is it? If your information is true, I will give you everything that I have,¡± the man asked.

    Aesden said, ¡°Well, you only need to y a million tinum.¡±

    ¡°I see. A million gold, huh? It¡¯s much cheaper than I have heard¡­ huh- what?¡±

    A million tinum was enough to fund a kingdom for an entire year. Wasn¡¯t it too expensive to pay just to get one hint about a legendary ss?

    ¡°What¡­¡±

    ¡°Fufu. Someone whocks the qualifications dares to ask me about the Heavenly Master. Shouldn¡¯t you pay a huge price for that if you really want to know?¡±

    The man¡¯s face turned red. The man was already over Level 400 and could handle the bow better than anybody else. What did this old man mean by hiscking qualifications?

    Seeing the man¡¯s face flush with anger, Aesden said, ¡°If you¡¯re not convinced, put your hand on this crystal ball.¡±

    The red-faced man hurriedly ced his hand on the crystal ball. Not long after, Aesden closed his eyes to observe and examine the man. When Aesden opened his eyes, he said, ¡°That¡¯s right. Yes. That price is quite ridiculous.¡±

    ¡°Haha. As expected. Then¡­¡±

    ¡°Ten million tinum. You bastard should give me ten million tinum.¡±

    That was how much hecked the qualifications for the ss. The yer¡¯s already red face turned a deeper shade of red from anger.

    ¡°You f*cking bastard! You¡¯re just an NPC bastard. What do you know¡­?!¡±

    The yer spent more than a year trying to obtain this ss. The problem was that he still could not get the ss even though he had received the skills. It was only by luck that he could find a clue about it.

    Now that the thing he had worked so hard on seemed to disappear and turn into nothing in front of his eyes, the yer could not hold back his anger. However, Aesden was no ordinary NPC.

    ¡°Take this bastard and lock him up in jail for a year.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    The mages immediately dragged the yer away. Being locked up in jail was the most terrible punishment that a yer could receive.

    As shocking as it might sound, one must know that Aesden would never bow down and remain arrogant even if a king came before him. That was just how powerful and influential he was. If there were a God of Spatial Transfer, that would be Aesden.

    They had only heard rumors about him, but when they saw this unfold, the arrogant, high-ranking nobles immediately behaved and lined up politely.

    Aesden, who saw them, found it funny. <em>¡®Fufu. These f*cking bastards.¡¯</em>

    Perhaps Aesden¡¯s existence was the most necessary in the entire world of Athenae. His existence served as a reminder to those following false and far-fetched dreams.

    Then, Aesden saw a man dressed shabbily standing in front of him. The man¡¯s mouth was covered in oil as if he had just finished eating something.

    ¡°<em>Tsk, tsk,</em>¡± Aesden clicked his tongue as he looked at the man arrogantly.

    Then, the man, who spoke in a small voice that no one else could hear, said, ¡°Do you know the way to the World of Hybrids?¡±

    ¡°...!¡± Aesden¡¯s eyes grew wide when he heard that. ¡°Did you say the World of Hybrids?¡±

    This was the first time he had heard someone ask him about this since he had sat in this position. This was because there was far too little information about that world. It was to the point that Aesden had to wonder where this man got the information from. However, even if the emperor came, Aesden could not open a path for them to the World of Hybrids.

    <em>¡®If humans go to that world, a war will surely take ce and ravage both worlds.¡¯</em>

    So, Aesden said, ¡°I know about it. Let¡¯s see. How about paying a hundred million tinum?¡±

    ¡°A¨C A hundred million?!¡±

    ¡°Did he just say a hundred million tinum?!¡±

    ¡°Hoho¡­ whatever that guy wants, it must have been extremely ridiculous.¡±

    ¡°Maybe he wants to go to the Land of the Gods? Hohoho!¡±

    ¡°Bastard! This guy. Know your ce!¡±

    The nobles at the back clicked their tongues and shouted. However, the man waspletely different from the yer before.

    ¡°That price is probably right. After all, this is a new world. However, I don¡¯t have that much money on hand. Is there something else that I can do?¡±

    Aesden looked at the man in interest. <em>¡®He is still this calm even after hearing such a ridiculous amount of money?¡¯</em>

    The person in front of Aesden might have a much more extensive background than what he looked like. However, even if that was the case, Aesden could still not allow anyone to go there.

    ¡°Please put your hand on this crystal ball.¡±

    Aesden closed his eyes when the man ced his hand on the crystal ball and began looking through his being.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¨C</em>

    Cracks began to appear all over the crystal ball.

 Chapter 971

    Chapter 971

    Continental Master Aesden was not only a guide who could guide people to wherever they wanted to go but could also see through the other person through the crystal ball.

    Although he could see through the other person, certain restrictions were ced upon Aesden. For one, he could not breathe a word of whatever he saw through the crystal ball to another person. This restriction was ced upon him by someone who probably had the same or perhaps greater power than his own.

    When the man ced his hand on the crystal ball, Aesden closed his eyes and tried to look through him. However, it was not too long before Aesden was left in shock.

    <em>¡®What¨C What in the world¡­?¡¯</em>

    Aesden could not see anything. He was only presented with pitch-ck darkness. Was it because the man''s future in front of him was dark? No, that was not the case at all. It would be more apt to say that Aesden could not see through the man.

    Aesden closed his eyes tightly and tried to concentrate even more. He moved around and chased after the sole light in the darkness. This light, floating in the distance and only as big as a dot, seemed to have the answer to his question.

    He stretched his hand out and ran to reach the light. And finally, Aesden reached the light.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack¨C!</em>

    The cracks on the crystal ball grew more prominent. At the same time, goosebumps rose on Aesden¡¯s back when he finally saw what he wanted to see. <em>Thud¨C!</em>

    <em>¡®Ah!¡¯</em>

    Shocked, Aesden fell off his chair. Then, sweat began to pour down from his forehead.

    <em>¡®Just now, what did I just see¡­¡¯</em>

    Then, Aesden heard the concerned voice of the man above him. ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    Aesden¡¯s disciples hurriedly approached him.

    ¡°Tower Master?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m¨C I¡¯m fine. It seems like I¡¯m not in good condition today.¡± Aesden patted his clothes as he stood up and looked at the man again.

    There was still a long line behind him to the point that it snaked through the wide-open street. The nobles waiting in line looked at Aesden in expectation.

    ¡°Since he asked for a hundred million tinum first, wouldn¡¯t he ask for a billion this time?¡±

    ¡°Who knows? If that guy is still wet behind the ears, he might just ask for ten billion!¡±

    ¡°Hahahaha!¡±

    The nobles wereughing and making fun of the man. After all, they wanted to blow a blow to this man who was still wet behind the ears and did not know much about the world.

    But then, Aesden looked at the man and said, ¡°I wou¨C I won¡¯t ept any fee for the information you require.¡±

    Aesden, who unknowingly spoke courteously, hurriedly corrected himself. However, even then, the nobles standing on the line were shocked when their expectations were proven wrong.

    ¡°If the one asking for information is fit and qualified, he would not charge any money.¡±

    ¡°So, the rumors were true.¡±

    There were rumors that every few years, people would appear who did not need to pay for Aesden¡¯s services. These were people who were fit and qualified to find the information that they wanted. Although the others did not know, the truth was¡­

    <em>¡®They are people who I dare not ask for money.¡¯</em>

    Aesden would never ask for payment for such people, only these people alone.

    The man standing in front of Aesden looked at him in surprise. ¡°Are you sure you don¡¯t want any money?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I don¡¯t need you to pay.¡±

    But the man rummaged through his inventory and pushed something into Aesden¡¯s arms.

    ***

    Minhyuk was left in doubt when he heard that Aesden would not ask him for money. He thought that perhaps it was not because of him but because the crystal ball cracked when he touched it.

    <em>¡®But the most important part here is that I was allowed to go to a new world free of charge. This is truly a tremendous opportunity.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk believed it was worth a million tinum and perhaps even more than a hundred million tinum. But he was not without conscience. When he heard that Aesden would not take any payment from him, he quickly took something out and shoved it to the old man.

    What did he give the old man? It was ABD chocte. Minhyuk had around 30,000 emergency choctes in his inventory just in case he suffered from low blood sugar.

    ¡°...¡±

    Aesden, greeted by a fistful of choctes, looked at the man in doubt.

    But Minhyuk hurriedly grabbed his hand and transferred the chocte to him. He said, ¡°I¡¯m not the type of person who would give food to anyone. So, consider this as an extraordinary gift, Aesden.¡±

    For a moment, Aesden thought that the man in front of him was ying a joke on him. However, he could tell from his eyes and voice that the man waspletely sincere.

    This was the truth. Minhyuk was indeed not the type of person who would give food to anyone. And now he was giving a fistful of chocte to someone?

    <em>¡®Good job, Minhyuk! You have improved by a lot!¡¯ </em>

    Minhyuk felt proud of himself.

    And Aesden? He just nodded with a small smile while saying, ¡°Thanks. Follow me. This way.¡±

    Aesden led Minhyuk until they reached a room. There, Minhyuk was greeted by a huge magic circle drawn on the floor.

    Aesden looked at the man favorably. Perhaps it was because of the chocte he shoved in his hand, or maybe it was because of what he saw through the crystal ball. Aesden, as the Continental Master, knew more information than someone hailed as a sage.

    ¡°Here, let me give you some help,¡± Aesden said as he waved his hands around Minhyuk. Then, Minhyuk¡¯s ears stretched and became sharp as light stretched from Aesden¡¯s hands.

    <em>[Your appearance has changed into that of a half-human, half-elf!]</em>

    <em>[You can release your transformation as a half-human, half-elf anytime!]</em>

    ¡°In the World of Hybrids, only half-human, half-god or half-human, half-transcendental have a form simr to a human. The ordinary people there, equivalent to ordinary humans in our world, are half-human, half-elves.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°Now, please stand in the center of the magic circle.¡±

    Minhyuk obediently followed Aesden¡¯s words and stood in the center of the magic circle. Then, a bright light appeared and enveloped his entire being.

    <em>[You are being warped into the World of Hybrids.]</em>

    Minhyuk bowed politely as he slowly disappeared. After disappearing, Aesden looked down at the choctes and smiled slightly. He gently opened one and put it in his mouth.

    As the sweetness covered his mouth, Aesden recalled what he had seen when he finally reached the dot-like light in that darkness. What did he see back then? It was none other than a beach.

    ¡°He is sometimes thend, sometimes the sky, and sometimes the sea,¡± Aesden murmured, pondering over those mysterious words as he stared at the ce where the man disappeared from for a very long time.

    ***

    Minhyuk, who was warped inside a forest, immediately heard a series of notifications in his ears.

    <em>[You are the first yer to have stepped on the World of Hybrids: Utopia!]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the </em><strong><em>Title</em></strong><em>: The One who Arrived First.]</em>

    <em>[Your EXP Acquisition and Artifact Drop rates would double for a week.]</em>

    Minhyuk first checked the title The One who Arrived First.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>The One who Arrived First</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Unique Title</em>

    <strong><em>Restrictions</em></strong><em>: The first person to arrive in Utopia.</em>

    <strong><em>Title Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?Whether you¡¯re hunting monsters or doing quests in Utopia, your EXP Acquisition Rate will increase by 25%.</em>

    <em>?Whether you¡¯re hunting monsters or doing quests in Utopia, your Artifact Drop Rate and Reward Yield will increase by 10%.</em>

    <em>?All of your stats will increase by 2% if you are in Utopia.</em>

    The title was excellent within the scope of Utopia. Then, additional notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You havepleted the </em><strong><em>ss Quest</em></strong><em>: The World of Hybrids.]</em>

    <em>[The </em><strong><em>Linked Quest</em></strong><em>: Find the Food God¡¯s Progeny, Rhoando.]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Linked Quest</em></strong><em>: Find the Food God¡¯s Progeny, Rhoando.]</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: ss</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: Food God who entered Utopia</em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: Creation of skill rted to the Food God (uponpleting all quests.), ???</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Failure</em></strong><em>: Unable to proceed with the following quests.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: Rhoando, the Food God¡¯s Progeny, lives in Utopia. Find him somewhere in the Barov Kingdom.</em>

    ¡°...Oh!¡± Minhyuk eximed.

    The words ¡°Food God¡¯s Progeny¡± meant that this person carried the bloodline of the Food God.

    <em>¡®Gods could also have children. In some rare cases, children would be born between a human and a god.¡¯</em>

    However, in the world where Minhyuk was residing, the gods did not necessarily let their children inherit their thrones. They would only offer the position or give trials to allow them to inherit it to qualified people.

    There was a reason why the gods in Minhyuk¡¯s world did not necessarily give their positions to their children.

    <em>¡®Because their children did not inherit the full power of a god at birth. Only then would the yers have the chance to inherit their positions.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®But this world might be different.¡¯</em>

    That was right. The rules of this world might just be different. Perhaps the Food God¡¯s progeny would have inherited entirely the power of the Food God here. But there was something else more interesting to take note of.

    <em>¡®The Food God. Maybe they''re talking about Ravier, or maybe it¡¯s Allen.¡¯</em>

    Or maybe it was another Food God. But one thing was for sure: whoever they were, the Food God once came to the World of Hybrids. After all, that would be the only reason he has a progeny left behind in the form of Rhoando.

    And there was also something that Minhyuk was looking forward to. <em>¡®Since he¡¯s the Food God¡¯s progeny, he can make delicious food, right?¡¯</em>

    Of course, this story would only be discussed once Minhyukpleted all the quests.

    Minhyuk started to walk. First, he had to get out of this forest and find the nearest vige or kingdom. Only then would he be able to find the location of the Barov Kingdom.

    <em>¡®It would be enjoyable to pick all the mushrooms and fruits from the World of Hybrids I will encounter on the way!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk did not know if a rough road was awaiting him. But even if he knew, his happiness would not be dampened. As long as he could eat or harvest a lot of delicious food while working, he would be happy.

    But before leaving the forest, Minhyuk did not forget to try to summon Beanie.

    ¡°Oiiiiiiink!¡±

    Fortunately, he was able to summon Beanie. Beanie, who appeared inside the forest, scratched his hips and looked around thoughtfully.

    ¡°Beans, this is a new world called Utopia. And it is said that the Food God¡¯s progeny lives here. Maybe this world is filled with dishes developed by the Food God¡¯s descendants! Ah, maybe there are special fruits here!¡±

    Beanie scratched his butt andughed when he heard Minhyuk¡¯s words.

    ¡°Oink. Oink, oink. Oiiiiiiink! <em>(Let¡¯s go quickly, master! Oink!)</em>¡±

    The small Beanie immediately led Minhyuk after he had scratched his butt to his heart¡¯s content. The two pigs were brimming with excitement as they moved forward. But strangely enough, they could not find anything. Even when one hour or two hours had passed.

    ¡°Why?¡±

    And the same was still true after reaching the third hour of their journey.

    ¡°What in the world is happening?!¡±

    ¡°Oiiiiink!¡±

    Nothing changed even after the fifth hour.

    ¡°Why is there nothing?!!¡±

    ¡°Oiiiiiiiiiink!¡±

    The two pigs finally realized that something was wrong. No fruit hung on the trees'' branches, and mushrooms did not grow near the roots.

    The two found itpletely strange. For some reason, they felt like they were walking in a peculiarnd devoid of food ingredients.

    ¡°<strong>NOOOOOOOO!!!</strong>¡±

    ¡°<strong>OIIIIIIIIIIINK!!!</strong>¡±

    Desperate cries rang loudly and resonated all over the forest.

    ***

    Special yers Management Team.

    Lee Minhwa and Team Leader Park watched Minhyuk and Beanie scream through the monitor.

    ¡°The Food God¡¯s final quest has begun.¡±

    ¡°Indeed.¡±

    The Food God¡¯s final quest. Minhyuk had finally reached this point.

    Finally, the two had reached their destination. And just like what Minhyuk and Beanie had seen, there were no fruits, mushrooms, or any other food ingredients that could be found in Utopia.

    <em>[Beans, there must be a lot in the vige or a kingdom, right?]</em>

    <em>[Oiiiiink!]</em>

    The two rushed, their eyes filled with hope. But Lee Minhwa shook her head. ¡°There are no ingredients in Utopia. They would not be able to find one.¡±

    Team Leader Park nodded with a bitter smile on his face. ¡°It¡¯s not that there aren¡¯t any ingredients. It¡¯s more urate to say that they have lost it, no?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡±

    It was just as the two said. Food had been removed from the World of Hybrids, Utopia.

    If one thought deeply about it, the World of Hybrids should be very chaotic and confusing. Despite knowing this fact, why did the hybrids create Utopia? This was because they could not get along with ordinary humans or elves.

    Since they could not get along well with humans and elves, would the half-gods and the half-transcendentals get along well even if they went to a new world? This should prove to be a very daunting task.

    But what if a very strong power appeared and controlled them? Then the story would be different. Strangely enough, a system had been set, and they were clearly divided into sses.

    ¡°It¡¯s because of Hybrid God Arce.¡±

    Yes, of course. There was a god in the World of Hybrids.

    ¡°He¡¯s half-god,¡± Team Leader Park murmured.

    Lee Minhwa immediately followed up. ¡°And half-transcendental.¡±

    The two, who had a very tacit understanding, looked at each other.

    Then, Team Leader Park said, ¡°And Arce¡­¡±

    ¡°Received the power of the Food God,¡± Lee Minhwa finished.

    That was right. Arce was half-transcendental and half-god. His father was the Food God.

    Team Leader Park smiled. ¡°This time, yer Minhyuk would have a hard time. Perhaps he would even fail.¡±

    Since this was the final quest, its difficulty level would also be at the highest.

    ¡°You look like you¡¯re enjoying this?¡±

    Team Leader Park cheered on and supported Minhyuk. However, he believed that it was still better for him to experience these hardships and trials asionally. After all, it was hard to see Minhyuk on a roll every single time.

    ¡°Well, I find it nice that yer Minhyuk will have a hard time with a story created by Joy Co. Ltd., you know?¡±

    Park Minggyu wanted to shout to the world this time, <em>¡®Joy Co. Ltd. finally won!¡¯ </em>Yes, Joy Co. Ltd. won against Minhyuk for the very first time. But then, he remembered something.

    He turned to Lee Minhwa and asked, ¡°By the way, do you know what skill yer Minhyuk intends to create once hepletes the quest?¡±

    The Special yers Management Team members could easily listen to the yers¡¯ conversations through their monitors. Because of that, they could easily infer or assume what the yer wanted to do.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Lee Minhwa replied.

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    Lee Minhwa gave the answer that she had inferred. ¡°He wants to create a field of God-grade ingredients.¡±

    This was something that any chef yer had dreamt of. But everyone knew that it was impossible, no?

    ¡°From what I have seen, he wants to extract a portion of the ingredients that he will acquire, nt them in the field, and cultivate them until they grow again.¡±

    ¡°...¡± Team Leader Park¡¯s face turned stiff when he heard that. <em>¡®I thought that we won this round¡­¡¯</em>

    Could this be considered a tie? That was just how amazing the skill that yer Minhyuk hade up with.

    <em>¡®If he can sessfully create that skill, then¡­¡¯</em>

    If that truly happened, Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s various teams would once again scream for help.

    ¡°<em>Haa¡­</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Haa¡­</em>¡±

    And, of course, the same was true for the Special yers Management Team.

 Chapter 972

    Chapter 972

    World of Hybrids, Utopia.

    Minhyuk had been running around all day, trying to find the Food God¡¯s progeny, Rhoando, and the Barov Kingdom.

    <em>¡®Ridiculous! How can a ce like this exist?!¡¯</em>

    Despite being on their feet all day, they could not find a single food ingredient in Utopia. Thankfully, they were able to find a vast kingdom.

    ¡°Beans, let¡¯s go!¡±

    ¡°Oiiiiink!¡±

    Minhyuk and Beanie charged toward the kingdom. <em>The new world¡¯s unique dishes! </em>The two ran while thinking that they had to eat that. The guards blocked their path when they arrived at the kingdom''s entrance.

    ¡°Half-human, half-pig?¡±

    ¡°Ho? That¡¯s a bit unusual.¡±¡°...¡±

    Beanie was rendered speechless. He looked at them sarcastically, his face screaming, " <em>What do you mean by half-human, half-pig? I¡¯m clearly a pig. </em>

    Fortunately, Minhyuk, whom Aesden helped transform into the figure of a half-human, half-elf, safely passed through security. It was made more essible since the guards were also half-human, half-elf. It was evident with their sharp and pointy ears.

    The moment he entered the kingdom, Minhyuk quickly moved to try and find the specialties of the World of Hybrids. But there was no single ce that sold food anywhere in the kingdom. There weren¡¯t even restaurants, which should have beenmonce.

    In frustration, Minhyuk stopped a middle-aged woman and asked, ¡°Hi?¡±

    ¡°Yes, hello,¡± the woman greeted him warmly. It seemed like she had a favorable impression of him.

    ¡°By any chance, where can I find a restaurant here?¡±

    ¡°R¨C Restaurant?¡± The woman stuttered. She looked flustered when she heard the worde from Minhyuk¡¯s mouth. Her expression even changed. Now, she looked like she had heard something she shouldn¡¯t have heard. ¡°How dare you say the word ¡®restaurant¡¯ with your mouth?!¡±

    <em>[Your favor with Berin has decreased.]</em>

    The woman looked at Minhyuk from head to toe before quickly disappearing from his sight. She acted like she did not hear anything from him at all. Minhyuk was left flustered after seeing her react like that. Puzzled, Minhyuk turned to others to ask the same thing.

    ¡°Are you nuts?! How dare you say such a filthy word¡­?!¡±

    ¡°Ha¡­ This ispletely ridiculous!¡±

    <em>[Your favor with Brachan has decreased.]</em>

    <em>[Your favor with Bendwin has decreased.]</em>

    Minhyuk was left in doubt and confusion when he saw their reaction after he said the word ¡°restaurant.¡± What was a restaurant? For people today, it was a ce where they could rest after a difficult day.

    In the end, Minhyuk gave up on asking the people. <em>¡®I¡¯ll probably know once I meet the Food God¡¯s progeny, Rhoando.¡¯</em>

    He must have a massive appetite since he was born with the Food God¡¯s blood. And he would most likely be rted to cooking. Instead of asking about restaurants, Minhyuk began to ask around about Rhoando. Surprisingly enough, he found out about Rhoando¡¯s location in a much more straightforward way than he had expected.

    Minhyuk imagined Rhoando to be a chef who could make excellent dishes. After all, he was the food enthusiast, the Food God from another world.

    <em>¡®But why is he with the mercenaries?¡¯</em> Minhyuk was quite puzzled about this fact. However, he soon shook his head. Even Len, once an imperial chef, became the subjugation forces¡¯ cooking team leader. Maybe Rhoando was in charge of making the mercenaries¡¯ meals, no?

    It did not take too long for Minhyuk to reach the ce where more than 1,500 mercenaries had gathered. And just like he expected, most of them were sporting the same sharp and pointy ears that he currently had.

    ¡°Excuse me, do you know where Rhoando is?¡±

    ¡°Rhoando? Rhoando¡¯s over there.¡±

    Minhyuk followed the guidance of one of the mercenaries and soon came face to face with a man with a gigantic build. For a moment, Minhyuk felt like he saw Venteio before him. Rhoando looked like an ordinary mercenary. He had an overgrown beard, a muscr body, and a bald head.

    ¡°Hello,¡± Minhyuk greeted politely.

    Rhoando, wiping his gigantic axe, looked at him in confusion. ¡°Who are you?¡±

    Although the man¡¯s appearance was far from what Minhyuk imagined him to look like, there was no doubt that he was Rhoando. After all, the quest was pointing at him.

    That was why, without any hesitation, Minhyuk said, ¡°I¡¯m the Food God.¡±

    ¡°...!¡± Rhoando¡¯s face was colored with surprise when he heard the words ¡°Food God.¡± However, his expression immediately returned to its initial nonchnce. Then, he ced his hand over Minhyuk¡¯s shoulder andughed. ¡°Hey guys! Look over here; this guy says he¡¯s the Food God!¡±

    ¡°Wahahahahahaha! Food God?! Are you saying he¡¯s a Food God when there¡¯s no food here?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve inherited a useless bloodline!¡±

    Minhyuk frowned when he heard the mercenaries¡¯ ridicule. At the same time, he thought, <em>¡®A world without no food?¡¯</em>

    The words were like a bolt out of the blue for Minhyuk. Could a world truly exist without any food?

    Rhoando looked at Minhyuk for a moment. He could see that Minhyuk was genuinely ignorant of the ways of this world. He was like a clean te regarding matters of this world.

    ¡°You probably inherited the blood of the Food God and an elf, huh?¡±

    Rhoando¡¯s thinking was only natural, especially with Minhyuk¡¯s ears being that sharp and pointy. At this moment, Minhyuk realized he did not need to reveal to anyone here that he was a <em>pure</em> Food God.

    <em>¡®Rhoando, the person who inherited the blood of the Food God,ughs when he hears the word ¡®Food God.¡¯ And a world without food.¡¯</em>

    For now, Minhyuk deemed it necessary to learn more about this world and his situation.

    Then, Rhoando said, ¡°You probably have just been sent to this world, huh?¡± He rested his arm on Minhyuk¡¯s shoulders and continued, ¡°Since you have inherited the blood of an elf and the Food God, you¡¯d probably live to around 500 years old.¡±

    Minhyuk listened and pieced together the puzzle pieces as he listened to Rhoando¡¯s unexpectedly friendly and kind(?) exnation. From what he had gathered, the average life expectancy in Utopia was around 300 years old.

    Of course, this was only the average life expectancy for half-human, half-elves. Those who had the blood of a god coursing through their veins could live up to a thousand years. This was only natural. After all, a god would not die unless they wanted to die on their own.

    However, the most crucial information he had gleaned from Rhaondo¡¯s words was that there was no food in this world.

    ¡°I¡¯m telling you this, so don¡¯t forget about it. Those words are forbidden. Never mention words rted to the ¡®Food God¡¯ or ¡®cooking¡¯ in this world.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Minhyuk really could not understand.

    Rhoando pointed toward the sky with great fanfare and exaggeration, saying, ¡°Because the great god had forbidden it. An ordinary person needs to eat at least three meals a day. It would take around two to three hours from meal preparation to eating. God had said that wasting time on something this useless was not necessary. So, he forbade it. And it has been like this for hundreds of years.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s face grew ugly when he heard Rhoando¡¯s exnation. ¡°This is more like hell.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Rhoando¡¯s eyes were filled with an unknown glint as he looked at Minhyuk. However, the twinkle in his eyes disappeared just as quickly as it appeared. Then, he cackled. ¡°This is the reason why you, who inherited the blood of a useless god like the Food God, will bepletely useless in this world. If you just inherited the blood of a regr god, then you would probably be able to gain a strong and powerful body. But the Food God? It¡¯s a god who only knows how to eat, right?!¡±

    Rhoando scoffed. Funnily enough, ording to the quest that Minhyuk received, Rhoando also had inherited the blood of the Food God. But there was no way that Rhoando could know that Minhyuk knew that fact.

    ¡°It¡¯s better for you to try and find a way to survive in thisnd. Let go of that useless power and just be a strong mercenary. Like us! Ah, I also do not have any strong power or something like that. After all, I also inherited the blood of the Food God!¡±

    ¡°Keuhahahahahaha!¡±

    ¡°Hahahahahahaha. You¡¯re the one who said that!¡±

    The mercenaries around them guffawed.

    Minhyuk, who listened to all of them, grew angry. ¡°Is it funny tough at someone just because they like eating?!¡±

    ¡°Hahaha¡­¡±

    Theughter slowly subsided.

    ¡°You have to eat three times a day. And it takes you to cook and eat for two to three hours every single time.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°But if you remove the excitement one would feel before eating food in one¡¯s life, then what should we soothe ourselves with? How should we rx after a long day of work?¡±

    One of man¡¯s greatest pleasures was food. Perhaps it could also be considered as man¡¯s greatestfort.

    But then, Rhoando drilled Minhyuk¡¯s head with his finger and said, ¡°We don¡¯t need such a thing. Just let it go.¡±

    If this were in Minhyuk¡¯s turf, he might have already thrown hands with how they acted. However, he was in apletely different world. Since this worldcked anything that could be eaten, he had to adapt and understand their thinking.

    <em>When in Rome, do as the Romans do.</em>

    Even if he could not talk with his fist, there were many ways to crush them and bring down those heads that had been staying high up in the clouds because of their arrogance.

    Minhyuk tried to gently and surely induce them to say the words that he wanted to hear. ¡°The Food God is not such a useless and trivial god as you think. He is a greater and more noble god than any other god.¡±

    Everyone present knew that Minhyuk was a half-elf, half-Food God. There was a chance that they were also aware of the fact that he possessed the ability to raise his stats just by eating. However, those not in the know might just view the Food God as a god that was not good at anything except eating. Of course, this would usually be the case.

    ¡°That¡¯s ridiculous¨C¡± Rhoando looked at Minhyuk in disbelief. ¡°¨CThe Food God is nothing but a trivial and useless god. Can he even do cksmith work like a cksmith can? Of course not.¡±

    Minhyuk was pretty good at cksmithing.

    ¡°Does he even have good DEX, allowing him to make everything well? Not at all.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s DEX was higher than any other gods¡¯ DEX.

    ¡°Can you even say that he is strong? Can he strike a falcon in the sky with his arrows? Can he cut steel with his sword? Can he do those things that those born from other gods can do?¡±

    Minhyuk was Athenae¡¯s Supreme.

    ¡°See? There¡¯s nothing else that he can do. Hmm? Ahahahahahaha!¡±

    ¡°Keuhahahahahahahaha!¡±

    ¡°In- In the end, the Food God is useless!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s acting had already matured. He could gently nudge them in the direction he wanted, even though they wereughing and mocking him.

    Then, at that moment, one of the mercenaries said, ¡°Wahahahahahaha! If you can kill one armored ogre, I will remove my underwear and dance in front of everyone!¡±

    ¡°Eyy! Are you saying that a Food God can kill a Steel-Armored Ogre? He should just go out and kill a rabbit!¡±

    Rhoando, who heard those words, no longer felt like talking to Minhyuk. So, he said, ¡°Alright. If you can hunt fifty Steel-Armored Ogres and collect a hundred kilograms of the steel armor that they have on their bodies within two days, then I will treat you as my <em>hyung-nim</em> for the rest of my life!¡± Rhoandoughed mischievously.

    Even the other mercenaries wereughing out loud, too.

    ¡°You¡¯re asking the guy who inherited the blood of the Food God to hunt a Steel-Armored Ogre?! Rhoando, you¡¯re quite the mischievous one!¡±

    ¡°Hahahaha! Won¡¯t he die as soon as he meets one?¡±

    ¡°Won¡¯t he even be able to try?¡±

    The Steel-Armored Ogre was a high-level monster with levels over Level 580. Even the mercenaries of this world would struggle to fight against one. The worst part was that Rhoando even asked Minhyuk to harvest the steel armor on their bodies personally. They were sturdy materials that were good for making swords.

    ¡°Is that all that I have to do?¡± Minhyuk continued to prod Rhoando, who had already taken his bait.

    ¡°And I¡¯ll make sure to listen to two things that you want.¡±

    Then, a quest window immediately appeared in front of Minhyuk.

    <em>[You havepleted the </em><strong><em>Linked Quest</em></strong><em>: Find the Food God¡¯s Progeny, Rhoando.]</em>

    <em>[The </em><strong><em>Linked Quest</em></strong><em>: Hunt 50 Steel-Armored Ogres and Harvest 100 kg of Ogre¡¯s Steel Armor has been created!]</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: ss</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: The One who Received Rhoando¡¯s Offer</em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: Rhoando will give you two things that you want.</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Failure</em></strong><em>: Unable to proceed with the following quests. </em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: Rhoando, the Food God¡¯s progeny, mocked andughed at you while suggesting you hunt for Steel-Armored Ogres. Show them your prowess and hunt fifty Steel-Armored Ogres and gather a hundred kilograms of its steel armor within two days. The Steel-Armored Ogres are located in the Big Tree Forest.</em>

    Just when he finished checking the quest, he received additional notifications.

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[If you canplete and achieve any of the quests given by those who inherited the blood of the Food God in Utopia, then you will be able to level up one of the Food God¡¯s skills!]</em>

    <em>[The Food God¡¯s progenies possessed one or two more of the skills that you also possess. They have the power to increase the level of your skills!]</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

    Minhyuk was left in shock.

    <em>¡®All of the progenies of the Food god have the skills that I have?¡¯</em>

    Completing one of the quests they gave him would allow him to increase his skill level by +1. For example, if Rhoando had the skill Let¡¯s Have a Meal, then if Minhyukpleted this quest, that skill would increase.

    <em>¡®If there¡¯s another Food God¡¯s progeny here, then I will also have the opportunity to increase my Food God¡¯s skills by one level.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was very delighted when he heard the unexpectedly good news.

    ¡°Hey, don¡¯t nk out,¡± Rhoando said when he saw him like that. ¡°Did you suddenly be like that after hearing that you must hunt Steel-Armored Ogres? Didn¡¯t I tell you? If you can hunt them, then I¡¯ll make you my <em>hyung-nim</em>. Ah! I forgot to tell you my condition. If you fail to do this, don¡¯t wander in front of me again.¡±

    Rhoando even growled to emphasize his point. Minhyuk immediately turned and ran. After he disappeared, the mercenaries¡¯ughter died down.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Don¡¯t you think that it was a bit too much?¡±

    A bitter expression shed on Rhoando¡¯s face when he heard the question of the mercenary group¡¯s vice-captain. ¡°We¡¯re going to do something huge. If that guy gets involved with us and things go wrong, he will be in trouble.¡±

    The truth was, no one from the mercenary group thought that way about the Food God.

    <em>¡®You¡¯re right. Without the joy and pleasure of eating, our lives would be boring and lifeless.¡¯</em>

    That was why Rhoando was determined to do something to bring that back.

    Then, at that moment, the mercenary group¡¯s deputymander approached Rhoando and said, ¡°Then, what would you do if he could hunt them?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible. Even our members would have difficulty hunting five of the Steel-Armored Ogre daily. But he has to hunt fifty of them by tomorrow. But his biggest obstacle was getting the steel armor from the Steel-Armored Ogre¡¯s body. Even the most respected cksmiths would have a hard time during the process of obtaining that material.¡± Rhoando smiled and shook his head. He firmly believed that it was an impossible feat.

    However, unbeknownst to Rhoando, he would gain a hyung 675 years his junior.

 Chapter 973

    Chapter 973

    Minhyuk went to the Big Tree Forest to hunt for the Steel-Armored Ogres.

    It has only been a few days since he arrived in the World of Hybrids, Utopia. However, he had already learned something in just those few days.

    <em>¡®The basic level of the monsters here is much higher than in our world.¡¯</em>

    What was the reason for this? It was probably because more than 90% of the poption of this world were half-human, half-elves.

    Humans were nimble and good with the sword, while elves were slender from birth and superior to humans when handling bows. With thebination of all of the advantages of both races present in them, it was only natural that their average level was high. And in turn, the average level of monsters would also be high.

    <em>¡®The look in Rhoando¡¯s eyes looked strange.¡¯</em>

    Although Rhoando was mocking him, Minhyuk did not miss the look in his eyes.

    <em>¡®What¡¯s the reason?¡¯</em>

    However, he pushed the doubt to the back of his head. He knew that he would be able to find out about it as long as he finished hunting the Steel-Armored Ogres. Not long after, Minhyuk arrived in the Big Tree Forest. As soon as he stepped inside the forest, he found a tree and swiftly climbed up.

    ¡°<em>Roaaaaaaar!</em>¡±

    The loud roar of the ogre reverberated in the forest. When Minhyuk turned toward the sound, he saw a gigantic Steel-Armored Ogre protected by steel armor. Its size was farrger than the ordinary ogre that Minhyuk knew of.

    <em>[Steel-Armored Ogre. Level 601.]</em>

    <em>¡®What the hell? What ogre goes above Level 600?¡¯</em>

    The average level of ogres in Minhyuk¡¯s world was around Level 450. Of course, there were a few higher-leveled ogres among them. However, their highest level would only be at around Level 500 or so.

    <em>¡®Rhoando and the mercenaries spoke as if they could hunt these Steel-Armored Ogres.¡¯</em>

    Perhaps Rhoando and his band of mercenaries were considered some of the strongest guys in this world.

    Minhyuk looked at the charging Steel-Armored Ogre with a rxed expression.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    The ogre swiftly raised its axe and swung it down Minhyuk. However, Minhyuk easily evaded the attack. He even had the leisure to swing his sword, which carried the word <em>Destruction</em> on its de.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    When Minhyuk, who could swing his sword more than four times per second, shed at the ogre, around sixteen lightning bolts fell from the sky and devoured the ogre.

    ¡°Keuhaaack?¡±

    The rugged and sturdy Steel-Armored Ogre fell in just two seconds.

    Minhyuk had already reached Level 650. For him, it would only take a single swing of his sword to deal with a Steel-Armored Ogre, even if it had an unexpectedly stronger power than usual.

    Then, the notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[You have hunted a Steel-Armored Ogre.]</em>

    <em>[You gained 31,300,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You gained one tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Steel-Armored Ogre¡¯s Blood.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Utopia¡¯s Superior Potato.]</em>

    ¡°...Oh?¡± Minhyuk looked at the notifications in surprise.

    ording to Rhoando and the mercenaries, there was nothing that they could eat in this world. But a potato dropped when he hunted the Steel-Armored Ogre. The fact that a potato would drop from an ogre was quite an unfamiliar sight.

    Minhyuk immediately checked out the potato¡¯s information.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Utopia¡¯s Superior Potato</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Ingredient Grade</em></strong><em>: A</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?It will taste iparably better than ordinary potatoes. </em>

    <em>?If you eat one, you will not go hungry for three days.</em>

    <em>?Once consumed, your vitality will increase by 2%, and your STR and STM will increase by 3% for three days.</em>

    <em>? Eating just one potato contains all the nutrients your body needs for three days.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: This is the only food permitted in Utopia, a ce where consumption of food is prohibited. The only thing that the Utopians can eat is potatoes.</em>

    Minhyuk was very excited to see the delicious-looking potato in his hands.

    <em>¡®This potato is the only food permitted in Utopia.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk felt thrilled that he was the only one allowed to enter this ce. He immediately started steaming the potato that he had obtained. While steaming the potato, he nned to deal with the Steel-Armored Ogre and remove its steel armor.

    The Steel-Armored Ogre¡¯s skin was literally like steel armor. Minhyuk might not know it, but even the skilled cksmiths of Utopia could only get a kilogram of steel armor from the Steel-Armored Ogre. And it would take them at least seven hours topletely extract and acquire the steel armor. That just went to show how hard the task was.

    But Minhyuk? He just stretched his hand out and tugged on the steel armor, which easily fell off andnded in his palms.

    ¡°That¡¯s easy?¡±

    <em>[You have done a perfect job in extracting the steel armor.]</em>

    <em>[There is little to no damage to the steel armor you extracted. You can use the material to make swords or armor right away.]</em>

    <em>[No matter how long the time has passed, the steel armor will not rust so easily.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s DEX was higher than the DEX of the God of cksmiths. This task was just like a piece of cake for him. Of course, he did not forget to check the detailed information of the material in his hands.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Ogre¡¯s Steel Armor</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Material Grade</em></strong><em>: A</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?If you use the Ogre¡¯s Steel Armor to create a sword, your sword will have 13% higher attack power than ordinary swords.</em>

    <em>?If you use the Ogre¡¯s Steel Armor to create a sword, your sword will have a 20% increase in cutting power.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: This is the steel armor attached to the body of the Steel-Armored Ogre. They wear around 80 kilograms of steel armor on their bodies, but even a skilled cksmith could only extract at most a kilogram of the steel armor on their body.</em>

    ¡°Oh¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was quite impressed. The material itself was far superior to ordinary iron or steel. The best part? If used by a skilled knight, the 20% increase in cutting power would tremendously boost their powers.

    <em>¡®Isn¡¯t this amazing?¡¯</em>

    Of course, there was plenty of iron and steel in the world from where Minhyuk came. However, it was still quite hard to obtain iron and steel of outstanding quality.

    Minhyuk first acquired all of the steel armor he could obtain from the Steel-Armored Ogre.

    <em>[You have obtained 11 kg of Ogre¡¯s Steel Armor.]</em>

    The steel armor that he obtained from one ogre was no less than eleven kilograms.

    <em>¡®Is it this easy to acquire?¡¯</em>

    However, Minhyuk concluded that this was not the case at all. The exnation clearly told him that even the most skilled cksmiths could only extract a kilogram at most.

    At this moment, he realized again, <em>¡®They tried to make me do something that they thought I wouldn¡¯t be able to do in the first ce.¡¯</em>

    He did not know their true intentions, but one thing was for sure: It was absolutely impossible for an ordinary person toplete this quest. Thankfully, it was a piece of cake for Minhyuk, who had repeatedly worked hard just so he could taste delicious dishes.

    <em>¡®If I can use this steel armor to make weapons and armor for the knights and soldiers of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, then they would be reborn anew. Perhaps they would even be 10% stronger than normal.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk decided to take as much steel armor as possible from the Steel-Armored Ogres while proceeding with his quest. But before that, he turned to look at the potato that he had steamed.

    Steam rose from the pot when he gently lifted the lid. He removed the potato and let it cool for a while. Once it had cooled down, he carefully peeled the potato.

    ¡°<em>Tss.</em> Hot, hot! It¡¯s still hot, huh?¡± Minhyuk gently rolled the potato around in his hand before peeling it again.

    After peeling the skin off, he took a huge bite of the steaming potato.

    ¡°Ho¨C¡±

    The potato''s heat immediately spread in his mouth. Minhyuk rolled the piece with his tongue to cool it down before chewing and gulping it. The potato was steamed perfectly. It was so soft that it glided smoothly down his throat.

    ¡°Yummy¡­¡± Minhyuk was in awe.

    This time, he dipped the potato in salt. A burst of <em>umami</em> spread in Minhyuk¡¯s mouth as the salt met with the slightly dry and nd potato.

    Minhyuk, who finished the potato in an instant, topped his meal off with the cold and sour <em>dongchimi.</em>

    ¡°Kihyaa!¡± Minhyuk shouted in awe.

    <em>¡®I have never tasted a potato more delicious than this!¡¯</em>

    The potato, the only food allowed in Utopia, was surprisingly delicious. Perhaps that was only the case because he ate a Superior Potato.

    <em>¡®What if there¡¯s a higher-grade potato out there? Would it taste more delicious?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk assumed that he could get more potatoes by hunting the monsters. And from what he had guessed, the grade of the potato he would obtain would depend on the level of the monster that he had hunted.

    <em>¡®If I can hunt a stronger monster, then does that mean that I will be able to get more delicious potatoes?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk felt highly excited. Why? Because the potato he had just eaten was tastier than any other potato he had tasted in his life. The thought of making buttered potato, French fries, potato <em>jeon</em>, and many other potato-based dishes with such a delicious potato was indeed enough to excite him.

    ¡°Fufu. It would be good if I could equip the knights and soldiers of my Beyond the Heavens Empire with better swords and armor. So, I have to hunt more of this bastard, no?¡±

    It was evident that Minhyuk¡¯s motivation for hunting the monsters in Utopia was to get more potatoes. However, he quickly made an excuse by saying that he wanted to give new weapons and armor to the knights and soldiers of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    Just like that, Minhyuk began to hunt the Steel-Armored Ogres in the Big Tree Forest at a rapid pace. In just one hour, he was able to chase 200 ogres. He was also able to obtain more than two tons of steel armor and more than 300 potatoes.

    Even so, Minhyuk was still disappointed.

    <em>¡®More¨C More, more¡­!¡¯</em>

    He needed more potatoes. Of course, he also needed more steel armor for his knights and soldiers. But the problem was he could no longer find any Steel-Armored Ogres in the Big Tree Forest.

    Minhyuk quickly climbed up a cliff, trying to find more Steel-Armored Ogres.

    ¡°P¨C Potato¡­¡±

    That was when he saw a vast ogre settlement beneath the cliff. Minhyuk thought tens of thousands of Steel-Armored Ogres would be in that ce.

    Minhyuk was extremely thrilled. Why? Because he felt like he would be able to obtain 50,000 potatoes today. But then, Minhyuk saw around twenty people, who looked like royal knights, being dragged in by some of the Steel-Armored Ogres.

    ***

    Rowling, one of the knights of the Barov Kingdom, was sporting a helpless and desperate look.

    <em>¡®Not only did we fail the subjugation, we were also easily caught as prey¡­¡¯</em>

    Steel-Armored Ogres were known for living together in packs and creating huge settlements. This meant that their intelligence could rival that of an orc¡¯s intelligence.

    The Steel-Armored Ogres had been showing up in the Big Tree Forest and various other forests in the past few years. And, of course, they would leave tremendous casualties in their wake. Because of that, the great king personally gave them an order.

    ¨C<em>Subjugate and eliminate the Steel-Armored Ogres.</em>

    The knights of Barov Kingdom formed several teams to subjugate the ogres. Their initial n was to slowly hunt the Steel-Armored Ogres from the various forests, including the Big Tree Forest, where they had appeared. Then, once they had prepared themselves to some extent, they would push them back and, by extension, force their settlement away.

    However, because of the wrong judgment made by themander of the Third Knight Order, Rowling and the rest of the knights with him were forced to enter deeper into the forest than they had nned before. Because of that, they suffered severe damage in their ranks. The worst part? The twenty people, who barely survived, were tied up and dragged into the ogres¡¯ settlement like this.

    Everything that happened made Rowling feel scared. <em>¡®From what I heard, these bastards eat humans alive.¡¯</em>

    The mere thought made Rowling flinch and cower. Perhaps the ogres were bringing him and the rest of the twenty survivors here so they could eat them.

    Then, in just an instant, they were surrounded by tens of thousands of drooling Steel-Armored Ogres.

    ¡°Graaaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Groooooaaaar!¡±

    ¡°Roaaaaaaar!¡±

    Rowling¡¯s legs began to shake and tremble at the joy and delight evident in their roars. In the end, Rowling copsed on the ground when he saw one of the Steel-Armored Ogres look at him.

    The ogre grabbed him by the ankle with its huge hand and pulled him up.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaah!¡± Rowling shrieked. Paralyzed by the fear of having his bones broken while being chewed whole by that gruesome and hideous mouth, all he could do was scream.

    <em>Swoosh¨C!</em>

    The ogre opened its huge mouth and slowly brought the arm holding Rowling toward its mouth.

    <em>Spurt¨C!</em>

    But then, something surprising happened. The Steel-Armored Ogre¡¯s sturdy and tough skin, which they needed to sh repeatedly with their swords just to inflict the most minor damage, was cut down all at once. To be exact, the ogre trying to eat Rowling was sliced in half.

    Immediately after that, a man holding a frying pan in one hand appeared. The man put his hand in his mouth and whistled.

    <em>Fweeeeeeet¨C!</em>

    At that moment, some of the ogres'' eyes turned toward the man.

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Roaaaaaar!¡±

    ¡°Groaaaaaar!¡±

    Tens of thousands of Steel-Armored Ogre turned toward the man and began to charge at him like crazy. They looked like they hadpletely lost their minds. But then, something shocking happened.

    <em>Splurt¨C!</em>

    <em>sh¨C sh, sh, sh, sh¨C sh, sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    The ogres could not even reach the man with their fingertips as blood started to spurt out of their bodies. Several lightning bolts fell from the sky and devoured them. Now, all of the ogres¡¯ attention was on the man alone.

    At that moment, Rowling realized something. ¡°<em>Heok¡­</em> No- No way!¡±

    Rowling¡¯s eyes widened when he saw the ogres approaching the mysterious man. Amidst themotion, no ogres paid attention to him and the remaining surviving knights.

    That was right. The man was trying to stop all of the ogres on his own and buying enough time for them to run away.

    ¡°Rowling, quick!¡±

    ¡°We have to get out of here as quickly as possible!¡±

    ¡°We have to turn back and run!¡±

    Rowling¡¯s colleagues urged him to stand. The other knights continued to push and lead him away. However, he kept looking back at the man, and the worry was evident. But he soon discovered that he did not need to worry.

    <em>¡®Ah¨C Aaaaaah¡­!¡¯</em>

    Knight Rowling was the type of person who would idolize heroes and strong people. And the man, surrounded by tens of thousands of ogres, was strong and a hero.

    Rowling felt incredibly grateful to the man. Before running away, he shouted, ¡°Th- Thank you! May¨C May I please have your name?! What¡¯s your name?!¡±

    But the ogres¡¯ roars drowned out his and the man¡¯s voices.

    ¡°Graaaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Roaaaaaaar!¡±

    ¡°Groaaaaaaar!¡±

    ¡°<em>Fu¡­</em> delicious¡­¡±

    Rowling saw the man muttering something, but he could not hear it at all. Rowling tried to perk his ears up and concentrate so that he could hear better.

    ¡°Potato!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Was the man¡¯s name Potato? That was quite an unusual name, no? Even though it was unusual, Rowling kept the name deep in his heart.

    <em>¡®My hero, Potato. I will never forget you, Lord Potato!¡¯</em>

    ***

    Rhoando looked in the direction in which the man, who identified himself as the Food God, ran off.

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter? Are you waiting for him?¡± The deputymander asked.

    However, Rhoando shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m just a bit worried. What if he went to challenge the Steel-Armored Ogres and died?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible. He has run away.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s probably the case, right?¡±

    In the first ce, Rhoando had given the man an impossible task because he did not want him to get involved with them. He even mocked him by saying, <em>¡®If you can do this, then I will call you hyung-nim from now on.¡¯</em> It was a testament to the fact that the task was impossible, and there was no way the man wouldplete it.

    <em>¡®Since he hasn¡¯t returned yet, he should have run away, right?¡¯</em> Rhoando thought as he moved to finish their preparations for battle.

    ¡°...Huh?¡± One of the mercenaries suddenly shouted in doubt.

    Rhoando, who had heard the voice, followed the direction where the mercenary was looking. That was when he saw the man walking toward them.

    The man walked among the mercenaries and dropped the steel armor he had obtained on the ground before Rhoando. It was the 100 kilograms of steel armor that they had agreed upon.

    <em>Thud¨C!</em>

    ¡°...!¡± Rhoando looked at the man in surprise.

    Then, the man said, ¡°You did not forget your promise, did you?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    It was not only Rhoando; many other mercenaries made the same promise.

    Rhoando stuttered, ¡°Of¨C Of course. Hyung-nim.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Ah, I have obtained a very reliable younger brother, huh? Hey, younger brother, how old are you this year?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m 675 years old this year,¡± Rhoando answered as he tried his hardest to keep calm.

    God¡¯s blood flowed in this man¡¯s veins. This was the onlyforting fact for Rhoando. There was a chance that they only have around a hundred-year difference in age, right?

    But then, the man chuckled. ¡°I¡¯m 21 years old this year.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Heavy silence pressed down on everyone present.

 Chapter 974

    Chapter 974

    There was a saying in Utopia that was quite simr to the words that adults would usually say to their young friends in reality. It went almost the same as the saying, <em>¡®You¡¯re still wet behind the ears.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®You¡¯re 21 years old? Hey, you haven¡¯t even grown any stubble yet!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Our age gap is around twenty-fivefold.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®My god.¡¯</em>

    These were the thoughts that shed in the heads of all of the mercenaries, including Rhoando, present. This was especially the case for Rhoando. After all, he was the oldest out of all the mercenaries. His age? It was thirty times that of Minhyuk¡¯s age.

    But Minhyuk patted Rhoando on the shoulders and said, ¡°I¡¯ll be in your care from here on out, younger brother.¡±

    ¡°Yes, h¨C hyung-nim¡­¡±

    Even so, Rhoando and his band of mercenaries were not one to break their promises. They would uphold their end of the deal.

    However, Rhoando could not help but feel bitter. <em>¡®Maybe this is just my retribution?¡¯</em>Whatever it was, they were the ones who first mocked him to his face. As for Minhyuk? There was something that he wanted to check.

    ¡°Heave-ho!¡± Minhyuk sat himself down. ¡°I¡¯m hungry, so I¡¯ll have to go and eat. Ah, don¡¯t worry about me. You should go and do the things that you have to do.¡±

    Minhyuk acquired a total of 60,000 potatoes after he sessfully attacked the ogre settlement. He saw the knights, whom the ogres had captured, say something to him back then. But he did not hear it since his mind was clouded by his cravings for potatoes.

    <em>¡®Well, whatever. It¡¯s fine; at least they¡¯re safe.¡¯</em> Minhyuk nodded as he took some small marble potatoes from his inventory.

    The Steel-Armored Ogres not only dropped regr and ordinary potatoes but also dropped several small marble potatoes. It is said that one has to eat at least four marble potatoes to achieve a simr effect when eating one regr potato.

    ¡°...¡±

    A sh of disappointment appeared in the excited eyes of the mercenaries when they saw Minhyuk take the marble potatoes out of his inventory. As for what Minhyuk wanted to confirm? He wanted to see their reactions to what he was about to do.

    The mercenaries, who wanted to stop paying attention to him and focus on their work first, suddenly smelled a savory scent wafting their way.

    <em>Swoosh¨C!</em>

    <em>Swoosh¨C!</em>

    <em>Swoosh¨C!</em>

    Like hundreds of meerkats, their heads simultaneously turned in the same direction.

    Minhyuk knew what smell could drive people crazy. It was the smell of meat from a restaurant that one had passed by while walking, the smell of chicken or pizza inside an elevator.

    <em>¡®The smell of butter being melted in a frying pan.¡¯</em>

    A sweet yet savory smell would waft out of the pan when a dollop of butter was put in it. This smell was unique to butter and could easily stimte one¡¯s appetite. And this was the smell that was wafting around the forest.

    Minhyuk quickly dropped the marble potatoes into the frying pan coated with butter. The already steamed potatoes were slowly being cooked until they turned golden brown.

    <em>¡®The outside looks slightly burnt, but the inside is perfectly cooked. This is the key to cooking marble potatoes.¡¯</em>

    The mercenaries¡¯ eyes were all trained on the delicious-looking cooked marble potatoes.

    ¡°H¨C Hyung-nim¡­ Cooking is taboo in Utopia¡­¡±

    ¡°But since it¡¯s you, hyung-nim, we will not tell a single soul.¡±

    ¡°R- right. That¡¯s right. It will taste better if you cook it until golden brown outside. Just like that.¡±

    The mercenaries'' wordspletely differed from their actions. Although they opposed Minhyuk''s cooking, they could not take their eyes off the marble potatoes.

    Even Rhoando was acting the same way. His eyes were wide open, and one had to wonder if they were going to pop out as he looked at the marble potatoes, which were gradually taking on a golden hue.

    At this point, Minhyuk guessed that cooking had not been taboo in this world from the very beginning. He estimated that food and anything rted to it had been made taboo around a hundred years ago. Why? Well, the average life expectancy of the people living in this world was 300 years old, and it seemed like they still knew the taste of food.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s even more painful for them because they already knew the taste.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk knew this pain better than anybody else.

    When Minhyuk saw the unknown look in Rhoando''s eyes, the Food God¡¯s progeny, when he mocked him, he suspected them. He thought, <em>¡®Would they be able to simply stop eating the drug called ¡®food¡¯?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk gently sprinkled some sugar on the convenience store¡¯s buttered potatoes, which he had finished making. At this moment, Rhoando and all of the mercenaries had already gathered around him with their mouths opening unknowingly as Minhyuk took a piece of marble sweet potato in his mouth.

    <em>¡®Since the marble potato has been grilled in butter, the unique savory vor of butter will immediately fill your mouth the moment you take a bite.¡¯</em>

    <em>Munch, munch¨C</em>

    Rhoando finally realized that he was also unknowingly chewing along with Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®The soft texture of potato will carry the sweetness of the sugar and create a fantastic harmony of vors in your mouth. Then, how would the golden brown portion be? How would it taste if you eat it all at once?¡¯</em>

    Then, they watched as Minhyuk opened a can of cool and refreshing cider.

    <em>Fwish¨C!</em>

    With the fizzle of the can, Minhyuk chugged the refreshing cider to sweep away the dryness he had started feeling in his mouth.

    <em>¡®That cool and refreshing feeling that will spread once it reaches your mouth and the bubbling feeling that will go down your throat once you drink cider¡­ it will make you shout without realizing it.¡¯</em>

    ¡°Keuhaa!¡±

    ¡°Keuhaa!¡± Rhoando unknowingly shouted along with Minhyuk.

    At that moment, their eyes suddenly met.

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter, guys?<em> Munch, munch¨C</em>¡±

    ¡°N- No. It¡¯s nothing.¡±

    ¡°The food I made is only enough for one. Everyone, go! <em>Shoo~ Shoo~</em>¡±

    Minhyuk waved them away, but the mercenaries¡¯ eyes were still trained on his mouth. Every time he ate a marbled potato, the mercenaries wouldugh or gulp dryly. This was enough to prove Minhyuk¡¯s suspicions.

    <em>¡®Obviously, these guys do not see eating and food as trivial. It¡¯spletely unlike the words they used to mock me before.¡¯</em>

    But before thinking about it deeply, Minhyuk thought that since things had already reached this point, he should just bring them entirely to his side. He quickly took out plenty of marble potatoes and steamed them. Then, after steaming them, he also grilled them in butter. And instead of using sugar, Minhyuk drizzled the buttered potatoes with very sweet and delicious <em>sea honey.</em>

    The scent of butter grew even stronger and drove the mercenaries even crazier. When Minhyuk finished cooking, he saw all the mercenaries looking at him.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°It¨C It¡¯s nothing.¡±

    They were all bluffing. It was apparent how their eyes were trained entirely on the marble potatoes.

    Then, Minhyuk asked, ¡°Do you guys want to eat marble potatoes?¡±

    Everyone nodded strongly. However, their words werepletely different from their actions.

    ¡°Making food ispletely forbidden in Utopia.¡±

    ¡°How can you eat cooked potatoes?!¡±

    At that moment, Rhoando red at them.

    ¡°You bastards!!!¡± Rhoando¡¯s colossal figure turned to the mercenaries as he shouted and threatened them. ¡°How dare you refuse hyung-nim(?)¡¯s offer?! Mercenaries must keep the promises that they have made! If we live, then we will live together. If we die, then we will all die together!¡±

    Rhoando was saying that he wanted to eat the potatoes.

    Then, Rhoando turned to Minhyuk and said, ¡°Hyung-nim! You have offered the marble potatoes to us! How dare we refuse it? We will die with you if you die!¡±

    Minhyuk looked at Rhoando, who was shouting and showing his temper, incredulously as he replied, ¡°Is that so? Then, go ahead and eat it.¡±

    When his words ended, the mercenaries rushed like a pack of wild dogs that had been starved for hundreds of days.

    ¡°<em>Chomp, chomp, chomp¨C!</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Munch, munch, munch¨C!</em>¡±

    The mercenaries ate like crazy.

    ¡°Uwooooo¡­¡±

    ¡°Delicious! This is too delicious!¡±

    ¡°This is my first time eating such delicious potatoes!¡±

    Some of them shouted in admiration, while some of them shed tears. But every single one of them felt their heartache.

    <em>¡®Eating cooked and seasoned potatoespletely differs from eating steamed potatoes.¡¯</em>

    The taste of the marble potatoes the mercenaries were eating was terrific. After all, not only was it cooked by Minhyuk, but a massive heaping of sea honey was drizzled on it.

    Immediately after that, a series of notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You have received Rhoando¡¯s favor.]</em>

    <em>[You have received Barradin¡¯s favor.]</em>

    <em>[You have received Cogner¡¯s favor.]</em>

    Minhyuk grinned as he listened to the constant stream of notifications.

    ***

    Rhoando and the rest of the mercenaries felt a deep longing in their hearts. It was the longing to eat and taste the buttered marble potatoes again.

    <em>¡®The buttered marble potatoes tasted so good because he inherited the blood of the Food God.¡¯</em>

    Because of that, they wanted to get their hands on the potatoes that Minhyuk distributed(?) again. It was to the point that they had started to sweat.

    Minhyuk, who had seen that his n had seeded, finally got to the point. ¡°My dear younger brothers, if you like to eat this much, why did you say that to me a few days ago?¡±

    Rhoando looked embarrassed when he heard Minhyuk¡¯s question. But just like he said, mercenaries would always keep their promises. Now, Minhyuk was their hyung-nim.

    ¡°Because we¡¯re going to do something big soon.¡±

    ¡°Something big?¡±

    ¡°Yes. We will take down the king.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Minhyuk was quite shocked when he heard their ns. Weren¡¯t they nothing but simple mercenaries?

    <em>¡®No. From what they look like, they¡¯re no ordinary mercenaries.¡¯</em>

    The Steel-Armored Ogres were monsters beyond Level 600. But they babbled about hunting and killing these Steel-Armored Ogres. To put it simply, all of the mercenaries here were at least above Level 590. Although the average level of the people in this world was rtively higher than the level in Minhyuk¡¯s world, he assumed that their estimated level was only at the level of an imperial knight.

    ¡°Taking down the king? What¡¯s your reason?¡±

    Their n sounded interesting, so Minhyuk probed and listened to their reasons.

    ¡°To bring back ¡®cooking.¡¯ The cooking that they had erased from the world of Utopia.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s heart thumped. Minhyuk immediately understood what the quest, where he would receive the Food God¡¯s final power, wanted him to do without cooking and food.

    <em>¡®The quest wants me to bring back cooking to this world with them.¡¯</em>

    Then, Rhoando said, ¡°That¡¯s why we couldn¡¯t wee you, hyung-nim, even though you have the blood of the Food God in you. You will be implicated if things go wrong with our ns.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    At this moment, Minhyuk saw how friendly and kind Rhoando was.

    Rhoando chuckled. ¡°Hyung-nim, you were right. Eating food might be small and trivial, but it can bring us joy. We cannot live in a world where our happiness has been controlled and taken away forever.¡±

    When Minhyuk first met Rhoando, he felt he waspletely different from his expectations. But he now realized that Rhoando has the blood of a true Food God. He was just like him.

    Although their venture would be dangerous, Rhoando still wanted to do something, even if he had to sacrifice himself to change this world that controlled and prohibited food. The same was true for everyone present.

    ¡°That¡¯s why, hyung-nim¡­ we want you to return now.¡±

    Rhoando did not want Minhyuk to get implicated.

    ¡°You¡¯re powerful enough to have killed and hunted several Steel-Armored Ogres and acquired their steel armors. However, your strength is stillcking. It would be dangerous for you.¡±

    Rhoando was very surprised when Minhyuk returned and brought the steel armor he requested. But that was it.

    <em>¡®He must have killed the Steel-Armored Ogres by increasing his strength through eating.¡¯</em>

    In Rhoando¡¯s eyes, Minhyuk was an elf carrying half the power of a god. He might not know how Minhyuk obtained the steel armor, but it was unimportant.

    Of course, Minhyuk also noticed Rhoando¡¯s concern. <em>¡®He doesn¡¯t know that I¡¯m the Battle God, theplete and true Food God, and the emperor of an empire.¡¯</em>

    However, that did not mean that Minhyuk needed to reveal who he was. He judged that there was no need for that at the moment.

    ¡°Are you going now? If you all go, then they will notice. After all, your numbers are far toorge.¡±

    Rhoando shook his head. ¡°We¡¯re going to the Dungeon of Oppression.¡±

    ¡°Dungeon of Oppression?¡±

    ¡°Yes. ording to the information we have gathered, you can be a real god if you kill the half-god, half-dragon inside that dungeon. Even if we take down the king, if we can¡¯t kill <em>him</em>, the Sky who controls the food in thisnd, then everything will be done for nothing.¡±

    Minhyuk realized that Rhoando would be the new god in thisnd where food had been banned and controlled. If Utopia changed like that, it would be overflowing with food again. If that happened, then there would be plenty of delicious dishes to be found.

    ¡°By any chance, would the half-god, half-dragon also drop potatoes if they get killed?¡±

    Rhoando looked at Minhyuk in confusion. But he still nodded in answer. ¡°Of course. Most of the monsters in thisnd would drop potatoes once you kill them. ording to the legends, the half-god, half-dragon would drop an unusual Divine Potato that would appear repeatedly no matter how often you eat it.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes sparkled.

    Rhoando smiled bitterly and stretched his hand toward Minhyuk. ¡°You should understand it now, right? It would be dangerous for you to stay with us. This should be it for us, hyung-nim.¡±

    They were not just trying tomit treason. They were going to kill god. They did not want to involve Minhyuk in this dangerous job.

    But then, Minhyuk said, ¡°I¡¯ll go with you.¡±

    ¡°H- Hyung-nim!¡±

    ¡°No, you can¡¯t!¡±

    ¡°What do you¡­!¡±

    Rhoando and all of the mercenaries present looked at Minhyuk in shock. He heard all that they had said, right? What did he mean by saying he wasing with them? Rhoando and the mercenaries¡¯ reactions seemed like they had never even considered taking Minhyuk with them.

    But Minhyuk was persistent. He said, ¡°You said that if I can hunt the Steel-Armored Ogre, you will grant me two things. Right? Then, I¡¯ll use one of them now. I¡¯ll go with you.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    At this moment, Rhoando realized that they could not leave the man in front of them behind.

    Of course, Minhyuk did not forget to ask one of the important questions he hade for. He turned to Rhoando and asked, ¡°Rhoando, what power of the Food God do you possess?¡±

    Minhyuk did not know if Rhoando would lead to the end of his quest here in Utopia. However, he knew that if he finished helping Rhoando, he could level up one more of his skills.

    Then, Rhoando said, ¡°It¡¯s Ovepping Delight.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Minhyuk was left in shock.

    *******************************

    CC¡¯s Thoughts

    Why did it have to appear at this time again??? ( ?? - ?? )

 Chapter 975

    Chapter 975

    New world, Utopia.

    In this world, what was waiting for Minhyuk at the finish line was the opportunity to create the skill that would allow him to nt and nurture God-grade ingredients.

    During the process, Minhyuk could also level up his Food God skills. How? Minhyuk had learned that those who had inherited the blood of the Food God and possessed some of his powers were living somewhere in Utopia. If he couldplete the quests given by the Food God¡¯s progenies, he could increase his skill level to correspond to their talent.

    Because of that, he had been curious about what skill Rhoando possessed. And when Rhoando said, <em>¡®Ovepping Delight,¡¯</em> Minhyuk could not help but be shocked.

    <em>¡®Did he say Ovepping Delight?¡¯</em>

    There was a reason for his shock.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Ovepping Delight</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Absolute God¡¯s Secret</em>

    <em>Level: None</em><em>Mana Required: 10,000</em>

    <em>Cooldown: 24 hours</em>

    <em>Effects:</em>

    <em>? You can ovep the buff effects of two different dishes.</em>

    <em>? Once the buff effects of two different dishes ovep, you can see the impact of the ovepping dishes even if you consumed one food and thought of ¡®consuming¡¯ another.</em>

    <em>? A ¡®cooking dice¡¯ will be thrown when the two dishes¡¯ buff effects ovep. The number that will be disyed on the dice will determine the duration of the buff.</em>

    <em>? The lower the number, the shorter the duration of the buff effect. The duration per number rolled is as follows: thirty seconds for number 1, one minute for number 2, two minutes for number 3, three minutes for number 4, four minutes for number 5, and seven minutes for number 6.</em>

    <em>? The EXP you can obtain will double for as long as the unique effect of the Ovepping Delight is in effect.</em>

    Ovepping Delight was one of the few Absolute God¡¯s Secrets worldwide.

    <em>¡®And this Ovepping Delight also belongs to the God of Cooking.¡¯</em>

    But if one considered it closely, one would realize that the God of Cooking and the Food God had always maintained a fairly close rtionship. This was mainly because most of the Food God¡¯s skills came from the God of Cooking.

    And there was also another reason why Minhyuk was surprised.

    <em>¡®Ovepping Delight'' falls into the skills category that cannot be leveled up. After all, it is already a skill that could allow someone to obtain the buff effects of two dishes simultaneously.</em>

    Of course, the duration of the buff effect of the Ovepping Delight was shorter than the duration of ordinary buffed dishes. It was even set randomly. At most, one could have the buff effects for seven minutes.

    But what would happen if Minhyuk¡¯s Ovepping Delight leveled up?

    <em>¡®Maybe I will be able to ovep three dishes?¡¯ </em>The thought made Minhyuk¡¯s heart thump.

    His Ovepping Delight could already increase the power of his skills by 1.5 times right now. But what if he could eat three dishes and ovep three buff effects?

    <em>¡®Maybe I will be able to double the power of my skills. No, maybe more than that?¡¯</em>

    Then, at that moment, a notification rang.

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Linked Quest</em></strong><em>: Hunt the Half-God, Half-Dragon with Rhoando</em><strong><em>.</em></strong><em>]</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: ss</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: The one who has built a high favorability with Rhoando.</em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: Ovepping Delight will level up by one.</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Failure</em></strong><em>: Rhoando and the mercenaries¡¯ death.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: Rhoando wants to be aplete god. Help Rhoando ascend to the throne and sit in the position of god.</em>

    Minhyuk, who checked everything, saw that the end of the quest rted to Rhoando was to make him into a god.

    Rhoando, with a worried expression, said, ¡°There¡¯s nothing we can do.¡±

    In the end, Rhoando could only give in to Minhyuk.

    ¡°But if things get dangerous, you must run away. Here, take this.¡± Rhoando handed over a small bead to Minhyuk.

    <em>[You have acquired a Return Stone.]</em>

    One look and Minhyuk could tell that this Return Stone had a spell that would allow him to return to Utopia.

    ¡°I¡¯m pretty strong. I¡¯m going to be of great help.¡± Minhyuk looked at Rhoando and the mercenaries, who were looking at him with worry and concern. ¡°Just like you, Rhoando, I have also inherited the blood of the Food God. Even though I have only been in thisnd briefly, I want to help you protect what¡¯s precious to you.¡±

    Minhyuk was sincere with his words. He had lived a terrible life where he could not eat whatever he wanted to eat because of an <em>illness.</em> But these people were not like him. Others were just controlling them.

    <em>¡®Perhaps they are in a more terrible situation than me.¡¯</em>

    The mercenaries'', or to be precise, the rebels'', eyes had changed as they looked at Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®We are living in thisnd; that''s why we want to protect it with our lives.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®But that¡¯s not the case for hyung-nim. He has only been here briefly, yet he wants to fight with us just because he learned that food and cooking have been banned and controlled here.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Even if hyung-nim is strong, it will still be tough for all of us to deal with the half-god, half-dragon being in that dungeon.¡¯</em>

    The rebels were all fully aware that their power might not even reach the king if something went wrong. There was even a chance that they would be wiped out inside the Dungeon of Oppression. After all, it was not that easy to get the opportunity to be a god.

    But even after Minhyuk learned about it, he still chose to fight with them.

    <em>[You have received Rhoando¡¯s favor.]</em>

    <em>[You have received Edron¡¯s favor.]</em>

    <em>[You have received Espio¡¯s favor.]</em>

    Their favorability toward Minhyuk increased a bit more.

    Rhoando looked at Minhyuk softly and gently and said, ¡°Thank you, hyung-nim.¡±

    Minhyuk smiled softly in return. Then, he said, ¡°Ah, I will cook and serve you with a very delicious dish when we''re in front of the dungeon.¡±

    Minhyuk intended to make bulk dishes using his cooking trailer in front of the dungeon and feed them to give them buffs.

    After finishing all the preparations, Rhoando said, ¡°Everyone, let¡¯s go! To battle!¡±

    ***

    Once they reached the vicinity of the Dungeon of Oppression, Minhyuk immediately took out his cooking trailer and cooked bulk dishes for Rhoando and his band of rebels. The dish that he chose to cook for them was chicken porridge.

    <em>¡®These people have only eaten potatoes for a very long time. Their stomach might have problems if I suddenly feed them something greasy.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk watched them gobble the chicken porridge. A faint yet happy smile was on his face when he saw them happily devouring the dish he had made.

    <em>¡®Goodness. Their god has restricted and banned them from eating dishes like this for hundreds of years. I wonder how delicious is that chicken porridge they are eating right now?¡¯</em>

    Minhyukpletely understood what the rebels were feeling right now.

    After eating the food, everyone heard the same notifications ring in their ears.

    <em>[You have eaten Chicken Porridge.]</em>

    <em>[The dish is legendary.]</em>

    <em>[The effects of the Bizarre Cauldron have taken effect. All buffs will be 15% better.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 16%.]</em>

    <em>[Your total HP and MP volume have increased by 1.2x.]</em>

    <em>[All of your attack power has increased by 6%.]</em>

    <em>[All of your defensive power has increased by 8%.]</em>

    <em>[The buff willst for four days.]</em>

    The rebels were left stunned after they finished eating.

    <em>¡®This¨C this is ridiculous¡­!¡¯</em>

    Even Rhoando had the same reaction.

    ¡°This dish has great power. Hyung-nim, it seems like you have inherited the blood of the Food God and more of the Food God¡¯s power.¡±

    Rhoando did not know any details or information about the world outside of Utopia. But, based on what he had seen, he assumed that Minhyuk was a unique being who had inherited more of the blood of the Food God. Of course, he still did not doubt Minhyuk if he was half-god or half-elf. And all of these led to one answer.

    ¡°I can see why you have hunted so many Steel-Armored Ogres.¡±

    Rhoando thought that since Minhyuk could give them such fantastic buffs, then Minhyuk would also be able to give himself better buffs.

    Then, Rhoando bowed toward Minhyuk. ¡°Hyung-nim, thank you. Thanks to you, our chances have increased.¡±

    The thought that he would die inside the Dungeon of Oppression had crossed Rhoando¡¯s head countless times. This was because he was not confident in killing the half-god, half-dragon inside the dungeon.

    Even though he was not confident, that did not mean he couldn¡¯t do anything. And now, thanks to Minhyuk¡¯s dish, their chances of winning have increased significantly.

    After finishing their meal, everyone began to move and enter the Dungeon of Oppression.

    <em>[You have entered the Dungeon of Oppression.]</em>

    <em>[The unknown existence being oppressed and subdued at the end of the Dungeon of Oppression has started showing signs of movement.]</em>

    <em>¡®The unknown existence that is being oppressed and subdued.¡¯</em>

    Rhoando also exined to Minhyuk. ¡°ording to the legends, the half-god, half-dragon protects the unknown existence being oppressed and subdued in this dungeon.¡±

    ¡°What is that unknown existence?¡±

    Rhoando, with his face filled with anticipation, said, ¡°I don¡¯t know. But maybe it¡¯s ¡®food¡¯.¡±

    ¡°Food?¡±

    ¡°Yes. There¡¯s a chance that the food that god has taken away from this world is being oppressed and subdued in there and is now showing its presence.¡±

    Minhyuk and the rebels continued to venture deeper into the dungeon. After a while, Rhoando stopped and said, ¡°They¡¯reing. Get ready to fight. Hyung-nim, you might be in danger, so please stay behind.¡±

    Even though the rebels that had gathered here were strong, they would still be nervous. After all, they were inside the Dungeon of Oppression, which only existed in the legends shared and written in Utopia. Listening to the sounds, one could tell there were many iing enemies.

    <em>¡®Since it¡¯s a dungeon that can amodate this many people, then there¡¯s bound to be a lot of monsters to deal with.¡¯ </em>Minhyuk watched silently.

    A huge clutch of mantises appeared in front of the group of rebels.

    <em>[Giant Mantis. Level 622.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk was left in shock. A giant mantis could reach Level 622? What kind of mantis was that? The worst part? The clutch of giant mantis had around 200 mantises charging at a speed that could rival that of a rhinoceros.

    The rebels immediately shot their arrows at the monsters.

    <em>Ting, ting, ting, ting¨C!</em>

    But most of their arrows failed to pierce through the thick skin of the mantises.

    <em>¡®They have outstanding uracy.¡¯</em>

    They were obviously on a different level since they were half-human, half-elves. Soon after, one of the giant mantises finally collided with the rebels.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    The mantises¡¯ forelegs were as sharp as a de, allowing them to cut one of the rebels in half easily.

    ¡°Don¡¯t fall back and copse!¡±

    Minhyuk watched the battle and analyzed the situation. <em>¡®They¡¯re outstanding.¡¯</em>

    After observing them, Minhyuk believed their average level should be around Level 610. And even though a massive clutch of giant mantises was attacking them, they were not being pushed back. Based on their tacit understanding, they seemed to have worked together for a long time.

    But what was more impressive was Rhoando. Minhyuk could tell that Rhoando was a high-level NPC around Level 700 or beyond. He had been standing at the vanguard and ughtering the giant mantises with his axe.

    And since everyone had received Minhyuk¡¯s cooking buff, they fought without fear. In just an instant, they had wiped away the more than two hundred giant mantises. Their casualties? Fifty people died, while nine received severe injuries. That was a small amount of damage, especially since they killed more than two hundred giant mantises.

    <em>¡®And this is because they did not know how to deal with them since it was their first time challenging this dungeon. As time passes and they get ustomed to the dungeon, the damage they will receive will decrease.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was fully convinced that this band of rebels was just as brilliant and outstanding as the knights of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    ¡°How is it?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s amazing.¡±

    ¡°Just like you have seen, we are strong. So, trust us, hyung-nim. We will not let harm go your way.¡±

    Once a brother, always a brother. This was the type of person Rhoando was.

    Rhoando dared say he would protect Minhyuk because he did not know who Minhyuk was. Minhyuk should have probably felt bad that he was being underestimated, but that was not the case at all. He was grateful that these people were willing to protect him even though they barely knew each other.

    ¡°My dear younger brother.¡±

    ¡°Yes, hyung-nim.¡±

    ¡°All potatoes that will drop here will be our payment for the chicken porridge.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Minhyuk would always make calctions thoroughly.

    ***

    Rhoando quickly led the rebels deeper into the dungeon. Suddenly, a clutch of more than 3,000 mantises appeared before them. But since they had already figured out how to deal with them, these mantises failed to stop them.

    <em>¡®This is all thanks to hyung-nim.¡¯</em>

    That was right. This was all thanks to Minhyuk¡¯s cooking buff. If Minhyuk had not fed them that dish, there was a chance that more than half of their numbers would have died from the 3,000-strong clutch of mantises. Rhoando had only viewed Minhyuk as a <em>hyung-nim</em> in name at first. But as time passed, he started treating him as his real <em>hyung-nim.</em>

    The battle with the mantises continued. But as they ventured deeper and deeper into the dungeon, Rhoando started to feel overwhelmed. It was not because of the heavy expectation of bing a god but because of the hope of getting back the food that God had taken from them and deprived them of.

    <em>¡®It is just as Minhyuk hyung-nim had said.¡¯</em>

    <em>Food might be the most trivial thing, but it sometimes feels like the most significant thing in our lives.</em>

    <em>¡®The taste of the soup you eat hurriedly when you¡¯re hungry.¡¯</em>

    Even if it were only a cheap soup, one would still feel happy and satisfied after finishing the bowl. And just one more time, Rhoando hoped.

    <em>¡®If foodes back to us, I will go to an expensive restaurant and order food there. Just once. Just once in my life.¡¯</em>

    Maybe he would do it on a pleasant day. Or maybe when there was something special. He would make sure to go to the restaurant, which had long disappeared from Utopia, and order expensive food.

    There maye a day when they feel the excitement of eating expensive food at a high-ss restaurant. And the joy they feel once they take a bite of that dish? It would be immense.

    Rhoando vowed to get the food back and let others feel that joy. This was the lifelong mission of the half-Food God Rhoando.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go!!!¡±

    ¡°Uwooooooooh!!!¡±

    After dealing with another clutch of mantises, Rhoando finally saw the end of the road. The half-god, half-dragon was waiting for them over there. If he could kill it, he would be a god and be able to kill even gods. Simply put, it was the beginning of this world¡¯s reform.

    Rhoando tightened his hold on his axe as he dashed forward.

    <em>¡®Ovepping Delight.¡¯</em>

    Once he triggered this power, he could fight against the strong half-god, half-dragon.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    Rhoando, who had already reached their final destination, saw the gigantic half-god, half-dragon with wings akin to mantises on its back.

    <em>[The First Half-god, Half-dragon, has made its appearance!]</em>

    <em>[Warning! Danger!]</em>

    <em>[Warning! Danger!]</em>

    <em>[First Half-god, Half-dragon. Level 747.]</em>

    Rhoando was brave. He ran with courage to bring food back and bring joy and satisfaction to all the people in the world.

    ¡°Uwoooooooooh!!!¡±

    But then, the side walls of the area where the half-god, half-dragon was suddenly copsed.

    <em>Rumbleeee¨C!</em>

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaaack!!!¡±

    Then, another dragon appeared, this time with a bee''s wings.

    <em>[The Second Half-god, Half-dragon, has made its appearance!]</em>

    <em>[Warning! Danger!]</em>

    <em>[Warning! Danger!]</em>

    <em>[Second Half-god, Half-dragon. Level 786.]</em>

    Legend has it that the half-god, half-dragon possessed a cintamani stone that could give someone with half the blood of a god to be a true god. Another legend said that the half-god, half-dragon protected whatever was being oppressed and subdued in the dungeon.

    However, all of the legends were wrong.

    <em>¡®One dragon protects the cintamani stone.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®The other dragon protects the thing being oppressed and subdued in the dungeon.¡¯</em>

    That was right. The half-god half-dragon in the legends were twins.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Rhoando, charging valiantly, looked back after seeing the roaring half-god, half-dragons. And the ce that he was looking at? It was where Minhyuk was standing.

 Chapter 976

    Chapter 976

    Rhoando believed that he could do it. He hoped he could return the food taken away from everyone. He had judged that he could take down the Level 750 half-god, half-dragon as long as he fought alongside the rebels. However, that was nothing but mere arrogance.

    The moment Rhoando realized that the half-god, half-dragons were twins, he instantly understood that they could not and would not be able to win. Looking back, he saw Minhyuk and the rebels, who wanted to create a new world with him.

    ¡°Everyone, run!!!¡±

    Rhoando¡¯s instincts were shouting at him, <em>¡®If you want to live, then run away.¡¯</em>

    The rebels also understood the current situation that they were in. But just when they were about to run back to where they came from, the half-god, half-dragon with the wings of a mantis appeared and blocked their path. The worst part? More than 700 gigantic wasps flew out from the wall that the half-god, half-dragon with the wings of a bee destroyed.

    <em>[Giant Wasps. Level 608.]</em>

    They were suddenly thrust into a challenging situation. But that was not the end. A powerful force suddenly started to gather in the mouth of the first dragon with the wings of a mantis.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    Blood spurted out of the bodies of the rebels as hundreds of des shot out and cut them down. ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!!!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Many of the rebels screamed as they received severe injuries from the attack. Even the more than 700 giant wasps fired countless venomous needles from the tips of their tails.

    <em>[You got hit by a Wasp Stinger.]</em>

    <em>[You will fall into a two-second stunned state.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP will continuously fall for two hours. Your body will suffer from a boiling heat, and you will experience severe dizziness.]</em>

    The rebels¡¯ bodies turned stiff. Even though he saw hisrades unable to move, Rhoando¡¯s head was uncharacteristically cool andposed. Even his pounding heart slowly turned calm. At this moment, Rhoando was more sober and calm than anybody else, and he grasped the situation firmly.

    Then, Rhoando turned to Minhyuk and said, ¡°Hyung-nim, can you please let the world know?¡±

    Minhyuk looked at Rhoando in confusion. He was caught off-guard by the attack of the first dragon. Minhyuk was much stronger than what Rhoando and the rebels thought of. If he could react and respond appropriately to the attack, he would have been able to help them.

    However, Rhoando did not know this fact and said, ¡°Please let the world know that there were people who fought so that everyone could eat once again.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t want anything grand. We just wanted to see everyone return home after going about their daily lives and eat with their families happily.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°Please, please let the world know.¡±

    A shudder ran down Minhyuk¡¯s spine. They did not want anything grand. They just wanted everyone in the world to be able to eat delicious food. This was Rhoando¡¯s wish.

    At that moment, a notification rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[Rhoando is the progeny who inherited the blood of the Food God.]</em>

    <em>[You are this era¡¯s Food God.]</em>

    <em>[Right now, you are witnessing the pride of the Food God¡¯s progeny.]</em>

    <em>[Even if he risks dying, he would still take a step toward his enemies.]</em>

    ¡°Hyung-nim, you should go now!!!¡±

    <em>[He is the sessor and the progeny of the Food God, a god who loves to eat. Yet he has lived and is still living in a world where food, cooking, and eating are controlled.]</em>

    Determined to remain standing by Rhoando¡¯s side even at theirst moments, the rebels grabbed their weapons and stood up again.

    <em>[You, the Food God, are watching these people make a stand despite their fear to protect and allow the people of this world to eat to their heart¡¯s content.]</em>

    ¡°Please go quickly, hyung-nim!¡±

    ¡°Go and use the return stone!¡±

    ¡°Please¨C Please don¡¯t forget about us!¡±

    ¡°Hyung-nim! Thank you for the delicious chicken porridge!¡±

    <em>[They are taking a huge step toward something trivial yet bigger than anything else.]</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaaa¨C!</em>

    At that moment, a powerful force rose from Rhoando¡¯s body. This was none other than the power of the Ovepping Delight.

    Because food was controlled in this world, his Ovepping Delight transformed and manifested differently. In his version, he could still get a strong buff despite not eating any food.

    However, in exchange, he would only be able to receive the effects of the skills for an entire minute. But in that one minute, Rhoando probably had the power to transcend even god.

    Then, another series of notifications rang.

    <em>[You will now hear why food has disappeared from Utopia.]</em>

    <em>[Food God Allen received a warm wee from everyone when he arrived in Utopia.]</em>

    <em>[Everyone was excited at the descent of a true andplete god, not someone with only half the blood of a god.]</em>

    <em>[However, the Food God was nothing but a god who loved to eat.]</em>

    <em>[Many of those who carried the power of half-gods and the half-transcendentalsughed at the Food God.]</em>

    <em>[He was neither strong nor was he superior to others.]</em>

    <em>[However, some people recognized Allen¡¯s true worth.]</em>

    <em>[Aleia, someone who carried the power of a half-transcendental, had fallen in love and spent a long time with him.]</em>

    <em>[Two children were born from the love between the two. Their first child, a child who was half-god, half-transcendental, became the Sky of Utopia.]</em>

    <em>[Their second child inherited only the power of a half-god and led a normal life.]</em>

    <em>[Their first child was ashamed at the fact that he had inherited the blood of the Food God, a god who had received the criticism and ridicule of everyone in Utopia.]</em>

    <em>[Because of that, he erased everything rted to the Food God, including his name and even the food in the world.]</em>

    Minhyuk finally knew the reason why god had taken food away from Utopia.

    <em>[But Rhoando, the half-god, half-elf who had inherited half of the Food God¡¯s blood, was of a different mind from the first child.]</em>

    <em>[My father is great. I will prove it.]</em>

    Minhyuk looked at Rhoando¡¯s back as he used Ovepping Delight to ughter the giant waspsing his way.

    <em>[He was born with the blood of someone constantly mocked and ridiculed.]</em>

    <em>[However, he was proud of it and had always worked hard to prove to them how great his father was.]</em>

    <em>[He was teased and criticized for inheriting the blood of the Food God.]</em>

    <em>[But now, in this journey to find and bring back food, he showed courage and bravery that far surpassed anybody else.]</em>

    <em>Vwooooooooong¨C!</em>

    Rhoando leaped to the sky after sweeping away hundreds of giant wasps.

    He wanted to let everyone know that the Food God was not a god who deserved to be mocked, ridiculed, and made fun of. He wanted to prove to the world what kind of god the Food God was. He also wanted to show the world how delightful it was to eat food again.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    Rhoando¡¯s giant axe mmed straight into the head of the first dragon.

    <em>Thud¨C!</em>

    He grabbed the snout of the reeling dragon and hit it like crazy. He beat the dragon until its tough skin broke apart, and he hit flesh.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    When the dragon crashed down on the ground after struggling fiercely against the onught of Rhoando¡¯s attacks, he quicklynded and struck its head again.

    <em>Thud¨C! Thud, thud¨C! Thud¨C!</em>

    Blood spurted from the dragon¡¯s body with every hit Rhoandonded on him. But at the same time, the power that the dragon carried also wreaked havoc and tore apart Rhoando¡¯s flesh.

    <em>[He is the child of a man mocked and ridiculed.]</em>

    The notification again rang for the people trying to bring food back to the world.

    <em>[He was the child of the man who had been ignored.]</em>

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    <em>[And they¡­]</em>

    The rebels fought more fiercely. They wanted everyone to know that they fought to get food back on their tables until theirst breath.

    <em>Even if we die, people will still fight for our cause. They will always, always exist.</em>

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    They let go of their fears and charged toward the second dragon.

    <em>[...they were the ones who did their best until their veryst moments.]</em>

    At that moment, Rhoando finally brought the first divine dragon to the brink of death.

    <em>aaaaash¨C!</em>

    Rhoando believed he only needed to hack the dragon a few more times with his axe, and he could kill him. But then, the second divine dragon, the one with the wings of a bee, roared.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeeck!!!¡±

    Then, thousands of poisonous needles shot out of its body and pierced through Rhoando and the rebels¡¯ bodies.

    <em>[You have been hit by the Divine Dragon¡¯s Poisonous Stinger.]</em>

    <em>[Your body will be left in a paralyzed state for three minutes.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP will continuously fall for five minutes, eventually bringing you to your death.]</em>

    Rhoando¡¯s body turned stiff.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    The first divine dragon pped him away, crushing a few of his bones as his body mmed into the ground.

    Helpless, Rhoando could only look at the rebels sadly. He could see their faces turning blue as they stood there, paralyzed. There were even many of them vomiting blood all over the ce.

    <em>[They did not regret anything.]</em>

    Everyone present was relieved. As Rhoando looked at the rebels, he tried to give them a slight nod. They were all afraid. However, they fought back their tears and held their heads up high.

    <em>[They were d they could fight until theirst breath to bring the food back to this world.]</em>

    Then, another series of notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You have witnessed the people who would fight until the veryst moment to bring food back to this world!]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 1%!]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1 Food God SP.]</em>

    All of this happened in just one minute.

    Meanwhile, Rhoando, who believed that he was going to die soon, thought, <em>¡®It¡¯s just¡­ there¡¯s just one thing that I want¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>I wanted to prove it.</em>

    He wanted to prove that the Food God was not weak and trivial. He was not a god who deserved to be mocked, criticized, ridiculed, and pointed fingers at.

    As Rhoando thought of his earnest wish, a notification rang.

    <em>[You, the progeny of the Food God, are praying to the Food God!]</em>

    <em>[You hope you will one day prove to the world that the Food God is not a weak and trivial god!]</em>

    <em>[Your prayers have reached god!]</em>

    All beings would tend to pray to god in their moments of despair. And Rhoando, who watched the furious first divine dragon roar and move to tear him apart, silently prayed to god.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeck!¡±

    Rhoando watched bitterly as the first divine dragon flew toward him at a breakneck speed.

    <em>[The Food God of the current era answers your prayers!]</em>

    <em>[The Food God of the current era answers your prayers!]</em>

    There was someone else, someone who was not paralyzed by the poison sent by the divine dragon. And this someone moved to stand in front of Rhoando.

    <em>[The Food God of the current era is with you!]</em>

    Rhoando could not understand. No one had descended or appeared before them, yet the notification told him that the Food God of the current era was with them.

    At that moment, Rhoando saw someone standing in front of him.

    <em>[The Food God of the current era looks at you!]</em>

    ¡°...?!¡±

    Rhoando made eye contact with the man standing in front of him. He saw a slight smile on the man¡¯s face.

    <em>[The Food God of the current era tells you!]</em>

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    <em>[The Food God of the current era praises you and yourrades for fighting until the veryst minute and for never losing the pride of the Food God as you try to bring the food back to this world.]</em>

    ¡°I will show it to you.¡±

    <em>[The Food God of the current era wants to show you that the Food God is not a weak, pitiful, and trivial god.]</em>

    ¡°I will show you what kind of god the Food God is.¡±

    The gigantic divine dragon had already appeared right in front of Minhyuk. However, he easily and swiftly pulled his sword out and shed the first divine dragon.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    At that moment, the divine dragon¡¯s body was shed and torn apart until blood spurted out all over its body. The second divine dragon seemed to have sensed that the first divine dragon was in danger. It roared loudly and quickly ran toward its brethren.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk swapped his shabby outfit for his artifacts. He donned his silver armor, gaiters, and cape, which carried the symbol of a fork and knife crossed together.

    Rhoando¡¯s jaw dropped open. Even the other rebels could not take their eyes off Minhyuk.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeck!!!¡±

    Minhyuk swung his sword again at the charging dragon, whose mouth was wide open.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    And just like before, blood spurted out all over its gigantic body.

 Chapter 977

    Chapter 977

    During childhood, Rhoando was often teased and mocked by others just because his father was the Food God.

    ¨C<em>Your father only knows how to eat!</em>

    <em>¨CYour dad is a god, but is he strong?</em>

    <em>¨CEh?! What god?! He¡¯s just a half-human, half-elf!</em>

    When Rhoando was mocked by his friends, he ran back home and cried in his mother¡¯s arms.

    ¨C<em>Mother, is my father a weak god? Does he know nothing but to eat?</em>

    Rhoando never forgot the words that his mother told him back then. Because of those words, Rhoando had be a great adult ande this far today.

    Amidst Rhoando¡¯s wails, his mother smiled graciously and patted him gently. His mother looked at the tears dripping down his face and said these words about the Food God, who everyone deemed to be a useless god.

    ¨C<em>He is not weak.</em>Minhyuk, using the Sword of Carnage, once again swung his sword. But this time, it was toward the second divine dragon that was charging at him.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    Rhoandoughed and cried at the same time when he saw the second divine dragon wail loudly.

    ¨C<em>Your father is not the type of person who would fight recklessly. Of course, there are exceptions.</em>

    Minhyuk walked toward the shrieking and wailing second divine dragon. Despite the constant shrieks and the blood spurting all over its body, the second divine dragon stillunched an attack. It spewed out hundreds of poisonous needles toward Minhyuk.

    ¨C<em>He would always fight for the hungry.</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s sword moved swiftly, its de casting a dazzling disy of light as it cut down the poisonous needlesing his way. Then, he arrived in front of the divine dragon.

    ¨C<em>Wherever there are hungry people, you will definitely see your father there. He would be cooking for them.</em>

    <em>¨CBeing strong does not necessarily mean that you have to have a strong power.</em>

    <em>¨CYour father¡¯s cooking has protected many.</em>

    <em>¨CYour father¡¯s hard work and efforts have brought happiness to many.</em>

    Minhyuk triggered the Intangible Sword. At the same time, hundreds of invisible and intangible des shot out and pierced through the body of the second divine dragon.

    ¨C<em>That¡¯s the kind of god the Food God is.</em>

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeeck!¡± The divine dragon roared. With its body covered in blood, it opened its mouth and released thousands of tiny bees.

    ¡°Uwoooooooooooooh!¡± With a loud shout, Minhyuk ran toward the swarm of beesing his way. Then, he raised his sword and released a pir of zing ck mes.

    ¨C<em>He could make the hungry cry.</em>

    <em>Crackle¨C!</em>

    zing mes appeared, burned the thousands of bees and giant wasps that appeared all at once, and turned them into ashes. As for the shrieking divine dragon behind them¡­

    ¨C<em>He could make the hungryugh.</em>

    <em>Like the Wind.</em>

    Minhyuk moved swiftly, his fist mming into the divine dragon and sending it flying into the walls of the dungeon. Then, he triggered the Dual Swordsmanship Technique. The moment he held the two swords, the word <em>Destruction</em> appeared on their des.

    <em>¨CHe lived for their sake and their sake alone.</em>

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    Lightning fell and devoured the second divine dragon with every swing of Minhyuk¡¯s sword. The onught of the attacks almost turned the divine dragon into a tattered rag.

    Rhoando, who watched the scene, felt his heart flutter wildly. ording to his mother¡¯s words, his father used his cooking and dexterous hands to make people happy and full. The Food God of the current era was of the same mind as his father. He had told him that he wanted to help bring back food to this world, too.

    He wasn¡¯t any different from what Rhoando¡¯s mother told him about. He fought for the hungry. Like his father, the Food God of the current era was a god who did not carelessly use his power to press others down.

    <em>Swoosh¨C</em>

    The second divine dragon slid down from the walls, its body drooping as if already dead.

    As Rhoando watched the man in front of him, he grew convinced that he had walked the right path.

    ¨C<em>That¡¯s why you have to live for the hungry, Rhoando.</em>

    <em>¨CLive a happy life while eating delicious food.</em>

    Rhoando clenched his fists. <em>I am the son of the Food God.</em> He once again recalled these words.

    Then, at that moment, the first divine dragon shrieked in horror at the death of its twin.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeck!!!¡± It roared and flew toward its dead twin. Then, it opened its mouth and bit the head of the dead second divine dragon.

    <em>Crunch¨C!</em>

    Then, the first divine dragon began to chew. Everything happened in a split second. It was so fast that Minhyuk did not even have the time to react and stop the first dragon.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    Just when Minhyuk was about to move to stop it, the first dragon released a roar that shook the world.

    <em>[You cannot resist and fight back even with an invincible body that can resist thousands of poisons.]</em>

    <em>[You have fallen into a one-minute stunned state.]</em>

    Minhyuk was flustered. His invincible body was the reason he could move despite the poisonous needles and stingers that came his way.

    <em>Crunch, crunch¨C crunch, crunch¨C crunch, crunch¨C!</em>

    The first dragon began to devour the flesh and bones of the dead second dragon. At the same time, the injuries that Rhoando and Minhyuk inflicted on its body began to recover at a fast pace.

    <em>Fwiiiiiiish¨C!</em>

    An ominous feeling washed over Minhyuk as he watched the divine dragon, which had grown much bigger than before, roar loudly.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    <em>[The Divine Dragon has recovered its full power!]</em>

    <em>[The Divine Dragon is guarding the unknown existence, being oppressed and subdued.]</em>

    <em>[The Divine Dragon will punish anyone who fights against it.]</em>

    <em>[If you cannot stop the Divine Dragon, the berserk Divine Dragon will attack Utopia.]</em>

    <em>[Divine Dragon. Level 798.]</em>

    Goosebumps rose all over Minhyuk¡¯s body. At this moment, he understood that this was no longer an easy fight.

    Then, Rhoando shouted at the top of his lungs, ¡°Hyung-nim!!!¡± he looked determined as the veins popped up on his neck. ¡°I am also the Food God!¡±

    Minhyuk was fully aware of that fact. Perhaps, in the future, the Food God of the current era will not be him but Rhoando.

    <em>[The God Who Loves to Eat looks at you and chuckles.]</em>

    ¡°I will also fight with you through cooking!¡±

    Rhoando knew he would just hinder Minhyuk if he joined the fray and attacked the divine dragon.

    ¡°Mayonnaise, eggs, soft bread, vegetables, and sugar, do you have all of them?!¡±

    Minhyuk looked at Rhoando in surprise. He was currently unable to cook. If he used Let¡¯s Have a Meal here, many people would die under the hands of the divine dragon. However, the situation would have been much better if Rhoando had cooked and Minhyuk had continued to pay attention to the divine dragon.

    <em>¡®I don¡¯t know a thing about Rhoando¡¯s cooking.¡¯</em>

    Yes, Rhoando was the descendant of the Food God. However, Minhyuk could not predict the buff that Rhoando¡¯s cooking could give.

    <em>¡®Even if his cooking buff is lower than mine, the situation would be different if he could make a God-grade dish.¡¯</em>

    There were various variables and anomalies when it came to buffed dishes.

    <em>Twitch¨C Twitch¨C</em>

    The roars made Minhyuk twitch. A sense of urgency enveloped him as he hurriedly wrapped the ingredients Rhoando needed in a cloth and threw it to the man.

    Rhoando quickly unfolded the cloth and took the ingredients when he received it.

    ¡°We don¡¯t have much time. Thirty minutes should be long enough for you. I just don¡¯t know if I can endure that long.¡±

    Of course, Minhyuk might be able to kill the divine dragon by himself. But if Rhoando could help him with buffs, their chances would increase, and the process would be easier.

    At that moment, Rhoando smiled faintly and said, ¡°Hyung-nim. Food and cooking have disappeared from this world for hundreds of years.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°It would be an honor to serve this dish to you, hyung-nim.¡±

    Minhyuk felt his heart thump when he heard those words.

    Then, Rhoando said, ¡°Three minutes. I would only need three minutes.¡±

    ¡°What¡­!¡±

    It was impossible to cook a dish in just three minutes. Of course, the ingredients that Rhoando asked from Minhyuk were easy to cook.

    <em>¡®Even so, it¡¯s still impossible.¡¯</em>

    However, Minhyuk thought it would be better to believe in Rhoando and focus on fighting for now. But then, Rhoando did something surprising.

    <em>[The Food God¡¯s descendant, Rhoando, has triggered one of the Food God¡¯s skills you currently do not possess.]</em>

    <em>[The active skill: The Famished One''s Cooking has been triggered.]</em>

    ¡°...?!¡± Minhyuk turned to look at Rhoando in shock. That was when he saw it. Rhoando was cooking at a very fast pace. It was to the point that he could only see his afterimage.

    <em>¡®He looks like his fast-forward button has been pushed¡­?¡¯</em>

    In a way, that was correct. The space around Rhoando was warped. In this space, time was moving at ten times the normal speed.

    Rhoando¡¯s afterimages could be seen boiling and peeling the eggs in a split second.

    <em>¡®This is crazy!¡¯</em>

    It was an amazing ability. Did it have the concept of shortening the cooking time? No, that should not be the case. The time that has passed outside of the warped space where Rhoando was cooking would only be a tenth of the time that he needed to cook. As for the time that Rhoando needed to cook, it should not have changed.

    If he needed a buff during battle, he would only need five minutes to make any dish he wanted.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    ¡°Hyung-nim!¡±

    The divine dragon, who had recovered its full strength, mmed Minhyuk with its gigantic body. As Minhyuk¡¯s body flew away from the impact, shes appeared all over him. It was as if a mantis¡¯ foreleg de had cut and torn him apart. But that was not the end; hundreds of tiny wasps and bees flew out of the divine dragon¡¯s mouth and shot poisonous needles at him.

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¨C!</em>

    ¡°Kghhk!¡±

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 75%!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 74%!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 73%!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 72%!]</em>

    The stingers that the wasps and the bees shot toward Minhyuk were causing more damage than he expected. Seeing his HP drop rapidly, Minhyuk quickly triggered his ck Dragon Armor.

    <em>Swoosh¨C!</em>

    As the ck Dragon Armor covered his body, the skill of The Unapproachable One was immediately triggered.

    <em>[The Unapproachable One.]</em>

    <em>[Your Evasion Rate will increase by 5x for three seconds.]</em>

    <em>[This cannot be triggered again for one minute.]</em>

    Fortunately, the passive skill, The Unapproachable One, was triggered and allowed Minhyuk to avoid and deflect most of the wasps'' and bees¡¯ attacks for three seconds.

    Once again, the divine dragon flew to the sky and shot toward Minhyuk. At the same time, a ridiculous notification rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[Divine Dragon¡¯s Wrath.]</em>

    <em>[All of the Divine Dragon¡¯s power has increased by 2%]</em>

    <em>[All of the Divine Dragon¡¯s power has increased by 2%]</em>

    <em>[All of the Divine Dragon¡¯s power has increased by 2%]</em>

    The notifications about the flying dragon in the sky constantly rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears. It had to be known that the level of the divine dragon was no less than Level 789. But now, the dragon had strengthened itself with buffs.

    ¡°...!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s face grew ugly. He tried to activate the Supreme Overlord¡¯s Technique and shoot down the dragon. However, he stopped in his tracks. He realized that the aftermath of the Supreme Overlord¡¯s Technique would affect the rebels in this narrow dungeon.

    Minhyuk hurriedly tried to summon Viel¡¯s Puppet Doll and the Ego Chain Sickle.

    <em>[The Divine Dragon restricts any summoning abilities.]</em>

    <em>[You have failed to summon Viel¡¯s Puppet Doll.]</em>

    <em>[You have failed to summon the Ego Chain Sickle.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s face grew darker. The worst part? The notifications were still going on.

    <em>[All of the Divine Dragon¡¯s power has increased by 2%]</em>

    <em>[All of the Divine Dragon¡¯s power has increased by 2%]</em>

    <em>[All of the Divine Dragon¡¯s power has increased¡­]</em>

    At this moment, Minhyuk could tell he would be forced to log out once the divine dragon mmed into him. He hurriedly tried to use <em>Transcendence. </em>But before he could do so, a loud voice called out to him.

    ¡°Hyung-nim!!!¡±

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[The </em><strong><em>Linked Quest</em></strong><em>: Hunt the Divine Dragon with Rhoando</em><strong><em></em></strong><em>has been interrupted.]</em>

    <em>[Rhoando increases the skill level of your skill: Ovepping Delight by +1!]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the active skill: The Famished One''s Cooking.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes grew wide.

    <em>[The Ovepping Delight is evolving!]</em>

    The evolved Ovepping Delight¡¯s information shed in front of Minhyuk. He could not help but shiver when he read the notifications rted to the skill.

    The dish that Rhoando made appeared in Minhyuk¡¯s hands right away. However, the divine dragonughed at Minhyuk. Why? Because it knew that the act of eating would take time. But something very unexpected happened.

    ¡°Ovepping Delight.¡±

    Was it the same as before? No. Not at all. It has be an entirely different skill now. The moment Minhyuk opened his mouth, the dish that Rhoando had made for him entered his mouth, passed through his throat, and entered his stomach.

    <em>Gulp¨C</em>

    Minhyuk only took 0.3 seconds to finish the dish.

    The divine dragon realized at this moment that the man in front of him did not need to eat anything by himself the moment he triggered that skill.

    Then, a different effect appeared around Minhyuk. Now, two dies were rolling above Minhyuk, one golden and one ck.

    <em>Roll, roll¨C</em>

    The rolling dies immediately came to a stop. The golden dice showed a three, while the ck dice showed a five. Then, Minhyuk looked at the divine dragon rushing toward him and said, ¡°I choose Destruction.¡±

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    With those words, the ck dice released a bright light that fell upon Minhyuk¡¯s body. The word ¡°Destruction¡± engraved on the de of Minhyuk¡¯s sword shone a dangerous ck light.

    And the moment Minhyuk swung his sword at the flying dragon, the effect of Destruction infused with the power of the new and evolved Ovepping Delight unfolded in front of everyone!

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    Around sixty lightning bolts fell from the sky and devoured the divine dragon.

 Chapter 978

    Chapter 978

    Minhyuk received the following notifications after he received the newly evolved Ovepping Delights:

    <em>[The new Ovepping Delight allows you to eat your food simultaneously.]</em>

    <em>[Just like before, the number that will roll from the golden dice will determine the duration of the buff.]</em>

    <em>[A new dice has been added. You now have an additional ck dice.]</em>

    <em>[The additional ck dice will allow you to choose a single target attack-type skill. The number that will roll from the new dice will determine the additional power the skill will receive.]</em>

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Ovepping Delight</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Absolute God¡¯s Secret</em>

    <strong><em>Level</em></strong><em>: None</em>

    <strong><em>Mana Required</em></strong><em>: 10,000</em><strong><em>Cooldown</em></strong><em>: 24 hours</em>

    <strong><em>Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em> ?You can ovep the buff effects of two different dishes.</em>

    <em>?Once the buff effects of two different dishes ovep, you can still see the impact of the ovepping dishes even if you did not consume the food.</em>

    <em>?Once the buff effects of the two dishes ovep, a ¡°golden dice¡± will be thrown. The number that will be disyed on the dice will determine the duration of the buff.</em>

    <em>?The lower the number, the shorter the duration of the buff effect. The duration per number rolled is as follows: one minute for number 1, two minutes for number 2, three minutes for number 3, four minutes for number 4, five minutes for number 5, and ten minutes for number 6.</em>

    <em>? The EXP you can obtain will double for as long as the unique effect of the Ovepping Delight is in effect.</em>

    <em>?Once the buff effects of the two dishes ovep, a ¡°ck dice¡± will be thrown. The number disyed on the dice will determine the power added to your chosen single-target attack-type passive or active skill.</em>

    <em>?The ck dice¡¯s reinforcement will only take effect for one attack.</em>

    <em>?If the skill that received strengthening and reinforcement from the ck dice is passive, the probability of the skill being triggered will automatically be at 100%.</em>

    <em>?The lower the number, the lower the increase in the skill¡¯s power. The increase in power per number rolled is as follows: a 1.3x increase for number 1, a 1.5x increase for number 2, a 2x increase for number 3, a 3x increase for number 4, a 3.5x increase for number 5, and a 4x increase for number 6.</em>

    The new and evolved Ovepping Delight was utterly overpowered.

    <em>¡®Although it¡¯s not like what I had imagined and does not ovep the effects of three dishes, the effects of the evolved Ovepping Delight could exert just as much power.¡¯</em>

    First, the duration of the buff, which was determined by the number that would roll from the golden dice, had significantly increased. Previously, the buff duration would onlyst thirty seconds if he rolled a 1. But now? His buff¡¯s duration couldst an entire minute when rolling a 1. When he rolled the highest number, 6, the previous seven-minute buff duration had already changed to 10 minutes.

    There was also the addition of a ck dice. The ck dice would allow his skill to disy a more substantial power. There might even be a chance that those skills might go beyond the control of his lethal skills, albeit only temporarily.

    The ck dice finally stopped rolling.

    <em>[The ck die has been cast! You have rolled a six!]</em>

    <em>[The effects of your chosen skill will increase by 4x.]</em>

    <em>[Please choose a skill.]</em>

    Could the effect of a single skill be increased by four? Then, whatever the skill was, it would be overpowered at that very moment.

    ¡°Destruction,¡± Minhyuk said. The moment his words ended, another set of notifications rang.

    <em>[You have chosen Destruction.]</em>

    <em>[The effects of Destruction will increase by four times.]</em>

    The current Destruction has a 35% chance of triggering sixteen lightning strikes with additional 1,600% damage. What would happen if these effects were quadrupled? There would be over sixty lightning bolts with 6,000% additional damage that would fall upon his enemies.

    But it was probably more appropriate to say that the damage that Destruction would be able to inflict upon Minhyuk¡¯s enemy was around 10,000%. Why? Because it would also receive the ovepping buff effects of the golden dice.

    This damage would have been enough to melt Great Demon Verus to the ground if he hade.

    <em>Crackle, crackle, crackle, crackle, crackle, crackle¨C!</em>

    More than sixty lightning bolts fell down upon the divine dragon the moment Minhyuk swung his sword, engraved with the word ¡°Destruction.¡±

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeck! Kihyeeeeeeeeck!¡± the divine dragon roared.

    Evidently, the dragon was suffering from pain from how its roars sounded. However, it could no longer fight back or even move. This was because Minhyuk¡¯s Destruction could also leave his enemy stunned.

    Meanwhile, Rhoando and the rebels watched the lightning bolts sh and fell constantly upon the dragon in awe.

    Although the divine dragon was a being with shocking regenerative abilities, it seemed like it could not keep up with the damage caused by the effects of Destruction. In the end, it fell helplessly on the ground.

    <em>Boom¨C!</em>

    <em>[You have hunted the Divine Dragon.]</em>

    <em>[The effects of Ovepping Delight are still in effect. The EXP that you will acquire will double.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 42,513 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 21,313,111,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Cintamani Stone Filled With Divine Power.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Proliferating Potato.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Divine Dragon¡¯s Adapting Armor.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 300 stat points.]</em>

    <em>[...Divine Dragon¡¯s Reinforcement Spell.]</em>

    <em>[...acquired the Divine Dragon¡¯s Mantis¡¯ Wings.]</em>

    <em>[...acquired Divine Dragon¡¯s Bee¡¯s Wings.]</em>

    <em>[...Divine Dragon¡­]</em>

    Notifications constantly rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>Swoosh¨C</em>

    ¡°Hyung-nim!¡±

    ¡°Hyuuuuuuuuung-nim!¡±

    ¡°Hyuuuuuuuuung-nim!¡±

    The rebels cheered. The fact that their hyung-nim was the real ¡°Food God¡± and that he killed the divine dragon, almost reaching Level 800, surprised them. But they would have been wiped out here if it wasn''t for him.

    ¡°Hyung-nim¡­!¡±

    But Rhoando was most pleased. He even gained more respect for Minhyuk. Through Minhyuk, Rhoando realized what kind of god the Food God was. He had learned that the Food God was not weak and trivial. Of course, Minhyuk took a very special path in his Food God journey. But he could still be an excellent example of how the Food God could be substantial.

    Then, Minhyuk silently gave the <em>Cintamani Stone Filled with Divine Power</em>, that was shining brightly.

    ¡°Ah¡­!¡± Rhoando cried as he held the cintamani stone. He was overwhelmed with excitement.

    He had always been a mere half-god, half-elf, but now he could ascend and be a true god. This meant he could take down the king and cut down the god of Utopia.

    It was obvious that the <em>Cintamani Stone Filled with Divine Power,</em> had astronomical value. However, Minhyuk readily gave it to him, which showed how wide and broad his generosity was. He even protected the people who were precious to him and disyed a powerful military might.

    Rhoando cried out, ¡°How¨C How¡­ How can you give this precious item to me so carelessly?¡±

    But Minhyuk just smiled kindly at him.

    ¡°Hyung-nim, even if the dayes that I have cut down god, you will still forever be my hyung-nim.¡±

    This was the promise of the new and rising powerhouse that would lead Utopia in the future. Then, as if on cue, the rebels knelt before Minhyuk and silently put their heads on the ground.

    ¡°Hyung-nim, it¡¯s an honor to be your younger brother!¡±

    ¡°We will live for hyung-nim¡¯s sake forever!¡±

    They were also moved when they saw Minhyuk hand over the cintamani stone to Rhoando without asking them for anything. At this moment, their favorability with Minhyuk was so high that they would jump into the fire if Minhyuk said so.

    Minhyuk just smiled kindly at them. No, to be exact¡­

    ¡°Hehe. Potato¡­¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    ¡°What a good potato. Fufu¡­ I can¡¯t believe it! You can grow hundreds of potatoes daily if you nt them on the ground.¡±

    Yes, Minhyuk was not smiling kindly and graciously at them. He was just merely smiling. For Minhyuk, the potatoes that he had received this time were much more important than any other reward that he had received this time.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Proliferating Potato</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Ingredient Grade</em></strong><em>: God</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?STM will increase by 7%.</em>

    <em>?All defensive power will increase by 10%.</em>

    <em>?HP and MP will increase by 4%.</em>

    <em>?Only those who had eaten the potatoes for the first time can obtain the special ability effects.</em>

    <em>?Even if you had eaten all the potatoes and only nted a tiny portion of their skin on the ground, a hundred potatoes will still grow daily.</em>

    <em>?This is the most outstanding potato in all of Utopia. It tastes so delicious that one could only describe this as being out of this world.</em>

    <em>?The Proliferating Potato can also taste like sweet potato. This will be entirely dependent on your choice.</em>

    ¡°Hihi. It can even taste like sweet potato.¡±

    Rhoando and the rebels smiled when they saw Minhyuk smiling like that.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s truly the Food God¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Eating and food is more important than anything else.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®The one who will protect and fight for food.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk knew that the things he obtained here were much more impressive than he initially expected. The first was the Proliferating Potato, and the second was the skill he acquired through Rhoando.

    <em>¡®The new and evolved Ovepping Delight is far superior to the previous one.¡¯</em>

    It was already an overpowered skill before. But now, it has be an extremely cheat-like skill. But that was not all. Minhyuk had acquired a total of two skills here. The first one was the Ovepping Delight.

    As for the other.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>The Famished One¡¯s Cooking</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: God</em>

    <em>Active Skill</em>

    <strong><em>Level</em></strong><em>: 1</em>

    <strong><em>Mana Required</em></strong><em>: 2,000</em>

    <strong><em>Cooldown</em></strong><em>: 1 hour</em>

    <strong><em>Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?While cooking, your time and only your time will flow ten times faster.</em>

    <em>?If you activate The Famished One¡¯s Cooking and take ten minutes to cook, the actual time that would pass by would only be a minute.</em>

    This skill was also very satisfactory. Especially because¡­

    <em>¡®I can use it in my daily life.¡¯</em>

    When Minhyuk was busy and wanted to eat a proper dish but did not have the time, this skill would definitely be of great use.

    ¡°Hyung-nim, can I be a god?¡±

    Even Minhyuk had no idea what kind of god Rhoando would be once he became a true god. Minhyuk was already the Food God of the current era, and there was no god to whom he would inherit power.

    <em>¡®The cintamani stone can make a half-god into a new, true god.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had already checked the information about the cintamani stone before handing it to Rhoando. ording to its description, the system would determine if the one who used the cintamani stone had the qualifications and would turn them into a new god. And the process would take only about ten minutes.

    Rhoando held the cintamani stone that was as big as a ser ball. Then, a bright light shed and engulfed his entire being.

    Minhyuk grinned as he watched the scene. <em>¡®Shall I try using The Famished One¡¯s Cooking?¡¯</em>

    While waiting for Rhoando, Minhyuk intended to eat the potato in his hands. He wanted to make a <em>potato croquette¡ªthe</em> same potato croquette that was golden and crispy on the outside and filled with soft and delicious potatoes and various ingredients on the inside.

    <em>[You have activated the skill: The Famished One¡¯s Cooking.]</em>

    Minhyuk could rte to the skill name right now. After all, he was very, <em>very</em> hungry.

    ¡°Ooooh¡­!¡±

    The mercenaries looked at Minhyuk, who was moving swiftly as if his fast-forward button had been pressed, in admiration.

    After boiling the potatoes, Minhyuk quickly mashed them. Then, he added the thinly chopped onions, carrots, mayonnaise, and sugar and mixed them all together with the potato. After mixing everything evenly, he shaped them into bite-sized pieces.

    Then, he dropped them in the flour before dipping them in eggs and coating them with breadcrumbs. After doing all that, he dropped them into the heated cooking oil and began to fry them one after another.

    <em>Crackle¨C!</em>

    Just like that, he cooked the delicious croquettes until they were golden brown, a signal that they were well-cooked. Then, he took the croquettes out of the oil. He even made sure to shake the excess oil off before ting them.

    <em>[You have finished cooking.]</em>

    <em>[The Famished One¡¯s Cooking has ended.]</em>

    After he finished cooking, Minhyuk looked around. He saw that Rhoando still had the cintamani stone in his hands and was still absorbing the divine power in it.

    ¡°How much time has passed?¡±

    ¡°Around four minutes, give or take.¡±

    Minhyuk cooked for around forty minutes. But in reality, only four minutes had passed.

    <em>¡®What a truly amazing ability,¡¯</em> Minhyuk thought as he looked at the well-fried croquettes.

    For Minhyuk, who loved food, Utopia was brutal and harsh. After all, it was a world without his favorite! As he stood in this world, Minhyuk ate the crunchy and well-fried croquette.

    <em>Crunch¨C!</em>

    Since the croquette was freshly fried, it was still crispy and warm. And the moment he bit through the crunchy skin? A burst of vor danced in his mouth as the mashed potatoes mixed with the various colorful ingredients touched his taste buds.

    ¡°Hoo¡­!¡± Minhyuk eximed when he took a bite of the croquette.

    Every bite of the croquette and the perfectly vored mashed potato inside made Minhyuk¡¯s smile grow deeper and deeper. After eating the potato croquette instantly, he received another series of notifications.

    <em>[You have eaten Croquettes.]</em>

    <em>[Your STM has increased by 7%.]</em>

    <em>[All of your defensive power has increased by 10%.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP and MP have increased by 4%.]</em>

    Minhyuk smiled happily.

    A few momentster, warmth started to appear and wrap around Rhoando. This warm and gentle power was giving Rhoando his new powers. Immediately after that, a world message rang, probably only ryed within Utopia.

    <em>[A new candidate for Utopia¡¯s Sky has been born.]</em>

    Soon, a notification rang in Rhoando¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You can be Utopia¡¯s new god by killing or inheriting the position of the Sky.]</em>

    That was right. The system had determined that Rhoando would be the new master of Utopia.

    A strong force started to circte all over Rhoando¡¯s body. He was in a state where all his existing skills remained while his stats increased significantly. Of course, he also gained the status of god. However, Rhoando would not be able to obtain a more substantial power unless he killed ¡°Utopia¡¯s God¡± or took over his position. If he could kill god, then he would be the new master of this world.

    Just by absorbing the divine power in the cintamani stone, Rhoando¡¯s sharp and pointy ears had already shortened. It looked pretty simr to that of a human¡¯s ear now.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s quite reassuring.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk knew that he had gained a powerful ally in his dear younger brother, who would be the new master of Utopia.

    <em>Rumble¨C!</em>

    At that moment, one of the walls of this ce, which the divine dragon was guarding, copsed and revealed a passage that led to a new ce. One of the divine dragons protected the cintamani stone, while the other protected the oppressed and subdued thing in this ce.

    Minhyuk had a hunch. He thought, <em>¡®I bet the banned ingredients will all be there.¡¯</em>

    Utopia has banned all of the ingredients in this world. If that were the ce where they were all hidden, then there would probably be hundreds of millions of ingredients in there.

    Minhyuk, Rhoando, and the rebels stepped forward and entered the passageway.

 Chapter 979

    Chapter 979

    In Utopia, Arce, who was hailed as the God and the Sky, was considered the person sitting in the highest position. Of course, he also had the heroes standing by his side and protecting Utopia. The heroes, just like Arce, were half-gods, half-transcendentals. To put it simply, Arce was like the king, and the heroes were like the nobles of Utopia.

    Currently, Utopia¡¯s God Arce was ying <em>Go</em> with the Hero King Rakk.

    <em>Tap¨C</em>

    Arce ced his ck stone on the <em>Go</em> board. Then, he looked up at Rakk, sitting before him, and said, ¡°Are you going to get rid of all of the food in Utopia? In one week, all things being oppressed and subdued in the Dungeon of Oppression will disappear.¡±

    Rakk stopped rubbing the smooth white stone in his hands and looked up. ¡°Sky.¡±

    Contrary to his words, Rakk did not treat Arce like he was the noblest Sky.

    ¡°The act of eating in and of itself is very unnecessary for the hybrids. Not only do you have to farm and cook the dishes, you even have to partake in the act of eating just to consume food.¡±

    Arce¡¯s hand holding the ck stone tightened when he heard Rakk¡¯s words.

    ¡°Besides, aren¡¯t potatoes enough for those mutts?¡±¡°...¡±

    Arce was rendered silent.

    Different from what everyone knew, Arce wanted to keep food in Utopia. It was all because of the heroes.

    As mentioned before, the heroes were just like Arce. They had the power of a half-god and a half-transcendental. The problem was that the power of the god that Arce had inherited, in other words, the power of the Food God, could not exert much energy. The heroes, on the other hand, could exert a powerful force. The worst part? They were all arrogant and nasty beings.

    ¡°Besides, they were the type of people who would wage war and fight for food. Those people don¡¯t need to have food.¡±

    Arce knew that the heroes made it so that the people viewed the Food God as a weak and trivial god. They also asked why he was just a puppet god and not a real god.

    <em>¡®Just because of one ingredient¡­¡¯</em>

    Arce¡¯s hand holding the <em>Go</em> stone trembled. One reason they banned food was to control the hybrids, who enjoyed eating food. But that was not all. They also had another reason for doing so.

    <em>¡®When something is left oppressed and subdued inside the Dungeon of Oppression for a very long time, they can obtain something beyond anyone¡¯s imagination.¡¯</em>

    The heroes had left inside the Dungeon of Oppression the food ingredients they had banned. So, that <em>something </em>beyond anyone¡¯s imagination would be a cooking ingredient. The heroes banned and controlled food for hundreds of years to get that one ingredient.

    In a week, everything that was being oppressed and subdued inside the Dungeon of Oppression would finally disappear. This would signal the disappearance of all the food in thend and the birth of that thing that they wanted to obtain.

    Rakk rubbed the <em>Go</em> stone before cing it on the board. Then, he said, ¡°But these days, there are bugs who dare to dream of rebelling against the Sky.¡±

    <em>Twitch¨C</em>

    Arce immediately knew who Rakk was talking about. It was none other than his younger brother, Rhoando.

    Arce left his mother. Why did he leave? He was furious at his father and at the people''s mocking and ridiculing of him. That was also why he wanted to be a god. And he became a god, a god for the heroes.

    But as time went by, he finally realized that his father was not a weak and ipetent god, and the heroes were doing bad things all along. After a long time, he also learned that it was not him but his younger brother, Rhoando, who possessed a solid and great will.

    <em>¡®If the one who became god was you, then you might not have been swayed by them.¡¯</em>

    He felt extremely bitter that his brother had received the power of a half-elf, not him.

    ¡°Well, what can those bugs even do? Right?¡± Rakk mocked.

    Then, Arce asked, ¡°What would happen if those people were able to release the things being oppressed in the Dungeon of Oppression?¡±

    Rakk¡¯s fingers that were rubbing the <em>Go</em> stone stopped once again. He looked at Arce for a moment before bursting intoughter. ¡°What a funny joke. That¡¯s not going to happen. But if it happens, I¡¯m also unaware of what will happen.¡±

    Rakk was confident that it would not happen. It was challenging for the heroes to deal with the twin divine dragons once they merged, yet was Arce telling him that those bugs could kill the dragon and enter the ce where that thing was being oppressed?

    This should not happen. Especially since the one who would challenge the dungeon was Arce¡¯s younger brother, the descendant of the Food God. It would be impossible for him to do so.

    Rakk, as if he was attacking Arce with his words, said, ¡°Sky, you should stop now. You have long abandoned the power inherited from the Food God. That power, which even the lowest of people couldugh at, seems unnecessary, no?¡±

    Just like how Rhoando had inherited the Ovepping Delight skill, Arce had also inherited some of his father¡¯s power. Of course, Arce''s power was utterly different from that of his younger brother.

    Arce did not bother to answer Rakk¡¯s words. But then, both of their eyes turned toward the same direction simultaneously.

    Arce¡¯s pupils shook as he thought, <em>¡®R¨C Rhoando?¡¯</em>

    Half-god, half-transcendentals were the chosen ones. And from what it looked like, another chosen one had been born to the world.

    Not long after, a hero rushed inside the room where they were in. He said, ¡°Hero King. The divine dragon in the Dungeon of Oppression is presumed dead.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Rakk jumped out of his seat. The thing that Arce just asked about had suddenly be a reality.

    ¡°Go. Go straight to the Dungeon of Oppression,¡± Rakk ordered as he hurried out.

    And Arce? He could not hide the anxious expression on his face as he looked at Rakk¡¯s departing back.

    ***

    In the depths of the Dungeon of Oppression.

    Minhyuk, Rhoando, and the rebels continued to walk through the passageway until they saw a bright light.

    <em>¡®Wow¡­¡¯</em>

    As their eyes got used to the brightness, all of the ingredients that should have existed in the world spread out inside the room. All the existing ingredients, regardless of their type, were in this ce. There were fruits like apples and pears, meat like pork and beef, which were divided into each of their parts, and grains like wheat and rice.

    <em>¡®All kinds of ingredients are here. And there aren¡¯t even any duplicates.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk could easily tell there were no two ingredients of the same kind.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°H- Hyung-nim¡­!¡±

    At that moment, Minhyuk turned to look back at Rhoando and the rebels, who called out to him. Only then did he see that a transparent barrier blocked them, and they could not enter.

    Immediately after that, a notification rang.

    <em>[Only the pure-blooded Food God and those who have contributed significantly to the hunt of the divine dragon can enter the ce where the oppressed and subdued item is located.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s face twisted into a frown. This ce seemed impossible to enter unless someone had hunted the divine dragon or was the Food God.

    <em>[142 hours. 34 minutes. 30 seconds.]</em>

    <em>[142 hours. 34 minutes. 29 seconds.]</em>

    <em>[142 hours. 34 minutes. 28 seconds.]</em>

    Then, his eyes turned toward the timer floating in the air, with a huge and unknown heart beating right beneath it.

    ¡°Everyone, wait there.¡± Minhyuk stretched his hand out as he approached the beating heart.

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Linked Quest</em></strong><em>: Destroy the Heart of Oppression.]</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: ss</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: The one who helped Rhoando be a God.</em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: Oppression¡¯s Cooking Ingredient</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty on Failure</em></strong><em>: Unable to proceed with the following quests.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: The Heart of Oppression has subdued and is still suppressing all of the food in the world and is using it to create the Oppression¡¯s Cooking Ingredient. Once the timer reaches zero, all cooking ingredients, except the potato, will no longer be found in Utopia, and the Oppression¡¯s Ingredient will appear worldwide. If you destroy the Heart of Oppression during the process, you can still obtain the Oppression¡¯s Ingredient, but it would only have a portion of its power.</em>

    Minhyuk knew full well that he had to destroy the Heart of Oppression.

    <em>¡®If I destroy the Heart of Oppression, then does that mean all of these ingredients would be released in Utopia?¡¯</em>

    But right now, the king and the god of Utopia still had a ban on food. Minhyuk quickly walked to Rhoando and said, ¡°Rhoando, you have to go and quickly deal with the king.¡±

    ¡°Wh- What about you, hyung-nim?¡±

    ¡°If we fail to destroy the Heart of Oppression within a week, then even if you be king and god, all of the ingredients in this world will disappear.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Rhoando and the rebels looked at Minhyuk in shock. If that happened, it would be useless even if Rhoando became king or god.

    ¡°I will deal with the Heart of Oppression by myself.¡±

    ¡°Can you do it?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll do my best.¡± Minhyuk did not have aplete guarantee. After all, he also had no idea about the variables that would affect the Heart of Oppression.

    Rhoando met Minhyuk¡¯s gaze.

    ¡°Now is the time for us to do what we must do.¡±

    Although Rhoando was worried about Minhyuk, he was not wholly unaware of that fact. In the end, he agreed. ¡°I understand, hyung-nim.¡±

    Rhoando nodded solemnly at Minhyuk. The rebels also looked at Minhyuk and gave him a brief goodbye before turning around and leaving.

    <em>¡®Rhoando will be able to do well.¡¯</em>

    From what Minhyuk had seen, Rhoando was a strong man. He would be able to do what he intended to do.

    Minhyuk turned to look at all the ingredients scattered around the Heart of Oppression he had to destroy.

    <em>Drip, drip, drip¨C</em>

    Drool started dripping down his chin as he looked at all the ingredients around him.

    <em>¡®Shall we try eating one?¡¯</em> Minhyuk thought as his hands reached for the pork belly lying silently in a basket.

    <em>[The pork belly is under oppression.]</em>

    <em>[You must destroy the Heart of Oppression before acquiring the ingredients.]</em>

    A frown immediately marred Minhyuk¡¯s face. He was happy that he could see the ingredients that he hadn¡¯t seen for quite some time now, but his happiness was immediately dragged down to the ground after realizing that he could not eat them.

    Minhyuk turned to look at the Heart of Oppression. <em>¡®There¡¯s a cooking ingredient inside the Heart of Oppression, huh?¡¯</em>

    And this ingredient was made by putting the other ingredients under its oppression. There was no way that someone as quick-witted as Minhyuk would not understand what this implied.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s a high chance that they ban food and put them here so that they could get this ingredient.¡¯</em>

    An ingredient made after putting all of the other food and ingredients under oppression for hundreds of years. For someone like Minhyuk, who loved to eat, he could not help but be curious about it.

    Minhyuk approached the Heart of Oppression. Based on experience, this kind of thing would usually require an insane amount of hard work andbor. So, he raised his sword and swung toward the Heart of Oppression once.

    <em>[The Heart of Oppression is reacting.]</em>

    <em>[The Heart of Oppression will be able to make the perfect ingredient in a week.]</em>

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[The information on the Oppression¡¯s Cooking Ingredient that will be made in a week has been released.]</em>

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Oppression¡¯s Beef Grilling Set</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Ingredient Grade</em></strong><em>: God and Transcendental</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?Your level will increase by 40.</em>

    <em>?All of your stats will increase by 45%.</em>

    <em>?All of your skill levels will increase by +5.</em>

    <em>?Your HP and MP will increase by 80%.</em>

    <em>?A chosen skill will receive a +3 increase in level.</em>

    <em>?Your divine power will increase by 50%.</em>

    <em>?This ingredient is more special than any other ingredient in the world. Its taste is more delicious than ordinary ingredients. The taste would remain unchanged even if the Heart of Oppression is destroyed.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: This ingredient will be born by putting all the ingredients under oppression and absorbing their power. Upon consumption, you will be able to obtain unimaginable power. Beware. The Oppression¡¯s Cooking Ingredient will constantly tempt you.</em>

    ¡°...?!¡± Minhyuk trembled.<em> ¡®What?! All of the ingredients here?!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had never seen an ingredient like this in his entire life. Could an Absolute God-grade ingredient disy an effect like this? The answer would probably be a resounding no.

    If Minhyuk ate this ingredient, he could guarantee that he would be one of the Eight Pirs right away. No one would be able to fight against him, and he would reign supreme.

    <em>¡®Even Helenia.¡¯</em>

    That was how much power this ingredient possessed. Even if he ate it right away, Minhyuk would easily be a person with a powerparable to that of someone at Level 1,000.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you want it?¡±

    An unidentified voice rang in his ears.

    ***

    Hero King Rakk led the other heroes inside the Dungeon of Oppression.

    <em>¡®How did that trash, Rhoando, hunt the Divine Dragon?¡¯ </em>Rakk just could not understand. The Rhoando that they knew was someone who did not have the power to hunt the divine dragons.

    As he pondered the matter, Rakk finally entered the deepest part of the dungeon. And just like he expected, someone was standing inside the ce where all of the ingredients were left under oppression. From what it looked like, the man had just finished looking at the information on the Oppression¡¯s cooking ingredient.

    <em>¡®I don¡¯t know who this bastard is, but I have to stop him from destroying the Heart of Oppression.¡¯ </em>Rakk could tell from the way the man was trembling. <em>¡®This man will not be able to destroy it.¡¯</em>

    He was probably expecting that he would be able to acquire the Oppression¡¯s Cooking Ingredient in a week. And that expectation was holding him back from doing anything.

    <em>¡®Of course, we will kill him on the day that the Oppression¡¯s Ingredient is born and take it away from him.¡¯</em>

    The transparent barrier stopped Rakk and the other heroes from entering the ce where the man was. However, this transparent barrier would disappear on the day that the Oppression¡¯s Cooking Ingredient was born.

    Rakk could probably tell what the trembling guy was feeling right now. He was feeling greedy.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you want it?¡±

    The man turned to look at him.

    ¡°You will never see a second ingredient like that in the world. If you destroy the Heart of Oppression, the ingredient that would be born would not even have 10% of that power.¡±

    Rakk could see the sh of greed on the face of the unknown man as he nodded at him.

    ¡°Even if we¡¯re here, we won¡¯t be able to reach you. You¡¯re the only one who could get that ingredient.¡±

    The words that Rakk was saying were only half of the truth.

    ¡°So, it would be better for you to wait a week before taking the ingredient.¡± Rakk smiled graciously. ¡°What I¡¯m saying here is you should enjoy your rewards.¡±

    The man, with a greedy look on his face, nodded. ¡°My rewards¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. You have killed the divine dragon to take that much.¡±

    ¡°But who the hell are you guys?¡±

    ¡°We are Utopia¡¯s Heroes. And we praise you for the achievements that you have made.¡±

    The name ¡°Hero¡± had a sacrificial tone, and that should be the case no matter who heard the word. Because of that, Rakk was sure that the man in front of them would not be able to guess what they were nning to do.

    The man nodded. ¡°That¡¯s right. It¡¯s my reward.¡±

    The greed on the man¡¯s face grew even deeper. Even his body started to tremble even more.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. You can be twice as strong as you are now.¡±

    Could he even handle that fact? There was a high chance that this man¡¯s mission was to return all ingredients to Utopia. However, Rakk was confident that no one could withstand the temptation of the Oppression¡¯s Ingredient.

    ¡°Fufu¡­ That¡¯s right. I deserve to have the most delicious beef in the world!¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    The heroes doubted their ears for a moment. Why? Why did the man focus on the ¡°vor¡± rather than the power the ingredient could give?

    ¡°And it¡¯s even a beef with vor that I will never taste again! Kihyaaa!¡±

    That was when they saw the man grip the sword tightly. Rakk and the heroes were immediately in a state of panic.

    ¡°W- wait. You won¡¯t be able to get even 10% of the power of the Oppression¡¯s Ingredient if you destroy the Heart of Oppression!¡±

    ¡°I already know that, though. Either way, it wouldn¡¯t matter. The taste of the beef would remain the same whether it¡¯s destroyed or not.¡±

    ¡°Then why was your body shaking and trembling earlier?¡±

    ¡°I was just too excited at the thought of eating beef. Kghhk~ It¡¯s obvious that I wouldn¡¯t be able to handle it if I gained that much power. Besides, eating beef would make me much happier than gaining power I can¡¯t handle.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    The faces of all of the heroes present twisted and turned ugly. The logic that the man in front of them offered was utterly ridiculous. He was happier to eat beef than to gain power that could help him take over the world? That was a lie, right?

    Just as the question shed in everyone¡¯s head, the man proved his words by raising his sword and striking the Heart of Oppression.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¨C</em>

 Chapter 980

    Chapter 980

    Minhyuk struck the Heart of Oppression without any hesitation.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaang¨C!</em>

    <em>[The Heart of Oppression cannot easily be destroyed.]</em>

    <em>[The Heart of Oppression will constantly interfere with you, who is set to destroy it through various methods.]</em>

    It was just as Minhyuk expected. The Heart of Oppression had put all of the ingredients under oppression and had been sucking up their powers for hundreds of years. It was only natural that it would be tough to destroy. But Minhyuk was not deterred. He continued to swing and hack at it with his sword.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    <em>Boom¨C!</em>

    <em>Bang, bang¨C!</em>

    He did not waver as he swung his sword as swiftly as possible. <em>I¡¯m going to eat delicious beef!</em>

    <em>¡®Of course, I¡¯m sad too.¡¯</em>

    That was right. Minhyuk felt it was a pity that he wouldn¡¯t be able to get 100% of the power of the Oppression¡¯s Beef Grill Set. After all, at 100%, his level could increase by four just by eating it. His stats would also increase by 45% and his HP and MP by 80%. Even the level of his skills would increase by +5 while the chosen skill would increase by +3.

    Minhyuk was sure he would leave everyone in the dust if he ate a dish from the Oppression¡¯s Ingredient.

    <em>¡®Everythinges with a price. In Athenae, easily obtaining power like this would mean that you have to pay a price.¡¯</em>

    Take the Oppression¡¯s Beef Grill Set as an example. If Minhyuk ate this, he would grow strong. However, the Eight Pirs might target him and knock on his doors. Aside from that, there was also an unpredictable system. There was a chance that it could overwhelm and even restrict Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®Instead of only one delighting in something delicious, it¡¯s better to share the delight of eating something delicious with everyone.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was convinced that Utopia, a world where food had been banned and oppressed, had some specialty. If he ate the Oppression¡¯s Beef Grill Set, not only would all of the ingredients disappear, but even that specialty would disappear.

    <em>¡®I don¡¯t want to be in a situation where others would not be able to eat just because I want to be stronger.¡¯</em>

    This was the greatest reason for Minhyuk¡¯s choice. Minhyuk knew hunger better than anybody else. He could not allow others to live in eternal hunger just because he wanted to be stronger. And he also wanted to see it.

    <em>¡®The people of Utopiaughing and eating happily.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk tightened his grip on his sword, his strikes growing fiercer and fiercer by the second.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    He would let them know the pleasure of eating!

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    The feeling of delight when one came back from work and sat around with their families to talk while having a meal and eating delicious dishes.

    <em>Boom¨C!</em>

    <em>Boom, boom, boom¨C!</em>

    A small smile appeared on Minhyuk¡¯s face. He could feel a slight jolt from the Heart of Oppression with every hit hended.

    ¡°I understand now.¡±

    He heard the voice of one of the people who introduced themselves as the heroes of Utopia. Minhyuk did not trust them at all. He had been vignt ever since they introduced themselves as ¡°heroes.¡±

    <em>[Hero King Rakk. Level 808.]</em>

    First, the level of the man named Rakk, the very same man trying to talk to him, was very unusual. And it was not just him.

    <em>[Hero Ender. Level 777.]</em>

    <em>[Hero Broden. Level 786.]</em>

    <em>[Hero Iyasdar. Level 791.]</em>

    Even the level of the other heroes who apanied him was not low. On top of that, this was the ce ¡°where something was being oppressed and subdued.¡± It was obvious that they had a purpose foring to such a ce.

    ¡°You¡¯re the Food God.¡±

    Rakk knew that only the Food God would show such a crazy desire for food, even in the face of a strong power. At this moment, Rakk decided to put away all sense of pretense.

    ¡°Ah. I will never forget it. The god who only knows how to eat.¡±

    He realized that the one who killed the divine dragon was the Food God.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how you killed the divine dragon. But if you back off now, then I won¡¯t kill you.¡± Rakk smiled viciously. ¡°Then, the Heart of Oppression will not be destroyed. Ah, you should know that the more you try to destroy it, the more it will tighten its hold on you and tempt you.¡±

    ¡°Even if you destroy the Heart of Oppression, you will still die under our hands. This transparent barrier would disappear when the Heart of Oppression is destroyed, or the ingredient is born.¡±

    The Heart of Oppression was already 95%pleted. If it were broken, they would still be able to remake it, and it would even bepleted much faster.

    ¡°Was it you?¡± Minhyuk asked, his face twisting into an ugly expression. His sharp and vicious re turned to look at the Hero King Rakk and the other heroes.

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s CHA, a stat that affected his majesty and momentum and even his battle intent, had already gone beyond anyone¡¯s imagination. The battle intent that Minhyuk released weighed upon the heroes in the dungeon.

    <em>¡®What the hell? His gaze¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®How can a god like the Food God show this much killing intent¡­?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk took one slow step after another until he reached the portion of the transparent barrier that blocked the heroes.

    ¡°I promise¡­¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...that I will kill you all with my own hands.¡±

    An indescribable anger bubbled deep inside Minhyuk. These people controlled everyone''s food just to fulfill their selfish greed.

    But then, Rakk giggled. ¡°<em>Pfft¡­!</em>¡±

    The killing intent that he had released just now was horrifying. But that was all. The man in front of them did not even look like he was any more substantial than Rakk.

    ¡°Just with you alone?¡±

    He was alone, while there were four people on their side. They were also hailed as the heroes of Utopia¡ªUtopia¡¯s Hero was not an empty title. Yet the man, Minhyuk, just told them that he would personally kill them.

    ¡°Aaaah. Yes, that¡¯s right. You have a way to deal with us.¡± Rakk shed a dark smile at Minhyuk. ¡°You can probably do it if you wait a week and eat the ingredient that would be born from the Heart of Oppression. Fufufufufu!¡±

    Rakk¡¯s mockingughter resonated in the area.

    ¡°Of course, we would still be able to kill you by then. Huh? You should remember this well.¡± Rakk guffawed. ¡°I have more than 4,000 half-gods and half-transcendentals under mymand.¡±

    Rakk was extremely confident with his influence and power.

    ¡°And I also have a huge army with more than half a million troops that would move with just a single word from me.¡±

    Although he did not know, Minhyuk had an army of more than one million under hismand.

    ¡°Want to hear something more amazing?¡±

    Rakk, with a greedy expression, pointed at the transparent barrier and said, ¡°After eating that ingredient, I will kill the god of thisnd. Not only that, I will move to your world and be the Battle God.¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    Minhyuk tilted his head when he heard Rakk¡¯s ambitious words. Battle God? What an extremely familiar god, no? At this moment, Rakk had revealed to Minhyuk a part of the reason why he created the Heart of Oppression.

    ¡°From what I heard, the Battle God is a great monarch who leads thousands of gods under hismand. He¡¯s an Absolute God who rules all the world''s armies!¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    ¡°I will be that Battle God. Once I be the Battle God, a bug like you will stand no chance!¡±

    The other heroes were also giggling.

    ¡°A trivial and useless god like you would not even be able to make eye contact with a great god like the Battle God.¡±

    ¡°Sir Rakk is the man who will be the Battle God. It¡¯s an honor for such a lowly god like you to even be able to converse with him like this.¡±

    ¡°Have you ever been able to talk to the Battle God before, huh? You must not have had the chance. He won¡¯t deal with such a trivial and useless god like you! Hahaha!¡±

    Minhyuk was feeling so freaking honored because of them that he was rendered speechless.

    ¡°I also know the Battle God.¡±

    After all, Minhyuk was the Battle God himself. He had all the qualifications to be the great sovereign who would lead all of the gods.

    Rakk grew even prouder. ¡°Even though you¡¯re just the Food God, the fact that you killed the divine dragon means you have a use. If you choose to be my dog and stop destroying the Heart of Oppression, I will leave a ce for you once I be the Battle God.¡±

    Minhyuk was none other than the Battle God that he was talking about. It was funny to see Rakk babbling about giving the Battle God a position under him. However, Minhyuk had judged that he would gain nothing if he revealed that he was the Battle God right here and <em>now</em>. As he listened to the heroes weave their fantasies, Minhyuk¡¯s head began to spin and weigh the pros and cons of the situation.

    <em>¡®Would it be beneficial for us to have theme here?¡¯</em>

    Of course, the ¡°them¡± he was talking about was the people of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. Minhyuk, who finally found the answer, nodded to himself.

    Unfortunately, he couldn¡¯t give his orders to his people or the yers under hismand because he was in Utopia, a different world from theirs. And since he couldn¡¯t even use the skill that would allow him to summon Spear God Ben, he would not be able to use the Almond of Subordinates. However, that did not mean that there was no way at all.

    Minhyuk quickly disappeared from Rakk and the other heroes¡¯ view. He logged out. And around ten minutester, Minhyuk returned.

    ¡°He must have needed the time to think.¡± Rakk snickered. He thought that Minhyuk would soon kneel in front of him and beg.

    However, Minhyuk grinned at them and said, ¡°I told you. I promise that I will kill you with my own hands.¡±

    After leaving those words behind, he turned around and began attacking the Heart of Oppression again. Minhyuk was the type of person who would always follow through with the words that he had said. Not only that, he was also the type of person who would finish what he had started.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    ***

    At the same time.

    Genie hurriedly called for an emergency meeting after receiving a call from her dear boyfriend, Minhyuk, also known as the Battle God and the Emperor of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    ¡°I believe all of you understand the current situation, right?¡±

    Of course, all the yers and NPCs, including the demoted Brod, who immediately ran the moment he was notified of the meeting, were present.

    Sitting among them, Haze was tapping the calctor in her head furiously.

    ¡°To deal with Hero King Rakk and the heroes, it¡¯s only natural for us to gather the team of our empire¡¯s best.¡±

    But if they went to that world filled with uncertainties, they might get hurt again. Also, the best of the best of the Beyond the Heavens Empire were those who could raise enormous funds to help the empire daily.

    ¡°His Majesty is in danger. Shouldn¡¯t we go right away?¡±

    Some of the NPCs nodded in agreement to Brod¡¯s words. However, Haze remained calm as he pondered the matter deeply.

    First, they had to determine how many people would go. Then, they had to decide who should go and who would be most efficient.

    <em>¡®Right now, the Luvien Empire and the Beyond the Heavens Empire are in a truce. There¡¯s no one trying to fight a war against us.¡¯</em>

    Not only did she have to take into ount the previously mentioned matters, but she also had to take into ount Hero King Rakk, the heroes, and the countless other variables that Minhyuk was facing right now. It did not take too long for Haze to conclude.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s okay for us to send many of the Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s talents to that ce.¡¯</em>

    Haze not only considered Minhyuk¡¯s safety and rescue but also considered the material benefits that they would receive.

    <em>¡®His Majesty has developed a close rtionship with the man who would most likely be the god of that new world. This means that His Majesty will probably have him under hismand.¡¯</em>

    Once Minhyuk sat on the Battle God¡¯s thronepletely, there was a chance he would have the entire Utopia in his hands. If that were the case, then how much would they be able to profit from it?

    <em>¡®Perhaps we would gain over hundreds of billions of tinum?¡¯</em>

    If Beyond the Heavens Empire could interact and maintain a rtionship with Utopia, they could gain something the Luvien Empire did not have.

    The NPCs and yers all turned to look at Haze with nervous expressions. Haze usually opposed sending the talents of the Beyond the Heavens Empire out. She did not want to send them carelessly anywhere, and since they were strong, she always tended to select the fewest people to deal with the matter. This was because this was the most efficient way.

    But today was different.

    ¡°We will send everyone, except for the least number of talents needed to maintain the function of the empire, to Utopia.¡±

    Haze had never sent arge number of people out since she always said that having the least number of people was the most efficient. But now, Haze gave her approval, which corresponded to Minhyuk¡¯s approval, to send all of the Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s high-rankers and NPCs.

    Haze smiled silently and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go and suck everyst bit of profit that we can get from that ce.¡±

 Chapter 981

    Chapter 981

    Warp Tower.

    Just like any other day, Continental Master Aesden continued to send those whocked qualifications back by calling out astronomical prices that were more than ten times the ordinary price of a warp.

    Surprisingly enough, it was less crowded todaypared to usual. It was only natural. Just because many people wanted to use his services did not mean there would always be a long line in front of the Warp Tower. Because of that, Aesden fell deep into his thoughts.

    <em>¡®I wonder if he¡¯s adapting and adjusting well in the World of Hybrids?¡¯</em>

    He still could not forget the sweetness of the chocte that the man, who was thend, the sea, the wind, and the sun, had given him. Of course, Aesden had met and sent countless people. However, the man was particrly memorable because Aesden saw something great in him.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s also the first time that my crystal ball has been broken.¡¯</em>

    At that moment, a group that looked like they had arrived for an appointment entered the tower. A man with a massive build and carrying a sword with the symbol of a wolf on its de stepped forward and said, ¡°Please send me to the World of Hybrids.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Aesden was quite surprised to see another maning to find Utopia just a few days after the man from before.¡°Please ce your hand over here.¡±

    Aesden acted as usual. But something happened when he closed his eyes to probe the man.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack¨C</em>

    When the man from before visited him, cracks appeared on Aesden¡¯s crystal ball when he put his hands on it. But now? The man before Aesden raised his hand, but the crystal ball was already broken.

    ¡°...!¡±

    Aesden trembled. He seemed to understand what kind of person the man in front of him was even though he hadn¡¯t looked into his consciousness.

    If the young man who passed by a few days ago was the wind, then this man in front of him was the storm. If the young man were the sea, then this man would be the violent waves of the ocean. And if the young man were thend, then this man would be thend that covered the entire universe.

    The brightest Sun might have already lost its light, but the fact that it was once a Sun would always remain.

    ¡°Th- this way, please¡­ I¡¯ll show you the way¡­¡±

    But before Aesden could finish his words, someone stepped forward again.

    ¡°Hoho. Can you check mine too and send me together with him?¡±

    This time, the one who spoke was an old man with thick, long ck hair tied into a ponytail. The old man looked like he had a well-bnced and toned body, but in Aesden¡¯s eyes, he was nothing but an old man.

    Aesden quickly reced the broken crystal ball with a new one. But just like the case with the man earlier, the crystal ball broke when he raised his hand.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack, crack¨C</em>

    Aesden immediately understood. <em>¡®He is someone who will never back down. He does not fear death. He¡¯s a human who has gone beyond his limits and became a demigod. He¡¯s probably sacrificed himself and became a god for someone¡¯s sake.¡¯</em>

    Aesden was quite shocked.

    ¡°If you stand here, then I will show you¡­¡±

    ¡°Please do it for me too.¡±

    This time, a gigantic man with ck skin stood in front of Aesden. Aesden could only gulp dryly as he watched several unknown and unidentified men enter.

    <em>¡®Will blood taint the winds of Utopia soon?¡¯</em>

    ***

    <em>¡®The Food God has gone crazy and wants to die.¡¯</em>

    This was what Rakk thought after he saw the man continue to hit the Heart of Oppression even after he threatened him that he would be the Battle God.

    Hero Ender, with a look of concern on his face, said. ¡°Sir Rakk, what if he destroys the Heart of Oppression?¡±

    Hero King Rakk schemed and set all of this up. He had seen the Heart of Oppression in one of the ancient books and used the information he gathered to create it. Because of that, he also knew how to destroy it.

    ¡°That bastard will never be able to destroy the Heart of Oppression.¡± Rakk was very confident. ¡°The Heart of Oppression is already 95%plete. It already has the power to regenerate itself. Furthermore, the Heart of Oppression wants to live. Not only will it reflect some of the attacks back, but it will also tempt and seduce the one attacking it.¡±

    ¡°Can the Heart also inflict damage?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Its regenerative ability is also swift. One has to keep attacking the Heart before its injuries heal. But it will not be easy. The opponent will receive some damage it inflicted upon the Heart.¡±

    Ender swallowed his saliva at those words. The attacker would receive some damage they inflicted upon the Heart. That was insane.

    Not only that, but the HP of the Heart of Oppression was definitely beyond imagination. There was a high chance that its HP was more than fifty times that of that man, who was hailed as the Food God.

    What would happen if he continued to strike the Heart? He would probably die first before the Heart got destroyed. What would happen if he took a break to recover from his injuries? Then, the Heart would also take that time to restore and regenerate itself.

    <em>¡®What¡¯s even more unbelievable is that the Heart would seduce and tempt its opponent.¡¯</em>

    How long would one need to strike the Heart of Oppression for it to break and destroy? The answer to that was unknown. How many days would one be able to endure receiving damage while still striking the Heart?

    After hearing Rakk¡¯s words, Ender believed it would be impossible for the Food God to destroy the heart. But then, Ender¡¯s eyes grew wide. ¡°Sir Rakk.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Rakk was entirely at ease. He simply believed that he could easily kill the Food God and obtain the ingredient born from the Heart of Oppression once the transparent barrier disappeared. So, he did not pay any attention to the Food God.

    ¡°Sir Rakk, putting a scratch on the Heart would be hard even for you, right?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°But¡­ From what I can see, the damage to the Heart is already at 10% now.¡±

    ¡°What? That¡¯s impossible¡­¡± Rakk immediately turned to look at the Food God, his expression filled with disbelief.

    But he was pped with reality. It was just like Ender said. The damage that the Heart received was already at 10%. The worst part? It only took less than an hour.

    Rakk¡¯s face grew ugly. <em>¡®What the hell?! What kind of damage¡­?¡¯</em>

    The fact that the man could already chip off 10% of the Heart was a testament to how excellent the damage he could deal upon his opponents. However, Rakk still shook his head.

    <em>¡®He would receive damage with every strike hends upon the Heart.¡¯</em>

    So, even if he could inflict massive damage upon the Heart, he would still fall before the Heart got destroyed. Once that happened, the Heart would regenerate itself rapidly.

    But Rakk soon saw something unbelievable. That was true. The Food God was damaged with every strike hended upon the Heart of Oppression. But with every strike, an unknown bloody bead would appear and get sucked into the man¡¯s body.

    ***

    Every time Minhyuknded a strike upon the Heart of Oppression, a notification would ring in his ears.

    <em>[You have received 1% of the damage you inflicted upon the Heart of Oppression.]</em>

    <em>Ping¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s body was jolted. It has to be known that Minhyuk could swing his sword four times in just a second. In other words, he would receive 4% of the damage he inflicted every second.

    He did not know how many hours or days it would take him to finally strike down the Heart of Oppression, which meant that this process would continue for who knows how long.

    <em>¡®Furthermore, the HP of the Heart of Oppression is sky-high.¡¯</em>

    He expected it to be at least fifty times more than his own HP. Minhyuk was left flustered when he realized this fact.

    <em>¡®Am I going to fail?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk would receive damage with every strike that hended. No matter what he did, he could not think of a way to destroy it by himself. However, an unexpected skill appeared and helped Minhyuk.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>ughterer¡¯s Absorption</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Passive Skill</em>

    <strong><em>Level</em></strong><em>: None</em>

    <strong><em>Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?Upon sessful attack, there is a 3% chance that you will be able to convert 50% of the damage that you have dealt to your opponents into HP.</em>

    <em>?Upon sessful attack, there is a 0.7% chance of recovering a small amount of your stamina and mental power.</em>

    Although there was only a 3% chance, it was still beneficial. Bloody beads would float from the Heart and seep through Minhyuk¡¯s wounds whenever the skill got triggered. The beads would then help him heal his injuries and recover his HP. The ughterer¡¯s Absorption skill would only be triggered if the opponent was ¡°living.¡± In other words, the Heart in front of Minhyuk was considered alive.

    Of course, yers also had their regenerative abilities, an ability that depended on one¡¯s STM. It might be a bit shabby whenpared to the regenerative abilities of Athenae¡¯s boss mobs, but it was speedypared to the speed of a human¡¯s self-healing abilities.

    With a series of coincidences, Minhyuk¡¯s STM and ughterer¡¯s Absorption met and created a great harmony. Because of that, Minhyuk¡¯s HP did not decrease much, even if he received a portion of the damage that he inflicted.

    Now, nothing could physically stop Minhyuk from destroying the Heart.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    Even the Divine Will was helping Minhyuk and giving him more strength. As time went by, the Divine Will ovepped and helped Minhyuk move faster and faster.

    This has been Minhyuk''s most angry moment since he started ying Athenae. His anger fueled him tond a stronger attack.

    Six hourster, Rakk and the other heroes realized things were going the unusual route.

    ¡°Ender, quickly summon the ¡®Heroes¡¯ Army¡¯ that we have sent to ughter Romado Vige.¡±

    The Heroes¡¯ Army was an army made up of thousands of half-gods and half-transcendentals. They were the army that Hero King Rakk had mentioned before. Rakk intended to bring them here and instill a psychological fear in the Food God. After all, they could not physically damage the man with the transparent barrier between them.

    Then, Minhyuk, who was still swinging his sword, said. ¡°The Heroes¡¯ Army is ughtering a vige? What did the vigers do wrong, huh?¡±

    ¡°They cooked the potatoes. We, heroes, are the rulers of Utopia. We are only punishing them for breaking the rules of this world.¡±

    Only then did Minhyuk pause. However, the strength in his hands grew as he listened to their words.

    ¡°And you¡¯re trying to kill everyone because of that?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s where you¡¯re wrong. I¡¯m pretty sure all of them had already been killed. Perhaps there¡¯s not even a single ant left behind in that vige. This is the price for going against us, the heroes.¡±

    <em>Grit¨C</em>

    Minhyuk ground his teeth. Those people just wanted to eat better-tasting potatoes. Perhaps Minhyuk was too immersed in the situation. However, as someone who knew hunger better than anybody else, he knew the pain that they were experiencing.

    ¡°That¡¯s the way to govern such lowly trash. Perhaps a lowly god like you doesn¡¯t know that. After all, you have no qualifications to stand above someone.¡±

    That was where Rakk was wrong. Minhyuk was the emperor who ruled more than ten million people and was themander of millions of troops.

    At this moment, Minhyuk made another vow. <em>I will make sure to kill them.</em>

    For the first time, the Heart of Oppression began to tempt Minhyuk, who was utterly ovee with anger as he continued to strike at it with his entire being.

    <em>[The Heart of Oppression promises that you will be able to kill them all as long as you wait for itsplete revival.]</em>

    <em>[The Heart of Oppression says it will give you a more powerful Oppression¡¯s Beef Grill Set than the one you have seen as long as you wait for itsplete revival.]</em>

    The temptation grew stronger the more it spoke. Of course, Rakk, who created the Heart of Oppression, also heard a simr notification.

    <em>[The Oppression¡¯s Beef Grill Set that will be born from the Heart of Oppression that the man is attacking will be 20% stronger.]</em>

    Rakk was delighted. He knew it! The Heart of Oppression had started to tempt the man so that it could survive. Rakk felt his heart pound, believing he could obtain a better ingredient from it.

    Meanwhile, the Heart of Oppression continued to whisper in Minhyuk¡¯s ears. <em>¡®Wait. Just wait for one week. If you wait a week, I will kill them all and present you with a shockingly outstanding ingredient.¡¯</em>

    Of course, Minhyuk was not the type to easily fall for temptations. However, as if hypnotized, he stopped moving.

    <em>¡®You can have everything in Athenae.¡¯</em>

    The whispers grew louder and louder in his ears.

    <em>¡®You can be the Supreme.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®You can win against the Luvien Empire.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®You can eat all of the delicious things in the world.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®No one will be able to threaten you.¡¯</em>

    All that would happen if the man did not destroy the Heart of Oppression. Rakk grinned in delight. In the end, everyone was filled with their selfish greed. And that man also could not expel the greed from his body. Although he pretended not to be enticed, his instinct told him to stop. However, Rakk¡¯s thinking was utterly wrong.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaang¨C!</em>

    ¡°I don¡¯t need any of that.¡±

    Minhyuk only stopped briefly before continuing to swing his sword again.

    That was quite funny. Being the Supreme, gaining victory against the Luvien Empire, which no longer threatened them, and eating delicious food?

    ¡°I can do all of that with my power.¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¨C!</em>

    With every twitch of the muscles in Minhyuk¡¯s arm, a more powerful attack wouldnd upon the Heart of Oppression. Rakk and the other heroes who witnessed this scene looked at Minhyuk in shock. And Rakk? He could also hear the Heart¡¯s desperate voice as it pleaded to Minhyuk.

    <em>[The Heart of Oppression offers the man trying to destroy it a 5% stronger Oppression¡¯s Beef Grill Set!]</em>

    <em>[The Heart of Oppression offers the man trying to destroy it a 7% stronger Oppression¡¯s Beef Grill Set!]</em>

    <em>[The Heart of Oppression offers the man trying to destroy it¡­]</em>

    <em>[The Heart of Oppression offers the man trying to destroy it¡­]</em>

    Rakk could feel the Heart of Oppression struggle so that it could live. Right now, the Heart of Oppression was trying to offer the man ingredients that went beyond what it initially could give to survive. However, what shocked Rakk was that the man before him did not intend to stop his attacks.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¨C!</em>

    ¡°S- stop¡­! Do you not even have an ounce of desire for the ingredient it will produce?!¡±

    <em>Baaaaaaaaang¨C!</em>

    But no matter what they said, the man did not stop. Rakk could see the blood dripping down one of the deep injuries inflicted upon the Heart of Oppression.

    <em>[The Heart of Oppression offers to give the man destroying it 500 cooking ingredients¡­]</em>

    <em>Spurt¨C!</em>

    It did not take too long for the blood to start spurting out of the Heart.

    <em>[The Heart of Oppression offers to give the man destroying it 100 billion tinum¡­]</em>

    A hole would appear in its body with every offer the heart made. A red light began seeping through the holes in the Heart¡¯s body in just a split second.

    Rakk could not believe his eyes. <em>¡®Does he have no greed? How can he do that?¡¯</em>

    It was ridiculous. Entirely and utterly absurd.

    Minhyuk chuckled when he saw the light.

    <em>Baaaaaaaang¨C!</em>

    <em>Rumble¨C!</em>

    And when Minhyuk¡¯s sword struck the Heart of Oppression, the frantically beating heart started to melt and crumble. The Oppression¡¯s Beef Grill Set and a wooden box appeared in its ce.

    Then, at that moment, shocking notifications rang in the ears of the already frustrated Rakk.

    <em>[More than 99% of the Heart of Oppression has been destroyed.]</em>

    <em>[The Heart of Oppression presents to give the man destroying it an Oppression¡¯s Beef Grill Set with two times its original power.]</em>

    Rakk was frozen in ce. He knew that the Heart of Oppression was struggling hard to save itself. It was giving out sweet candies and tempting the man to give in.

    But Minhyuk just chuckled at the proposal. It was as if it was something that anyone could make. He said, ¡°Shut up.¡±

    And using all of the power that he could muster, Minhyuk struck the Heart of Oppression onest time.

    <em>Baaaaaaaaaaaaang¨C!</em>

    <em>[The things that have been oppressed and subdued have been released by someone.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Box Containing Everything that has been Oppressed and Subdued.]</em>

    Rakk could not take his eyes off Minhyuk who easily destroyed the Heart of Oppression, despite its sweet temptation and final struggle. Then, a bright red light engulfed the dungeon and almost blinded him. At the same time, a notification rang in Rakk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The destroyed Heart of Oppression begins its final struggle.]</em>

    <em>Bathump!</em>

    <em>[In its final struggle, the Heart of Oppression pays tribute to the man carrying the strongest and unbending will in the world.]</em>

    <em>Bathump!</em>

    <em>[In its final struggle, the Heart of Oppression pays tribute to the man who fought for his and everyone¡¯s sake.]</em>

    <em>Bathump!</em>

    <em>[In its final struggle, the Heart of Oppression pays tribute to the man who shines brightly despite the hardships, adversities, and temptation thrown his way.]</em>

    <em>Bathump¨C Bathump¨C Bathump¨C!</em>

    The loud beating of the heart engulfed the entire dungeon. Not long after, a very shocking notification rang in Rakk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The Heart of Oppression leaves 5% additional power to the Oppression¡¯s Beef Grill Set that only has 5% of its original power left.]</em>

    <em>[The man has acquired the Oppression¡¯s Beef Grill Set with 10% of its original power left.]</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    <em>Bathump¨C Bathump¨C Bathump¨C!</em>

    The loud thumping of the heart gradually died down.

    Rakk, who had read through the ancient book, had not seen any case where the Heart of Oppression acknowledged and praised someone. All he knew was that the Heart of Oppression was a living and breathing being.

    <em>¡®The Heart of Oppression is in awe¡­?¡¯</em>

    And as the thumping of the heart grew fainter and fainter.

    <em>Buzz¨C</em>

    All of the heroes felt their ears ring. Then, the red light that spread from the Heart of Oppression receded. It looked like a fog had lifted from their eyes.

    ¡°I remember telling you that I will kill you, no?¡± Minhyuk said as he grabbed Rakk by the cor.

    <em>Swoosh¨C</em>

    Rakk felt goosebumps rise all over his body.

 Chapter 982

    Chapter 982

    The heroes of Utopia were the chosen ones.

    If one were a half-god, half-transcendental, they would already be considered to have fulfilled the most basic requirement to be a chosen one. However, not all of the half-god, half-transcendental beings were outstanding individuals. That was why there was also a second condition that they had to fulfill. And that was to pass the trials of the Tower of Heroes.

    In Utopia''s thousands of years of history, only around a hundred individuals were able to pass the trials of the Tower of Heroes. Those who passed the trials of the Tower of Heroes in the current era became the heroes who ruled Utopia.

    Around 300 years ago, a mighty hero appeared in the world. This man broke the record and became the fastest individual to clear the trials of the Tower of Heroes. He even killed a Tower Commander, a being that only descended every thousand years inside the tower.

    The entire Utopia was left in shock. The Tower Commander was a symbol of Utopia¡¯s strength. Because of that, the other heroes began to follow this man, who defeated this symbol of power and strength. This man became the de facto ruler of Utopia and God¡¯s puppet. The people called him the Hero King.

    And Hero King Rakk heard stories about another world.

    <em>¡®The humans and elves in the world outside are infinitely weaker than the people of Utopia.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®They kicked out the hybrids from their world because of their inferiorityplex.¡¯</em>

    It was a world where those weaker than the Utopia residents lived. When Rakk learned of that fact, he thought he could be god not only in this world but also in the entire universe. But now, Utopia¡¯s strongest, the man who could easily crush and kill thousands of Utopians with a single word, felt fear for the first time in his life.

    <em>¡®W- what¡­¡¯</em>

    The most shocking part was the fact that the subject of that fear was the Food God.

    Rakk¡¯s memories of that time were still very clear. He could clearly remember the descent of a true andplete god. Many people had high expectations for the descent of a true god. However, the god that appeared in front of them was not strong. He just liked to eat.

    Rakkughed at him back then. <em>¡®A f*cking idiotic god.¡¯</em>

    Then, Rakk spread the word throughout the world. He dered that the Food God was weak and trivial. He said he was the most useless god in the world, where strength is power.

    But when he caught sight of the gaze of the current era¡¯s Food God, Rakk was left terrified and overwhelmed. The reason why Minhyuk could overwhelm Rakk with just his momentum aloney in his CHA. His CHA easily went beyond the CHA of other gods.

    The panicked Rakk quickly calmed down. <em>¡®No. This bastard will not be able to kill me.¡¯</em>

    The Food God was alone. He, on the other hand, had the other heroes with him. Not only that, the Heroes¡¯ Army would also arrive soon.

    <em>¡®This bastard had only killed the divine dragon. Compared to me¡­!¡¯</em> This thought shed in Rakk¡¯s head.

    But then, a sword appeared in Minhyuk¡¯s other hand with a wave. This sword was none other than the Sword of Aeon. Minhyuk usually used the Continent Destroyer Sword as his primary weapon and would just swap it with the Sword of Aeon if the situation called for it. And the moment this sword made its appearance.

    <em>[The Hero King¡¯s Sword is resonating!]</em>

    <em>[The Hero King¡¯s Armor is resonating!]</em>

    The sharpness and function of the sword and armor Rakk and the heroes had equipped were temporarily rendered useless.

    Rakk¡¯s eyes grew wide. <em>¡®My sword and armor are shaking in fear?¡¯</em>

    It was utterly ridiculous. He had never heard of a sword and an armor trembling in fear. Even so, he still was not worried.

    <em>¡®Even if this bastard attacks me, he will not be able to inflict a huge damage¡­¡¯</em>

    He could barely even finish the thought.

    ¡°Sword of Carnage.¡±

    With the effects of Dual Swordsmanship in effect, more than sixty attacksnded on Rakk¡¯s body. And this was when his defensive armor¡¯s defensive power was dragged back to one.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab, stab¨C Stab, stab, stab, stab¨C</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaaaack!¡± Rakk screamed from the pain.

    The other heroes looked at Rakk in shock. In their eyes, Rakk was not only a pir of spiritual support but also the highest and strongest man in the world. Seeing Rakk screaming in pain jolted them awake.

    ¡°Bastard!¡±

    ¡°How dare you! Sir Rakk!¡±

    The shocked heroes charged at Minhyuk. However, their attacks were useless. After all, their swords only had one attack power right now. Also, Minhyuk, the one whom they were attacking, had the Transcendental¡¯s Armor equipped. It was an armor with a highly overpowered defensive power that most attacks could not easily damage.

    Minhyuk quickly ignored the damage that they had inflicted upon him. Either way, it would be alright. Even if he received damage, he could trigger ughterer¡¯s Absorption by attacking Rakk and recover from his wounds.

    Of course, Minhyuk knew. <em>¡®I can never win against Rakk.¡¯</em>

    Rakk was a high-level NPC with a level that exceeded Level 800. And Minhyuk¡¯s superiority onlyy in his outstanding artifacts and skills. Once the Sword of Aeon¡¯s power that neutralized his opponents¡¯ weapons and defensive armor disappeared, Minhyuk would be in danger.

    At the very least, Minhyuk was confident that the people of the Beyond the Heavens Empire would arrive soon. It did not matter to him how many people came. If Brod, Spear God Ben, and Luo came, Minhyuk would be at an advantage and be able to take control of this battle.

    So, he needed to find a way to hold out until the people of Beyond the Heavens Empire arrived. Minhyuk ran several simtions in his head until he finally chose one method. At the same time, the word ¡°Destruction¡± appeared on the de of his sword.

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll just go and bash one bastard.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk approached Rakk, staggering after being hit by the Sword of Carnage.

    <em>¡®Why¨C Why¡­?!¡¯</em>

    Rakk couldn¡¯t understand, even after seeing the other heroes attack Minhyuk non-stop. Even though the damage he received did not seem too big, why was he ignoring them anding toward him?!

    Rakk immediately raised his sword to defend against Minhyuk¡¯s attack. But Minhyuk was a step faster than him.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    Lightning fell and struck Rakk. Rakk was left dazed from the excruciating pain that he had never experienced in his life before.

    ¡°Sir Rakk!¡±

    ¡°Hero King!¡±

    The heroes hurriedly tried to protect Rakk, but it did not work. Minhyuk was like a wild and unbridled colt. But at that moment, the power that restricted Rakk and the other heroes slowly disappeared.

    <em>aaaaaash¨C!</em>

    Finally, one of the heroes¡¯ attacks inflicted massive damage upon Minhyuk. Despite the blood in his mouth, Rakk cackled. ¡°Now, you bastard¡­!¡±

    ¡°Shut up.¡±

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    But Minhyuk continued to ignore the attacks sent by the other heroes to attack Rakk alone. At that moment, Minhyuk said, ¡°Viel¡¯s Puppet Doll. Ego Chain Sickle.¡±

    Envoy Viel could deal the highest and most significant damage. As for the Ego Chain Sickle, it was an item that could not be broken easily, even after many attacks. Even though the other heroes did not cause much damage, the fact that the two were able to restrict them from approaching Minhyuk.

    While the two kept the others busy, Minhyuk kept on attacking Rakk. And Rakk, who was constantly being hit and beaten, felt an unbearable humiliation wash over him.

    ¡°How dare you! Do you not know who I am¡­?!¡±

    Then, something shocking happened. Two streams of light rose from Rakk¡¯s body. One was a white light, and the other was a ck light that represented a transcendental. Rakk was a half-god, half-transcendental. However, one special attribute helped him be the Hero King.

    <em>[The Hero King¡¯s Special Attribute has been triggered.]</em>

    <em>[Once the Hero King¡¯s Special Attribute has been triggered, any attacknding on Rakk that did note from a god will decrease by 70%. His attacks will also be 50% stronger.]</em>

    <em>[Once the Hero King¡¯s Special Attribute has been triggered, any attacknding on Rakk that did note from a transcendental will decrease by 70%. His attacks will also be 50% stronger.]</em>

    In fact, the words <em>half-god, half-transcendental </em>could not appropriately describe Rakk. Although the blood of both beings ran through his veins, it was more apt to say that he was both a god and a transcendental.

    And because of this particr attribute, no one could deal with Rakk. Even if a god came, since they did not have the power of an intangible, their attacks would still be 70% less powerful, while Rakk¡¯s own would be 50% stronger. Of course, the same was true for a transcendental.

    ¡°I am the superior race.¡±

    He was a true god and a true transcendental. And Rakk expected that the man in front of him, the Food God, did not have the blood of a transcendental flowing in him. Rakk shed Minhyuk with all his might. But¡­

    <em>[The Hero King¡¯s Battle Intent is responding to a transcendental! You cannot inflict 50% more damage!]</em>

    ¡°...?!¡±

    Rakk was left frozen for a moment. Were his ears ying with him? ording to the notifications that he heard, Minhyuk was a transcendental being. That was impossible. He was nothing but a mere Food God. And he was not even one of the hybrids. So, howe he was considered a transcendental being? And Rakk was able to find the answers to his question not long after.

    ¡°N¨C No way¡­?¡±

    ¡°Intangible Sword.¡±

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    Hundreds of invisible swords shed at Rakk. At this moment, Rakk, who was being beaten one-sidedly, finally caught sight of Minhyuk''s armor. The armor carried the power of a transcendental being.

    At that moment, the white light strengthened and tried to reduce the damage brought about by Minhyuk¡¯s attack.

    <em>[The Hero King¡¯s Battle Intent is responding to a god! You cannot inflict 50% more damage!]</em>

    Minhyuk was a true god, so there was no way that his attacks would be reduced or Rakk¡¯s damage would increase. At this moment, Rakk felt he had met an opponent he should not have met.

    Minhyuk found himself in a very unexpected situation. <em>¡®It seems like the Hero King¡¯s Special Attribute is the power that supported Rakk.¡¯</em>

    Gods and transcendentals were existences that had never gotten along since time immemorial. Simply put, there should never have been a god like Minhyuk, who would wear armor made by a transcendental.

    <em>¡®That power has copsed.¡¯</em>

    The main reason why Minhyuk always held back on using his skills when fighting against Named Monsters or high-leveled NPC was because he wanted to use them at the right time. After all, using one¡¯s skill indiscriminately was a shortcut to one¡¯s defeat.

    However, Minhyuk has a lot of outstanding skills that could easily surpass and overwhelm NPCs at Level 800 or higher. But this was only possible if he was allowed to use his skills as he pleased.

    Knowing that his strong allies woulde soon, Minhyuk decided to go all out. He bombarded Rakk with all of the skills that he had on hand.

    ¡°Supreme Overlord¡¯s Technique.¡±

    <em>Crackle¨C!</em>

    Never-ending attacksnded on Rakk and put pressure on him.

    ¡°You bastard!¡±

    ¡°How dare you do that to Sir Rakk!¡±

    <em>aaash¨C!</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    The other heroes continued to attack Minhyuk like crazy.

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 50%.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 45%.]</em>

    But Minhyuk did not stop attacking Rakk.

    ¡°Sword of Frenzy.¡±

    <em>Stab¨C!</em>

    Rakk, who could not help but receive the attacks, triggered another power in his body.

    <em>[The Hero King¡¯s Pride has been triggered.]</em>

    <em>[The Hero King¡¯s Pride increases your stats by 2% per second.]</em>

    <em>[Rakk¡¯s stats have increased by 2%.]</em>

    <em>[Rakk¡¯s stats have increased by 2%.]</em>

    <em>[Rakk¡¯s stats¡­]</em>

    <em>[Rakk¡¯s stats¡­]</em>

    Rakk¡¯s anger had already reached its peak. This bastard in front of him was nothing but a mere bug. The only reason he was being rendered helpless was that he was not given any time to respond to the onught of skillsing his way. As soon as this bastard¡¯s skills were used up, he could easily crush him.

    Rakk, with the power of the buff boosting him, was confident that he could crush this man all at once.

    <em>[Battle God¡¯s Order.]</em>

    <em>[You can cancel all the buffs or abnormal status applied to your opponent.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk opened his mouth, and the power surging within Rakk¡¯s body instantly disappeared. Of course, he did not stop there. Minhyuk triggered another skill.

    ¡°Sword of Absolute Death.¡±

    Lightning bolts fell from the sky and instantly put Rakk in misery. Ultimately, Rakk could only think, <em>¡®Why¨C Why me alone¡­?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk knew how to instill fear in people like Rakk and the heroes. He knew how to drag these people, who have never known fear, down. He was well-versed in maintaining the upper hand even if he was alone.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk hacked and shed at Rakk¡¯s body non-stop. Despite having a high regenerative ability, Rakk¡¯s blood continued to spurt out of his body. In the end, he was left crawling on the ground from the onught of the attacks. But the attacks did not stop even after Rakk was stabbed in the back.

    ¡°S- Stop. Please stop¡­!¡± Rakk began to beg.

    This was the first time someone like Rakk, who had never felt fear before, had been unable to control his emotions.

    <em>¡®If his head is calm and rational, he will understand that I will lose once I have exhausted my skills.¡¯</em>

    However, fear has consumed Rakk. And this fear hadpletely taken over his rationality. Minhyuk did not stop even after hearing Rakk¡¯s pleas. At this point, Rakk¡¯s entire body was covered with stabs. He looked like he was about to die. The other heroes were all left terrified when they saw Rakk¡¯s state.

    ¡°P¨C Please. Please stop¡­¡±

    ¡°Please let Sir Rakk go.¡±

    ¡°Please stop.¡±

    The heroes all fell on their knees. As mentioned before, Rakk was the heroes¡¯ pir of spiritual support. The thought of him dying in front of them made them all kneel to plead.

    But Minhyuk continued to attack Rakk. When the heroes tried to attack him again, he instantly snarled.

    ¡°Lay a hand on me, and I will kill this bastard right away.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    The heroes had no choice but to stop and continue to sit on the sidelines. The truth was, Minhyuk had already used up almost 90% of his skills in just five minutes. Once Rakk was made aware of this, Minhyuk was 100% sure he would be forced to log out.

    ¡°P¨C Please, I beg you! STOP!¡±

    But Rakk¡¯s fear had a firm grip on him to the point that he could not see the truth. In his eyes, Minhyuk was like a demon. He was a powerful demon standing above him.

    At that moment, Rakk¡¯s HP started to recover rapidly. Minhyuk was still constantly attacking him with Destruction. However, with Rakk¡¯s nerves repaired, his motor skills and instincts helped him avoid the attacks. Because of that, many of the attacks started to miss. The worst part? Minhyuk¡¯s damage could not keep up with the speed of his recovery.

    Because of that, the pain that he was suffering from gradually began to subside. With the pain subsiding, Rakk¡¯s consciousness and spirit also started to return. The fear that had gripped him slowly receded, and he finally understood the situation before him.

    <em>¡®Was he aiming for this¡­?¡¯</em>

    Rakk understood that the man in front of him had deliberately used all of his strength briefly to put intense pressure on him and instill fear in him. After this, this man would have no other special skills. Rakk¡¯s face grew ugly the moment he realized this fact.

    Then, the sound of footsteps rushing inside the dungeon rang. The Heroes¡¯ Army had finally arrived with troops at around Level 700. A vicious and grotesque smile graced Rakk¡¯s face. He knew that the tides of this battle had finally turned.

    This useless god had tricked him in front of him and even forced him to beg for his life. But now, it was time for payback. With a vicious smile on his face, Rakk grabbed his sword. He would kill this man. As if following him, the heroes and the Heroes¡¯ Army all held their swords and aimed at Minhyuk.

    ***

    Radon, leading the Heroes¡¯ Army, was also one of Utopia¡¯s heroes. He and the Level, 700 troops of the Heroes¡¯ Army, were all powerful individuals and had deified the leader, Hero King Rakk, who led this army and the rest of the heroes.

    He and the Heroes¡¯ Army were ughtering the vige, which went against the heroes'' orders, and dared to eat cooked potatoes when Radon received a summoning order from Rakk. They immediately rushed out the moment they received the order, an act that showed how much they revered and worshiped Rakk.

    Rakk had told them he would be the Battle God and make the world kneel beneath his feet. But when Radon and the army entered the Dungeon of Oppression, they were greeted with apletely unbelievable scene.

    A terrified Rakk was slumped on the ground and pleading for mercy. There were even the other heroes kneeling, helpless and unable to do anything, begging with both of their hands for the man to stop attacking Rakk.

    At that moment, Radon felt awe for the man who had single-handedly brought the Hero King and the other heroes to this state. He admired the man even though he was their enemy.

    And after hearing Rakk¡¯s words, Radon immediately understood the situation.

    ¡°Bastard! I know that you no longer have any power left to use! Get ready; I will tear you apart for mocking me! Since you can no longer use your skills, I will easily rip you apart.¡±

    Radon was a very realistic and rational man. He did not know how this situation came to be, but he understood that the heroes had lost the war even if they had won this battle. He could see the mocking smile gracing the lips of the man wearing the cape with a fork and knife crossed together.

    ¡°Everyone, kill him!¡±

    ¡°As youmand!¡± Radon shouted and charged forward with the 4,000-strong troops of the Heroes¡¯ Army behind him.

    But the man smiled at Rakk and said, ¡°There¡¯s still one left.¡±

    The man raised his sword, pointed it at the charging Heroes¡¯ Army behind Rakk, and said, ¡°Cmity.¡±

 Chapter 983

    Chapter 983

    The Eight Pirs supported and stood at the center of the world. Each and every one of them was an outstanding individual. Their greatest representative would be Athenae.

    ording to the records, each of the Eight Pirs had at least one power that represented themselves. This power was known to carry a force far beyond the power of an Absolute God¡¯s Secret. The power representing the Eight Pirs was called ¡°Disaster.¡±

    And Minhyuk? Minhyuk was the owner of the Ninth Disaster, Cmity.

    <em>[Cmity.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have decreased by 15.]</em>

    <em>[Your level will go down by one.]</em>

    <em>[Your total HP and MP volume will decrease by 1% permanently.]</em>

    Even though Cmity was a potent force, Minhyuk was reluctant to use it. Why? Because he had to shoulder a considerable penalty whenever he used it. Minhyuk would often weigh all of the benefits and losses he would gain from using this skill.

    <em>¡®I already obtained the Oppression¡¯s Beef Grilling Set.¡¯</em>With the Oppression¡¯s Beef Grilling Set in hand, Minhyuk would be able to increase his level by five and increase his total HP and MP by a significant amount. And thanks to the Heart of Oppression''s praise, the beef set''s effects had grown infinitely better than before.

    The penalty he would receive would be considered lightpared to the benefits he had already received. Besides, the Heroes¡¯ Army had troops at Level 700 and above. They were a strong army. But this was a dungeon, and Cmity was an AOE attack skill. This was the best ce to use it to bomb the enemies.

    Minhyuk thought, <em>¡®It will be difficult for me to meet this many strong people in the future.¡¯</em>

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    <em>Crackle¨C!</em>

    A sword engulfed in zing mes fell from the sky and struck Rakk. The moment the sword made contact, the zing mes shot out and devoured an entire five-meter radius area. But that was not the end. A thousand swords engulfed in zing mes fell. Around 30% of the zing swords exploded into mes and devoured the enemy with an additional 1,000% attack power four times in a row.

    <em>Crackle¨C!</em>

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    <em>Rumble¨C!</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°A¨C Aaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kghhhk!¡±

    Screams were ripped apart from the mouths of the troops of the Heroes¡¯ Army, who were just showing off their majesty. Rakk and the heroes looked at Minhyuk in terror when they saw the mes devour the Heroes¡¯ Army.

    <em>¡®Im¨C impossible¡­¡¯</em>

    It was a terrible power. The Heroes¡¯ Army crumbled just like that. It was as if powerful waves were sweeping them away.

    Minhyuk¡¯s gaze remained calm and indifferent as he looked at them. Of course, Puppet Viel and the Ego Chain Sickle were not to be outdone. They continued to attack the Heroes¡¯ Army amidst the explosions.

    Since they had reached Level 700, there was no way that Cmity could kill them all at once. But it could be considered a done deal with Puppet Viel and the Ego Chain Sickle, two beings that could deal a high amount of damage in one go, attacking them.

    <em>[You have killed Rhama.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1,013,000,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1,300 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have killed Abheq.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1,501,000,031 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have killed Cramian.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1,203,000,133 EXP.]</em>

    Minhyuk also jumped into the mes and joined the hunt. With the word ¡°Explosion¡± carved on the de of his sword, he went wild like a rampaging beast. He only fell back after the power of Cmity slowly subsided.

    Minhyuk frowned. <em>¡®I think I¡¯m in trouble.¡¯</em>

    He had killed around seven hundred troops from the Heroes¡¯ Army with the help of Cmity. However, he could see how they were recovering rapidly the moment the aftermath of the Cmity disappeared. Of course, the same was true for Rakk.

    <em>¡®I think it¡¯s amazing that I can hold on for this long, no?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk used up all his skills in less than ten minutes. Now, he had no skills left at his disposal.

    Meanwhile, Rakk, gripped with fear, thought, <em>¡®We have to kill him no matter what.¡¯</em>

    Rakk realized that he would die if he did not kill the man in front of him.

    <em>¡®Now, he has nothing left.¡¯</em>

    He could tell that Minhyuk no longer had any skills left after using his skills in a frenzy earlier. If he still had some left, he would have already used it right after the aftermath of Cmity ended. Only then would he be able to kill a lot more people. And unlike Minhyuk, Rakk still had plenty of skills avable to him.

    Minhyuk felt cold sweat drip down his back the moment he saw them recover rapidly from their injuries.

    ¡°BASTARD!!!¡± Rakk shouted in fury as he stood up and tried to run toward Minhyuk. However, an unknown and powerful force appeared and pressed down on him. Rakk, who was left confused and feeling strange, looked to his side.

    Rakk¡¯s eyes widened when he saw a huge man, around 15 centimeters taller than him, standing beside him. The man only ced one hand on his shoulder but was already immobile.

    The gigantic man pressed down on him further. And with a cold and sharp re, he said, ¡°To dare shout in front of His Majesty¡¯s presence, what an impertinent fool.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Rakk was confused. The words ¡°His Majesty¡± obviously referred to an emperor. There was no concept of an emperor in Utopia. However, Rakk was aware that one existed in the other world. The emperor was the father of an empire. He was the sovereign who led and ruled more than ten million people.

    But who was the emperor? Rakk, with an expression of disbelief, made eye contact with Minhyuk. However, even if this man was an emperor, he believed the situation would not change. This was because he wanted to be the Battle God. And the Battle God was a being that stood above the masses, a position that even an emperor could not dare to look up to.

    Rakk tried to shake off the hand on his shoulder and get up, but he was attacked.

    <em>Stab¨C!</em>

    ¡°Hoho. You controlled and banned the food in this world to be the Battle God? Hey, punk. Don¡¯t you know that the person standing before you is the Battle God?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Rakk heard somethingpletely unbelievable. Who was the Battle God? He could understand who they were referring to when they said ¡°His Majesty.¡± But who was it that they were saying was the Battle God?

    Rakk turned stiff the moment he turned his head and saw several people appear around him. Some of these people wereparable, if not stronger than the heroes. There were even some who seemed like they would not fall behind when fighting against the Heroes¡¯ Army.

    At this moment, Rakk realized it would be hard for them to gain victory. It would be tough for him to fight against the first man who appeared and put pressure on his shoulder. And it was made even harder with the appearance of the old man standing beside the gigantic man.

    <em>¡®What the hell? What bullshit are they saying? I don¡¯t understand what they mean by mentioning the Battle God¡­¡¯</em>

    Rakk knew that he had to hurry. He did not even spare any thoughts about the other heroes; he was just busy trying to find ways for himself to live. After all, he was self-centered and greedy.

    He tried to pull out and tear the ¡°Path to the Sky,¡± a parchment that could take him out of this ce.

    <em>[Battle God¡¯s Steps.]</em>

    <em>[Everyone will kneel in front of the Battle God!]</em>

    <em>[The power in his voice has the power to epass everything.]</em>

    <em>Thuuuuuuud¨C!</em>

    Rakk was forced to kneel before Minhyuk, who activated the Battle God¡¯s power. Not only him, but the other heroes and the troops of the Heroes¡¯ Army were rendered helpless and unable to move. They could only kneel from the overwhelming momentum that suddenly appeared and weighed down on them.

    ***

    The Battle God, whom Rakk aimed to be, was a great sovereign with thousands of gods under hismand. He knew full well how great and unique the existence of the Battle God was. However, he confidently dered that the Battle God was an ipetent and useless fool.

    Rakk, who ambitiously dered that he would be the Battle God, did not want to believe the reality of the matter in front of him. Because of that, he was left confused and in a daze. He even vehemently denied the truth even after he had experienced the power of the Battle God.

    ¡°What you¡¯re thinking is correct. I am the Battle God.¡±

    ¡°...!¡± Rakk looked at Minhyuk in disbelief.

    Minhyuk looked at him with arrogance and nobility and ordered coldly, ¡°Destroy them.¡±

    And those who were waiting for Minhyuk to give his orders began to move. The people of the Beyond the Heavens Empire did not kill Rakk. They drove past him and quickly began to wipe out the Heroes¡¯ Army standing behind him. Meanwhile, the ¡°heroes¡± of Utopia fell helplessly under the hands of the gigantic man and the old man. It looked like children fighting against experienced adults.

    At this moment, Rakk realized that he was witnessing the true power of the Battle God. Rakk and the heroes might have the advantage in numbers, but Minhyuk had a lot of people with powersparable to his own.

    Sword of the Gods Luo used his tremendous speed to kill his enemies, while Elizabeth controlled the system to prevent them from using their skills. Ali also came along. He bombarded the Heroes¡¯ Army with magical attacks and put pressure on them. Death, who also came along, summoned his white Death Knights, who used their powerful swordsmanship to deal with the enemies.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Rakk¡¯s face grew ugly as the screams of his army rang loudly in the dungeon. He has lived for hundreds of years and had never even entertained the thought of dying. So, seeing the people around him die one after another was bringing him deeper and greater fear. Rakk hurriedly tried to think of a way to escape this situation.

    ¡°Everything¡­ we¡¯re wrong about everything.¡± Rakk honestly admitted it.

    He was the one who could not do anything about the man who was both the Food God and the Battle God. In a way, one could consider him highly sly and underhanded. Even though his men were dying, he was here praying and begging for his survival.

    Minhyuk raised one hand, signaling his men to stop for now.

    ¡°Please. Please spare me just this once. If you let me live, I will stay by your side forever. I will even sign a contract of obedience with you if you so wish.¡±

    The Hero King, who could rival the Sky of Utopia, was now crying and begging Minhyuk to spare him. And he was earnest about it.

    ¡°You will need our help to correct and bring Utopia back on the right path.¡±

    This was the truth. It was evident that the existence of the heroes had kept the bnce in Utopia.

    ¡°I will help you to be the Battle God.¡±

    Based on Rakk¡¯s observation, the man in front of him might be the Battle God, but he did not have his full power. If he were the true andplete Battle God, then wouldn¡¯t he have thousands of gods under hismand?

    Because of that, Rakk was confident that this man in front of him would need his and the other heroes¡¯ help. Why? Because Rakk knew that no one could rece his existence in this world.

    Brod, Ben, and the others from the Beyond the Heavens Empire stood quietly. They watched from the sidelines, leaving everything up to Minhyuk to decide.

    Just like that, Rakk saw his potential survival. He quickly kowtowed and said, ¡°I will obediently follow your orders for the rest of my life. So, please show mercy!¡±

    At the same time, the other heroes and the Heroes¡¯ Army, who were bleeding all over, kowtowed.

    <em>¡®If I don¡¯t die and spend the rest of my life by the side of the Battle God, then it wouldn¡¯t be so bad either.¡¯</em>

    Anyway, the Heart of Oppression had already been destroyed. Perhaps he could live a better life by solidifying his position beside the Battle God right here and now. Maybe he would also be allowed to crush many people like before.

    Rakk looked forward to Minhyuk¡¯s answer. He was confident that no one would refuse a talent like him. Besides, Minhyuk would be able to kill him any time he wanted if he signed a contract of obedience with him. If he was loyal to this man and he took his fancy, then perhaps he would be able to enjoy a rich andvish life, too.

    ¡°Rakk.¡±

    Then, a soft and gentle voice that could be said to beparable to a mother¡¯s gentle words rang. Hearing the gentleness in the man¡¯s voice, Rakk was convinced that his predictions were not wrong.

    He saw that Brod, Ben, and the rest of the people of the Beyond the Heavens Empire did not show any signs of trying to stop Minhyuk. There was not even a shred of surprise on their faces. At this moment, Rakk realized that the man''s orders in front of him were absolute.

    Unbeknownst to him, none of the people from Beyond the Heavens Empire showed surprise for an entirely different reason.

    ¡°<em>Sob, sob, sob¨C</em> Yes, Battle God!¡± Rakk cried. Relief enveloped his body and washed away his fear after realizing he could continue living.

    Then, he heard Minhyuk¡¯s soft voice say, ¡°Raise your head.¡±

    Rakk, enamored by the kind and gentle voice, slowly raised his head. It was just as he expected. There was no way he could resist getting a talent like him on his side.

    ¡°Yes, Battle God. From this point forward, I¡­¡± Rakk trailed off when he saw the cold expression on Minhyuk¡¯s face once his head was raised fully.

    ¡°Yes, just like that. It would make it easier for me to kill you.¡±

    The people of Beyond the Heavens Empire knew that Minhyuk would make this choice. That was why none of them showed any surprise on their faces.

    And Rakk? His expression twisted and turned extremely ugly.

 Chapter 984

    Chapter 984

    The Beyond the Heavens Empire certainly needed more talent. If they took Hero King Rakk, the heroes, and the Heroes¡¯ Army in, they could create an orderparable to the Sword of the Gods. But when it came to people, Minhyuk clearly distinguished who to bring in as allies.

    Of course, there were several cases where Minhyuk turned an enemy into an ally through <em>God and Knight</em>. But there was a difference in their ¡°nature.¡± Those he chose to take in through God and Knight were those with a good heart.

    Obren was once hailed as an evil spirit incarnate and a demon for killing millions of people in the past. Elizabeth was also in a simr situation. However, Minhyuk found out that they never wanted that to happen. Compared to them, Rakk¡¯s nature wasplete and utter trash.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s right. He will be my dog if he signs a contract of obedience with me. He might even y a huge role when fighting on the battlefield.¡¯</em>

    But Rakk treated the hybrids like they were nothing but mere bugs. He even controlled their food for hundreds of years to satisfy his greed. Would he regret his actions and live a better life? That was impossible. A person¡¯s innate nature was hard to change.

    If Minhyuk chose to wee Rakk, he would have to bear that burden. But he did not want to. Besides, he was the type of person who would never take back something that he had already promised to do. And Minhyuk had told them, <em>¡®I will kill you with my own hands.¡¯</em>

    Goosebumps rose all over Rakk¡¯s body when he saw the cold and vicious look on Minhyuk¡¯s face. He hurriedly opened his mouth, ¡°N- No¡­¡±

    But Minhyuk did not hesitate. No matter how strong an NPC was, they would die if their heads got cut off. The only exception to this were boss monsters.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>Minhyuk quickly cut off Rakk¡¯s head. After all, he had raised it and made it easy for him.

    ¡°Sir- Sir Rakk!¡±

    ¡°Hero King!¡±

    The heroes were left in despair. The Beyond the Heavens Empire quickly moved and began eliminating these despairing heroes.

    Meanwhile, notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears as he continued to look down coldly at Rakk¡¯s body.

    <em>[You have killed Hero King Rakk.]</em>

    <em>[Rakk has reigned, persecuted, and trampled over many Utopians.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 41, 713, 223, 413 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1.03 million tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained the Hero King¡¯s Elixir.]</em>

    Minhyuk looked confused. Rakk was a one-of-a-kind high-level NPC in thisnd. That was why he was given a massive amount of EXP and even tinum when he killed him. But usually, a high-leveled monster would drop God-rank artifacts or God-grade ingredients whenever it was dead. But Hero King Rakk did not drop anything like that. His drops were shabby, with only some EXP, tinum, and a single elixir.

    <em>¡®Is this what you call a beggar mob¡­?¡¯</em>

    Of course, he was not a monster. However, he was a beggar NPC. After thinking he hunted nothing but a beggar, Minhyuk turned his attention to the Hero King¡¯s Elixir.

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes grew wide upon checking the information. The Hero King¡¯s Elixir was superior to God-rank artifacts and God-grade ingredients.

    <em>¡®Upon consumption, all of your stats will increase by 0.3% once per month. And it willst for two years?¡¯</em>

    In other words, anyone who consumed this elixir would receive a steady 0.3% increase in all stats, even if they stood still. In two years, they could increase their stats by no less than 8%. But of course, there were also disadvantages.

    <em>¡®After taking the Hero King¡¯s Elixir, you can¡¯t increase your stats with the help of dishes or buffs.¡¯</em>

    In other words, if one took the Hero King¡¯s Elixir, they could not stack their stats with buffed dishes for two years.

    Others found increasing one¡¯s stats by eating or consuming ingredients impossible, but that was not the case for Minhyuk. Minhyuk had a crazy obsession with food, and because of this obsession, he could increase his stats by a lot.

    <em>¡®This is unnecessary for me.¡¯</em>

    Through various methods during those two years, Minhyuk would have obtained more than an 8% increase in all of his stats. But what would happen if he gave it to someone else?

    <em>¡®It will have a tremendous effect.¡¯</em>

    Several people who could take the elixir popped into Minhyuk''s head. There was Brod, Spear God Ben, Sword of the Gods Luo, Elpis and many more. What if their stats increased by 8%, even if they stayed put for two years? Perhaps only the word ¡°Crazy.¡± would best fit the results.

    In addition, the Beyond the Heavens Empire, which moved only after witnessing Rak¡¯s death, obtained two Heroes¡¯ Elixir after killing the heroes. Although the effects were only half of the Hero King¡¯s Elixir, the duration was still the same.

    ¡°Your Majesty, forgive us for beingte.¡±

    Brod and the rest of his vassals knelt before Minhyuk and showed courtesy. Minhyuk looked back at the many yers, including Genie, Locke, Khan, Ascar, and Ali, who came to his aid. Seeing that almost all of them were here, he immediately understood that Haze, who usually would not agree to send troops thisrge, had agreed.

    <em>¡®She knew that we could gain so much in this ce.¡¯</em>

    Then, Genie asked, ¡°Minhyuk, what will you do now?¡±

    Minhyuk smiled when he heard the question. ¡°Do you remember what the Battle God told me?¡±

    ¡°Are you talking about the words, ¡®We¡¯re old.¡¯ that he said before?¡±

    Minhyuk nodded. The Battle God had said, <em>¡®You will not be able to lead the gods under mymand.¡¯</em>

    This was the truth. Even if he were the Battle God, he would never know when a rebellion would start if he took the lead of the gods under the current Battle God¡¯smand. Although it was sad, it was the reality of the matter. But the Battle God also told him that he should make his Land of the Gods and lead his army of gods. And Minhyuk knew that today was the day that he would take his first step to achieve that.

    Minhyuk took out the box containing everything oppressed and subdued in this dungeon. Then, he said, ¡°I think it''s time for me to get the first god who will fight under the Battle God¡¯s name, under my name.¡±

    Everyone present looked at him with excitement.

    ¡°He is the one who would be the new god of Utopia.¡±

    ***

    After Rhoando went separate ways with Minhyuk in the Dungeon of Oppression, he immediately led the rebels to the kingdom. Armed with the power of god, Rhoando could cut down the royal troops with the rebels and enter the royal pce where the royal family resided.

    When he opened the door to the king''s room, he was met with the heroes Rakk had sent over. A fierce battle immediately ensued. Rhoando and the rebels all fought desperately against the heroes. However, Rhoando could not deal with five heroes by himself. In the end, they all lost. He and the rebels were tied up and hung on the walls of the kingdom.

    The hybrids gathered to watch Rhoando and the rebels hanging on the kingdom''s walls.

    ¡°King, we must thoroughly trample on Rhoando and his band of rebels and make an example out of them. We have to show them what would happen to those who go against the heroes and the will of the god and threaten your life,¡± Baron said.

    Baron was hailed as the Second Hero and hade here under the orders of Hero King Rakk. Although his influence was small and weakpared to Rakk, he was a powerful being. It was to the point that he would be considered the strongest in Utopia if Rakk was taken out of the equation.

    The cowardly king looked at Rhoando and the rebels. The heroes were threatening him with his life. However, he never thought of going against them. He did not even understand any of their intentions. The only thing going on in his head was satisfying these great and noble heroes.

    ¡°The Sky has deemed it unnecessary to eat and prepare food. Because he controlled food, we ended up living a more satisfying life. These rebels are just making up excuses to take this king''s ce. Beat them until they die. After they die, continue to hang them on the walls and let them be food for the crows.¡±

    Seeing them beg for their lives while being beaten to their deaths might satisfy the heroes if they saw it. The royal army stood behind each of the rebels with clubs in hand. Then, they began to beat them.

    <em>Thud! Thud, thud¨C Thud, thud, thud!</em>

    The people grimaced when they saw the scene. But what shocked them was that none of the rebels screamed. Even if their consciousness were a blur, they still kept their pride.

    As the clubs continued to hit his body, Rhoando looked at the people.

    <em>[The God who wants to be the new Sky looks at you.]</em>

    The people all turned to Rhoando in shock when they heard God¡¯s Voice ring.

    <em>[The God who wants to be the new Sky has no regrets or fear.]</em>

    <em>[There¡¯s just one thing that he hopes for.]</em>

    ¡°A world where everyone can live and eat food as they pleased.¡±

    <em>[The loud and boisterousughter on the table¡­]</em>

    ¡°A world where people could feel delight and happiness as they eat something delicious.¡±

    <em>[...as you sit down after work and live your life.]</em>

    ¡°The smell of cooking that wees you back home.¡±

    <em>[The dish that someone cooked for you. The dish that remains in your memory forever.]</em>

    ¡°I wanted to bring it back.¡±

    <em>[Do you remember? The taste that tickled the tips of your tongues, they took that away from us.]</em>

    ¡°That¡¯s the reason why we¡¯re fighting.¡±

    <em>[Even if we die, another ¡®us¡¯ will take over.]</em>

    ¡°Don¡¯t back down.¡±

    <em>[Many would speak out and fight for you even if their voices would never reach you.]</em>

    Rhoando looked around and said, ¡°Until my stomach bursts.¡±

    <em>[To the point where I will even have difficulty breathing.]</em>

    ¡°I will continue eating delicious food.¡±

    <em>[I will pat my stomach.]</em>

    ¡°For the day where we can smile freely. For the day where we can cook for someone again.¡±

    <em>[So that we can see farmers tend to ournds once again. So that we can walk down the streets and openly eat fruits from the trees around us.]</em>

    ¡°Let¡¯s continue moving forward.¡±

    <em>[The God who wants to be the new Sky looks at you.]</em>

    The people were left in turmoil when they heard his words.

    Just like Rhoando said, someone who had lived in Utopia for a very long time remembered the vor that tickled his tongue. Every once in a while, these people would have a hard time sleeping as they thought of that taste. And just like Rhoando said, even though they could not see it, there might be someone fighting for them or someone who wanted to be like him in the future. Their chests started to heat up.

    <em>Why did they have to control our food?</em>

    <em>Why should we go hungry?</em>

    <em>Why are we doing nothing right now?</em>

    <em>Why are the king and the heroes beating up Rhoando and his men like it was something that should be done?</em>

    ¡°Let Rhoando go!¡±

    A small cry echoed amidst the millions of crowd gathered together. This cry slowly, ever so slowly, grew in volume. Like a crack, it spread from one mouth to another until a loud cry resounded.

    ¡°Let Rhoando go!¡±

    ¡°We have to fight! We have to take back what they have taken away from us!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!¡±

    Millions of people began to push the soldiers stationed on the walls.

    Seeing this, a small yet bitter smile shed on Rhoando¡¯s face.

    <em>¡®Hyung-nim, many people will fight for our cause even if I die here.¡¯ </em>Rhoando hoped. <em>¡®Please. Please give them food.¡¯</em>

    Rhoando could never forget Minhyuk¡¯s back as he stood before them.

    <em>Please. Please let him give these people a new world.</em>

    <em>Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaah¨C!</em>

    A roar resonated all over the world. The gates opened as a million troops charged and pointed their swords at the people. But the people were not scared.

    ¡°This is why trashy bugs like you have to learn a lesson.¡± Hero Baron clicked his tongue in irritation. ¡°Attack.¡±

    ¡°Wh- what? B¨C But¡­¡± The king hesitated. No matter how one looked at it, they were nothing but mere civilians, no?

    ¡°Do you want me to take your head?¡±

    But the heroes¡¯ words were absolute.

    ¡°Attack.¡±

    Tens of thousands of arrows were unleashed as the soldiers stabbed them with their long spears. But Baron was still not satisfied. He stood on the walls and swung his sword with the other heroes.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    Following the direction where he swung his sword, thousands of people disappeared without a trace. It was as if the space had been cut. As the charging civilians retreated, Baron said, ¡°Let¡¯s kill half of them.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    Rhoando¡¯s eyes grew wide at the ridiculous order. Killing half of the civilians present? That was not a move to overwhelm them with fear. That was pure and mindless ughter.

    Baron grabbed Rhoando¡¯s face and said, ¡°You should look at it clearly. This is what happens when you go against us.¡±

    The soldiers pushed the fleeing civilians and gathered them at the center. With hundreds of thousands of people gathered, the soldiers immediately drew their bows while the mages raised their staves.

    ¡°The dreams that you have? They are all useless.¡± Baron clicked his tongue as he mocked Rhoando. ¡°Do you think you could deal with us after killing the king and the Sky?¡±

    The actual gods here were not the Sky but the heroes. It was just as Baron said. Even if he seeded in this rebellion and became the Sky, nothing much would change.

    Rhoando was left in despair. He could see a father standing in front of his wife, who was holding their child in fear. The young men tried their hardest to ovee their fears and stood as their lovers wept and cried. They were clearly divided in half. Yet the screams of those who would survive this catastrophe continued to resonate to the skies.

    ¡°PLEASE!!!¡±

    ¡°Please, no!¡±

    ¡°We were wrong! We were wrong!¡±

    Some of them even went so far as to put their head on the ground and beg for their lives.

    <em>¡®Is there really no hope for us?¡¯</em>

    Was it the case? Would nothing really change, even if he became this world''s king and god? Ultimately, did they have no choice but to endure and face this wretched fate?

    Rhoando felt his despair and frustration soar when he saw the soldiers nock their arrows and the mages start to cast their magic.

    <em>sh¨C</em>

    The moment Baron swung his hand down, thousands of arrows and magic flew toward the people gathered at the center of the area in front of the walls. Coincidentally, the fastest arrow was flying toward a newborn baby nestled in the arms of a woman. The woman could not even react. All she knew was that the chilling sound of the wind brought about by the arrow would bring her child to its death.

    Rhoando did not close his eyes. He opened them wide to watch the atrocities the heroesmitted in broad daylight.

    But then, something shocking happened. The arrow flying toward the newborn child stopped just a few millimeters before the child¡¯s head.

    ¡°Huh¡­?¡± The woman looked around in confusion when she realized the situation before her.

    But it was not just that single arrow. The tens of thousands of arrows and magic flying toward the people''s hearts all stopped mid-air. It was a very spectacr sight, a sight that Rhoando had never seen in his entire life.

    <em>Tap¨C Tap, tap¨C</em>

    Then, at that moment, Rhoando felt something fall on his head.

    <em>¡®What? What was that?¡¯</em>

    Rhoando looked up to see what was falling on him.

    <em>¡®Rice?¡¯</em>

    They were none other than grains of paddy rice. Just like that, unprocessed rice and wheat grains began to pour from the sky.

    Not long after, a notification rang in everyone¡¯s ears.

    <em>[Battle God¡¯s Voice.]</em>

    Rhoando had heard about the Battle God. He was the god who led the world''s gods and was hailed as the most incredible Absolute God. He was like the god above gods. His image as he led thousands of gods to battle was the image of the god that all humans dreamt of. There was one thing that Rhoando was sure about the Battle God. He was the most excellent and most noble god.

    Immediately after that, the arrows and magic that stopped in mid-air turned around and shot back to those who had sent it.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¨C!</em>

    Everyone was shocked stiff by the sudden turn of events.

    <em>[The Battle God, the Great Sovereign who leads the gods, looks at you with a small smile.]</em>

    Rhoando¡¯s wide eyes grew impossibly wider. Then, the voice of the Battle God rang.

    <em>[Thanks, my dear younger brother.]</em>

    <em>¡®Younger brother?¡¯</em>

    Confusion was stered on Rhoando¡¯s face when he heard the Battle God¡¯s iprehensible words.

 Chapter 985

    Chapter 985

    After seeing the magic and arrows turn around and fly back to the ones who sent them, the people finally could not resist their curiosity. They all turned to look at the sky to find out what was pattering on their heads.

    The people were met with a downpour of rice and wheat. When they turned to look at the side, they saw fresh and gorgeously red apples growing rapidly from the apple trees that they thought could no longer bear fruits. Various crops sprouted from the ground of thend that they had neglected for a very long time.

    ¡°Moo!¡±

    ¡°Cluck, cluck!¡±

    ¡°Meeeh!¡±

    ¡°Hwiiiik!¡±

    The livestock taken away from them also appeared all over the kingdom.

    Despite the rice and wheat falling on their faces, they all turned to look at the sky, where a picture was rapidly drawn. The picture showed the figure of the god. Which god? It was Utopia¡¯s God. The God of Utopia painted in the sky opened its mouth and spoke.

    <em>[I will get rid of everything rted to food in this world.]</em>As a result, all the food in the world disappeared. Among the people, someone had lived quite a long life, and this person clearly remembered that day.

    The picture in the sky scattered, only to be reced by a market image. The shop selling vegetables, fruits, and other produce disappeared, while the ck Beer House, where everyone gathered to chat and drink after a hard day¡¯s work, also disappeared. Even the restaurants that filled the streets disappeared. Bitter expressions shed on the faces of countless people as they watched them disappear from the streets. Among them, a child spoke up.

    <em>[I¡¯m hungry.]</em>

    The child was not saying it because he was hungry. He said it because he missed his favorite food and knew he could no longer have it. At that time, the people wondered.

    <em>[Why? Why in the world did you do this?]</em>

    They told the public that the reason they made the food disappear was that the god, who they called the Sky, had the blood of the Food God running through his veins. But that was not the true reason.

    The picture changed. It showed dozens of people who looked like the heroes of Utopia walking inside an unknown dungeon. One of those heroes was someone everyone was familiar with. Some admired him, while some, who knew of his true nature, despised him.

    Hero King Rakk grinned as he created a small heart.

    <em>[Once we oppress and subdue all of the food in this ce for hundreds of years, this heart will be able to give me tremendous powers.]</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    The people¡¯s eyes grew wide. This was especially the case for those who only knew that food had disappeared from this world because the Sky inherited the blood of the Food God. They felt their anger soar to new heights. The true reason food disappeared in this world for a very long time was because of one person''s greed.

    Even Rhoando was only made aware of this fact today. However, there was still one thing that he could not understand. The gentle and warm voice of the Battle God had spoken to him.

    <em>[Thanks, my dear younger brother.]</em>

    This. This was what Rhoando was very confused about.

    Meanwhile, Baron and the other heroes hurriedly moved to find the source of the arrows and magic returning to them as they listened to the soldiers'' screams.

    ¡°Attack them again. Kill everyone. Do not hold back!¡±

    ¡°B- But¡­¡±

    The soldiers hesitated. Even themander leading the royal army hesitated, unable tomand them to attack the kingdom''s people easily. At that moment, Baron raised his sword and shed the neck of the knight nearest to him.

    <em>Spurt¨C!</em>

    ¡°If you¡¯re not going to kill them, then I will kill you.¡±

    In the eyes of the soldiers, Baron looked like the devil. In the end, the terrified soldiers had no other choice but to fire their magic and arrows at the people again. The number of attacks this time was far more than the attacks earlier.

    However, the result was simr to the previous one. All of their attacks came to a halt. But instead of turning back, the arrows lost momentum and fell helplessly on the ground while the magic disappeared into nothingness.

    Baron¡¯s eyes darted around. He searched for the source of power and caught sight of a robed being. And when they pulled the hood of their robe? He was met with the sight of a charming silver-haired girl. However, the girl¡¯s eyes were so cold and creepy that it reminded Baron of snakes.

    <em>¡®That woman is taking control of the system.¡¯</em>

    Baron grabbed a spear and hurled it toward the girl. But the spear, which was aiming for the girl¡¯s heart, was easily blocked by a man¡¯s hand.

    Rhoando and the rest of the rebels saw the scene and could not take their eyes off the man holding the spear. Then, the man threw the robe off of his body.

    <em>Flutter¨C</em>

    Everyone could now see the man''s figure, who was ring coldly at Baron through the strands of his jet-ck hair. He was 185 centimeters tall and had fair and unblemished skin.

    The expressions on the faces of Rhoando and the rebels all turned bright when they saw the face of the man.

    ¡°Hyung-nim!!!¡±

    ¡°Hyuuuuuuuung-nim!!!¡±

    All of them had seen food and everything else rted to food appear around them once again.

    <em>¡®Our hyung-nim did it.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He has awakened those oppressed and subdued in the Dungeon of Oppression.¡¯</em>

    But their thoughts ended there. None of them here knew who or what Minhyuk truly was.

    ¡°Please run away!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re fine!¡±

    ¡°Hyung-nim, it seems like the Battle God is here and will help us.¡±

    ¡°You must know what kind of god the Battle God is, right? So, please don¡¯t worry about us, hyung-nim. Just go!¡±

    Even though they were already in such a situation, they were still apprehensive about Minhyuk. Minhyuk was strong; there was no doubt about it. After all, he was even able to hunt the divine dragon alone. But Minhyuk was alone. They thought he would not be able to handle the heroes and the troops of the royal army by himself.

    The heroes¡¯ swords and spears were already flying toward Minhyuk the moment he grabbed Baron¡¯s spear. But Minhyuk did not move. He looked at the attacks with a cold and sharp re.

    Then, something surprising happened. A gigantic man appeared in the blink of an eye and grabbed the neck of one of the heroes who was trying to stab Minhyuk¡¯s heart with his spear. An old man also appeared and took the head of the hero, who wanted to stab Minhyuk¡¯s abdomen with a dagger.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    Blood rained down as a man, who only had a single arm, ughtered those who aimed at Minhyuk¡¯s back.

    The hero casting magic to attack Minhyuk looked at the scene in confusion. Why? Because a spear made of light had already pierced his heart before he could even finish casting.

    Strong people began to appear one by one. But what was shocking was how the gigantic man and the old man treated the powerful heroes. They treated them as if they were nothing but mere children.

    <em>¡®Are they the gods under themand of the Battle God? The same gods that I have only heard of¡­?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Amazing.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®The heroes are no match against them.¡¯</em>

    Rhoando and the rebels looked at the scene in relief. With this, they confirmed that the Battle God was around here. And fortunately enough, the Battle God protected their hyung-nim. Perhaps he protected and cared about their hyung-nim because he freed all the food oppressed in the dungeon.

    None of them entertained the thought that Minhyuk was the Battle God. But then, at that moment, all the people who appeared and restrained the heroes immediately flocked to Minhyuk¡¯s side.

    There were around fifty people. Of course, it was obvious that many did not have as much power as an actual god. However, one would feel like they were gazing upon a god with one look at them.

    This group of people looked at Minhyuk and shouted.

    ¡°Your Majesty, please give us your orders.¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty, please give us your orders.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    At this moment, a shudder ran down Rhoando¡¯s body. He finally understood that the man whoughed and smiled brightly while eating marble potatoes and the man who greeted him politely when they first met was not only the Food God but also an emperor and the Battle God.

    Minhyuk, with a sword in hand, looked at the retreating heroes with a cold and sharp re as he approached them step by step.

    ¡°I am the Battle God.¡±

    When they heard those words, the heroes took another step back while Minhyuk continued to take another step forward.

    <em>Thud¨C</em>

    ¡°I am the great sovereign who leads the gods and a god who keeps the bnce of the world.¡±

    <em>Thud¨C</em>

    ¡°But before that, I am an emperor with millions of soldiers and millions of people under mymand. And I have never seen people like you in my life.¡±

    <em>Thud¨C</em>

    ¡°People who feel superior and trample and take away things from the masses just because they are hailed as heroes.¡±

    <em>Thud¨C</em>

    ¡°People who would kill those poor and pitiful civilians just because they raised their voices.¡±

    <em>Thud¨C</em>

    Minhyuk raised his sword and pointed it at Baron¡¯s neck. ¡°Immediate judgment.¡±

    When Minhyuk¡¯s words fell, Brod swiftly cut Baron¡¯s head off. At the same time, the old man¡¯s spear pierced through the hearts of several heroes.

    The people of Utopia were all left shocked. The people who treated themselves as ants and trampled on them like they were nothing were all helpless, falling under the des of these people who had appeared.

    Whenever someone blocked Minhyuk¡¯s path, his vassals would appear and cut them down to open the way.

    ¡°Drop your weapons and surrender.¡±

    The soldiers dropped their weapons one after another.

    Minhyuk would make the soldiers pay for their crimes. However, the punishment would be lighter than the punishments given to the heroes. After all, the heroes and the kings had also threatened these people.

    Just like the miracle created by Moses, the path in front of Minhyuk opened up.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud¨C</em>

    Minhyuk kept walking until he arrived in front of the walls. He jumped until he was face to face with Rhoando and the rebels. He smiled softly before releasing the ropes that bound them. Once released, Rhoando immediately grabbed one of the swords that fell on the ground.

    Rhoando knew that the sins that the soldiers and knights hadmitted were not that great. However, the sin the kingmitted by just sitting on the sidelines was far greater than anybody else''s. Not only that, the king had also sucked the blood of the people dry just because he had the backing of the heroes. To put it simply, the king had to die.

    Minhyuk silently watched Rhoando¡¯s back as he charged forward and cut through the vassals and subordinates who guarded the king. The rest should be left to him.

    After cutting down the vassals and subordinates, Rhoando finally reached the king and was able to use his sword to stab straight through his heart.

    ¡°Kghhk!¡±

    Cheers erupted from the rebels the moment they saw the king groan as he fell with his hands clutching his chest. The deafening cheers of the people followed. They cheered loudly after seeing the king and the heroes, the people who had oppressed and controlled them, fall.

    The soldiers, who had no choice but to ride the king¡¯s boat and be his dog, knew they had to pay the price of their sins. However, knowing that the kingdom would change, they vowed to live their life as best as they could for the sake of thisnd.

    Rhoando pulled his sword out and raised it toward the sky. Seeing this, the rebels moved quickly, bringing in an old and worn-out chair on top of the walls.

    Minhyuk looked at Rhoando as he walked toward the chair. Then, he thought, <em>¡®The biggest problem he has to face is bing a god.¡¯</em>

    Rhoando not only needed to obtain a stronger power, but he also had to obtain a stronger name to be the central force in Utopia. However, the problem was that the current Sky was Rhoando¡¯s older brother. But Rhoando would only be the true god who would rule this world if he killed god.

    But that was only Minhyuk¡¯s concern.

    <em>[Arce, the God of Hybrids, steps down from his throne and gives up the title of Sky.]</em>

    <em>[God of Hybrids Arce appoints Rhoando as his descendant.]</em>

    A bright pir of light fell and engulfed Rhoando, sitting in his old, worn-out chair.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    After receiving the power of god, ¡°The One who Tries to Be the Sky¡± Rhoando finally became a true andplete god.

    <em>¡®It seems like Half-god Arce is just a puppet?¡¯ </em>At this moment, Minhyuk realized that everything that happened to Utopia was because of Hero King Rakk.

    <em>[Utopia¡¯s new Sky has been born to the world!]</em>

    <em>[Utopia¡¯s new Sky is none other than Rhoando!]</em>

    Minhyuk and Rhoando looked at each other. One could see the trust, faith, and loyalty in their eyes.

    Then, the notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You have acquired the Passive Skill: Call.]</em>

    <em>[The Passive Skill: Call is a power given to the Battle God, who has not received the recognition of the other gods.]</em>

    <em>[The Passive Skill: Call is the power that would allow the Battle God to call the ones connected to him to help when the Land of the Gods is threatened.]</em>

    If the Land of the Gods were under threat, Minhyuk would be left helpless. After all, he could not lead the gods. After all, they did not trust or have faith in him. If he ordered them around, they would not be loyal to him. But this skill, named ¡°Call,¡± was like a string connecting him to a god loyal to him.

    Immediately after that, another notification rang.

    <em>[The Passive Skill: Call asks the Sky of Utopia if he will answer your calls.]</em>

    Surprise shed on Rhoando¡¯s face when he saw that he was given the choice.

    The Land of the Gods was separate from the world that Rhoando lived in. Now that he had to rule Utopia, Rhoando would be busy. There was no way that he would be able toe and go as he pleased easily. However, Rhoando looked at Minhyuk and, without any hesitation, gave a slight nod in agreement.

    <em>[Rhoando agrees to answer your calls.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained the first god in your own ¡®God¡¯s Army¡¯!]</em>

    <em>[His name? Utopia¡¯s Sky, Rhoando.]</em>

 Chapter 986

    Chapter 986

    A shudder ran through Minhyuk¡¯s body. <em>¡®Utopia¡¯s God is the first knight of the army that I will lead.¡¯</em>

    He could already imagine Rhoando fighting at the vanguard with Minhyuk as they fought against the threat to theirnds.

    <em>¡®Rhoando is my very reliable younger brother.¡¯</em>

    One would not ept the request of the passive skill ¡°Call¡± just because they were close to Minhyuk. After all, it wouldn¡¯t matter what was happening in Utopia; they had to run whenever they heard Minhyuk¡¯s call because the Land of the Gods was in danger.

    So, Rhoando''s immediate agreement was a testament to his rtionship and favorability toward Minhyuk being much greater than anyone would have thought.

    <em>¡®On top of that, Rhoando is the king and the god of the World of Hybrids, a ce that houses beings far superior to ordinary humans.¡¯</em>

    In a way, the death of most of the heroes who acted as the pirs of Utopia for the longest time might cause a great deal of confusion in thisnd.

    <em>¡®Half-god, half-transcendental beings would continue to appear.¡¯</em>

    This meant that their existence could threaten Rhoando¡¯s position at any moment. However, there was a way to help Rhoando prepare for that.Rhoando smiled brightly when he saw Minhyuk take a step forward. He greeted him and said, ¡°Hyung-nim, please ept my gratitude. I will never forget the grace you have given us in my lifetime.¡±

    The most crucial takeaway here was that Rhoando called Minhyuk ¡°hyung-nim.¡± This alone had a significant impact on everyone present. The soldiers¡¯ eyes grew wide while those who doubted Rhoando¡¯s qualifications as a king and a god looked at him in a different light.

    There might be people who knew of the Battle God and people who did not know of him. But if one takes the general consensus, most of the people present here were still aware of who and what kind of god the Battle God was. He was the greatest god. And this very same Battle God had a brotherly rtionship with Rhoando?

    ¡°Are you saying that our new king and god, Sir Rhoando, treats the Battle God as his hyung-nim?¡±

    ¡°From what I heard, Sir Rhoando is over 600 years old this year. Maybe the Battle God is over a thousand years old?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Rhoando bit his lips. He would never reveal Minhyuk¡¯s age to his people in his entire lifetime.

    However, what was more critical was Minhyuk¡¯s response.

    ¡°My dear younger brother, I look forward to the world you will create.¡± Minhyuk raised his hand for a handshake and continued, ¡°If you need my help, I will alwayse running to your side.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    The Battle God¡¯s vow toe running whenever they needed help, that one single promise was more than enough. It was like saying to anyone that whoever dared to take Rhoando¡¯s ce as the king and the god would also have to deal with the Battle God. Minhyuk removed any dangers and threats that woulde after Rhoando with just a few simple words.

    Then, Rhoando said, ¡°Me too, hyung-nim. I will also help you whenever you need me.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded lightly, a faint smile on his face. There was something else that he needed to do. He did not only want to show them through his words; he wanted to prove that the Battle God was paying attention to this ce by cing a ¡°subordinate¡± here.

    ¡°I know a person who would love to stay in the World of Hybrids. He is a human, but he is with dragons.¡±

    ¡°Is he a half-human, half-dragon?¡±

    ¡°No. He just has dragons sealed in his left and right arms.¡±

    Of course, the one that Minhyuk was talking about was his father. His father had told him about a dream.

    ¨C<em>Fufu. Son.</em>

    <em>¨CYes, Dad.</em>

    <em>¨CThis father of yours hase up with a new goal.</em>

    <em>¨C???</em>

    Minhyuk was quite surprised. His father was the chairman of Ilhwa Group and had everything in the world. He even seeded in obtaining several dragons in Athenae. What were his father¡¯s new goals and dreams?

    ¨C<em>I¡¯m going to be a real ck dragon.</em>

    Minhyuk knew what his father truly meant. It was not just having dragons by his side but bing an actual dragon. Because of that, Minhyuk had asked Informant Abel to find a way to let his father achieve his dreams in Athenae.

    Unfortunately, they couldn¡¯t find a way in the world where Minhyuk was in.

    <em>¡®This ce is where a half-god, half-elf Rhoando became a true andplete god.¡¯</em>

    He thought perhaps his father could obtain his long-cherished dream in this ce. The only problem was whether the people here could handle his father¡¯s chuuni-tendencies.

    ¡°Goodness. Does he have dragons sealed in both of his arms? That¡¯s so cool.¡±

    ¡°Huh¡­? Ah. That¨C that¡¯s right. It¡¯s cool.¡±

    But it seemed like there was no need for such concerns. There was a bright shine in the eyes of Rhoando and the rest of the people when they heard that someone had dragons sealed in their arms.

    Since they had given something, they should also receive something, right?

    ¡°Since I will leave my subordinate here with you, can I ask you for a favor? Rhoando?¡±

    ¡°Yes, hyung-nim. Please go on.¡±

    ¡°I want you to give me your finest cooking ingredients and your most fertilend.¡±

    Now, everything rted to food has been returned to this world. Restaurants and ck beer houses would be built once again. This meant that the amazing specialties unique to Utopia, which had disappeared before, would make aeback once again.

    <em>¡®And I will make my own Divine Field here.¡¯</em>

    It would be no good if the public knew that Minhyuk had a particr field. So, it would be good to set it up in this world. Besides, since they were about to start farming again, Minhyuk could just take this opportunity to find the best site among the avable ones.

    ¡°I understand, hyung-nim.¡±

    Minhyuk smiled happily. <em>¡®Fufu¡­ It seems like I will be able to get many delicious things soon.¡¯</em>

    What an enjoyable thing to look forward to, no?

    Then, at that moment, a bright light shed in the sky. A man appeared in front of them just as the light faded away.

    <em>[Retired Sky Arce. Level 784.]</em>

    The man was none other than Rhoando¡¯s older brother, the man who stepped down from his position as god himself. He was also the same man who almost destroyed all of the food in this world. Although it turned out that Hero King Rakk had been manipting him from behind the scenes, did that mean he could easily be forgiven for his sins?

    <em>¡®His younger brother, Rhoando, fought bravely even though he knew that he would face death.¡¯</em>

    Wouldn¡¯t things be different if his older brother, Arce, had done the same?

    At the same time, Minhyuk realized, <em>¡®The Food God¡¯s final quest. It seems like the end of this quest ising, huh?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was asked to help Rhoando hunt the half-god, half-dragon and was then asked to destroy the Heart of Oppression. Afterpleting both quests, he received another linked quest called ¡°For the New God.¡±

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Linked Quest</em></strong><em>: For the New God.]</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: ss</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: The one who destroyed the Heart of Oppression.</em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: The right to create a skill rted to the Food God. Food God¡¯s Secret: For Everyone¡¯s Joy</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Failure</em></strong><em>: Unable to unseal the final power of the Food God.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: Having obtained the power of god, Rhoando aims to be the true god of Utopia. However, it is not an easy path. Help him so he can be a true andplete god.</em>

    In this quest, the final reward was the most important part to note. Once written as ¡°???,¡± the reward was now fully revealed. And this was none other than ¡°For Everyone¡¯s Joy.¡± However, there was no way for Minhyuk to learn what the skill could do until he acquired it.

    Arce, who appeared in front of the ring eyes of the masses, knelt before Minhyuk. There was noticeable relief on his face as he said, ¡°Never once had I been happy since bing a god.¡±

    And the words that flowed out of his mouth next were also the words that Rhoando had told Minhyuk before.

    ¡°I have always resented the fact that I have inherited the blood of the Food God.¡±

    However, Arce was aware that, at this point, he would not be free of his sins no matter what he said.

    ¡°Thank you, Food God¡­ and Battle God.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Another wave of shock spread among the soldiers and the people. The people only knew Minhyuk as the Battle God. But now that they knew he was the Food God of the current era, their preconceived notions about the Food God that the heroes had instilled in them were slowly disappearing.

    Minhyuk did not say anything. He did not need to step forward and deal with it. The rest had to be left to Rhoando. And, of course, Rhoando also knew this. He said, ¡°Arce will be bound with the Great Mountain Shackles for 300 years.¡±

    The Great Mountain Shackles were shackles that weighed around 300 kilograms. Even a god could not easily remove them once they were bound with them. A long time ago, the Great Mountain Shackles were used to tie up and imprison the gods who caused friction and chaos when they came to Utopia.

    ¡°He will also be tasked to do anything and everything to reestablish everything rted to food, which had disappeared from Utopia in that 300 years. Whether it¡¯s fieldwork or construction of restaurants, he will have to do it.¡±

    For a god, doing something so trivial was like being sentenced to death. However, Arce still lookedpletely relieved as the soldiers put the thick, heavy shackles on his feet. Now, he could no longer escape. Perhaps he would be stoned by the people as he walked down his path. But there was still a smile on his face.

    Rhoando¡¯s eyes grew wide when he saw Arce take something out. At this moment, Minhyuk understood what it symbolized.

    <em>¡®This will signal the end of the quest.¡¯</em>

    When Arce handed the item to Minhyuk, Rhoando said, ¡°This is the ¡®Food God¡¯s Greatest Power¡¯ and is thest thing that my father has left in this world.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s heart started to thump wildly. Just hearing the words ¡°Food God¡¯s greatest power¡± made his chest feel like it was about to burst.

    ¡°Regardless of one¡¯s identity.¡± Arce smiled faintly. ¡°Regardless of one¡¯s gender and one¡¯s age. I heard it¡¯s a power that will allow everyone to eat and be happy.¡±

    Minhyuk slowly received the item.

    <em>[You havepleted the </em><strong><em>Linked Quest</em></strong><em>: For the New God.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Food God¡¯s Final Secret: For Everyone¡¯s Joy.]</em>

    Minhyuk, with this overwhelming feeling in his chest, thought, <em>¡®What is the greatest power that the Food God left behind?¡¯</em>

    As the question shed, Arce said, ¡°Now, this is to show my gratitude to you.¡±

    The Food God¡¯s final quest had a total of two rewards. One was marked as ¡°???,¡± and the other was the right to create a skill rted to the Food God, or in other words, a skill rted to eating.

    <em>[Arce, once the Sky of Utopia, activates his authority.]</em>

    <em>[With Arce¡¯s authority, you are now given the right to create one skill rted to the Food God.]</em>

    <em>[However, if you try to create an extremely unreasonable skill, the rights to create one skill would disappear.]</em>

    <em>[You have ten chances to create this skill.]</em>

    Not long after, Arce was taken away by the soldiers. Minhyuk watched his back as they escorted him out before checking out the new power that he received.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>For Everyone¡¯s Joy</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Food God¡¯s Secret</em>

    <strong><em>Level</em></strong><em>: None</em>

    <strong><em>Mana Required</em></strong><em>: 30,000</em>

    <strong><em>Cooldown</em></strong><em>: 240 days.</em>

    <strong><em>Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?You can make tens of thousands, tens of millions, or hundreds of millions of dishes from a single dish.</em>

    <em>?However, regardless of what ingredients are used, the dishes will have no special abilities. The taste will remain the same for every dish.</em>

    <em>?Can be applied to viges, territories, kingdoms, and empires.</em>

    ¡°...?!¡±

    Minhyuk immediately understood what kind of skill For Everyone¡¯s Joy was.

    <em>¡®Perhaps this is the greatest cooking skill among all the Food God skills I possess.¡¯</em>

    It was a skill that allowed everyone to enjoy food regardless of their status, age, gender, race, and everything else. It was a way to cook and feed the hungry and everyone.

    <em>¡®Perhaps this is the Food God¡¯s greatest dish they had spoken of before?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk smiled faintly. Through this skill, he had felt the will and determination of the Food God. Not only that, even if the ¡°power¡± and the ¡°benefits¡± of the skill had to be taken into consideration, this skill would still have tremendous power. Why?

    <em>¡®Let¡¯s take our country for example. Our poption is around 60 million. If a single dish is worth 10,000 won and every single member of the poption was fed that same dish, then we would need around 600 billion won.¡±</em>

    The price of a single dish might be worth 600 billion won. That was crazy.

    Of course, Minhyuk already had a n in mind the moment he saw the details of the skill. He intended to use For Everyone¡¯s Joy for the people of Utopia.

    Minhyuk looked at Rhoando and said, ¡°Rhoando, I¡¯m going to give your people a delicious meal. It would take an hour. Wait for me.¡±

    Rhoando had caught a glimpse of the power of the ability before. That was why he was highly grateful to Minhyuk, who chose to readily use this excellent ability for the sake of the people of Utopia. He could see in Minhyuk¡¯s expression that he was very excited to see the joy and happiness that would sh in the faces of the people who had not seen food for hundreds of years.

    Just like that, Minhyuk started cooking.

    ***

    <em>[For Everyone¡¯s Joy.]</em>

    Minhyuk made pumpkin porridge for the people of Utopia.

    The pumpkin porridge, which was light, warm, and slightly sweet, appeared in front of everyone. Everyone who tasted the warm pumpkin porridge could not help but shed tears.

    Minhyuk, who had sat on the kingdom''s walls, also admired the pumpkin porridge he had made. ¡°Wahahahaha! It¡¯s just a tad bit sweet. So good!¡±

    Rhoando looked at Minhyuk in gratitude, watching the man eat happily. He felt warmth enveloping his heart when he saw the people crying while eating the pumpkin porridge in front of them.

    <em>¡®We have only received help from him.¡¯</em>

    Although Rhoando agreed to give Minhyuk their best ingredients and the most fertilend in Utopia, he still felt they needed to give back more to the man who helped them the most. He was sure that this thought had also shed through the heads of everyone present.

    After eating the pumpkin porridge, Minhyuk approached Rhoando and said, ¡°Younger brother, I¡¯m going to get some rest first.¡±

    Then, Minhyuk promptly disappeared. After seeing him disappear, Rhoando stood before his people and said, ¡°From this day forth, I am your king. And as you all know, I have received a lot of help from him just to be the king. I trust that you all feel the same way as me.¡±

    After tasting the pumpkin porridge, the people finally realized the pain they had been suffering. That is why they were all very grateful to Minhyuk.

    ¡°So, even though it might sound rude. I ask you. Even one gold is fine. Let us all show our gratitude and thank him for the dish he fed us. Any amount is fine, even if you only put in one gold. Just give as much as you want to give.¡±

    Rhoando did not want his people to feel burdened, so he did not set an amount. The people of the kingdom, with pleasant smiles, started to pay for the pumpkin porridge they had eaten.

    ***

    Minhyuk, who returned after getting some rest, was gued with worries. <em>¡®The greatest talents of the Beyond the Heavens Empire hade here. We must have suffered quite a huge loss.¡¯</em>

    The ones who came to Utopia were responsible for generating around 40% of the ie and profits of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. That was just how important and valuable they were to the empire. The problem was that the profits they would gain from Utopia would not be readily avable. It would even take them quite a while before they gain any ie from this ce.

    <em>¡®But after three months, we can obtain an astronomical amount from here.¡¯</em>

    Maintaining rtionships and interacting with a new world was a precious opportunity. Minhyuk intended to take advantage of this, and this was part of his n.

    As he logged back inside the game, Minhyuk ran into Rhoando.

    ¡°Hyung-nim, you¡¯re back?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Ah, younger brother. I¡¯m actually about to return.¡±

    Minhyuk could not wait to go back and eat the Oppression¡¯s Beef Grill Set. He had to eat it alone to rx and not worry about someone taking it away.

    Rhoando looked a bit sullen when he heard those words. ¡°I see. I hope that you will visit us more often. Ah. Here. The people and I have gathered a small sum to thank you.¡±

    ¡°Ehey! You didn¡¯t have to do that~ It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s fine. You can use it, younger brother.¡±

    Minhyuk felt like his younger brother was trying to pay for his taxi fare.

    ¡°Hyung-nim, please ept it. I collected money to ¡®pay for the meal¡¯ that hyung-nim made for us. Please don¡¯t feel pressured and just ept it.¡±

    ¡°Hoho. Payment for the meal, huh? You should know that the dishes that I made are quite expensive, younger brother.¡±

    Then, the notification rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You have received 939,100 tinum.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    The price of the meal was quite excellent, wasn''t it? Minhyuk could not help but be in awe.

    <em>¡®It seems you know well how much a dish I made costs!¡¯</em>

 Chapter 987

    Chapter 987

    Haze, who was busy writing and updating the ledgers, sighed lightly. <em>¡®It¡¯s just one or two days, but the losses are far too great.¡¯</em>

    Each executive had a set schedule every day. Since they were the greatest talents of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, the mere fact that they ignored this set schedule to go to Utopia disrupted several contracts. The losses that they had received were quite bigger than Haze had expected.

    <em>¡®We need more funds to get ahead of Luvien.¡¯</em>

    The Beyond the Heavens Empire was not in a stable position. It had to secure more funds than ever and quickly expand and develop its territories. But in the past few days, Haze could clearly feel the limits of its financial capacities.

    <em>¡®ording to His Majesty, we will only start gaining benefits from Utopia three months from now.¡¯</em>

    The exchange between the master of the new world, Utopia, and the Beyond the Heavens Empire would undoubtedly bring them astronomical profits. However, Utopia had changed regime. Because of that, they needed time to regain their stability. And just as what was mentioned before, it would take three months before they could reap the benefits.

    They might have money soon, but if it was not in their hands, they could not speed up their expansion and development. What was important was to get cash right away.

    At that moment, amotion appeared outside. The Beyond the Heavens Empire''s talents had already returned. Haze¡¯s expression immediately grew bright.

    <em>¡®Your Majesty!¡¯</em>Haze, who hadn¡¯t seen Minhyuk for quite a long time, rushed out, hoping to see the man faster. But Minhyuk was a step faster than her; he had already knocked on her door before she could even get out.

    ¡°Haze, have you been well?¡±

    Haze¡¯s fatigue seemed to have melted when she saw the refreshing smile on Minhyuk¡¯s face.

    ¡°Of course, Your Majesty.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for readily approving my request.¡±

    Minhyuk was the emperor of this empire, but when it came to making important decisions, he would also listen to and consider the opinions of his subjects. This was especially the case for Haze. There were times when Haze would correct Minhyuk and guide him on the right path whenever his thoughts strayed.

    ¡°Creating a connection and having exchanges with Utopia would greatly help us in the future,¡± Haze said. However, her expression had already grown a bit dark.

    Minhyuk knew the girl better than anybody else. He said, ¡°The people of Utopia had given me money. They said that it¡¯s payment for their meal.¡±

    ¡°Payment for their meal? If we¡¯re talking about payment for the meal made by Your Majesty, they would need to pay quite a lot, right? Hoho.¡± Haze smiled as she joked around.

    <em>Thud¨C</em>

    Minhyuk mmed the massive bag of money in front of her and said, ¡°It¡¯s a million tinum.¡±

    Haze¡¯s eyes grew wide. <em>¡®N- No¡­ Didn¡¯t he say that it¡¯s just payment for a meal?¡¯</em>

    What kind of meal cost a million tinum? A million tinum was a considerable sum of money. Even the Beyond the Heavens Empire would have difficulty gathering a million tinum in sales even after working hard for three months.

    Minhyuk smiled faintly and retold the story about how he fed the citizens of Utopia with pumpkin porridge and how Rhoando gave a proposal to the people.

    Haze immediately understood. ¡°That single meal must have been extremely priceless in their eyes.¡±

    That should have been the case. The amount of money they paid for the meal Minhyuk made for them must have had a variety of meanings. It must have conveyed their gratitude, respect, trust, and faith in him.

    And considering that Minhyuk¡¯s cooking was the best in Athenae, they must have been delighted to taste the dish, right? Nobles also existed in that ce. Collecting a million tinum to pay for a meal was not impossible. After all, these nobles could pay a lot of money, right?

    ¡°But.¡± Haze chuckled, her eyes squinting. ¡°It would be better to get payment for meat next time, no?¡±

    ¡°Right? Just as I expected.¡±

    ¡°For the meat that Your Majesty will provide, I think around ten million tinum would suffice. Hoho.¡±

    ¡°What are you saying, Haze?¡± A grave expression appeared on Minhyuk¡¯s face. ¡°It should be around twenty million tinum.¡±

    Of course, the two of them were just joking around. In the first ce, they did not expect to get any payment for what they had done. Now, there was only one thing left.

    ¡°Ah, wait. Can you look at this steel?¡±

    It was none other than the Ogre¡¯s Steel Armor. Haze nodded after checking the information.

    <em>¡®A weapon produced from this steel will have 13% higher attack power. If one can use aura, their cutting power will increase by 20%. This is an excellent steel.¡¯</em>

    However, it would be hard to say that it was outstanding or incredible.

    ¡°We have agreed that they will provide us 1,000 tons of this steel every month.¡±

    Haze¡¯s head turned nk when she heard Minhyuk¡¯s words. <em>¡®That means getting this steel is not hard, right?¡¯</em>

    Haze thought that the fantastic steel that Minhyuk obtained from those who knew where was quite rare. But now, he said they would be provided a thousand tons every month. There was nowhere in Athenae to obtain such a vast amount of excellent steel.

    <em>¡®Since we can obtain a thousand tons of this steel per month, then that means that we can supply our troops with great equipment. The knights woulde first. Then, we will distribute the weapons and armor to our soldiers. Once that happens, our troops will be 10% stronger than our current power.¡¯</em>

    Haze was in awe.

    Not long after, she saw Minhyuk fidgeting. He looked like a restless puppy that was about to go potty. Haze had been working with Minhyuk for a very long time now. After being by his side for so long, she could already tell what his actions meant.

    <em>¡®That action means ¡°I¡¯m happy to see you, but I¡¯m famished right now.¡±, right?¡¯</em>

    Haze chuckled. ¡°Your Majesty, juste back here after having your meal.¡±

    When Haze¡¯s words ended, Minhyuk used Like the Wind and disappeared from her view.

    ***

    In Minhyuk¡¯s eyes, Utopia was nothing short of hell. Why wouldn¡¯t it be? He came to y this game because he wanted to eat. He was bound to have a hard time in a world without food ingredients.

    And even after he obtained some excellent ingredients, there were just a lot of things he needed to do in Utopia. In the end, he still could not eat. The superb ingredient was none other than the Oppressions¡¯ Beef Grilling Set.

    The set, which consisted of thick cuts of tenderloin, sirloin, beef rib steak, and chuck p tail, was truly out of this world.

    <em>¡®The thicker the meat, the more juices you would get when chewing!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk, who was just about to grill the meat, suddenly stopped. His instincts were screaming at him to stop.

    This very same instinct had prevented him, who was moving swiftly in front of this food, from moving any further. It was not just his instinct; even the expectation that he could eat more of this kind of delicious and precious food in the future had stopped him from moving any further.

    This Oppression¡¯s Beef Grilling Set was an utterly unfamiliar ingredient. Its rank was even written as ¡°God and Transcendental.¡± Of course, much has changed from the ingredients after the fiasco before.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Oppression¡¯s Beef Grilling Set</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Ingredient Grade</em></strong><em>: God and Transcendental</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?Your level will increase by 4.</em>

    <em>?All of your stats will increase by 4.5%.</em>

    <em>?All of your skills¡¯ proficiency levels will increase by 50%.</em>

    <em>?Your HP and MP will increase by 8%.</em>

    <em>?A chosen skill¡¯s proficiency level will increase by 30%.</em>

    <em>?Your divine power will increase by 5%.</em>

    <em>?This ingredient is more special than any other ingredient in the world. Its taste is more delicious than ordinary ingredients. The taste would remain unchanged even if the Heart of Oppression is destroyed.</em>

    Even after looking at it again, the only word that Minhyuk could use to describe it was ¡°crazy.¡± Even though only 10% of its special abilities had been left, it could still be considered an outstanding ingredient.

    <em>¡®I won¡¯t be able to get an ingredient like this in the future.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was almost sure of this. Of course, he could obtain ingredients with the same effects as this, with only 10% of its special abilities left. But the chances of finding that were rare and hard toe by.

    <em>¡®Even if I can obtain one, I think it would only be possible around three or so years from now?¡¯</em>

    As time went by, more and more artifacts and ingredients became avable to them. So, it did not mean that his chances were zero. However, there was one thing that he knew.

    <em>¡®A seed can produce an ingredient I can harvest in just a year.¡¯</em>

    In other words, Minhyuk could possibly obtain a cooking ingredient of this caliber in just a year, but only if he could create the skill that he had envisioned.

    <em>¡®It wouldn¡¯t be toote for me to eat after creating the skill.¡¯</em> Minhyuk smacked his lips. <em>¡®If it seeds, then I will be able to obtain the skill that I wanted. It would be like a dreame true for me.¡¯</em>

    He had always felt that it was a pity he could no longer eat the delicious ingredients he had eaten before. So, the thought that he could obtain it again made him ecstatic. Besides, he might also be able to obtain the same effects from this ingredient once again.

    If he seeded, then the world would be born with the best and most outstanding skill, which was basically derived from the essence of the Food God.

    Minhyuk slowly recited, ¡°Food God Skill Creation.¡±

    <em>[You can now create a skill rted to the Food God. Only a skill closely rted to the Food God can be made.]</em>

    <em>[You have ten total attempts at creating the skill. If you fail to create a skill within these ten attempts, your chance at creating a skill will disappear.]</em>

    At that moment, a hologram appeared in front of Minhyuk. Following Minhyuk¡¯s thoughts, a picture started appearing on the hologram''s screen.

    Excellent ingredients appeared on the hologram screen that Minhyuk was looking at. Then, a small portion of the ingredient was shaved off. This shaved-off portion was used as a seed and nted on the ground.

    Following that, the scene on the screen showed the seasons changing rapidly: spring, summer, autumn, and winter. These seasons passed by until spring arrived once again. Then, the ingredients that had been nted slowly squeezed through the ground and started to bloom.

    Immediately after that, a notification rang.

    <em>[The skill cannot be created.]</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    It was as he expected. After all, the skill was just too outstanding to be allowed to be born so easily.

    <em>¡®When creating skills, even the ones with the most trivial abilities could also fail.¡¯</em>

    What seemed to be the reason for this? In the end, skill creation wasrgely dependent on one¡¯s luck. In a way, it could be simr to how artifacts were reinforced.

    <em>¡®The more the system recognizes the skill as better or more outstanding, the lower the possibility of it being created.¡¯</em>

    Of course, the Food God¡¯s Skill Creation was something that Minhyuk obtained from the Food God¡¯s final quest, so it would most definitely allow him some leeway when creating his skill.

    The problem was that the skill that Minhyuk thought of was too groundbreaking. This skill directly broke Athenae¡¯s ¡°cannot obtain excellent artifact materials and cooking ingredients a second time¡± rule.

    Minhyuk quickly tapped on the hologram in front of him.

    <em>¡®Let¡¯s retain the part where I will collect a portion of the ingredient for nting. Once nted, it can only be harvested after a year and a half.¡¯</em>

    He extended the harvesting period a bit and lowered the effects of the regrown ingredients from 100% to 90%. Then, he pressed the <em>create</em> button.

    <em>[The skill cannot be created.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s expression twisted. <em>¡®Alright. Let¡¯s lower our standards a bit. My main purpose is to be able to eat those delicious ingredients again and again.¡¯</em>

    He reduced the effects of the regrown ingredients to 60% while retaining the vor of the original ingredient.

    <em>[The skill cannot be created.]</em>

    Minhyuk grew impatient.

    <em>¡®Is the scope of the skill uneptable?¡¯</em>

    If that was not the case, then it was probably a failure caused by low probability. Minhyuk tried again.

    <em>[The skill cannot be created.]</em>

    And again.

    <em>[The skill cannot be created.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s face turned ugly once again. And the more he could not find why the creation was a failure, the more he grew impatient and flustered.

    He knew it would already be a waste to lower the effects further, but he decided to lower them again. This time, he lowered the effects to 50% while extending the growth period to two years. This was already much lower than what he had expected.

    <em>[The skill cannot be created.]</em>

    Then, he tried again to find out if it was just a matter of probability.

    <em>[The skill cannot be created.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s face grew dark. ¡°What the hell is the problem here?¡±

    ***

    Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s conference room.

    A few important executives with the authority to monitor yers were sitting inside the conference room watching Minhyuk.

    Seven times. Minhyuk had failed seven times to create his skill.

    Department Head Kim Daeil finally let out a sigh of relief. ¡°As expected. The system will not allow him to create a skill like that.¡±

    Everyone present seemed to agree with his words. Of course, it was still within Minhyuk¡¯s expectations.

    ¡°Since he acquired the rights to create a skill from the Food God¡¯s final quest, he is allowed to create a skill that could reach the level of a God-rank skill. The problem here is that the skill that yer Minhyuk has thought of is just too good.¡±

    After all, it was a power that would allow him to obtain a power that he should not have been able to obtain again many times over. The value of that was too high.

    In a year, he would be able to harvest the ingredient. Then, he would collect a portion of the ingredient and use it to nt once again. Then, he would harvest again after a year. This process would repeat over and over again. Once ten years had passed? Then, his field would be filled with a bountiful harvest.

    So? The system would say no.

    ¡°His chances would increase since he had reduced the effects to 50%. But¡­ it will still not work,¡± Team Leader Park Minggyu said.

    If the effects had been reduced to 50%, it would have entered the realm where the skill creation system could allow it to be created. That was literally what it meant.

    ¡°Today, yer Minhyuk¡¯s luck is down the drain.¡±

    Minhyuk had a high level of DEX, which greatly influenced and increased his chances of creating something. But it seemed like today was not just his day.

    Finally, Minhyuk lowered the effects to 40% and set the growth period to two years.

    <em>[yer Minhyuk has failed to create the skill.]</em>

    Even this failed. Now, he only had two chances left.

    ¡°It seems like he¡¯s just truly unlucky today, huh?¡± President Kang Taehoon said.

    Of course, Kang Taehoon did not necessarily favor Minhyuk. The only reason he and the majorpany executives were monitoring him today was that the skill he wanted to create was just too outstanding. If he could create this skill and achieve the desired effects, they had to prepare for the future.

    ¡°He''s out of luck. Do you think he can still break through this situation?¡±

    ¡°Who knows? Luck is not something that we, humans, can fathom,¡± President Kang Taehoon said.

    Of course, there was still a chance that he would break through and seed. However, considering that he had lowered his abilities to that extent and even extended the growth period to two years, he should have already seeded based on the probability.

    And just like Kang Taehoon said, luck was something humans could not control and fathom.

    <em>[I¡¯m going nuts.]</em>

    The executives all looked relieved when they saw how flustered yer Minhyuk was. Then, they saw Minhyuk take a deep breath.

    <em>¡®The reason yer Minhyuk can stand in his position now is because he can respond calmly to situations where most people will already be agitated. Not only that, he is also someone who can think out of the box and provide solutions to his problems.¡¯</em>

    Could a variable appear at this point? Kang Taehoon had already confirmed that it would be difficult for Minhyuk to achieve anything today if Lady Luck was not on his side.

    But then, Minhyuk, who had closed his eyes, started to murmur to himself.

    <em>[If today is an unlucky day, let¡¯s change it to a lucky day.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Confusion was stered on the faces of the executives when they heard Minhyuk¡¯s words. Then, they saw Minhyuk smile as if he remembered something.

    <em>[Let¡¯s use our farming methods to help gain a good harvest. If I do this, I will increase my chances of creating this skill.]</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

    President Kang¡¯s grew wide.

    Using external factors and not relying solely on the skill''s power, Minhyuk''s method would definitely increase his chances of creating the skill by a huge margin.

    <em>Gulp¨C</em>

    President Kang Taehoon gulped dryly as he looked at Minhyuk through the monitor.

 Chapter 988

    Chapter 988

    Minhyuk pondered deeply about it.

    He had already extended the seed¡¯s nting and harvest period by two years. He even tried to reduce the effects to 40% before creating the skill. But it still failed.

    <em>¡®It seems like I¡¯m just really unlucky today.¡¯</em>

    He could tell that everything was already within the range where the system could ept the skill''s creation. But because he had grown highly impatient, he looked over a lot of things.

    <em>¡®If the effects had lowered to 40% and it would take two years for me to harvest the ingredients, then there¡¯s no advantage to getting this skill.¡¯</em>

    Perhaps it would only have one merit. That was because he could taste the ingredients he could never forget in two years. But the opportunity to create a Food God¡¯s skill was very precious. Instead of lowering the effects and wasting this opportunity, he concluded he should think of another way.

    ¡°If today is unlucky, let¡¯s change it so it¡¯s lucky.¡±

    If the effect were more than 80%, then the system would refuse the creation of the skill no matter how lucky Minhyuk was. This was because the effects were far too outstanding for just ¡°one skill¡± to have. However, after thinking about it, he realized that many external factors affected farming.

    If the rainy seasonsted for quite a long time during that year, the crops they would harvest would be of poorer quality and a little less delicious than usual. On the other hand, the crops would not be able to grow if the sun''s heat was too intense and there was no rain. <em>¡®In other words, I would not need to rely on the skill for everything and get some help from external factors too.¡¯</em>

    A sparkle appeared in Minhyuk¡¯s eyes as he began to tap away and add new things to the hologram screen.

    ¡°Tears of the Sun. This is one of the treasures of the Ashga Royal Family. From what I heard, it can provide the optimal heat to grow crops within an area within a one-kilometer radius.¡±

    The Ashga Royal Family was one of the few seeking to maintain a friendly rtionship with the Beyond the Heavens Empire. They would be willing to give this treasure.

    After all, the Tears of the Sun could only cover an area within a one-kilometer radius. It was determined that this treasure had no significant effect besides making the crops grow more delicious. It was not a very important treasure. However, things would be different if Minhyuk applied it here.

    Minhyuk drew the Tears of the Sun in the hologram. The red jewel, the Tears of the Sun, was the perfect item to provide sunlight for the crops. It floated in the sky and helped the crops grow better.

    Then, the second one.

    ¡°Hyemin¡¯sDaddy and Roadol. There¡¯s nothing that the two cannot make if they are together.¡±

    Hyemin¡¯sDaddy was the best cksmith, and Roadol was an outstanding building contractor. Working together, they could create a greenhouse that would remain sturdy and safe even if a typhoon came.

    ¡°Then, we will install sprinklers inside the greenhouse. These sprinklers will spray water at set intervals and ensure the crops can grow excellently.¡±

    But that was not all.

    ¡°If I use the water from the Aenes River, then the effects will be doubled.¡±

    The Aenes River was a tourist attraction in every kingdom. Everyone knew using its waters when farming could boost crop growth and quality.

    Minhyuk drew the sprinklers, applied the waters of the Aenes River to the hologram, and then added another one.

    <em>¡®A fertilend.¡¯</em>

    It did not matter what seeds were nted or how hard one farmed; if seeds were nted on barrennd, they would not be able to harvest good crops. On the other hand, seeds nted on fertilend could yield good ingredients.

    Minhyuk had already requested Rhoando to give him the most fertilend in Utopia. But Minyhyuk did not stop there. He knew of a way to make this fertilend even better.

    ¡°The Great Spirit of the Earth, Rend.¡±

    The Great Spirit of the Earth Rend could make anynd fertile. If the effects of the Pickaxe that Can Make Any Land Fertile were also applied, thend would be the world''s richest and most fertile.

    Then came the final step.

    ¡°Once the conditions are met, we can ask the greatest farmer to help us.¡±

    Two farmers appeared on the screen of the hologram. They were none other than Rumble, who was in the form of the baby wolf, and Rend, the Great Spirit of the Earth, standing together with a pickaxe in hand.

    The two''s harmony and chemistry could be considered highly fantastic. One understood thend best, while the other knew best how to take care of life.

    Minhyuk looked at the hologram that he finallypleted.

    The Tears of the Sun floated above the steel-like greenhouse and bathed everything beneath it with the sun''s warmth. Inside the greenhouse, two excellent farmers stood on the fertilend with countless sprinklers.

    <em>¡®Let¡¯s see. Now¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk tapped on the hologram. He adjusted the effects of the crops he would harvest from 40% to 100%. Considering Rend and Rumble''s working together and the rich and fertilend, he adjusted the growth period from two years to only ten months.

    ¡°Now, my unlucky day has turned into a lucky day.¡±

    If people saw him, they would probably say that he was too daring to even try and control <em>luck,</em> something a human could not fathom. Of course, Minhyuk could only try to do so because he had the capabilities and met all the conditions.

    Minhyuk gulped dryly. <em>¡®Perhaps I will be able to get the skill that I wanted.¡¯</em>

    He pressed the <em>create </em>button in the skill creation window with a trembling hand.

    <em>[The skill cannot be created.]</em>

    Minhyuk felt his heart drop when he heard the notification. However, he quickly calmed down, took a deep breath, and stabilized himself again. Now, he only had one chance left.

    However, even if he had only one chance left, Minhyuk did nothing to reduce the growth period or the effects. Why? Because he was confident.

    ¡°I have set the best conditions possible.¡±

    He had already created the best conditions for the best skill, so he clicked the <em>create </em>button for the final time.

    At the same time.

    The Joy Co. Ltd. executives monitoring Minhyuk almost stuck their heads to the monitor as they watched the scene with dry lips. Not long after, letters started to appear on the hologram.

    <em>[You have sessfully created the skill.]</em>

    <em>[The system has started to adjust and tune up the skill that you have created.]</em>

    Some of the Joy Co. Ltd. executives wrapped their heads in despair while President Kang Taehoon sighed. And Team Leader Park Minggyu? He looked at the screen in awe.

    As for the protagonist of this scene? There was a delighted smile stered on Minhyuk¡¯s face.

    <em>[Please choose a name for the skill.]</em>

    Minhyuk pondered the matter deeply. He believed that the people who would obtain a skill simr to this now or in the future would be few and far between.

    <em>¡®I have opened up a possibility for them.¡¯</em>

    There was a chance that even Joy Co. Ltd. did not expect such a skill to emerge. So, Minhyuk made his choice.

    ¡°Seeds of Revolution.¡±

    Minhyuk thought that since he could acquire a skill like this today, he could acquire a simr skill someday.

    <em>[You have acquired the Active Skill: Seeds of Revolution.]</em>

    Minhyuk did not hesitate and immediately checked the details of the skill.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Seeds of Revolution</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Active Skill</em>

    <strong><em>Level</em></strong><em>: None</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty Upon Use</em></strong><em>: None</em>

    <strong><em>Cooldown</em></strong><em>: Until harvest.</em>

    <strong><em>Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?You can choose any cooking ingredient and turn them into seeds.</em>

    <em>?The chosen cooking ingredient can be turned into seeds and would not reduce effects or volume produced upon harvest.</em>

    <em>?Once the seed has been nted, you can harvest it after ten months.</em>

    <em>?The quality of the crop you will produce will depend on how well you can grow your seed. Luck will also y a massive role in this.</em>

    <em>?The effects of crops that grow from the seed would have around 60%~100% powerpared to the original. This will be dependent on a variety of factors and conditions.</em>

    <em>?You can produce three seeds from one ingredient.</em>

    <em>?If your nted seed produces a crop with more than 90% of the original¡¯s effect, the number of seeds you can produce from the ingredient will increase by two.</em>

    Minhyuk was in awe. <em>¡®This is the skill that I wanted.¡¯</em>

    Of course, the system had adjusted and tweaked some parts of the skill that Minhyuk had created. Because of that, the power of the crops produced from the seeds would now swing between 60% and 100%. It would no longer produce a crop with 100% of the effects of the original with absolute certainty. Just like it said in the description, the crop''s quality would depend on how well they could grow the seed.

    <em>¡®In the first ce, I never expected that I would be able to nt a hundred seeds all at once. That would be pure greed.¡¯</em>

    That would be impossible even if Athenae made the skill and nted it herself. If that was allowed, the bnce would bepletely broken, and the game would copse. But if he could harvest a crop with an effect that was 95% or higher, then the number of seeds he could make would increase by two.

    From the beginning, Minhyuk knew it would take a long time before his vast and rich field became a reality. But he continued to take one step after another, and his dream of having a <em>field of god-grade ingredients</em> had already started toe true.

    Minhyuk immediately used the skill.

    <em>[You have chosen the Oppression¡¯s Beef Grilling Set. The Oppression¡¯s Beef Grilling Set will now be a seed.]</em>

    <em>[The Oppression¡¯s Beef Grilling Set might have several different parts, but it can produce and create a single seed.]</em>

    <em>[Once the harvest period has arrived, you can harvest several parts from the crop growing from this single seed.]</em>

    ¡°Kghhk~¡±

    The effects would only bepressed into one, but it was still possible to harvest several parts of a single ingredient in one seed. Immediately after that, a tiny seed appeared on Minhyuk¡¯s palm.

    <em>[Oppression¡¯s Beef Grilling Set Seed.]</em>

    When Minhyuk clicked on the seed¡¯s information, he found out that the growth period of the seed was only six months. Minhyuk hurriedly put the seed in his inventory. Then, he rubbed his hands together.

    <em>¡®Now that the seed has been created¡­¡¯</em>

    It was finally time for him to eat. Minhyuk hurriedly prepared to eat beef.

    ¡°Oink!¡±

    Beanie was also with him today, and a simr set of ingredients appeared right before Beanie.

    Various side dishes appeared as Minhyuk finished all of his preparations. There were several dips, including salt, wasabi, and <em>ssamjang.</em>

    Finally, he sat down and began his meal by turning on the heat and allowing the grilling pan to heat up.

    ¡°Kgghhk~ Yes, when ites to beef, it¡¯s best if it¡¯s thick.¡± Minhyuk sighed in admiration as he ced a huge sirloin on the now-heated grilling pan.

    <em>Sizzle¨C</em>

    The cheerful sizzle of the meat danced in Minhyuk¡¯s ears. After a few moments, he flipped the meat on the pan.

    <em>Sizzle¨C</em>

    Once the beef had turned golden brown, Minhyuk whipped out the scissors and cut it into cubes. With every cut, juices spilled from the sides of the meat, enough to make his mouth water.

    Minhyuk ensured the beef was evenly cooked, leaving it on the grilling pan for a bit more until all the blood had disappeared. Then, he grabbed his chopsticks and picked up a piece.

    He gently blew on the still-sizzling oil that covered the meat. Without dipping it in anything, Minhyuk ced the entire piece of sirloin in his mouth. Minhyuk felt the soft texture of the beef the moment he put it in his mouth. The best part? The savory juices of the meat would explode with every bite he made.

    ¡°Kghhk¡­¡±

    ¡°Oiiiiink¡­¡±

    Beanie was so thrilled. He was even shedding tears as he ate the beef. Of course, the same was true for Minhyuk.

    Following Minhyuk, Beanie picked up another piece of beef. But this time, instead of not dipping it in anything, he followed along and dipped the thick piece of sirloin in the wasabi.

    <em>Munch, munch¨C</em>

    The rich and vorful juice of the meat coated his mouth, while the spicy and savory wasabi bnced the vor. The harmony of vors made Beanie feel highly delighted.

    ¡°Oiiiiink¡­!¡±

    In an instant, the two pigs(?) demolished the sirloin and the other parts of the set. Finally, they were down to thest part of the set. Thest part was none other than the chuck p tail. Of course, the chuck p tail was just as thick as the previous parts.

    Minhyuk looked at Beanie solemnly. Beanie knew that look in Minhyuk¡¯s eyes. That was right; Beanie knew what he wanted to ask, even if he had not opened his mouth.

    ¡°Oiiiiiiink <em>(I¡¯m going for mul naengmyeon).</em>¡±

    Minhyuk nodded in understanding. ¡°A wonderful choice.¡±

    Since Beanie chose the <em>mul naengmyeon</em>, Minhyuk went for <em>the bi bim naengmyeon. He removed both</em> dishes from his inventory.

    Beanie immediately grabbed the bowl of <em>mul naengmyeon</em> covered in thin ice and drank the cool and refreshing broth.

    ¡°Oiiiiink.¡±

    Beanie¡¯s eyes grew wide at the cold and delicious vor of the broth. On the other hand, Minhyuk poured a bit of the icy cold broth into his <em>bibim naengmyeon</em>. Then, he quickly mixed the yolk of the egg with the rest of the sauce.

    <em>Swoosh, swoosh¨C</em>

    Once he was done mixing, the softest and most delicious part of beef, the chuck p tail, was also done cooking. Of course, Minhyuk had to try it as it was first.

    ¡°Kihyaaa!¡±

    ¡°Oiiiiiink!¡±

    Then, Minhyuk grabbed a thick piece of chuck p tail and dropped it on his <em>bibim naengmyeon. He</em> used the meat as a wrap and wrapped the noodles together before putting everything in his mouth.

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuuuuurp!</em>¡±

    The spicy and sweet <em>bibim naengmyeon</em> and the thick and soft chuck p tail met in his mouth and created a fantastic harmony of vors.

    This time, Minhyuk put a piece of the chuck p tail in his mouth before taking a huge sip of the broth of the <em>bibim naengmyeon</em>. The spiciness of the <em>bibim naengmyeon</em> perfectly captured and bnced the greasiness of the beef.

    ¡°Fuwaaaa¡­!¡±

    ¡°Oiiiink¡­¡±

    <em>I¡¯m finally alive! </em>Even if the two did not say anything, it was obvious that those were the words that they were thinking just by looking at their expressions alone.

    After he finished his meal, a series of notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You have eaten the Oppression¡¯s Beef Grilling Set.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 4.5%.]</em>

    <em>[All of your skills¡¯ proficiency levels have increased by 50%.]</em>

    <em>[Your chosen skill¡¯s proficiency level has increased by 30%.]</em>

    <em>[Your divine power has increased by 5%.]</em>

    The effects were very satisfying.

    Minhyuk looked at the Oppression¡¯s Beef Grilling Set Seed, sitting silently inside his inventory.

    <em>¡®What ingredients should I nt next time?¡¯</em>

    Of course, there was a high chance that the ingredients that he would obtainter would be much worse than those in Oppression¡¯s Beef Grilling Set. But that did not matter. At the very least, he would be able to nt ingredients that would be far superior to ordinary God-grade ingredients.

    While Minhyuk was thinking about what ingredients he should obtain, a whisper from Godly Editory Carron arrived.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Carron</em></strong><em>: I think we should start filming the Battle God¡¯s advertisement video soon, no?]</em>

 Chapter 989

    Chapter 989

    After receiving the whisper from Carron, Minhyuk immediately headed back to his office. When he entered, he saw Haze and the editor sitting and waiting for him.

    <em>¡®The Battle God¡¯s advertisement video.¡¯</em>

    The thought alone was enough to send his heart into overdrive. An advertisement video focusing on the greatest god, the Battle God, would attract many viewers. And that was not all.

    ¡°This is an opportunity for us to recruit troops for the Heavenly Army under the Battle God¡¯smand.¡±

    Many from the Beyond the Heaven''s Empire had witnessed the moment when Minhyuk seeded the throne firsthand and were fully aware of the meaning of the words that the Battle God had said back then.

    <em>Make your Land of the Gods. Gather the Gods who will stay by your side on your own.</em>

    In other words, it would be more appropriate for them to view the gods serving the current Battle God separately from Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®In the first ce, Joy Co. Ltd. will never give a single yer the authority to lead all the gods.¡¯</em>

    That was only natural. If a single yer gained the authority to rule over all of the gods, then the bnce would bepletely and utterly broken. <em>¡®Instead, they¡¯re allowing me to make my Land of the Gods, gather my gods, and create my own Heavenly Army under the name of the Battle God.¡¯</em>

    The skills that Minhyuk obtained when he became the Battle God were a testament to that fact.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Suppose we release the Battle God¡¯s advertisement video; not only will we gather many of my supporters. In that case, we will also be able to gather many people in the Beyond the Heavens Empire.¡±

    It was also a way for the Beyond the Heavens Empire to grow rapidly and pull ahead of the Luvien Empire before it could gain stability.

    Carron said, ¡°This is the best time to release the video. Since plenty of yers are looking forward to what the Battle God has in store for the future, we can achieve quite a good effect if we do it now.¡±

    Minhyuk looked at Carron in confusion. Carron''s mention of the word ¡°quite¡± meant they could not achieve maximum efficiency.

    ¡°Is there something else that we need?¡±

    Haze and Carron both shook their heads at Minhyuk¡¯s question. Then, Carron said, ¡°Yes, there are quite a lot of things that we need. The most important thing is to bring many people from the Luvien Empire to our Beyond the Heavens Empire. However, we have no reason to entice them to move to the Beyond the Heavens Empire except for their expectations for Your Majesty as the ¡®Battle God¡¯.¡±

    Minhyuk understood what Carron was saying. Even if the yer was only a novice, they had every right to choose what nation they would belong to, whether it was the Luvien Empire, the Beyond the Heavens Empire, or any other empire or kingdom.

    No nation would deny them entry, except chaotic yers, even if they were only novices. After all, once these yers belonged to their nation, they could collect taxes from them.

    Because of that, all yers tended to choose a nation that would bring them more benefits and profits.

    ¡°There¡¯s also the fact that those belonging to the Luvien Empire will face various penalties if they choose to leave and move to another nation. These penalties include being unable to go back and join the Luvien Empire again, a decrease in their EXP, and a drop in favorability with all of the citizens of the Luvien Empire,¡± Haze added.

    ¡°We need tangible benefits. Something more than mere ¡®expectations for what the Battle God has in store for the future.¡¯ If we can bring that to the table, then the Beyond the Heavens Empire will be able to usher in an unprecedented number of migrants.¡±

    Perhaps they could even usher in more than a million people.

    ¡°Aside from the advertisement video, what else can entice the novice yers to feel that it would be more beneficial for them to stay in the Beyond the Heavens Empire than the Luvien Empire.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s dishes? Or maybe Guardian God Obren? But all of these were temporary. Many people needed to see something more permanent that would benefit them long if they chose to stay in the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    <em>[You¡¯re non-stop chattering is annoying. You don¡¯t even have any awareness. You already have the answer to your problem.]</em>

    Then, at that moment, Obren¡¯s voice rang.

    A sh of confusion appeared on Minhyuk¡¯s face. The number of migrants that they wanted to entice to move to the Beyond the Heavens Empire was not in the thousands, so they needed something more concrete. But Obren was saying that Minhyuk already had something that would make them feel that it was more beneficial to stay and live in the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    <em>[Temple Evangel.]</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

    Among the tens of thousands of temples built worldwide, there was one temple and one alone that was considered mythical. This was the temple created by Kronad, Obren¡¯s friend and enemy. Evangel had the power to bestow buffs. It also can allow its master to choose ten Evangel Knights and give them buffs.

    However, although Minhyuk had Evangel in his possession, it was nothing more than an iplete temple. It could still bestow buffs, but its effect would remain only ten minutes. It could also only allow him to choose ten knights.

    These were the buff effects that Genie had received during that time:

    <em>[All of your skills and stats will change!]</em>

    <em>[Your HP and MP have increased by 50%!]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 39%!]</em>

    <em>[Your whip¡¯s striking power has increased by 60%!]</em>

    <em>[Your whip¡¯s skill damage has increased by 50%!]</em>

    <em>[You have received Evangel¡¯s Blessings. Attack and defense will increase by 40% when facing evil beings.]</em>

    <em>[The buff willst for one whole day.]</em>

    Even if Minhyuk looked back at it again, only one word could help him describe it. <em>Overpowered. </em>However, Evangel was iplete. And this power could only be given to ten people at most.

    ¡°Obren. Evangel can only give buffs to ten people at the most.¡±

    Its effects did not fit the purpose of what they were discussing right now. After all, they needed everyone migrating to their empire to see an impact. But then, Obren continued.

    <em>[Are you an idiot?]</em>

    <em>[The Evangel in your possession is the iplete Evangel.]</em>

    It was as Obren said. Minhyuk needed to reach Temple Level 7 for Evangel to bepleted. In other words, Minhyuk had to increase Evangel¡¯s level to seven.

    <em>[The power that you used and applied to the ten knights before is nothing but an iplete power. If you go beyond a certain level, there is a high chance that Evangel will be apletely different temple.]</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

    <em>[Kronad did anything and everything toplete Evangel. Did you think he would not spare those efforts just to create an Evangel that would give power to only ten people?]</em>

    Obren has the highest credibility among them. However, even his words were just mere spections.

    <em>¡®What if Evangel can bestow strength upon all who visited the temple¡­?¡¯</em>

    The chances of that were high.

    Haze, who was also listening to Obren, jumped to her feet. ¡°Your Majesty¡­! I¡¯ve devised a method to help us gain a huge sum of money!¡±

    Minhyuk immediately understood where Haze¡¯s thoughts were going. ¡°If everyone who visits the temple can receive a buff, then we can charge them with a certain amount of gold, no?¡±

    Hepletely agreed with her thoughts. The value of a temple, which could give buff as it was without the need to consume any materials or ingredients, was undoubtedly astronomical. And it was not that they could not convert that value to money. After all, they could just charge a certain amount of gold for all visitors since they could receive buffs, right?

    <em>¡®Many people will migrate to the Beyond the Heavens Empire to visit my temple.¡¯</em>

    However, there was one crucial factor.

    ¡°But Obren¡­ Evangel is still at Level 1.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Both Haze and Minhyuk turned sullen at that.

    Theplete Evangel would not be avable to them until it reached Temple Level 7. Since it was a mythical temple, it was only natural that its requirements would be difficult to achieve before it could be used. On top of that, there was no way for Minhyuk to increase Evangel¡¯s level. No, to be exact, that was just what Minhyuk was thinking.

    <em>[There¡¯s a high chance that you have already met Evangel¡¯s requirements.]</em>

    ¡°Huh?¡± Minhyuk hummed in confusion.

    Evangel¡¯s level was still currently at Level 1. That was what Minhyuk saw. But Obren was saying that he had met the requirements already.

    <em>[Come on, think for a minute. You haven¡¯t applied Evangel to any temple yet. Evangel does not have requirements to level up by itself. Why? Because you have to apply it to a temple under your name.]</em>

    Only at this moment did Minhyuk know how to increase Evangel¡¯s level. Evangel was not a stand-alone temple. It had to be applied to an existing temple. Only after applying Evangel to a temple would he be able to increase its level.

    It wasn¡¯t as if Minhyuk had never thought about this at all.

    <em>¡®Applying it to the Food God¡¯s temple would be a waste.¡¯</em>

    Of course, Minhyuk loved and cared deeply for the Food God¡¯s temple, or, in other words, Minhyuk¡¯s Religion. However, he was fully aware that the impact between the Battle God¡¯s Temple and the Food God¡¯s Temple was onpletely different levels. That was also the reason why he immediately ordered the construction of the Battle God¡¯s Temple right after he inherited the position.

    And from what Minhyuk had heard, the temple''s exterior was nearingpletion. So, after hearing Obren¡¯s words, Minhyuk immediately headed towards the ce where the Battle God¡¯s Temple was being built.

    ***

    Various noises shed in the Battle God¡¯s Temple while dust flew around as plenty of construction workers worked under Roadol''s leadership.

    Among these construction workers was Alvier, a builder who specialized in building temples. Alvier had built countless temples in this era. Rumor has it that numerous gods lined up so that he could build them a new temple. That was how big of a bigshot Alvier was in building temples.

    <em>¡®A Battle God in name alone, huh?¡¯</em>

    In fact, Alvier was hostile to Minhyuk because he had once built a memorial hall for Nerva.

    Surprisingly enough, all of the building materials that Alvier encountered woulde alive. These living and breathing materials would shake and vibrate when they met a superior master. The greater the reaction, the more influential the master.

    Alvier could never forget how the materials cried when Nerva first entered thepleted memorial hall. That was why Alvier only epted Nerva as the ¡°true Battle God.¡±

    In the end, he shook his head. <em>¡®I just need to get paid.¡¯</em>

    The construction of the temple would soon end. Minhyuk would have toplete the various items that symbolize Minhyuk, like statues and portraits, needed for the temple separately.

    <em>¡®This is quite a huge temple.¡¯</em>

    Alvier could confidently say that this was thergest, highest, and most beautiful temple he had ever built.

    <em>¡®I wonder when I can do it?¡¯</em>

    Alvier had already reached the transcendental level when it came to construction. However, there was just one wall that he could never go past to be even better. And the reason for that was simple.

    <em>¡®Because I haven¡¯t created a real and true god¡¯s temple.¡¯</em>

    A god who could be the master of the true temple¡ªa true temple that could house that true god. If he could make such a temple, then his level would definitely grow higher, and he would be able to make better temples.

    At that moment, the surroundings grew noisy. When Alvier turned to look at the direction from which the noise wasing, he saw Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor Minhyuk walking towards them.

    ¡°Uncle, when will the construction end?¡± Minhyuk greeted Roadol.

    ¡°I think we will finish by tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for responding to my call.¡± Minhyuk also greeted Alvier, who had juste out from the temple.

    ¡°It was nothing, Your Majesty,¡± Alvier greeted in return. However, he was sighing to himself.

    The man¡¯s fresh smile and polite way of speaking showed no sign of his dignity as an emperor. On the other hand, when Nerva first walked into the memorial hall that Alvier had built, he felt like a fierce and gigantic tiger had walked in and was left feeling numb all over.

    It was only when the construction workers took a break that Minhyuk slowly walked toward the temple. The construction workers were all watching him nervously. And Alvier? He was not that interested.

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll have to hurry and finish this so I can go and build the temple of the God of Love.¡¯</em>

    The thought just shed in Alvier¡¯s head.

    <em>Rumble¨C</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Alvier¡¯s body turned stiff. Everything happened so suddenly. One moment, everything was quiet, and the next, the temple was crying loudly in his ears. These cries were something that Alvier could only hear.

    The trees said¡­

    <em>[I will burrow deeper and be a more robust tree for him.]</em>

    The earth said¡­

    <em>[I will hold on to the bricks tightly and withstand any typhoons or cmities for him.]</em>

    The air said¡­

    <em>[I will breathe the cleanest and freshest air for him.]</em>

    The stones said¡­

    <em>[I am going to be stronger and sturdier so I can protect him.]</em>

    <em>Rumble¨C</em>

    Every single material would cry out with every step that he took. They were worshiping him. All of the materials used to build this temple were worshiping Minhyuk, the temple''s master and owner.

    Then, something surprising happened as Minhyuk continued to walk deeper into the temple.

    The trees stretched their branches and roots out and produced leaves and red roses that beautifully decorated various parts of the temple. One look at the soil revealed that it had grown highly fertile and rich. Even the stones shined and reflected light like the most precious of gems.

    All of the construction workers present were left in shock. Then, one of the workers murmured, ¡°The true god recognized by a temple¡­¡±

    That was right. Some legends had been passed on to the construction workers. And ording to those legends, a temple would change if it met its true master.

    Of course, Alvier¡¯s powers could also be said to have contributed to this.

    <em>¡®No. This is beyond what I can do.¡¯</em>

    Alvier¡¯s breathing became rough because of how shocked and amazed he was. All of the materials disyed a stronger reaction than when Nerva entered that memorial hall.

    However, the surprise was not yet over. The Beyond the Heavens Emperor stood inside the temple and said, ¡°Apply Evangel to the Battle God¡¯s Temple.¡±

 Chapter 990

    Chapter 990

    Minhyuk immediately ran to the site where they were building the Battle God¡¯s Temple when he heard what Obren said. These were the notifications that greeted him when he approached the temple:

    <em>[All of the materials used in the temple are worshiping you.]</em>

    <em>[The materials are genuinely happy to be able to be a part of a temple that serves your name.]</em>

    <em>[They will evolve to another level and go beyond superior materials.]</em>

    Then, something shocking happened. The air turned fresher and made the entire temple feel more pleasant. The trees¡¯ branches stretched on their own and covered the exterior of the temple with blooming flowers. Not only that, the stones that looked ordinary before suddenly grew shinier, sturdier, and stronger, making the Battle God¡¯s Temple more beautiful than before.

    <em>¡®Is this the Battle God¡¯s effect?¡¯</em>

    That was not the case at all. Minhyuk might not know, but the materials did not react like this because he was the Battle God. He had achieved tremendous growthpared to ordinary yers. He was even able to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Luvien Empire¡¯s emperor. Even if he wasn¡¯t the Battle God, his existence was well worth worshiping these materials.

    Of course, Minhyuk did not forget his original purpose once he entered the temple.

    <em>¡®Temple Evangel, the temple in myths.¡¯</em>He could only shudder at its enormous power despite only being in an iplete state.

    Minhyuk released a shaky breath as he attempted to apply Evangel to the Battle God¡¯s Temple.

    ¡°Apply Evangel to the Battle God¡¯s Temple.¡±

    Was Obren and Minhyuk¡¯s assumption true? He did not even need to wait for the answers; the notifications had already started to ring.

    <em>[Would you like to apply Evangel to the Battle God¡¯s Temple?]</em>

    <em>¡®Obren. You¡¯re really¡­¡¯ </em>

    He was Minhyuk''s dear and good friend.

    However, there was just something that he could not understand. ording to Obren, he probably had already achieved Temple Level 7 for Evangel. Was the reason why Evangel remained at Level 1 even though he had met all of the requirements because he had not applied it to a temple? That was quite weird, no?

    <em>¡®Well, we¡¯ll only know it if we try.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk agreed to apply Evangel.

    <em>[The temple from the myths responds to its master¡¯s calls.]</em>

    Immediately after that, a massive light pir fell from the sky. Alvier and the construction workers, who were waiting outside the temple, were left stunned.

    The Battle God¡¯s Temple had already be even more beautiful, but when the pir of light fell upon it, a bigger change began to take ce. Glittering diamonds appeared and decorated the walls of the temple, while golden water started to spew out of the unfinished fountain, and the trees started to turn white. Countless white flowers even appeared and covered Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    <em>Swoosh¨C</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s clothes changed into a white papal robe when the white flowers slowly disappeared. At the same time, a notification rang in his ears.

    <em>[Evangel observes the master of the temple.]</em>

    Minhyuk gulped dryly. Evangel was observing him to decide if he, who dared to own its temple, had the qualifications to do so.

    <em>[Evangel admires you and the power you possess.]</em>

    <em>[Evangel has leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[Evangel admires you and how you became the God at the Highest ce from the God at the Lowest ce.]</em>

    <em>[Evangel has leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[Evangel admires you and the gods under yourmand.]</em>

    <em>[Evangel has leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[Evangel¡¯s Level has reached Level 4.]</em>

    <em>[At Level 4, the amount of EXP that Evangel requires to level up will double.]</em>

    Minhyuk grew nervous when he heard the notifications stop for a moment. <em>¡®The amount of EXP needed will double?¡¯</em>

    Thankfully, the notifications began to ring once again.

    <em>[Evangel is both in shock and awe of you and your effort, passion, endurance, and patience.]</em>

    <em>[Evangel has leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[Evangel is both in shock and awe of you and the countless achievements that you have made.]</em>

    <em>[Evangel has leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[Evangel is both in shock and awe of you, the most miserable and pitiful god, who became the greatest god, the Battle God.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have met all of Unfinished Evangel¡¯s requirements for use.]</em>

    <em>[You can now use Evangel¡¯s power from this point on.]</em>

    Minhyuk shuddered. <em>¡®It is just as Obren said.¡¯</em>

    Evangel was not a temple that one could quickly raise the level of. First, Evangel¡¯s master had to have the qualifications and power topletely rule it.

    And Minhyuk, who checked Evangel¡¯s information, could not help but groan. <em>¡®It¡¯s abilities did not change.¡¯</em>

    In the first ce, the power that allowed Minhyuk to give buffs to ten knights was Level 7 Evangel¡¯s power.

    <em>¡®Unfinished Evangel.¡¯</em>

    This meant that Evangel was still not able to achieve its full potential. Perhaps it was just like Obren said. There was a chance that it could give anyone who entered the temple a buff, or maybe it would also change into something they hadpletely failed to predict.

    At that moment, another series of notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears again. It was as if it was saying that things were not yet over.

    <em>[Evangel is both in shock and in awe of you, who became the greatest god, the Battle God, despite being a mere human being.]</em>

    <em>[Evangel is very satisfied with the master that owns its temple.]</em>

    <em>[Evangel has leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[Unfinished Evangel has taken a step closer to reachingpletion.]</em>

    <em>[If youplete thest step, Unfinished Evangel will truly be the true andplete temple from the myths, Evangel.]</em>

    <em>[Unfinished Evangel¡¯s powers have started to change.]</em>

    <em>[You can now choose a total of 20 Evangel Knights.]</em>

    <em>[Evangel¡¯s buff abilities have decreased significantly.]</em>

    <em>[Evangel¡¯s buff duration has increased significantly.]</em>

    <em>[If a follower of your religion enters your temple, Evangel will grant them a 3% increase in attack and defensive power. The buff wouldst for an entire week.]</em>

    <em>[If a follower of your religion enters your temple, Evangel will grant them a 3% increase in EXP Acquisition Rate. The buff wouldst for an entire week.]</em>

    <em>[If a follower of your religion enters your temple, Evangel will grant them a 4% increase in abnormal status resistance. The buff wouldst for an entire week.]</em>

    <em>[Those who have been bestowed with Evangel¡¯s power will only be able to receive this power again after six months.]</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

    Minhyuk trembled fiercely. His followers would receive a 3% increase in attack power, defensive power, and EXP Acquisition Rate and a 4% increase in abnormal status resistance.

    <em>¡®This is a cheat.¡¯</em>

    Nothing would be more cheat-like than being able to bestow buffs to an unlimited number of people. Of course, that did not mean it would now be easier for them to attract other yers, especially if they could still find merits and benefits from different kingdoms and empires.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s still only at Level 8.¡¯</em>

    This point should not be overlooked. But there was one problem.

    ¡°How can I raise its level¡­?¡±

    Godly Editor Carron said this was the best time for them to release the Battle God¡¯s advertisement video to achieve the best effect. Considering the amount of time needed to produce the video and various other factors, Minhyuk only had at least one month to increase Evangel¡¯s level.

    However, even if he had the time, he did not have the method. Then, at that moment, someone approached Minhyuk, who was thinking about this problem. This man was Alvier, the one they hired from the outside with a huge sum of money.

    ¡°A temple that is more solid and sturdier than it is now, as well as outstanding statues and portraits of Your Majesty along with samples of all of the artifacts and items you use. These together will help you raise the temple until you reach thest level.¡±

    ¡°...?¡± Minhyuk looked at Alvier in surprise.

    Since he entered the temple, Minhyuk had heard the notifications about his increase in favor with the construction workers and builders. This was more prominent in the case of Alvier.

    Alvier was very thrilled. He quickly understood what this phenomenon meant. <em>¡®This temple¡­ this temple will be my masterpiece.¡¯</em>

    As someone who has been making temples for a long time, he could not help but be impressed. Of course, he had heard about Evangel, the temple in the myths.

    <em>¡®I never expected that there would be a god in this day and age who would receive the recognition of Evangel.¡¯</em>

    From what Alvier heard, Evangel would not even respond to some of the gods. At this moment, Alvier, who had always firmly believed that it should have been Nerva sitting in the throne of the Battle God, felt like this was the opportunity to change his mind and see if Minhyuk was indeed the true and genuine Battle God.

    Minhyuk¡¯s interest was piqued after listening to Alvier¡¯s words. ¡°Are you sure that I canplete Evangel with those items?¡±

    ¡°All items representing Your Majesty, the Battle God, will help the temple grow. However, all of these items should satisfy Evangel.¡±

    ¡°...I see, so it¡¯s almost impossible.¡±

    Minhyuk understood that the statues, portraits, artifact samples, and better exteriors should at least be God-grade or perhaps even higher. But was that even possible?

    No matter how outstanding a sculptor was, there was no way that they would be able to make a God-grade sculpture right away. It could even take them a year at the very least. And, of course, the same was true for the portraits and the artifacts.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m quite good at making God-grade dishes, but I can¡¯t say for sure about the others.¡¯</em>

    And it would even be ridiculous if he tried to do the sculpture and the portrait by himself, no?

    <em>¡®In the end, do I have to wait for a long time?¡¯</em>

    It could be possible if he set the due date to at least a year from now.

    <em>¡®But the Luvien Empire must have already settled down by then.¡¯</em>

    A bitter taste lingered in Minhyuk¡¯s mouth at the thought.

    At that moment, Alvier said, ¡°There is a way. There is someone in this world who can make outstanding sculptures, paint life-like portraits, and even duplicate the original artifact perfectly.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s ears perked up. <em>¡®Someone like that exists?¡¯</em>

    Then, Alvier finished his sentence. ¡°He is one of the Eight Pirs, Jack-of-all-Trades Rocado.¡±

    ¡°Eight Pirs?¡± Minhyuk was quite surprised.

    Although they knew some of the Eight Pirs, most were still hidden. The ones known to the world were Athenae, Obren, Kronad, and Helenia. Minhyuk had assumed that not all of the Eight Pirs longed for power and threatened many people''s lives, as in Athenae¡¯s case.

    ¡°From what I heard, he can do anything and everything rted to DEX, and make it better than anybody else. That¡¯s everything that I know about him.¡±

    The Eight Pirs Jack-of-all-Trades Rocado, a person hidden behind a veil. How did Alvier know about someone like him?

    <em>¡®He must have exhausted great efforts just to create a better temple.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk guessed that Alvier was the type who would find out about everything until the very end. However, there was no need for the man to disclose information like this to him, no?

    <em>¡®But why did he share this precious information with me?¡¯</em>

    But thanks to that, Minhyuk was now aware of the person hailed as the Jack-of-all-Trades among the Eight Pirs. The difference between knowing and not knowing was like the difference between heaven and earth.

    <em>¡®I have to gather information as fast as I can.¡¯</em>

    By the end of this, he would be able to obtain aplete Evangel and millions of migrants.

    ***

    Special yers Management Team.

    Team Leader Park Minggyu, monitoring Minhyuk, quizzed Lee Minhwa after a very long time. ¡°What kind of person is Jack-of-all-Trades Rocado?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s like the father of dexterity. Just like the Weapon Master, who is a master of all weapons, he is superior to any being regarding things rted to DEX.¡±

    Team Leader Park nodded. ¡°And what can yer Minhyuk gain from Rocado?¡±

    ¡°Rocado is one of the Eight Pirs. Aside from being able to obtain aplete Evangel, there is a chance that he would also receive something special. Something that is yet to be revealed in the world.¡±

    This was an important point to note. Rocado was the Father of Dexterity. What did that mean?

    ¡°He has a Pir¡¯s Ingredient, an item yet to be released to the world, in his hands.¡±

    That was right. The Pir¡¯s Ingredient was an ingredient that had the power to go beyond a God-grade or perhaps even an Absolute God-grade ingredient.

    Team Leader Park and Minhwa looked at each other. The expressions on their faces were hideous. Minggyu¡¯s face was twisted horribly, and Minhwa looked like she was crying andughing simultaneously.

    ¡°Hoho. yer Minhyuk will use the Seeds of Revolution on the Eight Pirs¡¯ Ingredient.¡±

    ¡°Then, do you know what we will do next?¡±

    Lee Minhwa knew precisely what they were about to do.

    ¡°We have to continue monitoring him.¡±

    That was right. Their overtime has just been confirmed.

    <em>¡®Please let me go home¡­¡¯ </em>A silent cry resounded in their heads.

 Chapter 991

    Chapter 991

    After asking Abel to find information about Jack-of-all-Trade Rocado, Minhyuk asked Obren, ¡°Obren, do you know anything about Jack-of-all-Trades Rocado?¡±

    Just like Rocado, Obren was also one of the Eight Pirs. On top of that, Obren had a vast and deep trove of knowledge. Then, Obren answered.

    <em>[I don¡¯t know the exact details either. But I know what Alvier was talking about. Rocado is superior to the God of cksmiths. He is also superior to the God of Cooking. Even his paintings looked like they were alive and moving.]</em>

    However, there was something strange.

    ¡°Why can¡¯t we find any of the things that he made in the world?¡±

    Of course, there was a high chance that the Athenae Operators would have made it hard for anyone to get to them since they were content that should not be released to the world yet. But these days, information about the Eight Pirs was being unraveled individually. But for some reason, there was still no information about any of the artifacts or items that Rocado had made.

    <em>[They¡¯re all hidden somewhere.]</em>

    Minhyuk nodded. Anyway, his doubts would be solved once he met the man. However, he could not help but worry.

    ¡°What if he¡¯s also like Helenia¡­?¡±If that was the case, then Minhyuk meeting the man would be simr to waking up a sleeping beast for no reason. But then, Obren snorted.

    <em>[I don¡¯t think that¡¯s the case at all. Just think about it. If he wanted to do that, he should have done so.]</em>

    As expected of Obren, his words were truly rational and credible. At that moment, a whisper from Abel came.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Abel</em></strong><em>: I found a trace.]</em>

    The difference between knowing and not knowing was indeed like the difference between heaven and earth. A clue immediately came out when they tried to find out about Jack-of-all-Trades Rocado.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Abel</em></strong><em>: God of Strength Herakel. He¡¯s known to be associated with Rocado.]</em>

    A god had a friendly rtionship with Rocado? When he heard this, Minhyuk thought things might work out more easily than he initially thought.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Minhyuk</em></strong><em>: If he¡¯s a god, there¡¯s a high chance he will cooperate with me since I¡¯m the Battle God, right? Hehe.]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Abel</em></strong><em>: Uhm¡­ I don¡¯t know about that. I don¡¯t think God of Strength Herakel will treat you amicably because you¡¯re the Battle God.]</em>

    The problem was Abel¡¯s reaction was not quite right. He reacted negatively to Minhyuk¡¯s words.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Abel</em></strong><em>: It¡¯s almost impossible to find information about Rocado from ordinary races like humans. But it was different with the gods. From what I have gathered, there seems to be quite a few among the gods who knew about Jack-of-all-Trades Rocado.]</em>

    It was possible. After all, the Land of the Gods was entirely separate from thend of humans. Perhaps Obren did not know much about Rocado because he had been slumbering for a very long time, or maybe because he was justpletely unaware.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Abel</em></strong><em>: ording to the information I gathered, quite a few gods had already visited Herakel so that they could meet Rocado.]</em>

    It was natural for the gods to visit Herakel after they obtained such information, which also proved how much they needed Rocado.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Abel</em></strong><em>: All of them had been beaten with a club and kicked out.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk was quite surprised. What kind of existence were the gods? They were omnipotent beings. But these gods were beaten with a club and kicked out by Herakel?

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Minhyuk</em></strong><em>: Is Herakel still alive?]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Abel</em></strong><em>: The gods were the ones toe and find Herakel and demand something from him first. And Herakel has never killed a god. I don¡¯t know, but maybe he¡¯s keeping them from meeting him.]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Minhyuk</em></strong><em>: Ah¡­]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Abel</em></strong><em>: Just keep one thing in mind.]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Abel</em></strong><em>: He¡¯s also called ¡®Mad Dog Herakel.¡¯]</em>

    ***

    In the ck Land located inside the Land of the Gods.

    The ck Land gained its moniker because everything from the soil to the trees was ck. The gods mostly forgot about thisnd. After all, there were no crops, and the sun did not shine upon it well.

    The God of Strength Herakel lived in a cave in the ck Land. Today, another god could be seen walking toward his residence. The god was none other than the God of Alcohol Edona.

    Rumors circted among a small number of people, including the gods, about how Herakel was closely associated with Jack-of-all-Trades Rocado.

    The God of Alcohol Edona wanted Rocado to craft an outstanding goblet, a goblet that could make the vor of any alcohol better and deeper. As for the rumors, Edona dismissed them. After all, they were far too ridiculous.

    <em>¡®A god can beat up another god with just a club?¡¯</em>

    It was bullshit. And even if a god was capable of doing that, the Battle God would not let them go. Edona firmly believed that it was nonsense.

    <em>¡®Lies. They are lies created by those who failed to get information and meet with Rocado.¡¯</em>

    Of course, Edona did note to visit empty-handed. He had brought a bottle of wine made by collecting drops for a thousand years.

    <em>¡®Millenium Wine.¡¯</em>

    Edonia wanted to trade his Millenium Wine for Rocado¡¯s services.

    As he continued walking, he saw the cave where Herakel was said to be residing.

    <em>¡®From what I heard, he has not left his cave for a very long time.¡¯</em>

    The thought shed in Edonia¡¯s head when he saw Herakel¡¯s figure, a figure he had only heard about,e out.

    <em>¡®It seems like they¡¯re lying.¡¯</em>

    Didn¡¯t they tell him that Herakel never went out of his cave? However, there was something that checked out with the information that he had heard before.

    <em>¡®An old and shabby club. Topless. Body filled with strong and tough muscles. Two meters tall.¡¯</em>

    Edona was sure this man was the Herakel he had only heard of from the rumors. A wide smile appeared on his face.

    ¡°You must be Herakel?¡±

    However, Herakel did not answer. He approached him one step at a time, looking like he had something urgent to do.

    From what Edona had heard, Herakel was just a Continental God. That was why he felt pretty offended at the fact that the man had ignored him. However, he stamped down the irritation and raised the bottle of wine in his hand while saying, ¡°This is a bottle of wine made from drops of wine for a thousand years. If youe with me¡­¡±

    Herakel remained silent and just continued on his way.

    <em>Grab¨C</em>

    But just when he was about to pass by Edona, Edona grabbed his arm and said, ¡°How about a talk, hmm? I¡¯ll give you this drink. Let¡¯s have a drink and talk about the man named Rocado.¡±

    ¡°Rocado.¡±

    Edona realized that something was off. When Herakel heard ¡°Rocado,¡± his eyes immediately turned red. Then, Herakel asked, ¡°Do you know Gaerna¡¯s Life Elixir? The elixir that can save even the gods?¡±

    <em>¡®Gaerna¡¯s Life Elixir?¡¯</em>

    Of course, Edona knew about it. One of the Six Monster Gods, Gaerna, possessed an elixir. And from what he knew, Gaerna¡¯s Life Elixir had been obtained by the next generation Battle God.

    At that moment, Edona found something strange. <em>¡®But why is he looking for a life elixir? Wait¡­¡¯</em>

    Herakel was the closest being to Rocado. When he heard Rocado¡¯s name, his eyes turned red, and he looked like he was about to shed tears.

    <em>¡®And from what I heard, Herakel iscking in the head.¡¯</em>

    The God of Strength, powerful enough to destroy a mountain, might be strong and powerful, but he was pretty dim-witted. However, Edona knew that Gaerna¡¯s Life Elixir could not save him from that.

    <em>¡®Is Rocado going to die soon?¡¯</em>

    Edona could not help but think so. Just like humans, gods were also filled with greed. At this moment, Edona thought he had to get his outstanding <em>goblet.</em> Rocado had to make one for him.

    <em>¡®Even if he¡¯s dying, he has to make me one before he dies!¡¯</em>

    ¡°Hoho. I don''t know about that elixir, but maybe he will get better if he gets a taste of my alcohol.¡±

    ¡°Liar. The only thing that can save a dying person is Gaerna¡¯s Life Elixir.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    The man immediately caught Edona¡¯s lies he thought was a fool. Realizing that the dim-witted Herakel had caught his lies, Edona could not help but grow angry.

    ¡°Bastard! How dare you! Do you not know who I am?! You¡¯re nothing but a mere Continental God! Bring me to where Rocado is right now!¡±

    Edona crossed a line that he should not have crossed at all. Looking deeper into Herakel¡¯s words, one would realize that Edona was already in danger. The problem was he made it worse by demanding that the man take him to where Rocado was because of his greed. In other words, Edona did not care about whatever happened to Rocado afterward as long as he got his goblet.

    At that moment, Edona saw Herakel raise the club in his hand. Then, he heard the man say, ¡°My club. Endure eight blows.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°If you endure eight times, you can beat me eight times in return. And Rocado¡¯s location. I will tell you.¡±

    <em>Thud!!!</em>

    Edona felt that his surroundings were spinning after the club struck him. The most important part to note here was that he received tremendous damage despite it being only a simple swing of the club. After all, he should know that there was no indication that Herakel had used any skill or divine power when he swung it toward him.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°One.¡±

    <em>Fwooooosh¨C</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Two.¡±

    ¡°S¨C Stop! I don¡¯t want to know! STOP!!!¡±

    He had only been hit twice, but Edona felt like all of the bones in his body had been broken. He thought that he might die if the third hit came down upon him.

    <em>¡®No. I think I will die.¡¯</em>

    Gods could live forever. But that was only because they no longer aged. It would be different if they received physical damage.

    Herakel just passed by the gasping Edona, who had copsed on the ground, while muttering, ¡°Gaerna¡¯s¡­ Life Elixir¡­ Must find.¡±

    Edona felt his anger rise as he watched Herakel¡¯s gradually departing back. Contrary to the rumors, Herakel had left his cave and was heading toward where the gods lived.

    Edona continued to stare at Herakel¡¯s figure. At this moment, he thought this man would be a massive threat to the Land of the Gods. He thought, <em>¡®You f*cking bastard. The Battle God will punish you.¡¯</em>

    Then, Edona turned into a sh of light and disappeared.

    ***

    Minhyuk had already finished all the preparations he needed to go to the Land of the Gods long ago.

    ¡°The Battle God¡¯s advertisement video will be finished in two weeks. If it is truly as Your Majesty says, and we canplete Evangel with your statues, portraits, artifact samples, and the like, we can create a synergistic effect with the video.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded. There was a smile on his face as he prepared to leave.

    <em>¡®Since Rocado is like the father of dexterity, he would have excellent cooking ingredients with him, right?¡¯</em>

    If the Special yers Management Team members had known what Minhyuk was thinking about, they would have probably screamed, <em>¡®Please let us go home!¡¯</em> at him.

    Just as he was about to leave, a sudden notification appeared before Minhyuk.

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[The </em><strong><em>Sudden Quest</em></strong><em>: Herakel¡¯s Tyranny has been created.]</em>

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Sudden Quest</em></strong><em>: Herakel¡¯s Tyranny.]</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: SSS</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: Battle God</em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: An increase in your favor with the gods.</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Failure</em></strong><em>: A decrease in your favor with the gods.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: God of Strength Herakel is rampaging in the Land of the Gods. Herakel, with his skin as tough as a dragon¡¯s scale, is as strong as a bull. He possesses a power that can break mountains and stop even the gods. As the next generation Battle God, prove your qualifications by stopping Herakel¡¯s so-called tyranny.</em>

    Minhyuk could not help but look puzzled after checking the contents of the quest. A quest about Herakel, whom Minhyuk would find, suddenly came to him. However, there was one crucial point written in the quest.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s going on a rampage?¡¯</em>

    How much ruckus was he making for this notification to appear before Minhyuk? And from what he could infer from the notifications, he could already assume what would happen.

    ¡°Herakel will die soon.¡±

    Of course, Minhyuk still did not know what the quest wanted from him.

    Minhyuk, unaware of the exact situation, immediately warped to the Land of the Gods.

 Chapter 992

    Chapter 992

    The Land of the Gods was home to the gods and ordinary people. The ordinary people living in the Land of the Gods were called the celestial dwellers, while the troops protecting them were the Heavenly Army.

    Each of the gods was considered the founder and father of their field of expertise. But that did not mean that the gods were the only ones who could be the fathers of their fields; there were also others.

    They were none other than the Heavenly Captains. They weren¡¯t gods or beings that were exceptional in one field. Although they were not inferior to the gods, they weren¡¯t specialized in anything like the <em>Sword God</em>.

    Most of them belonged to the Heavenly Army and had polished and trained themselves in using various weapons until they were recognized and given the title of Heavenly Captain.

    There were ten Heavenly Captains in total. And Fifth, Captain Rox had heard from the God of Wine that Mad Dog Herakel wasing to the Land of the Gods and would be a massive threat to them.

    <em>¡®Why is Herakel, who had been hiding for a long time,ing out into the world?¡¯</em>

    Rox did not know who Herakel was until now. However, he had heard the story from Edona.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s the God of Strength and a mad dog.¡¯</em>

    Even so, Rox was not afraid. <em>¡®Most of the gods he beat went to find him alone.¡¯</em>The Heavenly Captains were not weak. They were not inferior to any of the gods. Besides, Rox had already formed a defensive line with tens of thousands of well-trained Heavenly Soldiers facing the direction where the said mad dog would being from. And that was not all. These long lines of shieldbearers, which could rival the Great Wall of China, were the ¡°Iron Shield¡± raised and nurtured by the God of Shields himself.

    <em>¡®Once they stop Herakel, we will catch him and take him to the Battle God.¡¯</em>

    Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>Thud¨C</em>

    Rox looked confused. Why? The ground shook and trembled as if they had been hit by an earthquake. The sudden vibration that spread from their feet even broke out among the Heavenly Army.

    <em>Thud¨C</em>

    Themotion grew louder as the shaking and vibrations grew shorter and more intense.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud¨C!</em>

    <em>¡®It feels like it''s getting closer?¡¯</em>

    The source of the vibrations, which felt like it started from a distance, was approaching them at a tremendous speed. Rox, whose vision was several times better than a human¡¯s own vision, could catch sight of the source of the vibrations.

    <em>¡®God?¡¯</em>

    Rox was left shocked when he saw a topless, muscr man running at them at full speed.

    <em>¡®Shit. You¡¯re telling me that these vibrations are caused by running?¡¯</em>

    He immediately understood that the man was no ordinary god.

    <em>¡®Is he one of the Six Monster Gods?¡¯</em>

    Rox felt like he was facing one of the objects of fear, even for the gods.

    It did not take Herakel too long to reach their vicinity. The Heavenly Army looked terrified as they stared at the muscr god, while Rox was left flustered. However, Herakel, who had been running like crazy just a few moments earlier, stopped right before their defense line.

    ¡°<em>Haa¡­ Haa¡­</em> Gaerna¡¯s Life Elixir. Need. <em>Haaa¡­ Haaa¡­</em> I need¡­¡±

    But then¡­

    <em>Boom!</em>

    An arrow shot straight toward Herakel¡¯s chest. It was an arrow shot by the frightened Rox to get the upper hand for the battle toe. The Heavenly Captains were well-versed in all weapons. That was why he was pretty confident with this shot. However, something very shocking happened.

    <em>Ping¨C!</em>

    The arrow that shot straight toward Herakel¡¯s chest fell feebly on the ground as if it had hit iron. Then, Herakel grabbed his club when the arrow made contact with his chest.

    ¡°This¨C This monster¡­!¡± Rox was appalled.

    Rox¡¯s arrow might not reach the level of the God of Archery, but there was no denying the tremendous prative force hidden within that shot. The problem was that it did not even scratch Herakel¡¯s skin.

    ¡°Me¡­ Gaerna¡¯s Life¡­¡±

    ¡°Push him back! We have to stop him somehow! We must not let a monster like that enter the Land of the Gods!¡±

    The Heavenly Soldiers sent thousands of arrows and magical attacks toward Herakel. When the thick cloud of dust, which was kicked up by the countless explosions, settled down, Herakel¡¯s face had grown ugly, and his hold on his club had tightened. The shocked Rox looked at Herakel with wide eyes as he took one strong and mighty step forward.

    <em>Thuuuuuud¨C</em>

    Then, Herakel started to run fiercely and swing his club at the soldiers of the Iron Shield.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s just a club¡­!¡¯</em> But Rox was unable to finish the thought in his head.

    <em>Boom!!!</em>

    When Herakel¡¯s club collided with the defense line, a loud sound echoed, and several shield soldiers were sent flying away.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaack!¡±

    And just like an angry bull, Herakel began to swing his club like crazy. Shockingly enough, every swing of Herakel¡¯s club would send dozens of Heavenly Soldiers flying away. A single attack had left them all incapacitated, unable to fight with their bones broken.

    ¡°Eight times. Endure¡­ me, club eight times. Rocado¡­ Me, tell you where.¡±

    <em>Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh¨C!</em>

    Rox was left stunned by the unimaginable disy of force before him. This was the first time that he had seen someone like this. Everyone felt like thousands of tons of weight were striking them with every swing of his club while their opponent remained unscathed with his skin that looked harder than a dragon¡¯s scale.

    <em>¡®What the hell is he talking about? What will he tell us if we endure eight of his hits?¡¯</em>

    Herakel had been spewing strange words with every swing of his club. But Rox ignored his words and shot forward. He shed Herakel¡¯s chest with his sword.

    <em>Spurt¨C!</em>

    The sh was shallow. However, blood spurted out from Herakel¡¯s chest. At that moment, Herakel, gritting his teeth, looked at Rox indifferently and spoke nonchntly, ¡°My club. Endure eight times.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    <em>Thud¨C</em>

    Rox was confident he would notg behind any gods regardingbat techniques. But when that club swung and made contact with him, he felt his life sh before his eyes with how heavy the impact was.

    ¡°Keheoook?!¡±

    <em>Thud¨C</em>

    ¡°Ahaaaaack!¡±

    The impact from the club easily tore apart the full te armor covering Rox¡¯s body.

    ¡°Three. Four.¡±

    <em>Thud¨C!</em>

    <em>Thud¨C!</em>

    Rox could not return to his senses. He felt like he would die if he continued to get beaten up. Only at this moment did he realize that the power and strength that Herakel¡¯s possessed was hefty and could almost be considered out of this world.

    ¡°S¨C Stooooop!¡±

    Herakel stopped when he heard Rox¡¯s roar. He just left behind Rox sprawled on the ground like that and pounced on the Heavenly Soldiersing his way. After knocking them all out, he caused the ground to shake and vibrate as he ran again.

    ¡°Haa¡­ Haa¡­¡±

    Rox finally returned to his senses and realized that the situation was far worse than he had thought it to be.

    <em>¡®Are you saying that a monster like that ising to the Land of the Gods?¡¯</em>

    If that were indeed the case, then it would be a disaster.

    ¡°Report the current status and the damages received.¡±

    ¡°35,000 soldiers are suffering from broken bones and five with serious injuries. There are no deaths.¡±

    Rox frowned when he heard the report. <em>¡®We¡¯ve been hit and beaten by a club so severely, yet there are no deaths?¡¯</em>

    <em>Maybe we¡¯re lucky? </em>This thought shed in Rox¡¯s mind as he gave his orders. ¡°Report to the Battle God. The entire Heavenly Army is now in a state of emergency! Summon all of the Heavenly Captains!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    ***

    The gods knelt in front of the Battle God and gave their reports.

    ¡°Battle God, Herakel is going on a rampage.¡±

    ¡°More than tens of thousands of our Heavenly Soldiers, including Heavenly Captain Rox, had been injured.¡±

    ¡°As of now, Herakel is said to be heading toward this ce.¡±

    ¡°Please give an immediate judgment and give us your orders.¡±

    ¡°If we dy any further, we will receive more damage.¡±

    The Battle God looked solemnly at the reporting gods. He had sent Rox upon hearing the report of the God of Alcohol. But it seemed like it was still not enough.

    When the Battle God hesitated, one of the gods asked, ¡°Why are you hesitating, Battle God? That bastard is threatening the peace of the Land of the Gods and is going on a rampage for no reason at all!¡±

    The Battle God had heard many stories about Herakel. Herakel was the only one who knew where Rocado was. Because of that, many gods sought him out. However, they were all beaten like dogs and kicked out without gaining anything. They even called him ¡°Mad Dog¡± because he would go crazy and beat the gods with his club. Even so, the Battle God had never ordered to kill Herakel.

    <em>¡®This is because they were the ones who went to find him themselves. They are only paying the price for what they have done.¡¯</em>

    Also, none of the gods who had been beaten by Herakel had died. But now, the situation has changed. It was not just one or two gods but more than tens of thousands of Heavenly Soldiers who had suffered from Herakel. If they did not stop him now, then hundreds of thousands might suffer injuries.

    But did he have to go out to deal with this matter? The situation was far too trivial for the Battle God, who was swamped with work, toe out personally. If all of the Heavenly Captains move, then it was likely possible for them to deal with the situation. The most important thing here was to kill Herakel quickly and minimize the damage they would receive.

    <em>¡®I don¡¯t know the exact reason, but Herakel had caused huge damage to the Land of the Gods.¡¯</em>

    This fact would remain unchanged.

    The Battle God managed almost everything in the Land of the Gods and was responsible for epting or rejecting various tasks and orders daily.

    As the one in charge, he ordered, ¡°You have the permission to kill.¡±

    ¡°We have received your order!¡±

    ¡°We have received your order!¡±

    As the Battle God watched the gods retreat, he was reminded of Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®If that guy ys an active role here, then he might be able to receive the support of many gods in the Land of the Gods.¡¯</em>

    So, he called for Minhyuk.

    ***

    All of the Heavenly Captains, except Rox, gathered in one ce together with 100,000 elite troops of the Heavenly Army. They were all waiting for Herakel toe.

    ¡°The Battle God has given hismand! We have permission to kill Herakel!¡±

    ¡°As soon as he enters our vision, unleash an attack on him!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    The difference between being allowed to kill and not being allowed to kill was immense. After all, if they had permission to kill, they could use all of their strength.

    The First Heavenly Captain, Carrack, led the entire Heavenly Army and all of the other Heavenly Captains. Carrack, with his exceptional sight, caught sight of Herakel¡¯s figure. They did not even say anything to stop him or keep him in check.

    ¡°Kill Herakel and stop him from disturbing the Land of the Gods!¡±

    Tens of thousands of arrows and magical attacks rained down upon Herakel¡¯s charging figure, creating explosions that caused a thick cloud of dust to rise. Meanwhile, the Heavenly Captains remained vignt as they looked at Herakel. Then, at that moment, they saw Herakel leap to the skies.

    Herakel mmed his club on the ground the moment hended among the ranks of the soldiers of the Heavenly Army.

    <em>Crack¨C!</em>

    The ground shook and trembled as cracks appeared. mming the club on the ground caused such damage. It was a tremendous yet mysterious force, one that none of them had ever heard of or witnessed before.

    <em>¡®As expected. That bastard has to die right here and now.¡¯</em>

    ¡°All of the Heavenly Captains wille with me.¡±

    The elite of the Heavenly Army were rendered helpless, unable to keep up with Herakel¡¯s pace and tremendous force. They simply copsed and fell without even putting up a fight.

    The Third Heavenly Captain, skilled with the bow, sent arrows that stabbed deeply into Herakel¡¯s thick, sturdy skin. However, the attack did not stop Herakel at all.

    ¡°My club. Eight times¡­!¡± Herakel continued to shout strange words as he trampled on the soldiers of the Heavenly Army.

    The Second Heavenly Captain moved as swift as lightning and cut Herakel down with the sword. The Second Heavenly Captain smirked when he saw the blood spurting out of Herakel¡¯s body. However, a sh of doubt appeared on his face when he felt Herakel¡¯s hand grab him by the back. The action broke his bnce and forced him to fall backward.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    What the fallen Heavenly Captain saw right in front of his eyes was none other than a club.

    ¡°Eight times! Endure!¡±

    <em>Bang! Bang! Bang!</em>

    The Second Heavenly Captain¡¯s bones breaking rang loudly with every hit. The soldiers of the Heavenly Army did not dare toe close after hearing the gut-wrenching screams of the Second Heavenly Captain echoing on the battlefield.

    By the fourth hit, the Second Heavenly Captain shouted, ¡°Please stop! Sp¨C Spare me!¡±

    In the end, the Second Heavenly Captain could only endure five hits. The moment Herakel threw the Second Heavenly Captain away, the Third Heavenly Captain rushed forward and stabbed him with his spear on his abdomen.

    <em>Stab¨C!</em>

    The Third Heavenly Captain pulled out his spear and stabbed him dozens of times. ¡°Enough! Die!¡±

    ¡°Rocado¡­ Gaerna¡¯s Life Elixir¡­ Need¡­¡± Herakel said, his words sounding nonsensical to the ears of everyone present. However, despite his body being riddled with holes and bleeding all over, he just grabbed the spear that was stuck on the right of his chest and snapped it with his overwhelming strength.

    <em>Snap¨C!</em>

    Then, he beat the enemy in front of him once more. This time, the Heavenly Captain could only endure four times.

    ¡°I¨C I understand! Stop!¡±

    Carrack could only watch as the monster overwhelmed them. Even the Heavenly Soldiers could no longer reach him.

    <em>¡®Is¨C Is he really a monster?!¡¯</em>

    Right now, Herakel looked utterly hideous. He had dozens of arrows stuck in his body, and his skin was charred ck by the explosion caused by the magical attacks that rained down on him. But it wasn¡¯t just that. Blood was dripping down his body, which was riddled with holes, while a broken spear was lodged on the right side of his chest.

    The Fourth Heavenly Captain struck Herakel¡¯s head with an iron mace.

    <em>Bang!</em>

    Herakel, who received the heavy blow, staggered on his feet. While the reeling Herakel tried to correct his bnce, the Fourth Heavenly Captain took the opportunity to hit him with his iron mace.

    ¡°Please, I beg you. Just die!¡±

    <em>m! m! m!</em>

    Despite the blood covering his entire body, Herakel remained standing. He quickly caught the Fourth Heavenly Captain¡¯s iron mace and started to beat him with his club.

    ¡°Keuaaack! Aaack! Aaaaaaaaaaack!¡± The Fourth Heavenly Captain¡¯s screams echoed loudly on the battlefield.

    Seeing this, the other Heavenly Captains could not help but step back.

    <em>¡®What the hell¡­¡¯</em>

    Herakel was already teetering on the edge of life and death. It wouldn¡¯t be strange if he died right away. Everyone looking at him felt like they were looking at something grotesque, especially with his head almost broken and bleeding non-stop.

    <em>Thud, thud¨C!</em>

    The First Heavenly Captain gathered his courage and attacked the bleeding Herakel. He swung his sword and cut through Herakel¡¯s body dozens of times. Even the Heavenly Soldiers mustered all the courage left in their bodies as they raised their spears, shot their arrows, and bombarded him with their magic.

    But the reeling Herakel continued to stand. Ultimately, he grabbed the First Heavenly Captain by the neck and said, ¡°Me¡­ did¡­ nothing¡­¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°Me only need Gaerna¡¯s Life Elixir.¡±

    ¡°What¡­¡±

    ¡°You¡­ first¡­ attacked¡­¡±

    But the terrified Carrack could no longer hear or understand the words that he was saying.

    ¡°U¨C Uwaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Herakel¡¯s club mmed straight into the head of the screaming First Heavenly Captain.

    <em>Thud!</em>

    Herakel chased after the reeling Carrack and hit him with his club again.

    <em>Thud!</em>

    ¡°N¨C No¡­!¡±

    ¡°Sir Carrack!¡±

    Herakel¡¯s strength was far too unexpected. It even exceeded the Battle God¡¯s expectations. Or was it only because he was already going berserk because he was already on the brink of death? Was this why he was given the moniker of ¡°Crazy Dog¡±?

    Herakel raised his club toward the fallen Carrack. ¡°Eight times. Endure.¡±

    <em>Vwoooooooong¨C</em>

    Carrack closed his eyes when he saw the whizzing club toward him.

    <em>Thud¨C</em>

    The dull sound of the club hitting something rang loudly. However, Carrack could tell that he could not reach his damage.

    <em>¡®Did he miss?¡¯</em>

    It was not impossible. After all, he was already on the brink of death. But what was that terrible sound that rang in his ears?

    When Carrack opened his eyes, he saw a man wearing a silver full-te armor with a cape carrying the symbol of a fork and knife crossed together, standing with his back to him. The man faced Herakel, his blood flowing down from the club that directly hit him on the head.

    ¡°Ba¨C Battle God?¡±

    It was none other than the next generation of Battle God, Minhyuk. He looked at Herakel and said, ¡°That eight times, I will endure it.¡±

 Chapter 993

    Chapter 993

    Special yers Management Team.

    President Kang Taehoon, along with the team members, all stared at the monitor. They saw the blood dripping down Minhyuk¡¯s head after he received Herakel¡¯s attack in Carrack¡¯s ce.

    ¡°How¡¯s Herakel?¡±

    ¡°Looking at his HP, he will probably die if yer Minhyuk began to attack him right there and then.¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± President Kang Taehoon groaned.

    Herakel was the one closest to Rocado. However, Herakel was also the one with the most straightforward and purest soul among all the gods.

    ¡°If Herakel dies here, no yer can find a clue about Rocado¡¯s whereabouts. Then, everything will just disappear.¡±

    Indeed, it was just as Kang Taehoon said. Only Herakel knew the way to reach Rocado. If Minhyuk killed Herakel here, then that method would disappear. And Rocado was not a god. He would soon die.

    <em>¡®This is his final opportunity.¡¯</em>This was Minhyuk¡¯sst chance to meet Rocado.

    At that moment, Lee Minhwa said, ¡°But don¡¯t you think it¡¯s a bit weird?¡±

    President Kang and Team Leader Park turned to look at Lee Minhwa with doubts on their faces.

    ¡°I¡¯m talking about yer Minhyuk. I don¡¯t understand why he allowed the attack tond on him.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Both Taehoon and Minggyu looked like they finally realized what Minhwa was trying to say. It was true. It would have been more efficient for yer Minhyuk to attack Herakel than to allow the gigantic man to attack him. But Minhyuk willingly allowed him tond an attack on his head.

    ¡°And he even said that he would endure all eight of his attacks.¡±

    yer Minhyuk did not need to endure eight of Herakel¡¯s attacks. But yer Minhyuk said that he would receive the attacks himself.

    The puzzled Lee Minhwa made an assumption and said, ¡°None of the gods or the Heavenly Captains have endured more than five of Herakel¡¯s attacks. Do you think yer Minhyuk is trying to show off his strength to the other gods by enduring more than five of Herakel¡¯s attacks?¡±

    The assumption sounded credible. However, none of them knew if that was the correct answer.

    <em>¡®yer Minhyuk will use that method to get the recognition of the gods?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®But the things that he would obtain from the gods would not be too big even if he got beaten up in front of them, no? Even if it were yer Minhyuk, he would be forced to log out if he tried to endure eight of those attacks,¡¯</em> President Kang Taehoon thought while he looked at the monitor.

    <em>¡®I don¡¯t know what he¡¯s trying to do or how he would solve this situation.¡¯</em>

    From what President Kang could see, the only oue for Herakel was <em>death.</em> After all, in the Battle God had already given his judgment and had given the order to kill.

    <em>¡®We have to see how things will go.¡¯</em> President Kang Taehoon stared at the monitor.

    ***

    ¡°Ba¨C Battle God!¡±

    Amotion broke out among Carrack and the rest of the soldiers of the Heavenly Army. This was because the next generation Battle God allowed Herakel¡¯s attack tond on his head on behalf of Carrack.

    Minhyuk, who appeared in the middle of the battlefield, had been watching the situation before.

    ¡°Eight times. You, endure?¡± Herakel gasped as he looked at Minhyuk.

    The God of Magic, the God of Shields, the God of Archery, and several other gods began to appear. They immediately rushed to the battlefield after hearing that Herakel was more ferocious and vicious than they had heard and that the next generation Battle God, Minhyuk, would participate in the battle himself. However, they could not help but be confused with the scene before them.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. I¡¯ll endure it. There¡¯s seven left.¡±

    That was what Minhyuk said when he blocked Herakel¡¯s path.

    But from what the Heavenly Captains and the newly arrived gods could see, Minhyuk could easily kill Herakel with his power alone. That was why they could not understand why he said that he would willingly allow the god to attack him seven more times.

    ¡°Battle God, if weunch a full-scale attack now, then¡­¡±

    ¡°All of you, back down.¡±

    Carrack and the other gods looked doubtfully at Minhyuk when they heard the threat in his voice.

    The God of Archery, watching everything from a distance, raised his eyebrows. ¡°Is he trying to show off his strength by enduring all of Herakel¡¯s beatings, something that no one has ever done before?¡±

    The God of Shields looked at the scene in interest. ¡°That would prove it. But has he never thought of losing?¡±

    He might be able to prove his strength, but he would also show others how he got beaten up by Herakel.

    ¡°It seems like the next generation Battle God is much more reckless than we thought.¡± The God of Shields clicked his tongue.

    There was no way that Minhyuk could win the hearts of the gods of the Land of the Gods with that method. However, Minhyuk was firm in his decision.

    ¡°Endure eight. After enduring¡­ hit me eight times. If you knock me down, Rocado. Me, tell you where.¡± Herakel grabbed his club tightly and swung at Minhyuk with all his strength.

    <em>Thud¨C!</em>

    A loud sound rang with one swing of Herakel¡¯s club. Minhyuk, who received the attack, was pushed back significantly.

    <em>[Your HP has fallen below 75%.]</em>

    <em>[The impact from the attack has left you in a daze.]</em>

    <em>[You will feel light-headed.]</em>

    When the club hit him, Minhyuk felt like all of his bones were about to break. The worst part? The attack on his head reduced his HP by 15%.

    Of course, the damage was significant because Minhyuk was hit in the head. However, the most critical factor was that this was Herakel¡¯s ¡°basic attack.¡± However, one had to know that he received the second attack while still wearing the Transcendental¡¯s Armor, which is defensive equipment with tremendous defensive power. The portion of the Transcendental¡¯s Armor that received the second attack was dented, broken, and hollowed out.

    ¡°Three.¡±

    <em>Boom!!!</em>

    Minhyuk could no longer withstand the next swing of Herakel¡¯s club. The attack had sent him flying away.

    <em>[Your HP has fallen below 66%.]</em>

    <em>[The bones in your right arm have been fractured. Movement will be difficult.]</em>

    ¡°Kghhk!¡±

    ¡°Battle God!¡±

    ¡°As expected, we have to¡­!¡±

    ¡°No matter what happens, don¡¯t move!¡±

    Carrack tried to order the other Heavenly Captains to attack, but Minhyuk stopped them once again. Carrack, the other Heavenly Captains, and the soldiers of the Heavenly Army truly could not understand what was going on, and they were also surprised.

    <em>¡®He received three hits, but he¡¯s still standing?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®That¡¯s crazy. The other Heavenly Captains all fell on the ground screaming by the third hit.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®And that¡¯s not all; they had all turned dizzy while they screamed in pain.¡¯</em>

    Was this the person who would inherit the throne of the Battle God?

    The Second Heavenly Captain, who had recovered after some time and was being supported by one of the soldiers of the Heavenly Army, looked at Carrack and said, ¡°No one will be able to handle that from the fifth hit. By then, all of the bones in his body would be broken. But that¡¯s not the problem; gut-wrenching pain would wrap around his body. And the worst part, the eight hits that Herakel was talking about? It does not include any of his special skills and attributes.¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Carrack groaned.

    The Second Heavenly Captain looked at them in confusion. ¡°But the next generation Battle God¡­ Doesn¡¯t he have skills that allow him to ignore skills, attacks, or any other force do any damage to him for five seconds?¡±

    He was referring to Minhyuk¡¯s ¡°Absolute Defense.¡± If he activated that power, the conditions for it to be triggered would be met once Herakel attacked him.

    <em>¡®I have no idea what he¡¯s thinking.¡¯</em>

    Then, Herakel¡¯s clubnded on Minhyuk¡¯s shoulder.

    ¡°Four.¡±

    ¡°Kghhk!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s feet dug deeper into the ground that he was standing on. One look and anyone could tell that the bones on his shoulder were broken. Not only that, his HP has fallen below 50%.

    <em>¡®Fortunately, the total volume of my HP has increased greatly after eating the Oppression¡¯s Beef Grilling Set.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk received a significant boost in his stats and HP after he ate the Oppression¡¯s Beef Grilling Set. His HP would have fallen below 35% if it hadn''t been for that.

    At that moment, they saw Herakel tighten his grip on his club.

    <em>¡®From now on, it¡¯s the real deal.¡¯</em>

    Cold sweat started to drip down Minhyuk¡¯s back.

    ***

    Herakel was in a hurry.

    <em>¡®Gaerna¡¯s Life Elixir¡­ Rocado¡­ Must save¡­¡¯</em>

    That was why he went out into the world for the first time in his life. Herakel just needed help. But the person who handed over a bottle to him stopped him because of his greed. It was as if that person did not care whether Rocado died or not as long as he got what he needed.

    So, Herakel beat him up just like <em>she</em> said. Then, he ran¡ªto save Rocado. At that moment, unknown people appeared and blocked his path. Herakel ran toward them while thinking, <em>¡®Help. Help Rocado.¡¯</em>

    Herakel was just running, but they shot him in the chest with an arrow. But that was only the beginning. They even sent thousands of arrows and magical attacks at him.

    <em>¡®If they hit me, then¡­ Herakel should not put up with it. Rocado said, Herakel protect myself.¡¯</em>

    So, Herakel did not endure and fought back. He did not have much time and had to rush, yet they hurt him for no reason at all.

    He knocked down everyone blocking his path and continued to run. But others appeared to block his path again. This time, powerful gods joined the fray to stop him. He told them.

    <em>Gaerna¡¯s Life Elixir. </em>

    <em>Rocado.</em>

    He was crying out to them to save Rocado. But no one listened to Herakel. All they did was try to kill him. Herakel knew that he did not have much time left to dilly-dally. He had to get his hands on the life elixir somehow and save <em>him</em>. That was why he fought with everything that he had. Herakel knew that he wascking when it came to his brain. The only thing that he had was his sturdy body. So, he fought with this strong and sturdy body of his.

    His head was throbbing from being hit by the iron mace. The arrows lodged deeply all over his body were tormenting him. He even felt like he was going to topple over from the spear that was stabbed deeply in his chest. But he had to continue forward.

    <em>¡®Help¡­ Need¡­¡¯</em>

    But they continued to attack Herakel for no reason.

    Then, a strange man appeared in front of Herakel. He said that he would endure all eight of Herakel¡¯s attacks. Until this moment, no one in the entire world could endure more than five of Herakel¡¯s attacks.

    <em>Thud¨C! Thud¨C! Thud¨C!</em>

    Even though the man stumbled on his feet, was sent flying back, or received a huge shock, he did not fall.

    <em>¡®Go away! No time!¡¯</em>

    But the man was able to hold on and endure his fifth hit. Herakel was shocked. But he did not have any time to think. He just held his club tightly and hit the man on the leg.

    <em>Thud¨C!</em>

    Herakel sighed in relief when he saw the man copse after he hit him on the leg. But just as he was about to move forward, the man stood up again.

    ¡°There¡¯s only two left,¡± the man said as he munched on the chocte bar he pulled out from his pockets. Then, the injuries on his body began to recover.

    <em>Two more.</em>

    Herakel gritted his teeth.

    <em>Please, go away. Me, need help! Me, need someone to listen! Me, don¡¯t want others attacking without reason!</em>

    Herakel grabbed his club with both hands. Then, he swung it at the man with all of his strength.

    <em>Boom¨C!</em>

    The man was sent flying back. Hended among the Heavenly Army on standby. At this moment, Herakel thought that he would finally be able to move forward again, so he gathered his strength in his legs.

    ¡°<em>Urk.</em> One more.¡± The man gasped as he stumbled and struggled to return to his feet.

    By now, Herakel was utterly startled. No one has ever been able to endure seven of his attacks.

    Herakel clearly remembered what <em>she </em>said to him. He could even remember theughtercing her voice.

    ¨C<em>Herakel, what should you do if someone can endure seven of your hits?</em>

    <em>¨CHerakel will hit one more time! Herakel said to hit eight times!</em>

    <em>¡ªNo, Herakel. If they can endure seven of your hits, then that means that they are terrifying and strong. If that happens, you have to run with all your might. Understand?</em>

    <em>¨CHerakel will run after hitting seven times.</em>

    Herakel turned around to run. But he stopped in his tracks. If he ran away, then what about the life elixir? Then, he wouldn¡¯t be able to get his hands on it.

    Herakel¡¯s lips quivered. Just like <em>she </em>said, anyone who could endure seven of Herakel¡¯s hits was someone who could kill him.

    <em>Scared. So scared.</em>

    He was so scared of the man killing him after he survived his final attack. But even so, Herakel could not run. If he ran, then Rocado would die. In the end, Herakel chose to remain. Despite his lips quivering from the fear, Herakel still grabbed his club tightly and hit the man with all his might.

    <em>Boom¨C!</em>

    The man, who threw up blood, was sent flying back by the attack.

    <em>Please, no stand.</em> Herakel prayed desperately. But the man, who looked like all of the bones in his body had been crushed, struggled to stand up. Then, he limped toward Herakel.

    Herakel felt like his legs had be jelly when he saw the man walk toward him. He knew that he was going to die now.

    ¡°Herakel hit eight times. Herakel endures eight attacks,¡± Herakel dered, his club falling to the ground.

    Herakel just wanted someone to help him. But everyone was the same. They all tried to kill him just because he was strong and his body was tough and sturdy.

    ¡°So, is it my turn now?¡± The man asked as he walked up to Herakel.

    ***

    Many gods, including the Battle God, had arrived at the field where Herakel was rampaging.

    <em>¡®Why did he let the attacks hit him?¡¯</em>

    This was because the Battle God had received an utterly ridiculous report. The report said that Minhyuk willingly allowed Herakel to hit him.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s not stupid like that, though?¡¯</em>

    Then, the Battle God watched as Minhyuk, who looked like every bone in his body had been crushed, limped toward Herakel.

    <em>¡®It seems like he truly deserves the name Mad Dog?¡¯</em>

    From what it looked like, Herakel was genuinely crazy enough to beat the gods. However, the Battle God had already brought judgment and ordered to kill Herakel. It seemed like Herakel finally realized this fact, as proven by his quivering lips.

    ¡°So, is it my turn now?¡±

    The Battle God could not understand what Minhyuk was trying to do here as he watched the man walk toward Herakel.

    Then, Minhyuk finally reached Herakel. He looked up at the two-meter-tall man, and just when the muscr god felt like it was finally his time to die¡­ he hugged Herakel.

    ¡°...?!¡±

    The Battle God¡¯s eyes grew wide from the shocking turn of events. Even the other gods and all of the members of the Heavenly Army were all in shock.

    But something far more surprising happened. Herakel, who had been running around like a mad dog, fell and began crying and wailing, just like a child voicing his grievances.

    ¡°Me, scared! Herakel just wanted help. But¡­ they attacked Herakel. No reason! They attacked Herakel! They said they kill me if Herakel didn¡¯t tell them. Rocado, where!¡±

    Minhyuk gently hugged and shook Herakel, who was crying. He even patted him on the back to console him. And with a very warm and gentle voice, he said, ¡°Let¡¯s do it one by one, okay? Can you tell me what¡¯s going on first?¡±

 Chapter 994

    Chapter 994

    Minhyuk had been together with Conir, a boy with intellectual disability, for a very long time now. Thus, he learned much about people with intellectual disabilities from his daily interactions with Conir.

    People like Conir would blindly follow the words of those who protected and cared for them. They would also unconditionally follow the teachings that had been repeatedly told and ingrained in them.

    <em>¡®What would have happened if I had not endured Herakel¡¯s eight hits and embraced him?¡¯</em>

    If Minhyuk had hugged the tense and unbridled Herakel just like that, he would have been sent flying back by the gigantic man¡¯s club. Minhyuk had arrived earlier on the battlefield and had been observing the situation.

    <em>¡®There are no deaths.¡¯</em>

    The strength in Herakel¡¯s club was hefty. It was to the point that a few of the Heavenly Soldiers could die with just one or two hits from him. But Herakel had been skillfully controlling his strength, distinguishing between those who could and could not endure the hits of his clubs. Because of that, none of them had died.

    When he saw that, Minhyuk embraced Herakel instead of killing him. What he needed to do now was tofort and console Herakel and listen to his story, something that no one ever listened to.

    Minhyuk patted Herakel¡¯s back gently. And Herakel, acting like a mad dog, broke down and wept like a child. Herakel immediately began talking when Minhyuk asked him to tell him what was happening.

    Herakel told Minhyuk about how Rocado, his long-time friend, was on the verge of death. He also told him how he came out of his cave for the first time to seek help and how he encountered the God of Alcohol. Then, the following stories were something that he had already heard or witnessed.¡°I see. So that¡¯s what happened.¡± A bitter taste lingered in Minhyuk¡¯s mouth.

    As he patted Herakel on the back, he saw the Heavenly Captains, who had recovered considerably from their injuries, pointing their weapons at Herakel and approaching them. It seemed like they were under the illusion that Minhyuk had created this situation so it would be easier for them to subdue Herakel.

    Witnessing this, Minhyuk released an overwhelming killing intent. Minhyuk¡¯s CHA was extremely highpared to the other gods, and the Battle God¡¯s dignity made everyone feel numb.

    ¡°I will kill you if you try to attack.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    The Heavenly Captains all stopped and took a step back when Minhyuk¡¯s killing intent washed over him. At the same time, they all looked at him in confusion.

    First Heavenly Captain Carrack said, ¡°The Battle God has permitted us to kill Mad Dog Herakel. The damage that the Land of the Gods received is already far too much. Have you not seen Herakel¡¯s power? If we let him live, he will definitely threaten the Land of the Gods.¡±

    Everyone could not understand what Minhyuk was doing. This was more so because the influence of the next generation and the current generation Battle Gods was far too different. The current Battle God had personally given the authority to kill Herakel. There was no questioning that.

    Minhyuk slowly let go of the crying Herakel. He looked around him and said, ¡°Mad Dog?¡±

    He found their words ridiculously absurd.

    ¡°When the gods came to find him to find out where Rocado is, did he swing his club for no reason?¡± He asked as he walked among the Heavenly Soldiers. ¡°No. That shouldn¡¯t be the case, right? They must have asked Herakel, <em>¡®Where is Rocado?¡¯</em> And Herakel would not have answered any of you.¡±

    Minhyuk took one step after another and approached someone. This someone was the Battle God, the greatest and highest god of the current era.

    ¡°Since he did not answer, all of you must have used all kinds of things to bribe him. But that one must have failed, too. So, you resorted to threatening him. You must have told him, <em>¡®I will kill Rocado!¡¯ </em>or <em>¡®I will kill you, you bastard!¡¯</em>, no?¡±

    Minhyuk stood in front of the Battle God.

    ¡°Only at that point did the beatings start. After that, you told the world that he is a Mad Dog. The gods, who had talked big and bragged that they would get Rocado¡¯s location, would have exaggerated when they returned after being beaten and driven away by Herakel. <em>¡®That bastard is a mad dog who beat me for no reason at all.¡¯</em> You probably said that.¡±

    ¡°Your words are an attack on the other gods!¡±

    ¡°You should watch your mouth!¡±

    The Heavenly Captains criticized Minhyuk, while the gods, who came to see the situation, looked at him with ugly faces.

    However, Minhyuk¡¯s sharp gaze turned to look at the God of Alcohol. ¡°Did I say anything wrong?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Edona gulped, his mouth turning dry from the question. He had heard from Herakel that <em>Rocado was in danger</em>. However, he was far too intoxicated with his greed that he still wanted Rocado to make him his goblet, even if he was on the brink of death.

    <em>¡®Even if he¡¯s dying, he has to make me a goblet before he dies!¡¯</em> With this thought in mind, Edona put pressure on Herakel and even threatened the man. However, the report that Edona told the Battle God waspletely different from what happened.

    <em>¡®Mad Dog Herakel beat me up for no reason at all! He¡¯s now running towards the Land of the God! He is a threat to us all.¡¯</em> This was what he reported.

    Among the gods existed a God of Truth. With the power of the God of Truth, they could always confirm whether Edona¡¯s report was urate. Knowing this, Edona immediately kowtowed in front of the Battle God and said, ¡°For¨C Forgive me! Forgive me, Battle God.¡±

    Then, Minhyuk caught sight of the Fifth Heavenly Captain Rox standing among the other Heavenly Captains. He looked at the man and asked, ¡°Did he attack you first?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Rox could not answer. This was because he was the one who shot the arrow first after being frightened by Herakel¡¯s thunderous stomps.

    ¡°No.¡±

    The truth was finally revealed to everyone present.

    ¡°In the first ce, the ones who created this so-called Mad Dog are those petty and narrow-minded gods.¡±

    The gods were noble beings. They were arrogant beings who would never admit to making a mistake, even if they did something wrong.

    Then, one of the gods said, ¡°Are you going to go against the will of the current Battle God?¡±

    Hearing the words of that god, Minhyuk, who was already standing in front of the Battle God, said, ¡°If being the Battle God means that I will be like this, then I will refuse this position.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    The Battle God frowned. He and Minhyuk had a very close rtionship. He even allowed Minhyuk to call him <em>uncle</em>. Would he do something like this? But Minhyuk was a very stubborn person. He would do what he said.

    The Battle God looked around at the Heavenly Army and the gods watching the scene. At this moment, he clearly remembered the words that he had uttered before.

    <em>¡®We are old. We need someone new to lead us.¡¯</em>

    The Battle God knew that if he had cared to learn more about Herakel, then he would have been able to learn about all of the things that Minhyuk revealed here.

    But just because he was the Battle God did not mean he would always be able to choose the right path. Just as a king would ask for the opinions of his vassals, the Battle God would also ask the opinion of the other gods. This was so he could arrive at the most appropriate decision.

    Then, the Battle God said, ¡°Heed my orders. Herakel will be exiled from the Land of the Gods forever. He has to leave the Land of the Gods within two weeks. If Herakel ever steps foot inside the Land of the Gods, he will be met with immediate judgment and be killed.¡±

    The Battle God looked at his men and continued, ¡°And God of Alcohol Edona will be sentenced to ten years in prison for giving false reports.¡±

    After leaving those words, the Battle God turned around and left. As he walked further away, the God of Cooking appeared beside him in a sh of light. She said, ¡°You took a hit and lost the argument, huh?¡±

    However, there was a slight smile on the Battle God¡¯s face. The God of Cooking immediately understood the meaning of that smile and chuckled in response.

    ¡°We arepletely different gods.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. I think he will open up a new world.¡±

    And Minhyuk? He felt relieved when he saw the Battle God and the other gods turn around and leave.

    <em>¡®I was so nervous back there¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had confidently said he would not be the Battle God if the man were like that. However, Minhyuk was only able to say that because he knew better than anybody else that the current Battle God was not some kind of scoundrel who would not listen to reason.

    But first things first. He had to take Herakel away from this ce. Just when the thought shed in his head, Minhyuk saw Herakel, crying like a child, stand up and clutch his hand tightly with his huge hand. Herakel treated Minhyuk as if he were his guardian, crouching to hide behind him and looking up at him with pure and innocent eyes while tightening his grip on Minhyuk¡¯s hand.

    ¡°Herakel.¡±

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¨C</em>

    ¡°My hand is breaking¡­¡±

    ***

    Minhyuk brought Herakel far from where he had fought a fierce battle earlier. Then, he said, ¡°Herakel, there¡¯s no more Gaerna¡¯s Life Elixir left.¡±

    ¡°...?!¡± Herakel¡¯s eyes grew wide as he looked at Minhyuk in shock.

    Unfortunately, all of Gaernae¡¯s Life Elixir in Minhyuk¡¯s possession had been used up. One had been used for the Battle God, while the other was used for Don.

    Seeing the sad look on Herakel¡¯s face, Minhyuk said, ¡°But maybe we can find a way.¡±

    Minhyuk was wondering about something. Wasn¡¯t Jack-of-all-Trades Rocado a god? If he was a god, then he should not die unless he received physical harm, no?

    ¡°Why is a god like Rocado going to die?¡±

    ¡°...Rocado. No god. Rocado, human.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk could not help but be surprised that one of the Eight Pirs of the world was a human.

    <em>¡®How on earth did he do that?¡¯</em>

    The stories that Minhyuk had heard about Rocado made him believe that he had been in this world for a long time. It would be bizarre for a human to live that long, wouldn''t it?

    ¡°Rocado¡­ Immortality Herb, ate. Rocado ate five Immortality Herbs. No more herbs left.¡±

    After hearing Herakel''s words, Minhyuk was able to infer the situation. He assumed that the herb <em>Immortality Herb</em> was an item that could greatly increase the lifespan of a human like Rocado.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s crazy.¡¯</em>

    For a moment, Minhyuk wondered what happened to Rocado, who lived longer than the average human, before he became the Jack of all trades.

    However, the most important was whether Herakel would allow Minhyuk to meet Rocado.

    <em>¡®Looking at the current situation, I don¡¯t think there¡¯s something to worry about, but¡­¡¯</em>

    Herakel had been walking majestically while holding Minhyuk in one hand like a newborn baby. Minhyuk could not understand why he was hugged like this either or where they were going.

    ¡°Herakel¡¯s friend. They said, wee anytime. Go home.¡±

    The situation was quite favorable to Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk, who was being heldfortably(?) in Herakel¡¯s arm, suddenly thought of a question. <em>¡®If Herakel¡¯s club is an ordinary club, it would have already been broken to pieces long ago.¡¯</em>

    Although Herakel¡¯s club looked ordinary, it was nothing but that.

    ¡°Herakel, can you show me your club?¡±

    ¡°Of course! Herakel gives everything to friend!¡±

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Herakel¡¯s Club</em></strong><em> +43)</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: Rare</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: The one who received Rocado¡¯s permission.</em>

    <strong><em>Durability</em></strong><em>: ¡Þ / ¡Þ</em>

    <strong><em>Attack Power</em></strong><em>: 2,030</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?STR increases by 45%.</em>

    <em>?STM increases by 65%.</em>

    <em>?Can turn passive skill </em><strong><em>on</em></strong><em> or </em><strong><em>off</em></strong><em>.</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill¡¯s Current State: </em><strong><em>OFF</em></strong>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Slightly Painful Club.</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Really Painful Club.</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Very Painful Club.</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Really Fast Club.</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Really Very Painful Club.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: A club customized for Herakel by Rocado and his lover, Eirin. The words ¡®For Herakel¡¯ are engraved on the club.</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes grew wide as a saucer. <em>¡®The attack power is over 2,000?!¡¯</em>

    The Sword of Aeon, a sword that was hailed as the most incredible sword in the world, only had around 2,300 attack power. Of course, it had been quite a long time since Minhyuk obtained the Sword of Aeon, so there must have been many artifacts with 2,000 attack power released to the world.

    If there was one, it was probably already in Alexander¡¯s hands. However, just because artifacts with that much attack power had been released did not mean they weremonce. That was why it shocked Minhyuk to see the club have that much attack power.

    And that was not all. It could also increase Herakel¡¯s STR by 45% and STM by 65%.

    <em>¡®Is this why the gods could not endure his attacks?¡¯</em>

    But the more shocking part is that it said that Herakel could freely turn his passive skills on or off.

    <em>¡®Wait, what¡¯s wrong with these skill names?¡¯</em>

    Of course, the skill names might have been written as such because the club was customized for Herakel.

    <em>¡®Hmm. It really is made for Herakel.¡¯</em>

    It was made so it was easy for Herakel to understand. These were the descriptions of the passive skills:

    The Slightly Painful Club had a 50% chance of getting triggered and could give 10% additional damage.

    The Really Painful Club had a 40% chance of being triggered and could deal 20% additional damage.

    The Very Painful Club had a 20% chance of being triggered and could deal 25% additional damage.

    The Really Fast Club had a 20% chance of getting triggered and could double the speed of Herakel¡¯s club.

    <em>¡®I think I would have died if I got hit with the club¡¯s passive¡­?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s HP had dropped to 5% by the eighth hit of Herakel¡¯s club. He would have died ande back to life if the passive was turned on.

    But there was one thing that Minhyuk found to be truly ridiculous. <em>¡®This is just a rare item?¡¯</em>

    It said, ¡°The one who received Rocado¡¯s permission.¡± This meant that as long as someone received Rocado¡¯s permission, they could wield this club even if they were only at Level 10.

    <em>¡®Our levels restrict the artifacts that we can equip.¡¯</em>

    Legendary-rank artifacts that yers at Level 100 could own were far worse than the legendary-rank artifacts owned by yers at Level 500. However, if these artifacts suited the yer, they could disy great power among yers at the same level. Athenae had used the <em>requirements</em> to cleverly restrict the artifacts yers could wear ording to their levels.

    However, looking at the club¡¯s requirements alone, one would think it was only suitable for yers up to Level 50, mainly because it was ranked <em>rare.</em> But if one looked at its abilities, one would doubt whether it was only at that level. That was why Minhyuk found it to be truly ridiculous.

    But the answer came easily to him.

    ¡°...Herakel.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°The +43 written next to Herakel¡¯s club is a sign of the club being reinforced, right?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right! Rocado gathered the twinkling and sparkling stones and used them!¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk was shocked. At this moment, he realized why Rocado was hailed as Jack-of-all-Trades Rocado.

    <em>¡®This is enough to destroy an entire ecosystem, right?¡¯</em>

    Of course, the chances of sessful reinforcement would increase significantly if someone at a high level used an excellent reinforcement stone to strengthen a low-rank artifact. Because of that, some spendthrift and rich yers often reinforce their training swords to +20 for fun.

    However, the fact that the club was ranked rare meant it was not ranked that low.

    <em>¡®But he was still able to strengthen it by +40?¡¯</em>

    Perhaps this was only possible because it was Jack-of-all-Trades Rocado who did it.

    At this moment, Minhyuk recalled several artifacts that he could not reinforce and strengthen even if they were still at +0. These artifacts were none other than the Transcendental¡¯s Armor Set and the Sword of Aeon.

    Then, Herakel giggled. ¡°Friend! Friend wants to strengthen something?!¡±

    Herakel was showing off, just like any ordinary man.

    ¡°Yes, I want to strengthen something.¡±

    ¡°Herakel! If Herakel¡¯s friend helps Rocado not be hurt anymore, Herakel will help you strengthen it!¡±

    It was like he was saying, ¡°Hey, hey! He will do it as long as I say it~¡± Of course, there was a condition. And that condition was to help Rocado.

    ¡°Really? Will Rocado do it if you say so?¡±

    ¡°Rocado will do it if Herakel says it!¡± Herakel confidently thumped his chest with his fist.

    ¡°I also want to eat something delicious.¡±

    ¡°Hehe. Trust Herakel! Rocado will do it if Herakel says so! Herakel knows that Rocado has some strange ingredients!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go, Herakel! Let¡¯s meet Rocado!¡±

    After a while.

    Herakel was on his knees with his fists raised high to the sky.

    ¡°Keep your arms straight!¡±

    Herakel cried silently, tears dripping down his cheeks after hearing Rocado¡¯s shout.

    ¡°Herakel¡­ wrong¡­¡±

    This was the ending of the show-off and the braggart.

 Chapter 995

    Chapter 995

    Rocado, one of the Eight Pirs of the world and the only human among them, looked like an ordinary middle-aged man at first nce. However, his paleplexion showed that he was in poor health.

    He looked at Herakel, who was crying like a child, with tears and snot dripping down his chin, and he looked fierce.

    <em>¡®What should I do if something happens to you?¡¯</em>

    Herakel ran non-stop when he saw Rocado vomit a mouthful of blood. And what happened when he came back?

    ¨C<em>Herakel made a friend! Strengthen Herakel¡¯s friend¡¯s artifact and give him rare ingredients! Herakel said that Rocado would do everything for Herakel!</em>

    This was what Herakel said. Herakel¡¯s bragging was more like a child stubbornly insisting on something. It was pretty cute, considering the circumstances. However, there was something that Rocado was quite shocked about.

    ¡°So? Who is your friend? And where is he now?¡±

    Rocado just could not understand. Herakel''s power was far too frightening. Not just ordinary people, even the gods were scared by it.

    <em>¡®Of course, no one could stop him once he set his mind to it.¡¯</em>This was also why Herakel did not say much in the cave after he dered that he would protect Rocado. After all, Rocado would stop him from going out of the cave. But even if Rocado hugged him by the waist and tried to stop him, Herakel would just drag him out with him while saying, <em>¡°Herakel, go!¡±</em> So, who would dare to befriend Herakel, who acted like this?

    Herakel looked sad. ¡°Gaerna¡¯s Life Elixir¡­ no more in the world. Herakel¡­ In the end, Herakel can¡¯t save you.¡±

    Then, Herakel began to talk about what he had experienced outside. Rocado, who listened to his story, could not help but look at Herakel in shock. Herakel had put himself in danger and had almost died for his sake. However, Herakel''s words after that made Rocado¡¯s jaw drop.

    <em>¡®He endured eight of Herakel¡¯s hits?¡¯</em>

    He was in pure awe and admiration. Enduring eight of Herakel¡¯s hits was a method that Eirin and Rocado had thought of together. The two believed that there was no one unless they were at the level of the Eight Pirs or an Absolute God, who could endure eight of Herakel¡¯s hits. Why did they think of this method? This was so Herakel, who had a pure and innocent heart, would not be ignored and taken advantage of outside.

    ¡°Did he endure eight of your hits and attack you eight times?¡±

    Herakel shook his head when he heard Rocado¡¯s question. ¡°No. Minhyuk, Herakel¡¯s friend, did not attack. He hugged Herakel tightly!¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Rocado¡¯s pupils shook when he heard those words.

    ¡°He hugged you?¡±

    ¡°He hugged Herakel tight! He told Herakel that it was okay! He also stopped the other gods from attacking Herakel!¡±

    Rocado was once again in awe. <em>¡®Another person who understands Herakel¡­¡¯</em>

    Then, Rocado said, ¡°Why are you only telling this to me now, Herakel?!¡±

    ¡°Because Rocado made Herakel kneel for no reason!¡±

    There was a reason why Rocado was feeling panicked and urgent. <em>¡®I¡¯m going to die soon.¡¯</em>

    He was one of the Eight Pirs, hailed as the Jack-of-all-Trades. Because of that, he knew better than anybody else that his days were already numbered. However, before he closed his eyes, he felt a faint presence beside him. This was none other than Herakel. The pure yet strangely powerful Herakel had always been in his mind.

    <em>¡®Perhaps he would be able to take care of Herakel.¡¯</em>

    But at that moment¡­

    <em>[A challenger has entered the Cave of Restriction.]</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    Rocado was left stunned. He could tell that the man who entered the Cave of Restriction was the same man that Herakel said was his friend. Now, it has be a problem.

    The Cave of Restriction was located deep inside the cave where Herakel used to stay. If they could pass through it, they coulde to this ce where Rocado lived. As for Herakel, he only needed to take a few steps, and Rocado would automatically bring him inside.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you tell your friend how dangerous the Cave of Restriction is?¡±

    ¡°Herakel said! But Herakel¡¯s friend said that there was something that he wanted to get. Also, Rocado told Herakel!¡± Herakel giggled. ¡°If Herakel made a friend, bring Herakel¡¯s friend anytime. Rocado and Eirin will wee Herakel and Herakel¡¯s friend!¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Rocado felt his heart ache. That was right. They had told Herakel that once before. They told him he could bring his friend whenever he made one. By then, he and Eirin would wee his friend warmly.

    ¡°Will Herakel see Eirin soon?! Herakel is so excited!¡±

    Rocado felt his chest ache once more. Herakel believed that Eirin would return if he brought a friend over. But Eirin was already dead. In this world, only Herakel and Rocado were left behind. A bitter taste lingered in Rocado¡¯s mouth.

    Jack-of-all-Trades Rocado had created the Cave of Restriction so he could hide from the world. So, what was the Cave of Restriction?

    <em>¡®Even if one of the Eight Pirs came here, they couldn¡¯t clear that cave.¡¯</em>

    The Cave of Restriction was not a ce that could be cleared with sheer force alone. It could bring the most excruciating and unbearable pain to whoever was challenging it. It did not matter how powerful one was; it would be useless in that ce.

    There were times when the Cave of Restriction would take away one¡¯s vision. There were times when it would take away one¡¯s sleep. There were even times when it would take away one¡¯s body.

    Once someone entered that ce, Rocado would no longer be able to take them out of that ce.

    <em>¡®I want to leave Herakel in his care.¡¯</em>

    But for him to be able to do that, that person has toe and see Rocado first.

    ¡°Herakel, what did you promise to him?¡±

    ¡°Herakel promised to strengthen his artifact!¡±

    ¡°As long as you bring him to me?¡±

    ¡°Y¨C Yeah!¡±

    Rocado squinted at Herakel. But Herakel just rolled his eyes and looked elsewhere. He pretended as if he did not know what Rocado meant. Rocado could only sigh at this.

    Rocado had created tens of thousands of items so far and was able to obtain the power <em>Hand of Almighty.</em> This was a skill that could be considered to be a Disaster Skill. Why? Because it had the power to strengthen an artifact once. <em>Any</em> artifact.

    ¡°What else did you promise?¡±

    ¡°He¨C Herakel¡¯s friend likes eating. Herakel said that Herakel would give him Rocado¡¯s rare ingredient.¡±

    ¡°No way. Are you talking about the Pir Ingredient?¡±

    Seeing Rocado narrow his eyes at him, Herakel shook his head and said, ¡°He¨C Herakel¡¯s friend just said that he wants rare ingredients.¡±

    Rocado was the Father of Dexterity. This meant that he also possessed exceptional skills in farming. Not only did he have unique ingredients, but he also had the most outstanding ingredient in the world, the Pir Ingredient. Fortunately, Herakel did not speak about the ingredient.

    <em>¡®I have to raise his chances, even if it¡¯s just a bit.¡¯</em>

    Rocado knew Herakel¡¯s friend couldn¡¯t clear the Cave of Restriction. However, he still wanted to help him increase his chances even a little. So, he added some rewards for the Cave of Restrictions.

    ***

    Minhyuk, stuck(?) by Herakel¡¯s side, entered the cave where Herakel used to live to get to where Rocado was. However, Herakel disappeared from his side when they entered the cave. Minhyuk was not too surprised by the sudden turn of events since he had already been informed by Herakel beforehand.

    <em>¡®I must clear all the trials in this cave to get to Rocado.¡¯</em>

    He had to do it to strengthen his Sword of Aeon and Transcendental¡¯s Armor.

    <em>¡®Hoo¡­ Rocado definitely has some rare ingredients in hand.¡¯</em>

    Aside from that, he wanted to ask if he could help him decorate and make Temple Evangel look more splendid and outstanding.

    As he went inside, the notifications started ringing in his ears.

    <em>[You have entered the Cave of Restriction.]</em>

    <em>[Inside the Cave of Restriction, one day would be stretched out into a year.]</em>

    <em>[The Cave of Restriction will restrict and control your possessions. It will continue to do so until it has forced you to give up.]</em>

    <em>[If you choose to give the trial up, you will be forced to log out.]</em>

    <em>[You will be able to move on to the next trial of the Cave of Restriction only after reaching 50% achievement of the current trial.]</em>

    <em>[If you want to continue taking the current restriction trial, you can choose not to go to the next trial right away.]</em>

    <em>[The higher the achievement, the better the reward.]</em>

    Minhyuk nodded as the torches lining up the walls of the dark Cave of Restriction<em></em>lit up one after another.

    <em>Crackle¨C</em>

    A single bed greeted Minhyuk after the entire cave was lit up. There was nothing else inside the cave except for this bed.

    <em>¡®One day stretches out into a year¡­¡¯</em>

    He could roughly understand what the trial wanted to do. During that year, the Cave of Restriction would restrict and control something within him or something he possessed and continue to annoy and bother him until he was forced to give up.

    When Minhyuk wondered what the first trial would restrict, a notification rang.

    <em>[The master of the Cave of Restriction has added a reward.]</em>

    <em>[If you can clear two of the Cave of Restriction¡¯s trials, you can reinforce a chosen artifact once.]</em>

    <em>[However, you will only be able to receive this reward if you reach 50% of the trials¡¯ achievement and exit the Cave of Restriction safely.]</em>

    ¡°Oh¡­?¡± Minhyuk was quite surprised. <em>¡®This was what Herakel told me earlier, no?¡¯</em>

    That was right. Herakel confidently patted his chest and said, <em>¡°If Herakel said it, Rocado would definitely do it. Herakel will say it because you are Herakel¡¯s friend!¡±</em> And now it has tranted into one of the cave''s rewards.

    Minhyuk truly wanted it.

    <em>¡®But ording to Herakel¡¯s words, this is something I could get even if I don¡¯t ovee these trials, right?¡¯</em>

    Herakel told him he would make it so Minhyuk¡¯s artifact would be reinforced. Of course, Minhyuk could only think this way because he did not know that Herakel was just bluffing and bragging.

    After a while¡­

    <em>[The first trial of restriction has begun.]</em>

    Minhyuk listened to the notification that continued to ring in his ears.

    <em>[The first restriction will be slumber.]</em>

    Slumber. It meant sleeping.

    <em>[You will not be able to sleep.]</em>

    <em>[Instead of sleeping, you can do image training. Everything that you imagine during image training will be real.]</em>

    <em>[Close your eyes and do image training to achieve harmony between your body and consciousness.]</em>

    Sleep was considered one of humans'' most significant needs. Minhyuk¡¯s expression turned serious when he heard that he could not sleep.

    <em>¡®In reality, the system will just make me feel sleepy. But it wouldn¡¯t be such a big deal since only a day would pass,¡¯</em> Minhyuk thought as he sat on the bed.

    He could not help but chuckle before he started doing his image training.

    <em>¡®Fu¨C Fufufufufu.¡¯</em>

    This was what the exnation said.

    <em>[Everything that you imagine during image training will be real.]</em>

    In other words, whatever Minhyuk thought and imagined would be real. Of course, it would only apply to this ce.

    Minhyuk quickly closed his eyes and imagined something. <em>¡®Let¡¯s think of something simple first. Shall we try home-cooked meals?¡¯</em>

    He quickly imagined the scene. He came home one day with an empty and rumbling stomach, only to be greeted by a warm and delicious home-cooked meal. Although the dishes on the table were simple, they were the bestbination of home-cooked meals. Kimchi <em>jjigae,</em> two fried eggs, fried Vienna sausages, and salty and savory seaweed.

    The thoughts that formed in his head slowly became a reality in front of him.

    <em>¡®Kghhk. This is real, right?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk could see that all the food he imagined had now appeared. The first thing that he tried was the hot kimchi<em> jjigae</em>. He scooped a spoonful and took a sip.

    ¡°Kghhk!¡±

    It was pretty hot and spicy, yet it was very refreshing. Then, he scooped a spoonful of steaming white rice and put it in his mouth. Afterward, he scooped another spoonful of the kimchi <em>jjigae</em>, which had equal proportions of pork and kimchi, and put it in his mouth. The kimchi, pork, and soup that had been boiled perfectly created a fantastic harmony of vors in his mouth.

    Next, he ced a fried egg on top of his rice and took a huge bite.

    ¡°Kghhk! This is amazing. So freaking amazing. This is not a restriction, right? I think this is something good!¡±

    For Minhyuk, this trial was a perfect and happy one. Then, he turned his attention to the fried Vienna Sausage. He took one and dipped it in ketchup.

    ¡°Kyaaaaa!¡±

    Then, he would use the crispy seaweed, the perfect side dish for home-cooked meals, and make wraps.

    After finishing his first meal, Minhyuk continued.

    <em>¡®Since I had home-cooked meals before this, should I eat something sweet? Should we eat some whipped cream cake, tiramisu, and around twenty macarons for dessert?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk closed his eyes and imagined what he wanted to eat. He screamed happily as the food materialized in front of him.

    ***

    The drowsiness that enveloped their bodies made their limbs feel heavy. Even their lids turned heavy, and they wanted to sleep.

    <em>Please, just for five minutes. I want to sleep.</em>

    This was the scariest part about the first restriction, <em>Slumber.</em> Everyone, including beasts and humans, needed to sleep to restore the energy they had spent while they were active during the day. Humans were considered to have the greatest need for sleep.

    This was why Rocado believed that this trial was the hardest. Of course, he thought that it would be the same for the challenger who entered the Cave of Restriction this time.

    However, the man was able to endure the trial for one, two, three, four, five days, a week, and two weeks and continue on safely. Of course, only a few minutes had passed. This was only possible because of the power dwelling inside the Cave of Restriction.

    Rocado was in awe. <em>¡®That¡¯s amazing. He¡¯s able to ovee the Restriction of Slumber.¡¯</em>

    It would not be strange if someone fell if they did not even get a wink of sleep for two weeks straight.

    As he was already reaching the required achievement, Rocado thought the man would soon move on to the subsequent trial. As if to prove that, the notifications rang.

    <em>[The Cave of Restriction proposes to the challenger to challenge the second trial.]</em>

    <em>[After a good night¡¯s sleep, the challenger can start taking on the second trial.]</em>

    However, something very unexpected happened.

    <em>[The challenger has asked to continue challenging the First Restriction¡¯s trial.]</em>

    ¡°What¡­?¡±

    Rocado could not understand.

    <em>¡®Is he enjoying the first trial?¡¯</em>

    Astonished by the thought that shed in his head, Rocado hurriedly pulled out his crystal ball to check on the status of the challenger, Minhyuk. He could see Minhyuk with his eyes closed and drool dripping down his chin.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s using image training to eat something?¡¯</em>

    Rocado saw Minhyuk right a number on the ground when he opened his eyes.

    <em>¡®What does 937 mean?¡¯</em>

    Then, Minhyuk¡¯s voice rang in his ears.

    <em>[Hehe. I can¡¯t sleep until I have eaten 1,000 dishes~]</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    Rocado was rendered speechless. Based on those words, <em></em> represented the number of dishes he ate while doing image training for two weeks.

    <em>¡®Is he an elephant?¡¯ </em>Rocado genuinely wondered if this was the case.

 Chapter 996

    Chapter 996

    <em>[You havepleted the First Restriction, ¡®Slumber.¡¯]</em>

    <em>[You can now end the Trial of Restriction: Slumber.]</em>

    <em>[If you wish, you can remain in the Trial of Restriction: Slumber. If you choose to do so, you can obtain higher achievements.]</em>

    Minhyuk was not able to sleep properly for two straight weeks. There was this one time when he identally dozed off for ten minutes. Thankfully, the system allowed this much leeway.

    Minhyuk¡¯s body started to feel heavy the more time he spent inside the trial. At one point, he felt like he would immediately fall into a deep sleep if he closed his eyes just once. However, this trial where everything he wanted to eat could be a reality just by imagining them was far too sweet to pass up.

    He had taken advantage of the image training and ate everything he wanted.

    <em>¡®Back then, there were times when I couldn¡¯t sleep for an entire week because of hunger.¡¯</em>

    Yes. It did happen. Even though he wanted to sleep, his head constantly screamed at him and demanded food. He ended up getting insomnia. It was so bad that he could only fall asleep after exhaustion and no longer think of anything. That was how much eating addiction has threatened Minhyuk¡¯s life.

    <em>¡®However, this is different.¡¯</em>Minhyuk had suffered from indescribable pain because of hunger and sleepiness for a very long time. However, during this Trial of Restriction: Slumber, he only needed to endure for two weeks.

    Of course, no matter how great a person was, being unable to sleep for even five minutes for two weeks straight was impossible. Perhaps this was why the system allowed Minhyuk to doze off asionally.

    Besides, the situation waspletely different from before. After all, Minhyuk could not sleep, but he was still happy since he could eat everything he wanted.

    <em>¡®I think it¡¯s more urate to say that every cell in my body is awake, right?¡¯</em>

    Because he could eat delicious meals constantly through his image training, Minhyuk did not feel he had the time to worry about sleeping. And without hesitation, Minhyuk extended his time in the first Trial of Restriction. Only after he had eaten a thousand meals did he stop and fall into a deep sleep.

    ***

    Rocado, who watched Minhyuk fall into a deep sleep afterpleting the first Trial of Restriction, could see what the young man was like as a person.

    <em>¡®I heard that there¡¯s a god who likes to eat. It seems like he is that god.¡¯</em>

    Rocado smiled bitterly. If that were indeed the case, then the second trial would be harrowing for him because the following restriction was <em>eating.</em>

    <em>¡®I promised to reinforce whatever artifact he wants to get reinforced if he can clear two trials.¡¯</em>

    Of course, he also had some doubts. He wanted to know why this young man came to see him.

    Rocado, who was looking at the crystal ball, coughed. ¡°Urk¡­?¡±

    Red blood dripped down Rocado¡¯s chin. He felt like time was not on his side any longer.

    Although he found it surprising that the young man could clear the Restriction of Slumber, Rocado was sure that removing the subsequent trial would be impossible for him. So, he could only increase the rewards and give the young man the driving force and motivation to clear those trials.

    Rocado manipted the rewards once more, but this time, he had to set conditions for them. This reward was something no one should be able to obtain easily.

    Once the second trial began, the young man would be informed of the changes. However, the conditions to obtain this reward were not easy.

    <em>¡®You need to obtain 90% achievement.¡¯</em>

    In Rocado¡¯s eyes, it was impossible. Some couldn¡¯t even reach 50% achievement in the Trial of Restrictions. But Rocado hoped that this man could at least get 50% achievement ande to meet him here so that he could leave Herakel in his care.

    With a bitter look, Rocado turned around and left the crystal ball behind.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s no more time left.¡¯</em>

    He sat down and continued working on his long-term project. Right in front of him were around 9,980 portraits of the same woman. It was quite a grotesque sight.

    <em>¡®I have to finish 10,000 paintings before I die.¡¯</em>

    That was the only way for Rocado to meet <em>her</em> again.

    ***

    Minhyuk, who fell into a deep sleep on the bed, finally woke up. The moment he opened his eyes, a series of notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[The second trial of restriction has begun.]</em>

    <em>[The second restriction will be eating.]</em>

    Minhyuk frowned.

    <em>[An unbelievable hunger starts to torment you.]</em>

    <em>[This state of extreme hunger willst for three months.]</em>

    <em>[From this point on, you are given the choice to add restrictions in your trial.]</em>

    <em>[If you choose to endure multiple restrictions, your achievement will significantly increase.]</em>

    <em>[If you endure multiple restrictions, the period you need to endure will be significantly reduced.]</em>

    Minhyuk looked puzzled. He was going to be tormented by an unbelievable hunger? He waited for a moment for the extreme hunger toe.

    <em>¡®Nothing¡¯s happening, though?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk scratched his head. His eating addiction was a kind of mental illness that would always make him feel like he was in an extreme state of hunger. In the past, Minhyuk even resorted to eating tissue paper because of his illness. Perhaps that was why the extreme hunger set by the system did not do anything to him. Maybe it was nothingpared to the illness called eating addiction.

    <em>¡®Not eating anything for three months? It wouldn¡¯t be easy for me.¡¯</em>

    Of course, the symptoms of Minhyuk¡¯s eating addiction had improved significantly. He no longer had the shocking appetite from the past. However, what about the three months he had to endure not eating anything here? That would probably be very dangerous for Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®It might just exacerbate my eating addiction.¡¯</em>

    Although Minhyuk was not suffering from any eating addiction symptoms, the only reason why he was not experiencing those was because he was able to eat whatever and however much he wanted in Athenae and satisfy his raging appetite.

    But now, he was left in a situation where he could not satisfy that appetite for three months. This would most likely worsen his eating addiction.

    <em>¡®Should I give up?¡¯</em>

    However, the rewards he could receive were far too sweet and tempting to give up like that. He could reinforce the Sword of Aeon once,plete Evangel, and meet with one of the Eight Pirs, Jack-of-all-Trades Rocado.

    Then, at that moment.

    <em>[If you achieve more than 90% inside the Cave of Restriction, you can obtain a Pir Ingredient.]</em>

    <em>[Achieving 90% of achievement inside the Cave of Restriction is nearly impossible.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk was quite surprised. The Pir Ingredient had not yet appeared in the world. If he could obtain an ingredient that had not yet been released, he would probably also be able to obtain a title as a reward.

    <em>¡®I wonder how delicious the Pir Ingredient is?¡¯</em>

    The thought alone was enough to make his mouth water.

    <em>¡®As expected, giving up without even trying does not fit with me.¡¯</em>

    He could just quit if he felt like it was too hard.

    <em>¡®No.¡¯</em>

    There should be another way to tackle this. Minhyuk pondered the matter for quite a while before making his decision.

    ¡°I will take the third restriction and the fourth restriction together with the second restriction.¡±

    If Rocado had seen what he did, he would have been shocked. Perhaps he would even shout at Minhyuk that he was crazy. However, there was no other way.

    First, the notification clearly said that obtaining 90% achievement inside the Cave of Restriction was almost impossible. But the Pir Ingredient was dangling right in front of him.

    <em>¡®I need to endure this much to obtain that.¡¯</em>

    <em>[The third restriction is repetition.]</em>

    <em>[The fourth restriction is darkness.]</em>

    <em>[With the second, third, and fourth restrictions carried out at the same time, the total duration of the trial will be significantly reduced.]</em>

    <em>[With the three restrictions simultaneously, the achievement rate will significantly increase.]</em>

    <em>[The duration of the trial will be reduced to four weeks.]</em>

    <em>[You have to repeat doing something for four weeks straight. If there are more than three seconds between repeated actions, the trial will be considered a failure.]</em>

    <em>[You will not grow tired even if you don¡¯t sleep.]</em>

    <em>[You will not be able to see anything for four weeks.]</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    Minhyuk found that these Trials of Restriction had one thing inmon. And that was the fact that one had to endure <em>loneliness and solitude.</em> In the first trial, he has to endure being unable to sleep in a space devoid of another¡¯s presence. And now, in this space, he had to struggle against hunger, repeat an action non-stop without anyone¡¯s support, and even be trapped in the darkness where no one would hold his hands andfort him.

    Initially, it would take a year for Minhyuk toplete all the existing trials. Although the time had been shortened, it should still be unbearable. But even so, there was still a faint smile on Minhyuk¡¯s face.

    <em>¡®I have lived in the darkness for many years.¡¯</em>

    Of course, many people cared and cheered for him. However, during those times, he had always felt alone. After all, he was the only one suffering from eating addiction. He was the only one dying. But Minhyuk was able to step away from that world. Because of that, Minhyuk was stronger than anybody else.

    <em>[Please start the repetitive action.]</em>

    Minhyuk grabbed his sword as he slowly stood up.

    <em>¡®The best way to ovee hunger is to keep moving and exercising.¡¯</em>

    When his body was enduring the pain of working out, his overwhelming hunger often softened and disappeared for a bit. It was like a drop in the ocean, but that did not matter.

    Minhyuk swung his sword.

    <em>[Darkness encroaches upon your vision. You will not be able to see anything.]</em>

    The world around him disappeared.

    Minhyuk¡¯s posture might be messy, but he continued to swing his sword in this darkness. But there was something that this trial did not know.

    Minhyuk was a yer who had worked harder than anybody else in Athenae. Everyone acknowledged this fact when they saw the ZTube video titled ¡°The Burden that an Emperor Carries¡± and saw how much effort Minhyuk had made.

    Even though he could not see what was ahead of him, Minhyuk did not stop. He just repeatedly swung his sword.

    <em>Swoosh¨C!</em>

    Even in a situation surrounded by darkness, Minhyuk continued to swing his sword and think about the things hecked.

    <em>Swoosh¨C!</em>

    Even though everything around him had disappeared, he considered this an opportunity to study his body and awaken his senses.

    <em>Swoosh¨C!</em>

    How long has it been since he started this? Perhaps he had been doing this for a day? Two days? Or three days? Minhyuk did not know. However, there was one thing that he knew. The monster named hunger was gradually creeping up on him. That was why he had started to swing faster and stronger.

    As for the darkness that consumed him?

    <em>¡®It¡¯s scary.¡¯</em>

    It was still fine up until a few moments ago. However, with only the sound of his sword cutting through the wind as he continued to swing apanying him, fear started to appear and devour him.

    <em>Throb, throb¨C</em>

    But that was not all. His arms started to throb and twitch from the continuous swinging of his sword. People often became vulnerable when doing something repeatedly, and it was not easy for someone to do something repeatedly for more than a few hours.

    Of course, Minhyuk could still endure it since he often changed the actions he had to repeat. He would swing his sword horizontally, thrust his sword forward, and do other actions. He would repeat these actions repeatedly and change them once he started to falter. However, it was still challenging.

    How long has he been doing this? He waspletely unaware. He just felt like this monster-like hunger was chasing him in this darkness. The more he thought this way, the faster and stronger his strikes and the more focused he became.

    <em>Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh¨C</em>

    Minhyuk continued to swing his sword.

    <em>¡®How long have I been doing this?¡¯</em>

    He still did not know. All he knew was that he was engulfed by the fear of this darkness and this terrible hunger. However, no matter how tedious it was, he repeated his actions.

    ***

    Rocado, who had been painting since earlier, stopped. Now, he only needed to paint a few hundred more to meet with the dead Eirin. However, it would only remain as a wish. His body was telling him that he did not have much time left. He felt like his body had already started to turn stiff.

    Rocado no longer had any Herb of Immortality, which had the shocking power to extend a human¡¯s lifespan by 80 years.

    ¡°Haa¡­ Haa¡­¡±

    <em>Just a bit longer. I just need to stay alive for a bit longer.</em>

    He just needed enough time to finish those few hundred paintings. But Rocado did not know whether he couldst for two more hours.

    <em>¡®My calctions arepletely wrong.¡¯</em>

    He thought that he couldst for at least a few more months. However, that was nothing but mere arrogance on his part.

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    Jack-of-all-Trades Rocado was the Father of Dexterity who had disappeared from the world. He was also one of the Eight Pirs. However strange as it might sound, he believed in a myth. This myth said that if someone could finish 10,000 god-grade paintings, they could meet with the dead. He trusted this myth and did everything that he could to achieve it.

    One of the Eight Pirs?

    <em>¡®Bullshit. I¡¯m just a normal human being.¡¯</em>

    He was just someone who wanted to be with the person that he loved.

    ¡°Rocado, hurt. Rocado, hurt!¡± Herakel hurriedly ran to where Rocado was.

    Rocado, sitting in front of the painting he was working on, fell on the ground just like that. <em>¡®I should have made a potion in advance.¡¯</em>

    Rocado did not make any potion because he thought he could meet her. But there was still a way.

    ¡°Herakel¡­¡±

    He could still make potions if Herakel could pick the herbs for him. After all, he was not the Jack-of-all-Trades for nothing. He could still make potions even on the brink of his death. However, he could not open his mouth.

    <em>¡®Herakel can¡¯t pick that herb.¡¯</em>

    The Herb of Breath could only be collected by someone with great DEX. If Rocado asked Herakel to collect such an herb and he failed to do so, then Herakel would resent himself for the rest of his life for failing to meet Rocado¡¯s request.

    ¡°...Herakel.¡±

    ¡°Rocado, hurt. Rocado, die¡­ die, can¡¯t!¡±

    At this moment, Rocado felt very sorry for Herakel.

    <em>¡®I have to ask him a favor. For Herakel¡¯s sake.¡¯</em>

    That unidentified challenger who was taking on the Trial of Restriction would fail. No. Even if that man had seeded, by the time he had walked out of that cave, Rocado would have already be a cold, stiff corpse. So, Rocado tried to tell Herakel to ask the man for a favor once he arrived here.

    <em>Thud¨C Thump, thump¨C</em>

    The crystal ball in Rocado¡¯s arms rolled on the ground. Rocado¡¯s eyes were drawn to the crystal ball that showed the figure of the man taking on the trial. However, what he saw in the crystal ball made his eyes widen from shock.

    Notifications were shing constantly on the crystal ball.

    <em>[The challenger took on the trial of the second, third, and fourth restrictions simultaneously.]</em>

    Rocado, who was almost at hisst breath, was left in shock.

    <em>¡®This¨C He¡¯s crazy¡­!¡¯</em>

    Did he challenge three trials all at once? How long has he been doing this?

    <em>¡®No one would be able tost twenty days from that. They would have already gone crazy by then.¡¯</em>

    Hunger, darkness, repetition, solitude¡ªall of thesebined could grind a human down and force them into madness. No matter how strong a person¡¯s mentality, they would still be unable to endure that.

    The trial was supposed tost an entire year or one whole day. However, if all three trials had been undertaken together, that time would have been significantly shortened.

    <em>¡®If that¡¯s the case, then perhaps he could still save me¡­¡¯</em>

    However, Rocado realized that it was nothing but a pipe dream. Rocado immediately abandoned this dream.

    <em>¡®No. He¡¯s crazy. Maybe the trial is already over,¡¯</em> Rocado thought as he focused on the crystal ball.

    Then, he saw the man, covered in sweat, swinging his sword non-stop inside the darkness where nothing else was in sight.

    At that moment, another notification appeared in Rocado¡¯s eyes.

    <em>[There are two minutes left in the second, third, and fourth trials.]</em>

    ¡°...?!¡±

    Rocado¡¯s eyes grew even wider. Not long after, he heard the man, still swinging his sword, mutter to himself.

    <em>[How long have I been doing this?]</em>

    <em>[Fifteen days? Twenty days?]</em>

    Exhaustion was evident in his voice.

    <em>[I¡¯m so hungry. I feel like dying. Please. I want to eat something.]</em>

    It was only natural. The restriction of eating would chip away at his sanity.

    <em>[I¡¯m so tired. I feel like my entire body will burst. I think I¡¯m going to go crazy after repeating these things over and over again.]</em>

    That was reasonable. Repeating an action non-stop would not only bring pain to one¡¯s body but would also bring pain to one¡¯s mentality.

    <em>[It¡¯s too dark. So scary. How long do I have to freaking stay in this ce?]</em>

    On top of that, the world around him is covered in darkness. However, despite his words, the young man continued to swing his sword. Even though he sounded so exhausted, he still kept on moving.

    <em>[But¡­]</em>

    Rocado¡¯s pupils started to shake as he looked at the young man through the crystal ball. He could see a slight smile on the man¡¯s face. And the words he uttered brought a shiver down Rocado¡¯s spine.

    <em>[...I can do it.]</em>

 Chapter 997

    Chapter 997

    <em>[The challenger haspleted the second, third, and fourth trials at the same time.]</em>

    <em>[The challenger has achieved 65% within the Cave of Restriction.]</em>

    The goosebumps that rose on his back brought a shiver down Rocado¡¯s spine.

    The darkness that brought fear upon the man slowly cleared out, the repetitive actions that made it hard for his body to cope stopped, and even the hunger that chased after him disappeared.

    Once the trial ended, the man hurriedly took a piece of bread out of his inventory and began to eat it.

    ¨C<em>I can do it.</em>

    This was an opportunity for Rocado to discover what kind of person this man was. <em>I can do it.</em> These words were words that anyone could say. However, a person could easily change their words at any time, depending on the situation that they were in. Perhaps it was nothing but someone else¡¯s arrogance or just someone¡¯s false bravado. However, the man spoke those words with great determination and conviction.

    ¨C<em>I can do it.</em>

    When he uttered those words, Rocado felt like the man was showing how he had ovee the hardships and trials presented to him. Although they were only four words, they clearly showed how the man lived his life.<em>¡®I think I can understand to some extent why he was able to clear the second, third, and fourth trials.¡¯</em>

    A bleak smile appeared on Rocado¡¯s pale face. He believed entrusting Herakel to that man would be fine once he wasid to eternal rest. Rocado had been very anxious. He could not stomach leaving Herakel to someone he did not know. However, that was no longer the case right now.

    Then, a bitter expression settled on Rocado¡¯s face. <em>¡®Please, that¡¯s enough. Please stop now.¡¯</em>

    There was onest trial left. The problem was that the final trial was the hardest and most difficult trial. It was so hard that even the system stated that one could choose not to take it as long as they achieved more than 50% in the first four trials.

    Rocado believed that the man would never be able to clear the fifth trial. Why?

    <em>¡®Because you will never be able to beat me.¡¯</em>

    Jack-of-all-Trades Rocado¡¯s clone would appear in that trial. Rocado¡¯s clone was just like Rocado. No. He was like Rocado in his prime. Because of that, Rocado believed that the man would not be able to clear the final trial.

    <em>¡®But if he can face another truth, things would be different.¡¯</em>

    But that sounded almost impossible. So, Rocado just hoped that the man would give up ande to this ce immediately.

    The man finally made his choice.

    <em>[The challenger chose to continue. He will now challenge the Cave of Restriction¡¯s final trial.]</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    Rocado looked at the crystal ball bitterly.

    Even if the man reached 50% achievement, if he failed to clear the final trial, then he would die. If that happened, then the road to this ce would disappear forever. Not only that, the dying Rocado would also die and disappear from the world.

    Rocado only had about an hour left.

    ¡°Urk¡­!¡± He vomited another mouthful of blood. After pondering deeply, he said, ¡°Herakel, even if he can¡¯te to this ce, make sure toe and find him. Tell him what I told you before and ask him for a favor.¡±

    Darkness slowly crept upon Rocado¡¯s vision the moment he finished his words.

    <em>Thud¨C</em>

    Then, he fainted.

    ***

    After clearing three trials, Minhyuk frantically ate bread to satisfy his hunger.

    The first few days, he did not feel any hunger. However, as time passed, an extreme hunger began to engulf him. The feeling was quite simr to what he felt during the worst time of his eating addiction. Because of that, he focused more on the repetitive actions that he was doing and forced his body to the limit.

    At that time, he pondered deeply about the words that he said.

    ¨C<em>I can do it.</em>

    These words carried tremendous powers. They were the reason why he could endure and continue to stand. These words were the words that made him into what he was now.

    Once he felt like his condition had stabilized to some extent, a series of notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[You havepleted the 1st~4th trials of the Cave of Restriction.]</em>

    <em>[You havepleted three Trials of Restriction with shocking results.]</em>

    <em>[Your total achievement rating is 65%.]</em>

    <em>[If you choose to leave the Cave of Restriction, you can ask Rocado to reinforce any of your artifacts once.]</em>

    <em>[There is onest trial remaining.]</em>

    <em>[You have reached more than 50% of the achievement inside the Cave of Restriction. You can now stop challenging the Trial of Restriction.]</em>

    <em>[Warning. The final restriction is tough to ovee.]</em>

    <em>[Warning. The final restriction is tough to ovee.]</em>

    Minhyuk had never experienced this before. The notification window was blinking non-stop, and had rmended that he stop the trial.

    <em>¡®In the first ce¡­¡¯</em>

    The trials set in this ce were impossible to clear. Even the first four trials were challenging. Even if an ordinary person could clear those trials, they would not be able to achieve more than 50% achievement.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s why I must challenge and see thest trial to the end.¡¯</em>

    The fact that the notification suggested that he stopped the challenge and did not take on thest trial meant that it was not something anyone could clear. However, Minhyuk had already found something out.

    <em>¡®Pir Ingredients.¡¯</em>

    He had already discovered that Pir Ingredients existed in this world. He just could not give up when one of those ingredients was already within his reach, no?

    ¡°Proceed to thest trial.¡±

    The notifications immediately rang.

    <em>[The final restriction has begun.]</em>

    <em>[The final restriction is frustration.]</em>

    <em>[You have to win against Jack-of-all-Trades Rocado.]</em>

    <em>¡®I have to go against Rocado and win?¡¯ </em>Minhyuk thought, an ominous feeling washing over him.

    The problem was this ominous feeling soon became a reality.

    <em>[You willpete against Jack-of-all-Trades Rocado in a never-ending match.]</em>

    <em>[In thispetition against Rocado, you must create something non-stop.]</em>

    <em>[You can choose whatever you want to produce.]</em>

    <em>[The system observes you and your opponent. The system will temporarily increase your DEX and skills rted to DEX and production.]</em>

    <em>[You already possess a power beyond the level that the system can increase. You will not receive an increase in stats and skills.]</em>

    <em>[It will be considered a victory if you can create the highest grade of whatever you want to produce and reach 70% of Rocado¡¯s score within three days.]</em>

    <em>[Everything that you produce will be given a score.]</em>

    <em>[God-grade will receive 10 points. Legendary-grade will receive 7 points. Epic-grade will receive 5 points. Anything below these grades will not have any corresponding scores.]</em>

    <em>[You will continue topete against Rocado even if you lose.]</em>

    <em>[It doesn¡¯t matter how long thepetition will take. In reality, only five minutes will pass.]</em>

    <em>¡®...Oh my f*cking god?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s jaw dropped when he saw that he had topete and win against Jack-of-all-Trades Rocado. That man was the Father of Dexterity, you know? However, Minhyuk thought that he might still have a chance.

    <em>¡®If it¡¯s 70%, then¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk possessed the highest DEX among the current yers and known NPCs in Athenae. But that was not all. His DEX had continued to increase with the dozens of dishes he made daily. Compared to the chances of Hyemin¡¯sDaddy, a yer with an extremely high DEX, creating a God-rank artifact, Minhyuk¡¯s chances of making a God-grade dish were several times higher. This meant that Minhyuk had a high probability of making several high-grade dishes.

    <em>¡®He might be one of the Eight Pirs, but¡­¡¯</em>

    He thought that it was worth a try.

    The walls of the cave that surrounded Minhyuk changed. Now, he was standing on a vast and never-ending meadow.

    <em>[You can create the ingredients and tools that you need just by imagining it. You can even make a kitchen or a smithy.]</em>

    As long as he could imagine it, it would appear and be created before him.

    Finally, Minhyuk saw Rocado appear in front of him. The Rocado in front of Minhyuk differed from the Rocado that Herakel had described.

    <em>¡®From what I heard, he looks like a middle-aged man, though?¡¯</em>

    But the Rocado standing in front of him looked like a young man. And he was even looking at Minhyuk with an indifferent gaze.

    ¡°Hello?¡± Minhyuk said.

    However, Rocado did not respond. Then, another series of notifications rang.

    <em>[The Rocado in front of you is a clone of the real Rocado.]</em>

    <em>[Clone Rocado has Rocado¡¯s power during his prime.]</em>

    Only then did Minhyuk realize that the Rocado before him was not the real Rocado.

    <em>¡®I could make ten legendary-grade dishes in a row in the past.¡¯</em>

    It happened quite a long time ago, but it was true that he made those dishes. He even won the bet against the God of Cooking back then. This time, he had a three-day deadline. But even if he failed, he could still continue making whatever he wanted to make repeatedly. Minhyuk believed that he would be able to replicate what he had achieved back then.

    Then, the notification rang once again.

    <em>[Thepetition will now begin.]</em>

    Rocado, who instantly created a massive smithy in front of him, walked inside. Minhyuk looked at him as he imagined an optimized kitchen to help him make better dishes. The moment he thought of it, it appeared right before him.

    <em>¡®With this, my chances have gone up.¡¯</em>

    If one thought about it, this trial was a challenge of creating as many high-grade items as possible. And when it came to artifact production? It would take a lot of time. At least a lot more time than cooking. Because of that, Minhyuk thought that Clone Rocado¡¯s choice was a mistake.

    <em>[The Jack-of-all-Trades¡¯ eleration has been activated.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk turned to look at Rocado in doubt. He had no choice but to correct his thoughts when he saw what was happening.

    <em>Fwiiiiish¨C</em>

    <em>ng! ng! ng!</em>

    Rocado was moving swiftly. One nce and Minhyuk could tell that he was moving at least ten times faster, just like how he moved when he used the skill <em>The Famished One¡¯s Cooking.</em>

    <em>¡®No. I can¡¯t even see his movements?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s <em>The Famished One¡¯s Cooking </em>was a skill that allowed him to move ten times faster. But Rocado¡¯s <em>eleration</em> allowed him to move at least twenty times faster than usual.

    Rocado only left his afterimage behind as the iron heated up and smoke rose from the smithy''s chimney.

    ¡°I can¡¯t lose either.¡±

    Minhyuk immediately calmed himself down. He also sped up his pace by triggering <em>The Famished One¡¯s Cooking.</em>

    <em>¡®We should start on the right foot.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was thinking of moving quickly and making a high-grade dish with spicy stir-fried pork. Of course, all of the ingredients he used were God-grade ingredients he imagined himself. But just when Minhyuk had started to stir-fry the meat with the seasonings on the heated pan¡­

    <em>[Rocado haspleted a God-rank Sword.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡± Minhyuk was left dumbfounded.

    What kind of speed was that? Wasn¡¯t that far too ridiculous? At most, only five minutes had passed since they started, right? But Rocado was able to make it. A bright light burst out from within the smithy as a sword covered in light floated to the sky.

    Minhyuk gulped dryly. He was distracted from his cooking after seeing a scene he had never seen before.

    This time, Rocado left the smithy and sat on the grass. A huge ster appeared right before him, an item used for making a sculpture. Then, several mysterious hands appeared in the air. If one looked closely, one would determine that those hands belonged to Rocado. These hands, along with Rocado¡¯s own hands, started carving.

    Minhyuk had been too naive and careless. The Eight Pirs were the key figures of the world.

    Take Obren, for example. He had ughtered millions of people during his prime. If he had taken the wrong path and was left to be a viin, he might have just killed all of humanity.

    Then, there was Helenia. She had ughtered the transcendentals and posed a considerable threat to the Land of the Gods.

    There was also Athenae. She was the god who ruled the world.

    And there was Jack-of-all-Trades Rocado. Minhyuk had heard he was a human with a close rtionship with Herakel.

    Perhaps Minhyuk underestimated Rocado because he had never heard of his achievements. After all, there was no story about him or anything circting.

    A magnificent and outstanding statue waspleted in less than fifty minutes.

    <em>[Rocado haspleted a God-grade Sculpture.]</em>

    Minhyuk could only stare nkly at Rocado. Rocado did not choose to focus on one thing. He made it so he would create something from each production ss profession one after another.

    After he finished the sculpture, Rocado moved on to painting and cooking.

    <em>[Rocado haspleted a legendary-grade Dish.]</em>

    This time, he moved on to jewelry making.

    <em>[Rocado haspleted a God-rank Ne.]</em>

    Minhyuk could only watch Rocado¡¯s overwhelming disy of power. Of course, he had also judged that watching Rocado work would benefit him and whatever he would produce.

    Finally, Rocado¡¯s pace slowed down. It seemed like the Jack-of-all-Trades¡¯ eleration had finally ended. Even the multiple hands that surrounded him also disappeared. However, that did not remove the fact that Rocado was moving at a tremendous speed as he continued to make various things.

    <em>[Rocado haspleted a legendary-rank Armor.]</em>

    <em>[Rocado haspleted a legendary-rank Sculpture.]</em>

    <em>[Rocado haspleted a legendary-rank Sailing Boat.]</em>

    <em>[Rocado¡­]</em>

    <em>[Rocado¡­]</em>

    Minhyuk felt his mouth grow dry as he listened to the notifications that constantly rang in his ears. He was so engrossed with the scene before him that he unknowingly let time pass by just like that.

    Once three days had ended, Minhyuk was greeted with the countless items that Rocado had created. They were stacked behind him like a mountain.

    <em>[Rocado has created a total of 9 God-grade items.]</em>

    <em>[Rocado has created a total of 51 legendary-grade items.]</em>

    <em>[Rocado has created a total of 37 epic-grade items.]</em>

    <em>[Rocado¡¯s total score is 632.]</em>

    A sense of loss suddenly washed over Minhyuk. Then, the notifications rang once again.

    <em>[You are the only person who has watched one of the Eight Pirs, Rocado, work for three straight days.]</em>

    <em>[In his prime, Rocado could make around 20 God-grade items in a single day.]</em>

    <em>[Rocado is not only a human but also the living and breathing myth and the pir that ruled and controlled dexterity.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained a 1% increase in DEX as a reward.]</em>

    However, the notification did not bring Minhyuk joy. For the first time in his life, Minhyuk thought, <em>¡®Can I really do this?¡¯</em>

    At the same time.

    Herakel was left restless as he gently ced Rocado, who had lost consciousness, on his bed. He was so helpless that he could only stomp his feet as he watched Minhyuk through the crystal ball.

    ¡°Have to do it. Have to save Rocado,¡± Herakel mumbled as he started to cry.

    In Herakel¡¯s eyes, no one in the world could beat Rocado when it came to things rted to dexterity. That was why he cried despite saying that Minhyuk had to do it.

    Then, Herakel remembered the conversation that he had with Rocado in the past.

    ¨C<em>Rocado. Herakel knows no one can beat you in the world. Herakel is correct, right? But Herakel thinks thest trial is strange.</em>

    <em>¨CThat¡¯s right, Herakel. No one in the world can beat me when ites to things rted to dexterity. That is why the name of the trial is ¡°Frustration.¡± </em>

    <em>¨CStrange! If you can¡¯t do it, then why did Rocado make it? Herakel thinks it¡¯s strange!</em>

    Back then, Rocado chuckled lightly at him.

    ¨C<em>Actually, that trial has two restrictions. Even I can¡¯t tell which of the two restrictions is the trial¡¯s actual restriction. One of them is the Restriction of Frustration. You should know that, right?</em>

    <em>¨CHerakel knows! Didn¡¯t Rocado tell Herakel that just now?</em>

    Rocado smiled, pride evident on his face. Then, Herakel, whose curiosity had been piqued, asked.

    ¨C<em>Herakel wants to know. What is the other one?</em>

    Herakel wanted to know the other restriction. The one that made Rocado say that he did not know which of the two was the actual restriction of the trial. Rocado chuckled as he raised one finger.

    ¨C<em>It¡¯s none other than the Restriction of Patience.</em>

 Chapter 998

    Chapter 998

    Special yers Management Team.

    President Kang Taehoon, Employee Lee Minhwa, Team Leader Park Minggyu, and Manager Kim Dae-Il watched yer Minhyuk through the screen.

    In just three days, Jack-of-all-Trades Rocado obtained a score of 632. It was a shocking record. On the screen, they could see the despair on Minhuk¡¯s face. He looked like he had suffered a significant loss.

    ¡°It¡¯s not that easy to meet with one of the Eight Pirs,¡± Manager Kim Dae-Il said.

    This was especially the case for Rocado. After all, among the Eight Pirs, he was the only one who could bestow power upon someone. The ridiculous items that he produced could disy an equally absurd amount of power.

    Because of that, the Story Team made it so Rocado would only live briefly. Why? That was because Athenae¡¯s bnce would be broken entirely when Rocado appeared and started to create artifacts.

    Team Leader Park nodded. ¡°That¡¯s not all. Clone Rocado¡¯s priority is to make items as quickly as possible. As for the various powers and skills in his possession? He hasn¡¯t shown everything yet. If he used those powers, the items he produced would be more overpowered than those he had produced now.¡±

    That was right. The items that Rocado had created were nothing but mass-produced items. Once he tried to make something outstanding, more outrageous items would appear. This was why they all deemed that the Cave of Restriction and the Restriction of Frustration created by the Story Team were impossible to clear.

    Beforeing here, President Kang Taehoon visited Athenae to ask her.¨C<em>What is the probability of yer Minhyuk clearing the Restriction of Frustration?</em>

    Supeputer Athenae replied.

    ¨C<em>0.01%.</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    This conclusion was made after Athenae had analyzed everything, including yer Minhyuk¡¯s overwhelming DEX. It was pretty hard to believe that Minhyuk, a yer with the highest DEX and someone who made the most high-grade dishes among the yers of Athenae, only had a 0.01% chance of sess.

    ¡°yer Minhyuk¡¯s greed had made him miss the opportunity to have his artifact reinforced and Evangelpleted,¡± Manager Kim Dae-Il said.

    Dae-Il also liked and respected yer Minhyuk. However, he firmly believed that the young man¡¯s challenge to this trial, despite the system¡¯s warning, was mere arrogance just because he wanted to obtain the Pir Ingredient.

    The Trial of Frustration could go on for hundreds of years, depending on the challenger''s desires. However, humans were far too weak. Minhyuk would continue to feel how impossible this task was, and that horrifying feeling would gnaw away at his spirit and mentality until he copsed.

    At that moment, Team Leader Park rubbed his chin and said, ¡°We don¡¯t know yet if the ending of Rocado¡¯s story will be a tragedy or a happy ending.¡±

    Team Leader Park was trying to say they should not make any hasty conclusions since yer Minhyuk has not yet failed.

    ¡°I hope the ending to Rocado¡¯s Story is happy.¡±

    NPC Rocado¡¯s story, which Athenae¡¯s Story Team created, was sad and pitiful. Anyone could experience it. Perhaps they would also understand how he became the protagonist of this tragic and pitiful story.

    ¡°I hope so, too.¡± President Kang smiled bitterly.

    Lee Minhwa suddenly piped, ¡°The yer Minhyuk that I know would not give up so easily.¡±

    None of them answered. They also wanted to believe her words.

    Taehoon thought, <em>¡®We¡¯ll have to see if this will be a tragedy or a happy ending.¡¯</em>

    At the same time, he recalled the rest of his conversation with Athenae.

    ¨C<em>0.01%.</em><em>That¡¯s like saying that it¡¯s impossible.</em>

    Athenae remained silent for a long time.

    ¨C<em>But¡­</em>

    <em>¨C...?</em>

    President Kang Taehoon stood up straighter. His ears perked up as he focused on the word ¡°but.¡±

    ¨C<em>If he learns the truth about this Trial of Restriction, his chances will increase to 20%.</em>

    <em>¨C...!</em>

    President Kang Taehoon wondered as he continued to stare at the monitor. Would Minhyuk be able to learn the truth?

    ***

    When the secondpetition began, Minhyuk finally realized Rocado¡¯s worth and started cooking. He was giving it his all.

    Minhyuk shone the brightest when he was trying to do something and facing something others thought impossible to conquer. He slowly fell into a trance as he continued to work, filled with determination and the will to win.

    The Divine Will gave Minhyuk the strength to cook non-stop for three days. Even his overwhelming DEX helped him during the secondpetition.

    After three days¡­

    <em>[You havepleted 1 God-grade item.]</em>

    <em>[You havepleted ten legendary-grade items.]</em>

    <em>[You havepleted 17 epic-grade items.]</em>

    <em>[Your total score is 165.]</em>

    The tense and strained Minhyuk slowly came out of his trance and finally breathed a sigh of relief. Not long after, he heard Rocado¡¯s score.

    <em>[Rocado¡¯s total score is 731.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s face grew twisted.

    <em>¡®Where did I go wrong? Did I lose my concentration? Or did I make a mistake while cooking?¡¯ </em>He questioned himself after seeing Rocado¡¯s score, almost four times his score. <em>¡®Or maybe I chose the wrong dish?¡¯</em>

    He questioned himself non-stop. However, he could tell he had not done anything wrong and achieved an incredibly ridiculous result as a yer.

    One God-grade dish.

    Ten legendary-grade dishes.

    And seventeen epic-grade dishes.

    Other production-ss yers would need help to create even half of what Minhyuk has created here. That was right. There was nothing wrong with what he had done. It was just¡­

    <em>¡®Rocado is far too unreachable.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk suddenly wondered if he could really do it. However, those thoughts quickly disappeared.

    <em>¡®I can do it.¡¯</em>

    He remembered the words when he was working out to battle and ovee his eating addiction, and his muscles felt like they were being ripped apart. The exact words rang in his head when his knees were hurting to the point where he felt like he was going to break and fall.

    <em>I can do it.</em>

    Minhyuk reflected on those words.

    <em>There is nothing impossible in this world.</em>

    ¡°Again.¡±

    Thepetition started again. This time, it was easier for Minhyuk to fall into a trance. He devoted himself to his cooking andpletely forgot about the existence of the man named Rocado. He even forgot that he was in apetition and continued to do his best as he cooked.

    His luck was quite good. He could serve two God-grade dishes in a row, a feat that would be difficult to replicate in the future. That was not all; even the number of legendary and epic-grade dishes he produced then was rtively high.

    Minhyuk felt delighted when he finished thest dish.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s right. If it¡¯s like this, then maybe I have a chance.¡¯</em>

    Perhaps he would win. However, the wall he had to ovee was too high and sturdy.

    <em>[Your total score is 285.]</em>

    <em>[Rocado¡¯s total score is 697.]</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    Minhyuk gritted his teeth.

    Of course, there were times when his luck was good while Rocado¡¯s luck was terrible. If those things were repeated, they would ovep and produce an advantage for Minhyuk. If that happened, then Minhyuk would gain victory.

    <em>¡®I only need to reach 70% of Rocado¡¯s score.¡¯</em>

    <em>[Your total score is 275.]</em>

    <em>[Rocado¡¯s total score is 511.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s face grew ugly. He did not know what to feel.

    <em>¡®I¡­ I can¡¯t do it¡­?¡¯</em>

    In his entire life, the only time that he felt <em>frustration</em> was when he was battling his eating addiction. But now, something else was making him feel frustrated. And this frustration was starting to devour him.

    <em>No matter how hard I try, I will not be able to win. </em>

    <em>I can¡¯t win against Rocado. I should give up now.</em>

    <em>It will only be a waste of time.</em>

    The frustration was starting to suffocate him. But he gritted his teeth.

    Again.

    <em>[Your total score is 175.]</em>

    <em>[Rocado¡¯s total score is 890.]</em>

    And again.

    <em>[Your total score is 241.]</em>

    <em>[Rocado¡¯s total score is 766.]</em>

    He did not back down.

    <em>[Your total score is 111.]</em>

    <em>[Rocado¡¯s total score is 1,031.]</em>

    He did not fall.

    <em>[Your total score is 103.]</em>

    <em>[Rocado¡¯s total score is 675.]</em>

    He continued.

    <em>[Your total score is 87...]</em>

    <em>[Rocado¡¯s total score is 755...]</em>

    Minhyuk no longer knew how many days had passed since he started this. He ended up pounding the ground crazily with his fists. No matter how hard he tried or how he told himself he could do it, things just wouldn¡¯t work out his way. After all, the restriction in this trial was <em>frustration.</em>

    ¡°Shit! Shit! Shit!¡±

    He thought he could get closer, but the more he fought, the more he felt like he was getting further and further away from Rocado.

    More than two months had already passed. However, despite the time, Minhyuk still had not progressed much. Even so, he still gritted his teeth.

    ¡°Frustration? There¡¯s nothing that can make me frustrated in this life!¡±

    Minhyuk gave it another try. This time, he made <em>poison.</em> He cooked the dish with all his venom, bitterness, and resentment.

    <em>[Your total score is 55...]</em>

    However, that poison slowly encroached upon Minhyuk and began to devour him. Despite that, he continued again, and again, and again, and again. He did not stop challenging the trial. In the end, Minhyuk fell to the ground. The feeling of frustration tormented him.

    <em>I can¡¯t do it. No matter how much I tell myself I can do it, I still can¡¯t.</em>

    But he still stood up.

    <em>¡®Even so, I have to do it.¡¯</em>

    He continued to challenge this never-endingpetition. In just a blink, five months had passed in the trial. At this point, Minhyuk did not know what he was doing anymore. He felt like his mind and spirit were copsing on their own.

    He sprawled on the ground andughed like a madman. ¡°Ha¨C Hahahahahahaha! Hahahahahahaha!¡±

    In reality, Minhyuk was no god. He was just a normal human being who made crazy efforts to reach where he was today. And a human like him dared to think he could beat one of the Eight Pirs, a being that was even superior to a god?

    <em>No. I have to do it.</em>

    Just like that, the sixth month passed. Minhyuk¡¯s head suddenly turned nk. With his hands on his knees, he supported his body as he gasped for air. He looked exhausted.

    His rapidly beating heart made it feel like his surroundings were caving in on him. Then, Minhyuk¡¯s body started to tremble as he cried and wailed.

    ***

    Joy Co. Ltd.

    An emergency meeting has been called.

    For Minhyuk, who was inside Athenae, six months had already passed. However, in reality, only a few minutes had passed. This was one of the main reasons why the executives could check in on him and watch his situation from time to time.

    Through the video, everyone could see how frustrated Minhyuk was. As the executives watched him, one said, ¡°Did he go crazy¡­? How can a sane person do something repeatedly for six months straight?¡±

    ¡°This ispletely different from before. Even though yer Minhyuk had always done hard and repeatedbor, he had never gone past a month.¡±

    Kim Han-Wool, a psychiatrist who was also in attendance for this meeting, said, ¡°And this has gone on for six months straight. An ordinary person would have already gone crazy. In the first ce, a person can''t aplish what he wants to do. Even if he stays there for six months or longer, if things continue at this rate, then Minhyuk will be in danger.¡±

    ¡°Do you think that he has already reached his limit?¡± Kang Taehoon asked with a grave tone in his voice.

    ¡°He has already gone beyond his limit. You can see it, can¡¯t you? During those six months, the frustration has been tormenting him. It has been weighing down on him non-stop. Look at him now.¡±

    On the monitor, they saw Minhyuk shaking and sobbing with his hands on his knees. Seeing this, the executives piped up one after another.

    ¡°We have to stop this right away.¡±

    ¡°This is now beyond our game.¡±

    ¡°We all know that yer Minhyuk is an outstanding yer. However, this is still too much for him.¡±

    ¡°Please make a decision now. We have to force him to log out!¡±

    ¡°President!¡±

    Kang Taehoon could not deny the words of his executives. Even though the management and the operators should not directly intervene in the game and a yer¡¯s decision, they must stop him now. They had to stop him even if yer Minhyuk wanted to continue the challenge. At the same time, he wanted to apud and praise him.

    ¡°I admire him.¡±

    He kept repeating what he was doing for six months without any achievements and only frustration. No one in this room could achieve this, but it was enough.

    Kang Taehoon looked at the wailing Minhyuk and said, ¡°We will force yer Minhyuk to log¡­¡±

    But then¡­

    <em>[I¡­]</em>

    The crying Minhyuk tightened his hold on his knees as he wiped his tears away. Then, he slowly stood up and looked at Rocado with an indescribable expression. Then, with a bitterugh, he said.

    <em>[...can do it.]</em>

    <em>[I will do it.]</em>

    <em>[I¡­ will not lose.]</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    yer Minhyuk took one shaky breath after another until he had calmed down and regained his stability. Then, he clenched his fists tightly.

    Everyone in the room was rendered speechless. The only thing that they could do was apud this yer and his pride.

    However, the world-renowned psychiatrist, Kim Han-Wool, opened his mouth and said, ¡°We still have to stop this. This is already beyond ridiculous. If we followmon sense¡­¡±

    Team Leader Park Minggyu interrupted him and said, ¡°That¡¯s right. Common sense would dictate that this is beyond ridiculous.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Team Leader Park stared at the monitor and focused on Minhyuk¡¯s clenched fists as he continued, ¡°I have looked into eating addiction. I found out that this is just a different name for the disease. And it was a disease that has existed for a long time.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°ording to what I have researched, all patients suffering from eating addiction had died before the age of 21. To this date, the survival rate of patients suffering from this disease is zero.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Team Leader Park made eye contact with Han-Wool. ¡°But yer Minhyuk has gone against that zero survival rate. He has gone past improvement and is almost reaching aplete recovery. This is something that neither we nor a doctor like you can exin.¡±

    Han-Wool shut his mouth because Minggyu was right.

    Ever since eating addiction had be an issue, many doctors had gathered together to dig deeper into the disease. However, the only thing that they found out was that this disease had zero survival rate. That was why Han-Wool was impressed that Minhyuk could ovee such a disease. After all, he has already reached a realm no ordinary human could attain.

    When Team Leader Park saw Minhyuk shake and tremble, he thought stopping him was also the correct choice. However, when he saw Minhyuk on the monitor again, he could not help but smile faintly.

    ¡°That¡¯s the kind of person he is.¡±

 Chapter 999

    Chapter 999

    World-renowned psychiatrist Kim Han-Wool was a colleague of Minhyuk¡¯s personal doctor, Lee Jinhwan, at Seoul University¡¯s medical school.

    ¨C<em>Honestly, it was shocking for me. I witnessed an ordinary person ovee the countless papers, materials, and studies we researched and presented.</em>

    Those were the words that Lee Jinhwan had said while they were out drinking.

    ¨C<em>I prayed and hoped from the bottom of my heart for that child to endure and hold out. I kept on asking god, why? Why do you have to take him? I was aware. All of the medical evidence and research that we had done had pointed to that child¡¯s death. </em>

    Jinhwan chuckled as he emptied a ss of alcohol.

    ¨C<em>But that child did it. That¡¯s the kind of person that child is.</em>

    <em>¨C...</em>

    Han-Wool just clinked his ss with Jinhwan back then. He never really understood why Jinhwan was praising the child so much. As a stubborn and straightced doctor, Han-Wool believed the child¡¯s improvement after meeting <em>Athenae</em> was a lucky coincidence.

    Thanks to this game called <em>Athenae</em>, that child was able to improve. Because of that, other patients suffering from eating addiction would also be able to improve by ying the game. Then, Team Leader Park said, ¡°That¡¯s the kind of person he is.¡±

    Those words made Kim Han-Wool¡¯s heart shake. He had always believed something if it was proven medically and had a scientific basis. He did not believe in miracles<em>.</em>

    Team Leader Park¡¯s words carried a lot of meaning. Han-Wool had already admitted that Minhyuk had already gone beyond the limits of a human being at this point.

    <em>¡®How can someone only 21 years old do something like that for six months straight?¡¯</em>

    It¡¯s already beyond what Kim Han-Wool could exin. The man was frustrated. Extreme frustration would often make one feel helpless and lethargic. But he kept on saying the same thing again and again.

    <em>[I can do it.]</em>

    Kim Han-Wool was speechless as he watched Minhyuk smile bitterly on the screen.

    ¡°I am just one of the team leaders of this gamingpany. However, I would like to ask you to let us keep watching yer Minhyuk, who wants to stand back on his feet a bit longer. Just for another month. If anything happens, I will take full responsibility for the matter.¡±

    Team Leader Park''s words were evidence of how highly he viewed yer Minhyuk. The executives were already speechless when they saw Minhyuk stand back up despite the overwhelming number of setbacks he had faced.

    Was there indeed someone like that?

    A person who would show all the sincerity in the world and put so much effort into what he was doing. A person who would ignore their inferiorityplex and strive to do well. This was the type of person Minhyuk was.

    ¡°I¡¯ll take responsibility. Let us wait and see first, Doctor Kim Han-Wool,¡± President Kang Taehoon said.

    Kim Han-Wool looked at the executives, who had agreed to stop Minhyuk with him before. He could tell that they also wanted to give Minhyuk another shot so he could get back on his feet once more. He closed his eyes and pondered deeply about the matter.

    Han-Wool slowly nodded and said, ¡°I have lived and worked as a doctor for a long time. It seems like today would be a special day for me.¡±

    He was a stubborn and old-fashioned man who had always chosen to stop his patients and their guardians whenever they tried to cross the line he had set. But this time, it was different.

    ¡°If Minhyuk can truly do it, then perhaps this would be a turning point in my life as a doctor.¡± Han-Wool chuckled bitterly.

    One more month. He had decided to give Minhyuk that much time.

    They all watched the days pass by in the video. Then, President Kang Taehoon suddenly jumped up from his seat. Even the executives reacted the same way as him.

    Then, Team Leader Park said, ¡°He has opened up a possibility.¡±

    It was because of a notification window that popped up on the screen.

    ***

    Minhyuk felt refreshed after he had cried. The words ¡°I can¡¯t do it.¡±, which had eroded his mind and almost devoured his sanity, disappeared as he recalled and pondered over the words ¡°I can do it.¡± once more.

    The words ¡°I can do it.¡± were words that could only give Minhyuk strength. But now, it meant far more than that. It was like him saying, ¡°I will continue doing it until I can do it.¡± Because that was the kind of person that he was.

    Aftering back to his senses, Minhyuk began cooking once again. This time, his consciousness was sharper and brighter than ever. Even the Divine Will gave him greater power after it got triggered. Perhaps this was God''s way of praising those who had stood up after being left in frustration. Not only that, but his luck was turning for the better, too. High-grade dishes continued to appear one after the other.

    Armed with the determination to obtain the Pir Ingredient, Minhyuk worked non-stop. He evenpletely forgot about his exhaustion.

    Three days passed by just like that. In those three days, a smile had always lingered on Minhyuk¡¯s face. Why? Because he realized that he was someone who had not yet fallen to that extent.

    Then, the notifications rang.

    <em>[Your total score is 297.]</em>

    <em>[Rocado¡¯s total score is 675]</em>

    The wall named Rocado was still far too high. However, this was the highest Minhyuk¡¯s score had ever reached during the six months he had been doing this. For him, that was enough.

    Minhyuk continued to cook. He had already confirmed his limits. Frustration? It no longer bothered him. When he focused on what kind of person he was and how long he hadsted, he felt as if his mind had grown lighter and clearer.

    <em>[Your total score¡­]</em>

    <em>[Rocado¡¯s total score¡­]</em>

    He could no longer recall how many times he had done this. Even though his score remained far below Rocado¡¯s, Minhyuk tried again. He just lightly shook off the thought about scores and began cooking again.

    <em>[Something hidden within the Trial of Restriction: Frustration shows signs of being revealed.]</em>

    <em>[Your chances of creating something extraordinary have increased by 10%.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk looked at the notifications in confusion when he saw that something hidden inside the trial was rearing its head and revealing itself. Not only that, but it also helped Minhyuk produce higher-grade dishes.

    The restriction of slumber required him to ovee sleep. The restriction of darkness required him to endure and ovee the darkness-filled world. The restriction of repetition needed him to ovee the limits of his body. So, what about the limitation of frustration? Was he required to ovee frustration? To some extent, Minhyuk had tamped down and suppressed this <em>frustration.</em>

    With the notifications, Minhyuk gained more energy. Although the chances increased by only 10%, his motivation and strength to go further were boosted.

    He repeated thepetition again and again. He went on for three, six, nine days.

    <em>[Something hidden within the Trial of Restriction: Frustration is showing signs of being revealed.]</em>

    <em>[Your chances of creating something extraordinary have increased by 15%.]</em>

    Minhyuk continued to cook.

    And there was something that he found interesting. Throughout thispetition, Minhyuk had made more than tens of thousands of dishes. This was a beneficial experience. Although he would not be able to acquire any DEX here, the fact that his cooking would grow even better once he left this ce was enough for him.

    Then, fifteen days passed by.

    <em>[Something hidden within the Trial of Restriction: Frustration is slowly being revealed.]</em>

    <em>[Your chances of creating something extraordinary have increased by 20%.]</em>

    <em>[Your total score is 329.]</em>

    <em>[Rocado¡¯s total score is 701.]</em>

    The gap between him and Rocado was slowly narrowing down.

    Joy Co. Ltd., who dered they would stop him after a month, knew that Minhyuk could continue. There was no longer any need to stop him.

    Minhyuk¡¯s face grew brighter and brighter by the day. Every inch of his body screamed at him after he had cooked tens of thousands of dishes. Even so, he did not stop.

    <em>¡®The notifications have changed.¡¯</em>

    The words ¡°showing signs of being revealed¡± had now changed into ¡°slowly being revealed.¡± For some reason, he felt like whatever was hidden was already within his reach.

    After another dozen days.

    <em>[Something hidden within the Trial of Restriction: Frustration has started to reveal itself.]</em>

    <em>[Your chances of creating something extraordinary have increased by 25%.]</em>

    It was finallying to an end. With the massive boost in his chances, the grades of the dishes that Minhyuk would cook would be higher than ever. Of course, this effect was temporary and would only be in effect inside the Restriction of Frustration. Even so, the delighted smile on Minhyuk¡¯s face did not diminish.

    <em>¡®The wall named Rocado was something that I couldn¡¯t reach¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>[Your total score is 378.]</em>

    <em>[Rocado¡¯s total score is 699.]</em>

    He was finally able to touch it. Just a bit more. Minhyuk felt he only needed to tiptoe a bit, and he could stretch his hands further and reach the top of that wall. He needed to work just a bit harder.

    <em>¡®A little more¡­!¡¯</em>

    Another dozen days passed by. No new notifications popped up. But after eleven, twenty, thirty days, the thing hidden inside this trial finally revealed itself.

    <em>[Something hidden within the Trial of Restriction: Frustration has revealed itself.]</em>

    <em>[This is the only way for one to ovee frustration.]</em>

    <em>[It is a different, actual restriction hidden underneath the restriction of frustration.]</em>

    <em>[The Restriction of Frustration has changed into the Restriction of Patience.]</em>

    <em>[Your patience and endurance have paid off.]</em>

    <em>[Your chances of creating something extraordinary have increased by 50%.]</em>

    <em>[Your chances will no longer be increased.]</em>

    <em>[Your patience has started to erode and break down the thick and sturdy wall of frustration that has blocked your path.]</em>

    Minhyuk unknowingly started to cry once again. He finally learned that his struggle against frustration was not done in vain.

    Minhyuk began to cook again.

    The night passed, and day broke through.

    The sun had set, and the moon rose to the skies.

    The stars faded away as bright clouds appeared in the sky once again.

    <em>[You havepleted a God-grade item.]</em>

    Once more.

    <em>[You havepleted a God-grade item.]</em>

    Once again.

    <em>[You havepleted a God-grade item.]</em>

    Again.

    <em>[You havepleted a God-grade item.]</em>

    And again.

    <em>[You havepleted a God-grade item.]</em>

    This luck would onlye once in one¡¯s lifetime. But for someone to use such luck, they had to make an effort and back it up.

    After hundreds of days of hard work, Minhyuk had created a synergy with his once-in-a-lifetime luck. He had produced five God-grade dishes in a row. If he were outside in Athenae, the notifications would leave all the yers dumbfounded.

    But things weren¡¯t over yet. Only a day has passed since he started cooking. Minhyuk continued to pleted a Legendary-grade pleted a Legendary-grade pleted an Epic-grade item.]

    Minhyuk was smiling brightly despite the sweat dripping down his forehead.

    <em>¡®My luck is excellent today.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk knew that it was okay to lose. As long as he could continue repeating his strategy, there woulde a day when his luck would be extremely good.

    What was his score? How many dishes has he made? What were the grades of his dishes? Minhyuk no longer noticed these things.

    <em>[You have fallen into an extreme trance.]</em>

    He no longer knew how many times the notifications rang in his ears. Even the notifications about the creation of God-grade, legendary-grade, and epic-grade items no longer registered in his ears.

    Minhyuk, who was crazily absorbed in his work, moved with sweat dripping down his body like a waterfall.

    ***

    Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s conference room.

    The executives and operators held their breath as they witnessed an incredibly unbelievable situation.

    <em>[Currently, Rocado¡¯s total score is 464.]</em>

    <em>[Currently, Minhyuk¡¯s total score is 436.]</em>

    Minhyuk finally exceeded 70% of Rocado¡¯s score. This was utterly unbelievable. Through perseverance, he overcame the 0.01% probability that Athenae had initially calcted.

    Everyone watched with bated breaths.

    It looked like Minhyuk¡¯s luck was very good today. On the other hand, Rocado¡¯s luck went down the drain. There were only four hours left.

    <em>¡®If Rocado picks up his speed again, then Minhyuk might just lose,¡¯ </em>President Kang Taehoon thought as he loosened his tie.

    Then, something very rming happened.

    <em>[Rocado has made a God-grade item.]</em>

    <em>[Rocado has made a God-grade item.]</em>

    <em>[Rocado has made a God-grade item.]</em>

    Rocado started to make high-grade items one after another. With this, Minhyuk¡¯s score, which had surpassed 70% of Rocado¡¯s score, had dropped back to 65%.

    <em>¡®Right now, yer Minhyuk is only slightly worse than Rocado.¡¯</em>

    His chances of creating higher-grade dishes had increased by more than 100%. And even his luck was good. But¡­ in the end, would he still return to square one?

    The conference hall was filled with another round of surprised gasps this time.

    <em>[Minhyuk has made a God-grade item.]</em>

    Everyone¡¯s eyes grew wide with surprise.

    <em>[Minhyuk has made a God-grade item.]</em>

    Someone gulped dryly.

    <em>[Minhyuk has made a God-grade item.]</em>

    Someone was so shocked that they eventually gasped loudly.

    <em>[Minhyuk has made a God-grade item.]</em>

    Someone even spat out a curse, saying, <em>¡®Shit¡­!¡¯</em>

    Finally, the Restriction of Patience hidden underneath the Restriction of Frustration had ended and bore fruit.

    <em>[The Trial of Restriction: Frustration has ended.]</em>

    <em>[Rocado¡¯s total score is 515.]</em>

    <em>[Minhyuk¡¯s total score is 518.]</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    All of the executives present in the room had gone mute.

    The condition forpleting the Restriction of Frustration was for Minhyuk to reach 70% of Rocado¡¯s score.

    <em>¡®He won?¡¯</em>

 Chapter 1000

    Chapter 1000

    Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s conference room was engulfed in silence.

    For Minhyuk toplete the Restriction of Frustration, he had to reach a score that was at least 70% of Rocado¡¯s score. However, none of them expected that a result like this woulde out. Even Supeputer Athenae said his chances ofpleting this trial were only at 0.01%. But Minhyuk beat Rocado thoroughly.

    <em>¡®Of course, Rocado¡¯s score during thestpetition was meager.¡¯</em>

    It meant that Rocado¡¯s luck was not very good toward the end. On the other hand, Minhyuk¡¯s score was unusually high. The process that Minhyuk went through to reach this result today was something that not only amazed everyone but also brought them great shock.

    ¡°If it¡¯s like this, what rewards will he receive¡­?¡± Manager Kim Dae-Il asked as he looked at the other executives.

    The mouths of everyone present snapped shut.

    If Minhyuk reached 70% of Rocado¡¯s score, he would immediatelyplete the final trial. But Minhyuk achieved that and even went beyond and won against Rocado. Of course, this was primarily thanks to the temporary increase in his chances of producing higher-grade items. However, it was also right to say that this situation happened because of Minhyuk¡¯s efforts.

    Soon, the Production Team¡¯s leader said, ¡°Rocado will probably set the rewards. The problem is that we wouldn¡¯t know what rewards he would give either.¡±

    Even though they had yet to catch a glimpse of the rewards, they were sure that the rewards set by one of the Eight Pirs, the Jack-of-all-Trades, would be huge. ¡°And if it¡¯s a skill rted to DEX, then it will create an effect with a tremendous synergy with yer Minhyuk and the dishes that he would make in the future.¡±

    The executives nodded their heads. None of them piped up to contest and argue why Minhyuk would receive such a tremendous reward. All of them believed that it was only natural.

    They all turned to look at the monitor. They held their breaths, and <em>worry</em> and <em>anticipation</em> were present on their faces as they waited for Minhyuk to obtain the rewards.

    ¡°Doctor Han-Wool, are you not going home yet?¡±

    Kim Han-Wool¡¯s work was already over. This meant that he could freely leave and go home.

    Han-Woolughed awkwardly and said, ¡°It¡¯s so interesting and fun to watch it like this. Also, I¡¯m looking forward to the rewards he will get.¡±

    ***

    <em>[Your total score is 518.]</em>

    <em>[Rocado¡¯s total score is 515.]</em>

    Minhyuk was not expecting much. But when he heard the results, his face immediately grew brighter. He did not know how long he had been trying to get 70% of Rocado¡¯s score. But now? He felt like the words ¡°walking on air¡± urately describe his feelings.

    <em>¡®I won against Rocado?¡¯</em>

    Perhaps this was something that even Rocado did not expect to happen. Rocado had already judged that no challenger could reach 70% of his clone¡¯s score.

    Minhyuk flopped down on the ground. He looked at his hands while thinking, <em>¡®I did it.¡¯</em>

    The fulfillment that he felt at this moment was greater than ever. He thought that the only reason why he was able to pass the Trial of Restriction: Frustration was because of his perseverance.

    At that moment, a series of notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[You have gained victory in apetition against Rocado.]</em>

    <em>[You have cleared all of the trials inside the Cave of Restriction with outstanding results.]</em>

    <em>[Your achievement will increase significantly.]</em>

    <em>[Your overall achievement has reached 96%.]</em>

    <em>[Congrattions on patiently oveing the Cave of Restriction¡¯s Restriction of Frustration.]</em>

    <em>[Your DEX has increased by 15%.]</em>

    <em>[Jack-of-all-Trades Rocado is the one who made the Cave of Restrictions.]</em>

    <em>[Jack-of-all-Trades Rocado has left a special reward for those who will clear the Cave of Restriction¡¯s Frustration.]</em>

    <em>[...active skill: Hands of Almighty¡­]</em>

    <em>[The distribution of rewards has been interrupted.]</em>

    Minhyuk looked at his notifications window in confusion. Why was the distribution of rewards interrupted? Then, additional notifications rang.

    <em>[You have surpassed Rocado, albeit temporarily.]</em>

    <em>[The rewards that will be distributed will be better.]</em>

    <em>[The existing Hands of Almighty will be changed to a skill suitable for you.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the active skill: Food God¡¯s Almighty Tool.]</em>

    Minhyuk was shocked to see that the system had changed his reward and given him a skill better suited for him. Of course, he immediately checked the skill.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Food God¡¯s Almighty Tool</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: Pir</em>

    <em>Active Skill</em>

    <strong><em>Level</em></strong><em>: 1</em>

    <strong><em>Mana Required</em></strong><em>: 5,000</em>

    <strong><em>Cooldown</em></strong><em>: 2 hours.</em>

    <strong><em>Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?When cooking, you can summon two cooking tools. These cooking tools have an ego and will move quickly to do your bidding.</em>

    <em>?The two summoned tools will be significantly influenced by your DEX. </em>

    <em>?When cooking, your DEX will receive an additional 20% increase while the skill is active.</em>

    <em>?When doing something rted to DEX other than cooking, your DEX will receive an additional 10% increase while the skill is active.</em>

    <strong><em>?</em></strong><em>The skill¡¯s duration is thirty minutes.</em>

    <em>?You might be able to use more tools with ego once you level up.</em>

    ¡°Wow, this is amazing?¡± Minhyuk gasped in awe.

    The skill was only at Level 1, but the power that it could exert was already incredible.

    <em>¡®My DEX will increase by 20% when cooking. And if I¡¯m not cooking, it will still increase by 10% if I do something rted to DEX.¡¯</em>

    Once the skill reached Level 9, there was a high chance that Minhyuk could use as many as ten tools with ego. The thought alone was enough to bring a thrill down his spine.

    ¡°Shall I try summoning it once?¡±

    Anyway, the skill would only consume mana.

    ¡°Food God¡¯s Almighty Tool.¡±

    <em>[Summoning two tools.]</em>

    <em>[Please summon the tools that you want.]</em>

    <em>[The Food God¡¯s Almighty Tools will always be kept clean and unstained.]</em>

    Minhyuk chose a kitchen knife and a spat as tools. The moment he decided, a ck kitchen knife and spat appeared. And with a thought, the kitchen knife moved and shed the air.

    With this, Minhyuk had proven that the tools would move and follow the will of the skill user. Of course, it was not easy for tools like these to follow the will of the skill user. However, this Almighty Tool was quite brilliant.

    Then, Minhyuk thought, <em>¡®Perhaps you can say I have two more hands. And even my DEX stat will be increased.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk would be able to make higher-quality dishes at a faster pace. This skill was not only limited to cooking; he could also use it in various ways.

    At this moment, a groundbreaking idea suddenly shed in his head.

    ¡°This¨C This discovery can be considered an innovation¡­!¡± Minhyuk shouted in excitement as he immediately carried the idea out.

    ***

    President Kang Taehoon groaned lightly after Joy Co. Ltd. obtained information about the Food God¡¯s Almighty Tool. This tool could be said to be the cooking version of the Hands of Almighty that belonged to Rocado.

    ¡°The higher the level, the more tools he can summon. And that¡¯s not all. His speed when cooking would also increase.¡±

    Although Minhyuk did not know it yet, the Food God¡¯s Almighty Tool was an exceptionally outstanding skill, its effects matching the name <em>Pir</em> that was ced in its description. If the skill reached Level 9, not only would he be able to shorten his cooking time, but he would also be able to produce many dishes in the skill¡¯s duration. In other words, Minhyuk could make five dishes when he could make a single dish alone.

    <em>[This¨C This discovery can be considered an innovation¡­!]</em>

    Everyone perked their ears when they heard Minhyuk¡¯s shout. Did yer Minhyuk realize how monstrous this skill would be once it leveled up? Everyone looked at the shaking and trembling Minhyuk with trepidation.

    They watched as Minhyuk sat roughly on the ground. Then, he changed the tool into a ss before pouring iced americano into it. After that, he took a te and put a cake on it. And just like a city man, he opened his mouth.

    <em>[Please give me a cup of iced americano and a slice of cake.]</em>

    The cup of iced americano that Minhyuk had prepared earlier, or in other words, the Food God¡¯s Almighty Tool that had been turned into a ss, automatically moved toward Minhyuk¡¯s mouth. What he was doing was drinking iced americano without using his hands!

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Han-Wool unknowingly got so absorbed with the scene.

    <em>¡®On a particrly difficult day, when you can¡¯t take a break and catch your breath if I gulp the first sip of that iced americano¡­ I will definitely release a loud gasp without realizing it.¡¯</em>

    And that was what Minhyuk was experiencing right now.

    <em>[Kihyaaaa!]</em>

    Minhyuk gulped down the bittersweet iced Americano in one go, not lifting a finger. It was indeed a shocking innovation.

    Then, Minhyuk summoned another tool¡ªthis time, a fork. The fork moved by itself, cut a piece of the cake and pushed it into Minhyuk¡¯s mouth. The fluffy and soft cake danced inside Minhyuk¡¯s mouth.

    <em>[Fufufufu. I did not expect my long-time dream of eating without lifting a finger woulde true.]</em>

    It was literally what he said. He satfortably without lifting a finger while the tools delivered the cake and the coffee in his mouth.

    ¡°Ha¨C Haha¡­¡±

    The executives could onlyugh in disbelief. How could he use such a fantastic skill that way? President Kang Taehoon chuckled. He also found the situationpletely ridiculous.

    Then, solemnly, Kim Han-Wool said, ¡°That¡¯s an excellent way to use it.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°Even if I lie in bed, the Almighty Tool can move automatically and feed me. It can even bring me the remote control and help me drink water.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s an amazing power. This is a revolution.¡±

    That was right. The world-renowned psychiatrist Kim Han-Wool, was a certified homebody.

    ***

    Minhyuk, who was leisurely enjoying the skill that allowed him to achieve his lifelong dreams, heard a series of notifications.

    <em>[To obtain the Pir Ingredient, please meet with Rocado.]</em>

    <em>[To reinforce your artifact once, please meet with Rocado.]</em>

    Minhyuk nodded. <em>¡®The Rocado I had faced this time was truly an extraordinary man.¡¯</em>

    If Minhyuk¡¯s DEX and his chances of producing higher-grade items did not temporarily increase, perhaps he would never be able to ovee this trial in his lifetime.

    Minhyuk was actually very curious about many things. The first one was why someone like Jack-of-all-Trades Rocado lived alone in a secluded ce.

    <em>¡®I think it might be rted to Eirin, who Herakel mentioned before.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk, who wanted to meet Rocado immediately, received a shocking notification.

    <em>[Rocado is in a critical condition.]</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

    Minhyuk thought that he had to hurry now.

    <em>[You have exited the Cave of Restrictions.]</em>

    Just like that, he disappeared in a sh of light.

    ***

    Jack-of-all-Trades Rocado, who had fainted earlier, had returned to his senses. However, everything around him felt hazy. He felt like he had just woken up after drinking some sleeping pills.

    Rocado tried to open his eyes, but his eyelids did not move, and he could not twitch. What about his sense of hearing? He could not hear anything in this darkness. Was he now in the process of falling into his eternal rest?

    <em>¡®If I go, will we be able to meet there?¡¯</em>

    Rocado held some expectations. He thought that if she were there, then this death would be veryfortable. But when he thought of her, another person came to mind. This person was none other than the young Herakel.

    A memory shed in Rocado¡¯s head. It was their first meeting with Herakel. They had decided to marry and adopt Herakel as their son. Before she died, she told him.

    ¨C<em>Please take care of Herakel.</em>

    The moment the memory surfaced, Rocado struggled and resisted desperately from this growing sense of death.

    <em>¡®Did he¡­ die in the end?¡¯</em>

    As his senses slowly returned, he remembered the reckless man who dared to challenge thest trial of the Cave of Restrictions. That man was such a fool.

    <em>¡®I can¡¯t believe that he chose to fight against me.¡¯</em>

    Even the <em>Patience</em>, the restriction hidden inside the <em>Frustration</em>, was something no one could achieve.

    Rocado, desperately fighting for his senses to return, finally started to feel the pain and hear his surroundings.

    ¡°Uweeeeeeeeek!!!¡±

    Despair slowly crept upon him as he vomited mouthful after mouthful of blood. All his senses, which had been sealed before, returned to him. Rocado desperately fought his heavy lids. When he blinked them open, he caught sight of the crying Herakel.

    <em>¡®One more time.¡¯</em>

    He wanted to meet her just once, even if it was in hell. That was why he wanted to fulfill the conditions stated in the legends and paint ten thousand paintings. The day hepleted ten thousand paintings would be the day that he would meet her. He did not want to meet her because he wanted to do something special for her. There was just something that he wanted to say to her.

    Rocado, who kept on opening his eyes, started to close once again. He suddenly saw a very unexpected figure appear in front of him. He was the one who dared to challenge the Restriction of Frustration. Although Rocado was very surprised to see him here, he no longer had the energy to speak or respond to him.

    Rocado, with his heavy eyelids, desperately murmured something. ¡°Ei¡­ rin¡­ once more¡­¡±

    The man also said something in response. ¡°What I want¡­ is¡­ you¡­¡±

    However, Rocado could not understand or hear what he was talking about. He just answered, ¡°Alright.¡±

    After leaving that answer, Rocado felt like he was about to fall into another deep sleep. Even in his sleep, his mind was still filled with the figure of one woman and one woman alone.

    Legend said he could meet with the departed if he could finish drawing ten thousand paintings. He had kept on living, running after that legend. Rocado knew it was the only way for him to meet her again.

    Rocado wanted to risk it all and ask the God governing Hell to meet her. However, he knew the God of Death was the most stubborn and difficult god. He could only let this idea die down. What if he asked the God of Death, and she was implicated by it?

    At that moment, he felt like his mouth was being filled with dark red blood. And blood had started to choke him. He wanted to throw up. However, for some strange reason, his consciousness began to slowly return to him even though he felt like he was going to throw up again.

    ¡°Rocado.¡±

    He saw her. She stood there, tears in her eyes, as she gently touched his cheeks.

    Meanwhile, a notification rang for the man standing behind her.

    <em>[You havepleted the </em><strong><em>Sudden Quest</em></strong><em>: Rocado and Eirin¡¯s Reunion.]</em>

 Chapter 1001

    Chapter 1001

    When Minhyuk heard through the notifications that Rocado was in a critical situation, he did not waste any time and immediately rushed to where the Eight Pir was.

    <em>¡®If Rocado dies, then I won¡¯t be able to receive any other rewards.¡¯ </em>This thought shed in Minhyuk¡¯s head. When he arrived, he was greeted by the sight of Herakel crying in front of Rocado, who had already copsed on the ground and was on the brink of death.

    The copsed Rocado was mumbling something unintelligible. ¡°Ten thousand paintings¡­ Eirin, I want to see you again¡­ The God of Death is not easy to talk to¡­¡±

    Minhyuk looked at Rocado in confusion as the man, sporting a dreary smile, continued to mumble to himself. However, mentioning the ¡°God of Death¡± caught Minhyuk¡¯s attention.

    Minhyuk had met the God of Death Louis before. He also knew that this dark, dreary, and dull god held a beloved woman named He dearly in his heart.

    ¡°Rocado, dying! Minhyuk, help!¡± Herakel cried out to Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk slowly approached the mumbling Rocado. He had various divine potions made by God of Alchemy Mand in his inventory. However, Minhyuk realized, <em>¡®Even if Rocado drinks these potions, he will still die.¡¯</em>

    Even if God of Alchemy Mand made the potions he had on hand, that did not mean they were omnipotent. A potion was more like a trauma treatment and could not be used to treat a disease. Of course, the <em>pain potion</em> that Mand had created not only had the power to reduce the pains apanying whatever disease they had gradually but also had the power to prolong life.

    Minhyuk gently fed Rocado the pain potion.<em>Glug, glug, glug¨C</em>

    <em>¡®He won¡¯t be able to get back up right away after taking this potion.¡¯</em>

    The pain potion was different from ordinary potions. Its power would slowly and gradually reduce the pain, often taking a few days to take full effect. However, as mentioned before, it was only a potion that could extend life for a bit longer.

    ¡°<em>Fwaa¡­</em>¡±

    The pained expression on Rocado¡¯s face straightened out. He looked morefortable after drinking the potion. As he grew more rxed, his unintelligible murmurs gradually grew more apparent.

    ¡°I miss you. I miss you so much, Eirin.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Minhyuk looked down at Rocado. ¡°Do you want to meet her that badly?¡±

    Only after hearing Rocado¡¯s murmurs did Minhyuk realize why he hid his existence from the world. It was because he wanted to paint. And he has been painting countless portraits of <em>her</em> for a very long time just to get to see her again.

    Rocado¡¯s head slowly leaned to the side. Amazingly, he could still convey what he wanted, even when standing between life and death.

    Minhyuk said, ¡°I can let you meet her.¡±

    That may have been the case. After all, Minhyuk was the only god with a bit of favorability with God of Death Louis. Of course, it would still be challenging for Minhyuk, too.

    ¡°However, there are things that I want you to do for me instead. I want you to make the decorations for my temple. Build a statue in my likeness, paint my portrait, and make samples of my artifacts.¡±

    ¡°Al¡­ right¡­ as¡­ long as I¡­ can¡­ meet her¡­¡±

    However, Minhyuk just grinned. He knew that he was talking to a delighted man. At that moment, he recalled something.

    ¡°And¡­¡±

    Minhyuk stared at Rocado. He had fought with Rocado during the Restriction of Frustration and knew full well that he was indeed the best regarding things rted to DEX. He also could tell that he would never be able to find anyone else in the world who could surpass him when it came to DEX.

    Because of that, he said, ¡°Cook the Pir Ingredient for me.¡±

    Minhyuk usually would cook the ingredients that he obtained by himself. But this time, it was different.

    <em>¡®This is a dish that Jack-of-all-Trades Rocado would make.¡¯</em>

    And it would even be made from one of the Pir Ingredients. Minhyuk had tried to cook various God-grade ingredients and found that multiple factors always hindered him. Minhyuk judged that the Pir Ingredient would likely be like that and would not be less.

    Since that was the case, there was a chance that Minhyuk would not meet the conditions and be unable to cook the Pir Ingredient. That was why he asked Rocado to do it for him instead.

    ¡°Al¡­ right¡­¡±

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Sudden Quest</em></strong><em>: Rocado and Eirin¡¯s Reunion.]</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: SSS</em>

    <strong><em>Requirement</em></strong><em>: The one who received Rocado¡¯s request. </em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: Rocado will cook the Pir Ingredient for you. Other rewards cannot be confirmed yet.</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Failure</em></strong><em>: Favorability with Rocado will drop</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: Rocado wants to meet with his departed lover, Eirin, for onest time. He had tried to meet her by painting ten thousand portraits of Eirin. But with only a few days left to live, he could no longer do so. Help Rocado reunite with Eirin using all means possible. Because you have negotiated with a delirious Rocado, only the reward ¡®Rocado will cook the Pir Ingredient for you¡¯ has been recognized. The other rewards would depend on Rocado¡¯s choice.</em>

    Minhyuk nodded. ording to the exnation, it would be up to Rocado if he would help himplete his new temple. Then, Minhyuk looked at the tower rising in the sky.

    <em>[Tower built by Rocado.]</em>

    <em>[This tower built by Rocado is filled with 3,313 God-grade items, 32,310 legendary-grade items, and 3,107,897 epic-grade items.]</em>

    <em>[The tower built by Rocado would soon be his life¡¯s masterpiece.]</em>

    He had already felt it before but was again reminded of how crazy Rocado was.

    <em>¡®He made 3,300 God-grade items by himself?¡¯</em>

    Perhaps he had created more than tens of thousands of items that weren¡¯t here.

    <em>¡®Maybe this will be the easiest and mostfortable quest that I will do.¡¯</em>

    After all, Minhyuk knew of a straightforward way to negotiate with the God of Death.

    ¡°Rocado, will it be fine if I tell the God of Death that you will paint a portrait for him?¡±

    Rocado nodded his head in his unconscious state.

    Minhyuk, who was about to turn around, stopped in his tracks. ¡°By the way, what¡¯s the Pir Ingredient?¡±

    Rocado automatically answered, ¡°It¡¯s Snow Crab.¡±

    ¡°...?!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes grew wide from shock. Even his hands started to tremble.

    <em>¡®Woah, shit. Jack-of-all-Trades Rocado will make Steamed Snow Crab and many other snow crab dishes for me?¡¯</em>

    The thought was enough to make Minhyuk¡¯s mouth water. He hurriedly turned around to go and meet with the God of Death. But at that moment, a notification rang in his ears.

    <em>[You can now view the video about Jack-of-all-Trades Rocado and Eirin.]</em>

    <em>[Do you want to watch it?]</em>

    Minhyuk was very curious about why Rocado wanted to meet this woman named Eirin so severely, so he immediately agreed.

    At the same time, the scene in front of Minhyuk changed.

    ***

    <em>[There was an extremely ordinary boy who wanted to be a knight but could not do so because hecked the skills.]</em>

    ¡°Why can¡¯t I¡­?!¡±

    <em>[The boy worked harder than anybody else, yet he could not pass even the most basic soldier¡¯s examination.]</em>

    <em>[He scored exceptionally in his physical and stamina tests, but when it came to fighting and sparring against another¡­ he failed. Every. Single. Time.]</em>

    <em>[It was because he was a coward.]</em>

    ¡°Why do I shake and tremble when standing before others?¡±

    <em>[He was so frustrated that he cried every single day.]</em>

    Although the boy had a greater physical condition than anybody else, he stillcked the qualities and qualifications to be a soldier and a knight.

    A girl approached the crying boy. She said, ¡°It¡¯s alright, Rocado. You¡¯re cool and amazing enough.¡±

    <em>[The girl was none other than Rocado¡¯s childhood friend, Eirin.]</em>

    <em>[She always stood by Rocado¡¯s side, consoling him every day.]</em>

    <em>[When he failed the examination the following year¡­]</em>

    ¡°I¡¯m a useless bastard. I can¡¯t do anything.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not true, Rocado.¡±

    ¡°I want to do something big and contribute to my nation, too!¡±

    ¡°...If that¡¯s the case, then¡­ Why don¡¯t you use your excellent techniques?¡±

    <em>[Until that moment, the boy waspletely unaware of his skills. He just thought that he was slightly better than others regarding techniques.]</em>

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to win a war to contribute to your nation.¡±

    With those words, Rocado ventured down a different path and began to make something. When he started making things in earnest, Rocado realized something: his hands-on skills were <em>exceptional</em>.

    He manufactured weapons that were far more outstanding than the weapons created by the best cksmith in the kingdom. He even painted a portrait that was far more beautiful than the painting painted by the most excellent painter in the empire. Then, the world began to recognize his feats.

    One day, he suddenly realized that he had grown famous.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you tired, Rocado?¡±

    However, Rocado knew.

    <em>[The girl continued to stand beside the boy.]</em>

    Even when he was a nobody.

    <em>[She was always together with him.]</em>

    Even after he gained everyone''s respect.

    <em>[She was always with me.]</em>

    Rocado, who grew up from that young boy to an experienced man, knew this was love. And he had always taken it for granted.

    Then, Rocado said, ¡°Eirin, will you marry me?¡±

    <em>[The two became a couple.]</em>

    Minhyuk continued to watch the couple¡¯s story. The scenes of them together shed by at an incredible speed.

    The twoughed together while eating and held hands while walking. They stood side by side even when dozens of kings and emperors rushed to meet with Rocado. And even though Rocado had already be the object of admiration of the world''s people, he could only lower his head in front of Eirin as she nagged at him.

    It sounded too ordinary for a love story with one of the Eight Pirs as the protagonist, but because of its ordinariness, it felt more beautiful.

    ¡°Rocado, I want to have a child with you.¡±

    But, of course, the two also faced hardships and trials.

    <em>[She could not carry a baby.]</em>

    Even so, Rocado held her hand and nodded to tell her it was okay.

    One day, when the two were walking around the imperial capital, they saw a tiny child. The child looked like he was only around five years old, yet he was fighting fiercely against dozens of beggar children. The child, who was as strong as a bull, knocked out a dozen children surrounding him.

    Eirin and Rocado could not understand the situation. Why were those children bullying this small child? Eirin, with a bright smile, approached the child and said, ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±

    ¡°Herakel. My name, Herakel!¡±

    <em>[The two finally had a child together.]</em>

    Rocado¡¯s excellent talent was enough to intimidate others. But Herakel was different. Although he grew slower than ordinary children, Herakel was dependable as a child.

    Once again, time flew by.

    The wrinkles on Eirin¡¯s face started to grow. On the other hand, Rocado remained the same.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Eirin. There are far too many people in the world who need me.¡±

    He ate the Herb of Immortality. Eirin, who had now be a middle-aged woman, only smiled and said that it was fine.

    Again, time flew by.

    The video showed Herakel growing bigger and bigger while Rocado remained the same. As for Eirin? She grew older, her skin getting more wrinkled as she aged. In the end, Eirin, who had be an olddy,y in her bed and said her final words to Rocado and Herakel before slowly closing her eyes and lying in eternal rest.

    ¡°...¡±

    The video ended just like that.

    Then, Minhyuk went to the God of Death. However, the moment he appeared, he was immediately surrounded by many troops. He even told Eirin and Rocado¡¯s story to God of Death Louis.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that such an ordinary and obvious ending to the story?¡±

    The God of Death had received Minhyuk¡¯s grace before. But he had already given rewards andpensations for all of them. Because of that, he also confronted Minhyuk, who was asking for his help.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. It is a verymon story.¡± Minhyuk shook his head, a bitter smile on his face. ¡°They aged together while the other one died. The one who is left behind misses the departed one.¡±

    It was a typical and familiar story.

    ¡°But for that reason, it can also be considered the saddest story.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s something that anyone can experience. Although Rocado¡¯s case is a bit different since he ate the Herb of Immortality, you can say that everyone still has to go through it. And, of course, everyone always had one wish.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°<em>Before I die, I hope to meet them again.</em>¡±

    Minhyuk understood everything after watching Eirin and Rocado¡¯s story.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that the most beautiful and saddest story?¡±

    Because everyone could experience it, Minhyuk smiled bitterly as he watched God of Death Louis turn silent.

    Then, the God of Death, who had remained silent for a long time, opened his mouth and said, ¡°Will He¡¯s statue that Rocado will make for me be beautiful?¡±

    Ultimately, God of Death Louis also had an ordinary love story with He.

    Minhyuk nodded. ¡°It will be the most beautiful thing in the world.¡±

    ***

    Rocado looked at Eirin, who had returned to her youthful appearance, in disbelief as she stroked his cheeks.

    He could see a gloomy man wearing a tattered ck robe standing beside the man named Minhyuk right behind Eirin.

    Tears dripped down Rocado¡¯s eyes. That was right. This was the mostmon and ordinary love story. And just like anybody else, Rocado only wanted to say onest word to his departed lover. Rocado finally spat out the words that he had kept in his heart for a very long time.

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    <em>For being with me and staying by my side.</em>

 Chapter 1002

    Chapter 1002

    Many people shared many regrets. One was letting the precious people by their side go without doing them any better. For some, it was not being able to eat another meal with them. For others, it was taking them for granted when they were still around. Because of that, they would often live their lives in regret.

    Everyone would at least have <em>regrets</em> like that. Or if one did not have them yet, they would experience them one day. What would they always want to say if given the chance to meet the person who left their side?

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    That was what Rocado said. It was a shout of gratitude to her for choosing to stay by his side for the rest of her life.

    <em>Thank you for living your life as my wife.</em>

    Eirin held Rocado tightly. ¡°Idiot. I can¡¯t believe you ate four more Herb of Immortality so that you can meet me again. Do you know how stupid that was?¡±

    She wept as she gently cradled Rocado in her arms.

    A faint smile appeared on Minhyuk¡¯s face when he saw how happy Rocado was in Eirin¡¯s arms.

    ¡°And what¡¯s this? What clothes are you wearing? I don¡¯t think I ever bought you brown clothes¡­¡±<em>Murmur, murmur¨C</em>

    ¡°Goodness? What is this messy hairstyle?¡±

    <em>Murmur, murmur¨C</em>

    ¡°This is why you can¡¯t live without me, Rocado¡­¡±

    At this moment, Minhyuk realized that Eirin was a terrible nagger. Despite being nagged non-stop, Rocado looked genuinely(?) happy in her arms.

    ¡°It¡¯s been a hundred years since Ist received your nagging. I¡¯m so happy to see you.¡± Rocado, who missed even her nagging, hugged Eirin tightly.

    ¡°He¨C Herakel wants to go too.¡±

    Herakel seemed to want to be held by Eirin, too. Herakel immediately ran to her when he saw Eirin spread her arms wide. She patted Herakel gently.

    ¡°Urk¡­!¡± Rocado coughed another mouthful of blood.

    Herakel and Eirin both looked at him in shock.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    ¡°Ro¨C Rocado still hurts a lot!¡±

    Despite their worries, Rocado ignored the blood and just turned to look at Minhyuk with a bitter look. He said, ¡°I have another favor to ask you.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded.

    ¡°Can I ask you to take care of Herakel for me?¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Minhyuk was quite surprised. God of Strength Herakel was a strong and powerful man. Although he was a bit short in the intelligence department, his addition would certainly be of great help to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    <em>¡®The Herakel of today only knows how to club his opponents indiscriminately. But what if he learns some swordsmanship or martial arts skills?¡¯</em>

    He was already speechless at the thought. Perhaps his explosive power might beparable to Brod¡¯s power.

    However, Rocado had many worries. Could Herakel get along with ordinary people? Eirin was also thinking about this.

    Minhyuk nodded. ¡°I see. Don¡¯t worry too much. There is someone in Beyond the Heavens Empire who will get close to Herakel quickly.¡±

    The one that he was talking about was none other than Conir. Minhyuk believed Conir and Herakel would hit it off and be best friends.

    <em>¡®Maybe they¡¯ll even sell ramyeon together?¡¯</em>

    Eirin looked at Rocado sadly. ¡°Is there any way for Rocado and me to stay together in Hell?¡±

    She already knew that Rocado was on the brink of death.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry for asking you for a lot of favors.¡±

    Minhyuk chuckled bitterly. Then, he remembered something. The confirmed quest rewards only stated, <em>¡®Rocado will cook the Pir Ingredient for you</em>.¡¯ The statues, portraits, sample artifacts, and the likes of Evangel were not noted. So, Minhyuk told Rocado about Evangel.

    Then, Rocado said, ¡°I¡¯ll do it. No, I will give it my all when making it.¡±

    Rocado was very grateful to Minhyuk. After all, he wouldn¡¯t be able to meet Eirin again if it weren¡¯t for him.

    ¡°Will the God of Death allow it?¡±

    The God of Death was known as the world''s gloomiest, dreariest, most vicious, and grumpy god. It was well-known that the God of Death¡¯s rtionship with the Battle God was not so good. The fact that the two gods had appeared in this situation was already very shocking.

    Minhyuk said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m very close with the God of Death.¡±

    It was just like how Herakel bragged to him before. He quietly approached the God of Death, who had been watching the scene silently.

    ¡°...¡±

    But when he reached him, he could not open his mouth.

    ¡°...¡±

    To be honest, Minhyuk was also very scared. He clearly remembered what happened earlier. Hundreds of thousands of Death Corps surrounded him with overflowing killing intent!

    Then, the God of Death suddenly moved.

    <em>Screech!</em>

    Minhyuk stopped in shock.

    Rocado and Eirin, who saw the scene, thought simultaneously, <em>¡®I don¡¯t think they¡¯re very close at all, though¡­?¡¯</em>

    The God of Death said, ¡°I have been promised a statue of my beloved lover, He. If you can make one that satisfies me, then I will send you to the same hell. If not¡­¡±

    God of Death Louis turned to look at Minhyuk. His eyes, which were devoid of emotion, seemed to say, <em>¡®I¡¯m going to tear you apart and kill you.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®They don¡¯t look that close?¡¯</em>

    Rocado nodded as he slowly raised his body.

    ¡°About her features¡­¡±

    ¡°No. Please let me see her through you. Can you please reach out your hand to me?¡±

    The God of Death nodded as he touched Rocado with his fingertip.

    ¡°I see. Your love is just as beautiful.¡±

    <em>[Rocado has understood the story between the God of Death and He.]</em>

    When making things rted to DEX, the most important thing was how well one could capture the story about the subject. And Rocado was one of many who had outstanding dexterity. Several hands immediately appeared as Rocado triggered his Hand of Almighty. The hands held various tools for making sculptures, and they immediately started to carve.

    He had spent a very long time alone just so Louis, the God of Death, could live in a ce filled with warmth and vitality. And the God of Death? He loved He dearly.

    The statue in front of Rocado slowly started to take shape. He and Louis shared the promise that they would be born as normal human beings in their next life. That was what took shape in front of him. The statue depicted the old and wrinkled figures of Louis and He. The two of them held hands tightly and looked at each other with small smiles.

    <em>[You havepleted the statue: Ordinary Life.]</em>

    <em>[It is a shocking statue that goes beyond God-grade.]</em>

    <em>[You have an outstanding level of understanding about the protagonists of the statue, Louis and He.]</em>

    The God of Death was shocked that Rocado could create a full-sized version of his and He¡¯s old selves. And the slight smile on their faces? He could see that it fully showed their promise to meet again.

    ¡°Not bad.¡±

    However, this was the only review that Louis gave. However, contrary to his words, there was a tiny and faint smile on his face. In other words, he had fully permitted Eirin and Rocado to go together and enter the same ce in hell.

    Minhyuk trembled when he saw this.

    <em>¡®A person like this¨C¡¯</em> He gulped dryly <em>¡®¨Cwill make my statue, portraits, and sample artifacts?¡¯</em>

    He was already looking forward to it. Of course, Rocado immediately tried to fulfill his promise. He showed the <em>ingredient</em> that he promised to Minhyuk.

    ¡°This is the ingredient.¡±

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Pir Snow Crab</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Ingredient Grade</em></strong><em>: Pir</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?All of your stats will increase by 3.5%.</em>

    <em>?Your DEX will increase by 11%.</em>

    <em>?When making items rted to DEX, you will obtain a 5% increase in the item¡¯s special effects.</em>

    <em>?Your resistance to Water Attribute will increase by 22%.</em>

    <em>?Your attack and defensive power will increase by 15% when fighting against water-attributed monsters.</em>

    <em>?Cooking this ingredient will be much trickier and harder than God-grade ingredients.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: This snow crab, the Pir of the Sea, is a challenging ingredient to cook. Even the slightest mistake during the cooking process will result in a lower yield and a decrease in all special abilities.</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

    It was an outstanding ingredient. When he saw the description, Minhyuk immediately knew, <em>¡®It¡¯s not an ingredient within my capabilities. I don¡¯t think I will be able to cook it.¡¯</em>

    ording to the description, it was much trickier and moreplex to cook than God-grade ingredients.

    It had to be known that a snow crab¡¯s yield was significant. If there were a poor yield, there would be little meat in the legs once the shell had been peeled off.

    There was also one fact that stood out to Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®Pir of the Sea?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk turned to Rocado and asked, ¡°By any chance, is this snow crab the cooking ingredient representing the sea?¡±

    Rocado nodded. ¡°That¡¯s right. There are pir ingredients that represent thend, the sea and the air. There might be many more. But I am not aware if they truly exist.¡±

    Minhyuk trembled when he heard Rocado¡¯s words. Why? Because it meant that there were still Pir Ingredients representing thend and the air that were avable. Of course, Minhyuk first used the Seeds of Revolution on the Pir Snow Crab before letting Rocado cook it. With this, he now had secured a total of two seeds.

    Rocado no longer had anything urgent to do. He already had the assurance that he would be with Eirin in hell. All that was left was for him to repay Minhyuk. Not long after, Rocado started to deal with the snow crab.

    <em>[As you start to cook, the Sea Leech has begun to nibble and suck at the Pir Ingredient.]</em>

    At that moment, dozens of unknown ck leeches appeared and stuck to the snow crab.

    <em>[If you fail to remove the Sea Leech properly, the snow crab will receive bruises and scratches.]</em>

    ¡°Look at these things.¡± Rocado looked at the leeches incredulously. However, the leeches had already attached their mouths to the hard shell of the snow crab.

    <em>¡®Those leeches¡­ Even if I can touch them, I don¡¯t think I can take them off.¡¯</em>

    No matter how Minhyuk looked at them, he could not see any semnce of an ordinary leech. However, Rocado, who had summoned his Hands of Almighty once again, began to remove the leeches urately and adequately.

    <em>[You have removed the Sea Leeches with outstanding skills.]</em>

    <em>[The snow crab is left in a pristine condition.]</em>

    Like that, the Pir Ingredient presented various methods to stop Rocado from cooking it. However, Rocado¡¯s skilled hands moved swiftly and easily removed every obstacle. Finally, he finished washing the crabs clean. After cleaning, he ced the crab in the steamer and made steamed snow crab. He even made some snow crab ramyeon, which was only made with regr snow crab.

    And while doing all this, Rocado¡¯s real hands remained still. The only ones moving were the hands created by his Hand of Almighty.

    As he waited, Rocado looked at Minhyuk and thought, <em>¡®I no longer have any regrets in this world.¡¯</em>

    And it was all thanks to Minhyuk. Even his worries about Herakel had been taken care of by this man. When he thought about it, he realized something.

    <em>¡®I have received a lot from him.¡¯</em>

    Of course, he had already promised to help Minhyuk toplete his temple. After pondering the matter, he thought, <em>¡®That would be good.¡¯</em>

    Nodding, he walked before Minhyuk and said, ¡°Here, this is my gift to you.¡±

    Something appeared on the palm of Rocado¡¯s hand. It was a symbol of a hand holding a gem. This exact symbol appeared on Minhyuk¡¯s ankle.

    <em>[You have received the blessings of one of the Eight Pirs, Jack-of-all-Trades Rocado.]</em>

    <em>[Your DEX has increased by 5%.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 2,000 REP.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained the Automatic Skill Creation Right for a skill rted to DEX.]</em>

    <em>[The Automatic Skill Creation Right will observe you and create a suitable skill.]</em>

    <em>[Rocado¡¯s power is observing you.]</em>

    There was also the reward that Rocado had promised Minhyuk before.

    ¡°What artifact do you want me to reinforce?¡±

    ¡°The Sword of Aeon.¡±

    Rocado¡¯s absolute power, which could reinforce an artifact once without fail, was now showing itself.

    Minhyuk ced the Sword of Aeon, the greatest sword in the world, in Rocado¡¯s hands.

    <em>[The Sword of Aeon has been sessfully reinforced!]</em>

    Rocado, who had observed Minhyuk, was able to confirm something.

    <em>¡®He¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>He¡¯s an Eight Pir Candidate?</em> It was a shocking fact. Why? Because the Eight Pirs was a title that not even the gods wanted to be.

    Rocado stared at Minhyuk. Then, with a solemn look, he mentioned the most crucial fact. ¡°The Eight Pirs are those who support the world.¡±

    Of course, Minhyuk knew this already.

    Then, Rocado chuckled bitterly and said, ¡°And¡­ my seat will soon be vacant.¡±

    <em>[One of the Eight Pirs, Rocado, would soon die. He has chosen you as the sessor to the Eight Pir.]</em>

    <em>[Amotion has broken out among the Eight Pirs.]</em>

    <em>[The Eight Pirs are trying to find a new sessor to the Eight Pirs.]</em>

    ¡°And you¡­¡±

    <em>[Rocado¡¯s power protects the new sessor to the Eight Pirs from the other Eight Pirs.]</em>

    ¡°...will be one of the pirs of the world.¡±

 Chapter 1003

    Chapter 1003

    <em>[Your </em><strong><em>Title</em></strong><em>: Candidate for Eight Pirs has been changed.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the </em><strong><em>Title</em></strong><em>: Eight Pir''s Sessor.]</em>

    When Minhyuk heard the notifications, he looked at Rocado in shock. Rocado just chuckled. He had secretly checked the crystal ball while steaming the snow crab.

    Through the crystal ball, Rocado could check what happened during the Cave of Restriction¡¯s final trial, the Restriction of Frustration. Of course, Rocado had only seen a part of the process and the results. However, what he had seen left him in shock and awe.

    <em>¡®Just because one is a God does not mean that one could have a stronger mental strength and that they could endure and tolerate pain.¡¯</em>

    No. Because he was a god, he would feel more frustrated at the fact that he could not do it, and it would make him give up faster. But this young man before Rocado could go through the trial and finish it with remarkable patience. It was truly shocking, especially since he was the Battle God.

    <em>¡®I think the only person that can rece me is¡­ him.¡¯</em>

    However, there were other reasons why Rocado was convinced that the only one who could rece him was Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®I did not expect he would win against me in the Restriction of Frustration.¡¯</em>Of course, the Restriction of Frustration temporarily gave Minhyuk greater strength the longer he persevered. However, no matter how high his power had been temporarily raised, Rocado knew well that no one should have been able to exceed his score. In the first ce, he had already <em>passed the test.</em>

    <em>¡®The Food God bing an Eight Pir¡­ it¡¯s not so bad.¡¯</em>

    Helenia was the Pir of Magic.

    Athenae was the Pir of Everyone¡¯s Support.

    Rocado was the Pir of Creating Something.

    Kronad was the Pir of the Holy Ones.

    Obren was the Pir of the Evil Ones, also known as the Pir of Knowledge.

    Then, the Pir of Eating would be created to fill in the gaps.

    <em>¡®Of course, that is still a story for the future.¡¯</em>

    Rocado wanted to help Minhyuk, even if it was just a little bit.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk, who checked the contents of the title that had changed from Candidate for Eight Pirs to Eight Pirs''s Sessor, was left stunned.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Eight Pir''s Sessor</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Unique Title</em>

    <strong><em>Title Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?All of your stats will increase by 9%.</em>

    <em>?Eight Pir¡¯s Protective Coating.</em>

    <em>?The Unyielding One</em>

    <em>?Double Skill</em>

    <em>?Sessor Recognized by Rocado</em>

    The increase in all of his stats had increased by 2%. Aside from that, the only difference that he saw was the part where it said, <em>¡®Sessor Recognized by Rocado, ¡¯</em> which had been added after the rest of the skills. And after checking the detailed exnation, Minhyuk was able to confirm something.

    <em>[Once you reach Level 700, the 1st quest to help you find Rocado¡¯s power will open and reveal itself.]</em>

    <em>[This will give you more power and help you take one step closer to bing the true Eight Pir.]</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

    Minhyuk was shocked. This meant that Rocado had opened the path for Minhyuk to be one of the Eight Pirs. At this moment, Minhyuk realized something.

    <em>¡®The Food God¡¯s growth may not yet be over.¡¯</em>

    All of the ss quests rted to the Food God had already ended. But when he saw the notification about the quests associated with Rocado, he realized that the power of the Food God, which had already grown stagnant, would once again have the chance to grow even further.

    <em>¡®He is the Father of Dexterity.¡¯</em>

    In the end, the Food God ss was rted to DEX.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Minhyuk said, his heart thumping wildly as he looked at the Sword of Aeon.

    <em>¡®The lower the chances of sessful reinforcement, the higher the power it could disy once it is sessful.¡¯</em>

    This was a knowledge that everyone knew of. The +1 reinforcement of the Sword of Aeon, which was already reinforced once, was considered impossible. That was why he looked forward to how much stronger it had be.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Sword of Aeon</em></strong><em> +1)</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: God</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: God, the One that Lifted the Second Seal</em>

    <strong><em>Durability</em></strong><em>: ¡Þ/¡Þ</em>

    <strong><em>Attack Power</em></strong><em>: 2,654</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?Increase all stats by 40%.</em>

    <em>?Reduce all skills¡¯ cooldown by 35%.</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: 2.5x Basic Attack Damage</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: The Greatest Sword</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Submission and Surrender</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: God¡¯s Dual Sword Technique</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: Aeon. This sword has been sealed for so long that one cannot remember when it was first sealed. Only its second seal has been lifted, and the sword still cannot exert its full power.</em>

    <em>¡®The basics have increased by a lot, right?¡¯</em>

    The basic attack power of the sword had increased by nearly 300. Not only that, the increase in all stats had also increased by 3% while the passive skill double basic attack damage had turned into 2.5x basic attack damage. This meant that the damage of Minhyuk¡¯s basic attack had risen by around 10%.

    With his overpowered stats and the Sword of Aeon in hand, a 10% increase in basic attack damage would mean he could quickly deal with more enemies with his basic attacks alone. Minhyuk smiled in satisfaction.

    Meanwhile, the steam spread out as Rocado lifted the steamer''s lid. The now red snow crab, as giant and as tough as a king crab, appeared in front of everyone¡¯s eyes.

    <em>¡®Doesn¡¯t this look like a king crab?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk liked king crab, too. After all, each bite would fill his mouth with crab meat. However, he thought that snow crab was better in vor.

    <em>¡®How to say this? It¡¯s more like it tastes better because of thebination of the savory and sweet vors that would burst in one¡¯s mouth?¡¯</em>

    But this snow crab was not only the size of a king crab; it was also overflowing with meat. Minhyuk¡¯s mouth was already watering.

    Rocado moved and dealt with the crab, making it easier to eat. Minhyuk¡¯s expectations had already reached their peak as he watched Rocado work.

    Snow crab was a costly ingredient. So, if one heard the words, <em>¡°We¡¯ll eat snow crabs this time!¡±</em> A few days before a family outing, one would feel excitement and anticipation.

    Rocado finished dealing with the snow crab in no time. He gently ced the dish in front of Minhyuk. The shell of the crab was filled with mouth-watering crab fat, and the legs neatly ced on the sides looked meaty and good.

    ¡°<em>Ahem, ahem.</em> Eat well. I¡¯m quite busy,¡± Rocado said as he went to a corner to hug and kiss Eirin.

    ¡°He¨C Herakel¡­ need to close eyes¡­¡±

    Herakel covered his eyes with both of his hands. However, there was a slight gap between his fingers. The more the two shared intimate touches, the wider his eyes grew.

    Of course, Minhyuk was not interested in what the two were doing. He was entirely focused on the meal in front of him. Rocado had given Minhyuk a pair of seafood scissors so that he would have an easier time dealing with the joints of the legs.

    Minhyuk cracked the joints and broke the legs into two. Then, he gently pulled them away from each other. The moment he pulled them apart, the meaty and thick crab meat hiding inside the dense shell of the legs was pulled out. The steaming crab meat was as thick and meaty as the king crab¡¯s meat.

    He took a massive bite of the meat. The soft meat of the snow crab immediately filled his mouth with every bite he took. The taste brought a delighted smile to his face. He finished one leg of the snow crab in an instant.

    This time, Minhyuk turned his attention to one of the ws. Surprisingly enough, the crab meat was still in the shape of the pincers when he gently pulled it out.

    <em>¡®The pincers are a bit chewier than the rest.¡¯</em>

    He dipped the pincer meat in the chili sauce before taking a huge bite.

    ¡°Kghhk¡­¡±

    The taste was truly divine.

    Minhyuk had heard that the Pir Ingredients represented thend, the sea, and the air. The taste of this Pir of the Sea, the emperor of the sea, was enough to shake Minhyuk¡¯s shoulder. What more about the taste of the rest?

    Next, Minhyuk dipped the thick and fleshy crab meat in the crab fat. The moment he ced it in his mouth? The savory vor of the fat burst in his mouth. After finishing all the snow crab instantly, Minhyuk turned his attention to the snow crab fried rice.

    The savory scent of the sesame oil wafted to his nose and stimted his appetite even further. He scooped one huge bite and put it in his mouth.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s stir-fried evenly and nicely.¡¯</em>

    It tasted amazing. When his mouth started to feel dry, he grabbed the bowl of snow crab ramyeon and took a sip of the spicy and refreshing soup.

    ¡°Ho~ Refreshing.¡±

    Minhyuk felt like his senses opened up with that one sip. Then, he took a massive bite of the snow crab ramyeon noodles that had been boiled well inside the metal pot.

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuuuurp!</em>¡±

    The notifications rang the moment Minhyuk¡¯s very delightful and satisfying meal ended.

    <em>[You have eaten the Pir¡¯s Snow Crab.]</em>

    <em>[Jack-of-all-Trades Rocado had made the dish surprisingly well.]</em>

    <em>[The Pir¡¯s Snow Crab''s current effects will improve.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will increase by 3.7%.]</em>

    <em>[Your DEX will increase by 13%.]</em>

    <em>[The special effects of the items rted to DEX that you will create in the future will be 6% better.]</em>

    <em>[Your water attribute resistance will increase by 32%.]</em>

    <em>[Your attack and defensive power will increase by 19% when fighting against water-attribute monsters.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s expectations were not wrong.

    <em>¡®The effects of the ingredients grow better when cooked by Rocado.¡¯</em>

    This was why Minhyuk took the risk and went to meet and pick up the God of Death. Of course, another reason was that it would be more delicious if he used this method.

    Then, Minhyuk suddenly turned to look at Rocado and Eirin.

    <em>Chu¨C Ch¡­ slurp¨C Slurp¨C</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    It was because the soundsing from their corner had changed. Then, Minhyuk caught sight of Herakel, who was pretending to cover his eyes with his hands.

    ¡°Why are you still here?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll goter.¡±

    The God of Death was still in this ce, even watching their genuine and intimate disy of love.

    ***

    TTBC¡¯s Go Eun-Ah came to visit the Beyond the Heavens Empire. Why? It was simple. Today was the day that they would hold thepletion ceremony of the Battle God¡¯s Temple, and since this was thepletion ceremony of the Battle God¡¯s Temple, it was only natural that it became a hot topic.

    When Go Eun-Ah arrived near the Battle God¡¯s Temple, she saw countless reporters lined up. Even ATV Broadcasting Station¡¯s PD Kim Daeguk was also present.

    Reporter Go Eun-Ah was acquainted with PD Kim Daeguk. So, she approached him and asked, ¡°What¡¯s your take on today¡¯s matter?¡±

    PD Kim Daeguk just chuckled at her question. ¡°Why do you have to ask when you already know the answer?¡±

    ¡°Well¡­¡±

    No one in the world did not know about the construction of the Battle God¡¯s Temple. All the reporters, including PD Kim and Go Eun-Ah, knew full well that the anticipation of the masses would peak with thepletion ceremony. After today? This issue would slowly die down and disappear. Since all the reporters already knew about this, they started to show impatience.

    ¡°When will it start? I have another schedule after this.¡±

    ¡°It looks amazing for a temple made by a yer. However, it still fails to meet expectations. There aren¡¯t as many yers as we thought. Hmm¡­¡±

    Indeed, the yers joining the fun were less hyped up and excited than the reporters expected.

    ¡°Everyone already knows that yer Minhyuk is the Battle God. Thepletion of a temple will not generate many issues.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡± Go Eun-Ah could only nod her head bitterly.

    Of course, she had always supported Minhyuk and the Beyond the Heavens Empire. However, even in her eyes, she could tell that this event would fail to make any waves.

    <em>¡®Ah, if a huge issue suddenly breaks out, I will write a sensational article.¡¯</em>

    However, everyone present was of the same mindset.

    At that moment, Alvier, the core figure in the temple''s construction, appeared in front of everyone¡¯s eyes. Alvier was a well-known figure among the yers and NPCs. Everyone knew he was a sought-after figure to the point that all gods hadmissioned him to build a temple for them.

    The reporters rushed forward and began to throw one question after another at Alvier.

    ¡°How was the construction of the temple this time?¡±

    ¡°Is there anything special inside?¡±

    ¡°Since this is the Battle God¡¯s Temple, is the quality much better than the others?¡±

    Alvier was an NPC. He was in a position where he could choose to respond harshly to such questions. However, what happenedst time left a deep impression on him, and he felt very honored to have built this temple for Minhyuk.

    ¡°A temple that has recognized its god. That is the kind of temple the Battle God¡¯s Temple is.¡±

    After leaving those words, Alvier moved to leave. It seemed like he was still swamped. As for the reporters? They only needed those words to create provocative titles. After all, they were better at doing things like this than others.

    <em>[Minhyuk: The God Recognized by the Temple.]</em>

    <em>[From a God Above Gods to a God Above a Temple. How far will Minhyuk go?]</em>

    However, even after writing such articles, these reporters still felt that it wascking.

    At that moment, Haze appeared in front of everyone. She said, ¡°His Majesty has not yet arrived. The start of thepletion ceremony will be dyed for a bit. I hope that you understand.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­¡±

    ¡°Ey. Just get it over with.¡±

    The reporters mored loudly. And Go Eun-Ah? She looked at them as if they were nothing but pathetic people.

    <em>¡®This is the reason why reporters always get criticized.¡¯</em>

    It was because they openly expressed their difort and annoyance. When they settled down and began to wait, a shocking notification rang in everyone¡¯s ears, leaving the reporters stunned.

    <em>[One of the Eight Pirs, Rocado, has descended!]</em>

    For most yers, the Eight Pirs were a source of fear. This was primarily because of Helenia¡¯s influence. In addition, they did not know who Rocado was.

    ¡°Wh¨C What the hell?!¡±

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we log out right now?¡±

    ¡°It seems like he appeared somewhere near here?¡±

    ¡°Why does he have to appear in Beyond the Heavens Empire¡­? Heok?! Don¡¯t tell me he¡¯s trying to keep Minhyuk, who has be the Battle God, in check?!¡±

    The words of one of the reporters sounded reasonable enough. Was this maning here to destroy the Battle God¡¯s Temple? The reporters, wrapped in their thoughts, were left confused.

    However, when they looked around, they saw that the Beyond the Heavens Empire soldiers stood there calmly as they waited for their emperor.

    At that moment, Reporter Go Eun-Ah and PD Kim Daeguk made eye contact.

    ¡°Something¡¯s strange.¡±

    ¡°Yes. I didn¡¯t get any warning notifications.¡±

    Those who had seen Helenia received shing red warning notifications along with the notifications about her descent. But the notifications now? There were no warning notifications.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry for the dy. Unfortunately, thepletion ceremony will be dyed for a bit longer.¡±

    Then, Minhyuk appeared behind the reporters. But his words made the faces of the reporters grow ugly.

    <em>¡®We¡¯re all going to die now, but you¡¯re just saying that you camete and there will be a dy. What the hell¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Just a dy in thepletion ceremony? Are you nuts¡­!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Do you think we¡¯re free all day?!¡¯</em>

    Their expressions grew uglier by the second.

    <em>[You have seen one of the Eight Pirs, Jack-of-all-Trades Rocado.]</em>

    <em>[He is the Father of Dexterity.]</em>

    <em>[Those who have seen Rocado will experience a 13% increase in DEX and a 20% increase in EXP Acquisition Rate. The buff would remain for a day.]</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Only at this moment did the reporters realize that the new Eight Pir that appeared before them was rted to dexterity. What did being rted to dexterity mean? It meant that they <em>would make</em> something.

    Go Eun-Ah¡¯s pupils started to shake. <em>¡®Don¡¯t tell me¡­ The reason for dying thepletion ceremony¡­?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk just smiled faintly and asked for their understanding. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but my statue, portraits, and artifacts have not yet been disyed inside the Battle God¡¯s Temple.¡±

    Go Eun-Ah hurriedly asked, ¡°You said it¡¯s not yet been disyed. Are they still unfinished, or are they already finished?¡±

    In response to that question, Minhyuk said, ¡°It¡¯s going to be made right here and now.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Amotion broke out among the reporters.

 Chapter 1004

    Chapter 1004

    The Eight Pirs were the core figures that supported and maintained the world. They were beings who possessed powers beyond one¡¯s imagination.

    Most experts viewed the Eight Pirs as beings that stood above the Absolute Gods. Of course, several discussions and evaluations said that the Battle God and the God of Death possessed power on par with the Eight Pirs. However, the rest of the gods were known to exert less influence, impact, and power than the Eight Pirs.

    The power of the Eight Pirs had been revealed to the world when Alexander changed his ss to Weapon Master. He was the first to change into the Eight Pir ss and achieved rapid growth when his ss changed.

    In one interview, the reporters asked Alexander this question.

    ¨C<em>How will youpare to the current Weapon Master?</em>

    A bitter expression shed on Alexander¡¯s face as he answered.

    <em>¨CIf we¡¯re talking about my level, I¡¯m only at the level where I had only taken my first baby step.</em>

    Everyone was shocked by his answer. Alexander, along with Minhyuk, was one of the high-ranking representatives of Athenae. However, had this very same Alexander only taken one baby steppared to the current Weapon Master?

    Many yers and experts were left in horror as they tried to search for information and dig deeper into the Eight Pirs. They discovered a viin who had killed millions, perhaps even hundreds of millions more if given the chance. There was someone who everyone already knew¨CAthenae, the god who was in charge of the entire world of Athenae. Everyone concluded that the Eight Pirs were unreachable beings to the yers. Some of the world¡¯s wealthiest were even willing to spend their money to forge a connection with them. Of course, the same was true for Alexander. However, even the world¡¯s richest man could not reach or contact the Eight Pirs.

    But now, one of the Eight Pirs had appeared in front of everyone¡¯s eyes. And he was even with Minhyuk. And Minhyuk also said it himself.

    ¨C<em>He¡¯s going to make the portraits, statues, and artifact samples right here and now?</em>

    They would understand what it meant if one was not a fool.

    ¡°Are you saying that one of the Eight Pirs will make all of the items representing Minhyuk?¡± One of the reporters eximed, his voice shaking.

    Themotion that broke out among the reporters grew more and more.

    PD Kim Daeguk hurriedly called the broadcasting station. He shouted, ¡°Get the shooting team here, now!!!¡±

    Go Eun-Ah looked at the scene with eyes as wide as a saucer. She thought, <em>¡®I thought it would be nice if he could surprise us. But he went ahead and dropped a bomb on us.¡¯</em>

    Everyone knew this was an opportunity to capture and show the world how one of the Eight Pirs made portraits, statues, and artifact samples.

    ***

    <em>One of the Eight Pirs will make various items for the Battle God¡¯s Temple.</em>

    These words created a massive ripple like a stone thrown into the water. Various broadcasting stations hurriedly began to do live broadcasts while BJs worldwide rushed to the Battle God¡¯s Temple.

    However, the heat died down a bit shortly after. This was because of the words of the two people who had been invited by one of the broadcasting stations. One of them was God of Painting Runan, while the other was star sculptor Barden. These two were yers known to have reached the highest level of their respective fields.

    The conversation between the MC and the two people was broadcast worldwide.

    <em>[So, the two of you are saying that there¡¯s no need to make a considerable fuss right now?]</em>

    The two nodded at the same time.

    Runan, a woman sitting cross-legged, said with pride and arrogance, evident in her voice.

    <em>[That¡¯s right. When I made my masterpiece, the God-grade painting ¡°The Order of the World,¡± it took me almost a month. And this work could only be born thanks to the passive skills of Painter¡¯s Soul, Extreme Concentration, Painting Harmony, and the likes being triggered.]</em>

    <em>[I agree. It also took me two months to create the Graceful Goddess Statue, the masterpiece that made me who I am today. However, the Beyond the Heavens Empire just announced the start of this production, no?]</em>

    Their conversation revolved around the announcement that the Beyond the Heavens Empire had just made.

    <em>[It will bepleted in around a day or two. So, you should wait.]</em>

    However, Runan twisted her lips. It seemed like she still found it unbelievable.

    <em>[You don¡¯t even know the ¡°A¡± in art. Even if that Jack-of-all-Trades Rocado is one of the Eight Pirs and is known to possess outstanding abilities rted to dexterity, there¡¯s no way he could produce an art that carries a soul in just a day or two. Don¡¯t you think so?] </em>

    Barden looked at Runan, who had begun growling her words and nodded in agreement.

    <em>[But it should be different from a cksmith making artifacts or yer Minhyuk cooking dishes. After all, Rocado is the father of dexterity.]</em>

    However, many people viewed Father of Dexterity Rocado differently.

    <em>[Even so, he can only be as good as a god in dexterity. Nothing more, nothing less.]</em>

    That was right. That was how they evaluated Rocado. And since they only viewed him as someone equivalent to a god, they believed he could not make anything at the God-grade in just a day.

    <em>[So, the two of you are saying that Rocado will be unable to make God-grade portraits, sculptures, and artifact samples and won¡¯t be able to surprise the people?]</em>

    <em>[Of course.]</em>

    <em>[Since it¡¯s only a day or two, I think he¡¯ll only make legendary-grade items.]</em>

    The expression on the MC¡¯s face seemed to say that he found their words reasonable enough. Since he was the Father of Dexterity, they thought he was only hailed as such because he was outstanding in all fields and not <em>insanely excellent and exceptional</em>.

    Of course, the part where the MC had to ry the viewers¡¯ questions could not be excluded from the interview.

    <em>[One of our viewers asked this question: But what if the items that he will create for the Battle God temple can surpass your masterpieces?]</em>

    Runan and Barden justughed at the question.

    <em>[That won¡¯t happen. But since we¡¯re talking about this then¡­ If it happens, I will paint the portrait of all the executives and the outstanding NPCs of the Beyond the Heavens Empire and give it to them as a present.]</em>

    Barden also nodded, showing his agreement.

    <em>[I will also do the same.]</em>

    If Minhyuk were watching this broadcast, he would say this, <em>¡®Lucky? Aren¡¯t they trying to make it too easy for me?¡¯</em>

    ***

    The number of reporters and yers that had started to crowd in front of the Battle God¡¯s Temple to watch the situation had more than doubled.

    Many of them felt depressed after the interview with Runan and Barden had been broadcast.

    ¡°Just legendary-grade?¡±

    ¡°But no matter how great an Eight Pir is, it would already be amazing if they could produce three legendary-grade items in a single day.¡±

    The reporters spoke as if they had fully understood. Just like they said, making three legendary-grade items in a single day was already considered shocking. Even though they felt like it was stillcking, now that they had alreadye here, they could not leave without seeing this through to the end.

    Meanwhile, Rocado had sat down with Minhyuk and listened to his story from beginning to end.

    ¡°I leave it to you.¡±

    Rocado slowly nodded.

    <em>¡®This¡­¡¯</em> Rocado looked around at the crowd around him. <em>¡®...will be my life¡¯s masterpiece.¡¯</em>

    His body was already starting to rot and break. However, Minhyuk had spoken before they came here.

    <em>¨CWhere is Eirin¡¯s grave located? I¡¯ll bring you two to a ce with good sunlight and a view of the moon and the stars.</em>

    Preparing one¡¯s own grave when they already knew that they were about to die was very terrifying. However, Rocado could tell that Minhyuk did not ask him this because he wanted to get something from him.

    ¨C<em>Ah, it should be somewhere in the Beyond the Heavens Empire. That way, it would be easier for Herakel toe and visit you.</em>

    Rocado smiled faintly when he heard those words as warmth flooded his chest.

    <em>¡®The new Pir will be nothing like the other Eight Pirs.¡¯</em> Rocado was sure of this, especially after he had heard Minhyuk¡¯s story from the beginning to the end.

    Finally, the gathered crowd was asked to step back. Once they did, Rocado waved his hand and summoned a gigantic smithy.

    <em>Crackle¨C</em>

    Smoke started to rise as the molten iron inside the smithy boiled instantly. Rocado stepped forward and approached the hottest ce in the smithy.

    ¡°It looks like he¡¯s going to make the artifact samples.¡±

    Many of the reporters turned to look at Hyemin¡¯sDaddy.

    ¡°Samples are the same as the artifacts. They have both the attack and defensive powers as well as the unique abilities of the original artifact. However, there is a condition that it cannot be used, and because of that, it is much easier to make.

    ¡°The problem here is the level of His Majesty Minhyuk¡¯s artifacts. The level of His Majesty¡¯s artifacts is at a level that even the cksmiths of the current era could not produce a sample of.¡±

    All the reporters had turned their cameras to Hyemin¡¯sDaddy and recorded his words.

    <em>ng¨C</em>

    <em>aaang¨C</em>

    <em>aaaaaang¨C!</em>

    The sound of a hammer colliding with metal resonated in the area. At the same time, dozens of hands appeared around Rocado. Each hand moved to create a different artifact: armor, essories, and the cape.

    ¡°This is¡­ crazy¡­¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°What the hell is that¡­?¡±

    Their jaws all dropped in shock when they saw the scene.

    One of the cksmith yers said, ¡°If you use those hands, then it¡¯s only natural that the degree ofpletion of the artifact will be significantly reduced.¡±

    However, the words of this yer werepletely overshadowed by the notifications that rang three hourster.

    <em>[Rocado has perfectly reproduced the Sword of Aeon.]</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Amotion broke out among the crowd of people.

    <em>[Rocado has perfectly reproduced the Transcendental¡¯s Armor.]</em>

    <em>[Rocado¡­]</em>

    <em>[Rocado¡­]</em>

    <em>[Rocado¡­]</em>

    <em>[Rocado¡­]</em>

    The notifications rang constantly as the artifacts that Minhyuk had equipped were ced one after another in front of Rocado.

    After that, Rocado moved before a nk canvas and began drawing Minhyuk¡¯s face.

    <em>¡®Eyes that are gentle but can observe and see through the world.</em>

    <em>¡®Straight and sharp nose that shows the dignity of an emperor.</em>

    <em>¡®A full and powerful chin that shows his charisma.¡¯</em>

    With a few strokes of Rocado¡¯s brush, Minhyuk¡¯s face started to take shape. He painted Minhyuk in the armor that he was wearing with his legs crossed as he sat on a chair. The way Minhyuk crossed his legs in the painting showed his pride, majesty, and dignity as the Battle God. The fork and knife were also crossed together, and the symbol of the Beyond the Heavens Empire was painted behind him. The image of the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor himself was born under Rocado¡¯s brush.

    Rocado had already fully understood everything about Minhyuk, the emperor of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. He knew how many hardships and trials he endured and overcame to reach this position. So, he made sure to incorporate his understanding and capture as much of the man''s essence as he could in the painting that he was making.

    Rocado lifted his brush.

    <em>[The Portrait: ¡®Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s First Emperor¡¯ has beenpleted.]</em>

    <em>[You have an excellent understanding of the subject of your portrait.]</em>

    <em>[You have perfectly reproduced the emperor''s image with your outstanding skills.]</em>

    <em>[The Portrait: ¡®Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s First Emperor¡¯ is God-grade!]</em>

    It only took four hours, but in those four hours, Rocadopleted a God-grade painting. The pir of light falling from the sky was proof of this.

    This time, Rocado picked up the chisel and began to carve and sculpt at an incredibly high speed.

    All the reporters and yers gathered in the area held their breaths. They watched as the sculpture''s figure slowly took shape under Rocado¡¯s fingertips.

    The gigantic ster slowly turned into an extraordinary and heroic figure. The figure looked exhausted; however, its eyes were filled with determination and intent to kill as it looked at the enemies. With the Sword of Aeon at hand, it looked like it was shouting for his troops to advance and charge forward.

    <em>[The Sculpture: ¡®The Great Sovereign who Leads the Gods¡¯ has beenpleted.]</em>

    <em>[You have an excellent understanding of the subject of your sculpture.]</em>

    <em>[You have reproduced the image of the Great Sovereign who Leads the Gods perfectly with your outstanding skills.]</em>

    <em>[The Sculpture: ¡®The Great Sovereign who Leads the Gods¡¯ is God-grade!]</em>

    Another pir of light fell from the sky.

    Each of the items born from Rocado¡¯s hands slowly found their ce, which had been left behind by the construction workers by themselves.

    Not far from the entrance, the portrait ¡°Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s First Emperor¡± was hung neatly. The artifact samples lined up neatly and disyed themselves in front of the portrait. Deep inside the temple, the magnificent statue of the God who would be worshiped in this temple stood in ce.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡±

    ¡°Crazy.¡±

    ¡°All of the items are God-grade?¡±

    The countless reporters and viewers were all left in awe. However, the shocking notifications were not yet over.

    <em>[The Unfinished Evangel is scanning the entirety of the Battle God¡¯s Temple.]</em>

    A mysterious light shone from Minhyuk¡¯s body, and it began to observe and appreciate the temple. Its thoughts and impressions continued to ring in Minhyuk¡¯s ears with every item it looked at. When it observed the final piece of the temple, a world message rang out.

    <em>[The Temple from the Myths, Evangel, reveals itsplete and finished appearance!]</em>

 Chapter 1005

    <em>[The Unfinished Evangel scans throughout the Battle God¡¯s Temple.]</em>

    A lot of information about Evangel had already been released to the public. This was because the video where Evangel had given buffs to the most outstanding members of the Beyond the Heavens Empire during the episode with the God of Death and allowed them to turn the situation around had received hundreds of millions of views.

    In fact, it had be a video that people would watch again if they found themselves in a boring situation. After the video''s release, people began to dig up information about Evangel, and they learned a lot about this temple from the myths.

    <em>[Did you hear that just now? It said the Unfinished Evangel is scanning the Battle God¡¯s Temple.]</em>

    <em>[Evangel is an absolute temple created by Kronad. yer Minhyuk always had Evangel in his possession, but he has never used it after that day.]</em>

    <em>[To be more urate, it¡¯s not that he did not want to use it. Perhaps it¡¯s more urate to say that he could not use it. It¡¯s impossible for a single yer to fulfill the requirements to use Evangel.]</em>

    One was that the yer had to be a god. This alone was enough to garner the praise and cheers of everyone. However, Evangel was a temple that went beyond that level. It was something that even Named NPC Gods wanted but could not have. Even the Absolute Gods and the Eight Pirs could not have Evangel.

    Like that, the Unfinished Evangel moved to observe and admire the temple.

    <em>[Currently, Evangel is checking if yer Minhyuk has the qualifications!]</em>Everyone¡¯s attention was piqued by the words of one of the experts in one of the live broadcasts.

    At the same time, a small ball of light floated in front of Minhyuk. Then, the light slowly flew inside the Battle God¡¯s Temple.

    At this moment, the entire world discovered that Evangel had an ego and a consciousness of its own.

    <em>[Evangel is looking around the entrance of the temple.]</em>

    <em>[Evangel is observing the trees that have taken root deeper into the soil, the fresher air, and the shinier and harder rocks surrounding the temple.]</em>

    After a few moments of observation, Evangel slowly ventured deeper. The small ball of light floated before Minhyuk¡¯s portrait, hanging near the temple''s entrance. Like a person watching and enjoying an exhibit, it stopped before the picture.

    Then, an unexpected notification rang.

    <em>[Evangel silently looks at the portrait of the young emperor.]</em>

    The small light floated in front of the portrait for a very long time, not moving at all, which increased Minhyuk¡¯s anxiety.

    <em>¡®I must reach the final level to obtain the finished andpleted Evangel.¡¯</em>

    This would determine whether he could or could not have Evangel.

    <em>Thump¨C</em>

    Then, at that moment, a tiny transparent jewel fell from Evangel.

    <em>[Evangel saw many things from the portrait of the young emperor.]</em>

    <em>[After viewing one portrait, Evangel is left contemting many things.]</em>

    <em>[This was a feat only made possible because of the ¡®Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s First Emperor¡¯ born under the hand of an outstanding painter.]</em>

    It was just one portrait, but what did Evangel see in this portrait?

    Then, something happened that brought even greater shock to everyone present.

    ¡°You¡¯re still so young.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Evangel¡¯s voice rang from within the ball of light and resonated worldwide.

    ¡°But you¡¯re already standing tall and firm.¡±

    <em>[Evangel begins to talk as it stares at the face of the figure in the portrait.]</em>

    ¡°Sometimes, you¡¯re like a weak young man. Other times, you¡¯re like a flexible and pliant old man. There are also times when you¡¯re like an outspoken man.

    ¡°You¡­¡±

    <em>[...are an insignificant and small emperor.]</em>

    ¡°But you¡­¡±

    <em>[...are also an influential and prominent emperor.]</em>

    Evangel floated in front of the painting for a very long time. Then, it opened its mouth again to say,<em></em>¡°From the lowest position.¡±

    <em>[You have be an emperor who has reached the highest ce.]</em>

    ¡°That¡¯s amazing.¡±

    Evangel finally moved deeper into the temple. Dozens of drones followed Evangel until they stood before the artifact samples. Evangel stood in front of the samples and observed them thoroughly, one after another.

    <em>[Evangel is evaluating the artifacts that it has seen.]</em>

    ¡°They¡¯re too much.¡±

    The viewers andmentators could not help but agree with those words. Minhyuk¡¯s artifacts were obviously far too much for a yer to possess. Amon term perfectly described what Minhyuk was enjoying: <em>Overgeared.</em>

    <em>[But¡­]</em>

    Everyone listened carefully to Evangel¡¯s words.

    ¡°It¡¯s enough.¡±

    <em>[Every artifact only came to his possession because the young emperor received recognition.]</em>

    <em>[And those who produced them¡­]</em>

    ¡°Everything is because of your tireless efforts and hard work.¡±

    <em>[They must have judged that you are deserving enough.]</em>

    ¡°Even I find it difficult to judge something like that. But¡­¡±

    <em>[It¡¯s amazing.]</em>

    <em>[Even though hecked the qualifications, he persevered and continued to work hard until he earned the right and the qualifications to have them.]</em>

    <em>[That sword¡­]</em>

    ¡°It can cut even the sky.¡±

    <em>[That armor¡­]</em>

    ¡°It can face any danger.¡±

    <em>[That helmet¡­]</em>

    ¡°It can conceal the young emperor¡¯s immaturity and allow him to look at his enemies with sharp and cold eyes.¡±

    <em>[Evangel looks at all the artifacts he possesses in admiration.]</em>

    Once again, Evangel floated in front of the artifact samples for a long time. For some reason, it looked like the ball of light was stroking each artifact gently as it hovered above them.

    After some time, Evangel slowly moved until it stood in front of the emperor and master of the temple. The young emperor''s figure looked like he was shouting, ¡°Charge!¡± as he held his sword high in the sky.

    There was an imperceptible shaking in the small ball of light as Evangel stood before the statue.

    <em>[Evangel is trembling.]</em>

    ¡°I have seen the master of the young temple.¡±

    The entire world held its breath as they watched the shaking Evangel.

    ¡°And¡­¡±

    <em>[I have seen an undeserving man whocks the qualifications receive these artifacts.]</em>

    ¡°In fact¡­¡±

    <em>[I thought along those lines, too.]</em>

    <em>[The temple master is not yet deserving and cannot sit in this position yet.]</em>

    <em>[He does not deserve to be the master of the most significant temple.]</em>

    ¡°But¡­¡±

    <em>[The sword that you raised proved me wrong.]</em>

    ¡°You¡­¡±

    <em>[...are much greater than what I thought.]</em>

    ¡°Under the sword that you raised¡­¡±

    <em>[Ten thousand, millions, hundreds of millions¡­]</em>

    ¡°I can¡¯t even fathom how many there are.¡±

    <em>[...they stand by your side and fight together with you.]</em>

    ¡°I can see it in my head.¡±

    <em>[The image of the young man, the Great Sovereign, raising his sword and leading thousands of gods to cut down the enemies.]</em>

    ¡°At his cry¡­¡±

    <em>[I can see the image of the poor and pitiful soldiers holding their weapons tightly despite the tears and the fear that were gnawing at them.]</em>

    ¡°Now, I know.¡±

    <em>[He is an emperor that I dare not and should not assess.]</em>

    ¡°This young emperor, this god.¡±

    <em>[I finally understand the reason why he became the master of this temple.]</em>

    ¡°So, today¡­¡±

    The ball of light slowly descended on the ground. It bowed and worshiped the God standing in front of it.

    Everyone understood the meaning of its actions.

    <em>[I am beyond honored.]</em>

    The light grew even brighter the moment it made contact with the ground.

    <em>[This young man¡­]</em>

    ¡°...is a strong man.¡±

    <em>[He might becking as an emperor¡­]</em>

    ¡°But he is also an emperor who can fill in his gaps and shorings.¡±

    <em>[I will serve the Great Sovereign who will lead countless men¡­]</em>

    ¡°...and the Battle God.¡±

    <em>[Is something that I am beyond honored to do so.]</em>

    The entire world was in shock. The temple from the myths, Evangel, the very same temple that all the gods wanted to possess, was worshiping one man.

    <em>[From me to you.]</em>

    ¡°No.¡±

    <em>[For epting me¡­]</em>

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Then, a series of notifications rang all over the world.

    <em>[Evangel has leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[The Temple from the Myths, Evangel, is nowpleted.]</em>

    <em>[The Temple from the Myths, Evangel, shines a brighter and greater light in the world to honor the master of the temple.]</em>

    <em>[The Temple from the Myths, Evangel, wishes for an audience with the temple''s master!]</em>

    Minhyuk, who was standing outside the temple, walked slowly until he entered. With every step, the light shone brightly and spread even further. Evangel burst into cheers, a sense of joy and fulfillment hanging in the air. It seemed like the temple was truly d to serve him.

    <em>[Evangel, which had shown its true andplete appearance, grants all foreigners present Evangel¡¯s Protection.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will increase by 5%. Your EXP Acquisition Rate will increase by 20%. The duration of the blessing is one week.]</em>

    For some reason, Minhyuk felt like Evangel was smiling softly as he strolled until he reached the light of Evangel. At that moment, an unknown power washed over him.

    <em>¡®The will to protect my temple.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®The determination to serve and worship my religion.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®The heart to cherish and love me.¡¯</em>

    These various forces embraced Minhyuk as he stared at the smile on Evangel, who had attached itself to the ground. Then, the small ball of light slowly spread and permeated the ground. Not long after, the entire Battle God¡¯s Temple was covered with light.

    <em>[Evangel has leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[The Temple from the Myths, Evangel, is revealing itsplete and finished appearance!]</em>

    <em>[The powers of the Unfinished Evangel have changed into theplete version.]</em>

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[Evangel exerts a stronger power for the master of the temple.]</em>

    <em>[The unfinished Evangel has beenpleted. The Finished Evangel¡¯s Level is at Level 1.]</em>

    <em>[The restriction on the number of Evangel Knights has disappeared.]</em>

    Minhyuk was very shocked.

    <em>¡®Evangel¡¯s level returns to Level 1?¡¯</em>

    This meant he could increase its level and bring it to Level 9 again. In other words, it was like announcing to the world that this was only the beginning of the Temple from the Myths, Evangel.

    Then, the details about the Level 1 Evangel rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[If a follower of your religion enters your temple, Evangel will grant them a 6% increase in attack and defensive power. The buff wouldst for an entire week.]</em>

    <em>[If a follower of your religion enters your temple, Evangel will grant them a 10% increase in DEX. The buff wouldst for an entire week.]</em>

    <em>[If a follower of your religion enters your temple, Evangel will grant them a 6% increase in EXP Acquisition Rate. The buff wouldst for an entire week.]</em>

    <em>[If a follower of your religion enters your temple, Evangel will grant them a 5% increase in abnormal status resistance. The buff wouldst for an entire week.]</em>

    <em>[Those who have been bestowed with Evangel¡¯s power will only be able to receive this power again after three months.]</em>

    <em>[With every increase of Evangel¡¯s level, all buff effects will increase by 20% while the buff cooldown will decrease by 20%.]</em>

    <em>¡®At first nce, one would say that the increase in the effects is only minimal.¡¯</em>

    However, they would understand what this meant if one was not a fool.

    What would happen if every time the temple level increased, there was a 6% increase in attack power, defensive power, and EXP acquisition rate by 20%? Simply put, if Evangel leveled up by only 1, the increase in the attack and defensive power and the EXP acquisition rate would be 7.2%. What would happen if it reached Level 9?

    <em>¡®That¡¯s crazy. By entering the temple, they would receive around a 20% increase in their attack and defensive power? Not only that, but they will also receive the same increase in EXP Acquisition Rate?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was rendered speechless. The temple was genuinely crazy. However, it was not limited to that. If he could increase Evangel¡¯s level, he could unseal more of the power hidden within the temple.

    The eyes of the hundreds of reporters shone as they looked at Minhyuk, who finally came out of the temple. Even the countless yers gathered around were looking at him in curiosity.

    <em>What kind of power did the Finished Evangel have?</em>

    Everyone was curious about this. After all, this would be one of the deciding factors on whether they would choose to serve and worship the Battle God.

    ¡°Your Majesty, please¡­!¡± Haze said, the eagerness and desperation evident in her voice. Whatever Minhyuk said next would significantly affect the migration of the people to their empire.

    Minhyuk was a very clever and sly man. He said, ¡°Firste, first served.¡±

    The entire world focused their attention as they listened to Minhyuk¡¯s words.

    <em>Firste, first served. </em>The impact of those words was significant. Why? Because those words would make the others think,<em> ¡°Ah, since he dares to say ¡®Firste, first served,¡¯</em><em>then the effects might be crazy enough, no?¡±</em>

    ¡°One million people.¡±

    Everyone in the area immediately ran to join and serve the Battle God¡¯s religion.

 Chapter 1006

    Chapter 1006

    Compared to the other nations established by yers, the Beyond the Heavens Empire disyed far more power and influence in Athenae. But whenpared to the Luvien Empire, an empire standing at the top, they were nothing but shabby.

    The Luvien Empire had a total poption, including its troops and citizens, of around 800 million people. On the other hand, the Beyond the Heavens Empire only had around 45 million people. The difference in the size of their territories was not thatrge. However, the huge difference came from their total poption.

    Some people believed that the only reason the Beyond the Heavens Empire couldpete with the Luvien Empire was because of its NPCs, who were doing the work of ten million people. Unfortunately, this was a sad and undeniable truth.

    In order for the Beyond the Heavens Empire to continue standing firm and not be pushed back by the Luvien Empire, it had to ept more migrants and expand its territories even further. If it could absorb yers belonging to the Luvien Empire, then the gap between the two empires would definitely narrow even further.

    When Haze heard Minhyuk say, <em>¡®Firste, first served,¡¯ </em>she was in awe.

    <em>¡®If people hear something on a firste, first served basis, they will often be left in a panic even though it¡¯s not that big of a deal. What if they were left with no seats anymore? And what if those seats get upied quickly because it¡¯s on a firste, first-served basis?¡¯</em>

    The answer to that was simple.

    <em>¡®There will be a long line of people wanting to get into the waiting list to get in and be a part of those that would be first served.¡¯</em>

    If they kickstart the firste, first-served system right away, it would create a huge issue and attract more people.On top of that, countless reporters and yers were present at the scene. However, all the reporters had gathered right in front of the Battle God¡¯s Temple entrance so they could cover thispletion ceremony better. Because of that, the first ones to enter the temple would be the reporters.

    <em>¡®What if we collect donations for the temple¡¯s management fund only after the first one million people join on a firste, first served basis?¡¯</em>

    The Beyond the Heavens Empire could secure arge amount of funds. Haze was so shocked by her emperor¡¯s incredible foresight.

    The soldiers of the empire immediately stepped forward to stop the charging reporters.

    ¡°Oho! You¡¯re creating a disturbance in front of the Battle God¡¯s Temple!¡±

    ¡°Please observe proper decorum and maintain order.¡±

    When the soldiers asked the reporters to line up correctly, surprisingly enough, Reporter Go Eun-Ah was the first in line.

    Reporter Go Eun-Ah was naturally a yer of Athenae. She also wrote good and positive articles about the Beyond the Heavens Empire every time. When Minhyuk saw her standing at the front of the line, a sparkle appeared in his eyes.

    The temple visitors would not receive Evangel¡¯s buffs just by entering the temple. They had to see and observe everything inside the temple first.

    Go Eun-Ah hurriedly stepped inside the Battle God¡¯s Temple. The first thing that she saw and admired when she walked inside was Minhyuk¡¯s portrait.

    <em>¡®The reason why Evangel called him ¡°Young Emperor¡±...¡¯</em>

    She seemed to understand why Evangel said those words, too. She also checked the artifact samples lined up in the temple.

    <em>¡®Aside from the attack power, the defensive power, and the rank of the artifact, there¡¯s nothing else we can see. We can¡¯t check any of the artifact¡¯s special abilities.¡¯</em>

    That was only natural. Minhyuk was no fool. He was not the type of person who would carelessly reveal information about his precious artifacts. However, even if he revealed only the bare minimum, it was still enough to evoke admiration and shock from those who wouldy eyes on them.

    <em>¡®There are a lot of artifacts that no other yers have ever seen or obtained. And the Sword of Aeon¡¯s attack power is crazy!¡¯</em>

    Reporter Go Eun-Ah was genuinely shocked. Finally, she reached the ce where Minhyuk¡¯s statue was standing. Standing before it, she could not help but tremble and shake.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡±

    He was just one yer. However, this yer had be the Battle God. The statue of Minhyuk with an outstretched hand holding his sword was imposing and majestic and could easily make one¡¯s heart feel a deep and great sense of awe.

    Not long after, Reporter Go Eun-Ah came out of the temple. What she had seen inside had made her tremble up until now. Then, at that moment, she received Evangel¡¯s buff.

    ¡°...!¡±

    It left Go Eun-Ah in a dumbfounded state. Then, a man walked to her. The man greeted her with a slight bow and a gentle smile. Then, he said, ¡°And it¡¯s only at Level 1.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    The words brought more tremendous shock to the already dumbfounded Go Eun-Ah. Reporter Go Eun-Ah, who looked like something was hot on her heels, hurriedly logged out. Then, she immediately went to herputer and began to tap away on her keyboard. Like any other reporter, she wrote a provocative title to her article.

    <em>[Three Reasons Why You¡¯re Stupid for Not Coming to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.]</em>

    ***

    Firste, first served for one million people. This was what Minhyuk dered. Surprisingly enough, it only took two hours for a million people to migrate to the Beyond the Heavens Empire. After that, the Beyond the Heavens Empire sent out an official announcement.

    <em>[The Beyond the Heavens Empire will ept 500,000 more migrants.]</em>

    yers from all over the world immediately filled in the 500,000 migrant quota. Then, after a meeting with Haze, the Beyond the Heavens Empire sent another announcement.

    <em>[It¡¯s bing difficult for the Beyond the Heavens Empire to handle because of the many migrants.]</em>

    <em>[The empire needs to secure more funds before epting more migrants.]</em>

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens¡¯ migrants: the impact of the buff that they had received after visiting the Battle God¡¯s Temple.]</em>

    <em>[Minhyuk: ¡®It¡¯s only at Level 1.¡¯ Official Statement.]</em>

    <em>[The Battle God Religion is requesting a one tinum membership payment to ensure that the Beyond the Heavens Empire can expand its territory and ept more migrants.]</em>

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens Empire and its endless stream of new migrants. The yers¡¯ loud moring forced the Beyond the Heavens Empire to make a decision. The empire is epting another four million migrants on a firste, first-served basis.]</em>

    <em>[Firste, first served: The four million migrant quota is filled within ten minutes.]</em>

    <em>[More than five million people have camped out in tents and mats in front of Beyond the Heavens Empire.]</em>

    <em>[The explosive impact of the Battle God¡¯s Temple.]</em>

    <em>[The Battle God¡¯s Temple is still at Level 1. Experts say that the higher the Battle God¡¯s Temple level, the harder it will be to step foot and join the Beyond the Heavens Empire.]</em>

    <em>[yers just starting Athenae¡¯s choice for their starting empire: 66% choose the Beyond the Heavens Empire, surpassing the 62% of the Luvien Empire.]</em>

    The reporters constantly sent out articles.

    <em>[Can the Beyond the Heavens Empire handle so many migrants?]</em>

    Of course, the question of whether Beyond the Heavens Empire could handle these migrants also popped up.

    Haze, Minhyuk, and the executives were in the middle of talking.

    ¡°We will announce tomorrow that we will receive five million more. But our preparations are more than enough; we can afford it.¡±

    This was all thanks to Minhyuk¡¯s words. Aside from the firste, first served system that he dered, he also announced that he would require a tinum for each member who would join the Battle God¡¯s religion. If they epted ten million people, then ten million tinum would enter the funds of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. They could use these funds to help the empire develop further.

    One tinum was not a small amount. This was something that only intermediate-level yers, not novice yers, could afford. And because the level of the yers was at that level, one could say that they weren¡¯t just filling the numbers.

    ¡°After a month, we will introduce a one million gold entrance fee for the temple.¡±

    Once implemented, the Beyond the Heavens Empire could secure money. However, they still had some regrets.

    Haze said, ¡°Unfortunately, 95% of the Beyond the Heavens migrants are foreigners.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with that?¡± Locke asked, with tact thrown to the wind.

    Haze looked at him and exined calmly, ¡°Most yers level up by hunting. We cannot put a tax on hunting.¡±

    If they imed rights to gold and artifacts that the yers hunted and acquired themselves, it would be considered daylight robbery.

    ¡°For us to secure more funds, we need more ordinary NPCs. Ordinary NPCs contribute more to the development and growth of the empire.¡±

    The reason was simple.

    ¡°They can set up restaurants, stores, and various other businesses. We can put a tax on that. And every time someone buys food? We can also tax them on that. Although we have received a lot of migrants, it is still a very unfortunate situation for us.¡±

    That was right. Although the Beyond the Heavens Empire had encountered a considerable volume of migrants, the only thing that they had reinforced was their military power. Once they released the Battle God¡¯s advertisement video, the rate at which the foreigners would migrate to them would increase exponentially.

    ¡°So, that¡¯s why it¡¯s unfortunate.¡± Locke, who finally understood what Haze meant, nodded.

    However, no matter how hard they brainstormed, they could note up with a single suitable solution.

    While they continued to discuss, Ares said, ¡°Even so, it¡¯s still amazing, no? I read from one of the articles that the Battle God¡¯s religion already has around twenty times more members than other religions made by the other gods.¡±

    And everything happened in just two days.

    When Haze heard that, she confidently dered, ¡°It would be difficult for any god to obtain members that would go beyond the members of the Battle God¡¯s religion.¡±

    Haze said those words with great confidence. However, she did not know she would have to correct that statementter.

    ***

    Athenae had the power to appoint someone as a new god. Of course, the conditions to be one of the appointed gods were extremely difficult to achieve. However, whenever Athenae looked at <em>him</em>, she thought, <em>¡®He¡¯s a great man. A man worthy of respect.¡¯</em>

    He was someone who had always healed those who had suffered greatly. With just a single touch from him, a smile filled with happiness would appear on the faces of people who had suffered from immense psychological pain for decades. All of the people who he freed from the pain that had shackled them for years had now forgotten their sufferings and taken a leap further in growth.

    Truthfully, Athenae had never seen anyone with such remarkable and shocking healing power in her entire life.

    Athenae summoned the Absolute Gods and convened a meeting.

    <em>[I¡­ have never encountered anyone who can bring and let the smile andughter remain in the faces of everyone they touched.]</em>

    No one said anything against her when she said those words. Because what she said was the truth.

    <em>[They shed tears of joy and rejoiced at his touch. Not even I, their mother, nor the Battle God who rules and leads all armies and the God of Death who governs their death, could aplish this.]</em>

    Although thisment bruised their egos, every single one of them acknowledged this feat. The same was true for Guardian God Obren.

    <em>¡®A god who can make someone feel joy and happiness like this will never appear again in this world.¡¯</em>

    <em>[I will give him a position and name him a new god. The name of the new god is¡­]</em>

    Everyone perked their ears up and listened to Athenae¡¯s divine and holy voice.

    <em>[God of Hair Growth.]</em>

    ***

    He was ovee with emotion.

    He had already freed them from their sufferings, but they would stille and visit him to express their gratitude. He grew greedy, wanting to save more people. But his powers were limited. At most, he could only free ten people from their sufferings within a day.

    But the great and holy God Athenae listened to his earnest hopes and prayers so that he could free more people from their sufferings. He was very thrilled. He knew that he could now save more people. Not only that, but his new followers woulde.

    His tremendous and divine self walked forward and headed toward the walls of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    At the same time.

    Millions of people were camping out with their tents and mats, waiting for the Beyond the Heavens Empire to ept them and move in. As these people stayed, they received shocking notifications.

    <em>[A new god has been born to the world.]</em>

    <em>[His name is God of Hair Growth, Corr.]</em>

    ¡°...God of Growing? What¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s with the name?¡±

    The yers were not that impressed by this new god. After all, Athenae allowed them to set their hair to whatever style or color they liked. Even if they were bald, they could make it so they could have a head full of hair inside the game.

    However, they were soon left dumbfounded. The number of people who came in in an hour could rival the Battle God¡¯s Religion members.

    ¡°Uwoooooooh!¡±

    ¡°This is a historic moment¡­!¡±

    ¡°Finally¡­ finally¡­!¡±

    ¡°Lord Talmor!!!¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Those who wished to join the Battle God¡¯s religion all saw the people kneel in front of the walls and scream. As they watched them, warmth started to flood their chests.

    ¡°...They must have had a tough time.¡±

    ¡°They must have suffered for a very long time.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. I would react like that, too, if I were bald. <em>Sob¡­!</em>¡±

    Many people started to tear up when they heard the people¡¯s cries. Then, at that moment, <em>he </em>finally appeared atop the walls.

    He looked at the people sadly, with a holier light than anybody else¡¯s. This was God looking at them with pity and sadness. There was also a kindness and warmth in that gaze as if he had acknowledged all of the sufferings and hardships they had endured.

    The new god, Corr, tried to console the wailing people. Using God¡¯s Voice, he let his divine and holy voice resonate all over the ce.

    <em>[They weren¡¯t guilty of any crimes.]</em>

    That was right. They did not do anything wrong!

    <em>[They were just born with it. They werecking in this departmentpared to others.]</em>

    <em>[Their sad and mournful cries echoed.]</em>

    <em>[They screamed and wailed, knowing that whatever they werecking could not bepensated by something else.]</em>

    Yes. This could not be cured or filled with something else.

    <em>[But¡­]</em>

    <em>[We will help the pitiful and the suffering.]</em>

    <em>[I will fight together with you.]</em>

    <em>[We will ensure that no one in this department is leftcking.]</em>

    They were unnecessary yet kind words.

    Corr raised one of his hands as high as he could. And just like a signal, everyone shouted in unison.

    ¡°Grow hair! Grow! Grow!¡±

    Their loud and passionate roars almost shook the entire Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    <em>[We shall make thosecking take one step forward and grow again.]</em>

    Corr raised his other hand.

    ¡°Grow hair! Grow! Grow!¡±

    ¡°Uwooooooooh!¡±

    ¡°Ugh! It¡¯s so bright!¡±

    ¡°<em>Sob!</em>¡±

    The sun''s bright rays touched their shining heads and intensified the light. But then, a miracle happened. With one wave of their god¡¯s hand, <em>their deficiencies</em> were slowly being filled. Hair began to grow in the vast desert, which was called their heads.

    ¡°<em>Heuk, heuk, heuk!</em>¡±

    ¡°L¨C Lord Talmor!!!¡±

    <em>[You are no longercking.]</em>

    <em>[You are no longer carrying this sin.]</em>

    <em>[And¡­]</em>

    <em>[Now, you are filled with richness and abundance.]</em>

    <em>[So, let¡¯s shout together.]</em>

    <em>[Grow hair!]</em>

    ¡°Grow! Grow!¡±

    <em>[Grow hair!]</em>

    ¡°<strong>GROW! GROW!!!</strong>¡±

    ck hair started to grow and fill their clear heads.

    Those waiting to join the Battle God¡¯s religion nodded kindly when they saw this scene.

    <em>¡®You¡¯re no longer bald.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®That¡¯s cool¡­ They¡¯re also growing thick and soft hair!¡¯</em>

    Meanwhile, an old man appeared standing on the wall. This old man was once at risk of going bald but had long been saved by Corr. His name? Spear God Ben.

    ¡°Hoho. I have never seen such a touching sight in my entire life,¡± Ben said as a tear slowly fell down his cheek.

 Chapter 1007

    Chapter 1007

    Surprising notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears when he came back after exercising.

    <em>[Your vassal, Corr, has risen to the position of a god and has be the God of Hair Growth.]</em>

    <em>[He will be the light who will save those suffering from baldness.]</em>

    ¡°Eh¡­?¡±

    For a moment, Minhyuk wondered if there really could be a god like this. But then, he remembered something that made him choke up and cover his mouth.

    <em>¡®Uncle Munsoo¡­¡¯</em>

    His father¡¯s secretary was slowly turning bald. This was a fact. And he could no longer hide it no matter how much hair fiber spray he used. His Uncle Munsoo even told him that he was so sad one windy day because his wig was blown away. Since a person was balding close to him, Minhyuk could understand the pain these people were suffering from.

    Then, something more shocking happened.

    <em>[12,313,000 people are applying to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.]</em>¡°...?!¡±

    Minhyuk was left dumbfounded.

    The Battle God¡¯s religion was currently only epting members on a firste, first-serve basis. Although it was only temporary, the migration applications for the people who wanted to join the Battle God¡¯s religion were limited. In other words, that and this application to relocate were utterly different matters.

    Then, he saw Haze running to him. She said, ¡°Your Majesty, the baldi¡­ no, the ones with rich silky hair want to serve the Talmor Religion. They are all lined up in front of the empire¡¯s walls!¡±

    At this moment, Minhyuk realized how many bald people were there worldwide.

    Haze said, ¡°Around 80% of them are guardians living in Athenae.¡±

    <em>Guardians</em> was the term for NPCs.

    Of course, Haze was not yet done. She said, ¡°They have already paid two million tinum as a donation to support the construction of the Talmor Religion¡¯s temple.¡±

    The more Haze spoke, the bigger Minhyuk¡¯s eyes grew.

    ¡°If the baldies, no¡­ the ones with rich, silky hair, continue toe to our empire, then we will probably be able to secure ten million tinum in funds.¡±

    Minhyuk was deeply moved. He was very grateful to them for giving funds to the empire even though they were only given a head full of hair. But even more surprising was the number of migrants applying to move to the empire constantly increased.

    Minhyuk, who just started Athenae, was in an excellent mood. He was in this very same mood when he met his father. But when he told him the story, Chairman Kang Minhoo chuckled dryly.

    ¡°The truth is¡­ this father of yours is also worried. What if I get bald, too? That¡¯s why I understand why they feel that way.¡±

    ¡°Eh¡­?¡± Minhyuk looked at his father in confusion.

    ¡°Your great-grandfather was bald.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    In other words, the curse of baldness skipped two generations. The thought that there was a chance that he would suffer the same fate brought a chill down Minhyuk¡¯s spine.

    ***

    Jack-of-all-Trades Rocado diedfortably in Herakel¡¯s arms.

    When Minhyuk returned to the Beyond the Heavens Empire, he relocated Eirin¡¯s grave. This, along with the fact that the God of Death had given him and Eirin permission to stay together in hell, brought a slight smile on Rocado¡¯s lips. And this smile remained until heid in his eternal rest.

    Minhyuk ordered a solemn and sincere funeral service for Rocado. Rocado was buried in a grave beside Eirin¡¯s own at the end of the service.

    However, there was something on Minhyuk¡¯s mind. He was apprehensive about Herakel.

    <em>¡®I wonder if Herakel will be able to adapt in the Beyond the Heavens Empire?¡¯</em>

    Rocado had asked Minhyuk to look after Herakel. That was why he was apprehensive about the man. During the funeral, Herakel seemed very sad. However, no tears dripped down his face. Seeing this, Minhyuk told him, ¡°Herakel. If you go to the central za, you can find a ramyeon stall. The ramyeon there is fantastic. You should try it.¡±

    ¡°Herakel! Herakel likes new food!¡±

    The bored Herakel immediately headed straight to the central za. Standing in front of the ramyeon stall, he saw a small boy.

    ¡°I am Conir!¡±

    A sudden self-introduction? Herakel received a very fresh, novel, yet shocking experience.

    ¡°Herakel came to eat ramyeon!¡± Herakel, with his vast build, sat down in front of the stall.

    The moment he sat down, the boy making ramyeon asked him, ¡°When making ramyeon, what do you put first? Noodles or soup?¡±

    The boy has never met anyone who could give the best answer to this question in his entire life.

    But then, Herakel said, ¡°Anyway, Conir will cook for Herakel!¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    The eyes of the boy, Conir, grew the size of saucers. He could not help but be shocked by this new experience.

    <em>¡®Ramyeon¡­ tastes better when someone else cooks it for Conir! Just like how Minhyuk hyung likes eating Conir¡¯s ramyeon!¡¯</em>

    That was right. As someone who had reached the level of god when it came to cooking ramyeon, he realized that it would be better to eat the ramyeon made by other people than eat the one he made on his own.

    ¡°A¨C Amazing!¡±

    Seeing how Conir was in awe of him, Herakel began to brag. He said, ¡°Herakel is a true man! Herakel is good at addition and subtraction!¡±

    Conir¡¯s eyes grew even wider when he heard that. He said, ¡°S¨C So cool! Herakel is good at addition and subtraction. Wow¡­¡±

    ¡°Fu¨C <em>Fufufufufu!</em>¡±

    This was the first time that someone looked at Herakel with sparkling eyes after he bragged. So, this was a very fresh experience. When the two made eye contact, they saw the slight smile on each of their faces.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk hurriedly walked to the central za. He was distraught when he heard that Herakel immediately went to the ramyeon stall.

    <em>¡®Because they both have simr personalities and way of thinking, there¡¯s a chance that they might not get along well.¡¯</em> This thought ran through Minhyuk¡¯s head as he headed straight for the ramyeon stall.

    ¡°<em>Irasshaimase!</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Irasshaimase!</em>¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Herakel, who had ¡°Deputy Kaptain, Kitchen Helf¡± written on his forehead, stood with Conir and weed Minhyuk.

    Goosebumps rose all over Minhyuk¡¯s skin when he saw the two standing together.

    <em>¡®This is nuts¡­!¡¯</em>

    On the surface, it might look like Conir and Herakel were two simple and naive men running a ramyeon stall to get by in this cold and harsh world(?). If the two ventured out into the world, there would be countless people ignoring the two. Perhaps they might even take advantage of Conir and Herakel¡¯s things.

    <em>¡®The Sword God and the God of Strength.¡¯</em>

    The mere sight of the two standing together was enough to frighten Minhyuk. What would happen if Herakel learned how to wield a sword from Conir and how to swing his sword more systematically? Unbeknownst to Minhyuk, what he was imagining would soon be a reality.

    The story of the Supreme Ramyeon Brothers, which wouldter be a legend, was about to begin.

    ***

    Minhyuk sat inside the conference hall along with his executives.

    ¡°How¡¯s the advertisement video?¡± Locke asked.

    However, Minhyuk just shook his head. ¡°Carron is keeping his mouth shut, especially with the people involved. We will only know once it¡¯s released.¡±

    Everyone nodded in understanding. Carron¡¯s penchant for being strict in keeping secrets was not necessarily bad.

    ¡°However, he told me, <em>¡®I¡¯m very proud and confident about it.¡¯</em> I think?¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡±

    The executives nodded as if these words were more than enough. Not long after, a notification window popped out in front of everyone present and waiting inside the room.

    <em>[You can now view the Battle God¡¯s advertisement video.]</em>

    <em>[Would you like to view it?]</em>

    Of course, the same notification rang for all the yers worldwide. And Minhyuk? He agreed without any hesitation.

    ***

    <em>[Year 719. Asgan Continent. The entire world was at peace.]</em>

    <em>[Somewhere in this peaceful continent. Countless children gathered around a single man.]</em>

    ¡°Uncle Tsun-tsun! Please tell us about the past!¡±

    ¡°These idiots. <em>Tsk.</em> You want me to talk about the past again, huh? <em>Hmph</em>.¡±

    ¡°Uncle Tsun-tsun, you say that, but you¡¯re still going to tell us,¡± one of the naughty children said to the man called Uncle Tsun-tsun.

    ¡°A hundred years ago¡­¡±

    <em>[There were beings hailed as the Eight Pirs.]</em>

    <em>[As their name suggested, there were eight of such beings.]</em>

    <em>[The first of them was¡­]</em>

    As Uncle Tsun-tsun began to tell his story, the scene in front of all of the children changed. At the same time, the scene that the viewers were watching also changed.

    With her face covered by a bright light, a woman appeared in a world filled with clouds.

    <em>[The mother of all creations and the God of Origin who rules and maintains the bnce of the world, Athenae.]</em>

    Uncle Tsun-tsun continued to talk and describe them, the scene in front of the children changing with every word he spoke.

    <em>[The father of all the world popes, Kronad.]</em>

    A shudder ran down the children¡¯s spines when they saw Kronad, with his stunning appearance, appear in front of hundreds of thousands of popes.

    <em>[The King Above Gods, who reigns over the Tomb of all Kings and Emperors, Aegaeon.]</em>

    On top of a huge tomb, the figure of the one who ruled over tens of thousands of dead kings and emperors appeared.

    <em>[The Weapon Master, who reigns and controls all of the weapons in the world, Fabro.]</em>

    Tens of thousands of weapons with a sharp glint in their des floated around Fabro, who stood alone.

    ¡°Wow!¡±

    ¡°Woah!¡±

    The children shouted in admiration.

    <em>[There¡¯s also the Father of Dexterity, Jack-of-all-Trades Rocado.]</em>

    The image of a man surrounded by hundreds of hands and creating several artifacts all at once appeared in front of everyone.

    <em>[And among the Eight Pirs, two beings were hailed as the cruelest and most vicious beings in the history of the Asgan Continent.]</em>

    Some of the children could not help but gulp dryly.

    <em>[Immortal Sorceress Helenia.]</em>

    The scene changed. It showed a woman with ming red hair walking among hundreds of thousands of corpses. Annoyed, she waved her hand and burned all of the corpses around her until there were no traces of them left. A sh of a smile appeared as if she had finally found her surroundings clean. It was a very grotesque and shocking scene.

    <em>[And¡­]</em>

    Although they had heard this story countless times before, the children still listened with rapt attention.

    <em>[The devil who killed millions of humans without mercy and hesitation¡­]</em>

    <em>[...and the most outstanding out of all the Eight Pirs¡­]</em>

    The scene changed once again. This time, the scene showed Uncle Tsun-tsun and the children.

    <em>[His name is none other than Obren. It¡¯s me.]</em>

    ¡°Boo!¡±

    ¡°Uncle Tsun-tsun, you always say you¡¯re the devil just because you have the same name.¡±

    ¡°If uncle is the devil, then I¡¯m Athenae!¡±

    ¡°Idiots!¡±

    ¡°Uncle, you¡¯re the Guardian Deity of the Beyond the Heavens Empire!¡±

    Uncle Tsun-tsun, or Obren, knocked the kids'' heads. However, the children looked at him indifferently, as if they were used to his antics. One of the children, a five-year-old girl, sat naturally on Obren¡¯sp to listen to his story.

    ¡°Are you going to listen or not?!¡±

    ¡°Pff¡­ you always lie, though.¡±

    ¡°But I still want to listen to the story.¡±

    ¡°Anyway, let¡¯s continue.¡±

    <em>[The most cruel, brutal, and cool devil, Obren.]</em>

    <em>[However, even the Eight Pirs could not live for eternity.]</em>

    <em>[Pope Kronad went to hell himself to pay for the sins that he hadmitted.]</em>

    <em>[And Rocado, who was an ordinary human, found himself at the end of his life and sumbed to his death.]</em>

    <em>[As for Obren, he found salvation through </em>him <em>and could live a new life.]</em>

    <em>[Obren became the lovely, kind, upright Guardian God.]</em>

    <em>nce¨C</em>

    Obren sneaked a peak at the children. Then, he continued to tell the story with a hum and a cough.

    <em>[Then, one day¡­]</em>

    <em>[The Immortal Sorceress Helenia, who failed toplete a descent, awakened to the world.]</em>

    <em>[The awakened Helenia realized that she could not do anything on her own. So, she went out to find and awaken someone else.]</em>

    <em>[And the one she found was none other than the King Above Gods Aegaeon.]</em>

    The scene changed once again. It showed Helenia talking to the awakened Aegaeon.

    ¡°Come with me and help me kill Athenae.¡±

    Then, Aegaeon chose to side with Helenia.

    <em>[Tens of millions of Aegaeon¡¯s troops, who could rival the Heavenly Army, charged into the Land of the Gods. It was hell on earth. Countless people died.]</em>

    <em>Stab¨C</em>

    The scene showed someone¡¯s splendid temple littered with the corpses of thousands of gods. In the end, thest man standing was also stabbed straight through the heart.

    <em>[And¡­]</em>

    <em>Thud, thud, thud¨C</em>

    The man slowly crumbled and turned to dust when Aegeon pulled his sword out.

    <em>[...the Battle God died.]</em><blockquote>

    ChubbyCheeks''s Thoughts

    At this point, you might have noticed that only seven of the Eight Pirs have been mentioned. After looking back, with the help of Namu and the rest of the team, we realized that Vampire Be, the mother and queen of all vampires, has not been mentioned. However, if you look back at the arc before the War in Edea, she has been summoned by Rex(?) to take revenge on Minhyuk by targeting ck Dragon, Beanie, and Luna. </blockquote>

 Chapter 1008

    Chapter 1008

    The Battle God was not only the source of envy of all of the NPCs but also of the yers of Athenae. But this very same Battle God had copsed after his heart got stabbed.

    <em>ng¨C</em>

    The Battle God, who lost grip of his sword, twitched. However, Helenia and Aegaeon just walked past him with mirth on their faces.

    <em>[The Battle God died.]</em>

    <em>[With the death of the Battle God, the Land of the Gods slowly fell into chaos.] </em>

    <em>[The Heavenly Army and the surviving gods scattered and crawled elsewhere.]</em>

    <em>[Finally, after wreaking havoc for a month, they reached where God of Origin Athenae was.]</em>

    <em>[However, Athenae was not alone. Another excellent and handsome member of the Eight Pirs was also there.]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s none other than the devil who became the Guardian God, me.]</em>The handsome man looked coldly in front of him as he stood among hundreds of gods and tens of thousands of Heavenly Army troops. Athenae, whose face was covered and hidden by a shroud of light, stood with them in her white papal robe. She could hear the screams getting closer and closer to where they were.

    <em>[At that time, Obren did not harbor any love or respect for Athenae. But he still stood by her side.]</em>

    <em>[As the God of Origin, Athenae knew fully what her death would signify.]</em>

    <em>[If she died here, then the entire world would copse.]</em>

    ¡°...That is our final hope. It¡¯s the final and only way for us.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    <em>[Athenae was also preparing for something. However, Obren just shook his head when he heard those words.]</em>

    ¡°He only has a 0.001% chance of seeding.¡±

    ¡°Stop with the bullshit, Athenae. Do not try to evaluate him and limit him with your probabilities,¡± Obren growled.

    Athenae just looked at his eyes silently in response.

    <em>BANG¨C!</em>

    Then, Aegaeon and Helenia appeared as the enormous doors were sted apart. Helenia¡¯s powerful magic swept and devoured the surviving troops of the Heavenly Army. And Guardian God Obren? He immediately charged forward to fight against them.

    <em>[I was strong. I could overwhelm Helenia, who did not have herplete powers.]</em>

    <em>[However, the problem was the King Above Gods Aegaeon.]</em>

    <em>[Aegaeon, the ruler of all kings, had the power to rule the army led by the kings.]</em>

    <em>[A powerful army with nearly a hundred million troops. I still cannot forget the overwhelming momentum and majesty the army showed back then.]</em>

    The shocking sight of more than a hundred million troops charging toward Athenae¡¯s Temple and filling it was like a sea of ck. Seeing Obren fighting alone was both strange and shocking.

    <em>[How long had they been fighting?]</em>

    <em>[In the end, one of Helenia¡¯s magic pierced through my chest.]</em>

    ¡°Urk¡­!¡± Obren copsed and vomited a mouthful of blood.

    <em>[It was already a hopeless situation.]</em>

    <em>[I stood at the forefront facing Helenia, Aegaeon, and his millions of troops.]</em>

    <em>[At that moment, I¡­ I remembered an old man that I liked.]</em>

    ¡°The Evil One, Obren.¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t youe to our side?¡±

    <em>[My body was already suffering from severe injuries. I no longer have any mana left. My body was already one foot in the grave.]</em>

    <em>[Even so, I told them¡­]</em>

    ¡°I have never learned how to back down.¡±

    ¡°Unbelievable.¡±

    ¡°Why are you doing this?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not your duty to protect the Land of the Gods, no?¡±

    <em>[I was once the devil. But I learned¡­]</em>

    ¡°I realized how much the children''sughter tickled my ears as I listened to their calls of ¡®Uncle Guardian God¡¯ while gathering around me.

    ¡°...how pretty the young girl looked as she looked up at me and held my hand tightly.

    ¡°...how precious the soldiers were, who waved at me despite knowing I was once the devil.

    ¡°...how sweet the apple given to me by an old wife was when I walked in the market.

    ¡°And Athenae¡¯s copse means that all of that will disappear. I can¡¯t have that. So, I¡­ will not back down.¡±

    <em>[My shoulders felt very heavy. However, I have already made up my mind. I will fight until the end of my life.]</em>

    <em>[Actually, I was terrified.]</em>

    <em>[I was already at the point where I was in so much pain that I wanted to die already. I was already questioning the meaning of life. But¡­]</em>

    <em>[Someone made me wish that I could live more.]</em>

    <em>[He brought theughter back to my face.]</em>

    <em>[He made me realize what it¡¯s like to love.]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s why I chose to run forward.]</em>

    <em>[I squeezed thest of my strength and fought against them.]</em>

    Everyone saw Obren charging toward the enemy alone. But in the end, he lost his right arm. Even his left leg was broken. He had already copsed on the ground, his body bent in strange ces, and Helenia was about to make his heart explode.

    ¡°Enough¡­!¡±

    <em>[I¡­ have never seen Athenae look so weak before.]</em>

    <em>[Athenae looked like she had lost all hope.]</em>

    <em>[Seeing her like that, Helenia and Aegaeonughed. They knew that victory was now at hand.]</em>

    But then, at that moment, Obren raised his arm to the sky and spoke.

    <em>[This hand of mine has one meaning.]</em>

    <em>[Trust.]</em>

    <em>[It was his firm belief and trust in </em>him<em>.]</em>

    Then, the background music began to y. It sounded so lively that hope spread to the chaotic and ruined Land of the Gods.

    <em>[Then, a shocking scene appeared.]</em>

    In the world in the skies, the Land of the Gods, A stair made of tens of thousands of steps made with light slowly began to appear and break through the clouds. Then, a vast tremor shook these tens of thousands of steps of light.

    <em>Thud¨C Thud¨C Thud¨C</em>

    <em>[They were a race that could only live up to a hundred years.]</em>

    <em>[A race that is far weaker than any other race. A race that survives and lives by leaning on God.]</em>

    <em>[This race gathered together under his banner.]</em>

    A trembling breath escaped Athenae¡¯s lips. And Obren? He smiled brightly, his arm still raised high up in the sky.

    <em>[His army began to advance.]</em>

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    The humans began to climb and run to the stairs leading to the Land of the Gods.

    <em>[They were the guardians of Athenae.]</em>

    <em>[Some foreigners visited thend of Athenae.]</em>

    The humans, who were wearing armor made of light, began to cover every inch of the steps of light.

    ¡°Kill them all!!!¡±

    <em>[Aegaeon¡¯s army, donning ck, began to descend the stairs.]</em>

    <em>[It looked like a battle between the good and the evil.]</em>

    But as the ck army stepped down the stairs, the human military, engulfed in light, began sweeping them away.

    ¡°For victory!!!¡±

    ¡°For victory!¡±

    Among them stood Alexander, a yer everyone was very familiar with, and countless other famous high rankers. Their presence created a deeper sense of immersion for all who viewed the video.

    The ck army constantly fell from the tens of thousands of steps of light. Seeing this, Helenia started to cast thousands of her magic spells to break down the stairs connecting the Land of the Gods to the world of humans.

    <em>[However, there was no trace of fear on their faces.]</em>

    Helenia summoned dozens of Meteors. These meteors fell non-stop and killed the humans as they tried to destroy the stairs.

    <em>[Just like me, they all had faith.]</em>

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    Then, a bright light shed and lit up the entire world at that moment. Along with that light, a grand and majestic temple began to descend upon the Land of the Gods.

    <em>[I knew that he wasing.]</em>

    A bright and colorful light shot out from the temple and gave strength to the people covered in light walking up the stairs. This was the divine and holy temple, Evangel.

    <em>Crackle¨C!</em>

    Then, at that moment, a bloody tentacle shot out from somewhere. The tentacle grewrger andrger while taking on a shape before slowly turning into stone. The shape that it ended up bing was none other than the shape of a bridge. The bridge, more than five kilometers long, was connected to another worldpletely separate from the Land of the Gods.

    <em>[A bridge connecting the Land of the Gods and Hell was created.]</em>

    At the end of the bridge, one could see the God of Death standing atop a flying bone dragon.

    <em>[Hundreds of millions of people climbed up the bridge.]</em>

    <em>[Even after their death, some still wanted to protect thend they were born on. They all marched straight toward the Land of the Gods.]</em>

    Standing beside the God of Death was the ughterer, Asura Ascar. She also joined the dead and charged toward the Land of the Gods. Those who wanted to protect the world charged from all directions.

    <em>[Everyone began to gather around </em><strong><em>him</em></strong><em>.]</em>

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    Another sh of bright light appeared. Along with that, hundreds of steps made of light slowly fell from the sky above the Land of the Gods. Athenae had prepared these stairs made of light. However, even though she had prepared this, Athenae knew that there was only a 0.001% chance of getting triggered. In these stairs, the Heavenly Army troops and the gods that had scattered after the death of the Battle God began to descend.

    Helenia and Aegaeon were left flustered when the gods suddenly appeared behind them.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    Above their heads, a man shot down with his sword in hand, apanied by a bright sh of light.

    <em>[It was an era of chaos and confusion.]</em>

    <em>[However, in this chaotic era, one person gathered Hell, the Human World, and even the Land of the Gods together.]</em>

    <em>[He was the only one who could do that.]</em>

    ¡°Uwooooooooooh!¡±

    When his sword stabbed the ground, a terrifying earthquake swept the millions of troops of Aegaeon¡¯s army. With every swing of his sword, lightning would fall from the sky and kill hundreds of enemies.

    The beat of the music grew faster and more cheerful, and the rhythm made all of the viewers shudder.

    He stood there after ughtering a considerable portion of Aegaeon¡¯s army.

    In a blink, all the humans have climbed up the stairs connecting their world to the Land of the Gods and stood behind him.

    The God of Death had also crossed the bridge connected to Hell and joined his side.

    Even the gods stepped down the stairs that connected them to the sky and stood by his side.

    ¡°Uwoooooooh!¡±

    He ran toward Helenia and Aegaeon, his sword colliding with Aegaeon¡¯s own.

    <em>Baaaaaaang¨C!</em>

    A huge spark exploded from the collision, and the scene changed. It returned to Uncle Tsun-tsun Obren''s sitting with the children, and the children cheered loudly.

    ¡°So cool!¡±

    ¡°Hehe!¡±

    ¡°So, what¡¯s his name?! Who is he?!¡±

    The children had heard this story countless times, and the ending would always be the same.

    Uncle Tsun-tsun Obren looked at the sky with a faint smile and said, ¡°He is the Battle God.¡±

    ***

    Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s conference hall.

    The executives, who were only watching thepleted advertisement for the first time, were all left in awe as they stared at the screen showing the video about to end.

    Then, the final words appeared on the screen, apanied by majestic and awe-inspiring music.

    <em>[Stand alongside the Greatest Monarch, the Battle God.]</em>

    Even the final line was elegant. This was a great advertisement video. However, among the apuding executives, only President Kang Taehoon was rubbing his chin.

    He said, ¡°As expected, thest line is disappointing.¡±

    The Line Killer President Kang Taehoon had been criticized for his ridiculous lines in the past. However, at this moment, Kang Taehoon was confident that the line he had thought of would be much better.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t have much of an impact. Will you listen to the line that I thought of?¡±

    Everyone pretended that they were interested in the lines that Taehoon thought of. But in reality, they felt like it would be something that would make them curl their toes with how cringe-y it was. But there was nothing that they could do. He was the president of Joy Co. Ltd, you know?!

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing to be afraid of with the Battle God. Let¡¯s go together, friends!¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Silence enveloped the room for a moment.

    ¡°Ha¨C Hahaha. That¡¯s great.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a <em>reaaaaally</em> great line.¡±

    ¡°Ha¨C Hahahaha! My¨C My heart feels like it¡¯s shrink¨C no, it¡¯s swelling with pride!¡±

    ¡°See? Hahaha. If we used that line, we would have secured more new yers. Hahahaha!¡±

    Team Leader Park Minggyu, smiling faintly, thought, <em>¡®Socializing¡­ is very difficult.¡¯</em>

 Chapter 1009

    Chapter 1009

    After the Battle God¡¯s advertisement video was released, the number of migrant applications for the Beyond the Heavens Empire, which was already flooding in, soared through the roofs.

    <em>[35,305,000 people are applying to the Beyond the Heavens Empire!]</em>

    Unlike the Luvien Empire, which was still in the middle of a chaotic time and was still trying to regain its stability, Minhyuk had now be the true Battle God. With the release of the advertisement video, the number of migrants applying to join their empire was increasing.

    However, this number of migrants was still far toorge for the Beyond the Heavens Empire to handle. So, just like before, they nned to take it step by step and approve the applications using a firste, first-served system.

    In front of the Battle God¡¯s Temple.

    A man looked at Minhyuk¡¯s figure as he stood before his countless followers, looking at him with shining eyes and listening to every word he said with a small smile. This man was none other than ck Dragon.

    ck Dragon looked at his excellent and outstanding son with a small smile before logging out. Although there was a smile on Chairman Kang Minhoo¡¯s face, there was still something that he was very conflicted about. Then, he hurriedly pulled out his handkerchief to cover his mouth.

    ¡°<em>Cough! Cough!</em>¡±

    Chairman Kang Minhoo, who had been coughing recently, was feeling unwell. Wasn¡¯t there a saying about how one knew their body best?¡°How much time do I have left?¡±

    He did not know the answer to that. Not long after, Kang Minhoo copsed.

    <em>Knock, knock¨C</em>

    ¡°Chairman, I¡¯ming in¡­ President?!¡± Lee Jinhwan shouted.

    The doctor arrived right on time. Jinhwan hurriedly approached Minhoo, only to find him gasping for breath.

    Perhaps Kang Minhoo was very relieved to see the doctor. He looked at him and mumbled, ¡°Don¡¯t¡­ let¡­ Minhyuk¡­ know¡­¡± before promptly passing out.

    ***

    Ilhwa Group was a business legend. In its early days, it was nothing but a mom-and-pop store. However, it rose to the top of the Korean businessmunity. People often say,<em> ¡°There¡¯s nopany that is clean,¡±</em> but Ilhwa Group proved them wrong. They were a very clean and goodpany.

    Chairman Kang Minhoo, the chairman of such a group, was someone that every young person in South Korea dreamed of and aspired to be. However, the object of the masses'' admiration was now looking quite shabby as he sat inside a hospital room and looked out the window.

    ¡°<em>Cough! Cough!</em>¡± Minhoo began to cough again. However, he just covered his mouth with a handkerchief and continued to look out the window.

    There was a bitter smile on Minhoo¡¯s face. The moment he woke up from fainting, he immediately underwent all the tests that he could take. However, he knew full well about his physical condition. That was why he could see iting.

    <em>¡®Minhyuk should be thest person to know.¡¯</em>

    His child has just gotten over his illness. When he thought about that, he suddenly recalled something. They were none other than the dragons that he owned in Athenae. There was an Athenae capsule connected in this VVIP room.

    ¨C<em>You absolutely have to rest.</em>

    Although Lee Jinhwan told him to rest, Kang Minhoo still went ahead and connected to Athenae. Then, he summoned his dragons.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeee!¡±

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Kihyee?¡±

    The four dragons always liked it when ck Dragon summoned them. They would all make eye contact with him, act cute, and rub their faces all over his body.

    ck Dragon stroked their heads gently and said, ¡°I wanted to be the real ck Dragon, the ck Dragon written in the myths and legends, and stay with you guys, but¡­¡±

    Kang Minhoo had once mentioned this to Minhyuk. His goal was to be a real dragon in the game. Aplete and genuine ck dragon. And he finally found a clue that could help him achieve this dream.

    ¡°It seems like I don¡¯t have much time left.¡±

    Kang Minhoo patted the dragons sadly. After saying his final greetings to his dragons, he logged out and met with Lee Jinhwan, who came just in time as he got out.

    ¡°<em>Cough! Cough!</em>¡± Kang Minhoo coughed. He covered his mouth with his handkerchief and sat on his bed again before looking out the window.

    ¡°Chairman, didn¡¯t I tell you you must rest?¡±

    Kang Minhoo just smiled bitterly at Lee Jinhwan¡¯s concern.

    Lee Jinhwan sighed and said, ¡°Chairman, the results are out.¡±

    <em>¡®I know my body best.¡¯</em>

    ¡°Do I have to know?¡± Kang Minhoo said. Sometimes, it was better for the person involved not to know. Then he continued, ¡°I saw Minhyuk standing in front of so many people today. As his father, I feel very proud and happy. I was overwhelmed with emotions.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Lee Jinhwan just silently listened to Kang Minhoo.

    ¡°Now, that child can probably lead the Ilhwa Group. However, there¡¯s one thing that I always ask myself.¡± Kang Minhooughed bitterly. ¡°Will that life give my son happiness?¡±

    Did he have to do that? Did he have to push his young child, who had barely gotten over his illness, to carry the enormous burden and be the group chairman just because of his greed?

    ¡°I still believe that it¡¯s too much of a burden. That¡¯s why I have been thinking a lot these days. What should I do in the future?¡±

    Kang Minhoo looked up at the sky outside. The blue sky looked gorgeous today.

    Then, Lee Jinhwan said, ¡°The results of the tests are¡­¡±

    Chairman Kang Minhoo¡¯s eyes grew sadder as he looked at the world outside. ¡°Alright. How many days do I have left? A month? A year?¡±

    ¡°Your body age is 35 years old. The fact that your body age is that young despite being 58 years old this year is very surprising. This is the first time we have seen such a young body age for someone your age.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°The results of your liver function tests, lung function tests, and cancer screening tests all returned normal. Even your muscle mass and bone health are better than people in their twenties.¡±

    But Kang Minhoo¡¯s smile remained bitter. ¡°I know my body well. I have been coughing and running a fever and dizzy for a few days now.¡±

    ¡°You have a cold caused by exhaustion.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Kang Minhoo looked at the sky again. This time, his bitter expression morphed into sadness.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m happy about the results, but for some reason, I feel ufortable.¡¯</em>

    Anyway, what happened had happened.

    ***

    Minhyuk has been as busy as a bee. The number of people who wanted to relocate to the Beyond the Heavens Empire was much higher than he had expected. Because of that, not only did he have to consider expanding his territories, but he also had to consider the homes that these people would live in.

    Considering that most of these people migrated to the empire to join the Battle God¡¯s religion, he also had to prepare quests rted to the Battle God. He was living a busy life.

    ¡°Haze, how long are we going to be this busy?¡±

    Haze smiled awkwardly when she heard Minhyuk¡¯s question. ¡°Normally, I would have already told you, Your Majesty, that leaving this to us is okay. But even though it¡¯s hard for you, I hope you can help us for just a week.¡±

    A week. In a way, working full time as an emperor for just a week could be considered a very small amount of time for an emperor like Min Hyuk. This was proof that the people of the Beyond the Heavens Empire had always worked hard for the empire and for his sake.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s so much to do.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had to eat delicious food, revitalize the empire, and defeat the Luvien Empire. All he could do was sigh and focus on his work once again.

    ***

    After a good night¡¯s sleep, the now well-rested and perfectly healed ck Dragon logged back inside Athenae. The dragons looked at him with shining eyes and asked, <em>¡®Are you alright now?¡¯</em>

    ck Dragon smiled brightly at them. He said, ¡°Fufu. I won¡¯t die so easily. After all, dragon blood is flowing in my veins. Besides, the sky is too blue for me to die, right? Fufufufu.¡±

    It was a cringeworthy chuuni line! But the dragons rejoiced at the return of the healthy and lively ck Dragon. They twisted their bodies while acting cute and asked for hugs from ck Dragon, who found out he was fine.

    ¡°It¡¯s time to be a real dragon.¡±

    ck Dragon dreamt of that beautiful dragon body covered in ck scales and glittering under the sunlight.

    ¡°So, when I be a dragon, I can say this¡­¡±

    All of the dragons focused on him.

    ¡°Fufu. You dare to touch me? My real power, the power of a dragon, is going berserk!¡±

    ¡°Ki¨C Kihyeeeee!¡±

    ¡°Kihyeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Kihyaaa?¡±

    The dragons¡¯ eyes shone brighter as they looked at the cool, dashing ck Dragon with awe and admiration.

    ¡°And you, my four dragons, will fly together with me. Fufu.¡±

    ¡°Kekekekekeke!¡±

    ¡°Keekeekeekeekeek!¡±

    ¡°Ahihihihihihihi!¡±

    The four dragons followed ck Dragon, and allughed drearily.

    ck Dragon had already figured out how to be an actual dragon. From what he had heard, there were, at most, only two ways to do that.

    ck Dragon rarely asked for information from Informant Abel. This was because he knew that far too many people needed Abel¡¯s aid. However, the world-renowned ck Dragon had a far more extensive intelligencework than Abel¡¯s own.

    ¡°The ce where the dragons slumber.¡±

    The Dragons¡¯ Grave. ording to the intel that ck Dragon had received, there was a way in that ce that would allow him to be a true dragon, not a half-dragon.

    ck Dragon did not dy further and left for the Dragons¡¯ Grave.

    ***

    Dragons¡¯ Grave.

    ck Dragon and his four dragons fought desperately against the already dead dragons.

    When he was young, ck Dragon dreamt about dragons. As they ascended to the heavens, their figures were literally a thing of legend. Even the <em>breaths</em> that they spewed out of their mouths were breathtaking. Now that he was an adult, this dream became his goal.

    ck Dragon already had everything. He was left with nothing more to enjoy and be excited about. But when he obtained Britney in Athenae, he took one step closer to bing the true ck Dragon and again awakened his dreams of bing an actual dragon. This was his final dream, thest goal he wished to achieve.

    ¡°Don¡¯t back down! I¡¯ll protect your backs!¡± ck Dragon shouted.

    He gritted his teeth as he continued to fight with the dead dragons, who were charging at them fiercely. Whenever the four dragons were in danger, ck Dragon would jump up and protect them. He would even go so far as to use his body to receive the attack on their behalf. Then, he would take potions and continue to cut down the dead dragons in front of him.

    This was already the third day. Although he and his dragons were exhausted, they continued to move forward.

    ¡°Fufufu. Just think about it. Thousands of dragons, ascending to the heavens and flying with me, who has be a true dragon!¡±

    ¡°Keeeekeeee!¡±

    ¡°Kihyeeeeee!¡±

    ¡°Kiheeeeee!¡±

    ck Dragon looked like he had returned to his childhood, as if he had imagined a pleasant thought. After walking for quite a while, they finally reached the end of the Dragons¡¯ Grave.

    <em>[Brainwashed Dragon King has appeared!]</em>

    The Dragon King was twice as massive as an ordinary dragon. The problem was that hundreds of dead dragons appeared around him.

    With his dragon armor, ck Dragon flew to the skies with his own dragons. This final stop held the path that would lead him to his dreams of bing a dragon.

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    Another fierce battle ensued. ck Dragon fought for his dreams while the four legendary dragons fought to protect him and his dreams. The four dragons loved ck Dragon more than anybody else in the world. That was why they were willing to do anything and everything for him.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Kiheeeeeeek!¡±

    When they saw ck Dragon fall after receiving the brunt of the dragons¡¯ breath, the four dragons flew toward him to protect him.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine. Let¡¯s go again!¡±

    ¡°Kihyeee!¡±

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeck!¡±

    The fierce battle only ended after a dark sea of dead dragons had been created. And the soul of the brainwashed Dragon King was finally set free. He said, ¡°You have all the qualifications to be the ruler of the Dragons¡¯ Grave. But to be one, a human like you has to be a dragon. This path would not be easy.¡±

    That was right. Most humans would immediately reject this when they heard they had to be a dragon. Butpared to others, there was a slight smile on ck Dragon¡¯s face.

    ¡°This is why I will offer you two things.¡±

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[The Dragon King offers you two rewards.]</em>

    <em>[The first reward is a cintamani stone that can turn you into a dragon.]</em>

    <em>[The second reward is a chicken carrying a dragon¡¯s vitality.]</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    ck Dragon felt extremely happy that he would finally be an actual dragon. But the other reward was a chicken carrying a dragon¡¯s vitality. When he checked its details, he discovered that it was a God-grade ingredient far superior to any other ordinary God-grade ingredient. On top of that, it looked very delicious.

    But ck Dragon had dreamt of bing a dragon for a long time. He realized he could not make this dreame true so early. A bitter smile shed on ck Dragon¡¯s face.

    ¡°Children, I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°Kiiii¨C Kiiiiii!¡±

    ¡°Kihyeeeee!¡±

    The kind-hearted dragons, who struggled and fought fiercely for his sake, respected ck Dragon''s choice. All of them nodded their heads and told him that it was fine.

    This was a very ridiculous situation. However, ridiculous situations often happen between a father and his child. ck Dragon had frequently heard the other fathers'' stories. One of them saved enough money to buy a new padded coat but ended up using his old padded coat because he used it to buy a game console for his son. There was another one of them who chose to quit smoking and had been doing it for decades. Instead, he saved the money that was supposed to be for his cigarettes and used it for his daughter¡¯s wedding.

    Although Kang Minhoo has almost everything in the world, in this case, he was still no different from them. He was just an ordinary father. He knew that one father would stillugh happily while wearing his old padded jacket after seeing his child smile and be happy with his new game console. Even the father who used his cigarette money to save and contribute to his daughter¡¯s wedding would send her off without any regrets.

    And ck Dragon was just like them. He would willingly choose the food that his child would like so that he could see the smile on his son Minhyuk¡¯s face.

    ¡°I¡¯ll choose the second reward.¡±

    That was right. Kang Minhoo was just an ordinary father.

    ***

    At the same time.

    Minhyuk, busy dealing with his emperor work, received a whisper from Abel.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Abel</em></strong><em>: Minhyuk, regarding what you asked me about the other day? I found a way to be a dragon. I heard that there are two methods, but I only learned about one.]</em>

    Just like his father, Minhyuk was an ordinary son, too.

 Chapter 1010

    Chapter 1010

    Minhyuk once heard his father talk about his dreams.

    ¨C<em>Son, this father of yours will be a dragon one day.</em>

    When his father talked about his dreams back then, he looked just as excited as a child. He could not help but smile when he saw his father gush about his dreams like that.

    <em>¡®I have received a lot from him.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s father was his sole driving force. He was the only reason why Minhyuk did not copse and continue to struggle and fight against his eating addiction. Because of that, Minhyuk had always wanted to do something for his father.

    And just like always, he asked Abel about it. But after sending a reply to the whisper, Abel did not answer.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Minhyuk</em></strong><em>: Abel?]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Abel</em></strong><em>: Minhyuk, I am very serious about this. You have to listen carefully to me.]</em>

    Abel suddenly sent a very solemn whisper. Sensing the tone of the whisper, Minhyuk also turned serious.<em>[</em><strong><em>Abel</em></strong><em>: Please, I beg you. Do not buy me food. Just pay me with money¡­]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Minhyuk</em></strong><em>: Why? Koreans like rice the best. When someone has not contacted you for a long time, you say, ¡®Let¡¯s have a mealter!¡¯ When you meet someone on the street, you say, ¡®Let¡¯s have a mealter!¡¯ When someone does something you¡¯re grateful for, you say, ¡®Let¡¯s have a mealter!¡¯ But you¡¯re refusing that meal? OMG¡­]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Abel</em></strong><em>: No. It¡¯s because you say you will always buy me a meal, but you also eat my share!]</em>

    <em>¡®Uhm. I can¡¯t deny that.¡¯</em>

    For some reason, Minhyuk felt very sad.

    <em>¡®I felt like it was more delicious whenever I stole from Abel¡¯s te¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Minhyuk</em></strong><em>: Okay, I understand¡­?]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Abel</em></strong><em>: Alright. Thank you. Anyway, there are two methods to be a real dragon. Let¡¯s set things straight first. I only found one of the methods.]</em>

    Minhyuk quietly listened to Abel¡¯s story.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Abel</em></strong><em>: There is a ce called Dragon Land. It¡¯s a ce where only dragons live. I have gathered that it¡¯s an entirely different ce from the World of Hybrids where your father is currently.]</em>

    As far as Minhyuk knew, his father, ck Dragon, was acting as the Dragon Monarch and was working actively in the World of Hybrids. Then, suddenly¡­

    <em>¡®If my dad bes a real dragon, would he be the owner of Dragon Land?¡¯</em>

    If that truly happened, ck Dragon would be able to lead the half-dragons and the dragon army. At that moment, Minhyuk could already imagine the sight of his father smiling grimly as he swept his hair up!

    <em>¡®Fufufu! A real dragon is going berserk in my body!¡¯</em>

    But that was not the end.

    <em>¡®The blood in my body is boiling. It¡¯s calling for my brethren!¡¯</em>

    Then, tens of thousands of dragons and half-dragons would charge forward and fight by his side!

    <em>¡®Wow¡­¡¯</em>

    It would be a sight to see. Of course, Minhyuk was still listening to Abel as he imagined his father.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Abel</em></strong><em>: ording to the information I have gathered, the ne possessed by the old Dragon Emperor can turn someone into a real dragon.]</em>

    Minhyuk also confirmed with Abel how to get to Dragon Land and meet the Dragon Emperor. However, he was not in a rush.

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll take care of these boring tasks first and then go there immediately.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk felt extremely happy at the thought of his father¡¯s smile.

    ***

    ck Dragon chose food as the final reward in the Dragons¡¯ Grave for his son, Minhyuk. He did not have any regrets at all. It was fine. After all, there were two methods.

    Since he knew there was another way, ck Dragon could unlock more information about the other method without much difficulty.

    ¡°Children, this time it¡¯s for real.¡±

    ¡°Kekekekekek!¡±

    ¡°Kikikikikiki!¡±

    ¡°Ahihihihihihi!¡±

    ck Dragon and the four legendary dragons allughed grimly. Perhaps it was because they were given a short preview of what woulde; they felt even more motivated to reach their goals.

    After following the information he obtained, ck Dragon and his four dragons finally reached Dragon Land.

    ***

    The Qingdao Kingdom was a nation built by one of the Chinese high-rankers, Xu Jiaqi. Its main pirs were the ck Dragon Order, a group that dominated the Chinese Server in the past.

    Back then, the ck Dragon Order¡¯s members all had the <em>pinnacle</em> skill that no other yer had. However, the pinnacle skill they once monopolized had now be a thing of the past.

    The Qingdao Kingdom was located in the Chinese Server. This meant that its poption and territory were muchrger than those of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, a nation that was hailed as an empire. But even if that was the case, they stillggedpletely behind the Beyond the Heavens Empire. Why? It was because of their <em>level</em>.

    Even so, the Qingdao Kingdom was still quite a mighty nation. It aimed to be the second empire established by a yer.

    ¡°This is quite reassuring.¡±

    Lamber chuckled when he heard Xu Jiaqi¡¯s words. Lamber was one of the members of the newly reconstructed God¡¯s Children.

    The Gods'' Children seemed to havepletely disappeared when Rex, one of them, failed toplete the God of Death¡¯s story. However, new Gods'' Children were born to the world to carry their pride. They also have the same high reputation that they had in the past.

    Lamber, in particr, possessed a very unique ability.

    <em>¡®Ruler of Range.¡¯</em>

    The Ruler of Range was one of the Absolute Demigod sses. Although its attack skills were excellent, the ss¡¯ other skills were far more outstanding. The ss possessed a very absurd skill called <em>Absolute Range. </em>The skill user could set up a range that could reach up to 1.5 kilometers and reduce the skills, artifacts, and abilities of the people caught within the range by 30%.

    <em>¡®In other words, everything they have will drop by 30%.¡¯</em>

    It was a ridiculously phenomenal skill. Of course, Lamber¡¯s ability came with a massive penalty. His level would drop by one every time he used the skill. Not only that, he also had to pay around 1,000 tinum to trigger the skill. It was quite a massive penalty for just one skill.

    However, skills with such huge penalties could be considered a yer¡¯s one-shot kill skill. It was purely up to the yer¡¯s discretion whether they would benefit or lose from using this skill.

    And the Qingdao Kingdom had been benefiting greatly from Lamber¡¯s unusual ability. Even if dozens of Qingdao Kingdom¡¯s top rankers had gathered together, it was difficult for them to raid a boss mob. However, with the addition of Lamber, they could raid such monsters easily.

    Xu Jiaqi, who walked with Lamber, looked around her. Thirty Level 600 yers and countless of the Qingdao Kingdom¡¯s elite troops marched in front of them. Seeing this, Xu Jiaqi felt very reassured.

    <em>¡®Many yers have achieved Level 600 popping all over the world.¡¯</em>

    The number of yers at Level 600 has increased rapidly since Alexander achieved Level 600. The current estimate of the total number of Level 600 yers is around 1,000.

    As far as Xu Jiaqi knew, the Qingdao Kingdom had the highest number of Level 600 yerspared to other nations. Simply put, it would be difficult for other empires and kingdoms to keep up with them. This was mainly because of theirrge poption.

    Meanwhile, she looked at the end of their marching path. In this ce lived another race. And this race was none other than the dragon race. A ce that was teeming with true dragons.

    ¡°When ites to true dragons, there¡¯s nothing that we can throw away. From their spines to their cintamani stones, to their toes, and even their skin. Everything has value. One dragon is worth 10,000 tinum. And if we capture those dragons and torture them, we can get Dragon Tears from them. Each drop of such tear is worth 5,000 tinum.¡±

    This was information that they had learned from Sima Qian, the aide and tactician of the Qingdao Kingdom.

    ¡°It wouldn¡¯t benefit us to hunt the dragons right away. We have to capture the Dragon Emperor first. The tears of a Dragon Emperor are far more valuable than any other Dragon Tears. We¡¯ll have them remain in our captivity and obtain those tears forever.¡±

    ¡°Amazing,¡± Xu Jiaqi said, a vicious and disgusting smile on her face as she slowly walked toward their destination.

    ***

    ck Dragon was extremely nervous when he finally reached Dragon Land. In the first ce, dragons were legendary spiritual beasts, even in Athenae. Of course, the four dragons by his side were a bit special.

    As for the dragons he would meet in this ce, they were not like the dragons he had encountered in the Dragons¡¯ Grave. Since they weren¡¯t dead, he did not know whether they would be hostile or friendly to him.

    ck Dragon, who grew closer to Dragon Land, saw the dragons guarding the entrance to what seemed like an ordinary empire. He slowly and carefully walked toward the entrance.

    The two dragons stationed at the gates looked at ck Dragon warily. Dragons had eyes simr to that of a snake. So, when they narrowed their eyes at him, it looked even more intimidating.

    ¡°Do you have human or dragon blood flowing in your veins?¡± One of the dragons snorted, me shooting out from his nostrils.

    Then, ck Dragon saw¡­

    <em>[Dragon Guard Gian. Level 598.]</em>

    <em>[Dragon Guard Conon. Level 601.]</em>

    And just as he expected, the dragons were at a much higher level than ordinary mobs. ck Dragon had done extensive research and studies about dragons. From what he had gathered, these dragons possessed a unique power that was different from the power that the four legendary dragons possessed. He also knew that there were many kinds of dragons.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± The dragon asked, a cold and vignt re aimed at him.

    <em>Who am I?</em>

    Without any hesitation, ck Dragon said, ¡°Fufufufu. Did you just ask who I am?¡±

    ck Dragonughed majestically, his chuunibyouing through. Then, he breathed the sweet air around him and said, ¡°<em>Ahem.</em> My blood is boiling. I am a human who wants to be a dragon. Seeing my brethren personally makes the blood in this body of mine boil. Ooooh! I want to share the same hot blood flowing through your veins. Fufufu. Kghhk¡­!¡±

    ck Dragon trembled as he held his right hand. Then, he said, ¡°The being in my right arm is about to go berserk¡­!¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    The two dragons looked at each other. At this moment, ck Dragon thought that a fierce battle was inevitable. If a fight truly broke out, the path leading him to be a dragon would be stained with blood.

    ¡°Let me guide you to the Dragon Emperor.¡±

    The dragons led ck Dragon inside. When he stepped inside, he saw a peaceful and quietnd. Although what they seemed to eat was different from what humans ate, they also practiced the same practices and bought and sold wares and food to each other. They also stopped on the streets to talk andugh with each other.

    <em>¡®Living is the same for everyone,¡¯</em> ck Dragon thought as he followed the Dragon Guards.

    Finally, he reached the castle where the Dragon Emperor lived. A shudder suddenly ran down ck Dragon¡¯s spine when he caught sight of the ck energy surrounding the ck-and-white castle. That was not all; blood dripped all over the castle. This scene made ck Dragon excited.

    <em>¡®My goodness! There¡¯s blood dripping down the castle!¡¯</em>

    Not long after, ck Dragon entered the castle and met face-to-face with the Dragon Emperor. The Dragon Emperor was around 1.5x bigger than ordinary dragons, and his eyes? It was entirely ck, with no distinction between the pupils and the whites of the eye. He was also donning a torn and ragged red cape that heightened his impressiveness in the eyes of ck Dragon.

    ¡°Fufu. You have brought me an insignificant human being? Shall I take your heart and dye my hands a beautiful color with it? If not that, then shall I hang your heart on the castle and let your blood drip down and soak the world until thend begins to wail?¡±

    ¡°Fufufufufu. It would be his greatest honor and pleasure if you allow his heart''s blood to soak thend, Your Majesty.¡±

    ¡°Today¡¯s sun is quite intense. It is just like you, Your Majesty. However, this connection is just like a spring breeze. Keuhahahahahaha!¡±

    At this moment, ck Dragon felt his heart thump wildly. He finally understood why the Dragon Guards said nothing else and guided him here. The way they spoke was just way too excellent. They were just like him!

    ck Dragon took a step forward and said, ¡°Fufufufu. Can you see it, Your Majesty the Dragon Emperor? Can you see this being on my right hand, twitching like crazy and hoping to rush out just because we have seen you?¡±

    ¡°Is that so? This is also the first time that I have met a human like you who carries the same air as us. My heart is growing as intense as the sun. Ahhh. The four dragons under yourmand shine as brightly as the stars. They are so bright that they blind my eyes. Kghhk!¡±

    The Dragon Emperor and ck Dragon looked at each other¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Fu¨C Fufufufufufufu¨C Fufufufufufufu!¡±

    ¡°Keuhahahahaha¨C Keuhahahahahahahaha!¡±

    At this moment, ck Dragon, who cackled heartily, felt like he had met a true friend. He raised his hand elegantly and said, ¡°For your eyes carrying zing mes, cheers!¡±

    ck Dragon was indeed pleased.

 Chapter 1011

    Chapter 1011

    <strong>Chapter 1011</strong>

    ck Dragon had a long talk with the Dragon Emperor. He had so much fun; he felt like he was drinking and chatting with an old friend.

    As their conversation progressed, ck Dragon realized, <em>¡®The dragons generally like peace.¡¯</em>

    Moreover, it seemed that dragons loved and epted other races. After all, why did the four legendary dragons follow ck Dragon, a human? It was only possible because the dragons had recognized that they were supposed to care for and protect all races. As powerful beings, it was their job to protect the weak. Their noble and lofty ideals caused the zing mes in ck Dragon¡¯s heart to burn even brighter.

    Then, the Dragon Emperor asked, ¡°My blood brother, what is your reason foring here? Did you want to meet me?¡±

    ck Dragon''s expression filled with joy and hope appeared as he said, ¡°I came here for your ne. I heard that it could turn me into a real dragon. I¡¯ll be honest with you, my friend. I want to be a dragon.¡±

    The Dragon Emperor slowly raised his tail.

    ck Dragon continued, ¡°I feel thrilled at the thought of bing a dragon and taking to the skies with the other dragons.¡±The Dragon Emperor smiled and nodded as he continued listening to his blood(?) brother speak with sparkling eyes.

    The Dragon Emperor had lived a very long life¡ªthousands of years¡ªbut he knew that he was about to die.

    Knowing that he could only live for another fifty years at most, there was something he had been thinking about.

    <em>¡®The dragons do not need to live in hiding like this forever.¡¯</em>

    Many of the dragons enjoyed freedom. They loved to soar through the skies and learn much as they traveled. And ck Dragon? Even though he was a human, he was far stronger and had a purer will than a dragon.

    As the Dragon Emperor interacted with ck Dragon, he could tell one thing.

    <em>¡®ck Dragon will love every single one of the dragons.¡¯</em>

    This was more than enough for the Dragon Emperor. Nevertheless, he just could not hand his ne over so easily and suddenly.

    The Dragon Emperor stated, ¡°This ne is the token of Dragon Land¡¯s emperor.¡±

    ¡°<em>Cough.</em> Is that so?¡± ck Dragon asked with a sigh.

    This meant that whoever owned the ne would rule over thisnd.

    Aplicated expression shed in the eyes of the Dragon Emperor. Then, he said, ¡°But I believe I can leave this to you. A man like you, who not only has bravery but also has both devotion and majesty, is qualified enough to be a dragon that will rule over Dragon Land.¡±

    ck Dragon¡¯s eyes glistened when he heard the Dragon Emperor¡¯s unexpected words. ¡°<em>Fufufufu.</em> Thank you for your recognition.¡±

    However, the Dragon Emperor did not intend to give up his throne easily just because he liked ck Dragon. Besides, he knew the dragons would resist and rebel if he did that.

    The Dragon Emperor said, ¡°It¡¯s a bit far from here. But if you go north, you will reach the Great King Sky Bull¡¯s kingdom. We have been at odds with them for a very long time. But unlike us dragons who love peace, they like to plunder and demolish things. If you can hunt three hundred of them, you will receive the qualifications to be the owner of this ne.¡±

    ck Dragon checked the details in the notification window in front of him.

    Since the Great King Sky Bulls were at odds with the dragons, it meant that their level should be around Level 600, too. Nheless, he was ck Dragon and had the four legendary dragons with him. He was confident that he could hunt them. The quest that the Dragon Emperor gave ck Dragon was an easy trial.

    ck Dragon immediately prepared to depart. Of course, he did not forget to express his gratitude first.

    ¡°My dear friend with a zing right arm,¡± the Dragon Emperor said softly.

    When ck Dragon turned to look back, he saw a kind and gentle smile on the face of the Dragon Emperor.

    ¡°We, dragons, always wanted to embrace everyone. However, this naive thought had, more often than not, put us at a disadvantage. I hope that you will be the one who will protect my stupid brothers.¡±

    ck Dragon nodded with an expression of firm determination on his face. He replied, ¡°Absolutely. Even if I have to risk my life, I will protect them.¡±

    ck Dragon left Dragon Land and headed straight toward the Great King Sky Bull¡¯snd. Then, just two days after ck Dragon left for the Great King Sky Bull¡¯s Kingdom, the Qingdao Kingdom¡¯s army appeared near Dragon Land.

    ***

    Sima Qian, the tactician of the Qingdao Kingdom, knew a lot about dragons. He also possessed an extraordinary power called the Voice of the Dying, which was a kind of brainwashing skill.

    After catching one of the dragons out on patrol, he used the Voice of the Dying on the dragon and extracted more information about the dragons before he died.

    ¡°The rumors are true. The dragon race is a pure and naive race that wishes to protect all races. Well, it¡¯s also true that they are superior to any race out there.¡±

    That was why it was pretty funny.

    ¡°They could have just used that power to take and wreak havoc. <em>Tsk.</em>¡±

    Sima Qian could not understand why the dragons naively wanted to embrace other races.

    There was something else the Qingdao Kingdom found out after Sima Qian used the Voice of the Dying.

    ¡°When dragons smell the scent of the burning Dragon Flower, they will lose all of the strength in their bodies.¡±

    They confirmed this fact over and over again using the Voice of the Dying. The dragons would indeed be powerless once they smelled the scent of those burning red flowers.

    After learning this fact, the Qingdao Kingdom¡¯s army immediately went to the Dragon Falls, where the Dragon Flowers were said to be growing, and harvested hundreds of them in one go.

    As the Qingdao Kingdom¡¯s army approached the Dragon Guards, Xu Jiaqi said, ¡°Assassins! Immediately use stealth and nt the Dragon Flower throughout the city. Burn them once we enter the Dragon Emperor¡¯s castle. We will capture the Dragon Emperor. Let¡¯s suck them dry.¡±

    A deep and vicious smile was hanging on Xu Jiaqi¡¯s face as she approached the guards. ¡°I am Xu Jiaqi¡ªthe king of the Qingdao Kingdom, one of the human kingdoms. I came to show our gratitude to the Dragon Emperor, who has always lent us a helping hand.¡±

    It was literally as Sima Qian had said. The dragons were very friendly to the humans.

    One of the Dragon Guards replied, ¡°I will guide you to the Dragon Emperor.¡±

    Of course, the only reason why the dragons did this was because they believed in their strength. This was more so the case for the Dragon Emperor. He was as strong as five dragonsbined. Why should he fear humans?

    ¡°Fufu. There¡¯s quite a lot of humans visiting ustely, huh?¡±

    ¡°Fufufu. It must be our burning blood that is bringing them to us. Fufufufu. They obviously heard of our virtues even though they are from distantnds. Keuhuhuhuhuhu!¡±

    <em>¡®What¡¯s wrong with these dragons? Why are they talking that way?¡¯</em>

    This was the thought that shed in the minds of Xu Jiaqi and the elites of the Qingdao Kingdom. They kept hearing things like ¡®Fufufu, so they¡¯re humans?¡¯ and more ¡®Fufufufu!¡¯ for no reason at all as they walked toward the Dragon Emperor¡¯s castle.

    ¡°...¡±

    Were the dragons suffering from <em>chuunibyou</em>? That was hard for the elites of the Qingdao Kingdom to ept.

    As for Sima Qian and Xu Jiaqi, they were wondering about something else.

    <em>¡®There have been quite a lot of humans visiting themtely?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Did someone else visit before us?¡¯</em>

    Regardless, it did not matter much to them. From what they had inferred, only one or two people had visited before. They, on the other hand, had brought all of the Qingdao Kingdom¡¯s elites.

    The moment they entered the Dragon Emperor¡¯s castle, ck smoke produced from burning the Dragon Flowers spread and covered all of Dragon Land.

    ***

    When Xu Jiaqi and her elite troops entered the room to chat with the Dragon Emperor, theyunched a surprise attack.

    Xu Jiaqi was a Master Reflector. She was able to reflect and replicate the abilities and skills that her opponents used against her.

    At the start of the battle, she replicated a skill a previous opponent had used. It was called the God of Debuff. She used this skill to reduce all of the energy and abilities of the Dragon Emperor by 25%.

    Xu Jiaqi and her troops fought a fierce battle against the Dragon Emperor.

    They were shocked. The Dragon Emperor was much stronger than what they had expected.

    Nevertheless, with dozens of high-rankers and elite knights above Level 600 working together, they managed to restrain the Dragon Emperor.

    Xu Jiaqi dragged the bound Dragon Emperor out of the castle. The ck smoke had spread throughout all of Dragon Land, and the dragons ally weakly and helplessly on the ground.

    ¡°The God of Wrath willy judgment upon you! My resentment toward you will burst out andy waste upon you!¡± the bloody Dragon Emperor shouted furiously.

    Xu Jiaqi just shrugged.

    The Qingdao Kingdom was located in the Chinese Server and thus had thergest poption. Their millions of troops had already arrived in Dragon Land.

    ¡°From now on, I will use thisnd as my second home base. This is a mine¡ªa mine filled with countless dragons! Hoho!¡±

    What was a mine? It was where coal and rare jewels were usually found¡ªa ce where a person could get precious items just by swinging their pickaxe. Yet, Xu Jiaqi had used the same word for Dragon Land. To her, Athenae was merely a game. Nothing more, nothing less.

    Millions of troops began to bind the weak and helpless dragons.

    Xu Jiaqi immediately grabbed the Dragon Emperor¡¯s head. Then, she said, ¡°Look. Your dragons will be precious resources for us in the future.¡±

    ¡°Kghhhk!¡±

    The Dragon Emperor could not bear to look as the soldiers gathered the bound dragons. The humans'' eyes were filled with disgust as they handled his precious dragons. It was as if they were looking at bugs.

    Then, these humans crossed the line. They whipped the weak dragons.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaack!¡±

    The dragons¡¯ shrieks and wails resonated all over Dragon Land. As their cries echoed, tears began to flow from the Dragon Emperor¡¯s eyes. His tears slowly became jewels, glowing with a pearly sheen as they fell onto the ground.

    <em>[You have acquired a drop of the Dragon Emperor¡¯s Tears.]</em>

    The sight of the tears colored Xu Jiaqi¡¯s eyes with greed. She quickly collected the Dragon Emperor¡¯s Tears.

    Of course, her soldiers were doing the same thing. They whipped the dragons to collect the dragons¡¯ tears too.

    ¡°I wonder how much everything is worth?¡± Xu Jiaqi wondered.

    It seemed like she was considering exploiting the dragons for a long time.

    ¡°Let me congratte you for securing an infinite source of financial ie that not even the Beyond the Heavens Empire has secured,¡± Sima Qian said to Xu Jiaqi, the two cackling at their bright future.

    <em>¡®The establishment of our empire is just right around the corner.¡¯</em>

    ¡°Enough! Enough! Please, enough!¡± the Dragon Emperor cried out loudly.

    He sounded as if he could no longer bear the hideous things that these people were doing to him and his brethren.

    But Xu Jiaqi just mockinglyughed at his cries. She even said, ¡°Right, right. Cry just like that. Cry some more so I can make more money.¡±

    ¡°ENOUUUUUUUGH!!!¡±

    The Dragon Emperor could not understand. They only wanted to treasure and care for all races. Sometimes, the dragons would even answer their calls for help and protect them. So, why? Why were these humans looking at them with such greed in their eyes? How could they do something this horrible with such ease?

    The Dragon Emperor felt sadness, pain, and anger. However, the most heartbreaking thing for him was hearing the cries of his brethren¡ªdragons who only longed for peace.

    The humans continued to whip the dragons for their tears. When the Dragon Emperor opened his eyes and witnessed the atrocities of these greedy humans, he made a vow.

    <em>If these ropes get untied, I will bestow upon them a curse that will never be broken.</em>

    The Dragon Emperor possessed a frightening authority. Nevertheless, he was a very gentle being, so he had never even thought of using it before. He looked at the wailing dragons with pain and sadness.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Raaaaaaaaaar!¡±

    <em>[The roars of the Four Legendary Dragons shake the world!]</em>

    <em>[The Four Legendary Dragons are furious.]</em>

    At that moment, four dragons soared into the sky. These four dragons released breaths carrying different attributes and blew away thousands of the Qingdao Kingdom troops.

    Then, a man appeared. He walked silently toward the soldiers with his body covered with dragon armor and a ck spear held tightly in his hand.

    The man gritted his teeth as he faced millions of troops by himself. He didn''t bother with his usual yful cries of ¡®I¡¯m going berserk!¡¯

    ck Dragon, the man with the spear, red coldly at his enemies and said, ¡°I won¡¯t let a single one of you live. You f*cking bastards.¡±

 Chapter 1012

    Chapter 1012

    <strong>Chapter 1012</strong>

    Minhyuk reduced his sleep to quickly finish all the work he needed in Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    <em>¡®I can¡¯t even eat delicious food because I¡¯m swamped with work.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk thought finishing his work as quickly as possible before eating something delicious would be better. Minhyuk stretched his body, sighing as he logged out of the game.

    Minhyuk met Jinhwan in the living room when he went out after logging out. He greeted, ¡°Hello, Doc Jinhwan.¡±

    Jinhwan returned his greeting but with a bitter smile. ¡°Would you like to have a cup of tea with me?¡±

    Sensing the unusual atmosphere, Minhyuk sat face-to-face with his doctor.

    Then Jinhwan said, ¡°The chairman told me not to tell you, but I think you should know. The chairman passed out recently because of a cold. It was caused by fatigue and exhaustion.¡±¡°A cold caused by fatigue?¡± Minhyuk asked, his heart sinking by the moment.

    Lee Jinhwan sipped his tea and continued, ¡°We were worried that he had contracted some kind of special disease since he was already getting on with age. But fortunately, the tests showed that he was very healthy. However, the fact that he fainted meant that it was not simply because he had a cold caused by fatigue.¡±

    It was rare for someone to faint just because of a simple cold caused by fatigue and exhaustion.

    ¡°The overworking from the past to the present had caught up with him. I have told the chairman to take a rest. But it¡¯s impossible to make him listen to me.¡± Jinhwan smiled bitterly. ¡°He has dedicated his entire life to Ilhwa Group and you. The chairman¡¯s average sleeping time is only four hours.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Minhyuk was rendered speechless. It was said that a person had to have an average of eight hours of sleep. Of course, as someone who slept for a little less than six hours per day, Minhyuk could also be considered sleeping less than ordinary people. However, it was still astounding that his father remained healthy despite only sleeping for an average of four hours.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know that.¡±

    Minhyuk could not help but reflect on himself. However, Jinhwan did not mean to scold him. He asked Minhyuk to have tea with him because he wanted to say something to the boy.

    ¡°Minhyuk, do you have any intentions of leading the Ilhwa Group?

    Then, Jinhwan told Minhyuk what Kang Minhoo had told him before. He told Minhyuk about how his father felt guilty about being too greedy, that he felt he would take away his son¡¯s happiness and all the concerns of being a chairman.

    Jinhwan wanted to talk with Chairman Kang Minhoo after obtaining Minhyuk¡¯s response. He did not intend to curse or criticize Minhyuk even if he chose not to inherit his father¡¯s position and business.

    <em>¡®With his eating addiction, it is already tough for him to y Athenae like this.¡¯</em>

    It did not make sense to ask someone already carrying a heavy weight to carry another. Jinhwan even nned to rmend recruiting a professional manager to help with thepany¡¯s operations if ever Minhyuk said, <em>¡®I don¡¯t like it.¡¯ </em>

    Finally, Jinhwan heard Minhyuk¡¯s response.

    <em>¡®I see. Neither I nor the chairman know that he thought that way.¡¯</em>

    Jinhwan looked very satisfied with Minhyuk¡¯s answer. Then, he saw Minhyuk stand up. He asked, ¡°Weren¡¯t you just about to go to sleep?¡±

    ¡°I was going to. But I think it¡¯s better to give my father a present. So, I¡¯m going back to get it for him.¡±

    The information that Abel had given him concerned the Dragon Emperor ruling the Dragon Land. Minhyuk immediately ran back and connected to Athenae to meet with this Dragon Emperor.

    ***

    After hunting the Great King Sky Bulls, ck Dragon excitedly returned to Dragon Land. However, he was rendered speechless by the terrible devastation that greeted him.

    Even if this was nothing but a game, the dragons could still be considered living creatures in this world. Besides, these beings were very kind and viewed humans favorably. But the beings that they treated kindly, the humans, held whips in their hands and tortured them so that they could get something from them.

    Everything was because of human greed. ck Dragon made a vow when he saw the Qingdao Kingdom¡¯s king giggling while his dear friend, the Dragon Emperor, screamed in pain.

    <em>¡®You bastards¡­¡¯</em>

    Even if he had to put his name as the chairman of Ilhwa Group on the line, he would punish these bastards. As if he wanted to prove his conviction, he said, ¡°I won¡¯t let a single one of you live. You f*cking bastards.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    The troops of the Qingdao Kingdom were shocked. They seemed to have witnessed the true wrath of a beast standing at the top of the food chain. The troops of the Qingdao Kingdom felt highly overwhelmed by ck Dragon¡¯s momentum and murderous re. This was especially true for those who knew him as Chairman Kang Minhoo. After all, they knew he was very kind from the news they had seen on the TV.

    ¡°ck Dragon¡­?¡±

    Xu Jiaqi was the one who was most surprised by this. She knew the man''s true worth, hidden behind such a ridiculous character name.

    <em>¡®At the end of the day, this is nothing but a game. The strong will be the victor.¡¯</em>

    Would the Beyond the Heavens Empire retaliate and confront them because of ck Dragon? That was a possibility. However, if they truly did that, many Beyond the Heavens Empire yers might be disappointed in Minhyuk. After all, who would want an emperor who would order his army to move for such a simple matter, no?

    ck Dragon might be the father of Emperor Minhyuk. However, he would just be forced to log out. Yet they would attack and destroy the Qingdao Kingdom just to vent this anger, a personal one at that, too?

    <em>¡®If that truly happens, then the 1.3 billion Chinese willsh out and criticize the Beyond the Heavens Empire.¡¯</em>

    In the past decade, China achieved faster economic growth than other countries. The main reason for this was their poption. And if something like that happened, the entire country would turn into a mad dog and bite the Beyond the Heavens Empire like crazy.

    So, Xu Jiaqi concluded that ck Dragon could not move the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    ¡°Are you filming a video?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    In the end, the one that attacked the Qingdao Kingdom first was ck Dragon.

    ¡°It¡¯s just a single high ranker with the backing of an emerging emperor, nothing more and nothing less,¡± Xu Jiaqi said, a nonchnt expression on her face as she looked at ck Dragon. However, Xu Jiaqi would be forced to correct that statement.

    The four dragons that soared to the skies before immediately surrounded ck Dragon. Then, he ran forward with his spear held tightly in his hands.

    ck Dragon swept dozens of the Qingdao Kingdom¡¯s troops away while the dragons following right behind him trampled on them with their massive bodies.

    ¡°...Were those dragons always that strong?¡±

    ¡°ck Dragon¡¯s amazing too. I heard that his level is over Level 600, too.¡±

    The Qingdao Kingdom might not know this, but when ck Dragon achieved Level 600, the four legendary dragons experienced a 30% increase in their powers. Not only that, his stats and abilities had also witnessed an explosive rise. He was also able to obtain several new skills.

    <em>¡®So, he came to save us.¡¯</em>

    ck Dragon had promised the Dragon Emperor that he would protect the dragons of thisnd.

    ¡°Murderous Spear.¡±

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    The figure of a dragon shot out of ck Dragon¡¯s spear and devoured everything within a 700-meter radius, leaving the path in front of him clear of enemies.

    ck Dragon, who ran along this clear path, was bombarded with countless arrows and magical attacks. But it was fine because he had the four legendary dragons beside him. Under the protection of the four dragons, ck Dragon swept the soldiers away non-stop.

    ¡°...He can deal with three yers at Level 600 by himself.¡±

    This was very surprising. The skills and powers that ck Dragon had were enough for anyone to covet him. However, Xu Jiaqi was not afraid. This was because the rankers of the Qingdao Kingdom had yet to make a move.

    But then, ck Dragon released a power he had never shown anyone before once he reached a particr range.

    ¡°Ascending the Heavens.¡±

    At that moment, ck Dragon¡¯s body floated around thirty centimeters. As for the four legendary dragons? They immediately gathered around him. Then, ck energy exploded from within his body while the four dragons released energy with color corresponding to their attributes. Then, <em>five</em> dragons began to ascend to the heavens.

    Ascending the Heavens was a one-shot kill skill that ck Dragon possessed. It was a skill with a penalty of -1 in all stats.

    <em>Boom¨C!</em>

    The five dragons ascending to the heavens ughtered all the soldiers blocking their path in just a blink of an eye. The number of troops that they had killed in one go? It reached 20,000¡­ 30,000¡­ until it reached a total of 50,000.

    Xu Jiaqi, Sima Qian, and the rankers of the Qingdao Kingdom all stared wide-eyed at the scene. In just a blink, around 50,000 of their troops melted and disappeared into nothingness. It was truly as if dragons were ascending to the heavens.

    When Sima Qian saw them fly straight toward the walls, he ordered, ¡°Protect Her Majesty!!!¡±

    What ck Dragon was aiming for was Xu Jiaqi¡¯s neck. This was the only way for him to deal with them alone.

    The elites of the Qingdao Kingdom immediately charged toward the ascending ck Dragon and the four legendary dragons. However, the power of Ascending the Heavens granted ck Dragon and the four legendary dragons a 92% damage reduction. Not only that, it also had the power to deal tremendous damage to anyone who dared to brush against them.

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Aaaaaaack!¡±

    The ones who attacked ck Dragon and the four legendary dragons were sent flying away. Some were even left clutching their hands or legs as they rolled around on the ground.

    ck Dragon looked at the Dragon Emperor as he approached the walls. He nned to release the Dragon Emperor the moment he killed Xu Jiaqi. The odds would favor him if he could release the Dragon Emperor.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    Apanied by a loud bang, ck Dragon¡¯s ck spear shot toward Xu Jiaqi¡¯s heart.

    Xu Jiaqi was extremely flustered. She thought, <em>¡®If this is a 1:1 fight, then I will lose.¡¯</em>

    The Master Reflector ss could be considered an overpowered ss. However, with thebination of ck Dragon¡¯s battle prowess and the four legendary dragons, he could exert tremendous power that not even she could fight alone.

    But Xu Jiaqi was not alone. Because of that, she could use a wide range of skills freely and without any hesitation. She immediately used one of the skills that she had absorbed and saved.

    ¡°Disarm.¡±

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    The energy wrapped around ck Dragon and the four legendary dragons disappeared simultaneously. ck Dragon, who crashed on the ground, looked highly flustered.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    Of course, the rankers did not waste this opportunity. They immediately bombarded him with attacks. They forced ck Dragon down on the ground before overpowering the four dragons and subduing them.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Kyaaahhaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Restrain the four dragons,¡± Xu Jiaqi said as she stretched her hand out toward the dragons.

    <em>[Space Restriction]</em>

    <em>[Your dragons cannot be returned to the summoning room temporarily.]</em>

    Xu Jiaqi smiled viciously and said, ¡°With this, we also have the four legendary dragons in our hands. This is a cause for celebration. Hoho.¡±

    The greed in Xu Jiaqi¡¯s eyes grew deeper.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaa!¡±

    Even though the four dragons were bound tightly with rope, they struggled like crazy to get to where ck Dragon was. Because of that, the soldiers began to beat them up. However, the four legendary dragons ignored them. All they wanted was to remain by ck Dragon¡¯s side.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    The moment ck Dragon tried to stand up, the rankers immediately beat him up and forced him back to the ground.

    ¡°My dear friend¡­¡± the Dragon Emperor cried, tears dripping down his chin again.

    ck Dragon saw the four dragons, who had been with him for a long time, crying loudly as if begging for their father as they got dragged somewhere. It seemed like what they were trying to do here was to sever the link between him and the dragons and torture them so they could collect their tears.

    ¡°NO!!!¡± ck Dragon screamed. He then turned to look at the Dragon Emperor, his pupils trembling fiercely after witnessing his four dragons get dragged away.

    Xu Jiaqi clicked her tongue and said, ¡°You should be busy working as a chairman. Why do you even have to y games like this? Your greed knows no bounds.¡±

    For the first time in his life, ck Dragon felt very helpless. Listening to Xu Jiaqi¡¯s words, he finally felt like the burden that he was carrying was far too heavy.

    <em>¡®I have walked this path alone.¡¯</em>

    He had been fighting alone for the longest time to protect and support the Ilhwa Group. When their stock prices fell, he personally met with the shareholders about to sell their stocks and even obtained revised agreements from them.

    Whenever they faced a crisis, he stood up as the chairman, acted courageously, and led them by example. In his spare time, he cared for his son, Minhyuk, who was suffering from eating addiction, and studied everything about the disease.

    He was responsible for tens of millions of employees and had a son to raise and lead. He also had the mission to keep and protect Ilhwa Group''s name as the bestpany in the world. And his job was to protect the dragons and Dragon Land.

    These were the burdens that ck Dragon carried. However, it became an overwhelming weight that threatened to crush him.

    ¡°So, the chairman of Ilhwa Group is such a shabby person. Ama¡­¡±

    But Xu Jiaqi could not finish her sentence.

    ck Dragon, who heard the abrupt end in her sentence, slowly looked up. That was when he saw a tall young man with broad shoulders in front of him.

    When this young man was born, he was small, barely fitting in ck Dragon¡¯s hands. Then, he grew older. He became old enough to learn how to walk and ride his first four-wheeled bike.

    When this young man became a student and entered kindergarten, ck Dragon, who looked at his son wearing his school uniform for the first time,ughed and said, <em>¡®My son has grown up now, hoho!¡¯</em>

    The young man grew up just like that. Now, his back has grown wider. He has also grown more dependable.

    Many fathers used to say that they would often feel shabby when they saw how their bodies slowly started to wither away while their children grew bigger and bigger. This was because they felt like they could no longer protect their child.

    But at this moment, ck Dragon felt differently from them.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry I¡¯mte,¡± the young man said after grabbing Xu Jiaqi by the neck and mming her down on the ground. Despite the millions of soldiers standing before him, he stood tall and unwavering as he said, ¡°Let¡¯s do this together.¡±

    Only one person could share the burden that ck Dragon carried. This person, whose back had grown wide enough to shield him from harm, was the only one who could stand by his side. And this person was none other than his son.

 Chapter 1013

    Chapter 1013

    <strong>Chapter 1013</strong>

    Xu JIaqi was the king of the Qingdao Kingdom, which had thergest territory and poption. With the love and care of billions of Chinese citizens, she sessfully built a kingdom bigger and stronger than the kingdoms created by NPCs in such a short period.

    Because of that, Xu Jiaqi believed she was a tiger among men. But the moment Minhyuk grabbed her by her neck, she realized she was nothing but a fox pretending to be a tiger.

    She also knew she had tried to hurt Minhyuk¡¯s father, Kang Minhoo. Anyone who witnessed their family being hurt would definitely be ovee with anger.

    <em>Baaaaaang¨C!</em>

    Xu Jiaqi could not even resist. She was helpless as she got mmed on the ground.

    Seeing their king suffer, the millions of soldiers of the Qingdao Kingdom immediately surrounded Minhyuk. But the cold look in Minhyuk¡¯s eyes did not even waver. He stood there looking all noble and majestic.

    Minhyuk murmured something to ck Dragon as he approached and helped him to his feet. Then, bright white light flooded Minhyuk¡¯s body. This was the manifestation of one of the skills that Xu Jiaqi had obtained as the Master Reflector.<em>[Unbreakable Shield]</em>

    The Unbreakable Shield was no different from an ordinary barrier. It could protect the skill user for an hour. However, it also prevented the skill user from using attacks or skills.

    Although barriers granted absolute invincibility to its user, there were some exceptional cases where these barriers could be broken. This was usually the case for beings in the realm that no one couldprehend. This was where the Unbreakable Shield was different. It was impossible to break it even if someone was in that realm. Not only that, it could also protect a chosen person aside from the skill user themselves. The one that Xu Jiaqi had chosen was Sima Qian, the Qingdao Kingdom¡¯s tactician.

    Seeing Minhyuk ring coldly at the soldiers around him, Sima Qian, hiding behind the barrier, warned, ¡°Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor! Do you think you will be able to deal with us?! We have obtained Dragon Land through our powers. Don¡¯t you dare think that you can attack us and take it away from us just because you have stronger power! There are hundreds of cameras recording right now!¡±

    Sima Qian was very clever. He was trying to turn the current situation into a situation where the weak were bullied by the strong. If the Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s army arrived and swept them away, then that would be the strong taking away something the weak had struggled to obtain.

    And just like he said, there were hundreds of cameras recording and running at this very moment. The moment the Beyond the Heavens Empire appeared and attacked the weak Qingdao Kingdom, then it would all be over.

    But something unexpected happened. Minhyuk, with no expression on his face, looked at Sima Qian and said, ¡°I am alone.¡±

    ¡°...!¡± Surprise colored Sima Qian¡¯s face. ¡°What¡­?¡±

    ¡°My army will note here.¡±

    Sima Qian was rendered speechless. What kind of nonsense was that? Millions of Qingdao Kingdom troops had upied Dragon Land. But Minhyuk said that he was going to fight them alone?

    Then, Minhyuk spat out more shocking words.

    ¡°You said that there were hundreds of cameras? That¡¯s good.¡±

    He asked them in return, ¡°Fighting millions of kingdom troops alone. How do you think the world will view this situation?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Sima Qian was no fool. Minhyuk said that this would not be the strong bullying of the weak.

    <em>¡®Even if he is the supreme, the fact that millions of troops attacked a single yer is still far too much.¡¯</em>

    Even their fellow Chinese would not be able to defend them against this.

    ¡°What if I kill you all?¡±

    This was a very shocking idea. But what if this idea became a reality?

    <em>¡®The fact that he took down the Qingdao Kingdom, thergest kingdom, by himself means that he could take a huge leap forward.¡¯</em>

    Goosebumps rose all over Sima Qian¡¯s body.

    In just an instant, Minhyuk had finished all the calctions and simtions in his head. Then, he said, ¡°In front of these hundreds of cameras, I promise you.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s expression was frigid and sharp.

    ¡°Right now, I am not the emperor of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, but the son of the yer named ck Dragon.¡±

    Minhyuk said the words that anyone could rte to and sympathize with. After all, anyone would do anything if they learned their father was left in a perilous and desperate situation. These words would definitely garner sympathy from the masses.

    ¡°Right here and now, I dere the destruction of the Qingdao Kingdom.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Amotion broke out among the kingdom troops. And Sima Qian and Xu Jiaqi? The two of them made eye contact. That was bullshit. How could a single yer destroy an entire kingdom?

    <em>BOOM!!!</em>

    A massive pir of me shot out from Minhyuk¡¯s sword and devoured over 100,000 Qingdao Army troops.

    ¡°...¡±

    This shocking disy of power left Xu Jiaqi and Sima Qian speechless.

    ¡°U¨C Uwaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Charge!¡±

    The millions of soldiers who charged at Minhyuk standing by himself were now going to pay the price for hurting his father. With every bolt of lightning that fell from the sky, countless Qingdao Kingdom¡¯s army soldiers disappeared without a trace.

    Minhyuk looked at Xu Jiaqi and Sima Qian and said, ¡°Even if I get logged out here¡­¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°I will log back in again and kill every single one of you. I will continue to do so until I reach the Qingdao Kingdom.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°I will continue toe after you even if you have already died once, twice, or thrice. I will continue to do so until the Qingdao Kingdom deres its destruction.¡±

    Would the Qingdao Kingdom fall just because Minhyuk said so? Of course not. But after witnessing more than 500,000 of their army die at Minhyuk¡¯s hands in just twenty minutes, their thoughtspletely changed. It seemed possible. After all, millions of people from the Qingdao Kingdom would die while Minhyuk would only lose a single life.

    The Qingdao Kingdom finally realized they could not handle Minhyuk, who could kill millions alone. He was like a human trampling over tens of thousands of ants.

    No matter how many ants there were to bite the human, there was no way for them to win and kill such a monstrous being. On the other hand, a human could easily kill all of the ants. All he needed to do was scatter oil and light them on fire.

    The problem was even if they killed this person, this person would continue to haunt and attack their kingdom.

    At this moment, Xu Jiaqi realized she had touched Minhyuk¡¯s reverse scale. What would happen if yer Minhyuk constantly attacked their kingdom? They would be buried alive at the hands of the proud Chinese people.

    Xu Jiaqi immediately said, ¡°P¨C Please¡­ Please stop. We were wrong. We¡¯ll step back now, so please stop.¡±

    She needed a way to break through this situation. She had risked everything for the sake of the Qingdao Kingdom. If the Qingdao Kingdom fell, she would also fall into the abyss both in-game and reality.

    Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°I will never go back on my words.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°The only thing I feel toward you right now is overwhelming wrath. Let me ask you this¡­¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°What did these dragons do to you? How many people have asked you the same thing? How many asked, <em>¡®Please, I beg you, stop.¡¯</em>?¡±

    ¡°Ee¨C Eeeeek¡­!¡±

    That was right. The kingdom that Xu Jiaqi created was built through countless exploitations. How many people had they trampled and robbed to develop their kingdom to this level? How many had suffered just as much as the dragons of Dragon Land?

    ¡°You, of all people, do not deserve to say those words.¡±

    ¡°Aah¡­¡±

    A teardrop fell from Xu Jiaqi¡¯s eye.

    At this moment, Sima Qian felt like he had been doused with a basin of cold water. He thought, <em>¡®If things continued at this rate, then the only choice we have left would be to walk the path of destruction.¡¯</em>

    An entire kingdom destroyed by a single yer? How could the Chinese people ept something so shameful? The worst part? Xu Jiaqi could not see the situation in front of her eyes right now.

    Sima Qian, who had regained his cool, analyzed the entire situation.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Sima Qian</em></strong><em>: Get back to your senses! We haven¡¯t lost yet.]</em>

    Xu Jiaqi, standing there with a nk expression, mechanically turned her head to look at Sima Qian.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Sima Qian</em></strong><em>: We still have the Ruler of Range Lamber on our side. We also have twenty Level 600 rankers who have not yet shed against Minhyuk.]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Xu Jiaqi</em></strong><em>: ¡­!]</em>

    The Ruler of Range was a member of the newly created God¡¯s Children. And he possessed the power called Absolute Range. Absolute Range was a ridiculous skill that could reduce an enemy¡¯s stats, skills, and abilities by 30% as long as they were within the range of the skill.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Sima Qian</em></strong><em>: yer Minhyuk is at Level 650. Considering his ridiculous titles and stats, his power would be around Level 800. If his abilities and stats are reduced by 30%, he would be simr to someone at Level 600.]</em>

    This was true. The despair slowly melted away from Xu Jiaqi¡¯s face, immediately reced by a greed-filled smile. It was a truly grotesque sight.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Sima Qian</em></strong><em>: Do you think the elite rankers of the Qingdao Kingdom will not win against him?]</em>

    They believed that it was possible. Sima Qian had already started to devise another strategy.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Sima Qian</em></strong><em>: From now on, the Qingdao Kingdom¡¯s BJ will turn on their live broadcast. The title of the broadcast will be ¡®Hunting the Supreme.¡¯]</em>

    Xu Jiaqi immediately understood what Sima Qian meant. Even if the Qingdao Kingdom would face criticism for using millions of troops to deal with a single yer, the result would not change.

    <em>¡®The Qingdao Kingdom will be known as the country that hunted the Supreme.¡¯</em>

    That fact alone would be enough for them to garner the support and praise of other countries. What would happen if Minhyuk continued toe for the Qingdao Kingdom in that situation?

    <em>¡®The narrative would be different. His continuous attacks would now be seen as revenge for being forced to log out.¡¯</em>

    The smile that slowly spread on Xu Jiaqi¡¯s once servile expressionpletely showed what kind of person she was. She was the type who would beg when cornered but would grow arrogant once she realized that she had the upper hand.

    Sima Qian immediately gave the orders to all BJs who belonged to their kingdom.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Sima Qian</em></strong><em>: Start broadcasting now. All of the BJs should say that this situation was caused by yer Minhyuk being the first to attack us.]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Sima Qian</em></strong><em>: Except for the Named NPCs and rankers at Level 600 or higher, all the troops must step back.]</em>

    They would receive criticism if they sent millions of troops flocking toward a lone enemy. The scene of fifty strong people trampling on Minhyuk would definitely spread to the world soon.

    Lamber immediately stepped forward and triggered his Absolute Range skill. At the same time, the cameras of the BJs belonging to their kingdom turned on and began broadcasting.

    ***

    As mentioned before, the Qingdao Kingdom had thergest territory and poption. With theirrge poption, it was only natural that they had many talented people. And among them was a world-renowned BJ and yer named Demacia. With his unreserved words and glib tongue when hosting his broadcast, Demacia could be considered one of the top ten BJs in Athenae.

    When Demacia turned on his broadcast with the title Hunting the Supreme<em>, </em>many viewers began to enter and flock to watch what he was streaming.

    <em>¡®Hunting yer Minhyuk, who has be 30% weaker, will definitely be a huge topic.¡¯</em>

    Even if he was the Supreme, there was no way that he could deal with more than twenty Level 600 rankers and dozens of Named NPCs when he was already 30% weaker.

    <em>¡®Lamber¡¯s Absolute Range has a slightly different concept from debuffs.¡¯</em>

    It was highly likely that Minhyuk¡¯s invincible body would not be able to exert its effects fully.

    The viewers began to enter his broadcast.

    <em>[What¡¯s going on?]</em>

    <em>[Hunting the Supreme? This is a very provocative title.]</em>

    The viewers were left surprised when Demacia told them about the key points of this broadcast.

    <em>[Heok?! Isn¡¯t that the Qingdao Kingdom and Minhyuk?!]</em>

    <em>[OMG! Is the Qingdao Kingdom going to kill Minhyuk?]</em>

    <em>[But is that even possible? Considering Minhyuk¡¯s level and equipment, it would not be easy to deal with him even if millions had gathered to kill him. It¡¯s like how a Level 1 yer would be unable to pull down a Level 100 yer¡¯s HP no matter how hard they attacked.]</em>

    Demacia, whopletely omitted the process as to how the situation reached this point, said, ¡°The Qingdao Kingdom ns to hunt yer Minhyuk after their pride, God¡¯s Child Lamber, casts a debuff that would reduce all of his stats and abilities by 30%!¡±

    <em>[Shit!]</em>

    <em>[The Supreme will be 30% weaker?!]</em>

    <em>[Oh¡­ Even if he¡¯s the Supreme, if he grows 30% weaker, he wouldn¡¯t be able to deal with them.]</em>

    <em>[And what¡¯s more, all those who stepped forward from the Qingdao Kingdom¡¯s army are their elite high-rankers, no?]</em>

    <em>[Their strong NPCs also stepped forward?]</em>

    <em>[Is the Supreme going to face a crisis¡­?]</em>

    In the viewers¡¯ eyes, it seemed obvious. Even if Minhyuk was the Supreme, he could not easily deal with Level 600 rankers and NPCs as long as he was 30% weaker.

    Demacia rationally and objectively analyzed the situation. He thought, <em>¡®Perhaps the Qingdao Kingdom will rise to the top just by hunting the Supreme.¡¯</em>

    Starting with Demacia¡¯s broadcast, the other BJs who belonged to the Qingdao Kingdom also began their broadcasts. And their viewer counts had already exceeded millions.

    Demacia, who watched the scene, saw Minhyuk frown slightly when he finally stepped inside the Absolute Range, and the high-rankers of the Qingdao Kingdom immediately surrounded him.

    One person was the first to move toward the Supreme.

    <em>¡®Fire Spear Leguy.¡¯</em>

    He was a famous spearman among the yers. Leguy leaped forward and tried to stab Minhyuk through the heart.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    But the moment Minhyuk raised his sword, he sent Leguy flying away. Then, a lightning bolt fell from the sky and struck the spearman. Minhyuk approached the man, who had fallen on the ground and struck his shaking body three times in a row.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    Lightning bolts fell from the sky and struck Leguy once again. And after four seconds, Leguy was forced to log out.

    <em>[...?]</em>

    <em>[...?]</em>

    <em>[Didn¡¯t you say that Minhyuk has grown 30% weaker?]</em>

    <em>[What the hell¡­?]</em>

    <em>[Is the Qingdao Kingdom just weak, or is Minhyuk just too freaking strong?]</em>

    Silence enveloped the entire area. And Minhyuk? His lips twisted into a sneer as he spoke with a voice that sounded like he was reading a Korean textbook. He said, ¡°I¡¯m already 30% weaker, but¡­ will you even be able to kill me at this rate? Aren¡¯t you guys much weaker than I expected?¡±

    He mocked them tantly.

 Chapter 1014

    <strong>Chapter 1014</strong>

    Minhyuk felt his blood boil as he seethed with anger.

    For him, his father was the most respectable man in the world. Not only that, his father was the only one who silently stood by his side and guarded him while he was struggling desperately against his eating addiction. But, they let Minhyuk witness how they forced his father onto the ground and left him to struggle desperately.

    So, Minhyuk said, ¡°Right here and now, I dere the destruction of the Qingdao Kingdom.¡±

    This was by no means an exaggeration on Minhyuk¡¯s part. He had made a vow andmitment after learning about the Qingdao Kingdom''s atrocities to the dragons of Dragon Land and his father. He would do everything he could to ensure the Qingdao Kingdom was destroyed. He proceeded forward as he was thinking of ughtering them one after another.

    <em>[Absolute Range]</em>

    <em>[You have entered the Absolute Range.]</em>

    <em>[Your stats, HP, MP, attack, and defensive power will decrease by 30%.]</em>Minhyuk immediately observed his surroundings and assessed his situation. He could see that the troops of the kingdom army had already stepped down while the number of yers who stepped forward increased. One look and he could already tell what they wanted to happen in this situation, where Minhyuk¡¯s stats and abilities had decreased by 30%.

    <em>¡®They want to kill me and use that fact to break through this situation.¡¯</em>

    It was apparent, especially after seeing how Xu Jiaqi¡¯s servile expression morphed into arrogance.

    <em>¡®It will be dangerous for me.¡¯</em>

    That was an undeniable fact.

    Then, the Level 600 rankers and NPCs surrounded Minhyuk and charged at him simultaneously. Minhyuk could see one of the yers raise his spear and aim for his heart.

    <em>¡®But against these yers? That¡¯s not the case at all.¡¯ </em>This was Minhyuk¡¯s conclusion.

    With just a twist of his body, Minhyuk evaded Spearman Leguy, who shot at him at a breakneck speed. Then, he raised his sword and retaliated with a basic attack. Immediately after, lightning bolts struck the man named Leguy. Minhyuk kept on hitting him just like that. All of the people who were charging toward Minhyuk froze on the spot.

    <em>¡®This is what I¡¯m talking about.¡¯</em>

    Their calctions did not consider Minhyuk''s gains so far, including those he obtained in the World of Hybrids and when he met Rocado. Yet these were crucial points that made all the difference.

    <em>¡®You have underestimated me too much.¡¯</em>

    <em>BANG¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk once again hit Spearman Leguy. And with this hit, Leguy turned into ashes and scattered with the wind. Now, not only those charging forward had frozen in their tracks, but everyone on the scene. The Level 600 rankers and NPCs, who charged forward, gulped as they looked at Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®Things worked out better for me, no?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk found that the Qingdao Kingdom attacking him all at once like this was the perfect situation for him.

    Now that the world has nothing to criticize about Minhyuk, they often resorted to petty means, dering that he was just over-leveled and over-stats. Of course, his level and stats perfectly matched his name as the Supreme. Their words about how ridiculously good everything Minhyuk possessed were also valid. But everything that Minhyuk possessed was something that he gained through his efforts. That was why they had no right to say those words.

    The problem was that many people had inferiorityplexes, and they continued to use this to point fingers at Minhyuk and criticize him for the things he worked hard to obtain.

    But the situation now was different. It had been dered to the world that Minhyuk had grown 30% weaker.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s right, I am 30% weaker.¡¯</em>

    And what would happen if the 30% weaker Minhyuk annihted the troops of the Qingdao Kingdom right here and now?

    <em>¡®Then, it would be like killing two birds with one stone.¡¯</em>

    The first bird would be the elerated destruction and fall of the Qingdao Kingdom. The people would definitely criticize them. After all, they were defeated by Minhyuk, who had be 30% weaker.

    <em>¡®Me and the Beyond the Heavens Empire will soar to the skies.¡¯</em>

    There would no longer be any yer who would use him of just being over-leveled and over-stats. More people would be interested in the Beyond the Heavens Empire if that happened.

    Minhyuk, conscious of the hundreds of cameras pointed at him, spoke as if he was reciting texts from a Korean textbook. He said, ¡°I¡¯m already 30% weaker, but¡­ will you even be able to kill me at this rate? Aren¡¯t you guys much weaker than I expected?¡±

    Minhyuk was very good at acting. However, there was a reason why he spoke so stiffly and awkwardly as if he were reading a boring textbook. It was because he was mocking them. Everyone who heard Minhyuk¡¯s awkward words could tell he was mocking the Qingdao Kingdom.

    ¡°It seems like I have overestimated the Qingdao Kingdom, huh?¡±

    Just like they expected, Minhyuk deliberately used that stiff and awkward tone. The expression on the face of Sima Qian, who realized this fact, grew ugly.

    <em>¡®W¨C What the hell is this¡­?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk, who had grown 30% weaker, could force a Level 600 yer to log out in under four seconds. But the worst part was that he only did it with his basic attacks.

    <em>¡®What should have taken me just a few seconds¡­ had only taken a couple of seconds more.¡¯</em>

    That was the extent of how ridiculous Minhyuk¡¯s power was. He had already concluded that few rankers could fight against him, even in his current state. Of course, there was also the fact that Minhyuk had triggered his Food God¡¯s Swordsmanship the moment he entered the Absolute Range.

    <em>¡®I haven¡¯t even used my cooking buffs yet.¡¯</em>

    Sima Qian immediately shouted at the faltering rankers and NPCs. He said, ¡°Attack all at once! He¡¯s just trying to intimidate you!¡±

    Sima Qian believed that Minhyuk could only kill the ranker because he had used some kind of skill they weren¡¯t aware of.

    The rankers tightened their grip on their weapons.

    <em>¡®Even if he¡¯s the Supreme, there¡¯s no way that the gap between us is that huge.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®We¡¯re all rankers here.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He must have used a skill we don¡¯t know about.¡¯</em>

    These thoughts ran in their heads as they charged at Minhyuk once again. At the same time, someone triggered their one-shot kill skill and sent it toward Minhyuk.

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    The axe in this yer''s hand grew several tens of meters in size before striking down upon Minhyuk. At the same time, Minhyuk¡¯s HP fell by 28%.

    <em>¡®As expected. Since my defensive power and HP are down by 30%, the damage I receive has be huge.¡¯</em>

    Even so, Minhyuk was still calm andposed. Why? Because he also charged at them, who was running toward him. As he passed by those blocking his path, he unleashed a skill.

    ¡°Sword of Carnage.¡±

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    In an instant, another ranker was forced to log out. Then, Minhyuk used the Dual Sword Technique.

    Usually, Minhyuk used the Continent Destroyer Sword. But when using the Dual Sword Technique, he would whip out the Sword of Aeon. The moment he pulled out the Sword of Aeon, the Greatest Sword created a resonance and made all of the weapons and armor of the Qingdao Kingdom¡¯s army lose their function.

    Minhyuk, with his two swords in hand, wandered around them like a ghost.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab¨C!</em>

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    <em>Ping, ping, ping¨C!</em>

    In just a few seconds, he swept through the dozens of rankers and Named NPCs, and forced several people to die just like that. Minhyuk¡¯s HP again reached 100% thanks to the ughterer''s Absorption.

    ¡°Everyone, don¡¯t consider the penalties and use your one-shot kill skills! The Sword of Aeon¡¯s resonance period will end soon!¡± Sima Qian shouted as he ran wildly.

    Things shouldn¡¯t go on like this. If things continued at this rate, then the Qingdao Kingdom would definitely be destroyed quickly.

    This was what the viewers of Demacia¡¯s broadcast were saying.

    <em>[Aren¡¯t the bastards from Qingdao too f*cking sloppy?]</em>

    <em>[Wow¡­ This is too shameful. Over twenty Level 600 rankers and NPCs can¡¯t even deal with a single yer who is already 30% weaker. Kekekekeke.]</em>

    <em>[Why don¡¯t you change the title of your broadcast? How about changing it from Hunting the Supreme to Praising the Supreme?]</em>

    <em>[Long live the Food God!!! I love you, our Lord, the Food God!!!]</em>

    The rankers also moved in a hurry after hearing Sima Qian¡¯s shouts. Just like he said, they would probably only be able to break out of this crisis if they ignored the penalty and used their one-shot kill skills on the Food God all at once.

    Over five yers triggered their one-shot kill skills when their armor and weapons function returned.

    <em>Beeeeeeep¨C!</em>

    A gigantic sword light in the form of a dragon rose and rushed toward Minhyuk along with several AOE attack skills and single-target one-shot kill skills. But in the face of such attacks, Minhyuk continued to swagger. He said, ¡°Absolute Defense.¡±

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    The light of the Absolute Defense shone brightly and enveloped Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    The gigantic dragon-shaped sword light and several one-shot kill skills devoured Minhyuk. But he did not suffer a single damage. This happened because the rankers all lost their cool. If they had only stopped to think about Minhyuk¡¯s skills, they should have known that they should never use their one-shot kill skills all at once.

    ¡°F*ck!¡±

    ¡°Damn!¡±

    The rankers who lost their one-shot kill skills to Minhyuk¡¯s Absolute Defense could only sigh at the thought of the penalties they had to face. And Minhyuk? He took advantage of the seven seconds of invincibility and ran among them.

    <em>[Oh! Minhyuk¡¯s going wild!]</em>

    <em>[Kyaa! Watching a ughter is so fun!]</em>

    Sima Qian was left flustered while Xu Jiaqi slowly fell into despair again. They felt an indescribable sense of helplessness after witnessing the majesty of the Supreme, an existence out of their reach.

    Only at this moment did Sima Qian realize how foolish it was to think that they could kill Minhyuk and show the world how great the Qingdao Kingdom was with just a few rankers and Named NPCs. Their ideas were nothing but bullshit in front of the true Supreme.

    ¡°All at once! Attack him all at once!¡±

    What they needed to do now was to kill him by all means. He ordered their millions of troops to move once again. But there was a slight smile around Minhyuk¡¯s face.

    <em>¡®Are you going to show it to the whole world?¡¯</em>

    Millions of troops moved to attack Minhyuk, who was 30% weaker?! But there was something that they did not know. There¡¯s one move that Minhyuk had hidden and not yet used.

    ¡°Hey.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Sima Qian and Xu Jiaqi both turned to look at Minhyuk.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t eaten anything yet.¡±

    ¡°Y¨C You have to eat your food first, you bastard!¡±

    That was right. The most significant disadvantage of a cooking buff was that you had to eat it immediately andpletely.

    Minhyuk¡¯s inventory was filled with various dishes he had made in advance. Smirking, he took two legendary-grade dishes out of his inventory.

    ¡°Who said that?¡±

    <em>[Ovepping Delight.]</em>

    Rhoando had upgraded the Ovepping Delight. Now, Minhyuk could consume the dish without even actually eating.

    <em>Gulp¨C</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s throat bobbed as the taste of the food spread in his mouth.

    ¡°...?!¡±

    Sima Qian was shocked to see Minhyuk eat and consume the food all at once. This waspletely different from the data that he had in hand. Furthermore, two dice, a golden one and a ck one, appeared simultaneously above Minhyuk¡¯s head when he triggered the Ovepping Delight.

    <em>¡®The¨C The Ovepping Delight has evolved?!¡¯</em>

    This was information that they had missed entirely.

    <em>[Ovepping Delight.]</em>

    <em>[You can now receive the effects of two dishes.]</em>

    <em>[The duration of the buff effect will depend on the number that the die will cast.]</em>

    <em>[One of your skills can be reinforced. The level of the strengthening will depend on the number that the ck die cast.]</em>

    The number cast on the golden die was five, meaning the buff duration wouldst five minutes. Meanwhile, the number cast on the ck die was three. Thus, his chosen skill would have twice its standard power.

    And since he received the effects of the two dishes at once, his stats increased by 21%. Not only that, his attack power and defensive power also increased by 15%. With this, a portion of his original power was restored.

    In that state, Minhyuk chose the skill that would be strengthened with the power of the ck die. Then, he charged straight toward the millions of Qingdao Army troops and said, ¡°Cmity.¡±

    <em>[The skill: Cmity cannot be reinforced easily.]</em>

    <em>[The strengthening would go down from 2x to 1.4x.]</em>

    The notification about the restriction of the strengthening was unexpected. Even so, the power of Cmity, which was 1.4x stronger than before, was still beyond anyone¡¯s imagination.

    <em>Crackle¨C</em>

    zing mes spread wildly from the giant sword that fell from the sky. Immediately after that, more than a thousand swords fell from the sky, releasing mes that could burn the whole world. At the same time, Minhyuk, with the power of his buff, moved between the enemies at a high speed.

    Just like that, the Qingdao Kingdom¡¯s troops began to die rapidly. There were even yers who chose to log out and run away. The army''s momentum began to weaken when the yers started to log out. In just an instant, the millions of troops were cut down in half.

    <em>[Carn has left the Qingdao Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[Logan has left the Qingdao Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[Vegen¡­Qingdao Kingdom.]</em>

    Countless notifications rang in Xu Jiaqi¡¯s ears. These people realized that there was no longer any hope for the Qingdao Kingdom and immediately ran away. It only took a few hours for the Qingdao Kingdom to fall to its ruins.

    Sima Qian and Xu Jiaqi¡¯s faces grew ugly. Around 900,000 of their troops were gone. Some had died, some logged out, and some left the kingdom directly. Because of these, most of their forces standing at the vanguard had lost their will to fight.

    Minhyuk ignored these people as he stood before Xu Jiaqi and Sima Qian. He said, ¡°Do you guys hear that sound?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    The frustrated Xu Jiaqi and Sima Qian looked at Minhyuk in doubt. But just when Sima Qian thought, <em>¡®Maybe he¡¯s going to offer us a way to break through this situation?¡¯ </em>Minhyuk grinned and said, ¡°It¡¯s the sound of you getting beaten up.¡±

 Chapter 1015

    Sima Qian and Xu Jiaqi were speechless when they heard Minhyuk¡¯s words. Qingdao Kingdom¡¯s tactician, Sima Qian, started to think about ways to get about this situation.

    ¡°W¨C Wait¡­! If you kill us now¡­!¡±

    But Minhyuk quickly grabbed him by the cor and interrupted his words.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    ¡°Keheok!¡±

    Sima Qian was appalled. It was just a simple hit from Minhyuk¡¯s bare fist, but it felt like he was being hit with a hammer. His HP also significantly decreased.

    Sima Qian was the true power behind the Qingdao Kingdom, which was why the yers left the Qingdao Kingdom faster when they saw Sima Qian being beaten up.

    <em>[Loemin has left the Qingdao Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[Beigon has left the Qingdao Kingdom.]</em><em>[Harn¡­ Qingdao Kingdom.]</em>

    Around 3% of their yers had abandoned and fled the Qingdao Kingdom. Seeing that these people ignored the considerable penalty that one would receive for leaving the kingdom they were associated with, the quick-witted ones realized, <em>¡®The Qingdao Kingdom is done for.¡¯</em>

    Sima Qian was beaten to death by Minhyuk. Xu Jiaqi, who watched everything unfold, instantly lost her will to fight. When Minhyuk turned toward her, he raised his sword and cut her down all at once.

    ¡°Keok!¡±

    Minhyuk looked at Xu Jiaqi, who was falling to the ground, and said, ¡°Just wait; I will be in your kingdom soon.¡±

    Goosebumps rose all over Xu Jiaqi¡¯s body when she saw the terrifying look on Minhyuk¡¯s face.

    Eventually, Xu Jiaqi, the king of the Qingdao Kingdom, died. After that, it was easy for Minhyuk to deal with the remaining survivors of the Qingdao Kingdom left in Dragon Land.

    ¡°...¡±

    ck Dragon had a small smile on his face as he watched his son.

    When he first heard his son say, <em>¡®Let¡¯s do this together,¡¯ </em>he felt like he had put down the considerable burden that had been weighing down on his shoulders. And when he saw the once-young child stand alone against millions of troops, he felt himself shudder.

    At that moment, a question floated in ck Dragon¡¯s mind. He thought, <em>¡®How did Minhyuke here?¡¯</em>

    He did not know how and why Minhyuk came to Dragon Land. From what ck Dragon heard, Minhyuk had been as busy as a bee these days.

    ¡°How and why did youe here?¡±

    Minhyuk shed an embarrassed smile when he heard his father¡¯s question. He said, ¡°Dad, you wanted to be a dragon, right? So, I asked Abel for a favor. I came here after receiving the information. Hehe. I wanted to make my father¡¯s wishe true.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ck Dragon was speechless. When he went through the first method, he chose to get the cooking ingredient for his son over bing a dragon. But his son? His son wanted to find a way to help him fulfill his dreams and be a dragon. At this moment, ck Dragon realized how lucky he was as a father and how happy he was to have Minhyuk as his son.

    Then, Minhyuk, with admiration and determination shing in his eyes, said, ¡°Father.¡±

    Minhyuk had already told Jinhwan the answer when the doctor asked him whether he wanted to be the Ilhwa Group¡¯s chairman. This time, he wanted to tell his father.

    ¡°I want to lead the Ilhwa Group.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ck Dragon did not want to put a huge burden on his son. He thought it was because he was too greedy to want his son to protect thepany that he had built with his own bare hands.

    But Minhyuk thought differently. He said, ¡°I have been yearning for it. I have always wanted to be like my father, who leads Ilhwa Group.¡±

    Minhyuk did not see him as only his father. He also saw him as the chairman of thepany. Watching his father, whom he cared for and loved dearly, like that since childhood had made him dream.

    ¡°I always wanted to be a chairman. One who¡¯s just like you, Dad.¡±

    Both ck Dragon and Minhyuk knew that it would not be easy. After all, Minhyuk could not quit Athenae.

    ¡°I can do it,¡± Minhyuk said with great confidence.

    The only reason he could say this with confidence was that he was Minhyuk. And when Minhyuk said something, it would never be empty words and promises.

    ¡°So, don¡¯t bear the burden alone anymore.¡±

    Minhyuk had always wanted to tell his father this.

    <em>Please don¡¯t carry it alone.</em>

    ck Dragon¡¯s eyes grew red when he heard his son¡¯s words.

    Then, at that moment, the Dragon Emperor spoke.

    ¡°Fufufu. My friend, is this your son? Since I share the same heart and blood with my friend, your son also shares the same blood. Fufufu. I can feel the burning blood coursing through your veins like your father.¡±

    ck Dragon immediately replied, ¡°Fufufufu. Of course, my son takes after me. He¡¯s brilliant and amazing.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk was suddenly left wondering about the situation that he was in as he watched his father release the Dragon Emperor from the rope that bound him. Then, with a wave of the Dragon Emperor¡¯s fingertips, the ropes that tied all the dragons were quickly cut off. After that¡­

    ¡°Fufufufufu.¡±

    ¡°Keuhuhuhuhuhu!¡±

    ¡°Humans, we won¡¯t die so easily.¡±

    And seeing ck Dragonugh together with those dragons left Minhyuk speechless.

    <em>¡®D¨C Dad¡­?¡¯</em>

    Even so, his father looked delighted and at ease.

    ***

    The Dragon Emperor could never and would never forget the sight of ck Dragon jumping amidst millions of humans to try and save them.

    He had always thought there would be a massive bacsh if he handed his throne to ck Dragon. But considering how ck Dragon felt for them, the Dragon Emperor realized that no dragon would go against his decision now.

    ¡°Fufufufu. The new ruler who will lead thisnd after my reign has been born today,¡± the Dragon Emperor dered in front of the countless dragons. The Dragon Emperor slowly walked toward ck Dragon, standing before him, and gently hung the ne on the man¡¯s neck.

    ck Dragon feltpletely overwhelmed with emotions when the ne slowly absorbed into his body. This was the moment that he had been dreaming for a long time. It was something that he longed for so long.

    Once the ne gotpletely absorbed in his body, a series of notifications rang in ck Dragon¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You can now turn into a dragon whenever you want.]</em>

    <em>[Turning into a dragon will increase your attack and defense power by 60%. In exchange, you cannot equip weapons and armor.]</em>

    <em>[You can now use ck Dragon¡¯s Breath.]</em>

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[The Dragon Emperor has entrusted all the authority to rule Dragon Land.]</em>

    <em>[From this point on, you are now the new Dragon Emperor.]</em>

    <em>[The dragons will fulfill and obey your orders.]</em>

    The notifications told ck Dragon he could turn into a dragon or back into a human whenever he wanted. Of course, ck Dragon did not dy any further. His body started to twitch as he slowly transformed into a dragon. He felt extremely delighted.

    ¡°The dragon in my body is going berserk!!!¡± ck Dragon roared as his body grew in size.

    ck Dragon¡¯s dragon form was covered with ck scales that twinkled under the sunlight. His wings looked gorgeous, longer and bigger than other dragons. His eyes were yellow, and his pupils were ck and narrow, just like a snake¡¯s.

    The four legendary dragons gathered around ck Dragon, who had alreadypletely turned into a real dragon.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeck!¡±

    ck Dragon¡¯s roar resonated in the vast Dragon Land. The moment his joyful roars echoed, the dragons of Dragon Land also burst out in huge roars. After the dragons finished roaring, they burst into maniacalughter.

    ¡°Fufufufufu. The new Dragon Emperor¡¯s shiny scales make my blood boil and my heart thump.¡±

    ¡°Ufufufufu. Our true leader. Kghhk. The stronger power hidden within my body is going berserk¡­!¡±

    ¡°Aaah. I¡¯m going berserk!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re going berserk!¡±

    Then, the dragons shouted in unison, ¡°The power in our bodies is going berserk!!!¡±

    After they shouted, they all turned to look at Minhyuk. Their eyes seemed to ask, <em>¡®Why aren¡¯t you doing it too?¡¯</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    Minhyuk hesitated momentarily before saying, ¡°Th¨C The blood of ck Dragon f- flowing in my veins is going berserk!!!¡±

    Goosebumps covered every inch of Minhyuk¡¯s skin.

    ***

    Xu Jiaqi pondered deeply about how she could survive this ordeal.

    Although they werepletely defeated by Minhyuk alone, she intended to say that Minhyuk and ck Dragon attacked them and tried to take away Dragon Land, which they had upied rightfully. It was true that the Qingdao Kingdom upied Dragon Land before they arrived, so it should not be a problem to twist it that way. Now, they could say that not only they were trying to take away Dragon Land, but also everything from the Qingdao Kingdom.

    <em>¡®This is tyranny! The strong are bullying the weak!¡¯</em>

    They started twisting the story this way. Xu Jiaqi immediately ordered those who had filmed the videos to edit the videos and hide the fact that they hadshed and flogged the dragons just so they could forcefully obtain dragon tears from them. Then, they released the video.

    The people of China grew furious.

    <em>[The Beyond the Heavens Empire is going too far. Just because Minhyuk can take down an entire kingdom alone does not mean he can take everything away from the Qingdao Kingdom. It¡¯s time to show them the power of the Chinese people.]</em>

    <em>[This is tyranny! The strong are bullying the weak! I will never let the Beyond the Heavens Empire go!]</em>

    The Chinese people began to criticize the Beyond the Heavens Empire after the fabricated videos were released, but their criticisms immediately died down. Why?

    <em>[Qingdao Kingdom: The Truth of the Incident.]</em>

    It was all because of one video. The uploader identified himself as an executive of the Qingdao Kingdom.

    The scene shown in the video was the scene of the Qingdao Kingdom exploiting the dragons to harvest the dragon tears from them. ck Dragon stormed in during the process and fought against them to protect the dragons. Minhyuk appeared only in the middle.

    The video spread rapidly, acting as a signal for the other yers. Soon, more and more yers uploaded videos showing the entire world the atrocities the Qingdao Kingdommitted.

    In just an instant, the people of China turned around.

    <em>[Qingdao Kingdom. What era are we in now? Why would you even do something like that¡­?]</em>

    <em>[Even though this is just a game, don¡¯t you think it¡¯s too much?]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s not all. The Qingdao Kingdom used and exploited the NPCs and many yers. This is a fact.]</em>

    ¡°A¨C Aaaaaaaaack¡­!¡± Xu Jiaqi screamed. She felt like she was going crazy.

    The embers created a spark that spread like wildfire. The public¡¯s opinion about the Qingdao Kingdom was deteriorating by the second.

    It had to be known that the Qingdao Kingdom had received the support of countless Chinesepanies.

    <em>[Prepare to pay for the penalty fees.]</em>

    <em>[Our deal with you is now over.]</em>

    And now, Xu Jiaqi received several calls from thesepanies. Nevertheless, she still held onto a thin thread of hope. She immediately connected to Athenae.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeck!¡±

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kiyeeeeeeeee!¡±

    The moment she entered Athenae, she was greeted by tens of thousands of dragons. These dragons who lived in Dragon Land, thend that they had wanted to take and exploit, were currently flying above the Qingdao Kingdom and created a sea of fire. At the center of them all was ck Dragon. He rose to the skies and roared.

    <em>¨CI dere the destruction of the Qingdao Kingdom.</em>

    That was what Minhyuk had told them before.

    The number of yers who left the Qingdao Kingdom in a single day reached almost 40% of its poption. This number would grow until they had all left.

    Amidst all these, Minhyuk dered that he would continue attacking the Qingdao Kingdom until it was destroyed. Of course, Minhyuk was not truly alone. But the one who apanied him was restricted to ck Dragon alone. There was no one else.

    ¡°I will not kill those who will surrender.¡±

    Furthermore, Minhyuk gained the support of the people of China when he dered that he would spare the lives of the innocent as long as they surrendered.

    The Chinese peoplepletely understood where Minhyuk¡¯s anger wasing from. They understood it a hundred, no, a thousand times over since they had watched the video of ck Dragon being beaten and forced to the ground like that. They praised him for not releasing his anger toward ordinary and innocent people.

    Just like that, Minhyuk absorbed everything in the Qingdao Kingdom. Now, everything, including its territories and resources, would belong to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    Xu Jiaqi hurriedly sent a whisper to Minhyuk.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Xu Jiaqi</em></strong><em>: I¡¯ll¨C I¡¯ll live as your ve for the rest of my life! Please, please, I beg you. Forgive me just this once! I can be of great help to you, too!]</em>

    Wasn¡¯t Minhyuk kind? Didn¡¯t he save Valentino? Didn¡¯t he forgive and embrace many of his enemies?

    Then, Minhyuk¡¯s answer came.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Minhyuk</em></strong><em>: Ho.]</em>

    Two dayster, the Qingdao Kingdom dered its destruction.

 Chapter 1016

    Chapter 1016

    Xu Jiaqi dered the destruction of the Qingdao Kingdom. At the same time, she disappeared from the world. To put it simply, she went off the grid. Many yers guessed that she had be a fugitive because she ran away from paying the vast debts she had incurred after causing the mess.

    Now that the Qingdao Kingdom had been destroyed, the countless yers who belonged to it were scattered. Many believed that the Beyond the Heavens Empire had obtained tremendous wealth after absorbing it, but the experts had different opinions.

    <em>[In fact, the Qingdao Kingdom is a nationposed mainly of Chinese yers. Compared to the number of ordinary citizens, the Qingdao Kingdom has an overwhelming number of soldiers. This should have been impossible.]</em>

    <em>[They have an overwhelming number of soldiers because they have more yers than NPCs.]</em>

    That was right. Although the Qingdao Kingdom was known for having thergest territory and poption, the number of NPCs residing in itsnds was pitifully small. Many people wondered why the Qingdao Kingdom had not yet be an empire, considering its size and poption. But after opening it part by part, they realized that it was festered and had far too many rotting parts.

    <em>[90% of the poption of the Qingdao Kingdom is made of yers. War prisoners are the most valuable thing one could obtain after winning a war. Even if the Qingdao Kingdom was significant, the fact is that he could only get 10% of the poption. And if you consider those who have died in the war and those who have abandoned their kingdom, Minhyuk would only be able to obtain around 5%~7% of the kingdom¡¯s poption.]</em>

    <em>[There¡¯s also the territory obtained by the Beyond the Heavens Empire. They currently did not have the capabilities to control such a vast territory.]</em>

    That was right. The Beyond the Heavens Empire did not gain much from its victory against the Qingdao Kingdom. This was what the experts believed. But then, a series of articlespletely turned the situation around.

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor Minhyuk deres that he will return the territory the Qingdao Kingdom had seized to their original owners.]</em>Both the people and the experts were shocked. Even though they could not control those territories, their value remained enormous. Not long after, one of the clever experts realized and grasped Minhyuk¡¯s intentions.

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor Minhyuk is really amazing. He can strengthen the bond with these nations by giving away the territories, which they could not control in the first ce, back to the people that the Qingdao Kingdom had robbed!]</em>

    <em>[The Qingdao Kingdom has taken away and exploited many kingdoms and groups. The number of kingdoms alone had reached dozens. If you include the tribes and families, the number will shoot up. If you give them back their territories, will they just receive it as it was?]</em>

    <em>[They will definitely give whatever they can to the Beyond the Heavens Empire. And once the Beyond the Heavens Empire is in danger, they will naturally send troops to aid them!]</em>

    <em>[The fact that he offered to return the other territories means that only the territories initially owned by the Qingdao Kingdom would genuinely be owned by the Beyond the Heavens Empire. It seems like it¡¯s not too much for the Beyond the Heavens Empire to handle anymore.]</em>

    <em>[Ho. I can¡¯t believe he¡¯s just 21 years old.]</em>

    <em>[As expected of our Lord, the Food God¡­]</em>

    That was right. Minhyuk took every bit of advantage of the situation by giving away the territories they could not afford to take under their care. And the words <em>¡®Long Live our Lord, the Food God!¡¯</em> rang worldwide.

    ***

    A long line of procession could be seen as the prisoners from the Qingdao Kingdom got transferred to the Beyond the Heavens Empire. The number of prisoners tied up with ropes was no less than 15 million.

    The Qingdao Kingdom came to be only because Xu Jiaqi raised an army and took away thend and the people of the Looms Kingdom. Because Xu Jiaqi had staged a coup, there were no prisoners of war. It was more urate to say that most of the NPCs that belonged to the Qingdao Kingdom were once citizens of the Looms Kingdom.

    The Looms Kingdom was considered one of the weak nations. The prisoners of war, who not only lost their king but also their kingdom, looked like they had fallen into the abyss.

    One of the prisoners of war, a boy named Nagren, was trembling in fear as he listened to the people around him.

    ¡°Is it true? I heard they would only give the prisoners one potato daily and ask them to work all day?¡±

    ¡°It seems like they ask the prisoners to work twenty hours daily. Prisoners of war don¡¯t get treated as human beings.¡±

    ¡°I heard that a lot of people die because of their fierce whippings, too.¡±

    ¡°I also heard that they will drive you into the mines, and if you can¡¯t breathe and die inside, then they will just burn you inside.¡±

    ¡°And the women¡­¡±

    One of the men gulped, tears streaming down his cheeks.

    Then, someone said, ¡°What about sleeping?¡±

    ¡°More than fifty people will be squeezed inside a room during sleeping time. You won¡¯t even be able to lie down. You have to sit down to sleep. The same goes for clothes. You¡¯ll wear the same thing in the winter and hot summer days.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d rather die.¡±

    They have already lived a pitiful life, exploited by a greedy king who took over the Looms Kingdom after a coup. They had suffered and paid ridiculous taxes that reached almost 35%. It was to the point that they could only barely survive. No. Many people died of hunger in the Qingdao Kingdom. But the royal family did not care. They were just happy that they could fill their pockets. If tax had been collected, then the welfare of the people should also be considered. But there was no welfare provided at all. Even so, they still missed that life now that they were reduced to a prisoner of war.

    Then, one of the men said, ¡°I might be a prisoner of war, but I will make sure to take down at least one of those soldier bastards who will torment me.¡±

    ¡°Me too.¡±

    ¡°<em>Sob, sob.</em> I¡¯m scared. I¡¯m so scared,¡± Nagren cried, his fear growing as he listened to them talk. Tears even started to drip down his cheeks.

    <em>Tap¨C</em>

    <em>Flinch¨C!</em>

    Nagren was shocked when one of the soldiers beside him patted him and shed a soft smile. The soldier said, ¡°There¡¯s nothing for you to be so nervous about.¡±

    But Nagren did not trust the soldier''s words. He was sure that the soft smile was hiding a demonic figure behind it. Not long after, the long line of prisoners had received their brands.

    ¡°This prisoner¡¯s brand is a unique brand produced by the Beyond the Heavens Empire. With this brand, we can track your location and send a tracking team to pursue you if you set foot outside the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    ¡°Also, this prisoner¡¯s brand will explode and lead to your death if you ever harm someone from the Beyond the Heavens Empire. This brand will disappear after a year. Then, you can go wherever you want.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    The prisoners began whispering amongst themselves.

    ¡°Do¡­ Do they expect all of us to die within a year?¡±

    ¡°Hiiiiik!¡±

    ¡°Is¨C Is that really the case?¡±

    ¡°They are saying that because they know that we¡¯re going to die ofbor.¡±

    Nagren agreed with the other prisoner¡¯s words.

    Finally, the Beyond the Heavens soldiers led them to the concentration camp. The prisoners were expecting a camp filled with rotten stench. But the concentration camp was too clean. It looked prettyrge and magnificent, too. It looked more like a giant vige that had been newly built rather than a concentration camp.

    Then, a man stood in front of the podium. He said, ¡°This ce was originally built to wee the new migrants of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. But His Majesty Minhyuk allowed the prisoners of war to stay in this ce so they could livefortably for one year. Families can live together inrger rooms while single individuals will be given smaller rooms.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    But the prisoners of war still did not believe it.

    ¡°Now, I will tell you about your work.¡±

    <em>It¡¯sing!</em>

    They were going to give them a good ce to sleep, but they would whip them and not allow them to sleep properly! They would exploit them by only paying them 50,000 gold per month!

    ¡°You will be assigned to the construction sites or asked to work on the fields. Your basic sry will be 1.5 million gold.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Everyone was taken aback. This was because their average sry in the Qingdao Kingdom was only 300,000 gold. ording to the Asgan Continent¡¯s Basic Sry Table, an ordinary person should have a basic sry of 1.8 million gold. This showed how much the Qingdao Kingdom had exploited these people.

    ¡°As for the women¡­¡±

    ¡°<em>Sob, sob, sob.</em> Mother!¡±

    ¡°No! NO!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t even think about taking our mother! You bastards!¡±

    ¡°My¨C My wife! You can¡¯t touch a single strand of Ruko¡¯s hair!¡±

    A bitter smile shed on Park¡¯s face when he heard their words. Then, he said, ¡°Those who want to work can work. Those who wish to rest can rest. Girls and boys can go to the academy and apply if they want to study. That¡¯s all.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Everyone was stunned by the ridiculously unbelievable words that came out of Park¡¯s mouth. And the same was true for Nagren.

    <em>¡®What kind of nonsense¡­¡¯</em>

    The sry they would receive here was several times more than the sry they received in the Qingdao Kingdom. And the academy? It was a ce that they could only enter if they had the money. But the Beyond the Heavens Empire was telling them that this learning opportunity was free and they could take it whenever they wanted.

    Maybe they were just empty words?

    ¡°Now, now. Please bring the wounded here. We will now begin treatment.¡±

    The soldier, who looked at Nagren with a soft smile before, saw the massive gash on the boy¡¯s arm. He immediately applied medicine and put a bandage on the boy.

    ¡°Now, it won¡¯t be infected.¡±

    Even so, Nagren still could not bring himself to believe it. There must be a catch somewhere along the line. But when they were brought out for a meal, they were greeted by a luxurious buffet-style restaurant. It was a scene that none of them had ever seen.

    ¡°His Majesty hopes that no one will ever go hungry. All of your meals are free.¡±

    The prisoners from the Qingdao Kingdom had a difficult life. It was very hard for them to taste meat before, so they were all in a hurry when they ate. Once their meal was over, the soldiers approached them one by one and began to help them find a job. It was just like they said before.

    When the night came, Nagren could sleep in a warm andfortable room. He thought, <em>¡®I still can¡¯t trust them!¡¯</em>

    After a few days, they realized that the people of the Beyond the Heavens Empire treated them like normal human beings and not like prisoners. No, if they were honest, this treatment was leagues better than their treatment in the Qingdao Kingdom.

    A few more dayster, Nagren met the soldier who he met before. He asked, ¡°Wh¨C Why are you treating us like this? Aren¡¯t we prisoners taken from the nation that has lost to you?¡±

    The soldier smiled at him and said, ¡°His Majesty had told us, <em>¡®They are the nation''s people that have lost to us in the war. But they are not guilty of any crimes. I wish to embrace them. But if they want to leave, then let them leave.¡¯</em>¡±

    Nagren trembled. He had never heard of such a wonderful and kind emperor. From that point on, Nagren worked hard and concentrated on his studies. Why? Because he wanted to repay the grace given to him by the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    A yearter, the prisoners¡¯ brand disappeared from their bodies. Nevertheless, none of them left the Beyond the Heavens Empire. They were no longer prisoners of war but citizens of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    ***

    A week after the Beyond the Heavens Empire took in the prisoners of war.

    The fact that the Beyond the Heavens Empire treated the prisoners of war warmly and kindly spread through word of mouth. This created another huge wave.

    <em>[Sob. He¡¯s a genuine emperor. Our Lord, the Food God!]</em>

    <em>[Yes! Minhyuk¡¯s crazy ss has made aeback!]</em>

    <em>[But if you think about it, if those prisoners of war became the people, whether soldiers or ordinary citizens of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, the empire would obtain more than 15 million more people. And there¡¯s probably some great talent among them, too.]</em>

    Many were quite impressed at how Minhyuk treated prisoners of war. After all, it was different from how prisoners of war were treated in the Middle Ages.

    Meanwhile, Sima Qian, who fled after the fall of the Qingdao Kingdom, headed toward the Beyond the Heavens Empire after hearing the news about the prisoners of war. There were around fifteen rankers who yed a massive role in building the Qingdao Kingdom by his side.

    Sima Qian was a talented strategist. He was confident that he would greatly help the Beyond the Heavens Empire, and even the other rankers thought the same thing.

    <em>¡®There is no way that the Beyond the Heavens Empire, who readily embraced those prisoners of war, would abandon us.¡¯ </em>This was what Sima Qian had judged.

    Not long after, they arrived in the Beyond the Heavens Empire and received a cold greeting from the guards.

    ¡°Tie them up.¡±

    Sima Qian and the other rankers obediently allowed themselves to be tied up and restrained. In the end, everything was the fault of their king. They would be released quickly if they talked with the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor.

    Sima Qian knelt in front of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. He dered that Xu Jiaqi alone was responsible for all their evil deeds, and he was willing to give his life to the empire.

    ¡°Yeah. That won¡¯t fool me.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Sima Qian and the rankers were all flustered. The reaction that Minhyuk, who had willingly embraced the prisoners of war, showed them was far too cold.

    ¡°You are sentenced to 300 years in jail. Lock them up.¡±

    ¡°W¨C Wait¡­!¡±

    Sima Qian just could not understand. Why were the prisoners of war, who were worth nothing and did not have any use for the empire, given warm homes, generous sries, and learning opportunities while they were treated like this?

    Minhyuk understood his confusion. But he justughed coldly and said, ¡°You guys are trash. You¡¯re trash that can¡¯t even be recycled. As for those people? They¡¯re just pitiful people who have been taken advantage of.¡±

    That was right. Minhyuk was a strong emperor. However, he was the type of emperor who acted strongly against the strong and gently with the weak.

    ¡°And for trying to nitpick against my words, I will sentence you to 500 years in prison.¡±

    ¡°N¨C NO!!!¡±

    Sima Qian died of old age inside the Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s prison while the rankers gave up on ying the game.

 Chapter 1017

    Chapter 1017

    The Luvien Empire was once under the rule and control of Nerva Sephiroth. But after the recent hunt for Helenia¡¯s Fragment, Nerva gave up his throne and his position as the next-generation Battle God.

    Because of that, many greedy people who had been holding their breath and hiding revealed themselves. Several factions in the empire began to argue, stating that the ones they supported should sit on the throne and be the new emperor.

    Like that, silent and unseen battles were constantly fought in the Luvien Empire. The remnants of a particr faction died without anyone knowing, while others exposed their sins. After such fierce battles, Duke Bman emerged as the most likely candidate to be the new emperor.

    ¡°Lord Nerva, you should hand over your throne to me now.¡±

    Nerva, who had lost an arm, was now a paper tiger. Of course, it was not just because he had only one arm. The reason why he gained power, and was able to lead the Luvien Empire, was because he was set to be the next Battle God. But the one who became the next generation Battle God was someone else.

    Nerva just drank his tea in silence.

    ¡°A week. I¡¯m giving you that much time. You have to decide in a week.¡±

    Nerva chuckled lightly. ¡°What? Are you going to kill me if I do not appoint you by then?¡±

    ¡°How dare I bring harm upon you, Lord Nerva? But if you don¡¯t, you might not be able to fulfill your wish to spend your life in peace until you be old and gray.¡±It was obviously a threat. Even so, Nerva did not show any signs of being shaken. He just narrowed his eyes and stared at Bman.

    <em>¡®Bman should not be the emperor of the Luvien Empire.¡¯</em>

    It should never happen. Bman was not fit to be a ruler. Why? Because he would definitely be a tyrant.

    Bman was certainly a duke who possessed immense and outstanding power. In fact, he was stronger than the dukes hailed as Stars. When it came to strength, it could be said that he could rival Duke d before he got possessed by Helenia¡¯s fragment Arumbe. However, the reason why he could not be hailed as a Star of the empire was because not only did he enjoy drinking and women, but he also enjoyed killing. Until this moment, the Luvien Empire had always dealt with the problems Bman had stirred up.

    Why did Nerva let him be and did not kill him?

    <em>¡®Because there is a huge faction supporting him.¡¯</em>

    Although the empire was ruled and dominated by a single emperor, several factions thrived within it.

    At worst, Bman could be considered a radical. At best, he could be regarded as hot-tempered. He was the type of person who distributed most of what he obtained to his followers.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s their nature and quality.¡¯</em>

    Indeed. He and his followers were less than desirable.

    ¡°If I be the emperor, I will destroy the Beyond the Heavens Emperor. After all, they have always been a thorn in my eyes.¡±

    This was by no means an exaggeration on his part. Bman was a lunatic and warmonger.

    <em>¡®You cannot start a war just because you¡¯re strong. Besides, war is not something you can win just by killing the enemy.¡¯</em>

    If Nerva had followed Bman¡¯s logic, he would have ughtered and reaped the lives of many right when the Luvien Empire first emerged. But the Luvien Empire would not have made it this far if he did that. They had to navigate and find a way to force them into bing their allies while ensuring they did not cross the line.

    And Bman? He did not know about these things. If he did that, then it would bring huge losses and damages to the Luvien Empire. Not only that, but the countless nations that supported the Beyond the Heavens Empire would not let their Luvien Empire go. Even the kingdoms and empires that maintained a friendly rtionship with them would condemn the Luvien Empire for recklessly waging war and endangering their safety.

    <em>¡®He should know that the Ardo Empire still exists.¡¯</em>

    The Ardo Empire, which had the secondrgest number of troops after the Luvien Empire, had been waiting for an opportunity. Bman might be able to exert pressure on them through brute force with the Luvien¡¯s power, but it was obvious that it would not take too long for the empire to lose its current majesty and power.

    ¡°One week. Whether Lord Nerva approves it or not, if you can¡¯t bring forward another candidate during this week, then I will most definitely sit on the emperor¡¯s throne,¡± Bman said, smiling as he turned around. But then, he stopped walking and said, ¡°Of course, even if you bring forward another candidate, they will just die in my hands.¡±

    After Bman left, an aide stepped forward and reported to Nerva.

    ¡°We have found clues of the whereabouts of His Highness, Prince Cardin.¡±

    Prince Cardin was Nerva¡¯s child from a concubine. Be that as it may, there was one thing that Nerva was sure about this child.

    <em>¡®Cardin must have achieved tremendous growth by now.¡¯</em>

    The child split up with him and left the empire when he was only twelve. Although they had separated for a long time, Nerva knew that Cardin had always been an unrivaled genius. He was a genius who could span the ages. Nerva knew this fact more than anybody else.

    <em>¡®Cardin is very clever. Unlike Bman, he could bend and lead the Luvien Empire well.¡¯</em>

    If he were to be honest, he had to admit it.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s much better than me.¡¯</em>

    Nerva, who had everything under the heavens, recognized Cardin¡¯s talent. Not only that, the child also worked hard to ovee his status as a child of a concubine. Nerva was sure that this child would not fall short as an emperor.

    ¡°If we found a clue, then Bman would also know about it to some extent.¡±

    Nerva could tell that Bman had already finished all of his preparations. Even if Nerva brought Cardin back, it was evident that Bman would kill the child before he could arrive in the Luvien Empire.

    So, Nerva needed someone to protect Cardin. He had several conditions for those who would protect his child.

    <em>¡®They have to be someone from whom Bman could not get any information.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Someoneparable to Duke d.¡¯</em>

    No matter how hard Nerva thought about it, Nerva could only think of one person.

    ¡°Let¡¯s depart,¡± Nerva said as he hurriedly got up and moved.

    ***

    ¡°Your Majesty, Locaden Kingdom, Kardan Empire, Agra Empire, and several other nations have sent gifts.¡±

    Minhyuk, sitting in his office, listened to Haze¡¯s report. He had just put Sima Qian and the other rankers in prison just yesterday.

    ¡°So far, fifteen kingdoms and empires have sent many things to us. They have expressed their desire to maintain a better rtionship with us.¡±

    ¡°What gifts did they send?¡±

    ¡°We have received 27 million tinum, around three God-rank artifacts, and one God-grade ingredient.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s have a better rtionship with the king or emperor who sent the God-grade ingredient.¡±

    <em>Flinch¨C!</em>

    Haze was surprised for a moment. This man valued a God-grade cooking ingredient over three God-rank artifacts! Of course, she thought it was a joke after seeing Minhyuk chuckle lightly.

    ¡°More than that, what about what I told you?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not that easy to find. I¡¯m still looking for it.¡±

    Minhyuk became the sessor to the Eight Pirs recognized by Rocado. After being chosen as the sessor, he grew curious about the other sessors.

    <em>¡®It seems like I¡¯m the only Pir Sessor so far?¡¯</em>

    ording to Minhyuk¡¯s hypothesis, this should not be the case. He expected that there were many sessors aside from himself. So, he went ahead and talked with Obren. And he realized that it was just as he expected.

    <em>[There have been many candidates and sessors to the Eight Pirs. Of course, most of them died shortly after being chosen as a sessor or a candidate.]</em>

    It was quite a bloody and gruesome story.

    <em>[There were very few sessors and candidates who had survived. There¡¯s bound to be someone who wishes to be one of the Eight Pirs again. Of course, there¡¯s also someone who just wants to live a normal life and someone who chooses to hide.]</em>

    Minhyuk was interested in the other sessors and candidates because he might be one of the Eight Pirs once he reached Level 700.

    Athenae was the Pir of the Earth.

    Kronad was the Pir of the Holy Ones.

    Obren was the Pir of the Killers.

    As for Minhyuk, he could be the Pir of the Foodies.

    <em>¡®The sessors and candidates will probably be able to gain quite a lot of things during the process.¡¯</em>

    It was not bad for Minhyuk to start preparing for Level 700.

    Then, Obren said.

    <em>[You must remember that among the sessors and candidates to be a Pir, some canpare to the Eight Pirs. Their qualifications are not for nothing.]</em>

    Perhaps they had information about another Pir Ingredient, too.

    ¡°Please keep on trying to find their traces.¡±

    ¡°I understand, Your Majesty.¡±

    Minhyuk stood up and stretched his body the moment Haze stepped out.

    ¡°It¡¯s that time already¡­¡±

    He immediately left and headed toward one of the exits of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. Minhyuk¡¯s eyes grew red as he looked at the young boy Conir and the young man Herakel standing side by side with their backs against a shabby ramyeon handcart. Herakel now had a headband tied to his head that read, ¡°Kizchen Assistant.¡±

    <em>¡®They still got the spelling wrong.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk felt his nose turn sour when he saw that. He felt like he was sending his children out into the rough and wild world.

    ¡°Conir! Conir wille back after reaching a higher level in ramyeon making!¡±

    ¡°Herakel! Herakel will learn Conir¡¯s ramyeon secret and how to make delicious <em>kimbap!</em>¡±

    Herakel had been learning how to make <em>kimbap</em> recently.

    ¡°Conir, you have to fasten your clothes well, alright? Herakel, aren¡¯t you cold?¡±

    ¡°Herakel! Herakel not cold at all!¡±

    Herakel, who threw off his top, was already covered with goosebumps. As expected, Herakel was the king of bragging. So, Minhyuk handed a jacket over to Herakel.

    ¡°Even when they give you something, don¡¯t follow them. They¡¯re bad guys, do you understand?¡±

    The guards watching the scene nearby thought, <em>¡®I think it should be the bad people who have to worry about themselves if Sir Conir and Sir Herakel decide to follow them¡­¡¯</em>

    Whether Minhyuk knew this fact or not, it did not matter. He just felt like his nose had turned even more sour. He hugged the two tightly and emphasized, ¡°And if they ate at your ramyeon shop and don¡¯t want to pay money, you have to scold them. Alright? <em>¡®I¡¯ll pay youter,¡¯</em> or<em> ¡®I¡¯ll give you something else,¡¯</em> you can¡¯t believe those words. Do you understand?¡±

    ¡°Conir! Conir not an idiot!¡±

    ¡°Herakel! Herakel won¡¯t let them go!¡±

    The two looked gant and imposing(?) as they answered Minhyuk.

    The handcart carrying the banner with the words ¡°Conir and Herakel¡¯s Ramyeon and Kimbap¡± soon departed. Minhyuk watched them for a long time until they disappeared from his sight.

    ***

    At first nce, Prince Cardin looked infinitely shabby. But he had learned a lot of things from his master, Beradon, over the past decade. He had done all the preparations during that time and was now ready to be an emperor.

    After Emperor Nerva stepped down, the ¡°rebel forces¡± who decided to join him became escorts who would guide him safely back to the Luvien Empire. Of course, these people had also reached a shocking level after learning various things over the years. Cardin decided to meet with them in Luando¡¯s Hills.

    Prince Cardin had ventured out into the world in the past ten years. Despite his unkempt hair and shabby clothes, his beauty still shone through. But he had one shoring. He waspletely road blind. And this shoring has now be the problem.

    He had been searching for Luando¡¯s Hills for three days now. During that time, Prince Cardin had reached a ce far beyond where a human could go and had met plenty of strong monsters along the way.

    Thankfully, he had learned martial arts from his teacher, who was once a leading figure in the world, even though he was already a forgotten existence. Because of that, he did not have any problems fighting against the monsters.

    The only problem that he had to face was hunger.

    <em>¡®...I¡¯m going to go crazy.¡¯</em>

    His eyes had already started to spin, not from exhaustion but from hunger. At that moment, Cardin thought, <em>¡®It would be nice if there¡¯s a restaurant somewhere here.¡¯</em>

    He found the thought to be quite funny. How could a restaurant be in a ce like this? Was that even possible?

    <em>¡®It¡¯s not possible to see such a thing in a ce far beyond humans'' reach. There¡¯s no way¡ª huh? There is?¡¯</em>

    Cardin¡¯s eyes snapped open. Someone was running a small handcart in this damp and misty ce. Cardin, who had already lost all his reason, immediately ran toward the handcart.

    ¡°The¨C The first customer!¡±

    ¡°This is our first customer after several days. Why are there no customers? Even Herakel doesn¡¯t know!¡±

    ¡°Give¨C Give me the most delicious one on your menu!¡±

    The rumble of Cardin¡¯s stomach echoed loudly in the surroundings. It did not matter how strong one was; everything was equal in the face of hunger. Cardin¡¯s eyes were already spinning.

    ¡°Conir is excited!¡±

    ¡°Herakel will make <em>kimbap</em>!¡±

    Despite their loud conversation, nothing reached Cardin¡¯s ears. Even though he had difficulty hearing and seeing things before him, he could see the unknown red soup and the rice wrapped in dried seaweed. This was Cardin¡¯s first meal in a few days.

    Cardin immediately followed what the kind young boy and young man told him and sipped the red soup.

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuuuurp!</em>¡±

    The moment the soup and the noodles entered his mouth, he was greeted with a chewy texture and a spicy yet refreshing vor.

    <em>¡®Th¨C This¨C This vor¡­!¡¯</em>

    Cardin could not help but marvel at the soup''s meaty yet spicy vor. Then, he turned his attention to the rice wrapped in seaweed, a dish called <em>kimbap.</em> When he took a bite, Cardin thought, <em>¡®I can¡¯t believe all these colorful ingredients could bebined to create such a fantastic harmony of vors¡­!¡¯</em>

    It was a noble food he had never tasted, even during his time with the imperial family. Just like that, Cardin began to gobble up everything before him.

    ¡°Conir! Conir will give you as service! Cold rice, service for the first customer!¡±

    The bright and energetic young boy handed over the rice to Cardin. Cardin frowned when he received the cold rice. But when he mixed it with the hot soup and took a bite, his eyes could not help but grow wide. This was also incredibly delicious!

    <em>¡®How can the soup paired with something made with flour go so well with rice?¡¯</em>

    Cardin firmly believed that this ramyeon was a dish enjoyed by the nobles of this day. He sighed with relief after he finished eating the ramyeon and the rice.

    ¡°<em>Phew.</em>¡±

    He felt like he was finally alive once again. Then, he realized something.

    <em>¡®Now that I think about it¡­ The money¡­¡¯</em>

    But he felt like there was nothing for him to worry about. The young boy and the young man both looked kind and friendly.

    The two looked at Cardin sparklingly, and the young man looked excited.

    ¡°Herakel did it! Herakel sold <em>kimbap</em> to the first customer! Herakel made money!¡±

    ¡°Wow!¡±

    The young man excitedly extended his hand. The two looked at Cardin with flushed expressions.

    When he saw this, Cardin tried to ask the two kind brothers for their understanding. He said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I don¡¯t have any money.¡±

    In an instant, Cardin saw how the corners of the mouths of the two brothers went down ever so slightly.

    ¡°I¡¯ll pay you next time?¡±

    The corners of their mouths went down even further.

    ¡°If¨C If that¡¯s not possible, then I¡¯ll pay with something else?¡±

    Every word that came out of Cardin¡¯s mouth made the frown on their faces grow deeper. In the end, they looked furious. The young man even pulled out a club(?) and patted his left hand with it as he red furiously at Cardin.

    <em>Thump¨C!</em>

    ¡°Ah! Then, how about youe with me!!!¡±

    Cardin did not know but had just checked all three taboo words on their list.

    <em>I¡¯ll give it to youter.</em>

    <em>I¡¯ll give you something else.</em>

    <em>Come, let¡¯s go with this uncle.</em>

    Cardin chuckled awkwardly and could see that the two brothers were smiling while looking at him coldly.

    The young boy spoke up first. He said, ¡°You. When cooking ramyeon, what do you put first? The soup or the noodles?¡±

    This was the first killing notice.

    Then, the young man said, ¡°Herakel¡¯s club. Endure it eight times.¡±

    This was the second killing notice.

 Chapter 1018

    Chapter 1018

    Goosebumps rose all over Cardin¡¯s body.

    ¡°Herakel¡¯s club. Endure it eight times,¡± Previously smiling, the young man now spoke with a chilling expression.

    ¡°Noodles?! Soup?!¡±

    ¡°Herakel and Conir can also switch your head with your hands,¡± the young man said as he punched the huge stone beside him.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¨C!</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    Cardin¡¯s eyes grew wide from the ridiculous disy of power. It looked like a light punch, but the colossal stone shattered into tiny pieces. Cardin realized that his words were wrong when he saw the two acting like hooligans(?) and ring at him.

    <em>¡®Hoo. What do I have with me right now?¡¯</em>

    There was a very precious potion that he had obtained before. The potion, Bing Hero Elixir, could increase the person¡¯s stats upon consumption. Cardin slipped the potion to them. The boy quickly grabbed it. Then, with zing eyes, he said, ¡°Noodles or soup?!! Answer!!!¡±

    ¡°N, no. If you won¡¯t take it as payment, please give it ba¡­¡±

    ¡°Noodles?! Soup?!¡±

    ¡°Herakel is angry.¡±

    Cardin was rendered speechless. Did that mean that he gave out his potion for nothing? That potion was worth a hundred million times more than what he had eaten. But their faces had grown uglier than before.

    Conir ced one of his hands in his pockets. Then, he shook his leg as if impatient before raising his head and saying, ¡°You. Do you really want to do it this way?¡±

    At the same time, Herakel tapped his club on the palm of his hands once again.

    ¡°Ptew!¡± Herakel pretended to spit as he copied Conir by cing his hand in his pocket and shaking his leg.

    <em>¡®This¨C Are they really hooligans?¡¯</em>

    Cardin had already taken out and given them a very precious potion.

    <em>¡®But it¡¯s true that I did something wrong, too.¡¯</em>

    He ate food in a restaurant, but he did not have any money, so he tried to skip paying for his meal. After pondering deeply, an idea struck his mind. He said, ¡°Please wait a moment.¡±

    Then, Cardin hurriedly rushed off. And the loud roars of monsters rang in the direction where he went. In the world of Athenae, both NPCs and yers alike could get gold by hunting monsters.

    Cardin picked up the gold the monsters dropped and gave it to the two brothers. Herakel excitedly epted the gold. He said, ¡°He¨C Herakel! This is Herakel¡¯s first time making money in Herakel¡¯s life!¡±

    ¡°Wow. Herakel! Herakel is very amazing! Conir took three months before Conir made his first money in his business!¡±

    ¡°He- Herakel is a cool man! A manly man!¡±

    Cardin could not help but give a bitter smile when he saw the scene before him. He said, ¡°Since I¡¯ve got a lot of gold, I¡¯m giving you more. Consider this an apology for earlier.¡±

    Then, he gave the two brothers all the gold he acquired. The two immediately bowed and rubbed their hands together.

    ¡°Hehe, customer. Did you like our dishes?¡±

    ¡°Fufu, customer. Please visit us again next time!¡±

    ¡°Alright. Then, about the potion that I gave you earlier¡­¡±

    ¡°Hehe, customer. Would you like to have another bowl?¡±

    ¡°We can also give you another roll of <em>kimbap</em>.¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m talking about the potion I gave you earlier¡­¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    The two brothers looked at Cardin as if they could not understand what he was saying. They even tilted their heads cutely and showed him an innocent expression! At this moment, Cardin realized that the two hooligan(?) brothers had yed him for a fool! When he tried to say something, he saw Herakel¡¯s muscles twitch.

    <em>¡®This- this is a threat¡­¡¯</em>

    Cardin gulped dryly. ¡°F- fine.¡±

    There was something far more important than the potion. Since the two brothers coulde here, there was a high chance that they knew how to get out of this ce.

    ¡°By any chance, do you guys know how to get out of this ce?¡±

    At that question, Herakel and Conir piped up.

    ¡°My goodness! He says he doesn¡¯t know the way out aftering to this ce!¡±

    ¡°Hyung said that we shouldn¡¯t ignore a person with special needs(?) and should make sure we embrace them! That guy looks like he is someone with special needs.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. He looks(?) like he is someone with special needs. Okay, we¡¯ll bring you along.¡±

    The two were obviously whispering to each other, but strangely enough, Cardin could hear them clearly. In fact, even the monsters within a twenty-meter radius heard their voices.

    ¡°Herakel¡­ Herakel helps those in need!¡±

    ¡°Hyung told Conir never to ignore someone with special needs and to embrace them!¡±

    The two brothers patted their chests. Then, they looked at Cardin with their eyes that had already grown red.

    ¡°...?¡±

    After that, they rushed toward Cardin and gave him a huge hug.

    ¡°You¡¯re already that age but still can¡¯t find your way. You must be someone with special needs¡­¡±

    ¡°We will help you.¡±

    ¡°I see. Th- Thank you.¡±

    At this moment, Cardin unknowingly felt awkward.

    ***

    Ever since Nerva stepped down from his position as the emperor, his aide had always heard him mutter to himself. He sounded as if he was possessed.

    <em>¡®The only emperor that I have and will acknowledge...¡¯</em>

    The aide believed that Nerva, who had everything underneath the heavens, would only acknowledge Prince Cardin as the next in line to the throne. How could the aide tell? Because Nerva was now going to the Beyond the Heavens Empire, a ce he hated the most, he could make sure that Prince Cardin coulde back safely.

    They had already contacted the Beyond the Heavens Empire guards secretly and were on their way. They were currently riding a carriage and speeding through the darkness. Not long after, Nerva and his aide met with Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk was very surprised that Nerva came to see him like this. The two immediately told Minhyuk the reason why they came here.

    <em>¡®If Bman bes the emperor of the Luvien Empire, then he would rule as a tyrant. Meanwhile, the prince is wiser and more flexible than Nerva and Bman.¡¯</em>

    The fact that an existence like Prince Cardin was in the Luvien Empire was not favorable to Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®So they have an outstanding prince like that, too.¡¯</em>

    The Luvien Empire could quickly regain stability if that wise prince became the emperor. Also, the Luvien Empire might be revived and rise further.

    Be that as it may, they also could not allow a tyrant like Bman, who saw the Beyond the Heavens Empire as a thorn in his eyes, to sit on that throne.

    <em>¡®A warmonger.¡¯</em>

    Although Minhyuk had only heard about Bman, he could tell he would immediately strike the Beyond the Heavens Empire when he became emperor on that throne. He would use the excuse of reiming the honor that the Luvien Empire had lost to dere war and invade the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    Minhyuk rubbed his chin. Then, he asked, ¡°What do I get out of this?¡±

    ¡°You will have a close and friendly rtionship with the new master of the Luvien Empire. If you want, I can also give you treasures and gold. But I believe we don¡¯t need to talk about this right now, no?¡±

    This was the truth. Minhyuk¡¯s choice here would determine which emperor of the Luvien Empire they would face in the future. It was something that gold could not buy.

    Of course, agreeing would not mean that the Beyond the Heavens Empire and the Luvien Empire would suddenly have a friendly rtionship. But they would be guaranteed to maintain a soft and flexible rtionship. Minhyuk pondered deeply for a moment. Finally, he reached a conclusion.

    ¡°I refuse.¡±

    Nerva frowned.

    ¡°Let me tell you about the other side to this. Right now, you are telling me, the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ emperor, to move secretly and save your prince.¡±

    Indeed, this was the whole point of this meeting.

    ¡°But if, during that secret mission, Bman found out that I, the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor, saved the prince and prevented Bman from bing the emperor, then it would be more like us pouring oil on fire.¡±

    If that happened, then Bman, who could only use the pretext that they would restore the glory and honor of the Luvien Empire, would be given a justification to start a war against the Beyond the Heavens Empire. And he would even frantically ostracize the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    ¡°And from what I have gathered, Bman is aware of the prince''s existence. Not only that, he is also moving to stop his return to the Luvien Empire. On top of that, Bman is as strong as Duke d. Not only that, but many members of his forces, such as the ck Skull Knight Order, areparable to the Swords of the Gods. Fighting against them would be very dangerous for me and my empire.¡±

    At this moment, Minhyuk was weighing the benefits and losses of this deal more than anybody else. The easiest method for him was to let Bman kill the prince first, and then they would get rid of Bman. But that was practically impossible. Aside from that, it was a method that Minhyuk did not like.

    ¡°What we will gain is far too little for something so risky.¡±

    Minhyuk had concluded this. Now that he knew Bman was going to attack them, he could prepare in advance.

    Nervapletely understood. If he were in Minhyuk¡¯s ce, he would also turn down the offer that he had made.

    Nerva¡¯s aide turned to look at him. He thought, <em>¡®What are you trying to do?¡¯</em>

    Now that Nerva hade down from his position, he was left with no supporters. Even so, Nerva still felt he had a mission to protect the Luvien Empire. And he wanted to start by appointing an upright emperor.

    At that moment, the aide heard the words that Nerva always murmured.

    ¡°The only emperor that I have and will acknowledge¡­¡±

    The aide thought that Nerva was murmuring these words because he regretted that he could not let the prince sit on the emperor¡¯s throne.

    On the other hand, Minhyuk frowned and said, ¡°Are you trying to praise the prince, who I do not wish to help, in front of me right now¡­¡±

    ¡°...is Brod.¡±

    ¡°...?!¡±

    The eyes of both Minhyuk and the aide grew wide from shock when they heard those words. Nerva had just mentioned a person''s name that should have nevere out of his mouth. Only at this moment did the aide understand.

    <em>¡®The only emperor that His Highness Nerva has ever and will ever acknowledge is not His Highness Prince Cardin, but Brod?!¡¯</em>

    Nerva¡¯s words might be brief, but they had very heavy meanings.

    Nerva was the type of person who had never clung to his flesh and blood. He believed that only an outstanding person was qualified to be the true master of the Luvien Empire.

    And who would that be? Was it the still young yet intelligent prince? No. It was the fallen emperor. He was the one who should have been the true master of the Luvien Empire. Nerva wanted Cardin to be the emperor so he could ultimately give the Luvien Empire back to its rightful owner.

    ¡°Do you understand now?¡± A grim smile shed on Nerva¡¯s face. ¡°This is the second step toward that goal.¡±

    The first step was for Nerva to step down from his position.

    Minhyuk knew that even though the Beyond the Heavens Empire could growrge enough to rival the Luvien Empire and win against them in war, there was something he could not do.

    <em>¡®I can never be the emperor of the Luvien Empire.¡¯</em>

    No, even if possible, Minhyuk was not confident he could lead the Luvien Empire. But thanks to Nerva¡¯s words, Minhyuk realized another path was open for them.

    <em>¡®It might be impossible for me, but that¡¯s not the case for Brod.¡¯</em>

    Even if the Luvien Empire of today would grow bigger and stronger, Brod might still be its emperor. And to top it off, Brod was Minhyuk¡¯s beloved and faithful vassal. Even if Brod became the emperor of the Luvien Emperor, that fact would remain the same. Minhyuk shuddered at the thought of Brod wearing his crown and standing in front of the tens of millions of troops of the Luvien Imperial Army as its emperor.

    Minhyuk finally nodded. ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll ept your offer.¡±

    Then, he immediately stood up. Since he had made a decision, they had to make a move quickly. And since they were going to move secretly, he had to minimize the number of troops he had to deploy.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s okay for me to move alone for now.¡¯</em>

    He could just use the Almond of Subordinates whenever he wanted.

    ¡°What¡¯s his estimated location?¡±

    ¡°Training Land. That¡¯s the only information that we have as of the moment.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s face grew ugly. Not only could Nerva not make any hasty moves, but there was also the chance that Bman, already running rampant, had gotten to the information first.

    ¡°What if Bman had already located him and disposed of him?¡±

    ¡°Then, there¡¯s a high chance that all the work I have done will be for nothing,¡± Nerva said.

    Minhyuk immediately headed toward the Training Land after his conversation with Nerva.

    ***

    At the same time.

    <em>Gulp¨C</em>

    Prince Cardin gulped dryly. Everything was going smoothly. He could leave where he got caught and got lost with the help of the hooligan brothers. But when he thanked them and tried to rush to where hisrades were waiting for him, more than 100,000 soldiers suddenly appeared around them. And there were skulls painted on the back of their cloaks.

    <em>¡®Why do I feel like the air around them has changed?¡¯</em>

    The young boy standing in front of the wreckage of their ramyeon handcart looked at the 100,000 troops. There was killing intent evident in those eyes.

    ¡°Hey. Do you put the noodles first or the soup first?¡±

    Then, with his huge and sturdy build, the young man looked at the army with a cold and frigid gaze and said, ¡°Herakel will switch all of your heads with your feet.¡±

 Chapter 1019

    Chapter 1019

    Conir and Herakel both ventured into the world outside with excitement.

    Conir wanted to let his precious and dear friend experience the joy of traveling the world and doing business. That was why he engraved Herakel¡¯s name on the handcart that they were using. And Herakel? He had never earned money through his efforts before. So, when he went out into the world with Conir, he was filled with expectations and excitement.

    But suddenly, a huge ball of me fell from the sky and shattered their handcart to the point of no repair. When they saw this, their anger grew to unbelievable heights. The two red sharply at the 100,000-strong army wearing ck cloaks with skulls painted on them that appeared in front of them.

    Then, the two pulled out masks and put them on at the same time. Minhyuk had previously given them these masks.

    <em>-Strength can be revealed and disyed. But if you show others that you are strong, you might be ced at a huge disadvantage. So, if ever you¡¯re in a situation where you have to fight, I want you to wear these masks.</em>

    Conir wore a ck mask, while Herakel wore a white mask. This was a sign that they would show their power.

    ***

    Luca, the ck Skull Knight Order''s deputymander, had long waited for their master, Duke Bman, to be the emperor. He could not understand why Duke Bman was not a part of the Stars of the Empire. After all, he was as strong as Duke d and deeply cared for his men.

    But after waiting for so long, Duke Bman''s path to the throne had opened up. This was only under the assumption that the prince Lord Nerva had been looking for had been eliminated. Duke Bman¡¯s forces and influence within the empire were considered huge. The main reason was that the ck Skull Knight Order members had outstanding prowess.

    <em>¡®All of us have received the teachings of Duke Bman.¡¯</em>

    Even though several forces were simr in size to Duke Bman¡¯s forces, they were confident that they would be able to deal with them and clean them up in one go.

    As soon as Duke Bman obtained information about where the prince was hiding, he immediately sent 400,000 strong troops. All the troops were elites who had been waiting for this day for a long time.

    <em>¡®The ck Skull Knight Order right now isparable to the elite soldiers of the Luvien Empire.¡¯</em>

    They were a knight order that boasted high levels and outstanding skills.

    <em>¡®Even if someone will guide and escort the prince so he coulde safely to the empire, we are more than enough. We can easily dispose of them.¡¯</em>

    But that was assuming that they found them first. Based on his descriptions alone, they scattered and spread out to search for the prince. As for Luca, he listened to the report of one of the search teams and followed right behind them.

    Finally, he and his team could find someone who looked exactly like the description given to them. They also found two brothers(?), seeminglycking in the intelligence department, standing in front of the said prince while dragging a handcart behind them.

    Although Luca found it a bit strange, he still ordered a me magic attack to be sent toward them. Not long after, the me magic shattered the disabled(?) brothers¡¯ handcart. Luca heard the two brothers say something. Before they knew it, the two disabled brothers(?) donned some strange masks. But he did not care about them and ordered his army to advance.

    Meanwhile, Cardin noticed that these people came from the empire, and they were sent to kill him.

    <em>Ping¨C!</em>

    <em>Boom¨C!</em>

    res were shot into the sky. Cardin could tell that things were about to go down the drain.

    <em>¡®More importantly¡­¡¯</em>

    Cardin feared that harm woulde to the brothers. He knew that even though the two acted like hooligans(?) and ripped him off of his potion, the brothers were kind people.

    <em>¡®I need to buy time so they can run away,¡¯ </em>Cardin thought. This was because he believed that even though they released an incredible amount of killing intent, that was the extent of what they could do.

    Then, Luca said, ¡°Prince Cardin, pleasee¡­¡±

    ¡°Hey.¡±

    ***

    Conir had learned a lot from the Hooligan Captain Locke, who had mentioned something before.

    ¨C<em>Conir. Ever since ancient times, a man should not be ignored and belittled. What do you have to say when someone ignores you?</em>

    ¡°Do you think I¡¯m joking?¡±

    Yes. Conir had learned and absorbed a lot from Hooligan Captain Locke.

    ¨C<em>You punk, teach him good things.</em>

    Of course, Genie had pped Locke on the back of his head when he said those words.

    ¡°...The adults are talking here.¡± Luca frowned. Then, he waved to the soldiers behind him.

    Even though Locke had been pped hard, he still added.

    <em>¨CIf they continue to ignore you. Then, you have to say this line.</em>

    Conir looked at the enemy with a cold and sharp re.

    ¡°Five seconds.¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the time it would take a hundred of you to fall.¡±

    After telling him the line, Locke had continued.

    <em>¨CKghhk~ I like the sound of that! I really like that! Keuhahaha! Then, what will happen if you deal with a hundred people in just five seconds? The situation would be over.</em>

    <em>¨CYou punk. Why are you teaching him things like that?</em>

    Khan had hit the same ce where Genie hit Locke.

    Luca, hearing Conir''s words, looked at him incredulously. He judged that these two brothers were not worth paying any attention to. Luca gestured to the soldiers behind him with his chin. The soldiers immediately moved toward Conir.

    ¡°Just bury them after you kill them.¡±

    After sorting out the situation on that side, Luca returned to the important matter that he had to deal with. He said, ¡°Soon, Duke Bman will arrive. He will be the new emperor¡­¡±

    But the loud sound of the wind made him raise his eyebrows. <em>¡®What the hell? I can¡¯t concentrate here, you know?¡¯</em>

    His face grew ugly as he wondered why it was so noisy when all the soldiers had to deal with was a boy. But Luca had no choice but to look at the scene with wide-open eyes.

    The boy wearing a ck mask rested his blood sword on his shoulder as he red at Luca. Around him were a hundred fallen ck Skull Knight Order soldiers.

    The boy, Conir, said, ¡°Four seconds.¡±

    Despite being hit twice in a row in the back of the head, Locke had not given up. He cackled and said to Conir, ¡°That¡¯s the time that it would take to sh the necks of a thousand people.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Luca saw how he moved like the wind when the boy''s words ended. He jumped among their troops, and just like a killing spirit, he swung his sword. At the same time, the soldiers grabbed their now bleeding necks. The soldiers could not even react to how fast the boy moved.

    The boy, who shed the necks of a thousand soldiers, stood straight amidst their corpses and looked at Luca coldly.

    ¡°Apologize.¡±

    ¡°...Wh¨C What the hell!?¡± Luca shouted in shock. At the same time, he thought that he was Cardin¡¯s hidden escort.

    <em>¡®Well, there¡¯s no way a prince would have no escort, no?¡¯</em>

    They have met an unexpected ambush. But the boy named Conir did not have the desire to kill anymore. He would let it be as long as they got their apology andpensation for their broken handcart. Even though Luca had ordered to kill him, he showed no hostility toward the deputymander.

    ¡°Kill this bastard now!!! He¡¯s unexpectedly strong, so don¡¯t let your guard down!¡±

    It was just killing a thousand people. Luca could also do that because they were powerful just like that.

    ¡°Three seconds.¡±

    After being hit by Khan, Locke had received Minhyuk¡¯s p on the back of his head. Even so, Locke still did not give up.

    ¡°That¡¯s the time it will take for ten thousand of you to die silently.¡±

    Conir took on the posture of the quick draw. He then bent his knee and drew his sword.

    <em>sh, sh, sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    The sword light from his sword pierced the soldiers'' hearts charging at him. Luca¡¯s jaw dropped open.

    But Cardin was most surprised by this. He could tell that the boy, who had a broad and generous heart, had an intellectual disability. The boy had told him that they should embrace him, and they truly embraced him. They even helped him and showed him the way.

    Goosebumps rose all over Cardin¡¯s body. With every second that passed, the boy showed a higher realm. That was right. The boy had been giving his enemies the chance to back down. After all, he was a man who would not kill for no reason.

    <em>¡®But they broke the boy¡¯s dream and handcart and even ordered to kill him.¡¯</em>

    Despite the boy¡¯s warnings, they did not stop. They even gave the order to kill him once again.

    ¡°S- Stop him! ck Skull Knight Order!!!¡±

    The ck Skull Knight Order knights were superior to some of the imperial knights. Some of them were even superior to the Swords of the Gods. Around fifteen of these knights leaped forward to deal with the boy. Their speed showed that they were leagues above the level of an ordinary knight.

    Soon, the boy said, ¡°Two seconds.¡±

    Those who charged at the boy did not know that it did not matter if they wereparable or superior to the Swords of the Gods. This was because the boy was the Sword God. He was the most outstanding with the sword in the world.

    ***

    Valen had once told Conir this.

    ¨C<em>The Imperceptible Heart Sword.</em>

    Valen gently stroked Conir¡¯s head.

    ¨C<em>Conir, you have the purest heart. That¡¯s why you probably are the only one who can wield the strongest Heart Sword.</em>

    A little while after Conir became the Sword God, he solidified and strengthened his Heart Sword.

    ***

    ¡°That¡¯s the time it would take for everyone to fall before me.¡±

    Luca and Cardin grew nervous when they heard the boy¡¯s words.

    The boy returned his sword, which he used for the quick-draw move earlier, back to its sheathe. Then, he raised his hand and held his imperceptible sword, making him look like he was holding only air.

    ¡°Heart Sword. Chapter 1.¡±

    <em>Ting¨C</em>

    The clear and crisp sound of metal hitting metal, like when a sword strikes another, reverberated.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab¨C!</em>

    And with this beautiful sound, the almost fifteen knights of the ck Skull Knight Order, who were charging at Conir, fell with blood spurting out of their bodies. Even the bodies of the soldiers right behind them were torn and ripped apart.

    Did they see the boy¡¯s sword move? No. They did not see it. Then, were they cut by the sound alone? That was not the case either. The Heart Sword was a sword that could not be seen or held and could only be wielded by the heart.

    <em>¡®That boy¡­¡¯</em>

    At this moment, Cardin realized that the boy was the Sword God of the current era.

    ***

    Laghman was one of the faithful and loyal knights who left with Prince Cardin when he decided to leave the empire. Standing around him were the many people who had been waiting for this moment for a long time. These people had met a great teacher by chance and gained an outstanding achievement. Now, they werepletely different from how they were in the past.

    They were waiting at the ce where they had promised to meet. The problem was that they had been waiting for a few days.

    Someone spoke ominously and said, ¡°No way. Could it be that the empire has already dealt with the prince?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps.¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t we go out to look for the prince instead of waiting here like this?!¡±

    They had been anxiously waiting for a few days now. Perhaps it was time for them to act. But Laghman just shook his head.

    ¡°The Prince ispletely road blind. We would face a bigger problem if we missed each other on the road.¡±

    ¡°No matter how bad someone is with directions, he should not be like this, no¡­?¡±

    ¡°Was it when he was nine years old? The prince said he would go to the imperial garden because he was upset. He said we would face severe punishment if we dared to follow him. The result? He went missing.¡±

    <em>No. Are you saying he got lost even though he only needed to go a hundred meters in front of his home?</em>

    ¡°And one weekter, we found him about five kilometers away from the empire. It was very shocking¡­ He could have just asked for directions but¡­ he¡¯s stubborn.¡±

    But that was not the end of it.

    ¡°When he was eleven, he got lost inside the imperial castle where he lived and always wandered around. There was also that time when he went to another empire. Unsurprisingly, he got lost. A monthter, we found him in some farawaynd a hundred kilometers from where he was supposed to go.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Everyone was rendered speechless.

    ¡°During that time, I was shadowing the prince. Let me tell you. It¡¯s a truly shocking talent. His ability to escape my sight and wander off on his own is so amazing that I wondered if it was a godly skill. He¡¯s so road blind that one could say that he¡¯s the God of Road Blindness.¡±

    While they were left in silence, they heard someoneing.

    <em>Thud¨C</em>

    It seemed like the legendary prince, who could get lost in his own house and be found a hundred kilometers away from his intended destination, had finallye. But the one that showed up was someone who was eating <em>takoyaki</em>.

    <em>Munch, munch¨C</em>

    ¡°Hello?¡±

    It was none other than Minhyuk.

 Chapter 1020

    Chapter 1020

    Luca was shocked to see the Heart Sword sweep away and kill over 30,000 ck Skull soldiers. The invisible sword also cut him.

    He hurriedly looked for the knights of the ck Skull Knight Order. And just like he expected, they had also fallen under the might of the Heart Sword and were spurting blood all over their bodies.

    <em>¡®The Heart Sword from the myths?¡¯</em>

    Luca could not believe the boy, who lookedcking, could demonstrate such a mighty sword. But he soon discovered a discrepancy.

    <em>¡®The power of his Heart Sword falls far below the one described in the myths.¡¯</em>

    That was right. The Heart Sword from the myths was said to be strong enough to cut down a million troops at once. It was also said that no enemy could endure and hold out in front of such swordsmanship.

    But now? Even though he had suffered considerable damage, Luca could still survive the blow. The ck Skull Knight Order knights also started to stand up once again despite the blood spurting out of their bodies.

    There was a massive gap between a knight and a soldier. A single knight could deal with ten soldiers all by himself. As for the knights of the ck Skull Knight Order? They were trained and raised by Duke Bman himself.

    Luca¡¯s lips twisted into a frown. <em>¡®The damage that we have received is far too great.¡¯</em>But reinforcements would soon arrive. By that time, Luca was confident that they could suppress this boy. No, perhaps he and the ck Skull Knight Order knights, who were left rtively unscathed, could team up and kill that boy.

    ¡°...?¡±

    The gigantic young man wearing a white mask and watching the scene silently made a move. The young man stumbled as he walked toward the middle of the knights of ck Skull.

    ¡°You stupid moron. You won¡¯t¡­¡± one of the knights roared at Herakel and blocked his path. But he soon saw the club swinging toward him at a breakneck speed.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¨C!</em>

    The moment the club made contact with the knight¡¯s body, not only was the sturdy and thick armor created by the cksmiths of the Luvien Empire shattered, but even the knight''s bones were broken.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Herakel struck the screaming knight with his club once again.

    ¡°A¨C Aaaaaaack! Stop!¡±

    It only took two strikes for the knights to copse. All of his bones were broken and shattered, too. Then, Herakel struck another knight.

    <em>Crack¨C!</em>

    ¡°A- aaaaaaaack! My- My bones¡­!¡±

    The knights, whose bones shattered and cracked from Herakel¡¯s blows, felt like the bones of their hands and feet were being switched.

    <em>Boom!</em>

    <em>Boom, boom¨C!</em>

    <em>Boom¨C!</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    Luca was stunned, speechless. In that short amount of time, two of their knights were incapacitated.

    If the young boy had outstanding skills yetcked the power to deal a considerable amount of damage, then the young man had shocking power that could deal massive damage yetcked the skills. To put it simply, thebination of the two was fantastic.

    Around fifteen ck Skull Knight Order knights were knocked down by Herakel in one go. Of course, these were ordinary members of the order.

    <em>¡®The members of the Red Skull will definitely be able to suppress them.¡¯</em>

    The Red Skull were the five most outstanding knights of the ck Skull Knight Order. They wereparable, or perhaps even superior, to the Swords of the Gods.

    <em>¡®If Duke Bmanes here, then they would easily be overpowered,¡¯</em> Luca thought as he stepped forward. He had to buy time for them to arrive. At the very least, he believed he could deal with at least one of them alone.

    ¡°One second.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Luca¡¯s face grew ugly when he heard Conir mutter hisst line. His instincts were screaming at him that there was dangering his way.

    ¡°That¡¯s the time it would take for you, who ignored me, to fa¡­¡±

    But Conir failed to finish his sentence. This was because a man had appeared from far away and cut down Conir. The speed was so fast that the boy could not even react.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    The man, who sent Conir rolling on the ground, grabbed Herakel by the back of his neck and mmed his face on the ground.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    ¡°Ugh! He- Herakel, hurt!¡±

    Luca¡¯s face immediately brightened up.

    The man was 183 centimeters tall and had arms lined up with tattoos of a ck skull. This man, who suppressed Conir and Herakel in one go, was Duke Bman¡ªthe very same man who dreamt of bing the new emperor of the Luvien Empire. With a bloody red sword in hand, he watched as the boy he sent flying away regained his posture and flew at him.

    Conir might have an intellectual disability, but he was a genius in battle andbat sense. At this moment, his instincts were shouting at him to stab the man in front of him with the second chapter of the Heart Sword.

    ¡°Heart Sword. Second Chapter.¡±

    Conir squeezed the imperceptible sword in his hands.

    <em>Boom¨C!</em>

    Just as Luca expected, Conir was an outstanding opponent regarding one-on-one battles. The problem was he could not disy the Heart Sword''s true power because hecked the power to bring huge damage. But the second chapter of the Heart Sword was different.

    ¡°Sword¡¯s Wrath.¡±

    <em>sh¨C</em>

    Conir swung his sword at Duke Bman when he arrived before the gigantic man.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    A mighty force that ignored all defenses swept past Duke Bman and made blood spurt all over his body.

    ¡°It¡¯s a bit itchy,¡± Bman said as he poured potion on the cuts on his body. He acted more calmly than Conir expected.

    ¡°...¡±

    Conir was flustered.

    Then, Bman said, ¡°Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s Sword God Conir. That¡¯s you, bastard. No?¡±

    Luca and the other knights knew this when the boy used the Heart Sword against them. The one that they did not expect was the young man with unknown yet mighty power.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    The young man named Herakel swung his club and hit Bman. Duke Bman, who looked like he was forced to lean for a moment, suddenly exerted force all over his body.

    ¡°Hit me,e on.¡±

    ¡°...Herakel, endure the club!¡±

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    Herakel immediately swung his club and struck Bman once again. But Duke Bman¡¯s body only shook for a bit. Then, he returned the blow.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    Bman cut down Herakel without any hesitation. Just like that, blood spurted all over the young man¡¯s body.

    ¡°H- Hurts¡­ Hurts. Huuuurts¡­!¡±

    Although many had attacked Herakel before, their attacks could not leave a scratch on his skin. That was why Herakel was not used to pain. And for him, having his flesh being cut deeply felt so terribly painful.

    ¡°It feels good to cut!¡±

    Just like they said, Bman was a lunatic who was crazy for battle. He also enjoyed watching others suffer from pain.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    He cackled wildly after cutting Herakel once again. But he did not stop there. He continued to sh and hack at the young man. Conir, who could not bear to see this, jumped forward and hugged Herakel. He wrapped the young man and protected him with his own body.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    ¡°<em>Sob.</em> Conir. Hurts.¡±

    Despite being bombarded by Bman¡¯s attacks, Conir tried to fight back, but his attacks fell through. He was overwhelmed by his opponent.

    ¡°Co- Conir, get out of the way! Don¡¯t get hit on Herakel¡¯s behalf!¡±

    ¡°Conir will protect Herakel!¡±

    ¡°Keuhahahahahaha! You¡¯re going to make me cry!¡±

    The disy in front of him thoroughly amused Bman. The Beyond the Heavens Empire was a nation that would be pushed out and forced to copse once he became the emperor of the Luvien Empire. The fact that he could see two bastards from that empire suffer and grieve with his own eyes before he made that happen made him crazy with joy.

    But Bman did not have any intention of ying with these bastards. Why? Because his ultimate goal here was to get rid of Prince Cardin.

    <em>¡®If he runs away from us now, it would be a big deal.¡¯</em>

    Thankfully, more than 300,000 ck Skull troops and the Red Skull arrived alongside him. So, there was no need for him to worry about that.

    ¡°You can y around with them. Just make sure to kill them.¡±

    With those words, the Red Skull knights approached Conir and Herakel. Bman turned away from them to look for Cardin. But Prince Cardin was already standing in front of him.

    <em>Stab¨C!</em>

    Cardin moved at a breakneck speed, his sword stabbing straight toward Bman¡¯s abdomen.

    ¡°...Duke!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Everyone was shocked because they knew that Bman¡¯s skin was so thick and sturdy that one would believe it did not belong to a human.

    Rumor had it that Duke Bman regrly bathed in the Alhad River as a child. That was why his skin grew as hard as a god¡¯s skin. Perhaps his parents did so, hoping Bman could also be the emperor.

    Yet a sword was able to pierce through his skin? It proved that Prince Cardin¡¯s skill had reached such a high level.

    ¡°Urk¡­!¡±

    Bman was disconcerted by the sudden and unexpected attack. But what surprised him more was that the prince was the one who made the first move.

    <em>¡®He did not run away¡­?¡¯</em>

    Was it because he was confident? Or perhaps¡­?

    <em>¡®Does that mean that he could not abandon them?¡¯</em>

    It was thetter. Prince Cardin had met an outstanding teacher and had grown stronger. But he knew that it was still not enough to beat Duke Bman. He knew that he couldn''t deal with everyone present here.

    <em>¡®I can¡¯t just abandon them and run away.¡¯</em>

    Cardin decided he should at least buy them some time to run away. So, he stabbed Duke Bman¡¯s abdomen. He thought that this injury must be severe.

    <em>Shwaaaa¨C!</em>

    Prince Cardin drew more power as he pulled out his sword and shed with Duke Bman.

    <em>¡®What the hell¡­?¡¯</em>

    Cardin was astonished. Duke Bman was much stronger than he thought. From what he could tell, the duke seemed to have already transcended the limits of a human being and had be a powerhouse that would not lose even against the gods. The worst part? How could he still be this powerful despite sustaining severe injuries?

    There was also another reason why Cardin could not concentrate. The Red Skulls had begun trampling on Conir and Herakel.

    ¡°You did not run away because of two little sacrifices? You¡¯re a candidate that¡¯s not fit to be an emperor.¡±

    Prince Cardin¡¯s choice was heavily influenced by emotions. It was proof that he was still far too soft and easily swayed. But there was something that Cardin believed in.

    <em>¡®Because I received the help of my master¡­¡¯</em>

    Cardin had once received his teacher''s help, but that opportunity was priceless. Cardin looked around. They were surrounded by 350,000 strong troops, several outstanding ck Skull knights, Red Skull knights, and even Duke Bman.

    <em>¡®Even if my escorts, tasked to guide me safely,e here. We will not be able to win.¡¯</em>

    This was the conclusion that he had made. Cardin could not help but bite his lips.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaack!¡±

    Herakel, who switched ces with Conir and hugged the young boy with all his might, was stabbed in the back by one of the Red Skulls.

    ¡°He- Herakel!¡±

    Herakel trembled from the pain, but he did not let Conir go. Conir, protected in his arms, was left to ponder the situation deeply.

    ¡°Wahahahaha!¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re crying!¡±

    ¡°This is fun. Fufufufu.¡±

    Seeing themugh in delight, Cardin thought that it was pretty ironic.

    <em>¡®If not for Duke Bman¡¯s presence, those two would have been able to win against everyone here.¡¯</em>

    But theyughed at them as if they were trampling on the two by their power. This was what strength and power was like. Just as Conir and Herakel could win against hundreds and thousands of them, Duke Bman could win against the two of them.

    Prince Cardin grabbed his sword tightly as he exchanged blows with Duke Bman.

    Bman gestured to the knights behind him, signaling them to kill Conir and Herakel quickly. The Red Skulls moved to destroy them while giggling wildly.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    A loud explosion erupted, and the Red Skull, about to swing his sword down, was sent flying away. Right in the middle of the Red Skulls, a man wearing a cape carrying the symbol of a fork and knife crossed together appeared. The man was looking gently at Conir and Herakel.

    ¡°The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor¡­?!¡±

    The Red Skull knights shouted in shock. All of their eyes turned to focus on the man.

    Minhyuk gritted his teeth as he stood in the middle of the enemies. Nerva had asked him to rescue the prince. Because it was the affairs of another empire, they had to move secretly. So, he moved out alone. He decided to move alone because it would not bring any significant damage to the Beyond the Heavens Empire if ever something happened to him.

    However, things were different now.

    ¡°Two people in the entire Beyond the Heavens Empire should never be touched.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Duke Bman¡¯s gaze changed. This was because he judged that he would also be able to kill the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor now that he had appeared in front of him.

    ¡°They are none other than Conir and Herakel. These two are the purest and kindest people.¡±

    That was right. The entire Beyond the Heavens Empire cared for and loved the two. What was the reason? Even though they knew the two were very strong, they felt the need to protect someone with such a pure, innocent, and kind heart.

    ¡°What bullshit¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why¡­¡±

    Minhyuk red sharply at the people around him. They had to pay the price for touching the two people that they should not have touched.

    ¡°...you will have to endure their wrath.¡±

    ¡°<em>Hyung</em>!¡±

    ¡°Minhyuk <em>hyung</em>!¡±

    Herakel and Conir called out to Minhyuk. And Minhyuk? He immediately started munching on the Almond of Subordinates.

    ¡°I am just one among their many brothers.¡±

    <em>Crunch¨C!</em>

    ¡°They also have grandfathers, uncles, <em>noonas</em>, aunts, who care about them deeply.¡±

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    At that moment, light began to sh all around Minhyuk. With a sh of light, an old man with a head full of ck hair appeared.

    ¡°Their grandfather is the greatest Spear God.¡±

    ¡°My¨C My babies! Who did this to you?!¡±

    With another sh of light, the fallen emperor made an appearance.

    ¡°Their uncle is someone that even Nerva was envious of.¡±

    ¡°Conir? Herakel? Who dares do this to you?!¡±

    ¡°What happened to your faces¡­?¡±

    ¡°Their <em>noona</em> is Elizabeth, one of the Six Monster Gods.¡±

    ¡°Conir!!! Herakel!!!¡±

    <em>Vwooooooong¨C!</em>

    The Great Demon¡¯s demonic energy surged from the body of one of the men that appeared.

    Tremendous and overwhelming killing intent burst out from the eyes of the people who appeared one after another. The Spear God, the Fallen Emperor, someone who was once a member of the Swords of the Gods, the Great Demon, one of the Six Monster Gods, and countless other people were all feeling an indescribable and overwhelming rage.

    Luo said, ¡°Who is it? Who is the bastard who did this to my babies(?)?!¡±

    Gorfido added, ¡°I will tear you and rip you apart until you die!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaa!¡± Cerberus, or Love, Hope and Happiness, growled.

    And Minhyuk, who stood in the middle of them, said, ¡°But what¡¯s more surprising is¡­¡±

    He looked at Bman with a cold and piercing re.

    ¡°Their <em>hyung</em> is the Battle God.¡±

 Chapter 1021

    Chapter 1021

    Conir and Herakel were clearly two of the strongest people in the Beyond the Heavens Empire. But from the most ordinary wives down to the pot-bellied uncles and the old men, they all viewed Conir and Herakel as people they needed to protect.

    Perhaps because the two of them had intellectual disabilities, they did not possess the greed that ordinary humans did. The two would greet each and every single one of the people of the empire who passed by the ramyeon shop that they were running. People would often look at them with motherly and fatherly smiles.

    Of course, the same was true for the most prominent figures of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    ¡°How dare you hurt my babies, the apple of my eyes¡­¡±

    The Spear God cared for them as if they were truly his grandchildren.

    ¡°Bman. I will take your neck.¡±

    The Fallen Emperor Brod was their ever-dependable uncle. Like the two, the countless people who appeared around Minhyuk were ovee with fury.

    ¡°Their hyung is the Battle God.¡±

    Of course, the same was true for Minhyuk. He felt highly furious.Minhyuk met the escorts, who were supposed to guide Prince Cardin safely back to the Luvien Empire. He had been talking to them when he heard the Vassal¡¯s Voice¡¯s notification telling him Conir was in danger. Minhyuk did not waste any time. He immediately warped to where Conir was.

    When he appeared, he saw Bman and his knights mocking and trampling on his beloved brothers.

    <em>[Duke Bman. Level 831.]</em>

    <em>[Red Skull First Knight Vaghanen. Level 778.]</em>

    <em>[Red Skull Second Knight Achaner. Level 754.]</em>

    <em>[Red Skull Third Knight Praenon. Level 732.]</em>

    <em>[Red Skull¡­]</em>

    Minhyuk red coldly at everyone around him, including Duke Bman and his Red Skull knights. He could tell their basic level was slightly higher than the Swords of the Gods. There was also the ck Skull Knight Order. The average level of their members was at Level 620, which proved that they were no easy opponents.

    Duke Bman looked slightly flustered when the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor and executives appeared before him. However, he soonughed.

    ¡°The Beyond the Heavens Empire has gotten involved with Prince Cardin. Once I be the emperor, I will take down the Beyond the Heavens Empire in my first week on the throne.¡±

    This was how confident Bman was of his powers. He even thought that this situation was better.

    ¡°It¡¯s better like this. I can wipe you all out in one go,¡± Bman arrogantly dered.

    Bman had been training the ck Skull Knight Order members for a very long time because he was preparing to be the emperor in the future. Their training was far more intense than the training that the Swords of the Gods received.

    <em>¡®The outstanding and brilliant names of the Beyond the Heavens Empire vassals are no match against my Red Skull knights. After all, my knights have ovee countless hardships and adversities.¡¯</em>

    Bman was confident about this matter.

    <em>Boom¨C!</em>

    At that moment, the Red Skull First Knight Vaghanen leaped toward them. As if on signal, the rest of the Red Skull knights lead the ck Skull knights and charge toward the people that appeared.

    Vaghanen wanted to exchange blows with Spear God Ben. He thought, <em>¡®He¡¯s the one who became the Spear God because he received the recognition of the Gods.¡¯</em>

    Vaghanen¡¯s assessment of Spear God Ben was just like that. He believed that the only reason Spear God Ben was able to be the Spear God was that he inherited the power of the previous generation''s Spear God.

    <em>¡®I have trained with Duke Bman for a long time and had many brushes with death during the process.¡¯</em>

    But that was not all. He had also gone to find several world-renowned spear masters topete with the spear. The result? He knocked all of them down in one strike. He was even powerful enough to beparable to Don, the previousmander of the Swords of the Gods.

    When his spear shed with Ben, he felt power not strong enough to lift a pair of chopsticks.

    <em>¡®As expected. My assumptions were correct. His spear doesn''t even feel heav¡­¡¯</em>

    The moment he thought so, Vaghanen had the illusion that his spear was being sucked somewhere.

    ¡°You believed too much in your strength and grew conceited. <em>Fufu.</em>¡±

    In the first ce, Ben did not respond to his attack. He just gently let it slip past him.

    <em>ng¨C ng, ng!</em>

    Vaghanen frantically thrust his spear, but Ben evaded every single one of his attacks with ease. Ben even avoided his attacks by applying minimal force to his ankles.

    Unfortunately for Vaghanen, his preconceived thoughts about the hardships and adversities that Ben had experienced were utterly different from reality. This was mainly because Ben did not tell anyone in the Beyond the Heavens Empire about how he became the Spear God. Ben, an old veteran, had experienced hundreds of deaths to the point that his soul was left on the verge of extermination during the Spear God¡¯s trial.

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    Ben¡¯s spear easily pierced through Vaghanen¡¯s body. Immediately after that, a rain of blood fell as Ben used his spear to pierce the necks of the ck Skull knights charging at him.

    Red Skull Praenon was flustered when he saw Vaghanen, the first knight of their order, get beaten so easily. But he quickly came back to his senses.

    <em>¡®Asura and Elizabeth.¡¯</em>

    Asura Ascar was a woman widely discussed in the Luvien Empire. But in the end, she was nothing but a mere foreigner. If they were fighting based on brute force, then perhaps his chances were a bit tilted. But since she was a stranger, her skills fell far behind his own.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    Asura and Praenon¡¯s swords collided.

    <em>¡®The Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s foreigners could not even hold a candle against the Luvien Empire¡¯s Sword of the Gods First Knight Order.¡¯</em>

    Because of that, Praenon concluded that she was no match for him. He began to put heavier pressure on Ascar and her bloody greatsword. A greatsword had a stronger destructive powerpared to other swords. The problem was it was heavy and could reduce one¡¯s speed significantly.

    <em>ng, ng, ng¨C!</em>

    However, the only data they had in their hands was from the past. Because of that, there was something that they did not know. And that was the fact that Asura Ascar had continued to grow.

    ¡°Asura¡¯s Two-Sword Style.¡±

    <em>Boom¨C!</em>

    Blood, which seemed like it would flow on the ground, gathered and turned into swords in Ascar¡¯s hands.

    ¡°How dare you do that to those two cuties(?)...¡± Ascar said, her wrath almost reaching the heavens.

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    When Ascar was still known as the Ghost of the Battlefield, her primary weapons were twin swords.

    With two swords in her hands, Ascar began to push back Praenon. Praenon was taken aback when he saw her shy two-sword style swordsmanship. Even so, he remained calm. He tried to release his sword light to create a gap and counter.

    <em>[Mana Control.]</em>

    <em>[Your mana has been controlled and restricted by Elizabeth¡¯s power.]</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

    On the other hand, Ascar remained free of the restriction.

    ¡°Blood Storm.¡±

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    A massive storm of blood engulfed Praenon and made him scream.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡±

    Meanwhile, Great Demon Elpis, Gorfido, Love, Hope and Happiness, Sword of the Gods Luo, and the rest dealt with the more than 350,000 strong troops of the ck Skull Knight Order at a rapid pace.

    ¡°...¡±

    Bman was somewhat shocked by the unexpectedly good performance of the Beyond the Heavens Empire during the battle.

    There was one thing that he did not know of. It was the fact that he and his ck Skull Knight Order were just a mere part of the Luvien Empire, while the people of the Beyond the Heavens Empire that had gathered here were their best elites. At this moment, Bman realized that the Beyond the Heavens Empire was not behind the Luvien Empire.

    <em>¡®This is getting a bit dangerous.¡¯</em>

    The warmongering Bman saw Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor Minhyuk and Brod charging straight at him.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    He swung his sword at Minhyuk, who was rapidly approaching him and went ahead to sh swords with Brod.

    Brod was quite impressed when he shed swords with Bman. He thought, <em>¡®So there were still talents like him in the Luvien Empire?¡¯</em>

    The extent of Bman¡¯s power was beyond imagination. And the fact that Brod could not get the advantage and overwhelm him was proof of this. Bman quickly changed his ns.

    As mentioned before, Bman was an ordinary human being, yet he was also not. One of the reasons for this was that he signed a contract with the God of Death even though he was not the God of Death¡¯s sessor. The only downside to this was that the price that he had to pay was his soul. And this price was far too steep. The contract stipted that he would be the God of Death¡¯s ve for eternity once he died and went to hell.

    This just went to show how much Bman wanted to be an emperor. He desired it so much that he even willingly sold his soul. After signing the contract, Bman was able to gain several unusual powers. And this was one of those powers.

    <em>[Song of the ck Skull.]</em>

    <em>[The Song of the ck Skull restricts the movement of all but one person.]</em>

    <em>[Those who have received the restriction will be unable to move while the song is ying.]</em>

    <em>[The Song of the ck Skull¡¯s duration is thirty minutes.]</em>

    <em>Ttiriririri~</em>

    Everyone in the area froze on the spot when the flute''s strange and eerie sound rang. Even Ben, who had leaped into the air to stab the neck of one soldier, was left frozen in mid-air. The soldiers, who Elpis stabbed in the abdomen, were also frozen mid-scream. The only thing that everyone could move was their eyes.

    <em>[Those who have received the restriction of the Song of the ck Skull will not receive any damage.]</em>

    <em>[Only those the skill caster has chosen can move freely while the Song of the ck Skull is still ying.]</em>

    And the one chosen by Duke Bman was none other than Minhyuk. Bman could not help but cackle when Brod, fighting with him, stopped moving.

    ¡°Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor. This battlefield is yours and mine alone.¡±

    Duke Bman was a lunatic. But on the battlefield, he was the most rational and wise. And he had judged that killing Minhyuk was of the utmost priority.

    ¡°You are nothing without the protection of the Spear God, Brod and Luo.¡±

    <em>[Red Skull¡¯s Coliseum.]</em>

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¨C!</em>

    This time, thousands of red skeletons broke out from the ground. Minhyuk tried to move away from his current position, but one of the red skeletons had already held him tight and forced him to remain where he was. The skeletons gradually piled up and turned into massive walls, creating a space for Bman and Minhyuk to fight.

    <em>[Bman¡¯s attack power will increase by 7% inside the walls of Red Skeletons.]</em>

    The skeletons even created a ceiling and closed off the entire space. Finally, Minhyuk and Bman disappeared from everyone¡¯s view.

    Silence engulfed the entire area. The noise inside the coliseum seemed to have been cut off from the rest of the world. Even the sound of weapons shing against each other had also disappeared. Everyone was frozen because of the Song of the ck Skull.

    But one thing was obvious. The people from the Beyond the Heavens Empire were anxiously calling out to Minhyuk, who was trapped inside the Red Skull Coliseum, in their hearts.

    <em>¡®Your Majesty¡­!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Your Majeeeeesty!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®How- How can this be! This ridiculous power¡­!¡¯</em>

    There was worry for Minhyuk in everyone¡¯s eyes.

    Meanwhile, Prince Cardin was also left unable to move. He had been away for a long time and did not know the exact story. But he had heard some stories about the Beyond the Heavens Empire and the Luvien Empire.

    The Luvien Empire had grown increasinglyrge under the rule of Nerva. The Beyond the Heavens Empire, an emerging nation, became a threat to the Luvien Empire. But what was surprising was the fact that the Beyond the Heavens Empire was only 1/20th, perhaps even less, of the Luvien Empire. There was one reason why the Beyond the Heavens Empire could be on par with Luvien.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s because of his outstanding vassals.¡¯</em>

    Cardin had heard that the emperor was verypetent. But the fact that his vassals held power beyond this world remained. But what about Duke Bman?

    <em>¡®He possesses an extreme power.¡¯</em>

    Cardin had also heard of Duke Bman¡¯s reputation.

    <em>¡®He killed ten million troops by himself.¡¯</em>

    It was quite a ridiculous story. In fact, it was something that could only be heard in legends. But it was also possible. Cardin had heard that he fought the war for two months when he killed the ten million troops. That was right. The story about Duke Bman single-handedly killing ten million soldiers and overthrowing an empire was a legend.

    Because of that, Prince Cardin believed that the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor would not be able to defeat Duke Bman.

    Time kept flowing just like that. Even so, there was no sign that the Song of the ck Skull would end anytime soon.

    <em>Drip, drip, drip¨C!</em>

    Blood slowly started to flow through the walls made from red skeletons.

    ¡°Du¨C Duke Bman!¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty Minhyuk!¡±

    And along with this grotesque scene, the song finally ended.

    The ck Skull and Red Skull knights all erupted in cheers.

    ¡°Duke Bman has killed the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor!¡±

    ¡°This is an achievement that will go down in history!¡±

    ¡°The new emperor of the Great Luvien Empire has brought punishment upon the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor!¡±

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¨C!</em>

    Then, the Red Skull Coliseum began to crumble and fall apart at that moment. The Red Skull knights looked beyond the crumbling walls with bright smiles. And Prince Cardin? His face grew ugly.

    Finally, they saw the scene hidden from their view.

    ¡°What bullshit are you saying?¡±

    It was the scene of Minhyuk standing tall while Duke Bmany on the ground with blood all over his body.

 Chapter 1022

    Chapter 1022

    <em>[Red Skull Coliseum.]</em>

    <em>[Bman¡¯s attack power will increase by 7% inside the walls of Red Skeletons.]</em>

    <em>[You are trapped inside the Red Skull Coliseum.]</em>

    <em>[Anyone trapped inside the Red Skull Coliseum cannot consume any food, potion, or consumables made in advance.]</em>

    <em>[The Red Skull Coliseum will copse on its own after thirty minutes.]</em>

    <em>[However, if Bman¡¯s HP drops below 40%, the Song of the ck Skull and the Red Skull Coliseum will end in advance.]</em>

    These were the notifications that rang in Minhyuk''s ears. He was looking around the coliseum, which wasrger than he had expected. He was in a constant state of tension as he remained on guard against Duke Bman.

    <em>¡®Duke Bman is the greatest reason why the Luvien Empire is what it is now.¡¯</em>

    Nerva was saying that he should never be the emperor. Still, it was true that Duke Bman was one of the contributors who made the Luvien Empire what it is now.As someone who loved wars, he purged all kingdoms and empires that went against the Luvien Empire one after another. Minhyuk even heard that he reaped the heads of more than a hundred monarchs of kingdoms and empires by himself. He was a human born to fight.

    ¡°Let¡¯s get this done quickly. I¡¯ll have to kill Brod right after you.¡±

    Duke Bman did not perceive Minhyuk as a threat. After all, any dishes made in advance and ced in the inventory were made useless inside the Red Skull Coliseum. But that was not all. Duke Bman also possessed the artifact called the ¡°Absolute One¡¯s Breaker Ring.¡± It was a God-rank artifact that could ignore powers like barriers.

    Minhyuk did not know about this fact and said, ¡°Let¡¯s Have a Meal.¡±

    Minhyuk immediately tried to create an invincible barrier to find a way to respond to Duke Bman. But that was where the problem was. Duke Bman stood in front of the barrier for a moment before walking past it as if nothing blocked his path.

    ¡°Shit¡­!¡±

    ¡°ck Skull¡¯s Grudge.¡±

    ck skulls appeared and mmed straight into Minhyuk.

    <em>[The ck Skull¡¯s Grudge has made you weaker.]</em>

    <em>[The first attack thatnds on your body willpletely ignore your defenses.]</em>

    <em>[The first attack thatnds on your body will have an additional 3,200% damage.]</em>

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    Bman swung his sword and shed Minhyuk.

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 81%.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes grew wide from shock. His HP dropped by nearly 20% with just a simple attack from Duke Bman.

    <em>¡®From what I heard, he is known for being able to cast debuffs using the undead.¡¯</em>

    Duke Bman was not only a brilliant knight but also someone who could cast shocking debuffs. This was why he could be said to be a powerhouse who did notg behind Duke d.

    <em>¡®I think it¡¯s because of that ring? I don¡¯t think my invincible body will be able to exert its power because of that ring.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had seen the skull-shaped ring on Duke Bman¡¯s fingers sh with red light when he struck at him.

    Minhyuk quickly used Like the Wind and narrowed the distance between them to try and fight back. He dug in and aimed for Duke Bman¡¯s heart as he cast Sword of Frenzy. But Duke Bman quickly twisted his body and avoided the attack. All the while raising his sword and cutting Minhyuk¡¯s body down.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 78%.]</em>

    The damage Minhyuk received had significantly reducedpared to the first attack, but it was still surprising.

    <em>ng¨C ng, ng¨C ng¨C!</em>

    Duke Bman pressed forward and put heavy pressure upon Minhyuk. With Duke Bman attacking him closely, Minhyuk quickly triggered the Intangible Sword.

    <em>Boom¨C!</em>

    The power that would allow the sword to hit his opponent pierced Duke Bman¡¯s chest.

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    Hundreds of invisible swords immediately followed it. Surprisingly enough, Duke Bman could evade the hundreds of invisible and intangible swords, which could ignore all defenses just by using his senses alone.

    <em>¡®Isn¡¯t he a monster?¡¯</em>

    At this moment, Minhyuk felt the same way when he was overwhelmed by Envoy Viel in the past.

    Minhyuk summoned Viel¡¯s Puppet Doll and the Ego Chain Sickle and sent them toward the madly charging Duke Bman.

    <em>nk, nk, nk¨C!</em>

    Viel¡¯s Puppet Doll was the most potent and most lethal weapon. When partnered with the Ego Chain Sickle, it could be said that their power could reach its peak.

    ¡°You have many cheap tricks up your sleeve, huh?¡± Bman grinned. ¡°It¡¯s not hard to break a weapon with an ego equivalent to a child''s, you know?¡±

    Bman had encountered weapons like this hundreds, perhaps even tens of thousands, of times before. After shing des with Viel¡¯s Puppet several times, Bman grabbed the puppet by the neck and mmed it on the ground.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    He stomped on the puppet¡¯s head before plucking the swinging chain sickle from the ground. The duke struck the chain sickle once and forced it to get stuck on the ground.

    <em>Boom¨C!</em>

    <em>[Skull¡¯s Restriction.]</em>

    <em>[The ck Skeletons neutralize Viel¡¯s Puppet Doll and the Ego Chain Sickles.]</em>

    Then, he summoned several ck skeletons. They moved to suppress the body of Viel¡¯s Puppet Doll and prevented the Ego Chain Sickle from moving.

    <em>¡®What the hell is this¡­?¡¯</em>

    In just ten seconds, Viel¡¯s Puppet Doll and the Ego Chain Sickle were rendered immobile and disabled.

    <em>¡®Do I have to trigger Cmity?¡¯</em>

    No, Minhyuk had a hunch that if he used Cmity right here and now, he would be the one beaten.

    <em>¡®If I can cut down his HP below 40%, then the Red Skull Coliseum will copse.¡¯</em>

    That was the goal that Minhyuk had to go after. As that thought crossed his mind, he quickly triggered his Almighty Tool.

    <em>Shwaaaa¨C</em>

    Minhyuk threw the ingredients of the dish that he wanted to make in the air. At the same time, the Almighty Tool, which was a spat, turned into a basket on its own and caught all of the ingredients that he threw in the air.

    <em>Thud¨C</em>

    Then, he threw the Bizarre Cauldron out. The pair of Almighty Tools repeatedly changed their forms on their own and straightened the cauldron. Bman was quite shocked to see this scene.

    <em>¡®I have never heard that he had this power before?¡¯</em>

    Tools that moved and cooked on their own? It was pretty fun. But he was confident that Minhyuk would die even before he finished cooking.

    <em>Shwaaaaaa¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk, hearing the crackling of the mes, tried to focus on Bman again.

    ¡°ck Skull¡¯s Final Attack.¡±

    Hundreds of ck skulls appeared and got sucked into Bman¡¯s sword. Then, this sword soon struck Minhyuk.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    ¡°Keuhaaaack!¡± Minhyuk groaned. But even at the moment that he was forced to fold and copse, he was still able tond a strike on Duke Bman. At the same time, beads made of blood were absorbed in his body and restored some of his HP.

    Bman was impressed by Minhyuk''s response to his attacks. He said, ¡°It seems like I have to truly kill you here today.¡±

    The Minhyuk that Bman knew was nothing but a Food God. Yet someone, who possessed the Food God ss had that much power? There was also the fact that Minhyuk had not yet eaten any dishes as of the moment.

    Bman judged that if Minhyuk could eat his dishes, he would be stronger and better than him. But a brief look behind Minhyuk and he could tell that the dishes that those self-cooking tools were making were only likely to be finished after the walls made of red skeletons copsed.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¨C!</em>

    When he looked back at Minhyuk after taking that very brief nce, he saw that there were now two swords in the emperor¡¯s hands.

    God¡¯s Dual Sword Technique was a skill that could increase Minhyuk¡¯s attack speed by as much as 70%. Not only that, it also had the power to increase the damage of Minhyuk¡¯s skills by 1.4 times. And when he sessfullyunched a series of consecutive attacks, he could double the number of attacks he had released. In fact, God¡¯s Dual Sword Technique was considered overpowered because of the increase in speed.

    Immediately after that, Minhyuk also triggered the ck Dragon¡¯s Armor. The armor, which was created by a transcendental being, changed. ck scales appeared and began to cover his entire body.

    <em>sh¨C sh, sh¨C sh¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk gritted his teeth.

    <em>¡®The ring does not get triggered every time.¡¯</em>

    Something would be neutralized whenever a red light shed from Duke Bman¡¯s ring.

    Minhyuk danced around Duke Bman with his two swords and surprisingly overwhelmed the man. Blood spurted out of Bman¡¯s body with every cut that Minhyuk made. But it did not take too long for Minhyuk to feel frustrated.

    Bman looked down at Minhyuk with a calm and expressionless face. It was as if he was looking at nothing but a mere novice.

    ¡°An emperor must be strong.¡±

    This was Bman¡¯s personal opinion. Minhyuk could not help but agree.

    ¡°They should never be weak, like you, who only knows how to hide behind your vassals.¡±

    Despite the blood gushing out of his body, Bman was still smiling. Not long after, the blood that dripped down his body shook. Then, it got sucked back inside his body. Just like that, his injuries began to heal again.

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°I have been drinking troll blood since I was a child in preparation to be an emperor.¡±

    That was right. Bman had wanted to be an emperor since he was a child, and his mother and father also wished for him to do so.

    Because of that, he had been enduring harsh and unbearable training since he was a young child. Several decades had passed since then. Fueled by the desire to stand at the highest position, not only did he endure harsh training for so many years, he even went so far as to sell his soul to the God of Death.

    This just went to show how much Bman wanted to be the emperor. And yes, he was fully prepared to carry the heavy weight that apanied such a title.

    ¡°You bastard, do you think you have the qualifications to be an emperor?¡±

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    Bman smirked as he watched Minhyuk swing his sword at breakneck speed. Minhyuk felt helpless and frustrated when the man before him continued to mock him.

    ¡°You are weak. You only became an emperor because of your vassals.¡±

    <em>Creak, creak, creak¨C!</em>

    <em>ck, ck, ck¨C!</em>

    Hundreds of screaming ck skeletons appeared before getting sucked inside Bman¡¯s sword.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk, who used God¡¯s Dual Sword Technique, could recover 90% of his HP. But with just one attack, it fell to less than 45%.

    ¡°Urk!¡±

    Nevertheless, Minhyuk still stood back up. Not only did Bman imply that Minhyuk hid behind his vassals, but he also seemed to say that he was the only one deserving of bing an emperor because he had been working hard for his goals.

    Indeed. Minhyuk admitted that his path was rtively smoothpared to Brod or Spear God Ben¡¯s paths. Perhaps Brod or Grandpa Ben were the ones deserving of his seat. But there was one thing that he was sure of.

    ¡°Even so¡­¡±

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk charged forward once again with his dual sword technique and began. He shed and hacked at Duke Bman, saying, ¡°I have all the qualifications to be an emperor. And it''s far more than yours.¡±

    <em>[Sword of Carnage.]</em>

    <em>[The Dual Sword Technique is still in effect!]</em>

    <em>[With the Dual Sword Technique, your sword¡¯s consecutive attacks will be doubled!]</em>

    <em>[You can attack your enemy 76 times per second!]</em>

    The effects of the Dual Sword Technique already doubled the consecutive attacks of the skill he had triggered. But he did not stop there. He also added another power to it.

    <em>[Double Skill]</em>

    <em>[You have a 1.2% chance of triggering Double Skill. Upon triggering, the skill¡¯s effects will be doubled.]</em>

    <em>[The system can no longer measure the extent of your power!]</em>

    Itbined the Dual Sword Technique, Sword of Carnage, and Double Skill.

    <em>¡®This is dangero¡­!¡¯ </em>Bman thought. But his thoughts were cut short. It was because Minhyuk had already gone past him.

    ¡°Because I have also persevered and endured countless trials and hardships.¡±

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    One second. That was the time it took for hundreds of shes to cut Bman¡¯s body.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaaack!!!¡± Bman screamed. This was the same person who did not even release a single groan when he was hit by Herakel¡¯s club or Minhyuk¡¯s attacks before.

    But then, a gigantic red skull rose to the sky.

    <em>[Blood of the Red Skull.]</em>

    <em>[The Blood of the Red Skull restores 70% of your HP.]</em>

    Bman¡¯s body, which the attacks had ravaged, recovered once again.

    ¡°No. A bastard like you does not have the qualifications to be an emperor! I am the one that is truly worthy of the emperor¡¯s throne!¡±

    Bman truly believed this. He had dyed the battlefield red with the blood of his enemies just for this long-time dream. And now, his opportunity hade. He no longer wanted to fool around.

    <em>Rumble¨C!</em>

    ¡°The Advance of the Skeleton Army.¡±

    Tens of thousands of ck skeletons floated above them before being absorbed by Bman¡¯s sword. ytime was over.

    Minhyuk looked at Bman, who ran toward him and said, ¡°No. I am the true emperor.¡±

    Then, with a cold and piercing re, he said, ¡°Transcendence.¡±

    <em>[You have activated Transcendence!]</em>

    <em>[You have gone beyond your limits and transcended to another realm!]</em>

    <em>[You have gone beyond your limits and transcended to another realm!]</em>

    The notifications rang constantly in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The buff effect of the ¡°Spicy Braised Chicken¡± will not be in effect during the thirty seconds of the Transcendence¡¯s activation!]</em>

    <em>[The Transcendence¡¯s buff effects have now been applied!]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 35%!]</em>

    <em>[All of your attack power has increased by 29%!]</em>

    <em>[All of your defensive power has increased by 36%!]</em>

    <em>[All of your skill levels have increased by +2!]</em>

    <em>[Your resistance to abnormal statuses has increased by 40%!]</em>

    <em>[Your total HP and MP have increased by 30%!]</em>

    <em>[Transcendence will remain in effect for thirty seconds!]</em>

    A ck stream of energy appeared and enveloped Minhyuk¡¯s body. Then, he used the Sword of Carnage, which he had saved using his Save Skill, and again cut Bman.

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    With the increase in his stats and attack power, the current Minhyuk stood far beyond Bman. Seeing Bman endure the Sword of Carnage with gritted teeth, Minhyuk hacked and shed at the man with his sword carrying the symbol ¡°Crazy.¡±

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    Bman was bombarded by Minhyuk¡¯s attack, which was immediately followed by explosions. Nevertheless, Bman tried to endure and remain on his feet.

    ¡°I¡­ will be an emperor¡­ I want¡­¡±

    Bman was a lunatic. His desire to be an emperor had turned him into a madman.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    Bman copsed at the same time Minhyuk¡¯s Transcendence ended. At the same time, loud cheers erupted in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    ¡°Duke Bman has killed the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor!¡±

    ¡°This is an achievement that will go down in history!¡±

    ¡°The new emperor of the Great Luvien Empire has brought punishment upon the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor!¡±

    The loud cheers made him frown.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk looked at them with a cold and piercing re the moment the walls made of red skeletons crumbled and copsedpletely. He said, ¡°What bullshit are you saying?¡±

    The ck Skull Knight Order troops and the Red Skull knights were all left dumbfounded by the scene in front of them.

    ¡°Ugh¡­¡±

    The echo of Duke Bman¡¯s groan indicated who the winner and loser were in the battle between the two.

    Meanwhile, Prince Cardin looked at the scene in disbelief. He thought, <em>¡®How the hell¡­? Are you telling me that the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor is really strong?¡¯</em>

    While they were left dumbfounded by the shock, Minhyuk also received a shocking notification.

    <em>[The God and Knight has been triggered!]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s face grew ugly.

 Chapter 1023

    Chapter 1023

    When Minhyuk first acquired the Battle God¡¯s Origin Authority: God and Knight, it randomly guided him to someone who could be his God¡¯s Knight. But during the God¡¯s Session Ceremony, he was able to level up the skill. Because of that, the effects of the skill had also changed.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>God and Knight</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Origin Authority</em>

    <strong><em>Current Status</em></strong><em>: Sealed</em>

    <strong><em>Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?If you find a talent that you truly covet, the God and Knight will guide you or develop a situation where you can obtain the talent as your own. yers are also included. This can only be used once every two months.</em>

    <em>?The system will search and recognize strong men and powerhouses that can shock the world once every six months.</em>

    <em>?It will provide a method and guide you or create a situation that will help you attract the talent to be your knight.</em>

    <em>?Obtain more than fifteen God-rank NPCs to unseal.</em><em>?Obtain more than 400 Legendary-rank NPCs to unseal.</em>

    <em>?Reach Level 1,000 to unseal.</em>

    Unlike the previous God and Knight, where he could only be randomly guided to a potential candidate for a God¡¯s Knight, he now had two ways to find candidates. One of the effects stated that he would be guided to a powerhouse with talents that could shock the world once every six months.

    <em>¡®It hasn¡¯t been triggered ever since.¡¯</em>

    This effect was different from the previous random activation. It said the system would search for and recognize a powerful candidate. But it hadn¡¯t been triggered ever since the skill had leveled up. There was one main reason why it hadn¡¯t been triggered before.

    <em>¡®It means that the system has not recognized any strong powerhouse.¡¯</em>

    And now, the God and Knight was triggered.

    <em>¡®God and Knight has the power to guide me to someone who has outstanding power and can be a God¡¯s Knight.¡¯</em>

    That has been the case even before. All the candidates it had chosen became knights who were very helpful to Minhyuk. They also had something inmon.

    <em>¡®They are those who can change or be evil because of something else.¡¯</em>

    Of course, there were other reasons for triggering the God and Knight. But for Minhyuk, Duke Bman did not fit any of those reasons. Wasn¡¯t he just some crazy warmonger?

    ¡°Ugh¡­¡±

    Bman was slowlying back to his senses.

    Minhyuk looked around him. He could see that the members of the Beyond the Heavens Empire began to fight fiercely with the ck Skull Knight Order troops once the Song of the ck Skull. The Beyond the Heavens Empire was overpowering the ck Skull Knight Order and quickly reducing their numbers.

    <em>[His parents have forced Bman to train to be the emperor since he was young.]</em>

    <em>[He had lived a life where his body had to endure a burning and searing pain with every waking moment. A life where he was forced to read up until the point where he had to sleep and go to bed. A life that was suppressed and restricted.]</em>

    <em>[He had lived a life where he had to walk a particr path under pressure. Because of that, he developed the idea that he was the only one qualified to be an emperor.]</em>

    <em>[If you overpower him and show him what frustration is like, then you can take him in as your knight and vassal.]</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    Whether he wanted to or not did not matter. Duke Bman lived under the pressure of bing an emperor the moment he was born. Because of that, he was led to believe that he would and should be the emperor.

    ¡°I will never let you go!!!¡± Duke Bman shouted as he drew out thest of his strength and tried to stand once again.

    ***

    Duke Bman seemed to have been under the effects of brainwashing. Since he was young, he was led to believe that only he could be the emperor. That was why he firmly believed he was the only one truly worthy of the throne.

    While other children enjoyed a delicious and warm dinner with their parents, he was forced to drink the troll¡¯s blood to the point that he wanted to vomit them out. He was made to bathe in a river, which had waters beyond freezing, that was said to have the effects of strengthening the body. Also, he had been told to swing the sword constantly to develop excellent reflexes from six years of age.

    Duke Bman¡¯s parents belonged to families that were driven away or executed because of treason. For some reason, they were able to survive. However, they were driven crazy by their desire to make Duke Bman the emperor.

    When Duke Bman was fifteen, they could safely and sessfully send him to the Luvien Empire. As someone who had been forced to live excellently since childhood, Bman naturally stood out from the rest.

    He continued to hide the fact that he belonged to a family of traitors and grew stronger day by day. Even so, his crazy parents could not satisfy their thirst.

    <em>Make a more significant contribution!</em>

    <em>Stand out more!</em>

    <em>Take the head of the enemy general!</em>

    <em>Make sure that you do a great job in this war!</em>

    His hands were dyed by the blood of many every single day. In the end, he became a lunatic drunk on victory. But by the time Bman became a duke, his crazy parents had died. They died without seeing Bman be an emperor. But despite that, Bman did not stop because the path he was forced to take from the beginning was the path to bing the emperor.

    ¡°Ugh¡­¡± Bman groaned as he stood up.

    He was a man not dictated by the path he had walked. Even though he wanted to die and give up so many times, he still stood up again and again and again. That was why he deserved the emperor¡¯s throne. He was the one truly suited to sit on that throne. He has to fight. He had to get back on his feet and kill the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor.

    The ck energy that surrounded Minhyuk¡¯s body dispersed.

    <em>¡®The power of Transcendence is great. But¡­¡¯</em>

    But this man could no longer fight against him. Duke Bman stood up and looked around the ck Skull troops and the two surviving Red Skull knights. He still held hope that they would win.

    Then, Duke Bman saw the Food God¡¯s Almighty Tools, which were moving by themselves, finished what they were doing.

    <em>Gulp¨C</em>

    The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor¡¯s throat bobbed.

    ¡°...!¡±

    This was a power that Duke Bman had never heard of.

    <em>¡®He doesn¡¯t need to eat the food?! He can just consume it right away?!¡¯</em>

    At that moment, two dice appeared, bursting in ck and gold light illuminating the world.

    Then, Duke Bman caught sight of the expression on the face of Prince Cardin, someone he believed to have lived a life of luxury and ease.

    He saw the eyes of the ck Skull troops, who had always trusted and followed his orders, carrying their strong faith and trust in him.

    He also saw the contempt and disgust in the faces of the people from the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    ¡°I¨C I have never lost.¡±

    A skeleton wearing ragged robes and holding a scythe floated over Duke Bman¡¯s head. Then, this skeleton got sucked into his body.

    <em>[Exploiting the God of Death.]</em>

    <em>[You are borrowing the power of the Reaper in exchange for your life.]</em>

    <em>[In exchange for a greater power, 10% of all the power in your possession will be destroyed once the Exploiting the God of Death¡¯s duration is over.]</em>

    <em>[To pay the price of borrowing the power of the Death Reaper, your lifespan will be reduced. You will die after a year.]</em>

    It was a skill that could only be invoked with death as coteral. The fact that Duke Bman triggered such a skill was a testament to his desire to be the emperor.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¨C!</em>

    Bman¡¯s power grew by leaps and bounds.

    At the same time, both the golden and ck dice floating above Minhyuk¡¯s head stopped rolling and showed the number three.

    Duke Bman shed at Ben and sent the old man flying away.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    ¡°Urk!¡±

    After sending Ben flying away with a single strike, Duke Bman charged straight at Minhyuk with fearsome momentum. Conir and Herakel, who had recovered from their injuries to some extent, jumped out to stop him. Even Great Demon Elpis and Brod jumped in his path while Elizabeth tried to control the system. But¡­

    <em>[The power of the Death Ripper cannot be controlled or restricted.]</em>

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    When the notifications rang, Herakel was sent flying back by one of Duke Bman¡¯s punches.

    ¡°Berserk.¡±

    Great Demon Elpis triggered the Devil Judge¡¯s Sword¡¯s Berserk to amplify his powers before using the Devil Judge¡¯s Final Chapter.

    ¡°Splitting the Great Demon.¡±

    A gigantic sword light made of ck demonic energy shot toward Bman. However, Duke Bman ripped the sword light with his sword light as if ripping a simple piece of paper.

    <em>Fwoosh¨C!</em>

    Blood burst out from Elpis¡¯ chest. Brod immediately jumped forward and blocked Bman¡¯s path.

    ¡°Get out of my way!!!¡±

    Bman had given his life to the God of Death and was determined to fulfill his one and only goal: to be the emperor.

    <em>¡®I must be an emperor!¡¯</em>

    That was his sole reason for living. But¡­

    ¡°Mercenary¡¯s Pinnacle Swordsmanship. Final Chapter.¡±

    Hundreds of red sword lights appeared and ran rampant.

    ¡°Death Wolf.¡±

    Hundreds of wolves appeared. They ran toward Bman and began biting and tearing him apart. But despite the blood gushing all over his body, Bman continued forward. He ignored Brod and walked past him.

    <em>I need to cut down Minhyuk.</em>

    <em>My sole reason for existing must not disappear.</em>

    And behind Brod was Minhyuk, who had already received the effects of the Ovepping Delight.

    ¡°Absolute Defense.¡±

    Minhyuk immediately triggered the absolute shield. The Absolute One¡¯s Breaker¡¯s Ring on Bman¡¯s finger shed at that moment.

    <em>sh¨C</em>

    Bman sessfully cut down Minhyuk, who was looking at him indifferently despite the blood spurting from his body. Seeing this, Bman went crazy and swung his sword non-stop. The problem was that Absolute Defense blocked the following attacks. The Absolute One¡¯s Breaker¡¯s Ring could not break through everything every single time. This was a fact that Minhyuk had already known about earlier, so he took advantage of it.

    Minhyuk had chosen to use the effects of the ck die on the skill attached to the Sword of Aeon. The skill that he chose was none other than The Annihtor¡¯s Sword.

    The Annihtor¡¯s Sword was a skill that could increase his attack power by 11,000% and create an explosion that could devour the entire area within a forty-meter radius. This power received the effects of the ck die, which had cast the number three, doubling the skill¡¯s effects.

    <em>sh¨C</em>

    Minhyuk just shed Duke Bman once. But that single attack carried 22,000% damage and instantly dragged Bman¡¯s life down to the bottom.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    With a sh of white light, an explosion erupted and devoured an entire area with an eighty-meter radius.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    When the light caused by the explosion disappeared, what greeted them was the sight of Duke Bman on the ground with a mangled and torn body.

    Bman looked up to the sky as he listened to the screams of the ck Skull and the Red Skull knights and troops.

    ¡°Duke!!!¡±

    ¡°DUKE!!!¡±

    After the fierce and desperate battle, the army of almost 400,000 strong was reduced to less than 100,000. The once one hundred ck Skull Knights were now down to twenty-five, while the Red Skull Knights only had two surviving members left. All of these people gave up fighting and ran to surround Duke Bman. The only reason why they were alive was to make Bman the emperor. Their existence was solely dependent on Bman¡¯s existence.

    Bman continued lying on the ground and staring at the blue sky.

    ¡°...¡±

    He continued to stare nkly at the sky for a long time. Why did he do so? He did not know. But for some reason, he felt very relieved. This was his first defeat. But it made him feel like his burden was slowly disappearing. It was as if his defeat told him he did not have to be an emperor. As strange as it was, he felt it was telling him he no longer had to kill.

    ¡°I never knew it was this beautiful.¡±

    He was talking about the blue sky above him because, for the first time in his life, Bman could feel its beauty.

    Meanwhile, the Beyond the Heavens Empire executives surrounded and pointed their swords at them.

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°It was our pleasure to be under yourmand.¡±

    ¡°We will follow you even in hell, Duke Bman.¡±

    Even though the swords were all pointed at their necks, his troops stillughed. There was onest thing that Bman wanted to say before he died.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    Bman, born to the wrong parents and raised in an extreme environment, raised the ck Skull Knight Order the same way. He viewed them as if they were his second self and treated them like he was treated. These were the very first words filled with emotion that he told his men.

    Then, Duke Bman saw Minhyuk looking at him. The man asked him, ¡°Bman, have you heard of the power of the God and Knight?¡±

    Bman¡¯s eyes grew wide when he heard those words. He immediately recalled the effects of the skill. Why did he know about it? It was because the Luvien Empire¡¯s intelligence department was extensive and far-reaching. The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor has used that power to bring influential people like Elizabeth to his side. And every single one of these people had a story to tell.

    It was true that he also had a story to tell. But he had now let go of such a story. But Bman could tell that the power of Minhyuk¡¯s God and Knight seemed to have chosen him as a target.

    <em>¡®Is he trying to enve me? Or maybe he wants to keep me alive?¡¯</em>

    <em>Thud, thud¨C</em>

    No one, not even the people from the Beyond the Heavens Empire, stopped Minhyuk from approaching Bman and making his choice.

    <em>¡®This is His Majesty¡¯s choice.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®It¡¯s also true that Bman would greatly help the Beyond the Heavens Empire if he joins our side.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He might be trash. But I will respect whatever choice His Majesty makes.¡¯</em>

    Bman stared at Minhyuk, who was looking down at him. His expression remained calm and rxed. As someone raised solely to be an emperor, he felt like he could live a different life from this point on. He could live afortable life like how Elizabeth had changed and lived a life of satisfaction and contentment.

    At that moment, Bman made his decision. He said, ¡°Right¡ªa ve. I will be your ve and kill any man you wish for me to kill. Just take my men under your wing.¡±

    Relief shed on Bman¡¯s face. He smiled as he continued, ¡°I no longer have to live a life that has to run madly for the sake of bing an emperor.¡±

    He felt so at ease andfortable.

    ¡°What bullshit are you talking about?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    A shadow was cast over the head of Duke Bman, who was ovee with his emotions.

    ¡°The God and Knight might have been triggered. But¡­¡± Minhyuk said as he raised his hand. ¡°...I will give up the chance to turn you into a knight.¡±

    <em>Stab¨C!</em>

    The members of Beyond the Heavens Empire, the troops and knights of the ck Skull Knight Order, and even Bman did not expect Minhyuk to do this. With his sword, Minhyuk stabbed Bman, who looked relieved, through the heart.

    <em>¡®Bman has turned into a lunatic after being forced to live a life where the only path to him was to be an emperor?¡¯</em>

    That was bullshit. That was Duke Bman¡¯s nature. Was he supposed to let this man, who had now been defeated, live in the Beyond the Heavens Empire and have guaranteedfort for the rest of his life? Minhyuk felt like he had no reason to do that.

    That was why Minhyuk rejected God and the Knight for the first time.

    Minhyuk twisted his sword in Bman¡¯s chest before pulling it out of the now-enraged duke. Despite the anger on the man¡¯s face, Minhyuk just stared at him indifferently. Not long after, Bman¡¯s body lost its vitality.

    ¡°DUKE!!!¡±

    ¡°You bastard!!!¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t let you go!!!¡±

    Minhyuk looked at them coldly as he gave his order to his men. He said, ¡°Kill those who resist and tie up those who surrender. Those who surrender will be bound and turned into ves. They will be left to work in the ¡®Breath of Lava Mines¡¯ until their deaths.¡±

    The Breath of Lava Mines was a mine owned by the Beyond the Heavens Empire. Its temperature exceeded seventy degrees Celsius. Although the mine was filled with countless precious ores and minerals, people did not dare collect and mine them. This was because it was too hot and too dangerous for theborers.

    Minhyuk decided that he would use these people here and exploit them until the day they died.

    ¡°Have you ever been begged for mercy? Back then, did you give those people mercy when you plundered and killed them?¡±

    Minhyuk was very confident that he would not regret this choice.

    <em>[The God and Knight has failed¡­]</em>

    Yes, he did not have any regrets even after the notifications rang.

    <em>[A variable has appeared!]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk looked puzzled. Then, he saw a ck energy appear and got sucked into Duke Bman¡¯s body.

    <em>[Duke Bman refuses to die.]</em>

    <em>[Duke Bman has persistently collected the Death Knight¡¯s Life to fight against the God of Death.]</em>

    <em>[Due to the Death Knight¡¯s Life, he will be an undead! He will only be avable to you for a year!]</em>

    <em>[The God and Knight has been triggered.]</em>

    <em>[The reason Bman collected Life was because he feared being exploited by the God of Death upon his death. He was someone who feared death more than anybody else.]</em>

    <em>[Bman only has a tiny bit of ego left.]</em>

    This was the first time that this had happened. And it left Minhyuk shocked.

    When Minhyuk saw that Duke Bman only had a bit of ego left, he realized that God and Knight had told him he could be the second Viel¡¯s Puppet Doll.

    <em>¡®Duke Bman would not have any summoning time restriction, unlike Viel¡¯s Puppet Doll.¡¯</em>

    On top of that, Duke Bman was also much stronger than Viel¡¯s Puppet Doll. Also¡­

    <em>¡®Did the God and Knight predict this situation¡­?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was left stunned by this thought.

 Chapter 1024

    Chapter 1024

    As mentioned, the God and Knight was usually triggered for those who lived a life they did not want or could still change. But from what Minhyuk could see, there was no benefit to having Bman in their ranks even if he decided to change.

    But the situation has changed now.

    <em>¡®He has died under my hands and has already paid the price that he had to pay.¡¯</em>

    Even though he became an undead and a Death Knight, it did not matter. In the first ce, the reason why Bman was so afraid of death was because he feared not being able to think and dream anymore.

    <em>[Bman only has a tiny bit of ego left.]</em>

    The birth of the second Viel¡¯s Puppet Doll was just around the corner. He would be a killing weapon that would obey Minhyuk¡¯s orders alone.

    Minhyuk looked at Bman, who had turned into an undead. He looked a bit too different to be called a Death Knight. Although blood continued to drip all over his body, it was obvious that his wounds were already starting to recover. Andpared to the other Death Knights, his figure did not turn into that of a skeleton.

    Then, Minhyuk asked Bman, ¡°Would you like to die again, or will you obey me?¡±

    Even if Minhyuk chose to bring Bman to his side, the duke would serve him for a year. After that year, he would return to the arms of the God of Death. But even though there was only a tiny bit of ego left in this version of Bman, it seemed like he was still afraid of that moment and immediately nodded in answer to Minhyuk. The moment Minhyuk received the answer, a notification rang in his ears.<em>[The God and Knight have seeded!]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the ownership of the One who is Dead but is Not Dead.]</em>

    <em>[You can kill him anytime you want.]</em>

    Then, Minhyuk stretched his hand out to Duke Bman. He said, ¡°Give me everything that you have.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Minhyuk was confused because he could not hear the acquisition notifications for the tinum and artifacts even though he had already killed Duke Bman. It seemed that this was because Duke Bman had not truly died yet.

    Not long after, Duke Bman, who had be a well-behaved and obedient dog, handed over everything, including his ring, artifacts, and even the sword he had been using.

    <em>[You have gained 75,414 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Absolute One¡¯s Breaker Ring.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Ducal Sword.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Gleaming Ducal Armor.]</em>

    After Minhyuk took everything away from Bman, he saw the ck Skull Knight Order troops, going on a rampage earlier, stop to look at their master and owner.

    ¡°Lord- Lord Bman.¡±

    ¡°Even if you have died, we will still obey and follow you!¡±

    They were the type of people who would serve their master forever, even if they knew that Bman had already died and had be a puppet. As for Minhyuk? He had no intention of giving them a good look.

    Minhyuk had recently made headlines when he decided to embrace the prisoners from the Qingdao Kingdom. However, these people here were inherently different from them. They had exploited, plundered, and killed others. That was why he intended to take them away and suck them dry until their deaths.

    Minhyuk knew that these people would only obey Bman¡¯s orders. So, he approached the duke and whispered in his ears. Then, Bman conveyed his words. He said, ¡°We should never forget the sins that we havemitted. We will pay for the price of our sins and devote our lives to the Beyond the Heavens Empire up until the moment we die.¡±

    ¡°<em>Sob, sob, sob.</em> We understand.¡±

    ¡°We have received the duke¡¯s orders!¡±

    ¡°Even if the Beyond the Heavens Empire denounces us, we will never forget the sins that we havemitted!¡±

    Now, Minhyuk had earned people he could freely and thoroughly use. Then, another notification rang in his ears.

    <em>[The 94,415 soldiers of the ck Skull Army, 24 knights of the ck Skull Knight Order, and 2 Red Skull Knights, who followed and obeyed Bman, have be the ves of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.]</em>

    ¡°Take away everything that they have on them. A pair of simple clothes and a pickaxe is enough for them.¡±

    Perhaps because of Bman¡¯s words, the men who followed him hurriedly took everything they had and gave it to Minhyuk¡¯s men.

    When Minhyuk totaled everything, he realized that he had received almost a million tinum and a variety of quality weapons, armor, artifacts, and many other things from them. All of these would greatly help the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    Among these items, Minhyuk desired the Absolute One¡¯s Breaker Ring. He had checked the details of the item after he exploited(?) Bman.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Absolute One¡¯s Breaker Ring</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: God</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: Level 600 or higher, 10,000 CHA or higher.</em>

    <strong><em>Durability</em></strong><em>: 5,000 / 5,000</em>

    <strong><em>Defensive Power</em></strong><em>: 501</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?A 5% increase in Abnormal Status Resistance.</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: The Breaker</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: This is a ring made exclusively for Duke Bman. If someone other than Duke Bman wears the ring, the effects would be significantly reduced.</em>

    <em>(</em><strong><em>The Breaker</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Active Skill</em>

    <strong><em>Level</em></strong><em>: None</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Use</em></strong><em>: You will receive a 13,000 damage to your HP. Your CHA will permanently decrease by 1.</em>

    <strong><em>Cooldown</em></strong><em>: 15 minutes.</em>

    <strong><em>Mana Required</em></strong><em>: 20,000</em>

    <strong><em>Effects</em></strong><em>: Anything tagged with ¡°absolute¡± can be ignored for two seconds.</em>

    The effects of ¡°The Breaker¡± were evident at a nce. But Minhyuk could not help but frown.

    ¡°Hey.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Bman, who only had a little ego and had bepletely obedient, turned to look at Minhyuk.

    ¡°Why is it so different from when you used it?¡±

    That was right. The Absolute One¡¯s Breaker Ring that Minhyuk personally experienced felt much more significant than this. It felt like it could ignore anything tagged with ¡°absolute¡± for around five to ten seconds, not just two seconds. There was also the 20,000 requirement for mana. It was muchrger than he expected.

    <em>¡®If it needs 20,000 MP, it will deplete 15% of my MP in one go.¡¯</em>

    There was also a penalty. This meant that Minhyuk had to weigh the consequences before using the artifact.

    <em>¡®I think Bman was able to use this after one minute. But ording to the description, I can only use it after fifteen minutes.¡¯</em>

    Bman answered, ¡°It¡¯s¡­ because the ring¡­ is custom¡­ made¡­ for me¡­¡±

    ¡°What effects does it have when you have it equipped?¡±

    ¡°I can break anything every forty seconds for a certain amount of mana.¡±

    The difference was undoubtedly huge.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s still an excellent artifact.¡¯</em>

    Heleina-ss strongmen and powerhouses often possessed a power that allowed them to ignore absolute and invincible barriers. The fact that he would have the power to break those things with the help of this ring, even if it was only for two seconds, was a testament to how unique this artifact was.

    At that moment, Prince Cardin nodded lightly to Minhyuk and said, ¡°Allow me to greet and express my gratitude to you, Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor.¡±

    Minhyuk had saved Prince Cardin from a huge crisis. Of course, he had heard that the Luvien Empire and the Beyond the Heavens Empire were bitter rivals. But the fact that he received their kindness and grace this time would remain.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s an extraordinary person.¡¯</em>

    Cardin never expected Minhyuk to overpower and win against Bman. His vassals were also people who should never be messed with.

    <em>¡®Of course, I would have been able to ovee this crisis if I had the help of my master.¡¯</em>

    But that was not his power. He would only be borrowing the power of his master. Minhyuk nodded lightly.

    ¡°Nerva had asked me to bring you back to the Luvien Empire.¡±

    It might have looked like Minhyuk had been brought to this ce because of Conir and Herakel. That was why he specifically mentioned Nerva''s request. There were many reasons for that.

    ¡°Thanks to the help of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, the Luvien Empire will be able to go to even greater heights.¡±

    <em>You have received my help. Don¡¯t ever forget that.</em>

    ¡°Our troops have received quite a significant amount of damage. However, since it was for the greater good, it¡¯s fine.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Prince Cardin could see that even though Minhyuk was saying it was okay, his expression told him it was not eptable at all.

    ¡°It¡¯s really fine.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    At that moment, Cardin recalled how Conir pretended he did not know about the Bing Hero Elixir that he had given the boy earlier.

    ¡°Conir! Conir got this for you, <em>hyung</em>!¡±

    Then, at that moment, Conir appeared and handed over the Bing Hero Elixir, the outstanding elixir that can increase all of one¡¯s stats by 1, to Minhyuk.

    ¡°That¡¯s mine¡­¡±

    ¡°I see; our dear Conir was able to obtain this precious elixir. Hahaha. Our dear Conir got a precious elixir!¡± Minhyuk quickly responded.

    Prince Cardin snapped his mouth shut when he realized the situation.

    ¡°Anyway, it¡¯s really fine. We¡¯re fine even though the Beyond the Heavens Empire has received quite! A huge! Amount! Of damage!¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Prince Cardin, who had been extorted(?) by Conir, was now being extorted by the boy¡¯s <em>hyung</em>. But in a way, it could only be considered fair.

    ¡°Once I have safely returned to the empire and inherited the throne, I will send my vassals to greet you. Is there something that you personally want?¡±

    ¡°But it¡¯s really fine, though?¡±

    ¡°No. I have to do my best¡­¡±

    ¡°Then, I will tell you what I want.¡±

    Contrary to his previous words, Minhyuk strongly and firmly stated his demands.

    ¡°First. I want the Luvien Empire to find and give me the information about all the Eight Pirs Candidates.¡±

    Minhyuk knew that the Luvien Empire had the most extensive and far-reaching intelligence department in Athenae.

    ¡°Second. Find information about the Pir Ingredients.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    He also knew there were at least two Pir Ingredients in the world. He was trying to take care of the burdensome matters by making use of the Luvien Empire.

    ¡°Third.¡± Minhyuk smiled lightly. ¡°I hope the Luvien Empire willpensate the Beyond the Heavens Empire with an amount you think is fair for this incident. As I mentioned earlier, the damage our Beyond the Heavens Empire has received is huge. Also, please keep in mind that I am someone who loves to eat.¡±

    Prince Cardin looked around and saw the Beyond the Heavens Empire members standing scot-free after drinking a single potion bottle.

    <em>¡®Uhm¡­¡¯</em>

    But the reason why they were rtively intact and safe was because they were strong.

    ¡°I understand,¡± Prince Cardin agreed. Then, he thought about something for a moment. After remaining silent for a long time, he said, ¡°I think I can fulfill your first requirement right now.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes were colored with surprise when he heard the unexpected words. The first demand that he gave was information about the Eight Pirs¡¯ candidates.

    ¡°The Teacher, Beradon. He is my master and was once a candidate to be the Eight Pirs.¡±

    ¡°The prince¡¯s master?¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s surprise grew. The one who taught the prince was once a candidate to be one of the Eight Pirs. But he was still alive and breathing?

    Minhyuk had set a new goal: to be one of the Eight Pirs. He believed it was the only way for them to jump over and go beyond the Luvien Empire. And now that he wanted to try to find information about the Eight Pirs¡¯ candidates, Prince Cardin¡¯s teacher just happened to be one.

    ¡°My master does not discriminate when ites to teaching. Whether you¡¯re good or bad, he will teach them and open up a path for them.¡±

    Of course, that did not mean that he would teach just anyone.

    ¡°But for one to receive the teachings of my master, one has to pass the trials that he had set first.¡±

    ¡°What does he teach?¡±

    Minhyuk was wondering what Beradon was teaching.

    ¡°Well, how to say this. He can teach you to be stronger, so your mental power will grow, and many more. There is no limit to what he can teach you. He can teach you anything and bring you to the next realm. For example¡­¡± Prince Cardin looked at Minhyuk. ¡°He can open up a path for the Food God, who has reached the limits and can no longer climb further. Or, he could give the Battle God, who could no longer grow further, a push and bring him higher.¡±

    Cardin looked around him. That was when he caught sight of Spear God Ben. Then, he said, ¡°He can teach those who are stubborn and determined how to bend so they would not break.¡±

    Then, he looked at Brod. ¡°He can teach those filled with anger and give them peace of mind.¡±

    Cardin chuckled lightly and continued, ¡°He had even told a boy, full of his greed, how to empathize with others and embrace them. That was how endless his powers are.¡±

    At that moment, Minhyuk understood what it meant. <em>¡®He has the power to make anything and anyone grow.¡¯</em>

    Of course, he had to go through the process, but there was a chance he could create a new skill.

    <em>¡®Or perhaps I can raise the level of my skills?¡¯</em>

    Or he could be given a stepping stone to help him grow stronger.

    ¡°But master told me that he wanted to rest. He said that he no longer wished to ept any more disciples.¡±

    Cardin was no fool. He knew he did not need to act favorably and kindly toward the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor. After all, they might just be enemies one day. All he needed to do here was give him the information about the Eight Pirs candidate he wanted.

    ¡°It will be up to you to persuade my master to ept and teach you. Here, let me give you a map.¡±

    <em>[You have obtained a map leading you to The Teacher.]</em>

    Just as Minhyuk received the map, those who were supposed to escort Cardin safely to the empire arrived. Since they had already met Minhyuk, they silently bowed their heads in greeting.

    After watching them leave, Minhyuk returned to the Beyond the Heavens Empire with his executives and their new ves.

    ***

    Nerva looked at Prince Cardin and his escort knights, who were being guarded safely by the guards of the Luvien Empire inside. Even though this was their first reunion after separating for so long, no tears appeared in either man''s eyes. There was just one thing that Nerva wanted. He hoped the Luvien Empire would be revived and flourish further under his child¡¯s reign.

    ¡°Now, it will be easy for you to climb and sit on the emperor''s throne.¡±

    Duke Bman, who had be a very fierce and lethal weapon in the hands of the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ emperor, had already killed all the factions and forces that wanted to hinder his path to bing the emperor of the Luvien Empire before.

    Now, Prince Cardin no longer needed to prove his abilities. He was already qualified to be the emperor just by having Nerva¡¯s blood running through his veins.

    Nerva looked at the remarkable and extraordinarily outstanding prince, Cardin, and asked, ¡°What do you think about the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor?¡±

    Nerva had already let go of everything. Because of that, he no longer harbored any greed, jealousy, or hatred. And it was also because he had put everything down that he could see things more rationally and coolly. He had to admit that the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor stood far beyond Prince Cardin.

    ¡°He¡¯s an amazing person. Although he¡¯s called the Food God, he has a strong power. He truly is the ruler of an empire.¡±

    Nerva remained quiet and added nothing to Cardin¡¯s frank and blunt statement.

    <em>¡®Aside from that, he also possesses a different power.¡¯</em>

    That was what Nerva felt when he came to meet Minhyuk.

    At that moment, Knight Laghman, who stood behind Prince Cardin, said, ¡°Prince Cardin has told the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor to the ce where The Teacher is living. However, he will not be able to learn from the master. I¡¯m sure it would be like a p to his face.¡±

    A small smile lingered on Nerva¡¯s face as he listened to their story.

    <em>¡®Eight Pirs¡¯ Candidate, The Teacher.¡¯</em>

    ¡°The Teacher said he would no longer ept any more disciples?¡±

    Prince Cardin nodded as he took a sip of his tea.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Ultimately, what the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor demanded of me will yield no results. First, it is tough to be my master¡¯s disciple. Besides, my master personally told me, ¡®I will no longer ept any more disciples.¡¯ That¡¯s why I believe what he¡¯s doing is all in vain. Hence, the first demand he asked me for would be for naught.¡±

    A smile appeared on Nerva¡¯s face when he heard those words. ¡°<em>Pfft. </em>I see.¡±

    He no longer held hatred toward the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor. He just became someone who watched the steps that he took and the moves that he made. No. To be exact, he became someone who wanted to make sure that Brod sat on the throne that rightfully belonged to him safely.

    ¡°Hahahahahahahaha!¡±

    Prince Cardin could not help but frown when he saw Nervaugh loudly for quite some time.

    ¡°Father, what¡¯s the matter with you?¡±

    Afterughing for a while, Nerva looked at him and asked, ¡°What do you think would happen if someone who said he would no longer ept any disciple decided to ept one again?¡±

    ¡°Eh?¡± Prince Cardin looked puzzled at the question. What was his father talking about? Seeing Nerva look at him as if he was waiting for an answer, Cardin opened his mouth and said, ¡°Thinking that maybe this will be thest time that they will ept a disciple¡­ If they find them valuable and worth teaching, then¡­¡±

    Cardin suddenly snapped his mouth shut. That was right. Every person wished to find something or someone special for their final hurrah.

    ¡°Their final disciple will receive the most special and most precious teachings in the world.¡±

 Chapter 1025

    Chapter 1025

    Bman, Minhyuk¡¯s new subordinate and the one hailed as the One who is Dead but Not Dead, looked like an ordinary human with pale skin. Since he was not a summons, he did not have the restriction of a summoning time and could stay outside for as long as Minhyuk wanted.

    This Bman, who only had a bit of ego left, and his ck Skull Knight Order had be ves of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. They received the ves¡¯ brand, which would make them explode if they ever harmed the people of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    They were also sent to the Breath of Lava Mines, a ce that was five times more difficult to work inpared to other regr mines. However, they were trained knights and soldiers, so they could endure living and working in such environments. Since they were sent to ces that were almost impossible for regr people to mine, the Beyond the Heavens Empire obtained great wealth and fortune.

    The Beyond the Heavens Empire also treated them less than half of what the prisoners from the Qingdao Kingdom received. This was proven by the fact that they were only given cabins that were close to copsing.

    Bman sat atop one of the boulders with a dazed look. Although he had only a bit of ego left, he could still feel his emotions.

    <em>¡®This is the first time in my life, no?¡¯</em>

    That was right. This was the first time for Bman to rest and rx. Although he was just sitting down, the gentle breeze that blew past him made him feel very good, while the chirping of the birds brought his mind peace. It felt very strange to him.

    <em>¡®The dream I have been chasing all my life has disappeared, but...¡¯</em>

    He felt so at ease. The ves, who were working in the mines, also surrounded him. It did not matter if he was alive or dead; these people would never forget they belonged to him. Not long after, Bman said, ¡°House¡­ repair¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a good idea.¡±

    This was the first time in decades that they would do something other than training, training, and even more training. Bman¡¯s men carried the materials and began to hammer away clumsily.

    <em>ng¨C ng¨C ng¨C!</em>

    They worked together to renovate and repair their shabby cabins with bright smiles on their faces and sweat dripping down their foreheads. Although Bman¡¯s face remained expressionless, he felt happy deep inside.

    <em>Rumble¨C</em>

    In the end, the house that they were working on copsed.

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°Lord- Lord Bman?¡±

    As mentioned before, these people had only been training for decades. Their knowledge of architecture was zero. They thought that all they needed to do was hammer at it.

    Bman stared at the cabin that hadpletely copsed. With his face devoid of expression, he said, ¡°I¡¯m¡­ fine. I¡­ don¡¯t feel¡­ the cold¡­ or¡­ the heat¡­¡±

    He was dead and alive at the same time. It was fine for him, but that was not the case with the others.

    ¡°The temperature today is -17 degrees Celsius.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Bman turned silent.

    ***

    Minhyuk listened to Haze¡¯s report.

    ¡°The Luvien Empire has sent ten million tinum. <em>Fufu.</em> It¡¯s enough to fill the gap created when our executives suddenly disappeared.¡±

    Minhyuk had been scolded a bit by Haze. This was because he suddenly summoned the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ executive, which was a very unreasonable and ridiculous thing to do. But now that Prince Cardin had sent ten million tinum, they could easily fill in the gap they left behind during that time.

    After Haze left, Shadow Luo knocked on the door. Minhyuk had entrusted Shadow Luo with the surveince of Bman and his men. He hade to report on their current situation.

    ¡°After doing this and that¡­ in the end, they broke all their houses.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°When they saw me, they asked if I could give them another house. They have been moring, saying they would lose their muscles if they slept out in the cold.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­¡±

    At that moment, Minhyuk realized, <em>¡®They are addicted to working out¡­¡¯</em>

    Their house breaking down was not a problem; the only thing that mattered was working out and exercising. Minhyuk could understand them to some extent.

    <em>¡®They have been training almost their entire lives. Aside from training, the only thing that they could do was to work out. It¡¯s only natural that they wish to keep their body fit.¡¯</em>

    Beyond the Heavens Empire weed the thought of not wanting their bodies to wither.

    ¡°Take the expenses for the house from their sryter.¡±

    But in the end, they were ves, and they should never show any preferential treatment toward them. While Minhyuk was thinking about how to make up for the losses that they had gained this time, Luo gave another report.

    ¡°Ah. They said chicken breasts, eggs, and unmixed sd are fine for their meals. They also said they wanted to maintain and build their bodies properly while resting.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Thanks to that, Minhyuk was able to save money on their food. As someone who loved to eat, Minhyuk could not understand them. But since that was what they wanted, then so be it.

    Haze, who left after saying that she would count every tinum of the ten million tinum they received, soon came back.

    Minhyuk told her, ¡°Haze, what about the thing I asked you to look for information on?¡±

    ¡°We cannot find information about The Teacher Beradon even after checking it with Abel. So, I had to search through tens of thousands of books. I recently found a short snippet from one of the books.¡±

    Minhyuk listened quietly to Haze.

    ¡°The Teacher has had two disciples.¡±

    The one Haze was talking about did not include Prince Cardin. If it was information found from an ancient book, then it meant that they were disciples that he had back when he was still a candidate to be one of the Eight Pirs.

    <em>¡®As usual with this game, Athenae, they will hide hints and only reveal it bit by bit.¡¯</em>

    They even wrote one small snippet among tens of thousands of books as a hint.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s a high chance that these two disciples were extraordinary and special.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was quite curious about them.

    ¡°Haze, I¡¯m a bit stagnant these days.¡±

    Of course, Haze was fully aware that Minhyuk no longer had a path that would allow him to grow even further. Fortunately, he became an Eight Pir¡¯s Sessor. Then, he found out about the existence of The Teacher. It was like raining after a long drought.

    ¡°Can I focus on my growth now?¡±

    Minhyuk had to ask this question because he was the head of an empire.

    Haze nodded. ¡°That¡¯s alright. After all, you were able to push forward and make the Beyond the Heavens Empire grow even further in just a few short months.¡±

    What Haze meant was that he could do whatever he wanted by himself and y around for a while.

    Minhyuk smiled. ¡°Then, I¡¯ll be backter.¡±

    He immediately stood up and set off to find The Teacher, who was once a candidate to be an Eight Pir.

    ***

    Events were something that every game had. Depending on what type of event was being held, it could bring back yers who have left the game and increase the number of current yers. There was one clear thing. Whatever the game was, thepany that produced the game would most certainly host events.

    But unlike other games, Athenae, which was developed by Joy. Co. Ltd., had rtively fewer events. While other games held events once every two months, yers of Athenae had to wonder if they would even get one or two events in a year.

    It has already been three years since Athenae was firstunched. To celebrate its third anniversary, they prepared an event for the game. President Kang Taehoon was standing behind a podium to discuss the event.

    Athenae was just going to hold an event, but it was already attracting the public''s attention. Many people had their eyes on Joy Co. Ltd. and were waiting for the event to be unveiled.

    <em>Click, click, click¨C</em>

    Like the reporters and viewers, President Kang Taehoon, who stood in front of the reporters and received the baptism of camera shes, felt very emotional.

    He opened his mouth and said, ¡°This event is only open to yers below Level 650.¡±

    A reporter immediately asked, ¡°yers below Level 650? Isn¡¯t yer Minhyuk the only one who has achieved Level 650?¡±

    ¡°Is this an event made to exclude yer Minhyuk?¡±

    The reporters wondered if Joy Co. Ltd. had imposed sanctions and restrictions on Minhyuk¡¯s growth because his power was already too overwhelming. Kang Taehoon did notment on that. But there was one certain thing.

    <em>¡®This is not made to put sanctions or restrictions on him.¡¯</em>

    They had already decided to exclude yers at Level 650 and above a year after the event was nned.

    After themotion died down, President Kang Taehoon continued. ¡°For one month, all yers will receive a three times increase in EXP Acquisition Rate and Artifact Drop Rate. When you hunt boss monsters at the same level as yours, you will receive a five times increase in EXP Acquisition Rate.¡±

    ¡°Woah!¡±

    The reporters were, of course, also yers of Athenae. The fact that they would be able to receive a three times increase in their EXP Acquisition Rate was already an enormous gain for them. As for the yers, those who were getting annoyed and bored because their EXP Acquisition Rate had already started to go down and slow down their leveling because their level had increased would find this as an opportunity to grow faster and finally knock on the walls of a higher realm.

    ¡°It¡¯s a 3x Event since it¡¯s our third anniversary.¡±

    ¡°Amazing!¡±

    All of the reporters burst into admiration after learning about the details of this very unusual event. However, the 3x Event was not necessarily set up because it was their third anniversary.

    <em>¡®We have judged that we must bring the yers to a higher level.¡¯</em>

    The levels of the yers, except for a small number, did not meet their expectations.

    <em>¡®Helenia will awaken soon.¡¯</em>

    Kang Taehoon did not mention anything about this. Helenia, whoseplete revival and descent were interrupted because her fragments had been destroyed, was about to awaken. But they should already know about this.

    <em>¡®Even though Helenia will not be able to bepletely resurrected, back when she awakened briefly¡­¡¯</em>

    Back then, the yers could not handle her. To be exact, they werepletely overwhelmed by the weakened Helenia. What were their levels nowpared to back then?

    <em>¡®Except for a select few people, nothing much has changed in their levels.¡¯</em>

    To put it simply, this event was designed to give the yers some foothold so that they would be prepared for Helenia¡¯s awakening.

    <em>¡®It might seem like we¡¯re just giving them a 3x increase in EXP for a month, but the effects will be huge.¡¯</em>

    This event would definitely increase the number of yers who can achieve Level 600.

    ¡°If Level 400 yers level up fifteen times this month, they will receive a 2x Level-Up Potion. The same would be true if Level 500 yers level up eight times and Level 600 yers level up four times this month.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°Not only that. We will also give out a +5 All Stat Increase Potion for the top ten yers who achieve the greatest growth during this event. The yer who will achieve the greatest growth among all of the yers will also receive a +8 All Stat Increase Potion. This will all be tallied and calcted by the system.¡±

    ¡°For real? They¡¯re just going to give it away just like that?¡±

    ¡°Kghhk! Since they¡¯re doing a giveaway, they¡¯re doing it properly!¡±

    President Kang Taehoon could not help but smile bitterly when he heard the cheers of the reporters.

    The Battle God¡¯s advertisement video had been recently released worldwide. The video showed how Helenia joined hands with King Above Gods Aegaeon and terrorized the Land of the Gods. Of course, this was only a made-up scenario.

    But President Kang Taehoon thought, <em>¡®There is a high chance that something like that will truly happen.¡¯</em>

    Since Helenia could not have her full powers, she would use any means necessary to achieve her goal.

    <em>¡®Whether they can stop her in the future will depend on the yers'' behavior and actions.¡¯</em>

    The yers did not know since Joy Co. Ltd. did not disclose it. But Athenae¡¯s Third Era was already about to begin.

    Kang Taehoon looked at the reporters and added, ¡°We have received quite a lot of criticisms andints about the difference between God sses and ordinary sses.¡±

    This was a fact. In the beginning, the God ss yers stood out too much. This was also primarily true during the second era. The only way for the ordinary ss yers to surpass the God ss yers was to achieve Level 600.

    The problem was whenever the God ss yers, who had sessfully inherited the throne of the gods, reached a certain level, a portion of the sealed powers would be released.

    There was currently only one yer who had gone beyond Level 650. But some yers were inching closer to Level 650. This was mainly because it was harder for yers to reach Level 650 from Level 600 than reaching Level 600 from Level 500.

    ¡°The sses, except for God sses, will experience another inflection point once they achieve Level 650.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    A bigger wave was being set off than the wave created by the announcement of an event. This alone would increase the yers¡¯ desire to level up during the event¡¯s course.

    Team Leader Park Minggyu approached President Kang Taehoon, who descended the podium.

    ¡°President.¡±

    Taehoon just chuckled bitterly when he heard his subordinate¡¯s call.

    ¡°I see. Themunity sites must have been filled with posts about how this event targets Minhyuk, right?¡±

    Taehoon had already expected this to some extent. Even so, he did not intend to change the event they had nned just for Minhyuk¡¯s sake. Also, even though people would criticize them and continue talking about how they were targeting Minhyuk, they were the ones who truly wanted this to happen, no?

    <em>¡®After all, it¡¯s a chance for them to approach the Supreme.¡¯</em>

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right.¡±

    The report that Team Leader Park wanted to give to him was just as he expected.

    <em>¡®Since yer Minhyuk¡¯s level is too high, he would have to go through a long period of stagnation before he could raise his level.¡¯</em>

    This was the inevitable reality. And it was proof of how high Minhyuk¡¯s level was.

    ¡°What I wanted to report was about something else.¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡± President Kang looked at Team Leader Park in confusion.

    Then, Minggyu said, ¡°yer Minhyuk¡¯s level has increased by one.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    The confusion on Taehoon¡¯s face grew further as he looked at Minggyu, who was reporting while looking at his mobile phone.¡±

    ¡°But when I checked yesterday, his EXP value for leveling up was just 3%?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Oh?¡± Team Leader Park said, his eyes never leaving his phone. ¡°His level just increased by one again.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    President Kang Taehoon was rendered speechless. What was going on?

    Then, Minggyu said, ¡°yer Minhyuk has received the recognition of the Teacher and is receiving guidance.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

 Chapter 1026

    Chapter 1026

    President Kang Taehoon was shocked by the report that Team Leader Park Minggyu had given him. Was yer Minhyuk being recognized by The Teacher?

    <em>¡®A way that would allow someone who had grown stagnant to grow further.¡¯</em>

    And he had found that way.

    ¡°It¡¯s highly likely that yer Minhyuk would grow faster than the yers who would benefit from this event.¡±

    Of course, the words ¡°highly likely¡± were there. Even if he received the teachings of The Teacher, in the end, how far and how fast he would grow would all be up to him.

    ¡°Will yer Minhyuk be a variable in Helenia¡¯s awakening?¡±

    The truth was half of Athenae¡¯s poption might just disappear during Athenae¡¯s Third Era if they failed to stop Helenia. The yers would be forced to log out at least once, and many of the NPCs they cherished would die and disappear forever.

    This was why Joy Co. Ltd. had prepared an event to help them and prevent such a terrible situation from happening. Nevertheless, the probability of winning against Helenia was very low.

    Although it seemed like a small variable was wiggling into existence right now. <em>¡®The thought of a single yer growing stronger and beating Helenia alone is preposterous.¡¯</em>

    But it was also possible. After all, Helenia and The Teacher had a close rtionship.

    <em>¡®The growth that one could obtain and experience from The Teacher is endless.¡¯</em>

    Kang Taehoon was sure that although The Teacher was only hailed as a candidate to be an Eight Pir, his power wasparable to the Eight Pirs.

    ***

    The Teacher, Beradon, looked like an old man. If one looked at his white hair and the age spots blooming on his face, one would not be able to believe that this old man once became someone who tried to be the pir of this world.

    Beradon, with his hands behind his back, took a stroll. He said, ¡°That brat, Cardin, must have arrived safely.¡±

    He was sure the brat would ask him for help if ever he was in danger.

    ¡°That greenhorn as an emperor? <em>Pfft.</em>¡±

    Beradon talked lightly of the man who became the emperor of the Great Luvien Empire. Although Cardin was Beradon¡¯s disciple, he knew the young man was stillcking.

    It was only natural that he talked lightly about the young man. After all, Beradon had taught countless disciples with talents that far surpassed Cardin¡¯s talents.

    Were there no empires that could rival the Luvien Empire in the past? No. There were. And that empire was even more remarkable and better than the Luvien Empire. And the ruler of that empire was once Beradon¡¯s disciple.

    But was that all? The most vicious and terrible master of Hell, the first-generation God of Death, was also Beradon¡¯s disciple. The second generation Battle God was also one of his disciples.

    Beradon did not distinguish between good and evil when taking in disciples. But now, even though they weren¡¯t really good, Beradon tried not to raise and help any evil disciples.

    ¡°Brat,¡± Beradon spat out when he thought of someone. However, the look on his face immediately smoothed out.

    Beradon had decided that he would no longer ept any more disciples after teaching Prince Cardin.

    <em>¡®I can finally rest now.¡¯</em>

    He just wanted to rest and wait for his return to the soil. Now that no one would bother him anymore, he would eat leisurely.

    <em>¡®I wonder if my nted lettuce and other vegetables are growing well?¡¯</em>

    Beradon wanted to live a leisurely life. To achieve this dream, he had been working on a garden. Of course, his gardening skills weren¡¯t good, so the garden''s appearance was quite bad. But the taste of his vegetables could be said to be good.

    <em>¡®Fufu. At least, that brat Cardin could cook a bit.¡¯</em>

    As Beradon continued to walk with his hands behind his back, he suddenly recalled Cardin¡¯s cooking. Perhaps many would have been shocked to hear this fact.

    <em>¡®My goodness! You made the man leading the Luvien Empire cook?!¡¯</em>

    But Beradon was the man who made even the first-generation God of Death massage his shoulders. He even told the second-generation Battle God with a sarcastic voice, <em>¡®You¡¯re an idiot. You know that, right?¡¯</em>

    Beradon, who was walking towards his garden, was met with a very shocking sight.

    ¡°N- No¡­¡±

    This was because his beautiful garden was gone. It looked like an entire family of wild boars had swept it away.

    Beradon might be great at teaching, but when it came to things that needed dexterity? Well, all he could say was that he had shit for hands. But despite that, he still did his best to nt and make a garden. Yet, the garden he had worked so hard to create and grow had be a mess.

    <em>Swoosh!</em>

    But then, at that moment, a mysterious smell wafted over and tickled Beradon¡¯s nose, making him whip his head in one direction. It was a very delicious and stimting smell.

    <em>¡®This is¡­?¡¯</em>

    The smell was savory and was enough to make one¡¯s mouth water.

    <em>¡®Sesame oil?¡¯</em>

    He slowly and carefully crept forward to catch the thief(?). That was when he saw a man sitting not far from his garden. The man was holding a huge silver bowl and mixing some<em> bibimbap</em>. Next to the man was a bowl of steaming, savory<em> siraegi doenjang </em>soup.

    <em>¡®This shameless¡­!¡¯</em>

    The vegetables the man had been mixing in his bowl were all from Beradon¡¯s garden. Beradon, who wanted to step forward and confront the man, stopped in his tracks.

    <em>¡®Hoo¡­ You will no longer hate anything if you give up your greed.¡¯</em>

    Beradon had been doing mental training constantly.

    <em>¡®Yes, that¡¯s right. I can do that.¡¯</em>

    He slowly calmed down and opted to spy on the young man. Has he heard the sound of red <em>bibimbap</em> being mixed with savory sesame oil? Of course. And it was music to his ears. Saliva started to pool in Beradon¡¯s mouth. And from what he saw earlier, plenty of eggs were in that massive bowl.

    <em>¡®Right, that¡¯s right. You know how to eat, huh? In this harsh world, people are bound to give you only one fried egg in your bowl of bibimbap. But it seems like he added three of them in his bowl.¡¯</em>

    Once the man mixed everything well, he scooped a huge spoonful of the bibimbap.

    <em>¡®Bibimbap will taste even better if you scoop a huge spoonful for your first bite.¡¯</em>

    A smile unknowingly curled at the corner of Beradon¡¯s mouth as he watched the man smile happily as he ate the bibimbap.

    <em>¡®I might not be the one eating it, but I feel like I am.¡¯</em>

    He imagined the taste in his mouth as if he were the one who ate that huge spoonful of bibimbap. With every bite of the bibimbap, the crunchy and crispy texture of the vegetables would spread in his mouth. Then,bining the savory sesame oil and the spicy <em>gochujang</em> would create a pleasant vor in his mouth. And the fried eggs? They also added to the harmony of vors.

    <em>¡®Right. That¡¯s it! You know it well! Your mouth is dry because you ate a huge bite of bibimbap in one go!¡¯</em>

    At that moment, the man lifted the bowl of <em>siraegi doenjang</em> soup and took a sip. Beradon, who was imagining the taste, unknowingly burst out in admiration. He, who was still doing mental training to control his mind, suddenly grew hungry.

    <em>I want to eat that bibimbap!</em>

    Anger started to surge within him once again.

    <em>¡®I was the one who grew those vegetables in my garden! So, howe he¡¯s the one eating them?!¡¯</em>

    Even though Beradon was trying his hardest to control his mind and restrain himself, it was getting harder and harder for him to bear. It seemed like his desire for food and his appetite were far greater than he thought.

    In the end, Beradon failed to hold back. He jumped out before the young man could finish eating everything up.

    ¡°BASTARD!!!¡± Beradon shouted angrily, his hands still behind his back.

    ¡°<em>Munch, munch?</em> Hello?!¡±

    This man was a shameless and unscrupulous thief. How dare he greet him politely while still eating in his garden? Seeing Beradon¡¯s face grow uglier by the second, the man realized something was wrong.

    The man immediately stood up and said, ¡°Goodness. I see you¡¯re an old man. How dare I sit in front of you¡­¡± He then proceeded to greet Beradon politely. ¡°Hello, Grandpa!¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Beradon felt a bit flustered with how polite the man was. But he still said, ¡°This¨C You thief! I can¡¯t believe you! How dare you dig up all the vegetables I worked so hard to grow in my garden and use them to make <em>bibimbap</em>?! I wonder how many <em>bibimbap</em> you have already eaten, huh?!¡±

    Of course, Beradon¡¯s garden was not so small that everything nted in it would disappear with just a single bowl of <em>bibimbap</em>.

    But then, the astonished man said, ¡°That¨C that was a garden¡­?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°But it did not look like a garden at all?¡±

    Beradon could not deny his words. Cardin once told him something simr.

    <em>¡®Master, I don¡¯t think you should farm. How can you call that a garden¡­? It looks more like weeds that had survived the trampling of a wild boar.¡¯</em>

    Even so, the re in Beradon¡¯s eyes did not decrease. He said, ¡°How can various ingredients sprout if it¡¯s not a garden, huh?!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, grandpa.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Now that you know, I should also get some <em>bibimbap</em>¡­¡±

    But Beradon was left in despair. Why? Because the man had already finished all of the <em>bibimbap</em> in just a short time.

    Beradon cried out, ¡°My <em>bibimbap</em>¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, grandpa. Would you like me to make you some bibimbap with the ingredients that I have on hand?¡±

    ¡°Clean it up!¡±

    That waspletely different from eating something made from the garden he had worked hard to create and nurture!

    The angry Beradon soon wondered why the man came here. So, he asked, ¡°But why are you here?¡±

    ¡°I came here to receive teachings from the man named Beradon.¡±

    Beradon raised his eyebrow. In the end, Beradon was still a human being. He couldn''t view this person, who ransacked his garden and did not even let him have a bite of <em>bibimbap</em>, favorably. Besides, he had already decided not to receive any more disciples.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I am no longer epting any more disciples.¡±

    With those words, the man realized that the old man in front of him was the one he had been looking for.

    ¡°Grandpa, please teach me!¡±

    But it was also confirmed that his first impression of the man was good. After all, the young man politely stood up from his seat and greeted him when he appeared. Even so, Beradon still declined. Well, he might have identally ruined his garden.

    <em>¡®Of course, it¡¯s not necessarily because of my garden.¡¯</em>

    This was true.

    This was absolutely not the case.

    ¡°I will say this once again. I have vowed never to ept any more disciples. Go back.¡±

    However, the young man was the type of person who would not give up so easily. Seeing this, a tremendous and overwhelming killing intent began to soar from the body of Beradon, the one who was once a candidate to be one of the Eight Pirs.

    <em>¡®Yet I did not be one of the Eight Pirs.¡¯</em>

    There was one crucial thing. It was inurate to say that he ¡°did not be¡± one.

    <em>¡®I chose not to be one of the Eight Pirs.¡¯</em>

    It was mainly because of his disciples.

    Even so, the terrifying killing intent that was spreading from his body wasparable to that of an Eight Pir. As someone hailed as ¡°The Teacher,¡± he could help others grow.

    <em>¡®I can also take it away.¡¯</em>

    The power of one of Beradon¡¯s authorities, The Depriver, rose from his body and put pressure on the man in front of him. The first-generation God of Death, the second-generation Battle God, and Prince Cardin; they all despaired before this power.

    Beradon did not activate The Depriver against the young man because he ruined his garden. He did this to everyone. It was a kind of ¡°test¡± of some sort. Unfortunately, even if he initiated the test and the young man passed this trial, Beradon did not intend to take in another disciple.

    <em>¡®Is he a foreigner?¡¯</em>

    This meant that the young man would receive constant notifications regarding this.

    <em>[The Depriver.]</em>

    <em>[The Teacher is trying to deprive you of what you have learned.]</em>

    <em>[As time passes, your stats will start declining, and your level will decrease.]</em>

    <em>[A strong and irresistible force is weighing down on you.]</em>

    That was right. The Depriver was a power that could make its target grow weaker. And for those who had grown strong and reached stunning heights, growing weaker was a terrible and frightening thing for them. Most people subjected to this power apologized and ran away in despair. But there were a few who realized something.

    <em>¡®Even if he takes it away from me, as long as I can receive his teachings.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He shouldn¡¯t be doing this just to take it away from us.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®That¡¯s right. And even if he takes it away, I will not return.¡¯</em>

    These select few people had received Beradon¡¯s recognition.

    <em>Creak, creak, creak¨C!</em>

    The branches of the trees fluttered fiercely, and the ground shook and trembled. But the young man in front of Beradon continued to endure, trying to stand rather than kneel.

    ¡°Get lost! You did this to my garden¡­ No! I don¡¯t intend to ept any more disciples!¡± Beradon shouted, putting more pressure upon the young man.

    ¡°I truly want to receive your teachings, Sir Beradon. Also, forgive me.¡±

    Forgive him? Why? Beradon could not understand what the young man was saying for a moment.

    <em>Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh¨C!</em>

    Then, an overwhelming energy and momentum appeared and began to swirl and wrap around the young man. The gentle and soft eyes of the polite young man disappeared and turned into eyes as sharp as that of a hawk¡¯s own.

    <em>Rumble, rumble¨C!</em>

    Under this power, the ground shook and trembled even more while the trees fluttered more fiercely. Even the sky began to roar and cry.

    <em>¡®Wh¨C What¡­?!¡¯</em>

    <em>[The opponent has started to suppress the power of the Authority: The Depriver.]</em>

    Beradon, realizing that his power was being resisted, tried to release more of it.

    <em>[The opponent has wholly suppressed the power of the Authority: The Depriver!]</em>

    <em>Vwooooooong¨C!</em>

    The absolute authority that was swirling around Beradon¡¯s body disappeared in an instant.

    Beradon was left stunned. Many had visited him and received this trial. However, none of them had been able to suppress his power. Although he had never vowed to receive any more disciples, this fresh and novel experience made him rethink his choices. Interest started to bloom in Beradon.

    ***

    Minhyuk was not afraid of the power of The Depriver that the old man, who identified himself as Beradon, possessed. This was because he possessed the skill: The Unyielding One.

    And when Minhyuk sessfully resisted andpletely suppressed the power, a shocking notification rang in his ears.

    <em>[Beradon has given you a slight recognition.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    For Minhyuk, this was a very unexpected notification.

    Usually, in times like this, Minhyuk would hear the notification saying, ¡°Beradon¡¯s favor has increased¡± or something simr. But the notification that rang in his ears had a slightly different meaning.

    But something even more shocking rang in his ears not long after.

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

 Chapter 1027

    Chapter 1027

    Minhyuk was stunned by the notification he heard after hepletely suppressed Beradon¡¯s The Depriver.

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s level was currently at Level 656. He had reached the point where his EXP gauge would barely increase, even afterpleting several quests or hunting boss monsters. If he were to be honest, his growth, which depended on his level, was left stagnant.

    <em>¡®With my leveling up, the easiest way for a yer to grow, reaching a point of stagnation, the gap between me and the yers will be narrowed quickly.¡¯</em>

    Indeed. yers who have not yet reached Level 650 would be able to close the gap since they could level up quickly. That just went to show how different the amount of EXP needed to increase one¡¯s level was for yers who had not exceeded Level 650 and those who had exceeded the said level.

    But now? When the notification ¡°...has given you slight recognition.¡± instead of the usual ¡°...favor has increased.¡± rang, Minhyuk¡¯s level increased by one.

    <em>¡®He is The Teacher.¡¯</em>

    Beradon was even close to bing one of the Eight Pirs.

    <em>¡®It seems like I have met a far greater man than I have imagined.¡¯</em>At this point, Minhyuk realized that Beradon had the power to help him go past his stagnant state and grow further. He also learned that the growth that he might experience might just be infinite.

    Meanwhile, Beradon looked embarrassed as he stared at Minhyuk. He thought, <em>¡®I wanted to know if he would still want to learn from me once he had lost everything that he had. That was why I used The Depriver on him.¡¯</em>

    This was the first time that Beradon had experienced something like this. To think someone was able to neutralize and even wholly suppress The Depriver. The problem was Beradon had already vowed never to ept any more disciples.

    <em>¡®I feel like my mind could be changed¡­¡¯</em>

    But for some reason, his interest was piqued.

    <em>¡®He has strength and power hiding behind his kindness and courteousness.¡¯</em>

    Even so, that would not change the fact that the young man had destroyed his garden. So, Beradon, with a curt expression, said, ¡°You neutralized my power, yes. But I still don¡¯t like you.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Minhyuk was rendered speechless. The system notification told him that Beradon had recognized him a bit, but his expression waspletely different.

    ¡°Be honest. It¡¯s because of the garden, right?¡±

    ¡°What nonsense are you on about? I¡¯m not such a petty person! I wouldn¡¯t hold a grudge against you just because of my garden. And even if I am, do you have the right to say anything to me?¡±

    That was true. Minhyuk would have nothing to say to salvage the situation. After all, Minhyuk had ravaged Beradon''s garden and was left with nothing to eat for the day.

    <em>¡®Ho?¡¯</em>

    Beradon might have grown a little fond of the young man before him and felt there was a chance he might change his mind. Nevertheless, his desire to not ept any more disciples remained the same. And at the right moment, Beradon thought of a trick to drive the young man away.

    ¡°Well, if you go all the way to the east of this mountain and dig some of the things raised under the protection of the Lord of the Mountains, then I will give you a small lesson.¡±

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Quest</em></strong><em>: The Thing Protected by the Lord of the Mountains.]</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: SSS</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: The one who received Beradon¡¯s offer.</em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: Beradon¡¯s small lesson.</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Failure</em></strong><em>: Unable to receive teachings from Beradon.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: Beradon is starving. If you can obtain some of the things raised under the protection of the Lord of the Mountains and hand them over to him, then you will at least receive a small lesson from him.</em>

    ¡°Alright. Since I¡¯ve eaten all of the things from your garden, I¡¯ll get them for you and make you a meal. If you are satisfied after eating the meal I have served you, then I hope you can give me due recognition.¡±

    ¡°Recognition? It¡¯s not that easy for someone to receive my recognition.¡±

    Before heading out, Minhyuk was curious about one thing. So, he asked, ¡°Grandpa, I heard you have two extraordinary disciples. If I get what you wanted me to get, can you tell me who they are?¡±

    Of course, Minhyuk would gain nothing even if he knew who they were. He was just curious about these two extraordinary disciples, whom Beradon personally nurtured.

    ¡°Alright,¡± Beradon agreed, nodding his head despite the apparent reluctance in his voice.

    Minhyuk bowed as he headed east of the mountains.

    <em>¡®My two extraordinary disciples¡­¡¯</em>

    Beradon smiled bitterly. He did not know which book it was written on for the young man to learn about this fact.

    Usually, legends would be weaved with false stories. To some extent, it could be said to be true. But at the same time, it could also be said to be untrue.

    <em>¡®I have had three extraordinary disciples.¡¯</em>

    The remaining one remained unknown to the world. Of course, even if the young man could obtain the ingredients, he only nned to tell him about the two. At that moment, he thought of another one of his disciples.

    <em>¡®The most outstanding, the most evil, and the kindest.¡¯</em>

    Then, Beradon burst into a fit ofughter.

    ¡°He will not be able to get anything from the Lord of the Mountains.¡±

    Beradon giggled as if he found it pleasant.

    ***

    Minhyuk continued to walk east and trek the mountains, finally seeing a vast expanse of stunningly beautiful grasnd. The ce was located so high up in the mountains that one could feel like they could touch the sky.

    And in this vast and neverending grasnd, Minhyuk saw what he needed to obtain. They were growing beautifully under the sun.

    <em>¡®Ho. There are a variety of vegetables and herbs here. I can see aster, spinach, bean sprouts, bok choy, cabbage, and many more.¡¯</em>

    The sight alone was enough to make Minhyuk¡¯s mouth water. Minhyuk took one cautious step toward the ingredients.

    <em>¡®The Lord of the Mountains.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk thought that Beradon was underestimating him. He started thinking about how he was much stronger than what Beradon believed him to be.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud¨C!</em>

    The ground suddenly shook as heavy thuds rang out. Minhyuk, who recognized the sound, immediately turned toward the direction where it came from.

    <em>BANG¨C!</em>

    ¡°Keuhaack?!¡±

    Minhyuk was sent flying away. At the same time, an unbearable pain washed over him. It felt like all of the bones in his body had been broken. A part of the solid and sturdy Transcendental¡¯s Armor had also been left dented.

    <em>[Your HP has fallen below 87%.]</em>

    Minhyuk was shocked.

    <em>¡®What the hell is this¡­?¡¯</em>

    A simple collision brought him tremendous damage?

    Minhyuk hurriedly rolled on the ground to offset the impact of the collision. Then, he stood up to identify what hit him.

    <em>¡®A cow?¡¯</em>

    It was a gigantic cow. And it even had a horn growing out of its forehead!

    <em>[Lord of the Mountains. Level 786.]</em>

    <em>[If you kill the Lord of the Mountains, the ingredients they own and protect will wither.]</em>

    Minhyuk, who would initially start to drool the moment he sees a cow like this, has never seen one with such a high level before. And from what it looked like, it seemed like the Lord of the Mountains was not something he could eat.

    In a way, the Lord of the Mountains was just a cow. But its eyes shed as it red a warning at Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®Get out of here.¡¯</em>

    The sight of the cow digging the ground with its hind legs looked frightening. But Minhyuk needed the things that it grew and protected over there.

    ¡°Can¡¯t you just let me get some of your things over there?¡±

    The Lord of the Mountains immediately charged at Minhyuk when it heard what he said. After elerating instantly, its speed seemed to be hundreds of kilometers per hour. Minhyuk did not even have the time to react. One blink, and the gigantic cow was already right in front of him.

    Minhyuk hurriedly cast Intangible Sword.

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    The Intangible Sword shed and cut all over the body of the Lord of the Mountains. But from what it looked like, the gigantic cow did not receive much damage.

    <em>¡®It can resist the Intangible Sword, an attack that ignores all defenses?¡¯</em>

    The meaning of those words was simple. The Lord of the Mountains possessed a ridiculously high HP volume to the point that the damage of the Intangible Sword could be neglected.

    <em>¡®Isn¡¯t this guy at a level that is much higher than a boss-rank monster?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk felt he understood what the Lord of the Mountains was like. It was a Named Monster, but it did not have many special attributes.

    <em>¡®In exchange, it possesses an incredibly high HP, defensive, and attack power.¡¯</em>

    Simply put, the Lord of the Mountains was quite simr to Herakel.

    ¡°Like the Wind.¡±

    Minhyuk thought he could use the gap created by the Intangible Sword to escape it.

    <em>Thud¨C!</em>

    But then, the Lord of the Mountains twisted its body slightly and stabbed Minhyuk with the horn on its forehead.

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    Minhyuk, sent flying once again, thought, <em>¡®I have two options.¡¯</em>

    The first option was triggering Absolute Defense. Then, he would get as many ingredients as he could in the seven seconds and run away. The problem was that it was a hazardous method, and he wouldn¡¯t be able to get that many ingredients.

    <em>¡®And it would be a problem if it follows me.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I need to overpower the Lord of the Mountains.¡¯</em>

    The Lord of the Mountain looked like it could destroy a mountain with its body alone. And its level was also high. It was an opponent that was strong enough to force Minhyuk to log out.

    <em>sh¨C</em>

    Minhyuk hurriedly used Sword of Frenzy and sent it again toward the charging cow.

    <em>Ting¨C</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk was speechless by the Lord of the Mountains¡¯ ridiculously high HP and overpowered defensive power.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    The Lord of the Mountains chased right behind Minhyuk after mming into his body.

    <em>[The Lord of the Mountains is going berserk!]</em>

    <em>[The Lord of the Mountains¡¯ speed has increased significantly.]</em>

    The cow, which was already incredibly fast, had grown even faster. After sending Minhyuk flying into the sky, it immediately charged toward him and sent him flying even further. Of course, the damage that Minhyuk had received was less since the impact that he received was less because his body was zipping through the air. But his HP had already fallen so low.

    <em>[Your HP has fallen below 44%.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has fallen by a considerable amount in such a short period. Your body is in shock.]</em>

    <em>[Your bones are fractured. Your movements will be restricted.]</em>

    Minhyuk, who was reduced to such a ragged state, considered another option. How about triggering Cmity?

    <em>¡®If I use Cmity, then the Lord of the Mountains will die.¡¯</em>

    If the Lord of the Mountains died, then the ingredients would wither. This meant that he would receive a penalty for failing the quest. In other words, he would gain little from this option.

    Then, how about using another skill?

    <em>¡®No. I would be beaten before having time to cast my skills.¡¯</em>

    There was one choice that Minhyuk could make in this situation.

    ¡°Summon Hanwoo.¡±

    <em>Thud¨C!</em>

    ¡°MOOOOOOOOOO!!!¡±

    It was to summon an existence that was in a simr form to the Lord of the Mountains.

    The equally gigantic Hanwoo stopped the charging Lord of the Mountains. The skill ¡°Hanwoo¡¯s Charge¡± could help him control his size. If he grew as huge as possible, he could cover a wider area. But that was not the only thing. Hanwoo¡¯s Charge could also be used at that size.

    ¡°Hanwoo¡¯s Charge.¡±

    Hanwoo, who had be as massive as the Lord of the Mountains, charged toward the opponent.

    ¡°Viel¡¯s Puppet Doll. Ego Chain Sickles.¡±

    Minhyuk then summoned the two to try and subdue the gigantic cow.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    The Lord of the Mountains collided with Hanwoo. The force of the collision did not push back Hanwoo. He even started to push the Lord of the Mountains back slowly.

    Then, Viel¡¯s Puppet Doll and the Ego Chain Sickle moved. Viel¡¯s Puppet Doll moved to attack the back of the Lord of the Mountain while the Ego Chain Sickle moved to strike the back of its neck.

    ¡°MOOOOOOO!!!¡±

    Hanwoo roared wildly. The roar stopped Minhyuk, Viel¡¯s Puppet Doll, and the Ego Chain Sickle. It was as if the roar told them they should not interfere in his battle.

    <em>Thud¨C!</em>

    And finally, the Lord of the Mountains staggered from being pushed back. The Lord of the Mountains tried its hardest to fight back, but in the end, it copsed. Hanwoo snorted and returned to his original form, the Bull Demon King.

    Minhyuk, who watched everything on the sidelines, saw the gasping Bull Demon King reach out a hand toward the Lord of the Mountains.

    ¡°It was a good match.¡±

    <em>¡®What the hell is going on¡­?¡¯</em>

    But something far more shocking happened in front of Minhyuk. The Lord of the Mountains, trying hard to catch its breath, started to turn red. Even the ferocious horn as sharp as a trident on its forehead had turned red. Then, with a sh of light, the Lord of the Mountains changed forms and became human.

    The Lord of the Mountains was the same as Hanwoo, who could change into human form whenever he wanted. But what was more shocking was that the Lord of the Mountains was a woman.

    ¡°This is the first time I have met someone of the same race. It¡¯s an honor to meet such a beauty,¡± the Bull Demon King, Hanwoo, said.

    This was the first time that Minhyuk had seen Hanwoo act like this. Then, he saw the Lord of the Mountains¡¯ cheeks grow even redder after hearing Hanwoo¡¯s experienced and practiced words.

    ¡°I¡¯m also very honored to meet you. How about we turn back into cows together, graze, and eat hay over there?¡±

    ¡°<em>Fufu.</em> Why don¡¯t we have a cup(?) of water by the beautiful river beside it? I think that would be perfect.¡±

    ¡°Uhm¡­ Ex¨C Excuse me¡­¡±

    The two cows, going to walk somewhere, turned to look back at Minhyuk when they heard his cautious call.

    ¡°Can I take those?¡±

    ¡°Who is that human?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s my master.¡±

    ¡°You can take them.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Yes¡­¡±

    Minhyuk readily(?) epted the words and harvested all the ingredients he could see. When he saw Hanwoo and the Lord of the Mountains walking somewhere together, he felt happy yet ufortable at the fact that things were quickly resolved.

    That was right. He felt happy yet ufortable.

    <em>¡®Why¡­?¡¯</em>

 Chapter 1028

    Chapter 1028

    <em>Rumble¨C!</em>

    The sounding from Beradon¡¯s stomach was as loud as thunder. He might be starving, but he had a smile on his face.

    <em>¡®Fufu. He¡¯s probably receiving a beating from the Lord of the Mountains now.¡¯</em>

    The Lord of the Mountains had been protecting these mountains for a long time. What Beradon asked Minhyuk to dig were ingredients that had been growing with the nourishment of the power and energy of that Lord of the Mountains.

    The truth was, Beradon had tried countless times to pick some of those ingredients but every single time resulted in failure. That showed how ferocious, strong, and swift the Lord of the Mountains was.

    <em>¡®I could kill it if I wanted to.¡¯</em>

    But there was no reason for Beradon to kill the Lord of the Mountains.

    This test he presented to the young man was by no means easy.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s because the ingredients that grew from the energy of the Lord of the Mountains will wither on the spot the moment it dies.¡¯</em>What if the young man was able to suppress it? Well, Beradon was sure that he still could not get those ingredients. The ingredients would eventually wither if they were forcibly taken from the Lord of the Mountains.

    The young man was the one who was able to resist Beradon''s power. He might just be stronger than he expected. But even if the young man was strong, the only way for him to obtain those ingredients was for the Lord of the Mountains to give it to him willingly.

    ¡°Fufufu!¡± Beradenughed happily.

    However, just ten minutester, he was taken aback,

    ¡°I brought the ingredients.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a bit hot, right?¡±

    Beradon stared nkly at the young man, who was carrying the ingredients in his hands, while two cows who took the form of humans followed behind him with flushed faces.

    ¡°Sir Hanwoo, why is your name Hanwoo?¡±

    ¡°Fufu. Do you know the meaning of Hanwoo?¡± Hanwoo chuckled, his words carrying a deep meaning. And Minhyuk? Heughed awkwardly on the side as Hanwoo said, ¡°My master said that Hanwoo is the best and most outstanding cow.¡±

    ¡°Oh my! That¡¯s so cool¡­!¡±

    ¡°I heard that there¡¯s 1+ and 1++, but my master said that he named me Hanwoo because I¡¯m a great and amazing cow greater than 1++.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s amazing! Excuse me, can you give me a name too?¡±

    Minhyuk was left flustered. He knew that the Bull Demon King would be hurt if he knew the true meaning of Hanwoo 1++. So, he hurriedly racked his brain to find a suitable answer to the Lord of the Mountain¡¯s question and be done with the topic altogether.

    <em>¡®This is the American Server.¡¯</em>

    And based on the American beef grading system, their best and most fantastic beef was graded prime.

    ¡°P- Prime. How does Prime sound?¡±

    ¡°Oh my! Prime, huh? That sounds amazing! What does the name mean?¡±

    ¡°In America, it¡¯s the best tasti¡ª no¡­ It¡¯s the most outstanding and excellent cow on this continent.¡±

    ¡°Thank you! I will return this favor to youter!¡±

    <em>[You have given the Lord of the Mountains a name.]</em>

    <em>[The Lord of the Mountains is delighted with the name ¡°Prime.¡±]</em>

    <em>[Prime¡¯s favor has increased.]</em>

    <em>[The Lord of the Mountains Prime promises to do you a favor once.]</em>

    As he looked at the Lord of the Mountains Prime and Hanwoo standing together, Minhyuk thought, <em>¡®Even so, Hanwoo is still the best.¡¯ </em>This fact remained unchanged.

    Beradon looked back at Minhyuk. He was amazed by how thorough he was.

    ¡°The Lord of the Mountains is one of the few remaining members of the Bull Demon Race. She must have felt lonely because she could not meet any members of her race.¡±

    He thought that the young man named Minhyuk was experienced.

    ¡°I did not expect that you would take advantage of the fact that she is a member of the Bull Demon and win her over with a handsome man.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Minhyuk actually wanted to subdue the Lord of the Mountains. As for the rest¡­ It was taken care of by the Bull Demon King.

    ¡°That¡¯s amazing. You wouldn¡¯t be able to get those ingredients even if you overpower and subdue the Lord of the Mountains. I can¡¯t believe that you can get what I couldn¡¯t from the Lord of the Mountains by using such an out-of-the-box thinking and method.¡±

    Beradon sincerely admired Minhyuk¡¯s ways.

    ¡°I have to acknowledge and recognize you with this.¡±

    This was what Minhyuk had been waiting for. Then, the notifications rang.

    <em>[Beradon has given you a slight recognition.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    Minhyuk looked at the notifications in awe. He thought, <em>¡®This is really cheat-like.¡¯</em>

    And the situation was more cheat-like because it was Minhyuk. The increase in his level once he received Beradon¡¯s recognition was not restricted by the amount of EXP he had in his EXP bar. As long as he received the recognition, his level would increase by one, no matter what. So, whether at Level 1 or Level 500, they would level up by one.

    As someone who stood at the top of the official rankings, Minhyuk received the greatest effect from this.

    <em>¡®At my level, it has be tough to level up. An increase in my level is worth a lot.¡¯</em>

    If he were hunting, Minhyuk would have to hunt regrly for about a month and a half before he could level up. Of course, this was with the exception of boss monsters. So, it could be said that the situation had allowed him to take a huge step closer to Level 700.

    <em>[You havepleted the </em><strong><em>Quest</em></strong><em>: The Thing Protected by the Lord of the Mountains.]</em>

    <em>[You will be able to receive a small lesson from Beradon.]</em>

    But before that, Beradon smiled faintly at Prime and Hanwoo.

    ¡°Even I found the Lord of the Mountains to be a pitiful being. She protected these mountains every day, not knowing whether other members of her race were still in existence. Thinking she was the only one left, she felt unhappy as she continued protecting these mountains.¡±

    Of course, Beradon had been attacked by Prime a few times before. However, the main reason why they did not sh that much was because Beradon cared for the bull demon. So, when he saw the Bull Demon King before him, he could not help but impart a small lesson upon him.

    Beradon could not see through another person¡¯s heart and read their minds at will. However, he had more knowledge than anybody else in the world.

    ¡°There is a ce where the few surviving members of the Bull Demon Race live.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Hanwoo¡¯s eyes grew wide when he heard that. The truth was, the Bull Demon King was not from thesends. He had always been curious about his race. After all, he could turn into a cow or a human at will.

    Then, he met Prime. After sharing a deep and strong love(?) with each other, he asked Prime if she knew if there were still other people from their race. But the female bull demon said that she did not know either. It seemed like the answers they sought were in Beradon¡¯s hands.

    Minhyuk was also interested in their conversation. He thought, <em>¡®There are more beings like Hanwoo and Prime out there?¡¯</em>

    Hanwoo, with his Hanwoo¡¯s Charge, was an excellent vanguard who could wipe out more than 100,000 enemies in one go. After using everything he could use in his cow form, Hanwoo could change into human form and fight again.

    <em>¡®Are you saying that there are more Hanwoos out there?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk already made a scenario in his head.

    During the battle with the Great Luvien Empire! The Beyond the Heavens Empire had far fewer troops than the enemy. However! There is a vast herd of dozens of gigantic cows charging toward the ck sea created by the forces of the Luvien Empire!

    <em>¡®That¡¯s crazy.¡¯</em>

    Of course, Hanwoo was also showing a great interest. He asked, ¡°Are there more people like me?¡±

    ¡°Is that true?¡±

    And the same was true for Prime. Except for Hanwoo, she did not know if there were still others of the same race as her.

    ¡°Let me draw a map for you.¡±

    Hanwoo held the map Beradon had given him tightly, proof of his curiosity about his own race.

    ¡°Originally, there were thousands of bull demons in existence. But a lot of them had died.¡±

    ¡°Who killed them?¡±

    Beradon chuckled at Hanwoo¡¯s question. He said, ¡°That¡¯s something you must figure out on your own.¡±

    Hanwoo was very grateful that Beradon told them this much information. Then, he immediately turned to look at Minhyuk. Minhyuk weed such a development. So, he nodded in agreement.

    ¡°You have my permission.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Your Majesty.¡±

    Not long after, Hanwoo and Prime, with the map in their hands, left.

    Beradon, who was looking at Minhyuk, murmured, ¡°Oh my. So, you¡¯re the Food God.¡±

    Then, he sat on a nearby rock. Then, he continued, ¡°You came to find me because you can no longer grow. All the people blocked by that wall always wanted toe and meet me.¡±

    That was right. Leveling up was the easiest and most typical way for a character to be stronger. However, to achieve a much stronger power than the power gained by just leveling up, one had to grow and develop one''s ss.

    And now, both of Minhyuk¡¯s sses, the Food God and the Battle God, had reached a point of stagnation. For him to unseal more of the power of the Battle God and the Food God, he had to reach Level 700. The problem was that the road to reach Level 700 was far too bumpy, and the process would give him little to no gain.

    What Minhyuk needed was a breakthrough that would allow him to get out of this stagnant period.

    ¡°<em>Fufu</em>. You have been clinging to what has been set for you.¡±

    Minhyuk could not understand what Beradon meant when he clung to what was set for him.

    ¡°Foreigners only grow after following what has been set and decided for them.¡±

    ¡°Do you mean¡­¡±

    Minhyuk still could not understand.

    What has been set and decided for them? It was none other than quests. Completing a high-ranking quest would give a much higher EXP thanpleting an ordinary hunt. It also allowed them to obtain something special, like an increase in stats or a ss-specific artifact.

    Yes, it was just as Beradon said. Minhyuk had been growing bypleting quests. Quests were set by the system. And that was also the reason why he had reached the limits. Although some quests would appear suddenly sometimes, Beradon was still correct.

    ¡°We can just create one of those set things.¡± Beradon smiled faintly. ¡°Just like this.¡±

    <em>[The Growth Cultivator has been activated.]</em>

    <em>[The Growth Cultivator is observing you.]</em>

    <em>[The Growth Cultivator has started to create quests rted to you!]</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

    At this moment, Minhyuk realized that Beradon was the person who could make something even if nothing had been set. In other words, he could create quests that Minhyuk could no longer reach for.

    <em>¡®This is nuts!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was very shocked. The notifications came continuously while he was still reeling from the shock.

    <em>[The Growth Cultivator has started to chase after something rted to the Food God.]</em>

    <em>[The Growth Cultivator has started to chase after something rted to the Battle God.]</em>

    The notifications grew silent for a moment. At the same time, Beradon closed his eyes and muttered, ¡°Hmmm. This is much better.¡±

    Beradon was quite shocked. He did not expect that the Food God would also be the Battle God.

    Not long after, the notifications began to ring once again.

    <em>[The Growth Cultivator is creating something rted to the Battle God.]</em>

    Beradon opened his eyes. Then, a smile that was by no means gentle appeared on his face as he looked at Minhyuk. He said, ¡°As I have mentioned, I have no intentions of taking any more disciples.¡±

    Minhyuk understood what he meant.

    <em>[The Growth Cultivator has started to increase the difficulty of something rted to the Battle God that it is creating!]</em>

    <em>¡®Hey- Hey! This gramps¡­?¡¯</em>

    Then, Beradon opened his mouth again and said, ¡°But if you can aplish this, then I will ept you as¡­¡±

    A sparkle appeared in Beradon¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°...myst disciple.¡±

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[The </em><strong><em>ss Quest</em></strong><em>: Visit to the God¡¯s Prison has been created.]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>ss Quest</em></strong><em>: Visit to the God¡¯s Prison]</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: ss</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: Level 650.</em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: ???, you will be Beradon¡¯s final disciple.</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Failure</em></strong><em>: You will no longer be able to meet Beradon. The level of a random Battle God¡¯s skill will drop by 1. </em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: Visit the God¡¯s Prison. Find Erach, the God¡¯s Prison Warden, and listen to their story.</em>

    <em>¡®...¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was stunned.

    ¡°I did not create something out of nothing.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s ears perked up as he listened carefully to Beradon¡¯s words.

    ¡°I¡¯m just converting something that already exists into something that has been set for you.¡±

    That was right. Not everything could be linked to a quest because it was rted to the Battle God. But Beradon had this overpowered and cheat-like power that allowed him to link something rted to his target into a quest and add rewards.

    That was when Minhyuk saw the ¡°???¡± written in the rewards portion of the quest.

    ***

    President Kang Taehoon, who had finished the third-anniversary announcement press conference, boarded the car and returned with Team Leader Park Minggyu.

    ¡°yer Minhyuk has met Beradon, who can create a foothold for yers to grow further. He will definitely achieve shocking growth during this period.¡±

    He may also obtain greater power that could help him fight against Helenia.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s still not enough.¡¯</em>

    This was what President Kang had concluded.

    But not long after, Minggyu¡¯s eyes widened when he checked his phone. He said, ¡°President. I received a message from Lee Minhwa.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minggyu hurriedly gave his report, ¡°The Teacher, Beradon, has created one quest rted to the Battle God with the power of The Growth Cultivator.¡±

    ¡°<em>Ahem¡­</em> He¡¯s really an amazing NPC.¡±

    NPCs could create quests rted to themselves. But The Teacher? He could make a quest for the Battle God even if they weren¡¯t rted to each other at all.

    ¡°If yer Minhyukpletes this quest, he will reach even higher heights.¡±

    Nevertheless, Kang Taehoon believed that it was just limited to that.

    Then, Team Leader Park opened his mouth again and said, ¡°The quest rewards include ¡®???¡¯ and ¡®Final Disciple¡¯.¡±

    ¡°WHAT?!¡±

    The Teacher would ept a final disciple?! This was very shocking. When he first heard the report, Taehoon thought yer Minhyuk had just received another quest to help him gain a foothold to grow even further.

    Team Leader Park ryed the hypotheses he created based on the message he received from Lee Minhwa. He said, ¡°The quest has ¡®???¡¯ on it, right? Beradon set the rewards. Assuming that yer Minhyuk truly bes his final disciple¡­ then I think he will be able to gain a foothold that will allow him to continue to grow.¡±

    ¡°The reason?¡± President Kang asked, tension evident in his tone.

    Team Leader Park said, ¡°That ¡®???¡¯ written as one of the rewards... there¡¯s a chance it will allow Minhyuk to use ¡®The Growth Cultivator¡¯ temporarily for a few months.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    President Kang Taehoon¡¯s eyes grew wide. A yer would be allowed to ess The Growth Cultivator. Of course, it would be impossible for them to obtain this power permanently. However, as Team Leader Park said, they could still use the skill, albeit temporarily. And if that happened?

    ¡°yer Minhyuk will probably create a variety of quests rted to his sses and charge straight toward Level 700.¡±

    And there was also one thing that they had to take into consideration. The Growth Cultivator was a power equivalent to the Eight Pir¡¯s Disaster.

 Chapter 1029

    Chapter 1029

    Locke, one of the executives of Beyond the Heavens Empire, was a man with a face and a personality(?). And there was one thing in the Beyond the Heavens Empire that he could say he was the best in and was most proud of¡ªit was none other than his body.

    Locke was very proud that no one in the Beyond the Heavens Empire had a body that was fitter than his own. He was a man who only had working out and exercising in his mind.

    He had been dumped by a woman recently. Usually, men would look for soju and get drunk on alcohol when they got dumped. As for Locke, in his sorrow, he ran to the gym. He whipped out his protein shakes and lifted weights, trying heavier ones than usual. Funnily enough, the sadness and frustration of that day allowed him to lift much heavier weights.

    Simply put, Locke was a gym-loving guy who only knew one pattern: game, gym, sleep.

    After finishing his workout, Locke logged back inside Athenae.

    ¡°<em>Hoo. </em>I wonder if anyone would like to work out with me?¡±

    Unfortunately, no one around Locke wanted to join him in his healthy workout routine.

    <em>¡®If I can find people toe and work out with me, then I think I can break down Level 600¡¯s third wall.¡¯</em>

    Sometimes, having apetitor would allow a person¡¯s motivation to burn brightly. While pondering this matter, Locke went to where Bman, the ves, and the prisoners lived. The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ executives would always take turns patrolling and supervising Bman, his men, and the rest of the people they had brought in.

    Locke looked around the area where the prisoners from the Qingdao Kingdom were and listened to their conversations.

    <em>¡®They¡¯re all working very hard.</em>

    All of them were doing their best in their work and studies. And from what he could tell, they were all very grateful for the grace and kindness that the Beyond the Heavens Empire had bestowed upon them. They were all pleased since they were givenfortable and warm homes to live in. They even went so far as to praise the Beyond the Heavens Empire when they saw Locke doing his patrols.

    After checking where the Qingdao Kingdom prisoners were, Locke went to where Bman and his men were. Of course, they were still being exploited by the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    <em>¡®Tsk, tsk. These bad bastards.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had ordered his men to give at least the bare minimum of support to Bman and his men. It was because he said they might have a ce to be of good use. In the first ce, Minhyuk did not pay much attention to them. Of course, the same was true for the rest of the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ executives.

    When Locke arrived, he saw Bman and his almost a hundred thousand men exercising. Shockingly enough, even Bman, who had now be the living dead, was exercising.

    ¡°Take advantage of the break time¡­ continue¡­ exercising¡­ If¡­ you stop¡­ your muscles¡­ will be lost¡­!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    Locke was in awe when he saw the muscles rippling on their bare chests. When he saw one of the guards approaching him, he asked, ¡°What are they doing?¡±

    ¡°The Exploited Ones are only given a short break. But every time, they will rush out of the mines and exercise. They said they will lose their muscles if they ck off or something¡­¡±

    ¡°What about their food?¡±

    ¡°Their three meals daily consist of chicken breasts, sd without sauce, and some fruit. To be honest, it has helped us cut a huge amount from our food costs.¡±

    Locke waspletely ovee with emotion. Many people did not understand him, but he finally found people who shared his views and values.

    ¡°Soon¡­ muscles¡­ strength¡­!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Uwooooooh!¡±

    Then, he heard their roars.

    Locke had a long-time dream. There was this war movie, 301, that was a huge sensation overseas.

    <em>¡®This is Spwarta!¡¯</em>

    It was a film set in ancient times in which strong, muscr, and healthy bare-chested soldiers go off to war.

    Locke could not help but shudder in excitement at the thought of running bare-chested at the vanguard with these people and shouting, <em>¡®This is Spwarta!¡¯</em> It would be a spectacle.

    Locke walked toward Bman, whose muscles were bulging. When Bman saw Locke and his bulging muscles, he seemed to recognize him as someone of the same kind as them.

    However, Locke did not intend to show them any warmth and care. So, he asked coldly, ¡°Bench press, squats and deadlifts. How many can you do?¡±

    ***

    Minhyuk, who received a new quest rted to the Battle God from The Teacher Beradon, could not help but shudder. He was sure that the ¡°???¡± written in the rewards had something to do with the gods inside the God¡¯s Prison. So, just as it was written in the quest description, he had to go to the Land of the Gods and meet Erach, the God¡¯s Prison¡¯s warden.

    But before that, Minhyuk had to fulfill his promise to Beradon.

    ¡°You bastard. My stomach is going to stick to my back now!¡±

    Minhyuk had promised Beradon that he would cook a dish using the ingredients protected by the Lord of the Mountains. He even said he should give him proper recognition if the old man were satisfied with his dish. Simply put, he just used a few words, but he was able to obtain an opportunity to increase his level once more. Because of that, Minhyuk wanted to put his heart and soul into cooking this dish.

    Various colorful vegetables were among the ingredients he had on hand. So, what should he make? The same bibimbap that he had eaten earlier?

    <em>¡®That¡¯s delicious too. But right now, I think something else suits him better.¡¯</em>

    The temperature in the mountains was quite chilly. Parts of the mountains had snow, too, which seemed to bring a greater and more prating chill to the body. There was a dish that used such colorful vegetables while simultaneously warming the body. It was none other than shabu-shabu.

    ¡°I¡¯ll make you some warm soup.¡±

    Beradon¡¯s nose had turned runny from the cold weather, actingpletely unlike his name as The Teacher as he nodded at Minhyuk. Then, he said, ¡°A warm soup. I¡¯m looking forward to it.¡±

    Minhyuk began to cook the dish. There was nothing much for him to prepare. All he needed to do was make the shabu-shabu broth, the vegetables, and the beef.

    He sat opposite Beradon and gently dumped the vegetables into the broth he had prepared. The vegetables included bok choy, bean sprouts, water parsley, and mushrooms.

    When Beradon saw that the broth had already started to boil, he tried to stretch out his chopsticks and pick one of the vegetables.

    ¡°The vegetables are not yet fully cooked.¡±

    ¡°Hmm,¡± Beradon hummed, licking his lips in regret.

    Instead of that, Minhyuk presented him with something better.

    ¡°At this time, it¡¯s not the vegetables but the beef we can eat. All we need to do is nch it a bit.¡±

    Beradon quickly mped a piece of beef for shabu-shabu that Minhyuk had offered him with his chopsticks and dipped it in the boiling soup. It only took a few seconds for the meat to get cooked. Beradon tasted the beef without anything else first.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s warm. And the smooth and soft yet chewy texture tastes excellent in my mouth.¡¯</em>

    With a happy smile, Beradon picked up another piece of beef. This time, he dipped the nched beef in the chili sauce Minhyuk had prepared earlier.

    <em>¡®The spicy yet sweet sauce captures the greasy aftertaste of the beef and bnces it out quite well.¡¯</em>

    While the two were eating the beef, the color of the soup began to change a bit. The beef''s vor slowly seeped into the broth. The best part? The vegetables were now cooked and ready to be eaten.

    Minhyuk picked up some beef along with plenty of vegetables. Then, he dipped everything in the chili sauce and put it in his mouth.

    <em>Munch, munch, munch¨C</em>

    Thebination of the hot broth absorbed by the vegetables, the soft and chewy texture of the meat, and the distinct vor of the chili sauce spread in his mouth and created a delightful harmony of vors.

    ¡°Ho.¡±

    ¡°<em>Munch, munch.</em>¡±

    Their breaths fogged as the two men continued eating the warm dish in the snowy mountains. When they finally reached the climax of their meal, Minhyuk said, ¡°I¡¯ll add some knife-cut noodles.¡±

    He added and cooked some knife-cut noodles in the soup. At the same time, he took out some well-ripened kimchi. Once the knife-cut noodles had been cooked well, Minhyuk scooped some soup and noodles. Steam rose from the noodles as he scooped them into a bowl, handing it to Beradon. Then, he scooped some for himself. After that, he scooped up a huge mouthful of noodles and put them in his mouth.

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuuuuuurp!</em>¡±

    A feast of chewiness erupted in Minhyuk¡¯s mouth the moment he chewed the knife-cut noodles. After eating the noodles, Minhyuk grabbed the bowl and took a sip of the soup.

    ¡°Kyahaa! I feel so warm inside!¡±

    The chill in his body seemed to have melted away. Then, he took another huge bite of the noodles. But this time, it was apanied by a mouthful of well-ripened kimchi.

    <em>Crunch, crunch¨C</em>

    <em>¡®As expected, knife-cut noodles taste best with kimchi.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk smiled happily. When he turned to look at Beradon, he could tell that the man was enjoying himself.

    Beradon, who caught sight of Minhyuk looking at him, said, ¡°<em>Ahem, ahem.</em> It¡¯s edible.¡±

    His words werepletely different from his actions. After all, the old man had been eating the shabu-shabu in a hurry. At this moment, Minhyuk thought that the old man was quite cute.

    Not long after, Beradon ced his bowl down and took a deep breath. ¡°<em>Hoo¡­</em> I can¡¯t eat anymore, though¡­?¡±

    ¡°But there¡¯s still some left?¡±

    They still haven¡¯t put the cherry on top! Minhyuk took a lot of the shabu-shabu broth out before adding rice and egg to the pot to make some porridge. Minhyuk, who had finished his porridge, saw Beradon emptying his bowl quickly as if someone was going to take it away from him.

    ¡°I thought you said you can¡¯t eat anymore¡­¡±

    ¡°<em>Hmph</em>! You brat! You should finish the food on your te. How can so many dishese out from just a single pot?¡±

    There were many reasons why Beradon was so surprised.

    First, he was able to enjoy the taste of meat.

    Second, he was able to enjoy the taste of vegetables.

    Third, he was able to enjoy the taste of noodles.

    And fourth, he was able to enjoy the taste of rice.

    It was an extraordinary yet delicious and delightful dish.

    <em>[Beradon has given you a slight recognition.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    And immediately after that, Minhyuk¡¯s level increased again. In just one day, Minhyuk could raise his level by three. At this point, Minhyuk realized he was at least 5% stronger than yesterday.

    ¡°You¡¯re quite the chef, huh?¡±

    But there was still something left. Beradon had made a promise before Minhyuk went out to fetch the ingredients.

    ¡°Now, please tell me who your two most outstanding disciples are?¡±

    Beradon frowned when he heard the question. It was the beginning of a story that he did not want to reminisce about, but a promise was a promise.

    Soon, Beradon said, ¡°Helenia.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes grew wide. Helenia, who wanted to destroy the entire world, was Beradon¡¯s disciple. He jumped up from his seat and could not help but look at Beradon with an indescribable expression on his face.

    ¡°She has killed a lot of people and tried to take away a lot of things. Were you shocked and disappointed at the fact that I taught her?¡±

    Minhyuk did not know how to answer the question. Perhaps Beradon helped her grow stronger like that, no?

    ¡°I do not discriminate. There is no good or evil in my eyes. I teach anyone qualified to receive my teachings. I may not be evil, but does that mean I only have to teach good people? Who set up that logic?¡±

    Minhyuk could not bring himself to deny the old man. Also, he already knew that nothing good woulde out even if he argued over this.

    ¡°What about your other disciple?¡±

    Beradon smiled faintly as he looked up to the sky. Then, he said, ¡°Athenae.¡±

    ¡°...?!¡±

    The shock that Minhyuk experienced was far more than the shock he received when he heard Helenia¡¯s name.

    Athenae was the Greatest God and was also one of the Eight Pirs. She was the one who ruled everything in this world. That alone was enough to prove how much of a big shot she was. It was surprising to find out she had also been Beradon¡¯s disciple.

    ¡°Can you tell me more about them?¡±

    ¡°You damn brat! You asked me about the two, but I believe we never agreed on that.¡±

    Beradon has no reason to tell Minhyuk their story.

    ¡°Do you think my mouth is so loose, huh?¡±

    Minhyuk shook his head. Beradon¡¯s mouth was indeed a tough one to crack. If he could easily hear the story about Athenae and Helenia, then the entire world could listen to their story just as easily.

    ¡°Enough. You should go. If you¡¯re unable toplete this, don¡¯t even think abouting to see me again,¡± Beradon said as he walked away with his hands behind his back.

    ¡°I will do my best so that I cane to see you again,¡± Minhyuk said, greeting Beradon politely before disappearing on the spot.

    Beradon, who continued on his walk around the mountains, had a severe look on his face. He thought, <em>¡®I know. Many have died because I did not distinguish between good and evil.¡¯</em>

    Thinking that it was thest time, he had epted another disciple. At that time, he felt this disciple of his was stronger than Helenia and wiser than Athenae.

    Beradon looked up to the sky and recalled the disciple he loved and hated most.

    ***

    Team Leader Park Minggyu discussed this with Lee Minhwa on the Special yers Management Team.

    ¡°The yers are in a very festive mood. After all, they have received a 3x increase in EXP Acquisition Rate for an entire month. Even the yers who have achieved Level 600 are working hard to reach Level 650.¡±

    ¡°How many yers do you think will reach Level 650 by the end of this month?¡± Team Leader Park mumbled. He already knew the answer to this question. He just wanted to voice it out.

    Lee Minhwa smiled bitterly. She said, ¡°Maybe around two hundred?¡±

    ¡°Right.¡±

    But would those two hundred yers and yer Minhyuk, the bastion of who President Kang spoke, be able to stop what would happen?

    Of course, just as Minggyu discussed with Taehoon in the car, Minhyuk had received a foothold that would allow him to grow even further. But ording to their calctions, even if Minhyuk became more muscr, it would still be difficult for them to beat Helenia. Team Leader Park could not help but think they still had a long way to go after considering the uing disaster.

    Minggyu stared nkly at the screen, which showed Beradon¡¯s situation. There was a sad smile on Beradon¡¯s face as he looked up to the sky.

    <em>[Crunch¨C crunch¨C]</em>

    The sound of someone walking through the snow of the snowy mountains rang. Team Leader Park jumped to his feet when he saw the face of the man who appeared on the screen in front of him not long after.

    In shock, he could not help but murmur, ¡°Is this another bastion¡­?¡±

    ***

    Beradon, with a sad smile, looked at the man walking up the mountain path. The man looked very handsome, with fair skin and ck hair. He was also one of the Eight Pirs and his third disciple, who left him.

    ¡°It¡¯s been a long time, Obren.¡±

 Chapter 1030

    Chapter 1030

    Obren was born as one of the Six Monster Gods. Unlike most of the Six Monster Gods, who lived up to their names and became monsters, he lived a lonely yet content life surrounded by books for thousands of years.

    At that time, Athenae knew.

    ¨C<em>Obren, that child. He¡¯s more intelligent and more outstanding than any of my other children. Whether it¡¯s the Six Monster Gods or the Absolute Gods.</em>

    Beradon recalled the words of her disciple, Athenae. He remembered the day clearly; Obren, having lived alone for thousands of years, came to see him.

    ¨C<em>I want to protect mankind.</em>

    After meeting Kronad, the popes, and the pdins, Obren wanted to find a way to be stronger. Beradon could feel his noble and gentle heart that sought ways to help him protect Kronad and the rest of mankind from all of the threats and dangers in the world.

    Obren was a talented child with a good heart. Because of that, Beradon epted him. As he taught Obren, he realized that something was wrong. He found something unusual about Kronad and the people Obren wanted to protect.

    ¨C<em>Obren, the scariest thing in this world is mankind.</em>

    Although Beradon told Obren these words, his trust and belief in Kronad and the humans were firm and unshakeable. When Kronad began to create an army to take down the Land of the Gods, Beradon moved to stop Obren.¨C<em>Obren, can¡¯t you see that something¡¯s wrong? Why are humans going against the gods? In the first ce, Kronad just wants to be a god by killing the other gods!</em>

    <em>¨CNo. Kronad definitely has a noble and lofty will. I will protect Kronad.</em>

    Beradon eventually used force to stop Obren to ensure that his most cherished and outstanding disciple would not go the wrong way. However, in the end, Obren pushed him back.

    ¨C<em>I¡¯m sorry, Master. I have to protect them. I promise to find you and apologizeter.</em>

    Obren, who left just like that, had not returned to see him. Then, Beradon heard that Obren was forced to kill countless gods and millions of humans because of a ¡°ughterer¡¯s Dish¡± that Kronad fed him. That was when Obren took on the name Evil God and became one of the Eight Pirs.

    At that time, Beradon wanted to be one of the Eight Pirs, but he eventually gave up. He med himself for being unable to stop his disciple from walking down the wrong path. He did not deserve to sit on such a seat.

    Not long after, Obren disappeared. Beradon heard from someone that Obren had turned into a seasoning jar.

    He would miss this disciple of his from time to time. He missed seeing his disciple smile as he read a book and greeted him with a ¡°Master.¡± whenever he saw himing.

    ¡°Master.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    There was an unknown glint in Beradon¡¯s eyes as he looked at Obren. Beradon had been living a life cut off from the rest of the world. He did not know much about what happened outside.

    Then, Obren said, ¡°There¡¯s something I want to protect again.¡±

    ¡°Ho¨C Hohoho.¡± Beradonughed dejectedly.

    The child, who had turned evil because of his desire to protect someone, came to see him again because there was something that he wanted to protect again.

    ¡°Can¡¯t you choose to live for yourself this time?¡±

    Beradon did not want to see his cherished disciple get hurt once again, and he hated it. He hated that his disciple left and abandoned him because he wanted to protect something. Obren, who left him to protect someone, was subjected to such an incident. But whether it was the past, the present, or the future, this child remained good-hearted and kind.

    When he heard Obren¡¯s bitterughter, Beradon asked, ¡°Alright. So, what are you trying to protect this time?¡±

    Obren answered, ¡°There¡¯s this ce called the Beyond the Heavens Empire.¡±

    Beradon narrowed his eyes and said, ¡°Do you think you can deceive the eyes of this old man?¡±

    Obren smiled bitterly. It seemed like his master could still see through someone else clearly, even after so much time had passed. So, he said, ¡°There¡¯s this person I want to protect.¡±

    ***

    The Athenae Community Site was buzzing. Why? This was all because of the triple EXP Acquisition Rate event that Joy Co. Ltd. has recently announced. Of course, their interest would naturally be piqued, especially after they announced that the top ten yers who achieved the best growth during this period would receive a +5 All Stat Increase Potion. The yer with the greatest growth would receive a +8 All Stat Increase Potion.

    <em>[But if we¡¯re talking about achieving the greatest growth, wouldn¡¯t the novice yers have the greatest advantage? Don¡¯t they get stronger quickly even though they y only for a few days?]</em>

    <em>[Is that so? But from what I understand, the ¡°greatest growth¡± that Athenae had announced would depend on their levels. For example, Even if it is listed as a Level 1 yer increasing their level by 100 and a Level 600 yer increasing their level by ten this month, their ranking would be determined by calcting the total EXP they have umted and how strong they will be. Then, they will be given their rewards appropriately.]</em>

    <em>[Oh.]</em>

    <em>[Ah. Hahahahahaha. I think Minhyuk¡¯s nursing a stomach ache just about now. Hahahahahahaha.]</em>

    <em>[Yep. I think so, too. After all, all yers will receive a 3x increase in EXP and Artifact Acquisition Rate, and he¡¯s the only exception.]</em>

    <em>[Do you think there¡¯s a conflict between Joy Co. Ltd. and the Beyond the Heavens Empire?]</em>

    <em>[It sounds possible.]</em>

    <em>[Woah. But if Minhyuk gets the +8 All Stat Increase Potion, then he will be able to be very strong. shivers]</em>

    <em>[Agreed. But in the first ce, it seems impossible. From what I know, the EXP needed by a God-ss yer to level up is three times the amount required by an ordinary-ss yer. But our Lord, the Food God, also has the sub-ss Battle God.]</em>

    <em>[If you get a sub-ss, you¡¯ll need more EXP to level up, right? And if we add to that the amount of EXP required by the Battle God, then¡­ shivers. Then, does that mean that he needs at least ten times the EXP of an ordinary-ss yer before he can level up? Wow. That¡¯s nuts¡­]</em>

    <em>[How the hell was he able to increase his level to this point? Hahahaha.]</em>

    <em>[Fortunately, Minhyuk has be a king and then an emperor. AFAIK, the EXP level of the kings and emperors will increase a bit every time their territory, kingdom, or empire grows more than the set territory. I think it is some kind of privilege.]</em>

    <em>[Tbh, it¡¯s incredible that he can have the highest level of EXP with that many restrictions.]</em>

    Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>[Huh? Our Lord, the Food God has just leveled up again?]</em>

    <em>[Woah. WTH? What¡¯s he doing right now?]</em>

    Just a few moments after President Kang Taehoon made an official announcement, Minhyuk achieved a ridiculous feat of leveling up twice in a row. Because of that, most yers were left wondering if he was doing some grand quest.

    When Minhyuk¡¯s level increased by one again, everyone was left stunned. Those who like to bite and gnaw at others also began to speak up.

    <em>[Well, it seems like he¡¯s doing a special quest. But guys, no matter what he does, Minhyuk will not be able to be one of the yers who grow the most.]</em>

    <em>[Nope, nope. There¡¯s a way. Pfft.]</em>

    <em>There¡¯s a way.</em> Many yers were interested when they saw those words.

    <em>[He only needs to kill Named Monsters non-stop.]</em>

    <em>[Hahahahahahahaha.]</em>

    <em>[Wow. Look at this guy going all sarcastic.]</em>

    <em>[Leave him be. He looks like he¡¯s feeling a sense of superiority just because he got a 3x EXP Acquisition Rate and Minhyuk did not.]</em>

    <em>[Bros. Why is a Named Monster called a Named Monster? It¡¯s called a Named Monster because it¡¯s rare. Ordinary yers wouldn¡¯t even be able to see one in two months.]</em>

    <em>[*sigh*. Where can we even find Named Monsters to kill?]</em>

    The yers justughed off the ridiculous nonsense spouted by one of the yers.

    ***

    Erach, the former warden of the God¡¯s Prison, talked with the next generation Battle God, who came to find him. Although Minhyuk was the Battle God, he was very polite when he asked about God¡¯s Prison, so Erach exined carefully what the ce was like.

    ¡°Instead of calling it a prison, I think it¡¯s more appropriate to call it ¡®pandemonium.¡¯ The other gods and guards call it like that.¡±

    ¡°Pandemonium?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a very chaotic ce. When you hear the name God¡¯s Prison, you might think it¡¯s only a ce where gods who have done something wrong are locked up. Right?¡±

    Minhyuk nodded.

    ¡°But those locked up inside that ce are not limited to gods. There are powerful monsters, which the gods think are a pain, and gods, who were defeated in a power struggle, imprisoned there. There are so many different beings locked up in that ce.¡±

    <em>¡®Monsters that the gods think are trouble?¡¯</em> Minhyuk thought, a sh of interest appearing on his face.

    The gods were all-mighty. If even these gods thought they were troublesome beings, then it was proof of these monsters'' strength.

    <em>¡®Are they God-rank monsters?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk continued to listen to Erach¡¯s words.

    ¡°Because they¡¯re all locked up in the same prison, it has created a pandemonium. Since they had been locked up in that ce for a long time, they had started gathering and joining forces. Because of that, it had be quite difficult to control the prison. The Battle God and the other gods are very relieved. They ¡®think¡¯ that they would not be able to get out of prison because of Mother Athenae¡¯s absolute power.¡±

    ¡°<em>Think</em>?¡± Minhyuk looked confused.

    This one word meant that Erach had a slightly different view of the prison.

    ¡°I have been inside the prison and have seen those monsters. I strongly emphasized that we must prepare to fight against them and not neglect them like we are doing now. I have told them these words countless times before.¡±

    At this moment, Minhyuk realized that the quest rted to the Battle God that Beradon created for him was rted to this.

    ¡°But the other guards treated me as if I¡¯m a madman. Even the other gods ignored my words. I am sorry to say this, but I am terrified.¡±

    The mere thought of them was enough to make Erach nervous.

    ¡°Remember what I said earlier?¡± Erach said as he walked together with Minhyuk. ¡°The gods, who have been defeated in a power struggle, are also imprisoned in the God¡¯s Prison. Do you think those gods will just continue to stay meekly and count their fingers inside the God¡¯s Prison for all eternity?¡±

    If Minhyuk were in that position, he would not sit still. He would definitely give it his all so that he could get back his power and authority. But it seemed like the other gods remained unbothered because of ¡°Athenae¡¯s Absolute Power.¡±

    <em>¡®No. Rather than ignoring, it¡¯s more like they¡¯re just watching from the sidelines.¡¯</em>

    It was because they were busy. And since they were busy, they did not want to worry about something that had not happened yet. They might be gods, but they were no different from most humans. Perhaps they were thinking that it would be fine as long as it did not cross the paths of their lives.

    ¡°I¡¯m worried. Especially because the previous generation Battle God, Evan, is there. He is the one pushed out of his throne by the current generation Battle God, who is leading the Land of the Gods.¡±

    Minhyuk stopped in his tracks. He seemed to have realized why The Growth Cultivator had created this quest. He felt his breath turn ragged.

    <em>¡®Am I supposed to meet with the previous generation Battle God?¡¯</em>

    He did not know what kind of person the previous generation Battle God was. However, there was a chance that he would open up another path for his growth.

    Then, Erach said, ¡°It would be good if nothing happened. But if something really happened, I think this would be a good chance for you, the next generation Battle God, to establish yourself.¡±

    Yes, that was indeed the case. It was Minhyuk¡¯s job to solve what the other gods did not want to do as they sat on the sidelines.

    Not long after, the two stood in front of a gigantic iron gate.

    ¡°If you go inside, you can meet with the other guards. Since you¡¯re the Battle God, it won¡¯t be difficult for you to go in and see the situation inside,¡± Erach said as he bowed politely. ¡°I don¡¯t ever want to go back inside that ce again.¡±

    After he watched Erach disappear, Minhyuk could not help but feel nervous.

    <em>¡®Perhaps this is the ce with the most strong beings gathered in the world.¡¯</em>

    Many such beings had been trapped inside this ce for a long time.

    Minhyuk carefully opened the gigantic iron gate and stepped inside. The moment he entered, a notification rang in his ears.

    <em>[The power of Athenae dwelling in the God¡¯s Prison is weakening.]</em>

    <em>[Monsters and gods abandoned and turned crazy are about to run out and wreak havoc in the world!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[Danger!]</em>

    <em>[You have entered the dungeon with the highest level in Athenae.]</em>

    <em>[The average level of the prisoners of the God¡¯s Prison is at Level 700.]</em>

    <em>[Your EXP Acquisition Rate will double.]</em>

    <em>[Your Gold Acquisition Rate will triple.]</em>

    <em>[Mobs imprisoned inside the God¡¯s Prison have a meager Artifact Drop Rate.]</em>

    <em>[You can only leave the God¡¯s Prison after you have purified the ce. The only other way to go is to be forced to log out.]</em>

    Then, Minhyuk saw the guards lying in the pool of their blood. They had long turned into cold corpses.

 Chapter 1031

    Chapter 1031

    Minhyuk, who stepped inside God¡¯s Prison, was greeted by a series of notifications. Immediately after that, the quest window popped out in front of him.

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[The </em><strong><em>Linked Quest</em></strong><em>: The God¡¯s Prison¡¯s Lunatics has been created.]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Linked Quest</em></strong><em>: The God¡¯s Prison¡¯s Lunatics]</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: ss</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: Level 650</em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: If you kill more than 40% of the monsters and gods, you can choose one of the four rewards that will be presented to you.</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Failure</em></strong><em>: You cannot enter God''s Prison again.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: God¡¯s Prison has been neglected for a very long time. Inside this prison, many gods and monsters had tried to escape. However, they had been stopped by Athenae¡¯s power and the previous generation''s Battle God, Evan. </em><em>However, the second generation God of Death has taken advantage of the weakening of the power of Athenae dwelling within the prison and used ck magic to make all the prisoners berserk. If you hunt 40% of the monsters and the gods, you can acquire the ¡®Light of Purification.¡¯ Use this to clean up and purify the God¡¯s Prison.</em>

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[You can choose one of the four rewards.]</em>

    <em>[Gold, artifacts, food, skills.]</em>

    <em>[If you hunt more than 40% of the prisoners, your rewards will be better.]</em>

    Minhyuk did not hesitate. He said, ¡°Food.¡±

    After looking at the quest window, Minhyuk realized, <em>¡®Contrary to Erach¡¯s words, the previous generation Battle God has been preventing those who wanted to escape. And it was the second generation God of Death who used his power to make the prisoners of the God¡¯s Prison go berserk.¡¯</em>

    There was also one other thing.

    <em>¡®Obviously, these things happened simultaneously as I entered this ce.¡¯</em>

    In the end, Athenae was a game. Perhaps these monsters and gods were supposed to break out of this dungeon once a yer stepped inside.

    <em>¡®The problem is that it is highly likely that this is a dungeon that a yer should never have entered.¡¯</em>

    In the first ce, this was like a dungeon where one had to hunt gods and god-like monsters. A Level 600 yer couldn''te and enter this ce. But obviously, Beradon¡¯s The Growth Cultivator allowed him to ignore the fact that it was impossible.

    ¡°<em>Chwiiiik¨C</em>¡±

    Then, Minhyuk heard a very familiar sound. This was the sound of the breathing of a monster mainly hunted by yers at around Level 40, an orc. Not long after, the orc appeared in front of Minhyuk.

    <em>[Crazed Orc God. Level 689]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk was shocked. The orc that appeared in front of him looked just like any other orc. It was wearing crude and shabby armor and holding a rusty axe. The blood dripping down its axes was a clear indication that this Crazed Orc God was the one who killed the guards.

    <em>¡®What the hell? The orc has a higher level than me.¡¯ </em>Minhyuk thought, his guardpletely down. Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    The orc swung its axes at a breakneck speed and hacked at Minhyuk.

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 97%.]</em>

    ¡°...?!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes grew wide. He immediately used Like the Wind to avoid another swing of the orc¡¯s axe.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    The axe of the Crazed Orc God created a crack and made the ground shake. The more shocking part? Its axe was covered with a bright white light.

    <em>¡®de energy?!¡¯</em>

    The de energy surged and covered the orc¡¯s axe, just like how one would release energy from one¡¯s sword.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk hurriedly swung his sword and hit the orc. At the same time, a bloody lightning bolt fell from the sky and struck the crazed orc.

    ¡°<em>Chwiiiiiiik!</em>¡±

    But he did not deal heavy damage. At this moment, Minhyuk realized, <em>¡®This ce is beyondmon sense.¡¯</em>

    This was none other than God''s Prison.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeck!¡±

    While Minhyuk was dealing with the orc, a very short monster, and a skeleton monster appeared this time. They were also mobs that novice yers usually hunted.

    <em>[Crazed Goblin God. Level 689]</em>

    <em>[Crazed Skeleton God. Level 701]</em>

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    The goblin¡¯s poisonous needle that shot toward Minhyuk felt as heavy as the arrow from the God of Archery. Minhyuk immediately shook his head to return to his senses and avoid the iing arrow. And when it stabbed through the wall? The wall melted down.

    <em>¡®At this level, it¡¯s really impossible for a Level 600 yer to win, right¡­?¡¯</em>

    The skeleton was even as fast as the Spear God and the Sword God. As for the sword it wielded? It was a very systematic swordsmanship.

    <em>ng¨C ng, ng, ng¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk knew that it would be very exhausting to deal with these three at the same time. Nevertheless, he still limited the number of skills that he used.

    <em>¡®I don¡¯t know what kind of danger is lurking inside.¡¯</em>

    If he used many skills in this state, he might be in dangerter on. So, Minhyuk began to deal with three God-rank(?) monsters with just his basic attacks.

    Thankfully, the passive skill Lightning allowed him to deal damage continuously. And even though the monsters were very aggressive in their attacks, he recovered and maintained his HP thanks to the help of the ughterer¡¯s Absorption.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    ¡°<em>Chwiiiiiik!</em>¡±

    The Crazed Orc God eventually died.

    <em>¡®I think it took ten hits of Destruction before it fell?¡¯</em>

    Once Destruction was triggered, sixteen bloody and powerful lightning bolts would fall from the sky and hit Minhyuk¡¯s enemies. In other words, the Crazed Orc God died only after getting hit 160 times by the bloody lightning bolts.

    <em>¡®Shit. This is really crazy¡­¡¯ </em>Minhyuk thought.

    <em>[You have gained 13,543 tinum.]</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

    Minhyuk was very shocked.

    <em>¡®I only killed one mob, but it gave me over 10,000 tinum?¡¯</em>

    It would be challenging for most yers to obtain 10,000 tinum even if they disposed of all their equipment. After all, 10,000 tinum was quite a considerable sum of money. It was enough to maintain a small territory for an entire five months.

    Minhyuk immediately used Like the Wind to increase the distance between him and the goblin and skeleton so he could check his EXP.

    <em>¡®My EXP value was originally at 11.3%. Now¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>EXP Value</em></strong><em>: 14.5% / 100%]</em>

    <em>¡®Wow¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was in awe. He just hunted a single mob, but his EXP increased by around 3%. Usually, Minhyuk¡¯s EXP value would only increase by 0.01% even after he had hunted five monsters at the same level as him.

    <em>¡®The EXP that I need to increase my level by one is ten times that of the EXP needed by an ordinary yer.¡¯</em>

    The amount of EXP he had just gained by hunting one mob in this ce could be regarded as ridiculously high.

    Minhyuk immediately dealt with the goblin and skeleton.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>EXP Value</em></strong><em>: 20.1% / 100%]</em>

    He only(?) hunted three monsters, but the amount of EXP he received was beyond imagination.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s a high chance that the monsters here are divided into quasi-boss and boss mobs.¡¯</em>

    If that were the case, how much more EXP would these guys give him? Minhyuk turned toward the deeper parts of the prison, still shrouded in darkness. He could vaguely see countless prison cells lining up the walls. And all of them were open. In other words, they had already crawled out of the prison.

    Minhyuk tidied up the bars of the prison cells.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Athenae¡¯s Iron Bars</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Material Grade</em></strong><em>: God</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?Those who received the Prisoner¡¯s Brand of the God¡¯s Prison will burn if parts of this bar touched them.</em>

    <em>?Those who received the Prisoner¡¯s Brand of the God¡¯s Prison will never be able to break these bars even if they hit it. However, due to the weakening of Athenae¡¯s power, its durability also weakened. It only has a durability of 40,000.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: Athenae had instilled her powers inside these iron bars to keep the prisoners inside of their cells. Since a very long time has passed, the power of Athenae dwelling in these bars has weakened, and a significant amount of its powers have been lost.</em>

    Because Minhyuk did not have the Prisoner¡¯s Brand, just as the description mentioned, his body did not burn even after he touched and tidied up the iron bars.

    <em>¡®Originally, these iron bars could never be broken. But after a long time, it has grown weaker and made it possible for the prisoners to break.¡¯</em>

    This was what Minhyuk had concluded. As he looked at the long line of open prison cells, Minhyuk could see many iron bars. These iron bars were outstanding and remarkable materials that he would never be able to get his hands on in Athenae. Of course, its powers were only noticeable for those imprisoned in God¡¯s Prison.

    <em>¡®Maybe these will have some useter.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was an exceptionally clever man. A brilliant idea shed in his mind as he looked at the iron bars.

    At that moment, he caught sight of someone approaching him who seemed to be stumbling on their feet.

    <em>¡®A zombie?¡¯</em>

    But when the figure got out of the darkness, he saw that it was none other than a man. The man was very handsome, but he was very unkempt, and his body was covered with injuries of varying degrees.

    When the man appeared, a shocking notification rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You have met the previous generation Battle God Evan.]</em>

    <em>[You are the next generation Battle God.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1,000 REP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1,000 CHA.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes grew wide. The notifications made him realize that the man approaching him was Evan, the Battle God of the previous generation who was mentioned in his quest.

    The bleeding Evan stopped in his tracks shock evident in his face when he saw another person inside this prison.

    ***

    Evan was the previous generation Battle God. But now? He was just a prisoner locked up inside God¡¯s Prison. Evan was pushed out of the power struggle and lost his position to the current generation Battle God. After that, he was sent to prison because of his wrongdoings.

    At first, he was ovee with fury. How dare they put him inside a prison that was filled with monsters and criminals? Filled with indignation, he sharpened his de every single day. But as time passed, he realized what he was doing was useless.

    Even if he sharpened his de and sessfully left this ce and got back out of the world, he would only go down in history as a lunatic who broke out of prison and killed the gods. At that point, Evan¡¯s thoughts began to change. Instead of sharpening his de for revenge, he thought he should prevent the prisoners from ever thinking about getting out of this ce.

    Of course, not everyone was like him. There would definitely be those who could not let go of their wrath and indignation. The problem was that the previous God of Death was one of them. Although Evan was worrying about this, the God of Death was quieter than he thought.

    However, he was just hiding the sharpness of his de. Suddenly, all of the power of the God of Death poured out wildly from his body and wrapped around the entire prison. Immediately after that, all of the prisoners grew berserk.

    Evan struggled to escape their mad rampage. He even brushed death several times during the process. He knew that they were gathering deep inside God¡¯s Prison. He desperately and frantically ran toward the exit. That was where he met a young man.

    Evan heard from the young man that he was the next generation Battle God. Of course, he also told the man what he knew and thought about what was happening in the prison. Surprisingly enough, the man trusted his words easily.

    Then, he asked Evan, ¡°If we go deeper inside, there¡¯s 150 meters lined up with prison cells, right? Then, there¡¯s another huge door right behind it?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. That huge door is where those who have a much higher level than the prisoners of this area are being kept. Mother Athenae has created the door. So, even if it was hit and attacked, it will not break easily.¡±

    ¡°Then, does that mean they would not feel any shockwaves or vibrations from here?¡±

    ¡°They won¡¯t be able to feel anything at all.¡±

    ¡°So¡­ The previous generation God of Death will not know whatever I do here, right?¡± The next generation Battle God said as he nodded to himself.

    Evan could see that the young man was courteous. When he asked the young man why he trusted him so easily, the young man said it was because of the mission that he received as the Battle God. The mission that he was talking about was the quest. And the young man told Evan it had exined who he was and what he was doing there.

    The young man, who identified himself as Minhyuk, asked, ¡°Then, how many monsters are kept in this ce, not counting those locked up behind that huge door?¡±

    ¡°There must be at least 500 of them.¡±

    Evan saw the delighted smile that shed on Minhyuk¡¯s face when he said those words. But they were in a situation where they had to go through 500 of those monsters before they could reach the door, right? And from what Evan heard, his mission was to purify this ce. So, why was he smiling like that?

    ¡°Boy, have you not experienced it yet? The monsters locked up in this ce are not ordinary monsters. Even the other gods will find it difficult to face more than two monsters we will encounter to get to that door.¡±

    But then, Minhyuk said, ¡°Have you ever heard of the term ¡®Mob Luring¡¯?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Then, Minhyuk exined the term and what he nned to do.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s crazy¡­!¡¯</em>

    Evan tried to stop Minhyuk, but the young man just started to put his words into action. Evan watched as Minhyuk tried to cut Athenae¡¯s Iron Bars. So, he said, ¡°Mother¡¯s iron bars can only be cut and processed if you have DEX equivalent to that of the God of cksmiths¡­¡±

    Evan had not finished his words, but the young man began to detach the sturdy, unbreakable bars from the prison cells. Evan could only watch as the young man did his work.

    Minhyuk tore dozens of iron bars from the prison cells. Then, he melted their bases and connected them to one another until he reached the desired length. After making dozens of long iron bars, he began attaching and securing them to the ceiling and the ground. To put it simply, he created a wall that blocked the inside from the outside. The spaces between the bars were even tighter than the spaces between ordinary cell bars.

    ¡°Wait¡­¡±

    Even so, Evan thought this idea waspletely ridiculous. So, he tried to stop the young man again, but it was already far toote.

    <em>Biiiiiiiiiiiiii¨C!</em>

    The young man triggered a power that dragged the monsters¡¯ aggro to him. At that moment, Evan heard the thunderous footsteps of the hundreds of wandering ¡°God¡±-like monster escapees running fiercely toward where they were.

    Evan gulped dryly, his bodypletely tense as he listened to the sounding their way. On the other hand, Minhyuk stood leisurely, even with a happy smile on his face.

    Not long after, they caught sight of the ck Wolf God, who was running at the vanguard.

    ¡°Grrrrrrrr!¡±

    With drool dripping from its mouth, the charging wolf leaped toward Minhyuk.

    <em>Sizzle¨C!</em>

    But it could not reach Minhyuk. A portion of its body, which made contact with the iron bars that blocked their path, burned and melted off.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaack!!!¡±

    One after another, the crazed monsters began to charge straight toward the iron bars. And what came after? Their desperate screams as their bodies started to burn and melt away.

    All of the monsters they would have to face before they could reach the door deep inside the prison had already gathered in this ce.

    ¡°...¡±

    Evan gulped dryly. It truly went just like the young man nned. Those who had already lost their reasoning charged recklessly toward the iron bars and immediately suffered from mind-numbing pain as their bodies started to burn.

    Although there were monsters with the name ¡°God¡± attached to their names, their intelligence was low. So, in the end, they were tricked into gathering right in front of Evan and Minhyuk.

    The next generation Battle God, Minhyuk, said, ¡°There¡¯s a saying among people like me that goes¡­¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Evan looked at the young man, and then he saw him holding a sword covered with zing ck mes.

    ¡°It¡¯s time to level up.¡±

    <em>Crackle¨C!</em>

    The mes of the Supreme Overlord¡¯s Technique shot out and devoured the remaining monsters that had gathered beyond the iron bars.

 Chapter 1032

    Chapter 1032

    Minhyuk could tell from Evan¡¯s words that the true God¡¯s Prison was beyond that door. Those that were located before that door? They were nothing but small fry.

    He had also determined that no one beyond that door could hear or feel whatevermotion happened in this ce, whether it was a loud explosion or a powerful shockwave.

    That was the main reason they were now seeing countless monsters carrying the name ¡°God¡± flocking toward them and trying to get past the dense lines of iron bars. Minhyuk even used the Supreme Overlord¡¯s Technique to burn these monsters down if they weren¡¯t already burning from the iron bars.

    <em>Crackle¨C!</em>

    A colossal firestorm shot toward the monsters that had gathered before them.

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeeck!!!¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaa!!!¡±

    The monsters screamed violently as their flesh began to burn and melt. Enraged, they charged more fiercely toward Minhyuk, but the iron bars stopped them in their tracks and made their flesh melt even more.<em>Drip, drip, drip¨C</em>

    Once the mes died down, Minhyuk and Evan were greeted by a gruesome and terrible sight. The monsters¡¯ flesh had melted from the fire and the iron bars.

    However, Evan could see that not one of them had died. This was proof of their high vitality and defensive power.

    ¡°See. The damage that you have brought upon these monsters¡­¡± Evan¡¯s words trailed off.

    <em>Crackle¨C</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Evan was shocked. The overwhelming power that the young man named Minhyuk released earlier was triggered once again. The zing mes once again shot toward the monsters and devoured them.

    <em>Crackle¨C</em>

    This time, the zing mes slowly turned the monsters into ashes that disappeared with the wind. When the ck mes disappeared, not one of the monsters was left.

    Evan could only look at the scene in front of him in shock. No matter how strong this young man was, these monsters were considered to be God-rank beings from each of their races. Among them were the Orc God, Goblin God, Werewolf God, Ogre God, and many more. Yet he could kill more than five hundred of them in just one or two attacks?

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk listened to the notifications constantly ringing in his ears.

    <em>[You have gained 11,315 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 15,413 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 12,315 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 17,000 tinum¡­]</em>

    <em>[You have gained¡­ tinum¡­]</em>

    <em>[...gained¡­]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s level increased by three in one go.

    <em>¡®Did the amount of EXP needed to increase my level by one increase significantly with each level up?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk expected to increase his level by at least five with how many mobs were present. But the amount of EXP he would need to raise his level had risen significantly with each level.

    <em>¡®This is really diabolical.¡¯</em>

    Even so, it was still quite a good harvest. After all, it was tough for ordinary yers to increase their levels by three in one go.

    <em>¡®This time, the amount of gold that I have obtained is around nine million tinum.¡¯</em>

    It just went to show how insane the standards of this dungeon were. And Minhyuk? He knew he could not enter a dungeon of this caliber again.

    Then, there were the artifacts. No artifacts had dropped ever since he entered this dungeon.

    <em>¡®In exchange for the insane amount of EXP and gold, no artifacts will drop. I should not expect any artifacts to drop.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk nodded. Then, he checked something else.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Hunt Rate</em></strong><em>: 17%.]</em>

    If he killed the monsters and gods in this ce and reached a 40% Hunt Rate, he could obtain the Light of Purification.

    Minhyuk thought he had already reached 40% at this point, but things seemed more challenging than he thought.

    <em>¡®Well, Grandpa Beradon said he did not ept disciples easily.¡¯</em>

    This meant that he would not create an easy quest. After checking everything, Minhyuk moved to enter the prison''s depths.

    Evan saw this and immediately persuaded him not to continue. He said, ¡°Are you really thinking of going inside?¡±

    Evan admitted that his shocking idea allowed him to hunt all those monsters in one go. But once he went through those doors, he would face not mere orc gods but real gods.

    <em>¡®Of course, there¡¯s no doubt that he¡¯s strong. After all, he¡¯s the next generation Battle God.¡¯</em>

    The position of Battle God was not something one could obtain just because they had excellent skills inmanding and ruling their men. Nevertheless, the fact that he was alone remained unchanged.

    ¡°I believe it¡¯s more appropriate for you to go out and inform the current generation Battle God about the situation inside the prison and ask him to send an army.¡±

    Evan¡¯s words were both realistic and not realistic at the same time.

    ¡°We¡­ We are already at the point where we cannot get out of this ce until we purify everything.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Evan hurriedly looked behind him. Although he could not see it, he could feel a strong force blocking the exit.

    ¡°And I don¡¯t know if the Battle God knows about the situation here or not. But they cannot enter or exit this ce freely from the outside.¡±

    These were nothing but Minhyuk¡¯s guesses. But they were also very realistic. After all, he heard that he would not be able to leave unless he purified the prison or was forced to log out when he stepped foot in this ce.

    Minhyuk walked steadily down the dark path.

    ¡°We have to open that door at the end of this path and go inside.¡±

    Evan could not refute Minhyuk¡¯s words. At this moment, he felt like everything before him had gone dark. He said, ¡°I will be released in 600 years, but¡­¡±

    Aplicated expression settled on Evan¡¯s face. He was once the Battle God who ruled andmanded the world. Then, he became nothing but a prisoner locked up in this dark and dreary prison. At one point, he started thinking about the life he would live once he got out of this ce. He wished to live an ordinary life.

    ¡°Now, all I want to do is live a normal life. Perhaps get married, just like those ordinary human beings.¡±

    The previous generation Battle God Evan had lived for a long time and he was clearly exhausted from such a life. He hoped to live a normal and ordinary life once released from prison.

    ¡°Now¡­ I¡¯m not even sure if I will be able to survive this situation.¡±

    Evan had been imprisoned in this ce for a long time. Over time, his power had weakened. Wasn¡¯t he an Absolute God? But with the situation that he was in now, he was no match for an ordinary god, let alone an Absolute God. Of course, the ones waiting for them behind that door were in a simr state as him. But Evan knew he could not deal with more than three gods by himself.

    A sparkle appeared in Minhyuk¡¯s eyes when he saw Evan like that. He said, ¡°There¡¯s a way to make that happen, you know? You can join me and help me in purifying this ce.¡±

    <em>¡®That¡¯s very easy to say,¡¯</em> Evan thought, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

    But Minhyuk did not stop talking. He said, ¡°I¡¯ll report it to the current generation Battle God, too. I will tell him that the previous generation Battle God Evan fought desperately to maintain peace in the Land of the Gods. He wants to be human, so turn him into a human. Also¡­¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s gaze was focused on Evan.

    ¡°Acknowledge his contributions, cut his sentence short, and let him out of the prison immediately.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Evan¡¯s eyes grew wide. That scenario was not impossible. Of course, that was only on the premise that they could purify this ce.

    His heart started to thump wildly. The remaining 600 years of his sentence would be terminated, and he would be released immediately. Then, he could live the ordinary human life he longed for.

    Then, Minhyuk asked, ¡°So¡­ What will you choose, Evan?¡±

    ***

    Minhyuk knew that The Growth Cultivator had created this quest, which was rted to the Battle God. When he read it, he noticed that it was hinting at Evan.

    Evan was the previous generation Battle God. However, that was a long time ago. And just like the man said, although he still possessed all his powers, they had grown weak.

    <em>¡®Even so, that does not mean that the fact that he was once the Battle God would be null and void, no?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had already noticed that he would be able to obtain a lot of things from here. And Evan? He understood what Minhyuk¡¯s words meant.

    ¡°What do you want?¡±

    ¡°A special skill of the Battle God that only you have, Evan. An artifact that is solely for the use of the Battle God or maybe a reinforcement of an artifact that I own. I want everything rted to the Battle God.¡±

    Evan was once the Battle God. Some of the things he possessed might be worse than what the current Battle God had, but some would definitely be much better. It was like how Rhoando, the Food God¡¯s progeny, had the Ovepping Delight and The Famished One¡¯s Cooking.

    Evan seemed to understand what Minhyuk wanted. The young man wanted something that only he possessed, something that not even the current Battle God had.

    ¡°I have hidden my Battle God¡¯s Sword before I was imprisoned here.¡±

    Minhyuk did not react much when he heard the words ¡°Battle God¡¯s Sword.¡±

    <em>¡®No sword canpare with the Sword of Aeon.¡¯</em>

    That was what he had concluded. Just when he was about to ask for something else, Evan piped up.

    ¡°But I don¡¯t, and I can¡¯t think of the Battle God¡¯s Sword as a real sword.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Confusion settled on Minhyuk¡¯s face when he heard those words. It was a sword, but he could not think of it as a real sword?

    ¡°The Battle God¡¯s Sword can fuse with any sword. Once fused, the attack power and special abilities that the Battle God¡¯s Sword possessed will not be lost. It would even bebined with the sword that it fused with.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes grew wide. This was apletely different concept from reinforcement. There was also the fact that he could fuse the Battle God¡¯s Sword with the Sword of Aeon. In other words, if the Sword of Aeon had 1,000 attack power and the Battle God¡¯s Sword had 200, the resulting sword would have 1,200 attack power once they were fused.

    <em>¡®But that was not all. The skills attached to the Battle God¡¯s Sword can also be used with the Sword of Aeon.¡¯</em>

    This was beyond reinforcement. It was like one sword having the power of two swords.

    ¡°What is the sword¡¯s attack power and special abilities?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not at an overwhelmingly outstanding level. But once it¡¯s fused, everything changes.¡±

    That was the truth. Even if it only had 200 attack power, adding that much to the Sword of Aeon was like allowing the Sword of Aeon, which could not grow anymore, to grow further.

    Evan did not tell him anything more than that. Instead, he talked about the skills the current generation Battle Godcked.

    ¡°Great Sovereign.¡±

    Minhyuk looked at Evan in confusion when he heard the man suddenly say ¡°Great Sovereign¡± out of the blue.

    ¡°That is the special power that I possess.¡±

    ¡°Ah.¡±

    That was when Minhyuk realized the skill was called ¡°Great Sovereign.¡±

    As for Evan, he intended to keep the power of the skill private. All he said was, ¡°You can make your enemies, no matter who they are, immobile for ten seconds.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Minhyuk was shocked.

    <em>¡®It won¡¯t matter who or what they are?¡¯</em>

    It was a big deal that his enemy would be left defenseless and unable to move for ten seconds.

    ¡°And it¡¯s also a Consumable Power.¡±

    A consumable skill meant it wouldpletely disappear after being used a couple of times.

    ¡°But if you can achieve great achievements while we purify God¡¯s Prison, then I can change it and turn this power into a permanent one before I bestow it upon you.¡±

    Evan was also making a deal right now, just like how Minhyuk struck a deal with him.

    ¡°Of course, if you get the consumable version, its duration would be greatly reduced.¡±

    Even so, it would definitely be a skill anyone and everyone would want.

    ¡°But what would you gain if I purified God¡¯s Prison and made great achievements, Evan?¡±

    Evan chuckled. ¡°Then, I, Evan, will gain the reputation of helping the one who achieved great achievements and purified the God¡¯s Prison to protect the Land of the Gods.¡±

    Even if Evan had to leave the Land of the Gods, he wanted to leave it with honor. This was nothing but ordinary greed, something that everyone had. Despite wishing for something like that, Evan thought that he would already be fortunate if he could survive this ordeal.

    ¡°Achieving something great¡­ Will I be able to achieve that if I defeat all of the berserk gods behind that door?¡±

    Evanughed when he saw the young man speak confidently like that. He said, ¡°That¡¯s right. But that will be a hard feat¡­¡±

    At that moment, Minhyuk took out his Food God¡¯s Almighty Tool and various ingredients.

    ¡°Boy, what are you doing?¡±

    Evan could not understand why the boy did something like this so suddenly.

    ¡°If I cook and eat my dish, I will be stronger.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    What kind of nonsense was this boy spouting? He would grow stronger after eating the dish that he cooked? Of course, Evan was aware of buffs. But from what he knew, what the young man wanted to do would only happen if he could eat a dish made by the God of Cooking or the Food God.

    But the moment Evan saw how skillful and excellent Minhyuk¡¯s movements were as he cooked, he realized that he hadpletely missed something.

    ¡°I am the Battle God. But I am also the Food God.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Looking at the shocked Evan, Minhyuk said, ¡°If a great dishes out, then I will be 40% stronger than I am now.¡±

    Evan did not believe the young man¡¯s words. Minhyuk also offered to cook for Evan, but the previous generation Battle God refused.

    ¡°I don¡¯t feel really well right now.¡±

    Evan waspletely tense, caught up in the thought that he would die at any given moment. Even if he was a god, the fear of death was deeply ingrained in his bones.

    ¡°Then, I¡¯ll make two servings for now,¡± Minhyuk said as he continued to cook.

    After he finished cooking, the young man began to eat happily.

    <em>¡®His speed is outstanding. Even so, in a situation like this, how can he¡­¡¯</em>

    How could the young man eat so happily like that?

    <em>¡®Be 40% stronger? That¡¯s ridiculous.¡¯ </em>Evan shook his head. He wondered if the next generation Battle God was just someone filled with hot air.

    Not long after, Minhyuk stood up and opened the door. At that moment, Evan saw something sh from the crack that opened.

    While wondering if Minhyuk was just bragging, he forgot to tell the young man that a hydra would await him once he opened the door. A hydra was a gigantic snake with nine heads. If they failed to cut all of its head within two minutes, all of its injuries would recover, and its head would grow again.

    ¡°This¨C Damn it¡­! There¡¯s a hydra in front of the door!¡±

    But it was already toote. Minhyuk had alreadypletely opened the door. One had to be fully prepared before fighting a hydra. They had to think of a n that would allow them to cut off all of the hydra¡¯s heads within two minutes.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    Then, one of the hydra¡¯s heads shot toward the ground at that moment. Evan¡¯s eyes widened when he saw the thick cloud of dust that bloomed from the impact.

    ¡°Now that I have eaten, I can deal with a hydra within two minutes.¡±

    ¡°...?!¡±

    Evan¡¯s already eyes grew even wider. A hydra was a monster god that even five gods fighting together could not defeat. But Evan saw that the young man only took twelve seconds to cut one of the hydra¡¯s heads and make it fall to the ground.

    <em>[You have cut off one of the Hydra¡¯s heads!]</em>

    <em>[You must cut off the remaining eight heads within two minutes.]</em>

    With two swords in the young man¡¯s hands, it took him another nine seconds to cut off another head.

    <em>[You have cut off two of the Hydra¡¯s heads.]</em>

    Minhyuk flew up and shed at another head five times in a row. This time, it took another twelve seconds.

    <em>[...three of the Hydra¡¯s heads¡­]</em>

    Using Like the Wind and other appropriate skills, he leaped to the sky again and cut off another head. It took eleven seconds.

    <em>Shwaaaaa¨C!</em>

    <em>[...four of the Hydra¡¯s heads¡­]</em>

    ¡°Ego Chain Sickle.¡±

    <em>nk, nk, nk¨C!</em>

    He blew off another head with the help of a sickle with a long chain.

    <em>[...five of the Hydra¡¯s heads¡­]</em>

    Minhyuk jumped fiercely and stabbed his two swords into the center of one of the hydra¡¯s heads. Then, he inserted some force and separated it from its body.

    <em>[...six of the Hydra¡¯s heads¡­]</em>

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    At the same time, the chain sickle moved and cut off the seventh head.

    <em>Fwoosh¨C!</em>

    ¡°Heaven Tearing Sword.¡±

    <em>[...eight of the Hydra¡¯s heads¡­]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s body shed as he ran toward the remaining head.

    <em>Spurt¨C!</em>

    Blood spurted out of the hydra¡¯s neck as half of its neck was cut off.

    <em>[In four seconds, the hydra¡¯s heads will regenerate!]</em>

    ¡°I told you it would be difficult¡­!¡± Evan shouted, his facepletely ugly. This was because the remaining head was only cut halfway.

    But Minhyuk moved with the Ego Chain Sickle and split the remaining half of the neck away from its body. It was as if it was all within the young man¡¯s calction.

    <em>Swoosh¨C!</em>

    <em>[You have cut off all the Hydra¡¯s heads within two minutes.]</em>

    <em>[You have hunted the Mythical Monster Hydra.]</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    Evan felt goosebumps rise on his back as he watched Minhyuk look at the copsing hydra with an indifferent expression.

 Chapter 1033

    Chapter 1033

    Special yers Management Team.

    Team Leader Park Minggyu looked at the monitor and watched the hydra copse on the ground. Then, he said, ¡°yer Minhyuk is the most unbelievable yer in Athenae.¡±

    Lee Minhwapletely agreed with his words.

    Many yers hadughed at the insane amount of EXP, around ten times that of an ordinary yer, that Minhyuk needed to level up. However, the fact that Minhyuk could ovee the ten times EXP requirement meant that the quality of his power was far higher than that of ordinary yers.

    ¡°Even if the dish that he cooks onlyes out as legendary-grade, the power that he could exert after eating the dish could rival that of a Level 800 being.¡±

    This was an undeniable fact.

    Of course, that meant that only some of the dishes he cooked would produce such a grade. But these days, Minhyuk had been stocking up on his legendary-grade dishes and keeping them in his Food Storage Inventory so they would be avable to him in times of emergency. The way he saved them looked different from the way he saved them in the past when his eating addiction was still at its most severe phase.

    A yer whose power had reached Level 800 could not easily deal with monsters at the same level. In the first ce, there was a considerable gap in their HP and defensive power. Named Monsters would have at least three to ten times more HP and defensive power than yers at the same level as them. The fact that more than five yers needed to work together to defeat a single Named Monster was not there for no reason at all.

    Team Leader Park rested his head on the back of his chair. ¡°I never expected that he would meet Evan.¡±Evan was, of course, a Named NPC. And he was a very special NPC. Why? Because he was rted to Minhyuk, the Battle God.

    ¡°The power of the Great Sovereign is divided into three consumable powers.¡±

    It was also a consumable power that only the Battle God could use. And just like Evan had said, he could change it and make it permanent. But a long time had passed since he was a Battle God. Because of that, the only power he could turn permanent was to stun whoever or whatever enemy and render them immobile for ten seconds.

    ¡°Majestic¡± and ¡°regal¡± could be the perfect words to describe the power to stun and render the enemy immobile for ten seconds. Simply put, no enemy could unleash their power in front of the majesty and dignity of the Battle God.

    As for the second power under the Great Sovereign, it could be described with the word ¡°shield.¡± While the third power could be described with the word ¡°sword.¡±

    <em>¡®If Minhyuk can purify God¡¯s Prison to an excellent degree, then Evan will most likely bestow this consumable power to him.¡¯</em>

    Just thinking about it was enough to make goosebumps over Minggyu¡¯s body. The second and third powers under the Great Sovereign were so overpowered and cheat-like that it would not matter if he could only use it once. Why was that the case? Well, the reason was simple.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s because there¡¯s no restriction on the number.¡¯</em>

    It wouldn¡¯t matter if there were hundreds of millions of enemies in front of Minhyuk; these powers would still be effective.

    ***

    <em>[You have cut off all the Hydra¡¯s heads within two minutes.]</em>

    <em>[You have hunted the Mythical Monster Hydra.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 37,540 tinum.]</em>

    These notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears after he killed the hydra.

    When Minhyuk saw the hydra, he thought, <em>¡®The gatekeeper is quite tricky to deal with.¡¯</em>

    He had thought about saving his skills as much as possible, but he immediately used the Dual Swordsmanship Technique to subdue the opponent when he realized that a hydra was in front of him.

    These were the notifications that Minhyuk heard when he opened the door and stepped foot inside:

    <em>[You have entered God¡¯s Prison¡¯s Second Area, right behind the First Area.]</em>

    <em>[Most gods imprisoned in this area have weakened after being imprisoned for a long time.]</em>

    <em>[Because of that, most gods will be unable to trigger and use their active skills.]</em>

    They were very wee notifications.

    <em>¡®If they can use all of their skills, then I will have difficulty dealing with them, especially if three or more godse at me simultaneously.¡¯</em>

    That just went to show how powerful the gods were and how he should not ignore their powers.

    ¡°How many are imprisoned here?¡±

    Evan, who looked at the fallen hydra in shock, turned to look at Minhyuk and said, ¡°There¡¯s at least 200 of them.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s breath stagnated when he heard those words. He had confidently opened the door, but he realized that the number of enemies he had to face was something that he found pretty challenging to deal with.

    <em>[Battle God Evan has bestowed upon you the Godyer¡¯s Brand.]</em>

    <em>[Every time a person carrying the Godyer¡¯s Brand wins and kills a god, their stats and attack power will increase by 0.3%.]</em>

    <em>[Every time a person carrying the Godyer¡¯s Brand wins and kills a god, their skill cooldowns will decrease by 2%.]</em>

    <em>[The Godyer¡¯s Brand will remain in effect for two hours.]</em>

    ¡°This is a brand created by the first-generation Battle God. This power was created so a single person could break through in case the gods tried to rebel andmit treason. But it¡¯s a power that can only be used once.¡±

    The brand he received from Evan was very powerful. The more Minhyuk went wild in this ce, the greater the brand''s effects.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go inside.¡±

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk twisted his body reflexively when he saw an arrow flying past him. When the arrow pierced through the wall behind him, smoke started rising.

    <em>Fwish¨C</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    Even if no one told him who sent the attack, Minhyuk could tell that it was the God of Archery.

    ¡°Why are there three Gods of Archery here¡­?¡±

    Of course, those three Gods of Archery could not use their active skills. Although they could still trigger their passive skills, the fact that they could not use their active skills meant that they had been significantly weakened. Nevertheless, the presence of three Gods of Archery could easily change the story.

    The three Gods of Archery¡¯s eyes had all turned red. It seemed like they had indeed gone berserk.

    ¡°The God of Archery on the left has used immoral tricks to take the position of the God of Archery. The God of Archery in the middle has used unscrupulous means to take the position of the God of Archery on the left.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°It wouldn¡¯t matter how you take on your position and sit on the throne of a god. But if you lose your qualifications, then you will be sentenced for the crimes you havemitted.¡±

    ¡°By any chance, the current God of Archery¡­¡±

    ¡°He also took away the seat of the God of Archery by force.¡±

    The reason why three Gods of Archery were inside God¡¯s Prison had been revealed. And Minhyuk? He was left speechless. He did not expect the gods to act like a discordant family when vying for power.

    Then, at that moment, the three Gods of Archery shot arrows at Minhyuk at the same time.

    <em>Boom¨C!</em>

    The arrows, which looked like long spears, hit Minhyuk in an instant.

    <em>Stab¨C!</em>

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 88%.]</em>

    His HP fell by no less than 12%. Minhyuk immediately narrowed the distance between him and his opponents. Even Evan moved to join the battle. More than five minutes had passed, but their fierce battle was still ongoing. There was no other choice. Minhyuk had to save his skills to fight such a long battle.

    <em>Shwaaaa¨C!</em>

    When one of the Gods of Archery got stabbed in the heart and fell, their battle became easier. After overpowering the two other Gods of Archery, Minhyuk felt that his power grew slightly stronger. This was all thanks to the power of the Godyer Brand.

    <em>¡®After killing three gods, my EXP level has reached 50%.¡¯</em>

    The amount of EXP that he received was truly shocking.

    Minhyuk, who went deeper inside the prison with Evan, cut down fifteen more gods. He had now be 4% stronger than when he first arrived. But the further they went, the more Minhyuk realized something.

    <em>¡®If more than six godse out, we will be wiped out.¡¯</em>

    That was why he wanted to make the most of the Godyer Brand.

    <em>¡®I have to hunt a lot of gods at the beginning.¡¯</em>

    While he was thinking of a way to achieve what he wanted, he caught sight of Evan.

    ¡°Evan, what do you think about the mob luring I did earlier?¡±

    ¡°I believe that it is a brilliant idea. Goodness, seeing you stop the enemies using Athenae¡¯s Iron Bars and sweeping them away immediately was truly a sight. It¡¯s quite groundbreaking.¡±

    ¡°I know, right? To be honest, we can do that again.¡±

    Evan was quite surprised. There were no longer any Athenae¡¯s Iron Bars in this ce. And even though they were all agitated, the gods would not be as stupid as the monsters. So, how could they replicate that?

    ¡°It will be possible with your help, Sir Evan.¡± Minhyuk began to lie with a straight face. ¡°This is an opportunity for you to y a huge role in protecting the Land of the Gods, a ce you once cherished and loved.¡±

    Evan shuddered. He felt happy he could y a considerable role in protecting thend he once cherished and loved.

    ¡°I will make sure to report the remarkable achievements that you make here to the current generation Battle God. What I¡¯m going to ask you to do is not something that anyone can do. Will you help me?¡±

    ¡°I understand! I¡¯ll do anything!¡±

    Evan raised his shoulders and showed a firm determination to do anything. But first, Minhyuk cooked for him.

    ¡°Now that you have seen the effects of my dishes, you can enjoy it now, right?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Evan nodded fiercely. He already knew the young man¡¯s dishes were great, so he did not have to distance himself and refuse him. After eating a simple dish, a sandwich, a series of notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[You have eaten a Sandwich.]</em>

    <em>[Legendary Grade.]</em>

    <em>[All of your defensive power has increased by 18%.]</em>

    <em>[Your AGI has increased by 27%.]</em>

    <em>[Your Movement Speed has increased by 12%.]</em>

    ¡°I can also choose what power to focus on when cooking my dishes.¡±

    Evan was in awe. Then, he said, ¡°What a great ability. But from what I can see, only the ones rted to speed have increased, and there¡¯s no increase in attack power. Why?¡±

    Evan tilted his head in confusion. Then, Minhyuk smiled gently and said, ¡°Yeah, I wonder why?¡±

    ***

    Evan was once the Battle God who led all of the gods. His figure riding a horse and charging forward with thousands of gods behind him had be a legend. Although imprisoned, his stories were spread far and wide and were the talk among many gods.

    But now? The berserk gods were chasing him and were running around like crazy.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    The eerie sound of the wind as the God of Axes swung his axe at him rang behind him, but Evan did not look back and just continued running.

    <em>¡®I was once the Battle God, so why¡­¡¯</em>

    More than thirty gods had already gathered behind Evan. Then, he heard a voice from behind him.

    ¡°Ah. You have to stand out and draw their aggro. Please make sure to shoot arrows at the ones trying to take the aggro away from you. The aggro should be on you, Evan!¡±

    ¡°Ah. R- right! Sorry!¡±

    Evan hurriedly shot arrows using the bow that Minhyuk had given him, using it to draw the attention of the enemies behind him once again. Finally, he ran into a dead end.

    ¡°Now, now. Be careful. Break through their defenses ande my way.¡±

    ¡°I¨C I understand!¡±

    <em>Stab¨C! sh¨C! Bang¨C!</em>

    Stuck in a dead end, Evan tried quickly and swiftly to pierce through the gaps between the gods and get past them. But every time, attacks would rain down on Evan¡¯s body. He could not help but scream from the pain.

    Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°Now, make a huge turn.¡±

    ¡°Alright!¡±

    The obedient bait(?) Evan quickly made a huge turn. And the gods behind him? They also began to make a huge turn and gathered together in a circle. At that moment, Minhyuk used his skill easily andfortably (?).

    ¡°Intangible Sword.¡±

    Hundreds of invisible swords cut down the gods. Then, Minhyuk leaped to the sky and swung his Continent Destroyer Sword right in the middle of the gods. Immediately after that, Destruction made an appearance.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang!</em>

    The ground shook and cracked, catching the gods off guard and rendering them immobile. Minhyuk then began to sh and cut the gods, who were stuck on the ground and killed them very easily(?).

    Minhyuk, who cut down more than thirty gods all at once, hummed as he listened to the endless sound of the tinum acquisition and level-up notifications ringing in his ears.

    ¡°Evan, we have to do it one more time.¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t¨C Can¡¯t we take a break for a bit?¡±

    Minhyuk shook his head. ¡°You are making great achievements in saving the Land of the Gods, Evan. If the current generation Battle God hears about your performance, I¡¯m sure that not only will he let you out of prison, but he will also let you leave your mark in history. You are the main lead in our quest to protect the Land of the Gods right now!¡±

    ¡°I¨C I see.¡±

    That was true. Evan was truly doing a great job protecting the Land of the Gods. Of course, he still could not understand why Minhyuk stood therefortably.

    Then, Minhyuk grabbed his hands and said, ¡°Evan, as the next generation Battle God, vows to inform my sessors of your great achievement in this ce. I will ensure that your name will be known for a long time.¡±

    They would hear about how good Evan was at being bait.

    Evan was overwhelmed with emotion. In the end, he nodded vigorously. And with a flushed face, Evan ran and became bait once again.

    When Minhyuk, who was killing godsfortably, smiled, a notification rang in his ears.

    <em>[You have acquired the </em><strong><em>Title</em></strong><em>: The One Who Bosses Even an Absolute God Around.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk could not understand. Weren¡¯t they doing something beneficial for both parties?

    <em>¡®Athenae¡¯s Title System is really strange.¡¯</em> Minhyuk clicked his tongue.

 Chapter 1034

    Chapter 1034

    The Battle God had been protecting and leading the gods for thousands of years. It was a well-known fact that the current generation Battle God was the one who brought and maintained peace in the Land of the Gods. During his reign, the Land of the Gods was at its most peaceful.

    The Battle God had been sitting in this position for a long time. He had long grown exhausted. As time passed, the current generation Battle God felt like he was making more and more mistakes. So, he believed he should find a new sessor who would lead the gods. But that was not the case for the other gods.

    The Battle God¡¯s Five Generals were gods that the Battle God himself selected. They were as powerful as the Battle God and were chosen to help him lead the gods in times of war. Among them were the God of Magic, the God of Archery, and the God of Martial Arts.

    ¡°Not yet. Please. We hope you can fight for the Land of the Gods longer.¡±

    ¡°The next generation Battle God still has a lot of shorings.¡±

    Many of the gods feared that the current generation Battle God would leave his position. They believed that Minhyuk was still not fit to be the Battle God.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t understand what they¡¯re saying.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was still young. And to top it off, he was also a foreigner. At present, he indeedcked many qualities to be the Battle God. But the Battle God believed that Minhyuk would be able to show his true worth as the Battle God as time went by.

    ¡°Please forgive us for going against your choice, Battle God.¡±The Battle God¡¯s Five Generals bowed in front of the Battle God.

    ¡°I understand why you¡¯re doing this.¡± The Battle God shook his head.

    The Battle God¡¯s Five Generals were the only ones that the Battle God could trust.

    <em>¡®Once you have given your trust to someone, they will risk their lives and jump into the fire pit to protect you.¡¯</em>

    That was just how loyal the Five Generals were to the Battle God. That was why the current Battle God hoped that Minhyuk would be able to win their hearts someday, too.

    <em>Swoosh¨C</em>

    Then, at that moment, the Battle God and the Five Generals turned their heads in the same direction.

    The Battle God¡¯s pupils shook as he thought, <em>¡®I felt the power of deathing from God¡¯s Prison.¡¯</em>

    At this moment, the Battle God realized something had happened inside God¡¯s Prison. The Battle God summoned the Absolute Gods and headed straight toward God¡¯s Prison, stating that it was an emergency.

    <em>Crackle¨C!</em>

    ¡°Ugh!¡± One of the gods groaned as sparks covered the hand that he reached out to open the prison doors.

    That was when the Battle God realized something. He said, ¡°We can¡¯t go inside.¡±

    However, it was evident that something big was going on inside. The God of Searching immediately released his power and slowly let it search the prison''s interior.

    ¡°From what I can see, Athenae¡¯s power dwelling inside the prison has weakened. It seems like they had taken advantage of it. And now, the entire prison is shrouded with the power of the God of Death.¡±

    ¡°Are you saying that they¡¯re trying to break out of prison and go out in the world?¡±

    The Battle God finally realized that the words of the prison warden named Erach were valid.

    ¡°Those guys wille out¡­?¡±

    ¡°If theye out all at once, then it would be too much for us to handle.¡±

    Of course, they were fully aware that the gods imprisoned inside had grown weak after being subjected to their Mother, Athenae''s power, for a very long time. Nevertheless, if all the gods imprisoned inside came out simultaneously, something unimaginable would truly happen. This was mainly because they did not know what the previous generation God of Death wanted to do.

    ¡°Battle God, we need to dere a state of emergency right away and evacuate the celestial dwellers,¡± the God of Cooking said.

    Everyone knew that many of the gods would die to prevent this catastrophe.

    <em>¡®At least 20%,¡¯</em> the Battle God thought as he gritted his teeth.

    ¡°If only we can get inside¡­¡±

    A different oue would definitely unfold if they could just go inside and slowly deal with the prisoners instead of waiting outside until they all came out at once.

    ¡°...!¡±

    But then, at that moment, the eyes of the God of Searching grew wide. He reported in front of all the gods, ¡°Battle God, there¡¯s already someone dealing with the God-rank monsters and fighting against the gods inside.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± The Battle God uttered in shock. Who in the world would fight the imprisoned gods inside the God¡¯s Prison?

    ¡°It¡¯s Lord Minhyuk.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Everyone was shocked. Why was Minhyuk, the next generation Battle God, inside God¡¯s Prison?

    ¡°Impossible. Are you saying he has detected the danger before us and is fighting alone to protect the Land of the Gods?¡± The God of Magic said.

    Well, his words were only half-correct. Minhyuk was sent here by The Growth Cultivator of The Teacher Beradon and enjoyed a leveling-up spree. Of course, he was also fighting desperately to stop the prisoners from breaking out of prison because he was fully aware that they should never be released into the world.

    ¡°That¡¯s reckless¡­¡±

    ¡°But if the next generation Battle God told us that we have to take control and deal with God''s Prison, we will never believe him and even deny his words.¡±

    The gods did not trust the next generation Battle God. However, it was also confirmed that they had always ignored Warden Erach''s words and continued to ignore the situation in the prison.

    ¡°He¡¯s fighting alone for our sake¡­¡±

    The gods were deeply moved. But that was not what mattered right now.

    ¡°Alone?¡±

    ¡°That is very reckless¡­¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s not alone. I can see Evan by his side.¡±

    ¡°The previous generation Battle God?¡±

    ¡°Even so, what can two people do inside?¡±

    Everyone shook their heads and dismissed their actions as ridiculous. Nevertheless, the reality in front of them was harsh and bitter.

    ¡°Minhyuk is moving forward while carrying a heavy burden.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°And he¡¯s doing it for the sake of the Land of the Gods.¡±

    When they heard the words of the Battle God, everyone turned to look at God''s Prison. They all knew that the young man was fighting to solve a problem they had all ignored and turned away.

    ***

    <em>[The Godyer¡¯s Brand is shining brighter.]</em>

    <em>[You have killed more than 100 gods.]</em>

    <em>[Your stats and attack power will increase by 30%.]</em>

    Minhyuk could feel a strong power surging through his veins. When he ate his dish earlier, he could obtain powerparable to a Level 800 being. Now, with the effects of the Godyer¡¯s Brand, an effect that could ovep with any buff effects, he could have powerparable to someone at Level 900. In that he was in, he felt like he could win against any opponent that came his way.

    Meanwhile, Evan could be seen gasping for air. Minhyuk told him, ¡°Now, it¡¯s my turn. Good work, Evan. I¡¯ll take care of it from here on out.¡±

    Minhyuk worked(?) Evan to the bones because he wanted tofortably increase his stats quickly and level up simultaneously. But he did not do it purely because of his greed. He did it so both could escape this ce smoothly and safely.

    Minhyuk checked the Hunt Rate.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Hunt Rate</em></strong><em>: 41%]</em>

    With this, he had safely secured the Light of Purification. But Minhyuk knew that the higher the Hunt Rate, the better the rewards he would receive. There was also the fact that he could increase his level by six during all of this.

    <em>¡®I can¡¯t give up on leveling up and obtaining better ingredients as a reward.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk took a deep breath. Thanks to the Godyer¡¯s Brand, all his skills on cooldown were made avable to him once again.

    ¡°I¡¯ll quickly break through them. Please stay behind me and keep up.¡±

    After one long and deep breath, Minhyuk began to run deeper inside the prison. As he ran, one of the gods appeared to block his path.

    Minhyuk quickly triggered the Dual Swordsmanship Technique. Then, he summoned Viel¡¯s Puppet Doll and the Ego Chain Sickles. The opponent was knocked down in a mere thirty seconds with thebination of the three.

    A few momentster, five gods appeared in front of him. Minhyuk triggered the Sword of Carnage and cut down one of the gods. The attack killed the god and ughtered the rest at the same time.

    <em>[The Godyer¡¯s Brand is shining brighter.]</em>

    <em>[The Godyer¡¯s Brand is shining brighter.]</em>

    <em>[The Godyer¡¯s Brand is shining brighter¡­]</em>

    The more he killed, the stronger he grew. Now, only thirty minutes were left in the two-hour duration of the Godyer¡¯s Brand. So, he had to take advantage of this opportunity.

    <em>¡®He killed ten gods in just five minutes?¡¯</em>

    Evan, running behind him, inhaled sharply at the scene before him.

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh¨C</em>

    Minhyuk continued to run. This time, seven gods appeared to block his path.

    ¡°Supreme Overlord¡¯s Technique.¡±

    <em>Crackle¨C!</em>

    A zing me appeared and swept the gods away.

    ¡°Crazy.¡±

    Right after that, Lightning¡¯s Crazy mode ran rampant and killed everything that dared to block his path. Just like that, Minhyuk got closer and closer to his destination. What was waiting for them at the end of this passage? It was none other than the previous generation God of Death.

    At that moment, Minhyuk thought, <em>¡®I have to hunt as many enemies as possible.¡¯</em>

    This was so he could increase his Hunt Rate and his level.

    ***

    The previous generation God of Death Beagan had conducted experiments on human beings and had crossed a line that he should not have crossed. When his deeds were discovered, he was immediately put on trial and sentenced to be imprisoned for life.

    God of Death Beagan loathed Athenae for imposing such a severe punishment upon him when all he did was experiment on humans. So, he sharpened his de and bade his time. Now, the opportunity that he had been waiting for had arrived. He would now turn the Land of the Gods into a wastnd.

    But a strange bastard appeared and was now trying to ruin his ns. When Beagan first saw the man through his crystal ball, he thought he did not need to care about him. The problem was the deeper the man went into the God¡¯s Prison, the more the brainwashed gods died. And now? The speed at which the gods died was getting faster and faster.

    Beagan was quite shocked when he saw the gods being ughtered at such a fast speed. Of course, he had realized at one point that one of the reasons why this happened was because of the brand that Evan bestowed upon the man.

    Finally, the man reached Beagan''s location. The fifty gods surrounding Beagan jumped straight toward the man.

    ¡°Transcendence.¡±

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    The armor on the man¡¯s body turned ck with a single word from the man. Then, the man jumped among the gods and released a ridiculous amount of force. With every swing of his sword, a god would fall and die.

    ¡°Sword of Tempest.¡±

    A sword carrying an ego appeared beside the man, summoning hundreds of des that flew straight toward the gods. The shock that Beagan felt initially did not disappear as the gods continued to fall under the man¡¯s sword.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk was delighted to see the ridiculous amount of EXP he was gaining and the significant increase in his Hunt Rate.

    At that moment, Beagan said, ¡°So, you were sent by the Battle God.¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    Of course, the Battle God would not let him be. But Beagan was the God of Death.

    <em>Rumble¨C!</em>

    <em>[Resurrection Authority]</em>

    <em>[All of those who died will be revived.]</em>

    <em>[The undead will follow Beagan¡¯s orders.]</em>

    <em>[You will only be able to obtain 50% of the EXP from the undead revived by the Resurrection Authority.]</em>

    The souls of the gods who died under Minhyuk¡¯s de screamed as they gathered around Beagan. Then, with an order from Beagan, their souls turned into the form of skulls until they turned into skeleton knights.

    The fact that they died and got revived meant that they had been significantly weakened. But Beagan was confident that this man would never be able to do anything against more than 300 gods.

    ¡°Huh? So lucky!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s face grew bright.

    ¡°Cmity.¡±

    Then, a sword fell from the heavens and pierced through one of the 300 revived gods. Not long after, swords covered with mes devoured and engulfed all of the revived gods, ughtering them in just under a minute.

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    Beagan hurriedly cast a barrier. But he was left speechless at seeing more than 300 gods dying simultaneously.

    <em>¡®Woah, shit! The EXP I got is amazing!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was in awe. Thanks(?) to Beagan, he obtained a lot of EXP with just one single attack.

    Cmity was a skill that he had to use carefully. He often carefully weighed the pros and cons before triggering the said skill. But in this situation, Minhyuk knew he would gain more using it.

    ¡°You bastard!!!¡± Beagan gritted his teeth. ¡°Did you know how long I have been waiting for this day?!¡±

    He has been waiting for this moment for almost ten thousand years.

    <em>[Sacrifice Authority.]</em>

    <em>[In exchange for sacrificing his life and subjecting himself to eternal extinction, Beagan summons the Gods and the God-rank monsters from Hell.]</em>

    <em>[If you kill the previous generation God of Death, his soul will be destroyed.]</em>

    <em>Creak¨C!</em>

    A massive door appeared and opened right behind Beagan. If he got defeated here, Beagan would no longer be able to avoid extinction. Even so, he did not regret making such a choice.

    The Gods and God-rank monsters who crawled out from the Gates of Hell once dominated the Land of the Gods. They charged straight toward the man when they stepped out of the gates.

    When Beagan saw the man''s desperation, he quickly began to use all of his skills.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    <em>Boom, boom, boom¨C!</em>

    The constant bombardment of attacks ughtered the gods. But the rate at which the gods rushed out of the Gates of Hell was still much faster than the rate at which the man killed them.

    Nevertheless, Minhyuk did not give up. Despite constantly being surrounded by the gods and receiving their attacks, he persisted and fought back.

    ¡°So, you¡¯re doing this to protect the Land of the Gods?¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    Beagan¡¯s words went through one ear and out the other. Minhyuk was too busy and desperate to increase his Hunt Rate and EXP by at least 1%. Also¡­

    <em>¡®The higher the Hunt Rate, the more delicious the ingredient!¡¯</em>

    This thought was enough to motivate the staggering Minhyuk. In the end, Minhyuk¡¯s body was devoured by countless charging gods¡¯ attacks.

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 10%.]</em>

    Despite his shaking arms, Minhyuk continued to swing his sword and cut down the enemies around him.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaah!!!¡± He shouted and used the remaining of his strength to attack his enemies.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s willing to go this far just(?) for the sake of the Land of the Gods?¡¯</em>

    Beagan was in awe. However, the man could no longer handle the charging gods. In the end, he copsed. But even though he was already in that state, he continued to swing his sword to cut one more god down.

    ¡°N¨C No¡­!¡± the man screamed.

    A delighted smile settled on his face when Beagan heard the wretched scream.

    ¡°NOOOOOOO!!!¡± The man shouted in despair. But not long after, his expression changed. Then, he said, ¡°Purify.¡±

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    A bright light burst out from his body, burning all the gods around him.

    ¡°...?¡±

    Beagan looked at the man in shock.

    The man sighed and stood up. Then, he looked nonchntly at Beagan. Beagan had opened the Gates of Hell by using his soul as coteral. This meant that he would die now. Not long after, the light reached Beagan and began to burn his body.

    ¡°<em>Phew.</em> I almost died there.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Beagan could not understand what was happening. He said, ¡°If¨C If you had that power, then why did you look so desperate as if you wanted to protect the Land of the Gods until your veryst breath?!¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    Minhyuk looked nkly at Beagan and said, ¡°I just wanted to try it once?¡±

    Beagan¡¯s death was, in a sense, an actual death. After all, his soul would be destroyed.

    ¡°You little shit! You f*ck!@#!@#!!!¡±

    Then, Beagan¡¯s soul disintegrated.

 Chapter 1035

    Chapter 1035

    <strong>Chapter 1035</strong>

    Minhyuk gave it his all, fighting the gods Beagan summoned from the Gates of Hell. Why? Well, the reason was simple. This was so he could increase his Hunt Rate, get better rewards, and gain more EXP. Since he had already obtained the Light of Purification, Minhyuk was confident that there was no risk for him.

    <em>¡®As expected, those who died from the Light of Purification will not give any EXP.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk could only sigh in disappointment. However, it was also confirmed that he could receive satisfactory rewards.

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[You havepleted the </em><strong><em>Linked Quest</em></strong><em>: God¡¯s Prison¡¯s Lunatics.]</em>

    The Growth Cultivator''s quest originally had the name ¡°Visit to God¡¯s Prison.¡± However, the linked quest was triggered when he arrived, and the name was changed.

    <em>¡®At first, there were two rewards listed.¡¯</em>The rewards were ¡°???¡± and bing Beradon¡¯s final disciple. Minhyuk thought that the ¡°???¡± was written that way because it was rted to Evan. It was probably the power of the ¡°Great Sovereign¡± and the ¡°Battle God¡¯s Sword¡± that he was talking about before.

    Not long after, Evan said, ¡°I have told you that I can make the power of the Great Sovereign be a permanent power if you can purify this ce excellently.¡±

    The ¡°excellent¡± that Evan was talking about was referring to how much Minhyuk could fill his Hunt Rate.

    ¡°Even though you have asked me to do something I have never done before, I can still say that you have done an amazing job.¡±

    ¡°<em>Ahem.</em>¡±

    Minhyuk used the previous generation''s Battle God Evan as bait to lure the gods.

    ¡°In fact, the Great Sovereign is divided into three categories. All of them could only be used once.¡±

    Evan had already told Minhyuk about this. However, he told Minhyuk that he could at least turn the power that would allow him to make all of his enemies fall into a stunned state for ten seconds if he could raise his Hunt Rate to a very satisfactory level.

    ¡°Unfortunately, I cannot make the other two powers permanent. Even so, I believe that they would be able to greatly help you one day.¡±

    Then, the notifications rang.

    <em>[You have acquired the consumable skill: Great Sovereign that the previous generation Battle God Evan possessed.]</em>

    <em>[The Great Sovereign is an extraordinary power that only Evan possessed.]</em>

    <em>[The First Authority. Enemies, no matter who or what, will be left in fear of the greatness and majesty of the Great Sovereign.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Great Sovereign¡¯s First Authority, Overpower.]</em>

    <em>[The Second Authority. He will protect everyone by his side.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Great Sovereign¡¯s Second Authority, Great Sovereign¡¯s Shield.]</em>

    <em>[The Third Authority. The knights serving the Great Sovereign will cut down all enemies blocking his path.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Great Sovereign¡¯s Third Authority, Great Sovereign¡¯s Knight.]</em>

    <em>[When one of the powers of the skill, Great Sovereign, has been activated, you must activate the two remaining powers within ten minutes.]</em>

    <em>[If not activated within the set time, all of the power of the skill, Great Sovereign, will disappear after ten minutes.]</em>

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[The Great Sovereign¡¯s First Authority, Overpower, has been changed. It is now a permanent power!]</em>

    <em>[Overpower, which has been turned into a permanent power, will only be able to exert a weaker power.]</em>

    <em>[You can use the Consumable Overpower Skill once.]</em>

    Minhyuk looked at the notifications one by one.

    <em>¡®Unfortunately, the two other skills are consumables.¡¯</em>

    Although the rewards he received were entirely unexpected, the word ¡°consumable¡± meant it would disappear after being used once. This was why yers did not pay much attention to consumable powers even though they could exert much stronger power. Of course, the same was true for Minhyuk.

    He first checked Overpower.

    <em>¡®No matter how strong the enemy is, they will be ced in an absolute stunned state. The enemy subjected to the greatness and majesty of the Great Sovereign will also fall into a state of fear and terror.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk would be able to use the shocking consumable Overpower skill once.

    <em>¡®This is really crazy.¡¯</em>

    Ten seconds could be considered a very long time on a battlefield. If he could bind his enemies for ten seconds, he would be able to attack them at least forty times. But that was not all. A skill that could stun an opponent was considered way too overpowered and cheat-like, so only a few existed. So, having one that could stun his opponents for ten seconds seemed quite powerful.

    <em>¡®This is a consumable power. And if I activate one of the three skills, I must activate the remaining two within ten minutes.¡¯</em>

    That was why Minhyuk did not expect much when he checked the Great Sovereign¡¯s Shield. After all, even if it were powerful, it would still disappear after one use. But when he finally saw the Great Sovereign¡¯s Shield description, his jaw almost dropped to the floor.

    <em>¡®What the hell is this¡­?¡¯</em>

    Were they telling him that there was a skill that was as ridiculous as this? Minhyuk almost choked on his breath when he read the description of the skill. This power was the Battle God¡¯s power.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s no limitation in numbers. It will absolutely protect all of those who decided to fight alongside the Battle God from one attack.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was truly impressed. This meant that it did not matter if there were only hundreds or even millions of people; as long as they fought by Minhyuk¡¯s side, one of the attacks that woulde their way would be neutralized.

    <em>¡®After defending against one attack, all of their HP and MP will recover by 25%, and their defensive power will increase by 20% for three minutes.¡¯</em>

    The only thing that Minhyuk could say was, <em>¡®Wow.¡¯ </em>At this moment, Minhyuk understood why this power was made into a consumable power. If this power had be permanent, then Minhyuk could have given such a powerful buff to hundreds of allies.

    Then, he checked the Great Sovereign¡¯s Knight.

    <em>¡®Ten of the knights serving and fighting for the Battle God will be surrounded by an absolute barrier for five seconds. Their attack power will also increase by 40%, and they will be given another chance to use their one-shot kill skill again.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was rendered speechless. That was just how crazy the power was.

    <em>¡®If this power had been changed to permanent, even the Luvien Empire would be terrified too, no?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was left in awe after checking the ridiculous power of the consumable skills. Then, he checked Overpower, which has been made permanent.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Overpower</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Active Skill</em>

    <strong><em>Level</em></strong><em>: None</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Use</em></strong><em>: None</em>

    <strong><em>Cooldown</em></strong><em>: 48 hours</em>

    <strong><em>Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?The enemies, no matter who or what will be left in a two-second stunned state before you.</em>

    <em>?Enemies that have fallen stunned will also be given the abnormal status: Fear.</em>

    It was enough to satisfy Minhyuk. No, it was a reward that was powerful enough that one could only dream of having it.

    Then, additional notifications began to pour in.

    <em>[You have achieved an 88% Hunt Rate.]</em>

    <em>[You have set a phenomenal record for the Hunt Rate.]</em>

    <em>[You have exceeded your level and made shocking and notable achievements.]</em>

    <em>[If you can reach more than 40% of the Hunt Rate, the rewards that you will receive will be better.]</em>

    <em>[Your rewards have be better.]</em>

    <em>[Your rewards have be better.]</em>

    <em>[The rewards cannot be made better.]</em>

    <em>[The system is searching for a better reward.]</em>

    <em>[No reward can be found.]</em>

    <em>¡®A reward cannot be found?¡¯</em>

    When Minhyuk heard thest notification, his face grew ugly. He wondered if he could not receive proper rewards andpensation for his troubles.

    <em>[God of Origin Athenae praises you for the achievements that you have made.]</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes grew wide. Minhyuk had met the God of Origin Athenae several times before. She was the most excellent and most noble god. And now? She had directly intervened.

    <em>[She felt ashamed when she saw you jump alone inside God¡¯s Prison, which she had turned a blind eye to.]</em>

    <em>[She praises you for your courage. And as a reward, she bestows the ingredient in her possession upon you.]</em>

    A bright light fell from the sky. When Minhyuk raised his hand toward the light, a white treasure chestnded on his hands. Minhyuk was deeply moved.

    ¡°Athe-llujah¡­¡±

    This was an ingredient personally bestowed upon him by Athenae and might beparable to a Pir Ingredient. There was a high chance that it was very delicious too. This was why he could not help but praise Athenae and scream, <em>¡®Athe-llujah.¡¯</em>

    The smiling Minhyuk hurriedly opened the chest in his hands. His mouth immediately watered when he saw a pork backbone lying silently inside.

    <em>¡®Wow. This would make a perfect gamja-tang, no?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk, still in awe, hurriedly checked the ingredient¡¯s details.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Athenae¡¯s Frenzied Pork Back Bone</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Ingredient Grade</em></strong><em>: God</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>: </em>

    <em>?This is Athenae¡¯s Frenzied Pork Back Bone. You will receive a permanent increase in stats. The effects that you will receive will be determined by how well the ingredient has been cooked.</em>

    <em>?Cooking this ingredient will be moreplicated than cooking any God-grade ingredient. But if you can sessfully cook this ingredient, you are guaranteed to receive at least a +50 permanent increase in your stats.</em>

    <em>?Draining the blood and chopping this ingredient will be very difficult.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: Athenae¡¯s Frenzied Ingredients have the most tremendous power globally. Of course, its taste is guaranteed to be the best, too. However, countless Gods of Cooking had attempted to cook ingredientsbeled ¡®Frenzied,¡¯ and all had failed. Once the ingredient preparation or cooking fails, the ingredient will immediately rot.</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    Minhyuk, who had just shouted ¡®Athe-llujah,¡¯ looked up to the sky and cried, ¡°How can I even eat this, Lady Athenae?!¡±

    ¨C...

    But no answer came. Was this the legendary <em>pie in the sky</em>? ording to the description, countless Gods of Cooking had tried to cook ingredientsbeled ¡®Frenzied¡¯ and had all failed. This meant that this was the most challenging ingredient that had ever reached Minhyuk¡¯s hands.

    <em>¡®Even the Gods of Cooking had all failed.¡¯</em>

    The God of Cooking was one of the Absolute Gods. If someone asked Minhyuk who could make a better dish between him and her, then Minhyuk would, without a doubt, raise her hand. Of course, Minhyuk¡¯s dish would have better buffs. But Minhyuk admitted that the God of Cooking and the Food God were different gods and would have their advantages and strengths.

    <em>¡®If I recklessly cooked this ingredient, then I might lose this precious ingredient.¡¯</em>

    This was a problem in and of itself. After all, he would lose an ingredient that could give him at least a +50 permanent increase in stats when sessfully cooked. This meant that if he could cook this ingredient well, then there was a chance that the effect would be multiplied several times.

    Minhyuk continued to stare at the sky with sad, tearful eyes as if begging for an answer.

    ¨C<em>...</em>

    The problem was that Athenae remained silent. Not long after, the sad Minhyuk received another notification.

    <em>[You havepleted the </em><strong><em>Quest</em></strong><em>: Visit to the God¡¯s Prison. You can now be Beradon¡¯s final disciple.]</em>

    <em>[Only the final reward is left. Go and visit Beradon to receive the reward.]</em>

    ***

    God¡¯s Prison.

    The Battle God gathered the strongest and greatest gods in front of God¡¯s Prison and prepared for battle.

    <em>¡®They¡¯re about to charge out of the prison.¡¯</em>

    Everyone present was on edge.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    Light shed and covered everyone¡¯s vision. When the light disappeared, two men could be seen standing in front of them. Their eyes grew wide when they realized who the two men were. It was because the two men were none other than Minhyuk and Evan.

    ¡°Did you seed in purifying the prison?¡±

    The sad Minhyuk looked at the gods, who had drawn their weapons, and immediately understood the situation.

    ¡°Urk!!!¡±

    Then, as a practiced actor following method acting, he suddenly staggered on his feet.

    ¡°???¡±

    Evan turned to look at Minhyuk in confusion.

    ¡°Haa¡­ Haa¡­¡± Minhyuk gasped for air as he slowly copsed on the ground.

    ¡°There were hundreds of gods that had gone berserk inside. I heard from Erach that there was a chance that they woulde out of prison, so I went inside.¡±

    Minhyuk lied with a straight face. And the gods? They could only cough in embarrassment when they heard his words. It was because they had paid no heed to this matter.

    ¡°I fought the berserk gods desperately. Because if I don¡¯t stop them, they will definitely threaten the Land of the Gods.¡±

    Then, the Battle God said, ¡°So, you fought¡­¡± he nced at Evan, but he continued to say, ¡°...alone?¡±

    ¡°I had to¡­ protect the Land of the Gods. <em>Ugh, heuk!</em>¡± Minhyuk suddenly grabbed his chest.

    <em>¡®But you never received any attack on your chest?¡¯</em> The confusion on Evan¡¯s face deepened, a question mark popping above his head as he looked at Minhyuk.

    But Minhyuk continued his impassioned acting as he cried out, ¡°Hundreds of gods attacked me. Even God of Death Beagan threatened to enve my soul!¡±

    ¡°???¡± Another question mark popped up above Evan¡¯s head.

    ¡°I don¡¯t even know how many attacks I have received. But¡­ I continued to fight Beagan fiercely and desperately.¡±

    Evan tilted his head in confusion.

    ¡°Just so¡­¡±

    Cold sweat dripped down Minhyuk¡¯s forehead. His lips had gone dry, and his eyes slowly closed.

    ¡°...I could protect¡­ for the sake of¡­¡±

    <em>Thud¨C</em>

    ¡°The Land of the Gods.¡±

    Evan continued to look at Minhyuk, who had now copsed.

    The Battle God bit his lips.

    <em>¡®The thing that we have disregarded and neglected¡­ He, alone¡­¡¯</em>

    The Battle God looked behind him. The Battle God¡¯s Five Generals and the elite gods looked at the ¡°hero¡± and the next generation ¡°Battle God,¡± who they did not recognize but still fought silently alone for their sake, with eyes filled with emotion. They felt very moved as they looked at the ¡°Battle God.¡±

    The Battle God nodded lightly at Minhyuk, who had already copsed(?). Then, the Five Generals and all of the gods present nodded as they saluted Minhyuk. Aside from the Battle God, all the gods present looked at Minhyuk respectfully.

    ¡°Battle God.¡±

    The Battle God looked at the Five Generals. Then, they said¡­

    ¡°Even though the next generation Battle God stillcks the qualities to be a Battle God, we can risk our lives to fight alongside, and serve him.¡±

    ¡°We realized that your choice was truly correct.¡±

    ¡°We will jump into the fire pit for him!¡±

    With softness in his eyes, the Battle God looked at the copsed(?) Minhyuk and said, ¡°I also do not regret choosing him.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    And Evan? He just looked at Minhyuk silently.

 Chapter 1036

    Chapter 1036

    <strong>Chapter 1036</strong>

    The yers went on a hunting spree and were in a mad craze. And since the 3x EXP Acquisition Rate for the third-anniversary event also applied to quests, the yers also began to do quests that they did not have the time or couldn¡¯t do until now.

    Of course, the same was true for the executives of Beyond the Heavens. They spent every minute of their log-in time doing quests and hunting monsters and repeated this schedule every single day.

    And since they were rankers at the top, they used their intelligenceworks to get or buy information about Named Monsters. They even formed a team to hunt said monsters. They had been doing their best and even resorted to reducing their sleeping time to hunt more.

    Even the strict Haze had dered that all of the Beyond the Heavens Empire yers should focus and do their best in hunting and doing their quests for a month. Why? Because doing so would further strengthen their empire. Once they returned to Beyond the Heavens Empire, they would bring in the money.

    After hunting the Named Monster called Antaras, the executives returned and gathered in the conference room. They received the report and a briefing of what had been happening in the empire while they were away and were enthusiastically checking how much each of them had grown.

    Then, Genie said, ¡°I was able to level up six times in just ten days.¡±

    Genie shrugged, reveling in her outstanding achievement. Well, it was indeed the case. After all, a Level 600 yer could increase their level by six in just ten short days. Ascar said, ¡°I leveled up by five.¡±

    Khan and Ares shrugged as they said, ¡°We leveled up by five.¡±

    Locke, who was sitting among them, smiled evilly. Then, he said, ¡°Keuhahahahahaha! This body of mine has leveled up by seven times!¡±

    He was hell-bent on hunting to the point that he reduced his sleep to four hours daily. That was why he could not help but straighten up in joy. Having achieved such a feat in just ten days, Locke believed that he could increase his level by fifteen times in total during this month.

    ¡°Locke, you¡¯re the one with the lowest level among us.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t the number of level-ups we get this month the most important?¡± Locke grinned.

    With each passing day, the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ executives all felt they were getting stronger.

    The difference between someone not being able to level up and someone leveling up by one was huge. This was more so the case for high-rankers. The main reason for this was because the power of their skills, titles, and artifacts was attributed to a few percent of their power and was affected by their stats. With each level up, they would receive a slight increase in their stats, increasing the % or even double the effect of their powers.

    While everyone was delighted, Khan said, ¡°What is Minhyuk doing these days?¡±

    ¡°Actually, I don¡¯t know either.¡± Genie shook her head. She had been busy hunting, and the only thing she heard from Minhyuk was that he would leave to get some lessons or something.

    Then, the expressions on everyone¡¯s face suddenly grew solemn.

    ¡°Let¡¯s not make such a huge fuss in front of Minhyuk¡­¡±

    Even the tactless Locke nodded in agreement.

    ¡°He¡¯s the only one who did not receive the 3x EXP Acquisition Rate benefit. He must be distraught. There¡¯s also the fact that he has to umte ten times the EXP an ordinary yer needs to level up.¡±

    They could already imagine how sad and bitter Minhyuk would be if they saw them talking happily about how much they had leveled up.

    ¡°Minhyuk must have already leveled up by at least one now, right?¡± Locke said.

    But Khan looked bitter as he said, ¡°It¡¯s going to be very difficult for him to level up since his level is much higher than ours. When I calctedst time, the difference in the number of monsters at the same level that we need to hunt to level up and the number that Minhyuk needed to hunt was at least twenty times.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s that bad?¡±

    Even if they all hunted monsters at the same level as their own, Minhyuk still had to hunt twenty more times than them to level up. These shocking words made everyone grow silent.

    Genie broke the silence and said, ¡°Alright. Let¡¯s not brag and make anything too obvious before Minhyuk.¡±

    Everyone nodded.

    ¡°What do you mean? What should you not make too obvious?¡±

    Then, Minhyuk came inside after a brief knock. Everyone looked at him in surprise.

    ¡°Ah. We¡¯re talking about Locke¡¯s ugly face. We shouldn¡¯t show it too much.¡±

    ¡°K¨C Keuhahahahahaha! Do you think I have only been ugly once or twice, huh? Don¡¯t p it on my face!¡±

    The panicking executives tried to cover up their words. Minhyuk tilted his head in confusion as he looked at them. But soon, a smile appeared on his face. Then, he said, ¡°Have you all been working hard to level up?¡±

    They were trying to avoid the topic, but Minhyuk brought it up, which flustered and embarrassed them.

    Locke coughed. ¡°<em>Ahem.</em> Well, I was just hunting here and there. I haven¡¯t raised my level as much as I thought I could, Minhyuk.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? But I want to brag a bit since I have greatly raised my level. Would that be too rude?¡±

    He raised his level by a lot? Everyone focused on Minhyuk¡¯s words.

    <em>¡®Minhyuk leveled up by a lot? Did he level up twice?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Wow¡­ He needs to hunt twenty more monsters at the same level as him to level up. If he leveled up by two, that¡¯s equivalent to leveling up by twenty ording to our standards, right?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®And Minhyuk did not even get any 3x EXP Acquisition Rate privilege. That¡¯s quite amazing.¡¯</em>

    Curiosity stained the faces of all of the executives present.

    Then, Locke said, ¡°W¨C What do you mean by rude? It¡¯s just normal bragging between friends. So, how many times did you level up?¡±

    There were still around ten days left, so once Minhyuk left, they would use this as a standard so that there wouldn¡¯t be much of a difference between them.

    Minhyuk shrugged, then said, ¡°I leveled up fourteen times.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Everyone was rendered speechless at that moment. When they made eye contact, they could see the depression and gloom that appeared in each other¡¯s eyes. They said that they should not brag about it in case Minhyuk got depressed, but it was them who were getting depressed.

    ***

    The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ executives had been using all of their time, even going so far as to reduce their sleep, to focus on hunting. Because of that, they failed to know how noisy the world was these past few days.

    On the other hand, many of the yers who had made fun of Minhyuk and said, <em>¡®Minhyuk¡¯s the only one who did not get the 3x privilege!¡¯</em> were the ones who were quick to react to whatever was happening every single day.

    <em>[Hey. The Food God¡¯s level increased by seven today¡­?]</em>

    <em>[The amount of EXP Minhyuk needs to level up is ten times what we need. Where the hell is he?]</em>

    <em>[Yo. You guys said that the Food God¡¯s level will remain stagnant.]</em>

    <em>[Wow. This is fxcking nuts.]</em>

    <em>[But how can he increase his level by that much when he did not even receive the 3x EXP Acquisition Rate?]</em>

    <em>[I think he received a 10x EXP Acquisition Rate because he¡¯s in cahoots with Joy Co. Ltd.?]</em>

    <em>[Hey, hey! Minhyuk is currently ranked number one on the list of yers that have experienced the most growth. At this rate, he might be the yer with the highest level of growth.]</em>

    <em>[Shit. Unbelievable. He has the highest level, and even his ss is ridiculous. So how did he level up by fourteen in just ten days? Joy Co. Ltd. must have something to do with this. I will report this.]</em>

    <em>[+2. Me too.]</em>

    <em>[+3. Me too.]</em>

    Conspiracies about how Minhyuk and Joy Co. Ltd. had an implicit deal began to emerge again. In just a few days, tens of thousands ofints and reports of bugs from Korea flooded Joy Co. Ltd, while hundreds of thousands of reports from overseas flooded it.

    Then, one of the yers said.

    <em>[You shitheads. Minhyuk just did an excellent job in leveling up.]</em>

    This yer clicked his tongue at them. However, the yers¡¯ suspicions did not wane.

    In the end, Joy Co. Ltd. posted an announcement.

    <em>[Ahem. Guys, let me interpret this announcement for you.]</em>

    A yer, famous for tranting and interpreting various apology statements and announcements frompanies, famous BJs, and other personalities, appeared.

    ¨C<em>Good day. This is Joy Co. Ltd.</em>

    <em>[Have you eaten?]</em>

    ¨C<em>This announcement is made because of the recent scaremongering about the rtionship between yer Minhyuk and Joy Co. Ltd. </em>

    <em>In response to the recent controversies and conspiracies, ourpany, Joy Co. Ltd., has gathered and reviewed the data very seriously.</em>

    <em>[Because of you, I was forced to do something annoying and bothersome. Anyway, I have collected the data.]</em>

    <em>¨CWe would like to inform you of the results of our review. There were no bugs involved in yer Minhyuk¡¯s leveling up.</em>

    <em>[Our dear Minhyuk is impressive, right?]</em>

    <em>¨CIf you continue with the scaremongering and the controversies, we will consult with yer Minhyuk and release the video of his leveling up.</em>

    <em>[You guys can¡¯t fxxxing level up, so why are you trying to drag down our dear Minhyuk, huh? Do you want me to show you the data, huh?!]</em>

    <em>¨CWe would also like to inform you that any forms of scaremongering from this point forward will be dealt with legally. Our stance will be firm, and we will not stand down.</em>

    <em>[Anyway, try to speak bullshit one more time, and we will just snap...]</em>

    <em>¨CThank you.</em>

    <em>[Get lost, you f*cking bastards.]</em>

    The very clear and explicit interpretation of the announcement rendered all of the yers speechless. ording to the interpretation, they have all of the data and information on hand and ready. So, if they wanted toe at them, then they should.

    At this moment, all of the controversies and conspiracies were put to rest.

    ***

    Minhyuk stopped by the Beyond the Heavens Empire to listen to the reports and catch up on what happened in the empire while he was gone.

    He had asked the Battle God to release Evan and allow him to be human. Only after giving orders to give Evan a small house where he could live and settle down did he leave to meet Beradon again.

    When Minhyuk reached the forest where they had met, he saw Beradon looking at the mountain he had climbed before with his hands behind his back.

    ¨C<em>You are a Pir, and now, you are also an Absolute God. Do you think you can still be stronger?</em>

    Beradon tried to send back his foolish third disciple. But his disciple did not leave and continued to kneel and wait for several days. At that point, Beradon realized that he could not win against this man¡¯s stubbornness, not then and not now.

    In the end, Beradon gave in. He told him a way where he could protect the one that he wanted to protect.

    ¨C<em>You might die.</em>

    It was an old man¡¯s anxious words to his foolish disciple as he turned away. His disciple nodded, and then he turned to him with a faint smile.

    ¨C<em>I¡¯m not afraid of death. I¡¯m afraid of losing ¡®him¡¯ and the things he¡¯s trying to protect.</em>

    Just like that, his disciple left, leaving only words that implied that he did not truly care for his life.

    <em>¡®The man that you want to protect.¡¯ </em>Beradon turned away from the direction where he had disappeared. <em>¡®Became myst disciple.¡¯</em>

    Beradon could not believe it. He did not want to take in any more disciples because he wanted to rest, so he gave the young man a trial that he would never be able toplete in his current state.

    <em>¡®He must have encountered some kind of opportunity.¡¯</em>

    But even if he did, it was no different from him doing it all by himself.

    <em>¡®I don¡¯t want to lose you.¡¯</em>

    He would ept this disciple mainly because he did not want to lose his foolish third disciple.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m also curious.¡¯</em>

    What kind of power and charm did this man have that you wanted to protect him so much?

    When Minhyuk came back, Beradon turned to look at him. Then, he nodded lightly. Minhyuk greeted him with a bow and showed him courtesy.

    <em>[You have be Beradon¡¯s Last Disciple.]</em>

    <em>[Beradon¡¯s Disciple System will now be applied.]</em>

    <em>[With Beradon¡¯s Disciple System, you will be able to receive his teachings when you are in danger, when there is something that you want to do, or when you are in trouble.]</em>

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[Beradon is now bestowing the reward to the one whopleted the </em><strong><em>Linked Quest</em></strong><em>: Visit to God¡¯s Prison.]</em>

    ¡°I am already old. I no longer have the energy to teach you myself. So, I will give you my power and go over your limits.¡±

    Immediately after that, another notification rang.

    <em>[You have acquired the Teacher¡¯s Authority: Growth Cultivator.]</em>

    Minhyuk was shocked. The Growth Cultivator was Beradon''s power to create a quest rted to the Battle God for Minhyuk. And now, he had gained such a ridiculously overpowered skill?

    <em>¡®I can now make quests rted to myself?¡¯</em>

    This was a very shocking thing. Then, another notification rang.

    <em>[The Growth Cultivator can only be used up to Level 700.]</em>

    Perhaps this was only natural. After all, there was no way such a ridiculous power would be able to be permanently given to someone. If that happened, then the bnce in Athenae would truly and utterly copse.

    Minhyuk immediately checked the details of the skill.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>The Growth Cultivator</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: God</em>

    <em>Active Skill</em>

    <strong><em>Level</em></strong><em>: None</em>

    <strong><em>Mana Required</em></strong><em>: 10,000</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Use</em></strong><em>: -1 Level</em>

    <strong><em>Cooldown</em></strong><em>: 144 hours afterpleting the quest created by The Growth Cultivator.</em>

    <strong><em>Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?You can create quests rted to your ss, level, position, and various other things. </em>

    <em>?You can set the quest rewards rted to your character by yourself. However, the system will measure the rewards based on the quest''s difficulty. If a reward is ridiculous for a quest, the system will change it and set a lower reward.</em>

    <em>?If you fail thrice in creating a quest, you must wait 144 hours before you can use the skill again.</em>

    <em>?You can observe others and create quests rted to them.</em>

    <em>?You can also create quests depending on your position. A territory lord can create territory quests. A king can create kingdom quests. An emperor can create empire quests. </em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: This is the authority possessed by The Teacher, one of the Eight Pirs. This power is said to be equivalent to the Pir¡¯s Disaster skills.</em>

    Minhyuk felt a shudder run down his spine when he saw the part in the description that said it was a power equivalent to a Pir¡¯s Disaster skill. At this moment, Minhyuk recalled his own Pir Disaster skill.

    <em>¡®Cmity and The Growth Cultivator.¡¯</em>

    But whenparing them, Minhyuk thought the Growth Cultivator was still the better skill.

    ¡°The food that you make is very delicious. If you have good ingredients, don¡¯t forget toe and cook for me,¡± Beradon said as he turned around.

    ¡°Master, please wait.¡±

    Minhyuk suddenly recalled this dilemma that was giving him a heartache. What was the dilemma? It was none other than Athenae¡¯s Frenzied Ingredients.

    ¡°There¡¯s something that I really, <em>really</em> want to eat. But¡­¡±

    Minhyuk exined about the ingredient that he had on hand.

    ¡°...no one has ever been able to cook it. Is there a way for me to cook this dish?¡±

    It was an ingredient that even the Gods of Cooking failed to cook. But he wanted to find a way to cook it. Unlike his clueless self, Beradon might know of a way.

    Then, Beradon told him, ¡°How should I know, you brat.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Beradon clicked his tongue. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re trying to depend and lean on me already.¡±

    Beradon shook his head and walked toward the forest with his hands behind his back. He suddenly treated Minhyuk coldly for no reason. But then, Beradon¡¯s voice rang in his ears.

    ¡°By the way.¡±

    The old man looked back at him and said, ¡°If one failed to make it, then why not do it together with someone else?¡±

 Chapter 1037

    Chapter 1037

    Minhyuk did not dare cook Athenae¡¯s Frenzied Ingredients by himself. If he made a wrong move, the ingredients would rot and be inedible and unusable.

    That was why he had been holding off and not touching the ingredient, even though he was very curious about its merits, such as the +50 permanent increase in stats upon sessful processing and cooking and the fact that it had the best taste and vor.

    The biggest problem was that many Gods of Cooking tried to cook ingredients like this, but they all failed. But what Beradon told him, ¡°If one failed to make it, then why not do it together with someone else?¡±

    Minhyuk trembled when he heard those words. There was only one God of Cooking in every era. Even though the Food God used skills derived and developed from the God of Cooking, it did not mean that they were always on good terms. Perhaps that was the reason why they had never tried it.

    <em>¡®A dish created by the two gods.¡¯</em>

    The God of Cooking and the Food God were the two greatest gods when it came to cooking. If these two gods could cook together, it would be incredible.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s a chance.¡¯</em>

    ¡°<em>Tsk.</em> If something deliciouses out,e here.¡±

    Minhyuk bowed politely, then stood up and watched Beradon walk away. He was very grateful to Beradon for solving a problem that he found to be very difficult to solve. With Beradon gone, Minhyuk fell into deep thought.<em>¡®My rtionship with Arlene is not that bad.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s first encounter with Arlene was through a God¡¯s Bet. But if Minhyuk visited her now and asked her to cook with him, the answer that he expected from her would be, <em>¡®I don¡¯t want to.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was sure that she would refuse. Of course, there were plenty of reasons for her refusal. Perhaps Arlene knew how difficult it was to make a dish from this ingredient sessfully.

    <em>¡®The gods hate airing their dirtyundry out in the open. They¡¯d rather die than do so.¡¯</em>

    He did not know if Arlene had ever tried cooking Athenae¡¯s Frenzied Ingredient, but he was very sure that she would not want to show others that she had failed to cook such an ingredient. She wouldn¡¯t even want to leave something that would stain her name.

    <em>¡®What would she get from cooking with me?¡¯</em>

    And even if she decided to cook, the one who would eat the dish would be her. Then, whatpensation should he offer for her troubles? Or should he offer some other ingredients to her? To an Absolute God, money is nothing but a lump of iron. And there was a high chance that she had better ingredients than Minhyuk.

    But Minhyuk just could not give up.

    <em>¡®I really want to eat some gamja-tang with this backbone!¡¯</em>

    He could already imagine it. On a freezing winter day, he would enter a <em>gamja-tang </em>shop and order <em>gamja-tang</em>. He could already imagine how the frost and the chill covering his entire body would immediately melt with one sip of the boiling spicy <em>gamja-tang</em>. And, of course, there was also the thrill that woulde over him once he took a bite of the tender and juicy flesh of the pork!

    The thought alone was enough to make Minhyuk try to do anything to make it happen. As he pondered several matters rted to his quest to get to <em>gamja</em>, he finally reached a conclusion.

    <em>¡®Should I try using the Growth Cultivator?¡¯</em>

    The Growth Cultivator was a skill that would let him know about various things rted to him even without searching for them. The fact that he could create a quest rted to himself and set a reward without any need to search for the quest physically was already of great merit.

    <em>¡®The reward I want is for the God of Cooking to help me cook.¡¯</em>

    Then, Minhyuk suddenly realized the rewards were not good enough for the one-week cooldown.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s a way for me to meet Arlene, talk about this, and induce a quest.¡¯</em>

    And if he could do so, then he would not have any need to use the Growth Cultivator. It was important for Minhyuk to remember that the reason why the Growth Cultivator could be considered to be excellent was because he could set his rewards.

    <em>¡®How can I make it so Arlene will help me cook while giving me amazing rewards?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk continued thinking long and hard about the matter, his thoughts branching wildly.

    <em>¡®If I create a quest aimed at Arlene, she might feel offended.¡¯</em>

    This was highly likely. After all, she was standing still and not doing anything, but she suddenly received a suggestion and an offer she could not refuse. Although she was on good terms with Minhyuk now, Minhyuk could not deny that he would act rudely toward her and offend her if he did that.

    <em>¡®There has to be a way where I won¡¯t offend her, get a lot of rewards, and state a condition that she would cook with me at the end.¡¯</em>

    What could it be? After thinking long and hard, a sparkle suddenly appeared in Minhyuk¡¯s eyes.

    <em>¡®There is a way!¡¯</em>

    However, Minhyuk, who picked his finger, knew that it was a hazardous method.

    <em>¡®I have to present something in return for the rewards I want in case I fail.¡¯</em>

    But if he did not dare to take the risks, then he would not be able to grow further.

    <em>[The Growth Cultivator has started to create quests for you.]</em>

    <em>[Please set the contents of the quest, the rewards, and the penalty for failure.]</em>

    <em>[If you set a reward that is excessive in rtion to the quest''s difficulty, the system will be the one to set the rewards.]</em>

    <em>[If you set an excessive reward and the system chooses to put it, you will receive a reward much worse than what you want.]</em>

    Minhyuk began to create his quest.

    ***

    Land of the Gods.

    The greatest gods, the Absolute Gods, sat in their seats.

    ¡°The Guardian God is not in attendance,¡± one of the Absolute Gods said. But none of the other gods present showed discontent. They did not show much expression to begin with.

    Perhaps it was for the best. After all, the one they were going to discuss right now was someone who could be considered closest to the Guardian God.

    ¡°It is our fault for turning a blind eye and leaving God''s Prison as it is. And we have already released Evan and turned him into a human being.¡±

    Among the Absolute Gods, the Battle God is the only one who can take action first before reporting. Some might be surprised that Evan was released from prison, but none of the Absolute Gods present opposed the decision.

    ¡°But was it alright to leave it as it is?¡± one of the Absolute Gods asked.

    Among the Absolute Gods, a few had made friends with Minhyuk, the subject of their discussion, but there were also some who knew him only through hearsay and had never seen his face.

    ¡°He went to God¡¯s Prison under the guidance of the warden named Erach. Even if he is the next generation Battle God, any god who dared to enter the God¡¯s Prison without reporting deserves punishment.¡±

    This was the truth.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s proper for us to discuss how to praise him. Regardless of his hard work, he has to pay the price of his sin. I believe he should be deprived of his position as the Battle God for three months,¡± one of the Absolute Gods said. This god was none other than the God of Judgment.

    In many circumstances, the God of Judgment could be considered the God of Law. He had sentenced many people and made them pay the price of their sins. He also had the power to pursue and sentence someone, even if they were an Absolute God or even Athenae herself, once they had sinned. It was also well-known that the God of Judgment was a very strict, stubborn, and inflexible god.

    ¡°You¡¯re right. However, depriving him of his position is a bit too much. I think it¡¯s enough to give him a warning,¡± the Battle God said, drawing the attention of all the gods present. ¡°When he got out of God¡¯s Prison, he was soaked with both blood and sweat, and his entire body was littered with injuries. And not only that, you can see the desire and the determination to protect the Land of the Gods even if he had to do it on his own.¡±

    The Absolute Gods nodded.

    Then, the God of Judgment said, ¡°That¡¯s one thing, and this is another. I will send an investigator to look into this matter clearly and thoroughly.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re too obstinate.¡±

    Even so, the God of Judgment refused topromise. But then, at that moment, a notification rang in their ears.

    <em>[The next generation Battle God offers a bet to the Absolute Gods.]</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Shock appeared on everyone¡¯s faces. What nonsense did they just hear? Minhyuk had offered a bet?

    Since ancient times, the gods have offered once-in-a-lifetime bets to outstanding humans. It was like how the God of Cooking and the God of Will offered Minhyuk bets. But this was the first time a human had offered them a bet.

    ¡°Was it even possible for him to offer us a bet?¡± The God of Cooking said, embarrassment evident in her tone.

    Some of the Absolute Gods had unpleasant looks on their faces, while some had interest shing on their faces. And the Battle God, standing among them, thought, <em>¡®What in the world are you thinking?¡¯</em>

    He just could not understand. It was evident that not all of the Absolute Gods liked Minhyuk.

    <em>[The next generation Battle God suggests apetition where they will make food to serve the Absolute Gods.]</em>

    The Absolute Gods looked puzzled andpletely clueless about where this was going. Their difort from receiving a bet had disappeared because it had now turned into being treated as a meal.

    That was right. Minhyuk, who offered the bet, was leading the situation so that he would not offend the Absolute Gods. Immediately after that, another set of notifications came in.

    <em>[The suggested cooking period is one month, equivalent to one day in the Land of Swift Passage of Time.]</em>

    <em>[Inside the Land of Swift Passage of Time, you can decide the cooking process.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Cooking and the Battle God willpete through cooking.]</em>

    <em>[If the Absolute Gods acknowledge and praise the Battle God, he will grow one step further.]</em>

    <em>[If the Battle God disappoints the Absolute Gods, he will receive a penalty. His power will fall as a penalty for suggesting a bet.]</em>

    <em>[If all of the Absolute Gods acknowledge and praise him, then the Battle God will tell you one thing he wants from you.]</em>

    <em>[If the Battle God fails to receive more than five acknowledgments and recognitions from the Absolute Gods, the Battle God will ept something that you as long as it is within reason.]</em>

    <em>[Do you ept?]</em>

    The Absolute Gods looked at each other. This bet was not made because the next generation Battle God must ¡°win¡± against the God of Cooking. It was just about getting their recognition during the cooking process or after the finished dish.

    And if he did not receive more than five acknowledgments and recognitions, he would have to pay the sin of daring to suggest a bet with the Absolute Gods. His power would decrease as long as someone did not acknowledge him. But there was one crucial thing.

    <em>¡®The Battle God has to obtain the absolute support of the Absolute Gods.¡¯</em>

    The support of the other gods was important, but nothing was more important than the support of the Absolute Gods. Right now, Minhyuk was trying to capture and win the hearts of all of the Absolute Gods, including the hearts of stubborn and tricky gods like the God of Judgment, in one bet.

    The Battle God looked at the other Absolute Gods.

    From what he could see from their expressions, it did not look like they weren¡¯t really against being treated to a meal. Aside from choosing how the cooking process would happen inside the Land of Swift Passage of Time, they could also knock his power down by a peg if they did not like it. On the other hand, if all of them acknowledged him, then they must do one thing that he wanted.

    It sounded like they were being set up in a trap. But would all of the Absolute Gods acknowledge him?

    <em>¡®That¡¯s impossible.¡¯</em>

    Why was that the case? The Battle God turned to look at the God of Judgment. Even if the others acknowledged Minhyuk, the God of Judgment would not recognize or believe him.

    Everyone nodded. Then, the Battle God said, ¡°We ept the bet.¡±

    ***

    <em>[The Absolute Gods have epted the bet.]</em>

    <em>[You will be transferred to the Land of the Gods in thirty minutes.]</em>

    Minhyuk smiled in satisfaction. He had deliberately created a quest to make a bet with the Absolute Gods and set up a system where each recognition and acknowledgment he received from them would result in a reward. Not only would he receive rewards after all of the Absolute Gods have recognized him, but he would also ask the God of Cooking to help him cook the Frenzied Ingredient.

    The reward for the quest was set ording to the level of difficulty of the quest. Minhyuk had put it so the rewards would be given depending on the individual¡¯s recognition. The recognition and acknowledgment that he would receive from the Absolute Gods would vary from a small recognition to a great recognition. As such, the rewards would also vary.

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods, the God that Lives for Someone, Leads Someone on the Right Path and Protects Someone. The Guardian God has acknowledged you.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    When one of the Absolute Gods acknowledged and recognized him, he would receive the reward of leveling up.

 Chapter 1038

    Chapter 1038

    <strong>Chapter 1038</strong>

    Guardian God Obren, one of the Absolute Gods, was smiling when he heard the notification about Minhyuk offering a bet to the other Absolute Gods. The moment the notifications ended, Obren immediately acknowledged Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®Because you¡¯re the only man I have and will ever acknowledge.¡¯</em>

    Obren smiled. But the smile was short-lived. His face turned ugly as pain surged all over his body. He was leaning against a rock with his now tattered and injured body.

    His master, Beradon, told him.

    ¨C<em>Obren, you have already surpassed me. I don¡¯t know of a way to make you even stronger than that.</em>

    Beradon was not an absolute being. He did not know how to help others grow, especially in Obren¡¯s case, whose power had already surpassed Beradon¡¯s. But even though Beradon was not necessarily strong, he could find answers to what they wanted to know.

    ¨C<em>If you want to protect him, then shouldn¡¯t you protect him together?</em>At first, Obren did not understand what Beradon meant. But after being pushed to his limits by bing an Absolute God as one of the Eight Pirs, he could still understand it.

    ¡°Certainly, it would be tough for us to handle even if we¡¯re standing side by side.¡±

    Obren looked at the Colossal Brothers, beings that came from the myths, in front of him. Both the Colossal Brothers possessed powers that could rival the gods. But when the two came together, they could reduce Obren to this state.

    What did the words ¡°came together¡± mean? It meant ¡°fusion.¡± The two brothers fused until they became a single body. Of course, just because the two Colossal Brothers fused and became one did not mean their level suddenly reached Level 1,600. But their fusion gave them the power to overpower Guardian God Obren.

    <em>¡®I won¡¯t let it end this easily.¡¯</em>

    Obren was already covered with blood and gasping for breath. But Obren still had a hidden card up his sleeve. Obren hurriedly triggered his hidden card as the Colossal Brothers slowly approached him.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    Lightning fell from the sky, its bright light temporarily blinding the fused Colossal Brothers.

    <em>Swoosh¨C!</em>

    And when the light disappeared, Obren had already run away.

    <em>¡®I won¡¯t give up, Minhyuk.¡¯</em>

    Once he recovered, he woulde back to rechallenge the Colossal Brothers. He would continue to do so until he won, even if it meant trying hundreds or even thousands of times.

    ***

    ¡°I freaking love this!¡± Minhyuk shouted, a smile of delight settling on his face at the free and easy level-up he got from Guardian God Obren¡¯s acknowledgement.

    He was now at Level 680. If he received the acknowledgement and recognition of all of the Absolute Gods, he could achieve Level 690. It could be an opportunity for him to achieve explosive growth quickly.

    <em>¡®Obren, thank you,¡¯</em> Minhyuk thanked Obren, his gaze focused on the sky above him. But he did not hear any answer from the god. <em>¡®Is he busy?¡¯</em>

    The fact that Obren did not respond to him meant that Obren was busy. Minhyuk was aware that Obren had been very busytely. He hadn¡¯t heard much of his nagging voice and little life lessons. But perhaps it was only natural. After all, he was the Guardian God.

    Once he¡¯s free, he would appear while calling him<em> ¡®Idiot.¡¯</em> right? Minhyuk smiled at the thought.

    As for the reason why he set it so he could get one level up with every acknowledgement and recognition he obtained from the Absolute Gods?

    <em>¡®Because I also have to think about what would happen if I lose the bet with the Absolute Gods.¡¯</em>

    In other words, since he dared to offer a bet, he should also be willing to take on the penalty. He would get one level up if he received recognition. But what if he did not get any recognition?

    <em>¡®Then, my level will drop by one.¡¯</em>

    To put it simply, the situation could turn around for him.

    <em>¡®My chances of winning are not that high.¡¯</em>

    Indeed. Minhyuk did not expect that he would win against the God of Cooking. But since he dared to offer this bet, then he would do the best that he could.

    <em>[You will be warped to the Land of the Gods.]</em>

    Not long after, he was covered in light and disappeared.

    ***

    Minhyuk might have suggested the bet and set it as a cookingpetition with the God of Cooking. However, the ones who would set the rules and the details of thepetition were the Absolute Gods who received the offer.

    <em>¡®It would be better if I were the one to set the details, but¡­¡¯</em>

    But it seemed like he had faced restrictions and could only set it this way. After all, he was the one who offered the bet first and the one who decided the form of the bet. Yet he¡¯s also the one who would receive the rewards? That was impossible. Since he was going to receive something from them, then he should also give them a say in this matter.

    Minhyuk was pondering over how they would settle the details. But in the end, there was no answer. In the end, there was no way to restrict this ridiculouspetition.

    <em>¡®Usually, the winner should be determined by the one who made the better dish, right?¡¯ </em>Minhyuk thought this before he got warped to the Land of the Gods.

    But the gods were brilliant and scheming. Minhyuk had overlooked one thing. Even though he had changed it to ¡°treating¡± them to a meal, the word ¡°bet¡± had already been said. And this word stimted the proud and arrogant gods.

    As the Absolute Gods who ruled over all of the gods, they havee up with a way where they would never lose.

    <em>[The Absolute Gods have decided how the bet will be done.]</em>

    <em>[You will participate in a cookingpetition with the God of Cooking in the Land of Swift Passage of Time for one month.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Cooking will only be given one day topete.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Cooking has to present the best dish she has ever cooked after one day.]</em>

    <em>[In exchange for the limitation of cooking only for a day, the God of Cooking will be able to obtain the help of the other Absolute Gods as long as it is within reasonable limits.]</em>

    <em>[You will be given an entire month to cook your dish.]</em>

    <em>[You must present the best dish you have ever cooked after one month.]</em>

    <em>[You must make your best and most excellent dish purely with your abilities.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk was left confused when he saw the details of the bet presented to him.

    <em>¡®If I¡¯m given a month, then wouldn¡¯t it be more advantageous?¡¯</em>

    Of course, the God of Cooking would receive the help of the other Absolute Gods. But the thing that mattered the most was that it must be within a reasonable limit. So, why did Minhyuk think that it would be advantageous for him? This was because Minhyuk would be able to make almost thirty more dishes than the God of Cooking during the span of thepetition.

    When Minhyuk appeared, Arlene was already standing before him, with a smirk curling at the corners of her mouth.

    The truth was, Arlene was not really in a good mood right now. Why? One, it was because someone dared to offer a cooking bet to her, the one who was hailed as the best in cooking. Two, because Minhyuk, who had already grown well in cooking, had realised that it was not necessarily impossible for him to win a bet against her.

    <em>¡®I have lost a bet with this brat before.¡¯</em>

    Back then, the God of Cooking had offered a bet that he would make ten legendary dishes in a row. Considering the level of the God of Cooking back then, she thought that she would win even if she lied down. And the Minhyuk of back then? It would be close to impossible for him to win the bet. But Minhyuk overcame his limits and won the bet.

    This was one of the reasons why the God of Cooking was filled with motivation and determination to win. And when she looked at Minhyuk, who proposed the bet this time, he bowed politely to her in greeting.

    <em>¡®Even so, I still can¡¯t hate him.¡¯</em>

    That was right. She just had this burning desire to win. She did not harbour any resentment or hate towards Minhyuk.

    Immediately after that, Arlene, Minhyuk and the other Absolute Gods warped elsewhere. When Minhyuk opened his eyes again, he was now inside a coliseum.

    Countless gods were sitting in the audience. It was only natural. Just as Minhyuk was greedy to get high rewards from them, they were also looking forward to giving the next generation Battle God a blow and elevating their status.

    <em>[Land of Swift Passage of Time. Even if you stay inside this ce for a month, only a day will pass in reality.]</em>

    <em>[Everything inside the Land of Swift Passage of Time, except for the people, the gods and the races, is simr to the ordinary world of Athenae.]</em>

    <em>[You can obtain the ingredients you need to cook for an entire month.]</em>

    Arlene had already started to cook the moment the notifications began to ring.

    <em>Crackle¨C!</em>

    mes shot out from her fingertips and settled underneath the bottom of the cauldron in front of her.

    There was something that Minhyuk had to remember. The Absolute Gods stood at the pinnacle of the gods. Because of that, their powers stood at their peak and were far superior to the power of ordinary gods and humans. The power of the nine Absolute Gods was particrly outstanding, just like what they would disy now.

    <em>[Judge¡¯s Authority.]</em>

    <em>[With the power of the Judge¡¯s Authority, they can ignore thews and rules set in ce.]</em>

    <em>[The rule about the God of Cooking only being able to cook for a day has been removed.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Cooking can now cook for two days.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Judgment can no longer influence and interfere with this bet.]</em>

    <em>¡®They¨C They¡¯re going to twist it just like this?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was left in astonishment. At this moment, he realised the one-day cooking restriction was a ruse. And¡­

    <em>[Authority for Excellent Cooking.]</em>

    <em>[Any power, skill or authority that has a penalty can be used without receiving its penalties.]</em>

    This was the power of the God of Cooking herself.

    <em>¡®I made the bet without knowing the powers of the Absolute Gods.¡¯</em>

    Perhaps Minhyuk had been far too arrogant. There were many gods, even among the Absolute Gods, who were weaker than Minhyuk. But the essence of the power that they possessed could easily surpass the standard that determined what was weak and what was strong.

    <em>[Will for the One Who Pours their Entire Being into it.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Will¡¯s power gives strength in response to the will of the one doing something.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Will can no longer influence and interfere with this bet.]</em>

    The notifications that continuously rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears made him breathless. As for the God of Cooking? She was ecstatic. Why? Because the Absolute Gods were usually not on good terms with each other. But this single bet had made them help each other out. To put it simply, God of Cooking Arlene was now in a state where she could make the greatest dish that she had ever made.

    <em>Crackle¨C!</em>

    As the water in the cauldron boiled, the beef ribs slowly floated in the air following the wave of Arlene¡¯s fingertips.

    <em>[The blood has been removed excellently.]</em>

    <em>[The taste of the dish that you are cooking will be even better. The effects of the dish that you are cooking will be even better.]</em>

    She slowly revealed the skills and powers that she had in possession. With just a wave of her finger, she was able to remove the blood in the ribs perfectly and even put it inside the cauldron. Of course, the ingredients that she was using were all God-grade ingredients.

    <em>Crackle¨C!</em>

    The boiling water suddenly shot out and mmed into her likeva exploding from the depths of the volcano. But in front of the God of Cooking, thisva-like water was nothing but a mere child¡¯s y.

    <em>Shwaaa¨C</em>

    With a simple wave of her hand, the risingva-like water slowly got sucked back inside the cauldron.

    At this moment, the God of Cooking was not only showing a tremendous amount of motivation but also concentration. Why was she extremely motivated? Because she had to maintain her dignity and remain in her seat with pride. And the concentration and motivation fueled her and pushed her beyond her own limits.

    <em>[Your ¡®Determination to Make the Best Dish¡¯, your ¡®Will¡¯, and your ¡®efforts¡¯ gives you more strength.]</em>

    <em>[Your DEX has increased by 8%.]</em>

    <em>[...to Make the Best Dish¡­]</em>

    <em>[...to Make the Best Dish¡­]</em>

    <em>[The dish that you are cooking will be even better.]</em>

    A delighted smile settled on Arlene¡¯s face at the notifications as she continued to boil and cook the ribs. Despite the ribs creating waves that threatened to spill from her cauldron, a simple and gentle touch and gesture from her silenced it back inside.

    As she continued to boil and cook the ribs, Arlene gradually lost track of time. She remained unaware of the sun setting and the moon rising. Her outstanding concentration made her oblivious to how much time has passed, not even noticing the sun rising once again.

    After the ribs had boiled to some extent, Arlene began to season it. The dish that Arlene wanted to make was none other than <em>galbi-jjim.</em>

    The gods who watched the sweat dripping down her forehead as various effects continuously aimed at her were all in awe.

    ¡°Is she going beyond her limits?¡±

    The Absolute Gods could not take their eyes off of her.

    ¡°Wow.¡± Minhyuk breathed, awe and admiration towards Arlene flowing from his eyes.

    That was right. Minhyuk was the one who proposed the bet. But Arlene? Arlene had been hailed as someone who has surpassed even the greatest God of Cooking for a long time now.

    <em>BANG!</em>

    Finally, a bright golden light, not the usual white light, fell down and enveloped the <em>galbi-jjim</em>. At the same time, the notifications rang.

    <em>[The Best Dish among the Five Greatest Dishes Across All Eras has been born to the world!]</em>

    Minhyuk felt his heart thumping. Was it because he was excited? No. Not at all.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m afraid.¡¯</em>

    Could he even beat her?

    <em>[The God who Rules Over All of the Armies is confident of their victory.]</em>

    <em>[He believes that it will be very difficult for you to receive recognition and acknowledgement from the Absolute Gods.]</em>

    <em>[The God who Does Not Know How to Back Down is confident of their victory.]</em>

    <em>[...receive recognition¡­]</em>

    <em>[...Rules Over the Dead¡­]</em>

    <em>[...Protects the Laws and the Rules¡­]</em>

    <em>[...receive recognition¡­]</em>

    <em>[...receive recognition¡­]</em>

    <em>[...receive recognition¡­]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s task now was to go beyond the Greatest Dish Across All Eras.

 Chapter 1039

    Chapter 1039

    <strong>Chapter 1039</strong>

    The notifications continuously ringing in Minhyuk¡¯s ears were the reminders of the Absolute Gods to him. They told him it would be difficult to receive their acknowledgement and recognition. However, Minhyuk did his best to ignore them.

    ¡°Would you like to check it?¡±

    God of Cooking Arlene has created her life''s most significant and most outstanding dish. This was only possible because the Absolute Gods had lent her their power. In the future, it was highly likely that they would never lend her their power ever again.

    Minhyuk checked the details of the delicious soy sauce-based beef <em>galbi-jjim</em> in front of him.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Beef Galbi-Jjim Across All Eras</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Grade</em></strong><em>: God</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: The one who received the recognition of the God of Cooking.</em><strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>: </em>

    <em>?Acquire 350 Special SP.</em>

    <em>?Increase three of your chosen stats by 1%.</em>

    <em>?Acquire 1 God¡¯s SP.</em>

    <em>?Acquire 1 Authority Growth Point(GP). </em>

    <strong><em>Buff Abilities</em></strong><em>: </em>

    <em>?Recover HP and MP to 100%.</em>

    <em>?Reset all skill cooldowns.</em>

    <em>?All stats will increase by 27%.</em>

    <em>?Level up your chosen skill or authority once.</em>

    <em>?Whether in the past, the present, or the future, no beef galbi-jjim will be as delicious as this dish.</em>

    <em>?The buff duration is two weeks.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: God of Cooking Arlene made this beef galbi-jjim after oveing her limitations. With the help of the other Absolute Gods, shepleted this dish, which is now included in the Five Greatest Dishes Across All Eras.</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    Minhyuk was at a loss for words. He felt infinitely insignificant and trivial in front of such an outstanding dish. What he was feeling right now was helplessness¡ªthe same helplessness someone felt when standing in front of someone they still could not reach.

    This Beef <em>Galbi-jjim</em> Across All Eras was an outstanding dish because it contained permanent and buff abilities.

    <em>¡®In the first ce, these two forces could not coexist in the same thing.¡¯</em>

    But this beef <em>galbi-jjim </em>truly surpassedmon sense. Furthermore, the permanent increase, which everyone would go crazy about, was truly outstanding.

    <em>¡®It can increase any stat that I want by 350? And that¡¯s not all.¡¯</em>

    What Minhyuk found the most amazing was the Authority GP. After all, it was a power that could increase the level of any kind of Authority once. What did this mean?

    <em>¡®I can level up God and Knight or Cmity. Or, I can also level up any of the Battle God¡¯s authority I have or will have.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had never seen a point that could allow him to increase an Authority unconditionally. This dish literally broke down the walls ofmon sense.

    Arlene shrugged. She asked, ¡°How does it feel to see a dish that no one else can ever make?¡±

    Arlene was very proud of her cooking and her dishes. At this moment, she was very confident that Minhyuk would never be able to win against her and receive recognition. When she saw the shock on Minhyuk¡¯s face, Arlene thought that the boy had given up.

    <em>¡®He has not even started yet, but it¡¯s already over.¡¯</em>

    Apetition between the God of Cooking and the Food God. Well, the power of the Food God mainly was derived from the power of the God of Cooking. However, who was the better chef between the two? It was proven right here and now.

    ¡°Minhyuk, you shouldn¡¯t feel too bad about giving up,¡± Arlene said, her voice only slightly louder than a whisper. She had said these words because she was very worried about Minhyuk.

    Of course, she wanted Minhyuk to have the best. But the more he cooked, the more he would prove to the gods that he could not make a dish that could be said to be a Dish Across All Eras. And if that happened, the gods opposing the Battle God would definitelyugh and mock him. So, in her opinion, it was best for Minhyuk to give up right now.

    But then, Mihyuk nodded. He said, ¡°Right. You shouldn¡¯t look at things that you can¡¯t reach.¡±

    Arlene nodded. This was the right choice. That was when she saw the faint smile on Minhyuk¡¯s face.

    ¡°If I win, then this will not be something I can¡¯t reach, right?¡±

    ¡°You¡­¡± Arlene¡¯s eyes grew wide. Minhyuk¡¯s thoughts were on an entirely different path than hers.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s thrilling that I will challenge this and cook something that can win against a Dish Across All Eras, Arlene?¡±

    At first, Minhyuk feltpletely helpless. But after a few moments, his mind cooled down. Now, there was a strong desire burning in his eyes. And this desire was greater than any desire that he had ever felt before.

    ¡°If¨C If I receive everyone¡¯s recognition and acknowledgement, then¡­ will you give me the Beef <em>Galbi-jjim</em> Across All Eras?¡±

    ¡°...!¡± Arlene¡¯s already wide eyes grew even wider.

    Even though he was in this situation, he was still trying to make a deal with them. And this was even a separate matter from the reward that he asked before about asking the Absolute Gods one thing written in the quest notifications. This was a personal deal between Arlene and Minhyuk.

    The Beef <em>Galbi-jjim </em>Across All Eras would be replicated by the God of Cooking¡¯s extraordinary power, Replicating Dishes with Only its vor. This was because there was only one dish, and many wanted to taste it. So, all of the Absolute Gods couldn''t receive its effects.

    And now, Minhyuk was asking Arlene for the Beef <em>Galbi-jjim</em> Across All Eras, the original one and not the one replicated by her powers.

    <em>¡®What? Does this kid have it all?¡¯ </em>God of Cooking Arlene was in shock.

    Whether it was humans or gods, they were bound to feel helpless and desperate when faced with something far beyond their reach. But that was not the case for Minhyuk at all. He thought that he would make a more remarkable achievement if he broke through a challenge that seemed quite impossible to break through.

    ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll be cheering you on, then,¡± the God of Cooking said as if she was responding to his passion, determination and will.

    <em>[The God who Loves to Cook has acknowledged you.]</em>

    Arlene had to wonder how she would feel if she were in his position. If it were her, she would have followed her own suggestion to Minhyuk and given up. The fact that Minhyuk did not give up was enough for her to praise him.

    <em>[You have levelled up.]</em>

    <em>[God of Cooking Arlene promises to give you the Beef Galbi-jjim Across All Eras if you receive the acknowledgement and recognition of all of the Absolute Gods.]</em>

    ¡°If you don¡¯t get the recognition and acknowledgement of all of the Absolute Gods, then this dish will be disyed in my temple for tens of thousands of years.¡±

    Through that, the God of Cooking would ensure that everyone was aware of the achievements that she had made for a <em>long</em> time.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll regret seeing you, someone who loves eating the most in the world, eat this dish either.¡±

    Arlene and Minhyuk both smiled at each other. But then, Arlene said, ¡°However, the value of this dish is beyond anyone¡¯s imagination. So, you have to pay the price if you can¡¯t get everyone¡¯s recognition and acknowledgement, no?¡±

    <em>[Your penalty will be changed.]</em>

    <em>[Your level will drop by -2 for each Absolute God who won¡¯t give you acknowledgement and recognition.]</em>

    ¡°Ha¨C Hahaha¡­¡± Minhyukughed and cried at the same time.

    <em>¡®Aren¡¯t I in trouble here?¡¯</em>

    ***

    In the Special yers Management Team¡¯s office, President Kang Taehoon was peacefully looking at one of the monitors.

    When he heard that Minhyuk had offered a bet to the Absolute Gods, he felt the young man had been far too reckless. He had judged that Minhyuk had made the wrong choice this time. But then, he heard him ask for the Beef<em> Galbi-jjim</em> Across All Eras from Arlene, too.

    ¡°He¡¯s crazy¡­¡±

    Of course, he had to take on more risk for this. But even for President Kang Taehoon, the Beef <em>Galbi-jjim</em> Across All Eras was so outstanding that he even had to wonder if a dish of simr value would ever appear in the world.

    ¡°If yer Minhyuk can eat that dish, then he will be able to grow a lot. That dish is a bnce breaker.¡±

    Taehoon nodded. He was sure that Minhyuk would at least be 10% stronger than he was now if he ate that dish. The biggest problem for them was the power that could unconditionally increase the level of any Authority.

    <em>¡®If he increases the level of God and Knight, then¡­¡¯</em>

    If that Origin Authority levelled up again, even Taehoon would have no idea what kind of monstrous power would be revealed.

    President Kang had seen Minhyuk challenge many things recklessly. Of course, he had always won such challenges. So, he went to find Supeputer Athenae. Then, he asked, ¡°Athenae, what are the chances of yer Minhyuk sessfully making a Dish Across All Eras?¡±

    They could not deny that Minhyuk had always shown amazing and shocking performances despite the extreme odds. But the probability was there for a reason.

    Athenae, who had remained silent for a long time, finally replied.

    <em>[0%]</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

    President Kang Taehoon almost choked on the surprised groan that escaped his mouth. He did not expect that there wasn¡¯t even a sliver of possibility that it would happen.

    Then, Athenae began to exin.

    <em>[Even if he can create a dish with power beyond the actual grading of the dish, a Dish Across All Eras will no longer appear. Under the rules of Athenae, the Dish Across All Eras can only appear once every year.]</em>

    Only then did Taehoon understand.

    President Kang Taehoon was not the sole creator of the game Athenae. This game was a product of the coboration between Kang Taehoon and God of Origin Athenae. Because of that, he was still unaware of many minute details.

    <em>¡®Basically, what Athenae is saying here is that it would not matter if yer Minhyuk can create a Dish Across All Eras since it would not be graded as such.¡¯</em>

    A bitter expression shed on Taehoon¡¯s face.

    ¡°This time, yer Minhyuk will finally feel pain and desperation.¡±

    Then, at that moment, a sudden chill ran down his spine. He realised they had been through several simr situations, right?

    <em>¡®The probability is that it¡¯s impossible, so why am I feeling very nervous?¡¯</em>

    President Kang could not understand why he suddenly felt that way.

    ***

    The Absolute Gods warned Minhyuk through the notifications that he would not receive their acknowledgement and recognition.

    Meanwhile, the Battle God analysed the situation objectively. <em>¡®If he¡¯s just after our acknowledgement, then I think he can do it.¡¯</em>

    Just like Obren acknowledged him without seeing the results because he wanted to support him or how the God of Cooking acknowledged him.

    But there were gods who would not acknowledge him just because. Some of them would only acknowledge him once they saw the results. The prime examples of this type of god were the Battle God, the God of Judgment, and the God of Death.

    The moment Arlene finished cooking, the notification for the birth of a Dish Across All Eras rang out. This left all of the gods in shock and awe. Of course, the same was true for the Absolute Gods.

    If the Battle God were to be honest, he had a thought.

    <em>¡®You will never be able to receive our acknowledgement and recognition no matter the kind of dish you presentter.¡¯</em>

    The fact that the first dish that came out was too great and powerful would poison Minhyuk.

    Finally, Minhyuk started cooking. And the gods present in the coliseum? None of them held expectations for the dish that Minhyuk was cooking. They were just talking about Arlene and the achievements that she had made.

    ¡°As expected of the God of Cooking.¡±

    ¡°Goodness, a Dish Across All Eras.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s truly the God of Cooking who was hailed as the best in history! It is an honour to be able to witness her cooking personally!¡±

    ¡°The next generation Battle God has started cooking.¡±

    ¡°But do you think a dish that can rival that dish will appear again? Besides, the next generation Battle God is the Battle God and the Food God.¡±

    ¡°Furthermore, the Food God¡¯s power was derived from the power of the God of Cooking. There¡¯s no way that he will win.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s also the fact that the God of Cooking received the blessings of the Absolute Gods.¡±

    They did not even care one bit about what Minhyuk was doing. Of course, the same was true for the Absolute Gods. The impact of the dish made by the God of Cooking was so significant that their conversation topic revolved around her.

    <em>¡®He first has to capture the attention of the audience.¡¯</em> This was what the Battle God personally thought.

    Although Minhyuk had offered them a bet, the situation had now be one in which Minhyuk had to show what kind of person he was in front of thousands of gods.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    Then, at that moment, a bright light struck the dish before Minhyuk. The light was proof that he had made a God-grade dish.

    ¡°Oh.¡±

    ¡°I see, he made a God-grade dish.¡±

    ¡°He made it in one go? That¡¯s amazing.¡±

    But that was all. They only paid him a bit of attention. After all, for the gods, anything God-grade was normal. It was incorporated into their daily lives. To them, it was not that great, an attitude utterly different from the humans, who regarded things with that grade as highly excellent. Because of that, they did not want to pay too much attention to him.

    ¡°Hiyaaah. Shall we try it, then?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°Why¨C Why is he eating it by himself?¡±

    ¡°No, wait. He did not even check it?¡±

    Everyone was confused. This was because the next generation Battle God did not even open the details of the dish to check. Furthermore, why was he suddenly eating by himself in this ce when he was the one who said that he would treat the gods to a meal?!

    While everyone was confused by this embarrassing situation, Minhyuk smiled happily at the braised chicken in front of him. The gods were rendered speechless by the delight on his face.

    There were many reasons why people usually watched <em>mukbangs</em>. The main reason was for their vicarious satisfaction. They felt happy seeing people eat delicious food with bright and happy smiles. And Minhyuk? Among the <em>mukbang</em> BJs in the world, he was the one who ate the happiest.

    With drool dripping down his mouth, Minhyuk grabbed some of the braised chicken and put it on his te. Then, he grabbed the still-steaming chicken leg and pushed it in his mouth.

    <em>¡®The sweet and savoury vour will burst in your mouth when you bite.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I wonder how juicy and soft that chicken is?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®The first bite of any dish is the most delicious.¡¯</em>

    While everyone was watching him eat in a daze, Minhyuk finished eating the chicken leg. This time, he focused on the t noodles and chicken on his te.

    ¡°Kghhk¡­¡±

    The still steaming and t potato starch noodles sparkled with a ck light.

    <em>¡®Oh! It looks like it¡¯s seasoned well.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®The potato starch noodles are the highlight of the braised chicken.¡¯</em>

    The gods could not take their eyes off of Minhyuk. Even the Absolute Gods, who were busy talking about the God of Cooking, were being distracted by his disy. Right now, Minhyuk caught the attention of thousands of gods and the Absolute Gods through his <em>mukbang.</em>

    Minhyuk took a massive bite of the t noodles.

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuuuuurp!</em> Kghhhk¡­!¡± Minhyuk groaned in delight as he scooped a huge spoonful of white rice into his mouth. After the rice, he took another bite of the well-seasoned potato starch t noodles.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaa!¡±

    It was a fantasticbination of carbs and carbs. This was why Minhyuk found it to be highly delicious.

    After finishing the meat, Minhyuk poured the rice into the remaining sauce. Then, he mixed them well before sprinkling some seaweed powder. After that, he ate everything up, not leaving a single morsel of food behind.

    <em>[You ate a dish from a recipe specially made for you.]</em>

    <em>[You won¡¯t be able to eat another dish from a recipe specially made for you for two weeks.] </em>

    <em>[You can¡¯t receive any duplicate buffs during the buff retention period.] </em>

    <em>[You have eaten Braised Chicken.]</em>

    <em>[God Grade.]</em>

    <em>[Everything rted to your DEX will increase by 40%.]</em>

    <em>[Your chances of making dishes with a better grade have tripled.]</em>

    This was what Minhyuk was aiming for.

    Then, the God of Cooking said, ¡°He did that on purpose.¡±

    The Absolute Gods all turned to look at her.

    ¡°He maximised his ss. His ss is ¡®Food God.¡¯ In other words, he is good at eating. And by eating, he brought the attention of all the people focused on discussing me, back to him.¡±

    Minhyuk did not eat it just because it was delicious. He ate it so he could receive the buffs.

    ¡°That¡¯s amazing.¡±

    ¡°First, receive recognition and acknowledgement for his ss and not for his dish yet.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s an amazing idea. And he even seeded. He had brought the attention, focused on the God of Cooking and the Dish Across All Eras, of all the gods back to him.¡±

    Then, the same sound rang from among the gods and the Absolute Gods sitting in the audience.

    <em>Rumble¨C!</em>

    At the same time, notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The God Who Rules Over All Armies praises you for utilising and maximising your talents.]</em>

    <em>[The God who Loves to Cook praises you for doing your best¡­]</em>

    <em>[The God who did Not Know How to Back Down¡­ praises you¡­]</em>

    <em>¡®What are they going on about?¡¯</em> Minhyuk thought, confusion evident on his face.

 Chapter 1040

    Chapter 1040

    <em>¡®Kghhk. Beef Galb-jjim Across All Eras, huh?¡¯</em>

    The thought that he might be able to eat such a dish motivated him greatly.

    Minhyuk was now in his best condition. The Create a Recipe skill increased everything rted to his DEX by 40% and tripled his chances of making higher-grade dishes.

    Of course, one nce and one could tell that it was much less than Arlene''s blessings and protections from the Absolute Gods. Even so, Minhyuk started cooking enthusiastically.

    <em>¡®I can choose whatever ingredient I want in thisnd that is aplete replica of Athenae. I can even get the God-grade ingredients myself if I want.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had quite a lot of information about some of the outstanding ingredients in his head. The only reason he could not get his hands on them was that he was too busy.

    <em>¡®Now, I have so much burden to carry that I can¡¯t bear to live a life where I can only eat.¡¯</em>

    He began choosing his ingredients. The first ingredient he chose was ox bone.

    <em>¡®Well-boiled seolleongtang tastes good.¡¯</em>Minhyuk began to cook his first dish in earnest.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s something that the gods don¡¯t know. They did not know that I recently had a match with Rocado.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk created hundreds of God-grade dishes whilepeting with Jack-of-All-Trades Rocado. Through thatpetition, he learned about perception and feeling.

    <em>¡®I think I can do something like that here too.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk began to boil the huge ox bone. The gods, who had been talking loudly and ignoring him a few moments prior, were all focusing on Minhyuk now. It was only natural; he attracted their attention with his sudden <em>mukbang</em>.

    <em>Gurgle¨C! Gurgle¨C!</em>

    The water started to boil. Then, zing mes erupted from deep within the cauldron.

    <em>Shwaaaaaa¨C!</em>

    The God-grade ingredients that Minhyuk was dealing with showed him that they were tough to deal with. The zing mes from the cauldron engulfed Minhyuk¡¯s body and began to nibble away at his HP.

    <em>¡®I can endure it.¡¯</em>

    At this moment, Minhyuk realised that he had grown tremendously. The variety of dishes he had eaten in the past gave him high me attribute resistance and high HP and defensive power. It was leagues beyond the stats that he had when he had first tried cooking with God-grade ingredients. If it were him when he had just started cooking God-grade ingredients, this baptism of mes would be disastrous.

    <em>¡®It would have killed me within five minutes.¡¯</em>

    But Minhyuk was able to continue cooking the ox bone in this state. As the mes continued to nibble on his HP, a notification rang in his ears.

    <em>[Please remove the scum from the cauldron.]</em>

    The notification prevented him from stepping away from the cauldron and away from the mes'' range. Even so, Minhyuk was still able to maintain his HP easily.

    <em>¡®Most of the potions in Athenae increase an ability or a stat by the per cent.¡¯</em>

    Some could quickly restore 5% of the potion user¡¯s HP for low-grade potions, which novice yers usually consumed. Never mind the potions in his hands. Because of that, the zing mes did not be a burden to Minhyuk.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    <em>[You have made a God-grade dish.]</em>

    In the current Athenae, the world message announcing the appearance of something with God''s grade or ranking no longer rang. It was reced with regional notifications that ring in the kingdom, empire, or region where the item or dish was born.

    This was because the yers'' levels had grown to the point where notifications for God-grade items and dishes rang frequently. As for the new requirements for the world message, one has to create three God-grade items before it rang.

    The gods were amazed when they saw Minhyuk cook two God-grade dishes in a row. But the gods, who saw his unique abilities, just nodded.

    ¡°It¡¯s an excellent <em>seolleongtang.</em>¡±

    ¡°But it¡¯s still far less than the Beef <em>Galbi-jjim</em> Across All Eras.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡±

    All of the gods were unimpressed. After all, the gods might get lucky in a single day and create several God-grade items. And this was amon urrence. But not long after, Minhyuk made a very shocking attempt. And it was the first of its kind.

    <em>¡®There will be no ce other than this where I can use high-grade ingredients like water.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk could tell that there was a reward system for achieving something for the first time in Athenae. And he wanted to know if that was indeed the case. So, he would put it to the test right here and now.

    The gods were not least interested in Minhyuk, who started to cook <em>galbitang.</em> But not long after, they could not take their eyes off of him. Minhyuk pulled out a frying pan and made spicy stir-fried pork.

    ¡°He¨C He¡¯s going to cook two dishes using God-grade ingredients simultaneously?!¡±

    ¡°Ho¡­?!¡±

    <em>Shwaa, shwaa, shwaaa¨C!</em>

    The ingredients used to make the spicy stir-fried pork resisted and ran rampant, inflicting countless damage. But that was not all. The <em>galbitang</em> in the cauldron was constantly exploding, putting even more pressure on Minhyuk. But Minhyuk, who drank the potion, was in deep concentration.

    <em>[The Skill: Divine Will has been triggered!]</em>

    <em>[All of your skills and abilities rted to DEX will temporarily increase by 30%.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats will increase by 8%.]</em>

    <em>[Your attack power and defensive power will increase by 6%.]</em>

    <em>[The Skill: Divine Will has been triggered!]</em>

    <em>[The Skill: Divine Will has been triggered!]</em>

    But even those notifications did not register in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You are doing an excellent job in making two dishes using God-grade ingredients.]</em>

    <em>[This is a yer''s first attempt to do something like this.]</em>

    There were three main reasons why no one could create two dishes simultaneously using God-grade ingredients.

    The first reason was that God-grade ingredients were expensive. After all, no matter how much a God-grade ingredient¡¯s value has degraded, there was a high chance that they would not use it.

    The second reason was that it was impossible for any chef-ss yer to handle the power that God-grade ingredients release, let alone two at the same time.

    The third reason was that they did not dare to do so.

    But for the first time, Minhyuk cooked two dishes using God-grade ingredients simultaneously.

    <em>[Your DEX Acquisition Rate has temporarily increased by five times.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[...gained 1 DEX.]</em>

    Minhyuk knew how to take advantage of the opportunity presented to him. He took advantage of the opportunity to use God-grade ingredients endlessly and cook like crazy for an entire month, using it as a springboard for his growth.

    <em>[You have made a God-grade dish.]</em>

    <em>[You have made a Legendary-grade dish.]</em>

    And finally, he achieved the feat of cooking two dishes using God-grade ingredients simultaneously.

    <em>[You have achieved an excellent feat of cooking two dishes using God-grade ingredients simultaneously.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1,000 DEX.]</em>

    Right now, Minhyuk was very determined. He was filled with motivation.

    <em>¡®If things are like this, then I think I can do this!¡¯</em>

    Just like that, twenty-five days had passed.

    ***

    The gods could not stand boredom. The God of Cooking only took two days to finish cooking, but the Battle God had already cooked for twenty-five days, and he was still not yet done. In those twenty-five days, the Battle God made twenty-seven God-grade dishes and sixty-five legendary ones.

    It was an incredible feat. They thought he was terrific when they saw the Battle God continue to cook without even taking a wink of sleep.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m getting sick and tired of this.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®In the first ce, why is he doing something he can¡¯t do anyway?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®This is exhausting.¡¯</em>

    There were a lot of gods who were dozing off on their chairs.

    Time flowed differently inside thisnd. A month here was only one day in reality. Watching someone cook for an entire month was incredibly and unbearably dull for these gods. But could they dare to leave this ce where the next generation Battle God was? All of them were quick-witted.

    <em>¡®If he isn¡¯t brave, then he¡¯s an idiot.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Why does he want to keep doing something this crazy?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was struggling. He had been finding rare ingredients and cooking them non-stop in this world, aplete replica of Athenae. But the results? Even after tens of days of cooking, he could not surpass the dish Arlene cooked.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s only going to make something a little bit better.¡¯</em>

    Everything would be the same. It would just be less than half of a Dish Across All Eras.

    Even the Absolute Gods were starting to find things boring.

    Then, the notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    ***

    <em>[The God Who Rules Over All of the Armies is confident of their victory.]</em>

    <em>[He believes it will be difficult for you to receive recognition and acknowledgement from the Absolute Gods.]</em>

    <em>[The God Who Does Not Know How to Back Down is confident of their victory.]</em>

    <em>[...receive recognition¡­]</em>

    <em>[...Rules Over the Dead¡­]</em>

    <em>[...Protects the Laws and the Rules¡­]</em>

    <em>[...receive recognition¡­]</em>

    Minhyuk was exhausted. This situation waspletely different from when hepeted with Rocado.

    <em>¡®I was given unlimited time during the cookingpetition with Rocado.¡¯</em>

    On the other hand, he had to abide by a set time limit to go beyond the Dish Across All Eras that the God of Cooking had made. Now, he only has three days left.

    Because the Divine Will was constantly activated, Minhyuk¡¯s consciousness and spirit were clear. However, on the other hand, it could also be said to be frazzled. Even if his head got cleared systematically, the feeling of helplessness and despair that would wash over him with every failure was far too heavy and deep.

    At this point, the pressure of receiving a considerable penalty was turning into chains that were putting him into a chokehold.

    <em>¡®The Dish Across All Eras is also rted to Athenae¡¯s Frenzied Ingredients.¡¯</em>

    If he ate both dishes, he would be much stronger than now. He would be able to lead the Beyond the Heavens Empire and improve it, and he would also be able to do better in Athenae.

    Once again, the dish he was cooking was finished. But just like before, it fell short of the Dish Across All Eras.

    <em>¡®Damn it! What the hell am I supposed to do?!¡¯</em>

    He¡¯s getting more and more frustrated. It felt like the gods wereughing at him, too.

    <em>I have to make the most incredible dish in the world! Should I do it regardless of the means? No. I have already tried all of that. </em>

    A sigh escaped Minhyuk¡¯s lips. Minhyuk already felt his limits. He felt the wall, and it was something that he could not reach. But his desire for the Frenzied Ingredient, the Dish Across All Eras, and the chance to level up and increase his strength kept him from backing down.

    The problem was what happened next.

    Failed.

    Failed.

    And they have <em>failed</em> repeatedly.

    Minhyuk covered the ugly expression on his face with his hands.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s too burdensome. Cooking is exhausting.¡¯</em>

    When the thought crossed his mind, Minhyuk felt that something was off. But he continuously ignored the strangeness that he was feeling. What was the weird feeling that he had been feeling since earlier?

    Minhyuk, who loved eating and the process of cooking more than anybody else in the world, had started thinking that cooking was exhausting and burdensome. That was what was strange.

    Minhyuk was getting distracted and sat down without realising this fact.

    <em>[Beradon¡¯s Disciple System has been activated.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    A notification woke him right up.

    Beradon¡¯s Disciple System gave him Beradon¡¯s teachings when he was in danger or trouble, faced some kind of trial, or had something that he wanted to do.

    He knew that it could be triggered by various situations, but this was the first time that it had been triggered.

    The system became Beradon¡¯s voice and it asked him.

    <em>[You¡­ What are you cooking for?]</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    Minhyuk began to ponder deeply about the words that Beradon¡¯s voice imparted upon him.

    When he first started Athenae, he was pleased to receive hard bread from Valen, so he struck the scarecrow hundreds of times. He enjoyed eating and doing things in Athenae.

    He wished to eat the most delicious things in the world.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m cooking to get an outstanding dish¡­ to get stronger¡­ to win something¡­¡¯</em>

    The words Beradon asked him brought light back into Minhyuk¡¯s eyes, which were starting to lose vitality. Then, a smile appeared and settled on his face.

    Then, the notifications rang again.

    <em>[Beradon¡¯s Disciple System¡¯s advice is not absolute.]</em>

    <em>[But the teachings that Beradon¡¯s Disciple System has bestowed upon you is purely for ¡®you.¡¯]</em>

    <em>[Beradon¡¯s Disciple System is by your side!]</em>

    <em>[Beradon¡¯s Disciple System might give you, who have realised something new, power.]</em>

    Minhyuk answered, ¡°I cook¡­ so I can eat something delicious.¡±

    Then, another notification rang.

    <em>[The system''s creator has a faint smile as he looks at you.]</em>

    Minhyuk realised the most important thing. Now that he found his vitality and vigour again, he stood up and headed somewhere else. And the gods? Some of them were dozing off while the Absolute Gods were chatting.

    Minhyuk used the information he had obtained to collect the ingredients in and almost aplete replica of Athenae. After that, he returned to the coliseum and began to cook.

    This time, there was a smile on his face as he cooked the dish.

    <em>[You have made a Legendary-grade dish.]</em>

    Arlene could not help but look at Minhyuk carefully when she saw the change in his expression. But her face grew ugly when she heard the notification.

    <em>¡®Legendary?¡¯</em>

    It was just legendary, yet Minhyuk¡¯s face was filled with relief.

    ¡°Please check it out.¡±

    This was the first time Minhyuk asked Arlene to check the information on the dish he had made. At that moment, the gods sensed that something was wrong. They immediately nudged those who were dozing off and woke them up.

    Arlene could not understand. <em>¡®What the hell are you doing?¡¯</em>

    It was just a legendary-grade dish and not a God-grade dish. Arlene, who epted the dish confusedly, looked at Minhyuk.

    After checking the dish, she said, ¡°I lost¡­¡±

 Chapter 1041

    Chapter 1041

    Thanks to Beradon¡¯s Disciple System, Minhyuk had realised something. Without knowing it, he had already be a monster.

    When Minhyuk first started Athenae, he yed solely to eat delicious things. But because he became an emperor and had to be stronger, he had to carry everything on his shoulders.

    <em>¡®I cooked because I had to be stronger. I cooked because I had to receive the recognition of the gods.¡¯</em>

    The only thought left in his mind was, <em>¡®I will eat them no matter what and grow even stronger.¡¯</em>

    But because of Beradon¡¯s Disciple System, he had awakened from his stupor.

    <em>¡®Alright. Let¡¯s make the most delicious dish in the world,¡¯</em> Minhyuk thought as he moved around thisnd, aplete replica of Athenae, and followed the information he had in his hand.

    <em>¡®An ingredient that can heal the exhausted.</em>

    <em>¡®An ingredient that can give a reason for someone to feel happy.</em>

    <em>¡®An ingredient everyone can enjoy regardless of what they liked or disliked.¡¯</em>Minhyuk wanted a dish incorporating all of these special abilities. Most of the ingredients were legendary-grade.

    <em>¡®In Athenae, those ssified as outstanding ingredients are those with special abilities.¡¯</em>

    Although there were times when legendary-grade ingredients could sometimes taste better than God-grade ones, taste alone could not get them ssified as outstanding. As mentioned, only the ingredients ssified as excellent in Athenae were those with unique abilities.

    Minhyuk put the ingredients together and began to cook once again.

    <em>¡®Looks yummy. Kghhk. I can¡¯t wait to take a huge bite!¡¯</em>

    At this moment, Minhyuk looked like he had returned to himself when he first started Athenae. He seemed so happy. The thought alone of mixing and taking a massive bite of the delicious food he was cooking was enough to put a broad smile on his face.

    It was strange. His consciousness was clearer, and his concentration was higher than when Divine Will was activated.

    <em>¡®Nothing, and no one can beat someone enjoying what they are doing.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was now enjoying the cooking process more than anybody else.

    <em>[You have fallen into Extreme Trance.]</em>

    The notifications rang, but they did not register in Minhyuk¡¯s ears. His only thought was to make this dish the most delicious dish in the world. When he finished cooking and checked the dish, he could not help but be delighted.

    <em>¡®The most delicious dish in the world.¡¯</em>

    It was because this dish was finally born to the world. Although there was no system notification, which responded and only announced things with outstanding or great power, Minhyuk was convinced that this dish went beyond the Dish Across All Eras.

    And while he was cooking, he realised, <em>¡®I don¡¯t know if Beradon¡¯s Disciple System knows about this or not.¡¯</em>

    There was only one way to win thispetition.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s about making a more delicious dish than the Dish Across All Eras.¡¯</em>

    But would he win with just that? What would be the reason for his victory?

    <em>¡®In the first ce, the Dish Across All Eras would be replicated to the number of Absolute Gods.¡¯</em>

    The replicated dishes would have simr tastes and vours but wouldn¡¯t have the dish¡¯s unique abilities. Initially, this bet was a way to treat them to a meal. Since the Absolute Gods could not and would not be able to obtain the unique abilities of the Dish Across All Eras, they had to judge it with taste alone.

    Besides, Minhyuk had also created a buffed dish, which was different from Arlene¡¯s dish, which had a permanent power. Unlike most dishes with permanent power, buffed dishes could be made with more servings so everyone could experience their effects. Minhyuk did not even need to replicate the dish like Arlene.

    Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°Please check it out.¡±

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Spicy Pork Bibimbap</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: Legend</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: None</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?The moment you take a bite of this dish, you will feel that this is the most delicious dish you have ever tasted. The feeling will remain the same regardless of what you like or dislike.</em>

    <em>?All of your fatigue will disappear. Your body will be reinvigorated.</em>

    <em>?The moment you take a bite of this dish, you will feel like you are the happiest person in the world.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: The Food God is a god who loves to eat. This dish was created by that god using only ingredients rted to taste and vour. Regardless of your special ability or likes and dislikes, you will feel as if this is the most delicious dish you have ever eaten.</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

    Arlene was shocked. This dish had pinpointed the essence of this bet.

    <em>¡®Even if a dish is hailed as the most delicious dish in the world, it will be useless if it does not suit the taste of the person eating it.¡¯</em>

    Of course, one could choose to cook the most popr dishes. But even then, there would still be some picky people who would not like their taste. This was something inevitable.

    But Minhyuk¡¯s dish was able to catch that point perfectly.

    <em>¡®You will feel as if you are the happiest person in the world once you take a bite of this dish?¡¯</em>

    It was not easy for someone to feel happy. When eating dishes, one would usually think that they were delicious, but it was rare for someone to feel happy. When someone felt happy, a smile would linger on their faces, and they would be ovee with delight without realising it. And this dish would give them that feeling of happiness?

    <em>¡®In the end, without its special abilities, the Dish Across All Eras was just a delicious dish.¡¯</em>

    Indeed, the special abilities were unnecessary for Minhyuk to receive the gods¡¯ recognition.

    ¡°I lost¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was surprised when he heard God of Cooking Arlene say those words. It could be said that the God of Cooking¡¯s victory was already cinched by her dish¡¯s unique ability alone. After all, the dish he made did not have much power. But in the end, the essence of cooking lies not in its powers to make someone stronger but in how delicious the dish would be and how much it would make one happy.

    <em>[The God of Cooking praises the Food God.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Cooking, one of the Absolute Gods, has never praised the Food God for his cooking.]</em>

    <em>[Your DEX will increase by 2%.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 300 CHA.]</em>

    When God of Cooking Arlene chuckled, amotion broke out among the gods and the Absolute Gods. Why? Because the God of Cooking directly said that she had lost.

    Not long after, both the gods and the Absolute Gods finished checking the details of the dish.

    <em>¡®What the¡­?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®This dish is more excellent than the Dish Across All Eras?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Has the God of Cooking gone senile?¡¯</em>

    The Absolute Gods were all in disbelief, finding the situation ridiculous. Even the gods were puzzled. That was right. Only the God of Cooking had realised the essence of this bet.

    Now that the cooking was finished, Arlene replicated the Beef <em>Galbi-jjim</em> Across All Eras and gently ced them in front of the Absolute Gods. On the other hand, Minhyuk deliberately cooked enough servings for the Absolute Gods. When he put his dishes in front of them, he remembered to ce some Cheongyang peppers and bean sprout soup.

    And the gods? They could not hold back their curiosity.

    <em>¡®What on earth is that for the God of Cooking to act like that¡­?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I don¡¯t understand.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I want to try it.¡¯</em>

    While they were simmering in curiosity, Minhyuk triggered For Everyone¡¯s Joy.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>For Everyone¡¯s Joy</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Food God¡¯s Secret</em>

    <strong><em>Level</em></strong><em>: None</em>

    <strong><em>Mana Required</em></strong><em>: 30,000</em>

    <strong><em>Cooldown</em></strong><em>: 240 days.</em>

    <strong><em>Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?You can make tens of thousands, tens of millions or hundreds of millions of dishes from a single dish.</em>

    <em>?However, regardless of what ingredients are used, the dishes will have no special abilities. The taste will remain the same for every dish.</em>

    <em>?Can be applied to viges, territories, kingdoms and empires.</em>

    And the ce where Minhyuk chose to apply the skill was none other than the Land of the Gods. The number of gods would be in the tens of thousands at most. Even if Minhyuk could only apply the skill to the size of a territory, he could trigger it with that number alone.

    And there was something more important here. The skill For Everyone¡¯s Joy did not have any special abilities. But the taste would remain the same. In other words, even if there was no happiness or recovery effect, they could still taste the most delicious dish in the world.

    All of the gods held the spoon in their hands. But they dared not move and only stared at the Absolute Gods. Not long after, the Absolute Gods finally made a move and took a bite of the Beef <em>Galbi-jjim</em> Across All Eras.

    ***

    The God of Judgment was the strictest and most stubborn among the Absolute Gods. Perhaps it was only natural. After all, he was the god who upheld thew, justice and discipline. He was also very inflexible. That was why he could not understand why Arlene said those words.

    <em>¡®She must have gone mad.¡¯</em>

    One look at the effects, and he could tell that the Beef <em>Galbi-jjim</em> Across All Eras was a dish that one would only encounter once in one''s life. So, how could Arlene acknowledge a dish that was merely delicious without any other special abilities?

    And there were also the ingredients that the next generation Battle God used.

    <em>¡®They don¡¯t look like they are valuable and expensive ingredients, no?¡¯</em>

    The God of Judgment clicked his tongue at the spicy pork <em>bibimbap</em> before him as he stretched his hand toward the Beef <em>Galbi-jjim</em> Across All Eras. Of course, the other Absolute Gods also did the same. Everyone¡¯s attention was only focused on the Beef <em>Galbi-jjim</em> Across All Eras.

    The God of Judgment took a bite of the ribs that had turned glossy from the soy sauce it had braised in. The softness of the meat immediately spread in his mouth along with the sauce''s slightly sweet yet savoury and deep vour. He slowly closed his eyes and savoured the vour of the dish. He had never tasted such a luxurious and exquisite vour in his life.

    <em>¡®This is a Dish Across All Eras,¡¯</em> the God of Judgment thought as he looked around him. He could see that all of the Absolute Gods were sighing in admiration.

    ¡°Goodness. I have never tasted a dish like this in my life.¡±

    ¡°This is not a dish. This is art.¡±

    ¡°What an amazing vour.¡±

    Their assessment? It was indeed worthy of the title of a Dish Across All Eras.

    After rinsing their mouths, they turned to look at the spicy pork<em> bibimbap</em>. A perfectly cooked egg half fry was on top of several special ingredients, such as well-chopped peri leaves, seaweed powder, bean sprouts, and well-cooked spicy pork.

    The God of Judgment looked displeased as he mixed the <em>bibimbap</em> half-heartedly. He sighed and thought, <em>¡®I can¡¯t believe I must eat something like this.¡¯</em>

    But he had to be fair. Ultimately, he cut the egg in half and began mixing everythingpletely. At that moment, the savoury scent of the sesame oil wafted to his nose and stimted his senses.

    <em>¡®It seems like it will be much more delicious than I initially thought?¡¯</em>

    Drool started to pool in his mouth. Before trying the spicy pork <em>bibimbap</em>, he sipped the clear bean sprout soup.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s refreshing.¡¯</em>

    The sharp and spicy vour of the Cheongyang pepper gave the soup a fleeting spiciness that gave it a clean and refreshing taste.

    <em>¡®It doesn¡¯t taste too bad.¡¯</em>

    Then, he stretched his spoon toward the well-mixed <em>bibimbap.</em> When he scooped a huge spoonful, he was met with glossy red rice mixed with various colourful ingredients.

    ¡°...!¡±

    The moment the God of Judgment put this spoonful of <em>bibimbap</em> in his mouth, he felt an unknown feeling. He was in charge of many things and had to deal with so many tasks that he could only sleep for less than three hours a day. But the moment he took a bite of the dish in front of him, the fatigue and exhaustion that was eating away at him immediately disappeared.

    ¡°What is this?¡±

    The God of Judgment¡¯s face remained expressionless even after he ate the Beef <em>Galbi-jjim</em> Across All Eras. So, why?

    <em>¡®Why can¡¯t I help but smile?¡¯</em>

    Unknowingly, a faint smile curled at the corners of his lips. He also felt excited about taking another bite of the dish before him.

    <em>¡®I don¡¯t even like marinated or stir-fried meat.¡¯</em>

    But the spicy pork in this <em>bibimbap</em> tasted very delicious. It tasted even better than the Beef <em>Galbi-jjim</em> Across All Eras.

    The God of Judgment¡¯s hands kept on moving. His movements even began to elerate.

    <em>Munch, munch¨C</em>

    The God of Judgment was eating hurriedly. He even forgot his dignity and went ahead and drank the bean sprout soup when he felt thirsty right away.

    ¡°Ha¨C Hahaha¡­¡± The God of Judgmentughed.

    It had been such a long time since he felt this way. He could not even remember thest time he had everughed or felt happy since he was left in charge of all of the rules andws of thisnd.

    <em>¡®I feel happy. I feel so happy eating this kind of dish!¡¯</em>

    He felt so happy that he could not stop the smile on his face.

    The God of Judgment finished his portion so quickly and looked around.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡±

    ¡°This¡­¡±

    ¡°This vour is so¡­¡±

    The Absolute Gods were in awe.

    And the gods? They were all rendered speechless. This was because they had witnessed the Absolute Gods throw away their dignity to eat the dish in front of them in a hurry when they had always eaten calmly and quietly.

    Only after they finished eating did the Absolute Gods return to their senses.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m smiling.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I feel happy after eating.¡¯</em>

    The Absolute Gods were people who had everything they ever wanted. They have the strength, the authority, the money, everything. There was nothing that they did not have. But this was the first time they had felt happy after eating a dish.

    Of course, the Beef <em>Galbi-jjim</em> Across All Eras was fantastic. It was to the point where they would be craving to taste this kind of dish again. But even more funny was that they found the dish, which was a shabby and cheap <em>bibimbap</em>, to be more delicious than the Dish Across All Eras.

    The Battle God smiled faintly. He knew precisely what Minhyuk intended to do.

    <em>¡®Minhyuk lost. But he also won.¡¯</em>

    The dish that Minhyuk presented did not have any special abilities, but it tasted better. This was no longer a bet or apetition. It was now just a matter of whether Minhyuk received recognition.

    The Battle God did not hesitate.

    <em>[The God Who Rules Over All Armies acknowledges you.]</em>

    <em>[You have levelled up.]</em>

    Then one after another.

    <em>[The God Who Does Not Know How to Back Down acknowledges you.]</em>

    <em>[You have levelled up.]</em>

    <em>[...Rules Over All of the Dead¡­]</em>

    <em>[...who Loves to Help Others¡­]</em>

    <em>[...who Loves to¡­]</em>

    <em>[...who Loves to¡­]</em>

    The notification constantly rang. Minhyuk was able to achieve the feat of increasing his level by seven all at once.

    The gods were quite nervous. And the rest of the Absolute Gods were all looking at one god. This god was none other than the God of Judgment.

    As someone as stubborn as a mule andpletely inflexible, the Dish Across All Eras that the God of Cooking had made would be the better dish by his standards.

    Because of that, the Absolute Gods thought he would never admit anything other than this. But then, at that moment, apletely unexpected notification rang.

    <em>[The God Who Rules Over All Creation acknowledges and thanks you.]</em>

    <em>[You have levelled up.]</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes grew wide. This was apletely different reward from his bet with the Absolute Gods.

    Minhyuk had used For the Joy of Everyone and applied it to the Land of the Gods. This meant that all of the gods in thisnd, including Athenae, could receive a copy of the dish that he made. Athenae enjoyed the dish that she tasted.

    Amotion broke out among the gods.

    ¡°Even mother?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible¡­¡±

    ¡°This is crazy! Absolutely crazy!¡±

    While the gods were in awe and admiration, the God of Judgment closed his eyes and was left lost in his thoughts.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk¡¯s heart was already at his throat. Everything depended on this man¡¯s choice. His choice would determine whether Minhyuk would be significantly rewarded or receive huge penalties.

    Not long after, the God of Judgment opened his eyes. There was a slight smile on his face as he said, ¡°I give you my recognition.¡±

    <em>[The God who Protects the Laws and the Rules acknowledges you.]</em>

    <em>[You have levelled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have won the bet against the Absolute Gods.]</em>

    <em>[You have received the acknowledgement and recognition of all gods.]</em>

    <em>[You can ask the Absolute Gods for one thing if it is within reasonable means.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Beef Galbi-jjim Across All Eras!]</em>

 Chapter 1042

    Chapter 1042

    Minhyuk was delighted when he heard the notifications ringing in his ears. He even obtained the Beef <em>Galbi-jjim </em>Across All Eras, a dish with ridiculously overpowered power.

    The Absolute Gods, who had finished eating, nodded to the gods. Only then did the gods, whose eyes were already shining with impatience, begin to eat the spicy pork <em>bibimbap</em> in front of them.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t this delicious?!¡±

    ¡°D¨C Delicious. It¡¯s really delicious¡­!¡±

    The gods shouted as they ate the dish with great relish. Some gods even closed their eyes and shed a few tears as they savoured its vour.

    Then, notifications constantly rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[Nagan¡¯s favour has increased.]</em>

    <em>[Veimin¡¯s favour has increased.]</em>

    <em>[Uraghan¡¯s favour has increased.]</em>There was a considerable boost in the gods¡¯ favour. Minhyuk was sure that this would be of great help. Of course, Minhyuk did not forget the reason why he came here.

    ¡°I received a huge penalty for allowing thousands or tens of thousands of gods to eat the same dish. But it¡¯s fine. I¡¯m fine.¡± Minhyuk began to lie through his teeth. ¡°You¡¯ve eaten the most delicious dish in the world, so whatever damage I receive is alright. It¡¯s really, <em>really</em> fine.¡±

    The gods, who could taste the most delicious dish in the world, felt very moved.

    ¡°Are you saying that you receive harm in exchange for allowing us to eat the most delicious dish in the world?!¡±

    ¡°Well, there¡¯s no way that he would not receive any harm for letting all of the gods have a taste of such delicious food, no?¡±

    ¡°But he said that it was fine(?). He¡¯s a kind, generous and broad-minded person.¡±

    ¡°He said that it¡¯s fine. Well, he will understand.¡±

    When Minhyuk heard the words of one of the tactless gods, he spoke with great emphasis. ¡°I¡¯m <em>reaaaaaally </em>fine. You¡¯ve all had a good meal, no?¡±

    ¡°See, I told you he understands.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Minhyuk was rendered speechless by the slow-witted god.

    ¡°We have been treated to such a delicious meal. We just can¡¯t ept it without giving anything back.¡±

    ¡°No. He clearly said that it was fine. So, why are you guys¡­¡±

    ¡°We have to pay for the meal that we ate. Even a small amount will do.¡±

    ¡°Yes. We have to show a bit of our sincerity.¡±

    ¡°He said that it was fine. But if you¡¯ll give him some, I have no choice but to give it too.¡±

    A happy smile shed on Minhyuk¡¯s face when he heard the gods¡¯ conversation. These were the people standing at the peak of the world. Their small sincerity would help revitalise the Beyond the Heavens Empire in the long run.

    After a while, all the gods and Absolute Gods were covered in light as they got transported out of the coliseum. When Minhyuk opened his eyes, he was already standing in the meeting hall where the Absolute Gods were meeting.

    It was now time for him to tell them the most important thing, the thing that he came here for.

    ¡°It¡¯s quite surprising that you have received recognition from all of us.¡±

    The Battle God indeed found it incredible. He had believed that the Dish Across All Eras was something that Minhyuk would not be able to beat. But he chose to win by the taste and the vour, not the cooking process or its abilities. And he had done it.

    ¡°So, what do you want from us?¡± the Battle God asked.

    Arlene, who Minhyuk turned to look at when he heard the question, seemed utterly puzzled.

    ¡°Do you know about Athenae¡¯s Frenzied Ingredients?¡±

    Of course, they knew. There was not a single god here who did not know about it. After all, no one, not even the gods, has ever seeded in cooking this ingredient.

    ¡°I want you, Arlene, to help me cook Athenae¡¯s Frenzied Ingredient.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    They were all shocked. In a way, what Minhyuk wanted from them was for the God of Cooking to cook with him. He could not understand why all of the Absolute Gods looked so shocked.

    Then, with a calm andposed voice, Arlene said, ¡°Minhyuk. You can die.¡±

    ¡°...?!¡±

    Her words brought infinite shock to Minhyuk.

    ***

    ording to the description of Athenae¡¯s Frenzied Ingredient that Minhyuk had seen, many Gods of Cooking had failed to cook this ingredient. Aside from that, it also said that it was the most incredible ingredient in existence.

    When he saw the description, Minhyuk thought Athenae¡¯s Frenzied Ingredient was simr to ordinary God-grade ingredients. After all, even the most ordinary God-grade ingredients would release a ridiculous amount of force to bother the ones trying to cook them.

    After listening to Arlene¡¯s exnation, Minhyuk discovered that dealing with Athenae¡¯s Frenzied Ingredient was not as easy as he thought. Of course, Athenae¡¯s Frenzied Ingredient was much trickier to deal with than any other God-grade ingredients.

    And that was not all. Simply trying to cook it was challenging. ording to Arlene, they only had a few seconds. In a few seconds, some of these ingredients would immediately return to their original state even after they had started to chop them or cook them. Furthermore, if the ingredients received excessive damage, they would immediately rot away.

    But there was something that shocked Minhyuk.

    ¡°The previous generation God of Cooking died trying to cook one of Athenae¡¯s Frenzied Ingredient.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Minhyuk did not know that. No matter how extensive Minhyuk¡¯s informationwork was, he was still a yer.

    ¡°The fact that the ingredient is already tricky to deal with is already troublesome enough. But the bigger problem is that <em>¡®running bastard¡¯</em> whoes right when you start cooking it.¡±

    ¡°That running bastard?¡±

    ¡°The Frenzied Ingredient is the supreme ingredient. And that ingredient is being guarded by the Supreme Monarch. The Supreme Monarch is powerful.¡± God of Cooking Arlene smiled bitterly. ¡°There¡¯s no limit to the number of people who can cook together. But even if there is a limit, this ingredient can only be tamed and controlled by a God of Cooking. And since the Supreme Monarch will pressure the ones cooking, the cooking side can also choose someone to protect them.¡±

    Minhyuk, listening silently to the story, learned that the previous God of Cooking died despite choosing one knight to protect him. And who was that knight? The God of Cooking turned to look at the Battle God.

    ¡°...!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s shock grew deeper.

    ¡°The Battle God was protecting him, but he still couldn¡¯t stop the guy?¡±

    ¡°I have also sustained severe injuries. He¡¯s an opponent who we can¡¯t kill or win against.¡± The Battle God spoke bitterly.

    The brave and heroic Battle God ran away? This was what Minhyuk thought, but Arlene shook her head.

    ¡°The Supreme Monarch will only attack those who dared to cook the ingredients even if the ingredient has already been destroyed. The Battle God sustained severe injuries because he stood in the way and tried to stop the Supreme Monarch. After that, the God of Cooking died.¡±

    Only then did Minhyuk understand the bitter look on the Battle God¡¯s face and the miserable look on Arlene¡¯s own. Even though the Battle God stood before the Supreme Monarch, he failed to protect the God of Cooking and was the only one who came back alive.

    There was one thing that Minhyuk was curious about. Didn''t they know that it was dangerous?¡±

    ¡°We knew that it was dangerous.¡±

    But¡­

    ¡°Everyone wants to achieve something no one else has ever achieved.¡±

    Whether it was a human or a god, anyone would want to challenge something that has never been cooked for a <em>very</em> long time. They would like to do something that others have never done before.

    ¡°The previous God of Cooking was my master. After he died, I researched and found out many ways to cook Athenae¡¯s Frenzied Ingredient.¡±

    Even if Minhyuk had note to find her, Arlene would have challenged cooking the Frenzied Ingredient even at the risk of her death. But there was a problem.

    ¡°Getting one¡¯s hands on the Frenzied Ingredient is difficult. I did not expect you to have it.¡±

    Arlene still could not forget her master, who taught her how to cook, and the lessons he imparted to her.

    ¨C<em>Arlene. Watch me. The world¡¯s most extraordinary God of Cooking will be born.</em>

    After leaving those words, her master, who went with the Battle God, faced extinction. His body could not even be found anywhere. And Arlene? She wanted revenge. And the greatest revenge against the Supreme Monarch was for someone to seed in cooking that ingredient.

    ¡°Do you still want to do it?¡± Arlene asked.

    For Minhyuk, death meant a forced logout. But based on Arlene¡¯s words, those who would dare to cook the supreme ingredient would suffer heavier penalties. Furthermore¡­

    <em>¡®By bringing out the Frenzied Ingredient and asking her to cook it with me, we might lose the God of Cooking¡­?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s vision darkened. He did not expect that Athenae¡¯s Frenzied Ingredient was so dangerous. But the God of Cooking was hoping for this moment. Minhyuk was the one who asked her to cook Athenae¡¯s Frenzied Ingredient together. But would she be willing to do it together with him?

    ¡°Arlene, you know this too, no?¡± Minhyuk already noticed it. ¡°We can only cook this ingredient if we do it together.¡±

    The God of Cooking and the Food God cooked together. This story would be recorded in history and told for a long time.

    ¡°I really want to do it, Minhyuk.¡±

    Minhyuk could feel the firm will and determination of the God of Cooking. He knew that even if they did not do this now, the God of Cooking would somehow try to find a Frenzied Ingredient and do it on her own.

    ¡°Then, let¡¯s do it together.¡±

    Just like that, the two agreed to do it together.

    ***

    Minhyuk began to prepare for their challenge.

    Arlene mentioned that she had found ways to cook the Frenzied Ingredient after her master died trying to cook it. They were going to cook based on her ideas and hypothesis.

    She proposed going to the Maze of the Unknown, a maze inside the Land of the Gods, where many gods wandered off for a long time without finding the exit.

    <em>¡®But if we can pass through the maze, our chances ofpleting this dish well will increase.¡¯</em>

    Everything in Athenae would be rewarded, especially when someone took the risk. For those who would be able to pass through the Maze of the Unknown, they would be granted three wishes inside the maze.

    Of course, they could not make any ridiculous wishes. For example, they could not say,<em> ¡®Take this andplete this quickly!¡¯</em> Arlene said she would like to use one of the three wishes to increase their chances of cooking the ingredient easily.

    <em>¡®Even if we die, repeat the process.¡¯</em>

    For the second wish, if they died inside the maze, they could be revived and repeat the process. However, they could only be revived ten times in total. For the third wish, they have not yet decided on what to wish for. Arlene had never cooked this ingredient before and could onlye this far.

    Since various parchments and potions could be used inside the maze, the gods prepared and packed the best things for them.

    The entire Land of the Gods was buzzing. This was because the God of Cooking and the Food God were trying to cook an ingredient that killed the previous God of Cooking and seriously injured the Battle God. The Battle God also decided to join the two chefs, saying he wanted to wash away the disgrace of the past.

    Minhyuk, who had finished all of the preparations, was just about to leave when the God of Magic came to find him.

    ¡°The gods were fully satisfied with the meal you presented to us. So, we gathered a bit to show you our sincerity. Here, use this to buy tea.¡±

    <em>[You have gained five million tinum.]</em>

    Minhyuk smiled at the development funds for the Beyond the Heavens Empire that he had easily acquired. Then, at that moment, another god approached him. This god was the same god who was utterly disrespectful and curtly said, <em>¡®Didn¡¯t he say that it¡¯s fine?¡¯ </em>when Minhyuk said it was fine earlier.

    ¡°You said it was fine, so I did not give any money when they collected earlier.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    <em>¡®Huh? Why is this guy so tactless and slow-witted?¡¯</em>

    The God of Magic leaned into Minhyuk and whispered, ¡°We call him the God of Tactlessness, but he originally has another name.¡±

    Minhyuk could tell that it was the case. He was truly like the God of Tactlessness. He thought that it was good that he was born a god. If he had been an average person and worked for a boss, he would have definitely been scolded every single time.

    Minhyuk turned to leave.

    ¡°But it¡¯s not as if I ampletely tactless(?).¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°I know I have to pay for the meal I enjoyed. Originally, that kind of dish would be worth around ten thousand gold in the human world. To show my sincerity, I will give you something more. You see, I also have tact.¡±

    <em>[You have gained 20,000 gold.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    The god before Minhyuk smiled smugly as if he were saying his tact and wit were perfect. The corners of his mouth were even threatening to curl up high. He looked like he wanted to praise himself and say, <em>¡®Wow. I did well this time.¡¯</em>

    Only then did Minhyuk see the name floating above the god¡¯s head. Even gods could not identify each other¡¯s names when they were far away, like when someone was standing in the middle of the coliseum, and one was sitting in the stands. As it turned out, the actual name of this god was indeed something else.

    <em>[God of the Directionally Challenged]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    He was indeed a unique god.

    Minhyuk smiled awkwardly and nodded at the god. Then, the God of the Directionally Challenged turned around and smiled happily.

    ¡°My sense is incredible. I even considered the cost ofbour and the price of the ingredients. I don¡¯t think anyone will be more quick-witted and tactful than me in the eyes of the next generation Battle God. <em>Fufu.</em>¡±

    Minhyuk looked incredulously at his departing back. At this moment, he did not know that the God of the Directionally Challenged was the key to opening a locked door.

 Chapter 1043

    Chapter 1043

    Minhyuk looked at the two other team members who would cook the Frenzied Ingredient with him.

    <em>¡®There might never be a member line-up like this ever again.¡¯</em>

    The Battle God, who led and ruled over tens of millions of armies.

    The God of Cooking, the mother of all chefs and the one hailed by the Absolute Gods as the most incredible God of Cooking in history.

    And the next generation Battle God, Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk felt like he was standing with thousands of troops behind him. Not long after, the three reached the Maze of the Unknown.

    ¡°Many gods have been said to have lost their way there. There are still some of them wandering in this maze.¡± The Battle God exined to the nodding Minhyuk.

    But even though he said those words, he still looked rxed. That was something that only happened to ordinary gods. Then, the Battle God pulled out apass and said, ¡°A monarch who leads armies must never get lost.¡±

    <em>[The Golden Compass has started to guide you!]</em>They moved through the dark, twisted andplicated maze, following the path the goldenpass pointed.

    ¡°Keuaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Grrrrrr!¡±

    Sometimes, the Maze Trapped Gods and Level 750 mobs went out in droves. But Minhyuk and the Battle God efficiently dealt with them. Traps would get triggered asionally, but they could not stop the three of them. They walked through the maze for at least an hour.

    <em>¡®It takes at least an hour just to get through the maze. This is the reason why the gods get lost inside.¡¯</em>

    Just like that, they walked past the maze''s exit. The shocked Minhyuk was greeted by a cascading waterfall and a long stretch of river.

    <em>[You have sessfully got out of the Maze of the Unknown.]</em>

    <em>[You can make three wishes to escape the Maze of the Unknown sessfully.]</em>

    They could ask for ridiculous rewards for any of these three wishes. But if one considered it more carefully, whatever rewards they could receive from these wishes could only be used and would only be in effect inside the maze. Since one could only use the rewards inside, it could not be considered crazy or outrageous.

    Immediately, Arlene said, ¡°Increase our chances of sessfully cooking a dish inside the Maze of the Unknown.¡±

    <em>[Your first wish has been granted.]</em>

    <em>[Regardless of the ingredient, you will have a much higher sess rate than usual.]</em>

    ¡°If we die or fail to cook our dish, allow us to reset and start again ten times.¡±

    <em>[Your second wish has been granted.]</em>

    <em>[As long as you are within the Maze of the Unknown, you can reset everything ten times when you die or fail to cook your desired dish.]</em>

    <em>[In a yer¡¯s case, they will not receive any forced logout penalties during the ten allowed resets.]</em>

    ¡°We will hold off on the third wish.¡±

    <em>[Your third wish inside the Maze of the Unknown will be put on hold.]</em>

    <em>[You can make the wish whenever you¡¯re inside the maze.]</em>

    Arlene took a deep breath after setting up what they needed inside the maze. Then, with a faint smile on her face, she turned to look at Minhyuk and said, ¡°Let¡¯s make it happen.¡±

    Arlene and Minhyuk both chuckled nervously.

    <em>¡®The God of Cooking is nervous.¡¯</em>

    It seemed like Minhyuk had thought of Athenae¡¯s Frenzied Ingredient more lightly than he thought.

    Not long after, Minhyuk took a small box from his inventory. When he opened the box, a pork backbone that lookedpletely appetising appeared.

    ¡°We must drain the blood first, then go right into the cooking. At this point, we don¡¯t know exactly what this bastard will do to disturb us,¡± Arlene said.

    Minhyuk nodded. In other words, they were going to y it by ear. Then, he took out his Bizarre Cauldron.

    <em>¡®To be honest, draining blood from the backbone takes a long time.¡¯</em>

    But both Minhyuk and Arlene nned to use each of their powers to drain this blood quickly. The two made eye contact.<em></em>Minhyuk ced the backbone in the water at Arlene¡¯s nod.

    <em>[You are now trying to cook Athenae¡¯s Frenzied Ingredient.]</em>

    <em>[Athenae¡¯s Frenzied Ingredient is the Supreme Ingredient.]</em>

    <em>[If you fail to cook the Supreme Ingredient, the penalty that you will receive for a forced logout will be seven times the normal.]</em>

    <em>[Athenae¡¯s Frenzied Pork Backbone will use all sorts of ways to interrupt your cooking.]</em>

    <em>[The Supreme Monarch protecting the Frenzied Ingredient has been summoned.]</em>

    <em>[The power of the Maze of the Unknown has pushed the Supreme Monarch to the maze''s entrance.]</em>

    <em>[Your reckless challenge will be known to the world.]</em>

    <em>[Anonymous is trying to cook using the Supreme Ingredient!]</em>

    <em>¡®This is crazy¡­!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was shocked to receive a notification about a penalty that was not written in the description.

    <em>¡®If we fail to cook this dish, I will receive seven times the ordinary forced logout penalty?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was Athenae¡¯s Supreme. The penalty he received was just as high as his level. If he received a forced logout penalty seven times the normal, he would suffer a drop of at least ten levels.

    This was the first time that Minhyuk had seen such a ridiculous penalty. It was so absurd that his lips even started to shake and tremble.

    <em>¡®We have to do it, one way or another!¡¯</em>

    They were already riding on a tiger.

    <em>Roar¨C!</em>

    Then, a loud and unknown roar rang from somewhere inside the maze.

    ¡°As expected, the Supreme Monarch will be pushed to the entrance once summoned from the maze. Thanks to that, we can buy some time. Let¡¯s go, let¡¯s hurry.¡±

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    The roars and explosions made Minhyuk extremely nervous.

    <em>¡®It sounds like an earthquake is happening somewhere in there.¡¯</em>

    The entire maze was shaking because of him. But Minhyuk was curious about one thing.

    <em>¡®What did Arlene mean when she said that the Supreme Monarch does not die?¡¯ </em>Minhyuk thought as he looked down at the Frenzied Pork Backbone.

    <em>¡®Why does it look like it¡¯s swelling up¡­?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk saw the thin film usually attached to the backbone swelling rapidly.

    <em>[Please remove the film.]</em>

    <em>[If you can¡¯t remove the film on time, the ingredient will rot.]</em>

    Arlene and Minhyuk looked at each other in shock. And their shock grew even more when the film attached to the meat of the backbone began to twitch and wriggle.

    <em>[The slightest damage on the backbone will make the ingredient rot.]</em>

    The ingredient was very tricky to handle. Minhyuk and Arlene hurriedly pulled out their knives and began removing the film. He also triggered the Food God¡¯s Almighty Tool and turned them into knives that moved to help them remove the film.

    <em>¡®What the hell, why is this so tough¡­?¡¯</em>

    But when Minhyuk¡¯s de made contact with the wriggling and twitching film, he felt like what he was removing was not a film but a thinyer of sturdy rock. At this moment, Minhyuk realised something.

    ¡°This¡­¡±

    ¡°Other than us, no other chef in the world can remove this!¡± Arlene cried out.

    There were blue and red dots shing all over the film. However, they could only be seen if one looked closely at the ingredient. The two easily understood what the shing dots meant.

    <em>¡®All we need to do to remove the film is to stab those tiny red dots.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®But if we identally touch those blue dots, the ingredient will be damaged.¡¯</em>

    From what it looked like, only chefs who had reached the highest level and had dismantled, trimmed, and prepared ingredients tens of thousands of times would be able to do it. On top of that, there were tens of thousands of blue dots, while the red dots were few and far between.

    Arlene and Minhyuk both gently poked the red dots in front of them at the same time.

    <em>Fwoosh¨C</em>

    Then, the film easily peeled off of the backbone. After that, red and blue dots continuously appeared on the film.

    <em>Thwack, thwack, thwack¨C!</em>

    The sound of the removed film being thrown to the ground rang.

    <em>¡®What the hell? This is ridiculous¡­¡¯</em>

    But that was not all. The more film they removed, the less red dot could be seen. Now, they had to stab a tiny red dot among hundreds of thousands of blue dots.

    <em>[You have entirely removed the film!]</em>

    The two looked very nervous.

    <em>[Please remove the rest of the film quickly!]</em>

    <em>[If you don¡¯t remove the rest of the film, the ingredient will rot.]</em>

    It was indeed a crazy ingredient. Even though there was only the slightest gap in their movements, it would immediately warn them that the ingredient would rot.

    The tense and nervous Minhyuk and Arlene both gulped dryly. Minhyuk moved to poke the film.

    ¡°Wait!¡± Arlene shouted.

    She grabbed Minhyuk¡¯s wrist and then proceeded to stab the red dot, which had suddenly moved, by herself.

    <em>Shwaaaaa¨C!</em>

    <em>[You have sessfully removed the film.]</em>

    <em>[Blood has started to flow out of the pork backbone.]</em>

    ¡°Haa¡­ Haa¡­ Haa¡­¡±

    ¡°Ugh¡­¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s hands were trembling. If Arlene had not grabbed his wrist just now, he would have stabbed a blue dot. What would have happened if he identally stabbed it?

    <em>¡®The cooking would have already failed.¡¯</em>

    At this moment, Minhyuk thought it was a good idea to ask Arlene to cook with him.

    <em>¡®I could never cook this ingredient if I did it alone.¡¯</em>

    <em>Thud¨C thud, thud¨C</em>

    ¡°I don¡¯t think we have any more time to feel good about this.¡± The Battle God chuckled awkwardly.

    They were so focused that they failed to notice how much time had passed and how close <em>he </em>hade. They took at least fifty minutes to finish this one step.

    <em>Boom¨C!</em>

    Along with a loud explosion, a portion of the Maze of the Unknown broke, and a certain being made an appearance. The man was around two meters in height and wearing a ck horned helmet, ck full-te armour, and a ck sword in his hands.

    ¡°Long time, no see. F*cking bastard.¡±

    The Battle God was furious. This was the same bastard who killed the God of Cooking who came with him.

    <em>Vwoooooong¨C!</em>

    The Battle God knew that he had to give it his all at the very beginning since he had already been defeated by this guy once.

    ¡°Battle God¡¯s Five Generals.¡±

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    The Battle God triggered his skill, which allowed him to summon his Five Generals, which onlysted thirty seconds. Along with a sh of light, the Five Generals appeared.

    A shudder ran down Minhyuk¡¯s spine. <em>¡®This is crazy.¡¯</em>

    The Five Generals immediately unleashed their pinnacle skills upon summoning? The Battle God was indeed the Battle God. Minhyuk felt overwhelmed by the Battle God¡¯s power and charisma.

    The God of Magic waved his hand and immediately summoned gigantic meteors in the sky. Dozens of meteors fell and struck the Supreme Monarch. Everything happened in just three seconds.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk was delighted when he saw the explosions erupting one after another.

    ¡°We kil¡ª!¡±

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    But soon, Minhyuk caught sight of the Supreme Monarch appearing instantly in front of the God of Magic and splitting his body in half.

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk took a sharp breath.

    Then, an arrow shot out and spun swiftly, creating a vast whirlwind that looked like it would tear the whole world apart toward the Supreme Monarch. But the Supreme Monarch received the attack with his body and just charged forward. It did not take too long for him to take the head of the God of Archery.

    <em>Thump¨C!</em>

    <em>Roll, roll, roll¨C!</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    In the end, the Supreme Monarch, who easily endured the pinnacle skills of all of the Five Generals, killed them and let their bodies fall on the ground.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk could not help but freeze on the spot from the gruesome sound that rang in his ears. Even Arlene was terrified by the ridiculous sight presented to them by the Supreme Monarch. The only one who did not freeze was the Battle God. This was because he had already fought with the bastard once.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    A bright and blinding silver light erupted from the Battle God¡¯s body. Then, hundreds of sword lights wrapped in the same light appeared and shot toward the Supreme Monarch.

    The Battle God also used his skill, Monarch of Millions, and sent millions of troops toward the Supreme Monarch. This skill had a duration of five minutes. But the Supreme Monarch just ignored the Monarch of Millions. He swung his sword and cut off one of the arms of the Battle God, who was attacking him crazily.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡± the Battle God screamed.

    But the Supreme Monarch remained nonchnt, even opting to break the leg of the god that was already suffering from pain.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    <em>Thud¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk watched as the Supreme Monarch approached them. The Supreme Monarch cut off Arlene¡¯s head. When he saw her head roll, he tried to move quickly and respond.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s HP immediately dropped to the ground with just a few attacks from the Supreme Monarch. Minhyuk thought that perhaps this was the same scene that happened when the previous God of Cooking died in the past.

    Through his slowly darkening vision, Minhyuk finally saw why the Supreme Monarch was said to be someone who could not be killed.

    <em>[Supreme Monarch. Level ???. HP and MP: infinite]</em>

    That was right. The Supreme Monarch¡¯s HP and MP were infinite.

    <em>[You have been forced to logout from the Maze of the Unknown for the first time.]</em>

    <em>[Resetting.]</em>

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

 Chapter 1044

    Chapter 1044

    <em>[Anonymous is trying to cook using the Supreme Ingredient!]</em>

    The world message that just rang grabbed the yers'' attention.

    The world message was a notification that would ring when a particr yer had done something others still needed to achieve. The odds of a yer triggering a world message at least once while ying the game would be only one in tens of millions. That was how difficult it was to trigger a world message. And it was very unusual for just someone ¡°trying¡± to do something to trigger the world message.

    <em>[The one trying to cook the Supreme Ingredient is Minhyuk, right?]</em>

    <em>[I think so, too. There¡¯s no God of Cooking¡¯s Descendant in Athenae yet. And there haven¡¯t been any notifications about an NPC trying to do something about a Supreme Ingredient.]</em>

    <em>[Woah, shit. The Supreme Ingredient is the best ingredient among all of the ingredients, right? And he¡¯s trying to cook it?]</em>

    <em>[But even though Minhyuk did not receive any preferential treatment during the third-anniversary event, he¡¯s the one who¡¯s sitting at number one among those who had achieved the highest growth¡­]</em>

    <em>[What in the world is he doing?]</em>

    <em>[Wow. I¡¯m so curious¡­]</em><em>[The Supreme Ingredient will definitely be hard to cook, right?]</em>

    <em>[I bet that¡¯s the case. A lot of chefs die when trying to cook God-grade ingredients.]</em>

    Community sites were in a huge buzz. As the buzz intensified, the term ¡°Supreme Ingredient¡± also began to dominate all of the portal sites in the world. This was because the yers were curious about the Supreme Ingredient and how difficult it was to handle. Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>[Awesome! Hey guys, Minhyuk has turned on a live broadcast of Supreme Ingredient Cooking. Did you see it?]</em>

    <em>[Are you sure it¡¯s Minhyuk?]</em>

    The experts were all in awe of Minhyuk when they heard he turned on a live broadcast.

    <em>[Right now, the Supreme Ingredient is in the world¡¯s spotlight after the world message. By sharing this live broadcast of the process of cooking the Supreme Ingredient, he will not only scratch the viewer¡¯s itch and curiosity but also prove to the world what kind of person he truly is.]</em>

    <em>[This is the first time a notification about the Supreme Ingredient has been released to the world. All viewers are curious about how difficult it was to deal with. Many viewers have now tuned in on Minhyuk¡¯s broadcast.]</em>

    <em>[Since yer Minhyuk will ease their curiosity, we can expect that he will receive massive donations. Perhaps he will receive billions in donations in just one day.]</em>

    <em>This may prove that Minhyuk is the best chef in Athenae.</em>

    The viewers watched Minhyuk¡¯s live broadcast while listening to the experts and were soon shocked by the sight on their screens. It was because the God of Cooking and the Battle God were also present. Even the Battle God¡¯s Five Generals had been summoned. But despite the lineup, they were all cut down in just thirty seconds.

    <em>[...]</em>

    <em>[...]</em>

    The viewers were left stunned by the ridiculous level of difficulty. And just like Minhyuk, they could see that the Supreme Monarch¡¯s HP and MP were infinite.

    <em>[How can one break through this¡­?]</em>

    Everyone was thinking the same thing.

    ***

    <em>[This is the first reset.]</em>

    <em>[Time will reset to the time before you start cooking.]</em>

    ¡°Haaa¡­ Haaa¡­!¡±

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    The moment their consciousness returned, Minhyuk and the God of Cooking felt panic. The two were gasping for breath.

    Despair settled on the Battle God¡¯s face. He said, ¡°Nothing has changed. Not in the past and not now¡­¡±

    When the Battle God lost the previous God of Cooking and was left severely injured, he made a vow to meet the bastard again and kill him. He thought about how he would deal with the bastard over and over and <em>over</em> again. But those hundreds of times of nning were all useless when it came time to face <em>him.</em>

    ¡°Cooking is already a huge problem, but the Supreme Monarch is an even bigger problem¡­?¡±

    The Battle God had warned God of Cooking Arlene about the Supreme Monarch. But this was beyond anyone¡¯s imagination.

    But Minhyuk was the one who was most shocked about this situation. After all, he was the one who saw the heads of the Battle God, the greatest god, and the God of Cooking fall down without being able to fight back. Even he, the Supreme among the yers, was helpless and forced to log out.

    Minhyuk gulped dryly. He, who had turned on the live broadcast, knew, <em>¡®Those watching the live broadcast must have been going nuts too.¡¯</em>

    Godly Editor Carron suggested that Minhyuk turn on his live broadcast whenever he did something special or was about to do something new.

    <em>Showing this aspect of the Supreme will also raise the value of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. We can also receive donations, and there will be plenty of other benefits.</em>

    What Carron said was true. This was also the reason Minhyuk turned on the live broadcast but turned off the notification window. He did not want to be affected or care about them at all.

    Now, the three started to organise themselves and think of a solution.

    ¡°It took us around forty minutes to remove the film and drain the blood. But it took the Supreme Monarch fifty seconds to kill us all after he appeared.¡±

    The situation was looking hopeless. All Arlene and Minhyuk did was remove the film and drain the blood.

    ¡°Since the Supreme Monarch cannot die, then the only choice left for us is to tie him down and prevent him from attacking. Right?¡±

    Even though the Supreme Monarch¡¯s HP was infinite, that did not mean that he would not be affected by the impact of their attacks. However, the guy was fully aware of his advantages and was not afraid to take on their attacks head-on.

    ¡°No man is stronger than a man who knows he will not die,¡± the Battle God said.

    And just like he said, the Supreme Monarch did not hesitate since he knew he would not die.

    ¡°Then, how about we use all our stuns and restrict him as much as possible?¡±

    ¡°Use all of our stuns. Hmm, not bad.¡±

    The Supreme Monarch might be unkible, but that did not mean he could resist everything that came his way.

    After finishing their game n, they immediately prepared and went back into action. Minhyuk and Arlene took out the cauldron once again.

    <em>Thwack, thwack¨C!</em>

    The two began to remove the swelling film. They were much faster than on their first try. Even though they were working together for the first time, they looked like they had been working for a long time. They worked in their respective ces as they removed the film.

    <em>[Did you see it¡­?]</em>

    <em>[Where the hell is the red dot?]</em>

    <em>[Wow. What fantastic chemistry, perfect teamwork!]</em>

    The viewers watched the broadcast from Minhyuk¡¯s perspective. Minhyuk did not know how the viewers were reacting, but he did not care one bit and just continued to cook.

    Just like that, they had removed all of the film and drained the blood. Now, it took them thirty-two minutes. The time it took them to do all that had been reduced greatly, and now they were going to light up the fire.

    <em>Crackle¨C!</em>

    The God of Cooking¡¯s Divine mes shot out from her hands. These mes were strong enough to help them boil the pork backbone faster. Then, the water started to boil.

    ¡°...?¡±

    But the scum that floated to the surface of the water turned into bubbles that floated in the air and surrounded the two of them.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    Then, they created massive explosions that devoured Minhyuk and Arlene and caused severe damage to them.

    <em>[Please remove the scum.]</em>

    The notifications told them to remove the scum despite the continuous explosions that surrounded them.

    <em>Swoosh, swoosh¨C!</em>

    The two hurriedly took out theirdles.

    <em>Sizzle¨C!</em>

    But burning pain shed in their hands when they touched the foams and broke them.

    ¡°Kghhk!¡±

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    Their screams rang loudly in the area. It was ridiculous how a single ingredient could bring such a huge danger to them. But the two gods did not back down. They continued to remove the scum despite the explosions and the burning pain.

    ¡°Haa¡­ Haa¡­¡±

    <em>[You have removed all of the scum.]</em>

    <em>[Please start cooking.]</em>

    The full-fledged cooking was now going to begin. It took them a total of forty-four minutes to remove the film, drain the blood and remove the scum. And Arlene and Minhyuk¡¯s hands? They were already burned ck.

    Minhyuk hurriedly took out the <em>doenjang.</em> But at that moment¡­

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    Just as they expected, the same thing happened again.

    ¡°Arlene!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll take care of that!¡± Arlene quickly took the <em>doenjang</em> and took over.

    ¡°Battle God¡¯s Shackles.¡±

    <em>ng, ng, ng¨C!</em>

    Shackles carrying a golden light shot out and wrapped around the Supreme Monarch.

    <em>[The Battle God¡¯s Shackles puts the enemy in a five-second stunned state.]</em>

    The Supreme Monarch stopped in his tracks. He looked like he had been frozen. Immediately after that, the Battle God summoned his Five Generals.

    ¡°Make it so he cannot move!¡±

    <em>ck, ck, ck¨C!</em>

    The God of Archery¡¯s Arrow of Suspension shot out and stabbed the neck of the Supreme Monarch, leaving him with an additional seven seconds in a stunned state.

    <em>ng, ng, ng¨C!</em>

    ¡°Divine Stun.¡±

    The God of Magic¡¯s stun skill earned them an additional four seconds. At this moment, Minhyuk understood, <em>¡®Stuns and the likes work on him.¡¯</em>

    This was something that he could interpret simply. Minhyuk¡¯s face grew bright as he triggered Overpower and used it upon the Supreme Monarch, who was about to be released from his stunned state.

    <em>[Overpower]</em>

    <em>[The enemies, no matter who or what will be left in a two-second stunned state before you.]</em>

    Minhyuk immediately ran when he saw the Supreme Monarch freeze on the spot again. There was a smile on his face.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. But you must deal with the cooking from now on, Arlene!¡±

    Minhyuk thought that tying up the Supreme Monarch had greatly increased their chances of sessfully cooking the Frenzied Ingredient.

    The word ¡°Explosion¡± appeared on the de of his sword. Explosion was a mode that had a 15% chance of leaving an enemy in a four-second stunned state.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk shed and hacked at the Supreme Monarch, who was still stunned. Lightning bolts fell and struck the undying guy non-stop.

    Minhyuk was the guy who could swing his sword more than five times in a second if he so wanted. Because of that, he could leave the Supreme Monarch in an infinite stunned state.

    <em>Bang¨C Bang, bang¨C!</em>

    The Supreme Monarch was tied down as Explosion constantly fell upon him.

    ¡°We¨C We can do it¡­¡±

    ¡°We can do it.¡±

    The Battle God and the God of Cooking were both in awe. Minhyuk was putting the bastard in an infinite stunned state and was tying his feet non-stop.

    <em>Thump¨C</em>

    He suddenly felt a handnd on his shoulder.

    ¡°...?¡±

    Then, he saw the deep smile beneath the ck-horned helmet covering the Supreme Monarch¡¯s face.

    <em>¡®Wait! No way¡­!¡¯</em>

    <em>[The Supreme Monarch resists your stun.]</em>

    The Supreme Monarch had plenty of skills in his possession. What was the reason for his deep and infinite reserve of MP? It was so he could use his skills infinitely and without any restriction on the usage of MP.

    <em>Thud¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s body fell in a heap after his head got cut off.

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    Before his vision turned dark, he caught sight of the Battle God falling while the Supreme Monarch stabbed his sword through Arlene¡¯s abdomen.

    Only at this moment did Minhyuk realise it.

    <em>¡®He deliberately let us hit him with stuns.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk immediately understood that the Supreme Monarch was merely examining what tricks they had up their sleeves to fight against him. But there was something very important that they could not overlook.

    <em>¡®Just like how we¡¯re resetting¡­¡¯</em> Minhyuk bit his lips. <em>¡®...the Supreme Monarch is also resetting ten times.¡¯</em>

    In other words, just as they filled in the gaps they had seen after the initial reset, the Supreme Monarch could also fill in his gaps.

    During the third reset, Minhyuk, the God of Cooking and the Battle God approached it differently.

    <em>Boom¨C!</em>

    s, the Supreme Monarch exited the maze in just twenty-five minutes.

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°The time he took to break through the maze has been shortened by more than fifteen minutes?!¡±

    How did he get out of the maze so fast?!

    ¡°He¡¯s getting used to the maze.¡±

    Just like that, they continued to challenge the Frenzied Ingredient.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    The Battle God¡¯s head fell before Minhyuk and rolled down on the ground.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¨C!</em>

    He saw how the God of Cooking¡¯s body twisted and bent into a strange shape.

    <em>[Resetting.]</em>

    Once again, the Supreme Monarch used his skills upon his appearance.

    ¡°Supreme Sword Dance.¡±

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    Hundreds of swords hacked and ripped through their bodies.

    ¡°Supreme Sword Dance.¡±

    ¡°Supreme Sword Dance.¡±

    They were left in despair and frustrated by the skills the Supreme Monarch was triggering. There wasn¡¯t even a hit of a cooldown time.

    <em>[Resetting.]</em>

    Again.

    <em>[Resetting.]</em>

    And again.

    <em>[Resetting.]</em>

    Arlene and the Battle God kept on dying in front of Minhyuk. An indescribable sense of despair and loss shrouded them as they continued to fall.

    <em>[Resetting.]</em>

    <em>[You have been forced to log out from the Maze of the Unknown for the eighth time.]</em>

    Now, they only had two chances left. Minhyuk could see that despair was dragging down not only him but also the God of Cooking and the Battle God.

 Chapter 1045

    Chapter 1045

    <strong>Chapter 1045</strong>

    Arlene, the most incredible God of Cooking in history, had worked harder than any other Gods of Cooking so that she could avenge her master.

    Her master had told her with a faint smile that he woulde back and present the greatest, dish in the world¡ªthe Supreme Dish. However, he was a god, so death became his eternal rest. His soul disappeared as well.

    His death brought a deep and gut-wrenching pain to Arlene. She gritted her teeth and vowed that she would, without fail, create the supreme dish. She promised that she would never let the Supreme Monarch, who killed her master, go.

    Yet, after eight resets, Arlene realised. <em>¡®I can¡¯t cook.¡¯</em>

    The Supreme Monarch¡¯s time would also reset, just like them. And with every reset, the speed at which he broke through the maze grew faster and faster. He had already reached this ce before they had finished taking off the film. The worst part was that the Supreme Monarch would immediately use countless skills and bring them a deeper sense of despair the moment he appeared.

    <em>¡®Bna¡­¡¯</em> Arlene cried out for her master in her heart.

    When she looked back at the Battle God, he was also panicking, just like she was. Although the Battle God had no particr connection to the previous God of Cooking, he hade with the previous God of Cooking to help themplete the supreme dish together. Yet, the previous God of Cooking had died, while the Battle God survived. The guilt of being unable to protect the one who had asked for his protection had been eating away at the Battle God.

    Nevertheless, even in the face of his guilt and rage, he was still helpless in front of the Supreme Monarch. The Battle God clenched his fists tightly.

    Minhyuk was also in a chaotic mess. <em>¡®As time passes, the bastard¡¯s speed of breaking through the maze is getting faster.¡¯</em>

    Even if he ate a dish before the bastard came out and used all his stuns and attack skills upon his appearance, he still could not stop him. Nheless, they could not waste time like this.

    ¡°We have to develop a new strategy,¡± Minhyuk said.

    The God of Cooking and the Battle God both nodded. Their will to seed was not weaker than Minhyuk¡¯s.

    <em>¡®I will only get a forced logout penalty, but that¡¯s not the case for the two gods working with me.¡¯</em>

    It was only natural for the two gods to suffer from an even greater sense of loss and despair than him. After all, they were the ones who kept failing even though the thing they had wanted toplete for a very long time was right in front of them.

    They convened and thought of a strategy for a very long time, carefully examining things and nning every step of the way. Finally, their meeting ended, and they reached a conclusion.

    ¡°<em>Hoo¡­</em>¡±

    They only had one chance left to reset. This was theirst chance to do something without fearing the repercussions. On their tenth challenge, the Battle God and the God of Cooking would face eternal extinction if they died here.

    ¡°Let¡¯s begin,¡± the God of Cooking said.

    With that, their ninth challenge began.

    ***

    ATV Broadcasting Station PD Kim Daeguk¡¯s hands were filled with sweat as he looked at the massive screen before him. Even the station officials had taken their headphones off and stood up from their seats to look at the screen.

    The customer center team members, the reporters, and all the people who were busy heading somewhere stopped in their tracks and turned to look at the screens.

    <em>[Uwoooooooooh!!!]</em>

    <em>[Supreme Monaaaaaarch!!!]</em>

    The Battle God, with only one arm left, and Minhyuk, whose body was covered with blood, charged toward the Supreme Monarch''s undying and immortal existence. Through the screen, everyone could see the desperation and frustration on their faces.

    Minhyuk¡¯s live broadcast was disyed through various stations, with which they cooperated.

    <em>[Shwaaaaaa¨C!]</em>

    The Battle God¡¯s mosaiced body appeared on their screens. Then, the Supreme Monarch arrived immediately before the flustered Minhyuk and stabbed Minhyuk with his sword.

    ¡°...¡±

    PD Kim sighed.

    Their ninth challenge took quite a long time, but it was nothing more than dragging the time before the inevitable.

    ¡°...?¡±

    Suddenly, PD Kim saw the ring on Minhyuk¡¯s hand sh a bright red.

    <em>[Supreme Monarch. Level 943. HP 3,500,000. MP 4,000,000.]</em>

    ¡°What was that?!¡±

    The description window of the Supreme Monarch had changed for two seconds before returning to normal.

    <em>[Supreme Monarch. Level ???. HP and MP: infinite.]</em>

    ¡°Just now¡ªwhat was that just now?¡±

    ¡°I saw it too. Maybe it¡¯s a bug?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a bug. The ring on Minhyuk¡¯s finger shed red when it appeared.¡±

    PD Kim Daeguk felt that something was off, but in the end, all he could do was sigh. <em>¡®It¡¯s just for two seconds.¡¯</em>

    Indeed. That split second might give them the idea that they could break through this situation, but even if they could, they only had a two-second time gap.

    PD Kim Daeguk had thought there was at least some hope. However, he eventually copsed in his chair, rubbing his face in frustration.

    ¡°<em>Hoo¡­</em>¡±

    Sighing, he turned to look at the various broadcasting screens around him.

    Theirpetitors had also started their broadcasts with variousmentators and experts discussing the matter.

    <em>[Athenae¡¯s Supreme. Unfortunately, it¡¯s a realm that no yer could ever reach. Just look at it now; there¡¯s not even a possibility they will be able to do it.]</em>

    <em>[There¡¯s a sudden change in the Supreme Monarch¡¯s description window. But it only appeared for two seconds. It¡¯s quite a short time and is insufficient for them to make a breakthrough.]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s sad, but the Supreme level is beyond our reach. I¡¯m sure our viewers feel the same way, too.]</em>

    It was just as they said. There was no one in the world who did not understand how unattainable the Supreme¡¯s position was. After all, the Supreme Monarch had infinite HP and MP and the power to cut down Minhyuk and the Battle God in just one sh. There¡¯s also the fact that Minhyuk and the God of Cooking failed to progress any further.

    After checking their rivals, PD Kim Daeguk began checking the reactions of people all over the world. However, before he could do so, he caught sight of the results of a poll that one of the viewers had set up for fun. The poll was a ¡°Sess vs. Failure¡± poll, and many had voted on it.

    <em>[Sess: 3%.]</em>

    <em>[Failure: 97%]</em>

    PD Kim Daegukughed despondently. Millions of people were involved during the voting period, but only 3% believed the challenge would be sessful.

    <em>¡®To be honest, that 3% is highly likely to be Minhyuk¡¯s fans.¡¯</em>

    However, if it was PD Kim Daeguk voting, what would he choose? Of course, he would also vote for failure. It was sad, but this was the reality of the matter.

    PD Kim Daeguk joined Minhyuk¡¯s live broadcast.

    <em>[To be honest, I don¡¯t think they can clear this. They have used theirst chance. I think they should give up and go back.]</em>

    <em>[How can anyone clear this? Lmao. Even if the executives of Joy Co. Ltd. were equipped entirely with their items, even if Kang Taehoones, there¡¯s no way that anyone can clear this, no?]</em>

    <em>[Minhyuk, this is yourst chance. You no longer have the opportunity to reset. If you guys fail this, not only will you die, but even the Battle God and the God of Cooking will also die.]</em>

    <em>[Please give up.]</em>

    <em>[Give up.]</em>

    <em>[Give up.]</em>

    Their words werepletely reasonable. The Battle God and the God of Cooking were gods the people loved. Of course, the people would not want to lose these gods. And the same was true for PD Kim Daeguk.

    <em>[Give u¡­]</em>

    PD Kim Daeguk, who had already started typing in the live chat, hurriedly deleted his words. Instead of forcing someone else to give up, he decided to express his honest feelings.

    <em>[Yes, perhaps the correct solution here is to give up. So, why am I feeling frustrated?]</em>

    Then, the viewers responded to him.

    <em>[To be honest, at first, I thought, ¡®Shit! Minhyuk is doing it again. He¡¯s taking everything by himself. He should fail!¡¯ I acted like that, but I¡¯m also feeling extremely frustrated.]</em>

    <em>[The Supreme is the highest level that a yer could reach. But if Minhyuk could not do it, the ¡°Supreme¡± will forever remain uncleared.]</em>

    <em>[How can anyone clear that¡­? Shit, fr¡­ It¡¯s something that we definitely cannot do. So, I have to admit that this is frustrating.]</em>

    <em>[Right now, Minhyuk is us. He is showing our future. So, he has to break and clear this¡­ Haaa.]</em>

    At this moment, PD Kim Daeguk realised that he was highly frustrated. Thest level that a yer could reach was unattainable for them. Knowing this fact alone was enough to make anyone feel frustrated.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s also the fact that 97% of the viewers had voted that he would fail.¡¯</em>

    Nevertheless, somewhere deep in his heart, he hoped that Minhyuk would seed. The problem was that everyone was saying that it was futile, that he should stop and give up already.

    PD Kim chuckled bitterly. Then, he typed in the live chat.

    <em>[Fighting.]</em>

    Whether Minhyuk chose to give up or not, none of them would think he failed because he was not good enough. That was why he wanted to cheer Minhyuk up.

    <em>[Fighting!]</em>

    <em>[Minhyuk, fighting!]</em>

    <em>[Let¡¯s go!]</em>

    <em>[Fighting!!!]</em>

    <em>[You can do it!!!]</em>

    <em>[Even if you choose to give up, it doesn¡¯t matter! This can happen to everyone! Give it your all!!!]</em>

    These words appeared in PD Kim Daeguk¡¯s live chat window.

    PD Kim Daeguk thought, <em>¡®If it¡¯s yer Minhyuk, then he will choose to give up.¡¯</em>

    He knew that although the young man looked reckless, he was not a reckless yer. He would obviously not do something when he realised they would surely fail.

    ***

    They could no longer reset. Minhyuk knew this better than anybody else. He was also painfully aware that the Battle God and the God of Cooking would face extinction if they died.

    <em>¡®Funnily enough, I only figured out how to take away his infinite HP when the next chance is ourst chance.¡¯</em>

    Before Minhyuk died at the hands of the Supreme Monarch, he activated the Absolute One¡¯s Breaker Ring. This ring had the effect that it could ignore and break through anything with thebel ¡°unconditional¡± for two seconds. Because of that, it was able to temporarily take away the Supreme Monarch¡¯s infinite HP that protected him.

    <em>¡®His HP is at around 3.5 million. That¡¯s simr to Named beings at the same level as him.¡¯</em>

    There was one more interesting fact.

    <em>¡®His special characteristic is creating infinite HP. He cannot regenerate his wounds or recover his HP like the regr Named beings.¡¯</em>

    Simply put, they could kill the Supreme Monarch if they cut down his 3.5 million HP, but the problem was¡­

    <em>¡®The Absolute One¡¯s Breaker Ring only has a two-second duration.¡¯</em>

    The Battle God likely had at least one skill like this, and it seemed like he had also realised they could take away the Supreme Monarch¡¯s infinite HP.

    So, he said, ¡°Seven seconds. That¡¯s when I can take away his ¡®infinite¡¯ status.¡±

    Even then, they would only have nine seconds in total. If they could kill the Supreme Monarch during that time, then they would be able to cook.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s too risky.¡¯</em>

    Unfortunately, they did not know if they could kill the guy at that time. Their main purpose was to cook the Supreme Dish. They had to find a way to cook the Frenzied Ingredient, not kill the Supreme Monarch. Perhaps this was theirst chance, or maybe it was not.

    <em>¡®If I give up here and go back, then nothing will happen to us.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk looked back at the maze. Then, he turned the chat window on. He was wondering if he could borrow the viewers¡¯ opinion on the matter. A bitter smile shed on Minhyuk¡¯s face when he saw the live chat.

    <em>[Fighting!!!]</em>

    <em>[Let¡¯s go! Go! Go!]</em>

    <em>[You can do it!]</em>

    <em>[You¡¯re the yers¡¯ hope!]</em>

    <em>[If you find it too challenging, then it¡¯s also alright to stop!]</em>

    The live chat was filled with messages of support. There wasn¡¯t even anyone speaking ill of Minhyuk at this moment. That was how much of a goal the ¡°Supreme¡± was for everyone. Now that they realised that the Supreme was a level they could not reach, they all united and cheered for Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s also alright to stop.¡¯</em> These words broughtfort to Minhyuk¡¯s heart.

    The truth was, Minhyuk regretted turning on the live broadcast and following Carron¡¯s advice right at this very moment, but he remembered what Carron had told him.

    ¡ª<em>Whether you fail or seed, you can still receive their support. And there will be times when the support of the people will give you strength. </em>

    Indeed. That was the case. Nevertheless, unfortunately, Minhyuk found nothing helpful in the live chat.

    Just when he was about to close it, one of the viewers said this.

    <em>[If the Supreme Monarch fails to get out of the maze, then maybe it will be possible for them to cook¡­]</em>

    Perhaps this was the easiest and the fastest method, but the problem was the Supreme Monarch already had the Maze of the Unknown memorised down to the T. He could even break through it in just ten minutes tops. If only they had the power to keep the bastard in the maze and out of their sight on his own...

    ¡°Wait,¡± Minhyuk said, slowing to a standstill.

    Yes, it might be impossible to do it on their own, but it might be possible if they borrowed someone else¡¯s power.

    Minhyuk deactivated the live chat, so he could concentrate.

    <em>¡®There are a few parts of the maze that the Supreme Monarch could break through by force. But most of the maze¡¯s parts are indestructible.¡¯</em>

    Indeed, the Supreme Monarch rarely broke through the maze walls by force.

    <em>¡®We still have one more wish left.¡¯</em>

    Athenae¡¯s Frenzied Ingredient has no limit on the number of chefs that could help them. However, they could only have one assistant to help them stop the Supreme Monarch. But¡­

    <em>¡®This is the Maze of the Unknown. Most of the wishes inside the Maze of the Unknown wille true.¡¯</em>

    Just like how they got the ten opportunities from the reset, Minhyuk took a deep breath as a smile filled with joy slowly appeared on his face. He wanted to show the people who cheered for him that there was hope¡ªeven if it was just a glimmer.

    On the top left of their screens, ZTubers could indicate a target donation amount for the day. They could set 10,000 won or maybe 20,000 won. Just like that, Minhyuk hurriedly set his target donation. Setting the target donation meant that he would seed.

    Finally, the target donation appeared.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Target Donation</em></strong><em>: 50,000,000,000 won.]</em>

    The amount that Minhyuk set was fifty billion won. He turned on the live chat for a brief moment and said, ¡°I¡­ I will definitely do it.¡±

    Then, he closed it again.

    After that, Minhyuk turned to the Battle God and God of Cooking Arlene. ¡°I have found a solution. All we need to do is not let the Supreme Monarch get out of the maze.¡±

    The God of Cooking looked at Minhyuk in doubt. ¡°But¡­ we already know that, though?¡±

    Minhyuk exined, ¡°We can get help from others using our final wish. If we get help from that god, then there¡¯s a high chance that the Supreme Monarch will not be able to get out of the maze.¡±

    The already confused Battle God and God of Cooking grew even more confused. Which god were they going to ask for help from?

    Minhyuk said, ¡°It¡¯s the God of the Directionally Challenged.¡±

    ***

    The Battle God and the God of Cooking finally saw a glimmer of hope after listening to Minhyuk¡¯s exnation.

    ¡°I might die, but I want to see this to the end.¡±

    ¡°Me too.¡±

    A fire of determination burned in the eyes of the two gods.

    The Battle God immediately ordered the God of the Directionally Challenged toe to the Maze of the Unknown using a sound transmission.

    Then, the Battle God told the others, ¡°He has already left. He¡¯ll probably reach the maze in twenty minutes.¡±

    After three hours of waiting...

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°Why¡­ Why isn¡¯t he here yet? Is he still getting ready?¡±

    After seven hours¡­ the Battle God could ran out of patience. He sent another sound transmission. Then, a sh of surprise appeared on the Battle God¡¯s face.

    ¡°Th-this¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk and the God of Cooking turned to look at the Battle God. This was the first time they had seen him so shocked. Maybe¡­

    <em>¡®Did he find something else rted to the Supreme Ingredient?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Did that bastard get rid of the God of the Directionally Challenged beforehand?¡¯</em>

    Their imaginations were running wild. Then, the Battle God stammered, ¡°H-he got lost.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°But what¡¯s more shocking is that he¡¯s around 5,900 kilometres from the Maze of the Unknown. Wait, isn¡¯t that the human world?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Everyone was rendered speechless.

 Chapter 1046

    Chapter 1046

    <strong>Chapter 1046</strong>

    ¡°For ourst wish, we want to receive help from another person inside the Maze of the Unknown. We will bring them ourselves.¡±

    <em>[Your third wish has been granted inside the Maze of the Unknown.]</em>

    <em>[Aside from the two chefs and the one assistant, you can receive help from one additional person.]</em>

    Theirst wish was granted inside the Maze of the Unknown.

    The Battle God, who had grown impatient, left the Maze of the Unknown and said he would bring the God of the Directionally Challenged himself.

    Now, the Battle God had finally returned.

    Minhyuk could never forget how the God of the Directionally Challenged had paid him the for thebour and ingredients as a show of sincerity when Minhyuk served the gods with delicious food. Yet, the tactless god hadughed happily as if his little show of sincerity was the best among the gods. The God of the Directionally Challenged, Abara, smiled at Minhyuk. ¡°Greetings, God of Cooking and next generation Battle God.¡±

    Abara thought, <em>¡®I was brilliant when I paid the next generation Battle God the cost ofbour and ingredients for the dish he made for us. Fufu. He definitely likes me. I can see that he cares about me by the look in his eyes.¡¯</em>

    That was not the case at all. Minhyuk was just looking at him nkly.

    ¡°More importantly, how did you get lost?¡± the God of Cooking asked.

    This was because any god could reach the Maze of the Unknown without any difficulties.

    Abara rubbed his chin and said, ¡°I don¡¯t know. I was definitely heading straight to the Maze of the Unknown, but all of a sudden, I was in the human world. It¡¯s extraordinary.¡±

    It was not strange at all. It was because he was the God of the Directionally Challenged.

    Abara continued, ¡°This happens all the time. Not too long ago, I stepped out of my temple. But then, I got lost. When I opened my eyes, I was already in Hell. I ran away because the God of Death almost killed me. And when I opened my eyes again, I was in thend where the elves live.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Everyone was puzzled. Usually, if someone was already at this level, they should have admitted that they were terrible with directions, right?

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk was in awe. He thought, <em>¡®Wow¡­ He¡¯s so tactless and slow that he doesn¡¯t even recognise that he¡¯s bad at directions himself?¡¯</em>

    As strange as it might sound, their only way to break through the situation was the power of the God of the Directionally Challenged.

    The Battle God knew it well. That was why he tapped Abara¡¯s shoulder and said, ¡°When this is over, I¡¯ll treat you wellter.¡±

    When someone sitting in the leader¡¯s position said these words, it usually meant receiving a better position or a surprising amount of gold and treasures.

    ¡°Why do itter? Shouldn¡¯t you give it to me now?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    The Battle God clenched his fists.

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be troublesome if you give it to meter? Just give it to me now. Haha!¡±

    This time, the one clenching their fists was the God of Cooking. Ultimately, the Battle God pulled out a heavy bag filled with money. There were at least hundreds of thousands of tinum inside of it.

    Abara received the bag and thought, <em>¡®Kghhk! When he said he would treat me wellter, he meant that he would renege on itter and pretend that he did not say anything.¡¯</em>

    He was utterly wrong. The Battle God had intended to give him a better position, not just mere money or treasure. It was even a position worth hundreds of millions of tinum, not hundreds of thousands.

    <em>¡®But as expected, I¡¯m really clever! Since I asked for it right away, I got some money!¡¯</em>

    In the end, Minhyuk was also left clenching his fists tightly when he saw the grin on Abara¡¯s face. He almost couldn¡¯t hold it in when he saw the god being socent.

    Minhyuk and the other two looked at each other.

    <em>¡®Should we kill him¡­?¡¯</em>

    For some reason, they all felt terrible thinking that this kind of person was their hope.

    The Battle God said, ¡°Since I already gave you yourpensation, let me exin what we want you to do. It¡¯s straightforward.¡± The Battle God pointed at the imposing maze behind them. ¡°When we start cooking, the Supreme Monarch will enter that maze. Make it so he will not be able to find his way here.¡±

    Abara looked at the maze with a faint smile on his face. ¡°It¡¯s not that difficult. Look, there¡¯s even a maze set up.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s¡­ not that difficult?¡±

    Even if the God of the Directionally Challenged could get lost and make others get lost, the opponent was still the Supreme Monarch. Well, it was also true that their trust in him had decreased because of his tactless behaviour.

    ¡°Anyone can lose their way. After all, we rely on our memories, the signs and various other guides that point us in the right direction.¡±

    The God of the Directionally Challenged looked confidently at the maze. He seemed so confident that he could rival the God of Confidence in prestige.

    ¡°How was it? Wasn¡¯t I cool?¡±

    ¡°Let go of me! Don¡¯t stop me! I can¡¯t take it anymore!¡±

    Minhyuk and Arlene hurriedly hugged the Battle God to stop him. Meanwhile, the God of the Directionally Challenged tilted his head in confusion. He could not understand what the matter was with the Battle God. Abara was indeed a god without tact.

    ***

    Minhyuk, Arlene, and the Battle God were all tense.

    <em>¡®Once the Supreme Monarch exits that maze, we will face real death.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®As soon as that bastardes out, we must leave this ce with the God of Cooking.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Can we even run away with her?¡¯</em>

    They were extremely nervous because a devastating tragedy would happen if they failed to escape with the God of Cooking the moment the Supreme Monarch exited the maze.

    Despite the cold sweat dripping down Arlene¡¯s forehead, she smiled and said, ¡°Minhyuk, let¡¯s start.¡±

    The greatest and most difficult challenge in the world was now going to start. The film began to swell when Minhyuk ced the pork backbone in the water.

    <em>BANG!!!</em>

    A loud explosion reverberated through the maze, but the God of the Directionally Challenged was already inside. So, Minhyuk and the God of Cooking Arlene calmly worked on the dish that they were cooking.

    They were quick to remove the film. This was their fastest record to remove the film; the process only took nine minutes.

    Immediately after that, the scum caused by the boiling water floated and began to explode around them. The two endured the explosions and continued to remove the scum from the cauldron.

    <em>Bang!!!</em>

    The two could not help but cringe and turn to look at the maze when another explosion erupted within thebyrinth. They froze as if waiting for him to appear.

    ¡°How much time has passed?¡±

    ¡°Fourteen minutes have passed since you started.¡±

    The Supreme Monarch, who had grown used to the maze, would reach this ce within fifteen minutes of his summoning. That was why they only had around fifteen minutes of cooking time.

    The God of Cooking was shocked. ¡°D-did it work?!¡±

    The Battle God raised a finger to his lips to silence Arlene. He slowly leaned on the walls of the maze and closed his eyes. He listened intently and focused on the soundsing from the inside. When he opened his eyes, there was a faint sense of admiration in them.

    The Battle God said, ¡°It¡¯s unbelievable¡­ Right now¡­ Right now, he¡¯s still far from the exit.¡±

    Arlene and Minhyuk¡¯s faces brightened.

    ¡°He might have no tact, but he¡¯s truly a god who can ensure that someone will get lost.¡±

    ¡°Now, we can focus on cooking, Arlene.¡±

    The two looked at each other. Then, they hurriedly removed the scum and took out the <em>doenjang.</em>

    ***

    The Supreme Monarch was alive but was not living. He was a being who could live infinitely and was created solely as the envoy who would protect the Frenzied Ingredients.

    A deep smile dug at the corners of his mouth when he realised that the three gods, who had repeatedly died helplessly under his hands, began to cook again. After all, the Supreme Monarch was also aware that this was theirst chance to challenge the ingredient.

    Just like that, the Supreme Monarch entered the maze. Despite the ever-changing path of thebyrinth, he was confident that he would easily pass through it. Why? Because he had already grasped everything about it.

    <em>¡®Once the maze shifts a third time, I can go this way.¡¯</em>

    <em>Rumble¨C!</em>

    The Supreme Monarch smiled leisurely as he watched the maze walls shake and move.

    <em>¡®Was it the fourth time?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®No. Maybe it¡¯s the fifth?¡¯</em>

    He felt that something was off. He should have remembered the path, but he just could not for some reason.

    Not long after, he convinced himself. <em>¡®It¡¯s definitely the fifth shift.¡¯</em>

    The Supreme Monarch took a different path after the maze walls shifted for the fifth time. However, when he exited the path, he realised he had entered apletely different path¡ªa path that he had never been to before.

    <em>¡®What? Wasn¡¯t it supposed to be here?¡¯</em>

    The Supreme Monarch kept calm andposed. In the end, the maze had a set rule. As long as he could see through the rules of this ce, then the path would eventually reveal itself.

    <em>¡®Where am I?¡¯</em>

    The Supreme Monarch could no longer hide his frustration. Although he believed he had followed the rules of the maze, he found himself moving to apletely different ce each time. In the end, the rules of the maze faded from his memories.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    The lost Supreme Monarch hit the walls of the maze in anger. However, the walls of the Maze of the Unknown would create more walls and make the maze moreplicated whenever someone tried to damage it. He ran frantically, trying to find the exit. But there was no exit in sight.

    Meanwhile, the God of the Directionally Challenged floated above the maze and looked at him with a faint smile.

    <em>¡®Fufu.¡¯</em>

    This smile signified his happiness at receiving hundreds of thousands of tinum from the Battle God.

    ***

    Minhyuk and the God of Cooking worked well together. The two swiftly added the <em>doenjang</em> in the cauldron at the same time.

    <em>Blub, blub¨C!</em>

    The boiling water slowly changed colours as the smell of <em>doenjang</em> rapidly spread in the area.

    ¡°Uweeeeeeck!¡±

    Minhyuk vomited, shocked by the smell that wafted in his nose. Even Arlene could not help but cover her mouth.

    Why were they reacting like this? The smell that the <em>doenjang</em> released was nauseating. It was so disgusting that one could only retch and vomit the moment the smell reached their nose.

    ¡°Minhyuk!¡±

    ¡°Yes. Urk!¡±

    Nevertheless, the two endured the disgusting smell and continued to cook the <em>gamjatang</em>. They added the prepared potatoes, outer cabbage leaves, and other ingredients to the cauldron.

    ¡°Uweeeeeck!¡±

    However, Minhyuk could not help but vomit again.

    <em>¡®What¡­ What the hell is this¡­!¡¯</em>

    The smell of rotten corpses wafted from the cauldron of <em>gamjatang</em> that they were cooking.

    Arlene copsed, unable to endure the smell.

    <em>¡®A dish that should taste delicious has a smell like this¡­?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk understood that the Frenzied Ingredient was attacking their consciousness and rationality.

    <em>¡®Why do I have to make this kind of dish? This kind of dish that could make someone vomit?!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk questioned himself like this because the ingredient was taking over his sense of reason. At that moment, several notifications were ringing in his ears, but they did not register. The only thought that filled his head was stopping what he was doing.

    <em>Thwack¨C!</em>

    Right then, Arlene pped Minhyuk in the face.

    ¡°Wake up! Get a grip! Right now, the ingredient is trying to take away your sense of reason. Don¡¯t forget that.¡± Arlene grabbed Minhyuk by the cor. ¡°This. Is. The. Supreme. Dish.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°The most delicious dish in the world, the Supreme Dish.¡±

    The light in Minhyuk¡¯s eyes slowly began to return, thanks to Arlene¡¯s words. He nodded.

    ¡°And¡­¡±

    A delighted smile appeared on Minhyuk¡¯s face.

    ¡°...this is a dish that only we can cook.¡±

    Minhyuk thought that he was fortunate to be cooking with Arlene. This ingredient would have already rotted away if she wasn''t here. Strength finally returned to Minhyuk¡¯s limbs.

    Finally, he heard the notifications ringing non-stop in his ears.

    <em>[Please lower the heat.]</em>

    <em>[If you cannot control the heat, the pork backbone will rot.]</em>

    <em>[Please stir the contents of the cauldron.]</em>

    <em>[If you don¡¯t stir the cauldron''s contents, the pork backbone will rot.]</em>

    These two actions could not be performed by a single person alone. They had to be done simultaneously.

    <em>Crackle¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk grabbed thedle and began to stir when Arlene started controlling the mes. The two were absorbed in their work.

    <em>¡®This dish¡­ is the most delicious in the world. This is the Supreme Dish.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk smiled at the thought of eating such a delicious dish, while Arlene smiled at the thought of doing something that others could not.

    <em>¡®Today will be the day that the Supreme Dish will be born to the world.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk slowly fell into a deep trance.

    ***

    The entire world was watching Minhyuk and Arlene cook.

    <em>[This is crazy. A disgusting smell suddenly spread from the cauldron while they were cooking.]</em>

    <em>[Minhyuk is being controlled by a type of mind magic. Goodness! I have never seen an ingredient that is this hard to cook!]</em>

    <em>[The God of Cooking and the Food God endured the stench as they continued to cook.]</em>

    <em>[Are you seeing this? The two are smiling happily! No ingredient can stop the God of Cooking and the Food God!]</em>

    <em>[I think the cooking process ising to an end now.]</em>

    <em>[Various ingredients and the pork backbone are slowly being cooked inside the boiling broth. It looks delicious!]</em>

    <em>[Ah¡­ Ahhh! Did you see that just now?! Hundreds of transparent des fell from the sky, cutting and shing Minhyuk and Arlene!]</em>

    <em>[Minhyuk is hugging Arlene and shielding her from the attacks!]</em>

    <em>[Minhyuk and Arlene are both covered in blood. They are using potions to stop the bleeding before continuing to cook.]</em>

    <em>[Rumbleeee¨C!]</em>

    <em>[E-Earthquake! It¡¯s an earthquake!]</em>

    <em>[A terrifying earthquake is interfering with the cooking process.]</em>

    <em>[The two gods are hugging the hot cauldron so it will not spill over.]</em>

    <em>[I can see the determination in their eyes. It¡¯s like they are saying nothing can ruin the dish before them!]</em>

    <em>[This is amazing. Despite the intense earthquake, none of the broth spilt out of the cauldron.]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s the final step! Minhyuk has grabbed the spring onion.]</em>

    <em>[BANG!!!]</em>

    <em>[CRACKLE¨C!]</em>

    <em>[A pir of zing mes shot out and devoured Minhyuk and Arlene. Their bodies are turning ck from being scorched by the fire, but Minhyuk is not letting go of the spring onion.]</em>

    <em>[Arlene is reaching out toward the mes.]</em>

    <em>[The scorched Minhyuk yells as he adds the green onion to the cauldron!]</em>

    <em>[Finally¡­ Arlene sessfully turns off the mes!]</em>

    All people tuned in to the live broadcast stopped in their tracks. Everyone gulped.

    Minhyuk and Arlene, whose bodies were all burnt and scorched, copsed on the ground with a loud thud.

    The Supreme¡ªit was the highest level, a level that everyone wanted to reach.

    The Supreme¡ªit was the most dangerous challenge but would give the sweetest reward.

    The Supreme¡ªit was thest level that a yer could achieve.

    <em>[Anonymous has sessfully created the Supreme Dish!]</em>

    The entire world cheered when they saw the notification.

    Meanwhile, Arlene and Minhyuk¡¯s bodies were recovering at a rapid pace.

    <em>[Hic¨C Heuk, heuk, heuk¨C Master, I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m really sorry. I wanted to avenge you. I really, really wanted to avenge you, but¡­]</em>

    The entire world witnessed the God of Cooking copse and cry. She said that she was sorry, even though she had done it.

    The viewers watching this scene understood what she was feeling. Although she did it, something was missing. They noticed that the reason why she was crying was because they were only able to cook the dish. Yes, they seeded in cooking the dish, but she wanted revenge on the Supreme Monarch too. However, she knew that they would not be able to do it.

    The viewers grew silent. Arlene¡¯s sad and desperate cry for the master she had lost and whom she vowed to avenge was making their hearts clench in pain. They all knew that even though they were able to do it, it was still like they had not done anything.

    Then, Minhyuk approached Arlene and hugged her lightly. He smiled faintly as he looked at her tear-stained face before standing up. This time, he grabbed his sword and not hisdle.

    Minhyuk walked right next to the Battle God, who had finished all the preparations and looked at the maze before them.

    <em>[The title of the broadcast has been changed.]</em>

    The man standing in front of the maze has changed the name ¡°Cooking the Supreme Dish¡± into something else.

    <em>[Hunting the Supreme Monarch.]</em>

    The entire world cheered when they saw the new title of the live broadcast.

 Chapter 1047

    Chapter 1047

    Notifications rang constantly in Minhyuk¡¯s ears after they had sessfully made the Supreme Dish. But there was only one notification that registered in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The Supreme Monarch will disappear thirty minutes after thepletion of the Supreme Dish!]</em>

    Minhyuk smiled faintly as he hugged Arlene. Then, he rose to his feet and stood beside the Battle God, who had finished all the preparations he needed.

    The scene of the Battle God, the most powerful Absolute God and the one who led all armies in the world, and Minhyuk, hailed as the Supreme among the yers, standing side by side in front of the maze with Arlene crying behind them, was breathtaking. It was just like a scene in the movies.

    ¡°You two, what are you¡­¡±

    Minhyuk and the Battle God looked back at the crying Arlene. There was a faint smile on both of their faces.

    They weren¡¯t being reckless. After all, they had figured out a way to kill the Supreme Monarch. They only needed the power that could allow them to break anythingbelled as ¡°unconditional¡± or ¡°invincible¡±, like the power of the Absolute One¡¯s Breaker Ring. The Battle God possessed a skill like that, as did the Battle God¡¯s Five Generals.

    The crying Arlene understood the meaning of the smiles shing on the faces of the two men in front of her.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s too dangerous.¡¯</em>However, the problem was not simply about the Supreme Monarch¡¯s HP or defensive power. The Supreme Monarch was so powerful that he could cut down Minhyuk and the Battle God with a single strike.

    ¡°If you die this time¡­¡± The God of Cooking trailed off. She wanted to shout, <em>¡®Then you will die for real.¡¯</em> but the desire for revenge that was buried deep in her heart had stopped her from doing so.

    Seeing the smile that graced the faces of the two, Arlene finally realised what she needed to say. She shouted, ¡°Kill the damn bastard!¡±

    The Battle God slung his sword over his shoulder. ¡°That¡¯s what I intend to do.¡±

    Then, a notification rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Sudden Quest</em></strong><em>: Arlene¡¯s Wish.]</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: SSS</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: The ones who received Arlene¡¯s request.</em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: ???</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Failure</em></strong><em>: Unable to fulfil Arlene¡¯s wish forever.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: Arlene has been waiting for a very long time when she can cook the Frenzied Ingredient and kill the Supreme Monarch. But even though she had sessfully cooked the ingredient, she is still very sad. Kill the Supreme Monarch and fulfil her wishes.</em>

    The smile on Minhyuk¡¯s face grew wider when he heard the contents of the notification.

    ¡°Today¡­¡±

    The crying Arlene stopped and stared at Minhyuk.

    ¡°...will be the day that we will achieve two Supremes.¡±

    Two Supremes. The first Supreme was their sessful cooking of the Supreme Dish. And the second? It would be their sessful hunt of the Supreme Monarch.

    The two gods ran straight into the maze.

    ***

    The entire world poured into Minhyuk¡¯s live broadcast. An overwhelming number of broadcasting stations worldwide had asked for cooperation to broadcast his live footage.

    Everyone had seen how powerful the Supreme Monarch was. They knew that he could never be killed. Why? First, his attack power was so high that he could easily overwhelm the gods. And if one considered his special characteristics, they believed that even the Eight Pirs would not be able to do anything about him.

    But for a split second, the Supreme Monarch¡¯s true self, hidden underneath a thick and sturdy shell, became visible to them.

    <em>[Minhyuk and the Battle God are running through the maze.]</em>

    <em>[Minhyuk¡¯s live broadcast drone shows the maze''s inside.]</em>

    <em>[We had seen that the Supreme Monarch¡¯s HP is 3.5 million. It¡¯s an overwhelmingly high HP.]</em>

    <em>[There¡¯s also his level. It¡¯s above Level 900.]</em>

    <em>[But even if it¡¯s only a short gap, they could break through anything ¡°invincible¡± and ¡°absolute.¡± If Minhyuk and the Battle God attacked him with everything they had, then it would not be impossible for them to cut down someone with 3.5 million HP.]</em>

    <em>[One is Athenae¡¯s Supreme while the other is the strongest Absolute God!]</em>

    <em>[Dear viewers, I can guarantee that this scene ying right before our eyes will be a legend that will be talked about for a long time.]</em>

    <em>[Right now, we cannot properly see Minhyuk¡¯s live broadcast on ZTube. It is being covered by the donation notifications popping up every second from people worldwide.]</em>

    <em>[It seems like people from ZTube also tuned in to this live broadcast. They have already posted an announcement. All notifications regarding donations and sponsorships will be summarised and posted at the end of the broadcast.]</em>

    <em>[We can now see the scene of the live broadcast properly again.]</em>

    <em>[We¡¯re just in time! Minhyuk and the Battle God are now approaching the Supreme Monarch!]</em>

    Thementators slowly quieted down. As one of the viewers, they were also very nervous about what was toe. Even the viewers¡¯ palms were covered in sweat. After all, one single mistake would lead to eternal death.

    Then, they saw the running Minhyuk hand something to the Battle God. It was a hamburger that was better than an ordinary legendary-grade hamburger. The Battle God gobbled up the dish. As for Minhyuk? He hasn¡¯t eaten anything yet. He was waiting for the right moment to use Ovepping Delight.

    Not long after, the two gods finally encountered the Supreme Monarch.

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    The tension in the air was palpable. The Supreme Monarch¡¯s fury had already reached its peak. Why? He had gotten lost inside the maze, and the Frenzied Ingredient, which he had to protect, had been sessfully cooked.

    <em>[I¡­ will kill¡­ you!]</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¨C!</em>

    A force stronger than the ones he had released before erupted inside the maze as the Supreme Monarch charged frantically toward them.

    The Battle God and Minhyuk looked at each other. They only had around twenty seconds or so.

    ¡°Divine Sortie.¡±

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    A hundred gods appeared as light shot out from the tip of the Battle God¡¯s fingers. The Divine Sortie skill could summon one hundred closebat-ss gods. However, the summoned gods could not use their skills, authorities, or divine power. Even so, their abilities were enough to deal tremendous damage to their opponent. On top of that, even if the summoned gods died, they would be brought back to life once the skill ended.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    But despite the sheer number of gods blocking the maze¡¯s narrow path, the Supreme Monarch¡¯s huge sword easily swept them away.

    <em>Stab¨C stab, stab¨C!</em>

    Nevertheless, the gods continued to attack the Supreme Monarch. Their attacks did not matter to the Supreme Monarch, whose HP was not decreasing at all.

    ¡°The Breaker.¡±

    At that moment, the ring on Minhyuk¡¯s finger shed. At the same time, the power that could ignore any kind of absolute power for two seconds activated.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¨C!</em>

    <em>[Keuaaaaaaack?!]</em>

    For the first time, a scream escaped the Supreme Monarch¡¯s mouth. He was shocked by the blood that spurted out of his body the moment their attacksnded on him.

    <em>[It¡­ h¡­ urts?]</em>

    Minhyuk and the Battle God realised that the Supreme Monarch did not feel pain because of his infinite HP.

    But at this moment, he was screaming non-stop from the pain inflicted by the attacks sent by the hundred gods.

    <em>[Keuaaaaaaaaack!!!]</em>

    A red glow appeared in the already ferocious eyes of the screaming Supreme Monarch.

    <em>Boom¨C!</em>

    <em>Boom, boom, boom¨C!</em>

    Then, the heads of the gods around him began to explode one after another. That was when Minhyuk and the Battle God saw theser-like red spot sitting snugly between their eyebrows. They immediately bowed their heads as low as they could.

    <em>Boom¨C!</em>

    A loud and devastating explosion erupted just right behind them. Then, the two ran among the exploding gods. Once again, the Supreme Monarch¡¯s HP had returned to its infinite status. Seeing this, the Battle God stretched his hand and pointed his sword at the Supreme Monarch.

    ¡°In the name of the Battle God.¡±

    <em>BANG¨C!</em>

    An overwhelming force appeared and devoured the Supreme Monarch.

    <em>[Nothing can block the path of the one carrying the name of the Battle God.]</em>

    Once again, the infinite power that enveloped and protected the Supreme Monarch disappeared.

    <em>[Supreme Monarch. Level 943. HP: 3,130,430. MP: 3,670,000]</em>

    Just like they had expected, the damage that the Supreme Monarch received when the infinite status was lifted off of him would remain even if the status came back. So, the two gods did not hold anything back.

    ¡°Cmity.¡±

    <em>Rumble¨C!</em>

    A ming sword fell from the sky and stabbed the Supreme Monarch.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaack!¡±

    Immediately after, countless ming swords fell and struck the still-screaming Supreme Monarch.

    ¡°Battle God¡¯s Five Generals.¡±

    The five most outstanding gods appeared at the same time.

    ¡°Use your powers that nullify invincibility in turn!¡±

    When they heard his orders, the five gods instantly understood what the Battle God intended to do.

    Then, hundreds of silver sword lights shot out from the Battle God¡¯s sword and pierced through the Supreme Monarch.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡±

    <em>BOOM¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk and the Battle God were delighted to see the explosions that engulfed the Supreme Monarch. The God of Magic also sent hundreds of disses toward the screaming supreme.

    <em>Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh¨C!</em>

    The God of Archery sent countless arrows, as long and as powerful as a spear, that stabbed through the Supreme Monarch.

    <em>[Supreme Monarch. Level 943. HP: 1,430,430. MP: 3,300,000]</em>

    Everyone felt like they were slowly inching toward victory when they saw the Supreme Monarch¡¯s HP dropping rapidly.

    <em>[The Supreme.]</em>

    <em>[You can ignore any skills for three seconds.]</em>

    Of course, the Supreme Monarch also has a power that could allow him to resist their own. And just like that, the ¡°In the Name of the Battle God¡± that the Battle God activated was dispersed. And that was not all. The power of the Five Generals that neutralised invincibility was also rendered useless for three seconds.

    ¡°Get ba¡­!¡±

    The Battle God hurriedly ordered the Five Generals to retreat because they had the power to neutralise the remaining invincibility.

    <em>Crack¨C!</em>

    Unfortunately, he could not finish words. The Supreme Monarch, who already noticed what they were trying to do, twisted the God of Magic¡¯s head.

    Minhyuk and the Battle God understood that the moment they stepped back would be the death of their only way to kill the Supreme Monarch.

    But the Supreme Monarch could not be stopped. He immediately split another god in two. When they saw him move toward the God of Archery, Minhyuk and the Battle God hurriedly intercepted him.

    <em>ng¨C nk, ng¨C!</em>

    A fierce battle between the three ensued.

    <em>[Arrow of the Helpless.]</em>

    The moment three seconds had passed, the God of Archery¡¯s arrow shot through the chest of the Supreme Monarch.

    <em>[Supreme Monarch. Level 943. HP: 1,140,430. MP: 3,300,000]</em>

    Based on the Battle God¡¯s calctions, the two remaining gods could only give them four seconds if they activated their power to neutralise invincibility. This meant they only had four more seconds to deal with the Supreme Monarch.

    At that moment, the Battle God saw a red glow on the Supreme Monarch¡¯s sword. The Battle God had received this attack countless times before, and he knew that it was something that they could not stop or avoid.

    The Battle God froze as if he was left in a stunned state. He understood that death was near.

    <em>¡®We¡¯re done for¡­¡¯</em>

    Unfortunately, he could not finish his thoughts.

    ¡°Overpower.¡±

    <em>THUD¨C!</em>

    A tremendous force appeared and pressured the Supreme Monarch. This power would leave any enemy in front of Minhyuk stunned for two seconds.

    <em>tter¨C!</em>

    At the same time, two dice appeared behind Minhyuk. The ck die rolled a three, while the golden die rolled a 4.

    <em>[One of your skills can be reinforced. The level of the strengthening will depend on the number the ck die cast.]</em>

    Minhyuk, who heard the notification, immediately chose the Sword of Carnage. He hurriedly parried the sword into the hands of the Supreme Monarch and altered the trajectory of the attack, which was supposed to shoot straight toward the Battle God. This happened right after the Supreme Monarch¡¯s stunned state was lifted.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!¡± The Battle God screamed as a deep gash appeared on his nks.

    The Supreme Monarch punched the screaming Battle God and immediately turned to Minhyuk.

    <em>[Supreme Monarch. Level ???. HP and MP: infinite.]</em>

    Minhyuk could not use the Sword of Carnage when he saw that the power to neutralise invincibility had already disappeared. In that momentary gap, the Supreme Monarch stabbed straight through Minhyuk¡¯s abdomen.

    <em>Spurt¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s HP dropped rapidly.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    After stabbing him, the Supreme Monarch pulled his sword out roughly and cut him down.

    ¡°Keuhack!¡±

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 40%.]</em>

    Then, he kicked Minhyuk.

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 35%.]</em>

    The Supreme Monarch made to cut Minhyuk¡¯s head off.

    <em>[The Vanquisher.]</em>

    At that moment, another god neutralised the Supreme Monarch¡¯s invincibility and removed his infinite status. The Battle God squeezed thest bit of his power. His sword shone with a silver light that lit up the entire world.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    <em>[Supreme Monarch. Level 943. HP: 840,430. MP: 3,150,000]</em>

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaack!!!¡± The Supreme Monarch shrieked, his eyes almost rolling to the back of his head. But then, a powerful force erupted from his body.

    <em>[The Supreme¡¯s Destruction has been activated.]</em>

    <em>[Upon activating the Supreme¡¯s Destruction, de explosions will continuously erupt within a 500-meter radius¡­]</em>

    Countless des shed and hacked at Minhyuk and the Battle God and forced them to spurt out blood.

    At that moment, Minhyuk¡¯s sword struck the Supreme Monarch. This sword, which was reinforced with the Sword of Carnage, had the power to do so.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    <em>[...!]</em>

    The Supreme Monarch¡¯s eyes grew wide as the des of the Sword of Carnage hacked frantically at his body. His blood spurted out like a fountain from the endless attacks. Thankfully, his infinite status would be restored¡ªor so he thought.

    When there were only 0.01 seconds left in his miserable state, another god skillfully used his power to neutralise invincibility. His timing was exquisite.

    <em>[Divine Helplessness.]</em>

    Once again, the Supreme Monarch fell into a state where his infinite status was ripped away. And the attacks that came his way? They cut him down like crazy.

    <em>[BASTARDS!!!]</em>

    But the Supreme Monarch survived the attacks. He turned to Minhyuk and red at him fiercely.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    He grabbed Minhyuk by the cor.

    But Minhyuk just sneered at him. Then, he grabbed the Supreme Monarch¡¯s cor and said, ¡°Get lost.¡±

    <em>[Supreme Monarch. Level 943. HP: 320,430. MP: 2,850,000]</em>

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    <em>Thud¨C!</em>

    <em>Thump, thump, thump¨C!</em>

    Just when the Supreme Monarch was about to twist Minhyuk¡¯s neck, the Battle God swung his sword and sessfully cut off the Supreme Monarch¡¯s head.

 Chapter 1048

    Chapter 1048

    The entire world fell into silence.

    When everyone saw the Supreme Monarch grab Minhyuk by the cor, they thought he would be killed. But before the Supreme Monarch could make a move, the Battle God was able to cut off his head sessfully.

    Even Minhyuk could not believe that they were able to cut the Supreme Monarch¡¯s body apart. Why? Because after a total of ten resets, he felt that he was indeed an enemy who they could never kill.

    But the notification that rang had proven that the Supreme Monarch had died.

    <em>[You have hunted the Supreme Monarch.]</em>

    The notification was highly shocking. After all, just like the Frenzied Ingredient, the Supreme Monarch was an opponent so intense and out of reach for anyone.

    <em>[You have gained 4,313,671 tinum.]</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

    Minhyuk was shocked by the notifications that began to ring in his ears. He obtained four million tinum after hunting a single mob, which was extremely unusual. <em>[You have acquired the Supreme¡¯s Artifact Production Manual.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Supreme¡¯s Ore: Alvarranium (2).]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the skill: The Supreme.]</em>

    It seemed like the Supreme Monarch was quite tidy. The only things he dropped were three essential items, and there weren¡¯t any misceneous items at all.

    Then, additional notifications came in.

    <em>[You have levelled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have levelled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have levelled up.]</em>

    After the three level-ups, Minhyuk settled down around the middle of the Level 690 range. But the notifications weren¡¯t over yet. More surprising ones came in. And it has even be a world message that resonated all over Athenae.

    <em>[One yer has sessfully made the Supreme Achievement.]</em>

    <em>[Despite the cauldron¡¯s blistering heat, he endured and hugged it to ensure that he would be able to cook his way to the Supreme Court.]</em>

    <em>[Despite the zing mes that engulfed his body, he never backed down and continued to work hard to reach the yer¡¯s final level, the Supreme.]</em>

    <em>[Despite the fear of dying, he fought against the very same being who made him tremble in fear.]</em>

    <em>[He will be a legend.]</em>

    <em>[He will be a myth.]</em>

    <em>[He will be an idol.]</em>

    <em>[He¡­]</em>

    <em>[Today, the greatest of all achievements, the Supreme Achievement, has been made. Perhaps this feat will never happen again.]</em>

    <em>[The name of the yer who left a Supreme Achievement is none other than Minhyuk.]</em>

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[You will receive rewards for making the Supreme Achievement!]</em>

    <em>[You have levelled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 10,000 CHA.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 30,000 REP.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained the </em><strong><em>Supreme Title</em></strong><em>: The One Who Reached the Pinnacle.]</em>

    <em>(</em><strong><em>The One Who Reached the Pinnacle</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Supreme Title</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: The one who achieved something Supreme.</em>

    <strong><em>Title Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?All of your stats will increase by 7%.</em>

    <em>?Your sess rate will increase by 10% when encountering another Supreme.</em>

    <em>?All of your stats will increase by 19% when encountering another Supreme.</em>

    <em>?The grade of all the dishes you will make from here on out will at least be at Epic.</em>

    <em>?Your chances of making a higher-grade dish will increase by 50%.</em>

    Only after Minhyuk saw the ridiculous and shocking title did it dawn on him that they had indeed hunted the Supreme Monarch.

    ¡°We did it.¡± The Battle God smiled as he sprawled on the ground in exhaustion.

    At that moment, Minhyuk recalled the live broadcast that he had left on.

    <em>¡®When I changed the title of the live broadcast to ¡°Hunting the Supreme Monarch,¡± I also changed the target donation.¡¯</em>

    He had changed it to fifty billion. He thought the donations he received should probably be around forty billion won. However, his eyes almost dropped to the ground when he saw the amount of donation he received.

    <em>¡®Huh¡­?¡¯</em>

    ***

    Before Minhyuk and the Battle God seeded in hunting the Supreme Monarch.

    The PR Team of Apel, thepany with the world''srgest smartphone market share, were in the middle of an intense discussion.

    ¡°The entire world is paying attention to yer Minhyuk right now. And if we consider that his live broadcast was being broadcast all over the world with the cooperation of countless broadcasting stations, we can say that at least a billion people are tuned in and watching him as of this very moment.¡±

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then this is our greatest opportunity to promote Apel. But how can we promote Apel in this situation?¡±

    The PR Team Leader smiled and said, ¡°Simple. If we donate arge amount of money, a notification will pop out on the broadcast screen saying, ¡®Apel has donated.¡¯ ZTube has blocked the donation notifications temporarily, but they have allowed notifications for donations of more than fifty million won to appear. If we donate a million dors, people worldwide will be able to see the name ¡®Apel¡¯ on their screens.¡±

    The PR team immediately donated one billion won during the live broadcast under the nickname ¡°Apel.¡± Since the broadcast was aired worldwide, when their name appeared, variouspanies also saw it.

    ¡°Apel has done a unique and new way of promotion.¡±

    ¡°We should do the same thing and promote ourpany like this, too!¡±

    ¡°Since Apel donated a million dors, how about donating two?¡±

    ¡°Barizon has donated two million dors! We should go for 2.5 million dors!¡±

    Thepetition between variouspanies suddenly grew fierce. As they tried to promote themselves, the highest donation was constantly being refreshed.

    But that was not all. Countless big shots from all corners of the business world were watching Minhyuk¡¯s live broadcast. Most of these business figures were yers of Athenae.

    They felt a sense of vicarious satisfaction as they watched Minhyuk make the Supreme achievement, which they knew they could not reach. They were also delighted to see him attempt to hunt the Supreme Monarch despite the considerable risk and danger that they would face. For these bigshots worldwide, a hundred million was just a tiny change. Because of that, donations from their side also continued to appear.

    ¡°We must have yer Minhyuk sign an exclusive contract with ourpany.¡±

    ¡°The amount?! I don¡¯t care how much! He¡¯s definitely going to be chosen as the Greatest Man this year!¡±

    ¡°Do whatever it takes so that he will sign a contract with ourpany!¡±

    Companies worldwide were gearing up with huge sums of money. They nned to meet with Minhyuk and ask him to sign a contract once he seeded in hunting the Supreme Monarch.

    Of course, Minhyuk rejected all of them.

    ***

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Target Donation</em></strong><em>: 50,000,000,000 won]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Total Donation</em></strong><em>: 140,400,150,700 won]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk was rendered speechless by the ridiculous amount of donations he received. However, the total donations were still rising rapidly despite thepletion of the hunt for the Supreme Monarch.

    <em>¡®But to get 140 billion¡­?¡¯</em>

    It waspletely unbelievable. But what they achieved was also unbelievable. After all, not only did they cook the Frenzied Ingredient, but they were also able to hunt the Supreme Monarch.

    <em>¡®If I turn all of the donations into gold, then it will greatly help the development of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk left the maze with the Battle God and the God of the Directionally Challenged.

    The moment they stepped out of the maze, Arlene jumped into Minhyuk and the Battle God''s arms. She hugged them tightly and sobbed, ¡°Thank you. Thank you so much!¡±

    The Battle God awkwardly said, ¡°This is something that I have also dreamt of doing for a very long time.¡±

    And Minhyuk? He gently patted Arlene¡¯s back, his expression gentle and soft as he looked at her.

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you hugging me too? I also worked hard.¡±

    Then, at that moment, the extremely tactless God of the Directionally Challenged interrupted them. But the three, who had built a tolerance(?) to some extent, ignored him.

    There was still one important thing left for Minhyuk to do this time: eat the Supreme <em>Gamjatang</em>.

    Minhyuk did not even bother to open the detail window to check its effects. After all, the effects would be shown once he ate it. But then, Minhyuk saw the God of Cooking and the Battle God. He was the one who asked them to help him cook this dish, but he was the only one who would eat it? Wasn¡¯t that a bit too rude?

    But then, Arlene smiled gently and kindly and said, ¡°It¡¯s all yours, Minhyuk.¡±

    For Arlene, it was already enough for her to achieve her long-cherished dream.

    ¡°Thank you, Arlene.¡±

    Arlene¡¯s extraordinary power covered the Supreme <em>Gamjatang</em>. Then, the same dish sans the special effects and abilities appeared before the Battle God, the God of Cooking and the God of the Directionally Challenged.

    Only at this moment did the tension leave Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    <em>¡®It has been tough.¡¯</em>

    Lately, Minhyuk had not had time to eat something delicious. It was tough for him to find the time to eat. This was because he had been very busy, starting with the exploration of God¡¯s Prison for his quick growth, then the bet with the Absolute Gods, and finally, the creation of the Supreme Dish.

    The <em>gamjatang</em> was still boiling in the cauldron. It looked very delicious. Minhyuk quickly took a sip of the soup.

    ¡°Kghhk¡­!¡±

    As the spicy soup taste spread in his mouth, a smile naturally appeared on his face. He grabbed thedle and scooped a considerable piece of backbone on a te. Then, he took a massive bite of the thick, soft meat on the bone.

    ¡°Kghhk! It¡¯s so soft!¡±

    Delight spread all over Minhyuk as the meat gently and softly melted in his mouth. Next, he pried some meat away from the bone and dipped it in soy sauce and wasabi. The soft smile on Minhyuk¡¯s face grew wider at the taste that spread in his mouth.

    After eating the meat that covered the bones to some extent, Minhyuk grabbed the bones on both sides and pulled them apart. Then, he savored the meat that was hidden inside. After eating a few backbones clean, Minhyuk grabbed some of the outer cabbage leaves and added them to his rice.

    He added a piece of the outer cabbage leaf to his huge spoonful of rice and put it in his mouth. The moment he took a bite, the soup spurted out from the leaf, making his smile grow even deeper.

    Minhyuk, who ate like that for quite some time, grabbed thedle and scooped some of the soup into his te. Then, he grabbed his te and took a sip of the soup.

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuuuurp!</em>¡±

    He was in awe of the spicy and refreshing vour of the soup.

    But the greatest charm of <em>gamjatang</em> was the fact that he could make some fried rice with whatever was left in the cauldron.

    Minhyuk scooped out the remaining<em> gamjatang </em>soup before adding rice and stir-frying it. After stir-frying, he spread the now red fried rice thinly on the cauldron and sprinkled some seaweed kes on top of it. Then, he grabbed his spoon and scooped a huge mouthful of the piping hot fried rice into his mouth.

    The vour was fantastic.

    <em>Scratch, scratch¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk quickly finished the dish. He even scraped the bottom of the cauldron to ensure he had eaten everyst bit of the <em>gamjatang</em> and the fried rice.

    ¡°<em>Fwaaaa¡­!</em>¡± Minhyuk exhaled happily.

    Finally, the notifications about the Supreme Dish rang in his ears.

    <em>[You have eaten the Gamjatang.]</em>

    <em>[The dish is the Supreme Dish.]</em>

    <em>[The Supreme Dish is every chef¡¯s dream.]</em>

    <em>[The Supreme Dish is a dish that carries the power of the Extreme Trance.]</em>

    <em>[The sessful cooking of the Supreme Dish will permanently increase your stats by +50.]</em>

    <em>[The two most outstanding chefs of the current era have met and created the most incredible dish.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have permanently increased by +78.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained 2 Cooking Skill Points(SkP).]</em>

    ¡°...?!¡±

    Minhyuk was shocked.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s not just two or three basic stats? All of my stats have increased by 78?!¡¯</em>

    This massive increase in his powers significantly boosted his growth. Minhyuk now possessed more than eight stats, which meant his stats had increased by more than 600 points in just one go.

    <em>¡®Just by cooking this dish alone, I grew by more than 5%.¡¯</em>

    In fact, Minhyuk has already experienced significant growth from the sessful hunt of the Supreme Monarch. Because of this dish, he was able to gain another boost to his stats. But these numbers weren¡¯t the most important thing that he gained.

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods, the God who Loves to Cook, deres a vow.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Confusion was evident on Minhyuk¡¯s face as he turned to look at the God of Cooking.

    The voice of Arlene, who was kneeling on one knee, resonated all over the world.

    <em>[I, Arlene, the mother of all chefs, solemnly swear¡­]</em>

    <em>[...that I will support him, protect him, and obey his orders asionally.]</em>

    <em>[Through this vow, I dere¡­]</em>

    Arlene looked up at Minhyuk with a faint smile on her face.

    <em>[...that I will stand by the Battle God¡¯s side.]</em>

 Chapter 1049

    Chapter 1049

    <strong>Chapter 1049</strong>

    When Minhyuk heard Arlene¡¯s vow, <em>¡®I will stand by the Battle God¡¯s side,¡¯</em> he understood that she meant that she recognised him as the Battle God and would put her faith in him and follow him.

    <em>¡®There might not be any material rewards, but the fact that Arlene, one of the Absolute Gods, has vowed to support me will be a huge boost.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s work in the Land of the Gods was over. He said his goodbyes to the Battle God and the God of Cooking. Then, he turned to the God of the Directionally Challenged, who he did not detest, and said, ¡°If youe to the Beyond the Heavens Empire, I will make sure to treat you to a delicious meal.¡±

    Minhyuk shed a soft and gentle smile before disappearing in a sh of light.

    Arlene and the Battle God were about to leave after Minhyuk disappeared. They looked at the God of the Directionally Challenged in confusion when they saw him stand there with his head bowed down.

    ¡°The next generation Battle God said that I coulde right away. So, I should go.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±¡°...?¡±

    Both the God of Cooking and the Battle God were bewildered. The meaning of Minhyuk''s words to the God of the Directionally Challenged was clear. Minhyuk meant that he would treat the man to a meal if ¡°they metter¡± or if ¡°he ever came to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.¡±

    But the tactless god in front of them said, ¡°<em>Fufu.</em> He must have been deeply impressed by the power I disyed earlier; that''s why he told me toe immediately.¡±

    Then, the God of the Directionally Challenged left. But despite setting off right away for the Beyond the Heavens Empire, the God of the Directionally Challenged did not meet Minhyuk.

    ¡°Where¨C Where am I?¡±

    Why? Because he got lost.

    ***

    Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s third-anniversary event, the triple EXP event, was nearing its end.

    During the entire duration of the event, all of the yers focused on levelling up. This was obvious from how they went hunting andpleting quests nonstop. Because of that, more than 250 people reached Level 650 during that month.

    Themunity sites all over the world were in a buzz.

    <em>[Those who reached Level 650 must be going crazy. When you reach Level 650, all of the skills rted to your ss will increase by one level. Not only that, your stats will also increase by 30.]</em>

    <em>[The system will also analyse each yer and give them skills at the level of a one-shot kill skill.]</em>

    <em>[The moment you reach Level 650, you will receive the title ¡®The One who Achieved Level 650¡¯ and will be at least 1.4x stronger than when you¡¯re at Level 649.]</em>

    The people praised the yers who have reached Level 650 and how much stronger they have be.

    <em>[If it¡¯s at this level, then even normal and legendary ss yers canpete with god-ss yers.]</em>

    The benefits one would receive when reaching Level 650 seemed to be Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s way to narrow the gap between ordinary and god-ss yers. The yers had realised that the god-ss yers would no longer be an object of fear once they crossed through Level 650.

    But there was something far more important than this. That was the announcement of the yer who achieved the greatest growth and the ten other yers who had achieved the highest growth among the yers that will be released soon. These yers would receive a special potion manufactured by Joy Co. Ltd. themselves.

    Many of them knew that the yer who had achieved the most remarkable growth was Minhyuk.

    <em>[To be honest¡­ we have to admit that Minhyuk is really amazing. This time, the Supreme Dish and the Supreme Monarch hunt were incredible!]</em>

    <em>[Yep, yep. That¡¯s right! Minhyuk is definitely the yer who achieved the most significant growth.]</em>

    <em>[But what all of us are curious about is the gap between him and the other yers¡¯ growth rates. Am I right?]</em>

    That was right. The reason why they were very curious about how high the gap between Minhyuk and the other yers¡¯ growth rate was because Joy Co. Ltd., in a very clever move, closed the growth rate from the public¡¯s view a week ago.

    <em>[From what I recall, the difference between the growth rates of Minhyuk, who is in first ce, and Varo, who is in second ce, is 4%. Right?]</em>

    Varo has only yed for a year and is already an up-anding high-ranker. He climbed to the ranks of the high rankers in that short amount of time, garnering the attention of many yers, especially during this event, where he showed a ridiculously high growth rate. As for Minhyuk, the yers were currently unaware of how much he had grown after he had sessfully cooked and eaten the Supreme Dish.

    While everyone was shaking with anticipation, Joy Co. Ltd. finally released the announcement.

    <em>[We will now announce the yers with the highest growth recorded during the event period.]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>1st ce</em></strong><em>: Minhyuk. Growth Rate: 18%.]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>2nd ce</em></strong><em>: Varo. Growth Rate: 7.9%.]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>3rd ce</em></strong><em>: Locke. Growth Rate: 6.3%.]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>4th ce</em></strong><em>¡­]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>5th ce</em></strong><em>¡­]</em>

    <em>[Congrattions to all of the yers who have entered the rankings.]</em>

    <em>[You can find the potion reward from this event in your inventory.]</em>

    <em>[This announcement marks the end of our Third Anniversary Event.]</em>

    After checking the results, the viewers were left in shock. The growth rate was the gauge that would tell them how much stronger they had be during the entire month.

    Of course, low-level yers could reach 100% of the growth rate simultaneously. Still, the growth rate index that they had announced was the total of various factors, which, of course, included the yers¡¯ level. Simply put, Minhyuk had be 18% stronger than he was a month ago.

    The viewers were astonished.

    <em>[Minhyuk did not get the 3x benefit. Hey, where did those people who said that Minhyuk would not be able to level up during this month go?!]</em>

    <em>[Wow. Didn¡¯t Minhyuk need more than 10x the amount of EXP to level up? On top of that, he also was excluded from the event. But¡­ he grew 18% stronger than before? Is this fr?]</em>

    <em>[Ah, you shouldn¡¯t forget that the yer achieving the highest growth will receive the +8 All Stat Increase Potion. If he drinks that, then Minhyuk will be at least 20% stronger than before.]</em>

    <em>[...]</em>

    <em>[...]</em>

    The chatting window suddenly grew silent. Not long after, a yer spoke up.

    <em>[I grew 4.3% stronger in the past month¡­]</em>

    <em>[Me, I grew 4.6%...]</em>

    <em>[Mine¡¯s at 2.7%.]</em>

    The average growth rate of the yers was around 4%.

    <em>[Ah¡­ Life¡­]</em>

    All of the yers felt depressed.

    ***

    The Beauden Fortress was where Immortal Sorceress Helenia was sealed in. It was also where she summoned her fragments and her one and only disciple, Arumbe.

    Several empires, including the Luvien Empire, had tried to break down the transparent walls that surrounded the sealed Helenia. But even though they had used anything and everything, the transparent walls remained firm.

    Because of that, dozens of nations stationed themselves outside and guarded the fortress in rotation. Right now, three Swords of the Gods and three thousand elite soldiers of the Luvien Empire were on guard duty.

    The problem was that the unbreakable walls that protected Helenia started to crack.

    ¡°What the hell¡­!¡±

    ¡°Heok!¡±

    The sudden turn of events flustered the Swords of the Gods.

    ¡°Quick! Send a report to the empire¡­!¡±

    The Sword of the Gods could not even finish his words, his head bursting right then and there.

    ¡°Aaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Damn it. We will never be able to escape.¡±

    A gigantic barrier appeared and trapped the three thousand elite soldiers of the Luvien Empire.

    ¡°It¡­ it¡¯s burning!¡±

    mes suddenly erupted from the ground and burned every single one of them alive.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¨C!</em>

    Helenia slowly and elegantly rose to her feet. She had been sleeping inside the now broken transparent walls. Then, she looked at the burnt remains of the humans before her.

    Even though she had been sealed, she could see everything that happened around her. That was why she could not help but gnash her teeth in anger. The Beyond the Heavens Empire and the Luvien Empire had stopped herplete descent.

    <em>¡®Most of my ores have already disappeared.¡¯</em>

    The power carried by the four attributed ores served to increase Helenia''s own attribute magic. Of course, even without them, Helenia could still have the humans in the palm of her hands.

    Nevertheless, there were still risks, and she needed to prepare. She needed to find a way to regain some of her power, and only one person knew how.

    ¡°I¡¯m quite excited to see Master¡¯s face. After all, we haven¡¯t seen each other for a very long time,¡± Helenia said, a vicious smile curling at the corners of her mouth.

    ***

    <em>[You have achieved the highest growth rate during the entire duration of the event.]</em>

    <em>[The potion will be distributed to the yer with the highest growth rate.]</em>

    Minhyuk had been reviewing the reports and happenings in the Beyond the Heavens Empire during his absence. Fortunately, Haze was verypetent. She had already handled most of the things, and he only needed to deal with a few reports and sign some documents.

    After dealing with his work, Minhyuk immediately removed the potion from his inventory and gulped it down.

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by +8.]</em>

    Minhyuk nodded. He could not help but smile whenever he thought of the huge growth he had experienced recently.

    ¡°Ugh¡­¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty, what¡¯s the matter?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just a little tired.¡±

    With the exploration of God¡¯s Prison, the bet with the Absolute Gods and the entire fiasco with the Supreme Dish, Minhyuk had to admit that he was pushing himself too hard.

    He had also reduced his sleep as much as possible. He felt like he hadn¡¯t slept for an hour during the three days that he had been busy with all of those.

    Now that everything was over, a wave of fatigue washed over him.

    ¡°Then, you better go and get some rest.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. I have to go and get some rest. But I¡¯ll go and visit Grandpa first.¡±

    ¡°The grandpa you¡¯re talking about should be Beradon, right?¡±

    Minhyuk nodded. ¡°The huge boost in my growth is all thanks to Grandpa. But what¡¯s more surprising is that Grandpa is a huge foodie. So, I want to go up the mountains, give him some gifts, and treat him to a delicious meal. Hmmm. What gift would be good, though?¡±

    Haze, who pondered over Minhyuk¡¯s question, answered, ¡°How about some alcohol?¡±

    ¡°Oh! That sounds good?¡± Minhyuk said as he looked at Haze in awe.

    He was sure the old man would be happy to drink some good alcohol while eating delicious side dishes and snacks.

    Minhyuk went to grab a very rare bottle of liquor from the Beyond the Heavens Empire before heading to Beradon''s location.

    ***

    Perhaps he had long known that a situation would arise in which the disciple he nurtured and raised would be like this. That was why Beradon wanted to spend thest days of his life doing nothing and living peacefully.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s a significant time.¡¯</em>

    When he met the young man, he felt like time was sweeter and more precious than just doing nothing and waiting peacefully for eternal rest. A kind smile graced Beradon¡¯s face before he coughed violently, having choked on his blood.

    ¡°Urk¡­!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine even if you don¡¯t want to tell me. I can just kill you, master, and take away the information from your head. Ah, more importantly¡­¡± His second disciple smiled coldly. Then, she asked, ¡°...where did you hide the ¡®Teaching Guide¡¯, huh?¡±

    The Teaching Guide was another name for Beradon¡¯s Disciple System. It was a great and holy power. Although it had not yet bloomed to its full potential, someone had taken it away.

    However, Helenia was fully aware that whoever had the power of the Teaching Guide would have the chance to go beyond even Athenae. After all, it was a power that would give new teachings whenever they faced their limits and continued to grow.

    ¡°Ho- hoho¡­¡± Beradon chuckled as he thought of the face of the young man.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s now with someone who would allow it to shine more than you.¡¯</em>

    Helenia pulled out the hand that she used to stab Beradon¡¯s heart in annoyance.

    <em>Spurt¨C!</em>

    Beradon fell on his knees, his blood dripping down his gaping chest.

    <em>Drip, drip¨C!</em>

    A fleeting sense of tranquillity appeared on Beradon¡¯s face despite the blood dripping down his chest. He thought that he was just being punished for the crime of teaching the wrong child.

    ¡°Just die.¡± Helenia scoffed, realising that Beradon would never tell her anything.

    Several spears of light appeared around her and made to pierce through Beradon¡¯s body.

    <em>[The God of Origin has sent the Divine Shield.]</em>

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    The light fell from the sky, turning into a barrier that protected and enveloped Beradon. It protected him from the light spears shooting toward him.

    Helenia¡¯s lips twisted into a frown. She now looked utterly annoyed. ¡°You should know it too, right? As the God of Origin, it is tough for you to intervene directly in matters here on earth. It seems like you can no longer intervene after this, no?¡±

    Athenae did not answer. But even if she did not, Helenia was convinced that she could no longer intervene and stop her from this point on. Besides, even if this absolute barrier would not be broken, Beradon was already on the brink of death.

    A wave of power spread from the tips of Helenia¡¯s fingers and squeezed through the barrier protecting Beradon. The power seeped into Beradon¡¯s head, and looked for a method that would ensure that she would never lose.

    A vicious smile appeared on Helenia¡¯s face when she found a method. Then, she promptly disappeared. She did not even care one bit about Beradon. After all, even if she did nothing, Beradon would die soon.

    ***

    Minhyuk hurriedly went to find Beradon. He was looking forward to Beradonughing and saying, <em>¡®Hoho. This tastes great!¡¯</em> when he tasted the bottle of liquor in his arms.

    At that moment, he caught sight of the stars that filled the night sky.

    <em>[Beradon¡¯s Disciple System has been activated.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk was confused.

    <em>¡®Why did it suddenly get activated?¡¯</em>

    He just could not understand it. Then, another notification came in.

    <em>[Beradon¡¯s Disciple System is by your side!]</em>

    Minhyuk felt happy when he heard this notification¡ªit was the same one he heard thest time. When he heard it, Minhyuk felt like Beradon would stay by his side for the rest of his life.

    If his guess were correct, the same notification asst time would also ring right after this.

    <em>[The system''s creator smiles as he looks at you.]</em>

    A bright smile appeared on Minhyuk¡¯s face when he heard the notification.

 Chapter 1050

    Chapter 1050

    Minhyuk recalled his conversation with Beradon when he failed to see the old man. The old man had told him that he often went to the peak of the highest hill and looked down at the world whenever his head was filled with countless thoughts.

    Minhyuk followed this idea and went straight toward the peak of the highest hill. But when he reached the peak, the scene that greeted him made him fall on his knees.

    ¡°G¡­ grandpa?¡±

    Beradon''s face had a faint smile. But his entire body was covered with injuries. The shocked Minhyuk finally began to realise the situation. He hurriedly crawled toward Beradon.

    ¡°Grandpa! Wake up, Grandpa! Who the hell did this to you, Grandpa?!¡± Minhyuk shouted as he shook Beradon to wake him up. But it was for naught. Beradon had already died. Minhyuk, who was still in disbelief, hugged the old man tightly.

    They had only spent a very short time together. But despite the old man¡¯s grumpy look, a warm smile would appear on his face now and then, and he told Minhyuk how much he loved and cared for him.

    Before Minhyuk arrived here, he had heard some notifications. The notification told him that the old man was smiling at him. Tears started to stream down Minhyuk¡¯s face as he continued to hug the old man¡¯s body tightly.

    Then, something shocking happened. The ground slowly absorbed Beradon¡¯s body.

    <em>Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh¨C!</em>When Beradon¡¯s body disappeared into the ground, hundreds of roots shot out and spread all over. Arge and magnificent tree suddenly popped out of the ground. The tree''s leaves looked fresh and green and were plenty enough to cast a cool shade beneath it. The birds flew up into the tree and began to chirp and sing.

    Minhyuk¡¯s expression was indescribable as he looked at the tree. Then, the notifications rang.

    <em>[You have seen the Master¡¯s Tree.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 10 WIS.]</em>

    <em>[The Master¡¯s Tree will be your shade. When you are gued withplicated thoughts and matters, it will help you clear your mind.]</em>

    Minhyuk shook his head. He did not want this tree.

    Then, a birdnded on his shoulder. For a moment, he felt like Beradon was the one sitting on his shoulder.

    Minhyuk clenched his fists tightly and pounded the ground as he shouted, ¡°Who the hell did this to you?!!!¡±

    At that moment, the voice of the most significant and holiest being rang in his ears.

    <em>[God of Origin Athenae looks at you with a bitter expression on her face and says¡­]</em>

    <em>[Child.]</em>

    <em>[This is his fate.]</em>

    The anger in Minhyuk¡¯s heart rose even more when he heard the bullshit that Athenae spouted. But soon, Athenae revealed.

    <em>[He knew about his death long before it happened, so he did not want to ept any more disciples. He wanted to rest.]</em>

    The tears flowing down Minhyuk¡¯s face stopped. Even though Beradon knew he was about to die, he still took him in as his disciple. Why?

    <em>[He looked up at the sky and said¡­]</em>

    <em>[¡°It might just be a few short days.¡±]</em>

    <em>[¡°But they are the most meaningful days that I have spent in this world.¡±]</em>

    A gut-wrenching pain gripped Minhyuk¡¯s heart.

    <em>[The time he spent with you after your meeting was far more valuable to him than taking a rest.]</em>

    <em>[The dish that you cooked for him was also the warmest.]</em>

    <em>[Child.]</em>

    Tears started to drip down Minhyuk¡¯s face as he turned to look at the Master¡¯s Tree once again.

    <em>[He was delighted to meet you at the end of his life.]</em>

    When he heard Athenae¡¯s words, Minhyuk recalled thest notification he had heard earlier.

    <em>[The system''s creator smiles as he looks at you.]</em>

    At this moment, he realised that Beradon had looked at him with a happy smile before he finallyid to his eternal rest. Minhyuk silently shed tears, depression evident through his figure. After hours of crying, Minhyuk finally regained his cool.

    <em>¡®Who in the world can make Grandpa suffer like this?¡¯</em>

    That was when Minhyuk realised something. ¡°Is it Helenia?¡±

    Athenae did not answer Minhyuk¡¯s question. But at that moment, the guild chat suddenly grew noisy.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Guild Chat | Vice Guild Master Genie</em></strong><em>: There¡¯s an emergency. The Luvien Empire has just announced that Helenia has disappeared from Beauden Fortress.]</em>

    When he heard those words, Minhyuk was convinced of his conjectures.

    He clearly remembered how helpless he was when Helenia first appeared. Although he was able to seal her again back sessfully then, he knew that luck yed a huge part during that fight.

    He had witnessed firsthand how helpless everyone in Athenae was as Helenia swept them away. But there was one thing that Helenia should know.

    <em>¡®I am different from how I was back then.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had be 20% stronger than he was just this month alone. He had also not yet eaten the Beef <em>Galbi-jjim</em> Across All Eras.

    Thirty minutester.

    A pot of kimchi <em>jjigae</em> was boiling before the Master¡¯s Tree. Minhyuk wanted to serve this dish along with the alcohol to his master.

    ¡°How does the <em>jjigae</em> taste?¡±

    Beradon had always pretended he did not want to eat Minhyuk¡¯s dish, but he would always eat it quickly.

    <em>¡®You brat, you¡¯re quite a good chef. Hoho.¡¯</em>

    A faint smile appeared on Minhyuk¡¯s face as he poured all the alcohol he brought on the ground beneath the Master¡¯s Tree. Then, he kowtowed twice before going down the hill. As he went down, his expression grew increasingly ugly.

    ***

    After finding a way to not lose in the war against humanity and killing her master, Beradon, Helenia walked and walked, only stopping in front of a skinny, gloomy old man. The old man was none other than the Lord of the Monsters, Barbarian.

    ¡°Hoho. What brings the greatest Immortal Sorceress to this hideous ce?¡±

    Barbarian, surrounded by countless monster corpses, was not only the father of all monsters but also someone who dabbled in creating new monsters.

    ¡°I came here because I believed someone here shares my thoughts.¡±

    Helenia knew the story of Lord of the Monsters Barbarian.

    Barbarian was once a candidate to be one of the Eight Pirs. However, he was stripped of his qualifications after his experiments were discovered. This was because hebined not only the monsters'' bodies to create new monsters but would even use the bodies of several highly intelligent races.

    Even though he was furious about being stripped of his qualifications as a candidate to be one of the Eight Pirs, Barbarian was not stupid enough to let his anger out and confront the other Eight Pirs and the gods.

    He bid his time, hid from the eyes of the Eight Pirs and the gods, and quietly created new monsters from both monsters and other races for a very long time. Countless unheard-of Named Monsters stood behind Barbarian and released an overwhelming pressure to the surrounding area. They were the results of Barbarian¡¯s hard work all these years.

    But that was not all. As the Lord of the Monsters, he would fail in his name if he did not have a Monster Corps under hismand, right? Of course, he has, and his troops were overwhelming.

    ¡°Hoho. Share the same thoughts? Then, what are your thoughts?¡± Barbarian asked, greed making his eyes turn green.

    ¡°I will kill all of humanity and eventually kill Athenae, too. Once I do that, I can let you and your monsters live in thend where humanity lived.¡±

    Barbarian did not have any reason to refuse. He had been hiding for a very long time because he did not have the power to stand up and fight against Athenae alone. But if he was with Helenia, then the story would be different. Barbarian would never forget Athenae¡¯s contempt as she stripped him of his qualifications to be a candidate.

    ¡°Hoho. Then, I have to gather my monsters.¡± Barbarianughed, a strange glow appearing in his eyes as he breathed deeply and solemnly. ¡°I will stand at the vanguard.¡±

    ***

    <em>[Immortal Sorceress Helenia has awakened.]</em>

    When they heard the world message, all the yers were left in a daze. They clearly remembered how overwhelming Helenia was when she appeared just a year ago. But this time, there were not only scared yers but also confident yers.

    <em>[We¡¯repletely different to how we were a year ago, right?]</em>

    <em>[The level of yers has grown by more than 30%pared to a year ago. Recently, over 200 people reached Level 650 after the triple EXP event. In addition, those who have achieved Level 650 this time have exceeded Minhyuk¡¯s powers from a year ago.]</em>

    <em>[I am Ramchai. I have achieved Level 650 and will definitely seed in Helenia¡¯s Raid.]</em>

    <em>[I am Kirin. I have achieved Level 650, and I am sure that Helenia will no longer be an opponent for us.]</em>

    The yers cheered at the appearance of the Level 650 yers. But the notifications that rang not long after made them all grow silent.

    <em>[The </em><strong><em>Episode</em></strong><em>: Immortal Sorceress Helenia and Lord of the Monsters Barbarian¡¯s Quest for Destruction has started.]</em>

    <em>[You will receive great rewards for protecting the world from Immortal Sorceress Helenia and Lord of the Monsters Barbarian.]</em>

    And although it was very unusual, Joy Co. Ltd. posted an additional announcement regarding Barbarian.

    <em>[Lord of the Monsters?]</em>

    <em>[Are you saying that countless monsters will appear with him?]</em>

    <em>[Hey, Level 650 yers! Are you sure that you will be able to hunt Helenia?]</em>

    The spirited high-rankers immediately turned mute. They had confirmed that the Lord of the Monsters had destructive power that could rival Helenia¡¯s own.

    Just like that, the entire world fell into terror and chaos. During that time, world-renowned ranker Alexander called for an emergency press conference.

    ***

    Washington D.C., United States of America.

    A crowd of reporters and journalists from all over the world flocked to attend the press conference.

    Alexander had already realised it. He thought, <em>¡®If we don¡¯t stop Helenia and Barbarian, everything the yers have built will disappear.¡¯</em>

    Based on Alexander¡¯s estimate, 70% of the human race would disappear if they failed to stop the two.

    <em>¡®This is the limit for having freedom in virtual reality games.¡¯</em>

    It was quite difficult for Joy Co. Ltd. to interfere in this matter. There might even be a chance that Joy Co. Ltd. did not expect Helenia to cooperate with Barbarian. But if they had controlled the NPCs, who think and move the same way as humans, then Athenae would not be what it is today.

    And just like Alexander thought, such a setting would eventually face its limit. That was why he believed that the Athenae of today might experience a drastic fall after this.

    When Alexander looked at the mouring reporters, he saw around twenty Level 650 yers and around fifteen God-ss yers in attendance. These thirty or so people had made a name for themselves and were treated as famous figures and celebrities in their own countries.

    Alexander reached only one conclusion after considering everything: <em>¡®We have to work together and try to move toward the same goal.¡¯</em>

    The problem was that the world¡¯s powerhouses were arrogant. Nevertheless, they all had to work together for this. Only if they do that would they be able to increase their chances of winning.

    <em>¡®We will be nothing but a group of ragtags if we work separately.¡¯</em>

    But it would be different if all of the powerhouses worked together.

    <em>¡®We will be able to be a powerful army.¡¯</em>

    Blinding camera lights shed as Alexander stood on the podium.

    <em>Click, click, click¨C!</em>

    Alexander quickly ryed his thoughts on the current situation. The reporters were all left in a buzz after hearing his words. Then, one of the reporters wrote his article with this title.

    <em>[Alexander speaks of the fall of Athenae.]</em>

    Every one of them knew that there was a high chance that it could happen.

    Of course, not only were the media and the press present, but countless prominent figures from Athenae were also present. And they all wanted to hear what Alexander had to say about the situation.

    ¡°If we don¡¯t cooperate and join forces, we will lose. I believe it is time for all of us to fight together.¡±

    The reporters agreed with Alexander.

    Meanwhile, Team Leader Park Minggyu, also present during the press conference, thought, <em>¡®Indeed. Alexander¡¯s words are reasonable. If they join forces and fight, their chances of winning will increase. But¡­¡¯</em>

    The arrogant yers were much more stupid than they thought.

    ¡°If we fight together to hunt Helenia and Barbarian, all the attention will fall on you.¡±

    ¡°Alexander, your thoughts are visible to us.¡±

    ¡°Those who deal the greatest damage will obtain the greatest rewards. Aren¡¯t you jealous of them too?¡±

    They sharply pointed out these matters, and that was truly the case. Regardless of Alexander¡¯s intentions, he would get the most attention and reward. This fact would remain the same.

    ¡°That¡¯s not what I¡¯m trying to say here. Our Athenae will¡­¡±

    ¡°So, you want us to suffer together, but the only one who will achieve the greatest wealth and honour is you?!¡±

    ¡°Do you think this is fair?!¡±

    ¡°We will fight Helenia on our own so that you can fight Helenia on your own too!¡±

    ¡°Besides, we belong to our empires and kingdoms! If we fight with you, what will you do about our penalties?!¡±

    The press conference was thrown into chaos. Alexander¡¯s expression grew ugly at the stupidity of the people before him. Their words made it hard for Alexander to suppress his anger.

    A bitter expression shed on Team Leader Park¡¯s face. <em>¡®This is the reality.¡¯</em>

    Joy Co. Ltd. had concluded that the powerhouses would never cooperate, which, of course, would ruin their chances.

    However, at that moment, a man stood amidst the crowd of yers and walked toward the podium. Both the yers and the journalist gave way for him, a show of his immense influence on the world.

    Team Leader Park looked surprised. Yes, he knew that he was here. But he never expected that <em>he,</em> who hateding forward like this, would stand up and head to the podium himself.

    The cameras shed nonstop. Not long after, Alexander saw Minhyuk standing right in front of him. Unlike his usual smiley self, Minhyuk had a serious expression on his face.

    ¡°Minhyuk.¡±

    ¡°We share the same thoughts, no?¡±

    When Minhyuk stepped on the podium, Alexander knew they were on the same page. Alexander did not care who led the yers. It did not matter if it was he or Minhyuk as long as they could protect Athenae. That was what mattered the most to him.

    Despite that, he held the microphone away and stopped Minhyuk from speaking. He said, ¡°What are you thinking? The people will use us of joining forces and monopolising everything just by standing here together. This will discourage them from gathering under us more.¡±

    ¡°There is a sure way to do that.¡±

    ¡°A sure way?¡± Alexander looked at Minhyuk in confusion.

    Minhyuk carefully removed Alexander¡¯s hand from the microphone and said, ¡°Come to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.¡±

    ¡°As expected! The Beyond the Heavens Empire is going to monopolise everything!!!¡±

    ¡°Do you think we don¡¯t know that Alexander and the Beyond the Heavens Empire will collude and take all the wealth and fame?!!!¡±

    ¡°This is a scoop! The article''s title will be: <em>¡®Greedy Minhyuk and Alexander: Taking Advantage of Helenia¡¯s Hunt to Gain Money,¡¯</em> am I right?¡±

    Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°One hundred billion won.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°We will pay at most one hundred billion won.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Alexander¡¯s eyes grew wide. Even Team Leader Park was looking at Minhyuk in awe.

    That was right. There was only one thing that could unite all of the people. And that was none other than ¡°money.¡±

 Chapter 1051

    Chapter 1051

    <strong>Chapter 1051</strong>

    A hundred billion won was more than enough money for someone to live a life of luxury for the rest of their lives. Most people would not even be able to touch a billion won, which is only a fraction of that sum, in their entire lifetime. That was just how massive a hundred billion won was. It was enough to make anyone feel overwhelmed just by hearing about it.

    But Minhyuk said that they would pay a hundred billion won at most. The reporters, who were left in a state of confusion, could not help but think that they had misheard him.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s going to pay a hundred billion won?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®When they choose to go to his side?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®That¡¯s crazy. Does he think he makes any sense?¡¯</em>

    All of them were dumbfounded and were unable to say anything. The same was true for the Athenae yers. Minhyuk¡¯s words were so ridiculous that they could only y it up and think that it was some crazy bullshit.

    ¡°The one who said he would pay a hundred billion won is Minhyuk.¡±¡°Minhyuk is not someone who goes back on his word.¡±

    ¡°He is not the type of person who will lie.¡±

    The one who mentioned the hundred billion won was none other than Minhyuk. Many people might criticize him because of their jealousy, but everyone knew that Minhyuk was not the type of person to lie.

    <em>Murmur, murmur¨C</em>

    The crowd¡¯s voices began to fill the conference hall as the camera shes started to go off like crazy.

    ¡°Minhyuk, are you crazy¡­?¡±

    Alexander had to admit that he could not understand what Minhyuk was thinking.

    Then, one of the prominent figures from Athenae raised their hand and asked, ¡°Right now, are you saying that you will pay me if I join the Beyond the Heavens Empire? Wouldn¡¯t you spend billions already just for that?¡±

    Minhyuk nodded. ¡°I am not the type to go back on my words. I am encouraging all of the rankers worldwide to gather in the Beyond the Heavens Empire.¡±

    ¡°Then¡­¡±

    ¡°But would you give the money right away¡­¡±

    But Minhyuk did not listen to the words of the Athenae yers. He just said, ¡°If you don¡¯t want to, then don¡¯te.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Minhyuk was using money to demand their cooperation. Yet when they heard those words, everyone on the spot realized that Minhyuk had be ¡°Party A¡± in their discussion just because he offered to pay a total of a hundred billion. This could be seen from how careful the people here were with their words after hearing his offer.

    Then, Minhyuk pointed to Oh Changwook, who came here with him and said, ¡°If you agree, we will immediately sign the contract right here. Now, let me tell you about the contents of the contract.¡±

    Everyone concentrated on his words.

    ¡°yers who have reached Level 650 or have God sses on par with that level and wish to join Beyond the Heavens Empire to hunt Helenia will receive a basic sry of ten billion won.¡±

    ¡°Heok!¡±

    ¡°Urk!¡±

    ¡°This is crazy!!!¡±

    Minhyuk said that he would pay a total of a hundred billion won. These were what the reporters on site thought when they heard about it:

    <em>¡®Are they going to start at 100 million won?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Because he gave the maximum, he will start with a tiny minimum, right?¡¯</em>

    But their thoughts immediately changed with one word from Minhyuk.

    ¡°Of course, there will be additional incentives. The Beyond the Heavens Empire will calcte the incentives based on their contribution until we reach a hundred billion won.¡±

    ¡°The moment you sign the contract, you will be a contractor, gather in the Beyond the Heavens Empire, and follow our rules.

    ¡°The contractor will surrender all the drops and gold they will obtain to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    ¡°If the contractor fails to fulfill the contract¡¯s fine print, you will pay twice the amount you have been paid in advance as a penalty.¡±

    Minhyuk was not a fool. Of course, the contract would have many other details aside from these significant uses.

    <em>¡®No matter how often you are forced to log out, you will have to log back in right away and join the war once again when the ess penalty is lifted.¡¯</em>

    However, Minhyuk knew that few people would want to ept such a condition despite the ten billion introductory sry offer. Of course, there would still be those who would speak up just to rip him off.

    Just like now.

    ¡°That¡¯s a ridiculous offer.¡±

    The one who spoke up was none other than Vietnam¡¯s God of Archery Miao. As the country''s representative ranker, she was extremely sharp and, of course, someone who knew her worth.

    ¡°Level 650 yers and their equivalent God-ss yers can make more than ten billion won annually.¡±

    In fact, some celebrities could earn that much right now. As for the high rankers from all over the world, they could earn more than celebrities and famous figures these days. Of course, someone at God of Archery Miao¡¯s level could earn at least thirty billion won for the contribution that they could make.

    As she said, they could make that much money in a year. Yet the Beyond the Heavens Empire demanded their absolute submission for that much money?

    ¡°Do you think high-rankers like us would benefit from this contract?¡±

    <em>Click, click, click¨C!</em>

    Cameras shed non-stop as Miao confronted Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk smiled at her and said, ¡°Then¡­¡±

    The reporters looked at him with rapt attention.

    ¡°...don¡¯t sign it.¡±

    ¡°...?!¡±

    Miao frowned at Minhyuk¡¯s utterly unexpected response. Didn¡¯t he make this offer because he wanted and needed the power of other yers?

    Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°If not stopped, Helenia and Barbarian will kill more than 50% of Athenae¡¯s poption. If that happens, the number of Athenae yers will also drastically reduce.¡± Minhyuk looked around. ¡°This will also lead to an exponential increase in yers leaving Athenae. This means that the value of the rankers, their gold, and everything else they possess in the game will also be drastically reduced.¡±

    It was inevitable. The fewer yers there were in a game, the lower the value of the game.

    ¡°By that time, are you confident that you will still be able to earn more than ten billion won per year?¡±

    Indeed. If that happened, the advertisements and various contracts the high-rankers currently have would be immediately cut off.

    Minhyuk was not here to ask them for a favor.

    The cold look in Minhyuk¡¯s eyes left Miao embarrassed. She could not help but say, ¡°E-even so, your condition is just too ridiculous, no? The Beyond the Heavens Empire wants to ept all Level 650 yers and God-ss yers of equivalent power, right?¡±

    Miao understood what Minhyuk meant. He wanted to attract as many yers as possible and give them at least a decent offer. Tens of millions of yers would gather under their banner. Could the Beyond the Heavens Empire afford to pay them all? Right now, those who doubted Minhyuk would think they might be used as freebor and would never get paid.

    ¡°Let me introduce you to my dear friend.¡±

    With Minhyuk¡¯s words, the doors to the conference hall opened. Then, hundreds of bodyguards wearing ck suits and sunsses poured in. Every single one of them carried a single family crest on their chest. A single man walked among these guards.

    This man used the nickname Cuhel in Athenae. In reality? He was Rausch, the master of the Rothschilde Family.

    ¡°Th-the Rothschilde Family!¡±

    ¡°Heok!¡±

    Another round of non-stop camera shes appeared in the conference hall. Everyone knew that Cuhel was the master of the Rothschilde Family, but none knew if this family would support the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    Even so, Miao scoffed.

    ¡°Even if Cuhel is a member of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, you would need at least ten trillion won to fund this hunt. And if you¡¯ll borrow the money from them, then there¡¯s no way they would agree. After all, the Rothschilde Family is not a family that would do meaningless charity. Plus, based on what you have said¡­¡±

    A glimmer appeared in Miao¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°...if Helenia¡¯s hunt fails, you will sit on trillions of won in debt.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    The reporters finally understood it after hearing Miao¡¯s words. It was just like she said: if Athenae fell, then the Beyond the Heavens Empire would also fall. And Minhyuk, who dared to do something like this, would be left with trillions of won in debt.

    ¡°If that happens, the Rothschilde Family will file awsuit against the Ilhwa Group. From Rotschilde¡¯s point of view, they would still receive thergestpany in Korea aspensation, so they would have nothing to lose.¡±

    Everyone agreed with Miao¡¯s words. In the end, Rothschilde was a family that moved for the profits.

    A frown marred Minhyuk¡¯s face as he said, ¡°I clearly said I was introducing my friend. When did I say that the Rothschilde Family would pay?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Then, Minhyuk continued, ¡°And how in the world will the Beyond the Heavens Empire have ten trillion won?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Everyone present could not hide how flustered they were. Was he saying that everything that he had said earlier was nothing but bullshit?

    The hundreds of cameras focused on Minhyuk as he said, ¡°We¡¯re epting sponsors from all over the globe for this hunt for Helenia. Ah, that¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re on a firste, first-serve basis.¡±

    Rausch immediately raised his hand as if he was waiting for this moment. Then, he said, ¡°The Rothschilde Family will be a sponsor and will sponsor you one trillion won.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Alexander was shocked. ¡°Right now¡­ don¡¯t tell me¡­¡±

    Indeed. The hunt for Helenia would be an event that the entire world would pay attention to. The buzz it would create would surpass the World Cup or the Olympics.

    <em>¡®You¡¯re going to ask thepanies to pay for all the expenses?¡¯</em>

    It was a crazy idea, but there was something more interesting. Minhyuk switched his phone from vibrate to ring mode.

    ¡°Do you hear that?¡± Minhyuk grinned. ¡°That¡¯s the sound of my phone. It¡¯s on fire, you know?¡±

    <em>Ring, ring, ring¨C!</em>

    <em>Ring, ring, ring¨C!</em>

    The moment his words fell, Minhyuk¡¯s phone rang non-stop. When one number stopped calling, another would appear. The people could not help but look at Minhyuk incredulously. His ideas were ridiculous and unconventional, but he made it possible.

    <em>¡®They will bring us together under a contract, but the ones who will pay us are thepanies?¡¯</em>

    With thesepanies sponsoring the Beyond the Heavens Empire, they would never be deprived of money.

    Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°Well, then. Shall we sign a contract?¡±

    They no longer hesitated. All of the prominent figures in Athenae who were present during the press conference signed the contract.

    ***

    Genie, or Im Jihye, urgently set up a team to handle all matters rted to corporate and business sponsorships. It was no use crying over spilled milk. They had to work and deal with the matter at hand.

    Almost 80% of the Level 650 rankers had decided to join the Beyond the Heavens Empire in this battle. And since they had decided to hire yers through the ¡°mercenary¡± system, where theirpensation would depend on their level, the yers began to gather around them like crazy.

    But there was one problem.

    ¡°Thepanies¡¯ sponsorships are not as high as we thought. There¡¯s just a lot of them.¡±

    At least fiftypanies contacted them regarding the sponsorship. However, the Beyond the Heavens Empire only intended to receive one or two sponsorships frompanies and businesses, including the Rothschilde Family.

    If they received sponsorships from dozens ofpanies, the requirements and conditions they had to fulfill would cause chaos, even during the battle. People worldwide would definitely criticize them for the non-stop Pay-Per-Lead, a performance-based marketing model (PPL).

    ¡°How much are thepanies willing to sponsor?¡± Khan asked.

    Genie looked at him and replied, ¡°Some offered 200 billion. Some offered 300 billion and 500 billion, but most offered 100 billion.¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡±

    They needed trillions of won for the offer that Minhyuk made.

    Khan, who had seen Minhyuk leave for the press conference, carefully said, ¡°This is the first time I have seen Minhyuk like this.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s because he lost Old Man Beradon.¡±

    The thought that they were walking down the wrong path because Minhyuk¡¯s head was clouded by anger passed through all of their heads. If they could not gather enough money through sponsorships and donations to pay all of the yers, they would be the ones emptying their pockets. Even so, Beyond the Heavens truly needed to gather the yers.

    ¡°If we can sessfully kill Helenia, our profits would be huge. The problem is if we fail.¡±

    Sighs could be heard all over the ce. Of course, if they could sessfully secure a good sponsor, then the only ones that would be hit were thepany, and the Beyond the Heavens Empire would be perfectly fine.

    Naturally, the Beyond the Heavens Empire wanted to satisfy the sponsorpany. They were also afraid of the impact they would receive if they failed.

    <em>¡®We have spent at least three trillion won so far.¡¯</em>

    They needed trillions more won so they could prepare everything for Helenia¡¯s hunt.

    At that moment, Minhyuk, who went to the press conference, returned with Ilhwa Group¡¯s Chairman Kang Minhoo beside him. Minhyuk asked, ¡°How¡¯s the corporate sponsorships going?¡±

    Genie looked embarrassed. She tried to speak as carefully as possible, fearing that Minhyuk would me himself for what was happening.

    ¡°Most of the offers are around 100 billion won. But just like you said, we would be in a huge mess if we ept thepanies who want to sponsor us with such an amount.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded calmly. ¡°It¡¯s just as expected.¡±

    ¡°Huh¡­?¡±

    ¡°Did you just say that you expected it?¡±

    Everyone in the room looked confused at Minhyuk¡¯s calm reaction. Then, Minhyuk¡¯s phone rang.

    ¡°Well, things are going just as my father said.¡±

    Minhyuk received much help and advice from his father during this time. After all, his father was the chairman of a hugepany.

    Not long after, Minhyuk answered his phone. ¡°Hello. Yes, this is Minhyuk speaking.¡±

    ¨C<em>Hello. This is Apel.</em>

    Based on market cap, Apel could be said to be the world¡¯s number onepany.

    Minhyuk switched to speaker mode so that everyone could hear the call. He thought this would be good study material for the others.

    They conversed back and forth and discussed the basic story. Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°We do not want sponsorships from countlesspanies. We only wish to have at least one or twopanies sponsoring us.¡±

    ¨C<em>That¡¯s what we¡¯re hoping for too.</em>

    ¡°Just so you know, the highest amount of sponsorship we have been offered is five trillion won.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Everyone was struck dumb because they knew it was aplete lie. Apel also thought Minhyuk¡¯s words were absurd.

    ¨C<em>Minhyuk, I understand your urgency. However, it would be difficult for anypany to recover after investing five trillion won. There¡¯s no way that apany will invest five trillion won just like that.</em>

    Apel¡¯s market cap was at around three trillion dors.

    Everyone frowned at Minhyuk¡¯s reckless words.

    ¨C<em>Our side wants to offer you three trillion won.</em>

    Three trillion was far below the amount that they required. At this moment, everyone realized that Minhyuk¡¯s reckless and irrational actions might cause all the sponsorships to vanish.

    ¡°Ah. I forgot to tell you the other conditions I offered to the otherpanies.¡±

    ¨C<em>Other conditions?</em>

    ¡°Yes. I offered the otherpanies 90% of all the drops during Helenia¡¯s hunt. Of course, the drops from Named Monsters and Named NPCs, including the drops from Helenia and Barbarian, will belong to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.¡±

    ¨C<em>...!</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Everyone froze on the spot. That was when they realized something.

    <em>¡®W-wait. This¡­¡¯</em>

    Not long after, the Apel official spoke.

    ¨C<em>Pardon me¡­ How much sponsorship do you want?</em>

    Almost a billion people worldwide would fight alongside the Beyond the Heavens Empire in this battle. The drops that they would gather would be astronomical in value.

    ¡°We want at least eight trillion won. Of course, if you give us eight trillion in sponsorship, we will no longer receive any other sponsorships, including the one from the Rothschilde Family.¡±

    The official asked them to wait so he could get approval from his superiors. Not long after, the official came back.

    ¨C<em>Alright, we will sponsor you and give you eight trillion won.</em>

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    When the call ended, Im Jihye, her pupils shaking, murmured, ¡°ording to the contract signed with the yers, all of the drops will be surrendered to the Beyond the Heavens Empire¡­¡±

    Yes, that was right. The Beyond the Heavens Empire intended to recover the money they had initially spent through those drops. But there was one problem. Drops would onlye out after hunting monsters, so they could not spend this money right away.

    During the press conference, they announced that they would sign a contract with apany and offer to give thepany that would sponsor them the drops in return for their sponsorship. This meant that they had brought in money in advance.

    And how much money would the Beyond the Heavens Empire fork out to make this happen?

    <em>¡®Zero? No. We will even benefit from it.¡¯</em>

    They would surrender only 90% of the drops to Apel. The remaining 10% would belong to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    To put it simply, thepany, in this case Apel, would pay the money to pay the yers who signed a contract with them. As for Apel, not only would they receive 90% of the drops from the monsters and mobs that the yers hunted, but they would also experience a huge boost in their promotions and advertisements.

    As a result, they secured not only the money needed to pay the yers but also a surplus of money that could help them prepare for Helenia¡¯s hunt. The Beyond the Heavens Empire would profit from this without even forking a single cent. Everyone looked at Minhyuk and Minhoo in shock.

    Chairman Kang Minhoo grinned and said, ¡°This is business.¡±

 Chapter 1052

    Chapter 1052

    Articles poured in one after another.

    <em>[World¡¯s number onepany, Apel, signed an Eight-Trillion Sponsorship Contract with the Beyond the Heavens Empire.]</em>

    <em>[Bullshit? No, it¡¯s clearly a contract that makes the sound of clinking money!]</em>

    <em>[The Beyond the Heavens Empire has sent out Empire Quests to recruit more yers. For the yers, all roads now lead to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.]</em>

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor Minhyuk has united the yers!]</em>

    The entire world was shocked by the shocking number. Now, even the yers, who were over the fence regarding the ridiculous contract proposed by Minhyuk, had started to flock toward the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    And in the Beyond the Heavens Empire?

    ¡°Buy the best weapons, potions, ingredients, and anything we might need regardless of the cost.¡±

    With money, the greatest weapon, they began to purchase the best of the best. Potion ingredients were immediately sent to Mand and thepetent and outstanding alchemist yers.

    Siege weapon materials were sent to Hyemin¡¯sDaddy and the thousands of cksmiths beside him.

    Materials for bombs were sent to Bichor and the countless trap specialists and bomb manufacturers by his side.

    And the countless cooking ingredients? They were left to Minhyuk. Minhyuk had been cooking non-stop for days on end.

    <em>¡®We don¡¯t know when Helenia will start to attack.¡¯</em>

    They did not have the time to do things leisurely, which was why the lights and smoke in Minhyuk¡¯s kitchen did not go off once.

    Worried, Genie approached Minhyuk and said, ¡°Minhyuk, how about taking a nap first?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine¡­¡± Minhyuk smiled wryly.

    Genie was very concerned about his physical condition.

    <em>¡®He hasn¡¯t slept for days. And from what I know, he has been cutting back on his sleep for almost a month so he could level up¡­¡¯</em>

    ¡°I understand your concerns. But if I take a rest now, then more people might just die.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­¡± Genie sighed.

    She could feel the burden on Minhyuk¡¯s shoulders. She knew that everyone who ate the dish that Minhyuk cooked would be able to protect themselves a bit more during the fight.

    ¡°I¡¯m always here for you.¡±

    ¡°Thanks.¡±

    In the end, Genie could not stop him. Once she left, Minhyuk went back to cooking. During the entire process, Minhyuk was in a Deep Trance. The only thing keeping him going was his anger toward Helenia for killing Beradon just like that.

    Then, at that moment, the guards knocked and entered with someone. Minhyuk, who had just finished cooking a dish, looked at the man and said, ¡°Twenty billion won for each time. There¡¯s no reason to say no to that, no?¡±

    The man, who was wearing a skull mask, was none other than Crazy Tyrant Akhan.

    Akhan had disappeared right after the story rted to the God of Death. However, everyone knew he was working actively behind the scenes and had reached Level 650. The Beyond the Heavens Empire had found some information about his abilities through Abel.

    ¡°If it¡¯s for an Origin Authority, it¡¯s worth it.¡±

    Akhan and Minhyuk hated each other. But when it came to money, Akhan would willingly be a dog for them.

    Just like that, two days passed by.

    ***

    The Arucent Empire might not berge in size, but it has quite a powerful militia. Arucent¡¯s Imperial Army was strong because Emperor Arbe was strong enough to fight toe to toe with the Luvien Empire¡¯s dukes. Compared to other empires, the Arucent Empire loved peace. They tried to avoid war as much as possible.

    And inside this empire stood a woman with red hair that reached her waist. She was so beautiful that anyone looking at her would be bewitched. But despite her stunning and graceful appearance, the soldiers were pointing their weapons at her and trembling in fear.

    <em>ck¨C!</em>

    With a snap of her fingers, a small table and a chair appeared before her.

    <em>Glug, glug, glug¨C!</em>

    Then, she leisurely poured some tea in her teacup and gently savored its scent.

    ¡°R- run¡­¡±

    ¡°We have to get out of the empire right now.¡±

    The entire empire was in an uproar. There were quick-witted ones who tried to escape the empire.

    ¡°Wh- what is this¡­?¡±

    Unfortunately, they saw that they could no longer take any step further. This was because monsters had already surrounded the entire empire.

    More and more soldiers gathered around Helenia, their numbers exceeding hundreds of thousands and filling the central za to the brim.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    At that moment, the small table in front of Helenia was neatly cut in half. Helenia, with the teacup in her hand, turned to look at Emperor Arbe with a graceful smile.

    ¡°Hello?¡±

    ¡°Bullshit. Get lost, you wicked bitch!!!¡± Arbe shouted. But deep inside, he was very nervous.

    Immortal Sorceress Helenia put mankind in danger a long,<em> long</em> time ago. Of course, time has passed by, and she has grown significantly weaker than she was back then. But that did not mean that the prestige of her name had disappeared.

    ¡°You have quite a foul mouth.¡± Helenia chuckled.

    In just a blink, millions of troops had gathered around her. On one side of the za, the empire''s citizens gathered together to escape. However, none of them could leave because of the monsters outside.

    ¡°Can you pass a message for me? Everyone who wishes to see me shoulde to thend where the sun rises first.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Emperor Arbe immediately understood that she was asking everyone who was preparing for her arrival to fight an all-out war with her.

    <em>¡®The number of people alone will exceed a hundred million.¡¯</em>

    Helenia was the public enemy. She was someone that the entire mankind had to ovee. Yet her words exuded her confidence in herself.

    A path immediately opened among the monsters.

    ¡°I just came here to say this. Hoho.¡± Helenia covered her mouth with her tiny hand and chuckled lightly.

    At that moment, hundreds of cavalry units began to charge toward the path opened by the monsters.

    ¡°Ah, by the way. No one else can go through the path I have opened for you. Understand?¡±

    ¡°Everyone¡­! Don¡¯t be reckless!¡± Arbe shouted nervously.

    They could have lived through the situation safely if none of them had gone down that path. Nheless, the soldiers and the people knew that Helenia wanted to ughter mankind. Could they even believe her words? Shouldn¡¯t they just run down that path? Perhaps they even had a 1% chance of surviving, no?

    Tens of millions of people had already gathered in front of the gates of the empire¡¯s capital and were ready to flee. But the soldiers told them not to move.

    ¡°Hiiiik! What bullshit are you talking about?! Shouldn¡¯t we run away while we can?! I- I¡¯m going. C- cavalry! Take me with you!¡±

    ¡°Me too!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll go too!¡±

    ¡°Run!¡±

    ¡°We wouldn¡¯t have any other chance than now!¡±

    ¡°Everyone, don¡¯t move!!!¡± Arbe shouted desperately.

    Nevertheless, the citizens of the Arucent Empire turned a deaf ear to him. They pushed past the guards and the soldiers and charged straight toward the path Helenia created.

    ¡°Hohohoho!¡±

    Goosebumps rose all over Arbe¡¯s body when he heard Helenia¡¯sughter.

    ¡°You bitch¡­¡±

    She knew that someone would try to run away. At this moment, Arbe understood that she had this wicked and perverted taste of seeing the despair on the faces of the people as she trampled on them after giving them a faint hope. It was a disgusting penchant for ying with human life.

    The father, who was carrying his daughter in his arms and running at the forefront, said, ¡°Child, it¡¯s going to be fine. We¡¯re going to survive.¡±

    But a huge shadow cast down on them. It was the shadow cast by a seven-meter-tall bipedal wolf. The wolf opened its maw and bit the man¡¯s head off.

    <em>Crunch¨C!</em>

    ¡°Da¡­ ddy?¡±

    ¡°Kyaaaaaack!¡±

    At the same time, the monsters, who gave way and created a path, began to bite, tear, and rip the refugees trying to run away.

    ¡°Haaaaa¡­¡± Helenia sighed gracefully. The smell of blood smelled fragrant and brought a thrill to her.

    Not long after, she pointed her fingers gently toward the tens of millions of citizens of the Arucent Empire.

    ¡°Should I try frying them?¡±

    <em>Bzzt¨C bzzt¨C</em>

    A powerful electric current shot out from her fingertips, electrocuting the citizens of the empire until they turned into burnt crisps.

    ¡°How about ripping them apart?¡±

    <em>Fwoosh¨C fwoosh¨C</em>

    Countless wind des appeared and tore the citizens apart.

    ¡°No. Let¡¯s just burn them to death.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaa¨C!</em>

    A pir of me that could reach the sky burst out and turned the citizens into ashes.

    ¡°Uwaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kyaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Please save us!¡±

    ¡°Your Majestyyyyy!!!¡±

    ¡°P- please. Leave the children¡­!¡±

    Arbe felt like he was standing in front of the devil. Even so, he had confidence in his power. After all, he could rival the dukes of the Luvien Empire! So, he tightened his hold on his sword and charged toward Helenia.

    Five minutester, all of Arbe¡¯s limbs had been cut off. His body was nailed to a huge tree. But that was not the end of his suffering. He watched as hundreds of meteors appeared in the sky above them.

    It only took thirty minutes for the entire Arucent Empire to copse.

    ***

    Haze handed a bottle of potion to Duke Bman, who was neither dead nor alive. She said, ¡°I know that you¡¯re going to die a year from now.¡±

    ¡°...¡± Bman just looked at Haze silently.

    Bman looked at the potion in his hands. Indeed, he was due to die a yearter following the contract that he made with the God of Death.

    ¡°To be honest, I don¡¯t like this either. Only His Majesty can give you absolute orders. What I¡¯m saying is that this is not an order; this is a plea. You have killed a lot of people during your lifetime.¡±

    Bman remained silent. Was his heart throbbing from the pain of guilt? No, there was nothing like that at all. Bman was born a trash. The only reason why he was looking at the potion in his hands was because of Haze¡¯s words.

    ¡°You have lived an ugly life so far, so at least decorate thest moments of your life and make it beautiful.¡± Haze stood up.

    Of course, the ves from the ck Skull Knight Order and Bman will participate in the hunt for Helenia.

    Bman, looking at the potion in his hands, caught sight of Haze stopping in her tracks.

    Then, she said, ¡°Your muscles look wonderful.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Haze, who was about to leave after saying those words, saw Bman¡¯s face growing red.

    ¡°...?¡±

    Flustered by the sight, Haze ran away. Unbeknownst to her, she had given the greatestpliment to a man who loved to work out.

    And Bman? He carried the potion with him.

    ***

    Today was a historic day.

    Tens of thousands of drones flew in the sky above them. All the experts were confident that therge-scale battle that would happen on this battlefield would be unprecedented. Of course, the casualties would also be off the charts.

    The troops that gathered in front of the Beyond the Heavens Empireprised yers and imperial soldiers and had reached 140 million in number.

    <em>[Battle God Minhyuk. I think he¡¯s showing what the true Battle God is like.]</em>

    <em>[Following Helenia''s words, the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ troops are marching straight toward thend where the sun rises first.]</em>

    <em>[Hundreds of millions of troops from the Luvien Empire and the allied forces from all over the world are waiting for Helenia.]</em>

    <em>[You can see the tension in the faces of every single one of them.]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s only natural. The NPCs are afraid of facing actual death, while the yers are terrified at the thought of not being able to y Athenae anymore.]</em>

    <em>[Athenae is now considered as a second world. And for many of us, it has now be a new world. If we lose today¡¯s battle, we may also lose Athenae.]</em>

    <em>[Minhyuk is now standing on the podium.]</em>

    <em>[This is crazy. I feel like my heart is swelling with pride after seeing a yer stand in front of hundreds of millions of people.]</em>

    Everyone held their breath as they watched Minhyuk stand on the podium. During his speech, would he shout in anger, with veins popping out of his neck? No, not at all. There was nothing like that.

    ¡°I suffer from eating addiction.

    ¡°Every day, an unbearable hunger consumes me. This hunger led to my weight increasing to the point where I could only wait for the day I die.

    ¡°And this game called Athenae appeared for someone like me.¡±

    Minhyuk talked for a very long time. He told the story of how he started ying the game just so he could eat something delicious. He also told the story of how his illness got better and better the more he yed the game. And he told the story of how he became the Supreme.

    As he approached the end of his story, he said, ¡°But¡­ is Athenae only important to me?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Everyone thought back to the words ¡®just a game¡¯ they usually uttered when they heard his question.

    Indeed, it was not just important and precious to him. This game had be the only ce where the office workers, who had grown tired of their work, could rest and enjoy their lives. This had be where the exhausted students could run around and meet their friends. Stories about how people with diseases like Minhyuk were improving with the help of Athenae were also constantly published. Perhaps this was not ¡°just a game.¡± Maybe it also meant a lot to everyone present.

    Minhyuk said nothing grand. He raised his sword and said, ¡°I¡­ want to live.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    For Minhyuk, the end of Athenae was like a death sentence. There was a high chance that his eating addiction would re up again and drag him down to the depths of despair once again.

    Everyone knew this, which was why he spoke calmly. He was letting the world know through his words that he would give it his all and do his best.

    ¡°Please help me continue living.¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaaaah!!!¡±

    Their roars shook the world. The fact that he would give it his all because of his will to live made everyone cheer loudly.

    Minhyuk smiled as he looked at them. Of course, the speech should end in Minhyuk''s way.

    ¡°<em>Achoo! Achoo! Achoo!</em>¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    The people who listened to Minhyuk¡¯s great speech could not help but worry when they saw him suddenly sneezing. Was he feeling unwell?

    ¡°<em>Achoo! Achoo! Achoooo! </em>Apel! <em>Achoo!</em> Apel! Apel!¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Everyone was left stunned by the sudden PPL.

 Chapter 1053

    Chapter 1053

    Apel, the world¡¯s number onepany in market cap, produced and sold the globally acimed smartphone Aphone. It also boasted the global number one in the market share of tablets andptops.

    The faces of thepany¡¯s executives sitting in their conference room were filled withughter.

    ¡°My god! I did not expect him to promote it like that.¡±

    ¡°The entire world is currently watching this broadcast.¡±

    ¡°<em>¡®Achoo! Apel!¡¯</em> ranks number one in real-time search terms across various portal sites.¡±

    ¡°Minhyuk¡¯s single <em>¡®Achoo! Apel¡¯</em> has increased our stock price by 5%.¡±

    Eight trillion won was a considerable amount of money for an investment. Recovering that eight trillion won was no easy task, even if they could obtain all the drops of millions of yers marching toward the battlefield. Of course, Minhyuk¡¯s existence alone was a profit for them.

    ¡°The Beyond the Heavens Empire needed around ten trillion won to finish its war preparations. It could not borrow or raise that much money. But Minhyuk was able to lure us in on the condition that he would give us a huge portion of the spoils of war.¡±

    Of course, Apel was able to see through this matter. Johnson, one of the key executives of Apel and the one who signed a contract with Minhyuk, remembered something. He said, ¡°I have mentioned this before, but there are additional details in the contract.¡±When Johnson flew to Korea to meet Minhyuk and sign the contract after they promised to sponsor eight trillion won, the young man offered another use to their contract.

    <em>If Apel generates over ten trillion won in revenue, please give 10% of the profits above that amount to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.</em>

    Johnson still could not believe it.

    ¡°At that time, I was still wondering if we could ever recover the eight trillion won, so I did not expect him to offer such a use.¡±

    Johnson had spat out the words, <em>¡®Are you nuts?¡¯</em> when he heard him say that.

    For apany that invested eight trillion won, it would already be a miracle if it could gain a profit that was almost 20% of its investment. Nevertheless, Apel invested eight trillion won to show its intention to participate in the battle to protect the second world and increase its reputation.

    In Apel¡¯s eyes, recovering eight trillion won through profits and revenue would be impossible. They estimated the maximum amount they could recover would be six trillion won. Even so, Apel did notck money. At the very least, the loss of two trillion won was enough as long as they bought their reputation.

    But Minhyuk mentioned ten trillion won.

    ¡°Ten trillion won¡­ Well, it would depend on how long the broadcast was and how many drops they got.¡±

    This was the most crucial factor.

    One of the executives pointed out, ¡°But if the alliance is destroyed in just a day or two, then they wouldn¡¯t be able to gain two trillion won, let alone ten trillion won.¡±

    Helenia, mankind¡¯s enemy, ughtered an entire empire in just thirty minutes. Destroying mankind¡¯s allied forces in a day? It might not necessarily be impossible for her. On the other hand, would mankind¡¯s allied forces be able to kill Helenia in just a single day? That was a challenging feat.

    For them to gain ten trillion won in profits and revenue, the hunt for Helenia had to be done for as long as possible. Not only that, but many people had to y an active role on the battlefield and had to hit their PPLs evenly during the process.

    ¡°If they can generate more than ten trillion won in profits, then they will be able to obtain a hundred billion won of incentive for every trillion in excess.¡±

    That was a massive sum of money.

    All the executives turned to see therge army marching behind the Beyond the Heavens Empire as it advanced toward the battlefield.

    ***

    The vast and magnificent Land of Bad was where the sun always rose first in Athenae. It was so vast that it would still be spacious even if two billion troops gathered there.

    Mankind¡¯s allied forces, consisting of troops from the Luvien Empire and countless nations worldwide, were on standby in this ce. The allied forces were arge army consisting of almost 500 million soldiers. It could be said that mankind was now risking life and death in this war.

    The soldiers¡¯ breaths had turned white from the cold as they stood on this ground covered with snow, yet each of the armies¡¯manders shouted as hard as they could to increase their soldiers'' morale.

    ¡°For the ones we need to protect!¡±

    ¡°For the Vis Empire!¡±

    Despite their efforts, the soldiers¡¯ nervous shaking remained.

    The Luvien Empire had brought ten million of its elite troops, which were said to be equivalent to the 500 million troops present in this ce.

    Then, the Beyond the Heavens Empire arrived.

    <em>¡®Is that the Beyond the Heavens Empire?¡¯</em>

    With the emergence of ships in Athenae, people could cross through many ces. As such, many were unfamiliar with the newly emerging Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    Many young men who saw the approaching Beyond the Heavens Empire felt overwhelmed.

    <em>¡®They¡¯re a legend! They started from a small territory and grew into arge empire!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Emperor Minhyuk is here!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Can I also be like that?¡¯</em>

    Many shared the same dream. Even Barnes, who was left alone hiding his name after his entire family was executed, shared the same dreams as other young men his age.

    <em>One day, I will take the throne and be an emperor like him.</em>

    The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ emperor¡¯s white cape fluttered behind him as he looked at the army trembling in fear amidst the darkness of the night. As if apanying him, the sun slowly rose, chasing away the darkness.

    The scene of the sun rising behind the hundreds of millions of troops and illuminating the world plunged in darkness was spectacr.

    ¡°You¡¯re here?¡±

    Barnes blinked nkly a few times.

    ¡°Huh¡­?¡±

    Barnes finally saw a white me burning and slowly covered his body. He could not understand what was happening. Looking around, he saw the same white mes devouring many people around him. The fire burned their flesh until it turned into white and pure bones.

    Barnes looked away from them. He looked at the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ emperor. Despite the mes devouring the man¡¯s body, he was still giving out his orders.

    <em>Crackle¨C!</em>

    Finally, the mes devoured Barnes.

    ***

    <em>[Immortal Sorceress Helenia has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[Spark of the White mes.]</em>

    <em>[Eight Pirs¡¯ Disaster.]</em>

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[The Spark of the White mes will burn for two seconds and deal 1,200% damage.]</em>

    <em>[The Spark of the White mes targets all of the enemies!]</em>

    <em>Crackle¨C!</em>

    The world, still covered in darkness, was suddenly engulfed in the bright light created by the zing white mes.

    The sight of nearly 700 million troops bursting in white mes was like a beautiful painting.

    <em>[The Allied Forces have lost 257 million troops!]</em>

    All of the troops were in a united front. But in an instant, nearly a third of their numbers were burned by the white mes and turned into nothing but white bones. The troops of the allied forces, which had survived the catastrophe, all stood frozen as they watched Helenia stretch.

    Meanwhile, thousands of drones flying in the sky dutifully transmitted the ridiculous footage to people''s screens worldwide.

    <em>[W- what the hell¡­]</em>

    <em>[This is ridiculous! Sheunched an attack that targeted all of the army''s troops?]</em>

    <em>[Helenia¡¯s Eight Pirs¡¯ Disaster burned almost half of the Allied Forces'' troops.]</em>

    <em>[Even the surviving troops all suffer from varying degrees of injuries.]</em>

    <em>[The healers and priests of each religion have all died.]</em>

    <em>[The Spark of the White mes only burned for two seconds but dealt 1,200% damage. In other words, everyone who couldn¡¯t withstand the 1,200% damage has died.]</em>

    <em>[The 1,200% additional damage from Helenia is equivalent to 6,000% from ordinary rankers.]</em>

    <em>[The only sound you can hear on the battlefield is the shouts of the healers.]</em>

    <em>[Those burnt ck are falling one after another.]</em>

    The frozen army was left in a daze at the sudden yet graceful appearance of Helenia.

    ¡°Heal! Please, give us some heals!¡±

    ¡°Hot! It¡¯s so hot!!!¡±

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaack!¡±

    Helenia, who heard their screams, licked her lips in regret. She said, ¡°If only the Sun¡¯s Ore had not been stolen by some bastard, then I would have been able to kill more.¡±

    <em>Fwoosh¨C!</em>

    <em>[You have been hit with the Abnormal Status: Fear.]</em>

    <em>[You have lost your will to fight.]</em>

    The army, still frozen, could not even move their legs.

    ¡°R- run!!!¡±

    ¡°Hiiiiik!¡±

    Themanders, shouting at the top of their lungs for their victory a few moments prior, were now trying to run away. Some of the soldiers peed, while some fainted on the spot and copsed. Killing hundreds of millions of people and smiling bitterly as if she felt that it was a pity that she could only kill that many made her look no different from the devil.

    While most troops were in a daze, some still broke away from the fear and charged swiftly toward Helenia.

    <em>Thump, thump, thump¨C!</em>

    ¡°Heleniaaaaaaa!!!¡±

    They were none other than Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor Minhyuk and his executives. All of the troops looked at Minhyuk and his vassals. Despite the burn from the white mes, theypletely discarded their fear and charged forward.

    ¡°I am weaker.¡± Helenia tapped her fingers on her lips and giggled. And with her beautiful face and cute voice, she said, ¡°So, I¡¯m going to stay in the rear!¡±

    She then did a snap with her fingers.

    <em>Thud!!!</em>

    Pitch-ck darkness fell, overshadowing the rising sun and turning the day into night again. Then, she snapped her fingers again.

    <em>Thud¨C!</em>

    Brightness engulfed the entire world once again. And in this bright world, a skinny old man apanied by gigantic bipedal wolves appeared. Then, monsters began to fall one after another.

    <em>[Mutant Werewolf. Level 853.]</em>

    ¡°...?!¡±

    ¡°...?!¡±

    ¡°Eat a lot. Hoho,¡± Heleniaughed as she turned around and left the old man to go to the rear. ¡°Do your best. That wolf is powerful.¡±

    Helenia¡¯s gruesomeughter reverberated throughout the battlefield. Then, the two gigantic bipedal wolves ran swiftly.

    When they saw that, Minhyuk and the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ executives stopped advancing.

    <em>[Th- the werewolf¡¯s level is over Level 850?]</em>

    <em>[This is beyond the level of Great Demon Verus, no?]</em>

    ¡°Out of the way!¡±

    At that moment, hundreds of elite knights charged ahead of Minhyuk and his men. The elite knights who overtook the Beyond the Heavens Empire belonged to the most prestigious knight order of the Laffad Empire. Of course, it was not just them. Hundreds of millions of soldiers came back to their senses and followed right behind them.

    Amber, the knightmander, was ovee with fury. This was because their second prince had died. This was the same prince who dered that he would protect his empire and fought and won against the other princes to participate in this war.

    ¡°You bastaaaaaard!¡±

    ¡°How dare you do that to our prince!!!¡±

    ¡°Uryaaaaaaaah!!!¡±

    The knights, who vowed to make the second prince the emperor, would fight to repay the kindness and grace of their prince! And it was not just them. Named NPCs at around the mid-700s in terms of level also charged forward.

    They had been systematically trained. All they needed to do was to kill enough of these bastards, cut through the monster corps, and eventually cut down Helenia. They believed that they could do so.

    ¡°Hoho. What you see with your eyes isn¡¯t everything.¡±

    The eyes of the werewolves suddenly turned red.

    <em>[The Mutant Werewolves have gone berserk.]</em>

    <em>[Berserk Mutant Werewolves. Level 893.]</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

    Only at this moment did they wake up from the stupor that was brought about by their anger at losing their prince and realize that they had made a mistake

    <em>Boom¨C!</em>

    The head of the knight charging at the forefront burst with a single stomp from the werewolf.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    One swing of their ws and the knights¡¯ bodies were easily cut off.

    <em>Shwaaaa¨C!</em>

    The knights raised their swords and aimed for the werewolves¡¯ necks.

    ¡°Kill the¡­!¡±

    <em>ng¨C!</em>

    But they couldn¡¯t pierce through the werewolves¡¯ tough skin.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud!</em>

    Knight Commander Amber stopped when he saw the knights under hismand were struggling. He was left speechless, a shudder running down his trembling body at the sight of the knights dying and falling in just ten seconds.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kiheeeeeeeck!¡±

    Powerful balls of energy gathered at the mouths of the werewolves as they roared to the sky. Then, they shot those energy balls toward the charging troops.

    <em>Rumble¨C!</em>

    A single ball of energy created a huge wave that exploded and swept away many soldiers surrounding one of the werewolves.

    <em>Boom, boom, boom¨C!</em>

    The werewolves sent countless powerful energy balls toward the allied forces like that.

    Helenia, who walked to the rear, gracefully covered her mouth and began giggling. She was delighted to hear the sounds of the soldiers exploding helplessly under the werewolves¡¯ assault.

    Helenia¡¯sughter, which was transmitted by a simple amplification magic, resonated all over the world.

    <em>[Hohohohohoho. Fireworks! Fireworks! Boom, boom, boom! Everyone, let¡¯s enjoy these fireworks! Ohohohohoho! Keuhahahahaha!]</em>

    <em>[Out of all the things the old man made, those werewolves are considered quite good.]</em>

    <em>[If you can finish them in an hour, I will give you prais¡ª]</em>

    At that moment, her words were cut short.

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh¨C!</em>

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Kyahaaack! Aaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaack!¡±

    <em>sh¨C sh¨C!</em>

    ¡°Ho- hoho¡­ What the hell¡­¡±

    Helenia heard the confusion in the Lord of the Monsters Barbarian¡¯s voice. The puzzled Helenia was just about to turn her head when she received a notification.

    <em>[The God who Rules and Leads All Armies is looking at you.]</em>

    <em>Twitch¨C</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    The shocked Helenia slowly turned her head and finally saw the person who triggered that notification.

    A year ago, this man was lucky enough to seal herself. But now? He was staring at her nonchntly while holding the severed head of a werewolf in his hands.

    Brod, standing beside him, held one head in each hand while Spear God Ben¡¯s spear carried another.

    In just a few seconds, the mutant werewolves¡¯ heads were cut off and sent flying to the sky.

    <em>Thud¨C Thump, thump, thump¨C</em>

    Around fifteen severed heads rolled in front of Helenia.

    At this moment, Helenia realized that a lot had changed during the year, and they had not seen each other.

    With a cold expression, Minhyuk threw the head he was holding at Helenia¡¯s feet.

    <em>Thud¨C Thump, thump, thump¨C</em>

    ¡°Long time, no see.¡±

    <em>[The Battle God grins at you.]</em>

    That man had now be the Battle God.

 Chapter 1054

    Chapter 1054

    <strong>Chapter 1054</strong>

    The battlefield that was rife with terrified screams was plunged into silence.

    Amidst the deafening silence, the Fallen Wretched Emperor shook the blood of the werewolf off of the de of his sword as if he found it to be highly disgusting. The entire world was witness to how he cut the heads of two werewolves at almost Level 900 in just a few seconds.

    The old man, who did not step back an inch, red at the monsters. The monsters could not help but step back in the face of the old veteran¡¯s firm determination to protect and never back down. He and the other vassals joined forces and quickly finished off the werewolves that overwhelmed and killed the knights of the Laffad Empire.

    The Supreme standing at the highest position, raising his sword filled with wrath, and cutting down the werewolves a dozen times in a split second was like a movie scene.

    None of them could not believe it.

    Even Sword Emperor Ellie could not believe it. ¡°When did he¡­¡±

    When did the gap between her and the young man widen to this extent? <em>¡®That child has grown up to this level?¡¯</em>

    Ellie did not believe that child when he told her he had be the Battle God. He was like a younger brother to her, someone that she cherished and loved. But in the end, he was still young.

    She thought that the young man''s sword was iparable to her own. After all, she had been swinging her sword since she was young. She thought his charisma was iparable to her, who had lived as the mother of her empire and the tens of millions of people under her.

    <em>Fwoosh¨C</em>

    The blowing wind was like a signal¡ªa signal that the flow of the battlefield had changed in just an instant. Despite the terror of losing hundreds of millions of people at once, mankind realized that <em>he</em> and they had all grown up. They could win this war.

    <em>Twitch¨C!</em>

    Helenia looked at Minhyuk in surprise. The Battle God¡¯s grin was filled with pride yet it did not show any arrogance. At this moment, she realized that the young man had grown ever so close to the Eight Pirs, a name given to the eight outstanding men who supported the world of Athenae.

    <em>[The Battle God¡¯s Achievement System has been activated for the first time.]</em>

    <em>[Right now, you are standing at the vanguard and leading hundreds of millions of troops.]</em>

    <em>[The trembling and terrified troops are looking at the one and only god who can lead and rule over all armies.]</em>

    <em>[The soldier who had lost his grip on his sword from the fear has picked up and is now grabbing tightly onto his sword.]</em>

    <em>[Life has once again returned to the eyes of the old and skinny veteran who participated in this war to protect his family.]</em>

    <em>[A burning will once again ze into life in the heart of the man who kissed the forehead of his wife, holding their child as he left for the battlefield.]</em>

    Minhyuk found the Battle God¡¯s Achievement System notification to be entirely unexpected. He immediately understood that this notification, which rang as a world message, would only be triggered if he led a certain number of troops.

    This notification was the prelude to the start of the actual war.

    <em>[The Battle God¡¯s First Great War has started.]</em>

    <em>[The Great Monarch¡¯s blessings live within every soldier of all of the armies.]</em>

    <em>[Their courage will even reach the skies.]</em>

    Minhyuk, with the grin still on his face, took one, then two steps toward Helenia. His vassals were right behind him, following him as he began to speed up.

    In a blink, even the Luvien Empire¡¯s Swords of the Gods ran beside them. The Luvien Empire knew they would die here if they let their emotions and private matters interfere.

    ¡°Follow the Battle God!¡±

    ¡°Break through and open a path!¡±

    ¡°Right now, mankind¡¯s enemy is in front of us!!!¡±

    <em>[Their sword will protect you.]</em>

    Minhyuk increased his pace, his steps turning into a run.

    With cold sweat dripping down his forehead, Barbarian flew to the sky. A corps of hideous Named Monsters with ridiculous levels ranging from Level 750 to Level 800 blocked the path to him with a single wave of his finger.

    Helenia was just four hundred meters away. Everyone was on the same page right now. They would not hesitate, nor would they keep things hidden.

    As for the vassals of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, yes, they have all grown greatly during this year. However, the main reason they could hunt the werewolves in just a few seconds was that they had eaten all of Minhyuk¡¯s legendary and God-grade dishes.

    ¡°Absolute Pinnacle Spear.¡±

    <em>sh, sh, sh!!!</em>

    Overwhelmingly powerful spears shot out from the tip of Spear God Ben¡¯s spear and instantly decimated the Named Monsters blocking their path.

    Minhyuk did not hesitate to run.

    ¡°Heart Sword.¡±

    When something tried to block his path, a sword from deep within one¡¯s heart stretched out from the empty hands of the Sword God and ughtered thousands of monsters in front of them.

    ¡°Ah- aaaaaaah!!!¡± Someone shouted.

    ¡°Charge!!!¡±

    ¡°Follow the Battle God!¡±

    Everyone grabbed their weapons and charged at the Named Monsters. The scene of Minhyuk running at the forefront and the sea of monsters splitting in the middle, just like Moses¡¯ miracle, was an incredibly shocking sight.

    <em>Two hundred meters.</em>

    Helenia looked at Minhyuk incredulously.

    ¡°Wolf of Death.¡±

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    When hundreds of monsters tried to rip Minhyuk apart, hundreds of wolves jumped out and fought against them.

    ¡°D- don¡¯te here¡­¡±

    Helenia¡¯s eyes were filled with fear. At the same time, thousands of her powerful magic fell and attacked the people who had narrowed the distance between them. But every single one of them continued to move forward with the help of the God of Alchemy Mand¡¯s potions.

    One step¡­ two steps¡­ three steps¡­

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    ¡°Transcendence.¡±

    They gave it their all.

    <em>Rumble¨C!</em>

    The Intangible Sword, carrying an overwhelming energy, shot out and cut down all enemies in his path.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    The Continent Destroyer Sword devoured the monsters, standing inyers and protecting Helenia.

    ¡°Fly,¡± Helenia muttered as she flew to the sky with Minhyuk immediately running after her.

    <em>Stab¨C Stab, stab!</em>

    Disses appeared in the air and stabbed Minhyuk¡¯s body non-stop. But Minhyuk ignored the attacks as he triggered his own. The Sword of Frenzy¡¯s power slowly coated the de of his sword.

    ¡°Barrier,¡± Helenia said. Despite the fear on her face, obvious delight was coloring her eyes. She seemed confident that she would be safe as long as she was nestled within her red barrier.

    However, at that moment, a bright red light shed from the ring on Minhyuk¡¯s fingers. The skill ¡°The Breaker¡± activated, allowing him to pierce through her barrier.

    <em>Stab¨C!</em>

    The Sword of Frenzy lodged deeply into her chest and inflicted damage a dozen times upon her.

    <em>Stab¨C Stab, stab¨C!</em>

    ¡°Kya- kyaaaaaaaack!¡±

    The sight of the Immortal Sorceress, who put the entire world into terror just a year ago, screaming while blood spurted out of her chest, was shocking.

    In the case of a mage¡¯s magic, their casting would be nullified if they were attacked during the process.

    <em>Swoosh¨C!</em>

    The red barrier disappeared. The screaming Helenia was left astonished after looking around.

    ¡°Ah- aaaaaah¡­ No!!!¡±

    The fifteen or so Swords of the Gods wearing capes emzoned with the symbol of the Luvien Empire, along with the dozens of vassals of the Beyond the Heavens Empire led by Minhyuk, charged toward her, who was floating in the air.

    One of thementators cried out.

    <em>[Mankind is always moving forward.]</em>

    <em>[Wepletely differ from Helenia, who remained stagnant the entire year.]</em>

    <em>[Victory will be ours!]</em>

    The dozens of people who leaped toward Helenia did not hold anything back in their attacks.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    Bright energy gathered at the tip of the Spear God¡¯s spear as his newly created Spear God¡¯s Secret made its debut.

    ¡°God¡¯s Pinnacle Spear.¡±

    A powerful force erupted and went through Helenia.

    At that moment, Brod¡¯s sword, which was of immense power, cut her several times over.

    ¡°One second.¡± The boy, Sword God Conir, red coldly at Helenia. ¡°That¡¯s the time it would take for me to kill you.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¨C!</em>

    The sword in Conir¡¯s hands created hundreds of afterimages in just one second and tore Helenia¡¯s flesh apart.

    At the same time, sword lights shot out from the Great Luvien Empire¡¯s Swords of the Gods, constantly hacking and shing at Helenia.

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaack!!! Kyaaaaaaack!!!¡±

    Helenia¡¯s screams reverberated all over the world.

    ¡°He- Helenia¡­¡± Barbarian muttered, a look of bewilderment on his face.

    Helenia lost strength in the face of the power of humanity¡¯s strongest men. Thirty seconds. That was the time it took for them to send their attacks on her. They were exhausted from using their powers and energy in such a short time, but their faces were filled with joy.

    Helenia, who lost her Fly Magic''s support, slowly fell from the sky. When she was about to crash, Barbarian said, ¡°You should stop ying around now. Hoho.¡±

    ¡°How is it? Did I do good?¡±

    Helenia, who had lost one of her arms and was covered in blood, raised her head and shed a smile.

    <em>Shwaa¨C!</em>

    A red glow enveloped her body, and all of the wounds and injuries disappeared. Her appearance returned to the clean and neat one she had from the beginning.

    ¡°That was fun. How was it? You¡¯ve been tricked, you know? Hehe!¡± Helenia chuckled, a chilling smile lingering as she winked at Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk, whose expression had turned stiff, hurriedly tried to issue an order. He said, ¡°All of you¡­¡±

    It was a trap. At that moment, tens of thousands of what seemed to be tiny needles appeared all over Helenia¡¯s body. These tens of thousands of needles that sparkled under the sun were surprisingly one of the pinnacle magic a mage could cast. Yes. Those tiny needles were all Diss.

    ¡°Diss.¡±

    <em>Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoos¨C!</em>

    For a moment, Helenia looked like a hedgehog. But then, those needles shot out in an instant. The first spear of light lodged deep inside the head of one of the Swords of the Gods.

    <em>Spurt¨C!</em>

    Another one of the Swords of the Gods went to help hisrade, who fell helplessly on the ground.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab¨C!</em>

    Diss constantly fell upon them and brought them to their deaths. The Swords of the Gods fell helplessly on the ground after being pierced by the spears of light. Their bodies were not even left intact. With hundreds of spears of light falling upon them, their bodies could only be left in a tattered mess.

    ¡°Your- Your Majesty!!!¡± Spear God Ben shouted as he hurriedly hugged Minhyuk.

    Brod and the dozens of vassals that followed Minhyuk also surrounded him.

    ¡°Kyahahahahaha!¡± Helenia¡¯sughter echoed throughout the battlefield.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab¨C!</em>

    Just like that, the vassals who protected Minhyuk were stabbed by the Disses that Helenia shot out. They fell helplessly on the ground one after another.

    An impossible and terrifying notification rang for the entire world to hear.

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s Conir has died.]</em>

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s Gorfido has died.]</em>

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s Elpis has died.]</em>

    But Helenia remained ever so cruel and vicious despite the already mind-numbing notifications.

    ¡°Nope. I will all tear you apart until you die.¡±

    Helenia sent Wind Cutter along with Diss and tore Minhyuk¡¯s vassals apart until no trace of them was left.

    Minhyuk, who saw Brod endure the pain of his body being torn apart without a single scream, cried out, ¡°BROOOOD!!!¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty¡­ Your Majesty¡­¡±

    Brod¡¯s entire body was ripped apart. In the end, he also fell to the ground.

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s Brod has died.]</em>

    Ben, who was hugging Minhyuk tightly, smiled. He said, ¡°I have never learned how to back down.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaa¨C!</em>

    Hundreds of Diss and Wind Cutters tore apart Ben¡¯s back as he continued to hug Minhyuk tightly.

    ¡°Please¡­ run¡­¡±

    Despite the gaping wounds, Ben turned around and faced the attacksing his way head-on.

    ¡°NOOOOOOO!!!¡±

    Everyone could see Minhyuk¡¯s despair. Their dreams were all in vain. Killing Helenia was nothing but a pipe dream.

    Helenia cackled when she saw the despair on Minhyuk¡¯s face. As for the viewers? All of them were stunned to see the corpses of mankind¡¯s strongest men lying lifeless on the ground.

    ¡°So the Battle God only has nothing but an empty name.¡±

    Indeed. It was just like Helenia said. His title was nothing but an empty title. With a flick of Helenia¡¯s finger, Minhyuk''s head exploded, his eyes turning lifeless as he knelt down in despair.

    <em>BANG¨C!</em>

    After killing Minhyuk, Helenia looked at the rest of mankind in boredom.

    ¡°You already know it¡¯s dangerous. So, why did they use all of their energy to attack me like that without even caring about their rear? Still¡­¡± Helenia chuckled. ¡°All of you got tricked, huh? You got tricked! You got tricked!¡±

    Helenia walked past Minhyuk¡¯s lifeless body. Now that the variables had been removed, she had nothing to fear.

    But then, Barbarian, standing atop a dragon, saw a man with a ck skull floating in the sky. The man murmured something and snapped his fingers. Barbarian, who saw the man¡¯s lips move, thought, <em>¡®Regression?¡¯</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

    Before Barbarian could turn around and warn Helenia, all those who died returned to how they were before they were attacked. It all happened in just three seconds, so swiftly that one had to wonder if the fast-forward button had been pressed.

    Helenia, who was about to walk away gracefully, was startled by the tight and vicious grip that held her head.

    ¡°Huh¡­?¡±

    When Helenia¡¯s head was pulled over, she caught sight of everyone that she had killed just a few moments prior. All of them were back to normal. And they were all ready to bombard her with their skills.

    Minhyuk, holding onto her head, pped her on the cheek.

    <em>Thwack¨C!</em>

    The shock was evident on her face as her head swung to the side from the impact of the p.

    Minhyuk, with a cold and terrifying expression on his face, said, ¡°How was it? You¡¯ve been tricked, you know?¡±

 Chapter 1055

    Chapter 1055

    <strong>Chapter 1055</strong>

    There were only three Origin Authorities in existence worldwide. Such an authority''s power was undoubtedly cheat-like and overpowering. Minhyuk¡¯s God and Knight and its unimaginable power were testaments to this fact.

    Surprisingly enough, Crazy Tyrant Akhan obtained one of the remaining Origin Authorities. Perhaps he sessfully obtained such ridiculous power because he was once a key developer of Athenae.

    Of course, Minhyuk had never hidden his hatred of Akhan. Nevertheless, he stretched an olive branch and recruited the man because his value was more than enough.

    <em>¡®Twenty billion won per one activation!¡¯</em>

    Akhan felt delighted whenever he recalled the contents of the contract he had signed with Minhyuk.

    <em>[Regress]</em>

    <em>[You can send up to 100 people back to the state they were in 5 minutes ago.]</em><em>[The penalty you will receive will depend on the number of people.]</em>

    <em>[Your level has dropped by 7.]</em>

    It was a phenomenal power that could not be described by words alone. Even Akhan himself was shocked when he obtained this power.

    <em>¡®But in the end, I still got it.¡¯</em>

    Although it was a ridiculously shocking power, it was still not something that should be used indiscriminately. The moment one started to use this skill, they were bound to an irreversible path. This was because of the extremely high penalty, which was none other than level drops depending on the number of targets apanied by the skill''s use.

    Akhan was a ranker with a level beyond 650. A drop in level would be considered fatal for a yer like that. Either way, Akhan no longer has any lingering attachment to this game called Athenae.

    <em>¡®Using it in this ce with Minhyuk¡¯s condition makes it apletely different situation.¡¯</em>

    The penalty he would receive would depend on the number of people he used Regress on. The shocking part here was that those people''s level or power did not matter at all. Simply put, this battlefield, where the strongest gathered, was where this skill could shine the brightest.

    Regress was a skill that allowed the targets to experience regression. All their skills, and even the buffs they applied to them five minutes ago, would be avable again. The most shocking part of this skill was that there was no cooldown time.

    Akhan cackled wildly. ¡°Twenty billion won per activation!!!¡±

    <em>Bang!!!</em>

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk mmed Helenia¡¯s head on the ground repeatedly.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk was not a reckless fool.

    <em>¡®She is hailed as the Immortal Sorceress.¡¯</em>

    The fact that the word ¡°Immortal¡± was in her name meant that she was someone who did not die easily. That was why they had all expected that she would have the power that would allow her to recover all at once.

    <em>¡®We¡¯re immortals, too.¡¯</em>

    This was what Minhyuk had concluded.

    ¡°Ho- hoho¡­ It seems like we have been tricked.¡±

    Barbarian looked quite surprised.

    <em>¡®This is why it¡¯s dangerous for mankind to gather and band together.¡¯</em>

    The more diverse the humanity¡¯s strongest gathered, the more power and opportunities they would have.

    Once again, attacks poured onto Helenia.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¨C!</em>

    Then, her body, which waspletely covered in blood, started to twist strangely. When everyone turned to look at her, Golden Mage Ali appeared using Teleport.

    ¡°Mass Teleport.¡±

    Immediately after, he returned to his original position and brought everybody else along.

    <em>¡®As expected, it¡¯s not easy to kill Helenia. However, it¡¯s not as if our attacks aren¡¯t working.¡¯</em>

    Their odds of winning had increased considerably just by confirming this fact.

    Helenia, with her head bent backward, jumped to her feet.

    ¡°You¡­!¡±

    An overwhelming rage engulfed her, and this rage was directed at Minhyuk, who ran away at the perfect time. In her eyes, mankind was just a ything. She would kill them if she was bored and let them be if she did not find them fun!

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¨C!</em>

    Helenia held her head and turned it back to its original position. A red glow enveloped her body, and it was restored to its peak condition once again.

    She felt no guilt at crushing these insignificant bugs in front of her. In Helenia¡¯s view, the humans were nothing more than that.

    ¡°Eat shit, Helenia.¡±

    Helenia¡¯s face grew ugly. The beings that were bugs in her eyes dared to provoke her? Soon, her ugly expression morphed into a terrifyingly icy one.

    ¡°I almost fell for that provocation.¡±

    In a battle, the ones who lost their cool could not execute their powers properly. At this moment, Helenia realized, <em>¡®I¡¯m going to die if I continue ying around?¡¯</em>

    Barbarian, who was riding atop one of his monsters, asked, ¡°How is it? Is there anything I can help you with?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not yet time,¡± Helenia said, her figure disappearing from Minhyuk¡¯s eyes.

    She was already in the middle of the allied forces when she appeared again.

    <em>Crackle¨C!</em>

    At her fingertips, a fireball burned to life. The Fireball she cast was dozens of timesrger than the Fireballs cast by ordinary mages. Then, she stretched her hand out and shot hundreds of balls of fire.

    <em>Boom, boom, boom¨C!</em>

    Explosions erupted amidst the allied forces non-stop, sweeping thousands of troops in one fell swoop.

    <em>Rumble¨C!</em>

    It was immediately followed by an earth-shattering Earthquake that engulfed an entire area within a three-kilometer radius and buried all of the soldiers underneath.

    <em>Crackle¨C!</em>

    The weak mes in her hands produced hundreds of overwhelminglyrge Firestorms that reached the skies and wiped out the soldiers until no trace of them was left.

    Of course, Helenia was also being bombarded by intense attacks. However, the formidable and sturdy shield around her did not break despite the tens of thousands of attacks and protected her firmly.

    ¡°Did you know why I became the Pir of Magic?¡± Helenia smiled coldly.

    Perhaps the reason why she was given such a title was because of this.

    <em>Rumble¨C!</em>

    A small tower slowly emerged from the ground after she stabbed her staff on the ground.

    <em>[Helenia¡¯s Magic Tower is absorbing the mana of everyone who has perished.]</em>

    ¡°Because I am the only mage who can reach and go beyond the limits of magic.¡±

    ording to humans, the highest level that a mage had reached was the Ninth ss. As for Helenia, she had long transcended the Ninth ss. If one followed the ss standards, she was probably equivalent to the Thirteenth ss. And with the help of this magic tower, she could use a much higher level of magic.

    The magic tower sucked the blue mana from the dead and the dying troops.

    ¡°Destroy it!¡±

    ¡°We have to destroy it!¡±

    Powerful skills shot out and aimed at both Helenia and her magic tower.

    <em>Vwoooong¡­!</em>

    s, even those skills and magic attacks were devoured by the magic tower.

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[Someone is trying to use a Magic Across All Eras.]</em>

    While everyone was frozen, Minhyuk tried to use his ¡°Cmity¡± to stop Helenia from casting more magic.

    <em>Crackle¨C!</em>

    His sword stabbed straight through Helenia.

    ¡°...?¡±

    Usually, a mage¡¯s casting would fail if attacked during the process. Despite being attacked, Helenia¡¯s magic casting did not fail.

    Helenia, with the sword still in her heart, grinned at Minhyuk.

    <em>[Someone has activated a Magic Across All Eras.]</em>

    Helenia cackled as she watched the mes of Cmity fall from the sky.

    ¡°You came.¡±

    Helenia smiled in delight.

    In the sky above them, a spear engulfed with zing white mes could be seen falling. It looked quite simr to the Diss she and Ali had used before, but its power was iparable to ordinary ones. In the past, 20% of mankind was killed by this power alone. A bright and blinding light erupted from the falling spear.

    <em>Beeeeeeeeeep¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s ears rang as his vision turned white. It was as if a sh bomb had erupted before him. Every time he blinked, a white light would always appear alongside the falling spear.

    In the end, the spear fell among the allied forces.

    <em>Boom!!!</em>

    A bright light spread around and wiped out most of the allied forces. It looked like a nuclear bomb had fallen.

    <em>[The Allied Forces have lost 14.6 million troops!]</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    Minhyuk was rendered speechless. Fortunately, most of the Beyond the Heavens Empire''s vassals and troops were able to escape the skill¡¯s area of effect. However, the fact that a single magical attack could kill more than 10 million troops would remain.

    <em>¡®This is not even at the level of the Eight Pirs¡¯ Disaster¡­¡¯</em>

    It was unbelievable that a power that was not even at the level of a Disaster could cause this much damage.

    Minhyuk turned to look at Helenia¡¯s magic tower. He thought, <em>¡®I have to destroy that magic tower!¡¯</em>

    He was again speechless when he looked closely at the magic tower.

    <em>[Helenia¡¯s Magic Tower. Durability: 9,613,000. Defensive Power: 54,300.]</em>

    <em>¡®This is crazy¡­¡¯</em>

    Even if all of the vassals of the Beyond the Heavens Empires, the rankers, and the rest of the troops used their one-shot kill skills, lethal skills, and most powerful abilities, with the magic tower¡¯s level of durability and defensive power, they would still not be able to break it and make it fall.

    <em>¡®As long as that magic tower stands, Helenia can continue to cast magic at that level.¡¯</em>

    Why was Helenia able to kill many humans in such a short period? This question finally had an answer.

    <em>¡®That magic tower can continuously absorb the mana of the ones Helenia had killed. This allows her to use that mana to summon that spear constantly.¡¯</em>

    <em>Flinch¨C</em>

    Goosebumps rose all over Minhyuk¡¯s body. Nheless, it was not yet over. Spears engulfed in white mes appeared one after another in the sky above them and fell with a sh of light.

    Once again, Minhyuk¡¯s vision turned white and the white light ovepped with the falling spears. When the ringing of his ears disappeared, eighth spears were already nearing the ground.

    <em>¡®Akhan¡¯s there too.¡¯</em>

    Yes, Akhan was also within the skill''s range. Of course, Akhan had the power to protect himself. In response, Helenia summoned gigantic vines and wrapped them around Akhan to stop him from trying to escape her spears.

    When the spears were only fifty meters away from the ground, Minhyuk thought of someone. That man had also prepared to the utmost of his ability for this fight against Helenia.

    ¡°How is it? How do you feel about witnessing a Magic Across All Eras for the first time?¡± Helenia cackled.

    Then, another notification rang all over the world.

    <em>[Someone is trying to use a Magic Across All Eras.]</em>

    At that moment, Minhyuk saw a man floating above him.

    Using magic against Helenia was useless. But did that mean the mages should only twist their fingers regretfully? No. The best mages of the Luvien Empire, the great mages, and the mages from Level 600 and above from all over the world gathered around Ali.

    True, they could not win against Helenia using magic. However¡­

    ¨C<em>It will be different if you gather all of your mana in one person.</em>

    This was what Ali had told him.

    ¨C<em>Envious of Helenia¡¯s Magic Tower, the God of Magic turned to Dark Magic.</em>

    <em>¨CThis Dark Magic can allow one to gather the mana of all of the mages around them and can allow one to go beyond the limits. I recently acquired this skill.</em>

    <em>¨COf course, one has to pay the price.</em>

    Minhyuk looked at Ali in confusion. Back then, Ali smiled faintly and said.

    -<em>I will be deprived of the God of Magic¡¯s seat. Of course, this only applies if I use dark magic.</em>

    Minhyuk did not want to ept such a sacrifice. Ali just chuckled.

    ¨C<em>It¡¯s okay. If I ever use it, then I¡­</em>

    Minhyuk stared at Ali floating in the sky above them. His usual golden hair looked different. His hair, fluttering from the influx of mana, had turned white and long.

    Ali looked down at Minhyuk with a small smile before looking above the sky.

    <em>[The Magic Across All Eras has been activated.]</em>

    Ali gracefully stretched out his hand above him. This magic was thest form of Ali¡¯s unique skill, Compression.

    <em>Ping¨C!</em>

    Eight spears covered with white mes gathered above Ali¡¯s palm. Then, Ali grabbed the eight spears and threw them down.

    <em>Fwoosh¨C!</em>

    Seven spears covered with white mes shot straight toward Helenia¡¯s magic tower. The mages, who had already prepared to evacuate all of the troops in the vicinity of the magic tower, used Mass Teleport at the same time.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    A powerful force erupted and brought down the magic tower. At the same time, the remaining spear fell upon Helenia.

    ¡°W- what¡­?!¡±

    Despite the notifications ringing in Ali¡¯s ears, there was a smile on his face as he looked at the flustered Helenia.

    <em>[You have used dark magic and tarnished the proud name of the God of Magic.]</em>

    <em>[You are now deprived of the seat of the God of Magic.]</em>

    <em>[All special privileges you have received as the God of Magic will disappear.]</em>

    <em>BOOM!!!</em>

    The final spear, covered with white mes, stabbed through Helenia.

    Minhyuk gulped dryly as he recalled Ali¡¯s words.

    ¨C<em>It¡¯s fine. If I ever use then¡­</em>

    <em>¨CI¡¯ll just be one of the Eight Pirs, the Immortal Sorcerer.</em>

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    An earth-shattering explosion shook the entire world.

 Chapter 1056

    Chapter 1056

    <strong>Chapter 1056</strong>

    The Spear of White mes magic, created and manifested through the power of Helenia¡¯s Magic Tower, wiped away more than ten million of the allied forces in just one go. All the viewers froze when they caught sight of eight Spears of White mes appearing and falling from the sky.

    At that moment, another notification resonated all over the world. It was another message signaling the advent of Magic Across All Eras. Then, Ali, floating above them, used Compress and gathered all of the Spears of White mes in his hands. With the Spears of White mes in hand, Ali grabbed seven and threw them toward the magic tower. As for the remaining one, it was sent toward Helenia.

    The people witnessed the high durability and defensive power of the magic tower.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    Then, with each hit of the seven Spears of White mes, a huge crack appeared on the tower''s walls.

    <em>Rumble¨C!</em>

    When the seventh spear fell upon Helenia¡¯s Magic Tower, its walls began to crumble and fall apart.Even though Helenia had witnessed it with her own eyes, she still could not believe it. Whether it was in the past, the present, or the future, she was convinced that no mage in the world could surpass her.

    ¡°W- what¡­!¡±

    What was more shocking was that the eighth and final Spear of White mes was falling upon her.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    A bright light shed the moment the spear made contact with her body.

    At the same time, Ali¡¯s white hair changed. Everyone thought it would return to its golden splendor, proving he was the ¡°God of Magic.¡± To their surprise, Ali¡¯s hair turned ck.

    Then, another set of notifications rang in the world.

    <em>[The God of Magic has used dark magic.]</em>

    <em>[The God of Magic has been deprived of his position as the God of Magic for breaking the taboo.]</em>

    The entire world was left in shock. Even so, Ali still smiled as he looked at Minhyuk. Of course, Minhyuk was broadcasting live in cooperation with Apel, so everyone could see Ali¡¯s smile through his eyes.

    <em>¡®Of course, I know.¡¯</em>

    As Ali said, he might be the Eight Pir Immortal Sorcerer if they won this war. The problem was that it was just an assumption, and there was only a slight possibility of that ever happening. Even right now, they did not have any certainty that they would win. Minhyuk knew that Ali had sacrificed for them.

    Meanwhile, everyone was left in shock. They did not expect the magic tower to be broken, even if Ali had made that sacrifice.

    ¡°I will be the Immortal Sorcerer<em>¨C</em>¡± Ali tried to make a deration to the world.

    <em>Stab¨C</em>

    At that moment, a light spear shot from a distance and stabbed Ali straight through the heart.

    ¡°If you kill me, then you might have the chance. So, did you give up your position as the God of Magic for that?¡± Helenia scoffed.

    Everyone in the world understood that Ali had a new dream after his sacrifice.

    ¡°Did you even think for once that it¡¯s possible? Do you think that you can kill me?!¡±

    Dozens of Disses stabbed through Ali. Ali¡¯s body, which was riddled with gaping wounds and was falling helplessly on the ground, seemed to tell people that, in the end, no one would be able to stop Helenia.

    Despite the situation that he was in, Ali spoke with conviction. ¡°We will win.¡±

    <em>Swoosh¨C</em>

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s Ali has died.]</em>

    Ali turned to ashes and disappeared with the wind. Right after that, a light shed, and a figure appeared above Helenia.

    He was first called as ck Mage Ali. And just like his name back then, his ck hair fluttered with the wind.

    ¡°Frieeeeeeeend!!!¡± Ali cried out.

    Meanwhile, the entire world was left in confusion. They certainly saw Ali being forced to log out just a few moments prior. However, with a sh of light, he appeared once again. This was because of the rare potion created by the God of Alchemy Mand.

    With Apel¡¯s sponsorship backing them, the Beyond the Heavens Empire brought the most valuable and useful items. One of those materials was the ¡°Repeating Sprig.¡±

    The Repeating Sprig deleted the time one could not ess the game after a forced logout. In exchange, one received twice the penalty that they would usually receive.

    Thanks to the excellent manufacturing skill of God of Alchemy Mand, the double penalty has been changed. Instead, the penalty would increase from 1.3x to 1.6x to 1.9x, and so on.

    Even so, Minhyuk still said.

    ¨C<em>If possible, don¡¯t use it.</em>

    Getting 1.3x the usual penalty, with the penalty increasing the more one used the potion, was just too much. Besides, even if they came back to life right away, Minhyuk knew that there was a high chance that they would just be targeted once again, which meant that they would continue to die. This was the reason why he told everyone not to use it as much as possible.

    But this game meant the world to Ali.

    All of Ali¡¯s magic from when he was the God of Magic had disappeared. Thankfully, the dark magic ck Drain did not disappear. The mages, who had started preparing immediately, sent their mana at him again.

    <em>Rumble¨C!</em>

    The other mages¡¯ mana drastically reduced the casting time. In addition, a gigantic meteor that he couldn¡¯t normally create appeared.

    <em>[Great Meteor.]</em>

    Several meteors seven times bigger than ordinary meteors andparable to Helenia¡¯s own meteors appeared and fell among the monster corps.

    Helenia¡¯s red shield bloomed above the monsters and stopped most of the explosions to protect the monsters.

    Sitting back and watching the situation, Barbarian hurriedly opened an unknown. The monsters rushed inside the, but the meteor''s fall speed was much faster than their speed at running to refuge. Furthermore, Barbarian was also forced to enter the radius of effect because he spread that.

    <em>BANG!!!</em>

    The fall of the Great Meteors, a skill that had never been seen before in Athenae, shook the entire world and made everything and everyone stop in their tracks.

    <em>Stab¨C Stab, stab¨C!</em>

    In this frozen world, Ali died once again.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    Then, another light shed. Most of the mages had already depleted their mana. It was now impossible for them to use any more magic.

    ¡°Fire wall. Fire wall. Fire wall. Fire wall. Fire wall.¡±

    <em>Crackle¨C!</em>

    A massive wall of fire zed into existence and burned the running monsters.

    When the Great Meteor hit Barbarian, he fell to the ground and could only groan. Because of this, he failed to reopen the and help the monsters escape.

    <em>Stab¨C Stab, stab¨C!</em>

    During that time, Ali continued to receive the baptism of Helenia¡¯s attacks. Ali could not kill Helenia because he could not pierce through the barrier that was protecting her. So, he died and came back with a sh of light¡ªover and over again. He became the most brilliant light in the world.

    ¡°A- Ali, enough!!!¡± Minhyuk shouted.

    By now, his penalty would have been more than three times, which meant that his level must have dropped by at least twenty.

    s, Ali just shouted in response, ¡°FRIEEEEEEEND!!!¡±

    The troops of the allied forces could only gulp dryly as they watched him cry desperately.

    Duke Laghman, who was serving as themander of the Luvien Imperial Army, supported Prince Cardin for the longest time. In recognition of his work in protecting the current emperor of the Luvien Empire, he rose to the position of duke.

    Duke Laghman shook his head. ¡°The number of monsters killed by that mage¡¯s attack is around ten million.¡±

    This was mostly because Barbarian hid them under an unknown. Since most of the monsters were now hidden, most of Ali¡¯s attacks fell on Helenia. Ali was constantly sending attacks and dying repeatedly.

    ¡°That¡¯s ridiculous.¡±

    ¡°No. He¡¯s wise, astonishing, and very admirable.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡± Duke Laghman asked as he turned to look at the previous emperor, Nerva.

    Nerva participated in this war with him because he judged that Emperor Cardin was still too inexperienced to participate in it himself.

    Laghman looked at Nerva in confusion.

    ¡°Great Mage Ali is a foreigner. He had used something that allowed him to experience these repeated deaths. For foreigners, one has to have a burning will to do so. Of course, Ali is not the only one who has that item. There should be a considerable number of them. With his noble and sublime sacrifice, they would also give their all in this fight.¡±

    Even so, Laghman still could not understand.

    ¡°The ones you should fear the most are those who have nothing to lose.¡± Nerva looked around. Those who have nothing to lose can do anything.

    So, what about those who have a lot to lose?

    ¡°One is bound to lose a lot of things. But, what if¡­¡±

    Nerva looked at the left arms marked with the symbol <strong>X</strong> rising above the allied forces. Those arms belonged mostly to the foreigners.

    ¡°What if those with a lot to lose decided to do anything and everything?¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Not long after, Laghman saw the unknown left arms marked with the symbol <strong>X</strong>. More than a hundred million of those arms were lifted high up in the sky. Some of them lifted their arms just because the others lifted theirs.

    <em>¡®Ali is doing this for Athenae.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®If we lose this war, then Athenae will be doomed!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I can¡¯t lose this game.¡¯</em>

    Most of the yers decided to give their all and fight for everything. Ali looked at them with a faint smile on his face. Then, Minhyuk saw something.

    <em>[Guild Member Ali¡¯s level has dropped below Level 600.]</em>

    If there were sudden and significant changes in the levels of the guild members, a notification would be sent to the guild leader, Minhyuk.

    Ali, who had recently gone beyond Level 650, had suffered a significant drop in levels. With his level below Level 600, his magic could no longer reach Helenia. Now that he realized that he had already ignited the will of all the yers present, he realized that whatever he would do next would be meaningless. So, he logged outpletely.

    Now, there was another problem.

    ¡°These bastards, really¡­¡±

    The old man, Barbarian, who copsed after being hit directly by the Great Meteor, stood up and stared at the allied forces with ugly expressions on their faces. Barbarian had yet to show them the cards up his sleeves. He was deliberately sitting on the sidelines and watching the entire situation.

    <em>¡®They have a stronger will to protect their world than I thought.¡¯</em>

    For someone like Barbarian, who had lived a long time, he knew it was necessary to break that will.

    No matter how brilliant and powerful Helenia was, her magic tower was still destroyed.

    <em>¡®From what I know, her magic tower can only be created after using 70% of her mana.¡¯</em>

    And it was also thanks to that mana that she could recover her injuries. Things would be different if Helenia went into battle without recovering her mana.

    <em>¡®It will be dangerous for her.¡¯</em>

    Helenia was an essential piece in Barbarian¡¯s quest to kill Athenae.

    As for Helenia? She was also aware of the situation and hid behind her barrier to restore as much mana as possible.

    The quick-witted Minhyuk noticed that this was a rare opportunity. If they took this opportunity, then they might just be able to kill Helenia. He quickly looked around. There, he saw Alexander, the Level 650 yers, and the Beyond the Heavens Empire executives. They were all holding a bottle of potion in their hands.

    ¡°<em>Ha¡­</em>¡±

    ¡°Why are you sighing while holding that potion?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going to drink it.¡±

    From the beginning, Minhyuk nned to drink the same potion Ali took. No matter how hard he thought about it, he could not think of a way to beat Helenia without drinking this potion.

    However, the other yers wanted to avoid taking potions as much as possible.

    <em>¡®Akhan¡¯s Regression will not give us any penalties.¡¯</em>

    However, the Origin Authority Regression in Akhan¡¯s hands was reserved for the NPCs.

    Just when Minhyuk and the other yers were about to drink the potions¡­

    <em>[The Monster Net has been released.]</em>

    <em>[Everyone¡¯s time will slow down, while Barbarian and the monsters¡¯ time will remain the same.]</em>

    <em>[The duration of the skill is five seconds.]</em>

    Minhyuk saw the other rankers, who were about to drink the potions in their hands, move as if in slow motion. Of course, the same was true for him. On the contrary, Barbarian and his monsters were moving swiftly because they maintained their original speed.

    Minhyuk caught sight of Barbarian raising his arm and spreading the in his hand like a fisherman. Just like that, Barbarian¡¯s spread in the air above them. At that moment, the tens of millions of monsters hiding underneath the poured out and charged toward the allied forces.

    <em>Crack¨C!</em>

    That was the sound of Locke, who was right next to him, being crushed by one of the monsters. And not far from them, Alexander and the yers, who could not drink the potions, were all torn apart by the monsters¡¯ teeth.

    <em>[2 seconds.]</em>

    Many yers died, with the yers stuck in slow motion and the monsters moving at their original speed.

    <em>[1 second.]</em>

    ¡°A- aaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Q- quick! Drink the potion!¡±

    ¡°If you don¡¯t drink the potion and die now, then you will not be able to revive right away!¡±

    Pandemonium unfolded in front of Minhyuk, and tens of millions of monsters fell among the allied forces. It was far too much for them to handle.

    Minhyuk hurriedly tried to drink the potion. Just when he was about to drink, a notification that shouldn¡¯t have rung¨Cno, perhaps it was only natural¨Crang in his ears.

    <em>[The capsule has detected that the yer is in a bad condition.]</em>

    <em>[Please log out right away.]</em>

    <em>[The capsule has detected¡­]</em>

    Minhyuk gritted his teeth. Indeed, he was in desperate need of rest even before Beradon¡¯s death. This was because he had been ying games for a very long time, reducing his sleep greatly. In addition, with the death of Old Man Beradon, he was ovee with hatred and had chosen to ignore the signs. He even went so far as to spend a few more days preparing for the fight against Helenia without taking much rest.

    <em>¡®N- no¡­!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s vision started to spin. This was apletely different phenomenon from being attacked mentally in the game. He shook his head and tried to hang in there.

    <em>Thud¨C</em>

    In the end, Minhyuk lost consciousness.

    <em>[You will be forced to log out.]</em>

    <em>[The capsule has detected that the yer is in danger. rm bells will ring.]</em>

    <em>Beep! Beep! Beep!</em>

    A deafening sound rang in Minhyuk¡¯s hazy consciousness.

 Chapter 1057

    Chapter 1057

    <strong>Chapter 1057</strong>

    Tens of millions of monsters poured out from the that Lord of the Monsters Barbarian spread out. The worst part? The yers¡¯ time slowed down while the monsters remained unaffected. Because of this, chaos befell the entire battlefield.

    At that time, the yers tried to drink the same potion Ali had drunk earlier. It was a potion that the Beyond the Heavens had given them. But in the end, they couldn¡¯t drink a single drop of the potion. They ended up being forced to log out before they could do so.

    <em>[What¡¯s that? It can hold tens of millions of monsters?]</em>

    <em>[Seeing the get thrown out like that and the monsters pouring out all at once looks intimidating.]</em>

    <em>[Before this, didn¡¯t he use the to hide and protect the monsters?]</em>

    The viewers were watching the entire situation from Minhyuk¡¯s perspective. They thought that Minhyuk would lead the troops of the allied forces, who were stuck in a slower time, once they returned to normal. Suddenly, a noise resounded on the viewers'' screens.

    <em>Bzzt, bzzt, bzzt¨C</em><em>[The broadcast has ended.]</em>

    While the people wondered what happened and where Minhyuk had disappeared, the battlefield was thrown into chaos once again.

    ¡°What the hell?!¡±

    ¡°Where did Minhyuk go?!¡±

    ¡°Heok!!!¡±

    Everyone was left puzzled. The number of casualties of the allied forces increased from the monsters pouring down on them from the sky. At that moment, two men stepped forward.

    One of them was Alexander. Alexander said, ¡°I willmand the yers while Minhyuk is away!¡±

    As for the other man, he might have lost one of his arms, but his momentum as he stood there was overwhelming and frightening. The man was none other than Nerva, the former emperor of the Luvien Empire.

    <em>¡®Where the hell did he go?¡¯</em>

    Everyone present could not understand why Minhyuk suddenly disappeared.

    ***

    Minhyuk¡¯s mansion.

    <em>Beep! Beep! Beep!</em>

    A loud rm red from within the capsule. Lee Jinhwan, who was in charge of Minhyuk, and Oh Changwook, who also participated in this war, immediately logged out and ran to see what was going on with Minhyuk,

    <em>Fwiiiiiish¨C</em>

    Minhyuk, was still inside the opened capsule, drenched in cold sweat and unconscious.

    ¡°Minhyuk!¡±

    ¡°Minhyuk!¡± Lee Jinhwan shouted as he checked Minhyuk¡¯s condition.

    <em>¡®I think it¡¯s correct to say he has fallen asleep.¡¯</em>

    This was what Lee Jinhwan concluded. However, although no specific abnormalities were found in his body, Minhyuk had been in a precarious state these past few days.

    <em>¡®Every since the death of the man named Beradon, Minhyuk had been pressing down on his fatigue and was only being fueled by his anger and responsibility.¡¯</em>

    He had also been on a fierce battlefield until a few moments ago. Basically, Minhyuk has been in a repeated cycle of tension and rxation. The stress, pressure, and fatigue all piled up and resulted in this.

    ¡°He¡¯ll be fine after a bit of rest.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? That¡¯s a relief.¡± Oh Changwook breathed a sigh of relief. Still, he could not hide the concern on his face as he nced at the TV. ¡°Then, he can log back in¡­¡±

    ¡°Changwook.¡± Jinhwan¡¯s voice was tinted with anger. ¡°What is more important in this situation? The game?¡±

    Of course, Jinhwan was correct a hundred or even a thousand times over. Changwook said, ¡°For Minhyuk, Athenae is a second world.¡±

    ¡°Hmph¡­¡±

    It was not as if Jinhwan did not know what Changwook was worried about. Regardless, they could not wake him up just like that.

    ¡°Once he wakes up, we should check his condition and status before allowing him to log back in.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know when that will be, right?¡±

    It was a given that Jinhwan did not know either. This was because Minhyuk¡¯s fatigue had umted. In such a situation, it wouldn¡¯t be strange for him to sleep for two full days.

    Changwook put Minhyuk on the bed. He could not help but worry as he organized his now disheveled hair and listened to thementators'' loud and excited voices.

    <em>[More than ten million yers have been logged out already.]</em>

    <em>[Monsters are running all over the ce¡­]</em>

    Changwook turned off the TV. Why? Because he wanted Minhyuk to be at least a bit morefortable in his sleep.

    ***

    <em>[Barbarian¡¯s Blessings.]</em>

    <em>[Monsters who received Barbarian¡¯s Blessings will forget their fear and run wild!]</em>

    The reason why the Named Monsters were very tricky to deal with was because their attack power, defensive power, and HP were much higher than ordinary monsters at the same level. That was not all. High-level monsters also possessed their regenerative abilities.

    This was why yers could solo ordinary monsters at the same level as them, while they could only create a team of five to hunt a single Named Monster at their level.

    The problem with the monsters under Barbarian¡¯smand was that they weren¡¯t only Named Monsters but also 40% stronger than normal. The worst part? The Named Monsters also possessed ¡°special characteristics,¡± abilities simr to a yer¡¯s one-shot kill skill.

    These monsters constantly reduced the number of troops in the allied forces. That did not mean the allied forces were the only ones suffering.

    ¡°Keep on pushing them back! Duke Laghman and the Swords of the Gods would reduce the stronger monsters as much as possible!¡±

    Although it might sound a bit too bitter, the ordinary soldiers and knights still moved to prevent the enemies¡¯ attacks, while the stronger ones, like the Swords of the Gods, would attack the Named Monsters and reduce their numbers as much as possible. The yers also used the same tactic.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    Blood spurted and covered Alexander¡¯s body as he moved past the monster that he and the other Level 650 yers attacked.

    <em>¡®Four hundred seventy-six.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Four hundred seventy-seven.¡¯</em>

    Alexander, who counted the number of monsters he had hunted, looked around. He could see the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ world-renowned high-rankers and outstanding vassals moving swiftly to attack and reduce the number of Named Monsters.

    <em>¡®If this war turns into a war of attrition, it will be in our favor.¡¯</em>

    Why did Alexander think so? This was because the yers could log back in again once the ess penalty was lifted.

    Just like that, the allied forces, which the enemies were pushing back, continued to engage in this fierce and tense battle.

    ¡°Hohoho.¡± Barbarian chuckled.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s a lot of strong humans here.¡¯</em>

    Barbarian was surprised.

    Most of the strongmen he had seen carried the symbol of a fork and knife crossed together. Of course, there were many strongmen carrying the symbol of the Luvien Empire, too, though the ones who posed a real threat to them were those carrying that symbol. The most prominent among them was the man resembling a wolf and an old man with ck glossy hair,pletely different from Barbarian.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m so jealous¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>Ah. </em>That was not the point. Barbarian, who had been staring at the old man¡¯s ck hair as if he were possessed, felt that these two were truly very threatening. Of course, he was also very curious about the extent of their powers.

    ¡°Kyaaaaaack!!!¡±

    ¡°Kihyeeeeeeeck!!!¡±

    ¡°Kihiiiiik!¡±

    With one wave of Barbarian¡¯s finger, the Named Monsters gathered around Brod, who looked like a wolf, and Ben.

    Barbarian watched as Brod and Ben stood back to back and faced against his gigantic centipede.

    <em>[Hell Centipede. Level 875.]</em>

    The centipede was a tricky opponent. Not only did it emit poison that could melt everything, but its thick carapace was also impossible to break.

    <em>Crack¨C!</em>

    Brod easily tore apart the centipede. Immediately after that, he jumped out and began to ughter the Named Monstersing their way.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    With every swing of his sword, a Named Monster would copse helplessly. As for the old man behind him? Spear God Ben was fending off the Named Monsters with his skillful spearmanship.

    <em>¡®Ho. That¡¯s marvelous.¡¯ </em>

    Barbarian was in awe.

    <em>¡®We have to remove them. They spell danger. And they have the Origin Authority on their side.¡¯</em>

    The man named Akhan obtained an extraordinary power. They couldn''t attack him. Of course, Barbarian also wondered if the Origin Authority: Regress could be activated at any given moment.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s impossible. Hoho.¡¯</em>

    It was just an assumption. Barbarian could not help but wonder if there was some kind of restriction, like activating it for at least ten minutes after one¡¯s death. What if there was actually a time limit like that?

    <em>¡®Then, it¡¯s possible to kill them. Hoho.¡¯</em>

    Barbarian, convinced that he should kill the man who looked like a wolf, finally found a way.

    <em>¡®There is a way!¡¯</em>

    One strong man was equivalent to a million troops. That was exactly the type of strong man the wolf-like man was. Although he felt the trick he had in mind was a waste, he still threw his once again.

    Those who had experienced the power of the immediately moved the moment they saw the spread out. And Brod? He immediately sensed the danger when he saw the stretch toward where they were and immediately pushed Ben away.

    ¡°You¡­!¡±

    Ben, sent flying away, managed to escape the encroaching.

    Not long after, the vast sucked in the monsters within the range of the and the scattered monsters in the vicinity.

    <em>[Monster Field.]</em>

    <em>[Those dragged into the along with the monsters will not be able to receive any help from the outside.]</em>

    <em>[The moment the Monster Field is activated, any attacks from the outside cannot reach the monsters.]</em>

    <em>[On the other hand, if a non-monster is sucked inside the Monster Field, their HP, MP, and skill cooldown will all be restored every four minutes.]</em>

    <em>[Monster Field can be activated for a total of twelve minutes. It can be canceled whenever the caster wants it to be.]</em>

    <em>Shwaa¨C</em>

    Barbarian, who watched the monsters, yers, and NPCs pour out of the spread-out,ughed.

    <em>¡®This power is not made for this purpose.¡¯</em>

    It was a power originally meant to train humanoid-type monsters. If humanoid-type monsters could stay inside the for more than four minutes, their injuries, mana, and skill cooldown would recover. But it was a very suitable power to kill wolf-like men while stopping any interference from the outside.

    ¡°We can¡¯t attack?¡±

    ¡°This is crazy¡­!¡±

    ¡°What the hell is this?!¡±

    ¡°Heok! Sir Brod! Sir Brod is in there!¡±

    The Beyond the Heavens Empire also realized the direness of the situation.

    Genie hurriedly called Akhan and asked, ¡°Akhan, can you use Regress?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t.¡±

    When they heard that, the faces of all the people from Beyond the Heavens Empire grew ugly.

    ¡°What about after the effects of the Monster Field disappear? What about after twelve minutes¡­?¡± Genie asked, desperately hoping for a positive answer.

    Akhan shook his head. ¡°Regress has to be triggered within five minutes of the target¡¯s death.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Genie fell into despair.

    ¡°No matter how strong Sir Brod is¡­¡±

    Genie¡¯s expression grew solemn. Yes, some pretty strong rankers were caught in the, too. The problem was that the attacks would definitely be focused solely on Brod.

    ¡°Even if it¡¯s Sir Brod, there¡¯s no way he could endure the attacks of tens of millions of monsters all at once.¡±

    Genie felt her vision grow dark.

    Meanwhile, Barbarian cackled. ¡°Hohoho. You must be the current era¡¯s strongest men, huh?¡±

    Seeing Barbarian, who had already lost a few teeth, grin and cackle as if he was enjoying the situation was quite grotesque. Yet none of them could deny his words. After all, Brod was sitting proudly in the number one position of the most outstanding and strongest NPC selected by yers in Athenae.

    ¡°No matter how strong you are, dealing with all these monsters alone will be tough. Hohohoho!¡±

    Brod¡¯s face grew ugly at Barbarian¡¯sughter, which was increasingly getting stranger and louder. This was because Barbarian, who only had a few yellowed teeth left, looked very dirty and disgusting.

    Brod frowned and said, ¡°That p of yours is disgusting¡­¡±

    ¡°Shut it.¡±

    Someone else finished Brod¡¯s words.

    ¡°...?¡±

    Everyone turned to look in the direction the voice came from. Amidst the monsters, NPCs, and yers thrown inside the, a man with only his right arm left appeared. The man had his sword slung on his shoulder. The moment he appeared, amotion broke out among the allied forces.

    ¡°Th- this is crazy¡­!¡±

    ¡°I never expected to see this pair together in my entire life¡­¡±

    Everyone sighed as they watched the man stand right next to Brod.

    Until recently, this man stood in the number one position of the strongest NPC, as selected by yers. However, he lost an arm and willingly left the emperor¡¯s throne. Because of that, he was pushed down to second ce.

    The man, Nerva, tightened his grip on his sword and drew a line that divided the area within the. Then he said, ¡°Don¡¯t you dare cross this line, Brod?¡±

    ¡°Nerva¡­¡± Brod gritted his teeth. He loathed this man. Nheless, this was not the time to argue and deal with him. ¡°You should say that to yourself. Don¡¯t cross that line. I¡¯ll kill ten million of them on my own.¡±

    ¡°Then, I¡¯ll kill fifteen million.¡±

    The two growled at each other. Then, both Nerva and Brod turned toward the monsters.

    The viewers and the allied forces'' troops watched the backs of the two most outstanding NPCs of the current era as they charged toward the monsters.

 Chapter 1058

    Chapter 1058

    Some people said that if Nerva, who was once the emperor of the Luvien Empire, and Brod, who harbored deep hatred and resentment toward him, worked together, then they would be able to exert power so strong that they wouldn¡¯t even be afraid of the Eight Pirs.

    Brod was just that strong. He had always created a breakthrough using his strength alone whenever the Beyond the Heavens Empire needed him, and was considered the strongest man of the current era.

    And there was also Nerva, the previous empire of thergest empire in Athenae.

    The two were beings that could never mix, just like oil and water. However, this inevitable situation brought them together.

    Lord of the Monsters Barbarian frowned. <em>¡®Who¡¯s that one-armed guy?¡¯</em>

    As someone who had been hiding behind the shadows for a very long time, Barbarian did not know much about the Luvien Empire. And because the one-armed man did not show any specialbat moves during the battle, he did not catch his interest. That was why he was left dumbfounded when he heard the man say he would kill fifteen million monsters alone.

    <em>¡®My monsters? Hoho!¡¯</em>

    Barbarian found it highly ridiculous. The Named Monsters that he created had an average level of Level 860.

    Dozens of these Named Monsters stepped forward, casting their unique characteristics toward the one-armed man. Each of their characteristics was different. Some left their victims stunned, some induced panic, and some gnawed at HP. ¡°...?¡±

    Barbarian blinked nkly at the scene in front of him.

    <em>¡®Nothing is working on him? W- what the hell is happening?¡¯</em>

    The monsters¡¯ special characteristics did not damage Nerva at all. Why? The reason lied in the authority that Nerva had obtained during his time as the emperor of the Luvien Empire and as a candidate for the Battle God¡¯s descendant.

    Nerva possessed various authorities and powers during his time as the emperor of the Luvien Empire, including the authority of ¡°The Absolute One.¡± Although he had stepped down from the throne, he was not stripped of this power.

    It was in the face of this power that the monsters¡¯ special characteristics could not reach and do anything to him at all.

    ¡°Ki- kihyeeeeeeck?!¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaack!!!¡±

    ¡°Kyaaaack!!!¡±

    The monsters took a step back.

    If Brod was a wolf, then Nerva was a hawk. The monsters felt fear when they saw his hawk-like eyes ring at them as he scanned his surroundings.

    <em>Boom¨C</em>

    Then, Nerva triggered his skill, ¡°In the Presence of the Emperor.¡± The moment it got triggered, an overwhelming pressure began to weigh down on the monsters.

    <em>Thud¨C!</em>

    <em>Thud, thud, thud!</em>

    <em>Thud, thud¨C!</em>

    The monsters were forced to kneel one after another. Some of them tried to resist, but they still ended up kneeling and worshiping the man who released the overwhelming power.

    ¡°...!¡±

    Barbarian was left dumbfounded. The image of over ten million monsters shaking on their knees as they knelt before the one-armed man was genuinely shocking. This was worship. The worship and praise given to the most extraordinary absolute being!

    ¡°B- bastard!¡±

    Barbarian was entirely determined to kill Brod. However, his entire n had gone awry. Maybe this man was just an actor who had learned a lot of misceneous skills. After all, some people like that did not have a strong force but could make their enemies retreat with their misceneous skills and great acting.

    ¡°Stand up!!!¡± Barbarian shouted, his fingers pointing up as he forced his monsters to stand up.

    The three-headed lion stood up in front of everyone¡¯s eyes. Its figure was reminiscent of that of the Hell''s Gatekeepers, the Cerberus. The difference was they were stronger and better than the Cerberus. This monster was the result of the interbreeding that Barbarian did. And he had produced no less than thirty of such monsters.

    Their legs, which were from a leopard, were powerful and gave them speed, making it hard for people to follow them with their eyes.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud¨C!</em>

    They charged toward Nerva at the same time.

    ¡°That¡¯s dangerous¡­¡± Ares groaned.

    He and countless other rankers have already shed with the three-headed lions. Their level was around Level 800, and they had tough skins. That was not the only problem. Since they were equipped with strong and fast feet and maws that could crush anything, it was tough to hunt them, too. These monsters had already beaten tens of thousands of their troops.

    And thirty of these monsters were charging straight toward the one-armed Nerva.

    ¡°id Swordsmanship Chapter 4.¡±

    <em>Kihyeeeeeeeeee¨C!</em>

    The image of dozens of hawks flying in the vast, open sky spread in their eyes. At the same time, dozens of sword lights shot out from Nerva¡¯s sword, flying beautifully like the hawks in the sky. Then, the hawks descended.

    ¡°Cast Hunting.¡±

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    The hawks and the sword lights pierced through the charging lions with great uracy.

    ¡°<em>Groar!</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Graaaaack!</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Grrrrrr!</em>¡±

    Some lions braved through the pain and continued to charge toward Nerva. Nerva swung his sword lightly and cut down the lion, which opened its maw to devour him.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¨C!</em>

    <em>Thud¨C Thud, thud¨C!</em>

    The troops of the allied forces looked at Nerva in admiration as he skillfully strode amidst the three-headed lions and cut them down one after another.

    On the other hand, Barbarian was left wide-eyed as he watched the scene. ¡°Wasn¡¯t he supposed to be just an actor?! G- go at the same time! Bite him at the same time!¡±

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    Dozens of lions ignored the pain coursing through their bodies and jumped at Nerva at the same time. Everyone watching the scene could tell it was a dangerous moment for the former emperor. Even if Nerva could fire attacks like that, it was still tough for someone who had lost an arm to fight back against that many monsters simultaneously.

    <em>Vwooooooong¨C!</em>

    Just then, a small light shed into existence as a magic spell manifested. Then, a ck ¡°arm¡±, which was created using the outstanding technology of the Luvien Empire, appeared on Nerva¡¯s left shoulder.

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Nerva wanted to spend the rest of his life leisurely and livefortably until his old age. He had let go of his greed and only wished to see the Luvien Empire remain intact ande into Brod¡¯s hands. He also knew there would be a lot of risk and danger during the process. That was why he secretly created this left arm. Even though Nerva could only use the arm for an hour, it was no different from a real arm.

    Now holding his sword with both hands, Nerva grinned at the approaching lions. ¡°Hawk Raid.¡±

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    At that moment, thousands of swords appeared and shed the approaching lions. The lions could not even leave a single scratch on Nerva¡¯s body before they fell.

    ¡°Bastard!¡± The shocked Barbarian shouted at Nerva.

    Nerva just red at him coldly.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you to shut that disgusting trap of yours? Never mind, let me rip that trap of yours apart,¡± Nerva said as he flew like a hawk.

    yers would have at least one one-shot kill skill in their arsenal. Penalties often apanied these skills. Surprisingly enough, Nerva¡¯s one-shot kill skill did not have any penalties.

    Nerva was once the greatest emperor. He was a strong man who built the strongest andrgest empire. He suffered huge damage when he tried to use the skill the first time, but despite this, Nerva did not stop growing.

    There was a vast difference between a yer and an NPC. For yers, their growth was determined by their level and their skills. However, NPCs did not have such restrictions. Because they could strengthen and grow by themselves, they could eliminate the damage that such a powerful skill could cause them.

    <em>Kihyeeeeeeeeck!</em>

    Everyone stared at Nerva, who soared beautifully in the sky like a hawk. When the sun''s light reflected from it, a brilliant glimmer appeared on the de of his sword.

    ¡°Hunting Time.¡±

    <em>Beeeeeeeep¨C!</em>

    Thousands of sword lights shot out from Nerva¡¯s sword and pierced through the monsters beneath him.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab¨C!</em>

    The sword lights had already pierced through the bodies of the monsters.

    <em>Swoooooosh¨C!</em>

    Like flying hawks, the sword lights dislodged themselves and flew to the sky again.

    Hunting Time was a skill that had a duration of four minutes. During that time, all those recognized as enemies would be continuously targeted by the sword lights until they were killed. The skill could also deal an additional 6,000% damage, a number that would be seen if it could be disyed in the yers¡¯ notification windows.

    The sword lights danced around the air and continuously dealt an additional 6,000% damage as they attacked the monsters. And since Nerva¡¯s attack power was high, the damage that the monsters incurred was beyond imagination.

    <em>Stab¨C stab, stab¨C!</em>

    The sword lights constantly cut down the enemies, alternating between flying and descending from the sky.

    Barbarian and allied troops were rendered speechless at the sight of the monsters being wiped out rapidly.

    Meanwhile, Brod was also killing the monsters on his side non-stop. The number of monsters he killed was on par with the number that Nerva killed alone.

    At that moment, Brod¡¯s face grew ugly. ¡°NERVA!!!¡±

    The furious Brod jumped at Nerva, who hadnded on the battlefield again.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you never to cross that line?!¡±

    Apparently, he was furious because the sword lights created by Hunting Time, which was still active, were cutting down the monsters that Brod was trying to hunt.

    ¡°Ah. Sorry,¡± Nerva said calmly.

    Brod was anything but calm. He pped Nerva.

    <em>Thwack!!!</em>

    ¡°Damn you, Brod! Aren¡¯t you a bit too much?!¡±

    ¡°You think it¡¯s a bit too much? I still can¡¯t forget my men, who you poisoned, by the way.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not being unreasonable here just because of what happened in the past, no? Did your hatred already eat at your brain?¡±

    In the end, the angered Brod grabbed Nerva by the cor.

    ¡°Ho- hohoho¡­?¡±

    Barbarian and the troops of the allied forces were dumbfounded. Why were they fighting against each other when they were doing an excellent job on their own?

    And Barbarian, who listened to the allied forces, could figure out the story.

    <em>¡®So, something like that happened between the two? Hoho. If I do this well, I can kill them without doing anything.¡¯</em>

    Barbarian felt threatened by the force that the two were releasing. To his relief, the two were busy grabbing each other¡¯s cors.

    In the end, Brod was unable to contain his anger. He swung his sword and shed Nerva.

    <em>aaaash¨C!</em>

    ¡°Kghhk. You lunatic! Really? Right now? In this situation¡­¡±

    Brod did not give Nerva any time to breathe. He swung his sword and put pressure on Nerva. Nerva, who saw a gap in his defenses, took the opportunity to cut Brod with his sword.

    ¡°I will kill you today! No matter what!¡±

    Blood spurted all over the two''s bodies. Strangely, when the monsters tried to attack them, they were quickly dealt with.

    ¡°Get lost!¡±

    <em>sh!</em>

    ¡°Don¡¯t meddle!!!¡±

    <em>sh!</em>

    Just like that, the two continued to fight their bloody battle.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    In the end, Nerva, whose nk had been cut down, stumbled on his feet. Brod raised his foot and kicked him hard on the abdomen.

    <em>Thud¨C!</em>

    Nerva was sent flying away. The ce where hended was where Barbarian, who was riding atop his monster, was.

    <em>¡®Ho- hohohoho!!!¡¯</em>

    Barbarian¡¯s grin almost reached his ears. He felt extremely delighted to see the two men, who he thought were the most dangerous, anxiously tearing at each other as they tried to kill the other.

    ¡°Hohohohoho!¡± Barbarian cackled, unable to hold back hisughter.

    Brod stepped on the monsters and charged forward while a powerful force began to gather on the de of his sword.

    ¡°Mercenary¡¯s Pinnacle Swordsmanship.¡±

    The grin on Barbarian¡¯s face grew even wider. He could tell Nerva would not be left intact if that force hit him.

    When Brod was almost near Nerva, he unleashed his power.

    ¡°Wolf King¡¯s Hunt.¡±

    <em>Awooooooo¨C!</em>

    With a loud howl, Brod¡¯s most powerful force shot out of his sword. To everyone¡¯s shock, it was not flying toward Nerva. Instead, it was aimed at Barbarian.

    ¡°Hoho¡­?¡± Barbarian¡¯sughter was cut short. The moment he sensed something was off, he immediately tried to escape.

    ¡°Hey, didn¡¯t I say I will tear that disgusting trap of yours?¡± Nerva said as hundreds of hawks appeared and clung to Barbarian¡¯s feet, effectively controlling his movements.

    ¡°This- this¡­!¡±

    Only at this moment did Barbarian realize that the two hadpletely tricked him! The two were just acting!

    The gigantic wolf king immediately ripped Barbarian¡¯s body with fierce, sharp teeth.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaack!¡±

    Nerva looked up at Brod after seeing Barbarian torn apart by his power.

    <em>¡®B- Brod, this bastard¡­¡¯</em>

    The two of them had known each other for a very long time. Although they were archenemies now, they could still understand what the other intended to do with just one look at each other.

    <em>¡®...He cut too deep. It really hurts¡­¡¯</em>

    Nerva was sure that Brod did it on purpose.

 Chapter 1059

    Chapter 1059

    Brod and Nerva dered they would each kill more than ten million monsters. It was easy to say, but the truth was it was impossible. Why? Because the Lord of the Monsters, Barbarian, was still there and could interfere at any moment.

    The best way to deal with all of the monsters was to kill Barbarian. So, the two cooperated and acted(?) to the best of their abilities to narrow the distance between them and Barbarian. Because of that, Brod sessfully hit Barbarian with the Wolf King¡¯s Hunt, a skill equivalent to a one-shot kill skill.

    ¡°Ugh¡­¡± Nerva red at Brod.

    ¡°Ah. Did I cut too deep? But¡­ I¡¯m not really sorry.¡±

    Nerva held himself back. This was not the time to go mad. They had to focus all of their attention on Barbarian now.

    Meanwhile, the now bleeding Barbarian was staring at them. But the two had perfectly calcted the time.

    <em>[You have survived inside the Monster Field for four minutes.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP, MP, and Skill Cooldown has been reset.]</em>

    Barbarian¡¯s eyes grew bloodshot. He might have lost his qualifications to be one of the Eight Pirs, but that was only because of the brutal experiments that he had done on monsters and other races. His power was still the same and nevergged behind the Eight Pirs.And now? He suffered humiliation at the hands of these bugs, these humans!

    ¡°BASTARDS!!!¡± Barbarian shouted, his saliva flying in his range.

    Nerva and Brod red coldly at him.

    ¡°Opening that trap of yours again?¡±

    ¡°I told you to shut it. It stinks.¡±

    Nerva and Brod were both brilliant individuals. They exhausted most of their skills to hunt as many monsters as possible in less than four minutes. They deliberately inched toward Barbarian¡¯s range by the three-minute and forty-second mark and unleashed their final skills. And when the four minutes were up, they recovered everything.

    ¡°Cast Hunting.¡±

    ¡°Death Wolf.¡±

    The two unleashed one skill after another, hacking and shing at Barbarian with their mighty sword lights non-stop.

    It has to be known that the Fallen Wretched Emperor and the Retired Emperor were both the best NPCs of the current era. A single light shot from their swords could easily force many yers to log out.

    ¡°Wolf King¡¯s Hunt.¡±

    ¡°Hunting Time.¡±

    Everyone could see Barbarian¡¯s ridiculously high HP dwindle quickly, thanks to the continuous attacks of the two strong men. Nerva and Brod, having exhausted most of their skills, swung their swords toward Barbarian when they saw his HP drop below 2%.

    <em>Shwaaaa¨C!</em>

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    The entire world cheered when they saw Barbarian copse. As his body tilted backward, they all believed that he would soon fall to the ground. But somethingpletely unexpected happened.

    <em>Twitch, twitch, twitch¨C</em>

    Barbarian¡¯s body suddenly turned into a disgusting clump of blood. Then, the clump of blood shot out and attached itself to the body of a nearby monster.

    <em>Suck, suck¨C!</em>

    The clump of blood sucked the monster in and gradually grew in size.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    Although Nerva and Brod attacked the clump of blood, they could not stop it from doing what it was doing.

    <em>Fwoosh¨C!</em>

    The monster, which now looked like a mummy with only its skins and bones left, crashed and copsed on the ground as the clump of blood thickened and turned into what seemed to be a bug¡¯s egg. Soon after, an old man¡¯s arms popped out of the egg.

    Barbarian tore down the egg around him and made his appearance once again. Although he had appeared once again, he could only recover 50% of his HP.

    ¡°Hoho¡­¡±

    Brod and Nerva weren¡¯t too surprised with the development before them. They had already expected that Barbarian possessed a skill that allowed him to recover.

    <em>¡®He absorbs the monsters¡¯ HP to recover.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®How should we deal with this?¡¯</em>

    In the end, recovery abilities had limits. Of course, there would always be a way to target and deal with it.

    The thoughts in the heads of both men spun fast. Brod suddenly turned to look at Helenia, who was still doing her best to recover her mana.

    <em>¡®If Helenia recovers all her mana, theing battle will be difficult.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®We have to get rid of Barbarian quickly.¡¯</em>

    Of course, since he had been beaten once, the same method would not work on Barbarian again. The two cringed at the same time at Barbarian¡¯s sudden movement during this tense moment.

    ¡°Hohoho¡­¡± Barbarian chuckled.

    <em>[The Monster Field has been released.]</em>

    Barbarian understood that the Monster Field was meaningless in the face of the two men.

    ¡°I must admit that I have ignored and disregarded the strong men of the current era.¡±

    In Barbarian¡¯s eyes, Nerva and Brod were the leading powerhouses of their era. He did not expect that two powerhouses of their caliber existed in the same era.

    Brod and Nerva both grew tense.

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, my treatment toward you should be adjusted ordingly.¡±

    Barbarian cast his once again. Every time Barbarian cast his, something disastrous and difficult for the allied forces to deal with would happen.

    <em>Shwaaa¨C!</em>

    As the spread, a shocking notification rang in everyone¡¯s ears, leaving them dumbfounded.

    <em>[Monster Creator Eggnal has been summoned.]</em>

    <em>[Monster Creator Eggnal will spit out 100,000 monsters every 10 seconds.]</em>

    <em>[Monster Creator Eggnal. Level 913.]</em>

    A lone monster fell from Barbarian¡¯s. The beast looked very disgusting, so much so that one would feel like throwing up just by looking at it.

    The monster was a gigantic eyeball attached to a human body and stood three meters high. The most shocking part was that it spit out a hundred thousand monsters every ten seconds.

    A sh of light appeared in Eggnal, the gigantic eyeball with no eyelid or eyshes. Then, a hundred thousand monsters appeared right in front of it.

    ¡°I feel like throwing up¡­¡±

    ¡°Ugh¡­¡±

    Simr words rang from all over the allied forces. Many of them sported looks of disgust on their faces. This was because the monsters all looked identical to Eggnal. They were all gigantic eyeballs with the body of a human. The only difference was that they were two meters tall. They were carrying different weapons, like swords, spears, and bows. There were even some eyeballs holding staves as if they were mages.

    <em>[Eggnal¡¯s Soldier. Level 832.]</em>

    The disgusted allied forces were left unable to breathe when they saw the details of the monsters.

    <em>¡®The level of the monsters summoned every ten seconds is at least Level 800?!¡¯</em>

    Brod quickly understood the situation. He shouted, ¡°Focus all of your attacks on Eggnal!!!¡±

    ¡°We have to kill Eggnal right away!¡±

    If they let Eggnal be, six million monsters would be in front of them in ten minutes. They would have to face thirty-six million monsters if they prolonged the time and let him be for an hour. As long as Eggnal was alive, there was a chance that they would face hundreds of millions of monsters. Then, the entire world would be filled with Eggnal¡¯s Soldiers.

    ¡°Hngggghh!¡±

    ¡°Hngh! Hngh! Hnghhhh!¡±

    ¡°Hnghhhh!¡±

    Eggnal¡¯s Soldiers charged toward the allied forces while releasing a strange noise.

    ¡°Don¡¯t spare anything!¡±

    ¡°We have to kill Eggnal in just under a minute!¡±

    ¡°Hnghhhhh!¡±

    The hundred thousand monsters that Eggnal summoned charged fiercely at them. The knight, who was running at the vanguard, stabbed the massive eye of Eggnal¡¯s Soldier.

    ¡°Uweeeeck!¡± Eggnal¡¯s Soldier cried strangely.

    When the knight heard it, his expression grew ugly. Then¡­

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    ¡°Hnghhh! Kekekeke!¡±

    Eggnal¡¯s Soldier swelled, then exploded.

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Brod and Nerva looked at each other.

    <em>¡®They will explode if they get attacked?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®What kind of nonsense is this¡­?¡¯</em>

    Four of the knights in the vicinity were devoured by the explosion. Every time the troops of the allied forces shed with Eggnal¡¯s Soldiers, an explosion would erupt. This instantly killed hundreds of thousands of allied forces.

    Meanwhile, Brod and Nerva charged at Eggnal. At that moment, Barbarian cast his and protected Eggnal within. The two stretched their sword toward the gap in the. The moment Nerva¡¯s arm reached the¡­

    <em>Swoosh¨C</em>

    An intense me rivalingva''s heat burned his left arm.

    <em>Crackle¨C!</em>

    ¡°Ugh!¡± Nerva groaned, his brows frowning as he watched his magic arm melt.

    <em>¡®If we try to enter the, we will burn to our deaths. And it will only take less than twenty seconds for it to happen.¡¯</em>

    The closed once again just right after Nerva pulled away. The problem was that Eggnal was still spitting out a hundred thousand soldiers every ten seconds, even if it was inside the.

    ¡°Hohoho! Come, catch me!¡± Barbarian shouted as he slung the on his back. Then, he stepped into the air and ran away swiftly. Brod and Nerva were quick to chase after him.

    It had only been a few minutes, but Eggnal¡¯s Soldiers were already wreaking havoc among the allied forces. And the worst part?

    ¡°Hohohoho!¡± Barbarianughed yfully as he spread the above them. Then, the hundreds of thousands of monsters Eggnal spat out fell from the sky andnded among them.

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    At the same time, massive explosions erupted.

    ¡°Huh? This is why you won¡¯t be able to stop me. Understand? Huh?¡± Barbarian pointed at Eggnal.

    <em>[Eggnal¡¯s speed at creating monsters has tripled.]</em>

    <em>[Eggnal will spit out 300,000 monsters every 10 seconds.]</em>

    The notification brought hopelessness and despair among the allied forces. They all knew Eggnal¡¯s soldiers would wipe out the entire force in an hour.

    At that moment, Nerva thought of a way. He said, ¡°Brod, I will hold the through the gaps so that it will not close.¡±

    ¡°Are you doing that bullshit sacrifice thing so you can pay off your debt or something again?¡± Brod growled.

    But Nerva shook his head. ¡°I¡¯ll be able to live again, anyway. Once there¡¯s a gap in the, all allied forces'' troops should focus their attacks inside the. I¡¯m sure the Beyond the Heavens Empire must have a huge surplus of bombs created by Bichor, no? Use that too.¡±

    This meant that Nerva would be right inside the st radius. However, there was one thing that Brod had doubts about.

    <em>¡®Can Regress be used on someone if their body shape and form could no longer be recognized?¡¯ </em>Brod thought as he nced at Akhan.

    As one of the high-rankers, Akhan could tell what was happening immediately. As if responding to Brod¡¯s doubts, Akhan shook his head.

    ¡°...¡±

    Be that as it may, Brod was not sad about Nerva¡¯s choice to sacrifice himself. This was mainly because he had yet to show Nerva the same hellish pain that he suffered.

    Even so, Nerva did not allow anyone to interfere. He already moved to take advantage of Barbarian¡¯s attempt to open the.

    The number of Eggnal¡¯s Soldiers that Eggnal has spat out has already exceeded four million. The tens of thousands of monsters falling almost crushed Nerva, who leaped to the sky.

    ¡°Hohoho. Do you think this old man is stupid?¡±

    ¡°Kghhk!¡±

    Nerva, caught between the monsters, could no longer control his movements.

    Brod immediately made a move. <em>¡®At this rate, everyone from Beyond the Heavens Empire will die.¡¯</em>

    Brod was the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Sword. He could not let that happen. He immediately tried to rece Nerva and do what he wanted to do.

    ¡°Take advantage of the gap while I grab the!¡±

    The problem was the monsters had also blocked Brod¡¯s path. The number of Eggnal¡¯s Soldiers that surrounded him was far too many.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    Brod¡¯s body received the brunt of the effects of the explosion of the Eggnal¡¯s Soldiers around him.

    ¡°Urk!¡±

    In the end, he vomited a mouthful of blood. Brod tried to take out a potion to drink, but he could not. Suddenly, before he could die, the explosions stopped.

    <em>¡®Even if I die here, we can regress.¡¯</em>

    Brod looked around him. There were now more than ten million Eggnal¡¯s Soldiers dominating the battlefield. At that moment, Brod thought he should open a path and create a gap between the when he returned from death.

    <em>Thud¨C</em>

    <em>Thud¨C</em>

    <em>Thud¨C</em>

    Eggnal¡¯s Soldiers grabbed hold of Brod.

    ¡°...!¡±

    They stopped Brod from killing himself and trying to regress. In the first ce, Regress followed the concept of ¡°resurrection¡± skills. If they did not die, then they would not regress. And Barbarian took advantage of this fact.

    Meanwhile, Eggnal¡¯s soldiers continued to increase in number.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaack!¡± Brod screamed as he tried to shake off the hold of Eggnal¡¯s Soldiers on him.

    Then, at that moment, one of the rankers soared to the sky and drew everyone¡¯s attention. He was none other than Alexander and a ranker on par with Minhyuk. Alexander triggered Weapon Explosion and sent hundreds of weapons toward Eggnal.

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    The monsters blocked Eggnal and protected her from the weapons.

    ¡°elerate.¡±

    <em>Boom¨C!</em>

    Alexander charged through the gaps and broke through their defenses.

    ¡°Hohoho. You¡¯re quite strong for a foreigner.¡±

    Barbarian spread the, knowing that Alexander was almost near Eggnal. Alexander¡¯s thoughts changed upon seeing the closing in.

    <em>¡®Even if we can keep the open, we cannot focus all our attacks here.¡¯</em>

    Alexander switched targets and focused his attacks on Barbarian.

    <em>Boom¨C!</em>

    Alexander kicked Barbarian and forced him to fall on the ground with the in his hands.

    ¡°You¡¯ve got a lot of tricks up your sleeves, huh?¡± Barbarian chuckled as he gentlynded on the ground.

    The was already almost closed.

    ¡°I will let loose a hundred million Eggnal¡¯s Soldiers inside this.¡±

    The explosion created by those monsters would be massive enough to wipe out the entire allied forces. Everyone fell into despair when they saw Eggnal through the slowly closing gap of the.

    <em>Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh¨C!</em>

    At that moment, a man dashed through the monsters at an unprecedented speed. The man gulped down the potion that the woman had given him.

    <em>[Transcending the Limits Potion.]</em>

    <em>[You will transcend all your limits for three minutes. All of your HP, MP, and stats will double.]</em>

    The man, who was running bare-chested, had skin as pale as a vampire¡¯s. He was once called¡­ Duke Bman. With his bulging muscles out on disy and a waist fitted with several of Bichor¡¯s bombs, he grabbed the with both hands. Then, his muscles bulged even more.

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaa!!!¡±

    His roars reverberated all over the world.

    Duke Bman was not doing this for the Beyond the Heavens Empire. He did it after pondering the words of the woman named Haze. Since he had lived his life as a crazy lunatic, why shouldn¡¯t he live for the people once? He would die anyway, so why not leave a name that the masses would remember at the end of their lives?

    <em>Crackle¨C!</em>

    Lava-like mes burst out from the and devoured Bman¡¯s body. Meanwhile, the troops of the allied forces were frozen stiff.

    ¡°Graaaaaaaa!¡± Bman roared as he began to open the closing with all his might.

    Bman looked back. He saw rankers from all over the world and the empires¡¯ strong men. All of them were looking at him, who once reigned as a tyrant and a lunatic. Although he lived the life of a murdered man, he wanted to live thest moments of his life and fight for the sake of humanity.

    ¡°A¡­ ttack!!!¡±

    The cries of Bman, the man who was not dead yet also not alive, awakened the minds of the frozen troops.

    ¡°Attack me!!!¡±

    Everyone knew Bman would be swept away by their attacks if they attacked right now.

    ¡°We have received the duke¡¯s orders!¡±

    ¡°We have received the duke¡¯s orders!¡±

    While everyone else hesitated, the ck Skull Knight Order, who had now be the ves of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, charged forward. They had participated in this war as cannon fodders. But none of them would even dare to break Bman¡¯s orders.

    Thousands of sword lights stretched from their swords and filled the sky. Like a signal, the others followed. The powers of the millions of rankers and the strong men flew together with their attacks.

    Bman, who watched them attack, exerted more power.

    ¡°Graaaaaaa!!!¡±

    He opened the as wide as possible as the sword lights almost reached his back. Not long after, the sword lights and the power of the rankers and the strong men pierced through his back and into the.

    Eggnal, who was hiding inside the, was hit by the attacks. It shrieked loudly from the pain. ¡°Hnghhh! Uweeeeeeeck!¡±

    Bman let go of the and looked back once again. He looked at the ck Skull Knight Order with a small smile before entering the with Bichor¡¯s bombs.

    <em>Crackle¨C!</em>

    The zing mes slowly melted Bman¡¯s body, which also triggered the explosion of Bichor¡¯s bombs hanging on his waist.

    <em>BOOM¨C!</em>

 Chapter 1060

    Chapter 1060

    Duke Bman was a living dead. If he died once again, then he would indeed fall into his eternal rest. Upon his death, he would have to fulfill the contract with the God of Death, where he put his soul as coteral in exchange for greater power and work as the god¡¯s ve forever.

    Nevertheless, he opened the and allowed the attacks of the allied forces to go through him and let the bombs hanging on his waist explode inside.

    <em>BOOM¨C!</em>

    The entire world shook and trembled. Everyone knew that the damage inside Barbarian¡¯s would remain contained inside the. The colossal explosion swept away Eggnal and its soldiers.

    Meanwhile, the only thing those outside could see through the tiny opening of the was the flickering mes. Then, like a spiderweb lit on fire, the slowly melted. The scene made everyone gasp.

    One of the main reasons Barbarian was very tricky to deal with was that. He could hide all his monsters through that and send them out simultaneously.

    <em>[You have hunted Monster Creator Eggnal.]</em>

    The notification that rang in their ears told them that Duke Bman had seeded in what he intended to do. Were they overwhelmed and moved by his sacrifice? No, not at all. This was because Duke Bman had lived a life of trash. Even if he sacrificed his life for them, there would still be fingers being pointed at him.

    But he would be remembered. He used thest moments of his life and sacrificed himself for humanity. Still, some cared about him.¡°For Duke Bman!!!¡±

    ¡°For the duke!!!¡±

    The knights and soldiers of the ck Skull Knight Order, who had only been mining in the Breath of Lava Mine for the Beyond the Heavens Empire without any rest, roared. Being raised and nurtured by Duke Bman, they had looted and plundered countless people. Were they ying the hero? That was not it. They just wanted to follow the orders and thread the same path that their lord and master walked.

    They could build their body up while they were in the Beyond the Heavens Empire. Their bodies were nurtured by sd and chicken breasts! Whenever Locke came on patrol, he would watch them work out in interest. Although the man despised them, he acknowledged their bodies. Back then, he had looked at them and said.

    ¨C<em>Kghhk. If these ripped people take off their tops and run on the battlefield while saying those lines, then it¡¯s all over!</em>

    The ck Skull Knight Order, who recalled his words, ran with their shiny and bulging muscles.

    ¡°<em>This is Sparta!</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>This is Sparta!</em>¡±

    ¡°This is spaghetti!¡±

    ¡°This is spaghetti!¡±

    Although there were some strange cries here and there, they continued to run majestically with Bichor¡¯s bomb lying snuggly in their hands! They did not intend to live any further now that they had lost their master.

    Barbarian, who had lost his, was flustered when he saw these men dig in and take down as many monsters as possible. The scariest enemy in the world was those who were prepared to die.

    One of the people leading the charge was already cut and scratched all over his body. But despite the injuries and the blood covering his entire existence, he continued forward and even threw himself at the monsters. Then, while hugging one of the Named Monsters, he blew himself up.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    The bombs that Bichor gave them were made in case of emergencies. And they were made for throwing. The Beyond the Heavens Empire did not want them to sacrifice themselves either. If Minhyuk had been here, he would have stopped them. However, even if he did try to stop them, they would not listen. It was impossible to stop these determined and stubborn people.

    ¡°<em>This is Sparta!</em>¡±

    ¡°This is spaghetti!¡±

    The Named Monsters exploded one after another, while the men let out roars. Some of them leaped to the sky before blowing themselves up, while some of them fell into a shitty state after recalling the lives of the people that sacrificed themselves under their des.

    <em>Bang¨C Bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    The more than a hundred thousand troops of the ck Skull Knight Order exploded one after another amidst the sea of monsters. The destructive force of the explosion of the bombs in their hands could cover an area with a twenty-meter radius. Because of that, Barbarian¡¯s monster corps was easily dealt with.

    ¡°This- thiiiiiis¡­!¡±

    Barbarian, who had lost his precious and favorite Eggnal, stared nkly as he watched the various monsters he had created for a very long time disappear. At this moment, he thought this was why mankind was scary. Only less than ten million of his monsters remained in a blink.

    ¡°You''re struggling, old man.¡±

    ¡°Hoho. It wasn¡¯t as easy as I thought it to be.¡±

    Helenia came and stood beside Barbarian. They could see that the number of troops of the allied forces was still high.

    ¡°If you¡¯re not here and we¡¯re not going to use the Sky Knights, then I will lose.¡±

    Barbarian was keen. He knew that there was nothing that he could do to mankind alone.

    ¡°I want to use them to kill the gods.¡±

    Barbarian opened his summoning room and recalled his monster corps. He realized that the monster corps were useless at this point. Something huge fell from a crack that opened in the sky as if to rece them.

    <em>Thud¨C!</em>

    A crater was created from the impact of itsnding. Then, the being that fell on one knee slowly stood up.

    <em>Tic, tic, tic¨C!</em>

    It looked pretty simr to a titan with one eye in the center of its robotic face. But with its height of only four meters, it could be considered much smaller than one. Its entire body, made of titanium, also glowed a silver light while it held a gigantic longsword.

    <em>[Sky Knight. Level 1,051.]</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

    Everyone felt their breath stagnate from the overwhelming level of the being standing before them.

    ¡°Hoho. All of the Sky Knights are modeled after the Martial God. That¡¯s how skilled and outstanding they are.¡±

    This meant that the Sky Knights were not only high-leveled, they were also very skilled. Even Nerva did not know of these monsters that were at Level 1,000.

    <em>Thud¨C! Thud¨C! Thud¨C!</em>

    Sky Knights kept falling from the sky. There were precisely eleven of them standing in a line. Then, a blinding light erupted from the eye of the Sky Knight standing at the center.

    <em>Blink¨C!</em>

    In the ce where the blinding light shone on, no traces of the allied forces were left. Yes, the rays of light made them disappear. That one sh of light killed three thousand troops all at once. And that was just the beginning. The troops of the allied forces continued to dwindle as the lights shed from the eyes of the Sky Knights, one after another.

    ¡°Fireball.¡±

    Of course, Helenia did not stay idle. She also started to move.

    ¡°Fireball.¡±

    ¡°Fireball.¡±

    ¡°Compress.¡±

    The tens of thousands of Fireballs gathered together and became one gigantic Fireball. Following the elegant wave of her fingers, the Fireball shot out.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    The attack had Meteor-level destructive power. The Sky Knights did not stay idle; they immediately charged toward the allied forces.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    One swing of the Sky Knight¡¯s sword could easily kill seven of the troops of the allied forces.

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    Hundreds of troops of the allied forces died every second from the attack of the Sky Knights.

    As Barbarian said, the Sky Knights weren¡¯t only strong and sturdy. They could also disy exceptional swordsmanship skills. They could even turn their swords into bows and shoot arrows every once in a while. They could also turn it into a mace, which they used to crush the troops of the allied forces.

    With the situation growing dire by the second, the rankers of the Beyond the Heavens Empire started to step forward. Locke raised his axe and aimed for the head of one of the Sky Knights.

    ¡°Thousand Ton Axe!¡±

    <em>Boom¨C!</em>

    The confident smile on Locke¡¯s face suddenly froze. ¡°It¡¯s only dented¡­?¡±

    Yes, it was not broken. It was only slightly dented after it received the brunt of the Thousand Ton Axe, the skill that had an additional 8,000% damage and the very same skill that Locke was highly proud of. The skill, which should be enough to crush a dragon¡¯s skull, only ¡°dented¡± the Sky Knight¡¯s head.

    <em>sh¨C</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

    Locke¡¯s body was cut in half with just one swing of the Sky Knight¡¯s sword.

    <em>Thud¨C!</em>

    Right behind him was Ascar. She raised her bloody-red great sword and struck the Sky Knight.

    ¡°I have never seen such a ridiculous defensive power like this before¡­¡±

    All they could do was put dents on the body of the Sky Knights. The attacks that were supposed to shake the enemies could not even shake or move the Sky Knights.

    <em>[The durability of Asura¡¯s Great Sword has decreased significantly.]</em>

    Ascar was shocked to see the de of her sword grow dull. Although it could be attributed to the long battle, the more likely exnation was that the Sky Knights had an effect that would damage the enemy¡¯s weapon when their weapons struck at them.

    <em>ng¨C ng, ng¨C!</em>

    Among the rankers of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, Ascar was said to be the one closest to Minhyuk in terms of abilities. But even this Ascar was easily being pushed back.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    The Sky Knight kicked Ascar in the abdomen, sending her to the ground. Then, it stabbed her in the same ce.

    <em>Stab¨C!</em>

    In just a few attacks, two high-rankers fell.

    Seeing this, Brod and the other vassals also stepped forward and moved to attack the Sky Knights.

    <em>Boom¨C!</em>

    When Brod¡¯s sword hit the Sky Knight for the first time, the head of the Sky Knight only shook for a moment. Then, he immediately used a skill.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    Brod, who sent one of the Sky Knights flying back, looked around. <em>¡®I can only deal this much damage?¡¯</em>

    With that attack, he could tell he would need at least thirty minutes to knock one out. Then, reinforcement arrived.

    <em>Boom¨C!</em>

    A gigantic titan with a sleek body shining a ck light and standing eight meters tall appeared. The transcendental weapon that could only be found in myths appeared and cut down one of the Sky Knights. The titan''s sword easily crushed the Sky Knight¡¯s titanium body.

    The only one who could activate and pilot the transcendental weapon was Ethan, the number one armored weapon pilot. Of course, it was not just him. The hundreds of titans of the Beyond the Heavens Empire appeared.

    These titans were made based on the transcendental weapon and were produced with the coboration of Dwarf Olger and the God of cksmiths. Although they fell short of the transcendental weapon, they could be said to beparable to the titans produced by the Luvien Empire.

    <em>Creak¨C Thud¨C!</em>

    <em>Creaaaaak¨C Thud!</em>

    The ck Titan Legion charged forward to help the allied forces.

    <em>Tic, tic, tic¨C!</em>

    <em>ck¨C!</em>

    The titans¡¯ bodies opened and released the hundreds of missiles that each of them was equipped with.

    <em>Fwooosh¨C!</em>

    The tens of thousands of missiles fired by the hundreds of titans constantly hit the Sky Knights.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    The hundreds of titans raised their swords and rushed toward the Sky Knight, who had lost its bnce and copsed.

    The main disadvantage of a titan was that it could not be operated for a very long time. However, its high destructive power more than made up for this.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaaah!!!¡±

    ¡°Ethan!!!¡±

    Everyone cheered loudly at Ethan¡¯s appearance. The problem was there was one thing that they had overlooked. Helenia was with the enemies. And even if the hundreds of titans worked together to deal with a single Sky Knight, they could not destroy it.

    ¡°Slow.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Shackles made of light appeared and tied the titans down. With their speed slowed down, the Sky Knights freely broke the heads of the hundreds of titans one after another.

    Ethan found itpletely ridiculous. Why? Because it only took them three minutes to destroy the hundreds of the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ titans.

    The worst part? He was also caught up in Helenia¡¯s Slow magic, and his movements slowed significantly. The armored weapon followed the movements of the pilot. The armored weapon would naturally follow with the pilot¡¯s movements slowed down.

    <em>nk, nk, nk¨C!</em>

    <em>Bzzt, bzzt, bzzt¨C!</em>

    Five of the Sky Knights raised their greatswords. Then, they stabbed the transcendental weapon at the same time.

    <em>Bzzt, bzzt, bzzt¨C!</em>

    One of the Sky Knights sted off the head of the transcendental weapon, which only left behind a rain of sparks. Their appearance was in vain. The Sky Knights sorted out all of the titans with ease.

    Mankind stared at Helenia in horror. Now that Barbarian and Helenia were moving together, they realized they could no longer handle it.

    ¡°This is getting boring. We have to finish this quickly and go,¡± Helenia said. It seemed like she had lost interest. Then, she waved her hand, and tens of thousands of her magical attacks rose to the sky like stars in the night.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    In just half a day, Helenia and the Sky Knights reduced the 500 million strong troops of the allied forces to 50 million.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s over¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®We can¡¯t win.¡¯</em>

    As for the people of the Beyond the Heavens Empire? They were all thinking of one person.

    <em>¡®Your Majesty, pleasee back quickly.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Minhyuk¡­¡¯</em>

    ***

    At the same time.

    ¡°Urk!¡±

    The Absolute God who Lives for Someone, Leads Someone on the Right Path, and Protects Someone, was bleeding all over. However, there was a faint smile on his face. And in front of him? The Colossal Brothers, who used the power of Fusion to gain stronger power, were finally turning into cold corpses.

    The man, who fought them more than a dozen times, held the ck bead from the Colossal Brothers.

    ¡°So, we can only use Fusion once?¡±

    The Absolute God smiled wryly as he stood up and walked. The ce where he¡¯s headed to?

    <em>¡®I can finally protect you.¡¯</em>

    It was none other than the battlefield where they were fighting against Helenia and Barbarian.

 Chapter 1061

    Chapter 1061

    <em>This is history.</em>

    Those were the words that came out of the mouths of the experts andmentators as they watched more than five hundred million troops of the allied forces gather together.

    It did not matter whether their rtionship was good or bad before; mankind has united to fight against Helenia and Barbarian. Their presence was imposing and majestic. It looked like no enemy could stop them from going forward.

    However, the more than five hundred million troops of the allied forces were swept away in just one day. Now? There were only fifty million of them left. It has to be known that a hundred million of the five hundred million troops were NPCs.

    The empires, kingdoms, and nations from all over the world sent them to the battlefield with these words:

    ¨C<em>Winning this war means that you have protected your family.</em>

    <em>¨CYour sacrifice will forever go down in history.</em>

    <em>¨CWe will win.</em>

    From young boys to old men, they gathered a lot of talents and sent them to war. Many of those NPCs were killed in action.If they won, their kings and emperors, who were not even seen on the battlefield, would send most of their bodies back with firecrackers and loud cheers. However, behind the loud cheers and festivities, grieving families would hug and cry over bodies that they could no longer recognize.

    Athenae was a virtual world created by the cooperation of humans andputers. The footage that they showed live showed scenes not just on the battlefield but all over the world.

    The families of the troops were praying in their nation¡¯s za without knowing that their sons and husbands had already walked a path of no return. And the prayers that they uttered? They were all the same.

    ¡°Please, I beg you. Let theme back home safely.¡±

    They utter these prayers over and over again, not knowing that the bodies of their beloved had already grown cold.

    Even now, Helenia and the Sky Knights were continuing their attacks and increasing the pile of corpses. Some even had lingering warmth from when they were alive.

    The battlefield looked like a scene out of a movie.

    There was someone who died while clutching the ne that his wife had hung on his neck. There was someone who died with his eyes wide open yet unable to see his newborn child.

    These scenes were being broadcast all over the world.

    The people had long recognized Athenae as the second world. The people watching these scenes no longer viewed them as part of a ¡°game¡± or a ¡°movie.¡± It was far too real for them to dismiss it as such, and its closeness to reality made their hearts pound.

    <em>Please.</em>

    Every single one of them wished for the victory of the allied forces. The allied troops, fighting non-stop for a day, had to protect Athenae.

    <em>[Even though only fifty million of them are left, the allied forces are still fighting desperately.]</em>

    <em>[For the Sky Knights, demolishing more than half of their numbers is a walk in the park.]</em>

    <em>[Some of the Sky Knights looked like they had been destroyed, but we have seen how difficult it is to kill a single one of them.]</em>

    <em>[Many of the rankers of the Beyond the Heavens Empire had been killed. Just like Ali, they continued to log in despite the rising penalties.]</em>

    <em>[The number of Minhyuk¡¯s Level 650 rankers is now only around ten.]</em>

    <em>[Alexander is fighting like the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ rankers are fighting.]</em>

    <em>[The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ vassals are also returning from the dead with the help of Akhan¡¯s Regress.]</em>

    <em>[I don¡¯t think they willst long.]</em>

    <em>[From what we can see, Akhan¡¯s level drops as a penalty for Regress. His level seems to have fallen to Level 400 now.]</em>

    <em>[How many more times can they use it? Soon, they will also be unable to use the Origin Authority: Regress.]</em>

    <em>[Mankind will face the greatest catastrophe once the vassals of the Beyond the Heavens Empire and the Swords of the Gods fall.]</em>

    <em>[On the other hand, Helenia and Barbarian are looking at them calmly. You can see that they are bored.]</em>

    <em>[There are only fifty million surviving troops left. Considering the time it took for Helenia and Barbarian to ughter and reduce them to that number, they probably would have difficulty trying to survive an hour against them.]</em>

    <em>[To be honest, I think it¡¯s good to stop now. I hope that Beyond the Heavens¡¯ high rankers will stop reviving themselves repeatedly and stop increasing the penalties that they will receive.]</em>

    <em>[The levels of most of them had already dropped by twenty. But us? What are we doing?]</em>

    <em>[At this moment, I hate myself for only being able to talk and watch.]</em>

    The reason why mankind was able tost this long was because of those who had been repeatedly dying and reviving themselves. However, everyone knew that even if they were called ¡°heroes¡± now, they would still be forgotten in no time. Nevertheless, the Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s executives continued to fight and bear the brunt of the enemies¡¯ attacks.

    <em>Shwaaaa¨C!</em>

    ¡°Haa¡­ Haa¡­¡±

    Sword Emperor Ellie, who had been cutting and shing the magic pouring down on them like rain, showed clear signs of exhaustion as she tried to catch her breath.

    At this point, most of the Eivelis Imperial Army had died. Of course, each nation had chosen to send the least troops to this battlefield. They had to be prepared should the enemies break through the allied forces.

    ¡°A- aaaaaaack!!!¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    <em>Boom¨C!</em>

    The people running away from the onught of magical attacks were eventually devoured by explosions. And their bodies? They shattered and exploded.

    One of the knights of the Eivelis Empire was rolling on the ground after losing an entire arm. Ellie grabbed the man by the shoulder and helped him despite being in a difficult position.

    ¡°Just hang in there. I¡¯ll take you to the priest¡­¡±

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    Unfortunately, the knight and Ellie were engulfed by another round of magical attacks. Ellie bit her lips when she saw the knight die with his eyes wide open and his lower half gone.

    ¡°A way?¡±

    ¡°Have you found a way to kill Barbarianpletely?¡±

    Despite the increasing casualties, some were still trying to find a way to prevent the Barbarian from attaching to the body of another monster andpletely killing the old man.

    ¡°Ugh¡­¡± Ellie, who was trying to stand up, stumbled and fell back. Then, she looked around her.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    Ben burned with a sh of light while trying to stab through Barbarian¡¯s heart. His charred body fell to the ground.

    ¡°Regress.¡±

    Ben reappears right away. He, who ran right after being resurrected, made eye contact with Brod.

    The problem was the Sky Knights. They were very hard to deal with.

    <em>¡®One. We have destroyed one.¡¯</em>

    Indeed, they have destroyed one knight. Although it was just one, it was a tough battle. The callous and sturdy bastards had one weakness: the tube pipe on the back of their heads. The problem was that they needed a lot of reinforcements to reach that tube pipe. A lot had been sacrificed to protect the person who cut off that tube pipe! Hundreds of millions died just to find out that single detail.

    ¡°Haa¡­ Haa¡­¡± Ellie breathed as she struggled to stand up once again.

    <em>¡®Not yet. The Beyond the Heavens Empire is still fighting. I can¡¯t copse here yet.¡¯</em>

    She, struggling to get back on her feet, saw considerable magic falling from the sky above her. Millions of people disappeared without leaving any trace when the magic fell again.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud¨C!</em>

    Caught in one of the explosions, Ellie was sent rolling on the ground from the impact of the st. Her ears were even ringing from the loud sound of the explosion. She tried to stand up again, but her feet would not cooperate.

    At that moment, she recalled the words that Minhyuk told her before.

    ¨C<em>We have created an enormous passage that connects the Beyond the Heavens Empire and the battlefield.</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s voice from her memories rang in her ears as she lost consciousness.

    ***

    Song Min-Geun was perspiring profusely as he watched the scene on the TV. He was one of the Level 650 rankers who signed a contract with the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    ording to the contract he signed, they had to log back into the game the moment the ess penalty was lifted. But Song Min-Geun did not intend to do so from the very beginning.

    <em>¡®Who would know if I logged back in or not?¡¯</em>

    He was sure most yers who signed a contract with the Beyond the Heavens Empire thought the same. After all, they had already received a considerable advance. They did not need to suffer from the penalties for nothing. Looking at the situation, he could tell that mankind would never win this war.

    Five minutes. That was the time left before his ess penalty was lifted. During that time, Song Min-Geun was sitting in front of his TV and watching the members of the Beyond the Heavens Empire fighting over and over and <em>over</em> again.

    <em>¡®Why do I feel so bad?¡¯</em>

    He could feel his heart throbbing from pain. Perhaps this was because the TV had shown the scene of the people from each empire and kingdom gathering together and praying for mankind¡¯s victory and safety from war not long ago.

    <em>¡®And why am I standing up and moving?¡¯</em>

    Yes, Song Min-Geun was walking toward his capsule.

    ***

    <em>Blink¨C!</em>

    Ellie finally woke up from her unconscious state, whichsted for a few minutes, and looked around. As she struggled to stand with her heavy body, the elegant and graceful Helenia appeared beside her. She held her hands behind her and watched mankind die one after another.

    ¡°Child, there¡¯s one thing I can¡¯t understand.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°You have talent that far surpasses the Sword God, yet you chose your empire. Even the hundreds of millions of soldiers that followed you almost deified you. Isn¡¯t the name Sword God Ellie better than Continental Emperor Ellie?¡± Helenia asked, her gaze filled with doubt as she looked at Ellie.

    Ellie tried to grip her sword, though her hand lost strength.

    ¡°Why?¡± Helenia asked dryly. ¡°Do you think that protecting your empire and your continent is much more valuable than the title of the Sword God?¡±

    Helenia, who had beenughing yfully earlier, was nowhere to be seen.

    And Ellie? She squeezed all the strength that she could gather and attacked her. In response, Helenia only spun her feet to avoid the attack. And with a light wave of her fingers, she floated in the air.

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m d you did that.¡± Helenia grinned. ¡°You see, I enjoy stepping on humans and making them feel despair. <em>Tch.</em> If you had not made that choice back then, you probably would have cut me down as the Sword God.¡±

    Helenia clicked her tongue. ¡°All of your soldiers are dead. Soon, the rest of mankind will die, too. The Continental Emperor is strong only when others are with her.¡±

    Ellie remained silent. She was furious, yes.

    Helenia cackled as she threw Ellie to the ground. Then, with graceful steps, she walked away.

    Like Helenia said, Ellie was furious. She was furious that she could not be cut down as Continental Emperor Ellie.

    <em>¡®Why did I choose to fight desperately and protect them?¡¯</em>

    Doubt unknowingly started to sprout in Ellie¡¯s heart.

    Helenia, who ignored Ellie, clicked her tongue while saying, <em>¡®Tch, tch. Poor thing.¡¯</em> Just then, she saw something sh in the sky.

    It was a tiny light. The light emitted by a single human logging back in. This small light was just a little part of the rapidly rising notifications in the Allied Forces¡¯ Chatroom.

    <em>[SongMinGeun-chan has logged in.]</em>

    Many of the humans hade back to life repeatedly. Helenia, who was used to the scene, walked past the light. She did not even pay any attention to it. Then, the light started to multiply. The single light turned into hundreds.

    Thousands.

    Then millions.

    Like the stars filling the night sky, countless lights were floating in the sky above them. The light of a hundred and fifty million people logging back inside the game filled the sky.

    And the Allied Forces¡¯ Chatroom?

    <em>[Rune¡¯sPapa has logged in.]</em>

    <em>[Bara has logged in.]</em>

    <em>[Ewba has logged in.]</em>

    <em>[DumbaDumba has logged in.]</em>

    <em>[DanceWithChubby has logged in.]</em>

    <em>[ButtFusion has logged in.]</em>

    It was being flooded with notifications.

    The allied forces had arge number of NPCs. However, the yers mostly filled up their numbers.

    <em>[R- right now¡­ most yers, whose ess penalty has been lifted, are reconnecting!]</em>

    <em>[Although Athenae¡¯s foreigners are just yers, they¡¯re voluntarily choosing to reconnect and continue fighting.]</em>

    <em>[More than a hundred million yers have already reconnected.]</em>

    <em>[They have gathered on behalf of Minhyuk and are standing next to Continental Emperor Ellie!]</em>

    <em>[A lot of yers from all over the world are rushing to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.]</em>

    <em>[yer Minhyuk has posted an announcement before the war started.]</em>

    <em>[ording to the announcement, a passage connecting the Beyond the Heavens Empire and the battlefield would open 25 hours after the war started.]</em>

    <em>[In fact, we have seen that most of the yers reacted negatively to this announcement.]</em>

    <em>[Unlike the others, who were rewarded, the announcement asked them to participate in the war voluntarily.]</em>

    <em>[But now, the situation is entirely different from the adverse reactions that they had before.]</em>

    <em>[We can see countless yers constantly crossing the passageway!]</em>

    In the sky above them, hundreds of millions of lights appeared and lit up the world, which was falling into despair. These hundreds of millions of lights represented the yers. Some were only at Level 40, some at Level 100, and others at Level 300. Nevertheless, they crossed the passageway and became one of the lights in the sky.

    When Ellie saw the yers gathering behind her, she felt more convinced.

    <em>¡®I have no regrets in choosing to give up the position of the Sword God.¡¯</em>

    Of course, it has to be known that Sword Emperor Ellie was a very famous cider character in Athenae.

    ¡°It¡¯s not yet over, you b*tch.¡±

 Chapter 1062

    Chapter 1062

    <strong>Chapter 1062</strong>

    Changwook did not sleep. He opted to stay by Minhyuk''s side and take care of him. Worried that the sounds would awaken Minhyuk, who was in dire need of rest, Changwook lowered the volume of the show being broadcast on the TV.

    To ward off the fatigue and get rid of his sleepiness, Changwook went to get a shower. After leaving the shower, he thought, <em>¡®Minhyuk seems to be sleeping well.¡¯</em>

    Not long after, the hushed sounds from the TV caught Changwook¡¯s attention.

    <em>[Hundreds of millions of yers are decorating the world with the light of their ess.]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s not over yet.]</em>

    <em>[Many yers are logging back into the game to protect Athenae!]</em>

    <em>[Breaking News! The many yers who couldn¡¯t get to the passageway opened by the Beyond the Heavens Empire are now gathering in the kingdom closest to where the fierce battlefield is being held.]</em><em>[Their number is much higher than the number gathered previously by the allied forces. However, given their average level is only at Level 580, they are infinitely weaker.]</em>

    <em>[If it¡¯s only up to me, I will also run there immediately.]</em>

    Changwook soon saw the man everyone was waiting for, sitting in front of the TV and trying to figure out the current situation.

    ***

    <em>We¡¯ll still die anyway. </em>This was the response of more than 90% of the yers when they saw the Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s announcement about creating a passageway connecting their empire to the battlefield.

    One of the yers asked his friend, who was standing next to him, ¡°Hey, you already know that you¡¯re going to die here, so why did youe? You just hit Level 500, right? If you¡¯re forced to log out here, then you¡¯ll suffer from a level down, no?¡±

    The friend smiled faintly and said, ¡°You¡¯re at Level 600. Wouldn¡¯t the damage you will receive be much greater than mine?¡±

    ¡°So, why did youe here?¡±

    The friend looked at the breathtaking view of the battlefield before them. ¡°I just¡­ want to protect it.¡±

    ¡°Me too¡­¡±

    <em>I want to protect it.</em>

    What did they want to protect? Those words carried a lot of meaning.

    <em>Bathump¨C bathump¨C</em>

    Ellie, whose heart was beating fast, looked behind her. The people behind her were not wearing capes carrying the same symbols. They also weren¡¯t standing in straight lines like well-trained soldiers. There were even some who came from another continent.

    There was someone who came for the NPCs waiting for their family to go back home.

    There was someone who came to protect this game, the game that became their only shelter and home.

    Some came solely because they wanted toe.

    She felt a fire burn in her heart when she saw these people standing there without anyone forcing them to. Ellie was fully aware that they would die more quickly than the allied forces that they had gathered. Why? because they were all from varying backgrounds and levels.

    Even though they were holding their swords bravely right now, they might soon feel fear and frustration once they finally stood before the vast wall, and reality would p them in the faceter.

    Nevertheless, a cry still welled out of Ellie¡¯s mouth. ¡°For the¡­¡±

    Ellie squeezed thest of her strength as she raised her sword and pointed it at Helenia. Then, with bloodshot eyes, she shouted, ¡°...future!!!¡±

    At her cry, those who were prepared to die charged forward.

    <em>Anyway, we¡¯re yers. It¡¯s okay to die, no?</em>

    This should be the thought running through their heads. But that was not the case at all. They thought and felt they were on a real battlefield.

    Like a vast tidal wave, the yers flocked toward the Sky Knights. Ellie felt grateful at the sight. Nheless, there were other problems. The more than a million monsters that Barbarian had sent to the summoning room before now reemerged.

    Even though their numbers were constantly decreasing with every swing of the Sky Knight¡¯s swords, they continued to fight. It did not matter if they fell. Someone behind them would step up and take their ce. Even if they were trampled on like ants, they still fought. None of them had any regrets. Thanks to their efforts, the high-rankers could reach the Sky Knights.

    Genie, Locke, Ares, Khan, Ascar, and the other high-rankers quickly approached the Sky Knights. One of the Sky Knights¡¯ eyes released a sh of light that made Genie disappear without a trace. Despite the penalty, Genie appeared in the sky above them again. Her whip wrapped tightly around the Sky Knight that they were targeting.

    ¡°Now!!!¡±

    The Sky Knight struggled fiercely. In its struggle, Khan was forced to log out. But Khan immediately appeared in the sky above them with his skill Giant¡¯s Fist already being cast.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    Khan hit the Sky Knight with all his might, its body forced to lean on one side from the impact of the blow. Just when the Sky Knight tried to swing its de to counter and kill Khan, Ares appeared and swiftly kicked it on the chin.

    ¡°Ascending the Heavens.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaa¨C!</em>

    The yers immediately held onto the body of the Sky Knight.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    During that time, Ascar sessfully cut the long tube hidden behind its neck.

    <em>Drip, drip, drip¨C</em>

    Green blood flowed out of the tube.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    Despite the sparksing off its body, the Sky Knight could still send a final attack. It cut Ascar down and fired a blinding ray of light that killed tens of thousands of people.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    Finally, the Sky Knight broke into pieces and exploded.

    Genie shook her head after breaking just another one of the Sky Knights. ¡°We can no longer resurrect again.¡±

    Their levels had been pushed back to the Level 600 threshold now. Each of their levels had a decrease of at least fifteen levels. If they fell below Level 600, the privileges that they obtained from Level 600 would disappear. This meant that they would weaken further. If that happened, then it would be meaningless for them to log back in. After all, they wouldn¡¯t be able to fight against the Sky Knight at that level anymore.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Akhan</em></strong><em>: My level has dropped to Level 357. I can only use Regress onest time.]</em>

    And now, even their NPCs could no longer be revived. Their situation had suddenly turned very dire.

    Genie looked around. Fortunately, the other high-rankers could destroy five other Sky Knights just like they did.

    <em>¡®But that doesn¡¯t mean we have a chance at winning.¡¯</em>

    Now, the death of the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ vassals would be their actual death. Meanwhile, meteors fell from the sky, rapidly reducing the number of yers.

    ¡°These bugs!¡± Barbarian shouted furiously when he saw that they had lost six Sky Knights.

    The Sky Knights were the weapons they had prepared to kill the gods of the Land of the Gods. Helenia and Barbarian believed eleven were enough to deal with these bugs, but the situation told them that was not the case at all.

    ¡°Oh? Then, let¡¯s try it one more time.¡±

    Dozens of Sky Knights fell from the sky once again and dragged mankind to the depths of despair once again. Of course, Barbarian had prepared more Sky Knights. After all, they created them to deal with thousands of gods, no? There were a total of fifty Sky Knights in Barbarian¡¯s hands.

    <em>[Light Festival]</em>

    <em>[The Sky Knights will now hold a festival of light.]</em>

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    Lights fell from the sky non-stop and burned down hundreds of millions of yers.

    Of course, the yers would not just stand there and wait for their deaths. Athenae had various sses. There were even multiple types of ¡°analysts¡± among them. Some analysts studied and analyzed dungeons. Others analyzed the nature of an artifact material. Some analyzed NPCs and monsters.

    Hundreds of analysts had gathered and racked their brains, analyzing, studying, and trying to find a way to kill Barbarian. Finally, they came to a conclusion.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Lehvak</em></strong><em>: At the end, the Sky Knights are connected to Barbarian. If they lose their connection to Barbarian, the Sky Knights will also stop and lose function.]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Lehvak</em></strong><em>: We have found a way to kill Barbarian. Barbarian has resurrected thrice in total.]</em>

    Barbarian had died several times during the long and chaotic battle. Every time, he would devour and suck the monster and get resurrected.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Lehvak</em></strong><em>: We have found that the monsters Barbarian would use to revive himself have something inmon. All of them had the number </em><strong><em></em></strong><em> written on them.]</em>

    Barbarian¡¯s monsters were all numbered. They were numbered from <strong></strong> to <strong></strong>, with the Sky Knights carrying the number <strong></strong>. Because of that, they assumed that the numbers were written as a ranking or rating of the monsters he created.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Lehvak</em></strong><em>: The numbers were put there to trick our eyes. This is done to hide the ones that could help him resurrect. But in all three events, Barbarian was resurrected with the help of a monster carrying the number </em><strong><em></em></strong><em> on its body.]</em>

    The Sky Knights continued to fall from the sky. They had been killing the yers at a very rapid pace. The mouths of the yers that were just shouting loudly and passionately earlier were now groaning and moaning in pain.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Alexander</em></strong><em>: Is this confirmed?]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Lehvak</em></strong><em>: We have confirmed it. We¡¯re sure.]</em>

    Five minutes had passed since the Sky Knights appeared once again. But during that short period, everyone felt that Helenia and the Sky Knights could kill most yers.

    Even now, Helenia unleashed countless AOE magic attacks per second using her near-infinite mana. The Sky Knights matched her pace and sped up.

    <em>We¡¯re sure.</em> That answer was more than enough for Alexander. The NPCs had also been briefed about the situation.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Alexander</em></strong><em>: Now!]</em>

    Hundreds of people jumped to the sky while ignoring the beams of light. At the same time, Elizabeth, the woman who could control the system, restricted the movement of all the monsters carrying the number <strong></strong>. Then, they began to ughter the monsters at a rapid pace.

    Meanwhile, Broad, Ben, and Alexander were weaving through the gaps and running forward.

    ¡°Please go! Keuhaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°A- aaaaack!¡±

    Barbarian noticed the strange movements of the enemies and immediately controlled the Sky Knights. The Level 600 and higher yers immediately threw themselves in the path of the Sky Knights and did their best to protect the three. The three could ignore the Sky Knights and continue forward thanks to them.

    Five Sky Knights suddenly fell from the sky when they finally reached Barbarian. Brod immediately flew toward them. A gigantic wolf appeared and used its entire body to block the swords of the hunters trying to hunt them.

    Ben was the one who reached Barbarian first. He raised his spear and stabbed the old man through the heart.

    <em>Stab¨C!</em>

    One Sky Knight grabbed Ben by the head and mmed him straight on the ground. After that, it broke his leg.

    Still, there was Alexander. Hundreds of weapons appeared around Alexander.

    ¡°Weapon Explosion.¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    Hundreds of weapons shot out and pierced through Barbarian.

    <em>¡®Damn it. There¡¯s not enough damage.¡¯</em>

    Alexander frowned. The damage he could deal with was much lower than before because of the sharp decrease in his level. The only thing he could do to put pressure on Barbarian was to unleash all the skills he could use.

    Barbarian was a summoner. As a summoner, it was only natural that his attack power was meager. Except for the low attack power, Barbarian was a monster that was beyond anyone¡¯s imagination.

    Alexander hurriedly signaled at the other rankers. At that moment, one of the rankers attacked him. After logging back in again, he repeated what he had done earlier. And he did it over and over again.

    ¡°Please just dieeeeee!!!¡±

    Alexander squeezed all of the strength and power that he could muster.

    At this point, Barbarian¡¯s HP was less than 10%. But Alexander could no longer move.

    <em>[You will no longer be able to ignore the ess penalty. You will no longer be able to log back in after this.]</em>

    Alexander begged and wished for just a tiny ray of hope. Brod was overwhelmed by dealing with five Sky Knights all at once. He could be seen falling from the sky.

    ¡°Urk!¡±

    The Sky Knights charged after him, who was vomiting blood.

    Meanwhile, Spear God Ben, whose legs had been crushed, was crawling to where Alexander and Barbarian were.

    ¡°Hoho. What a pitiful old man.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s alright. At least I¡¯m not bald.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Anyway, Alexander, who was breathing heavily, could only grab Barbarian¡¯s cor.

    <em>¡®If we kill this bastard, then we will be able to see a small glimmer of hope, no? If we do that, then I will be able to concentrate on Athenae again. Not only that, but the people of the Beyond the Heavens Empire and I will gain the admiration of the masses, and Athenae will continue to move forward.¡¯</em>

    s, that hope was shattered by Barbarian¡¯s increasing HP.

    ¡°Look. Isn¡¯t it beautiful?¡±

    Helenia, who had been casting low-level magic since earlier, had gathered enough mana and cast high-tiered magic in the sky above them.

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    The warning notifications constantly shed in front of Alexander.

    <em>Shwaaa¨C!</em>

    A crack opened in the sky as tens of thousands of Hellfires descended toward the ground. The heat emitted by these balls of mes was so hot that the HP of the yers on the ground were already decreasing even though they were still far away from them.

    The Beyond the Heavens Empire yers sensed the danger and immediately ran. They decided to take at least one NPC from this ce and escape.

    ¡°This is a fight that you can¡¯t win.¡±

    Alexander looked at the gradually approaching Hellfires.

    Just one more. If he, Brod, or any powerhouse at the Spear God¡¯s level were here, they might have been able to kill Barbarian right away.

    In just a blink, the Hellfires had already almost reached them. Barbarian chuckled as he watched the tens of thousands of Hellfires falling to the ground.

    <em>Clench¨C</em>

    ¡°This is our win.¡±

    Alexander suddenly tightened his hold on Barbarian¡¯s cor. Barbarian looked at the man in front of him in confusion. Then, something far more shocking and iprehensible unfolded in the sky above them.

    A light shield appeared above every person from the allied forces and protected them. What was more shocking was that the tens of thousands of Hellfires that appeared could not break the shields and disappeared just like that.

    At the same time, a notification rang in all the yers'' ears.

    <em>[Guild Master Minhyuk has logged in.]</em>

    <em>[Allied Forces¡¯ Commander Minhyuk has logged in.]</em>

    Shocked, Barbarian hurriedly pushed away Alexander. Unfortunately, he could not get away. The crawling Ben had already reached them and grabbed his legs tightly.

    ¡°...¡±

    Goosebumps rose all over Barbarian¡¯s body when he felt a presence appear right behind him. When he turned to look behind him, he saw the man everyone was waiting for. And he was in the middle of casting his skills.

    Ben chuckled. ¡°Goodbye, <em>buzzcut</em>.¡±

    Barbarian¡¯s face grew ugly.

    ¡°Ah. Was I too much¡­?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    At that moment, Ben, who rted deeply to any balding man, thought, <em>¡®Did I go too far?¡¯</em>

 Chapter 1063

    Chapter 1063

    The man everyone had been waiting for was just a young man in his early twenties.

    Even though he was young, he gave hope to patients with rare diseases and became the idol of many.

    People all over the world had watched him grow and ovee his eating addiction. They even saw him fly to Japan on a helicopter for the sake of a young boy with a rare disease. He had also recently donated the tens of billions of wons¡¯ worth of profits that he obtained in Athenae anonymously.

    That was not all. He was the type of person who acted strongly against the strong and embraced the weak and the pitiful. He would show no mercy to his enemies but treat his friends kindly and gently.

    Before the people knew it, this young man had already be an emperor.

    Some people, blinded by their envy and jealousy, wrote maliciousments and targeted him. Then one day, a video with the young man as the protagonist was released. Through this video, the jealous people saw that he waspletely different from them.

    Unlike them, who would startining and sobbing about their situation right after they got out of bed, the young man would work hard and repeat one set of movements day after day until he obtained what he wanted to get.

    Unlike them, who only thought of this as a mere game and left the will to develop and grow themselves while thinking it was annoying, he reduced his sleep and led tens of millions of people.

    Before they realized it, they had already started to write his name on Ztube to see if he had any new videos. Of course, there were still maliciousments targeting him. However, at this moment, when Helenia summoned tens of thousands of Hellfires and sent them raining down upon the world, he returned.

    <em>[Guild Master Minhyuk has logged in.]</em>

    <em>[Allied Forces¡¯ Commander Minhyuk has logged in.]</em>

    The moment they saw the notifications, the viewers, who had been miserable and in despair, jumped out from their seats and screamed. His appearance alone lit up the entire world.

    <em>[Loud and passionate cheers are ringing all over the world.]</em>

    <em>[Amidst their loud cheers, a young man stood strong and proud.]</em>

    <em>[Everyone saw his growth and development. They saw him ovee countless hardships and trials.]</em>

    <em>[The only one who can stop her.]</em>

    <em>[The only one who can end this.]</em>

    <em>[Indeed. In the entire world, he¡¯s the only one who can finally end this.]</em>

    <em>[The one and only Great Sovereign.]</em>

    <em>[He lit a small fire in the darkness. Like a signal, hundreds of millions of mes lit up and brightened the world.]</em>

    <em>[In front of the Great Sovereign¡¯s power, no enemy attack can reach those fighting by his side.]</em>

    <em>[The Great Sovereign¡¯s Authority: Great Sovereign¡¯s Shield has been activated.]</em>

    <em>[The Great Sovereign¡¯s Shield will protect you once from any attack, no matter what.]</em>

    <em>[The Great Sovereign is with you.]</em>

    A powerful shield made of light appeared above their heads and protected them.

    <em>[Your HP and MP have recovered by 25%. Your defensive power will increase by 20% for three minutes.]</em>

    Just like that, the dying ones escaped the brink of death when their HP increased by 25%.

    Meanwhile, Helenia was shocked to see her Hellfire being countered and neutralized.

    <em>¡®He protected hundreds of millions of people?¡¯</em>

    This was a power that she had never seen before in her life. Helenia turned her head and saw Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk was walking straight toward the struggling Barbarian, holding two swords. With Ben and Alexander regaining some of their strength, they held on tightly to his cor and legs.

    ¡°Hi- hiiiiik! Bastards! If- if you kill me here, then a huge number of monsters will be released to the world instantly!¡±

    It was a ridiculous threat. But it could be fitting. After all, Lord of the Monsters Barbarian had been enduring and hiding behind the shadows for over a thousand years while repeatedly dismantling and fusing disgusting monsters, for this day!

    Minhyuk walked past the shouting Barbarian. The dozens of Sky Knights charged toward them as if they had sensed the danger.

    <em>sh¨C sh, sh¨C!</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaack! A- aaaaaack!!!¡±

    Helenia¡¯s face grew ugly as screams stained with fear resonated on the battlefield.

    Barbarian, who was cut all over, breathed a sigh of relief. This was because he had endured the powerful force that ravaged him. Then, he caught sight of the indifferent look in Minhyuk¡¯s eyes.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    <em>Thud, thud, thud¨C!</em>

    Barbarian was an Eight Pirs¡¯ candidate. He had enough qualifications to be one but was deprived of them because he conducted experiments using various species. This Barbarian had copsed on the ground.

    The allied forces¡¯ cheers erupted and resonated all over the battlefield.

    <em>[You have sessfully killed one of the Eight Pirs¡¯ Candidates, Barbarian.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled...]</em>

    <em>[Everyone who participated in Barbarian¡¯s hunt will receive a +2 increase in level.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    Barbarian waspletely different from the Named NPCs. As a former Eight Pirs¡¯ Candidate and no less than an Eight Pirs himself, he was a threat to mankind. It was apparent how he killed hundreds of millions of people during this battle. Because of that, the system rewarded the people even though they merely joined the hunt for him.

    Participating in the hunt alone guaranteed a +2 increase in level. What more about the yers who had directly contributed to Barbarian¡¯s death and those who killed some of the Sky Knights? Most were high rankers from the Beyond the Heavens Empire and Level 650 rankers, including Alexander.

    Ascar breathed a sigh of relief. After adding the guaranteed +2 level increase, the number of level-ups she had received as a reward reached eight. Of course, it was not enough for them to recover from ignoring the ess penalty. Nheless, it was enough for them to at least tide through this time and take a breather.

    As for Minhyuk? He was receiving a constant stream of notifications in his ears.

    <em>[You have gained 5, 416, 030 tinum.]</em>

    Nevertheless, he did not have any time to pay attention to them. He looked at the Sky Knights. All of them had stopped in their tracks. The yers took advantage of this and destroyed over forty Sky Knights. Because of that, they received a high EXP value that was enough to offset some of the level-down penalties they had received earlier.

    Then, at that moment, something happened.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¨C!</em>

    <em>[With the death of Lord of the Monsters Barbarian, all of the monsters in his summoning room will be released.]</em>

    <em>Fwoosh¨C!</em>

    Monsters poured out from the crack that appeared in space. The ted expressions on the faces of the yers suddenly twisted and grew ugly. Of course, the same was true for Minhyuk. There were far too many monsters rushing out of that space. A rough estimate would give them at least a hundred million monsters.

    Why were there far too many monsters? This was because Barbarian did not bother to summon monsters that were unnecessary for this battle. Even if he nned to summon them, he would only summon them once they were in the Land of the Gods. After all, in his eyes, mankind was nothing but a petty existence that he could wipe out easily at any given moment. Perhaps this thinking was what led him to his death.

    The yers, who thought it was the end, inhaled sharply at the sheer number of monsters. However, their eyes were not on them. Everyone was looking at Helenia and Minhyuk. If looks could kill, the two would have already died with how much they red at each other.

    Just a year ago, Helenia was resealed by Minhyuk, who she thought was nothing but a mere child. And Minhyuk?

    <em>¡®Grandpa.¡¯</em>

    He lost Beradon.

    It was now time to end this.

    Minhyuk¡¯s entire body shook and trembled at the thought of killing Helenia. He could even feel his heart pound in his chest. The fury and the desire to kill her were overwhelming his entire being.

    <em>[Beradon¡¯s Disciple System has been activated.]</em>

    <em>[Anger¡­ sometimes, it would turn into a monster that devours a person.]</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    At that crucial moment, Beradon¡¯s gentle and warm voice rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears. Instantly, his wildly pounding heart calmed down. His mind also felt at ease.

    Minhyuk knew that Helenia¡¯s look was a provocation. If he had lost hisposure, he would have made a reckless move, leading to their defeat.

    <em>[The system¡¯s creator faintly smiles as he looks at you.]</em>

    And Minhyuk knew that <em>he </em>was with him.

    At the same time, Helenia saw Beradon smiling faintly as he looked down at Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®So it¡¯s with you, huh?¡¯</em>

    Helenia wanted ¡°Beradon¡¯s Disciple System,¡± which was in Beradon¡¯s possession. She could tell that the power was not yet fully awakened. But once it had fully awakened, this power would show a strength beyond anyone¡¯s imagination.

    As she looked at Beradon smiling at Minhyuk, who was holding his sword, greed shed on her face. Her lips twisted into a devious grin. <em>¡®I won¡¯t need Barbarian once I take that away.¡¯</em>

    She beckoned to Minhyuk, delight evident on her face. ¡°Come.¡±

    ***

    The viewers were exhausted. They had been watching the yers die over and over again as they fought against the pouring monsters. The only thing that they wanted to see right now was the end of this war.

    That was why all of them were focused on the battlefield. They saw Helenia, who was using almost a hundred million monsters as a shield, provoke Minhyuk. Would Minyuk be able to reach her despite the countless monsters and magic that filled the distance between them?

    Standing right next to Minhyuk were the ones who would send him to Helenia¡¯s side. They were Brod, Ben, Conir, Elpis, Valentino, Ascar, Elpis, and¡­ Nerva.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud¨C</em>

    The yers fighting against the monsters knew that the war was ending.

    ¡°Open a path!!!¡±

    ¡°Open a path for Minhyuk!!!¡±

    Every single one of them squeezed thest of their strength as they paved the way for Minhyuk, who had started to run. Magical attacks rained down upon the monsters. And there were also the other Great Sovereign¡¯s Authorities that he had not yet used.

    <em>[The Great Sovereign is with the knights that will protect him.]</em>

    <em>[The Great Sovereign¡¯s Authority: Great Sovereign¡¯s Knights has been activated.]</em>

    <em>[Ten chosen knights will receive the protection of the absolute barrier for five seconds. All of your attack power will increase by 40%. You can also use your one-shot kill skill without penalty once.]</em>

    A bright light shone and covered the bodies of the people running alongside Minhyuk. They took the lead and prevented the AOE magical attacks and monsters with their bodies.

    ¡°Wolf of Death.¡±

    ¡°Dragon yer Spear.¡±

    ¡°Splitting the Great Demon.¡±

    Their one-shot kill skills opened up a path. However, the path they created immediately closed because of the pouring monsters. In the end, Minhyuk could only run a bit.

    The knights hurriedly ran in front of Minhyuk. Khan, who was running beside Minhyuk, jumped up. Then, he grabbed Minhyuk¡¯s arms and swung him around.

    ¡°Go.¡±

    <em>Boom¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk flew. As he stepped into the air, Helenia bombarded him with magical attacks.

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    Suddenly, before the magic reached him, Ben appeared before him with his body wrapped in a barrier and received the brunt of the magical attacks in his stead. He grabbed Minhyuk¡¯s hand and said, ¡°Go, Your Majesty.¡±

    <em>Boom¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk soared even higher in the sky. Above him was a man resembling a hawk waiting for him.

    ¡°I¡¯m not exactly fighting by your side because I like you.¡±

    The man was none other than Nerva. Nerva grabbed the flying Minhyuk¡¯s hand and added the wings of a hawk on his back. Then, he murmured, ¡°Hawk Searching for Prey.¡±

    <em>Swoosh¨C!</em>

    The hawk wings on Minhyuk¡¯s back spread and sent him flying toward Helenia.

    Helenia cackled. ¡°Come. Kyahahahaha!¡±

    She already had thousands of magic prepared by her side. A smile of delight appeared on her face. She was thrilled at the thought of taking away Beradon¡¯s Disciple System from Minhyuk. Just then, she saw Beradon smiling faintly behind the flying Minhyuk.

    At that moment, she recalled how she hadughed at the dying Beradon while he had smiled faintly at her.

    ¨C<em>It¡¯s him.</em>

    <em>¨CAnother of my disciples will correct my wayward disciple in my stead.</em>

    <em>¨CI do not have any regrets.</em>

    <em>¨CThis is because I have spent myst moments with him.</em>

    <em>¨CHelenia¡­</em>

    <em>¨CThat child¡­ you¡­</em>

    The smile of delight on Helenia¡¯s face morphed into fear as she recalled the old man¡¯s dying words. She hurriedly sent the thousands of AOE magical attacks she had been casting by her side in fear. But¡­

    <em>THUD¨C!</em>

    A heavy and overbearing force pushed her down.

    <em>[The Great Sovereign who Leads and Rules the Gods.]</em>

    <em>[You are standing in front of the power of the one and only Great Sovereign.]</em>

    <em>[No matter who, the enemy will surrender in front of him.]</em>

    <em>THUD!!!</em>

    <em>[Overpower.]</em>

    <em>[No matter who or what the enemy is, they will fall into a ten-second stunned state!]</em>

    Helenia¡¯s pupils dted. The magic that had almost finished casting faded and scattered with the wind.

    Before she knew it, Minhyuk was already standing in front of her.

    ¡°Did you say <eme</em>?¡±

    Helenia looked up and saw Minhyuk sneering at her. Beradon was standing behind him with a faint smile on his face. The words that Beradon told Helenia before his death rang in her ears again.

    ¨C<em>That child will be the one who will punish you.</em>

    <em>¨CThat¡¯s what I believe.</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¨C!</em>

 Chapter 1064

    Chapter 1064

    Blood rose like a fountain from Helenia¡¯s chest.

    <em>He¡¯s nothing but a trivial bug. </em>This was Helenia¡¯s evaluation of him. She thought that his abilities should have developed quite well when she descended a yearter, and he could assuage her boredom.

    s, that was mere arrogance on her part. While she was sealed and slumbering, Minhyuk had grown several times more potent than before. She would awaken every once in a while to search for her missing ores. Yet, while she was wasting her time doing that, <em>he</em> was constantly working hard and doing his best to improve while waiting for her descent.

    And today? Helenia could not look straight into his eyes, and he was standing before her with the wings of a hawk. Her pupils shook when she finally made eye contact with him. At that moment, she felt his gaze was the same as hers when she looked at the humans as bugs. The contempt and mockery in his eyes brought a chill down Helenia¡¯s spine.

    <em>I have to get away!</em>

    Her primal fear was engulfing her. No matter what she did, she could not move.

    <em>[You have been overpowered. You can¡¯t move your body!]</em>

    In her entire life, Helenia had never suffered from abnormal statuses. At this moment, an overbearing force was weighing down on her.

    <em>[8 seconds.]</em>Time seemed to pass slowly. During that time, Minhyuk, who was looking at her with contempt, raised his sword and stabbed her through the heart.

    <em>Stab¨C Stab, stab¨C!</em>

    The power of the Sword of Frenzy ravaged her body.

    <em>[6 seconds.]</em>

    A gigantic sword light stretched out of Minhyuk¡¯s sword as the power of the Heaven Tearing Sword cut off one of her arms.

    <em>[4 seconds.]</em>

    Hundreds of swords flew at her, cutting and hacking at her body. At the same time, Viel¡¯s Puppet appeared and stabbed her in the back.

    <em>Drip, drip, drip¨C</em>

    Blood dripped down her chin.

    <em>[2 seconds.]</em>

    Helenia¡¯s eyes snapped open. She couldn''t be treated like this by a single individual, let alone a human! Yet Minhyuk was able to swing his sword straight at her neck.

    ¡°This¡­ this is for Grandpa Beradon.¡±

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    <em>Thud, thud, thud¨C!</em>

    Helenia¡¯s head slowly fell off and rolled on the ground. Her eyes were wide open as she barely held onto herst string of reason. But soon, that string also broke.

    <em>Swoosh¨C!</em>

    Her head quickly reattached itself to her body. Now that she had let go of her reason, she hadpletely gone crazy. She wanted to return the disgrace and suffering this human being had made her suffer.

    With an innocent smile and a devilish voice, she whispered, ¡°Do you want to know something fun?¡±

    Her creepy voice enveloped Minhyuk¡¯s entire being.

    ¡°The way to kill me, the Immortal Sorceress¡­¡± She grabbed Minhyuk¡¯s cor and whispered straight into his ears. ¡°Killing me five times in eight minutes. That¡¯s the only way to kill me.¡±

    Minhyuk hurriedly shook off her hand. He did not have time. He immediately stabbed his sword, which was carrying the power of Cmity, into her.

    <em>Shwaaaaa¨C!</em>

    The first sword that fell stabbed through her head.

    ¡°Ahi? Hihihihihi! Can you do it? You still have to kill me four more times! Go for it! Ah, do you want me to set up a timer for you? Wouldn¡¯t that be more convenient for us?! And if you fail to kill me four more times within eight minutes, then it will reset again. Got it?!¡±

    Helenia looked at the sky above her. Despite the hundreds of swords falling down, she had a mad smile on her face. At that moment, the timer that she had created appeared above her.

    ¡°Hihi. Ahihihihi. Stab, stab. It hurts, huh? It hurts!¡±

    She cackled like a lunatic.

    Despite being stabbed several times by Cmity¡¯s swords, she still did not die. This was the freedom of being a strong man. She might look like she had no defenses, but a shield covered her entire body to minimize the damage she would receive.

    ¡°You have to stab me like this, <em>stab!</em> Huh? If you¡¯re going to do it like that, then you wouldn¡¯t be able to kill me, you know?¡±

    Minhyuk looked at her, his face showing how pathetic he thought she was. ¡°Crazy b*tch.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not just crazy, it¡¯s really f*cking crazy.¡±

    Silence nketed the battlefield for a moment. Helenia acted like a lunatic to mock Minhyuk, but she felt awful for some reason.

    Even if Minhyuk said those words, he was very nervous.

    <em>[6 minutes 47 seconds.]</em>

    This was because of the timer floating above Helenia¡¯s head.

    ¡°Ahihihihihi! Why aren¡¯t you killing me? If you¡¯re not going to kill me, then¡­¡±

    Helenia stretched her hand out.

    <em>Swoosh¨C!</em>

    The magic she cast was Compress, also Ali¡¯s secret skill. Due to the sudden appearance of Compress, the skills of the Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s powerhouses suddenly gathered in one ce. She looked at Minhyuk with a vicious and threatening expression on her face.

    ¡°Cmity.¡±

    At this moment, Minhyuk did not have the leisure to weigh the pros and cons and consider the penalty. After being hit with Cmity twice, Helenia finally died. And just like before, she resurrected once again.

    <em>[6 minutes 6 seconds.]</em>

    <em>[Number of Helenia¡¯s Deaths: 2]</em>

    ¡°Tick.¡±

    Helenia grinned at Minhyuk. Then, she stretched a finger and pointed it toward the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ powerhouses.

    <em>Fwoosh¨C!</em>

    Dozens of Disses pierced through their bodies and left them in a very threatening situation.

    ¡°Tock.

    ¡°Tick.

    ¡°Tock.

    ¡°Tick.

    ¡°Tock.¡±

    The air around them grew tense as Helenia spoke.

    <em>Tick¨C tock¨C tick¨C tock¨C</em>

    The freedom and ease of the strong. It was as if she was showing them this as she yfully whispered, ¡°You must be thinking of a way to kill me three more times, no? Well, then. Let me help you.¡±

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    Helenia, who knew that Minhyuk had exhausted most of his skills, ced her hand on his chest and unleashed ten Explosions simultaneously.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    <em>[Your HP has fallen below 70%.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has fallen below 50%.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has fallen below 30%.]</em>

    It was just one attack, but the damage was too much.

    Minhyuk was confident that he had grown tremendously since his first encounter with Helenia. To his shock, the moment Helenia¡¯s delicate and graceful handnded on his chest, his HP immediately dropped to zero.

    <em>[You have been forced to log out.]</em>

    <em>[You have logged in.]</em>

    <em>[Your level has dropped.]</em>

    Minhyuk had also taken the same potion the other yers had drunk. He ignored the penalty and immediately logged back in. Then, he unleashed all of his skills, including Cmity, upon Helenia.

    However, Helenia, who had already died twice, no longer intended toy silently and ept his attacks. Only the first attack of Cmity, the attack with a 100% certainty of reaching its target, dealt significant damage. She alternated between Blink and Shield andpletely overwhelmed Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk copsed after being shot through by hundreds of Disses.

    <em>[You have been forced to log out.]</em>

    <em>[You have logged in.]</em>

    <em>[Your level has dropped.]</em>

    After being turned into a hedgehog by the spears made of light, Minhyuk disappeared and appeared in another sh of light. The same fierce battle repeated non-stop.

    <em>[4 minutes 36 seconds.]</em>

    <em>[Number of Helenia¡¯s Deaths: 2]</em>

    The fact that he did not have much time left put pressure on Minhyuk, which ultimately held him back.

    And when Minhyuk reappeared, Helenia was there waiting for him with her fingers waving around. Following the movements of her fingers, the tens of thousands of bombs and potions created by Bichor and Mand floated in the air. All of them were taken from the yers'' inventory from the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    Helenia might have been in a state of slumber, but she had felt the impact of the bomb that exploded and sted Beauden Fortress before. That was why she knew that the being named Bichor was a very dangerous one.

    ¡°If all of those bombs exploded at the same time, everyone here would die, no?¡±

    It was just like Helenia said. If those bombs truly exploded, then the entire earth would be scorched. All the yers and NPCs in this ce would die and disappear without a trace.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t kill me, then I will detonate all of those bombs.¡± Helenia stretched out her dainty fingers. ¡°And I will take away the power that you possess.¡±

    If Helenia sessfully took away Beradon¡¯s Disciple System, she would crush Minhyuk and the Beyond the Heavens Empire a thousand times over.

    With a light wave of her hand, Helenia easily blocked the sword swinging at her with her Shield. ¡°<em>Haaaaa</em>. I hope the remaining four minutes will go by quickly. Once those four minutes are up, I will kill you all and go to sleep.¡±

    Minhyuk continuously swung his sword at her.

    <em>ng, ng, ng¨C!</em>

    Helenia easily blocked it with her Shield and even went so far as to stab Minhyuk¡¯s heart with dozens of Disses.

    The copsing Minhyuk fell into despair. <em>¡®I can¡¯t reach her.¡¯</em>

    Helenia¡¯s first death under his hands was only thanks to her carelessness and the power of Overpower. Her second death was mainly because her reasoning broke, and she went ahead and died on her own.

    Helenia was genuinely vicious. She gave him this faint glimmer of hope before trampling on him. At this moment, the despair had almost swallowed Minhyuk up. He even felt like he wanted to give everything up.

    <em>[Beradon¡¯s Disciple System has been activated.]</em>

    A notification gave a glimpse of hope to Minhyuk, who was dragged into despair.

    ***

    Minhyuk smiled bitterly when he heard the notification.

    <em>¡®I was wrong, Grandpa. It seems like I can¡¯t do anything.¡¯</em>

    Humans only experience frustration when they encounter a high wall that they cannot reach. Once they fall into frustration, they eventually put everything down and give up.

    Minhyuk wanted to protect the Beyond the Heavens Empire and his precious vassals. He wanted to protect the lives of those who essed the game after a long day of work and studies.

    <em>¡®The game that made me want to live.¡¯</em>

    Perhaps Minhyuk might have died at the young age of twenty-one if he had not encountered Athenae. He might even be recorded as one of the many patients who died because of his eating addiction, a disease that made his body grow until he weighed 200 kilograms.

    A deeper sense of helplessness and despair washed over Minhyuk.

    <em>[Beradon¡¯s Last Will will now y.]</em>

    <em>Crackle, crackle, crackle¨C!</em>

    White noise appeared in front of Minhyuk and blocked his vision. The only thing he could see was the image of Beradon before he left this world.

    Beradon, with blood dripping down his chin, spoke.

    <em>[There¡¯s something that I did not tell you.]</em>

    <em>[On the day you went to the God¡¯s Prison, one of my disciples, also one of the Eight Pirs, came to visit me.]</em>

    <em>[I asked him¡­]</em>

    <em>[Why did youe here?]</em>

    <em>Crackle, crackle, crackle¨C!</em>

    The white noise slowly disappeared. Then, Minhyuk saw the disciple that Beradon was talking about through his eyes.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s this guy I want to protect,¡¯ </em>the familiar man said.

    <em>[I told him that he should live for his own sake now. He just smiled at me.]</em>

    <em>¡®Master, I have never been this happy in my entire life.¡¯</em>

    <em>[He asked me for a way to protect the man that he wanted to protect. Of course, I knew a way. But I did not want to tell him. Even so, he could still find out before he left.]</em>

    Minhyuk saw through Beradon¡¯s eyes the lonely back of Obren as he headed somewhere.

    <em>[He went to find the Colossal Brothers.]</em>

    Through hisst will, Beradon exined to him what the Colossal Brothers were like and what kind of powers they possessed. They were beings whobined two small powers to create a mighty force.

    <em>[Minyuk.]</em>

    <em>[You and Obren cannot undergo Fusion.]</em>

    <em>[In the first ce, a god and another god cannot undergo Fusion. It is impossible. The only exception to this is the Colossal Brothers.]</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

    Minhyuk could not understand. Things were just not adding up. Obren said he would protect him and went ahead and killed the Colossal Brothers to obtain Fusion.

    <em>[Fusion might be impossible, but there was a stopgap. And I told him about that stopgap. It was something that I should not have said.]</em>

    <em>[Because¡­ the moment he uses that stopgap, there is a high chance he will be trapped forever.]</em>

    <em>[I know, I shouldn¡¯t have told him. But¡­]</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    Minhyuk remained silent as he listened to Beradon¡¯s will.

    <em>[When I told Obren the stopgap, he showed me the happiest smile in the world.]</em>

    <em>[That stopgap¡­]</em>

    Tears started to fall from Minhyuk¡¯s eyes. He wanted to give up already, but Obren worked hard and pursued a method that he should not have pursued. Only now did he realize why he had not seen or heard from Obren for a long time.

    Someone caught the falling Minhyuk. He was a very handsome man with ck hair framing his smiling face.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you regret it?¡± Minhyuk asked.

    The man just smiled at him.

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods, the God that Lives for Someone, Leads Someone on the Right Path, and Protects Someone, the Guardian God is with you!]</em>

    Obren reached for the Continent Destroyer Sword in Minhyuk¡¯s hand. Then, he said, ¡°Fusion.¡±

    His body turned into a ck mist of energy that got sucked inside the de of the sword. Before hepletely disappeared, he gave Minhyuk a bright smile.

    As it turned out, the stopgap was¡­

    <em>[Obren, that child¡­ He will be your sword.]</em>

    <em>Bzz, bzz, bzz¨C!</em>

    ck light appeared and filled the entire world.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    When the light disappeared, everyone saw Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk, whose hair and white cape fluttered with the wind, held a noble and majestic ck sword in his hand and looked at Helenia.

    <em>[Minhyuk. Level 1418]</em>

 Chapter 1065

    Chapter 1065

    When Minhyuk first met Obren, the handsome man had spent over a thousand years trapped inside the Puzzling Seasoning Jar. He always felt frustrated by that. Even after being freed from the seasoning jar, he often told Minhyuk stories about his life in that small world.

    Beradon¡¯s will continued to ring in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[Once he fuses with the sword, he might fall into a slumber inside forever. Still, he said that it was fine.]</em>

    A faint smile appeared on the dying Beradon¡¯s face.

    <em>[It was a pity.]</em>

    Minhyuk stared at Beradon, who was still smiling faintly.

    <em>[You are walking your path.]</em>

    <em>[I feel at ease.]</em>

    <em>[Why? Because I have seen many people by your side.]</em><em>[Obren is your burden.]</em>

    <em>[And he is also your friend. And your friends.]</em>

    <em>[Your family.]</em>

    <em>[And many people will share and carry that burden with you.]</em>

    <em>[The time I met you and the short moments I spent with you are the most valuable moments of my life.]</em>

    <em>Crackle, crackle, crackle¨C!</em>

    Sparks erupted from Minhyuk¡¯s sword. When it disappeared, a beautiful ck longsword could be seen in his hand.

    <em>[Guardian God Obren has fused with the Continent Destroyer Sword.]</em>

    <em>[The power of the fused sword is coursing through your veins.]</em>

    <em>[You have transcended your limits.]</em>

    <em>[...transcended¡­]</em>

    <em>[...transcended¡­]</em>

    <em>[...transcended¡­]</em>

    Minhyuk tightened his grip on the longsword as he listened to the notifications ringing non-stop in his ears.

    <em>[You have only two minutes to swing this sword.]</em>

    <em>[Please choose a name for the sword.]</em>

    Minhyuk looked at the sword wryly. Then, he said, ¡°Comrade.¡±

    <em>[You have decided the name of the sword. The sword is named ¡®Comrade.¡¯]</em>

    A voice rang in the ears of Minhyuk, who could not bear to take a single step forward.

    <em>[Your naming sense is the worst.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s hold on the sword tightened when he heard that voice. He did not know what to say to him. There was only one thing that he could think of.

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    <em>[I¡¯m also very thankful to you.]</em>

    Although Obren had turned into a sword, Minhyuk felt like he could see the smile on the man¡¯s face.

    <em>Vwooooooong¨C</em>

    Minhyuk was standing there with the sword in his hands; the ground shook, and the skies howled.

    <em>Swoosh¨C!</em>

    He raised his sword and pointed it at Helenia.

    Helenia felt suffocated. The power she felt from both Minhyuk and the sword, which was reflecting a brilliant and beautiful ck light, was beyond imagination.

    At that moment, thousands of invisible swords shot out from Minhyuk¡¯s ck sword, tearing the sky apart.

    ¡°Intangible Sword.¡±

    <em>[The level of the Intangible Sword has temporarily increased!]</em>

    <em>[The measured total level of the Intangible Sword is Level 13!]</em>

    And in just a blink, Minhyuk had arrived in front of Helenia, who was urgently setting up a red barrier around her. Minhyuk stretched out his hand, and his fingertips touched the barrier.

    ¡°The Absolute Breaker.¡±

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¨C!</em>

    Helenia¡¯s eyes grew the size of saucers as her barrier broke apart. Then, the air around her was shredded by the overwhelming force that shot out from Minhyuk¡¯s sword.

    <em>Stab¨C Stab¨C Stab¨C!</em>

    That very same force fell from the sky and stabbed her non-stop. But it was not just the thousands of invisible swords. Thousands of swords visible to the naked eye also fell and pierced through her.

    Helenia hurriedly tried to create hundreds of shields around her to protect herself while casting Explosion at Minhyuk.

    <em>Like the Wind.</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaa¨C</em>

    Like the Wind, three times faster than usual, guided him out of the space he was previously in and brought him right behind Helenia.

    ¡°Haa¡­ Haa¡­¡±

    Helenia, who had endured the onught of the invisible swords of the Intangible Sword, felt relieved despite the blood covering her entire body.

    ¡°Not yet.¡±

    Goosebumps rose all over Helenia¡¯s body when she heard Minhyuk¡¯s somber voice ring behind her. Her eyes unconsciously followed Minhyuk¡¯s fingertip, pointing to the sky above them.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s not yet over.¡¯</em>

    Thousands of ck swords covered the sky above them. The Intangible Sword, which had experienced a drastic increase in level, albeit temporary, had a total duration of ten seconds.

    With a wave of Minhyuk¡¯s finger, thousands of ck swords fell from the sky and pierced Helenia¡¯s body again.

    ¡°Kyaaaaaack!¡±

    Helenia curled up, her figure showing the immense pain that she was feeling.

    <em>[2 minutes 13 seconds.]</em>

    <em>[Number of Helenia¡¯s Deaths: 3]</em>

    Helenia¡¯s body, which had curled up on instinct from the pain, stretched out once again. At this moment, she realized how unusual the situation that she was in was.

    <em>¡®At this rate, I might die.¡¯</em>

    It was terrifying, especially after learning she had made a colossal mistake. Helenia recalled thest words that Beradon told her before he died.

    ¨C<em>It¡¯s him.</em>

    <em>¨CAnother of my disciples will correct my wayward disciple in my stead.</em>

    <em>¨CI do not have any regrets.</em>

    <em>¨CThis is because I have spent myst moments with him.</em>

    <em>¨CHelenia¡­</em>

    ¨C<em>That child will be the one who will punish you.</em>

    The disciple that Beradon was talking about was Obren and not Minhyuk.

    <em>Flinch¨C</em>

    Goosebumps rose all over her body once again when she realized that Beradon had predicted what would happen. Nevertheless, she still desperately resisted so she would not get the ¡°punishment¡± the old man was discussing.

    <em>BANG¨C!</em>

    <em>[Your mana has run wild.]</em>

    <em>[All of your magic will experience a huge boost in power in exchange for your mana burning quickly.]</em>

    Blue mana appeared and gathered by Helenia¡¯s side. She used this soaring mana to call for torrential rain.

    <em>Shwaaaaaa¨C!</em>

    This torrential rain almost flooded the entire world. Then, hundreds of spears crackling with electricity appeared around her.

    When it came to attribute magic, they often showed a greater synergy once they met with something else that amplified their powers. This was what Helenia was trying to use.

    With an ugly look on her face, she said, ¡°Die!¡±

    <em>Swoosh¨C!</em>

    Hundreds of spears crackled with electricity, and thousands of lightning bolts fell from the sky simultaneously.

    Minhyuk stared lightly at the falling lightning as he slowly swung his sword.

    <em>Shwaaa¨C!</em>

    The lightning and spears crackling with electricity aimed at him scattered and disappeared with the wind with just a light swing of his sword.

    Minhyuk could wield Obren¡¯s powers by the sword ¡°Comrade.¡± This power extinguished all of Helenia¡¯s power at once.

    Then, Minhyuk pointed his sword at the flustered Helenia.

    <em>[1 minute 39 seconds.]</em>

    <em>[Number of Helenia¡¯s Deaths: 3]</em>

    Helenia had moved on instinct and burned off a huge chunk of her mana, around 20% of the total of her current mana, to create a Great Shield in front of her.

    And this was no ordinary Great Shield. It was asrge and magnificent as an iron fortress and looked firm and sturdy. One look and one would feel like it could defend against any attack.

    Minhyuk raised his sword once again and pointed it at the red shield. Then, he said, ¡°Cmity.¡±

    And at the same time¡­

    ¡°Cancel.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¨C!</em>

    Helenia breathed heavily as she watched the Cmity that Minhyuk cast scatter with the wind.

    <em>¡®I¡¯ve used up a lot of my mana.¡¯</em>

    Cancel was a magic that could nullify the opponent¡¯s magic and skills. However, it could eat away a huge chunk of mana. The amount of mana it could eat away depended on the opponent''s power, too. Helenia knew that Cmity was much more threatening than Minhyuk¡¯s other attacks. That was why she used Cancel to make it disappear.

    With this move, Minhyuk realized that Helenia was now growing impatient. If she had not, then she would have realized the true situation that she was in. The Cmity that he had just used was the saved Cmity. After all, Minhyuk always had a Cmity saved using his Save skill.

    Now, the power of the true Cmity unfolded from the sword ¡°Comrade¡± in Minhyuk¡¯s hands.

    The description of Cmity said, <em>¡®If you can recover the entirety of this power, then it will have the power that can rival the Eight Pirs¡¯ Eight Disasters.¡¯</em>

    The Cmity that Minhyuk often used was still iplete. Now, with the power of the sword ¡°Comrade,¡± it could exert its full power.

    ¡°Cmity.¡±

    No. At this moment, the power it disyed had transcended its full power.

    <em>[The level of the Cmity has temporarily increased!]</em>

    <em>[Cmity possesses the power of a true Ninth Disaster.]</em>

    <em>[The power of Cmity has gone beyond the power of a Ninth Disaster.]</em>

    <em>Crackle¨C!</em>

    A gigantic pair of wings spread out from the ck de of the sword in Minhyuk¡¯s hands.

    Helenia, who saw the beautiful, zing pair of wings, soon realized the truth. The wings were made up of countless ck swords burning with zing mes!

    Minhyuk was left breathless by the power of Cmity as it reached and went beyond its limits. His still Cmity originally could summon a thousand swords with 2,000% additional damage. But the current Cmity? Five hundred swords with 12,000% damage would shoot out with every swing of his sword.

    The skill was truly worthy of its name, <em>Cmity.</em> It would bring cmity upon his enemies and destroy them.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud¨C!</em>

    The swords that shot out of Minhyuk¡¯s sword collided with Helenia¡¯s Great Shield.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    The ear-piercing sound of five hundred swords shing against her shield rang on the battlefield.

    The Great Shield, which boasted extremely high defensive power and durability and was hailed as absolutely unbreakable, started to crack.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¨C!</em>

    Helenia felt the danger and hurriedly tried to remedy the situation.

    <em>[You cannot avoid the effects of Cmity.]</em>

    Cmity was even able to tie Helenia¡¯s feet.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud¨C!</em>

    In the end, swords covered in zing mes broke the Great Shield and began to attack Helenia.

    There was a reason why Minhyuk could confidently say that it was very overpowered.

    <em>¡®The enemy will receive 12,000% additional damage the moment it makes contact with them. Then, an additional 2,000% damage would be inflicted to all enemies within a fifty-meter radius.¡¯</em>

    <em>Stab¨C</em>

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    <em>Boom, boom, boom¨C!</em>

    Explosions continuously erupted and devoured Helenia non-stop until she died. She could resurrect in just three seconds and at the same spot, apparent from the three times she had died before. So, when she resurrected, she was still within the radius of the effect of Cmity.

    <em>[1 minute 6 seconds.]</em>

    <em>[Number of Helenia¡¯s Deaths: 4]</em>

    Helenia screamed from the terrible pain that she was being subjected to. She hurriedly used Blink to escape the range of the zing mes.

    The beautiful and graceful sorceress was no longer in sight. There was only a woman with apletely charred body copsing on the ground and trying to crawl away.

    With this, they only needed to kill her one more time. If they killed her this time, then she would truly die. Helenia tried to cast teleport. But before she could do so, she crashed again on the ground.

    ¡°A- aaaaaah¡­¡±

    Elizabeth, the god who could control the system, prevented her from escaping.

    ¡°Transcendence.¡±

    <em>Swoosh¨C!</em>

    An overwhelming amount of ck energy, the most immense he had ever seen since obtaining this artifact, wrapped around Minhyuk¡¯s body and turned into the ck Dragon¡¯s Armor.

    Since Minhyuk could not teleport, he had to run and chase after Helenia, who had used Blink earlier. It did not take too long for him to reach her. He raised his sword and cut her back with the Sword of Carnage.

    The Sword of Carnage, which received the power of Comrade, shed and hacked at her back a hundred times over.

    ¡°A- aaaaaaaaah¡­ S- spare me. Please, spare me¡­¡±

    As someone carrying the name Immortal, Helenia had never once experienced the fear of death, until now.

    Despite the cuts and shes tearing her back apart, she desperately crawled on the floor and tried to run away. Of course, she did not forget to pour all the magical attacks she could use onto Minhyuk.

    ¡°Absolute Defense.¡±

    s, none of her attacks worked on Minhyuk. The power of the Sword of Frenzy appeared on the de of Minhyuk¡¯s sword.

    <em>Rumble¨C!</em>

    The overwhelming power, which was enough to shake the ground and the sky howl after receiving the power of Comrade, was about to stab through Helenia¡¯s heart.

    <em>[The Fusion will be released.]</em>

    The fusion of Obren and the Continent Destroyer Sword was released. Minhyuk silently looked down at his sword. Then, he said, ¡°Thank you, Obren.¡±

    Relief washed over Helenia when she saw the sword in Minhyuk¡¯s hand return to normal.

    ¡°I¡­ I lived?¡±

    Helenia was a genuinely disgusting being.

    ¡°He- hehehehe. I lived. I lived!!!¡± Helenia pped in delight. ¡°Without that power, you will never be able to kill me alone, right? Huh? You¡¯ve exhausted all of your powers, too, right? Hihihihihihi!¡±

    Minhyuk looked coldly at Helenia, who was pping andughing like a deranged child, and said, ¡°That¡¯s where you¡¯re wrong.¡±

    Helenia said that he would never be able to kill her alone.

    ¡°Ah¡­?¡±

    Helenia saw hundreds of rankers surrounding her. There were also the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ vassals and the strongest men sent by each nation. All of them were ready to release their most powerful skills.

    Their skills and abilities allnded at Helenia at the same time. She did not even have the time to prepare to defend herself. Now that they knew how to kill Helenia, they did not need to worry about anything else. Theypletely let go and did not spare any of their skills.

    After eating away at her HP, the attacks finally stopped. Meanwhile, the groaning Helenia tried to figure out a way for her to live and survive.

    <em>Thud, thud¨C</em>

    Minhyuk stepped forward and prepared to finish her off. It was finally time to end their long and ill-fated connection.

    ¡°T- that¡¯s right!¡±

    Helenia¡¯s eyes snapped open. There was truly a method!

    ¡°My- my ores! As long as I can get my ores back, I can make aeback. Hihi. That¡¯s right. No. If I had all my ores, I would have already killed everyone here!¡±

    There were four Helenia¡¯s Ores. Her attribute magic would have be 70% stronger if they were in her hands.

    ¡°Hihihi. That¡¯s right. As long as I find my ores, then these bug-like humans and those damn gods¡­!¡±

    At that moment, a shadow was cast upon her. The owner of the shadow was patting his stomach.

    ¡°Hey. Your ores were really dope!¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Helenia could not understand what he was saying for a moment. Why was he patting his stomach?

    <em>¡®Isn¡¯t that something done when someone finishes eating¡­?¡¯</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Helenia, who finally understood the situation, was rendered speechless. Her ores weren¡¯t stuck in an artifact or hidden anywhere.

    <em>¡®They were eaten?!¡¯</em>

    It had to be known that Helenia had used most of her spare time to search for those ores. So, Minhyuk, standing in front of her, felt very refreshed and satisfied.

    ¡°<em>Burp~!</em>¡±

 Chapter 1066

    Chapter 1066

    When Helenia had her ores with her, she was unstoppable.

    She had nothing to fear in the world, even if thousands of gods came after her and attacked her. Perhaps it was only natural. After all, she, who was already strong, would be twice as strong if she had the ores in her hands.

    Minhyuk looked at her with a satisfied expression on his face and burped. ¡°<em>Burp~</em>¡±

    Dread shed in Helenia¡¯s already shocked face.

    ¡°E- even if you hid it, I will still be able to find it.¡±

    That was right. Even if Minhyuk hid it somewhere, Helenia was confident that she would still be able to find it someday. But what if he chose to eat it? Helenia was left shocked and dumbfounded by Minhyuk¡¯s meticulousness.

    ¡°Yes, you¡¯re meticulous¡­ But I don¡¯t think you would be able to eat it. You will be very reluctant. After all, they should be very delicious.¡±

    Minhyuk looked at her in confusion. ¡°What bullshit are you spouting?¡±

    Helenia was once again left in shock.¡°They were delicious.¡±

    Helenia looked like a dumbfounded fool before her death.

    <em>¡®No!!! Why?! Did he eat it because it was delicious?</em> Why? Why? <em>Why?!¡¯ </em>

    She just could not understand.

    ¡°You fuc¡­!¡±

    Unfortunately, she could not finish her words. Her head had already fallen on the ground.

    Everyone looked tense as they watched Helenia¡¯s head roll on the ground. The one who taught them how to kill Helenia was the Immortal Sorceress herself. There was a chance that it was a lie, right? Then, her head no longer moved.

    <em>[You havepleted the </em><strong><em>Episode</em></strong><em>: Immortal Sorceress Helenia and Lord of the Monsters Barbarian¡¯s Quest for Destruction.]</em>

    <em>[Rewards will be given based on one¡¯s contribution.]</em>

    <em>[You have sessfully killed one of the Eight Pirs, Immortal Sorceress Helenia.]</em>

    <em>[All of the people who participated in killing Helenia will level up by five.]</em>

    All of the yers were left stunned.

    They had only participated, but they could level up by five. With the level-up they received during Barbarian¡¯s sessful hunt, their total level increase was seven.

    Of course, this level-up would be applied equally to everyone who participated in the war, whether they were still here or had already been forced to log out.

    <em>[You have now received the rewards for your contribution.]</em>

    The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ high rankers died an average of nine times. Because of that, most of them had leveled down by 20~30 levels. One of them was Ascar. She could not help but breathe a sigh of relief when she leveled up by eight after calcting her contributions.

    <em>¡®I still have to fill in the remaining nine levels.¡¯</em>

    If it were that much, then she would be able to recover them easily over time.

    As the one who made the greatest contribution to Helenia¡¯s hunt, Minhyuk also received nonstop reward notifications.

    <em>[You have gained 13,004,050 tinum.]</em>

    The amount of tinum he acquired was so high that one would not believe it only came from killing one Named NPC. Just like the rest, Minhyuk had also experienced repeated deaths during his fight with Helenia. Because of that, his level has dropped by nine.

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[...leveled up.]</em>

    Minhyuk received twelve level-up notifications, with five for his participation in Helenia¡¯s hunt and seven for his contribution. Minhyuk had made huge contributions that went far beyond those by Ascar and the rest. The reason why the number of levels that he acquired was low was because the total EXP needed to level up between them and Minhyuk had a vast difference.

    <em>¡®The fact that I have recovered the damage I received and even leveled up further can already be considered a huge gain.¡¯</em>

    With this, Minhyuk¡¯s level increased to the point that he was just right around the corner of Level 700.

    The notifications constantly rang in his ears.

    <em>[You have acquired the 4th Tier Magic Book: Explosion (1,405).]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the 2nd Tier Magic Book: Fireball (53,041).]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the 8th Tier Magic Book: Great Shield (1).]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the 6th Tier Magic Book: Mass Teleport (108).]</em>

    <em>[...5th Tier Magic Book¡­]</em>

    <em>[...9th Tier Magic Book¡­]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Immortal Sorcerers¡¯ Mana Heart.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired Parchment of Helenia¡¯s Magic (3).]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Pir Tracker Parchment.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Immortal¡¯s Robe.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Million Year Mana Staff.]</em>

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[Those who possess the Immortal Sorcerer¡¯s Mana Heart can take the ss Trial to be the Immortal Sorcerer.]</em>

    Minhyuk already had someone in mind to be the owner of this mana heart. Without hesitation, he handed Ali the mana heart, the Immortal¡¯s Robe, and even the 9th Tier Magic Book.

    ¡°Having the 9th Tier Magic Book means that yers will be able to reach an entirely new level of magic.¡±

    Alex and some outstanding mages could only cast one magic at the 8th Tier. But Ali, as the number one in the global ranking for mages, was able to cast two or three 8th Tier magic.

    At this point, Ali did not know how to approach the 9th Tier. His level has gone below Level 600 during this war. Although he was able to increase his level by 25, it was still impossible for him to recover what he had lost. Nheless, with the help of Helenia¡¯s mana heart and all the other rewards given to him, he would definitely be able to approach and reach that new level quickly.

    When everyone saw Minhyuk hand Ali the rewards, none objected. Why? Because they were all witness to the sacrifice that he had made.

    During this time, the notifications did not stop at all.

    ¡°As long as we kill all these monsters, then I can return to my wife¡¯s arms!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re alive. We¡¯re alive!!! Ahahaha!¡±

    Although countless giant monsters prowled and were ready to pounce at them, they seemed to have let go of their worries.

    ¡°Your Majesty, from what it looks like, we will be able to kill all of the monsters here if we detonate all of the bombs that Helenia gathered earlier.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded when he heard the report. Then, he saw the three magic parchments that Helenia dropped. Just by tearing these three parchments, they would be able to cast magic at her level.

    ¡°Use this to Mass Teleport the troops. Then, we can detonate the bombs.¡±

    It seemed like everything was finally over. Although cheers erupted all over the battlefield, Minhyuk did not feel happy. He knelt and cradled the Continent Destroyer Sword in his chest.

    The people, who were bursting with joy, turned to look at Minhyuk.

    ***

    The global number onepany, Apel.

    All of their executives cheered loudly.

    ¡°The moment they killed Helenia, our stock prices jumped by 20%. Our overall stock price had increased by 60% in just two weeks!¡±

    ¡°The Beyond the Heavens Empire version of our newest model, the APhone 23, with the armors and capes of the yers and NPCs of the empire are receiving a huge advertisement effect.¡±

    ¡°The pre-orders were onlyunched this morning, but they are sold out worldwide! Sold! Out!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not all. Even the previous model''s sales, the APhone 22, have increased by more than 300%.¡±

    ¡°The monsters that the NPC named Barbarian has summoned are much more than we had expected. If webine all the drops, we can also expect a return on investment and a high profit.¡±

    The Beyond the Heavens Empire has asked for 10% per trillion of the excess profits if Apel records more than ten trillion won in profits. They could expect seven trillion won from the loot and tinum alone based on their estimates. And with the considerable advertising effects and rising stock prices, they could already expect the profits that they would generate to exceed ten trillion won.

    However, a human¡¯s greed knew no bounds.

    ¡°What a pity. If yer Minhyuk worked harder, the effects would be better.¡±

    The executive who said those words was soon rendered speechless. Why? Because he saw Minhyuk cradling the sword named ¡°Comrade¡± in the monitor.

    ¡°That man who became a sword to protect Minhyuk¡­¡±

    Although the man was nothing but an artificial intelligence, they had to admit that he was a very calm and dashing man.

    At this moment, the entire world agreed. In their hearts, the coolest NPC has switched from Brod and Ben to Obren. s, what happened next?

    <em>¡®He became a sword.¡¯</em>

    ***

    Minhyuk, cradling the cold and sharp sword in his arms, could not hide his sadness. Obren had be the Guardian God because of him. And now, he chose to fall into an eternal sleep and be trapped in frustration inside the sword forever.

    ¡°You told me you don¡¯t want to get trapped anywhere anymore because it¡¯s very frustrating.¡±

    Obren often said.

    ¨C<em>Being trapped in a world of darkness with no one beside me is like hell.</em>

    <em>¨CI am really grateful that I could meet you ande out into the world once again.</em>

    <em>¨CWhat would I feel if I were trapped again? Are you nuts? I won¡¯t ever go back to that ce.</em>

    Minhyuk, aware of this fact, felt grateful and heartbroken for Obren and his choice. Tears flowed down his cheeks.

    Genie immediately stopped Locke, who was trying to approach Minhyuk. She said, ¡°It¡¯s better to let him cry it out.¡±

    Locke nodded. Suddenly, he stopped in confusion. ¡°Eh?¡±

    The sobbing Minhyuk did not hear Locke¡¯s voice. The dignity of a monarch? He did not care one bit. After all, he had lost his precious and dear friend. Would something like that bring back his friend? No. Everyone understood it. That was why they were all looking at him with red eyes.

    ¡°Obren!!! Say something! Didn¡¯t you ask me when Aruvel¡¯s new work will be released? You even said that you would read it! I asked you why you, a Guardian God, would want to read that, and you said, <em>¡®The Guardian God is a man too!¡¯</em> right?!¡±

    <em>[Hey. Why are you¡­]</em>

    The grieving Minhyuk did not hear and could not hear anything.

    ¡°You even asked me to prepare a T-shirt for you so Aruvel can sign on it! You told me that you would sleep in that T-shirt. So, say something, Obren. You said that you dreamt that you became a wild stallion like the main character in the novel¡­¡±

    <em>[This punk! For real?!]</em>

    Someone grabbed Minhyuk. Shocked, Minhyuk turned to look at the guy pulling at him. That was when he realized it was Obren, the man he had been crying and calling out for.

    <em>[W- when did I say that?! You¡­ you! Fine. I had that dream! Just once!]</em>

    ¡°Obren?¡±

    The confused Minhyuk wiped his tears. Beradon had said that Obren might fall into eternal slumber inside the sword after the fusion, but Obren was here, even standing calmly in front of him.

    <em>[I have long surpassed Master Beradon. Did you think I would fuse with the sword with little thought and preparation?]</em>

    Minhyuk felt extremely relieved when he heard that. Obren smiled as he looked at Minhyuk.

    <em>[I feel so mortified because of you, you idiot.]</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    Minhyuk felt sorry for making a mistake and exposing Obren¡¯s private life.

    <em>Thump¨C!</em>

    Obren copsed on the ground.

    <em>[I¡¯m going to die from exhaustion.]</em>

    Minhyuk alsoid down beside him.

    The entire world cheered loudly at the sight of the two of them. Why? The scene of Minhyuk and Obren lying side by side and looking at the sky above them was just like a scene out of a movie.

    Then, Minhyuk said something to Obren.

    <em>[I don¡¯t want to. Don¡¯t ask me to do something like that. Do you want me to go back to that sword, huh?]</em>

    ¡°Eh~ Obren, just once. Please~ If we don¡¯t do that, the Beyond the Heavens Empire will be shaken because of financial difficulties~.¡±

    <em>[I should get back in that sword. Let me repeat that. I won¡¯t do it. Never.]</em>

    The others could not hear their bickering. Then, all the cameras focused on the two of them, filming the scene that would mark the end of this war. At that moment¡­

    ¡°Don¡¯t you want to record this historical moment?¡± Minhyuk spoke first.

    Obren red at him, his face turning red. Minhyuk hurriedly avoided his gaze. With the blush high on his cheeks, Obren stammered.

    <em>[T- t- t- t- then¡­]</em>

    Everyone focused on Obren.

    <em>[It- it would be great to have something with a camera that has f- fifteen megapixels and can take photos from m- multiple angles. It would be better if it had a seven-inch OLED screen.]</em>

    Minhyuk followed up with another line. ¡°Ah! Perfect timing! I got a new phone. It has a fifteen-megapixel camera, can shoot from multiple angles, <em>and</em> has a seven-inch OLED screen!¡±

    Then, he took out a mobile phone that clearly had the words ¡°APhone 23¡± written on it. Obren¡¯s eyes grew wide.

    <em>[A- aaaaah! I really want to have one of these¡­]</em>

    Obren stopped speaking and sighed.

    <em>¡®Shit. I don¡¯t know anymore.¡¯</em>

    <em>[Isn¡¯t that that phone?! The one that can take photos dozens of times in a row? If I have that, I can take a high-definition photo with Great Author Aruvel!]</em>

    ¡°That¡¯s right. It¡¯s that phone.¡±

    <em>[Achoo! Achoo! Achoo! APhone! Achoo! Achoo! APhone 23! Achooooo!]</em>

    Obren thought, <em>¡®I¡¯d rather stay asleep inside the sword.¡¯</em>

    But as everyone expected, Obren was aplete <em>tsun-tsun.</em>

    At that moment, Apel¡¯s PR team cheered loudly.<blockquote>

    ChubbyCheeks''s Thoughts

    Lolol. The <em>Achoo! </em>Gets meughing every time. XD</blockquote>

 Chapter 1067

    Chapter 1067

    The entire world was buzzing¡ªthe buzz was as huge as if each country had won the World Cup.

    The average viewership rating of the broadcasting stations that broadcasted Helenia and Barbarian¡¯s Hunt worldwide was 40%. The moment Minhyuk held Obren, who had turned into a sword, the ratings rose to 49%. When the twoid down on the ground after sessfully killing Helenia, the ratings rose to 55%.

    In just one day, countless articles poured in.

    <em>[Apel, thepany that sponsored the Beyond the Heavens Empire with eight trillion won, is expected to obtain a record-breaking fifty trillion won in total revenue this year.]</em>

    <em>[Almost half of their expected total revenue is thanks to the advertising effects brought by the Beyond the Heavens Empire.]</em>

    <em>[APhone 23¡¯s reservation has gone beyond unusual! It seems like it will break the highest sales record in history!]</em>

    <em>[Apel is expected to sign an additional contract with the Beyond the Heavens Empire. Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s Vassals Edition will soon be released!]</em>

    <em>[We can expect to see the vassals¡¯ cute characters in the Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s Vassals Edition. Many people are waiting for Obren¡¯s edition.]</em>

    <em>[Many people express a strong desire to purchase Obren¡¯s edition. A Chinese conglomerate is willing to spend a billion won just to buy it. ]</em><em>[There are a lot of inquiries about Obren¡¯s edition.]</em>

    <em>[The number of members of Obren¡¯s fan club Tsun-Tsun has exceeded thirty million.]</em>

    <em>[¡®Dream of Bing a Wild Stallion¡¯ ranks 3rd on the real-time search terms. What is it?]</em>

    <em>[Videos expressing their gratitude for Minhyuk are pouring non-stop on ZTube.]</em>

    <em>[The ones who protected Athenae.]</em>

    <em>[Minhyuk¡¯s influence far surpasses the influence of any conglomerate or politician in the world.]</em>

    Good news continued to pour in. However, that did not mean that it was always good news.

    <em>[The level of 10,000 rankers has decreased by an average of 6% during the war.]</em>

    <em>[When will the yers who suffered from the level-down penalty be able to recover?]</em>

    <em>[The damage that the Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s rankers have received haspletely knocked them down. This is especially the case for ck Mage Ali. He had lost his qualifications as the God of Magic. Fortunately, he received Helenia¡¯s Mana Heart.]</em>

    <em>[Experts expect Ali to take at least a few years before he could be an Eight Pir ss yer.]</em>

    They had gained a lot, but they had also lost a lot.

    ***

    After Obren and Minhyuk APhone 23, the Beyond the Heavens Empire used Helenia¡¯s Magic Parchment and chose to use Mass Teleport, teleporting everyone out of the battlefield simultaneously. Then, they detonated all of the bombs and potions that Helenia had gathered and killed the tens of millions of monsters all at once.

    All the troops that the nations had dispatched, including the Beyond the Heavens Empire troops, returned home.

    As for Minhyuk, he logged out of the game and slept for two straight days. This was so he could deal with the fatigue and exhaustion that he had umted. After all, he had jumped back into the game for this session right after waking up from fainting.

    When Minhyuk woke from his two-day slumber, he spent thirty minutes dealing with his backlogs and listening to various reports.

    Oh Changwook said, ¡°Apel has sent someone from their headquarters. You will be meeting them in the afternoon in a suite in the South Korea Hotel.¡±

    ¡°I understand, hyung,¡± Minhyuk replied.

    ¡°Don¡¯t overdo it next time,¡± Oh Changwook urged, his worry evident.

    Minhyuk smiled as he nodded in agreement. Then, he rushed to his Athenae capsule.

    ¡°Y-you! I just told you not to overdo it!¡±

    ¡°No, hyung<em>.</em> I¡¯m hungry.¡±

    ¡°Ah!¡±

    Changwook realized that Minhyuk had not been able to eat anything delicious recently because he had been very busy. On top of that, he had slept for two straight days. His appetite would be through the roof right now.

    Just like that, Minhyuk logged back inside Athenae.

    ***

    <em>¡®On a day when I¡¯ve taken a very long nap and cannot be bothered to do anything, there is delicious food that I can eat by just moving a few fingers¡ªChinese food.¡¯ </em>

    When Minhyuk logged back inside the game, he immediately took out the Chinese dishes he had made in advance to satisfy his hunger. The way he took out the dishes from his inventory made him resemble a delivery man taking out dishes from his metal delivery box.

    He took out <em>jjajangmyeon, jjampong,</em> fried rice, and <em>tangsuyuk, </em>before the cherry on top.

    <em>¡®C-cream shrimp, let¡¯s go~¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk let out a sigh of awe.

    Wouldn¡¯t it be better to eat such delicious food with somepany?

    Beanie, who had been ying somewhere, suddenly peeked through the door. It seemed like he had smelled the dishes from wherever he was.

    ¡°<em>Oiiiiiink!</em>¡±

    From what Minhyuk had heard, Beanie had contributed a lot to the battlefield during the time that Minhyuk had been unconscious. Of course, Beanie¡¯s contributions were less significantpared to those made by Brod and Ben. Nevertheless, he had indeed made contributions.

    Seeing his master beckoning him over, Beanie hurriedly ran over to Minhyuk.

    <em>Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh¨C</em>

    <em>¡®Have you ever seen a baby piggy shake and mix a bowl of jjajangmyeon that¡¯s still covered with cling wrap?¡¯</em>

    ¡°You¡­ You¡¯re a person, right?¡±

    ¡°<em>Oink?</em>¡±

    It was truly quite a sight. Anyway, Minhyuk peeled off the cling wrap of his <em>jjajangmyeon</em>. Why did Minhyuk not do it like Beanie? Well, it was mainly because of the sound. He did not like it when the noodles were mixed like that.

    <em>Snap.</em>

    Minhyuk separated his chopsticks and began to mix his <em>jjajangmyeon.</em>

    Everyone was used to it since they often heard it. But if one listened carefully, mixing <em>jjajangmyeon</em> sounded very appetizing.

    <em>Fwoosh, swoosh, swoosh¨C</em>

    After mixing the <em>jjajangmyeon,</em> Minhyuk picked up a huge bundle of noodles with his chopsticks.

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuuurp!!!</em>¡±

    He aggressively pushed everything into his mouth, and the rich and savory vor of the <em>jjajangmyeon</em> instantly filled his mouth. Of course, he did not forget to eat a piece of pickled radish.

    <em>Crunch, crunch¨C</em>

    Then, he had another huge bite of noodles...

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuuuurp!!!</em>¡±

    ¡­And another piece of pickled radish.

    <em>Crunch, crunch¨C</em>

    Minhyuk and Beanie enjoyed their meals just like that.

    This time, Minhyuk turned his attention to the <em>tangsuyuk.</em> He poured half of the sauce into half of the <em>tangsuyuk</em> and left the rest as it was in consideration of Beanie, who loved to dip the <em>tangsuyuk</em> in sauce.

    When Minhyuk looked at Beanie, he saw that the baby piggy had <em>jjajang</em> all over his mouth.

    ¡°<em>Oiink! Oink! I know how to eat!</em>¡±

    After wiping the voracious foodie¡¯s mouth, Minhyuk grabbed a piece of <em>tangsuyuk </em>and dipped it in the sweet and sour sauce.

    <em>¡®Yeah, yeah. You know everything.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s <em>tangsuyuk</em> was very special. Its meat was thick, and its batter was as thin as possible. So, when a person bit into the crispy batter, they would immediately feel the texture of the thick and juicy meat. As for the sweet and sour sauce made from several fruits? It was so delightful that it could make a person smile.

    ¡°Whoa¡­¡± Minhyuk uttered with a small smile.

    It was the sound that someone instinctively released whenever they ate something delicious.

    After eating his <em>jjajangmyeon</em>, he stuffed his face with fried rice.

    Of course, when eating fried rice that quickly, his throat would feel dry like he was choking. At times like this, only one thing was needed.

    Minhyuk took a huge sip of the <em>jjampong</em> soup next to him.

    ¡°Kghhhk!¡±

    The spicy soup washed away the greasiness of the fried rice. Minhyuk personally liked to eat <em>jjampong</em> and fried rice together.

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuuuurp!!!</em>¡±

    There was a smile on his face as he ate the spicy and chewy noodles with relish. Then, he grabbed some raw onions and dipped them in <em>chunjang</em> before eating them.

    <em>Munch¨C</em>

    The onions were not spicy; instead, they were pretty sweet and crunchy. Now, it was time for the highlight.

    ¡°Kghhk¡­¡±

    Minhyuk grabbed a piece of the well-battered, beautiful cream shrimp. The shrimp was plump, and the white cream sauce looked delightfully sweet. He ced it in his mouth with gusto.

    <em>Crunch¨C</em>

    Minhyuk and Beanie filled their mouths with shrimp.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡±

    ¡°Oink¡­¡±

    They made eye contact. There were ecstatic smiles on their faces as they shouted in awe. The sweet sauce was truly fantastic!

    These two pigs could devour neen Chinese dishes together in just an instant. They even patted their full stomachs in satisfaction.

    Minhyuk was about to meet with the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ executives and checked the time. <em>¡®The appointment with Apel is just around the corner.¡¯</em>

    ¡°We¡¯re stuffed. Okay, you can go and y around, Beans.¡±

    ¡°<em>Oiiiiiink!</em>¡±

    Beanie, whose stomach went from t to bulging, happily ran to y while patting his bulging belly.

    After sending him off, Minhyuk logged out.

    ***

    Apel¡¯s Johnson and Minhyuk met at the South Korea Hotel¡¯s suite. The two had previously met when they signed the sponsorship contract.

    ¡°Based on our estimations, the value of the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ promotional effect, together with the drops from the monsters, will give us around eighteen trillion won annual revenue.¡±

    Their profits went above and beyond their initial investment.

    ¡°ording to the use where you will get 10% of the profits if the revenue exceeds ten trillion won, the Beyond the Heavens Empire will receive eight hundred billion won.¡±

    Apel did not expect Athenae to create such a huge ripple effect.

    ¡°The promotion of the APhone 23 with Obren was truly impressive. Ah, there¡¯s also the character draft.¡±

    Johnson¡¯s visit to Korea was because of a new contract. Like they had discussed in the news, they would create products with the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ vassals.

    Minhyuk looked at the character draft. The characters looked cute with their big heads, just like the characters in Naple Story, a game about fallen leaves. Ben, with a big head and a spear, looked very cute. Even Brod, with his scary and serious face, still looked very cute. The one who looked most impressive was Obren, pretending to be aloof with his arms folded together.

    ¡°We nned to produce 10,000 units of the limited edition Obren¡¯s APhone 23. But we¡¯re already receiving a flood of inquiries.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded. This was good for the Beyond the Heavens Empire. After all, not only would they promote their empire through the help of the global corporation Apel, but they would also gain another source of ie. Besides, the terms and conditions of the contract were excellent.

    ¡°I think you will be able to earn at least 200 billion won from this contract.¡±

    Minhyuk smiled. ¡°That¡¯s amazing. The one trillion won that we will get from these contracts will go directly to the development funds of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.¡±

    Johnson looked like he was pondering about something as he took a sip of his tea. The middle-aged gentleman carefully said, ¡°There¡¯s something that I¡¯m curious about. Is it alright to ask you about it?¡±

    This question was Johnson¡¯s personal question. Minhyuk readily agreed because Johnson asked him nicely and politely.

    ¡°Are¡­ all of your profits going to be used for the Beyond the Heavens Empire?¡±

    Minhyuk answered, ¡°Ah. Around 95% of the profits will be spent on the Beyond the Heavens Empire. The rest is divided among the executives and some other people.¡±

    ¡°The yers¡¯ share is much smaller than I expected.¡±

    It was indeed very small. Johnson knew that 50% of profits would go to the yers of each kingdom and empire. Of course, that was what they usually did.

    <em>¡®This is the kind of empire that he has created.¡¯</em>

    Nevertheless, even from that small percentage, Minhyuk''s wealth would definitely be astronomical. Minhyuk had umted around 700 billion won in his installment savings(?) ount in the bank. This was Minhyuk¡¯s personal money.

    ¡°I know that it might sound rude; nheless, do you mind if I give you some advice?¡± Johnson asked cautiously.

    Minhyuk, who looked puzzled, nodded.

    ¡°Sometimes, using as much as you have is good,¡± Johnson advised.

    He knew he was meddling, and he was certainly crossing the line.

    ¡°I am aware of your good deeds, Mr. Minhyuk. You donate tens of billions of won to welfare centers yearly, right?¡± Johnson looked at Minhyuk. ¡°I was shocked when I saw youe out of a taxi.¡±

    Johnson thought Minhyuk might take his words badly. After all, the young man could be considered an icon of frugality.

    Nevetheless, Johnson continued, ¡°I am a greedy businessman. Money can sometimes bring joy to the people around me. And, of course, it can also bring me joy.¡±

    Hearing those words, Minhyuk looked back on his past. All he had done was do good deeds, donate, and save. His spending habits were nothing like an ordinary <em>chaebol¡¯</em>s. However, it was no exaggeration to say that those actions had made Minhyuk who he was now. Even though he had hundreds of billions of won in his bank ount, the clothes that he was wearing were worth less than 100,000 won.

    ¡°Sometimes, money can make someone maintain their dignity and give the people around them happiness. Even if it¡¯s just a little bit, I hope you can spend the money on yourself and the people around you. This is my advice to you,¡± Johnson said.

    He looked apologetic. He knew that his words were nothing but an excuse for what he intended to do.

    Of course, Minhyuk didn¡¯t feel that great after hearing Johnson¡¯s advice. After all, no one should recklessly involve themselves in someone else¡¯s spending habits. Still, Johnson¡¯s intention came from a good ce in his heart.

    Johnson held out a ck card to Minhyuk. ¡°This is a ck card from Apel. There are only ten of this kind of card in the world. We pay those we consider very important to ourpany.¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    Minhyuk looked at the middle-aged man in confusion. What was the purpose of this card?

    ¡°This is a gift from Apel. We want you to spend thirty billion won in three days.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes grew wide. ¡°...!¡±

    Johnson chuckled. The value that the Beyond the Heavens Empire had brought to Apel might only be over fifteen trillion won this year, but it would exceed forty trillion won in five years or more.

    Because of that, Apel wanted to give them a gift as a show of gratitude. The executives and representatives of Apel, along with Johnson, had set a three-day time limit for the card because they wanted Minhyuk, the icon of frugality, to spend a lot of money without any burden.

    Minhyuk, who was left feeling bad, finally understood the meaning behind what Johnson had said earlier. He had given that advice so that Minhyuk would not feel pressured to receive this gift.

    Johnson smiled. ¡°Isn¡¯t there a word that kids these days say?¡±

    Minhyuk did not refuse further. He epted the ck card and said, ¡°Flex.¡±

    Yes. He could do a thirty-billion-won flex, too.

 Chapter 1068

    Chapter 1068

    Even after leaving the South Korea Hotel and getting home, Minhyuk still could not fully understand what Johnson had said.

    <em>¡°Money can make the people around you happy sometimes, but it can also make them feel burdened.¡±</em>

    <em>¡®Does he mean that because I¡¯m not spending any money, the people around me feel burdened, and they¡¯re being put in a difficult situation?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was still young¡ªjust twenty-one years old. As someone with thrifty spending habits that people from all over the world admired, he just could not understand Johnson¡¯s words. So, he went to his greatest advisor, his father, and ryed Johnson¡¯s words.

    Minhyuk¡¯s father almost went mad with rage. ¡°How absurd! How can anotherpany executive get involved in another person¡¯s spending habits?!¡±

    Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°He gave me thirty billion won to spend in three days.¡±

    ¡°...¡± Kang Minhoo, the furious father, suddenly calmed down and smiled gently. ¡°Son, that is an excellent piece of advice.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    That was a rapid change of expression! The expression on Kang Minhoo¡¯s face had turned into a yful one. Of course, he was still trying to figure out what Johnson meant through his son¡¯s words. It did not take long for him to understand Johnson¡¯s intentions. Kang Minhoo had lived as the chairman of hispany for a very long time. He knew it wasn¡¯t necessarily a good thing for a chairman to always live frugally.

    Even though Kang Minhoo wore shirts worth only tens of thousands of won at home, he would wear suits made by world-ss designers and watches worth hundreds of millions of won when he made formal and official appearances outside. People would refer to money used to spend on those things with a very absurd name: ¡°Dignity Maintenance Fee.¡±

    <em>¡®I lived a frugal lifestyle for so long and only realized how it affects my surroundings after a very long time.¡¯</em>

    As the owner and the emperor of his empire, the various aspects of Minhyuk¡¯s life would definitely affect the people below him.

    ¡°Buy everything that you want for three days,¡± Kang Minhoo said.

    He thought that Minhyuk should experience it himself. Besides, they would not have much to worry about even if Minhyuk were to spend a lot of money during those three days.

    <em>¡®I know my son will not spend that money recklessly.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had lived a very frugal life so far. So, Kang Minhoo thought it would be okay for his son to splurge and spend all he wanted in those three days.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s free after all.¡¯</em>

    Kang Minhoo smiled gently. ¡°Son, is there anything you want?¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡±

    Minhoo knew his son¡¯s personality and character well. Even though he asked that question, he already knew his son did not want anything.

    ¡°I want to have one!¡±

    ¡°Oh! One of what, son?¡±

    Chairman Kang Minhoo was delighted. His son, who was not interested in anything other than food, wanted something.

    ¡°Do you know that restaurant called Hamburg¡¯s Touch?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    It was a chain restaurant serving hamburgers and its number of franchises was increasing rapidly.

    ¡°I really love the hamburgers there!¡±

    At that moment, Minhoo thought it was as expected of his son. <em>¡®In the end, he only wants to buy and eat some hamburgers¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk, with his flushed face, said, ¡°Can I take over that?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Minhoo was speechless by his son¡¯s thought process.

    <em>¡®Goodness! He thought their hamburgers were delicious and wanted to acquire thepany itself?¡¯</em>

    ¡°Son¡­ That¡¯s a bit¡­¡±

    That¡¯s as expected of his son, no?

    ***

    Minhyuk used to read a lot of fantasy novels. In those novels, the poor protagonists often used their special abilities to make a lot of money. Then, they would use that money to do a huge flex. They bought buildings, foreign cars, and everything that they could have.

    Unlike the protagonists from those fantasy novels, Minhyuk had been born rich. He only learned to live frugally because of habit and his frugal father¡¯s teachings. Of course, that did not mean that they lived frugally like that. His father always maintained his dignity when out in public.

    <em>¡®He also does not spare any money regarding his employees.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡°Sometimes it¡¯s good to spend as much as you earn.¡± </em>

    Minhyuk did not know precisely what that meant.

    The Beyond the Heavens Empire people had told Minhyuk to rest for a week. This was only natural. Why? Because he had fainted from overwork.

    At that moment, Minhyuk remembered about his SNS ount and decided to log in. He usually only entered his SNS ount once or twice a year. He remembered the words that Locke had said around five months ago.

    <em>¡°Let me tell you, this hyung has bought a Nomborghini! And it¡¯s a limited edition¡ªonly fifty have been sold worldwide!¡±</em>

    Minhyuk thought Locke had probably stered his SNS with pictures of him and the car because the guy liked to show off.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s not a bad thing.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk smiled. Locke would probably be seen as a self-made icon. After all, he gained that money through his efforts. But when Minhyuk checked Locke¡¯s SNS ount, there were no photos of the car at all. In fact, there were only two posts on the ount.

    One was a photo of Locke with a calm and manly expression while wearing a headset and exercising. He wrote these words under his photo:

    <em>[It¡¯s hot. Just like my body.]</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    Minhyuk was rendered speechless. In his speechlessness, he identally clicked the ¡°go back¡± button and was met with a post without photos.

    <em>[Nomborghini, sold. Please refrain from making maliciousments.]</em>

    Minhyuk was confused. He could still remember how excited Locke had been. He had been practically singing while waiting for his Nomborghini to arrive in Korea.

    <em>¡®He sold it?¡¯</em>

    When Minhyuk checked thements section, he saw thement with the most likes.

    <em>[In the first ce, it¡¯s beyond your means. Lol. Minhyuk is donating his money, yet here you are, posting and bragging about your Nomborghini. Minhyuk doesn¡¯t even have a car, yet you¡¯re posting a watch worth one car?]</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    Minhyuk was rendered speechless. It was shocking to see the post stered with plenty of suchments. It always started with ¡°You and Minhyuk¡­¡± It was ridiculous. Minhyuk and Locke werepletely different people, so why did they have topare each other?

    At that moment, Minhyuk understood that the people were posting ridiculousments telling his friends that they were worse than him because he was the master and the owner of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    Thements were filled with envy, jealousy, and sarcasm.

    Minhyuk almostughed at the absurdity of the matter. However, he had never heard anything about this from Locke.

    He also went to the SNS profiles of his other members. He was expecting photos of cars or maybe houses, but none of them had any posts like that.

    <em>¡®They¡¯re being cursed and mocked needlessly because of me.¡¯</em>

    Of course, Minhyuk did not despise them even if they spent their money on expensive things.

    Then, he nced at something.

    <em>¡®Since I am required to use it, I must.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk grabbed the ck card. It was not as if he could not use or spend money.

    <em>¡®I just did not want to use it.¡¯</em>

    He had received a lot of help from his guild members, especially the high-rankers. They had even willingly given tens of billions of won for the sake of their guild. Instead of just saying thank you, he wanted to show them through his actions how grateful he was.

    <em>¡®Today, let¡¯s be Flex Minhyuk.¡¯</em>

    He would try to repay the kindness they had given him with what he had.

    If Flex Minhyuk included his 700 billion won in savings, the 800 billion won in the bank ount his father secretly opened for him, and the market cap of Ilhwa Group, which would belong to him in the future, his total assets would amount to 600 trillion won. And since he was the emperor of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, he possessed an additional more than 100 trillion won, which was the value of his empire.

    It was time to show off this money.

    ***

    The Nomborghini store was said to cater only?? to <em>chaebols.</em> They were a symbol of wealth.

    The store¡¯s new employee, Lee Hyun-Soo, was being scolded by the Nomborghini Dealership¡¯s team leader.

    The team leader rolled his eyes at him and scolded him harshly in a low voice. ¡°Can¡¯t you tell the difference between a rich person and a beggar, huh? Ignore the guests wearing shabby clothes and focus on the people wearing nice outfits.¡±

    ¡°B-but¡­ they¡¯re still customers¡­¡±

    ¡°Customer? They don¡¯t have any money; what customer?¡± Team Leader Kim Dae-Hyun looked at Lee Hyun-Soo incredulously. ¡°They don¡¯t have money. They juste here to take a look and post pictures on SNS. Do you think they¡¯re customers? They¡¯re nothing but beggars.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Lee Hyun-Soo remained silent.

    ¡°Do you know how many Nomborghinis I sell in a year? Instead of those brats, I¡¯m worthy of a Nomborghini.¡±

    Lee Hyun-Soo was the type of person who wanted to show basic manners toward the customers regardless of whether they had the money or not. He dreamed of riding and owning such a good car one day, so he fully understood that the people who visited the store also had the same dream.

    Kim Dae-Hyun called people with that dream beggars. Lee Hyun-Soo could not help but feel skeptical about that.

    <em>¡®I even bragged to my Beyond the Heavens Empire members that I got a job here, but¡­¡¯</em>

    It was tough to get a job in this ce, so Lee Hyun-Soo had boasted about it to his guild members. s, as the number of good cars he sold increased, his dream of owning one faded.

    ¡°Don¡¯t even give water to those brats who look like they have nothing! Ah! More importantly!¡± Kim Dae-Hyun red at him. ¡°Don¡¯t even let them touch the car! Do you understand? No. Don¡¯t even show it to them!¡±

    ¡°Ah, yes!¡±

    After saying his piece, Kim Dae-Hyun put on a wide smile and ran over to a woman who looked rich. ¡°Goodness! Madam, wee.¡±

    Lee Hyun-Soo, who was fixing his clothes, heard the door to the dealership open.

    <em>¡®Wow, he¡¯s tall. Is he a model?¡¯</em>

    Because of Kim Dae-Hyun, Lee Hyun-Soo had memorized all of the brands of watches, clothes, and so on. His team leader wanted him to judge people based on those things and only sell cars to people who wore them.

    Lee Hyun-Soo saw a taxi leave just after the man entered the store. It seemed he had taken the taxi there. The customer even looked around as if he did not know where to go.

    Although Kim Dae-Hyun said not to entertain or even look at people like the man, Lee Hyun-Soo still approached this customer.

    <em>¡®I-I¡¯m going to do it my way!¡¯</em>

    Lee Hyun-Soo was just that stubborn.

    He greeted the man with a polite bow. ¡°Wee!¡±

    As he bowed, he saw that the man was not wearing anything branded. Instead, he was wearing a neat pair of jeans and a white T-shirt paired with a wide-brim hat and a mask on his face.

    The man bowed slightly in response. ¡°Can I see your cars?¡±

    ¡°Yes, pleasee this way.¡±

    Lee Hyun-Soo politely led the way.

    Just then, the man touched his neck and said, ¡°I¡¯m quite thirsty. Do you have anything to drink?¡±

    Lee Hyun-Soo hesitated. ¡°Ah¡­¡±

    Kim Dae-Hyun had warned him not to give water to people who were not dressed to impress. Nevertheless, he still brought some water and handed it to the man.

    ¡°I took it from the refrigerator; it¡¯s cold.¡±

    ¡°Kghhk. Water tastes really good,¡± the man remarked with a chuckle.

    Lee Hyun-Soo thought, <em>¡®Huh? Why does his voice sound familiar?¡¯</em>

    Lee Hyun-Soo tilted his head in confusion. <em>¡®There are probably at least one or two people who sounded simr, right?¡¯ </em>

    The man asked to see a car, so Lee Hyun-Soo guided him to one.

    ¡°Wow. This is pretty. I¡¯ve never had a car like this before. Actually, I still don¡¯t have a car at all.¡±

    Lee Hyun-Soo chuckled. ¡°Haha. That¡¯s fine. I also don¡¯t have a car yet. Everyone¡¯s like that.¡±

    Wouldn¡¯t it be nice if someone like this man became sessful and bought a carter? Once he seeded in life, he could also ride a car like this.

    The man cautiously reached for the car¡¯s door. ¡°Can I take a look inside?¡±

    ¡°Yes, of course¡­¡±

    ¡°Hey!¡± Kim Dae-Hyun called out.

    He had failed to sign a contract with the rich woman, So, when he saw what Lee Hyun-Soo was doing, Kim Dae-Hyun felt a wave of anger rise to his head.

    He pulled Lee Hyun-Soo to the side and whispered, ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you, huh?! Don¡¯t give water to brats wearing cheap clothes! And I told you not to show them the cars!¡±

    Kim Dae-Hyun looked at the man from head to toe, which caused the man to panic and stop in his tracks.

    Then, Kim Dae-Hyun said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, sir. We will be having our lunchtime soon. I¡¯m afraid we can¡¯t show you the car. Please, get out.¡±

    It was a tant dismissal.

    Lee Hyun-Soo looked puzzled. ¡°He can look at the car even during our lunchtime¡­¡±

    ¡°Haha. I¡¯m sorry, but no.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    The man looked at Kim Dae-Hyun and then at Lee Hyun-Soo.

    Then, he said, ¡°I nned on buying it today, but you¡¯re telling me that I can¡¯t?¡±

    ¡°Sir?¡±

    ¡°Ha!¡± Kim Dae-Hyun snorted as he repeatedly looked at the man from head to toe. He deliberately did it, as if he wanted the man to see it. ¡°Pleasee back after lunch.¡±

    ¡°This is making me ufortable. You¡¯re tantly looking at people from head to toe and even snorting at them?¡± The man crossed his arms. ¡°Your employee, Lee Hyun-Soo, did not do that though. Hmmm. Is it because of the clothes I¡¯m wearing?¡±

    Then, the man smoothed his shirt.

    Kim Dae-Hyun sighed deeply. It was obvious he did not want to deal with the man.

    Kim Dae-Hyun replied, ¡°Do you think I wouldn¡¯t be annoyed if someone who does not have any moneyes here and does something like this? Get out¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m buying, though?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    The man pulled out a ck card, which was usually only given to VIPs.

    <em>¡®Apel?¡¯</em> Kim Dae-Hyun uttered inwardly.

    Apel¡¯s name was written on the card. Although Kim Dae-Hyun knew nothing about that specific card, there was one thing he knew about cards like that.

    <em>¡®Most ck cards do not have any limit!¡¯</em>

    The man said, ¡°This, this, this, this, this¡­¡±

    Lee Hyun-Soo¡¯s and Kim Dae-Hyun¡¯s eyes grew wider and wider with each car the man pointed at. Realizing the situation, the branch manager quickly approached them.

    The man concluded, ¡°I want everything in this store. And ten more.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    At that moment, Kim Dae-Hyun felt like he was being suffocated. The man wanted at least twenty cars.

    Genuinely worried for the man, Lee Hyun-Soo shed his business smile and tried to exin. ¡°Sir, all those carsbined will amount to 16 billion won. Leasing and installment ns would be a problem¡­¡±

    The man looked at Lee Hyun-Soo and said softly, ¡°I¡¯m paying in a lump sum.¡±<blockquote>

    ChubbyCheeks''s Thoughts

    CC¡¯s Thoughts:

    I want a friend who flexes like this. Thank you. Lololol.</blockquote>

 Chapter 1069

    Chapter 1069

    Lump sum payment. This literally meant that one would not use the installment payment scheme. If one used a credit card for the payment, they would pay the amount immediately after it was due. If one used a debit card, the amount would immediately be deducted from their bank ount.

    The branch manager''s mouth dropped open. The same was true for Kim Dae-Hyun, who was rendered speechless and could not close his agape mouth. No one had ever swiped their card and paid more than 16 billion won in a lump sum payment.

    Kim Dae-Hyun¡¯s eyes grew fierce as he sneered, ¡°Pfft. Hahahaha. Sir, please stop messing around.¡±

    With a heavy gaze, he looked at the man from head to toe as if he found his words ridiculous. The ck card the man was holding might be for a VVIP, but no one was crazy enough to pay 16 billion won in one go.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s only possible if someone told you to spend a lot of money in a few days. Otherwise, who in their right mind would do that?¡¯</em>

    s, this was the reality in front of them. The man lifted the ck card in his hands.

    The branch manager replied while smiling awkwardly. ¡°S-sir. It will be a little hard for you to buy all of the cars in this dealership, and the additional ten units you requested.¡±

    However, unlike Kim Dae-Hyun, his smile was softer, and he spoke up as much as possible for the man¡¯s sake.

    Then, the man said, ¡°I have conditions.¡±¡°Conditions?¡±

    Everyone focused on the man¡¯s words, while Kim Dae-Hyun¡¯s temper red.

    ¡°Shit. Are you for real? How long do we have to listen to such a crazy person? Hurry and chase him away¡­¡±

    ¡°Please record the sales of all of the Nomborghini that I¡¯m buying under Lee Hyun-Soo¡¯s name.¡±

    ¡°...?!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Lee Hyun-Soo¡¯s mouth dropped open. The man¡¯s words were so ridiculous that he could not believe them. Was he going to be the first person with a track record of selling twenty Nomborghinis all at once?

    Then, the man looked at Kim Dae-Hyun and said, ¡°And I want this person to be subjected to disciplinary actions.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    The branch manager was silent. He had no idea how to steer and take the reins of the situation. What if the man in front of him was just lying? Nheless, the branch manager knew Kim Dae-Hyun¡¯s behavior was wrong. It was a problem to divide customers based on their wealth.

    ¡°The card terminal is just upfront; please, follow me.¡±

    ¡°Ah, yes.¡±

    ¡°Shit. You¡¯re apletely crazy bastard, huh?!¡± Kim Dae-Hyun pulled his tie loose and followed right after them.

    But the man ignored him and just followed behind Lee Hyun-Soo, who took out his calctor and carefullyputed the amount, even making sure to triple-check it.

    Then, he said, ¡°Sir, should we fill out the contract first?¡±

    ¡°Ah. It¡¯s fine. Let me pay first.¡± The man replied, before swiping his card.

    ¡°Hey, Lee Hyun-Soo. Drag that bastard out right away! That card will definitely be declined. And you, you bastard! Who are you to dare demand I be subjected to disciplinary actions, huh¡­¡±

    <em>Shiing¨C</em>

    However, the receipts printed out from the card terminal were clearly reflected in Kim Dae-Hyun¡¯s eyes. His eyes almost popped out from shock when he saw the receipts churning out.

    ¡°P-payment has been confirmed.¡±

    Kim Dae-Hyun was rendered speechless when he heard the confirmation.

    <em>¡®How can he afford 16 billion won just like that?¡¯</em>

    Then, as if to answer Kim Dae-Hyun¡¯s question,<em></em>the man took off his wide-brim hat and mask. When his face was revealed, the mouths of everyone present almost dropped to the floor.

    In recent years, one man had a more significant influence than the president of a country and was the object of admiration of hundreds of millions of people. He was none other than Minhyuk.

    ***

    ¡°I am precisely <em>that</em><em>bastard.</em>¡±

    Everyone was left frozen.

    Minhyuk learned that one of the guild members, who had been with the Beyond the Heavens Empire for a very long time, had gotten a job at the Nomborghini store. Thinking he might help out his guild member, Minhyuk deliberately went to this store.

    When Minhyuk entered, he was greeted by his guild member¡¯s kind smile. The gesture made him feel good to the point that he thought, <em>¡®Ah, as expected of our guild member!¡¯</em>

    But then, there was Kim Dae-Hyun, who waspletely different.

    ¡°So, there are really people like that, huh?¡±

    Minhyuk, with a cold look in his eyes, scanned Kim Dae-Hyun from head to toe. His gaze made Kim Dae-Hyun feel as if he was suffocating.

    ¡°People who feel like they are above others just because they are selling expensive watches, branded items and luxurious cars.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    No words came out, no matter how often Kim Dae-Hyun opened and closed his mouth. The person that he was ignoring and belittling just now turned out to be the heir of Ilhwa Group, apany with a market cap of more than 500 trillion won, and was currently the most influential person in the world.

    Minhyuk took a step toward Kim Dae-Hyun. Then, he straightened his clothes and said, ¡°Wake up. Selling them does not mean that you are luxurious and above others.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes were filled with contempt as he looked at Kim Dae-Hyun. Then, he said, ¡°Branch manager, are you going to do what I ask you to do?¡±

    ¡°Ah. Of course!¡±

    Minhyuk went beyond the VVIP level. If he decided to call their headquarters and file aint, their branch would be overturned.

    Minhyuk grabbed Kim Dae-Hyun and whispered in his ears, ¡°This is what you call <em>flex.</em>¡±

    ***

    Oh Changwook let out a long and deep sigh.

    This year, he turned thirty-five. He was once a well-known celebrity fitness trainer, but a leg injury forced him to quit his job. At Lee Jinhwan¡¯s rmendation, he became Minhyuk¡¯s personal trainer.

    At the end of the day, Oh Changwook was still a sried worker. Of course, he was paid better than ordinary trainers. However, the wall of reality was just too high.

    <em>¡®The average price of a house is at two billion won? This is why people say that buying your own home is impossible.</em>

    The current year was 2030. The prices of apartments in Seoul had already increased beyond one¡¯s imagination. It was something that an average person would never be able to buy or own!

    <em>¡®But I can¡¯t house my parents in a shabby ce¡­¡¯</em>

    The money in Changwook¡¯s hand was just a little more than 5,000 won. He had saved quite a lot of money, but his parents were sick. He spent a lot more money than he expected on hospital bills.

    He wanted to take them out of the hospital and let them live somewhere nearby because they said that they were feeling worse in the hospital. Unfortunately, he was short of money, and there seemed to be a limit to the amount of mortgage they could obtain.

    <em>¡®Should I go and ask for help from Minhyuk? No. Oh Changwook, what are you thinking?¡¯ </em>Changwook scolded himself. <em>¡®Is money the reason why you¡¯re staying with Minhyuk, huh?¡¯</em>

    Oh Changwook had been with Minhyuk since he was a young middle school student. Back then, he had decided to concentrate solely on the boy¡¯s treatment. The people of the house were kind, and so was Minhyuk. That was why he was very grateful to them.

    When Minhyuk first showed signs of improvement in his eating addiction, he was the one who hugged the boy and cried with him all night. Oh Changwook did not want to put a price on their rtionship.

    <em>¡®They¡¯re already paying me enough.¡¯</em>

    Oh Changwook sniffled, his nose runny from the cold weather. Just then, he received a phone call from Minhyuk. Oh Changwook immediately made his voice sound brighter, ensuring his sadness was not showing through.

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter, bro?¡±

    ¨C<em>Hyung.</em><em>I¡¯m somewhere near Korea Hospital. Can we meet?</em>

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¨C<em>You¡¯ll know when youe. Hurry up ande here!</em>

    If it was Korea Hospital, then it was where Changwook¡¯s parents were currently confined.

    <em>¡®Ugh. The housing prices near that ce are costly too¡­¡¯</em>

    Since Oh Changwook was already near the ce, so he headed to the hospital without hesitation.

    ***

    Changwook couldn¡¯t understand what Minhyuk was talking about.

    They were standing in front of a high-rise apartment building near Korea Hospital. Although the area of their apartments wasn¡¯t thatrge, they were still good houses. And their sale price was no less than three billion won.

    Minhyuk handed a key over to him and said, ¡°It¡¯s your house, hyung<em>.</em>¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Because we¡¯re family, hyung<em>.</em>¡±

    Changwook could not process and understand what Minhyuk was saying. Then, he saw Minhyuk pat his pockets. Once again, he took out a key. This time, the key was for a car with a three-sided star logo worth around a hundred million won.

    Minhyuk continued, ¡°This is for you too, hyung<em>.</em>¡±

    ¡°Why¡­?¡±

    ¡°Because I like you so much, hyung<em>.</em>¡±

    Admittedly, Oh Changwook still could not understand what Minhyuk was saying.

    Then, Minhyuk held a receipt and said, ¡°I paid your hospital fees in advance. I deposited a lot. They said this is against their rules, but they¡¯re willing to do it because it¡¯s me?¡±

    ¡°So, why¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk smiled at Oh Changwook¡¯s repeated questions, before replying, ¡°For saving me.¡±

    ¡°...¡± Oh Changwook was speechless.

    Minhyuk was rich. However, he had always lived a frugal life. Even so, he had already nned to give Oh Changwook a house when Oh Changwook got married. As long as he could express his gratitude and heart, he thought spending a hundred billion won would not be a waste on this man.

    Still, even if Minhyuk wanted to give Oh Changwook a hundred billion won, he knew Oh Changwook was not the type of person who would ept it. It just happened that something came up and he was allowed to do something for him.

    Although Oh Changwook had kept silent about it, Minhyuk learned that he had been struggling to pay his parents¡¯ hospital bills. He had been trying to find a way to hand the money over to him without making him feel burdened.

    Finally, Minhyuk got an excellent opportunity and handed everything he wanted to give all at once.

    Oh Changwook had cried with him,ughed with him, and stayed by his side. Even though the man knew he was rich, he never asked for anything from him. The only thing that Oh Changwook asked was for the two of them to travel together when Minhyuk¡¯s illness was cured. He was really like a brother, like family, to Minhyuk. That was the kind of hyung Changwook was to him.

    ¡°Thank you, hyung<em>.</em> For helping me live.¡±

    Minhyuk never thought that any of these things were a waste.

    ¡°But this is too much¡­¡±

    Knowing that Changwook would refuse, Minhyuk hurriedly exined everything about Johnson. Changwook almost exploded.

    ¡°What?! How dare he give such ridiculous advice to our dear Minhyuk, huh?!¡±

    The moment Changwook heard about the ck card, his reaction immediately changed. There was a kind and gentle smile on his face.

    ¡°His advice is really, <em>really</em> good. I can see that he¡¯s a very outstanding and kind gentleman.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    The kind smile was just like the ones Lee Jinhwan and Minhyuk¡¯s father had on their faces.

    ¡°Anyway, this is like a withdrawal. So, I paid for everything right away. You don¡¯t have to feel pressured; just take it.¡±

    Changwook was ovee with emotions. Although he was in charge of Minhyuk¡¯s exercise, in Athenae, he was just an ordinary high-level yer and could not help the boy at all. He was very thankful that he was included in Minhyuk¡¯s flex.

    Then, Minhyuk said to the sniffing Changwook. ¡°Ah. Hyung. Your contract has expired, right?¡±

    Minhyuk immediately offered Changwook a new contract. After reading the contract, Changwook could tell that the conditions were much better than before. Even his annual sry would increase every year. But then, Changwook saw the words written at the end of the contract.

    <em>[This is a 50-year contract.]</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    Changwook understood that this was Minhyuk¡¯s way of trying to hold onto him forever. Even so, Changwook did not care. With a voiceced with his sincerity, he said, ¡°Thanks.¡±

    ***

    Minhyuk gathered all the people precious to him and treated them to a meal in a high-end restaurant. Most of them were guild members from the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    When they received the cars, they could not hide their gratitude and voiced their sincere appreciation one after another. Of course, most people here were already rich enough to afford their own Nomborghini. They were very happy that Minhyuk thought about them and bought the cars for them.

    ¡°I like the colors too.¡± The usually quiet Ascar, also known as Da-Sol in reality, piped up. ¡°Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. It¡¯s the rainbow. Minhyuk, you¡¯re quite good at choosing colors.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Everyone turned silent for a moment. Nevertheless, they continued to enjoy their meals. None of them were worried that Minhyuk would be addicted to flexing like this.

    <em>¡®If he¡¯s going to be addicted to that, then he would have already done it before.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®And even if he really gets addicted to flexing, he¡¯s a chaebol. It doesn¡¯t matter.¡¯</em>

    Then, Jihye asked, ¡°Minhyuk, from what you said, you still have ten billion won left, right? What are you going to do with that?¡±

    Minhyuk had already gone to the department store and bought all the watches and luxury items he had not bought before. Nheless, there was still quite a lot of money left.

    ¡°Well, there¡¯s something that I really want to buy.¡± Minhyuk smiled.

    ***

    South Korea Hotel.

    Johnson, enjoying a rare long break, threw his phone somewhere and promptly ignored it. On his third day of visiting South Korea, he decided to open his phone for the first time in a long while. However, he nned to only use it briefly.

    The moment he opened it, it began to vibrate nonstop. Most of the notifications were payment and purchase notifications.

    When Johnson¡¯s secretary saw the look of interest on his face, he asked, ¡°He¡­ Has he spent all of the money?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Just in time, he spent everything. Huh? But what¡¯s this¡­¡±

    Johnson¡¯s eyes grew wide.

    <em>[You have paid 1,000,000,000 won to Hamburg Touch.]</em>

    <em>[You have paid 1,000,000,000 won to Awesome Pizza.]</em>

    <em>[You have paid 1,000,000,000 won to Premium Samgyeopsal.]</em>

    <em>[You have paid 1,000,000,000 won to King Chicken.]</em>

    <em>[...Eel¡­]</em>

    <em>[...Kimchi¡­]</em>

    Johnson looked through the payment notifications and was left in a daze.

    ¡°Chicken, pizza, hamburger, <em>samgyeopsal</em>, eel, kimchi and many more¡­ What the hell is this? Did he buy a lifetime pass or something?¡±

    <em>¡®Goodness! Was there truly anyone who could spend so much for food alone? No. More than that, is hepletely insane?¡¯</em>

    Then, his secretary, who was checking his phone, said, ¡°There are a lot of articles about Mr. Minhyuk.¡±

    Johnson hurriedly checked the articles.

    <em>[World¡¯s Best Man: Minhyuk. He paid 10 billion won to various foodpanies.]</em>

    <em>[He said this money would be used to share meals to the people in need for free.]</em>

    <em>[This is Flex. Minhyuk actually donated ten billion won!]</em>

    <em>[Discussions from his previous interviews had surfaced. He said it would be nice if there were no hungry people in the world.]</em>

    Johnson roared withughter, ¡°Ahahahahahahahaha!¡±

    He truly respected Minhyuk for being able to spend 30 billion won like that. He found the young man to be truly interesting and fun.

 Chapter 1070

    Chapter 1070

    The air in Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s conference room was solemn and filled with tension.

    Joy Co. Ltd. had expected a slim chance of victory for humanity. Even if they won, thepany expected mankind to suffer substantial damage. However, humanity won, and the damage that they suffered was barely 20% of what they had initially calcted.

    Regardless, the victory was wee. After all, the damage to the NPCs was much lower than they expected. There was also the fact that the number of yers did not decrease.

    President Kang Taehoon dered, ¡°We will discard all subsequent nned quests rted to this matter, including the episode: <em>¡®Surviving Through the Ruined Athenae.¡¯¡±</em>

    Their months of hard work went down the drain in just an instant. Nevertheless, none of them felt any regret or disappointment. The only problem was that things were unpredictable for them now.

    Department Head Kim Dae-Il asked, ¡°Currently, the Story Team is reporting that the seats of the Eight Pirs are empty, right?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Kronad has already been deprived of his qualifications. His name remains on the list of the Eight Pirs, but he is no longer a part of them,¡± Team Leader Park replied, a serious look on his face. ¡°That¡¯s not all. The same is true for Evil God Obren. He is no longer the Eight Pirs¡¯ Evil God Obren. He is now an Absolute God, and the Guardian God of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.¡±

    Kang Taehoon groaned. ¡°And Helenia¡¯s seat has also be vacant¡­¡±

    There were at least three empty seats among the Eight Pirs. Of course, it was more than enough for the remaining members of the Eight Pirs to remain as mythical beings. The problem was Helenia died. And even if Ali, who was due to seed in her role as the Immortal Sorcerer, he could not be one of the Eight Pirs.¡°Will it be a problem if the Eight Pirs¡¯ seats cannot be filled right away?¡± Department Head Kim Dae-Il asked.

    This was because he had been managing apletely different team from them. Recently, he was assigned to oversee and manage the branches from overseas.

    President Kang Taehoon exined, ¡°The Eight Pirs are the cornerstones of Athenae. We don¡¯t know what anomalies would ur to maintain the bnce.¡±

    Since they did not know what kind of anomalies would ur inside the game, it was a problem.

    ¡°What if yer Minhyuk bes the ¡®Pir of the Gourmands¡¯ after he reaches Level 700?¡± Kim Dae-Il pressed on.

    President Kang Taehoon shook his head in response to Kim Dae-Il. Indeed, there wouldn¡¯t be many who would doubt Minhyuk bing the Pir of the Gourmands. However, even if he could be one, his current qualifications did not meet the requirements to be one of the Eight Pirs.

    Kang Taehoon sighed, ¡°It will take a very long time. And even if we waited, there¡¯s no guarantee he will be a true Pir of Gourmands.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t he almost at Level 700?¡± Kim Dae-Il was confused.

    The significance of Level 700 was immense. Once a yer had reached that level, they could gain more qualifications than at Level 600. But Athenae was a game that valued bnce greatly. The wall one needed to climb before reaching Level 700 was very steep, much more than anyone expected.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t mention it before because I did not think the executives needed to know. Do you know how much EXP one needs before jumping from Level 699 to Level 700?¡± Even President Kang Taehoon was shocked by how ridiculous it was.

    He continued, ¡°The amount of EXP needed is as much as thebined total needed to level up from Level 650 to Level 699.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Everyone present was left in shock. The wall Minhyuk had to ovee was much higher than they had thought.

    At this moment, Kim Dae-Il was convinced. He said, ¡°Indeed. It will take a very long time for yer Minhyuk to take over and be one of the Pirs¡­¡±

    Kang Taehoon nodded.

    Then, the thing that they were concerned about had finally happened.

    <em>[The Pir Evaluators have descended!]</em>

    President Kang Taehoon¡¯s face was filled with shock.

    The Pir Evaluators were immortal existences in Athenae. Their primary task was appointing qualified Pir Candidates to be Pirs. Did they appoint the good-natured and kind ones? Not at all. As long as someone passed their evaluation and had merits and qualifications worthy of the name ¡°Pir,¡± they would appoint them.

    ¡°It seems like they have judged that it is necessary to correct the bnce too.¡±

    Not long after, a shocking notification rang all over Athenae.

    <em>[Pope Kronad has been stripped of his qualifications as one of the Eight Pirs.]</em>

    <em>[Evil God Obren has been stripped of his qualifications as one of the Eight Pirs.]</em>

    <em>[The death of Immortal Sorceress Helenia has stripped her of her qualifications as one of the Eight Pirs.]</em>

    Times were changing. With the advent of the new era, leaders were also bound to change.

    ¡°There must be a reason why they came out in the world and erased the names of those people from the Eight Pirs.¡±

    It seemed like they wanted to find new people to lead and stand at the forefront of the new era.

    The scene on the monitor in front of them changed. It now showed the figures of the five Pir Evaluators, who were in the middle of a conversation.

    <em>[A foreigner is one of the Pir Candidates.]</em>

    <em>[We should take a look at him first.]</em>

    <em>[What if we came to the conclusion that he does not have the qualifications?]</em>

    <em>[Then we will strip him off of his qualifications.]</em>

    Foreigner. This word alone was enough for everyone to realize who the evaluators were talking about.

    ¡°They¡¯re going to assess Minhyuk.¡±

    They did not look busy and were even talking leisurely.

    The situation has turned for the worse. These people were beyond the control of Joy Co. Ltd. That was not all. The power of every single one of them was beyond imagination. Some could see through one¡¯s strength, some through one¡¯s production abilities, and some through one¡¯s essence. These evaluators judged the candidates on various things.

    On top of all that, there was one other factor.

    ¡°The main point here is that¡­ they will never view a foreigner favorably.¡±

    Everyone in the room did not know what would happen once they reached the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    <em>Knock, knock, knock¨C</em>

    At that moment, someone knocked lightly on the door.

    <em>Knock! Knock! Knock!</em>

    It was immediately followed by a series of urgent knocks, as if the person were in a hurry and could not bear to wait.

    Realizing that someone hade to report something unusual, Kang Taehoon called, ¡°Come in.¡±

    Lee Minhwa entered the conference room, gasping, ¡°I have something urgent to report.¡±

    Kang Taehoon asked, ¡°Report? What kind of report?¡±

    Lee Minhwa hurriedly said, ¡°The Transcendentals have escaped from the Fortress of Fantasy.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    It seemed like another shocking and unpredictable event had been triggered by Helenia¡¯s death.

    The Transcendentals were Named NPCs with levels over Level 1,000. They had also formed a rtionship with Minhyuk in the past. Minhyuk had served them a delicious meal. For eons, these prisoners had been trapped eating rotten centipedes and bugs inside the Fortress of Fantasy.

    The Transcendentals had never ventured outside the Fortress of Fantasy because they wanted to avoid Helenia from detecting them. It was also a way for Joy Co. Ltd. to block them through the system.

    A sh of disbelief appeared on Team Leader Park Minggyu¡¯s face. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me where they¡¯re headed now is¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­? Ah, yes. What you¡¯re thinking is right. They¡¯re going to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.¡± Lee Minhwa responded.

    ¡°...¡±

    President Kang Taehoon was rendered speechless by the unpredictability added to an already unpredictable situation.

    Then, Team Leader Park asked, ¡°President, at this point, should we worry about the Beyond the Heavens Empire or the evaluators?¡±

    ¡°Ha¡­ Please worry about my blood pressure first.¡±

    It seemed like Kang Taehoon was also in a very unpredictable situation.

    ***

    <em>[Pope Kronad has been stripped of his qualifications as one of the Eight Pirs.]</em>

    <em>[Evil God Obren has been stripped of his qualifications as one of the Eight Pirs.]</em>

    <em>[The death of Immortal Sorceress Helenia has stripped her of her qualifications as one of the Eight Pirs.]</em>

    Although Minhyuk was told to rest for a week, he could not sit still, and ended up essing Athenae. The moment he logged in, these notifications rang in his ears, leaving him utterly shocked.

    ¡°Obren, what¡¯s going on? Are you okay?¡±

    Of course, the thing that worried Minhyuk the most was Obren.

    Obren, who no longer had to go somewhere, soon replied.

    <em>[I¡¯m fine. There¡¯s nothing strange about it.]</em>

    ¡°<em>Phew.</em> That¡¯s a relief.¡±

    His imagination ran wild for a moment, and he thought of many things.

    Just then, Obren continued with a slightly worried tone in his voice.

    <em>[The fact that they suddenly stripped us of our qualifications¡­ it seems like the Pir Evaluators will descend to the world.]</em>

    ¡°Pir Evaluators?¡±

    <em>[That¡¯s right.]</em>

    Obren exined to Minhyuk who the Pir Evaluators were and what they did, especially their important role in observing the Pir Candidates and Pir Sessors and choosing among them those who had the qualifications to be Pirs.

    This caused Minhyuk to ask, ¡°If there are evaluators, then does that mean that someone is leading these evaluators?¡±

    <em>[Indeed. I believe there is. However, no one has ever seen them before.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡± Minhyuk looked genuinely puzzled.

    <em>¡®The evaluators have a leader, but no one has ever seen them?¡¯</em>

    <em>[If there is one, then it should be Athenae. I¡¯m not too sure myself. I can only confirm that the evaluators would gather the information together and give the leader the final report. My case is a bit special. I have never seen the evaluators, and I haven¡¯t undergone any unusual or special process. When I opened my eyes, I was already a Pir.]</em>

    <em>¡®When he opened his eyes, he became something he only heard about¡­?¡¯</em>

    Still, it was understandable. Given how strong Obren was, he truly did not need any evaluation.

    Then, another question popped into Minhyuk¡¯s head.

    ¡°If I pass their evaluation, does that mean I will be one of the Eight Pirs?¡±

    <em>[No. That¡¯s impossible. You haven¡¯t crossed over the wall yet.]</em>

    ¡°Ah, you¡¯re too blunt.¡±

    Even though Obren was not in front of him, Minhyuk could already imagine the man shrugging his shoulders. After confirming that Obren was fine, Minhyuk decided not to pay too much attention to the notifications.

    ¡°The wall you¡¯re talking about should be referring to Level 700, no?¡±

    <em>[Yes. I believe that¡¯s what you refer to it in your foreigner¡¯s terms.]</em>

    Minhyuk was now at Level 697. Level 700 might look like it was just right around the corner, but it was still too far away.

    <em>¡®The amount of EXP I need to go from Level 697 to Level 698 has more than tripled. This has been the case ever since I stepped in the 690s.¡¯</em>

    At this point, Minhyuk did not know how much EXP he would need from Level 699 to Level 700. If Minhyuk knew it would be more than the EXPbined from Level 650 to Level 699, he might pass out.

    Minhyuk, who was oblivious to the truth, recalled all of the things that he had obtained. Helenia and Barbarian had dropped many outstanding things. There were countless weapons and items that could help improve armor.

    Since they were items and materials that dropped from one of the Eight Pirs and one of the Pir Candidates, Hyemin¡¯sDaddy had difficulty dealing with them.

    At this moment, Minhyuk thought of Nekk. Nekk was the Transcendental who made Minhyuk¡¯s Transcendental¡¯s Armor Set.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s a cksmith whose level is at least at Level 1,000.¡¯</em>

    The thought of their existence alone was enough to leave anyone breathless. Minhyuk also recalled Bender, the strongest among the Transcendentals. Minhyuk wanted topete with him at least once. Not only that, he also wanted to learn from him.

    <em>¡®Come to think of it, Helenia has already died. I wonder what will happen to them next?¡¯</em>

    ording to them, one reason they could not leave the Fortress of Fantasy was Helenia.

    <em>¡®They said that Helenia would notice and be able to track them immediately if they left that ce.¡¯</em>

    From what Minhyuk heard, there were still other reasons why they could not leave.

    <em>¡®What was it again? They said they would lose their strength if they stayed outside for too long. It¡¯s because they had been staying inside the Fortress of Fantasy for a long time, right?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk nodded at the memory.

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll have to go and visit them soon.¡¯</em>

    Just when the thought shed, Brod knocked briefly and entered the office.

    ¡°Your Majesty, some suspicious people are asking to see you. I brought them in.¡±

    ¡°Suspicious people?¡± Minhyuk asked in doubt.

    The fact that Brod described them as suspicious meant they were dangerous.

    ¡°How suspicious?¡± Minhyuk asked.

    Brod replied, ¡°They stood before the <em>bungeo-ppang</em> stall and sniffed the air around. They left the stall owner feeling distressed and overwhelmed.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    What kind of nonsense was that?

    Confused, Minhyuk quipped, ¡°I don¡¯t have any children, though?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    These suspicious people were doing precisely what Minhyuk would do. However, anyone could buy and eat the bread, so it was really strange to see them just standing in front of the stall and sniffing the aroma of the bread like that.

    When Minhyuk saw the faces of the people who entered his office, his face could not help but brighten. He greeted them happily. ¡°Nekk! Bender! How are you, guys?¡±

    <em>Speak of the devil, and he doth appear.</em>

    Nevertheless, Minhyuk was delighted to see the Transcendentals appear in his empire.

    ¡°Why were you standing before the <em>bungeo-ppang</em> stall like that?¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t have any money¡­¡±

    ¡°This is the first time in a long time that we have entered an empire, and the smell was just so captivating.¡±

    The Transcendentals had spent thousands of years inside the Fortress of Fantasy. Of course, they did not have money. Even so, they would never try to harm humans for their benefit. After all, this was a part of their rules.

    However, these were the same people forced to eat only rotten centipedes and bugs inside the Fortress of Fantasy. They willingly helped Conir increase his level by 100 after eating the <em>ramyeon</em> the boy made for them. They had also felt delighted after tasting Minhyuk¡¯s dishes. So, it was understandable to see them stand in front of the <em>bungeo-ppang</em> stall and smell the aroma of the cooking <em>bungeo-ppangs.</em>

    ¡°The reason why we came here is because we want to thank you.¡±

    ¡°Yes. Thank you for killing Helenia.¡±

    The Transcendentals bowed slightly.

    At this moment, Minhyuk felt he was about to burst from happiness. Despite being trapped inside the Fortress of Fantasy, these people could be considered the Strongest Across All Eras. No matter how strong Brod was, he could not beat Bender. That was how strong they were.

    After talking with them, Minhyuk realized that the Transcendentals came here for two purposes. The first was to thank him.

    And the second was obvious.

    ¡°You missed my dishes, huh?¡±

    Although they pretended it was not the case, Nekk could not help but nod in agreement.

    ¡°A lot.¡±

    Grinning, Minhyuk replied, ¡°Of course, I have to cook for you.¡±

    It was rtively easy for Minhyuk to cook for them. Besides, he wanted something from them too.

    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t have any ulterior motives in cooking for the Transcendentals. But I want to at least fill in for my shorings. If possible, I would like Nekk to look at the materials I have obtained.¡±

    Nekk immediately nodded, but the Transcendentals looked puzzled. It was as if they had found the exchange unfair.

    ¡°I also want to be stronger.¡±

    Minhyuk had two goals. The first was to be a Pir, and the second was to develop the Beyond the Heavens Empire to the point that they could easily devour the Luvien Empire. Of course, he wanted to grow stronger during the process.

    The desire grew stronger after he recalled the words that he heard from them previously.

    <em>¡®Bender has an exceptional ability.¡¯</em>

    Bender, the strongest and most special being among the Transcendentals, was said to have the power to help others grow. One had to receive his recognition to receive his teachings and achieve growth. From what Minhyuk could tell, this power was quite simr to Beradon''s.

    Of course, the growth here was the EXP.

    ¡°I also want to have a spar with Bender,¡± Minhyuk stated.

    Bender had a proud look on his face as he stared at Minhyuk.

    Bender was a powerhouse. Although he could not beat Helenia, who had her ores with her, he was still considered the strongest and the greatest of his own era. Then, there was also his level, which waspletely visible to Minhyuk.

    <em>[Transcendental Bender. Level 1,093]</em>

    His level was indeed far beyond anyone¡¯s imagination.

    Then, Bender said, ¡°Since you¡¯re asking for a spar, does that mean you want to test your limits?¡±

    Fully intending to show Minhyuk who the boss was, Bender pulled a pen from Minhyuk¡¯s desk. With an arrogant smile still on his face, Bender said, ¡°Every time you take this pen away from me, I will help you grow a bit. You should know the special power that I have, no?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    Bender grinned. A long time had passed since theyst met. He was sure that Minhyuk had already be stronger. But he was still stronger than what Minhyuk expected. And he was proud of that strength.

    ¡°I can guarantee that you will never be able to take this pen away from me¡­¡±

    <em>[Overpower.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    To his horror, Bender was left unable to move.

    Just like that, Minhyuk returned the pen to Bender''s hands at least four times per second, not forgetting to count each time in a clear voice.

    ¡°One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.¡±

    Overpower¡¯s duration was two seconds. This meant that Minhyuk was able to repeat the process eight times.

    <em>[You have acquired EXP through Bender¡¯s Authority.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired EXP through Bender¡¯s Authority.]</em>

    <em>[...Bender¡¯s Authority.]</em>

    <em>Thump¨C</em>

    <em>Roll, roll, roll¨C</em>

    Bender, who could move again, dropped the pen in shock.

    ¡°It¡¯s done, right?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Bender looked down at the pen. For some reason, he felt like he had been beaten.

 Chapter 1072

    Chapter 1072

    Arshad could not understand the illusion that he had just seen. Why would the emperor, who was supposed to lead hundreds of millions of people, kneel and worship another? But the shocking part did not end there.

    <em>Twitch, twitch¨C</em>

    His body¡¯s reaction did not stop. Another panorama unfolded through his sses.

    ¡°<em>Fwaaaaa¨C</em>¡±

    Like a man drunk on something, he exhaled and looked up at the sky.

    Through his sses, he saw a pitiful human boy who was forced to be a vessel of demonic energy. A mysterious and unidentified hand broke through the darkness, grabbing the crying boy¡¯s hands, and pulled him up.

    Then, another illusion appeared in front of Arshad. The boy, now a man standing in front of millions of demons and demonic beasts, knelt and worshiped someone. This person stood with a smile as he looked down upon him. Just like before, the features of the man''s face were vague.

    <em>Twitch, twitch¨C</em>

    Arshad¡¯s senses were constantly being stimted. When he saw an unknown young boy holding a sword in his hands, his trembling body shook even more intensely. When he saw a beautiful girl with silver hair and snake-like eyes, his breath stagnated.

    <em>¡®Why?!¡¯</em>

    Why did the boy who stood at the pinnacle of all swordsmen kneel in front of someone?! Why did the beautiful girl with snake-like eyes and a beautiful yet ugly past worship this someone?!

    <em>¡®Why is it this man again?¡¯</em>

    Arshad, whose entire body would spasm whenever a ¡°candidate¡± appeared, flinched and twitched as countless people appeared around them. It looked like he was being electrocuted constantly.

    ¡°Arshad! Arshad!¡± Someone called out to Arshad, whose eyes were left unfocused.

    <em>Blink¨C</em>

    Captain Evaluator Ruba grabbed and supported Arshad by the arm.

    ¡°Haaa¡­¡± Arshad breathed out.

    Captain Evaluator Ruba was aware of how Arshad reacted whenever he was observing people who were candidate material. But Arshad¡¯s reaction this time was quite unusual. Ruba could see that Arshad¡¯s reaction had not stopped.

    The most puzzling was how he kept on questioning, <em>¡®Why? Why?! WHY?!!¡¯</em>

    ¡°What the hell did you see?¡± Ruba asked.

    Only then did Arshade back to his senses. Arshad could record his evaluation based on what he saw, but he could not tell hispanions anything about the panorama and the illusion he saw. All he could do was give his evaluation.

    ¡°I also don¡¯t understand the things that I have seen.¡±

    He just could not understand why that <em>man</em> always appeared at the end of every illusion.

    ¡°It¡¯s very surprising.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s surprising?¡±

    ¡°This is the first time I have seen the panorama of so many people in a single day.¡±

    ¡°You have been shaking and twitching non-stop because of their panorama?¡± Ruba asked, his voice filled with disbelief. Nevertheless, Ruba knew that Arshad¡¯s intoxication and reactions were much more than usual.

    ¡°How many people did you feel?¡±

    ¡°There are more than seven.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Ruba, Royer, and the rest of the evaluators were shocked. It was extremely rare for Arshad to react to anyone and recognize them as candidate materials. But more than seven people in this empire alone had already gained Arshad¡¯s recognition. It was the first time that this had happened.

    <em>¡®Of course, the people I reacted to are still unqualified to be candidates.¡¯</em>

    Still, the fact that Arshad reacted to them meant that their growth potential was high enough. Although they weren¡¯t qualified now, Arshad could predict that their influence in the future would beparable to a candidate¡¯s.

    Ruba, who knew Arshad could feel and evaluate those who had the potential to be candidates, asked, ¡°So, are there any eligible candidates right now?¡±

    Arshad nodded in response. ¡°There are two¡­¡±

    ¡°Did you say that you were the Pir Evaluators?¡±

    Before Arshad could finish his words, the wolf-like man, the same man who stood at the center of hundreds of millions of people in the illusion that Arshad saw, appeared.

    Brod stepped forward and began to chastise Ruba. He said, ¡°Were you the one who did it? Did you do that to our people just now?¡±

    Although the influence that the Pir Evaluators had now was not as great as before, anyone who had heard of the term ¡°Pir Evaluator¡± would know they weren¡¯t people to be ignored or treated lightly. They were the type of people who had enough power and strength to make even an emperor run barefoot to meet them and kiss them on their feet.

    The arrogant Ruba looked up as if he wanted to correct the man¡¯s mistake.

    ¡°So, you did it.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    But the man was staring at him coldly.

    ¡°...¡±

    Ruba, who had never experienced being weed like this before, looked puzzled.

    ¡°Right now, you should know who I am¡­¡±

    ¡°You entered our empire without undergoing the identification process with the guards. Furthermore¡­¡± Brod gritted his teeth. ¡°...you have injured our guards.¡±

    That was right. One of the guards had his legs broken, while the other¡¯s arm waspletely torn apart.

    ¡°Of course, the priests can heal their wounds. But we have decided not to wee you because you have injured them like that.¡±

    Ruba listened silently to the cold and hard voice.

    ¡°Apologize and treat them politely, otherwise¡­¡± Brod pulled out a rope. ¡°...I will have to arrest you.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    The evaluators were so flustered that they were rendered speechless. This was the first time they had been greeted like this.

    Ruba smiled. ¡°In the end, you¡¯re nothing but a pawn of your emperor. Who allowed you to act like this¡­¡±

    Then, Ben, with his ck hair tied tightly in a ponytail, took a step forward. Holding his spear tightly, Ben spoke, ¡°Our Majesty has dered that we have the authority to pass judgment upon anyone who dares to hurt or harm our people.¡±

    <em>Thud¨C</em>

    He mmed his spear on the ground.

    ¡°ording to His Majesty¡¯s orders, if such a man appears, we can cut him down. This order stands even if Athenae is in front of us.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    The evaluators were taken aback. They would put their entire empire at risk for just two mere guards?

    Ruba could tell that these two were the ones who Arshad was saying were the candidate materials. He grinned. ¡°Fufufufu.¡±

    Ruba pulled the sword from his waist and said, ¡°Let¡¯s start the evaluation.¡±

    The other evaluators hurriedly stepped back after understanding what Ruba intended to do. Meanwhile, Ben and Brod looked at each other. The fact that these people did not even admit to their wrongs and were extremely unapologetic was enough. They both jumped out at the same time.

    A sharp and intricate spear shot out toward Ruba. Ruba looked at the skillful and masterful flow of the attack with interest.

    <em>¡®Sure enough¡­!¡¯</em>

    The two were genuinely outstanding individuals. Most of Ruba¡¯s powers had been sealed, but he was no pushover. Nheless, he had to admit that he was not good enough to block the sharp and sophisticated spear that was constantly targeting his vital points and the menacing sword that could break anything in its path aiming for his throat.

    A powerful burst of force flowed through Ruba¡¯s body as he sent attacks toward the two.

    <em>Shwaaaaaa¨C!</em>

    <em>Shaaaaaaaaaa¨C!</em>

    The force was so powerful that it created a loud and terrifying sound. It could tear any enemy in front of him apart. Ben held his spear gently and stabbed the exact center of Ruba¡¯s attack. Just like that, the force was offset, and the attack scattered with the wind.

    <em>Shwaaaaa¨C!</em>

    Brod immediately sent the Wolf King and pressed down on the force stretching toward him. The Wolf King, much stronger than Ruba¡¯s force, looked like it was trampling the force.

    <em>Crack¨C</em>

    Ruba was in awe of the power and thought, <em>¡®I couldn¡¯t reach them?¡¯</em>

    It was quite shocking to see that his power could not do any damage to them. Although it looked like they had only collided once, their weapons had shed more than a hundred times during that confrontation. Each time they offset Ruba¡¯s force, it would scatter and disappear with the wind.

    <em>Shwaaaaa¨C</em>

    Ruba looked at the two men in delight as the wind caressed his face. He even pped without realizing it.

    <em>p, p, p¨C!</em>

    ¡°Ahahahahahahaha! Excellent! Brilliant!¡± Ruba shouted as he turned to look at Arshad.

    Arshad had already recognized the two as candidates. Now that he, the captain, had recognized them, they had fully met the qualifications. Arshad immediately told Ruba the appropriate name for them.

    The delighted Ruba pointed at Brod and said, ¡°I recognize you as a candidate. The suitable name for you is Lord of the Masses.¡±

    <em>[The Pir Evaluators have chosen someone as the ¡®Lord of the Masses¡¯.]</em>

    He spoke arrogantly like a king appointing his subject and giving him a good position. Then, he pointed at Ben and said, ¡°The suitable name for you is Pir of Courage to Never Back Down.¡±

    <em>[The Pir Evaluators have chosen someone as the ¡®Pir of Courage to Never Back Down.¡¯]</em>

    ¡°Of course, you are still just candidates. You still have topete with the other candidates and prove your qualifications. But you¡¯ll obtain good results. Isn¡¯t it great? If you be pirs, you will be the center of this world,¡± Ruba said.

    Heughed smugly as though Ben and Brod had obtained a considerable honor. ¡°In addition, once you be Pirs, <em>he</em> will bestow upon you a Disaster. How is it? Are you delighted? You must be crazy with joy, no?! Hahaha!¡±

    While Ruba was crazilyughing alone, Ben and Brod looked at each other.

    ¡°Brod, your farming has produced a good harvest this year, no?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s correct, Grandpa.¡±

    ¡°For some reason, I really want that damn good bumper harvest.¡±

    Ruba¡¯s face turned ugly when he heard the light banter between the two.

    Benughed and said, ¡°Even if you give it to us, we don¡¯t n on taking it though?¡±

    A ridiculous notification rang in Ruba¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The Pir of Courage to Never Back Down has refused his nomination.]</em>

    Then, Brod stepped forward with his sword, already brimming with power. The figure of an enraged wolf that appeared on his sword seemed ready to pounce on the enemy.

    ¡°We have a lot of things to do.¡±

    <em>[The Lord of the Masses has refused his nomination.]</em>

    ¡°That¡¯s not what we¡¯re asking you to do.¡± The anger in Brod¡¯s eyes burned even more. ¡°Kneel to our soldiers and apologize. Mercenary¡¯s Pinnacle Swordsmanship.¡±

    <em>Hunt of the Wolf King.</em>

    <em>Awoooooo¨C!</em>

    A gigantic wolf came out of Brod¡¯s sword.

    Ruba realized that this power was at a level that could threaten his life. He instinctively tried to counter the red sword lighting straight at him.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    s, his defense was easily torn apart. The gigantic Wolf King continued to charge toward him and caused multiple wounds. Thankfully, he could strengthen his body instantly and protect himself from the rampaging attack of the Hunt of the Wolf King.

    <em>Drip, drip, drip¨C</em>

    Nevertheless, the wounds all over his body wererge, and his blood continued to drip down the ground. He was even forced to take a few steps back. This was the first time he had experienced something like this as the Captain Evaluator. He had never been humiliated like this during any candidate¡¯s evaluation.

    The other evaluators were left astonished.

    <em>¡®Even if most of our powers have been sealed, this is still ridiculous. He pushed back Captain Ruba¡­?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®What the hell? What do they eat in this empire?¡¯</em>

    Of course, they were still far worse than the evaluators. However, at least seven of them had power that could rival their own.

    Ruba¡¯s face grew uglier. ¡°I¡¯ll kill the both of you.¡±

    A strong killing intent rose from Ruba¡¯s body. The other evaluators also stepped forward.

    Of the five evaluators that came, there was Captain Ruba, Dexterity Evaluator Royer and Observer Arshad. The other two were considered evaluator escorts with power that could rival Brod and Ben. They were sent along with the three just in case something unexpected happened.

    As it turned out, the situation was escting.

    But then, Arshad suddenly grabbed Ruba¡¯s arm. He was shaking all over again. It was a sign that he was feeling the energy of another candidate. But his reaction was much more intense than the reaction that he had before. There was even a nk look on his face. Perhaps it was because he was looking at the candidate¡¯s panorama.

    Ruba was surprised by Arshad¡¯s reaction.

    ¡°W-what¡­?¡±

    This was because Arshad was crying.

    At the same time, someone appeared in front of them. All of the evaluators could tell that this man was the one who made Arshad react like this. When he saw the man, Ruba felt like things had be easier.

    Then, Royer said, ¡°Ruba, there¡¯s no need to dye our hands with blood. That guy looks like the guy who we¡¯re looking for. He should know who we are. He will execute those two people who provoked us for just two mere guards.¡±

    Ruba notched his anger down.

    The face of the man, who was listening to the report, was growing darker by the second.

    ¡°Candidate, you must have heard the disrespect that these men have shown me. Go ahead. Execute them quickly¡­¡±

    ¡°Brod, break that bastard¡¯s legs.¡±

    ¡°I will do my best to break his legs, Your Majesty.¡±

    ¡°Grandpa, break his arms.¡±

    ¡°Hoho. This old man will use all his power to tear his arms apart.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    <em>¡®No. Wait¡­ what?¡¯</em>

    ¡°Candidate, do you not understand the situation right now?¡±

    ¡°I know it well. I heard that you broke our precious guards¡¯ arms and legs.¡±

    ¡°No. They¡¯re just mere¡­¡±

    ¡°Mere? You must beplete lunatics.¡±

    ¡°We are evaluators¡­¡±

    Then, the man asked, ¡°Is that an official position?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    <em>¡®Ah. That¡¯s right. It¡¯s not an official position, no?¡¯</em>

    At that moment, everyone was rendered speechless.

 Chapter 1073

    Chapter 1073

    <em>Twitch, twitch¨C</em>

    Arshad, whose Intuition caused him to react to potential candidates with strength and a story, was stunned by the huge stimtion that shook his entire body. That was when he saw someone approach them from a distance.

    <em>¡®He said that he was a foreigner.¡¯</em>

    Unlike the guardians who protected the world, the foreigners had always been given special privileges, the greatest of which was their immortality. They grew stronger just by killing some monsters or receiving missions. Sometimes, these missions would also get them to a certain position.

    Athenae favored the foreigners. Because of that, Evaluator Arshad thought the panorama of this man, whom they were tasked to look into, would be insignificant. He believed it would only be a story about this man¡¯s continuous victories. Arshad was certain that this man¡¯s endeavors would not even reach the hem of Ben and Brod¡¯s stories.

    Then, the man¡¯s panorama unfolded in front of Arshad¡¯s eyes. The first scene that greeted him was the sight of a huge man sitting in the dark, who looked like he weighed around 200 kilograms. Many voices floated in the man''s ears.

    ¨C<em>If things continue at this rate, then you will die.</em>

    <em>¨CYou have already reached the level your body can no longer hold on and endure.</em>

    <em>¨CHigh blood pressure, diabetes, and arthritis alone have made you reach the limits of your body.</em>When he heard the voice, the young man looked like he wanted to cry, but he forced a smile on his face and replied.

    ¨C<em>I¡¯m fine. I¡¯m really fine!</em>

    <em>Bathump!</em>

    Arshad felt a faint throbbing in his chest.

    He still smiled despite the urge to cry after learning that he had one foot on the grave. After all, he cared for the people around him.

    Just like that, the man¡¯s story unfolded in front of Arshad. The scene in front of him flipped quickly. He watched the man tirelessly use his pickaxe for days on end. When Arshad saw this, he thought, <em>¡®Can I do it like him?¡¯</em>

    Arshad realized that they thought lightly of the man. They thought he would have an easy life because he was a foreigner.

    That was not the case at all.

    <em>¡®Can I do it like him? Can Captain Evaluator Ruba do it like him? Can the greatest god, Athenae, and ¡°he¡±, the man we serve, do it like him?¡¯</em>

    The answer to that was ¡°no.¡± It was impossible.

    <em>¡®Because he¡¯s a weak human¡­¡¯</em>

    He tried to stand up and get over the obstacles in his path.

    <em>¡®His desire to live.¡¯</em>

    It was what kept him from giving up and falling.

    <em>¡®He would stretch his hand out and¡­¡¯</em>

    He brought a lot of people to his side.

    Arshad unknowingly shed tears. How hard was it? How much did he want to copse?

    <em>¡®He¡¯s only twenty-one years old.¡¯</em>

    It was unbelievable. Even they, who had lived for thousands of years, could not do it. But this young man had done it with his own hands. When the panorama ended, Arshad was greeted by another illusion.

    Everything returned back to the first scene that Arshad saw. Although the young man had been smiling as hard as he could, he still burst out in tears in the end.

    ¨C<em>Your Majesty.</em>

    The man named Brod knelt in front of him and grabbed his hands.

    ¨C<em>Hoho. Your Majesty, I will always be by your side, so please don¡¯t worry too much.</em>

    Even the old man named Ben stood by his side and patted him on the shoulder.

    At that moment, Arshad saw the man¡¯s wide figure shrink. Before he knew it, the young man¡¯s figure had changed; his figure was wonderful, and many people were smiling and standing around him.

    <em>¡®The hand that he stretched out to help them¡­¡¯</em>

    It has brought a group of people who were willing to protect him.

    <em>¡®The steps that he took¡­¡¯</em>

    When Arshad blinked, the scene changed, and he saw him standing above the hundreds of millions of people.

    At this moment, Arshad realized that this person was the very person the candidates served and worshiped. His initial doubts about this person quickly disappeared.

    ***

    <em>¡®Is that an official position?¡¯</em>

    After hearing that question, Ruba and the other evaluators could not open their mouths for a long time. If they were to be honest, they truly did not hold an official position. A powerful position such as an ¡°evaluator¡± should be an official position.

    The evaluators thought the emperor would quicklye to their aid, bow down to apologize, and immediately execute Brod and Ben, who had attacked them.

    ¡°These crazy bastards! What are you trying to say right now? Huh? Weren¡¯t you the ones who stormed into someone¡¯s empire and broke the arms and the legs of my people?¡±

    The emperor did run, but it was not what they expected.

    Minhyuk was ovee with wrath. When he talked with Obren about the evaluators, he decided that he would do it. He believed he did not have much to worry about, even if they came to see him.

    Of course, the story waspletely different now that they turned out to be shitty assholes.

    ¡°So, you¡¯re saying that just because you¡¯re an evaluator, you can do something like that to innocent citizens?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°Did the person you serve give you the authority to do that?¡±

    Of course, <em>he</em> never gave them that authority. It was just because they had been drunk on their prestige and power that they trampled on others and took things for granted.

    ¡°Apologize. Otherwise, we will respond to you in the same manner. No. We will make you pay double and break all of your limbs.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s cold gaze struck Ruba. He listened silently to the words of the man standing before him. He realized he could not deny them. Everything that Minhyuk said was correct.

    To him, these were nothing but trivial matters. This was because Ruba was powerful and had the authority of an evaluator. He even grew furious at how Minhyuk reacted.

    His expression soured as he warned Minhyuk. ¡°We are evaluators¡­¡±

    At that moment, Arshad awakened from the panorama and the illusion. He raised his hand and pointed at Minhyuk shakily, shouting, ¡°Y- you pass! You pass! Pass!¡±

    Arshad was always the first to determine whether someone qualified to be a candidate. Once Arshad recognized and admitted someone as a candidate, Ruba and the other evaluators would also ept the candidate 80% of the time.

    So, why did Arshad shout so loudly and ept this man just like that? It even felt like a p in the face after what transpired.

    Ruba sighed deeply. Then, he pushed Arshad back and said, ¡°Are you not aware that the evaluators are the ones who ensure that the candidate is worthy of the position?! We havee a long way just to make sure that you are qualified as a Pir Candidate! Despite standing in front of people of such status, you dare to treat us like this?!¡±

    Minhyuk sneered.

    ¡°Is that how it should be? If that¡¯s what it means to be a Pir Candidate, then¡­¡± Minhyuk pulled his sword out. ¡°I¡¯d rather not be one.¡±

    He pointed his sword at Ruba.

    ¡°You have hurt my people, yet you want me to please you just to be recognized by you? Why drag me into it? Just do it on your own.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    The situation got more serious, especially after Minhyuk pointed his sword at Ruba. Of course, this also provoked Ruba even more. One could see his anger growing by the second.

    Then, he caught sight of the people standing next to Minhyuk¡ªespecially the man with a sword hanging on his waist. The man took something out and began to nibble on it. It was none other than <em>bungeo-ppang.</em>

    <em>¡®This is yummy! This is really yummy!¡¯</em>

    The man was none other than Bender. For someone like him, who had only eaten rotten centipede intestines, bugs, and giant crocodile hearts for thousands of years, the <em>bungeo-ppang</em> was truly something delicious, especially when it was hot. It was crispy on the outside and very moist on the inside; truly a delight to eat!

    He wanted to stay still and endure, but the allure of the <em>bungeo-ppang</em>¡¯s scent made him unable to do so. There was also the unknown honey that coated the red beans inside. It truly made it unbearable to endure.

    <em>¡®Every time I chew, I can taste the crispiness on the outside and the softness on the inside of the bread. There¡¯s also the sweet red bean. It¡¯s abination to die for!¡¯</em>

    Bender felt like he was the happiest person in the world right now.

    When Minhyuk saw Ruba ncing at Bender, he realized what the Transcendental was doing.

    <em>¡®Ah¡­ Uhm. It¡¯s understandable.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk could fully understand him. After all, they had only eaten such a dish for the first time in thousands of years. It was truly understandable. How should he exin this? It was like there were five more Minhyuks beside him. However, Minhyuk also knew that this might make the situation worse.

    ¡°He¡¯s outright mocking and ignoring us, the evaluators!!!¡±

    In the end, Ruba could not endure it and exploded. A tremendous amount of power surged from deep within Ruba¡¯s body. At the same time, one of the three long lines engraved on his arms disappeared.

    ¡°S-sir Ruba!¡±

    ¡°If you release your seal, then <em>he </em>will discipline you!¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter!¡±

    At this moment, Ruba chose to not care about anything else. At this point, it did not matter whether the man in front of him was a candidate or not. He could just write in his report and say, ¡°He refused to take the position of a candidate, showed hostility, and eventually died after a fierce battle with us.¡±

    Since the man was a foreigner, Ruba could freely give him a huge and overbearing scolding after he revived.

    Minhyuk groaned lightly. <em>¡®His level increased by 50 all at once.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyesight was sharp. He had seen how one of the lines engraved on Ruba¡¯s arm disappeared, and then Ruba suddenly went up to Level 950 from 900.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    Ruba shot toward Minhyuk with a burst of power. Brod and Ben tried to block him, but the other evaluators stepped forward and stopped them.

    A ck light appeared and covered the de of Ruba¡¯s sword. This passive skill could only be triggered when Ruba released his powers all at once.

    <em>¡®The Mad Hound.¡¯</em>

    A berserk yet powerful hound appeared. There was a 30% chance of this hound appearing. Once it appeared, a single cut upon the enemy would result in ten straight bites from the hound.

    <em>¡®This is more than enough to deal with him.¡¯</em>

    Ruba, who appeared right before Minhyuk, sessfullynded a blow on his waist. At the same time, the Mad Hound was activated and began to bite Minhyuk like crazy.

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    Ruba saw dents appear all over Minhyuk¡¯s armor. Then, the armor was quickly restored to its original appearance.

    <em>¡®W-what kind of armor is this?!¡¯</em>

    Ruba was flustered. The damage he dealt to the armor was more of a ¡°dent¡± than a ¡°cut¡±. It recovered quickly when it was supposed to fall off after being cut down. After all, that was usually what happened to any defensive weapon after meeting Ruba¡¯s attacks.

    <em>¡®How high is his defensive power¡­?¡¯</em>

    From what Ruba could see, Minhyuk did not look like he was hit hard.

    Minhyuk looked at the flustered Ruba and said, ¡°I have something simr.¡±

    The word Destruction appeared on the de of Minhyuk¡¯s sword, and he swung it at Ruba.

    <em>Rumble¨C</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    Lightning bolts fell from the sky and struck Ruba. Considering Ruba¡¯s high HP and defensive power, the damage dealt by the lightning bolts was insignificant. On top of that, Ruba¡¯spetitive spirit was triggered when Minhyuk went head to head with him, saying he had a power simr to his own.

    Just like that, the two allowed each other¡¯s attacks tond on their bodies. The hounds were constantly biting Minhyukunds, while Ruba was constantly struck by lightning.

    ¡°Sir Ruba has already released a seal, but this guy can go head to head and endure this much against him¡­?¡±

    The other evaluators were shocked.

    With every attack hended on Ruba, Minhyuk could restore his HP thanks to the ughterer¡¯s Absorption. As for Ruba, he was regenerating and recovering as well, thanks to his special physique being an evaluator.

    In a few short seconds, the two could exchange hundreds of blows. The problem was that Minhyuk¡¯s restoration of HP through the ughterer¡¯s Absorption could not keep up with Ruba.

    ¡°Dual Swordsmanship Technique.¡±

    Minhyuk, with two swords in hand, attacked Ruba several times faster than before. Of course, Ruba¡¯s physical regeneration could still keep up with his attacks. But right now, it was apparent that the two were fighting on even ground.

    <em>¡®What¡­!¡¯ </em>Ruba thought in shock.

    Then, at that moment, a small smile appeared on Minhyuk¡¯s face. ¡°ck Dragon Armor.¡±

    The Transcendental¡¯s Armor that covered Minhyuk¡¯s body transformed into the ck Dragon Armor. With the ck Dragon Armor, Ruba was leftpletely behind. Minhyuk¡¯s defensive power when wearing this armor was much higher than before. Furthermore, this armor had a very huge advantage.

    Minhyuk provoked Ruba on purpose. He judged that Ruba would fall for his provocation if he said that he had a simr power and fought head-to-head with him, which created this situation.

    ¡°Transcendence.¡±

    <em>[You have activated Transcendence!]</em>

    <em>[You have gone beyond your limits and transcended to another realm!]</em>

    <em>[You have gone beyond your limits and transcended to another realm!]</em>

    <em>[You have gone beyond your limits and transcended to another realm!]</em>

    <em>[The Transcendence¡¯s buff effects have now been applied!]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 35%!]</em>

    <em>[All of your attack power has increased by 29%!]</em>

    <em>[All of your defensive power has increased by 36%!]</em>

    <em>[All of your skill levels have increased by +2!]</em>

    <em>[Your resistance to abnormal statuses has increased by 40%!]</em>

    <em>[Your total HP and MP have increased by 30%!]</em>

    <em>[Transcendence will remain in effect for thirty seconds!]</em>

    Ruba¡¯s arrogant nature had implicitly allowed a direct exchange of blows. The attacks during that confrontation had allowed Minhyuk to fulfill the condition needed to activate Transcendence. Because of that, Minhyuk''s Destruction¡¯s level had increased by 2. All of his stats had also increased by 35%, while his attack power had increased by 29%

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    Ruba almost shouted when he saw Minhyuk raise his sword and shoot a ck stream of energy toward him. Of course, Minhyuk did not stop attacking him with destruction either.

    <em>Thud¨C</em>

    Ruba started getting pushed back and then forced to kneel on one knee. He was left exhausted by the pain and the shock of the blows that he received.

    <em>Thud¨C!</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    The other evaluators were left astonished. They watched as the man looked down at Captain Evaluator Ruba, who was forced to kneel on one knee with an arrogant gaze. This was their first time encountering something like this, especially when meeting a ¡°mere¡± candidate.

 Chapter 1074

    Chapter 1074

    Ruba had been an evaluator for more than thousands of years. The only person he had ever knelt to, including before he was appointed, was <em>him</em>. The first reason was that he was strong, and the second was that he came to power and grew more influential after bing an evaluator.

    Yes, many Pir Candidates in the past had the power to overwhelm the evaluators, but they had treated them courteously.

    <em>Thud¨C!</em>

    Ruba, who had received the attacks of someone who had yet to be acknowledged and epted as a true Pir Candidate, could not withstand the impact and was forced to kneel on one knee.

    Ruba¡¯s mind went nk. <em>¡®W-what is this?¡¯</em>

    He was so confused that he barely registered how the situation happened. Still in a daze, he looked up and met the cold, arrogant gaze of the man, who was pointing his sword at Ruba.

    <em>Snap¨C</em>

    Ruba¡¯s final string of reason broke then, and anger clouded his mind. This was a bizarre feeling for him. It was the first time that he felt so angry at someone that he wanted to kill them, causing him to do what he was not supposed to.

    One of the lines engraved on his arms disappeared once again. Minhyuk¡¯s pupils shook. The first time, it increased his level by 50. This time, it increased by 60 levels. At the same time, Ruba¡¯s killing intent burst out and covered the entire area. It brought immense pressure that almost suffocated the ordinary knights and soldiers in the vicinity. The others hurriedly ordered them to escape.

    ¡°BASTARD!¡± Ruba shouted, his eyes bloodshot as he charged at Minhyuk, his speed much faster than before.

    ¡°Captain!¡±

    ¡°If you release the se-second seal, then¡­!¡±

    The other evaluators shouted at him in worry, but Ruba was deaf to their voices.

    <em>ng¨C</em>

    An unbelievably loud sound erupted when his sword made contact with Minhyuk¡¯s armor.

    <em>¡®The Mad Hound.¡¯</em>

    The power that bit Minhyuk was twice as strong as the power before.

    ¡°Kghhk!¡± For the first time, a groan escaped Minhyuk¡¯s lips.

    Ruba did not stop there. He charged at Minhyuk rapidly and did not give him any room to breathe. However, Minhyuk was currently in a state of Transcendence and was 1.5x stronger than usual. Besides, now that Ruba had lost his temper and reasoning, it was not difficult tond attacks on him.

    ¡°Sword of Carnage.¡±

    <em>Stab, stab, stab¨C!</em>

    Despite the blood constantly flowing down his body, Ruba continued to attack Minhyuk, looking like a mad hound. Then, Ruba released another powerful attack.

    ¡°Hound Finding Prey.¡±

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    The moment his sword stabbed Minhyuk, it caused tremendous damage. Minhyuk felt as if something was twisting and crushing his organs in the area where he was stabbed.

    ¡°Urk!¡±

    Blood dripped down Minhyuk¡¯s mouth. Even though he was being pushed back, Minhyuk did not back down. He used Like the Wind and appeared right in front of Ruba.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    <em>Boom¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk, while still under the effects of Transcendence, could deal damage beyond one¡¯s imagination. On top of the Sword of Carnage that shed and hacked at Ruba earlier, this attack made the evaluator fall to his knees again.

    ¡°Eeeeeeeek!¡± Ruba shouted, his expression growing uglier and more grotesque as his anger soared to new heights.

    <em>Shwaaaa¨C</em>

    At that moment, the Transcendence that wrapped around Minhyuk was lifted.

    ¡°Hound¡¯s Hunt.¡±

    Sword lights, much bigger and stronger than Brod¡¯s Wolf¡¯s Death, shot out from Ruba¡¯s sword and pierced through Minhyuk.

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    The attack sent Minhyuk flying back. It also depleted almost 30% of Minhyuk¡¯s HP in one go.

    <em>¡®With the effects of Transcendence gone, I can onlyst for at most two minutes against him.¡¯</em>

    It sounded harsh, but this was the reality of the matter.

    The furious Ruba stomped toward Minhyuk and the group of people. They looked at Minhyuk in worry as they savored their <em>bungeo-ppang</em> by eating it in little bites. Part of the reason why Ruba was so angry was also because of them.

    ¡°How dare you! How dare you ignore me, you f*cking bastards! How dare you treat an evaluator like me this way!¡±

    The group of people eating the <em>bungeo-ppang</em> was worried about Minhyuk. But they knew that they could not charge in and interrupt without his orders. So, they continued to eat and relish their <em>bungeo-ppangs</em> while watching from the sidelines.

    <em>¡®This is thest bungeo-ppang. I¡¯ll save it¡­ huh?¡¯</em>

    At that moment, Bender saw his <em>bungeo¨Cppang</em> cut in half and slowly fall to the ground.

    <em>Flop¨C</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    For a moment, Bender could not tell what was going on. This warm <em>bungeo¨Cpang </em>from Minhyuk gave him a new pleasure, especially since they hadn¡¯t eaten proper food for thousands of years. Eating this warm fish-like bread made him smile and feel happy for the first time in a long while.

    The Transcendentals were beings who had everything in life. Since they were already stronger than anyone, they felt like their lives were meaningless and empty. After all, reaching another realm was difficult for people at their level. For them, eating was a small happiness.

    Unfortunately, this small happiness had been reduced to a shabby state on the ground.

    ¡°NOOOOO!!!¡±

    It wasn¡¯t just Bender who felt that way. The other Transcendentals were all staring in horror at the <em>bungeo-ppang</em>, which Ruba deliberately targeted, on the ground.

    Bender looked very sad. ¡°That was thest piece¡­¡±

    Minhyuk finally stabilized himself, stood up, and saw himself in this group of people. They looked and behaved just like he was when he was in histe stages of eating addiction!

    At this moment, Minhyuk realized something. He turned to look at the evaluators and said, ¡°Hey, you guys should run.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk had intended to break their arms and legs, but he never wanted to kill them. Besides, he wasn¡¯t sure if he could handle the consequences.

    Ruba was left dumbfounded when he heard Minhyuk¡¯s words. However, there was obvious delight on his face when he saw the stunned looks on the faces of the people in front of him when the fish-shaped bread fell on the ground.

    But he did not stop there. He walked toward the <em>bungeo-ppang</em> that fell before Bender and stomped on it with his boots.

    <em>Thump¨C</em>

    ¡°Ah, my bad. I didn¡¯t mean to crush it like that.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Bender looked up at him.

    Ruba smirked, ¡°Go on, eat it.¡±

    Only a single thought shed in Minhyuk¡¯s head at that moment. <em>¡®He¡¯s done for¡­¡¯</em>

    Bender was the strongest among the Transcendentals. He could even inflict heavy damage on Helenia if she did not have her ores. That was saying something. If Minhyuk were honest, he could confidently say that he could not beat Bender even if he worked with Brod and Ben.

    The other Transcendentals gathered around Bender. Bender turned to look at Minhyuk.

    ¡°Minhyuk.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Cold sweat dripped down Minhyuk¡¯s forehead.

    ¡°Shall we break them for you?¡±

    ¡°N-no. Do¡­¡± Minhyuk shouted.

    But Ruba did not notice it. He justughed at them. After knocking Minhyuk down and trampling on these trivial beings, he was finally slowly regaining his reason.

    ¡°Break? What are you going to break, huh? This? Why don¡¯t you guys eat this bread like beggars, huh?¡± Ruba asked as he provoked them like crazy.

    Then, Arshad, standing behind him, said, ¡°C- Captain Ruba¡­¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    Ruba looked back when he heard Arshad¡¯s trembling voice.

    ¡°I can¡¯t read anything from them.¡±

    ¡°...?!¡±

    Shock colored Ruba¡¯s eyes when he heard that. If Arshad could not see through and read people, would he still be tasked to evaluate the candidates? There were only two reasons why Arshad could not read someone. One was they were either at Arshad¡¯s or Ruba¡¯s level. And the other was¡­

    <em>¡®If they are at a level that is higher than us?¡¯</em>

    Something had gone very, <em>very</em> wrong. There had to be an error somewhere.

    ¡°It must be because you have read through so many people today.¡±

    Ruba established his hypothesis and immediately created a third reason for this phenomenon. He even firmly believed it despite having no evidence to back it up.

    ¡°Even if they are Pir Candidates, there¡¯s no way you can¡¯t see through them.¡±

    They were standing behind Minhyuk, and Ruba assumed they were his subordinates. Based on Arshad¡¯s reading, it did not make sense for these people to be his subordinates. After all, who would be subordinate to someone like Minhyuk if they were of a much higher level than him?

    Ruba, who decided on the matter just like that, smiled viciously.

    ¡°...?¡±

    A man suddenly appeared in front of Royer. The man was around two meters tall, with a bald head and a muscr upper body.

    The Transcendentals present in this ce were the only survivors from the hundreds of residents of the Transcendental vige in the past. They were the most outstanding out of all of the Transcendentals.

    Nekk looked at Royer and said, ¡°The evaluation¡­¡± His cold eyes pierced through Royer. ¡°...for the evaluators has begun.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    The evaluators were dumbfounded. How dare they say that they would evaluate their qualifications as evaluators?!

    Nekk¡¯s cold gaze scanned Royer from head to toe. ¡°Defensive power is at 1,900. All stats will increase by 26%. Not bad for an armor.¡±

    He could see through the armor on Royer¡¯s body with just one nce. This feat was only possible if someone reached a certain level. Using the foreigner¡¯s terms, it should be at around Level 1,000.

    Of course, Royer could also do the same. Before his powers were sealed, he had already reached a level beyond Level 1,000.

    <em>Thump¨C</em>

    Then, Nekk grabbed Royer¡¯s hand and put it on his armor. At the same time, the armor information appeared in Royer¡¯s head.

    ¡°...!¡±

    Royer was beyond shocked. The armor on the man, Nekk¡¯s body, was wonderfully made. He had to admit that it would be hard for him to make something like this himself.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s at the level of Jack-of-all-Trades Rocado¡­?¡¯</em>

    That was the only way that Royer could exin it.

    Nekkughed and said, ¡°You failed.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°Someone far worse than me is calling himself an evaluator?¡±

    Royer¡¯s face was flushed with anger. He stretched his hand out and said, ¡°Ho? You speak as if you know anything about that.¡±

    Nekk looked at him in interest. What Royer did was extend his hand to challenge him in arm wrestling. In the past, those with outstanding levels of dexterity would often y this game to determine who had the higher skill.

    The level they achieved, their achievements, their hard work, and various other things would be made clear through this game. This was a game where the victory or defeat of the yers would be determined by their dexterity alone.

    Nekk grabbed Royer¡¯s hand.

    The air turned tense as everyone turned to look at them. The Dexterity Evaluator and Nekk, who said that he would evaluate him, began their power struggle.

    Nekk looked at him coldly. ¡°Not bad. However, do you think you can evaluate someone when you¡¯re at this level?¡±

    At that moment, the veins in Nekk¡¯s muscles bulged. And just like that, the arm wrestling that put everyone in a tense state ended with Royer on the ground.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    Nekk looked at Royer once again and chuckled. ¡°You failed.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Before they could even register their surprise, a woman appeared before Arshad. She was none other than Bernie, the Transcendental of Mental Abilities. She was the youngest out of all the Transcendentals. Of course, just like them, she felt thrilled eating the <em>bungeo-ppang.</em>

    Bernie¡¯s lips twisted into a smile as she said, ¡°Let¡¯s start the evaluation.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Arshad¡¯s eyes behind his round sses grew wide.

    ¡°Come on, do it. Read what¡¯s in my head. You will either drive me crazy or¡­¡± She raised a dainty finger and poked him in the head as she taunted him. ¡°...you will tremble in fear.¡±

    A white light burst from Arshad¡¯s sses as he used all of his strength.

    <em>¡®I can¡¯t see anything.¡¯</em>

    Even after giving it his all, he could not see through her past. He was not even close to seeing anything about her. Of course, the same was true for inflicting abnormal statuses. This only meant one thing. Her mental powers were much higher than his own.

    <em>Crack, crack¨C</em>

    ¡°Then, I¡¯ll do it this time,¡± Bernie said as she touched Arshad¡¯s forehead with the tip of her finger.

    At that moment, a strange feeling washed over Arshad. He realized that she was reading through his memories!

    ¡°Ho? So, this is how you became an evaluator?¡±

    Goosebumps rose all over Arshad¡¯s body.

    Bernie chuckled lightly and gracefully. Then, she said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I don¡¯t intend to tell anyone this.¡±

    The smile suddenly disappeared from her face.

    ¡°Instead¡­¡±

    Arshad started to tremble. He broke into a cold sweat as the human¡¯s primal fear dragged him into the depths of the cold and dark abyss. Abnormal statuses, such as fear, terror, and darkness, caused this. These three were the only things that filled Arshad¡¯s head now.

    ¡°A-aaaaaaaah!!!¡± Arshad screamed.

    Bernie just looked at him coldly and said, ¡°Failed. You definitely failed.¡±

    Ruba, who saw the entire situation unfold, did not understand what was happening.

    <em>Thud¨C</em>

    Bender, the man who gritted his teeth in anger when he saw Ruba trample on his <em>bungeo-ppang</em>, grabbed him by the neck and spat coldly, ¡°Your evaluation will now begin.¡±

 Chapter 1075

    Chapter 1075

    Ruba could not understand what was happening in front of him. It was true that no one aside from him had released any of the three seals they had. However, even if the evaluators had their powers sealed, they had enough powers to outdo even the gods.

    Nheless, Royer had copsed on the ground after being defeated in the dexterity arm wrestling, and Arshad was screaming while holding his head in pain. This was a genuinely indescribable situation.

    <em>¡®They are nothing but Minhyuk¡¯s subordinate.¡¯</em>

    It was ridiculous. Even if he was a Pir Candidate, it did not make sense for a human to have such powerful people under hismand.

    <em>¡®If you add the man who looks like a wolf and that old veteran, then¡­¡¯</em>

    How many people were on his side? For a moment, Ruba wondered if the suitable name for this Pir Candidate was ¡°Emperor of Powerhouses.¡±

    <em>Grab¨C</em>

    Suddenly, someone grabbed his cor. The hold was firm and did not give him any time to react. The hand''s owner was the man left frustrated by the <em>bungeo-ppang</em> that he had just trampled on and crushed a few moments earlier.

    The man said, ¡°Your evaluation will now begin.¡±¡°...!¡±

    Their words were tant mockery toward the evaluators. The worst part was that they confidently dered they would evaluate Ruba and his team.

    Ruba, who was trying his hardest to shake off the man¡¯s hold on him, was left flustered.

    <em>¡®I can¡¯t break free?¡¯</em>

    He could not move. An overwhelming energy was also flowing from the man, putting pressure upon Ruba.

    ¡°Eeeek¡­!¡±

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    Only after momentarily raising his strength was Ruba able to shake off the hold on him. The moment he was released, he immediately widened the distance between them.

    Then, the two began to fight, his sword shing against Bender¡¯s own.

    <em>Twitch, twitch¨C</em>

    <em>¡®What strength¡­!¡¯</em>

    Every time Ruba¡¯s sword shed with Bender¡¯s, he felt numbness travel through his arm and wrap around him.

    Ruba evaluated the candidates¡¯ momentum, power, and strength. He was well-versed in martial arts and ridiculously skilled in all of them.

    However, Ruba¡¯s sword twisted when it shed with Bender¡¯s sword. In that split second, Bender had already appeared behind him. The man lowered himself and grabbed one of Ruba¡¯s legs with both arms, before exerting some strength.

    <em>Thud¨C!</em>

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¨C</em>

    ¡°Kgh- keuhaaaaaaaack!¡±

    <em>Crack¨C!</em>

    ¡°One leg down,¡± Bender said calmly after breaking Ruba¡¯s legs.

    Ruba, unable to withstand the pain, screamed. Amidst his screams, his right arm got caught by the man.

    ¡°W-what¡­¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t I say it earlier?¡± Bender, with his cold and vicious expression, stared at Luba.

    A Transcendental was a human being who had transcended the limits of their race. Yet, after transcending those limits, they realized they weren¡¯t humans. After all, they were born several times stronger than humans. Bender was one such Transcendental. He was also the strongest.

    The cold gaze that he used to look at Ruba brought chills down the evaluator¡¯s spine.

    ¡°Yes. I¡¯m going to break your limbs.¡±

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¨C!</em>

    ¡°Ughhhh!¡± Ruba clenched his teeth and tried to suppress the scream that was bubbling in his throat.

    He could no longer muster strength in his arm and leg and lost his hold on the sword. With his arm and leg broken, he felt relieved. With this, he would no longer need to stop himself from screaming.

    <em>¡®Now that they¡¯re broken, I would no longer feel pain¡­¡¯</em>

    That was where he was wrong. Goosebumps rose all over Ruba¡¯s body when he made eye contact with Bender¡¯s still cold gaze.

    ¡°Hiiiik¡­!¡±

    ¡°Ah. You didn''t forget how we mentioned that we would make you pay double the price, right?¡±

    <em>Thud¨C!</em>

    <em>¡®Enough. Please stop!¡¯</em> These words almost left Ruba¡¯s mouth. Ruba was always treated courteously and had never lost to anyone. He was unfamiliar with pain. This unfamiliar sensation that was now coursing through his veins was now making him shake and tremble.

    Bender pushed Ruba to the ground and immediately opted for the armbar position. Without any mercy, he put some strength in his hold and broke the man¡¯s other arm.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¨C!</em>

    ¡°A-aaaaaaaack!¡±

    Ruba¡¯s eyes rolled back, his body struggling fiercely against Bender¡¯s hold. After releasing his armbar hold on Ruba, Bender said coldly, ¡°You failed.¡±

    With a sneer, Bender turned around and left. He was fully aware of the situation. Although Minhyuk worried they might kill them, it was not as if the Transcendentals could not control their emotions.

    ¡°<em>Fufufufu.</em> I failed?¡± Ruba burst outughing.

    Bender instantly felt the air around Ruba start to change along with his words.

    ¡°Who are you to dare to judge me?¡±

    <em>Swoosh¨C</em>

    When Bender turned around, he was just in time to see thest line on Ruba¡¯s arm slowly scatter and disappear.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¨C</em>

    Bender knew that a powerhouse like Ruba would have his regenerative abilities. When the line disappeared from his arm, a mysterious haze rose and covered his body. At the same time, Ruba¡¯s bones and all of the injuries that he had incurred regenerated quickly.

    Minhyuk felt intense suffocation when he sensed apletely different energying out of Ruba¡¯s body from before.

    <em>[Ruba has released the final seal.]</em>

    <em>[Captain Evaluator Ruba¡¯s killing intent has enveloped the entire area.]</em>

    <em>[Everyone with levels that are 200 levels below Ruba¡¯s level will feel suffocated and start to show signs of anxiety.]</em>

    Thankfully, Minhyuk had an invincible body and could resist abnormal statuses. But when he looked around, even his outstanding vassals looked like they were having difficulty breathing and even sweating bullets.

    ording to the notifications, everyone 200 levels lower than Ruba would be affected. This meant that thepletely unsealed Ruba had a level far higher than Minhyuk¡¯s vassals.

    It did not take long for Ruba¡¯s fully unsealed level to be revealed.

    <em>[Captain Evaluator Ruba. Level 1,237.]</em>

    ¡°...?!¡±

    Minhyuk instantly noticed that the situation had turned for the worse.

    <em>¡®His level increased by more than 180 all at once?¡¯</em>

    The first seal increased his level by around 50; the second was higher than that. And Ruba¡¯s current level was far beyond that. At this moment, Minhyuk realized why they could be the Pir Evaluators.

    Ruba said, ¡°Evaluators, I will take full responsibility.¡±

    Afterpletely recovering, he looked at the other evaluators. The Transcendentals hadpletely overwhelmed them, to the point that they could not even stand up and fight back.

    ¡°Release all your seals.¡±

    When his words ended, Royer, still stuck in the ground with his handspletely in Nekk¡¯s grasp, immediately overturned the situation and broke Nekk¡¯s hand.

    With Royer¡¯s powerpletely unsealed, his dexterity was now equal, or perhaps more than Nekk¡¯s own. And, of course, the same was true for Arshad, who was overwhelmed by Bernie¡¯s mental attacks. Now, he was able to resist everything. And not only that, he was now able to make Bernie stumble and grab her head in pain.

    ¡°Kghhk!¡±

    Evaluator Ruba¡¯s level increased by almost 300 after unsealing all three seals. As for the other evaluators, their levels only increased by around 120 levels. Nevertheless, it was still quite a massive leap in power.

    Minhyuk knew that they were in danger.

    ¡°All vassals, help Bender and the others drive them out of the Beyond the Heavens Empire!¡±

    If the Transcendentals and the evaluators fought with no holds barred, then the capital of the Beyond the Heavens Empire could be blown away. And if things went wrong, the Transcendentals, who had forged a connection with Minhyuk, might be in danger.

    Brod and Ben hurriedly stepped forward to subdue Ruba.

    ¡°Get lost.¡±

    The passive skill <em>Mad Hound,</em> which would be triggered whenever he swung his sword, unfolded in front of everyone.

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    A mad hound bit Brod and made blood gush out of his body. One look and Minhyuk could tell that the skill was four times more potent than when it attacked him earlier.

    ¡°Kgghk!¡±

    Ben tried to go past the groaning Brod and made to stab Ruba in the head. At that moment, a considerable force erupted from Ruba¡¯s body and sent Ben flying far away.

    <em>Baaaaang¨C!</em>

    ¡°Urk!¡±

    After forcing the two powerhouses of the Beyond the Heavens Empire back, Ruba dashed forward and appeared before Bender. Bender and Ruba¡¯s swords shed. Now that Ruba was releasing a far different momentum and force from earlier, Bender had a hard time and groaned from the pressure.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m being pushed back.¡¯</em>

    Bender realized that he was being pushed back in terms of abilities. He wanted to use his skills and mastery of the martial arts to overwhelm the opponent. The problem was that Ruba was also skilled enough and well-versed in martial arts.

    Cuts appeared all over Bender¡¯s body. Thankfully, his body was regenerating quickly and could quickly stop the bleeding.

    ¡°So, you have a body that transcends the human body. You have a regenerative ability that even the gods can¡¯t keep up with.¡± A thick smile appeared on Ruba¡¯s face. ¡°Try regenerating from this attack, then.¡±

    At that moment, more than a hundred sword lights appeared around Ruba. These sword lights immediately shot out and pierced through Bender.

    <em>Stab¨C Stab, stab¨C!</em>

    Surprisingly enough, not a single scream escaped Bender¡¯s mouth. Even so, the damage the attack inflicted upon him was undoubtedly high.

    ¡°Ho? Then, how about this one?¡± Ruba, with a smile filled with mirth and interest, sent Bender flying to the sky.

    Despite the slow and gentlending, Bender felt a considerable force, as if the heavens were falling upon him, falling upon him.

    ¡°Ugh...!¡±

    The overbearing force fell upon Bender without mercy and tore apart his body. The forcended sixty times in a second andsted five seconds. Shockingly enough, Bender could still recover and regenerate despite his body being torn apart over a hundred times.

    ¡°Then, how about this?¡±

    Ruba raised his sword and released a power that made the sky shake. Just like a cannon being fired, the power shot toward Bender.

    Bender sensed the danger from the power. He could tell that he would be left seriously injured if he was hit directly by that power. He immediately raised the Transcedental¡¯s Energy within him.

    ¡°Heaven Destroyer.¡±

    The power, which carried a name that implied that it could even cut down the heavens, collided with Ruba¡¯s attack.

    <em>Bang¨C</em>

    The entire Beyond the Heavens Empire shook and trembled.

    <em>Flutter¨C</em>

    The clothes worn by the two powerhouses facing each other fluttered.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk could tell that even if Bender could prevent Ruba¡¯s attack, the shockwave and the aftermath would affect the surroundings.

    Ruba was cackling. He was delighted to see his power move along with Bender¡¯s Heaven Destroyer.

    ¡°Cmity.¡±

    <em>Stab¨C</em>

    A sword fell from the sky and stabbed straight through Ruba¡¯s body. The power that Ruba released was forced to scatter as he covered his entire body with a powerful force that created something akin to a white shield. Bender and Minhyuk¡¯s attacks bothnded upon him.

    ¡°It hurts¡­ a bit.¡±

    When the mes cleared out, Ruba looked utterly disheveled. He suffered quite a lot of damage, but his body recovered and regenerated much faster than Bender''s.

    The warriors of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, including Brod, Ben, Conir, and many others, gathered around Minhyuk and Bender. Their numbers seemed enough to stop Ruba.

    ¡°Then, I will kill you all together.¡±

    Ruba thought that this was better. He did not like anything about this empire, so it was better to kill them all.

    Rumba began to gather his strength. It was much bigger and stronger than he had used to attack Bender earlier! It was so powerful that its presence alone made the entire empire shake.

    But then, at that moment, adybird beetle, also known as adybug, flew down from the sky. It was the size of a fist. The moment thedybug appeared, Ruba¡¯s eyes widened.

    ¡°...!¡±

    He, along with the evaluators, began to tremble. All five of them fell t on their stomachs. The more shocking part was that Ruba¡¯s power also dissipated into nothingness.

    Thisdybug was none other than <em>him</em>. <em>He</em> was the one who sent them to thisnd.

    ***

    Athenae managed this world, but some parts were still hard to manage even for her.

    The most significant part of the world that she had a hard time managing was the bnce of the world. Because of that, there was someone who maintained this bnce. He would only appear and intervene when the bnce needed to be maintained or restored.

    <em>He</em> was none other than Chaos. Chaos¡¯ existence was utterly different from Supeputer Athenae. Even Joy Co. Ltd. was shocked by the appearance of Chaos. This was because he emerged by himself when the game was created.

    Chaos only involved himself in matters rted to the bnce of the world. Joy Co. Ltd¡¯s evaluation stated that Chaos was ¡°equivalent¡± to Athenae. Although his name did not carry the grand name of a Pir, he was the one who managed the Pirs.

    He sensed when the evaluators released their third seal and immediately came here. With just one look, he extinguished Captain Evaluator Ruba¡¯s power. Then, with his authority, he looked through Arshad¡¯s head.

    Chaos instantly understood the situation. He realized that this situation unfolded because of his evaluators¡¯ disrespect. But Chaos also considered it a given for people with power equivalent to the evaluators to be treated courteously. Even so, Minhyuk¡¯s words still rang true. Without an official position, they were indeed nothing.

    Chaos, who understood the situation, nced at Ruba.

    Ruba trembled when he felt the gaze of the reddybugnd on him. He immediately stuck his head on the ground.

    ¡°F-forgive me. I will receive the punishment for all of my sins.¡±

    Chaos did not say anything anymore. For him, this was the end of the matter. But just when Chaos opened his wings and was about to fly away¡­

    ¡°Ladybird.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Ruba and the other evaluators raised their heads in shock when they heard the voice.

    <em>¡®No¡­ Did you just call Lord Chaos as ¡°Ladybird¡±?¡¯</em>

    Of course, Chaos was currently in the form of a cute(?)dybird beetle. But how dare he speak lightly of the lord like that?!

    But Minhyuk did not know their qualms and looked coldly at thedybird beetle. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯ll consider this thing as over after just taking a look?¡±

    Minhyuk looked around him. Not only did Brod and Ben suffer considerable damages, but he was also yet to receive an apology from the evaluators for his soldiers, who had their arms and legs broken by them.

    ¡°Are you kidding me?¡±

    Thedybird beetle looked at Minhyuk silently. As for the evaluators? They all held their breaths.

 Chapter 1076

    Chapter 1076

    Minhyuk knew that thedybug had sent the evaluators here. Of course, he could tell what descended upon them was just a shell.

    ¡°Are you kidding me?¡± Minhyuk growled, his words stopping Chaos from leaving.

    After seeing his evaluators'' atrocities, thedybird stopped them and tried to leave immediately.

    ¡°You-you! You! You¡¯re crazy!¡±

    ¡°How dare you do that in front of me! I will tear your limbs right away¡­!¡±

    The evaluators went into an uproar, but with one nce from Chaos, they hurriedly buried their heads into the ground again.

    Minhyuk could not read any of Chaos¡¯ expressions. He felt intimidated because he could only see thedybird beetle¡¯s empty eyes staring straight at him.

    ¡°Just think about it. If my subordinates entered a kingdom that is infinitely weaker than my empire and broke the arms and legs of the innocent guards, then¡­¡± Minhyuk went on, his voice calm and undisturbed. ¡°...I would bring a basketful of dishes, the thing that I¡¯m best at, and apologize to them.¡±

    Indeed, Minhyuk would do that. It was not because he was the emperor and had to bear his men''s faults. He would bow his head because his friends and colleagues made the wrong choice, and he wanted them to realize this. Of course, it was also so he could apologize for the damage that they had done. If he did that, then his friends and vassals could learn something. As for the ones that were affected? They would probably burst out inughter and let bygones be bygones. This was the reason why Minhyuk could be the emperor.

    What about Chaos?

    ¡°You came here, <em>ta-dah</em>, then everything is over? And you¡¯re leaving just like that? Are you kidding me? Will the broken limbs of my guards be attached when you do something like that?¡±

    At that moment, Chaos turned to look at the soldiers, whose arms and legs were now being put in a cast. To everyone¡¯s surprise, their injuries and broken bones reattached themselves.

    <em>¡®Ah¡­ They¡¯re attached¡­¡¯</em>

    The priests had said that reattaching the bones could take several hours, but one nce from Chaos was enough to fix them.

    ¡°You know that¡¯s not what I¡¯m talking about, right?¡±

    What Minhyuk wanted was a sincere apology. Of course, he did not mean to hold Chaos ountable or force him to lower his head to him.

    <em>¡®I have my sense of measure.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk knew that nothing good woulde out of incurring Chaos¡¯ hate. There was only one thing that he wanted.

    ¡°I¡¯m not talking about you. I¡¯m talking about those bastards over there.¡± Minhyuk pointed to the evaluators, who were lying prone on the ground.

    Chaos stared at Minhyuk for quite a long time. Minhyuk did not feel good after being stared at by Chaos¡¯ solemn gaze. He felt as if his entire being had been seen through.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s the one who supervises the Eight Pirs.¡¯</em>

    Of course, Minhyuk could not help but be nervous.

    After staring at him for a long time, Chaos slowly nodded.

    <em>[Chaos¡¯ Blessing.]</em>

    <em>[Chaos¡¯ Blessing will help bring you to the next level.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    ¡°...?!¡±

    The EXP value, which had left him at a loss as to how to increase, quickly rose until he reached the next level. Minhyuk was quite shocked at Chaos¡¯ small gesture of sincerity.

    Then, Chaos turned to look at the trembling evaluators.

    <em>[You are only strictly allowed to evaluate him.]</em>

    <em>[Sincerely apologize for the atrocities and sins you havemitted here.]</em>

    <em>[Know that everything is under my observation.]</em>

    <em>[If you dare to tarnish the evaluator''s title, you will not be exempted fromplete extinction.]</em>

    ¡°We have received your orders!¡± The trembling evaluators answered loudly.

    Chaos turned to look back at Minhyuk. After a while, he spread his wings and flew to the sky. The evaluators continued to lie prone on the ground even after Chaos had disappeared in front of them.

    After Chaospletely disappeared from everyone¡¯s view, a shadow cast over them.

    ¡°...¡±

    At that moment, Ruba and the rest of the evaluators felt a strong sense of foreboding.

    ***

    The attitudes of Ruba and the evaluators did aplete 180 after Chaos left.

    Ruba, who was sweating cold bullets, said, ¡°S-sor¡­¡±

    The evaluators had never lowered their heads to anyone except Chaos. It was evident from how reluctant Ruba was to finish his sentence. His mouth was mped shut as if something had glued them together.

    At that moment, Minhyuk nced at the sky and said, ¡°Ah! Lord Ladybug!¡±

    The evaluators rushed before Minhyuk and immediately bowed down when they heard his cry.

    ¡°S-sorry.¡±

    ¡°We were too arrogant.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just a trivial thing.¡±

    If those familiar with the evaluators saw them acting like this, they might have been given the greatest shock. That was just how arrogant and authoritative the evaluators had been acting.

    However, Minhyuk knew what kind of existence Chaos was to them. And Chaos had told them to apologize sincerely. That was why they bowed their heads even though they knew it would humiliate them.

    ¡°Why are you apologizing to me?¡±

    Minhyuk was honestly disappointed. He wanted them to apologize, but the subject was not him. Minhyuk stood still, his blood boiling at the thought of the humiliation that his soldiers suffered earlier.

    One of the soldiers, Hanson, was still holding onto his arm while still shaking in fear. His soldiers were NPCs. They must have been ovee by fear when Ruba beat them and must have thought, <em>¡®Ah, I¡¯m going to die like this.¡¯ </em>That was why the subjects of their apologies should not be Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®What a pity. Perhaps my kind and soft-hearted soldiers will forgive them easily.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk knew the soldiers of the Beyond the Heavens Empire well. They were all kind and affectionate people. That was why he thought like that.

    Ruba bowed to the two soldiers and sincerely apologized. ¡°I-I¡¯m sorry. I was so obsessed with my power that I have treated you like that.¡±

    With their legs and arms now fully healed, the two soldiers sneered at him.

    ¡°And you think that it will be over just like that?¡±

    ¡°Are you kidding me right now?¡±

    ¡°N-no?¡±

    Minhyuk stared at his soldiers. <em>¡®My precious soldiers are supposed to be kind and nice¡­?¡¯</em>

    Ruba pondered briefly before saying, ¡°Th-then hit me once per person!¡±

    Ruba thought long and hard and ended uping up with this trick. At best, these two soldiers would either stab him with the sword or punch him in the abdomen. And even if they did that, he was confident he would not receive the slightest damage.

    If he allowed them to hit him in exchange for the damage he had done to them, it would prove to Chaos that he was genuinely bowing his head and sincerely apologizing.

    Minhyuk immediately understood what was going on in Ruba¡¯s head. Still, he knew that he could no longer get involved.

    ¡°Then, I will not decline your offer.¡± Hanson stepped forward.

    Ruba was not nervous at all. <em>¡®If you stab me in the stomach with your sword, then perhaps it''s your sword that will get broken.¡¯</em>

    And if he punched him in the abdomen, then the one that would get hurt more would be his hands.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to hit you now.¡±

    With all of the grievances and displeasure he had experienced, Hanson pped Ruba¡¯s right cheek with all his might.

    <em>Thwack¨C!</em>

    The hit that would bring others the greatest shame and difort was not a punch. It was none other than a p on the face. Immediately after Hanson, the other soldiers stepped forward and pped the left cheek of Ruba, who was still stunned after being pped on the right cheek.

    ¡°...¡±

    Ruba¡¯s face immediately turned face from the sudden and unexpected double whammy. His face twisted and grew ugly, just like a devil¡¯s own.

    Minhyuk, who saw everything, thought, <em>¡®G-guys¡­?¡¯</em>

    Only at this moment did Minhyuk realize that his kind and soft-hearted soldiers were someone who knew how to hit someone where it hurt the most. That was right. They were kind, friendly and nice. In a way, they learned from their emperor, Minhyuk. They all had to pay back what they had received properly. The people were just like their emperor.

    Ruba looked like he was about ready to rip someone apart.

    Minhyuk nced at Ruba before looking at the sky above him. Then, he said, ¡°The weather is so nice today.¡±

    ¡°...¡± Ruba immediately quelled his anger. ¡°That should be enough¡­ now¡­ right?¡±

    Minhyuk nodded lightly.

    The evaluators all looked at Ruba when he returned to their side. This was the first time in their lives that they had witnessed Captain Ruba suffer such humiliation and shame. However, they have no choice but to put it behind and discuss the evaluation.

    This time, the evaluation was quite honest. They were all witnesses to the fight before, and they had all heard Arshad shout that Minhyuk had passed.

    ¡°His story toward his journey to be a Pir is excellent. His hard work, efforts, endurance, perseverance, and the trials and adversities he faced are all qualified. He can take the ce of a Pir with his story alone.¡± Arshadmented honestly.

    Although he did not say anything anymore, he thought, <em>¡®We should give him a high score. After all, not many can handle Lord Chaos and Captain Ruba like that and y them like a fiddle.¡¯</em>

    The other evaluators also gave their own honest opinions.

    ¡°His momentum and force are also excellent. Although his current mastery of martial arts is still not at the level of a pir, he is still a candidate. So, once he grows, he will most likely reach the level of a Pir.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    Arshad suddenly interjected. ¡°He wants to be the <em>Pir of the Gourmands</em>.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    The evaluators, who were made aware of this fact, were all in awe. Indeed, the data that they had on hand clearly said that this candidate was the ¡°Food God¡± and wanted to be the ¡°Pir of the Gourmands.¡±

    Although they had given him a high score for the momentum and force aspect of the evaluation, they still had to give him scores rted to food and eating. Of course, they had already judged that he was worthy of a nomination and an appointment because he had already obtained enough points. Nheless, they had to follow procedures and try his dishes first.

    And Minhyuk? He had already received a notification regarding the results.

    <em>[The evaluators had unanimously acknowledged your position as a candidate.]</em>

    Nevertheless, they still said, ¡°Please serve us a meal.¡±

    Minhyuk frowned. ording to the notifications, his qualifications had already been acknowledged, so there was no need for this. Besides, he feltpletely ufortable serving these people a meal.

    Despite the irritation that was evident on his face, he still served them a meal. He took something out of his inventory and almost threw it at them.

    ¡°Eat that,¡± Minhyuk growled. Now that he had resolved some anger toward them, he reverted to his more polite and formal way of speaking. ¡°Next time, I hope you will think carefully about what a true evaluator is.¡±

    After leaving those words, Minhyuk and his vassals disappeared. Hanson, who watched them go, brought a table to the evaluators to make it easier for them to eat.

    <em>¡®Even so, this bastard¡¯s a bit¡­¡¯ </em>Ruba thought.

    Just then, at that moment, Hanson tapped him on the shoulder. He said, ¡°Please live a good life.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Ruba realized that the Beyond the Heavens Empire was both a good ce and a ridiculous ce. Minhyuk and his people acted the same.

    The evaluators looked at the food in a shabby pot in front of them. The contents of the pot were <em>bibimbap</em>, which had already been perfectly mixed.

    <em>¡®He already mixed it before serving it to us.¡¯</em>

    Then, they began to eat the food.

    ***

    The evaluators finally went back after eating the <em>bibimbap.</em>

    The truth was, they had also missed the taste of food. Why? This was because they hadn¡¯t descended in the world for thousands of years. In thend where they lived, no food was as delicious as the dishes in the human world.

    The dish that was served to them was exceptionally divine. And just as they expected, the DEX of the one hailed as the Food God was genuinely outstanding. Of course, any dish from his hand would be delicious.

    ¡°He is worthy of bing the Pir of the Gourmands.¡±

    ¡°Indeed. The <em>bibimbap</em> was truly delicious.¡±

    ¡°I want to eat that again. But does <em>bibimbap</em> usually have soup at the bottom of the pot?¡± Arshad asked.

    Ruba clicked his tongue and said, ¡°You don¡¯t know how to eat it. <em>Bibimbap</em> tastes more delicious if you mix it with a few spoonfuls of delicious soup. That guy knows how to eat.¡±

    ¡°Oho¡­¡±

    ¡°I want to eat it again.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to go back and act friendly with him, but I want to eat that <em>bibimbap</em> again.¡±

    They all smacked their lips.

    ***

    Bender found the situation very unexpected. The Minhyuk he knew was not the type of person who would willingly give a warm meal to someone who dared injure his people and damage his empire.

    Then, he heard Minhyuk murmur something, ¡°What a waste. I used good ingredients and even mixed it well for my kids¡­¡±

    As they stepped foot in the imperial pce, Bender, who had heard the iprehensible words from Minhyuk¡¯s mouth, asked, ¡°Hey, why did you serve them such a hearty meal?¡±

    At the same time, the notifications for his recognition as the candidate for the Pir of the Gourmands rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears. After listening, Minhyuk sighed and replied, ¡°A hearty meal? Ah. I made it with care and love. It¡¯s a very healthy meal specially made for my kids.¡±

    ¡°Huh? You have kids?¡± Bender looked at Minhyuk in confusion.

    Minhyuk said, ¡°Ah! I¡¯m talking about our dear Love, Hope, and Happiness. I think it¡¯s a waste. I mixed it well, too.¡±

    ¡°Who are Love, Hope, and Happiness?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re my Cerberus.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    If it was Cerberus, then¡­

    <em>¡®A dog?¡¯</em>

    At that moment, Bender thought back to the evaluators sitting in front of a table, relishing dog food while shouting in awe from time to time.

 Chapter 1077

    Chapter 1077

    The Pir Evaluators, who filled their stomachs with dog food, had only met with the first candidate. They still had to evaluate many candidates, some of whom could receive nominations. Of course, some''s qualifications to be candidates remained to be judged.

    The evaluators talked amongst themselves as they walked to their next destination.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know if the next one is qualified to be nominated as a candidate.¡±

    ¡°Among the ones we must evaluate, she¡¯s the least likely to be a candidate.¡±

    ¡°But there must be a reason why <em>he</em> chose that woman.¡±

    All of them were filled with expectations.

    Not all the candidates, whether their qualifications had been acknowledged, the newly chosen candidates, or those whose qualifications would be eptedter, would be one of the Eight Pirs.

    ¡°<em>He</em> said that the selection for the EIght Pirs will be done differently.¡±

    The evaluators thought that the new method for selecting the members of the Eight Pirs would be a battle between the chosen candidates. <em>¡®A battle between those who control and rule over this world.¡¯</em>

    Of course, this would only happen in the future. Regardless of the new selection method, they continued on their way to meet another chosen candidate.

    ¡°This time should be a bit easier.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    They were 100% sure that Minhyuk¡¯s case was unique. This time, they were sure that they would be treated courteously. So, with the mentality that they would be given the highest form of hospitality, they intended to take it easy at their next stop.

    Finally, they were able to meet the woman that <em>he</em> had chosen.

    ¡°We are the Pir Evaluators. We came here to evaluate and judge if you have the qualifications and are worthy of being nominated to be a Pir Candidate.¡±

    ¡°Ah, you¡¯re here.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    <em>¡®Wait.¡¯</em>

    At this moment, Ruba could tell that something was wrong. No. Why did things keep on deviating from the scenario that they had expected?

    Even though Ruba was frustrated, he could not yell. After all, there was a chance that <em>he</em> was watching over them.

    He could only growl lightly. ¡°Why are your words so brief?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the ones who spoke briefly first, so I did the same. Is there a problem?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    <em>¡®Ah, she¡¯s right.¡¯</em>

    Ruba looked at the woman silently. The woman''s blonde hair was tied tightly in a ponytail, and she held a sword.

    This woman was none other than Sword Emperor Ellie.

    ***

    Minhyuk was confident that nothing would happen even if he presented the meal he prepared for his Cerberus to the evaluators because he had already heard that his qualifications were sufficient and had already received their nomination.

    When he and Arlene had sessfully created the Supreme Dish, he had been given the title ¡°The One Who Reached the Pinnacle.¡±

    ording to the title¡¯s effects, Minhyuk''s dishes from that point on would at least be epic grade, whether it was a simple ramyeon or egg fried rice that could be made in just five minutes.

    Now that the problem with the evaluators was over, Minhyuk wrapped up the conversation with the Transcendentals. Minhyuk had already obtained the chance to spar andpete with Bender. Still, Minhyuk wanted not just to ¡°spar¡± with him but also to gain a foothold that would help catapult his growth.

    <em>¡®The EXP needed to get to Level 699 from Level 698 is¡­¡¯</em>

    The amount of EXP he needed was equivalent to the total amount he needed from Level 680 to Level 698. It had reached a ridiculous level.

    <em>¡®I have to reach Level 700. Once I reach that level, I can go beyond my limits.¡¯</em>

    The limit that Minhyuk was talking about was not about strength. It was the limit rted to his cooking and his DEX. Minhyuk knew what he wanted well.

    <em>¡®I want to be the Pir of the Gourmands.¡¯</em>

    Cooking and DEX would significantly influence bing the Pir of the Gourmands.

    So far, Minhyuk had met two candidates¨CLord of the Monsters Barbarian and The Teacher Beradon. Regarding dexterity, there was also the Jack-of-all-Trades Rocado, the Pir hailed as the Father of Dexterity.

    Rocado and the two candidates he had met were incredible people in their respective fields. Minhyuk was aware that his current level was iparably lowpared to theirs.

    <em>¡®Although, at the moment, it seems like the standards have been lowered to some extent.¡¯</em>

    That was just how ridiculously high the wall was. Minhyuk could clearly remember how he had only won once against Jack-of-all-Trades Rocado, while the man had won more than tens of thousands of matches against him. One thing was clear: Minhyuk was far from reaching their position.

    However, before Jack-of-all-Trades Rocado went into eternal rest, he gave Minhyuk a gift.

    <em>[Once you reach Level 700, the 1st quest to help you find Rocado¡¯s power will open and reveal itself.]</em>

    <em>[This will give you more power and help you take one step closer to bing the true Eight Pir.]</em>

    Jack-of-all-Trades Rocado¡¯s power would most likely help Minhyuk fill the deficiency in his powers.

    <em>¡®I have to reach Level 700 first.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s heart thumped wildly. Reaching a higher realm in cooking meant he could cook and eat more delicious food in the future. That was why he wanted to reach Level 700 quickly.

    This was also why he applied The Growth Cultivator, the power left behind by Beradon to him, on Bender. This power, which could create a quest on its own, was a power that was equivalent to the Eight Pirs¡¯ Disaster. In exchange for using this power, one¡¯s level would drop by one.

    <em>[The Growth Cultivator has started to create quests for you.]</em>

    <em>[Please set the contents of the quest, the rewards, and the penalty for failure.]</em>

    <em>[If you set a reward that is excessive concerning the quest''s difficulty, the system will be the one to set the rewards.]</em>

    <em>[If you set an excessive reward and the system chooses to put it, you will receive a reward much worse than what you want.]</em>

    <em>[Your level has dropped by one.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s level dropped to Level 697 once again with the penalty for using the Growth Cultivator. For Minhyuk, he had to level up twice to make up for the loss.

    <em>¡®Considering the amount of EXP I have, the difficulty should be very high.¡¯</em>

    This meant that he could increase the reward. As mentioned before, Bender had a power simr to Beradon¡¯s. A power that could help someone raise their EXP just by their recognition alone.

    <em>¡®Increase my level by two for three sessful attacks on Bender. Also, Bender¡¯s guidance on swordsmanship as an additional reward.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk quickly set the difficulty of the quest and the rewards while looking at the hologram.

    <em>[The rewards set are far too highpared to the difficulty level.]</em>

    Minhyuk bit his lips. When he saw Bender¡¯s fight with Ruba, he realized that he was fortunate to be able to use Overpower and take the pen away from him eight times in a row. That was why he set the condition to onlynding three sessful attacks. But the notifications refused the conditions and the rewards.

    <em>¡®If I fail to create a quest with all the three tries I¡¯m given, then the Growth Cultivator will set the reward itself.¡¯</em>

    If that happened, the reward it would set would be much lower than what Minhyuk wanted. Furthermore, it would also be the one to set the quest''s difficulty level. That was why Minhyuk had to be very careful.

    <em>¡®To get two level-ups as a reward then¡­ right. Let¡¯s set it as reducing his HP by 5%.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk set the conditions for the quest, remembering that Bender had an overpowered regenerative power and a body like steel.

    <em>[The amount of EXP needed for leveling up is too high.]</em>

    <em>[The rewards set are far too highpared to the difficulty level.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s face grew ugly.

    <em>¡®Has it considered that I can use skills like Cmity?¡¯</em>

    Of course, the Growth Cultivator would also observe and consider the skill users themselves. If Minhyuk used one-shot kill skills like Cmity, then it would be able to see that he could cut down around 5% of his opponent¡¯s HP.

    Minhyuk had to tread carefully. He carefully set the conditions and the rewards of the quest for hisst try. He set the condition to cut down Bender¡¯s HP by 25%.

    <em>[The amount of EXP needed for leveling up is too high.]</em>

    <em>[The rewards set are far too highpared to the difficulty level.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s face twisted horribly. The system judged that two level-ups were a ridiculous reward for Minhyuk¡¯s current level.

    Minhyuk started to feel nervous. Now, the system would set the quest''s difficulty and its rewards.

    <em>[The Growth Cultivator is creating a quest. It is now setting the level of difficulty and the rewards.]</em>

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Quest</em></strong><em>: Cut Down Bender¡¯s HP by 50%.]</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: SSS</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: Level 650</em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: Two level-ups and Bender¡¯s Swordsmanship Guidance.</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Failure</em></strong><em>: Your level will drop by two.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: The Growth Cultivator has assessed that the previously set rewards were too excessive for the difficulty set. It has now set its level of difficulty and rewards.</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    The rewards did not get worse. The only thing that changed was the penalty for failure. If he failed, then his level would drop by two. On top of that, the condition had increased. Now, Minhyuk had to cut down Bender¡¯s HP by 50%.

    Just in time, Bender, Nekk, and the other Transcendentals entered his office. From the looks of it, Bender had already heard something about it, too. This was because his expression was filled with interest.

    Nekk sensed the unusual air around them and asked, ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±

    ¡°Ah, it¡¯s nothing. Minhyuk just offered a bet with me. He¡¯s saying that he can seriously injure me during our spar.¡±

    ¡°N-no. I didn¡¯t do that¡­¡±

    ¡°Well, it sure is simr to a bet. He took the pen from my hand so easily, so he must have thought it was possible.¡±

    ¡°What you¡¯re saying is¡­¡±

    All of the Transcendentals looked at Minhyuk at the same time. Their expressions were saying, <em>¡®What¡¯s the problem with you? Why did you do that?¡¯</em>

    The Transcendentals have all recognized Bender as the strongest. They all knew that they could not cut them down even if the gods appeared.

    ¡°So, I¡¯m going to take Minhyuk to the Fortress of Fantasy.¡±

    ¡°...?¡± Minhyuk looked at Bender in confusion.

    ¡°If you enter the Transcendental¡¯s Training Room inside the fortress, you will still be revived even if you die. You can spar all you want in there.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Minhyuk could see the desire for victory zing in Bender¡¯s eyes.

    <em>¡®I think I¡¯m in trouble.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk could expect his opponent to give it his all.

    ***

    The Transcendental¡¯s Training Room was a ce with extraordinary power. Anyone inside this room would not experience actual death. If they died inside, they would be revived right away. The best part? They would not suffer from any penalties, and there was no limit.

    Time did not flow inside the room. Even if they stayed inside for five minutes, thirty minutes, a year, or ten years, the actual time that had passed outside would just be five minutes.

    The main reason why the Transcendentals¡¯ force was so outstanding was because of this training room. When many Transcendentals were still alive, Bender had used this training room to train them. And most of the Transcendentals that he trained had something inmon.

    <em>¡®All of them are arrogant.¡¯</em>

    The Transcendentals, or the Albraim Race, were an entirely different race from humans. Since they were inherently stronger than all other races, the Albraim Race was filled with countless arrogant men.

    Bender was just a unique case. He had lived as a human being most of his life and had only realized that he was a Transcendentalter in life. Because of that, the arrogant Transcendentals refused to acknowledge him and his power. Bender, ignored by the Transcendentals, discovered a way to teach these arrogant men a lesson.

    <em>¡®Just overwhelm them.¡¯</em>

    He would grasp their faults and shorings and make them realize their powerlessness.

    ¡°Anyway, that¡¯s how it is.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    Minhyuk made it clear that he had not set up the bet. But even though he had cleared the misunderstandings, Bender still decided to overwhelm himpletely.

    Since the two had nothing urgent to do, they decided to rest well for the day after returning to the Fortress of Fantasy.

    ¡°Let¡¯s start,¡± Bender said, moving quickly when he and Minhyuk entered the Transcedental¡¯s Training Room.

    Bender was the strongest being and an object of fear to the gods. When Helenia appeared, and the gods were in danger, they ran and asked him for help. That was why the gods hailed him as ¡°The One who Kills Even the Heavens.¡± Bender liked that title to the point that he even modeled his power around that title. One of those powers was¡­

    ¡°Heaven Destroyer: Linked.¡±

    Minhyuk, standing in front of Bender¡¯s sword, was ripped apart a hundred times over. He could only stare at Bender as his body sumbed to the sword lights.

    ¡°Thankfully, foreigners don¡¯t feel pain.¡±

    Because of this, Bender decided to kill Minhyuk hundreds of times and let him experience what actual training felt like.

    <em>Stab¨C</em>

    Just one sh from Bender forced Minhyuk¡¯s HP to drop to the bottom. Minhyuk staggered, turned into light, and disappeared. When he reappeared, surprise could be seen on his face.

    <em>¡®What the hell was that?!¡¯</em>

    A shockingly powerful yet invisible force ripped Minhyuk apart a hundred times in mere seconds. But it did not end there. Bender swung his sword toward Minhyuk¡¯s neck, and another chapter of his Heaven Destroyer mmed straight into Minhyuk.

    <em>Baaaaang¨C!</em>

    A massive explosion erupted around Minhyuk. Fortunately, he did not die.

    <em>sh¨C sh, sh¨C sh¨C!</em>

    Despite the thick cloud of dust, Bender continued to cut down Minhyuk. Minhyuk did not evenst thirty seconds before he was forced to log out a second time.

    A third time¡­

    <em>Stab¨C Stab, stab¨C!</em>

    A fourth time¡­

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    A fifth time¡­

    <em>Boom, boom, boom¨C!</em>

    Nekk, who watched this unfold, said, ¡°He¡¯s giving it his all.¡±

    ¡°Although Minhyuk has already exined and resolved the misunderstanding, you must know that punk Bender is very petty.¡±

    Indeed. Bender was petty and narrow-minded. Watching on the sidelines, the Transcendentals all looked at Minhyuk as if he were pitiful when they saw that he was forced to log out six times in a row.

    ¡°Even so, he will still force him to feel discouraged.¡±

    ¡°From what I can see, he¡¯s going to kill him twenty more times.¡±

    Bender did not show any hesitation. He did not give Minhyuk any room to breathe and continued to hit him again and again and <em>again.</em>

    Although Minhyuk was the one who killed Helenia, it seemed like Bender wanted to make him realize that it was only made possible by borrowing Obren¡¯s power.

    <em>¡®Take that arrogance away. Only if you discard that will you be able to recognize your limits and go even further.¡¯</em>

    Bender, who had killed Minhyuk for the tenth time, had already used up much of his mana. Even so, Bender was still very confident.

    <em>¡®At this rate, he will feel helpless. By then, I will still be able to kill him a dozen more times, even if I don¡¯t have enough mana.¡¯</em>

    Besides, Bender could still use his skills a lot of times. This time, he used one of the powers under Heaven Destroyer, Restriction. With this power, the overwhelming power of a Transcendental would surge out of his body and ultimately control the movements of anyone weaker than him for seven straight seconds.

    Bender approached Minhyuk, who was stuck in his position. Then, he was taken aback by what he heard.

    <em>[The opponent has resisted your Restriction!]</em>

    Minhyuk was already waiting for Bender. He chuckled when he saw Bender¡¯s shock when the man realized he had resisted his power.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been waiting.¡±

    ¡°...?!¡±

    ¡°You must have used most of your mana by now.¡±

    At this moment, Bender realized that the arrogant one was not Minhyuk but himself.

    ¡°Transcendence.¡±

 Chapter 1078

    Chapter 1078

    ¡°Transcendence.¡±

    <em>[You have activated Transcendence!]</em>

    <em>[You have gone beyond your limits and transcended to another realm!]</em>

    <em>[The Transcendence¡¯s buff effects have now been applied!]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 27%!]</em>

    <em>[All of your attack power has increased by 23%!]</em>

    <em>[All of your defensive power has increased by 29%!]</em>

    <em>[All of your skill levels have increased by +1!]</em><em>[Your resistance to abnormal statuses has increased by 30%!]</em>

    <em>[Your total HP and MP have increased by 20%!]</em>

    After being killed by Bender ten times in a row, Minhyuk had already learned about his attack pattern and movements. Was he helpless in the face of Bender¡¯s power? Of course. He was fully aware of how powerful Bender was, not to mention Bender was giving it his all to kill Minhyuk in just a few moves.

    The condition to clear this quest was cutting Bender¡¯s HP by 50%.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s tough to do.¡¯</em>

    Bender had a Transcendental¡¯s Body. This meant he was someone whose injuries would recover at a speed visible to the naked eye.

    However, since Minhyuk continued to die, his MP was mainly unused. So, he went ahead and triggered ¡°The Unyielding One.¡± It was the most potent force that could allow him to resist any power stronger than his own!

    After his tenth death, he equipped the ck Dragon Armor and activated Transcendence, promptly releasing ck energy surrounding his entire body.

    ¡°This¡­¡±

    At the same time, Minhyuk¡¯s sword stabbed through the flustered Bender¡¯s chest.

    <em>Stab¨C!</em>

    <em>Sword of Frenzy.</em> Minhyuk¡¯s swordsmanship skill could trigger several additional attacks upon a sessful attack on a vital point.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab¨C!</em>

    Immediately after that, Minhyuk used his Dual Swordsmanship Technique, which promptly increased his speed, and continued his attacks on Bender.

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    Blood spurted out of Bender¡¯s body as he endured Minhyuk¡¯s attacks. Minhyuk did not stop, immediately triggering the Sword of Tempest, and summoned Stormy.

    ¡°Intangible Sword.¡±

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    Hundreds of des that ignored the opponent¡¯s defenses shed and hacked at Bender.

    ¡°Amazing¡­¡± Nekk, who was watching from the sidelines, was in awe.

    But Minhyuk, who had used all his skills except ¡°Cmity,¡± was forced to face the reality before him.

    ¡°...¡±

    Even at this intensity, he could only reduce Bender¡¯s HP by only 20%.

    ¡°What¡­¡±

    Minhyuk could not hide how flustered he was. Even Helenia had died after heunched attacks like this.

    ¡°Helenia¡¯s magical damage was potent. This is amon advantage of a mage,¡± Bender said as if he had noticed what Minhyuk was thinking.

    A mage¡¯s magical damage was several times higher than the attack power of swordsmen.

    ¡°But in exchange, her HP was low, only around a fifth of mine.¡±

    ¡°...!¡± Minhyuk was rendered speechless.

    Helenia could overwhelm Bender back then because she had high magical damage and her ores.

    What would happen if the Transcendentals were not bound to the Fortress of the Fantasy by the system?

    <em>¡®Bender might have fought equally against Helenia.¡¯</em>

    Bender chuckled lightly. ¡°I¡¯m quite surprised. No matter how strong you have be, I never expected you to put this much pressure on me. Then, now¡­¡±

    Minhyuk chuckled awkwardly, ¡°Heh.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaa¨C!</em>

    Ten secondster, he was forced to log out again. Minhyuk realized that his previous tactic would not work either. After dying again, he could only analyze the situation.

    <em>¡®If it weren¡¯t for the Transcendental¡¯s Training Room, it would have already been judged as a failure.¡¯</em>

    But thanks to Bender¡¯s kindness, brought about by his consideration(?) or his desire to kill him several times in a row, his quest had still not failed. While pondering this matter and dying ten more times in a row, something new happened.

    <em>[Your resistance to the Abnormal Status: Fear has increased.]</em>

    ¡°Eh?¡± Minhyuk looked puzzled when he heard the notification. ¡°Why did my resistance suddenly¡­?¡±

    Bender chuckled. ¡°Ah, I forgot to tell you. In this ce, you have fifteen times more chances of increasing your stats or resistance to abnormal statuses for repeated actions.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes grew wide.

    Most yers who died frequently could increase various stats and resistance to abnormal statuses. For example, the fear that one would feel at the moment of their death was an abnormal status. As their resistance to abnormal statuses increased, the fear gradually grew dull.

    Of course, this was only something they could obtain after countless repetitive actions. It was usually considered meaningless since the notification would only be triggered asionally. However, in this ce, the chances increased by fifteen times.

    <em>¡®Usually, ces where you can log in indefinitely would not have any effects that could increase one¡¯s stats.¡¯</em>

    Yet this ce had such an effect. Minhyuk, who saw the sly smile on Bender¡¯s face, said, ¡°Thank you, Bender.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about. I just want to mess with you and make you suffer.¡±

    This was what Bender was aiming for. He deliberately brought Minhyuk here because Minhyuk wanted to grow.

    ¡°The question is, can you endure it?¡± Bender flicked his wrist and swung his sword in a circle whileughing. ¡°I will continue to kill you until the words ¡®Please, I beg you. Stop.¡¯es out of your mouth.¡±

    ¡°Well, try to kill me until you get those words out of my mouth then.¡± Minhyuk puffed his chest out proudly.

    Bender chuckled.

    ***

    Fifty dayster¡­

    ¡°P-please. Let¡¯s stop for a bit.¡±

    ¡°Come on, kill me quickly, Bender! Keuhahahaha! Stab me here! Ahahahahaha!¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Bender looked at Minhyuk, who was like a madman. <em>¡®Wait. Has he gone nuts? Who would do something like this non-stop for fifty days?¡¯</em>

    Of course, no one would not feel exhaustion or fatigue inside the Transcendental¡¯s Training Room. Even so, the stress of repeatedly experiencing this act was bound to increase. And Minhyuk had been dying non-stop for fifty straight days.

    ¡°You have only killed me <em>1,742</em> times.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk checked the stats and the abnormal status resistance that had increased during his deaths.

    <em>¡®Resistance to Abnormal Status: Fear increased 39 times.</em>

    <em>¡®Resistance to sharp weapons increased 44 times.</em>

    <em>¡®Repeated deaths caused an increase in HP by 137.</em>

    <em>¡®DEX increased by 116.</em>

    <em>¡®Physical defensive power increased by 36.</em>

    <em>¡®Magical defensive power increased by 46.¡¯</em>

    The increased resistance to sharp weapons meant that the amount of HP cut down when attacked by weapons would decrease. The method to improve this was usually a gruesome process. Others had to swing their swords for fifty straight days, while others had to suffer countless attacks non-stop. Could the average person endure this? No. That was impossible.

    But Minhyuk?

    ¡°You have to kill someone 5,000 times before you can say, <em>¡®Ah, I killed him~.¡¯</em> Right?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°Oh dear! Come on, kill me. Quick!¡± Minhyuk said, a hoe in his hand as he dug the ground before him. Using the hoe to dig the ground could increase his DEX.

    Usually, dishes made in ces like this would disappear once taken outside. But was that the case with the Transcendental¡¯s Training Room? Not at all.

    <em>¡®The dish remains the same even if you take it outside.¡¯</em>

    In other words, he would be able to save time cooking! Minhyuk scooped some of the boiling soup in the cauldron he had prepared earlier and slurped it up before continuing to work hard with his hoe.

    ¡°Ah, wait. Where did my killer go?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    At this point, Bender realized that something had gone wrong. <em>¡®No. Maybe he¡¯s the one with a problem?¡¯</em>

    The Transcendentals would usually throw away their desire for growth and beg for him to stop after dying hundreds of times in ten days. But that was not the case for Minhyuk. Even though he continued to die, he still did what he wanted to do just to raise his stats.

    <em>¡®In the end, he¡¯s still human.¡¯</em>

    Bender was entertaining the idea that Minhyuk would eventually surrender and sumb to helplessness if he killed him a hundred times more.

    s, after ten days¡­

    ¡°Oho! My DEX increased by three today!¡±

    On the twentieth day¡­

    ¡°My resistance to Fear has not gone up in a few days. <em>Tch.</em>¡±

    On the thirtieth day¡­

    ¡°You¡¯re not yet tired, right?¡±

    On the fortieth day¡­

    ¡°Wow. If you kill me 700 more times, then it will be my 3,000th death.¡±

    On the fiftieth day¡­

    ¡°You only need to kill me 100 more times!¡±

    ¡°...I¡¯m not doing it anymore.¡± Bender threw his sword away.

    <em>¡®What the hell? How is there a guy like this?¡¯</em>

    Then, Bender rolled his shirt up and said, ¡°Kill me, Minhyuk.¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    ¡°If you seriously injure me, then everything will be over. Right?¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    ¡°Come on! Let¡¯s end this quickly!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s expression soured. He said, ¡°But I don¡¯t want to.¡±

    ¡°Why?!!!¡±

    Bender could not understand him. He was already saying he would lose in this spar, so why was he refusing?

    ¡°Because I¡¯m starting to see it?¡±

    ¡°...?¡± Bender looked at Minhyuk in confusion. That was when he saw the slight smile blooming on Minhyuk¡¯s face.

    ***

    Minhyuk had died under Bender¡¯s hands thousands of times over. Of course, he did not resist much for the benefits of the repeated deaths and actions. However, there was another reason.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m slowly starting to see it.¡¯</em>

    He was starting to see through Bender¡¯s skill, Heaven Destroyer, and swordsmanship of the same name. And as if to prove it, the notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[Your understanding of Bender¡¯s swordsmanship and skill: Heaven Destroyer has increased.]</em>

    <em>[Your understanding of Bender¡¯s swordsmanship and skill: Heaven Destroyer has increased.]</em>

    <em>[Your understanding of Bender¡¯s swordsmanship and skill: Heaven Destroyer has increased.]</em>

    <em>[Your understanding of Bender¡¯s swordsmanship and skill: Heaven Destroyer has increased by more than 30%.]</em>

    The notifications indicated that Minhyuk was genuinely starting to understand Bender¡¯s skill and swordsmanship. When he heard the notifications, Minhyuk hurriedly sent a whisper to Abel to ask about this phenomenon.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Abel</em></strong><em>: There¡¯s a post about that in themunity sites. A yer continued to log back inside the game hundreds of times to kill the Named Monster that killed his precious and beloved NPC. After dying hundreds of times, his understanding of the monster¡¯s characteristics and skills has increased.]</em>

    Nevertheless, Abel¡¯s reaction was adverse.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Abel</em></strong><em>: That guy was ridiculed by a lot of people. In the end, his level dropped down by a lot. He went from somewhere in the middle rankings to Level 30.]</em>

    It was impossible to die from a single target a hundred times over. If one did that, then they would be deemed crazy. But such a case existed, and now Minhyuk was experiencing it firsthand.

    <em>¡®I see it.¡¯</em>

    The higher his understanding of Bender¡¯s swordsmanship and skill was, the more he saw. Before, his eyes could not even follow Bender¡¯s sword. This was because it was moving swiftly and erratically. However, he was now starting to see it.

    <em>¡®Everyone has a habit.¡¯</em>

    This habit would also appear when using the sword. After dying around 2,900 times to Bender, Minhyuk had noticed a habit. And he started preparing the moment he caught it.

    <em>¡®When Bender lets his guard down again¡­¡¯</em>

    The problem was that Bender was already exhausted. He even pulled his top up and asked Minhyuk to kill him. But that was not what Minhyuk wanted. After all, that was not a true victory, and Minhyuk had a strong desire to win.

    Besides, after dying thousands of times from a single target, he even received a special privilege.

    <em>[You have died a thousand times under the hands of a single target.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained the </em><strong><em>Title</em></strong><em>: The One Who Died a Thousand Times.]</em>

    It was a very ridiculous title. But what about its effects?

    <em>¡®It reduces the damage that I will receive from all of the attacks by that target by 7%? Not only that, but it also increases my attack power by 5% when attacking that target.¡¯</em>

    And when he died for the 2,000th time¡­

    <em>[You have died two thousand times under the hands of a single target.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained the </em><strong><em>Title</em></strong><em>: The One Who Died Two Thousand Times.]</em>

    The title was upgraded. The damage reduction had increased to 14% while the attack power increased to 10%.

    Minhyuk deliberately switched to an artifact with lower defensive power so that Bender would not notice this fact.

    Now, the 3,000th time hase.

    ¡°Minhyuk! Let¡¯s stop this now!¡±

    At this moment, Minhyuk believed that he was already somewhat ready.

    <em>Stab¨C</em>

    When Minhyuk died and reappeared in a sh of light, he expected to hear the same notifications that he received the other day. And just like he expected¡­

    <em>[You have died three thousand times under the hands of a single target.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained the </em><strong><em>Title</em></strong><em>: It¡¯s Hard to Die Like This.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    For some reason, the name of the title sounded a bit unpleasant. Nheless, the effects of the title increased significantly. The damage reduction had risen to 25%, while the attack power increased to 17%.

    <em>¡®Alright. I¡¯m almost done with the preparations¡­¡¯</em> Minhyuk thought.

    Then, an additional notification rang that left him in surprise.

    <em>[Your understanding of Bender¡¯s swordsmanship and skill: Heaven Destroyer has increased.]</em>

    <em>[You have greatly understood Bender¡¯s swordsmanship and skill.]</em>

    <em>[You might be able tobine the Heaven Destroyer Swordsmanship that Bender possessed and your own Food God¡¯s Swordsmanship now.]</em>

    ¡°...?!¡±

    The notification made even Minhyuk¡¯s pupils tremble and shake.

 Chapter 1079

    Chapter 1079

    Bender¡¯s Heaven Destroyer was named as such because it could kill even the heavens. This was not something that he penned himself. Those who had witnessed his outstanding force started calling his power ¡°Heaven Destroyer¡± one day. Bender naturally used the name and divided his Heaven Destroyer into several chapters.

    <em>¡®The Heaven Destroyer that I have experienced firsthand is ridiculously strong.¡¯</em>

    It was so strong and outstanding that Minhyuk¡¯s Food God¡¯s Swordsmanshippletely paled inparison.

    <em>¡®If my Food God¡¯s Swordsmanship is an ordinary God-rank skill, then¡­¡¯</em>

    The Heaven Destroyer was an Absolute God¡¯s Secret level skill.

    <em>¡®I might be able tobine it with my Food God¡¯s Swordsmanship?¡¯</em>

    After dying three thousand times under Bender¡¯s hands, Minhyuk¡¯s understanding of his Heaven Destroyer swordsmanship and skill had increased to 35%. Nevertheless, ording to the notifications, he ¡°might¡± only be able tobine them. Still, the potential opened up for him brought Minhyuk incredible delight.

    ¡°Then, shall we do it properly this time?¡±

    When Bender felt the coldness from Minhyuk¡¯s gaze, he thought, <em>¡®His momentum changed?¡¯</em>Although Minhyuk had kept on dying earlier, he looked like he might be able to win now. Minhyuk was pointing at his sword with his arrogant and majestic emperor¡¯s gaze, causing Bender to feel nervous.

    ¡°Finally!¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Suddenly, Minhyuk crouched down and dragged a table out, as he began preparing for a meal. And what he took out was none other than the Beef <em>Galbi-jjim</em> Across All Eras.

    ***

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Beef Galbi-Jjim Across All Eras</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Grade</em></strong><em>: God</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: The one who received the recognition of the God of Cooking.</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>: </em>

    <em>?Acquire 350 Special SP.</em>

    <em>?Increase three of your chosen stats by 1%.</em>

    <em>?Acquire 1 God¡¯s SP.</em>

    <em>?Acquire 1 Authority Growth Point(GP). </em>

    <strong><em>Buff Abilities</em></strong><em>: </em>

    <em>?Recover HP and MP to 100%.</em>

    <em>?Reset all skill cooldowns.</em>

    <em>?All stats will increase by 27%.</em>

    <em>?Level up your chosen skill or authority once.</em>

    <em>?Whether in the past, the present, or the future, no beef galbi-jjim will be as delicious as this dish.</em>

    <em>?The buff duration is two weeks.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: God of Cooking Arlene made this beef galbi-jjim after oveing her limitations. With the help of the other Absolute Gods, shepleted this dish, which is now included in the Five Greatest Dishes Across All Eras.</em>

    This was a Dish Across All Eras that Arlene created during thepetition with Minhyuk. Minhyuk originally nned to eat the dish during the battle with Helenia.

    Surprisingly, the dish had abination of permanent and buff abilities. He had nned to eat it when they were in danger while fighting Helenia. But what he expected did not happen, and he did not have the time to eat it.

    Now, this dish would be another variable in the spar with Bender.

    Minhyuk looked at the delicious feast on the table in front of him. There was beef <em>galbi-jjim,</em> hot rice, beef seaweed soup, and some seasoned vegetables.

    <em>¡®This is the final boss of Korean dishes.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk smiled. He first sipped the beef seaweed soup to wet his dry lips before grabbing a piece of beef ribs. The beef <em>galbi-jjim</em>¡¯s ribs were covered with thick meat and glossy sauce. The sauce dripping from the rib whetted his appetite and made him ecstatic.

    Finally, Minhyuk took a big bite. The meat immediately separated from the bone, a testament to how well the ribs were cooked. Every bite of the meat made the juices spread in his mouth, making Minhyuk sigh in awe as a smile naturally curled at the corners of his mouth.

    Minhyuk hurriedly scooped a mouthful of hot rice. Then, he began to eat his <em>galbi-jjim</em> in earnest.

    Bender, who suddenly saw Minhyuk set up a table, looked at him in confusion while thinking, <em>¡®What the hell are you doing?¡¯ </em>Then, he said, ¡°I¡¯ll let you kill me if you just give me one bite¡­¡±

    Minhyuk shook his head. ¡°I¡¯ll make something for you once we leave the training room.¡±

    Bender¡¯s head drooped like a depressed puppy. He was the strongest man across all eras, yet he was like this in front of food. Minhyuk did not care and just continued to eat.

    After eating the <em>galbi-jjim</em>, he added the rice to the beef seaweed soup. Thebination of well-ripened kimchi and the mixture of rice and the rich and vorful seaweed soup was the perfectbination. Three bowls would not be enough if someone had thisbination together! Minhyuk scooped a massive mouthful of the rice and seaweed soup and put it in his mouth. Then, he took a bite of some kimchi.

    <em>Crunch, crunch¨C!</em>

    ¡°Kghhk!¡± Minhyuk moaned in admiration.

    And just like that, he finished his meal. Immediately after that, he received notifications that he had acquired 350 special SPs. He was also notified that he could increase three of his chosen stats by 1%.

    <em>¡®Doing repeated actions in this ce can help me increase my DEX, understanding of my enemies, and resistance to abnormal statuses. Unfortunately, it does not increase my basic stats like STR and AGI.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had been constantly increasing his DEX in this ce. Now, he believed it was better to raise a stat that could help him beat Bender than increase another one that waspletely unrted to the task.

    Minhyuk boldly invested 100 SP in STR, 150 SP in AGI, and 100 SP in STM. He also chose the three stats and increased them by 1%. This resulted in an increase of around 140 points in each of the three stats.

    <em>¡®I think I have gotten around 10% stronger?¡¯</em>

    Then, additional notifications rang.

    <em>[Please choose the skill or authority you want to level up.]</em>

    <em>[Please choose the skill or authority you want to level up.]</em>

    And, of course, Minhyuk chose the God and Knight. He knew that the Origin Authority: God and Knight was impossible to level up. It wouldn¡¯t matter how many or what kind of points he had; he could not level it up.

    This time, the points that he got were what he got from the Dish Across All Eras.

    <em>[God and Knight has leveled up.]</em>

    Minhyuk grinned widely. His next choice was Cmity.

    <em>[Cmity has leveled up.]</em>

    There were also the buff effects. The buff effects increased all of his stats by 27%.

    <em>¡®If I had eaten this during the battle, then I would have been able to witness a better effect.¡¯</em>

    But unlike this spar with Bender, he did not have the time to be left alone to eat it during that battle. Eating it before a fight was much better, just like he did this time.

    Minhyuk stood in front of Bender. ¡°Now that I¡¯m full, shall we try it again?¡±

    Minhyuk did not say anything like, <em>¡®Be prepared.¡¯</em> He just deliberately wore different armor to reduce the damage he would receive.

    ***

    Bender thought that Minhyuk was just trying to use all of his strengths.

    <em>¡®I see. He must have made himself stronger by eating a buffed dish.¡¯</em>

    He believed that it was nothing more than that. Of course, Bender was aware that Minhyuk¡¯s dishes were excellent. Nevertheless, his dishes could only increase his strength by 1.3x.

    That was why Bender did not pay much attention to what he was doing. Besides, he also had quite a lot of power that could help him increase his power significantly. In response to Minhyuk¡¯s move, Bender immediately activated such a power.

    <em>[Transcendental¡¯s Will.]</em>

    Everything Bender possessed increased by around 20% upon activation of Transcendental''s Will. At the very least, he believed that his increase in power was as much as the increase in Minhyuk¡¯s power after he had eaten his buffed dish.

    ¡°Please, let¡¯s get this over with.¡±

    Bender no longer wanted to do this ridiculous training anymore. He just wanted to end everything. Rather than dying in a battle, he wanted to give up. He was already very tired of continuously killing Minhyuk.

    With a gentle swing of his sword, Bender stabbed Minhyuk.

    ¡°...?¡±

    To his surprise, Minhyuk easily evaded his attacks. Seeing this, heunched sessive attacks to put pressure on Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®What?¡¯</em>

    Yet Minhyuk was able to get away from him quickly and easily. Bender twisted his wrists and changed the trajectory of the sword. This time, the sword aimed for Minhyuk¡¯s neck.

    <em>ng¨C</em>

    Minhyuk was able to block Bender¡¯s sword.

    <em>¡®H-he moved faster than me and block my attack?¡¯</em>

    Indeed. Minhyuk moved faster than Bender. He had already raised his sword even before Bender¡¯s sword could reach his neck. He moved so fast as if he had foreseen the 0.1 seconds in the future.

    Minhyuk quicklyunched a series of attacks on Bender.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    Lightning bolts fell from the sky and struck Bender. The moment they made contact with his body, his eyes could not help but grow wide.

    ¡°Th-the damage¡­!¡±

    It was infinitely higher than before. In fact, it was 50% higher than earlier!

    <em>¡®How?!¡¯</em>

    Bender could not understand. Minhyuk might have eaten a buffed dish that strengthened his body, but there was something far more surprising.

    <em>¡®How did he block all of my attacks?¡¯</em>

    Bender could not understand how Minhyuk could block over 90% of his attacks.

    It was not only Minhyuk¡¯s damage that had increased. Even his speed, physical strength, and his skills had all grown far more impressive than before.

    <em>ng, ng, ng¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk, who continued to block Bender¡¯s attacks,ughed. ¡°I can see it well.¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    Minhyuk immediately narrowed the distance between him and Bender, who looked at him in confusion.

    <em>Sword of Frenzy.</em>

    Then, he stabbed him in the chest. Whenever Bender was attacked, he would always do something out of habit.

    <em>¡®He would always sacrifice his body tond an attack.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk swiftly evaded Bender¡¯s attack before narrowing the distance once again.

    <em>¡®This time¡­¡¯</em>

    Bender would use his elbows or knees to widen the distance between them. Minhyuk avoided the knee that went up to knock him down and evaded the elbow aimed at his chin. Then, after naturally evading the habitual movements, he held two swords.

    He used the Dual Swordsmanship Technique while relying on the ck Dragon Armor he wore.

    <em>Crackle¨C!</em>

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    ¡°Ugh!¡± Bender groaned from the shes and cuts thatnded non-stop on his body. The bewildered Bender thought, <em>¡®I don¡¯t understand. What¡¯s different this time?¡¯</em>

    This change made his determination to win burn even brighter.

    Bender was not a fool. Of course, he noticed something.

    <em>¡®His understanding of me, his opponent, must have increased after dying three thousand times.¡¯</em>

    Intrigued, Bender held back hisughter as he triggered the first chapter of the Heaven Destroyer that he had prepared.

    The Heaven Destroyer was divided into several parts. As for the first chapter, it was a power that could instantly bring forth the Transcendental¡¯s power into the sword and shoot out a whirlwind that would attack the enemy sixty times per second. That was not all; it could also deal a hundred blows upon the enemy in just a few seconds.

    <em>Crack¨C!</em>

    A huge force surged out. It crushed the ground as it shot toward Minhyuk.

    ¡°Absolute Defense.¡±

    Minhyuk, who was already aware that Bender would use this power, activated his skills.

    ¡°Viel¡¯s Puppet Doll. Ego Chain Sickle. Immortal Knight Order.¡±

    Dozens of lights shed around Minhyuk!

    ¡°And¡­ Beans!¡±

    ¡°Oiiiink!¡±

    In this spar, there was no restriction about summons. Bender acknowledged this fact and allowed it. After all, this was also part of Minhyuk¡¯s power.

    <em>Thud¨C</em>

    Minhyuk grabbed Bender by the cor as the one-shot kill skills of the Immortal Knight Orders stabbed through the Transcendental. At this moment, Bender¡¯s HP dropped below 70%.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s really a monster.¡¯</em>

    Considering the power of the Immortal Knight Order members, the damage they had dealt upon Bender would definitely be very high. Even so, they could only cut down 30% of his HP. s, he was rapidly recovering from it.

    Standing right next to Minhyuk, Beanie shook his bulging yet reliable stomach and swung his kitchen knife.

    ¡°Oiiiiiink!¡± <em>Supreme Overlord¡¯s Technique.</em>

    <em>Crackle¨C!</em>

    A huge firestorm engulfed Bender. Meanwhile, Viel and the Ego Chain Sickle took advantage of the explosions and dug forward, attacking him constantly.

    ¡°Minhyuk.¡± Bender¡¯s cold voice floated from beyond the mes. It was only his name, but it clearly told Minhyuk that he would definitely not let him off now.

    ¡°Yes, Bender.¡± Minhyuk pointed his long, slender fingers at him and said, ¡°Overpower.¡±

    Minhyuk chuckled after restricting Bender¡¯s movements. Even though Minhyuk had died 3,000 times, he only wished to win once.

    ¡°Herees Minhyuk¡¯s one-shot kill skill!¡±

    After eating the Beef <em>Galbi-jjim</em> Across All Eras, Minhyuk could level up his Cmity. But he was not yet satisfied with that. He also used the +1 level that the dish¡¯s buff ability had given him on the same skill.

    <em>[Cmity¡¯s level has temporarily increased by 1!]</em>

    ¡°Transcendence.¡±

    ck energy swirled all over his body, allowing him to transcend his limits several times. Of course, he also applied the Transcendence¡¯s skill level increase to Cmity.

    <em>Crackle¨C!</em>

    ck wings covered with ck mes surged out from the de of Minhyuk¡¯s sword. It looked very much like the Cmity that cut down Helenia before. The wings'' feathers were all made of des; their number almost reached 1,500.

    At that moment, five ck swords shot out and hit Minhyuk¡¯s opponent unconditionally. Now that Bender was under the clutches of Overpower, all 1,500 des of the wings made by Cmity would definitely hit him without fail.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¨C!</em>

    Cmity, a power that could guarantee Minhyuk¡¯s victory, hit Bender.

    ***

    Minhyuk had entrusted quite a lot of materials to Nekk. From what Nekk heard, all these materials came from Barbarian and Helenia. He was using them to either create something new or reinforce other items.

    Minhyuk had also entrusted him with a sword named ¡°Comrade.¡± This sword originally carried the name ¡°Continent Destroyer Sword.¡± After listening to the story, Nekk realized that the man named Obren was no longer fused with this sword, and it was nothing but a shell of the sword ¡°Comrade.¡±

    Minhyuk not only wanted to make Comrade more outstanding, he also wanted his armor to reach the next level. It was not impossible to achieve something like that. After all, the drops that Helenia and Barbarian left behind were truly outstanding materials.

    Now that Nekk had finished the artifact production design, he wanted to show Minhyuk the draft and ask about his opinion, so he headed straight toward the Training Room.

    Shortly after he arrived, Bernie appeared. She said, ¡°Minhyuk¡¯s amazing too. I can¡¯t believe he doesn¡¯t look exhausted and helpless even after dying more than 2,000 times.¡±

    ¡°Yes, indeed. His hard work and efforts are truly¡­¡±

    They had witnessed Minhyuk''s tireless efforts and hard work in the past. Nevertheless, they still believed that there were things that one could not do even with all the effort in the world.

    Of course, that was the victory in this match against Bender. Hundreds of Transcendentals had fought and sparred against Bender in this very same training room, yet none of them had gained even the upper hand against him.

    The difference between Minhyuk and Bender was like the difference between heaven and earth.

    Bernie, who was thinking like that, stepped inside the Training Room. The moment she entered, she could not help but raise her hands to her mouth and release a scream. ¡°Kyaaaaaack!!!¡±

    Puzzled by her reaction, Nekk hurriedly rushed to her side. When he looked inside, his eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

    In front of their bewildered eyes, Bender was slumped against the wall and bleeding profusely.

 Chapter 1080

    Chapter 1080

    <strong>Chapter 1080</strong>

    The wings created by 1,500 ming swords unfolded when Minhyuk swung his sword, and they looked stunning. Immediately after that, five swords pierced through Bender, who was still under the effects of Overpower.

    Not only could each of the swords deal an additional 4,000% damage, but they would also hit the target without fail. On top of that, the target would fall into a one-second stunned state. Following the five swords, the remaining 1,495 fell and stabbed Bender every second, with explosions following every five seconds.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    A groan escaped Bender¡¯s mouth as the swords continuously stabbed and exploded in his body.

    Overpower¡¯s stun was released while Cmity was wreaking havoc. Bender was still in a dilemma because he was ced in another series of stunned states.

    <em>¡®Perhaps, I¡¯m really¡­¡¯</em>

    Perhaps he had been the arrogant one. This thought shed a thousand times in Bender¡¯s head. Bender had killed Minhyuk 3,000 times. Unlike the guardians, the foreigners were given special privileges. Bender thought that these privileges had given Minhyuk wings. s, it waspletely different.

    <em>¡®This child has talent.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was able to see through him after dying 3,000 times.

    Were there any Transcendentals that Bender had trained in in this very room who showed this much talent? The answer to that was <em>none</em>.

    Then, was there someone among them who had enough mental power to endure dying 3,000 times? The answer was still <em>none</em>.

    Bender¡¯s mistake was agreeing to this match without thinking. He was very arrogant because he had not seen anyone do what Minhyuk had done here, and his arrogance resulted in something disastrous.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    Bender was sent flying away, his body crumpling as he crashed into the wall and slowly slid down on the ground.

    Bender had been staying inside the Fortress of Fantasy for thousands of years since his fierce battle against Helenia, so it had been quite a long time since he had felt a threat to his life. And now, this feeling of danger, something he had not felt even after fighting Ruba, had awakened in every cell of his body.

    At this moment, he realized that the people called Heaven Destroyer with such a name at the start because of his will to survive and live.

    ¡°Urk!¡± Bender groaned, a fleeting smile on his face as he grabbed the sword by his side.

    The Heaven Destroyer¡¯s Beginning was created by a boy who possessed special powers to prevent his death at the hands of the imperial knights in the human world.

    The boy created the second stage of Heaven Destroyer after knocking down his enemies using the first stage of Heaven Destroyer. It could release hundreds of sword lights at the same time.

    The third stage was the true ¡°Heaven Destroyer.¡± It was created to deal with thousands of enemies, even if he was alone.

    It was a force that could strike even the heavens. He would remind them of the past. And he would make this young man, a mere human emperor, remember this fact.

    Bender might have been seriously injured, but his wounds were already recovering as he stood up.

    <em>¡®I lost.¡¯</em>

    Bender was fully aware of this fact. However, it was not yet over.

    Meanwhile, these notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[You havepleted the </em><strong><em>Quest</em></strong><em>: Cut Down Bender¡¯s HP by 50%.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[The </em><strong><em>Sudden Quest</em></strong><em>: Bring Bender¡¯s HP below 28%.]</em>

    ¡°...?!¡±

    Minhyuk looked at Bender, whose injuries were recovering quickly, in surprise.

    <em>Sizzle¨C</em>

    Bender was smiling as he wiped the blood off of his mouth.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Sudden Quest</em></strong><em>: Bring Bender¡¯s HP below 28%.]</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: SSS</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: The one who received Bender¡¯s offer.</em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: 10,000,000,000 EXP</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Failure</em></strong><em>: -3 levels</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: Bender has lived inside the Fortress of Fantasy after his battle against Helenia for a very long time. Bender has never felt his life threatened during his stay there. But after you have threatened his life, Bender has regained some of the power that he has lost in the past. Bring Bender¡¯s HP below 28%. Achieve this feat with only a total of three deaths.</em>

    Minhyuk was very shocked. <em>¡®Ten billion EXP?!¡¯</em>

    The amount of EXP was ridiculously crazy.

    Now that he had reached Level 699, his goal and dream level were approaching. But after seeing the total amount of EXP needed, he turned silent.

    <em>¡®...?¡¯</em>

    The amount of EXP he needed was equivalent to the EXP he needed to level up from Level 650 to Level 699. At that moment, he thought he should make a quest that could increase his level by one, just like with Beradon before.

    Still, nothing ever came easy.

    <em>[You cannot use other methods to increase your level. You can only fill in the EXP gauge to level up.]</em>

    Forced to face this bitter reality, Minhyuk realized he desperately needed the ten billion worth of EXP. Of course, even if he got the ten billion EXP, more was needed to make him reach Level 700.

    <em>¡®I want to drive Bender into a corner.¡¯</em>

    The desire to win and conquer burned fiercely in Minhyuk¡¯s heart. Just then, the iing notifications left him startled.

    <em>[Transcendental Bender has awakened.]</em>

    <em>[Transcendental Bender has not fought a battle that has threatened his life in thousands of years.]</em>

    <em>[He has regained some of his powers, which had grown dull over the years. All of his stats have increased by 5%. All of his skills have be 10% better.]</em>

    <em>[Transcendental¡¯s Recovery.]</em>

    <em>[All of Bender¡¯s Skill Cooldown has decreased.]</em>

    Fortunately, Bender¡¯s HP did not change. Perhaps Bender did not intentionally use recovery on his stamina and physical strength. Even so, his HP, which had fallen to 44% earlier, had already returned to 48%.

    Minhyuk¡¯s breath hitched when he felt the overwhelming killing intent that was surging out of Bender. The pressure from the true and real absolute being wrapped around Minhyuk and almost suffocated him.

    Bender held his sword with both hands and said, ¡°I want to teach you¡­¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    While Minhyuk still looked puzzled at Bender¡¯s murmurs, the man swiftly approached him. Thankfully, Minhyuk had already grasped Bender¡¯s habits, swordsmanship, and his motions and movements¡¯ reach.

    ¡°...the absolute power created by the boy who desperately wanted to survive.¡±

    But everything that he had understood had been ignored. Bender had shown apletely different move. Was it a skill? No.

    Bender¡¯s sense of survival, which had been slumbering for quite a long time, had finally awakened.

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk was unable to read through his movements. His attacks, which he could not stop, constantly chipped away at Minhyuk¡¯s HP.

    ¡°With this power, I could win against an imperial knight at twelve.¡±

    There was a surge of overwhelming Transcendental¡¯s Power, as the Heaven Destroyer¡¯s Beginning pierced through Minhyuk¡¯s abdomen.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab¨C!</em>

    More than a hundred hits mmed into him.

    ¡°Kghhk!¡±

    Minhyuk hurriedly pulled out a chocopie and tried to push it into his mouth to activate Absorption Conversion, but Bender cut him down before he could do so. He immediately turned into light and was revived on the spot.

    <em>[Transcendental¡¯s Shackles]</em>

    <em>[You have fallen into a three-second absolute stunned state.]</em>

    ¡°I could cut down dozens of imperial knights with this power.¡±

    Hundreds of sword lights shot out and pierced through Minhyuk, who was in a stunned state. The sword lights were stronger and greater than Brod¡¯s Wolf¡¯s Death.

    <em>Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh¨C</em>

    Bender looked at Minhyuk, who had revived once again, before looking up at the sky.

    ¡°I want to teach you. No, I want to teach anyone.¡±

    Bender wanted to teach the Transcendentals this swordsmanship. But not a single one of them was able to master it.

    Was it because it was challenging to master? Perhaps that was the case. After all, it was a force that no ordinary person could wield. The main reason was because of their talent. Theirck of talent made it impossible for them to master this swordsmanship. So, he was going toy it out in the open.

    The one who led the Transcedentals.

    The one who hid Helenia¡¯s Ores.

    And the one who cut down the heavens.

    Bender would use the Heaven Destroyer he had used against Ruba.

    His energy surged, and a power that could threaten even the heavens spread out.

    ¡°Watch.¡± Bender¡¯s sharp gaze looked at Minhyuk. He had no intention of losing against Minhyuk. He had asked for this spar and he had given him three chances. Once this was over, Bender would leave the training room.

    ¡°This Heaven Destroyer¡­¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Bender saw Minhyuk appear in front of his eyes. Only then did he notice the whirlwind of power wrapped around the young man¡¯s sword. It was the power that only he and he alone had ever been able to wield. It was the power of the Heaven Destroyer. This power hadbined with another force and created apletely different force.

    ¡°...!¡±

    This force was now aiming for the wide-eyed Bender¡¯s chest.

    ¡°Food God¡¯s Swordsmanship Chapter 1.¡±

    This power was created by the fusion of Bender¡¯s Heaven Destroyer and Minhyuk¡¯s Sword of Frenzy. At the same time, a notification rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You have seen Bender¡¯s true Heaven Destroyer.]</em>

    <em>[Your understanding of Bender¡¯s Heaven Destroyer has dramatically increased.]</em>

    <em>[Your understanding of Bender¡¯s Heaven Destroyer has exceeded 49%.]</em>

    <em>[You can nowbine your skill and understanding of the Heaven Destroyer.]</em>

    <em>[The skillbination will only bepleted if you can follow the movements and motions of Heaven Destroyer perfectly!]</em>

    There was one thing that Bender did not know. Minhyuk had always worked hard and gave it his all. But on top of that, he was a rare genius. Even though he had only ever observed Bender, he could urately recreate and follow the movements and motions that Bender had used when using his skill. There was not even a centimeter of error in the range of his movements.

    Finally, it waspleted.

    <em>[Frenzied de has beenpleted.]</em>

    The power was immediately triggered when Minhyuk¡¯s sword pierced Bender¡¯s chest.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab¨C!</em>

    A whirlwind of des shot out and tore Bender¡¯s chest more than sixty times in just five seconds.

    ¡°Urk¡­!¡± Bender¡¯s eyes grew wide as he vomited a mouthful of blood. His HP has dropped below 39%.

    The young man before him had just cast a new skill bybining his and Bender¡¯s powers. It was something that no one had ever done before.

    <em>¡®He¡­ Is he really a foreigner¡­?¡¯</em>

    Was it because he received special privileges? No. Only now did Bender realize that although Minhyuk was a stranger, he was a genius with iparable talents.

    Minhyuk, who was in a quick-draw position, resembled Bender. Just like the little boy who charged and fought hundreds of knights alone.

    <em>[After sessfullybining your skill with Bender¡¯s Heaven Destroyer, your understanding of Bender¡¯s Heaven Destroyer has increased to 54%.]</em>

    This time, it was the second stage¡¯s turn.

    Minhyuk¡¯s Sword of Tempest was a power that would shoot out at least a hundred des to cut down his enemies.

    <em>[The skillbination will only bepleted if you can follow the movements and motions of Heaven Destroyer perfectly!]</em>

    It was turning into an entirely new power, different from the single sword of the Sword of Tempest, which could turn into a hundred des.

    Hundreds of sword lights shot into the sky before falling. The power resembled a heavy downpour as it wreaked havoc on the ground.

    <em>[Heavenly Sword has beenpleted.]</em>

    Hundreds of sword lights cut through Bender and left him trembling. But it was not yet over. The sword lights that shot out of the sword of the new strong man leading this era shot back to the sky after cutting him down. And they fell like rain once again.

    ¡°...?!¡±

    Yes. It was a new skill, but it still possessed the power of the previously existing Sword of Tempest. To put it simply, the Heavenly Sword had an ego.

    While Bender was in shock, Minhyuk listened to the notifications that rang in his ears.

    <em>[Bender¡¯s Heaven Destroyer can only be activated in the ¡®Transcendence¡¯ state.]</em>

    <em>[There are no skills that can bebined.]</em>

    <em>[Please create a new skill tailored after Bender¡¯s Heaven Destroyer.]</em>

    <em>[Please create a skill within ten seconds. You can only create a skill that resembles the Heaven Destroyer.]</em>

    The state of Transcendence was made avable to Minhyuk once again after his repeated deaths.

    ¡°Transcendence.¡±

    ck energy swirled around before gathering in one ce. The energy then morphed and turned into a spear that could pierce through the sky. If Bender¡¯s Heaven Destroyer was a sword that could cut down even the heavens, then Minhyuk¡¯s version was a spear that could pierce through anything.

    The spear made of cklight that could pierce through the heavens went straight through Bender¡¯s heart.

    ¡°...?¡± There was disbelief on Bender¡¯s face as he looked at Minhyuk after seeing the shocking damage he received.

    <em>[The Transcendental¡¯s Spear has beenpleted.]</em>

    And this was the Transcendental¡¯s Spear.

    <em>[The spear will hit the target with a 100% chance and leave them in a three-second stunned state.]</em>

    <em>[Your attack will have 33,000% additional damage.]</em>

    <em>[This skill can be used even without a weapon in hand.]</em>

    <em>[The Food God¡¯s Swordsmanship has evolved.]</em>

    The skill had no less than 33,000% additional damage!

    A bright smile bloomed on Minhyuk¡¯s face when he saw the shock on Bender¡¯s face. ]

    <em>[You havepleted the </em><strong><em>Sudden Quest</em></strong><em>: Bring Bender¡¯s HP below 28%.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 10,000,000,000 EXP.]</em>

    Bender¡¯s total HP had dropped to 14%.

 Chapter 1081

    Chapter 1081

    Nekk and Bernie¡¯s eyes almost popped out of their sockets when they saw the shocking devastation before them.

    The scene of a bleeding Bender sliding down the wall was shocking enough. What caught their attention was the spear that pierced through Bender, as it closely resembled the move he had used in his prime.

    Just like them, Bender also looked at Minhyuk in shock.

    ¡°It was a good match.¡±

    Minhyuk had died 3,000 times and only won once. Although he could not kill Bender, the fact that he could cut Bender¡¯s HP to less than 20% was already an achievement he was satisfied with.

    Bender stared at the ce where the ck spear pierced through him. ¡°This is amazing.¡±

    Minhyuk had created his version of the Heaven Destroyer, a power no one had ever learned. Of course, if they repeated this match, then Minhyuk would be overwhelmed by Bender.

    <em>¡®I did not expect him to attack me with my skill.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had also received notifications about how his favor with Bender had increased. After listening to the notifications, he checked his newly evolved Food God¡¯s Swordsmanship. <em>(</em><strong><em>Frenzied de</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Active skill</em>

    <strong><em>Type of Swordsmanship</em></strong><em>: Food God¡¯s Swordsmanship</em>

    <strong><em>Mana Required</em></strong><em>: 4,000</em>

    <strong><em>Cooldown</em></strong><em>: 30 minutes.</em>

    <strong><em>Effects</em></strong><em>: </em>

    <em>?You can hit the enemy¡¯s vital points just by stabbing within an eight-meter radius.</em>

    <em>?Twelve consecutive attacks and 600% additional damage per second for five seconds will be triggered upon a sessful attack on a vital point.</em>

    <em>?You have a 90% chance of ignoring your enemy¡¯s defenses.</em>

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Heavenly Sword</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Active Skill</em>

    <strong><em>Type of Swordsmanship</em></strong><em>: Food God¡¯s Swordsmanship</em>

    <strong><em>Mana Required</em></strong><em>: 8,500</em>

    <strong><em>Cooldown</em></strong><em>: 30 minutes</em>

    <strong><em>Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?Hundreds of swords with ego will fall from the sky like a heavy downpour.</em>

    <em>?The Heavenly Sword, swords with ego, will not stop attacking until all those recognized as enemies have been annihted.</em>

    <em>?Movement speed will also increase by 400% during the skill duration. The skill duration is four minutes.</em>

    <em>?It will deal an additional 700% damage.</em>

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Transcendental¡¯s Spear</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Active Skill</em>

    <strong><em>Type of Swordsmanship</em></strong><em>: Food God¡¯s Swordsmanship</em>

    <strong><em>Mana Required</em></strong><em>: 30,000</em>

    <strong><em>Cooldown</em></strong><em>: 1 hour</em>

    <strong><em>Effects</em></strong><em>: </em>

    <em>?Can only be triggered in the state of Transcendence.</em>

    <em>?Can be used even without weapons.</em>

    <em>?It will hit the target with a 100% chance and leave them in a three-second stunned state.</em>

    <em>?It will deal an additional 33,000% damage.</em>

    The new skill was far more outstanding than the Food God¡¯s Swordsmanship, especially ¡°Transcendental¡¯s Spear,¡± which was the spear version of the Heaven Destroyer. After all, not only would it hit the target, but it would also deal 33,000% additional damage.

    <em>¡®Wow. With my stats and attack power, I wonder how high 33,000% damage is¡­?¡¯</em>

    Named Monsters may be unable to escape from severe and fatal injuries with just one hit of this skill. The best part was that it waspletely different from Cmity and had no penalty.

    Adding on Double Skill, a skill that only had a 1.2% probability of being triggered, the damage that the Transcendental¡¯s Spear would be able to inflict would be no less than 66,000%. The thought of triggering such a skill made Minhyuk¡¯s mouth water.

    After checking his new skills, Minhyuk checked the Origin Authority: God and Knight. This authority had leveled up by one after he ate the Beef <em>Galbi-jjim</em> Across All Eras.

    <em>¡®I could only level this skill thanks to the Beef Galbi-jjim Across All Eras. If not for that, perhaps I wouldn¡¯t be able to reach the next level even if I worked hard for the rest of my life.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was quite excited. After all, God and Knight had never let him down every time it leveled up.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>God and Knight</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Origin Authority</em>

    <strong><em>Current Status</em></strong><em>: Sealed</em>

    <strong><em>Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?A ¡°clone bird¡± that takes after your image will take a quick tour around the world and search for what you need the most.</em>

    <em>?The ¡°clone bird¡± can take after your image or take after apletely different image.</em>

    <em>?The ¡°clone bird¡± can be summoned at any given time. It has the same HP volume and around 60% of your attack power.</em>

    <em>?Once every two months, you can use the line ¡°You, can you be my friend?¡± and recruit from the knights the clone bird has found. Even if you don¡¯t personallye to make a move, the clone bird can help you recruit a knight.</em>

    <em>?There¡¯s a chance that the clone bird will have apletely different personality from the skill user.</em>

    <em>?There¡¯s a chance that the clone bird will becking in some departments.</em>

    <em>?Some of the information about the clone bird has been sealed.</em>

    <em>????</em>

    <em>????</em>

    <em>????</em>

    <em>?If you find a talent that you truly covet, the God and Knight will guide you or develop a situation where you can obtain the talent as your own. yers are also included. This can only be used once every two months.</em>

    <em>?The system will search and recognize powerhouses that can shock the world once every six months.</em>

    <em>?It will provide a method and guide you or create a situation that will help you attract the talent to be your knight.</em>

    <em>?Obtain more than 50 God-rank NPCs to unseal.</em>

    <em>?Obtain more than 1,000 Legendary-rank NPCs to unseal.</em>

    <em>?Reach Level 1,200 to unseal.</em>

    The evolved God and Knight had be even more overpowered.

    Based on the description, the clone bird would search for who Minhyuk needed the most. Not only that, it seemed like it could also use God and Knight by itself and use the method that would help him attract the talent to be his knight. In other words, Minhyuk could just sit back and rx and still be able to recruit a knight.

    ¡°You¡¯ve done well.¡± Bender looked at Minhyuk in relief and patted him on the shoulder.

    Bender did not look hurt or offended even though Minhyuk had cut down his HP by that much. He even looked like he was very proud of Minhyuk, who was able to create an opportunity for himself after deliberately dying 3,000 times in his hands.

    <em>¡®I am delighted that you have obtained a part of my Heaven Destroyer.¡¯</em>

    Bender was genuinely pleased at the fact that Minhyuk had obtained a portion of his skills.

    The two exited the Transcendental¡¯s Training Room.

    ¡°I have used the ores that you gave me to reinforce Comrade,¡± Nekk said as he handed the sword named Comrade to Minhyuk.

    From what Minhyuk remembered, Comrade was just the Continent Destroyer Sword after Obren left and released the fusion. The only thing that changed was its name. In other words, it was just a shell of what it was. Nevertheless, he wanted to add the Supreme¡¯s Ore Alvarranium, the ore that Minhyuk acquired after hunting the Supreme Monarch.

    Minhyuk had personally cooked the Supreme Dish and knew how dangerous that feat was. Fortunately, these were the only things written in the Supreme Ore¡¯s Alvarranium¡¯s description.

    <em>¡®It cannot be easily smelted. The damage rate would depend on the abilities of the cksmith.¡¯</em>

    Simply put, it wasn¡¯t as dangerous a feat as cooking the Supreme Dish. The only tricky thing was the fact that the abilities and skills of the cksmith would affect the smelting process.

    In Minhyuk¡¯s personal and honest opinion, if some other cksmith dared to touch this ore, they would be in for a shock.

    <em>¡®The damage to the ore would be more than 90%.¡¯</em>

    This was his opinion as someone who had personally experienced the ¡°Supreme¡±. Even if it was not a dangerous material, the name supreme was still in its name and it would still be tough to deal with.

    Minhyuk checked Comrade.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Comrade</em></strong><em>+7)</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: God</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: Level 600 or higher, The One Brod has Acknowledged </em>

    <strong><em>Durability</em></strong><em>: ¡Þ / ¡Þ </em>

    <strong><em>Attack Power</em></strong><em>: 2,414 </em>

    <strong><em>Special Effects: </em></strong>

    <em>?A 39% increase in STR, AGI and STM. </em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Supreme Sword Mastery has reached Level 9</em>

    <em>?Cutting Power and Prative Power have increased by 60%. </em>

    <em>?Critical Hit Rate has increased by 50%. </em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Armor Break </em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Continent Destroyer </em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Comrade''s Help </em>

    <em>?Attack will double against the undead. All passive skills¡¯ chances of getting triggered will be 100% against the undead. </em>

    <em>Description: The God of Death has recognized and acknowledged Brod¡¯s prowess and added his power and evilness to this sword. Guardian God Obren¡¯s power also lies within this sword.</em>

    Minhyuk was shocked to see the +7 reinforcement on Comrade.

    <em>¡®Don¡¯t tell me that it became +7 just because of the ore used?¡¯</em>

    Of course, it was only possible because the one who smelted the ore and added it to the sword was Transcendental Nekk.

    There was also the addition of the passive skill: Comrade''s Help. ording to the description, this passive could allow him to use Obren¡¯s power once a week.

    <em>¡®I hope it¡¯s one of Obren¡¯s stronger skills.¡¯</em>

    Overall, it seemed that Comrade had be slightly better than before.

    The satisfied Minhyuk smiled and thanked Nekk. ¡°You¡¯ve worked hard¡­¡±

    ¡°O-ooooh¡­!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll make you something delicious before I go back.¡±

    ¡°Oh, yes!¡±¡¯

    Since all the work he needed to do in the Fortress of Fantasy was done, he intended to cook for them before returning home. He wanted to make some noodles for them before he left, none other than <em>jjapaguri</em> with steak.

    When Minhyuk asked them what the most memorable dish they had eaten was, they all said it was the ramyeon that Conir made for them. Even if the food was cheap, the only thing that mattered was the opinion of the one who would receive it. That was why he chose this menu.

    Minhyuk decided to make as much as possible.

    First, he gently ced the sirloin steak on the well-heated frying pan.

    <em>Sizzle¨C</em>

    The loud sizzling of the meat rang as he turned over the steak. After cooking both sides well, he cut them into cubes. Then, he rolled the still reddish portion to cook them for a bit before turning off the heat.

    Next, he removed the noodles from the Noguri Chapagetti and put them in the pot to boil. After cooking the noodles, he added the seasoning packet and mixed everything well.

    The beauty and charm of <em>jjapaguri</em> lie in its sweet yet spicy vor. A bite of the sirloin steak will impress with its tender and juicy meat, which can melt in the mouth.

    Minhyuk, who had made a generous amount for the Transcendentals, looked at the <em>jjapaguri</em> before him. The dark red and glossy sauce that covered the noodles looked enticing, and he mixed everything well.

    He grabbed a piece of the cubed sirloin steak and put it in his mouth. When he took a bite, the juices trapped inside the meat immediately spilled and spread in his mouth. The taste put a broad smile on Minhyuk¡¯s face.

    Then, he grabbed a massive mouthful of noodles and took a huge bite.

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuuuurp!!!</em>¡±

    The <em>jjapaguri</em> noodles were plump, so they were very chewy in texture. The sweet and spicy vor in the noodlesplemented the slightly greasy sirloin steak and created a fantasticbination.

    Minhyuk emptied his bowl of <em>jjapaguri</em> in an instant. As for the Transcendentals? They were still eating crazily. Since he finished his meal first and still had some time to spare, Minhyuk remembered the clone bird of the newly evolved God and Knight.

    <em>¡®Should I summon it once?¡¯</em>

    The clone bird would be tailored to his image, but it could also look different from him.

    <em>¡®Summon Clone Bird,¡¯</em> Minhyuk murmured lightly.

    At that moment, a bright light shed from the sky as a gigantic hawk slowly descended in front of Minhyuk. The gigantic hawk looked around sharply. Then, the hawk was wrapped in light and changed into Minhyuk¡¯s figure.

    Minhyuk looked at the clone bird in awe. It looked just like him, with the exception of the coarse, old cloth covering <em>his</em> body.

    Minhyuk pondered how he would greet someone who looked exactly like him. Since <em>he</em> was like him, he should be a polite, kind, and good(?) guy. While Minhyuk was thinking of how to greet <em>him</em>, the clone bird opened his mouth and said, ¡°Hungry¡­¡±

    ¡°...?¡± Minhyuk looked at the clone bird in confusion.

    The Transcendentals, including Nekk and Bender, who heard the clone bird speak, all nodded.

    <em>¡®Yeah. He looks exactly just like Minhyuk.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I can¡¯t believe he said he¡¯s hungry the moment he appeared.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk, who looked like he did not even think like them, said, ¡°Hello, clone bird?¡±

    ¡°Hungry.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk stared at the clone bird.

    Right. Minhyuk thought that it was okay since he looked just like him. So, he offered the frying pan that was still filled with <em>jjapaguri.</em>

    ¡°Here, do you want to eat this?¡±

    ¡°Oh. That¡¯s good.¡± The clone bird spoke with admiration as he began to eat the <em>jjapaguri</em>. ¡°Hungry.¡±

    Even after he finished the <em>jjapaguri,</em> the clone bird stillined of hunger. Minhyuk had no choice but to cook <em>ramyeon</em> for him. The clone bird ate one packet, then ten packets.

    ¡°What kind of person eats ten packets of ramyeon in one go?!¡± Minhyuk looked at the clone bird in shock.

    The Transcendentals all turned to look at Minhyuk in confusion.

    ¡°???¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    Didn¡¯t Minhyuk just finish eating twenty-one packets of <em>jjapaguri</em>?

    The clone bird continued to eat. He had already eaten thirty packets of ramyeon.

    ¡°Wow. Can a person eat this much? I have never seen anyone eat this much in my entire life! No. Is there even someone like this in the world?¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    The Transcendentals all tilted their heads in confusion when they heard the shock in Minhyuk¡¯s voice.

    The clone bird, who had eaten fifty¡­ no, eighty packets, said, ¡°Do you have some cold rice?¡±

    ¡°...?!¡± Minhyuk was genuinely shocked. ¡°How can a person eat eighty packets of ramyeon and still want some cold rice¡­? Is this even possible?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    The Transcendentals looked at Minhyuk and the clone bird alternately.

    Then, Bender said, ¡°He and Minhyuk are cut from the same cloth.¡±

    The Transcendentals all nodded in agreement.

 Chapter 1082

    Chapter 1082

    <strong>Chapter 1082</strong>

    Too dumbfounded to speak, that was how Minhyuk was as he watched the clone bird devour the food. The clone bird had eaten eighty packets of ramyeon and fifty bowls of cold rice and ate ten bags of walnut cookies for dessert.

    ¡°Ah. Why do I not feel full even though I have been eating these walnut cookies non-stop?¡±

    Minhyuk looked at the clone bird in both shock and disappointment. He soon bowed his head in thought and said, ¡°Uh. I have to admit that one.¡±

    <em>Ah, I¡¯m going to eat some</em>. That was what Minhyuk usually said before eating fifty bags straight. Of course, even though Minhyuk looked quite surprised and went on to ask if there was truly someone like that, he knew at first nce that the clone bird truly resembled him.

    ¡°Am I really like that?¡±

    ¡°Well, he¡¯s much better than the usual you, Minhyuk.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±Minhyuk was rendered speechless by the Transcendentals.

    <em>¡®If it¡¯s like this, then¡­ wouldn¡¯t this be enough to turn someone into a research subject presented at conferences? The title will likely be Man with the Stomach of an Elephant.¡¯</em>

    Suddenly, Minhyuk thought that he was amazing. But, of course, the clone bird''s personality differed from Minhyuk''s.

    ¡°<em>Burp¨C</em> Main body, do you have anything else to eat?¡±

    The clone bird burped loudly and arrogantly demanded something delicious.

    <em>¡®Although he has taken on my image, his personality ispletely different.¡¯</em>

    After thinking about it, the description of God and Knight clearly said, <em>¡®There¡¯s a chance that the clone bird will have apletely different personality from the skill user.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Anyway, it would be weird if there were two Minhyuks with the same personality.¡¯</em>

    Then, another notification rang in his ears.

    <em>[Please choose a name for the Clone Bird.]</em>

    ¡°Ah. I¡¯m hungry. Is there nothing to eat?¡±

    Minhyuk stared at the cheeky, arrogant clone bird and finally decided on a name. He said, ¡°Fatty-hyuk.¡±

    ¡°Ah. I don¡¯t like it. What the hell is a Fatty-hyuk? You¡¯re terrible at naming.¡±

    <em>[The Clone Bird does not like the name.]</em>

    Minhyuk was immediately forced to think of another name.

    ¡°Main body, don¡¯t you have anything I can drink?¡±

    Minhyuk looked at the clone bird¡¯s arrogant figure, thought for a moment, and then said, ¡°In-Hyuk?¡±

    ¡°What? You just changed one letter from your name, right?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    The dumbfounded Minhyuk pondered over the name of the clone bird for a moment before saying, ¡°Dodo[1]?¡±

    ¡°Oh. That sounds a bit good.¡±

    <em>[The Clone Bird likes the name Dodo.]</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    The meaning of the name ¡°Dodo[2]¡± was very profound.

    ¡°Dodo. It sounds like a name with a very profound meaning. What does it mean?¡± The clone bird, Dodo, asked cheekily.

    Minhyuk¡¯s expression grew solemn as he replied. ¡°It means that Dodo has a lot of talents. You¡¯re extraordinary.¡±

    Dodo rubbed his chin, his expression filled with admiration.

    ¡°The main body seems to understand me well. Dodo is extraordinary, huh? To put it simply, I¡¯m Extraordinary Dodo. <em>Fufufu¡­</em>¡±

    Minhyuk was speechless. The description of the God and Knight said, ¡®<em>There¡¯s a chance that the clone bird will becking in some departments,¡¯ </em>and for some reason, he felt that made sense.

    <em>¡®Maybe he will get better as time goes by?¡¯</em>

    In any case, he did not intend to keep the clone bird by his side for a long time. The clone bird was made to roam the world and choose knights to help Minhyuk. So he would not remain by his side.

    Minhyuk did not expect that the clone bird would ept the name Dodo, and he did not n to actually give it that name.

    <em>¡®Let¡¯s just put it as Clone Bird. Since he likes Dodo, let¡¯s just leave him alone.¡¯</em>

    <em>[You have decided to use the name Clone Bird for the clone bird.]</em>

    The name he jokingly gave the clone bird sounded weird, so Minhyuk just called him ¡°Clone Bird.¡±

    ¡°Clone Bird, can you find those who can help me?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t want to.¡±

    Clone Bird Dodo¡¯s instant and firm refusal almost made Minhyuk grow angry.

    <em>¡®The clone bird will choose and recruit knights on my behalf even if I don¡¯t go.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk thought this was just a tiny disadvantage hidden underneath the huge advantage given to him by the newly evolved skill. Of course, Minhyuk knew how to take full advantage of this guy, who looked like him but had apletely different personality.

    ¡°For every outstanding knight you bring, I will cook you a legendary-grade dish.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll leave right away!¡± Clone Bird Dodo shouted as he immediately turned into a hawk.

    Unlike his name, the hawk, which was almost the size of a child, looked very imposing and majestic. He had sharp beaks, wide and strong wings, and a pair of sharp eyes. He looked just like the king of hawks.

    Just when the Clone Bird Dodo was about to fly, he stopped and said, ¡°Put some walnut cookies in my hands¡­ Ah, I don¡¯t have hands?¡±

    ¡°Extraordinary Dodo¡­¡±

    ¡°Why are you calling me?¡±

    ¡°I just wanted to call your name,¡± Minhyuk said as he put the walnut cookies bag in the Clone Bird Dodo''s beak.

    After mping the walnut cookies in his beak, Clone Bird Dodo immediately flew high into the sky.

    <em>[Clone Bird will tour the world for two months to try and find a powerhouse that can help you.]</em>

    Minhyuk looked up in time to see Dodo drop the walnut cookies as it flew in the sky.

    ¡°My walnut cookieeeeees!!!¡±

    Minhyuk could only sigh at the sight of the flying clone bird.

    <em>¡®The other powers under the God and Knight skill have been maintained. If these powers were removed and the skill hadpletely changed, it would have a bad effect on me.¡¯</em>

    If Minhyuk were to be honest, he thought that the new ¡®Clone Bird¡¯ added to the God and Knight skill was quite unreliable. Minhyuk could only sigh once again.

    He turned to the Transcendentals and told them he would visit them again before returning to the empire.

    ***

    The flying Clone Bird Dodo was in an excellent mood. He thought, <em>¡®This is the first time in a long while that I have been out in the world. It feels nice.¡¯</em>

    Not long after, an expression of doubt shed on his face. <em>¡®Ah. But wasn¡¯t I just born?¡¯</em>

    Clone Bird Dodo pondered in confusion while recalling the great task entrusted to him. He had to choose and recruit a knight once every two months to get something delicious from his master.

    He intended to choose and take those who would be of help to his master. He had only been flying for a few hundred meters before hended on the ground. Why? It was because too many delicious monsters were roaming on the ground beneath him.

    Clone Bird Dodo did not eat monsters when he took over the form of Minhyuk. It waspletely different now that he was in his hawk form. In his hawk form, he could eat both fruits and monsters alike. He was aplete omnivore.

    Clone Bird Dodo looked at the monsters running around before returning to his human form. This time, he did not take on Minhyuk¡¯s appearance. This was because of the words that Minhyuk shouted at him as he flew away.

    Minhyuk said, <em>¡®Don¡¯t use my appearance next time!!!¡¯</em>

    ***

    Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s conference room.

    President Kang Taehoon¡¯s expression was somber as he looked at the screen before them.

    The Land of the Biped Monsters was where the clone birdnded, where countless monsters walked around on their two feet, just like humans. It was a hunting ground for yers at around Level 400. Because of that, most of the monsters in this ce were quite intelligent.

    The monsters immediately narrowed the distance with the clone bird, who justnded on the ground.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know if I should feel relieved,¡± President Kang Taehoon said, his expression still grave and solemn.

    The Origin Authority: God and Knight was an absolute power. It was undeniable.

    Team Leader Park Minggyu, sitting right next to Taehoon, said, ¡°In the beginning, there was only Athenae in this world.¡±

    Only Athenae existed in the world on the day the earth and the skies were formed. As time passed, Athenae became the leader of the Absolute Gods.

    It was not Athenae who chose and appointed these Absolute Gods. It was none other than the clone bird that they were watching on the screen right now. After selecting and appointing the Absolute Gods, the clone bird burst into mes and became a small egg.

    His story would naturally unfold the longer Minhyuk spent time with him. He had awakened once again. He did not have any memories of the past or even an inkling about his name, but he now carried a new name.

    <em>[Grrk! Who are you?]</em>

    <em>[I¡¯m Dodo. You can call me Extraordinary Dodo since I have a lot of talents. Fufu.]</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Both Team Leader Park and President Kang were rendered speechless.

    ¡°Should I say that this is fortunate or¡­¡±

    Of course, the clone bird wascking. This was the result created by Athenae¡¯s Story Team.

    ¡°I asked you to maintain the bnce, yes. But why did you do it like this? No. Who approved this?¡±

    ¡°The Story Team¡¯s leader at that time was the one who gave the approval for this.¡±

    ¡°The team leader? No. Was the team leader out of his mind¡­¡±

    ¡°The team leader gave the proposal and approved it. After that, he quit. Rumor has it that he held a grudge for thepany because he was always doing a lot of overtime,¡± Team Leader Park said.

    ¡°<em>Ahem</em>.¡± Kang Taehoon coughed at the indirect jab about his employee¡¯s ¡°overtime.¡±

    Anyway, it seemed like the bnce had been maintained to some extent. After all, the clone bird was not just a bird that would help Minhyuk find knights.

    Team Leader Park said, ¡°The bigger problem is that Minhyuk will be able to enjoy an increase of power, even just a bit, through the clone bird.¡±

    Although the clone bird was a clone, he could take on apletely different human form. But there was a reason why the clone bird was first named Clone Bird. It was because they closely resembled their master despite having distinct personalities. Because of the resemnce to his master, the clone bird could not eat whatever he wanted.

    This was where the problem came from. Minhyuk was the type of person who would do anything to eat, and this carried over to the clone bird.

    ¡°He will dive down, hunt, or dig whenever he sees something delicious from the sky. And even though he cannot use Minhyuk¡¯s skills, he can still wield 60% of Minhyuk¡¯s attack power and DEX.¡±

    What would happen if this clone bird continued to hunt and dig for food repeatedly?

    President Kang Taehoon listened to the scenario painted for him and said, ¡°He will bring huge benefits to yer Minhyuk.¡±

    ***

    The threshold to Level 700 was so near yet so far in Minhyuk¡¯s eyes.

    The world was excitedly discussing and saying that Minhyuk would soon reach Level 700. Considering the ridiculous level-up speed that Minhyuk had shown so far, news about how he would be able to break through Level 700 in just three days began to surface.

    Despite the public¡¯s attention and discussion, Minhyuk believed it would take him at least a month.

    <em>¡®And this is after I have gained ten billion EXP.¡¯</em>

    The ten billion EXP that he gained only filled around 6% of his EXP gauge. This went to show how ridiculously high the EXP he needed to reach the next level, Level 700.

    Of course, Minhyuk also needed to increase his level as soon as possible. That was why he asked both Abel and Haze to help him find methods that would help him raise his EXP by a lot.

    Just in time, an envoy from Luvien Empire¡¯s Emperor Cardin arrived.

    ¡°...Why are you here?¡±

    ¡°I was just curious about what Brod is doing right now.¡±

    The envoy was none other than Nerva.

    Brod still hated him deeply. But Nerva was trying his hardest to make amends and straighten up the wrongs he did to him in the past. Of course, both Brod and Minhyuk did not intend to forgive him.

    Despite the cold reception, Nerva remained seated and said, ¡°I¡¯m sure you haven¡¯t forgotten the promise you made with Cardin before?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    Minhyuk had used the excuse of saving Emperor Cardin from Duke Bman to ask for many things. The first method would help him grow, and they pointed him toward his master, Beradon. As for the second one, it was a hint about the Pir Ingredient.

    ¡°The Pir Ingredients are divided into thend, the sea, and the air.¡±

    Minhyuk knew this too. He had eaten the Pir Ingredient of the sea, the Pir Snow Crab. The effects of the snow crab were shocking.

    His stats had increased by 3.5,% and his DEX increased by 11%. There was also the fact that his chances of getting special effects when doing anything rted to DEX had increased by 5%. Even his resistance to the water attribute had risen by 22%.

    Thanks to the Pir Snow Crab, Minhyuk could now exert a stronger power when fighting against water-attributed monsters, especially since his attack and defensive power would increase by 15% whenever he was fighting against them.

    The ingredient''s value was so high that it was iparable to other ingredients. To top it all off, it was also very delicious.

    Minhyuk, who was listening to Nerva, received Abel¡¯s whisper.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Abel</em></strong><em>: Minhyuk, the only ce that can help you increase your EXP is the Tower of Growth.]</em>

    At the same time, Nerva said, ¡°It is said that the master of the Tower of Growth has the Pir Ingredient that represents thend.¡±

    Minhyuk frowned. He felt very ufortable hearing the words ¡°Tower of Growth.¡±

    A mysterious smile appeared on Nerva¡¯s face. ¡°You noticed, huh? The tower master of the Tower of Growth is very envious of Beradon.¡±

    After hearing those words, Minhyuk could already roughly tell the situation. <em>¡®So that¡¯s why he named it like that.¡¯</em>

    At that moment, Minhyuk¡¯s new destination was found and set.

    ¡°Can I see Brod for a bit¡­¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Then, just from a distance¡­¡±

    ¡°I refuse.¡±

    ¡°At least tell him¡­¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to.¡±

    Nerva, who received a firm and stubborn refusal, left the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ imperial castle with shoulders drooping in dejection. From the back, he looked like someone who was just dumped. However, Minhyuk did not feel sorry for him at all.

    Just when Minhyuk was about to head to the Tower of the Growth, a very unexpected notification rang in his ears.

    <em>[You have acquired the gold and EXP that Clone Bird has acquired.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 3,441,097 gold.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 3,705,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1 EXP.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes grew wide.

    <em>¡®Don¡¯t tell me?!¡¯</em>

    He hurriedly opened God and Knight and read the description once again. The description said¡­

    <em>[Some of the information about the clone bird has been sealed.]</em>

    Then, it was followed by a series of ¡°???¡±. At this moment, Minhyuk realized he was seeing the effects of one of the ¡°???¡± listed below.

    <em>¡®Are you telling me that it¡¯s autohunting¡­?¡¯</em>

    1. ??? - Idiot Bird --> Bungsin Bird --> Dodo. Definitely a y on ??? (Bunshin). ?

    2. A ng for idiot, also a type of bird. ?<blockquote>

    ChubbyCheeks''s Thoughts

    Trantor thoughts: Extraordinary Dodo

    ¡°???? ?? ?? ??? ??? ???.¡±

    ???? ???? ??? ?? ???.

    ¡°??? ?? ??? ???. ???? ?? ?? ??? ??, ??? ??????. ???¡­¡­.¡±

    I''m so sad. lolol I can''t put the joke well. alskbaklsfhalfhsal. Also. lol. It made meugh.</blockquote>

 Chapter 1083

    Chapter 1083

    People had been ying many RPG games before virtual reality games entered the market. It was undeniable that the number of yers ying RPG games had significantly decreased upon the advent of Athenae. Regardless, the number of RPG yers had already been on a constant decline even before Athenae appeared. Such a trend was quite sad.

    The main reason for this was <em>macro</em>, often called auto-hunting. It involved hunting automatically on theirputers. These auto-hunting characters began to upy all of the dungeons, fields, and hunting grounds in the game.

    The gamingpanies tried to stop auto-hunting, but they could not find a way. Because of that, yers, who were reserved about the increase in characters auto-hunting, began to leave one after another.

    Just imagine the feelings of someone doing their best and struggling to hunt monsters to level up for six hours, only to see characters auto-hunting. It would feel like their six hours of hard work were all for naught. After all, an auto-hunting character could easily turn things around without doing anything.

    This was the reason why the honest and hardworking yers chose to leave the game and shelve them.

    But the virtual reality game Athenae was different. Auto-hunting could not be done inside this game. This was his response when a reporter asked President Kang Taehoon about auto-hunting and how it ruined online games.

    ¨C<em>If you want to try doing it, then feel free to do so.</em>

    That was how confident President Kang was about his game. Of course, not a single yer in Athenae was able to do auto-hunting.

    Minhyuk¡¯s new power, the clone bird, was simr to auto-hunting. After all, it allowed Minhyuk to acquire what the clone bird had hunted.<em>¡®Well, it¡¯s not my character. Of course, the acquisition rate will definitely be meager, too.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk estimated that the acquisition rate would be around 5% or lower. But Minhyuk knew himself well. Since the clone bird took after him, Clone Bird Dodo would not pass up the opportunity to eat delicious food.

    Dodo would hunt any monster that looked delicious, which happened to be on his path. As such, Clone Bird Dodo would continue to hunt monsters and repeat actions rted to DEX.

    What would happen if Minhyuk could get 1 DEX every six days?

    <em>¡®I will be able to get more than 50 DEX in a year even by sitting still.¡¯</em>

    Then, what about the gold and the EXP? Of course, Clone Bird Dodo was much weaker than Minhyuk. Because of that, the level of monsters he could hunt would also be significantly lower. Nevertheless, the amount of EXP that he could acquire would still umte.

    <em>¡®Wow. I did not expect that the clone bird would give me such a surprise.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was indeed in awe. He thought he might be a bit nicer to Dodo the next time he saw him.

    While thinking about how he would treat Dodo next time, he went to the Tower of Growth, where the new Pir Ingredient was.

    ***

    People worldwide were waiting excitedly as if the final hour of the year before the new year was imminent. What were they waiting for? It was none other than Minhyuk¡¯s Level 700 achievement.

    What would happen if a yer reached Level 700? The thought of Minhyuk growing stronger as the Battle God and the Food God and acquiring new stats excited them all.

    Because of Minhyuk¡¯s shocking level-up speed, all of them expected that he would climb over that wall quickly. Some even said, <em>¡®In the past, it only took him three days to level up once.¡¯ </em>

    s, Minhyuk¡¯s level remained the same even after three days.

    <em>[Why hasn¡¯t his level gone up yet?]</em>

    <em>[Maybe our dear Minhyuk wants to take it easy. Lol.]</em>

    <em>[Well, he has worked so hard so far. So maybe he really wants to take it easy for Level 700.]</em>

    <em>[I keep on refreshing the ranking page. Lolol. I wonder when Minhyuk will hit Level 700?]</em>

    <em>[Me too! Pretty sure there are a lot of people out there sitting in front of their pc and refreshing the page too.]</em>

    <em>[There¡¯s a chance that the world message will ring if Our Lord, the Food God, reaches Level 700. So, why are you refreshing the page? Are you idiots? Huh? Why am I refreshing the page too?]</em>

    <em>[Lmao.]</em>

    <em>[Bc I want to witness the historic moment with my own eyes!!!]</em>

    More and more people started refreshing the ranking page, temporarily paralyzing the Athenaemunity site. This just went to show how high the people¡¯s interest in Minhyuk reaching Level 700 was.

    <em>[Sht! The site is paralyzed. You guys should stop refreshing. Lololol.]</em>

    <em>[Woah¡­ At the end of the day, we still have to wait for the world message to ring. We¡¯ll probs be able to hear it today, right?]</em>

    Amidst the waiting people, a quick yer suddenly appeared.

    <em>[I think Minhyuk posted on SNS?]</em>

    <em>[Oh? What did he post?]</em>

    The people quickly flocked to Minhyuk¡¯s post, only to be shocked out of their wits. This was because Minhyuk, who had always hidden important things like his HP, total defensive power, and attack power, had posted a screenshot of the EXP he needed to level up. The screenshot left everyone speechless.

    <em>[He needs more than 100 billion EXP to level up?]</em>

    <em>[Woah¡­ Athenae is really evil!]</em>

    <em>[Guys, have you seen the phrase ¡®You cannot use other methods to increase your level. You can only fill in the EXP gauge to level up.¡¯???]</em>

    <em>[It will take 50 days at the earliest, right? shake, shake!]</em>

    Everyone¡¯s burning enthusiasm instantly cooled down.

    If Minhyuk hunted a strong Named monster, the amount of EXP he would get would be at least one billion. So, the experts predicted that Minhyuk would take at least fifty days to reach the next level at best. It might even take a hundred days too.

    Of course, people were not only focused on the contents of Minhyuk¡¯s post. Many of them also focused on the hashtags that he used.

    <em>[#chicken #pizza #jokbal #sundae #tteokbokki #porkgalbi #samgyeopsal #hamburger #athenae]</em>

    <em>[What kind of hashtags are you using, Our Lord, the Food God? Are you going to eat them all¡­ lmao.]</em>

    <em>[Did you see? He used the Athenae hashtag at the veryst. shake, shake]</em>

    As expected, Minhyuk was a man whose hashtags were rted to food.

    ***

    There were countless towers in Athenae. Most of these towers depended on their tower masters. Among these towers, the Tower of Growth was considered outstanding.

    There was no better ce than the Tower of Growth to gain EXP. However, the number of yers challenging the Tower of Growth was lower than expected. This was primarily because of the tower¡¯s system.

    Varoghan made it possible for anyone to use every floor of the tower. In exchange, one had to pay three times the EXP they obtained if they failed to climb the tower. Losing three times the amount of EXP one obtained or obtaining less EXP? The loss would be more significant between the two choices when one lost their EXP.

    For high-rankers who were more talented, the more floors they could clear, the more EXP they could get. However, there was a problem. There was no end to a human¡¯s greed. Since they had cleared one floor, they would think they could break the next floor and probably the next one.

    With every floor they cleared, the amount of EXP they could obtain would increase. The problem was the loss of EXP would also be more significant. After all, the penalty was losing three times the EXP that one had obtained.

    Many of those who had lost the EXP they had gained and more would often choose to start from the beginning once again.

    <em>¡®I think I can clear it this time!¡¯ </em>

    <em>¡®Ah, just a bit more! I think I can clear it now!¡¯</em>

    These thoughts lured them back into the tower and gave them the encouragement to try again. Whenever the rankers finally realized that they had sumbed to the tower¡¯s charm and tried to quit, the tower master and supervisors would appear and encourage them to try once again.

    A popr story involved a Level 630 yer who experienced a level drop to Level 580 after entering the tower.

    <em>¡®Then, can¡¯t we just look at the strategies that the other yers wrote?¡¯</em>

    It wasn¡¯t as if there weren¡¯t any methods of targeting cases like this inmonputer RPG games. Regardless, it was a method that they could not use. This was because the trials on every floor of the Trial of Growth would change every week.

    This very same Tower of Growth was now attracting the people''s attention. The reason?

    ¡°The Tower of Growth is holding an event?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a Double EXP event?!¡±

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then it¡¯s worth the try!¡±

    It was because the Tower of Growth was hosting an event for the first time. It was even a double EXP event! The best part? The penalty was the same and would not increase!

    An old man stood at the top of the tower and looked at the yers flooding the entrance to the Tower of Growth. This old man was Varoghan, the tower master.

    ¡°Fufufufu. This time, I am finally ¡®The Teacher¡¯.¡± Varoghan chuckled deeply.

    Varoghan had been drinking the waters of the Spring of Eternal Life, and thanks to that, he had lived a very long time. Yet, in those long years, he could not discard the sense of inferiority from one man and one man alone.

    The man that he was envious of was none other than The Teacher Beradon. Nevertheless, the information about The Teacher Beradon was not known to the world.

    <em>¡®F*cking old man.¡¯</em>

    Beradon had always been lowkey despite raising some of the Eight Pirs. And Varoghan found it to bepletely ridiculous. After all, one could gain enormous wealth, eternal glory, and even the respect of everyone in the world just by telling everyone that he was the one who taught them.

    <em>¡®Either way, it¡¯s a good thing for me.¡¯</em>

    What did Tower Master Varoghan go by here? It was none other than ¡°The Teacher, Varoghan.¡±

    Varoghan was fully aware that it was a false title. Yet he still used it. He even lied through his teeth and said he was an Eight Pir Candidate. However, these lies would be the truth sooner orter.

    <em>Thud, thud¨C</em>

    Varoghan walked until he stood in front of a huge egg. Dozens of twitching umbilical cord-like ropes were attached to the egg.

    <em>¡®Once this thing awakens, I will be the true Teacher.¡¯</em>

    The egg was none other than the Growth Devourer. It devoured other people¡¯s growth, eating the EXP taken as a penalty from those who failed toplete the challenge of the Tower of Growth.

    The egg was already at the point of hatching. They only needed to gather some EXP to make it happen.

    <em>¡®This egg can give tremendous EXP to help others grow.¡¯</em>

    It could help others grow, but it could also hinder their growth. It had the power to hinder the growth of those who opposed it and allow those who followed it to grow.

    ¡°The Teacher, the foreigners have already flocked to the tower. Their numbers are enough to fill the entire tower.¡±

    Varoghan chuckled lightly. The reason why he gathered the foreigners here in the name of an event was so he could take more growth away.

    Double the EXP? Of course, he would give it to them. In exchange, he would increase the difficulty from the very first floor. Even if they could break through the first floor, the difficulty level of the second floor would be much higher than the first.

    Varoghan intended to use this method to take everything from these pig foreigners, who were blinded by growth.

    ¡°What if the foreigners clear the tower and reach the top?¡±

    All the EXP distributed to the yers came from the Growth Devourer slumbering inside that egg. If a foreigner broke through and cleared a floor, the egg¡¯s incubation would increase and its size would grow smaller, a phenomenon contrary to what every single one wanted.

    Nevertheless, Varoghan believed that it was fine.

    ¡°That won¡¯t happen, no?¡±

    The greedy foreigners would, for the most part, not be able to stop. This was especially the case if they could obtain double the growth.

    ¡°More than that, we have to make sure to let this guy eat well once he hatches,¡± Varoghan said as he looked over the one thousand blindfolded sturdy young men that were bound near the egg.

    These men would be the food that the Growth Devourer would eat once it awakened to the world.

    ***

    On the tower¡¯s first floor, Varoghan stood before the vast crowd and said, ¡°I, The Teacher, for your sake¡­¡±

    He spoke every word carefully and with emphasis.

    ¡°I was once a candidate for the Eight Pirs but have chosen to renege ande down here myself¡­

    ¡°After all, the people had called me The Teacher, and I could not turn my back on you.

    ¡°Anyway¡­

    ¡°I, The Teacher Varoghan, have created an opportunity that can help you grow stronger.¡±

    Varoghan believed that today would be the day he would discard his job as the tower master.

    ¡°The tower¡¯s difficulty level has increased a bit, but there¡¯s definitely a lot to be gained. You might have already known this: even if you all enter the tower simultaneously, you will all reach the second floor separately.¡±

    The tower used a system where they were separated even though they came in together. Of course, they would still target the same floor in different locations.

    ¡°Of course, the highest EXP will be given to the first ones to clear the floors.¡±

    ¡°Wow¡­¡±

    ¡°Look at the EXP rewards¡­¡±

    ¡°As expected of the Tower of Growth!¡±

    The yers were all in awe. Varoghan was going to give them truly enormous EXP as a reward.

    At that moment, a man, with the hood of his robe pulled down to his nose, wiped his mouth and raised his hand. Then, he asked, ¡°What reward will one get if they can conquer this tower?¡±

    The highest record of floors cleared in the tower, which had eleven floors total, was seven. Clearing all eleven floors? That was impossible.

    <em>¡®This is more so the case this time. After all, the difficulty on the seventh floor has been applied to the third floor.¡¯</em>

    Varoghan smiled lightly and said, ¡°I will give you something that is considered one of the most precious things in the world. I can¡¯t reveal any more than that.¡±

    <em>¡®Anyway, none of you will be able to do so.¡¯</em> Varoghan thought, his tongue clicking in delight. <em>¡®My luck is quite good.¡¯</em>

    He did not expect to get his hands on it. Nevertheless, he could not touch it, let alone eat it. Varoghan thought that he would probably get the chance to eat it someday, so he kept it.

    ¡°Well then, everyone. Pleasee this way; you can climb the stairs and enter the tower. For your information, the Tower of Growth has three levels of difficulty. The growth that you will experience will depend on the level of difficulty that you will choose. The higher the difficulty, the greater the growth.¡±

    Normal, Night, Hell. These were the levels of difficulty. The sess rate would be significantly lower if the difficulty were higher. This was especially the case for the current tower, which had a higher difficulty level than average. For the first floor, someone taking on the Normal mode would have a 60% chance of clearing the floor. Night mode would have a 25% chance, and Hell had 5%.

    The foreigners charged toward the tower like dogs in heat. It did not even take that long for someone toe out because he failed. The EXP taken from those who failed to clear the floor would be automatically delivered to the Growth Devourer slumbering at the top of the tower.

    It had only begun, but the number of failed attempts grew considerably.

    At that moment, the man, who had asked about what would happen if they cleared all of the floors, walked leisurely toward the tower. The man had an ordinary face and was around 178 centimeters tall.

    The man asked, ¡°Are you really The Teacher?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Varoghan flinched. Very few people knew about Beradon and his story. The number of people who knew about Beradon could be counted on one hand, even in the Luvien Empire. This fact gave confidence to Varoghan.

    Varoghan nodded. ¡°Yes. I was once a candidate for the Eight Pirs. But I grew sick of the title and abandoned it.¡±

    The man looked at Varoghan from head to toe. Then he said, ¡°I see. From the hairstyle to the clothes and even the expression. You even got his smile!¡±

    ¡°...?¡± Varoghan¡¯s eyes widened when he heard the man¡¯s strange words.

    ¡°The only difference is you¡¯re ugly.¡±

    Varoghan realized that this man knew the real Beradon.

    The man slowly walked to the first floor.

    ¡°I assure you¡­¡± His voice sounded cold and dangerous. ¡°This tower will fall today.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Then, the man finally stepped on the stairs.

    Varoghan was left flustered and in disbelief. Just then, he saw the man choose ¡°Hell¡± as the difficulty level. Seeing this, a grin appeared on his face.

    ¡°He¡¯s nuts. Hell mode? And it¡¯s even more difficult than usual?¡±

    A few minutes had passed, but 40% of the people who entered the tower were already dead. There wasn¡¯t a single one of them who had cleared the second floor.

    Thirty seconds after the man entered, one of the tower assistants piped, ¡°Tower master¡­ the first person to clear the second floor has appeared.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? What level of difficulty is it? Is it normal?¡±

    ¡°No. It¡¯s hell mode.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Varoghan¡¯s expression was filled with confusion. Among those who entered the tower, only one person chose hell mode. Varoghan¡¯s eyes were filled with shock. After realizing something, he hurriedly looked at the stairs connected to the second floor.

    He could not help but think about the words that the man told him before.

    ¨C<em>This tower will fall today.</em>

 Chapter 1084

    Chapter 1084

    Varoghan was in disbelief.

    <em>¡®He cleared the second floor in just thirty seconds, and it''s even on Hell mode?¡¯</em>

    The foreigners were supposed to have a hard time clearing the second floor. In fact, most of them had already received penalties and started to nourish the Growth Devourer. But the man could clear the second floor in just thirty seconds? It should have been impossible.

    <em>¡®I made using one¡¯s artifacts on the second floor impossible.¡¯</em>

    Varoghan was sly and petty. Although he said he had opened a path for their growth, he set the difficulty level to the highest and made it so the challengers would fail.

    Varoghan, who knew the floors'' levels well, hurriedly brought the crystal ball and began to watch the situation rey on the second floor.

    ***

    Minhyuk was furious.

    His master, Beradon, was a very kind man. He would teach anyone who wanted to receive his teachings and even go so far as to live for their sake. Beradon was a man worthy of respect. When Minhyuk arrived at the Tower of Growth, he saw Varoghan, who dered he was ¡°The Teacher.¡±

    Of course, there was a chance that the names that they used to refer to themselves were coincidentally the same. Strangely enough, Varoghan¡¯s clothes, hairstyle, and even the kind smile stered on his face all had Beradon''s shadow.

    There was just one thing that Varoghan could not remove and hide. It was his stench¡ªthe rotten stench of someone whopletely imitated someone worthy of everyone¡¯s admiration and took that name for himself!

    The Tower of Growth had absorbed quite a lot of EXP from the penalties imposed upon the challengers. This was the essence of everything in the world. It was just like how the Magic Tower fostered mages so they could receive a certain amount of money from themter. Simrly, the Knight Tower raised outstanding knights so the name of their tower could reach higher and further the more their knights became well-known.

    As for Beradon¡­

    <em>¡®He cultivated and raised countless disciples.¡¯</em>

    But what would Varoghan get by imitating The Teacher? He would not get any money, and Beradon¡¯s disciples would note to visit this tower.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s a high chance that the answer is in the penalty.¡¯</em>

    As Athenae¡¯s Supreme, Minhyuk¡¯s judgment was sharper and keener than ordinary people''s. He could see many things that most of them would just overlook.

    <em>¡®Where the hell are those high penalties funneled to?¡¯</em>

    In the end, Minhyuk concluded that conquering the tower would give him the answer to this question and even allow him to obtain the Pir Ingredient. Also¡­

    <em>¡®I will make you pay the price for tarnishing the name of my master.¡¯</em>

    He intended to make Varoghan pay for that.

    When Minhyuk entered the second floor, a series of notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[You have chosen Hell as your level of difficulty.]</em>

    <em>[You cannot change your chosen difficulty level even after you are forced to log out.]</em>

    <em>[The Second Floor restricts the use of weapon artifacts.]</em>

    As ridiculous as it might sound, he heard Varoghan¡¯s voice ring on the second floor.

    <em>[You rely and depend on your weapons. Sometimes, discarding and fighting your enemies without them will help you grow further.]</em>

    <em>[This is my lesson for you.]</em>

    Minhyuk found it sickening. He was speaking as if he was indeed The Teacher. To be honest, Minhyuk wanted to p him in the face. Still, he endured and tried to put up with him because Varoghan was the key to the Pir Ingredient.

    <em>[You can only use the most basic of weapons.]</em>

    Minhyuk looked at the weapons that appeared in front of him. Then, he picked up a rusty iron sword. The rusty iron sword was a weapon that Level 10 yers mainly used.

    <em>¡®The level of yers participating in the Tower of Growth¡¯s event is around Level 550 to Level 640.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk estimated that the level of weapons that they had equipped would be around Level 200 or so. Perhaps it was because he chose Hell mode that he was given such an atrocious weapon.

    <em>[Your chosen level of difficulty is Hell. The Second Floor¡¯s Predator has be stronger.]</em>

    The Second Floor¡¯s Predator was a monster in the form of a tiger. The only difference was that it was several times bigger.

    <em>[Second Floor¡¯s Predator. Level 798.]</em>

    The enemy¡¯s level was very high. Minhyuk guessed yers who took the normal route would probably face monsters around Level 600.

    <em>¡®So, yers at Level 600 will have to face monsters in thete Level 600s with these weapons.¡¯</em>

    It was truly a very difficult task. But this trial overlooked some things. Restricting one¡¯s use of weapons had several disadvantages.

    ¡°Roaaaaaar!!!¡±

    The tiger, the size of a house, leaped toward Minhyuk. Flipping the rusty iron sword in his hand, Minhyuk triggered the de of Frenzy.

    Minhyuk¡¯s newly acquired de of Frenzy allowed him to pierce through the enemy¡¯s vital point as long as he was within its eight-meter radius. When the skill was unleashed, des flew twelve times per second and ripped apart the Second Floor¡¯s Predator¡¯s body. It also dealt an additional 600% damage for five seconds straight.

    What about the sword¡¯s attack power? It was extremely low. However, Minhyuk was different from ordinary yers. His stats alone felt like that of a Level 800.

    Why were his stats like that? The main reason was that Minhyuk was the Food God. Because he was the Food God, he obtained an incredible amount of stats far beyond what an ordinary yer could imagine.

    Even if his sword¡¯s attack power was low, his attack power, influenced by his stats, could easily allow him to tear his enemy apart. What more if the opponent was just a monster at Level 798. On top of that, it was just a high-level monster, not a Named Monster.

    ¡°Roar¨C!¡±

    <em>¡®The damage iscking.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk grinned when he saw the Second Floor¡¯s Predator bleeding all over. It seemed like the damage that it received was not that great. Yet it did not matter that much. After all, the second floor hadpletely overlooked another fact.

    <em>¡®The skills that I possess.¡¯</em>

    The skills under Minhyuk¡¯s belt were more than twice that of an average yer. And there was also the fact that they were far better than others.

    ¡°Overpower.¡±

    <em>Thud¨C!</em>

    The Second Floor¡¯s Predator was rendered immobile.

    ¡°Intangible Sword.¡±

    Hundreds of swords capable of ignoring the target¡¯s defenses pierced through the tiger¡¯s body.

    ¡°Heavenly Sword.¡±

    A skill that could send hundreds of swords for four straight minutes fell from the sky and cut and hacked the Second Floor¡¯s Predator.

    ¡°Graaaaa! Roaaaaar!!!¡± Painful screams erupted from the mouth of the Second Floor¡¯s Predator as Minhyuk¡¯s skills constantly ravaged it.

    Minhyuk was not yet done; he immediately used the Supreme Overlord¡¯s Technique.

    <em>Crackle¨C</em>

    zing mes crackled into life from the de of the rusty iron sword.

    <em>[Double Skill]</em>

    The passive skill that only had a 1.2% chance of getting triggered was activated, making the already powerful force grow twice as strong.

    <em>Crackle¨C Boom¨C!</em>

    The powerful force of the Supreme Overlord¡¯s Technique sent the Second Floor¡¯s Predator flying, its body mming straight into the walls.

    Minhyuk, who cleared the second floor in just thirty seconds, shrugged and said, ¡°That¡¯s easy.¡±

    Then, the notifications rang.

    <em>[You have made a new record.]</em>

    <em>[You have cleared the Hell-mode Second Floor in just thirty seconds.]</em>

    <em>[You are the first yer to clear the Second Floor. You have received additional EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You are in the middle of an event. The Double EXP effect will be applied.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 2,323,053,030 EXP.]</em>

    <em>¡®Woah¡­?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was quite impressed. Obtaining more than two billion EXP in one go was difficult. It was a reward that Minhyuk could only get after hunting a few Named Monsters at the same level as him.

    <em>¡®Isn¡¯t this hitting three birds with one stone?¡¯</em>

    Not only would he be able to go after the Pir Ingredient, but he would also be able to gain EXP and make the bastard who defiled the name of Master Beradon eat shit.

    Minhyuk climbed to the next floor without any hesitation.

    <em>[You can only use the most basic of weapons.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    He heard the same notification. The puzzled Minhyuk then encountered ten of the same predators when he stepped foot on the third floor.

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk was rendered speechless by the extreme level of difficulty.

    ¡°How will one clear this level if they¡¯re not a summoner or a necromancer?¡±

    ***

    Varoghan was shocked when he heard the words of the man who cleared the second floor in thirty seconds.

    <em>¡®How many powers do you have in your arsenal?¡¯</em>

    Varoghan could tell that the man¡¯s body had already surpassed the body of an average human. After all, dealing such massive damage with just an average body was impossible.

    Nevertheless, the smile on Varoghan¡¯s face did not disappear.

    <em>[How will one clear this level if they¡¯re not a summoner or a necromancer?]</em>

    The man¡¯s voice rang from within the crystal ball.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s just as that bastard said. The third floor is made that way so the summoners and necromancers would have the advantage.¡¯</em>

    Not long after, the man chuckled yfully.

    <em>[Yep~ I can clear it~ So easy~]</em>

    At the same time, twenty lights shed around him. The lights faded to reveal twenty soldiers wearing shabby armor and weapons.

    <em>¡®What can you even do with those simple and weak-looking soldiers¡­¡¯</em>

    Despite Varoghan¡¯s confidence, the ten predators on the third floor died in just twenty seconds under the des of the twenty shabby soldiers.

    ¡°...¡±

    Varoghan gulped dryly. He had to admit that this foreigner was strong and unique. Nevertheless, he firmly believed that he could not clear the next floor.

    <em>¡®You must pull the weeds with strong and deep-seated roots to hunt the monsters.¡¯</em>

    Not only did one need to have high attack and defensive power, but they also needed to have high DEX. Very few people met these conditions so far.

    <em>[Swoosh~]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯sing out easily.]</em>

    The man, being attacked by the monsters behind him, could easily pull out the weeds one after another.

    ¡°What the hell? How high is his DEX?¡±

    Varoghan shook his head in disbelief. This was ridiculous!

    The worst part? The man did not suffer much damage even though he was being attacked by the monsters non-stop. Scratches had appeared all over his body, but no deep wounds or gashes had appeared. This was proof of the man¡¯s high defensive power and STR.

    <em>¡®A hodgepodge?¡¯</em>

    No, a hodgepodge is a term for useless thingsbined together. The man was excellent in every single aspect, so he could not call him a hodgepodge.

    <em>¡®How can a foreigner be so well-bnced¡­¡¯</em>

    Just like that, the fourth floor was cleared in forty seconds. Then, the fifth and the sixth. The EXP the young man obtained from the second to the sixth floor had already gone over fifteen billion.

    Then, someone came to report right away.

    ¡°Tower Master! The Growth Devourer¡¯s egg has grown smaller.¡±

    ¡°What¡­?¡±

    The Growth Devourer devoured the growth of the challengers in the form of penalties. On the other hand, it also shared its growth if the challenger could sessfully clear the floor. Although fifteen billion EXP was not enough to considerably reduce its size, Varoghan knew the situation was now borderline dangerous.

    Varoghan moved in a hurry. ¡°A nasty and arrogant bastard!¡±

    He needed to find a way to stop the damn bastard! If things continued at this rate, he could reach the eleventh floor where the Growth Devourer was currently.

    <em>¡®Wait. Then, how about¡­?¡¯</em>

    Varoghan considered connecting the Hell mode¡¯s 7th floor to the Normal mode¡¯s 3rd floor. Anyway, he was free to do whatever he wanted since he was the one who could adjust the trials of the tower. At the same time, he wanted to propose an increase in difficulty on top of the already difficult Hell mode, in exchange for an even higher EXP.

    Varoghan, in a voice that imitated Beradon, spoke graciously. ¡°Your power is extraordinary. How about you receive my teachings and take on a new challenge? Challenges can sometimes make you grow stronger.¡±

    <em>[I ept.]</em>

    The man, who heard his voice, immediately epted. The man¡¯s eptance made Varoghan almost weep with joy. His grin could even split his face with how wide it was.

    An astronomical reward? Of course. But if he failed to clear the floor because of the insane level of difficulty, the penalty that he would receive would be equally astronomical. The fact that he had already obtained fifteen billion EXP meant that Varoghan could take away more than seventy billion EXP from him once he failed.

    ¡°Fufufufufu!¡±

    <em>[Hey.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Varoghan looked at the crystal ball in confusion.

    <em>[That¡¯s disgusting. Stop imitating Master Beradon. In my eyes, you can onlypare with master¡¯s toes.]</em>

    Varoghan wanted to be Beradon.

    After all, Beradon received the respect and reverence of the members of the Eight Pirs like Athenae. He also raised the greatest of all evils, Helenia, and the Evil God Obren, who had shocked the world. Beradon¡¯s disciples also gained shocking reputations and most cared deeply for him.

    Yes, everything Varoghan did was out of a sense of inferiority. He wanted to be like Beradon, but he couldn¡¯t, so he copied everything about him. He copied how Beradon dressed and even studied how he smiled and spoke.

    <em>[You don¡¯t look like the master at all.]</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

    Varoghan¡¯s expression grew ugly.

    <em>[Your personality,pared to the master¡¯s excellent and outstanding personality, is nothing but a ¡®fake¡¯ personality.]</em>

    <em>[Your smile,pared to the master¡¯s kind and caring smile directed to his disciples, is nothing but ¡®insincere¡¯.]</em>

    <em>[You can never be like my master.]</em>

    <em>[You can never be The Teacher.]</em>

    <em>[You¡­ are nothing but a fake.]</em>

    Varoghan¡¯s already ugly expression turned a deep hue of red. This was because he was embarrassed. After all, the words that the man said were utterly true.

 Chapter 1085

    Chapter 1085

    The red-faced Varoghan tried to deny it. As long as the Growth Devourer awakened to the world, he could genuinely be The Teacher. Once that happened, he would be a candidate, and he would finally be able to try and challenge bing a true member of the Eight Pirs.

    <em>¡®I will be one of the Eight Pirs.¡¯</em>

    He hid his anger after being told he would not be The Teacher. With a voice that could not be heard through the crystal ball, he screamed, ¡°I-I am The Teacher! I am the one!!!¡±

    But his cries could not be heard by the man. Then, the man spoke.

    <em>[Stop cursing and tarnishing my master¡¯s name.]</em>

    Only then did Varoghan realize that the man was Beradon¡¯s disciple. Because of that, he decided to destroy him on the next floorpletely. Varoghan firmly believed that the n that he had concocted was perfect.

    When the trial of the seventh floor started, the young man was faced with the yers who were challenging the normal mode¡¯s third floor. Around 991 people were able to climb to the third floor.

    Varoghan said, ¡°This time, I want to impart a lesson about desire.¡±

    Just like The Teacher, he spoke gently and amiably.¡°In front of you is a foreigner. He is the <em>devil </em>who is challenging Hell mode. This devil is 30% stronger than he was before.¡±

    Varoghan¡¯s eyes curved, and the viciousness in his words was evident.

    ¡°You cannot attack the devil.¡±

    What the hell was he talking about? Through the crystal ball, Varoghan could see the question in the faces of all the foreigners.

    ¡°Endure and hold your desires back. By the way, if you kill the devil, you can obtain twenty billion EXP.¡±

    Varoghan could see the joy in the faces of all foreigners through the crystal ball.

    ¡°You will be able to get a lot of EXP if you sessfullynd an attack on the devil. However, remember that you will all fail if you attack the devil.¡±

    What he meant was¡­

    <em>¡®If one among the hundreds of yers attacked the devil, they would all fail to clear the floor. But what will happen if they kill the devil?¡¯</em>

    The EXP they would receive would be much higher than the penalty they would incur. It was a very tempting deal. In other words, they could all clear the floor if they just sat still. However, the temptation of the benefits presented to them would stimte their desire, and they would be unable to hold back.

    The young man, climbing the stairs connecting the sixth floor to the seventh floor, could hear Varoghan¡¯s voice. He could clearly hear the viciousness andughter in his voice.

    ¡°As for you, it¡¯s either one of the two. Either you kill them all or don¡¯t attack them.¡±

    In Varoghan¡¯s eyes, this was an impossible feat. He knew that the man was strong. But would he be able to kill hundreds of foreigners in one go? That was impossible. As for not attacking them? It was also impossible. This was because the yers would definitely go and attack him first. Either way, both sides would be caught up in their desires and be unable to clear this floor.

    ¡°Moron.¡± Varoghan mocked Beradon¡¯s disciple. ¡°You have been blinded by growth and even chose the Hell level of difficulty! Fufufufufu!¡±

    The man appeared in front of hundreds of foreigners. He had a pair of horns on his head and enormous ck wings on his back. Varoghan, who saw this, cackled.

    ¡°Keuhahahahaha! You are no different from your idiot of a master!¡±

    Just then, the young man, who was in the form of a demon, said.

    <em>[Isn¡¯t this easy?]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Easy? How was this easy? What kind of bullshit was he saying? A human¡¯s desire was tough to suppress. Besides, the fact that he told the foreigners that they would be able to gain EXP just by attacking the devil was enough to make them go wild.

    <em>[Fifty billion EXP. Lucky~]</em>

    <em>¡®Lucky? What¡¯s lucky? Is that new ng for something?¡¯</em>

    The puzzled Varoghan focused on the crystal ball in front of him.

    ***

    Minhyuk, who was in the form of a devil, appeared in front of hundreds of yers. The moment he appeared, a buzz erupted among them.

    ¡°Guys. Don¡¯t attack the devil.¡±

    ¡°Ah. I¡¯m serious. Don¡¯t do it. We can all clear this floor and get EXP if we stay still.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s the devil, though. Why should we stay still?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true?¡±

    ¡°Anyway, you guys should never attack.¡±

    Despite saying so, the yers were all gearing up to attack. After all, they would all be able to obtain twenty billion worth of EXP if they could kill the devil. This greed washed over them and grabbed hold of their senses, their hands sneakily tightening on their weapons.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m going to kill him.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®These idiots! Stop moving!¡¯</em>

    These thoughts shed in their heads as they secretly prepared to attack. At that moment, the devil raised his hands, which made all of them flinch.

    ¡°Guys, put your weapons down.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    In the end, the devil was also a yer. They realized that he also had a simr trial to theirs, which was proven by the words that he had said just a few moments prior. But the yers did not let go and even tightened their holds on their weapons.

    Seeing this, the man said, ¡°You¡¯re still not letting go?¡±

    The man''s figure, which was around 178 centimeters tall, began to change. He grew much taller, and his physique even grew better. The more shocking part was the appearance of the familiar ck hair, white and fair skin, and handsome face.

    ¡°Just a fair warning. If you attack me, then I will give the order to kill you.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Varoghan, who was watching everything through the crystal ball, was left in shock. This was because the hundreds of yers collectively let go of their weapons.

    ¡°He-hehe¡­ So, it¡¯s Minhyuk¡­¡±

    ¡°Goodness. If it¡¯s you, then who would dare to attack you? Hehe.¡±

    That was right. None of them dared to attack Minhyuk.

    What was the easiest way to suppress one¡¯s desire? Well, it was to incite fear. Minhyuk had openly dered war. He told them that if they dared to attack him, then he would give the order to kill. The Beyond the Heavens Empire would turn its back on these yers and hunt them.

    Of course, this was a tant abuse of the emperor¡¯s authority. Still, everyone epted it willingly because he allowed everyone to clear the floor without casualties.

    ¡°Let¡¯s all just wait quietly for this floor to be cleared. Well then, follow me.¡±

    Varoghan¡¯s eyes grew wide at the incredible sight in front of him. He was observing the situation in person and in real-time. He was shocked to see the foreigners be obedient children and listen to Minhyuk¡¯s words well.

    Not long after, they watched Minhyuk¡¯s mouth with rapt attention.

    ¡°Luckyyyy~¡±

    Then, hundreds of foreigners followed and sang at the same time.

    ¡°Luckyyyy~¡±

    ¡°Luckyyyy~¡±

    ¡°Luckyyyy~¡±

    After ten minutes¡­

    <em>[You have cleared the Hell-mode Seventh Floor with a higher difficulty level.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained the EXP that Varoghan promised you.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 50,000,000,000 EXP.]</em>

    Minhyuk opened his mouth again and said, ¡°Fifty billion EXP, lucky~!¡±

    They literally stood still and did nothing for ten minutes, but Minhyuk was able to gain an astronomical amount of EXP. Even the other yers were delighted to hear the notification that they had obtained EXP, even though they just stood still and talked quietly with each other.

    Varoghan, in a spirit state, almost ripped his hair out when he saw this scene. <em>¡®W-what the hell is this¡­!¡¯</em>

    As someone who lived in the tower most of his life, Varoghan had grown ignorant of the world outside. He waspletely unaware of the influence that Minhyuk, Beradon¡¯s disciple, had.

    He felt like choking. Although he could not see it, he could already tell that the Growth Devourer¡¯s egg had grown significantly smaller. Just thinking about the time and effort he had put into the egg to make it grow big and the current situation was enough to make his head spin.

    <em>¡®N-no. It¡¯s not yet over. There is still so much prey here.¡¯</em>

    There were still hundreds of foreigners here. They would fail on the next floor. Once that happened, they would cough up EXP, several times more than the EXP they had gained from clearing the previous floors.

    Then, Minhyuk added insult to injury, saying, ¡°Don¡¯t you guys think that the difficulty level is far too high?¡±

    The yers felt it, too. Just thinking that they almost had to fight against Minhyuk was enough to make them dizzy. The yers could guarantee they would have been wiped out if forced to fight Minhyuk. To top it off, they could tell that each floor''s difficulty level was too highpared to the amount of EXP they obtained.

    ¡°You can all tell there¡¯s something strange with this tower, right?¡±

    Of course, all of the yers knew this.

    What was the tower after? Why was the penalty three times higher if they failed? Why was Tower Master Varoghan hailed as ¡°The Teacher¡± but never went out into the world?

    ¡°I can guarantee you that if you fail at the next floor, it won¡¯t end with you just coughing up all of the EXP you have gained.¡±

    The yers were aware of this to some extent. Regardless, their greed had spurred them on.

    <em>¡®Shall we try going up one more floor?¡¯ </em>

    <em>¡®I think I can clear the next floor?¡¯</em>

    Such thoughts encouraged them to continue. After hearing Minhyuk¡¯s warning, the yers reigned in their desires.

    ¡°There¡¯s definitely something strange.¡±

    ¡°It must be true since Minhyuk said it himself.¡±

    ¡°I understand. We¡¯re going down now.¡±

    Usually, if another yer said this, they would argue loudly with the vessels on their necks popping, saying, <em>¡®Are you saying this to try and monopolize the rewards?!¡¯</em>

    However, Minhyuk¡¯s reputation was just too good. It was to the point where some people began to revere him. It was thanks to his sessfully leading the war and protecting Athenae from Helenia and Barbarian.

    ¡°Of course, the choice will always be up to you,¡± Minhyuk said, his expression filled with concern. It was as if he was saying, <em>¡®I¡¯m just saying this because I¡¯m very worried about you.¡¯</em>

    His words gave confidence to the conflicted yers. Everyone, except for a very small number of yers, left the tower.

    Minhyuk expressed this ¡°worry¡± because there was a chance that Varoghan could set up the tower in a way that he would use himself and the yers.

    <em>¡®E-eeeeeeek¡­!¡¯</em> Varoghan bit his lips.

    Most of the precious resources he needed to nourish the Growth Devourer left because of a single man.

    And Minhyuk? He hummed happily. ¡°<em>Lucky~ Lucky~ This is a happy song~ Let¡¯s all sing it together~</em>¡±

    As he listened to Minhyuk sing this song while he climbed to the next floor, Varoghan thought, <em>¡®H-how¡­?¡¯</em>

    He was very shocked.

    <em>¡®How can such a bastard be so detestable!¡¯</em>

    The man was literally nasty and hateful.

    <em>¡®Is he the God of Obnoxiousness?!¡¯</em>

    Varoghan felt his hands itch at how hateful and detestable the man acted. He wanted to grab his mouth and sew it right up!

    Unaware of Varoghan¡¯s thoughts, Minhyuk continued to the next floor.

    ***

    Minhyuk continued to conquer the floors with ease. He had broken through the tenth floor and had already gained a total of 240 billion EXP. Now, all that was left was for him to tackle the eleventh floor and get the answer about the Pir Ingredient.

    The trial on the tenth floor was genuinely absurd. The trial was destroying a Diamond Golem, whose HP was a hundred times that of a regr golem, within five minutes by using basic attacks.

    <em>¡®Dual Swordsmanship Technique.¡¯</em>

    The Dual Swordsmanship Technique was not a skill that affected his attacks. It only helped him increase his speed. As for his attacks during the skill duration? They were still basic attacks.

    He hit the Diamond Golem more than nine times per second with two swords and chipped away its HP. Minhyuk¡¯s artifacts had special effects like <em>¡®ignoring defense¡¯</em> and <em>¡®increased critical hit rate,¡¯</em> thus allowing him to destroy the golem in just four minutes and forty-five seconds.

    <em>[You have made a new record.]</em>

    <em>[You have cleared the Hell-mode Tenth Floor in just 4 minutes 45 seconds.]</em>

    <em>[You are the first yer to clear the Second Floor. You have received additional EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You are in the middle of an event. The Double EXP effect will be applied.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 40,323,053,030 EXP.]</em>

    After obtaining such a vast amount of EXP, Minhyuk moved to the next floor. But before he could do so, a very unexpected notification rang in his ears.

    ***

    Varoghan was highly restless. He knew that the bastard would soon reach the tenth floor. Should he run away now? Or should he awaken the still iplete Growth Devourer?

    ¡°I-I will be one of the Eight Pirs.¡±

    Varoghan wanted to rise in position and be the true Teacher.

    Because of this desire, he nned on doing something he should never do. He wanted to feed the Growth Devourer everyone¡¯s ¡°growth.¡± What did that mean? Well, it meant what it said. He wanted to awaken the still iplete Growth Devourer in advance and let it go crazy until it had eaten enough ¡°growth¡± and be whole andplete.

    Varoghan touched the shell of the egg.

    <em>[The Growth Devourer will hatch in five minutes.]</em>

    Five minutes. Varoghan thought he could hold out if it were just five minutes.

    Varoghan looked around and caught sight of the 1,000 sturdy young men who were shaking on their feet.

    ¡°If I take them hostage, I¡¯ll probably be able tost five minutes.¡±

    Just when he was about to approach them, he heard something.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¨C!</em>

    Varoghan¡¯s eyes grew wide. <em>¡®Is- is it hatching already?!¡¯</em>

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    That was not the case at all. The floor copsed, and he fell to the tenth floor.

    <em>Swoosh¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk, with his sword still raised above him, was waiting for him. He raised his other hand, snatched the falling Varoghan¡¯s neck, and said, ¡°Hello, fake?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Fear stained Varoghan¡¯s eyes.

 Chapter 1086

    Chapter 1086

    Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s cafeteria was famous for its delicious dishes. Special yers Management Team¡¯s Lee Minhwa, who had been working overtime several days in a row, could be seen sitting at one of the cafeteria¡¯s tables.

    Members from other teams watched her in awe as she tied her hair up tightly before eating the huge pile of side dishes and rice.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s four times the amount of rice I eat¡­?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Why doesn¡¯t she gain weight?¡¯</em>

    Lee Minhwa was the subject of countless rumors going around in thepany. Since she did not gain weight even though she ate huge amounts of food daily, rumors saying, <em>¡®Story about how Special yers Management Team¡¯s Lee Minhwa is an Athenae Character.¡¯</em> began circting. Of course, it was just for fun. This was mainly because Athenae characters did not gain weight no matter how many times they ate.

    Everyone watched Lee Minhwa¡¯s mukbang as she ate every dish before her with relish and delight.

    ¡°You must be having a hard time in the Special yers Management Team, right? How many days have you been working overtime?¡±

    ¡°This is my third day.¡±

    ¡°<em>Heok!</em> Ms. Lee Minhwa, how can you survive the high-powered Special yers Management Team?¡±The Special yers Management Team was notorious for having high-intensity work.

    Lee Minhwa, with a firm and strong voice, responded, ¡°Because the food at the cafeteria is delicious.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh¡­ uhm¡­¡±

    Perhaps this was a true fan? Everyone was aware that Lee Minhwa was Minhyuk¡¯s die-hard fan. Even her logic and reasoning were reaching Minhyuk¡¯s level.

    Immediately after that, the topic of their conversation changed.

    ¡°More importantly, when will yer Minhyuk reach Level 700?¡±

    ¡°ording to the experts, he will be able to reach Level 700 after a hundred days, right?¡±

    ¡°After looking at the screenshot on SNS of the total EXP that Minhyuk needs to level up, I must admit that that¡¯s also what I think.¡±

    Everyone focused on Lee Minhwa, who was still happily eating her food. She was one of the few who could see and watch Minhyuk personally.

    Lee Minhwa, with her mouth filled with rice and Vienna sausage, looked up after feeling their searing gazes. She said, ¡°Secret.¡±

    ¡°Ah. So stingy.¡±

    ¡°Ms. Minhwa, you also think he would take around a hundred days, right?¡±

    But no matter how much they pried, Lee Minhwa did not answer. The Special yers Management Team members never talked about an individual yer¡¯s situation. In the end, the other teams gave up.

    Lee Minhwa looked at them, who gave up on the topic, and thought, <em>¡®Maybe he¡¯ll be able to reach it within today.¡¯</em>

    There was a reason Lee Minhwa worked overtime yesterday as well. Minhyuk was approaching the Growth Devourer, slumbering in the Tower of Growth.

    <em>¡®The Growth Devourer¡¯s Egg has grown by devouring the growth they had taken from the yers as a penalty.¡¯</em>

    These penalties remained inside the egg, acting as nourishment for its growth. What did that mean?

    <em>¡®The egg is literally a huge chunk of EXP.¡¯</em>

    A glint appeared in Lee Minhwa¡¯s eyes as she continued to eat the Vienna sausage in front of her.

    Then, a story team member said, ¡°That¡¯s mine¡­¡±

    Lee Minhwa had another nickname. It was <em>Chopstick Killer</em>. Why? Because she would steal food from other people¡¯s tes without them noticing¡ªan action befitting of Minhyuk¡¯s true fan.

    ***

    Just as Minhyuk was about to move to thest floor after clearing the tenth floor, these notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[The </em><strong><em>Sudden Quest</em></strong><em>: Unqualified One has been created.]</em>

    <em>[The </em><strong><em>Sudden Quest</em></strong><em>: Master¡¯s Honor has been created.]</em>

    ¡°...?!¡±

    Minhyuk had never seen notifications of this kind ring at the same time. He hurriedly checked the notification details.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Sudden Quest</em></strong><em>: Unqualified One]</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: SSS</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: The one who cleared the Tower of Growth¡¯s Tenth Floor.</em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: You can directly receive the rewards from Chaos. ???</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Failure</em></strong><em>: -1 level.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: Varoghan is nothing but a fake imitating ¡°The Teacher¡± Beradon, the Eight Pir Candidate of the past. He is trying to hatch the Growth Devourer¡¯s Egg and bring it into the world. </em>

    <em>Chaos, the one in charge of selecting and appointing the candidates for the Eight Pirs, knew about him faking his way and tarnishing the name of the Eight Pirs. There is no distinction between good and evil when bing a Pir. However, Varoghan, the fake who imitated the Pir candidates, deserves to be punished. </em>

    <em>Chaos, who learnt that Varoghan was trying to turn this ¡°lie¡± into the ¡°truth,¡± realized that this matter was urgent. The evaluators are rushing to this ce to bring justice to light, but it would be toote if the egg hatched. </em>

    <em>Destroy the egg and punish Varoghan.</em>

    <em>[You have temporarily been promoted to the position of Pir Evaluator.]</em>

    The advantage of this sudden quest was that he could get an unexpected reward. However, the disadvantage was that he was forced to ept something that might be impossible to achieve.

    Minhyuk frowned as he checked the following notification.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Sudden Quest</em></strong><em>: Master¡¯s Honor.]</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: SSS</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: Beradon¡¯s Disciple.</em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: You can keep the Growth Cultivator until Level 750.</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Failure</em></strong><em>: Growth Cultivator will be deleted from your skills.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: Your master, Beradon, was such a great man and candidate that he received the unanimous agreement of Chaos and the Pir Evaluators to be the next Pir. However, Varoghan is tarnishing the name of yourte master, Beradon. Rip off the mask of the fake and restore your master¡¯s honor.</em>

    Minhyuk was shocked. <em>¡®I can keep the Growth Cultivator until Level 750?¡¯</em>

    This was a great reward. Besides, even if this quest did not appear, Minhyuk had already nned to do something to protect the honor of Master Beradon.

    <em>¡®I can discuss my rewards with Chaos?¡¯</em>

    The reward for the first sudden quest was surprisingly from Chaos himself.

    Thanks to the descriptions of these quests, Minhyuk was able to get a glimpse of the current situation.

    <em>¡®Right now, Varoghan is trying to hatch that Growth Devourer egg, huh?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk realized that the situation was dire. He knew that he had to stop him as quickly as he could. However, ¡°that,¡± a huge problem that existed everywhere, helped Minhyuk.

    ¡°If I take them hostage, I¡¯ll probably be able tost five minutes.¡±

    He could hear Varoghan¡¯s voice from above.

    ¡°Wow. Look at the racket upstairs¡­¡±

    For a moment, Minhyuk wondered how the tower had been designed. But there was something that Minhyuk was certain that he would not be able to challenge thest floor. This meant that he could break the ceiling by force.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud¨C!</em>

    Hearing the loud footsteps from above, Minhyuk immediately cast Supreme Overlord¡¯s Technique.

    <em>Baaaaaang¨C!</em>

    The soaring mes forced the tenth floor¡¯s ceiling to fall and copse. Even the eleventh floor¡¯s ceiling copsed, too. As for Varoghan? He fell directly into the rubble left by the copsed ceilings.

    But Minhyuk frowned after grabbing Varoghan by the neck.

    <em>[As you proceed with the </em><strong><em>Sudden Quest</em></strong><em>: Master¡¯s Honor, you will be able to learn about some of the atrocious and heinous acts that he had done.]</em>

    Several scenes shed in front of Minhyuk¡¯s eyes.

    He saw Varoghan in his youth. He had always been envious of Beradon and bragged about the achievements that Beradon, silently ying his role as The Teacher, had made to the world.

    ¨C<em>You said that Beradon was the one who taught the members of the Eight Pirs? No. I¡¯m the one who raised the Eight Pirs¡¯ Athenea, Helenia, and Obren.</em>

    <em>¨CIt¡¯s because he¡¯s jealous of me. That¡¯s why he lied about teaching and raising the Eight Pirs.</em>

    <em>¨CHe¡¯s nothing but a liar. If he genuinely taught and raised the Eight Pirs, why does he not show himself to the world?</em>

    The disgusting scene of Varoghan trying so hard to be Beradon shed in Minhyuk¡¯s eyes.

    But a few people appeared in between these scenes who seemed to have made contact with Beradon. They seemed to be those who had received some of Beradon''s lessons and teachings. These people knew that Beradon was fair and partial to everyone. So, they went to Varoghan, who abused their master¡¯s position, and argued with him.

    ¨C<em>You bastard? You¡¯re the one who taught the Eight Pirs? Master has kept quiet about this fact because he is not greedy. But I have no intention of keeping my mouth shut! Tell the truth to the people right here and now!</em>

    Back then, Varoghan was slowly gaining fame.

    <em>¨CNo. I am the true Teacher.</em>

    Varoghan killed Beradon¡¯s disciple. And it was not only them. He killed every single one of the people who knew of his lies. Hemitted countless murders just to be the real Teacher.

    Beradon finally noticed that Varoghan lived as The Teacher in that era and tried to go after him. But it was all toote. The vicious Helenia had already shown her true colors and began to ughter mankind. Because of her, the name ¡°The Teacher¡± was condemned.

    Realizing that the situation was unfavorable to him, Varoghan hid while drinking the water from the Spring of Eternal Life. Then, all the me fell on the real Teacher, Beradon. The condemnation and criticism intensified, making Beradon me himself even further.

    After a long time had passed, Varoghan appeared once again. This time, he had the Growth Devourer with him.

    <em>¨CThe tower master of this tower once taught the Pirs Athenae, Helenia, and Obren.</em>

    <em>¨CI am the one called The Teacher.</em>

    <em>¨CI will also be one of the Eight Pirs and stand for those who want to teach and learn.</em>

    The scene in front of Minhyuk disappeared, and his consciousness finally returned to the current situation. When he caught sight of Varoghan¡¯s shocked and startled gaze, he gritted his teeth.

    With a sneer, he said, ¡°Hello, fake?¡±

    Varoghan felt a chill run down his spine when he heard Minhyuk¡¯s greeting.

    Then, Minhyuk added. ¡°You bastard wearing a f*cking mask!¡±

    <em>Baaaaang¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk mmed Varoghan on the ground. But then, something very shocking happened. Although mistreated, he did not seem to have sustained any damage.

    ¡°Fufufufufu. A mask? A mask? Huh?!¡± Varoghan cackled.

    Minhyuk felt that something ominous was about to happen. At the same time, a series of notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[The Growth Devourer will hatch in 4 minutes 43 seconds.]</em>

    <em>[Upon hatching, the Growth Devourer will devour many people topensate for its shorings and deficiencies.]</em>

    <em>[If a yer is eaten, everything that the yer possesses will fall by 1%.]</em>

    <em>[The predicted level of the Growth Devourer will now be disyed.]</em>

    <em>[Growth Devourer. Level 1109.]</em>

    <em>[Growth Devourer¡¯s Egg. Durability: 613,003. Defensive Power: 44,300]</em>

    <em>[Upon the Growth Devourer¡¯s birth, a huge explosion will erupt. This explosion will allow the Growth Devourer to devour the growth of everyone within an area of a twenty-kilometer radius.]</em>

    <em>[Only one person can damage the Growth Devourer¡¯s Egg.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s face grew ugly when he saw the egg''s shocking durability and defensive power. The situation was like this, but could only one person inflict damage on the egg?

    ¡°I am one with the Growth Devourer,¡± Varoghan said.

    The meaning of his words was simple. He was linked with the Growth Devourer. The egg¡¯s durability was equivalent to Varoghan¡¯s HP, and the same went for their defensive power.

    ¡°I will be the Growth Devourer and devour everything in this area.¡±

    Everyone here would die and help the Growth Devourer grow bigger.

    ¡°Then, I will use it to give growth to those who want to grow. In return, I will earn their respect, and they will worship me. With this, I! I will be the genuine Teacher¡­ <em>Ack!</em>¡±

    Minhyuk pped the yapping Varoghan. Even if his durability and defensive power were high, he was bound to feel the shock and the pain if he was hit in the face. The p made Varoghan¡¯s nose bleed.

    Minhyuk, with his hand still on Varoghan¡¯s neck, jumped to the eleventh floor. When he saw the nearly one thousand malnourished men bound tightly on the floor, he said, ¡°You¡¯re more trashy than I expected.¡±

    And just as Varoghan said, he and the egg were connected. This meant that the egg¡¯s durability had also decreased when Minhyuk attacked Varoghan.

    ¡°I should confirm it, right?¡±

    <em>Thwack¨C!</em>

    ¡°Heok!¡±

    Minhyuk pped Varoghan on the back of his head. Then, he checked the egg once again. A slight reduction could be seen in the egg¡¯s durability.

    <em>Thwack, thwack, thwack¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk pped Varoghan¡¯s head non-stop.

    ¡°Ack! Heok! Urk! Uwaack! Keok! Why-why are you attacking me¡­? You bastard! You don¡¯t even know how to respect your elders¡­?¡±

    ¡°You want to know why I¡¯m attacking you, an old man? Didn¡¯t you say that you are linked with the egg?¡±

    It did not matter whether Minhyuk attacked Varoghan or the egg. Their durability, or HP in Varoghan¡¯s case, was the same.

    ¡°Th-this bastard! Do you think you have time for this?!¡± Varoghan shouted after being pped and beaten for quite some time.

    And it was just as he said. There truly was no more time left to spare. Minhyuk only had three minutes left. However, after seeing that the egg and Varoghan were indeed linked, a sh of interest appeared on his face.

    ¡°You have to deal with the egg quickly and¡­¡± Varoghan¡¯s voice trailed off.

    This was because Minhyuk dragged him by the cor and tied him to the egg.

    ¡°...?¡±

    Varoghan looked at Minhyuk in confusion.

    ¡°Wh-why did you tie me up here?! Why don¡¯t you just go ahead and focus on breaking the egg?! The moment this egg hatches¡ª!¡±

    ¡°Now, now. If I attack you with an AOE attack skill, you will suffer huge damage, right?¡±

    <em>Nod¨C</em>

    ¡°Do you think my AOE attack skill can affect you, who¡¯s behind the egg?¡±

    <em>Nod¨C</em>

    ¡°Then, I can hit both targets simultaneously, right?¡±

    <em>Flinch¨C</em>

    <em>Nod?</em>

    ¡°Now, now. This means I can break the egg at least 1.5 times faster, right?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    At this moment, Varoghan realized that tattling about how he was linked to the egg was the biggest mistake of his entire life.

    ¡°Well then, what do you think this is called?¡± Minhyuk asked, his voice gentle and kind.

    Varoghan, with cold sweat dripping down his forehead, said, ¡°Killing two birds with one stone?¡±

    ¡°Wrong.¡±

    <em>Rumble¨C!</em>

    Every time Minhyuk cleared a floor, his skill cooldowns would be reset, and his HP and MP would return to 100%. This meant that Minhyuk had recovered when he jumped to the eleventh floor.

    With a vicious smile, Minhyuk said, ¡°This is <em>One Strike, Two Kills</em>!!!¡± and unleashed the Supreme Overlord Technique''s zing mes.

 Chapter 1087

    Chapter 1087

    One Strike, Two Kills. This was a term from Go-Stop that meant one could draw two cards in one turn. The younger generation, including the yers, also used this term when theyunched a single attack that could deal damage to two opponents or objects.

    <em>Baaaaaang¨C!</em>

    That was precisely what was happening with the zing red mes that had devoured Varoghan and the egg behind him. It was inflicting continuous damage on both of them. Since both targets were hit simultaneously, Minhyuk was able to inflict 1.5 times more damage than when he was attacking just one target. It was just as he expected.

    ¡°Graaaaaaaaaack! H-hot! I¡¯m telling you, it¡¯s hot!!!¡± Varoghan screamed from the heat of the mes.

    Minhyuk could not help but groan when he saw that the mes had only slightly burned the egg''s shell.

    <em>¡®I can only reduce its durability by this much even after using the Supreme Overlord¡¯s Technique.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s expression grew solemn. Although the remnants of the mes of the Supreme Overlord¡¯s Technique were continuously inflicting damage to both Varoghan and the egg, the damage was much less than Minhyuk had expected.

    <em>[The Growth Devourer will hatch in 3 minutes 53 seconds.]</em>

    Minhyuk held a sword in each of his hands as he activated the buff skill of the Food God¡¯s Swordsmanship. Then, he quickly used the Frenzied de on Varoghan. <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    Varoghan¡¯s body was torn apart as Minhyuk¡¯s sword struck him with the word ¡°Crazy¡± engraved on the de.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    With both swords in his hands and Dual Swordsmanship activated, Minhyuk shed and hacked at the egg like crazy.

    Crazy had a 55% chance of getting triggered. Once triggered, the sword would create a wind with an additional 3,000% attack power. In other words, if he swung twice, his attack power would be 3,000% stronger. On top of that, with the Dual Swordsmanship triggered, Minhyuk¡¯s speed could be considered ridiculously fast.

    Despite all that, the egg¡¯s durability was dropping very, <em>very </em>slowly.

    Minhyuk habitually tried to summon the Ego Chain Sickle, Viel¡¯s Puppet Doll, and Beanie but stopped.

    <em>¡®What a f*cking situation, huh?¡¯</em>

    This was because only one person could inflict damage to the egg. Only the first person to deal damage to the egg would be able to decrease the egg¡¯s durability.

    Minhyuk¡¯s head spun quickly as he continued to hit the egg.

    <em>[The Growth Devourer will hatch in 3 minutes 20 seconds.]</em>

    <em>[Growth Devourer¡¯s Egg. Durability: 520,003. Defensive Power: 44,300]</em>

    A minute had passed, but Minhyuk could only cut down around 70,000 durability at most. After hitting the egg like crazy with his Dual Swordsmanship Technique and Crazy, he used Like the Wind and retreated.

    ¡°The Annihtor¡¯s Sword.¡±

    <em>sh¨C</em>

    The powerful force that enveloped the Sword of Aeon struck the egg. The Heavenly Sword followed right after, creating a heavy downpour of des that cut the egg from all directions.

    Minhyuk bit his lips tightly.<em> ¡®What the¡­ What freaking luck is this? This egg¡­¡¯</em>

    ¡°Keuhahahahaha! It must be hard trying to deal with it alone, huh? Huh?! Look at the time! The egg will probably hatch faster than you break it¡­ Ack!¡±

    Minhyuk struck Varoghan¡¯s dirty mouth. But the problem was his words were true. After all, despite swinging his sword like crazy, the egg¡¯s durability remained high. And the hatching time was getting closer and closer.

    <em>[The Growth Devourer will hatch in 2 minutes 50 seconds.]</em>

    <em>[Growth Devourer¡¯s Egg. Durability: 470,003. Defensive Power: 44,300]</em>

    <em>¡®I don¡¯t know what reward Chaos will give.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was aware that breaking the egg was also for the sake of his master, Beradon, so he decided to pull out all the stops.

    Minhyuk¡¯s throat bobbed.

    <em>Gulp¨C!</em>

    At that moment, two dice appeared with different colors. The power from the ck die was immediately applied to Cmity.

    <em>Shwaaaaa¨C!</em>

    ck wings spread beautifully, and over a thousand zing swords shot out and attacked Varoghan immediately.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    Every strike of Cmity would trigger an explosion. And, of course, since they were well within the range of the sts, both Varoghan and the egg would naturally receive damage. Once again, the One Shot, Two Kills made an appearance. Its effects were applied to the power of Cmity and caused a considerable drop in the egg¡¯s durability.

    ¡°Hiiiiik!¡± Varoghan shrieked after experiencing the damage himself. He was stunned to see the damage. This was because it felt like Helenia¡¯s attack hit him.

    But Minhyuk was not yet done. He used the same skill once again with the Save ability. Cmity once again spread its beautiful ck wings.

    Minhyuk watched as the durability dropped by a considerable amount.

    <em>[The Growth Devourer will hatch in 2 minutes 20 seconds.]</em>

    <em>[Growth Devourer¡¯s Egg. Durability: 230,003. Defensive Power: 44,300]</em>

    ¡°Haa¡­ Haa¡­¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s breathing was ragged, and his expression was horrid. If he continued at this rate, he would be able to break the egg. However, he had used up most of his active skills.

    If all of the attacks¨Clike Brod¡¯s Death Wolf, Conir¡¯s Heart Sword, Ben¡¯s Pinnacle Spear, and many more¨Cthat woulde the egg¡¯s way were going to work, then the egg could easily be destroyed. No, breaking the egg would be easier if anyone could hit the egg.

    Yet the problem was not only theck of avable active skills. Because Minhyuk exhausted almost all of his power at such a fast pace, he was starting to face his body''s physical limitations.

    As his breathing remained heavy and his body began to shake, he thought, <em>¡®I think the only thing I can use right now is the Transcendental¡¯s Spear?¡¯</em>

    The Transcendental¡¯s Spear was a skill that could deal tremendous damage to a single target. He had not used it yet because it could only be triggered if he was in the state of ¡°Transcendence.¡±

    <em>¡®On top of that, the Transcendental¡¯s Spear will deal an additional 33,000% damage. But if I¡¯m in the state of Transcendence, this will increase to more than 50,000% damage.¡¯</em>

    But no matter how hard he thought, the only conclusion he coulde up with was that he couldn''t break the egg with the Transcendental¡¯s Spear.

    <em>¡®Huh?¡¯</em>

    A glint appeared in Minhyuk¡¯s eyes.

    <em>¡®If I do this well, maybe there¡¯s a chance?¡¯</em>

    ***

    Joy Co. Ltd.

    The only ones gathered inside the conference room were President Kang Taehoon, Team Leader Park Minggyu, Department Head Kim Dae-Il, and the Story Team¡¯s leader. They were all watching the current situation on the screen.

    Joy Co. Ltd. did not pay much attention to the current situation. They had judged that it was impossible for Minhyuk to break the egg.

    ¡°If he breaks the egg, will yer Minhyuk get all of the EXP umted in the egg?¡± Kim Dae-Il asked.

    Team Leader Park nodded.

    ¡°But the amount of EXP umted in that egg is impossible for us to measure, no?¡± A sh of interest appeared on Kim Dae-Il¡¯s face. ¡°The egg has been eating the growth of countless yers for quite a long time now. The EXP it has umted must be in the hundreds of billions, perhaps even in the trillions.¡±

    Kang Taehoon nodded as if he agreed.

    ¡°The amount of EXP a yer can receive at one go is limited.¡±

    When he heard those words, Kim Dae-Il could not help but ask, ¡°But if that happened, then that would be the yer¡¯s achievement. It¡¯s quite strange that you will limit something they deserved to receive, no?¡±

    That was undoubtedly true. That was why another option was made avable to those yers.

    ¡°In situations like that, God of Origin Athenae or us, Joy Co. Ltd., will interfere and give additional rewards ording to the situation. But since Chaos, the one who maintains the bnce, was the one who asked Minhyuk to break the egg, then he¡¯s the one who has to deal with it.¡±

    So, the task of giving Minhyuk a reasonable reward was passed on to Chaos.

    ¡°The question is¡­ what kind of reward will Chaos give Minhyuk?¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem to be a problem at the moment.¡± Kang Taehoon chuckled as he shook his head.

    There were only two minutes left. But they could see how Minhyuk was exhausted. Besides, the skills that he could still use were limited. In a situation like that, the only thing that they could conclude was that he couldn''t break the egg.

    Kang Taehoon, who finally had a moment of leisure and rxation when watching Minhyuk, held the teacup and sipped his drink. But then, he saw Minhyuk do something iprehensible on the monitor.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    They watched as Minhyuk summoned Viel¡¯s Puppet Doll, the Ego Chain Sickle, and even Beanie. He even used the Almond of Subordinates to summon his vassals. But he was not yet done.

    ¡°Why did he summon priests¡­?¡±

    The number of priests that he summoned increased by the second. They found this iprehensible because they all knew that Minhyuk was aware of the restrictions of the egg.

    <em>¡®He knows that other people will not be able to deal damage to Varoghan and the egg, right?¡¯</em>

    The sudden and iprehensible development made Kang Taehoon gulp dryly.

    ***

    The outstanding powerhouses and the excellent priests of the Beyond the Heavens Empire that Minhyuk summoned looked around them.

    There was not much time left now.

    <em>[The Growth Devourer will hatch in 1 minute 41 seconds.]</em>

    <em>[Growth Devourer¡¯s Egg. Durability: 197,003. Defensive Power: 44,300]</em>

    If things continued at this rate, then the egg would hatch. Minhyuk, who was still hitting the egg, exined the situation to them. But everyone looked at him in confusion.

    ¡°How can we help you, though?¡± Brod asked.

    Minhyuk said, ¡°Attack me. It¡¯s fine. Please don¡¯t hesitate to attack me¡­¡±

    <em>Thwack¨C!</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Someone pped Minhyuk on the back of the head. The sudden action almost made Minhyuk burst into anger. When he turned his head, he saw Viel¡¯s Puppet Doll looking at him with an expression that clearly said, <em>¡®What? You told me to hit you, right?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®For some reason, it feels awful?¡¯</em>

    He was the one who asked them to hit him, but¡­

    Viel looked at Minhyuk before hitting him on the back of the head again.

    <em>Thwack¨C!</em>

    ¡°You¡­ said¡­ hit¡­¡±

    <em>Twitch¨C</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    <em>¡®What was that? Why are the corners of his mouth twitching up?¡¯</em>

    Viel was obviously aiming for this. But Minhyuk thought it was not toote to hit Viel backter.

    Minhyuk said, ¡°I¡¯m wearing the ck Dragon Armor. Once I trigger the Absolute Defense, please hit me with your pinnacle skills.¡±

    There was something that Minhyuk was very curious about. He wanted to know if he could umte the damage that Transcendence needed to be triggered while he had the ck Dragon Armor on and the Absolute Defense triggered. He wanted to test it and satisfy his curiosity.

    And the answer was: it umted.

    Before hitting the egg, Minhyuk had equipped the ck Dragon Armor to get the 1.3x increase in skill damage effect. The amount of Transcendence that he would umte was determined by the damage he received for one minute and the level of the ones attacking him. It also had a five-minute duration.

    Everyone present here was Athenae¡¯s best and strongest. Perhaps today was the day that Transcendence would disy the most potent power that it could disy.

    ¡°Even if the Absolute Defense is lifted, please don¡¯t stop attacking.¡±

    This was so he could ensure that he could get the best effect from Transcendence. Because of this, Minhyuk hung the best potions that the God of Alchemy Mand had created on his waist.

    Minhyuk focused on hitting the egg once again.

    <em>¡®I know it fully well.¡¯</em>

    He knew that his men would not feelfortable attacking him. Perhaps Conir, who was soft-hearted, would even burst into tears, saying he could not do it. Nevertheless, he was confident they would do it as long as he told them it was his order.

    ¡°I know that it¡¯s hard for you, but¡­¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty.¡± With a determined look, Brod continued, ¡°Since you have already said so, then I will give it my all in attacking you.¡±

    <em>¡®Was that not the case?¡¯</em>

    Ben chuckled as he gripped his spear tightly. ¡°This servant of yours will do his best to attack you.¡±

    ¡°N-no. You don¡¯t have to go that hard¡­¡±

    ¡°Conir! Hyung! Conir is confident that Conir will hit you well! Conir will only pick the ces that will hurt!¡±

    ¡°Conir, your hyung is not a punching bag, though¡­?¡±

    ¡°Herakel! Herakel is good at hitting.¡±

    Brod looked around and said, ¡°Everyone, we will use everything we have! Attack His Majesty! Anyone who hesitates, I, Brod, will be the one to deal with you! His Majesty needs our help, so we must give it our all!¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t hesitate!¡±

    ¡°I will give it my all!¡±

    ¡°Absolutely!!!¡±

    ¡°Uwoooooooooh!¡±

    Minhyuk, who looked back and saw this touching(?) situation, smiled awkwardly. He could see that everyone was looking at him with murderous expressions on their faces, their killing intent palpable.

    ¡°Th-thank you, everyone.¡±

    He did not expect that everyone would think of him like this.

    <em>¡®Did I do something wrong¡­?¡¯</em>

 Chapter 1088

    Chapter 1088

    The outstanding characters of the Beyond the Heavens Empire were strangely motivated to attack Minhyuk. Every single one prepared to strike while Minhyuk continued to hit the egg again.

    <em>[The Growth Devourer will hatch in 1 minute 21 seconds.]</em>

    <em>[Growth Devourer¡¯s Egg. Durability: 184,003. Defensive Power: 44,300]</em>

    There wasn¡¯t much time left, and Minhyuk activated Absolute Defense.

    ¡°Your Majesty! Your servant Brod will give all his might in attacking you! Mercenary¡¯s Pinnacle Swordsmanship!¡±

    ¡°Hoho. This servant of yours will attack you with all I¡¯ve got, Your Majesty. <em>Uryaaah!</em> Divine Pinnacle Spear!¡±

    ¡°Herakel! Herakel¡¯s good at beating! Herakel will unleash my newfound strength. Three Hundred Ton Club!¡±

    ¡°One second. That¡¯s how long it will take for Conir to cut Hyung. Heart Sword First Chapter!¡±

    Their voices sounded excited, perhaps because they were thrilled. Just like that, they all began to attack Minhyuk. Although Minhyuk did not suffer any damage thanks to the effects of the Absolute Defense, the impact was still transmitted to him as it was.

    <em>[You have umted Transcendence!]</em>

    <em>[The system recognizes the attacker as a strong man!]</em>

    <em>[You have umted Transcendence!]</em>

    <em>[The system recognizes the attacker as a strong man¡­!]</em>

    <em>[You have umted Transcendence!]</em>

    <em>[...Transcendence!]</em>

    <em>[...Transcendence!]</em>

    <em>[...Transcendence!]</em>

    <em>¡®Wow¡­ If Bender got hit with an attack when I¡¯m in this state, then he¡¯ll probably die in one go, no?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was shocked by the notifications that were constantly ringing in his ears. He had never seen his Transcendence umte this fast.

    ¡°You¡¯ve gone nuts! You¡¯re crazy!¡± Varoghan shouted incredulously. No matter how he looked at it, there was no way this man¡¯s trick would destroy the Growth Devourer¡¯s Egg in just a minute. It was something that he could not bring himself to believe or think.

    <em>[You have umted a total of 35% of Transcendence!]</em>

    It only took eight seconds for Minhyuk¡¯s Transcendence to reach 35%. The speed of umtion was truly ridiculous.

    From here on out, it could already be considered a problem. Why? Because Minhyuk¡¯s Absolute Defense has ended.

    ¡°Your Majesty, please receive my Death Wolf!¡±

    Hundreds of red sword lights flew toward Minhyuk and began to rip him apart.

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    The overwhelming attack hit Minhyuk squarely on the back, forcing him to stop his attacks on the egg.

    ¡°Keuaaaaack!!!¡±

    ¡°Heal! Heal! Heal! Heal! Heal!¡±

    ¡°Heal! Heal! Heal! Heal!¡±

    As white lights continued to float from the priests¡¯ fingertips, another baptism of skills fell upon Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk was quite shocked by the attacks that came in session. He thought, <em>¡®My recovery cannot keep up.¡¯</em>

    Even though Minhyuk¡¯s defensive power has increased to a cheat-like level with the Transcendental Armor¡¯s ck Dragon Armor form on and the STR and VIT stats, which he had built up by eating a variety of food, reaching an incredible level, his recovery still could not keep up with the speed at which his HP was dropping.

    Minhyuk immediately grabbed Mand¡¯s potion and gulped it down.

    Although there were high-ranking priests who could ignore the skill cooldown and time restriction in exchange for a lower recovery and Mand¡¯s potions, whose effects had been halved in exchange for the restriction''s removal, the recovery they could bring was still limited. Fortunately, many priests were present, and they could take turns healing him.

    Minhyuk¡¯s face grew ugly. If things continued at this rate, then he would die. So, he immediately thought of a new trick.

    ¡°You¡¯re really an idiot. Why would a human bear this kind of pain¡­ <em>Ack!!!</em>¡±

    It was to cut down Varoghan, who had screamed thrice in a row. The moment he struck Varoghan, beads made of blood appeared and got sucked into his body. These beads immediately restored Minhyuk¡¯s HP.

    <em>¡®The egg has a shell, so I can¡¯t absorb its HP.¡¯</em>

    But the living and breathing Varoghan was different. With the potions, the heals, and the absorptionbined, Minhyuk was able to stabilize himself to some extent.

    ¡°Don¡¯t stop!!!¡±

    <em>Thwack¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk nced behind him when he felt something hit the back of his head again. And just like he said, Viel did not stop hitting him.

    ¡°G-good job.¡±

    Viel slowly stretched his hand and gave him a thumbs up.

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll definitely deal with youter.¡¯</em>

    The aggressive attacks from the vassals began once again. The vassals had used up quite a lot of their skills in over forty seconds. So, now, they were forced to stab and hit Minhyuk with their swords, spears, and even their blunt weapons.

    ¡°Your Majesty! Please take my sword!¡±

    ¡°Urk!¡±

    ¡°Please take the spear of this servant of yours!¡±

    ¡°Kghhk!¡±

    ¡°Hyung! I will hit you nicely!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not a punching bag¡­ kghhk¡­!¡±

    ¡°Herakel¡¯s good at hitting!¡±

    <em>Thud¨C!</em>

    The loud thuds from their strikes made Minhyuk¡¯s consciousness and spirit waver briefly. But thanks to their efforts, Minhyuk steadily umted Transcendence.

    <em>[You have umted Transcendence!]</em>

    <em>[The system recognizes the attacker as a strong man!]</em>

    <em>[You have umted Transcendence!]</em>

    <em>[The system¡­ a strong man!]</em>

    <em>[You have umted Transcendence!]</em>

    <em>[...Transcendence!]</em>

    <em>[...Transcendence!]</em>

    <em>[You have umted a total of 60% of Transcendence!]</em>

    But it was still not enough.

    ¡°Do it faster!!! Hit me harder!!!¡±

    In ten seconds, the time for Minhyuk to umte Transcendence would end. The vassals immediately squeezed thest of their strength and attacked Minhyuk¡¯s back with all their might.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaah! Your Majesty, please take my sword!!!¡±

    ¡°This servant of yours is giving his all to stab your back!!!¡±

    Thanks to their hard work(?), Minhyuk was able to rapidly umte Transcendence. Finally, the long-awaited notification rang in Minhyuk''s ears, who had received a constant beating from them.

    <em>[The one-minute time limit to umte Transcendence has ended.]</em>

    <em>[You have umted a total of 91% of Transcendence!]</em>

    ¡°Stop!¡± Minhyuk cried loudly.

    At the same time, everyone stopped in their tracks.

    ¡°Transcendence.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaa¨C!</em>

    A darker energy, darker than it had ever been, appeared around Minhyuk. Its existence alone made the air vibrate and the ground tremble.

    The vassals looked at Minhyuk in surprise. It was not just them. Minhyuk was also surprised when he heard the notifications ringing in his ears.

    <em>[You have activated Transcendence!]</em>

    <em>[You have transcended your limits!]</em>

    <em>[You have transcended your limits!]</em>

    <em>[...transcended your limits!]</em>

    <em>[...transcended your limits!]</em>

    <em>[You have gone beyond your limits and transcended to another realm!]</em>

    <em>[The umted Transcendence has surpassed 90% for the first time.]</em>

    <em>[You have received a special privilege. Transcendence will be 5% better.]</em>

    The notifications were different from usual. But that was not the end yet. A different set of notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[The Transcendence¡¯s buff effects have now been applied!]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 99%!]</em>

    <em>[All of your attack power has increased by 91%!]</em>

    <em>[All of your defensive power has increased by 78%!]</em>

    <em>[All of your skill levels have increased by +5!]</em>

    <em>[Your resistance to abnormal statuses has increased by 70%!]</em>

    <em>[Your total HP and MP have increased by 80%!]</em>

    <em>[The One who Maintains the Bnce has restricted the umtion of Transcendence. You can no longer umte Transcendence from the attacks of opponents recognized as allies.]</em>

    <em>[Transcendence will remain in effect for thirty seconds!]</em>

    <em>[Someone Anonymous has transcended the limits of a human being.]</em>

    <em>[Someone Anonymous has transcended the limits of a God.]</em>

    <em>[Someone Anonymous has transcended the limits of a Transcendental.]</em>

    A world message resonated all over the world.

    Considering Minhyuk¡¯s current level, stats, and attack power, his power could be equivalent to someone at Level 1,500. Even his skills¡¯ levels had increased by +5.

    Minhyuk dragged Varoghan back to the egg. Then, he raised his sword. The de of his sword carried the word <em>Destruction,</em> shining more brilliantly than ever.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    Lightning strikes fell upon Varoghan and the egg when Minhyuk swung his sword. The only difference was that the usual sixteen lightning strikes had turned into forty. It also dealt 3,000% additional damage!

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    With Transcendence in effect, Minhyuk¡¯s speed has increased by several times. He could now swing his sword a dozen times per second. And every single strike was apanied by lightning strikes that fell upon the egg. The egg¡¯s durability, which he could only chip bit by bit earlier, had shown a noticeable decrease.

    Nevertheless, the Transcendence¡¯s duration and the egg¡¯s hatching time were almost over.

    <em>[The Growth Devourer will hatch in 31 seconds.]</em>

    <em>[Growth Devourer¡¯s Egg. Durability: 109, 003. Defensive Power: 44,300]</em>

    <em>[Transcendence will end in 17 seconds.]</em>

    A sense of urgency fell upon Minhyuk.

    ¡°Uwaaaaaaah!!!¡±

    Despite the strain in his arms, Minhyuk swung his sword quickly and without any breaks. Minhyuk ignored the pain that pulsed in his muscles and squeezed all of his body''s strength to continue swinging his sword.

    <em>[Transcendence will end in 10 seconds.]</em>

    Finally, Minhyuk was prepared to make hisst move. It was a power that no one except Bender had ever seen.

    <em>Rumble¨C!</em>

    It was none other than the Transcendental¡¯s Spear.

    <em>BANG¨C!</em>

    The ck energy shot out of Minhyuk¡¯s body, piercing the sky above them. This energy ran wild and created an explosion. Then, the exploded energy coalesced and formed a gigantic spear before Minhyuk.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¨C!</em>

    The Transcendental¡¯s Spear was a power that could deal an additional 33,000% damage to a single target. It was undeniably the strongest and greatest single-target attack skill in Minhyuk¡¯s arsenal.

    But now? The Transcendence had experienced a +5 increase in level. This meant that its power would be more significant. The desperate Minhyuk hoped against hope that this would be the case.

    <em>[Transcendental¡¯s Spear.]</em>

    <em>[The Transcendental¡¯s Spear will deal an additional 83,000% damage with a 100% hit rate to the designated target.]</em>

    <em>[The target will be left in an eight-second stunned state.]</em>

    <em>Rumble, rumble¨C!</em>

    This gorgeous ck spear, which looked like it could pierce through an elephant all at once, had shocking damage.

    However, humans have something called ¡°sense.¡± It was something that they were born with and was ingrained in their instinct. Just like an animal¡¯s instinct. This sense was the reason why Varoghan was very confident.

    ¡°This- this is my victory! K- keuhahahahaha!¡±

    Varoghan¡¯s animal instinct told him that this was his victory. Even Minhyuk and his vassals could tell that even that spear could not pierce through that egg. This sense also told everyone present that breaking that egg with the remaining time would be impossible.

    But they failed to take one thing into ount. The system has the power to ignore these animal instincts and senses.

    Minhyukughed. ¡°Wrong.¡±

    <em>Rumble¨C!</em>

    A stronger and darker ck energy was sucked into the ck spear. This energy made it bigger and stronger. At the same time, a powerful force began to gather at the tip of the spear. One look and anyone could tell that this spear could pierce through anything.

    <em>Boom¨C!</em>

    A huge shockwave erupted the moment Minhyuk held the spear in his hands. At the same time, these notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[Double Skill]</em>

    <em>[You have a 1.2% chance of triggering Double Skill. Upon triggering, the skill¡¯s effects will be doubled.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s hair fluttered from the wind created by the powerful shockwave that erupted from the spear in his hands. Then, he threw the spear at the egg with all his might.

    <em>BOOM¨C!</em>

    The spear collided with the egg.

    The egg looked like it was struggling hard and did not want to be pierced by the spear. Meanwhile, the ck energy that wrapped the tip of the Transcendental¡¯s Spear fluctuated fiercely as it tried to prate through the egg¡¯s shell.

    <em>Crack¨C!</em>

    A pleasant and very wee sound rang in everyone¡¯s ears.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¨C!</em>

    The Transcendental¡¯s Spear pierced through the egg and the wall behind it before flying out into the world.

    <em>BANG¨C!</em>

    <em>Crack, crack¨C Crack, crack, crack¨C!</em>

    <em>[You have sessfully destroyed the Growth Devourer¡¯s Egg.]</em>

    Cracks stretched out from the point where the spear pierced through the egg. Then, it began to crumble. When the egg crumbled, a series of notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The Growth Devourer has taken the growth of many people as its nourishment.]</em>

    <em>[The one who destroyed the Growth Devourer¡¯s Egg will obtain the EXP that it has umted.]</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

    The notifications left Minhyuk in shock.

    <em>[You have gained 100 billion EXP.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Just when the thought, <em>¡®It¡¯s much less than what I expected.¡¯</em> shed in his head¡­

    <em>[You have gained 100 billion EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 100 billion EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 100 billion EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 100 billion EXP¡­]</em>

    The sound of the following notifications, which were almost buried in the constant EXP acquisition notifications, left Minhyuk extremely delighted.

    <em>[Congrattions.]</em>

    <em>[You are the first yer to have reached Level 700!]</em>

 Chapter 1089

    Chapter 1089

    <em>[Congrattions.]</em>

    <em>[You are the first yer to have reached Level 700!]</em>

    <em>[Your achievements will be made known to the world.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the </em><strong><em>Title</em></strong><em>: Absolute Pioneer]</em>

    <em>[You will receive rewards for reaching Level 700!]</em>

    <em>[All five of your primary stats will increase by 12%.]</em>

    <em>[Your resistance to abnormal status will increase by 20%.]</em>

    <em>[Your basic and magic attack power will increase by 6%.]</em>

    <em>[Your basic and magic defensive power will increase by 6%.]</em>Despite the harsh and ragged breathing, delight was evident on Minhyuk¡¯s face. Although he had always been unrivaled when it came to taking first ce, the word ¡°first¡± always made his heart thump wildly.

    Reaching Level 700 would allow Minhyuk to kickstart the stagnant power of the Food God and help bring himself, the next-generation Battle God, closer to bing the true Battle God.

    Minhyuk had already found most of the power of the Food God. As a Continental God, he could enjoy almost all of the privileges of being the Food God initially. However, this also restricted him. After all, unlike ordinary gods, a Continental God could not gain anything in thetter half of their gamey.

    Thanks to the remarkable power that Jack-of-all-Trades Rocado had left to Minhyuk, he would still be able to develop and grow the powers of the Food God.

    <em>[You have reached Level 700.]</em>

    <em>[You can now take on the quest to find Rocado¡¯s power.]</em>

    <em>[The quest to find Rocado¡¯s power will be triggered independently. It will start soon.]</em>

    Minhyuk wanted to check the power that Rocado had left for him right away, but it seemed like it was not yet time. The word ¡°soon¡± meant it would appear, leading Minhyuk to where the power had been hidden for about a week.

    And there was one more important thing. Those who participated in the Session Ceremony and sessfully inherited the position of the gods would be able to unlock a portion of their power whenever they broke through a certain level.

    In the case of the Battle God, the opening of the second level of power was set at Level 700 and the final level was set to open at Level 800.

    <em>[The Battle God¡¯s 2nd Level of Power has been released!]</em>

    <em>[Your CHA has increased by 30%!]</em>

    <em>[The total volume of your HP has increased by 4%.]</em>

    <em>[The total volume of your MP has increased by 3%.]</em>

    <em>[You will be able to receive the rest of the additional powers after receiving a quest from the Battle God.]</em>

    <em>¡®Are you saying you won¡¯t give it to me easily?¡¯</em>

    Or it was because opening the second level of power would give him too much power. There were still a lot of things that he found regrettable. But now that he had reached Level 700, it was only time for him to reach Level 800. Of course, that was if he took it step by step.

    Although acquiring Rocado¡¯s quest and the Battle God¡¯s power had been dyed, Minhyuk had be 10% stronger by reaching Level 700.

    <em>[You have acquired the </em><strong><em>Title</em></strong><em>: Absolute Pioneer.]</em>

    Minhyuk had obtained the title ¡°Pioneer¡± when he reached Level 600, which had excellent effects. Now, this title had been upgraded to ¡°Absolute Pioneer.¡±

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Absolute Pioneer</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Unique Title</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: The first one to reach Level 700</em>

    <strong><em>Title Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?The equipped weapon¡¯s basic and skill attack power will increase by 25%.</em>

    <em>?All of the skills that you possess will increase by one level.</em>

    <em>?Your reward acquisition rate will increase by 10% if you achieve something for the first time.</em>

    The previous title only increased his equipped weapon¡¯s basic and skill attack powers by 20%. The upgrade had increased that percentage by a whopping 5%. This was a truly amazing reward. There was also one of the title effects. It had changed entirely.

    <em>¡®Would you look at this?¡¯</em>

    The final effect of the previous title did not have the words, ¡®<em>If you achieve something for the very first time.¡¯</em> Initially, it was supposed to be: <em>¡®Whenever a surprising achievement has been made, special rewards and world messages can be obtained.¡¯ </em>

    Minhyuk clicked his tongue. Havinge this far, he had made various achievements, including killing Helenia and reaching Level 700. However, the rewards he received from the title for making those achievements were only a thing or two.

    <em>¡®Maybe it¡¯s because the rewards system¡¯s conditions are very strict?¡¯</em>

    In Minhyuk¡¯s opinion, the answer to that question was a resounding: No<em>.</em> This was probably because the rewards he received for those achievements were already outstanding. Any additional rewards given to him would probably make the bnce copse.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s impossible for Joy Co. Ltd. to intervene with Athenae directly.¡¯</em>

    This was something that Minhyuk was sure of. After all, he would asionally talk to Team Leader Park or President Kang on the phone. If that was the case, the only answer was that the one who ¡°maintained¡± the bnce suppressed his rewards to ensure the bnce remained. This entity had deferred giving Minhyuk the proper rewards. It was a problem(?) that Minhyuk thought would be solved soon.

    As he pondered over the notifications about the rewards, the notifications continued to ring in his ears.

    <em>[You have gained 100 billion EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 100 billion EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 100 billion EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    Fortunately, the problem about the amount of EXP, which was the total EXP from Level 650 to Level 699, that he needed to go from Level 699 to Level 700 had been resolved. From what Minhyuk could tell, they had set it up so it would be difficult to break through the Level 700 wall.

    <em>¡®I think the amount of EXP I need to level up again is around 10% of the total EXP to go from Level 699 to Level 700, right?¡¯</em>

    Fortunately, he was able to break through Level 700. However, for some reason, Minhyuk got goosebumps thinking about the wall that he had to face when aiming for Level 800. And just like that, the ridiculous amount of EXP acquisition notifications ringing in his ears suddenly stopped.

    <em>[The EXP you can earn in a day has reached the limit.]</em>

    <em>[You still have 2.1 trillion EXP left to acquire.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk was quite surprised. Had he reached the limit of the amount of EXP he could earn in a day?

    <em>¡®The amount of EXP I needed to go from Level 699 to Level 700 was ridiculous.¡¯</em>

    Shockingly enough, he had acquired more than 1.5 trillion EXP from this. If he could devour all of the EXP he had obtained, then the remaining EXP could directly take him to Level 730. That was just how much EXP he had obtained.

    <em>¡®Uhm¡­¡¯</em>

    But Minhyuk thought it was still too early for him to get angry.

    The crumbling egg finallypletely fell apart. Varoghan, stunned by the sight of the egg, grabbed his chest and screamed, ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!!!¡±

    Varoghan said himself that he was linked to the Growth Devourer¡¯s Egg. So, whatever the egg experienced, he would experience himself.

    Varoghan copsed with his hand on his chest and his body twisting strangely. But there was no pity in Minhyuk¡¯s eyes.

    He looked at Varoghan coldly and said, ¡°Is this finally the end of the fake?¡±

    ¡°P-please spare me¡­ Please¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk crouched down and pointed behind him. ¡°Those guys must have said the same thing to you hundreds of times a day, no?¡±

    Of course, Varoghan must have ignored the cries of the thousand innocent young men he had held captive just so he, a fake, could be the true ¡°The Teacher.¡±

    But what made Minhyuk very angry was the fact that each and every single one of these men was skinny. They all looked like skin and bones!

    He looked down at the screaming Varoghan and whispered in his ear. ¡°Ah. Make sure to leave the Pir Ingredient to me before going.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Varoghan, filled with fear, eventually died from a heart attack.

    <em>[You havepleted the </em><strong><em>Sudden Quest</em></strong><em>: Master¡¯s Honor.]</em>

    <em>[The Growth Cultivator will be avable to you until Level 750.]</em>

    Additional notifications immediately rang right after.

    <em>[You havepleted the </em><strong><em>Sudden Quest</em></strong><em>: Unqualified One.]</em>

    <em>[Please receive your reward from Chaos.]</em>

    At that moment, Minhyuk caught sight of something wriggling from the remains of the crumbled egg. It was most likely the Growth Devourer and the remaining EXP that Minhyuk could not obtain yet.

    As he stared at the wriggling remains of the Growth Devourer, a reddybird beetle slowly floated down from the tower¡¯s copsed ceiling, courtesy of Minhyuk¡¯s Supreme Overlord Technique.

    ***

    As the one in charge of maintaining the bnce of the world, Chaos tried to stop the advent of the Growth Devourer.

    If the Growth Devourer indeed came to be and helped others grow, then the bnce would genuinely be broken. On top of that, Chaos cherished the man named Beradon and could not bring himself to allow someone like Varoghan to taint the noble name of such a man.

    Chaos did not oversee the world. The only times that he could see and learn about its happenings were when the bnce was about to be broken.

    When he saw the situation, he thought it was already toote. That was why he urged the Pir Evaluators to go as fast as possible. But in haste, he asked someone to help settle the matter. The rtionship with Minhyuk had been dubious so far.

    Chaos never imagined that the man would be able to break the egg. He just asked him for help in hopes that he would be able to buy them some time. To his surprise, when he finally arrived at the tower, he saw apletely wasted and broken egg.

    Chaos, who was about to say something, caught sight of Minhyuk gesturing at him with his index finger in his mouth.

    ¡°...?¡±

    Chaos looked at Minhyuk in confusion. No one, not even an Absolute God, dared stop him like this. What was so important that he had to stop him like this? Chaos next saw Minhyuk asking his vassals to help him remove the blindfold and the ropes that bound the thousand skinny young men.

    <em>¡®What? Did he judge that it¡¯s more important than talking and meeting with me?¡¯</em>

    He watched the young man silently as he gave the men cool and refreshing water and each a bowl of porridge. After all, their lips were chapped and dry. Only after they had filled up their stomachs to some extent did the men realize the situation that they were in.

    ¡°We¡¯re alive. But¡­¡±

    ¡°Our vige¡­ Where do we go now?¡±

    The man listened to their woes. Varoghan and his men had attacked the ce where the people of a ruined kingdom were hiding and burned everything, except the sturdy young men, until they died.

    A loud and desperate voice rang from among them. ¡°What should we do¡­?!¡±

    ¡°U-uwaaaaah! This-this tower is already on its way to ruins!¡±

    ¡°In- in the end, are we still going to die?!¡±

    ¡°In the first ce, we wouldn¡¯t be able to live anyway,¡± one of the older men said.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter what kingdom or empire takes us in; they will all treat us as bugs!¡±

    Their kingdom was ruined because they lost a war. And it was all because of the Luvien Empire. If they did not want to go against the Luvien Empire, then they had to let them take over their kingdom. So, even if they lived here, they would still die in the end.

    ¡°I¡¯d rather be buried in this tower.¡± The man smiled, his smile empty and bleak.

    In their eyes, the world was filled with fear. But in this world that was ovee with terror and fear, a warm and gentle voice appeared and shed some small light and warmth upon them.

    ¡°No.¡±

    The light gradually grewrger andrger until it covered the thousand men.

    ¡°This emperor wishes to bring you to my empire. I will help you, young people, achieve your dreams and obtain the things you have had before. I will do my best to soothe the sadness and grief that you felt and will continue to feel over losing your loved ones. We will provide you with enough food and water so that you will no longer grow hungry.¡±

    ¡°Your lives are not yet over. Come to this emperor¡¯s empire and live a new life. I understand that the people of your kingdom are blessed and born with high dexterity. Come, make clothes, food, shields, and swords for us. And I will protect you.¡±

    The light that reflected upon them was too bright. However, for some reason, they felt like darkness was about to emerge from within the light once again.

    ¡°You are just like us! You¡¯re too young! Who the hell are you?!¡±

    The young man in front of them was far younger than them.

    The young man smiled faintly and said, ¡°This emperor is called Minhyuk. I am the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Chaos was ovee with emotions as he watched the scene.

    For the world to continue to run, good and evil must coexist. The young man in front of him was the <em>Good.</em> Chaos felt an unknown emotion swelling within him when he looked at the <em>Good</em> before him. It seemed like it was what they called <em>warmth</em>. The proof that he was the <em>Good</em> was the smile of relief that appeared on the faces of the young men the moment they heard the name ¡°Beyond the Heavens.¡±

    The man, who was leaning on the side of <em>Good</em>, looked at Chaos once again. A small smile unknowingly appeared on Chaos¡¯ face.

    Then, Minhyuk¡¯s lips twisted in a vicious smile as he called out to him, ¡°Ladybird.¡±

    Chaos was wrong. He was not the <em>Good</em>.

    ¡°So? What are you going to give to me?¡± He asked, a greedy look on his face.

    In front of the greatest existence in the world, he was like <em>Evil.</em>

 Chapter 1090

    Chapter 1090

    Chaos witnessed how the warmth and gentleness disappeared from Minhyuk¡¯s face and were reced with a greedy look that made him look like the <em>Evil</em>. He had observed the man for quite a while and knew that he was not the <em>Good</em> or the <em>Evil</em>.

    <em>¡®He acts strong against the strong and weak against the weak.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk treated those who were strong with an even stronger and fiercer behavior and said, ¡°I am the one who broke that egg. However, in the name of <em>¡®the bnce of the world,¡¯</em> you have restricted the reward that could help me strengthen myself. And now, I no longer have any rewards.¡±

    <em>[Chaos offers you the God¡¯s Ore Pordachnium.]</em>

    His words were valid. So, Chaos offered an ore that not even the gods have in their hands. It was an excellent ore that could quickly reinforce an artifact without even going through the smelting process. One only had to bring it close to the artifact, and the reinforcement process would bepleted. And there was not even any restriction on the artifact. It could be applied to any sword or armor, whether it was the Sword of Aeon or the Transcendental¡¯s Armor.

    <em>¡®This is enough, right?¡¯</em>

    Chaos looked at the ore as it fell on Minhyuk¡¯s hand.

    ¡°I refuse.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±Chaos, who was trying to collect the twitching ¡°Growth Devourer¡± in the remains of the egg, or rather, the unhatched version, paused.

    ¡°First. Do you think restricting my level-up by thirty is a great reward for such a feat?¡±

    Indeed, the reward was not enough. However, even though Minhyuk refused the ore Pordachnium, he did not give it back and kept it in his inventory.

    ¡°???¡±

    ¡°This reward should be enough for the quest <em>Unqualified One.</em>¡±

    Minhyuk had suffered an enormous loss. On a scale of 1 to 100, the effort and hard work that he had put in was 100. The problem was that the return was only a 20.

    Chaos looked at Minhyuk with interest. He was <em>the</em> absolute god, different from the Absolute Gods. If God of Origin Athenae was considered the heavens, then Chaos was the earth.

    ¡°Let¡¯s talk about the title <em>Pioneer</em>. The rewards I have been given are minimalpared to the achievements I have made so far.¡±

    Chaos was startled. Initially, the ¡°title¡± was supposed to give Minhyuk rewards appropriate to the person''s achievements. Minhyuk had already reaped huge rewards during the process. Because of that, Chaos deemed it necessary to suppress the power of the title <em>Pioneer</em> and stopped it from being triggered.

    He was the one in charge of the ¡°bnce¡± of Athenae. He did it to maintain the bnce and not let it copse.

    yers who did not think too deeply about matters like this would probably just think,<em> ¡®Ah, I must not have met the requirements to obtain the achievement.¡¯</em> And they would not think about it any further.

    Minhyuk was different. He knew full well what was happening right now.

    ¡°Then, there¡¯s also the fact that you have restricted ¡®Transcendence¡¯ and will not allow its umtion with attacks from recognized allies.¡±

    Simply put, Chaos was a living and breathing update and patch system. There was nothing in the world that was perfect. And he was brought to life to make up for what this worldcked.

    ¡°This is making me ufortable. Shouldn¡¯t you have written it like that initially, huh?¡±

    There was no such restriction in the Transcendence before. The restriction of umtion from attacks of recognized allies was a sudden thing. This was because Chaos determined that Minhyul¡¯s sudden and instant increase in power was enough to make the bnce copse.

    ¡°Let¡¯s return to the title <em>Pioneer</em> once again, shall we?¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s words were sharp as he turned to thedybird beetle.

    ¡°The Supreme Dish.

    ¡°The Supreme Monarch¡¯s Hunt.

    ¡°Helenia¡¯s Hunt.

    The antennae on the head of Chaos, who was in the form of adybird beetle, flinched.

    What would have happened if Minhyuk had been given the reward for the achievement that he had made when he sessfully made the Supreme Dish? Then, what about the achievement that he had made after sessfully hunting the Supreme Monarch? Then, what about Helenia¡¯s hunt?

    He had been able to make shocking and enormous achievements so far. If they followed the <em>Pioneer</em>¡¯s effects and paid him the rewards and the world message he deserved for the achievements he had made so far, then Minhyuk might have already toppled the entire Luvien Empire by now.

    That was why Chaos restricted it. There was nothing wrong with what Minhyuk was saying.

    ¡°Ah. There¡¯s also the most important thing.¡± Minhyuk pointed to the egg that Chaos was trying to collect. The Growth Devourer was still twitching and alive inside of the broken remains of the egg. ¡°I had a hard time breaking that thing, right? Well, you¡¯re not going to ignore that fact, no? It was not your Pir Evaluators who broke that egg. So, do you restrict everything as long as you want it?¡±

    Chaos¡¯ antennae trembled. For the first time, he opened his mouth and said, ¡°From the very beginning, that¡¯s something that has been applied to thisnd¡­¡±

    ¡°Ah, is that so? Then, you wouldn¡¯t have any problem if I spread that worldwide, right? You say that it has been applied from the beginning, but where in the world is it written? Where?¡±

    His words were not only meant for Chaos to hear but also for President Kang Taehoon and the operators of Athenae. Minhyuk was extremely angry right now.

    ¡°In the first ce, you find it very disadvantageous for you, so you decided to switch it up at thest minute.¡±

    If this was something that has been applied from the beginning, then everyone should have been made aware of it from the start. Nheless, none of the yers even knew about a restriction on the amount of EXP one could gain in a single day.

    ¡°That¡¯s an excuse you have made up right here and now.¡±

    Minhyuk had concluded this. Of course, Minhyuk was just one of the yers. He was fully aware that he did not have the right to discuss updates or patches.

    ¡°These updates and patches seem to be targeting me. What, do you want me just to sit back and watch you do it?¡±

    Minhyuk knew that all of the updates, changes, and patches being applied to the game were intended to suppress him.

    That was right. If God of Origin Athenae and Chaos, who controlled the world, made the same significant changes and updates to suppress everyone, no one would argue and rebel. But the situation right now was different.

    ¡°These things were only applied to me.¡± Minhyuk pointed his thumb at his chest.

    Were they worried he could obtain more significant and better rewards because he was too outstanding? Then, they should not have made it so someone could get them in the first ce.

    There was a reason why Minhyuk could confidently behave like this in front of Chaos.

    <em>¡®Would the one in charge of the bnce of the world dare to give someone a penalty just because they rebelled against him? And to top it off, the words that I said were not wrong, no?¡¯</em>

    If Chaos did that, there would be no ¡°bnce¡± in and of itself. Chaos, who tried to call it quits with just a single ¡°ore,¡± knew that Minhyuk¡¯s brilliance was something he was born with. It was his natural right.

    Chaos stared at Minhyuk¡¯s eyes directly and silently for a long time. Then, he bowed his head and said, ¡°I admit that.¡±

    Even the officials and executives of Joy Co. Ltd., who were watching this scene in the conference room, sighed.

    ¡°It¡¯s true. There¡¯s nothing that I can say about it.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Indeed. Just as Chaos admitted, Joy Co. Ltd. could not deny it. Everything that Minhyuk said was correct. Joy Co. Ltd. promoted fairness to every yer, yet they were heaping updates, changes, and patches to suppress a single outstanding yer.

    ¡°You admit it?¡±

    Chaos nodded. ¡°I will open my store for you.¡±

    ¡°A store?¡± Minhyuk looked at Chaos in confusion.

    Meanwhile, the officials and executives of Joy Co. Ltd. were all left stunned.

    Both God of Origin Athenae and Chaos had their stores. The two absolute beings¡¯ stores were filled with countless rare and unique items. Now, Minhyuk had the opportunity to get into that store.

    At that moment, a very unpleasant power swept over Minhyuk¡¯s body to observe him. He tried to resist it, but when he saw Chaos shaking his head, he epted it and let it observe him.

    ¡°I see you have a variety of stores.¡±

    Minhyuk haspleted a lot of episodes so far. Because of that, various stores opened and became avable to him. The Royal Store opened when he was in the Continental Cloud, the Food God¡¯s Food God Store, and many others.

    The problem was that most of these stores had already been closed or obsolete. Why? This was because a massive chunk of them were only temporary stores. As for the others, Minhyuk¡¯s level had gone far beyond them, and the items avable in those stores no longer held meaning or use for him.

    ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll delete the unnecessary stores and leave only my store for you. I¡¯ll give you cash in exchange for the stores that will be deleted.¡±

    And that was not the end.

    ¡°I¡¯ll also turn into cash the Pioneer¡¯s reward condition for world messages and achievements.¡±

    Minhyuk felt like he was being blindsided. However, it was just a feeling, and he could not point it out because of something he was unsure of.

    ¡°What if I have nothing to buy in that store?¡±

    ¡°Then, go and see for yourself.¡±

    <em>[You can now look at some of the items in Chaos¡¯ Store.]</em>

    <em>[Only the items worth the lowest amount of cash will be shown to you.]</em>

    <em>[Ore Pordachnium: 500 cash.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    <em>¡®Wait. Wasn¡¯t this the thing that he gave to me earlier?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes narrowed.

    <em>¡®This bastard¡­¡¯</em>

    This guy in front of him tried to reward him with the least valuable item in his possession! It seemed like Chaos was also very clever and sly.

    <em>¡®This is the item with the lowest amount of cash for sale in the store?¡¯</em>

    As mentioned before, the ore Pordachnium was an ore that did not need to undergo the smelting process. It would reinforce the artifact in one go. And that was not all. It had a 100% chance of sess and could even be applied to the Sword of Aeon. To put it simply, it was a cheat-like item.

    <em>¡®This?¡¯</em>

    This was the cheapest item? Then, Minhyuk checked the next item.

    <em>[Weapon Evolution Scroll: 2,000 cash]</em>

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Weapon Evolution Scroll</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Price</em></strong><em>: 2,000 cash</em>

    <strong><em>Special Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?Any weapon, regardless of its ranking, will be one rank higher.</em>

    <em>?Upon the weapon¡¯s evolution, the attack power and the special effects of the weapon will be better.</em>

    <em>?There¡¯s a 50% chance of failure.</em>

    <em>?The evolved weapon¡¯s basic attack power and skill attack power will unconditionally be increased by 5%. There¡¯s a chance that the percentage will be higher.</em>

    ¡°...?!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes grew wide. This meant that the Sword of Aeon would be able to evolve.

    <em>¡®The one who maintains the bnce of the world has items that can destroy said bnce?¡¯</em>

    <em>[Chaos store will be closed.]</em>

    Chaos hurriedly closed the store and said, ¡°From this point on, you will receive cash whenever you make a shocking and remarkable achievement or whenever you trigger the world message. And just as I said before, I will also give you cash for the achievements that you have made so far.¡±

    If Minhyuk had epted everything without saying anything, then he would not have the right to use Chaos¡¯ store or umte cash.

    ¡°Alright.¡±

    Chaos thought that this was probably over.

    ¡°Now that we¡¯re done discussing the Pioneer¡¯s rewards for the achievement that I have made so far, let¡¯s talk about the matter of the EXP.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Chaos realized that Minhyuk was going to suck him dry until the veryst drop.

    <em>¡®Is this¡­ what you call daylight robbery?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk made a personal demand. ¡°If you¡¯re restricting the amount of growth that I can have with the Growth Devourer, how about dividing it into three equal parts and turning it into some kind of bead? Then, there would be no problem with the amount of EXP a target can absorb in a day, right?¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Chaos¡¯ eyes shed open when he heard those words.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s smart¡­?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s thought was surprisingly easy to understand. Since he could not absorb all of the EXP, he would divide it into three and help the people around him grow.

    ¡°Why are you staring at me like that?¡±

    Minhyuk felt scared when he saw Chaos looking at him like that.

    And Chaos? His head was spinning wildly. <em>¡®Surely¡­¡¯</em>

    If they did it like this, there would be no word regarding the EXP rewards. But Minhyuk¡¯s vassals were already far too good.

    ¡°I¡¯ll turn it into a bead that can help you help others grow. But it will only apply to those who are not your vassals.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s thoughts were seen through. Indeed, he thought of using it on Brod, Ben, Elpis, and others to help them be stronger.

    Minhyuk clicked his tongue and answered, ¡°Okay.¡±

    Either way, he said only a few words and reaped benefits without losing anything. Only after that did Chaos spread his wings and fly up.

    ¡°The store and the Growth Devourer¡¯s Egg¡¯s rewards will take effect soon.¡±

    Minhyuk, who watched Chaos fly and disappear, felt like his legs had lost strength. No matter how confident Minhyuk was that Chaos would not attack him, Chaos would still be Chaos, an absolute existence in this world.

    But why did he not give the rewards to Minhyuk when he was still in front of him? Chaos had already flown far away and disappeared from his view when Minhyuk thought of this.

    <em>[You have acquired Chaos¡¯ Cash Store¡¯s Pass.]</em>

    <em>[You have earned cash from the achievements that you have made so far.]</em>

    <em>[You have earned 20 cash¡­]</em>

    <em>[You have earned 10 cash¡­]</em>

    <em>[You have earned 5 cash¡­]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk, whose dreams and expectations had already reached an all-time high, looked up at the sky.

    ¡°...¡±

    He was scammed. The cash umtion rate was incredibly and unbelievably low. Of course, these were cash earned from the small achievements that Minhyuk had made so far. However, the following notifications showed Minhyuk how stingy this cash umtion was.

    <em>[You have earned 100 cash for sessfully cooking the Supreme Dish.]</em>

    <em>[You have earned 130 cash for sessfully hunting the Supreme Monarch.]</em>

    <em>[You have earned 200 cash for sessfully hunting Helenia.]</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    It was the stingiest among the stingy. The total cash that he had umted was only 900 cash. To be honest, Minhyuk had been hoping to get around 10,000 cash just for killing Helenia alone. He thought that he would get around 200,000 cash for all of the achievements that he had made so far. But the reality was harsh. He only had enough cash to buy one ore.

    <em>¡®Anyway, you won¡¯t be able to see this anywhere else, right?¡¯ </em>Minhyuk thought positively.

    Not long after, he watched the tower crumble and fall apart. He and his vassals hurriedly evacuated the one thousand men and left the tower. As he ran, a notification rang in his ears.

    <em>[You have obtained three Growth Eggs.]</em>

    <em>[You have cleared all floors of the Tower of Growth.]</em>

    <em>[As a reward, you have obtained the Pir¡¯s Ingredient in Varoghan¡¯s possession, the Pir Assorted Pork Set.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s mouth was filled with saliva at the thought of eating the pork. But then, an unexpected notification rang in his ears at that moment.

    <em>[One of the quests to help you find Rocado¡¯s power has been triggered.]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Pir Quest</em></strong><em>: Sessfully Create Something using a Pir Ingredient or Pir Artifact.]</em>

    ¡°Huh?¡±

 Chapter 1091

    Chapter 1091

    The quest that would lead him to where Rocado¡¯s power was would only be triggered once Minhyuk had reached Level 700. Right now, Minhyuk was looking at this very quest. So, he went ahead and checked the quest first.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Sudden Quest</em></strong><em>: Sessfully Create Something using a Pir Ingredient or Pir Artifact.]</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: SSS</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: The one who receives help from Rocado¡¯s system.</em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: 1 sess: Imperfect Work Gloves; 2 sesses: Perfect Work Gloves, 5% increase in DEX.</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Failure</em></strong><em>: You will no longer be able to find Rocado¡¯s power.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: This is the work glove that Rocado used in his prime. ording to the legends, these are the work gloves that Rocado had worn to produce some of the most outstanding items back in the day. </em>

    Coincidentally, he had just obtained a Pir Ingredient.

    ¡°Lucky¡­¡± Minhyuk smiled in delight. Minhyuk had been searching for information about the Pir Ingredient for a long time. The problem was that he could not find a single clue about it. The same was true for thergest empire, the Luvien Empire.

    In exchange for saving the Luvien Empire¡¯s current emperor, he asked them for information about the Pir Ingredient. Despite using their entire intelligencework to search for this information, it took them a long time to get a single piece.

    <em>¡®Nevertheless, if I had not received the help of the Luvien Empire, then I probably would not have been able to find it in years.¡¯</em>

    The process of triggering the quest andpleting it was arduous. As soon as Minhyuk got a hold of the ingredient, the quest broke out. So, it was very great timing for him.

    However, he knew it was still too early for him to be happy.

    <em>¡®The one who cooked the Pir Snow Crab was Rocado.¡¯</em>

    Back then, Rocado had to move swiftly yet delicately to remove the Sea Leeches that were trying to suck and nibble at the Pir Snow Crab while cooking. When Minhyuk witnessed it, he thought that he would never be able to do it.

    <em>¡®And there¡¯s also the fact that the Pir Snow Crab will have lower special abilities if it is not prepared and cooked well.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk, who had recalled the scene, then checked the information on the newly obtained Pir Assorted Pork Set.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Pir Assorted Pork Set</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Ingredient Grade</em></strong><em>: Pir</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?All of your stats will increase by 2.1%.</em>

    <em>?Your DEX will increase by +7%.</em>

    <em>?Your STR will increase by +6%.</em>

    <em>?Your STM will increase by +5%.</em>

    <em>?Your resistance to the Earth Attribute will increase by +19%.</em>

    <em>?Your attack and defensive power will increase by 8% when fighting against earth-attributed monsters.</em>

    <em>?Cooking this ingredient will be much trickier and harder than God-grade ingredients.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: This pork assorted set, the Pir of the Earth, is a challenging ingredient to cook. Using sauces and seasonings when cooking can significantly reduce its unique abilities, and boiling it in water can melt the ingredients. </em>

    <em>No matter what process or cooking method you use, you can obtain the Pir Assorted Pork Set again without any penalties. However, if you burn, melt, or leave it undercooked, the special abilities will change.</em>

    <em>¡®It¡¯s a bit unusual.¡¯ </em>Minhyuk rubbed his chin in thought.

    If he seeded in cooking, then the sessfully cooked pork set would disappear. However, he would be given a pork set without penalties. Once he had the newly obtained pork set in his hands, he needed to grill, boil, or even steam it. Of course, the key would be in how well he cooked the ingredients of the first dish.

    <em>¡®If I don¡¯t cook it well, then the special abilities I will obtain will probably be far less than those that a Pir Ingredient should have.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s DEX had already gone beyond anyone¡¯s imagination. The problem was that DEX and various other factors influenced a high-grade dish.

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll have to go back and find a better way to cook this ingredient.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk immediately went back to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    ***

    Beanie was currently on a diet. He has been on this diet for three straight hours.

    ¡°Oink, oink oink! <em>(I have too much belly fat, oink!)</em>¡±

    Unlike Minhyuk, the beings who lived in Athenae would gain weight if they ate a lot and lose weight if they did not eat. And Beanie, who ate around thirty kilograms of food per day, had gained two kilograms of fat in just a few short months.

    Beanie, who did not gain weightparable to the amount of food he ate, could be considered the prime example of the mystery of a pig body that has surpassed the mysteries of a human body.

    Anyway, Beanie had decided to go on a diet starting today. He entered the restaurant he frequented and sat in his usual seat with a cheeky and arrogant expression.

    A yer ran this restaurant. The yer was a woman in her mid-20s named Ashmin.

    Ashmin familiarly approached Beanie and said, ¡°Are you going for the usual? Five fried chickens, five <em>yangnyeom</em> chicken, a kilogram of fries, a lot of catsup, and five liters of c?¡±

    Beanie was Ashmin¡¯s shop¡¯s VVIP customer. Beanie ounted for almost a third of her daily sales. That was why she was very grateful to this baby piggy. Also, she has this urge to touch his plump belly whenever she sees him enter her restaurant.

    What was going on here?

    Beanie shook his head as he held his heavy belly. ¡°Oink, oink¡­!¡±

    Ashmin immediately understood that Beanie was trying to go on a diet. Although he was her shop¡¯s VVIP customer, she still responded calmly to the situation. After all, a lot of people went to her restaurant to dine anyway.

    ¡°Then, should I prepare some chicken breast, tomato sd, and a water bottle for you?¡±

    <em>re¨C!</em>

    Beanie¡¯s eyes narrowed sharply when he heard her words. His gaze looked like he was asking her what she was talking about. Ashmin looked at Beanie with a puzzled expression on her face. She offered the menu that most of those who went on a diet often ate.

    The all-mighty Beanie said, ¡°Oink. Oink, oink. Oink!¡± <em>Since I eat ten chickens daily, I¡¯ll cut it down to nine.</em>

    ¡°Ah¡­¡±

    ¡°Oink!¡± <em>Instead of one kilogram of fries, I will only eat 800 grams today.</em>

    ¡°Oink, oink. Oiiiiiink!¡± <em>As for the c, please give me Coke Zero.</em>

    ¡°C-coke Zero¡­?¡± Ashmin was flustered. Nevertheless, she still served the dishes that Beanie requested in front of him.

    When the food came out, Beanie used his paws to taste, eat, and enjoy his meal. He even drank a lot of <em>Coke Zero</em>. Despite finishing a hearty meal, the disappointment on Beanie¡¯s face was evident as he paid for it.

    ¡°Oink. Oink, oink, oink¡­¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re on a diet, so you can¡¯t eat a lot and are still hungry?¡±

    ¡°Oink!¡±

    ¡°Even though you¡¯re still hungry, you¡¯re holding it in because you want a slim body?¡±

    ¡°Oink. Oink, oink!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re trying to lose weight?¡±

    <em>Rumble¨C</em>

    Ashmin was speechless by the thunderous roar from Beanie¡¯s belly.

    Anyway, Beanie was proud of himself. He felt like he was going to do this diet sessfully.

    Then, Haze, who was looking for Beanie, came in.

    ¡°Beans, His Majesty is looking for you.¡±

    But Beanie shook his head.

    ¡°Oink. Oink, oink, oink!¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have the energy to move because you¡¯re hungry? You¡¯re on a diet?¡±

    Haze looked at Beanie in confusion, her head tilting to the side after seeing the mountain of chicken bones in front of the baby piggy.

    ¡°Are you really not going? Even though His Majesty bought a cake for you? And it¡¯s even your favorite sticky Calorie Bomb Choco Cake that you like, Beans.¡±

    Beanie¡¯s eyes shed open when he heard Haze¡¯s words. But he immediately grew sullen. Wasn¡¯t he on a diet?

    <em>¡®Ah! But I controlled the amount of food that I ate today, right? Even the c that I drank is Coke Zero.¡¯</em>

    Not only that, but he also did fifty sit-ups and fifty push-ups beforeing to the restaurant. He even breathed louder and stronger on purpose. He truly worked hard on his breathing exercises!

    <em>¡®I¡¯m very proud of the progress that I have made today. I deserve a sticky Calorie Bomb Choco Cake. Oink,¡¯</em> Beanie thought as he ran like the wind and disappeared from their sights.

    Ashmin, who watched the scene, finally logged out. Ashmin had a hobby. And this hobby was writing Beanie¡¯s <em>Mukbang</em> Diary on SNS. Of course, Ashmin logged an entry today, too.

    <em>[As usual, Sir Beanie came to visit our restaurant today too. But today, he¡¯s on a diet. So, he only ate nine chickens instead of the usual ten. The fries that he ordered were only 800 grams. The c for today was Coke Zero. Ah! He only ate nine bags of pickled radish. And because he¡¯s on a diet, he said he would not drink the brine. After eating, there was a very proud look on his face.]</em>

    Surprisingly enough, a lot more people loved Beanie¡¯s <em>Mukbang</em> Diary than expected, so manyments popped out the moment the entry was posted.

    <em>[This is amon trait among the chubby ones. Lmao. They will say they¡¯re on a diet, eat a lot of food, and drink Coke Zero. Lololol.]</em>

    <em>[Cutie Beanie. Lololol.]</em>

    <em>[Do you guys think he will seed this time? Beanie dieting?]</em>

    Amidst the countless curiousments posted by the people, Ashmin posted another update.

    <em>[This is the 105th time I have seen Sir Beanie go on a diet. He said he was very proud of himself for going on a diet and watching his food intake, so he ate a Calorie Bomb Choco Cake. His resolution¡­ No. It¡¯s a record-breaking three hours of determination and resolution to go on a diet.]</em>

    That was right. This was something that Ashmin was used to. After all, she had seen this many times before.

    ***

    Beanie, who touched his bulging belly, asked, ¡°Oink. Oiiink.¡±<em> Do you think I have lost some weight, oink?!</em>

    <em>¡®What nonsense is he talking about?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk turned to look at Beanie with a puzzled expression on his face. Why did his dear baby piggy suddenly think that he had lost some weight?

    Beanie grabbed a hand mirror and looked at his figure. Then, with a worried look, he said, ¡°Oiiiiink. Oink, oink.¡± <em>I think my face has grown a bit thinner, oink!</em>

    This was anothermon trait among the chubby kids. Even though they only exercised and went on a diet for a few days, they would think they had already lost some weight.

    The problem was that Beanie held a mirror in one hand and scooped up a thick, gooey chocte cake with the other.

    ¡°Oiiiiiiiiink!¡± <em>Please give me the low-fat one for the milk, oink!</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    Minhyuk poured Beanie a ss of low-fat milk.

    Why did Minhyuk call for Beanie? The reason was simple. He wanted to use the Growth Egg that he obtained on Beanie.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Growth Egg</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Ingredient Grade</em></strong><em>: God</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?This egg can help others, except your vassals, grow to the next level.</em>

    <em>?Once applied, the target of growth will be able to grow slowly in a week.</em>

    <em>?Once applied, the growth target may experience a change in appearance.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: The enormous amount of EXP left behind by the Growth Devourer¡¯s Egg has been transformed with the power of Chaos.</em>

    Minhyuk had three of these eggs. And he had already decided on whom to apply two of the eggs. One was Supreme Divine Beast Beanie and the other was Viel¡¯s Puppet Doll.

    Beanie, who could replicate other people¡¯s skills and use them as they were, would show outstanding growthpared to everyone else.

    As for Viel¡¯s Puppet Doll, he was originally an envoy who wasparable to Brod in terms of power. Even though Viel only had a little bit of ego left and was nothing more than a puppet that could no longer grow and no longer bepared to Brod, Minhyuk was confident that he would be a tremendous boost in their military force if he could help him develop further and awaken a bit more of his ego.

    <em>[Would you like to apply the Growth Egg?]</em>

    Minhyuk gave his agreement.

    ¡°Oiiiiiink¡­!¡±

    When Minhyuk agreed, Beanie¡¯s eyes flew open, his pupils trembling fiercely. Then, his body started to shake too.

    <em>Fwoooooot¨C!</em>

    ¡°...Heh.¡± Beanie chuckled after releasing a long and loud fart. His body seemed to have no immediate changes despite the egg being applied immediately.

    Haze expertly and familiarly opened the window. Then, she said, ¡°I found a way to help you cook the Pir Ingredient better.¡±

    If they could not find a way, Minhyuk decided to eat a dish to help him increase his DEX and tried to cook it.

    <em>¡®I can¡¯t waste time trying to find a way to cook an ingredient already in front of me.¡¯</em>

    But Haze said that she found a way.

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°Are you aware of the concept of ¡®offering¡¯ that the foreigners use when strengthening an artifact?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I am fully aware of that.¡±

    Offering deliberately listed the poorly reinforced items and reinforced them individually while leaving the most important artifact to be reinforced at the end. It had been very popr since the inception ofputer RPG games.

    ¡°Foreigners have done everything and anything to increase their chances of reinforcing their artifacts. Especially the foreigners from that ce called ¡®Korea¡¯? Ah, of course, Your Majesty is also a Korean.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded proudly. Koreans were truly passionate about their games.

    ¡°Aside from offerings, many people also look for <em>auspicious sites.</em>¡±

    yers referred to ces where they could strengthen or create items and auspicious sites. Nheless, something was surprising. Athenae had dered that ¡°offerings¡± actually worked. And so were ¡°auspicious sites.¡± And because of that, visiting auspicious sites became a craze.

    ¡°One Beyond the Heavens¡¯ guild member recently discovered the most outstanding auspicious site. And it has never been discovered before. ording to the report, the auspicious site is more likely to create something with a better grade than the average auspicious site. That¡¯s how much the DEX would be adjusted and corrected.¡±

    ¡°Oh, is that so?¡±

    That was very good to hear.

    ¡°But¡­ where is it?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s in hell.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Minhyuk was rendered speechless for a moment.

    ¡°To be exact, it¡¯s the ce between heaven and hell. You have to go through hell first¡­ Ah. It might be difficult because you must go through hell.¡± Haze gulped. ¡°After all, it¡¯s where the God of Death is. So, recklessly entering that ce is¡­¡±

    Minhyuk confidently and majestically said, ¡°What are you talking about, Haze? You should know how close I am with God of Death Louis!¡±

    ¡°Oh? Is that so?¡± Haze looked at Minhyuk in surprise. His Majesty was close to the God of Death?

    Minhyuk resorted to the mostmon bluff that a man would make. <em>¡®I-I¡¯m close to them!¡¯</em>

    ¡°That¡¯s right! I shared a meal with the God of Death! Huh?! I even sat with him and watched his lover cross the river of reincarnation! Huh?! That¡¯s done!¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty, you¡¯re amazing. You¡¯re close with the scary God of Death.¡±

    Minhyuk just shrugged at Haze, who was looking at him with admiration.

    ***

    Five hourster.

    Minhyuk took a peek at the face of the God of Death, sitting on a chair made of bones, and said, ¡°J-just one more time¡­ C-can¡¯t I go in¡­ one more time?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    The God of Death narrowed his eyes.

    ¡°Please¡­?¡±

    And in just a blink, the God of Death¡¯s subordinates had pointed their weapons at Minhyuk¡¯s neck.

    It was true that Minhyuk had a meal with the God of Death and watched his lover cross the river of reincarnation.

 Chapter 1092

    Chapter 1092

    The legendary Hell¡¯s Emissary ss was one of the few sses to enter and exit Hell freely. The Hell¡¯s Emissary was also in charge of procuring supplies for Hell from Earth. They also often conducted research all over Hell. They were also like explorers and would go around Hell to discover new ces.

    Verak, a yer with the legendary ss Hell¡¯s Emissary, had recently discovered an auspicious site. Of course, it was not on earth. The problem was that neither humans nor any other race could enter Hell. It was a ce that neither the gods nor the Absolute Gods could enter or invade at will.

    <em>¡®One should consider Hell a cepletely different from the Land of the Gods.¡¯</em>

    The beings of Hell were bound by the rules and could not leave the world as they pleased. After all, Hell was a ce that housed the countless strongmen from the past thousands of years who could not be reborn or reincarnated.

    And the one who ruled this ce was the God of Hell.

    <em>¡®If the Land of the Gods and Hell fought, then the one that will gain victory will no doubt be Hell.¡¯</em>

    This was also one of the reasons why Verak felt delighted despite being in a ce called Hell.

    Verak, who discovered an auspicious site, was quite surprised when an unexpected person reached out and told him he wanted to visit this useless ce.

    This person was none other than the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ emperor. The number of Beyond the Heavens Empire yers had already exceeded tens of millions, and Minhyuk was an icon to them. Before they came here, Minhyuk shook his hands and said

    ¨C<em>Hell¡¯s Emissary Verak. Your real name is Min-Woo, right?</em>

    These words left Verak impressed. This was because the rumors about Minhyuk working hard to remember the names of all of the yers from his empire were true. Although it might seem trivial to most, the fact that he would do something like this was a testament to how much he cherished every single yer under his rule.

    As they walked together, Verak could not help but voice his concern.

    <em>¨CYour Majesty, entering Hell will be very difficult. More so because you¡¯re the Battle God. Maybe you¡¯ll be attacked by all of the beings the moment you step foot in Hell.</em>

    <em>¨CAh. I told Haze about this too! I had a meal once with the God of Death! Oh? I also sat with him to watch his lover enter the River of Reincarnation! Huh? We¡¯ve done it together!</em>

    <em>¨CO-oooooh¡­!</em>

    Verak was shocked.

    <em>¡®Goodness! He had a meal with the God of Death and even watched his lover enter the River of Reincarnation together! As expected of the emperor! But¡­ what was going on here?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes shifted all over the ce, his demeanor careful and cautious as he took a peek at God of Death Louis.

    ¡°C-can¡¯t you let me?¡±

    More and more of the God of Death¡¯s subordinates raised their weapons and pointed them at Minhyuk¡¯s neck. A certain Death Knight¡¯s sword was only a centimeter away from Minhyuk¡¯s throat.

    ¡°It seems like you have forgotten what I have told you. I told you that I will tear you apart and kill you the next time you step foot in Hell.¡±

    Verak instantly understood. <em>¡®In the end, His Majesty is still a man¡­</em>

    This was what a man would generally brag about!

    <em>I am close to them! </em>

    <em>I can eat ten chickens all by myself! </em>

    In the end, they were just a bluff.

    The worst part? The God of Death was looking at Minhyuk with a frown. Thankfully, he never issued an order to attack.

    Looking closely, one could see a very awkward air between Minhyuk and the God of Death.

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    It was apparent that the two did not know what to say because of how they looked at each other. The God of Death coughed while Minhyuk scratched his head. It was just so awkward.

    ¡°You see¡­¡±

    ¡°You know¡­¡±

    The two spoke at the same time. As for the air between the two? It grew even more awkward. And once again¡­

    ¡°You first.¡±

    ¡°Punk, you go ahead.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Verak, who watched the two, thought, <em>¡®Wow. This is not a matter of being close or not. They¡¯repletely awkward with each other!¡¯</em>

    Forget talking about being close; their rtionship was the most awkward! Their situation right now is like being left alone during a meeting with friends.

    The awkwardness was suffocating Verak.

    ¡°You brat, speak first.¡±¡¯

    Fortunately, the suffocating awkwardness finally ended.

    ¡°I¡¯ll make you something delicious next time and if you have a favor to ask, I¡¯ll do it for youter. So, can¡¯t you let me in this time?¡±

    ¡°Start with the reason for your visit.¡±

    So Minhyuk exined it step by step. But the more he listened, the deeper the frown on the God of Death''s face grew.

    ¡°Are you talking about the Boundary Between Good and Evil?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    Minhyuk had already learned everything about the auspicious site from Verak. The auspicious site was a ridiculously overpowered ce. This was because it was a ce that could temporarily increase DEX by 15%~30% and increase the chances of creating higher-grade dishes.

    The main reason Minhyuk entered Hell was the auspicious site. It was right in the middle of Heaven and Hell. Surprisingly, countless high-level beings lived in the boundary that separated Heaven and Hell.

    The God of Death pondered for quite a while before saying, ¡°There are some troublesome things that I did not have the time to solve yet in the Boundary Between Good and Evil. If you can solve them for me, I will allow you to enter Hell and go there.¡±

    ¡°Troublesome things?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m talking about the devils living in the Boundary Between Good and Evil. They have been killing countless beings from both Heaven and Hell. Most of those demons are the ones that you have killed before. After reborn in Hell, they did not want to be under someone¡¯s control.¡±

    ¡°You can do it yourself, right?¡±

    ¡°There has been a rule that forbids the leaders, executives, and officials from both Heaven and Hell to enter the Boundary Between Good and Evil.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded. If he could enter Hell by doing this, he would wee it.

    ¡°With no rewards?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    At that moment, a quest window appeared in front of Minhyuk. The quest was called <em>¡®</em><strong><em>Quest</em></strong><em>: Hunting the Good and Evil¡¯s Devils.¡¯</em> As for the rewards, one random stat would increase by one with every devil he killed.

    ¡°Go. Go and get a pass. If you have that pass in hand, then the beings of Hell will not attack you.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Yes.¡± Verak, who was by Minhyuk¡¯s side, quickly disappeared to fetch the pass.

    When Verak disappeared, the God of Death hummed to himself while swatting the flies flying around him with his hands. And Minhyuk? He just scratched his head silently.

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    The air turned awkward once again.

    ¡°Be careful; you might catch a cold.¡± The God of Death uttered these words to try and break the awkwardness.

    ¡°Oh. Yeah¡­ y-you too¡­¡±

    The two could only stand there in silence for the next fifteen minutes. There was not even a little bit of small talk.

    When Verak returned, the God of Death, who finally breathed a sigh of relief, said, ¡°Ah. There¡¯s a woman named Aemira in that ce. Make sure to keep away from her as much as possible.¡±

    ¡°Aemira?¡±

    ¡°Aemira is the person who created the auspicious site that you want to go to.¡±

    ¡°...!¡± Minhyuk¡¯s eyes grew wide. She was the one who created the auspicious site?

    ¡°She has powers simr to yournd¡¯s gods. She has been sentenced to be imprisoned in the Boundary Between Good and Evil for life. Consider this as a warning: do not get involved with her.¡±

    ¡°I understand. I won¡¯t get involved with her. Definitely.¡±

    ¡°Go away. I¡¯m exhausted.¡±

    After finishing the conversation, Minhyuk began to walk with Verak. Minhyuk raised his hand and waved at Louis, just like someone bid goodbye to ordinary people, before scratching his head awkwardly. The God of Death seemed to want to wave back, but he ended up smoothing his hair.

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    The two did not disappoint¡ªawkward until the very end.

    Once the two left, the God of Death¡¯s aide approached him and asked, ¡°My lord, the Monarch of Hell has clearly told him not to get involved with Aemira, so he will definitely follow your words, right?¡±

    The aide did not know Minhyuk, so he wanted to confirm whether the young man would follow the God of Death¡¯s warning.

    The God of Death shook his head. ¡°No. That guy will get entangled with Aemira.¡±

    ¡°...Sorry?¡±

    ¡°I know that punk better than anybody else.¡±

    ¡°So¡­ why do you two act awkward with each other?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    The God of Death could not open his mouth to answer that question.

    ***

    Great Demon Verus could not forget the humiliation he suffered at Minhyuk¡¯s hands. Not only did he die, but many of the 72 Devils under hismand had died alongside him.

    Upon their death, they were sent to Hell. But Verus was notfortable living in Hell. So, he went to the Boundary Between Good and Evil. In this ce, the God of Death and the archangels could not enter as they pleased. They also could not send any of their troops.

    Ironically, even the absolute beings like the Great Demon and his devils feared both Heaven and Hell. Especially the beings from Heaven. This was because they all used sacred swords.

    To make sure that they would no longer fear them, Great Demon Verus and his devils went through Hell and ate everything that crossed their paths to grow stronger. This was made possible by the power of the 32nd-rank Devil.

    The 32nd Devil possessed the ¡°Glutton¡¯s Authority.¡± With this power, they could devour their target andy an egg. The egg was nourishing and could be considered a massive chunk of EXP.

    Great Demon Verus and the devils devoured this egg non-stop.

    However, they did not dare to do this before. This was because they would suffer from adverse effects after eating this egg. The demonic energy in their bodies would flow backward and their bodies would be wracked by pain that was equivalent to the pain of having one¡¯s bones ground into powder.

    Of course, these effects were still applied to them. They could endure the pain and continue to eat the egg because they were ovee by anger. Because of that, they had grown stronger, much stronger than before.

    While they nurtured their powers, they continued to look for ways to break the rules set in this ce. Why? Because they wanted to wipe out those f*cking bastards from the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    At that moment, something astonishing happened. News about Minhyuk visiting Hell toe to the Boundary Between Good and Evil reached their ears. So, they chucked their research to the back and began preparing to give Minhyuk a warm wee.

    ***

    Verak was honestly very disappointed in Minhyuk.

    First, he bragged about his rtionship with the God of Death. Of course, humans tend to brag and bluff, so it was not that much of a disappointment. The problem was that many iprehensible things had happened since that incident with the God of Death.

    Minhyuk never stopped collecting things with his hands and hoe as they went through Hell.

    ¡°Teehee~ This would be delicious in a soup.¡±

    He could not help but think,<em> ¡®Is this person really an emperor?¡¯</em>

    He found it utterly iprehensible that Minhyuk suddenly stopped to sit down and eat.

    ¡°Your Majesty, I¡¯m sorry, but are you not going to prepare anything to fight against the devils?¡±

    Verak knew there were truly devils in the Border Between Good and Evil. After all, he had visited the auspicious site and died after meeting some of them. Coincidentally, the God of Death had also given him a quest rted to it. The problem was that the strength and the level of the devils there were far too much for him to handle.

    <em>Fwiish¨C</em>

    ¡°Now, now. We should eat first before anything else. And that goes for you, too, Verak. Kghhk. This beef is divine! So amazing!¡±

    Minhyuk sounded so carefree that it made Verak lose his appetite. The man in front of him should have been very worried, but he was not showing any signs of it at all.

    <em>¡®What if I am forced to log out again?¡¯</em>

    Verak¡¯s level before was at Level 601. After dying under the hands of the devils, his level has returned to Level 600. If he died here again, then his level would drop to Level 599.

    Nevertheless, Emperor Minhyuk told him to eat before anything else, as if he did not know how anxious and antsy Verak was.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s not what I imagined him to be.¡¯</em>

    Of course, he believed that Minhyuk was a good emperor, especially because of his kindness and friendliness. The problem was that this was a time when one had to be fully prepared to fight, no?!

    ¡°Fufufu!¡±

    ¡°Kihyaa!

    ¡°The juices from the meat are to die for!

    ¡°Verak, are you not going to eat? Even though it''s delicious?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine. I¡¯m feeling a bit queasy,¡± Verak answered, his words too blunt and straightforward.

    Then, he saw Minhyuk stand up. ¡°We¡¯re going to arrive at the Boundary Between Good and Evil, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes. We¡¯ll arrive soon.¡± Verak walked toward the barrier that separated the two ces and tried to think of a way to get out of the difficulty he would soon face. ¡°We¡¯re not going to meet the devils all at once. I think it¡¯s better to deal with them one by one. Your Majesty, you¡¯re powerful, so if we deal with them alone, our odds of winning will increase quite a bit.¡±

    ¡°Then, that means we have to find them individually. My main goal here is to go to the auspicious site and cook. It¡¯s too troublesome. <em>Tch.</em>¡±

    ¡°If you go without any preparation, then¡­¡±

    The speaking Verak suddenly felt his body get dragged somewhere. Of course, the same was true for Minhyuk. When Verak opened his eyes, he could not help but groan.

    <em>[Great Demon Verus has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[The approaching Great Demon Verus¡¯ powerful demonic energy has brought terror and fear upon you.]</em>

    <em>[You won¡¯t be able to control your body from the numbing fear.]</em>

    <em>[All stats will decrease by 20%.]</em>

    <em>[Your morale has dramatically decreased.]</em>

    <em>[Ordinary humans will lose their will to fight in Verus¡¯ presence.]</em>

    <em>[Verus¡¯ demonic energy has restricted the breathing of all the ordinary humans present.]</em>

    <em>[Verus¡¯ Wrath.]</em>

    <em>[You have been subjected to Verus¡¯ Wrath. You will not be able to move for three minutes.]</em>

    <em>[Everyone will be equal in front of the Great Demon Verus for three minutes.]</em>

    Verak was left frozen from the fear and terror that suddenly gripped him from the depths of the bottomless pit. Then, he started to tremble.

    He knew that this would happen. Great Demon Verus and his devils knew Minhyuk woulde and had been waiting for him. And the gigantic Great Demon Verus and his 72 Devils were standing before them.

    The fear that gripped Verak left him drooling and his legs weak. The overwhelming demonic energy encroached upon the surroundings and left him choking.

    ¡°Keok! Urk! Kghhk!¡±

    Verak, who felt like someone was strangling him, cried.

    <em>¡®Am I going to be forced to log out again?¡¯</em>

    While Verak was spiraling down the depths of despair, someone touched his shoulder.

    <em>[Battle God¡¯s Order.]</em>

    <em>[All buff effects, debuff effects, and abnormal status of the chosen target will be neutralized.]</em>

    At that moment, both the debuffs and the abnormal statuses that Verus had released had disappeared. Only after Verak¡¯s legs stopped trembling did Minhyuk let go of his shoulder and step forward.

    ¡°That¡¯s why I told you to eat a bit. Are you alright?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Verak was shocked to hear Minhyuk speak nonchntly while slinging his sword on his shoulder.

    Minhyuk said, ¡°The dish I offered you could greatly increase one¡¯s holy power. If you had eaten it, you could have resisted the demonic energy to some extent.¡±

    Only at this moment did Verak realize that Minhyuk had been preparing in his way.

    ¡°What will happen if you cook something with a lot of smoke and eat a very delicious dish in Hell, a ce where food is scarce?¡±

    ¡°...!¡± Verak¡¯s eyes grew wide. ¡°N-no way¡­!¡±

    ording to soldiers, creating ¡°smoke¡± was banned when they judged that they were already very close to the enemies on the battlefield. Of course, the same was true with food. They would control the consumption of dishes that needed to be grilled and produce smoke. This was because the smell and the visual would alert the enemies of their position.

    To put it simply¡­

    <em>¡®H-he deliberately ate dishes that needed to be grilled to lure Verus and the devils?!¡¯</em>

    To prove his assumption, Minhyuk said, ¡°Were you waiting for me?¡±

    Minhyuk took out a helmet from his inventory. The helmet was none other than Pandora¡¯s Helmet, which could instantly double one¡¯s holy power upon equipping the item. But that was not the only thing that increased Minhyuk¡¯s holy power. The beef that he ate earlier also greatly increased his holy power.

    Of course, there had been an update regarding holy power in the past. Because of that, the yer¡¯s attack and defensive power would only increase by 1.5x regardless of the increase in holy power.

    However, one had to take into ount the fact that Minhyuk was already at Level 700. If his attack and defensive power were increased by 1.5x, then the power that he could exert would be equivalent to the power of someone with a level beyond Level 1,000.

    To top it off, Minhyuk¡¯s Holy Power stat had already exceeded 5,000. With the dish he had just eaten and the double effect of Pandora¡¯s Helmet, his total holy power would be around 14,000.

    A subtle and gentle light covered Minhyuk¡¯s entire body. This was the stream of holy power usually seen from people with high holy power, like the popes or Saintess Loyna.

    ¡°I gathered them all here.¡±

    Minhyuk looked back at Verak.

    ¡°Verak.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    With a calm and rxed smile, Minhyuk asked him, ¡°How long do you think it will take me to kill all of them here?¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Goosebumps rose all over Verak¡¯s body when he heard Minhyuk¡¯s question. And he almost unknowingly answered him with, <em>¡®One minute.¡¯</em>

 Chapter 1093

    Chapter 1093

    When Hell¡¯s Emissary Verak asked how long he thought Minhyuk would take to deal with Great Demon Verus and his devils, he thought it would only take a minute.

    Anyway, that was the thought that shed in Verak¡¯s head when he saw the confident expression on Minhyuk¡¯s face and his straight and firm posture despite standing in front of Great Demon Verus and his devils.

    <em>¡®This is the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor¡­!¡¯</em>

    Verak felt something hot boil from deep within his heart.

    ¡°Maybe about a day?¡±

    ¡°...Eh?¡±

    s, Minhyuk''s words werepletely different from his confident appearance. After all, he seemed ready to wipe out all the demons at once.

    ¡°I thought you could wipe them all out right away?¡±

    ¡°How can I wipe out the Great Demon and all his devils at once? What kind of demon hunting are you on about¡­?¡±<em>¡®Get a grip, man. Reality is not that easy.¡¯</em>

    At that moment, Great Demon Verus and his devils sent a barrage of attacks upon them.

    Minhyuk spoke calmly. ¡°Verak, activate Hell¡¯s Barrier.¡±

    Hell¡¯s Barrier would manifest an invincible barrier for two minutes. The problem was that it only worked against beings from Hell and beings who possessed demonic energy.

    Verak activated Hell¡¯s Barrier and asked, ¡°Your Majesty¡­?¡±

    ¡°Do you know what¡¯s the most important thing to do in arge-scale battle?¡± Minhyuk asked while he activated Absolute Defense. ¡°It¡¯s killing the enemymander first.¡±

    With Absolute Defense protecting him, Minhyuk could resist the attacks that Great Demon Verus and the devils had sent to him. Of course, he had also already equipped the ck Dragon Armor on his body.

    Verak, inside his absolute barrier, watched Minhyuk¡¯s back as he ran to where Great Demon Verus and his devils were.

    <em>¡®Wow¡­ what?¡¯</em>

    The man said that it would take them a day to deal with the demons, a statement that was contrary to Verak¡¯s one-minute battle expectations. Yet Minhyuk did not shrink against all of the demons. He was even moving swiftly and agilely among them.

    <em>[BASTARD!!!]</em>

    The lizard-like eyes of the gigantic Great Demon Verus, who stood taller among his devils, followed Minhyuk¡¯s figure.

    He had been waiting for this day for a very long time.

    They went so far as to find a way to break the rules of the Barrier Between Good and Evil that was situated between Heaven and Hell. They also willingly endured the pain that was equivalent to the pain of their bones being torn apart just so they could eat the Glutton¡¯s Authority¡¯s egg.

    All of this was because of Minhyuk. After all, he was the one who drove them into this hell.

    Great Demon Verus clearly remembered the day that he died.

    <em>[You bastard. In the end, you are nothing without your vassals.]</em>

    Verus mocked the young man while in glee. Why? Because the wolf-like man and the old man with the spear were nowhere to be seen in this ce.

    <em>¡®The Heavens are helping us!¡¯</em>

    The only reason why the man was able to win against them was because of his vassals.

    <em>[A long time has passed! We have already be stronger!]</em>

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    The attacks never stopped falling on Minhyuk. The demons, who had be much stronger than before, were waiting for Minhyuk¡¯s Absolute Defense to disappear.

    <em>[You trivial and worthless bastard¡­!]</em>

    Great Demon Verus cackled. To his astonishment, the young man was suddenly in front of him.

    ¡°That may be right.¡±

    <em>[...?!]</em>

    ¡°Back then, I received a lot of help from Brod and Ben.¡±

    They weren¡¯t the only ones. Minhyuk had received a lot of help from a lot of people. Without their help, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to kill Great Demon Verus.

    ¡°Just like you said, a long time has passed since then. Yes, you bastards have grown stronger.¡±

    But there was also something that changed.

    ¡°Of course, I, too, ampletely different from back then.¡±

    <em>[Keuhahahaha!]</em>

    Great Demon Verus cackled. Humans were inherently weak. Even if they reached the realm of a god, they would eventually face limitations and no longer be able to grow.

    However, there was a grin on Minhyuk¡¯s face. ¡°Back then, I think my level was around Level 400. Or maybe it was around Level 500?¡±

    Verus, who watched Minhyuk¡¯s barrier slowly fade, felt delighted. At longst, he would be able to wring this bastard¡¯s heart dry!

    Then, Minhyuk, with a cold expression on his face, said, ¡°I¡¯m over Level 700 now.¡±

    <em>[...?]</em>

    It was at this moment that Verus realized that something was wrong. They had clearly be strongerpared to before. Nevertheless, they had only grown 1.3x stronger than in the past. But in Minhyuk¡¯s case, he had grown at least 1.7x stronger.

    ¡°That¡¯s my growth only in terms of levels.¡±

    Minhyuk held Comrade in his left hand.

    ¡°Of course, the other aspects have also experienced significant growth.¡±

    The Minhyuk of today was wearing the ck Dragon Armor. He also had the Sword of Aeon and Comrade in both hands. These were things that Great Demon Verus had never seen on him before.

    Then, there was also the fact that a yer would experience a huge boost in power whenever they broke through the walls that separated every 100 levels.

    Minhyuk red at Verus coldly and said, ¡°Overpower.¡±

    <em>THUD¨C!</em>

    The moment Minhyuk¡¯s Absolute Barrier disappeared, Great Demon Verus was left in a two-second stunned state that he could not resist.

    As mentioned before, Minhyuk has been receiving the attacks of Great Demon Verus and the 72 Devils non-stop. In fact, the attacks had not ceased.

    ¡°Transcendence.¡±

    ck energy surged out of Minhyuk¡¯s body and began to morph into the shape of a gigantic ck spear.

    Verak stared at the gigantic ck spear in front of him in a daze. He could not help but ponder over Minhyuk¡¯s words earlier. He murmured, ¡°Kill the enemymander first¡­¡±

    Transcendence¡¯s effects had temporarily increased Minhyuk¡¯s stats and skill level. With ck Dragon Armor equipped, his damage was 1.3x stronger. There was also his holy power, which increased his attack damage by 1.5x against beings with demonic power. All of this was applied to the Transcendental¡¯s Spear that was forming in front of him.

    At this moment, Verak realized why Minhyuk said that it would take them a day to deal with the demons. <em>¡®He will trample on the demons one by one after killing Great Demon Verus!¡¯</em>

    A glimmer appeared in Verak¡¯s eyes.

    At that moment, the gigantic spear sent by the human emperor named Minhyuk pierced through the Great Demon Verus¡¯ heart. The shot forced Great Demon Verus to curl in on himself, unable to let out even a single scream of pain.

    But there was a reason why Great Demons and demons were very difficult and tricky to deal with. This was because their regenerative abilities were far beyond anyone¡¯s imagination.

    <em>[Kuehaaaaaack¡­!]</em>

    The demons continued to bombard Minhyuk with attacks. They hoped that this bombardment of attacks would help them save Verus, who was now screaming from the pain.

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 40%.]</em>

    Despite the ring notification, Minhyuk did not budge. With the two swords in his hands, he said, ¡°Absolute Defense.¡±

    Beforeing here, Minhyuk used his Save skill to store Absolute Defense. That was what he used now.

    At the same time, the beautiful sound of bells rang in the entire area.

    <em>Ding~</em>

    <em>Ding, ding~</em>

    <em>Ding~</em>

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Ramas¡¯ Bell</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: Legendary</em>

    <strong><em>Restriction</em></strong><em>: Minhyuk¡¯s attributed artifact.</em>

    <strong><em>Durability</em></strong><em>: </em>¡Þ/¡Þ

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>: </em>

    <em>?Increases your Holy Power by 10% just by possessing the artifact alone.</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Pope Ramas¡¯ Bell</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: God¡¯s Miracle</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: This bell is the third of the Pope¡¯s Treasures. The 13th Pope, Ramas, was said to have escaped the clutches of death in the Demon World by ringing this bell. It was said that he was able to survive by leaving the Demonic Humans and Demonic Races in pain and distress after ringing the bell once.</em>

    A burst of bright light erupted from Ramas¡¯ Bell and scattered holy power all over the ce. Thanks to the skill ¡°God¡¯s Miracle¡± attached to the Ramas¡¯ Bell, the demons were left temporarily blinded. God¡¯s Miracle was a skill that made it impossible for evil beings who had heard the ringing of Ramas¡¯ Bell to open their eyes for a few seconds.

    The demons tried to force their eyes open. Despite the constantly shing lights from the burst of holy powers, the demons still tried their best to save Great Demon Verus.

    <em>Shwaaaaa¨C</em>

    With great difficulty, Great Demon Verus was finally able to pull out the Transcendental¡¯s Spear that was lodged in his left chest. At the same time, he released a huge amount of ck demonic energy.

    When the demons finally opened their eyes that were forced to close by the bright and ring light of the holy power, they were met with the sight of Minhyuk shing and hacking at Great Demon Verus with the two swords in his hands.

    The screams of Great Demon Verus echoed in the Boundary Between Good and Evil as his body got hacked and torn apart. But before the demons could make a move, they were once again blinded by the white light created by the holy power that rose once again.

    <em>[Lord Verus!]</em>

    <em>[Great Demon!!!]</em>

    The vision of the demons, who were calling out to Verus desperately, finally returned once again. However, they were greeted by the sight of a ck chain sickle shing at Verus¡¯ neck and a puppet stabbing him all over his body.

    Then, there was Minhyuk with his white cape carrying the symbol of a fork and knife crossed together fluttering in the wind as he casted another skill.

    ¡°Annihtor¡¯s Sword.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaa¨C!</em>

    Verus was already being bombarded with attacks that did not give him any time to regenerate. These attacks had already turned his body into a tattered rag. And in that state, the Annihtor¡¯s Sword, with 11,000% additional attack power and various additional effects inflicted tens of thousands of damage upon him.

    <em>Swoosh¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk swung his sword horizontally and released a huge amount of holy power. At this moment, Great Demon Verus realized that he was about to face another death.

    Those who were residing in the Boundary Between Good and Evil were already beings who were sent to Heaven or Hell. As soon as they died in this ce, their bodies would be dragged back to the realm where they were sent before and taken in front of the god who was leading that realm. In other words, if Great Demon Verus died here, he would be dragged in front of the God of Death. Then, the God of Death would extinguish their souls himself.

    Verus found it unbelievable. In just a year, this human being named Minhyuk had grown three times stronger.

    <em>Shwaaaaaa¨C!</em>

    With the swing of Minhyuk¡¯s sword, the demonic energy that enveloped the ce dried out and disappeared.

    <em>[Keuhaaaaaaaack!!!]</em>

    The Great Demon Verus was the one who led the 72 Devils in the past. He was the strongest of the three Great Demons and was someone who did not know fear. Yet this very same being appeared to be struggling from pain in the eyes of the demons, who were finally freed from the constraints of the holy power. He, who did not know fear, was being trampled by a mere human being. A mere human being was making him suffer like that.

    At that moment, the human shed Great Demon Verus¡¯ neck with the two swords in his hands.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    <em>Stab¨C!</em>

    <em>Thud¨C!</em>

    The 72 Devils fell into despair when they saw Verus¡¯ head fall and roll on the ground. Then, an explosion erupted in the now headless body of the Great Demon Verus.

    <em>BANG¨C!</em>

    The mannded on the ground and looked at the 72 Devils coldly. ¡°Are you not going toe at me?¡±

    <em>Flinch¨C!</em>

    The demons faltered as the unfamiliar feeling of fear and terror engulfed their entire being for a brief moment. At the same time, a series of notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The morale of the demons, who have lost Great Demon Verus, have gone down.]</em>

    <em>[All of the demons¡¯ powers will decrease by 10%.]</em>

    <em>[You have made progress in the </em><strong><em>Quest</em></strong><em>: Hunting the Good and Evil¡¯s Devils.]</em>

    <em>[You have killed the Great Demon Verus.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 5 stat points. They will be allocated randomly to your stats.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 2 STR.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1 AGI.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1 Will.]</em>

    Killing Great Demon Verus gave Minhyuk five times more stats than killing other demons.

    Meanwhile, Verak felt like he was in a dream. He watched as Minhyuk red coldly at the demons and said, <em>¡®Are you not going toe at me?¡¯</em> while walking toward them. With every step that he took, he saw the demons falter and stagger on their feet.

    Then, zing hot mes shot out from the de of Minhyuk¡¯s sword.

    <em>Crackle¨C!</em>

    The power of the Supreme Overlord¡¯s Technique devoured the panicking demons, who were unable to move any further.

    <em>Baaaang¨C!</em>

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk watched them as they got swept away by the huge explosion.

    Not long after, Verak saw the man appear beside him. Verak felt like this was a day that he would never, ever forget.

    ¡°Verak.¡±

    Verak, who listened to Minhyuk¡¯s arrogant voice, knew that he would follow this man¡¯s orders no matter what. He answered with a deep and sonorous boom, ¡°Yes, Your Majesty!!!¡±

    ¡°Run.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°Run at full speed.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Uhm¡­? I thought you were going to kill them all?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s going to take a day! We have to kill them one at a time. Run!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    Today, Verak realized one more fact about Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®His Majesty¡­¡¯</em>

    He was currently in a ¡°fanboy¡± state after seeing Minhyuk cut down the Great Demon Verus just like that. So now, every action that Minhyuk made seemed cool to him.

    <em>¡®...is really good at running away. Kyaa~ Look at how fast his legs are going! I can¡¯t even see them moving!¡¯</em>

    Verak was moved to tears after seeing Minhyuk run ahead of him and get ahead by 200 meters in just one go.

 Chapter 1094

    Chapter 1094

    <strong>Chapter 1094</strong>

    Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s President Kang Taehoon closed the report about the Eight Pirs.

    With Helenia, Kronad, Obren, Rocado, etc.¡¯s disqualification, the Eight Pirs witnessed far too many vacancies. However, with the appearance of the Pir Evaluators, nearly ten candidates were approved to be Pir Candidates.

    ¡°I never expected that they would approve of Ellie.¡±

    Surprisingly enough, Continental Emperor Ellie was one of them.

    A vast and unprecedented event was about to happen soon. Just like what was written in the report, a war, <em>The Pirs¡¯ War</em>, would unfold. How would it proceed?

    ¡°It¡¯s exciting.¡± Department Head Kim Dae-Il smiled in delight. ¡°The Pir Candidates will team up and fight a war against Athenae¡¯s top 10%.¡±

    The <em>Athenae¡¯s top 10%</em> mentioned included NPCs and yers alike. And among the Pir Candidates, the two most outstanding ones would be the new Pirs. This was going to generate a huge fuss!¡°Do you think Continental Emperor Ellie and yer Minhyuk will y a big role in this war?¡±

    Minhyuk had personally met Eight Pirs¡¯ Jack-of-all-Trades Rocado and Pir Candidate The Teacher Beradon. He had also won only once in cooking after losing tens of thousands of times against Jack-of-all-Trades Rocado.

    ¡°The path to bing a Pir will be very difficult to tread, especially if one is a yer,¡± President Kang Taehoon said.

    Everyone nodded in agreement. Pirs exerted far more power and influence than one might think.

    ¡°The reason why the evaluators acknowledged Ellie¡­ is a bitcking. Don¡¯t you think so?¡± Kim Dae-Il voiced out.

    Kang Taehoon nodded. ¡°Because she¡¯s the most beloved NPC in the continent¡­ Hmm¡­¡±

    Brod, Ben, Obren, and the others were the best and strongest NPCs as selected by yers. On the other hand, Ellie was deeply loved by the guardians of the Asgan Continent. The number of NPCs who supported Ellie was sky-high. This was regardless of the nation to which they belonged.

    ¡°Ellie, who chose to abandon the position of the Sword God to protect her people, is the idol and role model of all of her people and troops.¡±

    Ellie''s power was no more than a god but legendary nheless. As for the Pirs, they were beings who far surpassed the gods. Pir Candidates often possessed powers that could rival or even exceed the gods. That was why Ellie could be consideredcking.

    ¡°Ellie will not be a Pir even if it¡¯s through apetition.¡±

    This was what Joy Co. Ltd. believed. It did not matter if the evaluators acknowledged her and nominated her to be a candidate. She would lose thepetition in the end. Joy Co. Ltd. did not even see a 0.1% possibility that she would be a Pir.

    ¡°What do you think about yer Minhyuk?¡±

    ¡°It will be challenging for yer Minhyuk, too. He is excellent as a chef and as a swordsman, but Pir Candidates should be beyond outstanding in their field.¡±

    The most significant proof was that Minhyuk had lost tens of thousands of times against Rocado. And Minhyuk had to be superior in just one field instead of outstanding in both fields. Because of that, Joy Co. Ltd. believed that it was impossible for Minhyuk to be a Pir through this event. They thought he only had a 0.1% chance of bing one.

    Then, at that moment, Team Leader Park knocked hastily on the door and rushed inside. He had been swamped watching Chaos and the Pir Evaluators these days. He said, ¡°There¡¯s a huge problem. Chaos is preparing something very unexpected.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± The puzzled President Kang Taehoon hurriedly switched the scene on the screen.

    They could see the evaluators bowing their heads deeply in front of the reddybird beetle.

    Evaluator Ruba spoke.

    <em>[The opinions of the foreigners are important too¡­ You are absolutely right, my lord!]</em>

    Team Leader Park hurriedly exined as he looked at Ruba, who was speaking with a trembling voice. ¡°He¡¯s talking about an advance poll. Chaos wants to hold an advance polling for the Pir Candidates.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    An advance poll? Of course, this advance poll was only a voting process for who they wanted to be pirs. It did not mean that the one who ced first in the polls would be a pir.

    <em>[We will reward the person ranked first in the advance polls to give them an edge in the Pirs¡¯ Battle.]</em>

    Even if they could not win first ce, they could still take full advantage of this advanced poll. After thinking about it deeply, Kang Taehoon believed that the bnce could not be maintained with this.

    ¡°What is he thinking? If he does that, the yers will vote for Minhyuk.¡±

    Not long after, Chaos said.

    <em>[We will also give reasonable rewards to the yers who picked the first ranked in the advance polls.]</em>

    Chaos twisted the situation perfectly. Because of this reward, the yers would definitely not vote for Minhyuk just because he was the Supreme. Then, what would happen?

    ¡°Perhaps, yer Minhyuk willest in the advance polls.¡±

    Among the Pir Candidates, Minhyuk might have the lowest influence. With the advance polls, the Pir Candidates would definitely show their power to the people. There was a high chance that the voting turnout would be concentrated on the ones who disyed the most outstanding performance.

    They did not have much of a problem as of now.

    ¡°The only problem that we can think of so far is the rewards that Chaos will give. Still, this should be far more interesting than we thought of before.¡±

    Many would be pleased that the ones that they voted for would be a Pir. The only thing that they found to be unfortunate was the fact that Minhyuk was getting further and further away from the position of the Pir.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s still too early.¡¯</em> Kang Taehoon judged this to be the case.

    The conclusion that he had made after rationally and objectively looking at the situation was that Minhyuk was truly a candidate worthy enough to be a Pir. However, that was only something that would happen in the next three years or so.

    ***

    Verak and Minhyuk ran at their fastest speed and went back to Hell.

    The 72 Devils were now tagged as the enemies of both Heaven and Hell. If they tried to step foot in Hell, then the beings from Hell would immediatelye out to arrest them. When they followed Minhyuk and Verak, they also stepped foot in Hell. In the end the devils, who were devoured by the zing mes of the Supreme Overlord Technique, gave up on chasing them and fled back to the Boundary Between Good and Evil after being chased away by the beings from Hell.

    Minhyuk, who watched them flee, used the Ego Chain Sickle and Viel¡¯s Puppet Doll to tie up the legs of the devil who was running at the end. They ended up killing the devil who was supposedly ranked 67th among the 72 Devils.

    ¡°It¡¯s not easy to kill a Devil, huh?¡± Verak said, his breathing ragged. ¡°Your Majesty Minhyuk, are you trying to kill them one by one?¡±

    It was quite a clever method. Since they would not be able to go deep into Hell, they would justunch a surprise attack on them and kill them one by one. And once they were discovered, they could just jump back deeper into Hell to fill their HP and wait for their skill¡¯s cooldown time.

    After thinking about it, Verak realized that this method would take more than a day. He could not help but tilt his head in confusion.

    ¡°What are you going on about? How long do you think it will take for us to kill them if we do it like that?¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°If we take into consideration the skill cooldown time and the HP recovery then it will probably take us a week, give or take?¡±

    Verak had witnessed it first hand. Although Minhyuk had disyed a shocking feat of killing Great Demon Verus, it still took him quite a while to deal with the devil that had fallen into their hands. It was only possible for him to kill Great Demon Verus in such a short period of time because he had used everything that he had and even had the effects of Transcendence.

    ¡°If we deal with them all at once, then we will be in danger¡­¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re not going to deal with them?¡±

    Verak, who could not understand what Minhyuk meant, was left in confusion. He clearly remembered Minhyuk saying that it would only take him a day to kill them all. Was he going to take back those words? Or was he thinking of using another method?

    Minhyuk looked at Verak, who was wondering about this matter, and said, ¡°Verak, sometimes you don¡¯t need to fight to win a battle.¡±

    Verak had heard simr words before. The question was¡­ <em>How?</em>

    ¡°You can use Hell¡¯s Stealth Technique, right?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    Hell¡¯s Stealth Technique was one of the special powers of Hell¡¯s Emissary. Nevertheless, the activation of this skill did not mean that the beings from Hell and the beings who possessed demonic energy could not attack him. It was just a skill that would allow Verak¡¯s existence to be hidden and undetectable for one hour as long as he did not try to attack others or he did not get attacked.

    ¡°Use it. As for me¡­¡± Minhyuk looked down at the now dead devil in front of him.

    <em>¡®The 67th ranked demon. Baramacht.¡¯</em>

    Coincidentally, Baramacht was called the Demon of <em>Alienation</em>.

    ¡°...I will be Baramacht.¡±

    Minhyuk wore Verus¡¯ Mask. Then, his appearance changed to that of Baramacht¡¯s own. After that, he moved to the Boundary Between Good and Evil with Verak, who activated Hell¡¯s Stealth Technique, following behind him.

    ***

    Great Demon Verus had died. This came as a huge shock to the demons especially the ones who were waiting for their reincarnation in hell and chose to break the rules of the world when Great Demon Verus asked them to crush Minhyuk.

    Now, if they died here, then they would be taken to the God of Death and face the extinguishing of their souls. Because of that, they were now left in chaos.

    ¡°What should we do now?¡±

    ¡°We can live forever in the Boundary Between Good and Evil. I think it¡¯s better to stop acting recklessly just to kill that human named Minhyuk.¡±

    ¡°I agree.¡±

    ¡°Then, should we go and pick a new person to lead us?¡±

    The devils were the ones who led each of their own realms in the Demon World. Each and every single one of them was a monarch in their own right. The only reason why Great Demon Verus could rule over them was because he was far superior to them and could easily control them.

    Just as they were about to discuss the matter about their new leader, someone rushed inside their meeting ce.

    ¡°Baramacht, where have you been?¡±

    ¡°I did not go anywhere. I just arrived.¡±

    Not a single one of them found his actions to be strange. After all, Baramacht was one of the weakest among the devils.

    The devils continued their discussion.

    ¡°What about our ranking?¡±

    ¡°How will we maintain our ranking?¡±

    ¡°Wasn¡¯t it the Great Demon Verus who determined our current rankings?¡±

    While the others were talking, Baramacht turned to the devil sitting beside him and said, ¡°To be honest, I don¡¯t get it.¡±

    ¡°Why are you suddenly speaking?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°???¡±

    ¡°...I just don¡¯t understand it, Baalial. If we¡¯re talking about abilities, then you¡¯re better than the 64th ranked devil. So, why are you ranked 66th?¡±

    ¡°So, you think so too, Baramacht?¡±

    Baramacht nodded. ¡°I think your special abilities and attributes are much better than the 65th ranked devil.¡±

    The devil agreed with his words. He also thought that Baramacht was right. He was confident that he could at least be the 64th ranked devil.

    ¡°In the first ce, our rankings were decided by Great Demon Verus. Now that he¡¯s gone, shouldn¡¯t we decide on a new ranking?¡± Baalial raised his hand and spoke these words coldly.

    Of course, these words were frowned upon by those who wanted to protect and maintain the existing rankings.

    ¡°What bullshit are you talking about?¡±

    ¡°Our ranking, which Great Demon Verus has determined, was based on our characteristics, special attributes, strength, and demonic energy.¡±

    ¡°That was the case before. I don¡¯t think that should be the case now. Right now, another devil thinks that our rankings are not right either¡­¡± The devil said as he turned to look at Baramacht. However, Baramacht had disappeared. Nevertheless, he still continued speaking, ¡°There are devils who think the same way as me.¡±

    ¡°Are you coveting my position?!¡±

    Baramacht, in other words Minhyuk, crept somewhere else.

    ¡°Lord Baal.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter, Baramacht?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s something that I wanted to tell you for a very long time. The 3rd in the rankings has been eyeing your position, Lord Baal. Please be careful.¡±

    ¡°What?! How dare Aamon covet my position?!¡±

    This time, Minhyuk went to where Aamon was and said, ¡°In the past, I heard Lord Baal said that Lord Aamon¡¯s mouth stinks like feces. He clicked his tongue and asked if the only thing that you eat in a day are eggs.¡±

    ¡°Lord Baal said that about me?!¡±

    The effects of his words soon came to life.

    ¡°Aamon. It seems like you have been coveting my position.¡±

    ¡°What nonsense! Lord Baal, you¡¯re the one who has been talking bad about me! You said that my mouth smelled like feces!¡±

    ¡°What?! Now that I think about it, that¡¯s true. You filthy bastard.¡±

    Minhyuk did not stop with just the two of them.

    ¡°No. I¡¯m not too sure about that. The 49th ranked Lord Bahrain said¡­¡±

    ¡°Carmondi, the 47th ranked devil¡­¡±

    Themotion among the devils grew louder and louder.

    ¡°No. Why do you drag me into this when you¡¯re the ones fighting?!¡±

    ¡°Do you want to try me, huh?!¡±

    ¡°Then, let¡¯s arrange our rankings properly?!¡±

    ¡°You f*cking bastard?! Who spread the rumors about me getting dumped by Aermin?!¡±

    The other devils stopped what they were doing and turned to look at the devil that just spoke.

    ¡°F*ck you! Every demon knew that you were dumped by Aermin!¡±

    ¡°Are you saying that you¡¯re the only one who did not know?¡±

    ¡°He has been making such a huge fuss and being salty about it, there¡¯s no way that he did not know about it.¡±

    ¡°A-aaaaaaaah! I¡¯ll kill you all!¡±

    The devils were about to collide. However, there were still a few rational devils who tried to control them.

    ¡°Wait. Nothing good wille out if we fight against each other.¡±

    ¡°Everyone, stop. There¡¯s someone trying to sow discord among us¡­¡±

    When someone tried to calm them down, Minhyuk, the instigator in the form of Baramacht, raised his sword and shouted, ¡°Baal, you f*cking bastard! Arrange the rankings properly!¡±

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    Then, he threw a huge stone that hit Baal straight in the face. Baal¡¯s spear immediately rose into the sky.

    ¡°Come. I dare you to take my position from me.¡±

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    The crazy fighting among the demons erupted the moment the gigantic spear pierced through the ground. Their various special attributes and characteristics appeared and gnawed at each other while their attacksnded non-stop. The problem was that strong beings like Baal were hard to kill. This was the case even for Minhyuk.

    At that moment, Minhyuk shouted, ¡°Baal, you¡¯re the greatest motherf*cking bastard! I heard that you have been aiming for the Great Demon¡¯s position and wanted to rearrange the rankings once you be one!¡±

    ¡°Baal! How dare you covet Lord Verus¡¯ position!¡±

    ¡°Baal, you bastard!!!¡±

    ¡°What bullshit¡­ Keuaaaack!¡±

    Even if Baal was ranked first among the devils, it would still be hard for him to deal with all of their attacks. Just like that, the devils considered to be the most dangerous and hard to deal with were dragged until they were incapacitated one by one. The battlefield grewrger andrger as their fighting escted.

    For yers, killing beings whose HP had been greatly reduced by someone else would only yield a portion of EXP. But what if it was caused by infighting? The yer would definitely gain 100% of the EXP if they dealt thest blow.

    Their bloody battle was finally nearing its end. They had refrained from killing each other and had mostly left their opponent incapacitated. This showed that they still had a bit of reason left.

    ¡°Keuheuk. You f*cking bastards.¡±

    Surprisingly, it was Baal who remained standing tall among the fallen devils. He was able to maintain his position as the number one after oveing all of their attacks.

    At that moment, Minhyuk took off his mask. The sight made Baal¡¯s expression grow ugly.

    ¡°Blowing one¡¯s nose without using one¡¯s own hands.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°A piece of cake.

    ¡°Eating ramyeon cooked by others!¡±

    Minhyuk mocked the demons until the very end. Only then did Baal realize that they had fallen for Minhyuk¡¯s petty tricks. Baal was left agitated when he saw Minhyuk tease them like that.

    <em>¡®Did he receive the blessings of the God of Obnoxiousness? Why is he being so annoying?!¡¯</em>

    Furious, Baal tried to throw his spear at Minhyuk. s, Minhyuk was faster.

    ¡°Cmity.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¨C!</em>

    A pair of ck wings spread and engulfed the fallen devils and the ones who managed to endure until the very end that were gathered in one ce.

    <em>BOOM-!!!</em>

 Chapter 1095

    Chapter 1095

    <strong>Chapter 1095</strong>

    Although the devils were angry at each other, they had only left each other incapacitated. Most of them still had enough strength to stand up. They knew their rankings would be out of control if they started killing each other. The number one in the rankings, Baal, had taken that into consideration and only beat them so they would not die.

    In other words, the devils had been ¡°lit up¡±¡ªa ng used by yers when referring to someone whose HP had gone so low they were close to death.

    And now, Minhyuk had unleashed Cmity and let the ck wings devour the lit-up devils.

    <em>BOOM!</em>

    Cmity¡¯s first strike, which would absolutely and unconditionally hit the target,nded upon Baal.

    <em>Bang!</em>

    Just like the other devils, Baal did not have much HP left, and he died from the hit. The other devils in the vicinity were also swept away by Cmity. Most of the demons died.

    As for those who survived the onught of Cmity, Minhyuk calmly walked over with his sword on his shoulder and then shed their throats one after another.

    Minhyuk listened to the EXP acquisition and tinum acquisition notifications that rang non-stop in his ears.

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    Since he had wiped out all of the 72 Devils, it was only natural that he would experience a level-up. Not only that, he was also able to gain around 1.5 million tinum.

    <em>[You have gained 1 STR.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1 WIS.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1 DEX.]</em>

    When he killed Great Demon Verus, he was given five random stat points. And with every devil that he hunted, he was also able to acquire one random stat point. This brought his total to 77 random stat points.

    After easily dealing with the devils, Minhyuk turned and passed by Verak, who was looking at him nkly. He said, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Now, it was time for them toe for the thing that they truly came for in this ce.

    ***

    Minhyuk killed all the monsters he encountered in the Boundary Between Good and Evil. It was just like Verak said. With an average level of Level 600, the monsters residing in this ce were truly too high.

    Under Verak¡¯s guidance, Minhyuk continued to go deeper in the Boundary Between Good and Evil. Not long after, a series of notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[You have entered the Good and Evil¡¯s Auspicious Site.]</em>

    <em>[Your reinforcement rate, artifact production rate, and the rate of creating higher grade dishes will increase by 15%~25%.]</em>

    <em>[Your DEX has increased by 14%.]</em>

    <em>¡®It¡¯s true?¡¯</em>

    This was the first time that Minhyuk had entered this ce called an auspicious site. It was mostly because the auspicious sites would regrly and randomly switch positions. It was to prevent yers from taking up and possessing auspicious sites.

    That was not the case for the Good and Evil¡¯s Auspicious Site. Instead, it seemed to be a ce where anyone could enjoy the benefits forever. And now, Minhyuk could learn more about this ce.

    <em>¡®Monsters cannot enter the Good and Evil¡¯s Auspicious Site.¡¯</em>

    The monsters wandering around the auspicious site were blocked by an invisible barrier and forced to turn around and walk away.

    As they went deeper into the site, Minhyuk found a woman. The woman seemed to be Aemira.

    Verak said, ¡°That person is Aemira, who created this auspicious site with her powers.¡±

    It was truly a great and shocking ability. The Good and Evil¡¯s Auspicious Site covered an area of 500 meters. In a way, creating an auspicious site this big could be considered to be extremely amazing.

    The subtle glow that covered Aemira¡¯s body spilled on the ground around her. The more he looked at her, the more he found something very weird. This something was none other than the small circle that surrounded Aemira. The circle was so small that it could only fit two people standing together.

    Minhyuk muttered, ¡°No way¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Aemira cannot get out of that circle. She can only live inside that small space.¡±

    ¡°How long has she been staying in that space?¡±

    ¡°If we infer from the words that the God of Death has said, it¡¯s probably around a thousand or so years?¡±

    Minhyuk frowned. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t you go crazy?¡±

    Staying inside that small circle for a thousand years? That was very terrible.

    ¡°From what I heard, the ones who sentenced Aemira to be imprisoned in that small circle are from Heaven. Their sacred powers are keeping Aemira from going crazy.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Just the thought of living in such a constrained space for eternity terrified Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk stared at Aemira for a moment.

    Aemira, who was wearing an almost see-through white dress, looked very beautiful¡ªjust like an angel. She was sleeping while standing up and looked quite weak and lethargic.

    After a moment, he began his cooking preparations. He moved a bit farther away from her to not disturb her. s, the ttering of his pans and utensils still woke Aemira up.

    However, Minhyuk did not notice and continued to prepare while talking with Verak.

    ¡°What crime did shemit to receive such a terrible punishment?¡±

    Minhyuk did not show much interest in Aemira. There was a high chance that she had been punished because she poisoned an angel or perhaps she had coveted the highest position in Heaven.

    Verak shook his head. ¡°I thought that she was an NPC who would give me a huge quest so I tried to find out what she¡¯s guilty of. No matter what I did, I just couldn¡¯t find it. I¡¯m not sure if it¡¯s because it has been way too long or if it was because someone¡¯s hiding it.¡±

    Verak¡¯s thought process was reasonable. NPCs that seemed to have a story behind them were definitely bound to give quests with high rewards.

    Verak added, ¡°And there¡¯s something that I found strange.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°She¡­¡±

    ¡°Hello?¡± a third voice called out while Verak was talking.

    ¡°She looks too much like an angel¡­¡±

    Minhyuk was shocked to hear the third voice ring out from behind them. When he turned around, he saw Aemira trying to act unaffected as she smiled at them.

    Minhyuk greeted her in response. ¡°Yes, hello.¡±

    He still did not show much interest or kindness toward her and just tried to focus on what he was trying to do again.

    When he took a nce behind him, he saw Aemira stretching her neck as much as possible to see what he was doing. It seemed like she was very curious about it.

    After finishing all of the preparations, Minhyuk took a deep breath. This was his first time trying to cook a Pir Ingredient by himself. If he sessfully cooked this Pir Ingredient, then he would be able to obtain Rocado¡¯s Imperfect Work Gloves. Although Minhyuk did not know what power the work gloves would give him, he was sure that it would be a huge boost to his stagnant Food God¡¯s power.

    Aemira asked, ¡°Are you going to cook? Wow! I haven¡¯t seen anyone cook for a thousand years. What are you going to make?¡±

    Minhyuk responded to Aemira¡¯s questions with a simple and curt, ¡°Excuse me, I need to concentrate.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­ Yes¡­¡± Aemira muttered and bowed her head, acting sullenly like a child who had been reprimanded.

    Now that she had gone quiet, Minhyuk took another deep breath and began to spread the oil in the heated cauldron. ording to the Pir¡¯s Assorted Pork Set¡¯s description, he was free to choose what kind of cooking method he would use to cook the ingredient. Nheless, if he used seasonings or sauces, the resulting dish¡¯s special abilities would be significantly reduced. If he boiled it with water, then the meat might just melt. So, Minhyuk chose to grill it.

    Minhyuk immediately ced four slices of <em>samgyeopsal</em> in the heated cauldron.

    <em>Sizzle¨C!</em>

    Quick start, quick finish! He intended to grill the meat as quickly as he could. The delicious and delightful sound put a smile on Minhyuk¡¯s face. Now, it had be a source of his concerns.

    <em>Sizzle¨C!</em>

    Something was strange.

    ¡°...?¡±

    Why was there so much smoke? The smoke filled Minhyuk¡¯s vision. It felt like it was a thousand times more than the smoke emitted when grilling ordinary meat. The smoke even blocked Minhyuk¡¯s view of the grilling <em>samgyeopsal</em>. The only thing that he could hear was the sounds.

    <em>[If the samgyeopsal gets burned, the special abilities will decrease significantly.]</em>

    <em>[If the samgyeopsal is left undercooked, the special abilities will decrease significantly.]</em>

    The catastrophe was just beginning. As the acrid smoke filled the entire space, a tingling sensation started to bloom along Minhyuk¡¯s arms. It seemed like something was wrong with the oil that usually gets sshed when grilling meat!

    ¡°Wh-what¡­¡±

    The oil began to stter all over Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    ¡°Hey, shit! This oil¡­¡±

    Minhyuk caught a glimpse of the oil that was being hidden by the thick cloud of acrid smoke that blocked his vision. It was almost the size of a fist!

    <em>Sizzle!</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s armor sizzled loudly the moment the oil made contact with it. It did not end there. Dozens of such oils shot toward Minhyuk every second.

    <em>[Your HP has fallen below 88%.]</em>

    <em>[You are suffering from a terrible burn.]</em>

    <em>[It will be difficult to move your body.]</em>

    Minhyuk could not understand why it would be difficult to move his body when he only suffered from burns.

    The answer came to him soon after. A blister formed in the area where the oil sttered on him and immediately swelled to the size of a fist. Then, some kind of liquid began to trickle down from the blister.

    <em>[The samgyeopsal will burn in 5 seconds.]</em>

    <em>[The samgyeopsal¡­ 4 seconds.]</em>

    Minhyuk stretched his hand through the acrid smoke and constantly sttering oil and used the tongs to flip the <em>samgyeopsal.</em> Thankfully, his high DEX allowed him to grab all four <em>samgyeopsal </em>at once and flip it over all at once.

    <em>¡®Phew. It¡¯s done¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>[The samgyeopsal will burn in 2 seconds.]</em>

    Just then, the notification ringing in his ears made him realize something was wrong. Minhyuk extended the tongs once again to flip the <em>samgyeopsal.</em>

    <em>Sizzle!</em>

    <em>¡®What the hell is this¡­?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk thought he had sessfully flipped the meat but soon realized something was wrong. There was no sizzling sound during the first flip; it only sizzled when he flipped it a second time.

    <em>¡®Right now, are you telling me¡­¡¯</em>

    This cooking was riddled with <em>lies.</em> The first time Minhyuk flipped the meat, the only thing he grabbed was air. What was ridiculous was that he felt it. He clearly felt that he had grabbed something with the tongs.

    <em>Blub, blub, blub.</em>

    This time, the sound that he could hear through the smoke had changed. The sound of something sizzling turned into the sound of something bubbling.

    Minhyuk, who was now covered with oil, felt like his entire body was already burnt to a crisp. Nevertheless, his hands did not stop moving. He continued to grill the <em>samgyeopsal</em> until it had been cooked well and put it on a te.

    <em>¡®Phew¡­¡¯</em>

    Fortunately, he was able to cook the <em>samgyeopsal</em> well. He had seeded in making sure that it was not burnt or undercooked. Minyuk¡¯s high DEX had yed a huge part in it. It was also thanks to Minhyuk¡¯s abundant experience in grilling <em>samgyeopsal.</em> This experience allowed him to determine if the meat was already cooked even if he could not see what he was cooking.

    <em>¡®I still have to grill the moksal[1] and the hangjeongsal[2].¡¯</em>

    When he finished cooking the <em>samgyeopsal, </em>the sttering oil and the thick smoke slowly died down.

    <em>[Please grill the next piece of meat right away.]</em>

    <em>[If you don¡¯t finish grilling the other meat, the grilled samgyeopsal will get cold and the special abilities will significantly decrease.]</em>

    Minhyuk wanted to continue after everything had died down, but the notifications would not let him be. He immediately began calcting.

    <em>¡®The time that it will take to grill the remaining parts of meat¡­¡¯</em>

    The <em>samgyeopsal</em> would have already cooled down by the time that he finished grilling the remaining meat. The notification was basically warning Minhyuk that he would only be able to obtain the full set of special abilities if he finished grilling the remaining meat right away.

    Despite suffering tremendous damage from cooking the <em>samgyeopsal</em> alone, Minhyuk gritted his teeth and ced both the <em>moksal</em> and the <em>hangjeongsal</em> together in the still hot cauldron.

    While the <em>moksal</em> could cover arge area in the cauldron, the <em>hangjeongsal </em>was only as thin as a finger. The only difference is in their amount. The <em>hangjeongsal</em> might be cut thinly, but there were many pieces of it.

    Thick and acrid smoke rose from the cauldron. At the same time, the temperature also rose.

    <em>¡®Why is it so hot?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk looked around in confusion.

    ¡°Wh-what the hell?¡±

    That was when he saw a huge wall blocking his back while red-hot and burning charcoals surrounded him. The temperature grew higher and higher by the second.

    <em>[You are inside the Fantasy Charcoal Pit.]</em>

    <em>[You are the only one affected by the charcoal pit.]</em>

    Minhyuk had seen once on the television how they cooked<em> samgyeopsal</em> in just ten seconds by putting it in a shovel and shoving it deep inside a heated charcoal pit. And right now, he was inside that very same charcoal pit.

    He was sweating from the heat, and blisters once again appeared all over his body.

    ¡°Ugh!¡± Minhyuk groaned.

    Even though Minhyuk had a high resistance to the fire attribute, the heat was just too much.

    On top of that, his vision was being blocked while his consciousness was being confused by the acrid smoke. This left his senses feeling dull while he was grilling the meat. Minhyuk¡¯s consciousness slowly turned faint and distant. Thankfully, his high DEX shone through and disyed its prowess to make up for the gap created by his distracted mind.

    <em>[Your high DEX has increased your resistance with the Fire Attribute. You can continue cooking.]</em>

    The Fantasy Charcoal Pit¡¯s appearance was proof that only someone with an extremely high DEX could endure and cook this ingredient.

    Minhyuk stretched his hand through the acrid smoke and grabbed the meat with his tongs and flipped it. This time, he still could not hear the sizzle. So, Minhyuk once again stretched his hand out and flipped the meat again.

    Minhyuk gave it his all to drag himself out of the dizziness and the distraction.

    <em>[You have received a special privilege for your DEX.]</em>

    Tiny dots that were almost imperceptible through the thick smoke appeared blinking in Minhyuk¡¯s vision. Those were the ces where the meat exactly was.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaa!¡± Minhyuk screamed loudly as he grabbed the tongs with both hands and pushed it through the smoke.

    He grabbed three tiny dots¡ªin other words, three pieces of <em>moksal</em>¡ªwith his tongs all at once.

    <em>Sizzle!</em>

    This time the loud sizzling of meat rang in his ears when he flipped it.

    Minhyuk, who was immersed in the illusion created by the Pir Assorted Pork Set, watched as the door to the charcoal pit opened. For a moment, Minhyuk wondered if a cool and refreshing wind was just about to blow at him.

    The problem was that he was not greeted by a cool wind but by a huge shovel filled with burning red coal. The shovel tipped down, and the charcoal fell on Minhyuk''s head, which was infinitely smallpared to the gigantic charcoal kiln.

    <em>Sizzle!</em>

    ¡°Keok!!!¡±

    Minhyuk felt like his entire body was melting. Despite knowing that it was nothing more than an illusion, he still could not help but scream from the pain that felt far too real. Even his invincible body could not resist the effects of this illusion.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!!!¡±

    Thankfully, the Divine Will was triggered and helped him to continue on. His DEX, which had been slightly increased when he entered this ce, was now showing the dots representing the <em>hangjeongsal</em>.

    There were ten red dots blinking through the thick smoke. He stretched his tongs out and flipped one¡­ two¡­ three¡­ four¡­ five¡­ six¡­ pieces of the meat.

    <em>Sizzle!</em>

    Unfortunately, Minhyuk¡¯s mental power has been drained. Although he tried to rely on his DEX, his vision had grown far too blurry, and he could no longer see the blinking red dot.

    The exhausted Minhyuk was already almost on the point of copse.

    <em>¡®Am I going to fail?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk could faintly tell that the Pir¡¯s Assorted Pork Set would be spoiled the moment he fell down and copsed.

    At that moment, an unknown voice rang in his ears. ¡°I-I¡¯ll help you!¡±

    Minhyuk was left confused when he heard the voice. This was because it seemed to belong to Aemira, the woman who was punished by being trapped in a small circle of space.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!!!¡± Aemira¡¯s screams echoed in the auspicious site as a notification rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[Aemira, the master of thend, has started to increase the power of the auspicious site.]</em>

    Then, a huge light burst from thend where Minhyuk was standing.

    <em>[The effects of the Good and Evil Auspicious Site have grown better.]</em>

    <em>[Your reinforcement rate, artifact production rate and the rate of creating higher grade dishes will increase by 27%~40%.]</em>

    <em>[Your DEX has increased by 24%.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s blurry vision cleared up, and he was able to see the red dots better. Using thest of his strength, he stretched out his trembling hands to flip the remaining dots with his tongs.

    After struggling for 25 more seconds, Minhyuk sessfully removed the <em>moksal </em>and the<em> hangjeongsal</em> from the cauldron and ced it into the te. Then, he promptly copsed. As his consciousness drifted off, a series of notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[You havepleted the </em><strong><em>Pir Quest</em></strong><em>: Sessfully Create Something using a Pir Ingredient or Pir Artifact.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained the Imperfect Work Gloves.]</em>

    He cked out.

    1. pork neck ?

    2. pork jowl ?

 Chapter 1096

    Chapter 1096

    <strong>Chapter 1096</strong>

    ¡°My grilled pork!¡±

    When Minhyuk finally regained consciousness, the first thing he was concerned about was his grilled pork. He was worried that he would be unable to eat any of it. This was because his memories from before he fainted were so blurry and fragmented that he wondered if it had merely been a dream.

    <em>¡®I have to go and check it.¡¯</em>

    If he looked into his inventory, he could determine whether it was a dream or a reality. At that moment, Minhyuk saw that the description part of the Pir¡¯s Assorted Pork Set¡¯s detail window had already changed.

    <em>[You have sessfully and excellently cooked the ingredient. You will be able to receive theplete set of special abilities once you cook and eat the assorted pork set without penalties.]</em>

    He also saw the Imperfect Work Gloves in his inventory. This meant that it was not a dream.

    At that moment, Minhyuk recalled the voice that he heard before he lost consciousness.

    ¨C<em>I will help you!</em>The voice belonged to none other than Aemira.

    Verak hurriedly approached Minhyuk and said, ¡°Your Majesty, you started to tremble suddenly. It was as if some mind magic was controlling you. Aemira helped out when we saw that you were about to faint.¡±

    Minhyuk listened to the events that took ce from the moment his consciousness began to fade.

    ¡°Aemira seemed to be struggling as she used her powers. She sighed in relief and finally copsed after Your Majesty finished cooking.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded slowly at Verak.

    ¡°I have already expressed my gratitude to her, so you don¡¯t need to talk to her anymore, Your Majesty. The God of Death warned¡­?¡± Verak trailed off, confused.

    Verak was still in the middle of expression his concern for Minhyuk when Minhyuk suddenly stood up and walked over to Aemira.

    ¡°Your Majesty! The God of Death¡ª¡±

    But Minhyuk ignored Verak again.

    With a standard 90-degree bow, Minhyuk said to Aemira, ¡°You have my utmost gratitude.¡±

    Verak was quite surprised. Anyone could express their gratitude, but Minhyuk was an emperor¡ªa father figure to tens of millions of people. Verak did not expect such a man to politely express his appreciation for a woman who was a prisoner.

    Aemira¡¯s gaze shifted all over the ce. Perhaps it was because she was embarrassed by the courteous greeting.

    Minhyuk was very curious about one thing. He asked, ¡°Why did you help me?¡±

    From what he had heard from Verak, Aemira had used so much power that she screamed in pain.

    When Aemira spoke to Minhyuk earlier, he had politely yet curtly said he did not want her to talk to him. He had even ignored her, acting all sulky, and continued to do what he wanted to do. In a way, Minhyuk had treated her rudely.

    This ce was a reward he and Verak had found inside the Boundary Between Good and Evil, but its owner was Aemira.

    <em>¡®I openly invaded hernd and even made use of her auspicious site without even asking for her permission.¡¯</em>

    Despite his audacity, Aemira had still helped him.

    ¡°Because it looked like you desperately wanted to achieve your goal. I only used a bit of my power to respond to your earnest and heartfelt feelings for your goal. You don¡¯t have to be that grateful to me.¡±

    ¡°...¡± Minhyuk was speechless.

    Aemira had known it would cause her pain, yet she still helped him just because of his desire to seed. Minhyuk was convinced that this woman had been born with a beautiful and kind heart.

    If it were anyone else, they would have answered, <em>¡®I¡¯ve helped you, so will you help me too?¡¯</em>

    Yet, Aemira did not do that and even said that they should not be that grateful to her. How many people could lend a helping hand purely out of kindness?

    Minhyuk was curious about one other thing, but he hesitated, unsure if he should ask.

    When Aemira saw the hesitation in his eyes, she said, ¡°Please speak freely.¡±

    In the end, Minhyuk threw a fastball and asked, ¡°Why are you trapped here?¡±

    Even Verak, who had been staying in Hell for a long time, had not been able to find out why Aemira was trapped in this ce.

    A bitter look shed on Aemira¡¯s face as she replied, ¡°I don¡¯t have an answer to give you.¡±

    ¡°No answer? Is there a restriction ced upon you?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not it. It¡¯s just¡­ there¡¯s no answer I can give you.¡±

    Minhyuk was left confused. What did she mean by that? Nevertheless, Minhyuk knew Aemira would feel bad if he continued asking questions.

    So, he just said, ¡°If there¡¯s something I can help you with, please feel free to tell me. I will help you. Of course, as long as it¡¯s within my capabilities.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Lost in her thoughts, Aemira fell silent, trying to think of something that Minhyuk could help her with. However, she could onlyugh awkwardly. It seemed like she couldn¡¯t think of anything right now.

    ¡°I never expected anything in return¡­ I¡¯ll think hard about it! Honestly, I¡¯m already thrilled to have you in this ce!¡± Aemira eximed.

    Minhyuk and Verak both tilted their heads puzzledly. What was Aemira happy about?

    ¡°It¡¯s because I can have a conversation with you!¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    The two men looked at her nkly. For a moment, they seemed to feel the pain that she was experiencing. Unbeknownst to Minhyuk, he waspletely taken in by Aemira¡¯s personality.

    Aemira had been sentenced to life imprisonment in this small space of around 1.5 meters and had lived there for a very long time. Now, she was saying that she was just pleased that she could talk to others. Perhaps Aemira had helped Minhyuk with all her might because she had not met anyone for a very long time.

    Minhyuk said, ¡°Then, let me know once you have decided. I¡¯ll stay here for today.¡±

    ¡°Alright!¡± Aemira answered, her face turning pensive.

    Verak approached Minhyuk in worry. ¡°Is this alright, Your Majesty?¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine. Nothing¡¯s wrong.¡±

    Verak seemed to worry about the words of the God of Death.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk recalled the exact words and thought, <em>¡®Why did he give me such a warning?¡¯</em>

    The God of Death should have known that Minhyuk would not obey whatevermands he was given. So, even if the God of Death had warned Minhyuk, the God of Death should have known that Minhyuk would ignore his words. Minhyuk was a good person after all.

    Aemira¡¯s entire being was a question mark.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s not what¡¯s important right now.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk left Aemira be for the time being. Right now, his priority was to check what he had obtained. He immediately scrolled through the notifications he had gotten while he was unconscious.

    <em>[You havepleted the </em><strong><em>Pir Quest</em></strong><em>: Sessfully Create Something using a Pir Ingredient or Pir Artifact.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained the Imperfect Work Gloves.]</em>

    <em>[Your DEX has increased by 5%.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 5,000 REP.]</em>

    <em>[You have earned 100 cash.]</em>

    Minhyuk did not dy any further. He checked the information about the Imperfect Work Gloves.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Imperfect Work Gloves</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Rocado¡¯s Exclusive Artifact</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: Pir</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: The one who inherited Rocado¡¯s power.</em>

    <strong><em>Durability</em></strong><em>: 50,000 / 50,000</em>

    <strong><em>Attack Power</em></strong><em>: 1,800</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?All of your stats will increase by 1%.</em>

    <em>?Your DEX will increase by 22%.</em>

    <em>?You have a 20% chance of triggering DEX Critical.</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Pinnacle Dexterity</em>

    <em>?Additional Equip is possible.</em>

    <em>?Sealed</em>

    <em>?Sealed</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: These are the work gloves worn by Rocado in his prime. They are still in their perfect state because their seal has not yet been released.</em>

    ¡°Are you saying that this is still imperfect¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk was quite shocked. The biggest reason was the words ¡°Additional Equip.¡± If the Additional Equip was possible, then it meant that he could wear another glove on top of the work gloves. In other words, he could enjoy the unique abilities of two artifacts when he wore this work glove.

    When Minhyuk put the work gloves on, the gloves immediately got sucked onto his hands. He felt no difference when he repeatedly clenched and unclenched his fists. The gloves were so light it felt like he was wearing nothing. They did not show their form and did not even have any weight.

    <em>¡®Wow¡­¡¯</em>

    Did this mean he could enjoy the 22% increase in DEX and a 1% increase in all stats just like that? But that was not all. There were also the unfamiliar words ¡°DEX Critical,¡± to which he had to check the detailed exnation.

    <em>[DEX Critical, just like Attack Critical, will only be triggered by chance. Upon triggering, the DEX will instantly double.]</em>

    <em>¡®Oh¡­?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was in awe. This attached the concept of Attack Critical to DEX.

    With these gloves equipped, Minhyuk could make things 1.3x better than usual. On top of that, it also had an attack power of 1,800, a level that could be said to beparable to a God-rank sword. Then, there was also the cheat-like Pinnacle Dexterity skill.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Pinnacle Dexterity</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Artifact Skill</em>

    <strong><em>Level</em></strong><em>: None</em>

    <strong><em>Mana Required</em></strong><em>: 5,000</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty</em></strong><em>: None.</em>

    <strong><em>Cooldown</em></strong><em>: 30 minutes.</em>

    <strong><em>Effects</em></strong><em>: Upon activation, the DEX stat will increase by 1.4x for two minutes.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: This is one of the skills that Rocado used in his prime.</em>

    ¡°Wow¡­¡±

    What would happen if Minhyuk activated this skill and the DEX Critical got triggered?

    <em>¡®Maybe I¡¯ll be able to make a legendary grade dish just by touching it with my hands¡­?¡¯</em>

    The lowest grade of dishes Minhyuk could create, regardless of the method or the ingredients, was set at epic grade. This was thanks to the effects of the title The One Who Reached the Pinnacle. If the effects of this skill were added on top of that, then it would not be a pipe dream to create eight or ten legendary-grade dishes in one go.

    <em>[A different quest to find Rocado¡¯s power will be triggered independently. It will start soon.]</em>

    If Rocado were here, then Minhyuk would willingly kowtow to the man.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m really very grateful to you.¡¯</em>

    Among the men Minhyuk had met, he could be considered one of the greatest. Perhaps Minhyuk would be able to be like Rocado in his prime once he found everything that Rocado had left behind for him.

    For now, he left that thought behind and focused on preparing the cauldron so he could eat.

    ¡°Why does <em>samgyeopsal</em> taste more delicious if you grill it in a cauldron?¡±

    It was a question with no answer. The Pir Assorted Pork Set was once again turned back into raw ingredients.

    Minhyuk spread oil on the heated cauldron and began to put the <em>samgyeopsal</em> and <em>moksal</em> slices.

    <em>Sizzle!</em>

    Smoke bloomed from the heated cauldron as Minhyuk ced an uncut kimchi on the bottom where the oil flowed.

    <em>Sizzle!</em>

    Minhyuk was indeed a man who knew how to eat.

    Once the meat was cooked perfectly, he grabbed his scissors and cut it into bite-sized pieces.

    <em>¡®Kghhk! This thick and juicy meat is really delicious!¡¯</em>

    It was pretty chewy and very juicy. As Minhyuk lifted a piece of perfectly grilled meat, he could see the boiling oil covering its surface.

    <em>Hoo¨C Hoo¨C</em>

    Minhyuk did not dip the meat in anything. He blew on it briefly before putting it in his mouth. The savory oil flowed and covered every inch of Minhyuk¡¯s mouth with every chew of the <em>samgyeopsal</em>.

    This time, he dipped a piece of meat in salt before taking a huge bite. Next, he dipped it in <em>ssamjang.</em> Then, he made a wrap by putting two pieces of <em>samgyeopsal</em> on top of a piece of lettuce; some garlic dipped in <em>ssamjang</em>, Cheongyang peppers, scallions, and many more before putting it in his mouth.

    ¡°Keuhaaaa!!!¡±

    This taste¡­ this vor¡­ they were indeed worthy of admiration!

    After the <em>samgyeopsal,</em> Minhyuk turned his attention to the <em>moksal, </em>which had lower fat content and calorie count than <em>samgyeopsal.</em> Did that mean that it was dry and tasteless? Not at all. A perfectly cooked <em>moksal</em> would melt when one puts it in their mouth.

    Minhyuk happily grilled the <em>hangjeongsal</em> while eating <em>moksal</em> dipped in salt.

    He was someone who really knew how to eat, so he took out some <em>bibimnaengmyeon. </em>He separated the yolk and crushed it before mixing it with the <em>bibimnaengmyeon</em>¡¯s sauce. Then, he added some of the well-grilled <em>hangjeongsal</em> on top before grabbing a huge mouthful of the noodles and putting it in his mouth.

    The savory<em> hangjeongsal</em> and the sweet yet spicy <em>bibimnaengmyeon</em>bined to create a fantastic vor that burst in his mouth.

    After eating everything up, a series of notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[You have eaten the Pir¡¯s Assorted Pork Set.]</em>

    <em>[The dish is not undercooked, but it is also not remarkable. You will receive the ingredient¡¯s usual effects.]</em>

    When Rocado cooked the Pir Ingredient in the past, his dish had several special abilities added to it. This was proof of how well-cooked and special the dish that he¡¯d made had been.

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 2.1%.]</em>

    <em>[Your DEX has increased by 7%.]</em>

    <em>[Your STR has increased by 6%.]</em>

    <em>[Your STM has increased by 5%.]</em>

    <em>[Your Earth Attribute Resistance has increased by 19%.]</em>

    <em>[When fighting against earth-attributed monsters, your attack and defensive power will increase by 8%.]</em>

    Nevertheless, a smile filled with satisfaction appeared on Minhyuk¡¯s face.

    <em>¡®This means that only the ingredient representing the air is the only thing left, right?¡¯</em>

    There was a high chance that this ingredient was a fowl. Maybe it was a chicken or a duck? The thought of cooking and eating such an ingredient made his mouth water.

    Righ then, Aemira called out to Minhyuk, ¡°Uhm, excuse me.¡±

    It seemed like she had finally decided on the request she would ask Minhyuk to fulfill.

    <em>¡®Maybe she will ask me to make her something delicious?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk turned to look at her.

    ***

    The aide, who had just confirmed something, hurriedly approached the God of Death.

    He said, ¡°What should we do, God of Death?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Louis asked calmly, his head bowed as he looked at the ground beneath him.

    ¡°This servant of yours has confirmed that the pass that you have given is not an ordinary pass.¡±

    There were three types of passes in Hell, ranging from an ordinary pass, which identified the pass holder as a noble, to the highest level of pass, which showed that the pass holder was the friend of the God of Death.

    Minhyuk had a very awkward rtionship with the God of Death. Nevertheless, there was still a chance that the God of Death had bestowed Minhyuk with the highest level of pass because Minhyuk had helped him send his lover, He, safely into the River of Reincarnation.

    The problem was there was a huge secret hidden in this pass.

    ¡°But when the person possessing this pass is attacked, you, the God of Death, can immediately descend and arrive where they are!¡±

    The God of Death could only issue this kind of pass twice. Why? This was because this pass could sometimes ignore some of the rules set in thisnd and thend beyond this. So, the question was: why had he given such a valuable pass to that human emperor?

    The aide ended his train of thought with a hypothesis. He asked, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me it¡¯s because of that woman named Aemira?¡±

    ¡°...¡± The God of Death did not answer and only looked down at his aide. After a moment, he opened his mouth and said, ¡°I am the lord who rules over Hell.¡±

    That was right. The God of Death was a terrifying existence who governed over the dead. Did that mean that he could indiscriminately kill and ughter someone? No, not at all. Did that mean that he could break the rules? No. He was just nothing but a monarch who ruled over Hell. In the end, he was still a god who had to maintain and follow the world''s rules.

    He continued, ¡°I want to straighten out and correct Heaven¡¯s rotten judgment.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Because I promised.¡±

    Louis had promised He before she left that he would turn Hell into the fairest and most beautiful version of Hell. He promised to turn Hell into something others had failed to achieve.

    ¡°B-but¡­¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you aware of it too?¡± The God of Death¡¯s cold gaze swept over his aide. ¡°Aemira is <em>innocent.</em>¡±

    ***

    ¡°Uhm, excuse me.¡±

    Minhyuk turned around and looked at Aemira. He would listen to and fulfill her request as much as possible, no matter what it was.

    The girl hesitated, but in the end, she showed Minhyuk a wide and bright smile. There was a deep set of dimples on her cheeks as she said, ¡°Can you please kill me?¡±

    Just like that, she made a very shocking request.

 Chapter 1097

    Chapter 1097

    <strong>Chapter 1097</strong>

    Minhyuk received grace and kindness from Aemira. Without her help, he would have failed to cook the Pir Ingredient.

    <em>¡®Just thinking about that moment is enough to make me feel like I¡¯m about to faint again.¡¯</em>

    Failing would mean he could not acquire the Imperfect Work Gloves and, worse, the disappearance of the Pir Ingredient. Perhaps it would also spell the end of the quest to find Rocado¡¯s power.

    The help that Aemira had given him was like a timely rain. That was why Minhyuk nned to give it his all to fulfill her request.

    ¡°Can you please kill me?¡±

    Until he heard her words.

    ¡°...¡±Even though there was a vast and bright smile, Aemira looked like she was about to cry.

    The flustered Minhyuk looked at her in confusion. Then, at that moment, a notification rang.

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Hidden Quest</em></strong><em>: Aemira¡¯s Request]</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: SSS</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: The one who received Aemira¡¯s request.</em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: Skill - Auspicious Site</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Failure</em></strong><em>: Aemira¡¯s favor will drop.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: When you told Aemira that you would help her once with a request, she spoke unbelievable words and asked you to kill her. However, the reward is lovely and tempting. Let¡¯s think about this carefully.</em>

    When Minhyuk clicked on the skill name ¡°Auspicious Site,¡± detailed information popped out. Despite being able to create an auspicious site with a smaller effect than the auspicious site made by Aemira, the reward could still be considered to be ridiculously shocking.

    ording to the skill description, Minhyuk could make an auspicious site with an area that covered a 150-meter radius around him and be the master of thend. Inside this auspicious site, one¡¯s DEX would increase by 3%, and the probability of sessfully creating something with a higher grade would also increase by 3%.

    The effects might be insignificantpared to Aemira¡¯s auspicious site, but the fact that he could create an auspicious site with an area covering a 150-meter radius was already cheat-like and overpowered enough.

    Nevertheless, Minhyuk still chose to put the quest on hold. He continued to look at Aemira in confusion.

    ¡°I just want to feelfort finally.¡±

    With these words, he understood why she said that before.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to feel lonely anymore.

    ¡°I want to be rid of this ce.¡±

    That was why Aemira told him to kill her.

    Minhyuk¡¯s lips turned dry as he looked at the girl silently. As he repeatedly opened and closed his mouth without being able to say anything, he realized that Aemira¡¯s mind and body were restless and uneasy.

    <em>¡®The beings from Heaven might be stopping her from going crazy, but in a way, it could already be considered a great feat for her to maintain that level of sanity and mentality.¡¯</em>

    If it were Minhyuk, he might have already been unable to voice his thoughts.

    ¡°Let¡¯s talk first.¡±

    Ever since he contracted his eating addiction, Minhyuk had undergone countless psychiatric counseling and personal counseling from Jinhwan. Every single time, the words, <em>¡®I want to die,¡¯ ¡®I want to feelfort,¡¯ </em>and <em>¡®I want to live normally, too¡¯</em> woulde out of his mouth.

    He recalled the words that his psychiatrist would often say while holding his hand tightly and shing a small smile at him.

    ¡°Do you want to die? Don¡¯t you have things you want to do?¡±

    ¡°Things I want to do?¡±

    Delight suddenly shed on Aemira¡¯s face. This was because this was the first time someone asked her if she wanted to do something.

    ¡°Uhm¡­ I want to see the sky. I heard that the sky is a wonderful thing that stretches far and wide?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°I read from the book that birds will fly in them, and it will sometimes rain or snow!¡±

    At that moment, Minhyuk noticed something. <em>¡®She¡­ has been here from the very beginning.¡¯</em>

    Was that urate? Minhyuk looked around. Although this ce was the Boundary Between Good and Evil, it seemed to be modeled after Hell. The sky was dark without any twinkling stars in sight, and the entire ce was filled with gloom.

    ¡°I want to see the sea. I also want to run barefoot on the sandy beaches by the sea!

    ¡°Ah! I also want to try drinking alcohol! I want to get drunk to the point that everything around me starts to shake!

    ¡°And wasn¡¯t there something called food that makes you feel full? I want to try that thing called food. The thing that you ate earlier was food, right?

    ¡°Ah! I also want to try that thing called love! I want to feel that unknown feeling!¡±

    As Minhyuk listened to Aemira¡¯s non-stop wishes, he realized that she genuinely did not want to die. Would it make sense for someone like her, who wanted to do a lot of things, to want to die just like that? At the same time, he felt a dull ache in his chest.

    All of the things that Aemira wanted were ordinary and mundane.

    Minhyuk had been living as Athenae¡¯s Supreme for quite some time now. During that time, he had unknowingly developed ¡°sense.¡± It was shouting and telling him, <em>¡®There¡¯s something here.¡¯ </em>He did not know what it was, but his sense warned him not to overlook it.

    After looking at the flushed and non-stop chattering Aemira, Minhyuk finally decided. He thought, <em>¡®I will believe in my senses. I will not ept the quest.¡¯</em>

    <em>[You have rejected the </em><strong><em>Hidden Quest</em></strong><em>: Aemira¡¯s Request.]</em>

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[The quest will now change.]</em>

    <em>[The </em><strong><em>Hidden Quest</em></strong><em>: Something Concealed has been created.]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Hidden Quest</em></strong><em>: Concealed Case]</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: SSS</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: The one who received Aemira¡¯s request.</em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: Aemira¡¯s favor will dramatically increase.</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Failure</em></strong><em>: Aemira¡¯s favor will decrease.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: You have turned down Aemira¡¯s request. Because of that, you have to find another way to help her. Find the case that has been concealed, destroy the prison that traps her, and save her! Go to Heaven¡¯s Library and check the ¡®Case Reports.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk knew his senses were correct when he saw that the quest had changed. A quest was sometimes a telltale sign of something about to happen or something that had been hidden. The quest mentioned something ¡°concealed,¡± which meant a truth was hidden behind everything.

    At this moment, a hypothesis formed in Minhyuk¡¯s head. <em>¡®Aemira said she had no answer when I asked her why she was trapped here.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk did not understand what she meant. That was until he got this quest.

    <em>¡®The reason why she can¡¯t answer is because she doesn¡¯t know.¡¯</em>

    There was a high chance that Aemira did not even know what kind of crime she hadmitted and why she was trapped in this terrible prison. But there was one thing that Minhyuk was sure of: that he needed to go to Heaven.

    Before going to Heaven, Minhyuk approached Aemira, who was still talking like a chatterbox.

    ¡°Aemira.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Aemira, who was talking non-stop, looked at Minhyuk.

    ¡°Would you like toe with me if you can leave this ce?¡±

    Of course, Minhyuk wanted to repay her kindness, but he also knew that she would be of great help to him and the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    <em>¡®If we have her power to create auspicious sites, then¡­¡¯</em>

    If Minhyuk had Aemira by his side, he could create a better dish every single time. The fact that she could make an auspicious site with an area covering a 500-meter radius was enough to attract people with outstanding DEX to Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    <em>¡®And if we also consider the other powers she has not yet shown, then¡­¡¯</em>

    Aemira was a woman with far greater power than he had expected. Nevertheless, he extended this offer to her, not because of greed. Minhyuk would respect her choice. If she did not want to, he would make sure that he helped her leave this ce and settle somewhere else.

    With a tearful look, Aemira asked, ¡°C-can I really leave this ce?¡±

    It seemed like the thought of it alone was enough to make her feel overwhelmed with emotions.

    ¡°If I follow you, then¡­ what kind of ce will we go to?¡± The trembling Aemira asked.

    Minhyuk chuckled. ¡°It¡¯s a ce where you can go and visit the blue sea immediately. A ce where you can stand in the middle of the street and look at the vast and endless sky at any time.¡±

    Tears started to drip down her eyes when she heard those words.

    ¡°It¡¯s a ce brimming with delicious food and kind and nice people. I am the emperor ruling that ce.¡±

    A smile broke out on Aemira¡¯s face.

    Then, Minhyuk asked, ¡°Aemira, would you like to be one of my people?¡±

    ¡°YES!!!¡± Aemira shouted as she clenched her fists tightly. It seemed like she was desperate to get out of this ce truly.

    Minhyuk was shocked by her loud voice, which almost pierced his eardrums. Nevertheless, he smiled as he looked at her. This was because he could see her willingness to live in her eyes.

    Now, it was time for Minhyuk to make a move. Before leaving, he made sure to give Verak his orders.

    ¡°You want me to call that person here?¡±

    ¡°If my assumptions are correct, then the God of Death has only given me a pass because I said that I was going to the Boundary Between Good and Evil. As for you, you stay here with Aemira.¡±

    ¡°I understand. Are you going to enter Heaven? Can you even enter Heaven?¡±

    To cross Hell, one needed to obtain a pass. So, there was a chance that the same was true for Heaven. Even though Minhyuk did not know if he could enter, he still began walking toward Heaven.

    And Verak? He thought that Minhyuk would return immediately if he failed to enter Heaven. But Minhyuk did note back.

    <em>¡®He must have entered Heaven?¡¯</em>

    Since Minhyuk had ordered Verak to stay with Aemira, he thought he should follow his emperor¡¯smand and converse with the girl.

    ¡°I want to try that too!

    ¡°I remembered it now!

    ¡°I want to try that thing called cake too!¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Verak stared at Aemira, who had not stopped talking since earlier. After seven hours, Aemira turned to the dozing Verak and said, ¡°Excuse me! I thought of another thing that I want to do!¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­ Oh¡­ Hmm! Yes!¡±

    Aemira did not stop speaking for over seven hours!

    ***

    Minhyuk finally arrived in front of the sky-high transparent barrier covered with a colorful aura. This barrier separated Heaven from this ce.

    <em>¡®Now¡­ How do I get into Heaven?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had never encountered an angel, let alone an archangel. He could only silently stretch out his hand and touch the transparent barrier.

    <em>Swoosh¨C</em>

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s hand quickly passed through the barrier.

    <em>[The holy power you possess far surpasses the angels¡¯ holy power.]</em>

    <em>[You can enter Heaven.]</em>

    ¡°...That was easy.¡±

    Although Minhyuk said that, the truth was something else. After all, most of the priests¡¯ holy power could never go beyond the angels. It was only possible because Minhyuk¡¯s holy power was beyond imagination.

    <em>¡®Do I have to reveal myself to go inside the library?¡¯</em>

    The answer to that was a resounding no. Minhyuk did not need to sh against the beings of Heaven for nothing. So, he quickly took out the Great Demon Verus¡¯ Mask.

    When Minhyuk entered, he met some of the beings of Heaven. Even though they were angels, they did not have those shiny rings made of golden light floating above their heads and looked literally like humans.

    Minhyuk hurriedly changed into one of them. At the end of the road, a magnificent tower stretched up high.

    <em>[Archangels¡¯ Tower]</em>

    Minhyuk walked towards that tower. Some floors in the Archangels¡¯ Tower seemed open to all beings of Heaven. Minhyuk could enter the tower¡¯s first floor without undergoing any identification process.

    He stopped one of the heavenly dwellers and asked, ¡°Excuse me. Where¡¯s the library?¡±

    This ce was no different from the human world. The Heaven¡¯s Library, located in the tower, was avable to everyone. When he followed the instructions and entered the library, he was met with a mysterious ce filled with tens of thousands of bookshelves that were around six meters in height.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s no way that this is the true library.¡¯</em>

    ording to the quest, he had to check the Case Reports in the library. This meant that there was a case report file somewhere near here. It would be an essential item, but there was no ce where it could have been hidden.

    At that moment, Minhyuk saw a firmly closed door made of light.

    <em>[No entry for unauthorized personnel.]</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    Minhyuk was rendered speechless by how simr things were to the human world. There was a high chance that the essential things in this library were in there. So, the question was: how would he get inside?

    At that moment, he saw many people greeting an old man who looked like a librarian.

    ¡°Are you going out to eat?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll be back in an hour. And Lunaval, aren¡¯t you going to clean up that pile of books over there?! Bandera! Mop the floor!¡±

    Minhyuk immediately moved to a ce in the library hidden from the heavenly dwellers'' eyes. Then, he changed his face to the face of the old man who went out to eat. When the old man disappearedpletely, he returned with his hand behind his back.

    Minhyuk was quite good at lying. No, it was more apt to say he was <em>very</em> good at it.

    ¡°Elder Runda, why did youe back?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s something that I forgot to finish inside. Hmm¡­¡± Minhyuk hummed as he patted his body. ¡°My key¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes? Your key?¡± The librarian looked at him in confusion. He knew that Runda was not the type of person who would forget his keys.

    ¡°No, Lunaval! Didn¡¯t I tell you to clean up that pile of books?!¡± Minhyuk mimicked the angry expression on the old man¡¯s face earlier.

    With cold sweat dripping down his forehead, the librarian hurriedly handed the set of keys to avoid being nagged at. ¡°H-here. Please take this first. I¡¯ll go and clean it up right away!¡±

    The keys with ¡°Authorized Personnel¡± written on themnded in Minhyuk¡¯s hands easily. He immediately grabbed the doorknob and turned it. Then, another library appeared on the other side of the door.

    <em>¡®Is it here?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk shook his head. It shouldn¡¯t be in a ce like this. He looked down at the set of keys in his hands¡ªthe names of the doors they opened were written on every single one. Among the keys, he saw one with the words ¡°Heaven¡¯s Cases and Judgement Log¡± written on it.

    Minhyuk went to a few doors and finally found the corresponding door. When he opened the correct door, he was met with a huge pile of documents and books organized neatly yet cramped inside the room. One look, and he felt like he was already being suffocated.

    <em>¡®At this rate, I don¡¯t know how long it will take me to find it¡­¡¯</em>

    Fortunately, the notifications rang at that moment.

    <em>[You have made progress on the </em><strong><em>Hidden Quest</em></strong><em>: Concealed Case.]</em>

    At that moment, a bright light shone among the tens of thousands of case logs. Minhyuk, who saw the shining light, picked up the case log. Then¡­

    <em>[You can now view the Concealed Case.]</em>

    <em>[Would you like to watch it?]</em>

    Of course, Minhyuk chose to watch it. At the same time, shocking scenes passed by his eyes. He watched the full story of the incident, the truth that he had uncovered, and the imprisonment of the innocent Aemira unfold in front of his eyes.

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes almost popped out of his sockets after watching everything. He had now learned of the entire truth of the matter.

    <em>¡®These f*cking bastards¡­¡¯</em>

    ¡°Elder Runda, didn¡¯t you go out to eat?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Right before he was ovee with anger, Minhyuk heard footsteps getting closer and closer to where he was. Right now, Minhyuk had only sneaked inside this ce. What he did right now was trespassing. As the next Battle God, there might be dire consequences if he were found out.

    <em>Click, click, click¨C</em>

    The doorknob clicked and began to turn.

 Chapter 1098

    <strong>Chapter 1098</strong>

    Cold sweat dripped down Minhyuk¡¯s forehead.

    Amotion would break out if the librarian named Runda came running to search this ce for someone who looked just like him. It was not appropriate for Minhyuk to kill Runda for no reason, just to run away.

    <em>Click, click, click¨C</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s heart rose to his throat as the door knob turned.

    ¡°Ah. So the case report is not in the room but in here.¡±

    The door slowly clicked close as the old man¡¯s voice drifted away. It seemed like he had something that he had to take care of.

    <em>¡®Phew.¡¯ </em>Minhyuk sighed in relief. However, the relief in his eyes was immediately reced with contempt and disgust. <em>¡®Angels?¡¯ </em>He seethed.

    Angels were beings that symbolized the <em>Good.</em> But after looking at the contents of this case report, one could instantly see that they were dirtier and uglier than the demons.

    Minhyuk hurriedly left the library and headed back to the Boundary Between Good and Evil.

    ***

    ¡°You see, I¡­! Excuse me, I¡¯m¡­!¡±

    Aemira was still talking. She even did not forget to call out every now and then. After sending a whisper to the person that Minhyuk asked for, Verak had gone into a daze listening to Aemira¡¯s rambling.

    Minhyuk, who returned not long after, was sporting a very solemn expression on his face.

    ¡°Aemira.¡±

    ¡°Yes!!!¡± Aemira answered loudly and energetically, her eyes shining with expectations as she looked at Minhyuk.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to stay there anymore.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll get you out of there.¡±

    Aemira was very surprised when she heard Minhyuk¡¯s words. Although she had made a lot of noise, she was fully aware of her situation.

    ¡°Thi-this prison is being maintained and monitored by Heaven¡¯s archangels. You will definitely be in danger if you try to touch this prison!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s something that I¡¯ll worry about. Get back.¡± Minhyuk reassured her.

    ¡°Yes? Yes¡­!¡± Aemira took a step back.

    She felt that the pressure and momentuming off Minhyuk in wavespletely differed from the warmth she had felt from him earlier. This change left her more afraid than excited.

    Even though she excitedly answered Minhyuk earlier, Aemira knew better than anybody else about this prison.

    <em>¡®This prison cannot be broken. I am always under their watchful gaze and must stay in this ce forever.¡¯</em>

    The reason why Aemira asked Minhyuk to kill her was because she knew that there was no way for her to get out of this ce. So, why was she so excited? It was because she felt happy and delighted to imagine those scenarios in her head.

    To her, there was no hope. But Minhyuk told her it was not something she should worry about as he swung his sword and struck the tiny, narrow circle that trapped her.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    Warning lights shed in Minhyuk¡¯s eyes as the loud bang of the collision echoed in his ears.

    <em>[Warning.]</em>

    <em>[Warning.]</em>

    <em>[This prison is covered with the power of the Archangels.]</em>

    <em>[Breaking the Archangels¡¯ Prison is against the rules of Heaven.]</em>

    <em>[If you continue to break down the Archangels¡¯ Prison, the rules of Heaven will ce countless restrictions upon you and leave you suffering.]</em>

    <em>[The Archangels¡¯ Prison cannot be broken by any special power.]</em>

    <em>[You can only destroy it with basic attacks.]</em>

    <em>[Attack damage is not applied to the Archangels¡¯ Prison.]</em>

    <em>[You can destroy the Archangels¡¯ Prison only afterpleting a number of attacks.]</em>

    <em>[Please swing your sword at the Archangels¡¯ Prison 3,000 times to create the first crack.]</em>

    <em>[The Archangels¡¯ Prison has put a restriction upon your natural healing ability and all other healing abilities.]</em>

    <em>ng! ng! ng!</em>

    For an ordinary person, it was already very difficult to hold their swords and swing a hundred times. Nheless, Minhyuk kept swinging his sword, exceeding 1,000 strikes in one go.

    Thankfully, it was only the yer¡¯s skills that had been restricted. Minhyuk¡¯s physical abilities and stats remained the same, so he continued to strike as much as he wanted to.

    Minhyuk was able toplete 3,000 strikes in less than an hour. The moment hepleted the number of required hits, a crack rang in the entire area.

    <em>Crack¨C</em>

    A small crack appeared on the small circle that imprisoned Aemira. It looked like it had been hit by something that was blunt and not something sharp like a sword.

    <em>[The first crack has appeared.]</em>

    <em>[You have to pay the price for breaking the Archangels¡¯ rules.]</em>

    <em>[Countless religions will go against you!]</em>

    Although the archangels were not gods that the humans worshiped and served, they were the symbol of sanctity. Those who were aligned with the <em>good</em> all received the influence of the archangels. The fact that countless religions would go against Minhyuk would definitely be a huge blow to him.

    Coincidentally, these notifications also rang in Aemira¡¯s ears.

    ¡°Please wait a bit. I¡¯ll get you out of there.¡±

    Then, another notification rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[Please swing your sword at the Archangels¡¯ Prison 5,000 times to create the second crack.]</em>

    Minhyuk did not stop swinging his sword.

    <em>¡®Is this why they put restrictions on my healing abilities?¡¯</em>

    Striking something more than a thousand times in just over an hour was ridiculous. The concept of ¡°natural healing abilities¡± in Athenae could supplement this.

    Unfortunately, with his healing abilities restricted, Minhyuk could feel his breath grow ragged. Even his palms grew bloody from the friction created by the repeated swinging of his sword. Yet he never stopped.

    <em>[The second crack has appeared.]</em>

    <em>[You have to pay the price for breaking the Archangels¡¯ rules.]</em>

    <em>[All of your holy power will be taken away from you as the price for breaking the rules.]</em>

    The notifications were shocking. Even so, Minhyuk still continued to swing his sword.

    <em>¡®I did not expect this to happen. But if everything works out the way I want it to, then¡­¡¯</em>

    It would be fine.

    <em>ng, ng, ng¨C</em>

    Blood continued to drip from Minhyuk¡¯s palms while sweat covered his entire body. In the end, STR was rted to one¡¯s natural healing abilities. Now that his natural healing abilities had been restricted, exhaustion came faster than ever.

    Thankfully, Divine Will was triggered and gave Minhyuk more power.

    <em>[The fourth crack has appeared.]</em>

    <em>[You have to pay the price for breaking the Archangels¡¯ rules.]</em>

    <em>[Heaven¡¯s Army will start to show hostility to you.]</em>

    Then, the number of hits required reached 70,000.

    Verak had been watching from the sidelines for a very long time. He could not help but be in awe of Minhyuk¡¯s stamina and strength after seeing him swing tirelessly.

    Aemira stared at the blood dripping down Minhyuk¡¯s palms. When she looked up, she was too stunned to speak when she saw the shine in Minhyuk¡¯s eyes. It illuminated Minhyuk¡¯s determination to continue until he reached his goal, which was none other than Aemira¡¯s release.

    Just like that, the sun went down and darkness engulfed everything. In the darkness, the only thing that one could see was the sparks created by the collision of Minhyuk¡¯s sword and the transparent barrier that trapped Aemira.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¨C</em>

    <em>[The fifth crack has appeared.]</em>

    <em>[You have to pay the price for breaking the Archangels¡¯ rules.]</em>

    <em>[Archangel Gabriel has noticed your existence.]</em>

    <em>[Archangel Gabriel cannot cross through the Boundary Between Good and Evil.]</em>

    <em>[He now possesses the authority to ignore that rule!]</em>

    ¡°W<em>-</em>what do we do¡­¡± Aemira bit her lips.

    ording to the book that Aemira had read, Archangel Gabriel was on par with the God of Death. He led the four archangels and Heaven¡¯s army and was also considered the father of all angels.

    This very same being had taken notice of Minhyuk. However, Minhyuk did not back down.

    The sun slowly rose and cleared away the darkness.

    <em>[The sixth crack has appeared.]</em>

    <em>[You have to pay the price for breaking the Archangels¡¯ rules.]</em>

    <em>[Heaven¡¯s Cmity Guardians have noticed your existence.]</em>

    <em>[Warning.]</em>

    <em>[Warning.]</em>

    <em>[The Heaven¡¯s Cmity Guardians, who are slumbering all over the world, might attack you.]</em>

    Yet he did not stop.

    <em>[The seventh crack¡­]</em>

    <em>[Gabriel has made the gentle Cmity Guardians berserk and has started to summon them. They will follow hismand and just like crazy hounds they will bite you and tear you apart.]</em>

    <em>[The eight crack¡­]</em>

    <em>[Gabriel has given the archangels and all of Heaven¡¯s troops to bring judgment upon you!]</em>

    <em>[Warning.]</em>

    <em>[Warning.]</em>

    <em>[Danger.]</em>

    <em>[The next will be the final crack. The Archangels¡¯ Prison will copse if you can make this final crack appear.]</em>

    Minhyuk ignored everything and continued to hit the barrier again and again. After a few hours, another notification rang in his ears.

    <em>[The final crack will appear after ten strikes.]</em>

    <em>[If the Archangels¡¯ Prison falls, you will receive the attacks of Heaven and all of its troops.]</em>

    <em>[Warning.]</em>

    <em>[Warning.]</em>

    <em>[Archangel Gabriel is leading Heaven¡¯s army across the Boundary Between Good and Evil.]</em>

    <em>[Archangel Gabriel addresses you.]</em>

    <em>[Next generation Battle God, why are you doing something ridiculous?]</em>

    <em>[If you end this now, we will stop only by taking away all of your holy power.]</em>

    <em>[If you stop¡­]</em>

    But Minhyuk¡¯s response to his words were simple. He just finished the remaining ten strikes.

    <em>BANG!</em>

    <em>[W-what¡­!]</em>

    <em>Bang!</em>

    <em>Bang!</em>

    <em>Bang!</em>

    The loud sound of Minhyuk¡¯s sword hitting the barrier echoed loudly as he continued with what he was doing. Minhyuk¡¯s still warm blood had dyed his sword red. Now, there were only two strikes left.

    Right before Aemira could celebrate, she caught sight of Archangel Gabriel and a huge number of troops rushing to this ce.

    Minhyuk just looked back at Archangel Gabriel and sneered.

    <em>Bang!</em>

    Then, he struck the barrier once again.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack!</em>

    A huge crack spread through the transparent barrier that formed the prison. There was only one strike left. When Minhyuk tried to swing his sword, Aemira shouted, ¡°STOOOOOP!!!¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk looked at Aemira in confusion.

    ***

    Aemira knew better than anybody else that she could not get out of this prison. She did not have any memory of her life before this ce. All she knew was that she was brought to this ce and was forced to live the rest of her life in this tiny space.

    Of course, it was only natural that she would feel lonely. One day, a book was given to her. That book allowed her to see the world. No matter how many times she read the book, she knew that it was impossible for her to see that world. She knew that very well. She knew it even after watching Minhyuk strike the prison that trapped her like crazy.

    <em>¡®I can¡¯t get out of here.¡¯</em>

    A tiny glimmer of hope appeared in front of her and led her this far. Yet this was the result. Archangel Gabriel and the troops of Heaven rushed to this ce with an order to give immediate judgment upon Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m the only one who should be in pain. I can¡¯t share this pain with him.¡¯</em>

    At the veryst moment, the most angelic of thoughts shed in Aemira¡¯s head. She said, ¡°Please, just stop!¡±

    She grabbed her head and wept. ¡°I told you! I told you to kill me. Otherwise, I am destined to live in this small space!¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°Do you want me to say it again? I want to die! I¡¯d rather die than remain in this ce for a minute longer. As for the hard work and effort that you have done? Thank you but that¡¯s enough. In the end, it¡¯s nothing but a presumptuous thought. You will not be able to save me from this ce. J-just let me die! Please!¡±

    She knew that it was impossible. Between dying and getting out of this ce, dying was the easier option. That was why she had to say it inly to the man in front of her. Otherwise, they had to face the reality that was fast approaching.

    Sadness weighed heavily upon Aemira. Her body started to tremble fiercely as she cried and wept to the point where she could not even breathe.

    ¡°I beg you, please just kill me. Why are you doing this¡­¡±

    <em>¡®Please, please just go back. Consider this as my wish. I don¡¯t want the kind and good person that I have met to meet any harm.¡¯</em>

    However, Minhyuk just stared at her. Then, he swung his sword.

    <em>Bang!</em>

    The huge crack spread on the transparent barrier. And with a loud bang, the transparent barrierpletely copsed.

    <em>nk, nk, nk!</em>

    Minhyuk crouched down and gently picked the weeping Aemira. Then, he turned around and walked toward the charging angels.

    ¡°Wh-what in the world are you doing¡­?!¡±

    ¡°How is it? How does the world beyond your small 1.5 meter space feel?¡±

    ¡°...?!¡±

    This was a ce that Aemira could only look at every single day. She moved further and further away from the hellish prison that trapped her for thousands of years with every step that Minhyuk took.

    ¡°It¡¯s just ten steps but you have already gone far away from the hellish prison that trapped you, no? How is it?¡± Minhyuk asked, a gentle smile on his face. ¡°Now, you can go to the sea and watch the sky.¡±

    Minhyuk slowly put Aemira down as he continued to speak. ¡°Now, you can run as far as you want.¡±

    Minhyuk gently patted Aemira¡¯s shoulder as she began to sob with her head bowed. Then, he asked again, ¡°Don¡¯t lie and tell me honestly. What do you want?¡±

    When she heard the soft, warm and gentle question of the man beside her, Aemira finally released the words that had been waiting to burst from the depths of her heart.

    ¡°Save me¡­¡±

    <em>¡®I don¡¯t want to stay in that hellish prison any longer.¡¯</em>

    ¡°Please save me.¡±

    She looked at the sky and the ground where she could run and jump on.

    ¡°Please save me!¡±

    <em>Shing¨C!</em>

    The sound of Minhyuk pulling his sword out of its sheath rang crisply in the air.

    ¡°Do you remember, Aemira?¡± The tone of Minhyuk¡¯s voice changed. The charisma of an emperor who ruled and led tens of millions of people stained his voice as he said, ¡°You asked me why I¡¯m doing this? Why am I going this far?¡±

    Aemira slowly nodded.

    <em>¡®Why?¡¯</em>

    ¡°You promised me. You said you will be one of my people<em></em>when you leave this ce.¡±

    Now, Aemira was one of Minhyuk¡¯s people.

    Not long after, Archangel Gabriel and his huge army arrived in front of Minhyuk. The millions of troops were obviously apanied by an overwhelmingly fierce momentum.

    Minhyuk walked toward the angels and said, ¡°I have never, and will never, turn my back on my people.¡±

    <em>[The Battle God¡¯s Achievement System has been activated.]</em>

    <em>[For the sake of just one of his people, the Battle God¡­]</em>

    <em>[...raises his sword.]</em>

 Chapter 1099

    Chapter 1099

    <strong>Chapter 1099</strong>

    Everything grew still.

    Just like in the movies, Archangel Gabriel and the archangels appeared. Everything about them was white: their pristine wings, divine armor, even their swords, which were bursting with holy power, as they pointed them at Minhyuk.

    Leaving Aemira behind, Minhyuk walked toward them. The sound of the Battle God¡¯s Achievement resonated worldwide and dered this ce a battlefield.

    <em>[For the sake of just one of his people, the Battle God raises his sword.]</em>

    Was Minhyuk considered ¡°evil¡± for ring coldly at the angels hailed as ¡°good¡±?

    <em>[He heard the sorrow and despair that his people had suffered from.]</em>

    <em>[He had heard the story of his people. Despite being innocent of any crimes, his people had been imprisoned in a small fish bowl-like space for thousands of years.]</em><em>[Even though he faced countless restrictions and the rules had warned him that he would face millions of troops, he continued to walk forward alone. This is because he had seen the truth.]</em>

    <em>[His people asked him, ¡®Why are you doing this?¡¯]</em>

    <em>[And the greatest and noblest monarch answered, ¡®Because you are one of my people.¡¯]</em>

    One of the Cmity Guardiansnded roughly in front of Minhyuk. It was fifteen meters in height and had a fish-like face. It wouldn¡¯t be wrong to say it was half-dragon and half-fish. In the past, it had wreaked havoc and tried to destroy Heaven. Under the noble and lofty power of the archangels, it then became their hand and foot.

    <em>Kihyeeeeeeeek!</em>

    Minhyuk looked infinitely smaller than the gigantic being before him. Even so, he still charged forward.

    ¡°You have done something that you should not have done.¡±

    <em>[He ran for the sake of the ¡°truth¡± and the horror that ruined just one person''s life.]</em>

    ¡°Your greed had forced her to live in that small circle of space for thousands of years.¡±

    The gigantic Cmity Guardian shot to the sky. It opened its huge mouth and bared its 70 centimeter-long teeth at Minhyuk. They looked thick and sharp enough to snap someone in half. With that figure and a level at Level 800, it truly deserved the name <em>Heaven¡¯s Cmity Guardian</em>.

    However, Minhyuk held his swords and evaded the Cmity Guardian¡¯s wide-open mouth. He ripped through the gigantic being¡¯s torso as it swam freely above them. With that attack, it fell with blood spurting out of its enormous body.

    After cutting the gigantic being down, Minhyuk ran past it without stopping. Aemira continued to weep while Verak stared at Minhyuk with awe and respect. After all, Minhyuk was charging toward the enemy for the sake of a single person.

    The screams of the gigantic Cmity Guardian announced the beginning of the war. With the rise of the archangels¡¯ sword, millions of angels charged toward Minhyuk. They did not know the reason why. They charged forward, believing that the archangels were the <em>good</em> and the man was the <em>evil </em>for breaking the prison.

    <em>Uwaaaaaaah!</em>

    The Battle God finally shed with the roaring army. Even though he was only one person, he was pushing back the waves of troops akin to a tsunami created by the tumultuous seas. The army of angels was not his match.

    The sky was ripped open, and the archangels released hundreds of thousands of monsters shackled by the neck. The Battle God stepped on one of the angels, using him as a springboard as he leaped to the skies and created hundreds of swords. A heavy downpour of swords pierced through the ferocious monsters in a never-ending cycle and ripped screams after screams from their mouths.

    Seeing her army fall with every swing of the man¡¯s sword, Archangel Gabriel was furious.

    ¡°Next generation Battle God, receive your judgment.¡±

    Archangel Gabriel¡¯s clear and beautiful voice rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears. It was the epitome of the word ¡°holy.¡±

    Even so, Minhyuk did not stop. Viel¡¯s Puppet Doll and the Ego Chain Sickle continued to cut down the monsters while Minhyuk cut, stabbed, and swung his sword at the army of angels covered with holy power.

    Every swing of their des forced countless angels to die. In the end, Archangel Gabriel released the Cmity Guardians protecting the East, the West, and the North.

    <em>Roar!!!</em>

    A gigantic white tiger appeared and lunged at Minhyuk. It bared its fangs to bite Minhyuk but was easily blocked by Minhyuk¡¯s sword. In response, Minhyuk pushed his sword deep into the mouth of the white tiger.

    <em>Stab¨C!</em>

    ¡°ROAR!¡±

    Minhyuk stabbed the white tiger Cmity Guardian once, twice, three times, disregarding its painful wails. He then proceeded to sh and cut the white tiger thirty times in a row. The white tiger struggled and finallynded a heavy blow with its front paws. But Minhyuk ignored it and continued to cut it down without mercy.

    The dragon-like Cmity Guardian swam through the air and shot toward Minhyuk to stop him from attacking the white tiger.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    The moment the dragon-like Cmity Guardian¡¯s head made contact with Minhyuk, a Cmity Guardian resembling an eagle swooped in.

    <em>Swoosh¨C</em>

    Minhyuk was sent flying by their attacks. But he quickly regained his bnce and charged forward once again.

    The Cmity Guardians immediately came back to their senses. Using their unique attributes, they bit, scratched, and lunged at Minhyuk to exert pressure on him.

    Archangel Gabriel could finally see the victory. Even if the one in front of them was the next generation Battle God, there was no way he could deal with four of the Cmity Guardians simultaneously. An arrogant smile formed on Archangel Gabriel¡¯s face, unbefitting of an angel.

    However, something unbelievable happened. A zing me shot out from the man¡¯s sword and swept away the gigantic Cmity Guardians. The sight left Archangel Gabriel in disbelief. She could not take her eyes off of the zing ck mes.

    As she watched Minhyuk leave the mes, Gabriel asked again. ¡°Why? Why are you doing such nonsense? Why are you attacking us so desperately?¡±

    Heaven and Hell had to maintain a smooth rtionship with the Land of the Gods. Yet the Battle God standing in front of her ignored them and continued to cut down the charging soldiers of the army of Heaven. Then, Gabriel heard the most shocking words from the man¡¯s mouth.

    Minhyuk asked, ¡°Is Aemira guilty?¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Gabriel frowned. Did this man know something? Or did he hear something from Aemira after meeting her? No, that was impossible. Aemira did not even know the reason why. She only lived in this ce as if this was the most natural thing in her life.

    However, Archangel Gabriel gave an answer that she should not have.

    ¡°What nonsense are you talking about?¡±

    Minhyuk gritted his teeth, his speed at sweeping through the army increasing exponentially. He sneered as he looked at the archangel, who pretended she knew nothing.

    ¡°AEMIRA!!!¡± Minhyuk shouted. ¡°You are innocent!¡±

    Gabriel¡¯s face grew ugly. Her eyes were stuck on Minhyuk¡¯s figure as she listened to the words spilling from his mouth.

    ¡°Many other archangels put pressure upon Archangel Gabriel a long time ago!¡±

    Gabriel¡¯s eyes grew wide. She could tell from the man¡¯s words that he knew the truth of that incident.

    ¡°Kill him.¡±

    Archangel Gabriel led the other archangels. They spread their white wings and sent five swords flying toward Minhyuk.

    One of the archangels released an overwhelming holy power that suppressed Minhyuk. Another released a power that lifted him to the sky. Another archangel sent beautifully crafted chains shining with white light and bound his entire body. A beautiful pentagon with Minhyuk at the center was created. Anyone watching the scene would tell that the angels were the <em>good.</em>

    Even so, the struggling Minhyuk continued to shout, ¡°But the truth was she was terrified! She was trembling in fear after being attacked by countless angels!¡±

    A long time ago, a revolt happened in Heaven.

    ¡°She cut down many angels who targeted her constantly to the point that she began to doubt everyone around her. Your father and mother were among the people who stood by her.¡±

    Aemira¡¯s parents were the most faithful and the closest servants who worshiped Gabriel. One was the angel who supported the sky, while the other was the angel who enriched the earth.

    ¡°But Gabriel began to doubt even them.¡±

    ¡°Shut up!¡±

    The angels'' swords, which surrounded Minhyuk in a pentagon, represented many things, such as bnce, justice, truth, and <em>good. </em>

    Ironically enough, the sword pushing at Minhyuk symbolized the truth.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab¨C!</em>

    The five swords tried to pierce through Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    ¡°Absolute Defense.¡±

    A sh of light appeared around Minhyuk as he sessfully defended against all of the attacks that came his way. At the same time, ck energy, which looked like it represented <em>evil,</em> erupted and swirled among the five brilliant lights that covered the pentagon of swords.

    ¡°Transcendence.¡±

    <em>Rumble¨C!</em>

    The chains that bound him ckened as the ck energy exploded from his body. Freed, Minhyuk began to sh against the five brilliant lights aimed at him. Of course, he never stopped talking.

    ¡°In the end, Gabriel gave her orders. She judged that they were the masterminds of the revolt and ordered her men to go after them.

    ¡°Then, in front of all of the archangels, the troops of the army, and the heavenly dwellers, she executed them. On that day, the sky and the earth disappeared.

    ¡°¡®<em>The sin of the parent is the sin of the child. Their child is also guilty of treason.¡¯</em> She said and did things that she should have never done. She cut up the sky, which had already died, and dug up the life nestled inside. Then, she gave her order. ¡®<em>Imprison this being carrying dirty blood in the most terrible prison for all eternity. Make this life an example to everyone!¡¯</em>¡±

    Everyone in Heaven knew this truth. Everyone looked at Minhyuk with expressions as if asking why he was revealing this.

    ¡°Shut up!¡±

    Archangel Gabriel moved faster to press Minhyuk even further. But it was not easy for them, even with their five brilliant lights, to deal with Minhyuk in the state of Transcendence.

    ¡°Right. That should be the obvious oue for traitors. HOWEVER!!!¡±

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk struck one of the archangels down. Then, he used Like the Wind and appeared before Archangel Gabriel.

    He grabbed the archangel by the cor and said, ¡°Gabriel received a report two weekster. It turned out that everything was a trick. It was a trick to eliminate the two most loyal people to Archangel Gabriel. Everything was a lie created by the angels who wanted to revolt.¡±

    He continued, ¡°She found out the truth. The ones that she executed with the most terrible punishment were the ones who fought desperately to protect her. They defended her and fought until the end but eventually fell because of a conspiracy.¡±

    Then, Minhyuk snarled, ¡°But, do you know what Archangel Gabriel said to the man who gave his report?¡±

    Minhyuk recalled Gabriel¡¯s expression on the report and said, ¡°<em>Is that so? I see. It seems like we lost some pretty precious people.</em>¡±

    Gabriel¡¯s eyes widened when she heard those words. She could tell that Minhyuk was imitating <em>her</em> from the past. She struggled to get out of this man¡¯s grip but could not.

    Aemira, who learned the truth, felt a sadness far stronger and deeper than Minhyuk''s. At the same time, a hugemotion erupted among the archangels and the troops.

    Minhyuk continued, ¡°The man, who reported to Archangel Gabriel, asked, ¡®<em>The sky and the earth are proven innocent. What shall we do now?¡¯</em>¡±

    The man was asking if they should clear them of the false allegations. At that time, Gabriel had calmly and leisurely flipped the book pages in her hands and said, ¡°<em>What should we do? It happened a long time ago. I can¡¯t put a stain on my reputation for something like that. Keep quiet, and don¡¯t tell anyone about it.</em>¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Many were left shocked by the words.

    Gabriel unleashed a torrent of holy power and escaped from the grasp of Minhyuk, whose state of Transcendence had lifted. Then, she quickly drew her sword and cut the man down.

    Even though the archangels heard a very shocking story, the four others still stabbed Minhyuk at the same time.

    ¡°Urk¡­¡±

    Pierced by the five brilliant swords, Minhyuk looked just like the <em>evil</em> being punished by the <em>good.</em>

    Despite vomiting a mouthful of blood, Minhyuk continued to speak. He said, ¡°Is that how an angel is? You f*cking bastard!¡±

    Gabriel, sporting a devilish expressionpletely incongruent with her status as an angel, roughly pulled her sword out of Minhyuk¡¯s body.

    At that point, Minhyuk¡¯s HP had fallen below 6%. Thankfully, the truth was revealed. At this moment, Minhyuk sent a whisper to Verak.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Minhyuk</em></strong><em>: Once I¡¯m forced to log out, take Aemira and run straight to Hell.]</em>

    A bright light erupted from Gabriel¡¯s sword, the sword that symbolized justice, as she swung at Minhyuk.

    ¡°...?¡±

    Gabriel¡¯s sword failed to swing. A considerable force appeared and stopped her from moving any further.

    At the same time, a ck stream of energy swirled into existence and revealed the figure of the monarch of Hell, the God of Death. Hell¡¯s army had also started to march and make their way toward this ce.

    Gabriel could not understand it. Both she and the God of Death could not cross and enter the Boundary of Good and Evil as they pleased. The angels and the beings from Heaven were only able to ignore that rule for a short while because Minhyuk moved to destroy the Archangels¡¯ Prison.

    <em>¡®But howe they¡¯re able toe here too?¡¯</em>

    Then, she realized something. There were very few methods that would allow them to enter this ce, but only one would work in this situation.

    <em>¡®But that should be impossible.¡¯</em>

    Since ancient times, the Battle God and the God of Death were known to be on bad terms. To be specific, the God of Death despised both Heaven and the Land of the Gods. They were like oil and water and could never be mixed.

    But then, the God of Death said, ¡°He is my friend.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Gabriel¡¯s eyes widened at the unexpected words from the God of Death¡¯s mouth.

    Even Minhyuk was surprised by the words and the sudden appearance of the God of Death, especially because the God of Death looked at Minhyuk very worriedly.

 Chapter 1100

    Chapter 1100

    <strong>Chapter 1100</strong>

    None of the beings from Heaven and Hell were allowed to enter the Boundary Between Good and Evil as they pleased.

    But depending on the circumstances, the beings from Heaven and Hell could enter this ce via a few methods. There were more methods avable to those on Heaven''s side. It was because they were the ones who managed the Boundary Between Good and Evil.

    As for God of Death Louis, there weren¡¯t many methods avable to him. Louis only had one or two methods that could allow him to enter the Boundary Between Good and Evil.

    One of them was the pass issued by the God of Death. It could only be issued to someone who the God of Death has recognized as his friend and could only be issued twice in his entire life. Anyone with this pass could be said to represent the God of Death himself. If physical harm ever came to the person possessing this pass inside the Boundary Between Good and Evil, the God of Death could enter ande to his aid.

    Everyone thought that this pass would be useless. This was because Louis was such an uptight and gloomy man. One could count one''s fortune by not bing his sworn enemy upon meeting him.

    So, how could he even be friends with others?

    ¡°He is my friend,¡± the God of Death said as he looked at Minhyuk. Gabriel flinched. After hearing those words, she could not swing her sword down further. If she did so and cut Minhyuk¡¯s head off, then it would be the signal that announced the beginning of the war between Heaven and Hell.

    Upon thinking further, she felt something was wrong.

    ¡®It has to be a lie.¡¯

    There was no way that the God of Death could have a friend. The God of Death likely wanted to use this opportunity to point out her error in judgment and her arrogance.

    Gabriel barked, ¡°Why are you trying to intervene?¡±

    ¡°My dear and precious friend has been hurt. Are you saying that I should just leave him be?¡± The God of Death retorted. He cleverly used the word ¡°friend,¡± wielding it as a weapon against her. The moment Gabriel dared to touch the man in front of her, the God of Death would take that as an opportunity to attack everyone here.

    ¡°What nonsense!¡± Gabriel snarled, believing the God of Death to be talking nonsense under the pretext of being friends.

    ¡°It¡¯s true. Minhyuk¡¯s my friend. He¡­ is someone special to me.¡±

    At this moment, Minhyuk realized that the God of Death wanted to correct the wrong through him. But what was surprising was that his words did not seem to be aplete lie.

    ¡°He has saved my lover, He. Thanks to him, she was able to cross through the River of Reincarnation safely.¡±

    But that was not enough of a reason for Gabriel. She demanded for the true reason.

    ¡°He told me. <em>¡®I want you to make Hell prosperous. I want you to be a fair monarch and lead Hell without wronging the innocent.¡¯</em>¡±

    The God of Death was the epitome of the word <em>loner.</em> That was why the words that his one and only lover left to him were very dear and precious.

    ¡°<em>He</em>¡¯s the one who allowed me to meet He once again. <em>He</em>¡¯s the one who allowed me to hear those words from her lips.¡±

    One of the archangels pointed their sword imbued with special power at the God of Death. It was a sword that could discern between truth and lies. The sword shook. It resonated wildly and proved that the words that the God of Death uttered were true.

    ¡°It-it¡¯s the truth.¡±

    In a way, it could be said to be impossible. After all, who would believe them if they said that the God of Death ran to this ce just to save the next generation Battle God?

    <em>¡®Why?¡¯</em>

    The previous generation of Gods of Death had never done anything for the sake of the Battle God.

    The God of Death had another reason.

    ¡°As I¡¯ve said. I intend to make a just and fair Hell. Archangel Gabriel.¡± The God of Death looked at Gabriel coldly. ¡°The blunder of convicting the innocent? It seems possible for you, right?¡±

    Gabriel just could not understand. The God of Death, who usually kept to himself, was speaking out.

    ¡°You covered up your mistake so your reputation will remain clean and untarnished?¡± The God of Death pressed on.

    Gabriel remained calm. Even if that was the case, nothing would change.

    She snapped coldly, ¡°Do not try to meddle in the affairs of Heaven. That¡¯s nothing but bullshit made up by the next generation Battle God.¡±

    Gabriel then turned to Minhyuk, who had already drank a potion and recovered. ¡°What should we do about the angels who died innocently because of the lie that you spoke about today?¡±

    At this juncture, Gabriel could no longer back down. She even wanted to punish Minhyuk for daring to go against them.

    ¡°The fact that such a man is the next generation Battle God is quite questionable to me. As a person from the Land of the Gods, he raided Heaven as he pleased and even tarnished our realm with lies.¡±

    Again, an arrogant smile adorned Gabriel¡¯s face as she smirked, ¡°Let me ask you. How did you, the next generation Battle God, learn about something like that?¡±

    Minhyuk looked up at Gabriel with disgust. He could tell that Gabriel was calcting fiercely in her head.

    ¡°Are you saying that the man who will be the Battle God entered Heaven without permission and looked through our matters?¡± Gabriel continued to use Minhyuk, an incredulousugh bubbling in her chest as she raised her arms and pointed at him. ¡°There¡¯s no way that there¡¯s a story about me covering up for myself even after I found out that someone is innocent. But let me tell you this: anyone who crosses through another realm without explicit permission from the monarch of that realm will either lose their qualifications or be killed.¡±

    It would not matter whether Minhyuk saw something or not. Entering Heaven just like that was already a huge problem.

    Gabriel raised her voice, ¡°How did you find out about that bullshit that you were spouting?¡±

    Everyone followed Gabriel¡¯s cold and calcting eyes as she looked at Minhyuk.

    The God of Death frowned. <em>¡®I did not expect things to go this way.¡¯</em>

    If Minhyuk entered Heaven without any permission, then he would be deprived of his position or killed. But if he did not enter, then how would he prove that Gabriel had truly convicted the innocent?

    ¡°Why should I tell you that?¡± Minhyuk answered.

    However, his answer was like telling everyone that the words that he uttered were lies.

    Gabriel immediately retorted, ¡°What do you mean by that? Why is it strange to ask you something like that? How dare you try to tarnish the reputation of an archangel? Tarnishing one¡¯s honor is enough grounds to deprive you of your qualifications and execute you on the spot. God of Death, do you have any objections?!¡±

    Things were turning for the worse. Unbeknownst to them, Minhyuk, who had observed everything calmly, had already found a way to respond to their allegations.

    ¡°Why do I need to tell you how I found out about it? I just found out about it like that? Ah. Also, I never entered Heaven illegally.¡± Minhyuk¡¯s brazen answer made the situation even worse.

    Gabriel, who thought she had caught onto Minhyuk, decided to go for broke. She said, ¡°Then, I will call the Battle God here. He will definitely be fair in determining the truth of this situation.¡±

    Even if the foreigners died, they would stille back to life. Executing Minhyuk right away would be meaningless. What Gabriel wanted was to deprive him of his position. This way, Gabriel could continue to hide the ugly truth beneath her mask.

    The Battle God responded right away to Gabriel¡¯s call. A solemn expression shed in his face after hearing the entirety of the situation.

    ¡°Battle God, he has entered Heaven as he pleased and even dared to tell lies to tarnish my reputation. I called for you here to remove the qualifications of the next generation Battle God.¡±

    The Battle God and the God of Death both turned to look at Minhyuk.

    The God of Death, with disbelief shing on his face, thought, <em>¡®Why did he answer like that?¡¯</em>

    He could not understand why Minhyuk did something like that and made the situation even worse. If things continued at this rate, then Minhyuk would not only be deprived of his qualifications, even he, the God of Death, would not be able to exert any influence. Of course, the same was true for the Battle God. If that happened, then Aemira would end up imprisoned once again.

    The angels started to call for Minhyuk¡¯s blood.

    ¡°How can the next generation Battle God do something like that!¡±

    ¡°You, who dare to tarnish the honor of the archangel, pay for your sins!¡±

    ¡°Bastard! Many angels have died because of you!¡±

    Amidst their loud boos and reproach, Gabriel turned to look at the Battle God with her crafty gaze and said, ¡°Battle God, give your judgment right away. If you do not make a move, then Heaven will.¡±

    The Battle God did not take any actions. He was still very confused by the situation that was suddenly presented to him.

    Then, at that moment, Minhyuk said, ¡°I will say it again. I have never entered Heaven using the name of the Battle God and I have never told a lie.¡±

    Gabriel narrowed her eyes, ¡°Will you stand by those words until the very end?¡±

    ¡°So, what will you do if my words are proven to be true?¡± Minhyuk did not back down either.

    Gabriel justughed at him.

    Minhyuk said, ¡°If my words are proven true, I want you to grant me two things. First, stop making a fuss and release Aemira. And second, apologize to Aemira.¡±

    Gabriel could not wait to put an end to this situation. So, she said, ¡°Alright. I promise.¡±

    <em>[The Archangel¡¯s Vow has been triggered.]</em>

    If Archangel Gabriel dared to break the Archangel¡¯s Vow, then she would receive severe punishment.

    Gabriel looked at Minhyuk and prompted him to speak right away. Then, she saw him walk toward Archangel Michael. Michael¡¯s wings flinched, his face filled with confusion as he watched the man walk toward him.

    Minhyuk exined, ¡°There¡¯s a simple way to determine if what I¡¯m saying is true or not.¡±

    ¡°...?!¡±

    Gabriel immediately understood what Minhyuk was trying to do. At this moment, she realized it was a big mistake. The sword of her most reliable ally could determine and reveal the falsehood in one¡¯s words.

    Minhyuk said, ¡°I will speak the words that I have mentioned before, in front of the sword that distinguishes the truth from the lies.¡±

    ¡°W-wait¡­!¡± Gabriel tried to stop him right away.

    s, Minhyuk had already started talking, ¡°I have never entered Heaven illegally nor did I enter using the name and the face of the Battle God. And I have never told a single lie.¡± Minhyuk felt his heart jump to his throat as he spoke those words.

    Minhyuk was only able to enter Heaven because of his high holy power. In a way, it could be said that Heaven epted Minhyuk. That was why he deliberately worded it that way. The problem was: would that be considered illegal or not?

    Of course, he also wanted them to think more about Gabriel''s atrocities, so he made the situation develop like this.

    Archangel Michael, the angel who could determine the truth and the lie, pointed his sword at Minhyuk.

    <em>Vwoooong¨C</em>

    Michael¡¯s pupils trembled fiercely as he looked alternately between Gabriel and the sword in his hands.

    ¡°It-it¡¯s true¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk pointed with his chin and said, ¡°And there¡¯s a way to prove what I¡¯ve been saying about Gabriel as well. Point the Sword of Truth at Gabriel. Then, you will see if what I¡¯m saying is the truth or not.¡±

    The tide turned in an instant.

    The Battle God looked at Gabriel with a frown. Meanwhile, the God of Death immediately prepared for war.

    Michael¡¯s arms trembled as he raised his sword and pointed it at Gabriel. ¡°Gabriell, go on. Please speak. Please say that you have never done something like that.¡±

    Michael and the other archangels desperately hoped that the one who led them and represented the <em>good</em>, the very same person who acted righteously every single time would not do something like that.

    But Gabriel did not speak. She pushed away the sword that was pointing at her. ¡°P-put that away¡­¡±

    This action alone proved that what Minhyuk said was true. Now that the tables have turned, his actions were akin to a catalyst.

    A huge force burst out from the Battle God¡¯s body and swept away the entire battlefield. Then, he said, ¡°You dared to insult my sessor and even question his qualifications?¡±

    ¡°Did you just insult my friend?¡± The God of Death said, his gaze cold and sharp enough to threaten the entire realm of Heaven.

    At this moment, Gabriel realized that she was now standing at the edge of a cliff. However, shockingly enough, the one who mediated for her was Minhyuk.

    ¡°Let me end this on my terms.¡±

    Minhyuk knew that the Battle God and the God of Death would be the ones to suffer if a conflict broke out right here and now. The situation might even develop very badly and lead to a war between the three realms.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it a bit too tasteless to shed blood just to deal with a dirty liar like her?¡±

    At the same time, he did not forget to drag down and trample the honor and prestige of Archangel Gabriel. After all, it was this high honor and prestige that allowed her to cover up the truth.

    The disdain, contempt and disgust in Minhyuk¡¯s gaze was enough to make the veins in Gabriel¡¯s temple pop. She chewed her lips to the point that they started to bleed and clenched her fists so tightly that they turned white.

    ¡°Of course, it¡¯s a given that you should release Aemira. Also, remove all of the penalties and restrictions that you have put on me when I hit the prison. Ah, and don¡¯t forget to give me a reward. Make sure to satisfy me.¡±

    ¡°Urghh¡­!¡± In the end, a groan escaped Gabriel¡¯s mouth. It seemed like she could no longer bear it. The ones to answer were the other archangels.

    ¡°Yes, we will do that.¡±

    ¡°As for Archangel Gabriel, we will discuss it and take appropriate measures. We will make sure to discipline her well.¡±

    The angels wanted to clean this up themselves and cover and protect their own kind. What punishments would Gabriel receive? Perhaps it would be a year or two in prison at most? Or maybe she would be deprived of her position for two years?

    Although the punishment that she would receive was only that much, Minhyuk knew that that was the end of it. He could no longer cross the line and demand more. Thankfully, the biggest ¡°punishment¡± was yet to be given.

    ¡°Apologize.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Verak supported Aemira.

    Gabriel could already guess what would happen to her if she did not apologize here. Even though this was a disgrace to an archangel like her and she felt as if she was being suffocated, she still bowed.

    Aemira was the one who was angrier and sadder than anybody else in this ce. Yet she was also the calmest and most rational out of everyone present. Knowing that Gabriel would only be punished for a year or two at most, she wanted to give her the greatest punishment that she could give.

    ¡°There¡¯s this phrase that I have seen in this book.¡±

    Gabriel slowly raised her head. That was when she saw the expression on Aemira¡¯s face. There was disgust and contempt in her eyes. It was as if she was looking at a dirty bug.

    Aemira spat out with every fiber of her being, ¡°The ugly and dirty devil sometimes wears the mask of an angel.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Her scathing words were far more painful and lethal than shattering one¡¯s bones and turning them into dust.

 Chapter 1101

    Chapter 1101

    <strong>Chapter 1101</strong>

    <em>The ugly and dirty devil sometimes wears the mask of an angel.</em>

    Strangely enough, these words were apt for the leader of the archangels, Archangel Gabriel. Although she was supposed to represent the greatest <em>good</em>, she acted no different from a demon after being blinded by honor and power.

    Archangel Gabriel¡¯s eyes grew bloodshot as thest bit of her pride was torn to shreds. Eyes burning with rage, she turned to look at Aemira.

    Two of the archangels immediately grabbed Gabriel¡¯s arms and began to drag her away. At the same time, Archangel Michael said, ¡°We will nowe back to the Boundary Between Good and Evil.¡±

    Michael¡¯s gazended on Aemira as he continued, ¡°On behalf of the entire realm of Heaven, I would like to express our sincerest apology. Your innocence has been proven and you will now be released from your punishment.¡±

    The archangels, those dragging Gabriel, and the millions of angels who fought a fierce battle against Minhyuk stood in front of Aemira and spread their beautiful white wings. Then, they put their hands over their left chest and bowed to Aemira simultaneously.

    The scene left Aemira weak, her legs giving way. Minhyuk hurriedly helped her.

    ¡°It can¡¯t end like this!¡±At that moment, thest string of reason within Gabriel finally snapped.

    <em>[The leader of the angels, Archangel Gabriel, has used the Laws of Justice and Judgment.]</em>

    <em>[Aemira, who was sentenced to a life of imprisonment, will only be released in death.]</em>

    A shackle made with golden light shot out from Gabriel and wrapped around Aemira¡¯s neck.

    ¡°Keok!¡±

    The shackle then dissolved and seeped into her neck.

    <em>[Gabriel has given the final judgment.]</em>

    <em>[ording to the rules of Heaven, the judgment can no longer be overturned once the final judgment has been given.]</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

    Aemira looked at Gabriel in horror. She thought that she could finally run free, that she could finally look at the sky, or even meet someone, fall in love, and talk happily with them.

    But Gabriel took away even the smallest glimmer of hope before her.

    ¡°Keuhahahahaha!¡± Gabriel cackled wildly, her face looking more like a devil than an angel.

    The archangels shouted in dismay.

    ¡°What have you done!¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t you see?! You have done something that you cannot undo!¡±

    With this, the archangels could no longer help Gabriel. The punishment that she would receive would no longer be the light punishment of being imprisoned for a year or two at most. After all, she hadmitted another atrocity. This time, it was in front of all of the troops of Heaven. The punishment for this was at least fifty years of imprisonment.

    ¡°Fufufufufu.¡±

    Even so, Gabriel felt like it was more than enough for her. After all, she believed that she could punish the next generation Battle God and Aemira for daring to look at her with contempt and disgust.

    At that moment, the man drew his sword and started walking toward Gabriel after seeing the despair in Aemira¡¯s face.

    Shocked, the angels called out to Minhyuk.

    ¡°W-wait¡­!¡±

    ¡°Please stop right there!¡±

    But he did not stop.

    ¡°I am the Battle God.¡± There was unbridled fury in the man¡¯s voice, and the air around him seemed to turn incredibly cold. ¡°You have to pay the price of deceiving my people.¡±

    The look in Minhyuk¡¯s eyes was enough to make goosebumps rise all over Gabriel¡¯s body. Then, he swung his sword down on one of her arms.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    <em>[One of the powers of the Greatest Sword has been triggered.]</em>

    <em>[The Unheble Injury has been activated!]</em>

    <em>Thud¨C!</em>

    Archangel Gabriel¡¯s left arm fell to the ground. She looked at her severed arm incredulously. After a few seconds, she grabbed the stump and began screaming, ¡°K-keuaaaaaaaaack!!!¡±

    The other archangels hurriedly tried to heal her. However, the severed part had already rotted, which made it impossible for their healing to work.

    Unheble Injury was the very same power that left Nerva¡¯s eye injured and untreatable. It was an overpowered force that couldpletely ignore the Named NPCs¡¯ healing abilities, recovery, and healing powers of the priests. If this skill had been activated before an attack, anything severed could not be reattached or regenerated.

    Minhyuk stared at Gabriel, who was screaming as her blood sprayed all over the ce. Then, he turned to look at the other archangels. The archangels were left in a very difficult and embarrassing situation. Even so, they found holding Minhyuk ountable for doing something like this difficult.

    ¡°If¡­¡± Minhyuk growled. ¡°...you try to defend Archangel Gabriel, I will dere war against Heaven in the name of the next generation Battle God.¡±

    The sharp look in Minhyuk¡¯s eyes told them that it was not just a mere threat. Archangel Michael and the other archangels gulped dryly. They hurriedly shook their heads to indicate that they would not do anything.

    Minhyuk walked back to where Aemira was.

    Even though her entire body was wracked with pain, Gabriel still sneered and said, ¡°Fufufufu! I may have lost an arm and will probably rot in prison for fifty years, but that woman has to die before she can be released!¡±

    In fact, the notification about Aemira not being able to go anywhere beyond a 1.5 meter radius had already rang earlier. It seemed like her situation was no different from the past. The only difference was that the transparent barrier that created her prison had disappeared.

    Aemira taunted, ¡°Death is the only way for her to be released from her punishment!¡±

    Minhyuk snorted, ¡°Hey. Shut her mouth.¡±

    ¡°<em>Hmph! Hmph!</em>¡±

    The archangels hurriedly summoned a gag made of light and forced it in Gabriel¡¯s mouth.

    At that moment, Minhyuk¡¯s gaze turned to the person who had just arrived in this ce. That person was the very same person who Minhyuk asked Verak toe here.

    Aemira, who was shaking, looked up at Minhyuk. ¡°Wh-what are we going to do now¡­? I don¡¯t want to die anymore. I want to live.¡±

    <em>¡®I want to live in his empire. I want to live by the side of this man who fought against Heaven to protect me.¡¯</em>

    s, Archangel Gabriel also took that away from her.

    Minhyuk¡¯s soft and warm hand gently held Aemira¡¯s shaking hands. ¡°No. We¡¯ll go back together.¡±

    ¡°<em>Sob¡­</em>¡±

    Minhyuk wiped the tears from Aemira¡¯s face and said, ¡°Aemira, do you trust me?¡±

    Aemira looked straight at Minhyuk¡¯s eyes. She held no doubt for this man, who dared to raise his sword against Heaven for her sake. So, she slowly nodded in answer.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid. Just trust me.¡± Then, Minhyuk looked at the God of Death and said, ¡°God of Death, can you give Aemira a painless death?¡±

    ¡°As long as she approves of it, I can give her death right away.¡± The God of Death affirmed.

    The God of Death possessed the power ¡®Death¡¯s Comfort.¡¯ The trembling Aemira slowly closed her eyes.

    ¡°Kgghk! Heuk!¡±

    ¡°It will only be for a moment,¡± Minhyuk said, as he hugged the terrified Aemira to calm her down.

    At that moment, a red stream of energy slowly entered her body. Aemira, who had her eyes closed, was breathing roughly. However, she started to feel drowsy. Everything slowly faded away. Then, her breathing slowed down and her sobs grew weaker. Finally, her heart stopped.

    <em>Thump¨C</em>

    Aemira¡¯s arm fell weakly on the ground. The expression on everyone¡¯s face grew solemn. As for Gabriel, she was cackling through the gag stuffed in her mouth.

    ¡°<em>Fufufufufufufu!</em>¡±

    Then, a single voice spoke.

    ¡°Regress.¡±

    Light burst from Aemira¡¯s body. Her time rewound back to exactly thirty seconds ago. Minhyuk smiled kindly as she watched her slowly wake up once again.

    The person who Minhyuk asked Verak to call to Hell was none other than Akhan.

    Minhyuk spoke gentle, ¡°Congrattions on your release, Aemira.¡±

    ¡°...!¡± Aemira was ovee with emotion. She could not stop the tears dripping down her cheeks.

    Verak watched the scene with his mouth wide agape. At the same time, a shudder run down his spine as goosebumps rose all over his body.

    When Verak first met Minhyuk, he could not help but doubt him. After all, he looked nothing but a braggart. He even felt like he was very pathetic when he watched him eat. But when the man raised his sword for the sake of just one of his people, Verak thought that he was very cool. And when he saw him embrace the dying Aemira, he felt deeply moved.

    When Verak saw him smile at her with the brightest and kindest smile as she woke up from death¡¯s bed, he thought, <em>¡®This¡­ this is the kind of emperor that I am serving.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk stood up and looked at Gabriel. He sneered when he saw Gabriel blinking nkly at the scene in front of her. Then, he said, ¡°Get her out of here.¡±

    ¡°<em>Kghhhhhk!</em>¡±

    The archangels dragged Gabriel away. Her rage-filled eyes did not leave their figures until the veryst moment.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go back. Hmm,¡± the Battle God said as he looked at Minhyuk.

    His expression clearly said, <em>¡®Please try not to cause any more troubles.¡¯</em> Since things went well, the Battle God said nothing more and just hummed at him.

    Then, the Battle God looked at the God of Death. He thought, <em>¡®This is quite unexpected.¡¯</em>

    The God of Death was someone who kept to himself and had never intervened in other matters. Yet he got himself involved this time.

    Minhyuk also turned to look at the God of Death.

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    The moment their gazes met, the air grew extremely awkward. The God of Death swatted non-existent flies around him while Minhyuk scratched his head awkwardly.

    At this moment, the angelic and beautiful Aemira was given a new lease in life. With the happiest smile in the world, she decided to do all of the things that she had seen in the book. So, she spread her wings widely.

    Minhyuk could not help but be surprised when he caught sight of her wings. This was because it was of a different color from the angels¡¯ ordinary wings. Her left wing was white, while her right wing was the color of the earth.

    Now that she had be one of his people, Minhyuk had the authority to examine her status, so he immediately did so.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Aemira</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: Archangel Candidate</em>

    <strong><em>Type</em></strong><em>: Vassal</em>

    <strong><em>Level</em></strong><em>: 701</em>

    <strong><em>Attack Power</em></strong><em>: 3,559</em>

    <strong><em>Defensive Power</em></strong><em>: 3,683</em>

    <strong><em>Holy Power</em></strong><em>: 8,650</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: The Ruler of the Earth</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: The Ruler of the Sky</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: The One Releasing Sacred Power</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: The Ruler of Nature</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Angel¡¯s Wings</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Noblest Angel</em>

    <strong><em>Potential</em></strong><em>: 135</em>

    <strong><em>Experience Value</em></strong><em>: 31% / 100%</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: She is the only angel who possesses the power to rule over the sky and the earth. She might be one of the archangels in the future.</em>

    Aemira¡¯s powers did not end with just creating auspicious sites and ruling over her own piece ofnd. She was the only angel with the power to rule over and borrow the powers of the earth and the sky. She even inherited the talent of her mother Aevira and her father Banedron, and could be an archangel in the future.

    With her wings spread wide open, Aemira knelt down on one knee and spoke awkwardly yet solemnly. She said, ¡°I will live for your sake for the rest of my life, Your Majesty.¡±

    Aemira¡¯s voice was teary as she looked up at him with a smile on her face.

    Minhyuk nodded and said, ¡°Wee, Aemira. Come, let me show you the new world where you¡¯ll live.¡±

    ***

    <em>Crash¨C!</em>

    This was the very first time that Aemira heard the calming sound of the waves crashing against the shore. It was also the very first time that she smelled the salty yet refreshing smell of the sea.

    The first ce that Minhyuk brought Aemira to was near the sea.

    Aemira ran barefoot on the sandy beaches. As she ran, she looked up at the sky. This was the vast and wide sky that she had only ever read about in books. There were white, fluffy and soft-looking clouds blooming beautifully above her. Her breathing turned ragged as she ran as much as she wanted. For the first time, she realized that running like that could make someone feel short of breath.

    At that moment, she recalled the words Minhyuk had asked her when he held her back then.

    <em>¨CHow is it? How does the world beyond your small 1.5 meter space feel?</em>

    Aemira shouted at the top of her lungs. ¡°It¡¯s so cool!¡±

    Then, she recalled another question.

    <em>¨CIt¡¯s just ten steps but you have already gone far away from the hellish prison that trapped you, no? How is it?</em>

    ¡°I am so happy!¡±

    She spread her arms and let the cold wind blow past her as she ran as hard as she could. It left her out of breath and gasping yet she was very happy.

    This was the ce that she had only ever seen in her books. This was the beautiful and vast ce that was twinkling and glittering under the rays of the sun that she had only ever read about. This was none other than the <em>sea.</em>

    She looked back and shed a huge smile at the monarch that she chose to serve, the man that she chose to cherish in her heart.

    ***

    After taking Aemira to the sea, Minhyuk ordered Verak to bring Aemira to the Beyond the Heavens Empire. Then, he returned to the Boundary Between Good and Evil. It was time for Heaven to pay the price for the sins that they had made.

 Chapter 1102

    Chapter 1102

    <strong> Chapter 1102</strong>

    Before parting ways with Aemira, Minhyuk made sure to ask her again.

    ¨C<em>Aemira, do you not want anything?</em>

    Heaven had wrongfully punished the innocent. Not only were Aemira¡¯s parents executed in the worst possible way, but she had also been subjected to the most terrible punishment for more than a thousand years. It was only natural for those involved to pay for their wrongs.

    ¨C<em>Even though Archangel Gabriel, the leader of the angels, had already paid for her crimes, this could still be considered Heaven¡¯s fault. So, they will ept and give whatever you ask for.</em>

    Standing with her back to the sea, Aemira shed the most brilliant smile before shaking her head.

    ¨C<em>I have already received the greatest treasure from you, Your Majesty. I can now walk and run as much as I want. I can now look up at the sky whenever I want. And I can also feel the cool breeze in front of the sea.</em>

    Her smile remained bright and wide as she looked at Minhyuk.¨C<em>Your Majesty, you¡¯re the one who gave me the greatest reward, not Heaven. So, I want you, Your Majesty, to receive the rewards instead.</em>

    Of course, Minhyuk repeatedly asked her, still, Aemira¡¯s answer was firm. Aemira even cleverly worded her answer.

    ¨C<em>Your Majesty, because of me, you had to face against Heaven, even possibly falling out with them. It¡¯s enough for me to see you receive a reward in my stead.</em>

    After she said that, Minhyuk was convinced that she genuinely wanted to give him that reward. So, he left Aemira and returned to the Boundary Between Good and Evil. On his way, he checked Aemira¡¯s information once again.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Aemira</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: Archangel Candidate</em>

    <strong><em>Type</em></strong><em>: Vassal</em>

    <strong><em>Level</em></strong><em>: 701</em>

    <strong><em>Attack Power</em></strong><em>: 3,559</em>

    <strong><em>Defensive Power</em></strong><em>: 3,683</em>

    <strong><em>Holy Power</em></strong><em>: 8,650</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: The Ruler of the Earth</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: The Ruler of the Sky</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: The One Releasing Sacred Power</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: The Ruler of Nature</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Angel¡¯s Wings</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Noblest Angel</em>

    <strong><em>Potential</em></strong><em>: 135</em>

    <strong><em>Experience Value</em></strong><em>: 31% / 100%</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: She is the only angel with the power to rule over the sky and the earth. She might be one of the archangels in the future.</em>

    Minhyuk was left in awe. He found Aemira¡¯s powers and abilities much stronger than Saintess Loyna¡¯s. After all, her basic holy power was at 8,650.

    Minhyuk shook his head. He wondered if this was only natural because she was an angel. Perhaps that was not the case either. After all, even if they were angels, it did not make sense to have such a high basic holy power. He realized that this was something that Aemira was born with.

    After he checked her skills, Minhyuk realized they would greatly help him and the Beyond the Heavens Empire. One such skill was the passive skill, The Ruler of the Land.

    <em>¡®As long as she stays in that nation, the vitality of every citizen will increase by 8% while their stamina will increase by 5%.¡¯</em>

    It was a crazy ability. With Aemira by their side, the tens of millions of people and yers living in the Beyond the Heavens Empire would now enjoy the effects of this power without even doing anything.

    <em>¡®The Ruler of the Sky is also incredible.¡¯</em>

    Natural disasters and cmities were something that no human could do something about. It was something that was totally beyond mankind¡¯s reach.

    There were times when the entire continent suffered from heavy rains or snowfall. Sometimes, there were overbearing heat waves and cold waves. These disasters often ruin the resources of many nations.

    Shockingly enough, the Ruler of the Sky could maintain the most optimal temperature in the nation where she belonged in all four seasons. Even rain or snow would only be at a moderate level. It was a power that could ignore disasters like heavy rains, heavy snowfall, heat waves, and even cold waves! It could even prevent severe catastrophes like storms and typhoons.

    Then, there was the One Releasing Sacred Power.

    <em>¡®This is the power that allows her to create auspicious sites.¡¯</em>

    There were some changes in the power. Originally, the area of the auspicious site that she could create was only focused around her, and one could only receive the site''s effects once they entered that area. Now, the effects of the auspicious site would remain in effect for an hour even after they had left the area.

    <em>¡®Many skilled and dexterous craftsmen wille to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.¡¯</em>

    He wondered what would happen if he cooked right next to Aemira.

    Then, there was the Noblest Angel. ording to the skill, it had the power to open up the potential of someone Aemira chose.

    <em>¡®Hmm.¡¯</em>

    Nheless, the growth would be gradual and slow. Then, there were also the conditions for activation. They were quite demanding.

    <em>¡®A person acknowledged by the system as someone walking down the right path. A person who has a lot of potential. Someone whose rank goes beyond legendary.¡¯</em>

    Although these three conditions would be quite hard to meet, Minhyuk knew that this power would greatly help them someday.

    After checking Aemira¡¯s status, Minhyuk patted his bulging pocket and recalled what the God of Death said.

    <em>¡®It seems like you still have a conscience.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk knew from the beginning that the God of Death Louis had issued the pass to him so that he could help free the innocent Aemira from the terrible punishment she was subjected to. In a way, he had been used. However, the God of Death generously paid him a million tinum before returning to Hell.

    Minhyuk patiently waited until he saw Michael cross the border into the Boundary Between Good and Evil and enter this ce once again.

    ***

    Heaven and Hell were still mostly covered with a thin veilyer in the yers'' eyes. Heaven¡¯s image in the yers'' eyes was and of dreams.<em></em>

    <em>¡®Heaven is and of treasure.¡¯</em>

    Rumors like that were even circting among the yers.

    Rumor had it that the yers who had obtained artifacts, Divine Ingredients, and Divine Ores that dropped from Heaven were all said to be shocked by their power. Every single one of them possessed incredible strength.

    Michael only met with Minhyuk after a thorough discussion with the other archangels.

    ¡°Who will fill in for Gabriel¡¯s vacant spot?¡± Minhyuk asked. This was him sounding out how much influence Michael had in Heaven.

    ¡°I think I¡¯ll have to fill in this position temporarily.¡±

    It seemed that the archangel in front of Minhyuk exercised far more power than he initially thought since he had be the temporary leader of the angels.

    Michael asked, ¡°Where¡¯s Aemira?¡±

    ¡°Aemira has given me full authority over the discussion of thepensation she has to receive,¡± Minhyuk responded.

    Archangel Michael¡¯s expression did not change much. He said, ¡°We will pay around a million tinum to allow Aemira to livefortably in the human world. In addition, we will allow you to choose one of the items in the list we have prepared.¡±

    At the same time, a list of rewards appeared in front of Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®As expected of Heaven.¡¯</em>

    The items presented to him were much more than he initially expected.

    <em>¡®Divine Drops.¡¯</em>

    A single drop from a small bottle of this item could easily increase an artifact¡¯s effects by 5%. It could also be applied to any artifact. Of course, the effects would onlyst for five days. Nevertheless, its effects were still quite shocking. When Minhyuk looked at the amount offered, he could roughly estimate that it wouldst three months.

    So many mysterious and surprising items like this were listed on thepensation list that they had prepared.

    <em>Swoosh¨C</em>

    Although he was surprised by the effects, Minhyuk¡¯s expression remained impassive. He bluntly and curtly said, ¡°It¡¯s just this much? Do you think this is enough topensate for the suffering that Aemira had experienced being imprisoned in that small space for more than a thousand years?

    Michael retorted, ¡°That¡¯s a bit too excessive, don¡¯t you think? You¡¯re the one that¡¯s going to use it, yet you¡¯re pushing Aemira forward.¡±

    The response was only natural. After all, that¡¯s what it looked like. Minhyuk responded with the answer that Aemira had given him.

    ¡°I fought for her alone, ready to go against the entire Heaven itself. Are you saying that I don¡¯t deserve that muchpensation?¡±

    Michael choked. Had Minhyuk failed to prove Aemira¡¯s innocence, he would have suffered damage far exceeding thepensation they were trying to give him.

    ¡°Then, I¡¯ll allow you to choose one additionalpensation.¡±

    In the first ce, Michael intended to give twopensations. He believed that humans were easy to deal with. All he needed to do was throw one tiny, insignificant thing and add one more. Then, they would feel like they had already obtained something tremendous. Ultimately, what Michael would part with were nothing but trivial consumables.

    A glow appeared on Minhyuk¡¯s face as he said, ¡°Oh, I see! Then, I¡¯m very grateful!¡±

    Seeing the expected look on Minhyuk¡¯s face as he rejoiced, Michael could not help but ridicule him in his heart. Mankind was indeed a pathetic race.

    ¡°Haha. I have obtained two items. Alright. I¡¯ll get these two, go to the human world, and release everything that happened here to the public.¡±

    ¡°What¡­?¡±

    ¡°Why? Is there aw prohibiting me from disclosing this matter to the public just because I received yourpensation?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°I believe you¡¯re aware of this video capture function? It¡¯s something that foreigners have.¡±

    Minhyuk was referring to the process of filming and saving a video.

    ¡°You see, I have filmed everything from the beginning to the end and saved it as a video. Don¡¯t tell me, is this against the rules of Heaven?¡±

    There was no suchw that prohibited something like that in Heaven.

    ¡°After all, the other races have the right to know something like this, no?¡±

    Michael¡¯s jaw dropped open.

    Heaven, a realm that was supposed to represent the <em>good</em>, had imprisoned an innocent woman for more than a thousand years. The archangel leading the angels failed to reign in her anger and stood by her decision until the end. She even went so far as to seek the woman¡¯s death for her to be released from her punishment.

    If this incident were public, many would condemn them. If that happened, Heaven would have to suffer. It would also take a very long time to restore their honor.

    <em>¡®I underestimated him.¡¯</em>

    Just when Michael was about to say something, Minhyuk quickly interjected.

    ¡°I require three items from this list. Also, I want a blessing from you, Michael. Then, an additional one million tinum. And finally, your ability to discern the truth.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Michael¡¯s eyes grew wide. What kind of preposterous terms was he putting on the table?

    ¡°You are the angel of ¡®truth¡¯ who can determine the truth from the lie with your sword. But I¡¯m sure you have other ways to do so, no?¡±

    It was the truth.

    Michael felt like the man before him had seen through his inner thoughts for a moment.

    Minhyuk pressed, ¡°I believe this is quite a cheap price to pay to prevent Heaven¡¯s reputation from being tarnished. Don¡¯t you think so too?¡±

    He could not say anything back. Even so, Michael could not easily ept such terms.

    ¡°Are you not even going to consider your rtionship with Heaven going forth?¡± He asked, incredulous.

    ¡°Why? Was I the one in the wrong?¡± Minhyuk argued.

    One sentence and Archangel Michael was rendered mute.

    ¡°What rtionship are we even talking about here?¡± Minhyuk looked at the archangel incredulously. ¡°Heaven¡¯s the one here in the wrong. The archangels should have treated the Angel of the Earth and the Angel of the Sky with better care, right?¡±

    Minhyuk red coldly at Michael. This sin should not only be pushed into Gabriel¡¯s head alone.

    ¡°If you had paid a little more attention to the matter, you would have known about it immediately.¡±

    There was nothing wrong with Minhyuk¡¯s words.

    Michael sighed as he calcted in his head. Minhyuk had only asked for three of the consumables from the list that he had given him. One was his own blessing while the other was the additional one million tinum. Then, there was also his ability to discern the truth.

    ¡°I¡¯ll give you the Scale of Truth. However, you can only use it three times in total.¡±

    Of course, Minhyuk was aware that he would never be able to permanently obtain the power to discern the truth from the lies. Nevertheless, he could not stop the dissatisfaction from shining on his face.

    Just then, a surprising notification rang in his ears. After hearing the world message, Minhyuk said, ¡°Let¡¯s add one more to those terms. I want a token representing my friendly rtionship with the archangels.¡±

    ¡°Why do you want something like that?¡±

    It was not difficult to bestow such an item on him, but Michael wanted to know where Minhyuk would use it.

    ¡°I will not use it to tarnish the archangels¡¯ reputation or bring you harm. And if you give me this token, I will never reveal what Heaven has done this time.¡±

    Michael nodded. He easily epted the additional term. Even so, he could not help but sigh. This was because he had paid twice as much as he expected. Especially because each and every single one of thepensation that Minhyuk chose were good items.

    <em>[You have acquired the Divine Drop.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Sprig of Realm Ascension.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Archangel¡¯s Star.]</em>

    <em>¡®How can he be this fast when ites to calcting?¡¯</em>

    When it came to consumable items, one would usually fail to determine their true worth. Because of that, most of the people would pass by such great items.

    The Divine Drop could increase all of the artifact¡¯s ability by 30% for one day. If one nced at the list, one might think obtaining the Large Drop would be better than receiving the Divine Drop. Nheless, if one took into consideration the fact that the Divine Drop¡¯s special effects could be extended with every drop added, then it was obvious that the Divine Drop was far more valuable.

    Minhyuk, who saw through the essence of all of the items in such a short time, said, ¡°The blessings, please.¡±

    <em>[Michael has bestowed his blessings upon you.]</em>

    <em>[The archangel¡¯s power covers you.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained a 0.7% increase in all of your stats.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained a 7% increase in your holy power.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained a 10% increase in your resistance against abnormal statuses.]</em>

    Only after obtaining the additional one million tinum and the Scale of Truth did a smile of satisfaction appear in Minhyuk¡¯s face. When Michael saw his expression, he felt like he had lost quite a lot.

    Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°I hope that we can continue to maintain a friendly rtionship in the future.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Michael looked at him in confusion. His expression looked like he was saying, <em>¡®You have the audacity to say that right now?¡¯</em>. Then, at that moment, Minhyuk took out four silver pots from his inventory. Then, he handed them to Michael.

    ¡°...¡±

    Michael looked at Minhyuk incredulously.

    ¡°This is a show of my sincerity. Let¡¯s maintain a cordial and friendly rtionship. Alright?¡±

    Each silver pot was filled with chapagetti and was covered with conservation magic. This meant that the contents of the pot remained in its most optimal temperature and state.

    Archangel Michael received something worth the paltry sum of 800 gold, yet he could not throw it away. In the end, all he could do was sigh as he kept it. Then, he turned away.

    Unbeknownst to them, Minhyuk had put a drop of Sea Honey in those pots.

    Minhyuk released a trembling breath after seeing Michael disappearpletely from his sight.

    <em>¡®Is it finally going to happen?¡¯</em>

    The reason why Michael was forced to pay an additionalpensation was the world message that rang in his ears earlier.

    <em>[The Advanced Polling for the New Pir will now begin.]</em>

    <em>[All yers are eligible to participate in the Advanced Polling.]</em>

    <em>[The yers who can correctly guess the one who will take first ce in the Advanced Polling will be able to obtain a 1-level Level Up Potion.]</em>

    <em>[Pir Candidates can promote and publicize themselves in their own ways.]</em>

    <em>[The Advanced Polling will not have any influence on the Eight Pirs Selection.]</em>

    <em>[If a yer is one of the Pir Candidates, the other yers belonging in the yer¡¯s nation will not be able to vote for them.]</em>

    <em>[If the yer still wishes to vote for them, they can vote. However, they will be subjected to a 40% decrease in your current level¡¯s EXP.]</em>

    <em>[The candidate who will rank first in the Advance Polling will be able to obtain a special privilege for the still unknown events that will happenter.]</em>

    <em>[The Advance Polling period is one week.]</em>

    <em>[You can vote twice.]</em>

    <em>[Voting can be done once a day after the announced start of the Advance Polling and once on the third day or thest day of the voting period. In the case of changing candidates to vote for, your votes will be applied to the final candidate that you have chosen.]</em>

    The day when he would stand at the center of the world of Athenae was fast approaching.

 Chapter 1103

    <strong>Chapter 1103</strong>

    While carrying four pots of chapagetti, Michael was left in a highly agitated state. In humans¡¯ terms, Minhyuk had ripped them off. The other archangels were also left angry when they heard the entirety of the story.

    ¡°He¡¯s making fun of us, huh!¡±

    ¡°He gave us this food just to poke fun at us!¡±

    ¡°I believe this is only worth 800 gold in the human world.¡±

    Children in the human world would receive pocket money worth more than 800 gold in a day.

    One of the archangels wanted to throw the silver pots away, indicating their fury at the next-generation Battle God. However, he stopped in his tracks when he took a whiff.

    ¡°It smells so good.¡±Indeed, that was certainly the case.

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe a trivial and insignificant human dish can smell like this. Come to think of it; we have never tried this chapagetti.¡±

    Although he did not want to admit it out loud, fantasizing about the dish''s aroma was already a silent admission that he wanted a taste. He was truly curious about this dish.

    ¡°Even though the food humans make is garbage, it wouldn¡¯t hurt to try and get a taste, right?¡±

    The other archangels seemed to agree with this sentiment.

    ¡°Perhaps we would be reminded of the gap between Heaven and humans after eating this trashy human food.¡±

    They wanted to prove how excellent Heaven was and how delicious the food that the heavenly dwellers atepared to the human world.

    Michael''s expression was ufortable as he grabbed a fork and began to mix the dish covered in a glossy ck sauce.

    <em>Swoosh, woosh¨C</em>

    The shine of the sauce waspletely different from that of the pasta. Michael moved elegantly, rolling his fork to wrap the noodles around before taking a graceful bite. His expression grew ugly when he put the food in his mouth as if he had eaten something he should not have.

    But an unknown vor coated his mouth when he finally chewed the noodles.

    The taste was both sweet and savory. This dish, chapagetti, was not made simply by mixing the noodles and the prepared sauce. It was stir-fried once, allowing the sauce and the seasonings to seep into the noodles and perfectly coat each strand.

    This time, Michael opted for a bigger bite. When he ced it in his mouth, the divine harmony from the musical instruments in the hands of countless baby angels echoed in his head.

    Then, without hesitation, Michael began to devour the vorful and divine dish before him. Of course, he also tried the kimchi that Minhyuk had handed him.

    <em>Crunch, crunch¨C</em>

    The kimchi had a great texture and a vor that easily washed away the greasy aftertaste left behind by the chapagetti. After finishing the entire pot hurriedly, Michael wiped his mouth gracefully and smiled.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s also an unknown yet enticing sweetness at the end.¡¯</em>

    Then, Michael received a notification that he had consumed an epic-grade dish. Of course, the other archangels, who ate simultaneously as him, received the same notification.

    ¡°So, he did not disregard us. To prepare such a dish, he must have been considerate of us.¡±

    Their evaluation of Minhyuk changed in an instant.

    ¡°It¡¯s not easy to put in the power of an epic in this simple bowl of chapagetti. We all know that low-grade ingredients will only make low-grade dishes. There must be some pretty outstanding ingredients in this dish.¡±

    In truth, Minhyuk bought the ingredients at a discount because they were in a bundle.

    ¡°I believe this was made by putting in an effort. He might even have put much of his heart and soul into making this. It seems like he still has a conscience. Maybe he treated us to a pot of chapagetti because he felt he had required too muchpensation from us.¡±

    The fact was that Minhyuk only paid around 400 gold per bag of chapagetti. Nheless, the angels continued to discuss heartily.

    ¡°I guess he wasn¡¯t that senseless.¡±

    ¡°When I ate the first bite, this sweet and mysterious vor invaded my mouth. By the end, that sweet note grew deeper and more vorful. I wonder what kind of precious ingredient he put inside that dish?¡±

    It was all because of Minhyuk¡¯s precious and strengthened Sea Honey.

    The archangels were left thinking of Minhyuk again because of a pot of chapagetti worth 400 gold.

    ***

    The entire world was buzzing because they could vote for the new Pir Candidate themselves!

    After the notification about the Advanced Polling was released, a video was posted on Athenae¡¯s official homepage. The video briefly described the candidates one after another. Of course, this video was also avable to the yers once they logged into the game.

    Each of the candidates appeared in front of the eyes of the yers.

    The space was torn open in front of the empty fields. Then, a handsome middle-aged man with a head full of white hair walked out. One side was filled with raging lightning and thunder while another was with heavy rain. There was even a side enveloped by an overwhelming snowstorm.

    A description appeared above the man as he slowly walked through the empty field.

    <em>[Thunder, lightning, rain, snow, torrential downpours, heavy snow, cold waves, heat waves, and many more. He is the one who rules them all.]</em>

    <em>[First Candidate: Master of Nature Verodun.]</em>

    The scene panned to the next candidate right away.

    A turtle-type Named Monster could be seen roaring wildly. But right in front of it was the figure of a man swinging the sword by his side. With the swing of his sword, a light shed, and an elf appeared. Right next to the elf was an orc, a werewolf, and even a member of the dragon race. A different race would appear with every swing of the man¡¯s sword. But what was shocking was that all of the races present followed the man¡¯s orders and immediately charged toward the monster he was pointing at with his sword.

    <em>[Elf, orc, werewolf, dragon race, fairy race. He is the one who has the power to lead andmand dozens of races.]</em>

    <em>[Second Candidate: King of Races Reikan.]</em>

    Just like that, the video introduced the candidates one after another.

    <em>[Third Candidate: God of Assassins Boleyn.]</em>

    <em>[Fourth Candidate:...]</em>

    <em>[Fifth Candidate:...]</em>

    Then, another video appeared. This time, it showed the figure of a woman standing in front of the Great Luvien Empire with her sword stretched out in front of her and her red hair fluttering behind her. Armies with symbols representing their kingdoms and empires gathered around her.

    The woman shouted, <em>¡®Charge!!!¡¯</em>

    <em>[Ninth Candidate: Continental Emperor Ellie.]</em>

    Finally, thest video appeared.

    A man standing 185 centimeters could be seen striking the dry and aridnd with his pickaxe. On the upper left side of the video, the word ¡°One Day¡± appeared. The day quickly bled into the night, and ass a new day appeared, the word on top of the video changed.

    <em>Two Days. Three Days.</em>

    Even though the crops started to grow around him, the man continued to strike thend with his pickaxe. After around a week, the man stopped and took out a huge trailer.

    <em>Beeeeeeeeeep¨C!</em>

    <em>Thump, thump, thump¨C!</em>

    zing mes shot out from within the trailer, and smoke billowed through its chimney, making it look menacing. The man climbed inside the trailer and began to cook the crops that he grew himself. As the man cooked, a sentence appeared in front of all of the viewers.

    <em>[Tenth Candidate: Pir of Gourmands Minhyuk.]</em>

    Then, the screen turned dark. After a few beats, white letters began to appear in front of everyone once again.

    <em>[The Advanced Polls have started.]</em>

    <em>[You must cast your first vote for the Advanced Polls within these two days.]</em>

    <em>[You can cast your second vote by thest day of the voting period.]</em>

    <em>[If the first vote cast is different from the second vote, the second vote will be taken into consideration.]</em>

    Voting started all over the world.

    ***

    The start of the Advanced Polling¡¯s voting period coincided with the ¡°Catastrophe Day.¡± The Catastrophe Day was said to be a day where all kinds of catastrophes wreaked havoc in the entire continent and was something that happened every fifty years.

    ording to the records, many people had died when this event first urred. However, the disasters had appeared at the same time for 500 years. This gave mankind the leeway to prepare for it in advance. Because of that, the damage that mankind received had been reduced by 4%pared to when it first appeared.

    Anyway, these disasters and catastrophes were now happening around the world. Just like that, heavy rain, strong gusts of winds, lightning and thunder had started to engulf the entire world of Athenae. There was even a tornado waiting to devour everything and anything in its path.

    The yers had already received an evacuation order in the form of a notification while each nation had deployed their most outstanding mages and construction workers to prepare for the advent of the catastrophic day.

    Back in the Beyond the Heavens Empire, Minhyuk was sitting in the conference hall while countless overwhelming catastrophes were buffeting the entire world of Athenae. The catastrophes and disasters had not yet arrived in the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    Before that, there was something far more important that they had to discuss.

    ¡°Ranked 9th in the polls¡­¡±

    By the second day after the announcement of the start of the voting period, everyone would have already finished casting their first vote.

    Three hours after the start of the Advanced Polls, Minhyuk could see that he was only ranked 9th in the polls.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Advanced Polls</em></strong><em>]</em>

    <em>Current Voter Turnout: 29.8%</em>

    <em>1st ce: Master of Nature Verodun. Percentage: 24.1%</em>

    <em>2nd ce: Pir of Death Boleyn. Percentage: 23.9%</em>

    <em>3rd ce:...</em>

    <em>4th ce:...</em>

    <em>9th ce: Pir of Gourmands Minhyuk. Percentage: 2%</em>

    <em>10th ce: Continental Emperor Ellie. Percentage. 1.9%</em>

    Perhaps it was only natural.

    In most elections and polls, the first and second ce would usually have the highest number of votes. They were the most popr even though there were countless other candidates to choose from. Because of that, the other candidates would have significantly lower votes.

    Haze said, ¡°The people of South Korea, the country where Your Majesty belongs, have virtually no way to vote for you.¡±

    This was the truth.

    The heat and discussion about this matter was already on par with the World Cup. After all, even though it was only a game, Athenae was still world-ss. In fact, the ratings brought by the Athenae Olympics were already a bit higher than the ratings brought by the World Cup before. There was a high chance that the people of Korea would vote for Minhyuk. After all, he was their pride.

    Athenae made sure to prevent that from happening.

    If they chose to vote for Minhyuk, they would suffer from a 40% drop in EXP. Of course, if Minhyuk won first ce in the Advanced Polls, they would be able to receive a One-level Level Up potion. The question was: would Minhyuk even be able to win first ce? It was basically impossible.

    Minhyuk smiled bitterly at his ranking and at Ellie¡¯s ranking. This was because she was ranked tenth, right below him.

    ¡°After the disasters pass, the candidates will definitely be more active.¡±

    ¡°Yes, we expect that to happen. Your Majesty, we should also begin our preparations. The disasters and catastrophes will strike the Asgan Continent in six hours or so. And it will strike the Beyond the Heavens Empire in exactly six hours and forty seven minutes.¡±

    Basically, Haze was reminding him to leave tomorrow¡¯s worry tillter. The Beyond the Heavens Empire had to first prepare to stop the disasters and catastrophes and lessen the damage that they would receive.

    At that moment, a smile appeared on Minhyuk¡¯s face. ¡°Starting today, I will start working on increasing my votes.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± Haze asked dumbfoundedly.

    Even the other guild members were looking at Minhyuk in confusion. All of the candidates were busy trying to prepare for <em>that</em> tomorrow. Everyone else determined that any activity and promotions would be rendered ineffective today. The entire world was busy dealing with disasters and catastrophes today.

    This was also the reason why Master of Nature Verodun had an overwhelming number of votes and was standing firmly at number one. Absurd as it might sound, it might just be that Master of Nature Verodun was the one who caused this disaster.

    Most people saw this as ¡°nature¡¯s natural order.¡± Just like how sometimes there were good days and sometimes there were bad days, there were also days when disasters and catastrophes woulde.

    No one would stand up and me someone because they were being flooded because the heavy rains would not stop. No one would alsoin that a lot of things were being frozen by a sudden bout of cold spell. All they could do was to curse and resent the sky.

    Since Verodun could create such catastrophes that could envelop and devour the entire world, the yers decided to vote for him.

    ¡°In the first ce, there is no distinction between good and evil when ites to bing a Disaster.¡±

    There was a reason for this. It was just like how Helenia and Obren became Pirs and how the rotten and dirty Pope Kronad became one as well. As long as they could disy the greatest and most outstanding power, they would be able to win this Advanced Polls.

    ¡°The Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s army does not need to prepare for the disasters.¡±

    ¡°Y-your Majesty?!¡±

    ¡°Minhyuk, what nonsense are you saying?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re not going to prepare anything?¡±

    The reason why each of the kingdoms and empires suffered minimal damages in the past was because they followed a systematic approach and made sure to prepare well in advance. But Minhyuk was saying that they did not need to prepare for it? If they did not prepare, then the Beyond the Heavens Empire would definitely suffer.

    ¡°You¡­ have you gone crazy?¡± Locke asked, his expression filled with doubt and confusion as he looked at Minhyuk.

    Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°Guys, what if¡­¡± He looked at their bewildered expressions and continued, ¡°...our Beyond the Heavens Empire deflects all of the disasters and catastrophesing our way? What would happen then?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    His words werepletely absurd and iprehensible. Even so, they were still able toe up with an answer to that question.

    Haze opened her mouth and said, ¡°If the disaster fails to do anything to the Beyond the Heavens Empire, then even if it¡¯s not rted to His Majesty being a Pir of the Gourmands, this will have a huge impact on his influence. His Majesty Minhyuk will definitely win quite a lot of votes if this happens.¡±

    Minhyuk smiled. Just in time, someone knocked on the door and entered. This person was someone that waspletely unfamiliar to everyone present.

    Minhyuk said, ¡°What if we destroy and extinguish a portion of those disasters?¡±

    Haze was already left in awe just by thinking about that scenario. Then, with a face that reflected her thoughts, she said, ¡°The number one in the Advanced Polls will definitely be yours, Your Majesty.¡±

 Chapter 1104

    <strong>Chapter 1104</strong>

    Park was one of the talents that the Beyond the Heavens Empire was most proud of. He grew swiftly from a soldier to a knight leading the 13th Knight Order.

    However, Commander Park was currently confused. He could not understand Brod''s orders.

    ¡°We will now prepare for war. Only the minimum number of troops will remain in the Beyond the Heavens Empire. The builders and the construction workers will alsoe along with us.¡±

    Soon, the catastrophes and disasters thate every 50 years will devour the entire Beyond the Heavens Empire. The Beyond the Heavens soldiers had to grab their hammers and nail their infrastructures down, securing their buildings so that they would not shake and crumble, as well as helping evacuate the people to safer ces.

    So, what did they mean by <em>¡®prepare to go to war?¡¯ </em>The veins on the necks of Park and the rest of the troops popped out.

    Park asked, ¡°Commander, I don¡¯t understand what you¡¯re saying. Don¡¯t we need to prepare for the disasters right now? If things go south, the things our people cherish the most will get swept up and fly away.¡±

    Fortunately, Commander Brod did not withdraw the evacuation order so the people would not recklessly leave their houses. Even so, the soldiers believed they still had to work hard and protect the things the people had worked hard to establish.¡°The crops that the people had farmed and the livestock that they cared for with their blood, sweat, and tears can disappear instantly!¡±

    Yet the soldiers were still ordered to prepare for war in the face of the looming disasters? Were the higher-ups trying to kill the soldiers?

    Brod said, ¡°It¡¯s confidential, but you should know that this is His Majesty¡¯s orders.¡±

    Their roaring momentum immediately died when they heard that the orders came from His Majesty Minhyuk and were very confidential. Minhyuk''s choices and decisions had never failed them before.

    Even so, there were still some who did not believe.

    ¡°Confidential?¡±

    ¡°Howe? Why don¡¯t you want to reveal the reason?¡±

    ¡°What if a building copses and our people die? They are also our family.¡±

    Park, the most quick-witted among everyone, immediately understood the situation. He asked, ¡°Confidential¡­ By any chance, are they preparing something that can prevent the disasters?¡±

    The gears in Park¡¯s head turned quickly. Preparing for war, not taking any measures against disasters, and confidentiality<em>.</em> With his thoughts revolving around those three, he was able toe up with dozens of scenarios and end up with a conclusion. He did not know what method His Majesty would use, but if that confidential thing was rted to the disaster, something good might happen.

    <em>¡®The Beyond the Heavens Empire will experience a tremendous power boost during a disaster.¡¯</em>

    ¡°I will trust the orders and obey,¡± Park spoke firm words of faith and trust.

    Only after Brod said, <em>¡®Those who dare to go against His Majesty¡¯s orders will be severely punished.¡¯</em> did the others grow silent. However, there was not such a huge fuss outside.

    <em>¡®Perhaps people would have grown dissatisfied and refute the orders fiercely. But His Majesty has given the people enough to garner their faith, loyalty, and trust.¡¯</em>

    Everyone believed in their emperor, Minhyuk.

    ***

    The Disaster Day.

    Athenae recorded the lowest ess rate since the game was officiallyunched. Most yers opted not to connect and log in to the game. After all, the disasters would sweep away and devour everything, including the hunting grounds and the dungeons.

    So, most yers watched the disaster through various gaming broadcasts.

    <em>[This is the biggest disaster in 300 years.]</em>

    <em>[Despite all of the preparations that they had made, the Boriton Kingdom was still swept away by the scheduled disasters and catastrophes that were muchrger and stronger than expected.]</em>

    <em>[The disasters and catastrophes, expected to arrive in the Asgan Continent soon, are said to be 1.4x more powerful than the first urrence.]</em>

    <em>[Even if the kingdoms and empires had prepared everything they could, they suffered massive damage because of the stronger andrger disasters.]</em>

    <em>[There seem to be no significant casualties. It¡¯s likely because the kingdoms and empires have evacuated most of their soldiers and citizens.]</em>

    <em>[I can already hear the sighs from each kingdom and empire. Although they have no casualties, it will take a long time and manpower to repair the damages.]</em>

    <em>[Even the yers are sighing. The kingdoms and empires they belong to are in that situation so they will probably be roped in to participate in the restoration process.]</em>

    <em>[Unfortunately, today is also the first day of the voting period. Verodun¡¯s votes are increasing as much as the damage inflicted upon the kingdoms and empires.]</em>

    <em>[Rumors are saying that Master of Nature Verodun has made the disasters and catastrophes stronger. However, he has denied the allegationspletely.]</em>

    <em>[He¡¯s saying that he hasn¡¯t done anything. After all, what else can he do when the disasters and catastrophes have be more extensive and significant because of various bad conditions.]</em>

    <em>[The disasters and catastrophes are approaching the Luvien Empire.]</em>

    <em>[It looks like they have sent mages to create a shield around the empire and prevent these disasters from bringing harm to them.]</em>

    <em>[From what I heard, they have gathered their most skilled construction workers since a month ago to build and reinforce their structures.]</em>

    <em>[There are pretty several powerful and fierce tornadoes that have entered and devoured the entire empire.]</em>

    It was indeed a jaw-dropping sight. At first, it looked like the shield could block the tornadoes, but it quickly broke the shield apart and engulfed the entire Luvien Empire. They could see the soldiers of the Luvien Empire struggling against fierce winds and thunder.

    s, their struggles were useless, and they got sucked inside the tornadoes.

    Nheless, this was the Luvien Empire. They recorded the least damage thanks to their construction work from a month ago and their outstanding talents responding calmly to the disasters.

    <em>[Even so, it will take them at least a month for the Luvien Empire to restore everything.]</em>

    They had shown the best way to block the disasters, but that did not mean that they were free from damage. The Luvien Empire also suffered tremendously. Countless buildings were destroyed, and thousands of trees were struck down by lightning.

    <em>[The disasters are now crossing the ocean and making their way toward the Asgard Continent.]</em>

    <em>[The first in the line of disasters is the Alvarra Kingdom, followed by the Beyond the Heavens Empire.]</em>

    <em>[Everyone from Asgan Continent, please remember not to log in today.]</em>

    The viewers trembled as they watched the disasters enter the ocean. They now saw the extent of the ridiculous power of the disasters. At the same time, the ess rate of the yers of Asgan Continent dropped sharply.

    ***

    What should they call this? <em>The calm before the storm?</em> The weather in the Asgan Continent was still sunny and clear. A middle-aged man visited the Beyond the Heavens Empire on this sunny day. The man identified himself and said that he wanted to meet the emperor. Not long after, the middle-aged man met with Emperor Minhyuk, standing on the empire''s walls waiting for the disaster.

    The middle-aged man was none other than Master of Nature Verodun. He said, ¡°You¡¯re as handsome as I heard. And you¡¯re also young! I¡¯m quite envious of you. Hoho!¡±

    Master of Nature Verodun smiled graciously at Minhyuk. He looked like your typical nice guy next door, but he was not. He was a member of the Baghraim Race and had already lived for 500 years.

    The Baghraims had an unusual ability to control and govern nature, and Verodun was special. He was born with the blood of a king, which was why he had lived for a very long time.

    ¡°What brings you here?¡± Minhyuk asked Verodun bluntly.

    First, apetitor visiting during the voting period of the Advanced Polls was not a very wee gesture.

    Verodun looked in the direction of where the disaster woulde from. He said, ¡°Soon, that monstrous thing will arrive in the Asgan Continent. You have to know that it¡¯s also gaining more power. Once it enters the seas of the Asgan Continent and makes contact with its currents, it will be bigger and stronger than before.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°It seems like you¡¯re using your powers to strengthen the disasters, huh?¡±

    Verodun chuckled slyly. ¡°What do you mean? I may be the Master of Nature, but why would I do such a thing? I just gave you my <em>¡®predictions.¡¯</em> After all, no one knows disaster better than me.¡±

    Minhyuk did not believe a single word that Verodun said. Finally, Verodun brought up the real reason why he came here. ¡°How about cooperating with me?¡±

    ¡°Cooperating?¡± Minhyuk raised his eyebrow.

    ¡°Yes. If you cooperate with me obediently and help me be a Pir, I will help you.¡±

    ¡°Obediently?¡± Minhyuk frowned. ¡°By <em>obediently</em>, do you mean that you don¡¯t want me to go against you?¡±

    Verodun just smiled silently.

    ¡°It sounds like you¡¯re telling me to help you be a Pir and be your subordinate.¡±

    Verodun smirked, ¡°That depends on how you perceive the matter.¡±

    Although Verodun¡¯s expression remained innocent, he was already slyly nodding in agreement. He intended to put the leader of the most influential and prosperous empire, the Beyond the Heavens Empire, under him to help him be a Pir. Once he became a Pir, he would treat Emperor Minhyuk like hisckey.

    Verodun continued, ¡°Of course, a price has to be paid for something like that.¡±

    In return for Minhyuk helping him be a Pir, he would also give him help.

    ¡°You see, what do you think will happen if nature puts pressure on the Luvien Empire? On the other hand, what if it happened to the Beyond the Heavens Empire?¡±

    At this moment, it was clear to Minhyuk that Verodun was the reason the disasters kept growing stronger. Because of that, Minhyuk decided not to entertain him any longer.

    ¡°How about you stop talking nonsense and get out of my empire?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Verodun looked incredulously at the smiling Minhyuk before turning to look at the sky again. Then, he gave a veiled threat, ¡°So, as the disaster continues on its path¡­¡±

    Minhyuk interjected, ¡°What do you want to do?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Verodun thenughed incredulously. ¡°Let¡¯s talk about how you¡¯re thest in the polls. Ah. You¡¯re not thest, no?¡±

    He finally showed his true colors.

    ¡°Foolish emperor. It seems your pridees first, and you don¡¯t even think about your people, huh?¡± Verodun clicked his tongue. ¡°Those disasters will grow stronger and attack the Beyond the Heavens Empire. And they will blow everything away. You should know the power that a Pir Candidate possesses, right?¡±

    Indeed. Every single one of the candidates was outstanding in their way. If Verodun was indeed manipting the disasters, even if they reinforced their building and prepared to the very best of their abilities, there was a chance that more than half of the Beyond the Heavens Empire would be blown away.

    ¡°Strictly speaking, you¡¯re just an emperor leading an empire. You¡¯re even thest in the polls. Fufufufu. Shouldn¡¯t you reconsider this more?¡±

    <em>Swoosh¨C!</em>

    At that moment, the wind suddenly picked up, which seemed to signify the imminent catastrophe growing in strength.

    Minhyuk said, ¡°Shall we make a bet?¡±

    ¡°What bet¡­?¡± Verodun was taken aback.

    ¡°A bet about how I will get 15% votes today?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    What kind of bullshit was this man saying? It was utterly ridiculous to Verodun. After all, the man¡¯s votes only amounted to 2%. What was more incredulous was that the young emperor in front of him was making a bet with him despite that.

    Verodun found Minhyuk¡¯s bullshit to be interesting. So, he crossed his arms and said, ¡°If we¡¯re going to bet, then we have to offer something so that each party will not lose out.¡±

    Minhyuk quickly proposed, ¡°Grant me three wishes.¡±

    Verodun asked, ¡°Three wishes?¡±

    ¡°Of course, this should be done within the allowed limit. Shall we swear an oath to God Athenae?¡± Minhyuk pressed.

    Swearing an oath to god meant that whatever they requested should be within what god allowed. So, it was impossible to demand something excessive from each other. Even if one won the bet, they could not say, <em>¡®Be my subordinate.¡¯</em> Their request had to be something that could only be done within the limits and to the best of the other party¡¯s abilities. The bet terms were reasonable and fair, and the rewards were trivial.

    Verodun cackled. He had already thought of 10,000 ways to take advantage of the young and foolish emperor before him.

    ¡°I ept.¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± Minhyuk dered.

    <em>[You have sworn an oath to Athenae. The loser of the bet will have to grant the other party three wishes.]</em>

    Verodun cackled wildly. ¡°Even if your votes exceed 15%, your empire will remain in tatters. I want to see it for myself. Is it alright for me to stay here?¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter.¡± Minhyuk nodded.

    The wind grew more assertive. The disasters had finally entered the Asgan Continent. Of course, Verodun made it so the power of the disasters and catastrophes had increased by leaps and bounds. He wanted to teach this impudent and foolish emperor a lesson.

    Verodun did not actually intend to do something like this.

    <em>¡®This is all because of your arrogance.¡¯</em>

    As if to signal the arrival of a more intense and terrifying disaster, the wind began to howl and turn sharp. As the wind caressed their skin, they felt like the disaster was right before them.

    <em>¡®The first thing that I will wish for is to have you on your knees in front of me,¡¯ </em>Verodun thought in delight.

    ***

    Six hourster.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Advanced Polls</em></strong><em>]</em>

    <em>Current Voter Turnout: 41.8%</em>

    <em>1st ce: Master of Nature Verodun. Percentage: 33.1%</em>

    <em>2nd ce: Pir of Death Boleyn. Percentage: 23.9%</em>

    <em>3rd ce: Pir of Gourmands Minhyuk. Percentage: 16.9%</em>

    The result of the votes, which should have been impossible to achieve, was disyed in front of Verodun.

    Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°Should I turn on the live broadcast now?¡±

    Verodun¡¯s eyes shifted all over the ce as he fell deep in his thoughts.

    At this moment, the votes were about to increase wildly. It would definitely be to the point that it would pierce through the sky. How would that happen? Well, it was simple.

    <em>[The winner of the bet, Minhyuk, makes his first wish.]</em>

    <em>[His wish is for you to bow politely and act courteously in front of him.]</em>

    A powerful force appeared, forcing Verodun¡¯s body to bend into the standard ny-degree bow. Verodun said nothing, but Minhyuk, who had started a live broadcast, said, ¡°I see. So, you¡¯re being courteous to me because you want to cooperate with me? Alright. I will definitely think about it.¡±

    Flustered, Verodun started sputtering, ¡°What nonsense are you spouting?! When did I say¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk ended his live broadcast with impable timing. To the yers, this was what looked like happening.

    <em>¡®One of the Pir Candidates is acting courteously toward Minhyuk because he wants to cooperate with him!¡¯</em>

    Votes for Minhyuk in the Advanced Polls began to skyrocket. The number of votes rose at an explosive rate to the point that it surpassed even that of Verodun¡¯s own!

 Chapter 1105

    <strong>Chapter 1105</strong>

    Before Verodun¡¯s strengthened disasters and catastrophes arrived in the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    Many yers who opted not to ess the game were watching the situation on various broadcasting stations. They watched as the great catastrophes that swept the entire Luvien Empire grew stronger as it crossed the sea and entered the Asgan Continent.

    <em>[Everyone from Asgan Continent, please remember not to log in today.]</em>

    <em>[Far greater and stronger disasters and catastrophes are heading toward the Alvarra Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[In three minutes, the Alvarra Kingdom will face these disasters.]</em>

    <em>[Alvarra Kingdom has been undergoing construction and reinforcement in preparation for the day of disaster.]</em>

    The viewers were stunned by the terrible disasters and catastrophes on their screens. There was a monstrous tornado that sucked not only the trees but even the running monsters. The moment this tornadonded in the Asgan Continent, it split into several tornadoes and grew in size.<em>Bang¨C Bang, bang¨C!</em>

    Lightning shed in the now-dark sky while the wind howled and the thunder rumbled. Soon, heavy rain fell, and the rivers swelled, their muddy waters threatening to submerge the entire Asgan Continent.

    Just like that, the catastrophes reached the Alvarra Kingdom.

    <em>[This is crazy.]</em>

    <em>[The wind destroyed all the windows, and the entire building started to shake.]</em>

    <em>[The statues are copsing one after another!]</em>

    They seemed to have seen the incredible power of nature.

    The kingdom¡¯s soldiers ran all over it and struggled to connect the rope in their hands and the building to the ground, but they could only scream as the tornado devoured them. And the mages¡¯ magic? They were helpless in front of the great disaster.

    <em>[Fortunately, the disaster passed by the Alvarra Kingdom quickly.]</em>

    <em>[However, the Alvarra Kingdom has been ttened and turned into a vast field.]</em>

    <em>[Just look at the king¡¯s expression. He looks devastated. They would need at least three months to recover from this.]</em>

    <em>[We can see that the disasters¡¯ speed has decreased considerably.]</em>

    <em>[What¡¯s funny is that the disasters are increasing in size and strength despite slowing down.]</em>

    For some reason, the disasters kept increasing in size even though they had not met unfavorable conditions. This was all because of Verodun. After establishing a bet with Minhyuk, he used most of his powers to increase the size of the disasters. The worst part? Their speed slowed down. This meant that they would stay longer in the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    <em>[Even if the Beyond the Heavens Empire has done all the preparations they could do¡­ huh? Oh. Uhm¡­ Breaking news. The Beyond the Heavens Empire yers are now preparing to go to war.]</em>

    <em>[Preparing to go to war? Are you saying that Minhyuk is preparing to go to the Luvien Empire at a time like this?]</em>

    <em>[No way. No matter how you think about it, that¡¯spletely unbelievable. Nothing would be left of their empire, even if they destroyed the Luvien Empire. Right? Perhaps that¡¯s just some fake news?]</em>

    However, contrary to thementators¡¯ments, the yers continued to send reports. Waves of screenshots showing the troops of the Beyond the Heavens Empire and their yers gathering had been released all over the world.

    The viewers were all left dumbfounded.

    <em>[Minhyuk has probably gone crazy. Lmao. My friend told me they had received orders to stop the strengthening and repairs they had done for the past month.]</em>

    <em>[No way. He¡¯s not thinking that this is his only opportunity to bring down the Luvien Empire, right?]</em>

    <em>[If that¡¯s what they¡¯re genuinely doing, then the Beyond the Heavens Empire will be destroyed. This is why brats who have never experienced natural disasters should not be left in charge. Lol.]</em>

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens¡¯ yers, GG.]</em>

    <em>[Wow. The disasters have gotten really big.]</em>

    <em>[A tornado of that size will definitely annihte all of the troops of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, right?]</em>

    The disasters and catastrophes disyed on their screens were 1.4 times stronger than those thatnded in the Alvarra Kingdom. If those thingsnded on the unprepared Beyond the Heavens Empire, they would surely copse.

    Around fifteen fierce tornadoes were at the forefront of dark clouds carrying sharp lightning, rumbling thunders, and heavy rain. The raging disasters and catastrophes slowly inched towards the walls of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    At that moment, the camera caught sight of Minhyuk standing on the walls where the Beyond the Heavens Empire troops had gathered. The viewers clicked their tongues as they watched Minhyuk¡¯s hair and clothes flutter from the fierce wind brought about by theing disasters.

    Finally, the leading tornadoes reached the front of the walls of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. The menacing tornadoes looked like they were about to devour everything in their path.

    <em>[Aaaaaack! Minhyuk is going to get sucked in!]</em>

    <em>[The walls are going to copse!]</em>

    <em>Rumble¨C!</em>

    The strong, fierce winds apanying the raging tornadoes shook the empire''s walls. But soon, something incredible happened. The tornadoes were deflected. They moved in the other direction as if fleeing from the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    <em>[...?]</em>

    Everyone was left in doubt. <em>Was the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ luck that good?</em> As the thought shed in their heads, eighth tornadoes the same size as the first one approached the walls of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. But even these fierce and overwhelming tornadoes took a detour. They took on another path instead of devouring the empire before them.

    <em>[W-what?]</em>

    At that moment, they saw Minhyuk was not the only one standing at the empire''s walls. The camera captured the image of a gorgeous woman. It seemed like the word <em>angel</em> was the only fitting word to describe her beauty. This woman was none other than Aemira.

    This time, dark clouds carrying heavy rain, sharp lightning, and rumbling thunder approached the Beyond the Heavens Empire. The rain would submerge all their buildings in water, while the lightning would burn everything in its path.

    The woman stretched her hand, which caught everyone''s attention. At the same time, an incredible sight unfolded in front of their very eyes. The thunderstorms that threatened to engulf the sky above them, or in other words, the dark clouds carrying heavy rain and sharp lightning, began to change directions. Just like the tornadoes before, they also took a detour from the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    <em>[Wh-what the hell is happening here?]</em>

    None of them could understand the shocking scene that was presented to them.

    Minhyuk looked arrogantly at the disasters and catastrophes that detoured from the Beyond the Heavens Empire and said, ¡°The <em>angel</em> governing the earth and the sky is with us. There¡¯s nothing to be afraid of.¡±

    Of course, someone like Minhyuk knew how to increase his votes better than anybody else.

    ¡°Aemira.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaa¨C</em>

    A pair of wings spread beautifully from the back of the angelic and beautiful woman. One of her wings was pristine white, while the other was the color of the earth.

    Thementators, who understood the situation, began to talk,

    <em>[N-no way. Are you telling me the Beyond the Heavens Empire has established a friendly rtionship with the Heavenly Realm?]</em>

    <em>[Absolutely not. Heaven is the most mysterious and shockingnd in Athenae.]</em>

    <em>[Then, who is that woman? If we take apart Minhyuk¡¯s words, then the reason why all of the disasters and catastrophes had taken a detour from the Beyond the Heavens Empire is all because of the existence of that woman.]</em>

    Minhyuk drove the wedge by saying, ¡°It is an honor to have such a reliable andpetent vassal like you, Aemira.¡±

    ¡°Please don¡¯t say that. I am honored to serve you, Your Majesty.¡±

    <em>[...!]</em>

    <em>[...!]</em>

    The entire world was left in shock.

    At that moment, the angel, the ruler of the sky and the earth, pped her wings and flew into the sky. Although she did not have enough power to rival that of the Master of Nature, she could still weaken the disastersing their way.

    Aemira, who flew to the center of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, released a bright and beautiful light that covered the entire empire. The light weakened the raging tornadoes, which seemed to have enough power to engulf everything, and forced some of the dark clouds carrying heavy rain to disappear. This almost halved the strength and intensity of the disasters before going away.

    Just like that, the Beyond the Heavens Empire safely endured the disaster.

    <em>[Impossible as it might sound, the disasters have grown incredibly weak¡­]</em>

    <em>[With this, the disasters will no longer do much damage to the rest of the fully prepared Asgan Continent.]</em>

    <em>[This is unbelievable. Minhyuk has an angel as a part of his vassals. And an angel who can control nature and disasters, too!]</em>

    <em>[The number of votes for Minhyuk is increasing at a crazy speed as we speak.]</em>

    <em>[Thanks to Minhyuk, the Asgan Continent yers are now safe from disasters and catastrophes.]</em>

    <em>[Asgan Continent is our country¡¯s server. It is the South Korean Server. Right now, our people ignored the 40% EXP drop penalty and voted for Minhyuk!]</em>

    <em>[People worldwide voted for him after he disyed the Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s fantastic power!]</em>

    But things were not over yet. After the disasters were eliminated, the gates of the Beyond the Heavens Empire opened. Countless cameras focused on Minhyuk as he gave orders to his millions of troops.

    With a dignified and majestic voice, Minhyuk said, ¡°Right now, an unprecedented disaster has engulfed the entire world. Many people have been deprived of the precious things they have worked hard to build.¡±

    He was showing the world how an all-out voting campaign was done.

    ¡°These people must be suffering. They must feel helpless and distraught in the face of overwhelming disasters and catastrophes. Even though they are not my people¡­¡± Minhyuk looked at his soldiers sharply. ¡°Imand you as your emperor. All Beyond the Heavens Empire troops will go to all parts of the continent and help the suffering people recover!¡±

    ¡°We have received your order!¡±

    The booming voice of the millions of troops echoed in the area.

    The yers from all over the world felt devastated that they had to participate in helping their own nation¡¯s recovery. They felt frustrated that they had to do it without being given a choice. In this situation, the Beyond the Heavens Empire sent out its troops and offered to help them.

    Once again, Minhyuk¡¯s votes experienced another rapid increase.

    <em>[Th-this is crazy!]</em>

    <em>[Minhyuk¡¯s votes have gone over 13% in one go!]</em>

    <em>[He has be the 5th ce in a single breath.]</em>

    And finally, the finishing blow.

    Minhyuk stood before a middle-aged man with a head full of white hair. Unfortunately, the sound of the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ troops¡¯ advance had drowned out the conversation between the two.

    Meanwhile, thementators recognized the middle-aged man that Minhyuk was talking to.

    <em>[Th-that¡¯s Master of Nature Verodun!]</em>

    <em>[He¡¯s the bigshot who received most of the votes and stood at the 1st ce in the polls!]</em>

    <em>[Why is Master of Nature Verodun with Minhyuk?]</em>

    Not long after, Minhyuk¡¯s live broadcast was turned on. At the same time, a considerable number of viewers entered and watched the scene from Minhyuk''s perspective.

    Verodun seemed to be in deep thought and suddenly bowed politely toward Minhyuk. It was even the standard 90-degree bow, like a disy of obedience and subservience!

    <em>[Wh-what the hell?!]</em>

    <em>[Verodun wants to cooperate with Minhyuk?!]</em>

    <em>[Impossible!]</em>

    The viewers were left stunned. Of course, countless people denied this fact.

    At that moment, Minhyuk said, ¡°I see. So, you¡¯re courteous to me because you want to cooperate with me? Alright. I will think about it.¡±

    <em>[Heooooooook!]</em>

    <em>[It seems like we guessed right! Verodun is asking for Minhyuk¡¯s cooperation.]</em>

    Then, the live broadcast suddenly ended.

    Meanwhile, thementators began to voice out their spections.

    <em>[Looking at his expression and the standard 90-degree bow, I don¡¯t think he is asking for cooperation. It looks more like wanting to have a master-servant rtionship, no?]</em>

    <em>[yer Minhyuk has made 1st ce Master of Nature Verodun act obediently and politely toward himself.]</em>

    <em>[But there¡¯s something strange. Master of Nature Verodun is a Pir Candidate. He¡¯s a genuine powerhouse. There is no reason for him to obey Minhyuk. I think a cooperative rtionship is more appropriate for the situation?]</em>

    The viewers also had a simr opinion.

    <em>[Isn¡¯t it a pity for Verodun to submit to Minhyuk? Lol. It¡¯s pretty apparent that Minhyuk has done something again.]</em>

    <em>[Cooperation is possible. But a master-servant rtionship is impossible.]</em>

    <em>[Guys, wake up. If it were you, would you, as the 1st ce in the polls, bow down and obey the one standing inst ce?]</em>

    Of course, Minhyuk had to take this opportunity to drive the wedge. Their conversation was drowned out by the army''s marching and the raging winds from the tornadoes escaping the empire.

    <em>[The bet winner, Minhyuk, makes his second wish.]</em>

    <em>[His wish is for you to kneel in front of him.]</em>

    <em>Thud¨C</em>

    When the viewers¡¯ spections ran wild, they saw Master of Nature Verodun kneel before Minhyuk. Verodun''s face was ugly and angry after he was forced to kneel.

    ¡°Th-this is absurd¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk just grinned. ¡°Absurd? Yes, that¡¯s right. It¡¯s absurd. You entered my empire as you pleased, threatened us with disasters, and demanded that I submit to you.¡±

    ¡°H-hiiiiik¡­!¡±

    Verdun has nothing to say about that.

    Of course, the camera captured Minhyuk and Verodun¡¯s figures as if they held an earnest conversation.

    <em>[Heoook! Verodun is kneeling.]</em>

    <em>[If- if this is not submitting¡­ then what is it?]</em>

    <em>[Minhyuk¡¯s votes are going up like crazy right now!]</em>

    <em>[The expectation for Minhyuk, who will probably have Verodun as his subordinate, is very high.]</em>

    <em>[Right now, his votes have surpassed 25%.]</em>

    <em>[It has gone over 26%... 28%... 30%!]</em>

    <em>[M-Minhyuk¡¯s votes are just below Verodun¡¯s votes!]</em>

    Verodun could also see Minhyuk¡¯s votes increasing in real-time. This scene left his mouth dry. But then, a notification rang, leaving him in shock.

    <em>[The 1st ce in the Advanced Polls has been refreshed.]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Advanced Polls</em></strong><em>]</em>

    <em>Current Voter Turnout: 81.8%</em>

    <em>1st ce: Pir of Gourmands Minhyuk. Percentage: 35.9%</em>

    <em>2nd ce: Master of Nature Verodun. Percentage: 34.1%</em>

    <em>3rd ce: Pir of Death Boleyn. Percentage: 25.9%</em>

    Verodun¡¯s expression contorted.

    Minhyukughed at him. Then, he mouthed, <em>¡®Life is a real battle. You piece of shit.¡¯</em>

 Chapter 1106

    <strong>Chapter 1106</strong>

    Humans were powerless in the face of natural disasters. Because of that, Verodun, someone who had the power to create natural disasters, became the most prominent figure on Disaster Day and recorded the highest number of votes.

    Verodun not only created many natural disasters but also saved many people from them. In truth, these were just acts. He was the one who created the natural disasters, brought everyone into the depths of despair, and then saved them.

    The truth was that Verodun was a vicious, wicked, cowardly person. That was why he hid behind the excuse that <em>¡®I can¡¯t create natural disasters as I please¡¯</em> despite doing something so vicious and treacherous.

    The Pir Candidate with the most votes was kneeling before Minhyuk. To anyone watching the scene, it looked like he wanted to submit and obey Minhyuk. Because of that, Minhyuk¡¯s votes skyrocketed. In just an instant, Minhyuk¡¯s votes surpassed Verodun¡¯s 34.1%.

    Verodun looked up and saw Minhyuk mouthing some words.

    <em>¡®Life is a real battle, you piece of shit.¡¯</em>

    These words ignited his wrath. With exquisite timing, Minhyuk once again turned on his live broadcast. Sporting a cold look, he arrogantly said to Verodun, ¡°I¡¯m very sorry, but I have no intention of cooperating with you, Verodun.¡±

    <em>[The bet winner, Minhyuk, makes his third wish.]</em>

    <em>[His wish is for you not to say anything in front of him for one minute.]</em>

    Verodun was just about to shout something, but no words came out. It was as if someone had restricted his voice box.

    Minhyuk turned to look at the Beyond the Heavens Empire behind him. Then, with a kind smile, he said, ¡°Cooperating with you will bring chaos and disturbance to the Beyond the Heavens Empire. So, don¡¯t ask for my help. Work <em>honestly</em> and do your best to be a Pir by yourself.¡±

    The entire world witnessed the scene and looked at Minhyuk in awe.

    <em>[Let¡¯s all look at the situation. It seems like Verodun has seen endless potential in Minhyuk and has asked to be one of his subordinates.]</em>

    <em>[Minhyuk believes that epting Master of Nature Verodun, who possesses enormous power, will bring chaos and confusion to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s only natural. Perhaps their empire would be divided if he epted such a man.]</em>

    <em>[Minhyuk made a choice that took into consideration his empire. He¡¯s a great emperor.]</em>

    Once again, Minhyuk turned off his live broadcast. The furious Verodun could no longer hold back his anger. He immediately tried to release the power that controlled nature.

    <em>[The power of the sacred and divine angel does not allow the existence of any natural disasters inside the empire.]</em>

    Verodun could not exert his powers within the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    ¡°Y-you f*cking shallow¡­¡± Verodun said, his eyes turning bloodshot from anger.

    Seeing him like this, Minhyuk growled, ¡°You¡¯re in no position to say that, though?¡±

    What Minhyuk got, he would make sure to pay double that. He was the type of person who would trample on his opponentspletely and ensure they would never be able to climb back up again.

    Minhyuk yed the sound from the video he had recorded. Verodun''s voice demanded and threatened Minhyuk to cooperate with him and prove that he was the mastermind of this overwhelming disaster.

    With this, Verodun could no longer recklessly make a move against the Beyond the Heavens Empire or any of the people rted to them. If he did that, Minhyuk would release this video without any hesitation. Once the video was released, Verodun''s votes would hit rock bottom on thest day of the voting period.

    ¡°Th-this f*cking shitty emperor! You have no respect for your elders!¡± Verodun shouted in anger.

    However, Minhyuk just chuckled. ¡°Then, you should act your age. If you do, then I will treat you as I should.¡±

    Minhyuk clicked his tongue. Now, there was no more business to discuss with Verodun.

    ¡°Enough. You should get out of my empire.¡±

    The red-faced Verodun was left unable to say anything. All he could do was go back while vowing to return.

    ***

    Minhyuk ranked first until the second day of the start of the Advanced Polls. Of course, the votes had increased significantly because they thought Minhyuk would cooperate with Verodun. Now that he refused the cooperation, his votes had also dropped significantly. Even so, there were still quite a lot of articles published all over the world that defended Minhyuk and helped maintain his votes.

    <em>[Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s Soldiers: Supporting allies and helping with restoration works worldwide.]</em>

    <em>[The kings and emperors of Athenae are extending their heartfelt gratitude to Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor Minhyuk.]</em>

    The yers were required to participate in activities aiding the recovery and restoration of their nation after it was ravaged by natural disasters. Thanks to the help of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, the time they needed to devote to this had been significantly reduced, which helped maintain Minhyuk¡¯s votes.

    However, on the third day, the yers were given the right to change their votes. Because of that, Minhyuk¡¯s votes hit rock bottom again.

    ¡°...?¡±

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Advanced Polls</em></strong><em>]</em>

    <em>Current Voter Turnout: 8.8%</em>

    <em>1st ce: Master of Nature Verodun. Percentage: 27.1%</em>

    <em>2nd ce: Pir of Death Boleyn. Percentage: 24.9%</em>

    <em>¡­</em>

    <em>9th ce: Pir of Gourmands Minhyuk. Percentage: 3.1%</em>

    The results were expected. Nevertheless, Minhyuk was flustered when he saw the sharp vote drop.

    <em>¡®It seems like stopping the disaster and making Verodun kneel is a big deal, huh?¡¯</em>

    Perhaps that was only natural. After all, seeing Verodun kneel before Minhyuk made the people expect many things. Since everything was just trickery on Minhyuk''s part, he had to steer it in a direction where he had to reject the offer.

    With their expectations fading, many yers changed their votes. Of course, the voter turnout had yet to reach 10%. Still, all the candidates were now doing their best to win more votes.

    As for Minhyuk? He was still watching the situation. At that moment, a notification rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You can now watch the candidates¡¯ activities on the third day of the voting period.]</em>

    The candidates¡¯ Advanced Polls was a festival for all the yers of Athenae. And it seemed like it was for that reason that they could watch the candidates¡¯ highlights once a day.

    The scene in front of Minhyuk changed the moment he epted. Then, Verodun, whom he had met a few days ago, appeared in front of him. The video clearly narrated Verodun''s name and detailed exnation.

    <em>[Master of Nature Verodun has decided to save the world from overwhelming natural disasters and catastrophes.]</em>

    Minhyuk, who knew his true nature, was utterly disgusted by the disy before him.

    Verodun, with a kind and gracious smile, walked into the kingdom suffering from drought. He stretched his arms to the sky, and heavy rain began to fall. The people left exhausted from the drought shed a relieved smile.

    <em>[Pir of Death Boleyn dered that he would kill all the nuisance that troubled the world.]</em>

    Pir of Death Boleyn was someone who was still hidden behind a veil. Surprisingly, he was the hidden master of Athenae¡¯s intelligence organization, <em>Immune.</em> The main reason why he ranked second in the Advanced Polls was because he revealed his identity.

    As the narration said, Boleyn could be seen assassinating all of the nuisances that had caused trouble in the world recently.

    Minhyuk was quite impressed with his skills and even in awe when he saw him fight against the Baron Mercenaries.

    The Baron Mercenaries were mercenaries who had turned rouge. They opted to be bandits and looted many people, bing a huge headache for the entire continent.

    Seeing Boleyn pierce through their defenses and fight alone against the Baron Mercenaries was spectacr.

    <em>[King of Races Reikan decided to fight alongside the races who wished to take back thends taken away from them.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s breath almost stopped when he saw a man wearing a helmet resembling a wolf riding atop a gigantic wolf. The man, who seemed to be waiting for someone else to appear, was surrounded by members of different races in no time.

    Reikan¡¯s army was magnificent and awe-inspiring. Minhyuk could not help but groan lightly at the sight of millions of troops rallying behind him. Maybe his deration of reiming thend that had been taken away from these races was a deration of their invasion of the human world.

    <em>¡®There is no distinction between good and evil among the Pirs.¡¯</em>

    The videos of the candidates passed by one after another. Then, finally, the ninth candidate appeared. A sparkle appeared in Minhyuk¡¯s eyes. This was because he was the ninth candidate. He expected that they would showcase his splendid and cool performances just like how they did the candidates before.

    <em>[The Pir of the Gourmands. He¡­]</em>

    The video that followed the narration left Minhyuk in a stunned silence.

    <em>[...ate hard today too.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk was truly speechless. They showed him cooking delicious food and eating it all day inside the imperial kitchen. There were even dozens of tes piled up like a mountain behind him.

    <em>¡®No wonder my votes are meager¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had not made any moves so far. This was because he wanted to see how the other candidates were doing and how they were performing. Was it because he had only been eating yesterday and today that his highlight scene was just this?

    <em>[He, the Pir of Gourmands¡­]</em>

    <em>[...truly enjoyed his meals.]</em>

    <em>¡®This¡­ Is Joy Co. Ltd. deliberately targeting me?¡¯</em>

    The additional narration left Minhyuk flustered and embarrassed. Nevertheless, he was the Pir of the Gourmands, so eating well and enjoying his meals might just leave a good impression on the people.

    Finally, thest candidate appeared. Thest candidate was also one of Minhyuk¡¯s teachers and was his staunch supporter.

    Minhyuk looked at the number of votes written on the top of the screen.

    <em>¡®10th ce: Continental Emperor Ellie. 1.2%.¡¯</em>

    He, watching through the camera¡¯s perspective, realized that this was the first time he had seen Ellie alone. Of course, he could not say anything to her; he just watched her stand in the middle of the field, surrounded by hundreds of broken magic scarecrows.

    Ellie was once known as the Sword Emperor. Before she knew it, she was being hailed as the Continental Emperor. But she did not be an emperor who led and ruled the entire continent.

    Minhyuk was fully aware of it, too. In fact, one reason was that he became the Battle God.

    <em>¡®Of course, I¡¯m not the only one to me.¡¯</em>

    The truth was, Ellie was stillcking. She was still short of being worthy of the title of Continental Emperor who would lead the entire Asgan Continent.

    Ellie, who plopped on the ground, gasped for air. She lookedpletely exhausted. Then, her body shook as sobs escaped from her mouth.

    <em>[Ellie¡­ has lost tens of thousands of soldiers in Vasgara¡¯s subjugation.]</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s jaw dropped open. Vasgara was a ce that was filled with countless gigantic monsters. There were rumors about a power that would allow one to be a god hiding in that ce. Surprisingly enough, Vasgara was not that far away from the Eivelis Empire.

    Minhyuk felt like his heart was being squeezed as he watched his dear noona cry.

    Ellie asked.

    ¨C<em>Minhyuk, was I wrong? Did I make the wrong choice when I refused the position of the Sword God?</em>

    Every once in a while, regret about her past actions and choices seemed to engulf her. Honestly, Minhyuk was shocked that she was nominated as a candidate. It was because she was a legend at worst and a god at best and would probably be unable to carry the weight and the burden of being a Pir.

    Of course, the people believed her. They all hoped and believed that she would make a name for herself as a Pir Candidate and lead them in the name of the Continental Emperor.

    <em>¡®Those who held high expectations for others only needed to voice their expectations. However, those carrying these expectations will be left vulnerable with their heart slowly rotting from the pressure.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®What if I don¡¯t meet their expectations?¡¯</em> This thought alone would be enough to leave them in distress. Not only that, but it would also breed a constant sense of self-destruction and me in oneself.

    A knock suddenly echoed from the door of the training grounds where Ellie was sobbing silently to herself. Ellie immediately wiped her tears and maintained an expressionless face. Then, she stood up as if nothing had happened.

    <em>Thud, thud¨C</em>

    As she walked away, her voice, which was filled with the majesty and dignity of an emperor, rang. The emperor was already left vulnerable with her heart starting to rot and decay from everyone¡¯s expectations. However, she had no choice but to pretend as if nothing had happened and act calmly in front of everyone

    Minhyuk looked at her figure for a very long time. Not long after, she closed the doors. At the same time, the video ended. Once again, Ellie¡¯s votes shed in front of Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®10th ce: Continental Emperor Ellie. 1.2%.¡¯</em>

    Unfortunately, Minhyuk could not even visit her and cook a warm meal. She might notice if Minhyuk did something so suddenly.

    <em>¡®Ah, it¡¯s not easy tofort my noona, who has high self-esteem and pride.¡¯</em>

    A bitter taste slowly spread in Minhyuk¡¯s mouth. Sadly, he could no longer think about Ellie.

    <em>¡®I have to act quickly and show them what the Pir of the Gourmands can do so I can be a Pir.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk then turned around to head to the central za¡¯s fountain area.

    <em>[Clone Bird, who has been searching for knights, has finally found a suitable knight.]</em>

    ¡°Oh¡­!¡±

    Minhyuk was shocked. Clone Bird Dodo had recently eaten a Growth Egg and because of that, he had evolved further. This was proven by the notifications that he had heard just yesterday.

    <em>[The Clone Bird is evolving.]</em>

    <em>[One of the sealed abilities of the Clone Bird has been released.]</em>

    <em>[The Clone Bird can now select and appoint a temporary knight.]</em>

    <em>[The God and Knight¡¯s once-every-two-months usage restriction is not applied to the Temporary Knights.]</em>

    There was even a notification about the additional ability that had been unsealed with the Clone Bird.

    Clone Bird could not select and appoint a temporary knight. These temporary knights would work under Minhyuk for a week at most.

    <em>¡®In a way, it can be said to be an unnecessary ability. However, it can also be considered as a surprisingly clever system.¡¯</em>

    The temporary knight would not be one of Minhyuk¡¯s vassals. However, their appointment would still greatly benefit Minhyuk. This was because the system and Clone Bird Dodo, who knew who Minhyuk needed, would encourage these chosen knights to be under Minhyuk temporarily. On top of that, Minhyuk could also find a way to break through the temporary knight chosen by Clone Bird Dodo and permanently turn them into his knight.

    Not long after, additional notifications rang.

    <em>[The Clone Bird offers to the knight that he found to be a Temporary Knight.]</em>

    <em>[Eivelis Empire¡¯s Emperor Ellie has been invited to be a Temporary Knight.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk was shocked. s, the notifications did not end there. The following notification left him with even greater shock.

    <em>[The Clone Bird, who had offered the knight to be a Temporary Knight, has experienced a huge shock on his forehead.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    At that moment, Minhyuk¡¯s eyes widened in understanding. Ellie had obviously ¡°ordered¡± Clone Bird Dodo to bury his head on the floor.

 Chapter 1107

    Chapter 1107

    <strong>Chapter 1107</strong>

    Minhyuk looked surprised after hearing the notifications.

    The Clone Bird had already evolved and gained the unique ability to select and appoint temporary knights. And the first person he offered to appoint as a temporary knight was Ellie.

    <em>¡®Why?¡¯</em>

    Ellie had high self-esteem and pride, more so than any other. As an empress who worked desperately to hone her abilities and support herself and carried the title of the first empress of the continent, it did not make sense for her to be Minhyuk¡¯s knight, even if it was temporary.

    <em>[Eivelis Empire¡¯s Emperor Ellie refuses the offer to be one of your temporary knights.]</em>

    It was just as he expected. Minhyuk immediately summoned the Clone Bird.

    Not long after, Clone Bird Dodo appeared in front of him in the form of a hawk. He then transformed into the form of a human. Perhaps it was because of Minhyuk¡¯s warning, that Clone Bird Dodo did not take on his appearance and took on someone else¡¯s appearance. However, there was an apparent red mark on the forehead of the Clone Bird.¡°Thanks for summoning me. I was just forced to bury my head just now.¡±

    ¡°Oh, yeah¡­¡±

    When Minhyuk heard the notifications earlier, he already had a hunch that the Clone Bird had received punishment from Ellie when he said, <em>¡®You, can you be my friend?¡¯</em> From what it looked like, she only punished Clone Bird Dodo lightly because she knew that he was under Minhyuk¡¯smand.

    Minhyuk asked Dodo bluntly, ¡°Why did you try to make such a ridiculous offer to Ellie noona?¡±

    Based on the Clone Bird¡¯s description, Dodo would only make such an offer if he determined the other person could help Minhyuk. That was just how intelligent its system was. It was to the point that it could be called creepy.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know either. I just felt this insane attraction.¡±

    ¡°Really? Are you sure there¡¯s no other specific reason for this?¡±

    God and Knight¡¯s system was rather friendly. It would present various methods and guide the god to find and recruit excellent knights. However, apart from the fact that the Clone Bird was a power derived from the God and Knight, it seemed like there was no exnation or reason for choosing knights.

    Minhyuk could only ponder the matter deeply. Thankfully, it did not take him too long to analyze their current situation.

    <em>¡®D-don¡¯t tell me¡­?¡¯ </em>Minhyuk¡¯s eyes grew the size of saucers.

    ¡°Is the system telling me that gaining Ellie noona¡¯s help can help me get first ce in the Advanced Polls?¡±

    This was the conclusion that Minhyuk had reached. The only thing that Minhyuk needed the most right now was a talent who would help him get first ce in the Advanced Polls.

    A grin bloomed on Minhyuk¡¯s face after he finished organizing his thoughts.

    <em>¡®Isn¡¯t this amazing?¡¯</em>

    The most interesting stories in the world usually featured underdogs clinching the first ce.

    Minhyuk went out to meet with Ellie.

    ***

    The fourth day of the voting period for the Advanced Polls had started. Thepetition between the candidates had grown more intense as the days passed.

    In just one night, King of Races Reikan had already taken over an entire kingdom.

    Meanwhile, Master of Nature Verodun continued to travel the world and prevent all kinds of disasters from falling upon countless nations. Sometimes, he would even go to ces infested with troublesome monsters and create storms to sweep them away.

    Another set of videos showcasing the candidates¡¯ performances was shared on this day.

    At that moment, Master of Nature Verodun said, ¡°I heard that a candidate lost several innocent soldiers while trying to subdue monsters not too long ago. Someone who is not even qualified as a candidate lets innocent people die. Don¡¯t you think we should cast our doubts about her qualifications?¡±

    Those were the words that Verodun said in his highlight video. Why did he say that? This was because after he met Minhyuk and left the Beyond the Heavens Empire, he went to meet with Ellie. The problem was he was kicked out of the gates. So, he wanted to pay her back for what she did.

    The video continued to y and show the others¡¯ highlight videos. Surprisingly enough, even Pir of Death Boleyn reacted simrly to Verodun''s.

    ¡°The reckless actions of someone unqualified has killed thousands of innocent people. Isn¡¯t it weird that someone like that has been qualified as an emperor?¡±

    Some of the candidates even openly mocked Ellie.

    ¡°Only 1% votes? That¡¯s pitiful. And there¡¯s even a candidate who only eats? Do they think that the Pirs who support the world are nothing but a joke?¡±

    Criticisms and mockery poured out of their mouths just like that. In the video released on the fourth day, everyone mocked Ellie. Why? They just wanted to undermine one of the candidates, perhaps bringing those voting for her to their side.

    As for Ellie and Minhyuk¡¯s highlight videos, they were edited out. They only showed the scene where Ellie and Minhyuk shook hands.

    Many poured criticism upon the two. Even themunity sites were in a huge buzz.

    <em>[Are Minhyuk and Ellie¡¯s videospletely edited out? Does the fact that Minhyuk and Ellie shook hands mean that the two bottom feeders are cooperating?]</em>

    <em>[Lmao. They¡¯re cooperating? What? Their votes only total to 3%, right?]</em>

    <em>[Tbh, many people had expected that Minhyuk would cooperate with Verodun when they saw the Master of Nature kneel before him. A lot of people must be disappointed by Minhyuk¡¯s choice.]</em>

    <em>[+22222]</em>

    <em>[+3333333]</em>

    <em>[He only thought for the sake of his empire. He did not even think about the expectations of the people.]</em>

    <em>[I¡¯m actually very disappointed with yer Minhyuk. The other candidates are working hard to promote themselves, but in his highlight videos, the only thing that he does is eat?]</em>

    <em>[Actually, if Minhyuk had worked hard in cooking, his votes would have already exceeded 10% by now.]</em>

    <em>[I don¡¯t think so. Tbh, everyone already knows how great the Food God¡¯s buffed dishes are, right? BUT. The most important thing to note is that the effects of the Food God¡¯s buffed dishes have a limited time. Just think about it. The effects of a God-rank artifact made by the God of cksmiths will remain forever, but Minhyuk¡¯s God-grade dishes will onlyst for a week.]</em>

    <em>[Food God has no¡­ advantages. Lol.]</em>

    <em>[At this rate, we can assume that Minhyuk and Ellie had already given up on the Advanced Polls, right?]</em>

    <em>[Yep. I think so, too. Lolol. I think they gave up because they know that the difference in votes will be highly overwhelming.]</em>

    Countless people began to think of the handshake between Ellie and Minhyuk as a promise for next time. This was also because the two did not show any movement to win votes even though it was almost thest day of the voting period.

    ***

    At the same time.

    Minhyuk had arrived at Vasgara, the site where Ellie lost her soldiers.

    <em>¡®I haven¡¯t given up.¡¯</em>

    Ellie came to Vasgara to chase a myth. ording to the myths, anyone who could subjugate and conquer Vasgara would be a god.

    Minhyuk checked Chaos¡¯ Store and bought one of the offered items.

    <em>[You have purchased a Yearning Tracker.]</em>

    <em>[You have used 100 cash.]</em>

    Minhyuk felt an ache in his chest. Based on the meager cash umtion rate, he needed to make a Supreme Dish to be able to obtain 100 cash. But if his assumption were correct, he would obtain something far more valuable. Perhaps something even worth more than 1,000 cash.

    <em>[The Yearning Tracker has started its search.]</em>

    This item had effects simr to Minhyuk¡¯s skill: Ingredient tracking.

    <em>¡®The only difference is that Ingredient Tracking is limited to tracking ingredients while this tracker can search and track everything.¡¯</em>

    Not long after, a notification rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The search has seeded.]</em>

    This notification informed Minhyuk that the myth that Ellie was chasing was true. This brought a faint smile to Minhyuk''s face.

    All of the preparations were nowplete.

    ***

    The voting period¡¯s 6th day came to a close.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Advanced Polls</em></strong><em>]</em>

    <em>Current Voter Turnout: 26.1%</em>

    <em>1st ce: Master of Nature Verodun. Percentage: 24.1%</em>

    <em>2nd ce: Pir of Death Boleyn. Percentage: 22.9%</em>

    <em>¡­</em>

    <em>9th ce: Pir of Gourmands Minhyuk. Percentage: 1.5%</em>

    <em>10th ce: Continental Emperor Ellie. Percentage. 0.8%</em>

    PD Kim Daeguk could onlyugh bitterly when he saw Minhyuk and Ellie¡¯s votes. It was truly disastrous.

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s not unreasonable.¡±

    Rumor had it that Minhyuk and Ellie had both given up. Compared to the others showing off and revealing their strength and powers in detail, the two had not done anything to showcase and promote themselves.

    So, perhaps it was only right to say they had already given up. Because of that, many people began to criticize and mock Minhyuk and Ellie. Even so, the two remained silent.

    ¡°The voter turnout is much lower than expected.¡±

    ¡°They considered theplete reversal that happened during the first and second day of the voting period. The yers are just being cautious.¡±

    Minhyuk, who disyed the power to stop disasters, quickly turned the tables. So, everyone was very cautious with their votes. After all, if the one they voted for were first ce, then they would receive a 1-Level Level Up Potion.

    ¡°She¡¯s an emperor I truly love and admire, too.¡± One of the staff looked bitter as she talked about Ellie.

    Many people loved and cherished Ellie, even though she was an NPC. But everyone knew that shecked the qualifications and abilities to be a Pir that would stand at the center and lead the world.

    In fact, the public was greatly shaken when they received news about the loss of 30,000 soldiers who went out with her for a subjugation. Even the people of the Eivelis Empire had started to criticize Ellie for not doing anything despite the loss of her soldiers.

    ¡°The Beyond the Heavens Empire is also in an uproar.¡±

    Of course, the same was true for the Beyond the Heavens Empire. The voting period would end tomorrow yet all of Minhyuk¡¯s highlight videos revolved around eating.

    ¡°Haaa¡­¡± PD Kim Daeguk sighed as he stood up to go to the bathroom.

    At that moment, one of the employees rushed in and called out to him. ¡°PD.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor Minhyuk has requested coboration and help with filming.¡±

    ¡°A coboration?¡± Interest shed in PD Kim Daeguk¡¯s eyes.

    This meant that yer Minhyuk had been waiting for the final day of the voting period.

    <em>¡®The voter turnout is still very low. Most of the candidates had already shown almost everything that they could show now. But Minhyuk has not shown anything yet.¡¯</em>

    The idea was very risky. But the fact that he requested a coboration and asked for help with filming meant something.

    ¡°So, yer Minhyuk has not given up yet.¡±

    It seemed like he nned to y it big and do something to gain a lot of votes on thest day of the voting period. It was a very difficult path, a path that would not allow them to turn back.

    ¡°Everyone here should know how outstanding and powerful yer Minhyuk is, no?¡±

    That was why it was even more of a problem. Minhyuk had already shown quite a lot of things that he could do with his cooking. To monopolize most of the votes on thest day, he had to do something that would leave everyone¡¯s jaw on the floor. But was that something that could be easily done?

    Nevertheless, PD Kim Daeguk made a decision and said, ¡°Send reporters and a camera team to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.¡±

    ¡°Yes? Ah, no. Although yer Minhyuk was the one who requested coboration and asked us for help filming, he¡¯s not the one we¡¯re going to film. Minhyuk asked us to send the reporters and the camera team to another location.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°To be exact, he wants us to go to Ellie. Ellie wants to do a live broadcast on ZTube.¡±

    ¡°Did you say Ellie?¡±

    Suddenly, the scene where Minhyuk and Ellie shook hands shed in everyone¡¯s heads. Even so, they still could not understand what the two were nning.

    ¡°Then, send the team to Ellie. Anyway, our ratings will be low once Minhyuk does a live broadcast.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir.¡± The staff left promptly.

    Then, PD Kim Daeguk immediately tuned in to Minhyuk¡¯s live broadcast. The screen in front of them was broadcasting from Minhyuk''s perspective.

    <em>¡®The greatest advantage of a live broadcast is that all of the viewers can see the notifications that the broadcaster will see and hear.¡¯</em>

    Of course, one could also choose to ck out some of the notifications if they so wanted.

    In the live broadcast, Minhyuk said.

    <em>[Shall we try to take on a new challenge in line with the Advanced Polls?]</em>

    The listening PD Kim Daeguk thought, <em>¡®In the end, what kind of challenge can you do when cooking a consumable?¡¯</em>

    Then, Minhyuk said.

    <em>[Today, we¡¯ll challenge ourselves to make twenty God-grade dishes in a row.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    PD Kim Daeguk was dumbfounded for a moment, then burst into a fit ofughter.

    <em>¡®What kind of nonsense is he going on about?¡¯</em>

    But the nonsensical words did not end there.

    <em>[Ah. I¡¯ll also take on the challenge of making Epic-grade dishes for everyone in the Beyond the Heavens Empire without failing once.]</em>

    ¡°...?!¡±

    PD Kim Daeguk looked at the screen incredulously after hearing Minhyuk¡¯s absurd words.

 Chapter 1108

    PD Kim Daeguk had been following Minhyuk for a long time. He knew Minhyuk since he was called the Frying Pan Killer. Of course, his affection for Minhyuk had grown over time.

    When Minhyuk said in his broadcast that he would make twenty God-grade dishes in a row and Epic-grade dishes for everyone in the Beyond the Heavens Empire without failing once, it was utterly absurd, even to someone like PD Kim Daeguk, who had admired the young man.

    <em>¡®What is this¡­¡¯</em>

    It was natural that PD Kim Daeguk could not understand what was happening in front of him. These words hadpletely damaged Minhyuk¡¯s image.

    Right now, in the eyes of everyone, Minhyuk was just like those politicians who made ridiculous and futile promises before the election. After all, he looked like he was spitting nonsense just to gain their votes.

    ¡°If he¡¯s going to act like that, then I will be utterly disappointed in him.¡±

    As someone who did not do any activities and showcased their power during the previous days of the voting period, Minhyuk¡¯s words sounded highly absurd. His words were enough for the people to view him as a greedy politician who often made empty promises.

    PD Kim Daeguk, thinking like the rest of the people, suddenly jumped up from his seat when he saw the notifications from Minhyuk¡¯s view.

    ¡°Heok!¡±***

    ¡°Alright. Let¡¯s start making twenty God-grade dishes in a row.¡±

    Minhyuk was standing by the fountain area in the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ central za and talking big. Hundreds of thousands had already flocked to the area to see Minhyuk.

    ¡°Boo!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s bullshit!¡±

    ¡°Minhyuk! I¡¯m so disappointed in you! Stop the bullshit!¡±

    ¡°You said you will feed everyone in the Beyond the Heavens Empire an Epic-grade dish? Bullshit!¡±

    A considerable number of viewers were also watching his broadcast.

    <em>[Why does it sound like propaganda during the presidential elections? Stop making empty promises!]</em>

    <em>[Lololol. Twenty God-grade dishes in a row? It¡¯s much more realistic to say that he can eat twenty God-grade dishes in a row.]</em>

    <em>[Many people will definitely be disappointed in Minhyuk this time, right?]</em>

    Minhyuk, who watched thements constantly shing in his live broadcast, did not engage and did what he had to do. He immediately ate the dish that he had prepared in advance.

    <em>[For real? Lmao.]</em>

    <em>[Wth? Is it not about making twenty God-grade dishes in a row but eating twenty God-grade dishes in a row?]</em>

    <em>[Ah. Then, it¡¯s really possible. Agree?]</em>

    <em>[Lolololol. He¡¯s just doing anything at this point.]</em>

    Despite the growing criticism about how he was just eating, Minhyuk continued eating the dish before him and ignored them. Anyway, the people watching his live broadcast could see the notifications he would see and hear soon.

    <em>[You have eaten a Dolsot Bibimbap.]</em>

    <em>[The dish is God grade.]</em>

    <em>[Your DEX has increased by 38%.]</em>

    <em>[The level of your skills rted to DEX has increased by +1.]</em>

    The people who were criticizing Minhyuk had expected this much. They all knew he would increase his DEX as much as possible before cooking. But he¡¯s going to make twenty God-grade dishes with just that much?

    Then, Minhyuk took out a pair of worn-out gloves and put them on one after another. The moment he put them on, the gloves seeped into his skin and disappeared.

    <em>[You have equipped the Imperfect Work Gloves.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 1%.]</em>

    <em>[Your DEX has increased by 22%.]</em>

    <em>[The other special abilities have been cked out.]</em>

    In just an instant, Minhyuk¡¯s DEX increased by almost 50%. The moring viewers fell silent.

    A series of notifications rang again as a beautiful, angelic woman stood by Minhyuk¡¯s side.

    <em>[The One Releasing Sacred Power.]</em>

    <em>[The area around Angel Aemira has been transformed into an auspicious site.]</em>

    <em>[The effects of the auspicious site will remain for an hour even if the one who entered the auspicious site has left the area.]</em>

    <em>[Your DEX has increased by 8%.]</em>

    <em>[Your rate of creating higher grade dishes or artifacts has increased by 15%~25%.]</em>

    The chat window looked like it had been frozen.

    <em>[...?]</em>

    <em>[...?]</em>

    <em>[...?]</em>

    Soon, they returned to their senses and continued to speak of something more realistic.

    <em>[Even so, making twenty God-grade dishes is impossible. Lol.]</em>

    <em>[Good luck with the bullshit.]</em>

    Unfortunately for them, Minhyuk was not yet done. He put each of the Divine Drops he acquired from Archangel Michael on the gloves he had equipped and set a drop on each of the artifacts he had on.

    <em>[Your DEX has increased by a total of 16%.]</em>

    Divine Drops could be applied to each artifact he owned and equipped.

    Everyone was left astonished by the increase in Minhyuk¡¯s DEX.

    Then, Minhyuk took out a sprig coated with a bright, blinding light. It was also a precious item that he had obtained from Archangel Michael.

    <em>[You have applied the Sprig of Realm Ascension.]</em>

    <em>[The effects of the Sprig of Realm Ascension will be applied for one day.]</em>

    <em>[The Sprig of Realm Ascension can increase the chances of creating a higher-grade dish with every sessful dish made.]</em>

    <em>[Sessfully cooking an Epic-grade dish will increase your chances of creating a higher-grade dish by 0.5%.]</em>

    <em>[Sessfully cooking a Legendary-grade dish will increase your chances of creating a higher-grade dish by 5%.]</em>

    <em>[Sessfully cooking a God-grade dish will increase your chances of creating a higher-grade dish by 15%.]</em>

    <em>[If you fail to produce a dish of the specified grade during the cooking process, the effects of the Sprig of Realm Ascension will be considered null and void.]</em>

    The effects of the sprig were basically what the notification had mentioned. If Minhyuk could sessfully make a specific grade of dish or higher, his chances of making a higher grade dish would increase. But the Sprig of Realm Ascension would disappear if he failed to cook a dish with the specified grade.

    The public, who had been continuously criticizing Minhyuk, was once again rendered speechless. The criticism was now overshadowed by one question.

    <em>¡®How high is Minhyuk¡¯s DEX now?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was not yet done. A man suddenly walked out of the crowd that gathered and almost filled the entire za of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    ¡°Heok?!¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that The Strengthener Bragon?!¡±

    ¡°The Strengthener?!¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t he the candidate in the 8th ce in the polls?¡±

    ¡°Why is Bragon here?¡±

    A faint smile appeared on Minhyuk¡¯s face when he saw The Strengthener Bragon walk out of the path created by the crowd.

    ¡°I knew you¡¯de.¡±

    Minhyuk had sent a message to The Strengthener Bragon through Brod. Why did he send Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Commander Brod to meet with him? Of course, it was a show of respect and courtesy. The contents of the message that Minhyuk sent were simple.

    <em>¡®Doesn¡¯t the power of The Strengthener increase the more attention it receives from the people?¡¯</em>

    Bragon, who received at most a few thousand votes more than Minhyuk, was sure that he would not be able to be one of the Pirs. Nheless, no one would feel happy if they were one of the bottom feeders.

    ¡°It¡¯s just like you said. I also think that I can exert my greatest power at this stage. Of course, that does not mean I will side with you.¡±

    They were just helping each other for the benefit.

    ¡°And just like promised, you will give me one million tinum if you fail to keep your pledge,¡± Bragon said as he stood before Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk nodded slowly.

    Bragon had the power to enhance and strengthen artifacts that could no longer grow. But because the extent of his reinforcement and strengthening was not that great and explosive, it failed to live up to the people¡¯s expectations, so he was not very popr.

    Regardless, the story would be different if the artifacts he would reinforce were already good.

    Bragon actually had a more special power of reinforcement. It was the power that Minhyuk saw in one of his highlight videos and also one of the reasons why he asked for his cooperation. This power was none other than the power of Temporary Reinforcement.

    A blue light appeared and covered Bragon¡¯s hand.

    <em>[Temporary Reinforcement.]</em>

    <em>[The Imperfect Work Gloves have been strengthened.]</em>

    <em>[The Imperfect Work Gloves have been strengthened.]</em>

    <em>[The Imperfect Work Gloves¡­strengthened.]</em>

    <em>[The Imperfect Work Gloves¡­strengthened.]</em>

    <em>[The Imperfect Work Gloves¡­]</em>

    The notifications rang constantly.

    One reason reinforcement and strengthening could not remain in the spotlight was that excellent reinforcement and strengthening needed to be delivered before they were worth it.

    However, the Temporary Reinforcement¡¯s effects were only applied for three to six hours. In exchange for that, no materials were needed, and because it was temporary, the chances of sessful reinforcement were several times higher than the typical and ordinary reinforcement. On top of that, it exerted a more incredible power because the one casting it was The Strengthener.

    <em>[The Imperfect Gloves have been strengthened by +7.]</em>

    <em>[The duration of the effects is four hours.]</em>

    <em>[Your DEX has increased by a total of 18%.]</em>

    Thanks to that, the Imperfect Work Gloves could now disy far greater power than before for four hours.

    A faint smile curled at the corner of his lips as a subtle blue light appeared around his hands.

    <em>[The Transcendental¡¯s Armor has been strengthened.]</em>

    <em>[The Transcendental¡¯s Armor¡­.]</em>

    <em>[The Transcendental¡¯s Armor¡­.]</em>

    The notifications continued to ring in his ears. In the first ce, all of Minhyuk¡¯s artifacts were equipped with effects that significantly increased his stats. Just by strengthening these artifacts, Minhyuk¡¯s DEX would also increase.

    Of course, even if Bragon was The Strengthener, he could still not reinforce and strengthen artifacts non-stop. He eventually reached his limits and took a step back. Still, Minhyuk could increase his DEX by 25% thanks to him.

    Minhyuk, whose entire body was now covered with a faint blue hue, looked at the crowd, which had been criticizing and cursing him just a few moments earlier.

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    All of them were looking at Minhyuk in shock.

    One of the yers murmured, ¡°Then¡­ how high is his DEX now¡­?¡±

    Minhyuk has long been known for possessing a monstrously high DEX. Because of that, this series of actions made the live broadcast¡¯s chat window go wild, asking about how high Minhyuk¡¯s DEX was.

    Minhyuk smirked as he disyed his DEX.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>DEX</em></strong><em>: 19,724 +21,574.]</em>

    <em>[Hiiiik?!]</em>

    <em>[Isn¡¯t that more than 40,000?!]</em>

    <em>[Is it even possible to have 40,000 DEX?!]</em>

    <em>[This is nuts¡­ shake, shake]</em>

    <em>[Minhyukkkk! Please give me just 100 DEX.]</em>

    <em>[Wow. Sht¡­ Doesn¡¯t the yer that¡¯s second to Minhyuk in terms of DEX only have at most 8,000 DEX?]</em>

    As the people expressed their shock in the chat window, the votes in the top left part of Minhyuk¡¯s view changed.

    <em>[Pir of Gourmands Minhyuk. Votes: 2.7%.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s votes, which were only at around 1%, experienced a significant increase.

    He was still not yet done. Even with this much DEX, it was still not enough. Minhyuk still needed a lot of things before he could make twenty God-grade dishes in a row. Minhyuk started to carefully and diligently do every step of the process.

    A dozen gas burners appeared around Minhyuk. Right now, Minhyuk intended to take advantage of the effects of the Sprig of Realm Ascension.

    Minhyuk, who could use Large-scale Cooking, only needed to make one dish to serve tens of thousands of people. That was why the people and the viewers were left confused at the sight of the dozens of burners lined up around Minhyuk with pots on top of them.

    <em>[...?]</em>

    <em>[Sir Minhyuk, excuse me. Are you hungry¡­?]</em>

    Then, Minhyuk opened one pack of ramyeon after another and ced them in the pots filled with boiling water.

    <em>¡®No. Didn¡¯t you say you will make twenty God-grade dishes in a row? Why are you suddenly making ramyeon?¡¯</em>

    At that moment, Minhyuk said something that shocked everyone. He said, ¡°I¡¯ll make this dish into an Epic-grade dish.¡±

    <em>[The Sprig of Realm Ascension has recognized the dish.]</em>

    <em>[The effects of the Sprig of Realm Ascension will only be applied if you make a dish with Epic-grade or higher.]</em>

    The viewers who saw the notification could not help but voice their confusion.

    <em>[He¡¯s just boiling some instant ramyeon¡­ But he¡¯s saying that he¡¯ll make it into an Epic-grade dish. Does that even make sense?]</em>

    <em>[Wow. He¡¯s so proud of himself because his DEX has reached 40,000.]</em>

    <em>[What kind of ramyeon can be an Epic-grade dish? What is that? Is that some kind of golden ramyeon¡­?]</em>

    Soon, one of the ramyeons was done.

    <em>[The dish is Epic grade.]</em>

    The viewer, who was typing excitedly on the chat window, was left stunned.

    <em>[Is it really possible¡­? Is this really some kind of golden ramyeon¡­?]</em>

    Dozens of pots continued to boil and cook several ramyeons simultaneously.

    <em>[The dish is Epic grade.]</em>

    <em>[The dish is Epic grade.]</em>

    <em>[The dish is Epic grade.]</em>

    <em>[The dish is Epic grade.]</em>

    <em>[...?]</em>

    <em>[...?]</em>

    <em>[The dish is Epic grade¡­!]</em>

    <em>[The dish is Epic grade¡­!]</em>

    <em>[The dish is Epic grade¡­!]</em>

    The chat window grew silent. It looked like it had been frozen by the notifications that rang every few seconds. They had never heard about someone cooking simple ramyeon and getting an Epic-grade dish.

    At that moment, the shill that Minhyuk nted in the chat window appeared. This shill was none other than Chef ck, who now belonged to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    <em>[The reason ramyeon can never be an Epic-grade dish is because of the ingredients and the effort put into cooking it. Ramyeon is a dish that you can cook in just ten minutes. Its cooking process is so simple that even a five-year-old can cook it. Not only that, its ingredients can be considered to be poor and insignificant.]</em>

    Everyone was aware of this fact. They already knew, even without the appearance of the shill, Chef ck.

    <em>[So, why did an Epic-grade dish appear?!]</em>

    <em>[Who knows? Isn¡¯t it because he¡¯s the Pir of the Gourmands?]</em>

    <em>[...]</em>

    <em>[...]</em>

    The logic was so absurd that the viewers could not find any words to retort.

    Of course, the notifications continued to ring for them.

    <em>[The dish is Epic grade.]</em>

    <em>[The dish is Epic grade.]</em>

    <em>[The dish is Epic grade.]</em>

    <em>[...Epic grade.]</em>

    A different set of notifications about those Epic-grade dishes also appeared.

    <em>[You have sessfully made a dish with the specified level.]</em>

    <em>[The effects of the Sprig of Realm Ascension have been applied.]</em>

    <em>[Your chances of making a dish with a higher grade have increased by 0.5%.]</em>

    <em>[...higher grade has increased by 0.5%.]</em>

    <em>[...higher grade has increased by 0.5%.]</em>

    <em>[...higher grade has increased by 0.5%.]</em>

    The notifications continued to ring.

    The words that ck said were nothing butplete nonsense. There was something that Minhyuk did not reveal to ck. Of course, it was something that the public did not know either.

    With the title ¡°The One Who Reached the Pinnacle¡± any dish that Minhyuk made would always be Epic-grade at the very least. The effects of this title and the effects of the Sprig of Realm Ascension created a synergy that brought about this ridiculous and shocking situation.

    Not long after, a hundred bowls of ramyeon was done.

    <em>[...higher grade has increased by 0.5%.]</em>

    <em>[Your chances of making a dish with a higher grade have increased by a total of 180%.]</em>

    <em>[The effects of the Sprig of Realm Ascension can no longer increase the chances of making a dish with a higher grade.]</em>

    The entire world was left in shock.

    <em>[The votes have increased significantly.]</em>

    <em>[Pir of Gourmands Minhyuk. Votes: 4.7%.]</em>

    <em>¡®Not yet.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had yet to show all of his cards. He still had one that he has not yet shown to the world.

    ¡°This time¡­¡±

    Everyone perked their ears up as they listened to Minhyuk. Despite the hundreds of thousands of people in the za, the entire area was silent. Even the chat window was so still that it looked like it had been frozen like before.

    Minhyuk grinned. ¡°I would like to ask for the help of the archangels.¡±

    ¡°...?!¡±

    ¡°...?!¡±

    <em>[...!]</em>

    Heaven was a ce that was still hidden underneath a thinyer of veil. It was one of the ces that yers wanted to visit. The presence of the angel Aemira by Minhyuk¡¯s side was proof that Minhyuk had visited Heaven.

    <em>[The votes have increased significantly.]</em>

    <em>[Pir of Gourmands Minhyuk. Votes: 7.8%.]</em>

 Chapter 1109

    <strong>Chapter 1109</strong>

    Almost everyone had heard many stories about Heaven and the angels from a young age.

    <em>¡®Heaven is a ce where the kind and gracious angels live. If you do good things, you will go to Heaven.¡¯</em>

    Because of these stories, people were curious about the angels. That was the case even in Athenae. Yet, even though Athenae has been open for quite some time, the angels remained hidden behind a thin veil of mystery.

    Even though the yers were familiar with and used to the existence of gods, the existence of angels, not to mention the archangels, remained a mystery to them.

    The number of yers who had seen the archangels could be counted on one hand. It is said that some of the priests who served God could see the archangels in their dreams. But even those stories were regarded as nothing but bullshit.

    While doubts arose among the crowd and the viewers, Minhyuk said, ¡°I would like to ask for the help of the archangels.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±Right now, the scene was being transmitted through Minhyuk¡¯s live broadcast and several broadcasting stations worldwide. Thementators all lost their cool.

    <em>[A-angel?!]</em>

    <em>[And it¡¯s not just a mere angel; he¡¯s talking about archangels?!]</em>

    Because of Aemira¡¯s existence, everyone knew Minhyuk¡¯s words were not a bluff. But was Minhyuk truly close enough with Heaven that he could get the help of the archangels?

    Then, Minhyuk took something out. This something was none other than the Archangels¡¯ Token of Friendship that he asked from Michael. The token was in the form of a star as small as a pebble.

    When Minhyuk¡¯s mana touched the star, it released overwhelming holy power as it slowly floated to the sky. The scene was just like a star rising from the world.

    <em>[The Archangels¡¯ Token of Friendship is resonating!]</em>

    Everyone was struck dumb.

    <em>[The votes have increased significantly.]</em>

    <em>[Pir of Gourmands Minhyuk. Percentage: 10.3%.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s votes witnessed another significant increase.

    That small star signified his friendly rtionship with the archangels. What Minhyuk actually wanted from them was not the token but their help.

    <em>[You have used the Archangels¡¯ Star.]</em>

    The Archangels¡¯ Star was the item that Minhyuk received as a bribe in exchange for keeping their atrocities and their wrongful indictment and imprisonment of the innocent Aemira.

    When he was discussing thepensations with Archangel Michael, he heard the notification about the Advanced Polls. It was precisely because of those notifications that he chose to obtain thispensation.

    Minhyuk needed two things to obtain votes. One of them was an exaggerated show of his overwhelmingly strong powers to prove his abilities.

    A tiny feather slowlynded in Minhyuk¡¯s hands. Then, this feather slowly fluttered back to the sky. All of the cameras present followed the feather and pointed to the sky.

    At the same time, four spheres the size of a meteor appeared covered in bright and pristine white light. These spheres tore through the sky and began to fall slowly before stopping at a certain distance from each other. These bright spheres of light looked just like the twinkling stars at night. This was precisely why this power was called Archangels¡¯ Star.

    <em>[The Star of Distinguishing the Truth and the Lies has resonated with you.]</em>

    <em>[The Star of Justice has resonated with you.]</em>

    <em>[The Star of Honor has resonated with you.]</em>

    <em>[The Star of Limits and Pinnacles has resonated with you.]</em>

    The Archangels¡¯ Stars floated in the sky above them.

    Minhyuk looked up at each of the stars and smiled kindly as if greeting an old friend. Then he said, ¡°Long time no see, everyone.¡±

    <em>¡®You f*cking bastards.¡¯</em>

    This was the most exaggerated show that Minhyuk was performing for the world. Despite the kind and gentle smile on Minhyuk¡¯s face, their rtionship was more like an ill-fated rtionship.

    The Archangels¡¯ Stars resonated when Minhyuk shed them a smile. They were actually gritting their teeth at him. But in the eyes of the people, it was nothing short of beautiful.

    <em>[T-the archangels are responding to Minhyuk¡¯s greeting.]</em>

    <em>[The stars are actually emitting the most beautiful light in the world.]</em>

    What did the people have high expectations for when it came to angels and archangels? Of course, it was none other than their buff abilities. The name Angel¡¯s Blessings alone made people¡¯s hearts thump wildly.

    And just like everyone expected, the Archangels¡¯ Star was a consumable item that could give the one possessing it a unique buff ability.

    ¡°Please bestow upon me the power to make a better and more outstanding dish.¡±

    <em>[The Star of Distinguishing Truth and Lies has increased your chances of making higher-grade dishes by 30%.]</em>

    ¡°Please bestow upon me the power to make a more exquisite and delicious dish.¡±

    <em>[The Star of Justice has increased your DEX by 16%.]</em>

    ¡°Please bestow upon me the power to make a dish with a level that only I can reach.¡±

    <em>[The Star of Honor has increased all your cooking skills by +1 level.]</em>

    Minhyuk looked at the Star of Limits and Pinnacles. The star resonated loudly as if it wanted him to speak up and tell it what he wanted immediately, but it was not the time to use the star¡¯s power yet. Minhyuk did not need the power of thest star just yet.

    <em>¡®It doesn¡¯t matter when, as long as I say what I want within today.¡¯</em>

    The Archangels¡¯ Star could undoubtedly be seen as something that could tremendously boost one¡¯s power. However, if one examined it closely, it was an item with the same effects as a God-grade dish Minhyuk had cooked.

    Nevertheless, it also had its differences. This was because the effects of the Archangels¡¯ Star would change depending on the circumstances. After all, it was an item whose power could be ovepped with other powers.

    With this, the most incredible show was ready to be released.

    The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ chefs spread out the ingredients around Minhyuk. Each and every ingredient was of a different kind and was each of the God-grade rank. As the ingredients wereid out, Minhyuk began listing the dishes he would prepare.

    ¡°Stir-fried <em>samgyeopsal</em> and bean sprouts.

    ¡°Sushi.

    ¡°<em>Samgyetang.</em>

    ¡°Ox bone hangover soup.

    ¡°Spaghetti.¡±

    At first nce, it sounded like Minhyuk was just listing the dishes he wanted to eat, but that was not the case at all. He was talking about the twenty God-grade dishes he would make with the ingredients he had already mastered and wholly understood in front of him.

    Then, he finally started.

    He grabbed the first ingredient, a juicy and tasty tomato. Even though it was just a simple tomato, it was a God-grade ingredient, and all God-grade ingredients were very tricky to deal with. Just like any God-grade ingredient, the tomato started to rebel when he tried to boil it in a pot to make the sauce for the spaghetti.

    <em>[The Tomato is looking forward to being cooked by you, someone who possesses remarkably outstanding dexterity.]</em>

    Even Minhyuk was surprised when he heard the notification. The ingredient itself wanted to be cooked by him. It seemed like the ingredient told him, <em>¡®The only chef that will cook me is you. So, I leave myself in your caring hands.¡¯</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaa¨C!</em>

    zing mes shot out as he put down the frying pan and began to make the spaghetti.

    Then, just like that, Minhyukpleted a dish that left the entire world in shock.

    <em>[You havepleted the Tomato Spaghetti.]</em>

    <em>[The dish is God grade.]</em>

    <em>Ding¨C!</em>

    The bell, which rang whenever a dish was finished and ready to be served in a restaurant, rang once and signified thepletion of the first dish.

    <em>[The Samgyeopsal is looking forward to being cooked by you, someone with remarkably outstanding dexterity.]</em>

    The second dish waspleted.

    <em>[You havepleted the Stir-fried Samgyeopsal and Bean Sprouts.]</em>

    <em>[The dish is God grade.]</em>

    <em>Ding¨C!</em>

    The third dish was done.

    <em>[You havepleted the Sushi.]</em>

    <em>[The dish is God grade.]</em>

    <em>Ding¨C!</em>

    The fourth dish was finished.

    <em>[You havepleted the Samgyetang.]</em>

    <em>[The dish is God grade.]</em>

    <em>Ding¨C!</em>

    The fifth dish was done.

    <em>Ding¨C!</em>

    And so was the sixth dish.

    <em>Ding¨C!</em>

    And the seventh dish.

    <em>Ding¨C!</em>

    The beautiful ringing of the bell echoed every so often in the now-silent world.

    Minhyuk, the one everyone ignored because he was ranked 9th in the Advanced Polls, continued to cook despite sweat dripping down his forehead. With every touch of his hand on the bell, hepleted a dish. He was now on his ninth dish.

    <em>Ding¨C!</em>

    Everyone could not take their eyes off Minhyuk as the clear and crisp sound of the bell rang out again.

    <em>[Battle God¡¯s Voice.]</em>

    As Minhyuk began to cook the tenth dish, the Battle God¡¯s Voice was activated, a power that could paint a scene in the sky above them. Everyone turned to look at the scenes painted above them. Surprisingly, the scenes above them were <em>screenshots</em> of people criticizing him for being someone who merely ¡°ate¡± and ¡°cooked.¡±

    <em>[A God-rank artifact is better than ten God-grade dishes. Lmao.]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s why it¡¯s impossible for the Food God to be a Pir.]</em>

    <em>[Guys, if it were you, what would you choose? Ten dishes that would be gone after eating or an artifact that will permanently stay with you?]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s better for Minhyuk to just push through the path of a Battle God.]</em>

    Thesements and criticisms seemed to show the weight that Minhyuk was carrying on his shoulders.

    <em>Swoosh¨C</em>

    The hundreds ofments and criticisms scattered and filled the sky above them. As if to reply to their harsh words, Minhyuk answered them through the Battle God¡¯s Voice.

    <em>[The God who Loves to Eat knows.]</em>

    <em>[Like everyone else said, the value of a dish is infinitely lower than an artifact. He knows.]</em>

    <em>[This is the truth. A dish will disappear once you eat it.]</em>

    <em>[The god was forced to learn that fact the hard way.]</em>

    The fact that the one thing that he loved the most was not recognized or acknowledged by the people was something that left him sad.

    <em>[They asked if he ran away.]</em>

    Nevertheless, Minhyuk did not run away and give up like they said.

    <em>[They asked if he could not think of a way for his dishes to ovee artifacts.]</em>

    <em>[But they were wrong.]</em>

    <em>[The God who Loves to Eat has been thinking and pondering this matter for who knows how long.]</em>

    <em>[How can he make a dish far surpassing an artifact?]</em>

    It was not that difficult.

    <em>[If it does not work after making ten God-grade dishes, then¡­]</em>

    <em>[He¡¯ll just have to make twenty God-grade dishes.]</em>

    <em>[If that still does not work, he¡¯ll just have to make thirty God-grade dishes.]</em>

    <em>[He will never give up until he makes it happen.]</em>

    The tenth dish was slowly reaching itspletion.

    <em>[It¡¯s okay even if the road is difficult.]</em>

    The reason why Minhyuk wanted to be the Pir of the Gourmands was simple.

    <em>[The God who Loves to Eat will be able to do it because this is what he loves the most.]</em>

    <em>[He is a crazy god, and that¡¯s why he will be able to do it.]</em>

    <em>[He is a god who enjoys what he¡¯s doing; that¡¯s why he will be able to do it.]</em>

    <em>[He is a god who does not give up; that¡¯s why he will be able to do it.]</em>

    Finally, Minhyuk turned off the heat. The tenth dish waspleted.

    <em>Ding¨C!</em>

    The clear and crisp sound of the bell echoed in the world once again. Those who believed it was impossible for Minhyuk to make twenty God-grade dishes in a row could not take their eyes off him.

    Minhyuk prepared to make the eleventh dish.

    <em>[The Eight Pirs have started to pay attention to the Pir Candidate who ¡®is crazy, enjoys what he does, and never gives up¡¯ on what he loves.]</em>

    <em>[The Eight Pirs are looking at the candidate who wants to be the Pir of the Gourmands!]</em>

    The gazes of the Pirs standing at the center of the world turned toward Minhyuk. Nheless, that was not the end of the shocking notifications. World messages rang one after another.

    <em>[Anonymous has created ten God-grade dishes in a row. He has achieved something that only Jack-of-all-Trades Rocado could do before!]</em>

    <em>[The soul of the deceased Jack-of-all-Trades Rocado approaches the new Pir and the Dexterity Sessor and cheers for him.]</em>

    <em>[Your DEX has increased by 15%.]</em>

    The man once hailed as the Pir of Dexterity has already disappeared from the world. However, he still showed his support and recognition for the man who would be the sessor to his throne.

    The notification itself brought forth a massive boost to Mihyuk.

    <em>[The votes have increased significantly.]</em>

    <em>[Pir of Gourmands Minhyuk. Percentage: 13.1%.]</em>

    <em>[The votes have increased significantly.]</em>

    <em>[Pir of Gourmands Minhyuk. Percentage: 15.8%.]</em>

    <em>[Pir of Gourmands Minhyuk. Percentage: 17.6%.]</em>

    <em>[Pir of Gourmands Minhyuk. Percentage: 18.8%.]</em>

    The notifications that announced the changes in Minhyuk¡¯s votes signified the recognition of the masses. Then, at that moment, another notification rang.

    <em>[The God who Loves to Cook shows her support for you.]</em>

    On the day that Minhyuk and the Battle God killed the Supreme Monarch, the God of Cooking had knelt in front of Minhyuk and vowed that she would follow the Battle God regardless of the path that he would take. The support that Arlene showed gave Minhyuk the strength to keep on going.

    <em>Ding¨C!</em>

    The thirteenth God-grade dish was born to the world.

    <em>Ding¨C!</em>

    The fourteenth dish.

    <em>Ding¨C!</em>

    The fifteenth dish.

    <em>Ding¨C!</em>

    The eighteenth dish.

    <em>[Pir of Gourmands Minhyuk. Percentage: 23.8%.]</em>

    The neenth dish.

    <em>[Pir of Gourmands Minhyuk. Percentage: 24.1%.]</em>

    Neen God-grade dishes wereid out around Minhyuk. Right now, all the viewers were paying close attention to Minhyuk and his cooking despite only half a day left for the Advanced Polls¡¯ voting period.

    Minhyuk carefully and cautiously began to prepare the final dish.

    <em>[You havepleted the Spicy Stir-fried Pork.]</em>

    <em>[The dish is God grade.]</em>

    As expected, it was also a God-grade dish.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Advanced Polls</em></strong><em>]</em>

    <em>Current Voter Turnout: 70.2%</em>

    <em>1st ce: Pir of Death Boleyn. Percentage: 34.1%</em>

    <em>2nd ce: Pir of Gourmands Minhyuk. Percentage: 27.9%</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s votes rose rapidly and catapulted him to second ce. But things were not yet over.

    Minhyuk had promised to make twenty God-grade dishes in a row. Unfortunately, there was still a massive gap between his and the votes in the first ce.

    <em>¡®As expected.¡¯</em>

    However, there was still a way to turn things around. And that was to show the world the effects of this shocking and amazing God-grade dish. How would he do that? Well, it was surprisingly simple.

    ¡°Archangel of Limits and Pinnacles.¡±

    Minhyuk, who had not yet borrowed the strength of thest archangel, looked up at the sky. The power that Archangel of Limits and Pinnacles Raphael possessed was to change an item''s grade and increase it by one level.

    ¡°Please bestow your power upon this dish.¡±

    <em>[The Star of Limits and Pinnacles has raised the grade of your chosen dish.]</em>

    <em>[The Samgyetang¡¯s grade has changed.]</em>

    <em>[The grade of the Samgyetang has changed from God-grade to Absolute God-grade.]</em>

 Chapter 1110

    <strong>Chapter 1110</strong>

    After bestowing the final power, the four stars shining in the sky above them disappeared.

    Absolute God grade was a level that only Minhyuk had ever reached. There had never been a case where information about an artifact or a dish of that level had been disclosed to yers. Of course, it was only natural that people would show great interest in the Absolute God-grade <em>samgyetang.</em>

    Minhyuk checked the <em>samgyetang</em>¡¯s information.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Samgyetang</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Grade</em></strong><em>: Absolute God</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: Only Ellie can have the buff effects.</em>

    <strong><em>Shelf Life</em></strong><em>: 14 days</em><strong><em>Preservation Time</em></strong><em>: 3 days</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?All stats will increase by +64.</em>

    <em>?All of Ellie¡¯s skills will increase by +3 level.</em>

    <em>?Damage of all skills rted to swordsmanship will increase by 35%.</em>

    <em>?Resistance to abnormal statuses will increase by 30%. </em>

    <em>?Critical Hit Rate will increase by 60%.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: This is a samgyetang made solely for Ellie.</em>

    <em>[Shit. That¡¯s really dope¡­]</em>

    <em>[This is the Absolute God grade¡­?]</em>

    <em>[Woah¡­!]</em>

    The viewers were stunned when they saw the information about an Absolute God-grade dish that had never been publicly revealed.

    <em>[I take back what I said about dishes being unable to keep up with items with permanent effects.]</em>

    <em>[How many God-grade artifacts must webine to get that effect?]</em>

    <em>[However, look at it closely. Isn¡¯t that still a consumable item?]</em>

    <em>[Hey, just think about it. Eating that will make you twice as strong as you are now. That means you can hunt mobs and monsters you couldn¡¯t hunt before after eating that dish. Think about the rewards that you will get once that happens. Just thinking about it can give you goosebumps.]</em>

    <em>[Hmm¡­]</em>

    Those staunch supporters of permanent artifacts began to voice their confusion. Nevertheless, many were still left in awe and admiration when they saw the shocking grade of Minhyuk¡¯s dish. That was when they noticed a very surprising fact.

    <em>[But why is it only for Ellie?]</em>

    <em>[Oh. You¡¯re right? Why is the dish only for Ellie, though?]</em>

    After the viewers saw the information about the Absolute God-grade dish, Minhyuk¡¯s votes rose sharply again.

    <em>1st ce: Pir of Death Boleyn. Percentage: 34.1%</em>

    <em>2nd ce: Pir of Gourmands Minhyuk. Percentage: 29.9%</em>

    Regardless, the difference between his votes and Pir of Death Boleyn, who was sitting in the first ce, remained huge. The truth was¡­ Minhyuk would not be able to win first ce if he could not overturn the situation and surpass his number of votes right away.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s not yet over. There¡¯s still a lot left in my ns.¡¯</em>

    The end of his ns has not yet been decorated and ready for viewing.

    A huge hawknded in front of Minhyuk. It was none other than Clone Bird Dodo.

    Clone Bird Dodo also had an inventory function, which Minhyuk fully utilized. When he received the <em>samgyetang</em> from Minhyuk, Dodo immediately flew to the sky.

    Of course, Minhyuk also intended to go straight to where the dish was heading, but some unexpected guests stepped out from the crowd. They were none other than Pir of Death Boleyn and Master of Nature Verodun.

    Minhyuk¡¯s gaze turned cold.

    ***

    Many broadcasting stations have caught wind of ATV Broadcasting Station sending their officials and employees to the Land of Vasgara. Because of that, they also took a chance and sent their own broadcasting station¡¯s officials to wait at the entrance to increase their ratings.

    Nevertheless, all of the people who gathered here were full of regrets.

    ¡°Shit. I should have gone to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.¡±

    ¡°What the hell? Is this for real? Nothing is happening here.¡±

    ¡°I think she¡¯s going to enter the Land of Vasgara soon?¡±

    ¡°Then, what? Ellie won¡¯t be able to conquer Vasgara anyway.¡±

    The reporters could only sigh. They wondered if something special would happen, but the Ellie they knew was a woman who did not have the qualifications to be a Pir Candidate.

    Sitting in a lotus position, Ellie embraced her sword with her eyes closed.

    The broadcasting stations¡¯ officials looked at her. Then, they quickly stepped away to go to the Beyond the Heavens Empire. As for ATV Broadcasting Station? PD Kim Daeguk personally came to this ce directly from the station.

    ¡°He seeded? Really?¡±

    PD Kim Daeguk heard a whisper about Minhyuk sessfully making twenty God-grade dishes in a row. Still in shock, he turned to look at Ellie.

    <em>¡®What do you want to show us?¡¯</em>

    PD Kim Daeguk liked this character named Ellie.

    Despite being born in a world where sons were cherished and preferred, she rose to the position of emperor solely with her effort, hard work, and abilities. Ellie was also hailed as the best emperor of the Eivelis Empire of all time. Her painstaking effort, hard work, and perseverance made her character likable and encouraging. Unfortunately, the position of a Pir Candidate was just too heavy and overwhelming for her. Hard work, effort, and perseverance were no longer enough.

    Not long after, a gigantic hawk appeared above them. It descended to where Ellie was and handed over a pot of samgyetang. Ellie opened her eyes and began eating.

    A strange smile broke through Ellie¡¯s dignified expression the moment she bit into one of the chicken legs from the <em>samgyetang</em>. She was enjoying the delicious dish. Ellie finished the lean meat and drank all of the soup from the pot in one go.

    Then, with a satisfied smile on her face, she stood up. She looked around until her gazended on PD Kim Daeguk.

    ¡°Hey.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡± PD Kim Daeguk voiced his confusion when she called out for him.

    ¡°Are you the person that Minhyuk sent over?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°How do you get that camera thing to stick close to me?¡±

    PD Kim Daeguk¡¯s face grew bright. ¡°Ah.¡±

    They thought that since they were going to film Ellie, they had to use a drone or just run after her themselves. But now that Ellie epted the use of the camera herself, it would be much easier and morefortable for them.

    ¡°Please use this camera.¡±

    yers could deliver vivid and lively scenes through live broadcasts. In the case of NPCs, only the ones that served as a yer¡¯s vassal could share scenes through their action cameras. In the case of the general NPCs, applying action cameras to them was very difficult.

    Nevertheless, Ellie epted the camera meekly. Dozens of invisible cameras surrounded and stuck to her after she epted them and began filming herself at the same time.

    After the live-streaming cameras were attached to Ellie, she entered the Land of Vasgara, the same ce where she lost 30,000 of her elite soldiers.

    ***

    The viewers watching Minhyuk¡¯s broadcast were naturally interested in the dish the gigantic hawk took away. Since they knew that the dish was strictly for Ellie only, they could already expect where it was going.

    However, they only knew that the dish was going to Ellie, and she was going to eat it. They had no idea she was in front of the Land of Vasgara. They could only know where she was the moment ATV Broadcasting Station began its live broadcast.

    Countless viewers from all over the world began to flock to ATV Broadcasting Station¡¯s live broadcast. From both the first-person perspective and the third-person perspective, their screens showed scenes of Ellie running toward the Land of Vasgara.

    The Land of Vasgara was known to be very dangerous because the monsters living in thisnd all possessed high intelligence. From thousands to tens of thousands, these monsters had already formed packs and colonies of their own.

    The monsters discovered Ellie running alone through theirnds and immediately sounded the horns.

    <em>Vwooooooooong¨C</em>

    A considerable number of monsters began to gather. But Ellie ignored them and just continued to run. Even if the number of monsters exceeded hundreds of thousands and grewrge enough to cover the entirend, she continued to run.

    Meanwhile, the broadcasting station officials and reporters could no longer keep up and approach Ellie. They could just stay somewhere far away and watch her from a distance.

    Breathing raggedly, Ellie finally stopped in front of a sword stabbed into the ground. ¡°This is the ce.¡±

    Hundreds of thousands of monsters surrounded Ellie. She was even almost killed by the Vicious Serpent Monarch that suddenly appeared beside her.

    Despite the monsters chasing after her, Ellie just closed her eyes and said, ¡°The young soldier pushed me from behind¡­

    ¡°He said that I have to live. They told me they would open a path for my retreat and that I should run away.

    ¡°That soldier stabbed his sword in this ce and told me¡­

    ¡°<em>I will wait for you here, Your Majesty.</em>¡±

    Ellie pulled off her hair tie, and her beautiful blonde hair fluttered in the wind.

    She stroked the sword''s de and continued, ¡°All of them said¡­¡±

    ¡°<em>We will wait for you here.</em>¡±

    The mouths of all viewers watching the live broadcast were wide open. The word ¡°wait¡± meant that they would wait for Ellie even in their death. Also¡­

    ¡°<em>We believe in you, Your Majesty. We believe that you will be a Pir. We do not have any regrets.</em>¡±

    Ellie grabbed the sword tightly with both hands and pulled it out, which the young soldier had previously stabbed on the ground.

    ¡°I am fully aware.¡± Ellie turned her back to the ce where <em>they</em> died. ¡°For me, the reason why I came here is not for the title of Pir. It¡¯s not for any grand reason at all.¡±

    A red stream of energy exploded from the de of her sword. Before she was called the Continental Emperor Ellie, she had a different name: Sword Emperor Ellie. This was the name that she was initially called. She was also the emperor who refused the Sword God''s position for her people''s sake.

    She dered.

    ¡°I just came here to find those waiting for me.¡±

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¨C!</em>

    As she drew her sword quickly, hundreds of red sword lights shot out and pierced through the swarm of monstersing her way.

    After a minute, twenty thousand monsters had died.

    After five minutes, a hundred thousand of them died.

    After ten minutes, two hundred thousand monsters died.

    The entire world cheered and roared her name. At the same time, the votes for two candidates soared. One of the candidates was Ellie, who was still swinging her sword. The other was Minhyuk, who allowed her to stand tall in this ce.

    ¡°Kihyaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    The power of the two-headed Vicious Serpent Monarch went wild. ording to the myths, the Vicious Serpent Monarch could make whichever target it chose to be a god.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    A surge of overwhelming power shot toward Ellie and made the ground crack open. In response, Ellie just swung her sword lightly and blocked this surging power. She stepped on the monsters and leaped forward to cut down one of the heads of the Snake Monarch. The Vicious Snake Monarch was at Level 918, but that did not stop Ellie¡¯s sword. It created a beautiful arc as it cut the Snake Monarch¡¯s body.

    Ellie was skilled or talented, but like everyone else, there were limits to her physical abilities. Nheless, thanks to Minhyuk¡¯s dish, Ellie had ovee those limits.

    The other head of the Vicious Snake Monarch fell under Ellie¡¯s sword.

    <em>Thud¨C</em>

    Now that it had lost both of its heads, the Vicious Snake Monarch had lost all its support and fell on the spot.

    <em>Shwaaaaa¨C!</em>

    A cloud of poison shot out of the body of the dead Snake Monarch and engulfed all of the monsters in the surroundings. Everything melted except for Ellie. At that moment, a considerable force shot out from the heart of the gigantic snake and floated in front of Ellie. It took on the form of a hazy smoke and spoke to Ellie.

    <em>[You have all the qualifications to be a god.]</em>

    At this moment, Ellie¡¯s votes soared rapidly. The main reason why Ellie had never been in the spotlight was because she was not a god. Also, she did not possess a Continental Emperor''splete powers and influence. But if she could be a god, her votes would exceed 10%.

    <em>[Your qualifications are more than enough to be a god.]</em>

    Ellie just listened to the voice silently, her face expressionless.

    <em>[But bing a god means you will have many burdens to carry.]</em>

    <em>[To be one, you must give up your emperor position. Are you willing?]</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

    Ellie¡¯s expression finally changed. She had given up the chance to be a Sword God just to remain the emperor of her empire. Yet, she would be in this dilemma again now that she was bing a god?

    ¡°Why?¡±

    <em>[I do not wish to give my power to someone who merely wants to lead a human empire.]</em>

    <em>[He who lives for the sake of mere human lives is not worthy of my power.]</em>

    Ellie remained silent.

    Then, the hazy smoke continued speaking.

    <em>[Your talent is overflowing. It is more than enough to be a god.]</em>

    <em>[If you be a god, you will not onlymand this continent, but you will also be able to put the entire world under yourmand.]</em>

    <em>[A god leading andmanding an entire continent, an entire world, isn¡¯t that great?]</em>

    Ellie nodded silently. She looked at the young soldier¡¯s sword and smiled lightly.

    Then, she turned around and said, ¡°I don¡¯t want it.¡±

    <em>[...!]</em>

    The smoke shook fiercely like a harsh and strong wind was blowing it.

    The smiling Ellie opened her mouth.

    What was the reason why she wanted to be a god?

    ¡°It is to be with my people.¡±

    What was the reason why she wanted to be stronger?

    ¡°It is so I can protect my people.¡±

    What was the reason why she wanted to be a Pir?

    ¡°It is so I can live up to their expectations.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ am their emperor.¡±

    Now or in the future¡­

    ¡°I will always be their emperor.¡±

    For their sake¡­

    ¡°I just want to be their emperor.¡±

    There was no regret on her face as she walked back.

    Everyone watching the broadcast could see the bright smile on Ellie¡¯s face as she put the young soldier¡¯s sword back to the ce where it was before.

    ¡°I came back to meet you guys again,¡± Ellie murmured with a smile.

    At the same time, the viewers of the live broadcast heard the notifications that rang in her ears.

    <em>[The </em><strong><em>Easter Egg</em></strong><em>: Trial Master¡¯s Test has beenpleted.]</em>

    <em>[You will be able to obtain rewards far more significant than you expected.]</em>

    <em>[The hidden Absolute Demigod ss is slowly revealing itself.]</em>

    <em>[The corresponding Absolute Demigod ss possesses greater power than a God ss.]</em>

    Ellie turned around to look at the ck and hazy smoke, a hint of surprise shing on her face. Then, another notification rang in her ears.

    <em>[The hidden Absolute Demigod ss has been evaluated to be the greatest and the best out of all the Absolute Demigod sses.]</em>

    Then, the world message rang.

    <em>[Continental Emperor Ellie has be the greatest emperor who protects her empire.]</em>

    <em>[Continental Emperor Ellie has be a legend and created a new history by bing an Absolute Demigod.]</em>

    <em>[A new name has been given to her. Her new name is¡­]</em>

    <em>[Hegemon King Ellie.]</em>

 Chapter 1111

    Minhyuk frowned at the sudden appearance of the uninvited guests. These uninvited guests were Master of Nature Verodun, the strongest contender for first ce, and Pir of Death Boleyn, the current first ce.

    Verodun had naturally be Minhyuk¡¯s enemy. That he appeared here with Boleyn proved that the situation was developing in a very unusual direction.

    There was a bigger problem.

    ¡°I have never allowed your entry to my empire though?¡±

    If a big shot like them appeared, the guards woulde to report to Minhyuk. But no guards came to report, which meant that there was a high chance that they had been injured.

    ¡°I only put them to sleep,¡± said Pir of Death Boleyn, whose face was covered with a ck mask.

    Amotion erupted at the appearance of the greatest and hottest powerhouses.

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter, then?¡± Minhyuk asked although he seemed to have already known their reason foring here.

    ¡°We stepped up because we believe that the votes this time are not justified,¡± Master of Nature Verodun said.Minhyuk nced at him. He had a video stored with him which he had used to threaten Verodun. That was why he thought Verodun could not attack Beyond the Heavens recklessly.

    <em>¡®If the two of them came here together, then¡­¡¯</em>

    Was he implying that he did not need to hide this video? It was obvious that the two had decided to cooperate. There was even a high chance that Verodun had asked for the cooperation of Boleyn, the current number one in the votes.

    Boleyn said, ¡°I heard that the candidate named the Pir of Gourmands had obtained a lot of votes in such a short period.¡±

    Boleyn was the head of <em>Immune</em>, the greatest intelligence service in Athenae. Their group must have had a huge number ofckeys who watched the situation and sent reports.

    ¡°There¡¯s something that I can¡¯t understand.¡± Boleyn continued.

    ¡°Something that you can¡¯t understand?¡± Minhyuk asked, maintaining a facade of politeness. After all, he could not just sh against Pir of Death Boleyn without justification.

    Immune was a group that could probably rival several empiresbined. Also, Boleyn was a powerhouse that surpassed Level 1,000. If he teamed up with Master of Nature Verodun, then the safety of the Beyond the Heavens Empire was not guaranteed.

    ¡°I heard you have made a surprising feat and cooked twenty God-grade dishes in a row. It seems like you have garnered a lot of votes because of that.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded.

    ¡°However, I want to ask. Is that power truly your power?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°Improving your DEX by eating the dishes you made yourself, well, that is indeed your power.¡±

    It was a dish that Minhyuk made, and his ss was called Food God.

    ¡°But using an unidentified branch and using the help of the archangels, can that even be considered your power?¡±

    Those words began to cause a stir among the yers. Those were certainly not Minhyuk¡¯s power. They were powers that would disappear in just a few days. At this point, he would not even be able to use the power of the archangels anymore.

    ¡°You have put on a very great show.¡±

    This was the truth.

    ¡°You collected the most precious and noble things and grandly used them all to put on this facade.¡±

    Boleyn spread his hands widely.

    ¡°Many people watching you have been tricked into voting for you because they were dazzled and misled by the temporary things you can show instead of the real you. They don¡¯t even know that it¡¯s nothing but a mask.¡±

    Everything they said was the truth. However, what was important was why they came to y this game of charades with Minhyuk.

    Boleyn¡¯s nose and mouth were covered with a ck mask, so only his curved eyes were visible. He was smiling.

    The reason why they came here was evident.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s to stop people from voting for me.¡¯</em>

    They must have felt flustered when they saw Minhyuk¡¯s votes growing higher and higher. If things continued at this rate, Minhyuk might win first ce. However, although they would no longer be able to do anything about the votes that had been cast, exposing the truth would prevent Minhyuk¡¯s votes from rising any further. There was still a 5% difference between Minhyuk and Boleyn¡¯s votes. They could still mend the situation.

    The viewers were not stupid either. Although Minhyuk''s power was temporary, they were all aware that this was just him trying to make some noise. But there would always be people who would stop voting for him after hearing Boleyn¡¯s words. Boleyn¡¯s appearance had stopped Minhyuk¡¯s steadily increasing votes.

    Minhyuk was fully aware of the situation.

    <em>¡®If things continued at this rate, then¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk indeed would not be able to win first ce. His votes had already stagnated because he could not deny their words. This meant that the increase in votes brought about by the twenty God-grade dishes was over. If that was the case, then he needed another breakthrough.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. I asked for help from the archangels and used items I had painstakingly gathered to put on a great show. Is there a problem with that?¡±

    ¡°You admitted it so easily. That¡¯s great.¡± Boleyn shrugged, acting like a gentleman.

    This admission from Minhyuk alone was enough to give him confidence that Minhyuk¡¯s votes would never exceed his. This thought put a satisfied smile on Boleyn¡¯s face.

    But then, Minhyuk counter-attacked.

    ¡°Master of Nature Verodun, Pir of Death.¡± Minhyuk looked at the two, who were about to turn around and leave in satisfaction. ¡°No. Let¡¯s start with Master of Nature Verodun.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s gazended on Verodun.

    ¡°Are you saying that you have never done anything grand and reckless like I did to get the people''s sympathy and votes? Let¡¯s say, for example, deliberately making the disaster bigger and stronger?¡±

    Verodun was already aware that a video existed. But since he decided to cooperate with Boleyn, he no longer thought it necessary. He thought the most important part was for Boleyn to be a Pir. Of course, he would also deny this fact for the time being.

    ¡°I have never done anything like that, though. Are you trying to frame me and Candidate <em>Boleyn</em>, huh?¡± Verdun emphasized Boleyn¡¯s name as a threat.

    Even if Verodun could call for disasters, he could never exert any influence or pressure on the Beyond the Heavens Empire. But it was different for Boleyn.

    If Boleyn turned his back on Beyond the Heavens Empire and decided to be a Pir by killing everyone here, they would not be left unscathed. Minhyuk and the Beyond the Heavens Empire would surely suffer tremendous damage.

    To put it simply, something that Minhyuk could not handle would happen. And Verodun was threatening Minhyuk with that.

    ¡°Is that so? Ah, ording to rumors, Sir Boleyn¡­¡±

    Minhyuk knew that the method he was about to employ was dangerous. Even so, he believed that he had to do it. Otherwise, he would not be able to get first ce in the Advanced Polls.

    Did he even need to risk everything to get first ce in the Advanced Polls? No. However, if he did not take the initiative here, others would eventually devour him.

    ¡°I heard rumors about how you assassinated the emperor of the Rubarp Empire.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    The eyes of both Verodun and Boleyn snapped open at those words. The emperor of the Rubarp Empire was suddenly pronounced dead three months ago. There were rumors that someone had assassinated the emperor. Of course, there weren¡¯t that many people capable enough to assassinate an emperor. So, the suspects were narrowed down a lot.

    There was something of interest. Boleyn was actually a citizen of the Rubarp Empire. After looking at the various rtionships and connections, the one who was most likely to assassinate the emperor was Boleyn. Although they made such assumptions, no one dared say it carelessly.

    Boleyn¡¯s eyes sank. ¡°I have no idea what you¡¯re talking about. It seems like you want to die, huh?¡±

    ¡°Well, you shouldn¡¯t get too agitated, no? Are you saying that the both of you had never done anything like that? And are you confident that you have never used any temporary items that can make you grow more powerful or presented an exaggerated show like I did to gain more votes?¡±

    ¡°Never¡­¡±

    ¡°Are you sure?¡±

    Boleyn¡¯s eyes curved at Minhyuk¡¯s question. Anyway, there was no way for the man in front of him to confirm the truth of the matter.

    ¡°Never. You¡¯ve been ndering us and saying such bullshit¡­¡±

    Of course, Boleyn would never let Minhyuk off for doing something like this.

    The problem was that Minhyuk had already activated another power. A scale covered with bright light appeared in front of everyone. This scale was something that Minhyuk obtained from Archangel Michael and could help him distinguish the truth from the lies. The Scale of Truth had weighing pans hanging on each side. The left weighing pan represented the <em>truth,</em> while the right weighing pan represented the <em>lies.</em>

    Minhyuk started with Verodun¡¯s words.

    <em>[The Scale of Truth is distinguishing the truth from the lie.]</em>

    <em>Creak¨C</em>

    Verodun had been presenting himself as a good person. He worked hard to suppress the natural disasters that mere humans could not do anything about. He even went so far as to make it rain in ces suffering from drought and stop the rain in ces suffering from floods. He had won a lot of votes by doing this.

    But now, the Scale of Truth had revealed that everything he had done was a ruse. The scale tilted to the right.

    <em>[It is a lie.]</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

    Verodun¡¯s face grew ugly.

    ¡°At least I did not gain votes by creating an even bigger and more threatening disaster that could risk the lives of the people.¡±

    Many of the people who voted for Verodun regretted their choice at this moment.

    <em>[The Scale of Truth is distinguishing the truth from the lie.]</em>

    The scale was pointed at Boleyn. Perhaps it was truly as Minhyuk predicted, perhaps it was not. Not long after, the scale finally tilted and a notification resonated all over the world. Then, a smile appeared on Minhyuk¡¯s face.

    <em>[It is a lie.]</em>

    Boleyn¡¯s expression grew distorted.

    Minhyuk grinned. ¡°Was it for the money? Or was it for pure entertainment only? Why did you kill the emperor of the empire where you were born?¡±

    Boleyn was the father of assassins. Perhaps he was also someone who possessed the most valuable information in the world. The mere fact that Boleyn turned his back on Minhyuk would probably be very painful for him in the long run.

    Nevertheless, one thing was obvious. Boleyn¡¯s votes had stagnated. On the other hand, a notification appeared in front of Minhyuk that made him smile. The gap between him and Boleyn was gradually narrowing.

    <em>[1st ce: Pir of Death Boleyn. Percentage: 34.1%]</em>

    <em>[2nd ce: Pir of Gourmands Minhyuk. Percentage: 32.7%]</em>

    Even so, it seemed like things did not turn out the way Minhyuk had expected it to be. There was still 2% left.

    Then, Boleyn spoke coldly, ¡°There¡¯s something I¡¯m curious about.¡±

    <em>Shiiiing¨C</em>

    A dark smile appeared behind Boleyn¡¯s mask as he pulled out his sharp dagger.

    ¡°Is the Battle God truly strong?¡±

    An overwhelming killing intent erupted and enveloped the entire area. It seemed like Boleyn had finally decided to turn sides.

    ¡°I wonder what will happen if I kill everyone here?¡±

    There was no distinction between good and evil among the Pirs. The only thing that was important was their influence, power and their potential that would unfold in the future.

    What would happen if Boleyn killed Minhyuk here? What would happen if he trampled and humiliated Minhyuk right here and now? Boleyn¡¯s votes would definitely rise. And more ways to widen the gap between them would unfold for him.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. That¡¯s nothing but a mask. This is the real me.¡±

    Boleyn did not assassinate the vicious and troublesome people for the sake of the people. He just did it because he was very curious about the privilege that he would receive if he obtained first ce in the Advanced Polls.

    So, now, he was going to show his true colors.

    ¡°Shall I crush all of your outstanding vassals?¡±

    Minhyuk stepped back as if he was flustered.

    <em>¡®Well, I expected the situation to turn out like this.¡¯</em>

    Perhaps he would lose many of his vassals including Brod, Ben and Elpis. In fact, Minhyuk had to admit that it would be difficult to stop a Pir Candidate like Boleyn here if the man ever decided to go berserk.

    <em>¡®Just look at Boleyn¡¯s level after he released that overwhelming killing intent.¡¯</em>

    <em>[Boleyn. Level 1,001.]</em>

    Of course, Minhyuk could stop him somehow. But fighting against him might just turn the capital and at least half of the Beyond the Heavens Empire into dust.

    ¡°Don¡¯t move! This is an order!¡± Minhyuk raised his hand and prevented his vassals from making a move and fighting against Boleyn.

    Boleyn, who loved to trample and humiliate his targets,ughed. ¡°Ho? Are you going to deal with me by yourself?¡±

    ¡°To be honest, I don¡¯t think I can handle you alone?¡± Minhyuk drew his sword. ¡°So, let¡¯s do this two-on-one.¡±

    It did not matter how high Boleyn¡¯s votes were or how the Pirs did not distinguish between good and evil. If he indiscriminately ughtered the people here, then the results would very well backfire on him.

    Besides, a 2v1 would be a very interesting topic. If Boleyn crushed two opponents at the same time, then his reputation would definitely skyrocket. And after considering the difference in their skills, this could be considered to be a fair game. Minhyuk¡¯s side was a team while Boleyn was alone. If he won, then the votes would naturally be drawn to him.

    ¡°Alright.¡±

    At Boleyn¡¯s answer, Minhyuk nervously and carefully said, ¡°Ah. There¡¯s one more thing.¡±

    ¡°Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor, aren¡¯t you dragging for time a bit too much?¡±

    ¡°If I defeat you, you cannot attack anyone from the Beyond the Heavens Empire first no matter what. Of course, your Immune is also included.¡±

    To be honest, Boleyn found this to be very funny. The man in front of him was like a helpless victim trying to survive for five more seconds even if they knew that they would die in his hands until the very end. Whether it was one person or two people, Boleyn was confident that the results would be the same.

    ¡°Alright. I agree.¡±

    With this, Boleyn would never be able to put pressure on the Beyond the Heavens Empire in the event of his defeat.

    ¡°How about the other one?¡±

    Minhyuk looked at Boleyn¡¯s arrogant expression and said, ¡°They¡¯reing.¡±

    ¡°Then, it¡¯s the two of us first.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaa¨C</em>

    ¡°Shall we start?¡±

    Minhyuk was taken aback when he saw Boleyn appear in front of him.

    Although Minhyuk was running against the other candidates, he was someone who knew what the candidates were truly like. Even though they carried the name ¡°Candidate,¡± in reality, they were all Pir-level individuals.

    Just like Beradon.

    Of course, he did not know if Boleyn could truly be a match for him. Nevertheless, the power that a Pir Candidate possessed was already beyond imagination. There was also the fact that Boleyn¡¯s ability to assassinate was far superior to Helenia¡¯s abilities.

    ¡°Overpower.¡±

    The flustered Minhyuk activated his skill on instinct. After activating the power to tie his opponent up for two seconds, he immediately used Frenzied de and attacked Boleyn non-stop.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¨C!</em>

    Although the attacks allnded squarely on Boleyn¡¯s body, the result left Minhyuk flustered.

    <em>[Steel Body.]</em>

    <em>[There is a 5% chance of triggering the Steel Body. Once triggered, all damage will be considered null and void for 3 seconds.]</em>

    The notification left Minhyuk shocked. This was because Boleyn¡¯s passive had been triggered and his attacks resulted in nothing.

    Minhyuk hurriedly used Like the Wind to increase the distance between them and immediately equipped the ck Dragon¡¯s Armor.

    <em>Swoosh¨C!</em>

    Then, he immediately tried to use another skill.

    At that moment, Boleyn dered, ¡°Thirty seconds. That¡¯s more than enough.¡±

    Boleyn¡¯s dagger immediately stabbed through Minhyuk¡¯s back. At the same time, various colors popped out in Minhyuk¡¯s vision. It was as if he was suddenly plunged into an illusion.

    One of the reasons why Boleyn was among the best of the best in his own field was because he used a variety of mind control magic along with his excellent assassination techniques. There was also his <em>Absolute Abnormality </em>which allowed him to neutralize any and all skills that resisted abnormal statuses.

    Boleyn¡¯s dagger stabbed all over the body of Minhyuk, who was still in a daze.

    ¡°Your arm.¡±

    <em>Stab¨C</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 94%.]</em>

    <em>[It will now be difficult to move your arm.]</em>

    ¡°Then, your leg.¡±

    <em>Stab¨C</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 87%.]</em>

    <em>[It will now be difficult to move your leg.]</em>

    ¡°Your chest.¡±

    <em>[Your HP¡­]</em>

    ¡°And your heart.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaa¨C!</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 60%.]</em>

    If Minhyuk knew about Boleyn¡¯s use of mind control magic, he would not have been able to be beaten this easily.

    As for Boleyn? He has never used more than ten seconds when dealing with an enemy. Dozens of daggers rose in the sky and pointed at Minhyuk¡¯s neck. With one wave of Boleyn¡¯s arm, they would all stab through that vital point. But at that moment¡­

    ¡°...?!¡±

    Boleyn looked behind him.

    He had actually stationed thousands of assassins all over the Beyond the Heavens Empire the moment he entered this ce. Each and every single one of these assassins were strong enough to be on par with the elite knights of any empire. And every single one of them were connected to Boleyn.

    <em>¡®What?¡¯</em>

    But in just five seconds countless threads that connected him and his assassins had been broken. He could also hear thousands of his still surviving assassins being chased from a distance.

    <em>¡®What the hell¡­?!¡¯</em>

    Shock dyed Boleyn¡¯s eyes as the threads of the assassins connected to him continued to break with every passing second.

    At that moment, a woman stepped out of the crowd. Dozens of assassins immediately jumped out to stop her. However, the assassins fell down one after another with every swing of her sword.

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Meanwhile, the yers were all struck dumb by the notifications that rang in their ears.

    <em>[Hegemon King Ellie has descended!]</em>

    <em>[Warning.]</em>

    <em>[Warning.]</em>

    <em>[Warning.]</em>

    <em>[Hegemon King Ellie has temporarily transcended the limits of a god.]</em>

    <em>[Hegemon King Ellie has temporarily approached the level of a Pir.]</em>

    The woman, with her bright blonde hair fluttering behind her, said, ¡°Which bastard dared to touch my little brother?¡±

    <em>[Hegemon King Ellie. Level 1,221.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Boleyn¡¯s breathing stopped for a moment. The moment he heard the words ¡°little brother,¡± he knew that she was referring to Minhyuk. This realization made goosebumps rise all over his body.

    Boleyn unknowingly hid his dagger behind his back.

 Chapter 1112

    <strong>Chapter 1112</strong>

    The Absolute Demigod ss meant that one was now half human and half god. The word ¡°absolute¡± was used because they sometimes revealed power stronger than the gods.

    Ellie hadpleted the Trial Master¡¯s easter egg and obtained the ss most suitable for her. At that moment, notifications constantly rang in her ears.

    <em>[You have obtained an Absolute Demigod ss. All of your stats and skills will change!]</em>

    <em>[Your level will be maintained even after changing your ss to the Absolute Demigod ss.]</em>

    <em>[The Absolute Demigod ss Hegemon King possesses strength that far surpasses the power of the emperors protecting their empires.]</em>

    <em>[The Absolute Demigod ss Hegemon King will exert stronger power when you are fighting for the sake of your people.]</em>

    <em>[The Absolute Demigod ss Hegemon King will never be defeated by anyone, even if they are standing at the highest peak in their field.]</em>Ellie felt strength surge through her body as the notifications rang constantly.

    Originally, yers who had obtained the Absolute Demigod ss would often suffer a penalty that would force their level to drop by 200. But Ellie was different. In her case, her level remained the same.

    <em>[The buff effect applied to you will remain in effect.]</em>

    In addition to the change in ss, the effects of the <em>samgyetang</em> that Minhyuk gave her as a gift did not disappear.

    At that moment, Ellie was indeed a real Hegemon King. With the state that she was in, she could be said to be strong enough to sweep the entire Luvien Empire. Of course, this power was just temporary. Nheless, even if this power disappeared, the fact that Ellie was now the Hegemon King would remain unchanged. This meant that she would forever be capable of defending her empire.

    <em>¡®Thanks.¡¯</em>

    Of course, Ellie would never forget when Minhyuk came to meet her. Ellie tried to maintain her meager pride as someone who was once his teacher and wanted to turn down his help.

    Ellie was thankful that she listened to Minhyuk¡¯s persuasion. Because of that, she obtained power that would allow her to protect her people and continue to build the Eivelis Empire.

    So, she ran straight to where Minhyuk was.

    ***

    Countless viewers from all over the world witnessed the birth of Hegemon King Ellie, which even led to a sharp increase in both Ellie''s and Minhyuk¡¯s votes.

    Of course, this also led to a bout of curiosity. The viewers all wondered how strong Hegemon King Ellie truly was. But after seeing Ellie run somece else, they thought that they would not be able to see her power today.

    Shockingly enough, the ce where Ellie went was the ce where Boleyn was.

    ¡°Which bastard dared to touch my little brother?¡±

    Ellie, now greatly indebted to Minhyuk, felt an unbearable anger surge within her.

    Meanwhile, the yers present were all left dumbfounded.

    ¡°More than Level 1,200¡­?¡±

    ¡°E-Ellie¡¯s level surpassed Level 1,200¡­?¡±

    An NPC¡¯s level was a number that represented the total of all of their abilities and skills. Ellie¡¯s current level resulted from the addition of the buffs and the change of her ss to the Hegemon King.

    <em>[Hegemon King¡¯s Wrath.]</em>

    Ellie released a powerful killing intent, proiming that no one could take her on, even if they were at the pinnacle of their respective fields. Nevertheless, Boleyn¡¯s men continued to jump at her. Not long after, they all vomited a mouthful of blood at the same time.

    ¡°Kueeeeeeck!!!¡±

    ¡°Urk!¡±

    The assassins hiding all over the ce copsed one after another. The power radiating from her was more than enough to overwhelm them and leave them unconscious.

    Boleyn, who had hid his dagger behind him, was shocked by Ellie¡¯s overwhelming momentum. It was so heavy that he felt like a noose was tightening around his neck. But the shock did not end there; the notification that rang in his ears made him fall into an even more profound shock.

    <em>[The Hegemon King will never be defeated by any person, even if they are standing at the highest peak in their field.]</em>

    <em>[All Hegemon King¡¯s abilities will increase by 11%.]</em>

    ¡°Is it you, you f*cking bastard?¡±

    ¡°...?¡± Boleyn was taken aback.

    What the hell? Why was she speaking in a manner unbefitting of an emperor? Why was she acting like some vulgar thug? Those vulgar words put heavy pressure upon him.

    Boleyn felt like the person before him had been an emperor since she was born. It was as if she had stood above him since she came to this world.

    Not long after, Minhyuk was released from the illusion.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you? We¡¯re doing a 2v1. The other one is my noona.¡± Minhyuk grinned when he saw how flustered Boleyn was. ¡°Ah. My noona has be the Hegemon King, too.¡±

    Boleyn, who saw Ellie start to move, immediately racked his brains. Although her powers seemed above his, he believed he could still handle them.

    <em>¡®Silent Killer.¡¯</em>

    At that moment, Boleyn created a clone. This clone only had 300 HP, but the damage that it could deal was simr to the damage that Boleyn could deal. The Silent Killer appeared behind Ellie and moved to cut her back.

    <em>[The Hegemon King will never be defeated by any person, even if they are standing at the highest peak in their field.]</em>

    <em>[The damage received will be reduced by 50%.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Boleyn was stunned. She ignored Boleyn¡¯s clone and immediately engaged in a fierce battle with her.

    The assassins'' main weapons were their quick hand movements and high damage. Boleyn tried to overwhelm Ellie with his quick hand movements, but no matter what he did, he was being pushed back.

    <em>¡®Wh-what¡­?!¡¯</em>

    He was flustered. His opponent was not just strong.

    <em>¡®Even her skills areparable to mine?!¡¯</em>

    As the sole survivor of the 1,000 children kidnapped and trained to wield a dagger by a group of assassins, Boleyn prided himself in his ability to kill. What about this woman in front of him? She only wielded her sword to keep her position as the empress.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¨C!</em>

    The sword of the Hegemon King, which was used to protect her empire and her people, swung and cut Boleyn repeatedly.

    <em>Shwaa¨C!</em>

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    The blood spurting out of his body non-stop left Boleyn flustered and panicked. In the end, he was forced to trigger his secret skill.

    ¡°Death Assassin.¡±

    This skill, which could cut down 90% of any of his opponent¡¯s HP, was the skill that made Boleyn who he was now. It did not matter how strong the opponent was; they would be severely injured once this force hit them!

    <em>Vwooooooong¨C!</em>

    Boleyn narrowed the distance between him and Ellie in an instant and moved to stab her neck with his dagger. He was sure that he had stabbed her in the neck.

    <em>[Supreme Hegemon King.]</em>

    <em>[The Hegemon King will never be defeated by any person, even if they are standing at the highest peak in their field.]</em>

    <em>[The Hegemon King will be able to deflect any attack of any person standing at the highest peak in their field once.]</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    <em>¡®What is this f*cking ridiculous characteristic?!¡¯</em>

    Ellie grabbed Boleyn¡¯s wrist. ¡°Hey.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Ellie leaned toward the flustered Boleyn and whispered, ¡°I haven¡¯t used any of my swordsmanship yet.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    The words left Boleyn in an even deeper shock.

    If Ellie did not receive the buff effects from the dish Minhyuk created for her, she would not be able to overwhelm Boleyn like this. She wouldn¡¯t even be able to reach Boleyn. But now, she was able to instill fear and terror in him that made it impossible for him toe back up.

    <em>Snap¨C!</em>

    Ellie broke his wrist.

    <em>Crack¨C!</em>

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    Of course, she did not forget to break the other one.

    ¡°Keuaaaack!¡± Boleyn screamed.

    At that moment, Minhyuk appeared behind him and said, ¡°Did you forget? This is a 2v1.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    The world was shocked by the spectacr sight of the panicked Boleyn being hit non-stop by Ellie and Minhyuk¡¯s basic attacks. Although they kept on hitting the man, they made sure not to kill him. There was a reason for that. Although it was regrettable, they were not allowed to kill another candidate during the Advanced Polls¡¯ voting period. This was so someone like Boleyn could not assassinate one of the candidates.

    Ellie looked at Boleyn, who was suffering from countless broken bones all over his body, and said, ¡°Do you want to live?¡±

    The pain from his broken bones left Boleyn with a deep-seated fear that he had never felt in his body. He had grown up stomping and trampling upon others and even went to build an organization named Immune at 19. He was everyone¡¯s object of fear and respect. When asked if he wanted to live, Boleyn¡¯s response was to nod fiercely.

    ¡°Make a vow in the name of God Athenae that you will not retaliate against us after this fair game ends.¡±

    Ellie was a clever woman. Just like Minhyuk demanded a condition where Boleyn would not be able to touch anyone from the Beyond the Heavens Empire if he won this 2v1 match, she also demanded conditions that would help protect her and her empire.

    ¡°Hey, make a vow.¡±

    Ellie threw Boleyn aside. His expression perfectly fit the words <em>broken and rattled</em> after he made the vow. The assassins of Immune rushed to help up Boleyn.

    If Boleyn dared to touch the Beyond the Heavens Empire or the Eivelis Empire, he would go against his vow and be punished. As such, he would never be able to touch them again.

    ¡°Get lost.¡±

    Immune¡¯s assassins hurriedly lifted Boleyn and left the premises. They all ran with their tails tucked between their legs. Of course, Verodun could be seen among them.

    Once everything was sorted out, Minhyuk looked at Ellie and thought, <em>¡®She¡¯s strong.¡¯</em>

    Of course, this was only because of the effects of his dish. Even so, he could not help but wonder if he could win against her in this state.

    But there was something far more important than that.

    <em>1st ce: Pir of Death Boleyn. Percentage: 36.1%</em>

    <em>2nd ce: Pir of Gourmands Minhyuk. Percentage: 33.7%</em>

    <em>¡­</em>

    <em>4th ce: Continental Emperor Ellie. Percentage: 12.6%</em>

    The expression on Minhyuk¡¯s face turned bitter as he thought, <em>¡®In the end, will the first ce really be out of my reach?¡¯</em>

    Meanwhile, Ellie had a small smile on her face as she looked at Minhyuk.

    ***

    Cameras from all over the world seemed to have gathered in front of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. They were shaking and shivering after witnessing the birth of the Hegemon King.

    Community sites from all over the world were in a buzz while the votes for the newly birthed Hegemon King rose steadily.

    <em>[In the end, Minhyuk cannot get 1st ce.]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s because he looked utterly overwhelmed when he got beaten by Boleyn earlier.]</em>

    <em>[There¡¯s still a few more hours left. Is it really impossible to turn the tables?]</em>

    <em>[I don¡¯t think it¡¯s possible. Those who haven¡¯t voted for Boleyn are now concentrating on Ellie. Even though Ellie¡¯s votes have increased a lot, they are definitely going to stop soon. No matter how many people want to vote for her, she can¡¯t get past 15%. This is because there aren¡¯t many people who can vote now.]</em>

    <em>[Even though Boleyn¡¯s in that situation, his votes are still increasing.]</em>

    <em>[For some reason, I feel sad. Tsk.]</em>

    Basically, they had already thought that these results were already confirmed. After all, the one who knocked down Boleyn was Ellie, not Minhyuk. So, there was no way for Minhyuk to gain any more votes.

    The people in themunity sites were still watching the situation from Ellie''s point of view.

    <em>[Hegemon King Ellie epts the offer to be Minhyuk¡¯s Temporary Knight.]</em>

    <em>[The duration will be one week.]</em>

    Everyone was left puzzled by the notifications that suddenly appeared on their screens. Even Minhyuk was shocked.

    Hegemon King Ellie did not reveal all of her powers in the battle against Boleyn. The real power of the Hegemon King was this.

    <em>[The Hegemon King¡¯s First Authority.]</em>

    <em>[The Hegemon King¡¯s Iron Blood Army has been activated.]</em>

    <em>[Hegemon King Ellie has be Minhyuk¡¯s Temporary Knight. The effects of the Iron Blood Army will be applied to the Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s army.]</em>

    At that moment, something astonishing happened. The armor donned by the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Imperial Army troops protecting and maintaining the crowd began to change. It grew more sophisticated and beautiful. But that was not all. Their helmets had also turned into horned helmets.

    <em>[The Hegemon King¡¯s Iron Blood Army will be applied to all of the troops under Ellie¡¯smand.]</em>

    <em>[All of the attack power of those standing by the side of the Hegemon King will increase by 9%.]</em>

    <em>[All of your attack power will increase by 8%.]</em>

    <em>[All of your artifacts¡¯ abilities will increase by 7%.]</em>

    <em>[Those standing by the side of the Hegemon King will forget their fears.]</em>

    What did Ellie aim to achieve by doing this? She wanted to show everyone every single detail of her powers.

    <em>[The Hegemon King¡¯s Second Authority.]</em>

    <em>[The Advancing Army of the Hegemon King has been activated.]</em>

    <em>[The army''s abilities advancing with the Hegemon King will increase by 1% per second.]</em>

    <em>[It will continue to increase for a total of 30 seconds. The 30% increase in abilities will remain in effect for one minute.]</em>

    It was a jaw-dropping power. First, it wasn¡¯t restricted in the number of people it could be applied to. It could be given to anyone allied with the Hegemon King.

    But the notifications were not yet over.

    <em>[The Hegemon King¡¯s Third Authority.]</em>

    <em>[The Hegemon King¡¯s Knights has been activated.]</em>

    <em>[No matter when or where you are, the Hegemon King¡¯s Knights will protect you.]</em>

    Tens of thousands of knights appeared. All of them were wearing horned helmets with capes carrying the symbol of the Eivelis Empire, the Phoenix.

    <em>[The Hegemon King¡¯s Final Authority.]</em>

    <em>[The Hegemon King¡¯s Roar echoes all over the world.]</em>

    <em>[All enemies fearfully tremble upon hearing the Hegemon King¡¯s Roar.]</em>

    <em>Uwaaaaaaaaaaah¨C!</em>

    A deafening roar rang from a distance and reached the ears of tens of millions of people.

    At this moment, the viewers realized that Ellie was deliberately showing off the power of the Hegemon King.

    <em>[All enemies lose their consciousness upon hearing the Hegemon King¡¯s Roar.]</em>

    <em>[All enemies¡¯ abilities will decrease by 45% for one minute.]</em>

    The viewers were all left stunned. Even though they knew Ellie had no chance of winning first ce in the votes, they almost wanted to vote for her.

    ¡°Minhyuk.¡± Ellie smiled at Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk turned to her with a smile of his own. The rtionship between the two had been established and maintained for a very, <em>very</em> long time. It all started when he was still a novice, and they maintained it even after he became the lord of his own territory, the king of his own kingdom, and the emperor of his own empire.

    The truth was, Ellie felt that her pride had taken a hit. After all, someone who she treated as a child had already surpassed her. However, at this moment, she wanted to abandon and leave that ugly heart behind. She had been hiding from this long-established truth for a long time.

    The deafening roar continued to echo all over the world.

    ¡°No. Battle God.¡±

    Ellie, the newly birthed Hegemon King, knelt on one knee. It was a show of loyalty and respect to her lord.

    At the same time, Minhyuk¡¯s votes, which had remained stagnant, began to rise once again.

 Chapter 1113

    <strong>Chapter 1113</strong>

    Hegemon King was amon term in a specific genre of novels and games. They were absolute emperors who never and would never lose to anyone. Ellie had proven this by defeating Boleyn. She also revealed this fact by showing off her power and authority.

    But this same Hegemon King knelt on one knee and said, ¡°Until you be the true ¡®monarch¡¯ who leads all of the gods¡­¡±

    The once immature young man has now be an emperor.

    ¡°...I, Hegemon King Ellie, will protect you.¡±

    The mighty empress did not break and even became more flexible.

    ¡°Battle God, I wish to be your strength,¡± Ellie spoke with not a single shred of regret in her tone. ¡°I¡­¡±

    But before she could finish, Minhyuk spoke first. ¡°I¡­¡± He looked at Ellie with love, respect, and care. ¡°I will honor and respect you as my noona forever.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Minhyuk approached Ellie, who had already lost her initiative and momentum and helped her stand up. Full of sincerity, he said, ¡°I¡¯m happy.¡±

    Hundreds of cameras focused on Minhyuk and Ellie alone. Minhyuk then chose this moment to emphasize his point further.

    ¡°Because my noona has be the Hegemon King.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    He was saying it was OK if she did not show loyalty to him. The fact that he was given the right and the power to call Ellie <em>noona</em> was proof of the strong and steadfast rtionship between the two¡ªa rtionship that could never be reached by mere submission, obedience, and loyalty.

    Minhyuk wanted to protect Ellie¡¯s image as an emperor who worked for the sake of her people and not just him. He wanted to let her know that he was already very grateful to her and that he cared about her deeply.

    Ellie had proven her capabilities as the Hegemon King, while Minhyuk proved that their rtionship surpassed a rtionship of obedience and submission. The people¡¯s expectations for Ellie were immediately transferred to Minhyuk. As a result, Minhyuk¡¯s votes soared.

    Thementators were all left shocked.

    <em>[Mi-Minhyuk¡¯s votes have started to catch up with Boleyn¡¯s votes.]</em>

    <em>[There¡¯s only a 1% difference.]</em>

    Amidst the rising votes, Minhyuk and Ellie stood in front of each other with smiles. The viewers who saw this scene kept moving their fingers.

    <em>[The Advanced Polls have been refreshed.]</em>

    <em>1st ce: Pir of the Gourmands Minhyuk. Percentage: 40.7%</em>

    <em>2nd ce: Pir of Death Boleyn. Percentage: 37.9%</em>

    Minhyuk surpassed Pir of Death Boleyn. And the votes were not stopping yet. The number of people who have voted so far has been continuously increasing. This meant that the rest of the poption who had not yet cast their votes were now voting for Minhyuk.

    <em>[The Advanced Polls¡¯ voter turnout has exceeded 99%.]</em>

    <em>[The Advanced Polls¡¯ voting period has ended.]</em>

    <em>[The Advanced Polls¡¯ final ranking will now be revealed.]</em>

    <em>1st ce: Pir of the Gourmands Minhyuk. Percentage: 44.3%</em>

    <em>2nd ce: Pir of Death Boleyn. Percentage: 38%</em>

    <em>3rd ce: Master of Nature¡­</em>

    <em>4th ce: Continental Emperor Ellie¡­</em>

    <em>[Congrattions. The 1st ce in the Advanced Polls is Minhyuk.]</em>

    The entire world was shaken when the first ce in the Advanced Polls was revealed as the only yer among the candidates.

    <em>[I believe all of the Koreans are going crazy right now!]</em>

    <em>[The people who have voted for Minhyuk must have heard the notifications by now.]</em>

    <em>[Congrattions to all yers who obtained the 1-Level Level Up Potion.]</em>

    <em>[Even though yer Minhyuk is a yer, it was tough for him to gain the votes of his fellow countrymen.]</em>

    <em>[Indeed. If the people of South Korea voted for him, they would experience a 40% reduction in their Level EXP.]</em>

    <em>[But yer Minhyuk beat all odds and won 1st ce.]</em>

    <em>[As a yer with the most significant potential to be a Pir, we can confidently say that yer Minhyuk is now the most influential man in the world.]</em>

    Their expectations had skyrocketed.

    Hundreds of cameras pointed at Minhyuk, who was busy listening to the notifications ringing in his ears.

    <em>[The rewards for winning 1st ce in the Advanced Polls will be given to youter.]</em>

    <em>[The one who has won 1st ce in the Advanced Polls can now ept the Pir Candidate Quest.]</em>

    ¡°Pir Candidate Quest?¡± Minhyuk murmured, a puzzled expression on his face.

    ***

    South Korea was in a state of excitement. This included the employees of Joy Co. Ltd. who were sitting inside the conference room. They all jumped up and cheered loudly when the results of the Advanced Polls came out. Even the Joy Co. Ltd. executives felt their hearts thump wildly with joy.

    ¡°All of us said he would never be 1st ce in the polls.¡±

    They all found it funny. After all, they were the first ones to deny and ignore Minhyuk and Ellie. But Ellie became the Hegemon King, and Minhyuk used various powers to win 1st ce in the Advanced Polls.

    ¡°He¡¯s truly an amazing yer.¡± Team Leader Park Minggyu was indeed in awe.

    It did not matter what methods Minhyuk used; the fact that he won first ce in the Advanced Polls remained the same.

    However, something unexpected happened.

    ¡°I did not expect yer Minhyuk to be the one to receive this Sudden Quest.¡±

    Whoever achieved 1st ce in the Advanced Polls did an excellent job. However, the rewards that Chaos had set would only be avableter. Furthermore, this reward was a consumable item. After all, it could only be used during thepetition between the Pir Candidates.

    Joy Co. Ltd. determined that the reward that had been set was minimal and trivialpared to the effort that the candidates had put in the polls. That was why they prepared a sudden quest for the person who would achieve 1st ce in the polls. Of course, NPCs would also be able to receive this sudden quest. But it would appear differently in their eyes and not carry the name ¡°Quest.¡±

    The problem was even if the method of going to <em>that ce</em> were simr for both the yers and the NPCs, the process of giving rewards would bepletely different.

    The Story Team¡¯s leader, who created this quest, said, ¡°In the NPCs¡¯ case, the rewards were set up so that they could get stats or something special while going through the process. It¡¯s because they¡¯re NPCs, and they would be unable to go through the quest step-by-step like the yers. So, it was set up so that the NPCs would be able to get what they wanted or needed in the end once they received recognition.¡±

    So, what about in the yers¡¯ case?

    ¡°It¡¯s different for yer Minhyuk. With every level he goes through or every recognition he receives, there¡¯s a chance that the reward that he will receive will grow even more special.¡±

    In <em>that ce,</em> if an NPC could get 1, then a yer would be able to get 2. Of course, the task was no easy task. However, several problems needed to be solved in that ce.

    ¡°What can yer Minhyuk ultimately receive by the end of the quest?¡±

    This was a loophole.

    ¡°You should know this too, President. The rewards we have set are already pretty good in and of itself.¡±

    Once they reached the end, their rewards would be very generous regardless of NPCs or yers. This was only natural. After all, this was a reward set to be given to the person who achieved 1st ce in the Advanced Polls. Of course, they would not be able to receive any rewards if they failed the quest.

    ¡°If we¡¯re talking about yer Minhyuk, then there¡¯s a chance that the <em>¡®Ingredient Brimming with Potential¡¯</em> will grow and be <em>¡®Fantastic Ingredients.¡¯</em>¡±

    The Ingredient Brimming with Potential was an ingredient that would grow whenever Minhyuk aplished something orpleted the quest. It was an event-type ingredient that would never be obtained again in Athenae.

    ¡°What¡¯s the level of the Fantastic Ingredients based on our current grading system?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s probably around the level of an Absolute God-grade ingredient.¡±

    Naturally, the Fantastic grade would onlye out if Minhyuk could achieve the highest grade in the quest.

    ¡°Is there a higher grade?¡±

    ¡°Phenomenal is the final grade that one can obtain. It¡¯s next to Fantastic. But I don¡¯t think obtaining something graded with Phenomenal will be easy.¡±

    ¡°Indeed. It will be challenging.¡± Kang Taehoon smiled bitterly.

    They had also dered that winning the Advanced Polls was difficult and even impossible. Yet here they were. So, they had to be open to all possibilities.

    ¡°If a Phenomenal-grade ingredient appears, how can you describe its power?¡± President Kang Taehoon asked.

    The Story Team¡¯s leader pondered momentarily before saying, ¡°It¡¯s probably equivalent or greater than a Pir-grade ingredient.¡±

    ***

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Pir Candidate Quest</em></strong><em>: A Banquet for the Departed Candidates.]</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: ???</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: The one who achieved 1st ce in the Advanced Polls.</em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: ???</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Failure</em></strong><em>: None.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: Pirs and Pir Candidates are very special existences. Many of those chosen as Pirs and Pir Candidates were allowed to go to the ¡®The Land of the Leaders¡¯ instead of Hell after their deaths. This is and under Chaos¡¯ rule. One can stay or enter the River of Reincarnation in this ce. Host a banquet for them as the leading figure of the current era. </em>

    <em>The host of the banquet will obtain the Ingredient Brimming with Potential. The Ingredient Brimming with Potential will be able to grow depending on the situation. As someone qualified to be the Battle God, you can summon one of your knights for five minutes.</em>

    Minhyuk looked at the sudden quest in front of him with interest.

    A banquet for the departed Pirs and Pir Candidates. Someone¡¯s figure immediately came to mind the moment he saw those words. He was someone who could immediately bring a smile to Minhyuk¡¯s face just with the thought of him alone.

    <em>¡®It doesn¡¯t matter what happens. There¡¯s no penalty for failure anyway.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk agreed since there was nothing for him to worry about.

    <em>[You have obtained the Ingredient Brimming with Potential.]</em>

    At the same time, a small basket appeared in Minhyuk¡¯s inventory. And in this baskety a tiny seed.

    From what it looked like, this seed would grow during the banquet he would host.

    <em>¡®Well, the Advanced Polls are over. So¡­¡¯</em>

    His work here was basically over. After a friendly and joyful conversation with Ellie, Minhyuk returned to his office.

    <em>[Would you like to participate in the Candidates¡¯ Banquet?]</em>

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Minhyuk disappeared in a sh of light.

    ***

    The Land of the Leaders had always been noisy. Would a ce filled with countless arrogant, prideful, and powerful candidates ever be quiet? They could never back down as the leading figures of their own era. Because of that, they would often sh with each other. Of course, they were separated into several factions, just like any othernd or territory. Each of them followed and supported the faction that they wanted to support.

    But everything changed with the arrival of the King of All Creators. Upon his appearance, many of the people living in this ce chose to support him. And because he did not desire power, peace finally came to the Land of the Leaders for the first time in a long while.

    Of course, those who were supporting someone else were still abundant. But for now, they all watched the King of All Creators. Thanks to that, an unexpected and unprecedented peace came over the Land of the Leaders.

    A huge event broke out in the Land of the Leaders one day. They heard that the current era¡¯s leading candidate would visit this ce. This meant that a banquet would be held. This would be the first banquet since the King of All Creators arrived.

    Hundreds of people who were once candidates appeared in the banquet hall. Among them were the Monarchs of All Creation. The Monarchs of All Creations were simr to knights, and they served as the King of All Creators. To be exact, the King of All Creators did not want them and even hated their existence, but they wanted to be his knights.

    Why would they do that? Well, the reason was simple. They wanted to stick close to the King of All Creators and gobble up all the crumbs they could under his umbre. They wanted to profit off of him.

    Monarch of All Creations Rokan looked around him.

    ¡°It seems like many people from the faction of the King of Good and the King of Destruction are present.¡±

    The King of Good was a candidate who had recently arrived in this ce. He had as much influence as the King of All Creators and was also not interested in any power struggle. That was why peace had been maintained so far.

    Although the King of Destruction desired power, the influence of the King of All Creators and the King of Good was so significant that he seemed a bit too redundant and insignificanttely.

    Everyone was waiting for the <em>candidate</em>. They could see himing from a distance, guided by a messenger sent by Rokan. When he arrived, he bowed politely to everyone in the banquet hall.

    Many people were gathering in the banquet hall at this time. Of course, Rokan and the other Monarchs of All Creations made sure to strike while the iron was hot.

    ¡°I have heard your story. You are the Pir of the Gourmands, no? Can something like that even be a Pir?¡± Rokan said. Of course, he was very arrogant. ¡°You must have heard about the King of All Creations on your way here.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard about him.¡±

    Rokan nodded, a smile of satisfaction gracing his lips. He wanted to drag this man to the faction of the King of All Creations before the factions of the King of Good and the King of Destruction intercepted him.

    ¡°Since you¡¯ve heard about him, then things would be easier. What should you do now?¡±

    ¡°???¡± The man looked at Rokan in confusion.

    ¡°Your greeting is wrong,¡± Rokan emphasized, an arrogant smile on his face. ¡°I am Rokan, one of the Monarchs of All Creation. Standing in my presence is like standing in the presence of the King of All Creators. Bow down to me.¡±

    <em>Tap, tap¨C</em>

    Rokan tapped the ground with his toes, then said, ¡°Put your head here and show courtesy to me. Be very polite and courteous.¡±

    Rokan smiled in delight at the thought of the man bowing down to him,

    But then, the man said, ¡°What bullshit are you spouting?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°Are you the King of All Creators?¡±

    No. He was not the King of All Creators. Not even close.

    ¡°Besides, why must I bow to the King of All Creators? I haven¡¯t even seen him yet. Does that logic even make sense?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    The logic did not followmon sense. No, it did not even make sense.

    However, at that moment, the air in the banquet hall turned cold. It was as if cold water had been sshed all over the ce.

 Chapter 1114

    When Minhyuk arrived in the Land of the Leaders, a man named Rokan met him to exin about the King of All Creators, King of Good, and the King of Destruction.

    Rokan also told Minhyuk that nothing good woulde out of him if the King of All Creators hated him. He also did not forget to rave about how great the King of Good was. Perhaps it was only natural. After all, the Land of Leaders, filled with chaos, arguments, and brawls, grew peaceful the moment these two beings appeared.

    Minhyuk found it ridiculous. The guide told him to act courteously and bow politely to the Monarchs of All Creations when he met them. But was that all? No. One of the Monarch of All Creations looked arrogantly at him and ordered him to bow down to him.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to,¡± Minhyuk spoke bluntly, plunging the entire hall into a dead and frozen silence.

    These words also made Rokan''s face grow ugly. He acted andughed arrogantly as if he were the King of All Creators.

    ¡°How dare you discussmon sense with me, the being closest to the King of All Creators?!¡± Rokan was not the type of person who had a good attitude and personality. ¡°I told you calmly, yet you dared to act out like that? You truly are quite arrogant for someone who only knows how to eat.¡±

    Many of the people present had heard that Minhyuk was 1st ce in the Advanced Polls. They had also heard he wanted to be the Pir of the Gourmands.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to raise my voice and fight with you.¡± Minhyuk remained firm. He believed that there was no need for him to sh with them. So, he stepped forward and passed the Monarch of All Creations Rokan.

    ¡°If you¡¯re the Pir of the Gourmands, you¡¯ll eat anything and everything, right? Can you eat something like this, then?¡± Rokan shouted, prompting Minhyuk to turn to look at him.But the sight that greeted Minhyuk was Rokan throwing away the food on the te in his hands. Even the other people in the banquet hall poured the dishes on their tes in front of Minhyuk. All of them looked at Minhyuk with contempt.

    Rokan stomped the food with his boots before saying, ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you gobble this up too? You¡¯re the Pir of the Gourmands, right?¡±

    Minhyuk looked at the food that they had wasted on the ground. Then, he looked up at them as if they were pathetic and said, ¡°So, this is the standard of the Pir Candidates of the past?¡±

    At that moment, everyone¡¯s faces grew red. Some of them even avoided eye contact. But among them, one man looked down on anything and everything and did not even care about such things.

    ¡°The King of All Creators is someone we all follow and respect.¡±

    The man hailed as Axeman Wels stepped forward. He also served the King of All Creators.

    ¡°Oh. Axeman Wels.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s the one who chopped off the heads of five emperors with his axe without any hesitation or mercy.¡±

    Axeman Wels was a gigantic man, about 230 centimeters in height. When he stood face to face with Minhyuk, the two looked like grown adults facing off against children.

    As for Minhyuk, he was puzzled when he saw the level of the man in front of him.

    <em>¡®Level 700?¡¯</em>

    Of course, it was a high level. If someone were at Level 700, they would be considered strong enough to write a new legend if they appeared on Earth immediately. However, some of the Pirs and the Pir Candidates that Minhyuk had seen before had levels beyond Level 1,000.

    <em>¡®Maybe¡­?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk recalled the words of the Lord of the Monsters Barbarian. Barbarian clearly said that he did not expect that there would be many strong men in the current era. After thinking about it deeply, he realized that he had heard simr words when he fought against Great Demon Verus and the strong men of their era.

    ¨C<em>Are there really this many powerhouses in this era?</em>

    Minhyuk finally reached a conclusion. Based on his observation, there was a high chance that there weren¡¯t as many strong men in the past as there were now when the world was teeming with shining stars.

    Minhyuk had learned one important thing during the Advanced Polls.

    <em>¡®As surprising as it might sound, it¡¯s not difficult to be nominated as a candidate.¡¯</em>

    Take Ellie, for example. Even if her level was only in thete Level 600s, she was still nominated as a candidate in acknowledgment of her work as the Continental Emperor. Upon closer look, even if the master reinforcer, The Strengthener, possessed tremendous power, it could be seen that his level was also only in thete Level 600s.

    <em>¡®The only ones who stood out the most during the Advanced Polls were the Master of Nature and the Pir of Death.¡¯</em>

    Those two were the only ones with levels that far surpassed Level 1,000. As for the other eight, which, of course, included Minhyuk? They could be considered mediocre at best whenpared to the two.

    <em>¡®Those currently sitting in the position of a Pir¡­ are they truly outstanding people, or are they the only ones that stood outpared to the other candidates, who werecking?¡¯</em>

    Perhaps the words ¡°second fiddle¡± were the best words to describe the other candidates?

    <em>¡®Perhaps the reason Obren became a Pir back then was¡­¡¯</em>

    It was most likely because his power had reached a level beyond anyone¡¯s imagination back then.

    ¡°Lay prostrate in front of the monarchs now. Of course, you must pay your respects and prostrate yourself in front of the King of All Creators once he arrives. If you do that, I will no longer pressure you.¡± Wels growled.

    He threatened Minhyuk by pping his axe on his palm as if ready to move at any moment.

    ¡°You¡¯re nothing but a man who only knows how to eat, yet you dare to act arrogantly in front of us? If you continue acting that way, perhaps I should wipe the floor with you.¡±

    ¡°Woah, Wels! What if he can¡¯t endure a single strike of your axe?¡±

    ¡°Fufufufufu. He¡¯ll probably kneel and beg for his life once he gets hit once?¡±

    ¡°A person who only knows how to eat is nominated as a Pir Candidate? I don¡¯t think we have to look into the level of the current era¡¯s candidates anymore, no?¡±

    These people had lived in this ce for a very long time. They knew nothing about what was happening outside.

    Then, Wels said, ¡°You should know I once scratched the Evil God Obren¡¯s body.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°Evil God Obren lost exactly two drops of blood because of my attack.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk looked at Wels in stunned silence. He remained speechless as he watched the people shower the Wels, who was shrugging proudly, with admiration.

    ¡°Yes, yes. Wels made such an achievement!¡±

    Wels was not telling the whole truth. He had indeed met with Evil God Obren once. However, he peed his pants from fear the moment his eyesnded on the Evil God. So, why did he bring up Obren¡¯s name? Well, the reason was simple.

    <em>¡®Evil God Obren, one of the Pirs, will still be an object of fear even in the current era.¡¯</em>

    Wels could be considered the representative of the braggarts. Either way, the others would not know if his words were valid. After all, they did not have any way to check them.

    ¡°If I had met Helenia, I couldnd exactly one attack on her.¡±

    Wels shrugged again, his actions screaming, <em>¡®Ahem, I¡¯m such an amazing person!¡¯</em>

    Once again, Minhyuk was rendered speechless. The other monarchs, seeing his stunned appearance,ughed at him.

    ¡°Although our Wels is considered one of the weaker ones among us, he still has that much influence.¡±

    ¡°This is how candidates are supposed to be, you know? As for you? You only know how to eat and pig out.¡±

    The entire banquet hall mocked Minhyuk.

    At that moment, a notification rang.

    <em>[The </em><strong><em>Linked Quest</em></strong><em>: Receive the Recognition of the Candidates of the Past has been created.]</em>

    <em>Ring¨C!</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Linked Quest</em></strong><em>: Receive the Recognition of the Candidates of the Past.]</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: SSS</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: The one invited to the Candidates¡¯ Banquet.</em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: The Ingredient Brimming with Potential will grow with every recognition you receive from the candidates.</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Failure</em></strong><em>: You will be kicked out of the banquet.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: The candidates of the past are ignoring and mocking you. You will be kicked out of the banquet if you don¡¯t receive recognition from more than ten candidates.</em>

    Minhyuk quickly epted the quest. Then, he said, ¡°You¡¯re saying that you¡¯re the man who made Evil God Obren shed exactly two drops of blood?¡±

    Welsughed maniacally. ¡°Fufufufu! Indeed! Now, you know, right?! You should know what kind of person I am, right?! However, even someone like me is a small fry before the King of All Creators. So, now¡­¡±

    ¡°Even so, I would never kneel or worship anyone.¡±

    The words made Wels''s face grow ugly. ¡°It seems like I have to make you taste my axe.¡±

    ¡°Wait. I believe we shouldn¡¯t spill blood in this sacred and holy banquet hall, no?¡±

    Wels thought Minhyuk was scared of him because of his words. But then, Minhyuk continued, ¡°Let¡¯s do it with our fists.¡±

    The King of All Creators banned the candidates from fighting with the intent to kill. If the King of All Creators learned what they wanted to do, then Wels would be severely punished.

    Wels was confident about his strength. That was why he believed that he would be able to beat up and force this man, who only knew how to eat, to kneel.

    ¡°I like the sound of that. I¡¯ll beat you to the point that you wish you were dead.¡±

    ¡°Is it alright if I use my powers?¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. You¡¯re nothing but a candidate who only knows how to eat. What kind of power does an insignificant being like you have? Cooking?¡±

    Minhyuk nodded.

    At that moment, the other candidates began to surround the two. They were preparing to watch a good show.

    Monarch of All Creation Rokan said, ¡°Wels, bring that greedy candidate to his knees before me.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll take care of it.¡±

    Wels stood before Minhyuk, the confidence oozing out of his entire being. Then, he pped his chest and said, ¡°How about you hit first?¡±

    Wels thought that Minhyuk¡¯s punch would feel so light that it was like he was just being tickled.

    In the first ce, Wels was the type of person who tended to ignore people with a production ss job and immediatelybel them as weak. This was especially the case for chefs. After all, he believed that chefs only knew how to make dishes and did not know how to use their strength or power.

    ¡°I see. Very well, then.¡±

    Minhyuk had already equipped the Imperfect Working Gloves that Rocado had left behind for him. Surprisingly enough, the Imperfect Working Gloves had 1,800 attack power, which made its powerparable to any God-rank swords.

    The best part about this artifact was that it could seep through his skin upon equipping it. No one would know if he had it on or not. This was why Minhyuk asked Wels to fight with their fists.

    ¡°Food God¡¯s Swordsmanship.¡±

    Minhyuk immediately put a buff on himself.

    ¡°Ovepping Delight.¡±

    His throat bobbed as the food immediately went down to his stomach. At the same time, a golden and ck die appeared behind him.

    ¡°Ho. I thought he only knew how to eat his food, but he also has some skills under his belt.¡±

    ¡°What kind of skill is that?¡±

    The expression on Minhyuk¡¯s face grew colder as he listened to the words of the people around him.

    ¡°If I knock you down in thirty seconds, will you apologize?¡±

    ¡°Bwahahahahaha!¡±

    ¡°Apologize? Are you saying you want me to apologize?! You only know how to eat, yet you think you can knock Wels down in thirty seconds?!¡±

    Despite their crazyughter, Minhyuk just continued to walk toward Wels. Then, he said, ¡°If I knock you down in twenty seconds, will you kneel in front of me?¡±

    ¡°You should speak about something that you can do!¡±

    ¡°Yo! There¡¯s no end to your mindless bragging, huh?!¡±

    ¡°How dare you speak arrogantly when you only know how to pig out!¡±

    Their mocking words continued to rain down upon Minhyuk. As for Wels? He thought he should beat this bold and arrogant candidate so severely that he wouldn¡¯t even want to return to this ce for the rest of his life.

    The approaching Minhyuk was much shorter than Wels. There was around a forty-centimeter difference between the two, which made him look like a child in front of a grown adult.

    Wels looked at Minhyuk and caught sight of the cold and sharp look on his face. At that moment, an unknown pressure heavily weighed down on him.

    Minhyuk, with a cold expression, opened his mouth again and said, ¡°Then, if I knock you down in ten seconds, will you treat me like I¡¯m your hyung or oppa?¡±

    ¡°Sure, why not?¡±

    Another candidate¡¯s voice rang out, ¡°If you can do that, I¡¯ll treat you as my hyung.¡±

    ¡°This crazy bastard has the fighting spirit huh? So funny,¡± The mocking words continued to ring out, ¡°Yeah, yeah, sure. I¡¯ll call you oppa by then. Hoho~¡±

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk raised his hand and triggered Frenzied de. Then, he punched Wels, who was a head and a half bigger than him, right in the abdomen.

    <em>Crack¨C!</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!¡±

    The gruesome sound of Wels¡¯ ribs cracking and the blood spurting out of his mouth echoed within the banquet halls. s, Minhyuk¡¯s attack did not end there. Twelve more punches with 600% additional damage continued tond on his abdomen, in addition to the fact that the Frenzied de had a 90% chance of ignoring the opponent¡¯s defensive power.

    <em>Bang¨C Bang, bang¨C!</em>

    Since Minhyuk did not use a sword, the sound that echoed in the hall was not the sound of flesh being torn apart but the dull and blunt sound of flesh hitting the flesh.

    ¡°K-keuaaaaaack¨C!¡± Wels¡¯ scream echoed non-stop in the hall.

    ¡°Only two seconds have passed.¡±

    The eyes of all of the candidates present grew wide when they heard Minhyuk¡¯s words.

    When the third second passed, Minhyuk used the Sword of Carnage and punched the pit of Wels¡¯ stomach with all his might.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    The Sword of Carnage had a 100% chance of ignoring the opponent¡¯s defenses. Not only that, it couldunch thirty-eight attacks in just one second.

    This attacknded on Wels, who was still reeling from the effects of the Frenzied de.

    <em>Boom, boom, boom¨C!</em>

    Wels felt like a heavy object was hammering his entire being. The attacks twisted and almost turned his bones to dust. In the end, he copsed with a scream. As Wels fell to the ground, silence overtook the entire banquet hall. How long did it take for him to copse?

    ¡°Five seconds.¡±

    Minhyuk looked around. He made eye contact with the Monarch of All Creations Rokan and asked, ¡°You. How old are you?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Rokan did not answer. However, this year, he turned 4,700 years old. As for the candidates present, most were over 2,000 years old.

    ¡°Me? I¡¯m 21 years old this year.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Everyone dered that they would treat Minhyuk as their hyung and oppa if Minhyuk could knock Wels down in ten seconds.

    Of course, Minhyuk did not forget to drive this fact deeper.

    ¡°I have never had such ugly and stupid younger siblings like you in my entire life.¡±

    An overwhelming sense of shame enveloped every single person present in the hall.

 Chapter 1115

    <strong>Chapter 1115</strong>

    Minhyuk was very excited to attend the Candidates¡¯ Banquet. He was sure that he would be able to meet his master, The Teacher Beradon, among the candidates.

    The Teacher Beradon was an outstanding man. Not only did he have the power to help others grow, but three of his disciples also became members of the Eight Pirs.

    Perhaps it was because he had met such an outstanding candidate in the past. Or maybe it was because he had recently met with the Master of Nature and Boleyn, figures who were close to bing Eight Pirs? Nevertheless, meeting those people gave him high expectations about the candidates.

    s, they were instantly shattered when he met with the Land of the Leaders candidates. Why? Because most of the people present here were pathetic excuses for a candidate.

    ¡°I have never had such ugly and stupid younger siblings like you in my entire life.¡±

    Every word Minhyuk uttered brought them shame and a great sense of disgrace. Their faces had all turned red because of his words. The worst part? The words that they would take Minhyuk in as their hyung and oppa if he knocked Wels down in ten seconds came out of their mouths.

    Disgusted, Minhyuk rejected them and their promises. ¡°Anyway, it¡¯s nothing but a verbal promise.¡±Rokan¡¯s face grew even redder. He was the one who orchestrated this strange propaganda. So, why was Wels the one who stepped forward when all of the candidates present were far more outstanding and possessed far greater power than him? The reason was that he was the most insignificant being among them. That was why he had to step out for the rest of them.

    ¡°There are many people here who can suppress you all at once, you bastard. Tch, cooking? Even with that, there will be peopleparable to your powers,¡± Rokan said.

    Of course, this was the truth, though that was not the point.

    ¡°Demanding someone to bow and act courteously toward us even though it¡¯s out of the blue? Yes. That¡¯s only right, don¡¯t you think?¡±

    ¡°Do you think you¡¯re the King of All Creators? Why do you try to use his influence and power like you¡¯re him?¡± Minhyuk asked, his gazending on the ce where the other Monarchs of All Creations were.

    The Monarchs of All Creations flinched at his words.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you guys just sticking close to the King of All Creators so you can use his power and influence?¡±

    Their faces grew even redder the more Minhyuk spoke.

    Minhyuk looked around and said, ¡°My manners and etiquette are good.¡±

    Indeed. He bowed and greeted them politely the moment he arrived in this ce.

    ¡°But what did you guys do? You threw the food on your te and told me to try and eat it.¡±

    Minhyuk had a bellyful of words for them.

    ¡°Of course, some of you are better than me. But¡­ have you be Pirs?¡±

    <em>Flinch¨C</em>

    <em>Flinch¨C</em>

    <em>Flinch¨C</em>

    Countless people flinched at his words.

    Minhyuk had made countless assumptions from the moment he entered the banquet hall up to this point.

    ¡°Pir Candidates will only possess the power of a true Pir once they be Pirs.¡±

    Minhyuk believed there was a high chance that he would awaken and receive an even more special power when his status changed from Pir Candidate to Pir.

    Although it was just a guess on his part, it was the truth. Regardless of the candidate, they would obtain an even stronger power once they won and sat on the throne of the true Pir.

    ¡°In the end, we¡¯re in a situation where those who had been eliminated to be a Pir are ganging up on someone just because they recently became a candidate. <em>Tch.</em>¡±

    Their faces grew even redder at Minhyuk¡¯s mocking words. Although they had nothing to say, tremendous and overwhelming power began to surge everywhere. Since they had nothing to say, they should just show something else.

    ¡°Right, everything you said is correct. We¡¯re candidates who failed to be true Pirs. You¡¯re wondering why we want a stranger to kneel before us?¡±

    Rokan agreed that Minhyuk¡¯s words were valid. Nheless, he considered it ridiculous due to his pride.

    ¡°You know, there¡¯s this saying that I¡¯m very fond of.¡± Rokanughed arrogantly. ¡°Law of the jungle.¡±

    Thew of the jungle states that the weak eventually be prey and are eaten by the strong.

    ¡°Because you¡¯re living so easily in this world, you have taken for granted this fact. Ever since the beginning of the world, all living beings have been living by thew of the jungle. And since we live by thew of the jungle, isn¡¯t it only natural that someone like you, who is far less than us, bow down to us?¡±

    Minhyuk justughed in response to Rokan¡¯s gratingughter. ¡°Is that so? So, you¡¯re saying the weak should give in to the strong and remain obedient, right?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the logic that the living goes by, no?¡±

    A terrifying killing intent surged out of Rokan¡¯s body. Like a signal, killing intent began to rise. The overwhelming pressure almost left Minhyuk out of breath. Even if these candidates failed to be true Pirs, they still possessed tremendous power beyond anyone¡¯s imagination.

    At this moment, Minhyuk judged Rokan to at least beparable to him in power. Of course, Minhyuk did not back down.

    ¡°Ah. So, that¡¯s why you became the dogs of the King of All Creators?¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    The anger rose to Rokan¡¯s head. His killing intent grew fiercer. It spread until it covered every inch of the banquet hall and made the air vibrate.

    ¡°The King of All Creators has arrived!¡±

    Just then, a loud cry echoed in the hall, and the notifications began to ring.

    <em>[The King of All Creators, one of the leading figures of the Land of the Leaders, has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[The King of All Creators is the only being who has brought peace upon the Land of the Leaders.]</em>

    <em>[Unlike the other candidates, the King of All Creators was once a true Pir.]</em>

    When the notifications ended, the faction members under the King of All Creatorsy prostrate on the ground. As for the members of the factions of the King of Good and the King of Destruction, they only showed courtesy by bowing their upper bodies lightly. As for Minhyuk? He remained standing firm.

    Seeing him, Rokan growled. ¡°You f*cking bastard. The true <em>absolute </em>of the Land of the Leaders will punish you! You will feel what thew of the jungle is truly like!¡±

    Rokan cackled. Even if he did note forward, he was confident that the man in front of him would realize how weak he was in front of him, the true absolute.

    <em>[The One who was Once a Pir.]</em>

    <em>[Pir Candidates will not be able to use any of their powers for one minute.]</em>

    As expected of an absolute being, they truly wielded a tremendous force. His appearance alone was enough to neutralize and suppress all the candidates present. Of course, the same was true for Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk listened to the notifications that constantly rang in his ears upon the appearance of the King of All Creators.

    <em>[You cannot use any attacks for one minute.]</em>

    <em>[All of your skills will be restricted for one minute.]</em>

    <em>[...for one minute.]</em>

    <em>[...for one minute.]</em>

    <em>[The power of the One who was Once a Pir overwhelms you.]</em>

    <em>[You have an invincible body that can ignore and resist all kinds of abnormal states.]</em>

    <em>[You have resisted an abnormal state.]</em>

    The overwhelming power of the being who was once a member of the Eight Pirs left everyone in cold sweat as they listened to the notifications.

    At that moment, the great and noble King of All Creators ran and jumped into the banquet hall barefoot.

    ¡°Where is he?!¡±

    All of the candidates were left shocked. Why did the King of All Creators appear here barefoot?

    Not long after, he found who he was looking for. With a bright smile, he said, ¡°I wanted to see you again!¡±

    The eyes of the King of All Creators started to grow misty. He staggered toward the man until he copsed on his feet.

    <em>Thud¨C!</em>

    The King of All Creators, the only Pir and the only being who brought peace to the Land of the Leaders that was filled with chaos raised his trembling hands and carefully held the hands of the man in front of him.

    ¡°Thank you. I¡¯m grateful to you. Everything is thanks to you!¡±

    His teary voice echoed in the banquet hall.

    Meanwhile, Rokan, the other Monarchs of All Creations, and the other candidates who had just been mocking someone watched the scene in stunned silence. Their jaws almost fell to the ground when they saw the King of All Creators hold the man''s hands and express his gratitude.

    This was because the man was none other than Minhyuk.

    ***

    Minhyuk was no fool. He would not beat up Wels and mock the Monarchs of All Creations like that if he had no one or anything to rely on. Of course, that was also why he refused to bow to them.

    When Minhyuk arrived at this ce, he was met with a guide who talked nonstop about the greatness of the King of All Creators. Then, he discovered something strange.

    For some reason, the description of the King of All Creators sounded very simr to that of someone he knew well.

    ¨C<em>He was one of the Pirs of the world. And because his great hands can create anything and everything, he is hailed as the ¡°King of All Creators.¡± </em>

    <em>¨Cording to our information, he has lived for a very long time, unlike the other candidates.</em>

    <em>¨CUnlike the other Pirs, who did not want to stay in thisnd, he chose to live here with his wife.</em>

    When all of this information was put together, Minhyuk could only reach one conclusion.

    Minhyuk smiled gently as he held the teary man¡¯s trembling hands. He said, ¡°Long time no see, Jack-of-All-Trades Rocado.¡±

    Jack-of-All-Trades Rocado was Herakel¡¯s adoptive father and was one of the Eight Pirs. The cause of his death? Old age. However, there was one dream that he wanted to fulfill before his death. He wanted to meet with his departed wife just once.

    Minhyuk did more than reunite the two. He also personally visited and asked the God of Death to help them live together.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been very, <em>very </em>happy every single day. Not only did I meet Eirin again, but the God of Death also helped us to live here instead of Hell.¡±

    Perhaps God of Death Louis felt he was almost ovee with pressure after realizing that a big shot like Rocado would stay in Hell. So, he sent him here.

    ¡°Boy, you are my benefactor and my dear and beloved friend!¡± Rocado cried out and tried to bow to Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk hurriedly stopped him. ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡±

    ¡°Thanks to you, I¡¯m so happy I could die¡­ Wait, I¡¯m already dead, right? Anyway¡­¡± Rocado hugged Minhyuk tightly. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Minhyuk smiled. He was just d to see Rocado look so happy.

    Not long after, Rocado, practically the de facto leader of the Land of the Leaders, asked, ¡°Ah, that¡¯s right. Did you experience any inconveniences and troubles in the banquet hall?¡±

    <em>Flinch¨C!</em>

    <em>Flinch¨C!</em>

    <em>Flinch¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk saw the hundreds of candidates in front of him trembling simultaneously.

    All of them were in disbelief.

    <em>¡®Wh-what the hell¡­?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®They¡¯re close with each other?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®That¡¯s not such a simple friendly rtionship.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He said that he¡¯s his benefactor¡­!¡¯</em>

    At this moment, they all realized they had done something they should not have done. The shock did not end there.

    <em>[The King of Good, one of the leading figures of the Land of the Leaders, has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[The King of Good is the one who possessed the greatest wisdom in the Land of the Leaders.]</em>

    <em>[Although he did not be a Pir, he has been acknowledged and praised as someone on the same level as one of the Pirs.]</em>

    Another person appeared in the banquet hall. This time, the faction members serving the King of Good quickly showed courtesy and bowed low.

    <em>¡®Why do I feel a sense of deja vu?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®What?¡¯</em>

    The scene unfolding in front of them was quite simr to the scene they had just witnessed a few moments prior. Although he was not running barefoot, the King of Good was actually running as quickly as the King of All Creators.

    Then, he approached Minhyuk.

    ¡°Master.¡±

    ¡°Oh, Minhyuk.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°..

    The members of the faction of the King of Good fell into deep silence. Minhyuk had just called out, ¡°Master.¡± The King of Good was none other than The Teacher Beradon.

    Axeman Wels, who also saw this scene, felt a huge sense of shame wash over him. He immediately pretended to faint.

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard all about it. It seems like you have sessfully killed Helenia.¡±<em></em>

    <em>Flinch¨C!</em>

    Wels flinched greatly when he heard those words. Of course, the same was true for the others. Wels had boasted earlier that he couldnd exactly one attack on Helenia.

    ¡°Is Obren doing well?¡±

    ¡°Ah~ Evil God Obren~?¡± Minhyuk stretched his words as if he wanted everyone to listen to their conversation.

    ¡°What Evil God? Didn¡¯t he be the Guardian God to protect you? That brat must have sacrificed his own life to save you, no?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    The silence that enveloped the hall grew even deeper at Beradon¡¯s words.

    The man in front of them was the one who killed Helenia with the help and protection of Evil God Obren.

    And just like Rocado, Beradon also asked, ¡°Do you experience any inconveniences or troubles in the banquet hall? I told them they did not need to serve or follow me, and they just didn¡¯t listen. Even King of All Creators Rocado feels the same.¡±

    ¡°Yes, speaking of that. We explicitly told them that we didn¡¯t want any factions to form, but they kept on doing it amongst themselves. More importantly, why do you guys look soaked in cold sweat?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re right. You¡¯re all breaking into a cold sweat. There¡¯s so much sweat that it feels like you¡¯ll create a flood?¡±

    A faint smile appeared on Minhyuk¡¯s face when he heard those words. Then, he said, ¡°Actually, I experienced a bit of trouble when I came here.¡±

    ¡°Trouble?! Who dares to trouble my dear benefactor!¡± Rocado shouted. He immediately went wild when he heard that Minhyuk had experienced some troubles.

    Then, Beradon said, ¡°Hoho. I told you not to back those whoe here into a corner, no?¡±

    Minhyuk slowly walked toward Rokan, whose entire body was covered with cold sweat. Then, he said, ¡°Since you¡¯re all fond of that saying, I¡¯ll also make sure to remember this dearly beloved saying.¡±

    Minhyuk leaned down and whispered in Rokan¡¯s ears. ¡°Thew of the jungle. The weak will be prey and be eaten by the strong.¡±

 Chapter 1116

    <strong>Chapter 1116</strong>

    Minhyuk met and reunited with Rocado and Beradon for the first time in a very long time. As the three talked amicably, Minhyuk learned some things from them.

    In the first ce, Rocado and Beradon did not intend to form any factions. They did not even wish to be kings. It was just that the two of them possessed too much power that the other candidates, who wanted to follow them, appeared and gathered under their names.

    Those candidates scrambled to kneel in front of Rocado and Beradon.

    ¡°I told you not to do something like that!¡±

    ¡°Hoho. You all kept calling me the King of Good, but didn¡¯t I tell you? I do not have any intention of taking that title. Yet you continue to do so and even used my name to act as you pleased.¡±

    Simply put, they were using their names and enjoying the power and influence that came with it.

    After scolding them, Beradon and Rocado approached Minhyuk.¡°The truth is, we don¡¯t have the power to punish them. Well, we can do that. But if we decide to do that, then¡­¡±

    Although they did not finish their words, the implications were obvious. When they punished these people, they acknowledged and epted that they would wield their power to rule thisnd.

    ¡°That¡¯s why¡­ we¡¯ll leave it to you.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re not bad(?) kids.¡±

    After hearing the two old men''s words, Minhyuk pondered how he should roll these guys around. At that moment, he thought of something. He turned to Beradon and said, ¡°Rocado, Master Beradon, do you acknowledge me?¡±

    ¡°Ah. Of course, I do.¡±

    ¡°Of course. Why do you have to ask something like this? Hoho.¡±

    At the same time, a series of notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The King of All Creators has acknowledged you.]</em>

    <em>[The King of Good has acknowledged you.]</em>

    <em>[The Ingredient Brimming with Potential has grown significantly with the acknowledgment of the King of All Creators and the King of Good.]</em>

    Minhyuk had received the acknowledgment of a former Pir and Pir Candidate. Upon receiving others¡¯ acknowledgment, Minhyuk would receive a reward¡ªthe growth of the Ingredient Brimming with Potential.

    When Minhyuk knocked down Wels, he had already received more than thirty notifications about being acknowledged by the candidates. When Rocado and Beradon appeared, almost all of the candidates present had given him their acknowledgment.

    Not long after, Minhyuk received another notification.

    <em>[The Ingredient Brimming with Potential has grown into a Delicious Ingredient that Suits Your Taste.]</em>

    The ingredient has achieved its first growth. Minhyuk checked the description of the Delicious Ingredient that Suits Your Taste.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>???</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Ingredient Grade</em></strong><em>: Delicious Ingredient that Suits Your Taste</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?Uponpleting the quest, the ingredient will take the form of any ingredient you want.</em>

    <em>?Generally, it possesses special abilitiesparable to any legendary-grade ingredient. The effects can only be checked uponpletion.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: Whenever youplete Pir Candidate Quests triggered in the banquet hall, the Ingredient Brimming with Potential will grow further.</em>

    At this moment, Minhyuk realized how great the Ingredient Brimming with Potential was.

    <em>¡®Every time Iplete a quest, the ingredient will grow?¡¯</em>

    The ingredient had grown to a levelparable to a legendary-grade ingredient. If Minhyuk continued toplete quests in this ce, then the Ingredient Brimming with Potential could continue to grow.

    <em>¡®Maybe it can grow at the level of a Pir-grade ingredient? Or maybe¡­ it can also grow to an ingredient with a level that far surpasses that!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s heart thumped wildly with excitement. An ingredient that surpassed the Pir Ingredients! Of course, there was a high chance that it was impossible to achieve that level. But imagining it alone was enough to leave him with overwhelming excitement.

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Linked Quest</em></strong><em>: Get to Know the Candidates of the Past.]</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: SSS</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: The one invited to the Candidates¡¯ Banquet.</em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: The Ingredient Brimming with Potential will grow based on the candidates¡¯ favorability toward you.</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Failure</em></strong><em>: You will be kicked out of the banquet.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: You have now received acknowledgment and recognition of past candidates. But! Is your rtionship with them alright?</em>

    Minhyuk shook his head unknowingly in response to the description he had just read. His rtionship with the candidates of the past could only be described as poor.

    <em>¡®I thought I could learn something and grow further if I learn and observe from the candidates of the past.¡¯</em>

    If they hadn¡¯t treated him like that initially, Minhyuk would have treated them nicely and even fed them delicious meals. He wanted to get close to them and learn something from them.

    After all, even though they had failed to be Pirs, they were still candidates who stood at the peak and became distinguished existences in their fields. They would have been a great help to Minhyuk. But their courses of action and behavior had immediately reversed the direction of the path that he wanted to take when meeting them. If that was the case, then?

    <em>¡®All I can do is mend it and set things right.¡¯</em>

    But before everything else, Minhyuk cooked a delicious meal for Beradon and Rocado to snack on. He made <em>kimchi jjigae,</em> a perfect snack to eat when drinking.

    Minhyuk wanted to serve <em>Beradon kimchi jjigae</em> when he went to meet him. But when he arrived in the mountains, he discovered that Helenia had already killed the old man. Fortunately, he could serve him a delicious bowl of <em>kimchi jjigae</em> in this ce.

    Beradon and Rocado settled on one side of the banquet hall and began to eat their <em>kimchi jjigae.</em> As for Minhyuk? He approached the members of the faction of the King of All Creators and King of Good, who were all prostrate on the ground.

    ¡°You heard everything earlier, right?¡±

    All of them flinched at the same time.

    ***

    The members of the faction of the King of All Creators and the King of Good all had the same thought running through their heads.

    <em>¡®We¡¯re f*cked.¡¯</em>

    They have proven something after hearing Beradon and Rocado¡¯s words earlier. Evil God Obren had be this man¡¯s knight(?) and had even risked his own life to save him. They also realized that Helenia, the being who threatened the safety of the entire universe, died at his hands.

    The man before them had made a very shocking and enormous achievement. But that was not all. He also had the full and unending support of the King of All Creators and the King of Good.

    Simply put, the man in front of them was the apex predator, standing at the top of the food chain.

    ¡°You heard everything earlier, right?¡±

    Just a few moments earlier, the King of All Creators and the King of Good told the man to do what he wanted with them. So, hearing these words sounded like a death sentence in their ears. It was like how they tried to suppress him with a method beyondmon sense.

    <em>¡®Even if he punishes us with something beyondmon sense, we still have nothing to say.¡¯</em>

    The man was not the King of All Creators nor the King of Good. But he was someone that they cherished and treated preciously. And them? They were nothing but the self-proimed followers of the two kings. Not only that, this man had Obren as his knight and had also killed Helenia with his own hands.

    ¡°We did not know that you are the King of All Creators¡¯ benefactor and the disciple of the King of Good.¡± Rokan struck while the iron was hot. ¡°We deserve to die!¡±

    Rokan thought that they should be flexible and bend as much as possible.

    ¡°Is that so? Shall we make it quick, then?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°It seems like it would be better to cut off your heads right off the bat, right?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°P-please spare us.¡±

    Their faces and tone immediately changed. It was like flipping a coin!

    ¡°Just because I was a candidate from the current era and someone who wanted to be the Pir of the Gourmands, you ignored my existence and even ganged up to persecute me. Tell me, will you have anyints if I decide to take your heads right now?¡±

    To be honest, they would not be able to refute andin.

    <em>¡®What we did is like ridiculing and mocking a friend of the king of our very own nation.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Yes, he¡¯s right. Even if he takes our heads, we won¡¯t be able to say anything.¡¯</em>

    All of them shook and trembled from fear.

    Of course, they could stand up and go against the man before them. There were a lot of candidates here who were better than the man named Minhyuk. In a kingdom, was someone not stronger than their king? Even though many people were stronger than their king, they still chose to live and die for their monarch because of their sense of loyalty and their love for their kingdom.

    Right now, everyone present was in a situation where they could not afford to rebuke orin against Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk watched them shake and tremble before saying, ¡°But I¡­ will choose to forgive everyone.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Many candidates raised their heads and looked around, trying to determine whether they had heard this unexpected remark.

    ¡°I have rebuked you because you acted wantonly and used the influence and power of the King of All Creators and the King of Good. I cannot do something that I detest doing.¡±

    Everyone felt even more ashamed of themselves. He said that he would not resort to acting like them, would not even try to ignore them, and would not crush them with the power of others as they did.

    ¡°If you can¡¯t acknowledge me just because I am the Pir of the Gourmands, then I will just have to make you see that I¡¯m worthy of acknowledgment.

    ¡°If I look infinitely weak, then I¡¯ll just have to prove that I¡¯m worthy of acknowledgment.¡±

    Minhyuk had already received their acknowledgment. But when he said that he would have them recognize his worth by his power and not by the power and influence of the King of All Creators and the King of Good, everyone present felt deeply moved.

    <em>[Rokan¡¯s favor has increased.]</em>

    <em>[Wel¡¯s favor has increased.]</em>

    <em>[Amard¡¯s favor has increased.]</em>

    <em>[Beghanel¡¯s favor has increased.]</em>

    The notifications rang non-stop in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    Minhyuk had turned the situation around in an instant. With these simple words, he hadpletely resolved the almost crumbling rtionship between him and the other candidates.

    ¡°I¡¯m stillcking.¡±

    Minhyuk asked himself if he could beat Pir of Death Boleyn and Master of Nature Verodun when they had to decide who would be a Pir. The answer to that was a resounding <em>no</em>. It was impossible. The results of the Advanced Polls came to be because Minhyuk had created a spectacr show that dragged in the votes to his side.

    Knowing that, Minhyuk wanted to make full use of this opportunity and get everything he wanted and needed in this banquet hall, a ce that he firmly believed to be and filled with opportunities.

    ¡°So, please help me.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Everyone was shocked. The one who killed Helenia and had Obren as his vassal was asking them for help.

    <em>¡®Unlike us, who disregarded and mocked him, he acknowledged us and even respected our power and strength.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Even though he has Obren wrapped around his finger(?), he¡¯s still being polite with us?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He¡¯s a true gentleman.¡¯</em>

    Once again, the people''s favor of Minhyuk increased.

    <em>[The Delicious Ingredient that Suits Your Taste is getting closer to bing a Fantastic Ingredient.]</em>

    Rokan raised his head slightly and asked, ¡°How can we help you?¡±

    Minhyuk smiled. ¡°You have failed to be a member of the Eight Pirs.¡±

    ¡°Why are you suddenly hitting us where it hurts¡­?¡±

    Every single one of them felt like they had been hit where it hurt the most.

    ¡°I am also severelycking and am still short of bing a Pir.¡± Minhyuk put the icing on the cake. ¡°Of course, I won¡¯t just ask you for your help.¡±

    Minhyuk had already noticed that there would be obvious limitations and restrictions to what he could get from this banquet hall if it were just based on mere words alone.

    ¡°I will prove my qualifications to you by doing what you need, what you want, what you want to aplish, or giving you what youck. In exchange, I want you to lend me some of your powers.¡±

    At the same time, Minhyuk activated the Growth Cultivator. Not long after, the notifications rang.

    <em>[The Pir of Gourmands wants to prove his qualifications by helping you solve what has been troubling you, giving you a headache, or doing something you have suggested or offered.]</em>

    <em>[If he fails to prove his qualifications, he will be met with penalties and will be kicked out of the Candidates¡¯ Banquet.]</em>

    <em>[If he can prove his qualification by fulfilling three of your requests, he can choose one of your powers and acquire it as his own.]</em>

    <em>[One person will be automatically selected to represent everyone and their opinions.]</em>

    <em>[The chosen representative is King of Destruction Rundalk.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s head snapped toward the unexpected variable that made its presence known.

    King of Destruction Rundalk differed from the King of All Creators and the King of Good. He was actually someone Minhyuk did not know.

    <em>[King of Destruction Rundalk. Level 1,131.]</em>

    It was on an outrageous level.

    The man, who had a slender physique simr to Minhyuk¡¯s, crossed his arms and looked at Minhyuk in interest. The members of the faction that followed him were also staring at Minhyuk.

    The members of the factions of the King of All Creators and the King of Good also noticed that the situation was bing somewhat unusual.

    Unlike Beradon and Rocado, King of Destruction Rundalk had been in the banquet hall since the beginning. He had been standing among the candidates who mocked and criticized Minhyuk. He watched the situation from the sidelines and did not criticize or defend Minhyuk. He just did nothing. So, to put it simply, he had nothing to do with all of this at all.

    In the Land of the Leaders, Rundalk chose to live differently from Rocado and Beradon. Unlike the two, who did not want any factions to form, he continued to maintain his own faction.

    King of Destruction Rundalk knew that if he epted this proposal, Minhyuk might be able to obtain his abilities or the abilities of the members of his faction.

    ¡°Interesting. But I don¡¯t believe any of it.¡±

    King of Destruction Rundalk could not confirm what had happened on Earth. Of course, the other candidates were also the same.

    Only Rocado and Beradon recently came here. Since they had always favored Minhyuk, Rundalk could not take their word for it.

    Rundalk jutted his chin out and pointed to a man. ¡°He¡¯s the Master of the Knights Wagner. He possesses a special power. He has the power to observe and see through his opponents.¡±

    King of Destruction Rundalk chuckled. ¡°He¡¯s not one of the Pirs but he was able to cut down Helenia? Not only that, but you¡¯re also saying that he has Obren under hismand. Do you think that¡¯s believable? King of Good, King of All Creators, are you two conspiring to help build this young man¡¯s power and turn him into one of the Pirs?¡±

    His words were fair. Even so, Beradon and Rocado did not say much to refute his questioning words. Because of that, the people listening to them earlier fell into confusion. If they were to be honest, they truly thought that it was not realistic. He was only a Pir Candidate, yet he could kill one of the Pirs and even have one under hismand?

    ¡°Let me check.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded lightly. ¡°If you prove everything said about me is true after checking me, will you ept?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± King of Destruction Rundalk grinned.

    Perhaps he thought this would prove that the King of Good and the King of All Creators were not as clean and upright as everyone believed them to be.

    Master of Knights Wagner stepped forward. ¡°Please do not resist and just ept it. I will now observe you with my power.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded and readily epted his request.

    <em>[The Power of Observation has started.]</em>

    Wagner closed his eyes upon starting to use his Power of Observation. The Power of Observation would create an illusion of all the people around the person he was observing and show it to him.

    ¡°...!¡±

    When he checked Minhyuk with the Power of Observation, goosebumps rose all over Wagner¡¯s body. This was because standing right next to Minhyuk was none other than Evil God Obren, a being that he had only heard from the myths.

    And Obren was ring at him.

    ¡°A-aaaaaaaack! O-Obren! It¡¯s Obren! It¡¯s Evil God Obren!¡± Wagner screamed, his hips colliding with the ground as his legs fell out on him.

    <em>[One of the Absolute Gods, the God that Lives for Someone, Leads Someone on the Right Path, and Protects Someone, is looking at you with a cold and sharp re.]</em>

    Obren was different from the other Absolute Gods. Unlike them, he had the power to watch the Beyond the Heavens Empire or any ce where Minhyuk, the emperor of the empire that he was protecting, was. And sometimes, he could also reveal his figure to them.

    A bright and blinding light shed. When that light disappeared, the ¡°real¡± Obren appeared with a re as he looked at the King of Destruction Rundalk.

    <em>[Who is it?]</em>

    <em>[Who dares to hurt my friend?]</em>

    At that moment, Minhyuk thought, <em>¡®My friend is really freaking cool!¡¯</em>

 Chapter 1117

    Evil God Obren had confronted Athenae, the Absolute Gods, and the entire Land of the Gods to protect his friend, Kronad. He was also someone who single-handedly ughtered tens of millions of humans.

    <em>¡®If you cry at night, Obren wille and take your heart.¡¯</em>

    Just like one South Korean folktale that spoke about how a tiger woulde and eat the children if they kept on crying at night[1], Obren¡¯s story has been handed down from generation to generation.

    It was rare for a story about a man to be passed on and still be alive even after thousands of years. Of course, these stories slowly disappeared because Obren had be the Guardian God of the current era.

    For the people present here, it was different. Most of them had grown up listening to superstitious words of their elderly about their hearts being taken away by Obren if they cried at night.

    So, when Minhyuk heard King of Destruction Rundalk¡¯s words, he immediately called out to Obren, <em>¡®Hey! Hey, Obren.¡¯</em>

    <em>[Why are you calling again?]</em>

    Unlike the other Absolute Gods, Obren was connected to Minhyuk. He could watch and monitor everything that was happening to Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®When that guy checks meter, can you make a surprise appearance?¡¯</em><em>[Please, I¡¯m begging you. Don¡¯t make me do something weird. I¡¯m telling you, I will never do it.]</em>

    <em>¡®Aaaaaah! Just once. Pleaseeeeee. Just this once~¡¯</em>

    Obren talked big.

    <em>[Even if you bring in Aruvel¡¯s new work in front of me, I will never do it!]</em>

    Nheless, when a foreign power tried to feel out Minhyuk and observe him, Tsun-bren descended immediately and asked who dared hurt his friend.

    Wagner, who fell on his back after being questioned by Obren, immediately turned to look at King of Destruction Rundalk. All the members of the faction of King of Destruction Rundalk also turned to look at him.

    At that moment, Rundalk thought, <em>¡®These filthy bastards. You allck a sense of loyalty!¡¯</em>

    Of course, it was only done on his orders. But faced with Obren, the King of Destruction Rundalk became very flexible. The most important thing to him was to determine the authenticity of the matter.

    <em>[Guardian God Obren cannot stay in the Land of the Leaders long.]</em>

    <em>[A forced reverse summon will be done soon.]</em>

    Minhyuk hurriedly made use of the opportunity presented to him. With the dignified and majestic voice of the emperor, he said, ¡°Obren, didn¡¯t this emperor tell you? I already know and understand your love and care. I know you want to protect this emperor, but appearing recklessly in thisnd will endanger you.¡±

    Minhyuk sighed and shook his head.

    ¡°This emperor is fine. So, don¡¯t worry. I understand your desire to protect me, even at the risk of your own life. This time, you¡¯ve gone a bit overboard.¡±

    <em>¡®This rascal¡­?¡¯</em> Obren thought, his gaze filled with disgust as he looked at Minhyuk.

    Then, he promptly disappeared after a forced reverse summon. He felt like he had heard the faint sound of <em>¡®Woaaaaaah!¡¯</em> before hepletely disappeared from the scene.

    Minhyuk, who was still in high spirits, looked at Rundalk and Wagner, who were gasping. Then he said, ¡°If you ept my offer, then today¡­¡±

    Minhyuk made eye contact with Rundalk.

    ¡°...you will be known as the people who helped create a Pir.¡±

    In response to Minhyuk¡¯s strong momentum, Rundalk pondered for a moment. Then, he said, ¡°I ept.¡±

    ***

    Rundalk blinked. He just could not understand the man in front of him. He was sure that the man had summoned Obren here to prove the authenticity of the matter. However, Rundalk still could not understand quite a few things.

    Even though Rundalk had seen it with his own eyes, he still could not bring himself to believe that the man in front of him had made Obren his subordinate at a time when he was not yet a candidate.

    s, Rundalk could only ept his offer since a promise was a promise. Now, if the man could achieve three of the things they wanted, they would give him one of the abilities of his choice.

    Of course, the first thing that the entire banquet hall had agreed upon was none other than a meal. Whether it was unfortunate or not, there were no chefs in this ce. Because of that, many people held high expectations for the Pir of the Gourmands. There was also the incident earlier. When the candidatesy prostrate on the ground, they smelled the fascinating and mouth-watering smell of the <em>kimchi jjigae</em> that Beradon and Rocado were eating by the sides.

    Minhyuk made a massive pot of <em>kimchi jjigae</em> and began handing out a serving to the people present in the banquet hall. Once they tasted the dish, they could not help but feel amazed.

    At that moment, Minhyuk brought out some alcohol and a pack filled with something unknown.

    ¡°Keuhaaa! Good alcohol! What¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°This is a popr drink on earth. It¡¯s called Sea Honey Cmansi.¡±

    ¡°Sea Honey Cmansi?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s Sea Honey?¡±

    He served alcohol mixed with the sweet and sour Sea Honey cmansi and the <em>kimchi jjigae.</em> After serving everyone a portion, the man chuckled and began eating alone.

    This was why Rundalk could not help but blink at the man in confusion.

    <em>¡®First, he went against everyone.</em>

    <em>¡®Second, he made everyone reflect on themselves.</em>

    <em>¡®Third, he embraced them all.</em>

    <em>¡®And now¡­¡¯</em>

    The young man was mingling and hanging out with them.

    ¡°Kghhk! As expected, spicy <em>jjigae</em> tastes best when eaten outside!¡±

    Anyone who saw Minhyuk would think that he was someone who was living here. This was because he perfectly blended in the surroundings as he sat before the boiling <em>kimchi jjigae</em> and the perfect egg roll.

    Minhyuk tasted the still-hot <em>kimchi jjigae.</em> The soup''s slightly spicy yet refreshing taste was truly a delight. Then, he scooped a huge mouthful of still-steaming white rice and put it in his mouth.

    <em>¡®Yes! The more you chew, the sweeter the vor will be.¡¯</em>

    Then, Minhyuk scooped some well-ripened <em>kimchi</em> and meat with the perfect ratio of half meat and half fat.

    <em>¡®The meat looks delicious.¡¯</em>

    The most delicious meat to add to traditional <em>kimchi jjigae</em> was the one with the perfect ratio of half meat and half fat.

    Minhyuk could not help but admire the fantasticbination of the vor of the meat and the <em>kimchi.</em> After eating the <em>kimchi jjigae </em>like that, he turned his attention to the egg roll and put one in his mouth. The egg roll vor immediately spread in his mouth the moment he took a huge bite.

    He took a bite of rice before grabbing another piece of egg roll. But this time, he dipped it in some catsup. The sweet and savory taste of the catsup and the rich vor of the egg brought a smile of delight to Minhyuk¡¯s face.

    <em>¡®What an unusual man,¡¯</em> King of Destruction Rundalk thought.

    At the same time, a notification rang in Rundalk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The one who made the offer haspleted the first task.]</em>

    Everyone was satisfied, even Rundalk enjoyed the <em>kimchi jjigae</em>. So, it was no exaggeration to say that Minhyuk did a great job in this task.

    While Rundalk looked at Minhyuk with a strange expression, Rocado and Beradon approached him with their flushed faces. The King of Destruction did not try to approach them or get close to the two old men. But it was different for them. The two sought to coexist peacefully with everyone, including Rundalk. Of course, that included Rundalk.

    ¡°You must be thinking that he¡¯s unusual,¡± Beradon said.

    Rocado, who also thought the same thing at first, said, ¡°Even though he looks like that, he¡¯s the <em>first </em>and only man who has won against me.¡±

    ¡°...!?¡± Rundalk jumped up from his seat when he heard Rocado¡¯s words.

    Of course, Minhyuk had only won once against Rocado after tens of thousands of challenges. But it was still a huge achievement.

    Just like that, Beradon and Rocado told Rundalk stories about Minhyuk. Left in awe, Rundalk said, ¡°You¡¯re saying that a mere ordinary human had done the same thing repeatedly for ten days?¡±

    But the following story shocked Rundalk even more. ording to the two old men, there were a lot of talents around the man. Then, there was also this one thing.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t the path that he had chosen too difficult?¡±

    Indeed. Minhyuk''s path was so difficult that no ordinary human could dare imagine taking it. That was why this <em>ordinary</em> man was quite unusual for choosing to take this path.

    King of Destruction Rundalk nced at Minhyuk, who was talking to the other candidates.

    ¡°Perhaps he can help you find what you want in <em>that ce</em>. I heard that you have tried countless times yet all of them have failed.¡±

    Rundalk looked at Minhyuk once again.

    Beradon said, ¡°I asked him once. <em>Isn¡¯t it difficult</em>?¡±

    Rundalk honestly believed that he would not be able to live the same life and make the same choices that the young man had made.

    ¡°I once told him¡­ <em>Shouldn¡¯t you take it easy now? It¡¯s too difficult that you want to die, so why not step back?</em>¡± Beradon smiled faintly as he recalled his conversation with Minhyuk back then. ¡°He said¡­¡±

    Rundalk focused on Beradon¡¯s words.

    ¡°<em>Indeed, the path that I have taken is difficult. But looking back, it¡¯s still more beautiful than any other road, no?</em>¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    His words sounded so cool and wonderful.

    <em>¡®Wasn¡¯t Obren the proof?¡¯</em>

    At this moment, Rundalk realized why someone like Obren willingly became Minhyuk''s subordinate, a mere candidate.

    ***

    <em>¡®Hehe, so easy.¡¯</em> and <em>¡®So lucky~¡¯</em> flowed from Minhyuk¡¯s mouth.

    The growth of the Ingredient Brimming with Potential was measured in proportion to the difficulty of the task provided to him. The fact that he needed to prove his qualifications and gain recognition three times with three different tasks was a testament to its difficulty. After all, the reward this time was him being allowed to choose one of their abilities.

    The first task to prove his qualifications was achieved so easily with his cooking. It has to be known that the Pir Candidates were quite picky eaters. He could only efficientlyplete this task because he was none other than Minhyuk.

    Then, the second task was issued. Minhyuk had to relieve them of their boredom. He also solved it by simply distributing Aruvel¡¯s ¡°Collection of Masterpieces,¡± which was stored in his inventory. As mentioned before, the Pir Candidates were very hard to please. Aruvel¡¯s masterpieces were so spectacr that he could easily entertain them all.

    With two taskspleted so quickly, it was only natural for Minhyuk to keep saying that it was easy and that he was so lucky.

    And finally, it was time for thest task. The approaching King of Destruction Rundalk personally issued thest task.

    ***

    Unfortunately, Minhyuk did not know much about the King of Destruction Rundalk. It was only natural.

    Although Rundalk was hailed as the King of Destruction in thisnd, he was called by a different name on Earth. <em>¡®The Supreme.¡¯</em> This was the name that Rundalk was given in the past. The Supreme was a name that did notg behind Evil God Obren. To be exact, it was said that the Supreme could have been on par with Evil God Obren if he had be a Pir.

    There were two reasons why the Supreme did not be a Pir.

    The first reason was because the seats of the Eight Pirs were filled. However, Chaos had once tried to add another seat to amodate Rundalk. As for the second reason, Rundalk, who got closer and closer to the Supreme, got drunk on his power and eventually touched something he should not touch. And because of that, he had lost the most precious thing to him in <em>that ce.</em>

    Rundalk had gone to that ce to find the most precious thing to him, but he ended up dying. By a stroke of coincidence, he realized that the Land of Leaders was extremely close to <em>that ce.</em>

    Monsters and dungeons still existed in the Land of Leaders. Every single one of them was said to possess a level that went beyond imagination. And among them, <em>that ce</em> was said to have the highest level. And what Rundalk wanted was to go to <em>that ce</em> with Minhyuk. To enter that ce, one has to achieve the Supreme first.

    ¡°Your final task is the <em>¡®Supreme.¡¯</em>¡±

    Rundalk was hailed as the Supreme because he had outstanding power and authority that allowed him to have 100% more power upon achieving the Supreme. He also possessed a shocking power that allowed him to ignore the Supreme upon achieving the Supreme twice with little time difference.

    As mentioned before, one has to achieve the Supreme to enter <em>that ce.</em> To be exact, achieving the Supreme would allow one to open the door to that <em>ce</em> once.

    ¡°If you achieve the Supreme and return to this ce, the task will be considered done. In addition¡­¡± Rundalk said, emphasizing the most crucial point. ¡°The ingredient in your hand will reach its full growth.¡±

    That was not the end.

    ¡°If you achieve the Supreme ande back here, there¡¯s something that I wish you to do with me.¡±

    ¡°What kind of thing do you want to do with me, and what reward will I get for that?¡±

    ¡°On top of the set reward where you can obtain one of my abilities, I will give you another ability.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes grew wide. Obtaining a single one of the King of Destruction¡¯s abilities could already be considered to be an astronomical reward.

    ¡°Also, the ingredient in your hand will reach the Fantastic grade once you achieve a Supreme.¡±

    Minhyuk had already predicted something like this. But then, Rundalk said, ¡°The king who has stayed in the Land of the Leaders for the longest time possesses one authority.¡±

    Rundalk chuckled, piquing Minhyuk¡¯s interest.

    ¡°It¡¯s an authority that allows me to raise the level of something <em>brimming with potential</em>, just like the one in your hand, to the next level.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    This meant that the grade of the ingredient in Minhyuk¡¯s hand would be higher than the Fantastic grade.

    Meanwhile, amotion broke out among the hundreds of candidates who heard Rundalk¡¯s proposal.

    ¡°The task is a bit too ridiculous and impossible to achieve, right¡­?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s rare even for us, candidates, to achieve the Supreme, right?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s rare to achieve the Supreme, even among the Absolute Gods. Of course, one or two Pirs achieved the Supreme.¡±

    Rundalk shrugged.

    <em>¡®I have judged that he can help me in that ce. However, only those who have achieved the Supreme can open the door to that ce.¡¯</em>

    That was why Minhyuk needed to achieve the Supreme. It did not matter what kind of Supreme it was as long as he achieved one. That was what was required.

    At that moment, Minhyuk said, ¡°Achieving the Supreme is no difficult task, no? I think the reward is a bit too low for the difficulty of this task.¡±

    It certainly looked like that. Rundalk bowed and pondered for a moment. Then, he said, ¡°I¡¯ll give you ten million tinum too.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°Is that satisfactory?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    King of Destruction Rundalk immediately sent the offer to Minhyuk.

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[When the opponent achieves a Supreme¡­]</em>

    ¡°Ta-dah!¡±

    <em>[The opponent has already achieved a Supreme.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡± Rundalk¡¯s eyes grew wide from surprise and confusion when he heard the notification that rang along with Minhyuk¡¯s <em>¡®Ta-dah!¡¯</em>

    Something even more shocking happened.

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[The opponent has already achieved a Supreme for a second time.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk and Rundalk¡¯s gazes met.

    At this moment, Rundalk realized that Minhyuk tricked him. He thought the man wasining about how he was supposed to achieve something Supreme and ended up giving up ten million tinum without hesitation.

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it time for you to give me my rewards?¡±

    This was some kind of daylight robbery.

    Rundalk, the man hailed as the Supreme, unknowingly mumbled, ¡°Oh my god¡­¡±

    1. An excerpt from ??? ??? (The Persimmon and the Tiger) ?

 Chapter 1118

    <strong>Chapter 1118</strong>

    Special yers Management Team.

    Team Leader Park Minggyu groaned. ¡°yer Minhyuk has received the quest to enter the ¡®Supreme¡¯...?¡±

    Even Lee Minhwa, sitting next to him, was sporting a severe expression on her face.

    ¡°Originally, quests that enter the ¡®Supreme¡¯ will only be triggered once yers reach Level 1,000, but¡­¡±

    From the beginning, Joy Co. Ltd. had set it so that some yers would only be able to achieve the Supreme once they reached Level 1,000. Based on the yers¡¯ current speed of growth, Level 1,000 would not appear until at least three yearster.

    Yet Minhyuk achieved that Supreme exactly twice in a row before he even reached Level 700. The first was achieved by making the Supreme Dish, while the second was achieved by killing the Supreme Monarch.

    Nheless, there was something strange.¡°In the first ce, Rundalk should not have offered such a quest to someone below Level 1,000.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s probably because of variables. And there should be a lot involved in this.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    If it was someone else present at the banquet, Rundalk might have easily judged them tock qualifications. Minhyuk was different. He had built a high favorability with both Beradon and Rocado. Because of that, both men willingly exined to Rundalk what kind of person he was. This resulted in Rundalk offering the Supreme-rted quest even though it was just like a shot to the moon.

    ¡°The ingredient is already at the Fantastic grade.¡±

    The Ingredient Brimming with Potential had just grown into a Fantastic-grade ingredient. Also, once King of Destruction Rundalk¡¯s power had been applied to it, the Fantastic-grade ingredient would be unconditionally upgraded to the next grade.

    ¡°If yer Minhyuk epts and goes with Rundalk, he will most likely obtain a Phenomenal-grade ingredient.¡±

    If the Fantastic-grade ingredient was equivalent to a God-grade ingredient, then the Phenomenal-grade ingredient would beparable to an Absolute God-grade ingredient.

    ¡°But there¡¯s a bigger problem here, right?¡±

    ¡°Indeed. There are a lot of bizarre rewards inside the Supreme. Perhaps the ingredient in his hands will be upgraded another time there.¡±

    The situation was highly unpredictable, to the point that they could not imagine the results. All of this was based on the assumption that he couldplete the quest.

    ¡°I think it¡¯s going to be very difficult this time,¡± Lee Minhwa said.

    This was the same Lee Minhwa who used to raise objections whenever someone from Joy Co. Ltd. said it was impossible. Even she thought that Minhyuk couldn''tplete this quest.

    The real name of the Supreme was Pandemonium. The Land of Pandemonium. This was the perfect term to describe what that kind of ce was.

    <em>¡®The most difficult dimension to exist in the past, the present, and future.¡¯</em>

    ***

    <em>[You havepleted the </em><strong><em>Quest</em></strong><em>: Prove the Qualifications of the Pir of the Gourmands.]</em>

    <em>[You can choose among one of the residents of the Land of Leaders and acquire one of their abilities.]</em>

    <em>[You will receive the additional rewards offered by Rundalk.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 10 million tinum.]</em>

    <em>[The Delicious Ingredient that Suits Your Taste has grown one level higher from Fantastic-grade Ingredient.]</em>

    The condition for making the Ingredient Brimming with Potential grow was for Minhyuk toplete the quests given to him in the Land of Leaders. However, after using the Growth Cultivator, another condition was added. And that condition was thepletion of three tasks.

    After breezing through(?) the three tasks, Minhyuk heard what kind of person Rundalk was.

    <em>¡®The Supreme?¡¯</em>

    Rundalk was as old as Obren. However, unlike Obren, who had be famous, the world had forgotten him. Of course, Minhyuk had heard about Rundalk from Obren.

    He jokingly asked the Guardian God, <em>¡®Obren, how do youpare against the other members of the Eight Pirs in your prime?¡¯</em>

    <em>[Aside from Athenae, everyone was below me.]</em>

    Obren¡¯s words were filled with nothing but bravado. Regardless, there was one thing that Minhyuk could glean from his words.

    When he was trapped in the Puzzling Seasoning Jar, Obren was already severely weakened. After he became the Guardian God, he lost most of his power as the Evil God. Even so, Obren remained a powerhouse that neither Brod nor Ben could do anything about.

    With all those in mind, Minhyuk thought Obren¡¯s words were probably valid.

    <em>[But among those who failed to be Pirs, there are those we wonder about. We wonder what they would be like if they became a Pir.]</em>

    <em>[If that guy became a Pir, he probably would have been on par with me.]</em>

    <em>¡®Why didn¡¯t he be a Pir?¡¯</em>

    <em>[Well, I don¡¯t know about that. But he was called the Supreme.]</em>

    There was a fact that even Obren, who knew everything under the sky, did not know. And this fact flew out of Rundalk¡¯s mouth.

    ¡°It seems like you¡¯ve heard about it,¡± Rundalk said when he saw Minhyuk react to the word <em>Supreme.</em> ¡°Then, it will be easier to exin.¡±

    First, he exined the Supreme¡¯s extraordinary power. Rundalk said he would get stronger every time he achieved a Supreme. It was quite a surprising power.

    ¡°I was too arrogant. I touched something that I should not have.¡±

    ¡°Something you should not have touched?¡±

    ¡°You probably know Chaos, right?¡±

    Chaos hand-picked all of the Pir Candidates.

    ¡°I killed all of the evaluators. That feat allowed me to achieve my ninth ¡®Supreme.¡¯¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes grew wide. He had personally met the evaluators, who were all powerful individuals.

    Although Minhyuk did not want to kill them, he did try to break their arms. Anything more than that, he no longer dared to do. First of all, Minhyuk was not confident that he could kill them. And second, even if he had the power to do so, he did not know what would happen if he killed them.

    From what Rundalk had said, he achieved his ninth Supreme after killing them.

    ¡°I was thrilled. ording to the myths, the person who achieved ten Supremes would be the <em>true </em>Supreme.¡± A bitter expression shed on Rundalk¡¯s face. ¡°The Supreme that even the Eight Pirs cannot reach.¡±

    Filled with immense greed, Rundalk did something he should not have done.

    ¡°I challenged the tenth Supreme. I thought I could achieve the tenth and final Supreme by killing Chaos.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    The idea was so absurd that one would think, <em>¡®Are you crazy?!¡¯</em> when hearing about it. On the other hand, it showed how deep and unfathomable human greed was.

    ¡°The result was my crushing defeat. And I had to pay the price for killing the evaluators.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°The price I had to pay was having my daughter enter Pandemonium. Pandemonium also goes by the name <em>Supreme.</em>¡±

    ¡°...How many years have you been challenging Pandemonium?¡±

    ¡°I think it¡¯s been a few thousands of years? I don¡¯t remember how long.¡±

    ¡°Then¡­ If your daughter has been living there¡­¡±

    Rundalk shook his head. ¡°Time does not flow in Pandemonium. The only ce where time flows in there is the ¡®Pandemonium¡¯s ck Hole.¡¯ Chaos is clever, you know?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°He put my daughter to sleep in that ce. Then, he told me that once time has passed and I disappeared from the world, he will awaken her and release her to the world.¡±

    The daughter would not suffer, whereas Rundalk would suffer and eventually me himself for everything.

    ¡°He also told me, <em>¡®Wouldn¡¯t it be better for her to live in the world without a father like you?</em>¡± Rundalk grinned. ¡°That¡¯s certainly the truth. Chaos had shown me, the one who was obsessed with the Supreme and had left my child alone and unattended, how she had spent her time alone. She always came out and waited for me toe home. She would even burst into tears during meals and studies. Because she was alone.¡±

    Minhyuk recalled someone. He was none other than Ben. Ben had also lost his precious son because he was drunk from his power.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have much time left now.¡±

    Rundalk was different from the others. The others could stay here for as long as they wanted, but Rundalk could only stay here for 5,000 years before disappearing. It was Chaos¡¯ punishment.

    ¡°There is no way for me to achieve the Supreme anymore.¡±

    Because of that, he needed someone who could achieve the Supreme and open the door for him. That person was Minhyuk.

    s, there was something vital to consider.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it dangerous?¡±

    ¡°One pass is equivalent to one life. In other words, everyone who died in that ce will be able toe back to life back here. Of course, there¡¯s a limit to the number of people who can enter. But if you can summon someone from there, you can bypass the restriction on the number of people.¡±

    ¡°Then, that means that the pass will open the door. What will happen if you die once and choose to enter again and die again?¡±

    ¡°Complete extinction.¡±

    Simply put, Minhyuk would be forced to log out, and they would experience a total andplete extinction.

    <em>¡®I might suffer a heavy penalty from the forced log out.¡¯</em>

    Nevertheless, Minhyuk was quite curious about the Land of Pandemonium, which also carried the name of the Supreme.

    ¡°What are the levels of the beings living in that ce?¡±

    ¡°There are a lot of powerful beings there, beings that I have never seen before. The one who you should never confront is the Ruler of the Supreme.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s his level?¡±

    ¡°He can probably annihte everyone here.¡±

    It was enough to make someone lose their breath.

    ¡°We¡¯ll get my daughter and get out of there as quickly as possible,¡± Rundalk said, looking at Minhyuk as if asking him for an answer.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s a lot of things at stake.¡¯</em>

    For example, the Fantastic-grade ingredient being upgraded to the next level and obtaining one of Rundalk¡¯s powers.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s also the fact that I will enter Pandemonium, a ce no one has ever entered.¡¯</em>

    The beings living in Pandemonium were powerful.

    Even if the candidates here had lower levels, most were strong. Yet the members of the faction of the King of Destruction still could not do it. It was proof of how strong the beings were in that ce.

    <em>¡®High risk, high return.¡¯</em>

    The higher the risk, the greater the reward. ording to Rundalk¡¯s exnation, he would still revive and not suffer from any penalties if he died in that ce.

    <em>¡®In other words, it¡¯s like a bonusnd?¡¯</em>

    One would often enter bonusnds or events when ying a game<em>.</em> Entering ces like that would give one tremendous amount of gold and treasures for the cost of nothing!

    Although the difficulty was high, Minhyuk could still ept it because he would be able toe back to life upon his death. The fact that it was the ce with the most significant difficulty in all of Athenae meant that there was a high chance that there were high-grade ingredients there.

    ¡°I see. Alright.¡±

    Minhyuk dly agreed to his request.

    ***

    The group members that would go on the expedition to pick up Rundalk¡¯s daughter were all from the faction of the King of Destruction.

    ¡°Why are you participating in this expedition?¡±

    Their answer was simple.

    ¡°Because we¡¯re scared¡­?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Minhyuk immediately understood. They would live here for a very long time. If they did not follow the King of Destruction, then they would suffer and be bullied in this ce. So, they chose to follow him and help him.

    ¡°As time went on, it also became our goal.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what the King of Destruction was like in the past, but he¡¯s definitely a good man now.¡±

    Although they started out of fear, they were now moving solely to allow the King of Destruction Rundalk and his daughter to meet.

    <em>¡®Now that I look at them¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk realized that perhaps this was why the members of the King of Destruction¡¯s faction were mostly dominated bybat and offense-ss people.

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be nice to have someone who can give you buffs?¡±

    ¡°In the first ce, the members of the faction of the King of Good and King of All Creators have nothing to do with us. I don¡¯t have any intention of asking them to participate. And like I said, there¡¯s a limit to the number of people who can enter that ce.¡±

    When he looked at the people walking with him, their number corresponded perfectly to the number of people that could enter the passage.

    ¡°And it¡¯s better to have those who have worked with us for a very long time to go with us.¡±

    Not long after, Minhyuk arrived in front of Pandemonium. Looking at the entrance, Minhyuk thought the word ¡°pandemonium¡± was the perfect word to describe it. The entrance was like a vast ck hole that was sucking everything and anything in its path.

    ¡°Please cook for us the moment we enter.¡±

    They could not take any buffs in that ce because Pandemonium¡¯s difficulty was too high. They would often die shortly after entering the ce. There was also the fact that they could not receive buffs from the outside. They could only use buffs applied from inside the ce.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Rundalk and the forty members of the expedition immediately entered Pandemonium.

    ***

    The notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears the moment he entered.

    <em>[You have entered Pandemonium.]</em>

    <em>[Pandemonium has the highest level of difficulty in all of Athenae.]</em>

    <em>[The Pandemonium that you entered is the Sky Pandemonium.]</em>

    Pandemonium was said to be divided into two: the Sky Pandemonium and the Earth Pandemonium. Of the two, the Sky Pandemonium was considered a hunting ground.

    <em>[You are the first yer to enter this ce.]</em>

    <em>[Your EXP Acquisition Rate and Artifact Drop Rate will increase three times.]</em>

    Minhyuk looked around.

    <em>Universe.</em> That was the most straightforward term to describe the ce around him. It was a universe where oxygen and gravity existed.

    Minhyuk quickly cooked and fed the expedition''s members in this dark and universe-like Pandemonium. Everyone looked surprised as they ate the dish that Minhyuk prepared for them.

    ¡°This is crazy¡­¡±

    ¡°I also felt like I had to ignore him just because he¡¯s the Pir of the Gourmands, but¡­¡±

    ¡°We were too rash.¡±

    Amidst their shock, they realized that Rundalk¡¯s choice was not wrong. However, they wondered if they would be able to return sessfully this time.

    ¡°You¡¯re weak, so stay back.¡±

    They had heard stories about how Minhyuk had hunted Helenia. ording to that story, he was only able to do so because Obren sacrificed his life to help him. They judged that it was mostly thanks to Obren, who they believed was still incredibly strong.

    Axeman Wels might be strong, but he could not get near them. So, even if Minhyuk was good at cooking, they believed that the actual level of his power was only on par or perhaps even lower than theirs.

    <em>¡®Their average level is at Level 840.¡¯</em>

    Seeing forty people with that level was astounding.

    <em>¡®I think their level is higher than any other gods?¡¯</em>

    Of course, just like the yers, the gods were also growing. But the gods were still powerful, considering that a god''s average level was around Level 800.

    ¡°Stay back!¡±

    At that moment, the candidate standing right next to Minhyuk pushed him behind him. At the same time, Minhyuk saw a man wearing ck armor walking through the beautiful universe and approaching them.

    <em>[Supreme Monarch. Level ???. HP and MP: infinite]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk was very shocked to see a very familiar face.

    ¡°Why are youing out of there¡­?¡±

 Chapter 1119

    <strong>Chapter 1119</strong>

    Minhyuk had met the Supreme Monarch when he was cooking the Supreme Dish with the God of Cooking.

    Cooking the Supreme Dish was technically not difficultpared to other tricky ingredients. What made it even more difficult was the existence of the Supreme Monarch. He could cut down the Battle God and Minhyuk with one swing of his sword and had infinite HP and MP. He was powerful and would not die so easily. Minhyuk and the Battle God were killed nearly ten times under the Supreme Monarch¡¯s hands before they were able to find how to attack him and beat him.

    Most dungeons in Athenae would have the weakest monsters at the very beginning. This meant that the Supreme Monarch was the being with the lowest level in this ce. And from what Minhyuk could remember, the Supreme Monarch¡¯s level was around Level 940.

    ¡°Die!!!¡±

    Minhyuk looked a bit overwhelmed. This being was the one who killed him and the Battle God nine times in a row. Of course, Minhyuk was stronger than he was back then, but the Supreme Monarch¡¯s level was much higher than Minhyuk''s, and all of his HP and MP were infinite and remained the same.

    <em>[The Supreme nullifies ¡®all¡¯ Supreme for 30 seconds.]</em>

    The Supreme. It was a position everyone hoped and wanted to reach, a being more significant than everybody else, and a name that could overwhelm anyone who heard it.<em>Vwooooooong¨C</em>

    Regardless, this Supreme was left useless in front of Supreme Rundalk.

    <em>[Supreme Monarch. Level 943. HP: 4,100,000. MP: 4,000,000]</em>

    The guy¡¯s HP and MP were quickly revealed. This meant that the Supreme Monarch¡¯s infinity was easily terminated by ¡°The Supreme.¡± What was more surprising was the fact that the members of the expedition were able to overwhelm the Supreme Monarch, even though it was for a tiny bit.

    There was something that Minhyuk had overlooked. He failed to see something because of the greatness of the King of All Creators and the King of Good. These people were the strongmen of their era who almost became the Pirs leading the world. And they even ate Minhyuk¡¯s dishes.

    <em>¡®This is very exciting.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk released a trembling breath. Would he ever experience a situation like this again?

    These people could hunt the Supreme Monarch that even all of the Absolute Gods have and still feared.

    <em>¡®They¡¯re taking me on a ride! This is a bus!¡¯</em>

    <em>Blink¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes snapped open.

    It was not just a bus¡ªit was an express bus and KTXbined that was running at 500 kilometers per hour! Minhyuk hurriedly took out his bow. He did not want to miss the opportunity to get on the bus and deal with the extremely strong Supreme Monarch who once haunted him.

    The expedition''s members shaved off a huge chunk of the Supreme Monarch¡¯s four million HP. They could push the Supreme Monarch to the brink of death in ten out of the thirty seconds of nullification debuff. Rundalk made to slice off the Supreme Monarch¡¯s head.

    <em>Fwooosh¨C! Thud¨C!</em>

    An arrow shot out from somewhere and took care of the Supreme Monarch.

    ¡°You look like you¡¯re having a hard time. I thought I should help you, so I pulled out my bow and shot an arrow. Fortunately, it shot straight through his neck.¡±

    Rundalk¡¯s expression screamed: <em>¡®That was not the case though? I wasn¡¯t having a hard time?¡¯</em>

    At the same time, these notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You will receive rewards based on your contributions.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained 916 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 551, 305, 001 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained 12 Asteroid Fragments.]</em>

    The rewards were huge. And that was already when hended the final hit.

    As for the bow in Minhyuk¡¯s hands? It was made by Transcendental Nekk using the remaining materials that he handed over.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Unscrupulous Man¡¯s Bow</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: God</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: Level 600 or higher. DEX 5,000 or higher.</em>

    <strong><em>Durability</em></strong><em>: ¡Þ / ¡Þ</em>

    <strong><em>Attack Power</em></strong><em>: 1,370</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?Damage will triple upon a sessful shot of the final hit.</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: Bow Mastery +9</em>

    <em>?Attack Power will increase by 1.5x based on DEX.</em>

    <em>?Prative Force will double.</em>

    <em>?Critical Hit Rate will triple upon sessful shot of the final hit.</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: The One who Shoots the Final Hit</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: This is a bow that Nekk made for an unscrupulous guy. When shooting the final hit, this bow will have more power than any other bow. </em>

    The birth of this bow started when Minhyuk saw that there were enough materials to make a bow. He immediately asked Nekk to make a bow that would only be used to shoot the final hit. And, of course, Nekk responded and created an outstanding(?) artifact.

    The skill ¡°The One who Shoots the Final Hit¡± could be triggered once every five minutes. When triggered, it would hit wherever the artifact user wanted. It would also have a 95% chance of triggering a 5x increase in attack power upon a sessful shot of the final hit.

    ¡°What is this Asteroid Fragment?¡±

    ¡°I guess you got something like that because you¡¯re a foreigner,¡± ne said.

    He was the candidate who was standing right next to Minhyuk. He pointed to one of the asteroids covered with light and floating in space. Then, he exined, ¡°ording to the rumors, you can collect those fragments and exchange them for an asteroid and the power that it possesses.¡±

    ¡°You can collect them?¡±

    Even though they were able to hunt the Supreme Monarch, Minhyuk felt that there was something strange. Why? Because no artifacts or misceneous items had dropped.

    <em>¡®Maybe I¡¯ll be able to exchange a hundred of these for a huge reward¡­¡¯</em>

    After all, this thing could only be obtained after hunting a Supreme Monarch.

    ¡°There are many types of asteroids. There are Skill Asteroids, Artifact Asteroids, Consumable Asteroids, Ingredient Asteroids, Ability Asteroids, and many more.¡±

    All Minhyuk needed to do was collect the Asteroid Fragments and exchange them for the asteroid he wanted.

    ¡°Another legend also says you can use the asteroids to buy something Supreme. There¡¯s another one that says that if you ovee some kind of trial inside the ck hole, you will be able to obtain something Supreme.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded. It was worth remembering that most myths and legends in Athenae were not mere empty talk.

    Just like that, the expedition began to advance again.

    ***

    ¡°Hiyaaah!¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°Shot, shot, shot!¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°Euryaaaa!¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    The mobs that appeared most often in Pandemonium were Supreme Monarchs. Sometimes, two would appear; other times, there were four. Regardless, Minhyuk would pull his bow strings andnd the final hit every single time.

    ¡°<em>Phew! </em>What a relief! If Candidate Rals made the wrong mistake, his heart would be pierced. If it weren¡¯t for this arrow, then¡­¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s truly a relief¡­! If Candidate Rals died then¡­ <em>Sob¡­</em>! I don¡¯t even want to imagine it.¡±

    Everyone was left speechless when they saw Minhyuk rattle on with tears in his eyes. Although they knew what he was doing, they opted to remain silent. Anyway, they could no longer grow, and they did not have any use for the money either.

    As they continued to advance, Minhyuk finally encountered a tiny asteroid. This asteroid, which was only slightly bigger than Minhyuk in size, was a Skill Asteroid.

    Currently, Minhyuk has collected 402 fragments.

    <em>[Skill Asteroid¡¯s Exchange Requirement.]</em>

    <em>[Skill Level Up: 200 Fragments.]</em>

    <em>[Leveling Up Any Skill: 500 Fragments.]</em>

    <em>[Skill Evolution: 1,500 Fragments.]</em>

    Skill Level Up was a power that could help Minhyuk increase the level of one of his skills by one. Still, there was a limit to how many he could exchange. He could only exchange it thrice in total.

    Leveling Up Any Skill could allow a skill that could no longer grow to grow once again. Skill Evolution, on the other hand, could literally make a skill better than before.

    Minhyuk was in awe. <em>¡®Isn¡¯t this reward a bit too crazy?¡¯</em>

    As expected of a ce called the Supreme. However, he saw something strange from the description.

    <em>[If you exchange for something, you cannot check the next slot.]</em>

    <em>[You can only check the next slot after collecting 5,000 Fragments.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk was puzzled. There was a <em>next slot.</em>

    At that moment, ine said, ¡°In this ce, the asteroids also go by <ems of Desire.</em> Although I don¡¯t know the reason why.¡±

    The answer was simple. Minhyuk felt that something was off. Not long after, he saw others too.

    <em>[If you exchange for something, you cannot check the next slot.]</em>

    <em>[You can only check the next slot¡­]</em>

    The same notification from earlier rang. Minhyuk checked the detailed exnation of the next that he encountered.

    <em>[You do not need to reach out to the to exchange for rewards. All you need to do is call out ¡¯, and you will be able to exchange for the rewards.]</em>

    Minhyuk decided to put the exchange for rewards on hold for now.

    <em>¡®If you think about it, collecting 100 Fragments is a challenging feat for yers.¡¯</em>

    So, he thought that the value of the items at this point should not be astronomical yet. Of course, he also recalled the words that ine told him earlier.

    <em>¡®You can use the asteroids to buy something Supreme.¡¯</em>

    ¡°It¡¯s here. This is the ce where my daughter is sleeping.¡±

    After traveling through the universe like Pandemonium, there was a single iron gate standing in the middle of it.

    ¡°Pandemonium¡¯s Meteor. It¡¯s this ce.¡±

    Minhyuk had witnessed Rundalk and the members of the expedition team''s great chemistry and outstanding power. Nevertheless, they said that of all the attempts they had made, they had never once reached the final meteor where Rundalk¡¯s daughter was sleeping. And that was the case even though they did not receive much damage on their way here.

    Minhyuk¡¯s mission was to strike the Infinite Meteor. ording to the information that they have gathered, the Infinite Meteor would no longer release meteors if someone possessing outstanding DEX continued to hit it. Among them, the only one who could hit that meteor was Minhyuk.

    But there was one question that Minhyuk could not answer.

    <em>¡®If that¡¯s the case, then why did they not get help from the outstanding people with high DEX before?¡¯</em>

    The answer to that question was quite simple.

    ¡°Even if all of the people here exhaust their power, we will probably only be able to reach halfway of the path to the Infinite Meteor.¡±

    In other words, they have never reached the Infinite Meteor in all their attempts.

    Finally, Rundalk opened the gates.

    ***

    <em>[You have entered the Pandemonium¡¯s Meteor.]</em>

    <em>[The Pandemonium¡¯s Meteor has detected the presence of intruders!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[The Meteor Summon will be stopped if someone possessing high DEX continuously hits the Infinite Meteor in the middle.]</em>

    The notifications that rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears left him nervous.

    ¡°We will open up a path. Run straight to the Infinite Meteor!¡±

    In all of their attempts, they could only reach the halfway point. Why was this the case? Minhyuk could also see why the strong candidates were tense.

    ¡°What the hell¡­?!¡±

    When discussing the universe, one would think about countless stars twinkling in the darkness. What greeted Minhyuk was the sight of tens of thousands of meteors falling above them.

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    <em>[Warning!]</em>

    Tens of thousands of meteors shot toward the intruders. Seeing the meteors grow bigger and bigger, the candidates began to fly toward them.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk was shocked when he saw one of the candidates shatter one of the meteors with just one strong punch.

    Meanwhile, the other candidates would either avoid or break the falling meteors. And in the middle of them all was Rundalk. Rundalk faced thousands of meteors all by himself.

    <em>¡®So, that¡¯s the Supreme¡­!¡¯ </em>Minhyuk shuddered.

    ¡°Supreme¡¯s Sword.¡±

    <em>Boom¨C!</em>

    The moment Rundalk swung his sword before him, the universe seemed to split into two. The force that erupted from his sword split the falling meteors in half.

    ¡°Quick!¡±

    ¡°Minhyuk, run!¡±

    Five candidates charged forward and smashed all of the meteors hurtling toward Minhyuk. The powerful force the candidates unleashed released a spark that glittered brightly in the dark universe.

    <em>¡®This is the power of a true candidate¡­!¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was in awe and admiration.

    ¡°It¡¯s much easier than before. And it¡¯s all thanks to you.¡± ine smiled faintly.

    Compared to before, they could maintain theirposure and break apart the tens of thousands of meteorsing their way.

    ¡°It¡¯s going to start now.¡±

    <em>[The meteors start to elerate.]</em>

    <em>[The meteors start to explode.]</em>

    <em>[The Supreme Monarchs protect the one slumbering inside the final meteor!]</em>

    The one slumbering in the final meteor was none other than Rundalk¡¯s daughter.

    The meteors, which had be twice as fast, shot toward the expedition team even more fiercely.

    ¡°K-keuaaaaack!¡±

    In the end, several candidates who collided with them screamed and copsed. Some of them exploded when their bodies touched the meteor, while some burned from the mes covering its surface.

    Cold sweat dripped down Minhyuk¡¯s back at the gruesome sight before him.

    Not long after, hundreds of thousands of meteor fragments shot toward Minhyuk. Each fragment exploded in turn and devoured everything in its path.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    <em>Boom¨C!</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    The aftermath of the constant explosions almost reached Minhyuk. However, since he was the only one who could stop and strike the Infinite Meteor, the five candidates escorting him jumped up and used their entire bodies to protect him.

    The five candidates swung their swords dozens of times per second, their bodies shing here and there to stop and destroy the approaching fragments. But that was not the end. The Shield Pir Candidate used his power and created hundreds of blue barriers in front of those about to collide with the meteors.

    Minhyuk believed that this was the first time that he had participated in such a high-intensity and high-quality battlefield. It was a truly amazing experience.

    However, as the notification said, the Supreme Monarchs were protecting Rundalk¡¯s daughter. In just a blink, thousands of Supreme Monarchs climbed atop the meteors and appeared all over the ce.

    Minhyuk gulped dryly. <em>¡®Crazy. And we¡¯re not even halfway there?!¡¯</em>

    How could they break through this? At that moment, thousands of sword lights shot out from the Supreme¡¯s Sword and began to force the Supreme Monarchs and the meteors to crash and die.

    This was the expedition team¡¯s eighth attempt to clear this ce. They knew the best solution was to ensure they could cut down many Supreme Monarchs.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s much easier than usual!¡±

    Even though they said that, out of the five candidates protecting Minhyuk, two had already died.

    ***

    Hope appeared in Rundalk¡¯s eyes. This was the first time that they had reached this point. Of course, around ten of their men had died and had turned into cold corpses in this ce butpared to their other attempts, the damage that they received this time was much less.

    There was only one thought running in Rundalk¡¯s head as he destroyed the meteors and beat down the charging Supreme Monarchs.

    <em>¡®Bemy.¡¯</em>

    All he wanted was to pick up the daughter who had been taken away from him. That was the only thing he could see at this point.

    Before they knew it, they had already reached the halfway point. They could also see Minhyuknd safely on the Infinite Meteor, pull out his pickaxe, and begin his arduous task.

    <em>Rumble¨C</em>

    The meteors that were summoned and were still out of sight stopped.

    Rundalk smiled. ¡°Now, as long as we reach the end¡­¡±

    s, there was something that he did not know. After all, this was their first time reaching this ce.

    <em>[The Infinite Cmity drops the strongest and greatest meteor.]</em>

    The infinite cmity stopped but dropped the most enormous, fastest, and most solid meteor down in exchange.

    The thousands of meteors that appeared above them gathered andbined before shooting toward Rundalk. The candidates who saw this scene hurriedly squeezed their strength and used their powers simultaneously.

    <em>Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh¨C</em>

    Unbeknownst to them, Supreme Monarchs crawled up from below and attacked all of the candidates.

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    Rundalk moved frantically, his sword swinging non-stop at the giant meteor falling toward him. When a crack appeared, he put all his strength into his sword and swung it at the meteor.

    <em>¡®Yes¡­!¡¯</em>

    At that moment, he realized that he had run out of strength. He thought hitting the gigantic meteor with a powerful strike was enough to break it and allow him to see his daughter. But he couldn¡¯t go any further. He failed to control his strength and wasted his final attack on the gigantic meteor.

    Despair enveloped Rundalk. He knew none of his men could help him, especially with the meteor before him.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m sorry, Bemy.¡¯</em>

    He also felt sorry for the other candidates.

    Rundalk had kept something hidden from them. Unlike the candidates, Rundalk¡¯s death here and now would mean hisplete extinction even if the door was opened by someone who achieved the Supreme.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you?¡±

    Rundalk stared at the man standing before him with his white cape fluttering with the wind. This man should not be here. He should have been hitting away at the Infinite Meteor.

    <em>Turn¨C</em>

    Rundalk turned his head, his eyes widening when he saw the Food God¡¯s Almighty Tool, which had transformed into a pickaxe, was still hitting the gigantic Infinite Meteor from afar.

    Minhyuk smiled at Rundalk. ¡°I¡¯m also powerful.¡±

    Rundalk had heard that Minhyuk was able to kill Helenia because Obren fused with him. He thought it was only natural to kill Helenia because Obren was present.

    Nheless, he was wrong. Obren had grown infinitely weaker. In fact, his powers were only half of what he had in the past. So, that meant that half of the power that made it possible to kill Helenia was from Minhyuk.

    Rundalk was faced with a variable in the form of a giant meteor. Now, another variable has appeared in the form of Minhyuk. This variable was standing in front of him and blocking the gigantic meteor that was right in front of their faces.

 Chapter 1120

    <strong>Chapter 1120</strong>

    When Minhyuk began hitting the Infinite Meteor, he realized that it did not require as much DEX as he thought it would. So, he immediately racked his brain.

    The Food God¡¯s Almighty Tool could transform into the form of anything that Minhyuk wanted. Also, 50% of Minhyuk¡¯s DEX would be applied to the tool once it took form. With the Food God¡¯s Almighty Tool¡¯s two tools in effect, Minhyuk estimated that he could make a move to prevent the falling gigantic meteor while continuing to hit the Infinite Meteor simultaneously.

    And Minhyuk¡¯s assumptions were correct. However, the appearance of thergest and toughest meteor, which looked as big as a mountain, created another variable. Minhyuk appeared before Rundalk to block the gigantic meteor that would kill the King of Destruction if it ever hit him.

    When fighting in a battle with the presence of others, Minhyuk often chose to hide most of his powers. This was not because he wanted to reveal his powerter but because he could observe and look at the power and abilities of the people with him.

    The candidates were all outstanding. If they were in the outside world, they would definitely be considered strong. But they would probably be devoured. The current era was filled with countless powerhouses who were far stronger than them. One of those powerhouses was none other than Minhyuk.

    ¡°Supreme Overlord¡¯s Technique.¡±

    <em>Crackle¨C!</em>mes surged out from the de of Minhyuk¡¯s sword and shot out toward the rapidly falling gigantic meteor.

    <em>Crackle, crackle¨C!</em>

    Most of the meteor¡¯s durability had been wasted by Rundalk, which could be seen from the cracks that decorated its surface.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack!</em>

    Like that, the Supreme Overlord¡¯s Technique¡¯s zing mes made contact and pierced through the gigantic meteor.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    The gigantic meteor exploded. At the same time, both Minhyuk and Rundalk felt dangering their way.

    ¡°Please go!¡± The Shield Pir Candidate shouted. Ignoring the dozens of Supreme Monarchs surrounding him, he squeezed thest of his strength and sent it toward Minhyuk and Rundalk.

    <em>[Absolute Barrier.]</em>

    <em>[The Absolute Barrier willst for 30 seconds.]</em>

    <em>[Your movement speed will increase by 20% in the entire 30-second duration of the Absolute Barrier.]</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°A-aaaaaaack!¡±

    ¡°King of Destruction, please go ahead!¡±

    Rundalk looked back at his men.

    One of them said, ¡°Did you think that we¡¯re unaware? We know that this is your final chance!¡±

    Rundalk was not a good leader and monarch. He had used force to suppress them and even forced them to join him. Somehow, at one point, Rundalk grew fond of them. Of course, as time passed, these people also grew fond of him. And these people, who had grown to love and cherish Rundalk, knew that the death of their king this time would lead to his eternal andplete extinction.

    Rundalk, who thought that perhaps this would be thest time he would see them, bowed lightly. At the same time, hundreds of Supreme Monarchs appeared and attacked the remaining candidates.

    Minhyuk and Rundalk left them behind and began to run toward the Pandemonium¡¯s Meteor.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk felt highly delighted.

    <em>[You have destroyed the most enormous meteor.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained 1,153 Asteroid Fragments for destroying thergest meteor.]</em>

    <em>[If you are forced to log out, all of the Asteroid Fragments in your possession will be destroyed.]</em>

    In Pandemonium¡¯s Meteor, all of the fragments that Minhyuk collected would be destroyed if he was forced to log out. Even so, Minhyuk did not use them yet.

    <em>¡®Perhaps this will be the only solution.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk understood Athenae¡¯s system and how it worked more than anybody else. That was why he was holding back on using them.

    Even though the Meteor Summon had stopped, remnants were still falling nonstop. Rundalk and Minhyuk either avoided them or smashed them apart. They might be protected by the Absolute Barrier and would not receive any damage, but if they collided with a meteor, they might just risk falling again.

    Thankfully, the small meteors quickly broke apart from the dozens of swings of Minhyuk¡¯s Dual Swordsmanship Technique.

    <em>[You have acquired 31 Asteroid Fragments.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 22 Asteroid Fragments.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 13 Asteroid Fragments.]</em>

    Unlike Rundalk, Minhyuk obtained Asteroid Fragments from the meteors he smashed and destroyed.

    Meanwhile, Rundalk was ovee with worry as he continued to run forward with Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s only the two of us left.¡¯</em>

    For one, he has never <em>ever</em> crossed the halfway point. And it was apparent that greater danger awaited them from this point forward.

    Rundalk nced at Minhyuk. He was only grateful that this young man would be revived without penalties and would not suffer fromplete extinction like him.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s truly a relief.¡¯</em>

    The truth was, Rundalk knew that their chances of getting to where his daughter was being kept were very slim, so he did not hold much hope.

    The two kept on running as fast as they could. Not long after, they entered another area.

    <em>[You have entered the second point.]</em>

    <em>[Pandemonium¡¯s Battlefield has started.]</em>

    <em>[If you exchanged even a single Asteroid Fragment before entering Pandemonium¡¯s Battlefield, all of your remaining Asteroid Fragments will be destroyed.]</em>

    Minhyuk grinned when he heard the notifications.

    <em>¡®As expected. This is how they will stop us from reaching the Supreme.¡¯</em>

    At this moment, Minhyuk confirmed that his assumptions and predictions were correct.

    ***

    Pandemonium¡¯s Meteor was a stage that Chaos created for Rundalk, designed so that Rundalk, who had killed the evaluators of the past, would be unable to reach the Final Meteor.

    The Final Meteor was located at the end of Pandemonium¡¯s Meteor. And inside ity a slumbering little girl who was bathing in light. The light that covered the girl protected her from all of the danger in this ce.

    And because time did not flow in Pandemonium, the little girl did not age a single day for thousands of years. If the little girl woke up, she would feel like she had just woken up from a good and long sleep.

    One person looked at the girl in annoyance. He believed that this girl would never wake up. This person was none other than the Supreme Sovereign, who was tasked with protecting the slumbering little girl.

    <em>¡®Why do I, an evaluator, have to do something like this?¡¯</em>

    To be exact, the man was not the Supreme Sovereign. He was none other than Captain Evaluator Ruba. Whenever intruders enter the Pandemonium¡¯s Meteor, he would take on the mantle of the Supreme Sovereign. Ruba¡¯s mission was simple: to stop Rundalk froming here while maintaining the proper level of difficulty.

    In this ce, Ruba possessed the power of the Supreme Sovereign and its appearance. Perhaps no one could recognize who he was if they saw him here.

    <em>¡®No one can fathom Lord Chaos.¡¯</em>

    Chaos had ordered Ruba to set a moderate difficulty level if Rundalk reached this ce. If it were up to him, he would set the highest level of difficulty and make the man feel despair in front of his daughter.

    <em>¡®Is he thinking that he has already received enough punishment?¡¯</em>

    Ruba believed Lord Chaos was a soft-hearted being who would suffer from being taken advantage of.

    <em>[The intruders have passed through the halfway point of the Pandemonium¡¯s Meteor.]</em>

    <em>[They will soon enter the Pandemonium¡¯s Battlefield.]</em>

    ¡°...?!¡±

    Ruba had seen Ruba and the candidates attempt to enter this ce several times. In all their attempts, they had failed to cross the halfway point. He waved his arm in the space covered with darkness in front of him.

    <em>Swoosh¨C!</em>

    The universe split. Then, a bright light appeared and showed the figure of Rundalk, who had entered the Pandemonium¡¯s Battlefield.

    <em>¡®How the hell was he able to cross the halfway point?¡¯ </em>Ruba wondered. At that moment, a very familiar face appeared in his eyes.

    <em>¡®The Candidate of Gourmands?!¡¯</em>

    Ruba still could not forget the shame and disgrace he suffered back then. They had always been treated with courtesy and respect, but when they went to Beyond the Heavens Empire, they were treated with contempt and disgust. They had also been trampled by Minhyuk and the Transcendentals once. Of course, that was before their seals had been released.

    <em>¡®Of all ces, why did you have toe here, you bastard?¡¯</em>

    A thick smile appeared on Ruba¡¯s face. Anyway, he managed this ce. At this moment, Ruba decided he would never let them take this little girl away.

    <em>¡®Of course, I won¡¯t deny that the bibimbap he threw at us was very delicious.¡¯</em>

    Even though he was furious at Minhyuk, Ruba could not forget the mouth-watering <em>bibimbap</em> he had thrown at them then.

    ***

    Additional notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears when he entered the Pandemonium¡¯s Battlefield.

    <em>[Please break through the Pandemonium¡¯s Battlefield within five minutes.]</em>

    <em>[If you fail to break through within five minutes, you will die.]</em>

    <em>[Supreme Soldiers and Supreme Knights will constantly gather around you.]</em>

    <em>[The Supreme Soldiers and Supreme Knights have been nurtured and raised by the power of the Supreme Sovereign.]</em>

    The two tried to jump out at the same time.

    <em>[All of your movements will be restricted for five seconds.]</em>

    Just like runners waiting at the starting point for the gun to fire, signaling the start of the race, the two could not move at all.

    Not long after, the Supreme Soldiers and Supreme Knights appeared before them. Their numbers formed a vast, ck sea. They could not estimate at all. Perhaps they were in the thousands? Tens of thousands? Maybe hundreds of thousands? No. Their numbers seemed to be in the hundreds of millions.

    The two felt breathless when they saw them almost fill out the entire universe around them.

    <em>[Supreme Soldier. Level 729.]</em>

    <em>[Supreme Knight. Level 845.]</em>

    And even their levels were high.

    <em>[The Supreme Sovereign increases the power of the Supreme Soldiers and Supreme Knights.]</em>

    <em>[Supreme Soldier. Level 766.]</em>

    <em>[Supreme Knight. Level 899.]</em>

    Minhyuk and Rundalk frowned at the sudden increase in difficulty.

    <em>[A Pandemonium¡¯s ck Hole has appeared.]</em>

    Rundalk exined Pandemonium¡¯s ck Hole earlier. The Pandemonium¡¯s ck Hole was the only ce where time flowed in the entire Pandemonium.

    <em>[Those devoured by the Pandemonium¡¯s ck Hole have to do and repeat a series of actions for as long as the time flowing inside that ck hole.]</em>

    <em>[Failure to repeat a series of actions will lead to death.]</em>

    Rundalk said, ¡°The time flowing in the Pandemonium¡¯s ck Hole is around one to two weeks. This means you have to repeat a series of actions for that time. From what I heard, you have done something simr before.¡±

    Rundalk shook his head.

    ¡°Even so, you still have to be careful. No one can keep their sanity after being devoured by the ck hole and staying there for two weeks¡­¡±

    <em>[The Pandemonium¡¯s ck Hole is being strengthened.]</em>

    <em>[The amount of time flowing inside the Pandemonium¡¯s ck Hole has been doubled.]</em>

    <em>[Those devoured by the Pandemonium¡¯s ck Hole will only be devoured for three seconds in reality.]</em>

    ¡°It seems meaningless to endure something like this now.¡± Rundalk sighed. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I know this has nothing to do with you but I still got you involved.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. Of course, I epted it because I hope to get my due reward.¡±

    Minhyuk liked Rundalk. Nheless, he was not doing this just because he wanted him to meet his daughter. He just wanted the rewards.

    ¡°There¡¯s only the two of us here¡­¡± Rundalkined.

    Minhyuk tried to say something.

    <em>[Start!]</em>

    They did not have any time. If they did not get out of this ce within five minutes, then the two of them would die.

    At that moment, more than tenrge ck holes appeared above them. The ck holes covered almost everything above them as they crept up on them. At the same time, the countless Supreme Knights and Supreme Soldiers also began charging toward them. Fortunately, they did not have infinite HP like the Supreme Monarchs.

    Minhyuk and Rundalk charged forward at the same time.

    ¡°The Annihtor¡¯s Sword.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaa¨C!</em>

    Bright light erupted from Minhyuk¡¯s sword and cut down the charging crowd before him, creating a path they could run through.

    ¡°Supreme Swordsmanship.¡±

    Over a hundred sword lights shot out from Rundalk¡¯s sword and shed the swarming enemies.

    Not long after, the two collided with the flocking enemies. Despite the sea of Supreme Soldiers and Supreme Knights blocking their path, the sight of them advancing little by little was truly spectacr.

    And Rundalk? He was amazed. <em>¡®He¡¯s this strong?¡¯</em>

    When Minhyuk destroyed the gigantic meteor, Rundalk already knew the young man was stronger than they thought. Seeing him now made him realize his strength and power were beyond what they had imagined. From what he could see, many candidates were far worse than him. Even more shocking to Rundalk was that Minhyuk was not receiving more damage than expected despite him allowing attacks tond on him.

    The two leaped forward simultaneously and trampled the knights and soldiers beneath them. They ran atop them as if they were running on t ground.

    <em>Swoosh, swoosh¨C!</em>

    <em>Fwoosh¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk used Like the Wind whenever a path was opened between the knights and soldiers, while Rundalk used his Supreme Steps.

    <em>[Four kilometers left to your target destination.]</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

    Rundalk was busy trying to break through with all his might and saw something they had overlooked. They had been so distracted by opening up a path and running to their destination that they forgot the almost fifteen ck holes creeping up on them.

    In just a blink, a ck hole appeared above Minhyuk. The swirling darkness within the ck hole opened its maw and devoured Minhyuk.

    ¡°Minhyuk¡­!¡± Rundalk tried to shout at Minhyuk, but he could not because a ck hole had also appeared above him.

    The quick-witted Minhyuk hurriedly struck Rundalk.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    The attack sent Rundalk flying away, allowing him to escape the area where the ck hole was. Rundalk jumped up just in time to see Minhyuk get sucked inside the never-ending darkness of the ck hole.

    <em>Shwaaaaa¨C!</em>

    Just like that, Minhyuk disappeared into the ck hole.

    <em>[The Pandemonium¡¯s ck Hole requires you to repeat a series of actions for one month!]</em>

    The time flowing inside each ck hole should have only been one or two weeks. But it suddenly doubled to four weeks or so. This meant that Minhyuk had to repeat a series of actions for that duration while inside the ck hole.

    Then, something strange happened. The other ck holes gathered around the ck hole that sucked Minhyuk in and began to stack themselves up inyers. With this, he would be sucked inside one of the other ck holes the moment he got out of one. The sight was utterly beyond anyone¡¯sprehension.

    It was as if the ck holes were targeting Minhyuk, or someone was controlling them to target Minhyuk.

    <em>¡®Damn it!¡¯</em>

    Rundalk, who could continue moving forward with Minhyuk¡¯s help, was left alone. Having consumed considerable power, the Supreme Soldiers and Supreme Knights began to gather around him inyers.

    Just when Rundalk was about to sumb to despair from the overwhelming and crushing numbers of enemies surrounding him, a shocking notification rang in his ears.

    <em>[One Pandemonium¡¯s ck Hole has been cleared.]</em>

    ¡°...?!¡±

    Rundalk¡¯s gaze turned to the ck hole that sucked Minhyuk in. Right above that ck hole, he saw the afterimage of Minhyuk swinging his sword passing by. The scene was moving too fast, as if it had been fast-forwarded tens of thousands of times. The scene of Minhyuk swinging his sword for one month was shown instantly.

    Not long after, the ck hole that devoured Minhyuk scattered like smoke, and he appeared again. s, another ck hole was waiting for him. It immediately devoured him.

    <em>[One Pandemonium¡¯s ck Hole has been cleared.]</em>

    <em>[One Pandemonium¡¯s ck Hole has been cleared.]</em>

    <em>[One Pandemonium¡¯s ck Hole has been cleared.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    The Pandemonium¡¯s ck Holes that devoured Minhyuk disappeared one after another.

    At that moment, Beradon''s words to Rundalk rang in his ears once again. Beradon said the young man was a genuine and honest hard worker. He could repeat a series of actions for weeks without taking breaks.

    When Beradon told the young man to stop putting in so much effort, Minhyuk replied.

    ¨C<em>Indeed, the path that I have taken is difficult. But looking back, it¡¯s still more beautiful than any other road, no?</em>

 Chapter 1121

    <strong>Chapter 1121</strong>

    There had been rumors about how he had signed a secret deal with Athenae because he was overgeared, overdished, and over-vassaled. However, a single video showing how he repeated the same actions for weeks without a single break ended these rumors.

    The people who watched the video were impressed. After all, what Minhyuk did was something that no ordinary human could ever do. They thought that perhaps that was why he was standing where he was now.

    After all, Minhyuk became Athenae¡¯s Supreme not only because of his talents and genius but also because of his hard work. Hence, Minhyuk became famous for being a genuine and honest hard worker in Athenae.

    Regardless, even for someone like Minhyuk, there was still something impossible.

    <em>[You must swing your sword repeatedly for an entire month inside the Pandemonium¡¯s ck Hole.]</em>

    <em>[If you fail, you will be forced to log out.]</em>

    <em>[You only have five seconds of rest.]</em>The longest Minhyuk had swung his sword was three weeks at most. It had never exceeded that time. For him to swing his sword repeatedly for four straight weeks?

    If it was someone else, they would probably want to just be forced to log out. In the first ce, it waspletely ridiculous. Most people would end up dying if they repeated something for a week; what more if they repeated it for a month? Of course, the characters in Athenae were beyond ordinary.

    And Minhyuk''s thoughts were the same. Nevertheless, he still decided to do it first. And that was what made him different from the rest.

    <em>¡®If I don¡¯t try it because I know that I¡¯m going to fail, then I wouldn¡¯t have reached this position and wouldn¡¯t have be who I am now.¡¯</em>

    In the process of bing Athenae¡¯s Supreme, Minhyuk had grown to know how Athenae¡¯s system worked.

    <em>¡®It will never give a trial that is 100% impossible to clear.¡¯</em>

    The time flowing inside the ck holes was a month, but it would only take a few seconds in reality.

    <em>¡®Let¡¯s go and taste the sweetest fruit.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was determined to see the Fantastic-grade ingredient grow. For that alone, he swung his sword repeatedly for one, two, three, and four days.

    There was something else that ignited his determination.

    <em>[You have obtained an Asteroid Fragment.]</em>

    Unfortunately, Minhyuk could not obtain any stat inside Pandemonium¡¯s ck Hole. Instead, there was a constant and steady supply of Asteroid Fragments.

    Minhyuk currently had more than 3,000 fragments in his possession. This was quite arge number and was enough for him to exchange for something, but he was keen on saving them.

    <em>[You have obtained 10 Asteroid Fragments.]</em>

    Whenever he finished a day, an additional ten fragments would be given to him. And thanks to this, Minhyuk gained the motivation to continue the tedious task of repeatedly swinging his sword.

    <em>Swoosh¨C!</em>

    <em>Fwoosh¨C!</em>

    Despite repeatedly swinging his sword, Minhyuk could only rest for five seconds. Thankfully, Divine Will was triggered every so often. This gave him the strength to continue swinging his sword again.

    When the fourteenth day passed, Minhyuk felt he was fast approaching his limits. He already wanted to copse. However, Minhyuk gritted his teeth and forced himself to endure another day.

    <em>[You havested for 15 days.]</em>

    <em>[The Pandemonium¡¯s ck Hole has recognized your hard work and effort.]</em>

    <em>[The Pandemonium¡¯s ck Hole has increased your power to repeat an action by a few levels.]</em>

    <em>[The increase in power will only be applied and in effect in Pandemonium.]</em>

    A small smile shed on Minhyuk¡¯s face. It was just as he expected. Most of the difficult trials in Athenae would have at least a 0.001% chance of being cleared.

    His movements showed a noticeable lightness; even his exhausted mind had gone clear. The more exciting part was that Minhyuk¡¯s body would automatically swing twice, even though he only clearly swung his sword once.

    <em>[You have gone beyond the limits of hard work and effort. The hard work that you have done in a day would be equivalent to two days of effort and hard work.]</em>

    Finally, he finished the required thirty days of repeated actions.

    <em>[You have cleared the Pandemonium¡¯s ck Hole.]</em>

    <em>[The Pandemonium¡¯s ck Hole has recognized and acknowledged your hard work and effort.]</em>

    ording to the legend that ine told him, the one who survived the Pandemonium¡¯s ck Hole could be <em>The Supreme.</em>

    ***

    Even though he had witnessed it with his own eyes, Rundalk still could not believe that Minhyuk had survived the Pandemonium¡¯s ck Hole. Before he could even breathe, Minhyuk was already sucked into another one.

    Once again, the scene of Minhyuk repeatedly doing a series of actions appeared as an illusion above the ck hole that he was sucked into.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¨C</em>

    Five secondster, Minhyuk cleared another Pandemonium¡¯s ck Hole and immediately got sucked into another one.

    And Minhyuk? He felt highly delighted even though he was being sucked into one ck hole after another.

    <em>[You have temporarily reached the ¡®Supreme¡¯ level in hard work.]</em>

    <em>[Every effort and hard work you do will equal a day¡¯s work.]</em>

    <em>[Regardless of what you do or how many times you repeat it, you will never get tired at the end of the day.]</em>

    The illusion showing Minhyuk¡¯s figure repeatedly doing a series of actions above the ck holes had now grown to eight. The scene of a human transcending his limits created a truly spectacr scene.

    Minhyuk cleared the final Pandemonium¡¯s ck Hole and heard another series of notifications.

    <em>[You have collected a total of 5,886 Asteroid Fragments.]</em>

    <em>[All restrictions in the asteroid¡¯s next slot will be lifted.]</em>

    <em>[You can now exchange for new items.]</em>

    Minhyuk, who conquered all the ck holes that tried to devour him, jumped out with the word ¡°Crazy¡± shing on the de of his sword. Without a pause, he thrust toward the enemy trying to cut Rundalk¡¯s head off.

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    A vast and overwhelming explosion erupted and devoured the area.

    Minhyuk hurriedly pulled out and rescued Rundalk from the sea of enemies.

    ¡°You, how the hell¡­¡±

    <em>[You have two minutes left.]</em>

    <em>[There are three more kilometers to the exit of the Pandemonium¡¯s Battlefield.]</em>

    ¡°There¡¯s no time to exin.¡± Minhyuk led the way with Rundalk right behind him.

    The two were racking their brains. They knew the three-kilometer distance was challenging to cover in just two minutes, even if they ran with all their might. After all, they still had to deal with all the knights and soldiers blocking their path.

    Rundalk¡¯s face grew ugly. <em>¡®Perhaps it would be possible if the other candidates were present.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®If we can ignore everything that hinders our path and just run, then perhaps it¡¯s possible.¡¯</em>

    No matter how Rundalk looked at it, he thought it was impossible.

    ¡°From now on, I will run at full speed.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Rundalk looked at Minhyuk in confusion. Hundreds of millions of soldiers and knights swarmed at them like a pack of zombies, so how could they run at full speed?

    Minhyuk had already exchanged for an asteroid. The asteroid that he exchanged the item from was called the Consumable Asteroid.

    <em>[You have exchanged for the Monarch¡¯s Summons.]</em>

    <em>[You can summon thirty vassals under yourmand with Monarch¡¯s Summons.]</em>

    <em>[You have consumed 400 Asteroid Fragments.]</em>

    Bright light fell above them non-stop. When one of the lights disappeared, a man appeared and swept away the army that hindered Minhyuk¡¯s path.

    ¡°Wolf¡¯s Death.¡±

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    The path opened up all at once. An old man with his graying long hair fluttering behind him activated his Divine Pinnacle Spear. Of course, it was not just them. There was also Hegemon King Ellie among all of the vassals appearing all over the ce. She immediately stood in front of Minhyuk.

    Hegemon King Ellie could be summoned with the Monarch¡¯s Summons because she agreed to be Minhyuk¡¯s Temporary Knight.

    There was one more interesting fact about the Monarch¡¯s Summons. The exchange was worth 400 Asteroid Fragments, but it would not terminate the buff for those who had received it. In other words, Hegemon King Ellie¡¯s level remained at around Level 1,100. And she had automatically be their guide.

    ¡°Heed mymand! Open up a path for us!¡±

    The dozens of people whonded on the ground all wore a cape carrying the symbol of a fork and knife crossed together. Of course, Ellie was the only exception to this. Then, Ben quietly and sneakily ced a simr cape over Ellie¡¯s shoulder.

    ¡°...?¡±

    Rundalk seemed to realize that he had witnessed a spectacr and shocking sight. All the people who had appeared before him were on par with, or perhaps even greater than, the candidates.

    ¡°We have received your orders, Your Majesty!¡±

    ¡°We have received your orders, Your Majesty!¡±

    ¡°We have received your orders, Your Majesty!¡±

    They all knelt on one knee in front of Minhyuk and thumped the left side of their chests with their fists.

    The iing knights and soldiers were quickly swept away by their attacks. When Rundalk saw this, he could not help but think, <em>¡®A single one of them can rival more than one candidate¡­?!¡¯</em>

    Unlike the failed and eliminated candidates, many of the people who appeared had received nominations from the evaluators to be candidates for the current era. Of course, they all answered the same thing.

    ¨C<em>I refuse.</em>

    And these men were quickly wiping out the swarming troops.

    ¡°Stay close and keep up,¡± Ellie said. It seemed like she had immediately understood the situation that they were in.

    Minhyuk and Rundalk ran with all their might to keep up with Ellie, who was still a Level 1,100 Hegemon King.

    ¡°I still have a power I have not yet shown you.¡±

    Even after Minhyuk had turned into a sh of light and disappeared from her sight, Ellie did not return to her empire. She opted to remain in the Beyond the Heavens Empire for now. One of the reasons was that there was still more than enough time for her buff duration and also because she wanted to show one of the powers that had been unsealed for her to Minhyuk.

    That was right. She was waiting for Minhyuk because she wanted to show off. She wanted to say, <em>¡®Hehe. Look at this. I got something like this,¡¯</em> but on an entirely different level.

    <em>[Hegemon King¡¯s Murderous Intent.]</em>

    A red light burst out from the running Ellie. At the same time, an overwhelming killing intent spread out and made all of the knights and soldiers within a thirty-meter radius of her copse.

    It was an awe-inspiring scene, but she wasn¡¯t done yet. She immediately activated another power.

    ¡°Hegemon King¡¯s Dazzling y.¡±

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    Thousands of sword lights shot out from Ellie¡¯s sword and blew away more than thousands of the enemies in front of them.

    Rundalk could see that the person running before them was on par with him without any buffs. Of course, he only thought like this because he did not know Ellie was currently in a buffed state.

    The stunned Rundalk looked at Minhyuk, who was running beside him, and said, ¡°Is she also your subordinate? You¡­ what the hell¡­¡±

    ¡°Of course. She is a very loyal one, too.¡±

    <em>¡®This punk¡­?¡¯</em> Ellie felt her blood pressure rise. However, she decided to let Minhyuk off and focus on running instead.

    <em>[You have one minute left to leave the Pandemonium¡¯s Battlefield.]</em>

    <em>[There is still one kilometer left.]</em>

    A glimmer of hope appeared in Rundalk¡¯s eyes. He finally caught sight of the outline of the Final Meteor at a distance. Something was releasing a bright white light inside that Final Meteor.

    Rundalk gathered his power to look at it. That was when he saw that the thing releasing a bright white light was none other than his daughter¡ªthe very same daughter he had abandoned and who was imprisoned in this ce because of him.

    <em>Just a little bit more. </em>This thought alone gave strength to his limbs, a smile unknowingly curling at the corners of his mouth. s, the sound that rang in his ears made the smile on Rundalk¡¯s face freeze and crack.

    <em>[The Supreme Sovereign summons all Supreme Monarchs in the Pandemonium.]</em>

    Tens of thousands of Supreme Monarchs fell into this universe-like space. The moment theynded, they immediately attacked Minhyuk¡¯s vassals, who were opening the path for the two of them.

    <em>Shwaaaaa¨C</em>

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaaaa¨C</em>

    The average level of the Supreme Monarchs was at Level 940. Even if Minhyuk¡¯s vassals were strong, they couldn¡¯t withstand the enormous amount of damage that the Supreme Monarchs could inflict on them. Just like that, Minhyuk¡¯s vassals turned into ashes one after another. Fortunately, the vassals¡¯ death in this ce was not actual death, and they would not suffer from any penalties upon resurrection.

    Without them, the Supreme Monarchs began to run after Minhyuk and Rundalk. Around a thousand of them were charging toward them from the front while the others remained behind.

    Rundalk thought, <em>¡®I think we can still break through this, right?¡¯</em>

    <em>[The Supreme Sovereign has used a Spatial Switch.]</em>

    s, the space in front of the two, which had been cleared by Ellie and Minhyuk¡¯s vassals, switched with the space where the Supreme Monarchs were. In other words, the tens of thousands of Supreme Monarchs running behind them and the hundreds of millions of knights and soldiers appeared before Minhyuk and Rundalk and stood guard against them.

    <em>[You have twenty seconds left to leave the Pandemonium¡¯s Battlefield.]</em>

    <em>[There are still 450 meters left.]</em>

    Rundalk fell into despair. He was so close! His daughter was just right within his reach. He saw the Supreme Sovereign stand beside his daughter andugh at them.

    At the same time, Ellie turned to ashes after enduring the attacks of the Supreme Monarchs.

    ¡°Ugh!¡± Rundalk groaned, tears streaming down his face in anger.

    ¡°Skill Asteroid.¡±

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¨C!</em>

    At that moment, the Skill Asteroid floating near Minhyuk appeared above his head. The that closely resembled Jupiter resonated with Minhyuk¡¯s call.

    Minhyuk, who had listened to the various stories and notifications, realized why Pandemonium was also known as Supreme.

    ¡°Exchange for the Supreme Skill.¡±

    At the same time, the notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You have exchanged for the Supreme Skill.]</em>

    <em>[You have consumed 5,000 Asteroid Fragments.]</em>

    <em>[The Supreme Skill will be applied to your skill. Please choose one of the skills in your possession that it would be applied to.]</em>

    Minhyuk was also aware that hunting a certain number of the Supreme Monarchs, Supreme Soldiers, and Supreme Knights would allow him to acquire and umte Asteroid Fragments once again.

    In other words, he had already figured out a way to break through this stage, which was clearly designed to target Rundalk.

    <em>¡®I have to be the Supreme.¡¯</em>

    ¡°I choose the Heavenly Sword.¡±

    <em>[The Supreme Skill will be applied to Heavenly Sword.]</em>

    <em>[Heavenly Sword has temporarily leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[Heavenly Sword¡¯s level has exceeded Level 5.]</em>

    <em>[Heavenly Sword¡¯s level has exceeded Level 10.]</em>

    <em>[Heavenly Sword¡¯s level has exceeded Level 5.]</em>

    <em>[Heavenly Sword¡¯s level has exceeded Level 20.]</em>

    <em>[Heavenly Sword possesses the Supreme power.]</em>

    <em>[No other Supreme power can be disyed or exerted in front of the one who unleashes the Supreme power.]</em>

    <em>[The Supreme Monarchs¡¯ infinite HP and MP will be lifted.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the title: The One who Unleashes the Supreme Power.]</em>

 Chapter 1122

    Chapter 1122

    <strong>Chapter 1122</strong>

    Following the Supreme Sovereign¡¯s Spatial Switch, all the beings running and charging at Minhyuk and Rundalk from behind appeared before them to block their path. The worst part was the beings with infinite HP and MP and levels at Level 940 among them.

    However, in this chaotic Pandemonium, Minhyuk raised the level of his Heavenly Sword to the Supreme.

    <em>[Heavenly Sword¡¯s level has exceeded Level 20.]</em>

    <em>[Heavenly Sword possesses the Supreme power.]</em>

    <em>[No other Supreme power can be disyed or exerted in front of the one who unleashes the Supreme power.]</em>

    The notifications rang in his ears. The effects of Heavenly Sword were originally like this:

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Heavenly Sword</em></strong><em>)</em><em>Active Skill</em>

    <strong><em>Type of Swordsmanship</em></strong><em>: Food God¡¯s Swordsmanship</em>

    <strong><em>Mana Required</em></strong><em>: 8,500</em>

    <strong><em>Cooldown</em></strong><em>: 30 minutes</em>

    <strong><em>Effects</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?Hundreds of swords with ego will fall from the sky like a heavy downpour.</em>

    <em>?The Heavenly Sword, releasing swords with their egos, will not stop attacking until all those recognized as enemies have been eradicated.</em>

    <em>?Movement speed will also increase by 400% during the skill duration. The skill duration is four minutes.</em>

    <em>?It will deal an additional 700% damage.</em>

    Heavenly Sword was the evolved version of Sword of Tempest afterbining it with Bender¡¯s Heaven Destroyer.

    <em>[You can now use the Supreme Heavenly Sword.]</em>

    <em>[A hundred thousand swords with ego will fall from the sky like a heavy downpour.]</em>

    <em>[The attack will not stop until all enemies have been ughtered.]</em>

    <em>[The skill duration is two minutes.]</em>

    <em>[The Heavenly Sword¡¯s movement speed will increase by 800%.]</em>

    <em>[Heavenly Sword will have a 6,000% additional attack power.]</em>

    Shocking. That was the only word that seemed to suit this power.

    Minhyuk released a trembling breath. He had reached the Supreme power, albeit only temporarily. This was a power that Minhyuk believed he woulde to someday. However, it could take him a year, three years, five years, or even more.

    <em>Swoosh¨C!</em>

    A crack opened in the beautiful universe above them. And in that beautifully open universe, tens of thousands of swords covered with bright and blinding light began to shoot out. This power fell upon the Supreme Monarchs preparing to attack Minhyuk and Rundalk. The first attack pierced through the first Supreme Monarch.

    <em>Stab¨C</em>

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaaaack!¡±

    The scream signaled a constant downpour of the swords of the Supreme Heavenly Sword upon the Supreme Monarchs and continued to stab straight through them. The most shocking part? The Heavenly Sword would only stop the attack once all the targets died.

    The swords that had already pierced through them once flew up and attacked them once again. Just like that, the Supreme Monarchs began to turn into ashes that disappeared with the wind one after another.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk and Rundalk charged forward and ran as fast as they could. While running, notifications continued to ring in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You have obtained an Asteroid Fragment.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained an Asteroid Fragment.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained an Asteroid Fragment.]</em>

    The Pandemonium¡¯s Battlefield had given Minhyuk an infinitely lower amount of Asteroid Fragments than when he first entered Pandemonium and hunted a Supreme Monarch. He had to hunt five of them before he could even obtain one. But now? Tens of thousands of Supreme Monarchs were being wiped out. So, that meant he could rack up quite a few of them.

    <em>[The Supreme Skill has temporarily reduced the amount of EXP you can acquire to 1/20th of the original.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    Minhyuk had only leveled up three times.

    <em>¡®I was able to level up quite a few times even though I have only hunted one Supreme Monarch in the past.¡¯</em>

    Of course, there was something different from the situation back then. The Supreme Monarch was recognized as a ¡°boss¡± ss monster back then. Because of that, the amount of EXP he acquired from sessfully hunting one was ridiculously high. But now? The Supreme Monarch was not considered a boss. On top of that, the EXP that he could acquire had decreased significantly because of the use of the Supreme Skill.

    Although the situations were different, both had given Minhyuk ridiculous amounts of EXP.

    <em>[You have five seconds left to leave the Pandemonium¡¯s Battlefield.]</em>

    <em>[There are 120 meters left.]</em>

    Minhyuk and Rundalk continued to run like crazy until they caught sight of a transparent boundary that separated Pandemonium¡¯s Battlefield and the Final Meteor.

    <em>[You have two seconds left to leave the Pandemonium¡¯s Battlefield.]</em>

    <em>[There are 10 meters left.]</em>

    The two of them sessfully crossed the line with only one second left at the time. When they crossed the boundary, Rundalk finally caught sight of the Final Meteor. It was where Bemy, the daughter he had missed so much, was lying asleep, spraying light like a small star in the universe. Rundalk stretched his hand out toward Bemy.

    <em>[Pandemonium¡¯s Prison.]</em>

    A ck energy surged out from below Rundalk and engulfed him. Rundalk¡¯s breathing was restricted. He felt like he had been submerged in water.

    <em>[Anyone trapped within the Pandemonium¡¯s Prison will die in three minutes.]</em>

    <em>[Anyone trapped within the Pandemonium¡¯s Prison cannot escape unless the Supreme Sovereign hands over the ¡°key¡± or has been killed.]</em>

    <em>[Anyone trapped within the Pandemonium¡¯s Prison will continue to lose strength and control over their body the longer they stay there.]</em>

    <em>[Anyone trapped within the Pandemonium¡¯s Prison for a long time will suffer from some debuff.]</em>

    ¡°Ugh¨C Ughhhh!¡± Rundalk struggled from the ck energy that engulfed him.

    If Rundalk were in his ordinary state, he would have been able to break through this prison no matter what. Unfortunately, Rundalk had already exhausted most of his power and was physically tired.

    At that moment, the space in the universe opened in front of them. Then, a man wearing ck armor, a horned helmet, and a red cape on his shoulders appeared. He looked like one of the Supreme Monarchs but was far more extraordinary than them.

    <em>[The Supreme Sovereign has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[The Supreme Sovereign is tasked to protect the Final Meteor!]</em>

    <em>[Supreme Sovereign. Level 1,313]</em>

    Minhyuk could not help but groan when he saw the chilling level of their next opponent.

    <em>¡®I either have to take away the key or kill the Supreme Sovereign as quickly as possible.¡¯</em>

    Otherwise, Rundalk would die.

    Meanwhile, the Supreme Sovereign, releasing his overwhelming force, looked at Minhyuk viciously through the gaps in his helmet. He thought, <em>¡®I can y with you here as much as I want.¡¯</em>

    Ruba still could not forget the shame that he suffered on that day. How dare the Pir of Gourmands throw himself at the door of the Pir Evaluators! He would give everything back to him andpletely trample over him. Besides, he would not know who he was anyway.

    Ruba turned to look at Rundalk. Then, he said, ¡°Sinner! Do not think of rebelling and pay the price for your sins¡­¡±

    ¡°Huh? Aren¡¯t you the Captain Evaluator?¡±

    ¡°...?¡± The Supreme Sovereign stopped. Then, his body trembled. ¡°Nonsense! I am the Supreme Sovereign¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh, I got it right,¡± Minhyuk said.

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk thought that the voice sounded <em>very</em> familiar. So, he made a guess. And he confirmed his guess when he saw the man¡¯s eyes grow still with his eyes growing wide under his helmet.

    He guessed that the Supreme Sovereign was Captain Evaluator Ruba for quite a few reasons. In the first ce, Chaos bestowed punishment upon Rundalk. Considering that fact and the very familiar voice, there was only one answer as to who the Supreme Sovereign was.

    The Supreme Sovereign¡¯s mouth opened and shut a few times. However, unable toe up with any words to refute, he justunched an attack immediately.

    ¡°Pandemonium Sword.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¨C</em>

    The sword in the hand of the Supreme Sovereign stretched out and shed Minhyuk.

    ¡°Keuhaaaack!¡± Minhyuk screamed, his body suffering from the shocking and overwhelming damage.

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 54%.]</em>

    It was only just one skill, yet his HP dropped significantly. Minhyuk groaned as he used Absolute Defense. With the Absolute Defense activated, he unleashed an onught of attacks upon the Supreme Sovereign.

    Just like Rundalk, Minhyuk had also exhausted most of his powers.

    <em>[You have called upon the Consumable Asteroid.]</em>

    <em>[You have exchanged for the Skill Cooldown Reset.]</em>

    <em>[You have used 100 Asteroid Fragments.]</em>

    The cooldown on all of Minhyuk¡¯s skills was reset.

    <em>[You have exchanged for the 100% HP and MP Recovery.]</em>

    <em>[You have used 50 Asteroid Fragments.]</em>

    Minhyuk restored everything.

    At that moment, the Supreme Sovereign summoned hundreds of meteorites. Hundreds of meteorites appeared around him and immediately shot toward the target his finger was pointing at.

    ¡°Meteorite Bombardment.¡±

    <em>Bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    The speed at which the meteorites were shooting toward Minhyuk doubled, making them crash into him faster.

    Seeing this, Minhyuk hurriedly used Absolute Defense. At the same time, he summoned the Ego Chain Sickle above him. He also summoned Viel¡¯s Puppet Doll while he equipped the ck Dragon Armor.

    Using Like the Wind, Minhyuk broke through the siege of meteorites. When another meteorite was about to hit Minhyuk, Viel¡¯s Puppet Doll struck him.

    <em>Swoosh¨C!</em>

    The Ego Chain Sickle also wrapped its chain around Minhyuk¡¯s wrist and dragged him out of the range of the meteorites, pulling him with all its might.

    ¡°Overpower.¡±

    The Supreme Sovereign fell into an absolute stunned state. Minhyuk immediately pulled out another sword and used the Dual Swordsmanship Technique while activating Annihtor¡¯s Sword to cut down the stunned Supreme Sovereign.

    <em>Stab¨C Stab, stab¨C!</em>

    Dozens of attacksnded upon the Supreme Sovereign. They all cut and stabbed all over his body. When Minhyuk saw the Supreme Sovereign shake and convulse, he felt like he had seen their possibility of winning.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaack!!!¡± The Supreme Sovereign shrieked. Then, a smile appeared on his face. ¡°Keuhahahahaha!¡±

    The shriek turned into derangedughter as the Supreme Sovereign chased after Minhyuk, who was being lifted upward by the Ego Chain Sickle, and cut him a dozen times with his sword.

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 40%.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP has dropped below 25%.]</em>

    Minhyuk seemed to have lost his vision from the onught of attacks and the overwhelming damage inflicted upon him. The worst part? The Supreme Sovereign was targeting his arms and legs.

    <em>[Your movements have been restricted.]</em>

    Minhyuk once again exchanged an HP and MP Recovery for 50 Asteroid Fragments to recover his iling arms and legs.

    <em>¡®This is thest.¡¯</em>

    Most items he could exchange with Asteroid Fragments were limited in quantity. For HP and MP Recovery, he could only exchange and use it twice.

    Minhyuk, who had recovered from all his injuries, poured all his skills into the Supreme Sovereign. Even so, the Supreme Sovereign did not receive much damage. Most of the attacks that Minhyuk had released were a <em>¡®miss.¡¯</em> This was all thanks to the Supreme Sovereign¡¯s passive skill.

    Unlike the Supreme Monarchs, the Supreme Sovereign did not have an infinite HP and MP. In exchange for the loss of the endless status, his HP, MP, and even his damage were more than doubled that of the Supreme Monarchs. There were also attack <em>miss</em>es whenever a weaker opponent attacked him.

    Out of ten of Minhyuk¡¯s attacks, only one or two would seed.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    The Supreme Sovereign mmed Minhyuk¡¯s body on the ground and tied him up with chains. Just like that, Minhyuk was rendered immobile, with his wrists, ankles, and neck shackled to the ground.

    The Supreme Sovereign was pleased with this situation. Those who should be punished should receive more significant punishment. And those who humiliated him should receive greater humiliation and despair.

    Minhyuk tried to break the shackles that bound him but could not make them budge. Meanwhile, Rundalk, who was trapped in the Pandemonium¡¯s Prison, was slowly dying from suffocation.

    ¡°Ughh¡­!¡±

    The Supreme Sovereign cackled at Rundalk¡¯s plight. He said, ¡°I¡¯ll show you some mercy. I should at least let you say goodbye to your daughter once before I send you to your final path.¡±

    The Supreme Sovereignnded lightly on the Final Meteor. Then, he stretched out a thick finger and touched the sleeping Bemy. The light that was covering Bemy¡¯s body slowly faded away. And after a very long time, the little girl opened her eyes.

    ¡°<em>Haaaaaaaa.</em>¡± Bemy yawned, her arms stretching to warm up her body, which had been slumbering for a long time.

    Rundalk¡¯s eyes grew wide when he saw that. He missed his little girl so dearly. He had been trying to see her for 5,000 years. s, even though he could see her now, the situation was terrible.

    The Supreme Sovereign, Captain Evaluator Ruba, seemed trashier and cruder than Minhyuk had imagined.

    ¡°Well then, Bemy. Shall we go and say hello to your dying father?¡±

    ¡°Da¡­ ddy?¡± The stretching Bemy looked around in confusion until she made eye contact with Rundalk.

    A deep and gut-wrenching sadness engulfed Rundalk. His greed made him kill the evaluators and even gave him the audacity to try and rebel against Chaos, who kept the bnce of the world. Drunk on his power, he abandoned this little girl who had been waiting for him in front of their house for a very long time. Rundalk had paid no heed to the girl who wiped her tears when eating alone and going to bed.

    Rundalk knew that he should not be forgiven, but he believed he had paid more than enough for his crime.

    <em>Swoosh¨C</em>

    The ck energy dug deeper and wrapped itself tightly around Rundalk¡¯s throat.

    <em>[You will die in the Pandemonium¡¯s Prison in one minute and thirty seconds.]</em>

    Rundalk¡¯s consciousness started to falter.

    ¡°Daddy!¡±

    He, who was about to slip into his eternal rest, heard the cries of his little girl.

    ¡°You¡­ have crossed the line.¡±

    At that moment, Minhyuk¡¯s voice rang in his ears. Despite his blurred and faltering consciousness, Rundalk turned his head and followed the voice.

    ¡°Hello, Bemy. I¡¯m your dad¡¯s friend.¡±

    Bemy turned to look at Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk was still shackled tightly by the chains. The truth was, he was also very greedy. After all, he thought it would be a waste to use those things now. However, when presented with this scene, he immediately discarded his greed.

    ¡°Bemy, you¡¯re a good girl who listens to adults, right?¡±

    The crying girl nodded.

    At that moment, Minhyuk checked the remaining Asteroid Fragments that he possessed.

    <em>[Asteroid Fragments in possession: 20,403.]</em>

    The number of fragments that he had umted could be said to be astronomical. This amount was enough for Minhyuk to buy something extremely valuable. After Minhyuk had collected over 5,000 fragments, several slots had been released to him. Among them, exceptional items, like the Supreme Skill, were also avable to him. There was one that stood out in particr.

    <em>[All Supreme Asteroids.]</em>

    <em>[You have exchanged for the All Supreme Asteroids.]</em>

    <em>[You have used 20,000 Asteroid Fragments.]</em>

    A blinding light shed in the eyes of everyone present. When the light finally faded, nine asteroids could be seen floating and revolving around Minhyuk.

    ¡°Bemy.¡± Minhyuk smiled faintly and said, ¡°Close your eyes.¡±

 Chapter 1123

    <strong>Chapter 1123</strong>

    When Minhyuk collected 5,000 Asteroid Fragments, the next slot was released. A list of Supremes had also been made avable to him. Each item needed 5,000 Asteroid Fragments for exchange. Of course, the item <em>All Supreme Asteroids</em> was also visible.

    Minhyuk knew the moment the Supreme Sovereign appeared that the quest that he had received would bepleted faster and more easily if he exchanged for the All Supreme Asteroids. s, he was also an ordinary human, even though he knew he still did not exchange for one. Why did he do that? Well, the answer was simple. It was because of greed.

    If he could take away Rundalk¡¯s daughter from the Supreme Sovereign and run away, then he would be able toplete the quest safely. On top of that, he would not need to use any Asteroid Fragments, no?

    What if he could buy something that he needed with those 20,000 Asteroid Fragments? Then, he would be much stronger than he was right now. This greed had shackled Minhyuk and stopped him from using those fragments.

    Now, Minhyuk decided to let go of that greed. It did not matter if he exchanged all his Asteroid Fragments for an item. It did not matter if Rundalk was guilty and had to pay for his crimes. There was a line that one should never cross.

    Captain Evaluator Ruba had been punished for crossing the line that should never have been crossed in Beyond the Heavens Empire in the past. Now, he had crossed this line once again as the Supreme Sovereign. He should never have tried to show how he would kill Rundalk to his little daughter.

    Rundalk sinned against Chaos and the dead evaluators. <em>¡®But Ruba¡­¡¯</em>

    Hemitted this atrocity simply because he enjoyed it.

    ¡°Close your eyes.¡±

    The crying Bemy closed her eyes tightly when she heard Minhyuk¡¯s warm and gentle voice. After instructing Bemy, Minhyuk exchanged one more item with his Asteroid Fragments.

    <em>[You have exchanged for a Safe Space.]</em>

    <em>[Anyone standing in the square space enclosed by the transparent barrier of the Safe Space will be kept safe from any threat and danger.]</em>

    <em>[You have used 200 Asteroid Fragments.]</em>

    A square vase-like space was created around Bemy to protect her. Minhyuk also used the remaining 100 Asteroid Fragments and exchanged them for a ¡°Noise Cancetion.¡±

    ¡°Bemy, you should stay inside this space and count to 120 for me starting now. Okay?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    Minhyuk had wholly given up his greed at this moment.

    He possessed more than 20,000 Asteroid Fragments in the Pandemonium¡¯s Meteor, a realm resembling an eventnd that would never reappear. However, he decided to use them all up, even though they would only raise him to the level of Supreme momentarily. Regardless, he believed that this mere moment was worth it.

    ¡°All Asteroids, will you please lend me your strength?¡±

    <em>Vwoooooooong¨C</em>

    The asteroids that were orbiting around him resonated wildly with his words.

    Minhyuk nodded, his eyes drawn to an asteroid carrying a pattern that looked like something was being sucked into the ck thing in the middle.

    ¡°Consumable Asteroid.¡±

    <em>[The Consumable Asteroid responds to your call.]</em>

    ¡°Please lend me the power of the Supreme that cannot be suppressed or overpowered by anything.¡±

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¨C</em>

    When Minhyuk¡¯s words ended, the shackles that rendered him immobile began to crack. With a simple push, all the shackles that tied him down fell on the ground.

    Minhyuk immediately used Like the Wind and charged forward. He did not have much time. When he called for an asteroid, he was able to see Rundalk. From what he could see, Rundalk was already on thest strings of his consciousness. There was a high chance that he would die soon, and his death in this ce would mean hisplete extinction.

    The Supreme Sovereign Ruba was flustered when he saw Minhyuk running through the beautiful and captivating universe.

    ¡°Die!!!¡±

    Ruba wanted tough and mock Minhyuk. So, when he saw Minhyuk rushing at him, he activated a powerful force. At that moment, hundreds of asteroids burned around him.

    <em>[The Sun¡¯s Meteor has been activated.]</em>

    <em>[The moment the Sun¡¯s Meteor gets close to your enemies, their bodies will melt. The Sun¡¯s Meteor will also create a huge explosion shortly after contact.]</em>

    The Sun¡¯s Meteor burned like the sun and shot toward where the Supreme Sovereign was pointing straight toward Minhyuk. Even so, Minhyuk did not back down. He continued to run despite the magnificent spectacle that was charging at him.

    ¡°Shield Asteroid.¡±

    <em>[The Shield Asteroid responds to your call.]</em>

    ¡°Please lend me the power of the strongest shield that can never be broken by anything!¡±

    <em>[The Shield Asteroid has summoned the Supreme Shield.]</em>

    <em>[The Supreme Shield will remain in effect for thirty seconds. No attack can pierce through the shield protecting you!]</em>

    A considerable force shot out from the Shield Asteroid and wrapped around Minhyuk. Minhyuk, covered with a blue barrier, finally collided with the Sun¡¯s Meteor. However, there was no impact. Minhyuk¡¯s body swiftly passed through the Sun¡¯s Meteor. It was as if his body had turned into a spirit state in that moment. The flustered and embarrassed Supreme Sovereignunched countless Sun¡¯s Meteor at him, but nothing changed.

    Not long after, Minhyuk arrived in front of Supreme Sovereign Ruba.

    ¡°BASTAAAAAARD!!!¡±

    <em>[The Supreme Sovereign begins to gather the Pandemonium¡¯s energy.]</em>

    <em>[The Pandemonium¡¯s energy has strengthened all of his powers.]</em>

    <em>[All of the Supreme Sovereign¡¯s stats and skills will increase by 20%.]</em>

    An overwhelming amount of energy flowed from the strengthened Supreme Sovereign, and he swung his sword at Minhyuk.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    Unlike the Sun¡¯s Meteors that passed through Minhyuk¡¯s body, the attack could hit him. Even if an attack could hit, it could not do anything in front of the imprable shield that covered Minhyuk¡¯s body. The attack did not reach and could only release shockwaves that wreaked havoc in Pandemonium.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¨C</em>

    A mocking grin formed on Minhyuk¡¯s face. Then, he said, ¡°Skill Asteroid, Artifact Asteroid.¡±

    At the same time, two asteroids released a bright and blinding light.

    ¡°Please lend me the power of the Supreme skill and the power of the Supreme sword.¡±

    <em>[The Skill Asteroid will turn the power of your chosen skill into the power of the Supreme skill.]</em>

    <em>[The skill: Lightning has evolved into Supreme Lightning.]</em>

    <em>[The Supreme Lightning will tear and rip apart any enemies in your path.]</em>

    <em>[The Artifact Asteroid will turn your chosen artifact''s power into the Supreme artifact''s power.]</em>

    <em>[The Sword of Aeon has evolved into the Supreme Sword of Aeon.]</em>

    <em>[The Supreme Sword of Aeon can never be blocked by any enemies in your path.]</em>

    <em>[Lightning has gone beyond Level 20.]</em>

    <em>[Sword of Aeon has been strengthened by +30.]</em>

    Amidst all this, the Supreme Sovereign¡¯s attacks did not stop bashing into Minhyuk. Even so, the grin on Minhyuk¡¯s face never faded.

    Minhyuk deliberately did not strengthen his ¡°single-target¡± skill. Perhaps it would have been easier if he chose a skill like that. The reason why he decided to enhance the passive skill Lightning was straightforward.

    ¡°I¡¯ll beat you to death.¡±

    ¡°...?!¡±

    That was right. He intended to beat Ruba to his death.

    Ruba had worn the mask of the Supreme Sovereign and tried to mock and trample on Minhyuk. Since he used that mask, the fact that he was an evaluator would not matter here. Likewise, no one could interfere and stop Minhyuk regardless of the method of hunting the Supreme Sovereign.

    ¡°Bullshit¡­! I am the Supreme Sovereign! I can ignore most attacks, regardless of their nature!¡±

    Ruba frowned under his helmet. He thought that Minhyuk trying to beat him to death was just some kind of crazy talk.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    When Minhyuk¡¯s sword hit him, around eighty lightning bolts fell and devoured him like crazy.

    On top of that, Minhyuk had reached the Supreme level. This meant that the gap between him and Ruba had been significantly narrowed. Now, Ruba could only thwart 4 out of 5 attacks that fell on him. In other words, one out of five attacks wouldnd and damage him. And Minhyuk? He could send more than ten attacks in a second.

    ¡°K-Keuhaaaaaaack?!¡±

    The Supreme Sovereign was immobile by the attacks that constantlynded on his body.

    The Supreme Lightning could leave the opponent in an infinite stunned state with how many strikes it couldnd upon the enemy. That was why this was the perfect skill for beating someone to their death.

    Minhyuk was also surprised as the lightning fell upon the Supreme Sovereign like crazy.

    <em>¡®He has this much HP?¡¯</em>

    It was because the Supreme Sovereign possessed enormous HP and defensive power. Of course, this was because the Supreme Sovereign was the greatest existence in this temporary realm. So, in this ce, he was most likely stronger than Helenia.

    Even so, his HP and defensive power could still be considered ridiculously high. Nevertheless, the grin never left Minhyuk¡¯s face.

    ¡°Stat Asteroid.¡±

    There were still a lot of asteroids that could lend him their power.

    <em>[The Stat Asteroid responds to your call.]</em>

    ¡°Please lend me the power to break anything in my path.¡±

    <em>[The Stat Asteroid raises your STR to a shocking level.]</em>

    STR was a stat that was rted to the sword¡¯s attack power.

    <em>[Your STR stat has increased by 45%.]</em>

    <em>Swoosh¨C!</em>

    An eerie and hair-raising sound rang as Minhyuk swung his sword. Lightning continuously hit Ruba¡¯s body while Minhyuk attacked him non-stop. Minhyuk could see a visible drop in Ruba¡¯s HP.

    ¡°K-Keuhaaaaack! S-stoooooooop!!!¡± Ruba shrieked.

    Nevertheless, Minhyuk did not stop attacking him. He kept hitting and attacking the parts of his body that hurt the most.

    <em>[The Supreme Shield will now be released.]</em>

    The Supreme Sovereign, humiliated and trampled on, was waiting for this very moment.

    <em>[The Supreme Sovereign ignores any power.]</em>

    Of course, Ruba did not allow himself to get hit like that. Various calctions were going through his head. And with those calctions, he was able to release himself from the infinite stunned state that he was forced into.

    Minhyuk switched to the ck Dragon Armor when he saw Ruba break the infinite stunned state and try to cut him.

    ¡°Rampant Supreme.¡±

    A shocking force erupted from Ruba¡¯s sword as he hacked Minhyuk more than 300 times in a row. The sword in his hands left dozens of afterimages as he charged toward Minhyuk.

    Minhyuk, who watched his HP drop rapidly, called out in his head. <em>¡®Courage Asteroid!¡¯</em>

    <em>[The Courage Asteroid responds to your call.]</em>

    <em>¡®Please lend me enough courage to never back down in front of any overwhelming power.¡¯</em>

    <em>[The Courage Asteroid gives you undying courage and helps you fight against your enemies.]</em>

    At that moment, Minhyuk unknowingly allowed a single attack tond on him. This attack made his HP fall below 3% in just an instant. Minhyuk groaned.

    <em>¡®This is nuts.¡¯</em>

    Pandemonium was truly a ridiculous ce. And the Supreme Sovereign was an even more ridiculous existence. That was probably why Minhyuk was given the chance to reach the Supreme. As long as there was the tiniest possibility, there would be a hole that he could dig into and breakthrough.

    <em>[You have been forced to log out.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s vision turned dark. But before the Supreme Sovereign could rejoice and release maniacalughter, Minhyuk, slowly turning into ashes, returned with apletely intact body.

    <em>[You possess the Supreme Courage. You will not die.]</em>

    ¡°...?!¡±

    <em>[Your HP has been restored to 12%.]</em>

    Ultimately, the effects of the Supreme Sovereign¡¯s Rampant Supreme were rendered useless.

    <em>[You have umted more than 85% Transcendence.]</em>

    It was just two seconds, but Minhyuk was able to umte more than 80% of Transcendence.

    ¡°Transcendence.¡±

    A ck energy that was darker and bigger than ever appeared around Minhyuk.

    However, the Supreme Sovereign was beyond delighted. He cackled when he realized that all of his calctions were spot on.

    ¡°K-Keuhahahahaha! Keuhahahahahaha!¡± He cackled as he looked at Rundalk. ¡°Idiot. If you had used the Supreme on your strongest attack andunched it at me, this wouldn¡¯t have happened.¡±

    Rundalk had already turned into a cold corpse. That was right. While Minhyuk was frantically using Lightning to beat the Supreme Sovereign, Rundalk was left to die slowly. If Minhyuk had not struck him with Lightning, then he would have been able to survive. Of course, he would still have disabilities, but he would still survive.

    <em>¡®This is my victory.¡¯</em>

    After all, the Supreme Sovereign was just a temporary existence created because of Rundalk. His work here was done.

    Just then, the cackling Ruba saw the grin on Minhyuk¡¯s face.

    ¡°I think my calctions are correct?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Supreme Sovereign Ruba looked at him in confusion.

    <em>¡®Wait. N-no way?!¡¯</em>

    Only at this moment did Ruba understand the situation.

    Rundalk was trapped inside the Pandemonium¡¯s Prison. The longer he was trapped inside, the more his body lost its power and the more debuffedi he would be. So, how could they get through this hurdle? And how could they restore the body that had lost its power?

    Well, the answer was simple: Resurrection. They only had to resurrect him after his death. Only then would Rundalk not be deprived of his power and suffer from any disability.

    If that was the case, Minhyuk had a way to save Rundalk.

    <em>Swoosh¨C</em>

    Goosebumps rose all over Ruba¡¯s body when he realized the depth of Minhyuk¡¯s calctions.

    At that moment, Minhyuk, dragging his feet to wait for Rundalk¡¯s death, called out to another asteroid.

    ¡°Ability Asteroid.¡±

    <em>[The Ability Asteroid responds to your call.]</em>

    When it came to things like this, the result often depended on how one would use them. Minhyuk had been covering his tracks by turning Lightning into Supreme Lightning. Only in that way would he be able to create a new Supreme Skill without interference.

    ¡°Please lend me the power to turn any power into the Supreme.¡±

    <em>[The Ability Asteroid bestows the ¡°Supreme Skill Reinforcement upon you.¡±]</em>

    ¡°Use the Supreme Skill Reinforcement.¡±

    The Transcendental¡¯s Spear appeared before Minhyuk with overwhelming ck energy spilling out of its de.

    ¡°Skill Reinforcement.¡±

    <em>[The Transcendental¡¯s Spear bes more powerful.]</em>

    <em>[The Transcendental¡¯s Spear bes more powerful.]</em>

    <em>[The Transcendental¡¯s Spear¡­]</em>

    <em>[The Transcendental¡¯s Spear gains the power of the Supreme!]</em>

    This beautiful Transcendental¡¯s Spear became the Supreme.

    <em>[Transcendental¡¯s Spear.]</em>

    <em>[The Transcendental¡¯s Spear will deal an additional 173,000% damage with a 100% hit rate to the designated target.]</em>

    <em>[The target will be left in a thirty-second stunned state.]</em>

    It now possessed the Supreme power that could pierce through any enemies. And this overwhelming Supreme power pierced through the heart of Supreme Sovereign Ruba.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaaa¨C!</em>

    ¡°Ah. By the way¡­¡±

    The Supreme Sovereign, pierced through the heart and already turning into ashes, turned to look at Minhyuk.

    ¡°Next time you visit me, I will make sure to serve you the same thing I gave youst time.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Ruba looked at Minhyuk in confusion. What did he mean by <emst time</em>?

    ¡°That meal was originally meant for Love, Hope and Happiness. But I¡¯ll give it to you because you¡¯re special.¡±

    ¡°Love, Hope and Happiness¡­?¡±

    Ruba¡¯s pupils trembled fiercely when he heard those words.

    ¡°Ah. It¡¯s the name of the Cerberus that I¡¯m raising.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    At this moment, Ruba realized that the <em>bibimbap</em> they gobbled up was <em>dog food.</em>

 Chapter 1124

    <strong>Chapter 1124</strong>

    Evaluator¡¯s Conference Room.

    The evaluators were gathered in the conference room to discuss the results of the Advanced Polls.

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe that it¡¯s not the Pir of Death but the Pir of the Gourmands who took 1st ce in the Advanced Polls.¡±

    ¡°Fortunately, it¡¯s just the Advanced Polls. If it¡¯s the true Pir test, then I¡¯m sure that the Pir of the Gourmands will never be able to climb to the position of a Pir.¡±

    ¡°Ah, more importantly, when will Lord Ruba wake up?¡±

    Ruba suddenly fell asleep in the middle of their meeting. From what they heard, he was doing something for Chaos.

    Not long after, the sleeping Ruba woke up with a start and immediately began to scream. ¡°A-aaaaaaaaaaah!!! You m*therf*cker!!!¡±¡°...?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Confused, the other evaluators looked at Ruba, covered in cold sweat.

    Ruba, who was acting under the mask of the Supreme Sovereign just now, died after being directly hit by Minhyuk¡¯s Transcendental¡¯s Spear. Before he died ultimately in that ce, he was left with the shocking truth about the food that they had eaten back then.

    ¡°Captain, are you okay?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±

    Ruba could not help but wipe the cold sweat that began to drip down his forehead once again after being questioned by the other evaluators. He could not say that he met with the Pir of the Gourmands and tried to pay back the humiliation that they had sufferedst time but ended up being beaten again.

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing. More importantly, is the meeting over?¡±

    ¡°Yes. We were just waiting for you to wake up, Captain.¡±

    Ruba nodded calmly.

    Then, at that moment, Arshad looked at him mournfully and said, ¡°Captain, do you remember?¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°You know, the <em>bibimbap </em>the Pir of the Gourmands gave us before? I still can¡¯t forget the taste of that <em>bibimbap</em>. He even mixed it for us.¡±

    Royer also piped up. ¡°That¡¯s right. I would think about it every once in a while before going to bed. Ah, just thinking about it is enough to make my mouth water.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Ruba went silent for a long time and looked at them like that.

    ***

    Rundalk, who was slowly falling into the depths of the abyss, recalled his final memory. It was the scene where the Supreme Sovereign showed his daughter his dying figure. What made Rundalk even sadder was the fact that the only memory that he left of him to his child was the memory of being an inadequate and absent father.

    ¨C<em>Daddy, where are you going?</em>

    <em>¨CDaddy¡¯s very busy, Bemy. If Daddy bes a great person, then others will treat Bemy nicely, and we will live happily.</em>

    The child looked up at him sadly while holding onto his hands tightly. What his child needed was not an absolute being who even the Pirs could not dare to treat lightly. She just needed her father to read the fairy tale book and use his arms as her pillow while sleeping.

    Because of that, Rundalk was determined to live just for her sake once they met again. Yet it seemed like he was still far too greedy.

    As he got drawn deeper into the abyss, these notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[Pandemonium slowly seeps into your legs.]</em>

    <em>[Even if you get out of the Pandemonium¡¯s Prison, you will be with a limp.]</em>

    <em>[Pandemonium slowly seeps into your arms.]</em>

    <em>[Even if you leave the Pandemonium¡¯s Prison, your arms will only have enough strength to hold up a pair of chopsticks.]</em>

    <em>[The Pandemonium¡¯s Prison¡¯s power takes away most of your powers.]</em>

    Rundalk knew that it would not be easy to live his life for his daughter anymore. However, he wanted to hold his cute daughter¡¯s hands just once. Just onest time, like she did when holding his hands.

    In the end, Rundalk sumbed to his death.

    <em>[You are paying the price for the crime of trying to break the bnce of the world.]</em>

    <em>[This is your final challenge.]</em>

    <em>[Your soul has started to dissipate.]</em>

    As he slowly fell deeper and deeper into the abyss and slipped into his eternal rest, another voice rang in his ears.

    ¡°D¡­ dy?!¡±

    He felt like he was slowly being pulled up from the depths of the darkness. The unidentified voice also began to sound clearer and clearer in his ears.

    ¡°Da¡­ ddy!!!¡±

    Then, he felt the touch of a tiny hand. It was holding tightly onto his own. Not long after, another series of notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[The Life Asteroid brings you back to life.]</em>

    <em>[All disabilities left in your arms, legs, and body willpletely disappear.]</em>

    <em>[Around 75% of your abilities that have dissipated and have been lost can be recovered.]</em>

    Rundalk¡¯s eyes snapped open. At the same time, he caught sight of his daughter, Bemy, holding hisrge hand tightly with her tiny hands while crying. He still could not make sense of the situation that he was in.

    That was when he saw one of the asteroids floating around Minhyuk, bursting with bright light. It was none other than the Life Asteroid. Years of honed instincts told him that Minhyuk had used the power of that asteroid to save him. When Rundalk looked around, he also realized that the Supreme Sovereign was nowhere to be seen.

    He sighed in relief as he hugged Bemy in his arms. He said, ¡°From now on, I will never leave your side. Daddy promises to live only for you.¡±

    After that, Minhyuk exined what had happened. He told Rundalk about using the power of the asteroids to climb to the level of the Supreme and kill the Supreme Sovereign.

    ***

    Minhyuk, who had used the power of the Life Asteroid to revive Rundalk, could not hide his regret.

    <em>¡®I wish he was able to regain all of his powers.¡¯</em>

    Even though it had the power of the Supreme, it seemed like there were still limits that restricted them. However, it did not matter that much. Now, Rundalk shed the happiest smile in the world as he hugged his daughter tightly.

    <em>¡®Shall we check it now?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk did not have the time to check the notifications after he killed the Supreme Sovereign. It was because he thought that it would be challenging to save Rundalk if he left the man in his dead state for a long time.

    Now that everything was settled, he checked the notifications he had heard earlier.

    <em>[You have sessfully hunted the Supreme Sovereign.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 890,694 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have borrowed the power of the All Supreme Asteroids. The EXP that you have gained will decrease.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 69,899,000,013 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have leveled up.]</em>

    <em>[You have hunted the Supreme Sovereign. You have earned 700 cash.]</em>

    <em>[The Supreme Sovereign does not drop anything, including artifacts.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk could not help but be shocked by the notifications.

    The Supreme Sovereign was on par with an event mob. Yet, there were no artifacts, consumables, artifact materials, or any other rewards.

    <em>¡®This is shi¡­¡¯</em>

    As he scrolled down, his consternation turned into delight.

    <em>[The Supreme Sovereign is a boss mob that cannot be hunted and cleared without borrowing the powers of the asteroids.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained the </em><strong><em>Easter Egg</em></strong><em>: The One who Endured.]</em>

    <em>[The 20,000 Asteroid Fragments you used to exchange for the All Supreme Asteroids will be returned to you.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained 20,000 Asteroid Fragments.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained 30,000 Asteroid Fragments for the sessful hunt of the Supreme Sovereign.]</em>

    <em>[The first slot of items you can exchange with Asteroid Fragments will now be closed.]</em>

    <em>[You have umted 50,000 Asteroid Fragments. A new slot will now be opened.]</em>

    <em>[Most items avable for exchange in the new slot can only be exchanged once every four years.]</em>

    <em>[A few select items are not subjected to the once-every-four-years exchange restriction.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyebrows immediately raised when he saw the words ¡°once every four years.¡±

    <em>¡®Wow. They¡¯re brilliant.¡¯</em>

    The items in the first slot were all incredibly outstanding, and he could buy around 100~500 pieces of each of them. Now that he had an astronomical amount of fragments, he decided to close that slot. This was so he could open up better slots and obtain more excellent items in the future. And right now, Minhyuk was checking the new slot for him.

    <em>[Supreme Reinforcement Scroll. Required Asteroid Fragments: 5,000]</em>

    The effects of the item could only be described as crazy. When the scroll was applied, the chances of obtaining a +3 reinforcement would immediately jump to 100%. What was more surprising was that there was no restriction on what kind of artifact or how many reinforcements the artifact had before it.

    <em>[Supreme Skill Scroll. Required Asteroid Fragments: 6,000]</em>

    ording to its description, it could increase any skill level regardless of the skill''s rank by +2.

    <em>[Supreme Artifact Material. Required Asteroid Fragments: 8,000]</em>

    <em>[Supreme¡­]</em>

    <em>[Supreme¡­]</em>

    The further he went down the list, the more the frown on his face deepened.

    ¡°Why?!¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Rundalk, enjoying his reunion with his daughter Bemy, turned to look at the screaming Minhyuk in confusion. This was because he suddenly began huffing and puffing and stomping his feet.

    ¡°Why is the most important thing not here?!¡± Minhyuk screamed as he looked above him.

    This newly opened slot has the worst drawback to have ever existed.

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t there any ingredients here?!¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    That was right. The most important thing that Minhyuk was referring to was none other than cooking ingredients.

    When Minhyuk heard that the items he could exchange from this newly opened slot could only be exchanged once every four years, a dream immediately formed in his head. He dreamt of obtaining the Supreme ingredient and taking it out to eat every once in a while. It would feel like eating something that he had saved for four years.

    The thought of eating something after a long wait filled him with delight. s, his dreams were shattered. No ingredients were on the list of items avable.

    Minhyuk looked at Bemy and said softly and gently, ¡°Bemy, can you close your eyes for me?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Despite the confusion on her face, Bemy still obediently closed her eyes. And Rundalk? He instinctively blocked her ears.

    ¡°What kind of bullshit!#@!#@$#$@!!!¡±

    The words were a testament to how furious Minhyuk was.

    ¡°<em>Phew.</em>¡±

    Finally regaining his calm, Minhyuk nodded at Rundalk. Only after seeing him nod did Rundalk take his hands off Bemy¡¯s ears.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on, Daddy?¡±

    ¡°Uhm¡­ Well, Daddy¡¯s friend prayed to the heavens. The prayer was so sacred and holy(?) that no one else could listen to it.¡±

    ¡°Aha!¡± Bemy nodded fiercely as if she understood the words that her father said.

    After figuring out why Minhyuk was angry, Rundalk said, ¡°If what you want is not avable, then why don¡¯t you just exchange your fragments for something that can make it?¡±

    This was sincere advice from Rundalk, someone who had lived for thousands of years. Minhyuk was finally enlightened. Indeed, there was certainly a way to do that.

    Minhyuk once again scrolled through the avable items and scrutinized every single detail about them. At that moment, an item caught Minhyuk¡¯s eyes.

    <em>[Supreme Treasure Box (5). Required Asteroid Fragments: 25,000. There is no restriction on the number that you can purchase.]</em>

    <em>¡®It has nothing to do with cooking.¡¯</em>

    Regardless, he could obtain five Supreme Treasure Boxes in one go. On top of that, the effects of the Supreme Treasure Box clearly stated that there was a chance that he could obtain something that was not in the Asteroid Fragment Shop. There was also this effect.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s a meager chance of obtaining a far greater item than the items open for exchange with Asteroid Fragments.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk pondered deeply about this matter. If he exchanged one of the other items now, he could only exchange them again four yearster. Wouldn¡¯t it be better for him to increase his worth by exchanging everything he could exchange today? Waiting for four years would probably be a bit toote, no?

    Of course, if there were ingredients avable, he would have been very willing to wait for four more years. Since there were none, he decided to exchange it for this, hoping there would be ingredients inside.

    <em>[You have exchanged for Supreme Treasure Box(5).]</em>

    The moment the notifications rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears, he saw Rundalk approach him hand in hand with Bemy. He looked like he had already made up his mind about something.

    ***

    Land of the Leaders.

    The faction members following the King of Destruction were all covered in gloom. It was as if they were attending a funeral. They had been wiped out before reaching Pandemonium¡¯s halfway point. Among the people who joined the expedition, only Minhyuk and Rundalk survived.

    ¡°Damn it! This is Lord Rundalk¡¯sst opportunity, but¡­¡± ine cried out, his tone using himself.

    The members of the faction of the King of Destruction held a deep affection for Rundalk. Their main goal was to allow him to meet his daughter.

    The other factions looked at the grieving members of the faction of the King of Destruction.

    ¡°That guy always makes the impossible possible,¡± Beradon said with a small smile.

    Rokan, one of the Monarch of All Creations, asked Beradon to tell them more about Minhyuk. Beradon willingly ryed the young man¡¯s story, but it was pretty hard to believe for those who listened.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that too ridiculous?¡±

    The story was so far-fetched that Rokan could not believe it.

    ¡°You¡¯re saying that the one hailed as the Spear God works for him, the emperor, as a barista?¡±

    ¡°And his sister is the Continental Emperor while his uncle is Overlord Raldo, a genius that only appears once every era?¡±

    There was something even more unbelievable.

    ¡°He treats the God of Cooking as his grandma?¡±

    No. Anyone who heard that would think the one rying this story was stupid.

    ¡°Then, are you saying that if the one who rules the seaes to his empire, they would only be a fisherman?¡±

    <em>¡®How did he know?¡¯</em>

    The Pirate King Gorfido was a fisherman in the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    Rokanughed incredulously. ¡°Then, does that mean that the being symbolizing the Beyond the Heavens Empire is a <em>pig</em>?¡±

    As a member of the faction of the King of All Creators, he did not need to be overly polite to the King of Good Beradon. He just spoke his mind and told him everything that he wanted to tell.

    When Beradon heard his words, surprise shed on his face.

    ¡°No way. They have a pig as their symbol?¡±

    ¡°This is so ridiculous that I can¡¯t even speak properly. Especially when I heard that his uncle was the Overlord and his sister was the Continental Emperor Candidate. If we follow the logic of your words, then once Minhyuk and the King of Destruction came back, would they already be grandson and grandfather? I wonder what position he would take by then?¡±

    Beradon blinked nkly. It was because everything that was said was true.

    ¡°If that happens, then I¡¯ll strip my clothes off and dance naked. No matter how I think about it, I still can¡¯t believe that such existences from legends and myths will willingly do something like that.¡±

    At that moment, three bright and blinding lights shed in front of everyone.

    Rundalk walked out of the bright light and said, ¡°Hohoho. Alright, alright. This grandpa will cherish and protect our dear Minhyuk.¡±

    ¡°Yep, Supreme Grandpa!¡±

    ¡°Eh?¡±

    At this moment, Rokan realized that something had gone wrong. Why did Rundalk suddenly be Minhyuk¡¯s grandfather?

    Then, Rundalk dered, ¡°Everyone, I want you to know that Minhyuk is like a grandson to me. Ah. No. He¡¯s more than my grandson.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°How should this grandpa help you?¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Minhyuk pondered. Then, he said, ¡°Then, how about bing the director of the Sprout Academy? Bemy is also at that age.¡±

    ¡°Sprout Academy?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Sprout Academy is where we look after the children of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. The children there are mostly of Bemy¡¯s age. So, wouldn¡¯t it be good if Grandpa Rundalk goes there to protect them?¡±

    ¡°Ooooooh. That¡¯s good!¡±

    Rokan, who watched that scene, could not help but wonder what he was listening to. At that moment, Beradon sneaked up to him and said, ¡°See? The Supreme is now the director of the Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s kindergarten.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°But boy¡­ I¡¯m not inclined to see you fulfill your promise.¡± Beradon frowned as he nced at Rokan.

    And Rokan? He was very curious. <em>¡®What the hell happened inside Pandemonium?¡¯</em>

    Anyway, from this day on, the Supreme will be the director of the Sprout Kindergarten.

 Chapter 1125

    Chapter 1125

    <strong>Chapter 1125</strong>

    Thirty minutes before Minhyuk and Rundalk returned to the Land of the Leaders.

    Minhyuk followed Rundalk¡¯s advice and exchanged his fragments for the Supreme Treasure Box. Then, not long after, Rundalk walked hand in hand with Bemy and approached him.

    With a determined look, Rundalk bowed politely and said, ¡°I thank you from the bottom of my heart.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing. It was just a deal between us.¡±

    It was the truth. Rundalk had told Minhyuk that he would give him one of his abilities and even use his power as the king of the Land of the Leaders to grow his Ingredient Brimming with Potential if he could help him meet his daughter.

    But Rundalk was talking about something else.

    ¡°ording to the legends, the Asteroid Fragments are very hard toe by. You must have spent a lot of fragments when you used the Life Asteroid to revive me¡­¡±That was when Minhyuk realized that Rundalk could not see the Asteroid Fragment¡¯s transaction details. Unlike what Rundalk thought, Minhyuk exchanged the ¡°All Supreme Asteroids¡± and used 20,000 Asteroid Fragments for it. So, he did not spend any fragments specifically for that.

    But, of course, Minhyuk would not miss this opportunity. His eyes suddenly grew red.

    ¡°No, it¡¯s nothing. Even though I used around 30,000 fragments, it¡¯s fine as long as Sir Rundalk and Bemy get reunited.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°If the two of you did not get to meet each other, then my heart would have been broken.¡±

    Tears eventually fell from Minhyuk¡¯s eyes.

    When Bemy saw him cry, she unknowingly grabbed her father¡¯s cor while saying, ¡°D-daddy¡­ That uncle is a nice guy.¡±

    Warmth flooded Rundalk¡¯s chest when he saw him like that. Minhyuk was willing to use those 30,000 valuable fragments just so he could let him meet his daughter.

    Then, Minhyuk held Rundalk¡¯s hand and said, ¡°From now on, all you need to do is to live happily with each other.¡±

    Rundalk¡¯s eyes grew misty when he heard those words. However, there were other reasons why he approached Minhyuk.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how to go to a ce other than the Land of the Leaders. And I can¡¯t raise Bemy here in the Land of the Leaders. I¡¯m very sorry but I want to ask you a favor.¡±

    Rundalk looked genuinely sorry.

    ¡°If you can find a way to make it possible, then I will definitely repay you to the best of my abilities.¡±

    Minhyuk immediately recalled one of the items that he could exchange for asteroid fragments. It was none other than the Pandemonium¡¯s Trade. The Pandemonium¡¯s Trade was literally an item that would allow him to make a deal with the master of Pandemonium, Chaos.

    ¡°It¡¯s not as if there¡¯s no way out for you.¡±

    ¡°R-really?¡± Rundalk asked, a sparkle appearing in his eyes. However, worry was also evident. He knew that Minhyuk would have to use his precious fragments for their sake once again.

    ¡°But I want to see the two of you happy, so I¡¯ll exchange for it.¡±

    ¡°How many fragments do you need to exchange for it?¡±

    <em>[Pandemonium¡¯s Trade. Required Asteroid Fragments: 4,000.]</em>

    ¡°It would need 40,000 fragments.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Forty thousand fragments was a huge amount, and Rundalk knew how hard Minhyuk worked to obtain that many fragments.

    But Minhyuk smiled softly at him and said, ¡°The price is quite cheappared to the happiness that the two of you will have in the future.¡±

    Minhyuk exchanged for the item right away. Rundalk was deeply moved by Minhyuk''s generosity. He vowed to do his best to repay the favor and kindness they had received from him.

    After exchanging for the Pandemonium¡¯s Trade, Minhyuk immediately called for Chaos.

    <em>¡®Lord Chaos, let¡¯s make a deal. Let me take Rundalk out of the Land of the Leaders.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk said he would need 40,000 fragments even though all he needed to exchange for the item was 4,000. This was mainly because he knew using Pandemonium¡¯s Trade would require a price. After all, the word ¡°trade¡± was in the name itself. There was a high chance that Chaos would demand more fragments as a part of their deal.

    But the answer that Minhyuk received was very unexpected.

    <em>[In the first ce, Rundalk would be given the chance to live sixty years of life as a human being once he meets Bemy.]</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

    Minhyuk was surprised. However, he did not show any of it on his face.

    That was right. Unlike Ruba, Chaos believed that Rundalk had already paid more than enough for the sin that he hadmitted. In other words, Minhyuk did not need to pay anything to make a deal.

    Minhyuk, who had closed the deal that was not a deal with Chaos, turned to Rundalk and said, ¡°Sir Rundalk, you can now live for sixty years as a human being. I have struck an excellent deal with Pandemonium.¡±

    Rundalk was deeply moved.

    Then, Minhyuk added, ¡°I would also like to extend an invitation to you, Sir Rundalk, and Bemy. It would be nice if you woulde to my empire. I¡¯ll give you a decent house and a good position where you two can live together. Now, the only thing you two must do is live happily.¡±

    This was Minhyuk¡¯s show of sincerity. He truly hoped that the two of them would be able to live happily for the rest of their lives. Of course, the increase of the Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s military prowess with Rundalk¡¯s addition was a bonus.

    Rundalk immediately knelt and said, ¡°Thank you! Thank you very much! I don¡¯t know how I will ever be able to repay this favor! I will do my best to repay your kindness. No. At the very least, I will obey yourmands!¡±

    Minhyuk''s winning over Rundalk¡¯s heart and loyalty was worth more than the 4,000 fragments he had used. In fact, if put into perspective, it would probably be worth 700,000 fragments.

    Minhyuk hurriedly helped Rundalk up. ¡°Sir Rundalk, I think it would be better for you to refrain from doing that in front of Bemy.¡±

    <em>¡®Aaaah. He¡¯s even this delicate!¡¯</em>

    Rundalk struggled to keep his emotions in check. Just then, Minhyuk cleared his throat and whispered, ¡°I already know your desire to repay the grace I have given you and you want to obey mymands. How about you do it differently? After all, you have Bemy here with you.¡±

    ¡°A different way?¡±

    ¡°For example, treating me like family or something¡­¡±

    When Rundalk heard those words, he asked, ¡°How old are you this year?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m twenty-one years old this year.¡±

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, I will be your grandfather.¡±

    ¡°Then, does that mean I can call you Grandpa now?¡±

    ¡°Of course. Hahahahaha! It feels so nice to have such a wonderful grandson like you!¡± Rundalkughed happily.

    He was grateful that Minhyuk cared about him and his rtionship with Bemy. After they finished discussing how they would refer to each other, a notification rang in their ears.

    <em>[You will be sent out of Pandemonium.]</em>

    Once they returned to the Land of the Leaders, Minhyuk immediately introduced his new grandfather and gave him a position.

    ***

    <em>¡®Fu-fufufufu¡­¡¯</em> Minhyukughed to himself after giving Rundalk the position of the Sprout Academy¡¯s director.

    The truth was, Minhyuk¡¯s vassals all held positions rted to food or anything delicious. Of course, the same was true for Sprout Academy. The young children learning at Sprout Academy were talented people who were taught things like barista work, farming, fishing, cooking, and the like at a very early age.

    If Supreme Rundalk were to teach these children, then he would be able to easily nurture and protect the young sprouts from being taken by the empires and kingdoms that coveted the children¡¯s talents.

    Thanks to Rundalk giving him the <em>¡®Land of the Leaders Entry Scroll,¡¯</em> he was able to postpone selecting the ability that he obtained from the candidates here untilter.

    <em>¡®I have to be very careful when choosing abilities.¡¯</em>

    Because of the item that Rundalk gave him, he could now choose calmly and go back to receive whatever ability he wanted and needed.

    Of course, Minhyuk also obtained another reward from Rundalk.

    <em>[The King of Destruction helps you grow the Fantastic-grade Ingredient once.]</em>

    <em>[The Fantastic-grade Ingredient has now grown into a Phenomenal-grade Ingredient.]</em>

    Rundalk also told him he would give him one of his abilities once he returned with Minhyuk to the Beyond the Heavens Empire. Minhyuk¡¯s new grandfather, Rundalk, was truly cool and very powerful.

    ¡°If you have any information about any delicious ingredient you have seen or heard when you were still on earth, ry that information to my grandson.¡±

    ¡°...?!¡± Minhyuk was shocked.

    He watched as Rundalk handed a piece of paper to the candidates and told them to pass it on. And the candidates? They wrote on the paper one after another. Of course, there would probably be only a few left from those things since it has been a long time since they had been on Earth. However, what was certain was that Minhyuk could obtain great things from that information.

    Minhyukughed happily as he held the paper they had given him as if he were being given a very important map of a treasure.

    Now that all the quests had beenpleted, Minhyuk found it hard to stay in this ce longer.

    ¡°Master, thank you,¡± Minhyuk said, hugging his dear master, Beradon.

    Then, he turned to Rocado and said, ¡°Herakel has found a very good friend andpanion named Conir. So, please don¡¯t worry too much about him.¡±

    Rocado smiled and waved goodbye.

    Not long after, Minhyuk, Rundalk, and Bemy disappeared in a sh of light.

    ***

    When he returned, Minhyuk was immediately briefed on the current happenings in the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    ording to reports, the number of people migrating to the empire increased significantly after Minhyuk won first ce in the Advanced Polls. However, when Minhyuk disappeared the moment the announcement about his win was released, rumors about how the other candidates killed him began to surface.

    ¡°The position for the Sprout Academy Director is still vacant, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right. It¡¯s because no one wants to be the Sprout Academy Director.¡±

    Sprout Academy was only recently established. Most of the things one would learn in this ce were rted to cooking. And because the Beyond the Heavens Empire was a nation rted to cooking and food, the Sprout Academy might be the empire''s future.

    Although it might look a bit shabby since the lessons were mostly rted to cooking, the students there were children of the dukes, marquesses, counts, and even heroes.

    ¡°Then, let¡¯s give that position to my grandfather. I brought him back this time. He¡¯s actually¡­¡± Minhyuk began to exin about Rundalk¡¯s story calmly.

    When she heard about him, Haze was shocked. She said, ¡°If it¡¯s someone like him, then we¡¯re very fortunate to have him take on the position.¡±

    There was a reason the director''s position had remained vacant. Most of the children studying in the academy came from high positions in the empire and were quite arrogant. Because of that, it would be very difficult for the director to reign them in.

    ¡°There¡¯s something that I have to do,¡± Minhyuk said.

    Haze went back to her office, thinking that Minhyuk would eat something delicious after he returned. Strangely, Minhyuk did not cook.

    Minhyuk took out none other than the Supreme Treasure Box. He nned to eat a meal only after opening all five of the treasure boxes he had obtained.

    <em>¡®ording to the description, items that are not avable in the slot might appear. Maybe¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was feeling suffocated. He had overtaken the other candidates and took first ce in the Advanced Polls. However, just thinking about how the other Pir Candidates would do everything to put him in check was enough to make him feel heavy and overwhelming pressure.

    He knew that he was infinitelyckingpared to the other Pir Candidates. The only reason he could win first ce, in the end, was because he borrowed others¡¯ powers. They were nothing but a temporary boost to his force. That was why this Supreme was something that he was looking forward to.

    <em>¡®Maybe it will help me break through this situation.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk suddenly chuckled to himself. It was just yesterday that he felt like he had the whole world in his hands after he temporarily reached the Supreme level, but now he was back to feeling shabby and insignificant.

    He quickly shook off the depressing mood. Then, he reached out to open the first treasure box.

    <em>[You have opened the Supreme Treasure Box.]</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes grew wide when he saw the contents of the box. Yes, it was just as the description. It was truly something that was not avable in the slots.

    <em>[You have acquired the Socks worn by the God of the Supremes.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk was dumbfounded. He almost threw it away in anger, but then he suddenly thought of checking the item.

    <em>¡®Oh?¡¯</em>

    It wasn¡¯t an ordinary pair of socks. When Minhyuk checked its details, he discovered it could increase his defensive power by 200 and his STM by 0.3%. So, he slowly wore the socks on his feet.

    Then, he opened another box.

    <em>[You have acquired 2 tinum.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Once again, it was not something that he could find in the slots.

    <em>[You have acquired 4 tinum.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    <em>¡®What the hell? Is this some kind of magic that just doubles the amount that I initially acquired?¡¯</em>

    <em>[You have acquired 16 tinum.]</em>

    Minhyuk was rendered speechless.

    It was very difficult to obtain one Asteroid Fragment, yet the only things he received from what he exchanged with those fragments were a pair of socks worn by the God of Supremes and 22 tinums. This shouldn¡¯t be the case, right?

    <em>¡®Please, I beg you! Just give me something delicious!¡¯</em>

    If it was like this, Minhyuk should have exchanged his fragments for something else. Perhaps they would have been more valuable and helpful to him! Minhyuk grew anxious as he opened thest treasure box.

    At that moment, a golden light burst from within the treasure box. Then, something slowly floated in front of him.

    <em>[You have acquired the Supreme Skill Creation Scroll.]</em>

    ¡°...?!¡±

    Just by hearing the name alone, Minhyuk could tell it was an amazing item¡ªthe greatest item he had acquired today!

 Chapter 1126

    <strong>Chapter 1126</strong>

    What was the Supreme? The word usually expresses the <em>highest</em> and the <em>final</em> level of something. Perhaps the Supreme was the final level that a yer could ever reach in their lives.

    With the help of the God of Cooking, Minhyuk sessfully created the Supreme Dish. That dish was very difficult to make, far more difficult than any other dish that he had ever made in his life. That goes to show how difficult the path to the Supreme was.

    Yet now, Minhyuk has acquired the Supreme Skill Creation Scroll. Of course, Minhyuk immediately checked the item¡¯s information right away. His eyes were dyed with shock when he saw the details written in the information.

    <em>¨CThe skill created by the Supreme Skill Creation Scroll possesses power equal to or greater than the Eight Pirs¡¯ Disaster.</em>

    <em>¨CYour level will drop by 3 as a penalty for using the Supreme Skill Creation Scroll.</em>

    <em>¨CWhen creating a far too ridiculous skill, the Supreme Skill Creation Scroll willpensate and lower the skill toplete it. </em>

    <em>¨CThe Supreme Skill Creation Scroll can only create closely rted skills suitable for the person developing them. </em><em>¨CIn the case where the level of the skill creator is low, the creation scroll will lower the skill andplete it by itself.</em>

    <em>¨CYou can create skills with the effects that you want.</em>

    Minhyuk trembled. He felt immensely excited when he saw that the skill would be equivalent to or perhaps even more significant than the Eight Pirs¡¯ Disaster.

    Minhyuk possesses two skills that were on the level of the Eight Pirs¡¯ Disaster. One was Cmity, and the other was the Growth Cultivator. However, were these two skills tailored for him? That was quite hard to say.

    Cmity was a mighty skill. It was indeed on the level of an Eight Pirs¡¯ Disaster, but Minhyuk¡¯s skill proficiency level was still far too low for him to showcase the true power of the skill. The Growth Cultivator¡¯s effects would disappear once he reached Level 750.

    <em>¡®Should I improve my attack skills?¡¯</em>

    He could create a Supreme for the Battle God or the Food God.

    <em>¡®How about this? Once the power of the Supreme has been triggered, ten of my vassals can use their one-shot kill skills simultaneously.¡¯</em>

    Just thinking about it had left Minhyuk all excited.

    If not that, then how about this one?

    <em>¡®Since I¡¯m the Battle God, how about a skill that will allow me to bring in all of the troops of the Beyond the Heavens Empire?¡¯</em>

    That would be a shocking sight. Minhyuk was soon forced to face reality.

    ¡°Then, I won¡¯t be able to be a Pir.¡±

    Minhyuk, whose thoughts had been clouded by the thrill and excitement of the endless possibilities the item had brought him, immediately corrected his thinking. What he needed to do right now was not to create the Supreme attack.

    <em>¡®I have to obtain the power to be the true Pir of the Gourmands.¡¯</em>

    Pir of Death Boleyn had tens of millions of outstanding assassins working under his organization, Immune. Master of Nature Verodun could create a terrible catastrophe that could devastate an entire kingdom. So, what about Minhyuk?

    <em>¡®I can only cook and eat my dish or cook and feed others.¡¯</em>

    Of course, his power was undoubtedly impressive. But what would it take to be the Pir who could lead the world?

    If Minhyuk became one of the Eight Pirs of the world, then he would be the central figure inmand of everything rted to food and eating in Athenae. This meant that even if Minhyuk did not cook and feed the people, the people would still be satisfied with what he had to offer. On top of that, the people must not only be in awe of his power. They had to support and follow him. For that to happen, Minhyuk had to cook after tens of thousands, no, hundreds of millions of people and yers. Wasn¡¯t that impossible?

    In other words, Minhyuk needed something that could be applied to the world.

    ¡°...?!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes grew wide, and his lips started to tremble.

    <em>¡®Why didn¡¯t I think of that before?¡¯</em>

    At that moment, someone knocked on the door.

    ¡°Your Majesty, I know that you¡¯re having your meal, but there¡¯s something that I have to report. May Ie in?¡±

    It was none other than Haze. After announcing her presence, she immediately went inside Minhyuk¡¯s office. However, the sight in front of her made her fall on her butt.

    ¡°H-how¡­¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you eating?¡± Haze asked, shock shing on her face when she realized that Minhyuk was not eating.

    Minhyuk, who had suddenly sat down after feeling like he had suffered a loss, looked at the standing Haze and called out to her, ¡°Haze.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty.¡±

    ¡°Why do humans follow and worship god?¡±

    ¡°Why are you asking something like this all of a sudden?¡±

    Because Minhyuk often asked her things like, <em>¡®Why do hamburgers taste good?¡¯ </em>and<em> ¡®How can samgyeopsal taste so amazing?¡¯, </em>and say things like, <em>¡®I think we should go and reward the person who created ramyeon. They should receive a Nobel prize.¡¯</em> Haze answered him as usual despite the sudden question.

    ¡°Of course, it¡¯s because of their greatness and power. But it¡¯s also because existences like gods give the things humans need.¡±

    A smile appeared on Minhyuk¡¯s face.

    Haze continued, ¡°The God of Fire gave the human world the fire that the humans needed. The God of Artifacts did not give all the artifacts he had made and release them to the world, but he would often leave extremely outstanding artifacts somewhere ever so often.¡±

    That was right. Not all of the gods gave something, but humans generally received direct help from them. In fact, one of the reasons humans served and worshiped gods in Athenae was that they had received something from those gods.

    Minhyuk, with a slight smile, said, ¡°Haze, what if I can create <em>Food God¡¯s Crops, Food God¡¯s Livestock, </em>and<em> Food God¡¯s Hidden Ingredients</em> and scatter it all over the world?¡±

    Despite hearing what she deemed nonsense, Haze still replied, ¡°It will bring a huge impact. This is especially true if the <em>Food God¡¯s Ingredients</em> possess special powers. The people will try to find them no matter what. The foreigners would naturally migrate to the Beyond the Heavens Empire just to receive quests to find the Food God¡¯s Ingredients.¡±

    Was that all?

    ¡°Depending on those ingredients'' power, you will probably have the chance to firmly establish your position as a Pir Candidate and take one step closer to bing a truly almighty and all-knowing being.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible, though.¡± Haze shook her head. ¡°Of course, it might be possible to hide the ingredients you have obtained worldwide.¡±

    The thought of doing something like that alone was weird.

    ¡°Hiding the ingredients that you have received all over the world is just pure nonsense. Why would you give others what you have received?¡±

    Of course, there was also another problem.

    ¡°The number of legendary-grade ingredients that the foreigners in Athenae could acquire in a day could already reach tens of thousands.¡±

    Yes. That was just in a day. If the yers could obtain that much in a single day, then there should be hundreds of thousands of such ingredients all over the world.

    ¡°There¡¯s only one way to make that possible.¡±

    Minhyuk was the one who finished Haze¡¯s words.¡±

    ¡°And that¡¯s to have the ability to create ingredients.¡±

    ¡°...That¡¯s right.¡±

    The thought of such an ability shocked Haze. God of Origin Athenae was hailed as the greatest of the Pirs because she had created most of the world they lived in.

    Creating something was already very difficult. What more if someone tried to create something again and again? It would bepletely ridiculous. There were a lot of reasons why this was ridiculous, but one stood out the most.

    <em>¡®The creator makes thousands of legendary-grade and god-grade ingredients daily and uses them himself?¡¯</em>

    This would ruin the bnce of the world. If such a thing was possible, Minhyuk might beparable to Athenae.

    ¡°I think I can make it possible.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°I mean, making ingredients starting with the words <em>Food God</em> appear worldwide. I think I can make it possible.¡±

    Minhyuk ignored the obvious question on Haze¡¯s face.

    ¡°I¡¯ll make it right now.¡±

    Minhyuk was well aware of Haze''s concerns. He was also aware of how ridiculous creating ingredients bearing the name Food God and leaving them all over the world might sound.

    Of course, Minhyuk had already weighed all the gains and losses he might obtain by doing this. And he had reached a conclusion.

    <em>¡®The things I will gain are much greater than the losses.¡¯</em>

    He immediately used the Supreme Skill Creation Scroll.

    <em>[Please set the effects of the skill that you want.]</em>

    As Haze said, if there was an ability like this, it would be beyondmon sense.

    <em>¡®If various restrictions are added to this ability that defiesmon sense, then creating it might be possible.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk released a shaky breath.

    ¡°Creating cooking ingredients.¡±

    Considering that tens of thousands of legendary-grade dishes were created in a day, Athenae had to supply at least tens of thousands of legendary-grade ingredients in a day, too. Setting up too much might just be counterproductive to Minhyuk¡¯s goals.

    <em>[The system analyzes the average ingredient supply data.]</em>

    <em>[Based on the number of dishes made daily, 10% of the ingredients needed to be supplied.]</em>

    When Minhyuk heard these notifications, he realized he had reached a critical point. Haze was concerned about this: Would he use the enormous amount of ingredients that he had created for himself?

    <em>¡®Of course, it would be fine to create around five or so monthly and use it myself.¡¯</em>

    What Minhyuk wanted to set up right now was to create 10% of the supply of ingredients to the world. In other words, he had to make thousands, perhaps even more, daily.

    Would Minhyuk use those ingredients himself every day?

    <em>¡®If I can truly do that, I can eat God-grade kimchi jjigae for breakfast, God-grade samgyeopsal for lunch, and God-grade oxtail hangover soup for dinner. I can even supply God-grade ingredients to my vassals every morning. Ah. Maybe I can pay them with God-grade ingredients instead of money for their sries?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was already very excited just by imagining such a scene.Of course, reality was quite harsh. Such a scenario was impossible. Ultimately, Minhyuk had to adjust it to the appropriate level and remain in line.

    <em>[The creator can only use one ingredient he created every three months.]</em>

    And he did not forget some extra.

    <em>[The powerful vassals around the creator who receive the system''s recognition can use one created ingredient yearly.]</em>

    Then, did that mean he could create the ingredients he wanted just like that? That was impossible. Of course, there were other important things to add, too.

    <em>¡®How should I set up what I need for the creation process?¡¯</em> Minhyuk pondered over this question sincerely. That was when he saw the <em>Automatic Set-Up System.</em> This system could be used when one was stuck creating the skill through the Supreme Skill Creation Scroll. The Supreme Skill Creation Scroll would create what was needed following the conditions set before using the system.

    Minhyuk immediately clicked the button.

    <em>[The Supreme Skill Creation Scroll has started the search for the supplies needed for the creation.]</em>

    <em>[To proceed with the creation, you must provide the seeds or some of the meat and ingredients you want to create.]</em>

    <em>[You need 1 liter each of ¡®Briah¡¯s River Water,¡¯ ¡®Ruaga¡¯s Aqua Vitae,¡¯ and ¡®Ford Garaam¡¯s River Water¡¯ as basic supplies for the creation process.]</em>

    Minhyuk asked Haze about the different types of water that he needed.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know about the other two but the Briah¡¯s River Water flows on one of thends owned by the Luvien Empire. From what I heard, it has effects that contribute greatly to creating a better life. In reality, it does not possess such a power. Nevertheless, they still sell it for around 500,000 gold per liter.¡±

    ¡°Eh? Even though the dered effects are not proven to be effective?¡± Minhyuk was perplexed.

    If that was the case, then weren¡¯t they just a bunch of thieves? But Haze? She licked her lips and said, ¡°It¡¯s a pity.¡±

    ¡°What is?¡±

    ¡°If thatnd is owned by the Beyond the Heavens Empire, then I could have sold a liter of that river water for one tinum.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    <em>¡®Ah, that¡¯s right. We¡¯re scammers too¡­?¡¯</em>

    In the first ce, it did not matter whether it possessed a mystical power or not. This world was where the rich and powerful nobles believed in superstitions and spent money on such things. Even though they knew it was nothing but a superstition, they would still willingly spend money on it. It was just like how others paid vast sums of cash to shamans so that they could find peace of mind and a sound body.

    Anyway, if a liter of that river water was worth 500,000 gold, then it would be a bit difficult to create tens of thousands of high-grade ingredients, wouldn''t it?

    <em>¡®If that¡¯s the case then¡­ there will be normal-grade ingredients created among the ingredients.¡¯</em>

    Of course, the value of ordinary ingredients was significantly lower. They could be sold for around 10,000 to 100,000 gold at most. Regardless, it would be a done deal if he could not procure a constant water supply. The number of normal-grade ingredients created would be significantly higher than the others.

    <em>¡®The system is maintaining the bnce¡­¡¯</em>

    It was as if the system was taunting him and saying, <em>¡®If you want to try it, then try it.¡¯ </em>But¡­ what if¡­

    <em>¡®What if the Beyond the Heavens Empire takes over the ownership of the Briah River?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk would be able to create high-grade ingredients without any worry in the world.

 Chapter 1127

    Chapter 1127

    <strong>Chapter 1127</strong>

    Sprout Academy.

    The young students were sitting on their chairs and waiting for the arrival of their new director.

    Meanwhile, Rundalk was standing outside the ssroom with his heart thumping wildly. From what I heard, most of the children in the ssroom were ages five to eight, and the oldest child was no less than nine years old. Because of that, he prepared Beanie doll masks and balloons for them.

    <em>¡®Fufufufu. The kids will like this event that I have prepared. Ah, what if they fight to get more balloons?¡¯ </em>Rundalk thought, imagining the scene as he wore a doll mask and entered the ssroom.

    ¡°Oink! Oink, oink! Oiiiink!¡± Rundalk imitated the sound of a pig before saying, ¡°I¡¯m your new director, Rundalk! Oink!¡±

    The ssroom was filled with silence. The only boy and the oldest child in the ss said, ¡°Director, we don¡¯t want to y with doll masks. This is the sacred time for learning.¡±

    With an elegant wave, he grabbed a mug of cocoa and sipped. ¡°Ah. Oh. R-right.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re also showing courtesy to you by keeping quiet. So, please remove your mask and introduce yourself properly.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Oh. Yeah¡­¡± Embarrassed, Rundalk took off his Beanie doll mask. ¡°Ah, how should I introduce myself?¡±

    Rundalk was not quite used to these things because it had been a while since he hade out to the world.

    ¡°Haa¡­¡± The nine-year-old boy sighed.

    Although he was just a child, his expression clearly shouted, <em>¡®Do I have to tell you that too?¡¯</em> as he crossed his legs, making him look like he was fifty-five.

    ¡°Since you¡¯re the director of the great and noble Sprout Academy, it¡¯s important that you tell us your name, age, and what kind of history you have had.¡±

    The boy looked like an interviewer. At this moment, Rundalk recalled the words that Haze had told him.

    ¨C<em>Sir Rundalk, kids these days mature very quickly.</em>

    The boy, who was elegantly chugging his cocoa, turned his palm over and gestured as if he were saying, <em>¡®It¡¯s fine; just tell us.¡¯</em>

    Rundalk said, ¡°My name is Rundalk. I¡¯m 4,989 years old this year.¡±

    The boy sighed when he heard his words. ¡°Haaaa¡­¡±

    ¡°<em>Phew¡­</em>¡±

    ¡°Haa¡­¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°Director, please don¡¯t joke around with us.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°We did note to the Sprout Academy to y around.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°We are sitting in these seats to reach our most outstanding selves and continue the pride and greatness of His Majesty Minhyuk.¡±

    <em>¡®No. Are kindergarteners usually like this? They don¡¯t like ying¡­?¡¯</em>

    This was not the case of maturing quickly at all. These children were already acting like old people. However, Rundalk was telling the truth, so he continued telling them his history.

    ¡°If we¡¯re talking about history, then I was once hailed as the ¡®Supreme.¡¯¡± Rundalk then went on to tell them every single detail he knew.

    But as he spoke, the reaction of the Sprout Academy children became even colder. Rundalk was confused.

    The boy looked sharply at Rundalk and said, ¡°So, Director. You¡¯re saying that you¡¯re the Supreme and a powerhouseparable to Immortal Sorceress Helenia in power?¡±

    ¡°I have defeated dragons with my bare hands. I used to be someone who could be a Pir, but I was too greedy. In the end, I failed to be one.¡±

    <em>¡®Why would a person like that be a director for the children¡¯s school in the first ce?¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®I have never seen someone called the Supreme in the books.¡¯</em>

    Yes, the children of Sprout Academy did not believe a single word Rundalk said.

    The boy, Brelin, gently shook his mug filled with cocoa and gave a blunt review of their new director. He said, ¡°The cocoa tastes quite bitter today.¡±

    ¡°...¡± Rundalk was rendered speechless.

    ¡°Next time, please give us an informative and constructive education rather than a fun and yful introduction. Please don¡¯t treat us as if we¡¯re children. We¡¯re already five, seven years old. We¡¯re all grown up. Ha.¡±

    Rundalk believed that it would be absurd to get angry at these cute little children. Nevertheless, he still found them cute, albeit they carried a different charm(?) from normal kids.

    <em>¡®Of course, this isn¡¯t what I wanted things to y out.¡¯</em>

    To be honest, Rundalk had imagined it differently.

    <em>¡®Director Rundaaaaaalk.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Are you saying that our director is the Supreme?!¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®For real? Woaaaaaaah!¡¯</em>

    He thought they would gather around him like little rabbits, though this wasn¡¯t so bad either.

    Then, the bell rang. The children began to stand up and take their bags. When Rundalk saw the children carrying their own rabbit bags and turtle bags with serious looks on their faces, he almostughed.

    Brelin, the nine-year-old boy who had just criticized him, was carrying a cute Obren character-themed bag. Rundalk could not help but look at him with a fatherly smile as the cute bagpletely contrasted with his grave look.

    When Brelin saw him looking at him, he spoke dignifiedly and said, ¡°<em>Hmph.</em> Are you looking at this?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°Only the chosen children can wear this bag. It symbolizes ¡®wealth,¡¯ ¡®honor,¡¯ and ¡®knowledge¡¯ among us.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Rundalk watched as the children fell in line.

    ¡°Director, we¡¯re going to the Luvien Empire today.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Are we going on a pic?!¡±

    <em>A pic?!</em> The thought of running around with these children in the vast grasnds was enough to lift his spirits and cheer him up.

    As a glimmer appeared in Rundalk¡¯s eyes, Brelin said, ¡°Please don¡¯t get too excited. There is a reason why we¡¯re going to the Luvien Empire. The excellent talents from all over the world will gather there andpete to show who¡¯s greater. It¡¯s a fierce battlefield. A very fierce and vicious one to boot.¡±

    In other words, it was apetition where young children would gather and fight while shouting, <em>¡®Hiyah! Yaah!¡¯</em>

    The Luvien Empire and the Beyond the Heavens Empire have not bared their fangs at each other in recent years. This was because a new regime had taken root in the Luvien Empire, bringing peace to everyone.

    ¡°We are going there to demonstrate our talents and abilities and help elevate the status and influence of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.¡±

    ¡°Right, I see.¡±

    Rundalk was far too excited to go on a pic.

    ¡°We will lead the way; please stick by our side so you don¡¯t get lost.¡±

    ¡°Alright! You have my thanks!¡±

    At that moment, Rundalk finally realized that something was off.

    <em>¡®What? Why do I feel like things have changed?¡¯</em>

    It seemed like the director''s and students'' roles had been switched. Still, it did not matter. He felt happy that he was having a pic with these cute children.

    Then, Brelin¡¯s voice rang in the ears of the overly excited Rundalk. He said, ¡°You will get hurt if you run around like that.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Oh. R-right.¡±

    Anyway, the director and the students of the Sprout Academy set out for an exciting pic(?) while on their way to the Luvien Empire.

    ***

    Minhyuk, who was developing his ingredient creation skill, could not think of any solution, no matter what.

    ¡°Briah¡¯s River Water is worth 500,000 gold per liter. Using that, more than 90% of the Food God Ingredients produced will be normal-grade.¡±

    The worst part? The value of normal-grade ingredients rarely exceeded 100,000 gold. That was why the idea of purchasing Briah¡¯s River Water from the Luvien Empire to create the ingredients was quite absurd. The losses would be far too significant. After all, they would pay for river water that was only expensive and had no effects.

    The story would change if the Beyond the Heavens Empire took ownership of Briah¡¯s River.

    ¡°So, what about the Briah¡¯s River Water sales these days? Are they still going steady?¡±

    ¡°From what I understand, their sales have be lowerpared to the past. Compared to the past, when they could sell tens of thousands of bottles in a day, they¡¯re having a hard time selling a few dozen bottles these days.¡±

    ¡°And they still won¡¯t lower the price?¡±

    ¡°If the Luvien Empire lowers the price, then that would mean that they are denying the effects of the river water.¡±

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s true.¡±

    If they could only sell a few dozen bottles in a day, then the Briah¡¯s River was now nothing but a mere river in the eyes of the Luvien Empire. Nheless, for Minhyuk, this river was akin to a goose thatid golden eggs.

    ¡°Maybe we can make a deal and make it possible?¡±

    It was not as if there was no possibility of making it happen. Maybe Minhyuk could gain ownership of Briah¡¯s River, which had already lost most of its worth, if he gave something from the Beyond the Heavens Empire up to them.

    <em>¡®I have to keep the fact that I can make cooking ingredients a secret.¡¯</em>

    He could strike a good deal for it if he did well in the discussions. Of course, he first finished organizing all of the things that he would need to create ingredients.

    <em>¡®In exchange for this shockingly powerful skill, I must create limits and restrictions.¡¯</em>

    Although it was quite heartbreaking, Minhyuk was fully aware that this skill would not bepleted without limits and restrictions.

    <em>[The yers and NPCs, except the creator and his vassals, can only acquire the ingredients through quests or monster hunts.]</em>

    One of the restrictions he had ced upon the skill was limiting the reckless and nonstop acquisition of the ingredient. What would happen if Minhyuk did not restrict this?

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll probably be able to release 10% of the ingredients worldwide, depending on my mood.¡¯</em>

    If Minhyuk were in the mood, he would just say, <em>¡®Today, we¡¯re going to y and eat well!¡¯</em> and distribute the ingredients just like that. But that was impossible. In the first ce, it was impossible even for Athenae to distribute ingredients as she pleased.

    <em>[The ingredient¡¯s grade will vary depending on the quest¡¯s difficulty level and the monster hunted''s level.]</em>

    Of course, this was also a given. Regardless, imposing something like this as a restriction would be a huge contradiction.

    <em>¡®Wouldn¡¯t I be the only one losing money if I distribute my ingredients like this?¡¯</em>

    That was right. If things continued at this rate, Minhyuk would be the only one losing money, so he added another condition.

    <em>[The created ingredients can only be obtained from quests and monster hunts rted to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.]</em>

    Migrants would flock to the empire for these quests, as well as to do other quests and hunt in the empire.

    In Athenae, everything would be ¡°taxed¡± at the end. Since they would receive quests from the empire, they would have to go into a dungeon under their control. This meant they had to surrender some of what they had hunted as tax. This tax would be Minhyuk¡¯s ie.

    Then, there was the most important thing.

    <em>¡®My ingredients have to be incredible.¡¯</em>

    This was the most important part. After all, if the ingredients were simr to those they could acquire outside, what was the merit of going to the Beyond the Heavens Empire to obtain such ingredients? There would be no merit.

    <em>¡®What if it¡¯s far more special than other normal-grade ingredients? What if it¡¯s more specialpared to other rare-grade ingredients? What if it¡¯s much better than other epic-grade ingredients?¡¯</em>

    Then, the story would bepletely different. The people would yearn to have these ingredients. He has to figure out a way to make this happen.

    ¡°The creator will go through a certain process to create ingredients that are better than others at the same grade.¡±

    Like doing quests or creating dishes that are better than others of the same grade, Minhyuk decided to borrow the system''s power to find a method for doing this.

    <em>[The conditions to be fulfilled to create ingredients better than others at the same grade will be revealedter after the skill has been made.]</em>

    Thispleted all of the preparations. Minhyuk, with his heart in his throat, clicked the ¡°yes¡± button under the question, <em>¡®Do you want toplete the skill now?¡¯ </em>

    <em>[The Supreme Skill Creation Scroll is attempting to create a skill based on the conditions set by the item user.]</em>

    <em>[The Supreme Skill Creation Scroll adjusts the parameters of the skill on its own.]</em>

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Supreme Skill: Ingredient Creator.]</em>

    It was a sess! Minhyuk immediately checked the skill¡¯s information.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Ingredient Creator</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <em>Supreme</em>

    <strong><em>Level</em></strong><em>: 1</em>

    <strong><em>Mana Required</em></strong><em>: 30,000</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Use</em></strong><em>: None.</em>

    <strong><em>Cooldown</em></strong><em>: 24 hours.</em>

    <strong><em>Effects</em></strong><em>: </em>

    <em>?The Food God¡¯s Ingredients can be supplied all over Athenae. They can ount for 4% of all the ingredients supplied in the world.</em>

    <em>?You have to meet all the conditions required by various ingredients to create ingredients.</em>

    <em>?The Food God¡¯s Ingredients can be obtained from quests rted to the Beyond the Heavens Empire or from dungeons, fields, and hunting grounds that belong to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.</em>

    <em>?The skill creator can only use the Food God¡¯s Ingredient once every four months.</em>

    <em>?The skill creator¡¯s vassals can only use the Food God¡¯s Ingredient once every six months.</em>

    <em>?The skill creator has toplete something to create ingredients with better effects than other ingredients of the same grade.</em>

    <em>?The skill will level up once you sessfully finish distributing the first supply of the ingredients.</em>

    <em>?Sealed.</em>

    <em>?Sealed.</em>

    Excitement coursed through Minhyuk¡¯s veins when he saw thepletion of the skill. Although he could only supply 4% of the ingredients worldwide daily, it was still fine. The fact that there was a ¡°level¡± in the information meant that there was a chance that the amount of ingredients that he was allowed to supply to the world could still increase.

    Now, there was only one thing that he needed.

    ¡°Haze, it¡¯s a sess.¡±

    ¡°...!¡± Haze found it very unbelievable.

    <em>¡®My god! He likes eating so much that he created things to eat¡­?¡¯</em>

    What was that term that others used for this? Was it <em>Sessful Otaku </em>or something?

    Leaving that aside, Minhyuk still had one more important thing to do.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to the Luvien Empire.¡±

    ***

    At the same time.

    Rundalk and the Sprout Academy cuties headed to the Luvien Empire before stopping at a grassy meadow at Berlin¡¯smand.

    Berlin said, ¡°Here. Let¡¯s have our meal here.¡±

    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s do that.¡±

    The soldiers who escorted them brought their lunch boxes and distributed them to everyone.

    ¡°I¡¯m looking forward to it,¡± Brelin said. Heughed at the stacked lunch boxes while holding onto his cute Obren bag.

    ¡°I can¡¯t wait.¡±

    The boy looked very excited.

    ¡°This is a lunch box made from the ingredients harvested from the ce called the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ God¡¯s Field and the noblest and divinely-grown livestock,¡± Brelin said excitedly, a small smile on his face.

    ¡°This meal was prepared by Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor Minhyuk for us. I haven¡¯t opened it yet, but I can already feel how great it is.¡±

    Brelin sat down and finally opened the lid of his lunch box. Then, a look of admiration shed on his face.

    ¡°As expected¡­¡± Brelin was in a trance. He excitedly said, ¡°This lunch box is like an art. His Majesty, the greatest chef in the world, has truly shown how much he cares about us. The food is decorated beautifully. It¡¯s too beautiful; I don¡¯t think I can eat it.¡±

    Brelin held the bridge of his nose and shook his head, saying, <em>¡®Goodness.¡¯</em>

    Meanwhile, Rundalk also opened the lunch box that was distributed to him.

    ¡°...?¡±

    Inside the lunch box were Vietnamese sausages cut in the shape of octopuses and delicious, mouth-watering <em>gimbap</em>. There was also a fried egg in the center, where Minhyuk drew a heart with catsup.

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m allowed to eat this lunch boxparable to art. I¡¯m truly very grateful.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    <em>¡®What a very peculiar kid,¡¯ </em>Rundalk thought as he looked at Brelin.

 Chapter 1128

    <strong>Chapter 1128</strong>

    The young boy named Brelin was an orphan. Because he was an orphan, he had to grow more mature than his peers, and he was only nine years old.

    When Brelin heard the news that the Beyond the Heavens Empire would build an academy, he began to study and learn various things. And when the academy opened its doors, he proudly entered as a schrship student.

    The Obren bag he was using was something he bought by doing odd jobs like washing the dishes, cleaning, and throwing trash. He worked hard to avoid being ridiculed by the other children.

    Brelin was good at a variety of things. He was so good that the word genius was not used in vain to describe him. Because of that, many people noticed him. The other children in his ss all followed him because he tended to take care of them as if he were their hyung.

    <em>¡®I want to be a Pir that can lead the world.¡¯</em>

    Like other kids his age, Brelin had high aspirations and dreams. It was like how kids would say, <em>¡®When I grow up, I will be an emperor!¡¯</em> or <em>¡®When I grow up, I will be this kind of existence!¡¯</em> It was the same thing.

    Brelin was different from the other children. Despite only being nine years old, he had already started working hard to achieve his dreams. His hands were only a child, but they were already covered with calluses.<em>¡®I¡¯m no longer a kid.¡¯</em>

    A nine-year-old was already a grown-up.

    ¡°Brelin. What would you like to drink?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll have the usual, please.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s cocoa. Ah, please add some milk, too. And don¡¯t stir it.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    The Luvien Empire.

    The ce where young talents from all over the world would gather andpete was filled with a huge crowd, and even its interior was quite huge.

    ¡°Woaaah¡­¡±

    ¡°Director¡­¡±

    ¡°Huh? Eh?¡± Rundalk turned to look at Brelin in confusion.

    <em>¡®Where did thate from?¡¯</em>

    A small teddy bear was hanging from Brelin''s bag, and he was still savoring his cocoa. When Rundalk looked around, he saw that someone was giving the children dolls as a gift for visiting the Luvien Empire.

    <em>¡®Isn¡¯t he very quick on his feet¡­?¡¯</em>

    Then, Brelin said, ¡°Please don¡¯t forget our dignity and pride. We came here to represent the Beyond the Heavens Empire.¡±

    One of the ss teachers approached them. They said, ¡°Love ss?¡±

    ¡°Yeees!¡± Brelin answered in reflex as he nced at Rundalk.

    ¡°So, the name of our ss is Love. <em>Fufu.</em>¡±

    ¡°Hoo¡­ How long do I have to keep up with this childish rhythm? Anyway, just be careful not to get lost,¡± Brelin said as he grabbed the helm of Rundalk¡¯s clothes and looked around like an excited child.

    Rundalk looked at the cute child and followed his guidance.

    When the children from different empires and kingdoms gathered together, their chatter made the entire hall quite noisy.

    ¡°The Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s Emperor ising to the Luvien Empire?!¡±

    ¡°Woaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Are they talking about His Majesty Minhyuk?!¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°I heard he would negotiate something with the Great Luvien Empire.¡±

    ¡°Woaaaaah¡­¡±

    ¡°The Beyond the Heavens Empire is amazing! I can¡¯t believe they¡¯re even negotiating with the Great Luvien Empire!¡±

    Brelin¡¯s heart thumped wildly when he heard those words. He had always been looking at His Majesty from a distance. To him, His Majesty Minhyuk was his idol and the person he wanted to be when he was older.

    ¡°You must respect our dear Minhyuk, huh?¡±

    ¡°...You¡¯re talking about that story again? About how you, the director, are the Supreme and that you¡¯re His Majesty Minhyuk¡¯s grandfather? I am no longer a child. So, please watch your words and speak courteously when talking about His Majesty Minhyuk before me.¡±

    A soft smile appeared on Rundalk¡¯s face as he said, ¡°Alright.¡±

    Not long after, Rundalk and the students of Sprout Academy were guided inside the venue.

    <em>¡®This child will reach great heights.¡¯</em>

    Sprout Academy taught a variety of things, including cooking and farming. Of course, swordsmanship and magic were also taught. All of the students learned a bit of everything.

    Rundalk was very surprised when he saw Brelin. This was the first time he had seen such thick calluses in the hands of a young boy. The young boy also possessed energy that should have been very difficult for a child to possess. That may be the reason why Brelin became the representative of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    A huge banner greeted them not long after when they entered the hall where thepetition would ur.

    Brelin said, ¡°My heart feels full.¡±

    ¡°I see. Your heart¡­¡±

    <em>[?World Cutie Competition?]</em>

    ¡°...feels full, huh?¡±

    Brelin¡¯s expression grew solemn.

    Just like that, the World Cutie Competition has begun.

    ***

    <em>¡®I¡¯m so happy.¡¯</em>

    Rundalk, with a fatherly smile on his face, looked at the cute children in front of him.

    <em>¡®It would have been nice if Bemy also came with us.¡¯</em>

    Bemy was going to start attending school next week, but the young girl said that she liked Annie. Not only did she follow her beloved Annie, but she even went to sleep with her.

    <em>¡®I also want to sleep with Bemy¡­¡¯</em>

    Rundalk felt sad for no reason. However, he thought that it was still okay. After all, Bemy seemed to be adapting well to the Beyond the Heavens Empire while following Haze around.

    Heughed as he watched the cuties fight.

    <em>¡®So this is what happiness is.¡¯</em>

    Of course, Rundalk could not take his eyes off of Brelin.

    <em>¡®I believe the average age of the children participating in the World Cutie Competition is around eight years old, right?¡¯</em>

    Although Brelin was nine years old, he was a little smallpared to the other children of the same age. So, there seemed to be no difference between him and his opponents.

    Not long after, Brelin destroyed the <em>magic armor</em> worn by the other child.

    The magic armor protected the children from the impact of the attacks they received. It also created a transparent barrier that protected their faces. With the magic armor on, the attack''s impact would only feel as if they were being tickled.

    The one who broke the opponent¡¯s magic armor would be considered the winner.

    Brelin, who had once again knocked down his opponent, was surprisingly undefeated. Rundalk was incredibly pleased with this fact. It was as if his son had won the fight with how he was reacting.

    ¡°Th-that¡¯s a child from my ss! He¡¯s a child from my ss! Hahahahaha! Brelin! I¡¯m over here!¡±

    ¡°D-director?¡±

    ¡°Director¡­?¡±

    He waved his hands at Brelin while the defeated child cried loudly in the background. The other children in Brelin¡¯s ss hurriedly tried to stop Rundalk.

    Brelin sighed and looked at Rundalk. He thought, <em>¡®The director is truly unrestrained. I have to take good care of him from now on.¡¯</em>

    Brelin believed Rundalk was not a bad person. Of course, he was just someone who lied a lot. Anyway, Brelin, who acted more like an adult than Rundalk, soothed the crying child on the ground.

    ¡°<em>Sob.</em> Our Brelin is truly a gentleman.¡±

    Rundalk, unfamiliar with the strange feeling of delight, could not control himself. Regardless of his reaction, Brelin continued to win and climb the ranks.

    Then, the long-awaited finals had started. Many prominent figures from the Luvien Empire had appeared to watch the finals. And sitting among them was the newly risen Star of the Luvien Empire, Duke Vakkaman.

    Loud cheers erupted when a boy climbed into the finals stage.

    ¡°Our Luvien Empire¡¯s genius!¡±

    ¡°Brent!¡±

    ¡°The current regime¡¯s dukes recognize his talent!¡±

    Brent was a boy who was a whole thirty centimeters taller than Brelin.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s an eight-year-old boy?¡¯</em>

    He looked more like he was fifteen years old.

    Rundalk perked his ears and listened to the words of the people around him.

    ¡°ording to the rumors, the Great Luvien Empire has given that child their full support.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. From what I heard, that boy will be another Star of the empire when he grows up.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s a boy with 100 wins and no losses!¡±

    Rundalk wondered momentarily why the people cheered so loudly for this child. Considering the child''s force and momentum, he then felt it made sense.

    Soon, the finals began. It was evident that the undefeated Brent was outstanding.

    <em>¡®Amazing. What happened in this era? Or is the past just nothing but an old tale now?¡¯</em>

    When Rundalk saw Brelin, he thought the child was remarkable. Of course, the undefeated boy fighting against Brelin was also quite a formidable child.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s on par with Brelin regarding skills and abilities.¡¯</em>

    Regardless, there was a difference between the two. The difference was none other than the destructive force that came with one¡¯s weight ss. Brent¡¯s mad swings were constantly pushing Brelin back. However, Brelin had used his small stature to his advantage.

    <em>¡®He already knows how to ovee his shorings and use it to his advantage? Ho!¡¯</em>

    Brelin was indeed an outstanding boy. Because he was small, he was much faster than his opponent. He could also use his small stature to dig into the gaps of Brent¡¯s wide-motion attacks and constantly attack his opponent¡¯s magic armor.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    Exmations rang from the stands.

    Because this was a battle between the representatives of the Beyond the Heavens Empire and the Luvien Empire, it could also be considered a battle of pride. That was also why Duke Vakkaman, who had juste here to kill time, started to show interest.

    <em>Boom¨C</em>

    ¡°Aura?!¡±

    A faint light appeared on Brent¡¯s sword, which swung non-stop. It was an incredible sight. After all, the boy was still just eight years old.

    <em>Baaaaang¨C!</em>

    Of course, the aura was still fragile. But when that aura struck Brelin¡¯s magic armor, it instantly cracked its surface.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¨C!</em>

    Ultimately, Brelin could not withstand the attack and fell on his back.

    Rundalk released a sigh of regret. <em>¡®We los¡­¡¯</em>

    Just when the final attack was about tond, something made Rundalk¡¯s eyes grow wide¡ªa small me burned from Brelin¡¯s hands.

    ¡°Ma-magic swordsman?!¡±

    The tiny fireball struck Brent straight in the chest.

    <em>Boom¨C!</em>

    Brent was sent flying back. And his magic armor? It was instantly shattered.

    Meanwhile, Rundalk was left stunned. He thought, <em>¡®He¡¯s only at that age and already very skilled in swordsmanship. Not only that, he¡¯s also well-versed in magic?!¡¯</em>

    Rundalk immediately corrected his thoughts. This young boy named Brelin would reach a higher stage than he could imagine.

    Brelin bowed politely after the end of their fair game. Of course, he was feeling very ecstatic. He thought, <em>¡®I¡¯ve destroyed Brent¡¯s armor.¡¯</em>

    Now, he would win thispetition and receive tremendous recognition.

    ¡°It was a great match. And the winner is¡­¡±

    Brelin smiled brightly.

    ¡°Brent! Brelin hasmitted a foul.¡±

    ¡°...?!¡±

    ¡°...?!¡±

    Brelin¡¯s thumping heart immediately cooled down while Rundalk¡¯s face grew ugly.

    ¡°What¡­?¡±

    Rundalk found it to be ridiculous. Brelin remained calm.

    ¡°What foul did Imit to forfeit my victory?¡±

    When the referee heard the question, he nced at Duke Vakkaman. Then, he said, ¡°This is apetition where you use your weapons to fight. You have used magic, and it is considered a form of cheating.¡±

    Rundalk¡¯s face grew red from anger. This was because it was bullshit, nothing but their benefit. At this moment, he realized that there was one thing that would never change even after thousands of years: the abuse of power.

    ¡°Waaaaaaah!¡±

    The thunderous cheers of the audience buried Brelin¡¯s unjust defeat. However, the Supreme Rundalk¡¯s anger burned even brighter because of that. He shouted, ¡°From what I heard, the Luvien Empire is the greatest empire of the current era?!¡±

    ¡°Who are you¡­?¡± The referee asked.

    ¡°I am the director of the Sprout Academy!¡±

    ¡°So, you¡¯re the director.¡±

    The referee¡¯s gaze flitted between Duke Vakkaman and Rundalk. At that moment, the referee thought, <em>¡®Right now, the contest is being held by the Luvien Empire, and you are in the presence of the duke of the said empire. Yet you, a mere director of an academy, dared to speak out like this?¡¯</em>

    Yes, the situation was just like that. This made Rundalk¡¯s anger reach the extreme. He clenched his fist and shouted, ¡°I was once the Sup¡­!¡±

    He wanted to say what he was in the past. If their power and influence determined the victory and defeat of thispetition, then he should just pressure them and make them bow with his own power.

    ¡°Our Sprout Academy¡¯s Director, Mr. Supreme. That¡¯s enough.¡± Brelin approached Rundalk and grabbed the hem of his clothes.

    ¡°...?¡±

    With his Obren bag hanging on his back, he said, ¡°Right now, His Majesty is negotiating with the Luvien Empire. It wouldn¡¯t be good for us to create amotion.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    That was right. Brelin was aware of his situation. He was merely an orphan. And the Beyond the Heavens Empire should wait to show their fangs against the Luvien Empire. There was also no reason for a child like him to be the cause of the disruption of the transaction between the two empires.

    Brelin knew he was just one child among tens of millions of people under Minhyuk¡¯smand. Perhaps the Beyond the Heavens Emperor might not even want his existence.

    ¡°Brelin, you¡­¡±

    Rundalk recalled the look of respect that Brelin sported when he heard about Minhyuk. At this moment, he realized what Brelin wanted to do.

    ¡°Minhyuk is not the type of person that you think he is. Minhyuk has always been fighting for the sake of you¡­¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have the energy to listen to any more of your lies today. Please call him His Majesty Minhyuk,¡± Brelin said, a smile on his face. But Rundalk could feel the boy shake through the fist tightening on the hem of his clothes.

    Brelin, with his Obren bag on his back, pursed his lips tightly as he walked toward the exit of the tournament hall. As he continued to walk like that, tears began to fall on his cheeks.

    The young boy named Brelin was an orphan. That was why he worked harder than everybody else. This was so he could grow stronger and move further. s, at such a young age, he was forced to realize that this world was full of adults who ruled with power.

    ¡°Keuhuhuhuhuk!¡± The crying Brelin suddenly felt someone tall and huge reach out and hug him from behind.

    ¡°It¡¯s not good for children to mature this fast, no?¡±

    The one who hugged Brelin was none other than their liar director.

    ¡°If you want to cry, then cry. If you want to get angry, then get angry. If you want to shout, then shout.¡±

    It was pretty funny. The liar, who introduced himself as the Supreme and said he was around 4,900 years old, was now a great source offort and warmth for Brelin.

    Brelin still held himself back. He thought, <em>¡®The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ Emperor would not want the situation to unfold like that¡­¡¯</em>

    At that moment, a very shocking sound rang.

    <em>[The God Who Rules Over All Armies is looking at the young boy.]</em>

    At the same time, Rundalk said, ¡°The reason why adults are called adults is because they are there to lead you guys to the right path and help you grow. Children would often make mistakes and do things that are beyondmon sense. Nheless, it¡¯s fine. Because you¡¯re young.¡±

    <em>[The God Who Rules Over All Armies looks at the young boy and nods.]</em>

    Rundalk hugged Brelin tightly as they listened to what <em>he</em> had to say.

    <em>[He is telling you not to back down.]</em>

    <em>[He is telling you not to avoid it.]</em>

    <em>[He is telling you to fight back.]</em>

    Rundalk turned Brelin in his arms. He looked into the boy¡¯s eyes and smiled softly. Then, he said, ¡°Curse, fight, throw stones at them. It¡¯s fine. We, the adults, will be the ones who will take responsibility for your actions.¡±

    <em>[The God Who Rules Over All Armies promises the young boy.]</em>

    <em>[He will put everything on the line just to protect you!]</em>

 Chapter 1129

    <strong>Chapter 1129</strong>

    With the announcement of the identities of the Pir Candidates, the entire world turned their attention to the strong men, who had been hidden under a thin veil or had always hidden their powers.

    However, unlike the Pir Candidates, who had been under the scrutiny of the masses, there were bound to be strong men who could rival them yet had been excluded by the evaluators. There had been many people who have had the chance to be a Pir Candidate. Among them, only those who had been specially nominated could be candidates.

    One of these people, who had the potential to be a candidate but was excluded and ignored by the evaluators, was in the form of a young boy. He was sitting among the crowd in the stands and watching the World Cutie Competition in the Luvien Empire.

    His name was Rughamon.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s already a magic swordsman at that age? He¡¯s a rare genius, huh?¡¯</em>

    Rughamon had wanted to be the Pir of ck Magic. However, he was rejected for various reasons.

    The first reason was because Immortal Sorceress Helenia was still a part of the Pirs. And Rughamon was much weaker than her. So, if Rughamon became the eighth Pir, there was a high chance he would bepared to her for a lifetime.The second was because of the words <em>ck magic</em>. Most of the Pirs represented something. Helenia, the Pir of Magic, exerted tremendous force and represented many people. The world was flooded with mages who used <em>magic.</em>

    ck magic was different. It was challenging to say if he was representing something.

    Of course, another reason was that Rughamon had less influence and power than the other candidates. In Ellie¡¯s case, she was able to ovee the restriction on power with the support of her people.

    Regardless of the reasons, Rughamon did not like that he was not nominated as one of the Pir Candidates. And right now, Rughamon, who was in the form of a boy, was smiling viciously in his seat.

    Was there no way for him to be a Pir even though the Pir Evaluators did not nominate him?

    <em>¡®No. There¡¯s a way.¡¯</em>

    Evil God Obren did not meet the evaluators yet he became a Pir. In fact, quite a few Pirs sat on their thrones because of their outstanding influence.

    <em>¡®Obren killed tens of millions of people.¡¯</em>

    Of course, Obren fought against the Land of the Gods alone, but his case gave Rughamon a terrible idea.

    <em>¡®The second Evil God will be born here.¡¯</em>

    Rughamon¡¯s eyes gleamed sharply at the result of thepetition. After all, corruption dictated the oue of thepetition.

    ***

    Luvien Empire¡¯s guest hall.

    Minhyuk met with Cardin, the new emperor of the Luvien Empire. Perhaps it had been a while since theyst met, but Cardin had now be quite an emperor.

    Cardin smiled as he listened to Minhyuk, who suddenly visited and talked about Briah¡¯s River. Then, he asked, ¡°The Beyond the Heavens Empire wants the Briah¡¯s River. Is there a reason?¡±

    Minhyuk realized that he had made a small error. <em>¡®Was I acting too urgent?¡¯</em>

    He might have been too eager and excited to use the Ingredient Creation skill. Nevertheless, he was very skilled at watching the situation and reacting on the fly.

    ¡°Of course, it¡¯s to enrich my meals. I want to expand the range of ces to get delicious ingredients. From what I heard, the fish from Briah¡¯s River are said to be plump and delicious.¡±

    His words were valid to some extent.

    ¡°Then, what will the Beyond the Heavens Empire offer the Luvien Empire for it?¡±

    This was a transaction between two empires. Each side has to get something out of it.

    ¡°How about the Aghbuda Mines?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s quite a good mine for the Beyond the Heavens Empire. But from what I know, that is a tiny mine. You should know that Briah¡¯s River Water can promote growth and heal wounds if consumed. The Luvien Empire makes a steady profit off of it every year.¡±

    This deal would take a lot of work toplete. Of course, Minyuk knew about that too. But that was only the case in the past. Their revenue from the Briah¡¯s River was slowly dwindling. Emperor Cardin was just refusing to yield.

    ¡°Also, the rtionship between the Beyond the Heavens Empire and the Luvien Empire is not that pleasant, no?¡±

    They were empires that could go to war at any given moment. They could not give in in a situation where they did not even know what Minhyuk truly wanted. The two continued their negotiation, maintaining a constant tug-of-war. It might seem like one side would give in, but that was not really what was going to happen.

    <em>¡®I think this deal will go through if I add something to the Aghbuda Mines.¡¯</em>

    Of course, it was also necessary for Minhyuk to protect the pride and glory of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. While Minhyuk continued to discuss at the negotiation table, he received a whisper.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Teacher Kim</em></strong><em>: Your Majesty, there¡¯s trouble.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    The yer with the nickname ¡°Teacher Kim¡± was a teacher at Sprout Academy. She was extremely fond of children. If not, would she even use the nickname ¡°Teacher Kim¡±?

    Not all of the teachers at Sprout Academy were extremely talented and outstanding individuals. In schools and academies, there was a need for people who would take care of children and show them love, like Teacher Kim. That was the reason why Minhyuk signed her to be a teacher at Sprout Academy.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Minhyuk</em></strong><em>: What¡¯s going on?]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Teacher Kim</em></strong><em>: Our student named Brelin met a boy named Brent in the finals¡­]</em>

    Minhyuk continued to listen to the situation. In the end, he could not help but frown.

    <em>¡®The young boy named Brelin did not even protest?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk could not understand. He was just a child, and his situation was absurd. Usually, kids would shout, <em>¡®You bad guys!¡¯ </em>

    So, why did the child remain silent? Not long after, he realized something.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Minhyuk</em></strong><em>: Did word about how I came to the Luvien Empire spread in the World Cutie Competition?]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Teacher Kim</em></strong><em>: Yes.]</em>

    Only then did understanding dawned on Minhyuk¡¯s face. He bit his lips tightly.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s a child. So, he has to act like a child¡­¡¯</em>

    The child remained calm because he was afraid to damage the transaction between the two empires. In Minhyuk¡¯s eyes, his people were more important. In fact, he was willing to overturn everything and scrap this transaction just because his people, a young boy with a dream, were being treated unjustly and trampled on by others.

    Minhyuk continued to listen to the situation. When he was told that Brelin would leave the venue, he immediately used the Battle God''s Voice.

    The Battle God¡¯s Voice had a version that could materialize scenes in the sky above, but it could also be used as a general God¡¯s Voice. Unlike others, Minhyuk could set it so only his target could hear the God¡¯s Voice or let everyone listen to it. The area he could cover with the skill could even reach a few kilometers.

    Using the Battle God¡¯s Voice, Minhyuk talked to Brelin. When Minhyuk was done with what he wanted to say¡­

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Cardin asked. This was because their conversation stopped.

    ¡°I¡¯m very unhappy.¡±

    <em>¡®So suddenly?¡¯</em>

    Emperor Cardin frowned.

    Then, Minhyuk told him about the current situation. Emperor Cardin could not help but be dumbfounded when he heard the whole story.

    ¡°Right now, are you implying that the Luvien Empire is corrupted?¡± Cardin looked at him incredulously. ¡°Do you even have evidence? What, just based on those few reports? No. Do you have anything aside from that?¡±

    Emperor Cardin was very sharp and keen.

    ¡°You should be very aware, Emperor Minhyuk. You can¡¯tpletely uproot corruption in the empire, no?¡±

    Of course, Minhyuk knew it, too. Corruption was like a weed. Even if they cut it off, as long as they did not pull out its root, it would continue to pop out and grow.

    There was something else that Cardin found to be truly absurd.

    ¡°Don¡¯t forget that we¡¯re in front of the negotiation table. And you¡¯re criticizing me just because of a child and a children¡¯spetition?¡±

    Minhyuk smiled bitterly. He could understand why Cardin found it absurd. After all, he had suffered a sudden jab out of nowhere.

    Minhyuk sped his hands on the table and looked at Cardin. Then, he said, ¡°Because that <em>mere child</em> is a citizen of my empire.¡±

    ***

    Brelin had the happiest smile in the world. He gushed to Rundalk about how he heard Minhyuk¡¯s voice in his ears.

    ¡°That¡¯s right, Brelin.¡± Rundalk smiled softly. ¡°The empire that you¡¯re living in is like this.¡±

    Rundalk stroked Brelin¡¯s head as he picked the child up.

    ¡°It¡¯s an empire that cares for every single citizen. An empire in which the emperor raises his sword for the sake of just one of his citizens.¡±

    Rundalk had experienced and felt many things as he watched over Minhyuk.

    ¡°What are you afraid of?¡±

    Then, Brelin went down and stood right next to Rundalk.

    ¡°The Beyond the Heavens¡¯ emperor is protecting you.¡±

    Brelin nodded slowly as he walked back to the venue.

    Meanwhile, Duke Vakkaman looked at the child, who walked back inside with interest. Usually, kids his age would cry out, <em>¡®Bad uncle! I¡¯m going to tell my mom and dad!¡¯ </em>or <em>¡®You poopy idiot! Waaaaaah!¡¯</em> Nevertheless, these childish tantrums would not affect the oue of the tournament¡­

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you ashamed?!¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Vakkaman could not help but frown at the child¡¯s unexpected words.

    The boy, who was only around a meter tall and carrying an Obren bag on his back, shouted, ¡°You call yourselves the greatest, yet the results of thepetition held in the <em>Great </em>Luvien Empire are ultimately decided by the nobles?!¡±

    ¡°Boy. Right now, you¡¯re¡­¡±

    The young boy¡¯s eyes grew sharp when he heard the referee¡¯s words.

    ¡°You¡¯re the boy!¡± Brelin, who was a child but acted more like an adult, took a step forward. On his arm was a cute version of a fork and knife symbol crossed together. ¡°I am standing here, representing the Beyond the Heavens Empire! Let me ask you¡­¡±

    Unlike his peers, Brelin was far more exceptional and brilliant. He spoke loudly as if he wanted everyone from the other empires and kingdoms to hear.

    ¡°Is there a rule in this World Cutie Competition stipting that you should only use your weapons and not your other abilities?!¡± He took a deep breath and continued, ¡°But that¡¯s strange. ording to the Luvien Empire¡¯s logic and reasoning, using more than one weapon will be considered a foul. However, magic is not a weapon but one¡¯s ability. It¡¯s considered to be a pure power!¡±

    ¡°Enough! Stop being so stubborn.¡±

    The referee hurriedly nced at Duke Vakkaman.

    ¡°Stubborn?¡± Brelin chuckled. ¡°Then, why can¡¯t Brent, the one involved in this match, not raise his head proudly?!¡±

    Everyone turned to look at Brent. Brent, who was supposed to be enjoying his win and basking in glory, could not raise his head. He could not bear to look at others.

    ¡°Brat, if you continue to do that¡­¡±

    Duke Vakkaman, who was watching the situation, finally opened his mouth.

    ¡°Beyond the Heavens¡¯ representative.¡± Vakkaman smiled at the boy named Brelin. ¡°Are you implying that the Great Luvien Empire ismitting corruption?¡±

    His overwhelming momentum pressed down on Brelin.

    ¡°What if the others don¡¯t think so? And if the reputation of the Great Luvien Empire is tarnished by that light tongue of yours then¡­¡± Duke Vakkaman was by no means a man who was kind to children. ¡°...we can execute you right away.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Gasps rose all over the venue. With a look of interest, Duke Vakkaman said, ¡°Even though you¡¯re a child, such a light tongue cannot be forgiven. You have to repay that with death. If not, then who would take responsibility for your words?¡±

    ¡°I will.¡±

    The one who stepped forward was none other than Rundalk. Vakkamanughed.

    ¡°You¡¯re the director of the Sprout Academy, no?¡±

    He thought that they were crazy. The highest title that a mere director could have was a count. And Duke Vakkaman? He was the duke of the greatest empire, the Great Luvien Empire. He was also a powerhouse recognized by the whole world.

    Murmurs began to erupt in the stands.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that directory crazy?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s just a mere director but dares to confront Duke Vakkaman¡­?¡±

    ¡°Maybe he¡¯s not thinking about the future?¡±

    Yes. Everyone ignored the words of a <em>mere</em> director. Vakkaman smiled as if he did not find it worth dealing with this guy anymore.

    ¡°...!¡±

    Just then, he sensed something was wrong. He suddenly started to feel sick.

    ¡°Uweeeeeek!¡±

    Blood started to spill out of his mouth.

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    The sudden turn of events left everyone frozen in their seats.

    ¡°Duke Vakkaman!¡±

    The priests, who were outside the venue, hurriedly tried to run to where Vakkaman was.

    <em>Thud¨C</em>

    <em>Thud¨C</em>

    <em>Thud¨C</em>

    <em>Thud¨C</em>

    <em>Thud¨C</em>

    s, all of the doors leading to the venue closed on their own. At the same time, ck magic appeared and covered the entire venue.

    <em>[ck Mage¡¯s House.]</em>

    <em>[You are trapped inside the ck Mage¡¯s House.]</em>

    <em>[Anyone outside is not allowed to enter the ck Mage¡¯s House.]</em>

    <em>[Only those from the inside can break apart the cruel and vicious ck Mage¡¯s House.]</em>

    Not long after, Duke Vakkaman felt his strength slowly dissipate.

    ¡°Everyone, be on guard¡­ Urk!¡±

    Vakkaman only realized it after vomiting another mouthful of ck blood.

    <em>¡®ck magic¡­? All of my powers have been sealed.¡¯</em>

    Someone had deliberately targeted him and made him unable to use their power. The soldiers hurriedly pulled out their swords and tried to run and protect Vakkaman.

    <em>Boom, boom, boom¨C!</em>

    Before they could do anything, blood surged out from all of their orifices, and they died at the same time.

    ¡°Waaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Mommyyyy!¡±

    ¡°D-director! Directoooor!¡±

    ¡°Kids, all of you get behind me.¡±

    Only a few dozen participantspeted, but tens of thousands of children worldwide came to spectate. These young children burst into tears and flocked to the closed doors, their cries echoing all over the venue.

    Meanwhile, Vakkaman was dragged to the wall. He realized that he could not use his power at this moment.

    <em>Thump, thump¨C</em>

    At that moment, a young boy walked out of the stands. With every step that the boy took, his appearance changed.

    Among the people, only Rughamon, wearing a ck robe and holding a ck staff, was sporting a grin, albeit a bleak smile.

    ¡°Wahahahahahahaha!¡±

    Duke Vakkaman was the most dangerous person in this venue, so Rughamon took his powers. With a crazed look in his eyes, he looked at the young children, the directors, and the teachers, who were clinging to the closed doors.

    <em>¡®Now, no one will be able to stop me.¡¯</em>

    Rughamon swung his staff. ck energy fell to the ground, creating a gigantic ck wolf.

    <em>[Gluttony¡¯s Wolf. Level 711.]</em>

    The gigantic ck wolf was five meters in height.

    ¡°Grrrrrrr!¡±

    The ck wolf, a monster that always felt hungry no matter how many he ate, looked at the children with drool dripping down its mouth. Its appearance alone was ferocious enough that one¡¯s legs would grow weak.

    ¡°Go on, eat! Eat to your heart¡¯s content!¡±

    ¡°Awooooo!¡±

    Rughamon watched the wolf run toward the children. Then, he looked up at Duke Vakkaman and said, ¡°Keuhahahahaha! Now, the world will witness the birth of the new Evil God Rughamon¡­¡±

    ¡°<em>Hiiing¡­ hiiing¡­ hiiiiing¡­!</em>¡±

    At that moment, a sudden cry interrupted his spiel. Confused, Rughamon turned to look in the direction where the sound came from. That was when he saw the Gluttony¡¯s Wolf cowering with its tail between its legs. Its body was even shaking as it tried to step back. It seemed like the wolf had been scared by <em>something. </em>

    Rughamon was shocked. <em>¡®What-what the hell?!¡¯</em>

    It seemed that among those children was a powerhouse as strong as Duke Vakkaman or perhaps even stronger.

 Chapter 1130

    <strong>Chapter 1130</strong>

    Minhyuk and Emperor Cardin¡¯s voices gradually increased in volume.

    ¡°Then, you leave me with no choice. I will set up a team of Beyond the Heavens Empire investigators and send them to the Luvien Empire immediately.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re incredibly ridiculous. Right now, are you saying you will investigate the Great Luvien Empire?¡±

    ¡°Otherwise? If you, Emperor Cardin, will not get to the bottom of the situation with the children¡¯s swordpetition, then I will.¡±

    Right now, their negotiations had been left on the back burner. The more Emperor Cardin looked at Minhyuk, the more he felt annoyed.

    <em>¡®But I can¡¯t deny that I also feel jealous.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was fighting against all odds for the sake of one child, even at the risk of losing everything.On the other hand, Cardin also felt ashamed. He personally said that it was not easy to uproot the corruption that had already been deeply rooted in the empire. Perhaps this was the true face of an emperor who was only in name.

    Nevertheless, the fact that Minhyuk¡¯s actions werepletely reckless could not be denied.

    ¡°The deal is off.¡±

    ¡°This is something that¡¯s far more important than that deal.¡±

    ¡°Ha. Enough. I don¡¯t want to talk to you¡­¡±

    Just then, someone shouted.

    ¡°There¡¯s a problem!¡±

    The guest hall grew noisy. It was a ce where they showed hospitality to people from other kingdoms and empires, so hearing such amotion in such a ce was enough to offend and make Emperor Cardin angry.

    When he mmed the door open, Cardin was met with the dazed expressions of the knights of Duke Vakkaman.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on¡­?¡±

    Cardin immediately realized that something unusual had happened.

    ¡°Duke Vakkaman suddenly vomited blood from his mouth¡­¡±

    The knights began to exin the situation in the venue. Then¡­

    ¡°You cannot break the barrier from the outside?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    Emperor Cardin¡¯s expression grew solemn. The only one who vomited mouthful after mouthful of blood was Duke Vakkaman. The moment that happened, all of the doors leading to the venue were closed, and no matter what they did or how strong the physical attack theynded on the barrier, they could not force it to open.

    ¡°They¡¯re targeting Duke Vakkaman¡­¡±

    Someone had incapacitated Duke Vakkaman, the most dangerous being in that venue.

    ¡°Something like this is happening in the World Cutie Competition?¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s expression grew solemn, too. After all, the precious children and teachers of the Sprout Academy were also trapped inside.

    Emperor Cardin, who learned of the entire story, grew dizzy. He could only support his forehead as he staggered on his feet.

    ¡°Of all people, why Duke Vakkaman¡­¡±

    Cardin already understood the situation. The fact that Duke Vakkaman vomited ck blood meant that he had already been overpowered and incapacitated.

    Duke Vakkaman was the newly appointed Star of the Luvien Empire. He was an outstanding, talented, and influential individual. The most important thing? There was no other talent that could fill in the duke¡¯s position.

    At that moment, Minhyuk said, ¡°You can¡¯t break it from the outside, but you can break it from the inside, right?¡±

    No ability or power in this world couldpletely cut off something. This was especially true if it was a power that could wrap an entire venue like the venue for thepetition.

    Emperor Cardin justughed incredulously. ¡°With Duke Vakkaman incapacitated, who could break that barrier inside? There¡¯s no one.¡±

    Minhyuk said, ¡°There is.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s someone inside who can break that barrier down.¡±

    ¡°...?!¡±

    Emperor Cardin turned to look at him in surprise. The faces of many people shed in Cardin¡¯s head. From what he heard, the Beyond the Heavens Empire only sent soldiers, teachers, and a director to guide and protect their students, no?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go there first.¡±

    The two hurriedly went to the venue.

    ***

    Predators would often go wild and lose their senses in front of their prey. Even though they were faced with a predator that was far stronger than them, most of them would not back down. That was unless they were fully convinced they would have no chance of winning. Only then would they run away.

    The situation was simr to a lion facing one gigantic elephant. Why would lions run away when faced with an elephant? The reason why they would not even dare to fight against them was simple. The pressure and momentuming from the elephant could easily crush the lion¡¯s own.

    ¡°<em>Hiiiiing¡­ hiiiiiing¡­ hing¡­</em>¡±

    Rughamon was shocked to see the Gluttony¡¯s Wolf tuck its tail between its leg and step back.

    <em>¡®Where the hell are you hiding?!¡¯ </em>Rughamon scanned the surrounding area.

    Not long after, the Gluttony¡¯s Wolf finally reached Rughamon¡¯s side. Finally standing beside its summoner, the wolf¡¯s legs and dder copsed from fear.

    Rughamon just could not understand. The thousands of young children were screaming in fear while their directors and teachers seemed to have lost their senses too. Of course, this was only a natural reaction. After all, Rughamon had killed all of the troops in the venue right after he left Duke Vakkaman incapacitated.

    Rughamon raised his finger and released ck energy, slowly stretching toward the screaming children. This ck energy not only would drive the children crazy but would also make the blood in their veins flow backward. In thirty seconds, all of these children would die.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaaa¨C!</em>

    The energy slowly inched toward the children.

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¨C!</em>

    ¡°...?!¡±

    A mysterious barrier appeared and blocked the ck magic. The ck magic attacked the barrier fiercely and tried to prate it, but the invisible barrier was far too solid and thick. Ultimately, the ck mana that powered the ck magic could not hold up. With a <em>swoosh,</em> the ck magic slowly disappeared and scattered with the wind.

    Rughamon¡¯s face grew ugly.

    Meanwhile, Duke Vakkaman, who looked crucified on the wall, could only watch the situation. As he watched the scene before him, he recalled a legend he had heard in the past.

    <em>¡®Among the strong men that existed in the past were those who possessed special abilities.¡¯</em>

    Unfortunately, those special abilities had mostly disappeared and could no longer be found in the current era.

    <em>¡®That ability¡­ It allows the one with that ability to nullify any attacks from their opponent as long as their power is far more overwhelming than theirs.¡¯</em>

    In other words, it was an ability that would never allow the weak to harm the strong. It was an ability that showed the absolute gap between two opponents.

    <em>¡®Why is such a power appearing in this ce¡­?¡¯</em>

    Duke Vakkaman scanned the venue to find the owner of this ability. s, no matter how hard he looked, he could not find them. He could only see the directors and teachers from academies and schools all over the world.

    ¡°BASTARD!!!¡± Rughamon shouted as he raised his staff and released enormous ck mana.

    Duke Vakkaman frowned when he saw the ck mana that almost covered the entire area above them. It was evident that the lunatic was trying to create a massive explosion.

    <em>¡®A few among those strong men are¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>Rumble, rumble, rumble¨C!</em>

    At that moment, the entire venue, even the sturdy walls created by the most outstanding constructionpanies of the Luvien Empire, started to shake and tremble. The stones scattered all over the ground from earliermotion began to float in the air and resonate wildly.

    <em>¡®...capable of neutralizing the opponent¡¯s power with force and energy alone.¡¯</em>

    In front of such great power and momentum, the ck mana that almost covered the area above them began to scatter and disappear. At the same time, Rughamon suddenly felt a huge force wrap around his heart and start twisting it.

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaack!¡±

    <em>Thud¨C!</em>

    A sh of doubt appeared on Rughamon¡¯s face as he copsed on one knee. He could not even fight against this considerable force. He just copsed helplessly in the face of it. The overwhelming and unknown force eventually forced him down on both knees. In the end, even his upper body was forced on the ground. To Rughamon, it felt as if gravity was dragging him down.

    ¡°F*cking shit!¡±

    Rughamon thought there was no need for him to show his true power in this ce. In the beginning, he even came in disguise as a child because he wanted to hide his enormous energy and momentum. He even suppressed some of his power.

    In the first ce, would he be stupid enough to turn against the Great Luvien Empire with just this mere power alone? Of course not.

    ck blood slowly dripped down his body. This blood seeped through the ground and created a pentagon-shaped magic circle.

    <em>[Your seal will be released.]</em>

    With his seal released, Rughamon finally overcame the force that was suppressing him and stood up.

    <em>Shwaaaaaa¨C!</em>

    At the same time, an enormous amount of ck mana erupted from his body.

    Rughamon¡¯s lips twisted into a sneer. ¡°Do you know the ratio of the poption of ck mages and mages?¡±

    This was a warning, a threat, to the unknown man in the venue.

    ¡°Only approximately 1% of mages are ck mages.¡±

    ck mages make up a tiny percentage of the entire poption.

    ¡°To be honest, I find it ridiculous. After all, ck magic is far superior and stronger than ordinary and orthodox magic.¡±

    Rughamon¡¯s words were the truth. However, there was a reason why that was the case. This was because ck magic was a magic that often required a sacrifice.

    ¡°I hope to be a Pir Candidate and show the world the greatness of ck magic. And¡­¡±

    Then, the ck mana that had erupted and grown wild slowly became a huge spear.

    ¡°...in the end, I will also be a Pir and let the entire world know just how great and amazing ck magic truly is.¡±

    The ck spear imbued with overwhelming ck mana shot fiercely toward the wall. Once thatnded, everything under it would melt.

    Coincidentally, Brelin was right in front of the path of the spear. Brelin had been trying to soothe and calm the crying children. The ck spear was already almost right before him as he turned around. Just when the ck spear was about to pierce through Brelin¡¯s head¡­

    <em>[All forces and energy will be neutralized in front of the power of the Supreme.]</em>

    An even bigger and heavier force appeared from somewhere, stopping the ck spear just in front of Brelin. And Brelin? He unknowingly grabbed the hem of his director¡¯s clothes.

    Director Rundalk stretched his index finger and flicked the spear away.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    As if hit with a heavy force, the spear¡¯s direction was altered, and eventually flew to the ceiling.

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¨C!</em>

    The hall''s roof copsed, and debris almost fell on the children¡¯s heads. Surprisingly, however, all of the debris stopped in mid-air and slowly slid to the ground.

    Rundalk ruffled the teary Brelin¡¯s head, saying, ¡°I made a promise with Minhyuk.¡±

    Brelin could not believe what was happening in front of him. Their director just used one finger to alter the direction of that ck spear.

    ¡°I told him I will live as a normal and ordinary director.¡±

    Rundalk looked tangled. He had lived as the King of Destruction in the Land of the Leaders for thousands of years. If he suddenly appeared in the Beyond the Heavens Empire, then the carefully maintained bnce of the continent would mostly be destroyed.

    However, Rundalk no longer wished to carry on his previous name. All he wanted to do was walk the path of an ordinary father and a normal director.

    <em>Vwoooooooong¨C!</em>

    Rughamon was not the only one suppressing his powers. A white haze slowly spread from Rundalk¡¯s body until it covered the entire venue.

    ¡°But I can¡¯t do that today.¡±

    At that moment, Brelin recalled their director''s introduction during their first meeting. He said that he was around 4,900 years old.

    ¨C<em>I was once hailed as the Supreme.</em>

    <em>¨CMany of the Pir Candidates were jealous of me and envious of my power.</em>

    <em>¨CSome of the Pir Candidates challenged me to a duel. However, they all tasted defeat and returned after being beaten thoroughly by my hands.</em>

    <em>¨CI also refused to take on the position of the Pir. Because I wanted to go somewhere higher.</em>

    Brelin thought that their director¡¯s words were nothing but lies.

    ¨C<em>I have done something that I should not have done. Imitted a crime that I had to pay dearly for. So, now I only want to live happily and peacefully with you guys.</em>

    In the ears of the young children, everything that Rundalk said was nothing but a bluff. They believed that he was just bragging. When they told him that he was lying, all Rundalk did wasugh awkwardly. But now, it seemed like that was not the case at all.

    Meanwhile, another person recognized the white haze slowly spreading from Rundalk¡¯s body. This person was Duke Vakkaman.

    Surprisingly enough, Duke Vakkaman was among the few who knew about the legend from thousands of years ago. This was because Duke Vakkaman was a descendant of the family that birthed Rundalk.

    As a child, Duke Vakkaman listened to stories about him. ording to those stories, a white haze would spread from his body.

    Rundalk grabbed the wooden sword used by the childrenpeting in the World Cutie Competition. He went to where Rughamon was and shattered all the ck magic the man had created.

    At this moment, Duke Vakkaman recalled one of the legends he had heard about this existence.

    ¨C<em>Some envied him while some admired him.</em>

    Among those who admired him, someone gave him a present. That present was the ability to let the entire world know who he was. It could also grasp the situation and write a whole story about him.

    <em>[The powerful being transcending the eras has appeared after thousands of years.]</em>

    Covered with a white haze, Rundalk took a step forward. Rughamon, disconcerted by the sudden turn of events, backed away in fear while summoning a being from the ck Magic Realm.

    ¡°Agintomachia!¡±

    <em>Rumble¨C!</em>

    <em>Swoosh¨C!</em>

    Agintomachia was a being that every mage in the world knew.

    Unlike mages, ck mages had a realm they called the ck Magic Realm. In this realm, there existed a guardian god. This god was none other than Agintomachia. Agintomachia was the master and the source of ck magic.

    The gigantic Agintomachia unleashed explosive mana and ripped through the space. Hundreds of various kinds of mind control magic also appeared the moment he appeared. Before these mind control magic could turn into energy streams and spread all over the venue¡­

    <em>[The powerful being who has transcended the eras was called by this name¡­]</em>

    <em>[Supreme. The final realm that a human can reach.]</em>

    <em>[Supreme. The greatest and highest realm that a human hopes to reach.]</em>

    <em>[Supreme. The final realm that a human can demonstrate.]</em>

    <em>[And he carried the name¡­]</em>

    <em>[The Supreme.]</em>

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¨C!</em>

    Along with the white haze that continued to spread and rise from Rundalk¡¯s body, hundreds of white sword lights shot out from the children¡¯s wooden sword in his hand. These sword lights instantly extinguished all of the ck magic that Agintomachia sent from above.

    ¡°You said that you want to be a Pir?

    ¡°That¡¯s right! You bastard! You have no idea¡­!¡± Rughamon shouted. He waspletely unaware of the existence of the Supreme.

    ¡°I also know quite a lot of Pir Candidates.¡±

    Rundalk raised his sword toward Agintomachia, who was already halfway over from the space it tore apart.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    At that moment, a heavy force struck the gigantic Agintomachia.

    ¡°Why?¡±

    <em>[The Supreme.]</em>

    <em>[He was someone who ughtered 16 Pir Candidates by himself.]</em>

    ¡°Because a lot of them died by my hands.¡±

 Chapter 1131

    <strong>Chapter 1131</strong>

    Supreme Rundalk had be arrogant after killing the Pir Evaluators. Nevertheless, he continued experimenting with his powers first and learning about them more before pointing his sword at Chaos.

    Back then, he chased after the hiding Pir Candidates who had killed a lot of people or carried notorious reputations. During his experimentation, he had killed sixteen of the most brutal and vicious Pir Candidates. At that time, Rundalk considered his deeds an act of justice and proof of his power. Now that he was looking back on it, he realized that perhaps it was foolish behavior.

    ¡°Today, that number will increase to seventeen.¡± Rundalk smiled bitterly.

    Not long after, he raised his head and looked at Agintomachia, a being with the face of a human and the body of a ck mantis above them. Despite the heavy and overwhelming force that Rundalk had sent, it could still squeeze half of its body from the space it ripped apart.

    After listening to the story that rang in his ears, Rughamon knew that everything the man said was true. Even Duke Vakkaman, who was still pinned to the wall, was shocked. He almost shouted, <em>¡®The Supreme¡­!¡¯</em> out loud. While the young boy, Brelin, was looking at their Director Rundalk in shock.

    Rundalk wanted to hide it from the children. He did not want them to see this part of him.

    <em>¡®I don¡¯t want them to know what kind of person I was.¡¯</em>Even though he told them so, Rundalk did not want to show them his ridiculous power and strength.

    ¡°Kekekekekeke! Then, If I kill you, I will be one step closer to bing a true Pir.¡± Rughamon, who looked like a hollow skeleton, cackled.

    Rundalk found the situation unusual. Of course, there was a reason why he chose to make a majestic and spectacr appearance.

    <em>¡®If only¡­¡¯</em>

    He looked down at the children¡¯s wooden sword in his hands. Upon entering the venue of the World Cutie Competition, everyone was required to surrender their weapons. Only the knights and soldiers of the Luvien Empire were allowed to wear weapons inside the venue. But when Rughamon made the heads of the soldiers and the knights explode, he promptly threw their weapons out and locked the doors. In other words, he eliminated this risk factor.

    Nevertheless, the master would never me his tool.

    <em>¡®This feels shitty. I¡¯m being restricted.¡¯</em>

    A children¡¯s wooden sword was much smaller, shorter, and of poorer quality than ordinary wooden swords. If the sword in Rundalk¡¯s hand were real, then Agintomachia would have already been screaming while his blood gushed out.

    Regardless, there was only one way for them. And it was the only way to save everyone.

    Rundalk, with the children¡¯s wooden sword in hand, slowly went into position. When he was locked up in the Pandemonium¡¯s Prison and was left to die slowly, he recalled the words that Minhyuk had told his daughter.

    ¡°Brelin.¡± With the white haze still spreading from his body, Rundalk stepped forward and said, ¡°Close your eyes.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to.¡±

    <em>Twitch¨C</em>

    <em>¡®Hmm? This shouldn¡¯t be the case, right?¡¯</em> Rundalk thought, his bnce copsing. Then, he turned to look at Brelin.

    ¡°I want to see what kind of person the director of Sprout Academy is.¡±

    Rundalk finally smiled faintly after realizing that it was not some kind of rebellious attitude on Brelin¡¯s part.

    ¡°Then, be careful.¡±

    Then, he kicked the ground and leaped forward. Rundalk was fully aware of the situation.

    <em>¡®This will be very difficult.¡¯</em>

    It would be fine if he were alone. However, the teachers and children were being held hostage in this venue with him.

    What made things even moreplicated was that ck magic could cast long-range attacks. In other words, he would have to fight back against them while protecting the children. And this was a challenging feat.

    And there was also the fact that Rundalk had died after being confined in the Pandemonium¡¯s Prison. He might have been brought back to life but lost almost 25% of his powers. In other words, he was no longer as powerful as the Supreme of the past.

    As Rundalk destroyed the hundreds of ck magic pouring down on them, he caught sight of worm-like things made from ck mana toward the other people in the venue.

    ¡°Supreme. Once those worms dig into their bodies, those children will be my test subjects.¡± Rughamonughed deeply. ¡°Can you protect them?¡±

    <em>Stomp¨C!</em>

    Rundalk trampled on the crawling worms while his sword flew out and struck hundreds of worms that appeared all at once. The problem was the worms were constantly shooting out of Rughamon¡¯s staff.

    Meanwhile, Agintomachia had finally finished its descent. It immediately swung its mantis-like arms at the charging Rundalk.

    <em>¡®Every single attack that Agintomachia makes also triggers mind control magic.¡¯</em>

    Rundalk evaded the attack. He took a very unexpected action. He took a string and wrapped it around Agintomachia¡¯s sharp arms. Then, he tugged the string and pulled the guardian god down with all his might.

    <em>Thud¨C!</em>

    He kicked the struggling Agintomachia¡¯s upper body once before hitting him non-stop with the wooden sword in his hands.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    There were no cuts on Agintomachia¡¯s body because Rundalk used a wooden sword. Nheless, the impact of the blow, albeit weaker, sent Agintomachia flying toward Rughamon. This move made it so all of the attacks Rughamon sent toward Rundalk and the kids hit Agintomachia squarely in the chest.

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    Rughamon, who collided with the shrieking Agintomachia, rolled on the ground.

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    At the same time, the Supreme¡¯s power stretched out from Rundalk¡¯s hands.

    ¡°Supreme Swordsmanship. Chapter 1. Rampant Supreme.¡±

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    Hundreds of sword lights appeared in the air and immediately shot toward the reeling Rughamon and Agintomachia. Rughamon flinched unknowingly at the sight of the attack. Surprisingly enough, many of Rundalk¡¯s sword lights missed the two.

    <em>Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh¨C!</em>

    Of course, quite a few attacks targeted Rughamon and Agintomachia, but most targeted the door behind them.

    Rundalk frowned. ¡°Damn it. The de of the sword is far too short.¡±

    The children¡¯s wooden sword was almost half the size of an adult¡¯s sword. In other words, Rundalk could not adapt quickly because of the difference in the weapons.

    ¡°K-keufufufufu! I see, so the Supreme is nothing but a f*cking shitty old man!¡± Rughamonughed at Rundalk.

    Rundalk shot a barrage of attacks again, but the results remained the same.

    ¡°Keuhahahahaha!¡± Rughamon cackled to the point where his belly started to ache.

    <em>¡®What the hell? Is there such a shitty person?¡¯</em>

    In the end, Rundalk could only sigh as he narrowed the distance between them. At that moment, Agintomachia suddenly opened its mouth and gathered a considerable force. With the children behind him, Rundalk could only charge forward to block Agintomachia¡¯s attack.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack!¡± Rundalk screamed as he endured theser-like force that stretched out from Agintomachia¡¯s mouth. He hurriedly grabbed the god¡¯s mouth and turned him around to escape from the attack.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    The force shooting out of Agintomachia¡¯s mouthnded on the door behind it. Rundalk managed to avoid the attack easily but suffered greatly during the process. Blood was pouring out from the area that had been hit by theser-like attack earlier.

    At that moment, hundreds of attacks from Rughamonnded on Rundalk¡¯s already bleeding body.

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    ¡°I will never let youy a hand on the children.¡±

    Rundalk epted all of the attacks with his body. He did not let a single one of the ck magic attackse their way to reach the children. He even used the power of the Supreme that nullified all of the magical attacks shooting toward them.

    After blocking the attacks, Rundalk again charged forward and engaged in a fierce battle against Rughamon and Agintomachia.

    ¡°D-Director¡­?¡±

    Brelin just could not understand. Why was their director allowing all of the attacks from his two opponents, attacks that he obviously could avoid, tond on his body? Considering the power of Agintomachia, a being from the legends, it was already very shocking to see Rundalk fight toe to toe with it and Rughamon simultaneously.

    ¡°Director, you¡¯re going to die like that!¡±

    If Rundalk continued to do that, he would die. Rughamon was ruthless and vicious after all.

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be much easier for you if we do it like this?¡±

    <em>[Rughamon¡¯s Concentrated Attacks have been activated.]</em>

    <em>[Rughamon and Agintomachia¡¯s attacks will be focused on a single target!]</em>

    This was a power that Rughamon only used when he wanted to concentrate his attacks on a single enemy. The truth was Supreme Rundalk could nullify this power. Rundalk nced at Brelin in the end, but he still epted the attacks.

    At that moment, the attacks, which were scattered all over the ce, began to shoot toward Rundalk and Rundalk alone.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    An overwhelming bombardment of magical attacksnded on Rundalk. Even Agintomachia¡¯s power, which could rip apart his surroundings, was directed at him. Explosions erupted and devoured Rundalk¡¯s body and made his blood spurt and gush out.

    <em>¡®What the hell? What a monster.¡¯</em>

    Not a single groan escaped from Rundalk¡¯s mouth. And despite the blood covering his entire being, Rundalk grabbed the children¡¯s wooden sword tightly and continued hitting Rughamon.

    <em>Boom¨C!</em>

    ¡°Keok!¡± Rughamon groaned as a heavy blownded on his body. However, he did not remain idle. He immediately sent an explosion of ck magic at Rundalk.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    Despite the barrage of attacks, Rundalk remained unfazed. He just stood there and looked at Rughamon nonchntly.

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    Rundalk continued to swing his sword and hit Rughamon. Meanwhile, Agintomachia swung its sharp arms from behind and constantly cut Rundalk¡¯s limbs. Regardless, the attacks did not make Rundalk stagger or stop.

    One hit.

    <em>sh¨C</em>

    Two hits.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    Three, four¡­ a hundred and forty hits. Rughamon, being hit non-stop, felt as if every bone in his body was broken. The pain was searing. He could not help but wonder if he could even be a match against the man hailed as the Supreme in front of him if he was holding an actual sword.

    In the end, Rughamon could only flinch and cower from the pain of the non-stop beating. And when he caught sight of Rundalk¡¯s gaze¡­ <em>fwoosh¡­</em> goosebumps rose all over his body. The look in Rundalk¡¯s eyes was frightening. It was like he was not a human but a bug. There was no fluctuation nor guilt in his eyes.

    The gaze left Rughamon in fear. Unable to ovee the fear, he could only unleash a barrage of attacks.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    The barrage of attacks eventually broke Rundalk¡¯s left arm. The pain made the man stagger, but Rundalk remained unfettered and continued to hit Rughamon like crazy.

    ¡°Sp¡­ spa¡­!¡± Rughamon shouted in terror.

    Rundalk raised his sword and began to unleash an overwhelmingly heavy force.

    <em>Vwooooooong¨C!</em>

    Perhaps it was because his aim was off? The attack brushed Rughamon¡¯s ears andnded on the door behind him.

    ¡°Spare me! Please, spare me! I BEG YOU!!!¡±

    Rughamon had the upper hand. However, he was so terrified that he could only sp his hands and beg the man before him.

    Rundalk tried to swing his sword once again. s, his body had already reached its limits.

    ¡°Urk¡­!¡±

    Just when he vomited a mouthful of blood¡­

    <em>[Agintomachia has started to control your mind.]</em>

    ¡­Agintomachia¡¯s mind-control magic seeded. A dozen mind-control magic apanied each attack from Agintomachia. Its mind-control magic would only work on opponents that were weaker than Agintomachia. In other words, opponents that he could undoubtedly control. Otherwise, it would only work if the opponent was near death.

    Themand that Agintomachia ryed through the mind control magic was ruthless.

    <em>[The Massacre Control has started.]</em>

    ¡°Keuhahahahahahaa!¡± Rughamonughed maniacally.

    Agintomachia¡¯s Massacre Control was a type of mind control that would force someone to ughter every single being in the area who did not possess ck mana.

    Rundalk¡¯s now ck eyes turned to where the children were. Then, he began to walk toward them.

    ¡°This is my victory! Did you hear me?! Huh?! You f*cking bastard! You¡¯re now going to kill the children who you have been working so hard to protect with your own hands!¡±

    This is why ck magic was considered unorthodox and immoral. Mind-control magic often forced someone to do something that should never have been done.

    Rundalk slowly walked toward the children with the children¡¯s wooden swords covered with Rughamon¡¯s blood in his hands. At that moment, Brelin appeared with his hands spread open. He was blocking Rundalk¡¯s path.

    ¡°D-Director¡­?¡±

    Rundalk¡¯s creepy ck eyes looked down at Brelin. Then, he raised the wooden sword and struck the boy.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaack!¡±

    The other teachers from the Sprout Academy jumped forward and blocked Brelin, receiving the attack in the boy¡¯s stead.

    The attack from the Supreme was something that no ordinary human could endure. The teacher could only copse on the ground. It felt like all the bones in his back were broken from that one strike. At that moment¡­

    <em>[The opponent is trying to resist your mind control.]</em>

    <em>[The opponent is unable to break away.]</em>

    <em>[The opponent is trying to resist your mind control.]</em>

    <em>[The opponent is unable to break away.]</em>

    ¡°Stop resisting. It isplicated to break the mind control of the ck Magic God.¡±

    Rundalk once again raised the wooden sword in his hands. When Brelin saw this, he could tell his head would burst if this wooden swordnded.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± Brelin hugged Rundalk. ¡°Because this is not what the director wants.¡±

    In that brief moment, Rughamon witnessed an incredible scene.

    <em>[The opponent has resisted your mind control.]</em>

    It was just one second. But in that one second, Rundalk could turn and throw the wooden sword in his hand toward Rughamon. Rughamon cackled. He could easily evade the attack by simply turning his body to the side. And the ce where the wooden swordnded? The door behind him.

    At the same time, Rundalk pushed Brelin away and immediately broke his right arm.

    <em>Crack¨C!</em>

    His left arm had been shattered earlier. Now, with his right arm equally broken, he was no longer able to attack the children with his hands. As Rundalk looked at Brelin, he shouted, ¡°MINHYUK!!!¡±

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¨C!</em>

    At that moment, loud cracks began to spread in the venue. Not long after, the sound of something breaking echoed.

    <em>ng¨C nk¨C Bang¨C!</em>

    An explosion erupted from the ce where Rundalk¡¯s attacksnded.

    <em>BOOM¨C!</em>

    Someone walked out of the smoke and debris created by the explosion. This someone was none other than Minhyuk. He looked highly furious as he red at Rughamon and Agintomachia.

    <em>¡®Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡¯</em>

    Various scenes from earlier shed in Brelin¡¯s head. Then, he realized something.

    The hundreds of sword lights that did not hit the target.

    The frown as Rundalk gripped the small sword in his hand.

    And the sword that he threw at Rughamon at the final moment.

    Brelin turned to look at Rundalk, his pupils trembling. There was blood dripping constantly from the arm that he shattered to protect him.

    Not long after, the story that rang at the appearance of the Supreme rang in Brelin¡¯s ears once again.

    <em>[The Supreme never makes a mistake.]</em>

 Chapter 1132

    <strong>Chapter 1132</strong>

    Brelin cried.

    The young boy had assumed hundreds of possibilities. He thought that maybe Rundalk had intentionally given away his left arm for Rughamon to shatter.

    ck mages were vicious and brutal and had always loved to see humans fall into despair. Thinking that perhaps Rundalk would end up killing the children with his own hands, he ended up giving up his left arm.

    At thest second, he was able to exert a considerable boost in strength and even attacked the barrier to save everyone, even in the situation that he was in. He even broke his remaining arm to protect the young Brelin.

    ¡°Ah¨C waaaaaaaaah¡­¡±

    Unlike other children, Brelin did not shed a single tear when he saw the absurd results of thepetition. But at this moment, he was wailing loudly at the sight of Rundalk, who was forced to sumb to mental control once again.

    Just when Rundalk was about to use his teeth to bite the Brelin to death, debris from the broken wall flew and hit him in the back of the head.<em>Thump¨C</em>

    <em>Thud¨C!</em>

    Rundalk fainted. And Brelin? He continued to weep as he held Rundalk¡¯s bleeding hands. Meanwhile, Minhyuk, who had knocked out Rundalk, had a hideous expression.

    The sobbing Brelin caught everything in his eyes. Rundalk had told him that Minhyuk would not care about the deals and transactions in front of him if it meant that he would save just one of his people from being treated unjustly.

    The first proof of this was the Battle God¡¯s Voice.

    The second proof was that the emperor rushed to save a hundred or so civilians.

    At this moment, Rughamon realized that the strong and outstanding men of the Luvien Empire, who were all waiting for an opportunity to enter, would soon rush in now that the barrier had been broken. He grew agitated and anxious. He tried to release a current of ck energy to cover his body.

    Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°It¡¯s toote, you f*cking bastard.¡±

    The ck energy about to cover his entire body and seep into his skin suddenly dispersed.

    <em>[Except for the Return Scroll and Teleport, everything else will be restricted.]</em>

    Brelin saw the figure of one of Beyond the Heavens¡¯ heroes standing right next to Minhyuk. With her snake-like eyes, Elizabeth was as beautiful as a doll as she stood next to her emperor.

    When he saw this, Brelin realized that another proof was being presented here and now. And this proof was¡­

    ¡°Kill them. Tear those bastards to pieces. Show them what happens if they dare to touch a Beyond the Heavens Empire citizen. This is an imperial order!¡±

    ¡­the people who suddenly appeared next to Minhyuk.

    Brelin, who could not believe the scene before him, felt his heart thump wildly.

    The first pir that supported the Beyond the Heavens Empire said, ¡°I have received Your Majesty¡¯s orders.¡±

    Brod was Brelin¡¯s hero. He was themander-in-chief who led tens of millions of troops and was a figure that was on par with Nerva, the former emperor of the Luvien Empire.

    Brod ran past Minhyuk. Then, he leaped and struck Agintomachia. The dirty insect screamed as it got sent flying away.

    Then, another person appeared right behind Minhyuk. In a sh, this person appeared before Brelin and blocked him from harm. He stabbed his spear on the ground and said, ¡°You must have been scared.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry anymore. This grandpa will not move a single step away from here.¡±

    This old man has killed gods just to save His Majesty Minhyuk. Fury was zing on Grandpa Ben¡¯s face as his ck hair fluttered with the wind.

    The heroes of the Beyond the Heavens Empire appeared one after another.

    Sword God Conir, the man wielding the noblest and most incredible sword and a talent acknowledged by the world, appeared before Brelin. Brelin had only seen Conir and his many joyful and yful expressions.

    ¡°One second.¡±

    This time, he was more furious than anybody else present.

    ¡°That¡¯s the time it will take me to rip you apart!¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¨C!</em>

    The invisible yet most powerful sword, the Heart Sword, shot out and tore apart one of Agintomachia¡¯s legs. Despite the green blood spurting out of the enemy¡¯s body, the furious Conir did not stop swinging his sword.

    ¡°A-aaaah¡­¡±

    This was the third proof. At this moment, Brelin realized that Minhyuk had gathered the greatest and strongest men of the Beyond the Heavens Empire so that he could save the few hundreds of his people and mere children.

    What was even more surprising was the fact that this was not the Beyond the Heavens Empire. This was the Luvien Empire¡¯s territory. It seemed like regardless of when and where, Minhyuk would always respond strongly so that he could protect his people.

    Rughamon tried to escape by using Teleport, but he failed to do so and is now left flustered by the scene in front of him.

    <em>[Agintomachia. Level 879]</em>

    Agintomachia was none other than the god of the ck Magic Realm, yet he was rendered helpless by the vassals of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. He could not even resist and could only die.

    Brelin watched as Minhyuk walked toward Rughamon. Heid witness to the fourth proof.

    The furious Minhyuk gritted his teeth and growled, ¡°I had been waiting outside. You have crossed the line. Soldiers were taught never to kill civilians, women, and children even in war, but you¡­ You tried to harm the precious children of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.¡±

    The terrified Rughamon unleashed hundreds of ck magic at Minhyuk. A blue barrier appeared around Minhyuk and blocked all of his attacks.

    Hundreds of skeletons appeared in the sky above them and attacked Minhyuk. Yet they did not even block his path. Minhyuk swung his sword and destroyed the hundreds of skeletons as he continued to walk to where Rughamon was.

    ¡°For the sin of trying to harm the precious people of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, I, the Beyond the Heavens¡¯ emperor, will bestow a punishment upon you.¡±

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    He grabbed Rughamon by the neck. At the same time, a considerable force erupted in his palms.

    <em>[ck Mage Rughamon. Level 864.]</em>

    Rughamon was higher than Minhyuk in terms of level. Regardless, the strong powerhouses of the Beyond the Heavens Empire had already gathered in this small, enclosed venue.

    ¡°Uweeeeck! Kueeeeck!¡±

    Minhyuk punched Rughamon in the pit of his stomach. Then, he threw him in the air. Even though he was sent flying in the air, Rughamon could still move and send an enormous amount of ck mana toward Minhyuk.

    In the case of ck mages, they could exert their most extraordinary power through mind control magic. If Rughamon could control Minhyuk, then he would be able to kill everyone here. In the first ce, if he could control<em> him,</em> then none of these people would be able to harm him.

    Because of that, Rughamon released his control on others. He wanted to ensure he had a good shot at this victory. s, Minhyuk was the owner of an invincible body. He also possessed an absolute power that allowed him to resist most of the mind-control magic.

    Only then did Rughamon realize that he and Minhyuk were a bad matchup. If that was the case, then who should he control? Should he focus on Brod?

    Dozens of streams of ck energy made from ck mana began to spread all over the ce.

    <em>[The system is being controlled.]</em>

    <em>[Inside this venue, ck mana and ck magic will not be able to control the minds of everyone present.]</em>

    Minhyuk was no fool. There was a reason why he brought Elizabeth to the venue first. He had listened to the reports by the security guards stationed at the venue and had already prepared everything he could use against ck magic.

    <em>If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.</em> ording to this, he would obtain victory even if he fought a hundred battles against his enemy as long as he had studied his opponent well.

    <em>Fwoosh¨C</em>

    Minhyuk fired an Intangible Sword at Rughamon. In response, Rughamon tried to stack dozens of ck shields to defend himself, but the Intangible Sword was a power that could ignore all defenses. It pierced through his shields and stabbed straight through his body.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡± Rughamon shrieked.

    Minhyuk did not show any mercy. He swung his sword and cut his arm off.

    <em>Thump¨C</em>

    With the loss of his arm, Rughamon¡¯s string of reason finally snapped.

    ¡°Keuaaaaaack! You damn¡­!¡±

    ¡°Shut your trap.¡± Minhyuk punched Rughamon in the mouth and forced him to shut up. Then, he began to sh and hack at the ck mage¡¯s body.

    Despite the blood spurting out of his body, Rughamon still cackled. ¡°Kghhk! Don¡¯t you know? Keufufufufu! If you kill me right here and now, all of the ck mages following me will be your enemies.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s brows furrowed at the threat. But then, Elpis arrived and made a report. He said, ¡°Your Majesty, the Beyond the Heavens Empire, and the Luvien Empire have joined together to find and attack the hideouts of the ck mages following him. ording to their report, they can wipe them out in an hour.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s mouth curled up.

    Was Rughamon an idiot? He should remember that it was not just the Beyond the Heavens Empire that he dared to touch. There was also the Luvien Empire. And the Luvien Empire was an empire that would always pay back whatever it received tenfold.

    The moment they heard the report that a person believed to be a ck mage had attacked the venue for the World Cutie Competition, Minhyuk and Emperor Cardin both issued an order.

    ¡°Right now, most of your followers have already died.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Rughamon¡¯s face grew ugly. Tears almost dripped down his chin from the fear and terror that gripped his entire being.

    ¡°Please, spare¡­!¡±

    <em>Stab¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk did not even listen. He just stabbed his heart without any hesitation or mercy. When Rughamon died, a cloud of ck mana surged out of his body. The ck mana tried to escape, but as mentioned before, Minhyuk had already made preparations.

    ¡°Elizabeth.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Your Majesty.¡±

    Under the power of Elizabeth, the woman who could control the system, the ck cloud of energy gathered in front of Minhyuk once again. This shaking ck cloud of energy was Rughamon.

    <em>[N-no! Please!!!]</em>

    ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you?¡± Minhyuk sneered. He looked just like an evil and vicious ghost right at this moment. ¡°If you touch my people, then you will be executed right away.¡±

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    The sword in Minhyuk¡¯s hands killed Rughamon twice. When the ck cloud of energy dissipated, a notification rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You have hunted Rughamon.]</em>

    After that, he turned toward Agintomachia. He watched as the vassals of the Beyond the Heavens Empire forced the gigantic god into gray ashes.

    The people of the Luvien Empire, who rushed in right behind them, were frozen stiff after watching what the heroes of the Beyond the Heavens Empire and their emperor had done.

    <em>¡®No matter what, it wouldn¡¯t be this easy, right¡­?¡¯</em>

    Even Luvien Empire¡¯s Emperor Cardin, who was also present, was shocked. <em>¡®How strong have you be?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk left the shocked men from the Luvien Empire as they moved stiffly to bring down Duke Vakkaman, who had been pinned to the walls.

    Brelin watched the heroes of the Beyond the Heavens Empire wrap up the situation quickly. However, the murderous intent seeping from their bodies was still far too much for the young Brelin to handle. He could only groan from the overwhelming pressure.

    After sorting everything out, Minhyuk approached Brelin. Brelin could not help but feel fear. Any child who had witnessed such overwhelming killing intent and had seen such an evil expression would unknowingly feel fear.

    But unlike his earlier expression, Minhyuk smiled warmly and gently at the young Brelin.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry I waste,¡± Minhyuk said, enveloping Brelin in a gentle andforting hug.

    Brelin thought, <em>¡®I think the greatest blessing in my life is being born into this empire.¡¯</em>

    Now that Rughamon and Agintomachia were dead, the ck magic applied to Rundalk was lifted. Just in time, he woke up.

    ¡°Ugh. Why does the back of my head hurt so much?¡± Rundalk said, confusion evident as he woke up.

    ¡°...¡±

    Brelin, who had seen him wake up, immediately hugged him. Rundalk, whose arms were broken, could only smile softly at the young boy.

    ¡°Right. Did you see it?¡± Rundalk asked. It seemed that he understood the situation just as quickly as he opened his eyes.

    Brelin nodded vigorously in answer.

    At that moment, the man, who had already pulled himself together, approached Rundalk and slowly went down on his knees. He said, ¡°Vad Family¡¯s Vakkaman greets you, sir.¡±

    Rundalk scoffed when he realized that the man was one of his descendants. ¡°No wonder you¡¯re so rude.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Brelin was surprised to see one of the dukes of the Great Luvien Empire kneeling in front of their director. Now that Rundalk has recognized Vakkaman as one of his descendants, he realizes that the situation will finally be sorted out. They will also be able to determine the true winner of thispetition.

    There was one problem.

    ¡°Your Majesty, no matter how dire the situation is¡­ you cut your enemy¡¯s arm and even stabbed him in the heart in front of all the children¡­¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    An awkward look shed on Minhyuk¡¯s face. He had lost his temper at the time and could not hold back.

    The vassals scolded Minhyuk for his reckless behavior. The scene looked quite ridiculous, but seeing the awkward and funny expressions on the human emperor¡¯s face made Brelinugh.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s just angry because he wanted to protect us.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Everyone looked at Brelin in surprise. Although the child was just nine years old, he was very mature and stable. A proud glint appeared in Brelin¡¯s eyes when he saw their reactions.

    Minhyuk even said, ¡°When I killed Rughamon, I obtained this item called <em>¡®ck Magic¡¯s Memories.¡¯</em> It can be used right away. Let¡¯s use this to erase the children¡¯s memories during thepetition.¡±

    Minhyuk felt very sorry for the children. But if they did not do this, then this event would leave a longsting trauma to every single child present in this venue.

    The trauma was not necessarily because they had witnessed the cruelty that Minhyuk was capable of. The shock of meeting Rughamon and Agintomachia was enough to haunt them for the rest of their lives.

    The Beyond the Heavens Empire gathered all the children after receiving the agreement from the teachers and directors from the other kingdoms and empires. But Brelin did not follow them. He was the only one who did not go where the children had gathered. He just stood there and calmly dusted off his Obren bag before putting it back on.

    ¡°Brelin?¡±

    Everyone, including Minhyuk, Brod, Rundalk, and the people of the Beyond the Heavens Empire, looked at Brelin in confusion. With a <em>¡®heave-ho!¡¯,</em> Brelin wore his Obren bag properly and looked at them with a small smile.

    ¡°I want to remember this moment.¡± He made eye contact with every single person present. ¡°I want to remember how Sir Rundalk protected us, how His Majesty Minhyuk came running to save us, and how the people of the Beyond the Heavens Empire grew angry because we were treated unjustly.¡±

    They all smiled softly at Brelin. Minhyuk respected the child¡¯s choice. The other children¡¯s memories had been erased, but for Brelin, this memory would forever be imprinted on his head. He would forever know what kind of ce the Beyond the Heavens Empire indeed was. Perhaps this moment would help him be amander, an emperor, or even another Supreme in the future.

    On the other hand, Emperor Cardin watched the scene with envy. He unknowingly smiled as he looked at the mature child.

    Just then, Minhyuk, smiling gently at Brelin, approached him and said, ¡°Well then, shall we go back to our discussion about the Briah¡¯s River?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Emperor Cardin understood what he wanted to say. Simply put, the one guilty of corruption was Duke Vakkaman, a vassal of the Luvien Empire. Then, there was the fact that the one who broke the barrier from within the venue and protected everyone was someone from the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    ¡°You¡¯re going to give it to me, right?¡±

    <em>¡®Give it to you? You punk!¡¯</em>

    Although Minhyuk was not holding a knife¡­

    <em>nce¨C</em>

    No. He was a robber with a knife in his hands.

 Chapter 1133

    <strong>Chapter 1133</strong>

    Haze was feeling both frustrated and furious.

    Minhyuk went to the Luvien Empire to negotiate for the Briah¡¯s River Water. So, why was she angry? This was because Minhyuk had suddenly summoned the executives of the Beyond the Heavens Empire to the Luvien Empire.

    The Beyond the Heavens Empire would suffer significant losses if even a person suddenly disappeared for a single day. The worst part was that he did not just summon one; he summoned dozens of them. Of course, Haze had heard the reason for the summoning. But she still could not help but feel that Minhyuk was acting a bit over the top.

    Haze vowed that she would scold Minhyuk when he returned this time.

    At that moment, Minhyuk returned and said, ¡°Haze, the Luvien Empire gave me two million tinum.¡±

    ¡°...Did you have afortable and rxed trip, Your Majesty?¡±

    ¡°Ah! I also received around 500,000 tinum for hunting Rughamon and Agintomachia.¡±¡°May I take your coat?¡±

    ¡°Unfortunately, they did not drop anything special. But if we sell the items they dropped, I think we¡¯ll get three million tinum, give or take.¡±

    ¡°Do you want me to massage your shoulders?¡±

    Haze¡¯s stance changed at the speed of light. She could not help but chuckle happily when she heard that Minhyuk could secure enormous funds. But she was still curious about why the Luvien Empire gave them two million tinum.

    Minhyuk said, ¡°Well, the Beyond the Heavens Empire practically saved Duke Vakkaman¡¯s life. We received far less.¡±

    The value of Duke Vakkaman¡¯s life was not just in the millions of tinum.

    ¡°Sprout Academy¡¯s Brelin won the gold medal in the end.¡±

    Haze nodded. Things seemed to be going smoothly. But there was still one more important thing.

    Minhyuk, who instantly saw through what she was thinking, nodded. ¡°I obtained the ownership of the Briah¡¯s River without giving up anything.¡±

    Haze was in awe. Although he had taken almost ten million tinum from the Luvien Empire, he still felt he had received less.

    ¡°Then, will you be going straight to Briah¡¯s River?¡±

    ¡°No. Not yet.¡±

    Minhyuk immediately sent his vassals back once everything was done, logged out, and slept well. Only after doing all that did hee back in the game. Even so, he was still exhausted. This type of exhaustion did not go away because of his hunger.

    ¡°I still haven¡¯t eaten it yet.¡±

    ¡°Ah. I see. I understand.¡± Haze stepped out.

    She knew what the ¡°<em>it</em>¡± that Minhyuk was talking about was. It was none other than the ingredient he obtained from Pandemonium, the Phenomenal-grade ingredient.

    <em>[You can create any ingredient from the Phenomenal-grade ingredient.]</em>

    The Phenomenal-grade ingredient was actually a small stone. What was surprising about it was that Minhyuk could create any ingredient that he wanted out of it. But the best part was the part in the description that said it was unlike the other high-grade ingredients. The Phenomenal-grade ingredient was not that difficult to cook.

    <em>¡®In the first ce, the level of difficulty of the Land of the Leaders was not low. So, it wouldn¡¯t make sense if the cooking¡¯s difficulty level is high too.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had umted a lot of stress from all of the recent events, which had given him an intense craving for something. And this ¡°something¡± was the Spicy Stir-Fried Chicken Noodles.

    The Spicy Stir-Fried Chicken Noodles were so spicy that anyone who ate them would feel their tongue tingle and their forehead sweat. Nevertheless, they would continue to eat them.

    Once Minhyuk pictured the image of the Spicy Stir-Fried Chicken Noodles, the Phenomenal-grade ingredient immediately took its form.

    <em>[The Phenomenal-grade Ingredient has been set to Stir-fried Noodles.]</em>

    Minhyuk immediately began cooking. The cooking process did not take too long. After all, all he needed to do was to boil the noodles and mix the sauce in. His mouth watered at the sight of the red and glossy noodles of the Spicy Stir-Fried Chicken Noodles.

    <em>¡®The smell alone is enough to whet my appetite.¡¯</em>

    When he ced the cheese on top of the Spicy Stir-Fried Chicken Noodles, it immediately melted. As someone well-versed in eating, Minhyuk had already prepared a hot bar beside his bowl of noodles.

    Minhyuk immediately grabbed his chopsticks and mped a huge mouthful of noodles that had already started to absorb the melted cheese. The spicy scent that wafted from the noodles he put in his mouth made his nose tingle.

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuuuuurp!</em>¡±

    His mouth was instantly filled with the Spicy Stir-Fried Chicken Noodles. Every chew coated his mouth with the perfect sweetness and spiciness, a perfectbination with the mellow vor of the cheese.

    ¡°Kghhk. It¡¯s so yummy!¡±

    The spiciness hadn¡¯t truly kicked in yet. But every mouthful of noodles that he slurped brought a tingling sensation in his mouth. And when it finally kicked in, he started to feel like his mouth was on fire.

    ¡°<em>Slurp¨C</em> Haa¡­¡± Minhyuk unknowingly breathed out a sigh as he took a big bite of the hot bar to tone down the spiciness in his mouth.

    Before he knew it, sweat started to drip down his face. The degree of spiciness gradually intensified, making Minhyuk suffer. Even so, he continued to eat the stir-fried noodles.

    ¡°<em>Sluuuuurp.</em> Kghhk¨C Spicy.¡±

    Despite the burning spiciness in his mouth, Minhyuk continued to eat. And the more he ate, the more he felt as if his stress was being relieved. After eating everything, Minhyuk decided to cool down his mouth by eating the Mother¡¯s Only Daughter ice cream.

    While he was enjoying Mother¡¯s Only Daughter ice cream, the notifications finally rang.

    <em>[You have eaten a dish made with a Phenomenal-grade Ingredient.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 1.7%.]</em>

    <em>[When facing a being rted to the Supreme, your attack and defensive power will increase by 15%.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained 2 Supreme Skill Level-Up Points(LUP).]</em>

    <em>[You have yet to reach Level 800.]</em>

    <em>[You can only use the Supreme Skill LUP once you reach Level 800.]</em>

    Minhyuk was quite disappointed when he heard the iing notification. But he did not dwell too much on it.

    <em>¡®Should I go and distribute my ingredients worldwide now?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk immediately headed toward the Briah¡¯s River.

    ***

    Most countries worldwide were ying the virtual reality game Athenae. Only a select few countries did not have ess to the game. The number of yers ying Athenae had long exceeded a billion.

    Countless Joy Co. Ltd. branches¨Cthe American Branch, the Chinese Branch, the French Branch, and dozens more branches¨Cexisted worldwide. Why was this the case? First of all, Athenae was considered a global game. On top of that, each of these countries had already epted Athenae as a part of their daily lives.

    Global yers wanted their own countries to manage their own servers. This was partly because their governments were worried that there might be discrimination since the yers belonged to other countries. The fact that the government responded was a testament to Athenae''s power and influence.

    Athenae operated with the Korean headquarters at the center, and each branch operated separately. But since they were operating like that, there might be problems.

    Even though each branch was created to ensure fairness, they could also abandon this fairness and give preferential treatment to certain yers. For example, a branch¡¯s story team might inform yers about a particr part of the game. Or they could also choose to leak the rewards of a particr quest.

    Joy Co. Ltd. often did special audits on each branch to ensure fairness. A special surprise audit could only be done by a Special Audit Team of members from another country to the country to be audited. Even the headquarters had to undergo a special audit.

    The Chinese Special Audit Team, created after receiving approval from several countries worldwide, stormed into the headquarters. If they find that President Kang Taehoon was involved in corruption, they could easily bring down the President.

    Chen Shihao, the team leader of the Special Audit Team, intended to delve deeper into the corruption in Athenae¡¯s Korean headquarters. When he found the slightest indication of corruption, he intended to blow things up and drag down the Korean headquarters.

    Chen Shihao ordered the Special Audit Team to walk with majesty and dignity. He said, ¡°Let¡¯s pay special attention and focus on digging into the irregrities and corruption rted to yer Minhyuk and the Korean high rankers.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir.¡±

    President Kang Taehoon had dered that there was no corruption. However, the Chinese branch still believed that a secret deal was taking ce between headquarters and Minhyuk.

    The ce where Chen Shihao was heading was none other than the Special yers Management Team. Chen Shihao nned to monitor the Korean high rankers with their primary focus on Minhyuk. This was what the different branches from all over the world had requested them to check strictly.

    However, Chen Shihao was left flustered when he joined the Special yers Management Team.

    ¡°...?¡±

    This was because a woman was sitting amidst a massive pile of snacks. When the Special Audit Team appeared, she just stared nkly at them.

    Cheon Shihao arrogantly introduced himself and his team members to the woman. He said, ¡°We are the Special Audit Team from China. I see Korea¡¯s Special yers Management Team as smelly and dirty as a pigsty.¡±

    ¡°Yes. Hello. My name is Lee Minhwa. I¡¯m sorry, but I have been working overtime for three days now. Please let me focus on my work.¡± The woman bowed politely before returning to her monitor and tapping away on her keyboard.

    ¡°...?¡±

    Chen Shihao felt flustered and embarrassed at that moment. Usually, when the Special Audit Team appeared, the people were surprised and immediately groveled in front of them while saying, <em>¡®You can observe as you please.¡¯</em>

    s, the woman in front of him did not show any interest. She did not even show any interest in gathering data and collecting papers to give to them. Seeing this, Chen Shihao¡¯s anger red up. How dare a mere employee work when they were here?

    ¡°Look here. We are the Special Audit Team approved by the branches from all over the world. You dared to just greet us like that¡­¡±

    ¡°Ah, yes. I¡¯m sorry, but I¡¯m a bit busy. Here, please have a cup of coffee.¡±

    The woman stood up, bowed politely, and rushed to get cups of coffee, which she handed over to the members of the Special Audit Team. Then, she sat back down and focused on her work again.

    ¡°...?!¡±

    <em>¡®What the hell? What¡¯s this absurd scenario?¡¯</em>

    Chen Shihao expected her to look at them with a cold sweat and stammer, not knowing what to do.

    It had to be known that Chen Shihao was the son of the manager of the Chinese branch. Being treated sincerely and courteously wherever he went had made his ego blow up. On top of being arrogant, he was also known for being an absolute scum, even within their branch.

    Just as he was about to blow up from anger, he noticed that the person Lee Minhwa was monitoring was none other than Minhyuk. Interest shed on his face. Chuckling loudly, he rested his hand on the chair the woman was sitting on before going on a long tirade.

    ¡°It seems like the heavens are on our side. We judged that the Korean Special yers Management Team is the team that has the highest contact with the yers. That¡¯s why we believe that the Special yers Management Team is the team that secretly informs Minhyuk about future updates, good quests, and methods to clear them.¡±

    ¡°We are proud of our work and have a clear conscience.¡±

    Lee Minhwa was the proudest of their work, so she could confidently say those words.

    Nheless, this answer made Chen Shihao more angry. ¡°Get up. Look me in the eye and repeat those words. How dare you act so cheeky¡­¡±

    ¡°Weren¡¯t you the one who demeaned us first by saying,<em> ¡®Korea¡¯s Special yers Management Team is as smelly and as dirty as a pigsty.¡¯</em> when you entered here?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°Even so, I still acted courteously and greeted you politely?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°So, who is the one who is not polite? Is it me, or is it your Special Audit Team? In the first ce, if you had said, <em>¡®I look forward to your cooperation,¡¯</em> when you came in, I would have greeted you nicely and treated you politely, even if I had been working overtime for three straight days. Did I say anything wrong?¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Her words were the truth. However, some people would always move on instinct and let their anger get the best of them when they had nothing to say or counter their opponent¡¯s logical reasoning. The Special Audit Team¡¯s Leader, Chen Shihao, was just that kind of person.

    Unable to endure the anger, he kicked the chair Lee Minhwa was sitting on.

    <em>Thud¨C</em>

    Shocked by the sudden actions, Lee Minhwa fell off of her chair.

    ¡°Kyaaack!¡±

    Seeing the surprise on her face, Chen Shihao crouched down and growled at her. ¡°I am the leader of the Special Audit Team approved by all countries. If you talk back to me again, even if there¡¯s nothing here, I¡¯ll make sure to make it up and never let you go¡­¡±

    At that moment, a man entered through the still-open door. Chen Shihao immediately noticed who the man was. Wasn¡¯t he Korea¡¯s Special yers Management Team¡¯s Leader, Park Minggyu?

    Team Leader Park Minggyu was very smart andpetent. He was so skilled that few executives dared touch him. But because he was brilliant, it was easy to talk to him.

    Chen Shihao believed this employee would be in trouble once he told him about her cheeky attitude and the atrocious way she had treated them. Then, the situation would be over.

    ¡°Team Leader Park Minggyu. I am the Special Audit Team¡¯s¡­¡±

    Chen Shihao exined the situation. Team Leader Park listened to his story and looked at Lee Minhwa solemnly before approaching him.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure you understand the situation, so things will be easy. This cheeky bastard¡­¡±

    Chen Shihao sneered at Lee Minhwa, who was still looking at him in surprise. Just then, Team Leader Park kicked him hard on the butt the moment he approached him.

    <em>Kick¨C!</em>

    ¡°Ack?!¡±

    ¡°Since you know that your people are precious, you should know that my people are also precious.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°I have never treated someone lower than me in a position with disrespect. Who gave you the right to do that to my subordinate?¡±

    Chen Shihao caught sight of the gloomy and creepy eyes of Team Leader Park.

    At this moment, Team Leader Park recalled a famous line by one of the yers. He said, ¡°Special Audit Team Leader? Is that an official position?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    That was right. It was not an official position.<blockquote>

    ChubbyCheeks''s Thoughts

    CC: Mother¡¯s Only Daughter - Apparently, this is supposed to be Mother is an Alien, a vor of Baskin Robbins. lol. I had to double take.</blockquote>

 Chapter 1134

    <strong>Chapter 1134</strong>

    The audit team was precisely what one usually saw in movies. If the audit team revealed any corruption, the person in question would receive disciplinary actions or even be removed from his position, regardless of rank or position. Because of that, an audit team could make anyone tremble even if their position was not that high in thepany. However, Team Leader Park questioned if they held an official position.

    Team Leader Chen Shihao looked like a goldfish as his mouth gaped open. He thought, <em>¡®What is this crazy guy saying?¡¯</em>

    ¡°You, do you know who I am¡­?¡±

    ¡°What? Are you referring to you being the son of the head of the Chinese Branch?¡± Team Leader Park asked, his tonepletely rxed.

    The situation was just like Lee Minhwa said. There was no need for them to cower in front of the audit team. After all, their conscience was clear, and they were very proud of their work.

    Then, at that moment, another person appeared.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on here?¡±This person was none other than President Kang Taehoon.

    Chen Shihao hurriedly exined the current situation. They were distinguished guests that had to be treated courteously. But President Kang Taehoon had seen Lee Minhwa sprawled on the ground and Team Leader Park ring at Chen Shihao.

    President Kang Taehoon said, ¡°Can I also hit you?¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­?¡± Chen Shihao was dumbfounded. He realized that something had gone very, <em>very</em> wrong.

    ¡°Ah. I don¡¯t fight with people in a lower position than me. Then, should I just visit your father and hit him on the back of his head?¡±

    <em>¡®No. What is this? Is this deja vu?¡¯</em>

    How could the team leader and the president agree? Furthermore¡­

    ¡°If you dare to touch my employees again, I will remove the audit team.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Chen Shihao, who failed to get even, blinked nkly.

    ¡°You kicked his butt? Alright. Let¡¯s call it even since you kicked her chair,¡± President Kang Taehoon said as he nced at the CCTV in the room. That one nce put an indescribable and unspoken pressure on Chen Shihao. It was as if he was telling him that he had caught his tail and would not stay still if he did not keep his hands to himself.

    ¡°Wh-what¡­ what kind of ridiculous ce is this¡­¡±

    Team Leader Chen Shihao could not understand what was happening. He vowed to return, then ran away after his subordinates collected all the data they needed.

    ***

    Team Leader Chen Shihao had made a very unexpected visit with his subordinates.

    After gathering all of the data, he judged there would be a ledger somewhere that detailed all of the transactions the headquarters had with the Korean yers. But no matter how often they scoured the data they had collected, there was no such ledger. In fact, a closer look at the data did not show any signs of corruption. It was clean.

    Even so, Team Leader Chen Shihao was still unconvinced.

    ¡°We will monitor the Special yers Management Team for four days. Each team member will also go to your designated team and department and monitor them.¡±

    In his head, it did not make sense for apany to be this clean. So, Chen Shihao thought, <em>¡®Someone must have leaked the information.¡¯</em>

    After giving his orders to his team members, Chen Shihao recalled the humiliation he suffered yesterday. If he could shake thispany, a speck of dust would definitelye out.

    They also came here for one more important reason. In fact, the audit team has the authority to intervene with matters rted to yer Minhyuk. This was actually the main reason why the audit team was dispatched to the headquarters.

    Information about a yer performing a surprising action or achieving something unexpected was usually distributed following three stages.

    In the first stage, the information would only be sent to the branch¡¯s Special yers Management Team and tagged for observation.

    In the second stage, a warning message would be sent to all of the branch''s teams and departments.

    <em>¡®This is the first time the third stage has been triggered.¡¯</em>

    In the third stage, a notification will be sent to all branches. This meant that this was an emergency. This was the notification that has been sent to the Chinese Branch:

    <em>[yer Minhyuk is going to create a Supreme Skill.]</em>

    Athenae consistently adhered to the strict protection of a yer¡¯s personal information. But this could be considered to be an unusual stage. This was because the situation had already reached the third stage. Why was the most unusual third stage triggered?

    <em>¡®This means yer Minhyuk¡¯s Supreme skill will affect the world.¡¯</em>

    Of course, even if they learned about it, the people from the branches worldwide were not allowed to speak about it. And they would not speak about it. Why? Every country hoped that their own country would be the one to create the very first notification of this kind. The problem was that a yer from another country triggered this notification. So, every single country demanded a thorough investigation of the matter.

    Chen Shihao also attended the meeting at the headquarters because of this matter.

    ¡°yer Minhyuk is trying to make it so his Supreme Skill: Ingredient Creation will produce ingredients with better effects than other ingredients of the same grade.¡±

    That was right. If the Food God¡¯s Ingredients were no different from Athenae¡¯s normal ingredients, then the Food God¡¯s Ingredients would simply be created and added to the world. But if the ingredients he created were superior to the other ingredients of the same grade, then the power of the dish cooked with these ingredients would increase.

    ¡°Now, we have to talk about the conditions for this.¡±

    The notifications that rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears told him that the conditions for making ingredients superior to other ingredients on the same grade would be given to himter. This was because the skill was literally being created right now. And Supeputer Athenae had judged that this was a very important issue. Thanks to that, Joy Co. Ltd. could set the conditions for creating the skill.

    Right now, Chen Shihao, the one appointed by the other countries, was trying to intervene with the setting of the conditions. He said, ¡°Many branches worldwide suspect that the Korean headquarters is giving preferential treatment to Korean yers.¡±

    Chen Shihao looked at the people present in the conference room.

    ¡°I believe one of the preferential treatments is rted to setting the difficulty level and rewards. So, this is what our audit team has to say about these skill creation conditions.¡±

    The Korean headquarters¡¯s story and rewards teams had already finished all the discussions. They already discussed what actions Minhyuk needed toplete before he could create ingredients superior to other ingredients of the same grade. Of course, the difficulty was very high.

    These were the conditions that they set:

    ¨C<em>If you wish to create normal-grade ingredients that are more outstanding than other normal-grade ingredients, you have to personally make 400 of your dishes and offer them to the Briah¡¯s River as a sacrifice.</em>

    <em>¨CRequired dish grade: 100 epic-grade, 18 legendary-grade, and 3 god-grade.</em>

    <em>¨CFinally, bow 20,000 times to the Briah¡¯s River.</em>

    <em>¨CAll of these conditions must bepleted within a week. You cannot cook multiple dishes at the same time.</em>

    Of course, the headquarters believed that this was still not that difficult.

    <em>¡®In the first ce, a condition already restricted Minhyuk and his vassals from using this skill at will. So, this difficulty is already enough,¡¯ </em>Kang Taehoon thought.

    At that moment, Chen Shihaoughed. ¡°We have set it at an incredibly high level of difficulty. Of course, we¡¯ve opted to take in the concept that the headquarters had set. We will require a sacrifice for him to create ingredients superior to other ingredients of the same grade. As you all know, except for a few of my men, the audit team mostlyprises members from the story and rewards teams from all over the world.¡±

    Chen Shihao spoke confidently as if he had been waiting for this moment.

    ¡°He needs to make 250 normal-grade, 14 legendary-grade and 2 god-grade dishes.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    The headquarters¡¯ executives were aware that the conditions that Chen Shihao was setting had an infinitely lower level of difficulty than the level they had set. And they all could not help but look at him in confusion.

    Whether he knew this fact or not, Chen Shihao continued to speak with an expression that clearly said, <em>¡®This is the highest level of difficulty!¡¯</em>

    ¡°Ah. And to apply these effects to all of the ingredients that he will create, yer Minhyuk has to sacrifice those dishes and bow 1,000 times to the Briah¡¯s River.¡±

    Chen Shihao spoke confidently. He looked like he was telling them, <em>¡®Try it if you can!¡¯</em>

    ¡°However, yer Minhyuk has toplete everything in ten days.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    All headquarters executives looked bewildered as they stared at Chen Shihao.

    At this moment, President Kang Taehoon realized something. He thought, <em>¡®Ah. Come to think of it¡­ us, Koreans¡­¡¯</em>

    They have been known as a gaming nation since time immemorial. Koreans have broken the Hell Difficulty of games that no other country could break. There was also <em>Faker</em>, a person who led andmanded the world with just his skills. He was one of their pride and joy.

    Of course, among the pride of South Korea were¡­

    <em>¡®The country with the coolest PC rooms.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®The country where people go to PC rooms for dates.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®The country where you go to PC rooms to eat.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®The country where a 13-year-old kid can win in a 1v4 in Starcraft.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®The country with the highest(?) number of people with turtle neck syndrome.¡¯</em>

    And the most important one¡­

    <em>¡®The country that does not tire of ying games all night after being trained by overtime work.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®This is my win.¡¯</em> This was what Chen Shihao¡¯s expression was clearly saying when he looked at President Kang Taehoon¡¯s grave expression.

    ¡°Ah, this¡­ Did I set the level of difficulty to be too high?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°Your expressions do not look good. Why is that so? You¡¯re the ones who offered high rewards for the level of difficulty that you have set, so why are you surprised that I put something like this on the table?¡±

    When President Kang Taehoon heard his words, he thought, <em>¡®What the hell? Is he f*cking nuts¡­?¡¯</em>

    ¡°Fufufufu. Our audit team will discover the transaction between the Korean headquarters and the Korean yers. This will serve as the cornerstone for that discovery.¡±

    The confident Chen Shihao looked at the executives, staring nkly at him.

    ¡°I see. So this is what other countries consider as a high level of difficulty. But, if I may say so, the difficulty level we have set is much¡­¡±

    But Chen Shihao cut them off. ¡°That¡¯s right. This difficulty level is required for something to be proven as a Supreme. It¡¯s much higher than what you want to present.¡±

    If this was the case, Minhyuk would have already proven himself as the Supreme around 190 times over.

    ¡°I¡¯m dering this now. The audit team will not lower the level of difficulty that we have set. No one will be allowed to change this.¡±

    <em>¡®Ah, is that so?¡¯</em>

    ¡°The audit team will assign members to all teams and departments. We will monitor you for a few days. If you leak any information about this condition or manipte the rewards, I hope you are prepared for the consequences.¡±

    Chen Shihao finally stepped out of the room.

    Typically, President Kang Taehoon would have stepped forward and said, <em>¡®The level of difficulty is too low.¡¯ </em>However, it seemed like Chen Shihao did not intend to change the terms they had set. Right now, they have an even bigger problem.

    ¡°Then, does that mean that those conditions are the primary conditions? Then, if he fulfills those conditions several times over, will the ingredients he creates grow better and better than other ingredients of the same grade?¡± Team Leader Park asked, his question hitting the bullseye.

    President Kang Taehoon nodded. Because of some stupid guy, they were left in a situation where ingredients superior to other ingredients in the same grade woulde out even better.

    President Kang Taehoon sighed and said, ¡°That guy¡­ how did he be the team leader of the audit team?¡±

    Park Minggyu answered, ¡°Isn¡¯t it because he¡¯s the son of the Chinese Branch¡¯s manager?¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t the situation right now like someone jumping off a spaceship with just a parachute¡­?¡±

    ***

    Briah¡¯s River.

    Minhyuk, with a wildly thumping heart, stood in front of the wide river as he triggered the Ingredient Creation skill.

    <em>[You have activated the Ingredient Creator.]</em>

    <em>[Do you wish for the Ingredient Creator to create ingredients that are superior to ingredients of the same grade?]</em>

    At this moment, Minhyuk could tell that he could choose to create ordinary ingredients or ingredients that were far better than other ingredients of the same grade.

    <em>¡®Let¡¯s do it like this since this will be the first Food God¡¯s Ingredient.¡¯</em>

    If Minhyuk did not have time, he could just create ordinary ingredients. But since this was the first time that these ingredients would appear in the world, he had to make it special.

    <em>[You have chosen to create ingredients superior to other ingredients of the same grade.]</em>

    <em>[The conditions required to create ingredients superior to other ingredients of the same grade will now be presented.]</em>

    <em>[To create normal-grade ingredients that are 8% better than ingredients of the normal-grade, please offer 250 normal-grade dishes as a sacrifice within 10 days.]</em>

    <em>[To create epic-grade ingredients that are 8% better than ingredients of the epic-grade, please offer 80 epic-grade dishes as a sacrifice within 10 days.]</em>

    <em>[To create legendary-grade ingredients¡­ 14 legendary-grade dishes as a sacrifice within 10 days.]</em>

    <em>[To create god-grade ingredients¡­ 2 legendary-grade dishes as a sacrifice within 10 days.]</em>

    <em>[The sacrifice will bepleted after youplete all your offerings and bow to Briah¡¯s River 10,000 times.]</em>

    Minhyuk looked at the quest window in confusion.

    <em>¡®Why did the extremely vicious Joy Co. Ltd. suddenly decide to give reasonable conditions?¡¯</em>

    That was right. The conditions were quite reasonable. In Minhyuk¡¯s memories, President Kang Taehoon and Team Leader Park Minggyu were heinous and vicious people who would always prevent him whenever he wanted to achieve something.

    Of course, by other¡¯s standards, this would still be a very difficult trial.

    Then, at that moment, additional notifications rang.

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[You can create better ingredients by increasing the level of difficulty.]</em>

    <em>[Each increase in difficulty level will increase the number required in the set conditions. If you fail to fulfill the conditions set by the level of difficulty that you have chosen, the Ingredient Creation skill will be temporarily sealed.]</em>

    Something caught Minhyuk¡¯s eyes.

    ***

    Special yers Management Team.

    Chen Shihao, sitting with his legs crossed over each other, arrogantly watched the monitor while he munched on sunflower seeds.

    He smirked. ¡°Fufufufu. yer Minhyuk¡¯s expression is amazing. He must have found the difficulty level too high that he¡¯s alreadyughing in vain.¡±

    All of yer Minhyuk¡¯s achievements were absurd and full of nonsense. So, if he failed to do that, then Chen Shihao could use it as proof that there had been a secret transaction between him and the headquarters. Then, he would have an excuse to dig deeper.

    ¡°Koreans have always insisted that they¡¯re the ones who created <em>hanbok</em> and <em>kimchi</em>, which obviously originated from our country.¡±

    Chen Shihao snorted as he spouted nonsense and made a fuss. But no matter how much he talked and made a fuss, Team Leader Park remained silent. He just sat in front of his monitor and watched the situation.

    Chen Shihao, who felt like he had hit cotton, wanted to make them pay for the shame and disgrace that he had suffered earlier by grabbing his cor and throwing him on the ground. But then, at that moment¡­

    <em>[Huh? Isn¡¯t this much easier than I thought¡­? Did Joy Co. Ltd. achieve its highest sales record today? What¡¯s the matter with those vicious people?]</em>

    Then, Team Leader Park looked up at him with a small smile and said, ¡°<em>Hanbok</em> and <em>kimchi</em> have been historically proven to originate from our country, <em>Korea.</em>¡±

    At the same time, a loud notification rang from theputer in front of him.

    <em>[yer Minhyuk has increased the level of difficulty of the conditions to create the Ingredient Creation skill.]</em>

    ¡°I have no idea why you always im everything good to be yours and discard anything bad. But¡­¡±

    Another notification rang.

    <em>[yer Minhyuk has increased the level of difficulty of the conditions to create the Ingredient Creation skill.]</em>

    <em>[yer Minhyuk has increased the level of difficulty of the conditions to create the Ingredient Creation skill.]</em>

    <em>[yer Minhyuk has increased the level of difficulty of the conditions to create the Ingredient Creation skill.]</em>

    Chen Shihao¡¯s eyes grew wider and wider with every notification that rang.

    ¡°Th-this! Is he crazy?! How can he raise the level of difficulty?! It¡¯s already challenging to clear! If he raises the difficulty level by that much and fails, his skill will be sealed for at least half a year!¡±

    Team Leader Park smirked.

    ¡°It seems like the audit team has to write a letter of apology when you return. Do you know why?¡± Team Leader Park turned around and made eye contact with Chen Shihao. ¡°It¡¯s because you have set a level of difficulty that¡¯s infinitely lower than the level that our Korean headquarters wanted to set.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°Also, we have tried to give you our opinions, but you have chosen to ignore the headquarters and abuse your power by saying that this is <em>what the other branches want.</em>¡±

    And¡­

    ¡°If the grade of the first ingredients yer Minhyuk creates reaches a ridiculously high level, then each branch will demand to bring it <em>down.</em>¡± A cold expression settled on Team Leader Park¡¯s face as he continued. ¡°That¡¯s already a lot of reasons for your apology letter, no? In addition, we have to apologize to yer Minhyuk and reverse the rewards given to him. All of those sins¡­¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...will be carried by the head of the Special Audit Team. You will lose that position. Also¡­¡± Team Leader Park growled. ¡°The <em>hanbok </em>and <em>kimchi </em>are not yours. What¡¯s yours is that damned infectious disease that you have spread decades ago that you¡¯re still denying up to this day.¡±

 Chapter 1135

    <strong>Chapter 1135</strong>

    Chen Shihao¡¯s expression grew ugly.

    The infectious disease Team Leader Park was talking about caused an epidemic that forced everyone all over the world to wear masks. This epidemic started somewhere in China and spread around the world. However, theypletely denied any allegations that it was rted to their country.

    Chen Shihao snorted. ¡°Look here, yer Minhyuk has not yet cleared the conditions. Also, what nonsense are you going on about? The level of difficulty that we have set is low?¡±

    No matter how Chen Shihao looked at it, the difficulty level was still far too high.

    Team Leader Park waved his hand at him in annoyance.

    ¡°You¡¯ll find out once you see it. Ah, also¡­¡± Team Leader Park, who was about to turn around, looked at Chen Shihao again. ¡°It seems like the audit team has not yet realized they have missed something huge this time. Right, Employee Lee Minhwa?¡±

    If looks could kill, Lee Minhwa¡¯s gaze toward Chen Shihao would kill him. She growled in answer. ¡°That¡¯s right. I just heard about it, but it seems like the audit team got involved and intervened with the quest and the rewards without properly checking everything rted to the matter.¡±¡°What are you talking about?¡±

    The two people could only raise their hands and feet at Chen Shihao¡¯s stupidity. This would have been more like bungee jumping from a helicopter than parachuting if he had been this stupid.

    ¡°Why did you think that the system chose the Briah¡¯s River as one of the conditions for the Ingredient Creation?¡±

    ¡°Because it¡¯s a river with high value? And isn¡¯t it because it has been judged that it will be challenging for yers to get it because it belonged to the Luvien Empire?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s only half correct.¡± Lee Minhwa took over and asked, ¡°Then, why do you think our headquarters called the dishes <em>sacrifices</em> and asked the yer to <em>bow</em> in front of Briah¡¯s River?¡±

    ¡°That¡­ That¡¯s a bit difficu¡­ No! Not that. Why? Tell me why?¡±

    <em>¡®Wow, this bastard is really¡­¡¯</em>

    Lee Minhwa and Team Leader Park looked at Chen Shihao in contempt. They left Chen Shihao to ponder ¡°sacrifice¡± and ¡°bow.¡±

    His eyes grew wide as he said, ¡°I-impossible¡­!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. It¡¯s exactly that ¡®impossible¡¯ thing. But since you guys decided to lower the difficulty level, it seems like something bigger will happen.¡±

    Only then did Chen Shihao realize what Team Leader Park meant earlier.

    ¡°Are the sacrifices and bows going to be offered to that <em>something</em> rted to the Briah¡¯s River¡¯s creation aspect?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. But there¡¯s one more problem here.¡± Team Leader Park continued, ¡°Since you have lowered the difficulty level, you have made it so that being will require less of those offerings. And yer Minhyuk? He would offer more sacrifices and bows. In other words, these extra actions will be considered as a form of courtesy and respect. Now, that being can give yer Minhyuk better and greater rewards.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°Do you want me to put it in simpler terms?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°If yer Minhyuk sessfully clears the conditions with the difficulty level increased to however much he wanted, then¡­¡± Team Leader Park raised his hand to his neck and moved to gesture as if he was slicing it. ¡°You¡¯ll be fired.¡±

    ***

    <em>[You have increased the level of difficulty.]</em>

    <em>[If you sessfully clear this difficulty level, the ingredients you create will be 11% better than other ingredients of the same grade.]</em>

    <em>[You have increased the level of difficulty.]</em>

    <em>[If you sessfully clear this difficulty level, the ingredients you create will be 14% better than other ingredients of the same grade.]</em>

    <em>[You have increased the level of difficulty.]</em>

    <em>[If you sessfully clear this difficulty level, the ingredients you create will be 17% better than other ingredients of the same grade.]</em>

    <em>[You¡­level of difficulty.]</em>

    <em>[If you sessfully clear this difficulty level, the ingredients you create will be 20% better than other ingredients of the same grade.]</em>

    Minhyuk would rather take a risk than use the Ingredient Creation for the first time in an unsure and vague manner. And because he decided to take a risk, the difficulty level significantly increased.

    <em>[You have to offer 500 normal-grade, 200 epic-grade, 40 legendary-grade, and 4 God-grade dishes as sacrifices in 10 days.]</em>

    <em>[You must bow 20,000 times to the Briah¡¯s River in 10 days.]</em>

    <em>[If you fail toplete the conditions, your Ingredient Creation skill will be sealed and unable to be used for 6 months.]</em>

    Although he did a great job during the advanced polls, Minhyuk felt he was in greater danger now more than ever. The results of the advanced polls had made people look at him with high expectations. He would be left behind if he failed to meet those expectations. On top of that, he did not possess anything better than the other candidates.

    <em>¡®If I can create ingredients that are superior to other ingredients of the same grade, then it will catapult me to a higher level.¡¯</em>

    Made to cook around 700 dishes in ten days, Minhyuk moved with determination.

    ¡°This is how vicious and diabolical Athenae is.¡±

    Minhyuk felt like this fact had hit home. Although the level of difficulty presented to him was different than usual, the fact that it still could suffocate Minhyuk remained the same.

    <em>¡®Those dishes do not appear every time.¡¯</em>

    But the one that struck him deeply was the bows.

    <em>¡®Of course, my body is different from ordinary bodies.¡¯</em>

    The characters in Athenae could be said to possess bodies that were dozens of times more powerful than the bodies of ordinary people in the game. Nevertheless, bowing 20,000 times was a challenging task. Of course, there were several questions that he wanted answers to. And one of them was¡­

    <em>¡®Why are they asking me to bow to the river?¡¯</em>

    Unlike someone who was extremely stupid, Minhyuk noticed something the moment he heard the notifications. There was something in the river.

    But before he started cooking in earnest, there was something that he needed to check. He hurriedly took out a packet of ramyeon and cooked it. Then, he left the bowl of ramyeon in front of Briah¡¯s River.

    <em>[Epic Grade.]</em>

    <em>[You can choose to set this as Normal Grade.]</em>

    The first question he wanted an answer to was this: Even if Minhyuk cooked ramyeon, it would alwayse out epic. So, he had to check if he could use this dish toplete the lower-grade dish requirements. Fortunately, the question was easily answered and resolved.

    And the second one was this. Minhyuk brought back the ramyeon that he had offered as a sacrifice.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Total Number of Sacrifices Offered</em></strong><em>]</em>

    <em>[Normal: 1]</em>

    Then, he quickly ate the ramyeon. After eating the ramyeon, Minhyuk began to pray earnestly. He closed his eyes tightly and waited five seconds before checking it again. What he saw left him delighted.

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    <em>[Normal: 1]</em>

    The number of sacrifices he made did not disappear even though he ate the ramyeon. In other words, the effort and ingredients that Minhyuk would use for the sacrifices would not be in vain. It could easily be recovered through his stomach.

    Simply put, the sacrifice was more like an ancestral rite. And when it came to ancestral rites, who would be the ones to eat the food offered during the ritual after the rite had finished? Of course, it was those who did the ritual.

    Answering this question made Minhyuk¡¯s motivation boil over.

    <em>¡®These past few days, I did not have much time to cook.¡¯</em>

    One¡¯s attitude toward what they were doing would change depending on their mindset. Minhyuk decided to think of the condition of making the dishes to be sacrificed as making dishes for himself to eat. All the dishes he would make in these ten days would be stored in his inventory for him to eatter.

    The delighted Minhyuk began to cook. Unfortunately, he could not cook multiple dishes at once; he could only cook one dish at a time.

    <em>¡®I have to think about the time.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk could easily make epic-grade dishes. The problem was the legendary-grade and God-grade dishes and the 20,000 bows. The sess rate of the legendary-grade and God-grade dishes was very low, so he had to make sure that he would be able to make them in one try.

    ¡°I never imagined that I would have a day when I will cook ramyeon in a row in my life~¡±

    Minhyuk could not help but be in awe as he started to cook different types of ramyeon¨Cfrom Sshin Ramyeon, Jjin Ramyeon, Chapagetti, Spicy Stir-Fried Chicken Noodles, Jjahwang, Neokguri, Jinseongtangmyeon and many more¨Cone after another.

    He worked quickly, cooking ramyeon, offering it as a sacrifice, and recovering it swiftly. Of course, he wasn¡¯t just making ramyeon. Minhyuk also made soy sauce egg rice, egg fried rice, kimchi fried rice and other simple dishes.

    <em>¡®Actually, if I do it like this, I can only make seven or eight dishes in an hour.¡¯</em>

    Thankfully, Minhyuk had The Famished One¡¯s Cooking, which allowed him to cut his cooking time tenfold. Inside its cooking space, the dishes that should have been finished in ten minutes could easily bepleted in one minute.

    This skill, originally intended to be applied when cooking a single dish, could also be applied to plenty of other dishes as long as ten-minute skill duration was not yet done. And it only had a cooldown time of one hour. With the use of this skill, Minhyuk was able to cook more than fifteen dishes in one hour.

    From time to time, Minhyuk would eat a bowl of ramyeon and a te of fried rice that he had already offered as a sacrifice.

    ¡°This is very healing¡­¡±

    Minhyuk, eating ramyeon while looking at the river, looked like he was not challenging an ordeal. He looked more like he was enjoying it. Ten hours passed by just like that.

    Then, twenty hours¡­ Another fifteen hours passed by. Before anyone knew it, three days had already gone by. And Minhyuk? He continued his rxing(?) time by getting the least sleep.

    At the same time.

    Chen Shihao, watching Minhyuk through the monitor, was left in awe. After Team Leader Park threatened him with firing, he just snorted and thought, <em>¡®How can a person forgo sleeping to cook dishes?¡¯</em> Regardless, he was made witness to a very absurd yet true reality.

    ¡°How can a person continue to cook and eat repeatedly for three days without much sleep¡­?¡±

    In Chen Shihao¡¯s eyes, this was ridiculous. Anyone would have already copsed from exhaustion.

    After three days of repetitive cooking and eating, Minhyuk could fill in the required 500 normal-grade dishes and had already started filling in the number of epic-grade dishes. He continued the same process and finished cooking the epic-grade dishes on the fifth day since he started. Minhyuk had only taken a few hours of rest during the process.

    In the meantime, the dozens of members of the Special Audit Team began to flock to the Special yers Management Team.

    ¡°The rumors were true¡­?¡±

    ¡°How can a person be like that?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s very admirable.¡±

    ¡°So, yer Minhyuk is truly a man who rose to the position of Supreme because of his hard work and effort?¡±

    ¡°If it¡¯s like this, then is there even a need for auditing and inspection? This alone proves that everything he has obtained is all because of his efforts.¡±

    ¡°Amazing. That¡¯s amazing. From now on, I will be yer Minhyuk¡¯s fa¡­¡± One of the audit team members trailed off when he caught sight of Chen Shihao¡¯s gaze.

    Chen Shihao mmed his fist on the table.

    <em>Thud¨C</em>

    ¡°He has not done the legendary-grade and God-grade dishes yet. And he hasn¡¯t even started doing the bows yet.¡±

    They were the most important ones. After all, the two dish grades took a lot of work to make.

    In the end, the audit team members were left tired. They had been sleeping alternately to watch Minhyuk, who was going through the trial, as if he was not exhausted. Team Leader Park clicked his tongue at the sleeping members of the audit team.

    Although Team Leader Chen Shihao said that Minhyuk had yet to start making the legendary-grade and God-grade dishes, Minhyuk could finish offering the required dishes swiftly. He was beginning to bow already.

    As if grasping thest straw, Chen Shihao said, ¡°There¡¯s no way that a person can bow 20,000 times!¡±

    In other words, he was hoping that Minhyuk would fail. On the 9th day, the bowing Minhyuk looked utterly exhausted. He was already reaching his limits. Nevertheless, Team Leader Park looked at the audit team members, who had fallen asleep while monitoring Minhyuk, as if they were pathetic.

    And at that moment, something very unexpected happened.

    ***

    It was said that a sacred being lived in Briah¡¯s River, giving the river''s waters the ability to heal injuries and help create better living things. However, this was dismissed as only something from the legends.

    If one had checked the information about the Briah¡¯s River, the description would have only said that it was just an ordinary river. The truth was the sacred being in the legends still lived within the Briah¡¯s River. The being had just hidden himself from the humans, who tried to take the river water and take advantage of him.

    The sacred being had watched as a man approached the river a few days ago. The man had offered him something strange as a sacrifice. Thankfully, he had the ability to take the offering without the humans seeing him. Because of that, he could relish and enjoy the food the man offered him. He sat in front of the man eating the same dish and followed what he was doing.

    ¡°Keuhahaha! As expected! Ramyeon should be eaten outside!¡±

    He ate ramyeon, just like the man ate it, and fell into a trance.

    Just like that, the man offered him a variety of dishes. Yet, when the sacred being finished eating the legendary-grade dishes, he could not help but feel sullen.

    Why? The man had to meet a specific condition to eat the next dish. And that condition was to bow a certain number of times to him. It was probably because of a restriction that the Origin Mother had ced upon him.

    The sacred being truly wanted to try and eat the man¡¯s delicious-looking God-grade dish.

    At this moment, the sacred being thought, <em>¡®He¡¯s a nice person.¡¯</em>

    The manughed and talked while eating as if sitting with someone by the river. Even the way he bowed felt extremely sincere, and this sincerity unknowingly attracted the attention and care of the sacred being.

    On the ninth day, the man seemed to have expended much energy on his bows. The sacred being felt like it was only natural. For a human with a weak body, no one could bow non-stop until they reached the ninth day to the point that they even forget sleeping.

    So, for the sake of eating something delicious, the sacred being decided to help the kind and lovely man.

    ***

    Minhyuk was already feeling exhausted. Bowing waspletely different from swinging a sword or a pickaxe. This was because it used almost his entire body. Now, every time he knelt, the muscles in his thighs would expand, and it felt like they would explode. His lower back also started hurting while his upper body shook and trembled.

    <em>¡®This is why it¡¯s 108 times harder¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk gritted his teeth. He had only finished 5,000 bows. The problem was he only had around 30 hours left.

    Although the Divine Will was constantly being triggered,pared to when he was performing actions rted to DEX, the help he received was much lower. Divine Will was a skill that could help increase vitality and refresh the body while elevating his stats and increasing everything rted to DEX. However, the act of bowing was unrted to DEX, and the increase in stats was not very helpful.

    It was literally a very arduous task, one that made sweat drip down his entire body. Although the Divine Will could help refresh him and leave his spirit clear, the continuous repetition of standing, sitting, and bowing was enough to leave Minhyuk breathless. And to make matters worse¡­

    <em>¡®I must continue at this rate and keep bowing without stopping. Otherwise, I will not be able to meet the conditions in time.¡¯</em>

    The thought of failing to meet the conditions alone was enough to make him feel as if he was going to die. At this moment, Minhyuk¡¯s consciousness began to drift and wander. Just then, a notification rang in his ears.

    <em>[The Briah¡¯s River¡¯s Sacred Being is looking at you.]</em>

    <em>[The being recognizes you as his friend.]</em>

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[The </em><strong><em>Sudden Quest</em></strong><em>: The Sacred Being¡¯s Wish.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    The confused Minhyuk clicked on the quest. After checking the contents of the quest, he could not help but look at the Briah¡¯s River in shock. This was because of the rewards written in the description.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t this crazy¡­?!¡±

    The rewards written were as follows:

    <em>[Upon triggering the Ingredient Creator Skill, all ingredients will be 5% better than those of the same grade.]</em>

 Chapter 1136

    <strong>Chapter 1136</strong>

    <em>[The </em><strong><em>Sudden Quest</em></strong><em>: The Sacred Being¡¯s Wish has been created.]</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: SSS</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: The one who offered sacrifices to the Briah¡¯s River.</em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: Upon triggering the Ingredient Creator Skill, all ingredients will be 5% better than those of the same grade.</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Failure</em></strong><em>: You will never be able tomunicate with the Briah¡¯s River¡¯s Sacred Being again.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: ording to the legends, a sacred being lives within the waters of the Briah¡¯s River. The only way for the sacred being to eat and taste a God-grade dish offered as a sacrifice is for someone to bow 20,000 times sessfully. The sacred being sincerely hopes to taste the dish you have made and offered as a sacrifice. So, let¡¯s go andplete this condition!</em>

    Minhyuk marveled at the quest. If he couldplete the conditions, then the ingredients he would create would be 20% better than those made and distributed worldwide. But if he couldplete this quest, his ingredients would be 25% better. He could not even imagine the waves that this would bring.But that was not what made him very happy. There were two reasons for Minhyuk¡¯s joy. The first was because his assumptions were correct. There was a unique existence living in the Briah¡¯s River, just like he thought. As for the second one, it was the sacred being enjoying the food that Minhyuk had offered as sacrifices. Although he could not see the sacred being, he was happy to know that he could enjoy the dishes he had made.

    <em>[The sacred being revitalizes your exhausted body.]</em>

    <em>[The sacred being temporarily increases the stat acquisition rate for repetitive actions.]</em>

    At this moment, the muscles of Minhyuk¡¯s thighs, which he felt were about to explode, stabilized with the help of the sacred being. Refreshed and motivated, he bowed to Briah¡¯s River. Then, with a broad smile, he asked, ¡°Were they delicious?¡±

    A fish jumped out of the water in response to Minhyuk¡¯s question.

    ¡°Since someone is eagerly waiting to taste my cooking, I can¡¯t stop.¡±

    His motivation grew even more as he steadied his posture and continued bowing.

    An hour passed by.

    Two hours passed by.

    Three¡­ four hours¡­

    Sweat dripped down Minhyuk¡¯s forehead as he continued the tedious and repetitive action of bowing. And because the sacred being had helped him with his power, there was a constant influx of notifications in his ears.

    <em>[You have gained 1 STM.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1 STM.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1 STM.]</em>

    It was quite a surprise for Minhyuk. The increase was not specifically indicated in the notifications, but based on the speed at which he acquired the stats, it seemed like the stat acquisition rate for repetitive actions had increased by more than eight times.

    Despite that, Minhyuk again reached the point where he was exhausted and out of breath. But the most painful and annoying thing was the sweat that covered and dripped down his body. The sweat made him feel hot all over.

    At this point, Minhyuk had already made the 9,000th bow.

    ¡°So hot¡­¡±

    Just when he voiced his suffering¡­

    <em>Shwaaaaaa¨C</em>

    A wind blew along the river and caressed Minhyuk¡¯s sweaty body. This wind immediately cooled him down. Minhyuk could see this was a form of encouragement from the sacred being.

    So, he spoke to the Briah¡¯s River once again. ¡°Is this your first time eating food?¡±

    As expected, another fish jumped up.

    Minhyuk chuckled. ¡°You¡¯re not grabbing those fish with your bare hands and throwing them up to answer, are you?¡±

    Minhyuk imagined the scene and thought the sacred being was quite cute. The waters of the river rippled in answer to his question, and it seemed like the sacred being was answering Minhyuk with a <em>no</em>.

    ¡°Have you ever stepped out and appeared in the world?¡±

    The waters of the river rippled once again.

    In most cases, doing something like listening to exciting music or watching TV could lessen the exhaustion and fatigue when doing something repeatedly. And for Minhyuk, that was conversing with the Briah¡¯s River¡¯s sacred being. So, he began to converse earnestly with the sacred being.

    ¡°Then, does that mean you know nothing about the world outside this river?¡±

    A fish jumped out.

    ¡°Alright. My name is Minhyuk.¡± Minhyuk introduced himself to the Briah¡¯s River¡¯s sacred being. Then, he slowly told his story from when he started this game to the present.

    ¡°So, what do you think about me?¡±

    This time, five fish jumped up. It seemed like the sacred being was trying to tell Minhyuk that he was a very interesting person.

    Then, Minhyuk asked, ¡°Should I tell you stories about the outside world? Do you want to hear about politics?¡±

    No fish jumped out.

    ¡°Love?¡±

    This time, the river remained calm.

    ¡°Or, the empires?¡±

    <em>Vwooooong¨C</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    A tiny whirlpool appeared in the river. The sacred being clearly expressed his dislike for the topics presented.

    Minhyuk, who pondered deeply after receiving such a response, said, ¡°Then, food?¡±

    At that moment, something suddenly rose from the depths of the river.

    ¡°...?¡±

    A seven-meter-long being popped out of the water''s surface and jumped out.

    <em>Thwack¨C</em>

    The being was none other than a Giant Dolphin. A Giant Dolphin was a rare monster native to the waters of Briah¡¯s River.

    ¡°You must want to hear about food, huh¡­¡±

    <em>¡®This guy¡­ He must have been pleased about the taste of his first food.¡¯</em>

    So, Minhyuk began to talk about food. ¡°Food can bergely divided intond, sea, and air.¡±

    Personally, Minhyuk believed that one was the winner.

    ¡°For me, the most delicious foodes from thend. You see, thend houses livestock like pigs and cattle.¡±

    Minhyuk exined to the Briah¡¯s River¡¯s sacred being about food one after another. The more he talked, the faster the time went by. Before the ninth day ended, Minhyuk had already surpassed the 15,000th mark.

    ¡°There¡¯s this food called <em>samgyeopsal</em>. When you cook it, the fat would turn into oil that would boil and gurgle on its surface. It tastes great paired with kimchi.¡±

    Minhyuk talked non-stop. Every time he spoke of a new kind of food, the river would surge and create waves. It was as if the sacred being was shouting, <em>¡®I want to eat that too!¡¯</em> at him.

    ¡°Soon, you¡¯ll be able to taste one of the foods from thend too!¡±

    Minhyuk made a God-grade spicy stir-fried pork dish among the sacrifices. Once Minhyuk finished the 20,000 bows, the sacred being could eat this dish.

    ¡°I¡¯ll let you taste it. I¡¯ll finish this so you can eat the spicy stir-fried pork that I made,¡± Minhyuk said with a smile.

    In response, two fish jumped out of the river and swam side by side. When Minhyuk saw this, he instantly understood what the sacred being meant.

    ¡°Ah. You¡¯re saying that we¡¯re friends?¡±

    As his words ended, hundreds of fish broke out of the river water''s surface and jumped simultaneously. It was quite a beautiful sight.

    Minhyuk smiled as he nodded. ¡°Yes. That¡¯s right. We¡¯re friends.¡±

    But when Minhyuk reached the 19,000th bow, he was met with another crisis. Nevertheless, Minhyuk continued with gritted teeth.

    ¡°You said¡­ that this is your first time eating food.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaa¨C</em>

    The river responded to Minhyuk¡¯s words.

    ¡°That¡¯s why I want you, my dear friend, to be able to eat this great dish that I have made.¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¨C</em>

    Despite his words, Minhyuk¡¯s body shook fiercely. And when he finally made his 20,000th bow¡­

    <em>[You have offered all the required sacrifices and bowed 20,000 times to the Briah¡¯s River¡¯s Sacred Being.]</em>

    <em>[You have met all of the conditions. Regardless of their grade, all of the ingredients you create will be 20% better than other ingredients of the same grade.]</em>

    <em>[You havepleted the </em><strong><em>Sudden Quest</em></strong><em>: The Sacred Being¡¯s Wish.]</em>

    <em>[Regardless of their grade, all of the ingredients you create will be 5% better than other ingredients of the same grade.]</em>

    Now, Minhyuk''s ingredients would be 25% better than other ingredients of the same grade.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk wondered if the sacred being was now tasting the God-grade dish he had made. As if to answer his thoughts, the river''s waters surged and created ripples.

    Minhyuk¡¯s job here was over. However, he did not leave. He continued to sit there with a small smile on his face as he watched the waters of the river ripple and ssh.

    ***

    All of the branches in the world were turned upside down. They had sent the Special Audit Team because they were worried that Minhyuk could create better ingredients with his Ingredient Creator Skill. But this notification rang at the same time to all the branches all around the world.

    <em>[yer Minhyuk will be able to create ingredients that are 25% better than other ingredients of the same grade.]</em>

    Even though they sent the Special Audit Team, they were met with such results. Because of that, all of the branches held an emergency video conference.

    In response to their allegations, President Kang Taehoon presented the n that the headquarters made first and the n that the audit team presented and implemented. He told everyone this happened because the audit team had abused its authority.

    Everything went swimmingly fast. All branches immediately decided to remove the Special Audit Team¡¯s leader from his position and hold him responsible for this incident. In addition, they requested and urged the headquarters to take care of and deal with the current situation.

    ¡°...¡±

    Meanwhile, Chen Shihao stared nkly at Minhyuk, who was shown on the screen before him. Still unaware of the discussion between all of the branches, he continued to write their audit results. He paused when he reached thest question.

    <em>[After the audit, did you find any corruption in the branch? Are there any secret deals and transactions between the branch and the yers?]</em>

    Chen Shihao looked down at the paper silently for a very long time.

    ¡°How can a person¡­¡±

    Could someone truly work hard like this?

    But it was not just him who was reacting like this. The entire audit team was rendered speechless, their eyes still glued to Minhyuk¡¯s figure.

    ¡°He¡¯s amazing¡­¡±

    ¡°I want to pay my respects to him¡­¡±

    ¡°Should I move to the Beyond the Heavens Empire too?¡±

    The headquarters¡¯ emergency response team stormed inside the Special yers Management Team along with President Kang Taehoon.

    President Kang Taehoon informed everyone present about the current situation. He said, ¡°Every single branch has voted and decided to dismiss the leader of the Special Audit Team, Mr. Chen Shihao, after you have lowered the level of difficulty that the headquarters had initially set.¡±

    Chen Shihao could not believe it. However, he had to raise his trembling hands in defeat. In the end, he wrote this on the paper containing his report¡­

    <em>¡®Nothing has been found. There has been no circumstance that indicated any form of corruption on the part of the headquarters.¡¯</em>

    This was the conclusion that he had made.

    But things were not yet over for him to make such a conclusion. Minhyuk, who finished bowing 20,000 times, looked at the river with a small smile. Then, he said¡­

    <em>[Was it delicious?]</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    Chen Shihao was now witnessing the true Supreme. He was already aware that he would be dragged into the mud. Yet when he saw the smile on the face of the Supreme in front of him, he could not help but shudder.

    Then¡­ goosebumps rose all over Chen Shihao¡¯s body when he saw the man slowly bend his knees.

    <em>[You can only eat a God-grade dish if I bow 20,000 times to you, right?]</em>

    Everyone in the room was left frozen at that moment. Even President Kang Taehoon was left shocked.

    ¡°Do-don¡¯t tell me¡­¡±

    Athenae made it so the sacred being living in the Briah¡¯s River could only eat food after it received sincere reverence and respect. This also included the fact that the sacred being had to receive 20,000 bows before he could eat one God-grade dish. So, to eat another God-grade dish, he has to receive another 20,000 bows.

    That was right. It was not yet over. Despite the sweat covering his entire face, Minhyuk smiled faintly and slowly bowed again.

    Chen Shihao jumped out of his seat. ¡°Why?! Why the hell?! Why?!¡±

    Chen Shihao hurriedly tapped on the keyboard to check something. They had not yet released the notifications about Minhyuk receiving additional rewards if he bowed more. So, why was Minhyuk doing something like this?

    Team Leader Park Minggyu exined it to him. He said, ¡°Because he wants the sacred being to eat.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Chen Shihao looked at Team Leader Park in confusion.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you watch the monitor yourself? This is the first time that the sacred being has ever tasted food. Minhyuk has found out about this fact and that the only way for the sacred being to eat a God-grade dish that he offered as a sacrifice was for him to do 20,000 bows.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m asking you! Why?!¡±

    It was nigh impossible for the stupid and dim Chen Shihao to understand.

    Team Leader Park grinned at him and said, ¡°The reason is simple. First and foremost, <em>he</em> helped yer Minhyuk.¡±

    Indeed. The river¡¯s sacred being was the one who approached Minhyuk first and lent him a helping hand when he had be exhausted. The sacred being patted him on the back and cheered him on. Of course, the main reason was probably because he wanted to eat the delicious food that was sacrificed to him. However, the fact that the sacred being helped Minhyuk remained the same. In other words, Minhyuk was indebted to the sacred being.

    President Kang Taehoon¡¯s face showed a grave expression as he said, ¡°Bad news breeds more bad news.¡±

    Of course, this bad news was only for Joy Co. Ltd. Why would it be considered bad news if no rewards were written explicitly on their side? Chen Shihao frowned.

    ¡°You do realize that that river is rted to the creator''s skill from the beginning, right?¡±

    <em>¡®Of course, I know that.¡¯</em>

    Nevertheless, Chen Shihao still perked his ears and listened to Team Leader Park¡¯s exnation.

    ¡°The sacred being living in that river had used his powers to save the lives of many of the dying a long, <em>long</em> time ago. However, his existence could only go into hiding because of greedy humans. As he hid, the effects that the river had in the past also disappeared.¡±

    Chen Shihao looked at Team Leader Park, wondering what this had to do with everything.

    Kang Taehoon clicked his tongue and said, ¡°Just because it¡¯s not written there does not mean it¡¯s not a reward.¡±

    The emergency response team had been hastily formed. Their members were randomly pulled from headquarters. They immediately grabbed Chen Shihao by the arm and dragged him out of the department.

    ¡°That river, which is now owned by the Beyond the Heavens Empire, might now showcase its true ¡®power.¡¯ And¡­¡± Kang Taehoon stared at Chen Shihao coldly. ¡°...it¡¯s all thanks to you.¡±

    After six days, Minhyuk finished all of the necessary bows required for the sacred being to eat the God-grade dishes that he offered as a sacrifice; he smiled and loungedfortably as he listened to the notifications that rang in his ears.

    <em>[The Sacred Being reveals the hidden power of Briah¡¯s River for you.]</em>

    <em>[The River of Life finally regains its true andplete form.]</em>

    <em>[The River of Life can bestow greater power to the Ingredient Creator Skill.]</em>

    <em>[All ingredients made using the water from the River of Life will be 8% better than other ingredients of the same grade!]</em>

 Chapter 1137

    <strong>Chapter 1137</strong>

    Minhyuk wanted the Briah¡¯s River¡¯s sacred being to eat all of the God-grade dishes he offered as sacrifices for many reasons, though there was one that stood out.

    <em>¡®If he hadn¡¯t helped me back then, then I might not have been able toplete the skill requirements.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s body started to creak and hurt by the 5,000th bow. So, it went to show how much help he received. Of course, there were other reasons, too.

    <em>¡®I remember the first food I have ever tasted in this game and the happiness I felt back then.¡¯</em>

    He knew more than anybody else in the world the happiness food could bring someone. Because of that, he hoped that the sacred being would feel more happiness and be more delighted.

    Besides, no <em>sess</em> or <em>failure</em> restricted him when doing the additional bows. So, he was free to do whatever he wanted. This time, Minhyuk would log out when exhaustion hit him from bowing. Then, he would sleep until he recovered before logging back in to continue bowing.

    The Briah¡¯s River sent fishes flying out to show concern for Minhyuk. Still, Minhyuk did not stop. On the sixth day, Minhyuk hadpleted the number of bows needed for the sacred being to be able to eat the remaining God-grade dishes. After finishing the bows, he looked at the river with a small smile and asked, ¡°How is it? Are they delicious?¡±

    The answer to his question was immediate.

    <em>[The Sacred Being reveals the hidden power of Briah¡¯s River for you.]</em>

    <em>[The River of Life finally regains its true andplete form.]</em>

    <em>[The River of Life can bestow greater power to the Ingredient Creator Skill.]</em>

    <em>[All ingredients made using the water from the River of Life will be 8% better than other ingredients of the same grade!]</em>

    ¡°...?!¡±

    Two fish swam up and broke out of the surface of the river water. They stuck to each other and stared at Minhyuk. These two fish, which had appeared earlier, were what the sacred being used to say that he and Minhyuk were friends. And through these two fishes, he once again stressed this fact.

    Minhyuk could not believe it.

    <em>¡®Are you saying the ingredients I will create will be 8% better than other ingredients of the same grade?¡¯</em>

    This exceeded the 25% increase when he fulfilled the conditions andpleted the quest earlier. This was truly a huge surprise. Although the ingredients were not yet created, if he used the water from the Briah¡¯s River or the River of Life, the ingredients would be 33% better than other ingredients of the same grade.

    <em>¡®To be honest, it will be very difficult for me to fulfill all the conditions and offerings every time even though I must constantly create ingredients.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was a very busy individual. The Ingredient Creator skill could also create ordinary cooking ingredients, so there was no need for him to send offerings every time. Regardless, as he mentioned before, there was no merit in creating ingredients if they were just on par with ordinary ingredients.

    <em>¡®Now, the ingredients I will create will be 8% better even if I don¡¯t offer any sacrifice or fulfill any conditions.¡¯</em>

    Of course, ingredients that were 8% better than other ingredients of the same grade were not enough to make people go crazy over them. This fact alone was enough to establish a difference between these ingredients and ordinary ingredients.

    ¡°I¡¯lle visit you often. Let¡¯s eat ramyeon together by then, okay?¡±

    <em>Shwaaaaaaa¨C</em>

    The sacred being sent a cool breeze toward Minhyuk. Minhyuk instantly understood that he was saying, <em>¡®I really like that!¡¯</em> to him.

    Just as Minhyuk was about to go back¡­

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Kang Taehoon</em></strong><em>: Can we talk to you for a moment?]</em>

    Minhyuk looked at the message in confusion. Shortly after he gave his agreement, President Kang Taehoon and Team Leader Park Minggyu appeared. The two told him why they came to find him.

    ¡°I see, so that¡¯s why I thought it seemed doable despite the ridiculous level of difficulty¡­¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Even though the difficulty level was lowered, it was still challenging toplete. The difficulty level they set was always proportional to the rewards they would be given.

    Although the difficulty level set this time was a bit lowpared to the rewards given, the general poption would probably deem this difficulty level as Extreme Hell. And the more shocking part? Minhyuk had increased the level of difficulty, a level that could already be considered to be Extreme Hell, several times.

    ¡°So, what happened to that guy named Chen Shihao?¡±

    ¡°ording to the results of the audit we conducted, we found out that the Chinese yers have been receiving unsanctioned support. We immediately imposed disciplinary actions, and Joy Co. Ltd. intends to file aint against them.¡±

    This meant that all of the incidents rted to him had already been dealt with and had ended.

    ¡°First of all, I would like to apologize on behalf of Joy Co. Ltd.¡±

    Minhyuk knew why Kang Taehoon was apologizing to him. This meant that the level of difficulty had to be adjusted regardless.

    <em>¡®If that¡¯s the case, then¡­¡¯</em>

    Of course, Minhyuk had difficultypleting the conditions because he raised the difficulty level by several levels. Even if the difficulty level was adjusted, he believed that he could still do it unless he chose to increase it several times again.

    <em>¡®Still, I will no longer be able to create ingredients that are 33% better than other ingredients of the same grade.¡¯</em>

    ¡°All branches have agreed topensate you regarding this matter.¡±

    The gears in Minhyuk¡¯s head were spinning quickly. After thinking about the current situation, he said, ¡°Please lower the difficulty level. Of course, you should also adjust the amount of increase in the quality of the ingredient by grade depending on the difficulty level.¡±

    President Kang Taehoon and Team Leader Park Minggyu understood why he said those words.

    <em>¡®He already has a guaranteed permanent 8% increase in the quality of his ingredients.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Since he¡¯s busy, he couldn¡¯t create ingredients here every time. If the conditions are less stringent, then it will be easier for him to create a supply of ingredients.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was very efficient.

    Of course, Minhyuk never thought that the ingredients he could create would be 33% better than other ingredients of the same grade from the beginning. He only expected it to be around 15% better. But now? Even if the level of difficulty was lowered and the increase in the quality of the ingredients was lowered, the ingredients that he would create would at least be 16% better.

    ¡°Of course, I¡¯m sure that it will be a burden for you. But¡­¡±

    In the first ce, Minhyuk did not do anything, yet they were going to adjust the level of difficulty just like that. Since that was the case, he should have taken the reins and led the situation to his advantage.

    ¡°What will happen if I offer sacrifices here and bow for an entire month?¡±

    Then, there would be a continuous supply of ingredients around 30% better than other ingredients of the same grade.

    ¡°It will be fine at first.¡±

    Indeed. Everything would be fine at first. Unfortunately, if he stubbornly stayed in this ce and did what he said, a huge wave would affect the entire world of Athenae. If they lowered the level of difficulty, then the increase in quality of the ingredient would reduce ordingly.

    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s do it as you say.¡± President Kang Taehoon agreed.

    He also knew that this was the best result. After all, it was much better to have only around 10% better ingredients than 30% better. And just like Minhyuk had said, since the difficulty level had decreased significantly, he would no longer have any reason to risk it all and overdo things.

    Nheless, the negotiations for Minhyuk¡¯spensation were not yet over.

    ¡°Please help me find one NPC.¡±

    ¡°An NPC?¡±

    The two looked at Minhyuk in confusion. Usually, people would ask them about artifacts, skills, or, in his case, food.

    ¡°Which NPC are you talking about?¡±

    ¡°The Storyteller.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Both Kang Taehoon and Park Minggyu were shocked by his words. How did Minhyuk know about the existence of the Storyteller?

    ¡°By any chance, did you learn about him from the Supreme?¡±

    Minhyuk nodded.

    Whenever Supreme Rundalk did something special or made an appearance, his story would be told. This was a power that was given to him by the Storyteller. The power that the Storyteller possessed was endless. They believed that the Storyteller''s power would be the most helpful to Minhyuk in his path to bing a Pir.

    President Kang and Team Leader Park hurriedly discussed this matter. After all, it was a very serious matter. Regardless, Minhyuk''s terms were not worse than they had expected.

    ¡°If yer Minhyuk decides, he will probably find it within half a year.¡±

    ¡°Anyway, there¡¯s no guarantee that he will be able to get something from the Storyteller even if he met him.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t thepensation too small?¡±

    <em>¡®No. It¡¯s not small. Stop.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was not the person who would be on the losing end of the stick.

    ¡°Also, give me a hint that will put me at an advantage once I meet him.¡±

    ¡°A hint¡­¡±

    Of course, that hint would be a critical point. Nevertheless, the world would not work in one¡¯s favor just because they had received a hint.

    President Kang Taehoon agreed. However¡­

    ¡°Then, you¡¯ll have to locate him within two months.¡±

    They could not just simply hand over information about the Storyteller just like that.

    ¡°Ah, then¡­¡±

    <em>¡®Enough!¡¯</em> The expression on President Kang and Team Leader Park seemed to scream that word.

    ¡°Please do this onest thing for me.¡±

    Then, Minhyuk proceeded to tell them about his final condition.

    ***

    The experts of Athenae have always received criticism. This was because most of the predictions these self-proimed ¡°experts¡± made had been wrong. Of course, some experts worldwide still received the respect and admiration of the masses. One of these experts was named Bryan.

    Bryan, a man in his mid-forties, was considered the most respected Athenae expert in the world. People called him by many names, such as The One who Sees the Future, The Bullseye Man, The True Expert, and many more.

    They respected him mainly because Bryan was not the type who would simply criticize others, predict things, and deny everything once proven wrong. He would provide the yers with the information he had gathered and write his thoughts realistically and objectively rather than resorting to undermining others. Also, 95% of his realistic and objective thoughts were urate. Most of his opinions and views about Athenae¡¯s future were also correct.

    Bryan recently posted an article titled <em>¡®Can the Food God be a Pir?¡¯</em> The article immediately garnered more than 400 million views, proof of Bryan''s global and influential status.

    Surprisingly enough, despite the many views, the article did not cause any controversies. This was because Bryan had only written down the key points. Of course, Bryan also praised the Food God.

    ¨C<em>Finding a yer like the Food God in Athenae will be difficult.</em>

    <em>¨CWe must never forget the hard work and efforts that he had made to achieve what he has today.</em>

    <em>¨CHe has my respect. And I would never deny that he has done a great job and contributed significantly to the Athenae we experience today.</em>

    Bryan¡¯s article differed from the other experts who only knew how to criticize others. He remained firm with his ideals and only wanted to deliver urate information.

    ¨C<em>However¡­</em>

    But he never forgot to detail his opinions and interpretations as a true expert.

    ¨C<em>In the end, he is a yer. Just like us, he came to Athenae to enjoy the game. </em>

    <em>¨CAthenae is practically a ce where the NPCs live and breathe. We are mere foreigners in their world.</em>

    <em>¨CIt seems like it will be challenging for someone who came here to enjoy the game to be a Pir who would lead this ce. Of course, there are various reasons for it.</em>

    When posting an article, there were buttons for ¡°likes¡± and ¡°dislikes.¡± The button for " likes¡± has been clicked at an overwhelmingly high rate. In particr, this was the part of Bryan¡¯s article that resonated deeply with people and made them click the button for ¡°likes.¡±

    ¨C<em>The gods are omnipotent beings. The reason why they are considered omnipotent is because they have the power to create. Of course, I believe that yer Minhyuk might also be able to obtain a skill that will allow him to create something someday.</em>

    <em>¨CBut if what he creates is no different from what we have now, then I can¡¯t say it¡¯s anything special, right?</em>

    Comments were constantly posted under the article, and it was spread worldwide.

    And Bryan? He looked exhausted as he tapped away on hisptop and responded to somements.

    <em>[I did not post this article to criticize yer Minhyuk. Ipletely recognize the fact that he is capable and strong. And just because he can¡¯t be a Pir does not mean he is not the Supreme.]</em>

    <em>[So, I hope that all of you will be careful when talking and criticizing yer Minhyuk.]</em>

    People from all over the world loved to hit others when they were already down. This was the case even though Bryan did not have any intention of putting hate on Minhyuk. In fact, all he wanted to do was illuminate what they were curious about and answer their doubts.

    ¡°He¡¯s a truly amazing yer.¡±

    Bryan admired and respected Minhyuk. In his article, he told the truth and nothing but the truth. Just then, at that moment, he received a call from an unknown number.

    ¡°Hello. Yes, this is Bryan speaking.¡±

    <em>[Hello. I am Team Leader Park Minggyu of the Special yers Management Team from Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s Korean Headquarters.]</em>

    ¡°Did you just say headquarters?¡± Bryan asked, confusion evident on his face.

    Team Leader Park did not dally and told him why he had contacted him. The content of their phone call was exciting.

    <em>¡®Are you saying that he already has the power to create something? What an amazing person.¡¯</em>

    As if to prove the truth, the real-time search terms shing on hisptop changed.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>1st ce</em></strong><em>: Supreme¡¯s Power.]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>2nd ce</em></strong><em>: Minhyuk.]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>3rd ce</em></strong><em>: Food God¡¯s Ingredients.]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>4th ce</em></strong><em>: The First Acquirer.]</em>

    Perhaps the world message had resounded at this time. Still, he was curious about one entry in the real-time search terms.

    ¡°What¡¯s the First Acquirer?¡±

    Team Leader Park immediately responded.

    <em>[You must have already guessed that the world message has rung, right?]</em>

    <em>[But the Food God¡¯s Ingredients have not yet been released to the world.]</em>

    <em>¡®Not yet released? Then, why did the world message ring? What does the First Acquirer mean?¡¯</em>

    <em>[The First Acquirer. Well, to put it simply, the Food God¡¯s Ingredient will be released to the world once the first ingredient has been acquired.]</em>

    Bryan nodded. Then, he asked, ¡°May I ask the reason why you contacted me?¡±

    Of course, Bryan would check the ingredient and post an article about it againter.

    <em>¡®Wait. Don¡¯t tell me yer Minhyuk asked Joy Co. Ltd. to contact me and be careful about writing dirty and shameful articles?¡¯</em>

    <em>[yer Minhyuk had explicitly requested us to ry this message to you, sir.]</em>

    <em>¡®The Supreme wants to ry a message to me?¡¯ </em>Bryan perked his ears up and listened intently.

    <em>[Would you like to be the First Acquirer?]</em>

    ¡°...?!¡±

    Bryan¡¯s eyes grew wide.

 Chapter 1138

    <strong>Chapter 1138</strong>

    A world message rang all over Athenae.

    <em>[yer Minhyuk is the first to activate a Supreme Skill.]</em>

    World messages were initially set to announce an achievement anonymously. This world message was a bit different from ordinary world messages. It was because it announced the skill that would create something that would spread all over Athenae.

    <em>[Following the activation of the Ingredient Creator, the Food God¡¯s Ingredients will be supplied worldwide.]</em>

    <em>[You can only obtain Food God Ingredients from quests, boss mob hunts, and hunting grounds rted to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.]</em>

    <em>[All of the Food God¡¯s Ingredients that you will obtain from this point on will be in a sealed state.]</em>

    <em>[Only after the chosen First Acquirer has obtained the first Food God¡¯s Ingredient will all other ingredients be released from its sealed state.]</em>Minhyuk smiled faintly at the notifications that rang in his ears. He could create a huge number of ingredients this one time because he demanded it aspensation from Joy Co. Ltd.

    Among his rewards was having them help contact Bryan for him. If Bryan epted the offer and agreed to be the First Acquirer, they would broadcast the process of the first acquisition on the official ZTube channel of Joy Co. Ltd. That was only if he epted. If he refused, then Minhyuk would still have to find someone else.

    At that moment, Minhyuk received a whisper.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Park Minggyu</em></strong><em>: Bryan epted.]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Minhyuk</em></strong><em>: Then, will Bryan take on the quest today?]</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Park Minggyu</em></strong><em>: I believe so.]</em>

    After finishing their conversation, Minhyuk immediately logged out. Then, he swiftly entered themunity site that had been gathering dust on hisputer for a long time.

    <em>[Shit. Hahaha. Lol. I got a Food God¡¯s Ingredient from a hunting ground belonging to the Beyond the Heavens Empire. It¡¯s still in a sealed state; is it trash?]</em>

    <em>[Yep, yep. It¡¯s totally trash.]</em>

    <em>[Sir, don¡¯t joke around.]</em>

    <em>[It¡¯s not trash. You shouldn¡¯t expect something special, though. Lmao. A yer has created and spread ingredients all over the world. But! Do you think that it would be greater than ordinary ingredients?]</em>

    <em>[Hmm. Just as expected, correct?]</em>

    <em>[Yep, yep. You will incur a massive penalty if you use a creation skill. Even the effects will be lower than those of ordinary ingredients. If Minhyuk could create ingredients for himself, he would not need to go around and get ingredients. Aside from the fact that the ingredients might have lower effects than ordinary ingredients, I have nothing else to say.]</em>

    The inte was a very mysterious ce. Many people could talk in this ce without seeing each other in person. Of course, their assumptions were correct. However, they did not know that Minhyuk had set up a restriction so that he or the executives of the Beyond the Heavens Empire would not be able to abuse this power. Nevertheless, they believed that to be the case already.

    <em>[Shit. I got a Food God¡¯s Ingredient. Is this a misceneous item? I don¡¯t think I can even sell it in stores. Lololol.]</em>

    <em>[Wow. I was looking forward to it because Minhyuk got the Supreme Skill. It turns out it¡¯s just a useless skill.]</em>

    <em>[What the hell? What merit will we get from those ingredients?]</em>

    <em>[Guys, the information is still sealed. Aren¡¯t you guys just guessing a bit too much? On the other hand, I¡¯m here hoping that those ingredients will at least be 10% better than ordinary ingredients¡­]</em>

    Immediately, the experts from Korea came flocking while snorting at thement.

    <em>[Strictly speaking, the ingredient bing better than 10% is impossible.]</em>

    Minhyuk sighed the moment he saw thatment.

    <em>¡®These people call themselves experts, yet they speak carelessly without even checking the authenticity of the matter or confirming the truth.¡¯</em>

    He could fully understand why the people call them <em>f*ckperts</em>. And their argument went like this:

    <em>[We can get the ingredients from quests, hunting grounds, and fields rted to the Beyond the Heavens Empire. But that¡¯s the same method of obtaining ingredients from worldwide, no?]</em>

    <em>[If the method for obtaining ingredients and the difficulty level are the same, why would that stop you from getting quests and hunting monsters in other empires?]</em>

    <em>[For this reason alone, we, the experts, believe that the Food God¡¯s Ingredients will at least have around 5% or more drop in effects.]</em>

    <em>[As the other yers have said, we believe this is true. After all, this is also to prevent the Food God from abusing the power.]</em>

    <em>[And if it¡¯s indeed 10% better than other ingredients, wouldn¡¯t that make the Food God¡¯s Ingredients very precious?]</em>

    <em>[If all ingredients have the same worth and effort needed to obtain them, then it¡¯s only natural that people flock to those considered much better and more precious. If not, why should we work harder to get something worse than ordinary?]</em>

    <em>[This is the opinion of our Korean Athenae¡¯s Experts Association.]</em>

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡±

    The Korean Athenae¡¯s Experts Association was created to protect the rights and interests of experts. This was because they received too much criticism from other yers.

    It was pretty funny. They were slippery and cunning people who dared to talk shit about others without even finding out the truth. They based all of their words on lies. And if they got it right, they would say, <em>¡®I called for it, didn¡¯t I?!¡¯</em> or if they got it wrong, they would try to avoid any repercussions by saying, <em>¡®We sometimes make mistakes.¡¯</em>

    Anyway, they¡¯re the type of people who wouldment regardless of the truth since the posts on themunity sites were anonymous.

    <em>[Since the information about the Food God¡¯s Ingredients has not yet been released, don¡¯t you think you should refrain from making such harsh remarks? This is especially the case for the Korean Athenae¡¯s Experts Association. I don¡¯t think they should talk so carelessly like that.]</em>

    <em>[Chubby Nation¡¯s Chubby King, everything we say is based on facts.]</em>

    <em>[Nothing has been revealed yet, so what facts are you discussing? You¡¯re saying everything is based on facts, even though they¡¯re all mere spections. Don¡¯t you even think about the damage that Minhyuk and the Beyond the Heavens Empire will suffer just because of your careless spections?]</em>

    <em>[We¡¯re just speaking the truth here. What damage are you going on about? What? Does speaking the truth bring damage to others?]</em>

    Their shamelessness shot through the roof.

    <em>[We are the Korean Athenae¡¯s Experts Association, and I am the president. Do you think we don¡¯t check our facts?]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    It was ridiculous. After all, only Minhyuk, President Kang Taehoon, Team Leader Park Minggyu, and a few executives knew about it.

    <em>[Are you saying that you know Minhyuk?]</em>

    <em>[As I mentioned, we are the Korean Athenae¡¯s Experts Association. We have a very close rtionship.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk was utterly dumbfounded. He did not even have an ounce of friendship with this man.

    <em>[What if the results are entirely different from the spections that you have made?]</em>

    <em>[That¡¯s impossible. If that happens, our Korean Athenae¡¯s Experts Association will formally apologize.]</em>

    Minhyuk immediately took a screenshot. Then, he waited for the right time to teach them a lesson.

    ***

    After epting Minhyuk¡¯s proposal, Bryan began a live broadcast on ZTube in ordance with Joy Co. Ltd.''s instructions.

    Unlike other experts, Bryan was an honest man. He did not say empty words or show any thoughts or intent that he viewed Joy Co. Ltd. favorably.

    ¡°Right now, we have received information from yer Minhyuk about a quest where we can receive ingredients. Perhaps he wishes to advertise this fact through me.¡± With a wry smile on his face, Bryan continued. ¡°However! Even though I can get the ingredient, I cannot use it. Since I was told about the contents of the quest, it¡¯s only fair that I don¡¯t take the ingredient and use it.¡±

    Bryan had already said he would not and could not use the ingredient even if he obtained it. Of course, Joy Co. Ltd. wanted to express those words, too.

    Regardless, he was one step ahead.

    ¡°I¡¯m just someone who wants to let you, guys, know about the truth and show you what you¡¯re curious about. I¡¯m not some kind of businessman.¡±

    Because of Bryan¡¯s sincerity, many people cared about him and trusted him, a situation that waspletely different from that of other experts.

    And because he was broadcasting live with Joy Co. Ltd.¡¯s official ount, the views of his broadcast had already reached a sky-high level.

    Bryan, along with some yers he gathered, received the quest from the Beyond the Heavens Empire and made their way to the dungeon indicated in the quest content. Once they entered, their group immediately began to break up and clear the dungeon.

    Bryan was surprisingly a fantastic high-level yer. Not only did he study Athenae for five hours a day, but he also possessed outstanding skills. He and his colleagues happily made their way through the dungeon.

    ¡°The Food God¡¯s Ingredients havee out, right?¡±

    ¡°Oh? It¡¯s real. And as expected, it¡¯s in a sealed state.¡±

    Bryan obtained the ingredients and carried on his way. He said, ¡°I have received the qualifications to be the First Acquirer. Nheless, I¡¯m not checking the ingredients now because I think it will be more fun to get a better ingredient before checking it.¡±

    Of course, questions had been pouring in through thements.

    ¡°It seems like the other experts already have much to say about these ingredients. We have yet to check the Food God¡¯s Ingredients. It¡¯s still too early to say anything. That¡¯s why I don¡¯t understand why the other experts can already write several spections.¡±

    Bryan frowned.

    ¡°Of course, some of them sound reasonable. But making spections is something that all of us can do.¡±

    Then, anotherment came up.

    <em>[Bryan-hyung. Why do the other experts say these ingredients will be worse than those of the same grade? If hyung tells us about this, then we will definitely believe it.]</em>

    ¡°Alright, let me give you an example,¡± Bryan exined to his viewers while killing monsters and going deeper into the dungeons. ¡°Say, I have eaten an ingredient that boosts my attack power. To kill the boss monster that I really, <em>really </em>want to kill, I need to attack ten times. But¡­ Ah!¡±

    As if he realized something, Bryan said, ¡°I¡¯m just a bitcking. If I were only around 5%-10% stronger, then I would be able to kill that monster. Then, does that mean that I have to eat a higher grade of ingredient?¡±

    The answer to that was <em>no.</em>

    ¡°Because the higher the ingredient grade, the more expensive it bes. The difference between normal and God-grade ingredients is around ten thousand times. But¡­ what if an ingredient with the same worth as the one I have eaten earlier is 10% better?¡±

    Bryan smiled.

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then I have to buy it. I have to do everything to get my hands on that ingredient. An ingredient that¡¯s 10% better but only worth the same price as the other ingredients? Isn¡¯t that too unrealistic? That¡¯s why they say that it¡¯s impossible. Besides, the more rankers there are, the more supplies they need.¡±

    The people in thements began to say, <em>¡®Bryan Up!¡¯</em> to show they truly understood his exnation.

    ¡°Rankers will try to clear their quests or hunts by eating legendary-grade or God-grade ingredients. Yet even after eating the best ingredients, they will still fall short and fail. If the effects of the ingredients go up by 10%, then that will help them ovee their limits and reach a higher level.¡±

    At this moment, the viewers realized that 10% was much more than they had initially expected.

    ¡°That¡¯s why the other experts have been denying this possibility. But as I mentioned, we haven¡¯t confirmed anything, and it¡¯s still too early to say things like that.¡±

    Finally, Bryan and his party reached the boss room and began to fight a fierce battle against the gigantic bear monster inside.

    <em>Thud¨C!</em>

    After their fierce battle, the boss monster finally fell with a loud thud. The moment the monster fell, a series of notifications rang in Bryan¡¯s ears.

    <em>[You have acquired the Food God¡¯s Chicken.]</em>

    <em>[The ingredient is sealed.]</em>

    <em>[You are the First Acquirer.]</em>

    <em>[Once you unseal this ingredient, all other Food God¡¯s Ingredients distributed all over Athenae will be unsealed.]</em>

    Then, Bryan picked up where he left off and continued to speak.

    ¡°The fact that the Food God wanted to prove himself through me is a testament to his confidence. He¡¯s an honest yer.¡±

    At that moment, anotherment popped out.

    <em>[Bryan hyung. What will you do if the ingredient is 10% better than other ingredients of the same grade?]</em>

    ¡°What will I do?¡± Bryan looked down at the chicken in his hands and smiled. ¡°For the time being, I will go to the Beyond the Heavens Empire to try and find the Food God¡¯s Ingredients.¡±

    <em>[Lololololol.]</em>

    <em>[Bryan hyung is very realistic. Lmao.]</em>

    <em>[Well, if the ingredients are 10% better, I can stockpile and use them for a long time. Hahahahaha.]</em>

    <em>[If they¡¯re 20% better, wouldn¡¯t we run to the Beyond the Heavens Empire? If it¡¯s beyond 20% better, then the whole world will probably go to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.]</em>

    Bryan chuckled.

    Migrant quests were quests that only yers who had moved to the Beyond the Heavens Empire could receive. That was why everyone said they would move to the Beyond the Heavens Empire if the ingredients were better than other ingredients of the same grade.

    Not long after, Bryan took out another chicken.

    ¡°Since I already know what kind of ingredient we¡¯ll get, Joy Co. Ltd. has provided me with a God-grade ingredient. The ingredient does not have any permanent effects. It¡¯s only for buffs. We will use this inparison to the Food God¡¯s Ingredients. Of course, I will return this chicken once we finish the live broadcast.¡±

    Bryan first looked at the information about the chicken provided by Joy Co. Ltd..

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Chicken Strolling the Heavens</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Ingredient Grade</em></strong><em>: God</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?All of your stats will increase by 17%.</em>

    <em>?Your EXP Acquisition Rate will increase by 20%.</em>

    <em>?Your skill level will increase by +1.</em>

    <em>?Your physical attack power and defensive power will increase by 10%.</em>

    After checking, Bryan said, ¡°This is a very great ingredient. It not only increases your strength, but it also helps you grow. This ingredient can be considered to be among the best of the God-grade ingredients. Well then¡­¡±

    Bryan stretched his hand toward the Food God¡¯s Ingredient.

    <em>[You are the First Acquirer.]</em>

    <em>[Do you wish to release the seal?]</em>

    Bryan immediately agreed and released the seal.

    <em>[Please check the information on the Food God¡¯s Chicken.]</em>

    <em>[The seal in the Food God¡¯s Ingredients distributed worldwide will now be released.]</em>

    Bryan checked the information on the ingredients right away.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Food God¡¯s Ingredient</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Ingredient Grade</em></strong><em>: God</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>: </em>

    <em>?All of your stats will increase by 27%.</em>

    <em>?Your EXP Acquisition Rate will increase by 36%.</em>

    <em>?All of your skill levels will increase by +1.</em>

    <em>?All of your defensive power will increase by 14%.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: This is the ingredient made by the Food God, who wishes to be one of the Eight Pirs.</em>

    After checking the information, Bryan blinked nkly at the ingredient for a very long time. Then, as if he still could not believe it, he alternately checked the ordinary God-grade ingredient and the Food God¡¯s Ingredient in his hands.

    Not long after¡­

    ¡°RUN!!!¡±

    Bryan and his colleagues started running. They could already tell that a huge influx of people would soon request to migrate to the Beyond the Heavens Empire, and the Empire might not be able to receive migrants for a long while!

    <em>[Bryan has requested to move to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.]</em>

    After pondering deeply, Bryan said, ¡°Hurry up ande here! Otherwise, the ingredients might run out soon!¡±

    The entire world was turned upside down.

    ***

    People worldwide flocked to the Beyond the Heavens Empire, and this event turned the entire world upside down.

    As a result, the Korean Athenae¡¯s Experts Association, which posted its spections and opinions the other day, received criticism and scathing remarks. Even after sending a formal apology, these articles were posted one after another.

    <em>[The Korean Athenae¡¯s Experts Association president exins: My son has taken over my position while I was away.]</em>

    <em>[ording to reporters, the president¡¯s son is only five years old this year.]</em>

    <em>[Association President ims that his son has learned to use aputer very early.]</em>

    <em>[Food God Minhyuk: I can hear bullshit from a mile away. Please receive my formalint.]</em>

 Chapter 1139

    <strong>Chapter 1139</strong>

    Haze could not hide her excitement.

    They were receiving an unusual number of applications for migration from all over Athenae. Whenever an applicant was epted, they would immediately go to the shop, find a quest, or visit their hunting grounds. As the emperor, Minhyuk also triggered empire quests that could reward yers with the Food God¡¯s Ingredients.

    ¡°They¡¯ll pay taxes when buying Food God¡¯s Ingredients from our shops. They¡¯ll pay taxes to progress further with their empire quests. They¡¯ll also pay taxes if they want to hunt in the dungeons and hunting fields owned by the Beyond the Heavens Empire. No matter what the migrants want to do, they¡¯ll have to pay taxes.¡±

    Haze¡¯s eyes glowed brightly. It looked like shooting stars were passing her eyes with how much they twinkled.

    ¡°Haze, why are you counting money?¡±

    With a <em>¡®Ptew!¡¯</em> Haze spat in her hands and proceeded to count bills. Then, she said, ¡°If I do this, my mood will soar.¡±

    Minhyuk watched her count the bills in her hands over and over again. Then, he told her that he would take a break for a while as he logged out. Once he logged out, he went on the inte and essed themunity sites to grasp the current flow of the situation. Articles continued to pour in.

    <em>[Korean Athenae¡¯s Experts Association¡¯s president has been dismissed. He wrote a formal apology to Minhyuk. Minhyuk responds: ¡®No mercy.¡¯]</em>

    <em>[Everyone turns their attention to the possibility of Minhyuk bing a Pir.]</em>

    <em>[Minhyuk¡¯s ability to create ingredients promptsints toward Joy Co. Ltd.]</em>

    <em>[Minhyuk ends the controversy. He announces that he and the vassals and executives of the Beyond the Heavens Empire cannot abuse and take advantage of the ingredients he has created.]</em>

    <em>[An unanswered question. Why is the Beyond the Heavens Empire still much smaller than the Luvien Empire despite growing rapidly?]</em>

    <em>[The number of Level 650 yers is rapidly increasing. NPCs are also growing along with the yers.]</em>

    Minhyuk nodded when he saw the articles.

    <em>¡®As expected, more and more people believe that I have a chance of bing a Pir.¡¯</em>

    Like the other Pir Candidates, his foundation as a Pir had been firmly established. However, as the articles mentioned, there were still many unfinished and unresolved dilemmas that he had to tackle.

    Thend upied by the Luvien Empire remained more than five timesrger than thend upied by the Beyond the Heavens Empire. If the two empires went to war, there was a 100% chance of the Beyond the Heavens Empire being defeated.

    <em>¡®The problem is that while we¡¯re growing, the Luvien Empire is also growing.¡¯</em>

    The other yers also worked hard to grow and follow their paths. Meanwhile, Minhyuk needed to grow not only as the Pir of the Gourmands but also his powers, help the Beyond the Heavens Empire develop, and progress further as the Food God.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s time for me to focus on being the Battle God and the emperor of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.¡¯</em>

    Luvien was once again working on increasing its powers and territories. Of course, the Beyond the Heavens Empire was doing the same, but their growth rate was technically simr.

    Despiteproliferatingy, the Beyond the Heavens Empiregged behind the Luvien Empire mainly because of its territories.

    <em>¡®It doesn¡¯t matter how many migrants move to our empire. Since our territory is small, they will leave again.¡¯</em>

    The Beyond the Heavens Empire¡¯s situation was simr to that of five people living in a space that was only good for three people. Because of that, their hunting grounds, fields, and dungeons fell short. There was also ack of space for yers to rest, eat, and have a drink, which meant that there were also fewer quests.

    <em>¡®In the end, many migrants will leave because they know that ingredients are scarce and there¡¯s a lot ofpetition to get it.¡¯</em>

    Nevertheless, there was a reason why the Beyond the Heavens Empire could not forcefully expand its territories.

    <em>¡®Because everyone wishes to stay and live in a good ce.¡¯</em>

    The ce should have all four seasons, and thend must be fertile enough for farming. Something like a mine should also be nearby so that the people could make money.

    On the other hand, what would happen if they tried to carve out and reim a territory in a wastnd?

    <em>¡®No one will move to that territory.¡¯</em>

    It would turn into an emptynd to fill the number ofnds under their empire.

    At that moment, Chairman Kang Minhoo entered the house. When he saw his son sitting with a solemn expression on his face, he asked, ¡°It seems like you have something that you¡¯re worried about again.¡±

    Minhyuk told his greatest supporter, his father, about his dilemma.

    Kang Minhoo had already felt it. He said, ¡°Many people were near the central za¡¯s fountain area. I was starting to think that it¡¯s bing a problem, too.¡±

    The people have beenining about the long store lines and the inconvenience. They had to expand much more than what they initially nned. Just like Minhyuk had thought of before, he had to find suitablend or make goodnd.

    <em>¡®There are many empty wastnds.¡¯</em>

    ¡°I think it will be better for you to go to the Battle God than to worry about it by yourself like this.¡±

    ¡°The Battle God?¡± Minhyuk looked at his father in confusion. He did not understand the Battle God¡¯s connection to theirnd problem. Even if Minhyuk was a very clever young man, it did not mean he knew everything. There would still be things that he did not know of.

    ¡°The Battle God is the god ruling all of the armies. Looking at it from another perspective, he¡¯s practically leading all of those armies like an emperor. Minhyuk, what do you think a good monarch is?¡±

    ¡°Strong, charismatic, and capable of providing his men in war a ce where they can rx and recuperate¡­¡± Minhyuk trailed off. Indeed, a good monarch should be able to provide goodnd for his men to rest and recuperate.

    ¡°Among the powers you have received from the Battle God, none rted to that, right?¡±

    Minhyuk had only received powers that boosted his strength or skills that gave him more power. Of course, the Battle God would not continue to provide him with strong powers forever.

    ¡°Maybe the Battle God also possesses the world''s most ¡®outstandingnd.¡¯¡±

    Minhyuk smiled faintly. His father was truly wise.

    There was something that Minhyuk had not yet done. He had been busy trying to find the power of Jack-of-all-Trades Rocado and be the Pir of the Gourmands. Now, he needed to unseal the power of the Battle God. He was now capable of unsealing the second level of the Battle God¡¯s sealed powers since he had already reached Level 700. Of course, his HP, MP, CHA, and other stats have dramatically increased, but concerning his other powers, this notification was what greeted him:

    <em>[You need to undergo an additional unsealing. Please receive a ss Quest from the Battle God to unseal the power.]</em>

    ¡°Thanks, Dad,¡± Minhyuk said. Then, he said goodbye to his father as he returned to his room and essed Athenae.

    ***

    The Battle God¡¯s expression grew solemn after hearing the opinions of the other Absolute Gods on the next-generation Battle God.

    ¡°Of course, we know. Minhyuk is, without a doubt, an excellent next-generation Battle God.¡±

    They could no longer deny that Minhyuk was the next-generation Battle God. However, they only wanted Minhyuk to receive something from the Battle God after crossing over the first wall. They also wanted to know whether he had the qualifications to receive it.

    Of course, the Battle God understood what they were trying to say. The Battle God was not just one of the Absolute Gods. He was an existence who possessed the power to give orders to the Absolute Gods andmand and lead the Land of the Gods in case of an emergency. That was why he understood their concerns.

    ¡°It¡¯s tough for me to ept this. Especially because you want me to give him a mission that is much more difficult than the mission I was originally set to give him,¡± the Battle God said as he tapped the paper containing the mission that Minhyuk had toplete on top of crossing the first wall.

    ording to the paper, Minhyuk had toplete something much moreplicated than what they intended to present to him. The Battle God would give the reward, so why were they going to set the mission''s difficulty level?

    The God of Judgment said, ¡°Of course, we¡¯re all aware that it is not right for us to intervene with matters rted to the next generation Battle God. However, we want you to know that he will be the god that will lead us all. Six of the Absolute Gods had already agreed to this matter. In addition, since the gods have already epted Minhyuk, they all want to see him make big achievements.¡±

    The Battle God remained silent. But Guardian God Obren, who also attended today''s meeting, made him furious. Even after looking at the paper they had presented, Obren said nothing about the higher difficulty level and just sipped his tea leisurely.

    The Battle God stared at Obren as the Guardian God said, ¡°Everything they said is correct.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    The Battle God was furious not because he favored Minhyuk but because he was upset that they were pushing him to increase the level of difficulty that he had set. Nheless, after hearing Obren, a dear friend of Minhyuk''s, say those words, he could not help but wonder if he should also face the cold and harsh reality.

    <em>¡®Are you saying that he has to do this for him to lead the gods?¡¯</em>

    Regardless, the Battle God had to have the final say, ¡°Then, let¡¯s do it like this.¡±

    They were in a situation where they forcefully increased the difficulty levelpared to before for Minhyuk to open up additional powers.

    ¡°If Minhyuk clears this, I will give him an additional mission. If hepletes that, then his qualifications should no longer be questioned. Then, I will open up his powers. Of course, I will not unseal the seal of the final level of power for him.¡±

    The other Absolute Gods nodded slowly in agreement. They were the ones who demanded a higher level of difficultypared to before. The Battle God had stepped back; they must understand and agree to his demands.

    Just in time, the Battle God felt Minhyuk¡¯s power appear in the Land of the Gods.

    ¡°Minhyuk ising.¡±

    Their meeting finally came to a close.

    ***

    Minhyuk visited the Land of the Gods to receive a ss quest from the Battle God. He heard that the Battle God had just finished a meeting and had headed back to his castle. So, he headed to the Battle God¡¯s castle and stopped right in front of the room where the Battle God¡¯s throne was. Standing right in front of the room was the God of Cooking.

    ¡°You came here to inherit the Battle God¡¯s next power, right?¡± The God of Cooking asked.

    The God of Cooking Arlene had decided to support and cooperate with Minhyuk as much as possible. But even she had decided that it was only suitable to give him a mission with a higher level of difficulty. After all, it was only fitting that someone qualified should receive that power.

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right.¡± Minhyuk nodded.

    With a bitter smile, Arlene said, ¡°I think it¡¯s still tough for you toplete. So, I hope that you don¡¯t overdo it.¡±

    Arlene genuinely cared for Minhyuk. She hoped he would let more time pass and grow stronger rather than do the mission now just because he received it.

    ¡°You should know that I¡¯m not that reckless.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    Certainly, Minhyuk was not the type of person who would recklessly challenge something that he could not do.

    When Minhyuk opened the door, he saw the Battle God sitting on the throne. The Absolute Gods stood on both sides of the red carpet leading to the throne.

    Minhyuk looked at them in confusion. He turned to the Battle God and asked, ¡°I came here to unseal the Battle God¡¯s power once again.¡±

    The Battle God did not say what kind of meeting he had attended. After all, there was no need for him to do so. This time, the Battle God¡¯s mission was not given by the Battle God himself but by the statue behind him.

    There was a dashing and imposing statue of the Battle God standing behind it. The statue wore a golden crown¡ªthe crown once worn by the greatest Battle God in history. Surprisingly enough, the great and mighty Battle God statue did not have a face. This was because the statue represented all the Battle Gods that have ever existed. It housed the collection of their souls.

    The statue was going to give Minhyuk the mission and the reward.

    The Battle God exined, ¡°Once youplete the mission, the statue of the Battle God will raise the sword and tap your shoulders with it in acknowledgment. If your achievements are great, it will honor you by allowing you to kiss the back of its hands. And if you¡¯re even more outstanding, it will smile at you.¡±

    Just in time, the solemn and sonorous voice resonated from the statue of the Battle God.

    <em>[Pandemonium. This is where even the gods could not dare to enter carelessly.]</em>

    <em>[Some call this ce the Supreme.]</em>

    The hearts of the Absolute Gods thumped wildly. That was right; this was where Minhyuk had to do the mission. Pandemonium, or the Supreme hidden behind it. And it has to be known that none of the Battle Gods had ever entered Pandemonium.

    <em>[The next generation Battle God.]</em>

    A charismatic voice resonated from deep within the statue. And this voice said¡­

    <em>[Go to Pandemonium and wipe out 50 beings hailed as the Supreme.]</em>

    <em>[If you do that, I will unseal your next power.]</em>

    <em>[The deadline is one week.]</em>

    <em>[Do you ept?]</em>

    Worried, the Battle God said, ¡°I believe it¡¯s still too early for you. I encourage you to go and gain more power first. Only by doing that will you have the power to fight in that ce. If you don¡¯t ept it now, I will make it so the Battle God¡¯s Statue will do its duty again when you ask again.¡±

    The God of Cooking smiled faintly. She believed that Minhyuk would not do it if he judged it impossible.

    ¡°I¡¯ll ept it.¡±

    <em>[The next generation Battle God has epted the quest to unseal the second Battle God¡¯s power.]</em>

    ¡°...Mi-Minhyuk!¡±

    Minhyuk ignored his conversation with the God of Cooking and the Battle God''s promise to allow him to take the missionter and immediately agreed.

    As mentioned, the deadline was a week.

    ¡°What!¡± The God of Cooking almost leaped toward him. ¡°Do you know that you¡¯re being too arrogant right now?!¡±

    At this moment, the God of Cooking could not help but wonder if he had be like everybody else and been overtaken by his arrogance and greed.

    Standing at the end of the red carpet, Minhyuk took one step after another toward the statue. Then, something very shocking happened.

    <em>Creak, creak, creak¨C</em>

    The Battle God¡¯s Statue began to move.

    ¡°Why is the Battle God¡¯s Statue moving?¡± The Battle God asked in shock.

    The Battle God¡¯s Statue would only move and respond to those who have finished the trial that it had given. Yet the Battle God¡¯s Statue moved and took considerable steps to meet Minhyuk.

    When the Battle God¡¯s Statue stood before him, Minhyuk asked, ¡°Are you going to tap my shoulders with your sword?¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s question was a response to the Battle God''s words. ording to the Battle God, the statue would react differently depending on how much they had achieved during the trial.

    ¡°Or will you make me kiss the back of your hand? If not that, then are you going to smile at me?¡±

    At that moment, the golden crown worn by the greatest Battle God in history, sitting on the head of the statue, began to release the most brilliant golden light.

    <em>sh¨C</em>

    So, what did the statue do? It slowly took off the golden crown on its head and put it on Minhyuk¡¯s head with a smile. Then, it spoke.

    <em>[You havepleted the mission¡­]</em>

    <em>[...with a phenomenal oue.]</em>

    <em>[You havepleted the </em><strong><em>ss Quest</em></strong><em>: Unsealing the Battle God¡¯s Second Power.]</em>

    Then, the statue slowly knelt on one knee and showed courtesy toward Minhyuk.

    Everyone on the spot was left frozen.

 Chapter 1140

    <strong>Chapter 1140</strong>

    The Absolute Gods were all left shocked.

    The Battle God¡¯s Statue was not only a symbol but also an existence that helped the current generation¡¯s Battle God whenever he was left at a difficult crossroads or had to make a big decision.

    Aside from that, it also gave missions and rewards that the previous Battle Gods had gathered and left behind. Not all of the Battle Gods could receive something from the statue.

    Right now, the statue put the golden crown of the most extraordinary Battle God in history on Minhyuk¡¯s head. And it did not stop there; it even knelt on one knee and showed courtesy toward him.

    Obren, who had been watching everything unfold silently, opened his mouth.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t I say that everything is correct?¡± Obren said as he looked at the Battle God.

    Obren had remainedrgely silent even after the other Absolute Gods said that Minhyuk had to break a more difficult trial to obtain the Battle God¡¯s power and that only someone who had received that power was worthy of leading them. He had only said one thing. <em>¡®Everything you said is correct.¡¯</em>

    The reason for that was finally revealed.

    ¡°No way. Are you saying that Minhyuk has truly gone to Pandemonium before?¡±

    Only at this moment did they realize why Obren had remained silent. By keeping his mouth shut and epting everything they said, he opened a better path for Minhyuk.

    What would have happened if Obren said that Minhyuk had already visited Pandemonium? Then, the other Absolute Gods would have demanded that they take back the mission and change it immediately to increase the difficulty level even further.

    While everyone was shocked by Obren¡¯s shrewdness, the Battle God¡¯s Statue, kneeling on one knee, used the voice of all of the Battle Gods.

    <em>[May my name, the greatest of all, be with you.]</em>

    <em>[May you, with your tens of millions of soldiers, run the same path I took.]</em>

    <em>[May you stand at the vanguard of your army and lead them in front of any fear and terror.]</em>

    <em>[You¡­]</em>

    The kneeling Battle God¡¯s Statue looked up at Minhyuk and asked¡­

    <em>[Can you do it?]</em>

    <em>[There will be times when your enemies will try to take away the greatest name from you.]</em>

    <em>[There will be times when you¡¯ll lose tens of millions of your soldiers and leave you in despair.]</em>

    <em>[There will be times when fear and terror will get the best of you and leave you frustrated.]</em>

    <em>[Even so, will you still be able to hold on tightly to the greatest name?]</em>

    Everyone held their breath. Everything was so silent that someone gulping dryly could be heard clearly in everyone¡¯s ears.

    Minhyuk, who was nothing more than a child in the form of the next-generation Battle God, responded to the statue''s words.

    ¡°I will do my best to be worthy of the greatest name.

    ¡°I will run alongside my tens of millions of soldiers and be the monarch leading them when they tire.

    ¡°I will stand up and step forward in the face of frustration, fear, and terror.¡±

    <em>[I have seen it through the mission I gave you¡­]</em>

    Minhyuk smiled faintly at the words of the faceless Battle God¡¯s Statue.

    <em>[...the figure of the greatest Battle God.]</em>

    <em>[This crown will now be yours.]</em>

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[You have sessfully unsealed the Battle God¡¯s second power.]</em>

    <em>[The reward for unsealing the Battle God¡¯s second power is the Battle God¡¯s Armor.]</em>

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[The reward for unsealing the Battle God¡¯s second power will be changed.]</em>

    <em>[You have acquired the Most Radiant Crown.]</em>

    It was not yet over. The statue asked.

    <em>[Is there something that you wish for?]</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    All of the Absolute Gods were left in shock. They hurriedly winked and gestured at the Battle God. But the Battle God could not say anything. The words of the statue were the words of the souls of his ancestors. How dare he refute their words? ???¦­??§§?

    As mentioned before, the statue, which housed the souls of all of the Battle Gods, was the being that gave out missions to other Battle Gods. This was because the statue knew everything rted to every Battle God, including what they possessed.

    Besides, the Battle God and the other Absolute Gods had already set what they wanted in the statue. It was set so that Minhyuk could do another mission once he finished it in Pandemonium.

    Right now, the statue was trying to follow their n and give Minhyuk a mission to earn him the reward he wanted.

    A glow appeared in Minhyuk¡¯s eyes. This was because there was a reason why he hade to carry out the quest to unseal the power of the Battle God, which he had been putting off for quite a while now.

    ¡°I want to have a territory.¡±

    <em>[A territory?]</em>

    ¡°I am the Battle God, but I am also the emperor of my empire.¡±

    <em>[...?!]</em>

    Despite having no face, it was apparent that the Battle God¡¯s Statue was in shock.

    <em>[Does that mean that you¡¯re not a pure God?]</em>

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    The Battle God¡¯s Statue seemed left in an even greater shock. Even so, he did not disregard Minhyuk.

    <em>[That makes you even more remarkable.]</em>

    A human has walked the path of the Battle God.

    ¡°I wish for a vast territory. I want a territory that is not only fertile but also good¡ªa ce where anyone can live in peace.¡±

    The Battle God was surprised.

    <em>¡®There is indeed a territory like that¡­¡¯</em>

    Based on the information that the Battle God had in his hands, there was indeed a territory that fit that bill. Nevertheless, even the current Battle God did not dare to take it.

    And just like that, the Battle God¡¯s Statue epted the request.

    <em>[I know about a territory like that.]</em>

    <em>[Coincidentally, it is in Pandemonium. You will still have to visit Pandemonium in the end.]</em>

    ¡°Pandemonium?¡± Minhyuk asked, his face visibly flustered.

    He never wished to step foot in Pandemonium ever again. Back then, he felt that it was fine to enter Pandemonium. This was because Rundalk and the other Pir Candidates were with him. But now¡­? It was a ce that he was terrified to enter alone.

    <em>[I believe the ce you have entered is considered taboo. Strictly speaking, it¡¯s a ce where you should not step foot.]</em>

    <em>[And you should have seen it too. There¡¯s another world in that vast universe.]</em>

    That was the truth. Minhyuk had seen a new world in the vast universe-like space in Pandemonium.

    <em>[Go to that world and meet ¡®Gardin.¡¯ You can get a hint about what you want from him.]</em>

    <em>Ring!</em>

    At that moment, a quest window popped out in front of Minhyuk.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>ss Quest</em></strong><em>: Meet Gardin.]</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: ss</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: The one who unsealed the Battle God¡¯s second power.</em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: ???</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Failure</em></strong><em>: Unable to proceed with the quest.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: You have obtained an extraordinary hint about a territory from the Battle God¡¯s Statue. Meet Gardin, who is living inside Pandemonium.</em>

    Meeting Gardin was just the beginning of the quest. As the Absolute Gods were the ones who first suggested this level of difficulty, none of them spoke up. Besides, they knew that the Battle God and the Battle God¡¯s Statue would have given a reasonable level of difficulty for that reward.

    The Battle God¡¯s Statue stood up and said¡­

    <em>[My descendant who will walk the greatest path.]</em>

    <em>[Keep this in mind.]</em>

    <em>[Pandemonium is and with no limits and restrictions.]</em>

    ¡°No limits and restrictions?¡±

    Minhyuk was very curious about what these words meant. s, the statue had already climbed the stairs and solidified into the position that it had before he came here.

    ¡°Sir Statue?¡±

    Despite Minhyuk¡¯s question, the Battle God¡¯s Statue remained still. It no longer answered him.

    At the same time, the Battle Gods breathed in sharply. All of them stared at Minhyuk with gazes filled with shock and disbelief.

    At that moment, the Battle God asked, ¡°How many Supremes did you kill in Pandemonium?¡±

    The Battle God was the one who killed the Supreme Monarch with Minhyuk. That was why he knew how terrifying the existence of the Supremes was. Of course, the Battle God was unaware that Minhyuk had entered Pandemonium with Rundalk and the other Pir Candidates. And in fact, Minhyuk believed that he did not need to mention this fact.

    ¡°I think I¡¯ve killed at least tens of thousands of them?¡±

    Only then did the Absolute Gods understand why the Battle God¡¯s Statue reacted that way. It was not just hundreds, it was tens of thousands. It was a feat that was beyond phenomenal.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk checked the Most Radiant Crown that he had obtained.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Most Radiant Crown</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: Absolute God</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: The one who received the Battle God¡¯s Statue recognition.</em>

    <strong><em>Durability</em></strong><em>: 60,000 / 60,000</em>

    <strong><em>Defensive Power</em></strong><em>: 304</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>: </em>

    <em>?All of your stats will increase by 34%.</em>

    <em>?Your CHA will increase by 1.3x.</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Absolute Monarch</em>

    <em>?Can be worn over other helmets. Additional ovepping is possible.</em>

    <em>?When equipped, skill performance of all items worn on the head, including helmets and hats, will increase by 20%~30%.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: This crown was worn by the greatest Battle God in history.</em>

    If someone were to look at the special abilities of the item itself, they would wonder if this was truly the crown worn by the greatest Battle God in existence. However, if they thought about it, they would realize that no emperor had ever worn a crown in battle.

    So, what was the reason why the Most Radiant Crown was considered a cheat-like item?

    <em>¡®It can be worn and ovepped with other items¡­?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk already possessed the Forgotten Monarch¡¯s Crown, but this crown could be worn over another helmet. That meant he could wear the Most Radiant Crown over the Forgotten Monarch¡¯s Crown.

    What was more shocking was that the skill performance of all items worn on the head would improve by 20%~30%. Take the Absolute Defense skill attached to the Forgotten Monarch¡¯s Crown. With the Most Radiant Crown, its eight seconds would be ten seconds.

    When Minhyuk checked the active skill Absolute Monarch, he found that it was also extraordinary.

    <em>¡®Regardless of the opponent''s strength, will they always kneel in front of me?¡¯</em>

    That was what it meant. Even if the opponents were leagues beyond Minhyuk''s power, they would still be forced to kneel before him.

    <em>¡®For two seconds, without any exceptions.¡¯</em>

    And if they were on par or weaker than Minhyuk, the duration of their kneeling would extend.

    God of Cooking Arlene approached Minhyuk.

    ¡°Forgive me for saying that you have be too arrogant.¡± She looked at the other Absolute Gods. ¡°We have judged you as we pleased and made assumptions about you. Perhaps the arrogant one is us.¡±

    Nevertheless, Minhyuk shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s fine. I¡¯m sure it¡¯s because you¡¯re thinking about me. More importantly, I have to go back to Pandemonium¡­¡±

    Pandemonium was not a hunting ground conveniently ced in front of his house. It was not a ce that Minhyuk could go to just because he wanted to.

    The Battle God handed Minhyuk a scroll. ¡°This is a Pandemonium Transfer Scroll that we have kept for future use.¡±

    After epting the scroll, Minhyuk bowed to everyone and said, ¡°I¡¯ll be back.¡±

    With a sh of light, Minhyuk disappeared. And the Absolute Gods? They stared at where Minhyuk had disappeared from for a very long time. They were reflecting on themselves because of Minhyuk.

    ***

    Gardin was a writer who lived in Pandemonium. However, his stories were boring, and he did not gain much from them. This meant that he often went hungry. Thankfully, he could give tasks to those who had fallen into Pandemonium and buy what they had gained so he could fill his stomach.

    Gardin looked bitterly at <em>Country of Chaos</em>, the new work that he was writing. He thought, <em>¡®Will the Country of Chaos end up as a tragedy?¡¯</em>

    The Country of Chaos was written based on a true story. He had been writing it for so long. However, there were many parts that he kept on writing and rewriting repeatedly. This was probably because he wanted the ending to be happy.

    <em>Rumble¨C</em>

    Gardin¡¯s stomach rumbled as he erased yet another part of the story.

    <em>¡®Inspiration neveres when your stomach is rumbling. Ha¡­ This hunger will also pass.¡¯</em>

    Just as the thought passed his head, a tantalizing and mouth-watering smell wafted over from somewhere.

    <em>¡®What the hell is that? Where¡¯s that smelling from?¡¯</em>

    The smell distracted Gardin immensely, making his already rumbling stomach rumble even more. Drunk on the smell, Gardin followed it and went outside. That was when he saw a young man crouching while flipping something. It was none other than a <em>kimchi</em> pancake.

    Gardin should have been angry at the man when he saw him fry <em>kimchi</em> pancakes with squid in front of his cabin, but he did not.

    <em>¡®Why is this man making pancakes in front of someone else¡¯s house?!¡¯</em>

    First, it was a very ridiculous situation. Gardin was so skeptical that he was rendered speechless.

    <em>¡®What kind of situation is he in for him to cook and eat pancakes on the street¡­?¡¯</em>

    Second, Gardin was so hungry that he could only watch the man in a daze. The <em>kimchi</em> pancake, already golden brown on one side, cracked as its other side cooked.

    Gardin looked up at the sky. The weather was overcast, and it seemed like it would rain any minute.

    ¡°Teehee. As expected, <em>kimchi </em>pancakes taste best on a rainy day,¡± the man remarked.

    ¡°...?¡±

    At this moment, Gardin realized, <em>¡®No way. Are you telling me he¡¯s making pancakes because he feels it¡¯s about to rain? What the hell is up with this guy?¡¯</em>

    The man flipped the <em>kimchi</em> pancake just as the oil was about to sizzle loudly. It was perfect timing.

    <em>Shwaaaa.</em>

    At that moment¡­

    ¡°Kghhk! I flipped it well¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s amazing!¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    Gardin, who had shouted impulsively, immediately shut his mouth as he made brief eye contact with the man. At the same time, the man moved stealthily and hid the <em>kimchi</em> pancakes behind him.

 Chapter 1141

    <strong>Chapter 1141</strong>

    Gardin unknowingly made a sound because the kimchi pancake was flipped at the perfect time.

    <em>¡®Just look at it!¡¯</em>

    The surface of the flipped pancake was golden, indicating that it had been cooked very well. If he could tear a huge piece from it and put it in his mouth, he would feel the crispy ends and the delicious kimchi vor.

    ¡°Ahem! What are you doing in front of someone else¡¯s house?!¡±

    When the young man heard Gardin¡¯s words, he immediately apologized. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯ll just eat this and go somewhere else.¡±

    Gardin was left flustered and embarrassed when the young man acted politely and bent his upper body at a 90-degree angle to bow at him.

    In a blink, the young man has transferred the cooked kimchi pancakes to a te. The tantalizing smell of the pancakes wafted over along with the steaming off it, tickling Gardin¡¯s nose. The young man, who was about to eat, seemed to have recalled something. He said, ¡°By any chance, do you know someone named Gardin?¡±

    ¡°I am that Gardin. Why are you looking for me?¡±

    ¡°Someone asked me toe and find Gardin. There¡¯s something that I have to ask.¡±

    ¡°I am the Pandemonium¡¯s Author. I am writing about Pandemonium. I have lived in Pandemonium for a very long time and know almost everything about it. That¡¯s why peoplee and find me first. They often ask me about Pandemonium.¡±

    ¡°Oho.¡±

    ¡°Wait! I will not tell you anything about Pandemonium for free. You have to pay the price. If you want me to tell you, you have toplete many tasks for me.¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± the young man said. Then, he bowed his head again.

    <em>¡®No. Why did you stop talking? Didn¡¯t you say that you have something to ask me?¡¯</em> Gardin thought as he looked at the young man.

    The man paid him no heed. It was as if he no longer cared and had already put everything behind him.

    Steam rose from the kimchi pancakes as the man used his chopsticks to tear them apart. The well-ripened kimchi and the bits of squid sticking out from the edges of the torn pancake made Gardin gulp dryly.

    The young man grabbed the bigger piece after tearing the kimchi pancake in half.

    <em>¡®That guy knows how to eat!¡¯</em>

    Then, he put it in his mouth all at once.

    ¡°Ho~¡± The young man breathed roughly as he rolled the still hot, steaming kimchi pancake around his mouth.

    <em>¡®The feeling of those crispy ends and the taste once you chew them all together¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>Crunch, crunch¨C</em>

    <em>¡®The taste of kimchi will definitely bring you to the peak of ecstasy.¡¯</em>

    As the young man continued to eat, the rain finally fell from the overcast sky. The moment the raindrops fell, the man took out a parasol from his inventory and unfolded it on the spot.

    ¡°No, why is something like thating out of there?¡±

    Once again, the man took a bite out of his kimchi pancake, saying, ¡°Do I have to do something for you before you tell me what I¡¯m curious about?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°So, why are you sitting in front of me?¡±

    ¡°Boy, you¡¯ll be lonely if I don¡¯t sit here.¡±

    ¡°But I don¡¯t feel lonely at all?¡± The young man said as he tore another piece of kimchi pancake.

    Gardin unknowingly opened his mouth at the sight.

    ¡°What kind of ce is Pandemonium?¡±

    ¡°Oho. Didn¡¯t I tell you? I will only tell you something you want to know every time youplete a task for me!¡± Gardin suddenly grew angry.

    Then, the man said, ¡°One bite for each question.¡±

    ¡°Do you think I¡¯m that kind of person?!¡± Gardin shouted, his eyes turning sharp as he jumped up and down in anger. ¡°I will never answer a question for a piece of kimchi pancake!¡±

    The young man, Minhyuk, grinned.

    ¡°Do you know my nickname? It¡¯s ¡®Safety Lock¡¯! It¡¯s because I never, ever say anything before going on a mission!¡±

    And ten secondster¡­

    Minhyuk, with a sneaky smile, watched as the enraptured Gardin smiled as he pushed the kimchi pancake into his mouth.

    ***

    Minhyuk tore up the return scroll that the Battle God had given him. These notifications rang in his ears the moment he stepped foot in Pandemonium:

    <em>[You have entered the Pandemonium¡¯s Country.]</em>

    <em>[You are the first visitor.]</em>

    <em>[Your EXP Acquisition Rate and Artifact Drop Rate will double.]</em>

    <em>[As the first visitor, please meet Author Gardin and listen to him exin Pandemonium¡¯s Country.]</em>

    <em>[Gardin will give you a task. Every time youplete a task, he will answer one of your questions.]</em>

    Minhyuk could tell that Gardin was acting as a guide. After finding his house, Minhyuk deliberately made kimchi pancakes in front of it. That was right; everything he did was intentional.

    And right now, Gardin took a bite of the kimchi pancake.

    <em>[You can ignore the task restriction and get one answer from Gardin.]</em>

    Minhyuk bought Gardin¡¯s knowledge with a bite of the savory pancake.

    ¡°What kind of nation is the Pandemonium¡¯s Country?¡±

    ¡°Pandemonium¡¯s Country is a ce where countless people live in Pandemonium. A variety of people live here: the dead, the living, someone from the legends, or even someone from the myths. Anyone who wants toe here.¡±

    Minhyuk stretched his chopstick. Gardin opened his mouth with an ¡°Aah~.¡±

    ¡°Is Pandemonium a good ce to live in?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not a good ce to live in. The Pandemonium King, who leads thisnd, suppresses many things.¡±

    When Minhyuk tried to offer Gardin another bite for another question, the man shook his head. Gardin said, ¡°Oho. Don¡¯t even think I¡¯m a man with a light and easy mouth¡­¡±

    <em>Glug¨C glug¨C</em>

    Minhyuk grabbed a spoon and poured Gardin a bowl of <em>makgeolli.</em>

    ¡°On a rainy day like this, pancakes taste best with <em>makgeolli.</em>¡±

    ¡°<em>Gulp, gulp. </em>Kyaha!¡±

    ¡°What do you mean by suppressing?¡±

    ¡°Including food and water, everything else in this ce is controlled. This ce is like a prison. We don¡¯t have any freedom.¡±

    ¡°Alright! Let¡¯s have another bowl!¡±

    ¡°Kyaha! Delicious!¡±

    ¡°Pandemonium is also called the Supreme. I¡¯ve been told that there are no limits here. But¡­ What exactly is the limit?¡±

    This was one of the most important questions. Minhyuk wanted to know the truth about the words that the Battle God¡¯s Statue had told him before.

    Gardin held up his pair of chopsticks.

    ¡°In this ce, it¡¯s what youmonly know as normal.¡± Gardin grinned. ¡°To put it in the terms used in the outside world, the normal here is God-rank or sometimes higher than that. There are times when it¡¯s much, <em>much</em> higher than that.¡±

    ¡°So, what you mean is¡­¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no restrictions on rankings and grades in this ce.¡±

    ¡°...?!¡±

    The words that Gardin said were pretty shocking.

    ¡°In the world that you live in, it¡¯s tough to reach God-rank or any rank higher than that. And there are limits over those things, too. You will eventually stop once you reach the greatest and highest rank. But in Pandemonium¡­¡±

    Minhyuk gulped dryly.

    ¡°...it¡¯s infinite. There are no limits.¡±

    It was genuinely shocking.

    In other words, even after reaching the Supreme, the highest grade or rank in existence, they might be able to get a higher realm than that or perhaps go even higher and higher.

    Meanwhile, Gardin started to feel a bit strange. He shouted, ¡°Ah, so good! Let¡¯s have another drink!¡±

    When Minhyuk poured another bowl of <em>makgeolli</em> for him, Gardin gulped it down.

    ¡°Wahahaha! Why is this <em>makgeolli</em> so sweet? It¡¯s really sweet!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Sea Honey <em>makgeolli</em>. It¡¯s very famous in the outside world.¡±

    ¡°Oh, okay? Alright! One more!¡±

    Gardin did not stop asking for more. Despite having a dark red flush on his face, Gardin continued to drink <em>makgeolli</em>. And, of course, Minhyuk kept on asking him questions.

    ¡°Ah. So, you¡¯re saying that to make it easier then¡­¡±

    ¡°If I go to Baidan Hills over there, then¡­¡±

    ¡°Right. There¡¯s a very amazing cksmith over there. They call him a Master Artisan.¡±

    Minhyuk started to rake in as much information as he could. Of course, there were still things that Gardin could not say. And one of them was about the <em>territory.</em> Although Minhyuk tried to ask him what the Battle God¡¯s Statue had told him, the notifications stopped him.

    ¡°One more drink!¡± Gardin, who was delighted, continued drinking <em>makgeolli.</em> Then, he said, ¡°Now that I look at you closely, I really like you.¡±

    <em>[Gardin¡¯s favor has increased.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re really good-looking!¡±

    <em>[Gardin¡¯s favor has increased.]</em>

    ¡°If I had a daughter, I would have asked her to marry you!¡±

    <em>[Gardin¡¯s favor has increased.]</em>

    Gardin¡¯s favor increased by a lot. In the end, Gardin, who was already turning sloppy while drinking, passed out.

    The next day, Gardin woke up with a throbbing headache. Then, he suddenly remembered the kimchi pancake and <em>makgeolli</em> he had eaten and drunk the previous day.

    ¡°Hyung-nim~¡±

    The young man who he met yesterday suddenly started calling him <em>hyung.</em>

    <em>¡®What kind of situation is this?¡¯</em>

    ¡°Boy! Why are you here?! Why are you calling me hyung-nim?!¡± Gardin¡¯s pupils shook.

    ¡°You don¡¯t remember? Hyung-nim, yesterday you said, <em>¡®From now on, we are brothers!¡¯</em> You even told me to speak casually to you.¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°Ah, and you should remember, right? You said that you¡¯ll let me know anything I¡¯m curious about without paying the price.¡±

    ¡°What kind of ridiculous thing are you saying¡­¡±

    At that moment, Minhyuk turned on the recorder, a yer¡¯s special privilege.

    <em>[Hohoho~ Awoo! From now on, I will tell you everything that you want to know.]</em>

    <em>[Tasks? What kind of tasks?! There¡¯s no need for that between us! Hohoho.]</em>

    <em>¡®Come to think of it¡­¡¯</em>

    Although Gardin did not remember, he felt as if this young man in front of him was very familiar. And it was the familiarity between two people who had been together for a very long time. Gardin might not know, but this was all because of the favor that had shot up dramatically yesterday.

    Meanwhile, Minhyuk had peacefully made a refreshing bowl of delicious dried pock soup and ced it in front of Gardin.

    The poor author Gardin had often starved. The sight of the bowl was enough to make his mouth water. Soon, he remembered something.

    ¡°Boy, you shouldn¡¯t be here.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    Gardin felt pathetic at his own slow-wittedness.

    ¡°Hurry up! Get out of here!¡±

    Although Gardin was asking him to leave in a hurry, Minhyuk remained calm. He asked, ¡°Hyung-nim, I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on, but let¡¯s eat this delicious dried pock soup first¡­¡±

    ¡°This damn bastard!¡± Gardin screeched at Minhyuk.

    He wanted to get him out of his house as soon as possible. One look at the still steaming dried pock soup made Gardin remember some blurred fragments of his memories from yesterday. These blurred memories suggested that Minhyuk was a chef who loved food. He could feel his love for food in this steaming bowl of soup.

    Even so, Gardin still tried his hardest to ignore the soup and the man. He even went so far as to throw an empty te.

    <em>ng¨C</em>

    ¡°You bastard, when did I be your hyung?! Get out of my house! Now! How dare you do that to me when I¡¯m drunk out of my mind?!¡±

    Then, at that moment¡­

    <em>Thud¨C</em>

    The door mmed open as <em>he</em> finally entered. It was Ugor, themander of the Supreme Army¡¯s 12th Knight Order.

    Just like what Gardin had mentioned to Minhyuk yesterday, Pandemonium¡¯s Country was a ce where everything was being suppressed and controlled. That included food, entertainment, and even travel. And it was not just that. Everything was being exploited and taken away by the kingdom. To make it even worse, this was already and with a high level of difficulty. It was a ce that thend where the humans currently lived could neverpare to in terms of harshness.

    <em>Thud, thud, thud¨C</em>

    Gardin¡¯s breath was caught in his throat as themander of the Supreme Army¡¯s 12th Knight Order walked toward him.

    ¡°You¡¯re the one who¡¯s writing about the revolution, huh?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Gardin trembled in fear.

    That was right. Gardin¡¯s novel, Pandemonium¡¯s Country, was not yetpleted. Why? Because he was hoping for a new spark to the revolution.

    When the kingdom learned about Gardin building a house and living well out of their sight, they threatened to execute him right away if he did note to their kingdom and apologize.

    Even after receiving such threats, Gardin did not go. This was because he wanted to protect the pride of the revolution.

    ¡°Hurry up and get out of here, you f*cking bastard!¡± Gardin shouted at Minhyuk again. And at the same time¡­

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    ¡°Did you just try to have a meal without any permission from us?¡±

    Ugor¡¯s sword shattered the still-steaming bowl of dried pock soup.

    Minhyuk looked at the shattered bowl of dried pock soup before looking at Gardin once again.

    ¡°Get out! Bastard!¡±

    Minhyuk turned around and slowly walked toward the door. He sighed lightly as he grabbed the handle and went outside.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s a relief. Truly, a relief,¡¯</em> Gardin thought.

    After hearing the story about this highly evil and heinous Supreme Army, it seemed like Minhyuk had decided that this had nothing to do with him.

    Unfortunately, that was wrong.

    ¡°Novelist Gardin. For the crimes that you havemitted against the kingdom, I will bring judgment upon you.¡±

    <em>Shiiiiing¨C</em>

    The unmistakable sound of the sword rang loudly in the house. Gardin, who slumped on his seat, looked over the door.

    <em>¡®Run. Run far away from here.¡¯</em>

    Gardin did not remember what the two of them talked about exactly yesterday. Nevertheless, he felt that it was very fortunate that this innocent man would not be killed because of him.

    Ugor scoffed. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but¡­¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°The hundreds of soldiers waiting outside would have already ripped apart that guy who had just left.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    ¡°I have already given them my order, you know? I told them that anyone whoes out of this ce must be killed in the worst possible way.¡±

    Gardin¡¯s face grew ugly. Ugor smiled when he saw the look on his face. He said, ¡°You know what kind of existence the Supreme Army¡¯s soldiers are, right?¡±

    These soldiers have endured countless amounts of excessive training. Especially those who carried the name ¡°Supreme Army,¡± they were many times stronger than ordinary soldiers.

    Ugor raised his sword and pointed it at Gardin¡¯s neck.

    <em>Creak¨C</em>

    Then, the door opened. Ugor thought that one of the soldiers, who tore the man to death, came to report to him. Strangely, he could not feel the gazes of the hundreds of soldiers outside. He could only feel one stinging gaze from behind him.

    Puzzled, Ugor looked back.

    ¡°...!¡±

    He could see the man, who had just left earlier, standing right behind him. The man, Minhyuk, had wiped out the hundreds of soldiers that he had brought with him in less than a minute.

    The sight left even Gardin shocked. When he looked up at him, Minhyuk said, ¡°Hyung-nim, I guess you don¡¯t remember.¡±

    Minhyuk shook off the blood from his sword as he looked at the shattered remnants of the bowl of dried pock soup on the ground.

    ¡°Hyung-nim, in exchange for telling me about this ce¡­¡± Minhyuk pointed his sword at Ugor. ¡°...I promised to protect you.¡±

 Chapter 1142

    <strong>Chapter 1142</strong>

    Gardin was shocked. Only 35 seconds had passed by since Minhyuk had closed that door. But all the Supreme Army soldiers waiting outside had been wiped out in that short amount of time.

    Gardin found the promise the young man had made in the blurred fragments of his memory. He could not clearly remember what they were talking about but could remember what he said.

    ¨C<em>If that¡¯s the case, I¡¯ll do my best to protect you, hyung-nim!</em>

    ¡°...!¡±

    It was the truth! It seemed like a lot had happened between him and the young manst night.

    Nevertheless, Ugor was different from those mere soldiers. Starting from themander position, they would receive the Supreme¡¯s power.

    <em>[Supreme Army¡¯s 12th Knight Order Commander Ugor. Level 712.]</em>The Supreme power that they received was the power that could allow them to leave people helpless and frustrated.

    Ugor cackled despite the sword pointing at his face. ¡°I see, you¡¯re not yet engraved with the Pandemonium¡¯s Stigma.¡±

    Every citizen living in Pandemonium¡¯s Country was engraved with Pandemonium¡¯s Stigma. Those who received the stigma would be suppressed. It was practically no different from being marked as a ve. Surprisingly enough, Gardin did not have the stigma.

    ¡°I will engrave it on your body myself. Kneel.¡±

    <em>Rumble¨C!</em>

    The entire cabin began to shake and tremble.

    <em>¡®He¡¯s just amander, but his level is at¡­¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was surprised because the level of the man in front of him was pretty high. The Luvien Empire¡¯s Swords of the Gods¡¯ level was around thete Level 600s and the early Level 700s.

    A strong force surged out from within Ugor and tried to suppress Minhyuk.

    <em>[Overpower Supreme.]</em>

    <em>[Overpower Supreme allows you to leave your opponent helpless.]</em>

    The Supreme Court that the Supreme Army had learned was divided into several chapters. The Overpower Supreme was the reason why the people could not resist all of those who had learned the Supreme Court.

    <em>¡®Overpower Supreme can make any man kneel.¡¯</em>

    The overwhelming force pressed down on Minhyuk.

    ¡°Kneel. Keuhahahahahaha!¡± Ugorughed maniacally.

    Minhyuk, whose knees were slowly bending down, red up at him. Then, he sneered. ¡°Right. Kneel.¡±

    Ugor was shocked. The man, whose knees were supposed to be bending, stood straight and looked at him arrogantly.

    <em>[The Unyielding One has been triggered.]</em>

    <em>[The Eight Pirs¡¯ Candidate does not yield to anyone!]</em>

    It did not end there. Ugor realized that his eye level, which should have been at the same height as the man¡¯s own, had started to drop.

    <em>[Absolute Monarch.]</em>

    <em>[No one can go against and resist in front of the Absolute Monarch.]</em>

    The Absolute Monarch was the ability attached to Minhyuk¡¯s recently acquired Most Radiant Crown. This was the ability that would force his opponent to kneel. Even if they were stronger than him, they would be forced to kneel. No exceptions. The only difference was the duration of the ability. Against those stronger than Minhyuk, it would onlyst two seconds. However, the duration would be longer when the opponent was weaker or equal to Minhyuk in power.

    There was also something interesting about this ability. The skill user¡¯s CHA influenced it. Damage would be inflicted upon the kneeling enemy depending on the amount of CHA the skill user possessed. Of course, the damage was still based on the skill user¡¯s average basic attack damage.

    <em>[Based on your CHA, the Absolute Monarch will inflict 6,800% additional damage per second.]</em>

    <em>sh¨C</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack!¡± The kneeling Ugor screamed and vomited a mouthful of blood as the damage was inflicted on him.

    For one¡­ two¡­ three seconds, Ugor suffered from heavy damage. Just like that, the Supreme Army¡¯s 12th Knight Order Commander died on his knees.

    Gardin, who watched as Ugor¡¯s body sagged and turned lifeless, was left in disbelief.

    As amander-level individual in the Supreme Army, Ugor was considered a powerhouse in Pandemonium¡¯s Country. Yet Minhyuk killed such an existence without even lifting a single finger.

    Gardin¡¯s pupils trembled while Minhyuk sported a triumphant look on his face.

    <em>[You have killed the Pandemonium¡¯s Country¡¯s Knight Order Commander.]</em>

    <em>[Your story will be made known to the Pandemonium¡¯s Kingdom.]</em>

    <em>[An order to kill has been issued against you.]</em>

    The triumphant Minhyuk was now making a sad and tearful face. He said, ¡°Hyung-nim, what should I do?¡±

    Gardin watched the teary-eyed Minhyuk walk toward the table.

    ¡°...¡±

    He was left speechless when he saw Minhyuk put rice in the remaining bowl of dried pock soup. Then, he scooped a huge mouthful and pushed it into his mouth.

    ***

    Pandemonium¡¯s Country¡¯s Castle, Abzhain.

    King Bul''ark, sittingfortably on his chair, was aware that someone had killed Knight Commander Ugor.

    <em>¡®Those damn revolutionaries.¡¯</em>

    Bul''ark did not react much to the news. After all, the revolutionaries would kill the members of the Supreme Army asionally in the name of a revolution.

    ¡°Find the man who killed Ugor and kill him,¡± Bul''ark said. After giving his orders, Bul''ark walked toward the wall and stared at the entirety of Pandemonium¡¯s Country.

    A wide variety of people inhabited Pandemonium¡¯s Country¨Cthose who came from the human world, those born here in Pandemonium, or the so-called Pandemonium¡¯s Citizen, as well as those who came here hoping to reach infinity. Even the dead came here.

    Yet, in the end, every single one of them became his people. His ves. And it was all thanks to the Supreme Envoy.

    Bul''ark had taken everything away from his people. He had suppressed them, and the moment they thought of rebelling against him, he would turn them into criminals and make them pay the price for their crimes.

    And everything Bul''ark had taken away from them was sealed inside a jar.

    <em>[Supreme Jar.]</em>

    The Supreme Jar was an item that gathered divine power. This divine power was extracted from everyone who was suppressed and carried the stigma and could then be used to strengthen a chosen target.

    Bul''ark had already prepared it so the Supreme Jar would fall in the hands of the Supreme Envoys.

    <em>¡®When someone acquires this jar first, they will hear this sound in their ears¡­¡¯</em>

    <em>[You have three options.]</em>

    <em>[An artifact material that can make something Supreme.]</em>

    <em>[The world¡¯s most delicious ¡®yeot¡¯</em>[1]<em>.]</em>

    <em>[Power to help you grow.]</em>

    Anyone who acquired the jar would be given these powers to choose from.

    If what was chosen was the artifact material, the jar would spit out the material before self-destructing. If what was chosen was the power to help one grow, they would be able to grow several times in a row. But that was all.

    The true power of the jar could only be obtained if whoever acquired it chose the <em>¡®world¡¯s most delicious yeot.¡¯</em> After selecting and eating the <em>yeot,</em> the jar would release a stronger divine power. Then, it would ask whoever it was a question. Would they choose to devour this divine power to be a strong man, or would they like to make a wish possible inside Pandemonium? Because of this, Bul¡¯ark had hidden the Supreme Jar under the ground.

    Bul¡¯ark was the king of Pandemonium¡¯s Country. However, he had gotten tired of the status quo. The Supreme Envoys still treated him like a puppet king, and even the god ruling Pandemonium did not have a shred of interest in him.

    <em>¡®I¡¯m going to be a real king.¡¯</em>

    The day he would be this kingdom''s genuine and legitimate king was fast approaching. He turned to look at his subordinates waiting behind him and gave his orders.

    ¡°Suppress the people more! And double the intensity of the torture on the prisoners!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±

    A deep smile slowly settled on Bul¡¯ark¡¯s face.

    ***

    Gardin and Minhyuk went out of the cabin.

    Minhyuk looked worriedly at Gardin and said, ¡°Hyung-nim, are you not going toe with me?¡±

    ¡°Boy, there¡¯s an order to kill you¡­ If I walk around with you, then I will die. <em>Haaa</em>¡­¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    It was the truth. Gardin would be in more danger if he walked around with Minhyuk. Of course, he was just joking around with the young man. Gardin handed over a manuscript titled <em>¡®Pandemonium¡¯s Country¡¯</em> written on its cover.

    ¡°I have been writing this novel titled Pandemonium¡¯s Country for a long time. I have been erasing and writing the same ending repeatedly.¡±

    Gardin had heard all about Minhyuk from the young man himself. From everything he had heard, he learned about what kind of person he truly was. He was a chef, the Battle God, and an emperor ruling his own empire.

    ¡°This time, I¡¯m determined to write a different ending.¡±

    And the ending that Gardin was going to write was¡­

    <em>¡®This ending is the one that you¡¯re going to make.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk nodded. He thought, <em>¡®I¡¯m sure it won¡¯t be too dangerous.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk had heard quite a few things during Gardin¡¯s drunken ramblings. And he had heard a lot of information from him before he left the cabin. The main point from everything he had heard from Gardin about the Pandemonium¡¯s Country was that there were no restrictions and limitations.

    <em>¡®It¡¯s a ce where the possibility of achieving infinity opens up for you.¡¯</em>

    Gardin said, ¡°Boy, the territory you¡¯re looking for wille if you follow what I say.¡±

    At the same time, Minhyuk received a quest from Gardin.

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Quest</em></strong><em>: The Start of a Revolution.]</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: ???</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: Those who received Gardin¡¯s guidance.</em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: ???</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Failure</em></strong><em>: You can no longer proceed with the quest.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: Meet ¡®Weapon Revolutionary¡¯ Leo, who Gardin had told you about, and do him a favor.</em>

    Minhyuk also received a token from Gardin.

    <em>[Temporary Revolutionary Token.]</em>

    From what Minhyuk had heard, there were quite a lot of revolutionaries hiding inside the Pandemonium¡¯s Country and sharpening their des to fight against the king. It was said that these revolutionaries were gathering around the Four Revolutionaries.

    The Four Revolutionaries possessed tremendous power. The very first revolutionary among them was Weapon Revolutionary Leo.

    <em>¡®Hyung-nim told me there¡¯s a very excellent cksmith around here.¡¯</em>

    That ¡°very excellent cksmith¡± was none other than Leo.

    ¡°Alright, I¡¯m going back to my writing now.¡±

    The two went their separate ways.

    Minhyuk watched Gardin leave. The truth was, he did not choose to protect Gardin for nothing. It was mainly because he had already noticed who Gardin indeed was.

    <em>¡®I¡¯ll see youter,¡¯</em> Minhyuk thought as he walked the opposite direction.

    ***

    Pharaoh, who carries the Supreme Stigma on his arm, was still manning the bellows like any other day. He had to man the bellows daily and make the swords wielded by the Supreme Army¡¯s soldiers and knights.

    Everyone carrying the stigma had to meet their daily quota to receive their ration and be allowed to sleep. Fifty weapons. This was the number of weapons that Pharaoh had to make every single day.

    ¡°Starting today, everything will be halved! Your sleep time, your ration and all of that stuff, everything will be halved!¡±

    Pharaoh was left shocked. They only slept five hours and held on with three potatoes daily.

    <em>¡®That means that we have to double our production for us to enjoy what we originally can enjoy.¡¯</em>

    Those who failed to meet their daily quota suffered from the suppression of their stigma. Not only would they not be given any food, but a loud voice would also ring in their heads if they tried to sleep.

    A lot of people had died from being overworked. The worst part? Those who died from overwork were thrown into the Prison of Repetition. They still had to suffer even after they had died.

    The nature of the work of a cksmith required them to have bulging red muscles. However, Pharaoh, who was only skin and bones, could only endure with tears in his eyes.

    <em>¡®There¡¯s nothing that we can do. If we want to live, then we have to follow.¡¯</em>

    ¡°Can I talk with you for a bit?¡±

    At that moment, someone came in. The man was holding a basket filled with steaming sweet potatoes. Pharaoh was more appalled than pleased when he saw the man.

    ¡°F-food?!¡±

    ¡°What? Did you just say food?!¡¯

    ¡°Which crazy bastard brought food here?!¡±

    Minhyuk, who brought the sweet potatoes here, was left puzzled. He even steamed it for them?

    Pharaoh growled at him. ¡°Didn¡¯t you know?! People carrying the stigma will die if they eat ordinary food?¡±

    ¡°Ah!¡±

    Minhyuk had heard many things from Gardin but had not received detailed information about them.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I wasn¡¯t aware.¡±

    ¡°You bastard! So you don¡¯t carry the stigma! Get out of the smithy! If they see us with you, then we will be punished!¡±

    ¡°Uhm. I actually came here to see the cksmith named Leo.¡±

    ¡°How dare you speak of Sir Leo¡¯s name?!¡±

    ¡°You brat, Sir Leo is not someone a brat like you can meet.¡±

    ¡°Sir Leo? You¡¯re probably not here to find Sir Leo but to find Neo, the dog from next door, right? Haha!¡±

    Their vignt voices soon morphed into voices filled with mockery. They were doing this to try and kick out the guy as quickly as possible. Of course, they also did not want him to meet the great Sir Leo.

    ¡°Sir Leo is the most noble person who created the greatest sword in the world.¡±

    ¡°The greatest sword in the world?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. Of course, the concept of ¡®world¡¯ does not exist in the Pandemonium. But in your world, that sword is hailed as the greatest. I don¡¯t know who you are, but how dare you try to meet such a noble being as Sir Leo?¡±

    Amidst the cackling cksmiths, one cksmith stepped forward.

    ¡°Leave, now. Otherwise, I will break your artifacts.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Weapon Analyst Renz.¡±

    Weapon Analyst Renz was Leo¡¯s right-hand man. He was once the God of cksmiths. However, he pursued a higher position than the God of cksmiths. And in his search for infinity, he eventually made his way here. In the end, he also received the ve¡¯s stigma.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I can¡¯t leave until I see Leo.¡±

    Minhyuk had already apologized for his previous mistake. He could not back down just because of these people''s simple mockery.

    At that moment, Renz grabbed Minhyuk¡¯s Sword of Aeon with his bare hands. All of the cksmiths present reacted when they saw the scene.

    ¡°He is called the cksmith of Observation and Destruction. He can instantly check the detailed information of an artifact and destroy it!¡±

    ¡°That guy¡¯s sword will be broken in two!¡±

    The man named Renz warned Minhyuk. ¡°I will not break your sword if you leave right away.¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t leave,¡± Minhyuk answered firmly and without hesitation.

    In response, Renz used his powers. A vast amount of mana surged from within him and seeped into the de of the Sword of Aeon. Usually, Renz would be able to see the artifact¡¯s information once he closed his eyes.

    <em>¡®What the hell?¡¯</em>

    To his shock, he did not see anything. Hailed as the cksmith of Observation and Destruction, Renz could see through any artifact, but he actually received nothing from Minhyuk¡¯s sword. Nevertheless, he would not let things go. He decided to break this arrogant brat¡¯s sword. Besides, they have all the justification in the world. After all, someone from their side would die if they ate the food brought by this brat by mistake.

    Renz grabbed a sword.

    <em>¡®Huh? Why is he not moving?¡¯</em>

    s, he found something weird. The man named Minhyuk did not move a single muscle.

    Renz grabbed his sword and used it to strike the man¡¯s sword. The sword that Renz grabbed was called the Sword of Destruction. The Sword of Destruction could break any sword in two at Renz¡¯s will.

    <em>ng¨C</em>

    The sword broke in half.

    ¡°...?¡±

    Renz was shocked when he saw his sword get split in two. And Minhyuk? He looked at all the people standing frozen in ce and said, ¡°I am the owner of the <em>Greatest Sword</em>.¡±

    1. ? (yeot) - a Korean traditional confectionery that can be made as syrup, a taffy, or a candy. Also used in the ng: ? ??? - eat shit, screw you over, f*ck you. ?

 Chapter 1143

    Chapter 1143

    <strong>Chapter 1143</strong>

    Weapons and armor were different from the air that naturally existed in nature. These items did not exist in nature; they were made by someone.

    Minhyuk could never forget the notifications he had heard when he had obtained the Sword of Aeon.

    <em>[The Sword of Aeon is the greatest sword among all the existing swords.]</em>

    The greatest sword in the world was none other than Minhyuk¡¯s Sword of Aeon.

    ¡°I am the owner of the <em>Greatest Sword</em>.¡±

    The frozen cksmiths'' shock grew even deeper when they heard Minhyuk¡¯s words. Renz, who looked down at his already broken sword in two, thought that the young man¡¯s words weren¡¯t necessarily false.

    ¡°I¡¯ll take you to Sir Leo,¡± Renz said as he hurriedly left the scene.Minhyuk¡¯s heart raced wildly at the very unexpected turn of events.

    <em>¡®Are you saying I¡¯m going to meet the one who made the Sword of Aeon?¡¯</em>

    As the thought shed in his head, he could not help but think about what had happened in this Pandemonium¡¯s Country.

    Not long after, a cksmith appeared who was much taller¨Cprobably exceeding two meters¨Cand had sharper eyes than the other cksmiths.

    ¡°Get out of the way.¡± A voice rang loudly behind the tall man¡¯s back, making him go to the side.

    ¡°Ah. I¡¯m sorry, Sir Leo.¡±

    When the tall man stepped aside, a very short yet imposing man appeared. What was more surprising was that this man was blind.

    The man, who appeared to be in his mid-forties, stood in front of Minhyuk and said, ¡°It¡¯s true.¡±

    Although he could not see anything, he seemed to see everything.

    ¡°I can feel the Sword of Aeon resonating from here.¡±

    <em>[You have met the maker of the Sword of Aeon.]</em>

    <em>[The Sword of Aeon¡¯s attack power has increased by 0.5%.]</em>

    ¡°...?!¡±

    Minhyuk looked at the man in surprise. It was true.

    <em>¡®The man who made the world''s greatest sword is standing in front of me.¡¯</em>

    The man looked at everything.

    ¡°The armor that you have is very outstanding. I wonder who made that? Oh, the crown that you¡¯re wearing is something that I made too. I can¡¯t believe a human has two of the things that I made myself. Ho? What are those gloves? It has quite a lot of power.¡±

    Minhyuk was left in a daze. The Most Radiant Crown could be said to be on par with the level of the Sword of Aeon. Why? Its ability allowed it to be ovepped with other items. This ability could strengthen artifacts that could no longer be reinforced and make them even better.

    ¡°Unfortunately, you have not yet released its final seal.¡±

    These words were about the Sword of Aeon, and they were the truth. Minhyuk has not yet released the third and final seal of the Sword of Aeon. It did not matter how high Minhyuk¡¯s level reached; the Sword of Aeon did not tell him any of the conditions to release its final seal.

    ¡°Of course, that¡¯s only natural.¡± Leo chuckled. ¡°Because I¡¯m the only one who knows how to release the final seal of that sword.¡±

    ¡°...!¡±

    Minhyuk looked at Leo in shock. This was indeed a very unexpected harvest for him. Perhaps his Sword of Aeon could receive another huge boost in power.

    But before that¡­

    ¡°Why did youe to find me? And you don¡¯t even have the stigma.¡±

    Minhyuk handed over the Temporary Revolutionary Token that he had received from Gardin in response. Leo, who seemed like he could not feel anything unless it was a power from an artifact, fumbled around. He felt the crevices on the token and finally showed a surprised expression.

    <em>¡®Temporary Revolutionary?¡¯</em>

    Only those who did not carry the stigma could be appointed as a Temporary Revolutionary. They had to be very strong, too.

    <em>¡®It will be very difficult to save that guy from prison.¡¯</em>

    However, the fact that the man before Leo received this token proved that someone had recognized his abilities. Although weak, Leo could still feel someone¡¯s power within the Temporary Revolutionary Token.

    ¡°Gardin told me toe to you, Leo, to listen to the next part of the story.¡±

    Leo nodded. He said, ¡°As you can see from our current situation, the stigma is now suppressing us more fiercely than ever.¡±

    Minhyuk had also heard the notification earlier.

    ¡°If things continue at this rate, we will not be able tost for half a year. If that happens, most of the people of the Pandemonium¡¯s Kingdom will die.¡±

    Minhyuk could see that they wouldn¡¯t be able tost long if things truly continued at this rate. But he was curious about one thing.

    ¡°You¡¯re a great and amazing person, who has made the greatest sword, so why can¡¯t you get rid of the king?¡±

    The fact that Leo was the creator of the greatest sword in existence would mean that he was a man who could stand shoulder to shoulder with the Pirs of the world. Of course, it was hard to tell how long ago his era was.

    ¡°Most people who havee here came to find infinity, to make the impossible possible.¡±

    There was no end to a being¡¯s greed. It could go further and deeper than anybody could think of.

    ¡°And the same went for me. I know it¡¯s impossible, but I came here to look for it.¡±

    Leo smiled bitterly as he pointed to his eyes. He wanted to find two eyes that could help him see the world.

    ¡°The moment we came to this ce¡­ a heavy and overwhelming power forced the stigma on us. And you must have heard about it, right? The original power of those who had received the stigma would weaken.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded. From what Gardin had told him, those marked with the stigma could not use their power as they pleased.

    ¡°I did not receive the stigma when I came here.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because there has been one sessful revolution before. That one sessful revolution had stopped the forced engraving of stigma on someone entering Pandemonium. Now, they have toe and engrave the stigma themselves personally.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded in understanding. ¡°Then, what can I do for you?¡±

    Gardin told Minhyuk that helping the revolution would help him get closer to the territory he wanted.

    ¡°Go to the Prison of Repetition and save the prisoners. The prisoners trapped inside the Prison of Repetition were the remaining revolutionaries who participated in the first revolution. They are being forced to live in pain and suffering. If you go there, you will meet my dear friend, the Army Revolutionary Bharal.¡±

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[You havepleted the </em><strong><em>Quest</em></strong><em>: The Start of a Revolution.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 100,000,000 EXP.]</em>

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>Linked Quest</em></strong><em>: Rescue Those Who Have Been Imprisoned in the Prison of Repetition.]</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: SSS</em>

    <strong><em>Requirement</em></strong><em>: Those who have met Leo.</em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: Evolution of the Transcendental¡¯s Armor. Engraving the Brand of Recognition in the Temporary Revolutionary Token.</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Failure</em></strong><em>: Removal of your qualifications as a Temporary Revolutionary.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: Destroy the Prison of Repetition and save all the revolutionaries imprisoned.</em>

    Minhyuk was quite shocked when he saw the rewards. He thought, <em>¡®He¡¯s going to evolve my Transcendental¡¯s Armor?¡¯</em>

    The Transcendental¡¯s Armor could be said to be the best and greatest armor among all of the armor in existence. It was a masterpiece created by Nekk, who wasparable to or even greater than the God of cksmiths, with all his heart and soul. Its defensive power was higher than any other God-rank armor, and its special abilities were close to being cheat-like.

    Leo smiled faintly as if he had read Minhyuk¡¯s mind. ¡°Didn¡¯t you know? There are no limits and restrictions in Pandemonium.¡±

    Then, Minhyuk asked, ¡°But¡­ is this the greatest sword in the world? I¡¯m sorry if this question sounded rude.¡±

    It was only natural for him to be curious about things like this as a yer.

    Leo chuckled softly. ¡°Nothingsts forever in the world.¡±

    Minhyuk instantly understood what he meant by those brief words. <em>¡®With the updates, a sword superior to the Sword of Aeon will appear one day.¡¯</em>

    Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°By any chance, can you evolve other artifacts? Of course, I¡¯ll do it in exchange for something you want.¡±

    Leo pointed at his eyes as he said, ¡°This is the only thing I want.¡±

    ¡°Ah, I¡¯m sorry.¡± A bitter taste lingered in Minhyuk¡¯s mouth.

    Leo said, ¡°I just want to see the world once. If you can do that for me, I will do what you want once.¡±

    ¡°You said that the stigma has sealed your powers. How can you evolve the artifacts?¡±

    ¡°Boy, you have a lot of questions. Huh?¡±

    Minhyuk smiled awkwardly.

    ¡°It¡¯s not as if we haven¡¯t prepared that much. We can use our full powers once on the day of the revolution. And, of course, the stigma will disappear if the revolution sessfully ends.¡±

    After Minhyuk had satisfied his curiosity and asked all the questions that he wanted to ask, Leo handed over a key and a secret map.

    ¡°Follow this map and open the door. Once you enter that door, you can enter the Prison of Repetition.¡±

    Minhyuk immediately left for the Prison of Repetition after epting the items.

    Renz slowly approached Leo and asked, ¡°Can he do it?¡±

    ¡°It won¡¯t be easy.¡±

    ¡°Sir Leo, are you the only one who can release the seal of the Sword of Aeon?¡±

    Hearing that question, Leo said, ¡°It has already been unsealed.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡± Renz said in confusion.

    Leo left him behind and murmured to himself, ¡°He just can¡¯t see it because that shell still covers it.¡±

    ***

    Army Revolutionary Bharal was again witnessing a repeat of what he had seen before. Hundreds of thousands of prisoners wearing their armor and holding their swords moved to protect the castle.

    There was only one way out of this prison, and it was very simple. All they had to do was win this battle.

    Unfortunately, the charging prisoners were easily torn apart by the Repetition Monsters. Sometimes, they would be turned into prey and devoured whole. Either that or they would give up andmit suicide with helpless and desperate looks on their faces.

    Ultimately, the castle fell, and Bharal¡¯s neck twisted strangely.

    <em>Blink¨C!</em>

    When Bharal opened his eyes, the situation he had seen in the beginning appeared in front of him again. Just as he appeared on the wall, the other prisoners appeared one after another. At the same time, he drew a stick on a paper that he had always kept close to him.

    <em>¡®This is already the 1.33 millionth time.¡¯</em>

    They had been dying repeatedly in this ce.

    The first 1,000 times were excruciating for them. They could only scream in pain as they felt the weird sensation of their body being torn apart, chewed, and swallowed by the monsters. And when they got crushed and trampled under the feet of these monsters? They couldn¡¯t even let out a sound.

    After the 1,000th time passed, they slowly became numb. Perhaps it was expected that they would go crazy.

    <em>¡®Those damn Supreme Army bastards!¡¯</em>

    The Supreme Army King Bul¡¯ark had made it so they would not go crazy in this prison. Every repetition that they experienced would automatically heal their minds.

    By the 2,000th time, they had found a way to escape this prison. By the 5,000th time, they were left in frustration. By the 10,000th time, they had already returned to trying to find a way.

    They just kept on repeating this day over and <em>over</em> again. And now?

    <em>¡®Please. I want this to end. Just kill me!¡¯</em>

    They just wanted it to end. The pain of being ripped and torn apart every single day was just too much. s, no matter how much they begged, this day would just repeat over and over again.

    They had changed their strategy thousands of times, but they always ended up leaning toward one strategy in particr. In the beginning, they needed to save as many allies as possible. As for the allies charging forward, they continued to charge forward without any hesitation, even though they would just be swept away in the end.

    <em>¡®It seems we¡¯re holding out quite well this time.¡¯</em>

    Based on their tally, this was the 4,133rd time they have endured this well.

    When half of the prisoners had already died, the bastard<em></em>finally appeared.

    <em>[Repetition¡¯s Ogre]</em>

    The opponent was just an ogre, but inside Pandemonium, a simple ogre like this could be considered an apex predator. The moment it fell down, it immediately swept tens of thousands of prisoners off their feet. Even though they gave it their all, their weapons could not pierce through its steel-like skin. This has always been the same.

    ¡°Charge!¡±

    Bharal jumped off of the walls of the castle. He charged toward the Repetition¡¯s Ogre along with the other survivors. Bharal and his men had died 1.2 million times trying to stop this bastard.

    The moment the ogre¡¯s axended on the ground, the ground shook and twisted, forcing thousands to die. Whenever it released a roar, thousands more would faint with their ears bleeding non-stop.

    Bharal unleashed all of the attacks that he could use. Yes. Everything was just as always.

    <em>¡®Nothing changes no matter how many times we repeat this day.¡¯</em>

    Bharal poured everything that he had inside this horrendous prison. But just like always, the bastard¡¯s HP would still have a third of it left. On the other hand, Bharal, whose body was already bleeding all over, was already exhausted.

    ¡°Ahhhh. This will be the 1,330,001st repetition,¡± Bharal murmured as if it was already a done deal. Even the other surviving prisoners were just waiting for the next repetition.

    The ogre¡¯s axe mmed straight into Bharal¡¯s body.

    <em>BANG¨C!</em>

    Bharal, who was sent flying to the walls, twitched as his consciousness started to grow hazy. And just when the Repetition¡¯s Ogre was about to open its mouth and roar to kill the surviving prisoners¡­

    <em>Thump, thump, thump¨C</em>

    Someone came running toward them.

    ¡°...?¡±

    Bharal¡¯s eyes shed with confusion. The man running toward the prisoners was dressed in different and unfamiliar clothing.

    <em>¡®A fork and knife?¡¯</em>

    An unfamiliar pattern on the white cape fluttered behind the running man. And apletely different scenario unfolded in front of them for the first time in a million times.

    ¡°Overpower.¡±

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    The ogre¡¯s movements were immediately restricted. Then, two swords appeared and shed at its body more than sixty times in a second.

    ¡°Heavenly Sword.¡±

    Hundreds of swords fell from the sky and tore apart the immobile ogre.

    ¡°Absolute Defense. Annihtor¡¯s Sword.¡±

    With a sh, the sword in the man¡¯s hand cut through the body of the ogre and made it spurt blood all over the ce. This development waspletely different from the scenarios that had unfolded for them in the 1.33 million times they had repeated this day.

    The man stood before the Repetition¡¯s Ogre¡¯s wrecked body and said, ¡°Absolute Monarch.¡±

    <em>THUD¨C!</em>

    The ogre, starting to stand up, was forced to kneel again. The man raised his sword. Then, he swung it fiercely toward the Repetition¡¯s Ogre.

    <em>sh¨C!</em>

    For the first time, Bharal witnessed the copse of the Repetition¡¯s Ogre, which left him stunned.

    There were two reasons why he was left shocked. The first reason was that they could now move forward. As for the second one¡­

    <em>¡®Why does this man have my crown?¡¯</em>

    The Absolute Monarch was an ability attached to the Most Radiant Crown, a crown that once belonged to Bharal.

 Chapter 1144

    <strong>Chapter 1144</strong>

    The Battle God¡¯s Statue was a collection of a portion of the souls of all the Battle Gods to have ever existed. Although it contained all their thoughts and insights, it was still separate from the Battle Gods.

    Bharal had also gained a lot from the Battle God¡¯s Statue in the past. When Bharal handed his position over to the next generation of Battle God, the Battle God¡¯s Statue told him this¡­

    <em>[The achievements that you have made are greater than any of the other achievements that the other Battle Gods have left behind.]</em>

    Those who left would always leave something for their descendants. And, of course, the same was true for Bharal. Bharal had left a lot of things to the Battle God¡¯s Statue. And one of them was the Most Radiant Crown.

    With a sincere and earnest heart, he told the Battle God¡¯s Statue¡­

    ¨C<em>When you meet a Battle God who you think will surpass me, please give this to them.</em>

    Bharal knew that the Battle God¡¯s Statue was wise and noble. After all, it represented the thoughts, wisdom, and knowledge of all the Battle Gods that have ever existed.So, even if he was stuck on the wall and was suffering from the pain of his bones being broken and torn apart, he tried his best to endure and continue to open his eyes and see everything about the man that the statue had chosen.

    <em>[For the first time, you are moving on to the next stage.]</em>

    Bharal felt his blood boil. As for the other surviving prisoners, they were all staring at the man in the cape carrying the symbol of a fork and knife crossed together.

    What appeared immediately after that were the Repetition¡¯s Monsters, and there were even twice as many as before. Of course, they also heard what they needed to do.

    <em>[The Prison of Repetition will only end if you kill the Repetition¡¯s Monarch Akkaman.]</em>

    Bharal bit his lips tightly.

    There were twice as many Repetition¡¯s Monsters as before, three Repetition¡¯s Ogre and the Repeater Akkaman, who were just watching the situation on the battlefield.

    The man in the white cape skillfullymanded and led the prisoners, whom he had only met for the first time.

    <em>¡®Why?¡¯</em>

    Bharal just could not understand.

    <em>¡®Why the hell?¡¯</em>

    He kept repeating this question over and over again in his head. The Most Radiant Crown should only be worn by the greatest Battle God. But the man did not look like he was the greatest Battle God.

    <em>¡®Where is his power to summon hundreds of thousands of troops?¡¯</em>

    The Battle God¡¯s powers were inherited. Before they could inherit that power, they had to create and develop their ability to lead an army independently. There were a variety of abilities rted to leading an army.

    When they finally became the Battle God, the abilities that they had developed and the unique abilities that they had inherited from the previous Battle Gods wouldbine to create the true Battle God.

    <em>¡®He obviously has no power to summon an army.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®Hecks the absolute charisma and majesty that a Battle God possesses.¡¯</em>

    <em>¡®He¡¯s weak.¡¯</em>

    That was why he could not understand.

    In the end, the man could not hold out any longer and died after being hit by the monsters.

    Nothing changed. Everything started to repeat.

    ***

    <em>[You can only use three consumable items per repetition inside the Prison of Repetition.]</em>

    <em>[Upon repetition, your three consumables will appear once again.]</em>

    <em>[You have been forced to log out inside the Prison of Repetition.]</em>

    <em>[If you are forced to log out three times inside the Prison of Repetition, you will receive the basic forced logout penalty.]</em>

    <em>[As a yer, there are two ways for you to escape the Prison of Repetition.]</em>

    <em>[Either clear the Prison of Repetition or suffer from 1,000 repetitions.]</em>

    ¡°...¡±

    Minhyuk, who came here to save the prisoners, suddenly felt sad.

    <em>¡®I came here to rescue them, but I¡¯m suddenly imprisoned too?¡¯</em>

    Tears started to well up in his eyes. He never expected anyone who came in, regardless of whether they were judged to havemitted or notmitted a crime, would be imprisoned.

    And in Minhyuk¡¯s case, one of the ways for him to get out was to suffer from 1,000 repeated deaths. If he died 1,000 times here, then his level would drop by at least 40.

    <em>¡®And unlike other ces of repetition, time does not flow slowly here.¡¯</em>

    If he had to be locked up and suffer 1,000 deaths here, then at least a year would pass by in the outside world. If that happened, then there was a high chance that Minhyuk would have already been dragged down and left behind by the other yers.

    <em>[The repetition has begun.]</em>

    When Minhyuk, who had died after being crushed by the monsters, opened his eyes again, he was already standing on the walls.

    All the prisoners standing in the area looked at <em>him.</em> Bharal looked at them and gave them his orders: ¡°Enough. Let me talk to him.¡±

    Anyway, the same thing would happen over and over again. Nothing would change even if they did not give it their all today.

    Minhyuk bowed politely and said, ¡°Leo sent me here. Are you the Army Revolutionary Bharal?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. And I used to own the Most Radiant Crown you now possess.¡±

    ¡°...?!¡± Minhyuk¡¯s eyes grew wide. <em>¡®Is that the reason why he¡¯s called the Army Revolutionary?¡¯</em>

    Even so, Minhyuk did not bother to ask the reason why the greatest Battle God was in this ce. It was probably for the same reason as Leo, finding something unreachable and impossible and trying to make it happen. Only at this moment did Minhyuk understand why Gardin said that he would get closer and closer to the territory he wanted as long as he followed the revolution step by step.

    <em>¡®Perhaps Bharal is the master of that territory.¡¯</em>

    Since Bharal was a Battle God in the past, Minhyuk thought they might have no issues with their conversation.

    <em>[Your favor with Bharal has decreased.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk looked at Bharal in confusion.

    ¡°I just don¡¯t understand it. Why did the Battle God¡¯s Statue give you the Most Radiant Crown?¡±

    Minhyuk knew the value and burden one must carry when wearing the crown. Of course, Minhyuk was strong. But in a way, he was also weak, especially in the standards of Battle Gods.

    It wouldn¡¯t matter how strong Minhyuk became; the NPCs of Athenae would continue to grow alongside him. Even if Minhyuk had be stronger than before, there was no way that he could be on par with the current generation Battle God. So, in the eyes of Bharal, a Battle God who has left the most significant achievement, Minhyuk was nothing but a mere child.

    Even so, Bharal decided to err on the side of caution and asked him, ¡°Do you have the power to summon a million troops?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have one.¡±

    ¡°Can you summon and rally some of the gods?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible at the moment.¡±

    ¡°Then, do you have a Battle God¡¯s power that you created yourself?¡±

    ¡°No. I don¡¯t have one.¡±

    ¡°Then, are you saying that you only possess the power that all Battle Gods generally inherit?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    Bharal¡¯s expression grew ugly. He asked if the man had not shown his power on purpose. As it turned out, this man''s power was merely those powers that all Battle Gods would initially inherit.

    However, there was no reason for Bharal to be angry when such a person had be a Battle God. There was just one thing that he could not understand. Why did the Battle God¡¯s Statue give this man the Most Radiant Crown?

    ¡°So, why did the Battle God¡¯s Statue give you my crown?¡±

    Minhyuk did not bother to exin it to Bharal. He was fully aware of the reason.

    <em>¡®The only reason I could make such an achievement is because of the help of Rundalk and the Pir Candidates.¡¯</em>

    It was not entirely because of his power alone. If it weren¡¯t for them, Minhyuk would never be able to obtain the crown. Regardless, there was one thing that Minhyuk could say for sure.

    ¡°That does not mean that I did not do anything. I try harder than everybody else¡­¡±

    ¡°Things in this world can never be achieved by efforts alone.¡±

    This was the reality. Effort and hard work were something that Bharal found to be ridiculous.

    <em>¡®Who in the world does not do their best?¡¯</em>

    This was especially true for those who survived the fiercepetition to be the Battle God. They have made tremendous efforts to reach the position that they had been in. Everyone has worked hard. So, why was he trying to say that his efforts alone were special?

    Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°For whatever reason it is, as the person hailed as the greatest Battle God, you should never point fingers and criticize the life that someone else had lived. Even if you had judged that the lives that they have lived arecking, you should never carelessly make ament about it.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Bharal faltered for a moment because of Minhyuk¡¯s momentum.

    <em>¡®He has pretty good momentum.¡¯</em>

    Bharal was the greatest Battle God. The fact that this man could release this kind of momentum and force toward someone like him could already be considered amazing.

    Just as the man had implied, Bharal had truly made a mistake. Dying more than 1.33 million times had frayed his nerves and put him on edge. The appearance of someone new had raised his expectations and made him think,<em> ¡®Maybe this time!¡¯</em>

    s, witnessing the man being ripped apart so quickly left Bharal frustrated and angry.

    ¡°That¡­¡±

    Bharal was the type of person who could admit his own mistakes, so he tried to do so.

    ¡°That¡¯s enough of that. I admit, no. I don¡¯t like to say that either. Why do I have to meet the qualifications you¡¯re saying?¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s tone and gaze had already grown cold.

    ¡°At the very least, I will show you why I¡¯m here and the path I have seen.¡± Minhyuk looked at Bharal and said, ¡°I¡¯ll get all of you out of here.¡±

    Bharal no longer said, <em>¡®Someone like you?¡¯</em> or denied the man¡¯s qualifications. He did not want to make any more mistakes.

    ¡°So, what would you do for me in exchange?¡± Minhyuk went straight to the point.

    Things had now changed. This was now a transaction. Bharal looked at Minhyuk as if asking him to rify what he meant and wanted.

    Minhyuk said, ¡°I need a territory. A vast territory that can allow my people to rest in peace and farm whatever seeds they sow. I also want a ce where my people will be protected regardless of the threat.¡±

    At first nce, the territory seemed to only exist in fantasy. It was probably impossible for such a territory to exist in this world.

    A territory with varying seasons and optimal temperatures for growing seeds well could attract not only people but also monsters. That was why it was important to station soldiers in that territory to protect the people from any threat.

    But Minhyuk wanted a territory that could protect his people. Even though Minhyuk said it himself, he knew the territory he was talking about was beyondmon sense.

    ¡°There is a territory like that.¡±

    ¡°...?!¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s eyes grew wide.

    ¡°To be exact, you can create a territory like that.¡±

    This was far more surprising than what was said earlier. ¡°There is¡± and ¡°can create¡± meant two entirely different things.

    ¡°It¡¯s a power that can make any barrennd fertile. It can also protect the people living within it from any danger.¡±

    ¡°What kind of power? A force that stops the monsters from approaching?¡±

    Was it like the power that Aemira used on the Beyond the Heavens Empire? The power that deflected the disasters and catastrophesing their way?

    ¡°No. That kind of power can only stop monsters at best.¡±

    Bharal was called the greatest Battle God. However, he also carried the name Explosion Monarch.

    ¡°The moment the territory senses that its people are in danger, weapons hidden in the territory will appear and bombard the enemy.¡±

    Minhyuk¡¯s breath hitched. <em>¡®This is crazy¡­¡¯</em>

    When hidden assassins suddenly appeared in the territory and attacked someone, they could only detect it after someone had died. People weren¡¯t perfect; they could not stop anything they had no idea about. But with that power, it could prevent something like a surprise attack from happening.

    <em>¡®This power is cheat-like. It can be instrumental in war.¡¯</em>

    Bharal said, ¡°If you can get me and the other prisoners out of this ce, I will give you a portion of the power to help you create such a territory.¡±

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[</em><strong><em>ss Quest</em></strong><em>: The Greatest Monarch.]</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: ss</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: Those who received Bharal¡¯s offer.</em>

    <strong><em>Rewards</em></strong><em>: Territory Reinforcement Stage 1</em>

    <strong><em>Penalty for Failure</em></strong><em>: Bharal¡¯s favor will drop.</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: Bharal wants to get out of this horrendous and sickening prison. Rescue him.</em>

    ¡°Stage 1 gives you the power to turn any barrennd into fertilend.¡±

    It was just Stage 1. Nheless, its power alone was enough for Minhyuk and his empire to acquire many abandoned territories under the banner of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

    It did not take too long for the prisoners to die under the hands of the Repetition¡¯s Monsters. Right now, the only ones left were Minhyuk and Bharal.

    ¡°Everything will be repeated here. Continuously and without stopping.¡±

    Dying at this point would not make any difference.

    ¡°I will hand over themand to you in the next repetition.¡±

    Bharal had made a cold and objective analysis. He thought, <em>¡®If only he had inherited all of the Battle God¡¯s powers, then¡­¡¯</em>

    Then they would probably be able to get through this.

    The walls slowly fell. The debris falling from the destroyed walls crushed Bharal¡¯s body. And Minhyuk? He was ripped and torn apart by the monsters. However, it seemed like the young man was pondering over something as he got mauled and bitten by the terrifying ws and teeth of the monsters.

    Bharal thought, <em>¡®There¡¯s just one more person.¡¯</em>

    Either way, nothing much would change from their situation.

    <em>[The repetition has begun.]</em>

    When Bharal opened his eyes after the notification rang in his ears, he realized that something had changed. The man named Minhyuk looked at him and said, ¡°Including you, gather ten of your most outstanding men.¡±

    The changes did not end there. Something else began to change.

    Minhyuk took something out from his pockets and tore it apart. Then, he mumbled, ¡°Summon Meteor using Magic Scroll.¡±

    A meteor three timesrger than the usual meteor that an ordinary mage could summon appeared in the sky above them. It shot straight toward the hundreds of thousands of Repetition¡¯s Monsters charging at them.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    ¡°The Famished One¡¯s Cooking.¡±

    An irresistible smell wafted all over the castle walls for the first time.

    ¡°Everyone¡¯s Happiness.¡±

    A dish appeared in front of the ten most outstanding prisoners.

    Everything happened in an instant. Shockingly enough, it was not some tiny change that happened. It was a very huge and significant change.

    When Bharal looked at Minhyuk, Minhyuk said, ¡°Have you ever heard about this saying?¡±

    Initially, Bharal wondered what a single person could do to change their desperate and helpless situation.

    Then, Minhyuk said, ¡°The p of a butterfly¡¯s wings can change the world.¡±

    The situation that had been repeated 1.33 million times was changing, and they were witnessing significant changes along the way.

 Chapter 1145

    <strong>Chapter 1145</strong>

    Minhyuk understood the advantages and disadvantages between yers and NPC more clearly than anybody else.

    The greatest Battle God, Bharal, had asked him earlier if he possessed a self-created ability and not inherited from the Battle God. Why did he ask him this question? Because, in the first ce, the NPCs lived in this world. In their eyes, strength and power came with training and creating a more outstanding power than anybody else¡¯s.

    Since NPCs lived here and held swords since they were young, they were far superior to yers in terms of proficiency in the sword. Compared to them, the yers were highlycking. They couldn¡¯t even create something exclusive to them. yers had apletely different mindset from the NPCs regarding fighting and battles.

    Of course, the yers also had a weapon that helped them match the NPCs'' strengths, skills, and proficiency. They had quests, rewards, events, and a leveling-up system.

    <em>¡®On top of that, there¡¯s ss.¡¯</em>

    The yers had a moreprehensive range when choosing their sses and had a significant advantagepared to the NPCs.

    <em>¡®Dual-ss.¡¯</em>NPCs basically could not have two sses at the same time. And even if they could, they would not be able to activate the skills of both sses. As for yers, not only could they obtain two sses, but they could also use the skills attached to these two sses simultaneously. Of course, the difficulty level in the growth of a dual-ss yer could be considered extreme. However, Minhyuk was ahead of anybody else.

    In other words, Bharal had judged Minhyuk only after seeing one aspect of him.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    Dozens of gigantic meteors fell from the sky and swept through dozens of Repetition¡¯s Monsters. When Bharal saw this, he wondered if Minhyuk was a Great Mage. This was because the force of his magic was stronger than any of the mages he had ever encountered.

    Well, that was only natural. This was because Minhyuk used Helenia¡¯s Magic Scroll. And any of her magic scrolls could be activated without consuming any MP. The only restriction was the level that could be used was supposed to correspond to one¡¯s ss.

    Bharal shook his head. <em>¡®He¡¯s not a mage.¡¯</em>

    Nevertheless, most of the monsters that had killed nearly half of the prisoners in the first stage in the previous repetitions were either dead or unable to fight. Meanwhile, the man was in his own space, moving ten times faster than usual.

    ¡°The Famished One¡¯s Cooking.¡±

    Then, a white pir fell from the sky and struck the dish. Only then did Bharal realize how wrong he had been in his judgment. He realized he should not have mocked andughed at this man for not having a Battle God¡¯s power of his creation.

    Right now, he was showing them that he was a chef. As for the dish that appeared in front of the ten gathered men? It was none other than ramen.

    The ten most outstanding prisoners were shocked to see the dish floating before them.

    <em>¡®He could make a God-grade dish in that short time?¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk looked at the dish and said, ¡°The p of a butterfly¡¯s wings can change the world.¡±

    Significant changes were happening in their situation, repeating in the same direction.

    The ten most outstanding prisoners looked down at the ramen in shock and awe.

    <em>Gulp¨C</em>

    This was the first time the prisoners had seen food on this bloody battlefield in at least a hundred years.

    ¡°Go on. Please, have some.¡±

    Minhyuk did not intend to prolong this repetition. If Minhyuk failed this time, he would suffer from a logout penalty.

    One of them went straight for the noodles. The chewy texture of the noodles made the man exim in awe and admiration. Seeing this, the others hurriedly lifted the bowl and drank the milky-white soup.

    The soup''s rich, savory, and deep vor made them all exhale roughly, while the soft char siu and the soft-boiled egg left them shaking from the thrill of such a delightful dish. But the thrill did not end there.

    <em>[You have eaten a Ramen.]</em>

    <em>[The dish is God-grade.]</em>

    <em>[All of your stats have increased by 27%.]</em>

    <em>[Your physical and magical attack power have increased by 21%.]</em>

    <em>[Your physical and magical defensive power have increased by 15%.]</em>

    <em>[Your HP and MP volume have increased by 15%.]</em>

    <em>[You can increase the level of a selected skill by +2.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained the courage to never back down in the face of any fear or terror.]</em>

    It was a very shocking dish, and it was made in just five minutes or so.

    Not long after, Minhyuk, standing by the walls, caught sight of the Repetition¡¯s Monsters charging out once again.

    <em>[Repetition¡¯s Monster. Level 646.]</em>

    The average level of the countless Repetition¡¯s Monsters was around Level 600. The fact that this was their average level meant that there were many pretty high-level ones among them.

    ¡°Hundreds of thousands of monsters died in just that one attack.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s crazy.¡±

    The prisoners felt like the situation in front of them was very unreal. This was because the monsters that tormented and left them with tremendous casualties during the first stage had been swept away with just one single attack.

    <em>[The second attack will now begin.]</em>

    <em>[You have achieved a 19% Release Rate.]</em>

    When Minhyuk saw this, he immediately realized they could only break out of this repetition by obtaining a 100% Release Rate.

    ¡°This time, it will be different! Everyone, charge!!!¡±

    The prisoners followed Minhyuk''s orders, who had taken over all of themand, and charged forward.

    After giving his orders, Minhyuk hurriedly looked behind him and asked, ¡°How much Release Rate did you achieve before?¡±

    ¡°Around 47%.¡±

    Minhyuk nodded. He realized that the appearance of the Repetition¡¯s Ogre was only the halfway point. On top of that, he truly understood that they were at an extreme difficulty level. After all, they could only reach more than 40% of the required rate even after more than a million tries.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Minhyuk ran at the vanguard.

    Battle God Bharal has relinquished his throne and position as the Battle God. Because of that, he could no longer use most of the Battle God¡¯s summoning skill. But that was not the case for Minhyuk. Not only that, but he also had many items to use and summon.

    Using the other prisoners as a springboard, Minhyuk leaped forward with Puppet Viel, the Ego Chain Sickles, and Beanie appearing around him. Puppet Viel ran at a high speed and cut through the enemies swiftly and easily. Every time the Ego Chain Sickle, an item that could never be truly broken down, swung around, countless monsters would die.

    <em>¡®What the hell is that puppet?¡¯ </em>Bharal was in awe.

    That puppet was supposed to be nothing but a summons, yet it was stronger than some of the other gods. The damage that the indestructible Ego Chain Sickle could deal was beyond imagination.

    ¡°Oiiiiiiiink!¡± With his cute and bulging belly, the baby pig stabbed a monster in the eye with his paws and cut a shrieking monster that passed right after.

    ¡°You must never use your powers!¡± This was the order that Minhyuk had given to the ten prisoners.

    These ten people would have already used most of their powers if this were the same. However, to exceed 50% of the release rate, they had to save as much power and strength as possible.

    The word ¡°Explosion¡± appeared on the de of Minhyuk¡¯s sword. With every swing of his sword, light would sh, and the monsters would be swept away.

    However, the most remarkable change could be seen in the ten most outstanding prisoners. They used to exhaust their powers to fight against the onught of monsters. Now that they had be 1.5x stronger, they could reduce the same number of the Repetition¡¯s Monsters even without using their skills.

    Then, the Repetition¡¯s Ogre finally appeared. Before, only 30% of the prisoners would be alive by the time the Repetition¡¯s Ogre appeared. But now? Almost 90% of them were still alive.

    The ten prisoners, Bharal, Minhyuk, Beanie, Puppet Viel, and the Ego Chain Sickle, coborated to kill the Repetition¡¯s Ogre easily.

    ¡°From this point on, it¡¯s the real deal.¡±

    <em>[The third attack will now begin.]</em>

    <em>[You have achieved a 50.1% Release Rate.]</em>

    The number of Repetition¡¯s Monsters that appeared had doubled once again. As for the Repetition¡¯s Ogre? Five had appeared all at once. This was the third attack, an unfamiliar ground inside thisnd where everything repeated itself. And even themander leading them was unfamiliar.

    ¡°We will focus on hunting the Repetition¡¯s Ogres!¡±

    <em>[Repetition¡¯s Ogre. Level 844.]</em>

    The Repetition¡¯s Ogre was by no means a low-level monster. However, it was rtively easy to deal with. The only reason Bharal struggled with one was that he had already exhausted most of his strength before fighting it. But now, Bharal and the other most outstanding men among the prisoners have not yet used their skills.

    ¡°Immortal Knight Order.¡±

    Around twenty soldiers, equipped with shabby helmets and weapons, were summoned. When Bharal saw these soldiers appear, he could not help but remember his knight order from the past.

    When Bharal used his summoning skills in the past, beings that were at the demigod or god level would appear by his side. But the beings that Minhyuk had summoned appeared to be nothing but ordinary soldiers at best.

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    <em>Boom, boom, boom¨C!</em>

    Yet they were able to sweep away everything around them quickly.

    Even though they looked like ordinary soldiers, they could easily cut off the monsters with just a swing of their des. But that was not all. They formed teams of four and immediately went on to hunt and cut down the ogres non-stop.

    <em>Beeeeeeep¨C!</em>

    Bharal saw Minhyuk pull out a frying pan and whistle loudly. This act drew the aggro of all the monsters in the vicinity toward him, but the young man stopped them from charging at him.

    And with the ten people activating their skills, they were not pushed back by the Repetition¡¯s Ogres and the more than double monsters. Of course, they had also suffered heavy damages and casualties. Only 40% of their allies survived. Nevertheless, the notification that rang in his ears delighted Bharal.

    <em>[You have achieved an 89% Release Rate.]</em>

    After clearing the third attack, Bharal finally saw a ray of hope¡ªhope that they could finally step foot on the ground outside without being constrained by thisnd, hope that they could sessfully carry out their revolution, finally correct it, and bring peace to Pandemonium¡¯s Country. But that hope was once again made hazy.

    ¡°A lot of people say that being stuck inside the Prison of Repetition is the most terrible torture.¡±

    A man they had never seen in a million years had appeared before them. The man was sporting a very grotesque figure. He had the face of a human but the body of a giant ogre. He also held a sword and an axe.

    ¡°This is because they will see hope after the constant repetitions. But when that hope approaches, they will be dragged into another cycle of repetition and forced into the abyss of despair.¡±

    <em>[Repetition King Akkaman has appeared!]</em>

    <em>[The Repetition King¡¯s first authority has been triggered.]</em>

    <em>[Repeating Attack.]</em>

    <em>[The most outstanding power used in this repetition will appear and attack you.]</em>

    <em>[You cannot defend against the attacksing your way.]</em>

    Bharal was left horrified by the notifications that rang in his ears.

    After all, the most outstanding power they used in this repetition will be triggered. The power that helped them became a sharp de threatening their lives.

    Bharal immediately recalled the powers that he used. His strongest attack was a one-shot kill skill to deal with a Repetition¡¯s Ogre.

    <em>Tidididik¨C!</em>

    Bharal was hailed as the Explosion Monarch. And right now, a colossal cannon has surfaced from the ground. This cannon, which had dealt 25,000% damage to his enemies and knocked them all at once, was now aiming at him.

    <em>Boom¨C!</em>

    ¡°Keuhaaaaaaack!¡±

    The worst part was that it could not only deal with 25,000% damage but also leave one¡¯s body shaking from the impact and inflict a five-second stunned state on the opponent.

    Bharal, whose entire body was almost wrecked, looked around. Every person present had been attacked by the strongest attack they had used in this repetition. Nearly 40% of the surviving prisoners had died.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    Minhyuk was suffering from Crazy''s attacks. Fortunately, there was only one attack.

    <em>¡®Kghhk. Doesn¡¯t this hurt too much?¡¯</em>

    Despite being a passive skill, the damage inflicted upon Minhyuk was still too much.

    At this moment, the people, who had been left in a daze after being attacked by their skill, understood what was happening.

    <em>[Repetition King Akkaman has been given extraordinary power by the God of Pandemonium.]</em>

    <em>[Inside this prison, he will be an absolute being transcending any existence.]</em>

    <em>[Repetition King Akkaman. Level 1,031.]</em>

    Their opponent¡¯s level was high. But considering the strong beings Minhyuk had met and fought before, he thought it wasn¡¯t <em>that </em>high.

    <em>¡®The biggest problem here is that we don¡¯t know what kind of power or effects his Repetition Authority can bring.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk was in a very tense mood. And the same was true for Bharal. After all, only 10% of the prisoners had survived. And of the remaining 6,000 people, almost 70% of them were left with severe injuries.

    Then, another horrifying notification rang in their ears.

    <em>[The Repetition King¡¯s second authority has been triggered.]</em>

    <em>[Repeated Hits.]</em>

    <em>[Your weapon will swing as often as you have swung it in your life and attack an invisible wall.]</em>

    <em>[The weapon swung repeatedly will only be restored to its original appearance once you enter another repetition.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk was puzzled. <em>¡®What?¡¯</em>

    And it was only after this repetition was over that another repetition began, too? Only when all of the weapons he and the prisoners held floated in the air and moved by themselves did Minhyuk truly understand what those words meant.

    The weapons immediately struck an invisible wall. Out of their control, the scene seemed to be yed in fast-forward, with the speed raised by tens of thousands of times.

    <em>ng, ng, ng¨C!</em>

    <em>Bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    ¡°This is crazy¡­!¡±

    One of the prisoner¡¯s swords only left an afterimage as it swung at the invisible wall. Then, cracks started to appear on the de of the sword.

    Yes, all weapons have durability. If wielded against nothing but air, the durability would not take a hit. But when hitting something, the durability would decrease. The most significant damage to durability was when the weapons were used against hard and sturdy things like walls or iron. This was the boon of all weapons.

    And right now, their weapons were being forced to swing at an invisible wall as many times as they have ever swung their sword. In just three seconds, weapons had been swung more than 100,000 times. This immediately resulted in cracks all over the weapons¡¯ des.

    <em>tter¨C!</em>

    <em>ng, ng¨C!</em>

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¨C!</em>

    Finally, their swords and staves were split in two, the strings of their bows snapped, and even the tips of their spears grew blunt.

    Bharal was left stunned. <em>¡®Are you telling us to fight without weapons? And against that monster, too?¡¯</em>

    When Repetition King Akkaman saw the stunned look on Bharal¡¯s face, he could not help but grin. He said, ¡°On average, the weapons will swing 60,000 times in 1 second. In 2 seconds, they will swing 130,000 times. And in 3 seconds, they will swing 180,000 times.¡±

    No weapon durability could withstand that many swings against a hard wall.

    ¡°And the number of swings will include the number of times you have swung your sword outside this prison.¡±

    A vicious smile appeared on Akkaman¡¯s face when he saw that the weapons had now been broken.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    Strangely, it seemed like a weapon was still hitting the invisible wall. Shocked, Akkaman turned his head in the direction of the sound.

    The only one whose weapon was not yet broken was Minhyuk. The number of times his sword was swinging was equivalent to how much he had swung his sword in his entire stay in this game. And Minhyuk? His sword was still swinging even though five seconds had already passed.

    On average, the weapon would stop swinging by the 200,000th swing. But if the sword was still swinging at five seconds, then¡­

    <em>¡®He swung his sword 350,000 times?!¡¯</em>

    ¡­that meant that the young man had swung his sword 350,000 times his entire life. No. The swinging was, in fact, not yet over.

    Six seconds.

    <em>¡®430,000 times?!¡¯</em>

    Seven seconds.

    <em>¡®500,000 times?!¡¯</em>

    Eight seconds.

    <em>¡®580,000 times?!¡¯</em>

    Nine seconds.

    <em>¡®650,000 times?!¡¯</em>

    It was already shocking for an ordinary human being to swing their sword 200,000 times in their entire lifetime. Yet this man was able to surpass that. And what was more shocking was that Minhyuk¡¯s sword remained intact.

    In just ten seconds¡­

    <em>¡®A million times¡­?¡¯</em>

    This proved that Minhyuk had swung his sword five times more than the average person.

    Akkaman unknowingly stared at Minhyuk¡¯s hands. That hand gripped tightly into a fist would have been torn repeatedly until they formed calluses.

    Akkaman stared at Minhyuk in even greater shock when he realized that his sword was still swinging even after ten seconds had passed.

    Then, Minhyuk stared at Akkaman and said, ¡°Mine isn¡¯t breaking though?¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    Goosebumps rose all over the skin of everyone present.

 Chapter 1146

    <strong>Chapter 1146</strong>

    No matter how hard Bharal tried to tamp down the goosebumps rising all over his body, he couldn¡¯t. All he could do was stare at Minhyuk.

    When he and Minhyuk first talked, the young man tried to tell him that he had worked harder and tried his best more than anybody else. Bharal had disregarded his words. He let it pass his ears while thinking, <em>¡®Who in the world did not do their best?¡¯</em> After all, everyone would always try to move toward their goals.

    Back then, he had told Minhyuk these words:

    ¨C<em>Things in this world can never be achieved by efforts alone.</em>

    Only then did he realize that this young man was a foreigner. Compared to the guardians, the foreigners had only lived in Athenae for a much shorter period.

    Yet the number of times that Minhyuk had swung his sword was already five times more than the number that they had swung their swords. He had made more than five times the effort of those who think they had already made a name for themselves.

    What was more surprising was the sword that he owned. There wasn¡¯t even a single scratch on it, even though it had swung a million times against the invisible wall. That was when Bharal recalled the times he had shared with his dear friend Leo.

    ***

    The blind Leo was a very unusual person.

    His abilities to analyze artifacts were lower than those of the cksmiths, who were hailed as the greatest of their time. He was also not very good at making various artifacts.

    In fact, except for the sword and armor, the only two types of artifacts that Leo was good at making, his ability to create others declined. Regardless, there was something extraordinary about him. He could hammer nearly a hundred times when making a single swordpared to other cksmiths.

    Bharal could not understand him at all.

    ¡°Why do you hammer it for such a long time?¡±

    The blind Leo chuckled lowly. ¡°Do you think that only a real cksmith is the one who makes the most artifacts with the least amount of effort?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    Leo hummed in acknowledgment, then said, ¡°Hammering the sword like this will make it sharper, sturdier, and firmer.¡±

    Everyone knew this fact. However, not all cksmiths did not use this method. Hammering beyond what was written in the existing production method was just too inefficient. They would only hammer a sword five hundred times at most. Besides, removing the remaining impurities in a sword that has already been hammered to some extent would be very difficult. Even if they hammered it past the rmended times, making it sturdier and sharper would be difficult.

    ¡°I know it. I know it all. I know relying on luck to make the greatest sword wouldn''t be bad. After all, that¡¯s what the gods of the past had done.¡±

    If he made dozens of artifacts, he would one day be lucky and create an excellent artifact.

    Leo shook his head, ¡°Even if it just makes it 1% better, I will continue to work harder and harder and hammer on this sword¡­¡±

    ¡°Things in this world can never be achieved by efforts alone.¡±

    Bharal was just a busybody, especially after seeing his friend work many times harder than others to create a slightly better sword.

    Even so, Leo just smiled faintly. ¡°All I¡¯m good at is making swords and armor.¡±

    Leo, who needed ten days toplete a sword when an ordinary cksmith only required one day, held the finished sword in one hand and said, ¡°Starting tomorrow, I will create a sword with all of my heart, soul, and effort. I don¡¯t know when I¡¯llplete it, but I will make it.¡±

    ¡°Why the hell are you so obsessed with a single sword?!¡±

    ¡°Because the only thing I am good at is making a sword.¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°And because what I do best is to give it my all and work my hardest.¡±

    Bharal could not stand the smile on his friend¡¯s face. He walked out of the smithy and was unable to see him for a very long time. This was because Leo locked himself inside the smithy for years. Bharal felt betrayed. On the other hand, he also missed his friend dearly. He thought that he was nothing but an idiot. A fool!

    When the doors to the smithy finally opened, a sword emitting a bright light that lit the entire world appeared. He stared at his friend, whose whole body had turned into skin and bones while his palms turned bloody and torn from the constant and repeated hammering, holding onto the sword that made his sword lose power. Bharal had never seen such a beautiful and powerful sword in the world.

    And with the birth of this sword, Leo was finally able to make other weapons as well. At that moment, Bharal realized it was not as if Leo could not make other weapons. Only after reaching the <em>greatest</em> level in a weapon could he abandon his lingering desires for it. Leo was a rare genius willing to work hard and give it his all.

    At that moment, Bharal asked, ¡°Can this sword, which has been hammered tens of thousands of times more than an average sword, still be broken?¡±

    Leo nodded. ¡°If someone swings as much as I hammered this sword, it will. But when that happens¡­¡±

    Bharal, who was in awe, heard Leo say this toward the end, ¡°That man will be the true master of the Greatest Sword.¡±

    ***

    Rough breathings echoed in the open space. Everyone with their weapons broken down and lying on the ground was staring firmly at <em>his</em> sword.

    When they first met this man a few hours ago, Army Revolutionary Bharal did not acknowledge him as the Battle God. In fact, he ignored him and treated him indifferently.

    And the most significant thing that bothered them was that this man wasmanding them.

    Now, he had already proven himself. He had swung his sword more than five times the amount that an ordinary person could swing in their lifetimes. He had proven himself with his strong conviction and his sword that had never broken down, even after being swung a million times.

    They knew that he was trying to leave thisnd, and what they needed to do now was simple.

    The flustered Akkaman snapped his fingers, and everything repeated itself. Time went back in this repetition, and the ogres appeared again.

    The prisoners immediately charged toward the ogres. Someone grabbed the ogres¡¯ arms, someone grabbed the necks, and someone grabbed the legs. The ogres smashed their heads with their fists, kicked those holding onto their legs, and tore apart those holding onto their torsos.

    They only had one sword among them. Nheless, this sword¡­

    <em>¡®Is the sword that has been swung the most.¡¯</em>

    This sword¡­

    <em>¡®Is the sword knocked against a hard wall the most.¡¯</em>

    This sword¡­

    <em>¡®Is the only one that did not break.¡¯</em>

    Even so, they continued to run because this sword belonged to a man with conviction, hard work, and passion. And because this sword was the only weapon that they had.

    ¡°GET LOST!!!¡±

    Hundreds of cannons appeared around Bharal and began to fire at the ogres.

    But then, the man holding their only weapon was stopped by another Repetition¡¯s Ogre.

    Bharal ran. He might have been the greatest Battle God in existence, but he was willing to sacrifice for the man and the strongest, greatest, and sharpest sword in his hands.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    Bharal¡¯s bare fists smashed the face of the Repetition¡¯s Ogre.

    The only <em>sword</em> among them looked at them before running forward. Behind him, the screams of the prisoners, whose bodies were torn apart, rang loudly. But they weren¡¯t screams of pain; they were screams of hope.

    Hearing the hope in their voices, the man gripped the handle of the unbroken sword tightly. With one swing of the sword, mes shot out and devoured half of the more than 100,000 monsters that had appeared around Akkaman.

    Every swing of the greatest and strongest sword would tear apart and sweep away the monsters blocking his path.

    <em>Bang¨C!</em>

    A gigantic monster blocked his path and swung its club firmly against his sword. But the sword did not shake or waver. The man swung his sword swiftly.

    ¡°Heavenly Sword.¡±

    ¡°Intangible Sword.¡±

    ¡°Annihtor¡¯s Sword.¡±

    He eradicated all of the enemies that Akkaman had summoned. The man looked fearless. It was as if he could take on the world.

    Akkaman charged toward the man with a sword and an axe in one hand. Akkaman¡¯s axe swung down on him.

    <em>Swoosh¨C</em>

    <em>[Repeated Axe.]</em>

    <em>[The Repeated Axe will swing 56 times per second.]</em>

    The axe hit the sword fifty-six times in session. Yet the sword remained steadfast.

    The man swung the greatest sword and immediately ripped Akkaman dozens of times.

    <em>sh, sh, sh¨C!</em>

    Akkaman¡¯s blood spurted out like a fountain. When the prisoners saw the blood, they all felt delighted. Even though they were dying, they still rejoiced as they turned to look at their only weapon.

    <em>Bang¨C Bang, bang¨C Bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    The man murmured, <em>¡®Like the Wind¡¯</em> as he started another fierce battle with Akkaman. Even if every swing of Akkaman¡¯s sword ignored his defenses and cut through his body, the man continued to fight. He staggered on his feet, but he did not copse, nor did he run away.

    ¡°Frenzied de.¡±

    Even though the man was far from Akkaman, his sword could still deal a huge blow.

    <em>Stab, stab, stab¨C</em>

    Using Like the Wind again, the man appeared in front of Akkaman. Then, he swung and <em>swung</em> his sword like crazy.

    Of course, the same was true for Akkaman. The moment his sword could repeat a single attack countless times collided with the man¡¯s armor¡­

    <em>Bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    A total of 120 attacksnded on him. The man reeled from the attacks, but he remained firm. His will was tall and unyielding. No matter what happened, he would never break or back down.

    The man gazed sharply at Akkaman. His calloused hands that had wielded the sword a million times gripped his sword tightly. And using all his might, he shed at Akkaman horizontally.

    <em>Shwaaaaaa¨C</em>

    Covered in blood, the man murmured, ¡°Transcendence.¡±

    At that moment, man became the strongest man in the world.

    With two swords spitting out ck energy, the man shed and stabbed Akkaman while defending against his sword and axe. Akkaman was going to fall soon. His HP was slowly falling to the ground.

    <em>¡®Just a bit more. Just a bit more!¡¯</em>

    ¡°UWAAAAAAAH!¡±

    His roar seemed to echo the road that he had walked so far.

    They left each other in a wreck as they swung their weapons crazily. At this point, the man thought things were finally about to end. But then, a force surged out of Akkaman¡¯s axe.

    <em>[Repeated Weapon Destruction.]</em>

    <em>[His axe will hit your weapon 500 times in quick session.]</em>

    Five hundred attacks hit the strongest and toughest sword in the hands of the man in a second.

    <em>Bang, bang, bang¨C!</em>

    ¡°Keuaaaaaaaack¡­!¡±

    The man shrieked from the pain that almost tore through his hands. Nevertheless, his grip remained firm. Even if blood dripped from his hands, he held on tightly and endured the 500 attacks. His strong will, which allowed him to hold on tight to the greatest sword, was proof of the difficult path that he had and continued to traverse.

    <em>ng¨C!</em>

    Everything stopped at the unbelievable sound that rang in the open space.

    The man looked in surprise at his sword, which was cut in half. Everyone was in disbelief. They could not understand what was happening in front of them. But there was one person among them who understood it all. This person felt his heart start to thump like crazy.

    The man looked at the sword in his hand in silence. Did he realize that everything around him had been frozen on their spot? Did he realize that one person among them knew what happened? Did he realize that this man might know why his sword broke?

    Regardless, it did not matter. He stared at his broken sword and continued to charge toward Akkaman, who wasughing maniacally. And using his broken sword, he stabbed Akkaman in the abdomen with all his might.

    ¡°OOOOOOOOOH!!!¡±

    At that moment, everyone felt their blood boil once again. His sword might have broken, but the man¡¯s will remained firm. Even with only a broken sword, he continued to swing and sh at Akkaman.

    s, his attacks were not strong or sharp enough to kill Akkaman. Akkamanughed at the man as he released a tremendous force from his body. This force made his muscles bulge, increasing his attack power by 1.6 times. But that was not all. It also doubled his defensive power.

    With that, the man¡¯s broken sword could no longer cut Akkaman. Akkaman used this opportunity to swing his weapons and push the man back.

    The man was already nearing his end. He should give up now. But even though he could just back down now, the man held the hilt of his sword tighter. Then, an unknown notification rang in his ears.

    There was someone among them who knew why the sword broke. And that someone was now shedding tears as he listened to the notifications that resonated all over the battlefield.

    <em>[Someone said that they swung their sword ten times.]</em>

    <em>[They wanted everyone to know.]</em>

    <em>[Another day, someone swung their sword a hundred times.]</em>

    <em>[They said that they had worked hard.]</em>

    <em>[Someone¡­]</em>

    <em>[Someone¡­]</em>

    <em>[Someone¡­]</em>

    <em>[Someone¡­]</em>

    <em>[Yet that someone did not say anything.]</em>

    <em>[It was obvious why he did not say anything.]</em>

    <em>[It was because he did not think it was something to brag about.]</em>

    <em>[It was only natural.]</em>

    <em>[When someone swung a sword a hundred times, he swung it a thousand times.]</em>

    <em>[When someone swung a sword a thousand times, he swung it ten thousand times.]</em>

    <em>[When¡­ he¡­]</em>

    <em>[When¡­ he¡­]</em>

    <em>[When¡­ he¡­]</em>

    <em>[He swung his sword a million times.]</em>

    <em>[For the first time, the sword that has been hammered a million times has met a man who swung it a million times.]</em>

    <em>[And now, the true form of the greatest sword shows itself to the world.]</em>

    ¡°<em>Sob, sob, sob¡­</em>¡±

    Tears flowed down Bharal¡¯s face.

    He had ignored his friend. But he did not stop there. He also ignored the next-generation Battle God. But now? He witnessed the true form of the greatest sword his friend had told him about before in the hands of the next generation Battle God.

    His friend had once told him¡­

    ¨C<em>Once this sword is swung a million times, it will break.</em>

    <em>¨COnly then will the true Sword of Aeon be born to the world.</em>

    The Sword of Aeon was named so because it was made with infinite, limitless, never-ending effort and time.

    The man stared at his sword through the gaps of his bloody hair and grabbed it tightly. Then, he exhaled deeply as he slowly lowered his stance.

    ¡°Hoooooo.¡±

    Their only weapon, Minhyuk, recalled the words of a young boy.

    ¡°One second.¡±

    His voice calmed everyone down.

    ¡°That¡¯s the time that I need to bring you to the depths of despair.¡±

 Chapter 1147

    <strong>Chapter 1147</strong>

    Minhyuk was flustered and dumbfounded when the Sword of Aeon suddenly broke in two. Nevertheless, he continued to swing his broken sword and fight against Akkaman.

    With the sword being broken, its effects had fallen by half, and its de could no longer exert much power. The sword was now left in a state where it could not stab even if used to stab.

    When a notification that sounded different from the usual one that resonated in the world rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears, he felt as if his reason was again awakened.

    <em>[The broken Sword of Aeon resonates strongly with you.]</em>

    <em>[Starting from your hands, the sword¡¯s cries spread throughout your body.]</em>

    <em>[The broken Sword of Aeon speaks to you.]</em>

    <em>[He¡¯s different.]</em><em>[Unlike someone who wants everyone to know, he remains silent whenever he swings his sword non-stop.]</em>

    <em>[He does not know the limit.]</em>

    <em>[Compared to others, he fought bravely and went against the limitations and restrictions of a human body and continued to move forward.]</em>

    <em>[He does not know how to give up.]</em>

    <em>[Even though he would feel a lot morefortable and rxed if he chose to give up, he never did. He never harbored weak thoughts about someone doing it for him if he could no longer do it. He continued to toil hard despite the heat and the sweat dripping down his brows.]</em>

    <em>[He never showed his frustrations.]</em>

    <em>[I want this to end. Please stop this. I can¡¯t do it anymore. Despite these words of frustration that tickled his throat, he never let them out. He stood firm and never surrendered.]</em>

    <em>[So, does he not know his limits?]</em>

    <em>¡®Limits¡­ that¡¯s something I set on my own.¡¯</em>

    <em>[Does he not know how and when to give up?]</em>

    <em>¡®I am doing everything for a better tomorrow.¡¯</em>

    <em>[Does he not know what frustration is?]</em>

    <em>¡®I want to ovee that frustration.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk¡¯s answers greatly resonated with the Sword of Aeon.

    <em>[People pointed fingers at him. They looked at him incredulously when they saw him watering wilted flowers.]</em>

    <em>[But he never gave up and continued to water the flowers.]</em>

    <em>[He did not get frustrated and continued to let the sun shine on it.]</em>

    <em>[He even brought good soil for the flowers.]</em>

    <em>[Then, one day¡­]</em>

    Minhyuk stared at his broken de, his hold on its grip tightening. Then, an illusion that he could only see appeared behind him at that moment. It was the illusion of Leo hammering the sword in his hands a million times without stopping. And right next to that illusion was the illusion of Minhyuk swinging the same sword non-stop.

    <em>[The withered flowers crumbled down.]</em>

    <em>[And¡­]</em>

    <em>Crack, crack, crack¨C</em>

    Minhyuk could feel it. He could feel a tremendous amount of power gathering in the space of the broken sword in his hands.

    <em>[There was a sprout growing underneath the remains of the wilted flower.]</em>

    Notifications constantly rang in Minhyuk¡¯s ears.

    <em>[The final seal of the Sword of Aeon has been released.]</em>

    <em>[The Sword of Aeon is delighted to serve you.]</em>

    <em>[When the final seal has been released, the Sword of Aeon will create the strongest de for the first andst time.]</em>

    <em>[The Sword of Aeon¡¯s attack power will increase five times in one swing.]</em>

    <em>[You can now use the Active Skill: ¡®Sword¡¯s Breath.¡¯]</em>

    A loud cry echoed in the still battlefield.

    <em>Swoosh¨C</em>

    <em>Swoosh¨C</em>

    <em>Swoosh¨C</em>

    <em>¡®Sword¡¯s Breath.¡¯</em>

    <em>[The Sword¡¯s Breath increases your attack power by 10%.]</em>

    <em>[The Sword¡¯s Breath increases the damage of all skills rted to swordsmanship by 7%.]</em>

    <em>[The Sword¡¯s Breath will cut down anything and everything, even those considered invincible.]</em>

    <em>[You can be one with your sword.]</em>

    <em>[Lower your knees and breathe slowly, follow the Sword¡¯s Breath.]</em>

    ¡°Hoooo.¡± Minhyuk breathed out.

    The powerful force swirling in the broken part of the Sword of Aeon slowly gathered together. At this moment, Minhyuk felt like he could cut through anything. And with Akkaman being in such a disastrous state? This fight had already turned into a fight where the one who could deal the strongest shot would be the winner.

    As he prepared tounch his attack, Minhyuk recalled the words that Conir loved to say. He said, ¡°One second.¡±

    ¡°...?!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the time that I need to bring you to the depths of despair,¡± Minhyuk finished as he moved to attack.

    Akkaman was in a state where his defenses had doubled. This meant that the broken Sword of Aeon should never have been able to cut him down.

    <em>Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh¨C</em>

    A new de emerged at the broken part of the Sword of Aeon. In the first ce, the Sword of Aeon¡¯s durability was set to infinity. This meant that the sword would never truly break. And even if it suffered damage, it would eventually repair itself.

    <em>¡®This process was only to unseal the final seal.¡¯</em>

    Minhyuk lowered his knees and followed the Sword¡¯s Breath as he activated the Annihtor¡¯s Sword that he had saved using the Save skill.

    <em>[You are breathing along with the Sword¡¯s Breath.]</em>

    <em>[Your AGI will temporarily increase by 11%.]</em>

    Minhyuk swiftly passed by Akkaman. Then, at the same time, blood spurted out of the bulging muscles and his thick ogre¡¯s body. Even though it looked like Akkaman¡¯s body would never be cut open, just one sh from Minhyuk¡¯s sword and blood came running down.

    ¡°K-keuaaaaaaaack!¡±

    The attack was unbelievable. The new de that grew out of the sword dealt more serious damage than the sword from earlier that had shed with Akkaman¡¯s weapons.

    Akkaman, whose entire body had been cut and torn apart, slowly fell.

    <em>THUD¨C!</em>

    <em>[You have hunted the Repetition King Akkaman.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 126,754 tinum.]</em>

    <em>[You have gained 1,134,501,031 EXP.]</em>

    <em>[You have obtained Repeater¡¯s Bead.]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk looked in confusion at the drops left behind by the Repetition King.

    <em>¡®That¡¯s it?¡¯</em>

    To put it simply, it was very disappointing. Minhyuk recalled the notification he heard when he first entered the Prison of Repetition.

    <em>¨CRepetition King Akkaman has been given extraordinary power by the God of Pandemonium.</em>

    <em>¨CInside this prison, he will be an absolute being transcending any existence.</em>

    These notifications implied that Repetition King Akkaman might not be so great in the first ce.

    <em>¡®If wepare his power to an ordinary god, he¡¯s probably only around Level 750 or so?¡¯</em>

    Regardless, inside the Prison of Repetition, the power of the God of Pandemonium has allowed him to increase his power and go beyond Level 1,000.

    <em>¡®The power that the God of Pandemonium possesses is beyond amazing.¡¯</em>

    Perhaps that god''s power could surpass any omnipotent being in this ce. Minhyuk did not linger on the topic for too long. After all, he had already obtained the biggest harvest here. He had finally released the third and final seal of the Sword of Aeon.

    Just when Minhyuk was about to check the information of his newly unsealed sword, a series of notifications rang in his ears.

    <em>[You have achieved a 100% Prison of Repetition¡¯s Release Rate. Every single prisoner will be released.]</em>

    <em>[In an hour, the Supreme Army will be able to detect abnormalities ande to this ce to check.]</em>

    This ce was the ce that repeated every single thing to them every single day. It was a horrendous ce where they were greeted with the same scene and died the same death every repetition. But in this ce, a door had appeared above them. And with a creak, it opened widely for them.

    ¡°Finally!!! We can finally go outside!¡±

    ¡°Fre-freedom!!!¡±

    The surviving prisoners, as well as those who had turned into light after being killed before, were all delighted to know that they would finally be able to get out of this horrendous prison.

    Minhyuk, who was watching them, silently checked the Sword of Aeon.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Sword of Aeon</em></strong><em> +1)</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: God</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: God, the One that Lifted the Second Seal</em>

    <strong><em>Durability</em></strong><em>: ¡Þ/¡Þ</em>

    <strong><em>Attack Power</em></strong><em>: 2,654</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?Increase all stats by 40%.</em>

    <em>?Reduce all skills¡¯ cooldown by 35%.</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: 2.5x Basic Attack Damage</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: The Greatest Sword</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Submission and Surrender</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: God¡¯s Dual Sword Technique</em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: The rank of the Sword of Aeon does not fit. Please click ¡°Evolve¡±.</em>

    When Minhyuk looked at the contents, he was puzzled because everything was simr. Only after he saw the description did he understand.

    <em>[The rank of the Sword of Aeon does not fit. Please click ¡°Evolve¡±.]</em>

    <em>¡®Eh?¡¯</em>

    This was the first time that Minhyuk had seen this method of evolution. After a closer look, anyone could tell that tagging the sword as God-rank was insufficient.

    Minhyuk clicked the ¡°Evolve¡± button.

    <em>[The determination of the appropriate rank for the Sword of Aeon.]</em>

    <em>[The Sword of Aeon surpasses God.]</em>

    <em>[The Sword of Aeon surpasses Absolute God.]</em>

    <em>[The Sword of Aeon¡¯s rank cannot be measured or determined.]</em>

    Minhyuk frowned. He did not know what the words ¡°cannot be measured¡± entailed or what it meant for him. Thankfully, the following notifications made him immediately understand.

    <em>[The Sword of Aeon is a sword unrestricted by ranks.]</em>

    <em>[The Sword of Aeon represents both a long passage of time and infinity.]</em>

    <em>Ring!</em>

    <em>[The Sword of Aeon¡¯s rank will be changed to infinity.]</em>

    <em>[Thanks to your hard work and effort, the Sword of Aeon will continue to grow and develop!]</em>

    ¡°...?¡±

    Minhyuk was very shocked. The Sword of Aeon has turned into an artifact that did not have a restriction on its ranking. The following notifications left Minhyuk in an even greater shock.

    <em>[You havee into possession of an artifact that can leave a mark in the path of the Battle God¡¯s Achievements.]</em>

    <em>[Your name has appeared and rises in the list of Battle Gods who have made achievements.]</em>

    <em>[The form of the Battle God¡¯s Statue has slightly changed.]</em>

    Minhyuk was flustered and embarrassed by the notifications that rang non-stop in his ears.

    Then, he checked the information on the newly evolved Sword of Aeon.

    <em>(</em><strong><em>Sword of Aeon</em></strong><em>)</em>

    <strong><em>Rank</em></strong><em>: ¡Þ</em>

    <strong><em>Requirements</em></strong><em>: Level 700, the One who swung the sword a million times. </em>

    <strong><em>Durability</em></strong><em>: ¡Þ/¡Þ</em>

    <strong><em>Attack Power</em></strong><em>: 3,254</em>

    <strong><em>Special Abilities</em></strong><em>:</em>

    <em>?Increase all stats by 45%.</em>

    <em>?Reduce all skills¡¯ cooldown by 40%.</em>

    <em>?All attack skills rted to swordsmanship will increase by +1.</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: 2.5x Basic Attack Damage</em>

    <em>?Passive Skill: The Greatest Sword</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Submission and Surrender</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: God¡¯s Dual Sword Technique</em>

    <em>?Active Skill: Sword¡¯s Breath</em>

    <em>?This is a sword with infinite possibilities. </em>

    <strong><em>Description</em></strong><em>: This is a sword with no limits and restrictions. It can grow infinitely. For every 150,000 swings of this sword, all of the abilities and effects attached to it will increase by 1%. Uponpleting another 1,000,000 swings, this sword will undergo another evolution.</em>

    Minhyuk was dumbfounded. Just when he was about to check the detailed information on ¡°This is a sword with infinite possibilities,¡± the Army Revolutionary and the greatest Battle God, Bharal, approached him.

    At the same time.

    The Battle God was sitting on his throne and giving orders to his five generals when suddenly¡­

    ¡°B-Battle God¡­!¡± The God of Archery shouted urgently.

    Puzzled, the Battle God followed his gaze and looked behind him. That was when he saw the changes in the Battle God¡¯s Statue, which had already turned somewhat dull after the Most Radiant Crown disappeared. It seemed like the sword in its hand was morphing and turning into an unknown sword.

    The Battle God stood up in a daze as he watched the sword take its shape.

    <em>¡®Isn¡¯t that Minhyuk¡¯s sword?¡¯</em>

    The surprise did not end there. A bright light emerged from within the Battle God¡¯s Statue. That light informed the Battle God that Minhyuk had already aplished the mission that he was given in Pandemonium.

    <em>Shwaaaaaa¨C!</em>

    A bright and intense light spread around. It was so bright that it could illuminate the entire hall.

    <em>[The Battle God¡¯s Statue has epted the proposal of the Greatest Battle God.]</em>

    <em>[The Greatest Battle God Bharal wishes to bestow upon him the </em><strong><em>Title</em></strong><em>: Absolute Monarch.]</em>

    ¡°...?!¡±

    The Absolute Monarch was a myth that has been passed down since the very beginning of time. It was a position that could only be given after receiving the approval and acknowledgment of all of the Battle Gods to have ever existed. Of course, it was nothing but an empty position. Nevertheless, being bestowed such a name would be the most incredible honor for the one in the Battle God¡¯s position.

    <em>[The 5th generation Battle God Bharal gives his approval.]</em>

    <em>[The 5th Generation Battle God Bharal gives his reason for proposing the bestowal of the title.]</em>

    At the same time, the entire process of what happened and Minhyuk¡¯s figure holding onto the broken Sword of Aeon shed in the Battle God¡¯s eyes. Then¡­

    <em>[The 1st generation Battle God Wendor gives his approval.]</em>

    <em>[The 2nd generation Battle God Arkai gives his approval.]</em>

    <em>[The 3rd generation Battle God Boron gives his approval.]</em>

    <em>[The 5th generation¡­]</em>

    <em>[The 7th generation Battle God Karman does not give his approval.]</em>

    <em>[The 8th generation Battle God Eann does not give his approval.]</em>

    Amidst the constantly ringing notifications, these notifications stood out in the eyes of the Battle God.

    <em>[There are six votes against and six votes in favor.]</em>

    <em>[The Battle God¡¯s Statue requires the vote of the current generation Battle God. Please make the choice.]</em>

    As mentioned before, the Absolute Monarch was the most honorable position. But the current generation Battle God said, ¡°I can¡¯t do something like that either. It¡¯s something that even the first-generation Battle God could not do either. I think it¡¯s more appropriate to say that none of us can do it.¡±

    Nevertheless, he still felt delighted.

    ¡°I can feel my blood boiling. I can see it. Just as a star sets, a new star will rise. And Athenae, who epted this new star, will be able to witness great changes. I approve!¡±

    <em>[Following the choice of the Battle Gods, the </em><strong><em>Title</em></strong><em>: Absolute Monarch will be bestowed upon the next generation Battle God.]</em>

    <em>[The Battle God¡¯s Statue is starting to change.]</em>

    <em>¡®Ah. There was something like this in the myths, too.¡¯ </em>A small smile appeared on the Battle God¡¯s face as he looked at the changing statue.

    A white cape carrying the symbol of a fork and knife crossed together appeared on the back of the statue, while an elegant yet tough silver armor appeared around its body. Then, a familiar face, which everyone knew well, appeared on the once faceless Battle God¡¯s Statue. The face on the statue seemed to be shouting, ¡°Charge!!!¡± as it raised its sword and pointed it to the sky above. And this face was none other than Minhyuk¡¯s own.

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